Old Whitgiftian News 2022-23 by Whitgift School

Whitgifti an Associ ation

Old Whitgiftian News 2022–2023

Quod et hunc in annum vivat et plures

From the Editor President 2023: Richard Blundell Chairman: John Etheridge Hon. Secretary: James Goatcher Hon. Treasurer: Andrew Gayler Elected Members of Committee: Dr Richard Bateman, Alan Blok, John Higgins, Stuart Woodrow Editor of OW News: Nigel Platts

his is the seventeenth edition of Old Whitgiftian News which takes us from summer 2022 to summer 2023. There is always plenty of OW and School information and news to be found in Whitgift for All News, published three times a year and in Whitgift Life. Both can be accessed through the School’s website (www.whitgift.co.uk) so you can find reports on OW sports clubs, reunions and information on the doings of fellow OWs as well as news about the School Do not forget also to look at the School’s various Twitter accounts which provide fascinating details of sport, music, art, drama and academic success. The Whitgift Connect website is also a valuable link to a wide range OW contacts and events. This publication is focussed on Whitgiftian honours, appointments and achievements not publicised elsewhere, on items of Whitgiftian history and on recording the passing of OWs and providing, where available, obituaries and tributes. The School has been at full throttle in the past year with no pandemic related issues preventing the usual plethora of activities. Drama, music and sport thrive as ever, there have been trips, sporting and cultural, and the School’s commitment to welcoming local primary schools to share our facilities has never been greater. In the year when Bob Schad, the originator of hockey as a serious school sport, died at the age of 96, we see his legacy: no one questions that Whitgift is regularly one the top schools for boys’ hockey but this year’s performances were exceptional as the School were national champions at under 18 and under 16, several current members of the School became

schoolboy internationals and no fewer than five OWs won full international honours. The rugby season included a clear 1st XV victory over Dulwich and when Dulwich was the opponent for a bloc cricket fixture in June every Whitgift team won from 1st XI to Under 12 C – now to us old chaps that’s a successful year! The School continues to thrive academically with excellent results at GCSE, A Level and IB, where once again Whitgift is the top UK boys’ school. The demand for places is very strong and this year the School is starting to see the positive impact of Whitgift for All in building philanthropy as a key part of the School’s ethos of opening wider access. As ever the Whitgift community remembers those who have died since the last edition and whose interesting and fulfilling lives we record. In this edition, among others, we celebrate the lives and memory of John Trott, distinguished businessman and father and grandfather of OWs, Guy Heslop, centenarian, Brian Jobson, remarkable mixture of businessman, sportsman and thespian and Professor Armand de Mestral, distinguished French Canadian law professor. We remember also three long serving members of staff – Keith Harlow, Julian Kennedy-Cooke and Bob Schad who between them gave nearly 120 years of service to the School. Finally, for those readers who are interested in less traditional activities, it is well worth reading the tribute to Richard Garrett, who died aged only 56 after a career as one of the leading stuntmen in Hollywood movies. Vincit qui Patitur! Nigel Platts (1955-64)

+ STO P PRESS + On 5 July, the School’s under 13 cricket XI won the final of the ESCA David English National Competition. In the final, played at Oakham School, Whitgift successfully chased down Manchester Grammar School’s total of 153 for 7, scoring 162 for 5 with three overs to spare. Whitgift is the most successful school in this competition with 11 victories in its 26 years. The quest for success starts at under 12 level with a county based competition and is concluded the following year with a national tournament at under 13. Success is a remarkable mixture of talent, commitment and consistency. 2

From the Headmaster WHITGIFT CONNECT Whitgift Connect, an online networking platform for alumni, is fully operational. Through this you can establish and facilitate new connections and enhance existing ones. It is a convenient networking point, and can be used to highlight projects, publications, and alumni events. Old Whitgiftians live locally and across the globe so being able to bring everyone together on one platform is more important than ever. The platform, complete with mobile app, is growing rapidly. It is especially important to new OWs who will be welcomed warmly into the community and have access to all of its facilities and networking benefits. For more information or to contact the Alumni Relations team please email: alumni@whitgift.co.uk. Remember that you should not hesitate to make contact and let us know what you have been doing for the last ten (or sixty) years. You may, of course, also send letters and messages directly to the Alumni Relations team.

CO N N EC T

Cricket has been splendidly successful this term, as was hockey last. Our Under 13 team were crowned national champions on the last day of term, the Under 15s playing their final in September. As some readers will know, earlier in the Spring Whitgift became, we think, the first school ever to win indoor and outdoor Under 18 and Under 16 national titles in hockey. Many congratulations to all involved. Over the summer holiday, the Whitgift International Summer School will swing into action, and the Community Summer School, for local primary school children, will run for the third (and biggest yet)

summer season. This is now widely recognised as one of the most impactful local partnership activities, part-sponsored through Whitgift For All, and proudly so. Amongst leaving staff this year are two who have been many years at Whitgift: Mark Brown, former Head of History, and Senior Tutor since 2018, retires, and Paul Elliott, Head of Science and former boarding Housemaster, moves to join his close family in Hertfordshire. We wish them and other staff leavers well. As ever, please come and see us. Chris Ramsey

nother school year came to an end at the Celebration of Whitgift Life in July 2023, our annual chance to congratulate literally hundreds of boys for their achievements in academic work, activities and service. Our Guest of Honour, Lucy Pearson (Director of Education at the Football Association and former England cricketer) spoke powerfully about the need to embrace challenge and risk, to keep developing and not to think only of the goal to be reached. With that in mind, we continue to try to ensure the boys look not just at grades to be got (though they achieved excellent IB and A Level results once again), but at experiences, academic and non-academic, which widen horizons. This Trinity Term saw another History Festival, with a series of stimulating speakers, Sustainability and entrepreneurship weeks for younger boys, just a few examples of what was an unbelievably varied programme to stimulate the mind. 5

Reunions As indicated in the previous edition, OW News will no longer report on reunions as a matter of course. In the last year WFA News has recorded City drinks, a South Western lunch, a lunch in New York City, a class of ’72 Reunion and the participation in Founder’s Day of the OW Corps of Drums Society. Of course, WFA News, also celebrated the Platinum Jubilee Reunion of the Upper Vth 1952-53 which is summarised here: The 70th anniversary lunch took place at the School on 12 October 2022 and was attended by nine members of the Upper Vth 1952-53, the honorary member Mrs Angela Warren and, as guests, Chris Ramsey,the Headmaster, and Thomas Northcote, Director of Development. Of the original 28 members of that form, sixteen survived at the time of the lunch and nine were able to attend. Sadly, since then one of those attending, John Trott, has died as has Roger Brasier, another of the sixteen and Bob Schad, the last of the masters who taught them. In a letter to the Editor of The Whitgiftian in 1968 Dr Peter Warren, the indefatigable organiser, referred to bringing together of classmates sometimes after 10 year gaps and concluded “For such moments we propose to continue indefinitely

(well for a while longer, last one put out the light please) these reunions and recommend past and present Whitgiftians doing the same”. “Despite our age”, wrote Peter, “no less appropriate today”. There is a lesson for all Whitgfitans, whatever their vintage, in what Peter said and the staying power of that remarkable group. Floreat Superior Quinti! Remember that reunions large and small are always worthwhile. The Alumni Office at the School is happy to help with contact addresses. Remembrance 2022 Remembrance Day 2022 at the School attracted a significant number of OWs who enjoyed hospitality in Big School before the service at the memorials for the two World Wars. The Corps of Drums, the colour party and the bugler performed admirably, hymns were sung, there were readings from the School Captain and the Lower School Captain and an address from, Rev Alan Bayes, School Chaplain. There were wreaths: that from the OWs being laid by Dominic Edwards (1988-96), OW and Member of Staff. It was a pleasure to see this important tradition returned to

a post Covid world. It remains important that the School community remembers the sacrifice of fellow Whitgiftians in World Wars and other conflicts. Death of the Queen and Coronation In this year when, shortly after the celebration of an unprecedented Platinum Jubilee, the long reign of H M Queen Elizabeth II came to an end it is perhaps worth thinking about this change. Not since 1952/53 has the country witnessed the death of a reigning monarch, the subsequent period of mourning and the solemn yet joyful pageantry of Coronation. Few living today can remember an earlier time when the National Anthem referred to “the King”, the government was “His Majesty’s government” and senior barristers were “King’s Counsel” yet the ease with which tribute was offered electronically demonstrated dramatically the changes seen during the reign of the late Queen. Whitgift commemorated the Queen with assemblies to pay respects to her remarkable reign, photographs and reminiscences from her visit to the School in 1996 and, inevitably, online tributes. It occurred to me that a review of The Whitgiftian magazine closest to the Coronation of 1953 might give an interesting perspective on thoughts at that time. Rather to my surprise I discovered that the editorial in the July 1953 edition discussed the proposed reintroduction of the house championship after a one year gap. The only references to the Coronation were in respect of the Coronation Honours’ List in which the Chairman of the Governors, James Marshall, was awarded a knighthood, another Governor, Rt Hon James Chuter Ede, was made a Companion of Honour, the Visitor, His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury received the GCVO, B StJ Trend (later Lord Trend) received a CVO, and C C Worters received an MBE. Whilst, I feel sure all were worthy recipients it seems a pity that there was no other record of the momentous change from the King who had reigned through a World War to his young daughter. When I looked further back to 1937 and the Coronation of King George VI there was, at least, recognition of a wider world: remember that Coronation occurred in the year following 1936, the year of three Kings. The Whitgiftian editorial recorded: “In that small bubble on the vast ocean of eternity which we call life, the forces of nature are combined for the continual task of regeneration – the task of removing the spent and of bringing forth the new, the fresh, the strong. But for man, if fatalism be insufficient, his joy at rebirth is tempered for the mourning for his loss. Therefore while, as a nation, we rejoice at the Coronation of King George VI, still we grieve at the death

of a monarch from whom so much had been received, and at the loss of a sovereign from whom so much had been hoped.” Inevitably a look at 1937 pointed back still further to see how Whitgift reacted to the death of Queen Victoria, the length of whose reign was surpassed only by Queen Elizabeth II. The Whitgift Magazine of February 1901 reflected on the death of the Queen, as in 2022 the only monarch who the overwhelming majority of the country could remember: “It was with the deepest sorrow that on Tuesday, Jan. 22nd, we learned that Her Gracious Majesty the Queen had passed away. Although from the very first announcement of her illness on the previous Saturday we were filled with the greatest anxiety, and although the bulletins issued grew more and more grave, still the announcement of her death on Tuesday evening came upon all as a sudden and unexpected blow. Even now the nation cannot fully understand, and will not for some time to come, what the death of the Queen really means. As yet it is impossible to realise that all the associations with the name of the late Queen are at an end. Still we know that her memory will be honoured by every age as long as the history of the world is written. During her long reign of sixty-three years her one ideal was to raise England to the proud position of the greatest nation of the world, and she succeeded. To do her duty, no matter at what cost or personal inconvenience to herself, was the aim and object of her life, and of this we had many examples during the last year of her noble life. But it is not only as Queen that her memory will be honoured. Her private life from first to last was perfection itself, and for the pattern and example which she has set before us she cannot be too highly respected. To her, though a young girl, fell the heavy task of regenerating the Court life from the low position into which it had fallen during the previous reigns. How well she performed this task is clearly shown by the condition of Court life at the end of her reign; it leaves nothing to be desired. This result was achieved, not only by doing the right thing at the right time and appointing the fittest persons to the chief positions, but by the constant example of her noble life. In short, both as Queen and woman, she has, by her glorious life and reign, rendered her memory everlasting. Whatever may be said in after years of her life as Queen, with respect to her personal character all will agree that we shall never look upon her like again.” Although the words of 1901 are quite different from those that were expressed in the last year the sense of continuity is quite remarkable. Nigel Platts

Memories of Whitgift We all remember our schooldays but few record those memories in print. Two recent memories of life at Whitgift come from Professor Armand de Mestral, CM (1953-59), who wrote a fascinating summary of his career as an international lawyer based at McGill University in Montreal, and from Skeletons the autobiography of Professor Jacques Heyman (1934-41), former Head of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University. Armand de Mestral’s memories of school form part of a piece that was published in the Whitgift for All newsletter, published shortly before his death in June 2023. Armand explained how his family came over to England in 1952 when his father, a clergyman, was called to serve on the work of the International Missionary Council in Africa. The family settled in Purley and Armand went to Roke School from which, as a Canadian not understanding the intricacies of multiplying pre decimal money sums and with a different perspective on English, he failed his 11 plus exam.. Whitgift came to the rescue and he entered the lowest tier of the second forms in 1953, moving up to the top stream within a year. Armand speaks with affection about several masters of the time – H A C Evans, Etherington, Odom, Potter and his VIth form history masters Hussey and Edge and has generous words for the Headmaster Geoffrey Marlar, who recommended him to Harvard. He goes on to say that at Whitgift he learned to organise his thoughts, which served him well at Harvard and after, and developed an openness to the rest of the world. Whitgift “gave me the foundations of an education where the most important element is the capacity to learn for myself”. Jacques Heyman had a remarkable career as a structural engineer so his autobiography Skeletons is subtitled “A technical autobiography” – it is a fascinating mixture of reminiscences, personal, professional and collegiate which includes some interesting comments about Whitgift in the 1930s and early 40s. Jacques entered Whitgift at age 9 and progressed so swiftly that he took School certificate at 13 and then spent three years in the VIth form before going to Cambridge at 16! His school and Peterhouse contemporary Paul Wild (1935-41) later became Australia’s leading radio astronomer and a Fellow of the Royal Society – these were clever schoolboys. He comments on the School that “The mathematics teaching at Whitgift was outstanding – there were three masters dedicated to the Sixth Form, preparing the students for two years for the Higher School Certificate (A-levels)”.

Whitgift and cricket The article in Edition 16 aimed to provide a comprehensive list of OWs who have played first class cricket but acknowledged that it was entirely possible that there might be omissions. The first omission has been noted – Gordon Orford (1929-33) played in India for the Europeans in 1943. It is pleasing also to note that James Hayes (2012-15), made his début for Nottinghamshire with matches against Durham and Middlesex in August 2022. An OW Pioneer of Cinema A recent book entitled When Marilyn Met the Queen: Marilyn Monroe’s Life in England tells the story of how Marilyn Monroe met the Queen at the Royal Command Performance in 1956 and also provides an interesting glimpse into the life of Reginald Bromhead (1898-1900). Reginald left Whitgift from the fifth form and went abroad to complete his education before returning to England to qualify as a chartered accountant. He joined with his brother to run the British agency of Gaumont, the French owned cinema company. Under their management Gaumont built a strong reputation for fictional and factual films – Gaumont Graphic (1910) was an early example of the cinema newsreel. In 1922 the Bromheads bought out the French interests to form Gaumont British: the Gaumont British Film Corporation was formed in 1927. Gaumont British ran cinemas nationally, as many as 300 by 1929. Among these were a number of so called “super cinemas” many of which had a theatre organ for entertainment before the show, in the intervals, or after the show. Croydon had its own super cinema, the Davis Theatre (1928), which, although named after the Davis family, had both Bromheads on its board. Gaumont British made many films in the 1930s at its studios in Shepherd’s Bush (Lime Grove) and Islington. Among these were the Hitchcock classics The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). Towards the end of his career Reginald Bromhead was Chairman and President of the Cinematograph Benevolent Fund which meant that he was the organiser of the annual charity Royal Command Performance – it was Reginald who welcomed the Queen to the show. The film chosen for the 1956 Performance was The Battle of the River Plate which meant that the guests included not only a galaxy of film stars but also a number of naval men who had been involved in the 1939 battle. Among these was Admiral Sir Charles Woodhouse, Captain of HMS Ajax at the battle and father in law of Julian Kennedy-Cooke the former master at School whose obituary is to be found in this edition. A fine Whitgiftian coincidence!

A Modern Pentathlon scandal at the 1976 Olympic Games The recent national press obituaries of Jim Fox, the leading member of the British Modern Pentathlon team which won the team Gold medal at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, served as a reminder of the extraordinary scandal that engulfed the competition and involved Team Manager Michael Proudfoot (1956-63). The School has a remarkable place in British Modern Pentathlon since the early 1960s when Whitgift won the Inniskilling Cup (the inter schools’ trophy for tetrathlon – pentathlon without the riding element) on a regular basis and produced Blues and internationals in numbers through to the last Olympic Games when Joe Choong (2008-13) was a Gold Medallist. In the interim period there was regular success for the School and members of staff included Andy Archibald, reserve in Montreal, and Kate Allenby, Bronze Medallist at the Sydney Olympics. For stress and publicity for the sport, however, nothing compares with the events at Montreal in 1976. Mike Proudfoot says that the best account of the scandal is in an article written in 2020 by Canadian journalist Michael Farber. The article is entitled The Curious Case of the Electrified Epée and Farber writes that in 1976 Boris Onischenko was a titan of Olympic and World Championships and the finest fencer among Modern Pentathletes. The 1976 Olympics were Onischenko’s last chance of an individual Gold Medal and the benefits for a Soviet athlete that would accrue from that – promotion, better housing and a bonus. Onischenko’s first opponent was Adrian Parker from the British team – a hit was recorded almost immediately and Parker protested that no hit had occurred. The protest was turned down and, according to Mike Proudfoot, Adrian Parker was “Pretty grumpy”. Jim Fox was next and 40 seconds from the end — both would be assessed a loss if no hit was scored — lured Onischenko into an attack. Fox described the finish this way: “I was still outside hitting distance when I picked up Onischenko’s blade — really high, before his blade was anywhere near me. His blade was above my head. And I smacked [my point] into his chest, but the light was already on [against me.]” The hit was implausible at best, physically impossible at worst. At the instant Onischenko’s touch registered, the tip of his épée was pointing skyward. After complaints and attempts by the Soviet team to substitute Onischenko’s weapon it was announced that Onischenko’s weapon was faulty and he would be deducted a small number of points. At this point Mike Proudfoot lodged an official complaint arguing that there had been deliberate cheating. Eventually a

thorough examination of Onischenko’s épée was instigated and it was discovered that a hidden button allowed him to register a hit at will. Onischenko was disqualified and as Mike Proudfoot notes “On this very hot day two guys appeared looking like what we thought of as typical KGB stooges. Two guys in trench coats and droopy hats. They took him by the elbows and removed him from the arena”. The story of this remarkable example of blatant cheating has overtones of the Cold War – the prestige to a nation of Olympic glory, the proof of superiority of one political system over another and the failure of an ambitious man to achieve his one remaining goal. In this highly charged situation Mike Proudfoot, the 30 year old manager of the British team, had to take action – what a challenge. Mike went on to a distinguished career in academia but it is doubtful that he ever had a day quite like that in Montreal.

OWs in the News

Tarik O’Regan

T arik O’R egan (1989-96) was one of five composers asked to write a new piece for the Coronation. The King commissioned Tarik having heard his music at Lincoln Cathedral in 2006. His composition was a setting of the Agnus Dei, Coronation Agnus Dei. Tarik said of the piece “I wanted to explore influences from my own varied heritages within the context of the Agnus Dei in the British choral tradition: a unison melody is slowly fragmented to create myriad timbres, much as one might hear in some Arab or Irish traditional music. This melodic shifting is also reminiscent of ‘phase music’, strongly connected with San Francisco, where I wrote this work. Finally, there is an alternating verse anthem structure: a nod to Orlando Gibbons, who became Organist of Westminster Abbey exactly 400 years ago.” The Coronation Agnus Dei was met with uniform critical praise: “An ethereal and exquisitely worked setting, worthy to stand alongside O Taste and See, the communion anthem composed by Vaughan Williams for the 1953 Coronation.” 10

(Gramophone); “But of the new compositions, only the unfurling melodic lines and understated beauty of Tarik O’Regan’s Agnus Dei exceeded the blandly forgettable.” (The Guardian); “The last of the new pieces, Tarik O’Regan’s setting of the Greek prayer the Agnus Dei, was the most successful. It had the reflective note tinged with the diverse musical influences that the King was hoping for, but it was rooted in something simple anyone could register immediately – a melodic phrase with a modal tinge that could have been Arab or eastern European.” (The Telegraph); “I loved Tarik O’Regan’s Agnus Dei – bringing a welcome degree of aural mysticism into the service.” (The Times).

Fancourt (1974-82) as a High Court Judge and his subsequent Presidency of the Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal.

N eil G aim an (1974-77), whose

Sir Timothy Fancourt

books, films, television series and plays are globally successful has been named by Time magazine as one of their 100 Most Influential People in the World 2023.

I t m ay not be the most important legal matter of the year but it certainly attracted the most publicity when the Duke of Sussex appeared in court in the phone hacking case against Mirror Group Newspapers. The Duke was rebuked by the Judge for not appearing in court on the first day of the case and The Independent, among others, asked “Who is Mr Justice Fancourt? The ‘celebrity’ judge hearing Prince Harry’s historic case”. Although the media duly answered their own question they would have been best served by reading Old Whitgiftian News where they would have seen notification of the appointment in 2017 of Timothy

unknown comes to hand. Steven Dearden (1970-78) and Peter Schofield, CB (1979-87) are two such successful and distinguished OWs.

Peter Laurie

as a devoted animal lover with the biggest heart, who fell head over heels in love with every dog he met at our centres. Paul will always be associated with Battersea and we are truly saddened to have lost such a true friend and huge part of our charity.”

T he sudden death in March 2023 of the entertainer Paul O’Grady was headline news. Not least of the memories that he left was of his love of dogs and his role as an Ambassador for Battersea, the leading name in dog and cat rescue. The television programme Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs was filmed at Battersea and won multiple awards including three National Television Awards for ‘Factual Entertainment’ and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2013. The eleventh series of the show, filmed just before Paul O’Grady’s death, was broadcast from April 2023. The Chief Executive of Battersea, Peter Laurie (1991-99) said “To many, Paul O’Grady was the immensely popular TV and radio presenter and comedian who lit up their screens with his razor-sharp humour and perpetual generosity and warmth. Battersea will forever remember Paul

Peter has been Chief Executive of Battersea since April 2021 having previously served as Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive. After Whitgift, Peter read geography at Oxford and has spent most of his subsequent working career in the animal welfare sector. He was Chief Executive of the Retired Greyhound Trust, Britain’s largest single-breed charity that finds homes for thousands of ex-racing greyhounds each year from a network of volunteer-led branches. He has served as the Honorary Secretary of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes for the last nine years, and is a Trustee of the Petplan Charitable Trust and the Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation. Peter is also a Non-executive Director of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England, an advisory board to Defra and its ministers. Previously he held welfare, regulatory and business development roles in various not-forprofit and commercial organisations.

F rom time to time information about OWs which was previously

Steven Dearden joined the Royal Navy in 1978 following initial training at sea, completed a BSc in Mechanical Engineering at the Royal Naval Engineering College and later an MSc in electrical engineering. He had appointments at sea in nuclear powered submarines, spells in the MoD working in reactor design and development and in the Royal Navy’s Sea Training organisation training submarine engineering crews. From the Second

Programme. In late 2007, on promotion to Commodore, he took up the post of Director Nuclear Propulsion, with responsibility for the UK’s operating and future submarine nuclear reactor plant. He was then appointed to command HM Naval Base Devonport, Plymouth in August 2010. He left the Royal Navy in July 2012 and became Director of Engineering and Technology for Rolls-Royce Submarines of which he became President and Managing Director in January 2015. He is now runs a consultancy business and is a nonexecutive director. Steven was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2016 and was President of The Welding Institute from 2016-2019.

Steven Dearden

Submarine Squadron, where he was Squadron Deputy Chief Engineer, he became Training Commander in HMS Sultan, responsible for Mechanics’ Career training, the Nuclear School and the move of the Department of Nuclear Science and Technology from Greenwich. In September 1999 he joined the Ship Support Agency as Head of the Steam Propulsion Systems Design Authority. On promotion to Captain in December 2001 he joined the MoD’s Nuclear Propulsion Project as the Head of Nuclear Propulsion Safety. In 2004 he went to the USA as the first UK Liaison Officer to the US Naval Nuclear Propulsion

A newspaper article about the work of the Department of Work and Pensions led to looking up information about the Permanent Secretary who, it transpired, is Peter Schofield who was at Whitgift and went on to Caius College, Cambridge.

Peter Schofield, CB

Peter joined the Treasury in 1991 and subsequently he spent two years on secondment to 3i before returning to the civil service in the Shareholder Executive. In 2008, he was promoted and moved to be 11

OWs in the News (continued)

the director of the Enterprise and Growth Unit in the Treasury, whilst retaining ex officio membership of Share Executive’s board. In 2012 Peter was promoted again to be a director-general, heading the Neighbourhoods Group of Department of Communities and Local Government for four years. Then he transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions in 2016 as director-general for finance. In January 2018, he succeeded Sir Robert Devereux as the department’s permanent secretary. Peter was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2017. He is the brother of Professor Andy Schofield (1977-85) who is Vice Chancellor of the University of Lancaster.

I t is a pleasure to report that Raman Subba Row, CBE (194350) has recently been inducted into the Northamptonshire CCC Hall of Fame. The announcement said that Raman had made a huge contribution to English cricket, both on and off the field. He joined

Northamptonshire from Surrey in 1955 and made his mark early on with an unbeaten 260 against Lancashire. Three years later 12

he hit Northamptonshire’s first triple-century, making 300 against his former county at The Oval. As a top-order batter possessing (according to his team-mate Frank Tyson) ‘monolithic concentration and unshakable determination’, he scored just over 7,000 first-class runs for Northamptonshire, captained the county between 1957 and 1961 and averaged 46.85 in his 13 Test matches for England – including centuries in his first and last Tests against Australia. Although retiring early as a player, he became a pioneer in the marketing of cricket and served as chairman of both Surrey and, between 1985 and 1990, the TCCB. He was also ICC match referee in 41 Tests and 119 ODIs. Northamptonshire CCC was delighted to welcome Raman’s wife Anne and son Alistair to the presentation evening, and Alistair read out a message from his father expressing his gratitude for the honour. A special plaque has been placed in the pavilion alongside others that commemorate outstanding Northamptonshire cricketers. In addition, there is now a plaque at The Oval which recognises Raman’s work for Surrey CCC, particularly as Chairman of the county club.

T he appointment of Chris Trott (1976-84) as HM Ambassador to the Holy See was reported in the previous edition of OW News. This year he has presided over the move of the embassy to premises closer to the Vatican, a move that emphasises the importance of the UK – Holy See relationship, working together on climate change, the prevention of sexual violence in conflict, the promotion of Freedom of Religion or

Belief and tackling modern slavery. Chris has also moved into a new residence that is, uniquely amongst his ambassadorial colleagues, on Vatican soil.

A mong m an y distinguished visiting speakers at School in the past year was Professor David Manley (1977-85) who talked about careers. David took a degree in ship science at Southampton University and later an MSc in naval architecture at UCL. He is now MoD Professor of naval Architecture in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UCL. He is Course Director for UCL’s naval architecture MSc and the Submarine Design and Acquisition Course. He is also senior fellow for maritime vulnerability reduction and head of specialism for platform survivability. In this role, David supports the

UK’s maritime enterprise in ship and submarine survivability, with involvement and engagement in all naval ship, submarine and weapon projects. His previous experience includes over 30 years working in UK naval safety and survivability, driving the development of the UK’s maritime survivability strategy, combat safety and naval mission modularity, as well as supporting survivability development through NATO. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of

Naval Architects and a Constructor Captain in the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors.

W hen the latest stage show from Derren Brown (1981-90) finally reached the West End it received a five star review from the Guardian with the headline “Derren Brown: Showman review – a performance that will blow your mind. The veteran illusionist outdoes himself with an evening of bewildering trickery that holds a mirror to our deepest feelings.” Subsequently, the show was broadcast on Channel 4 to widespread acclaim. Derren is already engaged in his next show Unbelievable, due in the West End in September 2023. Derren has also written a new book, Notes from a Fellow Traveller, described as a touring journal and written while touring with Showman. The book is about how to put on a show and looks in detail as writing and performance as well as material, character and spectator handling.

P rev ious editions of OW News reported the success of David Tryhorn (1991-99) with Netflix documentaries on footballing subjects. This has continued with The Figo Affair: the Transfer that Changed Football (2022) which he directed and produced for Netflix. Of this film the Guardian said “The Figo Affair is the entertaining story of a high-profile transfer reeking of subterfuge, clouded in almost relentless uncertainty and conducted by the kind of duplicitous chancers, spivs, and charlatans that have since come to epitomise such horsetrading”. David’s recent series for Sky is another football one – Deadline

Day: Football’s Transfer Window, first screened in January 2023. His latest film for Netflix is Mark Cavendish: Never Enough a documentary about the meteoric rise, tragic downfall and unbelievable comeback of the professional cyclist broadcast in August 2023

L isteners to R adio 4 may well know the programme The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed where the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage speaks to an invited guest, usually in his writing-shed of his Yorkshire home. The contents of the shed include “a harmonium, a pizza oven, a daybed, books on birdspotting, a decent spread of music cassettes, and an impressive collection of sherry” and he has described it as

Hugo. The conversation ranged from writing lyrics and poetry to family and fatherhood, cooking and creating genreless music. Chilli Con Carner is a cooking school Loyle runs for children with ADHD, something close to his heart as he has a diagnosis for both ADHD and dyslexia. Coyle’s début album Yesterday’s Gone, released in 2017, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. His second, Not Waving but Drowning, named after a Stevie Smith poem, continued to show his love of poetry. Becoming a father in 2020 came into the conversation along with the important guiding influence of his musician step-father and the cultural significance of food as he grew up, especially the cuisine of Guyana, his father’s home. Whether the Poet Laureate was offered a glass of sherry is for listeners to discover.

A s was anticipated in the “close to nature without camping on the lawn, it’s half inside and half outside” Armitage and his guest have a wide-ranging conversation, often touching on his ongoing translation of the medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale, and the guest answers a series of quick-fire questions such as “night or day, north or south, Woman’s Hour or In Our Time?” before being offered a glass of sherry. Simon Armitage’s guest on 5 March 2023 was Loyle Carner (Benjamin Coyle-Larner (200609)) who managed to entice the Poet Laureate from his Yorkshire shed to the recording studio in Hackney where Loyle recorded his latest and acclaimed album

previous edition Jeremy Sams (196775) brought his adaptation for the stage of the Ealing Comedy The Lavender Hill Mob to Cheltenham for its World Première in October 2022. The production has since been on tour to ten other locations. Jeremy’s most recent adaptation is the 1953 Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn film Roman Holiday with songs by Cole Porter, which opened in Bath in June 2023.

WMH G r and M asters ’ W orld C up – T ok yo 2022 Derek Wright (1962 -1969) tells how he became a World Cup winner representing Wales at the Grand Masters’ hockey world cup: My father, Alan Wright OW, one of the first pupils at the new school, 13

OWs in the News (continued)

was keen for me to follow him to Haling Park. Starting at Whitgift at the age of 11, I was immediately struck by the breadth of opportunities, not just academic options but also the range of sport available to the pupils. In my first year, I played rugby, hockey, squash and cricket, and trained with the swimming team. The school’s hockey master was Bob Schad, a terrific player and coach, who has sadly recently passed away. The excellent grounding he provided in hockey in my first two years at Whitgift instilled in me a lifelong passion for the game and allowed me to return to it after I left school. I loved every new sport and was fortunate enough to represent the School in everything that I played. However, eventually choices had to be made. In the Michaelmas term I played rugby and represented Whitgift in the 1st XV; I expected to carry on playing rugby post school. In the Lent term, squash and hockey matches clashed and I chose to play squash. Life doesn’t always work out as you expect. In my first year playing rugby with the Old Whitgiftians I had a serious injury that prevented me from playing full contact rugby again. I was very disappointed to have to give up the sport especially as my Father was still playing for the Extra B’s! I tried refereeing but every time the ball came out of the scrum, I wanted to pick it up and run! Fate intervened and after university and having recovered from my injury, 14

a work colleague suggested playing hockey. I duly joined him at Cheam, a London League Club with excellent grass pitches, 10 men’s and 5 ladies’ teams. Initially, I played hockey like a rugby player and remember the first goal I scored ended up with the ball, the goalkeeper and me all inside the goal! Starting in the ninth team, I gradually moved up through the Club and reached the first team. In my late 20s, I went to live and work in Australia. The approach to sport was different there. The hockey club that I joined trained three times a week, had a team manager and coach and held team meetings on Friday evening prior to the Saturday match. All ‘A’ grade matches were televised which gave a new interpretation to ‘Match of the Day’. Following a return to the UK, I rejoined Cheam but the introduction of Astroturf completely changed the game and we had to learn new skills and a new dynamic way of playing. I now play for the Over 50s team at Old Cranleighans, with two other Old Whitgiftians, Mike Newton and Howard Carruthers plus exTrinity pupil, Barry Jones. The team competes in the London League. In recent times, I have represented Surrey in the Over 60s National Championships and London in the English Regional Tournament. As well as playing for Wales in International matches, I play for invitation teams, Warlocks and Alliance, with matches this year in Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain. Hockey is a great sport for all ages. The introduction of Veterans’ hockey which led to the development of Masters’ Hockey has enabled

the sport to keep its players playing. There are now Over 80s International Teams with England and Holland playing the first international match in 2019. Every year there is either a World Cup or European Championship which each operate on two year cycles. Players change age group every five years, starting from Over 35s all the way through to Over 75s – soon to be joined by the growing number of Over 80s teams. The planned Grand Masters (Over 60s plus) 2020 tournament finally took place two years after it was scheduled, due to Covid. With Japan opening up after an extended lockdown, 27 teams representing 12 countries made the trip to play in the Olympic Park in Tokyo. Some of the European nations were not present but England sent one team of Over 60s and Wales sent its Over 70s team to compete against strong teams from Australia, South Africa and Japan, with Canada, USA, Malaysia and Singapore also being represented. The hosts were welcoming, helpful and so polite: it was a pleasure to visit such an interesting country. The Japanese are very fit, youthful and competitive; they play hockey with speed and perseverance. It was against the Japanese team that Wales played its semi-final, recovering from 0-2 down to win 3-2. Australia, who went on to win the Bronze Medal gave up a 3-0 lead to lose to South Africa on penalty strokes in their semi-final.

South Africans did not recover. It was a great tournament, certainly for Wales who have never won a World Cup – the best result previously being the Over 65s winning the Bronze Medal in Barcelona 2018. For me, it all started at Whitgift and I owe a lot to the School and to Bob Schad. Hockey is a great game which should be promoted at all levels. To know that we can still play competitively in our 70s and 80s should be an inspiration to all!

Youthful Wales Over 70’s

Wales played its best game in the final and controlled the game, scoring two goals in the first half and winning by the same margin. I scored our second goal, from which the 15

Honours, Awards and Appointments Professor Richard Quinton (1976-82), who is an internationally recognised authority in the area of reproductive endocrinology and has helped draft several key national and international guidelines, has received the Outstanding Clinical Practitioner Award for 2023 from the Society for Endocrinology. In the citation it was noted that over the past 25 years, Richard had worked tirelessly to further the interests of people with hypogonadism, including his own patients, patients who have reached out by email or letter and, through his contributions to research, teaching and guideline-development, to the wider community of patients with hypogonadism. Richard has been active in postgraduate training since 2004 and over the past 12 years has delivered around 40 post-graduate workshops and webinars for doctors and nurses for the Society for Endocrinology and has led the “Gonad strand” for Clinical Update/Endocrine Academy for around 9 years; pioneering the highly successful merger of medical and nursing workshops in this area. He also delivered a series of regional webinars during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, when trainees were largely redeployed to general medical service duties, and was co-opted onto the inaugural meeting of the SfE Events & Training Cross-Committee Group. Richard is recognised as an international leader in medical education; he was a founding member of the joint ESEUEMS group that established the European Board Exam in Endocrinology Diabetes & Metabolism in 2019, initially in conjunction with RCP-London. He has recently been nominated as Co-Chair of the reconstituted Exam Board for the 2023 period. In addition, he remains active in medical research and have authored nearly 200 publications and a prize-winning doctoral (MD) thesis. Richard’s own CV includes the additional information which further differentiates him from most others: “I speak Italian and French fluently and am also reasonably coherent in German and Dutch”. Martin Jarvis, OBE (1953-60) has won the 2023 BBC Audio Drama award for Lifetime Achievement. The citation set out his achievements as actor, producer and director including his acting roles in The Forsyte Saga, Eastenders and Doctor Who. It mentioned his much-loved BBC audio dramas and audiobooks, such as his popular readings of the Just William books and his work as an accomplished director, with credits including nine BBC audio adaptations of the James Bond novels. The award was presented to him by actor Toby Stephens, who played the eponymous spy in all nine titles on air. 16

Although Kit Connor (201622) only left School last year he is already a well-established actor (Rocketman/Heartstopper). He has been named by GQ magazine as one of its Men of the Year 2023.

Kit Connor in 2022

George Jacques (2013-20) has been named by Screen International as a Star of Tomorrow and praised for his abilities as director, producer, write and actor - a range of talents that astounded the judges. George founded Athenaeum Productions at the age of 16 and has since been supported by companies such as Sky, Sony and Warner Brothers. Before leaving School, George had his work performed in a number of theatres, including The National Theatre, and he completed a directing course at the Young Vic. George Jacques He staged two sell-out shows, Dilate and Breathe, which first caught the attention of key creatives at Sky. He has since written, acted in, produced and directed a number of short films and has also acted in television and cinema productions.

Professor Jacques Heyman receiving the Sir Frank Whittle Medal from the President

paradigm shift in the understanding of structural behaviour and design and provided new insight into historical structural masterpieces, justifying the intuition of the great builders and engineers of the past.

Professor Jacques Heyman (1934-41) was awarded the Sir Frank Whittle Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering at the Academy’s AGM on 20 September 2022 in recognition of his outstanding career in structural design.

Focusing on masonry structures, Professor Heyman used his deep knowledge of the architectural history of masonry construction, coupled with his own field observations and his research, to become the foremost authority on cathedrals. Movements of foundations or abutments in historic stone buildings produce patterns of fine cracks that can be ‘read’ to deduce what is causing the problem. He has advised on the safety of masonry vaults in many iconic structures, including Westminster Abbey, King’s College Cambridge, St George’s Chapel Windsor, as well as Ely and Worcester Cathedrals.

For nearly 70 years, Professor Heyman has made vital contributions to structural engineering. His highly original research found that the design theorems developed to understand the plastic behaviour of steel structures could also be applied to masonry structures. This resulted in a

From Gothic cathedrals to steel skyscrapers, Professor Heyman’s research has not only guided the design and repair of countless historic constructions around the world but paved the way for new low-carbon vaulted structures made from local materials, his work inspiring generations

of structural engineers and others working in masonry and who seek to build modern structures with more efficient use of resources. Professor David Muir Wood FREng FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Dundee, said “Professor Heyman’s profound knowledge of matters concerning masonry construction, together with forensic case studies of reported distress and failure have often led him to become the international ‘engineer of choice’ for solving structural masonry problems.” Under the Headship of Nick Hewlett (1991-98) St Dunstan’s College was named Co-educational School of the Year at the Independent Schools of the Year Awards in 2020 and was then named Independent Senior School of the Year at the Times Educational Supplement Awards in 2022.

Honours, Awards and Appointments (continued)

NEWS OF FORMER STAFF

THE SERVICES

Sir Anthony Seldon (Member of Staff 1963-89) was appointed interim Headmaster of Epsom College following the tragic death of the Head Emma Pattison.

In September 2022, a number of recent Old Whitgiftians were involved in the King’s Proclamation ceremony and the late HM Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. This included at least one Guardsman who lined the route of the funeral, and four members of the Honourable Artillery Company Corps of Drums including the Drum Major (leading the London City parade). Most notably, however, Major Andy Dickinson (2000-08), Coldstream Guards, was honoured with the role of Captain of the King’s Guard at the Proclamation Ceremony, leading the first ‘King’s Guard in over 70 Years and providing the orders for the first ‘3 Cheers’ for the new King.

Irfan Latif (Member of Staff 1997-2004) has been Head of DLD College since 2018. He was Chair of the Boarding Schools Association forum that met in June 2023 at Whitgift.

The Ministry of Defence reported as follows: “The Principal Proclamation of His Majesty the King was read by the Garter King of Arms at 11am from the balcony above Friary Court, St James’s Palace.The St James’s Palace Detachment of The King’s Guard, provided by Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards, accompanied by The Band of the Coldstream Guards, turned out in Friary Court. The Escort carried the King’s Colour draped in black, marking the death of Her Majesty The Queen, and wreathed in laurel leaves to mark the anniversary of their battle honour, Salerno 10 September, 1943. It was the Coldstream Guards who ensured the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, placing Charles II on the throne, so it was only fitting that this Regiment was present for the accession of King Charles III.

King’s Coronation 6 May 2023. OWs on parade Left to right: Capt Sean Marren, [2005-2012], 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. Sean Marren commanding no 3 half company; Gdsm James Margetson, [2005-2012], Ypres Company (Grenadier Guards) 1st Battalion London Guards. Street lining; LSgt Mohan Venugopal, [2005-2013], HAC. Joint Coldstream/HAC Corps of Drums; DMaj Mark Goatcher, [2002-2008], HAC. DMaj for joint Coldstream/HAC Corps of Drums at Duke of York steps leading street lining half companies 13-25; CSgt Jack Barker, [2000-20008], HAC. Marching in the Coronation Procession with the HAC Contingent; Gdsm Taino Goveia, [2010-2018], 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. Coronation Procession; Maj Andy Dickinson, [2000-2008], 7 Company Commander, Coldstream Guards. Commanding the Tri-Service Guard of Honour. Also on parade but not photographed were: Maj General Jonathan Swift, OBE. [1983-1991], General Officer Commanding Regional Command, Late Royal Regiment of Fusiliers; Maj (Retd) James Stremes, [1976-1984], Royal Artillery, Whitgift CCF, Special Police Sergeant, Metropolitan Police (Street patrol, Waterloo), PC Andrew Robertson [1999-2006], Protection Officer, Night Duty Coronation weekend, Derby Gate, Houses of Parliament.

Major Dickinson, Coldstream Guards, Captain of the King’s Guard, said: “It is a huge privilege to be the Captain of the King’s Guard for His Majesty Charles III’s Proclamation during this sombre and deeply sad time. Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was an inspiration to us all; it is an honour not only to be part of this historic occasion, but also to have served her in the final years of her reign. The Regiment laid down its arms in 1661 in St James’ Palace to become a Royal Regiment for King Charles II; the significance to our Regiment of laying down our arms for King Charles III is “Second to None”. (The regimental motto being ‘Nulli Secundus’ – ie ‘Second to None’). I could not be more proud of my whole company for their utter professionalism today, and their dedication to His Majesty”.

Publications with a Whitgiftian interest This year’s offering from the guru of popular music Bob Stanley (1976-83) is Bee Gees: Children of the World. The Sunday Times in making it Book of the Week for 3 June 2023 observed that “as Bob Stanley’s astute, affectionate biography Bee Gees: Children of the World stresses, there was nothing normal about an adolescence spent singing alongside dancing dogs and jugglers in rough Queensland clubs. There was nothing normal about their turbulent international career, either, with nine US No 1 singles, outstripped only by the Beatles and the Supremes. Their prodigious song-writing gifts, meanwhile, were positively freakish, not only generating a huge volume of household-name songs for themselves, but also for such pop Olympians as Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick. With their 220 million record sales, it seems ridiculous to cast the Bee Gees as anything but victors, but Stanley, vigilant against received wisdom, makes a different case. With the educational zeal of his previous musical histories, Yeah Yeah Yeah and Let’s Do It, he argues that the Gibb brothers have never received sufficient respect for their work or influence, instead provoking an odd squeamishness even in broad-minded pop fans. They were mocked for their teeth, androgynous voices and leonine disco pomp. Six consecutive US No 1s, and they never received the call to play Live Aid. This book, Stanley says, is an attempt to “give them their rightful place at the very top of pop’s table”. Yet being outsiders, Stanley explains, is a vital part of Bee Gee DNA.” Bob Stanley’s book has received excellent response from a wide range of reviewers including Waterstones which describes the book as “A fascinating exploration of a charttopping phenomenon whose career spans the entire modern pop era, this entertaining and enlightening volume from the author of Yeah Yeah Yeah casts light on the enigma that is the Bee Gees” and The Daily Telegraph which said “Stanley is a wonderful guide...showing us gems of their vast catalogue with enthusiasm, insight and wit.” The late Richard Collier (1935-41) was a prolific and bestselling writer, principally of military history. Collier joined the RAF in 1942 and was War Associate Editor of Lord Mountbatten’s magazine Phoenix: An Allied Magazine for All Allied Forces in South East Asia. After the war, he joined the Daily Mail as a feature writer. Although he died in 1996, a number of his books have recently been republished. These include the Second World War trilogy – 1940: the World in Flames, Armageddon: the Road to Pearl Harbor and 194445: the Freedom Road, Eagle Day, his story of the Battle of 20

Britain and The Sands of Dunkirk. The latter book has been published with a new introduction by James Holland, the well-known modern military historian, and in partnership with a podcast by Holland and Al Murray entitled We Have Ways of Making You Talk. The description of The Sands of Dunkirk gives real insight into why it remains a highly regarded work over sixty years after its original publication: “This vivid, visceral story takes you inside the making of a miracle: the story of eight frantic days, as the net tightened around the beleaguered troops, told from all sides, as the enemy draws closer and the bombardment intensifies, in the words of those who were there. It is impossible to get closer to experiencing this legendary action.” Stephen Timmins (196168) is the author of a crime thriller The Fortieth Step comprising three volumes – Legacy, Revenge and The Promise which traces the adventures of John Hannay, grandson of John Buchan’s Richard Hannay (the hero of The 39 Steps and its sequels) as he fights to thwart global criminals including the grandson of a Richard Hannay adversary. Stephen says of himself that he spent far too long a part of his life “ducking–and–diving in the insanity that is TV production”. Born in Purley, he moved upwards to Sanderstead and finally to the peaceful pastures of Warlingham. However, early in his adult life he escaped from Surrey’s verdant hills and now lives ten miles south of Bristol in a village in North Somerset which has an excellent pub. He has been a fan of John Buchan’s Richard Hannay stories since childhood and often wondered what would have happened to Hannay’s descendants. Ten years ago he stopped wondering and started writing the books that tell the story of Richard Hannay’s grandson, John – a loner, strong, brilliant, tenacious and damaged, still haunted by

the wreckage of his childhood. But he’s the only man who can halt a crime intended to wreak havoc on the British economy. In addition to his Hannay books, he has written the yet to be published Stanwood House trilogy which tells the story of Flora Smythe and her battle against her drunken, criminal half-brother, who wishes only to destroy her and claim her inheritance. The books begin in the late 19th century, take the reader through the vicissitudes off World War One and continue to the outbreak of World War Two. Dr Maurice Raraty (1949-56) is a retired senior lecturer in German at the University of Kent. He is an expert in the work of E T A Hoffmann, the major German Romantic author, and has translated many works from German. Most recently he has published with Mike Mitchell a translation of the first volume of short stories by the Austrian author Gustav Meyrink – The Opal and Other Stories. For thirty years Maurice was the literary assistant and friend of Dr Ann Shirley who was a long term member of staff of the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge and who published over 120 articles and books mainly about exploration. Her final article, with which he assisted, was on the 19th century explorer John Biscoe published by the Hakluyt Society shortly before her death in 2022. Maurice Raraty is Honorary Series Editor of the publications of the Hakluyt Society, a learned society specialising in the history of geographical exploration and cultural encounter and named after the 16th century collector of narratives of travel and voyages. Jamie Bulloch (1979-87) continues to enhance his position as one of the leading translators of German books. After the critical success in 2022 of his translation of Alice’s Book: How the Nazis Stole My Grandmother’s Cookbook, no fewer than five of his translations have been published in 2023 (so far): Liminal by Roland Schimmelpfennig, The Invisible Web by Oliver Bottini, The Inmate by Sebastian Fitzek, The Fire by Daniela Krien and In the Long Run We’re All Dead: The Lives and Deaths of Great Economists by Björn Frank.

website is a never ending source of insight into our long ago ancestors. As an example: July 2023. Sixteenth-century critics of monks – often of course spurred on by a desire to close their monasteries and confiscate their lands – might accuse them of any of the deadly sins. Gluttony, strictly warned against by monastic founders such as St Benedict, was a particularly frequent charge. We might wonder if the inquest jurors or others who heard of his fate levelled it at poor John Emere. He was a monk at Sawtry Abbey, a Cistercian house in Huntingdonshire. On 18 July 1528 he fell to an instant death, having climbed into the roof of the abbey church in search of pigeons. Perhaps, of course, the birds were not to enliven the fare at the refectory table, but to equip the abbey’s guest house, much frequented by travellers on the nearby Great North Road.

No edition would be complete without news of new fiction from Graham Masterton (1957-62). The years do not seem to wither him and lessen his ability to provide shock and horror to his readers. As well as news of the many novels and short stories that he has had published in Poland and the Czech Republic, his website sets out his frenetic schedule of events and book signings all round Europe. In addition Graham announces the publication in October 2023 of the paperback version of The House at Phantom Park. This book, described by bestselling author Peter James as “Original and frightening” is a tale that is “Disturbing. Original. Terrifying. The ‘master of horror’ is back with the chilling tale of what lurks in the walls of an abandoned hospital. In this abandoned hospital, pain lives on... and it wants revenge.” Nine quarters of Jerusalem by Matthew Teller (1979-87), chosen at publication in 2022 as Book of the Week by The Observer, was chosen as a Book of the Year by The Daily Telegraph, and Reading Room Book Choice for Spring 2023 by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.

Professor Stephen Gunn (1971-78) continues to lead the project on Everyday Life and Fatal Hazard in Sixteenth Century England. The Discovery of the Month on the project 21

Sport This was another year when with OWs made their mark in top level sport CRICKET Although there was no OW representation in Test cricket, Jason Roy (2004-08) scored a twelfth century for England (against Bangladesh) and now approaches 7,000 runs in international cricket. In March 2023, Jason also made a not out score of 145 for Quetta Gladiators, the highest recorded in the Pakistan Super League. In May, Jason announced that he had opted to cancel his incremental England deal to play in lucrative the new American Major League Cricket. It has been agreed that he will still be available for national selection. Jason said “To be very clear, my priority is England cricket, especially with a World Cup soon upon us.” and added: “It is for me, and for any player, the greatest honour to receive a cap to play for their country..I wanted to clarify that I am not and never will walk away from England.” Surrey, still captained by Rory Burns (2001-06) and with Dominic Sibley (2007-14) having returned after several seasons with Warwickshire, have on several occasions in the early part of the 2023 season had OWs occupying the first four places in the batting order with Ryan Patel (2009-16) and Jamie Smith (2010-18) at numbers three and four. In 20/20 matches Laurie Evans (2004-08) has been the highest scoring Surrey player, although even with Jason, Laurie and Jamie in the team the county failed to negotiate the semi-final of the Vitality Blast competition in July 2023. Elsewhere Michael Burgess (2004-08) continues to be an important part of the Warwickshire championship team, although in the 20/20 competition he changed his allegiance to Sussex. Nick Welch (2014-16) has played regularly for Leicestershire in 20/20 matches. James Hayes (2012-15) is to be congratulated for making his first class début for Nottinghamshire. RUGBY Congratulations go to Piers von Dadelszen (2015-19), still an undergraduate at Oxford, was awarded his first international cap for Canada. Elliot Daly (2006-11), after recovering from injury that kept him out of the Six Nations’ Championship, was part of the 22

Piers von Dadelszen

Saracens team that won the Premiership title in May 2023. In the final he kicked one of his trade mark long range penalties. Olly Hartley (2015-20) also played on a number of occasions for Saracens and received very favourable comment. Harry Williams (2002-10) played for Exeter Chiefs in the Premiership in season 2022/23 but for 2023/24 he will move to Montpellier in the French Top 14. Matt Gallagher (2013-15) had a successful 2022/23 season for Bath Rugby. George Hammond (201618) played regularly for Harlequins where Jack Forrest (2015-17) also made an appearance. Joe Vajner (201320) played for London Irish. Harry Dugmore (2017-19) continues to play for Ealing Trailfinders runners up in the Championship for 2022/23 George Merrick (2009-11), Carcasonne, and Lasha Jaiani (2014-16), Nevers, have been playing in the second division of the French Championship. Seb Driscoll (2015-22), Wales U 20, and Connor Slevin (2015-21), England U20, both appeared in the 2023 Rugby Under 20 World Cup. Charlie Cadogan (2013-19) was selected as 2022/23 coach’s Player of the Season for Loughborough Students in National League 2 West. He was described as “an absolute try machine on Saturdays this season”. FOOTBALL Although the performance of Germany in the World Cup was hardly what he would have wished, Jamal Musiala (2014-17) had an amazing season in 2022/23. He scored the winning goal against Cologne that brought Bayern Munich its eleventh successive Bundesliga

title (he was the scorer of the goal that sealed his team’s victory in the Bundesliga for 2021-22 as well). He has now made over 20 international appearances for Germany, was voted German player of the year and selected as one of the Bundesliga team of the season. Bertrand Traoré (2011-13), who has now won 72 caps for Burkina Faso, had a short term loan to Istanbul Başakşehir but returned to Aston Villa in the latter part of the 2022/23 where he scored two goals in eight matches. Victor Moses (2004-07), still with Spartak Moscow, played ten times for them in season 2022/23 scoring 2 goals. As of June 2023, Victor had made a total of 455 club appearances (for nine different clubs) as well as 37 internationals. Callum Hudson-Odoi (2012-15) spent season 2022/23 on loan to Beyer Leverkusen in the German Budesliga and made 21 appearances for them. After a period on loan to Hull City, Nathan Baxter (2009-15) has signed a contract with Bolton Wanderers for 2022/23. Di’Shon Bernard (2012-15) played several times for Portsmouth in League 1 during season 2022/23. More importantly, he made his international début for Jamaica in 2023 and scored his first goal for them against St Kitts and Nevis in the CONCACAF Tournament in the USA.

HOCKEY Although there are an extraordinary number of OWs playing hockey at the elite level including several current full internationals, Under 21 internationals, and schoolboy internationals at Under 16 and 18, pride of place this year must surely go to Zach Wallace (2016-18) who has just achieved a half century of appearances for Great Britain.. GOLF After his amazing 2021 season, Riccardo Fantinelli (201820) has continued his golfing success. In his freshman year at Princeton he received the following awards for 2023 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, first-team All-Ivy, Ivy League medallist. Over the 2022/23 season Riccardo competed in seven tournaments and led Princeton at the Rod Myers Invitational in his collegiate debut, co-led Princeton at the Hamptons Intercollegiate and won the individual event at The Prestige. Harvey Byers (2010-17), an established member of the Whitgift Halford Hewitt team, announced in November 2022 that he was turning professional with his first tournament being the Johannesburg Open.

Jamal Musiala holds aloft the Bundesliga trophy

Whitgiftian Miscellanea Some observations from the Editor: The death in September 2022 of Robin Marlar, cricketer, cricket writer, businessman and former President of the MCC ends another link with the Whitgift of the immediate post War period. Robin was the son of Headmaster Geoffrey Marlar. Though a Harrovian rather than a Whitgiftian there was for many Whitgiftians a feeling of kinship when Robin Marlar performed some remarkable feat of bowling: the link with our revered Headmaster meant that some must have dreamt of what would have happened if Marlar and Subba Row had been in the same Whitgift XI. An article by Tanya Gold in The Spectator of 18 March 2023 tells of her trip to Oxford to visit Morsefest the gathering of those devoted to the books and the various television series about Inspector Morse and his world. She starts “I am on the Inspector Morse walking tour in Oxford, which is led by a donnish looking man called Alastair. We look like the funeral cortège of a man whose death is under investigation”. I wondered immediately whether the “donnish man” was my old friend Alastair Lack (1955-63) who I knew is a Blue Badge Guide in Oxford. A quick e-mail brought the response that it was he and that he tour with Tanya had been fun. The visit took in the Randolph Hotel – “It’s not exactly wonderful PR for the Randolph when guests turn up and they then die in their rooms” –St John’s College which was Morse’s college and also that of the poet A E Housman who left after an unhappy love affair, as did Morse, and the area known as Jericho where Morse went to the cinema to see Last Tango in Paris only to find that 101 Dalmatians was showing – Morse sulked about that. The attraction of Morse is that 24

he is a downbeat character with plenty of flaws: the attraction of being shown round his haunts by a “donnish man called Alastair” is that he will have done his homework well and you will learn a lot. Not long ago I received a message from the daughter of the late Geoffrey Beck (1928-34), who died in 2019 aged 100, offering me a copy of the photograph, menu card and place setting chart of the OW Dinner held at The Savoy Hotel on Founder’s Day 22 March 1938. I was delighted to accept the offer – the photograph is splendid with a large number of gentlemen in full evening attire, the menu is sumptuous with six courses and the toasts, one by the Visitor His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury (Cosmo Gordon Lang), were numerous. This is a fascinating addition to the School’s archive – there must be plenty more items of memorabilia around and offers to the archive would be gratefully received. Bill Wood, Archivist, often receives enquiries from members of the public. Usually these are about relatives who may or may not have been pupils at the School. Bill is always happy to answer such queries. Occasionally something rather more unusual comes up. As an example an e-mail was received as follows: Subject: Old Whitgiftians Presentation Item I have recently come into ownership of a Victorian hip flask, presented to H W Stovold, by the Old Whitgiftians in August 1898. The word Cornwall also appears although it is not entirely clear if this means ‘the Old Whitgiftians of Cornwall’. I wondered if you could shed any light on who H W Stovold was, and why the presentation might have been made.

Deaths With thanks and best wishes. Nigel Williams It was quite easy to identify H W Stovold from School records and to shed a little light on his early life. He entered Whitgift (Form 1C) in September 1881 and left from the VI Form in March 1888. He was the son of T Stovold of Acacia Villa, Alexandra Road, Croydon where he was still living in early 1892. At that time he was working at the offices of the London County Council at Spring Gardens in London. He was probably then about 21 years old. In August 1898, when the flask was presented, he would have been about 27 or 28. Of his subsequent life and career the School has no information but we must assume that, in view of his age, he did not serve in the First World War. I have recently had discussion with Bill Wood about the boys who were at School in the late 19th century. We have looked before at where they lived and found it was from a remarkably wide area – indeed there were several whose family lived abroad, often in India, and who boarded with masters or relatives. We thought it interesting to look at the occupations of fathers: there were many who were described as “in business”, some ran well known Croydon enterprises like Allder’s and Kennard’s, there were a number in the Army, Royal Navy, Indian Army or Indian Civil Service but there were a few particularly fascinating callings: • Architect to Queen Anne’s Bounty (a Church of England fund that transferred monies from richer to poorer parishes particularly in the North West of England); • Ceremonial mace bearer to the Lord Mayor of London.

We have, with regret, to record the deaths of the following OWs reported since the preparation of the previous edition of OW News: AUSTIN – On 21 August 2022, Michael William (1947-53), aged 86 BARTRAM – On 16 September 2022, William John (1944-51), aged 90 BLACK – On 23 February 2021, Donald Anthony (1943-50), aged 89 BRASIER – On 26 September 2022, Roger John (1948-54), aged 86 BURRAGE – On 14 March 2023, Anthony Maurice (1946-54), aged 86, brother of TJ (1949-55) CUDLIPP – On 4 January 2023, Nigel Hugh (1967-71), aged 69, brother of SR (1962-68) De MESTRAL – On 16 June 2023, Professor Armand Lever Claude, CM (1953-59), aged 81, brother of CJL (195559) and RAP (1957-59) De MESTRAL – On 2 January 2023, Robert Aymon Pierre (1957-59), aged 76, brother of Professor AM (1953-59) and CJL (1955-59) GALER – On 24 March 2023, Ian Andrew Reginald (1960-67), aged 73, brother of AO (1946-53) and GS (1944-52), uncle of AR (1977-85), SJG (1971-78) and TD (1972-80) GARRETT – On 11 August 2022, Richard Marquis Bradshaw (1977-84), aged 56 GOLDS – On 19 August 2022, Ian Martin (1946-54), aged 86 HARLOW – In January 2023, Keith Brocklehurst (Member of staff 1961-94), aged 88, father of DG (1980-88) HESLOP – On 5 December 2022, Guy Spenser (1932-39), aged 100, father of JS (1964-72) JOBSON – On 6 November 2022, Brian Edward (1944-50), aged 89

KENNEDY-COOKE – On 4 August 2022, Julian (Member of staff 1953-89), aged 94, father of BW (1976-81) and JN (1972-77) LOWRIE – On 15 February 2023, John Lovell (1961-65), aged 75, father of PL (1992-2000) MALEMPRĒ – On 7 April 2023, David Victor (1961-68), aged 73 PERRY – On 12 December 2022, Alan Philip (1943-48), aged 91 PHIPPS – On 17 April 2023, Robert Anthony Lewis (1942-49), aged 90 REDD – In September 2022, Paul Roger (1966-74), aged 66, son-in-law of M E Barnes (1944-49) SCHAD – On 17 November 2022, Robert Cornelius (Member of Staff 1950-98), aged 96, father of JPA (1990-98), brother in law of NFM Tosh (1960-63) THOMAS – On 27 May 2022, David Morris (1944-52), aged 87, son of RM (Member of staff 1944-70), father of RAM (1973-80), grandfather of T Simpson (200512), brother of S D (1948-56) THOMAS – On 25 January 2023, Dr Stuart Denis (1948-56), aged 84, son of RM (Member of staff 1944-70), brother of DM (1944-52) THORNTON – On 19 September 2022, Michael Brett, ISO (1943-50), aged 90, father of MGB (1973-80) TROTT – On 11 March 2023, John Francis Henry (1947-56), aged 85, father of CJ (197684) and grandfather of KJY-U (2015-22) WALKER – On 23 October 2022, Charles James Hawkes (1975-80), aged 60 nephew of DH (1935-40) WARD – On 23 October 2022, Christopher Andrew (1959-66), aged 74, brother of Rev Canon AP (1956-64)

Obituaries and tributes It is rare to record the death of two brothers in a single edition but this edition carries tributes to two pairs of brothers – Thomas and de Mestral.

Donald Anthony Black (1943-50) Tony Black left School, where he was a Senior Prefect and House Vice-Captain of Smith’s, in March 1950 to go up to Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was Editor of The Whitgiftian and Captain of Shooting. The following obituary from his friend and colleague Derek Perkins appeared in the Guardian on 5 July 2021: My friend Tony Black, who has died at 89 of pneumonia and emphysema, was my predecessor as chief psychologist at Broadmoor, the high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire. The son of Walter, a civil servant, and Rose (nee Foster), a former nurse, Tony was born between the wars in Sanderstead, Surrey, into a secure, loving family. Early experiences of growing up with a mentally and physically disabled sister, and counselling members of his battalion while on national service with the Royal Artillery, set him on the pathway for life as a psychologist. Tony attended Whitgift School in Croydon, then Tony Black Cambridge University, where he completed his psychology degree in 1954 under Oliver Zangwill. It was there that he met his future wife Anne Shotton, a fellow student. They were married in 1955. His training in clinical psychology started in Liverpool under the guidance of psychologists John Graham-White at Alder Hey hospital and Don Walton at Rainhill hospital, with whom he developed the Walton-Black memory test, which assesses the impact of brain dysfunction on patients’ short-term memory through a task requiring them to learn the meanings of new words. In 1959, coinciding with the new Mental Health Act, Tony was appointed as the first clinical psychologist in Broadmoor hospital, working with Dr Patrick McGrath, the then physician superintendent. He established a vibrant psychology department, pioneering the development of clinical psychology and research at Broadmoor and more widely within the high-secure psychiatric services. 26

Tony also promoted the role of clinical psychology on a national stage with his excellent communication skills, being frequently interviewed on radio or quoted in the national press. He provided a humane and balanced scientific view on what could otherwise become sensationalised reporting of forensic mental health issues. He retired in 1986 on the eve of the hospital’s rebuilding programme. Appointed as his successor, I was indebted to him for his advice and support long afterwards. Moving to Herefordshire, in retired life he worked as a Mental Health Act Commissioner until 1990, and finished a ground breaking British Psychological Society (BPS) working party report on improving services for mentally disordered offenders. In 2003 he published the book Broadmoor Interacts on the history of Broadmoor between the Mental Health Acts of 1959 and 1983. Tony was universally liked and respected by patients, colleagues and friends for his calm and patient support. He always had time to listen and to share his knowledge and wisdom, often with a twinkle in his eye. He is survived by Anne, and their children, Philip, David and Catherine, and eight grandchildren. Roger Brasier (1948-54) This obituary has been compiled by Peter Warren (1947-56) from Roger’s autobiographical note of 2002 prepared for the Diamond Jubilee of the Upper Fifth 1952-53 of which he was a member; a eulogy by his friend Anthony Hawgood delivered at Roger’s funeral on 8 November 2022 with input also from Peter Woods, second eulogist, and members of the aforesaid Upper Fifth. Roger was born in Limpsfield in 1936 and raised in the family home from where his father, the local undertaker, conducted his business. Coincidentally, given his later love of music, Roger’s family had effected the re-burial in Limpsfield of Frederick Delius after the local rector had arranged for his remains to be brought back from France in 1935. From Saint Peter’s primary school and St. Michael’s preparatory school for boys in Limpsfield Roger moved to Whitgift in 1948. At his funeral Roger’s old friend Anthony Hawgood reminisced about their long friendship and recalled that Roger’s career as a performer had been encouraged by aunts, uncles and grandparents, in whose company Roger remembered there was always laughter and a sense of the ridiculous. From them he learned poetry, music hall songs and all the tales of Albert Ramsbottom and his adventures with Wallace the Lion. From this grew his great affection for, and subsequently

extensive knowledge of music and poetry. Not surprisingly At Whitgift he was a leading light in school drama productions and among us pupils a brilliant mimic of many a master. He was widely engaging and a great humourist. On leaving Whitgift from VI History in 1954 Roger served two years of National Service at RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire achieving “the exalted rank of SAC” (his words). Roger then began his career as a trainee newspaper reporter with the Surrey Mirror in Redhill. Always fond of music he then changed direction to manage a record shop in Reigate from where he moved in the 1960s to be manager successively of the Record Department Roger the entertainer at Foyles, the Record Mail Order Department at Keith Prowse in New Bond St, retail supply for Saga Records Ltd (the first bargain classical records label) and assistant manager, Classical Records Department at HMV, Oxford Street. Later he was music librarian at Putney Library. During his time at HMV, Roger told the story of being approached by an elegant but imperious gentleman who enquired who had chosen the piece that was currently playing. Roger, with confidence said that it was his favourite recording of Beethoven’s 7th symphony and that the conductor, Furtwängler, really understood the subtleties of the music. “Quite right, dear boy”, was the reply “I do know how it should be done!” In between his periods of selling records, Roger spent two years in Brighton working as a funeral director with the Cooperative Funeral Service (CFS). When his father’s health began to fail he returned to Limpsfield to supervise the undertaking side of the family business. When this business was disposed of he returned to Brighton CFS where he was assistant manager from 1969-73 leaving to become a mature student at Sussex University (1973-78 - BA Religious Studies and MA History). After this he combined work in the antiquarian book trade in Brighton and Worthing with history tutoring in adult education, notably on behalf of Surrey, Sussex and London universities. In the early 1980’s, Roger’s career underwent a

further sea-change. Always interested in railways (he was a member of the Bluebell Railway), he went to work for British Rail, initially as station announcer at Victoria. After stints in the control point and station manager’s office, he was moved to the Legal and Parliamentary Department at Croydon where his training as a historian, proved extremely valuable in his role as records manager with responsibility for all engineering and much legal and parliamentary documentation relevant to Network Southeast. He took early retirement in 1993. In retirement and already a friend of the London Transport Museum he took charge for a decade or more the reorganising of the Museum’s considerable archive of engineering drawings and also was part of the Museum’s adult education programmes, which he helped establish. From time to time he featured on radio and television as an expert on the transport industry. Roger’s “alternative career” was as a semi-professional entertainer specialising in stories, monologues, verses and old music-hall ditties. Roger’s other interests included being a mine of otherwise discarded information, helping those tinkering with old steam locomotives, trams and buses and presenting programmes of recorded music to various societies, Roger described his greatest passions as books, history of practically any description, and music. As a technophobe with probably the only house in Brighton that was wi-fi disabled, Roger would approached matters in a slow, steady and measured way: verification came from consultation of his extensive book collection. Inevitably the peripheral knowledge that acquired meant that he was well read in many areas. His numerous Roger - magician and wine lover bookshelves were usually stacked 2 rows deep but he could unvaryingly pick out the exact book and the exact page needed. The same could be said of his extensive CD collection. Roger leaves happy memories to his wide circle of friends. The three Canadian de Mestral brothers joined Whitgift after their father Rev Claude de Mestral moved to London for a number of years to take on an important role in worldwide

Obituaries and tributes (continued)

Church missionary work. Their family, originally from the canton of Vaud, was able to trace its Swiss origins for 700 years and indeed celebrated the seventh centenary of recorded records of the family in 2006. An uncle to the brothers was George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, who invented Velcro! Sadly two of the Whitgiftian brothers died this year and tributes follow: Professor Armand de Mestral (1953-59) The community of the McGill Faculty of Law was saddened to learn that Armand de Mestral, C.M., passed away on 16 June 2023, aged 81. He earned degrees from Harvard (A.B. magna cum laude, 1963; LL.M., 1968) and McGill (B.C.L., 1966), and become an advocate of the Barreau du Québec in 1967. Returning to his family’s Swiss roots, he worked for a time in Switzerland for what is now the International Maritime Organization. Practice in the Department of Justice in Ottawa further deepened his expertise in maritime law. He returned to the Faculty of Law as a professor in 1976. Over the course of a lengthy academic career, he taught

Professor Armand de Mestral

constitutional law, law of the sea, public international law, international trade law, international arbitration, European Community law, and public international air law. He retired and became emeritus professor in 2010, although – as proof of his love of teaching and of students – he kept a post-retirement appointment and taught until stopped by the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and his health challenges. He published books and articles, in English and French, on international trade law, on Canadian comparative and constitutional law, and international law. A sterling institutional citizen, he served as director of the Institute of Comparative Law from 1984–89 and as acting director of the Institute of Air and Space Law from 1998–2002. He was associate editor for the Canadian 28

Armand de Mestral, recipient in 2017 of the John E Read Medal, the principal award of the Canadian Council on International Law seen here with PastPresidents of CCIL (l to r) Marie-Claude Boisvert and Céline Lévesque.

Yearbook of International Law from 1990–2011. He was given honorary doctorates by Université de Lyon (1995) and Kwansei Gakuin in Japan (2002). In 2003, he received a Jean Monnet Chair in the Law of International Economic Integration – which was fitting, given how influenced Armand was by the belief of the chair’s namesake that trade and economic integration would help to protect human rights, liberal democracy, and peace. In 2007, he was made member of the Order of Canada. Appointed a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in 2014, he was appointed to Canada’s Chapter 19 (Trade Remedies) Roster for the North American Free Trade Agreement a ten-year mandate in 2018. That same year, he was appointed to the Chapter 24 (Trade and Environment) Roster for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. A longtime supporter of the Canadian Red Cross Society, he served as its president from 1999–2001, at a moment of challenges and transition for the organization. He was always patient, wise, and non-judgmental in his approach to the ethical issues raised in that capacity. Having for a time studied at Whitgift School in England, Armand loved and often quoted a passage from scripture that the school’s founder, John Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury, had reputedly glossed in a sermon before Elizabeth I: “Be subject to rule and ready in every good work.” Armand was an exemplary colleague and mentor, supervising an extraordinary number of graduate students and being the first to agree to sit on a doctoral defense. Perfectly bilingual himself, he was deeply attached to bilingualism, to the Faculty of Law as a plural and

respectful community, and to our integrated program’s global vocation. Although not a scholar of private law, he “talked up” McGill and our vision of legal education, which he believed to be avant-garde and smart, wherever he went. Even in official retirement, Armand followed matters within the Faculty of Law and university, frequently sharing news stories and his views – praise or gentle criticism, as the case may be – with the tenant of the Dean’s Office. His friends in the Faculty of Law community will miss Armand greatly, whether they met him recently or, as in one case, sat next to him on their first day of law school six decades ago. We will remember him as an exceptional man in many ways, an unusual combination of gentle and strong. An unassuming gentleman, he was intellectually curious and a person of the utmost integrity, trustworthiness, and kindness. He and his wife, Rosalind Pepall, raised their sons in a loving home characterized by art and culture. Colleagues remember him walking to and from the Faculty of Law to his house in Westmount, summer or winter, rain or shine. The Faculty of Law extends its deepest condolences to his beloved Ros; to his sons, Philippe and Charles; and to his grandchildren. We also express condolences to the many others who knew and loved Armand de Mestral, as we did, and who will miss him, as we will. This obituary was written by Professor Robert Lcckey Dean of the Faculty of Law of McGill University. Robert de Mestral (1957-59) Robert de Mestral, the youngest of the three de Mestral brothers who were at Whitgift in the 1950s, died suddenly on 2 January 2023 at the age of 76. Robert was born in Montreal but moved to England with his family as a young boy. There he attended Whitgift School in Surrey with his brothers. Subsequently the family returned to Canada, taking up residence in RouynNoranda, Québec where he graduated from high school before attending Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. While attending Queen’s, Robert developed a love for theatre, leading him to a long and distinguished career as a technical director and educator in the field. He started his career at York University, then moved to the National Robert de Mestral Theatre School of Canada

in Montreal and finally went to the Theatre Department at the University of Ottawa where he remained for over 30 years. After his formal retirement, he remained actively involved in the theatre and stage community of Ottawa through the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 471, working on the many varied projects that they support at the National Arts Centre and with the National Capital Commission, including numerous Canada Day productions. Robert was an avid reader with a love for knowledge. He was kind and always ready to lend a hand when needed. He was loved and respected by those who knew and worked with him. He leaves his wife of fifty years, Lorayne, his daughter and grandson to whom he was particularly devoted. This obituary is based on that published in the Ottawa Citizen on 13 January 2023. Richard Garrett (1977-84) Richard Garrett died in August 2022, following a long but determined struggle against respiratory failure brought on during the Covid pandemic. Only son of Chris and Betsy Garrett, Richard grew up in the Cotswolds but moved to Croydon aged 10 when his father became the local vicar. He joined Whitgift School in 1977 and made the most of his opportunities in the classroom, on stage and most significantly for the fencing and modern pentathlon teams, in both of which sports he gained England caps. He was an active member of the Croydon Youth Theatre. Utterly determined in all he did, Richard was incredibly popular due to his unassuming nature, support for others and strong sense that right must prevail. After completing his A Levels in 1984, Richard went to the University of Birmingham to study English and Drama and, on graduation and, after brief spells in jobs as varied as life modelling and insurance sales, he decided to combine his sporting skills with his determination to make a career in drama by training as stuntman. Richard initially spent some time working as a deep sea diver on oil rigs, incredibly dangerous but providing the remuneration necessary to get onto the stunt register. After some years working regularly and falling off buildings, crashing vehicles and being set on fire for UK television, Richard got a Hollywood breakthrough on the set and sloping decks of Titanic and after that his film career really took off under the Equity stage name Richard Bradshaw; some of his work can be viewed at www.Globalstunts.com Richard was now in demand throughout the world associated with many Hollywood blockbusters. He was 29

Obituaries and tributes (continued)

transplant in 2020. Despite an apparently successful procedure and a return to strenuous outdoor activity in the Rockies, a second bout of COVID in January 2022 brought about chronic rejection of the new lungs and, whilst awaiting a second transplant, a serious infection made further surgery impossible; on 11th August 2022 he opted to have his ECMO life support switched off, but not before he persuaded the hospital authorities to wheel his bed up onto the rooftop helipad so he could spend a final hour with Rachel overlooking his beloved Vancouver and its distant mountains. This obituary was written, in consultation with Richard’s partner Rachel Osman, by David Vanstone, former member of staff (1978-85) and friend of Richard.

Richard Garrett

the underwater double for Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond and the action behind Hugh Jackman’s Marvel Wolverine. Never one to let an opportunity slip Richard broke a knee diving through a window on the set of Van Helsing, but rushed off for specialist treatment and recovered in time to complete on-set filming. Latterly Richard moved into stunt direction and was fully occupied with, and integral to the success every series of the Netflix Game of Thrones franchise winning 2 Emmys for his work. An incredibly fit man Richard competed in the Marathons des Sables, a 250k epic known as the toughest foot race on earth. He was never happier than when participating in extreme sports with family, his many friends and work colleagues. Kayaking, triathlon, whitewater rafting, climbing, skiing, paddle-boarding alongside a life-long passion for motorbikes were all avidly pursued, the more rugged terrain the better. Having relocated to Canada he spent many happy hours in the seas off Vancouver and the mountains around Whistler. In 1994 Richard married Sonya Jackman, sister of Hugh, and in 2004 their much loved daughter Jacquie was born. That marriage ended and he began a new chapter with his partner Rachel Osman who brought him new happiness and a dearly loved extended family of Reagan and Caden. Richard had a congenital lung condition – Sarciodis - which lay dormant for many years but he fell seriously ill with COVID and this necessitated a double lung 30

Guy Heslop (1932-39) Guy Heslop died aged 100 in December. He was blessed, for all bar the last five years of his life, with excellent health and was still walking down to the pub for a beer in his 95th year. After leaving school he served in the Royal Artillery during the war, and then worked at the Bank of England for his entire career. He was meticulous about his appearance and wore a bowler hat to work each day with his shoes smartly polished every evening for the day ahead. He lived in Croydon for much of his life and then for the last decade in East Grinstead to be closer to his daughter. He married in 1953, had three children and three grandchildren and was only too happy playing football and cricket with them in the garden. Cricket was a great love and he was a non-playing Guy Heslop member of the MCC for over 64 years. He enjoyed visits to Lords Cricket Ground for test matches although many pints of beer were consumed as the battle progressed on the pitch. He was an enthusiastic golfer and played regularly in his later years with three retired doctors; clearly not a man to take chances! He outlived them all. He was a member for many years of the local “Adeste” Freemasons Lodge and ultimately obtained London Grand Rank of which he was very proud. He studiously learned his lines.

He had a great love for his old school and served for many years as the OW Overseas Correspondent. He enjoyed writing letters and receiving the handwritten replies linking overseas OWs back home at a time when the internet did not exist and phone costs were high. He enjoyed meeting some of the same OWs when they visited home; and he would help out at the OW tent for the school summer open day. It was with great regret that he had to hand the role over to another when email became the norm and letter writing a thing of the past; he never mastered the new technologies. How do you finish describing a life that ran for over 100 years and was lived under 5 Monarchs and 20 different Prime Ministers; perhaps as lover of cricket would appreciate – it was a good innings. This appreciation was written by Guy’s son Julian (1964-72) Brian Jobson (1944-50) Brian Edward Jobson died in his home in Trendelburg, Germany on 6 November 2022, aged 89, in the arms of his wife Elisabeth (‘Li’). Brian, known to all his friends as ‘Jobbers’, was a man of many talents and lived a proud and successful life. Before he died he prepared his own obituary, which with the assistance of Li and friends, notably John Straw, is the source of this appreciation. Brian was greatly influenced by his grandfather, a former soldier who had boxed for the army, who lived with the family. It was from his grandfather that Jobbers learned to “seize the day” which became the watchword of his life. Jobbers was born in the East End of London and went initially to the same school in Dagenham as future Hollywood star Dudley Moore. As his father prospered the family moved across the Thames to Shirley. In 1944 he was awarded a Surrey Major Scholarship (effectively an honorary award because of his father’s income). Jobbers went to Whitgift that year and played cricket for house teams (A House and Smith’s) and rugby for the school age group teams and for the 1st XV in 1949. In 1950 he was, briefly, house captain of Smith’s, but was obliged to leave (reluctantly) the day before his 17th birthday to work in his sick father’s business. He took over the reins fully after he completed National Service in Germany and the Far East and built up the business (newsagent shops) before selling out in 1976. He subsequently developed an insurance broking business that he had started as an agency through which he managed insurances for his shops. This was very hard work for Brian and his wife Li who had abandoned her life in Germany to be with Jobbers.

Jobbers the actor in full regalia

Jobbers was a committed Old Whitgiftian. He played 90 matches for the OW 1st XV and was awarded the honours cap as a forward in 1950. He also played 143 times for the A XV which he captained 1961-65 including the remarkable season 1964/5 when the team won 23 and lost only 2 games (points for 531 against 97). In addition he chaired the selection committee and added to his OW duties by acting for many years as secretary and later president of the OW Athletic Club. Perhaps the zenith of Jobbers’ OW rugby career came in 1955 in the final of the Surrey Sevens when the OWs lost by 10 points to 5 to a London Scottish team boasting four internationals. The OW team of Jobson, Priest, Portman, McAulay, Valentine, Straw and Godfrey (playing only because the first choice, Mobsby, was unavailable) tackled like demons and prevented Scottish from scoring more than two tries. David Priest recalls “My main memory of the final was with the score 5-10 and 2 mins to go, I picked up the ball on the halfway line, ran about 20 yards, drew the last defender and passed to Jobbers, who had the legs to beat the defence and score under the posts - 10 all! Or was it? The referee, a certain Ted Priest (father of David), stood on the half-way line, with left heel in the ground and 31

Obituaries and tributes (continued)

right arm aloft penalising his son for not playing the ball with the foot after a tackle. I always said he was a lousy ref. (!!) and he had denied us a probable full-time draw and possible win in extra time”. The Croydon flat that Jobbers shared with Tony Vail, also an OW rugby player, became a regular meeting place for OWs. Ron Taylor, who worked in the wine trade, encouraged in Jobbers a love of wine, whilst Frank Lovis, a somewhat older OW, was not only a first class rugby referee on the international panel, but also a Master of Wine. It was through Frank that Jobbers joined Harlequins. Membership of that club brought him great pride and pleasure. In 1966 at Croham Road, The Old Whitgiftian Rugby Club put on a pantomime entitled Il Lavatore devised and produced by two very talented OWs, Pip Burley (who later brought The Darling Buds of May to the TV screen) and Ken Rokison. It was a brilliant and unforgettable theatrical occasion and was HUMOUR at its fullest flush. Jobbers was cast as the Fairy and was in control of the water closet, a prop put to great use. Jobbers was a man of many parts and it was his performance in Il Lavatore that launched him into artistic and theatrical pursuits that used his wit and humour to the full. Introduced by a blinding flash of fireworks Jobbers was never lost for words and nightly received applause and standing ovations. However, the career of Jobbers the actor started fully with Croydon Histrionic Society and at the Miller Centre in Caterham where he became Business Manager and Assistant Artistic Director for some 10 years. Jobbers directed or acted in 35 plays at the Miller Centre, which during his time received the only Olivier award given for Am-Dram. On retirement from his financial services career at the age 60, Jobbers became a professional actor for some five years. He began at the Liverpool Playhouse playing both Aegeus and Creon in Medea and ended with a summer tour playing Falstaff in the Merry Wives of Windsor. As a professional actor he took the name Sefton Parke (Sefton Park is a public park in Liverpool). From 1998, when he moved to Somerset, Jobbers continued to tour with his own group of amateur actors with open air productions at National Trust and similar properties of Shakespearean comedies adapted for a modern audience. The overriding purpose was to raise money for good causes, Jobbers being greatly inspired by the charitable background of the Miller Centre. One of his other “retirement” projects was to write a trilogy of spy novels – only the first volume was published, with much thanks to Pip Burley, but it provided great pleasure to both Brian and Li to see the printed 32

version when he was recuperating from a heart attack in 2016. It is still available on Amazon Books! Brian Jobson was an exciting man, full of vitality, who achieved many of his goals and certainly followed the maxim “carpe diem”. His many friends remember someone with whom it was a joy to spend time. His widow Li spent 42 very happy years with Jobbers. This appreciation was prepared by John Straw with much help from Brian’s widow Elizabeth, from OW friends, notably David Priest, and from Jobbers himself. David Victor Malempré. (1961-1968) David (Vic) Malempré died in April in the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital from complications following an operation for cancer. He leaves a widow, Geraldine; a sister, Margaret; and nephews and nieces all of whom remember him with great affection, talking of his love for them and his willingness to share his passion for fishing, golf and rock music. He had a fine collection of electric guitars, regularly playing in a band with Geraldine on backing vocals. He remained close to us, his old school friends, until his death, joining in regularly on email threads and, during the pandemic, Zoom quiz sessions, in which he was fiercely (and very wittily) competitive. Apart from one foray into Shakespearean drama - he played Fang in the 1967 Whitgift School production of Henry IV Part II - Vic will be remembered most for his

Vic Malempré in 1st XV action

prowess on the rugby field. His father, an England triallist who played for Wasps, had been planning to send his son to his own school, Cranleigh, until he realised that the rugby coach at Whitgift was the famed Welsh fullback, Gerwyn Williams. Vic became the star scrum half for the First XV and was a member of the victorious Public Schools Seven-a-Side team in 1967 at Rosslyn Park, in which he scored the winning try in the final. After school he went on to play for Blackheath, the Old Whitgiftians and East Grinstead. Vic met his future wife, Geraldine, whilst he was working in London and she was at college in Croydon. His old school friends were charmed immediately by her warmth, beauty and wit. Geraldine prospered in the air travel industry whilst Vic became a successful corporate lawyer specialising in aircraft leasing. Throughout his life he never lost his enjoyment of being a sports spectator and would regularly share his trenchant views on England rugby selectors with us on email and glory in the victories or wallow in the travails of his beloved Crystal Palace Football Club. From his Whitgift School friends - 1960/61 to 1968– Simon Brown, John Gould, Tony Mason, David Scott, Steve Timmins Paul Redd (1966-74) Paul was born on 14th September 1956 and I believe he was in the year above where he should have been when he started at Whitgift. I met Paul just before my 15th birthday in 1973 and at the time he was considering following in his father’s footsteps as a doctor. I may be responsible for distracting him from his studies as his grades did not quite hit the mark to get him to medical school. He had developed a love of flying from his flying corps scholarship attained whilst at Whitgift (resulting in him gaining a private pilot’s licence) and this took him into a career for a Handling Company at Gatwick Airport. We married in 1979 and moved into our first home in Burgess Hill, West Sussex and progressed through several house upgrades in tandem with his progress through Gatwick Handling, where he moved from shift work through to management and specialised in computerised weight and balance programs for airlines such as Virgin Atlantic. In 2003 his love of the West Country resulted in a new venture; he took redundancy and we bought a small hotel in Crantock, Cornwall. We renovated the building and built a successful business, gaining a Gold Award and Green Accreditations and enjoyed repeat visitors for many

years. Paul loved travelling and we managed many holidays covering over 20 destinations in different parts of the world - his (our) favourite being Palm Island in The Grenadines where we returned many times. In 2012 he collapsed and required surgery to replace his aortic valve. We continued with the business until his poor health resulted in us selling the hotel and taking early retirement in November 2018. In July 2019 he was diagnosed with a large sarcoma - a rare cancer which was removed but sadly spread causing him to pass away in September 2022 just 9 days after his 66th birthday. More than 120 people attended his funeral, including from his Whitgift days, his Gatwick days, hotel guests, family and friends - a tribute to a caring and well-loved man, who always had a smile on his face. He leaves behind his wife Elaine, their 3 children and 6 grandchildren all residing in Cornwall. This tribute is written by Paul’s widow Elaine DM Thomas (1944-52) and SD Thomas (1948-56) David and Denis Thomas were the sons of Morris Thomas, who was, for many years, senior chemistry master and head of science at the School. David went on to Cambridge and had a successful career with Shell; Denis went to Bristol University and played hockey for the University and for county and other representative teams following which he had a distinguished career in engineering and management in both the UK and USA. David Morris Thomas and Dr Stuart Denis Thomas, affectionately known as Denis to his loved ones, were two individuals with a deep connection to Whitgift School and an immense sense of pride as OWs. Sadly, they both passed away within the last year, leaving behind a multitude of fond memories and a lasting impact on those who knew them. Both of them attended Whitgift with their father, Morris Thomas, who became a Chemistry master after moving to South Croydon in 1944. They formed many cherished memories at the school and received an education that greatly benefited them throughout their lives. David, in particular, was an ardent hockey player and played a pivotal role in establishing the game at Whitgift in the 1940s and then under Bob Schad who joined as a master in 1950. His passion for hockey persisted throughout his time at Whitgift and during his studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he followed in his father’s footsteps. He devoted a significant amount of time to playing, contemplating, and writing about the sport. 33

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David – far right, seated. Morris standing on left. A youthful Bob Schad stands in familiar pose on the right

One of his proudest achievements during his university years was serving as a reporter and later as Editor of the University Sports Magazine, “Light Blue”. David’s involvement in the school’s scouting activities was another aspect of his life that brought him immense joy. Even as he grew older, he remained dedicated to the scouting movement, assuming the role of scout leader for the 18th Purley troop. There, he not only established a new Venture Scout Unit but eventually became the Group Scout Leader. His commitment extended beyond his direct involvement, as he played a significant role in the construction of the new Scout Headquarters in Farm Fields. Recently, the 18th Purley scout troop honoured his four decades of service by erecting a new flagpole and affixing a commemorative plaque bearing his name at its base. In addition to his successful career at Shell International Chemical Company, David found great fulfilment in his family life. He created countless joyful memories on trips abroad with his wife Avril, whom he married in July 1960. He derived immense joy from spending time with his children, Jacquie and Richard, and his grandchildren, whom he introduced to his beloved board games and card games. David pursued various other passions, including stamp collecting, golf (where he organised several eclectic competitions), and bridge, which he continued to play and teach at a club well into his mideighties. Continuing the family tradition, David’s son, Richard, and grandson, Tom, also attended Whitgift in later years, finding their places in Smith’s house. This further strengthened the family’s bond with the school. After a gradual decline in health over the course of several years, David passed away peacefully in May 2022, gently departing from his beloved wife Avril, children, and grandchildren. A heartfelt celebration of his life took place 34

at Sanderstead United Reformed Church, with numerous attendees who had been touched by David’s presence in their lives. Whether through Scouting, Bridge, or close friendships, his impact was evident. Those who knew David would not be surprised to recall his familiar sign-off: “Ciao for now.” Denis, David’s younger brother, had a similarly enriching experience at Whitgift School, where he discovered his passion for lifelong learning. After his time at Whitgift, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in engineering at the University of Bristol. It was following this, and a stint on the Isle of Wight designing the Hovercraft, that his interest in business began to take shape, leading him to secure a scholarship to Harvard Business School. There, he embarked on an academic journey that resulted in both a master’s and a doctoral degree. With a unique blend of expertise in business and academia, Denis made significant contributions as a faculty member at the esteemed graduate business schools of Harvard and London Universities. His specialisation in family enterprises garnered him numerous accolades throughout his career. As a consultant, advisor, and chief executive officer, he played vital roles in several familyowned or managed businesses. One of his most cherished achievements was receiving a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen of England in recognition of his exceptional leadership at Berol Ltd in the United Kingdom. Denis also selflessly dedicated his time and expertise to various enterprises, serving as a non-executive chairman and board member. His longest and most rewarding tenure was with Virginia Hospital Denis, in his later years Center, where he found great joy in his service spanning almost two decades. Denis passed away in January of this year, leaving behind his loving wife of 41 years, Dayle, and their three children: Owen, Derek, and Samantha Kate. He was also blessed with a daughter-in-law named Cynthia and a beloved granddaughter named Ella-James. These tributes and memories were lovingly collated by David’s children and Denis’s niece and nephew, Richard and Jacquie, with support from David’s grandson Tom, all

of whom were keenly aware of their proud connection with the school and the custodians of the fond memories they found there. This tribute was prepared by Tom Snowdon (2005-12), grandson of David Thomas. Michael Thornton ISO (1943-50) Michael was born in Isleworth in Middlesex on 16th July 1932 and passed away peacefully on 19th September 2022, once the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II had concluded. He went to Whitgift School (1943 – 50) in Dodd’s House, where he enjoyed the Army section of the CCF and became a School and House prefect. He was more sporty than academic and he enjoyed playing rugby for the 2nd XV and cricket as well. After leaving school he completed his National Service before joining the Civil Service for what would become a 41 year career. He started out at the Air Ministry in London for the first 5 years and in 1956 he married Elizabeth Garrett, who he had met on a school trip to Paris in 1949 when they were both seventeen years old. Coincidentally, three of Elizabeth’s uncles (Ernest, Harold and Laurie) were all Old Whitgiftians. Michael and Elizabeth went on to have two children, Gill, born in 1959 and Mark in 1961 and later, one grandchild, Chrissie born to Gill in 1985. In 1958, Michael became a Staff Inspector at the RAF Fighter & Signals Commands and worked closely with the RAF until 1964. At this time, his first posting abroad took him to the Far East on and off for a few years as Staff Inspector for the Far East Air Force. Back in London, Michael joined the HM Treasury Civil Service department for three years followed by another three at the Admiralty, Naval Personnel Division. In 1972, he took an opportunity to join the MOD Inspectorate of Establishments. Having attended a residential course at the National Defence College, Latimer in 1974/5, Michael went on to be part of the Management Review Team for the Navy and Air Force departments and Central MOD before returning to Latimer and later, Greenwich as Directing Staff for the Civil Faculty. In 1983, Michael took a move ‘up North’, first as Deputy Director of RAF Supply Management and then Head of Support Financial Services (RAF) at the MOD facility in Harrogate. After nearly 10 years in Harrogate, Michael retired in 1992 before being made a Companion of the Imperial Service Order the following year. Originally instituted by Edward VII on Aug 8th, 1902, as a means of rewarding meritorious services on the

part of members of the administrative or clerical branches of the Civil Service, this was a fitting tribute to a lifelong career of service to the Crown. Although Michael’s work often involved travel abroad, he was based in London for much of his working life, and the family lived on the outskirts, New Malden and then Cheam, in Surrey, for many years. Having moved to Harrogate in 1983, Michael and Elizabeth spent nearly 35 years in North Yorkshire. They did a lot of walking, and were keen supporters of the arts through the Harrogate Festival and theatre and concert trips to Manchester. Finally in 2018, in their mid-80s, they moved to Seaford, where they could be closer to family. With the help of

Michael and Elizabeth Thornton at their Golden Wedding celebration in 2006

carers and their family they were able to stay there for several years until finally, in 2022, they both moved into permanent nursing care in Seaford. Michael had many interests, photography, archaeology, geology, classical music, art and in later life he was a director at the Mercer Gallery in Harrogate. He enjoyed watching sport on TV and if it was rugby, he still used to kick his leg as if he was playing. He also loved his garden and really enjoyed seeking out unusual plants for it. Elizabeth has had Alzheimer’s disease for some years and lives in residential care in Seaford near Gill and Mark. This appreciation is written by Mark Thornton (1973-80) John Trott (1947-56) It was testament to the impact the gentle-man John Trott had on so many that St Mary’s Church was full for the service to celebrate and remember his life recently. Gathered together were people who had been touched and involved with John’s life across the years in its various 35

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forms; school, university, work and church to name but a few. John was born just before the outbreak of the second world and like many young children of his generation he was evacuated first to Scotland, and then to family in the West Country. Apart from then, and a brief period after he married, John lived at just two permanent addresses the whole of his life, more latterly in Blechingley since 1969. He travelled the world in his work and in retirement, but always looked forward to returning home. He attended St Anne’s preparatory school in Purley, and then from 1947 to 1956 he attended Whitgift School, where he thrived - both in the classroom, where he particularly enjoyed studying classics and, on the sports field, playing rugby and cricket, as well as rugby fives and squash. He also began his lifelong attachment to Gilbert and Sullivan. The school provided a key anchor for him. A Whitgiftian described him as ‘a very august senior prefect who seemed to epitomise the best that might be achieved’. In 1956 John undertook his National Service, spending time in Germany as a 2nd Lieutenant, where, under the tutelage of a Captain Flood he learnt bridge which he enjoyed playing throughout his life. John went to Oxford in 1958, to study law and play

John and Averil Trott

more sport! On graduation, he joined Kleinwort Benson as a graduate trainee, focusing his career on Investment Banking where he eventually was to become Chairman of Kleinwort Benson Investment Management. Throughout John’s working life he was non-executive director and chair of a number of companies, including Standard Life where, as Chairman, he fought off the challenge to take the organisation public in the early 21st Century. John 36

remained loyal to his principles of sound, clear, financial advice, balancing risks and returns, not being greedy or seeking to take advantage. Principles that inspired almost everyone writing following his death to describe him as a ‘gentleman’. John was a dedicated family man, being married to Averil for 58 years. Eleven months after their marriage they welcomed their first born, Christopher, who was joined later by Nicola and Jeremy. In more recent years they enjoyed being very active grandparents to seven grandchildren. John and Averil travelled the world together and enjoyed discovering foreign climes but also returning to favourite destinations in Dorset and the Algarve which they shared with their expanding family. John was a dedicated and loyal member of the St Mary’s Church congregation, using his knowledge and experience to help with, amongst other things, the church finances, including the refurbishment of Church House. He was a man of firm but quiet faith which ran like a strand throughout his life. John’s quiet and gentle friendship and company will be missed by many, with lives being made richer through their knowing him. This tribute was written by John’s son Chris (1976-84), currently HM Ambassador to the Holy See Charles Walker (1975-80) The following appreciation was written by Charlie Walker’s friend and golfing partner John Gould (1960-68) I met Charlie through the OW Cricket Club in the early 1990s when he was captain of the 3rd X1 and Martin Ashby (deceased 2022) was captain of the 4th X1. Both were strong willed characters and Monday night selection was sometimes a feisty affair on who should play for what team. Apart from cricket he also played hockey at The Purley Club and captained their 5th X1 in the late 1980s. Towards the end of the last century Charlie retired from team sports and turned to golf, joining Croham Hurst Golf Club. He was a regular on a Saturday afternoon making up a 4-ball with fellow OWs Martin Ashby, Alan Longhurst and John Gould. He was always joyful company in the bar after golf with an endless source of entertaining stories. He joined the OW Golf Society and participated in numerous society events. He regularly attended the AGM/ Dinner and donated the ‘Walker Cup’ in 2017 in the memory of his late father. This trophy is awarded annually to the outstanding Whitgift School Golfer.

His golf was steady and he had a decent handicap. Latterly he lost confidence with his short game and given the opportunity would putt whenever possible, sometimes in the summer this could Charlie Walker be 20-30 yards from the green. Charlie was forever searching for the perfect driver and was frequently swapping or trading in the current model for something better. Perhaps there is still a garage full of his discarded drivers? Like most of us, Charlie had his idiosyncrasies. For instance, his passion for cars with him changing them every few months, it was hard to keep up with the latest addition to his fleet. Every day, after walking the dog he’d wash his car before driving to London for work. After leaving school Charlie worked in the insurance market and was employed by United Insurance Brokers as a senior broker specialising in offshore business, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. He was a highly respected member of the market in Lloyd’s of London. The move away from the cut and thrust of the trading floor didn’t meet with his approval as he much preferred the more intimate day-to-day dealings with fellow market makers. He didn’t take to electronic devices readily. Soon after he took retirement from work in 2020 he was sadly diagnosed with Melanoma. A number of operations and chemotherapy were unsuccessful in preventing the spread of the cancer. Charlie remained ever optimistic of recovering and only two weeks before he passed away in October 2023, he was at Croham Hurst Golf Club having a drink with myself and fellow members and talking of a return to golf the next summer. Sadly this was not to happen. He leaves a widow, Fiona and children Jonathan and Katharine.

Christopher Ward (1959-66) Chris Ward left School (Andrew’s house) from VI Maths in 1966 bound for Nottingham University. He was a School Prefect, a member of the 1st V for squash, the 2nd XI and 2nd XV and a sergeant in the army section of the CCF. The following tribute was provided by his daughter Juliette Peacock and is based on the address delivered at his funeral by Chris’s brother Rev Canon Tony Ward (1956-64): Chris was born on Thursday February 5th 1948 in Sanderstead. We grew up in a happy home still under post-war rationing. Our father Pete worked in admin at the Metropolitan Water Board in London, and that was where, we think, he met our mother Ann, who was working as a secretary. They were wonderful parents. Our father, a good cricketer, opened the bowling and batted no 11 for Sanderstead Cricket Club….a sort of fore-runner of Jimmy Anderson. On many summer Saturday afternoons we watched him play, and helped our mother serve the teas. If the match was rained off at short notice, we were eating egg and cress sandwiches for a few days! Our mother was a good pianist, but my only memory of Chris playing an instrument was the violin, and on one occasion we mounted an audio assault on our neighbours by playing “The minstrel boy to the war in gone” in our garden…he on the violin and me on the ukulele. It doesn’t really bear thinking about! We both went to Elmhurst and Whitgift Schools. When Chris got his first school uniform at the age of 5 he was so excited that he wore his school cap in bed! At Whitgift, he excelled at sport and was in the school squash team. On leaving school he went to Nottingham University to study economics. It was there on December 9th 1967 that he met Val, who was studying Psychology and Maths. Within 6 weeks they were engaged and on August 22nd 1970 they were married at the Catholic Chaplaincy of Christopher Ward Sussex University. This was the start of a long and happy marriage. It was teamwork from the start. As they drove to their honeymoon hotel in Devon the clutch on their car failed, and each time Chris changed gear, Val, ever resourceful, used the choker she had been wearing around 37

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her neck to pull the clutch pedal back up. They lived first in Lupus Street in Pimlico while Chris trained as an accountant with Smallfield, Fitzhugh and Tillett. As the cost of living in central London rose, Chris and Val looked for somewhere to live with affordable housing and manageable commuting. They settled on Bedford and in 1972 bought their first home in Dudley Street. Eventually Chris persuaded his firm to open an office in Bedford, and it was there that he practised as an accountant for the rest of his career. In 1975 Chris and Val moved to Sharnbrook, where their family grew with the births of Alex, Juliette, Annas and Guillia, and in the intervening years Chris became significantly involved not only in the business life of Bedford, but also Bedford Rugby Club, Colworth Golf Club and some local hostelries…. not least the Sun at Felmersham to which we shall retire after this service. In recent years Chris’ mobility and general health declined, but he bore that with characteristic stoicism. However on Sunday October 23rd his heart failed catastrophically, and Val’s best efforts at CPR and the attendance of several paramedics failed to bring him back to life. He was only 74. Chris and Val’s marriage of 52 years was a great partnership. Chris took great delight in his family of four daughters and ten grandchildren. Val described him as “a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful man who always did the right thing”.

FORMER MEMBERS OF STAFF There follow tributes to three long serving members of Staff who between them served the School for some 117 years. They taught thousands of boys and each played an important role in the School –Bob Schad, in particular, was a Master for 48 years, a record unlikely to be surpassed. He was also the first Master in Charge of Hockey, a sport in which the School has been exceptionally successful. Keith Harlow (Member of staff 1961-94) Keith Harlow who died on 4 January 2023 at the age of 88 was the older of two boys and was born in Hull in 1934. When war broke out, the two boys were evacuated to Holmfirth, where they lived with their Aunt whilst their parents remained in Hull. As the war continued, his parents decided that they too would move out to Holmfirth and, as luck would have it, the move was made before their house in Hull was hit by a bomb. When Keith reached the age of 17, he was called up 38

for National Service, which he served in the Royal Air Force as a mechanic. Having been awarded a scholarship to study languages at Oxford, Keith had hoped to have the opportunity to learn a language whilst in the Air Force. But this was not to be, and he had to wait until he completed his service and was able to take up his place to study French and German at St Edmund Hall. Keith went on to become a teacher of languages, both in this country and abroad. He spent some time at a school in Peterborough teaching French and German, and a year in France teaching English. Keith loved travelling, and it was while on one of his trips that Keith met Irene. Both on the same course at a language school in Pau, France, they happened to be sitting next to each other on a coach outing to Biarritz to see the fireworks. The next day, Keith was waiting at the door for Irene to come out of her lecture, and they went on to spend as much time as they could together during the two weeks of the course. Although Irene had returned to the Netherlands and Keith to England, they kept in touch and Keith would go out to Amsterdam to visit Irene. In 1962, Irene came to England to meet Keith’s parents at Easter and later that year Keith and Irene got engaged, marrying the following year. After securing a position as a Modern Languages teacher at Whitgift they set up home in South Croydon; the family began to increase in size with the arrival of three sons, Peter in 1966, John in 1968 and finally David in 1970. Keith worked as a school master all his life, with the longest and happiest part of his career spent at Whitgift. In addition to his teaching duties Keith was Housemaster of Cross’s for over 15 years and coach of the U13B cricket team for over a decade. He particularly enjoyed playing cricket for the Domini team in his younger years and had many fond memories of long summer evenings spent in bucolic Kent and Sussex cricket fields. Towards the end of his career in 1991, he was given the opportunity to spend a year in New Zealand on a teacher exchange to Rathkeale College, Masterton which he thoroughly enjoyed. He was able to travel all over the country. Keith retired a couple of years after returning from NZ and spent his retirement indulging his passions of travelling and architecture. This tribute to his father was written by David Harlow (1980-88). Julian Kennedy-Cooke (Member of Staff 1953-89) Julian Kennedy-Cooke, aged 94, died peacefully at St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester on 4 August 2022. Born in Northampton on 21 July 1928, he was

educated at Maidwell Hall Preparatory School, Northampton and, like his father, St. Edward’s School Oxford. Thereafter, he attended Worcester College, Oxford from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages. Julian joined the teaching staff at Whitgift School, Croydon in 1953 where he remained until retiring in 1989. In April 1955, he married Hilary Zoe Woodhouse who continues to live in West Wittering, to where they moved in 1993 following his retirement from teaching. During his teaching career, in addition to his day to day responsibilities, Julian arranged and led many overseas school tours to various parts of Europe, numerous times to France and including one to Russia . Among other contributions to school life, he played the trombone in school music events, organised sports fixtures, assisted with coaching, refereed rugby matches well into his 50s and actively contributed to Whitgift Alumni (especially in the archive office with Freddie Percy) for many years following his retirement. During the course of his career, for a time he was second master for the junior school and a junior housemaster in Cedar House. Julian never professed to be a talented participant in sport. However, he would always have a go, taking up golf in his 40s and skiing in his 50s. During a highly active retirement, amongst other activities he enjoyed being a Friend of Chichester Festival Julian on his 90th Birthday Theatre, being an active member of the church community as a volunteer gardener, a server and in the choir. He participated with the West Wittering Players both in set building, acting and front of house and NADFAS (The Arts Society) with whom Hilary and he did an amazing number of UK and overseas tours (many organised by him). His gardens both in Croydon and West Wittering were one of his main passions. He is survived by his wife, Hilary, their daughter, Caroline, and two sons, James and William, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He was also

aware of the impending arrival of a further two greatgrandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Annette Kennedy-Cooke, who has also lived for many years in West Wittering, nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends. This obituary was written by Julian’s son William (1976-81) Bob Schad (Member of staff 1950-98) As my father’s favourite son, I’ve been asked by my family to give the eulogy today. I knew my dad for only 44.7% of his life, arriving as I did in the autumn of his years, so I’ve relied on other sources, from family, friends and pupils to fill in the gaps before I was born. He was a true renaissance man with pursuits ranging from the physical to the intellectual, to the musical. He was a fine mathematician, international hockey player, stylish cricketer, racket sport enthusiast, occasional skier, late-to-the game-golfer, accomplished bridge player and remarkably sprightly Scottish country dancer. He was also a much loved teacher, colleague, friend, brother, father, grandfather, uncle and husband. A gentleman of wit, charm and kindness, who’ll be fondly remembered by all who met him He was born on 2 November 1926 in Cheam, the “tall, handsome, and smart brother” to Jane and Dick. He was 12 at the start of the Second World War, but had a relatively peaceful time at his Sussex boarding school Hurstpierpoint College, mainly spent on the playing fields. In fact, he would later describe these war years to me as ‘idyllic”. At 16, he was enrolled into the Home Guard, and took part in a training-ground exercise which entailed live grenades being tossed over a wall. Surviving that incident, Dad went up to Christ Church, Oxford in 1945, where despite his academic gifts, sport was his main priority – an example I choose to follow many years later. His talent for hockey was rewarded with an Oxford Blue and four caps for England in 1952, playing on the winning side on each occasion. He continued to play hockey for the Cheam club well into his 50s. After Oxford, he undertook National Service, being commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the RAF, and teaching Mathematics at the RAF College, Cranwell. Dad discovered a passion for teaching and went on to teach maths at Whitgift School for 48 years. We presume that this was some kind of record and certainly I’m sure there will be no-one in the future to surpass it. Over those five decades, he would have taught thousands of pupils and many of those who’ve been in touch say they still use the methods 39

Obituaries and tributes (continued)

he imparted all those years ago and have even passed them on to their own children. Not all his pupils were so attentive or well behaved and one member of the class of 1978, who shall remain unnamed, recalls a story when he and his friend removed the screws securing the baffles fitted to the front of the wings of the school glider; apparently “they shouldn’t have left it unattended.” Dad was the unsuspecting test pilot. “As the glider was being dragged along, the baffles fell off and the glider shot about sixty feet up in the air. It was spectacular. Bob calmly brought it gently down to a textbook landing. He got out and scratched his head. “Didn’t shout at anyone.” He rarely did. At Whitgift, he formed a strong friendship with fellow teachers Ken Nicholas, John Branston and Dick GlynneJones and they were affectionately known as the Four Musketeers. Dick remembered Dad as his teammate on the famous Domini cricket team, composed of Whitgift schoolmasters. “The star hockey player was a brilliant batsman and in the field he would sweep in long rapid strides to cut off boundaries and run batsmen out. When he became Domini captain he created a new, livelier, wittier atmosphere in our team.” He gave his time generously to extra-curricular activity at Whitgift. He was a hockey, cricket and rugby coach, ran the RAF section of the CCF for over 30 years, rising to the rank of Wing Commander, and oversaw a significant development in school bridge. He also taught an adult bridge class in Selsdon until the age of 73, at which point the Head of the Continuing Education team in Croydon decided that he needed to make way for a younger instructor. Dad was still playing cricket at this point and was yet to take up golf and Scottish Country Dancing! The latter provided the perfect showcase for both his mental and physical dexterity. He had a head for the figures (being a mathematician) and he was a popular partner on the dance floor as he was invariably courteous – a true gentleman. Alongside his many pastimes Dad managed to fit in a

family life, although he waited until the age of 35 before he found a woman who could sufficiently distract him from thinking about cricket. He married Carole in 1965 and they were together for over 57 years. During that time he became a loving father to Samantha, Emma and me and a proud grandad to Beth, Fergus, Morgan and Rory. Forty two of those married years were spent at 42 Birdhurst Rise, where Dad’s skills at DIY, decorating and carpentry were put to great use. He even gave up three summer seasons of cricket to make this great old house a home. When Emma and Sam were little he would pop to Heals, measure up the furniture, and come home and make it himself. Birdhurst Rise was the perfect house for regular family gatherings, always involving a lot of cake, courtesy of Sam. Boxing Day with Lynda, Lucy and Daniel (who we sadly lost 7 years ago) was an annual highlight, with Dad offering up his legendary film quiz. Even at the age of 95. We teased him in hospital that he wasn’t getting a pass this year. We were lucky to gather with the wider family on his 90th and his 80th, which gave us the chance to connect again with Dick and Jane’s children. He was a popular and much loved uncle. We have so many happy memories of childhood holidays on the south coast, a tour of Athens, guided by the three classicists in the family and to Mum and Dad’s favourite place, San Martin in Spain. He would drive the 800 miles to get there every year, well into his 70s. He lived a long and happy life, passing peacefully, surrounded by his family in his final weeks. We will all miss him terribly. Dad we love you. This eulogy was given at Bob Schad’s funeral by his son James (1990-98)

Whitgifti an Associ ation

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