Obituary Supplement 2020

THE CHELTONIAN & FLOREAT OBITUARY SUPPLEMENT

2020

THE CHELTONIAN & FLOREAT OBITUARY SUPPLEMENT 2020

Captain Keith Adlard (OJ & L, 1958)

later years moved to Devon where most of his time was devoted to Joan’s care. He loved gardening and seeing his grandchildren. Sadly in the last couple of years he was diagnosed with vascular dementia and passed away peacefully in his sleep.

He is survived by his wife Joan, son Andrew, daughter Susan and four grandchildren.

John Graham Walter Arnold (NH, 1958)

Keith Adlard died on 25 August 2020, aged 78.

Charles David Aikenhead (BH, 1963) Charles Aikenhead, son of Major Robert Charles Aikenhead (BH, 1938) and grandson of Brigadier David Aikenhead DSO & Bar, MC (BH, 1912), died on 7 July 2020, aged 74.

Captain John Patrick Hall Allen (H, 1945) Patrick Allen, father of Andrew Allen (H, 1972), died on 21 July 2020, aged 93.

Patrick started his military career in 1944 in the Home Guard, whilst still at College. He was selected for an Indian Army cadetship in 1945 and got his first commission in 1947.

He had a distinguished career in various roles as Staff and Movements Officer and Port Commandant, serving in Liverpool, Egypt, Cyprus, Germany, Singapore and Borneo. He talked about his time in India with great fondness and enjoyed driving tanks. He spoke good German, also French and Urdu. When he left the army in 1968, he was a Captain in the Royal Corps of Transport.

After 18 months working for a civilian shipping firm in London he was sought out for a role in the MOD. He was responsible for the development of, and the traffic through, the Military Port of Marchwood, the change to containerisation and much more. Over this period, he had an important role during the Falklands War. Whilst serving in Berlin he met and married Joan; they were married in 1949 and remarkably celebrated over 70 years of marriage.

He retired from the MOD in July 1992, aged 65, and in

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John (Sean) Arnold, brother of Peter Arnold (NH, 1960) and uncle of Steven Arnold (NH, 1997) and Alice Arnold (Ch, 1994), died on 15 April 2020, aged 79.

On leaving College, after periods of travelling, teaching and studying, he attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating as their Gold Medal recipient in 1965.

Under his stage name of Sean Arnold, he enjoyed success as a well-known character actor. He is best known for his acting roles as Headmaster Mr Llewelyn in Grange Hill in the 1970s and 1980s, and as Superintendent Barney Crozier in the long running 1980s BBC television series Bergerac, alongside John Nettles.

He played Commander Telson in the 1981 BBC Radio 4 Science Fiction serial Earthsearch and the 1982 sequel Earthsearch II, and later appeared as the Chief Constable in Merseybeat. He also voiced every character in the 1984 James the Cat series. His film credits include roles in North Sea Hijack (1979), Remembrance (1982), Haunters of the Deep (1984), Speaking of the Devil (1991) and Red Rose (2005).

Sean chose to make his home in Jersey after starring in Bergerac. He joined John Nettles at the Jersey Museum in January 2020 for a reunion of the extras who also appeared in the series. The event was held to launch Sean’s book, Anton Myst, a story based on the life of a young actor.

Sean is survived by his sons Gavin, Graham and Ben, his daughters Sophie and Lucy, his brother Peter, nephews Richard and Steven, nieces Helen and Alice, and many younger generation Arnold family members including grandchildren and great grandchildren.

John Alford Shaw Bristol MA (OJ & Xt, 1956 and College staff 1964-76) John Bristol died on 18 December 2020, aged 82.

(Simon Cox (College staff 1968-2006), a colleague of John’s at College, has written the following tribute.)

John was an excellent schoolmaster, being a very able teacher of Modern Languages and having a wide range of interests and activities which he shared with his pupils and family alike. He led a varied and fulfilling life.

John was born in 1938, in West Kirby on the Dee Estuary. His father was an accountant with ICI and his mother was an accomplished musician; finding John not to be the healthiest of youngsters, they sent him to Cheltenham College Junior School (as it was then) on account of the town’s reputation for health cures. On his father’s retirement, they bought a house at Staunton – to be near Cheltenham but not in the (even then) expensive Cotswolds – which enabled John to go home most weekends.

He moved to College as a boarder in Christowe. Over the years he became a Prefect and a talented Modern Linguist, being awarded the Hornsby French Prize in his final year and earning himself an Exhibition to Magdalene College, Cambridge. At College he also played Hockey for the 2nd XI and for his House, and showed a great interest in music, carpentry and reading.

John’s studies were of course interrupted by two years of National Service in the Gloucestershire Regiment, one felicitous outcome being the development of a strong friendship with one particular comrade, Hugh.

Hugh was also a bridge player and singer, and also subsequently settled in Cheltenham, and they remained great friends ever since. In their first long vacation at Cambridge, John, Hugh and two other friends went on a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe, visiting many countries and reaching Greece and Yugoslavia, all aided by John’s excellent German, and demonstrating his love of foreign travel. After his degree he stayed on at Cambridge to take a DipEd, during which time he also had the good fortune to meet Margaret.

In September 1964 he joined the staff at Cheltenham College to teach Modern Languages, becoming a Tutor in Leconfield, helping Mike Miller with the novice rowers (having himself learnt to row at Magdalene) and taking a Commission as a CCF officer. This also presented John

and Margaret with the opportunity to join Cheltenham Bach Choir. They were married in Edinburgh in August 1966.

In 1968 John took over as OC CCF, bringing about two important changes: first, membership became optional for Upper College, while remaining compulsory for Lower College; second, Adventure Training was introduced for senior cadets. This led to Duke of Edinburgh Awards, which many pupils achieved. The first expeditions of the year for Cadet NCOs were for two nights in late October in the Brecon Beacons (there was no half-term break in those years), while the main activity was a week in the Easter holidays, variously in Skye, Torridon or North Wales, and joined by members of the Mountaineering Club, recently formed by Guy Dodd and David George. There was one occasion when Mike Wintersgill had to return to Cheltenham urgently, so John drove him non-stop through the night in the Army 4-tonner, having instructed Mike in the passenger seat to talk continually to keep him awake. Although John saw himself as more of a hill walker than a climber, he was always fully involved.

During these years, John established himself as a highly accomplished linguist who inspired his pupils with his own enthusiasm for, and love of, the languages he taught, and the countries and cultures they embodied.

He taught up to Oxbridge Scholarship level, never ceasing to demand the highest standards from his pupils. However in September 1976, seeking a change from his old school, he took up a post at Waltham Tollbar school near Grimsby, subsequently becoming Head of Modern Languages. So contented was he with this position that he stayed until retirement in 2000.

Now came the time for John and Margaret to return to their Cheltenham roots, settling in a charming traditional property close to the town centre, from where they could walk to many of their activities. They lost no time in re-joining the Bach Choir, the Scottish Country Dancing group, and the congregation at St Luke’s Church, and they were generous with their hospitality - Burns’ Nights and other events, and Bridge evenings with friends. Their return to Cheltenham also prompted the re-forming of the small Madrigal-singing group which had started in 1971 with five colleagues and their wives. John also took a course in carpentry and set up an excellent workshop in the back of the house, where over the years he made many fine pieces of furniture for family and friends.

It was however not all self-indulgence: in 2002, at the suggestion of a former colleague at College, John volunteered as a project manager for the GAP organisation (later to become Lattitude), and between then and 2010 he visited Vietnam 16 times, being

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responsible for overseeing 18-20 year olds who were teaching English as language assistants. He loved this work, as it combined his love of travel, interest in the Vietnamese people, and sympathy for the youngsters with their enthusiasm and foibles.

Meanwhile, back in Cheltenham, John and Margaret made an enormous contribution to the Bach Choir, vocally and administratively, Margaret serving as Librarian, and John latterly as Chairman, steering the choir through some tactically difficult times. They also committed themselves to regularly helping children with their reading practice at St John’s Primary School.

John was always ready for new experiences and adventure, exemplified by his year on a teacher exchange with the family in South-East France, and their many walking or cycling holidays, including cycling the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela. He also had a boyish sense of fun – there was an occasion on a family picnic with friends when he initiated a cherrystone spitting competition – and he always loved climbing trees. John was a delight to know: friendly, open, modest and almost always smiling, he had a ready sense of humour, a lively interest in the world and people around him, and the ability to make interesting conversation on many topics.

John was a loving husband, father and grandfather, who delighted in being fully involved with his grandchildren’s activities. He leaves his wife Margaret, son Henry, daughter Katya, and seven grandchildren.

Edward Gordon Walker Browne CBE (H, 1934) Gordon Browne, father of Richard Browne (H, 1958), Robin Browne (H, 1961) and Julian Browne (H, 1970), died on 23 October 2019, aged 102.

Gordon was born in Tamil Nadu, South India, at an army hill station in 1916, to William and Elizabeth Browne (née McArthurMoir). In his early years he was constantly on the move as his father, a doctor with the Royal Army Medical Corps, was assigned to different posts. At College he was farmed out to relatives during the holidays, while his parents were posted back to India. Holidays were sometimes spent in Scotland, where he once nearly shot himself at the age of 14 while hunting rabbits!

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After two years at Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Suffolk Regiment. His commission into the 12th Foot was one of the few signed by Edward VIII before his abdication. Posted to Malta in 1937, he was in charge of signals and provisions and boxed as a light-heavyweight for the regiment.

Back in Britain a year before the war, he did a signalling course and was sent to Plymouth to prepare troops for conflict. Gordon’s wartime service began in France with the British Expeditionary Force. Sent to France and then to Belgium when the Germans invaded, he was forced back to Dunkirk where he helped to organise British troops who had made their way to the beaches, where he was evacuated.

In 1941, after Staff College at Camberley, he was promoted to Brigade Major and posted to Colchester and then Londonderry. On one night exercise he was asked to report to London. He took an American bomber and noticed that the crew played poker while the aircraft flew on autopilot. He was then ‘volunteered’ for Orde Wingate’s Chindit force in Burma. He arrived in Delhi and began preparing for jungle warfare, where the hills were steep, the rain continuous, the mules the only transport and wild pigs were often mistaken for enemy.

In 1944, he was sent to Imphal and ordered to capture a hilltop behind Japanese lines. It was almost a suicide mission. They were attacked two nights running; the soldier next to him was killed and they were forced to pull back. Dysentery affected many troops. Gordon became unable to walk and was sent back by jeep to Imphal.

After a further year in India, which included mediation between Hindus and Muslims and imprisoning an embezzling British officer, he returned to Britain in 1947 and worked in the War Office on military security. This led to co-ordination with MI5 and, after a nightmare exercise on Salisbury Plain in wet snow, he resigned from the army and joined MI5 as an intelligence officer.

The early years were mostly taken up with keeping records on communists in defence industries and others of interest to intelligence. In 1953, he attended the ThreePower Conference in Bermuda with Eisenhower, Churchill and Joseph Laniel, the French premier. Churchill, by then 80, could not reach the sea so his secretary was instructed to fill his hat with seawater so that he could feel what it was like. Gordon was responsible for briefing the press and made himself unpopular by abruptly ending the session. The Daily Mail called him the Man in the Raincoat!

Gordon earned a reputation within the agency as a superb organiser, a skill he had learnt during his wartime service in Europe and Burma. MI5 officers were complaining of poor administration, old systems and slow central processing. He was charged with bringing in

computers to assist in the sifting of intelligence, and from 1969 he ran the technical side of MI5, known as A2.

His predecessor had had a heart attack and resigned abruptly without leaving any record of what he did. The secretary had also departed. The main liaison with the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a mathematician, choked to death on smoked salmon at the Army & Navy Club and another important colleague also had a heart attack.

Gordon therefore had to rebuild the department from scratch, despite knowing nothing about the job.

He started by asking each person what they did and why, and then organised all the technical staff, such as transcribers and listeners. The key targets were the Russians, the IRA and communists in Britain. President Kennedy sent Macmillan a message thanking him for the high quality of the British delegation.

In 1962, Gordon went to Cyprus to build an intelligence relationship with the newly independent country.

There were confidential talks with Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials, but also lighter moments when he was entertained by intelligence officers and their wives, who served him stewed sparrows and took him to a show involving male and female strippers!

A year later he was sent to Singapore, a central intelligence headquarters for the Far East. Indonesia had just tried to invade the newly created Malaysia (the Konfrontasi crisis) and President Sukarno had communist backing for his attacks on the Malaysian part of Borneo and low-level harassment. With British and Commonwealth forces involved, intelligence was vital.

When the Profumo affair broke in 1963 there was panic that Britain’s secrets had been betrayed to the Russians.

John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, was having an affair with Christine Keeler, who was also sleeping with Yevgeny Ivanov, the naval attaché at the Soviet embassy.

Had she been passing on to him intelligence she had learnt from a key cabinet minister?

The embattled Harold Macmillan government knew she had not, largely because Gordon, then Deputy Head of MI5, had done a thorough job as a special investigator for Britain’s intelligence agency. As soon as the scandal broke, he had been seconded to Roger Hollis, the MI5 DirectorGeneral, to look at another potentially devastating leak, only months after the defection of Kim Philby.

The agency already knew that Profumo was sleeping with Keeler, but never believed he was a security threat.

It was also already monitoring Ivanov and concluded that he was not a KGB agent, but merely a libidinous Russian making the most of an opportunity!

Gordon was used to living in the shadows. He had been

with MI5 almost since its reorganisation after the Second World War and had played key roles countering Soviet spying, overseeing intelligence in the Commonwealth and instituting proper training for MI5 agents. Until the mid-1960s, MI5 officers were expected to learn on the job how to shadow targets, filter intelligence and keep check on domestic threats to British security. But at the height of the Cold War there was no longer room for amateurs.

There were further visits to Ottawa and Washington to liaise with the Mounties and the CIA, and to Glasgow to appease the local police who complained they had not been sufficiently briefed by MI5. Gordon helped ease the frosty atmosphere by revealing over lunch that he had Scottish ancestry.

Perhaps the most difficult of his overseas trips came after his retirement in 1976. In 1986, Peter Wright, a former MI5 officer, published his memoir, Spycatcher, in Australia.

It was banned in Britain. The government sent William Armstrong, the Cabinet Secretary, to testify in Britain’s legal attempt to prevent publication of the book on the grounds that Wright had broken the Official Secrets Act. Gordon was sent to Sydney to refute Wright’s claim that he had never been briefed about security. As head of training, he had explained MI5’s workings to all trainees.

Wright asserted in his book that Roger Hollis had been a Soviet intelligence agent, that MI5 had plotted against Harold Wilson and that British intelligence was working without proper permission. The government was keen to refute his allegations while suppressing all details of how the agency worked.

The affair turned out badly. Malcolm Turnbull, representing the Australian publisher, ran rings around Lord Armstrong, who was forced to admit he had been ‘economical with the truth.’ Gordon was prevented from giving evidence, lest he say things that had not been authorised by the MI5 Director-General. The attempt to prevent publication failed, and Spycatcher was published in Britain the next year. Turnbull made much of his success and went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia. Gordon was then called in to clarify the rules around security.

After retirement to West Malling, Kent, marked by being appointed CBE, he spent time travelling, looking after the family home and garden and adding his robust voice to local campaigns against development and new roads. He spent his final six weeks in a retirement home, where the staff pressed him for memories of MI5. ‘I could tell you about that, but then I might have to make you disappear,’ he replied.

Gordon was predeceased by his wife Kathleen and son Nicholas, and is survived by his sons Richard, Robin and Julian.

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Ralph Morgan Browning (H, 1943) Ralph Browning, brother of the late Max Browning (H, 1952), died on 22 July 2020, aged 94.

Ralph came to College on a scholarship and enjoyed a successful time.

He was an accomplished sportsman, playing in the XV for two years, was awarded his colours in 1941 and captained the 1942 XV. He played in the 1st XV cricket in 1943 and was Captain of Boxing in 1942. He was Head of House and Senior College Prefect in 1943.

Ralph saw active service at the end of WWII, serving from 1944 to 1947 in the Indian Army 1/7th Rajput Regiment in the Razmak Fort, where he was an Intelligence Officer. His father, at this time, was a prisoner of war, held by the Japanese in a Hong Kong prison.

Ralph retired from active service in 1947 but remained an Honorary Lieutenant of the Rajput Regiment.

He was then awarded a place at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he met his wife to be, Mary Louise Browning, from St Thomas, Ontario, Canada who was always known as Bobby. They married in 1950.

Ralph enjoyed a very successful career. He was Marketing Manager of Proctor & Gamble in Great Britain, France, Italy, USA and West Germany from 1950-67. From 1967-70, he was Marketing Director for the Reynolds Tobacco Company Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

From 1970-76, he was Marketing Director for L’Oreal UK. He then became Joint Managing Director of the Remy Martin Group with responsibility for Europe, Canada, South America, Africa and the Middle East. He was also awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

He loved shooting and fishing and spent part of every year in Glen Ure on the West Coast of Scotland. He loved France and Italy – the food, the culture, the landscapes.

He spoke French and Italian fluently. Friends and family would join them every year and they have so many happy memories. They had a house in France too for many years and also loved to visit there every year until travel became too difficult in their old age.

Bobby sadly died in 2015 and Ralph remained at his house in Martinstown, full of wit, energy and charm until his death. He was only very briefly ill before his death and he was blessed in his life with great intelligence,

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good health, great friends and a great deal of good luck.

His long and happy marriage to Bobby lasted 65 years.

He will be missed by his family, his godchildren and many friends, both locally and all round the world.

Timothy Hew Coke (L, 1955) Timothy Coke died on 9 August 2020, aged 83.

Tim enjoyed success in and out of the classroom and was awarded the George H Cohen and Allen prizes in his final year. He was also a key member of the CCF and was awarded an RAF Flying Scholarship and trained to be an air pilot.

His Prep School (Clayesmore) Headmaster wrote in one of his reports that Tim was the most talented cricketer he had ever coached. One of Tim’s friends at College, John Donald (Xt, 1955) attended his funeral. He told the family, ‘Cricket played a huge part in the lives of us both at Cheltenham. Our minds were focused on it, especially during the summer term; the practice sessions, and then the matches, brought us all together, hugely enjoying the sport and our shared enthusiasm. 1955 was an exceptional year, being selected for the 1st XI, and ending up playing at Lord’s. Apart from the cricket, though, Tim was a special friend, gifted with a keen intelligence and a gentle but dry wit, which made him excellent company at all times.’

(The following is taken from a tribute to Tim given by his daughter Natasha at his funeral.)

Born just before the Second World War in Sri Lanka, where his father, Lionel Anthony Coke, was a tea planter, the first child of three, he spent his early years there and, when evacuated, at Cape Town, South Africa.

Having had an exhilarating taste of the outside world during his pilot training in Canada, Daddy continued to follow his desire to travel the world and started his career in the oil industry, followed by the Ministry of Defence, with postings in Ghana, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Northern Ireland and Germany. It was in the glamorous Manila of the 1960s that he clapped eyes on the most beautiful young Filipina lady of her generation, Maria Gross. He said that the moment he really fell in love was when he saw her reclining by a pool, reading Blaise Pascal. Well, she disappeared off some months later to Paris, to start her own exploration of the world, studying at the Sorbonne. Soon after her return to Manila, they got married. This remarkable young woman, whose talents were well matched to his, remained faithfully at his side for almost 53 years, adapting perfectly every time they moved to a new

place. Their different, but complementary qualities, their shared warmth and openness to the world, created a wonderful and stimulating backdrop for the early lives of Tania and myself.

How can I begin to describe my father? He had a particular type of polish, a quality of burnished gold, a natural air of authority and leadership. He loved precision, clarity and elegance in all things. He was always courteous and kind. He had remarkable powers of observation, as shown in his all-too-rare drawings, and his delicious sense of humour. He demanded tremendously high standards of himself. But more than anything, it is his immense warmth and love that stand out for me. We were never in the slightest doubt about how deeply he loved us and how proud he was of all three of us.

Tim is survived by his wife Maria and daughters Natasha and Tania.

Harvey Scott Copeland (OJ & Day Boy, 1945) Harvey Copeland died on 7 May 2019, aged 92.

Brian Basil Denney (H, 1946) Brian Denney died on 16 February 2020, aged 91.

In 1947, Brian joined the BBC External Services as Programme Engineer, the start of a lifelong career in the BBC. In 1949, he took a clerical job in the BBC Gramophone library, where he was able to further his interests in classical music, which had been fuelled at College. Brian’s roles in the BBC over the years included Studio Manager, Announcer, and Newsreader, jobs that played to his strength of clear professional speaking.

In 1956, he was appointed Senior Programme Assistant in the BBC Far Eastern services in Singapore, and it was there that he met and married EePin, who remained his wife for 62 years. Mei-Ling and Julian were born to them in Singapore, and the young family lived there until they returned to the UK in 1962, where Nigel was born five years later.

Brian rejoined the BBC in their European Service, but in 1967 he was seconded to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and posted to the Embassy in Laos as a First Secretary. One of his roles was as a Radio Broadcasting Adviser to the Laos national radio. In 1971 he took on

the additional responsibility of Radio Broadcasting Adviser to the Cambodian Radio & TV. In 1974, the family once more returned to the UK, staying first in Kingston before moving to Surbiton, of The Good Life fame. They lived there for 14 years, and Brian became Head of TV Liaison, TV Centre, London until his retirement in 1985.

Brian’s interests included classical music and record collecting, reading, especially around history and travel and international cuisine. He remained active and in good health until the last few months of his life, and died peacefully in the Princess Alice Hospice, Esher.

Brian is survived by his beloved wife EePin and his two sons and daughter.

Guy Alexander Godson Dodd (H, 1959, College staff 1966-82, Leconfield Housemaster 1973-82, and College Council 1999-2005) Guy Dodd, father of Angus Dodd (OJ & H, 1985) and Tom Dodd (OJ & H, 1988), and brother of Miles Dodd (H, 1957), Roger Dodd (H, 1962) and Andrew Dodd (H, 1963), died on 8 May 2020, aged 78. He is survived by his beloved wife Helen, sons Angus and Tom, daughter Janie and his eight grandchildren.

(Hugh Wright (College staff 1964-79, Boyne House Housemaster 1971-79), a colleague of Guy’s at College, has written the following tribute.)

Guy Dodd was quite simply a wonderful man. His life, so tragically cut short by a heart attack and subsequent fall while gardening, touched very many people. We are all for ever in his debt and will never forget him.

The manner of his death is ironical – for he was a great mountaineer when young in New Zealand (the first person to climb Mount Cook and Mount Tasman on consecutive days) and the safest pair of hands when older in the Alps, Lakes, North Wales and the Scottish Highlands, a tower of strength in a rowing eight or on the rugby field and, in the second half of his life, an adventurous sailor on the high seas. His companions, perhaps especially on the hills, of whom I am proud to have been one, remember him as untiring, calm in a crisis, always cheerful no matter what the temperature or strength of the wind and completely reliable. His enjoyment was catching. He was a leader who always knew where he was going and what to do next, either as

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a chairman or outdoors with map and compass. Perhaps especially he always had an eye for anyone in trouble.

That was true of him in all he did, and he did a lot.

After a childhood shared with his three brothers and a sister on the Wirral, all the Dodd boys were sent south to Cheltenham College. Guy was there from 1954-1959. He loved the school and his two sons, Angus and Tom, are also Old Cheltonians. College was where he learned to row and play rugby, both with great success. He rowed in the 1st V111 and played in the 1st XV for three years. The team was unbeaten in 1957 – a feat that was celebrated annually by the team for more years than he cared to remember. He was Senior Prefect in his final year and went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, that autumn where he read History – a subject he taught very well and loved for the rest of his life. At Cambridge he again enjoyed success on the river. He rowed for his college at Henley from 1960-1963, in 1962 as Captain of Boats.

But that catalogue of success does not say all there is to be said about him then or at any stage in his life. He always cared a lot for other people: after leaving school in the Mersey Mission to Seamen, after going down from Cambridge to King’s College, Auckland NZ, in his first teaching post back in the UK in Kidderminster and most of all as a much-loved Housemaster of Leconfield from 1973-1982.

Two stories of those days are often told by friends and family. One is of an incident that took place on the pontoon at the College Boat Club on the Severn at Tewkesbury. An angler, annoyed by the disturbance to the water by Guy’s crew, was asked politely by Guy to modify his language a little ‘in front of these youngsters.’

Guy was instantly felled by a blow to his jaw. One of the crew recalls that Guy picked himself up, split lip bleeding and said calmly, ‘Come on lads, let’s get on with our outing.’ Nothing more was said. It may not be entirely apocryphal that an Old Cheltonian, when he heard about the angry angler said, ‘Surely not a fly fisherman, Guy?’ The other story of those days took place when The Troubles were at their height in Northern Ireland.

Guy got back from the river to hear that the whole of the Bath Road area was taped off by the police and two Porcherites had been arrested and ‘were helping the Police with their enquiries.’ It had seemed a good idea to them to dispose of a useless radio by putting it on top of a pillar box, with its electrical lead fed into the box. Guy rushed to join them at the police station. As he arrived their statement was being taken by a policeman, who was writing down for them what had happened in his own words and reading them back. He heard the policeman saying: ‘I was stood on the corner.’

Nameless Porcherite: ‘No, Sir. I was standing at the corner.’ Constable: ‘Are you taking the mickey out of

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me, lad?’ Guy at that point had to intervene and got them off with a caution by masterful diplomacy. The tapes were removed and life got back to normal in the roads round College. A scene from the life of a Housemaster. Guy was marvellous at it, none better.

He also led the College Mountaineering Club with strong support from the Common Room and OCs, not least David George (Hon OC, College Staff 196797) and Tim Christie (BH, 1952). His love of mountains was infectious. He coached a number of eights and fours successfully for many years at Tewkesbury every summer and enjoyed running the 3rd XV on College Field, the scene of his former triumphs.

Guy was sorely missed when he left College in 1982 to take up a Headship, though he returned later to serve as Common Room Representative on the College Council for six years from 1999-2005. The character of both of the schools where he was Head attracted him because then and now they offer a good proportion of their places to those who need financial support, Lord Wandsworth College (1982-1993) and finally Truro School (1993-2001) where Cornwall embraced him. He loved it and they loved him. In retirement he became chairman of a number of committees, not least for the Diocese of Truro and he and Helen worked together for the Emmott Foundation, which funds young people in need of support for their 6th form studies. That was what made him tick and is why he leaves so many friends and former pupils who will never forget him and his example.

Truro School has produced a Book of Condolences to mark their loss. There are 135 entries in it. Let these quotations from a few of them stand for them all. From an Old Boy: ‘It is thanks to this great man that I am where I am today. I will never forget the effort he made to support me and the fact that he came to visit me in New Zealand in his first year of retirement. He was a true gentleman.’ From an Old Girl: ‘Mr Dodd was the perfect headmaster and an inspiration. He knew everyone’s name and took the time to speak to anyone he passed.

He was kind and caring, yet strict when needed and gained respect from all he met.’ From a young member of staff: ‘He was a shining example to us all.’ Perhaps most unusually, from his successor as Head: ‘I feel honoured that my name is below his on the list of Truro School Headmasters that hangs outside my office. It was a real privilege to have known such a great man. May he rest in peace.’

But to go back almost to the beginning – all this would not have happened without Helen, his lifelong support and partner in everything. They met as teenagers and though they went to different universities they always knew they were never going to part. Helen was with him in everything and our heart goes out to her in this

tragic loss. They were also devoted parents to their three children, Angus, Janie and Tom. Their family life was very close and meant everything to them. But they were always good at sharing it with others. For my family, with three children of the same age as the Dodd’s, Christmases shared between Leconfield and Boyne House were ‘unforgettable and unforgotten’ and there were countless holidays in the Lakes where Guy and Helen were such generous hosts to so many friends in their house in the Lake District – a place Guy learned to love as a boy.

His parents retired there. They followed that family tradition in retirement when they shared their house and a succession of boats in Cornwall with so many old friends and often with their growing family of eight grandchildren, who will always remember the wonderful times they had there. But above all Helen and Guy set an example, rooted in Christian love, of never doing anything by halves. Many will remember their ‘multibration’ at Lord Wandsworth of a wedding anniversary and two significant birthdays.

Guy’s was a life lived to the full to the end. He was able to devote his many talents to many causes that he held dear. He never lost his enthusiasm for the many things he did. For him the years did not condemn, they enhanced the admiration that he so richly deserves for service, as a devoted husband, father and grandfather and as a wonderful colleague and dear friend to so many.

John Daniel Gooch (L, 1953) John (Jan) Daniel Gooch KStJ VRD FRICS died on 16 April 2020, aged 84.

Jan followed in his grandfather (G.D. Gooch, BH, 1896), great uncle (A.L. Gooch, BH, 1896), uncle (A.D. Gooch, BH, 1917) and father’s (G.E. Gooch, L, 1922) footsteps. He was followed by his brother P.D. Gooch (L, 1957). At College, Jan excelled at rugby, playing for the 1st XV for three years and was captain in his final year. Jan also played for, and captained, the Scottish Schools’ XV in 1954. He rowed in the 2nd IV and was awarded his House Colours for rugby, rowing and boxing.

On leaving College, Jan went on to National Service and from there he was commissioned into the 42 Commando Royal Marines. After National Service, he served in the Royal Marines Reserve and was awarded the Voluntary Reserve Decoration.

Before obtaining his FRICS designation, Jan spent a year in Canada working for Abitibi-Price Inc. in a lumber mill

east of James Bay and being a golf caddy at Jasper Park Lodge. His first position was as farm manager at Haddo House, Aberdeenshire, working for Lord Aberdeen. In the late 60s, Jan joined Arthur Young McClelland Moore in Forfar, where he successfully established Arthur Young Estate Management in Angus and beyond, managing many Scottish estates, including Glamis Castle, until his retirement.

In the late 80s, Jan became part of the embryonic Angus branch of the Order of St John and was appointed a KStJ in 2006. He was very much involved in leading the way to develop humanitarian projects in Angus and beyond. He and a fellow marine developed the local branch into a practical part of the organisation. His part in leading and supporting others has resulted in the formation of local structures capable of supporting many projects, such as providing Mountain Rescue vehicles, defibrillators and training for First Responders around Scotland.

Jan took understandable pride in his lineage, being a great-great grandson of Sir Daniel Gooch. The baronetcy was conferred upon Sir Daniel, who was chairman of the Great Western Railway from 1865-89, for the services he rendered as the chief engineer aboard the Great Eastern steamship in promoting and the successful laying of the first trans-Atlantic cable from Ireland to Come By Chance, Newfoundland, in 1866.

Jan is survived by his wife Ann Patricia (Lubbock), daughters Katie and Diana and grandchildren Isobel, Isla, Clara, Rebecca, Jamie and Callum.

Christopher Charles Griffith-Jones (Thirlestaine, 1963) Christopher (Bomber) Griffith-Jones, brother of John Michael Griffith-Jones (Thirlestaine, 1961), died on 10 September 2020, aged 75. He is survived by John, his younger sister Susie and niece Sarah.

(The following eulogy was delivered by his brother John at his funeral.)

In the words of an obituary in the Tennis & Rackets Association newsletter that appeared within a couple of days of his death, Bomber was ‘a true Corinthian all-rounder, highly competitive, but sportingly fair-minded.’ He was an overgrown schoolboy in the best possible sense, with cricket, tennis (the real kind, that is), rackets, golf and shooting all high on his list.

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Sport became an inseparable part of his life and he became almost universally known by his nickname of ‘Bomber’. Nobody seems to know quite how or when this happened. One theory is that it was an ironical take on a Gloucestershire cricketer of the 1960s called ‘Bomber’ Wells, who was a very useful slow bowler untroubled by having any run-up and one of cricket’s natural No.11s as a batsman. Christopher was the exact opposite – a lusty batsman and a fastish bowler with a fierce run-up and an idiosyncratic action that involved bowling off the wrong foot. The result, according to one contemporary, perhaps unfairly, was that the ball was liable to land anywhere between point and square leg!

George Brooksbank (L, 1999) wrote in to say: ‘I left Cheltenham College in 1999 and met Bomber around five years later as he was a big supporter of Old Cheltonian cricket. He was very supportive whilst I ran the cricketer cup side, so much so that he once picked me up from the airport and put me up in his Fulham apartment before driving me to the game the next day. He also persuaded me to play in a quarter final the day after my stag in 2010 and drove down to Cheltenham from London! He spent the whole journey telling me off for drinking too much and not being fit for the game.

‘On arrival, I won the toss and decided to field (which he also told me I was mad for not batting as it was a hot sunny day) – I took 5 wickets and we bowled Shrewsbury out for less than 100 and won the game. He was so happy after the game I had to tell him off for drinking too much as he had to drive us back to London! There was no end to his efforts and commitment to OC success.

‘I got into the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club in 2016 on the back of his relentless support as my proposer. We crossed paths regularly through OC cricket and golf, Royal Wimbledon and the Hurlingham Club. He was so good to me and I wish I had one last chance to let him know how grateful I am for all his support. He was a wonderful man and will be sorely missed.’

Christopher was closely involved in the Old Cheltonian teams in both cricket and golf. He played cricket for the Frogs, a very old-established side of Old Cheltonians, Old Wellingtonians and others. He was Chairman of Cricket at Hurlingham for a number of years, and he was an active member of Oatlands Park Cricket Club in Surrey before its sad demise. He was a popular member of the MCC and his visits to Lord’s were ideal opportunities for reminiscence and good company. He was equally attentive to his golf, the more so in his later years. He was much loved at the Royal Wimbledon Club and at Rye Golf Club down on the Kent coast, where he was a very active member.

His ability to hit the ball prodigious distances on the golf course and to combine power with deft manoeuvring 10

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on the real tennis court further cemented his ‘Bomber’ nickname. In his 70s his golf was still improving and he was regularly winning veterans’ doubles real tennis competitions at Queen’s. He also loved his shooting, particularly at the Griffith-Jones family property near Newbury, but in many other venues around the country.

Not to be forgotten, although receding in the memory, were his rugby-playing days back in the late 60s and 70s.

He was a member of the London-New Zealand Club and performed for one of their teams, which sounds rather muscular to me. In his later rugby days, he appeared for Martin’s Marvels and the Entertainers, Sunday teams, which definitely sound more congenial.

Christopher was not only a talented exponent of many sports, but also became passionately keen on the development of young talent. He was a very active volunteer in Chance to Shine, a programme for bringing cricket to state schools, which became one of his favourite charities. He was by all accounts a huge hit with the kids at primary school coaching sessions.

Much to his delight, I understand, they used to chant his name ‘Bomber’ whenever he turned up. He was also instrumental in setting up the Tennis & Rackets Association school and university sponsorship scheme and encouraging school competitions at Queen’s.

Anecdotes about Bomber’s sporting exploits abound.

The following two amply demonstrate a combination of team spirit, self-deprecating humour, fair-mindedness and generosity. Over thirty years ago, Bomber was playing for the Old Cheltonians against the Old Wellingtonians. The OWs declared at 261 for 7 and the OCs were struggling at 91 for 7 at close of play, but with Bomber still in. On day 2 he soon lost his wicket to one S.W.J. Fuller. The OCs followed on, Bomber succumbed again to a Fuller ball and the game was over by lunch. A beer match was organised to fill in the time. Bomber was quickly despatched lbw, once again to Fuller. The OCs were now a man short, and Bomber, generously as always, agreed to take his place. As you may by now have guessed it was Bomber’s nemesis Fuller who delivered the coup de grace. As Bomber recalled years later, ‘I believe I was the only batsman to have been out to the same bowler four times in a day. Simon Fuller bowled very slow loopy leg breaks. Naturally he is now a senior diplomat.’ The story was fully reported in the diary column of The Daily Telegraph no less. So, it must be true!

Another episode slightly later involved a knock-out real tennis tournament at Moreton Morrell, one of his favourite venues. One of the players was unexpectedly taken out right at the beginning of the tournament by a pressing commitment elsewhere. Gallant as ever, Bomber stepped into the breach as his substitute. On cracking form, he progressed steadily through both sides of the knock-out

until he reached both semi-finals. Faced with the dilemma of playing against himself in the final, and perhaps exhausted by now by his exertions, he surrendered both games. But at least he had had two good runs!

One might imagine that his many sporting involvements could have engaged him more than full-time.

Amazingly, however, he found room for a whole range of other interests that would have more than satisfied most appetites.

His competitive streak was not confined to bat, racket, club or ball. He had a very long-standing love of bridge, and over the decades obviously became very good at it.

He enjoyed winning, but even more he loved sociable company. At a certain time in the late afternoon he would always contrive to be dummy so that he could slope off to prepare his first G&T. Equally he enjoyed his snooker at the Winchester House Club down by the river at Putney.

Yet another dimension of his life involved music. In his early years in London, he became an enthusiastic member of the Philbeach Society, which was dedicated to the production of Gilbert & Sullivan operas. Several of his co-performers remained among his closest friends to this day. In later years Christopher became an opera lover and a regular visitor to Glyndebourne and Holland Park.

More recently Christopher also became an increasingly frequent international traveller, invariably in the company of friends. Sport was often the catalyst for these trips – real tennis in France, the United States and Australia, and golf in Spain.

In an entirely different sphere was his involvement in conservative politics. An early memory of mine was nearly 50 years ago when Christopher was going through a conservative induction programme, which among other things involved practising public speaking by appearing on a soapbox at Speaker’s Corner to expound conservative values. I, for one, would never have had the courage to do this, but I did appear once at the back of the crowd, keeping a very low profile as the heckling became more persistent and Christopher deployed a metaphorical drive for six over long on, leg glance or straight bat according to need. It has to be said that Christopher was handicapped by the presence on the soapbox next to him of none other than Donald Soper, whom many of you will remember as a famous controversialist and pacifist of that time. Christopher later became closely involved in local politics, for several years as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Association of Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham. He was a calming and wise influence in committee meetings and much respected by his colleagues. His enthusiasm was undimmed. He loved political discussion, and never hesitated to engage over lunch or wherever on the topics of the day. At the last General Election, he was out

there in the cold winter pounding the pavements and delivering leaflets alongside party supporters a third of his age, sometimes in foul weather. Days before his death he was having a coffee with his ward councillor discussing issues of local moment.

Amid this tumbling stream of interests, it is a wonder that he ever found time for his day job as an estate agent. By his own admission passing exams was never really his thing, and he had a particular aversion to ‘O’ level maths.

After College he worked for the property firm of W.A. Ellis in Knightsbridge for many years. He then completed his career innings with much shorter stints at Chestertons and King Sturge. By all accounts he was very good at what he did and earned considerable respect from clients and colleagues alike, and his friendships of course continued to accumulate.

He will be remembered fondly by all those who met and knew him. His jovial nature will be much missed but the happy memories and his legacy will thankfully remain.

Peter Stuart Hammerson (L, 1962) Peter Hammerson, brother of David Hammerson (L, 1959), died on 11 January 2021, aged 75.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

Robert Douglas Harvey (OJ & H, 1970) Robert Harvey died on 26 September 2020, aged 67.

Robert played for the Junior School Rugby 1st XV and rowed in the College 2nd XIII. On leaving College, Robert attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, with a view to following his grandfather into a career in agriculture.

He studied Land Agency and Management and qualified as a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). He did not move far for the first step in his career, as he spent a year as an Assistant Manager on a large Cotswold estate, before deciding he must see the wider world himself.

He set off in the general direction of Australia; there he combined earning a living with travelling and sightseeing. His shortest period of employment was on a trans Australian oil pipeline when he was hired as a welder, a skill he did not possess. Having burned through and destroyed a lengthy section of large pipework, he was dismissed at the end of his first shift. This was followed by a series of short-term employments including a six-month spell as a Jacaroo

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(Australian cowboy), which he much enjoyed.

On returning to the UK, it was time to be serious about a career. He was employed by Leicestershire County Council as a land agent manager for three years, before joining Strutt and Parker in Salisbury. He moved to John German Land Agency in Wiltshire before joining Surrey County Council as a Land Agent.

Robert was head hunted by Montague Evans and Partners in 1984 as a senior member of their team acquiring land for the rail link to the Channel Tunnel.

He became a highly regarded specialist in Compulsory Purchase and, in his naturally generous and fairminded way, did his best to ensure that the purchase agreements were fair to all concerned. This role involved frequent meetings with Government departments, including presentations to committees in both Houses of Parliament. In one such meeting in the House of Lords, a number of his teeth fell out on the table.

Undeterred, he retired from the room before returning a short while later as if nothing had happened. Robert was renowned for his joke telling and loved to make people laugh while never letting the whole truth stand in the way of a good tale. He related this story many times, but never understood why their Lordships did not invite him to join them for lunch on that occasion.

He became a Partner with Montague Evans where he remained until 2014 when he retired early on health grounds.

Robert is survived by his beloved wife Missy, his son James, daughter Kate and his grandchildren Sofia, Max, Bobby and Ned.

David John Holborow (H, 1947) David Holborow, father of Geoffrey Holborow (H, 1971) and Brian Holborow (H, 1973) died on 15 February 2020, aged 90.

On leaving College, David studied at the School of Architecture, Building & Surveying at London Polytechnic before going into National Service with the Royal Engineers, where he served as a training officer.

Following National Service, David joined the family building and stone businesses, where he was a fourth generation Holborow. Fifteen years later he started a Construction Plant Hire business with his elder brother Richard, which they successfully ran for almost twenty years until it was sold as retirement beckoned.

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In the late sixties, David was one of the founder members of the Rotary Club of the South Cotswolds. He was President of the Club in 1971 and was made an honorary life member in 2015. As well as serving with the local club, he was Governor of District 110 in 1977 and also held various other positions within Rotary, both at a national and international level. In 1986, on his retirement from business, he was asked to take on the full-time volunteer role as Co-ordinator for the UK, Ireland, and Gibraltar of Rotary’s worldwide PolioPlus campaign, a position which he held for three years. His efforts, and the efforts of many others, raised £6.5m in the region, plus another £1m grant from the government, towards the global commitment to control Polio.

David was a member of The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers of London for 55 years, including a year as Master of the Company in 1982/83.

David was a keen sportsman, including as a runner, hockey and cricket player. His hockey days came to a sudden end in the early sixties when he suffered cartilage damage to his knee while playing at the Weston-superMare hockey festival, a festival he had played in since the late forties, including as a member of the ‘49 London Poly team that took away the trophy. Once more active sports became harder or impossible, others became more important to him – golf, skittles, snooker, and, later in life, boules. In later years he was a keen armchair follower of sport, in particular rugby and Gloucestershire and England cricket.

For almost all of his life he lived in Tetbury, but even when he wasn’t there, he was always a proud Gloucestershire and Tetbury man.

David was predeceased by his wife of over sixty years, Margo, and is survived by his sons Geoff (H, 1971), Brian (H, 1973) and his daughter Lesley.

David William Knight (Thirlestaine, 1958) David Knight, brother of the late George Stephen Knight (Day Boy, 1950), died on 2 July 2020, aged 78, after a long running battle with cancer which he had bravely faced with the support of his loving wife Gloria.

Having started his career as a trainee at Cavendish House, he then moved south to Southampton to join Edwin Jones as part of a team to turn it into a Debenhams store. At this time, he drove an Austin Healey Sprite and also owned a 1929 Austin 7. When he

saw an advertisement for a retail manager at the nearby Beaulieu Motor Museum, he decided to apply. This was the beginning of a 36-year career developing and running the shops and retail outlets within the museum grounds, in the village and at the Maritime Museum, Bucklers Hard.

Trevor Lloyd-Williams (L, 1949)

He was part of the transition of Beaulieu from its earlier days as The Montagu Motor Museum to the National Motor Museum in 1972. His role at Beaulieu also involved him in activities with other Stately Homes such as Blenheim, Chatsworth and Castle Howard as part of the Treasure Houses of Britain Group.

Dad was the storyteller who liked nothing better than to have a willing audience around him with whom he could share an anecdote or two. It all stemmed from his love of amateur dramatics in his early days where he played a variety of roles. And whilst he eventually gave up treading the boards, he would go on to use those skills throughout his professional career and the organisations he supported. He once told me, if you don’t know the answer to something then just bluff it in a convincing enough manner and the vast majority of people will believe you. Such was the advice he would often give.

In retirement, he continued to work at Fords in Lymington, gradually taking more time to follow his passion for travel, visiting places new to him; New Zealand, Australia and Canada, as well as revisiting and continuing to explore the United States. His love of film and theatre also included a love of the fantasy, fun and excitement of Disney World and other such theme parks. David loved a good story and was very good at telling them, more often than not with a wry sense of humour.

David’s interest in history and people led him to the practical task of researching his family tree which demonstrated a tenacious side of his character. He picked away at finding the missing links making use of archives where ever he went, if he thought he could find another piece of the family line. His persistence paid off and he finally had his endeavours laid out in print when he got back as far as 1283.

David was a man of faith and was a Sidesman at St Mary’s Bucklers Hard and he returned to the College Chapel on a regular basis for the Old Cheltonian Carol Service which was part of his Christmas celebration. He was a ‘people person’ and enjoyed being part of the local Lentune Probus Club.

In 1999 David married Gloria and embraced the role of stepfather to Stuart and Lisa and henceforth the role of grandfather to his seven grandchildren. His humour and presence will be missed by them all, as well as by his nieces and their children.

Nicholas Le Masurier (H, 1996) Nik Le Masurier, partner of Casilda Peel (Ch, 1995), son of Richard Le Masurier (H, 1967), nephew of David Le Masurier (H, 1968) and cousin of Edward Le Masurier (H, 2001), Clare Le Masurier (A, 2004) and Andrew Le Masurier (H, 2011), died on 28 May 2020, aged 42.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

Trevor Lloyd-Williams, father of Bill Lloyd-Williams (L, 1988), died on 16 October 2020, aged 88.

(The following eulogy was delivered by his son Bill at his funeral.)

Today I, like Dad, am wearing the tie of Cheltenham College. I was there in the 1980s, Dad in the 1940s.

Somewhat different time periods but it shaped us both and, more importantly, gave us a common point of reference. Dad went on from there to do his National Service and then on into the legal profession setting up his practice in Beaumaris in the late fifties whilst also continuing to run Williams & Lewis, gentlemen’s outfitters in Holyhead, Llangefni and Bangor. How many of us remember the adverts that would go up on big screen at the Plaza Bangor ahead of that week’s big film release? Great for us boys as it meant we got free tickets.

When not at work Dad’s mind would often turn to holidays and in particular his love of cruises. An ideal source for those fresh audiences who had never heard any of Dad’s anecdotes before, unlike us who would be hearing them for the umpteenth time. Cruises were a passion and planning for the next would often commence as soon as the brochures came out. Each would transport Mum, Dad and us in our childhood to many a far-flung destination where we would get to experience the many different cultures, sights and cuisines the world has to offer. It developed a love of travel in all of us.

However, for all of that Dad was always happiest at home in Gartmorthen with a favourite meal of bacon and eggs. His heart always stayed in Anglesey and in particular beside the Menai Straits. Many of my own earliest memories of Dad were associated with the Royal Anglesey and his period there as Commodore.

Everything from running the line, to counting the coins out of the fruit machine on a Saturday morning, to the cocktail parties that would be laid on at the Glyn. It all seems such an age away now.

Just over 10 years ago we celebrated Mum & Dad’s Golden Wedding anniversary down at the Gazelle with

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many of their friends, many now themselves sadly passed away. More recently we celebrated their Diamond anniversary at home with family on what was a special day for us all. Dad was a proud man and on that day, he was once again in his customary jacket and tie, smiling and chatting, playing to the audience one more time. It is the few amongst us whose love stretches for over 60 years and Dad would not have been the man he was without Mum beside him and their enduring love of each other. My brothers and I owe them both so much.

And so to close, if any of you have ever attended a church service with Dad then you’ll be aware of just how much he loved singing hymns. Had we been inside today and, in more normal times, allowed to sing, then his wish was for Abide With Me. I’d therefore like to close with the final two verses.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness; Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?

I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies; Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Major General Ian Hallam Lyall Grant MC (Xt, 1933) Ian Lyall Grant, uncle of Alan Henry Lyall Grant (Xt, 1959) and great-uncle of James Lyall Grant (Xt, 1992), died on 29 February 2020, aged 104.

His whole life was intensely active as a traveller and explorer in wild places, engineer, soldier, civil servant, gemmologist, author and publisher.

While his father and two older brothers were artillery officers, he went to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, intent on becoming a sapper and took his mathematical sciences tripos at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. On one occasion he and fellow sapper undergraduates contrived a device of ropes and pulleys to hoist a small car onto the roof of the College – as much to demonstrate their engineering expertise as to introduce a new style of pinnacle-topping!

In 1938, in the early hours of a regimental guest night, Ian and three other recently commissioned sapper subalterns had decided to drive from Britain out to 14

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India to take up their postings. The journey had been accomplished before, most frequently in the other direction where as the journey progressed the dangers diminished, and the facilities improved. Their expedition, with the opposite characteristics, involved a 7,000mile drive over seven weeks. Driving a Ford V8 station wagon, the party crossed Europe and the Mediterranean to Libya, then drove through Egypt, Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq and Iran to Afghanistan. They carried no tents and slept either in the open or in caravanserais if one could be found. This took place during a period when Britain’s position and reputation in the world stood for a great deal, so advice and practical help were readily forthcoming, in Iran in particular.

Apprehension arose only on the Iranian/Afgan border.

Safety depended on the goodwill, and indeed the whim of the local warlord, but assistance in fording streams or being ferried across was unhesitatingly provided. At Ghazni, on the final leg to the Khyber Pass, the local chieftain was sufficiently concerned for the party’s safety that he had armed sentries posted outside the bungalow where they spent the night.

On arrival in India, he joined the Bengal Sappers and Miners, an engineering regiment of long-service Indian volunteers. The isolation of Wana on the Northwest Frontier, where he spent his first year, earned him three months leave. He used it to lead an expedition through the Karakoram Pass to the source of the Shyok river and glacier dam. Three weeks in an uninhabited area of the mountain were followed by a return over the Karakoram range via the saddle glacier of the 17,500 Saser Pass.

Photographs he took of the glacier were included in the report of the expedition written by Kenneth Mason, Professor of Geography at Oxford University, which also mentioned an 18,000ft pass in an area now claimed by China.

As part of the expansion of the British Indian Army to meet the demands of the Second World War, Ian was authorised to raise an engineer field company, and having trained it, to take it to Burma, which was then under immediate threat of Japanese invasion. He arrived in Rangoon on 3 March 1942, only four days before the city was evacuated in face of the Japanese advance.

He led the company northwards to join an Indian Division fighting at Taukkyan. Other desperate battles followed at Prome, Kyaukse and Shwegyn, as the outmanoeuvred British Corps of British and Indian troops first struggled first to hold back the Japanese advance and then to walk back to India. Ian was mentioned in Dispatches for the work done by the Bengal Sappers and Miners to keep tracks open, and for blowing bridges and leaving obstacles behind during the retreat.

Throughout the 1942 dry season his field company was

based in Imphal, making hill paths fit for jeeps. When it was decided to build a second road from India into Burma through 200 miles of forested hills, his company was selected to construct the bridges and culverts through 15 miles of a rocky gorge.

these books he started the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, the work of which was recognised by a joint British and Japanese service in Kohima in 1999. At home the reconciliation achieved was marked by a plaque in the church of St Ethelburga in the City of London.

Over a nine month period in 1943 his company supported both the 48th and 63rd Indian Brigades around Tiddim, destroying enemy bunkers and cutting tracks through the forest hillsides for ammunition supply while under persistent small arms fire shelling.

He was awarded the MC in recognition of his courage and leadership during the most dangerous days of the Tiddim operation in the Chin Hills in early 1944.

He was again mentioned in dispatches for the part the Company took in constructing a block behind the Japanese at the point where the Tiddim road entered the hills south of Torbung.

Ian was predeceased by his wife Mary and is survived by his son Mark, a former British High Commissioner in Pakistan, and daughters Sally and Charlotte.

A moment of compassion on the battlefield inspired Ian to lead a movement for reconciliation after the end of the war. Finding a bundle of letters from home on the corpse of a Japanese soldier, he began a search for the man’s family. This led him to found the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group, bringing together Commonwealth and Japanese veterans in a spirit of comradeship and reconciliation and finally to shake hands with the Japanese co-chairman on the site of the Battle of Kohima.

At the end of the war, Ian was in Japan with the joint British and Indian Army Division, providing part of the Allied occupation force. On return to England, he was briefly an instructor at RMA Sandhurst before going to the Staff College in 1948.

Ian qualified as a parachutist in 1951 and commanded part of the Parachute Brigade. After attending the Imperial Defence College, he went to Aden as Brigadier in charge of administration and logistics at Headquarters Middle East. His final military appointments were Commandment of the Royal School of Engineering and on promotion to Major-General he moved to the War Office. On leaving the army, aged 55, he became Director-General of supply co-ordination at the Ministry of Defence for five years.

His wife Mary’s interest in gems led her to take a diploma in gemmology and open a jewellery shop in Dartmouth where they had bought a house on their return from Aden. On leaving London, Ian took the same diploma and formed a company to buy and sell gems and jewellery. The couple travelled the world in search of gemstones. Closer to home, he enjoyed fly-fishing.

He set up Zampi Press and wrote and published two books on the Burma Campaign, the second with a Japanese co-author. After visiting Japan for research of

Michael Charles Mawer (Cheltondale, 1957) Michael Mawer, father of Alex Mawer (S, 1992), died on 21 January 2021, aged 81.

Michael Ross McWhinney (OJ & BH, 1958) Michael (Mike) McWhinney, brother of Robert McWhinney (OJ & BH, 1966), sadly died on his birthday on 4 September 2020, aged 81.

With his father away training for war and fulfilling his medical duties, he spent more time with his mother at his grandparents’ home in Ilkeston. Shortly before his sister Di was born in 1942, his Dad was called to war ending up in Burma until 1946. It was during this time that Mike took on very much the characteristics of his beloved grandfather – he was hard-working, fair-minded, generous and fun loving with always a song to be sung!

He had an amazing voice and was a member of the College Choir and also played a lead role in the Opera, The Bartered Bride. He also sang in a Barber Shop group of four. He excelled in most sports, rowed in the 1st VIII for 2 consecutive years, also being part of the 1st XV Rugby team that remained totally unbeaten in 1957.

This particular team, captained by Jeremy Taylor (Xt, 1958), still meet up every now and then to celebrate this record, travelling from all over the world to meet up in Cheltenham as old friends with a good excuse for a good evening! Mike cherished his friends and loved a party, so attended whenever he could!

On leaving College, he went to Loughborough College to study engineering, particularly civil engineering, very much again following the life of his grandfather who had had his own civil engineering business. On leaving university, he joined Dyggor Gaylord, as a surveyor, which was part owned by a family friend Bob Boland.

He still had his interest in Rowing circles and had many successful skirmishes with the Notts and Union Boat Club at various regattas.

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He married his first wife Jenny in 1962, and never forgetting his school roots, asked his old Boyne Housemaster, the Reverend Morrison, to conduct the ceremony! He and Jenny had three children, Nigel, Kathryn and Alison.

Sadly over the years, with the demise of the company Dyggor Gaylord, Mike’s relationship with Jenny also suffered and they parted company. This hit Mike very hard but he buckled down and made a start forming a new business, Forest Contractors, with an old work colleague Alec MacGregor. Many of his machine operators and drivers came from the old company he used to work for, as they admired his work ethics and honesty. Business was good, very good, and he landed big contracts with JCB in Uttoxeter. Success was met with new relationships and he met Pat Douthwaite whom he later married in 1976.

But again sadly fate struck them an evil blow when Forest Contractors took on a large contract with penalty clauses, which through no fault of their own, owing to adverse weather conditions they could not complete.

Everything was lost and they ended up having to sell their purpose built home and downsize to a bungalow.

Undaunted and after many visits to the pub in Plumtree he met up with new friends and learnt the art of Commissioned Embroidery over a pint or two. With guidance, he set up a thriving position in the promotional clothing business, calling himself Logomotif. Thankfully his son Nigel was there to help him along as they worked long hours, sometimes well into the night to fulfil contracts. Fate yet again struck when an arsonist set fire to a nearby failing business that spread to Mike’s premises. Within weeks, however, they had relocated and with the help of insurance money actually increased the size of the business and working personnel. In fact, the company embroidered the motif of Fougasse of the passing rugby player on cardigans for the first 1957 XV team reunion. Jeremy Taylor still has his!

Around this time Mike joined The Stanton Barbershop singers, The Grand Central Chorus and Yesteryear. Whilst singing with Grand Central over the years, they were three times British Champion Gold Medal winners and with Yesteryear Gold Medal winners on one occasion.

This success was recognised with requests to preform all over the world at Barbershop Conventions but they tended to focus on Canada and the States. They were also asked to take part in Gareth Malone’s Naked Choir on TV, which he didn’t terribly enjoy! But with this success came great friendships that have always been there for him through the good and not so good moments that life had in store for him.

Pat’s death in 2002 hit him hard and the McWhinney family closed ranks for a while with Mike spending six 16

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months with sister Di and her husband Jim, with him coming across to Rob for the odd evening meal on his way to Barbershop rehearsals. However, he got back to his old self and enjoyed a new friendship with Wendy.

They both enjoyed new horizons when travelling with the Grand Central Chorus and enjoyed various cruises around the globe.

Mike is survived by his partner Wendy, son Nigel, daughters Kathryn & Alison, his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Roderick Carew Perons (NH, 1981) Roderick (Rod) Perons, brother of Andrew Perons (NH, 1986), died on 13 March 2020, aged 57.

Dr Thomas Bruno Ryves OBE FLS (Day Boy & BH, 1949) Bruno Ryves died on 10 May 2019, aged 88.

Bruno was born on 1 October 1930 and raised in Lewisham, southeast London, the son of a doctor.

In May 1940 he was evacuated to Cheltenham and educated at Cheltenham College, where he remained until 1949, when he went up to read Physics at Trinity College, Oxford, as a scholar. However, much time was spent playing bridge and chess, and botanising, and the degree he achieved reflected this. National Service followed, and he married Ann in 1954, then going on to complete a PhD at London University, from where he graduated with the top marks in the country.

He started his scientific career at Harwell and was head hunted to the National Physics Laboratories (NPL) in Teddington, carrying out experiments in Nuclear Physics and becoming a world expert in his field of measurement, for which he was awarded the OBE in 1990, shortly before his retirement from the NPL. However, his real passion was Botany, specifically alien grasses, a subject on which he published frequently in collaboration with many of the country’s professional experts. He even identified a grass collected in Angola and named it after his wife – Styppeiochloa Catherineana!

His son Tom has written in to say, ‘My memories of my father are of a pleasingly eccentric and very kind man, an innocent in a world of greed. In my last conversation with him he told me that the most important quality in life was kindness, a principle he practised to the full.

Sadly, his health declined quite rapidly last year after a stroke, but he remained at home being cared for by Ann and his sister Marga, and he recognised all of his family visitors until the end. He died peacefully in his sleep on 10 May 2019, a much-loved husband, father of four and grandfather of twelve. His body, as was his wish, was donated for scientific research.’

David Hawgood (OJ & Day Boy, 1955) has written in to say, ‘Bruno Ryves was a contemporary and a close friend of my elder brother John (OJ & Day Boy, 1949). Bruno was a keen botanist from school days, and I remember being with him searching for woad on the steep bank of the Severn at The Mythe, Tewkesbury – the only place in England where it grows wild. His schoolboy interest in botany continued throughout his life. He became a leading expert on alien grasses, the odd weeds that manage to grow on waste land and field edges. He was an author with others of Alien Grasses of the British Isles published 1996 by the Botanical Society of the British Isles. In 1990 he was awarded Fellowship of the Linnean Society.’

He is survived by his wife Ann, sons Tom, David and Jonathan, and his sister Marga.

The Hon Peter Richard Scarlett (BH, 1979) Peter Scarlett died suddenly at home on 24 December 2020, aged 59.

Paul David Stanley (Xt, 1951) Paul Stanley died on 24 September 2020, aged 85, in Tasmania, Australia.

Charles Christopher Thorp (OJ & Cheltondale, 1949) Charles Thorp died on 27 February 2019, aged 88, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

James Warren (BH, 1956) James Warren, brother of Major Jeremy Warren (BH, 1962), died on 6 December 2020, aged 82.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

Roger Bevis Watson-Smyth (NH, 1966) Roger Watson-Symth, son of Captain Edward Bevis Smyth (NH, 1936), died on 6 July 2020, aged 72.

Geoffrey Ernest Leith Williams MA (Day Boy, 1951) Geoffrey Williams died on 28 January 2020, aged 87.

He was a very keen cricketer and played in the 1951 1st XI. The Cheltonian reported that in the game against the Free Foresters, ‘Williams had a good match with his

leg spinners, taking 3 for 16 and 5 for 98.’ He attended a dinner in 2001 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Haileybury match, played at Lords. Geoffrey was a College Prefect when Princess Elizabeth visited College on 17 March 1951 and was photographed with her when the College Prefects showed her around College.

On leaving College, he served his National Service mainly in the Paras where he made over 100 jumps before joining the Royal Marines and becoming 2i/c of the Bristol Royal Marines Reserves. He was awarded a VRD (Volunteer Reserve Decoration).

After National Service, he read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he played lacrosse and hockey as well as cricket.

Above all he was a prep school master, enjoying teaching English and History, and coaching various games, mainly his beloved cricket, successively at Mourne Grange (Northern Ireland), Clifton College Prep, XIV School (Bristol), Montpellier School (Paignton), and Pinewood School.

Jim Bischoff, a colleague at Pinewood when Geoffrey taught there, has written in to say, ‘Geoffrey arrived at Pinewood in the early 80s taking over the History Dept.

He had a love of the subject and a sound understanding and knowledge of how to put it across to children.

He rarely sat down to teach and he always wore grey flannels and a blue blazer and tie.

‘Away from the classroom Geoffrey was in charge of Lancaster House, he ran the 2nd XI cricket and helped with various teams of Rugby players and footballers. He was a stalwart of the Common Room and was a great one for fairness and honesty.’

Sports of various kinds were a huge part of Geoffrey’s life. He was much more engaged in participating than watching sports. He played cricket for Gloucestershire 2nd XI, Clifton College Lobsters, XIV Druids, and the Free Foresters.

In retirement, Geoffrey was a member of the U3A, a UK movement of retired people who come together to continue their educational, social and creative interests in a friendly environment, particularly enjoying History and Current Affairs. He was a member of Probus, where his humorous minutes are legendary, and also of Save the Children, for whom he walked many miles with a collecting tin and regularly volunteered for washing up duties at fundraising events. Geoffrey was also a faithful and committed member of his church, where he had been a member of the PCC, for whom he has also written some humorous minutes. He’d read lessons, led the intercessions, counted the collection, and had written memorable articles for the parish magazine, often based on vicar’s notes from the 19th century.

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Geoffrey came from a very musical family and loved music. He was a member of the Faringdon Art Society and his pictures hang on walls there and across France.

He was always writing, particularly some very funny poems, often about local characters! He not only painted and wrote, but he built magnificent models of historical sailing ships, using plans from Greenwich Maritime Museum, each one requiring about a year’s work. And he was an enthusiastic member of the Tourville Association in Northern France, which is building a full-size replica of a historical yacht.

Geoffrey was a kind and gentle man, a true gentleman with a good sense of humour, someone who could still share a joke and smile in hospital or when being looked after at the Grange in Stanford where he was very popular and received such excellent care. He had very happy memories of his time at College, and his wall at the Grange was adorned with College group and team photos.

Geoffrey is survived by his beloved wife Carolyn, his daughter Harriet and step-daughter Rachel.

Nicholas Clayton Platt Winstanley (OJ & Cheltondale, 1963) Nicholas (Nick) Winstanley died on 20 September 2020, aged 74.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

Michael Woof (OJ & Thirlestaine, 1966) Michael (Mike) Woof died on Easter Sunday, 12 April 2020, aged 71, peacefully at home in Slad after a long and stoic battle with oesophageal cancer.

He was the only child of Phil and Betty Woof, whose Sports Outfitters in Suffolk Road stocked all of College’s sports kit.

Mike’s love of sport and natural ability to play so many, was inherited from the family, going back to his great grandfather who represented the County at cricket in the era of W.G. Grace. He was the Professional at The College, and the Woof family is much documented in the archives, and the museum at Bristol’s County Cricket Ground.

Mike was a life member of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, and a member of the MCC, as well as Gloucester Rugby and his voracious support from the stands at Kingsholm and the Hammond Roof in Bristol, along with his encyclopaedic knowledge of sport will be sorely missed. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of

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Tottenham Hotspur, and Torquay United where the family had a holiday home.

In his capacity as a long-standing member and Trustee of The New Club, Cheltenham, he hosted many delightful afternoons at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival set in the unique setting of The College Ground. He and Jackie were enthusiastic supporters, and indeed Patrons, of the Cheltenham Literary Festival.

His knowledge of popular music was legendary and he possessed a huge record library. In later years, as his ability to play squash, and village cricket for Ullenwood, declined, he took up golf with his usual enthusiasm. Many a pleasant day was spent at Minchinhampton, where no blade of grass on either course was left unexplored! His entertaining humour ensured that no one ever had a boring or uneventful game of golf with Mike!

After leaving College, Mike studied Accountancy, completing his Articles with Anderson’s in Imperial Square in 1972. He moved to London and shared a flat in Southwell Gardens, South Kensington, with two of his College school friends, Ralph Shipway (OJ & Thirlestaine, 1966) and Paul Haddock (OJ & Thirlestaine, 1967). They established a touring cricket team, The Southwell Ramblers, which still has a fixture list today, fifty years later! He married Jackie in October 1976 and in 1980 they moved back to live in Slad. He joined Little and Co. in Gloucester as a Partner and worked there until his retirement in 2009. At this point, he started his own accountancy business, M.W. Forensics, which was based in his home in Slad. This was a job which he loved and his professional opinion was highly respected. He continued with this work until about eighteen months ago.

Both Mike and Jackie were well known in the local community and were contributors to both parish and parochial life. Mike enjoyed a pint at The Woolpack Inn (made famous by Laurie Lee, a former resident of Slad), which was conveniently only fifty yards from Beech Cottage, their home. The family have been at the heart of village life in Slad. He was always kind and generous with his time, but his sense of humour is probably what we will all miss the most – a unique light touch and turn of phrase for every situation, which on so many occasions had everyone doubled up with laughter.

He is survived by Jackie and their two children, Victoria and Richard. He adored his five grandchildren, Isabella, Evie, Claudia, Toby and baby Lydia who was born about a fortnight before Mike’s death. Sadly, with the Covid 19 pandemic, he had been unable to see his family in the few weeks before his death.

These obituaries have been compiled from obituaries published in national and local papers, eulogies given at funerals, and tributes written by family members or those who knew the deceased very well.

I am extremely grateful to Hannah Dale (Archives) for the research she has carried out and for providing some of the photographs.

For any that I have missed, if you would like an obituary published in the next edition, please get in touch.

Malcolm Sloan Cheltonian Society Secretary 01242 265 694 society@cheltenhamcollege.org www.cheltoniansociety.org

Old Houses are written in full. The following abbreviations are used for current Houses: A Ashmead BH Boyne House Ch Chandos CL College Lawn

Xt Christowe H Hazelwell L Leconfield NH Newick House

Q Queen’s S Southwood W Westal

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Keith Adlard

Patrick Allen

Sean Arnold

John Bristol

Gordon Browne

Ralph Browning

Tim Coke

Brian Denney

Guy Dodd

Jan Gooch

‘Bomber’ Griffith-Jones

Robert Harvey

David Holborow

David Knight

Ian Lyall Grant

Mike McWhinney Cheltonian Society Bath Road Cheltenham GL53 7LD

Geoffrey Williams 20

Mike Woof

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Tel: +44 (0) 1242 265 694 Email: society@cheltenhamcollege.org www.cheltoniansociety.org