King Edward's School Home Old Edwardians Website

1950 - 1959

Ken Bean (1951)

My wife and I celebrated our 80th birthdays with a joint dinner where 46 sat down to a meal with 20 family members present. Met up with J. Derek Giles (1951) and Kevin C.P. Waldron (1950?) while in the UK last year. First Great Grandson born last year. (30/4/12) 

Philip Martin (1951)

I am now 83. Having survived two years of National Service, I returned to The University of Birmingham to study modern languages, then worked for four years with our family printing business before continuing a career of 34 years in export marketing, using the three languages I first began learning at KES with Mr Victor Biggs all those years ago.

Since 1994 I’ve enjoyed 21 years of very happy retirement, doing voluntary work for the parish church and for various organisations in Yateley, Hampshire, where my wife and I now live. And I still occasionally see my old classmate Mike Antcliff. (27/10/15)

Jim Wainwright (1951)

I studied Geography under Bill Whalley with whom I re-established contact with around 1998. He did much for me and encouraged my father to think of Cambridge for me. I was extremely sad when Bill passed away aged 96. I was accepted at Selwyn, more on rugby ability than academic excellence. I did not disappoint the admissions tutor as I gained a commendable degree and played against Oxford. I used to love Saturdays playing for the Old Eds, when rugby was fun and the win not all-important. Thinking of school-mastering I was given good advice by Tom Howarth, and ultimately finished my career as Warden of Glenalmond in Perthshire.

My son was born in Perth, and I became an extremely proud father when he captained Scotland and became a British Lion. Three of his four sisters are 'English,' but most of my fourteen grandchildren are 'Scottish.'

My wife died five years ago, having achieved the distinction of running a marathon in all seven continents, the first British woman to do so. In retirement we took up cycling and managed to cross America from Seattle to Boston and New Zealand top to bottom amongst many other long rides. I now try to spend as many winter weeks as possible in Spain as my old bones suffer in the weather served up in Scotland, and one can enjoy more of an outdoor life by the Mediterranean.

I try to attend the OE biennial dinners, though my school friends are thinning out at an alarming rate. (5/2/16)

C.R. Sanders (1952)

Recovery from Triple by Pass operation and Pneumonia. My wife has been an invalid for last ten years and resident in a Private Nursing Home during this time. (29/8/11)

Andrew Macnab (1953)

I am now 80 and still go to the office every day (have to do something to save the Greek economy). (3/8/15)

Rev. Michael Counsell (1954)

I am a retired vicar living in Northfield, still kept very busy helping at churches where the vicar is away. From October 27 to December 27 2011 I am looking after a church in Tangier, and enjoying the sunshine. I continue to write yearly editions of 'The Canterbury Preacher's Companion' with 150 sermons based on the readings for Sundays and Holy Days. A beautiful new edition of my verse translation of the Vietnamese epic 'Kieu' has been published in Hanoi. (22/10/11)

After leaving KES, national service and University, I was ordained and served in churches in Birmingham and Singapore. Then the Bishop of Singapore asked me to 'be responsible for Vietnam and Cambodia' which were part of his Diocese (so if you want to know who was responsible for that mess, you know who to blame!). With great trepidation I took charge of a church in Saigon for almost four years during the Vietnam War, and found that the Vietnamese are a cultured people, with a great history of poetic literature. I learnt a little Vietnamese, and translated a poem 'Kieu, the Tale of a Beautiful and Cultured Girl'; written by Nguyen Du in the early nineteenth century, into rhyming English verse with the same metre and rhyme-scheme as the original. When I visited Hanoi in 1994, a publisher snapped it up, and it became a best seller in Vietnam. But it was hard to obtain in other countries, so in 2013 I self-published it in a print-on-demand paperback, which can be ordered from Amazon, and also from bookshops quoting the ISBN: 9781482617269. It is also available as an e-book from Kindle. More information from http://kieutranslator.wordpress.com. Now I am retired and living in Northfield. (31/7/13)

Lewis Stevens (1954)

Book Published: An Unforgettable Woman: The Life and Times of Rosa Newmarch. 339pp.Troubador Publishing ISBN 976-1848766-709. Rosa Newmarch (1857-1940) is nowadays best known as the programme writer for the Promenade Concerts from 1908-1926 (she also wrote programme notes for several Birmingham Music Festivals). But equally important, she was instrumental in introducing to the English concert-going public music by many Russian composers, Sibelius and also Czech composers, particularly Janacek. Janacek's music was hardly known in Britain until Rosa Newmarch organised his visit to Britain in 1926. She made the first translation of Tchaikovsky's Life and letters - I can supply an information sheet which gives more details if necessary. (28/7/11)

Arthur Stockwin (1954)

Two weeks teaching at Hosei University in Tokyo in January, then research in the National Library in Canberra in June-July, and (shortly to happen) October-November. With colleagues I am preparing a volume on the work of my late doctoral thesis supervisor, David Sissons, mostly devoted to the history of relations between Australia and Japan. The material that he placed in the National Library is quite fascinating, particularly that relating to Australian war crimes trials in and concerning the Pacific islands war zone around the end of the Pacific War. Changing tack, may I ask if any of your readers know what happened to John McCracken, a good friend a year below mine, who was a brilliant artist? I have heard conflicting reports, which is now an imprint of Brill in the Netherlands. It will probably be monstrously expensive but I feel sure your readers will want to read it from cover to cover - all 680+ pages! "A book in two volumes, entitled Japanese Foreign Policy and Understanding Japanese Politics: The Writings of J.A.A. Stockwin" is due to be published in December 2011 by Global Oriental. (21/10/11)

Though now nearly 11 years into retirement, I continue to research, lecture and write about the modern politics of Japan. I also remain joint general editor of the Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies series of books largely on the politics, economy, society and modern history of Japan. I visit Japan at least annually and teach a course every January at Hosei University in Tokyo. I have translated from Japanese a book of modern Japanese history by one of Japan's leading historians, Professor Junji Banno. Details: Junji Banno (J.A.A. Stockwin translator), Japan's Modern History, 1857-1937: A New Political Narrative. Abingdon and New York, Routledge, forthcoming August 2014. The book is an innovative analysis of 80 turbulent years from the opening of Japan to the outside world in the 1850s and 1860s to the outbreak of war with China in 1937. It is a study in political and economic modernisation, combined with militarising of the State. (11/7/14)

Michael Sutton (1954)

Michael and his wife Anne celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at the beginning of September 2011 with a luncheon in Somerset for family and friends. Among the guests was Professor Peter Stoward (1954) who had been 'best man' at the wedding in 1961. Peter, accompanied by his wife Elisabeth, attended just days after having had a heart valve replacement operation. He is recovering well both from the operation and the lunch. (2/11/11)

Colin Taylor (1954)

In May I was elected as Mayor of Epsom & Ewell (in Surrey). (01/8/13)

Oliver Thompson (1954)

I left KES early in 1954 to do national service in the Royal Navy and by the time I had finished my parents had returned to Scotland, so I hardly ever went back to Birmingham and sadly lost touch with almost all my contemporaries. Having gone to Cambridge with a classics scholarship I rashly changed to economics and history, then became a London advertising man before I too came back to Scotland. The next 40 years were a mixture of running advertising agencies, teaching and writing history books. 11 of my books have been published, one translated into Japanese, two into Portuguese. I've had one play performed professionally and also written three guide books for the National Trust. Retired from day job 14 years ago but still lecturing part time to adult groups. Still married, three children and six grandchildren. (3/8/15)

Bernard Adams (1955)

I have been living in Hungary for the past six years, busy translating Hungarian literature and academic work. 2012 brought me second place in the John Dryden translation competition and a translation award from American PEN, who also short-listed the Kosztolányi translation listed below. I was visited in Budapest by Mike Stafford and his wife, and on a recent visit to UK met The Revd. Brian Coleman and his wife Alison.

Three recent published translations:
DezsÅ‘ Kosztolányi: Kornél Esti, pub. New Directions, New York. ISBN 978-0-8112-1843-6

Béla Bede: Hungarian Art Nouveau Architecture, pub. Corvina, Budapest. ISBN 978-963-13-6081-3

János Kárpáti (editor): Music in Hungary, pub. Rózsavölgyi, Budapest. ISBN 978-615-5062-01-8 (12/1/13)

Coming up! My translation of András Kepes' 'Tövispuszta' (a 2011 best-seller in Hungary) is to be launched on 19 September at the Hungarian cultural centre in London. Publisher is Armadillo Central, as yet no ISBN, and the English title (don't ask me to explain, it's not my fault) is to be 'The Inflatable Buddha'. Nevertheless, the book is a very readable 20th century historical novel. (31/7/13)

I'm still living in Zánka, translating Hungarian literature, and spent April in Sysmä, Finland, under the auspices of the cultural organisation Nuoren Voiman Liitto as I plan to do again in 2014. (10/1/14)

Guest of the Finnish cultural association Nuoren Voiman Liitto, for a 'residency' at Villa Sarkia, their house in Sysmä. (4/8/15)

Roger Farmer (1955)

I retired in 2004 having been self-employed for the previous 30 years. I moved to Southern Spain in July 2007, bought a villa with a view of the sea and set about turning it into a home, completing it two years ago. I'm often asked how I occupy my time now I'm retired. A garden of 1000 square meters demands some effort. Every time a gale blows, which being on the side of a mountain it often does, down come clouds of pine needles. I swim half a kilometre every day from April to October. I draw the line when the pool drops below 25C. I cured myself of the joys of cold water when having to jump into Ullswater at seven in the morning as an instructor at OBMS some fifty five years ago. Hardly seems real now. Then there is a lot of reading and making political contributions to an MP's daily diary when I have an opinion to express. Photography when the mood takes me and quite a lot of cooking for survival and social gatherings. Have just Gravadlaxed a salmon, half for a friend's birthday, the rest for me and other friends. The supply of really fresh fish in unbelievably good here in Spain. I would be lost if I had to depend on Tesco's idea of a fish counter and at their insane prices. I have not long completed a second kitchen in one of the apartments below and the final job is sorting out the Werk Keller. The previous owner was German so six months of the language at KES gave me a slight understanding of what it was. Thank you Victor Biggs. Finally of course there are restaurants at all levels and some quite good. I do not miss all the World and UK travelling and all the business meetings trying to match suppliers to users. Visits to the UK suggest that life there is too pressured these days and much of the criteria for life that was imbued in my formative years seems to have been kicked out of the door today. The divide I see between Government and the people does not encourage thoughts of a return. When I see a well formed lenticular overhead I twitch to be back in the sailplane I sold in 1982. Other than nostalgia I am very happy where I am. (25/8/14)

On 5 August 1954 I first went solo in a Kirby Cadet Mk 3 at RAF Lichfield, organised through the CCF. The flight lasted all of three minutes, but that was the way of things on such courses. I continued gliding off and on until August 1980 when I sold my Foka 5. I returned to big boat sailing because all the family could take part. We travelled far and wide and had a great time.

Jump forward to July 2015 I started flying sailplanes again, this time in Spain. I found the aircraft still flew the same way if not a bit better, but the electronics available to give you real time information in the cockpit are a whole new world. Additionally I had to get an EASA sailplane pilots licence before they could let me loose. That done I went solo again after a 35 year gap, but this time I stayed up for three hours and one minute. Hope to progress to owning my own again. (19/9/16)

Robin Richardson (1955)

I am the drafting editor of the report of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss. (23/1/15)

From 2013—15, I acted as drafting editor and consultant for the report of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss. (6/2/16)

I was the drafting editor of Living with Difference: community, diversity and the common good, the report of the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, convened by the Woolf Institute, University of Cambridge, 2013-15. (19/9/16)

Roderick Whitfield (1955)

Royal Air Force, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1955-57, Civil Service Interpreter (Mandarin Chinese) St John's College, Cambridge, BA (Hons) Oriental Tripos 1960 Princeton University, MFA, PhD (Chinese Art) 1965 Princeton University, Research Associate and Lecturer, 1966 St John's College, Cambridge, Research Fellow, 1966-68 The British Museum, Department of Oriental Antiquities, Assistant Keeper I, 1968-1984 Head, Percival David Foundation, and Professor of Chinese and East Asian Art, School of Oriental and African Studies 1984-1992 Percival David Professor of Chinese Art, 1992-2002 Research Fellow, The Palace Museum, Peking 2000 - date Research Fellow, Dunhuang Academy Senior Editor, Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology, 2007 to date Member Editorial Board, Artibus Asiae. (28/2/11)

Graham Caulton (1956)

After 36 years living on the south coast my wife and I have moved to Holfirth in West Yorkshire. This is partly to be near our grandchildren but also because I wanted to live on a windy hill to give my DIY wind turbine a bit more exercise. So now we have solar panels and wind power. (31/7/13)

My wife and I spent a fabulous holiday in Namibia in May of this year. It is best described as a Flying Safari where the two of us flew between bush camps in a small aircraft. Our trip took us from the capital Windhoek to the dunes in the south and then up the Skeleton Coast to the Angola border and then inland to various wildlife parks. Luckily on the whole trip we didn't share the aircraft with anyone but the pilot. As a result he invited me to fly the plane along the Skeleton Coast for half an hour. This was low level flying at an altitude of about 200 feet and very exhilarating. Namibia is a beautiful country and with its German background seems very stable. It is well worth a visit, although low level flying over the rugged mountains and vast desert areas is not for the faint hearted. (26/8/14)

Richard Temple Cox CBE (1956)

For the past five years, I have been a member of one of the Cabinet Office Honours Committees - Communities, Voluntary Sector and Local Public Services - and have been able to identify and support, where suitable, many OE's who have distinguished themselves and deserved an honour. For my sins, I have now accepted the role of Chairman of Birmingham Dogs Home, now the largest single dog re-homing centre after Battersea and where we are about to embark on a fundraising initiative to build a new £4 million facility near Birmingham Airport. (24/9/12)

Ian Turner (1956)

After leaving KES, I spent a gap year teaching at a Preparatory School, before reading Geography at Selwyn College, Cambridge. I spent the year after graduating as a teaching assistant at the University of Washington in Seattle, and returned to the UK in 1961 to get married and to start work at the London County Council as a trainee town planner.

After professional qualification, I worked for several local authorities and finished my career as Director of Planning to Derby City Council.

I retired from public service in 1990 and then practised as a planning and development consultant until 1996 when I closed my practice.

In the latter part of my professional career I was Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute, a member of the Institute’s Council, Chairman of the Institute’s East Midlands Branch, and a planning advisor to the Association of District Councils.

After retirement I began a second part-time career as a lecturer and writer on 20th century decorative art. I researched and collected examples of 20th century art pottery and glass, wrote two books, and published numerous articles for collectors. I am a member and past chairman of the Glass Association and a member of the Northern Ceramic Society.

I live in Melbourne, Derbyshire and for over 20 years I have been an active member, past chairman, and chairman of the Planning Committee, of Melbourne Civic Society, an amenity society affiliated to Civic Voice.

I cultivate a large allotment garden. My wife and I have three children and six grandchildren. (9/2/16)

An article of mine on the Italian designer Alessandro Pianon and his bird sculptures was published in the March edition of Antique Collecting, and an article on ‘An Exceptional Monart Vase’ appeared in the spring edition of The Glass Cone, the quarterly magazine of the Glass Association. (28/7/17)

Hugh Gibbons (1957)

I'm an OE wearing many caps, who left in 1957 but still follows the Song's enjoinder: 'to die of service, not of rust'. In fact, that's quoted on the Gallery of Good Examples that I painted for St Joseph's church hall here in Bracknell - as you can see at www.spiritofromero.org/galleries. I'm also now working on creating a huge community gallery outside the church, painted by the citizens of Bracknell and beyond. But my seriously big project is Thanksgiving Field at Winkfield in Berkshire. This is the unique after-war memorial to give thanks to the hidden heroes who help individuals, families, communities and nations have happier landings to life when conflict is over. It's a great feel-good and ongoing story, with all sorts of angles to bring smiles in this country, Germany and across the USA. As I was unhoused in Moseley in 1940, I have a bombee's eye view. In fact I've been back to Moseley Primary to take them through that night and share lessons in citizenship. You can get a sense of things at present at www.thanksgivingfield.org - though there are important developments on the way. Also the talks I give are amazing for any size or profile of audience. (26/8/14)

David Harrison (1957)

During 2011/2012 I was involved in the purchase of Baker & Finnemore, a 160 year old Birmingham fastener company, by Gebr Titgemeyer GmbH of Osnabrueck. By a quirk of history the founder of B & F was German, a Herr Wagner from Frankfurt! I retired as MD of Titgemeyer (UK) in 2009, but have been pulled out of retirement to be Managing Director of B&F. Gebr Titgemeyer own 100% of B & F and are their largest customer. We make "Starlock" push on fasteners (over 350 million a year!) and sell "round the globe" Birmingham manufacturing is alive and well! (16/12/12)

Martin Richards (1957)

After 40 Volumes as an Editor, of which 36 were as Editor in Chief, of Transportation, an academic journal published by Springer, Martin Richards has retired, 'putting the blue pencil away and taking down the name board' as reflected in the title of his contribution to a Special Issue of the journal marking his retirement. Springer held a dinner in Washington DC in his honour, attended by past and current members of the Editorial Board. (24/1/14)

I retired from full time employment  as Executive Chairman of The MVA Group, transport planning consultants in 2000, having been awarded an OBE in 1993 for services to transport planning. I have since been awarded a lifetime achievement award in 2008 and appointed an Honorary Transport Planning Professional in 2010. (20/7/15)

Martin Rumsby (1957)

I have started a new career (?) as a fully qualified guard and trainee diesel engine driver on a narrow gauge railway (the Golden Valley Light Railway) at the Midland Railway Trust site near Ripley in Derbyshire. This is so totally different from my academic professional life as a Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of York (retired 2006) but it does reinforce my longstanding interest in railways which was kindled by going off on family holidays by steam train from Snow Hill Station in the late 1940s and early 1950s. I combine this new interest with research by returning to York two days a week to work in a prostate cancer group. (20/3/17)

Graham Andrews (Archie) (1958)

Retired from main consultancy work with FlyBe but still continue to do some work with Short Bros. Still do some light aircraft flying. Have taken on the role of treasurer of Exmouth Cricket Club. (11/6/12)

David Arthur (1958)

I have just finished a two-year stint as President of the Yorkshire Union of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, and I continue as an active lay preacher. I am also vice-chairman of the Sea of Faith Network. I sing in both the Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir and the Alan Cuckston Singers, and have recently been on concert tours of France and Belgium. I remain an active Liberal Democrat, currently Vice-Chair of Wakefield LibDems, and recently visited the European Parliament at its Strasbourg location at the invitation of Diana Wallis MEP, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament. (21/10/11)

Still choral singing after all these years, and shall for ever be grateful to Dr Willis Grant for bringing me on as a singer. Currently with the Alan Cuckston Singers, a chamber choir in Leeds. (31/07/13)

Having passed my 75th birthday, my sons tell me I should be slowing down a bit and doing less. Not a bit of it! I still sing in a chamber choir in Leeds, am very active as a Unitarian lay preacher, and serve on (too) many committees in various charities, local government and local and national politics. I was very interested in the tribute to Peter Bridle in the last Gazette; I owe what modest musical talent I have not to him, or indeed his predecessor, but to Dr Willis Grant who gave me my first opportunities as a singer. He introduced the idea of doing a major work in 1951, so as a Sherring I got in at the ground floor with, appropriately, Haydn's The Creation. I sang it again recently more than 60 years later! (26/3/14)

I shall always be grateful to Dr Willis Grant, who combined the jobs of Head of Music at KES and Organist at Birmingham Cathedral in the 1950s, for introducing me to singing. At age 75 I am still singing in a chamber choir in Leeds (although I have now retired from the Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir). In politics I continue to be active, holding a number of positions within the Liberal Democrat Party. At a time when my children tell me I should be slowing down, I seem to be taking on more and more! I should always be very pleased to see any OEs who may be visiting Wakefield or Leeds. (12/7/14)

After more than half a century as a prominent activist in Liberal and Liberal Democrat politics, I am slowing down a bit now, and retiring from front-line political involvement. I was secretary of the Union of Liberal Students in the early 1960s, and have held many offices of responsibility in the party, locally, regionally and nationally, most recently as Vice-Chair of the Yorkshire Region of the LibDems. I have now been elected the Honorary President of Wakefield Liberal Democrats. I continue to serve on the Yorkshire Region Candidates Committee, helping to assess and select candidates for political office.

Interestingly, I have only very recently discovered that my great-uncle George Harrison worked as a full-time agent for the Liberal Party at the end of the 19th century. I wonder whether Liberalism runs in my genes! (20/3/17)

Richard Birch (1958)

As part of the centenary celebrations of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts this summer, our patron HRH The Prince Of Wales invited one hundred volunteers and staff to a reception at Highgrove. As chairman of my local group in the Chilterns I was fortunate enough to be included and enjoyed a tour of the gardens and the pleasure of talking with HRH about local wildlife concerns. (18/10/12)

In October I completed 10 years as chairman of the Chilterns Group of BBOWT, our local Wildlife Trust. I received a lifetime achievement award and passed the leadership over to a new chairman. I shall continue to produce the local newsletter and help with events but someone else will be dealing with all the emails - hooray! (9/1/15)

I'm keeping active in Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust, my local Wildlife Trust, by helping with conservation, arranging events and publishing a newsletter for the Chilterns area. Local Old Edwardians will be very welcome to join us! (1/8/17)

Robert Darlaston (1958)

The Class of '51 held two reunion lunches during the year. In May a score of members of the group, plus wives, enjoyed lunch with good company at the Rooftop Restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Later in the summer 15 of our group got together in London for a gentlemen's convivial lunch at the Pontefract Castle in Wigmore Street. Conversation flowed freely as school memories mingled with a variety of other topics and with general acknowledgement of our good fortune in being part of the generation which grew up at KES in the 1950s. Any OEs who were in the year which started in the Shells in September 1951 are welcome at our occasional lunches: details from robertdarlaston@btopenworld.com(24/8/14)

Roger Marks (1958)

Over the years I had lost touch with KES. But in May 2011 I had occasion to visit Birmingham for a conference dealing with Religious Education in Schools. As the day started quite early I travelled down the day before and stayed the night at a Travelodge in Broad Street. As I had never been to a concert in Symphony Hall,this was not built when I left Birmingham in 1971 having been born and brought up in Hall Green, a search of their web-site revealed that that evening May 10th was the school's Annual Summer Concert. This I thoroughly enjoyed and as I was so impressed with the standard of music I wrote to John Claughton asking him to pass on my comments. This of course put me then in the 'found OE' category. From this I learnt about the 60 years re-union of the Class of '51 and enjoyed an excellent day at school on 28th September. I also met up with several of my old friends, Geoff Purkis, Robert Darlaston and John Patrick to name only a few. It has been amazing as to how this all came about. I am really pleased to be in contact with school again. Incidentally, while at school in September I took the opportunity to play the organ in Big School again as I had my first lessons on this instrument in 1957/58 under Dr Willis Grant. (21/10/11)

Nick McCarty (1958)

Do writers ever retire I wonder. After a lifetime of writing TV and Radio dramas I began a novel at the age of 70. Result is FOX - Cromwell's Spy which continues to sell well on Kindle and over the past year I've finished Assasin, the second book about Fox. Apart from that I paint, draw and garden. Life begins at... (26/9/12)

I have published this year on Kindle the following novels: Fox - Cromwell's Spy, The Judas Gate and Dragons' Teeth.

In January 2013 I will be publishing on kindle a sequel to Fox -Cromwell's Spy. The title will be: Fox - Assassin. (31/12/12)

At a time when we are all being told "everything is on the up and the economy is fine and we're all in it together" I find myself volunteering at a food bank in Richmond in Surrey giving food to those who can't afford to eat and pay the rent. In the warm and welcoming drop in centre the clients arrive get a hot drink and hand in the chits that entitle them to some food from the food bank. "Not in one of the richest boroughs in the UK" I hear you say. How wrong you are. My first client was a young woman neat and tidy and with a little girl who was neater and tidier. I asked her why she had come for the food and she told me: "I can't afford to pay the rent and feed my little girl. I haven't eaten for four days..." Not a sponger not a scrounger not on drugs nor a drinker. Most of the food bank clients are decent, straight and have just fallen off the edge as cuts have hit. Don't believe the tabloids with a political axe to grind. This is our country in the 21st century. Shaming. "All in it together!" I don't think so. (31/1/14)

Roy Stevens (1958)

I do not have a new wife, new job or new book but I have just completed one of the items on my bucket list namely to visit all 50 U.S. states. I completed the ambition recently with a visit to North Dakota which apparently is often the last state that people visit and as such they have a commemorative register together with a certificate they issue. I read through the register and only saw a very few UK names there. (24/1/14)

Robin Cotton (1959) 

Cincinnati Surgeon Robin T. Cotton, MD, FACS, FRCS(C) received the 2014 Jacobson Innovation Award of the American College of Surgeons, recognising his accomplishments in pioneering techniques used worldwide, in particular for his seminal work in the reconstruction of the larynx and trachea in children - https://www.facs.org/media/press-releases/2014/cotton-jacobson-0614. (26/8/14)

Ian Brown (1959)

Retired (nearly!), moved from Bath out to Frome in Somerset. (31/1/12)

Chris Gardiner (1959)

I have now fully retired at the age of 70 having done contract work since taking early retirement in 2003. (4/2/12)

Michael Stuart Green (1959)

Major one-man exhibition of recent paintings and original prints at the Tore Gallery, Inverness. (4/2/12)

Michael Stuart Green (1959) continues to explore and paint in the mountains around his Wester Ross home, as evidenced here by 'Path to Sgurr Ruadh' and by other works that can be viewed on his website: www.michaelstuartgreen.com (06/8/13)

Michael has completely revised his etching studio, replacing traditional methods (to which he was first introduced, improbably and rather dangerously, in the art room at KES in 1957) with a galvanic process that is altogether less hazardous and avoids contentious disposal problems. Some of the eighteen plates so far completed in this way can be seen at www.michaelstuartgreen.com. Following a recent visit to north-east Switzerland where his daughter teaches at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, he is following up the story of Nigel Blakstad who proves to have been a major figure in the sporting history of that school after moving there from KES in 1923. (23/8/14)

My first etching was made in 1958 in the KES art room. It was an ad hoc arrangement that would have horrified today’s safety-conscious! The result should not have been encouraging. But that experiment with an ancient printmaking technique, though a failure, did lead me to other printmaking methods. These sustained me until 1970 when I bought a redundant church near Montrose. There I set up house and co-founded, with my first wife, a workshop specialising in both relief and intaglio printmaking. The etching processes we used were totally traditional, using strong mordants together with varnishes now known to be highly carcinogenic. Fast forward 46 years: I’m still making intaglio prints, but in more modest surroundings and using electricity, rather than acids, to etch metal plates. So-called ‘galvanic etching’ has been known for almost 150 years though little used by artists. Now a small number of us dotted about the world have adopted (and adapted to) this technique that puts both the printmaker and the environment at far less risk (explosion apart!)

So, almost 50 years on, the experiment prompted by Bruce Hurn continues. (19/9/16)

James Parke (1959)

I would like to share some information about an Old Edwardian, Wytton Perowne d’Arcy Dalton who was a pupil at KES and left in 1913 to take up a place at Lincoln College Oxford. At that time his surname was Dalton.

Following my retirement, I took up walking and rambling as my main outdoor activity. Four years ago, I had the honour of being elected as Chairman of the Oxford Fieldpaths Society (OFS). The OFS is one of the oldest walking groups in the country, having been established in 1926 when a group of University Dons and other Oxford City worthies came to a meeting on 26 January in Oriel College. They were greatly concerned that Public Rights of Way on the outskirts of the City were being lost to urbanisation and also lack of use as people became more mobile with cars, buses and motor bikes. Farmers and landowners were blocking off paths on the grounds that they were no longer used. D’Arcy Dalton was one of the founding members and became its Honorary Assistant Secretary, later Secretary, then Chairman and finally President.

In 1986 when the OFS celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, it created (by linking up a continuous sequence of footpaths) a long-distance 66-mile recreational walk running north and south across Oxfordshire. It named this route the d’Arcy Dalton Way and it is now marked as such on all Ordnance Survey maps.

In 2016, to mark the Society’s 90th anniversary, the OFS Executive Committee agreed to my proposal that we should seek to have a Blue Plaque erected to d’Arcy Dalton at his house in the village of Great Milton, where he lived from 1961 until his death in 1981. The ceremony is scheduled for 18 August 2017, subject to planning permission. 

As part of my background research, I met the Archivist of Lincoln College, where d’Arcy Dalton was first an undergraduate, then after the First World War, a member of teaching staff. I was amazed and delighted to see the Lincoln College records of students who had matriculated that there was d’Arcy’s name, then surname Dalton in the 1913 entry list, with the name of King Edward’s School, Birmingham as his alma mater. (20/3/17)

J.D.Y. Peel (1959)

I received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Birmingham in July 2012 for eminence and distinguished achievements 'in the fields of social anthropology and African studies'. (16/7/12)

Peter Tyrer (1959)

On 18th February 2014, at 6pm, a curious event will be happening at a church in Hawton, a small village near Newark in Nottinghamshire. It will involve the widow of the former Chief Master, Canon Ronald Lunt, and an Old Edwardian, Peter Tyrer (1951-1959). Veslemoy Lunt, who moved to Ledbury in Herefordshire, with her husband when he retired, will be singing an aria when playing the part of Sarah Graham-Clark, the aunt of the renowned poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in a new operetta about the romance of Robert Browning and Elizabeth. Any Old Edwardians who want to know more can visit: www.nidotherapy.com and look at the details of the operetta. Any interested who would like to purchase a DVD of this first-ever performance can get in touch with Peter via the information on the web-site, which is sometimes difficult to access as Stephen Fry has endorsed it via Twitter and we have many visitors. (24/1/14)