From a very early age the bike had been more than a means of transport to David . . . it was his passport to freedom. Writing of his early days in a Halifax that was ‘grubby from industry’ he quickly added, “ – but fifteen minutes on a bike, I was in the countryside.” David’s journal is peppered with references to his cycling to work, or simply for the sheer pleasure of riding.

David is remembered fondly for his love of cycling and one friend, Tim Goffe, recalls David browsing in a bike shop in Staveley in The Lakes.

The machine was by the top quality bike maker Whyte, and its colour was white. From that moment on, inevitably, David’s gleaming new steed was known to everyone as White’s White Whyte. It would be the last bike David ever owned.