Univ Record 2018

perfectly. Tomorrow’s World was usually shown live, and there was sometimes an element
of risk, such as when one presenter was stuck to something with superglue, and then
tested a solvent to neutralise it (fortunately successfully), and sometimes an element of
bizarreness, such as smearing CDs in jam. More seriously, David was also remembered
by his colleagues for taking an early lead in promoting and recruiting women.
In 1984 David left Tomorrow’s World, and became producer of the successful science
documentary series QED. He also launched two more science series, Bodymatters and
Brainstorm. In 1991 he was appointed head of science and features. In the mid-1990s,
however, he left the BBC, increasingly unhappy at the direction in which it was going,
and believing that its future lay in preserving its best traditions and aiming for quality,
and not in being obsessed about ratings. He was also concerned that science might be
marginalised in a new multi-channel world.
On leaving the BBC, David enjoyed a happy collaboration with a Univ contemporary,
Stephen Hawking, who had once coxed him in the Univ Rugger VIII. Together they
produced a successful documentary, Stephen Hawking’s Universe (1997), and then
David’s tie-in book, Stephen Hawking’s Universe: The Cosmos Explained (1998), proved an
international best-seller.
David retired after Stephen Hawking’s Universe, and had the time now to play golf
and watch rugby, for many years regularly attending the Varsity match at Twickenham
with some of his Univ contemporaries. He also worked as a non-executive director of the
Meteorological Office.
[We are most grateful to David’s sons Neil, Jon and Matt, for their help in preparing
this obituary]
BRAHAM SYDNEY MURRAY (Clifton College) died on 25 July 2018 aged 75. He read
English at Univ, before enjoying a very successful career as a theatre director. News of
Braham’s death came as the Record was going to press, and we hope to include a fuller
tribute in next year’s issue.
DAVID CAROLL MUSSLEWHITE died on 5 December 2015. This obituary appeared in
the Dallas Morning News three days later:
David Carroll Musslewhite, 78, died in his home in Edgewood, Texas, on December
5, 2015, due to complications associated with lung cancer. David, born on June 28, 1937
to Robert Chilton Musslewhite and Mildred Guinn Musslewhite, grew up in Lufkin,
Texas. He received his BA degree from SMU in 1959, where he quarterbacked the varsity
football team and served as President of the Student Council. Following graduation, he
proceeded directly to SMU School of Law, where he was a Barrister and won the Texas
Moot Court competition. After two years of study he departed to Oxford University
where he had been awarded a scholarship by the Rhodes Scholarship committee. There
he played rugby and received a Master’s Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
in 1963 before returning to SMU to complete his law study and receive his JD in 1964.
He achieved a long and successful law career, initially in Houston and then in Dallas,
where he was a partner in his own firm, served as vice president of Zale Corporation,
and was a senior litigation partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld. After
stepping back from full-time practice, he founded Legal Grounds, a law and coffee shop
in Lakewood, and then became a Methodist minister, overseeing the congregations of
Fruitvale and Union Chapel United Methodist Churches for seven years, before retiring.
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