From legendary strongman to avid budgie breeder – the unforgettable life of beloved Olympian Geoff Capes

GIANT policeman Geoff Capes, who became Britain’s best-loved strongman, has died aged 75.

Shot putter Capes — who stood 6ft 5½in and weighed 26st — represented Great Britain at three Olympics.

He was Commonwealth champion and European champion twice and since 1980 has been the country’s shot put record holder with a throw of 21.68metres.

But the star was best known as the World’s Strongest Man, who could tear London phone directories in half and bend three-foot long, one-inch diameter steel bars.

But remarkably, his hobby was breeding budgerigars which he held gently in his giant hands.

And he became the president of the Budgerigar Society and was never happier than when he won the world budgie championship and travelled the globe judging bird shows.

Last night fans took to social media to pay tribute to the beloved strongman.

I was a hell of a fighter as well. If the next town came down on a Friday and there were only eight or nine of them I’d say, ‘Go back and get some more.

Geoff on his youth

One said on X: “I watched him as a young man — my sincerest ­condolences to his family and friends, we’ll miss you Geoff.”

Another added: “Sad to hear the passing of Geoff Capes. A fixture growing up on our TV and during athletics coverage.”

Geoffrey Lewis Capes was born in 1949 in Holbeach, Lincs, the seventh of nine children.

And trouble was never far away.

 He remembered: “I was a hell of a fighter as well. If the next town came down on a Friday and there were only eight or nine of them I’d say, ‘Go back and get some more.’

“I’d fight them on my own. I was quite quiet, but there was an inner aggression.

“My headmaster, a guy called Joe Fathers, took great pleasure in trying to knock it out of me. He had a choice of canes.

“On the last day I went into his office, I took the canes off the wall in the office in front of him and walked out.”

Gifted sportsman

Geoff’s salvation was Holbeach Athletic Club where he was coached by BBC athletics commentator Stuart Storey.

A gifted sportsman, Capes represented Lincolnshire at basketball, football and cross-country. But shot put was where he could channel the chip on his shoulder.

Capes said: “I threw in bare feet in a concrete circle — and came second from last.”

Capes would hitch-hike to athletics competitions and was told by Storey that he would achieve great things if he could just direct his energy.

But growing up in the Lincs fens Geoff had a softer side — he was ­fascinated by the natural world and cared for injured birds and animals.

 After leaving school he worked as a coalman and an agricultural labourer before joining Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1970. He served in the force for ten years.

He was allowed time off to compete at athletics meetings, but on a copper’s salary he could barely afford a daily diet that included six pounds of red meat, a dozen eggs and a large tin of baked beans.

He also consumed two tins of ­pilchards, one and a half pounds of cottage cheese, a packet of cereal, two large loaves of bread with a pound of butter. All washed down with a pint of orange juice and seven pints of milk.

In his last interview he said: “I ate like a f***ing horse! Anything I could get my hands on. But nearly all protein.”

Capes, who would lift 120 tons in training each week, did sponsorship deals that helped him to bypass the Olympics’ strict amateur rules.

He had advertising slogans “Butcher Brown is the best in town” and his Talbot Estate car displayed “Dewhurst: Master Butchers” on the side.

Capes went on to become the most capped British male athlete of all time, with 67 international credits, and in 1983 he was voted Britain’s best-ever field athlete.

Just before his last Olympics, Moscow 1980, he won Britain’s first strongest man competition and became a household name. Tests of strength such as bending steel bars, lifting a platform of bunny girls, pulling lorries, arm wrestles and tug of war gave the show cult status.

And Capes was soon in demand for everything from 17 pantomime appearances and children’s TV to performances at the London Palladium with Bobby Davro and TV ads.

By 1983 he was officially the world’s strongest man but the following year lost the title to Jón Páll Sigmarsson.

The Icelander who was 11 years younger, taunted: “The King has lost his crown!”

But Geoff swore: “I’ll be back.” The next year he took the title and roared: “The King has not lost his crown!”

Once, at Scotland’s Braemar Games, he used so much resin competing that when he was congratulated by the late Queen, their hands stuck together, causing Her Majesty to roar with laughter.

Geoff’s son Lewis and daughter Emma were both shot putters, while two of his grandchildren, Donovan, 19, and Lawson, 15, train at the shot put ring Capes built in his home village of Stoke Rochford, Lincs.

In a recent interview he said: “I enjoyed my life and I went around the world. How many people can say that?”