Ducking and Diving: Britain, Basketball and Brunel in the 1980s

"Ducking and Diving" delves into the fall of British basketball popularity by looking at the history of basketball, of Brunel University, and Britain in the 1980s.

Basketball is the world's second most popular sport. So why did it never take off in Britain? It could have been so different. Thirty years ago basketball was the flagship sport of Channel Four television - awash with marketing, millionaires and Man Utd.

Within five years, it had all gone wrong. Amidst the chaos, British basketball acquired its strangest ever national champions. How this happened is part of the history of basketball, of Brunel University, and the Britain of the 1980's

A Britain where attitudes towards work and money were revolutionised, confused and ultimately discarded. Just like basketball itself.

About an Author

John Kirkland is the world's most unlikely basketball impresario. Never young, he spent his youth worrying about politics, the environment and Rotherham United football club.

He then spent an astonishing eighteen years at university, including seven worrying about his doctorate, before settling into a mildly respectable academic career.

Now Deputy Secretary-General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, he has a quarter of the world to worry about. He has never written a sports book before, and may never be allowed to again.