Part 2 (Obituaries) - King's College - University of Cambridge

Richard’s ambition was to progress from being a reader and a listener to
becoming a writer. He did indeed both write poetry and give his occupation
as that of a “writer”, but the novel that he might have written in Cornwall
remained only a possibility. Richard had written a novel while at Cambridge,
and according to his friends it was an excellent one, but he had refused in his
humility – or his conviction that something greater was to come – to try to
get it published.
It was in his adopted hometown of Penzance that the large frame of this in
some ways very private man could be seen wandering along the beach, or
sitting in the antiquarian bookstore or in one of the pubs, gently sharing his
humanity, his knowledge and his subtle humour with small and large
groups of people. In Penzance he was happy with his cottage, music and
books, and his correspondence to loved ones; happy with simple food, and
the occasional pint in a pub. Here he lived his life with integrity, intelligence
and humility. For his family and the small circle of friends that Richard
nourished with love and devotion, his death was a tragic and sudden loss.
Richard was born on 30 August 1951 and died on 28 April 2005.
ANDREW O’NEILL (1977) was a member of the musical O’Neill family
from Pontarddulais in South Wales. Born on 7 December 1958 he attended
Gowerton Boys Grammar School (later Gowerton Comprehensive) and came
to King’s as a Choral Scholar to read Theology. After graduation he stayed on
in Cambridge to take a PGCE before heading to Rome to train for the
priesthood. He had a change of heart, however, and returned to Wales to take
up the post of Head of Religious Studies at Lampeter Secondary School.
After two years, he decided on a change of direction and joined BBC Wales as
a television producer, staying for six years before moving on to S4C (Channel
4 Wales) as the Commissioning Editor for Music. He later went freelance. An
Associate of the Royal College of Music, singer and conductor, Andrew was
also a pianist on the QE2 and in April 2002 he took on the role of Manager
of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, having previously been a member
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OBITUARIES