Concordia

Concordia Winter 2018 38 Obituary Jonathan Newfield (1965-1969) J onathan Newfield, brother of Philip and Richard Newfield, passed away on 10 July 2018 at the age of 67 after a long illness. He had been in a nursing home since 2009. Kennan Michel (1965-1971) read this at his funeral: Jonathan was one of a kind, once met never forgotten. He was kind, generous, and valued his friendships. His friends valued his friendship too. Jonathan attended Orley Farm School where he excelled at sport representing the School 1st XV at rugby, and 1st XI at football and cricket. He also achieved success in the boxing ring, although not in the classical way. More of a scrapper. He never gave up. At Merchant Taylors’, Jonathan again achieved sporting success in rugby and hockey. He loved talking about captaining the Colts Hockey team to a 4-2 over Dulwich College, the first time the School had beaten them. Football was not played at Merchant Taylors’, so Jonathan with other school members formed the famous Cannonbury Cannonballs. The team played in the local Sunday youth league. After leaving school, Jonathan continued to play his sport – squash and in particular was an active member of the OMT Hockey Club. Jonathan’s working career was varied, including working in the insurance industry, in the probation service, and as an assistant to a cheese-monger. He loved telling stories about the latter, most of which would put you off cheese for life. Jonathan loved to hold dinner parties, normally a roast with plenty to eat and drink, cooked from a kitchen which today would be condemned by health and safety. Jonathan loved the sun and spent many holidays in the Greek islands with the young and beautiful. Possibly an inspiration for Love Island! We remember Jonathan’s sartorial elegance, his smoking jacket and his co-respondent shoes. We remember his sense of humour, his gentle and not-so-gentle punch on the arm as a form of greeting, but most of all we remember his great friendship. We shall miss him. Kennan Michel (1965-1971) Geoff Allen (1949-1954) died on 14 May 2018 John Chatham (1939-1944) died on 27 June 2018 Christopher Ford (1951-1958) died on 13 March 2018 Neil Gardner (1947-1950) died in March 2018 Brian Henson (1946-1950) died on 6 April 2018 Adam Jacques (1992-1995) died on 22 February 2018 Robin Lewis (1955-1961) died on 8 May 2018 Zafeer Najam (1987-1992) died in June 2018 Anthony Lejeune (1942-1947) died on 3 March 2018 I was sorry to hear of the death of Anthony Lejeune or, as I knew him at school, Tony Thompson. Ours was in some ways an unlikely friendship – he was on the classical side, I the modern side and even in those days, he was a rather eccentric character, unkindly nicknamed ‘Gandhi’ by his fellows, because of a similarity of features with the Indian politician. He was always a good essayist and used me as a sounding board for his ideas on our walks to and from the station. I was an occasional visitor to his house in Pinner and he to mine in Chorleywood. I got to know his parents, particularly his mother, the Observer film critic, C.A. Lejeune, whose surname he adopted later in life. I remember seeing my first television programme at his house – G.B. Shaw’s “The Apple Cart” – and discussion at the dinner table ranged far and wide. On one occasion, we were both taken to a preview of an Arthur Askey film – the name escapes me – and as C.A. Lejeune fell asleep, Tony and I were responsible for the review in the paper! Perhaps that is why I was later invited to review the school production of Macbeth for the Taylorian! Geoffrey Datson (1943-1948)