John Bettles

John Harris Bettles (1907 to 1983) was an English lawn bowler who represented England at international level. By trade he was a shoe and boot operative, and he took up the game of bowls in 1931. His best recorded result came at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, where he won a gold medal for the England team in the fours, playing alongside Norman King, John Scadgell and Walter Phillips. In the fours, four players on one side combine to deliver their bowls down a rink toward the small white target ball, and the team whose bowls finish nearest it scores. The surviving account of his career is short, centred on that Cardiff gold medal, and says nothing further about his club or other championships.