21 Facts About Chester Barnes

George "Chester" Barnes was an English table tennis champion, who was England No 1 player for many years during the 1960s and 1970s.

Chester Barnes' family lived for a short period on a farm in Whitley Wood near Reading.

Chester Barnes's father was listening to the radio at the time of his birth when he was asked by the matron of the maternity home what Christian name he was going to be called by.

Chester Barnes was stopped from playing snooker because the manager at the club felt he was too short and he couldn't see over the table.

In 1963, aged 16, Chester Barnes became the youngest ever winner of the English Closed Table Tennis Championships.

Chester Barnes retained the title for three consecutive years, by winning the competition in 1964 and 1965.

Chester Barnes successfully defended the English Closed title that he had won the previous year in 1963 and, in early January 1964, when the ETTA published the new English rankings, his reward was to be promoted to the No 1 spot for the first time in his career.

Chester Barnes was a top-ranked player in the world rankings at a time when the men's game was dominated by the Japanese, Chinese, and top European countries, notably Sweden, Yugoslavia and Germany.

Chester Barnes was an exceptional doubles player and played with many of the top men and women players of his day, winning numerous men's and mixed doubles titles.

Chester Barnes played on numerous occasions for his county of Essex at the top level of the game, helping them to win the national English county table tennis league on several occasions.

Chester Barnes represented England as an international on many occasions and played regularly in the Swaythling Cup, the table tennis equivalent of the Davis Cup.

Chester Barnes won the English Closed five times, and turned professional in 1975.

Early in his career, Chester Barnes was involved in several clashes with officialdom.

The footballer, George Best, was a notable sportsman who had business and work interests outside his sport and, despite his amateur status as a table tennis player, Chester Barnes too was making money from modelling and having sports equipment branded with his name.

Chester Barnes used a unique square racket, which catered for his preference for a bat that was heavier than a normal bat.

Chester Barnes was one of the earliest British players to adopt the topspin attack style used by the best European and Asian players, along with the smooth reverse rubber used on the new rackets.

Chester Barnes was regarded as an anti-establishment figure in the world of table tennis, in keeping with the trends of the time, and was frequently in trouble with the English Table Tennis Association, whom he saw as too conservative and even a clique that did not look after the best interests of the players.

Chester Barnes later became assistant trainer to Martin Pipe, the British National Hunt trainer who modernised training methods, in much the same way - and sometimes courting the same controversy - as Chester Barnes had in table tennis.

Chester Barnes was a key player in helping the handler win the UK Trainers' title on fifteen occasions between 1988 and 2005, running Pipe's telephone tipster line and later producing a daily blog, 'Chester's Chat'.

Chester Barnes died on 18 March 2021 from a heart attack.

Chester Barnes is survived by his wife Jane, son Lester and daughter Joanne.