We are very sad to report that Michael Lindsay, the Authors’ Club’s Honorary Treasurer, died peacefully on Wednesday night, at the age of 84, after a short illness.
Michael Lindsay celebrates the 60th anniversary of his first visit to Silverstone with a cake provided by the competitors. © Alfa Romeo Championship Organisation
Michael was our longest-standing member, having joined in 1959, when the Club had its own premises at 2 Whitehall Court, and its President was Compton Mackenzie. He was elected Honorary Librarian in 1962, and in 1964 was among the first, alongside Victor Bonham-Carter, to propose admitting women as Club members (this was finally carried out in 1971). In 1968, as Honorary Secretary, he oversaw our first move to the National Liberal Club, and followed us to the Arts Club in Dover Street in 1968.
A prominent motoring journalist like his grandfather (and Authors’ Club member) C. Scott Lindsay, Michael was a familiar figure at Silverstone and Brands Hatch. He was a founder and co-ordinator of the Alfa Romeo Championship in the early 1980s, and remained involved with it in for the rest of his life. He was also co-ordinator and publicity officer of the Alfa Romeo Dealer Team, and full-time Secretary of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club.
Michael rejoined the Authors’ Club’s Executive Committee as Honorary Treasurer in 2008, a role he fulfilled with cheerful efficiency until his final illness. He was also an enthusiastic member of the reading panel for our Best First Novel Award. We have lost a good friend, a fine gentleman, and the bearer of much of our institutional memory.
Our sincere condolences go to his wife Diana, his family, and to his many friends in the Authors’ Club, the National Liberal Club, and in the world of motor racing.