Pioneers in Bloomers: The True Story of the Pedestriennes - British Sport's First Female Celebrities

Women's sport is finally flourishing in Britain. But still largely unrecognised are the pioneering efforts of the Victorian era 'pedestriennes' who laid the foundations for modern woman to participate in professional sport.

Dozens of these working-class women abandoned humdrum lives to become history's first professional sportswomen. They bravely put personal safety and decorum aside to tackle astonishing walking contests of 1,000 miles or more, competing against each other or against the cl...