Sporting Life (British newspaper)

The Sporting Life was a British newspaper published from 1859 until 1998, best known for its coverage of horse racing and greyhound racing.[1] Latterly it has continued as a multi-sports website.

Priced at one penny, 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.[1] 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 in May 1998; a proposed relaunch was aborted in 1999.[2]

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 until PA Sporting Life Ltd was sold to 365 Media Group (then known as ukbetting plc, now a division of British Sky Broadcasting) 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.[3]

The Sporting Life was said to be the late Queen Mother's favourite newspaper. The eccentric racing pundit John McCririck was a journalist on the paper and later wrote a column for the website. In the popular television series Agatha Christie's Poirot, it was shown to be a paper read by Poirot's associate Captain Hastings.[4]