Andy Murray wins Wimbledon: How Fred Perry was the last British man to win Wimbledon | Daily Mail Online
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Andy Murray today became the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years - and the last time the trophy remained in its home country, the UK was a very different place.
The champion then was Fred Perry, one of the greatest tennis players in history, with eight grand slam titles including three victories at Wimbledon.
But the game - and the world - would be almost unrecognisable to the legendary player if he were still alive today.
Champions: But Andy Murray and Fred Perry occupied very different worlds and played a different game
Stylish: Perry was one of the greatest players of his or any era, and won eight grand slam tournaments
77 years later: Andy Murray is the first British man to win Wimbledon since Perry's victory in 1936
Perry, who was born in Stockport in 1909 and died in 1995, was a favourite of the Wimbledon crowds, but was ostracised by the British tennis establishment thanks to his maverick persona.
He was hardly typical of the tennis players of the day, being a northerner without a public school background and the son of a Labour MP.
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Perry did not even take up the sport until he was 18 having concentrated on table tennis, in which he become a world champion in 1929.
Fast around court and with a blistering forehand, he quickly rose to the top of the game. Fitness was also a big part of his game and he often trained with Arsenal Football Club.
He became the first man ever to win all four of the grand slams, and ending up with three Wimbledon titles, three wins at the US Open, and one each in Australia and France, all achieved between 1933 and 1936.
Popular: The 1930s star wowed the crowds with his dazzling play - but may have damaged tennis in the long term
Return: Perry pictured at the scene of his multiple triumphs in 1992, three years before his death
Tribute: This statue to Perry's memory was erected in the grounds of the All-England Club
FRED PERRY VS ANDY MURRAY: TALE OF TWO TENNIS CHAMPIONS
Born: Perry in Stockport, Murray in Glasgow
Height: Perry 6ft, Murray 6ft 3in
Weight: Perry 12st, Murray 13st 8lb
Started playing tennis: Perry aged 18, Murray aged 3
Wimbledon prize money: Perry £10, Murray £1.6million
Favourite food: Perry - boiled sweets, Murray - sushi
Grand slams: Perry 8, Murray 2 (so far)
Perry was wildly popular with tennis fans, not only for his skills but for his rakeish personality - whenever an opponent hit a good shot he would quip 'very clevah', often infuriating them into making a mistake.
However, he made an enemy of the tennis authorities by opting to turn professional in 1936, which barred him from competing in any more grand slams.
Despite Perry's brilliance and his contribution to boosting the sport's popularity, he has sometimes been blamed for the dearth of British tennis success in the decades after his retirement, as young players would try to imitate his idiosyncratic playing style despite not having the talent to make a success of it.
After his retirement, he enjoyed affairs with a series of Hollywood stars such as Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich and Loretta Young, and married four times - a stark contrast to Murray, who has been with his girlfriend Kim Sears since he was 18.
Perry had gone professional in order to earn more than the £10 prize for winning Wimbledon, but even though he was eventually paid thousands of pounds, the millions earned by Murray and other top tennis players were far out of reach.
1936: Piccadilly Circus was already a maze of cars even though few normal people would have owned one
Leaders: Stanley Baldwin, left, was the British Prime Minister, while Adolf Hitler's power was growing
It was not just the economics of the game that were different in the 1930s - the equipment used by players bore almost no similarities to that of today.
Perry used a Slazenger racket made from wood and strung with sheep's gut, while Murray's is a top-of-the-range carbon-fibre model designed to maximise speed.
 
 
 
The wooden racket was a lot smaller, at 65 sq in compared to 98, but nonetheless weighed more - up to 400g, compared to less than 300g for modern rackets.
Tennis balls were much softer then, as they were covered in pure wool, whereas now they are made from vulcanised rubber which is engineered to bounce in a particular way.
It is easy to assume that modern-day athletes put a lot more preparation into their game than in the amateur era, but in fact Perry helped pioneer the intense training which now characterises professional sport.
He upended the aristocratic  assumption that tennis should be a contest of skill rather than power,  and spent much of his time upping his fitness levels so he could outlast  his opponents on the court.
Mourning: King George V's funeral procession passes through Norfolk following his death in January 1936
Some things never change: Shoppers flood the streets of London to take advantage of the 1936 sales
Perry  trained with Arsenal almost every day, and played in friendly matches  for the club, giving him a more strenuous physical routine than other  players of the time.
But  in some areas the 1930s game had some way to go in understanding the  importance of physical condition - Perry loved chocolate and sweets, and  could constantly be seen smoking a pipe. The champion would surely be  aghast at Murray's favourite post-game snack - a plate of sushi.
And  Perry, like all players of the time, wore long trousers and baggy  shirts, paying little heed to the aerodynamic or cooling qualities of  athletic clothing.
One  link between Murray and Perry was broken in 2009 when the Scottish star  stopped wearing kit made by Fred Perry, the brand founded in 1952 to  cash in on the champion's fame.
Asked what he though Perry might say to him ahead of the final, Murray quipped that would ask, 'Why are you not wearing my kit?'
However,  Perry's son David said: 'I think my father would be proud that finally  someone's come along who's good enough to take a shot at it.'
Landmark: Butlin's holiday camp was founded at Skegness in 1936
Beyond the sporting world, the Britain of 1936 was very different to the country today. Whereas  now we are troubled by economic decline, the rise of China and rapid  technological change, back then the shadow of fascism lay over Europe.
In  1936 Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, in direct contravention of the  Treaty of Versailles, signalling the aggressive attitude that would lead  to the outbreak of the Second World War three years later.
THEN AND NOW: HOW PRICES HAVE CHANGED SINCE 1936
Loaf of bread: then 4½p, now £1.32
Pint of beer: then 14p, now £3.25
Cinema ticket: then 10p, now £6.40
Average home: then £550, now £240,000
Notwithstanding Perry's Wimbledon victory, the biggest sporting event of the year was the Berlin Olympics - themselves tainted by fascist politics as athletes were encouraged to salute Hitler and the Nazi swastika.
The Prime Minister, then as now, was a Conservative at the head of a coalition - Stanley Baldwin was leading the National Government which would last until the appointment of the wartime cabinet under Churchill in 1940.
Politics in Britain was dominated by the abdication crisis which followed the death of George V - his eldest son Edward took the throne in January but relinquished it in December in order to marry his mistress, American divorcee Wallis Simpson, leaving his brother to be crowned as George VI.
It was also a year of considerable technological advances, as the BBC launched the first electronic television broadcasts, the Hoover Dam was completed in America, the speaking clock telephone service was introduced and Volkswagen began producing their first cars.
Another important part of British life to date back to 1936 is the holiday camp - Billy Butlin opened his first establishment at Skegness, with the 35-shilling weekly price making it affordable to working families for the first time.