Dick Gradley

Dick Gradley was born in the East End of London in 1932. He took up boxing at a young age, with the aim of turning professional. He joined the Army when he was 18, continuing with his boxing while doing his National Service. However, during a boxing tournament, he suffered an injury causing blood vessels to burst, which ended his boxing career. Despite this setback, Gradley stayed in the Army, going into the PT (Physical Training) Corps.

Becoming a gymnast instructor to the cadets, Gradley met up with Nik Stuart, Tommy Slaven and Jack Scrivener. Known as the “Fab Four”, they trained “like demons” in gymnastics. The four of them won the Adams Shield in 1955, the first of no fewer than 13 wins for the Army, a feat that no club has equalled. Gradley was himself on the winning team for the Army from 1955-58 and once more in 1965.

Gradley’s first major international competition was the 1957 European Gymnastics Championships in Paris. This was followed by an appearance at the 1958 World Gymnastics Championships in Moskva. In Moskva, he met the Soviet gymnast and World Champion Yury Titov. Titov was a big influence on Gradley and Stuart. Gradley went on to compete at two more Gymnastics Championships: 1962 in Praha, and 1966 in Dortmund.

After competing at the 1960 Roma Olympics, Gradley was scheduled to take part in the European Gymnastics Championships in Luxembourg the following year. However, a shoulder injury meant he was unable to compete, resulting in Stuart being Great Britain’s only competitor at the championships. Despite his success, Gradley never became the British Champion, due to Stuart’s dominance in the sport. However, this did not stop the two from being close friends.

Gradley left the Army in 1966 and became the gymnastics and fitness coach at Leeds Athletic Institute. The same year he once again was part of the team that won the Adams Shield. As a coach, the team from Leeds won the title three more times in the 1970s.