Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
davieG

Are you the little boy in this photo with Gary Lineker?

Recommended Posts

Posted

What's a drearson team gaz?

it's a pun - combins pearson and dreary

i didn't make it up i heard it somewhere else

plagiarism basically

shocking i know...

still... any opportunity to have a pop at our hapless leader

Posted

It's Marc Albrighton and he's been sat there ever since.

Posted

Mystery of identity of boy in Gary Lineker photograph is solved

By Leicester Mercury  |  Posted: March 06, 2015

  • 9609817-large.jpg

    Kevin Smith and his son Ben Smith, 16, who is the young lad featured in the Filbert Street photograph with Gary Lineker.

  • 9609818-large.jpg

    The original photograph of Gary Lineker and the mystery boy

  • 9609816-large.jpg

    Ben Smith and a framed copy of the photo

  • 9609817-large.jpg

    Kevin Smith and his son Ben Smith, 16, who is the young lad featured in the Filbert Street photograph with Gary Lineker.

  • 9609818-large.jpg

    The original photograph of Gary Lineker and the mystery boy

 Comments (0)

The mystery surrounding the identity of the little boy sitting near Gary Lineker in this photograph has been solved.

The Mercury published the photo, taken in 2002, last Friday, February 27, in the hope of finding out who the boy was so we could present him with a framed version of the image.

Its publication prompted the following response from the little lad's proud dad, Kevin Smith, of Whetstone.

"The lad in the photograph is my son, Ben Smith, who is now 16 years old. At the time he was three, just approaching four.

 

"The day in question was Leicester City's last ever home game at Filbert Street on Saturday, May 11, 2002 - the opponents were Tottenham Hotspur.

"Ben was in the dug-out along with his brother and younger sister watching me run with Alan Birchenall, in his end-of-season charity run."

Kevin, partnership director with the Leicester-based Mark Group, added: "I was running on behalf of my daughter, Harriet, who lost her battle with leukaemia three years before.

"At the time, the Mercury had a front page article on Harriet, and the reason for me running was because I was lucky enough to win a place on the run via a competition that the Leicester Mercury ran.

"We still have a copy of the book Leicester Till We Die in which the photo appears.

"It was poignant for the fact that Gary's first son, George, battled with leukaemia and the reason we were there was for Harriet.

"Ironically, although both of Harriet's brothers, Ben and Jake, who's 20, have played local football ever since they were four, it was her sister, Libby, who is now 13, who has played as a striker for Leicester City academy for the past six seasons and has recently been selected to play for the under-15s England schoolgirls.

"Who would have thought one photo could link so many lives, events and stories!"

Four years before the picture was taken, Kevin shared one of his last, cherished moments with three-year-old Harriet at the football ground.

The youngster, who died of leukaemia in 1999, joined him on the pitch as he completed a charity run for ward 27 at the Leicester Royal Infirmary with 'the Birch', the club's ambassador.

Kevin said: "I wanted to do the second run in Harriet's memory.

"It's always there on your mind, but I try and make a positive aspect out of it by doing it for charity.

"When I opened the paper on Friday, I had to do a double take. I couldn't believe it.

"But sales of the Mercury did well that day as I got several copies which I sent to people, asking if they knew who it was."

Ben, who has been a season ticket holder for the past decade, plans to put the framed print of the picture up in his bedroom alongside his Leicester City scarf.

He said: "It was a bit weird seeing the picture again.

"I don't actually remember that day at all, but I'd seen the picture in the book.

"I'm going to put it in my room above my bed."

xxxx

The Mercury's chief photographer, Andy Baker, has had the picture at his home for the past decade and decided he would like to find the young man who appears in the picture.

Andy said: "During the last season at Filbert Street we collected about 30 of our favourite photos from the season and they were published in a Leicester Mercury book, Leicester Till We Die.

"They were also made into big prints and put in display frames which the Mercury photographers were then offered, to keep.

"I took this one, but it's just been gathering dust at home.

"I thought that if we could find this young kid we could give the picture to him to keep."

The large framed version of the picture is now with Ben and his family.

Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Mystery-identity-boy-Gary-Lineker-photograph/story-26131086-detail/story.html#ixzz3TdQ3mG3R 

Follow us: @Leicester_Merc on Twitter | leicestermercury on Facebook

Posted

 

By Leicester Mercury  |  Posted: February 27, 2015

 

 who would now be in his early 20s.

 

 

 

 

 Ben Smith, 16, who is the young lad featured in the Filbert Street photograph with Gary Lineker

 

The Leicester Mercury everyone.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...