The funeral for Johnny Longden will be on Thursday 6th October at the East chapel of Ruislip Crematorium at noon on what would have been John's 89th birthday.

Family flowers only, but donations to Macmillan Nurses, in appreciation of their help to John's late wife Dorothy, through Walding & Sons, 63 High Street, Uxbridge, UB8 1JP.
01895 233018

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Johnny after a very short illness.

As a new recruit to the BBC in 1967 I was so fortunate to have worked with John for a couple of years in the Special Projects Unit of the Central Maintenance Unit at BH the requirement of which was to create unique pieces of equipment from small items for a specific purpose to stereo OB mixers quickly and to a tight budget.  John was an inspiration and delight to work with and his sense of humour incorporating delicately mangled words – a skill he may have learned from his contemporary OB engineer colleague Stan Unwin – I have since done my best to perpetuate!

With his irrepressible sense of humour, healthy disrespect for management and lateral approach to technical problems he managed to create innovative equipment which was well liked, and thus respected, by its users; a principle I have always strived to imitate.  In this way John managed to carve out a niche in broadcast engineering history which will endure for many years.

To have made such a mark in our business while being liked, respected and remembered by many colleagues is a considerable achievement.

Johnny, thank you so much for all I learned from you at the start of my BBC career for which I will always be grateful.  I was proud to be called your minion!

Bob Smith