AN author has published the biography of an Aberystwyth University graduate and former Wales goalkeeper who died in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.

Leigh Roose, who died on 7 October, 1916, aged 38, played for several big football clubs including Stoke City, Sunderland, Everton and Arsenal, and is described by his biographer, Spencer Vignes, as “arguably the most famous sportsman in Britain” at the time.

Roose started his playing career at Aberystwyth Town FC in 1895 while a student at Aberystwyth University, where he played for the club in 85 appearances and was labelled ‘Yr Ercwlff synfawr hwn’ — ‘this wondrous Hercules’ — by the Welsh poet Thomas Richards.

“In a nutshell he was arguably the most famous sportsman in Britain during the early years of the 20th century; a playboy, scholar, maverick and soldier who changed the face of goalkeeping forever,” said Mr Vignes, who recently published his biography of Roose, entitled Lost in France.

“Imagine Paul Gascoigne with a university education. That’s the kind of man Leigh was.”

See next week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online on Wednesday