Syd Heap

Syd Heap was educated at Eton College, where he played rugby, was a keen high jumper, and rowed. After Eton, he went to Jesus College, Cambridge to read law and economics. He continued to row as a single sculler originally, and in 1922 he won the Freshman’s Sculls title. Heap eventually made it to the eights, and won his only Blue in 1923. Unfortunately for Heap and Cambridge, it was the Light Blues’ only defeat in the 17 races between 1914-36. He was also a member of the initial selection for the 1924 race but did not get a seat. Heap rowed at the Henley Regatta with the Jesus eight in 1922, and in 1923 and 1924 was beaten in the final of the Ladies’ Challenge Plate by Trinity College, Oxford, and Shrewsbury School respectively. He was also a member of the Jesus eight that lost to Leander in the final of the Grand in 1924, and also that year was a reserve for the Great Britain eight at the Paris Olympics.

After graduating from Cambridge, Heap, whose mother was American, went to live and work in the family business in the United States, where he married his first wife in 1932. Following a divorce Heap returned to Britain to join the Army in World War II. After the war he bought a dairy farm in South Africa’s Western Cape and married his second wife, the journalist and writer Peggy Spooner in 1954. Although he had given up rowing, Heap still maintained his love of the water as a keen yachtsman. At the time of his death in 2000, Heap was believed to be the oldest living University Blue.