Jim Biggin

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Announcement
I am sorry to have to advise you all that Jim Biggin (DorsetJimbo) has died. He passed away last month, after a short battle with cancer.

his stepson Paul said: “He was pretty much out of action in his last few weeks, whilst mentally strong his body was another matter. I know he loved his blogging and his contributions to the council and residents association, he’ll be sorely missed.”

Certainly I will miss him. He was an early inhabitant of TfTT, in 2008, and blogged many, many crosswords including about a decade’s worth of Mephistos. He commented on most days crosswords and he was prone to call a spade a spade 🙂

For interest I have copied his not uncharacteristic blogger’s biog, below. RIP, Jim.

dorsetjimbo / Jim Biggin / since 2008

Born 1942 (you can do the sums). Introduced to The Telegraph cryptic
crossword by my rather Edwardian aunt when I was 12 and she caught me
kissing my cousin (those were the days). Moved on to The Times when I
was 15 and have been doing it ever since. I’ve never been
particularly fast (I can’t read and write at the same time apart from
not having the brain power) and puzzles normally take me from 20 to
50 minutes. My all-time favourite puzzles were those set by Ximenes
in the Sunday Observer and I’ve still got my tie somewhere. I’m
retired now after spending most of my working life applying IT to
insurance and finance. I wrote my first computer based actuarial
valuation in 1964 using an ICL1301, which probably accounts for my
sense of humour. For 18 years my wife Maureen and I were foster
carers looking after teenagers until we retired from that in 2006,
during which that same humour kept me sane. I now devote my time to
local community affairs, golf and the Times crossword, of course.

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

39 comments on “Jim Biggin”

  1. So sorry to hear about Dorset Jimbo’s passing.
    I always enjoyed his no-nonsense blogs and comments.
    My favourite was an April 1 blog a few years back where he completely sold me on some spurious explanation – I can’t remember the detail – until I remembered the date. Other comments suggested that I was not the only one taken in.
    We will miss you Jimbo.
  2. Very sad news. We joined TfTT the same week though he was by far the more experienced solver and he was always very supportive and encouraging. You will be missed, Jim.
  4. RIP Jim. One of those TftT people I never met in the real world, but felt as though I knew from his excellent and numerous contributions.
  8. Very sad to hear of Dorset Jimbo’s death. I always looked out each day for his entertaining blog comments and had been wondering why there hadn’t been any of late. He’ll be much missed.
  12. The world’s a duller place. Love and condolences to his family.

    Thanks, Jim. Rest in peace.

  14. Sad news. RIP Jimbo. He was part of the furniture and I always enjoyed his straight-talking comments and the way he rounded his solving times to the nearest five minutes.
  15. I would have liked to meet Jim. Partly because my early working life was in insurance and involved computers, so some stories might have been swapped. But mostly because he wrote half of the Mephisto blogs for a very long time and his reports and comments gave us a view from an older generation than most of our contributors.

    RIP Jimbo

  16. Very sorry to her this news. Jimbo was fun, even when I disgreed with his outargeous criticisms of my puzzles,. Don Manley/Mephisto/ Izetti
  18. Thank you for reminding us of his fostering – that’s truly heroic work. It’s a duller place here without him. My sincere condolences to his family.
  19. This is very sad news, indeed.

    I invariably enjoyed reading Dorset Jimbo’s amusing and excoriating comments. You always knew he would be highly entertaining and display his razor sharp wit in the deconstruction of the setter’s offering. He will be sorely missed.

    Thank you so much for all your memorable contributions.

    God bless! Jovan.

  20. So sorry to hear this. His blogs from the very early days of TfTT were always interesting and insightful.
  21. Sad news indeed.

    Jim was one of the people whose comments I always looked forward most to read when browsing through these blogs. Despite the modest self-description in the blog above, he was plainly a top solver.

    He somehow acquired a fearsome reputation for hs comments, but they were always authoritative and fair.

    RR

  22. I see a couple of references to Jimbo’s April Fools blogs above. I remember one year that he suggested that The Times were intent on shutting down TfTT because it reduced calls to their premium rate crossword helpline. As I recall several of us were taken in! A sad loss.

    RIP Jimbo.

  23. I feared the worst when he didn’t reply to an email a few weeks ago. Farewell Jim – we had a lot of good times over 10 years of blogging Mephisto puzzles.
  24. To the extent that there are more scientific GK in the clues (even if not always fewer obscure poets…or even cellists) Jim is a guy to thank. I remember him pointing out a missed opportunity when something was clued as an obscure flower instead of a not very obscure scientist.

    He was already blogging here when I found the site and I loved his style.

    One of the most dificult things I’ve done in my life is to teach an introductory programming course while I was doing my PhD in computer science, for people who were starting a masters course and had come to learn how to program before they got thrown in at the deep end. I couldn’t remember what was difficult or see that everything wasn’t obvious. Jim was so experienced that sometimes he forgot what was difficult. He will be missed.

  25. Ha ha

    I don’t remember this.

    I wouldn’t have dared to try to ban crossword blogs.
    Not if I ever planned to visit Dorset

    RR

  26. Heaven has a rather surprised and probably reluctant recruit. I suggest a fitting memorial would be to insert a genial grumble every time a TED is clued as a delinquent youth.
  27. So sorry to hear about the passing of Dorset Jimbo. As a relative newcomer I very much enjoyed his comments. I loved the “Poisson d’avril” blog. Thanks Keriothe. RIP.
  28. Very sad to hear about his passing. I think we shall miss his regular and pertinent comments here. Sincere condolences to Jim’s family.
  29. A Times blog legend. I enjoyed his posts, they were always interesting. Calling ‘a spade a spade’ 🙂 I never met him, but he will be sorely missed.

    Jez Woolfrey.

  30. Very sad news. I used to read his comments and enjoyed his no nonsense approach. Condolences to all who knew him.
  32. Rest in peace, Jim.
    My deepest condolences to his family and close friends.

    I will miss his non-nonsense comments, which always seemed to be right on the button and such a valued contribution.

    Bob K

  33. Sad to hear of Dorsetjimbo’s passing. He was present on the page. As well as the “avril” blog shown there was a glorious extended 1/4 brilliancy of his some years back – I can’t remember when or what was in it but it was an absolute blinder. If it can be unearthed it would be great to see it again.
    Deepest sympathy to his wife – you and Jim did great work – and to his family.
  34. Just hope there are more crosswords to do where you’ve gone. Thanks for everything. We’ll miss you down here
  35. Very sad to hear this. I always scrolled through TftT looking for Jim’s comments and missed them lately. Our world becomes a slightly duller place today.
  36. Very sad to hear this news. As others have already said, he certainly left his mark around these parts. I loved his no-nonsense approach to both blogging and commenting. RIP Jimbo, you’ll be missed.
  37. Very sad news. I followed this blog for a long time before joining in and Jim’s comments were always one of the highlights

Comments are closed.