They took place  a stone’s throw from where continental rail travellers now board the Eurostar train at St Pancras.

Long before the advent of the International Olympic Committee, this was a time when rival organisations tried to establish their  own sporting competitions. In Greece,the philanthropic Zappas brothers had established Olympic Games in Athens. They had exchanged ideas with Dr William Penny Brookes who had already founded Olympian Games in the Shropshire village of Much Wenlock. 

Brookes was joined by John Hulley, a gymnastic enthusiast from Liverpool known who became known as the "Gymnasiarch" described as "the fancifully dressed one" by newspapers of the day when he appeared in flamboyant costume topped off by a turban .

The trio was completed by Ernst Ravenstein, a German who had moved to London and become a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Ravenstein was also a leading light in the German Gymnasium which had been established between the St Pancras and Kings Cross Railway stations. It  was one of the first  in the world built for the purpose. The hooks used for climbing apparatus can still be seen there today. 

He was a devotee of Ludwig Jahn, who had pioneered gymnastics in Germany. Reports noted that Ravenstein was an "energetic gentleman who in conjunction with a fraternal band of fellow countrymen and Englishmen , is fast making physical education rank as high in public estimation  throughout Britain as did his exemplar at the beginning of the century in Germany."

The three men gathered in Liverpool to announce the formation of the National Olympic Association.

It was explained that the term Olympian had been advisedly chosen because it was of a somewhat wider scope than athletic.

The aim was “the encouragement and reward of skill and strength in manly exercises and of literary and fine art attainments."

They were keen to pay homage to what they called "mental excellence’ because it was felt important to‘show the advantages of combining mental with physical culture".

The prospectus invited clubs at an annual subscription of one pound  and an additional charge of ten shillings for every 100 members beyond the first 100.

Preparations were made for the first National Olympian Games to be held in July 1866. There were three main centres for the competition.

The gymnasium hosted fencing and rope climbing and other gymnastics.

Appropriately the star performer came from the home club. His name was  Hugo Landsberger. Reporters breathlessly discovered that he had the nickname "Baby’" bestowed on him by fellow members of the Gymnasium.

"Quite a stripling when he joined, he is now perhaps the most muscular fellow of his size and age in the world," said an admiring  account, which spoke of "biceps protruding from the ponderous muscular arms and wondrous feats on the parallel bars  succeeded by the most daring vaulting  and expert evolutions on the horizontal bar.’’

The swimming was held at Teddington on the outskirts of South West London where, according to correspondents of the day "’the river is pure and exhilarating to swim in."  

Sadly, on this particular evening it rained heavily, though no-one was put off ,

"The plucky competitors stripped in a comfortable tent covered punt and plunged without hesitation into the clear but chilly Thames."

Three titles were won by a Mr William Adams of the London Swimming Club .

Across London, a young Bristolian called  William Gilbert Grace was celebrating his 18th birthday. Soon to be known simply as "WG", he was already marked down as a prodigious cricketer. In July 1866, selected for an England XI to meet Surrey at the Oval. He struck a phenomenal 224 not out. It was a remarkable achievement for one so young but further sporting exploits were to follow.

“I know I travelled up to town the same morning, and felt slightly nervous the first over or two,everything after I have forgotten except the shouting which followed at the end of the innings," he recalled.

The final day of the match coincided with the NOA athletics events at Crystal Palace. Scarcely lacking in self-confidence, the youngster asked to be excused from fielding in the match. "I remember Mr V.E. Walker, the captain of the England team was kind enough to let me off the last day to compete," said Grace.

He was down to race in the 440 yards hurdles. Bell’s Life magazine reports that "Grace took the lead from the start". He led by 30 yards at the half distance and eventually won by 20 yards. Over 20 flights of hurdles, Grace came home in one minute ten seconds to win.

He also  finished fourth in the 100y and 176y. 

On a busy day, he started well in the half mile race and led by 100 yards but, no doubt tired after his exertions on both cricket field and running track, he dropped out before the end, victory went to Walter Rye, later a grandee in the establishment of athletics.

Bell’s Life called the athletic programme "one of the most varied and extensive character". They might just have had a vested interest because their reporter Charles Westhall acted as referee and one of his colleagues, a Mr H Woodstock, took on the duties of time keeper.

The events included events restricted to members of the military and competition scheduled to begin at 11. In fact, racing did not start until after noon but the band of the Coldstream Guards were on hand to entertain the crowds .

Tickets for reserved seats and the banquet were advertised at five shillings and were on sale at Crystal Palace, Exeter Hall and “the usual agents".

Some 120 prizes were on offer during the competition. When this had finished, they were presented from the Handel orchestra by Dr William Penny Brookes after which the competitors dined together.

“It is a pleasure and a privilege for me to cooperate with others in an association which I believe will bring great benefit to the nation," he said. 

"It is my conviction that they will be more brilliant and imposing, contests more varied and exciting than any of the like description yet recorded in the pages of history."

The National Olympian Games endured only until 1883. 

Of the three men who organised them, only one lived to see the Olympic Movement flourish. Hulley died in 1875 but  but Brookes later enjoyed a long standing correspondence with Coubertin who paid tribute to  work and visited Much Wenlock where he planted a tree. It is not inconceivable that Brookes could have become a member of the International Olympic Committee but he died shortly before the first Olympics of the Modern era were held in 1896 .

Ravenstein lived until 1913, and his club-mates at the German Gymnasium even visited the 1908 London Olympics, making the short journey by horse drawn carriage.