Olympian, Commonwealth and European sprint medallist, trainer and celebrated Son of Doncaster, Brian Shenton.
Caroline O’Keeffe shares her father’s story with The Athletics Museum
Beginnings in Balby
Brian was born on 15 March 1927 in Balby, Doncaster. The eldest of four children, the family lived in a Victorian end-of-terrace house and his father was a lorry driver. He was educated at Balby Junior and then Doncaster Central School for Boys, leaving at 15 with no formal qualifications. He was described by headmaster, Mr Felkin as a boy who “always had a high school record for character and industry”.
Brian joined Doncaster Plant Works Athletics Club (DPWAC) based at Eden Grove Hexthorpe at age 14. However it was when he joined the Army in 1945 on National Service that he began to take sport and physical conditioning seriously and to race competitively. Brian was a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) in the Army Physical Training Coups, and as well as sprinting he played football and learned physical training techniques. He represented the Army in Inter-Service and Combined Services competitions reaching the finals of the Northern Command 220 yards in 1945. The following year he won seven Command Championships, beating Alistair McCorquadale who went on to be a member of the silver medal winning 4 x 100m GB relay team at the 1948 London Olympics.
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Doncaster Plant Works AC was one of the most important and innovative sporting clubs in the country at the time Brian was a member. The athletic section had been founded in 1920 as a cross-country club. The name existed after the railways came to Doncaster in 1848 and the town became a centre for railway workshops known as Plant Works in 1853.
A notable visitor to the club in 1924 was Eric Liddell after his victory in the Paris Olympics of that year, later immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire. By 1925 the club had diversified into track and field events under the guidance of George Adam, continuing to attract notable visitors including:
- Lord Burghley – LNER Director, Member of Parliament, Olympic gold and silver medallist and later President of Amateur Athletic Association and Chairman of the Olympic Committee
- Armas Valste – distinguished Finnish Olympic coach
- Geoff Dyson – one of Britain’s finest athletics coaches
On arrival at DPWAC, Dyson was, “astounded to find a well-resourced and innovative centre”. He described it as, “an oasis in an athletic wilderness”. Many of the facilities available were as a direct result of the pioneering approach of George Adam, who had invented the pivoting hurdle in 1933 and went on to create other innovations such as the portable shot-put platform.
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Brian’s early training took place on the grass track and he devoted all his spare time to it. The Evening Post reported: “if anyone wants to find out, as I did, how Brian Shenton has reached the top flight they can find the answer at the Doncaster Plant Works Athletics Club, any summer evening. There they will see him. He will probably be on his hands and knees, shooting away, coming back and doing it all over again”.
Alongside his job as a Clerk at the Corporation Transport, Brian was determined to train wherever possible, rigging up “floodlights” – oil-lamps at each end of the strip to train in the dark. In the winter when the track was closed, he trained on a cinder path between the cabbage patches of the Furnivall Road allotments.
Immensely proud of his Yorkshire roots and his association with Doncaster Plant Works AC, he was made on Honorary Life Member of the club. He also held the Yorkshire 100 yards title every year from 1946 -50, and the 220 yards title from 1947-50.
1949 – National Recognition
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Brian won the 100 yards invitation sprint at White City on Whit Monday 1949. He was awarded a silver teapot and stand by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who enjoyed a long association with athletics as President of the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) for 59 years. At this time the emphasis was still very much on competition for “gentlemen amateurs”, who could receive financial compensation for competing. To make ends meet, many working-class athletes like Brian resorted to selling their prizes for cash. Selectors for Great Britain had advised Brian that he would need to move to live and train in London if he wanted to be selected for major championships. Despite not moving, his performance on Whit Monday had sufficiently impressed the AAA that he was picked to join the England team for the 1950 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (now known as the Commonwealth Games).
His form over the previous two seasons made him the most improved sprinter in the country, ranking as the best “discovery” in post-war athletics. He expressed his surprise and delight upon being chosen and was given a leave of absence from his job in the accounts department at the Corporation Transport. Now aged 22, Shenton was a well-known figure in the North of England, however, upon his call up for international duty, the London press dubbed him:
“the boy from nowhere”
He was just one of four athletes selected from the North.
Brian’s journey to the Games in New Zealand was long. Being unable to fund his own air travel as the wealthier team members could, Brian departed Southampton with the other athletes in similar circumstances to his own aboard the RMS Tamaroa for a journey to the other side of the world. It was not an easy journey, with bouts of seasickness and with no training facilities aboard. Small amounts of training were accomplished when the ship docked, first in the Panama Canal Zone at Christobel and then at Curacao in the West Indies. Joe Binks described the scene when they finally arrived in New Zealand:
“What a welcome! I shall always remember the scenes that greeted SS Tamaroa, carrying members of the British Empire Games team. When we docked here early in the morning. We came in amid tremendous excitement from a big crowd. Bands greeted us with stirring music, pipes were a-playing, Māoris were there with their native songs and dances and huge banners fluttered their message of welcome. It was a scene brilliant enough to match the sunshine.”
However, the long journey and lack of training opportunities took its toll. With only 3 days to acclimatise and train before competition, Brian only made the semi-finals in both the 100 and 220 yards. He fared better in the 4 x 100m relay, running with John Archer, Les Lewis and Nick Stacey they took silver, beaten by 0.3 seconds by the Australian team.
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Brian had had his first taste of international competition, and wanted more, and a few months later at the 1950 European Athletics Championships in Brussels his hard work paid off as he won the 200m gold in a time of 21.5 seconds, in a win described as the most dramatic of the championships:
“He arrived here as a substitute without even an outside chance…drawn in the outside lane – the worst place – Shenton shot off with a terrific start and racing with superb balance and increasing strength defied anyone to catch him. He simply sped down the home straight and even a champion runner like Etienne Bally, France, could do nothing about it. Shenton beat him by about two yards”.
A Champion’s Welcome in Doncaster, or was it?
Brian’s return to Doncaster on becoming European Champion was a hero’s welcome, with a civic reception in his honour by the mayor, recognition from local people and accolades from rival running clubs in the area. His boss wasn’t so delighted though.
Bottom right is his number from his gold medal winning run at the European Championships in 1950, which he kept for the rest of his life.
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Upon returning to work Brian was curtly told he’d taken too much time off and that if he continued to do so he would have to find another job. Brian, with the words of the GB selectors about moving to London to train ringing in his ears, had in fact already sent a request to the Corporation of Lloyds in London before heading to Brussels asking if there were any vacancies “for a man with experience of responsible accountancy work”. His letter explained that while he had no formal qualifications, his educational opportunities having been severely disrupted by the War, he was “eager to follow any course of studies that would help advance his work”. His application was supported by glowing references describing him as “a particularly intelligent type and likely to make rapid progress if given the opportunity”.
On his return from Brussels he found a letter waiting for him from Lloyd’s awaiting him on his return from Brussels offering him a job, with a salary of £290 per annum which he accepted. It meant leaving his family and running club behind. On moving to London he joined Polytechnic Harriers, and although he never lived in the North again, he regularly returned to compete.
Brian’s win in Brussels and move to London brought him to wider attention in the sporting world, with a number of football clubs seeking him out. Having already turned down offers from rugby league clubs in the North, Brian similarly turned down all offers from football clubs, fearing that an injury would affect his athletics career.
1952 – 1956: Double Olympian
In 1952 Brian was picked for his first Olympic Games in Helsinki, competing in the 200m and 4 x 100m relay. Once again, he experienced an interesting mode of travel, flying out on a chartered ex-wartime bomber.
In 1954 Brian was selected for his second British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. In the 220yds he was narrowly beaten into silver by New Zealand athlete Don Jowett. He again competed in the 4×110 yard relay, with the team coming in fourth.
In August 1954, Brian added another European medal to his collection, as part of the silver medal winning 4 x 100m relay team in Berne, Switzerland.
In 1956, Brian competed in his second Olympic Games in Melbourne. He competed in the 200m, reaching the semi-finals, and the 4x100m where the British team finished fifth. He returned to England after five days flying with a toy koala bear, a boomerang and a Hawaiian shirt for his two-year-old daughter Elly and a bronze commemorative medal awarded to all Olympic competitors and officials.
1957 – A controversial end
Brian was determined to finish his running career in a blaze of glory. On 19th October 1957, aged 30, for the final run of his career he chose to return to the North. He was invited to run as a guest at the North vs South match at White City, Manchester. His aim was to beat the British 220 yards record, but instead he beat the English Native 100 yards record set by Willie Applegarth in 1914, running a time of 9.7 seconds. This record had already been equalled by eight athletes, including Brian who had done so twice. On this evening he beat Applegarth’s record by one-tenth of a second. Although the record was certified by all officials present including the starter at the time of the race and the referee, it was not ratified by the AAA committee, notifying Brian by telephone some weeks later but without a satisfactory explanation. Brian, unwilling to go quietly and requested a personal hearing with the AAA.
The AAA stated that: “The AAA have an unfettered discretion under the rules in deciding whether to accept or to reject and application. And in their view must not approve if there is any reasonable doubt as to the authenticity of the performance.”
They stated reasons for the decision as being they “could not accept that the start was satisfactory”. This despite the fact that the starter of the race in questions not only signed the form of the day, but later confirmed in a letter to the committee that the start was a fair one. The story caught the attention of the media, dubbed by the press “the Shenton case” and “a 9.7 second crusade” and Brian received widespread support from fellow athletes. Brian put his case to the AAA in person, and was hopeful that it would lead to a decision in his favour, however the AAA stated that the race starter was not deemed to be a Grade 1 official, and therefore refused to change their decision.
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Sport in the Cold War
Brian ran during a heady period in global politics. He was one of a handful of athletes invited to compete in West Germany 1952 when German athletes were being reintegrated into the athletics circuits after their post Second World War ban. Brian also got to experience life behind the Iron Curtain, competing in USSR, East Germany and Yugoslavia and would also regularly meet competitors from communist countries. He recalled a trip to Russia: “on reaching the airport the team were interviewed for over two hours by the secret police”. He told of disgusting living conditions in USSR but noted that “the authorities took a great interest in sport, and facilities were among the best in the world.”
However it was his experience meeting Hungarian athletes in 1956 that really left its mark on him. The Melbourne Olympics took place only days after Russian tanks had rolled into the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Remembering the arrival of the Hungarian Team in Melbourne, Brian said it was a sight he would never forget. “They were without extra clothes and had no pocket money or running kit. Kindness on the part of the British contingent and the Australian people produced these necessities”.
Pioneering New Techniques and Thinking
“When I began sprinting…my only equipment was a trowel.”
In the days when starting blocks weren’t commonplace in sprinting, Brian knew that to compete at the highest levels he’d need to embrace the latest thinking and techniques. Starting blocks were first used in the 1948 London Olympics, and their use was initially controversial with claims they gave advantage to competitors.
Image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
Brian was early to adopt this latest method of starting, using the American style starting blocks. The traditional British method for sprint starts were holes dug in the turf using a trowel. Indeed, at the Doncaster Plant Works ground, there were two deep holes known affectionately as “Shenton’s Holes”. The boys from Doncaster Plant Works gifted Brian his first starting blocks, hand crafted out of angle irons bolted together.
Brian also challenged commonly held assumptions that about the work ethic and training needed to be a top-flight sprinter. He believed the way to improve Britain’s standards was to, “work as hard and as long in their training as milers”. Whilst the prevailing wisdom was that sprinters were born not made, Brian claimed that this was nonsense and that strength and fitness, and not just a natural aptitude were the key.
In 1956 after a disappointing team performance at the Melbourne Olympics, Brian was one of a group of athletes who saw the writing on the wall and questioned the Victorian concept of amateur athletics, complaining that British athletes were unable to race on equal terms with foreign rivals who were often backed by the state or elite universities.
Interviewed for the Daily Herald, Shenton made his feelings known:
“I have yet to compete in a foreign country that has not had better facilities for athletics than Britain has. Bomb-shattered Poland has better stadiums than we have. Evan a club in Cologne…has a stadium bigger than London’s White City – plus a training track for warming up…contrast England, where even our limited national coaching scheme – one national coach plus four area coaches – is jeopardised by lack of money.”
Brian firmly believed that athletics should receive government funding. He pointed out that the Arts Council received public funding and that athletics which “abroad is so much a question of national prestige, should receive the same help.” He pushed for new ideas and specialist knowledge to be introduced and highlighted the inequalities that British athletes faced, including the policy on coaches; “our teams travelling abroad without coaches have lacked help and advice. Besides, our coaches have been denied the opportunity of studying the methods of the world’s best.”
Athletics was not alone in holding these attitudes in Britain. In the 1950s the governing bodies of most British Sports remained wedded to amateur principles – originally devised in the nineteenth century primarily to regulate cross-class contact in sport – however increasingly difficult they were becoming to apply.
After retiring from running, Brian continued to used his voice to push for reform. Interviewed in 1972, he said:
“We have the potential. We still don’t have the machinery, the organisation, the professional attitudes to make the most of it.”
Legacy
After retiring from athletics, Brian continued his involvement in sport alongside his business career. He was hired by Crystal Palace FC to sharpen the speed of their players. He also opened a sprinting coaching school assisting young athletes such as Mike Ruddy, George Ellis and Vic Matthews. Brian said he wanted to raise the standards of British sprinting to those of America. His training school included large doses of weight training – high repetitions with low weights rather than a few lifts with heavy weights – this was a novel idea in British athletics at the time.
Brian was able to pursue his love of football after retiring from athletics. Playing as an amateur for Doncaster Rovers, Plymouth Argyle and Bromley. He continued to run by invitation, even at the Highland Games, and represented his employer becoming the fastest man in insurance by winning the Insurance Championships seven years running in both 100 and 220 yards.
Concern that injuries sustained on the football pitch would negatively impact his athletics career, Shenton was able to engage with football, a game he loves, after retiring from athletics.
Objects and image courtesy of Shenton’s family.
His love of sport continued throughout his life. His daughter Caroline recalls that he would watch any live sport he could, but his devotion to athletics never left him, she vividly remembers him crying watching sprinting medal ceremonies on TV.
Brian was killed in a car crash in in May 1987, just two months after retirement from his business career at the age of 60.
In 2012 Brian was one of a handful of athletes chosen to be showcased in the Our Sporting Heroes: A Century of Doncaster Olympians” exhibition at Cusworth Hall Museum, Doncaster. He remains one of Doncaster’s great sons.
By Caroline O’Keeffe, Brian’s daughter