HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-12-16T11:11:28.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Why are there three lions on the shirts of the English football teams?
items: A brief history of American football and the Super Bowl
items: Oxford v Cambridge: A history of the boat race
items: Elitism in cricket: a history
items: A brief history of the Hillsborough disaster and justice campaigner Anne Williams
items: Did Nazis guards really play a 'death match' against a Ukrainian football team?
items: How dangerous was the penny-farthing?
items: How the 1964 Tokyo Olympics redefined Japan
items: From Hollywood to war heroes: 10 Olympians who were more famous outside sport
items: The first modern Olympics: what happened at the 1896 games?

Why are there three lions on the shirts of the English football teams?
type: item
date: 2024-07-10T10:30:10.000Z
creator: Kev Lochun
subject: General Modern
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Medieval kings and queens
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: The three lions became a symbol of England thanks to 12th-century warmonger King Henry I who is popularly held to have been unable to speak a word of English himself...
encoded: Why are lions so closely aligned with the English national identity? Why are there three of them? And why do they grace the English football teams' shirts? The desultory answer to the football part is that the three lions are also the emblem of the Football Association, the sport's governing body in England. They have been part of strip since the first official international in 1872, when England played Scotland, ending in a 0-0 draw. Still, that doesn't explain where the FA got them from. Read more: 5 facts about the history of football Why are the three lions on the English football team shirt? The FA did not pick their big cats on a whim – a trio of lions has appeared on the arms of every English (and British) monarch since the late 12th century, and has been flown as a battle standard on English soil and abroad. The story is said to begin with King Henry I, whose arms were single golden lion, rampant (rearing on its hind legs) on a red field. He became a widower in 1118, and perhaps would have remained so had his sole male heir not died at sea in the White Ship disaster of 1120. Read more | How a forgotten law helped women’s football conquer the world – but only by accident The following year, he married Adeliza of Louvain. Her father also used a lion, and so Henry adapted his own arms to include two. Skipping a generation brings us to Henry II, who married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. Her family crest featured a lion as well. It took their son, Richard the Lionheart – a man who, in his entire reign, spent barely six months in England despite being born here – unite the three lions of his forebears into the national symbol it is today. We only know of his arms from two Great Seals, one of which bears the three lions passant-guardant (striding left but facing the observer). Every Plantagenet king used these arms unchanged, lions golden on a field of red, until the ascension of Edward III in 1327. Three lions on a shirt: the alternative explanation There is an al…

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A brief history of American football and the Super Bowl
type: item
date: 2024-02-08T11:17:56.000Z
creator: Elinor Evans
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: Period
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: Super Bowl LVIII (58) will take place on 11 February 2024. How much do you know about the history of American football and the Super Bowl, the most watched television event of the year in the United States? Find out facts about the sport’s history, from the very first chaotic college matches, its deadly era in the early 1900s, to the reason the Super Bowl got its name…
encoded: American football – also known as ‘gridiron football’, for the vertical painted yard lines that run across the rectangular pitch – originated in North American colleges in the late 19th century, evolving from the British sports of rugby and association football (soccer). Early versions of the game were brutal and chaotic, often called ‘mob foot-ball’ by contemporaries, with a mix-and-match set of rules, large numbers of players per side and high injury rate. The match generally accepted as the first American football game took place in 1869, played between two north-eastern college teams, Princeton and Rutgers (Rutgers took the victory). The game would have been unrecognisable to today’s spectators, as the players weren’t allowed to pick up the ball. Instead, they advanced towards the scoring zone by kicking or swiping at it with their hands. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2019/02/FF972G-8e674e3-e1707391105647.jpg" width="620" height="414" alt="An early college football scrimmage, c1905. Early versions of the game were brutal and chaotic, resulting in many injuries. (Image by Alamy)" title="An early college football scrimmage, c1905. Early versions of the game were brutal and chaotic, resulting in many injuries. (Image by Alamy)" /> Variations of the game were adopted by many north-eastern colleges of the era, and an early effort at standardisation was made when the first Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) was established in 1873. However a number of colleges retained their own rules, including Harvard College which preferred its ‘Boston Game’ (a ‘rugby-style’ with a mix of carrying and kicking the ball). Throughout the late 19th century, intercollegiate matches led to rules and styles being borrowed and swapped between institutions. It wasn’t until the 1880s that the game became more codified. Who invented American football? The man credited with managing the game’s evolution towards its modern form is Walter Camp (1859…

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Oxford v Cambridge: A history of the boat race
type: item
date: 2022-03-31T09:55:07.000Z
subject: General Modern
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: Now an annual fixture in the sporting calendar, the boat race between Oxford and Cambridge draws the support of thousands along the river and the attention of millions of TV viewers each year. But how did it begin? More than 190 years after the first contest between the two universities, historian Mark Davies explores the origins and early years of the race…
encoded: Oxford v Cambridge. It is one of the most famous inter-varsity rivalries in the world. For centuries, the two universities have competed for academic excellence, but over the last two centuries or so, competitive sports have emerged as an adjunct, with none more keenly contested than the annual boat race. The intellectual jealousy stretches back to the early 13th century, when the many independent religious halls in Oxford combined to create the single university. The catalyst had been a particularly violent confrontation between the townspeople and the monks or clerks (that is, ‘scholars’ or ‘students’) in 1209, which had instigated a mass exodus. Some scholars never returned, finding a less antagonistic domicile on the banks of the River Cam. Those that did venture back to Oxford did so with the greater security of papal protection and new rights and privileges. Who had the idea for the first Boat Race? Oxford and Cambridge have competed for academic superiority almost ever since. However, it took more than 600 years for this rivalry to manifest itself in the sporting arena, the first such contest being a cricket match held in 1827. The first rowing race was held two years later. One man, Charles Wordsworth (1806–92), was instrumental in both. Wordsworth (the future Bishop of St Andrew’s and nephew of the poet William Wordsworth) had split loyalties; although he was an Oxford Christ Church student, his father was a Cambridge don. As a consequence, he spent the vacations in Cambridge, and, as Wordsworth relates in his autobiography Annals of my Early Life, the idea of a rowing race arose during 1827, while on the River Cam with an old Harrow schoolfriend, Charles Merivale (the future Dean of Ely). Merivale was studying at St John’s, which was at that time the best Cambridge college crew, or ‘Head of the River’ as they were called in both camps. Cambridge had something of a head start. The year of 1828 saw the founding of the Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC) an…

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Elitism in cricket: a history
type: item
date: 2022-01-26T12:04:22.000Z
creator: Spencer Mizen
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Cricket
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: Duncan Stone argues that classism and racism have held back England’s summer sport for decades
encoded: Duncan Stone talks to Spencer Mizen about cricket’s history of elitism – a story that, he contends, has long seen the rich and powerful dominate the sport’s evolution and image. Duncan Stone is the author of Different Class: The Untold Story of English Cricket (Repeater, 2022) Buy now on Bookshop.org Buy now on Amazon Buy now on Waterstones How to download the HistoryExtra podcast Download as MP3

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A brief history of the Hillsborough disaster and justice campaigner Anne Williams
type: item
date: 2022-01-02T09:05:00.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
subject: Football
subject: Sports enthusiast
subject: TV interest
description: On Saturday 15 April 1989, some 96 Liverpool fans attending the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were killed when a crush developed at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Much to the pain of the victims’ families, the legal process to establish the facts and ascribe guilt for the Hillsborough disaster has endured for more than 30 years
encoded: With 96 deaths and 766 injuries, Hillsborough remains the worst sporting disaster in British history. Here, sports historian Simon Inglis explains how the Hillsborough disaster unfolded and why the legal battle to prove that Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed took more than 27 years… Why Hillsborough? Throughout the 20th century, the FA Cup – established in 1871 and arguably the world’s most famous domestic football competition – attracted bumper crowds. Attendance records were common. Wembley Stadium would not have been created, as it was in 1922–23, had it not been for the Cup’s extraordinary appeal. Traditionally, cup semi-finals were played at neutral grounds, one of the most popular being Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday. Despite a close call when 38 fans were injured during a semi-final in 1981, Hillsborough, with its capacity of 54,000, was considered one of Britain’s finest grounds. As such, in 1988 it hosted another semi, Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, without incident. It therefore seemed the obvious choice when, coincidentally, the two clubs were drawn to meet in the same fixture a year later, on 15 April 1989. What went wrong on the day? Despite having a larger fanbase, Liverpool, to their annoyance were, as in 1988, allocated the smaller Leppings Lane End of Hillsborough, consisting of a seated tier accessed from one block of turnstiles, and a terrace for 10,100 standing spectators, accessed by just seven turnstiles. Even by the standards of the day this was inadequate and resulted in more than 5,000 Liverpool supporters pressing outside as the 3pm kick-off approached. Had the start of the match been delayed, the crush may well have been managed. Instead, the South Yorkshire Police’s Match Commander, David Duckenfield, ordered one of the exit gates to be opened, allowing 2,000 fans to rush through. Those who turned right or left towards the corner pens found room. However, most headed unwittingly, with no warnings from stewards or the police…

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Did Nazis guards really play a 'death match' against a Ukrainian football team?
type: item
date: 2021-12-07T06:51:57.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: In August 1942, a team of Ukrainian players called FC Start played against a team from the German armed forces. What happened next was soon caught up in Soviet myth, and became known as the 'Death Match'. How much is known about what happened?
encoded: The Berlin Olympics in 1936 was intended both as a propaganda display of Nazi might and a demonstration of the physical supremacy of Aryans over all other races. Yet famously the world watched as the notion of Aryans as the ‘master race’ was challenged, even crushed, by the African-American all-star athlete Jesse Owens and his four gold medals. Six years later, with WW2 raging, the Nazis would attempt another sporting stunt to show their superiority, this time over one of their conquered populations that they deemed to be untermenschen, or subhumans. Again, the idea was tested and found wanting, and involved a football match. On 9 August 1942, at the Zenit Stadium in occupied Kiev, a team of Ukrainian players called FC Start – malnourished, forced into labour at a bread-making factory, and living in constant fear – played against a team from the German armed forces, called Flakelf. They were the best the Nazis had to offer, said to have been kept away from the front lines by Herman Göring himself to ensure their safety. There were stories of the game being officiated by Gestapo or SS officers; of explicit threats being made to the Ukrainians of what would happen to them if they didn’t lose; and of armed soldiers patrolling the edge of the pitch. And when FC Start pulled off an unlikely win with a score of 5-3, the players were reportedly executed while still wearing their kits. It became known as the ‘Death Match’. To this day, the murdered players are celebrated as heroes: symbolising bravery, defiance and triumph against oppression. A statue of them stands outside a Kiev stadium. Read more | Did the First World War Christmas truce football match really happen? But this version of the Death Match is a Soviet myth. The truth was lost in the years following the final whistle, utilised and corrupted by the Soviet propaganda machine to hold the match aloft as a glorious example of the victory of communism over fascism. The football was actually played fairly and the pl…

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How dangerous was the penny-farthing?
type: item
date: 2021-09-13T09:12:05.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: What was the penny-farthing, and how dangerous was it for those who used them in the 19th century? Find out more with this answer from BBC History Revealed
encoded: The penny-farthing bike got its name from its two differently-sized wheels, with the front wheel likened to a penny coin and the much smaller rear wheel compared to a farthing (a quarter of a penny). It was a style of bicycle popular in the 1870s and 1880s. The large wheel allowed each turn of the pedals to drive the bicycle a greater distance, and also allowed for a smoother ride over the cobbled streets and uneven roads of the period. But with the rider sitting up to 1.5m off the ground, broken bones were all too common in the event of accidents. Even worse, the position of the rider over the front axle meant that any sudden stop caused by hitting a stone would hurl the rider forward headfirst. Hitting the ground with the head could be, and sometimes was, fatal. The popularity of penny-farthings waned with the development of gears, allowing the ratio between pedal and wheel to be varied. The second breakthrough was the pneumatic tyre, which gave a smoother ride. By 1893, ‘safety bicycles’ were on sale and penny-farthings were no longer being made. Read more: Choppers, burners and boneshakers: the rise of British cycling This article was taken from BBC History Revealed magazine

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How the 1964 Tokyo Olympics redefined Japan
type: item
date: 2021-07-27T13:43:04.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Olympics
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: With the Olympics underway in Tokyo, Chris Harding looks back at 1964 – the last time Japan hosted the competition
encoded: With the Summer Olympics underway in Tokyo, Chris Harding looks back to the 1964 games – the last time Japan hosted the competition. He explores how the competition redefined the nation on the world stage two decades after the Second World War. Christopher Harding is the author of The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (Allen Lane, 2021) Buy now on Bookshop.org Buy now on Amazon Buy now on Waterstones

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From Hollywood to war heroes: 10 Olympians who were more famous outside sport
type: item
date: 2021-07-22T16:20:47.000Z
creator: Gavin Mortimer
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Olympics
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: From Nobel Prize winners to Hollywood heartthrobs, Gavin Mortimer profiles 10 Olympians who were more famous for what they achieved outside the Olympic arena than in it.
encoded: It requires an enormous amount of hard work to become an Olympian and an even greater effort to stand on the podium with a medal around your neck. Yet since the first modern Olympics in 1896, a handful of competitors have managed to distinguish themselves on the silver screen, the battlefield and in the world of politics – as well as going for gold in the Games. John Jacob Astor V, 1st Baron Astor of Hever Gold medallist turned soldier, politician, media baron and peer Born in New York City in 1886, JJ Astor (pictured below) came to England with his family five years later and became a British citizen before adolescence. He trod the same path as many of the country’s elite – Eton, Oxford and the Guards – but Astor achieved athletic distinction in the 1908 London Olympics by winning a bronze in the singles of the Rackets and a gold partnering Vane Pennell in the doubles. In truth, Astor was required to win just one match for his bronze medal, while the only entrants for the doubles competition were British. After the London Games, Astor served as aide-de-camp to the viceroy of India and then saw action in the First World War. After the conflict, Astor – minus his right leg – became a Unionist MP for Dover from 1922 to 1945. He also served as chief proprietor of The Times for many years and in the late 1930s was president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and a member of the BBC’s general advisory council. He died in 1971 having accepted a peerage 15 years earlier. Gladys Olive Jepson-Turner The figure-skating Hollywood star who “hated the ice” Born into good English stock in 1923, Gladys Olive Jepson-Turner was only 12 when she skated for Britain in the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria. She recalled later that all the skaters were instructed to give a Nazi salute before stepping on to the ice. Jepson-Turner finished 16th in the ladies’ figure skating competition. The following year she turned professional and took the stage-name ‘Belita’, wi…

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The first modern Olympics: what happened at the 1896 games?
type: item
date: 2021-07-20T07:01:56.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Olympics
subject: Sports enthusiast
description: It took the drive and ambition of one Frenchman to reinstate the Olympics on the sporting calendar. Nige Tassell tells the story of Pierre de Coubertin and the first modern Games, held in Athens in 1896
encoded: The noise would have been deafening, 60,000 cheering voices resonating around a stadium the shape of an elongated horseshoe. It would have been a noise like no living person had heard before. And it was a noise that celebrated the deeds of a lowly water-carrier, a young man unknown to the crowd a couple of hours before. It was late on an afternoon in Athens in 1896 and the occasion was the first edition of the modern Olympics. This young man – Spyros Louis – was making history, about to be elevated to the status of national hero. Here at the Panathenaic Stadium, to the rapturous acclaim of the home nation, Louis was completing an extraordinary sporting triumph. Victory in the marathon, in a shade under three hours, was in the bag. The celebrations extended beyond the stadium into the surrounding hills. As the American reporter Charles Waldstein would soon observe in the pages of The Field, this corner of Athens was “covered with a huma crowd that from a distance looked like bees clustering over a comb… this mass of humanity rising in one greatshout of joy”. On crossing the line, Louis was greeted by George I, the King of Greece, standing to applaud. For a nation claimed to be Europe’s most bankrupt, his victory was a focus for national unity. As Waldstein noted, the occasion reached back into Ancient Greek history. “It might almost have been Philippides of old bringing to the anxious inhabitants of Athens the news of their glorious victory, the salvation of their country and home.” Who 'invented' the modern Olympics? Waldstein wasn’t the only non-Greek enthralled by proceedings. The man whose vision, energy and powers of persuasion had brought about the return of the Olympics – the diminutive FrenchmanBaron Pierre de Coubertin – was caught up in the excitement too. He later described how the Athenian audience “rose to its feet like one man, swayed by extraordinary excitement”, before “a flight of white pigeons was let loose, women waved fans and handkerchiefs, and s…

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