John Clive Richardson (June 14th 1947 – June 8th 2022), J always known to his friends as Clive, grew up on a farm in rural Wooldale, a village within the civil parish of the same name in West Yorkshire (perhaps most famous for the town of Holmfirth, home to the classic TV Series ‘Last of the Summer Wine’). Even in adulthood he retained traces of the soft, warm lilt of his natural accent: as one might say, you could take Clive out of Yorkshire, but you could never take the Yorkshireman out of Clive.
Even from an early age he was a gifted, academically astute and erudite communicator, advanced for his years; his prowess in harnessing the written word even brought him an early prize, in the annual Huddersfield RSPCA ‘Silver Seagull’ competition, for a wildlife essay written at the tender age of ten. In the subsequent report in the ‘Huddersfield Daily Examiner’ of April 24th 1958, it was said that “…John sent in a really remarkable essay – his own unaided work”. Clive’s 7½-year older brother Ed remembers how the family were astounded at this event: “I found his notebook, in which he wrote the drafts whilst in bed, and then hid the book beneath his bed.
"There was a second essay for the following year which described the effects of oil slicks on nature. Our parents proudly hung the framed photo of the award on the lounge wall”.
Less than a year later, Clive had succeeded in his eleven plus for a coveted place at Holme Valley Grammar School in nearby Honley. As Ed Richardson recalls: “At 14, Clive was driving illegally on the road delivering milk from a relatives Land Rover; he passed his driving test at 17 with flying colours, much to the delight of his instructor. Meanwhile his first crash at 16 was when he was unable to stop his 250cc Panther as the brake linings were vinyl tiles; his second crash on his Velocette, his third whilst in sixth Form – when Clive transported some fellow students to a local hostelry at lunchtime in Dad’s car; on the return to school he collided with a wall; the school never found out, but Dad was not happy! Our father bought a 1100cc A35 van for us to share; Clive brake-tested this in a rear end shunt…”
His enthusiasm for fact-finding and writing eventually, in 1965, brought him a job at that same newspaper which had celebrated his essay success, where he was able to combine a job of general news reporting with a regular motorsports column, the latter emboldened by his role of Secretary of the local Huddersfield Motor Club. In 1967, he joined the celebrated BMC factory publication ‘Safety Fast!’, based in those days at the MG factory at Abingdon and aimed at enthusiasts of both MG and Austin-Healey cars; his initial job interview was with none other than Raymond Baxter, the famous
