of a voluntary ethos. Simultaneously, Aberdare played an active role in the organisation of the Olympics; he served on the International Olympic Committee, and on the organising committee of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He was a key player in the decision to send British athletes to Hitler's 1936 Olympics, asserting that "neither nor his colleagues 'had yet heard of a genuine case of an Olympic athlete being boycotted or impeded because of his non-Aryan origin'", this despite Nazi Germany's overtly stated anti-semitism. He served in many physical education and sportsmen's clubs, and was also be a member of the New College Society. In 1948, he was created a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire a year later. In 1954, he was additionally created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire. Aberdare's first wife, née Margaret Bethune Black, died on 8 February 1950. On 12 September 1957 Aberdare married his second wife, the actress Griselda Hervey. The couple drove to attend the 53rd Session of the IOC in Sofia, held from 23 to 28 September. After the IOC meeting finished, Aberdare and Griselda began driving home through Yugoslavia as part of their honeymoon. On 4 October 1957 their car left the road near Risan and fell into the sea. Aberdare, aged 72, drowned and Griselda, his wife, aged 56, was injured. The repatriation of Lord Aberdare's body was arranged by Sir John Lambert at the UK embassy in Belgrade: as coffins were not permitted on passenger flights, Lambert concealed Aberdare's body among the cellos of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. References External reading Ed. Charles Mosley. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Copyright 2003; Burke's Peerage and Gentry: Wilmington, Delaware. 1885 births 1957 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford People educated at Twyford School British Army personnel of World War I British Home Guard officers British Life Guards officers Deaths by drowning English cricketers English male tennis players Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Inner Temple Middlesex cricketers People educated at Winchester College Road incident deaths in Yugoslavia International Olympic Committee members British sports executives and administrators Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Oxford University cricketers Gentlemen cricketers Wales cricketers Harlequins cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Glamorgan Yeomanry officers British male tennis players Younger