Dan Wheldon, British IndyCar driver, died from a racing accident he was 33.

Daniel Clive "Dan"   was a British racing driver from England. He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion, and winner of the Indianapolis 500 in both 2005 and 2011. Wheldon died from injuries shortly after a collision at the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 16 October 2011, at the age of 33.

(22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011)

Early life and career

Wheldon, who was born in Emberton, near Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, took up karting at the age of four with funding from his father. He progressed through the junior ranks of motor racing during his school years. Attending Bedford School until he completed his GCSEs at age 16, he frequently took time off to race. During his early career in open wheel racing, he developed a rivalry with Jenson Button before ultimately leaving the United Kingdom to race in America. The reasoning behind the move was that the level of investment needed to fund his racing career in the UK was beyond his family's resources.^[1] Moving to the United States in 1999, he spent several years in lower open-wheeled circuits like the U.S. F2000 Championship Series, ^[2] the Toyota Atlantic series and the Indy Lights series.

IRL IndyCar Series

Dan Wheldon signs autographs for fans following Pole Day qualifications at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2007.

In 2002, Wheldon moved up to the IRL IndyCar Series for two events with Panther Racing as teammate to Sam Hornish, Jr.. The following year Wheldon joined Andretti Green Racing, taking the spot of Michael Andretti following his retirement, and collected league Rookie of the Year honors. In 2004, he won his first IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, ultimately finishing as runner-up to teammate Tony Kanaan in the championship with three wins.
He won the 2005 Indianapolis 500, as well as that season's IndyCar Series championship. His six victories in 2005 also broke the record for most victories in one season (under IRL sanction), previously held by Sam Hornish, Jr. with 5. His win at Indy was the first for an Englishman since Graham Hill's victory in 1966. In November 2005, it was announced that he would be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series in 2006. Shortly after his first test with Ganassi, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance sports car race with Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Casey Mears.
He began the IndyCar season by beating Hélio Castroneves by 0.0147 seconds at Homestead-Miami, a sombre race due to the earlier death of Paul Dana in a practice session. Wheldon retired at St. Petersburg due to contact with Sam Hornish, Jr. during a caution period. At the end of the 2006 IndyCar season, Wheldon and Hornish were tied for the lead with each driver having 475 points. In the event of a tie, the driver with the most wins for that particular season is declared the champion. Hornish had four wins for the 2006 season to Wheldon's two; therefore Hornish was declared the 2006 IndyCar champion.
During the close season he was offered a place in the BMW Sauber Formula One team, but declined on discovering he would not be assured a regular drive. "I do want to race in F1. When my contract expires with Chip, I'll take a serious look at Formula One."^[3]

Wheldon practicing for the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

Commenting in 2007 on the perception of him as 'difficult', Wheldon said "I put everything into my racing, and I expect the same back. If I see people who aren't giving it I'm not afraid to say so but that sometimes comes out a little brash. That could be improved a little bit."^[4]
On 22 June 2008, his 30th birthday, Wheldon took his 15th career victory in the IndyCar Series after winning the 2008 Iowa Corn Indy 250 over Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti. He donated his winnings to help the victims of the recent tornadoes and flooding which had occurred in Iowa.^[5]
Wheldon was released from his drive at Ganassi on 2 September 2008.^[6] He was replaced by Dario Franchitti. "I have enjoyed these last three seasons with Target Chip Ganassi Racing but will be moving on to pursue a very exciting opportunity for 2009," Wheldon said. This would later turn out to be a return to former team Panther Racing.^[7] Wheldon drove the Panther car to a second place finish in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, the second Indy 500 runner-up finish in a row for the team. However, his strong start to the season faded and Wheldon failed to crack the Top 10 in 7 of the last 8 races of the year. The following year Wheldon finished second at the 2010 Indianapolis 500. This gave Panther its third straight runner-up finish at Indy. This time, Wheldon remained competitive all year, challenging for wins on the oval tracks.

Wheldon won his second Indianapolis 500 in 2011 in a one-off entry for the Bryan Herta Autosport team.

Despite strong showings in the Panther Racing No. 4 car, Wheldon still failed to win a race during his time with the team. This led to his being replaced at Panther Racing by the young American driver (and 2009 Indy Lights champion) J.R. Hildebrand. Wheldon attempted and won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Bryan Herta Autosport on the 100th anniversary of the race, soon after JR Hildebrand smashed into the wall on the final lap and slowly slid towards the finish allowing Dan Wheldon to pass, after trying to pass the decelerating Charlie Kimball. Dan Wheldon with the win became the first driver in Indy history to win the race by leading a single lap. While the National Guard team congratulated Wheldon and said they had a good day despite the shocking finish, and while Wheldon was celebrating, he heard Panther Racing the owner of JR Hildebrand's contract, say that Wheldon made an illegal pass on Hildebrand under yellow. IndyCar denied this and said that the caution wasn't thrown until after Wheldon made the pass and crossed the finish line and even if the caution was thrown before the pass Hildebrand's car was wounded and therefore be allowed to pass on the final lap. The finish resembled the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race, the Coca-Cola 600's finish which started a few hours after Indy was completed; (where Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the final stages but ran out of gas on turn 4 on the final lap thus giving second place Kevin Harvick the win.)^[8] Wheldon was very emotional after the win, due to his not having a ride for the rest of the season and the news that his mother had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.^[9] It was Wheldon's first series win in three seasons.^[10]
Over the rest of the 2011 season, Wheldon helped IndyCar and Dallara test the new IndyCar chassis that was to debut in 2012.^[11]

Personal life

In 2008, Wheldon married his long-time personal assistant, Susie Behm, originally from Armstrong, British Columbia, Canada.^[12] They had two sons, one of whom was born in February 2009, and the other born in March 2011.^[13] They lived in St. Petersburg, Florida.^[14]

Death

An overhead view of the fatal accident. At the bottom of this picture, Wheldon's car has just left the racing surface and has gone airborne.

The same image as above, cropped to focus on Wheldon's car (the car in mid-air)

At the IZOD IndyCar World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 16 October 2011, Wheldon was involved in a 15-car accident during lap 11 of the race, in which Wheldon's car flew approximately 325 feet (99 m) into the catch fence with the cockpit area first into a pole lining the track before landing back on the ground.^[15] The carnage and ensuing debris field resulted in race officials throwing a red flag almost instantly.^[16][17][18] Wheldon was extricated from his car by the Holmatro Safety Team and their Las Vegas-based colleagues and was airlifted to a local hospital with what were described as "unsurvivable injuries."^[19] He succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 1:54 PDT.^[20] He was 33 years old.^[21][22]
The IndyCar officials and drivers determined after vote and input from drivers and team owners that the race would be abandoned, and that a five-lap, three-car–wide formation salute would be held in Wheldon's honour, with his number 77 being displayed alone at the top of the scoring pylon.^[18] He had been the only driver participating in Go Daddy's IndyCar Challenge where he and a randomly selected fan, would have been eligible for $2.5 million each if he won the race, starting from last place.^[23][24]
An autopsy conducted on 17 October 2011 concluded that Wheldon died of blunt force trauma to the head.^[25]
Wheldon's funeral was held on 22 October 2011 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Fellow drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Tony Kanaan attended the funeral, and served as pallbearers along with Wheldon's brothers.^[26] IndyCar held a public memorial service for Wheldon a day later at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.^[27]
Wheldon was the fifth Indianapolis 500 winner to die in a motorsports accident in the same year as winning the race, and the first multiple-winner to do so. Preceding him were Gaston Chevrolet (1920), Joe Boyer (1924), Ray Keech (1929) and George Robson (1946).^[28]

Aftermath

After Wheldon's death, Michael Andretti revealed that Wheldon had officially signed with Andretti Autosport on the morning of 16 October 2011 for a multi-year deal to replace driver Danica Patrick starting in the 2012 season.^[29] Andretti Autosport, previously known as Andretti Green Racing, was the team with which Wheldon won the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship. As a result of the crash IndyCar declared that starting in 2012 they will not race at Las Vegas, for an indefinate time.
On 5 December 2011, a charity race honouring Wheldon was held in Milton Keynes in England.^[30] The location of this race was less than 10 miles from where Wheldon was born and raised. The drivers in this race included Dario Franchitti (who took part in the race where Wheldon was killed), Anthony Davidson and Jenson Button.^[31] All money earned by this charity race was donated to a charity chosen by Wheldon's family.

Other projects

Dan Wheldon was a guest star in the voice cast for the TV series Hot Wheels Battle Force 5.^[32]
On 9 August 2011, Ignite Game Technologies announced that Wheldon would assist the physics development for its online auto racing game, Simraceway. Wheldon commented "It was pretty obvious that Ignite was not looking to build just another racing game, so the opportunity to influence Simraceway's physics directly was pretty appealing."^[33] It later emerged Wheldon would also be playing a role in the company’s performance driving center at Infineon Raceway.

Motorsports career results

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

U.S. F2000 National Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
1999	Jayhard/Primus Racing	PHX 2	LOW1 2	LOW2 1	MOS1 24	MOS2 1	MDO1 2	ATL1 26	ATL2 24	TRR 3	MDO1 1	MDO2 2	PIK 1	SEB1 1	SEB2 1	1st	315

Toyota Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2000	PPI Motorsports	HMS1 1	HMS2 2	LBH 4	MIL 13	MTL 3	CLE 6	TOR 3	TRR 2	ROA 2	LS 1	GAT 7	HOU 4	2nd	159

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2001	PacWest Lights	MTY 5	LBH 2	TXS 10	MIL 3	POR 10	KAN 3	TOR 7	MDO 2	GAT 1	ATL 1	LS 5	FON 2	2nd	149

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2002	Panther Racing	HMS	PHX	FON	NZR	INDY	TXS	PPIR	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIS	KTY	STL	CHI 10	TX2 15					36th	35
2003	Andretti Green Racing	HMS	PHX	MOT 7	INDY 19	TXS 20	PPIR 19	RIR 8	KAN 21	NSH 4	MIS 20	STL 5	KTY 8	NZR 7	CHI 4	FON 4	TX2 3				11th	312
2004	Andretti Green Racing	HMS 3	PHX 3	MOT 1	INDY 3	TXS 13	RIR 1	KAN 9	NSH 13	MIL 18	MIS 3	KTY 3	PPIR 3	NZR 1	CHI 4	FON 3	TX2 3				2nd	533
2005	Andretti Green Racing	HMS 1	PHX 6	STP 1	MOT 1	INDY 1	TXS 6	RIR 5	KAN 2	NSH 21	MIL 5	MIS 2	KTY 3	PPIR 1	SNM 18	CHI 1	WGL 5	FON 6			1st	618
2006	Chip Ganassi Racing	HMS 1	STP 16	MOT 2	INDY 4	WGL 15	TXS 3	RIR 9	KAN 2	NSH 2	MIL 8	MIS 3	KTY 4	SNM 6	CHI 1						2nda	475
2007	Chip Ganassi Racing	HMS 1	STP 9	MOT 2	KAN 1	INDY 22	MIL 3	TXS 15	IOW 11	RIR 3	WGL 7	NSH 8	MDO 10	MIS 12	KTY 17	SNM 7	DET 3	CHI 13			4th	466
2008	Chip Ganassi Racing	HMS 3	STP 12	MOT1 4	LBH1 DNP	KAN 1	INDY 12	MIL 4	TXS 4	IOW 1	RIR 4	WGL 24	NSH 2	MDO 17	EDM 7	KTY 5	SNM 4	DET 20	CHI 6		4th	492
	Panther Racing																			SRF2 11
2009	Panther Racing	STP 14	LBH 5	KAN 10	INDY 2	MIL 10	TXS 7	IOW 4	RIR 10	WGL 10	TOR 14	EDM 15	KTY 11	MDO 16	SNM 12	CHI 22	MOT 8	HMS 21			10th	354
2010	Panther Racing	SAO 5	STP 20	ALA 11	LBH 9	KAN 15	INDY 2	TXS 9	IOW 11	WGL 6	TOR 10	EDM 20	MDO 14	SNM 25	CHI 2	KTY 3	MOT 10	HMS 9			9th	388
2011	BHA with Curb Agajanian Sam Schmidt Motorsports	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY 1	TXS1	TXS2	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHM	SNM	BAL	MOT				28th	75
	Sam Schmidt Motorsports																	KTY 14	LVS3 Canc

^a Wheldon lost the title on the tiebreaker—he won only two races compared to Sam Hornish, Jr.'s four after the two tied on 475 points

¹ Run on same day

² Non-points race

³ Event cancelled after a 15-car incident on Lap 11 involving Wheldon, who would later succumb to injuries sustained in the accident.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (non-win)**	Top 10s (non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 wins	Championships
10	5	133	5	16	27	50	2 (2005, 2011)	1 (2005)

** Podium (non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team	Summary
2003	Dallara	Honda	5	19	Andretti Green Racing	Wrecked in turn 4, flipped
2004	Dallara	Honda	2	3	Andretti Green Racing	Running
2005	Dallara	Honda	16	1	Andretti Green Racing	Running; 157.603 mph
2006	Dallara	Honda	3	4	Chip Ganassi Racing	Running
2007	Dallara	Honda	6	22	Chip Ganassi Racing	Crashed on backstretch
2008	Dallara	Honda	2	12	Chip Ganassi Racing	Running
2009	Dallara	Honda	18	2	Panther Racing	Running
2010	Dallara	Honda	18	2	Panther Racing	Running
2011	Dallara	Honda	6	1	Bryan Herta Autosport	Running; 170.265 mph

Sports car racing

24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Class	No	Team	Car	Engine	Co-drivers	Laps	Position	Class Pos.
2005	DP	2	Howard-Boss Motorsports	Crawford	Pontiac	Dario Franchitti Milka Duno Marino Franchitti	528	33 DNF	16 DNF
2006	DP	02	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus	Scott Dixon Casey Mears	734	1	1
2007	DP	02	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus 5.0L V8	Scott Dixon Memo Rojas	538	41 DNF	21 DNF
2008	DP	02	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus 5.0L V8	Scott Dixon Alex Lloyd Salvador Durán	515	44 DNF	18 DNF

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Make	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Rank	Points
2005	Howard-Boss Motorsports	Crawford	Pontiac	DP	DAY 33/16	HOM	CAL	LAG	CMT	WAT1	BAR	WAT2	DAY2	MDO	PHX	WAT3	VIR	MEX		79th	15
2006	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus	DP	DAY 1/1	MEX	HOM	LBH	VIR	LAG	PHX	LRP	WAT1	DAY2	BAR	WAT2	INF	MIL		77th	35
2007	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus 5.0L V8	DP	DAY 41/21	MEX	HOM	VIR	LAG	LRP	WAT1	MDO	DAY2	IOW	CGV	BAR	WAT2	INF	MIL	75th	10
2008	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Riley MkXI	Lexus 5.0L V8	DP	DAY 44/18	HOM	MEX	VIR	LAG	LRP	WAT	MDO	DAY

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John Morton Blum, American political historian, died he was 90.

John Morton Blum was an American political historian, active from the 1950 to 1991. He lived in New Haven, Connecticut and died at the age of 90.

(April 29, 1921 – October 17, 2011) 

Life

Blum hailed from Manhattan and, though Jewish, successfully navigated Phillips Academy in Andover and Harvard University. Upon graduation in 1943, he commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. He served in the Caribbean and South Pacific and off Iwo Jima. He returned to Harvard after the war and completed his Ph.D in 1950 under the direction of Frederick Merk.^[1] Blum married Pamela Zink in 1946 and had three children.^[2] He taught at MIT from 1948 to 1957 before being offered a professorship at Yale University in 1957, from which he retired in 1991.^[3][4][5]

Professor at Yale

Blum was on the history faculty at Yale for thirty-four years, where he taught and influenced thousands of students. One of his former students was President George W. Bush. Even though Blum had admitted "I haven't the foggiest recollection of him,"^[6] Blum was mentioned in the President's commencement speech at Yale's Old Campus in May 2001.^[7] Other prominent students of his include Professor Henry Louis Gates, who considered Blum to be his mentor^[8] as well as Professor Laura Kalman (University of California, Santa Barbara),^[9] Steve Gillon, resident historian of the History Channel, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman.^[5]
Blum was considered one of the “Big Three” in Yale’s History Department along with C. Vann Woodward and Edmund Morgan,^[10] and became Chairman of the History Department in the late 1960s.^[5]
The John Morton Blum Fellowship in American History and Culture is awarded at Yale.^[11]

Literature

Author

The author of several historical works, including Joseph Tumulty and the Wilson Era (1951), The Republican Roosevelt (1954), V Was for Victory (1977), and Years of Discord (1992), an edited collection Liberty, Justice, Order, as well as one mystery based on Yale, An Old Blue Corpse (2005).^[12] He also wrote a memoir, A Life with History (2004). Perhaps his most widely read work was The National Experience, a high school history textbook he co-authored with William S. McFeely, Edmund S. Morgan, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and Kenneth M. Stampp in 1963.^[13]

Editor

Blum was also prolific as an editor, most notably for Public Philosopher, a 600 page chronicle of the over 20,000 Walter Lippmann letters at Yale, for which he wrote the foreword.^[14] He also edited Henry Morgenthau, Jr.'s book Germany is Our Problem, which detailed the Morgenthau Plan for the post-war occupation of Germany. ^[15]

Film and television

Blum made a cameo appearance as himself in the 1983 Woody Allen film Zelig,^[16] and he has appeared in various documentaries on PBS such as the American Experience series, including Theodore Roosevelt in 1996 with fellow historian David McCullough.^[17] In 1999 he appeared in "The Great War" segment of The Century: America's Time.^[18]

Honors and Awards

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960)^[1]
• Pitt Professorship at Cambridge (1963–1964)^[1]
• Harmsworth Professorship, Oxford University (1976–1977)^[1]
• Honorary Degree from Harvard University (1980)^[1]

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Pete Rugol, Italian-born American film and television composer (Kiss Me Kate, The Fugitive), died he was 95.

Pietro "Pete" Rugolo was an Italian-born jazz composer and arranger.

(December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011)

Life and career

Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily, Italy. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settled in Santa Rosa, California. He began his career in music playing the baritone horn, like his father, but he quickly branched out into other instruments, notably the French horn and the piano. He received a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State College, and then went on to study composition with Darius Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland, California and earn his master's degree.
After he graduated, he was hired as an arranger and composer by guitarist and bandleader Johnny Richards. He spent World War II playing with altoist Paul Desmond in an army band.
After WWII, Rugolo worked for Stan Kenton, who headed one of the most musically 'progressive' big bands of the era. Rugolo provided arrangements and original compositions that drew on his knowledge of 20th century music, sometimes blurring the boundaries between jazz and classical music.
While Rugolo continued to work occasionally with Kenton in the 1950s, he spent more time creating arrangements for pop and jazz vocalists, most extensively with former Kenton singer June Christy on such albums as Something Cool, The Misty Miss Christy, Fair and Warmer!, Gone for the Day and The Song Is June!. Other singers he arranged for included Ernestine Anderson, Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, the Four Freshmen, Peggy Lee, Patti Page, Mel Tormé and Kitty White. During this period he also worked for a while on film musicals at MGM, and served as an A&R director for Mercury Records in the late 1950s. Among his many albums were Adventures in Rhythm, Introducing Pete Rugolo, Rugolomania, Reeds in Hi-Fi and Music for Hi-Fi Bugs.

Television and film scoring work

In the 1960s and 1970s Rugolo did a great deal of work in television, contributing music to a number of popular shows including Leave It to Beaver, Thriller, The Fugitive, Run For Your Life, Felony Squad, The Challengers, The Bold Ones: The Lawyers and Family. He also provided scores for a number of TV movies and a few theatrical features. Rugolo's small combo jazz music featured in a couple of numbers in the popular movie Where The Boys Are, under the guise of Frank Gorshin's "Dialectic Jazz Band." While his work in Hollywood often demanded that he suppress his highly original style, there are some striking examples of Rugolo's work in both TV and film. The soundtrack for the last movie on which he worked, This World, Then the Fireworks (1997), demonstrates his gift for writing music that is both sophisticated and expressive.

Death

Rugolo died, aged 95, on October 16, 2011 in Sherman Oaks, California.[1

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Tony Marchington, English biotechnology entrepreneur and preservationist (Flying Scotsman), died he was 55.

Dr Tony Marchington  was an English biotechnology entrepreneur and businessman, famous as the co-founder of Oxford Molecular, and the former owner of Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman.^[3]

(2 December 1955^[1] – 16 October 2011^[2])

Early life

Born Anthony Frank Marchington in Buxton, Derbyshire,^[1] he was raised on the family farm in Buxworth. He passed his motorcycle test at the age of 16, having learned to ride his father’s 1914 Bradbury motorcycle and sidecar combination.^[4]
He gained his Bachelors, Masters and D.Phil at Brasenose College, Oxford.^[4]

Association with Walter Hooper

While at Oxford, Marchington befriended and later lodged with American Walter Hooper, the last personal secretary of the writer C.S. Lewis. Through this relationship, Marchington: shared a lectern with Hooper in 1975 in North Carolina;^[5] co-wrote the script of Through Joy and Beyond, the 1977 documentary life of Lewis;^[6] and created the Lewis bonfire hoax letter, sent to Christianity and Literature in 1978.^[7]

Career

Marchington began his career as a product manager with ICI Agrochemicals in 1983, becoming marketing manager for South America in 1986.^[1]
In 1988, he started several companies in the areas of intellectual property, drug discovery and biotechnology.^[6] As these expanded, in the same year, under his tutor Professor Graham Richards, Marchington co-founded Oxford Molecular Ltd. (later to become Oxford Molecular Plc.).^[8] Worth £450 million at its peak, it was eventually sold for £70million.^[9]
A former member of the Department of Trade and Industry's Competitiveness Advisory Group, from 2000 Marchington's entrepreneurial activities included: running Marchington Consulting, based at the Sheffield Bioincubator ^[10]; CEO at Savyon Diagnostics; and co-founded, as Chairman and Director, Venture Hothouse Ltd.^[11] From 2010, Marchington was CEO at Oxford Medical Diagnostics ^[12]; leading the development and application of advanced proprietary methods of gas analysis; and in particular, the development of breath analysis for the screening of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Marchington was made a Freeman of the City of London in 1997 ^[1] and was an honorary fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Steam preservation

Buxworth Steam Collection

The Iron Maiden at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, 2007

A steam fan from a young age, aged 22 Marchington bought his first steamroller from haulage contractor and scrap dealer Ted Eansworth in Chesterfield. The collection that he started with his father eventually became the Buxworth Steam Group, which comprised a full working Victorian Funfair, and raised revenue through offering them for hire:^[4][13]

• 25 traction engines, including the famous showman’s engine The Iron Maiden, which starred in the film of the same name.^[14]
• Two matched pairs of ploughing engines
• Two steam wagons
• Six steamrollers
• Road locomotive, built in 1900, which was the first armour-plated vehicle in the world
• Steam fire engine
• Seagoing steam tug
• Victorian fairground rides: 1893 Steam Galloping Horses, a Helter skelter, a Ferris wheel, cakewalk, a 1925 set of German-built Chair-O-Planes
• Wall of Death, with 1930s Indian motorcycle

Marchington's Buxworth Steam Group was the star of the 1985 BBC documentary 'A Gambol on Steam', which featured his first steam rally in the group, hosted at Lyme Park, and featured exhibits from names such as Fred Dibnah in addition to his current collection of a 1904 Fowler D2 steamroller and his pair of Fowler BB1 ploughing engines ('Fame' and 'Fortune') and was one of the largest rallies of its time. ^[15]

LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman

Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman at Doncaster, while under the ownership of Dr Tony Marchington

In 1996, Marchington bought the famous LNER steam locomotive Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman at a cost of £1.5M. After a three year restoration which cost an additional £1M, she returned to steam in 1999.^[16] She made an appearance on Peak Rail in summer 2000, together with most of the Buxworth Steam Group collection.^[13]
In 1997, Marchington purchased LNER Class A4 4464 Bittern from the family of Geoff Drury, which he also based at the Southall Railway Centre. However, after the completion of the £1 million over budget restoration of Flying Scotsman was complete, he sold Bittern in 2000 to Jeremy Hosking, who moved her to the Mid-Hants Railway in Hampshire in January 2001, for a major restoration.^[17] Despite this, the ownership of both 'Bittern' and 'Flying Scotsman' meant that he is still the only ever private owner to own multiple A3 locomotives.
With Flying Scotsman's regular use on the VSOE Pullman, in 2002, Marchington proposed a business plan, which included the construction of a 'Flying Scotsman Village' in Edinburgh, to create revenue from associated branding. After floating on OFEX as 'Flying Scotsman Plc.' in the same year,^[6] in 2003 Edinburgh City Council turned down the village plans, and in September 2003 Marchington was declared bankrupt.^[18] This resulted in the sale of most of the assets of the Buxworth Steam Group, including The Iron Maiden to Graeme Atkinson, who displays the engine alongside a collection of other engines and fair organs as part of the Scarborough Fair Collection, at his holiday park in Lebberston, near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.^[19]
At the company's AGM in October 2003, CEO Peter Butler announced losses of £474,619, and with a £1.5M overdraft at Barclays Bank, stated that the company only had enough cash to trade until April 2004. The companies shares were suspended from OFEX on 3 November, 2003, after it failed to declare interim results.^[18]
With the locomotive effectively placed up for sale, after a high-profile national campaign it was bought in April 2004 by the National Railway Museum in York,^[20] and it is now part of the National Collection.
Marchington's time with the 'Flying Scotsman' was documented in the Channel 4 documentaries A Steamy Affair: The Story of Flying Scotsman, directed by former Blue Peter presenter Simon Groom. ^[6]

Personal life

Marchington met his second wife Caroline after he and his father offered her a lift on their steam engine to the Devonshire Arms, Peak Forest, the local public house on the A6 road, where they were staying that night.^[4] The couple had two children, and family homes in Buxton, Derbyshire and Oxfordshire.^[13] He also had two children from a previous marriage. His passion for vintage restoration continued with his family for the rest of his life, even post the sagas of Buxworth Steam Group and Flying Scotsman.
After meeting Jim Daniel, the Grand Secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England, at a dinner of Brasenose College members, Marchington was initiated as a Freemason at Oxford-based Apollo University Lodge 357 in January 1991. He was passed and raised and the following year, and went in the chair in November 1996. Marchington celebrated his joining the Freemasons with the commissioning of a set of limited edition mugs, with the square and compass on one side and the Flying Scotsman on the other. Marchington became: a Knight Templar; joined the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine; Mark Masonry; Royal Ark Mariners. He was elected a Provincial Grand Steward and was Oxfordshire’s Assistant Provincial Grand Master.^[4]
After a long period of treatment, Marchington died of cancer at Buxton’s Cottage Hospital on Sunday 16 October 2011.^[2]


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Virginia Knauer, American consumer advocate and government official, died he was 96..

Virginia Harrington Knauer was an American Republican politician. She served as the Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs and Director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs (1969–1977 and 1981–1989). In 1960 she became the first woman to be elected to the Philadelphia City Council, in which she served for eight years. She was appointed to the newly created post of chief consumer advisor to Pennsylvania Governor Ray Shafer. She was also the mentor and good friend of former North Carolina Senior Senator Elizabeth Dole. Knauer died on October 16, 2011 in Washington, D.C., at age 96.^[4]

(née Wright; March 28, 1915 – October 16, 2011)

Early life and education

Knauer was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her father was a professor of accounting at Temple University. She was educated at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania (graduated 1937); she also attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy.^[5]

Family

Her husband, Wilhelm F. Knauer, a lawyer, served as Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General. They had one son, Judge Wilhelm F. Knauer, Jr. (deceased), one daughter, Valerie Knauer Burden, and three granddaughters, Virginia Burden, Frances Burden, and Nancy J. Knauer.^[6]


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