John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever educated at Eton College and at New College, Oxford. Upon his father's death in 1919, John Jacob V inherited Hever Castle near Edenbridge, Kent, where he lived the life of an English country gentleman. John Jacob Astor V represented Great Britain in rackets at the 1908 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the men's doubles competition together with Vane Pennell, and winning bronze in the men's singles event. Astor had been the British Public Schools rackets champion in 1904–05, and in the same year as his Olympic competition he played singles and doubles in the British Army rackets championships.
Guy Hever surmised that he had gone AWOL and had subsequently committed suicide, citing his upcoming courtmartial and a history of previous clashes with commanding officers. Both the military and the police searched for him, including with divers, dogs, robots and aircraft, but no trace of his body or weapon was ever found. They refused to classify Hever as a missing soldier for three years. His mother however was convinced from the beginning that her son was kidnapped by Syrian forces, although the Syrian government consistently ignored overtures from former US president Jimmy Carter, former Israeli and Syrian US ambassador Edward Djerejian