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Ronald James Pickering (4 May 1930 – 13 February 1991) was an athletics coach and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
sports commentator.
Biography
Pickering was born in
Hackney. His father was a sign fixer. He became head boy at West Ham Secondary School (later to become Stratford Grammar School and now
Stratford School) when the head girl was future wife
Jean Desforges
Jean Catherine Pickering (née Desforges; 4 July 1929 – 25 March 2013) was a female track and field athlete from Great Britain, who competed mainly in the 80 metres hurdles and long jump.
She won bronze medals at the Olympics and the Common ...
. She won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the
1950 European Athletics Championships
The 4th European Athletics Championships were held from 23 August to 27 August 1950 in the Heysel Stadium of the Belgian capital Brussels. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald.
Men's results
Complete result ...
, a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the
1952 Olympic Games 1952 Olympics refers to both:
*The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway
*The 1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the X ...
in Helsinki (and was fifth in the 80 metres hurdles), a gold medal in the long jump at the
1954 European Athletics Championships, and bronze medals in both the long jump and 80 metres hurdles at the
1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. She married Pickering in 1954.
He did
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
in the
King's Own Royal Regiment, and studied for a diploma in physical education at
Carnegie College of Physical Education in Leeds and then a master's degree in education at
Leicester University
, mottoeng = So that they may have life
, established =
, type = public research university
, endowment = £20.0 million
, budget = £326 million
, chancellor = David Willetts
, vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah
, head_label ...
. He became a teacher of physical education at Stratford Grammar School and then Wanstead County High School
Pickering moved to Cardiff to become national athletics coach for Wales from 1961 to 1966. In July 1962, he and Barney Mulrenan were co-commentators for the Home Service in Wales on the Welsh Games, a weekend athletics meeting trying to rekindle the spirit of the Empire Games
Pickering was a coach with the British team at the
1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and with the Welsh team at the
1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica. He coached several Olympic athletes, including
Lynn Davies
Lynn Davies CBE (born 20 May 1942) is a Welsh former track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He was the 1964 Olympic champion in the event. He was born in Nantymoel near Bridgend and was a member of the Cardiff Amateur Athl ...
, who won gold medals in the
long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...
at the 1964 Olympics, the
1966 European Athletics Championships and the
1966 Commonwealth Games, and also represented Britain in the
4 × 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...
in Tokyo.
He was recreational manager at
Lee Valley Regional Park for two years before becoming an independent consultant in recreational planning management. He was a television commentator at the
1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City and continued in broadcasting for over 20 years. He was the first host of the
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
children's sports programme ''
We Are the Champions
"We Are the Champions" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released from the band's sixth album ''News of the World'' (1977). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it remains among rock's most recognisable anthems. '', a show he presented from 1973 until his death. He was known for his catchphrase, "Away you go!", at the end of each show, at which point all the teams would jump into the swimming pool (pool events always made up the final phase of the competition). He also co-presented the programme ''
Superstars'' from 1973 to 1985 with
David Vine
David Martin Vine (3 January 1935 – 11 January 2009) was an English television sports presenter. He presented a wide variety of shows from the 1960s onwards, most notably his coverage of major snooker tournaments for the BBC.
Early life
Born i ...
.
He was a leading proponent of a scheme to use a disused banana warehouse on the
Isle of Dogs as an indoor training centre, which later became the
London Arena
The London Arena (also known as London Docklands Arena) was an indoor arena and exhibition centre in Millwall, close to Cubitt Town area of Poplar, on the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England which was inaugurated in 1989 and demolished for h ...
(demolished in 2006). He was president of
Haringey Athletic Club, whose members included
Seb Coe
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals ...
and
Mike McFarlane.
Linford Christie dedicated his gold medal in the 100 metres at the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in Barcelona to Pickering. He was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
1986 Birthday Honours, for services to athletics.
Pickering died at home in
Digswell a few weeks after a
heart bypass operation. He was survived by his wife, and their son and daughter. His son,
Shaun Pickering, represented Great Britain in the shot put at the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in Atlanta, and won a bronze medal for Wales in the shot put at the
1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''( Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unpreceden ...
.
The
Ron Pickering Memorial Fund was founded in 1991, and supports hundreds of young athletes each year.
References
External links
Ron Pickering Memorial Fund websiteUK Athletics on Ron Pickering Memorial Fund
* Wray Vamplew, ‘Pickering, Ronald James (1930–1991)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 30 July 2012
Profile
from Welsh Athletics
from the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Ron
1930 births
1991 deaths
English athletics coaches
BBC sports presenters and reporters
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Hackney Central