Ted
and his wife brought up six children in the flat at the end of the
Court: Edward Junior, Cecil, Charles, Neville, Albert and Ivy. Not
long before his death, I was fortunate enough to speak to one of Ted's
sons, Neville, in 1996, who gave me some details about his father,
his family and life at Moreton Morrell.
The oldest sons Edward and Cecil were born in London, and were later
trained by their father at Moreton Morrell. Both worked at first as
real tennis professionals but later turned to squash. Cecil moved
to the United States where he started as a real tennis professional
at the New York Racquet Club but was later killed in a car accident. |

Albert
"Jack" Johnson, the only men's World Champion to have
been trained at Moreton Morrell.
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Charles also made the transatlantic crossing, worked for a while
in squash but later became a chauffeur. Ted's daughter, Ivy or "Bid"
was, Neville recalled, a fine lawn tennis player. She worked at
the Royal Shakespeare Company as a dresser but she too died tragically
in a road accident. Albert, the youngest, was christened at the
village church in Moreton Morrell as "Albert Ariel Bedwin Johnson".
He was referred to less pretentiously as "Mate" by his siblings
and as "Jack" by the real tennis fraternity. He was based at first
in New York and then later in Chicago, and defeated Jim Dear, for
the World Championship in 1957 held at the Queen's Club and despite
achieving something his father had fought so hard for, nonetheless
did frustrate him with his wayward lifestyle. Organizers of a Testimonial
Match for Ted Johnson at Moreton Morrell in 1957, were saddened
that Albert, the new World Champion, was unable to take part. Moreton
Morrell, can claim, however, to have close associations with a World
Real Tennis Champion.
Neville's
introduction to real tennis started early- born in 1910, his godfather
was Fred Covey, later World Champion in 1916, 1922, 1923 and 1927
and he told me that at the age of four, his father put a racket
in his hand on court and started gently hitting balls to him. Ted
certainly stood no nonsense and Neville and his brothers received
"a good belt more than once!" Neville
remembered Charles Garland as "a fine upright fellow" who was "wickedly
rich" and recalled that he had his own doctor and nurse who tended
the family and retainers. Neville alleged, with a twinkle in his
eye, that his father's employer enjoyed one or two extra-curricular
activities with a number of local ladies, including a keen polo
player from the village and a local landowner's wife.
Neville
remembered with fondness that Garland and his wife and daughters
were always very good to the Johnson family. He had happy memories
of his upbringing and described the Court as a "fantastic place"
where he enjoyed "great times". Current Club members will be interested
to learn that the Court and the corridor were heated in winter.
He remembered that "a fellow from Ashorne would come over and light
the boiler in the cellar under the flat." Neville helped his father
and sister make tennis balls from the cloth of red army coats from
the Great War and he remembered racket gut coming in skeins from
Swansea. His father sent him to Prince's Club in London where his
first duties were as a ball boy. In 1927, aged seventeen he joined
the Leamington Tennis Court Club which he served until 1940 when
he joined the National Fire Service. After the war, the Leamington
Club did not re-open for two years, and in the interim period, Neville
decided that his future lay elsewhere and set up his own agricultural
repair business.
When
Neville Johnson died, a three generation family link with real tennis
came to an end. The Johnsons had been at the heart of real tennis
coaching and instruction, and could count amongst their number,
a World Champion and a runner-up.
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