John Fenton was born on 18th September 1926 and passed away aged 89 on the 19th July 2016, and two days after the 145th Open Championship.
And having jonied the AGW in 1971, John was a proud member for 45-years.
Please find hereunder tributes to our dear departed friend and colleague. Many photographs with thanks to John’s son, Mark.
BILL ROBERTSON
Very sad to learn John Fenton is no longer with us. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Over the years I played alongside John in a number of AGW events, including the annual AGW Foursomes at Brancaster. And while he might not have been a great golfer, he was always great company.
My fondest memory of John is when we were travelling companions one year, while making our way back home from The Masters. Unable to get a flight back on the Monday, we had to spend the night in Atlanta. Once we had booked into our hotel, John suggested we take in some of the sights of the city. After spending a very convivial hour in and Irish pub, we agreed in would be a good idea to view the city from the top of Atlanta’s highest building, which was situated close by.
On alighting from the lift on the very top floor, we discovered we had inadvertently gate crashed a very smart cocktail party. Unfazed, in his very best BBC announcing voice, John apologised profusely for our uninvited intrusion. On hearing John’s accent and deducing we were from the UK, we were immediately invited in to join the group for a cocktail.
Furthermore, on learning we’d been Augusta, the host insisted we stay for another cocktail. And so the evening progressed well into the early hours. Someone; neither John or myself could remember who, kindly arranged for a taxi to transport us back to our hotel, were we both slept off the effects of some memorable southern hospitality, before catching our flight hole the following day.
LIZ KHAN
Sad indeed to hear the news that John Fenton died. Such a lovely, talented man; gentle and amusing, a great companion and I loved all the radio sound making stories. He used the car polish that is made by my husband’s company and used to call me Mrs. Autoglym – as he loved the product. I had him to dinner and presented him with the whole Autoglym range of products and he was chuffed to bits. I will miss knowing that he is there and am sorry not to be able to attend the funeral but my thoughts are with the family in their great loss.
JOHN WHITBREAD
Lovely to read the warm and thoroughly deserved tributes to dear departed John Fenton.
I will always remember John, along with Mike McDonnell, Michael Williams, Ronnie Wills, Jack McVicar, Bill Elliott and Renton Laidlaw being so welcoming and helpful to an anxious newcomer from the provinces.I also have very fond memories of John on the annual autumn weekend in Brancaster. He was an excellent and forgiving partner on the famous links of Royal West Norfolk and a tremendously funny and interesting dinner companion.
It will need Andy Farrell to tell the true story of how their car ended up in a ditch on the journey to Brancaster one November, but it provided the rest of us with hours of hillarious retelling for many years afterwards.Good night old pal.
RENTON LAIDLAW
A week ago John Fenton, my close friend and colleague for many years on BBC Radio, died. I always admired him. He was “old school”- always the pro who wanted anything he was involved in to be done properly.
Having joined the BBC as a young trainee engineer he progressed to become a first class big band music producer before turning to golf.
As BBC radio’s golf correspondent I could not have wished for a better producer than John. We never had a cross word not even when a tape editor, albeit under pressure, cut a vital interview for our Radio 5 programme and then threw it, by mistake, into the basket reserved for pieces of discarded tape.
Although it was like looking for a needle in a haystack John, as calm as ever, found the crucial piece of tape with seconds to spare and the interview made it to air. Nobody listening had any idea of the drama that had gone on in our production caravan.
Always the perfectionist he could be quite fiery at times when things that he had organized went wrong. At one tournament at The Belfry he had arranged for us to be given a room with a view of the scoreboard. Technically they gave him what he wanted but sadly the only part of the scoreboard we could see was the back of it. John was not amused.
He and I travelled extensively to events in Europe and to the majors including the Masters and the Open. Broadcasting from the metal roofed media centre at Augusta was a problem.
It was so noisy I broadcast lying underneath my desk with a box over my head to deaden the surrounding sound but John had a better solution. He knew it would be quieter if he used the telephone in the adjacent greenkeeper’s hut… until the Masters officials put a stop to that. John never quite felt the same about the first major of the year after that!
At the Open at St Andrews one year when the telephones were not available because of a strike John, living in student accommodation close to the course, decided that he could do some world feed coverage from the phone in the janitor’s office there. After dashing up to do his broadcast at 6.30 when he had arranged for his colleagues in Canada to ring he heard the phone ringing on cue but frustratingly he could not reach it The door to the office was locked.
The janitor had gone off duty at 6.00!Over the years John and I had great fun working during the day and dining in the evening. One thing John always insisted on was having a gin and tonic before eating even if the rest of his fellow reporters were about to enjoy their starters. Sometimes we had finished our meal before John had been served his main course. No matter he was a stickler for etiquette even if he finished his meal in splendid isolation.
John was a gentleman with a wicked sense of humour and a host of entertaining stories to tell of the early days when he was in charge of sound effects for BBC radio drama. Using his knife, fork and spoon he often entertained us in the evening with his extensive effects repertoire. At one time while working on “Riders of the Range” his job was to make Rusty the dog bark on cue by giving it a light flick with a cane.
John did not like dogs and as the series progressed the dog certainly did not like John. Imagine John’s anxiety when the dog, tied safely to a grand piano, started growling and moving across the studio floor towards him pulling the grand piano behind him. Happily John survived the ordeal.
John Fenton was one of the first broadcasters to become a member of the Association of Golf Writers previously reserved exclusively for newspapermen.
He was so proud of his membership and the camaraderie. We were delighted to welcome him into the fold.
For so many reasons the quiet, modest professional will be sadly missed by so many not least by myself one half of the old Fenton and Renton golf broadcasting double act.
BILL ELLIOTT
WHILE many of our younger members will not have known John Fenton well, if at all, those of us who enjoyed his company and sharp wit will regret the passing of another significant AGW member. Others may profile better his impressive and important career covering golf both Nationally and internationally but particularly his love of local golf in the Hertfordshire area but here’s a side of him few knew.
It was at least 20 years into our relationship as frequent colleagues that I stumbled across his back-story while we emptied a bottle of malt on a Scottish island. It turned out that journalism was not his first career. Instead he joined the BBC and became one of the Beeb’s famed sound effects-men. He worked on many shows in this role but his main claim to fame was doing the sound effects on many of the Goon Shows and without him Ned Seagoon, Eccles and, of course Major Hercules Grytpype-Thynne would not have been quite so memorable.
The major was, of course, played by Peter Sellers and it was Sellers who supplied John with his first half-decent set of clubs. “Peter said he wanted to get rid of a set and so I bought them off him, ” John told me. “It all went well enough until I called round at his London flat one afternoon to pick the clubs up. I knocked on the door and after quite a long time Peter’s voice said ‘WHAT?’ and I told him it was only me. I then heard a lot of banging and clattering and then Peter opened the door and thrust a bag with clubs in it into my hand.
The only unusual thing was that he was stark naked at the time. I never asked him.” By the way, John used occasionally to indulge me by revealing some of the secrets of the sounds effect fraternity. These included how to represent fire on the radio – they saved the cellophane wrapping from fag packets and simply crinkled them in their hands – and how the doors on the Enterprise made that swooshing noise when opening and closing on Star Trek. Pretty simple actually, ask me and I may tell you sometime. Rest in peace John. You were a very good man.
JOCK MACVICAR
Very sad to hear that John Fenton has passed away.He and I went on a number of trips together, especially to Spain, notably once when we hired a car at Malaga Airport and couldn’t get it into reverse! John’s reaction was priceless.
He was a fascinating and most interesting character, who began his BBC Radio career on light entertainment, producing shows involving such as Peter Sellers and the great Ted Heath Big Band. He once bought a set of clubs from Sellers.Following his spell in light entertainment he joined the sports dept and became golf corr. before he retired and was succeeded by Tony Adamson.Sorry he has gone, but will always live in the memory.
JEREMY CHAPMAN
Very sad news … a lovely, witty companion on and off the course.
He never called me by my name, it was always “Wizard”!We both loved our racing as well as our golf. He broadcast on both sports.Cannot attend funeral as will be on holiday in Deauville but will be thinking of many happy hours together on the 2nd.
MALCOLM CAMPBELL
So sad to hear the news on John Fenton. He was a great friend and colleague for so many years. It was a privilege to have known him and enjoy his wonderful sense of humour. I am afraid I won’t be able to make it to his funeral – much as I would like to – but my thoughts will be with John and all who attend on the day.It’s a bit sobering to think that now I have suddenly reached “level fours” and the ranks of the old guard there is a vulnerability in the air. But at least Jock keeps for the rest of us and it was great to see he received well deserved recognition by the Association during Open week.
MARK GARROD
Very sad to receive that news as we shared a lot of tournaments and car journeys. My favourite story of John was the time Vicente Fernandez won an event and was invited up a ladder into the BBC booth at the very time John was coming out to go home. I wasn’t there, but John reckoned he almost kicked Fernandez down again so he could get away and try to beat the crowds. He might have moaned a fair bit just like me – maybe that helped us get along – but he always appreciated how lucky he was to do the job he did. I think he once bought a set of golf clubs off Peter Sellers and I don’t think I ever saw him happier than the time he beat me on the last green at Sunningdale. He certainly never let me forget it.
PHILIP QUINN
i remember John’s dulcet tones on the ‘wireless’ Very sad news.
Email from Tony Adamson
I have been informed by his son, Mark, that John Fenton, an AGW member since the early 1970s, has died. He spent practically his whole working life for the BBC in the capacities of a light entertainment producer, working with the big bands and programmes like the Goons, and latterly he worked for BBC Outside Broadcasts as a golf producer and broadcaster. Renton Laidlaw was a very close friend. So too was Mark Garrod.
His funeral will be on Tuesday, 2nd August 2016, at Christchurch, Cockfosters at 12.30pm followed by a gathering at South Herts Golf Club.
Kind Regards, Tony Adamson
Funeral Details
Details of the funeral:-
Tuesday 2nd August at 12.30pm at Christ Church Cockfosters, Chalk Ln, Barnet EN4 9JQAfterwards at South Herts Golf Club, Links Drive, Totteridge, London, N20 8QYU
Email From John’s Son, Mark Fenton – <email hidden; JavaScript is required> 31st December, 2016
Hi Bernie,
I’ve been meaning ask you to pass on my thanks to the golf writers who sent tributes and were able to make it to Dad’s funeral.I think we gave him a good send off, we had some live jazz, including Glenn Miller’s ‘in the mood’ for Dad’s entrance and exit! There were some great photographs projected onto a large overhead screen and a tribute from Dad’s old office colleague, cricket commentator Peter Baxter. If anyone’s interested, Peter kindly wrote an obituary on his ‘after test match special’ blog.
http://aftertms.blogspot.co.uk
Dad often mentioned how honoured he was to be a member of the AGW, being mainly a broadcaster. If anyone should have written a book it should have been him. We knew he had an interesting life but it wasn’t until we looked back we realised quite how varied it had been.
I accompanied Dad to many tournaments around the UK and Europe over the years and enjoyed socialising with the golf writers. I also worked on a fair few tournaments in the 80’s for Alex Sanderson on the scoring system.
On a recent trip to the PGA Championship at Wentworth I glanced up at the huge media centre, I’m not sure it would be Dad’s scene now!
Anyway Happy New Year to you all, it was a pleasure to have met you over the years.
Best wishes from Mark and the Fenton family
Email to Mark Fenton – January 3rd, 2017
Mark,
Thank you so much for your wonderful email.
I will be pleased to include your email in a general newsletter to all AGW members, and many with so many fond memories of John.
Kind regards,
Bernie
John’s Entry in the 2016 AGW handbook
(R) FENTON, JOHN: 27 Livingstone Court, Christchurch Lane, Hadley Green, Barnet EN5 4PL (0208 447 5614; Email: –
email hidden; JavaScript is required). E: 1971.
Recent Comments