Bob Hyslop
(JRGS 1953-60) notes sad passing of
Peter Grey (1942-2022)...
We met when I sat on the corner-window seat and he sat just in front in
the form-room designated for 1R (Mr. Richards aka "Bon"). It was
September 1953 and John Ruskin Grammar School had two more years to wait
before shifting up to Shirley Hills (closer to Pete and further for me.)
Our friendship tightened when our ghoulish brains discovered we
overlooked the site of the murder of a policeman during a botched
burglary the previous November. It had become notorious as the actual
killer, Christopher Craig (aged 16), escaped the death penalty - then
set at 18 - while Derek Bentley (aged 19) was hang [for the murder of
police constable Sidney Miles], despite being illiterate with limited
abilities. Argument over the justice handed out still continues. [ML
adds: On November 2, 1952, Bentley and Craig on attempted to rob a
warehouse of Barlow and Parker confectionery located on Tamworth Road,
Croydon, close to the former JRGS site.]
Anyway, that coincidence set up the friendship which flourished
with the rivalry in and passion for certain subjects, especially
History. I was useless at Art while Pete was very good -despite a
preference for producing tiny drawings in the corners of blank sheets of
paper. Naturally, friendship embraced other pupils (Terry Procter
being the other point in a triangle) and companionship varied with
subject matter. Pete hated sport (I didn’t) and he loved classical music
while I preferred Jazz -aka "swamp music" (Pete).
We were all among the original 15 who founded the 15 Society, which
lasted far longer than we’d expected. Did we all love The Goons?
I don’t recall. But we spent summer 1959 helping excavations at
Lullingstone Villa - we had "Roman Britain" as 50% of Advanced-Level
History - and all marched from Aldermaston to avoid Nuclear War, while
all studying for different degrees at London University. And then the
links spread out with limited contact exchanging limited content
buttressed by occasional meetings.
Pete, with a good degree in Economic History, soon found a firm
post at Bedford College of Education where he produced a Study of
Bedford Workhouse and built up a monster collection of factual books
with strong evidence of interest in the American Civil War, workhouses,
railway canals, The British Empire and the Life and Times of the last
300 years – but not the 21st Century.
He also had a small collection of antiques, including a wind-up
cylinder player, a wind-up gramophone and a collection of book-plates.
His son had emigrated to Sweden and produced a family that
re-appeared occasionally. After 13 years teaching at the same college,
Pete retired in 1992 and settled down -with his partner, Mavis – in
Felixstowe, where he soon acquired a circle of friends. However. our
youthful links had been squeezed into occasional phone-calls and
letters. I was not surprised to hear that Pete virtually avoided
computers, never used email and knew little of what has been fascinating
consumers for the last 25 years.
A year ago Mavis wrote to tell me that Pete had suffered two bad falls
that had so damaged his brain as to almost erase any normal contact with
the world. But when I heard of his death on 31 August, I still cried.
Bob Hyslop, Chichester, West Sussex; September 2022 Email