ENGLAND’S current crop of heroes have certainly enjoyed greater success at a World Cup finals than East Hampshire’s most famous footballing son did in his career.

Jimmy Dickinson was born and bred in Alton and made six appearances at World Cup finals during an England career which saw him win 48 caps for his country.

However, ‘Gentleman Jim’ – the nickname he was given due to not picking up a single yellow or red card in a career which saw him play almost 750 times for Portsmouth, didn’t enjoy the greatest of times in the two finals he played in.

In 1950 he was part of the England team which fell to possibly the most humiliating defeat in the country’s history – a 1-0 defeat to the United States in Belo Horizonte.

At the same tournament in Brazil he played in the 2-0 win over Chile and England’s final game at that tournament – a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Spain.

Dickinson then started all of England’s games at World Cup 1954 in Switzerland.

England’s opening match was a 4-4 draw against Belgium, in which Dickinson scored an own goal, before they beat Switzerland 2-0 in their next match.

England closed the tournament with a 4-2 defeat against Uruguay in the quarter finals stage.

Dickinson was born in Alton in 1925 and was spotted by Pompey when he was playing for Alton Youth Club. He played for England between 1949 and 1956, enjoying 4,296 minutes of competitive action in his country’s colours during his seven year international career.

After finishing his playing career, which included being champions of England twice at Portsmouth, he held almost every position off the field at Fratton Park, including managing the club.

He died in November 1982 at the age of 57 following a heart attack.