The Great Days of Sunderland should be compulsory reading for every Black Cats fan. After a grim few years, it's important to remember that things were once very different for the club. David Potter transports us back to Sunderland's past glories - from the 'team of all the talents' that dominated English football in the 1890s, to the side that almost won the double in 1913, the great team of the 1930s that challenged the riches of Arsenal and the most recent success of 50 years a...

The years 1951 to 1964 were years of undeniable prosperity and progress. They were the years in which Conservative Governments decided not to dismantle Labour's National Health Service and Welfare State, and for this they must be given a certain amount of credit. The four prime ministers concerned were all from an aristocratic background, but they had learned very quickly that times had changed and that they had to change with them. The result was that these years (and the periods of Labou...

The Scottish League Cup is often wrongly described as the 'Cinderella' of Scottish football, as distinct from its two ugly sisters, the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup. Dating from the Second World War, it is certainly the youngest. The trophy is unusual, if not unique, in having three handles. It is a major part of the Scottish season, and has been keenly contested for 75 years. Sixteen teams have won the cup. Unsurprisingly, the big Glasgow clubs have won it the most, but Aberdeen, ...

Newcastle United are a team that really should do better. They have a football-mad city all to themselves and fans as numerous and passionate as you will find anywhere. Yet their recent record is mediocre at best and poor at worst, with every fan painfully aware that 1955 was the last time they won a major English trophy. But it wasn't always like that. In the Magpies' glory days of well over 100 years ago, they were considered the best team in the world. They won the English league three ...

The Scottish League Cup is often wrongly described as the 'Cinderella' of Scottish football, as distinct from its two ugly sisters, the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup. Dating from the Second World War, it is certainly the youngest. The trophy is unusual, if not unique, in having three handles. It is a major part of the Scottish season, and has been keenly contested for 75 years. Sixteen teams have won the cup. Unsurprisingly, the big Glasgow clubs have won it the most, but A...

The Celtic v Rangers clash in Glasgow is one of football's major events, attracting a huge TV audience worldwide. Author David Potter revels in the joy that a victory over the old rivals brings to the Celtic support, reliving some of the club's greatest ever derby-day triumphs from the 1890s right up to date.

The 25th May 1967 is a date ingrained into the DNA of every Celtic supporter. Their club will always be the first British winners of the European Cup, having beaten Inter Milan in the final with a late Stevie Chalmers goal, on a balmy Lisbon night - but for some, grainy YouTube clips and faded news cuttings of that glorious sixties evening are their main insight into the club's finest day. Launched ahead of the 50th anniversary of the triumph, I Remember 67 Well brings to life the legend a...

How can film and popular culture help us think through ecological crises in religious and theological terms?In this book, Brett David Potter contends that film can help viewers come to grips with the spiritual implications of living in this new epoch defined by climate crisis. Across eight chapters, Potter pairs ecological insights gathered from ancient religious stories and rituals with examples from contemporary Western films in the science fiction genre and beyo...

The South African tour of England in 1960 was far from ordinary. The Springboks, under captain Jackie McGlew - and with fine players like Roy McLean, Hugh Tayfield and Neil Adcock - arrived full of confidence, but that confidence was quickly shaken. The tour began a few weeks after the Sharpeville massacre of April that year, and the cricket took place just as the world was waking up to the evils of apartheid. Then there was the 'no-balling' of Geoff Griffin, a controversy that had a great...

The Scottish Cup: Celtic's Favourite Trophy is the story of Celtic's love affair with football's oldest prize. The club first won the cup in 1892, an achievement that meant so much to the young side and their struggling, oppressed community. In the years that followed this special trophy became entwined with the club's identity through many unforgettable moments. Jimmy Quinn scored the first hat-trick in a Scottish Cup final in 1904, there was Patsy Gallacher's extraordinary goal ...

By any measure, Julius Caesar is one of the most significant and famous figures in Roman history. Self-identified as a "popular" politician, he advocated for effective government to better the lives of average Romans,Âbut believed such a government could not be based upon the existing democracy. Only through his personal authority and the massive organization he built to overthrow the government could the prosperity of all Rome's citizens be ensured. Through a careful analysis of the ancie...

After Star Trek: Enterprise concluded in 2005, Star Trek went on hiatus until the 2009 film Star Trek and its sequels. With the success of these films, Star Trek returned to the small screen with series like Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. These films and series, in different ways, reflect cultural shifts in Western society. Theology and Star Trek gathers a group of scholars from various religious and theological disciplines to reflect upon the connection between theology and St...