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R.i.p. Tom Farndon


norbold

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5 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

I don't think he could have , Arthur is an Aussie and didn't come to England until his early twenties. However, did Tom Farndon go to Australia to race- in which case Arthur as  a little lad might have indeed seen him !!

He certainly did and broke track records all over the place

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6 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Reg Fearman is still in touch with Arthur, I will have to ask him!!!!

I wouldn't at the moment, BOBBATH. The reason I asked Midland Red that question is that I don't think Tom ever did ride in Australia, but I may be wrong, which is why I asked if he knows when Tom rode there. Tom Farndon did spend one winter in New Zealand where he broke lots of records, but never, as far as I know, went to Australia.

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1 hour ago, norbold said:

I wouldn't at the moment, BOBBATH. The reason I asked Midland Red that question is that I don't think Tom ever did ride in Australia, but I may be wrong, which is why I asked if he knows when Tom rode there. Tom Farndon did spend one winter in New Zealand where he broke lots of records, but never, as far as I know, went to Australia.

Apologies, memory failure.  A relative of Tom’s lived near us and invited me round to look through some memorabilia - cuttings, photos, trophies, etc - back in the mid1970s.  It was of course New Zealand, not Australia.

My notes show that on his first appearance at Western Springs, Tom clocked a race time of 78.6 secs, next night he lowered Squib Burton’s track record of 78.2 with a 77.0. He also broke the one mile record there. Four wins on his second appearance. At Wellington, he “scored brilliantly” and the following week recorded 6 wins in 6 starts.

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1 minute ago, BOBBATH said:

I think that settles it- no-one alive today saw Tom Farndon ride.

I wouldn't say that, BB. Tom died in 1935. There are plenty of people still around in their 90s and even 100s, some of whom may have seen Tom Farndon ride. In fact, I would think it highly likely there are still a few people around who saw him. 

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1 hour ago, norbold said:

I wouldn't say that, BB. Tom died in 1935. There are plenty of people still around in their 90s and even 100s, some of whom may have seen Tom Farndon ride. In fact, I would think it highly likely there are still a few people around who saw him. 

Valid point. Now, I just wonder how many people still alive saw speedway in 1928?

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7 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

I think that settles it- no-one alive today saw Tom Farndon ride.

I might not be old enough to have had the privilege of seeing the great Tom Farndon ride but anybody who stood on the terraces at New Cross in the 60's like I did would have spoken to many people who did. "Who was this Farndon bloke they keep on about,"  I asked myself, "was he that good?" Now I know, yes, he was that good!

." 

Edited by Split
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15 hours ago, Split said:

I might not be old enough to have had the privilege of seeing the great Tom Farndon ride but anybody who stood on the terraces at New Cross in the 60's like I did would have spoken to many people who did. "Who was this Farndon bloke they keep on about,"  I asked myself, "was he that good?" Now I know, yes, he was that good!

." 

You obviously stood next to different folk to old gusto, who I am sure stated on here that in the 40s and 50s nobody mentioned Farndon. 

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8 hours ago, iris123 said:

You obviously stood next to different folk to old gusto, who I am sure stated on here that in the 40s and 50s nobody mentioned Farndon. 

Well, my mother talked of Farndon often....her favourite rider in those days, my mother incidentally used to go to Speedway six times a week ALL in London!

And yes, I did hear people talking about him at NX in the '60s.

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1 hour ago, andout said:

Well, my mother talked of Farndon often....her favourite rider in those days, my mother incidentally used to go to Speedway six times a week ALL in London!

And yes, I did hear people talking about him at NX in the '60s.

I hate to mention this, andout, but do you know who "old gusto" is?

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On 2/20/2020 at 5:38 PM, Guest said:

You tell me! You asked if there was a book on Cyril Roger and I resided. I also pointed out there were not so far as I kew books on other New Cross greats (two world champions) Jack Milne and Lionel Van Praag. Conversely, I don't think having a book written about a rider elevates him in any way to a status of greatness. As an immediate post-war New Cross supporter I don't recall much mention of Tom Farndon and he only seemingly came into the limelight for the brief period when an annual memorial meeting was held. I would emphasise also that I personally respect his memory but not to the realms of adulation.

This was one such post

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