Former general practitioner Billingham (b Prague 6 August 1913; q Bratislava 1937), died 9 January 2002.
John and his wife, Claire, escaped from Czechoslovakia just after the outbreak of the second world war. He saw active service first with the free Czech forces and later with the British Army. After the war, he joined a practice in Billingham, where he spent the rest of his working life. John's greatest interest was swimming. He was selected to swim for Czechoslovakia in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but withdrew on the advice of the World Jewish Federation in protest against Nazism. While in Billingham he and his wife set up a swimming clinic for asthmatic children. He leaves Claire; two daughters; and five grandchildren.
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