Reader Stuart Thurgood has sent us an article about Raymond Barkway a former Watford resident who was a GB Olympian in London 1948.

“This is part of a project I’m working on at Watford Boys School to research ex-pupils who competed in international sport,” he writes. “I thought it might be of interest to you to publish in the Observer.”

Since the pomp and ceremony of London 2012 is now a distant memory, there remains much to reflect on the sporting legacy, or lack of, that the home games have left us.

But what of Watford’s own Olympic history? There are a number of home grown Watford Olympians whose stories are as remarkable as the development of the games themselves.

Former Watford resident Raymond Barkway ran the 110m high hurdles for Britain in the 1948 London Olympics. What were dubbed the “make do and mend” games were certainly a far cry from the lavishness of 2012 and the level of austerity experienced during a post-war ravaged Britain is difficult to comprehend for us now.

Barkway was born in 1924 in Croxley Green and began his athletics career at Harrow County High school. After his father got the job of stationmaster on the Watford Metropolitan line, the family moved into the station house in Cassiobury Park Avenue, and the young Barkway arrived at Watford Boys Grammar School in 1937.

He was a stellar pupil, with all his masters reporting excellent conduct and progress, and quickly became a prefect as well as playing in the back line of the First XV, before winning a place at Exeter College, Oxford, to read chemistry.

He put his sprinting and jumping ability to good effect and became one of the country’s top high hurdlers. He recorded his lifetime best of 14.9 seconds in 1950, a time that would have ranked him 42nd in the UK in 2013.

This was done in the days of boggy cinder tracks and hand held trowels to dig out make shift starting blocks. A fine victory in the South of England championships in the same year saw him take the victory by less than a foot between all three medalists.

Barkway went out in the heats in London 1948, placed fourth in a time of 15.3 seconds although he did go onto win a medal on the world stage when in 1951 he took the bronze in the Summer International University Sports Week held in Luxembourg. Now called the World Student Games, he finished in a time of 15.5 seconds.

During his time at Exeter College he befriended and trained alongside Roger Bannister, and on that famous day of May 6, 1954, Barkway was the official starter for the record-breaking mile race where Bannister dropped under the magic four-minute barrier for the first time.

The silver Smith and Wesson revolver used by Barkway is now on display at Clifton College in Bristol, where Barkway taught chemistry on finishing his studies at Oxford.

A member of the RAF reserve, and later the Naval Reserve, he reached the rank of lieutenant and travelled to Canada where he underwent elementary pilot training. By coincidence he was taught his flying skills by the son of his former maths teacher at Watford Boys.

On July 1, 1956, Barkway was on flying exercises at Tilstock Airfield near Whitchurch, Shropshire when the Grumman TBM-3E Avenger he was piloting crashed, killing both Barkway and his co-pilot. The inquest into the crash found the engine failed during a steep turn due to a loose nut in the carburettor.

His obituary in the Watford Boys Fullerian journal at that time read he took a “fierce pride in his old school which he would allow to take no second place in comparison with any other”.

He had only recently turned 32 at the time of his death. A tragic end to a remarkable man.

ONLINE TOMORROW: Move over, Sherlock - PC Lane's on the case

These stories formed part of the Nostalgia column first published in the Watford Observer on January 17, 2014. The next Nostalgia column can be found in this week’s Watford Observer (dated January 24, 2014 and available in newsagents now, priced just 90p) or read online here from 4pm on Thursday.

If you have anything to add – or would like to tell us anything you think our readers may enjoy about Watford’s history – we are always pleased to hear from you. Contact Nostalgia, by clicking here watfordnostalgia@london.newsquest.co.uk