Jeremy Chapman

Posted: February 12, 2026

FORMER executive editor of The Sporting Life, JEREMY CHAPMAN, died on February 11 [2026], aged 84. His wife Christa and daughters Sarah and Stephanie were at his bedside in hospital, where he had spent the past week. For many years he had stoically dealt with the aftermath of throat cancer. His funeral is on Tuesday, March 17 at 3.30pm at Randalls Park Crematorium, Randalls Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 0AG (https://inmemoryoflife.com/choices/randalls-park-crematorium/). The dress code is “cheerful”. There will be a celebration of Jeremy’s life afterwards at The Albert Arms, 82 High St, Esher KT10 9QS (https://www.thealbertarmsesher.co.uk/). The family would like an idea of numbers, so if you are planning to attend the funeral and/or the reception, please email Paul: flamephotos@hotmail.com

No flowers thank you, but here: https://jeremychapman.muchloved.com you can link to Jeremy’s Much Loved page to leave a tribute and donate to The Sondheim Society, the chosen charity that was close to his heart. The money will go towards helping nurture young talent and the Society is planning to name an award in Jeremy’s honour to be presented at The Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year in June, 2026.

JEREMY CHAPMAN was a hugely respected deputy editor of The Sporting Life as well as a pioneering and highly successful golf tipster. He was once described by Hugh McIllvanney in The Sunday Times as “the Tiger Woods of golf tipping”.

Jeremy’s journalistic career began when he joined the Buckinghamshire Advertiser in Amersham as a trainee reporter, and during that time, never lacking in confidence, he had the nous to pose as a reporter for Boxing News, securing an interview with the then Cassius Clay before his first fight with Henry Cooper. Clay even challenged the young Chapman to a game of Monopoly. “I thought it was a good idea not to beat him,” he later said.

Jeremy moved on to become the sports editor of the Middlesex County Times in Ealing. Being sports mad from his youth, he was by this time also an avid film fan, and fell out with the management over a lack of pay for editing and writing the film page alongside his daily duties of sub-editing 40 sports stories a week. He subsequently joined the Daily Sketch and spent five years there as sports and horseracing sub-editor, before the paper merged with the Daily Mail.

He joined The Sporting Life in 1971 and served the paper with distinction for 27 years until it closed in 1998. He was both executive editor and golf correspondent at the time of the paper’s demise, and had served as deputy editor to five editors.

Jeremy was widely admired for his skills and attention to detail in laying out a page, always being light enough on his feet and with a calmness to change everything at short notice should any late-breaking news deem it necessary.

He later worked as a freelance golf writer for Racing Post, Racing and Football Outlook, Golf International and other magazines. He wrote books, contributed to others, and also compiled odds for bookmakers on golf tournaments all over the world. His talent at tipping golfing winners was evident from the start, when he tipped Lee Trevino to win the 1972 Open Championship at odds of 8-1. At that time, golf was firmly established as one of Chapman’s passions, and he was good enough to have a handicap in single figures in his prime.

For many years he organised the Life’s Maundy Thursday Golf Day when there was no paper published on Good Friday. It was a tremendous success – a special day when the camaraderie was enjoyed by so many Lifers.

Meanwhile, some of his successful tips were truly inspired. He had Mark O’Meara to win the 1998 Open at 40-1, and on several occasions tipped winners at odds of 100-1 or more, including Stewart Cink for a PGA Tour event in 2021 at 150-1. The Pebble Beach Pro-Am always had a special place in his heart and in 2006, from just four selections, suggested the winner, runner-up and third at odds of 33-1, 50-1 and 33-1.

A more recent passion of Jeremy’s was attending musical theatre and cabaret, invariably accompanied by his delightful wife Christa – they married in 1968. He wrote regularly in his later years for the website Musical Theatre Review. Jeremy loved to recognise and appreciate talented people, both on and off the stage, and was always encouraging to younger colleagues.

Jeremy was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2009 and the treatment badly affected his speech. In his later years, he was unable to eat or drink, and was fed intravenously into his stomach. Yet he was never heard to complain and never lost his good humour. Christa was his rock, and in spite of these ongoing health issues, the couple barely missed a Life reunion.

Jeremy Chapman was a big character, a lover of life and people. He was a superb newspaper operator and then, in an era when sports betting became a huge industry, was there at the very start, leading the way. The pioneer, the doyen.

That said, his family was always his first love. He was so proud of Christa and their daughters, Sarah and Stephanie, both of whom have done well in life to the immense pleasure of their parents. (With thanks to MIKE CATTERMOLE)

Tributes from friends and colleagues can be read here: tributes Jeremy Chapman