The Oxford educated son of the acclaimed painter Felix Topolski, Daniel Topolski was a champion rower and rowing coach. As finishing coach for the Oxford University Boat Race crew between 1973 and 1987 and British Olympic rowing team coach in 1980 and 1984, Topolski had great success and subsequently won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 1989 with his book True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny. He also won a Travelex Radio Award in 1993 for his BBC series Topolski’s Travels, was married to the Howards’ Way actress Susan Gilmore and had three children.
A fine man with a kind heart. May Daniel rest in peace. I am thinking of his wife and daughters.