Frederick John Perry was born in on 18th May, 1909, in Stockport, Cheshire. His father, Samuel Perry,  served as a Labour MP between 1920 - 1931, and following his appointment as the Co-operative Party's first national secretary in 1917, the family moved to London where they settled in the Brentham Garden Suburb.

Fred attended the Ealing county school. A keen sportsman, he enjoyed playing cricket and football but his passion was table tennis. He joined the YMCA where the game was extremely popular and rapidly developed into an outstanding player; partnered by C. H. Bull he won the English men's doubles title three times (1928 - 1930), in 1929  he became the men's singles world champion and alongside Miss W. H. Land he won the English Open mixed doubles title. 

His first encounter with tennis was in 1924, during a family holiday to Eastbourne, and encouraged by his father, who gave him an old racket, he was soon practising on the courts of the Brentham Institute. Then, following a move to the Herga Club in Harrow he quickly reached the final of the Middlesex junior championships and was noticed by Mr. A. R. Summers who worked for the Slazenger sports goods company. Summers arranged for Perry to use their equipment and became his tennis advisor. Perry joined the Chiswick Park Club and was selected to play for Middlesex.

He first qualified for Wimbledon in 1929, a month after his 20^th birthday, winning two matches before suffering defeat. During that time he was working for Spalding's and when, in 1930, the company refused him time off to play in the British hard court championships, his father agreed to support him for one year while he tried to reach the pinnacle of what was at that time an amateur sport. He again qualified for Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round before losing to Colin Gregory.  

By 1931, his tennis had improved so much that he was seeded fifth for the Wimbledon championships, reaching the semi-final where he lost to eventual winner, American, Sidney Wood. But his efforts were rewarded when he was chosen to represent Britain in the Davis Cup, and despite the team losing in the final to a French squad who were in the middle of a six year winning streak, it firmly established him as one of the country's top players.  

He reached the quarter finals at Wimbledon in 1932, but suffered his worst defeat at the competition in 1933 when he lost in the second round to, South African, Norman Farquharson. However, that same year he not only won the first of his three American championships, but he was also a member of the team that defeated France in Paris to return the Davis Cup to Britain for the first time in 21 years. Britain, with Perry leading the way, retained the cup for the next three years but have never won it since.

In 1934, he retained his US title, won the Australian championships and reached his first final at Wimbledon, beating Australian, Jack Crawford in three sets to become the men's singles champion. The following year (1935) he added the French championships to his list of Grand Slam wins and notched up his second Wimbledon title by defeating Baron Gottfried von Cramm in the final. In 1936, he won his third US title and  made his last appearance in a Wimbledon final. He again faced Cramm, but in a match lasting just 40 minutes, Perry overwhelmed the German to win 6 - 0, 6 - 1, 6 - 1.

Perry turned professional shortly after his final victory at the 'All England Club'.Unlike most of his competitors. Perry was working-class and needed money. But being a professional tennis player meant automatic disqualification from the Davis Cup team and Wimbledon. He travelled to America where he played against a number of talented players including Bill Tilden and Donald Budge.

Following WWII, in an attempt to rouse the interest of less well off children in the sport, he returned to England as an American citizen to play exhibition matches and later worked with the British Davis Cup team. However, his position as manager was ended after ten months as rules at the time permitted the only non-player on court during a match to be amateur. 

In 1950, Perry met businessman, Theodore Wenger, who had invented an anti-perspirant device to be worn on the wrist. Perry made a few alterations and invented the sweatband. Wenger then proposed producing a sports shirt made from cotton pique with short sleeves. The first Fred Perry polo shirt, launched at Wimbledon in 1952, with its laurel leaf logo was an instant success. The shirt was only available in white until the late 50's when it became popular with mods who demanded a more varied range of colours. The rest, as they say, is history. The Fred Perry Shirt is today an icon of British fashion that is recognised all over the world.

In later years, Perry devoted much of his time to television commentary before, on 2^nd February, 1995, he sadly passed away. In 1975, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and in 1984, in honour of his success, the All England Club unveiled a statue of Perry at its Church Road Gate, proving that Fred Perry was the best British player of all time.

© John Rooney 2009