An exciting new Hollywood film The Boys in The Boat, directed by George Clooney, about the US gold medal-winning men’s rowing eight at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, has today been released in cinemas across the UK. If the book is anything to go by, viewers are in for a real treat.
However, what you may not know is that there are two very different connections between Bedford School and the movie. The first is that four Old Bedfordians feature in the film as extras. Connor Sheridan (07-18), Jared Sheridan (07-16), George Christian (08-18) and Ed Lamb (10-17) can be spotted rowing as extras in the final race. Although, however expertly they rowed for the cameras, sadly, if you blink you might miss them.
The other connection is a story that belies that of the US eight and, while we might be biased, it is perhaps arguably a more exciting story…
…Just minutes before the US eight won their hard-earned gold medal, there was another gold win, and that was by Old Bedfordian Jack Beresford CBE (1913-1917) and his partner Leslie Southwood in the men’s double scull. The British duo, who were two boat-lengths behind the Germans at the half-way mark, dug incredibly deep to overtake the Germans just 200m away from the finish line, winning by two and a half lengths. It was in fact this race that caused Adolf Hitler to storm off in a fury, not the US eight as portrayed in George Clooney’s film.
Hitler watched the race as the British duo competed against crews from Germany, France, the US, Australia and Poland over 2,000 metres on the Langer See Lake at Grünau, Germany. He had been promised the win for Germany, but it seemed that the tense race and display of sheer grit and determination by the British duo was too much for Hitler’s temper to bear.
Jack was quoted to say (many years later), “We raced to the 1,900-metre mark with blades almost clashing…right in front of Hitler’s box, the Germans cracked.”
You can watch the race below (scroll to 7 minutes, 55 seconds).
Despite a glittering collection of Olympic medals, at the age of 37, OB Jack Beresford was considered too old to race, and, having fought in World War One on the Northern front aged just 18 years of age, Jack was one of just 19 men out of 91 who survived a daylight river crossing in the face of German machine guns. To then go on and push his body to the absolute max, which is in itself a huge achievement, makes the story even more remarkable.
Old Bedfordian Jack Beresford CBE (1913-1917) and his partner Leslie Southwood in the men’s double scull at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Talking to The Express recently, Jack’s son, 78 year-old OB John Beresford (59-64) said, “The victory was especially sweet revenge for my father, who had been shot by German machine-gun fire in France during World War One and was lucky to be alive.”
It was shortly after Jack and Leslie’s victory that the American eight-man underdogs, as featured in the The Boys in the Boat, took to the water opposite the Germans. When George Clooney’s American eight were declared winners and new Olympic gold medallists in the climax of the movie, it shows Hitler storming away in anger at the US victory. However, what it fails to reveal is that he had already disappeared in rage minutes earlier after the British pair’s win.
This story was told by John Beresford during lockdown as part of a series of historic stories delivered online by the Bedford School Association. It was recently picked up by Peter Sheridan, who wrote about this fascinating story in the Daily Express on 6 January 2024.
If you would like to learn more about this story, you can listen to John’s presentation here, and/or read it here, where it is packed with lots of historic photos and facts.
