Wolverhampton mural honours Peter Radford's record triumph
A unique mural has been unveiled at a Wolverhampton leisure centre to honour an Olympic medallist and world record breaker from the Black Country.
Peter Radford smashed the world record time for 220 yards when he ran it in 20.5 seconds at Aldersley Stadium in May, 1960 and now his achievement has been commemorated at the venue 53 years later thanks to long-time fan John Margetts who funded the work.
The 73-year-old, who was born in Walsall but now lives in Oxfordshire, was a successful athlete in the 1960s and won a 100m bronze medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Mr Radford described the unveiling at Aldersley Leisure Village as an "honour and a privilege" and added: "I was here from the very very beginning and had an enormous amount of my success here. It's a very special place to me. It's frankly astonishing that I'm being honoured all these years later.
"The really nice thing is that other people recognise what you did and want to keep the memories going.
"I'm now very happy to know that here in the heart of Aldersley there will always be a little place for me."
Mr Margetts funded and put together the mural with the help of local photographer David Cave and said: "He was a childhood hero of mine, I met him when he came to Tettenhall College and I thought there wasn't enough to recognise and celebrate him in Wolverhampton. I'm very happy and proud this great achievement has been marked."
