{{Short description|British speedway rider (1910–1935)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}} {{Use British English|date=July 2016}} {{Infobox Speedway rider | name= Tom Farndon | image = Tom farndon.jpg | nationality = British (English) | birth_date = 11 September 1910 | birth_place = [[Coventry]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|1935|8|30|1910|9|11|df=y}} | death_place = London, England

| years1 = 1929-1930 | career1 = [[Coventry Bees|Coventry]] | years2 = 1931-1933 | career2 = [[Crystal Palace Glaziers]] | years3 = 1934-1935 | career3 = [[New Cross Rangers|New Cross Lambs]] | indivyear1 = 1933 | indivhonour1 = [[Star Riders' Championship|Star Riders' Champion]] | indivyear2 = 1934, 1935 | indivhonour2 = [[London Riders' Championship|London Riders' Champion]] | indivyear3 = 1934, 1935 | indivhonour3 = British Individual Match Race Champion | teamyear1 = 1931, 1934 | teamhonour1 = [[London Cup (speedway)|London Cup]] }}

'''Thomas Farndon''' (11 September 1910 &ndash; 30 August 1935),<ref>Jacobs, N. & Chaplin, J. ''Tom Farndon The Greatest Speedway Rider of Them All'', {{ISBN|978-0-7524-5140-4}}</ref><ref>Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. , {{ISBN|0-7524-2210-3}}</ref> was a British [[Motorcycle speedway|speedway]] rider who won the [[Star Riders' Championship]] in 1933 whilst with the Crystal Palace Glaziers.<ref>Jacobs, N. ''Speedway in London'', {{ISBN|0-7524-2221-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Montague|first=Trevor|title=The A-Z of Sport|year=2004|page=518|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=0-316-72645-1}}</ref>

==Career== Born in [[Coventry]], Farndon started his career at the Lythalls Lane track in [[Foleshill]] and later rode for the [[Coventry Bees|club]] based at [[Brandon Stadium]], before a spell with the [[Crystal Palace Glaziers]].<ref name=URI>{{cite web |url=https://britishspeedway.co.uk/docs/Ultimate_Index_1929-2022.pdf |title=ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022 |website=British Speedway |access-date=28 July 2023}}</ref> He moved to [[New Cross Rangers|New Cross Lambs]] with Palace promoter Fred Mockford in 1934.<ref>Jacobs, N. ''Out of the Frying Pan The History of New Cross Speedway'', {{ISBN|978-0-7524-4476-5}}</ref>

Farndon was the British Individual Match Race Champion and was undefeated from 1934 until his death in 1935. At his time of death he had earned 21 international caps for the [[England national speedway team]].<ref name=URI/>

==Film appearance== The speedway scenes from the 1933 film [[Britannia of Billingsgate]] were shot at [[Hackney Wick Stadium]] and featured some of the leading riders in Britain at the time including Farndon, [[Colin Watson (speedway rider)|Colin Watson]], [[Arthur Warwick]], [[Gus Kuhn]], [[Claude Rye]] and [[Ron Johnson (speedway rider)|Ron Johnson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCoJpvyb4eU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/cCoJpvyb4eU |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Britannia Of Billingsgate (1933)|website=YouTube|date=21 June 2016 |access-date=22 August 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Death== Tom Farndon was killed after a crash on 28 August 1935 whilst racing at the [[New Cross Stadium]] in a second half scratch race final. He was involved in a collision with team-mate [[Ron Johnson (speedway rider)|Ron Johnson]], who clipped the safety fence and fell causing Farndon to crash into Johnson's bike. Farndon suffered a fractured skull and spine injury and was unconscious when he was transferred to the [[Miller General Hospital]] in Greenwich. Tom died two days later (on 30 August) in [[Miller General Hospital]], Greenwich, without regaining consciousness.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Farndon still unconscious in hospital |work=Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail |date=29 August 1935 |access-date=6 August 2021 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000378/19350829/127/0006| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Farndon and Johnson injured |work=Daily Mirror |date=29 August 1935 |access-date=6 August 2021 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19350829/172/0026| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Farndon dies form injuries |work=Daily Herald|date=31 August 1935 |access-date=6 August 2021 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000681/19350831/011/0001| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Thousands lined the streets to see his funeral. An art deco memorial in the form of a motorbike racer, carved by local sculptor Richard Ormerod out of black granite stands at Tom's final resting place in St. Paul's Cemetery, Holbrook Lane, Coventry.

==Tom Farndon Memorial== Between 1935 and 1961, the Tom Farndon Memorial was held on 11 occasions at the New Cross Stadium. The running of the memorial was abandoned after 1961 on the closure of New Cross.

{| class="wikitable" |- align=center ! Year ! {{Speedway color|P1}} | Winner |- |align=center| 1935 | [[Eric Langton]] ({{flagicon|ENG}}) |- |align=center| 1936 | [[Jack Milne (speedway rider)|Jack Milne]] ({{flagicon|USA}}) |- |align=center| 1937 | colspan=2 | ''Not Held'' |- |align=center| 1938 | [[Bluey Wilkinson]] ({{flagicon|AUS}}) |- |align=center| 1939–1945 | colspan=2 | ''Not Held due to [[World War II]]'' |- |align=center| 1946 | [[Malcolm Craven]] ({{flagicon|ENG}}) |- |align=center| 1947 | [[Jeff Lloyd]] ({{flagicon|ENG}}) |- |align=center| 1948 | [[Howdy Byford]] ({{flagicon|ENG}}) |- |align=center| 1949 | colspan=2 | ''Not Held'' |- |align=center| 1950 | [[Graham Warren]] ({{flagicon|AUS}}) |- |align=center| 1951 | [[Jack Young (speedway rider)|Jack Young]] ({{flagicon|AUS}}) |- |align=center| 1952–1958 | colspan=2 | ''Not Held'' |- |align=center| 1959 | [[Peter Craven]] ({{flagicon|ENG}}) |- |align=center| 1960 | [[Ronnie Moore (speedway rider)|Ronnie Moore]] ({{flagicon|NZL}}) |- |align=center| 1961 | [[Jack Young (speedway rider)|Jack Young]] ({{flagicon|AUS}}) |- |}

==See also== [[Rider deaths in motorcycle speedway]]

==External links== * [http://www.motorcycle-uk.com/vsm/tomfarndon1.htm Vintage Speedway Magazine -Tom Farndon Story (Part One)]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070624143238/http://motorcycle-uk.com/vsm/tomfarndon2.htm Vintage Speedway Magazine -Tom Farndon Story (Part Two)] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716183113/http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/images/nrpBM/BMCL01.jpg Tom Farndon Headstone]

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Farndon, Tom}} [[Category:1910 births]] [[Category:1935 deaths]] [[Category:British speedway riders]] [[Category:English motorcycle racers]] [[Category:Coventry Bees riders]] [[Category:Crystal Palace Glaziers riders]] [[Category:New Cross Rangers riders]] [[Category:Motorcycle racers who died while racing]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Coventry]] [[Category:Sport deaths in England]] [[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]