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ST EDWARD’S
r
h
u
b
a
r
b
Prefect (Head of School),
Captain of the 1st XV, Captain
of the Athletics Team and
Captain of Hockey. I seem to
remember that he set a school
record for the 100 yards and
I still have a photograph in
an old scrapbook taken from
the local Oxford newspaper
of Graham Cooper in a 100
yard race. I was a junior in his
day, and I don’t suppose he
even noticed me, because a
two year difference at that
age and in those days was an
insurmountable barrier. But a
junior could admire a Head of
School, and I have admired and
respected Graham Cooper
ever since.
Editor's Note: These tributes
to Graham Cooper also appear
in the current issue of the
Chronicle
.
CURRY
– On 21st December
2015, Michael Robin Curry (B,
1949-1951). Michael joined the
RAF in 1953, before working
in the motor trade from
1955-1963, the Automobile
Association from 1967-1986,
and Allied Dunbar from 1986-
1989. He was the owner of
health food shops in Truro and
Falmouth from 1989.
DAVIES
– On 28th September
2015, Michael John Herbert
Davies (E, 1943-1947). Michael
joined the Army in 1948, before
leaving as a Lt Col in 1969. He
obtained his MA in 1974 and
retired in 1984.
DAWSON
– On 28th January
2016, Anthony Dawson
(D, 1946-1951). At School,
Anthony was a House Prefect,
a Chorister, and rowed in the
1st VIII. After leaving School
and National Service, he joined
Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking
Corporation and travelled
extensively in the Far East and
Middle East. He retired in 1987
as CEO for the Philippines.
He was married to Sarah (née
Scholes) with two children.
DEAN
– On 1st October
2015, Anthony Michael Roger
Peter Dean (E, 1955-1959),
brother to Peter Dean (E,
1953-1958). Anthony was a
Chartered Quantity Surveyor
and Arbitrator, FRICS FCIArb,
and was a partner at Hallam-
Eames and Parry, Auckland,
from 1968, before opening his
own practice in 1976. Anthony
was also a part-time Lecturer at
Auckland University.
EASTER
– On 11th January
2016, John Easter (G, 1959-
1964).
The following has been taken
from
Daily Squash Report
;
John Nicholas Cave
Easter was born in Shawford,
Hampshire on the 17th
December 1945, went to school
at St Edward’s, Oxford, where
he excelled at most sports, and
then to Christ Church College,
Oxford, where he got an
honours degree in Philosophy,
Politics and Economics. His later
life was spent in the financial
world. Whilst at Oxford (1966
– 1968) he was awarded Blues
for cricket and squash. He
was a right-arm medium pace
bowler and took 58 first-class
wickets, the highlight being his
5-62 against Northants which
included a hat-trick. At squash
he got ‘Blues’ in 1966 and 1967,
the latter being a high-quality
match against another very good
player, Philip Ayton from Sussex.
John was a good volleyer, his
height giving him a big advantage,
and between 1971 and 1983,
he played 31 times for GB and
England, turned professional in
the 1973-74 season after leading
GB at the World Championships
in South Africa, where they came
a very close second. He reached
No. 9 in the world and, along
with Jonah Barrington, was one
of the British professional players
who were responsible for raising
the profile of the sport at that
time. Described by Rex Bellamy,
the doyen of squash writers, as
a ‘matinee idol’ (John had done
some male modelling), he was
everyone’s favourite player. In
both senses of the word he was
a gentleman; loved by many,
had humility, was humorous,
gave his time willingly, helped
up-and-coming players, and was
a very fine player himself. Stories
abound about his love of food
and at mealtimes John could
always be found at the head of
any queue. He was diagnosed
with Parkinson’s disease in 2006
and throughout the rest of his
life, he always made light of his
illness and was happiest when
he was with family and friends.
He leaves his wife Glynis, his
children Nick, Gemma and
Mark, the boys being very fine
professional rugby players, and
three grandchildren.
FABIAN
– On 1st March
2015, Peter Fabian (C, 1936-
1938), aged 95.
The following obituary
has kindly been provided by
Timothy Blake;
Peter was German by origin,
born in Berlin just after the end
of the First World War. His
father was a senior civil servant,
in charge of the German
Railways. Peter was having
lunch with his father one day
when Josef Goebbels called by
for a chat – he must have been
one of the last people alive who
had met the arch-propagandist
of the Nazis. Peter was wholly
out of sympathy with the Nazi
regime (a spell in the Hitler
Youth did nothing to make him
positive about it, although the
decision to join was his own,
one he later much regretted).
Fluent in English, the result of
having had an English nanny, he
persuaded his father to let him
leave Germany and finish his
education in England. He did
so, although the use of foreign
currency to do this – actually a
capital offence in Germany at
the time – saw his father briefly
interned in a concentration
camp. Peter enthusiastically
embraced life at St Edward’s
and had a place to study at
Cambridge University when
war broke out. As an enemy
alien he was immediately
interned and after a while was
actually transported to Australia
(not many people know about
this curious episode in our
history). After he had been
in Australia for a year or two
the authorities realised that
there was no point in locking
up people who had almost
all left Germany because of
their hatred of the regime, and
Peter returned to Britain to
join the army. Despite being
in the British army fighting a
war against Germany he was
still German – he only became
a British citizen in 1947. He
was involved in the liberation
of Europe and was one of the
earliest to enter the Belsen
concentration camp. I asked
him once what his reaction was
to that. ‘It made me ashamed
to be human’ was his reply.
After the war he returned to
complete his much delayed
degree in German and French
at Cambridge. He found himself
in the early 1950s teaching
English part-time at the London
School of English, before
moving on to Holland Park in
1969. He felt that the newly
invented language laboratory
gave the opportunity for a test
that was less subjective, since
candidates could be recorded
Peter Fabian
O B I T U A R I E S