“How Tennis Invented Everything” with tennis historian, Christian Howgill

About Christian

Before writing "How Tennis Invented Everything,” Christian had written for many TV shows like: BBC’s Jasper Carrott for the Carrott Confidential show, which was twice nominated for a Palm d’Or in Cannes; He also wrote for Rory Bremner’s And Now Something Else; and Clive Anderson Talks Back on Channel 4. For radio he has written for various shows like Weekending, Two Cheers, and The News Huddlines, for BBC Radio 4.

He was a regular satirists on the Sideswipes column for Punch Magazine, and was a named columnist on Excel Magazine, Edge Magazine, FORE! Magazine, and Today’s Golfer.

He has worked in the tennis world for over 20 years, including as the Editor of The Queen’s Club Magazine, where he sourced many of the stories you will hear tonight.

The book had a fairly quiet launch initially but all that changed when The Daily Mail featured it in a double page spread during Wimbledon last year, describing it as a love letter to tennis. This led to it being taken up by several major bookstores, including Waterstones, and consequently Christian started to get invited onto the literary festival scene, as well as to book fairs and even to history festivals all over the UK.

And the book itself has also been inducted into the AELTC's library and museum complex for finally solving the puzzle of why tennis is scored at 15 points at a time, something that has baffled scholars and historians for almost six centuries - until now.

It’s also been spotted in Buckingham Palace and No 10 Downing Street. And just earlier this year the book received one of American Sports highest accolades when it was inducted in The Tennis Hall Of Fame as well.