Sporting War and Sporting Peace 1914-1919 - an introduction

To mark the 110th anniversary of the start of the First World War, starting next week and continuing at intervals throughout the summer, we will be publishing a series of five articles written by Peter Bloor under the title ‘Sporting War and Sporting Peace 1914-1919’.

Peter’s series will focus on three sports before, during and just after the war – cricket, horse racing, specifically the Derby, and motor racing in France.

Starting off with Cricket, Peter will reflect upon the careers of the brilliant but erratic Frank Foster of Warwickshire and of the ‘extraordinarily dull but remarkably effective’ Johnny Douglas of Essex. These features will include appearances at Lord’s and in court by a Derbyshire fast bowler who killed ‘a quarrelsome man, dangerous when drunk’ in self-defence,

In May, Peter’s reflections turn to The Derby pieces and an individual whose life could not have been further away from those led by two of the cricketers, the King, George V”

July’s motor-racing feature about the Boillot brothers, Georges and André, takes us to August 3rd 1914, the day upon which Germany declared war on France - and Georges’ 30th birthday. Neither brother shrank from dangers of flying with the French Air Service during the conflict, nor of racing on public roads and both died as a consequence, which you can read more about later this year.

Our Remembrance articles in October and November will continue the 1914-1919 theme. Please see below the expected publish dates of Peter’s series for 2024.

Parts one to five of the Sporting War and Sporting Peace series

Part One: Mr. Foster and Mr. Douglas – Two Gentlemen cricketers pre-war - Read here

Part Two: Mr. Foster, Mr. Douglas and Billy Bestwick – Two Gentlemen cricketers and a Player post-war - Read here

Part Three: Disorder at the Derby of 1914 Date - Read here

Part Four: Steve Donoghue, the King and the dismal Derby Day of 1919 - Read here

Part Five: The Boillot Brothers: Driven by danger “Pour la France” - Read here

Remembering Colin Blythe and Kenneth Hutchings for World Mental Health Day

With World Mental Health Day on October 10th, Peter will resume his ‘Sporting War and Sporting Peace 1914-1919’ series during early October, with Peter looking at the challenges and experiences of cricketers Colin Blythe and Kenneth Hutchings of Kent on both the cricket field and battlefield.

Part Six: Kenneth Hutchings, South Africans and the Somme - Read here

Part Seven: Colin Blythe’s Tests of nerve - Read here

Finishing the series during the Remembrance period

To conclude our Sporting War and Sporting Peace 1914-1919 series for the year, and over the Remembrance period, Peter will continue the stories of Colin Blythe and Kenneth Hutchings from the cricket field to their memorialisation following their deaths in the Great War.

Part Eight: Kenneth Hutchings – brief but brilliant - Read here

Part Nine: Colin Blythe – as good as ever - Read here

Part Ten: Colin Blythe and Kenneth Hutchings remembered – November 7th 

Image Credits

Cricket – Wills, 1929
Horse racing – Gallaher, 1938
Motor racing – Wills, 1938
Colin (‘Charlie’) Blythe ©  - National Portrait Gallery, London, Reference Collection NPG D45568
Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings (“A Century Maker.”) © - National Portrait Gallery, London, Reference Collection NPG D45393

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