News

Original version

BBC World Service Online

Sporting Witness

Podcasts

Factual: History

Sport

The inside and personal story of the key moments from sporting history

Sporting Witness: London's Austerity Olympics

Documentaries

London's Austerity Olympics

28/01/2012

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, London's Austerity Olympics

How the 1948 Olympics helped London emerge from its post-war gloom.

In 1948, London hosted what became known as the "Austerity Olympics".

The games were held just three years after the end of World War II - in a city where streets were still scarred by bombing and Londoners still lived on rationing.

The Olympics helped lift the mood of the nation.

Helena Merriman talks to Dorothy Tyler, who competed in the high jump in 1948.

This programme was first broadcast in 2010.

PHOTO: Dorothy Tyler in action (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

BBC World Service

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Sporting Witness

London's Austerity Olympics

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service