Wed, 11 November, 2026
Monty Court
Posted: March 21, 2026
MONTY COURT, former editor of The Sporting Life, has died, aged 97
MONTY’s funeral will take place at noon on Wedneday, April 8 [2026] at Huntingdon Crematorium, Sapley Road, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE28 2NX. Family flowers only, please wear bright colours. If you are planning to attend, please email: Paul Duffett flamephotos@hotmail.com for catering numbers. Further details here: https://www.dignityfunerals.co.uk/funeral-notices/10-03-2026-montague-george-albert-court/ And you can also live stream here: https://watch.obitus.com Username vuwi1231, Password 586267 There will be a wake afterwards at St Neots golf club.
Monty was a highly respected Fleet Street veteran when he was hand-picked by then owner Robert Maxwell to lead The Sporting Life as editor against its new rival, the Racing Post.
He spent five years on provincial newspapers before joining the Evening News, London, in 1953 as a reporter. A brief period on the News Chronicle was followed by nine years on the Daily Mail as reporter, and finally news editor. In 1965 came a switch to Mirror Group’s Sunday Mirror as investigations editor and later news editor.
There, he got professionally involved with horse racing, a great love of his life, as racing editor and columnist. Monty had declined earlier offers to edit the group’s Sporting Life until 1986, when the timing suited both parties. His five-year editorship not only went down very well with the staff, it was the most successful period in the Life’s 139-year history. He remained a columnist as long as the title lasted, with his weekly musings appearing in the Court Circular.
Obituary by JOHN COBB, Racing Post: Monty Court, former editor of The Sporting Life, and a much respected Fleet Street journalist, has died at the age of 97. When the Sheikh Mohammed-backed Racing Post launched in 1986 it was Court who was handed the task by Mirror Group owner Robert Maxwell of leading The Sporting Life’s defence against its new rival.
While this was a daunting challenge, it was one which Court took on with relish as racing had been the love of his life during his time on the Daily Mail as a reporter and news editor, at the Mirror Group as investigations editor and later as news editor of the Sunday Mirror.
Court, who had declined earlier offers to edit the Life, enjoyed a highly successful five-year editorship of the paper, which at first managed to hold its rival at bay. After handing over the reins he remained a columnist – with his weekly article appearing as Court Circular – until the Life merged with the Racing Post in 1998.
“Monty was a star columnist, using his experience to criticise what was wrong in racing, particularly its governance, and also to salute racing’s human and equine heroes, all with crisp, very readable writing,” said Tom Clarke, who eventually followed Court as editor of The Sporting Life. “He was an outstanding editor and his enthusiasm for racing shone through during his 50 years in journalism, from a local reporter in Swindon to news editor of the Daily Mail and later news editor and racing editor of the Sunday Mirror.
“Robert Maxwell noticed Monty’s strong leadership and picked him to lead the Life in its competition with the newly launched Racing Post.”
Commentator Simon Holt, who wrote for The Sporting Life, said of Court: “He was a big character who tended to make quite a lot of noise, in an excited way; he did relish the job. He encouraged good writing and I remember going to see John Dunlop and starting the piece with some background about Arundel, which is a very old town. Monty summoned me to his office and said: ‘I don’t want a bloody history lesson!’ So I rewrote my piece. He could bark a lot but there wasn’t so much bite really.
“He had a very close connection with Guy Harwood and he took me down a couple of times during Dancing Brave’s amazing three-year-old season.”
Geoff Lester was a senior reporter at The Sporting Life and said: “I worked under five editors and people always ask who was the best. I’m not saying it was him but he knew the most about racing. We didn’t agree on everything but as soon as we’d said our piece it was forgotten. He was a great friend and I’ll miss him enormously.”
After a period in hospital with a respiratory infection, Court died peacefully at home with his wife Jean at his side.