Thursday 27 January 2022
Forth Picture: BRM Racing Car
Norman Graham Hill OBE (15th February 1929 – 29th November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in 1962 and 1968 as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite not passing his driving test until 1953 when he was already 24 years of age, and only entering the world of motorsports a year later, Graham Hill would go on to become one of the greatest drivers of his generation. He is most celebrated for being the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, an achievement which he defined as winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Graham Hill is still the only driver to have ever won the Triple Crown, winning at Monaco in such frequency in the 1960s (5x; 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969) that he became known as "Mr. Monaco". He crashed at the 1969 United States Grand Prix and was seriously injured, breaking both his legs and ending his season. Although he would recover and continue to race until 1975, his career would never again reach the same heights, and the Monaco Grand Prix victory earlier in 1969 would be his last victory in Formula One.
Upon leaving the Brabham racing team he set up his own team in 1973, operating under the name Embassy Hill. He continued to race, however after failing to qualify for the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix he retired from driving in order to concentrate on the day-to-day operations of the team. Tragically that same year he and five other members of the Embassy Hill team were killed when the aeroplane he was piloting from France crashed in fog at night on Arkley golf course while attempting to land at Elstree Airfield in north London.
With his son Damon they were the first father and son pair to win Formula One World Championships Damon's son, Josh, also raced his way through the ranks until he retired from Formula Three in 2013 at the age of 22.
Before taking up motor racing, Graham Hill spent several years actively involved in rowing. Initially, he rowed at Southsea Rowing Club, while stationed in Portsmouth with the Royal Navy and at Auriol Rowing Club in Hammersmith. He met his future wife Bette at a Boxing Day party at Auriol and, while courting her, he also coached her clubmates at Stuart Ladies' Rowing Club on the River Lea.
In 1952 he joined London Rowing Club, then as now one of the largest and most successful clubs in Great Britain. From 1952 to 1954, he rowed in twenty finals with London, usually as stroke of the crew, eight of which resulted in wins. He also stroked the London eight in the highly prestigious Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, losing a semi-final to Union Sportif Metropolitaine des Transports, France by a length.
Through his racing career he continued to support rowing and London. In 1968 when the club began a financial appeal to modernise its clubhouse, Hill launched proceedings by driving an old Morris Oxford, which had been obtained for £5, head-on into a boundary wall. He made three runs to reduce the wall to rubble, and the car was subsequently sold for £15.
Graham Hill died on 29th November 1975 at the controls of his Piper PA-23 Aztec twin-engine light aircraft when it crashed near Arkley.
The subsequent investigation revealed that the aircraft, originally registered in the US as N6645Y, had been removed from the FAA register and at the time of the accident was "unregistered and stateless", despite still displaying its original markings. Furthermore, Graham Hill's American FAA pilot certification had expired, as had his instrument rating. His UK IMC rating, which would have permitted him to fly in the weather conditions that prevailed at the time, was also out of date and invalid. He was effectively uninsured. The investigation into the crash was ultimately inconclusive, but pilot error was deemed the most likely explanation.
His funeral was held at St Albans Abbey, and he is buried at St Botolph's graveyard, Shenleybury. The church has since been deconsecrated so the tomb now sits in a private garden.
After his death, Silverstone village named a road, Graham Hill, after him and there is a "Graham Hill Road" on The Shires estate in nearby Towcester. Graham Hill Bend at Brands Hatch is also named in his honour. A blue plaque commemorates t 32 Parkside, in Mill Hill, London NW7. In Bourne, Lincolnshire, where his former team BRM is based, a road called Graham Hill Way is named in his honour. Also a nursery school in Lusevera, Italy, was named in his honour.
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