The ''Sporting Life'' was a British newspaper published from 1859 until 1998, best known for its coverage of

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

and

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

. Latterly it has continued as a multi-sports website. Priced at one

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

, the ''Sporting Life'' initially appeared twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It became a daily newspaper in 1883, and in 1886 acquired its rival, ''

Bell's Life in London ''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886. History ''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William I ...

''. In 1924 the newspaper sponsored the 1924 Women's Olympiad held at Stamford Bridge in London. The paper continued publication until its merger with the ''

Racing Post ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 6 ...

'' in May 1998; a proposed relaunch was aborted in 1999. On 20 December 1996, before the newspaper arm closed, ''Sporting Life'' launched an online version of the paper
sportinglife.com
The site was run as a joint venture between Trinity Mirror and the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

until PA Sporting Life Ltd was sold to 365 Media Group

(then known as ukbetting plc, now a division of

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

) on 14 October 2001. In February 1998 the newspaper lost a High Court libel action brought by racehorse owners Jack and Linda Ramsden and jockey

Kieren Fallon Kieren Francis Fallon (born 22 February 1965 in Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland) is a retired Irish professional flat racing jockey and was British Champion Jockey six times. Career Stable jockey to Henry Cecil In ...

. The ''Sporting Life'' was said to be the late

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

's favourite newspaper. The eccentric racing pundit

John McCririck John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist. McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...

was a journalist on the paper and later wrote a column for the website. In the popular television series ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Poirot'' (also known as ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'') is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. David Suchet starred as the eponymous detective, Agatha Christie's fictional Her ...

'', it was shown to be a paper read by

Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and ''Alibi''), and more ...

's associate

Captain Hastings Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel ''The Mysterious Aff ...

.''Poirot'': season 3 episode 9 (48:50)

References

Bibliography *

See also

References

Further reading