50 Facts About Geoff Capes

Geoffrey Lewis Capes JP was a British shot putter, strongman, and Highland Games competitor.

Geoff Capes was famous in the UK in the 1980s for his sporting prowess and appearances on television in shows such as Superstars and the World's Strongest Man.

Geoff Capes ran a sportswear retail shop, and became renowned as a world-class breeder of birds.

Geoff Capes was born on 23 August 1949 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, the seventh of nine children.

Geoff Capes was the seventh child of Eileen Capes, though the eldest of her three children by her third husband Bill Capes.

Geoff Capes's father was a land worker, while his mother, who stood six feet tall and weighed 250 pounds, was a matron at a care home.

Geoff Capes described himself as a troubled youth and recalled that he was constantly fighting.

Geoff Capes faced a one-year ban from a local football team after striking a referee during a match.

Geoff Capes left school at 14 to work as a labourer, carrying sacks of potatoes and taking on various odd jobs.

Geoff Capes stated that Storey helped him turn his life around and guided him during his early days in athletics.

Geoff Capes was a gifted sportsman, and represented Lincolnshire at basketball, football and cross-country.

Geoff Capes was a shot putter and represented his country over a span of 11 years, winning two Commonwealth Games and two Indoor European Championship titles.

The 21-year-old Geoff Capes did not make it past the qualifying round, but improved on this considerably four years later.

Geoff Capes came second in his qualifying group but sixth overall in the final, the winner being Udo Beyer of East Germany.

Geoff Capes went into the Olympics as the athlete with the best distance that year and a favourite for the title.

However, he eventually placed fifth, the winner being Vladimir Kiselyov whose Olympic record of 21.35 metres was well short of what Geoff Capes had achieved prior to the Games.

Geoff Capes said his performance at the 1980 Moscow Olympics had left him "numbed with disappointment".

Geoff Capes is the most capped British male athlete of all time, receiving 67 International caps and earning 35 wins, not including a further 35 caps for England.

Geoff Capes turned fully professional in 1980, the Olympics in Moscow being his last event as an amateur athlete.

Geoff Capes had already begun to make a name as a strongman having won the inaugural Britain's Strongest Man in 1979.

Bill went on to the 1979 World's Strongest Man, the first Briton to compete in this tournament, whilst Geoff Capes concentrated on his athletic career.

In 1980 the Olympics dominated the year and Geoff Capes did not compete in Britain's Strongest Man, but he did compete later in the Europe's Strongest Man competition and won that.

Geoff Capes won the truck pull and weight over bar and came second in farmer's walk, bale hoist and sack load events.

The duel between Sigmarsson and Geoff Capes heralded the beginning of a great rivalry.

Geoff Capes retorted "I'll be back" with a third place finish.

Geoff Capes won the sled push and came second in caber toss, rock press and floor press that year.

Geoff Capes came to 1985 World's Strongest Man determined to regain his title from Sigmarsson.

The competition was held in Cascais, Portugal and Geoff Capes managed to win the truck pull, medley, arm over arm pull and swingletree.

Geoff Capes regained his Britain's Strongest Man title in 1981 and again in 1983.

Geoff Capes won the World Muscle Power Classic championship in 1987, and was ascribed two World Muscle Power championships by the creator of the event, David Webster, although other sources suggest the 1987 victory was the only one.

Geoff Capes featured in various commercials, notably for Volkswagen, where he flipped a Polo car to inspect its underside.

Geoff Capes's popularity extended to children's games and television, with the World's Strongest Man competition becoming a Christmas Day staple.

Geoff Capes was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth II, who "howled in laughter" when her glove stuck to his sweaty hands after he won the Braemar Games in 1982.

Geoff Capes competed at many Highland Games gatherings in Scotland and across the world and became a hugely popular and respected figure.

Geoff Capes won the World Heavy Events title in Lagos in 1981, in a year when there were two world championships, the second won in Melbourne by Bill Anderson.

Geoff Capes went on to win again in 1983 in Carmunnock and the next four consecutive titles, making him the most successful competitor ever in terms of titles.

Geoff Capes went on to coach many rising stars in both athletics and strength athletics.

Geoff Capes helped promote the Daily Star funded UK Strongest Man tournaments until the turn of the millennium.

Outside his sporting career Geoff Capes was for a long time a policeman and prior to that was a member of the Air Training Corps.

Geoff Capes went on to run a sportswear retail shop in Holbeach, before moving to Spalding where in 1998 he became a Justice of the Peace.

At the height of his fame in 1985, the game Geoff Capes Strongman was released on the Amstrad CPC, the ZX Spectrum, the BBC Micro, the Acorn Electron and the Commodore 64, featuring a truck pulling and tug-of-war, allowing control of each muscle group.

Geoff Capes appeared in a memorable TV commercial for the Volkswagen Polo Mk2 in which he picked the car up and rolled it over with his bare hands.

Geoff Capes's profile led to numerous appearances on British television, one such example being in the Tyne Tees Television programme Supergran in the episode "Supergran Grounded".

In 1987, Geoff Capes was a timekeeper on the charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament.

Geoff Capes appeared on the fourth series of Shooting Stars, alongside Patsy Kensit, where he threw a bomb at Johnny Vegas and in 2007 he became the face of Cadbury's Wispa relaunch, appearing on billboards and magazine advertisements.

Geoff Capes participated in budgerigar shows across Europe and won a world championship in 1995.

Geoff Capes constructed a small wooden aviary behind his house and prepared meals for them each morning.

Geoff Capes took up the hobby when a policeman, having chatted for an hour to a man he had to arrest for non-payment of a fine.

Geoff Capes was appointed a Justice of the Peace on the Spalding bench in 1998.

Geoff Capes died at a Lincoln hospital on 23 October 2024, at the age of 75.