Oral History Interview: John Peake and Anthony (Tony) Nunn

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Ok, so todays date is the seventh of August, 2019 and we are here at The Hockey Museum in Woking. My name is Shane Smith, I am Assistant Curator at The Hockey Museum, er, gentlemen, if you would like to introduce yourselves, one at a time, if you could give me your name, and, er, where you were born and when.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn introduce themselves, stating their name and date and place of birth.

Keywords: Cambridge--United Kingdom (UK); Shalford--United Kingdom (UK); Date of Birth

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Ok, so, er, I thought I would start at the beginning, more or less, with your hockey careers, um, presumably you both started playing club hockey, um, I wondered if you could tell me about your experiences of club hockey?
PEAKE: We started at school, of course.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn describe how they started playing hockey.

Keywords: Byfleet--United Kingdom (UK); Cambridge University; England; Greenwich--United Kingdom (UK); Haileybury School; Hawks Hockey Club; London--United Kingdom (UK); National Service; Old Royal Naval College--Greenwich; Olympics/Olympic Games; Royal Navy; School; Surrey (county); The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC); United Services Portsmouth; Byfleet--Surrey

Subjects: Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Teams--Men--Club; Teams--Men--County

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Um, and, er, so you both have a lot of experience of that with the Navy, um, through, er, your services, you said you did national service?
NUNN: Yes.
SMITH: And were you national service, or you went into this?
PEAKE: No I went into The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn recount their involvement with the military and how this allowed them to play and develop their skills within hockey.

Keywords: Cambridge University; Channel Islands; Easter; Folkestone--United Kingdom (UK); Germany; Ghosts Hockey Club; Invitational/occasional hockey clubs; National Service; Netherlands; Royal Navy; School; Syphons Hockey Club; The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC); Tour; Touring hockey; Training; Travellers Hockey Club; Admiralty

Subjects: Armed Forces; International Travel; Reunion; Teams--Men--Club; Teams--Men--Touring; Tournaments--Festival; Training & Conditioning--Club; Training & Conditioning--College & University; Training & Conditioning--County

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Can you tell me a little bit about the Folkestone festival, and your experiences of it?
NUNN: Well, the Folkestone festival, it always looked upon, and I don't know if that's the right word, I don't know if John would agree but hockey always seemed to have a sort of general celebration of hockey at Easter.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn recount their memories of the Folkestone Festival

Keywords: Captain; Cobham--United Kingdom (UK); Cricket Ground; Easter; Feltonfleet School; Folkestone Festival; Folkestone--United Kingdom (UK); Headmaster; Hockey Festival; Invitational/occasional hockey clubs; Manager; Olympics/Olympic Games; Pitch; Prep School; Robert Fison; Selection; Summer; Surrey (county); Tour; Touring hockey; Acrostics Hockey Club

Subjects: Captaincy; Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Recollection of Others--Coach & Manager; Recollection of Others--Player; Teams--Men--Touring; Tournaments--Festival

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Did you have a similar experience with your other hockey teams, your non, non touring teams? So, with Cambridge, for example?
PEAKE: Not so much the Cambridge, I don't remember that as well.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn describe their experiences of county hockey. They explain why they were able to continue playing at this level, despite the difficulties that playing for a county brought.

Keywords: Cambridge University; Cambridge--United Kingdom (UK); Cheshire (county); Cricket; Greenwich--United Kingdom (UK); Lancashire (county); Lincolnshire (county); London--United Kingdom (UK); Manager; Middlesex (county); National Service; Old Royal Naval College--Greenwich; Olympics/Olympic Games; Peterborough--United Kingdom (UK); Royal Navy; Slipped disk; Surrey (county); The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC); Thursday; Tour; Back

Subjects: Fitness, Injury & Health; Teams--Men--Club; Teams--Men--College & University; Teams--Men--County; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Tony, I noticed you talked about international hockey, er, I noticed that your Great Britain caps came before your England caps, which seems slightly unusual. Was that just because it was an Olympic year that you started?
NUNN: Well, er, I had played in English trials beforehand, but unsuccessfully I might say.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn describes why he obtained his GB cap before his England cap. Both Nunn and Peake also explain that playing for a London club was more advantageous as the standard of hockey in these clubs was typically a lot higher than others across the country.

Keywords: Brooklands Hockey Club; England; England trial; Festival Eleven; Folkestone Festival; Folkestone--United Kingdom (UK); Great Britain; International Caps; London--United Kingdom (UK); Netherlands; Possibles versus Probables; Selection; Trials; Amsterdam--Netherlands

Subjects: Amateurism & Professionalism; Teams--Men--Club; Teams--Men--County; Tournaments--Club; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: SMITH: We touched on, er, funding your own hockey career in this, er, era before the professionalisation of sport. Um, can you tell me a little bit more about how you funded your hockey careers when you were starting out? And then even into international level I suppose?
NUNN: Well, I suppose the answer to that is, once one was working I was again, as I said before, lucky enough to have a boss who lived locally here.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn discuss how they funded their hockey playing career.

Keywords: Centre Forward; Cricket; Family; Greenwich--United Kingdom (UK); Haslar--United Kingdom (UK); Husband; Outside Right; Parents; Peterborough--United Kingdom (UK); Portsmouth--United Kingdom (UK); Possibles versus Probables; Royal Navy; Saturday; Savings; Sunday; The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC); Train; Trials; Uniform; Back

Subjects: Armed Forces; Fitness, Injury & Health; Kit & Equipment; Teams--Men--Club; Teams--Men--College & University; Teams--Men--County; Tournaments--County

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Er, we spoke about touring teams earlier and festival hockey, but you also touched on touring teams who went abroad, er, can you tell me of your experiences of that? Any anecdotes that have come out of that?
NUNN: Well I suppose my memory is Easter and tours in Holland.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn discuss the places they have been to and the memories they made while on tour with hockey.

Keywords: Easter; Hockey Family; Hockey Festival; Host Family; Invitational/occasional hockey clubs; London--United Kingdom (UK); Medal; Netherlands; Olympics/Olympic Games; Pakistan; Pitch; Schoolmaster; Semi-final; Tour; Wanderers Hockey Club; touring hockey; Cambridge University

Subjects: Awards--Recognition; International Travel; Olympic Games--1948 London; Playing Surfaces; Social & Friendships; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Ok, well that brings us on nicely to talking about your Olympic experiences, so if I start with you John, so you played in London 1948 as you just said, how do you remember the build up to that Olympic Games?
PEAKE: Er, I can remember the beginning of the great gathering that used to take place at all the Olympics Games and so on.

Segment Synopsis: Peake recounts his memories of the London 1948 Olympic Games and the challenges that he faced when playing against the Indian team in the final.

Keywords: Beer; English Head Hockey Stick; Final; Goal; Half Indian Head ("Half Head") Hockey Stick; Hockey Ball; Hockey Stick; Ice hockey; India; Indian Head Hockey Stick; International Match; London--United Kingdom (UK); Olympic Torch; Olympics/Olympic Games; Pakistan; Pint; Pitch; RAF camp; Semi-final; Shot put; Silver Medal; United States of America (USA); Wembley Stadium/Empire Stadium

Subjects: Armed Forces; Awards--Recognition; Hockey Homes, Venues & Stadia; Olympic Games--1948 London; Playing Surfaces; Recollection of Others--Player; Social & Friendships; Tactics and Performance; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International

Partial Transcript: NUNN: Er, I think my main memory, we used to train in Lilleshall, we used to go up to Lilleshall, once a, usually at a weekend, for training.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn recalls his memories of the Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games. He describes how he trained for the Olympics, his favourite lead up match in Amsterdam and the bronze medal match against Pakistan.

Keywords: Amsterdam--Netherlands; Belgium; Bronze Medal; Centre Forward; Crossbar; Derek Day; Flag; Forward; Goalkeeper; Golf; Graham Dadds; Helsinki--Finland; Ice hockey; India; Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre; Lilleshall--United Kingdom (UK); Medal; Medal Ceremony; Netherlands; Olympic Qualifiers; Olympic Stadium; Olympics/Olympic Games; Pakistan; Peter Smith; Richard Norris; Running; Short Corner; Shot; St George's Hill Golf Club; Training; Wales

Subjects: Awards--Recognition; Hockey Homes, Venues & Stadia; International Travel; Kit & Equipment; Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Playing Surfaces; Recollection of Others--Player; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International; Training & Conditioning--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: What made the, er, the 50th reunion so memorable? Was it just being together again?
NUNN: Well it was a question of going back I suppose, going back and seeing what had happened, as to what had happened, for instance, to the, er, er, to some of the buildings.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn recalls what happened in 2002 for the Helsinki Olympic Games reunion. He describes how some of the buildings he played in had been converted into schools, his experience when meeting the Queen in Buckingham Palace and the Olympic pins presentation that followed.

Keywords: Buckingham Palace; Helsinki--Finland; Olympic Stadium; Olympic pins; Olympics/Olympic Games; Presentation; Queen Elizabeth II; School

Subjects: Awards--Recognition; Fame & Celebrity; Hockey Homes, Venues & Stadia; International Travel; Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Recollection of Others--Celebrity; Reunion; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International

Partial Transcript: PEAKE: Tony mentioned training and I do remember just a little bit about, er, the training that I was involved with in Greenwich because we were encouraged to try and keep as fit as we could.

Segment Synopsis: Peake describes how he used to run around a field to train for his hockey games until someone advised him to change his training regime to better reflect the needs of his position. Nunn reflects on the benefits of working together as a team to score goals.

Keywords: Greenwich--United Kingdom (UK); Inside Forward; Old Royal Naval College--Greenwich; Outside Right; Oxford--United Kingdom (UK); Right Winger; Robin Fletcher; Running; Sprinter; Squash; Train; Training; Centre Half

Subjects: Armed Forces; Teams--Men--College & University; Training & Conditioning--College & University

Partial Transcript: NUNN: And we were also rather persuaded to stay on the wing on many occasions.
PEAKE: We were, yes, yes.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn describes how he became involved with umpiring and why it was not for him. Both Nunn and Peake discuss radio commentary and how difficult it was for the commentators to follow the hockey ball to ensure accurate commentary.

Keywords: Accommodation; Athletics; Christopher/Chris Chataway; Commentator; Great Britain; International Umpire; London--United Kingdom (UK); Mark Cowlishaw; Olympic Village; Olympics/Olympic Games; Photography; Radio; Roger Bannister; Rowing; Show jump; Southern Counties Hockey Umpires Association; Umpire; Winger

Subjects: Media; Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Recollection of Others--Player; Recollection of Others--Umpire; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International; Umpiring--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: I was going to ask about the Olympic Village because John you said that you were on an RAF base for the London games?
PEAKE: That's right, we didn't have the sort of village arrangement, as it were, that is now available.

Segment Synopsis: Peake compares his Olympic experiences to Nunn's. Unlike Nunn, Peake did not stay in an Olympic Village. Peake explains how he was based in an RAF base and travelled by bus to a field to train.

Keywords: Bus; London--United Kingdom (UK); Olympic Village; Olympics/Olympic Games; RAF camp; Running; Training

Subjects: Armed Forces; Fitness, Injury & Health; Hockey Homes, Venues & Stadia; Olympic Games--1948 London; Recollection of Others--Non-hockey Athlete; Tactics and Performance; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International; Training & Conditioning--International

Partial Transcript: NUNN: Well of course, John was at a games where we were the hosts, it was a British host event, so to speak, er, I suppose it was, when you consider also that it was really only three years after the end of the war which probably restricted us, the amount of festivities.
PEAKE: Oh, absolutely, yes.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn highlights the impact that the Second World War had on the London 1948 Olympic Games. Peake describes how, due to his naval connections, he was eligible for extra rations while playing hockey.

Keywords: Breakfast; Diet; Egg; Food; Greenwich--United Kingdom (UK); International Match; London--United Kingdom (UK); Old Royal Naval College--Greenwich; Olympics/Olympic Games; Ration; Rationing; Training; World War 2/WW2/The Second World War; Animal

Subjects: Armed Forces; Dinners; Fitness, Injury & Health; Olympic Games--1948 London; Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International; Training & Conditioning--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Tony, you said earlier about the trip to, er, the Netherlands where you were beaten five four in the quarter finals for the Olympics. Um, would you say that's your most memorable moment within hockey?
NUNN: Oh, to me yes.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn and Peake recall the most memorable moments within their hockey playing career. They also recount players who they have played with an against who have been an inspiration to them.

Keywords: Anthony/Tony Robinson; Beer; Dennis Eagan; Denys Carnill; England; Final; Forward; Goal; Goalkeeper; Great Britain; Hero; Hertfordshire (county); Hockey Festival; Injury; International Match; Ireland; John Cockett; John Conroy; John Taylor; Left Half; Left Winger; Netherlands; Olympics/Olympic Games; Pakistan; Peter Smith; Pint; Reserve; Richard Norris; Roger Midgley; Rugby; School; Scotland; Stephen/Steve Theobald; Wales

Subjects: Amateurism & Professionalism; Education and Schooling; Fitness, Injury & Health; Recollection of Others--Player; Reunion; Social & Friendships; Tactics and Performance; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: Ok, so, we've touched on, er, some of your most memorable moments within hockey, could I ask you about your disappointments? Is there anything that really stands out for you as disappointing?
NUNN: I suppose, I suppose if one is honest, its, er, when, I had a game which was not a good game against the Scots and I was dropped.

Segment Synopsis: Peake describes his disappointing moment as the time he was dropped after playing a bad game against Scotland. He recalls how he was unable to carry on playing internationally following an injury.

Keywords: County Match; Hockey Ball; Home game; Injury; International Match; Left Half; Marked; Scotland; Trials

Subjects: Fitness, Injury & Health; Recollection of Others--Player; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: And can I ask you about friendships within hockey as well, did you, you said, er, Tony about when you went abroad, when you travelled, rooming with your opponents and their families, um, and, presumably, a similar thing happened when teams came to the UK as well, um, did that create any lasting friendships that you have been able to maintain?

Segment Synopsis: Nunn lists the friends he made while away in Helsinki for the Olympic Games. Both Nunn and Peake also recall the friendships they have made with others throughout their hockey playing career and how they keep in contact with these.

Keywords: Beckenham--United Kingdom (UK); Beer; Bromley--United Kingdom (UK); Captain; Centre Half; Changing room; Choir; Cricket; Denys Carnill; Felsted--United Kingdom (UK); Hawks Hockey Club; Helsinki--Finland; Host Family; Hugh S Goold/Hugh Goold; John Cockett; London--United Kingdom (UK); Netherlands; Olympics/Olympic Games; Peter Smith; Richmond--United Kingdom (UK); Roger Midgley; Train; Walter R Goold/ Walter Goold; Westminster Bank; Arthur C Goold/Arthur Goold

Subjects: Amateurism & Professionalism; Fitness, Injury & Health; Indoor Hockey; Kit & Equipment; Olympic Games--1952 Helsinki; Recollection of Others--Player; Recreation; Reunion; Social & Friendships; Teams--Men--Club; Teams--Men--County; Teams--Men--International; Tournaments--Club

Partial Transcript: SMITH: John, can I ask you about, er, your Cambridge experiences with, with hockey? You said you were a blue earlier.
PEAKE: Yes I was very lucky to be able to play, er, for the university at that stage.

Segment Synopsis: Peake recounts when he played for Clare College at Cambridge University.

Keywords: Cambridge University Hockey Club; Cambridge--United Kingdom (UK); Clare College--Cambridge; Coal mine; Engineering; Grass; Oxford University; Oxford University Hockey Club; Pitch; Squash; The Royal Corps of Naval Constructors (RCNC); Varsity; Cambridge University

Subjects: Armed Forces; Education and Schooling; Manufacturing & Industry; Playing Surfaces; Recreation; Teams--Men--College & University; Tournaments--University

Partial Transcript: NUNN: The only thought I would have from a family point of view, is, I've always appreciated, that, er, my wife was a teriffic support to me, as I say, I disappeared but when one considers that she came form a family which weren't necessarily involved in as much sport as I was.

Segment Synopsis: Nunn discusses the importance of a supportive family when playing hockey and working hard to train and complete at international level.

Keywords: Family; Wife

Subjects: Fitness, Injury & Health; Life Outside of Hockey--Family; Life Outside of Hockey--Family--Adulthood

Partial Transcript: SMITH: It sounds like, er, both of you played other sports as well as hockey. Um, how did you prioritise hockey and how did you come to prioritise hockey over other sports you might have played?
PEAKE: Well, in those days, um, things were rather different.

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn recall the other sports that they used to play in the summer months when they did not play hockey. Peake highlights that he was once reserve for England during a squash match. Nunn describes the cricket tours he used to go on with some hockey friends.

Keywords: Christmas; Cricket; England; Greenwich--United Kingdom (UK); London--United Kingdom (UK); Old Royal Naval College--Greenwich; Pitch; Reserve; Royal Navy; School; Squash; Summer; Tennis; Tour; Wimbledon--United Kingdom (UK); Winter; Centre court

Subjects: Armed Forces; Social & Friendships; Teams--Men--College & University; Teams--Men--International; Teams--Men--Touring; Tournaments--Festival; Tournaments--International

Partial Transcript: SMITH: And bringing back to hockey, just finally, um, obviously its a very different sport these days from when you played, a lot of development in the equipment, in the pitches, in the rules, how do you think, er, hockey today compares to what you experienced? Do you have any thoughts on its evolution?

Segment Synopsis: Peake and Nunn reflect on hockey as a sport and how its rules, equipment and style of play have developed since their time. Nunn highlights that television and the media has brought more money to the game.

Keywords: Goal; Hockey Ball; Ice hockey; Money; Penalty Corner; Pitch; Reverse Stick (Tomahawk); Short Corner; Spectator; Television; Tennis; Tennis racket; Umpire

Subjects: Commercialism & Sponsorship; Kit & Equipment; Media; Recreation; Reunion; Rules; Tactics and Performance