Fred Cooper

Affiliation: Blackburn Rifle and Pistol Club, Blackburn, Lancashire A pistol shooter, Blackburn’s Fred Cooper only took up serious competitive shooting just after the end of World War II. He enjoyed triple success at the National .22 pistol meeting of the Small-Bore Rifle Association at Bisley in 1955 when he won the British Championship, the Open Meeting Championship, and the British Free Pistol Championship. Those triumphs earned him a place on the British team at the Melbourne Olympics where he finished a commendable tenth out of 33 in the free pistol (50 metres) event.

Cooper finished second in the 1957 British .22 Championship but regained his NSRA Open title, which he went on to win for a fourth time in 1959, the year after going to Moscow as part of the Great Britain team for the World Shooting Championships. On the short-list for the 1960 Rome Olympics, Cooper took part in the Olympic trials at Bisley. At the age of 52 he finished second again in the British .22 Championships.

By occupation, Cooper was a steeplejack and was a member of the old-established Blackburn-based company that bore the Cooper name. With a touch of irony, he died at the age of 82 in 1992 after falling from the roof of his home.