Sport in The 1900's

Only France, the initiators of the tournament, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Romania crossed the Atlantic. There were seven South American countries, Mexico and the United States, which was composed mainly of expatriate Scots and English. Not only were the entries mediocre - apart from the finalists, Uruguay and Argentina - the refereeing was abysmal. Argentina were awarded five penalties in their 6 - 3 defeat of Mexico.

DEAN: AHEAD OF THE FIELD

Dixie Dean at the tender age of 21, swept Everton to the championship with a record 60 League goals in 39 matches. Dean, a burly centre-forward and despite his 5ft 10 ins. was lethal in the air. Forty of those 60 goals were headers.

Dean like George Camsell of Middlesborough, who, the season before had scored a record 59 goals, benefitted from the confusion that reigned after the offside law changed. With three matches to go Dean needed nine goals to take the record. he scored two against Aston Villa, four against Burnley and created history in true style by completing his hat-trick against Arsenal eight minutes from the end of the season.

When it was over the fight was inevitably called the St. Valentines Day Massacre, and for once it was not some headline writers fantasy. La Motta met Robinson six times but this was the most one sided of their contests. For 10 rounds Sugar Ray drew the sting from the champion, who had struggled to make the weight. Then Sugar Ray upped the ante and La Motta was in Trouble. In the 13th round he was punched to a complete standstill and the fight was haleted by the referee wih a still proud and stubborn LaMotta upright against the ropes refusing to go down.

Robinson could never come to grips with Turpin's unorthodox, crouching style and was always vulnerable to his left jab. A cut over Robinson's eyebrow in the seventh round made a successful defence virtually impossible. Turpin's reign was short-lived however as 64 days later he made history as the shortest-serving world middleweight champion when he lost the crown to Robinson in New York. THe referee stepped in to save Turpin in the 10th round.

After eight punishing rounds , Rocky Marciano finally shattered the comeback hope of Joe Louis the former champion. Louis acquited himself creditably since his disasterous return to the ring in September the previous year, when Ezzard Charles had spared the great man further punishment by refusing to knock him out and cruising to an easy points victory to keep the world heavyweight crown. Louis had won eight fights in a row since then. But the fading 37 year old was never a real match for the younger Marciano..

For five rounds Louis's splendid left jab kept him in the fight, even splitting Marciano's eyebrow. Bu the sheer power and relentless pressure of Marciano was always going to be too much for Louis. By the end of the seventh round Marciano was clearly ahead on all cards. In the eighth Marciano went in for the kill and put Louis on the floor, and then Marciano knocked him through the ropes. Louis was out, sprawled on the mat with one leg under the bottom rope. The referee began to count then waved his arms and the fight was over.

The headlines the next day told the whole story: "The New Wembley Wizards", "Now it's back to school for England". For the first time in their history England had been beaten on home soil by continental opposition. But that was the least of it. For the first time they were made to look positively second-rate by Ferenc Puskas and his magnificent Magyars. Within 60 seconds, Hungary including Nandor Hidegkuti, Sandor Kocsis and the incomparable Puskas, were ahead when Hidegkuti skillfully drew the centre-half out of position with a swerve and then hit the ball through the gap. The Hungarians went on to play football that combined the individual skills of continental artistry with British enterprise and vigour. By half-time they were 4 - 2 up.

Six months later, despite much soul-searching and seven changes to the team, England could still not cope with Puskas's side as they lost the return match 7 - 1.

The 24 year old Oxford student wanted to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. He had planned everything to the last detail. His training had gone well and he had invited Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, two of his teammates at the Achilles Club, to help him achieve the elusive mark.

But time was runnung out. Somebody was bound to break the barrier. The great Swede Gundur Hagg had come within two seconds. So had John Landy in Australia, and the American Wes Santee was also close. Just when Bannister had given up hope the wind died with only minutes to spare before the start at 6 p.m. The race was on.

Brasher took the lead as was agreed, with Bannister and Chataway on his tail. They were through the first lap in a fast 57.5 secs.and reached the halfway mark in under two minutes. Brasher had done his job, now it was Chataway's turn. The pace slowed an when Bannister went through the bell in 3mins 0.5 secs. his hopes appeared to be fading. He took the lead 200 yards out and surged down the final straight.. "I leapt at the tape" he wrote later "like a man taking his lastspring to save himself from the chasm". My effort was over and i collapsed almost unconscious with an arm on either side of me. It was only then the real pain overtook me.

Bannister's time was 3 mins 59.4 secs. Forty-six days later John Landy of Australia clocked 3mins. 58 secs. in Finland. The stage was set for what was billed as the 'Mile of the Century'. The great rivals lined up at the Bitish Empire Games in Vancouver on August 7.

Landy as always set the pace while Bannister was content to wait. But when Landy glanced over his left shoulder as he entered the final straight Bannister burst past on the right and sprinted to the finish.

Incredibly the race continued to the finish and the drivers were not told of the extent of the tragedy. Eight hours after the accident the other two Mercedes driven by Juan Fangio and Stirling Moss, were pulled out of the race at the express command of the German manufacturers. The organisers believed that cancelling the race would have started a panic and a mass exodus of spectators would have impeded rescue operations. However many thought the race should have been cancelled immediately and Spain, Switzerland and Mexico banned motor racing completely. In France it was suspended until the rules were revised.

Marciano Retires Rocky Marciano retired from the ring on April 21st as the only man to have held the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world without ever being beaten. He had fought 49 times and won all 49, with 43 inside the distance. The fight with Archie Moore the previous September had finished the champion and he intelligently decided to quit with his perfect record intact.

Although Fangio won the world championship the previous year with Ferrari he was never happy with the Maranello regime so he quit and returned to Masarati for the 1957 season. When Ferrari and Masarati lined up for the race in Germany the powerful Ferrari team had decided to run the race on full fuel without pit stops or tyre changes. But Masarati and Fangio planned to run on half fuel. Both teams were planning a tactical duel.

At half-way, Fangio using the weight advantage of a lighter fuel load had built up a 30 second lead over the two Ferraris and then had to stop for fuel and tyres. A bad pit stop meant that his lead became a 50 second deficit.

With 10 laps to go Fangio broke the lap record lap after lap. The 200,000 crowd roared with in anticipation. With two laps to go the deficit was two seconds. On the penultimate lap he passed one Ferrari and then the other to roar home 3.6 secs ahead of his nearest challenger.

It was Fangio's 23rd grand prix victory , his fourth consecutive world championship and his fifth in all.

The Rasunda Stadium , Stockholm, on a wet summer afternoon in 1958. The two amazing goals he scored. For one of them, surrounded by hefty Swedish defenders, in the penelty box, among them Parling, a left-half known for his delicate attentions as 'the Iron Stove' , Pele impervious, simply and cooly hooked the ball over his head, spun and volleyed into the net. Right-footed of course. It was almost always his right foot, especially withis lethal free kicks, though he could use the left when he had to.

He was born in an obscure little town called Tres Coraces - Three Hearts - in the huge state of Minas Geras, Brazil. Later the family would move to Bauru . Pele's father Don Dinho, was a promising footballer whose career was ruined when his knee was smashed in a collision with Augusto, who would captain Brazil in the 1950 World Cup. Edson Arantes Do Nascimento picked up the name of Pele as a child in Bauru but he has never known why. At first he detested it. Kicking around with balls made of old newspaper or rags stuffed in socks, he graduated to the boy's team of the local club and there another Brazilian World Cup star would play his role: the coach Waldemar de Brito who had played in th 1944 World Cup in italy. A bit of a 'shouter', Pele has always paid tribute to his teaching.

Pele's fame spread swiftly to Rio, whence yet another Brazilian World Cup star Tim of 1938 vintage, later to manage the 1982 World Cup team in Spain, arrived. He wanted Pele for the Bangu Club Pele's mother would not have it. She did'nt object, however, to his joining Santos, much nearer home. It would be the only major club of his career.

Perhaps a player, one of total versatility, acrobatic capability, astoundig reflexes and flawless technique, Pele may best be defined by the goals he scored - more than 1000. And by the goals he made for others, for he was utterly unselfish. In the 1970 World Cup final in Mexico City He put Brazil ahead against Italy with another of his majestic headers, soaring high above his markers to thump the ball in to the goal. Late in the second half he created two goals, one for the winger Jairzinho and one for the right back Carlos Alberto, with two exquisite lay-offs to the right which his colleaguse thundered in.

In 1966 Pele arrived for the World Cup in England, despite vowing, after the disgraceful treatment he had endured previously, never to play World Cup football again. Brazil had an ageing team and his own physical condition was in some doubt. He was disgracefully fouled, first by the Bulgarians then the Portuguese who put him out of the second game. "It was", he said later "Only when he saw the film of the World Cup that he realised just how brutally he had been treated.

Cheerful, charming and courteous off the field, Pele alas was twice duped financially, once by his business advisor and once by a fellow teammate who recommended a company which not only went broke but left Pele to pay huge fees when it turned out to have infringed import restrictions.

So it was that having bodyswerved the1974 World Cup he began a new career in the USA with the New York Cosmos.

Retired from the game is still to be seen, immaculate in his white suit, all around the world.

Playing this time for Real Madrid, Puskas demonstrated in mesmerising style that even at age 33, genius is still genius,. In tandem with Alfredo di Stephano also 33, the pair scored 7 goals as Real Madrid retained the European Cup and dazzled Eintracht Frankfurt in th final at Hampden Park.

On May 18th , 127,000 spectators and millions more watching on television, saw for themselves why Real Madrid had won five consecutive European finals and were the undoubted masters of Europe.

Eintracht who had beaten Rangers in the semi-final 12- 4 on aggregate, started well taking the lead in the 19th minute. But they were completely swept away as Puskas and Di Stephano ran riot.

The debate continues over whether the third English goal, also scored by Hurst, was valid or not. England probably deserved their World Cup win if only for their performance in the last two matches . Until then they had been scratching and scraping and needed all the inspiration provided by their indomitable manager Alf Ramsay to see them through to the semi-final.

Ramsay, uncharacteristically, promised when he got the England managerial job in 1962, "We will win the World Cup". But when he was asked if he still thought so a day before the final there was a long strangulated moment before, at last, he was able to say "Yes".

Ramsay, his critics claim, had set a bad example with football which put a premium on hard work and running, scorning those wingers who for so many years had been the pride of English football. With the passing of still more time, lending still better perspective, it is clear that although England had no specialised wingers, and the players did, indeed, run long and hard, there was probably more talent in that team than at any time since.

Bobby Moore, very properly became the player of the tournament, a defensive left-half who, with a remarkable effort of will, had risen above his early limitations to make himself into a superb, if specialised, defender.

Gordon Banks, in goal, had taken aboard Ramsay's advice ,"me minds not got to wander" and alertness was complementing courage and gymnastic agility.

Bobby Charlton, by turns an inside-forward and elegant left-winger, had become a 'deep' centre-forward. His pace, and skill, and his tremendous shot in either foot was still there

Martin Peters a colleague of Moore at West Ham, had come late into the team, a 'false' winger who was essentially an attacking wing-half and was praised as being 'ten years ahead of his time'.

Geoff Hurst, the third West Ham man in the team, who had learned what Ron Greenwood , his manager at Upton Park, called 'good habits' would come in to the team still later, at the quarter-final stage, majestically heading the only goal against Argentina. His choice would keep out Jimmy Greaves, who had scored so many goals for Chelsea, Tottenham and England.

England, who were in group 1 with Uruguay, Mexico and France, won the group. In the quarter finals they played a sour and surly Argentina, who might have won, had they come to play, rather than spoil. Ramsay said after the game he hoped that in the semi-final England would meet a team "interested in playing football".

In a thrilling final against West Germany , the opposition scored first but almost immediatly after Hurst made it 1 - 1. Peters gave England the lead in the second half and that appeared to be that. In almost the last minute a free kick went to Germany and they equalised. The tension in the stadium was electric. In extra time Hurst at the near post smashed the ball against the underside of the bar. A goal was given under protest by the Germans. The linesman agreed with the referee that it was valid and the score was England 3 West Germany 2. In the last minute Moore sent Hurst through a scattered German defence, Hurst hit the ball as hard as he could untroubled about where it went. It went into the top corner of the German Net!

Instead his dream became a French farce. The baron's plan was to combine the five-month sporting spectacle with the Universal Paris Exposition. That was when things went wrong. The organiser of the exposition, Alfred Picart, viewed sport as an absurd activity and relegated the Games to a sideshow.

The result was a muddle of recognised and non-recognised events. and a confused audience soon lost interest..

The facilities were primitive. The discus and hammer were held in a narrow lane flanked by trees which several competitors hit. One of the hurdles in the steeplechase was a stone wall. The swimmers struggled through swirling currents in the muddy river Seine and the rowers were described by a writer from "Sport Universal" as "a sport only practised by coarse fellows who, under the name of boatmen, spread terror among the peaceful river side inhabitiants.

The marathon runners sweated through the back streets of Paris and for years afterwards there were allegations of Frenchmen obstructing their foreign rivals. Michel Theato a French gardener won in 2 hrs. 59 mins 45 secs. nearly 40 minutes ahead of of the first foreigner, Ernest Fast of Sweden. Dick Grant, an American who finished sixth, claimed a cyclist knocked him down when he was about to overtake the winner.

Britain dominated the middle-distance events, the water-polo and the football, the first team event to be included in the Olympics. De Coubertin was not in favour of women competing and their role was restricted to tennis. There were no accurate records kept and such was the confusion that some sportsmen were not even aware that they had competed in the Olympics. It had taken 1,503 years to revive the Games and only 5 months to destroy the Olympic spirit.

It was an amazing achievement by Spurs, who became the first non-league club to win the Cup since the formation of the Football League.

As in the semi-final, it was their striker, Sandy Brown, who rose to the occasion. And as they did a week earlier at Crystal Palace, in the first match, Spurs soon went a goal down. But three goals in the second half, the third from Brown - who had scored all four in the semi-final and both goals at Crystal Palace, clinched the trophy. It was no more than Tottenham deserved.

The first six-figure crowd, more than 110,000 crammed into Crystal Palace Stadium, but unfortunately few of the Tottenham faithful were able to make the long trek north to Bolton. Because of the weather and the refusal of the rail authorities to issue cheap tickets, only 20,000 were present to see an historic display.

Instead they agreed the tourists would receive any profit from the match after expenses had been deducted.

Much to the chagrin of the Scots, Gallagher's side were a sensation. They opened the tour with a 55 - 4 win against Devon and by the time they reached Scotland, in mid- November, the "All Blacks" as they had become known were a sell-out. They beat Scotland 12 - 7 at Inverleith, and got £1000 from the game. In the next two weeks, they beat Ireland 15 - 0 at Lansdowne Road and England 15 - 0 at Crystal Palace.

Nothing it seemed, would stop the first national team from New Zealand completing a clean sweep. They had won all 27 matches scoring 801 points to a mere 22 against them. Then they wen to Cardiff to face 40,000 singing Welshmen and the pride of the Principality.

Wales took the initiative and Teddy Morgan scored a try in the 25th minute. The All Blacks rallied and Bob Deans appeared to have levelled the score. However, the referee (a Scot) was only in his street clothing and could not keep up with play. He ruled that Deans had not crossed the try line and his decision was one of the most controversial in rugby history. The disappointed All Blacks lost

3 - 0, won their remaining 4 matches and returned home having conceded only seven tries and lost one match.

Because it was the first of its kind, the designer, Colonel Holden, modelled the course on a horse-racing track and it was consequently oval-shaped with the full circuit measuring 2.77 miles.

Brooklands bordered the railway line 20 miles from London,. Its long turns were steeply banked, and two of the bends rose to a height of 27feet and were the most striking features of the circuit.

Part of the 100 foot wide track crossed the river Wey and was ingeniously supported by a ferro-concrete bridge. The actual surface was extremely flimsy, a mere 6-inch layer of concrete, and the battering it took during the motor racing season required it to be repaired each winter. Racing at Brooklands was conducted in a very gentlemanly fashion - there were no competitions on a Sunday, and the track was the spiritual home of British Motor Sport until the second world war. Costing £150,000 it was invaluable to British motor manufactureres for testing purposes.

Jeffries had been tempted out of retirement six years after his last fight by the flamboyant promoter Tex Rickard and the writer Jack London to try and wrest the title from Johnson, and return it to its 'rightful' home - white America. But the former champion was a hollow shell of his earlier self and he received a severe beating. After the fight there were race riots across the country.

White America, shocked by the notion that the Heavyweight Champion of the World was black, had been scandalised by Johnson's escapades and marriages to white women, and public sentiment demanded that a white man teach him, and his race - a lesson. The spectacular failure of Jeffries to deliver the goods meant the search for a real Great White Hope began in earnest.

Johnson went ino exile in Europe and South America to avoid serving a prison sentence. He lived the good life, engaged in three defences of his title and squandered a fortune. In 1915 Jess Willard, an ungainly fighter - but white and 6ft 6 ins. and 250lbs - knocked out a homesick, poverty-stricken and physically ravaged Johnson over 26 rounds in Cuba.

Charles Burgess Fry was one of sport's rare but genuine all-rounders at the highest levels, equally proficient whether weilding a cricket bat, defending a football goal or sprinting down the long-jump runway. His ability to excel not only in a proliferation of sporting settings but also in academic surroundings at Oxford University has never been equalled. He played cricket for England in 26 Test matches, earned an FA Cup winners medal and held the world long-jump record.

Born in Croydon on April 25th 1872, his sporting prowess became apparent during his school days at Repton, where he captained the football and cricket teams . At Wadham College, Oxford, he shook the athletics world in 1872 by setting a United Kingdom long jump record of 23ft 5 ins. And at Iffley Road, Oxford on March 4th 1893, he equalled the world record with 23ft 6ins. He could sprint 100 yards in evens (10 secs) and high jump 5ft. 10 ins. Yet his athletics talent was never fully explored because he concentrated more on other sports. He even missed the oooprtunity of being one of the modern Olympic champions at Athens in 1896 simply because he was unaware of the revival of the Games. Fry would surely have won the long jump as it was won by an American with a jump of 20ft 10ins.. but instead spent the afternoon watching football.

Fry played at full-back for Southampton when they lost 2 - 1 to Sheffield United in the 1902 FA Cup final replay. The previous year he had been capped for England against Ireland. In Rugby he played as a three-quarter for Blackheath and the Barbarians, and he was also said to be a good shot and fisherman.

"He has encompassed all kinds of athletic exploits, including a First Class in 'Classical Moderations'" said a Vanity Fair profile published in 1894, while Fry was still just 21.

But it was cricket which drew out most of Fry's talent. His 26 Test appearances included captaining England against Australia in 1912. He scored a total of 30,886 runs at an average of 50.22 in his playing career at county level for Sussex (1894-1908) and Hampshire (1909-1921). His 94 centuries including 6 in consecutive innings during 1901, was a record unequalled until Don Bradman's prime nearly four decades later. Fry was also a useful right arm medium pace bowler.

Fry, was for some reason always referred to by his initials, although even in 1984, according to the admiring Vanity Fair profile, it has lately been suggested that he should be called Charles III.

Certainly one can imagine him as a prickly charachter. The veteran cricket broadcaster Rex Alston recounted an occasion at the Oval in 1946 when the BBC asked Fry , then in his mid seventies, to act as Alston's summariser on the Indian tour. At one point Alston asked "What do you think, Charles"?. On the air he raised his voice 'Charles - my name is not Charles to you, Sir. To you my name is Commander Fry'.. Odd chap - we never used him again!. Fry died in Hampstead on September 7th 1956 at the age of 84.

Emily Wilding Davison had been one of the most militant suffragettes since she joined the Womans Social and Political Union in 1906. She had served several prison sentences for her violent protests, one for breaking windows in the House of Commons. She had only just been released from jail again when she received a telegram. Its contents and sender have never been discovered but on the morning of June 4th, Davison visited the offices of the WSPU, to collect two suffragette flags before she set out on her fateful journey. to Epsom.

By the time the 15 runners in the Derby reached Tattenham Corner the field had already split into two groups with the King's horse Anmer several lengths adrift of the leading bunch. Davison dashed across the course, dodged one horse and lunged at Anmer. She managed to grab the reins and hold on for a second before the horse stumbled and crashed to the ground, rolling on his jockey Herbert Jones. Davison, bleeding profusely, was taken to hospital. She never recovered consciousness and died of a fractured skull four days later.

The country was outraged. Even Queen Mary was driven to write to Jones that she was sorry to hear of his accident caused by "the abomniable behaviour of a brutal lunatic woman.".

The Cincinnati Reds reached the World Series for the first time, but were not expected to beat the Chicago White Sox. Even when there was big bets on the Cincinnati Reds and the White Sox made an inordinate number of elementary mistakes as they lost 5 - 3, hardly anybody was prepared to accept that anything was amiss. The storm broke in September 1920 when Abe Attell, a former champion boxer, named eight White Sox who had accepted money to lose the World Series. The eight dubbed "the Black Sox" were tried for conspiracy. But some witnesses disappeared and some changed their stories. Documents vanished, a fire destroyed more key evidence, and all of the defendants were acquitted.

When Walter Hagen arrived at Sandwich for the 29th Open championship he was far from happy with British protocol. As a professional he was not allowed to change or eat in the clubhouse. So Hagen hired a strech limousine, parked it in front of the clubhouse and used it for changing and eating.

Hagen appeared to have thrown away his opportunity to win when he shot 79 in the third round. That left him two strokes behind the defending champion, Jock Hutchison. In a howling wind and driving rain, Hutchison faded in the last round. Instead, Hagen had to hold off a late challange from George Duncan, who needed a four on the 18th to force a play-off, however he took a five.

Hagen was the first American-born player to win the Open. When Hagen was presented with the prize for winning he looked at the amount on the cheque ... and handed it to his caddie. Hagen was a picture of sartorial elegance . The first man to make a million from golf, spent his money as quick as he made it. "I never wanted to be a millionaire - just to live like one" he was quoted as saying.

In the seventh round with Tunney well ahead on points, Dempsey caught the champion with a right and followed through with both hands to knock him into a daze, clutching the ropes. But in his excitement to regain the title, Dempsey forgot the referee's instructions before the fight. Boxes had to retire to a neutral corner after a knockdown.

Instead Dempsey, as he had always done, stood over Tunney waiting to finish him off. The referee had to grab Dempsey round the waist, haul him to the centre of the ring, and point to the neutral corner. Only then did the referee start his count. Tunney rose at nine having gained an extra five seconds respite, survived the rest of the fight and easily retained his title on points. Tunney insisted he could have beaten the count at nine seconds without the additional five seconds. It was an all time record gate with receipts of $2,658,660, of which $1 million went to the champion

Bradman Humbled

Don Bradman was selected for his first Test aged 20. It was a humbling experience. He spent most of the first two days watching England amass 521 runs and when he batted his innings of 18 was far from shattering. His second knock was even shorter. He was dismissed for one in Australia's total of 66. England won by 675 runs - a record margin of runs in Tests - and Bradman was dropped for the only time in his career. There was no denying his genius though. When recalled for the third Test, he grabbed the opportunity with both nds and scored 79 and 112.

England were thrashed 5 - 1 by Scotland at Wembley on March 31. The victors were promptly dubbed THe Wembley Wizards.

It was curious match, both countries had performed badly in the home international championship and were playing for the wooden spoon. Scotland selected eight anglos, which caused an outcry north of the border. The Scots prayed for rain and were duly obliged. The English captain, Bishop, fell ill the night before te game and did not play. Within three minmutes England almost scored, then Scotland scored moments later.

For the next 42 minutes little happened, then Alex James put Scotland two up. In the second half, Scotland ran riot, adding another three goals and teasing England with a leisurly and elaborate passing game of of possession football. At one point the Scots were playing at a walking pace and taunting the English defence.

It is little wonder that all Scots fans can recite the forward line that day - Jackson, Dunn, Gallacher,James and Morton.

Uruguay, the olympic champions took the event very seriously . They even banished their goalkeeper Masdali, from the tournament for breaking a curfew. The final, Uruguay v. Argentina was a repeat of the 1928 Olympic final, pitting bitter rivals against each other. Thousands of Argentinians came by boat, and were cheered ashore by crowds chanting "Victory or Death". Surprisingly it was a good tempered game and Uruguay won 4 - 2 having been 2 - 1 down at half time. Montevideo went mad, and the next day was proclaimed a national holiday.

But on November 8th it produced a momentous result. On the 47th anniversary of Fred Archer's death, Gordon Richards overtook his record of 246 winners in a season. Richards, who received a congratulatory telegram from the King, admitted he was relieved to reach the milestone, "I can relax now , sausages and mash tonight a good feed to celebrate".

In 1925, his first full season he was champion jockey. Tuberculosis then laid him low, but he fought off the illness and regained his crown in 1927. From then on Richards held the title every year until he retired in 1954 with the exception of 1941. He owed much of his success to Fred Darling, who was a brilliant a trainer as Richards was a jockey. the two had a 16 year partnership starting in 1932.

For most people the name Jesse Owens awakens two instant associations. Primarily, of course, his excellence as a sprinter and long jumper, which yielded an unprecedented six world records in a single afternoon in 1935, and four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. But almost as well known is the alleged snub he supposedly received from Hitler.

The snub, although totally feasible in the circumstances which surrounded the success on a world stage by an American negro in the middle of a Nazi Germany preparing for war , did not occur quite the way legend has it. As Owens himself recalls it if there was a snub to any American negro it happened on the first day of the athletics competition. "that day four gold medallists were crowned, two Germans, one Finn and Corneilus Johnson, the American high jump winner, Johnson is a negro. Hitler personally congratulated the two Germans and the Finn in his box. Just as Johnson was about to receive his medal Hitler left the stadium. There was no question of his intent. The next day Count Henri de Baillet - Latour, President of the International Olympic Committee, pointed out to Hitler that as patron of the Games he should either congratulate every winner or none. Hitler complied and subsequently received no other winners.

Owens was born James Cleveland Owens in Oakville, Alabama on September 12th 1913, the thirteenth and last child of impoverished share croppers. When he was nine the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and it was there that his christian name became transformed. On his first day at school a teacher asked his name, and inadvertantly misinterpreted the Southern drawl reply of "J C Owens " into Jesse Owens and that is how it remained.

His athletic talent surfaced at High School, and he became one of America's fastest sprinters while still a teenager. While attending Ohio State University he created athletics history at Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 25th 1935. Competing for Ohio State in the Big Ten Championships, and despite a back injury requiring teammates to assist him to dress, at 3.15pm Owens set a 100yds world record of 9.4 secs.

Then he went immediatley to the long jump, where his only attempt measured 26ft 8ins. the first eight metre (8.13m) jump and a world record which survived for 25 years. At 3.45pm he won the straight 220 yrds in 20.5secs a world record which counted for both 220 yards and slightly shorter 200 mtrs. And at 4pm he picked up his fifth and sixth world records in under 1 hour by running 22.6secs for the straight 220 yards (and 200 mtrs) hurdles.

His nickname was the Ebony Antelope, yet he ran with a noticeably short , if deceptively fast, stride. At the Berlin olympics he dominated the explosive events winning the 100m, 200m, and long jump and running the first leg for the victorious United States 4 x 400m relay team. His long jump duel with Lutz the Long, the German, was a classic. Both jumping 7.87 metres only for Owens to then jump 7.94m then 8.06m They forged a great friendship and it was to Owen's great regret that he never met Lutz again as he was killed in 1944.

In February they turned to Matt Busby and offered him the manager's job. It as an astute move. Busby had ben a player for Manchester City for eight seasons from 1928, where he had won an FA Cup Winners medal, and then a player at struggling Liverpool until the outbreak of war. Military service had given him great opportunities to work with footballers such as Joe Mercer, Tommy Lawton and Arthur Rowe in the Army PE Corps and Busby's managerial skills were born. Sgt-Major Busby demanded, and got, a five year contract and complete control of the team.

He had much to do. Old Trafford had been destroyed in the bombings and there would be no home matches played there in the foreseeabl future. The club had a £15,000 oerdraft and there would be no money for players. Busby would have to develop what he had. And he did that by analysing his players' skills and redeploying people in his teams. Johnny Carey, for example, was moved from centre forward to wing half to full-back and became one of the greatest players of the decade.

Busby also grasped the opportunity of a new start that the war offered. At 45 he was young enough to mix with and to play with, his own players. He became the first track-suited manager, recreating his army days, engendring esprit-de-corps and the notion that he and his players were a family unit.

Although he was a brilliant fighter he led a wildly undiciplined life outside the ring. After his final fight in 1938, he was a pathetic figure drowning in a sea of whisky, pawning his boxing trophies and fighting in booths to support his drink habit. When his mother died he was homeless, destitute and on the inevitable road to self-destruction.

Later he was dismissive of his achievement saying the pitch was too true and he had scored the runs against an Australian attack that included only three regular bowlers. England won the most one sided Test in history by an innings and 579 runs. Their first - innings total of 903 for 7 declared remains a Test record for the highest total.

She seemed likely to repeat the feat the following year when she beat Margaret duPont 10 -8, 1 - 6, 10 - 8 in the singles final and then teamed up with duPont to win the doubles 8 - 6, 7 - 5. But in the dusk on the last Saturday of the championships Brough and John Bromwich lost the mixed final to Eric Sturgess and Sheila Summers. 9 - 7, 9 - 11, 7 - 5.

Brough had played117 games in 5hrs 20mins , but she failed to capture the headlines. Instead, a petite pretty Calafornian called Gussy Moran put on a pair of lace panties under a short ballerina skirt and distracted the attention of the world's press. Gorgous Gussy's outfit had been created by Teddy Tinling, an assistant in the referees office at Wimbledon and it certainly blew up a storm.

Photographers scrambled to shoot a picture of the barely visible panties under Moran's dress and the All-England Club committee accused Tinling of "drawing attention to the sexual area". He resigned after 35 years at the club and became the best known designer of women's tennis wear.

Tinling and Gorgeous Gussy had brought into focus the ever widening rift between the amateur establishment and the players, who were seeking a more profesional approach to their sport.

The team was returning from Yugoslavia where they had negotiated their way past Red Star Belgrade to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup. Their plane had stopped in Munich to refuel before returning to Manchester. The weather was appalling, and twice the craft had been unable to get enough speed to take off.