admired rather than adored, aloof,
able to eat and drink and smoke as he
liked. Although a tenacious, stubborn
racer, Gimondi was gentlemanly out
of the saddle. Indeed, he and Merckx
maintained friendly relations, which
Gimondi was unable to do with his
principal Italian rival, the coarser
Gianni Motta.
Gimondi said if he had been more
pragmatic he might have won and
earned more; when he was promoted
to the main Savarini team in the
1965 Tour, he was persuaded not to
renegotiate his contract and so missed
out on a fortune. Fervent about diet,
he was religiously devout and cycled
with an ankle chain which had been
specially blessed. For relaxation, he
was said to employ a masseur who also
worked as a nurse in an asylum and
would assuage any rage at defeat with
tales about its inmates.
Merckx’s dominance – he would
win five Tours and five Giri – made
Gimondi’s own occasional victories
all the sweeter. They included the
Giro in 1969, albeit in controversial
circumstances following Merckx’s
temporary exclusion from the race
after he failed a doping test, only for
the result to be rescinded.
And the year before – the first in
which there had been random dopetests – Gimondi himself had himself
been nabbed, albeit the result was
only announced a fortnight after
the race. He (and his lawyers) were
able, however, to persuade a court
on appeal that he had merely taken a
stimulant which was then still legal.
The truth was that racing had by thenentered its era of professional doping
and, as Gimondi said later, everyone
seemed to be at it. In 1975, he failed
a test during the Tour de France and
served a month’s disqualification.
Gimondi’s other notable triumphs
included victory over the cobbles in
the Paris-Roubaix one-day race of
1966 and, in 1973, the UCI Road World
Championship. This was held in
torrid heat in Barcelona and Gimondi
surprised himself by outlasting
Merckx and Freddy Maertens around
the Montjuic circuit.
By then he had switched to the
Bianchi team, and in the autumn of
his career enjoyed a third win in the
Giro d’Italia in 1976, coming up on the
rails at the age of 33 and seizing the
lead. During the race he suffered a bad
fall, but such was the respect in which
he was held that the other racers
refused to pass him and waited until
he had remounted. When the doctors
checked to see if he was concussed
they asked who he was, and he said:
“Who do you think, I’m bloody Eddy
Merckx!” His record of nine podium
finishes in the competition remains
unsurpassed.
Felice Gimondi was born at
Sendrina, near Bergamo, on
September 29 1942. This was the Italy
of Don Camillo, poor and conservative.
The story went that a priest had
refused to preside at the wedding of
Felice’s parents on the grounds that
the bride was the local postmistress
and sometimes had to hitch up her
skirt a little to make her rounds by
bicycle.
It was her mount that Felice first
learned to master and soon she was
sending him up the steeper hills to
make deliveries for her. Yet she jibbed
at lending it to him for races, for it was
her livelihood and the family could
not, in straitened post-war Italy, afford
another. Then fate intervened when
Felice’s father, a lorry driver who
carried gravel, and who had fired his
son with his own passion for racing,
was paid for a job not in cash but with
a bicycle.
After retiring in 1979, Gimondi
founded an insurance business and
had several spells as sporting director
of cycling teams. They included that
for which rode Marco Pantani, who in
1998 became the first Italian winner of
the Tour since Gimondi, only to die in
squalid circumstances just a few years
later after being disqualified from the
sport for doping offences.
Gimondi died of a heart attack while
swimming on holiday in Sicily. On
hearing the news, Eddy Merckx said:
“This time it is I who have lost.”
Felice Gimondi is survived by his
wife Tiziana Bersano, whom he met
when he stayed at a hotel her parents
kept in Liguria. They were married in
1968 and had two daughters.Felice Gimondi, born September 29
1942, died August 16 2019Cyclist who won all three grand tours but was dubbed ‘the eternal runner-up’ to Eddy Merckx
Felice Gimondi
Royal Marine officer commended for bravery during a Soviet-backed armed insurgency in Aden
Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Campbell
S
UTOPO PURWO
NUGROHO, who has
died of cancer aged 49,
became an unlikely hero
in Indonesia in his role as
spokesman for the country’s
disaster management
agency, informing the
public about the country’s
frequent natural calamities.
Located on the Pacific
Ring of Fire, Indonesia is
beset by constant risks of
eruptions, earthquakes,
tsunamis and floods. Before
Pak Topo (“Mr Topo”), as
he was known, took up his
post in 2010, information
about such events tended to
get lost amid online hoaxes,
rumours and superstition.
Nugroho first gained
public attention in 2009
when a dam broke near
Jakarta, killing more than
100 people. He was working
as a government researcher
and after analysing
photographs of the dam,
he went public with his
finding that the accident
had been avoidable. “It was
me against the Ministry of
Public Works,” he recalled.
“I received a lot of threats to
keep quiet.”
When he was offered
the post at the disaster
management agency in
2010, he turned it down,
not wanting to be anyone’s
mouthpiece. He was
eventually persuaded to
take the job when told the
agency needed someone the
public could trust.
Almost his first challenge,
in October 2010, was
to persuade 350,000
people to move away
from Mount Merapi, Java,
which was spewing lava.
He gave the warning late
on October 24 and by the
following evening, when
the mountain blew its top,
almost everyone had been
evacuated.
To his regret about 350
people, believing they
needed to appease the
mountain’s angry spirits,
refused to leave.
Nugroho used social
media to counteract hoaxes
(“No tsunami seen in
Banggai”), give advice on
avoiding injury (“Pyroclastic
material ... can reach 700-
1,200 degrees centigrade.
Trust me when I say,
don’t touch it”), challenge
superstition (“The mountain
peak is clouded with
altocumulus lenticularis
... No connection with
mysticism”) and posting
information about the
science of seismology
while drawing attention
to problems with disaster
planning and man-made
factors that worsen natural
calamities.
Nugroho’s standing inIndonesia reached new
heights after he revealed in
January 2018 that he had
been diagnosed with stage
four lung cancer, despite
being a lifelong non-smoker.
As it turned out 2018
was Indonesia’s deadliest
year for natural disasters in
more than a decade. Even
as he became increasingly
unwell, enduring bouts of
chemotherapy, Nugroho
remained busy, issuing
press releases, tweeting
and taking reporters’ calls
from his hospital bed.
Interspersed with posts
on volcanic eruptions or
landslides, he set up a
personal feed of videos of
his daily battle with cancer.
The Singapore Straits
Times named him an Asian
of the Year for 2018, praising
his efforts to counter the
rise of “fake news” at a
time when “disinformation
cannot just spread easily
but also cause unwarranted
panic and fear”.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho
was born in the central
Java town of Boyolali on
October 7 1969 and grew
up in a poor family. He was
bullied at school for “being
shoeless and stupid”, but
took a degree in Geography
at Gadjah Mada University
in Yogyakarta and a master’s
degree in watershed
management followed by
a doctorate from Bogor
Agricultural University,
before working as a
government researcher.
In January this year
Nugroho filmed himself
lying in bed with his cat
Nyusul. “The cat is my
faithful friend,” he tweeted.
“When I get home from
the office I’m in pain and
immediately lie down.
Nyusul lies down at my
head. He knows I’m sick
with painful cancer, cancer
that has spread to the bone.
He loves me.”
He is survived by his wife,
Retno Utami Yulianingsih,
by two sons – and by
Nyusul.Sutopo Purwo Nugroho,
born October 7 1969, died
July 7 2019Sutopo Purwo Nugroho
Kept Indonesia informed about
impending natural disasters
Fought against superstition,
hoaxes and fake newsF
ELICE GIMONDI, who has
died aged 76, was one of the
great names of road cycling
in the Sixties and Seventies
and only the second man to
win all three of the sport’s
grand tours – of France, Spain and his
native Italy; the feat has been achieved
since by just five other racers, the last
being Chris Froome.
Gimondi was perhaps unfortunate
in that the peak of his career coincided
with that of Eddy Merckx, arguably
the greatest competitor cycling has
yet seen. So often was he destined to
finish second to the Belgian that the
Italian press dubbed Gimondi “the
eternal runner-up” and their rivalry
has inspired several Italian bands to
pen songs about it. However, it was
initially Gimondi who seemed as if he
would dominate the decade to come
when – sensationally – he won the
Tour de France at his first attempt in
1965.
Then aged 22, Gimondi had taken
part in the road race at the Tokyo
Olympics the year before, finishing
33rd. The same year, he had given
greater notice of his ability by winning
the Tour’s event for amateurs and
novices. Even so, he was first invited
to ride in the 1965 Tour by the Savarini
team just for the experience, only
being promoted to the squad proper
at a late stage when another cyclist fell
ill.
He led the race almost from the
start, the key stage coming when
he resisted the attacks of Raymond
Poulidor on Mont Ventoux. Gimondi
also dominated the time trials,
demonstrating how modern a rider
he was: good at everything. Tall and
sinewy, he specialised in lurking in
the main peloton before launching
unexpected attacks on a tiring leader.
He was also tactically and strategically
adept, particularly at forging the
temporary racing alliances crucial to
victory.
When Gimondi won the Giro d’Italia
in 1967, destroying Jacques Anquetil
in the Tonale Pass, and then Spain’s
Vuelta the year after, he became a
hero in Italy (where cycling rivalled
soccer in popularity) and a symbol
of its renewed self-confidence and
booming economy. Hailed the heir to
Italy’s cycling legends Fausto Coppi
and Gino Bartali, Gimondi’s triple
triumph had only ever been achieved
before by Anquetil. It has since been
emulated by Merckx, Bernard Hinault,
Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali and
Froome.
Yet, admitted Gimondi in retrospect,
at the zenith of his reputation he had
already realised that Merckx was a
stronger rider than he. The moment of
truth came when he was overhauled in
the 1968 Giro over the peaks of the Tre
Cime di Lavaredo in the Dolomites.
The pair were diametric opposites in
temperament Merckx, nicknamed
“The Cannibal”, was brutally hard,Gimondi after
winning the Giro
d’Italia in 1967 and,
below right, on the
road in 1971L
IEUTENANT-COLONEL BOB
CAMPBELL, who has died
aged 91, was a Royal Marine
commended for his bravery
in Aden and later became a stalwart
of the Roman Catholic Church in
Scotland.
Campbell had served in a wide
range of appointments at sea and
ashore, in staff positions and in
RM Commandos, when in July
1964 he became commander of
the headquarters company of 45
Commando, which was deployed in
Aden. Later that year he assumed
command of X Company, which
fought a number of sharp actions at
Ad Dimnah at the foot of the Khuraiba
Pass in the Radfan mountains.
There, in the Cold War, a Soviet-
backed armed insurgency, partly
inspired by the Egyptian President
Gamal Nasser’s ideas of pan-Arab
nationalism, threatened the British
Crown Colony of Aden and its
hinterland, the Protectorate of Aden,
and the sheikhs had invoked a defence
treaty calling for British assistance.
On two separate occasions through
his resolute and skilled planning of
operations against the dissidents,
Campbell ensured the destruction of
large enemy ammunition stores and
inflicted casualties on a mobile and
elusive opponent.
“His realistic precautions and
extreme steadiness under difficult
conditions did much to reduce his
own casualties and his actions were
an inspiration and example to his
company”, read the citation when
Campbell was awarded the Queen’s
Commendation for Brave Conduct.
Robert Adair Campbell was born
in Bermuda, where his father was
serving with the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders, and was educated at
Ampleforth.
In 1946-47 Campbell served
as a national serviceman in the
Royal Marines. A year later he was
selected for officer training and
was commissioned in 1948, when
his potential was recognised by his
appointment as aide de camp to
the Major-General Royal Marines,
Plymouth.
He was a very good shot both with
shotgun and rifle, champion shot in
the Marines in the late Fifties, and a
sniper instructor. Once, in Aden, one
of the old sheikhs claimed that his menwere first-class shots while the British
army were rubbish. Just then a flock of
bustards flew overhead, and the sheikh
offered Campbell an old Lee Enfield
rifle, which he put to his shoulder and
brought down the leading bird, much
to the delight of the tribesmen, who
ran over and collected the bird to eat
for their dinner. There was no trouble
in the area for a number of weeks after
that.
From 1959 to 1961 he was an
instructor at the School of Infantry,Warminster, where one of his students
was the then Lieutenant Charles
Guthrie (later Chief of Defence Staff
1997-2001 and Field Marshall Lord
Guthrie of Craigiebank), who became
a lifelong friend – “Taught him
everything he knows,” Campbell liked
to joke.
In 1971 Campbell took command
of 41 Commando, which was shortly
to be deployed to Malta, with their
families, as a political signal of Britain’s
continuing commitment to Nato’s
southern flank. It was an awkward
time in the relationship between the
British and Maltese governments, with
much potential for the authorities to
raise any issue concerning its resident
battalion to a political level.
Fortunately, Campbell and his wife
had strong personal connections with
Malta and many of its leading families;
they did much to establish the place
of the Commando as an integral part
of the local community, and there
were no incidents under Campbell’s
command. He received a personal
letter from Lord Mountbatten
commending him and his men on their
actions and restraint.
On his father’s death in 1972,
Campbell retired early from the Royal
Marines to live at Altries on the Dee,
giving his family their first stable
home after living the itinerant life
of many a military family. Campbell
loved sharing the house and estate,
and little gave him more pleasure than
for family and friends to catch their
first salmon or shoot a first roe deer.
One of his grandchildren said:
“Umpa was always busy organising
the next most fun thing to do. He loved
teaching us grandchildren and he
would never be confined to being too
careful. The thrill of something with a
tinge of risk attached to it was where
the fun part was.”
Campbell was a proper countryman- determined, upright, stubborn,
modest and immensely generous
with his time. He loved his family
and was immensely proud of his 19
grandchildren, but he was always
an enthusiast for whatever he did.
For most of his years at Altries, each
evening he would change into his
smoking jacket and black tie.
Campbell was an all-round
sportsman, playing cricket and rugby
in the first teams at Ampleforth. As
wing forward for Combined Services,
he always ran as fast as he could to
the breakdown, relying on his fitness
as a Marine to be there first. He was a
member of the MCC from 1955.
As a keen fisherman he was
chairman of the River Dee Fishery
Board from 1987 to 1996, when he
oversaw the buying out of the fishing
nets and the introduction of the
controversial catch and release policy
which was then ahead of its time, and
he was a member of the council of the
Atlantic Salmon Trust.
Campbell’s deep Catholic faith was
learnt from his Irish-born mother,
Aileen née Emmet. He was installed in
1977 as a Knight of Grace and Devotion
of the Order of Malta whose work
includes looking after and funding
hospitals, medical care centres around
the world for the sick and elderly, and
the victims of conflict. He was also
awarded the Papal medal, the personal
gift of the Pope, in 1988: the bishop
who presented the medal whispered,
that “this is for you and your wife”.
He was a member of the Royal
Company of Archers, the Queen’s
Bodyguard for Scotland.
As a young officer Campbell took a
shine to his youngest sister Morag’s
best friend at Woldingham school,
Norma “Dumbo” Tyler, the daughter
of Major-General Leslie Tyler of the
REME. When his own school friend,
Basil Stafford, showed an interest in
Morag, both young men turned up
at Woldingham School, with Stafford
dressed as the chauffeur and Campbell
in the back seat of a swanky car, and
under this pretence they were allowed
to take the girls out. The nuns of
Woldingham subsequently denied
having been fooled.
Campbell married Norma in 1951,
and she survives him with three sons
and three daughters. In about 1965
they responded to an appeal from
an orphanage in Waterlooville for
a Catholic family to take an interest
in a family of four semi-orphaned
children whose father, an RM officer,
had died suddenly, and they fostered a
fourth boy.
One son continued the original
family line by joining the Argyll and
Sutherland Highlanders and another
became chairman of the Scottish CBI.Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Campbell,
born March 14 1928, died August 2
2019Campbell, below
(in kilt), with the
Prince of Wales:
after retiring from
the Royal Marines
he lived in Scotland,
where he enjoyed
fishing and chaired
the River Dee
Salmon Fisheries
BoardPOLARIS / EYEVINE/REXAFPObituaries
The Daily Telegraph Monday 26 August 2019 *** 27
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