Stephen Bemrose 1951-2019
Dr Stephen Bemrose came to Sevenoaks School from St Thomas ’ Catholic Primary School in 1963 aged 11 , and left in 1969 . In his early childhood , his father and mother ran the manual telephone exchange in Borough Green in which the family also lived . Originally in Fryth house , he was later House Captain of Caxton and a school prefect .
He proved an able pupil , excelling at all subjects , with additional talents for bridge , music and later drama . He tried to write a symphony at the age of 12 (!) and took on the demanding part of Goldberg in Harold Pinter ’ s The Birthday Party at 17 . At school he also developed a passion for coin collecting which would last the rest of his life . In the Sixth Form , he was a member of a group of boys who held court in ‘ The Athenaeum ’, a room on the top floor of the Manor House . Together , they founded some short-lived but intriguing sounding societies such as The Pedants Club and The Illuminati .
Stephen ’ s scholarly bent was ultimately towards languages and literature – this earned him not only a place to read French and Italian at King ’ s College , Cambridge , but further enabled him to remain at King ’ s to complete a PhD on Dante , who also appealed to his lifelong Catholicism . While at King ’ s , and as a lover of good food , he was instrumental in setting up the first Cambridge Old Sennockian dinners in the early 1970s .
An academic career followed with lectureships in Italian at Sheffield and then Exeter universities . It was at the former that he met fellow academic Gillian , who became his wife . They had one son , Timothy .
Although he had to retire early due to illness , he continued to work part-time in Exeter , lecturing on art history for the WEA and undertaking trips abroad with parties of art enthusiasts . He had a particular love of Florence , but travelled widely in Europe , invariably by train due to his dislike of air travel . He also wrote books on Dante , one of which is an introductory biography for students .
Stephen made a number of close friends at Sevenoaks and kept in touch with them as the years passed . He will be much missed by his friends and family .
Bill Mason ( OS 1971 )
Richard Cotterell 1952-2020
Richard Cotterell was at Sevenoaks from 1964 to 1970 . Precociously intelligent , he won a scholarship , normally taken by 13-year-olds , at the age of 11 , and was placed in a form two years above his age group . The daily journey to school also involved commuting from his home in Bickley . Another child might have found this experience daunting . For Richard , however , the school ’ s environment was very agreeable , for he combined outstanding academic talent with an attractive outgoing personality . This enabled him to make numerous close friends quickly .
By the time he reached the Sixth Form , his circle formed a strong social group . Based in ‘ The Athenaeum ’, a room at the top of Manor House , their discussions provided a witty and sometimes eccentric counterweight to trendier opinions . His greatest love was words , languages and their evolution . This led to straight A grades ( rarer then ) in his French , German and Latin A-levels . His extra-curricular activities included singing in the school choir and being a regular and witty correspondent of the school ’ s newspaper ( Penny Argus ). During the Summer term of 1968 , he was an exchange student at L ’ École Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris and acted as de facto reporter for the Argus on the chaos surrounding the student riots . After obtaining a scholarship to King ’ s College , Cambridge at the end of 1969 , he stayed on at school until the following summer , becoming a prefect , a house captain ( Sackville ) and a member of the school council .
He spent eight happy years at Cambridge , both as an undergraduate and as a research student in medieval French , while participating fully in the social life of King ’ s . Memorably , he represented the college on University Challenge . The team , all sporting dinner jackets , won three times before being eliminated .
It was a pity that he did not then get an academic post , but in the late 70s these were particularly hard to obtain in arts subjects . So , after a short period of school teaching and even as a wine salesman , he found rewarding occupation in the specialist profession of trademark agent .
Sadly , however , his career was cut short in the mid-90s when glandular fever , which had previously laid him low at Cambridge , struck again and led to a series of illnesses culminating in severe diabetes . Moving back into the old family home in Bickley , he was able to keep reasonably active for a long time , even attending some Old Sennockian reunions in London , but eventually needed constant care and frequent hospitalisation .
Richard was an innately kind person and he will be sadly missed by his brother Nick ( OS 1973 ), his family and friends .
Bill Mason ( OS 1971 )
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