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

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182 OBITUARIES after finishing at Harvard, to come up to King’s for two years on the GI Bill. He read English, supervised by Dadie Rylands. Already both athlete and aesthete, he was a member of both Chetwynd Society and Ten Club. When he went down George started his literary career in Paris by founding the quarterly called The Paris Review. On the night he died, its 50th-anniversary issue had just been sent to the printers.Throughout its life George had edited and fostered it from his apartment in New York overlooking the East River. He promoted the series of extended interviews, now famous, beginning with E M Forster and Ernest Hemingway. Later there were interviews with A S Byatt, T S Eliot, Doris Lessing, Iris Murdoch, Vladimir Nabokov, Ezra Pound and many others. A series of anthologies of the interviews has helped a multitude of aspiring writers; The Writer’s Chapbook contained his own compendium. It was the journal that helped to launch Jack Kerouac, V S Naipaul, Philip Roth, Terry Southern, Jay McInerney and Jeffrey Eugenides. George later turned his hand to oral biographies, which featured Robert F Kennedy and most recentlyTruman Capote. His eclectic output also included The Rabbit’s Umbrella for children. George is known better in the USA than in this country for his particular form of “participatory journalism”, which is sometimes referred to as giving the Walter Mitty view of sport. But that is a misnomer, because Walter Mitty was a fantasist, while George did it for real; and whereas Walter Mitty always triumphed, George’s opponents were so superior that he inevitably lost. Playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions produced Paper Lion, perhaps his most long-lasting book. Pitching at some of the best batters in the USA yielded Out of My League. Boxing three rounds with Archie Moore, then light-heavyweight champion of the world, before the whole of socialite New York resulted in Shadow Box. Golf with Sam Snead produced The Bogeyman.Then there was tennis with Pancho Gonzalez, motor racing with Jackie Stewart, goalkeeping to Pele, basketball with the Celtics and goalstop for the Boston Bruins. Many such encounters inspired articles for Sports Illustrated, for whom he wrote for almost 50 years. One such article started as an April Fools’ Day spoof but ended as the book called The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. It concerned a Buddhist pitcher capable of delivering a fastball of 168 mph. He had many believers.
Away from the world of sport came photographing the largest elephant in Central Africa for the front cover of Life, performing as a stand-up comedian at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, bridge with Oswald Jacoby, chess with Garry Kasparov, a high-wire act with the Flying Apollos, serving as honorary New York City Commissioner of Fireworks, and – most taxing of all, as he always asserted – playing the triangle in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Mahler’s 4th Symphony conducted by Leonard Bernstein.To remind him of his experiences as a lion tamer, he kept a chair nailed to the ceiling in his office. Cameo appearances in films and commercials (for the benefit of The Paris Review) began with the part of a Bedouin in Lawrence of Arabia, in which he claimed to be seen at a range of 100 yards mouthing imprecations towards the camera and wearing Brookes Bros shoes. He was shot by John Wayne in Rio Lobo. George seemed to have a magnetic attraction for tall and beautiful women. Many of his accounts of his forays from King’s to the Cavendish Hotel in London used to begin, “The door opened, and there stood this beautiful girl.” Famous amongst his friends were Lee Radziwill, Ava Gardner and Jackie Kennedy. The mass of photos on the walls of his apartment included one personally inscribed, “Pour Georges, avec toute ma sympathie, Brigitte.” George was married twice: by his first wife, Freddy, he had a daughter and a son, and by his second, Sarah, he had twin daughters. President Kennedy is said to have suggested that George should act as President for the day. After Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert F Kennedy, it was George who wrestled him to the ground. There are several versions of the story of his tennis game with President Bush (Senior) at Camp David. By his own account they were playing alone together when the telephone rang, which the President answered, only to exclaim after a short exchange, “George, it’s for you.” When he was last at King’s he came straight from Atlanta, having flown there for the Olympics with President Clinton on Air Force One. He had come for a dinner for his year, at which he spoke. His friends have only the memory of his after-dinner speeches, but at least he is survived by many of his inimitable letters. 183 OBITUARIES
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64 OBITUARIES Peter was born in New
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66 OBITUARIES understood even by th
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68 OBITUARIES doctoral studies in 1
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70 OBITUARIES emphasised that scien
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72 OBITUARIES started at Cuddesdon
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74 OBITUARIES birthday he was given
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76 OBITUARIES his studies at King
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78 OBITUARIES Meteors, Hunters and
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80 OBITUARIES HUGH MALCOLM BARKLA (
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82 OBITUARIES GERALD CHARLES BAYFIE
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84 OBITUARIES He progressed to beco
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86 OBITUARIES FREDERICK BERNHEIM (1
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88 OBITUARIES WILLIAM DELBERT (DEL)
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90 OBITUARIES 1976 to 1987, he was
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92 OBITUARIES After the war Philip
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94 OBITUARIES Franklin’s energy a
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96 OBITUARIES slightly unconvention
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98 OBITUARIES born in Coventry on 2
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100 OBITUARIES possible. In his fly
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102 OBITUARIES meals to the aged an
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104 OBITUARIES Sciences. Between 19
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106 OBITUARIES Spencer attended Gre
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108 OBITUARIES Exhibition to King
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110 OBITUARIES Edwin was well liked
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112 OBITUARIES made him some good f
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114 OBITUARIES John volunteered whe
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116 OBITUARIES Tim’s intellect wa
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118 OBITUARIES Valiant. He was awar
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120 OBITUARIES LAMBERT ANTHONY CHAR
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122 OBITUARIES his time to his fami
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124 OBITUARIES contracted polio whi
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126 OBITUARIES Working as an astron
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128 OBITUARIES have been at the for
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130 OBITUARIES ALASTAIR CAMERON FOR
Page 72 and 73: 132 OBITUARIES It was in 1957, when
Page 74 and 75: 134 OBITUARIES intercepted Japanese
Page 76 and 77: 136 OBITUARIES Jim was a driving fo
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Page 80 and 81: 140 OBITUARIES WILLIAM HARRISON HAR
Page 82 and 83: 142 OBITUARIES It may have been the
Page 84 and 85: 144 OBITUARIES piloting planes duri
Page 86 and 87: 146 OBITUARIES Shortly thereafter P
Page 88 and 89: 148 OBITUARIES Michael returned to
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Page 92 and 93: 152 OBITUARIES diets of different e
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Page 98 and 99: 158 OBITUARIES STEWART FERGUSON MAC
Page 100 and 101: 160 OBITUARIES Hugh was born in Sal
Page 102 and 103: 162 OBITUARIES EDWIN ROBERT MANN (1
Page 104 and 105: 164 OBITUARIES to the needs of his
Page 106 and 107: 166 OBITUARIES health permitted; he
Page 108 and 109: 168 OBITUARIES GEORGE KENNETH MONRO
Page 110 and 111: 170 OBITUARIES PAUL GERARD JOHN MOR
Page 112 and 113: 172 OBITUARIES IAN LESLIE NICOL (19
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Page 118 and 119: 178 OBITUARIES a committed civil se
Page 120 and 121: 180 OBITUARIES A further career cha
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Page 126 and 127: 186 OBITUARIES teach Russian. He so
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Page 130 and 131: 190 OBITUARIES In 1933 he joined th
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Page 138 and 139: 198 OBITUARIES mindedness and stubb
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Page 142 and 143: 202 OBITUARIES Economics and later
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Page 146 and 147: 206 OBITUARIES WILLIAM RATTRAY SIMP
Page 148 and 149: 208 OBITUARIES he could let his tal
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Page 152 and 153: 212 OBITUARIES which was to avoid w
Page 154 and 155: 214 OBITUARIES The 1960s brought Ra
Page 156 and 157: 216 OBITUARIES Paul was the son of
Page 158 and 159: 218 OBITUARIES BRIAN CHARLES TWISS
Page 160 and 161: 220 OBITUARIES he married Joyce Bur
Page 162 and 163: 222 OBITUARIES In 1972 Paul’s gro
Page 164 and 165: 224 OBITUARIES Churches Trust, he a
Page 166 and 167: 226 OBITUARIES she gave four semina
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232 OBITUARIES In the late 1940s an
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234 OBITUARIES An Apology EDWARD MA
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236 INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS Please
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238 INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS 3.Walk
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King’s College Cambridge CB2 1ST
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Part 2 (Obituaries) - King's College - University of Cambridge

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