Born in
Birkenhead (Cheshire), he was educated
Clifton College. He studied at the
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and received a BSc in telecommunications at the
Royal Military College of Science,
Shrivenham in 1972. At the end of his military career he was
Lieutenant-Colonel in the
Royal Corps of Signals of the British Army. After leaving the Army, he worked for
British Aerospace, later for
Matra Marconi Space and finally with
Astrium. On retirement he studied at King's College London for a history master's degree and his dissertation on 'Britain and Human Space Flight' was published. In July 1984 he was chosen, from the candidates of
RAF and
Royal Navy, as the backup crew payload specialist to fly with the
Space Shuttle mission
STS-61-H, which was planned to deliver the British
Skynet 4A satellite to space. However, after the Challenger accident this space flight was cancelled, and he left the space program without having flown into orbit. Farrimond was later a history PhD student at King's College London. He died at home on 26 February 2026, at the age of 78. ==Sources==