Introduction - inequalities and health, Virginia Berridge; Part 1 Britain before the Black Report: the dimensions of inequality - height, and weight variation in Britain 1700-2000, Roderick Floud; health, class place and politics - social capital and collective provision in Britain, Simon Szreter; from social structure to social behaviour in Britain after the Second World War, Dorothy Porter; investigating inequalities in health before Black, Charles Webster. Part 2 The Black Report: comments the Black committee on health inequalities (1977-80) - a personal view of its work, Stuart Blume; the origin of the Black Report - a conversation with Richard Wilkinson, Virginia Berridge; dispelling the myths of the Black Report - a memoir, Patrick Jenkin; witness seminar the Black Report and The Health Divide, Virginia Berridge; the second Black Report? - the Acheson Report as another opportunity to tackle health inequalities, Mark Exworthy; before and after the Black Report - four fallacies, Sally Macintyre.