Angela Bairstow

Angela Bairstow was an English badminton player. She first came to prominence in 1958 when she won the National Junior singles title. Further wins followed in 1959 and 1960; in addition she won four junior doubles titles. After the step up to senior competition she reached the final of the 1963 All England Badminton Championships singles losing out to Judy Hashman. In 1963 at the All England Championships she was seeded to win in the Singles, Doubles and the Mixed. The controversy over her opponent picking up an old slow shuttlecock to finish off the game changed how used shuttles are now discarded.

Although never winning an All England title Bairstow became a significant player winning a host of titles from 1964-1968 including the Scottish Open, German Open, Dutch Open, Asia Cup, Irish Open, English National Badminton Championships and European Badminton Championships. Bairstow also won in 1966 two golds and one silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston Jamaica. Caring for her sick doubles partner overnight before losing the women's doubles final the next day. In 1965 Bairstow won the Dutch open in Singles, Doubles and Mixed in the same year with another three Dutch titles afterwards. She repeated the triple at the first Asian Championships in 1965 in Lucknow. After which the organisers banned non-Asian players from entering. Bairstow brought to prominence a deceptive backhand sliced serve and flick had her opponents stand back an extra 6 inches from the service line for fear of being embarrassed as the shuttlecock flew over their heads.

She married her coach, H. Ian Palmer, in 1970 and had three children (born 1969, 1970 and 1972) and four grandchildren.