My sincere condolences to you and your family. Ben will certainly be missed!

Monica ((F))

I am so sorry to hear the sad news.
Sad for his faimly and equally sad for all of us who gained so much from his time and patience. We say in Zulu:
"Lala ngoxolo"(Rest in Peace)
"Inkosi ibe nani"(May God be with you)

Tod

My sincerest condolences to Haines family.

Thank you for the sad note Tim.

We will miss Mr. Haines' light.

I am so sorry.

Ben was, quite outstandingly, the most impressive Web person I came across during the Web's brief life. No-one came close to him in the unfailing energy, intelligence and understanding he brought to trying to make a visit to Britain worthwhile.

Please, Tim, pass on my condolences to your other relatives.

This bit of Cyberspace really will be greatly poorer for his passing. Please publicise the details of his memorial service.

May I offer my sincere condolences to you.

I hope, and am indeed more than certain that Ben Haines will live on in Fodors Forum as people will time and time again return to the thousands of posts containing his invaluable and informative advice and opinions on London and of course the infamous British railway network!

You may like to know that as well as being a traveller, he was a great churchman, serving as churchwarden of his multi-cultural South London parish (Church of England/Anglican) for a number of years.
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Mr. Haines, condolences to you and your family. I only hope that when I pass from this earth, I am remembered as fondly as Ben will be.

Along with many others, I would like to add my condolences. Ben was a rare person, and will be greatly missed for his wit, his wisdom, and his many contributions to the clueless traveler. Our prayers are with you and your family --- may his soul rest in peace.

In response to Julies, and for the general interest of all, here's a little bit about Ben:

Ben was about 70 when he died (sorry I can’t be more exact) He was, as you probably know, a dedicated Christian, a staunch liberal and an active socialist. He was also very pro-European integration / expansion. He grew up in several different countries including (I’m fairly sure) Egypt and Iraq and studied history at Cambridge. He did national service in the Royal Artillery, which he did not particularly enjoy. After this he worked for the British Council for many years until he retired early on health grounds (they wouldn’t let him work abroad any more due to ill health, so he retired). Whilst working for the BC in a managerial capacity he enjoyed stints in, amongst very many other places, Jordan, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Sudan. After he retired he travelled extensively, following his interests in history, music, language and may other aspects of cultural life. He was quite a linguist, with a grasp of French, German, Arabic and Urdu (and probably more that I don’t know about). He was also a church warden and an active member of the local community in many other respects. His other great interests in life, as you probably know, were cycling, train travel, academic lectures and pub lunches. He was a life-long bachelor. Ben’s feet had been giving him trouble for a couple of years (I don’t know the details) but a combination of several ailments and infections got him in the end.

On a more personal note, Ben had a very great influence on my life. When my family returned from having been imprisoned by the Argentines in the Falkland Islands during the invasion in 1982, we lived in my uncle’s house for some months while we got our lives back together. We ended up living next door to him for significant portions of my childhood (when he wasn’t abroad) and he was by turns a confidante, an educator and a playmate for me and my siblings. He took us on some memorable outings – outdoor swimming pools were a favourite – often borrowing my father’s car, which he drove with a singular lack of skill, much to our entertainment. I went to visit him in many far flung countries, and he instilled in me a great love of travel. He was always interesting and entertaining to talk to, and I learned a lot from him.

Once again, thank you all for your kind words. I know that you were all a significant part of my Uncle’s life, especially in the last few years, and a major source of intellectual stimulation, company, camaraderie and interest for him. Many thanks.

Tim Haines.

What a gentleman indeed. I was very interested to read all the additional biographical details. Like many others, I received personal email advice about an eastern Europe itinerary.

My condolences to the family and cuber-hugs to everybody who misses him. His contributions on Fodor's will help others for long, long time!

Thank you, Tim, for taking your time to keep us posted.

I have just heard from Tim Haines via e-mail regarding the funeral arrangements.

He is deciding whether or not to post those here.

I feel fortunate that I will be in London on the date and be able to attend.

I advised Tim that there are more than a few posters who live in the UK, including those in London, and that they might very well wish to attend also.

So sorry to hear the news.

My most sincere condolences to your family.

Word fails to express the grest loss to us.

My deepest sympathy to you and your family.

Ben was a true class act and will be missed.

Thank you Tim, for your kind and informative note.
Please be sure to advise us of the details of the memorial service. I like to, but won't be able to attend being located on the other side of the Atlantic, but I'm sure others in the nearer vicinity will, and I shall certainly think of him on that day.

It would be so like Ben to bring us together in death as he did in life on this site.

Mathieu

Ben to me was the perfect writer.
His obvious high education level and his vast experience from being around the world shone through.
His articulate answers were stuff legends are made of and he is indeed a legend.

I am sad today because the Haines family along with us here have lost Ben.

But I am also happy because after reading the words of Tim, it is clear that Ben experienced the world and had a long and industrious life.

Also he sounds to be pretty much as I had imagined him to be. A wonderful old gentleman with so many stories and tales to tell.
His specific itemised itineries down to the finest detail were here for us all to use.

He will be sorely missed here, but I sincerely hope that his words of advice to the many thousands of people on this site will live on.

God Bless you Ben.
Sincere condolences to his family.

Many thanks to Tim for taking the time to pass on this sad news.

Muck

He will sorely be missed here. Thank you for taking time during this sad period to let strangers know about his death. As "web mates" it is difficult to feel you know someone and then have him disappear from the site. Condolences to your family.

My thoughts and prayers are with your family.

I always enjoyed Ben's posting here. My husband and I made a trip to London this past December and he gave us some great advice for sites to see that were off the beaten path. He brought joy to so many people with his advice.

Thank you so much for posting this news. It is one of the saddest things I have read on Fodors. Your uncle was a huge presence here and he will be missed tremendously.

I send deepest sympathy to you and your family.