History
The opening meeting of the track was on 11 September 1954 which was the same date that the area became a public park. The running track was originally made of cinder. The field on which the track is situated was originally a polo ground and was compulsorily purchased from the Hurlingham Club after World War Two.
A grandstand was built in 1936 to replace an earlier version but it became run down in the 1990s and it was demolished in 2002. It had a capacity of approximately 2,500 on bench type seating. The stadium has been replaced by a substantial pavilion. The infield is a well maintained grass pitch and is used for either rugby union or football.
The track has a 200 metre (220 yds) straight on the home straight next to the grandstand which extends past the regular start line although the extension has been fenced off. The track was the base of London Athletic Club and the straight was last thought to be used for a race in 1979. A meeting was held with exactly the same schedule of events as the first open championship in 1879 and thus included a 220 yard straight race (200 metres)
The famous Monty Python sketch "The 127th Upper Class Twit of the Year Competition from Hurlingham Park" was filmed here in 1969.
Read more about this topic: Hurlingham Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“... all big changes in human history have been arrived at slowly and through many compromises.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)