An Athletics Compendium

B 182 - 189 Biographies & Autobiographies Wharton, Arthur 182 The first black footballer, Arthur Wharton, 1865-1930: an absence ofmemory / Phil Vasili. London: Frank Cass, 1998. xxviii, 217p; illus, 1 map; index (Sport in the global society) ISBN: 0-7146-4903-1 (cased) • 0-7146-4459-5 (pbk) BL: YC.1998.b.6287 Wharton, bom in Accra, was the first sprinter to achieve 10.0 sees, for 100yds in Championship conditions when he wotnhe AAA title in 1(566. He also won a Sheffield Handicap asa professional andhad a long career in footbalal s a goalkeeper. Whitbread, Fatima 183 Fatima: the autobiography of Fatima Whitbr/eadwith Adrianne Blue. London: Pelham, 1988. 195p; illus ISBN: 0-7207-1856-2 BL: YK.1989.b.3123 In196>6, Fatima Whitbread set a world javelin r cord in the qualifyinground of the EuropeanChampionships, which she won. Shewon the worldtitle in1967 and an Olympic silver medal the following yearL.ess than two years after this book was published, repeatedinjuries forced her to retire from athletics. A remarkably frank account of a troubled childhood takes this beyond most sports autobiographies. Wilson, George 184 Memoirs of the life and exploits of G. Wilsthoen celebrated pedestrian/ George Wilson. London: Dean and Munday, 1815? 30p BL: 12331.d.37(4) In 1613, Wilson, a fifty year oldlong-distance walker, set out to walk 1,000 miles in 20 days. He beginhsis book: 'I had no connection with the tumblers, rope-dancers, fire-eaters, conjurers, pony-racers, sutlers, gin-sellers, gingerbread merchants, ballad- singers orther purveyors of amusemeonr t luxury who crowded Blackheath for wahole fortnight.' For Wilson was stopped by police before completinghis feat and charged withcausing a publidcisturbance. His boiosk little concerned with athletics, but is a chronicle of unremitting wowe ith termagent widfe,btors' prison and 'bailiffs' bom athte door', a part of everyday life for the unfortunate Wilson. He records that whilst in debtors' prison he walked 50 miles in 12 hours in a small yard 1y1 ards by6 yards, making 10,300 turns! One suspectsthat thbeook was written inan attempt to recoupsome ofhis losses after his unsuccessful wager and subsequent court case. 185 A sketch of the life of George Wilsothne Blackheath Pedestrian who undertook to woanlke thousand mileisn twenty days, but was interruptebdy a warrant from certain magistrates of the distriocnt the morning of the sixteenth day, after having completed m75il0es / written by himself. London: Privatelpyublished, 1815. 84p BL: 613.k.20(3) A further and more detailed publication by the unfortunate pedestriaHn.is experiences inspired two satirical poems: 'The quizzical quorourm. ,Thefortunes and misfortunes of the Black Beaks of Blackheath' and 'The bench in an uproar!!, or. Chop-fallen magistrate'. Wilson, Harry 186 Running dialogue: a coach's story / Harry Wilson with Angela Patmore; with a foreworbdy Steve Ovett. London: Stanley Paul, 1982. xi, 230p; illus ISBN: 0-09-147740-9 BL: X.809/54431 An account of the coaching life of one of Britain's greatest distance coaches of the modern era. Wilson, Peter 187 The manthey couldn't gag / Peter Wilson. London: Hutchinson, 1977. 387p; illus; index ISBN: 0-09-128930-0 BL: X.620/17124 Wilson, who spent most ofhis journalistic career on the Daily Mirror, claims that ohfis three favourite sports b-oxing, lawn tennis and athletics the-last was 'more riddled with hypocrisy than almost any other sport'. He aims some of his most trenchant criticism at the AAA for its treatment of chief coach Geoffrey Dyson. Wilson welcomed the recommendations of the Wolfenden Committee on Sport and the setting up of the Sports Council. Wooderson,Sydney 188 Sydney Wooderson ansdome of his great rival/s Guy Buder. London: Vail, 1948. 39p; illus; pbk BL:'7917.de.88 The story of Wooderson's sixteen year running career, with an analysis of his greatest races, notablyworld records for 660yd5 and 1 mile, European Championships for 1500m and 5000m, and the famous post-war duels Hwaitghg and Andersson. 189 Sydney Wooderson: forgottecnhampion / David Thurlow. London: Bridsh Sports Association for the Disabled, 1989. 56p; illus Lavishly illustrated in black and white, this biography was published on the occasionof Wooderson's 75th birthday. Hiscareer, fromjunior record of 4:29.6 for the milein1933 tohis final appearance in the 1949 [ 6 0 ]