The Tennis Girl is a popular poster

Poster

A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...

. It shows a young woman from behind walking towards the net of a tennis court

Tennis court

A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...

 with a tennis racquet in her right hand and her left hand reaching behind lifting her short tennis dress

Sportswear

Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons....

, showing she is not wearing any underwear

Going commando

Going commando is the practice of not wearing underwear under one's outer clothing. The term is theorized to be related to the much earlier term "going regimental", which refers to wearing the kilt military style, that is, without underwear...

.

The photograph was taken by Martin Elliott

Martin Elliott

Martin Elliott was a British photographer, best known for the poster "Tennis Girl".Elliott, an only child, was born into a middle-class family in Oldbury. He attended Oldbury Grammar School, then Loughborough College of Art. He met Noelle Bott in 1987, and was married to her from 15 February 1988...

 in September 1976 and features 18-year-old Fiona Butler (now Walker), his girlfriend at the time. The photo was taken at Birmingham University, Edgbaston

Edgbaston

Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, using a borrowed dress, racquet and balls.

History

The poster was first published as part of a calendar by Athena

Athena (retailer)

Athena is a British art retailer, and was formerly a large retail chain, famous for its distinctive posters.-History:Athena's first shop was opened by Ole Christensen in Hampstead in July 1964, and then bought into E&O PLC, by Chairman, Douglas H. Bayle...

 for the 1977 Silver Jubilee

Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II

The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...

, the same year Virginia Wade

Virginia Wade

Sarah Virginia Wade, OBE is a former English tennis player. She won three Grand Slam singles championships and four Grand Slam doubles championships. She won the women's singles championship at Wimbledon on 1 July 1977, in that tournament's centenary year, the last time any Briton has won a...

 achieved the Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon

The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

 ladies' singles title.

The poster achieved widespread distribution when licensed to the poster shop Athena. in 1978 where it sold for £2. It sold about 2 million copies as a poster.

Butler said that she was not embarrassed about posing nor bitter that she did not receive any royalties from the photo.

Elliott died on 24 March 2010. Butler now lives in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire.

Popularity and parody

Over the years the picture has been parodied by various people as diverse as Alan Carr

Alan Carr

Alan Carr is an English comedian and television personality. Born in Weymouth, he was raised in Northampton before moving to Manchester during his early 20's....

 and Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

.

In episode "Tikka to Ride

Tikka to Ride

"Tikka To Ride" is the first episode of science fiction sit-com Red Dwarf Series VII and the 37th in the series run. It was first broadcast on the British television channel BBC2 on 17 January 1997...

" of television series Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf

Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...

, Cat says "We've been copied more times than the picture of the tennis girl scratching her butt!"

In the satirical television series Spitting Image

Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....

, the poster appeared in the background or was featured in a sketch a few times.

It was also featured in an advertisement for a tennis video game called Davis Cup World Tour for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive.

More recently it's been shown on the British Comedy series by Channel 4 called IT Crowd.

External links

• Birmingham Post Tennis girl Fiona Butler talks about the photoshoot in Birmingham that made her a poster icon