Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, University College London, Imperial College London and King's College London, to create the Francis Crick Institute on a site adjacent to the British Library and St Pancras Station in London. Personal life Blakemore had a duodenal ulcer during his teens, and a second in his third year at university, requiring a gastrectomy that removed a half of his stomach. He almost died from bleeding caused by the ulcers. He developed a lifelong interest in fitness and sport, especially long-distance running. He completed 18 marathons and won the veteran's section for the British team at the Athens Centenary Marathon in 1996. He was married to Andrée Elizabeth Washbourne. The couple first met when they were 15 years old, and were married from 1965 until her death in January 2022. They had three daughters. He was an atheist. Blakemore was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2021, and he died at Sobell House Hospice in Oxford on 27 June 2022, at the age of 78. References Further reading The Next Big Thing - 11 freeview video science discussion programmes chaired by Colin Blakemore produced by the BBC and the Vega Science Trust. McKie, Robin. "Snubbed honours scientist 'to quit'". The Observer, 21 December 2003. Select Committee on Public Administration, Minutes of Evidence. Examination of Witness (Questions 608–639). 29 April 2004. The 1976 BBC Reith Lectures by Colin Blakemore: Mechanics of the Mind 1944 births 2022 deaths 20th-century English scientists 21st-century English scientists Academics of the University of Warwick Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Animal testing Critics of animal rights Deaths from motor neuron disease English atheists English humanists English neuroscientists Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Fellows of Downing College, Cambridge Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Founding members of the World Cultural Council Harkness Fellows Knights Bachelor Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Neurological disease deaths in England People educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry People from Stratford-upon-Avon Presidents of the British Science Association Waynflete Professors of Physiology