It was at Stoke Mandeville that the seeds of Paralympic Games were sown in 1948 when Sir Ludwig organised competitions for World War Two veterans rehabilitating from spinal cord injuries at the local hospital.

Those very competitions proved the foundation stone for the first Paralympics in Rome in 1960.

The statue was unveiled by Sir Ludwig's son, Dr Dennis Guttmann, and daughter, Eva Loeffler, at a special ceremony (pictured top) in the main sports hall at Stoke Mandeville Stadium but its permanent home will be outside the National Spinal Injuries Centre where Sir Ludwig worked.

The late disc jockey Sir Jimmy Savile was among those who contributed to the funding of the statue, pledging £30,000 ($47,000/€37,500) towards it.

In addition to the statue, a cast-bronze bust – produced at a cost of £10,000 ($15,600/€12,500) was also unveiled and will be displayed at all future Paralympic Games.

It will make its Paralympics debut at London 2012 and will be located in the Olympic Park.

The bust was funded by Aggreko, the Exclusive Supplier of Temporary Energy Services for London 2012, and was created by artist Jacko, a former patient at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.


Following the unveiling of the statue, the bust was given to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Sir Philip Craven (pictured above, with microphone) by the chief executive of Aggreko, Rupert Soames.

"In this pivotal year during which the Games will be returning home to the United Kingdom, it is fantastic that we now have this lasting legacy of Sir Ludwig's contribution to the initiation Paralympic sport," said Sir Philip.

"It is because of his life-long dedication to the research and treatment of those injuries that the Paralympic Games was founded."

"Without him, the Paralympics would not be here and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude."

The bust was commissioned by the Poppa Guttmann Trust, which is dedicated to helping people suffering from spinal injuries and is so named because Sir Ludwig was often referred  to as "Poppa" by his patients.

Another significant donation for the statue was provided by Soames, late former Prime Minister Winston Churchill's grandson, who had heard about the project.

"We had the idea for this a couple years ago but then we had to raise the money along with the statue," explained Mike McKenzie, chairman of the Poppa Guttmann Trust, who was also in attendance at the unveiling.

"Rupert was one of the key figures in helping get this off ground.

"We would also like to thank Sir Philip for agreeing to have the bust at all future Paralympic Games."

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June 2012: Statue and bust of Sir Ludwig Guttmann to be unveiled at Stoke Mandeville