Jon Hughes and Boxing
German boxing in the 1930s in the eighth Sport in History Podcast brought to you by the British Society of Sport History in association with the Institute of Historical Research where this week Geoff is talking to Dr Jon Hughes of Royal Holloway, University of London. Jon talks to us about the paper he gave at the IHR which focused on the biggest ever boxing match to take place in Europe between Max Schmeling and Walter Neusel in August 1934. The fight was a significant event in the cultural and social transformation of Germany brought about by the rise of the Nazi régime in the 1930s and was a forerunner to the 'Fight of the Century' between Schmeling and Joe Louis in 1938. The paper was based on research that Jon conducted in writing his book, Max Schmeling and the Making of a German Hero in Twentieth-Century Germany, which traces Schmeling's career from Weimar to the Cold War. Geoff also talks to Jon about his work on the journalist and novelist Joseph Roth, in particular his classic novel set in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Radetzky March. And listeners will also be interested in the exhibition that Jon is curating at Royal Holloway on the work of the soccer photographer Peter Robinson which will be on display to coincide with the Euro 2020 whose final matches will be played in Wembley in July next year. Dr Jon Hughes is Reader in German and Cultural Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. His wide-ranging research interests lie in the field of modern German and Austrian literature and film, in particular of the interwar period (1918-1939), and in cultural and media responses to sport and leisure in the German-speaking countries. Current projects include a re-assessment of the work of the Austrian-Jewish sports journalist Willy Meisl, and a study of the representation of leisure in German film of the 1920s and 1930s.