Remembering Derek Buxton on this Day...
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 5:52 pm
Remembering Derek Buxton - Kenneth wrote this for Indy's in 2010.....
The name Derek Buxton is familiar to many QPR fans who are old enough to have read the match programmes
in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
A couple of weeks ago, we received the sad news that Derek had passed away on Saturday, 23rd January,
2010 at the age of 74, following a short struggle with cancer. He is survived by two daughters and a son.
Derek was a QPR legend in his very own special way. His regular “Statistics” feature in the official
match programme is legendary for the incredible amount of detail and facts about QPR players and playing
history.
He would write the most detailed and sometimes even strange facts about games played in the past
against the opposing team in question. He would regularly inform the reader how the R’s had done in
games played on that particular date in the past etc.
He would often manage to include a funny angle into these facts. The fact that he supplied his statistics
feature in the programme for a total of 28 years is a record that will be very hard to beat.
The background to these facts was his “ledger” in which he made his notes, and which contained all the
facts about the history of QPR.
The background work to all that was laid down from 1968 onwards, when Derek was asked by QPR to try to
reconstruct the playing history of QPR following a fire which had destroyed or badly damaged the club’s own records.
The hours spent on this were many and long and he deserves all the credit for that job that one can think
of.
Derek was born in October 1935 and started following QPR regularly from 1946 onwards. For decades he
attended every home match apart from a period in the 1950’s when he was doing his National Service
and stationed in Germany.
The support of QPR in the family will continue through one of his daughters, who is also a lifelong fan.
Apart from the programmes, my first direct contact with Derek was in 1990 when I sent him my first
letter or ‘snail mail’ as Derek would call it. Over the years, we exchanged numerous letters and then later,
emails about the R’s, but also many other things in life.
He would be as detailed and accurate in his response to an ignorant foreigner who knew nothing about
cricket and wickets, bails and bowlers or in his own manner to explain to me the old British monetary
system with shillings and pence.
He was always prepared to help anyone who contacted him with any query regarding QPR. I will always
remember his kindness and patience in supplying me with information to numerous statistical questions.
His motto was: “No to drugs, Yes to QPR.”
One feature that was typical of Derek was that he always replied quickly. I remember one snail letter in
particular which started like this: “Thank you for your letter which arrived five minutes ago – sorry for the delay
in answering but I had to read it first!”
A few years ago this characteristic lead to a situation where someone sent the Police to check on him as they
hadn’t received an email from him for a while. It turned out that due to some technical problem with BT he
couldn’t access his emails! Derek had a good laugh about it.
It may come as a surprise to many that at least in later years, football was not his first choice sport. Football always
came second to cricket or “the game where not a lot is happening” as he put it.
A Test Match on TV would take preference to a football match anytime. Football would only get promoted after the
cricket season had ended.
Derek had a wonderful sense of humour and loved a good laugh. I’m painfully aware of the fact that I’m not able to
present that side of his character.
R.I.P Derek
Kenneth Westerberg – Finland
The name Derek Buxton is familiar to many QPR fans who are old enough to have read the match programmes
in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
A couple of weeks ago, we received the sad news that Derek had passed away on Saturday, 23rd January,
2010 at the age of 74, following a short struggle with cancer. He is survived by two daughters and a son.
Derek was a QPR legend in his very own special way. His regular “Statistics” feature in the official
match programme is legendary for the incredible amount of detail and facts about QPR players and playing
history.
He would write the most detailed and sometimes even strange facts about games played in the past
against the opposing team in question. He would regularly inform the reader how the R’s had done in
games played on that particular date in the past etc.
He would often manage to include a funny angle into these facts. The fact that he supplied his statistics
feature in the programme for a total of 28 years is a record that will be very hard to beat.
The background to these facts was his “ledger” in which he made his notes, and which contained all the
facts about the history of QPR.
The background work to all that was laid down from 1968 onwards, when Derek was asked by QPR to try to
reconstruct the playing history of QPR following a fire which had destroyed or badly damaged the club’s own records.
The hours spent on this were many and long and he deserves all the credit for that job that one can think
of.
Derek was born in October 1935 and started following QPR regularly from 1946 onwards. For decades he
attended every home match apart from a period in the 1950’s when he was doing his National Service
and stationed in Germany.
The support of QPR in the family will continue through one of his daughters, who is also a lifelong fan.
Apart from the programmes, my first direct contact with Derek was in 1990 when I sent him my first
letter or ‘snail mail’ as Derek would call it. Over the years, we exchanged numerous letters and then later,
emails about the R’s, but also many other things in life.
He would be as detailed and accurate in his response to an ignorant foreigner who knew nothing about
cricket and wickets, bails and bowlers or in his own manner to explain to me the old British monetary
system with shillings and pence.
He was always prepared to help anyone who contacted him with any query regarding QPR. I will always
remember his kindness and patience in supplying me with information to numerous statistical questions.
His motto was: “No to drugs, Yes to QPR.”
One feature that was typical of Derek was that he always replied quickly. I remember one snail letter in
particular which started like this: “Thank you for your letter which arrived five minutes ago – sorry for the delay
in answering but I had to read it first!”
A few years ago this characteristic lead to a situation where someone sent the Police to check on him as they
hadn’t received an email from him for a while. It turned out that due to some technical problem with BT he
couldn’t access his emails! Derek had a good laugh about it.
It may come as a surprise to many that at least in later years, football was not his first choice sport. Football always
came second to cricket or “the game where not a lot is happening” as he put it.
A Test Match on TV would take preference to a football match anytime. Football would only get promoted after the
cricket season had ended.
Derek had a wonderful sense of humour and loved a good laugh. I’m painfully aware of the fact that I’m not able to
present that side of his character.
R.I.P Derek
Kenneth Westerberg – Finland