The Greatest British Sportspeople 50-41

Into the Top 50. This is where it gets serious, and may get a little controversial. There might be favourites you're expecting who are nowhere to be seen. Before I get to the Top 10, I'll write a little about some people who didn't make the list. If there are any glaring omissions, arguably I'm getting something wrong. I'm trying not to make this a personal list, I'm trying to be fair, and if I miss someone obvious, the fact that they're obvious probably means they deserve inclusion somewhere in the Top 200. We'll see.

50. Lennox Lewis (Boxing, 1980s-2000s)

 The credit given to Lennox Lewis seems to grow year on year, as people more and more describe him as The Last Great Heavyweight (perhaps a little harsh on the Klitschko brothers). He was the first British heavyweight champ for almost a century, and also managed to be undisputed champion.
He did lose twice, shockingly, but got great glory for avenging both those losses.
Huge, slick and thoughtful, I think it's undeniable his mixed roots and transatlantic accent kept him a little from the British heart (as well as the fact that most of his fights were on Sky).

49. Christine Ohuruogu (Athletics, 2000s)

 A strong contender for the best British track athlete of the last 25 years, this diffident, quiet 400m runner is the definition of a championship performer. In the run-of-the-mill races she looks average, and wins rarely - when it comes to the big events, she's right there. World and Olympic champion in 2007 and 2008, she came within a couple of strides of retaining her Olympic title in London.

48. John Charles (Football, 1940s-1970s)

This is how good John Charles was. He was voted in 1997 the greatest foreign player in the history of Italian football. Bear in mind the foreigners who have played in Italy. Charles could play either centre-back or centre forward, scored huge numbers for Leeds and Juventus and took Wales to the World Cup quarter-finals in their only appearance in the competition.

47. John Surtees (Motorsports, 1950s-1970s)

 John Surtees is the only man to be a World Champion on both two and three wheels, on a 500cc bike and in Formula 1. It's not that rare for sportspeople from the past to be a little versatile, but reaching the very top in two totally separate sports is pretty outstanding.

46. Ellery Hanley (Rugby League, 1970s-1990s)

A superb all-round athlete and sportsman who played in a variety of positions in both the forwards and the backs, scored huge numbers of tries, was captain of the great Wigan team of the late 80s which won everything in sight and was also captain of Great Britain. At the time was quite possibly the best rugby player, across both disciplines, in the world.

45. Nigel Mansell (Motor racing, 1980s-1990s)

  Bleurgh - one of my least favourite sportsmen as I was growing up, enormously popular moustachioed boremobile who was twice Sports Personality of the Year, what has possessed me to put him so high? I think perhaps that he went to the USA and won the IndyCar series in his first year, that he was Formula 1 champion in an era of champions and won a lot of races. That he was also very good at golf. But I'm not proud of this placing. I'd rather Ian Bell was above Nigel Mansell but he can't be, I'm afraid.

44. Kelly Smith (Football, 1990s-2010s)

 I've watched quite a lot of women's football and it's definitely improving at a very good rate. England have just crashed out of the European Championships and they were pretty poor, slightly against the tide of progress. The fact is it still has a long way to go to be at an even remotely equivalent place to men's football. It's not just strength and speed, it's technique, temperament, teamwork, everything. Also a consistent, strong, large talent base.
Kelly Smith is one of those who is a pure, natural, footballer. When I first saw her playing for England, she was so many streets ahead of everybody else on the pitch, she displayed the true possibilities of women's football, that actually it's not acceptable for it to be a bit shit - with the right infrastructure, it can be a genuinely impressive professional sport, where there's no difference in your admiration, as you get with say, women's athletics, swimming, tennis at its best.
She's quite near the end, but has been one of the best players in the world for a long time, with time, skill, and a proper sweet left foot.

43. Mark Cavendish (Cycling, 2000s)

There are one or two signs this year that Cav's utter dominance of the sprint stages of Grand Tours might be waning, as there are new young bucks like Kittel and Greipel who have bested him on a few occasions. Will he break Eddy Merckx's record for Tour de France stage wins? It looked inevitable but no longer (Merckx, the all-round greatest ever rider, had 34), Cavendish, a pure sprinter, now has 25 (hopefully 26 after tomorrow). Cav will never win any stages but sprint stages, but he is already acknowledged as the greatest ever sprinter. This does not, for the uninitiated, mean he is the fastest cyclist ever. The great track sprinters like Hoy and Kenny are quicker over those short distances, but what Cav does is just extraordinary, cycling for 100s of kms before being in the right position to surge past his rivals right at the end. It is also phenomenally brave - the number of high speed crashes these guys have is terrifying.
A hugely charismatic and hilariously mental sportsman, there's almost nothing not to love - no one deserves having urine thrown at them less. 

42. Fred Trueman (Cricket, 1950s-1960s)

 England's greatest ever fast bowler, a sporting modernist like myself can pay him no greater compliment than to look at the grainy black and white footage, which so often seems to show slow and shambling amateurs, and say "Yes, he would kill it in today's game".
Genuinely quick and a master of away swing, Trueman's average is right up there with the very best (just to make clear why some others have, perhaps unfairly, not quite made the list, it's 4 better than Willis and 8 better than Anderson). He was the record test wicket taker in his day, and would have taken a lot more but was regularly left out for being a cussed chap.
Would no doubt be appalled he isn't Number 1.

41. Jessica Ennis (Athletics, 2000s)

 My mother, when it came to the glut of choices for Sports Personality in 2012, was quite right to think Ennis deserved to be right up there. To achieve what she did at the Olympics under such enormous pressure, breaking the British record and just crushing everything in her path, was just as awesome as anything else that year.
And her stunning British record in the 100m hurdles shows the extent to which multi-eventers are not jack of all trades but just great athletes whose ability in so many disciplines is a marvel of stamina and fortitude. How good is she? Good enough that she would be Britain's best 100m hurdler, high jumper, 200m runner, it's second or third best long jumper, and had raised her game sufficiently in the javelin, shot put and 800m to be up there with the best heptathletes).
Having missed out on the 2008 Olympics, Ennis has won pretty much everything (except silver in the 2011 Worlds) since, which is rare consistency for a heptathlete. Injured so far this year, I do hope she can pull it out of the bag again, though it's unlikely.