2021 10 18 Rex Bellamy

18/10/21 At Cowdray Golf Club and over Zoom

Rex Bellamy - ex Times Sports Correswpondent

15 years after his first talk to our Club we were privileged to welcome back Rex Bellamy who for 25 years was sports correspondent for the Times - mainly tennis but with the Ryder Cup, Mohammed Ali v Frazier and football all thrown in when he was in the right place at the right time.

What a raconteur! What a life to lead when so many of the sporting greats of the 50's and 60's were competing and how amazing that so many of those personal contacts that Rex had still exist to this day. How many correspondents of his era could say that they still have regular phone calls with Ken Rosewall?

But times have changed. Referring to a Wimbledon player as "coffee colour medium roast" would never pass a Times editor today. The Professional era was just coming in, equal pay for women, sexual preferences Rex had a story about everything but not to be repeated in print.

But "without a risk life is not worth living " is a motto worth repeating and is relevant to us all. Rex certainly followed it. What a character - I hope he returns to Club to continue his story.

Andrew Gibson