592. Mad Victorian Sport

The Rest Is History

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 18.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How and when was football invented, and what are the origins of football clubs? What is the connection between public hangings, highwaymen, and early sporting events? Which is the most historically important sporting ground in the world? When was the first cricket test match played? What are the origins of rugby? Who was Richard Manks - the Lionel Messi of the Victorian period - and what did he achieve? And, what is the history of the mighty Ashes, one of the most celebrated sporting rivalries of all time? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the surprising history of some of the world’s greatest sports, sporting events, and stadiums. Watch The Long Walk exclusively in cinemas 12th September. Book now at thelongwalkmovie.co.uk Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for listening to The Rest is History.
0:02.3	For weekly bonus episodes,
0:04.0	add free listening, early access to series,
0:06.8	and membership of our much-loved chat community,
0:09.5	go to therestishistory.com and join the club.
0:13.2	That is, the rest of walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours, was considered next to an impossibility.
0:35.2	But here we have to record the Wanda doubled. This has been
0:39.6	accomplished on the Surrey cricket ground, Kennington Oval, by Richard Manx, whose feats of walking
0:46.3	present instances of the capability and endurance of the human frame altogether unparalleled.
0:52.9	Manx commenced this feat on Friday the 26th of last September,
0:57.3	but being suddenly attacked with diarrhea, he was compelled to give up on the Monday following,
1:03.0	after having walked 129 miles. His surgeon ordered Manx to rest for a time, to recruit his health and strength.
1:12.8	This the pedestrian reluctantly yielded to, and for a fortnight he remained under medical treatment.
1:18.8	On Friday the 10th of October, he recommenced his great task, starting for the first mile at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
1:26.8	On he went, full of spirit,
1:29.5	completing his first hundred miles at 43 minutes, 15 seconds after 5 o'clock on Sunday evening
1:36.0	the 12th of October. His second 100 miles at 44 minutes, 10 seconds past 7 o'clock on Tuesday,
1:43.3	the 14th of October. And finally, after completing
1:47.5	another 799 miles going for his thousandth mile at half past 11 o'clock on Friday morning,
1:56.3	October the 31st. Manx has been heard to declare that never again will he attempt such a frightful feat.
2:06.8	So that was the Illustrated London News, November 1851.
2:11.7	And Tom, it is recording one of the supreme feats in the history of sport, a triumph over adversity, over adverse
	...

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