Page 61 - Old Ratcliffian Magazine 2017

OBITUARIES 61

MICHAEL STANYER

OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1956 - 1962
MAY 27TH 1944 - JANUARY 25TH 2017

Michael Stanyer was born a fortnight before his father landed in
Normandy on D+6, and he was raised in garrisons in Aldershot,
Hong Kong and the Rhineland. Michael was the oldest of seven
children. His brother, Paul (66), followed him to Grace Dieu and
Ratcliffe, and his youngest brother, Peter, also attended Grace
Dieu.

In 1955 (Michael’s second year at Grace Dieu), he played the
female lead in an A A Milne school play. At Ratcliffe, he continued
as a drama heavyweight, again playing the female lead in
Bloodygore in December 1957. In 1958, he played ‘Gwendoline’ in
Conan Doyle’s Laughing Cavalier and ‘Olivia’ in Twelfth Night. In
June 1959, The Ratcliffian wrote, ‘IVa is a civilised and courteous
form, which has sparkle without frivolity, and its prospects
are quite good. I should like to mention among the hardest
workers…Michael Stanyer.’ That term, he also won the Form IVa
Mathematics Prize.

In the Autumn Term of 1959, Michael helped to found the
College’s Astronomical Society, to which he later gave talks on
radio astronomy and astronomical instruments, and appeared on
The Brains Trust. In 1961, the Junior Scouts described him as a
‘quietly competent and genial Troop Leader – efficient, but not
fussy, and firm, but not authoritarian.’ In 1962, during his final
year at Ratcliffe, Michael earned the Queen’s Scout Badge, and
he was also singled out as a strong runner in the School’s Cross-
Country Team. He then went on to read Chemistry at Magdalene
College, Cambridge, and there continued his theatrical work as
Business Manager of the Amateur Dramatic Club Theatre.

In 1964, Michael spent almost six months at Bayer Leverkusen,
for practical chemical industry experience. He claimed that the
risks in his section deterred Germans from visiting, and that
Turkish was more widely spoken. After graduating, he joined
Distillers at Hedon as a shift manager in 1966. When the company
was purchased by BP in the following year, Michael found himself
in the oil industry. He was retrained to manage networked
computers and worked in the Arabian Gulf, Guangzhou, Hong
Kong, Alaska, Houston and Glasgow. He moved to BP Head Office
as a computer facilities manager, and after leaving the company,
he continued to contribute as a consultant to BP Exploration.

Michael married Sally Button in 1966, and in the following year,
their son, Simon, was born. Sally qualified as a solicitor, and
Simon was admitted to the Bar. Sadly, heart problems cut short
Michael’s planned retirement in Provence. He died at home in
Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire, where his funeral united his family and
his friends from Cambridge and the oil industry.

Paul Stanyer (66)

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