Goodbye to a Gooner: Siddy Shivdasani was a brilliant journalist, avid Arsenal fan and campaigner against racism and mental health stigma
Farewell to Siddy who made headlines before he died
It was standing room only for some late arriving mourners at the packed south London funeral of former Metro journalist Siddy Shivdasani.
Siddy started his career as a reporter on the South London Press, followed by stints at The Voice, Eastern Eye, which he edited, the Evening Standard, Sun and News of the World before working for this news organisation.
He died on 21 July, aged 51.
Metro editor-in-chief Deborah Arthurs says: ‘Siddy was a brilliant journalist and sub, a quick and insightful editor and a laser-sharp headline writer.
‘He had a natural way with words, but also with people. His thoughtfulness and compassion made him an excellent teacher. For the past 4 years, Siddy had worked with young Metro journalists to help them hone their own skills. His legacy will last far beyond our newsroom.
‘Now, when I watch a sporting event or a news feature unfold, I remember Siddy sending me quick-fire headlines – and I wonder what he’d be writing for them now.
‘He will be much missed, remembered as a kind, funny, compassionate and generous colleague and friend.’
Born to an Indian father, Pratap ‘Peso’, and English mother, Teresa ‘Terry’, at Kingston on Thames, Surrey, 51 years ago, it’s an understatement to say Siddy led a colourful life. He revealed all in the racy, tabloid newspaper-style Melting Pothead autobiography he self-published in 2020.
As his father returned to India when Siddy was young, he grew up in a white family at Brixton, which, he said, was the ‘Eighties battleground for two major riots that shaped race relations in Britain for a generation’.
He added: ‘The atmosphere created by an abusive police force and an alienated, poverty-stricken population drew comparisons with occupied West Belfast [the poor Catholic or nationalist part of the city].’
Remembered fondly: Siddy Shivdasani, a brilliant journalist, compassionate teacher and beloved father
In the book’s blurb he said: ‘Siddy tells tales of growing up in that tough environment’, adding he was a ‘one-man class and race melting pot’ who became a serious dope smoker at 15, hence the title of the book.
Melting Pothead chronicled Siddy’s time spent in bohemian Camden, north London, and mixing and mingling in the black street culture of Brixton, where for a while he worked as the youngest projectionist in the country at its arthouse Ritzy cinema. He also lived at Stockwell and Herne Hill, south of the river. Then it was off to Israel to work on a kibbutz, where he had a Jewish girlfriend. The experience changed his worldview, with Siddy saying he witnessed firsthand the Palestinian struggle for freedom under the yoke of Israeli oppression.
Siddy was a staunch advocate against racism and the challenges facing people with mental health issues, both of which affected him. He was diagnosed with bipolar in mid-life and did voluntary work at the Mosaic Clubhouse mental health charity at Brixton, where he ran media workshops. He was a go-to person for fellow journalists who sought his insights when writing stories about mental health.
Among the stories he wrote for my the-latest.com citizen journalism website was a heart-rending story headlined ‘Mental illness stigma is worse than racism’. He was bravely battling his increasingly worsening condition at the time and wanted to go public about it to help other people in the same position as him.
It was while working as a journalist in the Middle East he teamed up with Tom Tugendhat, who was also doing reporting and public relations jobs there. They became good friends. The government’s current minister of state for security, Tom became a Conservative MP and is the former chair the House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee.
Siddy met budding journalist Randip Panesar, whom I had trained, when he interviewed her for a reporter’s job at Eastern Eye. They began dating before getting married at an east London gurdwara Sikh temple in 2001.
Although Randip and Siddy later separated, they had a daughter, Nanaki, now aged 11. Bright Nanaki has won a scholarship to attend a prestigious private school in London in September.
Siddy was founding editor of the Lebanese Gazette in Beirut and the Asian Xpress in Britain. At the Sun, where he started work as a sub-editor in 2002, he went on to become one of its star headline-writers.
A favourite headline he wrote was published on the front page of the paper after Andy Murray won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon in 2013. It read: ‘And of Hope and Glory’ with the sub-headline ‘Finally, after 77 years, 15 PMs, 3 monarchs…Brit man wins Wimbledon’.
A proud Siddy put a framed copy of that Sun front page on the wall of his Norwood, south London, home.
Siddy’s life-long passions were cooking Italian and Indian food, Motown, soul and rap music and support for Arsenal Football Club. He once volunteered as a maintenance worker at the team’s Highbury ground and was given a coveted season ticket as a reward. Siddy didn’t live to celebrate the occasion but would have been over the moon that, after the disappointment of the Gunners coming second to Manchester City in the Premier League last season, his beloved team beat their bitter rivals in the FA Community Shield match this month.
Siddartha Richard Shivdasani, who was born on 9 May 1972 and died on 21 July 2023, is survived by ex-wife Randip, daughter Nanaki, mother Teresa Smith, stepfather Robert Smith, sister Sarah and brother Sam.
The family would be grateful for donations to Bipolar UK, the World Wildlife Fund and Khalsa Aid.
Author Marc Wadsworth is a former ITV reporter-presenter and has made a film and radio programme for the BBC. He is co-founder of The Liberation Movement, a new anti-racist organisation liberationmovement.org.uk.
Siddy made his name at The Sun before going on to become a sub-editor at the Evening Standard and later joining Metro, where he applied his laser-sharp editing and headline writing skills to train reporters.
