He won a silver medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic games, came third in the 1955 Peace Race and finished the 1958 Tour de France.

He rode with Bill Baty, Ray Booty, John Perks, Bernard Pusey and Don Sanderson.

In 1955 Great Britain picked Brittain to ride the Peace Race, the Soviet bloc's amateur version of the Tour de France.

Brittain, Brian Robinson and Ron Coe were to ride with Shay Elliott of Ireland, an Austrian, a Dane and two Portuguese.

He rode for Viking Cycles in Britain for the first months of 1959, then left to live off the prizes he could win in Belgium.

He stayed in Belgium and rode criteriums, local races with an engagement fee, until the end of summer.

[5] In February 1988 he was presented with a silver pin by Anne, Princess Royal commemorating his achievements in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.