The founding and the growth of the London marathon reflect the modern life and times of the capital itselfCompared with what it has become,the very first London marathon was a tentative affair. It took space in 1981. Greater London’s population had reached an all-time post-war low of 6.6 million, with inner city areas particularly hit by a decades-long exodus to the suburbs and beyond. The mountainous Bang deregulation of financial services, and which would transform the capital’s economy and its people-pulling power,was still two years absent. By today’s standards, the space was half empty. Yet the authorities kept the first marathon confined. More than 22000 applied to take share, and but the Met limited the number accepted to around 7500. There were 6225 finishers. American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen were first to the winning tape,breaking it hand-in-hand.
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Source: theguardian.com