Cambridge Sports Tours

21/07/2024

Spaces still available on my 'Cambridge and the Olympics' walking tour starting 10.30am at Magdalene Bridge this Thursday 25th July with a fitting finale at the Paris 1924 Sport, Art and the Body exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum. It's an outstanding exhibition demonstrating that sport has close links to so many facets of our lives such as race, gender, class, nationalism, fine art.....even childcare and the cult of celebrity. If you want to book a place go to www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk
(Image shows front cover of exhibition catalogue, which is also excellent.)

13/07/2024

Come on my walking tour, ‘Cambridge and the Olympics’ (going back to the 16th century) starting 10.30am on Magdalene Bridge and finishing at the Olympics exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum (with tickets booked) on 25 July.

Did you know at the Paris 1924 Olympics, if the University of Cambridge had been a country, it would have come 9th in the medal table?

A major exhibition at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge brings together the momentous events at this pivotal Games – the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal, the groundbreaking outfits worn by female tennis players, the fact that women were competing, something that went unacknowledged in 'Chariots of Fire'.

And the art – this Games had a lasting, profound impact on art, design, society and more. Find out how: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/fitzwilliam-paris-1924-beyond-chariots-of-fire?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

07/07/2024

Cambridge held the Olympic Games in the 16th and 17th centuries - on the nearby Gog Magog hills. Find out more, plus the real 'Chariot's of Fire' story, and who won Olympic gold, scored a maximum 147 break in Snooker, a century at Lord’s Cricket Ground, and captained both Manchester City F.C and and the England national football team? Join a walking tour through Cambridge on 25th July finishing at Fitzwilliam Museum to also view the 'Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body' exhibition. For more info go to 'Olympic Games - walking tour' at https://www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk/
(Image used from Wellcome Foundation: front cover of Olympic Games Stockholm 1912 brochure)

25/03/2024

Members of U3AC's "Cambridge sport: in Fenner's hands" outside the University of Cambridge Fenner's cricket Ground. The tutor of this walking tour is Nigel Fenner, a relative of Frank Fenner - a local tobacconist, and talented sportsman who was instrumental in bringing "Town" and "Gown" together during the 19th century to play in the same sporting teams. This course will run again during our Summer term.

24/03/2024

Cambridge Sports Tours feature on Susan' Calman's 'Great British Cities' on Friday night (23 March 2024) - talking about the creation of the modern-day laws of football on Parker's Piece in the middle of the 19th century:

08/03/2024

15/01/2024

This has for many years been a hot potato debate (currently on Cambridgeshire History FB page) which I have contributed to as follows:
There is no doubting the FA’s focus in the 1860s on the football subculture in Sheffield was critical in growing the modern game, especially so given Cambridge University’s wish, at that time, to keep the game to themselves. However there was good reason for this, given the University students came from different Public Schools each with their own football rules, requiring, if the game was to grow, a compromise set - a process spanning the 1830s to the 1860s – culminating in the creation of the ’Cambridge Rules’. In my view this was the role of a ‘Club’: the Cambridge University Football Club (CUFC). It is no surprise it cannot match Sheffield F.C. for continuous evidence (election of club officers, minutes of meetings, accounts etc) given the average student studied for 3 years before leaving, and anyway ‘the University’, at best, gave no support at all. This makes CUFC’s achievements all the more remarkable.
However what I feel is much more important than this focus on the middle of the 19th century, is that a local football culture ( - the first in the world?) was in evidence across East Anglia (including at over 20 sites in and near Cambridge) for at least 300 years up to the start of the 19th Century. Sadly it has gone mostly unreported.
All the above and more is contained in my book ‘Cambridge Sport: in Fenner’s Hands’ available from the Cambridge University Press, or Museum of Cambridge bookshops or via my website Cambridge Sports Tours.

01/01/2024

I’ve just finished reading James Brown’s 1989 book on the 600 year history of Gamlingay, and one story (vaguely sport-related) made sad reading.
In the 1830s the way the Poor Law functioned in the village was investigated. One extraordinary waste of money was in employing about 20+ of the local poor to ‘collect stones from the surface of the land’ and a separate group later, ‘some with their hands, some with large sticks by way of bats in returning the collected stones to the impoverished acres’. Whilst the £615 was of benefit to these ’paupers’, as ‘labourers they would have lost all sense of dignity and pride in their work’.

24/12/2023

This is my next weekly installment relating to ice hockey, referred to locally as bandy - a word that has been used for centuries to describe a bent stick, which is why it has been associated over this period with a range of ‘ball and mallet’ games such as golf, cricket, shinty, hockey and ice hockey.
I have 3 stories to share relating to the best local team, Charles Darwin (and the 'Origin of Ice Hockey'), and Prince Albert (who was an excellent skater).
The best local team was Bury Fen (located between Bluntisham and Earith - see photo) who played towards the end of the eighteenth century, and probably a lot earlier. Not only were they unbeaten for decades, but they are also credited with introducing the game to Holland, and formalising the rules.
The Canadians however would want to challenge this, given ice hockey is their national winter sport claiming that they played the first real match in Montreal in 1875. However, in a recent book entitled 'On the Origin of Hockey' (in a deliberate nod to Darwin’s seminal work On the Origin of Species) the Canadian authors refer to a letter Charles Darwin wrote to his son in 1853, about his own experiences at Shrewsbury School between 1818 and 1825 enjoying ‘hockey on ice’. Darwin had later been a student from 1828 to 1831 at Christ’s College, also returning to Cambridge in 1836 to organise his work following his five-year voyage on HMS Beagle. Because as a student he preferred outdoor sports to studying, it is possible he skated on the nearby Fens, especially after his earlier experiences at school.
My last story relates to a game of Bandy played on the ice of the Windsor Castle pond in 1853, where Queen Victoria was a spectator watching Prince Albert play against a team that included a local man John Astley who later wrote about a tackle where "I lost my balance, and came down in a sitting posture, the impetus I had on carrying me right over to the Queen’s feet, and the hearty laughter which greeted my unbidden arrival is still vividly impressed on my mind. It was altogether a glorious afternoon’s sport." Prince Albert, had already been appointed the chancellor of Cambridge University in 1847.
(All the above is lifted from Nigel Fenner's recently published book 'Cambridge Sport: in Fenner's Hands' in chapter 21 dedicated to local ice skating. The book is available to purchase from the Cambridge University Press bookshop or at the Museum of Cambridge or via the Cambridge Sports Tours website.)
Thanks to the Museum of Cambridge for permission to use the photo of 2 women bandy players.

17/12/2023

As promised here is the next installment relating to local skating, specifically the prizes won, and the sport's popularity:

William ‘Turkey’ Smart won £58 15s and a leg of mutton in February 1855, the equivalent of about 2 years’ average earnings for him as an agricultural worker. He was given his nickname for inventing the modern way of racing, bent over to reduce wind resistance and swinging his arms – looking, apparently, like a turkey.
For his visit to Mepal (15 miles (25 km) north of Cambridge) during that February, the press reported:
"Cambridge, Ely, St Ives, Chatteris, and diverse other towns and villages were thinned of their population that day. The clergy and ‘squires’, gentry and tradesmen – hale ploughboys and rosy milkmaids – ladies parties in carriages, gigs and carts, made their way to the bank near the bridge, and took their respective positions, where the view was excellent, and all that could be wished for the ‘St Ledger day on the ice’. A brass band of music from Chatteris was placed on the bridge, and played the most lively tunes: at the starting of a race, ‘Cheer boys, cheer’, and at the winning, ‘See the conquering hero comes’. The number of persons
present was stated at from five to eight thousand, and some said ten thousand. Punctually at the time appointed, half-past one, the racing commenced. The bold Fen-men soon appeared, whose iron frames, lion sinews, elasticity of action and body, astonished all beholders. They were a fine specimen of the bold peasantry of England." (All the above lifted from page 237 in Nigel Fenner's recently published book entitled 'Cambridge Sport: in Fenner's Hands'.)
I am grateful to Garry Monger for sharing that "in January 1763 a resident of Thorney raced against a Danish sailor on successive days for a total of seventy guineas (equivalent to nearly £27,000 today), the Dane taking both prizes. The same month John Lamb and George Fawn skated between Wisbech and Whittlesey, Lamb collecting the twenty guinea prize. By the early 19th century John Peck in his diary records watching races on the River Nene, including that won by Joseph Peck and seeing two young ladies, Miss Ulyat and Miss Peck also skating.
(The image shows professional speed skaters competing at Littleport in 1895 - from The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News 19 Jan 1895.)

16/12/2023

Anyone guess where this 16th Century playground is? It was used by students (and local people?) because it is about a mile outside the centre of Cambridge - as a precaution against the plague

10/12/2023

The Fens have been called 'nature's ice rink' since the 17th century when the Dutch, over to drain the Fens, brought their skates with them. It was no surprise therefore, given skating's popularity the newly created National Skating Association should be based in Cambridge from 1879, at 4 Mortimer Road, off Mill Road and near Fenner's Cricket Ground ( - see photo).
In addition we know that between 1879 and 1956 (ie 77 years), winters were cold enough to deliver the major GB skating championships for both amateurs and professionals for 31 of those years - at four locations within 12 miles of Cambridge, some of which may surprise you. The most popular venue was Lingay Fen, Trumpington (today called Lingey Fen - on the north bank of the River Cam and visible from the M11 on the left going south about half a mile short of Junction 11). Next most popular, in the early days was Mere Fen, Swavesey (just off the busway in the direction of Over), followed by Bury Fen (between Bluntisham and Earith), and then Milton, host once only in 1954. (Thanks to Alan Bloom's 1958 book 'The Skaters of the Fens' for this info and the cartoon of two speed skaters on the start line).
When I first embarked on researching the history of local sport I wanted to make sure that the Gown’s [University’s] contributions, whilst exceptional, did not overshadow those of the Town. Whilst my starting point was my relative, Frank Fenner, a local tobacconist and star cricketer, skating was very important too.
Given I have lots of material I plan, over the next few weeks to add further skating stories and achievements all lifted from my book 'Cambridge Sport: in Fenner's Hands' and published in 2023. So if you want to know more about
· local skating stars and the prizes they won,
· the sport of Bandy,
· Charles Darwin,
· a local skater 'taking out' Prince Albert in 1853,
· William Wordsworth,
· 'Skates versus the train' race,
· Cricket on ice….. then watch this space.
(For more on my book go to my Cambridge Sports Tours website and / or purchase it from the Cambridge University Press Bookshop or the Museum of Cambridge.)

28/11/2023

Is it a cricket ball?
A friend of mine noticed this carving when looking out the window of the top deck of the double-decker he was travelling on, along Magdalene Street outside the College (on the left hand-side of the 2nd photo). It prompted me to contact the College, who tell me they don’t know, despite the connection with a cricket ball often being made to them.
What we do know is that ACB stands for Arthur Christopher Benson (1862-1925) who was Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge as well as author of the words to the patriotic song "Land of Hope and Glory" (in 1902).
However from his diaries it is clear that the carving is very unlikely to be a cricket ball given his indifference, amounting to hostility, towards the game. He once condemned it as "the most unjust and fortuitous of games", because a skilled player might unluckily be out first ball. (Thanks to Ged Martin's excellent website for this info https://www.gedmartin.net/ )

So if it’s not a cricket ball what might it be?

18/11/2023

Ever wondered where the rules of football were created? Join us at Cambridge Sports Tours to find ou

18/11/2023

Book for sale - perfect for Christmas.

Structured as a walking tour and supported by 150 illustrations, this hard-back book takes a walk across Cambridge to understand the relationship Town and Gown [ - the University] have had with sport over many centuries, up to the early twentieth century. Even Isaac Newton, Lord Byron, Charles Darwin, the Footlights Theatre Company get a mention, as do the first known attempts to run the Olympic games in England, and the courageous labours of women taking their first sporting steps. However, running through the book, like a golden thread, is the largely untold story of Frank Fenner, a local tobacconist.

‘Cambridge Sport: in Fenner’s Hands’ has had excellent reviews from:
• Mike Petty MBE (local historian): “A worthy tribute to…Cambridge’s sporting legacy.”
• Derek Pringle (Ex England cricketer): “Rich with detail [this book] guides us through modern sport’s birth and adolescence.”
• Other reviewers wrote “A brilliantly unconventional piece of history”, “not just for sports fans” and “eye-catching”.

The book is available for sale in the Cambridge University Press Bookshop (in the centre of Cambridge), the Museum of Cambridge or online at https://www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk/book-for-sale

Ever wondered where the rules of football were created? Join us at Cambridge Sports Tours to find ou

20/08/2023

A great shame England lost the World Cup final to Spain.
It did however prompt me to share here what is believed to be the first known game of women's football in Cambridge, which took place in the 1870s at Girton College:
Emily Davies led the founding of Britain's first women's college, Girton College, located on the outskirts of Cambridge from 1873. Early on she noted the ‘importance of physical health to the life of the nation’ and lamented that ‘women are not healthy…..[and show] a want of stamina’. Her concern was for both physical as well as mental development which is why she encouraged her students to take long country walks, and to play croquet, fives and a crude form of cricket in the seclusion of the college garden, which they apparently did ‘with great laughter and fun, but small skill’. When they began to play a very mild form of football however, she quickly forbade it on the grounds that outside knowledge of such an overtly masculine activity would be taken as incontrovertible proof of the ‘unsexing consequences of higher education’. And this would not help she believed, the cause of women at both Girton College and Newnham College's striving for equal academic status with men.....which they only achieved in 1948.
Cambridge Sports Tours is planning a ‘Women and Sport’ walking tour in October - date and venue to be confirmed – please watch ‘tour’s’ on www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk website for latest info.
(The photo shows the Cambridge United and Cambridge University Women's football teams who played on Parker's Piece on 12 May 2018, to celebrate the unveiling of the 'The Cambridge Rules - 1848' sculpture.)

19/08/2023

In May this year I published a book on the history of Cambridge sport entitled 'Cambridge Sport: in Fenner's Hands', one purpose being to make it as accessible as possible, which is why receiving the following book review from 'Helen - a part time sports fan' gave me such joy.

In Fenner’s Hands” by Nigel Fenner is a work of impressive originality, full of interesting, sometimes surprising historical details. At the heart of the book is Frank Fenner, a relative of the author born in Cambridge in 1811. The focus on a character who is significant to the author as a descendant as well as for what Frank Fenner achieved gives the book palpable depth and soul.

The book impresses even before a page has been turned. The front cover displays the dangers of sport in Frank Fenner’s era and the bravery of those taking part. The photograph mesmerises as a moment caught mid-vault. In the background is a sports pavilion established by Frank Fenner, setting the scene for this account of his leading role in the development of sporting activity in Cambridge and beyond.

Frank Fenner’s life story is patchy at first as records are sparse but the history of Cambridge, the emergence and development of the university colleges and the early origins of a variety of sports are revealed with attention to fascinating detail. Frank is referred to whenever there’s a likelihood that past events might have influenced his way of thinking. This keeps him in focus with the lightest of touches and is effective at drawing the reader towards the later chapters where Frank takes centre stage.

Using the format of a walking tour guide is also excellent at leading the reader into the book. Hopefully, the walking tour will appear as a separate pocket guide sometime soon. I did try to install the book in my anorak but none of the pockets are big enough.

Another aid to progress through the pages is the use of bold chapter headings and headed paragraphs which highlight the content of each section and, of course, the many photographs and illustrations that make places, events and characters spring to life.

Added to these design details is the strength and solidity of the book itself. It is a satisfying artefact in its own right. The spine is particularly pleasing, very secure, does not creak or crease and allows the book to lie flat from page to page.

The final chapters concentrate on Frank Fenner’s later life and a tantalising puzzle is revealed. Optional explanations are offered to solve the puzzle but the reader is left to draw their own conclusions. This stays in the mind long after the last page is turned - a magical effect.

There is not a whiff of “rhinoceros hoof” in the hand that held the pen to write this book. What is clearly revealed is a writer of talent and humanity who has treated the 21st century reader to the gift of a true tale that is stupendous in range, fascinating in detail and honest in heart.

(By the way Frank Fenner's hands were likened to a rhinoceros hoof a few years before he died).

To have a further look at my book go to https://www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk/book-for-sale

29/01/2022

Fancy a trip to Twickenham?
The Annual Oxford v Cambridge Varsity Rugby Matches (for both men and women) will take place on Saturday 2nd April 2022 at Twickenham, celebrating 150 years since the men played their first match.
Cambridge Sports Tours is planning to take a group by coach, from the Cambridge area (leaving about 10am), offering the following two packages:

Spectator only
Ticket + coach travel @£65 (reduced rate for children)

All-in package
Ticket + lunch / drinks (unlimited beer etc) + talk on ‘history of rugby in Cambridge’ + coach travel @ £190 (reduced rate for children)

For more information / to book a place visit www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk and select the tours tab.

17/11/2021

Parker’s Piece, the laws of football and four Cambridge sporting greats – walking tour.
2.00 - 3.30pm Wednesday 24th Nov.

Located close to the centre of the town, Parker’s Piece can claim to be at the heart of the leisure revolution that swept across Britain and the world in the 19th Century. In addition to being ‘the birthplace of the laws of football’, and where the first non-European international sports star learned his trade, Parker’s Piece was also home to four local lads who have made a significant contribution to sport.

The tour also takes in the Reality Checkpoint, providing opportunity to explore the sporting relationships between Town and Gown, and where, in the nearby cemetery a number of key players are buried, many in unknown graves.

Meet on Parker’s Piece by the University Arms at 2pm finishing at Mill Road Cemetery – just over 1 mile. Cost: £8 per person by cash on the day.

Go to www.cambridgesportstours.co.uk to book a place in advance - thanks

14/10/2021

Boxing, and Town versus Gown tensions - walking tour. 2.00 to 3.30pm Friday 22 October 2021.
Cambridge is very closely linked to the creator and sponsor of the modern-day rules of boxing, as well as three of the greatest supporters of boxing in the late 18th / early 19th Century, including Lord Byron. Given such interest, Cambridge attracted ex pros to train students in ‘fisticuffs’ at a time when Town v Gown tensions were high, sometimes resulting in fights and battles, one sight being visited on the tour. The tour also explores the origins of these tensions, from a Town perspective.

Meet on Magdalene Bridge finishing on Market Square
Book by emailing Nigel Fenner: [email protected]
Numbers limited.
Cost: £8 per person by cash on the day.

13/09/2021

Cambridge Sports Tours has the following four talks and walking tours planned before the end of the year:

1. 'Cambridge Sport – in Fenners’ hands’ from 2 – 3pm Thurs 16th Sept.
At Cambridge YMCA. Free talk, part of the Open Cambridge Festival. Numbers limited.
For more info go to: https://www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-sport-fenners-hands

2. Football and Camp Ball in Cambridge and East Anglia since the 14th Century from 7 – 8.15pm Wed 22nd Sept.
Online talk requiring booking and payment of entry fee benefitting the Museum of Cambridge; go to https://www.museumofcambridge.org.uk/event/football_in_cambridge/

3. Boxing, and Town versus Gown tensions – walking tour from 2-3.30pm. Fri 22nd Oct.
Meet on Magdalene Bridge finishing on Market Square. Cost: £8 per person by cash on the day.
Email nigel(at)cambridgesportstours.co.uk for more info and to book.

​4. Parker’s Piece and four of Cambridge’s own sporting greats – walking tour from 2-3.30pm Wednesday 24th Nov.
Meet on Parker’s Piece by the University Arms finishing at Mill Road Cemetery. Cost: £8 per person by cash on the day. Book via contact page.
Email nigel(at)cambridgesportstours.co.uk for more info and to book.

06/08/2021

The Marathon (26.2 mile running race) for women at the Tokyo Olympics is being run tonight at 11pm (British time) and tomorrow for the men, at the same time.
Few people know that Cambridge was home to a marathon runner, who but for injury would have been placed 15th in the Olympic Games of 1948, if he had run his best time of 2 hours 46 minutes. There is nothing remarkable in that, but......
His name was Alan Turing, much better known for breaking secret German codes during WWII as well as developing the conceptual framework for the modern general-purpose computer.
Whilst a Fellow (teacher) at King’s College he would often run a route from Cambridge to Ely and back, a distance of 30 miles (50 km), and occasionally run to London for meetings.
Turing was not a natural runner; “we heard him rather than saw him. He made a terrible grunting noise when he was running, but before we could say anything to him, he was past us like a shot out of a gun….. I asked him one day why he punished himself so much in training. He told me ‘I have such a stressful job that the only way I can get it out of my mind is by running hard; it’s the only way I can get some release.’”
Alan Turing was also a member of the King’s College Second Boat (when a student) who won their Oars at the 1935 May rowing bumps.
Very sadly, following Alan Turing's prosecution for homosexuality, resulting in him choosing chemical castration rather than imprisonment, he died at the age of only 41 in 1954. In 2009, Gordon Brown the then Prime Minister issued an apology, also recognising Turing's stature as one of the greatest Britons.