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 The
Superman, more conventionally known as Charles
Burgess (C.B.) Fry, was born in Croydon on 25th
April 1872. After attending Repton public school
he went on to win a scholarship to Wadham College
Oxford, where he eventually gained a first-class
honours degree in Classic Moderations.
It was during these informative years, first at
Repton and later at Oxford, that C.B. began to
demonstrate not only that he was a brilliant
scholar, but that he had the potential to develop
into the greatest all-round athlete of modern
times.
At Oxford he gained a total of twelve sporting
Blues for representing his university, and in one
year he captained the football, athletics and
cricket teams, earning him the nicknames of
‘Almighty’ and ‘Lord Oxford’. To fill in time he
also played Rugby Union at university, as well as
for Blackheath and the Barbarians. In addition he
proved himself to be a fine boxer, golfer,
swimmer, tennis player, javelin thrower and
sculler.
 C.B.
first learned his association football skills at
Repton and was awarded his soccer Blue whilst at
Oxford. He later joined the amateur club The
Corinthians before entering the professional ranks
and signing for Southampton. He played his debut
match against Tottenham Hotspur in December 1900
and obviously impressed, as he was picked for the
England team just a few months later in a match
against Ireland. The following season he played
for Southampton in the FA Cup final against
Sheffield United.
A brilliant track and field athlete, C.B. equalled
the world long jump record with a jump of 23’ 6½”
(7.17m) in 1893. With little formal training in
the discipline itself, it is said that he prepared
for the event by smoking a cigar. On completing
his record equalling jump, he apparently returned
to the changing room to finish his smoke.
At the world’s first international athletics event
held at London’s White City stadium in 1894, C.B.
won both the long jump and 100 yards sprint. It is
highly likely that C.B. could have secured medals,
possibly even gold ones, at the 1896 Olympics, had
he not been so busy indulging his first passion in
South Africa as a member of the England cricket
team.
For it was on the cricket field that C.B.’s talent
would shine the brightest. A superb right-handed
batsman, C.B. went on to captain both Sussex and
England. England never lost a Test Match whilst
C.B. was at the helm. At a time when pitches were
distinctly more unreliable than they are today, he
scored more than 30,000 first-class runs with an
average of over 50 runs per innings, and just
missed out on scoring 100 hundreds, with an
impressive career total of 94.
Cricket
at Lords - England V. Australia
C.B.
was at his peak in 1901 when he totalled 3147
runs, an average of over 78 runs per innings.
During that summer he scored 13 hundreds, and an
unprecedented 6 centuries in 6 consecutive innings
within a timeframe of little more than a
fortnight. A record that remains to this day, and
a fitting testament to one of the greatest
cricketers of all time.
 However his talents were not just confined to the
sports field. C.B. also stood as Liberal candidate
for Parliament in Brighton; he was a director of a
training ship, a journalist, a deputy and
speechwriter for the Indian delegation at the
League of Nations. It was whilst he was involved
in the latter role that C.B. was offered the
vacant throne of Albania.
The Albanian delegation was apparently looking for
an English gentleman with an income of £10,000 a
year to become their king. Whilst amply qualified
for the former requirement, C.B. was always
notoriously short of money.
Some twenty years on from his glory days in 1921,
C.B. once again appeared for Sussex against the
visiting Australians and scored 59 and 37 in the
two innings. After the match C.B. was approached
by the England selectors and asked whether he
would consider captaining the national side.
Perhaps now feeling his 49 years C.B. declined the
offer and, to be on the safe side, retired from
cricket all together.
C.B. died in 1956, in Hampstead, London, The
“grand old man of sport”.
©
HUK
Useful links
C.B. Fry, An English Hero
by Iain
Wilton
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