Page 65 - Old Ratcliffian 2020 Edition

in the new building (over very many beers!). omnipresent. In his pyjama pocket, for as
As a result, we had a magnificent Old long as Anne and Mark can remember, he
Ratcliffian HQ and bar built for us. had his rosary with his handkerchief on
top, and it is fitting that, when he died, he
David played hockey for the Ratcliffe 1st had his rosary in his hand, and it was still in
team, and he continued this love of sport, his hand when he was cremated. OBITUARIES
playing for the Orientals HC and Kings
Heath Hockey and Cricket Club until he David was very interested in the First
was nearly 60. He would bring a team to World War Italian Front, and particularly
Ratcliffe every year to play against the the Machine Gun Corps, in which his
College’s 1st team, and he donated a trophy father served with the Royal Warwickshire
to be presented annually to the winners: Regiment. He gave several presentations
The Thistlethwaite Cup. David was also on that campaign, and he also contributed
regularly seen on the touchline at Ratcliffe, a number of chapters to a book on the
and he was very keen on the development history of the Machine Gun Corps. This
Association Bar during OR weekends and of hockey at the school; he picked up the will be published in the next two years, to
buying everyone a drink! He had a warm reins in this respect from Bernard Powell coincide with the 100th anniversary of the
personality, having time for everybody, and (23), for whom he had great admiration. He founding of the corps in 1922.
he remembered the names of numerous was supportive of the hockey coaches, and
ORs from many year groups. The original he was a driving force behind convincing As you will have gathered, David was
wooden bar hut, where we were served by Ratcliffe’s governors of the need of an all- amongst the greats of the Old Ratcliffians.
Walter and Bernard for many years, was weather hockey pitch. He was part of the He certainly achieved his objective of
infamous for long drinking sessions during fundraising team which enabled Ratcliffe’s ‘paying back to the school’ for his time and
the Old Boys’ Weekends. When the new first pitch of this type to be installed. education there. He was a great man and a
Sports Hall was planned for the College, great friend. May he rest in peace.
the OR bar was unfortunately deemed to David was a committed Catholic, and his
be ‘in the way’, and it had to be demolished. faith, seen at Our Lady of the Wayside Richard Gamble (64) and Mark
David was among the group of ORs who Church in Birmingham, Clevedon parish, Thistlethwaite (78)
successfully campaigned for a replacement and the Sacred Heart in Bristol, was Friend and Son

GEORGE ROBERT JOHN GUISE

JUNE 17TH 1943 – APRIL 19TH 2020
OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1954 – 1961

Consolidated Gold Fields, where his early there was a hope that I might heal the rift
roles included programming one of the [between the Unit and the Civil Service],”
first computers in South Africa. After he wrote. “If so, they were wrong.”
returning to the UK, he became, in 1981,
the company’s youngest executive director. George Guise married, in South Africa in
1972, Hilary Beck, who survives him with
Guise was soon recruited to the Number 10 their three sons.
Policy Unit. He made annual visits to South
Africa, on which he reported to the prime Adapted, with kind permission,
minister (who later told him that this was from The Daily Telegraph
“far more helpful than the regular Foreign At Ratcliffe, George (known as Robert)
Office briefs”), advising her against the
imposition of trade sanctions, which he behaved like an eccentric; he was very
believed risked fuelling civil war. After her much his own man and a bit of a loner.
resignation in 1990, Guise made a new He organised George Wells, who repaired
career as an independent consultant on the shoes, to repair his by using steel
privatisation, working all over the world. He caps on the heels. Following the shoe
George Robert John Guise was born in also published a short memoir, ‘Inside the repairs, you always knew where Robert
Cardiff on June 17th 1943, the son of Tank’, in 2015. was, as he clicked along the stone floors of
George Wilfred Guise, a civil servant in the Ratcliffe, making considerable noise. From
Ministry of Labour, and his wife, Brenda Guise was a keen shot and a lover of an eccentric start, he obviously reached
(née Stokes). Young George was educated classical music, especially Wagner. He was great heights. I can see him now, slightly
at Ratcliffe College in Leicestershire, and chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society, bent, a bit dishevelled, striding along the
Christ Church, Oxford, where he read where one of his fellow trustees was Sir corridors. Rest in peace.
Physics. He went on to postgraduate Robert (later Lord) Armstrong, head of the
studies in Geology at the Universities of Civil Service, who he believed had a hand in Dick Cunningham (59)
Durham and Johannesburg, before joining his recruitment to the Policy Unit. “Perhaps Friend
The Old Ratcliffian 2020 65