A Website Dedicated to the Study of Strength, Health, Fitness and Sport Across Centuries, Countries and Contests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ObaksQVnM "To Be Known as a Weightlifter is to Enjoy at Least Local Prestige" There is something rather wonderful about old British Pathé clips isn't there? I have actually lost count of the amount of videos that have been posted onto this website. This video isn't groundbreaking or revealing but it is just simply nice.... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V72q3SJW_bI The history of weightlifting and bodybuilding was, for far too long, a sport dominated by men. How, when and where women first entered the gym is a topic of considerable interest for academics. While the growth of female weightlifting in the United States has been well covered by Jan Todd, little to no work... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnh9fI106_Q Thomas Inch is one of the most fascinating physical culturists of the twentieth century. He was a pivotal figure in the organisation of British weightlifting, helped coach Arthur Saxon and was a great strong man in his own right. Rarely do we get to see weightlifters in the twilight of their careers. Produced in... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr9yUmYF7T4&list=PLOLn97IoZOb7WhKxje0uP7BYOB8QDbCr4&index=4 My love of old British Pathé footage aside, the above video marks a rather remarkable insight into the still existent world of strongmen training in 1960s Britain. Harold Cope, our Derby lifter shown here, is still doing many of the strongman feats found at the beginning of the century. What impressed me most about this... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tBgr3bzxMM Admittedly this site has not given Doug Hepburn his due. A Canadian by birth, Hepburn was known the world over not only for his weightlifting and strongman feats. The above video shows Hepburn at the height of his strength prowess. Filmed in 1953, the same year Hepburn won gold at the World Weightlifting Championships,... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VOE-8lZydw&list=PLOLn97IoZOb7WhKxje0uP7BYOB8QDbCr4 Continuing my love of old British Pathé videos is today's post on Harold 'the Champion Nail Breaker'. Based in Derbyshire, Harold's feats of strength and not only impressive but also shine a light on a by then disappearing trend in health and fitness. By the time of this video (1963), fewer and fewer individuals... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzjaUsIjsN4 In 1930s Europe, especially in the first half of the decade, the government sponsored fitness campaigns found in fascist regimes garnered a great deal of envy. As Charlotte MacDonald detailed in her fantastic work on the subject, democratic states like Britain, France and the United States were simultaneously fearful and fascinated by the implications... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnfiV8-NOog In the past I've made my fondness for British Pathé videos pretty clear and the above video perhaps demonstrates why. While I cannot endorse many of the claims found in the video - weaker sex, light weight training, blatant chauvinism etc. - the image of gym owner/wrestler, Lou hypnotising his gym members is something I haven't... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrWuhtm__5A For previous readers of the blog, you'll recall my fondness for old British Pathé videos. The above clip features Thomas Inch performing a comedy weightlifting routine from 1915. Physical culture aficionados will no doubt appreciate this insight into the sort of vaudeville performances physical culturists used to earn a living in the late nineteenth... Continue Reading →
Born in England in the early 1900s, Saxon Brown (real name Henry Brown) was briefly lauded during the 1930s as 'Britain's strongest youth' & 'the world's strongest young man'. Though his time in the physical culture spotlight was short lived, Brown's strength was immortalised thanks to the below British Pathé footage. Featuring a number of... Continue Reading →