Section 10: Aularian News

10

Aularian News

Aularian Updates: De Fortunis Aularium

1950s

1952 Neville Teller’s book, Trump and the Holy Land: 2016-2020 was published in August 2020. The book is an account of President Donald Trump’s effort to deliver a plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace and it tracks the process from its beginning to its unveiling but leaves the eventual fate of the ‘deal of the century’ to history. Neville kindly donated a copy to the St Edmund Hall Library. 1956 Basil Kingstone has published his annotated translation of Jef Last’s Mijn vriend André Gide (a Dutch writer’s memories of a French one) with Garnier in Paris. 1958 Jim Dening has produced two volumes of poetry in the last year: The Accident of Birth (surely, the title does not derive from his study of Voltaire at SEH...), and a collaboration with a painter friend: Landscape: Image and Word, being a pairing of watercolours and poems produced over many years. Both volumes are in the Hall Library. 1958 David Wilson has written Two Years at Zero, about the time he spent teaching at a boarding school in Uganda in the 1960’s. It doesn’t pretend to be of any great scientific interest, but is a good yarn, typical of the Hall’s inmates of the 50’s/60’s. The book’s main purpose is to help with school fees for local students who don’t have sufficient funds. 1960s

1961 Jonathan Martin was delighted that his freshman grandson Stefan Martin (2020) has followed his uncle Stewart (1988) to read Geography – a third generation Aularian! Even more pleasing than watching his young racehorse, Lermoos Legend, win four straight steeplechases this season. 1962 Simon J. Simonian spoke to assembled members of Citizens for Global Solutions on the need for the formation of the World Union of all 200 countries and territories, as an extension of the European Union. In response the organisation noted: “The realisation of the World Union will be the most important achievement in the history of the world.” He celebrated his 56th wedding anniversary. His wife Arpi Simonian is a published author on healthy lifestyles. They have three married sons and eight grandchildren. 1963 Nicholas Rogers, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, York University, Toronto, has published two books in retirement: Murder on the Middle Passage. The Trial of Captain Kimber (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2020), reviewed in The Guardian, 23 July 2020; and more recently, Blood Waters. War, Disease and Race in the 18th century British Caribbean (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2021). 1963 Michael Scannell has published a novel, much of which is set in Oxford. Entitled A Disturbance of Memory, it can be found on Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/ Disturbance-Memory-Michael-Scannell-ebook/dp/B091FSDK9B.

1964 Eltham Lodge is now the Clubhouse of the Royal Blackheath Golf Club. John Bunney’s book Where Perfection meets Convenience tells the story of this unique 1663 Restoration building: of its architect, Hugh May, who was with Wren one of the great Restoration architects: and of John Shaw - vintner, merchant-venturer and financier of the exiled Charles II - for whom it was built (ISBN 9-781912930821: Impress publishing). 1964 Ken Houston was inspired, during Covid lockdown, to write 27 short stories which bring to life the plants in his garden and tell of their adventures. A friend illustrated the stories, which have been printed as Tales of the Wise Gardener and his Friend Jack Frost. To purchase at £6.50 an email should be sent to ken. houston@blueyonder.co.uk giving a postal address. Ken will provide electronic bank details for payment and the book will be posted. 1964 Tony Lemon has co-edited, with two Stellenbosch University geographers, South African Urban Change Three Decades after Apartheid: Homes still Apart?’, published by Springer in 2021. 1964 Tim Machin’s book Colonel Frederick Burnaby: A Great Victorian Eccentric is available on Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk/Colonel-Frederick-Burnaby-184285-Victorian/dp/B08GV8ZVF8/). Burnaby packed in so much in his short 42 year life that ended in the battle fields of the Sudan. He knew no fear, and if the challenge was great enough he would take it on. Two of his books are still in print and the Ride to Khiva is a classic. He was a balloonist, a soldier, an explorer, a politician, a linguist, a war correspondent, and for many he was a great hero. The nation mourned his violent death, there was general grief at his passing - but not from all! Read on! 1965 Peter Johnson stepped down as Chairman of Electrocomponents plc at the end of January 2021 and as Chairman of Wienerberger AG at the end of December 2020. He remains a member of the Wienerberger AG Supervisory Board. More importantly, he welcomed the birth of his fourth granddaughter, and seventh grandchild, Eliza, in November 2020. 1965 Bill Walker moved from Assistant Head, Rivington and Blackrod High School to be Co-ordinator Bolton West Learning Partnership in 2002. After retirement in 2010 he successfully completed a PhD with research on the Commissioners’ Churches. He is happily involved with local history and heritage societies and written several articles and two books on topics in regional history. He has been a volunteer with a housing association and an elderly local paperboy. 1967 Hugh Anderson used his English degree to become an architect, eventually settling in Scotland where he established his own consultancy practice, HAA design. In 2017, he sold his company to Space Solutions, retiring two years later. He now paints, exhibiting his work on his website www.hughandersonpainter.com. 1967 David Cottington has been Emeritus Professor of Art History at Kingston University for two years, after fifteen years there, and has a new book being published by Yale University Press in spring 2022. Radical Art and the Formation of the Avant-Garde offers a groundbreaking new approach to the history of the artistic avant-gardes of Paris (centre of the emergent network in the thirty years before 1915) and London (as one of its satellites).

1967 Rodney Munday, sculptor of the Hall’s St Edmund, has recently completed two bronze sculptures for the tower of St. John Baptist Church, Cirencester. Each standing over two metres tall, these will have been installed at the beginning of August, followed by a talk about art and Christianity by Rodney, and a dedication on 5th September. (Further information can be found at www.rodneymundaysculptor.co.uk or on the church’s website and Facebook pages.) 1967 Dave Postles presented papers at the Economic History Society Conference and the conference on ‘Disrupted Authority’ and has had another paper accepted for Local Population Studies. 1967 Keith Walmsley has recently stood down after three years as Chairman of the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians, and after 24 years as Honorary Statistical Officer to The Cricket Society (London). 1968 John Berryman’s latest publication has been recently released by Balboa Press: The Apapa Six: West Africa from a Sixties Perspective. Based upon his studies and travel in the region during the era of national independence, he analyses the historical legacy of the newly emerged states, linking this inheritance in the light of slavery, colonialism, nationalism and the Black Lives Matter movement. 1968 Peter Scott-Presland was a Scholar at St Edmund Hall 1968 – 74, under the name Eric Presland, which he changed, motivated by love, in the year 2000. Presented with the challenge of Covid lockdowns, his theatre Company Homo Promos (now the oldest LGBT theatre company in the UK) began on Zoom a series of 68 weekly gay play performances in April 2020. Most of the performances are recorded on YouTube. This epic project, which earned Peter the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network Award 2021, began with performances of his A Gay Century. This is an epic in itself: 15 one-act operas and two full-length ones charting Gay Life 1900 – 2001. The first ten have been published as A Gay Century, Volume 1: 1900 – 1962. The book is subtitled ’10 unreliable vignettes of lesbian and gay life’ and is available on Amazon and from good bookshops. Peter has donated a copy to the College Library, and review copies are available from: homopromos@gmail.com. 1969 Ian Busby was appointed Chair of the Oxfordshire Community Foundation in June. The Foundation is part of an international network of community foundations whose goals are to: encourage local philanthropy; understand local need; and strengthen the local voluntary and community sector. The Oxfordshire Foundation has responded to the Covid crisis by distributing over £1 million of emergency grants to local charities and other key organisations. 1969 Alistair MacKichan has published The Camelot Club, a novel examining an English village’s struggle to preserve its soul. The novel is available as Print to Order from major online retailers, and as an ebook on Amazon/Kindle.

1970 Kevin Fisher has moved back up to the Midlands and is busy looking after grandchildren. Bliss! Thinking about current Hall students and staff and the disruption of Hall life over the last 18 months. All we had to contend with in the early 70s were miners’ strikes & electricity supply disruptions. Switching libraries depending on which part of Oxford had power seems trivial in comparison. 1970 After making a failure of retirement nine years ago, Richard Gozney has been Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man for the last five years. He is retiring again in 2021, to Norfolk. 1971 Having spent 40 plus years in a Christian community near Northampton, Andy Stockley has now retired to leafy Loughborough. We have five children and seven grandchildren scattered around the country and where we are is central to them. I worked as a GP for about 25 years before taking early retirement for serious illness from which I (evidently) have recovered. Mixed feelings about my time at Teddy Hall. I wish I could have participated more at the time but late teens and early twenties can be a bumpy ride for some. Floreat Aula! 1972 Having satisfactorily stayed below the radar for 43 years, Peter Osborn more-orless stopped working at the end of 2019 and has enjoyed staying below the radar during lockdown, but more busily. 1974 Alastair Rogers has retired from his businesses and is working on fish conservation issues with the South West Rivers Association. In particular, he is studying the impact of beaver re-introductions on the UK’s threatened sea trout and salmon populations, and lobbying Government on future beaver management policy. He is also renewing his pilot’s licence, having not flown since serving as a helicopter pilot in 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron Royal Marines 25 years ago. 1974 Bernard Trafford has now retired from work in education, apart from a bit of writing and becoming Chair of Governors of The Purcell (specialist music) School. During lockdown, he completed and published his second historical novel set in 13th century Bologna, Ballad of Betrayal; published a second Christmas carol for SATB choir and organ, ‘At Christmas be merry’; became a grandfather; and lost a stone. He lives in Oxford and Northumberland. 1975 Andrew Baldwin with his wife is based in Istanbul, Turkey, where his son (exNew College) and daughter-in-law have also just relocated. He is now attempting a part-time online Master of Theological Studies degree at the Melbourne School of Theology (MTS@MST!). There have also been opportunities to help provide basic theological training at a fledgling Turkish-speaking Bible School in Bulgaria. He is looking forward to a first post-Covid visit to his daughter and family in Cambridge. 1975 In May 2021 Richard Nowak was appointed Deputy Mayor of Worthing. In addition to his duties as a borough councillor, Richard is also a Covid-19 Vaccine Administrator for Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust and a pastoral care worker for the ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) Project, administered by the local Chichester diocese.

1976 Simon Staite has retired from CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP on 31 December 2020, straight into lockdown, which was no fun. As the road map out of lockdown has adjusted so has he. Tennis, golf and cycling in The Chilterns are more fun than Zoom calls. As is being a governor and, as of May 2021, a parish councillor. 1976 After more than 40 years of working in a number of general roles for many large commercial organisations: Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Reed Elsevier, Tesco, Mastercard, Ian Taylor has managed to get his wife to allow him back into the house and retire. Bad timing with Covid, admittedly, but he has promised to spend the first year deciding how best get out of the house again and keep busy. If his performance on the golf course is anything to go by, he will have to keep thinking. 1978 Robert Pay has returned to the London after 12 years in New York. He is pursuing postgraduate studies in medieval and early modern history at the University of Kent. 1979 In Empire of Terror - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, (Potomac/ University of Nebraska Press), Mark Silinsky explores Iran’s most notorious intelligence and security service and the threat it poses to the West. Silinsky compares and contrasts the Guards to two other authoritarian services of the previous century - the KGB and the Gestapo. 1980s

1981 Joy Hibbin’s second book was published in September 2021: The Suicide Prevention Pocket Guidebook: How to Support Someone who is having Suicidal Feelings. The book is full of advice about how to support a family member, friend or work colleague who is having suicidal thoughts. It costs £10.99 and is published by Welbeck Publishing Group. It is available from most booksellers and a percentage of the sales of each book go to the charity Suicide Crisis. 1981 Mark Owens has launched his own men’s accessory business, Otway & Orford, to create and sell made in England silk pocket squares featuring colourful and dynamic sporting, aviation and automotive art designs. www.otwayorford.co.uk 1981 Seymour Segnit’s startup MAGFAST, which makes a family of innovative chargers for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, raised investment of over $1m within hours from its customers and has now begun shipping to customers. 1982 Simon Ashberry’s latest book To Be A Poacher is being published in the autumn of 2021. It’s his third football book, following Come and Sit with Us (2004) and It’s Not All Black And White (2013). 1983 Bob Collie has established a company, Collie ESG Ltd (www.collieesg.com), advising financial organisations such as asset managers and pension funds on best practice in the growing field of ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. 1984 Rob Macaire finished an eventful three years as HM Ambassador to Iran in summer 2021.

1984 Libby Wilkinson was appointed Archdeacon of Durham and Director of Mission, Discipleship & Ministry for the Diocese of Durham in August 2020. 1985 Tanya Spilsbury’s (Née Ashby) business is restoring and re-using historic buildings in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site in Derbyshire. Her conservation of Darley Abbey Stables and Bakehouse won awards from Derby City Council, Derby Civic Society and Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust. Now refurbishing an old library in the historic mill town of Belper, Tanya also volunteers on the Derwent Valley Trust, creating an off-road cycleway along the River Derwent between Derby and Chatsworth House. 1986 Rachel Kiddey’s (née Trethewey) latest book, The Churchill Girls: The Story of Winston’s Daughters, was published in March 2021. 1988 Lucia Bly lives on a farm near the coast in Devon with her husband Dan and four spirited children, the eldest of which has flown the nest to study medicine. She is a director of two businesses - Swallows’ Flight, a holiday accommodation provider in the glorious South Hams, and Salcombe Dairy - an artisan ice cream and bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer and retailer. Interests include art and interior design, textiles, travel (any excuse for skiing in Austria) and sustainability, her youngest son being a keen beekeeper. She particularly enjoys welcoming Aularians to stay at Swallows’ Flight. 1988 In March this year, Geetha Venkataraman was invited to become an Ambassador from India (one of five and amongst 140 or so worldwide) by the Committee for Women in Mathematics (CWM). CWM is the committee of the International Mathematical Union concerned with issues related to women in mathematics worldwide. 1989 Steve Whittington is in his 8th year at the Independent Education Union Victoria Tasmania, in Melbourne Australia. Earlier in 2021, during the extended UK lockdown, he was delighted to reconnect via Zoom with other modern linguists from his matric year. It made a difficult period significantly more bearable. Steve’s children Annabel, 7, and Harry, 5, have not exactly thrived during periods of remote learning, but Australia has been more fortunate than many countries with its low infection rates, so he remains confident they will quickly regain their love of in-school learning. He looks forward to their borders opening once again so he can attend future alumni events at the Hall. 1990s

1990 Andrew Dickinson, a Fellow of St Catherine’s College and Professor of Law at the University, was appointed a Senior Honorary Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in February 2021. 1996 John Houghton has recently completed an 18-month assignment as a Senior Investment Specialist at the Department for International Trade. He supported officials and advised Ministers on the creation of the UK Investment Council. The Council reports to No. 10 and brings together 38 representatives of multinational companies, including Siemens, Santander, and Morgan Stanley to advise on how to attract investment in UK real estate, regeneration and infrastructure projects.

1998 Rose Latham has consolidated her experience supporting and guiding others to achieve their goals or overcome challenges by qualifying as a life coach. Working with high achievers who yearn to make sustainable changes in their personal or professional life, she can be reached on Instagram or Facebook: Latham Life Coaching. 1998 On 12 February 2021, it was confirmed that Nick Thomas-Symonds would be sworn of the Privy Council. On 10 March, at Windsor Castle, Her Majesty the Queen formally appointed Nick Thomas-Symonds to the Privy Council. 2000s

2001 Jessica Hatcher-Moore and her husband Philip had their second child, Hugo, in August 2020, and Jessica published her first book, After Birth: What Nobody Tells You - How to Recover Body and Mind, in May 2021. 2001 Eugene Kogan co-authored a book Mediation: Negotiation by Other Moves (Wiley 2021). www.wiley.com/en-ae/ Mediation%3A+Negotiation+by+Other+Moves-p-9781119768425 2005 Jane Lilly Lopez completed her doctoral degree in sociology at the University of California San Diego in 2018. She is now Assistant Professor of Sociology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA, and her book, Unauthorized Love: Mixed-Citizenship Couples Negotiating Intimacy, Immigration, and the State will be published with Stanford University Press in November 2021. 2009 Duncan Watson was appointed Queen’s Counsel (England & Wales) in March 2021. 2010s

2011 Charlotte Cooper-Davis and her husband Peter Cooper-Davis (2011) welcomed their first-born, Alistair Edward, into their family in April 2021. Charlotte’s first book – a popular biography of the medieval defender of women, Christine de Pizan – is due out in November this year. 2012 Ksenija Bogetić and Veljko Pejović had a baby Tara, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ksenija has been awarded the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship and is to start this research appointment at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2022. 2013 Zabrina Lo, visiting student from Hong Kong, who read English and Creative Writing, published her 5th cover story in July in Tatler Asia magazine, Hong Kong’s most historic English language lifestyle magazine, where she now works as the Associates Features Editor. Following her previous cover stories about Academy Awards’ Best Director Chloé Zhao and Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement winner Ann Hui, this latest cover story reveals the life of legendary Hong Kong cinematographer Christopher Doyle. She also has a forthcoming cover story in August. 2014 Caitlin Page married Matthew Johnson on the afternoon of 17 July 2021.

2015 Kevin Rattue is engaged with the Government of Canada in applying his research to protect the Canadian High Arctic. Protection of the Northwest Passage against emergent environmental risks is the focus of this engagement to protect the marine environment and the lifestyles of Inuit communities of Nunavut, Canada. 2016 Charlie Cheesman was recently appointed Vice President at the Oxford Angel Fund, a Los Altos-based VC firm supporting US-based Oxford-founded start-ups. It is currently raising Fund II, a $3m round, and is led by four General Partners, including fellow Aularian Paula Skokowski (1980). If you are an investor or entrepreneur, please feel free to reach out!

Deaths: Ave Atque Vale

We record with sadness the passing of fellow Aularians and salute them. Sincere condolences are offered to their families and friends.

1930s

Dr Frank Derek Rushworth MA, 3 September 2020, aged 99, London. 1939, Modern Languages and Linguistics 1940s

Mr Andrew Hilson Foot BA, PGCert, 2021, Cornwall. 1944, Modern History Mr Rene Victor Wood MA FFA, 1 August 2020, aged 94, Andorra. 1944 Mr David Hamish Bennett BA, Berkshire. 1945, Natural Science Mr Anthony John Knight BA, 23 September 2020, aged 93, Isle of Wight. 1945, English Mr Victor Thomas Henry Parry BA FCLIP FRSA FRAS, 30 December 2020, aged 93, Middlesex. 1945, English Mr John Michael Hopton Scott MA, October 2020, aged 94, Kent. 1947, Jurisprudence Mr Roy Vincent Kings MA, 18 October 2020, aged 93, Wiltshire. 1948, Modern Languages The Revd Thomas William Silkstone, BA, BD, 22 August 2020, aged 93, Oxfordshire. 1948, History Mr Roy Tracey BA, 19 December 2020, aged 92, Essex. 1948, English Mr Brian Victor Clifton MA, 10 March 2021, aged 92, Cheshire. 1949, Chemistry Dr Colin George Hadley BA, 21 March 2021, aged 91, Hertfordshire. 1949, French Mr William Robert Miller CBE, KStJ, MA, DCs (h.c), DMA (b.c), 27 September 2020, aged 92, New York, USA. 1949, PPE 1950s

Professor John Gilbert Bellamy MA, 16 December 2020, aged 90, Ontario, Canada. 1950, History

Mr Peter Gwyn Tudor MA, 11 March 2020, aged 88, Staffordshire. 1951, Modern Languages Dr Brian Vivian Cudmore MA, DPhil, 5 June 2020, aged 88, Oxfordshire. 1952, Geography Mr Antony John Harding MA, 27 December 2020, aged 87, Kent. 1952, English Mr David Michael Jacobs BA, 10 April 2020, aged 90, St Albans. 1952, PPE Mr David Magnus Laing MA, 9 June 2021, aged 88, West Sussex. 1952, Jurisprudence Mr Alan Frederick Johnson MA, ACIB, 10 January 2021, aged 87, Shropshire. 1953, Jurisprudence The Revd Thomas Graves Keithly MA, 21 July 2020, aged 88, Texas, USA. 1953, Theology The Revd Canon Dr Michael Alan Bourdeaux MA, BD, 29 March 2021, aged 87, Oxfordshire. 1954, Modern Languages The Revd John Dudley Dowell Porter MA, 10 June 2021, aged 88, Cheshire. 1954, Jurisprudence Mr Roger Anthony Farrand MA, 4 September 2020, aged 86, London. 1955, History Mr Stuart Holbrook Wamsley MA, 21 August 2020, aged 85, Malton. 1955, Jurisprudence Dr Archie Walter Ross BA, 26 March 2020, aged 89, Christchurch, New Zealand. 1956, Physics Mr Nevill Alexander James Swanson BA, 11 July 2020, aged 82, Worcestershire. 1956, Chemistry Mr Dennis Ronald Bouwer MA, 26 February 2020, aged 86, Oregon, USA. 1957, PPE Mr Robert Alexander Gavin Douglas Miller MA, 10 June 2021, aged 84, Midlothian. 1957, PPE Mr Anthony Eric John Drayton BA, 24 May 2021, aged 84, Herefordshire. 1957, Geography Mr Stewart Emmerich Shepley MA, 19 September 2020, aged 83, Surrey. 1957, History Mr Robin Murray Siedle MA, 25 December 2020, aged 87, Victoria, Australia. 1957, PPE Mr David Alfred Clarke MA, 1 December 2021, aged 83, Cheshire. 1958, English Dr John Laurence Hibberd MA, BLitt, 7 April 2021, aged 82, Avon. 1958, Modern Languages Mr Brian Saberton MA, 13 November 2020, aged 80, Middlesex. 1959, Modern Languages 1960s

Mr Roger John Plumb MA, DipEd, 12 January 2021, aged 78, East Sussex. 1960, Modern Languages Dr Michael Clifford Todd Brookes MA, 26 May 2021, aged 83, New York, USA. 1962, English Mr Simon Cameron Downie MA, 17 July 2021, aged 78, Kent. 1963, Geography Mr Francis Mark Ivan Johnston Dip, 23 December 2020, aged 78, Malawi. 1963, Public & Social Administration Mr Graham Arthur Dimitris Revill-Taylor BA, 31 July 2021, Tunbridge Wells, aged 76. 1964, Chemistry Mr John Nigel Ablett MA, March 2021, aged 74, West Sussex. 1966, History Mr Norman Clifford John Pope MA, DipEd, 5 March 2021, aged 80, Oxfordshire. 1967, Educational Studies Mr Robert Davis BA, Kent. 1967, History Mr Alan Arthur Hills BA, Cheshire. 1968, Chemistry Mr Jonathan Harold Fryer MA, 16 April 2021, aged 70, London. 1969, Oriental Studies Mr Michael Chun Ko Dip, 29 July 2020, aged 88, Hong Kong. 1969, Law Dr Richard Francis Mullen MA, DPhil, 19 September 2020, aged 75, Oxfordshire. 1969, History

1970s

Mr John Francis Clarkson MA, 6 August 2021, aged 69, Merseyside. 1970, Jurisprudence Professor Christopher Michael Mann MA, Hon DLitt, 10 March 2021, aged 72, Grahamstown South Africa. 1970, English Mr Alan Colin Cave BA, 2020, London. 1972, PPE Mr Stephen Howard Johnson MA, 25 August 2020, aged 65, Morpeth. 1974, Chemistry Mr Sylvain Jean Charles Pierre Phlipponneau BLitt, December 2020, aged 68, Carquefou, France. 1974, Geography Mr David Neil Manning MA, 14 September 2020, aged 59, Auckland, New Zealand. 1979, Chemistry 1980s

Mr Timothy Peter Laverton Holman MA, 28 July 2021, aged 58, Aargau, Switzerland. 1982, Chemistry Dr Ian Michael Billing MA, 28 October 2020, aged 54, Staffordshire. 1984, Geology 1990s

Dr Sandra Louise Steele BA, 6 July 2021, aged 48, Oxfordshire. 1991, English Mrs Jill Marilyn Pattison, June 2021, aged 83, Derbyshire. 1993, Modern Languages

Obituaries

SCR, Staff & Friends of the Hall Obituaries

PHILIP MORSBERGER, HONORARY FELLOW Honorary Fellow Philip Morsberger passed away on Sunday 3 January 2021, aged 87. After being awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art degree (BFA) in 1955 from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now the Carnegie Mellon University), Philip studied at what was then the Ruskin School of Drawing at the University of Oxford in 1958 on the G.I. Bill, earning a Certificate in Fine Art (CFA) with Distinction, after which he held teaching appointments at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, and Dartmouth College. He returned to Oxford to become the Ruskin Master of Drawing between 1971 and 1984. He was the sixth Master in the Ruskin School’s history and the first American to be appointed to the role. Philip’s achievement was to move the school in 1975 from the ground floor of the Ashmolean Museum to more spacious rooms in the Examination Schools on the high street, and to establish a threeyear honours degree course, combining practice and theory. Philip was also elected a Professorial Fellow of St Edmund Hall between 1978-1984. On Philip’s departure from England his work was exhibited at galleries throughout the US. In addition, Philip held academic appointments at the University of California (Berkeley), California College of Art and, finally, Augusta State University where he was the Morris Eminent Scholar. Philip worked tirelessly at his easel each day, right up until his death from Covid in January of this year. Jason Gaiger, Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at St Edmund Hall, paid tribute to him: “Philip Morsberger is warmly remembered at the Ruskin School of Art and I would like to express my gratitude for all that he achieved during his period as Ruskin Master. It is thanks to Philip that the School is now housed in the wonderful Victorian building at 74 High Street, directly opposite St Edmund Hall, and he was also responsible for ensuring the full integration of the study of Fine Art into the University of Oxford. My only direct contact with Philip was in 2011, when he visited Oxford for the summer, and I was delighted to be able to provide studio space for him on the top floor of the Ruskin so that he could continue to paint. His legacy lives on in the School and each new generation of students and tutors is indebted to his vision and leadership at a crucial period in its recent history.” A portrait of Principal Ieuan Maddock CBE, FRS (1979-1982) painted by Philip proudly hangs in the Old Dining Hall. Philip will be very sadly missed by all that knew him at the Hall, past and present.

SASHA WERNBERG-MØLLER, LIBRARIAN 1972-1990 This obituary has been provided by Sasha’s son, Lars. Sasha Wernberg-Møller (7 December 1925 – 5 June 2021) was the St Edmund Hall Librarian for eighteen years from 1972 to 1990. Under her care, the St Peter-in-the-East Library offered a well-ordered, positive, calm environment that was conducive to good study and expanded from about 20,000 volumes to close to 50,000. In addition, she ensured the upkeep and refurbishment of the Old Library books, the majority dating from the eighteenth century. Born in Cambridge in 1925, Sasha attended Frensham Heights School in Surrey. She returned there during the Second World War to help care for the young pupils. Her career in librarianship began in 1946, when she started work at the Oxford Central Library. In 1948, she moved to the Bodleian Library, which had a tradition of ‘Bodley Boys’ dating back to the 1880s. The Bodley Librarian of the time, Edward Nicholson, expected and encouraged his library staff to study, while they worked. Many then took their degree at Oxford and went on to become eminent librarians. Sasha became the first ‘Bodley Girl’ to earn an Oxford University degree, attending St Anne’s College while working as a librarian at the Bodleian Library. Taking papers in English Literature and French, she earned her Oxford University BA pass degree in 1953. She was awarded the MA in 1972. Her life was one of variety and fulfilment in other ways as well. She married Preben Wernberg-Møller in 1955, undertook a 2-month road trip in the Middle East by Land Rover and caravan in 1964 with her husband and their small children, and was an active member of local school governing bodies and of the Oxford Preservation Trust. She found the time to write about her experiences for different publications, including an account of her experience at the Bodleian with its marvellous pneumatic tubes, book cradles, and underground conveyor belt, and the adventure of the voyage through the Sahara and Egypt, Libya, and other countries. While Librarian at St Edmund Hall, Sasha was also responsible for the annual compilation of ‘The Aularian Bookshelf’ and wrote several articles for the Magazine: 1980/81 ‘Letters from Stephen Penton’; 1981/82 ‘The Case of the Missing Library’ (concerning the whereabouts of the one-time parish library in St Peter-inthe-East); 1988/89 ‘Concerning St Peterin the-East’; and 1989/90 ‘St Peter-in-theEast Memorials’. As her five children, family, friends, and former colleagues will attest, Sasha will be missed enormously but remembered always for her kindness, wisdom, and contributions in many domains. Lars Wernberg-Møller

When Sasha retired in 1990, the thenFellow Librarian Bill Williams paid this tribute to her in The Hall Magazine: “it is difficult to imagine our Library in St Peter-in-the-East without the presence of Mrs Wernberg-Møller… she has been exemplary in providing a service to all readers and users of the Library. She will be remembered for her helpfulness

BILL BROADBENT, BENEFACTOR OF THE HALL Bill (William) Broadbent, a friend of the Hall and the namesake and donor of the beautiful Broadbent Garden at the College, passed away aged 70 on Monday 27 September. Born on 26 January 1951, Bill was educated as an undergraduate at Williams College in Massachusetts and earned a masters at Stanford University. Bill had recently retired after a successful career in the finance industry. Both of his children have connections with Oxford University: his daughter Avery went to St Edmund Hall in 2004 to read Modern History and his son William studied Modern History at Christ Church in 2006. and efficiency, for ensuring the calm atmosphere so essential to study, and for the imaginative and colourful notices on display at the Library porch reminding users of their responsibilities with respect to conduct in the Library...The whole community of St Edmund Hall will miss Sasha’s steadfast loyalty to the College and its two libraries”

The Hall is very grateful to Bill for his generous time, support and philanthropy over the years. Most notably, he funded the refurbishment of the Broadbent Gardens, situated at the back of the Hall’s Library/St Peter-in-the-East; this space is a very popular recreational space with students and staff and is particularly enjoyed in the summertime. Bill and his family also created the Broadbent Junior Research Fellowship in American History, which was set up in collaboration with the Rothermere American Institute and Christ church. The position is currently held by Dr Mandy Izadi. Starting in Michaelmas term 2017, the endowed Fellowship allows a post-doctoral scholar to produce research for publication in books and articles, to gain experience in teaching, and to work alongside Oxford’s specialist faculty in American history. Tenable for three years, the Broadbent Junior Research Fellowship alternates in its college association between the Hall and Christ Church. Lastly, we thank Bill for attending the annual alumni New York dinner over the years. He is survived by his wife Camille and his two children and will be deeply missed by everyone who knew him at Teddy Hall.

JOHN HAYES, BENEFACTOR OF THE HALL John Hayes, partner of Honorary Fellow John Cox, has died aged 85, was one of the bright lights assembled around the sociologist Basil Bernstein at the Institute of Education, London University, during its prime in the 1970s and 80s before it was disabled by Margaret Thatcher’s campaign against radicalism in teaching. John worked with postgraduates from many disciplines and countries, who responded eagerly to his passionately rigorous teaching and ‘golden lad’ looks and personality. Friendship was another of his passions, which he enjoyed with companions such as the writers Angela Carter and Carmen Callil, the film producer Derek Granger, the literary agent William Miller and the artist David Hockney and many of his pupils. All of whom enjoyed the pleasure of his equally passionate cooking. John was born on 24 November 1935, the elder son of John Hayes, a motor and components engineer, and his wife, Mary (née Hardwick), a florist of Middleton, Rochdale. From Manchester grammar school he went up to Oriel College, Oxford, where he read Greats, graduating in 1958. After Oxford, John became a teacher of classics at St Peter’s school in York and then the City of London school, while simultaneously reading for a further degree in the sociology of education at King’s College London, where he was recruited as a lecturer by Bernstein. He was obliged to take early retirement when the subjects he taught were purged from the curriculum, but his teaching continued as people of all levels of academic ambition sought him out in his unique home in Greenwich. His expertise was thus constantly expanding so he remained an active scholar for the rest of his life. At Oxford in 1958, he met John Cox, who was to become a notable opera stage director and with whom he became life partner for the next sixty-three years. The relationship, even before it ceased to be illegal, became a model of colourful harmony and productive discord. John Hayes’ health declined seriously in his last few years until his death from kidney failure on 31 January 2021. He is survived by three nephews and his civil partner, ‘the other John’. Derek Grainger observes, “I always relished his anarchic humour and mordantly seditious line of thought. He was a genuine contrarian, and it made his company always a delight of a special kind.” John Cox, Honorary Fellow

Aularian Obituaries

PROFESSOR JOHN GILBERT BELLAMY (1950) This obituary has been provided by John’s widow Annette. John passed away peacefully in his 91st year at his home in Ottawa on 16 December, 2020, after a long and slow decline brought on by dementia. John was born in Nottingham, England, the only child of Alfred and Gladys (Robinson) Bellamy. He is survived by his loving family, including his wife of 60 years, Annette (Fearn), his children Joanna (and her partner John Gronau) and Matthew (and his partner Heather Coutts), and his grandchildren Simon Bellamy and Max and Sophia Gronau, all of whom live in Ottawa, Canada. A graduate of Oxford University (St Edmund Hall), after teaching history at Swanwick Grammar School, Huntingdon Grammar School and Loughborough College, John emigrated to Canada with his young family in 1968 to take up a professorial position at Carleton University, Ottawa, where until 2014 he taught medieval English history. In September 1972 John and his family returned to England for a sabbatical year at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he spent many hours pursuing his research at the University Library and enjoying ploughman’s lunches in riverside pubs. Through the decades Professor Bellamy inspired in his students a love of the topic to which he would dedicate many years of his life in research, and before dementia clouded his mind and memory he wrote eight published books on medieval and early Tudor crime and punishment. A great raconteur, he won several teaching awards and was ranked one of Carleton’s History Department’s most popular professors, worth getting up early to attend the 8:30 a.m. lectures which were his preferred (and uncontested) time slot. In his earlier years John was an avid golfer and tennis enthusiast, a passion that he passed on to his children. His extended family delighted in his brilliant and lively mind and quick wit and appreciated his extensive knowledge of geopolitical and historical ideas. They also affectionately tolerated his efforts as an amateur musician both as an operatic tenor and a self-taught clarinettist – within the confines of his home. John is greatly missed by his cherished family and friends in Canada and his relatives in England. A celebration of his life is planned to take place post- pandemic. Annette Bellamy

THE REVD CANON DR MICHAEL ALAN BOURDEAUX (1954) This obituary originally appeared in The Guardian. Michael Bourdeaux, who has died aged 87, founded Keston College in Bromley, south-east London, in 1969 as a centre for the study and dissemination of reliable information about religion in communist countries. He described the college in his memoirs as “my concept”, and poured into it his “energy and commitment over a period of 30 years”. It was an organisation that rattled the Soviet authorities; indeed Oleg Gordievsky, the Soviet double agent who once worked for the KGB and escaped to the west in the boot of a car, claimed at a Keston AGM that it was No 2 in the hierarchy of KGB hates, the first being Amnesty International. Why was Keston so disliked? It uncovered unpalatable facts about the true situation of religious believers behind the iron curtain, and it demolished the communist propaganda that there was freedom of conscience in its ‘brave new world’. The fact that religion persisted undermined party teaching as propounded by leaders such as Nikita Khrushchev, whose 1961 party programme promised that communism would be achieved in 20 years and religion would fade away. In Britain, too, not everyone welcomed Keston: Lambeth Palace, Baptist leaders and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office all shunned it up to the mid-1980s and the advent of Mikhail Gorbachev, because it ‘rocked the boat’ and undermined quiet diplomacy. Yet, while rejecting Soviet misinformation and doublespeak, Bourdeaux also refused to take up an anti-communist crusade: his approach was balanced, even-handed and based on facts. Michael was born in Praze, Cornwall, the son of Lilian (née Blair), a primary school teacher, and Richard Bourdeaux, a baker who, Michael claimed, produced the best Cornish pasties in the county. He studied French and German at Truro school and found he had a facility for languages. His lifelong interest in Russia and its history and culture began thanks to a sensible RAF group captain, who at the start of national service sent him to a Russian interpreters’ course in Coulsdon, Surrey. Then it was off to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and a degree in Russian, followed in 1959 by a year at Moscow University as part of the first student exchange programme organised by the British Council. That year was an important milestone in Soviet history, when Khrushchev launched an intense anti-religious campaign, and Bourdeaux witnessed the closure of churches and discrimination against religious believers. The experience led him to make religion in the USSR the focus of his life. After studying theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, he was ordained an Anglican priest in 1961. In 1964, on a brief visit to Moscow, he met two babushki at a site where overnight a church had been blown up. He was taken to meet a group of Russian Orthodox believers who described what was happening to them, and asked him to “be our voice and speak for us”. Five years later Keston was founded, with

the help of Peter Reddaway and Leonard Schapiro, two LSE academics. Bourdeaux was one of the few who foresaw the collapse of the communist system. In 1984 he was awarded the Templeton prize (at that time given by the Templeton Foundation for “progress in religion”), and in his speech at the Guildhall in London he formulated his conviction that a combination of religion and nationalism would bring down the Soviet system: “I see an empire in the process of decay because there’s no binding loyalty which will keep it together.” A year later Gorbachev was elected general secretary by the politburo and a period of reform began, which led in 1988 to a volte-face by the Communist party on its religious policy. This, to Bourdeaux, marked the end of communism. That year he attended the celebrations of the millennium of the Russian Orthodox church, and recorded in his memoirs the evening he spent at the Bolshoi theatre, where a real set of bells had been mounted as though in a church tower: “A curtain rolled back to reveal the bells, which rang out in a peal of thunder. No one in the theatre, Christian or atheist, could have missed the symbolism: for years the authorities had banned the ringing of church bells, usually even removing them from their stays and throwing them to the ground. Surely this was a pledge of a new beginning for the church in society.” Keston College found its first home in the early 1970s in the former parish school at Keston Common, in the London borough of Bromley. From Keston’s inception, it studied the present and the past: high-quality, wellresearched journalism as well as academic study of the past were the focus of its work. Its reporting earned the respect of the media – if information came from Keston it was trusted. At the same time, Bourdeaux understood the importance of an archive, of gathering primary sources, samizdat documents, articles from the official and unofficial press in communist countries, as well as photographs and even anti-religious posters. This collection, the Keston archive, is a treasure trove for scholars studying the religious history of the former communist bloc. Keston College found a home in the early 1970s in what had been the parish school of Keston Common. The village belonged to the diocese of Rochester, which in 1990 made Bourdeaux an honorary canon. In 1994 Keston Institute, as it became, moved to Oxford, and gained a sister organisation in the US when in 2007 Baylor University in Texas offered to establish a new Keston Center for Religion, Politics and Society, and to house the Keston library and archive. This center and Keston UK today work in tandem, promoting the study of religion in former communist countries. Bourdeaux’s first wife, Gillian (née Davies), whom he married in 1960, died in 1978. He is survived by his second wife, Lorna (née Waterton), whom he married in 1979, and their children, Adrian and Lara; by Karen and Mark, the children of his first marriage; and by four grandsons. In the briefing pack produced when he was awarded the Templeton prize, Bourdeaux was described as “a mild, soft-spoken, ruddy-cheeked baker’s son from a remote mining region in south-west England”. He commented in his memoirs: “Well, at least the ‘baker’s son’ was accurate.” Xenia Dennen, Director of the Keston Institute

ROGER FARRAND (1955) This obituary originally appeared in The Guardian. My friend Roger Farrand, who has died aged 86, was publisher and then owner of the quarterly Printmaking Today magazine, which has provided a muchneeded voice for artist-printmakers since the 1990s. The magazine’s founder and editor, Rosemary Simmons, had set it up in 1991. Roger came along shortly afterwards to lend her the professional expertise he had gained from a long career in publishing. When the Royal Society of PainterPrintmakers offered a blanket subscription to the magazine for its members, it really began to flourish. Roger and Rosemary then enlarged upon its quality and readership until she was able to retire and he could become its owner. He appointed the engraver Anne Desmet as the new editor, establishing it as an advocate of the argument that printmaking is an original art form equal in status to the other visual arts. Roger sold the title to Cello Press in 2000 and then retired. Born in Warwick, the son of Ernest Farrand, a railway signalman, and Lucy (née Edna), a cook, Roger attended Warwick Grammar school and then won a scholarship to study history at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. There he met fellow student Gillian Hanson. After national service in Malta and Tripoli he married Gillian in 1958, and they raised three children. Roger began his publishing career in 1957 as an editor at Reader’s Digest magazine before joining Academic Press in London, first as editorial director and then, in 1971, as managing director. During his time there he saw the commercial potential of academic publishing and developed a business model replicated later by larger publishing houses such as Reed Elsevier. By the time he left Academic Press it had 50 journals on its list, including titles such as the Journal of Molecular Biology and the Journal of Sound and Vibration. In 1982 he set up his own company, Farrand Press, which also produced scientific journals, notably the British Journal of Psychiatry, as well as books of medical research, some of them by Gillian, who became a specialist in intensive care treatment and diabetes mellitus. He wound the company up in 2000 when he retired. Roger was a polymath and a linguist, a generous man with interests in hill walking, rugby, opera and wine. He had a wonderfully sharp wit and enjoyed the company of many friends. He also travelled widely in Nepal and Bhutan with Gillian. On a trek in the Himalayas in 1996 they reached 17,000ft, at which height they were both stricken by pneumonia. Although Roger recovered, Gillian developed pneumococcal septicaemia, which led to her death from septic shock shortly after they returned to Britain. He is survived by their children, Timothy, Anthony and Stephanie, and 10 grandchildren. Joseph Winkelman

PROFESSOR EDWARD BERNARD ILGREN FRCP (1976) This obituary of Ed has been provided by his friend, Daniel Heath. Ed Ilgren, an American toxicologist and neuropathologist known internationally for his work on the human impacts of asbestos, died Tuesday May 19, 2020 after being struck by a truck while cycling in Arica, Chile where he lived. The author of two books and numerous technical articles in scientific journals, he held academic positions in the UK, Chile, and the US, and was an expert witness in many high-profile litigation cases. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathology and Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology, amongst many professional memberships. He was recognised by scientific bodies for major original contributions to oncological, neurological, embryological, forensic, pulmonary, toxicological, and comparative pathology. Dr Ilgren was an avid cyclist who rode wherever he was around the world. He had spoken out recently about the dangers of truck traffic on the Chilean-Bolivian border area, where he was Visiting Professor of Neuropathology and Expert Investigator in Environmental Neurotoxicology at the Universidad de Tarapaca, Chile. The accident remains under investigation, with criminal charges pending. Edward Bernard Ilgren was born in Philadelphia on 13 August, 1950, the son of Dr Herbert and Maxine Ilgren of Lower Marion, Pennsylvania. After receiving his MD from Hahnemann Medical College in 1974, he served as a forensic pathologist in the NY Medical Examiner’s Office. He came up to St Edmund Hall in 1976 and served as a cancer researcher in Oxford, where he also received a DPhil in 1980. Dr Ilgren served as Pathologist to H.M. Coroner for Oxfordshire and was on the biochemistry faculty at the University. For the last 20 years, he also worked as an independent consultant and expert on matters related to complex, toxic tort environmental litigation. He sole-authored two books: Tumor Initiation and Promotion (CRC, 1991) and Comprehensive Compendium of Mesotheliomas in Animals (CRC, 1993), and he published dozens of technical papers. His writings in print amount to more than 2,000 pages. He lectured in different parts of the world on related subjects and taught cellular pathology at the Sir William Dunn School and neurological pathology at Oxford and in Chile. Dr Ilgren (with Kevin Browne) was the first to publish on mesothelioma threshold. He continued to make contributions to mesothelioma mechanism per fibre type, dose, size and habit in 11 original articles on all aspects of short fibre chrysotile through what is now generally recognised as the ‘calidria chrysotile’ series per animal studies and human epidemiology. In the process, he discovered one of the largest short fibre animal inhalation chrysotile data sets ‘hidden’ in the NTP – NIEHS archives, materials subsequently reviewed and published by him (with Dr Chris Wagner). Dr Ilgren examined

in detail all of the amphibole asbestos and chrysotile fibre types, zeolites and various forms of talc in different parts of the United States, Canada, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Japan, Australia, New Caledonia, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Europe, and South America. He was the first to discover erionite related mesotheliomas outside of Turkey and examined the subject through more than 20 cases of fibrous zeolite related mesothelioma around the world. Dr Ilgren served as a global alternative causation case specific expert in the asbestos litigation for 24 years, personally conducting on the ground investigations on five continents. He was the first to publish on the health risks from exposures to asbestos, inorganic metals, and various chemicals due to collapse of the World Trade Center in a U.S. Congressional Investigation. Dr Ilgren made major contributions to understanding the role of fibre width as a determinant of mesothelioma particularly through his studies on Bolivian crocidolite and Finnish anthophyllite in more than eight publications and extensive personal field work. Similarly, his comprehensive published study of the biology of cleavage fragments is widely cited providing further support for fibre width determination. Going beyond his specialist professional interests, Dr Ilgren’s humanitarian nature applied his expertise to many medical and environmental problems, including aflatoxin in food, smoking, pre-natal risks from lithium in Bolivia, asbestos in firefighting, agricultural development in northern Chile. Ed was cited by Proclamation of the City of New York in 2002 for his help mitigating health effects of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. Most recently he was working on Covid-19 risks. Ed was known to be refined in manner and dress, athletic in demeanor, generous and compassionate. He had a talent for friendship. His wide circle of friends delighted in his rare combination of intellectual purposefulness and impulse to celebrate. His joie de vivre enlivened the private clubs he used in many cities. He made residences variously in Chile, England, Italy, Hawaii and Bryn Mawr. He was devoted to St Edmund Hall, frequently visiting the College and attending its events in the U.S. He is survived by two of his three sisters, Barbara Russell of Bonners Ferry Idaho and Nancy Schluter of Wilmington Delaware and many nieces and nephews. Family and friends are planning memorials at a later date. Daniel Heath (Jesus College 1974, DPhil Economics)

ALAN FREDERICK JOHNSON (1953) Alan (10 June 1933-10 January 2021) was born on and raised in Oswestry, Shropshire. The forceps used at Alan’s birth pierced his right eye, damaging the cornea. His whole childhood was punctuated with regular visits to the local Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. He wrote in his memoirs, “Eventually it was decided that further treatment would be useless and that the lack of vision in my right eye was compensated for by excellent vision in my left eye - or so I was told.” A year ahead of his peers, nine school certificate passes, three higher school certificates, a county scholarship and on to St Edmund Hall, Oxford to read law (19531956). At Oswestry Boys High School he played Macduff opposite Frank Bough’s Macbeth. Alan and Frank stayed in touch, when they both went up to Oxford, and throughout their lives. Two years of National Service in the RAF delayed Alan’s start in Oxford. He did his square-bashing in Bodmin and subsequently spent a year at Cambridge training as a Russian interpreter with the Joint Services School for Linguists. At the Hall, one of Alan’s tutors was a young Nicholas BrowneWilkinson. It was soon after being demobilised in July 1953 that he found himself at a Gobowen Church summer fete where he met a certain Betty Edwards. Engaged a year later, but with Alan in Oxford and then working in Wolverhampton, and with Betty training as a nurse, they were finally able to marry on 5 July 1958, the beginning of over 62 years together. Life together began in Wolverhampton where their son Ian was born in 1960, but the family were almost immediately back in Shropshire as Alan obtained articles of clerkship with John C Gittins and Co in Oswestry. Four years later their elder daughter, Helen, was born. Betty was a part-time night sister at the local Orthopaedic hospital. Alan wrote, “I used to take Betty to work in the evening with the children in the back of the car, return home and put them to bed, get them up in the morning and go back and fetch Betty home. I was glad when, a few years later, she also passed her driving test.” Their younger daughter Carole followed in due course and the family was complete. Family holidays were mainly in North Wales or Cornwall. Once the children were older, holidays to all parts of Western Europe began for Alan and Betty. But Greece and the Greek islands were the favourite including with Carole and her family as time went on. As the years passed Alan and Betty were blessed with 4 grandchildren - Lucy, Elise, Daniel and Robert. Over the years, Alan progressed from assistant solicitor to partner and finally to senior partner of the much larger amalgamated firm of Longueville Gittins. A mild heart attack in 1990 caused him to slow down at work, giving up his partnership three years later but still serving as a salaried solicitor until retirement in 1998. Even then for a few

years he helped out in the office at holiday times. Inevitably he was a life member of the Law Society. Back in the 1970s Alan had joined Oswestry Church Bowling Club. Over time he served as member of the committee, secretary, chairman, club president, life member. He followed the same ascent in the league structure and served at County level. The other societies he belonged to, some with Betty, included the National Service (RAF) Association, Shropshire Postal History Society, Blind Veterans Association, Oswestry Recorded Music Society, Oswestry U3A and Oswestry & Border Historical & Archaeological Society. He was very sociable. As a Christian, it was at Oxford that the penny had dropped for him in the years when Billy Graham was first over here. He became a lay reader in 2000 and assisted with services for almost a decade. He was a very generous supporter of many charities, and he was

VICTOR THOMAS HENRY PARRY FCILIP, FRSA, FRAS (1945) This obituary has been provided by Victor’s son, Richard. Victor Thomas Henry Parry, Old Aularian and member of the Floreat Aula Society died peacefully at home on 30 December 2020 aged 93. kind to those people to whom others may not have been inclined to show kindness. He and Betty would faithfully visit people every week. He kept in touch with people whatever their circumstances had become. There were notable connections with a Russian family in Siberia, and a Palestinian nurse in Nazareth. It is said that not everyone understood his humour, although I think Alan was more likely to say that about himself than anyone else would. There was a genuine humility about him which made him so easy to be with. His wide-reading, and love of English literature and poetry made him very good with his words. He didn’t need many to make his point, to ask a penetrating question or to make you laugh. There are few people who rise so highly in the affections of so many as Alan did. Carole Dix (née Johnson) (1985, Jurisprudence)

Born in Newport, south Wales in 1927, he excelled at football, cricket and table tennis as a schoolboy and was chair of the Newport Youth Council in 1945. He went up to Oxford the same year aged just 17, to study English Literature. He enjoyed Hall life immensely. In those days his trunk had to be sent up by lorry, and a Scout would make up a fire in his room and bring him hot water! He recalled winning the tiddlywinks championship and loved to listen to trad jazz. He was awarded Hall colours in soccer and played for the Centaurs. A librarian by vocation, he had a distinguished career and was a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Royal Society of Arts as well as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. After national service in the Royal Air Force, he joined the Manchester Public

Library in 1950 on one of the first graduate training schemes in the country. He moved to London as an assistant librarian in the Colonial Office in 1956 where he set up a legal library for the various constitutional conferences which led to the eventual independence of Kenya and other African states. In 1959 he was made a Fellow of the Library Association and acted as a senior examiner for the profession for over 10 years. He became the first professional librarian at the Nature Conservancy in 1960 and maintained the archives for the Sites of Special Scientific Interest. He then became Deputy at the Natural History Museum Library, followed by service for many years as the Chief Librarian and Archivist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In 1978 he left the Civil Service and became Chief Librarian at the School of African and Oriental Studies. He concluded his career with a 5-year appointment as the Director of Central Library Services and Goldsmith’s Librarian of the University of London, taking early retirement in 1988. He thus traversed the public, Civil Service, special and university fields of librarianship, in an unusually broad career. He enjoyed membership of Surrey County Cricket Club after retirement and was also a keen supporter of Manchester City FC. He continued to play table tennis until the age of 76 when arthritis became too much of a handicap, but carried on playing Bridge, with some skill, until well into his 80s. But perhaps his greatest love was to see Wales beating their opponents at rugby union, and he joined in the Welsh national anthem with gusto at the start of each match. He was pleased to live within hearing distance of the roar of the crowd at the national stadium in Twickenham. Throughout his life he remained a steadfast supporter of Teddy Hall and was pleased to receive the Aularian and the Magazine which he read from cover to cover. He donated regularly to the Hall and left a legacy of £1000 for the improvement of the Old Library. In May 2019, after a long and happy marriage, he and his wife Mavis celebrated their Diamond wedding anniversary. He is survived by her, his daughter, two sons and five grandchildren. Richard Vyvyan Tristram Parry

CECIL WILLIAM (BILL) PERRY (1953) This obituary has been provided by Bill’s son, Matthew. Cecil Perry (20 June 1931 – 4 October 2019) was born in Staplecross, Sussex, close to where his maternal grandparents lived in Ewhurst. His father, Edward Perry, was a member of the Imperial Civil Service in India who was in the UK acting as Secretary to the Simon Commission which considered the future of British India. The previous year he had married Mary Reavell, and Cecil was their first child. His parents soon returned to India, the Bombay presidency, where another son, David was born. The two boys grew up cared for by an Indian ayah (nanny) in the way of families in the Raj and apparently conversed with each other in Hindi. A sister, Sallie, was born later to be followed by another sister, Catherine, in 1942. Cecil was sent back to Britain to go to prep school (St Rowlands) where he enjoyed playing rugby. Holidays were spent with his grandparents in Sussex and he always regarded himself as a Sussex man, particularly when it came to cricket.

After the outbreak of the Second World War Cecil’s mother took him, David and Sallie back to India – and from her I heard accounts of travelling out in convoy and being up on deck at night as other ships were torpedoed. In India schooling meant being sent to Lovedale, Ootacamund, a three-day train journey away that meant he was away for nine months at a time. He spoke little of his time there, and the accounts were not happy ones, unlike the stories of his life generally in India which sounded exciting (if dangerous) with a pet bulldog and accounts of snakes, cobras and krait, as well as mongeese. One thing he did do was to follow the progress of the war, having his own subscription to The Times and following campaigns on maps. After the end of the war, he was sent to Lancing College, again in Sussex. The highchurch tradition there meant that there was a lot of chapel, into which he became actively involved, singing in the choir and ultimately becoming head chorister. He was even a member of the headmaster’s glee club – yet more singing. From Lancing he went on to National Service. Short sight meant that he was unable to join the Navy, as he would have liked. My impression was that his preferred career would have been as a Naval officer, quite possibly in submarines. He instead joined the airborne artillery, where mathematical ability was important for calculating gunfire. He commanded a troop of 25 lb guns. Upon returning home on his first leave he announced that he was now known as Bill – apparently Cecil did not fit! He served in the Canal Zone of Egypt, but before the Suez Crisis, so seems to have had a generally enjoyable time. He certainly fitted well into military life because he continued in the Territorial Army, this time in the Territorial SAS, until the birth of his first child. After the Army Bill went up to Teddy Hall. Despite having excelled at school in Mathematics he read PPE – this was because it was felt to be good to be a ‘well rounded man’. Perhaps partly in consequence he did not excel academically. This is not to say that his time in Oxford was dull, he “read punting” as his friend and future brother-in-law, John Foster, once said to me later. Bill thoroughly enjoyed sport, playing waterpolo with the University squad, though not getting a blue. A keener cricketer than talented, he played for the Teddy Bears. Bill, who claimed to have learnt to sail from reading Swallows and Amazons, was also a member of the University Yacht Club. One winter he organised a skiing trip to Austria, this was significant in that a friend of a friend from the Yacht Club, Josephine Anderson came along too. Jo became his girlfriend, and they attended a College Ball together. After graduation Bill started as an articled clerk to a firm of accountants in London. When Jo returned from a year in the USA their relationship resumed and they were married in 1958, living in Hampstead. In 1961 their son Matthew was born and they moved out of London to Tonbridge in Kent from where Bill commuted daily to the City. Bill moved from accountancy to work for IBM becoming a programmer in the days of punch cards and tape. Bill kept up his sporting interests playing cricket in the summer (as a wicketkeeper) and hockey in the winters as a goalkeeper. In 1963 a daughter, Susannah, was born. In 1967 Bill took a job with Fisher Bendix near Liverpool, only for them to be taken over shortly afterwards. The family moved for work several times in the ensuing years, with a second daughter, Charlotte, born in 1969 in Stevenage. By the late 70s

Bill was a self-employed accountant and the family were settled in Kent, living in one half of a large house with his mother in the other end. Bill enjoyed village life in Kent and contributed by singing in the local church choir and the Tonbridge Philharmonic, and continued playing bridge and hockey. He and Jo shared the creation of a fine if demanding garden, which grew almost to smallholding proportions at times. He took great pleasure in the academic success of his children; Matthew read Chemistry at Univ, whilst both Susannah and Charlotte studied at Cambridge. Once the children had left home, Bill and Jo divorced, and from here on he lived in or around Sevenoaks. He remained actively involved in the hockey club acting as an umpire for the third XI for many years and taking great pleasure in watching the young players develop. He retained his keen interests in politics, current affairs and technology, and required no family support when he bought his first smartphone. Bill had always been a keen games player, particularly of bridge, and in retirement was a member of three bridge clubs. It was through bridge that he met Hazel with whom he shared his final years. Bill suffered a stroke in August 2019 and died a few weeks later in Pembury hospital. Matthew Perry

JOHN PIKE CBE, PNBS DATO OF SARAWAK (1946) The following obituary is based on the eulogy given at John’s funeral. John was born in Croydon in 1924 to Chip and Betty Pike. He and his younger brother Mick enjoyed a happy childhood, albeit within a strict regime imposed by their father. One consequence of an unspecified childhood misdemeanour was to learn by heart and recite to his father, while standing at the dining table, all 300 lines of the Macaulay poem ‘Horatius at The Bridge’. As a teenager John went to Dauntsey’s School in Wiltshire where he did well at languages and won an exhibition to Oxford to read French and German at the Hall… but this was 1942. Pearl Harbour had been attacked in December 1941 and the country urgently needed young linguists to learn Japanese. At 18 John was recruited to the Intelligence Corps and spent a year at the School of Oriental and African Studies learning Japanese. Then, in 1943, he travelled by sea to India and on to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where he joined the group monitoring Japanese military radio traffic, then to Burma, Singapore, Sumatra and, finally, to Sarawak - a country he fell in love with. He was de-mobilised in 1946 at the age of 22 and spent two happy and stimulating years at the Hall (1946-1948) doing an abbreviated War Degree in PPE, some rowing and making several lasting friendships. John then applied to join the Colonial Service. The application form included a section in which the applicant listed their

three preferences for posting if appointed. John’s three choices were Sarawak, Sarawak and Sarawak. He and Elspeth met when he became her family’s lodger in London while completing his training for the posting to Sarawak. Having met in September 1948, they married in December and sailed for the Far East in January 1949. Sarawak was their home for most of the next 18 happy and fascinating years. The major developments of that era in Sarawak were Merdeka (Independence) in 1963, the Federation with Malaysia later that year, and the war with Indonesia, Konfrontasi, 1963-1966. John served Sarawak initially, through the early post-war years, as a District Officer most happily in Lawas, where long journeys up-country on foot were part of the professional timetable. Later he was posted to the World Bank in Washington for a year in 1961/2 where he drafted an influential study The Fiscal Implications for Sarawak of Entering the Federation of Malaysia in 1962. Finally, he served as Sarawak’s Financial Secretary for the 3 years immediately after independence and at a time of war with Indonesia, ending his period in Sarawak in 1966 at the age of 42. He was honoured by the Sarawak government with the title of Dato, and by the UK government with the CBE for these years of service. The friendships formed during those years in Sarawak (and also during the year in Washington DC), lasted for John and Elspeth’s lifetimes. John returned as a guest of the Sarawak government on subsequent occasions and the final invitation from the Sarawak Government received in 2018, when John was 94 years old, reads as follows: “…Today we had an audience with the Governor of Sarawak, His Excellency Tun Abdul Taib Bin Mahmud at the Astana. The visit was in conjunction with the upcoming Sarawak Independence Day on Sunday 22 July 2018. His Excellency felt that it would be very meaningful to include Dato John Pike in the celebration as he had contributed immensely to Sarawak….” John was too frail to take up this last invitation, but it touched him deeply to be asked to be there more than 50 years after his career in Sarawak had ended. Following his time in Sarawak, John spent the next 16 years, 1967 to 1983, as Financial Secretary to the London School of Economics starting just as the student events of 1968 and 1969 were kicking off. These were stimulating and exciting years for John given the close links LSE had with the governments of the day. The current Director of LSE wrote of him: “...The School owes a huge debt of gratitude for his pivotal role as Financial Secretary from 1967-1983 during a period of great change for the School….” After LSE, in retirement, John was happily involved on a pro bono basis with a variety of organisations including the Sarawak Association, the British Schools Exploring Society and the Burma Campaign Fellowship Group. This last formed the basis of a variety of friendships with British and Japanese colleagues who were committed to the reconciliation of old Burma Campaign combatants – a group for whom John gave a speech in Japanese at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in his 70s. John was supported lovingly and loyally through all these years by his wife Elspeth. They were, together, wonderful parents, parents-in-law and grand-parents.

When, in her 80s, Elspeth became increasingly frail, John who had always been the provider and never by skills or inclination a house-husband, became her staff and comfort, her loving support emotionally and practically. Because of his sustained care for her, Elspeth was able to die peacefully at home in Long Hanborough, just outside Oxford. After Elspeth’s death in 2007, John was desperately sad and lost and – perhaps more than we the family realised – uncharacteristically reclusive. But, happily, some years later John and Jan – another widowed Long Hanborough resident – fell in love and were married in 2012. John then enjoyed wonderful years of joy with Jan, full of love, friendships, projects and adventures. A busy and happy life in the Cotswolds punctuated by travels to France, Scotland and the United States and cruises on the High Seas! John’s recent years were marked by increasing frailty. Life re-arrangements, prompted by the Covid pandemic, then meant that we, his family, were privileged to see a lot of him in his final months and he knew us all and his beloved Jan to the end. His last drink was a sip of Laphroaig single malt whisky – which he referred to as ‘ubat bagus’, his most important medication! He died peacefully at home aged 96. We shall miss him. Michael Pike (New College 1968, English)

ROY TRACEY (1948) Roy Tracey (29 December 1927 - 19 December 2020) held Teddy Hall in great affection and gratitude throughout his life. He grew up in Colchester; his father was a fishmonger, but his age and declining health led Roy’s mother to take on the tenancy of a licenced grocer’s opening 6½ days a week, at the outbreak of World War II. An intelligent woman, but denied a secondary education, she fought for Roy’s disabled brother to go to primary school and encouraged her other three children to win grammar school places. Despite studying hard and helping out in the shop, Roy recalled happy memories of horse riding on nearby farms and cycling in the Stour valley. Roy’s time at grammar school was severely disrupted by the war. Lessons were frequently interrupted by air raid warnings and many of the teachers were called up, their places filled, if at all, by retirees. Roy was an avid reader and regularly visited the local library, where he found a mentor in Ronald Blythe, then working there as a librarian. Roy credited him with setting him on the path to Oxford. Roy sat the entrance exams, earning a place at Teddy Hall to read English literature. The War, however, brought tragedy when Roy’s older brother was killed in action with the Fleet Air Arm in 1945. Their father died the following year. Roy’s strong sense of duty led him to offer to give up his university place to stay and

support his widowed mother, but she would not hear of it. So in 1948, after two years’ National Service in Army Intelligence, Roy went up to Teddy Hall supported by a bursary from Essex education authority, the first in his family to go to university. Academically and culturally, it was a world away from his earlier experiences and he relished it. He had great respect for his Hall tutors, including Graham Midgley and Reg Alton, and talked fondly of being taught by CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. He particularly enjoyed tutorials with the latter. He would tell of reading out essays and being disconcerted that Tolkien did not appear to be listening (“His mind was off somewhere in Middle Earth” as he put it), but would then come out with an incisive and apposite comment, before his mind apparently floated away again. Roy took full advantage of summer plays and concerts and was a member of the John Oldham society. No sportsman himself, he enjoyed the company of rowing friends; however, being of slight build he often found himself fair game for pranks, including being dangled out of the window of his room over Queen’s Lane by his ankles. Whilst at Oxford he met a graduate studying Statistics at St Hilda’s, first spotting her when cycling by Magdalen, narrowly missing a lamppost in his distraction. He could still identify the lamppost many years later. They were married for over 50 years until Pat’s death in 2008 and had two daughters and two granddaughters. Roy left Oxford, his mind filled with poetry and art, imagining life as a writer. However, he needed to earn a living and took the Civil Service examinations. To his horror he was posted to the Inland Revenue and initially turned it down. His mother, somewhat more practical, was even more horrified; Roy duly became a tax inspector. His talents soon came to the attention of Unilever, and he joined their tax department, eventually rising to Head of Taxation. Roy’s time at Teddy Hall opened up this career opportunity but it brought so much more. His skill in argument and discussion, debating and wit all honed there. He enjoyed company and conversation and could talk very convincingly on many topics, if not necessarily with much actual knowledge – a skill he claimed to have learnt in tutorials on books he had not actually read. Oxford developed his love of the arts, which remained a lifelong interest enriching his life and those who knew and loved him. Christina Tracey (1980, Agriculture and Forestry) and Alison Cannard (1985, St Hilda’s)