OBITUARIES

Breakfasts Past

Hugh Massingberd (1946-2007) was from a background that made him socially an aristocrat in Ireland and economically middle-class in England.² An autodidact, he became the editor of the reference works Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage and Burke s Landed Gentry.

In 1986 he was appointed to be the obituaries editor of The Daily Telegraph newspaper. At the time, The Independent was being launched and The Times was regarded as dominating the field. Massingberd, in parallel to James Ferguson's innovations at The Indy, reinvigorated the form through a mixture of scholarship, satire, and accuracy.

Massingberd claimed that he was working in the tradition of John Aubrey (d.1697), having been inspired to do so by a one-man show about the antiquarian's book Brief Lives that the actor Roy Dotrice had mounted at The Criterion Theatre. This had made him realise that reading obituaries should be fun. He was partial to blimpish military types and socially elevated fain ants. Private Eye dubbed him Hugh Massivesnob . In 1994 Massingberd stepped down from his editorial post.

Location: 135-141 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BJ. The home of the Telegraph when Mr Massingberd worked for it. (red, purple)

¹. Perhaps the reason why Mr Massingberd's obituary was published some years earlier than it need have been.

². The man of letters Cyril Connolly found himself to be likewise.

Denounced From The Cathedral Pulpit

In 1993 The Times newspaper appointed Anthony Howard (1934-2010) to bring its obituaries into line with recent development. The political journalist had been raised the son of clergyman and had maintained an interest in religious matters. In 1998 the Rev Brian Masters, the suffragan Bishop of Edmonton, died. He had been an active opponent of the ordination of women in the Church of England. Howard insisted upon writing the cleric s obituary in a forthright manner that made clear his own, rather more liberal views. The newspaper received numerous letters of complaint. The obituary itself was denounced from the pulpit of St Paul's Cathedral.

Location: St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD (purple, white)

David Backhouse 2024