John Murray, Olympic ice hockey player – obituary

John Murray, who has died aged 94, was the last surviving member of Britain’s 1948 Winter Olympic ice hockey team, the last time Britain took part in the Winter Games. He also played in six World Championships, captaining the squad on three occasions, and served as a vice-president of the British Ice Hockey Association.

A natural leader of men, during the war he was made a captain in the Royal Engineers at the age of 21, one of the Army’s youngest in this rank at the time. He went on to become a successful businessman, and was for 49 years the managing director of the Cornwall Garage Group, which at its height had 44 petrol filling stations in southern England.

John Cyril Mole Murray (known as Johnny) was born on January 21 1923 in Camden Town, and brought up in north London. Educated at Harrow Technical College, he started skating at the age of 11 at the junior ice hockey school in the Empire...