'Wonderful bloke' fondly remembered (From Watford Observer)

He was funny and generous.
R.I.P Terry

For many years I was the steward i/c the Press Box at Watford FC. I remember one evening match when John Barnes raced away from the centre circle and scored from some twenty yards. "What a great goal Luther" was the comment from the Daily Express reporter. That was John Barnes replied Terry, "Sorry I can't tell the difference" was the Express reply. To which Terry replied, "If Luther is MIDNIGHT, John Barnes is a quarter to eleven. The press box erupted. You will be missed Terry.

When I started at the Watford Observer, I was desperate to meet Oli Phillips and Terry Challis, who had covered WFC so brilliantly for years. I was not disappointed and was lucky enough to work with them and, in time, count them as friends.
Terry was one of the funniest, most gifted and warm men to be around. I spent many an hour in the WFC press box, chuckling away to Terry's quips.
Back in the newsroom, he was always great, if distracting, company and so many people will have warm memories of his wonderful wit.
I was terribly saddened to hear the news.
Anyone who has followed Watford FC will have a hero or two. Luther, Barnesy, perhaps GT...
Terry Challis was - and always will be - one of my Watford FC heroes.
Rest easy, Terry

Terry Challis was one of the funniest and warmest characters to inhabit the offices of the Watford Observer when it was in Rickmansworth Road. His wicked sense of humour and fantastic gift for story telling enlivened many a long afternoon at the newsdesk.
We always looked forward to being distracted by him!
He was a truly gifted artist. Like many other WO workers from the good old days, I still treasure two fantastic cartoons he drew for cards given to me by the office when I got married and when I finally left.
Like him they are both a bit cheeky, really clever, funny and rather brilliant.
Terry you will be greatly missed. There just aren't any more like you these days.

Really enjoyed his work - I was just thinking how I missed his cartoons in WO, then I read this.

I was lucky enough not only to travel on occasion with Terry and Ollie to away games but also to have him living just across the road from me in West Watford. I can only echo the thoughts already expressed. He was as sharp as his cartoons would suggest and many times those cartoons were the saving grace on a Friday after a poor display.

Terry may no longer be with us but fortunately we have his work as a lasting and funny (!) memorial.

For many years, the first thing myself and my brother looked for the Watford Observer was the Challis cartoon. He would always sum up the game perfectly, especially the post-match managerial comments, in such a way that we could not help but laugh.
His painting of Elton John leading the hornets to the promised land seemed a flight of fancy at the time, but he proved a prophet too, with much of it coming true.
His caricatures for Oli's 'Golden Boys' book continue to amuse me, with detail even including Barnsey in his gloves. Happy days.
He will be missed.

Top man Terry. RIP mate.

I knew Terry for many years, and if anything, his cartoons only give a slight hint of his wit and insight.
If you were on his wavelength you could be laughing until you really wanted to stop. I saw some of the cartoons being drawn, and I won't say he made it look easy, because it wasn't. He sometimes had to point out things not right at the club, and he worried about upsetting people. He wasn't afraid to criticise, but he knew the people he was criticising had a harder job than drawing a cartoon (in their eyes anyway). He just tried to be fair and funny. He usually got it right.

Sad news, I grew up reading his cartoons as a young hornet fan, which always used to sum up the feeling of the week before, I was then lucky enough to purchase a painting he did showing his recollection of the 84 cup final against Everton, which still hangs in my dining room today. I looked at it this evening with fond memories when I read of his passing. RIP

R.I.P Terry

I remember as a kid reading his cartoon strips in the WO and they were always enjoyable and funny even after a bad defeat (week)

The cartoons were a must read in the WO over the years. Surely a book including all the WFC up's and down's over the year's in his honour is an absolute must!!!

Oxhey Village Hornet: Terry compiled a book of his cartoons over the years, called 'Drawn Game' in 1995. I still have my copy, with a hand-drawn caricature of me in it. Treasured possession

The achievements of the club on the pitch led by Graham Taylor in the late 70's and 80's were remarkable. But it was made all the more remarkable because of the 'everyone together' club feel including all of us who supported the club in those times. Terry Challis played a massive part in that family. He added significantly to the warm feel of the club with his humour and very clever delivery of events via his cartoons. In effect he bought those times together by involving the whole club via the cartoons and helped everyone to share all the emotions of happiness, disappointment and frustration. A very special talent that significantly contributed to help communicate and share what we all felt. Thank you Terry for all the pleasure you gave us on a Friday morning.

my email address begins with "r" raeknights........

Whenever I think of the Watford Observer, whether it be the newspaper itself or the happy time I spent working there, I can't help but think of Terry. He was a warm, funny man and was as passionate about Watford FC as he was his work.

The weekly cartoon was a fixture in the WO and the reason it was so well regarded was because Terry always made a point, whether in the depiction of the characters, or in the words he used. Importantly, every cartoon contained the warmth of the man himself. He could be satirical without being flippant, lacerating without having to be cruel. He fought Watford's corner against injustice and stuck up for those who were having a hard time. In short, he was a 'supporter' of the club in the truest sense of the word. He wanted the best for it, he enjoyed its triumphs and felt the hurt when it stumbled but he understood that the secret of a great football club was its people, the place it took in the community and the sense of togetherness. His depiction of the typical fan and their attitudes is identifiable in all of us. His work celebrated the club, poked fun at the irrational nature of supporters, ridiculed the pomposity of some officials, elevated the unsung hero and brought down a peg or two those who became a little too full of themselves. All with line drawings that were as charming as they were instantly recognisable.

Terry's fair-mindedness always struck me, as typified by two things he said to me. I remember criticising a particular player unjustly and he said simply: "Oh no, they had a full-back much worse than him in the Fifties". It was a joke, but also reminded me, spoilt by being brought up in an era of success, where the club had come from. When criticism of individuals over-stepped the mark, he'd put it in perspective still further by saying: "How would you like it if a load of people not half as good at your job as you are came into this office and started shouting 'That's a rubbish story you've written there. Boo. Get away from your desk. Let someone else have a go'."

Like many creative people, Terry was a procrastinator. He'd come in on a Wednesday afternoon to complete his cartoon for Friday's paper. Many weeks he'd draw out the rectangle in black pen and leave it on his desk, then make his way round the office talking to those of us who were Watford fans about Saturday's game. He'd smoke a few roll-ups and often head back home again, his rectangle still blank or with a few pencil outlines in. Come Thursday morning, deadline day, the cartoon would be on the sports desk without fail, even if he'd had to stay up half the night waiting for inspiration.

But the examples of Terry's work I will treasure most will be those he did specifically for me, as he did for others at the WO from time to time. It's astonishing the effort he went to, and thinking of it now I wish I'd told him more often how brilliant I thought his work was.

After one Watford win at Millwall, myself and a friend were chased a couple of miles by some lunatic hooligans. Terry found the story of our escape most amusing. A few days later he came in with a fantastic pen and ink cartoon of a parade of Millwall's finest. It has all the sentimental meaning of a specially commissioned piece of artwork, it's funny and brilliant, and it was completely unexpected. It knocked me sideways when he placed it on my desk and from that day it's been on the wall of my office. I've posted a picture of it at Twitpic if anyone wants to see it. http://twitpic.com/k
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Surely his most astonishing piece of work is the famous painting that shows a Watford player emerging from the lower division undergrowth, being directed towards the promised land by Elton John riding a hornet. In the distance, atop the mountain is the liver bird, signifying Liverpool's supremacy in the English game at the time. Along the way are Wembley's twin towers and a new stand.

What is incredible about the picture is that it was finished in 1976, when Watford were still in the fourth division, yet it depicted the club's future so accurately. Watford really did reach Wembley, and challenge Liverpool. In a way it says as much about Terry's vision and ambition for the club as it does that of those who actually made it happen.

When I think of Terry I'll conjure a cheerful memory. I can't help but picture his self-portrait, which usually appeared in his Watford Observer cartoon when he'd been on holiday and missed the previous weekend's game. In my mind's eye his cartoon self is dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, sometimes with a handkerchief on his head. He's in a gondola or outside an amphitheatre and he's reading the local paper – usually Italian – and the headline says something like: "Watfordio 2 The Other Lottio 0".

Terry and his cartoons, will be sadly missed, but he and his work will be fondly remembered. I am confident the Watford Observer and Watford Football Club will both recognise the contribution he made not just to the club and the newspaper but also to the town.

Cheers Terry.

When i used to go to a lot more away games than i do now , i would buy the observer for the coach journey and the first thing i would read was the Cartoon by Terry Challis, he seemed to capture how you were feeling at the time as a fan in such a funny way, you will be missed.

No doubt, like many others, Terry's cartoon was the first part of the WFC coverage I would turn to and would find myself not only laughing but nodding my head in agreement. As has been said, he seemed to hit the nail on the head from the fans point of view - sometimes cutting but always, always funny.
R.I.P. Terry and thank you.

Terry was a true gent and his brilliantly observed cartoons will live on as his legacy. No disrespect to the current custodians of the WFC coverage in the Observer, but somehow there was a real connection with the fans views in those days and more depth of coverage through Oli and Terry that is much missed.

I had the pleasure to sit alongside Terry in the press box at Watford now and then when I was a reporter on the WO.

I still treasure the card he did for me when I left. He was good company, very funny and a really lovely man - He'll be missed.

When people say "we'll never see his like again" it sounds like a cliche. But I think in Terry's case, it's probably true.