David Burnford

The son of a doctor, David Burnford followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the medical profession. After schooling at St. Paul’s, he went up to Jesus College Cambridge where he soon joined the rowing club, and in 1934 made his début in the Jesus B team in the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley. Shortly afterwards he won the junior sculls at the Kingston Regatta. His finest achievement came in 1935 when, with the Australian Thomas Cree, he won the coveted Silver Goblets, representing Jesus. Unfortunately, they failed to defend their title the following year, losing in the semi-final to the eventual winners, the Offer brothers from the Kingston Rowing Club. 1936 was not a bad year for Bunford, however, as he won his Blue when he rowed number four in the Cambridge boat that won the Boat Race by five lengths, and later gained selection for the British team at the Berlin Olympics.

After leaving university Burnford became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and worked at Guy’s Hospital. While there, he continued rowing and represented Guy’s in the Hospitals’ Regatta on the Thames. He also played for their rugby first XV. Bunford joined the RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) and achieved the rank of lieutenant-commander. In 1941 he married Sheila Every, who went on to become a famous writer, and is best known for the book The Incredible Journey, which was later turned into a Disney movie.

David and Sheila emigrated to Canada in the 1950s where he founded a practice in Port Arthur, later renamed as Thunder Bay, with a fellow Cambridge graduate, Stephen Morton. In August 1961 Dr. Morton was shot six times by an intruder while asleep besides his wife in his home. The identity of the killer was never found, and no motive was discovered although speculation concerned Morton’s opposition to the trafficking of black-market drugs and to medical corruption. There was unfounded speculation at the time about Burnford’s possible involvement.

Burnford continued the practice until 1968 when he took a post on a hospital ship in Sri Lanka before returning to England. The Burnfords were divorced in 1972 and David moved back across the Atlantic to live in Florida.

In 1979, by now in his 60s, Burnford was found with 4.5 kg of cocaine in his luggage at Miami Airport. He claimed that the drugs were added to his suitcase when his plane stopped over in Peru when returning to his home from the Wimbledon Championships. Charges were dropped by Miami police after Burnford passed a lie detector test.

In early 1980 Burnford remarried and moved to Colorado where he began to buy expensive homes at Aspen before relocating to Colorado Springs in 1981. On 9 June 1984, a rented car in his driveway was revealed to hold 16 kg of cocaine with a street value at the time of $3 million. He was believed to have driven the car from New York to Colorado. Burnford was not arrested or charged on the day because the FBI hoped he could be “persuaded to cooperate with the investigation.” This would not be the case as the next day his body would be found with a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.