Mini Biographies of OLs

Send your mini-biog to Webmaster!

embers who are willing to share with other OLs how they've spent their time since leaving school are invited to condense their life story to less than 200 words with up to four close-up photos for inclusion on this page. Maurice Hobden has provided an example below. If you have had a quite remarkable life that would be worthy of a more substantial autobiography please email your webmaster to discuss the possibilities. We are all curious about our friends' lives and travels and here is your chance to put your life story on the record. Don't be shy! Give us the highlights of your life after leaving school.

Regretfully, direct uploading to this page by members is a bit too difficult to arrange but if you email the text and pictures to Webmaster we should be able to present a reasonable finished result.

Fred Cosstick 1930-37

A Foundation Scholar of the School

red Costick was educated at Lewes County Grammar School and King Alfred's College, Winchester. After seven years' war service as a Gunner and Staff Officer he was at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, reading history and playing rugby.

After seven years' international business experience, in the Red Sea, East Africa, New York and Montreal, he taught modern languages at King's College School, Wimbledon. On retirement he became an English examiner in the Preparation des Grandes Ecoles at the Lycée Janson de Sailly, Paris, and spent eleven years living in France before finally retiring to Eastbourne where he wrote his biography of Federico da Montefeltro.

Biography of Federico da Montefeltro (1422-1482)

"The Honourable Mercenary"

Duke Federico and the Palace of Urbino

Federico was born illegitimately in Gubbio in June 1422 and was immediately claimed by Count Guidantonio da Montefeltro as his son and heir, his wife being childless. Eventually he succeeded Guidantonio as Lord of Urbino and became the most famous condottiere of his age. In 1474 he was created Duke and Gonfaloniere by the Pope, awarded the Ermine by the King of Naples and made a Knight of the Garter by Edward IV of England. After a turbulent and eventful life he died in 1482 in Ferrara while commanding the Italian League against Venice and the Pope. This is the story of his life -- the first to appear in print for 150 years.

Peter Fellows 50-56

hen reading our website I re-discovered that not only was I once form captain, but also won a class prize, which is still on my bookshelf. I did not excel at any sport except perhaps Cross Country where I never came lower than 5th for Lewes House. Deciding against further education, I made a career in the retail trade, missing National Service by just eleven days because of my birthdate!

In 1995 I retired at 55 years as sales and personnel manager of Gamleys Toy Company. Patricia and I have been married for 39 years, having three children including one Tibetan, who we adopted when he was 16. We have 4 grandchildren and these days live in Seaford.

I have a private pilots licence and together with five others, built a full size open cockpit biplane which I fly. My interest in aviation extends to conducting tours around Shoreham Airport and writing a book about the Tidemills, the Newhaven WW1 Seaplane Base. I would be pleased to hear from any of you who remember me at school.

Maurice Hobden 44-51

CAME to LCGSB from a village school during the war. Living in a remote hamlet far from Lewes, after-school activities were rare for me. My main interest then was short-wave amateur radio. I took School Cert a year early and scraped into the Sixth form a few days after my 16th birthday. I enjoyed my time in the Science Sixth and did well, though I had to abandon my amateur radio interests because of the amount of A level work required. But with some help and encouragement from NRB, Mr Hoggins and "Killer" Jones (who gave me personal coaching to get through the Latin O level exam) I won a place at Keble College, Oxford.

After two years National Service as an RAF radar technician, I went up to Oxford obtained a double First in Physics and stayed on for a D.Phil. in low temperature physics. Forsaking Academia, my whole career was spent in the scientific civil service working on various topics including laser systems, optics, crystallography, computers, missile guidance, digital image processing and transmission systems.

My wife Rosemary and I, we met at Oxford, have five children and twelve grand-children. Now retired and living in the south-west midlands, I work on various computer projects, including the Old Lewesians website, gardening, walking and entertaining grandchildren - a full time job! Although I passed the Radio Amateurs examination (at 35!) I never did master morse code and never became a licensed radio amateur much as I would have liked to.

Click on my photo above to see my progress through life!

Graeme Talboys 67-69

joined LCGSB in 1967 leaving Priory School in 1972 and completed my teacher training in Birmingham in 1975. Thereafter, I taught Drama, English and Humanities in schools in Shropshire, Lancashire, and Sussex. Following a bout of ill-health I returned to work as a teacher within museums. After a number of years doing this and working my way up to head an award winning department, ill-health struck again.

Largely housebound these days, I was saved from spending my time staring at a wall by writing. I had already been working on a text book on museum education when I had to retire. This and a second work on museum education have gone to several editions. I've had a number of other non-fiction works published, along with several novels.

I now live in Scotland with my wife and a part-time cat (and 5 million Scots).

Clive Phillips 1961-68

rom Buxted Primary, the "Uckfield Flyer" brought me to LCGS. Rather ebullient, I stood in a wastebin for a lesson (Mr Gem) and also endured the cane (Mr Fanner).

Stays in Blois and a term in Bavaria made languages really come alive. I never looked back, winning a place at Oriel College, Oxford to read Modern Languages, including a year's teaching in Perpignan.

In 1973 I entered the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall. First posting was Berlin as translator/interpreter in the Allied Staff with US/UK/French military - a touchstone of the Cold War.

Back in Whitehall: WMD-related export controls, developing a frigate with France and Italy and leading a team delivering and outsourcing translation/interpreting.

Played rugby for 27 years, including German clubs.

Since early retirement I run a freelance translation business and do voluntary work. Married with two adult stepchildren and a teen daughter.

Mark Perry Nash 66-68

Mark was only at Lewes Grammar for two years in the '60's, having spent most of his childhood before and after that in Chicago. After leaving school he worked for some years with Hilton Hotels, and returned to England in 1989. Mark's educational background and first loves were always history and drama, and for the last 18 years he has been working for himself as a historian , writer and occasional speaker. Would love to hear from any other Old Lewesians who may remember him.

John Church Dec'd 1942-48ish

His passions were cricket, cars and ponies in that order. Other interests in his old age were golf and horse racing.

He was born in Hampshire when his father and grandfather were millers at Ovington Mill on the River Itchen, near Winchester. An absolutely beautiful place if you ever venture there off the beaten track.

He came to Isfield in 1937 when his father bought the mill and they lived as a family, with my mother, in the house where I now live. It still says Church on the front of the mill. After being offered a trial at Sussex C.C.C. he was given an ultimatum; become a cricketer or work in the family business. Working provided funds for his cars, starting with a frog-eyed Sprite and progressing through a Saab 96, Opel Kadett, Other Saabs, Porsche 924 Turbo and 944 and others I can't remember. I can still see his smiling face boasting that he had just 'done the ton' down The Broyle in the Sprite. That had meaning in 1960. He entered the RAC Rally several times as a privateer, with success. Later, he became one of the top breeders of Shetland Ponies in the country.

After a pleasant retirement in West Sussex, he fell upon hard times and poor health, finally succumbing after his sad final years.

Michael Williams

John Iles 1946-2019 (LCGS 1957-64)

From Oxford Mail 27th June 2019

OBITUARY: John Iles of St Hugh's College at Oxford University
By James Roberts

Picture courtesy of Susan Iles

A STALWART of Oxford University's St Hugh's College has died, aged 72.

John Iles played an active role in college life for well over three decades, endearing himself to students and tutors alike with his eclectic mix of interests, from wine to gardening.

The academic moved to Oxford aged 18 in 1965 and never left, living in the north of the city with his wife and children for many years.

John Iles was born on December 22, 1946, in London. His dad, Percival, was a printer and his mum, Ivy, a seamstress. An only child, John lived in the capital until he was five, before the family moved to East Sussex, where he spent the rest of his childhood.

In 1965, he was awarded a scholarship to Merton College to read zoology and three years later achieved a first, before he went on to become a senior scholar. During his time as an undergraduate, Dr Iles met Susan White, a zoology and medicine student in the year below at St Hugh's College. They married in St John's Chapel in 1971 and lived in St Giles' House, then called the Judge's Lodgings. The pair completed Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 1972 and 1973, before moving to New Marston. They enjoyed a happy life there, sharing an allotment that Dr Iles, a passionate gardener, tended to with great care.

The late 1970s and early 1980s was a significant time for Dr Iles, with his first son, Nicholas, born in 1978. One year later, he was appointed Mary Snow fellow and tutor in zoology, and a university lecturer at St Hugh's College, while in 1980 the family moved to north Oxford. Before starting at St Hugh's, the academic had held a junior research fellowship at St John's and then Corpus Christi.

Dr Iles's second and third children, Matthew and Sophia, were born in 1984 and 1986 respectively. Dr Iles served in a range of roles at St Hugh's, including vice-principal for development, senior tutor, acting senior bursar and president of the senior common room. He also spent a term as acting principal.

His academic work centred on neuroscience, with a particular interest in how the brain controls movement. Starting with cockroaches, Dr Iles studied bigger and bigger beasts until his final research project on a human subject. During his time at the college, his more unusual posts included custos hortulorum - head gardener - and wine fellow, when he helped run the college wine cellar. This indulged two of Dr Iles's great interests, while he was also a skilled woodworker, building several musical instruments. He often invited new students to dinner at the family home to help them settle at university.

In 1992, Dr Iles was elected senior proctor (a university appointment) and became an emeritus fellow upon his retirement in 2014. He was diagnosed with dementia as soon as he retired, which prevented him from further indulging his love of travelling.

Dr Iles died on June 8th 2019 and is survived by his wife and children. His funeral was at St Hugh's on Sunday, starting with a woodland burial, before a ceremony of remembrance and a celebration of his life for close family and friends. A tree will be planted at St Hugh's in his memory, with the college orchard set to be dedicated to Dr Iles to pay tribute.

Terry Coleman's notice of 18/10/2019 in Forums/In Memoriam:

John lived in Uckfield when he was at LCGS (school years 1957-64). A wonderful, somewhat quiet, person. I travelled with him to and from school by train. I never kept in touch with him but he was often in my thoughts.

For some reason last night, I was thinking of him. I did a search to find out he passed away only a few months ago. I share this St Hugh’s College tribute for your information and interest :- https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/in-memory-of-dr-john-iles/

Clive Phillips:

Like Terry, I travelled to school with John on the ‘Uckfield Flyer’. Overview of John's area of interest and papers in the Oxford University Animal Behaviour Research Group:

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~abrg/JohnIles.html

Christopher Allan 15.11.1934 – 6.6.2019

Chris's death came to light when Barrie rang to check his contact details were still valid. Valerie Allan (Chris’s wife of 55 years) has offered this resume :

Chris was born in London. His mother was American so it was to there that they went at the outbreak of war and he was in California at the time of Pearl Harbour. The family returned to England when he was 13 years old to pursue his education finalising in his degree in Mathematics at Oxford.

We married in Coventry in 1963 when he was working at Armstrong Whitworth.

We moved to Wokingham in1967 with our 4 month old daughter. Life was enjoyable in the South and he worked as an editor of computer manuals for ICL Many holidays were spent in the States as well as in Russia, Norway, Sweden and the Continent.

His hobby in astronomy and UFO’s, led him to be on T.V. discussions and he often took me star-gazing! In 1978 ICL moved his work to Kidsgrove and for 40 years we have lived in Alsager, then a village, now a town flourishing outside Crewe.

His heart attack in May 2019 was too great for him to recover from and he died a month later.

Cedric Gordon Andrews (1933-2021)

Another (fairly) recent death found by Barrie. This is copied from the 'In Memoriam' page entry.

Cedric was born on the 6th Septmber 1933, in Sidcup, Kent, to Alice and Reginald Andrews. They left Sidcup, together with his sister Marion, who was two years younger, just before the start of the Second World War. They moved to Chailey where they rented a house before they found "Old Brick House, in Littleworth, near Barcombe. Both Cedric and Marion were taught by their mother until their secondary schooling.

Cedric won a scholar-ship to Lewes County Grammar School in 1944 and was followed by Marion a couple of years later to the Girls Grammar School, they both did well academically. Cedric ended up as Headboy,excelling in athletics and was a reserve for the first Olympics held after the war. On leaving school in 1952 he won a scholar-ship to Merton College Oxford, where he read history. He also joined the University Air Squadron and learnt to fly. He also ran for Merton and for the University and was present when Roger Bannister ran the first 4 minute mile.

After receiving his degree he was obliged to do his National Service and, not surprisingly, joined the RAF. He joined as an officer together with a group of other University Air Squadron pilots. Towards the end of his National Service he was posted to RAF Abingdon where he met Jane, his wife-to-be, who worked at the Museum of Eastern Art, which was affiliated to the Ashmolian Museum, they got married in August 1958.

On finishing his National Service he joined BOAC and stayed with them until they became British Airways, he ended up, after 26 years, as a Senior Captain flying the Boeing 747 Jumbos.

Cedric and Jane celelbrated their Diamond Wedding in 2018 and have three children, Wendy, Julian and Mark, and five grandchildren.

Cedric died peacefully at home on the 8th March 2021.

Roger Lee (1948-2022)

Roger's wife Heather has passed on these notes :-

About Roger by Heather (from the funeral, 27th June 2022

Roger was a modest man. He thought no-one knew who he was. He always said at his funeral, he’d be lucky to fill the front 2 pews (but there were about 120 people crammed into the church !) He also didn’t like to be proved wrong!

Roger grew up in Newhaven in Sussex. He won a place at Lewes Grammar School but he found school difficult. He was quite severely dyslexic, and he began to shine when, as he put it, he could give up all the useless subjects like English.

From school, he went to Queen Elizabeth College, part of the University of London. He studied Physics. Got a First. And then went to Canterbury to study for a PhD, which is where he and I met. Not, as he liked to tell people, in a stationery cupboard.

From an early age, he wanted to be a scientist. His early working life was spread across lots of different employment sectors, mainly in engineering, for various companies.

Late in his working life, he had two jobs which he really loved. First he had a spell in the Chippenham JobCentre, processing applications and helping people fill in forms. The other job he loved was his last one, with the pharmaceutical company Vectura in Chippenham. Because he liked everything done just so, he found himself writing a grammar guide for colleagues, explaining the difference between Asterix the Gaul and an asterisk. With pictures.

He loved all machinery and gadgets, especially cameras, but also his Fortin barometer and his Apple stuff. He could never get enough clocks, and they’re all round the house, all radio-controlled, all telling EXACTLY the same time. And his real passion was for all things astronomical – he would sit out in the garden all night long, using his telescope and cameras to photograph the stars and planets.

He was interested in old Newhaven, interested in both world wars and interested in the Titanic.

He joined Probus after he retired, and the local Parkinson’s group, where he enjoyed asking awkward questions. And he loved the outings and the lunches!

He didn’t like exercise much, but he did like going to exercise classes. He saw himself as the chief selector of music for his Friday class, and used to spend hours on Spotify, searching for exactly the right tune.

He learnt French at evening classes, progressing from GCSE to A level, and loved France. At the time of the Brexit referendum, he was in hospital. He got me to kidnap him in a wheelchair so that he could get to the Corston Reading Room. To cast his vote.

He liked to feel that he was being useful. He was always offering me what he called “helpful hints” on whatever I was doing! He was a member of the Great Somerford Parish Council while we lived in this village, and then joined Malmesbury St Paul Without Parish Council once we’d moved. He was a churchwarden here, and a member of three different church councils over his adult life. Latterly he belonged to the Patients’ Group at the Malmesbury Primary Care Centre, and he went to their meetings as often as he could.

And what didn’t he like? Well, sorry Sheila, but he didn’t like poetry – he couldn’t see the point of it.

And he hated sport of any kind. He considered all sport to be trivial, boring and a waste of time.

He didn’t understand board games, or how to play them. They mystified him. If you ever got to go to a quiz with Roger, or involved in a game of Monopoly with him, you’ll know what I mean.
He was a thoughtful man
He was kind to everyone
He was a loving, grateful and supportive son and brother
A considerate and funny friend
A fond uncle to Fiona, Michelle and Joanna and a great-uncle to Ryan, Abby and Tegan
And he was the most loyal, forgiving, generous and loving of husbands

Roger Lee - 9th March 1948 to 28th May 2022

Roger was born in Brighton, “because that was where the hospital was”, first child to Henry and Nora Lee, who were living in King’s Avenue in Newhaven. When Roger was 2½ , his sister Carol was born. The Lee family were a close and loving family.

Roger went to Railway Road Infants School in Newhaven, then Meeching County Junior School. He passed the 11+ and went to Lewes County Boys’ Grammar School where he stayed to 18.

Academically, Roger struggled. His O level results weren’t brilliant, and he was predicted not to do well at A Level. However, as his A level subjects were all sciences and maths, he did much better than predicted, and got a place at Queen Elizabeth College, part of the University of London, to study Physics. He achieved a first-class BSc Hons degree and won a prize for his Physics results.

After that, he applied to the University of Kent at Canterbury to study for a PhD and was offered a project in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. His PhD thesis was entitled “The development of an automated pulsed NMR spectrometer”. The equipment took up a whole room.

It was at Kent that he met his wife Heather, who was working as a secretary in the Physics Department.

From Kent, Roger went to work as a Project Manager at Racal, then in Windsor, where he worked for nearly 10 years, until reorganisation made him redundant.

His next job was at YARD in Chippenham, so he and Heather moved from Slough to a village near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, where they continued to live until he died.

From YARD to EDS Scicon in Tewkesbury, then Lucas in Witney. Radiodetection in Bristol. Dyson in Malmesbury, the DWP in Chippenham and finally Vectura in Chippenham.

He retired in 2013.

In 2011, Roger was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. During all the tests conducted for that, doctors discovered that he also had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells.

Roger died in May 2022 in Great Western Hospital, Swindon, having contracted an infection. He died listening to Beethoven’s 9th symphony and holding Heather’s hand.

Heather Lee
September 2022

My History – by Roger

I started at LCGS in September 1959 having passed the 11-plus while at Meeching County Junior School in Newhaven. We had two exams in Newhaven and then a further exam in Lewes and an interview with the Headmaster Mr Bradshaw. Eleven of us passed (two girls and nine boys) and it was a good year for Newhaven.

Like everyone else I found it difficult to find my way around the school, although it had a simple layout. My 11-plus pass was not the best and so I started in Form IIB. For someone in the B stream the successive classes were IIB, IIIB, IVB, VB, Remove B. In the A stream. Remove A was called Transitus. The sixth forms were VIB In the first year and VIA In the second year. There was a third-year 6th for those applying to Oxford or Cambridge.

The school uniform included a school jacket, tie and cap. In the sixth form, the cap was not required. We were supposed to raise our caps when meeting a teacher (all male in 1959). On more than one occasion, the whole school was paraded past the headmaster's study to practice cap raising.

We were addressed by our surnames. Each form member was assigned a desk in a form room. We were issued with the appropriate text books and (I presume) subject notebook. We also had a rough notebook. Each teacher was based in his room and classes moved from room to room throughout the day.

When there was a break between lessons, the boys dumped their bags outside the next room. Between classes there was pandemonium as everyone changed room. There were morning and afternoon breaks as well as lunch. Each lesson was 40 minutes long. The day finished at 15:50.

Each form had a form captain who was elected by the class for one term. The captain was responsible for the behaviour of the form in the teacher's absence. For the first term of the first year our form captain was nominated by the form master because we didn't know each other. Our master kept forgetting to nominate someone and I, in all innocence, kept reminding him. So, I became our unelected form captain for term.

The school was divided into four nominal houses (Lewes, Uckfield, Seahaven and Martletts). Seahaven house was intended for boys from the Seaford and Newhaven area. Lewes and Uckfield houses for their areas. Martletts (the foot-less birds on the Sussex county shield are Martletts) was for those from non-specific areas. Because there was a disproportionate number of boys from the coast, some were allocated to the 'wrong' house. I was in Seahaven house.

House points could be earned for sports or academic reasons. Sports points could be earned by meeting standards, for example jumping a given distance. I only ever gained two points, one for swimming my first width of the school's swimming pool (which I remember as being filled with green water) and another for swimming my first length). This normally meant participation in the sports day beginner's swimming race. I managed to avoid it because my first width and first length were in different years.

At the beginning of my time at Lewes, academic house points were awarded every two weeks (fortnightlies). This changed to half-termlies. The latter scheme involved being aware of an A to E performance letter. An A resulted in the award of two house. points. An E gave you minus two house points and interviews with the housemaster and the headmaster. The only score I remember getting was minus 5 out of 20 including an E for Latin. I had an interview with the Headmaster, Mr Fanner.

Donald Sayers (1941-3)

Donald died in Dec 2022 although we only found this out when his wife Joan responded to an OLO newsletter in 2024. Here is her notification :-

I am sorry to tell you that my dear Donald died Dec 23rd 2022.

He suffered with a type of Vascular Parkinson's and had Macular Degeneration. His hearing was not brilliant but he loved listening to music to the end. His piano was his joy during life, so listening to Chopin and all the great composers was a blessing to him and to me at home. Our lovely garden which he and I created was a place for him to enjoy riding his mobility scooter, watching his plants grow and seeing the red squirrels and birds dashing about, especially in his last years till he was 96. We celebrated our 70th wedding anniversary in May 2022, not long before Donald died.

I have been sorting thing out in the last year or two in case I moved house, and I came across Donald's Certificates. One Higher School Certificate. Taken at The County School for Boys, Lewes 1943.

Donald's CV

I believe his father was in the army, and the family moved from London down to Sussex. With good science studies at Lewes, Donald, who wanted to be a doctor, found the move very good for a couple of years and by 1943 he got the required Distinction in both Physics and Chemistry and pass in Biology to get a place in St Thomas's Hospital Medical School. Qualifying there in 1948. He was an Anaesthetist in the R.A.F.for two years and we met in 1951 and were married in 1952.

Donald's Order of Service Includes a number of pictures.

Perhaps classmates would like to see your career featured here ?