Who was Arthur Elvin?

Our school is named in honour of Sir Arthur ‘Ginger’ Elvin MBE (1899-1957), a local man who helped build the original Wembley stadium which staged the 1948 Olympic Games.

Sir Arthur was born in Norwich but later moved to West London. He left school at 14, and later joined the Royal Flying Corps during WW1. He was shot down over France and was a prisoner of war for two years.

In 1924, Sir Arthur was working at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in a kiosk. The next year he bought shops within the grounds. In 1927 he bought Wembley stadium and sold it for shares, becoming the stadium’s largest stakeholder and chairman.

He introduced new sports to the stadium, including greyhound racing and speedway.

Sir Arthur went on to help stage the 1948 Olympic Games, and received a knighthood for his efforts. This was the second occasion that London had hosted the Olympics and the first of the games to be televised.

A record 59 nations were represented by 4,104 athletes, 3,714 men and 390 women, Great Britain won 23 medals, three of them gold.