The Haileybury Society is saddened to learn of the death of John Jerome – “Jeremy” – Bennett (C 53) who has died on October 20th 2017, aged 77. His brother Oliver, has written this obituary in his honour.

Passionate about Haileybury

Jeremy Bennett loved his years at Haileybury. He thrived academically, winning a scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied history; he excelled in sport, particularly rugby, playing wing three-quarter (as it was then) for the famous XV that won every match it played; and he contributed strongly to the life of the school, becoming Head of School during his final year.

Compassionate towards other pupils

Haileybury in the 1950s was a less enlightened place than it is today, and Heads of House and School were routinely expected to administer canings to younger boys deemed guilty of indiscipline. It was to Jeremy’s credit, and indicative of both the kindness and independence of mind that he showed throughout his life, that he could see no merit in this practice. When called upon to perform it, he would later proudly recall, he would do little more than pretend to do so. The practice was abandoned by the school soon after he left.

Guided by his history teacher

Jeremy’s personal and academic development at Haileybury, guided by mostly his history teacher, Tony Melville, with whom he remained friends all his life, and also by the Master, Christopher Smith, laid the foundations for a happy and successful life. At Cambridge, he met a young Danish woman, Tine Langkilde, who was studying English before going on to train and practice as a nurse.

They became engaged and then married in 1963, after Jeremy had graduated. They raised three sons, Benedict, Alexander and Marcus, and remained happily married for 54 years. Tine and the family were always the central point of Jeremy’s life and the key to his many public successes and achievements.

Churchill Fellowship, Copenhagen

After Cambridge, Jeremy took up a Churchill Fellowship at the University of Copenhagen, where he conducted research into the wartime broadcasts of the BBC Danish Service, resulting in his book, British Broadcasting and the Danish Resistance Movement, 1940-1945, published in 1966. This was the starting point for a highly successful career as a producer of television documentaries for the BBC, where he worked for 25 years.

Award-winning documentaries

In the course of this career, his work was critically acclaimed, many of his programmes winning prestigious awards. These included a Silver Award at the New York Film and TV Festival for Alphabet: The Story of Writing (1980), a four-part documentary tracing the history of the alphabet from cave paintings to modern times; a Blue Ribbon award at the American Film Festival for Cry Hungary (1986), his film about the 1956 Hungarian uprising; and another Blue Ribbon award at the same festival the following year for Monty in Love and War, his probing portrait of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.

He also won an Emmy for his two-part documentary on The Cuban Missile Crisis (1992), featuring for the first time on television Fidel Castro’s account of what happened, together with interviews from White House and Kremlin insiders. Other memorable programmes included a four-part series on Churchill and an investigation of the decisions behind the bombing of Hiroshima.

Post-BBC independence

When new management practices were introduced at the BBC in the mid-1990s, Jeremy found himself at odds with the prevailing institutional culture. Demonstrating once again that characteristic independence of mind, he resigned from the BBC and with colleagues set up his own TV production company, 3BM Television, where he continued to produce ground-breaking historical documentaries, such as those on the Suez Crisis (1996), the BBC under John Reith (1997) and the Berlin Airlift (1998).

Sense of civic duty

Jeremy had a strong sense of civic responsibility and was actively involved in community and charity work both before and after retirement. As a resident of Camberwell for over 50 years, he joined the Camberwell Society and led a number of its environmental campaigns, chairing the Society for seven years and then becoming its President. He was also responsible for setting up a South London branch of the national environmental charity, Groundwork, serving as a member of the national board and chairing Groundwork London. In 2003, he received the award of Southwark citizen of the year.

A man of energy taken too soon

Jeremy was a man of indefatigable energy. He travelled widely in the course of his working life, for both business and pleasure, and continued to do so in retirement. For relaxation, he loved to spend time at his cottage overlooking the Black Mountains in Wales and fly-fishing on the River Usk. Sadly, these activities were curtailed during the last few years of his life, following the onset of a serious illness, during which he was cared for devotedly by his wife.

Jeremy was much loved by family and friends. He is survived by his wife and three sons, his sister, Mary, and brother, Oliver. He also leaves five grandchildren.

Oliver Bennett
Bristol
July 2018