Journalist and author Chris Dodd, who helped found the River & Rowing Museum, has passed away aged 83, on 25 January 2026.

Christopher John Dodd was born on 14 February 1942 in Bristol, south-west England. For his secondary education he attended Bristol’s Clifton College, where he discovered rowing. After starting as a schoolboy cox, Chris progressed to the stroke seat of Clifton’s second eight. At Nottingham University he swapped rowing for student journalism and became the editor of the student newspaper, The Gongster.

In 1965, Chris joined The Guardian as a sub-editor. His rowing coverage for the national paper started almost by accident when, in 1970, he interviewed Bohumil ‘Bob’ Janousek, the new British national rowing coach from Czechoslovakia. In 1994, Chris became a freelancer while continuing as the Guardian’s rowing correspondent. In 2004, he moved to the Independent for six years. More recently, Chris contributed to both Row360 and Hear The Boat Sing.

Chris was a prolific author. His historical books covered The Boat Race, Henley Royal Regatta, World Rowing, London Rowing Club, the Watermen’s Company and professional Tyne rowing. With John Marks, he wrote Battle of the Blues, commemorating the 150th Boat Race. Chris was Chairman of Media for two world championships, Chief of Olympic News Service for Rowing at the Atlanta Olympics and a member of the FISA media commission from 1990 to 2002.

Arguably, his most notable achievement was his part in founding the award-winning River & Rowing Museum (RRM) in Henley-on-Thames, which opened in 1998. Chris was one of the main people responsible for creating the rowing collection and library from scratch and curating special exhibitions and archives, shaping much of the museum’s content and character before it opened. One of the earliest and best additions to the collection was the boat used by Oxford in the first University Boat Race which was held in Henley in 1829.

Between 1998 and 2025, the RRM was visited by over two million people and amassed a collection of 35,000 objects. Sadly, after 27 years RRM closed for economic reasons, a cause of enormous sadness to Chris.

Chris died after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease but remained lucid until the end. He is survived by his long-term partner, Liz Ransley, whom he first met when they were students at Nottingham University.

Christopher John Dodd, journalist and author, born 14 February 1942; died 25 January 2026.

Follow this link for a full obituary in The Guardian written by Martin Cross

Follow this link for a full obituary in Hear The Boat Sing written by Tim Koch