Geoff Capes was synonymous with incredible strength as record books still don his name

His name became a byword for anyone who possessed amazing strength, and Geoff Capes was as big a character on the athletics field as he was off.

The legendary shot putter and two-times Commonwealth gold medallist, who has passed away at the age of 75, was one of the country’s most recognisable and popular faces in the 1970s and 1980s.

And ­double World’s Strongest Man ­champion Capes died with his 1980 British shot put record of 21.68m intact. The former policeman and budgie breeder’s ­relatives announced his death yesterday and led tributes to him.

They said: “The family of Geoffrey Capes would like to announce his sad passing today, 23rd October. Britain’s finest shot-putter and twice ’s strongest man.”

British Athletics added: “We are saddened to hear the news of former British shot putter, Geoff Capes’ passing. Our condolences go out to his family and friends at this time.”

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The Guinness World Records said: “In 1978, Geoff threw a standard 2.27kg building brick 44.54m at Braybrook School in Cambridgeshire. His record has never been broken.” Former Olympian Katherine Merry called Capes “a real household name”.

After he shot to fame, his name regularly came up in ­conversations where people would say of others: “He’s as strong as Geoff Capes.” And in his heyday, Capes became a regular fixture on TV shows such as Little and Large and Blue Peter. He also appeared alongside Kenny Everett.

Capes starred in the Superstars TV programme which attracted 10 million viewers at its height. He appeared in the panto Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with former model Linda Lusardi at Newcastle in 1991.

Capes was also a popular figure with the and could often be seen chatting and joking with the Queen at the Braemar Highland Games in , or swinging the hammer.

Capes broke the world shot put record at Cwmbran, which has never been bettered. He won Commonwealth gold in 1974 and 1978 and was crowned World’s Strongest Man in 1983 and 1985.

The hulk was a three-time Olympian and came closest to winning a medal with a ­fifth-place finish at the 1980 Games in Moscow.

He appeared at that tournament, despite the government partially-supporting a US boycott of it over the Soviet invasion of the previous year. Capes enjoyed success at the European indoor athletics championships the decade prior, claiming two golds, three silvers and a bronze.

The Lincolnshire-born athlete said in a recent interview: “There were stronger people out there, I met a lot of them in the fens. But it was about the ­application of strength. Can you apply it at speed? Can you run with 400 pounds? I basically did that on a farm when I was a kid with sacks of potatoes.

“And I worked things out ­technically. They would call me ‘numbers’. If I went first, you’d see everyone copying. No matter what it was, I wanted to win.”

Capes was born on August 23 1949 and came from a large family who lived in the town of Holbeach. He was a talented sportsman as a child and played football and ­basketball as well as athletics. After school he worked as a coal man and agricultural labourer, reputedly being able to load 20 tons of potatoes in 20 minutes.

Capes followed in the ­footsteps of his grandad, uncle and brothers to become a police officer. He joined the Cambridgeshire force in 1970 and stayed for 10 years. Capes quit in 1980 to compete in the Olympics.

In one documentary he revealed he consumed 12,000 calories a day to keep his size and strength. His first World’s Strongest Man victory came in the 1983 contest in Christchurch, New Zealand and the second was two years later in the Portuguese city of Cascais.

Capes recalled how tough things were at the start of his career. He said: “During my early days as a sportsman and policeman, things were tight.

“In athletics I competed as an amateur and, although I might have received some expenses, very little came my way in earnings. As a kid, I was talented in all sports and competed at county level in five but I decided to concentrate on shot put.”

Capes continued to be involved in shot put as a referee, event promoter, and coach. He was divorced but lived with his new partner. His children Lewis and Emma were also national shot put champions as were his ­grandchildren Donovan and Lawson.

Apart from Capes’ family his real love was budgies. In 2008 he was named the president of the Budgerigar Society. He bred his own birds for more than three decades and was overjoyed when he was bestowed with the honour. Speaking of how his passion for the birds took off, he recalled: “It all began in 1969 when I was a policeman and went to deliver a warrant for ­non-payment of a fine.

“As I knocked on the ­recipient’s door, I saw lots of cages in the front room, full of birds of an i­ncredible array of colours. I was intrigued. I went in and had a cup of tea with the owner, and spent an hour talking to him about his hobby. It was a shame that at the end of it I had to tell him I was arresting him.”