Kenneth Richmond
 Patrick O'Connor and Kenneth Richmond battle for the silver medal at the 1950 British Empire Games Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 10 July 1926 London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 3 August 2006 (aged 80) Christchurch, Dorset, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Foresters AWC, London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Kenneth Alan Richmond (10 July 1926 – 3 August 2006) was an English heavyweight wrestler who competed at four Olympic Games.[1]
Biography
[edit]Richmond was born in London and grew up near Pinewood Studios.[2]
At 6'5" and 265 lbs, he competed for Great Britain at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, finishing fifth in the Greco-Roman light heavyweight category.[2] He represented the English team[3] at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand,[4] where he won the bronze medal in the heavyweight category.[5]
He won a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics[2] and represented the English team at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Vancouver, Canada,[6] where he won the gold medal in the heavyweight category.[7]
He appeared at two more Olympic Games in 1956 and 1960 respectively[2] and represented the England team at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.[8]
Rixhmond was an eleven-times winner of the British Wrestling Championships at light-heavyweight in 1950 and at super heavyweight in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960.[9]
He stayed fit enough into his later years to win medals for rollerblading and windsurfing in his 60s.[citation needed]
Though he appeared as the wrestler Nikolas in Jules Dassin's film noir, Night and the City (1950),[10] Richmond was perhaps most recognisable as the shirtless gongman banging the enormous gong preceding the opening credits for films produced or distributed by the Rank Organisation. He was the fourth – and last – actor to take the job. According to the BBC, he had revealed to friends that the gong seen in the Rank Organisation's opening never rang, as it was a papier-mâché stage prop and he never actually struck it with any force, joking "If you hit that gong, you would have gone straight through."[11]
He was a Jehovah's Witness from the late 1960s. He was jailed as a conscientious objector during World War II. In later life, he was a volunteer minister for the organisation.[11] He died at age 80 in his home in Christchurch.[12] (Richmond's wife, Valentina, died in 1996).[citation needed]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Night and the City | Nikolas of Athens | |
| 1954 | Mad About Men | Zampa | Uncredited |
| 1956 | The Iron Petticoat | Igor – Group 9 Operative | Uncredited, (final film role) |
References
[edit]- ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ken Richmond". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
- 1 2 3 4 "Ken Richmond Biographical information". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
- ↑ "Bowey for Empire Games". Evening News (London). 12 November 1949. Retrieved 14 September 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Jack Archer will fly to Games". Nottingham Journal. 7 December 1949. Retrieved 14 September 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Commonwealth Games Medallists". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
- ↑ "Games Wrestlers". Evening Despatch. 9 June 1954. Retrieved 19 September 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "Commonwealth Games Medallists". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- ↑ "Wrestling Team for Cardiff". Nottingham Evening News. 17 May 1958. p. 8. Retrieved 10 October 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ "List of British Senior Champions from 1904 to 2001" (PDF). British Wrestling. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
- ↑ Schager, Nick. Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Slant Magazine, DVD review of Night and the City, 16 February 2005. Last accessed: 3 December 2009.
- 1 2 Hevesi
- ↑ "Rank 'gong' film icon is mourned". 8 August 2006.
Bibliography
[edit]- London Daily Mirror, 12 August 2006
- BBC Radio 4 Last Word, 18 August 2006
- Hevesi, Dennis (14 August 2006). "MOVIES: Ken Richmond, 80, Gong-Striker Familiar to Filmgoers, Dies". The New York Times.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1926 births
- 2006 deaths
- Sport wrestlers from London
- English conscientious objectors
- Olympic wrestlers for Great Britain
- Wrestlers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Wrestlers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Wrestlers at the 1956 Summer Olympics
- Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- British male sport wrestlers
- Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain
- Wrestlers at the 1950 British Empire Games
- Wrestlers at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Wrestlers at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
- Olympic medalists in wrestling
- Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists in wrestling
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in wrestling
- British people in whaling
- English Jehovah's Witnesses
- Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games
- Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- Freestyle wrestlers
- Greco-Roman wrestlers