'C.C.F. Notes 4

I am sure we all wish to perpetuate the memory of our late King, who by his devotion and high example of self sacrifice won the II. admiration of all his subjects, and this money will help in establishing a fitting memorial.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely, C. W. WRIGHT,

Lord Mayor.

EXAMINATION RESULT

We congratulate R. B. Atkinson on gaining Distinction in the Grade VII (Advanced) Examination in Pianoforte of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

OBITUARY

BASIL RADFORD

With the passing of Arthur Basil Radford (1911-15) St. Peter's has lost not only its most distinguished representative in the world of the stage and screen but also one of its most loyal and enthusiastic Old Boys. His death, in a London hospital, on 20th October last, at the age of 55, was not perhaps a surprise to those who knew something of the constant battle he had had to fight against ill-health for some eighteen months previously. Those who were intimate with him could not fail to marvel at his indomitable struggle against odds. His courage enabled him to return at the last to the stage he loved. (For, despite his many screen successes he considered the "celluloid drama" a pale reflection of the living stage.) The tumultuous welcome which he received on the first night of his re-appearance, after so long an absence from the West End stage, in "Affairs of State" at the Cambridge Theatre, testified to the affection in which he was held by the public. Rejoicing, unhappily, was short-lived. In that same play, after but a few performances, he took his last bow. As an actor he was described by a London newspaper as "The Eternal Englishman". The description was no less true of the man.

We tender our sincere condolences to Mrs. Radford and to his son, George (St. Peter's, 1939-1948), who also has adopted the stage as a profession.

The following account of his career is taken, by permission, from "The Times" obituary notice : "Mr. Basil Radford was a versatile actor best suited, on the stage and on the screen, to the medium of light comedy. 3

He endeared himself to theatrical and film audiences as the Englishman of a popular romantic convention. No great shakes as a thinker, this Englishman never lost his sense of values, and in the thick of fearful hazards was less dismayed by the likelihood of imminent capture than by the news that' England had collapsed in the second innings. These parts showed the eternal small boy twinkling through the wrinkles of middle age; but Radford's range was much wider than is suggested by his successful hold on a single type. Indeed, versatility was, perhaps, his foible.

He believed that an accomplished actor should be capable of dealing effectively with emotional as well as comic situations. As the distraught Salathiel in John Drinkwater's Biblical play, A Man's House, and in other pieces, he made good his theory; but when he chose to represent men of the world, eminent lawyers and the like, a sense of strain sometimes appeared and the emotional effects came by contrivance rather than through a complete identification of self with part. There was always something irrepressibly boyish in his playing, and he was happiest in those comedies which helped him to exploit this amiable quality.

The first film in which Radford appeared was Barnum was Right in 1,929, but it was not until several years later that his real chance catrie' on the screen, and good use he made of it. In such fans as The Lady Vanishes and Dead of Night, he portrayed, in partnership with Mr. Naunton Wayne, the dim-witted, but dogged and amiable, sportsman with a good effect, which was less easy to sustain when transferred to the medium of broadcasting. That his place in fi.m comedy was secure is shown by his appearance recently in such successful productions as Passport to Pimlico and Whisky Galore.

Basil Radford was born at Chester, on 25th June, 1897, and was educated at St. Peter's, York.. He was on active service from 1915-18, and on his return to civil life studied for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making his first appearance on the London stage in July, 1924, in Collusion at the Ambassadors'. From 1927 until 1931 he was abroad, first touring New Zealand in The Ghost Train, and thereafter at San Francisco and Los Angeles. For nearly two years he played with the British Guild. Players at Vancouver, and then, returning to England, reappeared at the Strand, in May, 1932, in The Love Pirate. From then on he appeared in a great variety of plays, notably Night Must Fall and Spring Tide. Since the last war he has played in Clutterbuck, Blind Goddess and The White &aeon. In the Summer of last year his health began to give trouble, and he decided to take a holiday. He made several gallant attempts to resume acting, but after several collapses, the last of which occurred last August, he was compelled to relinquish his career.

In 1926 he married Miss Shirly Deuchars. They had one son." 4

MR. F. W. ROBERTS

The news of the death of Mr. F. W. Roberts at his home at 24 St. Clement's Road, Harrogate, on 17th September, at the age of 78, will be received with sadness by the very many Old Peterites who became his friends during his long period of service to St. Peter's, as Head Groundsman and Cricket Professional.

Coming to the School in 1913, for 25. years, until his retirement in 1938, "Fred" coped almost single-handed in a pre-mechanised age with the problems of maintaining ever-increasing playing fields, and in the time made a cricket square of which any school or club might be proud. In addition he bowled indefatigably at the nets, and by his wise and sometimes caustic comments helped many a budding cricketer to develop.

Fred, too, had a fund of cricketing stories, which many will remember, especially those starting "There was me and Wilf. Rhodes and Scofe Haig, and the rest were rabbits".

But apart from his work many of us will remeTber with gratitude the many kindly and helpful acts which he so unobtrusively performed, his good-natured Yorkshire wit, his real enthusiasm for the School, and his interest in the doings of all Old Peterites.

During the war, even after his retirement, Fred came back to help the School by umpiring, and he has been a regular visitor at Commemoration. During the 1952 Commemoration at the cricket match, he was met and greeted with delight by many Old Peterites who had not seen him for some time.

Many of us will feel his loss sadly. He, Adams, and Puddick were all such good and. faithful friends to the School, and with the death of Fred Roberts, the last of them, it feels as if a chapter in the School's history has closed.

On behalf of all those connected with St. Peter's from 1913 who knew him and appreciated him so well, we offer our sincere sympathy to Mrs. Roberts.

RUGGER ITEMS

in the Christmas holidays A. N. Wyatt-Gunning and G. B. Pullan played for the Leeds and District XV against a Wharfedale XV. C. W. Thompson and W. G. A. Maxwell were both selected to play for the Sheffield District XV v. Bradford, but the latter was unable to play.

A. N. Wyatt-Gunning, our sole representative in the Yorkshire Schoolboys Final Trial at Leeds, brought fresh honours to himself 5