Lives Remembered

David Allen (Boys’ Division Staff, 1957-1993)

David was born in Bacup, moving to Great Harwood as war started and his father was needed as a fire officer there. At 11 he gained a scholarship to Accrington Grammar School, from where, after many attempts to gain his School Cert Latin, he won a further scholarship to the University of Oxford. After a Baptist start, his family joined the Congregational church, where he soon followed his father as a lay preacher, a deacon and Sunday School Superintendant. Scouting was allimportant from the day he was invited to join his new friends at the 4th Great Harwood Cubs! When he went to Oxford (a huge culture shock, moving from clogs and cobbles to gowns, mortar boards and being waited on at table!) it was helping at a local Scout troop that kept him grounded. His father died in his first year, adding yet more stress, but a natural acting ability, his love of preaching and a huge desire to learn more kept him going and his original three-year Geography course was extended to a Theology degree and then a Teaching diploma (kept going with many holiday jobs, from 8-loom weaving to Christmas Post), whereupon he decided enough was enough and he’d better apply for a job! A job at Bolton School brought him back to his beloved Lancashire, and he transferred his Scouting to the 19th Bolton Group. Scouting also brought about his marriage to Margaret, whose father was the Group Scout Leader, HVB! His original appointment was to the Geography department, but this eventually took a back place as he concentrated more and more on the RE, which eventually led to him becoming Head of Religious Studies. Here he was not quite so restricted – he famously said he “taught boys, not exams”, but his love of maps and visiting foreign lands was shown in the adventurous Senior Scout camps that he (or was it the boys themselves?) planned. He was delighted when his two daughters joined the Ventures and were able to share some of the challenges and fun. He was awarded both the Silver Acorn and the Silver Wolf, and shortly before he died he was told he had his 70-year service award! In addition to many outdoor pursuit and Scout visits to St Marks, Cautley, and New Year youthhostelling walks, there were about 30 years of third form camps, mainly at Saundersfoot (and mostly shared by his family) with other dedicated and courageous members of staff. They were an annual headache and delight! Who could resist singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, choked by woodsmoke and too often in drizzle? And as for visits to the local hospital or police station – well, enough said … those are better left to your private memories! After his retirement from teaching, David took further training and was ordained as a minister to the URC, taking up ministry at Little Lever URC and helping them join with the local Methodists as the LEP at Christ Church, where he served for ten years. Then, with more freedom after his second retirement, he and Margaret were able to thoroughly enjoy visits to wonderful places, from The Holy Land to the Arctic, sailing in the Canaries to studying prehistoric remains in the Shetlands, and of course Norway, the country of their first foreign visit together! Always it was the people he met who mattered most, although his three children and five grandchildren were his real delight. Throughout all this was his love of music, particularly choir singing where his powerful tenor voice was a valuable asset. He treasured his weekly School choir practices long after his actual teaching days were over. And as for Reunions – there couldn’t be enough of them! He was always so intrigued to follow up those young men he had taught and to discover how they had moved on in life. It was one such meeting which resulted in him helping to set up a branch of Emmaus in Bolton, a charity which helps homeless people to find a home and an aim in life; David believed strongly that everyone deserves a chance to overcome previous mistakes and misfortunes and to regain their self-respect by helping those worse off than themselves – not a bad principle for all of us! As his daughters sang at his funeral, “Farewell My Friend”. Margaret Allen (née Brookes, 1947-1957) I was one of a number who helped teach the RE syllabus and, without formal qualification to do this, I greatly appreciated David’s enthusiastic guidance. His enthusiasm and dedication were apparent in the very many assemblies he led. Beyond his major professional role, he played an original and important part in the extra-curricular life of the School. He designed and pioneered the sponsored walk which was completed by boys and staff over many years; he energetically raised money for charities; he initiated blood donation by staff and senior pupils. These are the areas in which I had contact with him. His many other achievements are recorded in The Boltonian, particularly his distinguished leadership of Scouts and Venture Scouts. There are many tributes to come from people whose lives he touched in all kinds of ways. His was the kind of service which has meant so much to the Bolton School. Charles Winder (Boys’ Division Staff, 1964-1999)

When David’s death was announced there was an outpouring of sympathy from Old Boys, many of whom shared their memories of this ‘legendary’ teacher.

Although he only taught me for one year in 3rd Form (Social Studies), he seemed to appear in every circle of my Bolton School Venn diagram. If it wasn’t Scouts, then it was as a tenor belting out that line for years – even after he’d retired – while I tried to emulate him, or doling out Fisherman’s Friend’s as we waited to file on for some concert or service, and if not that then in a main School production (Oliver in 1990 and Iolanthe in 1993) or the Saundersfoot 2nd year camp (1990 in my case) or saying grace at an OBA Dinner or reunion. He really was Mr Bolton School. An ever present for me and a huge influence on my life. There was always an amusing anecdote, or a rich remembrance of times past which stretched back decades before I even arrived at the School and went on, seemingly for decades, after I had left. He was the stuff of legend, Boris

and the bright red beard and all that! Warmth, compassion, no-nonsense, integrity, straight-talking directness. They don’t make ’em like they used to. He will be hugely missed. Stefan Horsman (1988-1995) I shall be forever grateful for the encouragement he gave me, along with the metaphorical arm around my shoulder, when he realised this working-class boy from a council school was struggling in a world of privately educated high-flyers who regularly used words which I had never heard during class discussions in my first year. I hope that with David’s prompting, this small example of social mobility worked, at least to some small degree. Gary Sykes (1963-1970) Dave (‘Boris’) Allen was my first form teacher at Bolton School and helped me settle into what was a very strange world for me at the time. A lovely man. Mark Power (1973-1980) He helped me realise that there may be more than one way of doing things. The ability of Bolton School to accommodate such different characters was one of its great strengths. Thomas Ward (1966-1972) Remarkable man, with an unwavering moral compass that even an atheist like me could appreciate. I remember him telling us that we were very privileged, and with that privilege came responsibility. Decades before the Spiderman films! Stefan Kukula (1976-1983) He (Boris) took me for Geography and RE and he was my Form Master in 3B1 in September 1966. He also said grace at the OBA Annual Dinner for as long as I can remember. Always an interesting and entertaining character. Chris Taylor (1965-1973) I have great memories of his Saundersfoot camp, he actually made RE interesting, something few other Masters managed (at least for me!). Duncan Cameron (1974-1981) DA was a very human teacher, and I enjoyed working with his wonderfully sour Pooh-Bah in The Mikado back in 1986. Graeme Lindsay-Foot (1979-1986) RIP Boris. He once dusted my head quite significantly with the board rubber… and, as he taught Geography, I had to walk home with blue, green, red, purple and yellow hair. He certainly was a character! Chris Rudd (Class of 1974)

Bryan Robert Cockshott (1946-1951)

Bryan was born on 12th August 1935. His early education was at Wolfenden Street School, Bolton, then he moved to Church Road School. He entered Bolton School in 1946 with a Bolton Borough Free Place and became a member of Blackburn House. He was a member of a number of School societies, including the Literary and Debating Society, the Choral Society, the Chess Club, the Scientific Society, the Aero Modellers Club and the Physical Training Team. He was, however, particularly interested in boxing and took part in the House boxing competition at the end of his first term at School in December 1946. He beat RN Kerry (Manchester House) before losing to AJ Hardy (Wigan House) in the final of Class 1 (Under 5 stones). In the report about the competition Bryan was described as ‘a plucky opponent’. In the House boxing competition of 1950 he beat J Brogan (Manchester) before losing to JC Drinnan (Chorley) in the Final of Class VIII (8 stones to 8 stones 7lbs). The report in The Boltonian of that year said: ‘The refinement of Cockshott’s punching was of no avail against the calculated onslaught of Drinnan. In spite of this, however, a good fight ensued until Cockshott tired in the third round’. Bryan left School after his GCE examinations, his School file suggesting that he was going to work in engineering. However, the closest he came to that was taking his bicycle apart to clean and adjust things and then putting it back together again! Instead, his first job was in the rates department at Bolton Town Hall and after the Army he went back there until he joined paper bag manufacturers Thomas Preston. Bryan and his wife, Carole, emigrated to Australia in 1964. He initially worked as a salesman for a paper bag maker before joining WD & HO Wills (which became British Tobacco), who paid for him to go to night school and qualify as an accountant. He went on to work at

Amatil until he retired in 1988. In his spare time, cycling was his main interest, both in the UK and in Australia. He was a member of the Bolton Clarion Cycling and Athletic Club and won several medals for cycling and running. During his time in the Army he was in team events in running and his family treasures a medal from 1954 inscribed ‘RASC Inter-Unit Cross Country Championship Winners’. Bryan only gave up cycling about three years ago when he decided that the roads were just too busy to be safe. Instead, he took David Allen as Pooh-Bah to walking around the local park for an in The Mikado 1986 hour most days. Bryan died suddenly on 21st July 2021 in Campbelltown, New South Wales. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Carole, his two children, Margaret and Robert, three grandchildren, David, Liam and Emma, and his great-grandson, Xavier. Carole Cockshott

Melvyn Hilton (1949-1955)

Melvyn, who died on 1st August 2021 from oesophageal cancer, was born in October 1937 to John Hilton, a bus driver, and his wife, Bertha (née Cupitt), a textile worker. While his father was away serving in World War II, his mother worked in a mill on Chorley Old Road. Although the family lived in Tonge Moor, Melvyn’s primary education was at Oxford Grove School close to where his mother worked and she would take him there by tram and bus in the morning before her day shift started and pick him up in the late afternoon after it finished. He entered School on a Bolton scholarship on 14th September 1949 in Shell A and became a member of Manchester House, representing them at football at both senior and junior levels. In 1953 he was awarded an intermediate certificate from the National Life Saving Society. He was a member of the Scientific Society, the Literary and Debating Societies and the Swing Music Society. He was a keen Scout in the troop of St Augustine’s, Tonge Moor. Melvyn left School in 1955 after deciding he wanted to be an engineer and undertook a training course with British Rail at Horwich, subsequently leaving for Derby for greater experience and possible promotion. Later he joined Boots to work on the design and installation of store lifts and escalators until retirement in 1995, He had married a Bolton girl, Eunice Fogg, and they were together 25 years until sadly she passed away in the early

1990s. Some years later, while doing a charity collection for the blind, he called at a neighbour’s house. They chatted and he offered help to her, if needed. Her name was Jan, a lady who had returned to England from Australia after a failed marriage, and they got on so well that they married in 1996 in Norfolk. At Melvyn’s death they were just short of their silver wedding. Apart from family and career Melvyn’s interests centred on travel, music and sport, particularly football. In his late teens he went to concerts by American and British big bands at Bolton Albert Hall or the Theatre Royal and acquired a taste for singing standard songs of the day. Soon after leaving School Melvyn and his long-time friend David Slater (1949-1955) travelled around Northern Europe in an Austin 30 van, and he and Jan made many trips to visit family in Australia, across America, and annual visits to UK resorts, including Whitby, St Ives, Norfolk and Christmas visits to Sidmouth in Dorset. For his 80th birthday in 2017 they celebrated with a two-week stay at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. In recent years he had come to Bolton for a couple of Bolton Wanderers games a season, as he treasured memories of Saturdays standing on the railway embankment at Burnden Park. He also joined in an online forum with old School friends to discuss the latest results. In Derby his unassuming personality helped him make many friends. He played snooker regularly, and sang in two harmony choirs. He never forgot those concerts in Bolton, dancing to The Ionians at The Parish Church hall, or evenings at the Palais-de-Danse on Bridge Street. As an extra present for his 80th birthday Jan bought him a whole day to sing in a recording studio, where he proceeded to complete almost the whole Sinatra songbook using a karaoke accompaniment, producing four CD discs, and he circulated copies to many friends and relatives. His committal before a packed Bramcote Crematorium took place on 2nd September last year, and, unsurprisingly perhaps, he sang at his own funeral from the discs he had recorded three years before, entering the chapel to That’s Life followed by It was a Very Good Year after the tributes, and My Way as the congregation dispersed. David Slater spoke of their early meetings in Lower Shell A, when they considered themselves the smallest boys of the intake, and how their friendship had grown over the years. He felt he was representing many Old Boltonians who couldn’t be there. Up to a week before his death Melvyn had hoped to have a potential lifesaving operation promised by his doctors if he managed to maintain necessary fitness levels. While he kept his word, his cancer had spread and it wasn’t to happen. We express sincere condolences to his widow, Jan, and adopted daughter, Rachel, and grandchildren, Jake, Callum, Ellie and George. Ken Mather (1948-1956)

Ernest Ignatius Kohorn (1940-1946)

Ernest was born in Broumov in northeast Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) to Leo and Hilda Kohorn. Leo earned a PhD in philosophy, but due to family pressures became the manager of his uncle’s weaving and dying factory. In 1937, Ernest’s father had the foresight to see the dangers of Nazi Germany and went to England to establish a business and home for the family. However, he was unable to obtain visas for his wife or two sons, Ernest and John. In the autumn of 1938, Hilda and the two boys fled to Prague where they spent a year waiting. Leo finally found a Congregational minister in southwest England to guarantee visas, and after a year of living under Nazi occupation and lining up every day at the police station, Ernest’s mother obtained visas from the Nazis and the family was reunited in England in 1939. The family moved to the village of Belmont in northern England where Ernest’s father was a factory manager. Ernest recalled walking with his father on the Lancashire moors talking philosophy and history, with his father trying to convince him that philosophy was the ideal occupation. But his father thought one still needed a more lucrative profession to support oneself, and influenced Ernest to choose medicine. Ernest and his brother, John, went to Bolton School. From there he went to Downing College, Cambridge, to study Medicine. Unusually, but predictably, he also took non-medical courses and attended classes by the likes of Bertrand Russell and Susan Stebbins. He always strove to be an expert at several things, feeling that it worked for both himself and his patients even though he was advised throughout his life to be an expert in one area. Ironically, he hated to read instructions and preferred the challenge of figuring it out himself. Ernest did his clinical years at University College Hospital where he described being taught by superb teachers to be a humane physician. He chose to be an obstetrician and gynaecologist as for him these fields embraced the whole of internal medicine and surgery allowing one also to bring babies into the world. Ernest first saw Margot coming down the stairs on the arm of a tall, blonde, good looking young man at a party at the London Jewish Graduates Society. To his relief, he discovered that the young man was her brother. They married in 1953, and continued an intense and emotional love affair that lasted into their 90s, noticeable by all who met them. They had their first child, Ruthy, in 1954. After he qualified in Medicine he was drafted into the British army. One rotation took him to Brighton where he visited an exhibit about the death of Princess Charlotte in childbirth, and this became a life-long interest. In retirement, Ernest wrote and gave many talks about the medical history of Princess Charlotte. In 1954 he was posted to the Suez Canal and after six weeks of bureaucratic mixup was sent to Benghazi, Libya, where, in 1955, Margot and 18-month-old Ruthy were allowed to join him. This was where Ernest met Americans for the first time, and he was the only doctor for both American and British families in the area. The family returned to London in 1956 and his son, Bruce, was born in 1957. In the family’s first 11 years, Ernest worked incessantly as a dedicated ian and was home little. Margot also worked as a clinical psychologist during this time. But on holidays they would travel Europe in their prized convertible Hillman, camping and walking. Many a mountain top would see Ernest sunning his whole physique, and feeding croissants and blueberry pies to his children. The family spent a year in the US while Ernest was on sabbatical at Yale where his mentor Peter Nixon and Lee Buxton supported him in exploring Ultrasound. Ernest and Stuart Campbell subsequently carried out the first earlypregnancy ultrasound investigations in England. He also studied for – and earned – his Master of Surgery (MChir) from Cambridge University, a degree he was most proud of (and ended up eventually on his licence plate). Yale invited him back as a faculty member and in 1968 the family immigrated to the US. It was then that Ernest brought ultrasound to Yale, and extended his

expertise and became a gynaecological oncologist and surgeon. Since he was always wanting to be an expert in more than one thing he collaborated with Ed McGuire at Yale, who taught Ernest urodynamics while Ernest taught him gynaecological surgery, and both became pioneers of the field of urogynaecology. Ernest spent in all 53 years as a professor at Yale University School of Medicine and became a worldrenowned expert in trophoblast, gynaecological cancer, and urogynaecology. Ernest was also very active as President and/or Treasurer of many international and national medical societies, President of the Board of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow at Jonathan Edwards College, a member of the Beaumont Medical Club at Yale, and many other groups. He was always willing to participate and lend his opinion. He remained active in these societies, publishing in journals well into his 80s. Ernest had an enormous impact on many people, patients, colleagues, and friends alike, and will be remembered for his generosity with his time and attention, his gifts, his very high standards and drive, his loyalty, and, importantly, the twinkle in his eye and the love of his family. He is survived by his two children, Ruthy Kohorn Rosenberg of Seattle, WA, and Bruce Kohorn of Brunswick, ME, four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his brother John Kohorn’s three daughters. His beloved wife of 67 years, Margot Lytton Kohorn, died in October 2020. Bruce Kohorn

John Kohorn (1942-1951)

John was born into a happy and successful Jewish family in the German-speaking Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia in 1932. When he was only six years of age, Hitler annexed the Sudetenland and the family fled to Prague. Within months, the Nazis invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and the family were forced to flee again. John’s father was already in the UK looking for work and a home and John’s mother managed to escape with her mother, John and his brother, Ernest, on one of the last trains to get out of Prague. The family initially settled in Belmont Village and the brothers attended Belmont Primary School. John always spoke with real feeling about how welcoming the people of Lancashire were to him and his family. He never forgot this, it was the source of his love for the area and the people and the reason why a Jewish Czech refugee became such a staunch Lancastrian. In 1942 John entered Park Road Junior School, moving to the Senior School in 1944. John loved his time at School where he made many lifelong friends. He would often fondly recall his time in the First XI Football team where he was a prolific goal striker, scoring 55 goals in the 1950-51 season which led to him being selected to play for Lancashire Schoolboys. On leaving School he studied at UMIST and went on to become a successful entrepreneur, building Plastics Bolton Ltd in Horwich into a leading supplier of plastic-coated fabric. He was much loved and respected by his staff, and many customers and suppliers became friends. In 1958 he married Katie, whom he had met through the local tennis club, and they had three daughters, Suzanne, Sharon and Sarah. Sadly, Katie became ill with a slow progressive illness which saw her life tragically cut short and she died in 1987, aged just 52. They were tough times for the family, but John held everything together and always showed tender care for Katie whom he looked after at home until this became impossible. Being relatively young, John started dating and happily met Christine; they were married in 1995. The couple moved to Horwich and had many happy years together, enjoying holidays both exotic and in the UK, walking with friends and following the ups and downs of the Wanderers. John was an avid bridge player, winning many trophies. Sadly, he lost Chris as well. He had endured Katie’s long and difficult decline with real fortitude. Chris passed away in 2017 after a shocking, but mercifully short, illness. John never smoked or drank and remained fit and active until his diagnosis of lung cancer in 2019. When he became ill, he didn’t complain and the thing he found hardest was being cut off from friends during the pandemic. John loved to keep in touch with people and was always genuinely interested in other people’s lives. He had many friends and was fiercely loyal. He would always lend a hand to any friend and do what he could to assist those in need. John died at home on 14th January 2021. As his funeral took place during lockdown, numbers were limited to 30, but we celebrated a full life, welllived, of a man of warmth, loyalty and integrity. He is survived by his three daughters, two step-daughters, 11 grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. Sue D’Arcy (née Kohorn, 1970-1977)

Arthur Henry Lingings (1948-1953)

Born in Atherton in 1936, Arthur was an extremely talented musician. He started to learn the piano at seven years old and by eleven he was playing the organ at the Independent Methodist Church in Primrose Street, Tyldesley. He obtained a scholarship to Bolton School as an Organ Scholar where his skills were honed. He also played trumpet in the School orchestra. He loved his time at Bolton School and was very proud to be a member of the Old Boltonians’ Association. On leaving School at 16, Arthur went into banking. He worked in Martins Bank which eventually became Barclays. In 1955 Arthur joined the Royal Air Force for his National Service and was sent to Hednesford near Cannock. This was primarily a ‘square bashing’ camp for new recruits. However, they were recruiting for band members and, being a trumpet player, Arthur came home after two days – much to the surprise of his parents – for his trumpet. Realising that they were turning trumpet players away as there were so many, he volunteered to play the huge BBb Bass – the largest instrument in the band. His RAF band played the theme music of The Dambusters at the premiere of the film in Birmingham. Arthur became a popular member of the RAF and often asked to play the piano in the NAAFI. His musical skills were noted by the Director of Music who promoted Arthur to Assistant Conductor; this also kept him at the same camp for the majority of his service. The troubles in Cyprus happened during his national service and it was through the efforts of the director of music that Arthur avoided being posted to Cyprus – a very dangerous posting at that time. When the family moved from Atherton to Knott End, near Blackpool, Arthur transferred to a bank in Blackpool where he started married life. During his time in Blackpool, he became the organist at several churches around the town, each one having a bigger and better organ.

Arthur studied to become an ARCO (Associate of the Royal College of Organists). As part of his examination he had to play Widor’s Toccata in F – made popular by the wedding of Princess Anne and a very taxing piece of music for both hands and feet. During the examination at the college close to the Royal Albert Hall, he slipped off the stool when using the pedals, but miraculously kept on playing and passed!

Arthur continued to play the organ right up the very end and he even had one at home. His last role was organist at The White Church in Lytham. He stopped being organist there in 2020 in order to look after his wife, Marjorie, who was in need of constant care. Sadly, Marjorie died in September 2021 and it was only after her death that it became obvious that Arthur was also not well. He passed away peacefully in Blackpool Victoria Hospital on 25th February, leaving a son and daughter and two grandchildren. David Brett (1958-1965)

Peter Eric Morris (1952-1963)

My uncle, Peter Morris, sadly departed this life on Christmas Day morning 2021, aged 77. Peter was the middle brother of three, the others being my father, Raymond, and my uncle, Keith, all of whom attended Bolton School. Peter left Bolton School in 1963, having been through both the Junior and Senior School, and after a short stint at the National Provincial Bank, Bury, he joined the Cooperative Insurance Service as a Junior, rising to the position of Chief Underwriter, Motor Insurance. He worked steadfastly for them for over 30 years and retired in September 1996. Peter was always passionately interested in football and tennis, having played at School. This led to him becoming a qualified Referee, and for many years, he refereed amateur football in the Northwest lower leagues. He was also extremely interested in the fortunes of Bolton Wanderers Football Club, where for many years he held a season ticket. He used to attend games sometimes on his own or with his brother, Keith, and they spent some wonderful match days together, at either Burnden Park, or the Bolton Stadium, Horwich. For his 70th birthday, the whole family took him to the Reebok Stadium for lunch, overlooking the pitch, and we had a wonderful day with him. Having never married, Peter became the primary carer for his mother and father, Ada and Richard Morris, and when they sadly passed away, Peter remained in the same house until he moved into Meadowbank Nursing Home in 2021. I last saw Peter on the Saturday before he passed away, and we had quite a wide-ranging and varied conversation, but it was his extended family to which we kept coming back, particularly his cousin Rowland, sister-in-law, Bridget, his niece Katharine and his nephews Nick, Giles and Hugh and our respective partners. Even though he was unmarried, Peter was always massively interested in what we were all doing, constantly asking after everyone and their welfare. Peter passed away after a short illness and he will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends. Giles Morris (1971-1977)

John B Nutter (1966-1974)

John Nutter was one of the most popular new boys of the intake of 1966. What a character he was funny, energetic, generous, great at sport. He could turn the most mundane day into laugha-minute fun with his banter and selfdeprecating humour. Never pompous, he warmly welcomed new friends into his circle. He lived in Monton and had attended Moorside School in Swinton before arriving at Chorley New Road. His sporting prowess saw him emerge as a quick, tough-tackling right-back and a wicket-keeper batsman in age group teams. John revelled in playing on the Levels. His tackling became legendary as he would make full-blooded challenges which saw opponents take off from one pitch and land 15 feet down the slope on the next Level. One spectacular exit by a Baines Grammar School winger is still talked about by John’s contemporaries. The stunned opponent ruefully clambered back up the hill, popped his head up and wondered what had hit him. John was a regular on Schoolorganised camps from the Shells trip to Llanbedrog in 1967, to later holidays in Instow, the English Literature camps at Stratford-upon-Avon and a particularly memorable ‘Butch’ Ingham trek camp to Italy in 1968. John became a star punter on the Stratford trips. He did fall in three or four times perfecting his punting technique, but this tended to be on the late-night journeys home when his judgment might have been impaired. He loved his time in Rome and Naples and became a huge fan of Italian architecture and football. So much so that, soon after this trip, brutal matches in Dobson Road quad were played between sides representing the two dirtiest teams in world football: Italy and Argentina. John insisted on playing for Italy. Parents had never spent so much on uniform repairs or replacing torn trousers, sweaters and shirts. John, who around this time had been nicknamed Stan, loved it. John went into the Economics Sixth Form and became a founding member of a new School group, the Hoax Society. He loved their get-togethers and ethos and his prowess as a practical joker became ever more evident with events like picketing the gas pickets at Spa Road in 1973. John’s family were longstanding Manchester United supporters. In fact, his father, Ray Nutter, had designed the original cantilever stand at Old Trafford for the 1966 World Cup finals. After leaving School John went to study land management at Sheffield Polytechnic and worked for the Derek Johnson estate agency in Worsley. One of his closest friends was Andy Cheetham (1961-1971) and they travelled together to many United matches, home and away. One particular trip to Tyneside became the stuff of legend. They were forced to stand in the open air in a torrential downpour. Shaking with cold, the prospect of driving home like that was unthinkable. Andy had a brainwave. He had some clean sports kit. They could share the dry kit. Then they spotted nirvana. The sign said ‘university hall of residence’. A plan was hatched: walk in like rain-soaked students, have a shower, put on the warm, dry kit and drive home. Genius. Unfortunately, before they could exit the building, security had been called. They decided honesty was the best policy and told the security guard why they’d popped in to use the showers. But security was not impressed: “There’s one big problem, lads. This is a women’s only hall of residence”. John’s property career blossomed. He stayed in Worsley and enjoyed success. Always the consummate professional, he oversaw the formation of the very