Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond
British swimmer (born 1971)

Christopher Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond, (born 15 October 1971), is a British life peer in the House of Lords and former swimmer. He won a total of nine gold, five silver, and one bronze medal at the Paralympic Games. Holmes represented Great Britain at four Paralympic Games between 1988 and 2000 and is the only British Paralympic swimmer to win six gold medals at a single Games.
After retiring from swimming he worked as a journalist and solicitor. He was Director of Paralympic Integration for the London Olympics and it was announced that he would be elevated to the House of Lords in August 2013, as a Conservative Party peer.
Early life and education
Holmes was born in Peterborough on 15 October 1971. His family moved to Kidderminster when he was three. He was educated at Harry Cheshire Comprehensive School, Kidderminster. He then studied Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; in 1998, as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin) (MA (Cantab)) degree. In 2001, he gained a post graduate diploma in law (PGDL) at BPP Law School and in 2002 he completed the Legal Practice Course.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.