The San Francisco 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara will host Super Bowl L in 2016, while Houston will host the following year

San Francisco will host the 50th Super Bowl in 2016, the NFL announced on Tuesday.

Super Bowl L will be played in the 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara, the first time the NFL showpiece has been held in the Bay Area since 1985.

The NFL owners, meeting in Boston, also awarded the 51st Super Bowl to Houston after team owners voted for the two cities ahead of a bid from South Florida.

The $1.2 billion Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara is set to open by August 2014 - after one last 49ers season at the fabled Candlestick Park. Bay Area businesses have already raised $30 million to help pay for the Super Bowl and related events, mainly via internet giants Apple, Google and Yahoo.

Referring to February's 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans,49ers CEO Jed York said: "After losing a Super Bowl, it's certainly nice to win a Super Bowl."

Miami competed for the right to host both the 50th and 51st Super Bowls but was unpopular with NFL owners because of lack of public funding for stadium upgrades in South Florida.

Finances to upgrade the Miami Dolphins' Sun Life Stadium have been declined by local authorities, who recently subsidized a new baseball stadium for the Miami Marlins, only to see the team then trade away its best players after just one season.

The NFL has emphasized giving Super Bowls to franchises and states that have either built new stadiums or refurbished old ones.

The 2014 Super Bowl will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the New York Giants and Jets play, while the 49th Super Bowl will be at the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals.

No team has ever played in their home stadium in a Super Bowl.

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Second coming at Stamford Bridge will be popular, but it's likely to be a very different experience for the returning manager

There will be some familiar faces awaiting José Mourinho when, as expected, the Special One – newly liberated by Real Madrid – secures his second coming at Stamford Bridge. Five senior players remain on the books from his glittering first spell in charge at Chelsea and a sixth, Michael Essien, will accompany him back from Madrid. Some of the medical and performance staff, whether analysts or masseurs, linger on. Even Gary Straker, the steward-cum-Italian interpreter turned player liaison officer and one of the great survivors at the club, is still on the day to day scene down at Cobham.

Mourinho will presumably relish renewing old acquaintances, yet it is how he copes with the aspects of the job that may feel rather alien that will determine how long this reconciliation endures. This is a very different Chelsea to the one he left so abruptly, and acrimoniously, in the autumn of 2007 when his relationship with the owner, Roman Abramovich, appeared fractured beyond repair. His original brief had centred upon winning a first Premier League title in half a century, a task achieved at the first attempt, and an inaugural European Cup. That was only secured in his absence, albeit largely with his team. Regardless, he had overseen a revolution featuring a blend of charisma and siege mentality that was ideal at a club muscling its way into the establishment. These days Chelsea talk more of evolution. Therein lies the anomaly of turning to a manager whose appointment tends to guarantee both trophies and, ultimately, a messy divorce.

The Portuguese will arrive mid-project. As Rafael Benítez has been quick to point out over recent weeks, this is a team in transition, a side that includes the first wave of younger talent recruited at significant expense. Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar, and even César Azpilicueta, Victor Moses and David Luiz, were bought to fit into a framework that aped Barcelona's quick-step, the same ideal Mourinho has spent the last three years attempting to usurp.

The club's extensive recruitment and scouting department, overseen by the technical director, Michael Emenalo, is apparently working towards a long-term strategy, even if there has been an imbalance in the senior squad assembled so far. The hope is that Mourinho buys into the overall vision and does not merely set back what progress has been made. Chelsea spent about £90m during his first summer in south-west London, an outlay that would not feel outlandish if repeated nine years on. But, back then, that bought eight players who arguably became integral to his first-choice line-up. Emenalo would suggest the spine is already in place this time around, and that no radical overhaul is required. Indeed, the new manager must also assess the entire squad of youngsters loaned out last season – from Romelu Lukaku to Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick van Aanholt to Josh McEachran – before determining the make-up of his side.

Working with Emenalo will be key. Since joining as a scout under Avram Grant a month after Mourinho's exit, the former Nigeria and Notts County defender has made himself a powerful figure, close to the owner and hugely influential within the set-up, whether earmarking potential signings or reporting back on the current staff. The 47-year-old's rise may have appeared rapid and unexpected, but he has arguably become the owner's eyes and ears down at the training ground, a man whose input is valued. Emenalo is here to stay. Mourinho will have to work with him in a way he would never have accepted with Grant, who had been imposed upon him as a director of football in the summer of 2007.

Indeed, he will have to accept the entire infrastructure of the club this time around, from the chairman, Bruce Buck, to the chief executive, Ron Gourlay. The schism that occurred with his employers six years ago had been born of a perception within the hierarchy that Mourinho felt, and acted, as if he owned the club. The parting of the ways represented the owner reasserting control. The problem is that Abramovich has lurched from manager to interim in the years since and never stumbled upon a candidate capable of amassing the trophies the Portuguese secured in a little over three seasons at the helm. Mourinho may be volatile, a ticking time-bomb off the pitch, but he generally succeeds on it.

This time he must also contend with expectation. He had arrived a Uefa Cup and Champions League winner in 2004, but was still a relative unknown. Chelsea's supporters at the time felt a certain loyalty to the deposed Claudio Ranieri, but were blown away by the sheer brilliance of the new manager: whether he was defending the club in public, riling opponents so brazenly, or transforming matches with tactical tweaks that felt bold and innovative. He was a breath of fresh air. This time round, the fans – so disenchanted by the treatment of Roberto Di Matteo and the willingness to turn to Benítez as a stop-gap replacement – expect their idol to have a similar effect again, completing the team's transition in a blaze of glory reminiscent of those title successes in 2005 and 2006. Yet he will arrive at a club that has secured European trophies in the past two seasons, the margins for progress so much tighter than they were. Mourinho will be welcomed by those in the stands and will savour the task ahead, but this feels like a very different challenge.

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Manchester City and the Yankees have agreed to invest $100m in a new MLS team, New York City FC, but making the 20th team a success will require much more

A second Major League Soccer team in New York City has long been the ambition of commissioner Don Garber. There have been months of speculation, ranging from the discovery in January that variations on the name of the New York City FC team had been registered as domain names, to a recent heavy-handed allusion Commissioner Garber made to there being an announcement expected in a few weeks — widely taken as a reference to the forthcoming Manchester City vs Chelsea friendly at Yankee Stadium.

Yet the sudden confirmation that City, and as it turns out the Yankees, would be the owners of the so-called NY2 team, instantly changed the complexion of NY2 from a concept seemingly stuck in a permanent holding pattern, into a tangible entity that, if not exactly cleared for landing, now has a chance to finalize its touchdown in Queens.

There are still obstacles left in what has been a long game of bluff and counter-bluff in New York, that has become further complicated by the traditional saber-rattling that precedes a mayoral election. The proposed site for the new team's stadium is in the symbolic immigrants' heartland of Queens, and involves the complicated issue of MLS replacing parkland that will be displaced by the building of a 25,000-seater stadium. It's a topic that's prompted local protests, but so far has not ignited debate within the mayoral race, with candidates mostly waiting to see what definite developments would take place. Today's news may force the hands of some of those candidates to come out definitively for or against the proposed Flushing Meadows stadium that is due to become New York City FC's home.

Certainly MLS have lobbied extensively within the city to build the new stadium (the initial model for the deal was that whoever purchased the 20th MLS franchise for $100 million would then help build the stadium at the site identified and brokered by MLS). Of the amounts paid to lobbyists registered with the city treasury last year, MLS-related consultants represented the largest dollar amount. MLS claims many of these were architectural and legal consultants rather than lobbyists per se, but Garber's intense commitment to forcing NY2 through has long been apparent, even if skepticism persists about the ability of MLS to crack a crowded media market with 10 existing major sports teams.

Certainly the current New York franchise, the New York Red Bulls, have at times limped along, despite a state-of-the-art new stadium of their own and the signings of marquee players like Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill. Publicly the Red Bulls have welcomed the prospect of a second New York team to ignite a rivalry, though their commercial manager Jerome de Bontin made critical comments about the likelihood of a second franchise succeeding just after his appointment last year.

The Red Bulls, famously, have never won anything, and in a league where forced parity reigns (financial fair play — of sorts), there is no guarantee that even the might of Manchester City and the New York Yankees will ensure the kind of winning team that draws crowds. In the 1970's, with no such restrictions, the New York Cosmos prompted an unsustainable arms race in the NASL when media mogul Steve Ross ran the club as a plaything and brought the likes of Pele, Beckenbauer and Chinaglia — and crucially titles — to New York City. Other clubs tried to follow suit and the NASL flared and died in the aftermath — for a long time existing only as a cautionary tale for MLS executives.

The Cosmos actually played some of their games at the old Yankee stadium, and the revived version of the team have engaged with a long flirtation with MLS over NY2 — even possibly trying a little brinksmanship of their own by announcing plans for their own stadium at Belmont Park. They now face an immediate future as a familiar if not formidable brand within the revived, second-tier North American Soccer League. NY3 seems wishful thinking.

Those Cosmos games were not the only soccer games at the old stadium, with international exhibitions a regular feature there until the mid-1970's. The George Steinbrenner years ended that, and in fact City's game with Chelsea at the new Yankee Stadium this Saturday is only the second soccer game to take place at a Yankee Stadium since that period, in a revised stance. The first was last year's friendly between Chelsea and PSG. Beyond that revived interest in hosting/promoting the active involvement of the Yankees in the new City deal is an eyebrow-raising one, not least since the Yankees last active involvement with a soccer team was a commercial tie in with Manchester United.

City's plans may have been a barely secret in recent weeks, but the degree of the Yankees involvement, while as yet undefined, will be intriguing. With the stadium still up in the air and the new team scheduled to begin play in just under two years, there will be an interim period where they must play their home games somewhere. It's possible that may include dates at Yankee stadium, though community activists opposed to the loss of parkland may prove nothing compared to the wrath of baseball purists when confronted with repeated replacements of the pitching mound.

Speaking at a hastily convened press conference on Tuesday and asked about the difficulties in getting across the finish line in Queens, the Yankees president Randy Levine said "Yankee Stadium is a potential place to play" while insisting that the partners would step back and assess all options, including Queens. Certainly having the major player in a competitive market as a minority business partner certainly shouldn't hurt City's chances of success with this venture, even if the Yankees' partnership with United didn't appear particularly transformative for either party.

City sources might quietly assert that they have a different mindset to United when doing business. United have led the way in commercial tie-ins worldwide — dividing up marketplaces and setting up complicated tiered sponsorship deals. They are floated on the NYSE and are in the process of setting up an East coast office in the US. Backed by billionaire Sheikh Mansour, City arrive in MLS legitimately able to point to investment in grass roots funding of the game, including the recent investment in a soccer school in Washington D.C. and prior to that, in New York's Spanish Harlem. These schools are seen in part as outposts of a ground-up mentality that may have been arrived at by expensive consultation and research into worldwide best practices, but which have nonetheless been heavily invested in, in apparently good faith, by the City ownership — most obviously in the 80 acre training/academy complex in Eastlands, that City see as key to their longevity as a top flight club. For all United's noted promotion and celebration of youth, City arrive in the MLS scene making all the right noises for a league that has prided itself on cautious growth.

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Former NFL and MLB stadium in Houston, which also hosted Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali and Hurricane Katrina victims, is now decaying and decision expected soon on its future

It hosted the biggest stars in sports and entertainment and became one of the most iconic and influential buildings in America. Now forlorn and empty, the Astrodome in Houston could soon be razed and replaced by a parking lot.

On Tuesday the NFL's owners meet in Boston to decide which cities will host the 50th anniversary Super Bowl in 2016 and the following year's game. Santa Clara and Miami Gardens are vying for 2016 and the Bay Area is the firm favorite because the San Francisco 49ers are soon to move from venerable Candlestick Park to a new stadium, while Florida's politicians recently refused to pay for upgrades to the Miami Dolphins' ageing home.

The loser from the 2016 contest will battle Houston for the right to host Super Bowl LI. While south Florida undeniably has a trendier beach scene than south Texas, Reliant Stadium has a strong sporting case. Opened in 2002, the arena has a retractable roof and successfully hosted American football's showpiece in 2004.

The Houston Texans are currently installing the largest HD in-stadium video screens in the world, to boost the bid and outdo the Dallas Cowboys in a classic piece of "Everything's bigger in Texas" one-upmanship.

The main problem with Houston's case is the landmark only 200ft away: a decaying relic that now resembles a sad gray soufflé. Roger Goodell hinted in March that bulldozing the Astrodome would help Houston's Super Bowl prospects. Said the commissioner:

"Those are decisions that have to be made by the community. It sounds like a very positive change because they'll be able to use the space that the Astrodome sits on in a very positive way. Whether it's more parking, whether we can have more events there on that space - it's not just the stadium itself, it's the area surrounding it that's valuable. And, I think that could be a very positive change in their Super Bowl bid."

In March, the Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo revealed they had commissioned a report that claimed the Astrodome could be imploded and replaced with 1,600 parking spaces for $29 million - less than half the cost of previous estimates.

But the Reliant Park complex already boasts more than 26,000 spaces. "I don't think it's about the parking spaces. I think they don't want a giant derelict stadium sitting next to the Super Bowl in 2017," said Tory Gattis, a Houston business strategist.

The 1962 ground-breaking ceremony was conducted in truly Texan style: local dignitaries used guns to shoot blanks into the earth.

It opened in 1965 and was home to Astros baseball and Oilers football. It inspired the construction of multi-sport venues elsewhere and its artificial grass became popularly known as AstroTurf. During the 1960s it was a symbol of American ambition and modernity and the pride of "Space City", together with NASA's Mission Control.

Muhammad Ali fought there, Evel Knievel soared over cars on his motorbike and Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match. Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Jackson Five and many more headline acts performed in the once-futuristic, air-conditioned surrounds of the world's first domed stadium.

In 1970, Robert Altman directed Brewster McCloud, a film about a young man living in the Astrodome who plans to build a pair of wings. Thirty-five years later, it was a temporary home to thousands of refugees from Hurricane Katrina who were bussed from New Orleans as conditions worsened inside the SuperDome.

The Astros quit for a new downtown ballpark in 2000 and when the rodeo moved to Reliant Stadium in 2003 there were no major tenants left. It was officially shut in 2008 after an inspection found that it was unsafe for occupancy, though the structure remains sound.

Now, as pictures show, the stadium is slowly, spookily, rusting towards oblivion.

Numerous ambitious and inventive renovation schemes have foundered due to a lack of funds and political inertia but the attention on the Super Bowl bid has given the debate fresh impetus and a resolution finally seems near.

Knocking it down would be the least expensive solution, but a blow to nostalgics in a forward-looking city with few historical buildings.

June 10 is the deadline to submit proposals to the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation, which will then make recommendations to local government later in the month. Ideas that require significant taxpayer funding are likely to be put to a public vote in November. Says Gattis:

"For Houstonians it carries a lot of weight and for Americans in general it's a known thing. It was such a big deal in the 60s. Houston is a city that's lacking in distinctive icons. It's still magnificent inside. When you're under that roof it's just a spectacular space. It just feels impressive."

Gattis suggests the Astrodome could become a national museum of technology and innovation. "If we did a flagship museum on the scale of the National Air and Space Museum in DC that could put us on the map," he said.

Chris Alexander heads a non-profit group called Astrodome Tomorrow, which is putting together a proposal for the Astrodome to become a public park with museums on topics such as sports, oil and gas and rodeo. He said he first fell in love with the arena as a 15-year-old attending its inaugural concert in 1965, which featured Judy Garland and The Supremes.

"We know there is sentiment in the Texans to knock the building down," he said. "There's a better solution on parking that satisfies the Texans' needs." Alexander wants to build a garage elsewhere on the site. "Our biggest priority is to save the building and preserve it for future use," he said, adding that he thinks it could last for another century. He estimates his park plans would cost between $800m - $1bn.

Even the University of Southern California reportedly has a secret plan for the Astrodome. Given USC's Los Angeles location, there is speculation it could involve turning the site into a giant film studio. Other ideas include a hotel and convention center, a lake and an amusement park.

In the meantime, Alexander is seeking donations to buy a pressure-wash for the grimy, dulled exterior and make what was once called the Eighth Wonder of the World sparkle again.

Super Bowl 2016 and 2017 announcement: 2pm ET.

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• Co-architect of London 2012 makes case for investment
• Figures show sport reduces substance abuse and crime figures

Sir Keith Mills, the deputy chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, has unveiled the results of a three-year research project that he says proves billions could be saved by the Treasury if more money was invested in grassroots sport projects.

The Air Miles founder said that the "groundbreaking" research gave a clear sense of the financial return from the sector for the first time and should form the basis of a concerted push for more investment from government and corporate backers.

The Guardian revealed earlier this year that sport and leisure investment was being disproportionately cut by local authorities as their budgets came under extreme pressure, while corporate backers are re-evaluating their investment in sport following the Games.

Along with Lord Coe, Mills was the architect of London's bid to host the Olympics and its promise to "inspire a generation" to play more sport.

But he admitted that cash-strapped local "doorstep sport" projects, from inner city boxing gyms to initiatives to deliver fitness programmes in local parks, were rarely able to prove their effectiveness because they were concentrating on delivery.

The research, conducted by a company called Substance, used government statistics to determine that £4,174 per young person per year could be saved by using sport as an "intervention" to tackle social problems.

Using the records of 650,000 participants in previous projects, the company's research showed sport projects had the greatest impact on alcohol and drugs misuse, reducing the risk by 19%.

The likelihood of young people taking part in crime and anti-social behaviour was reduced by 15% and there was a 14% improvement in their health and well-being, said Dr Tim Crabbe, the chairman of Substance.

Mills launched Sported as an umbrella organisation five years ago, promising to invest more than £2m of his own money and that of other investors in supporting thousands of local grassroots sport clubs that make a difference to social outcomes.

"We wanted to be able to say to funders that if they invest money in the projects we oversee, you'll get a return on your investment. We want to say the same thing to government departments, national and local. And other charities, such as Comic Relief," said Mills.

"Unless this sector has a very strong financial argument that says society will get a return, then the rate at which it is losing funding will accelerate," he said of the rationale behind the research.

The government has insisted it remains committed to delivering a sports legacy from the London Olympics, but critics have claimed that confusion over its school sport policy and the cuts to local authority budgets will negate any benefit from the £1bn to be invested over five years through Sport England.

"What we wanted from this research was evidence that sport for development had an impact on social issues which would, in turn, enable us to create a robust case for investment in this sector," said Mills.

"Sport for development work has been in the shadows for too long, it lacks funding and support and yet it's providing a crucial service in some of the country's most challenged communities."

He hopes to persuade other corporate backers to join Deutsche Bank in investing in projects and sports clubs supported by Sported. Traditionally, corporate programmes had tended to invest in the arts and charity rather than sport.

"As a businessman, I was determined to make sure we got a return on investment," said Mills, who is also a Tottenham Hotspur director. "When we looked at how much evidence there was, there were lots of project reports and anecdotal evidence, but there was no single piece of evidence that could tell me as an investor how my money was being used."

The research has also given rise to a piece of software that will allow individual projects to evaluate the impact of their work.

"There are shaming statistics in this country about Neets [Not in Education, Employment or Training], said Sir Richard Lambert, a senior independent adviser to Deutsche Bank.

"We have a higher correlation between economic deprivation and poor schooling than any other rich country and a major skills mismatch, with lots more students going to university but lots leaving school without any skills at all.

"That's a threat not only to our economy but social cohesion more generally. This will give a legitimacy and a strength to this whole approach to finance."

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Fans say they are not downhearted at being relegated from Premier League, promising: 'We'll be back'

They like a good party in Wigan, and the small matter of their beloved football team, the Latics, being relegated from the Premier League was never going to make them downhearted.

Never mind the missed trips to Old Trafford, Anfield, the Emirates and White Hart Lane next season, the club had lifted the prize not even the most ardent of their fans had ever dreamed possible: the FA Cup.

"Believe in Wigan" read the banner on the front of the double-decker bus that edged its way through a sea of blue-and-white supporters towards the inflatable stage the council had erected to welcome the cup.

Believe they had, and believe they would in the future.

Sonia Heyes, 52, a mother of two, was wearing the T-shirt she had hand-printed for the joyous trip to Wembley. The front read: "What is life without dreams?"

On the back was the message: "First the Cup … then stay up." And finally, scrawled on the day the club was relegated, the optimistic addendum: "It's OK, we'll be back."

Her loyalty and faith were still undiminished on Monday night. "When Wigan got into the Premier League we bought tickets because we thought that would be it – that we would be down at the end of the season.

"But we stayed up, and eight years later we have won the FA Cup. It's just a dream."

Her husband, Nigel, 43, who has supported the team from the age of eight, beamed as he said: "To go down now isn't a big issue. I'm not bothered. We've won the FA Cup."

He added: "The difference between us and the big clubs is that we know where we have come from. We remember what it was like to be in the lower leagues, and to remember our successes and failures there.

"If someone had told me 10 years ago that we would be in the Premier League and win the FA Cup, I would have laughed at them."

He is so confident in the romance of this distinctly northern club that he is threatening to put a £100 bet on the manager, Roberto Martinez, staying.

"People forget that he was a creative midfielder for us when we played at the old Springfield Park ground. And he was the first Spaniard to score in the FA Cup – against Runcorn, it was.

"Forget all the paper talk – he'll be here next season."

Sonia refuses to feel downhearted about the club being relegated. Indeed, she is already planning "holidays" to the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth, and once the Europa Cup fixtures are announced her horizons will extend even further.

Trevor Silcock, 63, who arrived at the victory parade with three generations of his family, recalled going to Springfield Park with his father and grandfather.

"This is the greatest day of my life," he said, before adding: "After the kids being born, that is."

David Molyneux, 59, deputy leader of the borough council and a lifelong supporter of the Latics, was similarly upbeat. "I know we've been relegated, but to win the FA Cup is such a massive achievement for Wigan.

"There are 300,000 people in the whole of the borough, but only 80,000-odd in the town itself.

"When I started supporting them the team was in the Cheshire League playing teams like Rhyl, Netherfield and Great Harwood.

"After Wembley I had the same two-day hangover everyone else did, so it wasn't a surprise that we went down. The good news is that we have got the ambition and drive to get straight back into the Premier League."

He added: "I hope Martinez doesn't leave, but if he does I think he will always have Wigan in his heart."

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• Paralympian says he is 'not mentally ready' to return to track
• South African is awaiting trial for Reeva Steenkamp's murder

Oscar Pistorius will not compete again this year as he awaits trial for murder despite receiving a number of invitations to meetings, his agent has said.

Peet van Zyl said the 26-year-old South African was not mentally ready to return to the track. The six-times Paralympic gold medallist was charged with the premeditated murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in February and is awaiting trial in South Africa.

"There was never any pressure from me or his coach [Ampie Louw] to return to competition," Van Zyl said. "It's his decision and it's his decision not to compete."

The decision means that Pistorius will not take part in the International Paralympic Committee world championships in Lyon in July.

Pistorius, who competed at the Olympics and Paralympics at London 2012, had his bail conditions relaxed in March to allow him to travel abroad for competitions. But Van Zyl, asked if his client was mentally ready to race again, said: "No, of course not".

Louw was quoted by Eye Witness News in South Africa as saying: "He is nowhere close to being in a position to train. He just does fitness exercises in the morning with his family." Van Zyl said many promoters had been in touch to invite Pistorius to their events and that there were "a good number, enough to keep him busy through the year".

Pistorius is next due in court on 4 June, with a trial expected to take place before the end of this year. The double amputee denies premeditated murder and says he shot the 29-year-old Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder.

Pistorius, who won two Paralympic gold medals at London 2012, in the 400 metres and the 4x100m relay, will definitely miss the athletics world championships in Moscow in August. He might have had the opportunity to compete, with the governing body, the IAAF, saying he would have been regarded as "innocent until proven guilty" and "free to run" were he to achieve the qualifying standard, but in truth the chances of that happening given the circumstances were remote.

The UK Athletics chairman, Ed Warner, had already ruled out inviting Pistorius to the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium at the end of July for fear of it becoming a "media circus".

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Our father, Bob Leakey, who has died aged 98, established his reputation as a leading caver during the early years of the second world war. Most significantly, he explored and mapped the highly challenging Mossdale cavern system in the Yorkshire Dales, going in solo with primitive equipment.

During the war he was sent to India to supervise military glider construction and while there he made a solo attempt to ascend the 20,720ft Himalayan peak Bandarpunch. He reached a height of 20,000ft but had to turn back suffering from frostbite. After returning to Britain in 1943 he was conscripted into the army. He served on the frontline at Kohima, Burma, and piloted gliders on missions behind Japanese lines. His wartime experiences led him to become a dedicated peace activist.

Bob was born in Kenya and moved to England when he was 14 to attend Weymouth college, Dorset. He learned to fly at the College of Aeronautical Engineering in London, surviving both a plane and a glider crash.

After the war, he set about pioneering new techniques in cave diving. In the 1960s he started a business designing and making fishing gear, together with his wife, Barbara, whom he married in 1947. He submitted several patents for fish traps and long-line handlers, wrote a book about British inshore fishing and designed fishing boats. One design, the Yorkshire Dory, was used by John Ridgway and Chay Blyth to row across the Atlantic in 1966. He used another – a catamaran fishing boat – to test his gear and commercially fish off the Cumbrian coast. He also developed a line of folding boats.

Retirement in the late 1980s enabled him to become more involved in peace activism and environmental causes. He started his own political party (the Virtue Currency and Cognitive Appraisal party) and ran as a parliamentary candidate in 2005 and 2010; the latter bid making him the oldest candidate ever to run. He also developed a new economic theory which he explained in a series of self-published books. His ideas, such as "virtue currency" and "gnostic appraisal", were similar to those of the better known Zeitgeist Movement.

Throughout his life Bob always believed the best of people and was passionate to leave the world a better place for future generations.

He is survived by Barbara and us. Their daughter Benita died in 2010.

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