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Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran

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Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran
Medal record
Bobsleigh
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1964 Innsbruck Two-man
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1965 St. Moritz Two-man
Bronze medal – third place 1963 Igls Two-man
Bronze medal – third place 1966 Cortina d'Ampezzo Two-man

Major Thomas "Robin" Valerian Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran, CBE (born 21 April 1935) is a former British bobsledder and Northern Irish politician, known as Robin Dixon. He is a former Conservative Party Shadow Minister for the Olympics.

Early life

Dixon was educated at Eton and Grenoble in France. After university, he served with the Grenadier Guards from 1954 to 1966 including service in the Cyprus Emergency[1]

Sports career

In 1964, Dixon was granted leave from the army to participate in the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, where he won the gold medal in the Two-man Bobsleigh as brakeman to Tony Nash and was awarded a MBE a year later. Nash and Dixon also won three medals in the two-man event at the FIBT World Championships with one gold (1965) and two bronzes (1963, 1966).

Dixon retained his sporting links throughout his life: he was President of the Jury at the 1976 Winter Olympics, set up the Ulster Games Foundation in 1983, and was appointed Chairman of the Northern Ireland Tall Ships Council in 1987. He has been President of the British Bobsleigh Association since 1987.[2]

Business

Dixon retired from the army in 1966 with the rank of Major and went on to work for Kodak in their public relations department and in 1971 joined the Northern Irish business, Redland Tile and Brick Ltd, which he built up into a multimillion-pound subsidiary of Redland plc and became Managing Director. In 1983, he was appointed High Sheriff of Antrim.[3]

Upon the 1995 death of his father, the 2nd Baron Glentoran, Dixon inherited his title, and he retired from business in 1998.

Political career

Dixon was Chairman of Positively Belfast from 1992 to 1996, Chairman of the "Growing a Green Economy" Committee from 1993 to 1995 and has been Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland, Shadow Minister for Sport and Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He is also a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body.

Lord Glentoran was one of 92 hereditary peers that remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, and sat on the Conservative benches until his retirement from the House on 1 June 2018.[4][5]

Personal life

Lord Glentoran has three sons from his first wife, Rona (divorced in 1975), and lives with his third wife, Margaret, in their family home, Drumadarragh House, near Ballyclare. His eldest son, Daniel, has two sons; his second, Andrew, a son and a daughter, and his youngest, Patrick, has one daughter.

Honours

Dixon and his driver, Tony Nash, were inducted into the British Bobsleigh Hall of Fame as a result of their success. A curve at the St. Moritz-Celerina Olympic Bobrun is named for both Nash and Dixon. He was appointed a CBE in 1993 for services to Northern Ireland and Industry.

Coat of arms of Robin Dixon, 3rd Baron Glentoran
Crest
A demi-lion rampant Azure, charged on the shoulder with a cross patonce surrounded by a civic crown Or.
Escutcheon
Or on a chevron Vair three billets of the first on a chief crenellé Gules a tower proper between two fleurs-de-lis Or.
Supporters
Two war horses Argent unglued Or caparisoned Proper the shabraque Sable broidered of the second.
Motto
Fide Et Constantia (By Fidelity And Constancy) [6]

See also

References

  1. ^ A SOLDIER DIED TODAY Archived 29 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ The Lord Glentoran CBE Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine British Bobsleigh Association
  3. ^ "No. 4194". The Belfast Gazette. 7 January 1983. p. 1.
  4. ^ Parliament: Northern Ireland: One brief debate transfers Ulster back to its people The Independent, 1 December 1999
  5. ^ "Lord Glentoran". UK Parliament.
  6. ^ Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. 2000.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Glentoran
1995–present 		Incumbent
Heir apparent:
Hon. Daniel Dixon
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