Charles William "Chas" Messenger (January–March 1914–26 July 2008) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 cyclist, a former Milk Race organiser and British road team manager.

Messenger was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He began cycling in the King's Cross

Kings Cross, London

King's Cross is an area of London partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration...

 area, and despite being a "mediocre" rider in his own words, he beat the hour for a 25-mile time trial

Time trial

In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial  can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...

 at a time when this was rarely achieved.

Tour of Britain

Messenger was an official of the British League of Racing Cyclists

British League of Racing Cyclists

The British League of Racing Cyclists was an association formed in 1942 to promote road bicycle racing in Great Britain. It operated in competition with the National Cyclists' Union, a rivalry which lasted until the two merged in 1959 to form the British Cycling Federation.-Background:The National...

, which started during the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 to promote massed cycle racing on public roads. The BLRC organised several Tours of Britain under different names and sponsors and then in 1958 secured sponsorship from the Milk Marketing Board

Milk Marketing Board

The Milk Marketing Board was a government agency established in 1933 to control milk production and distribution in the United Kingdom. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the British milk market, thereby guaranteeing a minimum price for milk producers...

. Messenger was the BLRC's event organiser and he and other officials visited the board at a hotel in central London. He said:

Our first meeting with the sponsor's PRO, Reg Pugh, was a near-fiasco, for the three of us, Eddie Lawton, Les Keith and myself, were working and groping in the dark, having to rely on figures conjured out of thin air by treasurer Ruben Smith. So poor, too, were we at this time that we arrived at the posh West End hotel with only enough money between the three of us to get back home. We came away elated, with more or less the 'Tour' in our pockets. We also came away with a budget well below what was needed for we had promised foreign teams (but no one said how we were going to get them.)

Messenger ran the Tour of Britain, known as the Milk Race, from 1958 to 1965, when he was followed by Maurice Cumberworth.

Merger with the NCU

Messenger and Peter Itter, chairman of the rival National Cycling Union, forged the links which merged the two organisations to form the British Cycling Federation in 1959. He negotiated with the police to hold races on open roads. He became vice-chairman of the BCF's racing committee, which picked teams, for seven years. He managed the British road team four times between 1962 and 1967, culminating in the world championships in which Graham Webb

Graham Webb

Graham Webb is a former English racing cyclist who became the world amateur road race champion in 1967. In response to a journalist's shouted comment that the last British amateur world road champion had been Dave Marsh 45 years earlier, Webb retorted: "And they'll have to wait another 45 years...

 won the men's amateur road race and Beryl Burton

Beryl Burton

Beryl Burton, MBE OBE was an English racing cyclist and one of Britain's greatest ever athletes.She dominated women’s cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records...

 the women's event.

He was sacked in September 1967 without explanation from the British Cycling Federation.

Honours

The Chas Messenger road race, established in 2001, was named in his honour. It is a Premier Calendar

Premier Calendar

The British Cycling Premier Calendar Road Race Series is a season-long competition run by British Cycling. It comprises a series of road bicycle races for the country's top domestic road riders.-Organisation and events:...

 event. Messenger was at the 2008 race.

In 2009, he was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame

British Cycling Hall of Fame

The British Cycling Hall of Fame was established in 2009 as part of British Cycling's 50th anniversary celebrations.On 17 December 2009, the names of fifty riders to be inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame were announced...

.

Writing

Messenger wrote several books in a style described as "intensely personal" and his "grasp of history doesn't always follow a chronological pattern", "but he's always an entertaining and exciting writer who never allows himself to worry unduly about such obstacles as spelling, grammar, punctuation."

Private life and personality

Messenger spent all his adult life in west London, where he worked in local government. He was a member of the Chequers Road Club and an official of the British Cycling Federation's west London division. He was a prolific organiser of cycle races. He was known for a brusque personality. An obituary by British Cycling said: "His propensity for direct action and getting things done rather than long-winded committee debate made him a controversial figure to some then amateur attitudes."