The Bumper Book of Slightly Forgotten but Nevertheless Still Great British Olympians and Other Sporting Heroes

Book excerpt: The Bumper Book of Slightly Forgotten British Olympians and Other Sporting Heroes is just that: a collection of stirring tales of pluck, grit, triumph, disaster and on occasion, ineptitude, featuring a host of former sportspeople who've been utterly forgotten by history. From Maude Waveney, the plucky servant girl who bravely took half a day off work scrubbing kitchen floors to win a gold medal folding bedsheets in the first London games, to Tom Drake, Dressage's first punk, who shocked the sport with his slashed jacket and swear words on his hat.There's the tale of the Lincolnshire javelin thrower who fell under the spell of a cult devoted to the eating of egg and chips; of the mascot of Bexhill-on-Sea's ill fated bid to host the Olympics and "Ample" Arthur Cartwright, whose football career was blighted by an obsession with archaeology. They, and many others, all have a story to tell.