Gregory Ronald Tesser is a sports writer and broadcaster, born in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

, London on May 11, 1946. He was educated at Byron House, The Hall School, and one of Britain's most ancient Public Schools, The

King's School, Gloucester The King's School is a co-educational independent day school in Gloucester, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It traces its heritage to a monastic school founded in the 11th century in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral. It became ...

. He died in October 2014. In 1964 he became the publicity manager of

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...

and

The Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

. In 1965 he launched ''The Amateur Footballer'' magazine, which he closed down at the beginning of 1970-71. During his time as editor/publisher he exposed the hypocrisy of 'shamateurism' in English football, which resulted in a mini-documentary in 1969 during

Ian Wooldridge Ian Edmund Wooldridge, Order of the British Empire, OBE (14 January 1932 – 4 March 2007) was a British sports journalism, sports journalist. He was with the ''Daily Mail'' for nearly 50 years. Biography Born in New Milton, Hampshire, Wooldridg ...

's Sports Arena show on ITV. In the same year, Tesser became a leading football agent for the likes of

Peter Osgood Peter Leslie Osgood (20 February 1947 – 1 March 2006) was an English footballer who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. He is best remembered for representing Chelsea and Southampton at club level, and was also capped four times by England ...

Charlie Cooke Charles Cooke (born 14 October 1942) is a Scottish former footballer. He played as a winger for Aberdeen, Dundee, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, before ending his career in the United States. Club career Cooke began his professional career wi ...

and

Rodney Marsh Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal. Brought up in the ...

. During the 1990s Tesser worked on BBC TV's definitive documentary on the history of football - ''Kicking and Screaming'' - and was interviewed for the book of the same name, written by Rogan Taylor and Andrew Ward, allied to the series and published in 1995. His article for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' in 1995 on more regionalisation in non-League football helped change the way the leagues were structured. In 1998 he began a series of celebrity interviews for both ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'' and '' GQ'', beginning with Tony Blair and later to include Prince Philip, on their passion for sport. He currently writes on rugby union for '' Country Life'' magazine, with previews of, amongst others, the annual 6 Nations tournament, having also been a features writer for the Rugby Times. In 2011, the year of the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

, he not only wrote a preview of the tournament for ''Country Life'', but also penned a piece for ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' on the many Jewish players that have lit up the game since before the First World War.The Springbok Minyan lead starry eyed cast of oval ball heroes
''The Jewish Chronicle''. His book ''Chelsea FC In The Swinging 60s: Football's First Rock 'N' Roll Club'' was published in August 2013 by The History Press. It chronicles his life as PR Man for Georgie Fame & The Yardbirds and his years as agent and business partner of The King of Stamford Bridge himself, Peter Osgood.

References

External links

*http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-features/61199/when-footballers-first-ruled-world {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesser, Gregory 1946 births Living people People from Highgate English sports journalists People educated at Byron House School People educated at The Hall School, Hampstead