Walter Tull 

This week's 'hidden figure' is Walter Tull, one of English football's first black players and the British Army's first ever black officer to command white troops. Unfortunately, a century after his death  aged 29 on the battlefields of World War One, the name Walter Tull does not mean much to most. An orphan, Tull had to overcome hardship through most of his life, including being racially abused while a pioneering forward for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town. Even his death received hardly any media attention, and it is only in recent years that his powerful story has started to be fully recognised, largely owing to the work of historian and biographer Phil Vasili.  A campaign for Tull to be awarded the Military Cross is ongoing. Click here to find out more about this forgotten hero:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43504448