John Riseley-Prichard

17/1/1924 - 8/7/1993

Record updated 21-Jan-08

John Riseley-Prichard started racing in 1952. He bought a Connaught in 1954 and won a Formula 1 Race at Davidstow in Cornwall! He entered the British Grand Prix that year but crashed out. He raced at Le Mans in 1955 but retired shortly afterwards. A Lloyd's insurance broker, he moved to Thailand to escape trial for pornography and paedophilia. Died of AIDS in Baan Kai Thuan in Thailand.

John Henry Augustin Prichard was born in Hereford, England, adding the Riseley to his last name at a later date. He started racing in 1952 at national level with a Cooper Riley which he continued to drive in 1953, finishing 3rd in the 1500 cc sports car race at Davidstow in Cornwall.

In 1954 he bought Rob Walker's Connaught (A3), which he drove mainly in minor races, winning the M.R.C. Formula 1 Race at Davidstow in Cornwall in June. At the same meeting he won his heat of the 1500 sports car race in a Cooper-Connaught he also won the second heat for unlimited sports cars. He won the Formula 2 race for 2 Litre cars in his Connaught and the aformentioned F1 race as well. He took second in the 1500 sports car final, third in the Formula Libre Handicap in the Cooper-Connaught but then a bridge collapsed bringing a premature end to proceedings before the final of the unlimited sports car race could be held.

In July he drove in the British Grand Prix but went out in an accident. On August 28th 1954, at Castle Combe for the Joe Fry Memorial Trophy race, a venue where Connaught often turned in good results, Horace Gould won in a 2.0 Cooper-Bristol T23; behind him in second was Bill Whitehouse in Connaught AL10, Riseley-Prichard was third in A3 and Michael Young was fourth in A8.

John raced A3 for fun in Formula Libre events in 1955 as well as sharing a works Aston Martin with Tony Brooks in that year's Le Mans 24-hour race, but in the wake of Levegh's terrible accident his family is thought to have persuaded him to retire from the sport and concentrate on his profession as a Lloyd's insurance broker.

He was one of the original partners in the Ann Summers sex shop before it was sold-on.

He moved to Thailand, hotly pursued by both the police and the British tabloids, to escape trial when he ran into trouble with both the British and International law over his porn and paedophile links. He suffered from ill-health for a long time before dying of AIDS in Baan Kai Thuan, a remote village in Thailand.



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