University College Oxford Record 2020

Hyderabad, as well as in Cambridge. After the
death of his wife Chris in 2014 he moved back
to Granville, where he served as a Trustee of
Denison University.
David had just turned age 87 years in March,
enjoying a wonderful lockdown dinner at Kendal
for his birthday with his companion Susan
Richardson. Susan had gifted him a t-shirt stating
“Abibliophobic (n) The fear of running out of books
to read.” It was a classic gift for a true intellect,
for a man who was always hungry to read, to
learn, to ask questions, and to solve life puzzles.
David, we miss you already.
1956:
JOHN GREAVES
(Peter Symonds’s School): we recorded John
Greaves’s death in last year’s Record, and said that
he died on 17 January 2017 aged 79. We have
since been informed that he actually died on 17
January 2015 aged 77, and are happy to correct
this error.
MICHAEL JOHN LEPPARD
(East Grinstead CGS) died on 10 September
2019 aged 81. He read Theology at Univ, and then
stayed on to study for a Dip Ed.
Michael’s schoolfriend Peter Freeland
remembered meeting him as a new boy at school,
when “He was the tallest boy in the class; I was
the shortest. He was good at all academic subjects
across the board but he was bad, very bad, at PT.”
On going down from Oxford, Michael became
a schoolmaster, working first in Petersfield, and
then in Brighton and Hove. From 1974 until his
retirement in 1995 he was Head of Divinity at
Sackville School, back in East Grinstead. Peter
Freeland remembered: “Michael liked Sackville.
He liked the staff and he liked the pupils”. But
in return former staff and pupils remember
that he was “a brilliant teacher whose lessons
were innovative and memorable”, and that “his
educational philosophy was to encourage young
people to think for themselves.” Another friend,
Caroline Metcalfe, remembered that Michael
“often recognized former pupils in the town and
could remember the dates when they and their
contemporaries were at the School.”
A former Warden of Sackville College
almshouse was the great hymn writer, J. M. Neale.
As Caroline remembered, “Neale’s books in the
Study had fallen into disarray. Armed with his own
exercise book, dated 1968, which listed the books
as they were then, Michael helped to restore
them to a logical order. His knowledge of Neale’s
writings was encyclopaedic. I loved listening to
him explaining ‘Ah, Dr Littledale was a friend of
Neale’s’.”
Michael’s great passion was the history of East
Grinstead. He became honorary curator of its
local museum, overseeing its successful application
for a Heritage Lottery grant. He edited two local
historical journals, The Bulletin and The Compass,
and wrote two books, A History of East Grinstead,
and 100 Buildings of East Grinstead. For Peter
Freeland, “these two books are his memorial. I
guarantee that 100 years from now, someone
living in East Grinstead will know the name of
Michael Leppard and be grateful for what he did.”
Caroline writes: “Michael enjoyed preparing talks
for the East Grinstead Society and other groups.
His research was meticulous. After the talk, he
could field a battery of questions, both on and
off the subject.”
Peter remembers Michael as “brilliant,
innovative, and extremely well-informed. In fact,
you could discuss almost anything with him, from
the Big Bang to eschatology, and you can’t have
72 University College Record | October 2020