Philip Edward Bishop (7 July 1910 - 14 July 1970) was a motorcycle speedway rider who began racing in 1929, finally retiring from racing in 1963. Known as the 'King of Crash', Bishop survived many crashes whilst racing, but died in a road accident in 1970.

Biography

Born in

Bow, London Bow () is an area of East London within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is primarily a built-up and mostly residential area and is east of Charing Cross. It was in the traditional county of Middlesex but became part of the County o ...

in 1910, Bishop had his first experience of speedway racing at Lea Bridge in 1929, moving on to captain the High Beech team in 1930.Storey, Basil (1947) "Laughing Boy Phil" in ''Speedway Favourites'', Sport-in-Print, p. 24Morgan, Tom (1949) ''Who's Who in Speedway 1949'', Sport-in-Print, p. 11 He was selected for England in the Test series against Australia in 1931 but did not race. He did ride in England's Australian tour of 1931/2, top-scoring in the fifth Test at Sydney despite nursing several broken ribs and a broken ankle. After two seasons with High Beech he moved on to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in 1932, the team moving to Lea Bridge mid-season where they became Clapton Saints.Bamford, Robert (2003) ''Speedway: The Pre-War Years'', Tempus, , p. 177-8 He moved on to

Harringay Harringay (pronounced ) is a district of north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the New River, where it crosses Green Lanes by Finsbury Park, and Duckett' ...

in 1934, before joining

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

in mid-1936, staying with the Hammers until 1939. Bishop reached the final of the

Star Riders' Championship The Star Riders' Championship was the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship and was inaugurated in 1929. The competition was sponsored by ''The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already m ...

in 1931 and 1933, and represented England against the Dominions in 1938. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he signed for

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

but missed much of the season through injury, returning to West Ham in 1947. He moved on to Southampton in 1949, retiring at the end of the 1950 season. He came out of retirement in 1955 to ride in one match for Southampton. This was his final league appearance, but he rode in a series of second-half match races against

Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. S ...

in 1963. Bishop was involved in many crashes while racing, earning him the nickname 'King of Crash'. In 1966 he became team manager of

West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team, first promoted by Jimmy Baxter in 1929. History They operated from the West Ham Stadium until the outbreak of World War II under several different promotions, most successfully under the control ...

and travelled with the team to the Netherlands in 1970 for meetings at

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. While on their way to

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

to catch a ferry back to England, the team's minibus was involved in a crash with two lorries and a petrol tanker in Lokeren;Hammers are on Their Way Back
, '' Evening Times'', 21 August 1970, p. 39, retrieved 2012-02-19 Bishop and four of the riders, along with the driver, were killed.

Personal life

Bishop married Winifred Clevely on 14 July 1935 at Bow.

Players cigarette cards

Bishop is listed as number 3 of 50 in the 1930s Player's cigarette card collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Phil 1910 births 1970 deaths People from Bow, London Sportspeople from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Southampton Saints riders West Ham Hammers riders Middlesbrough Bears riders Harringay Tigers riders New Cross Rangers riders High Beech speedway riders