You could always depend on him for the best London information, always presented with tact and style.

Tim

Thank you for sharing some of Mr Haines' (I just always thought of him in a formal way!) background with us. What a kind, thoughtful and interesting person he seems to have been. And what a zest for travel & life!

Like all of you, I will miss his posts; I, too, have printed out his useful lists and London tips. This is very sad; it's always odd to 'miss' someone that you have never met, but I know we all feel that there is a big empty space right now in fodorland...

Thank you Ben for all you shared with us. I feel the richer for it.
sj

Please add my condolences to all the others, and thank you very much for letting us know.

I once e-mailed Ben off forum asking if he would mind giving me some information about a hotel location and nearby sights, and he responded almost immediately with a wonderful walk and suggesting the Albert Pub for lunch after attending Sunday services at Westminster Abbey. Later, I recommended the pub to someone else on Fodors, giving Ben the credit. Again, he responded right away on that thread, saying it had taken a U.S. Fodorite to tell him about the Albert, which he checked out personally before recommending it to me.

He was certainly a wonderful Christian gentleman, and I will miss him.

I am very sorry for your loss, Tim. I hope it is some comfort for you and your family to read how highly he was regarded by people who knew him through his posts here.

So sorry to hear the news. His posts were always interesting and informative

My condolences as well to the family.

I have a few of his emails also from a few years back. I was going to London with a friend and emailed him for some advice. He requested detailed info about me and my traveling companion so that he could send me some ideas that he felt would be appropriate to our interests.

What a lovely and helpful man he was!

Tim:

We are all so grateful for your uncle's generosity in share his knowledge and advice, particularly about London. I was the beneficiary of his sound advice a number of times. While I couldn't always undo the plans already in place, at least I knew what to expect.

He was the consummate gentleman -- invariably polite and charming.

We are grateful for the time we had with him here on this board. He will be remembered fondly.

I too am so sad to read of Ben's passing. My condolences to Tim and his family and my thanks for letting us know at what must be a difficult time for you.

This has been an awful week for bad news about so many forum regulars and now, this.

Please let us know about the memorial service Tim as I will be in London in close to 3 weeks time and will attend to pay my respects to one of life's true gentlemen.

regards,

bill

It's difficult to know what else to say. When I read Ben's contributions I always felt that he would have been a fascinating man to meet; Tim's short bio proved that I didn't know the half of it.

My deepest condolences go to Tim & to the rest of Ben's family & friends.

Jim

may he rest in peace... he will be sincerely missed here, as i am sure many other places and by many other people in his "real life".

This is really sad news for the Fodors "community". He posts have always been unbelievably helpful and to the point.

He will be missed.

To the Haines Family,

I can say that I never met Ben, but I feel like I knew him from all his wonderful posts about travel. He was and is still the person I refer to when it comes to advice about train travel. He will live on in his archived posts and in our memories. I think if you collected all his posts and put them in a book you would have a great travel memoir.

I am sorry for your loss. I know Ben will live on in all of the travelers he has helped around the world.

GregPCM
Los Angeles, CA

My condolences to the Haines family. Ben was a true gentleman whose generosity in time and tips has touched the lives of fellow travelers worldwide.

Dear Tim, I am so saddened to read of the death of your uncle, Mr Haines. As everyone else has said Mr. Haines was a true gentleman. When I first registered on Fodor's he was the first poster that I noticed. A gentleman of the old school and a kind and generous human being that was always so willing to share his knowledge.

I thank you for taking the time to post this sad news. And thank you for posting back and sharing some of your uncles life history with us. How very thoughtful of you to do this during your time of grief. You have your dear uncles traits I believe.

May all of your loving and appreciative memories of your uncle help you through this sorrowful time. My sincere condolences to you, your family and to all that loved and respected Mr. Haines. He left quite a legacy. Through sadness it give me joy to know he lived his life to the fullest. Best regards.

Dear Tim,
Thank you for posting the very sad news. Your uncle was so knowledgable, and generous with his advice. He really helped me completely plan our trip to England and Poland. I offered to take him to lunch to thank him and because I really wanted to meet him. To be honest, I had a little bit of a crush on him, and I could tell he was elderly, (I think) and I am happily married. The first post I ever read from him was his description of hearing a Klezmer Band in London and it was so lovely in its description, I made up my mind, that was our next trip. I will miss his posts very much.

I am saddened to read this news. Mr. Haines so kindly shared his list of pubs and with such enthusiasm, I might add. His contributions will be deeply missed.

My condolences to his family.

Sad news indeed. One of the great posters on this forum, or any forum for that matter, has left us.

I profited from Ben's advice time after time. Who among us can ever take his place? I have a very short list of candiates: zero.

Let me add my condolences. You can hear a brief BBC interview with Ben Haines (on the subject of attending public lectures) if you go to http://tinyurl.com/2qqvrk and click on "Listen."

Besides countless insightful travel information, another great contribution, with the same generosity and enthusiasm, from Mr Haines to Ceberspace was his list of London lectures at http://victorianresearch.org/lectures.html, it has brought joy of learning and more understanding to socity to many people; the loss could never be replaced.

One more tribute could be found at www.thehill.org.uk, it shows Mr Haines's photo and another side of him-but the same great warmth and loving personality.