Possible Influence on "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"

"Bloomin' Ada!" A possible influence on Sillitoe's Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (or, more precisely, on his working up of the story from his original idle penning of the titular line) is Alf Tupper, the Tough of the Track. My father and I grew up in turn reading Alf, as did almost all working class boys in post-War Britain, quite plausibly including a young Alan Sillitoe. Follow the hotlink to a useful website & see what you think.