Third black British athlete to ever win Olympic medal honoured with plaque on his Newcastle home

A historic plaque has been unveiled in Newcastle honouring one of Britain's first black athletes to win an Olympic medal.

John Edward London, who lived in Jesmond, secured a silver medal in the 100m sprint in the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928.

John, also known as Jack, was born in British Guyana in 1905 but lived a house in Lily Crescent where the plaque has been installed.

It's part of an initiative showcasing Newcastle's historic cultural heritage.

Beverley Prevattgoldstein, from African Lives in Northern England Project, says it's vital that people who migrate to the UK are recognised.

She said: "We have such a rich history of people who have lived here and contributed, and I love his story because we have somebody who was ordinary and almost unknown, quietly here.

"Maybe having a good time, maybe having a hard time fighting racism, but standing his ground.

"It is absolutely critical. We need everybody to say this and believe it in their hearts that people who come, come for a reason and they contribute."

While studying at Regent Street Polytechnic in London, Jack was spotted by famous coach Sam Mussabini, who trained athletes to 11 Olympic medals.

Jack clocked 10.7 seconds in the 100m sprint under Mussabini in 1927, creating a British record.

He's also known for being one of the first athletes to adopt starting blocks on the amateur circuit.

The commemorative plaque becomes part of 134 other heritage plaques displayed across Newcastle.

Councillor Henry Gallagher, Deputy Lord Mayor of Newcastle, said: "He was one of the first black olympians, he was the first black man to win a silver medal at the Amsterdam Olympics.

"He also won another medal there as well. Clearly he had quite a good athletics career winning a lot of races for Britain.

"What we see from Jack is exactly the sort of contribution that people who come and live here do make to our society. He was a wonderful advocate for our nation, he brought great honour to our nation."

Desmond and Jenny, now owners of Jack's old house, have lived in the property for 30 years without knowing about the Olympian's history.

"We were really surprised, we had no idea of the connection. It was just really nice having a historical connection to our house.

"We learnt about Jack's story and we were really touched by his story and his connection to the house.

"No one knew. In fact, the previous owner of this house was a local historian and he had no idea."

Simon Wells, Chairman of the Jesmond Joggers, hopes younger people will take the time to learn about Jack's sporting achievements.

He said: "We just thought that it's really important to honour a man like John Edward for an amazing achievement.

"He was at his time one of the best sprinters in the world, he was coached by Sam Mussabini who coached Harold Abrahams in 1924 to win the first Olympic gold 100m sprint.

"An amazing achievement and an amazing man who should be honoured.

"I think it's really good to recognise people like this and then for other people to go and find out about him.

"I didn't know too much about him until recently, and then I started looking up and thought we should know about people like this.

"Putting that up there and hopefully getting people to stop and look... it's such a rich history."

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