Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-02
Speaking Malcolm Campbell
Dies at 63 of Natural Causes
Briton Was Falling
Since Operation on
Eve Lost Summer
BY the Associated Press

REIGATE, Surrey, England
Jan. Sir Malcolm Campbell
speed king who made a career
of gambling his life for automo-
bile and motorboat records
died today of natural causes.
Friends said Sir Malcolm, who
was IS, had been i'll for several day!
after a severe chill. The exac
cause of his death was not disclosed
1t was generally known that hi!
health had been failing since early
last summer, when he underwent s
second eye operation to prevent
blindness.
/ Glaucoma-hardening of the eye
ball due to internal pressure--hae
ruined the sight in his left eye. I
was hoped surgery would save thu
other one.
Sir Malcolm's long fight agsins'
blindness was partly successful. hi:
friends said, although he still hae
difficulty in seeing across room.
To the last he retained the same
old zest for the sport, born Of a hoy
hood hobby. in which he set speed
records on both land and water dur.
ing a quarter of century.
In the end he had to bow te
faster performance on land, but hi
world speedboat record of l4l.7t
miles an hour still stands. HI
achieved it in August, 1889, on Lake
Coniston in England in his Blue
Bird" This was the same name hi
had given to his racing cars.
Only recently Sir Malcolm com
mented that few men had packed
so much adventure and high excite
ment and so many close escape:
into a lifetime. Asked, as he Sc
often was, why his passion for speed
drove him to compete with his OWL
records when there were no other!
to break, he invariably replied:
Il cannot rest on my laurels.
will 20 on until I am too old tt
drive. For the sake of British pres
tige I want to raise the record a.
high as possible while I am still
capable of doing so.
Moreover, I wish to explore every
means likely to help scientists ano
engineers make rapid transport
cheaper and safer and to provide
scientists with data which might
help in spheres quite apart from
motoring"
Tried Jet Boat for Record.
He kept up his quest for ever
higher speed records until 1947
when he tried for a new water goal
in a jet-propelled Blue Bird. He
abandoned this trial after it became
apparent his eyesight was failing.
Sir Malcolm, who was knighteo
in 1881, was as familiar to sports
fans in the United States as in Eng
land. Two of his great automobile
speed records were established in
America: 276.816 miles an hour on
the shore sands at Daytona Beach
Fla, in 1885 and 301 1892 m.p.h. at
Bonneville Salt Fats, Utah, later
that year.
The present record is 394.1se
mp.h,. set by John Cobb in 1s47.
Born to a wealthy Scotch family
March IL, 1885, at Chislehurst
Kent, Eng. Sir Malcolm gould have
chosen a life Of quiet ease. His
grandfather had made fortune a!
a diamond merchant and dealer ir
London real estate. His father fol-
lowed along the same path.
Young Malcolm was educated al
Uppingham College. then spent Il
months in Germany and year in
France.
Sent to learn the slow and sedate
work of a broker in the Offices o.
Lloyds of London, marine insurance
corporation. he soon started thu
only career that really interested
him: Bicycle and motorcycle racing
One of the first races he ever
won was on a motorbike in 1905
He nearly lost his life on his first
motorcycle, which his father hae
given him when he finished school
For a time Sir Malcolm pioneered
In flying. In 1909, with the help o.
carpenter and some ambition!
young friends. he built his owl
plane. Several crashes prompted
him to give up aviation and con.
centrate on automobile.
Served as World War Flyer.
Years later he was grateful fol
this apprenticeship in aviation
During World War I he served with
distinction in the Royal Flying
Corps, which was to become the
Raj. He started as a dispatch
rider before becoming an RFC
pilot. Before being demobilized in