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Celebrating Britain’s Early Women Olympians

In 1900 women were allowed to compete in the modern summer Olympic Games for the very first time. The first woman to win an individual gold medal at the summer Olympic Games was British tennis player Charlotte Cooper Sterry, winner of five Wimbledon titles, on 11 July 1900 in Paris. Want to learn more? Register now and explore The Archive And so, in this special blog, we will take a look at the achievements of the likes of Charlotte Cooper

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Using the Archive for Sports Research

The British Newspaper Archive is the perfect research tool for discovering the history of your favourite sports team or delving into the origins of your local club or venue. Register today! Sport is one of the most searched topics on the site and it’s easy to see why. From historical match fixtures and results, through to news articles and photographs of history’s most iconic sporting moments, the depth and breadth of knowledge the Archive can offer is truly endless. How to search Start by going

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Headlines from History – Sports

Throughout the month of June, The British Newspaper Archive is celebrating its numerous sporting titles.  Today, we are taking a look at some of the sporting headlines from the newspapers during the month of June regarding tennis, racing, and cricket. According to the Illustrated London News, which published an extensive feature about sports as part of its 100th-anniversary edition, since the turn of the century, sports have become an international spectacle and a global passion.     Throughout our lives,

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Harold Mahony: until Sunday 7 July 2013, the last Scot to win a Wimbledon men’s singles title (July 1896)

We were fascinated by this news story about Harold Mahony, who won the men’s singles at Wimbledon in 1896. Born in Edinburgh in 1869 (we think the 1867 in the news story is a typo), Mahony was twice a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 1891 and 1892, before finally winning the championship in 1896. As he was born to Irish parents (from Dublin), Mahony was clearly a mix of Scottishness and Irishness – so Ireland might claim him as an Irish

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Fred Perry – Men’s Singles Champion at Wimbledon in 1936

Congratulations to Andy Murray! Today, Murray became the first man from the UK to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry’s victory in 1936. To celebrate Andy Murray’s wonderful performance and historic achievement, here are some historical newspaper reports on Fred Perry’s victory at Wimbledon in 1936. Dundee Courier | 4 July 1936 Derby Daily Telegraph | 3 July 1936 Read some of the other historical newspaper stories about Wimbledon that we’ve been posting on the blog.    

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Flashing Scores at Wimbledon – British Invention for Tennis Fans – the First Electronic Scoreboard at Wimbledon

We’ve been reading stories about the history of Wimbledon in The Archive, and have found some terrific newspaper reports. Here’s an article about the arrival of the electronic scoreboard on Centre Court in 1929, published in the Derby Daily Telegraph. Derby Daily Telegraph | 21 June 1929 1929 Ladies’ Wimbledon Final | Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News | 13 July 1929 Read some of the other historical newspaper stories about Wimbledon that we’ve been posting on the blog. Derby Daily Telegraph – Friday 21 June

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‘Tennis Ball Knocks Perry Unconscious’ – 1936, An Eventful Year for Fred Perry

Fred Perry was of course one of the greatest players in tennis history, having won three consecutive Wimbledons from 1934 to 1936. He was the last British winner of Wimbledon until Andy Murray’s victory in 2013. Fred Perry ‘delivering a characteristic vigorous smash’ during the 1936 Wimbledon | The Sphere | 27 June 1936 However, despite his third (and final) Wimbledon victory in 1936, he was the victim of an unfortunate accident whilst playing an exhibition match a couple months before in

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The Attempt by Suffragettes to Burn Down Wimbledon – 1913

The fact that the green, purple and white colours of the Suffragette Movement are the same colours used by Wimbledon, has sometimes been commented upon. With this in mind, we thought we’d try and find some newspaper stories that bring together Wimbledon and the suffragettes. Oh, and we found some stories! We found two reports about an incident in 1913 when a suffragette attempted to burn down Wimbledon. One from the time, in the Derby Daily Telegraph, and another from fifteen

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Lottie Dod – the Youngest Winner of the Ladies’ Singles at Wimbledon

Merseyside-born, Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Dod, is the youngest ever winner of the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Championship, achieving her triumph in 1887 at the tender age of 15 years and 285 days. She won the singles title a remarkable five times in total, between the years 1887 and 1893. An article in the Sheffield Independent chronicles Lottie’s first ever Wimbledon victory in 1887. About the ladies’ singles there is little to be said – only five entered as against eight last year. Miss

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