The Forgotten Olympic Founder — Dr William Penny Brookes
The Shropshire GP who helped restart the modern Olympic Games
Who started the modern Olympic Games movement? Was the Greeks? Nope. The Americans? Nope. What about the Chinese? Nah.
In fact, if it wasn’t for a man born 215 years ago in the small Shropshire market town of Much Wenlock, the France 2024 Olympic Games might not be taking place.
Strange as it may seem, this rural British market town played a vital role in re-establishing the Ancient Greek games as an international sporting event. The man in question is Dr. William Penny Brookes, born on August 13th, 1809.
Brookes was born and bred in Much Wenlock and followed in his father’s footsteps to become a doctor. He travelled widely, furthering his knowledge, spending time at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals in London, and also in Padua, Italy.
When Brookes received news that his father had died of typhoid in 1831, he returned to Much Wenlock and took over the running of his father’s general practice surgery. Ten years later in 1841, he also became a Justice of the Peace. It turned out to…
