When the Olympics came to London in 1948, post-war Britain was in an economic crisis far worse than today.
Oxford author Janie Hampton’s book The Austerity Olympics (Aurum, £8.99) was first published in 2008, before the financial crisis, and is reissued this month, in time for the 2012 Olympics. The Heath Robinson improvisation — with one competitor’s mother sewing his shorts from old towelling, and athletes sleeping in schools and travelling by double-decker bus — would surprise 2012’s cossetted competitors. Despite food rationing and terrible weather, great Olympians such as Emil Zatopek and Fanny Blankers-Koen attracted cheering Londoners to Wembley Stadium. The author conducted more than 200 interviews, and her book brings to life the era of ‘make-do and mend’ with songs, anecdotes and original artefacts. The reissue coincides with a TV film based on one of her interviews. Bert and Dickie, starring Dr Who actor Matt Smith, is to be shown on BBC1 in May.
Janie Hampton, above, now Olympics correspondent for The Oldie magazine, will be at the Oxford Literary Festival on April 1.
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