Welshman Reginald Brooks-King attended Malvern school until the age of 18, when he then studied engineering at King’s College. He served his apprenticeship with the London & Great Western Railways, and later worked as a railway engineer in Venezuela. He was better known as a sportsman in Somerset circles, however, and was a keen member of the Malvern School cricket and football first XIs. Brooks-King was the one-time secretary of the Somerset County Cricket Club. He was also an avid inventor, and developed an automatic bowling machine that was not only used by County players, but by cricketers all over the world. In 1919, Brooks-King served on the County Championship Advisory committee that agreed to revert to three-day matches in the Championship, after a one year experiment of playing over two days did not work.
Brooks-King was also a keen archer and represented his county and Great Britain, winning a silver medal behind fellow Briton William Dod in the Double York Round at the 1908 London Olympics. Brooks-King won the British National Championship five times, in 1900, 1902-03, 1906 and 1908. He was responsible for the revival of the West Somerset Archery Club, and, a month before his 62nd birthday, won the gold medal at the 1923 Grand National Archery Meeting at Cambridge. In his spare time, Brooks-King was actively involved with the Boy Scout movement and was also a keen ham radio (aka radio ham) enthusiast. He obtained his licence in 1919 and communicated with people in all corners of the world. By profession, Brooks-King was an estate agent.
Great Britain