All academic publications owe a debt of gratitude to the generosity of others, and this is especially the case in the writing of this book. My colleagues and ex-colleagues in the history section of the University of Huddersfield have been very supportive, and these include Sarah Bastow, Barry Doyle, Rob Ellis, Rebecca Gill, Katherine Lewis, John Shepherd, David Taylor and Paul Ward. I would also like to thank the support of Brendan Evans, formerly Professor of Politics and a Pro-Vice Chancellor, and Chris Ellis and Neil Pye, two of my former students.
Many thanks must also go to Tony Mason (Senior Commissioning Editor), Robert Byron, and my copy editor, for their help in preparing this book. Without their careful guidance, and that of the rest of the staff of Manchester University Press, this book would have been much longer in the making.
A considerable amount of this research has been conducted in the National Archives at Kew. I would therefore like to thank the National Archives, which gives automatic rights to quote from government documents and papers, under the rules of the Government Open Licence, which merely requires that proper attribution is made. I would also like to thank the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (Norwich) for permission to quote from crown copyright material, which is also subject to the rules of the Government Open Licence. In addition, I would also like to thank Julie Lamara, Collections Access Officer-Local Studies, of the Bolton Archives Museum and Archive for the use of its collections on local government and religious reaction to the emergence of greyhound tracks and also to the History Press (previously Tempus) for the use of several quotes from Brian Belton’s book on When West Ham went to the Dogs (2002), although their usage falls well within the normally accepted publishers’ guidelines. Many secondary sources have been used in the writing of this book but they are not substantial and fall well within the normal guidelines set by publishers, and all the sources have been fully attributed
Every effort has been made to avoid any infringements of copyright. However, I apologise unreservedly to any copyright holders whose permission has been inadvertently overlooked.