The development of sports medicine in twentieth-century Britain : the transcript of a Witness Seminar held by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL London, on 29 June 2007

2009·1.7 MB·English

by  Reynolds, L.A

The DevelopmenT of SporTS meDicine in
TwenTieTh-cenTury BriTain
The transcript of a Witness Seminar held by the Wellcome Trust Centre
for the History of Medicine at UCL, London, on 29 June 2007
edited by l a reynolds and e m Tansey
volume 36 2009
©The Trustee of the wellcome Trust, london, 2009
first published by the wellcome Trust centre
for the history of medicine at ucl, 2009
The wellcome Trust centre for the history of medicine
at ucl is funded by the wellcome Trust, which is
a registered charity, no. 210183.
iSBn 978 085484 121 9
All volumes are freely available online at: www.history.qmul.ac.uk/research/modbiomed/wellcome_witnesses/

Please cite as : Reynolds L A, Tansey E M. (eds) (2009) The Development of Sports Medicine in Twentieth-century Britain.
Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine, vol. 36. London: Wellcome Trust Centre for the
History of Medicine at UCL.
conTenTS
illustrations and credits v
abbreviations vii
witness Seminars: meetings and publications; acknowledgements
E M Tansey and L A Reynolds ix
introduction
John Lloyd Parry xxiii
Transcript
Edited by L A Reynolds and E M Tansey 1
appendix 1
Examples of early sports medicine courses
A. Society of Apothecaries’ syllabus relating to the
diploma in sports medicine, 1989 83
B. Scottish Royal Colleges’ diploma in sports medicine syllabus, 1990 85
appendix 2
Reminiscences on the history of sports medicine
Dr Ian Adams 87
Mr John King 88
Dr Malcolm Read 91
Professor Craig Sharp 91
references 95
Biographical notes 113
Glossary 131
index 139

illuSTraTionS anD creDiTS
figure 1 A device to measure maximum work, 1922.
Hill (1922): 22; reproduced by permission of
the Physiology Society and Wiley-Blackwell. 7
figure 2 Sir Adolphe Abrahams’ 1952 advice for the average
man. Provided by Sir Roger Bannister; Christopher
Johnson, publisher, has not been traced. 10
figure 3 Four-minute bull’s-eye, devised by Harold Abrahams
for the 1953 International Athletics Annual, compiled
by the Association of Track and Field Statisticians
((1953): 15). Reproduced by permission of the
Association of Track and Field Statisticians. 13
figure 4 Advice on track technique from Canham’s 1953
Field Events. Drawings by Tyler Micoleau.
Abraham H M. (ed.) (1953): 34, 106. Provided
by Sir Roger Bannister; H Jenkins, publisher, has not
been traced. 14
figure 5 Dr Henry Robson, 1981, at the 5th Balkan Congress
of Sports Medicine, Izmir, Turkey. Provided by and
reproduced with permission of Ms Elizabeth Robson. 16
figure 6 Dr John Williams, c. 1990. Provided by and
reproduced with permission of Mrs Sally Williams. 21
figure 7 Mr Peter Sebastian, c. 1990. Provided by and
reproduced with permission of Mr Anthony
Sebastian. 26
figure 8 Dr Griffith Pugh, c. 1965. Provided by and
reproduced with permission of Mrs Harriet Tuckey. 32
v
figure 9 Dr Griffith Pugh taking alveolar gas samples from Mr
John Hunt, the leader of the expedition, base camp,
Mount Everest, 1953. Reproduced by permission of
the Royal Geographical Society. 33
figure 10 Logo of the London Sports Medicine Institute,
1986–92. Provided by and reproduced with
permission of Dr Dan Tunstall Pedoe. 66
figure 11 The top table of the Duke of Edinburgh’s conference
on sports medicine, c. 1970. Photo provided by
Dr Ian Adams. 78
vi
aBBreviaTionS*
AAA Amateur Athletic Association (1880)
ACPSM Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports
Medicine (1972)
ACSM American College of Sports Medicine (1954)
AIMS Association Internationale Medico-Sportive (1928)
BAAB British Amateur Athletic Board (1932)
BAMM British Association of Manipulative Medicine (1968)
BASEM British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (1999)
BASES British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (1984)
BASM British Association of Sport and Medicine (1953)
BIMM British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine (1992) formed
by a merger of the Institute of Orthopaedic Medicine and the
British Association of Manipulative Medicine
BJSM British Journal of Sports Medicine (1968)
BOA British Olympic Association (1905)
BOMC British Olympic Medical Centre (1987)
BOSTA British Orthopaedics Sports Trauma Association (1993)
CCPR Central Council for Physical Recreation (1935)
DCMS Department for Culture, Media and Sport (1998)
EIS English Institute of Sport (2002)
ErgRS Ergonomics Research Society (1949)
FIMS Fédération Internationale de Médecine du Sport (1934)
FINA Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur/
International Amateur Swimming Federation (1908)
FIP Fédération Internationale Pharmaceutique/
International Pharmaceutical Federation (1912)
* Dates in parentheses refer to the date of foundation
vii
FSEM Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (2005)
IABSEM Intercollegiate Academic Board of Sport and Exercise
Medicine (1999)
IAC International Athletes’ Club (1958)
IFSM International Federation of Sports Medicine (1928)
IOCMC International Olympic Committee medical commission (1967)
IOM Institute of Orthopaedic Medicine (1905)
ISEM Institute of Sports and Exercise Medicine (2005)
ISM Institute of Sports Medicine (1965–2005, ISEM thereafter)
LSMI London Sports Medicine Institute (1986–92)
MAC British Olympic Association’s medical advisory
committee (1959)
NFC National Fitness Council (1937)
NSMI National Sports Medicine Institute of the UK (1992)
PEA Physical Education Association (1956)
SOM Society of Orthopaedic Medicine (1979)
UKADIS UK Association of Doctors in Sport (2001)
viii
wiTneSS SeminarS:
MEETINGS AND PUBLICATIONS 1
In 1990 the Wellcome Trust created a History of Twentieth Century Medicine
Group, associated with the Academic Unit of the Wellcome Institute for the
History of Medicine, to bring together clinicians, scientists, historians and others
interested in contemporary medical history. Among a number of other initiatives
the format of Witness Seminars, used by the Institute of Contemporary British
History to address issues of recent political history, was adopted, to promote
interaction between these different groups, to emphasize the potential benefits
of working jointly, and to encourage the creation and deposit of archival sources
for present and future use. In June 1999 the Governors of the Wellcome Trust
decided that it would be appropriate for the Academic Unit to enjoy a more
formal academic affiliation and turned the Unit into the Wellcome Trust Centre
for the History of Medicine at UCL from 1 October 2000. The Wellcome
Trust continues to fund the Witness Seminar programme via its support for
the Centre.
The Witness Seminar is a particularly specialized form of oral history, where
several people associated with a particular set of circumstances or events are
invited to come together to discuss, debate, and agree or disagree about their
memories. To date, the History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group has held
more than 50 such meetings, most of which have been published, as listed on
pages xiii–xxi.
Subjects are usually proposed by, or through, members of the Programme
Committee of the Group, which includes professional historians of medicine,
practising scientists and clinicians, and once an appropriate topic has been
agreed, suitable participants are identified and invited. This inevitably leads to
further contacts, and more suggestions of people to invite. As the organization
of the meeting progresses, a flexible outline plan for the meeting is devised,
usually with assistance from the meeting’s chairman, and some participants are
invited to ‘set the ball rolling’ on particular themes, by speaking for a short
period to initiate and stimulate further discussion.
1 The following is the standard introductory text to the Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century
Medicine series.
ix
Each meeting is fully recorded, the tapes are transcribed and the unedited transcript
is sent to every participant. Each is asked to check his or her own contributions and
to provide brief biographical details. The editors turn the transcript into readable
text, and participants’ minor corrections and comments are incorporated into that
text, while biographical and bibliographical details are added as footnotes, as are
more substantial comments and additional material provided by participants. The
final scripts are then sent to every contributor, accompanied by forms assigning
copyright to the Wellcome Trust. Copies of all additional correspondence received
during the editorial process are deposited with the records of each meeting in
archives and manuscripts, Wellcome Library, London.
As with all our meetings, we hope that even if the precise details of some of the
technical sections are not clear to the non-specialist, the sense and significance
of the events will be understandable. Our aim is for the volumes that emerge
from these meetings to inform those with a general interest in the history of
modern medicine and medical science; to provide historians with new insights,
fresh material for study, and further themes for research; and to emphasize to
the participants that events of the recent past, of their own working lives, are of
proper and necessary concern to historians.
members of the programme committee of the
history of Twentieth century medicine Group, 2008–09
professor Tilli Tansey – professor of the history of modern medical sciences, Wellcome
Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL (WTCHM) and chair
Sir christopher Booth – WTCHM, former director, Clinical Research Centre,
Northwick Park Hospital, London
mrs lois reynolds – senior research assistant, WTCHM, and organizing secretary
Dr John ford – retired general practitioner, Tonbridge
professor richard himsworth – former director of the Institute of Health,
University of Cambridge
professor mark Jackson – Centre for Medical History, Exeter
professor John pickstone – Wellcome research professor, University of Manchester
Dr helga Satzinger – reader in history of twentieth century biomedicine, WTCHM
professor lawrence weaver – professor of child health, University of Glasgow, and
consultant paediatrician in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow
x