Odds and quads

These images are taken from the Bowen Collection, now held by the University of Bath, which was assembled as part of the research for a book on the origins and history of judo in the UK.

May 31, 2012




One is a programme for the contest in London between the Anglo-Japanese Judo Club and Germany, featuring a Nazi flag (the fight took place in 1936).

Another is an image from 1922 showing the members of the UK's oldest judo club - the Budokwai - in southwest London.

Sports historian Richard Bowen (1926-2005) trained in bacteriology, served in the Army and then worked as a laboratory technician, but became passionately interested in judo after joining the Budokwai in 1949.

He went on to represent Great Britain at the first World Judo Championships in 1956 and to spend three years training in Tokyo. The material he collected includes photographs, posters, tournament and display programmes, minutes of meetings, working drafts and correspondence.

Mr Bowen donated all of them to Bath in 2004, along with his judo-related books and journals.

Send suggestions for this series on the treasures, oddities and curiosities owned by universities across the world to matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com.

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