John Peake

John Peake attended the St Faith’s Preparatory School and Repton School prior to studying mechanical engineering at Cambridge University. Upon graduation, he joined the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, but continued to practice his sport of choice, field hockey. In 1948 he was selected to represent Great Britain in this sport at the nation’s home Olympics and, at the age of 23, he was the youngest member of the team. Despite being able to train together only rarely, the squad performed very well at the Games, losing only to the invincible Indian team in the final and thus taking home silver. This was Peake’s only major field hockey tournament, but he remained athletically active well into his later years, completing the Westminster Mile in May 2018 at the age of 93.

By career he spent many years with the industrial equipment designing company Baker Perkins, eventually rising to the position of its Chairman in 1984 and serving until 1987. For his work in this field, he was awarded a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1984.