OBITUARY
I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone again who had as much ‘fever’ as writer, commentator and broadcaster Henry Hope-frost. In fact, I didn’t really know what real fever was until we started working together at Autosport.
Fever is the undiluted love of all the good things about motorsport – speed, risk, triumph over adversity, even inglorious failure. Henry dropped it into every conversation, and no doubt he would have been chuffed to see #fever trending across Twitter the morning following his fatal motorbike accident in March. If only he could have…
A lot of great things have been written about ‘H’ following his passing, but I think that the most pertinent among them was the description of him simultaneously taking motorsport seriously, yet not seriously at all. It was this casual charm, underscored by a serious depth of knowledge, that made him such a great interviewer, whether that was on stage at the Autosport Show or, most famously, on the grid at the Goodwood Revival.
His love of the sport was broad. He was equally happy talking to a legend from the WRC as he was to a modern F1 star or a rising single-seater wannabe. His style was conversational and cheeky, and it put people at ease. The fact that he knew absolutely what he was talking about meant that he got their respect and the best out of them.
Whenever there was a spare moment during his time as a staff member at Autosport
he’d be downstairs leafing through the bound volumes of past issues, updating his stats archive. Topping up the fever, which he subsequently went on to put to great use with his funny and informative social media posts.
Although he did write the occasional article for Autosport, he was mainly a sub-editor on that magazine, where his intolerance of poor grammar made him a fearsome presence for naïve young writers. A grocer’s apostrophe would be greeted with a bellow across the office. Historical inaccuracies could produce a berating that wouldn’t be something you’d want to experience twice.
But for those of us who worked with him, he’ll be remembered for far more than that. Have you ever seen someone bowl overarm at 10-pin bowling? H tried it. And his car impressions were legendary, whether they were a whistling Sierra Cossie dump-valve or some thundering pre-war bolide (complete with crunching gearchanges), he could have the office in stiches as he embarked upon an imaginary lap – flat-chat, of course.
It has been phenomenal to see from how far and wide the tributes have come. Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Jenson Button and scores more have offered their condolences and best wishes to his wife Charlotte and their three young boys.
Without Henry, the world is a much less fever place, and that really is a very sad thing indeed. Andrew van de Burgt