In memory of James Gordon-Bennett, the original tennis brat

There is little doubt that James Gordon-Bennett relieved himself in front of the guests, consequently bringing a New Year's party at the home of his future in-laws to an abrupt halt. The only question is whether he urinated in the grand piano or the fireplace.

Either way, the drunken episode coincided with Gordon-Bennett's decision in 1877 to move from America and base himself in Europe, mainly on his 301-foot yacht, the Lysistrata. From there he administered the running of the New York Herald, which he inherited from his Scottish-born father, James Gordon Bennett senior, who hyphenated his son's name.

Your correspondent, like most newspaper reporters, has known or met at least one Gordon-Bennett type, probably less wealthy and perhaps not so well connected, but an equal in terms of extreme behaviour.

So this week, in homage to the notorious carouser and his father, a group of International tennis journalists will make the pilgrimage along Avenue Gordon Bennett to the gates of Roland Garros, home to the French Open and headquarters of the French Tennis Federation, and lay the foundations of the Gordon-Bennett Society. The motif of membership cards is to be based on the Manneken Pis statue in Brussels – with the modification of the figure holding a tennis racket in its free hand.

The GBS already has the tentative backing of Christian Bimes, president of the French Tennis Federation, and Alain Riou, media director of the French Open, and will explore ways in which members may assist charities. Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win a singles title at Roland Garros, has expressed interest in helping to raise sponsorship.

Gordon-Bennett was a fund-raiser as well as a hell-raiser: the use of his name as an expletive is related to his outrageous lifestyle and involvement in publicity stunts. He once flew a plane though an open barn. "That was Gordon-Bennett!" an astonished witness exclaimed.

As a member of the Racing Club de France, he promoted several sporting enterprises, including horse racing. He was the youngest commodore of the New York Yacht Club and the victorious skipper in the first trans-oceanic race in 1866. Later on, he introduced polo to the United States in New York in 1876 and also donated trophies for balloon racing and aeroplane racing. In 1904, the Gordon-Bennett motor car road racing trials were first run on the Isle of Man.

In 1880, Gordon-Bennett commissioned the building of Newport Casino, a social and sporting club in Rhode Island, which a year later hosted the inaugural United States National Lawn Tennis Championships. Rumour had it that Gordon-Bennett started Newport Casino after falling out with the owners of the Newport Reading Room over a bet he struck with a polo pal, Captain Candy, aka "Sugar Candy."

Candy had mounted his polo pony and rode up the short flight of stairs into the exclusive club. Gordon-Bennett was reprimanded and Candy was shown the door. When one door closed, Gordon-Bennett would open another.

Those fabled American multi-millionaire dynasties, the Astors and the Vanderbilts, were among those for whom Newport Casino became a centre of cultural life, offering a block of shops, a restaurant, "gentleman's lodgings", lawn tennis, Real tennis, lawn bowling, archery, billiards, horse shows, concerts, dancing, dining, tea parties and theatricals.

Nowadays, the week after Wimbledon, the Newport Casino courts are home to the Miller Lite Hall of Fame Championships, the only ATP tournament in America played on grass. The International Tennis Hall of Fame was opened on the site in 1954.

Gordon-Bennett was born in New York in May 1841 and died in Beaulieu, France, in May 1918, a year that also marked the death of Roland Garros, a pioneer aviator, killed in World War l.

Until 1928, the French Tennis Championships alternated between the Stade Français and the Racing Club de France. France's Davis Cup triumph in the United States in 1927 was the catalyst for the building of a new stadium. The Stade Français provided an area of three hectares close to Port d'Auteuil on condition that the stadium bear the name of Roland Garros, who had been a member.

The stadium's northern gate, Porte Suzanne Lenglen, honours the French tennis diva of the 1920s who turned professional and never had an opportunity to play there. The Davis Cup Mousquetaires – Jacques Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste – are commemorated with a ring of statues inside the grounds, alongside which runs the incongruous Avenue Gordon Bennett, evoking many a wry smile from English-speaking visitors.

Gordon-Bennett's father founded the New York Herald in 1835 and introduced illustrated news articles, the first major use of the telegraph for news, and European correspondents. In 1848 he was a partner in founding the The Associated Press. He died in 1872.

James junior took over the management of the Herald in 1867. In a bid to boost circulation, he funded Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to Africa in search of Dr David Livingstone, and also sponsored the "Jeanette" Arctic expedition, which led to the death, from starvation, of G W De Long and 19 fellow crew members.

Research into the life and times of Gordon-Bennett, much of it by François Thomazeau, of Reuters, a GBS founder-member, has unearthed a wealth of anecdotes concerning the wild side of the playboy's character. Such as the occasion when, in a fit of temper, he removed a bulky roll of money from his back pocket and proceeded to burn the lot. Another time, he was seen tearing around the countryside in his four-in-hand coach, stark naked, screaming and yelling. Gorblimey!