John Gavin BONE

The son of a disabled ex-serviceman, Jackie Bone started riding a bicycle when he got a job as a delivery boy for a local shopkeeper in his home-town of Milngavie in Scotland. He took up racing seriously at the age of 19, and in March 1934 won his first race, a Novices 25-mile race, which he won with the fastest time of the year by a novice. Just over two years later Bone was competing in the Olympic Games.

A virtual unknown the previous year, Bone hit the headlines in 1935 when he won the West of Scotland 12-hour time trial with a Scottish and British record of just over 244 miles (393 km) but, more significantly, he was the first man in Scotland to cover 12 hours at an average of 20 mph. Bone was also the Scottish Best All-rounder for 1935, when he covered the requisite 50-mile, 100-mile, and 12-hour events in a combined average speed of 21.561 mph. He was also the Scottish road race champion that year.

Bone twice had podium finishes in the Manx International on the Isle of Man, finishing third in 1936, and second in 1937. He took part in the Olympic road race at Berlin in the first of those years, but without success. In 1938, Bone came closest to his only National title when he finished third in the NCU Road Race Championship at Donington Park. He also took part in the World Championships that year. However, Bone’s greatest success was probably in June 1937, when he beat fellow Olympian Alick Bevan by nearly three minutes in the 17½-mile Sunday Pictorial race at Alexandra Palace. The race made history as the first cycling race to be televised in Britain.