In reply to Andy Hardy:
Paul Ross did the FA of Post Mortem in 1956 - just three years after his initiation on Little Chamonix. Post Mortem was probably the first 5c in the Lakes. To British climbers, unused to offwidths, it's horrendous! Whillans failed on it and had to be rescued off it (got his knee stuck.)
Rowland Edwards started a bit later (very early 1960s, I believe). There's a great Bob Godfrey film of Eric Jones and him trying to free Left Wall in 1964. Eventually Rowland freed it and soloed it but claimed neither, as working routes wasn't considered the done thing back then.
Obviously Eric Jones had a long and illustrious climbing career - no doubt about that!
I think Pat Littlejohn started a bit later (circa 1966?) He's significantly younger than the trio mentioned above. His rise was meteoric and it seems that he's still climbing very well indeed.
There's a whole host of 'Burnley boys' (must be something in the water), of whom Jerry Peel is probably the best known, who've been climbing hard since about 1970. And - I can vouch - they're still going well!
What all of these people have in common is that they got good frighteningly fast, without any of the training aids which we're used to today. And they got good at times when getting it wrong could come with a dire penalty.
I'm sure there are others. And it's not a contest, anyway. Some people simply love climbing and will do it as well as they can for as long as they can. Inspiring for the rest of us!
Mick