Top 50 great British losers

In the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s narrow failure to win the Formula 1 Championship at his first attempt, the England rugby union team’s defeat in the World Cup final, and the near-certain elimination of all four home nations from the 2008 European Championship, Patrick Kidd of The Times has put together one of those lists of 50 sports personalities: great British losers.

The Times: Top 50 Great British losers

You might think that this is something that’s been done before, several times. In fairness, though, the title’s probably been produced by a sub-editor. Kidd himself calls it a list of gallant sporting “losers”, arguing that for its size the United Kingdom has produced some excellent sportsmen and sportswomen who approached the zenith of their chosen sport; and that to call them losers (without the quotation marks) does scant justice to their achievements.

Unfortunately he then undermines his own argument somewhat by choosing Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards as his very first example (at No.50), but you get the general idea…