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DOWNING COLLEGE 2011–2012O BITUARYDavid Kenneth Holbrook (Fellow 1981–1988, Emeritus Fellow 1988–2011)died on 11th August 2011 aged 88.On 12th May 2012 there took place inthe Howard Theatre in Downing Collegea Celebration of the life of DavidHolbrook, who had died the previousAugust. Well over one hundred personswere present. Friends, colleaguesand pupils of David (all overlappingcategories) spoke about aspects of David’slife and work, including readings from hisprose and verse. Music and song wereperformed that had direct connectionwith his life. On display was a selectionof David’s paintings; a table was coveredwith a sample of his fifty-or-so publishedbooks. A series of photographs showedDavid from his army days onwards;material from the College archives illustrated David’s progress through Downing,from his application in 1940, embracing his time as an undergraduate, Fellowand Fellow Emeritus, concluding with a collection of letters from F R Leavis. Itwas, by common consent, a remarkable occasion, celebrating a remarkable man.David Holbrook was born on 9th January 1923, the son of a railway clerk,in Norwich, where he attended the City of Norwich School. Some of theexperiences of the young Holbrook, particularly those involving theMaddermarket Theatre and its inspirational director, Nugent Monck, aredescribed in A Play of Passion (1978). This is one of several autobiographicalnovels, in which David appears in the guise of Paul Grimmer (taking hismother’s maiden name). In 1941, he came to Downing as an Exhibitioner toread English, where Leavis was his Director of Studies. The notes from hisadmissions interview with the Senior Tutor, Hyde Whalley-Tooker, include:‘Wd. like to write, combined with teaching’, which proved a reasonably accurateprediction. After one year, he left to join the Army, initially as Intelligence,Mines and Explosives Officer with the East Riding Yeomanry. From 1942 to1945 he served with the Armoured Corps, eventually commanding a DuplexDrive ‘swimming tank’ that landed in Normandy on Sword Beach, on D Dayitself. He had, as a junior officer, taken part (possibly illegally) in demonstrationsfor a ‘Second Front Now!’ He now found himself a prominent part of it.193