SPORTSMAN

Nazi aircraft. Many of the procedures and techniques that are still used by the SAS were devised by Mayne.

After another daring raid, one of his last, on Oldenburg in North West Germany on April 9, 1945, he was initially awarded a VC. But this was downgraded six months later to a lower honour, the Distinguished Service Order with three bars.

It was a move that has baffled military historians. Even King George VI wondered why the Victoria Cross had “so strangely eluded him”.

Some say it was because Mayne, who had become a Lieutenant Colonel by the end of the war, had punched the second in command in his battalion.

Others say it was a technicality, as the raid in question consisted of multiple acts of bravery and not a single act. Either way, an Early Day Motion put before the House of Commons in 2005, supported by more than 100 MPS, called on the VC to be reinstated. It failed but there is still hope it may one day succeed.

After the war, Mayne had to quit rugby due to back pain but he achieved his ambition of becoming a solicitor.

His death, at the age of 40, was far from usual. He was killed in 1955, when he collided with a farm vehicle after yet another boozy night.

Rogue Warrior Of The SAS: The Blair Mayne Legend, by Martin Dillon and the late Roy Bradford, is available now, published by Penguin.