Obituaries
University of London, as a tutorial research student, where he remained for two years. Throughout this period his research interests were specifically the settlement of nomads at Khashm el Girba in Sudan, and more generally Third World agricultural and rural development. In 1978 he moved to become a lecturer at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria, for two years, before returning to the UK to join the College teaching staff in 1981. He remained at Dulwich for 30 years. Not only was he a good geographer; part of his great success as a teacher was his ability to cut through the sprawl of a topic to find its core, and his masterfully concise notes were keenly appreciated by his pupils. In the halcyon days before health and safety had broken the spirit of adventurous field work, Steve was very keen on Geography field trips, both in the UK and overseas. His love of the outdoors was further demonstrated on College Scout camps. He was Head of Geography at the College from 1984 to 1991 and being well-organised and efficient as usual, he assumed the responsibility without fuss. This period saw plenty of educational change and he steered the Geography department through the introduction of GCSEs and modular A levels. Another skill was marking, and he did much external exam marking in the summer, initially to fund holidays abroad for his family, and he ended up as a chief examiner. He was also a friendly and supportive form tutor in the Upper School for many years, and a dedicated housemaster for Howard for the Middle School from 1983 to 2005 before moving on to the Upper School. His archival memory of all the boys he ever encountered at Dulwich was truly impressive; not only recalling their names and their successes but also their foibles. He was a natural choice to be a housemaster because he was very interested in sport. He was a coach of rugby teams and a referee for matches. He promoted soccer at the school and played in numerous staff v boys matches, of which his highlight was the one against a team including his son, Joe (96-04), where the staff won, and he never let Joe forget this! In the summer he coached cricket and was also an accomplished wicket-keeper and batsman for the Common Room XI. He became Head of Games and brought to the role his unfailing enthusiasm, fairness and efficiency. He was elected President of the Common Room at the College, where he was wholeheartedly committed to representing all teaching staff. He brought professionalism and good humour to salary discussions with the College Governors, in order to obtain the best possible deal for his colleagues. He ran the Common Room bar for several years and also played bridge for the Common Room team in the London Trophy for more than a decade. With all this work and time spent on the College, Steve did not have much spare time, but he was a science-fiction fan with an extensive book and DVD collection and an encyclopaedic knowledge of his collection.
Dr Steve Hoyle retired from the College in 2011, and died peacefully after a short stay in St Christopher’s Hospice in May 2012. His friend and colleague at the College, Maggie Jarman, contributed significantly to this obituary.
Robert Alan Hunt OBE (1946-53) 06.07.1935 – 15.05.2013
Robert Hunt came to Dulwich on a LCC scholarship from Effra Parade Primary School in Brixton and was in Drake. He represented the College at rugby and particularly cricket where he was a talented fast bowler and slip fielder in the 1st XI. He
also played for Surrey Young Amateurs and was on the ground staff at the Oval during the summer of 1953. He went straight into the Royal Artillery for his National Service after leaving Dulwich, having followed his father’s advice not to apply for a commission as an officer because he would learn more as ‘one of the men’. Bob joined the Metropolitan Police in 1955. This was partly because he had met a nursery school teacher, Jean White, while doing his National Service, and the Met Police offered married living quarters for its young officers. He and Jean married in 1956 and they produced three daughters and one son. Bob’s early years with the Met were spent policing multicultural inner city areas, in south London. He was shocked to learn at his first briefing that he had lived alongside a number of ‘known villains’ in the Herne Hill council flats where he had grown up. He was struck by the gulf between the police and the public and was soon convinced of the need for better communication to bridge that gulf. His interest in community policing and communication, along with his experience of multicultural areas led to a spell in New Scotland Yard’s Community Relations branch, where he devised a new model for police visits to schools that was subsequently adopted nationally. He rose quickly through the police ranks, gaining a reputation for establishing, maintaining and restoring public order during the 1968 anti-war demonstration in Grosvenor Square. In 1970 he was awarded a Law degree as an external candidate at the University of London, which fulfilled an ambition that he had set aside in favour of National Service after leaving Dulwich. In 1972 his argument on the theme of better communication won him the Queen’s Gold Medal in a police essay competition. He also had a reputation for mentoring promising young police officers, especially those from modest backgrounds and in giving female officers opportunities to demonstrate their ability. He worked on the increasingly urgent issue of police relations with London’s black communities and in 1973 was appointed a Chief Superintendent at the height of the IRA’s mainland bombing campaign. He narrowly escaped being blown up by a bomb at Madame
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