593. The Fight of the Century

The Rest Is History

Why did two men - John Heenan and and Tom Sayers - illegally meet in a field in Hampshire, in 1860, to brutally fight one another, captivating Britain in the process? What can the fight tell us about the nature of Britishness in the 19th century? Was this the birth of boxing? Who won the infamous boxing match? And, how did the fight change the course of British sport, forever?


In this week’s episode, Tom and Dominic are joined by Professor Robert Colls, to discuss one of the most legendary clashes in English history…


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Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com

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Producer: Theo Young-Smith

Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude 

Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor

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2025-08-20 57 min

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