The Ousel - BSA

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Bedford School Association With the sad loss of Richard Garrett just before Christmas last year, this year has been a challenging one for the Bedford School Association (BSA), and in particular the staff of the BSA. Richard was very much the driving force behind the Association but the contribution of the BSA staff cannot be underestimated and I would like to pay particular tribute to them and thank them Simon Briggs for their hard work in very difficult circumstances. As many will know, we have been very fortunate to secure the services of Hugh Maltby (73-83) who was also my predecessor as Chairman of the BSA and is very familiar with its aims, ethos and constituent bodies. As such, we look forward to a new chapter in the evolution of the BSA. As I have highlighted in prior editions of the Ousel, it is how you are greeted when you visit the School, whether as an OB, a parent of a boy in the Prep School or the Upper School, a past parent or founder or benefactor that says so much about this place. The community that the School creates and maintains is one of its key qualities and you will get a flavour of all the work, activities and events that have taken place in the following pages. Many people volunteer their time, whether in organising events or reunions, participating in committees or running the nearly new shop and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of them for their hard work. The welcoming nature of the School community is a testament to this and I hope, whatever your link with the School, that you will join us and experience this for yourself.

Simon Briggs (77-82) Chairman, BSA Committee

Richard Banks

participating at the OB Careers Fair in March who were able to offer work experience, internships and mentoring. The next Careers Fair will be held in the Great Hall on Wednesday 4th March 2020. We encourage all those who can inspire, give advice, or act as a mentor in their chosen line of work to please contact Gina Worboys at gworboys@bedfordschool.org.uk.

In August a group of past parents completed the Prudential Ride 100 in and around central London and out into the Surrey hills. We are now looking at expanding this into a Bedford School Cycling Club with a couple of mixed distance rides early next year. We are also keen to hear from anyone with other possible ideas or events for the group.

We endeavour to keep everyone in contact with forthcoming events with termly bulletins, however, if you would like any further information about the Past Parents’ Association, please email Bev Marshall at bmarshall@bedfordschool.org.uk. If you are a past parent and would like to receive e-bulletins and invitations to events, just fill in the short form on our website: bit.ly/OBParent Richard Banks Chairman, Past Parents’ Association

Parents Guild

Past Parents’ Association

The final piece of the jigsaw is how we always describe the Past Parents’ Association. The School is extremely keen to keep all past parents engaged and fully involved to whatever level they wish when their boys leave the School. There are always a number of past parents attending concerts, rugby matches and events at The Quarry Theatre so these are often a great opportunity to catch up and keep in touch.

In today’s competitive world, not only is the OB network important but past parent contacts are a great addition.

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Emma O’Dell

Building a community starts with people offering to give up their time to help others and that’s just what the Parents’ Guild have done and will continue to do.

Looking back across the year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Guild for their continued hard work and for giving up their time to ensure that our School has a Guild to be proud of.

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Parents’ Guild Tug of War

The year’s events started with the Tug-of War between the Houses involving two boys from each year pitting their strength against each other. OB Tom Wootton (78-87) presided over the event ensuring a fair contest was had. Sporting their House colour t-shirts, that had been donated by the Guild, the boys took up the strain and began to pull, with encouragement from both their noisy house mates and parents. St Cuthbert’s House were able to raise the trophy in triumph but all the boys deserve praise for their determination and effort. All the spectators had a wonderful time, with chocolate bars for the boys and refreshments for the parents, all provided by the Guild.

December saw the parents enjoying the Nutcracker themed Ball in the Great Hall. Members of the Guild had worked hard to make this a special night and we hope to build on the success of that event for future balls. The Parents Guild Grand Christmas Draw was drawn by the Head Master with the winner receiving a top of the range Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Having taken on the role of Chair in the Spring Term, it is now time to knuckle down and get some more social events in the diary to allow parents the opportunity to meet and feel part of this Schools Community.

Emma O’Dell Chairman, Parents Guild

Bedford School Foundation

I would like to start by thanking everybody who has supported the Foundation over the past year. In a few days (at the time of writing) we will be marking the annual Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors with a chapel service, followed by a lunch. This is a key date in the calendar for the Foundation, as we celebrate the School’s heritage, but at the same time recognise the contribution over the years that philanthropy has had on the School and its present and former pupils.

Since the establishment of the School by Sir William Harpur, benefactors have played a vital role in taking the School forward, and it is interesting to see, looking over material in the archives, that there were several formal fundraising campaigns long before the Foundation was established in 2003.

At the moment the Foundation is not engaged in a specific fundraising project, although it continues to engage with the wider School community and promote support for bursaries in particular. As always, the Trustees take their steer from the School, and believe that the role of the Foundation is to support,

where needed, the overall objectives of the School as laid out in its Strategic Plan, whilst respecting the wishes of our donors.

We are aware that various projects are currently being explored and we look forward to knowing more details as these take shape.

I am pleased to say that the Foundation continues to flourish, thanks to the continued support of so many OB’s, and it has been encouraging to see how this has enabled the School to complete some exciting projects on the School estate, ranging from the new Quarry Theatre to the refurbished Science Block and the Art School, and to offer an extended bursary and scholarship programme.

It is also encouraging that there is much interest in the Foundation, and its objectives, and to see how the work of the Foundation continues to contribute to the School, as it always has done since it was established in 2003. As mentioned, it has certainly played a key part in supporting building projects, scholarships and bursaries, as well as a number of smaller projects.

It is therefore important that we remember the contribution of many generations and keep this tradition of giving alive. We may now have a Foundation, actively fundraise, and sensitively promote giving through our campaigns, but ultimately the rationale has not changed and that is to provide the best start in life possible for the boys of Bedford School. Many boys have directly benefited from the generosity of others, and we hope many more will do so in the future.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Trustees for their continued work and support of the Foundation.

I would also like to welcome Hugh Maltby, who has now formally taken over as Director of the BSA, and as Clerk to the Foundation. Hugh has big boots to fill, and Hugh and I have already begun working together closely to continue to develop the strong foundations which Richard Garrett and his team helped us build.

A final thank you goes to Anna Saunders, who left us at the end of October. We wish her all the best for the future and I would also personally like to add my appreciation for all her efforts in helping me over what has been a difficult transitional period.

Thank you to all supporters of the Foundation and also to those who have Lance Feaver made a pledge to support it in their wills. All gifts, big and small, are much appreciated.

I look forward to meeting many of you, telling you more about the exciting projects that we will support and hopefully inspiring you to give something back to this great institution.

Lance Feaver (69-74) Chairman, Bedford School Foundation

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The Office team (left to right): Bev Marshall, Clara Policella, Anna Saunders Gina Worboys and Hugh Maltby.

WHAT A YEAR! It has been a mixed year for the BSA office with tears, laughter and reflection, all experienced in equal measures. The sad passing of Richard Garrett, who we all miss, [see page 209 for for his obituary]. Richard’s uplifting memorial service held in the School Chapel, with its rousing music and poignant messages, will live with us all for a very long time.

Laughter and comradeship were in abundance throughout the year, whether at events organised at the School or further afield. Highlights included the OB Annual Dinner, Prep School Fun Day, the Henley Drinks Reception and the Blackpit Brewery Beer Festival.

The event to commemorate the Bedford School Fire in 1979 was a poignant affair. OBs and staff alike reflected on the spirit of those at the School at the time who, in the face of adversity, epitomised everything that is great about the 168

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place by ensuring the School was “open for business” on the Monday morning following the fire.

Looking forward, we have an exciting year ahead of us.

Our new digital business networking platform Eagle Connect, which we plan to launch in the New Year, will bring our community together, as we strive to support our younger OBs, as they start their careers. On the sporting front, you’ll see that many OBs have enjoyed success, whether on the rugby fields, river or, in Ethan Vernon’s case, on two wheels!

Socially, we have a full programme on offer with something to suit all tastes. Can I ask that you regularly refer to the School and Old Bedfordians Club online calendars, which are constantly updated on the website.

I look forward to seeing you at an event in the near future.

Hugh Maltby (73-83), Director, BSA and Old Bedfordians Club

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OB CLUB NEWS

Guy Davison (74-78) at our Fly Fishing event.

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A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN

What a great summer we had with the Club, not least with the fabulous weather we enjoyed at Henley Royal Regatta. As ever, the OB Club reception was very popular, more so than ever as we combined with the parents and friends of BSBC and hosted a couple of crew reunions. In fact, we ran out of Pimms, but not before everybody had had more than was good for them. We must have under-estimated the attendance, which is probably understandable, but under-estimating OB thirst at such an event is unforgivable! On a personal note, it was good to catch up with Kristian Bouveng (72-76), formerly of Pemberley, a Captain of Boats and my tight-head prop in the 1975 1st XV. Kristian is the “boy” shaking hands with the Queen in the photograph from 1975 that regularly appears. He has been all over the world with the Swedish Army and I have not seen him since 1976. That is the joy of these occasions.

A week later, sitting in the marquee for the “At Home” in 170

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July, it was great to observe how OBs from so many different years can come together and enjoyed each other’s company, linked by the simple fact that they went to the same school. It really is a fun occasion rounding off a busy day (year in fact!) in Bedford. As well as the “Great Eight” of 1964, who had held a reunion the previous evening at Emma Garrett’s Pavilion in the park, and the regular fabulous support of the leavers from the 1980s, we had a really good turn-out from the 2009 leavers, as well as a good number from 1989, 1979, 1969 and 1959. It was a shame that the 1999 leavers had not put together a table, but then the President himself admits that the first “At Home” he attended was in 2015, probably for the same reasons of inertia, young family, busy life…. but too busy to enjoy yourself with your old mates? That was my loss. It would be good to see you next year, chaps!

On a different note, the Club is working on an OB Club badge - and I’ve already applied for mine – it will look good on my denim dungarees (I think!) and well done David Murray to Craig and Hugh for coming up with the idea and putting it into action. In addition, I will particularly enjoy wearing my badge as a Subscribing Member. But that is not the reason I have been a Subscribing Member since I left the School in 1976.

The fact is that I appreciate how lucky I was to have attended such a great place, (for the most part!) thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and have a great loyalty to the School and fellow OBs. I enjoy their company immensely. The Club does a great job and it does need our support, in many ways but including financially, if it is going to continue to do so. Please really do think about this, better still, sign up to become a Subscriber – it is pretty cheap - and assist us in continuing the same level of service.

Whilst on the subject of service, we were delighted to welcome Hugh Maltby (73-83) to the role of Director in August.

Many of you will know Hugh already as he is a keen supporter of the Club, a parent, a former Governor, one of the Maltby

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clan and a friend to the School. Hugh, we all know, has big boots to fill but has already got stuck into the task. We very much look forward to working, and socialising, with him in the future.

Autumn is drawing in as I write and winter will be upon us before you read this. So let me finally thank Gina, Clara, Anna and Bev for working so hard to keep everything together prior to Hugh’s arrival and thank all our DVPs worldwide for putting in so much effort on our behalves.

I hope I will see you at the Annual Dinner in Bedford on 16 November, but if not, have a great Christmas.

David Murray (69-76) President of the Old Bedfordians Club It has been a very busy time for the Old Bedfordians Club this half of the year and we have been particularly pleased to welcome Hugh Maltby as our new Director. Since he started full time in August, the OB Team has been working hard to follow up on the findings of last year’s Member Survey and to deliver a strategy to engage more fully with OBs of all ages. A core part of this plan will be the implementation of an ‘alumni networking directory’ for OBs. Working with an organisation called Graduway, we will soon be launching our version of this software platform called “Eagle Connect”.

A glance back over the past six months gives us a feel for the

depth and breadth of events that the OB Club, its DVPs (District Vice Presidents) or members have organised. Overseas, events have included an OB lunch in Zürich, the OB Club Battlefield Tour to Agincourt and Waterloo and OB gatherings in Singapore, Hong Kong and Toronto.

Nearer home, there has been the OB London Business Networking Forum at LGT Vestra along with get-togethers at St. Albans, Henley Royal Regatta (where members of the 1964 and 1969 crews were reunited), the Festival of Beer at the Blackpit Brewery and Bournemouth. There was an amazing turnout at the ‘Team Garrett – Run Bedford Race’ and the end of term OB Club ‘At Home’ was again very well attended, with over 200 OBs and guests enjoying luncheon and reunions in the marquee.

The wonderful summer months have also provided us with a variety of popular sporting get-togethers, including fly-fishing, shooting, golf, tennis, rowing, rugby and cricket.

For those more informal OB gatherings, we’ve undertaken a trial run of OB Club Pin Badges. They are 25mm in size and made of hardwearing premium quality enamel with a butterfly clasp.

I conclude with the warmest wishes to you all for a very merry Christmas filled with fun and laughter, and for much festivity and enjoyment over the New Year.

Craig Mitchell (64-74) Chairman of the Old Bedfordians Club

Craig Mitchell

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calendar of events OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB • BEDFORD SCHOOL • DE PARYS AVENUE • BEDFORD MK40 2TU Telephone: 01234 359201 • Email: obclub@bedfordschool.org.uk • Website: www.obclub.org Facebook: /OldBedfordians • LinkedIn: Old Bedfordians Club • Twitter: @OldBedfordians

Our calendar for 2020 is full of events open to OBs and their families. Some are organised by the School and others by the OB Club itself. Take a look below to whet your appetite, and find more information and online booking on the OB Club website bit.ly/OBEventsCal. More events will be added throughout the year. We hope to welcome you to an event soon!

FEBRUARY

tbc: OB Club Business Networking Forum, tbc, London

MARCH

4: OB Club Careers Fair, Bedford School tbc: Prep School Sports Tour to Jersey 20: OB Club DVP Bedfordshire Curry Night 21: OB Club v School Rowing 21: Boat Club Annual Dinner and Awards Evening, Bedford School 21: OB Golf v Old Oundelians, Royal Worlington and Newmarket Golf Club, Bury St Edmunds 21-22: OB Sports Weekend: OB Football, Hockey, Fives, Squash and Rifle Shooting v The School 22: School Choral Society Concert, Bedford School

APRIL

2-5: OB Golf Society - Halford Hewitt Tournament 15-19: OB Club Battlefield Tour to Gallipoli 25: OB Golf Society Spring Meeting 25: School Open Morning for Prospective Parents, Bedford School tbc: School Summer Bands Concert, Bedford School

MAY

tbc: Bedford School Foundation, Tour, AGM and Lunch, Bedford School 9: Bedford Regatta 17: OB Club Golf Society - Grafton Moorish Qualifiers, Gog Magog Golf Club tbc: OB Club Business Networking Forum, Deloitte, London (tbc)

JUNE

tbc: OB Club Golf Society Tour 28: OB Golf v School, Woburn Golf Club tbc: Chapel Choir Reunion, Bedford School 30: OB Tennis v School, Bedford School 29-3 July: OB Cricket Week, Bedford School

JULY

1: School and OB Club Henley Drinks Reception 3: OB Cricket Club AGM & Lunch, Bedford School 4: Upper School Speech Day (Prize Giving by invitation), Bedford School 4: OB Club At Home Reception, Lunch, Tours, AGM and 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 Year Reunions, Bedford School 9-11: OB Club Golf Society- Mellin Trophy, West Hill Golf Club * Cricketer Cup dates tbc 172

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ob events

OB At Home and AGM on Speech Day

There was a great atmosphere at the School as we welcomed back 200 OBs and guests for the annual ‘At Home’ reception and lunch on Saturday 6th July 2019. The day kicked off with reunions for the Classes of 2009 (with 30 OBs getting together from this year group!), 1999, 1989, 1979, 1969 and 1959 – followed by tours of the School, the AGM, a drinks reception and finally, a delicious three-course lunch.

The One That Got Away!

On a gloriously sunny day, over 20 OBs and their partners visited Roxton Park Trout Fishery for an afternoon of fly fishing on Tuesday 21st May. Kindly hosted

by Simon Bath (56-64) and his wife Maggie, the lake and surroundings looked absolutely wonderful in the afternoon sunshine as the fishermen took to the banks and the rowing boats. Whilst there was ample time for the OBs to relax and enjoy the fishing, they also made the most of their time over supper to catch up and reminisce about their School days. Some had not seen one another for over 50 years, so there was plenty to talk about.

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Memories of Agincourt and Waterloo

Over three days at the end of April, a group of Old Bedfordians and friends of the School visited the battlefields of Agincourt and Waterloo. It was fascinating to learn about the unexpected victory for King Henry V against the larger French army at Agincourt and how

the use of the English and Welsh archers made such a difference to the victory. The weather prior to the Battle in 1415 was not good and the going underfoot was very heavy – and, as we stood on the battlefield with the wind and the rain battering us, we felt great sympathy with the French knights in their heavy armour who struggled through the thick mud.

OB Networking in the City

Many thanks to Joe Sylvester (87-98), Investment Manager, at LGT Vestra LLP for being such a wonderful host at our second OB London Business Networking Forum of the year in June. It was great to hear Joe’s reasons for hosting the event: “I was given a very friendly summer internship by a brilliant Old Bedfordian, a chap called Miles Young (63-72). At the end of that internship, I asked him, ‘What can I do to say thank you?’. His answer was to give something back…to pay it forward. So here we are now. This is my way of paying it forward.”

If you would like to host an event similar to this in the future, please do make contact with the OB Club Office.

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Henley Reception 2019

On Wednesday 3rd July, OBs, parents, past parents and friends of the School attended the first day of Henley Royal Regatta to cheer on the boys and come together at the School and OB Club Drinks Reception. This year, for the first time in many years, the School

Chairman’s Reception

OB Club Chairman, Craig Mitchell (64-74) and his wife Krystyna, hosted a reception on Saturday, 8th June. The day began with tea and coffee at the Abbot’s Kitchen Café on the south side of St Albans Cathedral. The group then

had two crews at the Regatta. Both crews had early races, so were able to pop along and join everyone at the Drinks Reception where they were met with a round of applause. As the sun shone and the conversation flowed, it was a wonderful opportunity for people to catch up over a glass or two of Pimms.

moved inside to explore the Cathedral further. A short walk then took everyone to the new Museum in the Town Hall which included a temporary exhibition of Barbara Hepworth sculptures. Guests then relocated to the Chairman’s home for drinks and lunch.

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DVP Events Around the World We are fortunate to have an extensive network of District Vice Presidents for the Club. Many thanks to these DVPs for all they do in the role both across the UK and overseas. We rely on them enormously to support and cultivate the OB Club network.

Could we make a request for all OBs to try and support DVP events in their region. They are always very friendly and fun. Whether you have been to many OB Club events or never been to anything since leaving School you will always receive a warm welcome!

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Switzerland

DVP for Switzerland, Mike De Morgan (55-60), organised a fabulous reunion lunch for OBs and partners at the Da Capo restaurant in ZĂźrich on Friday, 5th April 2019. Attending with Mike were his wife, Tulay, Martin Austin (60-69), Patrick Copery (6570), Chris King (67-73), Chairman of the OB Club Craig Mitchell (64-74) and his wife Krystyna, Richard Evenson (86-97), Richard Oakley (96-06) and Wilhelm Kleiminger (04-06). It was a fantastic opportunity to meet up, make connections and enjoy a lovely meal whilst reminiscing about the School.

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Singapore

On Wednesday 19th June, OBs in Singapore met for drinks and dinner on the popular Ann Siang Hill. It was a great evening with good food and brilliant company. Thank you to our Singapore DVP (District Vice President), Russell de Chernatony (98-03), for organising the get-together. If any OBs are passing through the area, Russell would be delighted to meet up.

UNITED KINGDOM Bedfordshire

OBs, staff and friends of the School joined DVP for Bedford, Dr Jason Reddy (79-84), over the summer for ‘The Festival of Beer’ at Blackpit Brewery in

Hong Kong

OBs in Hong Kong enjoyed a wonderful get-together at the Kerry Hotel on Sunday 18th August. The gathering was kindly organised by District Vice President (DVP) for the area, Ambrose Wang (01-06), and was a great opportunity for OBs and guests to catch up.

Buckinghamshire. Run by three OBs, Ben Williams (9102), Oliver Whiteley (92-02) and Duncan Wheeler (95-02), the Brewery held a family weekend festival which brought together some great beer, wonderful food, live music, theatre and family fun. We hope you will join us at next year’s festival.

Bournemouth

Twenty-seven OBs and their partners met up in Bournemouth for the Annual OB Lunch which took place on Saturday 28th September – a yearly event which dates back to 1967. It was a wonderful gathering with several OBs travelling from as far afield as Ireland, Devon and Cornwall to be there. DVP Paul Mantell (66-71) and his wife Kathy, who hosted the lunch, were delighted to welcome the new Director of the Bedford School Association, Hugh Maltby, together with four ‘new boys’ who had not attended before and whose ages ranged from 34 to 92!

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ob reunions

Henley – Fifty Years On

Fifty years since they last rowed together, members of the 1969 1st VIII came together at Henley Royal Regatta on Wednesday 3rd July. Six members of the crew, Brian Cawley (60-69), Rex Elliott (58-69), Charles Frost (65-69), John Jennings (58-69), Peter Beaumont (64-69) and John Gray (64-69) gathered at the OB and School Drinks Reception in Butler’s Field.

They then went on to meet and have their photographs taken with the 1st VIII crew in front of the Gloriana, the Queen’s Rowbarge. Before relaxing to watch an afternoon of rowing, the crew enjoyed lunch in the Stewards’ Enclosure.

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1964 1st VIII – Fifty Five Year Reunion

After a very successful fifty year reunion in May 2014, the 1964 1st VIII decided to catch up again in 2019 on the eve of the At Home. The crew and guests, some of whom travelled from as far afield as Australia and the USA, gathered for dinner at the Pavilion in Bedford Park. Each member of the crew gave a five minute speech or, in some cases, fifteen! Thank you to the organisers David Warbrick-Smith (59-65), Richard Harrison (59-64) and the crew for supporting this event.

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NEWS OF OLD BEDFORDIANS  Graham Tilt (1942-45) visited the School for the first time since he left as a 12 year old when his family moved from the Bedford area. His lifelong love for water and sailing was started when he was cox for a School VIII on the River.

adventures are related with good and, at times, bleak humour as, in the immortal words of his favourite poet, Rudyard Kipling, “he treats both triumph and disaster with rare good spirits and indestructible determination.”  John Wyborn (47-52) recalls the wonderful story of former Bursar and Head of CCF , Brigadier John Durnford-Slater DSO and Bar (staff 50-53) in the late 1940’s and the autobiography he had written in 1953.

‘Commando’ tells the story of one of the real unsung heroes of WW2 from the time when the author was the only Commando in the country.

It tells how in a week he collected a hand-picked force of 35 officers and 500 men; how that force trained, developed, became a tradition, and raised others like it. Only the best was good enough, and anything less had to go; only the fittest could survive and they had to be the smartest too. Durnford-Slater took part in nearly all the escapades of derring-do until the end of the war.  Former TV Broadcaster for BBC Panorama and ITN News, Richard Lindley (45-54) returned to the School in October together with his wife Carole Stone, who is herself a former producer of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’, for the inaugural Ready2Lead Leadership conference. Despite having Alzheimer’s Richard helped present a session at the conference and he and Carole delivered candid and thought-provoking advice such as, “Forget yourself and take an interest in other people”. (We were so sorry to hear the sad news of Richard’s death on 13th Nov 2019)

 Following his books on birds in East and North East Germany, Roger White (47 - 57) has published another guide: “A Birdwatching guide to the Netherlands”.

Beautifully illustrated it contains colour maps and photos and details of the best birding sites and a list of the species that can be seen. More details are on Amazon books website and with NHBS.  Martin Van Oppen (48-51) has written his biography ‘Embers of Empire’ – the story of a young man brought up in war-torn Britain.

The book relates to some of his struggles, disappointments and achievements, following his path around an Empire upon which the sun was fast setting. His

The Rt Hon Lord Naseby PC (50-55) is currently presenting a Private Members Bill in the House of Lords on the ‘Extension of Franchise’ for Lords so that they can vote at General Elections. For the second reading of the Bill he asked UVIth former Alex Wilkins for his views as a 17 year old reading A Level politics. After Alex sent over his personal opinions on it (after doing a lot of reading from House of Lords library briefings and many other sources!) Lord Naseby decided they were worthy of being quoted in Parliament!

Veteran marathon runner Jonathan Kane (51-58) has been clocking up even more miles. He ran the London Marathon this year in 4 hours 6 minutes and 42 seconds, coming 6th in the 75/79 Age Group. Congratulations Jonathan!  Finn Longinotto (57-62) enjoyed hosting Andrew Peacock (51-58) at his home in Miami. They not only overlapped whilst at Bedford but also in the Banking and Argentinian chapters of their lives.

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 A Pemberley House (including a few other Houses!) reunion lunch took place at Brook’s Club in St James’s in July. The tradition started 15 years ago instigated

by Mark Roberts (64-69) when he came to ‘summer’ in the UK from his Hong Kong home.

Numbers have now increased to include a few others of their contemporaries. Caption – l-r Chris Burr (58-69), Steve Pearson (60-65), Paul Roberts (64-69), Dick Charnley (59-70), David Fletcher (58-69), Chris Foster 60-69), Chris Hamp 6368), Steve Clarke (63-69), Richard Canvin (58-69), Rex Elliott (58-69) and Andy Davies (58-67).  Ali Malek QC (68-74) the former Head of 3VB and the current Chambers’ Chairman, has formerly been confirmed by Gray’s Inn’s Pension as the Inn’s Vice-Treasurer for 2020. He will subsequently assume the prestigious appointment of Treasurer of Gray’s Inn in 2021. Ali is widely regarded as an international commercial litigation and international arbitration heavyweight and is noted as one of the ‘Stars at the Bar’. (Chambers & Partners UK’s 2015 Guide).  Enjoying the Ashes cricket match at Lords in August were l-r Lance Feaver (69-74), Dr David Dance (67-73), David Murray (69-76) and Mark Lloyd-Williams (68-76).

 Mark Yeomans (74-76) was disappointed not to be able to attend the 2018 Annual Dinner at the RAF Club as his father was a Pathfinder in Bomber Command during WW2 but it was a bit far from his home in Saskatchewan, Canada! Scientist Mark buys and sells show jumping horses and spends his summers following his horses to shows.

Dr Ian Gallen (72-77) was awarded a CBE in the Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours in September 2019 for his International work on the board of Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund Peak Project, delivering world class care for people with T1 Diabetes. Ian had former Prime Minister Theresa May as a patient.  John Lewes (73-78) has been involved in the filming of ‘The Lossen’. Shot in Felmersham, Bedfordshire, John was cast as the ‘Horse Racing Commentator’ and provided the voice-over for this intriguing story which brings together the natural and supernatural worlds. So far, the film has won the Rome Fantasy film award, the Rhode Island and Houston award also the best Fantasy Short category.

 DVP for Melbourne, Australia, David Brice (71-76) visited the School with his partner Lizzie and daughter Madi.

David called into Burnaby where he was a boarder and reminisced about his time in the House.

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 Many thanks to Guy Snell (72-83) of Fourway Communication Ltd for inviting OB Hugo Idle (06-12) and three Bedford School students to an engineering taster day on the 24th July. As a followup from the day, Hugo was thrilled to have been offered a placement year by the firm as part of his university course.

 Adrian Fung (83-78) returned to the UK from his home in Canada for the first time in 30 years and, although he only had 10 days to cover the whole of England, he found time to bring his family to Bedford!

 ‘More of what you need, less of what you don’t’. Neil Dawson (78-83) has launched a new creative advertising agency, Neil A Dawson & Company, offering what today seems a challenging proposition, namely promising clients what they pay for: the work! Neil works with a team of like-minded creatives, planners and others. Neil has previously been Global Creative Director on the likes of Johnnie Walker, Philips and Bacardi. He was the first Creative Director to win backto-back Cannes Grands Prix and his VW Wedding is the most awarded advertisement in advertising history.

 David Marson (7481) gave a talk to The Economics Society in June. He discussed Principles of Investing, The Hideaways Club where he is Business Development Director, fine wine for investment and careers.  Oliver Kirby (70-81) enjoyed showing his son Gilbert and daughter Adelaide round his old School when he visited Bedford in May.

James Hind (72-83) and his son Ollie (06-17) travelled to Santa Fe in Argentina to watch Ollies’ 1st XV team mate Fraser Dingwall (13-17) play in the 2019 World Rugby Under-20 Championship. England came 5th overall in the competition.  Bedfordshire DVP Dr Jason Reddy (7984) took the opportunity at the end of his holiday to the States to catch up with fellow DVP from across the pond, Vivake Bhalla (87-93),seen here at the Whitby Hotel in New York.

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 Andrew Murphy (75-86) and James Brodie (77-88) competed in the iconic Selkie Henley Classic swim in June, a 2.1km endurance upriver swim held over the Henley Royal Regatta course.

 Creative Director and Founder of Cirencester based PR and Communications company, ‘Soaring Worldwide’, Adam Baggs (87-97) had a nostalgic trip back to the School during August with his son Tristan and mother Kathryn. He was amazed to see how much had changed in the last 20 years!

Head of Communications for the Queensland Reds Rugby Union, Philip Pope (81-92) was delighted to welcome the Bedford School touring side to Australia. The Reds TV travelled to the Sunshine Coast to film the school take on Matthew Flinders Anglican College in a tour match. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqACtAu0FP0)  Dr Simon Waite (89-94) recently secured a post as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Music Technology at Falmouth University, moving from Staffordshire University. Si has previously released solo material under the name National Trevor with the band Captain Yange. Captain Yange are looking to release new material over the next few years having released their debut album ‘Compis Mentis’ in 2018

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 Professional pianist and Director of Music at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann (95-00), performed on the recording of Alan Charlton’s (staff 99-02 & 05-09) composition of his song cycle, guitar & cello suite and further choral works on the 2019 CD Cloud and Mirrors, released a year after Alan’s untimely death (see full obituary in this Ousel). The CD was launched to great acclaim at the Royal Academy of Music and has been played on BBC Radio 3.  Business Manager for Kingsley Health & Beauty James Woolnough (95-00) was married to Dr Yvette Martin at Bedford School on Saturday 13th July. Other OBs at the wedding included Thomas Broadway (95-00); Matthew Halsall (95-00); Alexander Twomey-McLeod (91-00); Andrew Staincliffe (93-00); James Batty (95-00); Tim Aylen (90-00) & Alexander Goulart (Alex Pitman) (96-00)

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 Many congratulations to Squadron Leader Alex Vaughan (91-01) who has been awarded a DFC for his part in a sortie in which a Syrian chemicals weapons dump was destroyed after more than 70 civilians were killed. Alex was the lead pilot for the combat jets formation protecting four Tornado GR4 bombers. After releasing their payload, at great personal risk, Alex ordered the Typhoons to shield the bombers from the most threatening enemy airbase despite him and his wingman receiving in-cockpit warnings that surface-to-air missile systems were targeting them. Alex’s squadron is currently based in Scotland.

Dr Edward J.A. Turnham (94-04) and the Reverend Dominique Turnham are delighted to welcome Guy Christian on 11th June, 2019 a brother for Ralph William. Edward and Dominique live in Norwich where Edward is a GP.  California based Adam Park (97-05) gets together regularly with his cousins Ray (10-12) and Roy Park (17-19). Adam is working for Boston Consulting in San Francisco whilst Ray has just finished a degree in Hospitality Management at NYU and will be starting an internship with CRAVEIT.com as their Business Development Manager.

 Congratulations to Ashley Jones (9102) who with his, in his words, ‘funny little hobbit legs, hairy toes, bad knees and an overall inability to run long distances’ took part in this year’s London Marathon.

Ashley was running to raise money for Brain Research UK, a cause which is very close to his heart.

Christian Saenger (92-03) was appointed Headmaster of Dumpton School in Wimborne, Dorset in September 2019.  Major Stuart Gilbert (9904) and his wife Alexandra are delighted to announce the birth of a son, Freddie in April 2019.

Stuart is with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and Alexandra is a teacher based in Tidworth, Wiltshire.

l-r Ray, Adam and Roy

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 Alex Wakely (96-07) has stepped down as Captain of Northamptonshire Cricket after 4 years in the post. Alex was appointed captain of the one-day and T20 sides in 2013 before taking on the County Championship role for the 2015 season.

Alex with Prep School boy Josh Lincoln and his brothers Alfred and Henry Lincoln and friends.

 James Worboys (98-05) and wife Kayla are delighted to announce the birth of their son, Robert Alexander Worboys  After years working as a graphic designer and art director in London, Ben Clube (01-06) has just finished Theology College and together with his wife Sarah has moved to Essex where Ben has become the pastor. Ben married ex Met Police officer Sarah in 2016 and she has now opened her own face massage business.  Captain James Gilbert (02-07) and wife Izzy are delighted to announce the birth of Henry Alexander James Gilbert on New Year’s Day 2019. Henry is looking forward to joining Bedford School in 2032!  Rich Wilson (04-09), Alex Schoenenberger (00-09) and Jake Duxbury (11-16) returned to School in June to share their experiences of studying for the International Baccalaureate.

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 Chern Lim (07-09) visited the School with his girlfriend Felicia, from his home in Brunei where Chern works as a Reservoir engineer for Shell.

 Nolan Griffin (07-09) and his brother Gabriel (0709) visited the School, together with Nolan’s wife and baby daughter, from their home in the States. Nolan was delighted to run into his Saxophone teacher Jeremy Rouse who recognised him instantly! Nolan is now working in the construction industry in Texas whilst Gabriel is going off to Grad School.

l-r Harry Garcha (06-15), Raj, Timon Chodha (00-10), Krishan Modi (05-10), Navin Chodha (04-15) and Alex Garcha 03-14).

 Former Deputy Head (Academic) Irfan Latif (Staff 08-13) and his wife, Jocelyn, were delighted to bump into Doug Worboys (98-09) and Will Knight (98-09) at Wimbledon this summer. Irfan is currently Principal at DLD College, London.

 Aidan Huxford (staff 86-18) was honoured to be asked to photograph the pre-wedding celebrations for Raj Garcha (9910) on the day before his wedding in Huddersfield to his bride, Balreen. Raj is dressed informally as he is going to receive the ‘haldi’ paste, an important part of the week of preparation. The wedding reception in the north took place at Elland Road, the home of Leeds United FC. Raj is working as Project Manager with Network Rail.

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Adam Abbott (04-12) is looking forward to moving out to Hong Kong in the New Year and meeting up with other Old Bedfordians.  Congratulations to Harry Wardell (03-13) who took part in this year’s London Marathon. Harry battled cancer at School before getting the all clear and was running for ‘Children with Cancer’.  Members of the Class of 2013 enjoyed watching the Sri Lanka v’s Australia cricket match at the World Cup at the Oval in June. l-r James Maltby (03-13), James Stroomer (08-13), James Strode (02-13), Fred Dixon (04-13), Will Hunt (06-13) and Kieran Olds (04-13).

 A big thanks to Hugo Moon (00-11) who returned to School in June to help coach the 2nd VIII. The boys really appreciated hearing his words of wisdom.

 Pavandeep Bhogal (05-10) married Molly Page at Bedford School in August. Pav and Molly first met when still at school. Pav is currently working for BAE Systems leading the demonstration systems team, delivering high profile demonstrations of Combat Management System software to the MOD and Royal Navy whilst Molly is a solicitor defending doctors in medical negligence claims. OBs at the wedding included Karandeep Bhogal (02-07), Tom Richter (05-10) and Molly’s brother Dylan Page (prep 07-13).

In 2018 Lt Tony Strain (05-10) was posted to Quebec City, Canada for two years as an Exchange Liaison Officer with the Canadian Army.

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 Actor Matthew Gouldesbrough (03-14) brought his show ‘Holy Land’ as part of the theatre company ‘Elegy’ to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. A play about a deep dive into the world of gory, horrific viral content on the dark web, framed around the lives of three individuals, Matthew plays Tim, who is trying to reconcile his past decisions with his new lifestyle.

Elegy was formed at Italia Conti Acting in 2018, and makes intimate shows about big ideas, with a focus on text based work.

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 Adam Selvey (08-15) has run in the daylight for the first time since leaving School! Adam has cerebral palsy and so did not like to run in daylight so when he decided to do the Royal Parks Half Marathon he did all of his training at night. Adam was running for Scope, the national disability charity whose aim is to challenge and defeat the intrinsic social stigmas that promote social, professional and economical discrimination. For more information see Adam’s JustGiving page.

l-r Back Fabian Cooper 909-14) , Vic Sohal (07-13), James Kettlebrough (00-11), Charlie Thurston (07-14), Pete, Tom Bradbeer (12-15), Luke Adams (08-13), Alex Williams (11-16), Tim Graham (08-13), Front - George Adams (08-13) & Shiv Patel (04-15)

 Peter Sherwin (staff 07-15) called in to the Staff Common Room to meet up with former colleagues as well as visiting his old house Pemberley, to meet with current boys and some of his former boarders. Pete is currently teacher of Mathematics and House Master at Geelong Grammer School in Melbourne, Australia.

Touwa Craig-Dunn (09–14) is a member of Happenchance Theatre that is made up of friends who met and made work together at the University of Birmingham. Craig is due to perform in the upcoming production of Much Ado – Work-inProgress, adapted from the Shakespearean text.

 Oliver (04-15) and James Maltby (03-13) spent some time in Vietnam over the summer to experience the culture and history of the country. Whilst there they took in the Tunnels of Chu Chi and followed the Ho Chi Min trail.

Aidan Swain (05-16) received a 1st in English from Durham in July and has been working on a 4 month internship in Digital Marketing for a large supermarket chain in Jacksonville, Florida before going to join his girlfriend in Utrecht.  Edinburgh University student Josh Garrett (08-17) appeared with The Improverts at the Edinburgh Fringe in the Summer.

The Improverts perform fast-paced and consistently enjoyable shortform improvisation comedy and always do their best to put on an excellent show based on audience suggestions.

Felix Iles (11-18) bumped in to Andy Gomarsall (88-93) at a Beefy Wine Dinner with Sir Ian Botham at Malmaison London, celebrating Sir Ian’s career and his development of his own range of wines.

Former Chief Executive Officer of the Harpur Trust David Russell has been immortalised in a feature film based on Robert Moore’s book ‘At Time to Die’. ‘Kursk: The Last Mission’ tells the true story of the ill-fated 2000 Kursk Russian submarine disaster where 118 sailors died.

The Kursk sank during a Russian naval exercise in the Barents Sea after explosions within the submarine and it took 5 days before the Russian Government accepted international help. David led an Anglo-Norwegian party that travelled to the site to help. He worked on the film as a consultant and was played by Colin Firth.

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Bhubesi Pride Foundation Gap Year Trip When first signing up to spend four months of my gap year coaching rugby in Africa, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

However, I certainly wasn’t expecting to find myself (aged just 19 and with limited previous coaching experience) running a coaching session for the Zambian International rugby team, alongside former England International/British & Irish Lion, Geoff Parling! This, however, was just one highlight of my amazing time with the Bhubesi Pride Foundation in Southern Africa.

During my time in Africa, I coached 450 children at nine tournaments and visited six countries (Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and Malawi) using ‘Nala’ the minibus as transport. Over the four month period, I also had time away from my rugby coaching to immerse myself in the local community. Working alongside local coaches gave me a great insight into the lives of the locals. A great example of this was when I found myself in a local market in rural Malawi assisting one of the local coaches, Gloria, on her food buying expedition for that evening’s dinner. The cries of ‘mzungu’ (white person) from the locals as they saw me coming will always stay with me. It is such a rarity for the locals to see a white person in their village that a lot of the younger children can actually be quite scared of you as they think you might be some kind of witchcraft creation! I soon realised that, despite being with a local coach (and being self-aware of my mzungu status), it was not enough to stop them trying to capitalise on my lack of local knowledge.

Gloria explained to the sellers that she wasn’t going to pay any more than the standard 300 Kwacha (33p) for the vegetables she needed for us to cook for the 8-person team that night despite their initial opening price being 3,000 Kwacha (A.K.A the ‘mzungu price’). I realised the value of ‘being a local’! This kind of experience is something I just couldn’t have had unless I had been working with local people and I am extremely grateful for having been given the opportunity.

I have so many fond memories from my time with ‘the Pride’ but I think the best ones are the those you share with friends - having such a great team to work alongside made a huge difference for me. That’s not to say it wasn’t difficult at times, however, the bad times were few and far between and, if anything, they just solidified the group bond. I soon became used to spending extended periods of time sat on the bus and sharing rooms with people I had yet to get to know. In fact, it was actually quite strange and oddly disorientating to come home and have a room all to myself!

Bhubesi Pride brings people together from all around the world and from different backgrounds who share a passion (rugby) in order to use that passion to empower local players and coaches to continue their development not just as rugby players or coaches but also as leading members of their community.

As a result of this shared passion, I was fortunate enough to have shared four months of my life with people from all over the world. From the international coaching team, to the local coaches and players, and, of course, Simeon, our long-suffering (and extremely skilful) driver, I have made some amazing friendships that will, I hope, last a lifetime.

Matt Fordham (07-18) 188

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In June 2018, I volunteered with the Bhubesi Pride Foundation, travelling through Africa sharing my passion for rugby in communities that needed it the most. I volunteered with the charity for six weeks during which I coached and travelled through South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. This trip was an amazing and eye-opening experience, as I got to immerse myself in completely new and different ways of living and use rugby, a sport I love, to empower communities.

In each different location, we would spend a week or two coaching rugby to children of all ages and abilities.

Each new location and week brought about various challenges which, as a team, we had to overcome. In some of the communities we visited, we taught children who had never seen a rugby ball, in contrast to areas such as Kabwe, where players were of a competent standard and had formations already in play before our arrival. Being able to share my love for rugby to help communities grow and develop was an incredible experience. I got to come away from each place knowing I had made a difference, and that’s a feeling that really stays with you!

Through volunteering with Bhubesi, you have the chance to travel with likeminded people. During the six week period, we saw some pretty amazing animals and scenery. Sitting meters away from a herd of elephants in Nata, Botswana and watching the blood moon over Zambia, were some of the highlights for me. When staying in Maun, Botswana, I would get up early and have a coffee and watch the sun rise, a simple yet amazing experience in its own right. However, one morning I was lucky enough to witness a Hippo swimming only meters from where I was sitting, which was just surreal! Some other key highlights from the trip would be: Bungee Jumping at Victoria Falls; camping with elephants; whitewater rafting in the Zambezi River; and having the opportunity to try all the different foods - such as the Baobab Fruit. Overall, volunteering with Bhubesi was an amazing and unforgettable experience and I really can’t wait to head out again at some point in the future.

George Cave (01-16) www.rugbyinafrica.org

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Henry Taylor competing in the 1960 Oulton Park Gold Cup in the Yeoman Credit Team Cooper T51. Photo courtesy of GP Library/ Alamy 190

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OBs in Motor Sports At the OB curry night earlier this year, Clara Policella was interested to learn that one of the guests, Simon Ham (82-92), had some fascinating ties to the world of motor racing. Not only is he a freelance motor racing journalist and magazine editor, but his late father David Ham (49-58) was also a successful racing driver. Here, Simon shares his research on OBs in this exciting world.

Whilst the sporting endeavours of illustrious OBs such as Harold Abrahams (1908-1913), Alastair Cook (98-03), Jack Beresford (1913-1917) and Budge Rogers (49-57) are well documented, it is perhaps less well known that the School has also produced a number of leading competitors in an altogether higher-octane sport: motor racing.

A farmer’s son from Shefford, Henry Taylor (39-49) demonstrated his talents in 500cc Formula Three racing before local connections led to a drive for 1956 in the Jaguar D-type owned by Bedford-based Jaguar agents Murkett Brothers.

Over the next two seasons, Henry competed in more than 20 events with the car, the undoubted highlight being third place in the 1957 Grand Prix de Spa in which he was beaten only by two factory-entered Aston Martins.

Having caught the eye of renowned motor racing talent spotter Reg Parnell, Taylor returned to single-seater racing in 1959 with a drive in the British Grand Prix at Aintree. Driving Parnell’s own Cooper T51, he acquitted himself well and finished in eleventh place behind the likes of race winner Jack

David Ham at Silverstone in 1963, together with the Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1.

Photo courtesy of Ham Family Collection.

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Brabham, Stirling Moss and Bruce McLaren.

The following year saw him compete in five further Grands Prix. If his fourteenth-placed finish at Riverside in California proved a disappointment, the dauntingly fast Reims circuit on the closed public roads of Champagne was his career high point, a hard fought fourth rewarding him with three World Championship points.

Taylor’s move to a Lotus chassis for 1961 started ignominiously with a failure to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix, and a bad crash at Aintree in which he broke several ribs. His return to Reims yielded only a tenth placed finish this time, whilst eleventh in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza was his Formula One swansong; the lingering effects of his Aintree injuries causing him to question the wisdom of a future in single-seater racing.

Having taken a racing sabbatical in 1962, Taylor became heavily involved with the development of the new Ford Cortina, and subsequently became Ford’s Competition Manager in 1965. He later settled in the South of France where he founded a successful yacht sales business, becoming a Vice-President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club in 2000. He died on 24 October 2013, aged 80.

After an abortive first attempt at motor racing, Cairo-born Mike Beuttler (49-57) returned to the sport in 1968 at the wheel of a year-old Brabham Formula Three car, embarking on a mammoth season of no less than 54 races. The 1970 season saw him come of age, with a hard-fought win in the Formula Three race supporting the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

This preceded a move to Formula Two for 1971, racing against the likes of Graham Hill, Niki Lauda and John Watson.

That same year, Beuttler also competed in five Grands Prix, although a combination of mechanical problems and bad luck ensured that all ended in either retirement or non-classification.

Mike Beuttler celebrates his Formula 2 win at Vallelunga, Italy in October 1971.

Photo courtesy of BRDC archive.

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Beuttler embarked upon an ambitious 1972 season which would see him participate in every European and North American round of the Formula One World Championship. The highpoint of his year was a valiant eighth place in the German GP, held at the notorious 14-mile Nurburgring circuit, whilst the Italian GP at Monza saw him finish tenth - just one position behind the works-entered March of highly rated “Super Swede” Ronnie Peterson.

The 1973 World Championship season would be Beuttler’s last. Persisting with the recalcitrant March chassis, he would contest every round of the championship bar France. In the Spanish Grand Prix, he would achieve the best result of his career by finishing seventh, whilst in Sweden he finished eighth. Ultimately however, the season would prove a frustrating one, with retirements in Brazil, Monaco, Holland, Austria, Italy and Canada.

The final round of the championship, the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, proved to be a traumatic one. The popular Frenchman Francois Cevert had perished in an horrific practice crash and, visibly shaken by the loss of his old Formula Two sparring partner, Beuttler drove a low-key race to finish tenth. Although the 28 Grands Prix in which he started had failed to yield any World Championship points, he had earned a justified reputation as a capable and determined privateer, frequently handicapped by uncompetitive equipment.

A one-off drive in a March sports car in the 1974 Brands Hatch 1000 kilometres aside, Beuttler walked away from motor racing entirely, moving initially to San Francisco before settling in Malibu. As Formula One’s first - and thus far, only openly gay driver, he reasoned that 1970s California afforded him greater sexual freedom than did contemporary Europe.

Tragically, he died from an AIDS related illness in Los Angeles in 1988, aged just 48.

One of Beuttler’s contemporaries, David Ham (49-58) was also a successful semi-professional driver in the 1960s, prior to a later career in the burgeoning world of historic racing. A chance trip the 1959 Daily Express International Trophy at Silverstone at the suggestion of friend John Waters (48-56) had aroused his interest in the sport, and by 1961 Ham was himself competing at the wheel of an Aston Martin DB3S. Appropriately, Waters served as a capable mechanic in the early days, often accompanied by similarly car-mad fellow OBs Jimmy Dallas (55-58) and Mike Knight (49-58).

For the 1962 season, the DB3S was replaced by the 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1. Although his opposition was increasingly of the faster rear-engined variety, the frontengined DBR1 remained competitive, with victory ahead of former US Grand Prix winner Innes Ireland (in his rear-engined Lotus 19) at Snetterton in July 1963 being one of which David was justifiably proud. With the likes of Old Etonian Piers Courage - heir to the Courage brewing fortune, and future Formula One driver for a then little-known Frank Williams - on the grid alongside him, Ham forged a justified reputation as a highly capable sports car driver throughout the 1960s.

In 1969 David purchased the Lister-Jaguar with which he became synonymous, the pairing taking part in over 300 races over the ensuing four decades and enjoying many victories in the FIA Historic, Lloyds & Scottish Historic and V12 Endurance Championships. If 1976 proved to be an itinerant year - with victories at Croix-en-Ternois, Le Mans, Nurburgring, Nivelles and Zolder - it was also a fruitful one, with the coveted Jaguar

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Dan Wheldon pictured after his win in the 2005 Indianapolis 500.

Photo courtesy of BRDC archive.

Driver of the Year award and membership of the British Racing Drivers Club following the next year.

Unashamedly a sports car devotee, David enjoyed periodic forays into single seater racing, having both owned and competed with the ex-Stirling Moss 1952 HWM Formula 2 car, the unique 1959 JBW Formula 1 car and a 1977 Hesketh 308E Formula 1 car. Latterly, Ham also competed further afield, enjoying further success in South Africa with his Lotus 23B and McLaren M1B, and in Australia and New Zealand with the faithful Lister.

Fittingly, his final race in 2010 was at the wheel of his Jaguar E-type, co-driven by son Simon. He passed away in 2016 after a short illness, although the Lister-Jaguar and David’s other cars remain with his family and still continue to be raced and enjoyed.

Already a three-time British karting champion whilst still at School, Dan Wheldon (86-94) made the transition to cars in 1996, finishing second in the British Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship prior to moving to the US to further his career.

Having finished runner-up in both the 2000 Toyota Formula Atlantic and 2001 Indy Lights Championships, he graduated to the top-line IndyCar series in 2003 with the crack AndrettiGreen team. Quickly displaying an affinity for oval circuits, Dan

finished eleventh in the championship and won the coveted IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year award.

In 2004, he remained with Andretti-Green and his remarkable consistency secured the championship runner’s up spot. However, it was 2005 which would prove to be the summit of Dan’s career - six wins securing a maiden IndyCar championship, as well as victory in the blue riband Indianapolis 500-mile race; in doing so becoming the first Briton to win the race since Graham Hill in 1966.

A lucrative move to Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2006 season yielded a further two race wins and five other podium finishes, the title only being lost on countback following a tie with eventual champion Sam Hornish Jr. The season’s other highlight was victory in the Daytona 24 Hours with Ganassi team-mates Casey Mears and Scott Dixon; a result which led to him being awarded a coveted BRDC Gold Star that year, ahead of the likes of Jenson Button and David Coulthard.

Consecutive second placed Indy 500 finishes in 2009 and 2010 aside, the end of the decade would prove to be a tough time for Wheldon. However, in 2011, he recorded one of the biggest upsets in Indy history by winning “the 500” in a one-off drive for the unfancied Bryan Herta Autosport team.

Remarkably he only took the lead on the final lap, in so doing breaking a record for the fewest laps led in a 500 victory which stretched back to 1912.

For the final race of the 2011 season in Las Vegas, IndyCar had offered a $5 million purse to any driver managing to win the race by starting from the back of the grid. Never one to pass up a challenge, Wheldon negotiated a drive with Sam Schmidt Motorsports for the event, and made a strong start.

However, on lap 11, three cars touched in front of him and - according to his car’s telemetry, approaching at 224 mph even the reactions of “Lionheart”, as the American press had dubbed him, could not prevent his car from being launched skywards with predictably catastrophic consequences. In all, some 15 cars were involved, and tragically Dan suffered severe head injuries to which he succumbed that afternoon.

Aged just 33, he left behind his wife, Susie, and their two infant boys, Sebastian and Oliver.

With 16 IndyCar wins from 132 starts, two Indianapolis 500 victories and a Daytona 24 Hours crown, Wheldon had been one of US racing’s brightest lights for over a decade and his loss there, and to motorsport as a whole, was immeasurable. That the IndyCar fraternity abandoned the race yet reassembled the surviving cars later that afternoon to run a three-wide, five lap formation salute in his honour said everything as to the esteem in which he was held.

Whether the successes of these illustrious Old Bedfordians are attributable to the cultivation of a strong competitive spirit at School, a quirk of geography - with Bedford being close to the UK’s “Motorsport Valley” - or are merely coincidence, that all spent their formative years at Bedford and went on to achieve so much is something of which the School can be justifiably proud. All were very different, yet with much in common; each had the same steely determination to triumph against adversity, and all gained the respect of their peers both on and off the track. Perhaps the way in which they all conducted themselves can, ironically, be best summed up by a famous Old Haileyburian, Stirling Moss: “It’s not how much you win, boy - it’s the way you do it.”

Simon Ham (82-92)

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Record-Breaking Rugby Over one of the hottest ever bank holiday weekends Andy Gomarsall MBE (88-93), along with current teacher, Mr Allen, took up the challenge of breaking the world record for the longest-ever match of full-contact rugby – and they did it!

During the Guinness World Record-breaking two-day match at London Irish’s training grounds, Andy Gomarsall’s and Mr Allen’s chosen charities: School of Hard Knocks (SOHK) and Wooden Spoon went head-to-head. The two teams, who had just 23 players each, played for a total of 30.5 hours to fundraise for their target of £100,000, which they are well on their way to achieving. Andy Gomersall’s team won the match but both sides racked up incredible scores: 2,154 to 1,163!

Mr Allen told us, “When my good friend Andy Gomarsall said he was playing, but they were still a couple of players short, I, somewhat foolishly, jumped at the chance. Both Wooden Spoon and School of Hard Knocks are fantastic charities that offer amazing opportunities to so many disadvantaged people. I was very lucky with my rugby career and enjoyed experiences that most people could only dream of so I was very happy to give a little bit back to the sport. That said, I don’t think I quite considered the enormity of the challenge when I signed up at relatively short notice!

The support from the army of volunteers was amazing. There was a group of ladies and boys that acted as water carriers.

They ran on after every try was scored, carrying bottles of water, electrolyte replacements and snacks to keep us going. They were so positive and supportive they really helped us through the dark (both literal and metaphorical) times!

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I hadn’t realised quite how much of a mental challenge it would be. I quite enjoyed playing through the night, and watching the sun come up was lovely, but when we got to 10.00am and the realisation that it was already really hot and we still had another eight hours to go hit – the biggest challenge became the psychological side of things.

A few members of our team have taken part in previous record matches. I can’t see why they keep coming back for more – I can tell you now, I definitely won’t be doing it again!”

“That was beyond brutal and one of the toughest things I’ve ever done in my life! The heat at times was unbearable. I’m delighted for both teams that we broke the record and with so much money being raised for such an important cause it was an unforgettable two days.”

Andy Gomarsall, SOHK patron, World Cup finalist and Old Bedfordian Thank you to everyone for their fantastic support, either at the match or by making a donation. If you would like to show your support and their two charities, you can still make a donation here: bit.ly/RecordBreakingRugby

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The collector OBs, staff and friends of the School came together over the summer for ‘The Festival of Beer’ at Blackpit Brewery in Buckinghamshire. Run by three OBs, Ben Williams (91-02), Oliver Whiteley (92-02) and Duncan Wheeler (95-02), the Brewery held a family weekend festival which combined some great beer, wonderful food, live music, theatre and family fun.

As part of the entertainment, guests were treated to an immersive theatre experience which was written and directed by current staff member and OB Jonathan Hooley (89-95), assisted by staff member Bjorn Bantock. ‘The Collector’ took the audience on a journey through the woodlands sharing the actors’ memories and showing how these shape our lives. We were delighted to see OB Ethan Chapell-Mason (07-18) in one of the lead roles.

Here, Jonathan tells the story of how the play came about.

Ben Williams, of the Blackpit team, is my cousin and, a couple of years ago, when they first launched the festival idea, he asked if I could produce a theatre piece as part of the event (which was then solely in the woods). In the end, I performed the piece myself, with Bjorn Bantock (staff) playing the music. It went well, but the potential for a more focused piece in response to the setting was clear and it was always the aim to create something more.

The setting has always provided inspiration and, along with a children’s picture book that I found, the idea grew of a story about an old man trying to maintain the environment. After agreeing to stage a piece at this year’s festival, I approached a local actor - James Harrison - to play the role of the old man. Once James was on board, I spoke to Ethan Chapell-Mason (07-18), who I knew was still around in Bedford before leaving for university, and he came on-board too. I directed Ethan in a number of School

plays, so I knew we would work well together.

I described the setting to James and Ethan and outlined my initial concept - a guardian of the forest. From there, we began to play around with different props and started to tell stories through the items. The picture book stimulus - The Tin Forest - follows an old man who collects scrap, discarded by mankind, and begins to fashion a forest out of it. Eventually, real animals come to the forest and a natural world springs up around the metal world the old man has created. The Blackpit team loved this story, but it became apparent that within an already natural setting (the woodland), it wouldn’t work. We knew what type of play we wanted to create - one where the past and the present merged, one where the objects found had significance to the Collector and so naturally the piece evolved over the course of two months of rehearsals until we found ourselves telling a story about memory and how it shapes our lives.

I wrote a script based on the devised rehearsals and then developed it with Theatre 503 in Battersea - a new writing venue that collaborates with writers to produce original work in response to the world in which we live. From there, we created a company - TinPot Theatre - with the aim of creating site-specific theatre for all ages that spoke to the audience about the world around them in a more ethereal, imaginative way.

The Collector was the first such piece and will be sent out to other woodland-based festivals over the course of the upcoming months. There are also plans to develop a piece in response to the current refugee crisis and the migration of people under extreme circumstances.

Jonathan Hooley (89-95)

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The Phoenix is Rising!

There’s a special sense of tradition and heritage in the School Boat Club. I remember learning to row as a fourth and remove former, glancing into the 1st VIII room with a sense of reverence. It’s adorned with memorabilia from past crews.

There are pictures of Bas Dixon (93-00) rowing in the Oxford Blue Boat in the early ‘00s. A ‘Goldie’ lycra hangs high and framed, marking the time a School VIII out-sprinted Cambridge at Bedford Regatta. A member of the university crew was so impressed that as soon as he got off the water, he asked his crewmates to sign his racing kit and presented it immediately to the Bedford Captain of Boats.

Rickety artefacts point to earlier glories. Bedford won the first three Princess Elizabeth cups at Henley in ‘46, ‘47 and ‘48. The first victorious crew contained James Crowden (41-

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46), who went on to compete for Great Britain in the 1952 Olympics. There was a Bedford man in the British VIII that year also - William Windham (40-44). At 93 he’s the most senior steward at Henley. A legend! Phelan Hill (87-97), current Olympic champion from the Rio Games follows in the puddles of OB Jack Beresford (13-17), who won five medals at five Games in succession. This record in Olympic rowing was not matched until 2000 when Sir Steve Redgrave won his sixth Olympic medal at his fifth Olympic Games.

There were occasional mentions in the boathouse of alumni crews, OBs of the ‘60s and ‘70s who would reunite, launching racing campaigns under the name of ‘Phoenix’. Records are hazy, but the institute that was Phoenix seems to have faded into ashes sometime in the ‘80s.

True to the mythological motif, Phoenix is rising again.

Schoolboy rowing is as strong as ever, and this is mirrored in the achievements of alumni across Europe. Phoenix has now been established as an official club, to serve as a community of OB oarsmen and a platform for alumni crews to compete.

The time for Bedford alumni rowing is now!

Leading the charge are the Sheridan brothers, Connor (0718) and Jared (07-16), both established members of Oxford Brookes’ programme. Following on from a Junior Worlds gold medal, Connor sat in the bows of the Brookes Prince Albert coxed four at Henley this year. They lost by the narrowest of margins (a foot!) in the semi-final to Harvard - the eventual winners. A rerun of the race could easily have seen the opposite result. Despite a recent injury, Jared featured in a Brookes Ladies Plate crew. He’s set for a fiery comeback this

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year. Both brothers will be hoping for a red box at HRR 2020.

Also competing at Henley this year was Giles Moon (96-07), who coxed the Great Britain eight in the King’s Cup, which was held in commemoration of the centenary of the 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta.

At Oxford’s other reputable institution, Ed ‘Teddy’ Lamb (10-17) has established himself within the lightweight squad, winning a silver medal for OULRC at this summer’s European University championships. The squad is now looking ahead to the lightweight Boat Race next March - hosted on the tideway. To the East, Harry Sivills (06-17) has made his mark on the Cam. Harry was a spare oar for Goldie this year, a particularly impressive achievement given the strength of the squad. Further North, George Christian (08-18) leads the Birmingham men’s side. He’s also been spotted spear-heading an embryonic Phoenix four on the Ouse.

In Germany, Benedict Eggeling (14-17) - another member of the 2017 1st VIII - is building an international rowing career. He was selected for the coxless four at this year’s U23 European Championships, finishing fifth in a highly competitive field.

Albrecht Dunkel (07-09) raced for Dresdner Ruderverein E.V. in the Wyfold this year - a seeded crew - and made the Friday.

Phoenix will be a chance for these - and other - alumni in the rowing world to support each other, support the School, and compete under Bedford colours. There are already plans

afoot for potential Phoenix boats at Bedford Regatta and HRR in years to come. The Club can also serve as a social tribe; a catalyst for the reassembly of OBs at events throughout the regatta season.

On behalf of boat club alumni, I would like to thank Hugh Maltby (73-83), Pete Mulkerrins (staff) and Will Suthers (staff) for their support in the reestablishment of Phoenix. We look forward to igniting the club, to support and flourish alongside BSBC. George Lamb (02-09) Photos courtesy of Richard Man (13-17)

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OLD BEDFORDIANS SPORT cricket club

CRICKETER CUP 2019 Once again, the Old Bedfordians kicked off their Cricketer Cup season in style with an impressive win over the Old Eastbournians on Sunday, 16th June.

Batting second, wickets were shared around with Tim Chapman (88-98) taking 3/39 and two wickets apiece for George Wood (83-94) and Chris Stearn (0609). In response James Kettleborough (00-11) 89 not out and Will Aitkenhead (04-09) 50 not out made light work of the total to secure a comfortable win for the OB side.

In the second round, on 30th June, the OBs enjoyed an excellent 66 run win over Old Merchant Taylors. On what looked an excellent batting day, the Old Bedfordians batted first and, despite 53 for Shiv Patel and 30 for Christian Davis (00-11), they posted a below-par looking 190 all out. That was looking increasingly the case as the OMTs reached 43/1 in the first ten overs and were well placed before the spin duo of Vicram Sohal (07-13) and Shiv changed the game.

Sohal bowled excellently to take 1/12 in seven overs but it was Patel’s spell of 4/12 in ten overs that did the majority of the damage. Paddy McDuell (04-15) then followed the lead taking 3/20 to finish the innings and leave OMTs well short all out for 124.

Unfortunately, the OBs were unable to maintain their winning streak when they took on Charterhouse on the 14th July, who won by six wickets in the third round of the Cup. Here’s to 2020!

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CRICKET WEEK 2019 The traditional Old Bedfordian Cricket Week has become somewhat depleted in recent years with more people finding it harder to find time away from work commitments for cricket.

That said the OBs still managed to produce strong sides to take on the Ousels and the School. It was a wide-ranging age of OBs – with Mike Spencer (82-87), Rich Mitchell (77-87) and Jeremey Woodrow (83-98) who were at School in the 1980s all the way up to Alfie Orchard (13-18) who left in 2018. A total of 140 from the Ousels looked a tough ask but 70 not out from Jonny McDuell (03-12) and 30 from Tim Chapman (88-98) helped the OBs to win with an over to spare.

Against the School, a typically flat pitch ensured a high scoring game as the School managed 304/5 declared to which the OBs responded with 309/9 declared with Shiv Patel (04-15) scoring 106. The School poured the runs on during the second day setting the OBs an ominous-looking 333 to win. Another half century for Shiv and 44 from George Wood (83-94) meant they closed on 250/8 for an honourable draw.

Will Aitkenhead (04-09) A big thank you to all the OBs who took part and to Will Aitkenhead (04-09) for organising the OB side.

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GOLF SOCIETY

HALFORD HEWITT – A WEEK OF FIRSTS Nothing to see here, right? The usual beautiful weather and a putting green of players ready and raring to do battle.

Well, no. We had been drawn yet again at Royal St Georges against Wellingborough in the graveyard slot, 15:00.

With Adam Winter (09-14) coming into the side for his OBGS debut we had assembled a very strong squad, even without two or three of our regulars.

Frozen to the core by the 6-degree temperature and 30mph easterly wind, we took to the course to do battle. For once, we made it easy for ourselves; comfortable wins from our first four pairs led to an honourable half from a commanding position in game 5 and the OB’s through to the 2nd round to face multiple time winners, Harrow. However, things took a bit of a turn.

Lee Dinmore’s (86-89) ankle swelled up overnight following a recent skiing injury and rendered him unable to play on Friday – fortunately, in stepped Tim Henderson (64-71) to replace him.

With Lee’s ankle deteriorating further, Tim Murphy (father of two OBs who had come to support for the day) promptly took him to hospital and returned to take over the team Whatsapping duties.

Tim Henderson & Henry Wilson (04-11) were always up and recorded a solid 3&2 win in game 1 to give us an early lead. Tom Langley-Poole (96-06) & Simon Blundell (84-89) were 4 down after 11 but rallied to win the 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th to take the game into extra time. With Simon holing a 20 foot putt on the 1st, to seal a superb comeback, attention turned to Iain Pratt (83-93) & Adam Winter, who were also heading into extra holes. Adam nailed it up the middle to apply some pressure and the opposition folded, carving his tee shot 120 yards right and out of bounds.

Iain safely found the green and handshakes were offered. With Colin Beesley (90-98) & Tim Martin (11-17) and Adam Wilkinson (87-92) & Ben Dunlop (12-14) both halving their games we won 4-1 and in doing so returned to Royal Cinque Ports from Royal St Georges for the first time ever.

Then things got even worse; although Lee was now better, we now had to face the number one ranked side, Tonbridge, and Adam Wilkinson had to return home for a family emergency. Now running out of a little steam, Iain Pratt & Adam Winter secured a half but sadly we lost all the other matches. Nonetheless, a very respectable year and leaves the only major milestone left for the OBGS (bar winning it!) – making it through to Sunday for Hewitt golf – within touching distance. Thanks as always go to our loyal team of supporters, chef Blundell and the President for the fillets of beef!

Tom Langley-Poole (96-06) OBGS Secretary

SPRING MEETING Gone was the 25 degrees of the Easter weekend prior, replaced by 11 degrees and intermittent showers.

Nonetheless, we had a good turnout this year of 19 of the OBGS’ finest for the Spring Meeting at Royal Worlington and, pleasingly, continuing the trend of more younger members starting to play regularly.

The usual format ensued; singles in the morning and eclectic foursomes in the afternoon, with four trophies on offer depending on age and handicap.

With the course in surprisingly poor condition – the greens in particular were woefully slow – it became clear quite quickly that players had either mastered the conditions or completely succumbed to them. Will Notley (92-03) won the Scratch Cup with a 76 whilst his cousin, John Holroyd (11-16), won the Captain’s prize of a quartet of wine for the best Medal score with a terrific net 66. Adam Turner (96-03) (welcome, Adam) won the Junior Trophy on debut with 39 points and the Senior Trophy went to Roger Dalzell (48-57) with 40 points. Longest drive went to another on debut, Ben Hanglin (98-05), whilst John Holroyd (1116) also picked up the nearest the pin. That said, we will never know whether he actually won it for sure; James Lawson (61-66), Anthony Ormerod (47-57) and Roger Dalzell collected the marker half way through their round instead of at the end.

Eight pairs braved darkening skies in the afternoon with Will Notley capping off a fine day for himself and the wider family, collecting the crystal quite comfortably alongside Jeremy Woodrow with 25 points.

Tom Langley-Poole (96-06) OBGS Secretary OB GOLF V THE SCHOOL On a warm sunny day, after an enjoyable lunch where the players were joined by Craig Mitchell (64-74), Chairman of the OB Club, and Anthony Ormerod (47-57) President of the OB Golf Society, ‘battle’ commenced on the Marquess Course at Woburn Golf Club where the OB’s were defending the honours they had held for the previous two years.

The School, however, had different ideas and turned up with a very strong team consisting mainly of golf scholars – including seven players with handicaps of seven or lower – one of whom had won a major County Junior competition just the previous day!

The OB Team had a number of new (and younger) players as well as several with Halford Hewitt experience and set off with serious determination to retain the honours – all was going well when the first game saw a half point to each side.

Games three and four brought further success for the older generation but sadly this could not be maintained as the School team squeaked home by 3.5 to 2.5 after a win in the last game.

There were the usual claims about ‘dodgy’ handicaps and ‘lucky putts’ but, in the end, the OBs admitted that the better team won – however, there is always next year!

This was also Mr Monaghan’s last fixture as Master in

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Charge of School Golf before moving to pastures new in North London so well done to him for nurturing such a strong team and well done to the boys for letting him leave with a victory.

The individual match results were as follows: • Josh Taylor (05-16) and Michael Spencer (82-87) halved with Harry Brown and Wilbur Collier.

• Tim Martin (11-17) and John Cartwright (59-65) lost to Finlay Cummins and Jack Peters • Jeremy Woodrow (83-93) and Chris Johnson (66-75) beat Lawrence Jefferys and Freddy Sowerby • George Wilson (03-10) and Jim Black (73-82) beat Wilf Rush and Charlie Carey • Seb Wren (02-12) and Jo Bennett (95-06) lost to Alex Robins and Shaun Thomas • Matt Emery (96-06) and Ben Hanglin (98-05) lost to “M” and William Mowe.

MELLIN AND BURLES GOLF TOURNAMENTS In what were incredibly hot and sunny conditions, our Old Bedfordians fielded teams in this year’s Burles and Mellin competitions. Our Burles team, consisting of Simon Kimber (58-65) & Andrew Rudkin (64-69), and John Cartwright (59-65)

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& Mike Bevan (50-62), equipped themselves admirably in the first round, with a clean sweep over Loretto. Despite running very close in the quarter-final against Cheltenham, both pairs came up just short in what was becoming increasingly oppressive heat. However, a fine effort by all concerned.

Our Mellin team consisted of Mark Orchart (74-79) & Tim Henderson (64-71), Kevin Dunbar (74-79) & Hector Paterson (65-70), and Patrick Duke (66-70) & Chris Johnson (66-75).

Orchart & Henderson, both stalwart Hewitt players, carried their bat in both matches undefeated. However, we struggled in the other pairings resulting in a loss to Loretto in the Mellin tournament, and a subsequent loss to Forest in the Plate competition later in the afternoon.

Despite this, the weather and the company were first class, and we look forward to another assault next year!

Kevin Dunbar (74-79)

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OB TEAM: L to R: Graham Saunders (58-64), Toby O’Dell (78-86), Sam Carter (88-97), Gavin Howard (77-87), James Morris (81-92), Geoffrey Farr (50-56), Duncan Maclaren (61-68), Jonathan Ellwood (71-81), Arif Hakim (74-84)

TENNIS

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was had by all when OBs took on the School for the annual ‘OB v School’ tennis fixture on 2nd July. This year, OBs shared a hearty lunch with the boys, a welcome change to the usual format, although this could have been a tactful ploy to ensure the OBs were full and therefore, sufficiently ‘slow’ for the tennis!

Five teams played in a round-robin with a particularly high standard of tennis from both sides. With the help of the formidable team made up of Duncan Maclaren and Arif Hakim (a new recruit for the OB side) who didn’t lose a set, a victory was secured by the OBs, 54 points to the School’s 32.

At the end of play, both OBs and the boys retired to the Langham Pavilion for a well-earned post-match tea and some Wimbledon talk.

Thank you to all those who took part and to Toby O’Dell (78-86) for organising the OB team. We are already looking forward to next year’s encounter at the School. If anyone is interested in playing, please do not hesitate to contact Toby O’Dell on 07885 822571 or the OB Club.

OB SPORTSMEN ROUNDUP

 Durham County Cricketer Will Smith (90-01) announced his retirement in June from first–class cricket. A former student at Durham University, Will won his first County Championship winners’ medal with Nottinghamshire before joining Durham in 2007. He spent seven years in the North-East, establishing himself as a popular figure amongst players and supporters alike before heading to Hampshire in 2013 and then re-joining Durham at the start of last season.

 Ethan Vernon (07-18) was picked for the GB team for the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire in September in the U23 category. Ethan is part of a strong Welsh contingent who will represent Britain in the various age groups and disciplines and had previously represented Wales at last year’s Commonwealth Games.

Following his retirement from international cricket last year Sir Alastair Cook (98-03) has been branching out and recently joined BBC Radio 1 DJ and Tailenders podcast host Greg James at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival in October. Alastair tells the whole story behind an exceptional life and career for the first time. Alastair has 2 years left on his contract to play for Essex and in September he helped his team win the county cricket championship title, their second title in three years.  Emilio Gay (11-18) made his first-class debut for Northamptonshire County Cricket Club and has been awarded his first professional contract. Emilio was part of NCCC’s Centre of Excellence, Emerging Player and Academy programmes and was part of the Academy’s first-ever overseas trip to South Africa back in February and has also scored plenty of runs for Northampton Saints in the Northamptonshire League’s Premier Division. He won the Academy Player of the Year Award at the End of Season Dinner in September.

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OBITUARIES

Jeremy John Durham Ashdown was born in Delhi, India, the eldest of 7 children, into an Irish family of soldiers and colonial administrators who spent their lives in India. His father Lt Col John William Richard Durham Ashdown (1909–1980), was a British Indian Army officer serving in the 14th Punjab Regiment and the Royal Indian Army Service Corps, and his mother, Lois Hudson, was a nurse in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. His father purchased a farm in County Down, Northern Ireland, and Paddy spent his childhood years there before attending Bedford where his Irish brogue led to the nickname Paddy.

Paddy quit school before taking his A-levels and joined the Royal Marines in 1959. He saw active service in Borneo and the Persian Gulf before joining the elite Special Boat Service, the seagoing equivalent of the SAS. In 1962, after acquiring permission from the First Sea Lord given his young age, Paddy married Jane Courtenay. In 1967, he went to Hong Kong where he learned Mandarin and qualified as an interpreter, before returning to Northern Ireland where he commanded a commando company in Belfast at a time when the Troubles were raging.

Paddy quit the Royal Marines in 1972 and joined the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) where he worked with diplomatic cover in Geneva, focussing on national security, liaising with a number of United Nations departments.

Although he was a Labour supporter he had shown little interest in politics so there was surprise when he decided to quit his comfortable life in Switzerland and become an active member of the Liberal party. In 1976, he was selected as the Liberal candidate in his wife’s home constituency of Yeovil which had been held by right-wing Tory MP John Peyton for more than two decades. With what became a trademark energetic campaigning style, he set out to squeeze the Labour vote and, in the 1979 general election, took his party to second place, although still more than 10,000 votes behind Peyton.

Having given up a lucrative post with the foreign office, Ashdown took a job with a subsidiary of the Westland Helicopter company, based in Yeovil. He then moved on to work with Tescan, a processor of sheepskins, but found himself out of work when the firm closed in 1981. He was on the dole for six months before obtaining a job as a youth worker with Dorset County Council.

His continuing campaigning in Yeovil paid off in the 1983 election when John Peyton decided to stand down; he won the seat with just over 50% of the popular vote. Paddy had

become a popular figure in Yeovil, where he increased his majority over the Conservatives in 1987. He had gained a reputation as someone not afraid to speak his mind, but who did not suffer fools gladly. In 1988, Paddy became the leader of the newly formed Liberal Democrats, created by the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. He was made a Privy Councillor the following year.

Paddy threw himself into getting his party into shape for the 1992 election and it was to his credit that, despite all the problems, the new party suffered a net loss of just two seats.

His career, and his marriage, also survived press revelations of an affair with his secretary, five years previously, leading to one Sun headline dubbing him Paddy Pantsdown.

Paddy stood down as Lib Dem leader in 1999. Two years later, he quit his seat in Yeovil and the Commons and entered the Lords as Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub Hamdon.

Retirement was far from his mind and, in 2002, his military and diplomatic experience saw him appointed a dual role as High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the European Union Special Representative. Spending four years in the UN/EU role, representing the international community and with special powers under the terms of the 1995 Dayton Agreement Paddy was highly successful. He rooted out corruption, created multi-ethnic institutions, established the rule of law, brought war criminals to justice and created a final resting place for those murdered during the Srebrenica massacres.

He was considered for the post of UN representative to Afghanistan in 2008 after he had called for a high-level coordinator to lead the foreign mission to the country, but ruled himself out of contention. He and Jane returned to their cherished Somerset. In addition to writing many books covering espionage, history and his beloved Royal Marines, Paddy served as President of UNICEF UK, President of Chatham House, Parton of Hope and Homes for Children and remained very active in the House of Lords. He remained active in the Liberal Democrats. He often appeared as a pundit on radio and television and chaired the party’s election campaign in 2015. His achievements were recognised over the years. As well as being a Privy Councillor, he was a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George, a Companion of Honour, a Knight of the Order of the British Empire, and an Officer of the Legion d’Honneur.

He was a politician of great drive and energy, although some complained that he was not the most subtle or diplomatic of figures. He relished the cut and thrust of political life and its potential for throwing up the unexpected.

“If you make a mistake you usually pay the price very quickly,” he said. “It is what makes it more exciting and more terrifying than active service.”

Paddy is survived by his wife Jane, his son, Simon, daughter, Katharine, and three grandchildren.

Adapted from BBC Michael Avens Born 19 March 1932 Died 09 July 2019 - Aged 87 At Bedford School 1944-1949 - Bromham Rex C Baker Born 31 July 1948 Died 31 January 2019 - Aged 70 At Bedford School 1959-1965 - Bromham

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Colin Bass-Walker Born 11 November 1934 Died 29 December 2018 - Aged 84 Bedford School 1944-1953 - Ashburnham Colin did 5 years of National Service after leaving Bedford and whilst there worked in radars. He then went on to work in the electronics industry (including for the MoD).

Richard A Beechener Born 06 August 1928 Died 22 December 2018 - Aged 90 At Bedford School 1941-1945 - Crescent Simon R Boddington Born 02 August 1940 Died 08 November 2018 - Aged 78 At Bedford School 1949-1959 - Glanyrafon Simon was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and his family moved from Hitchin to Bedford so that he and his brother William (57-62) could attend Bedford School. It was at Bedford that Simon developed lifelong friendships, a love of rugby, cricket and boxing, and above all else, learned the agony and ecstasy of rowing.

Simon went on to be a life-long champion oarsman, and was an instrumental member of the Marin Rowing Association in California. Simon made every boat better.

He was an ardent patriot and served his country as a commissioned officer in the British Army from 1962-1967. Upon graduation with a degree from Scottish Woollen Textile College, Galashiels, Scotland, Simon’s employer sent him to work on the West Coast of America. Thus began his California adventure which started in 1969, and never ended.

Simon was a larger-than-life figure, a passionate lover of music, books, travel, theatre, world history and a good Scotch.

He was a man’s man, with brute strength, wicked humour and true grit. At the same time, he was tender-hearted and could be brought to tears by an exquisite composition. He was also very much a ladies man, with his dark, brooding good looks and his irresistible voice. In 1976 he married Victoria Hole, with whom he raised three daughters and renovated numerous Victorian and Early American homes in the Bay Area. In 2001, Simon he married Janet Etheridge. They lived happily on their little slice of shalom called Rancho Gallinas in San Rafael. These were the years that defined Simon’s later life, as he settled down peacefully in one place, returning to his love of nature, carpentry, gardening and beekeeping. He helped Janet raise two sons on the mini-farm, and together they adopted another boy.

Simon is survived by his wife Janet, his son, Max, 3 daughters, Sarah, Tiffany and Sophie and 2 stepsons, Soleman and Will, and 4 grandchildren. Beloved patriarch to a large family, Simon held deep devotion and love for his homeland. The family will never be the same without this lovely, remarkable man, and will treasure the laughter and memories created while he was here on Earth.

He passed from this world after a brief illness.

J Ben Brightwell Born 28 September 1932 Died 10 January 2018 - Aged 86 At Bedford School 1939-1950 - Bromham 204

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Ronald C Brooks Born 27 February 1920 Died 2013 - Aged 93 At Bedford School 1929-1938 - Crescent J Michael L Brunskill Born 21 September 1927 Died 09 April 2019 - Aged 91 At Bedford School 1935-1945 - Sanderson’s W Brian Burrows Born 30 December 1926 Died 15 December 2018 - Aged 91 At Bedford School 1937-1945 - Crescent John R Carlisle Born 28 August 1942 Died 18 February 2019 - Aged 76 At Bedford School 1949-1954 - Farrar’s Born in 1942, John was the son of Andrew and Ethel Carlisle (née Handley).

After being educated at Bedford and St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, he was sent to the College of Estate Management. He became a grain trader and took little interest in politics until in his thirties when he progressed rapidly, becoming chairman of Mid Bedfordshire Tories within two years.

After he won Luton West in 1979 with a majority of only 246 he shared an office with John Major, the future Prime Minister.

“He was to become a persistent and outspoken opponent in later years,” Major recalled, “who took great pleasure in offending every politically correct code that ever existed.”

At the time, however, the two men got on well. For all his alarming opinions, John could, after all, be charming and convivial.

Although a “natural backbencher” who enjoyed the freedom that came with not being in the Cabinet, John nevertheless decided he needed to become better known. For his first Commons budget day he wore a straw hat, because Luton was known for its millinery. Soon after, he campaigned against the import of vacuum cleaners from Eastern Europe. When this failed to fire the public imagination he concentrated on the sporting boycott of South Africa by Commonwealth countries contained in the Gleneagles agreement. His view was that sportsmen were the best ambassadors and, since plans to isolate South Africa had failed, sporting visits would help integration.

Although he clearly preferred the company of his own set, he always maintained his personal abhorrence of apartheid and denied receiving money from South Africa. In 1981, however, he did go on a fact-finding visit with all his bills paid in hotels in Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg. After he was taken to the black township of Soweto he delivered his verdict that Soweto was not as bad as it was painted and added that “parts of it are quite unpleasant, but then so are parts of Luton”. It was a statement received with little enthusiasm in his constituency.

John extended his campaign from sport to blanket opposition of all boycotts and sanctions against South Africa. In this he found an ally in Denis Thatcher, the prime minister’s husband. He

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pursued this with considerable courage, despite derision (sketch writers called him the member for Bloemfontein West) and physical intimidation. When he tried to put his case to university audiences he was pelted with eggs at Leicester, chased away at Oxford, forced to speak behind a crush barrier at Bristol and thrown to the ground at Bradford, leaving him with a broken finger.

When events in South Africa forced him to change his position he did not regret his former activities, because, he claimed, it was not sanctions or boycotts that had moved the government. Instead he rejoiced that sporting links had been renewed and took some credit for this. In his own words, however, his policies “suddenly looked a bit out of kilter as Mandela walked free”.

Although he had changed about South Africa, his other views had not altered since he arrived in Parliament. He was in favour of capital and corporal punishment, a hardliner on immigration, prejudiced against feminists and homosexuals and a natural and active member of the Monday Club a right wing grouping of Conservative MPs. He would have virtually abolished the public sector if given the chance. The health service would rely on insurance and public education would be replaced by private funding, with vouchers for parents. “I am not unhappy about the perception that I am on the far right of the party,” he announced.

With these views he was a natural recruit to John Redwood’s campaign for the party leadership against Major in June 1995.

John had offered earlier to be a stalking horse candidate against his old roommate, but had met with a lack of response. He then became a member of a bizarre coterie of Maastricht rebels — the famed “bastards” — in the Redwood camp, with Tony Marlow the most eccentric, appearing in a vividly striped school blazer.

Redwood lost by 218 to 89.

One day when John took a prank phone call from the impressionist Rory Bremner pretending to be the prime minister cajoling him into supporting the government, he smelt a rat and spoke to the whips. He knew Major’s voice too well.

As well as being a committed bon viveur, especially when South African red wine was on offer, John cut a dapper figure.

He had neatly combed wavy hair, a measured speaking voice and a knack for making eloquent off-the-cuff speeches. He was not an MP from whom ideas had to be wrenched. Policies flowed from him. Parents of Asian children should have to pay for their English lessons. Other parents should be made responsible for their children’s fines. John provoked outrage, however, when he attacked another set of parents, the fathers and mothers of children massacred at Dunblane in Scotland in 1996. He described them as “emotional and hysterical” in their arguments for stricter gun controls. Carlisle, as a libertarian, opposed further controls, arguing that shooting was a noble sport.

Towards the end of his Commons career, John carried his belief in private enterprise into his political life, becoming a car salesman at Westminster. He signed up with a retail motor company and claimed to have sold cars, mainly Rovers, to both sides of the House. Then, in 1996, Carlisle announced unexpectedly that he would not fight the next election. He gave as his reason “the march of Euro-federalism”. Untroubled by self-doubt, John was not unemployed for long. Within weeks of leaving the Commons he was appointed executive director of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. His task was to emphasise the industry’s important contribution to jobs and tax revenue and to resist attacks from the health lobby. He had also to use his contacts to persuade a sceptical Commons that an advertising ban would do nothing to reduce smoking and would

only cause serious problems to sports relying heavily on tobacco sponsorship.

He was married in 1964 to Anthea May, whom he met at a friend’s 21st, after he had drawn attention to himself by letting a piglet loose in the kitchen as a prank. She survives him with their two daughters, Victoria, a journalist, and Justine, a farm administrator.

Adapted from The Times William (Bill) J Carr MBE Born 16 November 1932 Died 10 July 2019 - Aged 86 At Bedford School 1942-1947 - Ashburnham Bill was born in India but shortly moved to England. After Bedford Bill moved to Argentina with his mother and stepfather. He worked there until 1953 when he returned to England with his mother and fiancée, Rhoda MacAllister. In 1954 he transferred to Canada with the Bank of Montreal until 1963 when he was transferred to Mexico City, Mexico, working at first for the Bank of Montreal and later for the American Bank, Marine Midland Bank of Buffalo, until his retirement in 1992.

Bill was a keen oarsman and tennis player, also a very good amateur actor, playing many roles in the local amateur dramatic society in Mexico to great acclaim. He was also active in many charities and local organisations, especially the British Cowdray Hospital on whose Board be served for many years. In 1996 he was awarded the MBE for his considerable contribution to Mexican business and charities.

Bill was a wonderfully kind man who is greatly missed by his family and many friends. He is survived by his second wife, Patricia, and three children, Meilan, Jocelyn and Andrea, six grandchildren, three nephews and one niece and their offspring.

Julian B Childs Born 31 July 1949 Died 24 July 2018 - Aged 68 At Bedford School 1964-1967 – Pemberley Julian grew up in the Middle East and boarded at Bedford from age 11. From Bedford Julian went up to Downing College, Cambridge in 1969 to read Oriental Studies (Arabic and Turkish). He rowed as stroke in the 1971 May Boat and was Captain of Boats in his final year.

With his career starting in money broking and then electronic financial information, he became Executive Vice President of Dow Jones Telerate in New York until his retirement. Having worked in the UK, Asia-Pacific and America, after retirement he invested in start-ups and built a small property portfolio. He was a member of

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the Downing Enterprise Board from its inception in 2005, serving as Chairman from 2008 to 2011, as well as a former Director of one of its offshoots, Cambridge Temperature Concepts, which produces a fertility monitor. He was also a Director of United Open MRI which brought the first open, upright MRI scanners to Britain.

Julian was a great supporter of the College: in particular he was a major benefactor both in the building of the Boathouse and the Cambridge Rowing Tank. He also sponsored two boats, Basil and Basil Childs, named in memory of his father, and supported the Mays Wild Fund. He was an active member of the Downing College Alumni Association, serving as President from 2006 to 2007, and as a Co-opted Member of the Committee from 2009 to 2004.

Julian leaves his wife Angie and two sons - our thoughts and sympathy are with them.

Patrick M Connolly Born 05 May 1955 Died 18 October 2018 - Aged 63 At Bedford School 1966-1973 - Bromham Pat was born in 1955 as the third of four children in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, (Harare, Zimbabwe). He had many fond memories of his early childhood in Africa, including walking around barefoot, visiting Beira on the Mozambique coast, and the Victoria Falls, as well as jumping into the deep end of the swimming pool before he had learnt to swim. His family returned to Europe permanently when he was 6, and although his parents were Irish, they settled in Bedford. They arrived during a very hard winter: Pat had had no idea what snow was until then.

He attended a Catholic primary school in Bedford and in 1966 he won an Eleven Plus scholarship to Bedford School, following his older brother Kieran (64-71). He embraced Bedford School culture and life with enthusiasm. He enjoyed acting in school plays, including Henry V, Twelfth Night and a production in French of Les Justes, and was a keen member of the CCF. Sport and especially rugby was his chief love; he was in the 1st XV for three seasons, 1971 – 73, being captain for the third season. Although he did not continue to play rugby, he followed it for the rest of his life, supporting Ireland in the Six Nations.

Pat’s other interests at school included the Debating Society and the Modern Languages Society (being president of both) and it was through these that he met his wife Cherry who was at the High School. In the VIth form, he was taught German

by Michael Stambach, and remained friends with Michael and Avril until Michael’s early death. He appreciated the nuances of language and he particularly enjoyed German; like several of his contemporaries he spent a term at a German boarding school during the Lower VIth form. From Bedford, Pat won an Exhibition to study French and German at Exeter College, Oxford.

Pat’s Irish background was hugely important to him and throughout his childhood and teenage years the family made summer visits to stay with relatives on their farms in Galway and Sligo; he often talked fondly about helping to bring in the turf and the hay. As an adult he visited Ireland regularly with his own family.

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He was very interested in practical things, and made a career as a Building Control Officer, mostly working for Bradford Council following a move in 1981 to Keighley, where he and Cherry chose to bring up their family. They had five children and after the last was born, he left work to look after the children so that Cherry could start her career. Later he started his own business as an Approved Inspector and a Fire Engineer.

Pat was always involved in his local community and loved to help people. He was an active church member, often campaigning about issues of poverty, injustice and the environment. As his own children became involved in competitive cycling, he ran a Cycling Club at their school, and took teenagers to cycling events, thinking nothing of taking a minibus full of young people to the south coast, with a massive trailer of bikes on the back. He enthusiastically supported all of them to do their best regardless of their ability. He was a devoted father, reading Lord of the Rings to his children, teaching them to mend bikes and to cook, and sending them off to university with recipes. He was delighted to become a grandfather and when he died he had six grandchildren.

Pat struggled for many years with Alzheimer’s disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis, having to give up work in 2009. He and Cherry wanted to continue to live as normally as possible and remain active: Pat did the Great North Run & Edinburgh Marathon and also volunteered in a local school to help children learn to read. They acquired a small motorhome and travelled through Europe, even making it as far as Greece. Although he found his illnesses frustrating, Pat continued to be characteristically goodnatured and was generally enjoyable to spend time with. Until he became severely disabled, he had a vast general knowledge, and could talk interestingly on a variety of topics. He found it easy to understand things from many different perspectives, and he was truly compassionate and showed a tremendous generosity of spirit.  John Darlow Born 14 May 1934 Died 05 April 2019 - Aged 84 At Bedford School 1945-1951 Bromham Dr Michael Edmondson-Jones Born 03 September 1940 Died 22 September 2018 - Aged 77 At Bedford School 1950-1959 - St Peter’s Wg Cdr J F D ‘Tim’ Elkington Born 23 December 1920 Died 01 February 2019 - Aged 98 At Bedford School 1935-1939 - Ashburnham John Francis Durham Elkington, always known as “Tim”, was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, in 1920 and educated at Packwood Haugh Prep School, Hockley Heath, and Bedford School. Aged 18, in September 1939, he entered RAF College, Cranwell as a flight cadet.

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In 1940, buoyed by his first victory in the Battle of Britain on August 12, Tim painted a picture on his Hurricane fighter for good luck. His triumph in combat had come within a month of his being commissioned into RAF No 1 Squadron as a pilot officer, and only days after he had first flown a Hurricane at all. His happy “nose art”, completed on August 15, was a bright yellow figure called “Eugene the Jeep”, from the Popeye cartoons, a character that was supposed to have powers to see into the future.

Nineteen-year-old Tim’s luck would take an unexpected turn just 24 hours later when he was involved in one of the most widely remembered grand encounters between British and German fighters, played out in front of a watching civilian population all along the coast by the Solent. He would live to tell the tale, but only just. Tim’s Hurricane took a hit: cannon fire from one of the Bf 109s chasing his tail. It was later established that this was being flown by the Luftwaffe ace Major Helmut Wick. Wick’s burst made his starboard fuel tank, positioned in the wing, explode and erupt into flames. It took the injured Tim two attempts to bale out. Having slid back his cockpit canopy, and slipped his safety harness, he forgot to disconnect his radio and oxygen lines.

“No pain, just blood,” he recalled, and the fine view he had of Portsmouth “through the haze” was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.

Tim had not had time to inflate his “Mae West” lifejacket, and as he drifted down 10,000ft in his parachute, the flight leader, Berry, seeing that the teenager would certainly drown without help, performed the brilliant flying feat of using the slipstream of his aircraft to blow Tim ashore, on to the beach at West Wittering.

Tim would thereafter think of Berry as his guardian angel. When Tim got out of hospital he went to thank Berry for saving his life, but he was too late. Berry had already been shot down and killed just days before.

After a spell as an instructor, Tim was sent to Russia in September 1941 as part of RAF 151 Wing, to deliver Hurricanes to the Soviet air force and train its pilots and ground staff in their use. He flew off HMS Argus to Vaenga airfield near Murmansk, and took part in actions against the Luftwaffe, sharing in the destruction of a Ju 88.

When he returned to England he had his second lucky escape: he survived hitting a 440,000-volt power cable across the Tyne, which plunged nearby towns into an inadvertent blackout.

During the rest of the WW2 he flew Typhoon ground attack fighters with No 1 Sqn and, promoted to flight lieutenant, served with No 197 Sqn; then on nightfighters with No 539 Sqn, before being posted to India in 1943. British victory over the Japanese at Kohima in 1944 freed him for early promotion and three years in command of the Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) at RAF Amarda Road, 140 miles southwest of Calcutta. In Delhi, while flying a Tempest II, fuel sprayed into his cockpit. He tried and failed to bale out, but managed to land instead, with fuel venting into the engine bay. Also that year he had a burst tyre on landing.

After the war Tim stayed in the RAF, commanding RAF Turnhouse, Edinburgh, before serving in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and Christmas Island in the Pacific during British nuclear tests in the 1950s.

In 1948 Tim had married Patricia Adamson, whom he met in Edinburgh while paying a duty call on the owner of Castle Gogar close to the RAF base. She happened to be visiting her aunt — the owner’s wife. They had four children: John, a specialist in environmentally sustainable development; Caroline, an artist; Gray, a corporate culture adviser; and Tessa, a nurse.

Tim retired in 1975 with the rank of wing commander. That year his nose-painted Hurricane was found by an archaeologist in ground near West Wittering beach. It had augured deep into the earth when it crashed there in 1940. He was given the plane’s vertical speed indicator as a memento and it remained one of his prize possessions.

In 2005, after years of trying to track down Berry’s family, Tim finally made contact with the pilot’s daughter, and was able to tell her about how her father, with his incredible flying skills, had saved his life. She had had no idea.

After coming home from Cyprus, Tim and Pat moved, into Hill House at Little Rissington near Cheltenham, where they would live for more than 50 years. In retirement Tim set up a pictureframing business, finally retiring from that in 2005. He coaxed into life exotic plants in his greenhouses and was an early adopter of biological controls as an alternative to pesticides – having previously used a flame-thrower to get rid of weeds.

In March 2013 Tim and a number of his colleagues were invited to Downing Street where the Prime Minister, David Cameron, presented them with the newly created Arctic Star.

In 2014 he received the Ushakov Medal from the Russian ambassador in London and two years later he, along with other remaining Battle of Britain veterans, attended a tea at Clarence House hosted by the Prince of Wales, who is the patron of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association.

Tim had a flight in a Spitfire in his nineties, still with his old shrapnel scars on his legs. Even in old age, whenever he took a hot bath, specks of oxidised black metal from his Hurricane’s exploded fuel tank, embedded in his back since 1940, would pop out.

In 2016 he visited Archangel for the 75th Anniversary of the first Russian convoy.

Tim is survived by his wife Pat, with their two sons and two daughters.

Adapted from The Times Robert ‘Bob’ E Elphick Born 20 July 1930 Died 11 September 2019 - Aged 89 At Bedford School 1941-1948 - Bromham Robert was born in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, in 1930 to Edward Elphick and Vera, née Rutherford.

His father was the owner, editor and printer of the Biggleswade Chronicle and Robert would deliver the paper to the surrounding villages. After Bedford, Robert went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, switching from modern languages to read law. Here, he was a promising rower. His first job was as a management trainee at Unilever, but journalism ran through his veins.

He soon quit and took a big pay cut to join the Wisbech Advertiser in Cambridgeshire as a cub reporter. Two years later he joined Reuters in London and was promoted to Moscow correspondent in 1958. He stayed here for four years during which time he met the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev many times, and Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and covered the U2 spy plane crisis that wrecked an important cold war summit between Khrushchev and the US president Dwight D Eisenhower.

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After the Soviets refused Bob a visa, Robert was posted to Algiers in the aftermath of the war of independence, before joining the BBC. In 1964 he joined the BBC, firstly as the BBC’s Assistant Diplomatic correspondent, a post which took him to Tashkent for the Indo-Pakistan peace talks in 1966 and to India for the installation of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister; then as the BBC’s Central Europe Correspondent based in Vienna between 1967 and 1970 spending much of his time covering the Czechoslovak crisis and the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968. In the weeks that followed the ‘Prague Spring’ he met the celebrated long-distance runner Emil Zatopek, who had been expelled from the Czech army because of his support for the reforms of Alexander Dubcek.

Robert told the BBC’s ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ (FOOC) that Zatopek had been “reassigned” to clean the streets, but every time he picked up his broom people snatched it from him and cleaned the streets themselves.

Having reported so poignantly on the death of Czechoslovakia’s democratic dream, Robert was kicked out of Prague in 1969, but not before having put in a claim to the BBC for a rather outlandish expense – he claimed a new car after his vehicle was crushed by a Soviet tank!

During the 1970s Robert reported from trouble spots around the world. He was evacuated from Amman in Jordan during the “Black September” conflict in 1970 between King Hussein’s forces and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, then redeployed to Northern Ireland to cover the imposition of direct rule. From his last posting in Bonn he was sent to cover the civil war in Lebanon twice. On most if not all of these jobs Robert was accompanied by a film crew sent from somewhere else.

In 1977 he became an official spokesman at the European Commission in Brussels and Head of Media when posted to the London office in 1985. He ended his career as deputy Head of the Commission’s London Office in 1995 when he retired at 65 and was appointed Secretary General of ELEC, the British section of the European League for Economic Cooperation.

Robert is survived by his wife Eve, whom he met when she was a secretary on the Wisbech Advertiser and married in 1957, and their children, Sarah, Charles and Amelia, and six grandchildren.

George F Felton Born 03 February 1921 Died 14 June 2019 - Aged 98 At Bedford School 1936-1940 - St Cuthbert’s George was born in Paris, the son of George and Muriel Felton. His father was manager of the Paris branch of the National Provincial Bank while his mother worked in the US Embassy as a multilingual telephonist. The family returned to the UK in 1932 on the death of his father and George came to Bedford in 1936, where he excelled in mathematics.

He won a state scholarship in 1940 to Magdalene College, Cambridge, and studied mathematics and physics. After a year at Cambridge he was enlisted in the RAF. Because he had obtained a “ham” radio operator’s licence while still at school, he was assigned to work on radar and electronic navigation equipment, and instructor, mainly in the Middle East.

On demobilisation George returned to Cambridge, completing his degree in 1948. He then became a research student in 208

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physics at the Cavendish laboratory. This brought him into contact with the university’s mathematical laboratory, where Maurice Wilkes had led the construction of EDSAC, the world’s first practical electronic computer. George was smitten. He spent most of his time thinking and talking about computers. As a result he never submitted his PhD thesis but he knew a good deal about programming.

He met his wife Ruth at meetings of the Round Country Dance Society and they married in 1951. Also in 1951 he joined Elliott Brothers in London, a firm then at the forefront of computer research. Ruth also joined Elliotts where they both worked on the Nicholas, an experimental computer (the name was a pun on the fact that its memory system used nickel delay lines). In an early tour de force George used the programming ideas he had picked up at Cambridge to design an exceptionally elegant programming scheme. Among its scientific calculations, Nicholas performed metal-fatigue analysis necessitated by the two crashes of the Comet aircraft disaster of 1954.

That same year, following management problems at Elliotts, George and several of the computing team left to join Ferranti, the Manchester-based electrical equipment manufacturer that was also in the computer business. Ruth left at the same time to bring up the first of their four sons.

George led the team developing operating systems and programming software for the Ferranti Pegasus and Orion computers (these computers acquired their names from George’s interest in astronomy). Besides the basic programming system, George wrote mathematical packages and a simple programming language “autocode”. He also gave lectures in programming at Ferranti’s London computer centre and at Northampton Polytechnic (a pioneer in computer education – now City University).

Beyond the computer industry, George was best known for using the Pegasus to calculate pi to a new accuracy. He announced his result – pi to 10,017 decimal places – at a mathematics conference in Oxford in April 1957. The number duly appeared in the conference proceedings as a “footnote” that continued over the succeeding 40 pages. His record lasted just six months before it was broken by a much more powerful IBM computer.

At ITC (the successor to Ferranti) which later became ICL, George ran the division responsible for the operating system and basic software for the 1900 Series. The new system was named GEORGE, only partly after the team leader but also a contrived acronym for GEneral ORGanisational Environment.

In a final spasm of consolidation, in 1968 ICT and English Electric Computers merged to become ICL, the UK’s national champion computer manufacturer. The merger was inspired by the government’s inducement of funding for a new range of computers. George was one of a team of six that planned the new range, and he subsequently oversaw the development of the software system.

George’s job was full on and took him round the world but, despite this, he and Ruth did find time to produce four sons. He was the absent father in many ways, but the children always delighted in his return from exotic parts bearing gifts, and sitting together in front of the slide projector looking at photos from Australia or Africa. George took to his hobbies like everything else he did: committed, methodical, productive and excelling.

He danced with the Cambridge Morris Men, where he wrote down each dance tune and steps. He was a talented artist; he

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could draw superbly but chose to produce beautiful abstract oilpaintings. He collected British stamps: he brewed wine and beer; he recorded and catalogued music from the radio. And during one period, around 1970, his brain was obviously not being stretched enough so he learnt Chinese and rapidly achieved A-level.

He was also a keen photographer. When George retired and Ruth wanted to carry on teaching she sorted out some photographic holidays for him to attend. This interest, like others before it, became an obsession – one that combined all his abilities and at which he was particularly good. He joined clubs and exhibited his prints and slides in the UK and abroad.

He became one of the country’s leading practitioners of colour printing using cibachrome. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.

In his later years George slowly succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. He was lovingly cared for by Ruth until her death in January 2019. George is survived by three of his sons.

Adapted from Martin Campbell-Kelly of The Guardian Alan C Gardner Born 1932 Died 23 October 2018 - Aged 86 At Bedford School Staff 1958-1971 After leaving Bedford Alan went to Kings School Ely (1971 - 1974) and from there he went to Eastbourne College where he spent the rest of his career before retiring in 1992. He and his wife, Eve, then moved to the countryside in Suffolk in 2001.

He is survived by Eve and his three sons Stephen (Pemberley House 1972-76), Aidan and Jeremy, both of whom had brief spells in the Preparatory School.

Richard P Garrett Born 13 May 1967 Died 22 December 2018 - Aged 51 Bedford School Staff 2010-2018 Richard was born in Pevensey, Sussex where William the Conquerer landed before the Battle of Hastings, the second son of Margaret (Binkie) and Christopher (Kit) Garrett. His father, who was in the army, was between postings at this time and Richard was born in the Vicarage as his maternal grandfather was the local vicar.

His paternal grandmother also lived in the village and throughout his life this village played a key part in his life and that of the Garrett family, be it exploring the castle (in the days before health and safety decided it wasn’t safe for small boys to climb over loose stone work unsupervised), helping with parish events, collecting apples from the vicarage orchard, or taking part in the highly contested annual cricket matches against his cousins on the vicarage lawn.

Play was normally abandoned when apples were introduced as a projectile by a bored fielder but order was always re-established

when Dodo (his grandmother, the vicars’s wife) started to lay out one of her famed vicarage afternoon teas.

Richard had a very happy childhood moving where his father’s military postings took them, be it to the Salisbury Plain area or Germany. Often Richard and his elder brother Nick would be found with a “gang” of similar aged boys enjoying nothing more than hanging out on their bicycles and generally getting up to mischief on various army barracks. This is also when Richard was first introduced to travel, as the Garretts would make most of the German autobahn system.

In 1976 Richard joined Ascham, the prep School to Eastbourne College. During this time he and his brother lived with their grandparents at Pevensey Vicarage. Interestingly the Head Master was Michael Keale who had taught at Bedford and who Richard reconnected with in recent years. By his own admission, Richard did not particularly shine at anything; he enjoyed cubs and camping, but soon revealed that he had absolutely no inclination for gymnastics and, more particularly, vaulting. The vaulting horse or box often coming off worse!

In 1977 Richard moved to St Andrews Prep School as Ascham closed quite suddenly. He enjoyed scouts, but once again did not excel in any particular area, and there was still no improvement regarding gymnastics or vaulting! He did however start to play rugby and at last discovered something he was rather good at, playing for the school’s 1st XV. In 1980 Richard moved to Eastbourne College. In the summer of 1983 he completed a Schoolboy Parachute Course at Netheraven on the edge of Salisbury Plain, completing two static line jumps. He was appointed Head of School in 1985, and Senior Under Officer in CCF. He enjoyed two seasons playing in the 1st XV and several comedy cameo roles in various school productions.. He left after “A” levels with a calling to join the army, in his father’s footsteps. His LVIth girlfriend at the time was Emma Le Brocq, who would, some 10 years later become his wife.

After school Richard embarked on a Gap Year. He started by working for a term at Dulwich Prep. He enjoyed finding his way around London, and played a lot of rugby; Rosslyn Park and Surrey U19s and during this time he passed the Army’s Regular Commissions Board (RCB) and was offered a place at RMAS. The second part of his GAP year was spent visiting India on a Christian teaching scheme, with his school friend Simon Croft.

Initially they were based in villages in Madhya Pradesh and they enjoyed the simple life. It was the sort of eye opening experience that all Gap years should contain. After three months teaching the boys returned to Delhi to renew their visas and for three months of travel. Their experiences along the way were quite remarkable.

They were on a tight budget and found themselves travelling by train third class, sleeping on station platforms and trying to creep into exclusive hotels to use their facilities or devour their buffet breakfasts. Their route took in Rajasthan, Mumbai, Calcutta, Darjeeling, Benares, Srinagar, Goa and Kathmandu. In this age of instant communications, social media and the internet it is amazing to think that they communicated with their parents by post through the very efficient “Poste Restante” system. Richard always felt that he was very lucky to have had this opportunity to explore India and it resulted in him visiting India on a number of other occasions. Emma and Richard visited on their honeymoon and although back packing, on this occasion they did enjoy one or two Palace hotels. In 2008 the whole family had an unforgettable trip to Kerala.

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Safely back in the UK Richard taught English to foreign students in Eastbourne, before heading to Europe on an Interail Pass. Amazingly, he ‘randomly’ bumped into Emma who was also Interailing with friends.

Richard started at Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes) in September 1986, to read History and Education, but was in the enviable position to know that he had a confirmed place in the army post degree, along with sponsorship throughout his course.

Although he had certain military commitments during the holidays, this meant by and large that he was not under a huge amount of academic pressure. As a result Richard threw himself into student life and particularly played a key part in the Poly’s Rugby Club, both on and off the pitch. During this time Tim Rodber joined the Poly, and Richard (over a beer or two) was never in doubt that in some small way he played an important part in developing Tim to go on and play for England and the British Lions! Richard also established a touring team “The Grizzlies” where some great friendships were formed and cemented. This is one of many examples of how Richard got great pleasure from bringing people together in order to have a lot of fun. The team was started in 1988 and ran until about 1993. Three things caught up with the Grizzly Bears over the years - the knocks & bruises, pressure of work and family life, admin headaches and finding fixtures they could actually win!

In September 1989 Richard attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). He found it extremely tough going after independence of being a student, but also he enjoyed (most of) the physical rigours and made some lifelong friends.

In April 1990 Richard joined The 1st Battalion, The Light Infantry in Berlin. These were exciting times as the Berlin Wall had only just come down. There was a real sense of “stalemate” as the Allied Forces in West Berlin, and Russians in East Berlin eyed each other up in a cautious way as the situation evolved on a daily basis and it was a struggle for procedures and protocols to keep pace. Richard’s nickname ‘Belushi’ was first coined in a late night drinking session in the back streets of Berlin and the name has stuck with his army chums ever since. Postings that followed included, Bulford on Salisbury Plain, Belize in Central America, The Infantry Training Battalion just outside Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northern Ireland, and a two year posting to the Australian Army based in South East Queensland. Whilst based in Australia Richard took training teams into both Indonesia and the Philippines, and he and Emma used every opportunity to explore Australia.

Richard and Emma married at Eastbourne College Chapel in 1992 and their daughter India was born 5 years later on the Gold Coast, Australia.

In 1997 Richard was the winner of the March & Shoot competition, Canungra, QLD. The 20km march was an annual event at Canungra with a shooting element using the Styr infantry Rifle. This particular year, Richard decided to ‘go for it’. Richard’s victory was celebrated at the Tick and Leech bar on camp!

Between 1988 and 1999 Richard ran 5 London Marathons.

Richard, Emma and India returned from Australia in the summer of 1998 and in 1999 Joshua was born in Salisbury Hospital, critically ill. He was christened at birth and his prognosis was not good. He was transferred by ambulance to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Southampton General Hospital where the Specialists changed his diagnosis from ‘not optimistic’, to ‘not pessimistic’ and then those welcome words ‘cautiously optimistic’ were spoken and, having been on the brink of despair, 210

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all was well.

In August 1999, after a short stint in Northern Ireland and Tidworth, Richard left the army having embarked on an MSc in Airport Operations.

From 1999-01 Richard worked as a Ryanair Account Manager for Servisair, running Ryanair’s Ground Handling at Stansted.

This was a baptism of fire as 4 months after joining the Korean Cargo 747 Jumbo jet crashed at Stansted Airport; 3 months later the high jacked Afghan aircraft landed and 4 months after that the South of England Air Traffic Control System failure happened, the same day as a key match for England in UEFA tournament. Up until then Richard had seen certain similarities between soldiers and loaders, but it soon became apparent that they are altogether different beasts. Richard recalled “when I entered the Loaders’ Rest Room at Stansted to ask people to sign up for overtime into the evening and night, I left to a chorus of “Cash in Hand”, “Cash in Hand”. I remembered with great fondness a number of good NCOs that I had served with in the army that I would like to have had by my side on this occasion!”. In September 2001, the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed the whole face of aviation, procedures and security. Nowadays, as airports are so busy and operating to capacity, it only takes a small change to the flow of aircraft and passengers for things to rapidly deteriorate into chaos.

Throughout this time Stansted was going through a period of intensive growth which bought its own challenges on a day to day basis.

In 2001 Richard was appointed the Deputy General Manager European Airports for Ryanair with responsibility for out-station start-ups and performance, as well as starting the process of actually starting to base aircraft and crew overseas. During this time son number 2, Toby, was born.

In March 2003 Richard left the family in the UK while he moved to Bahrain to take up the position of Head of Gulf Traveller, which was Gulf Air’s Low Cost project. Working in the Middle East highlighted how lean and efficient the Ryanair model was with a simple product, clear objectives, a shared vision of growth and an ability to react to changes in the market.

In April 2003 baby Sam made a dramatic entry into the world and was born early in Majorca by emergency C-section whilst on holiday to celebrate Emma’s parents’ Ruby Wedding Anniversary.

At least the whole family was on hand to help! The family moved out to Bahrain to join Richard when Sam was just 3 months old.

Ex-pat family life was full of fun and great friendships were forged.

Leisure time revolved mainly around the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Spa and the Bahrain Rugby Club where Richard and many mates ‘coached’ the young players.

In September 2003 Richard went into Basra in Iraq on a recce to see if Gulf Air could commence regional airline operations following the allied occupation of Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein. However, due to on-going internal security issues this did not happen for a number of years. After two years with Gulf Air Richard left the airline and did a series of projects as a consultant in the low cost market. One lasted for nearly a year and involved weekly commuting in and out of Riyadh, KSA, which was not great from a family prospective. One “good” thing about having short term contracts though was that he was able to get back to the UK to see his mother when she was ill, prior to her death in March 2005.

Their youngest daughter Tess was born in 2005 in The BDF (Bahrain Defence Force Hospital), Riffa, Bahrain. The family travelled a great deal during this time enjoying numerous trips to

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Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Jordan, India and Australia as well as back to the UK. In 2008 Richard took up an appointment as Head of Operations for Monarch Airlines. The family followed in June that year and Richard enjoyed this role, as Monarch faced a number of challenges.

In September 2009 Richard was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

This was a complete shock but the family stood firm in the face of such terrible news. As Richard was coming to the end of initial post-operative treatment, Emma came across an advert for the position of “Director, Bedford School Association”. On the back of what the family had recently been through, they decided to embrace a change of direction and hopefully a different quality of life.

Richard started working at Bedford School in August 2010.

This was a new role following a restructure. His remit was to bring together all elements of the wider School community, with a particular focus on working with the Old Bedfordians Club and the Foundation. Richard did this with his own special style, and through his genuine warmth built up many strong friendships which resulted in support to the School in many different forms.

The three boys Josh, Toby and Sam all joined the school in Year 5.

Richard was a great believer in making people feel welcome, putting them at ease and hosting them appropriately. From 2010 to 2018, he played a key role in helping the School raise over twelve million pounds, contributing to a number of key capital projects in recent years, as well as supporting many boys on the school’s bursary programme.

Cancer was never allowed to rule Richard’s life. He threw himself into his new job, extending the School’s network, improving personal fitness since his operation and keeping busy in his spare time by planning holidays. Emma and Richard took the children on their first family ski holiday in December 2010, and over the following years despite three further operations, three periods of radiotherapy and many hours of chemotherapy, enjoyed many fantastic holidays, parties, and trips as a family.

As a couple they “cherished” the present, their friends and families and the special moments and memories they could share together.

A few words from Richard to close: “For me the great joy of this role was the sense that I was doing something worthwhile, while at the same time being very involved in the lives of our children, as my days came to an end. Throughout my working career I tried to bring out the best in people, and to build a strong team spirit; as a result of this I have enjoyed the majority of my appointments, and have certainly had a lot of laughs along the way.”

Robert (Bob) F Goodacre Born 27 February 1940 Died 22 February 2019 - Aged 78 Bedford School staff 1961-1997 Bob trained at Loughborough University, where he had specialised in metalwork. He joined Bedford School in 1961. At this time in the Department’s history it was known as ‘The Workshops’ and consisted of Woodwork and Metalwork, a Boat Building room, Motor Vehicle room, Drawing Office and Staff room.

For the first two years Bob taught Metalwork, some Woodwork and Technical Drawing in conditions that by today’s standard

would be considered very basic. Later he became responsible for all the Woodwork teaching and devoted much of his time to developing and expanding the Department.

Always interested in water sports, Bob helped and then ran the School Sailing Club which at first was sited in an old Nissen hut on the side of the Ouse at Oakley. There was a flood one year which swept away many of the dinghies and damaged the rest beyond repair. It was just after this minor disaster that Grafham Water started up as a sailing club and, to meet their safety requirements, he studied and gained his RYA Sailing Master’s Certificate. For a number of years Bob took boys in a mini-bus to Grafham every Tuesday, Thursday and many Saturdays during the Summer Terms, using two Wayfarers the School bought through his guidance and a number of dinghies owned by the boys.

During this time in the summer holidays he had a number of opportunities to develop his sailing experience by crewing in the Fastnet Race, a 650 mile round trip from Plymouth to the Fastnet lighthouse off the coast of Ireland, including the ill-fated ‘79 event when 17 crew lost their lives.

‘Extra Workshops’ soon expanded into Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons as Bob developed canoe building.

These were made by the boys for their own use. He developed many designs: canvas, cold moulded, laminated plywood and finally, fibreglass to be tested out in the old open-air swimming pool. Several dinghies, including an Enterprise and Mirror 14 were completed. These were built from plans to the class specifications. An interesting venture was when Bob took on an Upper Sixth Former who expressed a strong desire to build a speed boat. This was designed and built from scratch in the short period between Christmas and the summer holidays. For the last three weeks the wood workshop was in continuous use from 6 am to 11 pm. It was a successful and rewarding project, for the craft achieved high speeds and planed at half throttle, delighting the owner and builder. When the new Sports Centre was built, with its pool, an indoor canoe polo team was started and all the special short BAT canoes were made by his team.

Another contribution to School sport was to coach and organise badminton as a minor sport and Junior Society. Autumn Terms would find Bob busy helping with stage scenery for the end of term plays and often for the House plays. Plays were performed on a stage at the end of the Great Hall which raised many extra problems. Many of the stage sets required both ingenuity in design and a lot of time to produce. Requests for items were made then subject to constant modifications. One set for a balcony scene finally ended up too big to go through the door of the workshops. There was not time to dismantle it so the only solution was to saw it in two and join it together on the stage! Another of the unusual tasks he undertook was to show films four or five times a term in the Great Hall to audiences from all the Harpur Schools. Needless to say, with audiences of 500 mixed pupils, this was very popular with the boys. To improve the facilities for the films and the stage productions Bob built a large projection box on the first balcony to contain new lighting and sound equipment but not long after this came the fire which destroyed everything. There is a Time Capsule, made by Bob, in the Bell Tower above the main building, placed there when the spire was lifted into place to complete the rebuilding.

The year before the fire the Workshops were extended, which doubled the workshop space and allowed the introduction of the new GCE O-level in CDT to take place. No money was available

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to fit out the rooms and Bob helped, during the summer holiday, to make all the benches and cupboards. Although Workshops as a subject had always been compulsory for the Lower School and the Fourths, boys could now choose to take CDT as one of their O-levels. The introduction, for the first time, of a practical examination required a complete change in teaching methods and then the second major rebuild meant, for the first time, that Bob was teaching Preparatory School pupils, an experience that proved to be very rewarding. At the same time there had also been a radical change from GCE CDT to the GCSE Design and Technology with very different objectives and the need to adapt.

Bob always met these changes with his characteristic resilience.

Bob was married to Margaret (deceased), and is survived by children Chris and Sooze, grandchildren Alexander, Harvey, Isabel, Finley and James and brother, Derek The Revd Canon Bruce Grainger Born 24 January 1937 Died 02 September 2019 - Aged 82 At Bedford School 1948-1955 - Paulo Pontine While at Bedford School Bruce enjoyed participating in Drama, Debates and French Recitation, alongside this Scientific studies. On leaving school, while studying to be a doctor, Bruce realised he was called to the ordained Ministry in the Church of England and, having completed his National Service in the Royal Signals, which had been deferred, he read Theology at Nottingham University and trained for the Priesthood at Cuddesden Theological College.

Following ordination in Bradford Cathedral, he served as Curate at All Saints Bingley, with special responsibility for St. Aidan’s, Crossflatts from 1964-1967. From 1967-1972 he was Chaplain at King’s School, Canterbury, also teaching Religious Studies, Biology and Chemistry. He became a Minor Canon of the Cathedral, where he regularly precented and preached.

Bruce was at heart a dedicated and loving Parish Priest, serving as Vicar of Baildon from 1972-88 and as Vicar of Oxenhope from 1988-2004. He completed an MA at Hull in 1983 and in 1984 he was made an Honorary Canon of Bradford Cathedral. While in Oxenhope near Keighley, he had a dual role; he was Director of Ordinands until 1996, and then Diocesan Ecumenical Officer until he retired in January, 2004.

However, while always caring for the needs of his Parishes, Bruce fulfilled a number of other roles at various times during his Ministry, including lecturing on the Northern Ordination course and chairing both the Diocesan Liturgy committee and the Bradford Area R.S.C.M. committee and serving as a Rural Dean.

For two years he was chair of the Bradford Diocesan House of Clergy and served as a Member of General Synod for eight years. He was a National Selector of Ordinands, a Pre-theological Moderator for the Archbishop’s council and a Section 23 Schools Inspector and Rural Dean of South Craven; he continued some of these roles after retiring. During the Interregnum at Bradford Cathedral he was Pastoral Assistant and more recently was appointed a Cathedral Chaplain. He was a member of the Cathedral Education Team, a lecturer for the WEA and taught Hebrew at Bradford University as well as in the diocese.

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His outside interests included choral music, bell ringing, old motorbikes, and cars; he also restored and mended old clocks and watches and was a member of the Antiquarian Horological society. For over 30 years he enjoyed arranging and conducting the annual Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Carol Service including the year it was on Songs of Praise. He was also a loving husband, father and grandfather, looking forward to and very much enjoying family visits, holidays and celebrations. He leaves a widow, three children, four grandchildren and one sister In 1969 he had returned to St. Aidan’s, Crossflatts where he had been curate, to preach at the consecration of the new church building. On August 31st, 2019, two days before he died, he preached at the 50th Anniversary of St. Aidan’s Church.

Dr Neil Greenwood Born 26 July 1942 Died 14 January 2018 - Aged 76 At Bedford School 1956-60 - Pemberley Neil was born in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, the youngest of three sons of William and Jean Greenwood (nee Blain). He was educated at Bedford School from 1955-1960 where he represented the school in Rowing, Athletics and Rugby. Once he completed his A levels, Neil went to the University of London Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital (1960 1966) to study medicine.

Between 1966 and 1968 he had a variety of Junior Doctor posts at the City General Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent, The Royal Infirmary, Huddersfield and at Southend General Hospital. In February 1968 he became the Resident Clinical Pathologist at the Withington Hospital in Manchester and the following year became a lecturer in Pathology at the University of Manchester and the Senior Registrar to the United Manchester Hospitals.

It was whilst in Manchester that he met Anna McLoughlin, and they married in September 1969. In 1976, the family moved to the Isle of Wight as Neil took up the position of Consultant Histopathologist for the Isle of Wight group of hospitals. He was instrumental in developing the histology department at St Mary’s Hospital when the new hospital was built. Alongside his usual duties, Neil spent a term as Chairman of the HMSC (Hospital Medical Staff Committee) he also did pathology work for the home office.

Neil was a keen sailor, having learnt as a child on many family holidays to Fowey in Cornwall. He joined the Island Sailing Club and was soon an active member of the Tuesday night racing series in his X One Design. Later, he bought a share in a Contessa 32 for both racing and cruising with his young family.

The family moved from Niton to Fishbourne in 1987 and became active members at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club where Neil raced his Micro Gem and later a Squib on Sundays.

On his retirement he invested in a Southerly 110 for more comfortable family holidays and spent many happy weeks exploring the South Coast of England, the North Coast of France, the Dutch canals and even the long trip to Cork in Ireland, via the Fastnet rock.

Neil is survived by his brother, Colin, wife Anna, daughters Sarah and Stephanie and his four granddaughters.

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John S Hart Born 16 August 1927 Died 14 May 2019 - Aged 91 At Bedford School 1938-1945 - Paulo Pontine John won a scholarship to Bedford, where he developed his lifelong love of sport, especially Rugby and Rowing. In July 1945 he rowed in the first post-war Henley Regatta where, sadly, Bedford lost to Eton in the final.

This initial success clearly gave him a taste for the regatta as an event and it became an annual pilgrimage to Henley. This was initially as an athlete and then for many years as an enthusiastic spectator from Stewards, where he could watch the rowing, catch up with old friends and enjoy lunch in the Leander club.

The other passion born while at Bedford was music, with his love of Jazz stemming from the day in 1944 when he and a friend crept into the back of the Queens Works Social Club to watch Glenn Miller rehearsing with the US Air Force band. On being rumbled, they were relieved to find that the great man was very kind to them and even gave them his autograph. The BBC Symphony Orchestra was based in Bedford, and the opportunity to attend their broadcast concerts from the Great Hall encouraged his love of classical music.

Leaving school into a post war world, John did his two years National Service with the Royal Navy, serving as a telegraphist on a minesweeper clearing wartime ordnance off the East Coast and playing the piano in the ship’s jazz band. This experience did perhaps help to instil in him a love of the sea generally and sailing in particular. He raced Dragon yachts in the Medway estuary and later in Torbay with the Royal Torbay Yacht club for many years.

In 1948 John went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge to read maths. He continued with his rowing, winning his place in the college boat. Every house he lived in had to have room for the oar from the 1949 1st May Boat, where he rowed in The Bumps with another old Bedfordian, James Crowden CVO KStJ JP (41-46).

It was at Cambridge where John met his wife Jillian, who was at Newnham College reading English.

John’s first job was selling wine labels. This initial foray taught him a huge amount about business and, probably just as usefully, a comprehensive understanding of wine and the language of the chateau, the commune and the cru. This love of wine stayed with him throughout his life! John left the wine business and joined Castrol Oil, rising rapidly through the management ranks over the coming years. The growing family moved to Kent, where he spent most of his working life within the oil industry, latterly for Burmah Oil and then for the French company, Elf. Rather than relocate to the Midlands, John and Jill moved to Devon where he managed Dartington Farm Foods, before retiring back to Kent to their family and friends.

In retirement, John worked as a volunteer for the Citizens Advice Bureau and in that role, he made a positive difference to so many lives. Retirement also allowed him to spend even more time playing golf at Rye Golf Club, as well as weekly games of bridge, another love started at Bedford School. Sadly, Jill died in 2014 but John continued to live at home supported by his family and many friends until the last two weeks of his life.

John once shared his memories from his school days: I was amused to read the reference to Nancy Hardings School of Dance in the recent OB Review. It was the highlight of our week being the only legitimate opportunity we had to get our arms round a girl!

Dancing classes were at 4.30 on Saturday afternoons.

Whilst the High School girls had spent most of the afternoon in preparation, we did not always have time to have a bath after rugby matches and often had to put on our best suits without proper attention to hygiene.

Needless to say, when we did get there, testosterone was bouncing off the walls but our behaviour was strictly monitored

by La Harding with military discipline. She was built on generous lines and always dressed in satin with matching shoes. Every boy had to dance with her at least once a term and I still have vivid memories of steering her round the dance floor without colliding with the other dancers and her ample bosom in the process.

Ah,..happy and fairly innocent days!

John is survived by his three daughters, Caroline, Sophie and Elizabeth, eight grandchildren, four great grandsons and his brother Robert (44–52).

Terrence (Terry) A Hasdell Born 19 October 1935 Died 23 October 2018 - Aged 83 At Bedford School 1946-1954 - Paulo Pontine Dr Derek R Holmes Born 21 August 1927 Died 11 July 1905 - Aged 92 At Bedford School 1937-1945 - St Cuthbert’s James Hope-Simpson Born 12 April 1905 Died 28 July 2019 - Aged 90 Bedford School staff 1955-1970 Professor Peter W Hutchings Born 16 December 1961 Died 10 February 2018 - Aged 56 At Bedford School 1975-1980 - St Peter’s Peter Hutchings was Professor of Film Studies at Northumbria University and worked at the University for 27 years, specialising in British horror cinema.

Before joining Northumbria, Professor Hutchings studied for his PhD at the University of East Anglia, where he was supervised by Professor Charles Barr, the academic often credited for inventing ‘British film studies’. Peter was Barr’s second PhD student and his PhD, awarded in the late 80s, was revised and published in 1993 as ‘Hammer and Beyond: The British Horror Film’, and is widely regarded as the first substantive study of British horror cinema.

Peter was a private man, but at Northumbria his reputation as an outstanding researcher, teacher, and mentor was enviable.

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Throughout a long and very successful career, Peter put the development of others first. He was always willing to respond first to requests for support, and did so with thoughtful words and sage advice that remained pertinent many months later. He always found time to support, coach and guide students and colleagues in order for them to be the best they could be. And as a leader, Peter delivered ambition, direction and reassurance to those around him.

He is the author of other books including ‘Terence Fisher’, ‘The British Film Guide to Dracula’ and ‘The Horror Film’. He recently published his latest book, Historical Dictionary of Horror Cinema (2nd edition, 2018), and has new work set to be published in forthcoming publications due for release later this year. He has also published numerous journal articles and book chapters on horror cinema, British film and television, science fiction cinema and television, and the thriller.

Sidney C Jefferies Born 07 June 1922 Died 01 November 2018 - Aged 96 At Bedford School 1933-1938 - St Cuthbert’s Sidney gained a place at Bedford at the age of 11 through a grant scholarship through the Harpur Trust. Sadly his own father, a veteran of the Western Front in WW1, died young in 1937 and Sidney was obliged to relinquish his studies at only 15 and find a job to support his family. Sidney performed creditably in his academic studies, and his leaving testimonial from the then Head Master, recorded his promising academic ability and wished him well in life. He was keen on sports, participating enthusiastically at rugby, cricket and athletics. He wasn’t a record beater but he had a competitive spirit and would have gone on to respectable achievements had he enjoyed a full academic career to age 16 or 18.

Sidney never forgot the start the School had given him in life and would say that his schooldays were among the happiest of his life. He was always grateful that the Harpur Trust scholarship had given him a chance to excel and he worked studiously and ‘worked hard, played hard’ to the best of his ability.

In 1941, at age 19, Sidney joined the RAF on active service.

Much of his war experience was in the Indian Ocean theatre, conducting escort sorties by flying boat, or undertaking air support for training missions elsewhere, Africa, US, India, Ceylon. He rarely came face to face with an enemy and later recalled that he had rather enjoyed the War! A plane crash, shortly before demobilisation in 1946, resulted in a serious hip injury which increasingly plagued him through his later years but he remained active at home and outdoors until his late 60’s.

He returned to Bedford aged 24, with his route to further education firmly closed. The only viable option was civvy street and he took up employment first at the telephone exchange and then at Frasers Music Shop (doubtless remembered by many of Bedford’s older inhabitants). He remained in the music, hi-fi, TV and allied trades until he retired.

While in Bedford, during those post-war years, Sidney met and married (in 1950) his wife Dorothy, a Cheshire girl then studying at Bedford’s Teacher Training College. They had 2 sons, Simon in 1953 and Leo in 1956. The family left Bedford in the summer of 1957 and moved to Lincoln and then a year later moved to Chester where they settled. Sidney gained the post of Department Manager in Browns of Chester (eventually part of the Debenhams group) and held this post until he retired at 64 in 1986.

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Sidney found lots of interests outside work and family. He dabbled in golf and painting but his main enthusiasm was directed into country and mountain walking – despite his hip injury; this kept him motivated for over 20 years. He climbed most of the major hills in Snowdonia and the Lake District, and held several posts, including President, in the local Rambling Club.

Finally, when he could no longer go out in the hills, he maintained an interest in the walking exploits of family and friends. Routinely, he turned to music for his own entertainment; he enjoyed much of the classical repertoire, and he never lost his love of the swing and jazz of the inter-war years. Once he and Dorothy had moved (downsized) to sheltered accommodation he regularly provided musical afternoons and soirees for neighbours.

Incidentally he had played euphonium in the School orchestra!

Sadly Dorothy contracted Parkinson’s disease and dementia in her early eighties and Sidney spent several years caring for her until she died in 2012. Quite disabled himself by this time Sidney soldiered on for another six years, his mind and memory intact, but his body failing. In his last weeks his mind often returned to his youth and he never lost what it was that Bedford School had offered him.

Simon Jefferies T G Michael Keall Born 14 April 1905 Died 06 July 2019 - Aged 88 Bedford School Staff 1957-1962 - For those looking for the epitome of a traditional schoolmaster, the life and career of Michael Keall stand as prime examples.

As headmaster of three preparatory schools, he encapsulated what school mastering was about, namely the care of pupils and a determination to benefit their lives. He was renowned for his energy despite little sleep, his copious letter writing, his mischievous sense of humour and his love of bananas, which sustained him throughout many a long night of report writing. His love of music, sport and history, as well as his loyalty to friends, guided his activities throughout his life. He supported the young and talented right to the end.

Thomas Gerald Michael Keall, known as “Archie” to his Cambridge contemporaries, was born in Putney. He was the son of John Keall, who became a mayor of Wandsworth and president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and his second wife, Dorothy May Hubbard. He was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge under the organist and choirmaster Boris Ord, and in his final year became head chorister.

Before Michael’s time at King’s had ended, his father died and he went on to Culford School, Suffolk, where he became head boy, captain of cricket and, later, a governor. After National Service in the Royal Artillery, Michael returned to King’s to read history. It was a great pleasure to him that in the first television recording in 1954 of Carols from King’s he carried the processional cross.

After Cambridge, Michael’s first teaching post was at his alma mater, King’s College School in Cambridge. Two years later he came to Bedford School for 14 terms to teach history to junior forms and to run the lower-school cricket, his side losing only one match during his time there. Michael was nothing if not competitive and would go to extreme lengths to ensure that his

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boys were equipped to win any match they played. He did not waste a minute of the day and expected his charges to do the same.

It came as a surprise when his friend Hugh Woodcock, who was leaving the headship of Portsmouth Grammar School’s junior school to become head of Dulwich College prep school in London, suggested that he apply for his job. Despite his youth (he was 31), Michael got it, throwing himself into life at Portsmouth, which included singing alto in the cathedral choir.

After seven happy years Michael moved to Eastbourne College preparatory school, Ascham, where he spent eight fulfilling years as head, not least because of his companionship with Simon Langdale, the Eastbourne College head. He and Paddy Heazell, later head of the Hall School, Hampstead, founded a dining club for the Independent Association of Prep School heads called “the Gangsters” in response to an equivalent Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference club called “the Gang”.

Michael had always hoped that he might one day lead a choir school, so when the headship at Westminster Abbey Choir School in London came up he jumped at the chance. Over the next 31 terms he developed the Abbey Choir School into an institution that excelled in everything it took on.

Michael’s retirement at the age of 57 was a surprise to some, but having been a head for almost 30 years, he could not resist the offer from the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, Sir David Calcutt — a King’s contemporary and to whom he had been best man — to be junior bursar at Magdalene. Thus began for him a happy 30 years back in Cambridge. After five bursarial years he became alumni secretary, organising dinners with the detail that had characterised his school mastering. He retired in 2012, but continued to hold his fellow commonership.

While at the Abbey and Magdalene, Michael took time out to visit Tristan de Cunha — a group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, of which he became a member of the council — and South Africa as a result of his friendship with Barry Smith, who for more than 40 years was the organist at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. Michael bought a flat near Newlands cricket ground in Cape Town, where he would spend many a British winter and entertain friends.

Life in Cambridge gave Michael the scope to engage in his gregariousness, and his abilities as a raconteur were legendary.

He was a keen supporter of Cambridge University rugby, was a member of several university sports clubs, including Hawks’, as well as clubs such as MCC, the Forty Club and Surrey County Cricket Club, of which he became an honorary life member after more than 60 years’ membership. Perhaps the most treasured activity during these years was his almost daily attendance at his beloved King’s College Chapel.

Michael never married, but had a huge number of friends of all ages to whom he was generous and caring. His Christmas card list was rumoured in his heyday to number well in excess of 600. He collected more than 80 liqueurs, which he produced each year at the end of the fellows’ Christmas lunch at Magdalene.

Adapted from The Times Max A Keep Born 01 October 1932 Died 2019 - Aged 87 At Bedford School 1944-1950 - Bromham

William S Knapp Born 23 June 1951 Died 16 October 2019 - Aged 57 At Bedford School 1964-1968 - Redburn Patrick C V MacCulloch Born 11 October 1928 Died 01 June 2016 - Aged 87 At Bedford School 1939-1947 - Bromham Pat Campbell MacCulloch was born in Bedford in 1928. After Bedford School Pat went to the London School of Economics, then served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Signals, Scottish Command. He began his career in the mining industry with Selection Trust Ltd in the U.K. in 1949 before being transferred to Canada in 1953. He never quite got around to returning to live in England. He met and married Maureen, children arrived soon thereafter and life became busy, filled with family trips and time spent at ‘the farm’ and Caledon Ski Club, where Pat was a Director and President. He was also a long time member of the Ontario Club and the Arts & Letters Club.

From 1971-1982 Pat was President of Selco Inc., and from 1982-1989 he was Senior Vice President, Mining, BP Resources Canada Ltd. Since 1990 Pat was President of Peak Consultants Ltd. He made meaningful contributions to the Canadian mining industry as a Director of the Mining Association of Canada, the Canadian Centre for Resource Studies at Queens University and as founding Chairman of the Mining Industry Technology Council of Canada. He was the Northern Miner’s ‘Mining Man of the Year’ in 1986 and was Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors, England.

Pat’s curiosity led him to research his family roots after he retired, and his book ‘The Campbell Quest’ was published just as he turned 80. Pat’s search started when he found a picture of Andrew Campbell’s house ‘Letterbratt’ with “my father’s house in Ireland” written on the back in his father’s personal papers. It led him to Northern Ireland as well as Campbell House Museum, one of America’s premier historic property museums (www.campbellhousemuseum.org ) While the story of the Campbell house and family is complex, it is also one of the richest and most fascinating looks at the lives of any 19th Century American family. It’s a story that details an immigrant’s experience, entrepreneurial success, the creation of a showplace residence and the growth of a family and city during one of America’s most dynamic periods of history.

Pat documented not only the life of Robert Campbell and his family in Ireland, but also the author’s personal search to learn about his father’s family. Pat is the great, great grandson of Robert Campbell’s older brother Andrew. As the youngest son of the second wife, Robert stood to inherit little, and at the age of 18 in 1822, he followed his older brother Hugh to the United States. Despite having no formal education, Robert demonstrated a keen sense of business, and soon landed a position in the western trade hub of St. Louis. Trade in beaver furs, as well as shipping traffic, fuelled the growing metropolis.

When Robert contracted consumption (tuberculosis), doctors recommended he join the fur trade and breath the clean air of the Rocky Mountains. Robert helped blaze the Oregon train and change a frontier town into an industrial metropolis.

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Pat was most proud of the strong bond he had with his family and many friends. Known for his generosity, integrity and sense of humour, he was equally at ease in business settings, underground with miners or outdoors doing things he loved, such as fishing, skiing or driving his tractor. It was by all measures ‘a life well lived’.

Gordon H Maclean Born 30 June 1932 Died 12 November 2018 - Aged 86 At Bedford School 1945-1949 - Talbot’s Gordon was born in Birkenhead to Norman, and Kitty (nee Scott), a keen animal rights activist. Norman was a colonial police officer, stationed in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), and Aden (now Yemen). Kitty, who worked as a secretary, felt that a colonial upbringing would be too dangerous for Gordon. She had endured malaria, Blackwater fever and yellow fever, attributing her survival to smoking, which was not a remedy she wanted to test on her child.

So he stayed in England, shunted between relatives until he joined Bedford School at the age of six. “These days psychologists would tut-tut about having no mother or father around,” he wrote. “To me, it was just how things were in the abnormal times of the 1930s and 1940s.”

He was originally destined for the diplomatic service, following in the footsteps of his uncle Gordon, probably a spy, who died in the air crash over the Bay of Biscay in 1943 that also killed the film star Leslie Howard. However, a visit to Paris as a schoolboy convinced Gordon Jr that architecture was what he wanted to do. He developed his interest in modernist architecture, and Le Corbusier in particular, on a scooter trip around Europe and he decided to practise in this area.

Moving to South Africa, where he had cousins, Maclean enrolled to study architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1951. During his five years there the injustice of apartheid filled him with anger and guilt; he knew that if he opposed it he would end up in jail, yet felt he could not remain if he stayed silent, so he returned to England in 1957.

He was a modernist architect and worked for a number of architectural firms, before joining Murray Ward in the late 50s, becoming a partner in 1969; and was made a fellow of the RIBA in 1970.

Gordon designed airports all over the world – one of his structures, a British Airways hangar, may be seen on take-off from Heathrow – and he was also in demand as a consultant to airport authorities.

His other major contribution was to conservation, encouraging local authorities to take account of architectural standards when giving planning permission. Responsible architecture, he felt, consisted in the three virtues listed by the Roman architect Vitruvius: commodity, firmness and delight.

“How one actually incorporates these virtues into a new block of flats, or a new hospital, is a measure of how good an architect you are.”

He started this work for the Harrow Hill Trust, in north-west London, in the 1970s, and on moving to Hampstead in 1990, immediately offered his services to the Heath & Hampstead 216

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Society, where he chaired the planning committee; and was elected vice-president in 2018, a source of great pride. Many people commented on his good sense, wit and clarity when offering objections and comments as well as in contributing to planning inquiries. Of the 30 or more planning applications registered in Hampstead every week, none escaped the scrutiny of Gordon Maclean. Modernist in his architectural tastes and open to innovative designs, he would nevertheless pour scorn on any proposal that jarred with Hampstead’s mix of Georgian and Victorian buildings. He dismissed one application, for a garden with high walls, with a terse comparison to the gated communities of Johannesburg. Another he accused of aping President Ceausescu’s palace in Bucharest, ‘one of the ugliest buildings in the world’.

Another of his passions was collecting not only stamps but censored mail. Friends were often puzzled by his enthusiasm for the latter, and puzzled all the more by the excitement of a visiting expert who declared that the collection was the most amazing he had seen. Gordon regarded his move to Hampstead as one of the best decisions he had made; he never wound down his involvement in the local community and could still be seen, most days, out on the heath on his mobility scooter He had a happy life with his first wife, Heather (nee Graham), until her early death in 1984. They had married in 1959 and had three children, Angus, Donald and Jane. He met Lysiane Bysh, the Harrow Hill Trust’s secretary in 1990, as a result of our mutual interest in conservation, and married in 2007.

He is survived by Lysiane, his children, and a grandson, Thomas.

Adapted from The Guardian & The Times A D (Derry) Martin Born 03 April 1927 Died 24 October 2018 - Aged 91 At Bedford School 1940-1944 - Burnaby Gavin K Montgomery-Smith Born 19 February 1940 Died 04 October 2018 - Aged 78 At Bedford School 1953-1959 - Paulo Pontine Jim R A Muller Born 05 April 1934 Died 16 February 2019 - Aged 84 At Bedford School 1946-1952 - Glanyrafon Roy Nicholls Born 13 April 1905 Died 3 May 2019 - Aged 89 Bedford School Staff 1954-1963 Roy Nicholls began teaching Chemistry at Bedford School in 1954. He had graduated with a first class honours degree from Birmingham University in 1952 and had completed his compulsory 2 years National Service as an instructor in the Army.

Roy was one of the first organisers of the Model Railway Club, was latterly in charge of the Photographic Club, and until calls on his time became too pressing, was seen—and heard—in the School Orchestra. For a number of years he worked behind the scenes in organising

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cricket leagues. He was elected Treasurer and later Secretary of the Bedford Film Society He left Bedford in 1963 to take up the post of Head of Science at Daniel Stewarts College in Edinburgh. In 1971 he left teaching for the Civil Service becoming a Senior Civil servant until his retirement in 1986.

He died in London and is survived by his wife Eileen and 3 children.

Tristan R Nokes Born 18 January 1956 Died May 2019 - Aged 63 At Bedford School 1967-1974 - Ashburnham Ian M W Pettigrew Born 25 November 1938 Died 04 April 2019 - Aged 80 At Bedford School 1948-1957 - Paulo Pontine Ian Malcolm William Pettigrew sadly lost his 3 ½ year battle to cancer on the 4th April 2019 in Durban, South Africa. Ian was born in Karachi, Pakistan (then India) and the family returned to the UK in 1947.

Ian represented Bedford School in rugby, cricket, golf, fives and was also a good gymnast. On leaving school he joined Price Waterhouse for 3 years. He left them in 1960 and joined the firm of Balmer Lawrie in Calcutta, India, where he worked in the Shipping Department.

In December 1961 he met his future wife, Carol, at the Tollygunge Club in Calcutta and they married in May 1964 in the UK. After a honeymoon in the Lake District they lived in Hong Kong, where Ian worked in the Shipping Department for the Managing Agents Gilman & Co. They left HK in August 1967 and emigrated to South Africa. Their daughter, Tracy, was born in Johannesburg in September 1968. They moved to Durban in December 1972 where their daughter, Kirsten, was born in January 1973.

Ian spent his entire adult life in the Shipping Industry which he loved. He played his beloved golf from the age of 12 until 2013, always in a single figure handicap (shooting his age at 71!!) when ill health prevented him from continuing.

He leaves behind his wife Carol, daughters Tracy and Kirsten, son-in-law Grant and grandchildren Maxine and Richard.

Osvaldo J Pratt Born 17 January 1921 Died 18 September 2018 - Aged 97 At Bedford School 1928-1938 - Pemberley Oswald Pratt was born in Argentina and except for the years at School has always lived there. He received a degree in Economy at the Buenos Aires University and then Harvard.

When he retired in 1986 he was a Director of the then Corn Products Best Foods, now a substantial part of Unilever but which, in England, was known as Brown & Polsen. He was principally in charge of all Latin America, including Mexico.

Anthony J (Tony) Renwick Born 03 April 1941 Died 11 October 2018 - Aged 77 At Bedford School 1948-1959 - St Peter’s Ian W Rowe Born 15 December 1965 Died 29 January 2019 - Aged 53 At Bedford School 1973-1984 - Bromham Colonel Peter W G Seabrook (RA Ret’d) OBE Born 10 July 1927 Died 03 April 2019 - Aged 91 At Bedford School 1935-1946 - St Cuthbert’s Peter went to Sandhurst following Bedford and joined the Royal Artillery.

In 1978 Peter was the Chief of Staff to Rear Admiral Cecil, Commander British Forces Malta and as the year drew to a close the Royal Navy’s’ bases and many of its historical treasures were in the process of being transferred to the Maltese Government. The final 18 months of Britain’s 180- year military presence in Malta were supervised from Fort S Angelo, the headquarters British Forces Malta and at that time Peter and his family occupied the Captain’s House.

In 1979 Peter was the Colonel Logistics at UK Land Forces at Wilton, Nr Salisbury.

Peter is survived by his wife Hilary, son Michael, daughter Penny and four grandchildren.

Kevin J Shortis Born 30 October 1939 Died 14 June 2019 - Aged 79 At Bedford School 1953-1955 - Burnaby Kevin started work in the late 1950s as a teenager. Originally he worked for parts distributor Vic Moore Car Spares in Lancashire. Sensing a gap in the market, Kevin, at the age of 23, set up a shop aimed at DIY motorists. It was an immediate hit.

In an age where a new generation of firsttime car owners liked to maintain and fit accessories to their vehicles, the business did well and before long several more branches were opened across East Anglia.

In 1971 the company was taken over by the aftermarket magnate Quinton Hazell. Kevin took a place on Hazell’s board, but the relationship was short lived due to the sale of QH to Burmah. However, this was not successful, due to the lack of personal attention and after a few years Kevin formed Wilco Motor Spares and then bought back four of his original stores including the Salhouse Road Head Office.

Now joined by his son Richard, Wilco had expanded to 18 outlets by 2004. In August of that year, Wilco took over the Leeds-based Motosave with its 24 shops and fitting bays, thereby increasing the group to 42 stores staffed by over 600 enthusiastic employees, who were there to help by offering the right stock at the right price.

In 2010 Kevin won the Lifetime Achievement trophy at the CAT Awards. However he never retired and continued to work in the business with his son Richard.

Kevin is survived by his wife Vicki, sons Richard and Chris, and 2 grandchildren.

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E Douglas Simms Born 03 April 1942 Died 12 August 2019 - Aged 77 Bedford School staff 1958-2004 Dr Gareth J Suggett Born 27 October 1951 Died 27 April 2019 - Aged 67 At Bedford School 1959-1969 - Bromham Following Bedford Gareth was awarded an Open Scholarship to study maths at Trinity College Cambridge and finally moving on to Cardiff to achieve his PhD. He then went into publishing, joining John Wiley & Sons in 1979.

He started work in Journals Production but later moved over to their IT department and became heavily involved in setting up their Journals Production Content management System (JPCMS) before he retired in 2011.

Outside of work Gareth enjoyed mathematical puzzles and crosswords, walking and reading and going to the theatre. He loved the comedy of Spike Milligan and the Goons and Monty Python and enjoyed Science Fiction and crime dramas.

Gareth passed away very suddenly at his Worthing home on 27th April 2019. He was a true Gentleman a wonderful husband to Pippa, friend and colleague and is sadly missed by all who knew him.

Charles A O Sutherland Born 11 November 1927 Died 22 October 2018 - Aged 91 At Bedford School 1935-1945 - Crescent Charles read Chemistry at Oxford and then went into the paper industry. Charles is survived by his wife, Jill.

Prof Paul R Swyer Born 21 May 1921 Died 08 July 2019 - Aged 98 At Bedford School 1932-1938 - Crescent  Paul throwing a poppy into the sea at Salerno, Italy in 2011 to honour his great friend Sub. Lt, Malcolm A.McKenzie RNAVR (32-36), lost in his Seafire fighter covering the Salerno Landings in WW II.

Paul was born in London, the only child of Dr Robert and Kathleen Swyer.

He went to Cambridge just as war was breaking out, to read medicine and on graduation in 1943, joined the RAMC and landed in France in June 1944. He was a medical officer in the front-line field ambulance clearing stations with the advancing Allied troops in the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, known as the Polar Bear Division. These troops fought their way across France, Belgium, Holland and finally into Germany. His division became part of the First Canadian Army towards the end of 1944. During the grim winter of 1945 Paul forgot these hardships having met the love of his life, Fernande, at a liberation ball in Belgium in 1944. They were married in June, 1947.

After the War Paul specialised in paediatrics at the Hospital 218

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for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London and then emigrated to Canada in 1952. He joined the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto (HSC) in 1953 and set up the first intensive care unit for sick new-borns in 1961. Paul became a full professor at the University of Toronto in 1975. During the 1970s the 7G unit at HSC became a model upon which worldwide Neonatal Intensive Care Units were developed. Paul influenced the international scene further through his training of many fellows from abroad and also spent time in China with the World Health Organisation in 1988. Numerous neonatal fellows have been influenced by his knowledge and enthusiasm and learnt from his clinical acumen. Paul retired from HSC in 1987 but continued to play an active role as one of the founders of the International Perinatal Collegium and in committee work for the WHO and for the Provincial Ministry of Health (Ontario).

Pail passed away peacefully at home and is survived by his wife, Fernande and daughters, Sandra and Michele, 5 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.

Professor Paul J Talalay MD Born 31 March 1923 Died 10 March 2019 - Aged 95 At Bedford School 1934-1940 - Paulo Pontine Paul Talalay was born to Russian Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany, but immigrated to England with his family in 1933, shortly after the Nazi Party came to power. His father Joseph was an engineer and inventor, and his mother Sophie was a homemaker.

After Bedford Paul went to the United States to enter Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he graduated in molecular biophysics in 1944, before graduating from the Yale School of Medicine in 1948. In 1950, he went to the University of Chicago to begin research on steroid hormones. Between 1962 and 1974, Paul was Director of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 1974 he was appointed as John Jacob Abel Distinguished Service Professor of Pharmacology.

Paul spearheaded research in the 1990s that identified the cancer-preventing properties of a compound found in broccoli, a discovery that was credited with bringing new scientific attention to ways of combating cancer before it takes hold. Consuming broccoli and other vegetables including kale and watercress helps the body create what Philip A. Cole, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a former student of Paul’s described as a “molecular defence” against “environmental insults” that might lead to cancer. He said Paul’s research had a “broad impact both in biomedical research and in influencing what people eat to stay healthy.”

In 1997 Paul co- founded Brassica Protection Products to market broccoli sprouts and other edibles with health benefits supported by their research. Paul, whose honours included membership in the National Academy of Sciences, wore on his lapel a silver pin representing a broccoli sprout. He was also awarded one of the first lifetime professorships of the American Cancer Society. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The M.D. – Ph.D. Student Library at Johns Hopkins University is named in Talalay’s honour.

In 1991 Paul and his brother Leon (34-36) donated the

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Talalay Science Prize to acknowledge the teaching, especially in Science, that they received at Bedford. The prize is awarded annually to the student who has made the most outstanding scientific presentation of an original and creative nature.

Paul married Pamela Samuels in 1953. He is survived by Pamela, one son, three daughters and four grandchildren.

Haydn (Agag) R T Thody Born 17 July 1929 Died 23 November 2018 - Aged 89 At Bedford School 1939-1945 - Bromham Moving to South Africa in 1965, Agag and his wife built up a very successful hotel and off-licence business, and were able to retire quite young. They spent many years of their retirement travelling - with their favourite haunts being the Far East where Agag had been ‘posted’ during his time with the Forces, Their travels saw them exploring new experiences and new horizons right up until his 80s, living life to the full!

Agag was a keen - (although by his own admission) - bad golfer, and was Captain and served on the Committees of various Golf Clubs for some years. He also became an avid collector of fine wines, and built up a fabulous wine collection and cellar! His Family believe this love of the ‘fine grape and hop’ was nurtured by an early event during his time at Bedford which he often liked to tell: Apparently as a punishment for some misdemeanor, he had to go to one of his Master’s Houses and pour him the perfect glass of Guinness, to eat with his breakfast of bacon and egg! Once he had finished pouring the glass of Guinness, Agag had to recite the next 10 lines of Milton’s Paradise Lose which he had learnt the day before!

Given the length of Paradise Lose - apparently this punishment lasted for an entire school term and Agag often boasted that he could still recite portions of the poem!

Agag died in South Africa after a short illness and is survived by his wife and 2 daughters.

The Revd Richard F Thomas Born 22 April 1924 Died 16 October 2019 - Aged 94 At Bedford School 1937-1942 - Ashburnham After school Richard did a war time degree in mechanical engineering at Queens’, Cambridge then went into the Royal Navy.

Fortunately for him the war ended just as he finished his basic training so he never saw action. In 1947 he returned to Cambridge, this time to Ridley Hal,l to train as an Anglican priest. After a curacy in Croydon he became chaplain at Haileybury College, Hertford teaching maths and R.E. and later becoming a housemaster.

After 16 years he and his family moved to Jerusalem where he was appointed Head teacher of the Anglican International School. During these years he very much enjoyed meeting and

discussing with Christians of every background from Orthodox to American charismatic Baptists. He also enjoyed meeting many Jews and Palestinians, listening to their stories and joining a local peace initiative. Back in the UK he moved to the Chichester area where he stayed for the rest of his life, first as a housemaster and teacher in a comprehensive school and then having a country parish with three churches.

Apart from his love of family, two factors dominated Richard’s life. The first was sport. It started at Bedford where he played for the school in fives and cricket. Strangely he was only in the second XV for rugby although later he played for Bedford Town and then Hertfordshire for a couple of seasons. He also played squash for Hertfordshire. One of his proudest moments was when he was accepted into the MCC as a playing member and then in his early retirement when he received a cap from them commemorating his 100th game for the club.

Richard’s Christian faith was another driving force in his life, having committed his life to God while still at school. Whenever he had the opportunity he would take services and preach wherever he was needed and this continued well into retirement until forced to stop through ill health. Relating his faith to the Holy Land was also important to him and in later life he led many pilgrimages to Israel and other lands of the Bible.

He is survived by his wife, Belinda, four children and an ever increasing number of grandchildren.

John W Thurley Born 01 March 1926 Died 12 July 2019 - Aged 93 At Bedford School 1938-1943 - Ashburnham Captain P George R Whitaker RA Born 05 July 1928 Died 28 February 2019 - Aged 90 At Bedford School 1944-1946 - Paulo Pontine Chris W Williams Born 26 February 1961 Died 25 January 2019 - Aged 57 At Bedford School 1968-1979 - St Cuthbert’s Chris followed his father Bill (4753) as a second generation of the family to attend Bedford School.

He was Head of St. Cuthbert’s House in his final year, following the tradition of joining the same House as a parent, and was proud for his son Jamie (09-20) to become the third generation to attend.

Chris spent his early working life in sales before moving into general management as Managing Director of ELE International. During the last few years Chris worked as an independent business consultant that gave him the flexibility to commit his time as Chairman of the Old Bedfordians Club, a role he relished and approached with huge enthusiasm and commitment.

Chris passed away in February 2019 following a short illness and is dearly missed by his mother Diana and brother Tim (69-80).

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OLD BEDFORDIAN NOTICES 2020 Eagle Connect Save the Date Eagle Connect is our new online networking platform designed to bring the Bedford School community closer together; it enables willing Old Bedfordians, past and present Bedford parents, grandparents and staff to stay connected and support each other in their careers.

Eagle Connect is different to other networks such as LinkedIn, because everyone who joins has a shared affection for Bedford School. This means we are able to create a highly engaged and supportive online community, willing to help each other both socially and professionally.

Through the School careers department, we will also use Eagle Connect to support the careers programme for boys in the School; to encourage them to start stretching their horizons beyond Bedford, understand the value of building a network and to help them to build a set of skills that will ensure their employability in the workplace of the future.

Subscribing Membership

Saturday 4th July 2020 OB Club At Home Join us at Bedford School for this very popular event, with tours of the school buildings, House receptions, the At Home Drinks Reception and a three course lunch in a marquee on the playing fields. We are also welcoming Leavers from the Classes of 2010, 2000, 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1960 back for their 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 Year Reunions.

Further details will be available at: bit.ly/OBEventsCal

Update your contact details • DO WE HAVE YOUR CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS? • IF YOU GAVE US YOUR WORK EMAIL, HAVE YOU SINCE MOVED TO A NEW JOB?

All Old Bedfordians are invited to become Subscribing Members, support the Club and take advantage of the benefits of this additional level of membership – all for just £25 per annum.

• HAVE YOU SWITCHED BROADBAND PROVIDER AND CHANGED YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE PROCESS?

WHAT YOU RECEIVE AS A SUBSCRIBING MEMBER

Most of our communications are now done via email so please keep us updated if you would like to keep receiving OB Club updates, event invitations and news. You can also update your details by visiting: bit.ly/OBConnect

• A hard copy of the primary annual OB communications, the Ousel magazine, full of School and Old Bedfordian articles, news, event write-ups and photographs.

• Discounts to some key Club events, such as the Annual Dinner and ‘At Home’ lunch.

• Access to the Heritage site, with a searchable database of digitised Ousels back to 1876.

Become a member on: bit.ly/OBSubscribingMembership

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Bishop Memorial Fund The Bishop Memorial Fund is for OBs or their dependants who may be in financial need. In the first instance please contact the Club Director, Hugh Maltby. Please draw the existence of the Fund to the attention of anyone who may qualify for help.