Bill Pettigrew 8/2/1927 - 12/1/2020

[Kevin Thurlow]

Yorkshire Chess Association has a good tribute https://mannchess.org.uk/YNotices/2020- ... tigrew.htm

I can add a little. He was a regular at the Combined Services Chess tournament up until recently, and always brought some magic along to entertain us in the evenings. He was obviously good at magic, as at one stage performance a few years ago, he was approached by Derren Brown afterwards, who expressed admiration for one particular effect and asked how he had done it. Bill explained that it was one he had created himself and Derren Brown asked if he could buy it. Bill was delighted and got a couple of "secret" (i.e. Magic Circle Members-only) DVDs on stage magic/sleight of hand in exchange, signed by DB.

Bill visited a military museum (I think it was Tangmere) a few years ago and spotted an old police motor scooter. "I used to ride one of those", he thought, then realised from the licence plate it was the one he used at work. He found a member of museum staff, who was a bit startled to find an ex-user of one of their exhibits! Bill sent them a photograph of him aboard the machine and they added that to the display.

He really enjoyed his chess and approached it in the right spirit, and he was always nice to the organizers!

[Andrew Zigmond]

I recall Bill Pettigrew penning a humorous article for Chess magazine back in (I think) the 1990s relating to an incident that occurred when he was a young police officer. The basic gist was that he was asked to play in an internal police match and obtained his superior's permission to play with the condition that he would come and do his shift as soon as possible after his game was over. Upon arriving at the match he discovered that the players had been paired according to police rank rather than playing strength which allowed him to dispose of a beginner in short order. He duly set off to work pleased that he would be able to get there much earlier than he anticipated. The reaction of his superior when he arrived - `What time do you call this? How many bloody games have you played?`

I remember seeing him at matches around the turn of the century but he dropped out of chess before I became properly involved and, to my regret, I never met him personally.

[James Pratt]

A very great deal I could write about Bill. He was a self confessed 'chess nut' as happy playing in a local league or helping clubmates with a trip down to London to watch a World Championship match. At the London Classic one year there he was again, eating his own sandwiches no doubt brought from Sheffield with a flask of tea. He never lost his sense of proportion or wasted an experience: growing up in an orphanage, an early love of magic (he later joined the magic circle) time in the Police, managing in supermarkets, photography, travel (he got a discount trip to the 1970 Interzonal, later recounted Fischer's rebuttal of Geller's draw offer). He spoke a little Greek and found himself 'volunteered' to play in a local Hellenic Chess Derby whilst on holiday. Bill was lifted on to a little boat which set a course for a little island. Once there, local fervour saw him dithering amid spectators so desperate for his victory they actually played his winning move for him amid shouts and cheers. He spoke of the glory days of Sheffield - with pleasure but no bitterness - when buses filled the local streets and employment, steel industry works, made life OK. He was great friends with Norman Littlewood who predeceased him by several years. His son, a Red Arrow, contracted cancer, another sadness he had to shrug. RIP.

[John Upham]

I met WJP (Bill) in August 1978 during the British Championships in Ayr. Maybe he stayed at the same guest house but my memory fails me?


He took us (Norman Littlewood, JDP and myself) out for day trips in his car and told stories of his time in the police force. He was a lovely man who I won't forget and would you liked to have known better and longer.

[r.desmedt]

I first met Bill In the 1960s when he played on board 2 for the Sheffield Police
team in the mid 1960s. I must have played him around 20 times in the next
fifteen years and he was always a gentleman. We had some very good games,
mostly Kings Gambits if I remember correctly. Our grades moved apart but we
still talked at games and he had many funny stories about his 'tricks' and how he
had to use an assumed name at times as you were not allowed a second job if
you were a policeman. I also remember him, whilst still a constable, explaining
to the Sheffield chief constable, his ultimate boss, who was on bottom board, where he had gone
wrong in a game. Sad to see you go Bill, but remembered with fondness.