Thomas Simpson was one of Britain's most successful professional cyclists. He was born in Haswell, County Durham, and later moved to Harworth, Nottinghamshire. Simpson began road cycling as a teenager before taking up track cycling, specialising in pursuit races. He won a bronze medal for track cycling at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
Simpson c. 1966
In 1956, aged 18, Simpson began track cycling at Manchester's Fallowfield Stadium (pictured in 1985).
In April 1959, 21-year-old Simpson arrived at Gare de Saint-Brieuc in Brittany (pictured in 2011) with £100 and the hope of launching his continental professional career.
Simpson's fourth place in the 1959 world road race championships at Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands (pictured in 2011) was the highest ever by a British rider.
Harworth is an area and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harworth Bircotes in the Bassetlaw district in Nottinghamshire, England, on the border with South Yorkshire. It is 8 miles (13 km) north of Worksop. The population of the civil parish of Harworth Bircotes was 7,948 in the 2011 Census.
All Saints' Church, Harworth
Harworth Colliery in 2009
Industrial Units, Harworth with the tower of All Saints Church in the distance
Harworth war memorial