England's Eastenders - Richard Lewis

It was the moment in English footballing history: Bobby Moore lifting the World Cup at Wembley on a July afternoon in 1966. England had triumphed against West Germany thanks to a hat-trick by Geoff Hurst and a goal by Martin Peters. All three players were from West Ham, the most famous club of London's East End. This is an area synonymous with football success worldwide largely because of the legendary Sunday football mecca of Hackney Marshes, a training ground which, over the last 35 years, has developed star after star for English football. The East End of London has unleashed some of the country's greatest players and personalities, including Jimmy Greaves, Terry Venables and more recently Paul Ince, Ashley Cole and the finest modern-day footballing hero of them all, David Beckham - who started off playing on The Marshes. This title celebrates a tradition that began in the swinging Sixties and moves through the decades to show how the precedent set by Moore when he walked up those 39 steps at Wembley was just a stop-off point in the history of this breeding ground of brilliance.