Black British History |

Gary Shaw

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Affiliation: Independent Sports Historian and Writer; Boxing Reporter for BBC Merseyside

Location: Liverpool, Merseyside

Contact: merseybox@yahoo.co.uk

Research Description:

Gary’s main area of research is the history of sport, particularly boxing and football. He has written two social and sporting histories of Liverpool FC (reviews of the 1946/47 title winning season and the 1985/86 double) and a two volume collection of biographies of former local boxers: Mersey Fighters 1 and Mersey Fighters 2. A third volume, aptly titled Mersey Fighters 3, is due to be published in November 2015.

Specific research on black sporting personalities include four biographies of pre-2WW black British boxers for the ODNB as well as one each from the 1950s & 1960s: middleweight Len Johnson – one of Europe’s best boxers in the late 1920s and who would later stand as a Communist Party candidate in five general elections; heavyweights Tommy Martin and Larry Gains – the former retiring a wealthy man in California the latter later publishing an autobiography entitled The Impossible Dream; Liverpool-based British Guinean Richie Kid Tanner – ranked in the world’s top 5 flyweights in 1939; and Nigerian world champions Hogan Kid Bassey and Dick Tiger.

He is currently researching the life and times of South African welterweight, Andrew Jeptha, the first black British boxing champion (1907) as well as a broader history of black boxers in Britain.

Research Keywords: Sport; Sports History; Boxing; Football.

Countries and Regions of Interest: UK, Liverpool, Merseyside.

Publications: 

Mersey Fighters 1 (Milo Books, 2004)

Mersey Fighters 2 (Gary Shaw, 2007)

At the End of the Storm – the remarkable story of Liverpool FC’s greatest ever league title triumph (Gary Shaw, 2009)

On the March with Kenny’s Army – how Liverpool FC overcame tragedy and despair to win the league and FA Cup double 1985/86 (Gary Shaw, 2011)

Links:

Twitter: @GaryMerseybox