British Pathe newsreel archive has several on Eileen Sheridan - go to
http://tinyurl.com/
"HOUSEWIFE CYCLIST" is pretty good, unintentionally funny in places. For instance, the announcer says she wins races because she has to - to get back home in time to get caught up on her housework.
They also list "SPORTING BRITONS - EILEEN SHERIDAN'S RECORD" but it doesn't seem to be available for download - says "coming soon"
The funniest though is "Racing cyclist Eileen Sheridan is Miss Great Britain 1960". Yes, she (or a namesake?) won a regular-old beauty pageant - based on "her beautifully-distributed 36-22-36"!! She won £1000, a heck of a lot of money in 1960 eh? I suspect Pathe made a goof, got two different Eileen Sheridans mixed up - anyone know?
Mark Bulgier Seattle WA USA
Peter Brown wrote
> Before everyone jumps straight from Wilson to Burton,
> remember Coventry
> based Eileen Sheridan, whose incredible record breaking
> performances as a
> professional rider for Hercules in the fifties were not only
> outstanding
> athletic achievements, but in capturing the public imagination at the
> time she helped to lead to a change in attitude to women's sport
> in general.
> In 1955 she had completed the incredible feat of holding all 21
> of the WRRA
> records recognised at the time. She held many of those records until
> recent years, and always encouraged those who set out to break them.