Ian Buchanan
B. 28 January 1932, Sheffield, Yorkshire.
D. 6 April 2008, Aylsham, Norfolk.
Ian Buchanan was a native of Yorkshire, born there in 1932, and from his earliest days was a sports fan. He was a useful half-mile runner in school and also played rugby, which was his favorite sport to watch. He attended the 1948 Olympics in London where his love of athletics and the Olympics blossomed. Around that time he became close friends with Ross and Norris McWhirter, the two brothers who founded the Guinness Book of World Records. Both of them kept athletics statistics and Ian started helping them with their hobby. In that regard he became a member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS) and the NUTS – Britain’s National Union of Track Statisticians. In 1961 he published his first book, Encyclopædia of British Athletics Records.
In the 1970s he began helping Erich Kamper with data on British Olympians. Ian and I first came in contact in 1981, when Kamper put us in touch. By that time, Ian had already contributed to several books and had also written a small monograph, A Handbook of Far Eastern & Asian Games Track & Field Athletics. Together we began to collect data on American and British Olympians and over the next few years collaborated on several books. Our first book was in 1983, Quest for Gold: The Encyclopedia of American Olympians, which was followed in 1986 by The United States’ National Championships in Track and Field Athletics: 1876-1985. With Peter Matthews, a former editor at Guinness, we also worked together on The Guinness International Who’s Who of Sport. Peter and Ian also wrote the seminal work on British athletes in all sports, All-Time Greats of British and Irish Sport. Ian continued to produce work on British athletes and Olympians independently. His best contribution to the history of Britain at the Olympics is the definitive work, British Olympians, published in 1991. At a small brunch at his home in East Anglia, Ian presented Peter Matthews and me the first copies of that book, which I still treasure. His final book, written shortly before he became ill, is an absolute gem of sports statistics, Who’s Who of UK & GB International Athletes 1896-1939.
In 1991, Ian sponsored a group of Olympic historians to meet at a small pub in Knightsbridge, London, the Duke of Clarence, where the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) was formed. As the group broke up that afternoon, we walked outside into a chilling British December rain, and decided we needed to elect a President. Standing huddled under some umbrellas, there was only one choice, and Ian Buchanan was chosen that day as the first President of ISOH. He guided ISOH through its formative years and helped the group become internationally known and achieve official recognition by the International Olympic Committee. He served two terms as President of ISOH, stepping aside at the quadrennial meeting in Sydney.
Buchanan’s business career was as a re-insurance agent, primarily based in Hong Kong, where he moved in the 1970s, although in retirement he settled back in his native England to a charming cottage in Burgh Next Aylsham, in Norfolk. For his work in Olympic history, he was made an Honorary Member of ISOH after he stepped down as President in 2000, and was awarded the Olympic Order in Silver in 1997 by the IOC. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne, and two children, Jamie and Joanna.
He will be missed by all of us who will always remember his big smile and his hearty laugh.
Bill Mallon MD
Ian Buchanan’s funeral took place on the morning of April 18, 2008; only attended by his direct family. That same afternoon a service of thanksgiving for Ian Buchanan took place in a lovely Norfolk village church. It was attended by many old friends from business, village and surroundings, and sports friends from his rugby club at North Walsham. The ISOH was represented by David Thurlow, and a wreath from ISOH was available at the ceremony, which was greatly appreciated by his widow, son and daughter.
