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The Oxford v Cambridge Men\u2019s Boat Race has been an annual tradition since 1856 - but the first one was the result of a light-hearted bet between two friends called Charles on 10th June, 1829.\nWhen Wordsworth (Christ Church College, Oxford) and Merivale (St. John\u2019s, Cambridge) challenged each other to race up the Thames in Henley, they never could have known their schoolboy jape would attract 20,000 spectators, nor that it would go on to become one of the major sporting events in the British calendar.\xa0\nIn this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion consider if rowing is still an elitist sport; whether Oxbridge colleges should now ditch the pretence that they never admit postgraduate students specifically to participate in the race; and reveal Hugh Laurie\u2019s consolation prize for losing for Cambridge in 1980\u2026\nFurther Reading:\xa0\n\u2022 \u2018Origins of the Boat Race\u2019 at the Boat Race\u2019s official website:\nhttps://theboatrace.org/origins\n\u2022 111 years after the original race, Oxford and Cambridge compete in Henley again (British Path\xe9, 1940):\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQSsei8KxCw\n\u2022 \u2018Ten Things You Didn\u2019t Know About The Boat Race\u2019 from Sky History: https://www.history.co.uk/article/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-boat-race\nIf you enjoy this episode, there's more of Olly, Arion and Rebecca chatting about the boat race over on our Patreon page, patreon.com/Retrospectors.\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.\n#1800s #Sport #Rowing #White #UK\n\xa0\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices