What have I been doing for the 50-odd years since leaving KEGS? Some might consider me a bit of a jack-of-many-trades, others may see there’s some sort of circular logic to my life so far.
Having been raised in the then beautiful landscape of west Suffolk, after a period of not being sure what to do when I left school, I spent 3 glorious years training at the wonderful Bath Academy of Art in Wiltshire followed by several decades of teaching Art in a variety of educational settings, e.g., Art Schools, Secondaries, a Public School and a few Special Schools.
But a move to Manchester in the early 70s changed my life in many ways and led to a ten year spell of various forms of journalism, including co-running a community paper for nearly 10 years and working freelance for national radio and TV, most notably chasing down villains for Radio 4’s Checkpoint with the infamous intrepid investigator Roger Cook.
Having always been interested in drama, inevitably some of our news stories were far too interesting to discard and so became a source for my continuing obsession with writing plays, some of which were and still are being professionally produced. Most recently plays have been based on the history of rural North Dorset where I and my wife Sue now live and co-write. Our next play ‘Land Grabbers’ will be looking at the latest version of ‘enclosing’ involving building huge housing estates on some of North Dorset’s most beautiful landscapes.
A tribute by Tony’s friend Ivor Murrell can be found in the “Farewells” section.
The idea of a “Poets’ Corner” in the OB Magazine was suggested by Tony and we were happy to adopt it, but sadly by the time it was published Tony was no longer with us. We very much hope that you will send us your poems or other creative writing so that this will continue to feature. The “Poets’ Corner” is now dedicated to Tony with love and thanks.
© Old Burians' Association 2025