Painting of Daniel Mendoza

Sport and leisure

A portrait of Fridtjof Nansen, taken after his daring expedition across Greenland. (Image by Alamy)

My history heroPaul Rose chooses Fridtjof Nansen

Members of Preston Ladies' Football Club (formerly Dick, Kerr’s Ladies) pose while carrying out leg exercises during practice, March 1937. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

1921: the year when football banned women

US baseball legend, Joseph 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson, who was banned from the game along with seven other players after admitting that they had accepted money to lose the 1919 World Series.

“Say it ain’t so”: The ‘Black Sox’ scandal that rocked American baseball

A brief history of marathons

Irish rugby fans in London for the international match between Ireland and England at Twickenham Stadium, 13 February 1937. (Photo by E Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Rugby warriors: the rugby-playing heroes of the First and Second World War

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (L) fights Dick Tiger (R) in Madison Square Garden, New York, 1965 (Photo by Getty Images)

The story of the Hurricane. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

By the time George II came to the throne in 1727, Britain was a nation addicted to gaming. A Georgian gaming table is shown in this sketch by Thomas Rowlandson. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

“A nation addicted to gaming”: the Georgians’ crackdown on addictive betting

People approach the VI Lenin Stadium, now known as the Luzhniki Stadium, in Moscow, in 1956. (Photo by James Whitmore/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

The history of Luzhniki Stadium, home of the 2018 football World Cup final

A 19th-century cricket match at the Kennington Oval. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

10 things you didn’t know about London’s sporting history

Kinder Scout

History explorer: The fight for the right to ramble. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The World Cup story. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A brief history of... the Derby

A group of women cycling along the beach at Newquay, c1923. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Choppers, burners and boneshakers: the rise of British cycling

Pamir Mountains - know as Bam-i-dunya, 'Roof of the World'

In the footsteps of Alexander Gardner, a Victorian adventurer who travelled to the Hindu Kush

From bats and brawls to new links between colonies: the origins of Australian cricket

What are the historical origins of darts?

Shakespeare’s world and cricket in South Africa. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

19th-century boxer Larry Foley

Q&AWhy do we say ‘happy as Larry’?

The famous Big Pit Mining Museum in South Wales

History explorer: Britain’s coal industry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Henry VIII jousting

How jousting made a man of Henry VIII

Edward Whymper in climbing gear

Tragedy on the Matterhorn

Douglas Jardine

Life of the Week: Douglas Jardine

9 people you didn’t know made history swimming in the River Thames

(Photo by naphtalina/Getty Images)

Q&AWhy do we say ‘resting on your laurels’?

Morris dancers perform

Steps in time: Dancing through history

England captain Bobby Moore

My history hero: Bobby Moore. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The bloody world of Georgian female boxing

Q&AWhy do we say 'saved by the bell'?

Relief of a charioteer

Q&AWho was the highest-paid sportsman in history?

Photo of Uruguay football players celebrating victory

Q&AWho won the first FIFA World Cup?