Bernard George Neal (29 March 1922 – 26 March 2016) was a professor of structural engineering at Imperial College London and the winner of the All England croquet championship on 38 occasions.[1][2][3][4]

Bernard Neal
Born
Bernard George Neal

(1922-03-29)29 March 1922
Hendon, England
Died26 March 2016(2016-03-26) (aged 93)
Cheltenham, England
Spouse
Elizabeth
(m. 1948)

Croquet

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Bernard Neal won the Open Championship twice (1972 and 1973)[5] and the Men's Championship in 1967.[6][7]

Neal represented England and latterly Great Britain in three MacRobertson Shield tournaments, winning on two occasions.[8][7]

As an administrator, Neal served on the Council of the Croquet Association from 1966 to 2009, serving as Chairman (1972 to 1974), Vice President (1996 to 2004) and President (2004 to 2009).[8][9]

In 2010, Neal was inducted into the World Croquet Federation Hall of Fame.[10]

Career statistics

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Major tournament performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

The President's Cup is played as a 8/10 player round-robin and the number indicates the final position achieved.

Tournament 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Open Championship 2R 2R SF SF SF QF SF W W QF SF QF 3R 3R F SF
Men's Championship 2R 2R W QF QF QF A 2R F A A A A SF SF 2R
President's Cup A A 7= 4= 6 A 4= 5= A A 3= A 7 4= 2 7
Tournament 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Open Championship 1R QF 1R 2R A 1R 3R 1R A A 2R 1R 1R A A
Men's Championship 1R 2R A A 1R QF A SF A A QF A 1R A 1R
President's Cup A 8 A A A A A A A A A A A A A
Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Open Championship A A A A A A A A A A A A
Men's Championship A 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R A A 1R A 2R
President's Cup A A A A A A A A A A A A

Academic

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He was elected to the fellowship of The Royal Academy of Engineering in 1980.[11]

Selected publications

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  • Structures and the applied scientist. University College of Swansea, Swansea, 1955.
  • The plastic methods of structural analysis. Chapman & Hall, 1956.
  • Structural theorems and their applications. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1964. (Commonwealth and International Library)

References

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  1. ^ "Wimbledon champion of champions". BBC News. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Croquet News". Croquet.org.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Professor Bernard Neal | | The Times & The Sunday Times". Thetimes.co.uk. 15 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Reporter - In Brief". Imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  5. ^ "The Open Championship". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  6. ^ "Men's Championship 1967". Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  7. ^ a b Prichard, DMC (1981). The History Of Croquet. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-30759-9.
  8. ^ a b The Croquet Association Centenary Year Book 1897–1997. The Croquet Association. 1997. ISBN 0-902758-05-5.
  9. ^ Townsend's croquet almanack. Townsend Croquet Ltd. 1988. ISBN 1-871714-00-1.
  10. ^ "WCF Hall of Fame". World Croquet Federation. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Imperial College obituary". Imperial.ac.uk. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
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