Walter Greaves

Walter William Greaves was never marked for fame or fortune. Born in 1907, he came of age in the late 1920s in Bradford, a gritty mill town in the north of England, the oldest of five surviving children of Martha and Albert. His dad was a patent-medicine salesman, part-time blacksmith, and confirmed drunk. At fourteen, Walter was hitching a ride on the running board of his father’s car when the elder Greaves veered into a lamppost. Young Walter lost his left arm below the elbow and gained a lifelong aversion to drink.

Bradford was a rough place, and soon after the accident a boy he’d once beaten in a fistfight thrashed the one-armed Walter without mercy. Friends said such experiences fueled his determination not to let his handicap slow him down. He played rugby with some success, ran the one-hundred-yard dash in less than eleven seconds, and became an expert ballroom dancer. He also was an avid cyclist, making do with a machine cobbled together