Graham Mann

Lieutenant-commander Graham Mann teamed up with Ron Backus and Jonathan Janson aboard Bluebottle in the Dragon class at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Mann was helmsman of Bluebottle, which was owned by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, who were gifted her as a wedding present in 1947 by the people of Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Bluebottle was chartered to Mann specifically for the Olympics and, despite their Royal connections, Mann, Janson, and Backus were true amateurs and paid their own way to the Melbourne Games. They did not let their Royal owners down as they won the bronze medal. Mann and his crew won one of the seven races, climbed into the bronze medal position after race five, and held on to it after finishing second in the seventh and last race. Mann competed in his second Olympics four years later but could only finish seventh, again in the Dragon class, aboard Salamander.

In between his two Olympic appearances, Mann skippered Sceptre in the 1958 America’s Cup, the first since World War II. Unfortunately the New York Yacht Club’s Columbia was too good and won the Cup by four races to none. Mann served in the Royal Navy for many years and, like his father Edgar, reached the rank of commander. Despite serving in the Navy, Mann obtained his aircraft pilot’s licence in 1950.