Les Medley was a winger who served Spurs well for over 17 years in a period of success for the club and became a regular in the side, as well as making the England team.
Attending the local Latymer School in Edmonton, Les made a name for himself at football, representing the Edmonton, London and Middlesex Schools sides before being selected for England Schoolboys to play against the Scottish equivalent side in Glasgow in 1935, where he impressed and the club watched him for a while before he signed for Tottenham as an amateur on 9th September 1936.
His first steps in his career with the club came with the junior side before he went off to the nursery club at Northfleet United, where he first tasted success with the Kent League Cup being secured in 1938 and the Kent League title the next season. In December 1938, he appeared for Northfleet against a West Ham United side in a friendly and he was brought back to the Lane to star in the reserve team, who played in the London Combination league.
Continuing his progress, Les was offered professional terms and signed a contract on 20th February 1939. Les' first senior appearance was in the first match Tottenham played during the wartime competition - the Football League South Group A - against Southend United, with the winning start being carried on in the next game a week later against Millwall, when Medley scored twice in a 3-0 win at the Lane.
The Second World War saw Les called up to serve with the Royal Air Force and he did not return to playing until late in 1944. Wartime football saw players guest for other clubs and while the outside left made 60 appearances during this time of conflict for Spurs, he also played twice for Millwall and once for West Ham United in 1944-45, while the following season turned out for Aldershot in one match and played in two games for Clapton Orient.
On the resumption of League football, Les played the first ten games of the 1946-47 season, but, in November 1946, he left Spurs to go to Canada with his wife, who he met there while in service with the RAF during World War II, as she became homesick in England. He found work in a steel foundry and played part-time with Toronto Greenbacks and Ulster United for the fifteen months he was in his adopted homeland. However, the couple came back to England in January 1948 and in April of the following year, Medley was back in the Tottenham team and went on to be a regular member of the side that went on to win the Second Division Championship under Arthur Rowe in the "Push and Run" side and played 35 times the following season, contributing 11 goals as the team went on to win the First Division title. A vital cog in these title winning teams, Medley was compared to previous Spurs great left wingers such as Jimmy Dimmock and Willie Evans.
Les was an aggressive runner with the ball and his ability to cross for the forwards to score made him a vital cog in the team, but his ability to score goals from his wide position allied with his energetic chasing back were notable features of his game. Nominally an outside left, Les was given a roaming role along the front line. Good with both feet and a possessor of a good body swerve, it made him difficult to pick up and also very difficult to dispossess. Such determined displays brought him six England caps in 1950-51, with one goal against France and England were unbeaten during his games with the national side, winning two and drawing four. Medley was also selected for the Football League XI against the Scottish League side in 1951 and then was part of a Rest of the UK representative XI who played Wales in a match to commemorate the Welsh FA's 75th anniversary.
Les finally retired from playing at the age of 32 and left for South Africa in 1958, where he played for the Wanderers club and coached the Randfontein club in the three years he spent in the country. He and Thelma returned to live in Horsham, Sussex for a year in 1961, but then they emigrated to Canada, but sadly his wife died in 1962. Staying on that side of the Atlantic, Les settled in London, Ontario and ran a fish and chip shop for 15 years and in his spare time, he enjoyed a round of golf.
Les and Thelma had a daughter Carol and a son Steven.
Les Medley died in 22nd February 2001 at the Mount Hope Nursing Home, London, Ontario, Canada aged 80.