Nicholas “Nick” Halsted 1942 - 2007
Nick Halsted, who died this September after a long fight with cancer, was a dominant figure in British fencing for nearly three decades. As a competitor, he reached world quarterfinals in épée and foil, and in 1965 was part of the epée team who took silver at the world championships in Paris. As an administrator he was a key member of British fencing's hierarchy, first as British foil team captain, then through various offices before being elected President of the AFA (as it then was), holding that post for seven years, during which time he revolutionised the way fencing was organised in Britain. Brain tumours were to force his retirement from full-time work in 1992, but he continued to take a keen interest in fencing till his death at the age of 64.
He took up fencing in 1956, at Westminster School (where his coach was Bill Harmer-Brown), becoming captain and representing the school at all three weapons. At Oxford, where he read Law at Wadham, he was a three-weapon captain again, and was part of the 1964 Student Games team that saw Peter Jacobs take the épée gold medal, the two becoming firm friends. The following year he won his international colours at épée (it was not until the Mexico Olympics that he would be selected for foil as well). This was the heyday of Allan Jay and Bill Hoskyns, but Nick held up his end, notably winning a tough semi-final fight against the Olympic champion, Kriss, in the vanquishing of Russia, the competition favourites, on the way to his silver medal.
Nick was twice to reach the Martini épée final, as well as an A-Grade final in Poitiers, and in 1967 he won the international Miller-Hallett competition. Otherwise, as he was to put it, "l tended to be second, third and fourth rather a lot." Even so, between 1965 and 1972 he was one of Britain's most consistent performers and at two weapons. But in 1968 he broke a toe, and in 1970 a cartilage operation cost him an entire season, while his career - after Oxford he joined the top legal firm of Slaughter & May - began to assert its claims. He became a specialist in company and commercial law, and in 1971 joined CPC Europe, a food manufacturer, moving to Brussels. That, along with his string of injuries marked the end of his competing.
In 1972 Nick married Clare Henley, already a British team foilist, and they were to have three children - Ben, Alexandra and Laurence. By 1973 they were back in England, where Nick was appointed foil selector and team captain (he was to make his second Olympics in 1976, as foil team captain). Soon he was on the main AFA Committee (which effectively ran the sport), as well as five other committees, and it was no surprise when in 1986, following Mary Glen Haig's retirement as President, Nick was voted her successor.
What happened next was a surprise, at least to those who didn't know the new President well. Nick proceeded to take British fencing apart, then put it together again, He abolished the cumbersome AFA Committee, with its 70-plus membership, and scrapped several other committees, getting them to vote themselves out of existence. He set up a 12-strong board of directors, as well as new coaching and award schemes, and totally revised the structure of the association's membership. At the same time he initiated a publicity drive that had been long overdue, and managed to sell off the lease on the old de Beaumont Centre on favourable terms. None of this could have been achieved without a degree of ruthlessness, but always governed by a fierce determination to save and improve his beloved sport, and this he did.
In 1985, he suffered the first of his brain tumours, and although it was benign he needed a major operation to remove it, In 1992 a new tumour, while also benign, forced him to retire from full-time work (he had moved to Reed International, becoming head of their large legal department). The disease left him with an impaired right arm and slowed speech, but hardly reduced his energy or acuity.
He set himself up as a freelance legal translator from French while also embracing a new range of voluntary work: as a legal consultant to an organisation that promoted whistle-blowing; a lay visitor at police stations; a legal volunteer for a foundation that provided care for torture victims; and company secretary for the Olympians, the country-wide organisation for ex-Olympic athletes. He took to demanding, and much-enjoyed, trips to the Himalayas, the Austrian mountains, the great ranges of New Zealand and western Spain, the Appalachians, often with a friend from fencing in tow. Back in London, he and Clare were regular theatregoers, who never missed a good production. Nor was fencing ignored: as late as December 2004 he was elected to the FIE legal commission, a four-year term, while he delighted in both Clare's successes in veteran fencing and Laurence's achievements in junior and senior foil. He also started an annual dinner for ex-British internationals, where each year two fencers (not always the best public speakers) were chosen to entertain the company - and always did. More than his many achievements, however, Nick was an immensely popular figure whose kindness, modesty and wry humour won him friends worldwide. He was notably generous as a friend (as I experienced over forty years), but could be scabrously funny about those whom he thought behaved badly.
In 2002 the tumours returned, benign but multiple, requiring a period of radiotherapy before yet another operation. Recovery this time was fearfully slow, and a further operation in September 2006 revealed a malignant change. Nick was still well enough in August 2007 to toast Laurence in champagne after he won a bronze medal at the World Student Games in Bangkok; he died at home a month later, on the morning of Saturday 22nd September, surrounded by his family.
Richard Cohen
A Personal Appreciation
Nick Halsted was an outstanding fencer and administrator whose record has never been sufficiently recognised. His main achievements as a fencer were to be part of the silver medal winning epee team at the 1965 World Championships and to represent Great Britain at both foil and epee at the 1968 Olympic Games. As an administrator, he was AFA President 1986-1993 and the principal architect of the present structure of our BFA governing body.
As president, Nick realised that the then AFA Committee of some 70 was cumbersome and outdated. I worked with him on a new organisation consisting of a small Board. He made many decisions on what should be included and would designate or outline the various clauses for a new Memorandum of Articles. With this background. I would go away and do some drafting for his scrutiny. When it was completed, he faced the uncertainty of whether the AFA Committee would vote itself out of existence and whether the AGM would approve. To our relief and a little to our surprise, both did so in 1998. Since then the BFA structure has changed, but basically it is founded on Nick's initiative.
In view of his record, I thought it unfortunate and out of character that the Honours Committee at first refused to honour Nick with the award of a gold medal, but at least they redeemed themselves by doing so in 1999.
My relationship with Nick went beyond fencing. I learned a great deal from him and looked on him as a friend who pre-eminently deserved a far better end than that which life selected, when he still had so much to give. My thoughts and feelings go to Clare who has endured so much for so long and must now carry her loss into the future.
Bobby Winton