Sir Oswald Birley

*Oil on canvas, 1926*
Sir Oswald Birley
David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter
David Cecil, shown here as a Cambridge Blue, won gold in the 400m hurdles at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and silver at the 1932 Los Angeles Games. In 1927 he caused a sensation by running around the Great Court at Trinity College in the time it took the Trinity Clock to toll 12 o’clock. A distorted version of this event was presented in the film Chariots of Fire, in which the feat is credited to Harold Abrahams. For this reason, Lord Burghley, who was then 76 years old, refused to view the film.