‘Learning to Speak Softly’: the
autobiography of Roberta Cowell
Jean Williams
International Centre for Sports
History and Culture DMU
Introduction: Gender as a relational concept;
RC’s autobiography and historical time
Main Topic: An overview of the autobiography
of Robert/ Roberta Cowell
Concluding Wider Context:
1. British Motor Racing history
2. Resisting the linear sequence in sports history
Some wonderful recent work on gender as a
relational concept i.e. Kasia Boddy Boxing: A
Cultural History and Erik Jensen Body By Weimar
History and time: Lynda Nead’s The Haunted Gallery
using Michel Serres’ work – compared time to
water and conceptualised it as kinetic
‘Historical time is imagined as folded, pleated, and
kneaded: it is spatial and topological, a dynamic
volume, rather than a linear sequence.’
Motor racing & esp. biography of drivers makes this
point nicely.
Roberts Cowell’s
Story: An
Autobiography is
an historical
example
exploring the
gendered
identities of one
individual – very
much in and of
its time
I wanted to fly fighter aircraft, drive fast
cars, and perform other feats. In my daydreams I would be the schoolboy’s idol;
heroically doing fantastically courageous
things, then nonchalantly signing
autographs…
My favourite sports were tennis and
fencing, but I scraped into the Rugger XV
as a wing three-quarter.
‘There is no such thing as a plain or
ugly woman, only those who do not
know how to make the best of
themselves.’
Concluding Wider Context
1.Motor Racing after WW2 1945-1976
-1946 GP of Nations Geneva; Italian cars
dominated Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari and
into the 1950s also Mercedes Benz
-1946 newly formed Federation Internationale de
l’ Automobile (FIA) established rules for GP and
the term Formula One used for first time
-1947 British anxiety for a national racing car led
to est. British Racing Motors (BRM) Trust with
100 companies pledging support, driver
Raymond Mays and engineer Peter Berthon
1949 British GP held at Silverstone; first
Motorcycle World Championship in 1949
1950 First Formula One Drivers’ Championship
(those of the 1920s now ignored by
historians as ‘unofficial’); first event to
count towards this held at Silverstone & then
Geneva; Spa; Rheims; Monza and
Nurburgring, plus Indy 500
The ‘British School’ develops (Stirling Moss
wins his first TT at 21; many circuits built on
disused airfields; lighter Formula 3 acted
as a talent identification class and BRMs
became more successful)
1964
1965
1966
1968
1969
1972
John Surtees wins GP World Championship title
Jim Clark won 6 GPs and Indy 500
New 3 litre formulation for GP
‘Wing’ and ‘Wedge’ designs developed
Stewart’s first World Championship
Ecclestone takes over at Brabham team, BRM win last
Monaco GP, Lotus, Cooper, and Tyrell important teams
1973 Jackie Stewart’s last season & third World
Championship, most successful driver in GP history 27
victories in 99 starts
1975 Death of Graham Hill; many GP cars use British parts and
especially engines
1976 James Hunt (Hunt-the Shunt) becomes F1 World
Champion; Barry Sheene becomes Motorcycle World
Champion –the British Playboy Motor Racing Stereotype
2. Resisting the linear sequence in sports history
Brooklands 1908-1939 might have been more
important for women’s contribution to motor
racing than 1946-1976 but…
Then again, how do we define ‘motor racing’
‘women’s contribution’ and ‘important’
(the ‘Dog-house Owner’s Club’ versus the Jackie
Stewart legend)
(Rallying in 1950s and 60s Sheila Van Damm Pat
Moss and Anne Wisdom, driving equestrians)
Gender and sporting bodies: has the urge to classify, regulate and binarise
become more intense since WW2?
The 2011 ‘Caster Semenya ruling’: A female with hyperandrogenism who is
recognised as a female in law will be eligible to compete in women's
competition in athletics provided that she has androgen levels below the
male range (measured by reference to testosterone levels in serum) or, if
she has androgen levels within the male range she also has an androgen
resistance which means that she derives no competitive advantage from
such levels.’
As part of their remit to govern and develop sport, national and international
organisations classify and legislate on gender (among other identities) in
ways that are conservative and out of touch with the way that we would
behave in other areas of our lives. While some athletes such as Dennis
Rodman can play with this still, there are cases such as Eudy Simelane, the
lesbian rights campaigner and South African football player who was killed
in a ‘corrective rape’ gang murder in 2008.
How can we historicise gender relations in sport as integral to our research and
writing?