Athlete Gallery

Yugoslavia - Sokol Rally in Belgrade

A rally to promoting public exercise as a way to stimulate national self importance (through organised gymnastic and athletic demonstrations - usually mass-participation). The Sokol (which translates as Falcon') arose as the first Czech Gymnastic organisation in the 1860s. Between the First and Second World Wars the organisation grew to have a million members. The Sokol programmes were organised to have mass appeal across all strata of society and across all age groups. This rally poster is from Yugoslavia

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Lord Burghley engaged to Lady Mary Montagu-Douglas-Scott

David George Brownlow Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter (1905 - 1981), Lord Burghley, athlete, sports official and Conservative party politician pictured at the time of his engagement to Lady Mary Montagu-Douglas-Scott (1904-1984). Burghley won a gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. As an athlete, Burghley was a very keen practitioner who placed matchboxes on hurdles and practised knocking over the matchboxes with his lead foot without touching the hurdle. In 1927, his final year at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he amazed colleagues by sprinting around the Great Court at Trinity College in the time it took the college clock to toll 12 o'clock, inspiring the scene in the film Chariots of Fire (whose character Lord Andrew Lindsay is based upon Burghley) in which Harold Abrahams accomplishes the same feat. Lord Burghley did not allow his name to be used in the film because of the inaccurate historical depiction in the movie. There was never a race upon which Harold Abrahams beat Lord Burghley in this feat as the movie depicts. Burghley is also said to have set another unusual record by racing around the upper promenade deck of the Queen Mary in 57 seconds, dressed in everyday clothes. Burghley later served as president of the Amateur Athletic Association for 40 years, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation for 30 years and as a member of the International Olympic Committee for 48 years. He was also chairman of the Organising Committee of the 1948 Summer Olympics. Date: 1928

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Sketch cover featuring Lord Burghley in action

Lord Burghley, captain of Britain's Olympic team in 1932 jumping hurdles in a photograph on the front cover of The Sketch. David George Brownlow Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter (1905 - 1981), Lord Burghley was an athlete, sports official and Conservative party politician As an athlete, Burghley was a very keen practitioner who placed matchboxes on hurdles and practised knocking over the matchboxes with his lead foot without touching the hurdle. In 1927, his final year at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he amazed colleagues by sprinting around the Great Court at Trinity College in the time it took the college clock to toll 12 o'clock, inspiring the scene in the film Chariots of Fire (whose character Lord Andrew Lindsay is based upon Burghley) in which Harold Abrahams accomplishes the same feat. Lord Burghley did not allow his name to be used in the film because of the inaccurate historical depiction in the movie. There was never a race upon which Harold Abrahams beat Lord Burghley in this feat as the movie depicts. Burghley is also said to have set another unusual record by racing around the upper promenade deck of the Queen Mary in 57 seconds, dressed in everyday clothes. Burghley later served as president of the Amateur Athletic Association for 40 years, president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation for 30 years and as a member of the International Olympic Committee for 48 years. He was also chairman of the Organising Committee of the 1948 Summer Olympics. Date: 1932

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans