RUDY HARTONO

Rudy Hartono one of the truly great All England champions. In 1976 Rudy Hartono from Indonesia broke the record for eight men’s singles titles. Erland Kops of Denmark had previously held the record of seven.

Rudy started playing at the All England Championships in 1968 and would dominate world men’s singles badminton for the next 10 years. Even in his first championship he broke an All England record by becoming the youngest men’s singles champion at the age of 18 years and 7 months. From 1968, he would win the men’s singles title for 7 consecutive years.

Click on images to enlarge

At the height of his dominance in men’s singles in 1971, playing six matches to win the All England singles he only had 39 points scored against him. In Rudy’s 10-year All England career he only ever lost two matches.

It was in 1975 making his first attempt at breaking the record of eight titles Rudy would lose his first-ever match at the All England. Playing tentatively in one of the most exciting and memorable finals he lost to the Dane Svend Pri in straight sets.

For more information on Svend Pri and the 1975 All-England men’s singles final film – Click Here. 

Finally, in 1976 playing against his fellow countrymen Liem Swie King, Rudy would achieve his record-breaking eighth All- England crown.

Some people say that Hartono is the greatest men’s singles All-England champion; he was certainly the youngest men’s singles champion and there never has been a player that dominated the event for so many years.

Photo: – Peter Richardson

1974 All-England Men’s Singles Final.

Rudy Hartono (Indonesia)   v    Punch Gunalan (Malaysia)

Photo: – Louis Ross

For more information on the history of the All-England Badminton Championships – Click Here.

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Visitors are welcome to look around the Museum unescorted at any time – The National Badminton Centre is normally open 9am to 8pm every day.

Badminton Museum, National Badminton Centre, Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge,

MILTON KEYNES  MK8 9LA

Free Admission.

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Accessibility

The Badminton Museum is on the 1st floor with a lift. Disabled toilet facilities are available on the 1st floor. There is no wheelchair accessibility to the Museum office.

——————————————————

There is a restaurant on the first floor serving breakfasts every day of the week and light lunches on weekdays.

Free parking at the National Badminton Centre.

—————————————————–

National Badminton Centre 

Lodge Hotel.

For more information and to book a room – Click Here.

—————————————————

2026 Yonex All-England Badminton Championships

Tuesday 3 March 2026 to Sunday 8 March 2026.

—————————————————-

If you have any badminton memorabilia, archive material, or any other items and would like to donate them to the Badminton Museum please contact us at: –

 museum@badmintonengland.co.uk

Thank you to all the ‘Friends of the Museum’ and people who have made donations to the Badminton Museum, your support enables us to purchase extremely rare badminton artefacts for the National Collection as they become available.

Judy Hashman nee Devlin.

Click on images to enlarge.

Judy Hashman was born in Canada, the daughter of the Irishman Frank Devlin one of badminton’s first legends. Frank won an incredible 18 All-England titles in just nine years, between 1922 and 1931- a genuinely mind-boggling feat that may never be surpassed. He probably never imagined how close his daughter would get to beating the number of titles he won.

Judy’s All-England career began in 1954, at the age of just 18 years and 4 months. In this, her first appearance at the All-England, the young Devlin won the women’s singles, making her the youngest All-England champion ever. Partnered with her sister Sue aged 20 (later Peard), she won the woman’s doubles as well, this was the first of their six doubles titles. In the space of just three weeks, Judy won two US Open, two All-England and three US junior national titles – as well as becoming a US lacrosse international.

In 1955 and 1956, she lost in the Women’s Singles final of the All-England to the Texan Margaret Varner. However, she would gain revenge for these defeats, securing consecutive trophies and vanquishing Varner in both finals in ’57 and ’58.

1959 saw Varner too busy playing tennis and squash for the USA to compete at the All-England, but Judy failed to take advantage – she lost to the 19-year-old English girl, Heather Ward (later Nielson).

Judy Hashman embarked on an incredible spell of dominance. From 1960 to 1964, she would win five consecutive women’s singles competitions; she moved head and shoulders above the competition. In 1965, this incredible run was broken; this was due mainly to the fact that she had a baby in January. By the time March came around, she still achieved a highly credible Fourth Round finish- once again demonstrating her exceptional abilities.

Judy was back in the swings of things in 1966 and carried her number one seeding through to win the final against Miss Imre Rietveld from the Netherlands.

1967-Judy Hashman – The Final Championship.

To finish the greatest career in women’s badminton, Judy resisted the immense Japanese challenge in 1967, which was led by Miss Noriko Takagi.
Earlier, Miss Takagi had beaten Judy in the Uber Cup in New Zealand and pressure had mounted for the great star to bail out from the All-England while still at the top. But Hashman chose to defend her title, and in due course, Judy faced Takagi in the final. Judy managed to get back from a one-game-to-love deficit and levelled to one game all, but the young Japanese girl’s shots were deceptive and Judy was on the verge of exhaustion. When the Japanese girl led by 5-1 in the third, it looked like Judy’s advisers were going to be proved right, but with her intense concentration and will to win, she fought back to save a match point, eventually snatching a 12-10 win and claimed the title for the 10th time.
Never before nor after did she play so well for so long, it is a tribute to her that she would climax a career with such a class performance. After the final, Judy pulled the curtain down on her glittering singles career- retiring at the top, as she had wanted.

Judy won a total of 17 All-England titles, which included 10 women’s singles titles, which is a record that has never been broken, and 7 women’s doubles titles, 6 of those with her sister Sue.

Judy appeared in every All-England women’s singles final between 1954 and 1967, apart from her break in 1965 following childbirth. This is truly incredible and surely places her near the top of the pantheon of great champions this sport has created.

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Judy was a member of the USA winning Uber Cup teams in 1957, 1960 and 1963.

In the middle of her playing heydays, Judy Devlin married Dick Hashman. Judy and Dick had once reached a semi-final in the mixed doubles at the All-England. In 1960, she moved to England and became a British citizen 10 years later. After gaining her new citizenship, Judy helped her adoptive country collect medals at the 1972 European Championships, with one title in the team event and another one in the women’s doubles with Gillian Gilks.

With Gillian Gilks she won the English National Championships Woman’s Doubles titles in 1972 and 1973.

Judy represented England at international level 8 times.

In 1978, Judy Hashman had a very brief but successful stint as head coach of the English team. She led the team to a gold medal at the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships.

With her exceptional career, it was no surprise that international honours were awarded to Judy. In 1985, she became the first woman to be awarded the International Badminton Federation Distinguished Service Award.

In 1995, Judy received one of the most coveted rewards for a female athlete when she was inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. Judy joined international athletes such as Martina Navratilova and Sonja Henie. Two years later, Judy and her father, Frank, were voted into the International Badminton Federation Hall of Fame.

Although she did not quite topple her father’s record, it is amazing that the same family produced such a dynasty—a true legend of the All-England.

1967 All-England Woman’s Singles final. Noriko Takagi (Japan) (far end) v Judy Hashman (USA). at the Wembley Arena, London.

Photo:- Graham Habbin.

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For more information on the history of the All-England Badminton Championships – Click Here.

——————————————————–

2026 Yonex All-England Badminton Championships

Tuesday 3 March 2026 to Sunday 8 March 2026.

————————————————————-

Visitors are welcome to look around the Museum unescorted at any time. The National Badminton Centre is normally open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.

Badminton Museum, National Badminton Centre, Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge,

MILTON KEYNES  MK8 9LA

Free Admission.

————————————————————-

Accessibility

The Badminton Museum is on the 1st floor with a lift. Disabled toilet facilities are available on the 1st floor. There is no wheelchair accessibility to the Museum office.

————————————————————-

There is a restaurant on the first floor serving breakfasts every day of the week and light lunches on weekdays.

Free parking at the National Badminton Centre.

————————————————————-

National Badminton Centre 

Lodge Hotel.

For more information and to book a room – Click Here.

———————————————————-

If you have any badminton memorabilia, archive material, or any other items and would like to donate them to the Badminton Museum please contact us at: –

 museum@badmintonengland.co.uk

Thank you to all the ‘Friends of the Museum’ and people who have made donations to the Badminton Museum, your support enables us to purchase extremely rare badminton artefacts for the National Collection as they become available.

                                                                                                         Nora Perry MBE.

Nora Perry MBE reigned supreme on the English and international badminton courts for over a decade. She excelled in both women’s and mixed doubles with over 75 international titles in individual competition. Her most successful tournaments were the Danish Open with 10 titles; the All England Championships, the Swedish Open and the Portugal International with 8 titles each; and the Canadian Open with 7 titles.

Click on the images to enlarge.

She also claimed 10 National and 6 European Championships titles – 4 in individual and 2 in team competition. She is mostly remembered for being the only British player to have won two World Championships titles: one in women’s doubles in 1980 with Jane Webster followed by another one in mixed doubles in 1983 with Thomas Kihlstrom (Sweden). In international matches she made 90 appearances for England.

In 1978 she was a member of England’s Commonwealth Games gold medal team also winning the individual women doubles gold with Anne Statt and the mixed with Mike Tredgett.

Nora Perry was able to reach the highest peaks of badminton with a wide variety of partners but her most successful partnerships were with Mike Tredgett in mixed doubles and Jane Webster in women’s doubles. With these two exceptional players, she won 16 mixed doubles and 13 women’s doubles titles respectively.

Nora Perry and Mike Tredgett who won 3 All-England mixed doubles titles together.

Photo: – Louis Ross.

Always elegant and well-dressed, Nora was renowned for her touch at the net and the precision and effectiveness of her trade mark swivel low serve.
In 1984 she was awarded the MBE by the Queen for her services to badminton.
Nora in 1999 was inducted into the International Badminton Federation (now called Badminton World Federation ) Hall of Fame and she was elected as a Badminton World Federation Council member in 2009.

For more information on the history of the All-England Badminton Championships – Click Here.

————————————————————-

Visitors are welcome to look around the Museum unescorted at any time – The National Badminton Centre is normally open 9am to 8pm every day.

Badminton Museum, National Badminton Centre, Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge,

MILTON KEYNES  MK8 9LA

Free Admission.

————————————————————-

Accessibility

The Badminton Museum is on the 1st floor with a lift. Disabled toilet facilities are available on the 1st floor. There is no wheelchair accessibility to the Museum office.

————————————————————-

There is a restaurant on the first floor serving breakfasts every day of the week and light lunches on weekdays.

Free parking at the National Badminton Centre.

————————————————————-

National Badminton Centre 

Lodge Hotel.

For more information and to book a room – Click Here.

————————————————————-

2026 Yonex All-England Badminton Championships

Tuesday 3 March 2026 to Sunday 8 March 2026.

At the Utilita Arena, Birmingham.

————————————————————-

If you have any badminton memorabilia, archive material, or any other items and would like to donate them to the Badminton Museum please contact us at: –

 museum@badmintonengland.co.uk

Thank you to all the ‘Friends of the Museum’ and people who have made donations to the Badminton Museum, your support enables us to purchase extremely rare badminton artefacts for the National Collection as they become available.