Norma Clarke
A Right Racket
A People’s History of Tennis
By David Berry
Pluto Press 247pp £20
I played tennis at my grammar school in 1960s Bermondsey and we travelled to matches at far posher schools against girls whose parents might have belonged to private clubs in Herne Hill, Dulwich or Blackheath. But it never occurred to me to imagine joining one, because I knew tennis clubs were to be despised, an attitude derived from a mixture of literary sources, chiefly Richmal Crompton’s Just William books. White, middle-class, suburban, dull, some of them excluded Jews (even as late as the 1960s), most were homophobic and all exercised their right to ensure membership was limited to people ‘like ourselves’.
David Berry acknowledges the truth of this while also arguing for a reconsideration. A People’s History of Tennis mounts a spirited, affectionate defence of club tennis, setting it in the larger context of the sport’s development since the invention of lawn tennis in the 1870s. The first court was an
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk