In the Sixties the Rank Organization produced a series of short films, LOOK AT Britain, that formed curtain-raisers to the main features in their cinemas. All of them were filmed in color, and offer a vivid portrait of a changing Britain, a country that had at last rid itself of the years of austerity and was now looking forward to a more affluent future.
"This Sporting Life" offers snapshots of how sports embraced both tradition and change. In soccer the maximum wage had been abolished, and players could now afford to make a living from the game. Coaches such as Jimmy Hill, Malcolm Allison and Alf Ramsey worked hard to improve the standard of the game at every level, and thereby extricate it from its backstreet origins into the "beautiful game" we know today. Cricket likewise had changed: the distinctions between amateurs and professionals had been abolished, although at the village level the game continued to embrace certain timeless qualities, such as the ritual of the tea interval.
Other sports enjoyed unrivaled popularity. With more ready money to spend, people began to take up golf as a pastime, or spent money on skiing in Europe. Neither of these sports had been especially popular in the previous decade, but now more money was available to spend on leisure-time activities.
Motor-racing was still a highly dangerous sport, with many drivers losing their lives due to horrific crashes; but still many youngsters wanted to take it up. If they were not sufficiently proficient, they could become stock-car racers, making souped-up models for themselves out of used car parts and racing (or was it crashing) them for minimal financial rewards.
This collection of films depicted a world of boundless optimism, of increasing horizons for people as they spread their wings and enjoyed the benefits of an expanding economy. In today's crisis- ridden times, the Sixties resemble a Golden Age that can never be recovered.