During 2012 Burghley House will be dedicating its annual Treasury Exhibition to David, Lord Burghley (1905-1981), who inherited the title of 6th Marquess of Exeter from his father in 1956, and was one of the golden athletes of his generation. As well as winning the gold medal for the 400 metres hurdles at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, he won Silver in the 1932 Los Angles Olympics 4x400 yard relay. In later years he was also one of the prime movers behind the last London Games in 1948.

Once he retired from active sport, he worked hard for amateur ideals within the Olympic movement. As President of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, Chairman of the British Olympic Association and a member of the International Olympic Committee, he was instrumental in bringing the Olympic Games to England in 1948 and was also chairman of the Organising and Executive Committee for those Games.

During his time at Cambridge, Lord Burghley - as he was then known - was also the inspiration behind one of the key characters in the movie Chariots of Fire, played by Nigel Havers.

Lord Burghley trained by balancing matchboxes on top of the hurdles and this colourful behavior was reflected in the character of Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 film (although producers replaced matchboxes with glasses of champagne).

A famous scene in that film was also inspired by one of Lord Burghley’s feats – the race around the Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge, against fellow athletes, when he became the only person to sprint around the courtyard before the college clock tolled 12 times.

His other athletic achievements included the record for running a quarter mile round the promenade deck of the Queen Mary - for the record, he did it in 58 seconds, dressed in formal evening wear, in March 1936.