Sport

Britain's Olympic success was the result of marrying science with sporting methodology. Can the same techniques be applied to history?

Each period has its heroes who inhabit the moment. Today we are living in the age of the sporting superstar.

The modern Olympic Games are an international phenomenon, often criticised for their controlling commercialism. However, as Mihir Bose explains, they owe their origins to a  celebrated novel set in an English public school.

The Oscar-winning film is re-released ahead of the Olympic Games.

The ancient Greek Olympics were just as enmeshed in international politics, national rivalries and commercial pressures as their modern counterpart.

London 2012 will be the biggest television spectacle ever. Taylor Downing reflects on the extraordinary links between the Olympics and the moving picture throughout their histories.

Mihir Bose asks why sport has become so central to modern culture.

Ed Smith considers contingency, a factor central to both sport and history.

Viv Saunders reveals how sport and society are intertwined.