In an interview I did with swimming legend David Wilkie in 2013, I asked him if he wanted to live to a ripe old age. He replied: "I'm not sure about that. You know, three score and 10 would sort of be satisfactory." Sadly, on 22 May 2024, David did indeed die at the age of 70. He also told me he wanted to be remembered "as a great athlete and a good man". That much was already guaranteed long before then.
Millions of us Brits were bursting with pride when we watched an emotional David Wilkie step up to the Olympic podium and receive his gold medal for the 200m breaststroke at the 1976 Montreal Games. Completing the event in a world record time, he was the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsbrough 16 years earlier.
"When that medal was hung around my neck I thought: "The amount of work that's gone into winning this little thing is atrocious!' he revealed. It started for David in Sri Lanka where he was born (on 8 March 1954) and brought up, learning his chosen sport at the Colombo Swimming Club. Aged, 11 his parents sent him to boarding school in their native Scotland.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2024 من Best of British.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2024 من Best of British.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Dreamers
Martin Claytor goes behind the scenes of Supertramp’s Crime of the Century aloum
THE GOALKEEPER OF AUSCHWITZ
John Greeves spoke to Ron Jones, a survivor of Auschwitz and an 800-mile death march, shortly before he died aged 102
The Railway Child
Peter Robertson chats to former actor Gary Warren
Cruising 50s Style
Stephen Wade looks back at the postwar holiday experience on the ocean waves
Rootes of Success
Dene Bebbington traces the history of Hillman cars
POSTCARD FROM SURREY
Bob Barton finds himself drawn into the secret world of SOE agents and revisits his youth as he admires a vast array of buses
A Taste of Hunni
Tim Hutton shines a light on TV presenterGloria Hunniford's lesser-known singing career
BACK IN TIME WITH COLIN BAKER
BoB's very own Time Lord recalls his family's cars, Sunday afternoon entertainment and the perils of letting someone else drive his Sprite
And the Winner Is...
Claire Saul looks at the winners of a prestigious annual award that celebrates grand stately homes, gardens and more
The Novice Fairy
Susan Brewer remembers Victoria Plum, a children's character that appeared on notebooks and other goods in the 1980s
