DHP Chairman David Hall has Passed Away

[FishingMagic]

This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: DHP Chairman David Hall has Passed Away

 

[geoffmaynard]

Goodbye David. A real character who had a major effect on the angling publishing world. From being the maverick rank outsider to becoming the new establishment all in a couple of decades. A lovely guy and a hell of a raconteur. I put one over him once though; I wrote an article about a blue marlin which had been caught in the Thames at Tower Bridge by an eel angler. I faxed it to him and he 'held the front page' for the photo which followed by post (a fibreglass model). When it arrived he hit the roof, gave me a right roasting too.
Goodbye to a lovely bloke.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

DH was certainly a character and no mistake.

RIP David Hall

 

[Judas Priest]

Used to read most of his early publications, match fishing coarse fishing etc, and they certainly bucked the trend of angling mags available bringing a glossy professional outlook. They also contained some superb contributors. Got to meet and speak with him on a few occasions, not at matches but strangely in service stations up and down the country
Still got boxes full of the mags in the loft.

Cheers David for all you did. RIP

 

[binka]

I never knew David but it's certainly a sad loss to the angling world, only recently a regular column from Coarse Fisherman was mentioned several times in a thread here on FM all these years later.

RIP David Hall.

 

[The bad one]

The angling world will be a little duller for David's passing that's for sure.
You gave me and all of us at the time news, laughs and information with a big edge and for that I'd like to thank you posthumously as I did on the one or two occasions I met you in life.

RIP David

 

[Judas Priest]

Ionly recently a regular column from Coarse Fisherman was mentioned several times in a thread here on FM all these years later.

RIP David Hall.

Snide rumours and dirty lies.

Absolutely a monthly must read, how he was never sued out of existence still remains a mystery ?

 

[Merv Harrison]

Snide rumours and dirty lies..............

A local 'ace' on the open match circuit, and a friend of mine at the time, Barry Rudge, had had a fall-out with another top angler, the name that Snide Rumours gave him, Beara Grudge has stuck with me 30+ years.

 

[laguna]

Sad to hear of his passing. It was Des Taylor that told me of his illness and although we only met once in 2011 he made me and my brother feel very welcome at DHP HQ and treated us for lunch. He told me of the story about a young man who he had just witnessed trying to sell some new at the time, adjustable mud feet to a tackle shop owner and said afterwards; "Seems like a nice lad does David Preston, but he'll lose his shirt"!

BTW, that lunch cost me £5k in advertising!

RIP David it was nice knowing you but for a brief time.

 

[Neil Maidment]

RIP David, you changed the face of angling publications.

I always turned to "Snide Rumours....." first.

 

[flightliner]

Yes, very sad,his mags along with coarse angler were both must haves every month. Every avenue of coarse angling was catered for, good layouts, good honest informative pieces - often by relatively unknown guys willing to share their experiences, the amazing development of tackle being developed and made known to an eager angling readership made such mags a must, such a far cry from some available today.
RIP David Hall.

 

[binka]

Snide rumours and dirty lies.

Absolutely a monthly must read, how he was never sued out of existence still remains a mystery ?

I was sixteen years old when I first read that page having taken my first monthly publication and I was instantly hooked!

So different to what the weeklies which I'd been reading for a number of years were offering at the time, I don't recall anything quite like it since and highly unlikely in todays litigious society.

 

[geoffmaynard]

I used to write for him in the early days and once got an invite to dinner. A special evening, let's say I asked him about SR&DL and he told me it was the hardest work of the month. He would lock himself away with a large bottle of Scotch and a big fat J and the result was always... hilarious!

 

[tekneek]

Very saddened to hear last night of David's passing away!!

Although it was a few years since we last met i did have some very memorable evenings with him in the past, unbeknown to him i was planning to call in and see him and the gang next month at DHP

"if you have friends and you haven't seen them in a while go and see them"

My thoughts are with his family, close friends and dhp, a big loss!!

rip David

Will Hutchison - tek-neek

 

[Cliff Hatton]

A good number of anglers owe their reputations and, in some cases, their living to David Hall. It was David and 'Coarse Fisherman' that gave these anglers a medium to voice their views and opinions; before this time angling journals were very much more 'selective'. The standard of writing was generally better as a consequence but this had a very limiting effect on subject matter. David Hall could then be said to have 'democratized' coarse fishing. Thank you, David.