Peter Jackson (22 September 1930, in Birmingham – , in Solihull) was an

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international who played on the wing for Coventry and Warwickshire for many years. He earned the nickname '

Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

' after the Russian ballet dancer. He was devastating when he had the ball to hand and could sidestep or outpace a defender with equal facility. He scored three tries in the

1957 Five Nations Championship The 1957 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-eighth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-third series of the northern hemisphere rug ...

and helped England to their first

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

since the Twenties. In 1958 against at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, he demonstrated his mastery of the feint to score a dazzling match-winning try. He was capped twenty times in all for England. He then amazed the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

on the 1959 Lions tour, scoring 16 tries in 14 games, including four test matches. He was described by one journalist as 'the zaniest runner of all time'. Peter Jackson suffered a stroke in the early months of 2003, was hospitalised and would suffer another stroke in the summer of 2003. He died in hospital in March 2004.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Peter 1930 births 2004 deaths Aldershot Services rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England England international rugby union players English rugby union players Rugby union players from Birmingham, West Midlands