Showjumper Harvey Smith (1938-) was an outspoken hot-tempered Yorkshireman, nicknamed "Heathcliff on Horseback". The working-class son of a builder, he had frequent clashes with the sport's upper-class authorities. Yet he was also an outstanding rider, winning the Hickstead Derby a record seven times.

"Disgusting behaviour"

On August 15, 1971, Smith arrived at Hickstead to take part in the Derby. He had won the previous year's event, but failed to bring the trophy with him. Smith said that he had forgotten it, but the judges did not believe him. They thought that he arrogantly assumed he would be winning again. Smith had a heated argument with Douglas Bunn, owner of Hickstead, who told him he stood "no chance" of winning.

The argument made Smith even more determined to succeed, and he went on to ride his horse, Mattie Brown, to victory. Following his win, he thrust two fingers upwards, palm-backwards, in the direction of the judge's balcony and the furious Douglas Bunn. On his return home, he received the following telegram from Bunn:

Because of your disgusting behaviour at the end of your jump-off in the Derby the directors and I have disqualified you and all prize-money (£2000) is forfeited. You will also be reported to the stewards of the B.S.J.A. (British Show Jumping Association).

Smith appealed against the judgement, saying, "It was a straightforward V for Victory sign. Churchill used it throughout the war." When he appeared before the stewards, he brought with him a hefty file of photographs showing Churchill making the V-sign - with palm facing both forwards and backwards. Harvey Smith's victory was reinstated.

The people's champion

The public did not believe Smith's "V for Victory" excuse, and his two-fingered salute quickly became part of folklore. People loved the idea of such a rebellious gesture in the conservative world of showjumping. It was taken as a blow against the establishment, and Smith became known as "the people's champion". The rude V-sign, previously called the "up yours" or "two fingers" gesture now became known as "the Harvey Smith".

In 1977, the landlord of a pub in Petteridge, Kent, renamed his establishment "The Harvey Smith", with a painted sign showing the rider making his two-fingered salute. Local officials criticised the sign as "distasteful", but the landlord said that trade had doubled since the name change.

Harvey Smith claimed to be annoyed at being forever linked with the gesture, but it gave a wonderful boost to his career. He was hired to advertise Victory-V throat lozenges, appearing on posters making the V-sign, with palm forwards, accompanied by this tongue-in-cheek text:

Some people still insist on mistaking this Churchillian gesture for something improper. But we have always assumed it was an endorsement by Harvey of a brand he has known and loved since he was knee-high to a hurdle.

In 1972, Smith published his autobiography which he titled V for Victory, where he gave his own explanation of why he had made the sign:

Absolutely on the spur of the moment, I raised two fingers... It was a V for victory; it was meant to show how delighted I was that Mattie Brown had become the only horse ever to win the British Jumping Derby on successive years. If it was also interpreted as an 'up you' to those on the balcony who wanted Mattie Brown to lose, then all well and good... But above all, the gesture was meant to be light-hearted and the crowd received it as such. 

Smith went on to launch brief careers as both a singer and a wrestler. Wearing a big "V" on the back of his velvet robe, he made his wrestling debut in the Royal Hall in Harrogate, fighting Cockey Kaye, the "Lancashire Thunderbolt'. Billed as a "battle of the Pennines", the fight drew 1,300 spectators.

With his wife, Sue, Harvey Smith now trains race horses on his farm at High Eldwick on the Yorkshire moors. Interviewed in the Independent in April 2006, he looked back on his tempestuous career: "Aye the press. I've had 50 years of them. They build you up one day and they knock you down the next. I've been up and down so many times I feel like a yoyo."

In November 2004, the Observer included Smith's famous salute as one of the 30 most outrageous sporting moments. The article drew this letter from David Jones, a reader in Tyne and Wear:

Seeing Harvey Smith's defiant V sign in your list reminded me that 'doing a Harvey Smith' became a popular expression. I once had the good fortune to make a TV series with Harvey, during which he showed me his fascinating collection of carvings and cartoons sent from all over the world to mark the event. I remember especially a large, superbly carved wooden hand, doing the V sign.

Yet fame is often fickle, and since the 1970s, a new generation has grown up with no memory of Harvey Smith and his gesture.The two-finger salute itself is disappearing, replaced by the American single finger, and there is no longer a pub in Kent named after him.