Terry Major-Ball (2 July 193213 March 2007) was a British
columnist, banker and media personality who was the elder brother of the former
British prime minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...
John Major, who during his brother's six-year premiership had a brief career as a television and radio personality and newspaper columnist. Despite the media attention, he always remained loyal and discreet.
Early life
Terry Major-Ball was born in 1932, and grew up in
Worcester Park
Worcester Park is a suburban town in South West London, England. It lies in the London boroughs of Sutton and Kingston, and partly in the Surrey borough of Epsom and Ewell. The area is southwest of Charing Cross. The suburb's population was ...
,
Surrey. His father,
Tom Major-Ball (real name Abraham Thomas Ball), was a
music hall performer and circus artiste under the name Tom Major, and combined the two surnames when he started a
garden ornament
A garden ornament is an item used for garden, landscape, and park enhancement and decoration. Garden ornaments include:
* bench
*bird baths
* bird feeders
* birdhouses
*columns – cast stone
*fire basket
* flower box
** window box
*fountains ...
business.
His mother, Gwen, Tom's second wife, was a dancer. Unlike his elder sister Pat and younger brother
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
, Major-Ball failed his
11 plus exam and went to Stoneleigh East Secondary Modern School.
During the Second World War, they were evacuated to
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
. After World War II, Major-Ball did
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
with the
Royal Army Medical Corps in Germany.
After being demobilised, Major-Ball tried, without success, to save his ailing father's business, ''Major's Garden Ornaments'', which was finally taken over by a competitor in 1962.
The family's reduced circumstances forced them to move into rented rooms in
Coldharbour Lane
Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings - the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Ma ...
in
Brixton.
To supplement the family's income, Terry Major-Ball took many menial jobs. While working at
Woolworths in Brixton in 1958, he met Shirley Wilson,
whom he married in 1960.
Major-Ball later became a meter installer for
South Eastern Electricity Board and a banker.
Brother's premiership
Terry Major-Ball first came to the spotlight in November 1990, when his brother John became
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
after the
Conservative leadership election. During Major's premiership his brother became a media favourite. In 1994 he published his autobiography ''Major Major: Memories of an Older Brother'', which was ghost-written by the journalist James Hughes-Onslow. It received good reviews and Major-Ball became a regular at book launches.
It was praised as "one of the great comic books of the year" by
John Wells and "exquisitely funny" by
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron".
After a traditional classical education at Downsid ...
.
He always remained loyal to his brother and, amongst other things, kept secret his knowledge of the affair between Major and
Edwina Currie
Edwina Currie (' Cohen; born 13 October 1946) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician, serving as Conservative Party Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire from 1983 until 1997. She was a Junior Health Minister for two years ...
and the details of a secret half-brother.
In 1995 he appeared on ''
Have I Got News for You'' and ''
The Mrs Merton Show
''The Mrs Merton Show'' was a mock talk show starring Caroline Aherne as the elderly host Mrs Dorothy Merton.
Originally portrayed as 'Mrs. Murton' in a pilot for Yorkshire TV which was not picked up, Caroline Aherne retooled the character, mak ...
''.
In 1993, after noting that he had only been abroad once, to Germany while on National Service, and had never stayed in a hotel, ''
The Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after bei ...
'' arranged for him to fly first-class to New York City, where he met
Liza Minnelli.
Terry Major-Ball later went to
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
, New Zealand, to open a
garden gnome
Garden gnomes (german: links=no, Gartenzwerge, lit=garden dwarfs) are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures based on the mythological creature and diminutive spirit which occur in Renaissance magic and alchemy, known as gnomes. T ...
festival. He had columns in ''
The Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...
'', ''
The Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publishe ...
'' and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.
Major-Ball also made a
BBC2 travel programme called ''A Postcard to my Brother'', where he visited France, Germany and Poland.
Later years
Following John's departure from office after the
1997 general election, Terry Major-Ball's fame dwindled. In 2003, he moved to
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
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, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
from
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
, London, where he spent the remaining years of his life until his death from
prostate cancer on 13 March 2007 in a hospice in
Chard, Somerset.
His death was announced on 20 April 2007.
He was survived by his wife and children.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Major Ball, Terry
1932 births
2007 deaths
Deaths from cancer in England
Daily Mail journalists
Deaths from prostate cancer
English bankers
The Guardian journalists
People from Worcester Park
20th-century British Army personnel
Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers
20th-century English businesspeople