Lyndon Bentley Wainwright (7 December 1919 – 2 January 2018) was a British

metrologist Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in Fra ...

ballroom dancer Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and tel ...

and author. He worked at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and was a chairman of the British Engineering Metrology Association. After the war, he was a leading exhibition dancer, and one of a small group of experts who introduced

Latin American dance Latin dance is a general label, and a term in partner dance competition jargon. It refers to types of ballroom dance and folk dance that mainly originated in Latin America, though a few styles originated elsewhere. The category of Latin dance ...

to Britain. Wainwright wrote nine books on ballroom dancing. He received the Carl Alan Award for 1996–99, and other honours from the dance community. He was an expert on phonogram performance rights and was a member of the British Ring of the

International Brotherhood of Magicians International Brotherhood of Magicians (I.B.M.) is an organization for both professional and amateur close-up and stage magicians, with approximately 15,000 members worldwide. The headquarters is in St. Charles, Missouri. There are over 300 l ...

Personal life

Born in Scarborough, Yorkshire in 1919, Wainwright married three times: to Felicia Heslop (m. 1943–60; divorced); Isobel Scott (m. 1964–69; divorced), and Yvonne Gandy (m. 1973–2011; her death). He had one son, Mark, from his second marriage and four grandchildren, Annabel, Connor, Ewan, and Brodie. He died in January 2018 at the age of 98.

Metrology

After his education and upbringing in Scarborough, Wainwright joined the NPL, the largest

applied physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination of fac ...

laboratory in the UK, in 1939. There he trained and worked as an engineering

. From September 1939, this facility worked mainly in support of the war effort, and so employment there was to some extent a

reserved occupation A reserved occupation (also known as essential services) is an occupation considered important enough to a country that those serving in such occupations are exempt or forbidden from military service. In a total war, such as the Second World War, ...

: key employees were not called up for military service if the employer made appropriate application to the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

. In addition to their work, staff members were expected to join the NPL

Fire Brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

as part-timers or the ARP (air-raid warning and fire watch). Later in life, when his active career as a dancer was over, Lyndon returned to metrology, working at the

National Engineering Laboratory The National Engineering Laboratory (NEL) was originally one of several large government-funded public research laboratories in the UK, staffed by scientists and engineers of the Scientific Civil Service. Other such laboratories include the Nat ...

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

, Scotland for four years, and then for seven years was head of quality control and metrology at PIRA, the Research Association for the Printing, Packaging and Paper Making Industries (formerly PATRA, the Printing Industry Research Association) in

Leatherhead, Surrey Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leathe ...

. In this capacity he lectured in the UK and abroad, and sat on committees of the International Association of Research Organizations in the Printing Industries. Wainwright was chairman of the English Metrology Association from 1967 to 1972.

Career in dance

Wainwright met his first wife, Felicia (14 April 1920 – September 1993), in 1940, and they soon started to train as a ballroom dance couple. They married in 1943, the year they first gave a dance exhibition for payment. After taking coaching from

Monsieur Pierre Monsieur Pierre was the professional name of Pierre Jean Philippe Zurcher-Margolle (born c. 1890, Toulon, Toulon, France – died 1963, London). He was a professional dancer and dance teacher, largely responsible for introducing the Latin American c ...

, they started to compete as a professional couple. In 1948 they won the Premier Prix in a World's Professional Eight Dance Ballroom championship, staged in Paris. The couple then specialised in the Latin dances and helped to introduce these dance forms to the British public. The partnership was billed as ''Lyndon & Felicia'' for their dance exhibitions, which were given in clubs, ballrooms, restaurants, celebrations and on television. On

BBC tv BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

, they appeared with the

Edmundo Ros Edmundo Ros OBE, FRAM (7 December 1910 – 21 October 2011), born Edmund William Ross, was a Trinidadian-Venezuelan musician, vocalist, arranger and bandleader who made his career in Britain. He directed a highly popular Latin American orche ...

Orchestra, and

Victor Silvester Victor Marlborough Silvester OBE (25 February 190014 August 1978) was an English dancer, writer, musician and bandleader from the British dance band era. He was a significant figure in the development of ballroom dance during the first half ...

's ''BBC Dancing Club'', dancing rumba, samba, paso doble and mambo. Between 1950 and 1960, the pair were probably the leading exhibition dancers of Latin American style in England. At their peak, they were presenting over 400 shows a year, often several times at different venues on a Sunday, and they also ran dance studios in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a town in Surrey, England, south of Centre of London, central London and northeast of Epsom. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 34,872. The majority (73%) was in the NRS social grade, ABC1 ...

and Purley in

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. They were engaged to perform every alternate Dancers' Night for a year at the

Hammersmith Palais The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first ''palais de danse'' to be built ...

Reviews of the partnership

:"The highlights of their career are their appearances as demonstrators at the first ever World Congress of Teachers of Dancing organised by the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing, their several appearances on television with Edmundo Ros and Victor Silvester, and their demonstrations in Switzerland, Holland,

Éire ( , ) is the Irish language name for "Ireland". Like its English counterpart, the term is used for both the island of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the sovereign state that governs 85% of the island's landmass. The latter is distinc ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and Denmark... :"Lyndon and Felicia are now well on their way to their two thousandth demonstration... Within Great Britain they have travelled over 100,000 miles to give demonstrations... It is estimated that nearly one million people have seen these demonstrations personally, apart from those who have seen them on the television screen." :"Together they broke box office records all over the country, in an era when England was producing the most beautiful dancers in the world." Kenneth Lee. :"If ever a list is produced of the six best show business ctsfrom the world of ballroom dancing in the past 50 years, it would not be complete without

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

" Walter Laird. :"They must have been one of the top ranking and highest paid duos of that and many other eras." Bob More. :"In the early 50s Lyndon & Felicia were well known for their wonderful cabaret – they didn't follow the normal trend – they studied all types of Latin American rhythms. Some that they danced, such as Blues, Mambo and the Mexican Jarabe, are quite new to many people today, but Lyndon and Felicia studied them, and presented every time a cabaret with a difference."

Peggy Spencer Margaret Ann Spencer MBE (née Hull; 24 September 1920 – 25 May 2016) was a British professional ballroom dancer, choreographer, competition adjudicator, and organiser. Peggy married Jack Spencer in 1940, and had two children, Helena and ...

Later dance work

Many years later, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

invited Lyndon to take part in a television documentary ''Last Man at the Palais'' dealing with the history of the

. The Palais had opened in 1919 as a dance hall and entertainment venue, and finally closed in 2007. With a fellow professional, Lyndon danced a

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

, which was the last dance shown on the televised program, first screened on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

on Christmas Eve 2007. After his dance partnership and marriage ended in 1960, Wainwright devoted himself to teaching, writing and the administrative side of the dance world. He was Executive Councillor, Hon. Treasurer, and Company Secretary of the International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA). He served as a delegate to the

British Dance Council The British Dance Council was formed in 1929 as the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing (OBBD). The name was changed in 1985 to the British Council of Ballroom Dancing and in 1996, the name was changed to British Dance Council. The BDC is the reco ...

and as founder and Hon Secretary of its Teachers' Committee, and on the ''Council for Dance Education and Training'', and the

Central Council of Physical Recreation Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

. He was an acknowledged expert in the Performing and Phonographic Rights involved in playing music in public. For over 50 years he contributed articles to dance magazines such as ''Dance Teacher'' (now ''Dance International''), ''Ballroom Dancing Times'' (now ''Dance Today''), and Dance Expression. Wainwright also wrote articles for the

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

. The dance profession has honoured Lyndon for his services to dance. In 1996 and 1999 he received the Carl Alan Award, in 1998 the ''Classique de Danse'', in 2000 the ''President's Award'' of the Ballroom Dancers' Federation, and in 2005 the ''Distinguished Service Award'' of the IDTA.

Membership of dance organisations

Wainwright is or has been a member of these dance organisations: *Member, Academie des Maitres de Danse de Paris. *Fellow, Executive Councillor, Hon. Treasurer and Examiner (Ballroom and Latin-American branch), International Dancing Masters' Association (IDMA). *Member, Midland Association of Teachers of Dancing (Latin American branch). *Member, Scottish Dance Teachers' Alliance. *Member,

Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is an international dance teaching and examination board based in London, England. The registered educational charity, which was established on 25 July 1904 as the ''Imperial Society of Dance T ...

(Ballroom branch). *Member and Examiner, Ballroom and Latin branches. Executive Councillor, Hon. Treasurer, and Company Secretary of the International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA). *Vice-president of La Sociedad Internacional de Profesores en Baile en España. 'Danscene'', 21 September 1989

Publications by Lyndon Wainwright

Books

*''Lyndon & Felicia: Ballroom dances of the Continent and Latin America''.

949 Year 949 ( CMXLIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab-Byzantine War: Hamdanid forces under Sayf al-Dawla raid into the theme of Lykandos, but are defeated. The Byzant ...

This book included the rumba, the samba, the paso-doble, the blues, the Viennese waltz, the jive, the conga and the tango: an exceptionally wide range of dances. *''First steps to ballroom dancing''. Lyric books, London 1993. *''The story of British popular dance''. IDTA 1997. *''The dance teacher's handbook''. British Dance Council. 2001. Advice on what you need to consider before you open your first dance school; the general process of teaching; and the business aspects of running a school. *''Strictly dancing ballroom''. ABC, Sydney 2005. *''Let's dance: the essential guide to ballroom for amateur dancers''. HarperCollins, London 2005. This, a best seller, has been translated into five other languages. *''Latin dancing'' (Need to know series). HarperCollins, London 2006. *''Ballroom dancing'' (Need to know series). HarperCollins, London 2007. *''Blowin' in the wind: the life of an innocent''. IDTA 2012. Autobiography of Lyndon Wainwright.

Engineering papers

*Munday F.D. and Wainwright L. 1965. The story of S.I. units and their use in the paper and board industry. ''Paper Technology'', 11, pp. 39–46. *Wainwright L. 1966. The equipment and services of the PATRA metrology section. ''The Printing, Packaging and Allied Trades Association''. Engineering Report #5, 17pp. *Wainwright L. 1967. An introduction to metrication for printers. ''The London Printer'' 2, pp. 74–77. *Wainwright L. 1968. Changes to metric measures. ''The Penrose Annual'' 61, pp. 139–49. *Wainwright L. 1969. For the technologist. ''Lithoprinter'' April, pp. 29–31. *Wainwright L. 1969. Going metric: why the SI system will make things simpler, ''PIRA News'' #12, January. *Wainwright L. 1971. Measurement of mechanical transmission errors in lithographic processes. ''PIRA/IARIGAI International Conference on Applied Lithographic Technology 1970''. Chapter 19.

Dance articles

Ballroom Dancing Times & Dance Today

:1956. ''Recent recordings''. BDT vol 1 November p89 :1960. ''Televiewing''. BDT 5 November p76 :1961. ''The Juniors take their turn''. BDT 5 May p416 :1963. ''Your first competition''. BDT 6 June p466 :1963. ''Heel turn''. BDT 7 October p27 :1963. ''Nerves!'' BDT 7 November p69 :1963. ''Footwork''. BDT 7 December p140 :1964. ''Leg action''. BDT 7 January p194 :1964. ''Smile, please!'' BDT 7 February p260 :1964. ''Knees''. BDT 7 March p306 :1964. ''Tackling the Tango''. BDT 7 April p366 :1964. ''Tango atmosphere''. BDT 7 May p415 :1964. ''Steps outside''. BDT 7 July p537 :1964. ''A word for the Ladies''. BDT 7 August p604 :1965. ''Your first competition''. BDT 8, September p650 :1965. ''The new competitor?'' BDT 9 July p524 :1966. ''A question of judgement''. BDT 10 January p183 :1966. ''Calculating the marks''. BDT 10 February p218 :1966. ''What would Market Research find?'' BDT 10 July 502 :1966. ''Competitions''. BDT 10 September 646 :1966. ''The IDMA – DTA merger''. BDT 11 11 October :1967. ''Dancing and social change''. BDT 11 January p168 :1967. ''The influence of Professionals''. BDT 11 February p185 :1967. ''Here to stay''. BDT 11 March :1981. ''Lyndon on Latin''. BDT 29, February :1986. ''It's up to You''. Dance Today 29 January p146 :1986. ''Wasted opportunity''. Dance Today 29 February p185 :1986. ''Landmarks of memory''. Dance Today 29 April p26 :1986. ''Music and Dance''. Dance Today 29 June p349 :1992. ''Myself when young''. Dance Today 36 October p28 :1993. ''Liars, damn liars, and media critics''. Dance Today 37 November

The Dance Teacher

Source: :1967. ''Prudent housekeeping''. DT vol 16 November p. 9 :1969. ''The case for a House Style''. DT 18 February p. 29 :1970. ''All this and ulcers too''. DT 19 February p. 30 :1970. ''IDTA Congress 1970''. DT 19 September p. 168 :1970. ''Eight fingers two thumbs''. DT 19 October p. 195 :1970. ''The Association charges''. DT 19 November p. 218 :1970. ''Day to day transactions''. DT 19 December p. 244 :1971. ''Decimal Quiz''. DT 20 February, p. 31 :1980. ''The Gulbenkian Report''. DT 30 November :1981. ''Latin or Disco''. DT 30 January :1982. ''Beatrice Bunny's Tale''. DT 31 January (under non-de-plume Aesop Minimus) :1989. ''Youth dancing''. DT 38 February, p. 47 :1990. ''Community Charge''. DT 39 May, p. 139 :1990. ''Mystina''. DT 39 November, p. 341 :1991. ''Ballroom Teachers Committee I''. DT 40 May, p. 154 :1991. ''Ballroom Teachers Committee II''. DT 40 June, p. 192 :1991. ''Vocational qualifications''. DT 40 December, p. 378 :1992. ''Teachers' Competition''. DT 41 May 167 :1992. ''Ballroom Teachers Committee''. DT 41 September, p. 29 :1993. ''NVQs: Where are they now?'' DT 42 May p. 177 :1993. ''Writing an article''. DT 42 August p. 253 :1994. ''Dance goes around & around''. DT 43 March, p. 97 :1994. ''Dance Schools''. DT 43 April p. 155 :1994. ''Education can be fun''. DT 43 May, p. 191 :1994. ''Straws in the wind''. DT 43 June, p. 257 :1994. ''The Superdance League''. DT 43 November, p. 461 :1995. ''NVQs The story continues'' DT 44 July, p.321 :1995. ''Eulogy to Guy Howard'' DT 44 August, p. 368 :1996. ''The Taxman Cometh'' DT 45 May, p. 229 :1996. ''National Insurance contributions'' DT 45 June, p. 277 :1998. ''Aspects of teaching dance'' DT 47 March, p. 81 :1999. ''Children in the School'' DT 48 January, p. 9 :1999. ''Burn the floor'' DT 48 July, p. 273 :2000. ''Reaching the public'' DT 49 December, p. 517 :2001. ''The nature of dance'' DT 50 March, p. 95 :2001. ''Chided'' DT 50 October, p. 429

References

Links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Lyndon 1919 births 2018 deaths British dance teachers Dance writers English male dancers English engineers English writers Metrologists People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire British ballroom dancers 20th-century British dancers 20th-century British educators 20th-century British engineers Scientists of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)