Tom Riddell

Yet Riddell, who died peacefully in a Stirling hospital on Sunday in his 94th year, and who was believed to have been Britain's oldest surviving international athlete, won more Scottish titles, set more national records, and in his own right was one of the most remarkable and charismatic of this nation's twentieth-century sporting figures.

It was only when he burned his legs quite severely, two years ago, setting his trousers alight as he disposed of rubbish in the garden of his home near Fintry, that he was forced to restrict his recreational activities. ''You are supposed to be dead before you cremate yourself,'' was his comment on the matter.

Yet even after, until the onset of the cancer which finally killed him, he performed stretching exercises, walking and jogging several miles daily; and rode an exercise bike which he kept in the hall of his cottage - a natural continuation of the discipline which helped earn a record eight Scottish mile titles and a clutch of records at various distances in the decade from 1925.

He flirted with the idea of a knee replacement, ''so that I can get back running again,'' at the age of 91, but even the burns never quenched his spirit.

He was a regular writer of letters to this paper on a range of issues - but often a commentary on the decline of traditional values. He resigned his honorary life membership of the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association because he despised their hypocrisy in retaining the word ''amateur''. Yet he applauded the relaxation in the rules which allowed such as Tom McKean and Liz McColgan, from working-class backgrounds, legally to earn the money without which they could never have run at all.

Born in Dennistoun and educated at Glasgow High School, Tom McLean Riddell won the first of his mile titles at the age of 20, and would undoubtedly have won more but for a three-year absence, while working in Ireland. He set two Scottish mile records, the second (4min 15.0sec) at a packed Rangers Sports in 1933, when he finished close behind Jack Lovelock.

The New Zealander was then the British all-comers' record holder, and became Olympic 1500m champion three years later.

Shettleston Harrier Riddell also set several records at 1000 yards, three-quarter mile, and one and a half miles. He was named for the 1930 Empire Games and 1932 Olympics, but rejected both because of work commitments. His last two recorded public races, in 1935, saw him take 11 seconds from Alf Shrubb's 31-year old UK best for a mile and a half.

What nobody knew was that Riddell, aged 40, after the end of the Second World War, ran for his regiment in a battalion race in Germany. Dragooned into it by his superior, he won the three-mile event. The officer confessed he had ''won plenty off the wee man, here, in a wager,'' - Field Marshall Montgomery.

Riddell's superior, General Sir Brian Horrocks, confessed he had backed Riddell only to finish in the first 10. ''You're hell of a generous, sir,'' retorted Riddell. ''There were only 12 in the race.''

Horrocks, however, presented Riddell with #5 from his winnings, sufficient to forfeit his amateur status. Riddell gave the #5 to his men, to buy beer, kept mum, and remained an amateur.

He set his fastest 1500m time in a match between Great Britain and Germany in Munich, in 1935. Though narrowly beaten by FW Schaumberg, he clocked 3-54.2 - equivalent of a 4-13 mile, and faster than his existing Scottish record.

That night, Riddell was in the Munich Hoffbrauhaus, when a stylish young Nazi introduced himself, chatted fluently in English, and departed clicking his heels as he presented his card. It was Rudolf Hess.

Their meeting was to provide one of history's ironic twists of fate. A Dunkirk veteran, Riddell picked up an extra rifle while being evacuated from the beach head. Soon after, when his brother-in-law in the Home Guard bemoaned their armoury of pitchforks and sticks, Riddell gave him the rifle.

When Hess landed at Eaglesham in 1941, he was detained at the point of that very same gun. ''There was no ammunition in it, because I had none to give,'' Riddell recalled.

He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and his decorations included a military OBE, and the Czech equivalent of the Military Cross. He was a JP and a fellow of the Institute of Highway Engineers, ending his working life, at 75, as managing director of the Glasgow firm of McCrea, Taylor.

Even in his ninth decade, his boyish enthusiasm and sense of mischief remained unquenched, as he visited his long time crony, the former Scotland rugby player Jimmy Ireland, also in his 90s.

Sweeties from Fintry's famous home-made confectionery shop were always produced from his pocket for visiting kids, old and young. When asked to open a children's play area in his native Fintry recently, he was asked by a local newspaper if he could manage to sit and pose on the bottom of the slide. Tom looked, amused, at the photographer, skipped up the steps, and gleefully wheeched down.

He is survived by Jean, his wife, and their daughter, Jan.

Doug Gillon