Academics will help produce a 30-part radio series charting the history of British sport.

Staff from the International Centre for Sport History and Culture (ICSHC) at De Montfort University will work with BBC Radio 4 and broadcaster and presenter Clare Balding to make the programmes.

The series will follow the development of sport in the UK from the 18th century to the present.

Professor Richard Holt, ICSHC director, said: "We hope to be able to bring much of the excellent work being done on the history of sport in Britain in the last generation to a far bigger audience than ever before. Over seven hours of radio time in the prime outlet for serious public discussion in Britain will give a new prominence to the history of sport and maximise its public impact."

The series will be broadcast in next year in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.