GEEZ, THEY JUMPED RIGHT INTO THIS IN A HURRY DIDN’T THEY. HE WON GOLD IN 1924. STILL, THIS SCHEME HAS ONLY BEEN RUNNING FOR 140 YEARS, SO THEY ARE PROBABLY STILL IRONING OUT THE BUGS IN THE SYSTEM. HOPE THE TARDINESS WASN’T BECAUSE HE WAS A JEW. THAT WOULD BE TOO CLOSE TO THE SUB-PLOT OF THE MOVIE, CHARIOTS OF FIRE. kk
Blue plaque erected for Jewish Olympic athlete
A dedicated athlete, who won Gold for Britain at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris has been honoured with a blue plaque.
The determined Jewish athlete who won gold for Britain at the Olympic Games has been erected in London.
Honouring Harold Abrahams (1899-1978), the gold medallist who won at the 1924 Olympics and captaining the British Athletic Team at the 1928 games, the English Heritage Blue Plaque has been unveiled on a building in north west London.
Located at Hodford Lodge, Hodford Road, London, NW11, the plaque commemorates Abrahams living at the address between 1923 and 1930, and intermittently until his marriage in 1936.
Officially unveiled by English Heritage, Harold’s nephew, Tony Abrahams, and the chairman of the British Olympic Foundation, John James.
Abrahams was born and brought up in Bedford before moving to London in 1914 and attending St Paul’s and Repton. His sporting achievements featured in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.
Inspired by brother Sidney, a successful long jumper, Abrahams took up athletics at Repton and continued his interest in sports at Cambridge University, where he read law, eventually concentrating on sprinting and the long jump.
At the 1924 Paris Olympics, Abrahams won the gold medal for the 100 metre race, equalling the Olympic record, a silver medal in the 4x100 metre and finished in sixth place in the finals of the 200 metre race.
Running for 140 years, the Blue Plaques Scheme has seen a total of more than 800 ‘memorial tablets’ erected around Britain and is now administered by English Heritage.