Sporting heroes thin on the ground in Britain?

By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain invented a string of sports that others now excel at. So it surely must be a struggle trying to draw up a list of 100 British sporting heroes? Not at all, argues veteran journalist Jon Henderson who agonized over his choices before composing "Best of British: Hendo's Sporting Heroes."

"Cynical friends thought it would be a struggle. Not a bit of it. I had plenty to choose from. The problem is that the British have a tendency to do themselves down. We keep concentrating on what we are bad at," he said.

After much soul-searching, Henderson left out cricketer Len Hutton and there was no place for Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade or former England soccer captain David Beckham. The next edition could well have a place for Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.

He clearly has a soft spot for flawed heroes who fought addiction -- snooker's Alex Higgins makes it into the book alongside darts player Jocky Wilson and soccer players George Best and Paul Gascoigne.

"Having to battle a flawed personality elevates them to heroism," says Henderson, a sports journalist for more than 40 years with five Olympics, two soccer World Cups and every Wimbledon since 1969 under his belt.

Henderson, now associate sports editor of The Observer newspaper, concedes that British sporting heroes are thinner on the ground in the 21st century.

"It is much harder to excel than it used to be. Sport is now so much more universal, it's truly global," he told Reuters in an interview to mark the book's publication this month.

FOUR-LEGGED HEROES

Dogmatic sports fans may in turn be enraged or supportive, amused or outraged, scornful or incredulous and Henderson readily admits: "My list is not better or more correct than yours."

The book avoids jingoistic flag-waving but is typically British in one quirky way -- four-legged heroes are included along with two-legged ones.

So triple Grand National winner Red Rum and greyhound champion Mick The Miller keep company with jockeys Lester Piggott and Tony McCoy.

Robin Hood launches the book as one of Britain's finest archers.

King Henry VIII gets an honourable mention as a cracking all-rounder who jousted, fenced and wrestled as well as he played tennis until he became very large.

The poet Lord Byron wins his place as a great long-distance swimmer who notably warmed up for his four-hour swim down Venice's Grand Canal by having sex beforehand.

Henderson singles out Welsh rugby player Gareth Edwards as his all-time hero -- "He came from a very humble background and truly was a supreme athlete."