GBGB Stories, a new video interview series from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB), shines a spotlight on the people, greyhounds and untold stories that make British greyhound racing so important.

In the first episode, GBGB Director of Corporate Affairs Abbie MacGregor sits down with Professor Keith Laybourn of the University of Huddersfield. A Diamond Jubilee Professor Emeritus, Professor Laybourn specialises in the social and political history of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain, with a particular focus on labour history and the working class.

Throughout his distinguished career, Professor Laybourn has published extensively on British social history, including the first national study of greyhound racing, Going to the Dogs: A History of Greyhound Racing in Britain, 1926–2017.

In this wide-ranging conversation, he reflects on the sport’s centenary, the origins of modern greyhound racing and its rapid rise to become one of Britain’s most popular working-class leisure activities, famously described as “an Ascot for the common man”.

Commenting on the episode, Abbie said:

“Professor Laybourn’s work reveals that the argument surrounding greyhound racing was never simply about gambling, but about who was gambling.

“Greyhound racing gave millions of working-class people something that very little else had offered them: excitement, employment, community and a shared social experience that was genuinely accessible. Yet its enormous contribution to working-class life has too often been overlooked. 

“What is most striking about this conversation is how contemporary it feels. A hundred years later, we still hear public figures making judgements about which businesses are supposedly good for communities and which leisure choices ordinary people should be trusted to make.

“That makes Professor Laybourn the perfect first guest for GBGB Stories. We want this series to introduce new audiences to the people, history and experiences that make greyhound racing special, while also revealing something new to those who have loved the sport throughout their lives. The episode covers so much of the early history of the sport, and I learned so many things I didn’t know before!” 

GBGB will release a new episode of GBGB Stories each month, exploring the people, places and stories that have helped shape greyhound racing in Britain.

Anyone with an interesting story or topic they would like to discuss with the GBGB Stories team can email abbie.macgregor@gbgb.org.uk.