On this day, Frederick Lee “Freddie” Frith OBE is born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England in 1908, destined to become a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion. A former stonemason and later a motorcycle retailer in Grimsby, he was five times winner of the Isle of Man TT. Frith had the distinction of being one of the few to win TT races before and after the Second World War.
Freddie entered his first major race, the Manx Grand Prix in 1930 riding an over-the counter, 350 cc Velocette KTT in the Junior event, finishing third at a speed of 60.34 mph.
He won the 1935 Junior Manx Grand Prix and then joined the Norton team in1936. It was a winning combination - he claimed the Junior TT and finished second in the Senior TT as well as winning the 350cc European Championship
In 1937 he went one better in the Senior and took an impressive win, setting the first 90 mph plus lap of the Snaefell Mountain Course.
War put the TT on hiatus and Freddie became Sargeant Frith, teaching officers and NCOs how to ride cross-country. A crash on a Moto Guzzi during practice in 1947 put him out of the running but Freddie was back on a Velocette in 1948 winning the Junior Race. In 1949 the FIM Grand Prix series was launched with the TT as the first round. Freddie won that race and all the others to become the first ever 350cc World Champion.
