JOHN RICHARD HURST 1945 - 2008
John Hurst was brought up in Gatley, went to the London School of Economics and worked as a solicitor in Manchester. This site is in his memory.
Click on the pages titled below for photographs of John:
A few words spoken at his funeral service:
To help me get through his I’ve got a mental image of john laughing at my discomfort with that mischievous chuckle of his.
We’ve heard about many of John’s good qualities but perhaps I could remind you of one or two of his imperfections.
He wasn’t the tidiest of people. The last time I saw his kitchen it looked as if the pupils of St Trinians had had a food fight in it.
At Stockport station recently the wife of one of his friends shrieked in horror when she turned and encountered John wearing his foot-high pointed bobble hat. Last Christmas in Manchester a passer-by offered to buy it from him for £15 but foolishly he didn’t accept it.
Once at a Scottish Golf club he was asked to take his drink outside because the pullover he was wearing had no armpits.
To say he wasn’t very good at golf is something of an understatement. Usually his score for a round exceeded 200.
The truth is that his appearance didn’t bother John in the slightest and, as to the golf he simply enjoyed taking part. He was aware that his eccentricities made him the centre of attention and amused his friends.
We often referred to him as John the Obscure because of his knowledge of unusual facts and the strange things he got involved in. He once asked me if I knew that the entrance of the Panama Canal on the western side of the Americas was further east than the entrance from the Pacific side – I didn’t.
Passing through an airport lounge somewhere in Europe there was a bank of clocks showing the times in different capitals of the World. John pointed out to an official that the Tokyo clock was incorrect by one hour.
He joined the Social Democratic Party when it was formed, became treasurer of the Stockport branch, was treasurer of the Crown Social Club, attended Manchester City’s AGMs and for many years he performed an odd ritual doing daily exercises designed for Canadian Air Force personnel. I once shared a room with John in Madrid and saw him perform these exercises wearing just his striped underwear. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Since finishing work last year he made good use of his time. On a visit to Prague he lived up to his reputation of ordering what to him was the most interesting item on the menu. One evening he devoured what seemed to be the entire hind leg of a pig, to the amusement of the rest of us. He made a tour of Italian cities with Peter and met Jan and myself in Venice where he particularly enjoyed the café bands in St Marks Square playing popular tunes late at night.
Among the other places he visited, on what turned out to be a farewell tour of friends, were Germany, Spain, Cardiff and Bristol.
He managed to fit in trips to football matches at Wigan, Blackburn and Manchester City’s last home game of the season when, in typical City fashion, they managed to throw away a two goal lead, eventually losing 3-2.
We enjoyed several evenings playing bridge and one night we tested his knowledge of wines. I’d bought bottles ranging from the very cheap to the quite expensive (at least by my standards). He managed to place all six in the exact order of monetary value and although he didn’t show it you could tell he was quite pleased with himself. He wasn’t as successful on a similar malt whisky tasting session but he did manage to demolish a couple of bushes on his way home.
John was very entertaining company and enjoyed long pub conversations, leaping from topic to topic. Just when you were least expecting it he would catch you out by picking you up on a point you’d made an hour earlier.
We’ll all miss his company and conversation but memories of John will entertain us for many years to come.
Doug Brown