Rex Garrod (10 September 1943 – 8 April 2019) was an inventor and roboteer notable for building the radio controlled car that starred in '' Brum'', and co-presenting '' The Secret Life of Machines''. He also entered several successful robots into the early series of British TV series '' Robot Wars''.

Early and personal life

Garrod grew up in Mickfield,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

. He was a speedway rider for the

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30pm (first ...

(1971) and

Scunthorpe Saints The Scunthorpe Scorpions are a speedway team in the British SGB Championship. They have raced at various times since 1972, at three different venues. History 1972–1978 The original Scunthorpe side were known as Scunthorpe Saints from 197 ...

(1972–74). He and former

motorcross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competiti ...

racer

Dave Bickers David Geoffrey Bickers (17 January 1938 – 6 July 2014) was an English professional motocross racer from Coddenham, Suffolk. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1959 to 1969. Bickers won two European motocross championships, a ...

then moved into special effects. Garrod married Sally in 1992, and they had two daughters. He had Alzheimer's disease for the last eight years of his life, and died on 8 April 2019, aged 75.

Television work

'' Brum'' was a British television series which ran intermittently between 1991 and 2002. It told the story of a small car called Brum, which in reality was a giant remote control car. Garrod is credited with both designing and building Brum. He also made devices on the children's programme ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

''. Garrod co-presented

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's '' The Secret Life of Machines'' with

Tim Hunkin Tim Hunkin (born Timothy Mark Trelawney Hunkin, 27 December 1950 in London) is an English engineer, cartoonist, writer, and artist living in Suffolk, England. He is best known for creating the Channel Four television series '' The Secret Life of ...

, another inventor from the same county.

''Robot Wars''

Garrod was Team Leader of Team Cassius, a team of roboteers which entered several robots into Series 1, 2 and 3 of '' Robot Wars''. In addition to the performances of his robots, he was known for his generosity in helping other teams fix their robots. In Series 1, Team Cassius entered "Recyclopse", which reached the Grand Final but lost to

Roadblock A roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road. The reasons for one could be: * Roadworks *Temporary road closure during special events * Police chase *Robbery * Sobriety checkpoint In peaceful circumstanc ...

. In Series 2, Team Cassius entered 5th seeded "Cassius", a wedge-shaped robot armed with a front-pivoted flipper. Cassius was the first competitor in the show's history to "self right" (i.e. to turn itself over when it was upside down), and as such Garrod is often credited with inventing the so-called "

srimech In robot combat, a self-righting mechanism or srimech (sometimes spelled as srimec or shrimech) is a device used to re-right a robot should it get flipped. ''Biohazard'' of '' BattleBots'' was the first robot to self-right. Military applications ...

". Cassius also reached the Grand Final, but lost to

Panic Attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...

. In Series 3, Team Cassius entered 2nd seeded "Cassius 2", a similar robot to its predecessor "Cassius", which lost to Series 4 runner-up Pussycat in the 2nd round of the heats. His team then quit and never returned to the show, as their complaints about insufficient health and safety precautions were not listened to by the producers.

References

External links

We Love Rex Garrod on Facebook

Interview on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrod, Rex 1943 births 2019 deaths British inventors Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in England People from Mid Suffolk District British speedway riders Ipswich Witches riders Scunthorpe Scorpions riders