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Film of Tom Simpson may be made

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Shane Meadows, filmmaker of This Is England and Dead Man’s Shoes has told the Press Association that he wants to tell the story of Tom Simpson, who died while competing in the 1967 Tour de France.

Simpson, collapsed on Mont Ventoux during the 1967 edition of the race and, legend has it, told onlookers “Put me back on my bike” before being taken to hospital where he died.

Meadows, who grew up in Nottingham, told the Press Association that: “He is a Nottingham guy and it is just one of those legendary stories that feels like a Hollywood movie script, though I would not treat it like that.”

He said he had no idea who would play the lead role and had not bought the rights to the story yet, adding he would not shy away from looking at Simpson’s use of drugs while racing.

Meadows said: “He was very open about taking amphetamines and it was very different then.

“I just think it is a great story. For example, the French loved him because after two weeks in France he was doing his interviews in French, broken French admittedly, but this was just an ordinary guy from Nottingham.”

Tommy Simpson has inspired cyclists and artists alike and there is, as others have been quick to point out, an existing documentary film chronicling the life and death of Simpson, and Death on the Mountain: The Story of Tom Simpson will be screened again on BBC 4 at 9:00pm January 30. In addition William Fotheringham wrote an acclaimed biography of Simpson called Put Me Back On My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson

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