John Chadwick
Clare McDermott
Tuesday 05 July 2011
I was very sorry to get the bad news from Clare McDermott's partner Jackie, who’d been a tower of strength during the past four years, as he gradually slipped away. I was glad to hear that members of the family were at the bedside for the final moments. I recall happier days, when Clare and I, both jazz-lovers, listened to a lot of the good old good ones at various jazz clubs on the periphery of London, and jazz festivals in East Anglia and Cork, where veterans from both sides of the Atlantic always turned up. Clare had an encyclopaedic knowledge and a vast collection of early and mid-period jazz and the big bands of old. After the Cork festival we toured the south-west corner of Ireland in typically uncertain weather. Coming back, our ship was held up for half a day outside a south Wales port as a violent storm raged. It was a bit disconcerting to see emergency lifeboats lined up along the beach. But we took to our bunks in the sickening swell and did eventually get ashore. Quite a trip. It was Clare who organised the traditional whip-round in the Editorial when my retirement came and presented me with a fine two-volume Jazz Encyclopaedia. Professionally, he had a vast knowledge of sport, though his putting was not always immaculate! Unfortunately his move to the Midlands meant our meetings were much less frequent and I’d been sorry to hear during the last two years how his health was deteriorating. Well – maybe he’ll find Louis Armstrong or Glen Miller up there!
John Chadwick
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John Chadwick
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Ronald Farquhar
Thursday 21 April 2011
Sad to hear about Ronnie Farquhar, though I’d known for a while he wasn’t in best shape. We still exchanged Christmas cards and notes until fairly recently, when his eyesight became a problem. He was already a veteran when I joined the firm in the late fifties. After years in which you only met certain Reuter colleagues at some international conference or other, I got to know him better when he moved to Geneva. It was there I met Vera too and learned about their very difficult romance in Iron Curtain days. Though he’d retired from active service when I headed the Reuter bureau in Geneva, he was kind enough to help out on occasions, always ready to plough through some intractable document from GATT. But we talked mainly about long-distance walking. It was his account of doing the West Highland Way which inspired me to set out on the Cotswold Way the day after my own retirement. We exchanged experiences on the trail later. Well done, Ronnie, you were a great man, and modesty personified.
John Chadwick
John Chadwick
Ron Sly
Friday 21 January 2011
Ron Sly was a good friend, and not just at the office. There were the Christmas parties at Epsom, Ron and Morag at their most convivial, some of the regulars (Ron Thomson, Dave Mathew, Dave Nicholson and others now also sadly departed). And the poetry readings, Ron re-living earlier days on stage. And in post-Reuter days, his return from a world tour, bronzed and bearded. We remained in touch and a few months ago, to my pleasure, I received a sheaf of his poems (entitled “Random Musings of an Off-Duty Copytaster”) and an enjoyable account of his life before Reuters. Born into a Quaker family (and his father’s news agency!), in his own words “I routinely spent some Saturdays and school holiday time telephoning, delivering copy to Fleet Street. My mother and two sisters scoured the papers for Sly’s court reports and totted up the linage”. He left school at 16 on a Friday and started work the next Monday at 85 Fleet Street, “trotting around with PA reporters”. And then he turned actor and joined a touring repertory company, performing in factory canteens, miners’ halls and RAF camps...” There’s much more (about 2,000 words), all fascinating stuff, and I’d be happy to send a copy to anyone who’d like to remember Ron.
John Chadwick
John Chadwick
