He remembered: “I was a hell of a fighter likewise. If the following town arrived down over a Friday and there have been only eight or nine of them I’d say, ‘Return and have some a lot more.’
In the days of truly newbie shot-Placing, Capes was a towering figure in every regard. Standing at a shade below 6ft 6in and weighing anything concerning 22 and twenty five stone, he dominated his event in Britain and Europe through the seventies, winning medals at each individual big Competitiveness he entered except for the Olympic Games.
“I even now have fond memories of him, Stuart Storey and Sally Reddin when they took central stage inside the town if the Olympic Torch Relay , attracting all over ten,000 folks, came through the city.
He also managed to try to eat the greatest ice cream from Laddies I've ever noticed which he comprehensively savored combined with the banter that adopted!
But Geoff swore: “I’ll be back again.” The subsequent calendar year he took the title and roared: “The King hasn't missing his crown!”
I used to be a hell of a fighter at the same time. If the subsequent city came down on the Friday and there have been only 8 or nine of them I’d say, ‘Return and acquire some a lot more.
The final sentence could have drawn elevated eyebrows from a former college headmaster, whose cane was after stolen by Capes within an act of self-preservation.
“On the final working day I went into his Business, I took the canes off the wall during the Place of work in front of him and walked out.”
Capes accomplished his ideal complete in his final Opposition for the 1980 games check here in Moscow, getting navigated Britain’s call for a boycott. In his quest for your medal, he built the tough determination to resign from his ten years-lengthy placement to the law enforcement drive.
John Bland posted: “When police officers used to stroll the beat, and my father labored at Perkins Queen Street manufacturing unit being a security guard, Geoff would connect with to the gate box for a cuppa when he was on evenings.
The encouraged ordinary daily usage for an adult gentleman is two,five hundred energy - meaning that Capes would eat over 5 occasions up to his fellows. Pictured: His big part beside his wife's
At the time, at Scotland’s Braemar Online games, he employed a lot resin competing that when he was congratulated by the late Queen, their arms caught with each other, causing Her Majesty to roar with laughter.
To any boy or girl or Grownup attempting to lift an object past their implies typically arrived a well-known retort: 'Who do you believe that you are? Geoff Capes?'
But bigger competitions appeared outside of his get to – he managed only bronze on the 1974 European Championships. And he was controversially banned in the 1978 European Championships for failing to display the proper figures on his shirt.
Capes remaining university at 14; on his final day his headmaster told him he would never make anything of himself. Owning no skills, he joined his father for a labourer while in the fields selecting fruit and vegetables.