William George Paul, (1910 – 29 January 2003) was an English amateur cyclist who, with his team-mate 'Ernie' Mills, set the British 12-hour record on a

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

in 1934 and re-established it in 1936 with a 'world's best performance'. In 1937, in Italy, they set the world one-hour tandem record which stood for 63 years until September 2000. The

Addiscombe Addiscombe is an area of south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross, and is situated north of Coombe and Selsdon, east of Croydon town centre, south of Woodside, and west of Shirley. ...

Cycle Club team-mates set 20 world and British records at both short and long distances. His achievements were celebrated in 1937 when

Cycling Weekly ''Cycling Weekly'' is the world's oldest cycling publication. It is both a weekly cycling magazine and a news, features and buying advice website. It is published by Future plc, Future. It used to be affectionately referred to by British club c ...

jointly awarded him and Ernie Mills their own page in the

Golden Book of Cycling The ''Golden Book of Cycling'' was created in 1932 by ''Cycling'', a British cycling magazine, to celebrate "the Sport and Pastime of Cycling by recording the outstanding rides, deeds and accomplishments of cyclists, officials and administra ...

Personal life

Paul lived in the

area near

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, London.

Career

In 1934 Bill Paul was paired with his club team-mate, Ernie Mills, also from the Addiscombe Cycle Club in Croydon. Initially they had been on opposing tandem teams but together they covered over 30 miles in one hour in 1936 and won a 10-minute pursuit race in less than four minutes. Together they set the British 12-hour tandem record in 1934, and, after losing it in 1936 to both G.A.Birtchnell and C.G.Taylor, and later C.C.Melhuish and H.G.Chapman, Mills and Paul then retook the record in September 1936 with a 'world's best performance'. In 1936 Mills and Paul set a British record for a 30-mile ride on a tandem, covering the distance in 1 hour 5 minutes 3 seconds. In 1937 Mills and Paul set the 'World Tandem Hour Record', 31.06 miles (49.991 km), at the

Velodromo Vigorelli Velodromo Vigorelli (from 2001 officially Velodromo Maspes-Vigorelli) is a semi-covered velodrome in Milan, Italy. It is currently used mostly for American football events; surrounded by the track, there is a standard size football field in synth ...

(Velodromo Comunale Vigorelli) track in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

owned by 'Vigorelli Cycles'. The trip had been funded by readers of ''

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

'' magazine. This record stood until 23 September 2000 at Manchester Velodrome when it was beaten by Simon Keeton and Jon Rickard of Rutland Cycling Club. As of 2011 Mills and Paul's 1938 100-mile tandem record at Addiscombe Cycle Club of still stands.

Commemoration

The Golden Book

Mills & Paul's achievements were celebrated in 1937 when

awarded them their own page in the

Cigarette cards

In 1939 Mills and Paul's efforts were celebrated nationally when

John Player & Sons John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901 the company merged with twelve other companies to become a branch of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great B ...

issued a

Cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco industry, tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and nicotine marketing, advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible car ...

of them on their tandem. In a series of 50 cards called ''Cycling 1839-1939'', they were featured on card no.45 titled ''Tandem track position''.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Bill English male cyclists British male cyclists People from Croydon Cyclists from the London Borough of Croydon 1910 births 2003 deaths 20th-century English sportsmen