LIVES REMEMBERED
specialist in phonetics, taught an English Music proseminar, and ran the English Social Club for several years. After his career as a lecturer in Finland, Silvester moved back to Canterbury. Returning to his father’s language, he gained a First in Italian from the University of Kent. Together with the Swedish he had learned during his years in Finland, Silvester’s rediscovery of Italian set him up for a second career as a prize-winning literary translator. As an avid fan of cricket and the Goon Show, an aficionado of trad jazz and classical music, Silvester was at heart a historian. He is survived by his children William, Miranda and Cecilia, and by his grandchildren Amelia and Jacob.
Norman Gillett (LN 1953-1958) Norman David Gillett died on 28 January 2025, aged 85. Michael Dover (LX 1962-1967) has sent this tribute.
N
orman was born in Nairobi, Kenya in November 1939. In 1953 his parents returned to England and he was sent to The King’s School and to Linacre House. ‘Fred’ Shirley, his headmaster, noted he was ‘good and reliable – very shy and self-deprecating in outlook, unwarrantedly so: a nice lad’. ‘Shy’ and ‘cox’ do not normally go hand in hand, but small of stature and with a ready wit, Norman was soon in demand at Pluck’s Gutter, coxing the 1st VIII for three years from 1956 to 1958. In his last year Norman was a regular attender at hostelries outside the precincts for a pint and a cigarette – to keep his weight down, he claimed. Throughout his life a pint in one hand and a cigarette in the other was a feature of many a photograph taken of Norman. From King’s Norman went up to Trinity College, Dublin in 1958 to read Natural Sciences – and 36
Above: Norman Gillett (sat on the ground with the trophy) pictured with the 1958 1st VIII
to cox, immediately securing the cox’s seat in the DUBC Senior VIII and IV. From Trinity he moved to Keble College, Oxford where he coxed the college boat and in 1965 one of the OUBC trial VIIIs. He was elected to Leander, a great source of pride, and his pink socks and battered DUBC blazer were a constant presence at Henley Regatta for decades thereafter. His subsequent professional career encompassed the US company Western Geophysical and British Petroleum. Post-retirement he returned to his beloved Ireland and became a ghillie on the legendary River Blackwater at Lismore in Co Waterford, but as an Englishman the post-Brexit legislation required a final move to Warminster in Wiltshire. He inherited his father’s devotion to freemasonry, taking his duties extremely seriously, and was twice Worshipful Master of the East and Central Africa Lodge in London, in 1991 and 2020. He was very proud of his record. An impish, convivial and witty man, he will be much missed by his many friends in the rowing and fishing worlds. OKS
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Spring 2025