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Malcolm Cuthbert Nokes MC MA BSc (20 May 1897 – 22 November 1986) was a British schoolteacher, soldier, research scientist and Olympic athlete, who competed in the hammer throw and discus throw.
He won the gold medal for England in the 1930 British Empire Games in the hammer throw contest and finished fifth in the discus throw event. At the 1934 British Empire Games he won again the gold medal in the hammer throw competition.
Nokes was the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) Champion from 1923 to 1926 and placed second at the 1921 AAA Championships and 1922 AAA Championships and 1927–28. He was chairman of the AAA's Coaching Committee, and also a member of the Achilles Club.
He was a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied chemistry and wrote a thesis on metaphenetidine. Nokes served in the Great War in the Royal Artillery in the trenches and then as an Air observer in the Royal Flying Corps. He was awarded a Military Cross for his service, becoming MC Nokes MC. In the Second World War he served as an officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Training Branch) while a schoolmaster. London Gazette, supplement, 21 May 1946. p. 2398. Royal Air Force service number 86246. Resigned commission 1 May 1946.
He taught chemistry at Malvern College and later at Harrow School, where he was appointed Head of Science; he had come to the attention of Harrow when two schools colocated during the Second World War, although they did not merge. His practical demonstrations of the reaction of sodium with water were popular and famous among his pupils. These often entailed an explosion as MC Nokes put more than the recommended quantity of sodium into the water, and as the smoke cleared and noise subsided, MC Nokes would say "Note the small report." He was a member of the Science Masters' Association. New Scientist. 26 December 1957. p. 7. Later he worked at Harwell and then was Head of LaboratoriesM.C. Nokes (1963) Demonstrations in Modern Physics. Heinemann Educational Books. at CENTO in Tehran. In retirement he lived in Honiton, Devon, and then in Alton, Hampshire. His nicknames included "Nokey", "Glaxo" and "Stally."
The chronology of his career was:
During his time at Harrow, he served as a councillor in what is now Harrow London Borough Council, being elected as a Conservative for the ward of Harrow-on-the-Hill & Greenhill.Gray, Colin. Website "Elections in Harrow 1894–2015", Entry for 1954, Appendix A, Retrieved 2 July 2015, "Members of Harrow Council seeking Re-election, 1954" During his service as a borough councillor, he proposed and was instrumental in bringing into service one of the first electric Garbage truck to be used in England, as part of the modernization of public health services in Harrow.
MC Nokes was one of eight children of Walter Nokes. His brothers included Gerald Dacre Nokes, Gerald Dacre Nokes a barrister and Indian judge, and George Augustus Nokes.
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Categories: 1897 Births, 1986 Deaths, Military Personnel From The London Borough Of Enfield, People From Edmonton, London, Athletes From The London Borough Of Enfield, Sportspeople From Alton, Hampshire, People From Honiton, English Male Hammer Throwers, British Male Hammer Throwers, English Male Discus Throwers, British Male Discus Throwers, Olympic Athletes For Great Britain, Olympic Bronze Medallists For Great Britain, Athletes At The 1924 Summer Olympics, Athletes At The 1928 Summer Olympics, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallists For England, Athletes At The 1930 British Empire Games, Athletes At The 1934 British Empire Games, Teachers At Harrow School, Royal Garrison Artillery Officers, Royal Flying Corps Officers, Officers, Royal Air Force Personnel Of World War I, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Personnel Of World War Ii, Recipients Of The Military Cross, Alumni Of Magdalen College, Oxford, Academic Staff Of The University Of Tehran, Science Teachers, British Army Personnel Of World War I, 20th-century British Chemists, Nuclear Chemists, English Chemists, Scientists From London, British Nuclear Physicists, Medalists At The 1924 Summer Olympics, Olympic Bronze Medalists In Athletics, Schoolteachers From Worcestershire, Medallists At The 1930 British Empire Games, Medallists At The 1934 British Empire Games, 20th-century English Sportsmen, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallists In Athletics
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