Spotted in Wikipedia…Vane Pennell was educated at Eton, Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge. However, on going up to Trinity College, Cambridge Pennell failed to find a place in the University racquets team and began to take more interest in the game of Real Tennis. Although he was undoubtedly one of the outstanding players of court games of his generation, Vane Pennell only made occasional appearances in the championship events. His appearances in the Real Tennis championships were spasmodic and he only entered for the singles nine times in the twenty-year period up to 1923. He was, however, a finalist seven times and won the title in 1904.

At the 1908 Olympics, Pennell played in the singles at both real tennis and racquets and in each event was defeated by the ultimate winner. However, he won a gold medal in the racquets doubles with [John Astor] as his partner. Vane Pennell’s sporting interests were not restricted to the dedan and he represented Great Britain, against France, at ice hockey when he was captain of the Prince’s Club team.

Thanks to Eagled Eyed Gerald