Martin Elliott was a photographic student when he persuaded his girlfriend at the time, 18-year-old Fiona Butler, to pose for the shot. Tennis Girl was bought by the Athena chain of poster shops and swiftly claimed its place on teenage boys’ bedroom walls around the world.
Mr Elliott retained the copyright of the image and made a fortune. But Ms Butler, who had had to borrow a tennis skirt, racket and tennis balls, did not make a penny, although she did go on to marry a millionaire.
For the photographer, the early breakthrough was as much a curse as a blessing. He always complained that he could not get commissions because clients assumed that as the creator of one of the world’s most famous images, his services would be too expensive.
The picture was taken in 1976 and was first published in a calendar marking the 1977 Silver Jubilee. It was the year Virginia Wade won the Wimbledon ladies singles championship. The poster, derided by critics as a “schoolboy’s fantasy”, went on to sell two million copies through Athena and continued to sell even after the chain went bust in the 1990s.
The photograph was taken on a university tennis court in Edgbaston, Birmingham, where Mr Elliott was studying photography. In a recent interview he said: “It was an afternoon in September at the end of the long hot summer. It was over very quickly. I only took one roll of film, which is pretty feeble for a photographer, and I just hoped I’d got the shot.” He worked in advertising before retiring 11 years ago. His widow, Noelle, said: “I am still getting royalties to this day. They are only a few pence but because it has sold all over the world we have done well out of it.”
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