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The purpose of this paper is to identify the changes in the finances, expenditure, and membership levels of the English county cricket clubs in the years 1919 to 1962, and to then evaluate the degree to which these changes helped to alter the relationship between the professional and amateur cricketers in the first-class game. The study finds that the decline of the amateur in cricket was partly brought about by the rise in revenues that enabled the clubs to employ more higher quality professionals, and effectively squeeze out the amateurs. It also means that one of the main contributions of the amateur cricketers was to help the lower revenue sides to survive in first-class cricket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing scholarship on the role of the amateur, and amateur societies, in the production and circulation of weather and climate knowledge in the past. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to the actual and potential contribution of contemporary amateur meteorologists in this respect. In this paper we first examine the importance of the amateur historically in the production of local weather knowledge and also in the emergence of professional meteorology. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with members of one contemporary UK based amateur meteorological organisation-the Climatological Observers Link (COL)-we then investigate the nature and extent of contemporary amateur meteorologists' contributions to a wide range of different 'publics' today, which include both popular and professional communities. Finally, we interrogate our interview data to identify whether COL members themselves recognise a wider role for their expertise at a time of increasing popular and scientific interest in weather and climate and in an era when the inclusion of non-certified experts in policy decision making processes is being advocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and organisation of amateur networks of observation in Britain in the period between 1920 and 1940 are addressed in this paper. It examines the geographical, organisational and epistemological associations between networks of ornithological observation (traced through the British Trust for Ornithology), which emerged from the 1920s. and amateur ethnography (traced through Mass-Observation) which emerged in the late 1930s. I approach these 'observational cultures' as spaces which brought together new concepts of the local, of everyday nature and society, as well as the possibilities of changing the everyday. The paper suggests that popular observation during the period partly constituted a refraining of ways of knowing Britain differentiated through the everyday production of natural and social knowledge and the construction of the active citizen and new communities of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During the first decade of the twentieth century, the long cherished ambition of powered flight was finally achieved. For the amateurs who had been exchanging information freely in pursuit of this common goal there appeared the new prospect of a commercial aviation industry, which posed more acutely the dilemma of whether to continue such open exchanges or to seek private profits through trade secrecy and patent protection. The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain espoused an ethos of open communication yet its Journal (established in 1897) encouraged its readers to obtain patent protection. Our paper explores this dilemma and analyses, in particular, the strategic use of publication and patents by the leading aero- and motor-engineer, F. W. Lanchester (1868–1946). With 426 patent applications to his name, not only was Lanchester a prolific patentee; he was also a regular contributor to engineering journals and the author of important works on the theory of aerodynamics and the military deployment of aircraft. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article presents a commentary on a paper by Robert A. Stebbins in a previous issue of The American Sociologist which provided an account of professional and amateur sociology in the U.S. The British organization, Mass Observation existed in a relatively nonintrusive society with (as compared to the U.S.) greater concern for one's own and other people's privacy. Canada and Great Britain may in this respect have more built-in defenses against the risks of some kinds of amateur sociology that the U.S. would have. However, according to the commenter, Stebbins already anticipates this objection by requiring amateurs to be supervised and to start with a certain amount of instruction and proper cautionary comments. By engaging primarily in the use of unobtrusive measures and observations, the amateur will avoid the risks of harm to which Stebbins is already sensitive. The commenter relates that one of the public areas in which he has encouraged such unobtrusive observations is in churches, where the observer in outward appearance is similar to the congregation and hence not seen as an intruder. According to him, he has had a fair amount of experience with undergraduate amateurs of the sort described.

From: Michael Foulkes, Director, Saturn Section, British Astronomical Association [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From: Prof. Michael F Bode, Liverpool John Moores University [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the amateur actors known as spouters, with a particular focus on their imitations of performances by professional actors. According to the author, the activities of these amateurs, usually employed as apprentice tradesmen, can help scholars to understand which dramatic speeches and performances most resonated with 18th-century audiences. It is also suggested that the theater industry encouraged spouters' activities and that spouters' assessments of professional performers' stage practices may have helped to influence and reinforce trends in acting technique. Details on the play "The Apprentice" by Arthur Murphy and its depiction of spouters are presented. Other topics include gatherings of spouters at taverns, and books printed for use by amateur actors.