Tom Pugh

Charles Thomas Michael Pugh (13 March 1937 – 1 February 2016) was an English cricketer who captained Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He was also arguably, for almost half a century, the best doubles rackets player in the world.

Contrary to popular belief, he did not run a nightclub. He did own Ace Sauna on the Kings Road, which was one of the first place to have sports massages, with the then current English Judo champion one of his regulars. However it was raided by the police and as a result was charged with "keeping or managing a brothel", but was acquitted.

Life He was born close to Lord's and was educated at Eton. His father was Micheal Arthur Pugh of the Atco Motor Mower Company; his mother, Mary Elizabeth Ekersley of the cotton mill family in Manchester, was an international ice hockey player.

Whilst doing his National Service and serving on HMS Adamant, he suffered a breakdown and was taken to a mental hospital in Portsmouth. which was raided by the police and exposed by the News of the World. He was charged under the Sexual Offences Act, but was found not guilty with the polices' affidavit proven to be 90% factually incorrect. He had previously run a successful flower business with 3 shops and a garden construction company, Pugh & Carr in central London. They served Ava Gardner and provided the bouquet that Margaret Thatcher held as she was received at 10 Donwing St after her successful election. He imported JVC karaoke machines, kicking off the genre in the UK and ran karaoke sing-a-long evenings in both Florida and London, under the slogan - At last your chance to murder Barry Manilow. And for almost 30 years ran Londons most successful video games businesses, Tom Pugh's Leisure Company. was controversially appointed captain of Gloucestershire. According to the Times, Graveney, whom he replaced, was not forewarned; the change was made because professionals were not regarded as suitable leaders.

In April 1962, Pugh organised a tour to Bermuda during which the county played a soccer match against the island team with Stanley Matthews guesting for Gloucestershire. On the three-week tour the county team played ten cricket matches against local teams.

Pugh played in every match in 1962, but his batting returns were modest, and he averaged only 15 in County Championship matches. He was sacked from the captaincy at the end of the 1962 season, despite the fact that Gloucestershire finished fourth in the table and won nine out of the last 15 matches. Gloucestershire won 14 matches under Pugh's captaincy in that season. They have never won as many matches in a season since.

He was bitter about his sacking, and refused to attend reunions of former players.

Rackets In rackets, Pugh won the Public Schools Doubles for Eton in 1955 with Lord Chelsea, and was runner up in the Amateur Singles in 1967 and 1970.

He won the Noel Bruce Cup (Old Boys Doubles) for Eton six times between 1962 and 1986 with James Leonard (1962, 1963 and 1965), David Norman (1964) and Willie Boone (1984 and 1986). With Willie Boone he also won the Amateur Doubles in 1975, 1976 and 1977, having first won it with JR Thompson in 1966. He won the Combined Services Past and Present Singles in 1959, 1961 and 1965, and dominated the doubles for many years, winning with Lieutenant Commander Peter Kershaw (1958 and 1959), his brother Tim (1963, 1967 and 1972) and Geoffrey Atkins (1976, 1982, 1983 and 1984).