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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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amateur
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Admiration for the amateur (doing a task for the love of it rather than for money, and preferably with an easy nonchalance) has been a long-standing and in many ways debilitating tradition in Britain. The word was used in this sense from the late 18C, mainly in the arts, and acquired its greatest force with the 19C cult of *games in the *public schools. The persistence of the amateur spirit is seen in the division between Gentlemen and Players in *cricket until 1962; and it was not till 1972 that the Football Association abolished the distinction. In tennis, by contrast, Britain was in the forefront of change; in 1968 *Wimbledon was the first of the Grand Slam tournaments to admit professionals.
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