Margaret Beck

Margaret Beck (later Margaret Lockwood; 9 January 1952 – 21 May 2023) was a badminton player from England who ranked among the world's best during most of the 1970s.

Beck was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria. She married Ron Lockwood on 20 December 1975 in near London.

An exceptional junior talent, she represented England and won women's singles gold medal at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, while still in her teens.

In 1973, Beck won the women's singles at the All-England Championships, which, aside from the international team championships (Uber Cup and Thomas Cup), was then the world's most prestigious tournament.

She shared the All-England women's doubles title with Gillian Gilks in 1974. She won singles at the World Invitation Tournament, a forerunner of the BWF World Championships, that was held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1974. In 1974 she represented England and won a gold and silver medals in the doubles and singles, at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand.

After marrying in 1975 she competed under her married name of Margaret Lockwood and reached the singles and doubles final at the 1976 All England Open Badminton Championships.

Her other international singles titles included the European Badminton Championships (1972), and the Canadian (1975), Irish (1971), Portuguese (1973), Scottish (1972, 1974), and South African (1976) Opens. She also won five English National singles titles (against opposition that included Gillian Gilks), and a dozen or more international doubles titles.

Noted for her rigorous fitness regimen, she developed a problem with her knee which was seriously aggravated during the first World Badminton Championships in 1977. The singles and doubles bronze medals that she earned there would be her last. Despite surgeries and attempted rehabilitation she never played serious competitive badminton again.