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Stephen Fry, Pipesmoker of the Year 2004 (Getty Images) -
John Cummings MP (from the Guardian) -
Ronnie Campbell MP (from Tribune)
Pipesmoker of the Year: Memories of a Special Event ... and a Jack Russell dog
19th August 2026Savoy and Landmark Hotels, and Lord's
The Daily Mail regularly publishes a section called Answers to Correspondents. On 18 August, one of the questions caught the attention of Past Master Michael Walter: “Is there still an award for Pipesmoker of the Year?”
It prompted memories of what was once a rather special annual event. So, with apologies for a little nostalgia, I thought it worth jotting down what a few of us remember—and inviting others to send me their own recollections.
The award began in 1965 as Pipeman of the Year, an initiative of the Briar Pipe Trade Association which later became the Pipesmokers’ Council. Michael Walter recalls serving as Chairman of the Council from around 1978 to 1982, having taken over from Past Master Derek Merton. The event evolved in 1987 to become Pipesmoker of the Year, when women were considered for the first time.
The presentations were made at an annual lunch at the Savoy Hotel. This was one of the industry's most enjoyable social occasions, attracting some 300 guests and bringing together an extraordinary mixture of people from politics, sport, entertainment, the tobacco industry and the wider world of pipe smoking. Michael remembers “happy days with an excellent lunch at the River Room”—which perhaps says as much about the occasion as the award itself! There was one departure from the Savoy tradition: in 1988 the celebration was held at Lord's when cricket legend Ian Botham was given the award, although he couldn't attend as he was on a charity clay pigeon shoot.
The list of recipients - many of whom received special handmade pipes in unique shapes - reads like a roll call of some of the most recognisable personalities of the time. Among them were Harold Wilson, Peter Cushing, Eric Morecambe, Fred Trueman, Patrick Moore, Henry Cooper, Jimmy Greaves, Barry Norman, Tony Benn, Ranulph Fiennes, Willie John McBride and Trevor Baylis. Michael Walter remembers James Galway receiving the award in 1981: he replaced the traditional acceptance speech with a memorable performance on his golden flute before being given a pipe in the shape of a flute. Another was DJ Dave Lee Travis. Michael recalls "when I told him my daughter was a great fan he kindly signed a photo for her and told me: 'With luck she will grow out of it'!"
The occasion was perfect for entertaining members of the Lords & Commons’ Pipe & Cigar Smokers' Club, a sociable group of MPs and peers which met regularly and which was organised for the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association by Liveryman Arthur Butler.
I particularly remember attending the Savoy lunch in 2001, when comedian Russ Abbot received the award. He made an uproarious speech and told a joke that I have used shamelessly many times since!
At the same lunch I was hosting John Cummings, Labour MP for Easington, Co Durham, whose constituency included Rothmans’ processing and packing facility at Peterlee. John was devoted to his Jack Russell dog, Grit. During the 1980s miners’ strike, John and Grit were an iconic sight on the East Durham picket lines. John claimed that he had taught Grit to nip at police officers' ankles during picket-line clashes and to growl whenever Margaret Thatcher appeared on TV!
I remember John whipping out a photograph of Grit from his top pocket to show me during lunch. Grit was sitting up on his hind legs, displaying himself in all his doggy glory. John found it very amusing, as did his close friend and flatmate Ronnie Campbell, MP for Blyth Valley, who was seated nearby: I wasn’t so sure! When Grit died, the socialist magazine Tribune published his obituary with a photograph: hopefully not the same picture that John had shown to me ...
Coincidentally, I have owned Jack Russells for almost twenty years now, and am often reminded of John (who died in 2017), his beloved Grit, and his great friend Ronnie who died just a few years after John in 2024.
The award is intertwined with our own Company's history. In 1990, the brilliant journalist and screenwriter Laurence Marks was the recipient. He had taken over from Michael Walter as Chair of the Pipesmokers' Council in 1982/3. We were delighted when he became a Freeman of our Company in 1992 and was gowned with the Livery in 1994, serving as a Court Assistant from 2003 to 2007. In 2002, our Past Master Richard Dunhill was presented with the prestigious award. When I was a Warden, the badge I wore had been presented to the Company by Richard and was engraved with his name.
The final Pipesmoker of the Year Award, in 2004, went to the author, actor and comedian Stephen Fry. Laurence Marks was hosting the event in his role as Chair of the Pipesmokers’ Council and had personally invited Stephen to accept the award. Before presenting Stephen with his unique pipe, Laurence arranged for an excerpt from his television series The New Statesman to be shown. Laurence had co-written the series in which Stephen appeared alongside the late, great Rik Mayall — it was a hugely entertaining prelude to what would prove to be the final presentation.
The presentation to Stephen Fry in 2004 brought the Pipesmoker of the Year Award to an end, although it did not bring the lunches to an end. There were one or two further annual gatherings at the Savoy, now simply for the trade and without an award. The lunches had become an established part of the industry's social calendar, and so the tradition survived for a little longer, even as the regulatory environment made the original concept difficult to sustain.
In 2007, Past Master Roger Merton and three industry colleagues — Mike Adams, Peter Jenkinson and Phillip Shervington — together with the Pipesmokers’ Council, organised what was appropriately called “The Last Smokers’ Lunch” at the Landmark Hotel, just days before the smoking ban came into effect on 1 July. The guest speaker was Boris Johnson, then a journalist, who, as usual, arrived on his bicycle.
But even that was not the end of the story. Thirteen more annual gatherings followed at Lord’s, organised by Roger and his colleagues, with our Company presenting the Retailer of the Year Award, before the organisation of the event was eventually taken over by the Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists in 2001. Those trade lunches continue to this day and are much valued by all those who attend — a remarkable survival of a tradition that began with Pipesmoker of the Year more than half a century ago.
Roger holds the proud distinction of having attended every single event since the award was founded in 1965. His colleague Philip Shervington became a member of our Company in 1993 and a Liveryman in 2000.
It would be fascinating to hear from anyone else who remembers the Pipesmoker of the Year. Perhaps there are still a few stories waiting to be told.