David Miller, one of the greats of sports journalism and a former chair of the SJA, passed away in June, but the sad news of his death was only recently reported; here, his friend and former Times colleague Tom Clarke shares memories of David from a Mayfair lunch in 2024, and information about his final days; a memorial service for David is set to be held early next year…
By Tom Clarke
TOM CLARKE was David Miller’s sports editor at The Times from 1986 to 1993.
David Miller died at the age of 91 on June 16, 2026. His death was not made public until a report and obituary were published in The Times on October 20.
David was a giant of sports journalism – a reporter and columnist in The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Express for nearly 40 years.
He covered 14 football World Cups and 21 summer and winter Olympic Games. Yet his passing went unnoticed beyond his family for four months.
The IOC is saddened by the passing of Olympic historian and British journalist David Miller, aged 91.Across six decades, he covered more than 20 Olympic Games and received the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his outstanding contribution to the Olympic Movement.Paying tribute, IOC Honorary President Thomas Bach said: “David Miller and his work have been a constant thread throughout my life in the Olympic Movement. His sharp analysis and encyclopaedic knowledge of sport, combined with his elegant writing and acid wit, made him a vital commentator and a great companion. His wit and wisdom will be sorely missed by all of us who benefitted from knowing him.”
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) October 27, 2026
Maybe it would have still been unnoticed, but for a phone call I made to the Ship Inn at Weybourne in Norfolk on October 14. I had been trying to contact David through phone calls and emails to arrange a visit to him – no reply to any of them.
So I called The Ship, where we had lunched a couple of years ago. A woman answered the phone, and I asked if she had seen him. “He died some time ago,” she said. She knew no more. Calls to the Weybourne vicarage met an automated message. The following day, I again called The Ship – and learnt no more than that David had died.
On October 16, I had a call from the Rev Adrian Wolton, associate pastor of Weybourne church. He had picked up my message. “Yes,” he said. “David died about two months ago. I was a neighbour of his.
“I often visited him, and he told stories of the great events he had covered. All I know is he had authorised that on his death his body be taken away, cremated, and his ashes scattered next to those of his wife at Kelling church.”
Adrian said he had a contact number for David’s son, Gavin Miller, and he would ask him to call me.
I still hadn’t discovered when David had died. I called Matt Lawton, chief sports correspondent of The Times. He joined me on the search.
Matt persuaded Norfolk County Council’s death registry to send him by express delivery a copy of David’s death certificate. It arrived on October 19. It stated that David had died on June 16 of “cardiac failure… frailty of old age”. Matt alerted me, told The Times obit desk and wrote a piece for the sports pages.
There were rightly generous obits in The Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Sports Journalists’ Association and Football Writers’ Association websites, and elsewhere.
But I still didn’t know why David, who had enjoyed his fame and the company of many of the great people in world sport and especially the company of other journalists, had chosen to leave us so privately.
Here’s an example of David with his sportswriter colleagues…
On a visit to his home in 2024, I told him about the annual lunch of “Last Men Standing” (a group of back-page veterans brought together by David Norrie, Mitchell Platts and me).
“Can I join?” David said. “Of course,” I said.
“Last Men Standing” had booked a room at the King’s Head in Mayfair. I explained it was an upstairs room with no lift. David was very lame. He needed two sticks and/or a Zimmer frame to move around. But he insisted: “I’ll be there.”
And so he was, driven from Norfolk by his daughter Michèle. With help from several of us, he managed the stairs and made his way to a chair. No sooner had he sat down than he was surrounded by old colleagues, old foes as well as old friends, wishing him well.
The lunch and chat over, David managed to get to his feet and, uninvited, launched into a speech that had us entertained for 10 minutes.
He loved the occasion and the memories – and we loved having him there.
Memorial service for David Miller is being planned
Gavin called me on October 20 after he had read Adrian Wolton’s message. Gavin is a theatre director, playwright and a guide for private tours of Europe.
He was with David at Kelling Hospital two days before he died. He said: “I had to leave the next day because I had an appointment in Europe. Dad’s condition was at that point stable, and I would be back in a few days.
“There was a World Cup match on TV. He was dozing, but he suddenly woke up and said, ‘Gav, we need to talk! When am I going to start walking again?’
“Dad had been bed-ridden for the last two months; consequently, his strength had deteriorated badly, and the prognosis was not good. I explained that in order to walk again he needed to regain his strength by trying to eat more.
“I’d brought Dad some strawberries and cream, which I now offered him. But picking up on the hopelessness of his situation, he pushed them away, saying, somewhat despondently, ‘Bugger the strawberries.’
“Those must have been his last words. Nobody at the hospital recalled him speaking again.”
Thirty-six hours later, David died. By his side was Moira Westfall-Harvey, a good friend who had been stepping in to care for David when Gavin was away. She called him with the news.
“Dad had left a note stating that he had paid for a cremation,” said Gavin. “He wanted no fuss on his death – ‘Take my body to be cremated, then bury my ashes next to Mum’s’.”
Marita, David’s wife for 61 years, died in 2018. Her ashes were taken to St Mary’s Church, Kelling, a couple of miles from their home at Weybourne. They had moved there from Barnet in 1996. Their daughter Michèle died suddenly on Christmas Eve, 2024. She is buried in St Mary’s graveyard.
“Michèle’s death really broke Dad,” said Gavin. “It was a total shock. He never really got over it, and his own health began to deteriorate quite rapidly. On top of the crippling arthritis, he had severe edema. Being bedridden for the last two months was extremely hard for him.”
Gavin and his wife Serena have a daughter, Ygraine Miller-Zahnke, a professional ballerina. Michèle is survived by her son, Max Witting, who works in film as a director of photography.
A journalist of David Miller’s stature would normally merit a memorial service at St Bride’s in Fleet Street. However, to enable David’s local friends and family to more easily attend, Gavin and Max are planning a service closer to David’s home – at St Mary’s, Kelling, early next year.
Tom Clarke adds: “I will alert the SJA and the FWA to the date of the service as soon as Gavin tells me. He and Max are planning an afternoon service, allowing David’s friends time for the journey to Kelling.“
If you would like to be put in touch with Tom Clarke, please contact The SJA at info@sportsjournalists.co.uk.
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