One of the greatest sporting stories ever told has been captured on film by Melton-based producer and composer, Stuart J Sharp and distributed by SAQ International, a company also located in the Leicestershire town.

Pakistan-born Jahangir Khan (pictured below), a former world number one professional squash star, is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game and Stuart’s film, ‘The Conqueror’, tells the amazing story of Khan’s hugely successful career.

Jahangir won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. Between 1981 and 1991, he was unbeaten in competitive play, winning 555 matches consecutively.

Jahangir also became the youngest ever World Amateur Squash Champion aged just 15-years-old and the youngest World Professional Squash Champion in history at 17.

Khan’s sporting success is an inspirational story of triumph over adversity and Stuart J Sharp has captured unique documentary footage after following Jahangir around the world in the 1970s and 80s.

Jahangir’s brother Torsam Khan died of a heart attack whilst playing squash, aged just 27-years-old. Jahangir had been coached by his father, Roshan Khan, the 1957 British Open champion, but Torsam Khan took over until he died.

After Torsam’s sudden death, Jahangir was coached by his cousin Rahmat Khan, whose fitness regime, mental strength and enthusiasm helped Jahangir enjoy the most successful period of his career.

The film’s producer, Stuart Sharp, is also a composer with the London Philharmonia Orchestra, and as well as filming, producing and narrating the film, he also composed the soundtrack.

Stuart talked to Soar Magazine about the story of how the film was made, starting with a chance meeting with Jahangir.

“I first met Jahangir sometime in the 70′s. Purely by chance, I saw him training with Rahmat Khan at the Wembley Squash Centre and was immediately struck with his incredible power and precision. He must have been all of 9 stone wet through and just a teenager. I saw a world champion in the making.

“Later, I introduced myself to Rahmat Khan and suggested that I took some film of him training. That was all it was meant to be. However, it escalated and I was invited to travel with The Khans to various tournaments and take behind the scenes film and footage of him on court.”

Stuart (pictured below) has taken great pride in telling the story of a sporting to legend, but which of Khan’s amazing achievements does he find most inspirational?

“The 1979 World Amateur Championships in which he became the youngest squash champion in history at 15 years of age and with it the youngest world champion of any sport.”

Sharp still stays in touch with Jahangir, who now travels the world as a Squash Ambassador, but Stuart’s own journey over the years is also extremely intriguing and inspiring.

“I was a pub cook in the 1960′s and received my first squash lesson and beating from a fellow publican – Barry Hayes who ran the Stags Head at Maidwell, Northants. He felt it was a way I could get rid of my cook’s belly and get fit. I then took lessons from Bryan Shipston at The Market Harborough Squash Club.

“I left my job at the Red Lion Inn, Sibbertoft, Leicestershire and moved to London. I lived near The Wembley Squash Centre and coached very basic squash and that’s where I met Jahangir and Rahmat.

“’The Conqueuror’ has been a 40-year challenge which would have been impossible without composing the music soundtrack and hiring some of the world’s best orchestras, such as The London Philharmonia Orchestra, to record it. I also had to train myself as a master film editor, which took ten years, before I could even think about producing the film. The footage I had taken was not compatible with today’s technology and stayed in my garage for over three decades.

“When I finally started to transfer it to a digital format I discovered it had deteriorated badly. At that point I nearly gave up. I continued because I had retired and had time to work on it. It took one year of painstaking frame by frame restoration before any editing could be evaluated. This was followed by another year of editing. The final year was spent putting all the pieces together and writing the script.

“Then there was the biggest problem; finding a top narrator who could convey all the correct emotion. I auditioned a great narrator but the modifications necessary were far too time consuming and expensive. By narrating it myself I knew what I wanted. So in the end I completed all production tasks myself. I have written a book about my adventures, which should be released, hopefully sometime this year.”

Stuart’s link-up with SAQ International came through a personal relationship with Alan Pearson, as he explained.

“Alan has been my neighbour for seven years and I showed him my film simply to get some feedback. I was also looking for a worldwide distributor. He was impressed and saw great potential and I was delighted that a dear friend would become the distributor. Alan is someone you could trust with your life.”

Alan Pearson, of SAQ International, a man who has achieved plenty in his professional career himself, was delighted to get involved with the project.

“Stuart’s a good friend of mine and Jahangir’s story is completely inspirational. He’s clearly one of the most talented and impressive sportsmen of all time and the story of how he achieved so much at such a young age, after going through testing times and real adversity, is one that just has to be told.

“I’m proud that SAQ have had the opportunity to distribute this film and I’m sure people will be inspired when they see what Jahangir achieved over the years and the dedication, professionalism and sportsmanship that he showed. He really is a true sporting champion.”

Stuart Sharp’s amazing life story is set to be put into print after Olympia Publishers decided to publish his book, ‘The Angels’.

‘The Angels’ covers Stuart’s transformation from a cook in a country pub to achieving his dream of becoming a world class composer, author and film maker.

The book will be available in Autumn 2011.