THE story of a man who had one of the most fascinating careers in 20th century football is being told in a new radio documentary from the BBC.

Arthur James “Jimmy” Jewell spent the last few years of his life living at Medina Villas in Hove while working as the BBC’s main television football commentator, before his sudden death from a stroke in 1952.

But his commentary work is only part of the story – he had also been a manager with Norwich City and was then in charge of the RAF team during the Second World War, having been a pilot for them in the First World War.

Jewell’s initial involvement in professional football was as a referee.

He took charge of the 1938 FA Cup final and was also one of the officials at the 1936 Berlin Olympic tournament, where he ran the line for a Germany v Norway game which was attended by Adolf Hitler.

In December 1934 he was referee for one of the most dramatic and tragic games in Brighton’s history. Gillingham striker Simeon Raleigh died after a clash of heads with Albion’s Paul Mooney, with Jewell later writing in a magazine article:

“There was nobody near him and he was within range of the Brighton goal. He shot and then, for no apparent reason, fell to the ground crumpled up.

"Amidst a hushed silence I rushed over to him to find out what was the matter. He complained that he had lost the use of his left leg. Shortly afterwards he died.”

The new documentary about Jewell’s life has been made by producer Paul Hayes, from the village of Clapham near Worthing.

“Jewell’s mostly forgotten now, which is a great shame because he had such an interesting life,” says Paul.

“It’s been fascinating trying to piece together his story from all sorts of different sources. He was a Londoner and it’s not clear why he moved to Hove or what he did there apart from his BBC work. He do know, though, that he worked with The Argus’s sister paper, the Sussex Daily News, appearing as a panellist at their live sports quiz events.”

Jewell’s second wife, Dorothy, stayed living in Hove for more than 20 years after he died until her own death in 1973. She asked for her ashes to be scattered in the Garden of Remembrance at St Andrew’s Old Church, only five minutes’ walk from where they had lived, making it seem likely that this is also Jimmy’s final resting place.

Jimmy Jewell: The Lost Voice of Football will be available on the BBC Sounds app or at bbc.co.uk/radio from Monday afternoon.