Famous People from Bexley

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Knott, Alan

Alan Knott, the England and Kent wicketkeeper, who also represented Tasmania, was born in Belvedere 9 April 1946 and went to Northumberland Heath Secondary Modern School. Nicknamed Knotty or The Flea, in the 10 years up to the split in cricket caused by Kerry Packer’s recruitment of players for a professional league, he played in 89 of England’s previous 93 Tests – 20 more than any other Englishman – hardly missing a chance that anyone remembers. His ‘keeping was at its most spectacular when playing for Kent, standing up to the bowling of ‘Deadly’ Derek Underwood. He could bowl right-arm off-breaks and as a right-hand batsman he learned to sell his wicket dearly. He could attack or defend with equal skill and, with five Test 100s to his name, was a genuine all-rounder.

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Lewis, Lennox

Lennox Lewis, the World Heavyweight champion boxer, lived and trained for a while at Crook Log, Welling. He was born 2 September 1965 in West Ham. His mother took him to Canada in 1977 where she found work in a Styrofoam plant in Kitchener, Ontario. Lewis excelled in American football and basketball in high school – and boxing. He won the world amateur junior title in 1982 and, two year’s later, represented Canada as a super-heavyweight in the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He advanced to the quarterfinals but finished in fifth place after a controversial decision in favour of his American opponent. He boxed as an amateur for four more years, eventually winning an Olympic gold medal in Seoul. He moved back to England and turned professional and, in 1993, became the first British world heavyweight titleholder of the 20th century.

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