They were the marathon thoroughbreds but Charlie, a rookie who had by his own admission been nothing more than a "rank and file" 10,000m international, swept them off the medal board.

With disarming frankness Charlie told me: "I didn't do anything very well as a kid. I was always close to the bottom of the class and didn't excel at any sport. Whereas proper nutrition is the most important single requirement for health, governments and corporations – aided by universities and scientists – have been grossly misinforming people for 60-70 years, telling them to avoid healthy foods and consume unhealthy ones.

Spedding was told afterwards he was just 30 seconds away from death after a freak reaction to anaesthetic he received for an achilles heel operation.

Again Jones was satisfied enough that he had beaten such a strong field and defended his title: "The one second has never bothered me; everybody else made more of a fuss than I did," he revealed in Struthers' article, but from that day on he was wise enough to make sure he always wore a stopwatch. Spedding's old rival, Steve Jones, held the men's world record but never won a major championship medal in the marathon. He was, however, wise enough to take Spedding's advice four miles from the finish of that memorable 1985 race in London. "We were hammering away at the front," Spedding reflected, "and right out of the blue Steve turned to me and said, 'Charlie, how do you go to the toilet when you're running?' I was amazed, but after a couple of seconds I said, 'Well, I think you'll have to stop, Steve'." Charlie is a Governor at Bromley High School and enjoys mentoring prospective dental students and hygienists, endeavouring to share her 30 years’ dental experience with the future generation. I'd given my all as a 10,000 metres runner. I was an international and AAA champion but nothing better than that. Then along came the marathon and the world stage.While very few people are wearing masks on the high street, online mask shaming is in your face. Covidiot. Selfish. Get over it. Mask up. Granny killer” In this remarkable autobiography he explains how – how someone who was almost bottom of the class when he first went to school, and even worse at sport, eventually turned himself into a genuinely world-class athlete, competing in top marathons all over the world, and genuinely going from last to first. Good summary of the Government made disaster. Signs are this was a dress rehearsal for terminal social end economic ruin – ‘net zero carbon’.

These included Foster, who he helped win European and Commonwealth 5000m titles. Dunn was born in Richmond in North Yorkshire but moved to Leeds and shared a flat with Foster and the pair became training partners and lifelong friends. Spot on. Deaths now dropped, it’s all “Cases”–‘seek and ye will find’. However, 70-80% have innate immunity.After the age of 21, in effect we start to die because we are, in evolutionary terms, no longer required for reproduction (fertility peaks in late teens) and are just competition for scarce food resources with the new crop of Humans. There is a ‘kill gene’. I had run conservatively because I'd never done the distance before and didn't want to risk blowing up. I did the same in the London Marathon and won again. In my view the medical profession lies somewhere far below journalism and estate agents in the moral integrity stakes. Foster told AW: “The sport of athletics has lost part of its conscience. The numerous athletes he coached and advised over 50 years have lost their guiding light. I’ve personally lost the most influential person of my athletics life but most significantly I’ve lost a truly great mate. The supposed Covid-19 epidemic has revealed in a startlingly vivid way the huge defects and faults in our social, economic and governmental systems.

Charlie Spedding is the second fastest British marathoner of all time and in the 28 years since Los Angeles, no Brit, male or female has won a medal of any colour in the Olympic marathon. This man is an icon of British sport, someone we in the North-East are massively proud of. I really began hurting and was awfully tired. But this was the Olympics. I ran with caution in Houston and London, testing myself over strange territory, but in the Olympics you have one shot and give it everything. I eventually got where I wanted to be. I ran in two Olympics - I was sixth in Seoul - and I competed in four London Marathons. I'm proud of my record." A horrible thought occurs about this “New Normal”— there is no reason for our Betters ever to terminate their mask-wearing rules.The man he defeated, Italian Massimo Magnani, went berserk but his appeal fell on deaf ears. The four judges ruled in favour of Charlie and a photo in the local paper the next morning clearly showed No 69 - the Englishman - getting to the line on a dip!