Comments on: So Long, Paddy Handscombe

By: Oliver Beard

Oliver Beard — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:25:37 +0000

I only met him once in Spitalfields,but spoke on numerous occasions as part of the ”Hifi community”.Tom Evans referred me to him and i bought cables from him,aswell as him advising me with making some speakers,which i still use and enjoy to this day.That was back in the 90’s.I always found him very kind and generous with his knowledge.Just generally a pleasure to speak with and never losing patience with a youngster who couldn’t afford to buy his speakers(which are the bees knees),but pestered him for advice anyway! He sounds like he lived a full life,with many great stories to tell.RIP and thankyou Paddy.My Condolences to all relatives, close friends and all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

By: Matthias

Matthias — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 18:39:47 +0000

Well, Paddy, forgive me that we haven’t stayed in touch over the last ten years or so. Maybe it was your comment to me old Prussian that driving on the left side of the road would be more adapt to human nature…

Only kidding. I met you late in 1989, and you were a diver and I was a German unemployed diver. You said you’d like obsessed people – and that’s what I was. Obsessed.

We liked each other (maybe you even loved me… a bit), and we started to spent time together – in a short, very intense period. You tried to get me employed, finding a job in the diving industry in a country which was still shaken by Thatcherism. We drove all around England in your fancy Rolls Royce (I was even allowed to drive it!). And we started to look for a house where we could park our vehicles in the groundfloor and live upstairs. I was on the brink to move from Berlin to London.

Sometimes things happen which you can’t predict – I fell in love with another man in Berlin (Armin), and all these former plans crumbled to dust. I know that this was not so easy for you. But you met Simon which comforted me in the way that there was somebody. For you. But HIV didn’t care.

And we still kept in touch, We helped opening the “Hoist” together – I remember working with you behind the bar. You spent your 50th here with us in Berlin, and I can still hear you saying – the sheer size of it all! when we drove down former Stalin Allee.

But I have to say – that short chapter of my life with you was very intense and I will never forget it. And you. You could be quite a pain in the ass, but you were a generous, wonderful, loving man. And I am very sad that you left.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 15:32:24 +0000

I never got to see Paddy in Spitalfields although he talked about the place both at the time and later in a way that marked its significance in his life. I suppose looking back on it he put me in a different compartment of his varied and eclectic life .One in which there were no barriers of race, gender,politics,or sexuality. You had only to be original and in some way interesting to him.I first got to know him at Bristol University in 1970 .We met in Freshers Week and unlike many such meetings we stayed in contact for the rest of our lives.He was I suppose a “Young Fogey” before the term had been invented.He certainly stood out as a rather exotic figure at the time He introduced me to Gustav Klimt,Habit Rouge de Guerlain and Puccini played on a pair of remarkable electronic speakers whilst waxing eloquently about all of the above .I never lost my liking of either the art,music or the fragrance or my deep affection for him.He had a special gift for friendship and conversation.Visiting the Rectory in Fingrinhoe and his remarkable family was to be immersed in a uniquely Anglo Saxon and Anglican rural experience that was at the same time warm welcoming and accepting.Hamba Kahle Paddy! Go Well!

By: Louisa Bird

Louisa Bird — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:10:49 +0000

Thank you all for your kind comments. Our dearest Unc joins many friends and family in his eternal rest. Anna & adored him and always will.

By: Julian Dyer

Julian Dyer — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 22:36:02 +0000

Another of Paddy’s many interests was the Pianola, which he started to research in the late 1960s, and the Broadwood barless piano. That’s how I got to know him, first visiting his then Hanbury Street garret, and many times in Wivenhoe, the last about four weeks ago. We all have to go, but as he said to me he’d hoped for more than seventy five years. I’ll miss the conversations on pretty well unlimited subects with fantastic opinions expressed with great magnificence and utter confidence!

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 22:32:55 +0000

My condolences for your loss. I remember reading about Paddy Handscombe in 2022. I enjoyed reading about him, as well as about all connected to Dennis Severs and his remarkable house. Truly a circle that will elicit interest for decades to come.

I love his CV: Sotheby’s (refined, exclusive); deep sea diving (butch); licensee of the largest sex club in Europe (just WOW).

Again, my condolences, and thank you for your ongoing record of these remarkable people.

By: Mr WF Funnell -Pilcher

Mr WF Funnell -Pilcher — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 22:09:36 +0000

Happy memories of Paddy and his cat Magnificat while living in Brick Lane and working on his Electrofluidics loudspeakers and on the FR 1 project with Tom Evans .
Also of his endless stories of the goings on at his home with his father the the Rector in Essex especially his very forgetful aunt .

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 17:04:50 +0000

Sad story altogether

By: achim

achim — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:10:49 +0000

So long, PADDY HANDSCOMBE (1950-2025) — R.I.P.

Love & Peace

By: Mathilde Grange

Mathilde Grange — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 08:10:42 +0000

Sad and lovely story, but 75 is too young to die for anyone, especially someone like Paddy.