6 March 1954 – 15 February 2021
I am writing to confirm the sad news of the passing from cancer of Jeremy Thorpe (1972). Jeremy began at PBHS in Standard 8, his family having emigrated from Liverpool, England in 1970. After Matric and a brief spell in the Merchant Navy, he began his career in journalism as a trainee reporter at the Pretoria News. An interval at the newly-inaugurated Citizen newspaper followed, where he wrote a weekly column and was their in-house TV and record reviewer. It was however a move to SABC TV News that allowed Jeremy to discover his love of broadcast media, where he quickly rose to being senior executive producer of TV News. His distinctive voice could often be heard in bulletins, doing voiceovers for filmed news inserts. As a result, he was also invited to be the newsreader on Martin Bailie’s Radio 5FM morning show.
After leaving the SABC – following some well-publicised, harsh criticism of management there! – Jeremy worked as a freelance news reader/ writer at 702, then Classic FM, before eventually taking up the challenge of becoming Station Manager at the fledgling TUT Top Stereo: the Tshwane University of Technology’s campus radio station. Jeremy grew the station – which he managed to have re-named as Tshwane FM, to award-winning status – amongst which was ‘Best City of Tshwane Community Station’ in February 2018.
A number of Jeremy’s Tshwane FM presenters have gone on to careers in mainstream broadcast media, and he helped to pass on his considerable knowledge in the field more widely as a judge at the annual National/ MTN/ Liberty Radio Awards.
Jeremy never lost his interest in music – or reading: having an enormous collection of records and books, amassed over many years. He leaves a daughter, Hannah, and her mother Jessica Pitchford, whom he met at the SABC.
Dr Neal Barratt (1972)