Winning rower, 100, returns to Henley Royal Regatta 80 years on

A 100-year-old former rower who previously won the main event at the Henley Royal Regatta has returned 80 years on.

Tony Purssell won The Grand Challenge Cup when he and his crew defeated a Swiss team from Zurich in 1946.

But when he and his fellow athletes – mainly made up of students – won the crown and title by three quarters of a length, they were still fresh from the war.

He said: “Henley’s changed so much since my time, because you’ve got to remember, we had food rationing and clothes rationing and all sorts of things.”

“One of our crew had been a prisoner of war since Dunkirk, which was remarkable,” he added.

“Four of us were from Oxford University – there were four others of us who were heavier.”