Personal Life
Awards, childhood, family, horse racing & correspondence
Sir Freddie Laker was born Frederick Alfred Laker on 6 August 1922 in Canterbury, Kent. He grew up during the Great Depression — an experience that left him with a lifelong commitment to making air travel accessible to ordinary people — and left school at 16 to work at the Short Brothers aircraft factory in Rochester, the beginning of a lifelong passion for aviation. In 1978 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to aviation, a rare honour for someone who had built his career outside the establishment.
Away from the airline industry, Laker owned and bred racehorses, finding on the turf the same thrill of competition that drove his business career. He passed away on 9 February 2006 in Hollywood, Florida, at the age of 83. His obituary in The Guardian and The New York Times paid tribute to a man who changed the face of air travel.
This section brings together childhood images, family photographs, awards ceremonies, horse racing, and personal correspondence.