Debating British influence on our sporting character

John Bull has always divided opinion. To our neighbours, he came to symbolise the best of British: A jovial, chubby, but solid and honest character of rural stock. For others (ie pretty much everyone else), this representation came to be viewed in very different terms. Just how different was apparent in a New York Times piece from 1861.

Written at the start of the American Civil War, when Britain’s sympathies were being questioned, it criticised the sacrifice of Mary Stuart, the annihilation of Napoleon, the Opium Wars with China, and the brutal crushing of what was termed the ‘Indian Revolt’ by the world’s pre-eminent power.