Your obituary of the crime writer Peter Lovesey mentions his history of athletics The Kings of Distance (1968), and I knew him as an inspirational figure from this parallel universe.
His publication with Tom McNab in 1969 of The Guide to British Track and Field Literature, 1275-1968 was the spur to me to pursue the history of club athletics in Britain. Alongside this he authored The Official Centenary History of the AAA (1979), and another pivotal piece of research, An Athletics Compendium (2001), written by Lovesey, McNab and Andrew Huxtable and published by the British Library, built very significantly on his 1969 survey. Later came Black Athletes in Britain: The Pioneers (2024).
When I was researching athletic club histories about 30 years ago, he wrote to offer his assistance, which I gladly accepted. I met him only once – at a British Society for Sports History Conference – when, very self-effacingly, he came up to me and said quietly: “I’m Peter.”
