Bob Champion

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Bob Champion
CBE
Bob Champion in 2008
OccupationRacehorse jockey, trainer
Born (1948-06-04) 4 June 1948 (age 75)
Sussex, England
Major racing wins
Grand National (1981)
Significant horses
Aldaniti

Robert Champion

CBE (born 4 June 1948) is an English former jump jockey, who won the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti. His triumph, while recovering from cancer, was made into the 1984 film Champions, with John Hurt
portraying Champion. The film is based on Champion's book Champion's Story, which he wrote with close friend, racing journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Powell.

Biography

Champion was born in

100 Greatest Sporting Moments
.

Other major races that Champion won during his career include the

Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1982 Birthday Honours.[2]
In 1983 he formed the Bob Champion Cancer Trust, which has raised millions of pounds for cancer research.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1981, when he was surprised, on his wedding day, by Eamonn Andrews.[citation needed]

Champion became a trainer based in Newmarket. The first horse he bought as such was "Just Martin" for owner Frank Pullen,[3] who also built his yard.[4] He retired from training horses in 1999.

On 22 December 2011, Champion received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award award as part of the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year competition.

He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to prostate and testicular cancer research.[5]

The Bob Champion Research and Education Building which is part of the University of East Anglia campus is named after him.

Works

  • Bob Champion and Jonathan Powell, Champion's Story: A Great Human Triumph, Victor Gollancs Ltd. (1981).
    ISBN 978-0575030190
  • Bob Champion, I'm Champion, Call Me Bob, FCM Publishing, Lincoln, (2018).
    ISBN 978-0995594371

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-9955943-8-8
    .
  2. ^ "No. 49008". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1982. p. 13.
  3. ^ Bob Champion's Facebook page 21/11/2020
  4. ^ The Sporting Life (British newspaper), 24 January 1992
  5. ^ "No. 63218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2020. p. N8.

External links

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