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National Biography adds John Dawes and Michael Peckham

National Biography adds John Dawes and Michael Peckham

The Gwent pair are among 238 people added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography after they died in 2021.
Dawes is the only man to have led the British and Irish Lions to a series victory in New Zealand after being skipper on the 1971 tour.
The Abercarn-born centre won 22 caps for Wales after his debut in 1964 and was captain for the Grand Slam triumph in 1971 before heading off to face the All Blacks.
Dawes became national coach and won the Five Nations title four times, two of them Grand Slams, and won four triple crowns. He coached the Lions in New Zealand in 1977.
He played for Newbridge and went on to become a London Welsh captain and coach.
Panteg-born Peckham was the son of a railway locomotive fireman and won a scholarship from Monmouth Grammar School to Cambridge.
That started a career as a distinguished oncologist whose multidisciplinary treatment programmes improved survival rates and led to the wider acceptance of holistic care models for cancer patients.
A strong believer in the application of evidence-based medicine, he was the first NHS director of research and development.
The Oxford DNB is a national record of people who have shaped British history.
From June 2025, the dictionary includes biographies of more than 63,000 individuals, written by more than 14,000 contributors, and with more than 12,000 portrait images.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is included in the new edition with Queen Elizabeth II's entry to be published next year.
Other prominent figures added include politicians Shirley Williams, Austin Mitchell and Sir David Amess, entrepreneurs Sir Clive Sinclair and Sir David Barclay, Nobel prize-winner Antony Hewish, actors Sir Antony Sher and Helen McCrory, footballers Jimmy Greaves and Ian St John, journalist Katharine Whitehorn, broadcaster Janice Long, anti-deportation activist Anwar Ditta and charity fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore.
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