Christopher Joll, military historian, event organiser and expert on uniforms and insignia – obituary

Christopher Joll, who has died aged 75, was a British military historian, author, and military event organiser best known for directing the British Military Tournament.

Later in his career, the former Life Guard, who served four tours of duty in Northern Ireland, became the Telegraph’s go-to expert on all military matters, with a particular focus on the uniforms, medals and insignia worn by members of the Royal family and service personnel at major state occasions including the Platinum Jubilee, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and the Coronation.

His commentary of the Telegraph’s live coverage of Trooping the Colour attracted 1.6 million views, while his narration during the late Queen’s funeral was watched by 1.8 million via the Telegraph website and YouTube page.

Such was the persistent and sometimes pernickety nature of Joll’s corrective missives to journalists unable to tell their Gold Stick from their Silver Sticks-in-Waiting, that the newsroom soon adopted a new word to describe his punchy communiques: a “Jollicking”.

Regular Jollickings would be doled out to those confusing rank and regiments, misinterpreting what he described as “chivalric accoutrements” and failing to identify the epaulette on a liveried shoulder. As the regimental historian of the Household Cavalry, he was particularly irritated by errors relating to the Blues and Royals, Princes William and Harry’s regiment – whom Joll would refer to as “Wales” and “Sussex” respectively.

Ever the Sandhurst-trained gentleman, however, his unapologetic attention to detail never got the better of his impeccable manners, grace and good humour. A self-confessed “anorak”, he merely saw it as an extension of his military duty to point out where mistakes had crept in and correct them for fear of “a lot of old Colonels who read the Telegraph grinding their dentures over tomorrow’s cornflakes”.

Another jollity of the Jollickings was  his colourful turn of phrase. The cerebrally challenged would be described as “not over blessed in the top hamper”. A newly released video of the interior of the Sussexes’ white washed Montecito mansion prompted a reference to Meghan’s “Flintstones-themed study”.

After Prince Harry suggested in an interview that his late grandmother might not have the “right people around her”, Joll privately opined: “Who does he think are the right people? Oprah as the new Press Secretary? Ellen [DeGeneres] as head of personal protection and Elton as the new Mistress of the Robes?”

When the world was trying to work out what dukedom Harry and Meghan would be offered, he pontificated with typical pragmatism: “Cumberland is free, albeit with bloody associations, as is Connaught (but Irish, so a no go) and Albermarle which is bad-smell-free.”

Even after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, Joll continued to offer advice from his hospital bed with the proviso that he was undergoing “temporary replumbing” and might be “off games for a few weeks”.

Born in Marylebone on October 16 1948, the first child of Ian Joll and his wife Eileen, née Sykes, Christopher Joll was educated at Oundle in Northamptonshire before gaining a place at Trinity College, Oxford. However, due to their over subscription of soldiers that term, he ended up at Mansfield College to read law.

He was commissioned into the Life Guards and ended up being posted to Northern Ireland, where he narrowly missed being blown up by a booby trap car bomb. Once, when he and a colleague entered a church, they were described as “two prongs of evil” by the Reverend Ian Paisley.

Joll left the Army in 1975 to go into business. Starting his career as an investment analyst at Lazards, he climbed the ladder to serve as a director at Alvis and chief executive at Georgeson & Co. As deputy chairman of GCI Focus, he managed the PR for the development and marketing of the Gherkin, Paternoster Square, Central St Giles, Bow Bells House, Battersea Power Station and Chelsea Barracks.

Joll left to build a portfolio of non-executive directorships with pre-IPO and listed companies, and also turned into a business his long-term hobby of writing and directing events for charities – including José Carreras & Friends (1991) at the Theatre Royal.

In 2010, through his company, MJ2 Events, he revived the British Military Tournament on behalf of the Army Benevolent Fund, after it had fallen victim to defence cuts. He also masterminded the Household Cavalry Pageant, the Royal Hospital Chelsea Pageant and the Gurkha 200 Pageant.

A prolific author,  Joll wrote 21 books, including The Drum Horse in the Fountain (2018) about heroes and rogues in the seven Regiments of the sovereign’s personal troops, and Spoils of War (2020), about the treasures, trophies and trivia of the British Empire. His “Speedicut Saga” series chronicled the lives of major historical figures including Rasputin, Adolf Hitler and Charlie Chaplin.

In 2021 he teamed up with Corrie Mapp, a trooper in the Life Guards whose armoured vehicle ran over an IED while on combat operations in Afghanistan, causing him massive injuries. Their book, Black Ice, describes how, following a gruelling rehabilitation, Mapp won gold in the inaugural Para Bobsleigh World Cup competition in St Moritz in 2014, before becoming the overall World Cup champion in 2018.

Joll’s last book, Bonfire of History, explored the intriguing past of Madame Tussaud’s, where an important collection of historical relics and art, including Napoleon’s underwear and campaign carriage, were lost in a fire at the museum in 1925. He was still contributing to Britain at War magazine and working on a book entitled Royal Bastards when he died.

Joll’s wit never deserted him and when told it was time to go into a hospice for palliative care, he turned to the nurse and with a wry smile said: “What shall I pack?”.

An avid schnauzer lover, Joll lived in Bath, where his interests encompassed everything from cooking Ottolenghi recipes to opera and needlework. He was a dedicated collector of Post-Impressionist pictures, and between 2001 and 2013 he and his partner Philip were responsible for restoring Sham Castle, an 18th-century Gothic folly in Shropshire.

Christopher Joll, born October 16 1948, died April 18 2024