The Coup, the Poet and the Secret to Winning Wimbledon - podcast episode cover

The Coup, the Poet and the Secret to Winning Wimbledon

Jul 07, 202336 minEp 18Transcript available on Metacast
--:--
--:--
Listen in podcast apps:

Episode description

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss..."

Those words - from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" - were based on charismatic nineteenth century doctor, Leander Starr Jameson. In Britain, Jameson was worshipped as a plucky hero: a bastion of courage and mental fortitude. Ironically, he was also responsible for the Jameson Raid, a South African coup that was an unmitigated disaster.

Kipling's champion might have spearheaded a fiasco - but could the poem "If" hold clues for triumph in another arena?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.