Percy Wyld

In 1928 Percy, along with his brothers Harry, Lew and Ronald, won the National Team Pursuit Championship. It was the third consecutive title for the “Wyld Four” as they were known. That same year, Percy, Lew, Harry and Monty Southall took the bronze medal in the team pursuit at the Amsterdam Olympics.

Percy started racing in 1924 and won more than 200 prizes during his career. His first major individual honour was in winning the NCU Derby & Notts half-mile title in 1927, and in 1929 he was runner-up to Jack Sibbit in the National 25-mile Championship. Also in 1929, he beat brother Lew into second place in the Derby & Notts 10-mile Championship by half-a-wheel. Percy was the Derby & Notts 25- and 50-mile champion in 1931 and, the following year, the quarter-mile champion. He then won the coveted BSA Gold Cup in 1933 and 1934. Percy was runner-up to the five times winner Dennis Horn in the 1935 National “25”, and that same year was runner-up to his brother Harry in the motor-paced Grand Prix of London, before turning the tables the following year, when he beat his sibling to win the title. There was more sibling rivalry in 1938, when Percy won the Derby & Notts 10-mile title with Ronald in third place.

Up to the outbreak of World War II, Percy played bicycle polo and would become captain of the England team, and secretary of the Midland Polo League. He also captained the Derby Racing Club when beaten 14-4 by the crack Norwood Paragon team in the final of the 1939 National Championship. It was Norwood’s seventh successive title.

Percy, and his brother Lew, were born at Tibshelf in Derbyshire. A small village with a population of around 4,000, it is famous for being the site of the first inland oil well in the United Kingdom and also for being the birthplace of athlete Tom Hulatt, who finished third behind Roger Bannister and Chris Chataway in the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954.