Champagne On Ice: Amazing life story of Batley’s first-ever Winter Olympian - who scored in front of Adolf Hitler and claimed ice hockey gold - to be published next year

Jimmy Chappell was part of the Great Britain ice hockey team which sensationally beat the odds to claim gold in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany.

He played in all but one match during the tournament and even scored in front of Adolf Hitler in a game against Czechoslovakia.

Having been born in the now-demolished Richmond Street in Batley, he was raised in Huddersfield before the family moved to Canada when he was ten years of age.

It was across the Atlantic Ocean where he learned how to play ice hockey before moving back to the UK ten years later to join Earls Courts Rangers before being scouted for the Olympic team.

It is an extraordinary life which also saw him win successive European gold medals in 1937 and 1938, serve in the Second World War, play in the 1948 Winter Olympics, win two domestic league titles with Brighton Tigers, referee at the 1950 World Championships, and play cricket for Canada.

And his story - along with that of fellow Yorkshire-born and 1936 Winter Olympic gold medal-winning team-mate Archie Stinchcombe - is going to be told in Champagne On Ice, a book being written by Barnsley journalist and author Ashley Ball.

“I didn’t know too much about him until I started so I’m guessing nobody else does in Batley or Huddersfield or anywhere else,” the keen ice hockey fan admitted to the Reporter Series.

“His family were Batley through and through, so with two Yorkshiremen on the team I thought I would do something to celebrate their achievements. Winning a Winter Olympic gold medal for Great Britain in any discipline is really difficult because we are not brought up in that culture and we don’t have the weather or facilities.

“But to do it in ice hockey when you have global powerhouses like Canada where playing hockey is second nature, it is an amazing achievement.

“I wanted to look more into Jimmy's life. I knew a bit more about Archie, and Jimmy keeps turning up some interesting stories!”

On Jimmy’s journey to Great Britain’s historic Winter Olympic victory in 1936, Ashley said:

“It is remarkable that he not only learned how to skate and how to play hockey but to get to a point where he was scouted and brought back to play in an elite standard in the Winter Olympics is incredible. People assumed that the British team were all Canadian. That is not true. 95 per cent of them were born in England or Scotland, raised in Canada and then brought back.

“Jimmy was one of the youngest on the team and they went through the entire Olympics unbeaten. They beat the Canadians which was a massive upset. They beat Germany who were roared on by the Nazi crowd. And Jimmy scored in front of Adolf Hitler in a match against Czechoslovakia all by the time he was 22.

“It is just amazing really, and bringing a gold medal back must have been beyond their wildest dreams when they were recruited in the summer of 1935. And just ten years after departing as a little boy - who had never played ice hockey and didn’t know anything about it - he was a triple crown winner.”

Ashley’s next quest is to get a permanent tribute to Jimmy in Batley.

“If you ask anyone in Batley about their Winter Olympic gold medalist, nobody would know anything about him,” said Ashley. “And that is a terrible shame because he was a massive achievement.

“I believe there should be some permanent tribute to Jimmy in Batley and I would love to get some support on that. Archie has a blue plaque in his hometown of Cudworth and I would love to get some recognition in Batley to recognise Jimmy’s achievements as well.

“It would be the least he deserves and I am sure the people of Batley would appreciate it for someone who has come before them, someone that shows you can go on to do great things, as Archie did in Barnsley.

“We don’t tend to get superstars from these regions, but when we do it is about time we started shouting about them.”

Jimmy emigrated back to Canada in the early 1950s where he had several businesses before passing away in 1973, aged 58.

Ashley has set up a Facebook page tinyurl.com/Champagne-On-Ice where people can follow the book’s progress, while anyone who wants to help with the arrangement of a permanent tribute to Jimmy in Batley can email him at [email protected]