Henley 2014: A Glorious Opening Day

Magdalen College Oxford (left) race Oxford Brooks University ‘C’ (right) in a heat of the Temple Challenge Cup (Men’s Student Eights).

Tim Koch writes:

There are three things that you do not necessarily expect on a Henley first day: some exciting racing, large crowds and above average temperatures. However, the Wednesday’s opening day provided all three. I will leave others to write more about this as I prefer to spend my time by the riverbank rather than at my computer. Also, Rachel Quarrell, writing in Wednesday’s Telegraph, does it much better than I ever could. If you are interested in weather related pictures of Henley, inter-cut with pictures of girls in bikinis, the nominally puritanical Daily Mail is for you. The full details are on the Henley Royal Regatta website (click on the event name for the stats and remember that some of the top events do not start until later in the week).

Members of the Amsterdam Student Rowing Club Nereus model blazers of varying ages and conditions.

Members of Oxford Brooks University ‘B’ find that losing is not as good as winning. They were beaten by University of Michigan, USA, in a heat of the Temple Challenge Cup (Men’s Student Eights).

My day was spent in the delightful company of some very special guests, all linked by a common theme. I had invited John Beresford (son of Jack Beresford, Britain’s most successful oarsman in the pre-Redgrave era) and Sue and Molly Bushnell (daughter and grand-daughter of the indomitable Bert Bushnell) as my guests. When we met up later in the day with Tizzy Burnell, daughter of the former ‘Grand Old Man’ of British rowing, Richard ‘Dickie’ Burnell, we had a gathering of the ‘Children of 1948’. ‘Bert and Dickie’, coached by Jack, were, of course, the unlikely pairing who won the double sculls at the 1948 London Olympics, an event recently dramatised in a BBC television programme. As regular readers will remember, this production was extensively covered by ‘Hear The Boat Sing’. This meeting was made even more special through the generosity of the Chairman of Henley Royal Regatta, Mike Sweeney, who arranged for us to follow two races in the umpires’ launches and allowed us access to the hallowed Committee Lawn, an area for the Stewards and their guests. It was a gesture very much in the traditions of Henley and was much appreciated by all concerned. Here are some pictures of a memorable day.

Members of Rowing Royal Families pictured, appropriately, in front of the Royal Rowbarge, Gloriana. The press picked up on the story and they were interviewed and photographed by the Henley Standard newspaper (read article here). From left to right, John Beresford, Tizzy Burnell, Sue Bushnell and Molly Bushnell.

Pimm’s on the Committee Lawn. It does not get more civilised than this, John, Sue and Molly.

Tizzy Burnell introduced us to the ‘Bengal Tiger’, a non-alcoholic cocktail invented by her Grandfather, Charles ‘Don’ Burnell, who won in the eight at the 1908 Olympics (Don and Dickie are the only father and son in Olympic history to have won gold medals in rowing). When Don was umpiring at Henley he felt that he could not drink wines or spirits at lunchtime (something that, in the past, some of his colleagues were not so strict about) and so produced this drink which feels as if it has alcohol in it. It is a mixture of ginger beer, lime juice and Angostura Bitters. If you are not umpiring, you can add vodka.

Sue and Molly followed the race between Cambois and Nottingham in a heat of the Wyfold Challenge Cup (Club Coxless Fours).

John and I followed the race between the University of the West of England (UWE) and Goldie Boat Club in a heat of the Prince Albert Challenge Cup (Men’s Student Coxed Fours). It was a convincing and no doubt enormously satisfying win by the unfashionable UWE over the crew from the more prestigious Cambridge University Boat Club.

The UWE – Goldie race from umpire John Hedger’s point of view.

Repechage for Bert and Dickie

1948: The real Richard Burnell (stroke) and Bert Bushnell (bow).

Tim Koch writes:

British readers with access to the Drama Channel (Freeview 20, Sky 166, Virgin Media 190) will be able to see a repeat broadcast of Bert and Dickie at 9pm on Saturday, 3 May. Called Going for Gold in the U.S., this is a dramatised account of the unlikely pairing of Bertram ‘Bert’ Bushnell and Richard ‘Dickie’ Burnell who won the double sculls at the 1948 London Olympics. The HTBS review is here and newsreel film of the real thing is on the British Pathe site.

Matt Smith plays Bert Bushnell and Sam Hoare plays Dickie Burnell.

The Big Man’s Boat

The coxed pairs final at the 1948 London Olympics. Denmark beat Italy and Hungary on Henley Reach.

Tim Koch writes:

Regular HTBS readers will know that we are big fans of Jack Wilson, Ran Laurie, Bert Bushnell and Richard Burnell.

All four of these men had distinguished rowing careers but arguably the highlight for all of them was winning Gold at the 1948 London Olympics. Wilson and Laurie won the coxless pairs and Bushnell and Burnell won the double sculls. The winners in the five other events at the Olympic Regatta at Henley were Merv Wood of Australia in the single sculls, Denmark in the coxed pairs, Italy in the coxless fours, and the United States in the coxed fours and the eight. While I was aware that Britain also came second in the eights, I had no knowledge of any other entries from the host country – until recently. A young women who is learning to row at my club casually mentioned that she thought her grandfather had ‘won something rowing in the 1948 Olympics’. I quickly established that he was not Bert or Dickie, or Ran or Jack. It turned out that he was in the third of the two man boats that Britain had entered: the coxed pair. Sadly, it did not win and in fact came eighth out of nine boats.

The British entry for the coxed pairs at the London Games in 1948, Walker, Scott and James.

‘Granddad’ turned out to be bowman Howard (Bakie) James, aged 24. Stroke was Mark Bodley Scott, aged 25, and the cox was 16-year-old David Walker. All were from Thames Rowing Club. In round one, they were the second of three but in the repechage they lost to the eventual winners, Denmark. There is an nice interview filmed in 2012 with stroke Scott on YouTube. In it he says that they were given ‘a little bit of coaching by a fairly elderly gentleman’ and the impression is that they were very much an afterthought following Laurie and Wilson, two of the finest rowers of the pre war period, and Bushnell and Burnell, both of whom showed promise (Dickie had won the Wingfield Sculls in 1946 and Bushnell in 1947) and who had the great Jack Beresford as their coach.

The coxed pair is the heaviest of all racing boat classes with only two rowers to carry the weight of the cox. It needs two big and strong people to make it move fast but, like the coxless pair, it is vital that they row in the same way. Two otherwise good rowers who have different styles are unlikely to make it work. This need for total teamwork means that the cox is often redundant as a steersman. There is a story that when Steve Redgrave and Andy Holmes were training for the coxed pair in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, cox Pat Sweeney was sometimes not available so they replaced him in training with a heavy tool box.

The new cox was the quiet type.

In modern times the coxed pair was never a popular boat at club level in Britain – in fact, I cannot remember ever seeing one. At the top level, it was dropped as an Olympic event after the 1992 Barcelona Games – but at least it had a magnificent finale.

The Italian brothers Carmine and Giuseppe Abbagnle were the firm favourites to win the Olympic Coxed Pairs final on Lake Banyoles on 2 August 1992. They were seven times world champions and one of the great crews in rowing history. At 1000 metres they led by four and a half seconds, the Romanians were second and the British Searle brothers, Greg and Jonny with cox Garry Herbert, were third. With two hundred metres to the finish the Searles had moved up to second place but were still more than a length down on the Abbagnles. The BBC commentator said: ‘Surely it’s too far even for the Searles with their finishing power...’ In the next 25 strokes the British pair went from a boat length down to win by half a length. If you could not watch it on YouTube, you would not believe it.

Time for 'Jack & Ran'?

Jack Wilson and Ran Laurie

Here on HTBS we have written a lot about British Olympic rowing champions. Lately, our favourites have been Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell, who took the gold in the double sculls at the 1948 Olympic Games, and, in the same Olympic regatta at Henley, Ran Laurie and Jack Wilson, who took the gold in the pair. In 2012, there was a brilliant film made about Bert and Dicke, and now it is time to push for a film about 'Jack & Ran'. Not only did this pair have a tremendous exciting rowing career, first at Cambridge, Ran at the 1936 Olympic Games, then both at Henley in 1938, and again at Henley in 1948 (during these ten years they hardly looked at an oar), and finally at the 1948 Olympics, they also had thrilling adventures in Sudan - everything to make it more than just a rowing movie. Is there anyone out there who needs help with the film script?

There is now a short film clip on Youtube how Laurie and Wilson won the Olympic gold medal, watch it here.

Having been in Sudan for ten years, when they came back in 1948, they were called the 'Desert Rats' - not to be confused with the soldiers in Monty's Eight Army in North Africa...

Tim Koch: Wingfields - The Race of Champions

WD Kinnear’s Wingfields Medal with bars for 1910, 1911 and 1912.

Tim Koch writes:

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 8 October 2013, will see the 173rd race for the Wingfield Sculls and also the 7th Women’s Wingfields. It is strange that an event that carries the grandiose titles of ‘The British Amateur Sculling Championship and Championship of the Thames’ should be so obscure, even within the sport of rowing and sculling.

The Wingfields started in 1830 when Henry Colsell Wingfield presented a pair of miniature silver sculls ‘to be held by the best’ as long as they agreed to race in single sculls on his birthday, 10 August, ‘for ever'. The course is the 4 ½ mile (6.8 km) ‘Thames Championship Course’ (most famously used by the Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race) from Putney to Mortlake complete with tide, bends, shallows, rough water, wind, driftwood and other river users. Patrick Kidd of The Times has written:

(The race is) above all... about athletes being taken out of their comfort zone. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, once said that rowing was the ideal sport because it was so hard for people to watch and thus worth doing purely for its own sake. In the Wingfield Sculls, that vision of glorious amateurism remains alive…

Kidd also quotes Wade Hall-Craggs, winner (‘Champion’) in 1993 and the current Wingfield’s Secretary:

Top class rowers today are used to racing on plastic lakes where so many of the variables have been taken out and it is just a battle of limb and lung size. This is a different challenge.

Certainly the history of the race has numerous examples of winners who probably would not have beaten their opponents had they been on a straight, still water course. Racing on a ‘living river’ requires watermanship, something that cannot be learned on an ergo.

HTBS has previously covered the Wingfield Sculls in 2010, 2011 and 2012.  Two years ago, we produced a video record of this splendid contest:



Like other well run rowing contests such as Henley Royal Regatta and the Doggett’s Coat and Badge, the Wingfields is not a democratic organisation, it is organised by a committee of former winners. One of its few sources of income is from shares in the brewers Guinness, which were donated by Lord Iveagh (Rupert Guinness, Wingfields Champion in 1896). In recent years there has also been generous support from the Wingfield Family Society.

The 2012 Women’s Wingfields winner Beth Rodford sculling in the 2010 race. She is watched by the senior surviving Wingfields Champion, Doug Melvin, who won in 1955 and 1958.

In the 2013 race, both the reigning champions, Alan Campbell (Bronze medalist, London 2012) and Beth Rodford, and all their challengers have recently returned from representing Britain at the World Rowing Championships in South Korea. The women are Louisa Reeve (Leander), Imogen Walsh (London), Beth Rodford (Gloucester), Francis Houghton (Leander), Vicky Thornley (Leander) and Victoria Mayer-Laker (Leander). The male competitors are Jonny Walton (Leander), Alan Campbell (Tideway Sculler’s School) and Jamie Kirkwood (Leander).

The Women’s Wingfields starts at 1.30. Wade Hall-Crags writes:

Beth Rodford returns to defend her title against many of her team mates. She is challenged by both members of the double scull, Vicky Meyer-Laker and Frances Houghton. Francis trained out of the University of London for many years so will look to put her Thames Tideway experience to good use. Vicky Thornley was the single sculler at the Worlds and won the B final and wants to test her single sculling on the Tideway. Imogen Walsh’s season went from strength to strength last year after racing Beth in the Wingfields, culminating in fourth in the lightweight double at the Worlds. Lou Reeve is the only sweep rower [...] and enters the Wingfields for the first time.

Alan Campbell, Wingfields Champion 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2012.

The men’s race is an hour later. Of these competitors Hall-Crags says:

This year [....] all the male single scullers from GB’s World Championship team (will) race. Jonny Walton has been doing much of his training with Alan (Campbell) as he was the spare sculler at the Worlds, presumably this has inspired him to challenge. Jamie Kirkwood was the lightweight single at the Worlds and has spent the last few years training on the Tideway at Imperial so feels he has the Tideway experience to challenge Alan. This is the first time Jamie and Jonny have challenged.

The umpire will be Sophie Hosking (Champion 2008 and 2009), who won lightweight double sculls at the London Olympics.

Throughout its long history, the standard of racing in the Wingfields has been very variable. This is probably beacuse in Britain sculling has traditionally been regarded as somehow inferior to sweep rowing. This year’s entry reflects the steady improvement that British sculling is currently undergoing. A list of former winners is here.

As a ’curtain raiser’ to this year’s races, following is a splendid newsreel film that I recently found online. It shows Richard Burnell beating Bertram Bushnell in the 1946 Wingfields. Of course, two years later ‘Bert and Dickie’ won a famous victory in the double sculls at the 1948 London Olympics. The bigger Burnell had previously beaten Bushnell earlier in 1946 in the Diamond Sculls at Henley but it is interesting to see that the highly competitive smaller man never gave up in this second encounter and sculled himself to the point of exhaustion. The final part of the film shows his limp body been lifted into the umpire’s launch at the finish. You could say that there were in fact two ‘Champions’ that day. View the newsreel here.

A Note on the American Bushnells

Did Olympic gold medallist Bert Bushnell have relatives in America?

After HTBS has posted several blog posts on Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell and the BBC film Bert and Dickie, some days ago, HTBS received an e-mail from ‘an American Bushnell’, Steven E. Bushnell in California. Let it be said from the start, no one seems to really know the true connection between Bert’s family and Steven’s family on this side of the pond. But more about that later.

Steven writes, “Early American Bushnells were a largely Connecticut, Puritan family, first in Guilford and then longer and more prominently in Old Saybrook, and after reading about Göran’s outings with his children, here’s information about places not far from Mystic that everyone might enjoy. I’m guessing you’ve at least heard of them, and it may be you’ve visited those on the water, which have to do with some of the ‘American Bushnells’. Those are:

Photo: Connecticut River Museum

David Bushnell (1740 - ca. 1826) of Saybrook built the first practical submarine, which was the first used to attack a ship, and the engineering aspects of The Turtle (on the right) are simple and neat enough that particularly families with children might enjoy the full-size replicas at the Submarine Force Museum at Groton and the Connecticut River Museum at Essex, at which there are of course many other things for you all. Take a closer look at the Submarine Force Library and Museum and Connecticut River Museum and The Turtle.


“Still in the water, Cornelius S. Bushnell (1829 - 1896) born in Madison, Connecticut, is today best known as a result of his meeting with a Swede, the naval engineer John Ericsson, and of their roles in the construction of the U.S.S. Monitor. There’s a nice description of this history near the middle on the page here and a well-written biography of Bushnell, who had quite an eventful life beyond the Monitor here.



“It seems the Allis-Bushnell House at Madison is undergoing some changes, but at the Annex, there are things Göran’s children Ingrid and Anders, and other visiting children might enjoy seeing, just look here.”



Steven belongs to a branch of the family in California who is descended from those of Saybrook. He continues to write,

“In the end of the 1970s, my late father, David Pearsall B. (if you click on the link you will come to the Wikipedia entry for Steven’s father, and yes, the little baby in the photo is Steven), hired a boat from Bert Bushnell as part of his last, happy honeymoon. My Dad told me how he enjoyed their conversation and about their speculation over whether or not they were related. The evidence now compiled indicates that surname is attached to one family that originated in Berkshire at a place about six miles WSW of the Thames called in earlier times some variant of “the Bushenell,” today Bushnells Green. As I’ve seen comments by Bert’s daughters on HTBS, you might know that Bert’s grand-nephew David, who won the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race in 1998, runs Bushnell Marine Services at Wargrave, his father, Paul, having been appointed one of the Royal Watermen. More on that family here.



“Göran, if you haven’t been to those places in Connecticut, I’m sure you’ll enjoy taking your children there. Thank you for everything that is written about Bert on HTBS!”


Update 20 Aug., 2 p.m.: Steven Bushnell sent a little extra note on Cornelius’ son: “Samuel Clarke Bushnell (1852  - 1930) was the President of the Yale University Boat Club in 1874, which participated in the races of the National Rowing Association of American Colleges on July 17 and 19 on Saratoga Lake; Ansley Wilcox of Yale winning the single sculls competition.”


Steven also adds: “Cornelius’ feelings about his Swedish colleague in the construction of the Monitor were such that he named a son born in 1861 Ericsson Bushnell.”


Dear Steven ~ thank you for all this interesting information about the Bushnells in Connecticut. I am sure the British Bushnells are now also wondering how they are connected to your family!

‘Bert And Dickie’: Drama Or Farce?

Let's continue with the 1948 Olympic rowing from a little different angle. Here HTBS's Tim Koch writes about the BBC film Bert and Dickie (called Going for Gold in America):

It is normally advisable to take a ‘Dr Johnson’ approach to any drama centred on rowing. The 18th-century man of letters famously said:

‘Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s dancing on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.’

Films about rowing are rare and are rarely done well. Film makers prefer to make dramas about popular land based sports as the action sequences are considerably easier to shoot and edit to produce a reasonably convincing scene where an actor is portraying a top class athlete. As far as I know the only rowing sequence in a movie that convinces those who know about the sport is the Henley scene  in The Social Network. When ‘rowing dramas’ are made they tend to closely follow the clichés set out in the guide ‘How to Make a Rowing Movie’ on the now sadly inactive ‘Tideway Slug’.

Geoffrey Palmer is playing Dickie's father, the 1908 Olympic rowing champion 'Don' Burnell.

Bert and Dickie, however, threatened to be different. Firstly, it was made by the BBC who, famously, are rather good at this sort of period drama. Secondly, it had what film and TV people call ‘high production values’ that is, they spent time and money attempting to get it right. Thirdly, it employed some very talented actors in both lead and supporting roles. This included the wonderful Geoffrey Palmer who, as far as I know, had never appeared in anything bad – despite always playing much the same character. Finally, a large part of Britain and the world are in an ‘Olympic Mood’. At the present time many of us are susceptible to a ‘feel good story’ of plucky chaps winning against the odds. I wanted to like this programme.

The basic ingredients of a dramatic story are all there. An ‘odd couple’ are thrown together by circumstances not of their making. They do not like each other. There is social snobbery and economic deprivation. Eventually they learn to ‘pull together’ because they realise that they have a common goal and because they discover that they have a common problem. In this case, the problem is slightly mad fathers, Dickie’s dad representing the old order where it’s the taking part that counts, Bert’s dad representing the future, believing that winning is all. The tension on the Henley Reach is punctuated by gentle humour on land. There are several delightful cut aways to conversations between the Prime Minister and Chairman of the British Olympic Committee as they wrestle both with the great concepts and the mundane detail of the Games. There are funny and touching scenes where post war ‘austerity’ Britain attempts to make the best of things, especially in the presence of the over cossetted Americans. Unfortunately, the cutaway scenes where Bert’s banished girlfriend (a slightly superfluous role) watches the races from a TV shop in Scotland with a local policeman relaying the commentary to the crowds outside (and to the viewer of course) is an unsatisfactory device. Possibly it is some sort of homage to the British ‘Ealing’ comedies of the 1950s.

Of course, the eternal problem of a story ‘based on real events’ is that we all know how it ends. Thus we have to enjoy the journey that takes us to the predictable and inevitable conclusion – in this case Olympic glory and approval from respective fathers.

A review of this journey on Hear The Boat Sing must be slightly different to one in most other places. ‘Dramatic criticism’ is one part but for rowing historians there is also the question of the accuracy of people, events and objects.

How does Bert and Dickie work as a piece of entertainment? It is commonly observed that ‘drama’ is real life with the boring bits taken out. In this necessary process the characters can become slightly one-dimensional, emotions can, unnaturally, change in an instant and all difficulties are unrealistically permanently overcome. ‘B and D’ is not immune from these faults – but very few dramatic productions are. For me, these criticisms did not spoil my enjoyment of ‘the journey’ from start to finish. The combination of an intelligent script, good acting, high production values and wonderful cinematography (with light use of CGI) makes a very simple story work. It is, simply, a bit of fun. For Brits, still basking in post-Olympic Regatta success with their cynicism blunted, the pleasure is highlighted.

Was it ‘accurate’? In a couple of words – pretty much. Yes, the sculling was bad, we knew it was going to be, let’s accept it and move on. The boats and equipment seemed correct. The costumes were fine bar the inaccuracy, pointed out by Jack Beresford’s daughter, that her ‘father’ was portrayed wearing a brown suit at the Olympic Regatta! The stand in for the Leander clubhouse was a little over grand and the unimpressive Leander pontoon was replaced by the more substantial Eton Rafts but there is nothing ‘wrong’ with such things. The only inaccuracy that made me wince was when Don Burnell said that he won an Olympic gold medal in 1908 in ‘the men’s eights’. I am sure that Burnell senior would have never made such a 21st century gender distinction, it was like having the character say something like ‘you is well good’. On the other hand, I did actually learn something. The film portrayed Jack Beresford Jnr. as, in Chris Dodd’s words, ‘mentor rather than coach’. I would have dismissed this as one of the things film makers do to keep the story flowing had Chris not agreed that this was in fact the case.

I must further commend writer William Ivory (on the right) and director David Blair because, not only was their production reasonably accurate, but it was also brave in that it did not avoid introducing slightly difficult ideas for a non-rowing audience. In the best traditions of the BBC, there was little ‘dumbing down’. There were references to rowing’s contracted amateur – professional debate, detail on rigging and rowing technique, and a discussion on using the repêchage system to gain an advantage. These ideas could have easily been passed over to keep the interest of the least attentive viewer, something all too common in modern film and television.
 
The ‘clincher’ for me (and anyone associated with this blog) came with a scene towards the end, just before ‘the big race’. Bert is handed a note that says: ’Make the boat sing’. It almost made up for the over sentimental father-son reconciliations on the finish pontoon. However, Bert and Dickie, for all its predictably, is a dog that dances well.

There is a tribute to Bert and Dickie by ‘JBT’ on YouTube, here.

9 August 1948: The Final Day At The Olympic Rowing Regatta In Henley

Olympic champions Jack Wilson (stroke) and Ran Laurie (bow) in the foreground after they have won the Coxless Pairs at the 1948 Olympic Regatta in Henley. In this photograph is also silver medallists Hans Kalt (stroke) and Josef Kalt (bow) of Switzerland. Italy took the bronze.

Although, the Olympic Rowing Regatta at Eton Dorney is over, HTBS is not done with Olympic rowing. Let’s take a look at the 1948 Olympic Rowing Regatta in Henley-on-Thames through some old photographs. Today, 9 August, it is exactly 64 years ago the finals were rowed on the Henley course. One photograph is easily recognized (above), showing Jack Wilson and Ran Laurie after they have just crossed the finish line in the final that gave them the Olympic gold in the Coxless Pairs – or the 'Pairs Without Cox' or 'Coxswainless Pairs' as it was called at that time. The other photographs from this regatta I have never seen published before. Enjoy!

All the equipment from the 1948 Henley Royal Regatta was left untouched to make things easier for the Olympic Regatta in Henley. However, an additional stand to take 4,000 spectators was erected, as was a special Press Box (on the right) which could take 150 members of the media.
*Update: This has been proven to be wrong, it's the Royal Canadian Henley, please see more here.

In this photograph from a repechage heat, the British double, with Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell, is way ahead of Holland and third-placed Argentina. Burnell writes in his Swing Together (1952): ‘Personally I do not like the repechage system, because I find it demoralizing to know that the first heat has not got to be won’. However, this being said, Bushnell/Burnell deliberately lost their first heat, so they would not meet the Danish double of Ebbe Parsner and Aage Larsen in the semi-final as the Danes were the favourites to win the gold. But take a look at the photograph again: despite the difference in the oarsmen’s heights – Burnell was 6ft. 4in. (193cm) and Bushnell was 5ft. 9in. (175cm) – they are beautifully well together in the water. Burnell wrote about their stroke: ‘Bushnell was inclined to over-reach; I was on the short side in my forward swing. The result was … we reached naturally to about the same place.’ (in Swing Together)

Olympic champion in the Single Sculls Mervyn Wood of Australia is congratulated by silver medallist Eduardo Risso of Uruguay. Romolo Catasta of Italy came third. Wood had won the 1948 Diamond Challenge Sculls by beating Bert Bushnell in the final.

In the final of the Coxed Pairs Finn Pedersen, Tage Henriksen, and Carl-Ebbe Andersen (cox) of Denmark easily won over Italy with Hungary coming in third.

Bert And Dickie And Jack

James Frain as Jack Beresford, Matt Smith as Bert Bushnell and Sam Hoare as Dickie Burnell.

By now, no one who is interested in the history of rowing can have missed when the BBC film Bert and Dickie (Going for Gold – The ’48 Games is the title in America on BBC America) is on. But to be on the safe side: it’s tomorrow, Wednesday, 25 July at 8:30 p.m. on BBC One in Britain, and the very same day on BBC America at 8/7 C.

HTBS’s correspondent Hélène Rémond in France sent a very interesting link, ‘BBC News – Entertainment and Art’, which has great information about the film, and also a film clip from the movie and an interview with the actor Sam Hoare, who plays Dickie Burnell. Despite that it’s said that the Burnells were ‘Rowing Royalties’, Dickie was a very humble man.

HTBS has followed this film from the start and we have written a lot about Matt Smith, who plays Bert Bushnell and Sam Hoare, who portrays Dickie Burnell. One character that we have not really mentioned in this film is Jack Beresford, who is played by James Frain. Beresford, who had taken five Olympic medals in five consecutive Games, was not an unimportant figure in the story about Bert and Dickie’s 1948 Olympic gold medal. Beresford became a mentor and a coach for the young Bert and Dickie.

For those of us who know something about the real Jack Beresford, actor James Frain seems to be an odd choice to play the blond Beresford. In an e-mail to HTBS’s Tim Koch, Jack’s son, John, says about Frain: ‘He’s totally unlike Dad in appearance’. John Beresford goes on by saying that at a screening his sister was horrified to see the actor playing her father wearing a brown suit. She said that Jack would never wear such a thing.

All this promises to be an interesting time in front of the TV on Wednesday!

'Bert' Proud Torch Runner

Matt Smith as Bert Bushnell

The Olympic torch is right now being taken around Great Britain. One of the lucky ‘torch runners’ was actor Matt Smith, who is mostly known for playing Doctor Who. Of course, for the readers of HTBS, I am sure he will be remembered for his role as Bert Bushnell in the upcoming BBC One film Bert & Dickie (or as the film is called on BBC America, Going for Gold – The ’48 Games). Bert Bushnell’s daughter, Sue, kindly sent me a link to the film on BBC One, but as of now there is not a premier date for the film in the U.K., while there actually is one for the USA, which is on 25 July.

BBC One – click on the characters in the film, descriptions that I found entertaining, i.e. Bert, Dickie, Jack Beresford, Don Burnell (Dickie’s father), Rosalind Burnell (Dickie’s wife), Margaret Campbell (Bert’s fiancé, late wife), and Jack Kelly (Jnr., or ‘Kell’, son of Jack Kelly, Snr).

BBC America

If you would like to see Smith with the torch, click here.

Bert And Dickie - Going For Gold

More about Bert and Dickie, and by Chris Dodd!

While there is no information which date the BBC drama is going to be aired in the U.K., there is a date flying around on the internet when BBC America is going to show this film, which by the way is called Going for Gold – The ’48 Games on their website. The date given is 25 July, but this date is not even stated in the BBC America’s information about the film – please, do not take this date for certain, yet!

On the Rowing Voice blog, Chris Dodd has posted the first review on the film, “Bert & Dickie – a double whammy”. He is very positive, and he writes among other things:

“Bert & Dickie plunges you straight into this world of high hopes and low snobbery. It’s a watery-eyed drama about how Bert Bushnell and Dickie Burnell came to win the double sculls in 1948. By that I don’t mean that it’s soppy; it’s a story of ambition and class that I reckon will touch your tear ducts when the BBC releases it on the box before the Olympics, as it did mine.”

Read Chris Dodd's whole review here.

Chris Dodd On Bert And Dickie, 1948

Bow: Matt Smith as Bert & Stroke: Sam Hoare as Dickie

I think many of us, rowers and rowing writers and historians, are eagerly waiting for BBC’s film Bert and Dickie. Greg Denieffe, one in the crew here at HTBS, pointed me in the direction of a BBC radio clip which was first broadcasted on 5 March 2010, a month after British Olympian Champion Bert Bushnell died. In the slightly more than 4-minute clip, rowing writer and historian Chris Dodd is being interviewed by Matthew Bannister about Bert’s and Dickie’s 1948 Olympic success in the double sculls. By that time, the script for Bert and Dickie was already under way, but the clip is a splendid reminder why the combination of Bert and Dickie was so unique at the end of the 1940s.

Greg writes, ‘Spot the error at the beginning when talking about Redgrave in 1984!’ [Redgrave took his first Olympic gold medal in 1984 in the coxed four – not the coxless four!]

To go to the broadcast, please click here.

Swing Together

Dickie & Bert

On 2 May, Tim Koch gave the readers of HTBS the weights of some of the famous British Olympic oarsmen. Of course, an oarsman’s weight can vary depending on if he is in a ‘racing trim’ or not. Some athletes, or their coaches, are keeping diaries or logs how their training is going, more for their own sake than for sport historians who later would like to do research. A good example of a ‘log keeper’, was Dickie Burnell, who soon will be featured in a BBC film, Bert and Dickie, about how he and Bert Bushnell only spent a few weeks together before it was time for them to race at the 1948 Olympic regatta in Henley-on-Thames. As we all know, they became Olympic champions.

I am not sure, but I am guessing that the filmmakers have very carefully read Burnell’s brilliant book Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing, which was published in 1952. In this book is a chapter called “Olympic Log Book, 1947-8” where he scribbled down some notes about his training in the boat. It is indeed an interesting read. Burnell’s first partner in the double scull was Dick Winstone, and Burnell’s first entry reads:

‘27.ix.47 Tried out the Leander double sculler with Winstone at Henley. Paddled to Hambleden lock and back. Quite promising.’

The second entry reads:

‘4.x.47. Bow (Winstone) 12 st. 9 ½ lb. Stroke (Burnell) 14 st. 6 ½ lb. Henley. Paddled to lock and up to Fawley in one piece. back to [Temple] Island, and paddled hard over regatta course. Quite comfortable, but ragged when tired.’

Later that month they get the good news that they will receive a new boat:

‘21.x.47. Heard to-day from Gully [Nickalls] that we can have a new boat built by Sims. This is excellent news as the Leander boat, a converted pair, is much too heavy.’

Burnell is frequently coming back to their weights in his log:

‘27.i.48. Bow, 13 st. 5 ½ lb. Stoke, 14 st. 5 lb. Kingston. Paddled new boat to Hampton Court and back. beginning to get the feel of it, but we were very unsteady in a strong and difficult wind.’

’13.iv.48. Bow, 13 st. 6 lb. Stroke, 14 st. 12 lb. Jack Beresford came out with us Paddled up to Ditton and back. Nice water and going quite well. Jack said he thought us promising, but a bit short forward.’

And so it goes on. There are several entries where one word indicates that their practise probably should have gone better: ‘not bad to-day, but…..’ In the beginning of June, Burnell’s log tells that they went out sculling on their own, or had no outing at all. For the Marlow Regatta, which was going to be the double’s first test, the entry on 19 June, ’48, reveals it all: ‘This was a disaster.’ Nothing seemed to have worked. Winstone and Burnell were just not to be, they sculled too differently. They were beaten at Henley by a Belgian double in the semi-final. After Henley, Burnell was put in the double with Bert Bushnell:

‘6.vii.48. Bow (Bushnell), 11 st. 5 lb., Stroke (Burnell), 14 st. 3 ½ lb. […].’

This combination seems to work much better. The last entry with the oarsmen’s weights given is on 26 July ’48: ‘Bow, 11 st. 6 lb. Stroke, 14 st. 3 lb.’ The very last entry is on 31 July ’48, three days before the beginning of the Olympic regatta.

They were a good match, Burnell wrote: ‘Bushnell […] liked a fairly lively rate of striking, but alone lacked the power to maintain it. I also liked it, and had the necessary power, but needed encouragement to keep it up. Bushnell’s liveliness, by taking much of the weight off me, particular at the start, enabled me to get going fast and settle into a comfortable gait, whilst my weight helped us to keep it going. But a great deal of credit must go to Bushnell. It was a remarkable performance for one whose whole time had been spent as a single sculler, to fit in so quickly with the vagaries of a stroke behind whom he had never sculled before.’

Dickie Burnell’s Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing is a remarkable book!

Heavy Boys?

Laurie

Two weeks ago, HTBS received a question from ‘David’ who writes: ‘I’m doing a bit of research and wondered if you know or could take an educated guess at the heights (and if possible rowing weights) of the following rowers: Jack Wilson, Ran Laurie, Dickie Barney, Bert Bushnell, Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards, Jack Beresford, and Dick Southwood ~ Many thanks, David’

I started to flip through pages in my rowing books, while Tim Koch began looking in The Times archive’s Henley Royal Regatta (HRR) reports. Weights are easy to find in the HRR programmes Tim writes, ‘but heights are more difficult. One way to find out these oarsmen’s heights is to try to find their military records which record such things’.

Here is what Tim found when it comes to the rowers’ weights (in stones and pounds / pounds / kilograms):

D.J. ‘Jack’ Wilson (Henley Royal Regatta 1934): 12.11 / 179 / 81.2

W.G.M. ‘Ran’ Laurie (HRR 1934): 13.4 / 186 / 84.4

B.H.T. ‘Bert’ Bushnell: 10.8 / 148 lbs / 67  Height: 5'10" / 178

 H.R.A. ‘Jumbo’ Edwards (HRR 1932): 13.7 / 189 / 85.7

 Jack Beresford Jnr (HRR 1939): 11.9 / 163 / 74

 L.F. ‘Dick’ Southwood (HRR 1934) 12.10 / 178 / 80.7

Tim and I have to confess we are not sure who ‘Dickie’ Barney was, so if David, or someone else could inform us, we would be grateful. Thank you!

A "Bert And Dickie" Update

In the bow Matt Smith as Bert Bushnell and Sam Hoare as Dickie Burnell in the upcoming BBC film Bert and Dickie.

As some of you readers of HTBS might remember, last August we had a few blog posts about the upcoming BBC One film Bert and Dickie about Bert Bushnell and Richard ‘Dickie’ Burnell and their triumph in the double sculls race on the Henley course at the 1948 Olympic regatta. After only training together for six weeks, they managed to become Olympic champions, giving Great Britain one of two Olympic gold medals in rowing events in 1948 (the second British gold went to Ran Laurie and Jack Wilson in the coxless pairs).

On Wednesday evening, there was a private screening of the movie for the involved families, the Bushnells, Burnells, and Beresfords, Sue Bushnell, daughter of Bert, writes to HTBS. Sue continues,

“The rowing scenes are beautifully shot, Matt Smith [playing Bert Bushnell] gives a mesmerising performance and I was particularly moved by the scene where Jack Kelly Jnr., shares his plentiful rations of steaks and cheesecake with his British hosts and fellow Olympians. […]  I think the film will be a great success and be of interest to rowing fans and laymen alike.”

Matt Smith is portraying Bert Bushnell and Sam Hoare is Dickie Burnell. Other cast members are James Frain impersonating five-time Olympian Jack Beresford Jnr., who was an Olympic official at the 1948 Olympic regatta, Douglas Hodge is playing Bert’s father, John Bushnell, and Geoffrey Palmer stars as Dickie’s father, Charles Burnell, who took an Olympic gold medal in the eights in 1908.

As of now, there is no official date when Bert and Dickie is going to air on BBC One, but it’s likely to happen in May or June. Of course, HTBS will keep you updated. While we wait, here is a BBC trailer with upcoming films on BBC, with a few seconds of Bert and Dickie (and a few seconds with Sir Steve, too).

New Exhibits At The River & Rowing Museum

Ran Laurie and Jack Wilson: 1948 Olympic champions in the pair.

To get you – if you are a rower in England that is – in the right mood for the upcoming Olympic rowing this summer, the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames will open a new exhibit on 31 March, “The Perfect Rower – 100 Years of Racing for Glory”, The Guardian reported the other day. The exhibit, which will run until 30 September, 2012, will concentrate on the two previous Olympic rowing regattas held in Henley, in 1908 and 1948.

There will be information and stories about former British rowing heroes, who raced at these two Games. At the 1908 Olympic regatta, all the gold medals went to Great Britain, so for sure there will be artefacts on display about for example Don Burnell and F.S. Kelly who rowed in the Leander crew called the ‘Old Crocks’.

At the 1948 Games, Great Britain took two golds, in the double sculls and the coxless pair. These two masterly Olympic championship crews, who HTBS has written about on several occasions, were Ran Laurie and Jack Wilson (the pair) and Dickie Burnell and Bert Bushnell (the double; picture on the left). Rowing historian Chris Dodd, who has worked on the exhibition, is interviewed in the article in The Guardian. Read it here.

Then, between 26 May and 12 August this year, the River and Rowing Museum will also have an exhibit up and running about rowing artwork, “Oarsome – The Art of Rowing” by Tonia Williams, who HTBS wrote about in January, 2012.

The Burnell-Perry Thames Dinghy; Or With Cerise Coloured Blades In Connecticut

Hart Perry sculling in his dinghy with the cerise coloured blades...

As has been mentioned before on HTBS, there will be a cocktail reception, raw bar, and silent auction in memory of Hart Perry on Friday 9 March between 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. (The auction will close on Saturday 10 March at 6 p.m.) The reception and auction will be held at the National Rowing Hall of Fame in the G.W. Blunt White Building at Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic, Connecticut. The cost is $100, and the proceeds from this event will be used for projects related to rowing history and the National Rowing Hall of Fame and rowing exhibits. To register for the reception, go here.

The highlight of the evening will be the auction of Hart Perry’s Thames pulling dinghy, donated by Gill Perry and the Perry family. Here is a description of the dinghy, “Corpus Leandri”: Length: 10ft.; Beam: 4ft. 2in.; Draft: 1ft. 3in.

This clinker-built boat was made in England possibly by Hobbs of Henley-on-Thames or Wyatts of Wargrave, probably in the 1930s, or maybe earlier (there is no boat builder plaque in the boat). There are some uncertainties about what kind of wood has been used, but a qualified guess is cedar on elm, six planks per side. The stern is mahogany whereupon is painted “Corpus Leandri” (the motto of Leander Club is “Corpus Leandri Spes Mea”). One sculling thwart, adjustable stretcher, stern seat and small bow seat, both with backrests in mahogany, and accompanying old velvet cushions. Two floorboards (2x2 floorboards), and a pair of bronze swivel rowlocks (oarlocks) and rudder with lines. Although the dinghy is in good condition, the thwart, floorboards, and inside will need to be re-varnished before the first outing of the season. The dinghy comes with Hart Perry’s sculls, and the blades are painted in Leander cerise.

The starting bid is $5,000. If you are not able to attend the silent auction in person, you are welcome to contact auctioneer Tom Sanford, who will accept your bids from 12 p.m. Friday 9 March to 6 p.m. Saturday 10 March via email or phone: t-sanford@sbcglobal.net or 860-319-6254.

This dinghy comes with a remarkable rowing history. It was bought by famous oarsman Don Burnell, but it is not known exactly when he obtained it. He most likely purchased it just before, during, or just after World War II.

Charles “Don” Desborough Burnell (1875–1969) was educated at and rowed for Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He was an Oxford Blue and rowed in the winning Oxford crews in 1895, 1896, 1897, and 1898. Especially the 1897 crew seemed to have been exceptional, being called “the finest crew that ever rowed”. It was also at this time that Burnell was spoken of as “the strongest sweep in England”. As a member of Leander Club, he won several cups at the Henley Royal Regatta, including four consecutive victories in the Grand Challenge Cup from 1898 to 1901, and two in the Stewards’ Challenge Cup in 1898 and 1900 (he also won the 1899 Stewards’ rowing for Magdalen).

The “Old Crocks” in 1908, Don Burnell, “the strongest sweep in England”, in fifth seat.

For the 1908 Olympic rowing in Henley, Don Burnell was asked to race in the Leander crew, which was Great Britain’s “second boat” in the eights, the first one being that year’s winning Boat Race crew from Cambridge. The Leander crew, with Burnell at age 33 and another Magdalen oarsman, Guy Nickalls at age 42, was affectionately called the “Old Crocks”. In the final, the “Old Crocks” overpowered the Belgian eight from Royal Club Nautique de Gand to take the Olympic gold. During Word War I, Burnell served in the London Rifle Brigade, leaving the Army after the War had ended with the rank of Lt. Colonel; he would thereafter often be called “The Colonel”. In 1919, Don Burnell was elected a Henley Steward, in 1921 he coached Oxford, and from 1927 to 1930 he was umpire of the Boat Race. Burnell was President of Leander Club from 1954 to 1957.

In 1903, Don Burnell had married Jessie Backhouse (1877–1966) and they had two sons and two daughters. The most famous of their children, when it comes to rowing, was Richard “Dickie” Desborough Burnell (1917–1995). Dickie Burnell also rowed for Eton and Magdalen, and won his Blue in the losing Oxford boat in the 1939 Boat Race. After the War, Captain Burnell of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, stationed in northern Germany, managed to practice rowing at Hamburg Ruder Club, which fortunately was undamaged from the RAF’s bombings of the town. After coming out of the Army in March 1946, he established himself as one of the best scullers in England. Rowing for Leander, Burnell won the Grand and competed in the Diamonds in 1946, the same year he won the Wingfield Sculls – The British Amateur Sculling Championships and Championship of the Thames. Though working for the British Council, in 1946 he also began on a freelance basis to write rowing articles for The Times.

Six weeks before the 1948 Olympic rowing, again in Henley-on-Thames, Dickie Burnell was teamed up with another successful sculler, Bert Bushnell (Wingfields winner 1947), to represent Great Britain at the Olympics in the double sculls. At first Burnell-Bushnell seemed to be an odd couple. The 31-year-old Burnell, at stroke, was a giant at 6ft. 4in., while Bushnell, 26, in the bow, was only 5ft. 9in. But somehow they made it work. In an article many years later, Bushnell said: “I was on the bridge and ‘Dickie’ was in the engine room.” With some tactical rowing, they took themselves to the final, where they beat the powerful Danish double by two lengths. The day after, Burnell duly reported in The Times that he and Bert Bushnell had become Olympic champions in the double. Thereafter, Burnell continued on a more regular basis to pen rowing articles for the paper.

Having a father and a son being Olympic gold medalists in rowing is an exceptional family achievement. Later this year, for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the BBC is going to air a film, Bert and Dickie, about Bushnell’s and Burnell’s 1948 Olympic triumph. Burnell continued to row after the Olympic Games and in the cerise colours of Leander, he won the 1949 Grand and the 1951 Double Sculls (with Pat Bradley) at Henley. He also captained the British eight at the 1950 British Empire Games (now called the Commonwealth Games) in New Zealand. The British eight, comprised of oarsmen from Leander and Thames RC, took a bronze.

Peter Burnell in his grandfather, Don Burnell’s dinghy, in 1954 or 1955. In 1962, Peter would win his Blue when he rowed in the losing Oxford crew in the Boat Race.

Dickie Burnell was not only a rowing journalist at The Times (from 1966 at The Sunday Times), he also wrote several books on how to scull and history books about the Boat Race, the Henley Royal Regatta, and Leander Club. His first, Swing Together: Thoughts on Rowing (1952), is a very personal book and a great read, and so is his Sculling with Notes on Training and Rigging (1955), which not only has photographs of his former sculling partner, Bert Bushnell, but also a marvelous photograph of his oldest son, the 14-15-year-old Peter in his grandfather, Don Burnell’s dinghy.

Before World War II, Don and Jessie Burnell lived in Wedmore, which was a fairly large house on Remenham Hill, going out of Henley towards Maidenhead. During the War, when they lived in a little terraced house in St Mark’s Road in Henley, they bought a plot of land in Wargrave, outside of Henley, where they began to build a house. Just after the War, the Burnells moved into the house, called Brentwode, whose garden was next to Hennerton Backwater, which was what the waterway was called from Wargrave to Marsh Lock at Henley. There the dinghy was kept in a hut, if it was not tied up on the “backwater”.

Three young Burnell children at the oars, Peter and Zandra at the stroke oar (port) and John at the bow oar (starboard), c 1955.

In June 1940, Dickie Burnell married Rosalind Garton, daughter of Stanley Garton, who had won an Olympic gold medal in the Leander eight in Stockholm in 1912. Dickie and Rosalind Burnell’s five young children, Peter, John, Edward, Alexandra (“Zandra”), and Elizabeth (“Tizzy”), and their cousins, loved to mess about in the dinghy, rowing it up and down the stream of “backwater”. “Towards Wargrave the backwater was rather overhung by willows and we had to duck our heads to get through, but downstream towards Henley it quickly widened out and joined the main River Thames”, Zandra Houston (nee Burnell) still remembers. She continues, “I learned to swim in the backwater at Brentwode, and used to be terrified of putting my feet down in the water as there was loads of weed and large fierce pike swimming about, but I think everyone swam in rivers in those days!” Peter would follow in his grandfather’s and father’s wake, studying at Eton and Magdalen, and rowing for Oxford in the 1962 Boat Race.

The Burnell Family at Brentwode: from left to right, Don Burnell, his wife Jessie, Zandra, Dickie, Dickie’s sister Janet (who was a professional actress, and quite a character, according to Zandra), and Rosalind. In the front row: Edward and Peter (John is missing in the picture and Rosalind is pregnant with Tizzy). Behind the photographer is the “backwater” where the dinghy was tied up.

When Don Burnell’s wife Jessie died in 1966, he sold Brentwode and moved in to live at Leander Club. It was there that Hart Perry (1933–2011), coach for Kent School in Connecticut, laid his eyes on the dinghy for the first time. Perry, who had become head coach at Kent in 1964, frequently took his crews to compete at Henley, and in 1968 he became a member of Leander. It was almost certainly around that time that he bought the dinghy from Dickie Burnell. In 1969, Don Burnell died.

One of Hart Perry’s greatest successes as a coach for Kent came in 1972, when his Kent eight took the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley. Two years later, in 1974, Perry was the first non-Commonwealth citizen elected a Henley Steward. Dickie Burnell, who was President of Leander Club from 1988 to 1993, passed away in 1995 and was laid to rest in the family grave in Remenham, just down stream from Henley, where his parents were buried.

The Burnell Family grave in Remenham.

Perry was the first U.S. citizen to sit on Leander’s governing committee, and was instrumental in raising funds for Leander’s major renovation, in which the club’s bedrooms were named after prominent British and U.S. rowing schools and colleges. Perry brought the dinghy home to Connecticut, where he and his children enjoyed many outings on the Housatonic. When Perry left Kent School to settle in North Stonington, Connecticut, the dinghy naturally came along.

For more than 50 years, Perry lived a life in rowing: he rowed, coached, and served as an official in both national and international events, in two Olympic Games, 18 World Rowing Junior Championships, and 10 World Rowing Championships, and for decades he was working with Juniors within FISA, the international rowing federation. He was the president of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen, the predecessor organization to USRowing, and after he stepped down from that position, he became the driving force to raise money for U.S. athletes to compete in international regattas. Hart Perry was inducted into four rowing halls of fame, including the National Rowing Hall of Fame in 1990.

Already from the start, in 1956, he was involved with the National Rowing Hall of Fame, and for decades he worked hard to establish a physical place for “the Hall”, especially since he was elected the Executive Director of the National Rowing Foundation (NRF), which is the organization in charge of inducting members into the Rowing Hall of Fame. In spring 2008, Perry finally saw a dream come true when the NRF’s National Rowing Hall of Fame opened in the G.W. Blunt White Building at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. During the years, he received several awards; in 2009, he and his wife, Gillian, his right hand, were awarded the USRowing Medal, and on January 20, 2011, he was awarded FISA’s World Rowing Distinguished Service to Rowing Award at the World Rowing Coaches Conference Gala at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley. Arriving home from England, Perry took ill and died shortly thereafter, on February 3, 2011.

I would especially like to thank Zandra Houston (nee Burnell) and her siblings for their memories about the Burnell dinghy and for providing information about their father and grandfather, and allowing HTBS to post photographs from the Burnell family photo album. Thanks also to Dr. Robert Treharne Jones, press officer at Leander Club, for information. I am also grateful to rowing historian and Leander member Tom Weil for valuable in-put and a final “editorial clean-up”.