Arthur Brittain
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Arthur Stanley Brittain | ||||||||||||
| Nickname | Stan | ||||||||||||
| Born |
4 October 1931 Liverpool, England |
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| Team information | |||||||||||||
| Discipline | Road & Track | ||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||
| Amateur team(s) | |||||||||||||
| circa 1950 | Woolton Wheelers | ||||||||||||
| 1957 | Phoenix CC | ||||||||||||
| Professional team(s) | |||||||||||||
| 1959 | Viking Cycles | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Arthur Stanley "Stan" Brittain (born 4 October 1931) was an English racing cyclist who rode time-trials, road races and the track. He won a silver medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games, came third in the 1955 Peace Race and finished the 1958 Tour de France.
Brittain was born in the Knotty Ash district of Liverpool. He joined the Woolton Wheelers and by the end of 1950 had ridden 1h 11m 45s in the East Liverpool Wheelers Novices' 25-mile time-trial. He won his first race at the distance in 1h 7m 45s wearing plimsolls and a flapping shirt.
Brittain was called up to the army to start his national service in 1952. There he made up an Army team with Brian Robinson and Jim Grieves. He also became known as the nephew of Regimental Sergeant Major Brittain, who was reputed to have the loudest voice on a British army drill ground.
The army entered him for races and his showing led to his first national selection, in a "B" team for the An Tóstal stage race in Ireland in 1953. Bad weather meant that 58 riders quit the race and 16 finished. Brittain was among the non-finishers. He was picked to ride for Britain in the 1954 UCI Road World Championships at Solingen, near Cologne, Germany. He rode with Bill Baty, Ray Booty, John Perks, Bernard Pusey and Don Sanderson. Brittain crashed on the seventh lap and finished 12 minutes behind the leaders.
In 1955 Great Britain picked Stan Brittain to ride the Peace Race, the Soviet bloc's amateur version of the Tour de France. He came second on the first day and next day took the lead. He held it until the seventh stage, when he lost it to Gustav Schur of East Germany. Brittain slipped to third on the ninth day. Schur won and Brittain came third.
In 1956 Brittain was again selected to represent Great Britain. He came ninth on the first day but then he slipped further behind and dropped out at the start of stage six.
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