Do you know who Dr. Frank Raymond Leavis is? He has had more cultural impact through his writing than perhaps any British Humanities scholar of the 20 th Century. He was the leading light in a movement that lent credence to the idea that novels were of artistic value. Seems silly doesn’t it? Obviously novels are important, The Bronte’s, Dickens all that. Surely someone must have read them before and thought these things are quite good? Well they may have done, but it was Leavis who was the first person to give them academic weight. He propagated the belief that popular literature was as important if not more so than the classical texts so prevalent in the education systems of the time, because they were reflective of the culture that produced them. He is the reason you probably didn’t spend days slaving over Latin grammar in secondary school. So why am I battling on about a long dead Cambridge lecturer? Well it’s to do with the methods we use to appreciate popular culture....
The history of women's wrestling is not always pleasant, and in this article I tried to outline its complete history in North America to bring people up to date on the whole story as women's wrestling began to rise. Tomorrow four women will wrestle for a recognised world title at Wembley Stadium, which would have been impossible the last time a major company played the same venue. While there are plenty of things to fix, here is a revisit to my story of how things got started. This was first published on WrestleTalk.Tv sometime in 2015. The recent passing of Mae Young closes the book on a story of professional wrestling that should never be forgotten. It is easy to see her as a lovable old rogue passing her last days by having some fun on an international stage. Picking up a few last pay days to ease her retirement, one might say being exploited for comedic gain, but her story starts at the very beginning of big time women's wrestling in North America and if you like tale...