John Oram

The son of a Naval officer, John Oram followed his father into the service and at the age of 13 passed the entrance examination to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth as a cadet, passing out in 1940. He served in World War II, serving on the battleship, the Hood, but moved to another ship shortly before the Hood was sunk by the Bismarck with just three survivors.

After the hostilities Oram lived in Malta and served in the headquarters of Lord Mountbatten who persuaded him to take up polo. Despite never having ridden a horse previously, Oram became the fourth member of the team that that also contained both Mountbatten and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Oram soon impressed as an all-round horseman and was also a fine huntsman and three-day eventer and was on the short-list for the 1952 Olympic eventing squad. Four years later he was a reserve for the 1956 equestrian events in Sweden, but was the British Flagbearer at the opening ceremony.

Oram rode at the Badminton Horse Trials on several occasions and was also invited to ride in the Aintree Grand National but, much to Oram’s relief, the horse went lame before the race. Oram and his wife later became heavily involved in hunting and he became master of the North Hereford Hunt and also of the Cattistock Hunt in Dorset. He later instituted the Wilton Horse Trials in In 1976.

In 1973 Oram took a job as a speech writer for Lord King, the chairman of British Airways, and 1978 was the equestrian adviser to the film International Velvet starring Tatum O’Neal, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins, and other amous actors.