The Times Olympians

As The Times looks to Rio in celebration of the latest Olympic Games, we look back at the great sporting achievements of our two of our very own members of staff, for not only has The Times long reported on the Games, its past ranks also feature two Great British Olympians! Edgar Amphlett and Richard Burnell both represented Great Britain at Olympic Games whilst serving on the staff of the newspaper and, between then, won one gold and two silver medals. Here we take a closer look at their sporting triumphs.

Richard Burnell

Appointed as The Times’ Rowing Correspondent in 1946, Richard Desborough Burnell (1917–1995) went on to take part in the London Olympic Games in 1948. Competing in the double sculls rowing event with partner Bert Bushnell, Burnell found himself in the pages of the paper that he was, no doubt, more accustomed to writing for. On the morning of the final heat, 9 August 1948, The Times reported that Burnell and Bushnell had been ‘improving with every race’ and declared them to be ‘one of our brightest hopes to-day’. The newspaper’s confidence was well founded — the pair rowed to victory in 6 minutes 51.3 seconds, beating Denmark by two lengths, to take home gold. In doing so, Burnell followed in his father’s footsteps, who had also won an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1908, as a member of the British eights.

Burnell remained in his post as Rowing Correspondent until 1967, when he moved across to The Sunday Times, and eventually ended his career as a freelancer for both titles between 1980 and 1990.

Scenes from the double sculls final at Henley in 1948. Left: The British pair leading in the final; Centre: Burnell (left) and Bushnell (right) seen waving at the finish; Right: : Burnell (left) and Bushnell (right) being awarded their gold medals.

Edgar Amphlett

Burnell was not, however, the first Times correspondent to win an Olympic medal for Great Britain — that title does to Edgar Montague Amphlett (1867–1931). Amphlett joined the staff of The Times in 1899, though unlike Burnell his first postings were not sports-based. Rather, he began his career with the newspaper as a Parliamentary reporter, before being made day secretary in 1908.

During that same year Amphlett, also a talented fencer, represented Great Britain at the London Olympic Games. A member of the team epée squad, Amphlett won three of his four fights in the silver medal match against Belgium and he and his teammates took home the silver medal that year.

Amphlett in his fencing gear for the London Games in 1908.

Amphlett’s achievements do not stop there, however. Four years later, Amphlett and the epée squad took home silver once again, this time at the Stockholm Olympic Games, where Britain lost to Belgium in the final. After the First World War, Amphlett also went to the 1924 Paris Games, where he was the oldest and, no doubt, most experienced member of the team epée squad. On that occasion, however, the team did not medal. Nonetheless, Amphlett was part of a golden generation of British fencers, which included Robert Montgomerie and Edgar Seligman, and in the pre-war years he also won the British epée championship of 1910 and the foil championship the following year.

The copy of the letter in the Managers Letter Books in the archive of the letter from Charles Moberly Bell to Amphlett thanking him for his work during the 1908 London Games. It appears that unlike Burnell who was given leave of absence to take part in the 1948 Games, Amphlett was expected to combine his duties as a participant and reporter.

Throughout all of this, Amphlett continued to work at The Times, holding a great variety of posts from editor’s secretary to being in charge of the chess columns in The Times Literary Supplement and Weekly Edition. On the outbreak of the First World War Amphlett went on to become a war correspondent, remaining in Boulogne when the town was abandoned by the British Army during the retreat from Mons. He later travelled to Arras and then left with a stream of refugees during the German bombardment, his diary of these events being subsequently published in The Times. Amphlett also served as a Railway Transport Officer in the army from 1915 to 1919 before coming full circle, to rejoin the paper’s Parliamentary staff.

Following on from this, and showing no signs of slowing down, Amphlett served as a special correspondent in Ireland in 1920, then Fiume until 1921, where he was the only correspondent in the town during the Italian blockade that took place in the days before Gabriele d’Annunzio’s surrender. He next served as a correspondent for Helsingfors until 1922, before becoming Paris Correspondent. His final post was as editor of Special Numbers, which he took up in 1925. Amphlett continued his work at the newspaper up until his death in 1931.