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John Moynihan: funeral arrangements

The funeral of SJA member John Moynihan will take place next Tuesday, January 31, at Mortlake Crematorium at 1.45pm, and afterwards at the Chelsea Arts Club from 3.30pm.

Those planning to attend, please advise John’s son, Leo, at leomoynihan@aol.com.

For Trevor Bond’s tribute to John, please click here.
For Norman Giller’s tribute, click here.

One thought on “John Moynihan: funeral arrangements

  1. Every time I met, or heard John’s voice on the phone, I felt myself smiling.

    I had started reporting football for the Sunday Telegraph following the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Colin Malam was the football correspondent and John was the number two. Trevor Bond was sports editor and they were a friendly, welcoming and merry team. I felt I had joined a new family.

    John always beamed when we met. I was a young provincial journalist finding his way and he, like so many of that time, helped me. We shared a love of many things, including reading, talking, travelling, art, literature and sport. He was unique. Brian Glanville was similarly generous and together they were the best company anyone could ask for.

    As the years passed, the anecdotes and stories they shared turned to legend. All precious memories. We all loved football and indulged in long sessions over a bottle and an argument. Once, on a hot evening near Lyon (I think it was during France ’98, but it may have been Euro ’84), I found John in a media hospitality area, sitting at a shady table, his face aglow, his eyes filled with merriment.

    Very soon, somehow, he managed to make a bottle of red wine materialise; and then another. Time passed in laughter, his mischievous teasing and taste for the wild side unchanged. How lucky I was to know him as a supportive and professional friend. I close my eyes and we are at Ipswich, where he was welcome in the Cobbolds’ post-match board room, or at Stamford Bridge, of course, but just as likely in Paris, Florence or under the orange blossom at Alicante.

    He was unchanged, always fun, always special and like many extraordinary men at ease with everyone. I will always remember his encouragement and the twinkle in his eye.

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