Leslie Hood

Born in York, the son of a local general practitioner and surgeon, Leslie Hood attended St. Peter´s School where he became a fine all-round sportsman, notably at cricket and rugby. His older brother Noel, who also attended St. Peter´s, went on to also have an outstanding sporting career.

It was as a rugby three-quarter that Leslie established himself, first with his hometown team and then on moving south, with Hammersmith RUFC and then the famous Rosslyn Park club. He became a committee member for the latter and was was with “Park” when he played for the Moseley Wanderers XV that won the silver medal for Great Britain at the 1900 Paris Olympics.

Hood was also a fine wrestler and in 1901, representing the Amateur Wrestling Society, he beat Joe Baddeley in the final of the middleweight competition at the National Sporting Club. Also in the period leading up to, and just after, the turn of the 20th century, Hood was a fine cyclist, athlete, and gymnast, and in 1906 came second in a pole jump competition at the German Gymnastics Society in London, of which Hood was a member.

Hood was regularly seen in St. Moritz in the winter months where he was an excellent ice dancer, and in 1913 he won an ice waltz competition organised by the St. Moritz Skating Association. Hood´s partner was the champion skater Dina Mancio. He later partnered the 1924 Olympic bronze medallist Ethel Muckelt in ice dance and waltzing competitions both during and after World War I.

Hood´s finest moment in the Swiss resort, however, was in 1911 when he finished second in the coveted Bott Cup on the Cresta Run, just two seconds behind the winner Kempton Cannon, the famous jockey and member of the well-known Cannon horse racing family. The Bott Cup for skeleton racers was the Blue Riband of handicap races on the Cresta Run. Hood also played ice hockey and was one of the early pioneers of the sport in Manchester. Additionally, Hood and his brothers Noel and William were members of the Yorkshire Ramblers´ Association and also keen mountaineers. They climbed all the major peaks in the Swiss mountain range, the Bernese Alps, including the Wetterhorn, Jungfrau, and Eiger.

By profession, Hood worked for the Manchester-based steel manufacturer Taylor Brothers & Co,. Ltd., and later became a director of the company. He was also a director of several other companies, including the Manchester Ice Rink Ltd.