Page 42 - The Old Ratcliffian 2012

T The Old Ratclifan 2012 | Introductionhe Old Ratclifan 2012 | Obituaries Lord St John of Fawsley Old Ratcliffian 1940-46 18th May 1929-2nd March 2012 Norman Anthony Francis Stevas was born in London. His birth certificate stated that he had the Christian names ‘Norman Panayea St John’ and that his father (Stephen Stevas) was called ‘Spyro Stevas’ and was a ‘hotel proprietor’, although he had qualified (but never practiced) as an engineer. His mother was Kitty John O’Connor, Stephen Stevas’s wife. They later divorced, and he became known as St John-Stevas. Norman was educated at St Joseph’s Salesian School, Burwash in East Sussex, before being sent to Ratcliffe. of Edward Heath as Minister for Education and the Arts Whilst at Ratcliffe, Norman showed great promise as an and was a member of Margaret Thatcher’s first cabinet actor, starring in several productions, more often than not as leader of the Commons. He was sacked by Thatcher in playing female roles. He was in the year above Sir Gordon 1981 as she began her clear-out of the so-called ‘wets’ in Reece (47) who, like Norman, played an important role in her administration, and was made a life peer in 1987. Margaret Thatcher’s government. Gordon and Norman often competed for the starring role in the plays staged by the During his brief cabinet tenure, he made a lasting mark on Dramatic Society. In the Ratcliffian of 1944, it was said the House of Commons by creating the Select Committee that Norman, in the lead role as Mathias, the Burgomaster, system, which allows panels of backbenchers to interrogate ‘threw himself into the part with courage, and if at times, ministers and launch inquiries into issues of political he over-acted, this is only to say how that melodrama controversy. requires an actor not only gifted but experienced as well.’ But he was never what Thatcher termed ‘one of us’, Norman’s early interest in politics and religion can be opposing the harshness of her monetarist economic policies traced back to his time at Ratcliffe. On 17th November and reportedly coining the nickname Tina, from the initials 1943, in the school’s Literary Society, Norman, as Prime of her mantra, ‘There is no alternative’. Minister for the purpose of the debate, proposed the motion After leaving government, he remained on the Tory ‘It is a civic disadvantage to be a Catholic.’ To quote from backbenches, but also devoted himself to the worlds of the Ratcliffian of 1943, ‘the Prime Minister referred to academia and the arts, serving as Chairman of the Royal a deep anti-Catholic feeling penetrating every stratum of Fine Art Commission and Master of Emmanuel College, society.’ Fr Claude Leetham (15), who would later become Cambridge. Fr President, was highly regarded by Norman. In a toast given by Norman at a meeting of the Literary Society, he He was a prolific author and a prominent Catholic, a said that ‘Fr Leetham was a human, sympathetic and chairman of Booker Prize judges and the editor of the scrupulously fair man, who regarded boys, not as would be definitive edition of the literary works of the Victorian receptacles of sterile knowledge, but as individuals, with constitutionalist Walter Bagehot. individual problems, each requiring separate attention.’ Here are some of the tributes paid to him by members of Perhaps Norman’s later successes in life were partially due Mrs Thatcher’s cabinet and members of the Tory party: to this individual attention. Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary said of him: “He was very From Ratcliffe, Norman went to Rome to join the flamboyant and had a style all of his own, which was very priesthood, but soon realised that he did not have a theatrical, but actually he was an intelligent, sensitive vocation. He then read Law at Fitzwilliam College, man.” Cambridge. As an undergraduate, he lived at St Edmund’s House and served as President of the Cambridge Union in Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Norman St John- 1950. He graduated with First Class Honours and won the Stevas was a great and flamboyant political character – Whitlock Prize. He also studied at Oxford University, where intelligent, witty and unfailingly polite. He was a very, very he gained a Second in the examination for the BCL degree good minister and he had very, very clear political opinions. at Christ Church and was the Secretary of the Oxford It was almost eccentricity - his lifestyle. But his politics Union. He obtained a PhD (on the early work of Walter were very sound, very civilised, very mainstream, and he Bagehot) from the University of London and a JSD from was a very nice guy. I shall miss him a lot.” Yale University. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Lord Heseltine said: “He was a one-off, a very unusual Temple in 1952. character, combining intellect and academic talent with the As Norman St John-Stevas, he served in the government realities of politics. He also had a great sense of humour. 42 42