Max Woosnam

He was appointed to the board of ICI, and died in 1965 of respiratory failure, having been a heavy smoker all his life. His life is chronicled in the book All Round Genius – The Unknown Story of Britain's Greatest Sportsman, by Mick Collins. Woosnam's uncle, Hylton Philipson, was a cricketer and played five Test matches for England. He once defeated actor and film director Charlie Chaplin at table tennis, playing with a butter knife instead of a bat. Besides being a pioneer for table tennis, he was very accomplished at snooker, once achieving a maximum break of 147. Jane Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, is Woosnam's sororal grandniece. Woosnam had three children: Denise Woosnam who was engaged to Peter Pease, and a friend of Richard Hillary (Author of The Last Enemy); Max, and Penny.