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

as the Accountant General. In the last role he was responsible for the
development of legislation that enabled the exploitation of North Sea oil and
gas and was Chairman of the NATO Petroleum Planning Committee. Before
Charles’ partial retirement in 1974, he spent many years at the DTI where
he headed up the small firms division. However even after this, he
continued to act in an advisory role at the House of Lords.
The high standards that Charles expected of himself and others did not just
predominate in pursuit of his remarkable career, but in the intellectual ferocity
that characterised his face on the outside world. Charles was never a trivial
man. But close friends knew him without his briefcase, umbrella and bowler
hat, and in these moments he allowed his tremendous sense of humour to
come to the fore. Charles had a practical side, not glimpsed by most, and was
never happier than when tinkering away in his workshop. He could and did
rewire a house – once when performing this favour for friends he confused
wires for the upstairs lights and the downstairs switches, and of all those
present, he laughed the loudest.
RANDALL STEWART THORNTON (1937) was a man of great ability with
an outstanding capacity for hard mental work. Randall was born in Swanage
on 8 December 1918. He was educated at Highgate School, before being
awarded a Scholarship to King’s where he read Modern Languages (French
and German), obtaining a First just before the outbreak of war.
Randall served his country for the full six years, mostly in East Africa, where
as an officer in the King’s African Rifles he took part in the Somaliland and
Abyssinian campaigns. After the war he returned to King’s to study
Archaeology and Anthropology in which he was also awarded a First.These
studies, together with his military experience in Africa, suggested a career
in the Colonial Service, which Randall duly joined, serving for the next 10
years as a District Officer and then District Commissioner in Tanganyika.
During this time he also qualified as a barrister, achieving a First in the Bar
Finals. In 1956 he resigned to practise law in East Africa, with much
distinction and success.
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OBITUARIES