Trevor Baylis CBE – smoking, sex and hell
Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 10:08 
So sorry to hear that inventor Trevor Baylis (above left) has died at the age of 80.
I can't remember how or when I first met him.
In 1999, the year I joined Forest, he was awarded the title Pipesmoker of the Year. In those days it was quite a big deal. The award took place over lunch at The Savoy and for 30 years the list of winners was a Who's Who of British sport and showbiz.
I was at the lunch and I may have written to him afterwards, I don't know. What I do know is he became a popular and familiar figure at Forest events, always ready to step in if we needed someone to say a few words.
In July 2008, for example, we organised an event at the House of Commons that I wrote about here:
Exceeding our expectations, 17 MPs and five peers turned up. Of the MPs, there were eleven Conservatives, five Labour, and one LibDem. Views ranged from those strongly opposed to the smoking ban to those broadly in favour.
Our host, Philip Davies, gave a short, well-received speech. I announced the launch of our new Amend The Smoking Ban campaign. And Trevor Baylis told a joke involving smoking and sex.
The following year he helped launch the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign at a pub in Westminster (see below).
He was a welcome guest at many other Forest events. Smoke On The Water, our annual boat party, was a particular favourite of his which I found a bit odd because he lived, surrounded by water, on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham. Talk about a busman's holiday!
Then again, he lived alone and I think he enjoyed the company and the laissez faire atmosphere of these events.
Some interviews implied that he was bitter about not making more money from his inventions. He may have been annoyed or angry that some of his patents were circumvented, allowing others to cash in, but that's not the Trevor Baylis I knew.
He was the most genial and good-natured man you could meet.
If I have a regret it's that I never spent much time talking to him. Instead I would greet him with a cry of, "Trevor! Great to see you, thanks for coming", and usher him to a chair where he would hold court, tell jokes and smoke his beloved pipe.
Perhaps my favourite quote of his appeared in the Daily Mail in 2015. Invited to discuss his health, and asked if he would like to live forever, he replied:
No. I want to go to hell when my time is up because all my friends will be there waiting for me.
Trevor attended our 30th and 35th anniversary parties at Boisdale of Belgravia in 2009 and 2014, and he would have been a special guest at our 40th anniversary event next year.
Sadly he won't be there but I'm sure he'll be looking up, enjoying the banter.
RIP, Trevor, and thanks for your support.
PS. There's excellent obituary in the Guardian:
Reader Comments (1)
Trevor Baylis and I were fellow gymnastic enthusiasts and used to meet with others at the Heston swimming baths and create havoc. Afterwards we would all collect at the nearby Blue parrot cafe where I took many pictures of our acrobatics on the pavement. In the summer we all met regularly at Runnymede park where we put on displays of gymnastics and hand balancing.