FRED Spencer was well into his nineties when he did his last sponsored walk.
It was during the pandemic, and the walk consisted of laps up and down the drive of his home in Askham Richard near York to raise money for Martin House Hospice.
His daughter Julie, a magazine editor, would ring him each day to find out how many laps he had done.
“He’d say ‘at least 15!’” she recalled.
That was her dad all over, Julie said. “He was a livewire - the most vital human being I ever knew. He was never doing nothing!”
Bradford-born Fred, who passed away on December 28 aged 97, started his long, illustrious photographic career working for the Telegraph & Argus.
Then for many years - from the late 1950s through to the 1970s - he was the chief photographer at the Yorkshire Evening Press.
He was a newspaperman to his fingertips, Julie said - always carrying his beloved Hasselblad camera with him wherever he went.
He photographed the wedding of Katharine Worsley to the Duke of Kent from a perch high up beneath the ceiling at York Minster in June, 1961. Kodak gave him some early colour film especially for the occasion - and the resulting photographs were exhibited in London and even sent to the Queen.
He also photographed a host of celebrities while working for the Evening Press. When Geoff Boycott scored his 100th first class hundred in a test match against Australia at Headingley on August 11, 1977, Fred was there to capture the occasion.
He photographed the great Louis Armstrong at Batley Variety Club, and the singer Bing Crosby at York Races. Fred stood him on a small set of steps that he always carried - and when people in the crowd realised who the singer was, someone shouted ‘give us a song, Bing’. The American crooner broke into a rendition of Where The Blue Of The Night (Meets The Gold Of The Day).
Another time, Fred photographed comedy legends Morecambe and Wise down by the River Ouse at Coney Street.
The pair were larking about, and Ernie Wise had rolled his trouser legs up. A passing policeman recognised Fred, realised what he was doing, and called out: ‘You know what your caption for that one is, Fred: the one with the short, fat, hairy legs’!
Julie said that her dad was more than just a photographer, though. He cared about people too.
He was once sent to photograph a Hungarian refugee who had fled the uprising in his country and come to York. The man was greeted by the Lord Mayor and other dignitaries. But when they went, he was left standing by himself.
Fred asked him what he was going to do next, and the man said he had nowhere to go.
“So dad took him home - much to mum’s surprise!” Julie said.
Fred trained up a string of talented young photographers on The Press - among them Keith Massey, who went on to be a renowned TV cameraman; legendary Press Association photographer John Giles; and Martin Oates, who became picture editor himself at The Press for many years.
Keith became lifelong friends with the man who had taken him on as an apprentice in 1960. And Martin remembered him fondly as a ‘good boss’ who always looked out for staff.
Fred was born in Bradford. He served as RAF ground crew during the war, but had always wanted to be a photographer. After the war, he started taking photos on a freelance basis for the Telegraph and Argus - and before long he was offered a job.
He married Shipley girl Betty, and in the late 1950s the couple moved to York when Fred became chief photographer at the Yorkshire Evening Press.
He stayed with the newspaper until he retired - but even then continued to do freelance photography, and also worked as the York Racecourse official photographer.
For many years he and his wife lived in Askham Richard. Betty died a couple of years ago, and Fred moved to a retirement home, first in York and then in Wetherby.
He died on December 28, leaving a son, David, daughter Julie, plus two grandchildren and one great grandson.
His funeral will be at St Mary’s, Askham Richard, on Wednesday, January 25.
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