Matt Taylor and Sport during World War Two

Football history in this week's podcast brought to you by the British Society of Sport History in association with the Institute of Historical Research. Geoff talks to Professor Matt Taylor of De Montfort University about the paper he presented at the 2019 BSSH conference in Liverpool regarding sport in Britain during the Second World War. In particular we discuss the issue of Sunday sport - an issue that was far more controversial in the mid-twentieth century than it is nowadays. Matt also tells me about his role at the Internationational Centre for Sports History and Culture at DMU, as well as discussing his role as a PhD supervisor, and his unusual progress from undergrad to PhD student. Professor Matt Taylor is one of the UK's leading sports historians with several significant publications on the history of football in particular. His landmark work, 'The Association Game: A History of British Football' came out in 2008. This was followed up by a variety of articles and books, including 'The People's Game', a history of football during WW2. His forthcoming book on sport during the Second World War will be published by Routledge in 2021.