Oliver Simmonds

Sir Oliver Edwin Simmonds, FRAeS (22 November 1897 – 26 July 1985) was a British aviation pioneer, aircraft engineer and Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Duddeston from 1931 to 1945.

Early life Simmonds was born on 22 November 1897 in King's Lynn, Norfolk, the elder son of the Rev Frederick Simmonds, a lawyer by training and a Congregational Minister by avocation. He was educated at Taunton School in Somerset.

In early 1916, he volunteered to join the Royal Flying Corps as a pilot. He was trained at Weybridge, Surrey. He received his wings and in March 1916 joined 25 Squadron in France. He piloted a Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b, a light bomber and observation aircraft. Arthur Tedder, later Deputy Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in Northern Europe in 1944/45, was also a member of 25 Squadron at that time.

Upon demobilisation Simmonds went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge, as an exhibitioner in 1919. He held the seat until the 1945 general election. Sir Oliver retained his interests in the US, Canadian and French businesses. This last was also sold in the late 1940s to a French Company.

Simmonds Aerocessories was the original manufacturer of surform tools.

On selling his Simmonds / Spartan companies Oliver Simmonds established Simmonds Aerocessories. As the company grew it expanded its interests to producing aircraft controls and a fuel measurement tool that became a standard in the industry. Under his auspices the company grew rapidly spreading across all of Europe as a multi-national and then worldwide into Canada, the US and Australia. In 1941 Simmonds Aerocessories built a one-off target drone the OQ-11 which was tested by the USAAF.

Bahamas In 1948, Simmonds sold his British-based interests and moved to The Bahamas. He started a construction company and undertook the development of the Balmoral Beach Club, a luxurious hotel on Cable Beach. In its celebrity heyday, the hotel cultivated a relaxed, sophisticated atmosphere and hosted notable guests such as The Beatles who were here to film the movie Help!. Other luminary Balmoral guests included Richard Nixon and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

Simmonds helped to stabilize the hotel industry by becoming the President of The Hotel Employer Association and then the President of The Friends of The Bahamas. Simmonds built 'High Tor' with its 18-foot gracious high ceiling rooms it was designed with care and with an eye to detail still apparent to this day. Simmonds imported English oak panels for doors and an 18th-century carved wooden fireplace as well as many other decorative items. He was an inventor and engineer, there are still features existing today that were considered innovative when he designed them such as the floating spiral staircase and the enormous windows that slide down to disappear completely into the floor. He lived in High Tor until 1963 and he continued to live in Lyford Cay until 1977.

4CYTE (foresight) Simmonds invented a game club called 4CYTE (pronounced "foresight"). Each player has an identical set of letters and a six-by-six grid. Players alternate calling letters and placing them on their respective grids. Each player may hold one letter as a stand by. When the grids are filled, the players score the six rows, six column, and two diagonals. When a player has spelled a word that is at least three letters long that player receives points for that scoring line. Longer words are worth more points. The player with the most points wins. In the solitaire version, a player selects thirty six letters and moves them around at will to score a personal best.

Simmonds was President of the club and the first 4CYTE champion. The International 4 CYTE Champions' Club is an unincorporated association owned by the International Parlour Games Corporation Limited, Nassau, Bahamas. Simmonds was President of the club and the first 4CYTE champion.