Hugh Massingberd – the man who reinvented the art of the obituary

Obituaries. Why do they endure? What is the secret of their success?

The Daily Telegraph obituaries column has only been in existence for 30 years, having been set up in Sep-86 by Hugh Massingberd.

Prior to that, obituaries appeared irregularly and only for the most important people as a formal list of accomplishments, rather than the current crop of colourful and humorous mini-biographies concerning a wide range of characters.

Massingberd’s vision was essentially a comic one – a formal, detached style, but deadpan and alive to human frailty, aiming for sympathy rather than sycophancy.

Running through all his obituaries, was this view of mankind as fallen, but redeemed through eccentricity.

Massingberd’s mantras:

Be candid but not unkind

Never use two words when one will do

To be funny, one does not have to be cruel

Massingberd kept a book of obituaries in a book in front of him on his desk,  with some of his favourite passages underlined, such as:

“Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Knowles (who as a subaltern was bitten in the buttocks by a bear – he survived but the bear expired).”

“Commander ‘Braces’ Bracegirdle of the Australian navy was asked by one of his sailors for compassionate leave on the grounds that his home town was under flood water 6ft deep, and his wife was only 5ft 3in high. Braces silently handed over an orange box and stamps to post it.”

“Big Daddy, the 28-stone wrestler (real name, Shirley Crabtree) whose leotard was made from the chintz covers of his wife’s sofa.”

So there you have it

Massingberd’s defining quality was to realise that it is our peculiarities, failings, and embarrassments , which make us who we are.