Up to Scratch

"The fight game in the raw great contests and some really hard men. What a life!" Roy Shaw Prize-fighting was one of the greatest sporting attractions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Prize-fights attracted thousands of spectators from all walks of life and, nothwithstanding its illegality, was patronised by royalty and the aristocracy. The area outside London around Barnet, Whetstone, Finchley and...