Jim (Jimmy) Bygrave

Posted: May 11th, 2011

By David Phillips

Jimmy Bygrave was a ‘Mirror Man’ practically born and bred. His mother and father both worked on the paper and Jimmy naturally followed in their footsteps. When I joined The Mirror as racing form expert in 1958, Jimmy was given the task of assisting me with the figures for he was a genius at mathematics. However Jimmy really came into his own when he took over as football pools expert ‘Longsight’ on the death of George Harley. And for many years Mirror readers benefited from his shrewd pools selections and concise answers to their many football pools queries.

Jimmy also worked tirelessly for the Mirror Chapel of the NUJ, and was always ready to give his colleagues wise counsel.

Jimmy Bygrave was the quiet man of Mirror Sport. He survived a serious illness a few years ago and news of his death has come as a shock to his many friends. He was aged 74.

Our deepest sympathy goes out his wife Reinalda and their sons.