Table tennis champion whose maverick behaviour fuelled a boom for the sport in the 1960s and 70s
Despite being a British invention, table tennis has rarely thrown up a household name in the country of its origin. In recent times, with the exception of Desmond Douglas in the mid-1970s, only Chester Barnes, who has died aged 74, has been able to emerge from the sport to become a nationally recognised figure.
Barnes, who plied his trade in a slightly earlier era than Douglas, was known as much for his larger-than-life personality as for the five English championships he won from 1963 to 1974. In an era of sporting mavericks he was bracketed in the public consciousness with the long-haired rebellion of George Best, and the air of subversive excitement that surrounded him did much to raise the profile of table tennis, which went through something of a boom during his best years. The sport was regularly televised then, but even when Barnes played in run-of-the-mill county matches, sports centres would be sold out with crowds of several thousand people, all keen to see what he might serve up.
