Product Description

In the summer that saw the first successful flight of the Zeppelin, a 140 acre site of scrubland in West London was transformed into the White City, which housed the 1908 Franco British Exhibition ? and a state-of-the-art stadium built to house the first London Olympics. The Olympics were organised by volunteers in just 18 months and at a fraction of the cost of the modern Olympics and yet, just as today, the sport was overshadowed by doping scandals and caused international uproar. The ferocious competitiveness of a US team dominated by New York Irish Americans led to a succession of 'scandals' culminating in the historic marathon when Italian confectioner baker Dorando Pietri's heroic efforts at the limits of exhaustion so entranced on-lookers that track officials helped him across the finish line. Coinciding with the 100th Anniversary of the first London Olympics, this delightful social and sporting history ? illustrated with over 70 contemporary images ? provides a thought-provoking contrast to the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #222072 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
'lively, engaging written with poise and a generous dose of wit' (The Sunday Times)

About the Author
Rebecca Jenkins, the daughter of the late Bishop of Durham, has worked with the athlete Brendan Foster. She is also the author of a biography of Fanny Kemble, the nineteenth-century actress and celebrity. Rebecca lives in Durham.

Customer Reviews

Good fun story about edwardian chaps and ladies
I think it is a fun tale about people and social history and the media. It has loads of pictures and cartoons and you don't have to have big muscles and an inclination to run long distances to appreciate it. Not one for the sports nuts - forsakes boring stats for amusing anecdotes about edwardian chaps. Much more my sort of thing.

Excellent
The Austerity Olympics: When the Games Came to London in 1948

Jenkins' book is a delightful, readable, fasinating insight into the first Olympics held in London. Anyone interested in history, sport, London, politics or who just likes a good read, shoulod put it on their Christmas present list.