Pen to Paper
Bernard Thompson – Cycling Photographer
Between 1960 and 1990 Bernard Thompson photographed bike races, above all time-trials, virtually every weekend of the racing season. His pictures were first published in the monthly magazine “Coureur: Sporting Cyclist” and then later in “Cycling Weekly”; he also wrote for both magazines, mainly on time-trialling.
Bernard was born in South London in 1924, and took up cycling as a boy. He went to work in the HMV engineering factory, and rode first with the Hayes Swifts then with Middlesex RC. He raced up to 100 miles, and even one 12, but lacked serious ambitions, and was content to work in the cycle sport behind the scenes. In 1953 he took a long summer holiday cycling alone across western Europe, through Austria and Italy. In 1955 he set off on an even greater adventure, sailing to Australia, where he remained for four years. On his return he was back with the Middx RC, and began his serious cycling photography. A big event in his life was Dick Poole’s End-to-End record ride in 1965, which Bernard helped to organise, along with Ethel Munn of Mercian Cycles, who had provided Dick with a bike. Dick was successful, and made history by bringing the E2E record inside 48 hours, while Bernard and Ethel married in the following year.
The Thompsons went to live in Berkshire and joined the Hounslow & District CC. Later however they moved to Lyddington in Rutland, where they named their house “Snapper”. In the 1970s Bernard also photographed the Milk Race and the National Track Championships at the Leicester track. One of the events which Bernard was closely associated with was the RTTC annual prize-presentation, for which he provided memorable displays of photographs mounted on huge boards. These pictures now form a wonderful panorama of the sport during those years.
Bernard died in 2007, preceded by Ethel. He got to know most of the top riders of his era, including Beryl Burton, who would stay with the Thompsons when she came south, Frank Colden, John Woodburn, Derek Cottington, Ian Cammish, and many more. He was especially close to the Hounslow BBAR-winning team of Martyn Roach, Jeff Marshall and Kevin Fairhead, and with their great rivals from the Clifton CC, John Watson, Roy Cromack and Pete Smith. This CD of 300 of his photographs represents a small sample of his work.
