TEDDY SELWYN, the son of a Church of England rector, was born in Retford in 1921, the youngest of four children.
At a very early age, he moved with his parents to Remenham where he spent the rest of his life, apart from war service.
Educated at Radley College where he preferred rowing to mathematics, Teddy joined the Home Guard for the early part of the war and, as he would proudly say, defended Henley Bridge from the bar of the Red Lion.
As soon as he was old enough, he decided he would volunteer for the Royal Air Force and duly presented himself at the recruitment office where the First World War recruitment officer decided that this young lad was officer material as he enjoyed riding horses and rowing. Teddy soon found himself in Rhodesia where he learnt to fly and on completion of his training was posted to North Africa as a bomber pilot.
Teddy always told his friends he was not much of a navigator and only got through that section of the examination through the assistance of a helpful flight sergeant who let the candidates see the questions the night before (if he liked them)!
Much of the rest of the war was spent bombing German and Italian installations in the Mediterranean.
He used to relate that on one mission he successfully attacked an enemy radar station and thought that on his return he might get some sort of decoration or commendation only to find himself in serious trouble because he had nearly destroyed the one radar station in the whole of the Mediterranean that had been giving incorrect readings to the defenders.
After the war, Teddy continued in the Royal Air Force, flying transport aircraft over much of western Europe and on one occasion carried Field Marshall von Rundstedt from Germany to England. He had a spell in India, where he joined the Bombay Hunt and felt at home with the dogs and horses.
On demobilisation, Teddy was invited to join Lloyds of London and met and married his first wife, Wendy. He rowed and coached the crews of Henley Rowing Club and also one of the great Leander oarsmen, Chris Davidge.
Teddy got involved with the creation and organisation of Barn Cottage Boat Club, which was one of the first clubs to draw its membership from more than one club so that very competent crews could be assembled.The club went on to be a major force in British post-war rowing and won the head of the river race several years in succession.
His interests were not confined to rowing. He regularly rode his horse Simon, became treasurer of Chiltern Pony Club, was president of Henley Rugby Club from 1954-58 and a member of Henley Cricket Club.
Teddy played wing three-quarter for the rugby club but his recollection was that he turned out only once and that was quite enough! His second wife, Pam, was a keen horsewoman and owner and Teddy helped her raise money for her favourite charity, the Injured Jockeys Fund. The couple were regular attenders at The Henley Show for many years.
But Teddy’s real love was the river and rowing and right up to a couple of weeks before his death, he would be helped by Geoffrey Horne to make the weekly pilgrimage to Leander for the Lens Day lunches.
It’s not surprising that he was so keen on rowing and the river as his great grandfather took part in the first Boat Race for Cambridge University. Selwyn College, Cambridge, is named after him.
In his prime, Teddy had an electrifying and stentorian presence as a daily and noisy, rumbustuous commuter by train from Henley to the City, as chairman of the Remenham Parish Council, as a proud former member of the Royal Air Force, as a horseman and, above all, as an all-round man of the river.
Published on 30 November 2009
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