FONDLY REMEMBERED

We mark the following Latymerians who have sadly passed away recently.

n Tim BAKER (1955) n Brian EMES (1951) n Michael GLOVER (1948) n Brian HUGHES (1953) n Henry HUTCHINGS (1948) n Leon MOORE (1980) n James MUIR (1962) n Geoffrey SALMON (1943) n Kaka SINGH (1983) n Anthony SWANNELL (1953) n George TAYLOR (1948) n Laurie WARWICKER (1948) n Douglas WEBBER (1946) n David WOOD (1971)

A Wonderful Legacy

We are grateful to John ROBERTS (1958) and Hugh SEELEY (1959) for the following tribute n Peter CLARK (1944)

Bayan was a composer, biographer, and music critic whose erudite and thoughtful prose adorned the pages of publications including New Statesman, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, and the BBC Music magazine. A prolific composer in his own right, Bayan was acknowledged as an important mentor by other composers, notably Robin Holloway and Julian Anderson.

Northcott’s music-critic colleagues recalled a gentle, intelligent and ego-free figure, though he was a man of routine: before sitting down to write a post-concert review, he first cooked himself a late-night bacon sandwich.

As a critic, he was never unkind. At Latymer, Bayan was known by his middle name, Peter. Hugh SEELEY (1959) remembers meeting Bayan on their first day at Latymer in 1950 and they remained close friends throughout adulthood. Together, they both joined the choir and orchestra and acted in many of the school’s theatrical productions.

In the 1950s, Latymerians benefitted from membership of the municipal record library (vinyl) based near Hammersmith Broadway, and Bayan was able to broaden his knowledge of music by extensive borrowing. In his latter days at school, he often expressed the wish to be a composer. He made an immense contribution to the life of the school and subsequently to musical journalism and composition.

Fellow school friend, John ROBERTS (1958) recalls that Bayan was editor of the Latymerian for a while and commissioned some unusual articles. He produced a satirical piece on school uniforms for the Latymerian in 1958, featuring John and Mr Townsend’s Rolls in the picture shoot! (pictured in Memory Lane of this edition –turn to page 7).

Bayan blossomed in the sixth form and embarked on his brilliant career, leaving everyone else standing in his wake.

We are grateful to Peter’s son, Robert CLARK (1976) for sending us his father’s obituary taken from the Royal Geographical Society.

Peter passed away on 9 December 2021, almost 96 years after his birth. His mother, a teacher, introduced him to Ordnance

Survey maps at the tender age of eight, and that triggered a lifelong fascination with maps which never dimmed.

At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to Latymer, where his growing fascination with geography was nurtured. By the time he was 18, Peter had discovered the Royal Geographical Society and was writing to his school friend Ian MUMFORD (1943) in glowing terms ‘I have tasted one of the delights at that fount of pure learning and I long for more. Oh, that map room: it is nearly paradise!’ n Alan BLACKWELL (1963)

He joined the Royal Navy and studied oceanography, geography, and geology. After completing his National Service with the Meteorological Office, he read Geography and Polish at St John’s College, Cambridge. He then married Czesława, who had been a courier in the Polish underground movement.

Peter was to spend his career in what became the Map Research Officer class in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), rising to its senior grade at the relatively young age of 38, and becoming responsible for the Map Research and Library Group which provided the cartographic research support to meet the needs of the British Army and the Royal Air Force.

Among other awards, Peter was proud to receive the Murchison Award for publications judged to have contributed most to geographical science.

We are grateful to Alan’s brother, Lord Norman BLACKWELL (1970) for the following tribute.

Alan was born in 1944, the second of four brothers. As well as early academic promise, he showed musical talent from a young age, learning both the piano and violin, and winning many local competitions. As a teenager at Latymer, he played violin in the National Schools Symphony Orchestra and performed a Beethoven Piano Concerto with the school orchestra.

After studying Electrical Engineering at Selwyn College, Cambridge, Alan embarked on a career as a software engineer in the early days of computer systems. His work focused on aircraft radar systems and air traffic control, staying active as a systems designer and software developer.

He was involved in several amateur orchestras around London in his early years after university. He then took up the french horn for a while and also learned to play the cello, but increasingly devoted most of his spare time to classical chamber music – retiring early to make this his main occupation. He gained a reputation as an exceptionally talented player on both violin and pianoand was most loved and respected by all.

David

We are grateful to David’s wife, Madeleine, for the following tribute

At six years old when World War II was declared, David’s family were living close to London. He and his older sister joined hundreds of other children who were sent away to live in safer places. It was a lonely time for him; he missed his home and family, and so his parents decided to take David back to London. He and other children collected shrapnel after the raids - the