“Phenomenon would not be too excessive an adjective. He batted alongside WG Grace and Ranjitsinhji; captained England without losing a Test; played soccer for England, and reached the 1902 FA Cup final with Southampton. “
To paraphrase Rolf Harris, “D’you know who it is yet?”
Here’s some more clues.
“At rugby, he played for Oxford, Blackheath and the Barbarians, and might easily have played for England. He missed out on winning gold medals at the 1896 Olympics because he was unaware that they were happening, and again four years later, but held the long jump world record.”
This is extracted from a piece on CB Fry to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the man who was probably the finest all-round sportsman of the 20th Century. The article is written by Kirsty Craig, one of a number of sports journalism students at the University of Brighton, guided by SJA member Rob Steen, the senior lecturer on the BA Sport Journalism course at Chelsea School, Eastbourne.
Steen’s students have posted their work on a fascinating and content-rich website, overtime.co.uk.
As Steen says:
“OverTime talks talk to Dick Pound, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and addresses the relationship between homosexuality and football. It shakes hands with legends – Bobby Charlton, Alan Ball, Trevor Bailey, Lynn Davies – and sings the unsung, from 1948 Olympic gymnast Frank Turner to Joe Calzaghe’s dad. It pays homage to the trailblazers – Fred Perry, Juan Manuel Fangio, CB Fry and Jim Laker – and doffs its cap to the likeliest lads and lasses, from cricketer Monty Panesar to golfer Steve Webster.
There’s also a Swede’s guide to cricket, a celebration of croquet and the love affair that foundered at a netball game.”
It is all well worth a visit, if only to discover why Fry turned down the offer of becoming King of Albania.
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