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Natasha Regan
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Very sad to hear that Julian Farrand passed away suddenly on Friday. He was a regular and loyal teammate at Cavendish chess club for many years and will be greatly missed.

What shocking news. Prof Julian Farrand was the most lovely man. He used to be a regular member of the erstwhile Barbican Youth deep into his 70s. I didn't know him well, but when our paths crossed at the 4NCL we'd exchange the happiest respectful banter. Condolences

Very sad. Always strange when someone you played and shared banter with passes. Played him around 2014. In a team match for Hackney.

One of my first brilliant results. I was 120. Think he was about 182. I lost my queen. And still managed to draw him. And he offered it. He was slightly better. Had some nice banter with him before and during and after the game as at the time he was by far the highest rated player I had ever played.

Rip Julian

I first met Julian at the 1978 Bradford congress where he was joint winner of the open, ahead of several former British Champions. He was a very strong 200+ player. Our paths also met in the London league, where he represented Cavendish for many years.

I last saw him in March in Prague where he played on top board for one of the English teams at the World seniors over 65s. He played several times for England at senior tournaments abroad including Vienna, Dresden and Rhodes with excellent results.

At seniors’ dinners abroad, the conversation would often turn to pensions. Julian would always diplomatically say “The rules have changed since I was involved.” He was definitely involved. He was a former Pensions Ombudsman and a Professor at Manchester University.

Julian will be sadly missed.

Sincere condolences to the Farrand family. Julian will be greatly missed.

Very sad news. Julian will be known to quite a few people on this Forum. As a former teammate of his, I remember Julian playing an important role on a high board in the early years of the old Barbican Youth team at the 4NCL. He greatly enjoyed his role as senior member of that squad. He continued to play at a high level - his last grade in March was 172.

David Robertson wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:44 pm

What shocking news. Prof Julian Farrand was the most lovely man. He used to be a regular member of the erstwhile Barbican Youth deep into his 70s. I didn't know him well, but when our paths crossed at the 4NCL we'd exchange the happiest respectful banter. Condolences

Indeed, Julian played for our Youth team since it was formed in 2006 (following our merger with Perceptron Youth) and he beat Craig Pritchett (with Black) in its very first match! He was not the greatest supporter of the "Youth" label, not least because, although we might often have five players still at school, the other three might be retired. But it was clear to him that he was a regular who could play as often as he wanted. He played for eight years.

I only knew him in his later years, alas. My first memory of his name is from reading the book on Nigel Short's rise as a prodigy (written by his father, with George Botterill helping with the games). Apparently Julian had a dream that he would play and lose to the eleven year old Short in some important game, and the dream came true, Julian playing the Chigorin. (That would be discarded in later years but there was still the Veresov, when he played White). All this to say that I am currently struggling to suggest games played by him in his prime, when he regularly played in the British Championships while it was monstrously selective, but other forumites should be able to assist. His son Tom also became a very strong player.

As is well known, he had a stellar career outside chess. He was head of the Law Faculty at Manchester, and was co-author of the leading text Emmet and Farrand on Title, still revised and published today. Later he would work for the Law Commission and as Pensions Ombudsman. He would also become known for being married to Lady Hale (when the BBC made a programme about Supreme Court judges, you could see a clip of him waving goodbye to her as she set off for work!). He didn't seem to mind being eclipsed by her: he was obviously very proud of her. Nonetheless, I was pleased that when they visited Cambridge last year (Lady Hale was due to give a public lecture), some Professors came up to introduce themselves to Julian, on account of what he had done.

You had to know all this because he would not volunteer it. Plenty of players must have played him without having any idea, and I think that was how he liked it. He played chess for fun, and that being so, he did extraordinarily well in that too.

RIP Julian

I remember Julian from around 40 years ago when he was a regular competitor in many congresses in Manchester and Bolton and I was a young controller. I was always impressed by his courteous and friendly approach and, of course, by the strength of his play. My sincere condolences to Tom and all Julian's family and friends.

Sad news about Julian. I got to know him via Ray Edwards in my BCM days. Looking back through my database I see he had some very good scalps in the 1960s (Golombek, Botterill). The earliest game I could find for him was this one, from before I was born (yes, that old). BCM got his name wrong, spelling it "J.T.T. Ferrard". From the days when the British Boys' (Under-18) Championship was always held at Easter at the Hastings Chess Club.

[Event "BCF-chJ"] [Site "Hastings"] [Date "1952.04.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Farrand, Julian T"] [Black "Burrows, WB."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C54"] [PlyCount "31"] [EventDate "1952.04.21"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "GBR"] [SourceTitle "BCM-1952-06"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O Nxc3 9. bxc3 Be7 10. d5 Na5 11. d6 Bxd6 12. Re1+ Be7 13. Bxf7+ Kxf7 14. Qd5+ Ke8 15. Bg5 c6 16. Qe5 {Source: BCM, June 1952, p174, where White's name is given incorrectly as "J.T.T. Ferrard".} 1-0

This one is quite fun, too...

[Event "Ilford Open A"] [Site "?"] [Date "1952.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Speigel, Jack A"] [Black "Farrand, Julian T"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C58"] [PlyCount "58"] [EventDate "1952.05.30"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BCM-1952-07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. d3 h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. Qe2 Nxc4 9. dxc4 Bc5 10. c3 O-O 11. Nd4 Bg4 12. Qc2 a5 13. Be3 Re8 14. Nd2 Bxd4 15. Bxd4 b5 16. b3 a4 17. O-O Be2 18. Rfe1 Bd3 19. Qb2 a3 20. Qc1 Nh5 21. Re3 Nf4 22. Qe1 Qg5 23. g3 Nh3+ 24. Kh1 f5 25. cxb5 f4 26. Nxe4 Qxd5 27. Rxd3 Rxe4 28. Be3 Rd4+ 29. f3 Qxf3# {Source: BCM, July 1952, p188} 0-1

AA Thomson was quite a well-known player but he plays utter dross in this one and could have resigned with a clear conscience after eight moves...

[Event "Thames Valley Premier I"] [Site "Twickenham"] [Date "1955.04.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Farrand, Julian T"] [Black "Thomson, Alexander Aird"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C55"] [PlyCount "33"] [EventDate "1955.04.09"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "CHESS-1955-05a"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nxe4 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. O-O Ng5 6. d4 Be7 7. Nxg5 Bxg5 8. Qh5 d5 9. Bxd5 g6 10. Qxg5 f6 11. Qh6 Nxd4 12. Qg7 Rf8 13. Bh6 Qd6 14. Ne4 Qe7 15. Qxe7+ Kxe7 16. Bxf8+ Kxf8 17. Nxf6 {Source: CHESS, 14 May 1955, p346} 1-0

Otto Hardy played some weird lines but this one is a bit too far-fetched. Julian gives him a good tonking...

[Event "BUCA Universities Team-ch"] [Site "Buxton"] [Date "1957.02.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hardy, Otto H"] [Black "Farrand, Julian T"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C57"] [PlyCount "36"] [EventDate "1957.02.16"] [EventRounds "2"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. b4 Bb6 6. Nxf7 Bxf2+ 7. Kf1 Qe7 8. Nxh8 d5 9. exd5 Nd4 10. Be2 Qf8 11. d3 Nxe2 12. Qxe2 Bd4 13. c3 Bg4 14. Qb2 Ne4+ 15. Ke1 Bf2+ 16. Kf1 Be3+ 17. Ke1 Bxc1 18. Qc2 Bd2+ {Source: Birmingham Daily Post, 20 February 1957} 0-1

BCN has compiled a small tribute here

I always knew Julian as Professor Farrand - a measure of the respect in which he was held.

A true gentleman, and no mean player.

Very sad to hear this news. As a teenager playing in north west congresses in the late 70s, I played Julian on a couple of occasions. He was always warm, friendly and encouraging.

My condolences to Julian's family.

RIP Julian.