and dockside handling of oil products. The company was ultimately bought out by its rival and he had the unenviable task of making his team of development engineers redundant, finally writing his own P45. Undaunted by the midlife unemployment, he and Carol established a French kitchenware shop in Palace Street, Canterbury, called Terrine. Situated beside the Cathedral, the business thrived. However, the call of the north came and they moved to York, opening a shop in The Shambles near the corner with Whimpa- Whompa Gate, right in the middle of the tourist zone. The shop, called Deco, concentrated on art deco style china and porcelain, and he would travel to the local Yorkshire markets and purchase items off the stalls for cleaning and display in the shop. He used to say that the sale of two tea sets a week would keep them in comfort for he had a good eye for a bargain! On final retirement he and Carol returned south, living in Bromley, not far from his schooldays home. He had a great pleasure in converting an old grain store in Whitstable into a very comfortable weekend retreat. After a very painful time he died of prostate cancer. Derek Waller came to Dulwich from Christchurch School, Streatham Hill, and was a beneficiary, like most Alleynians of his generation, of the Dulwich Experiment. He became a boarder in Carver and later in Blew House, but after modest achievements on the Science side he left school at 16 and went to work in a high street bank. The real turning point in his education came in his National Service with the RAF, during which he gained four good A levels. After that, and partly inspired by chats in the coffee houses of Kingsway, Derek turned up at the London School of Economics, an institution in the mid fifties largely ignored by Dulwich. It was a happy reunion with Brian Attewell (1948-56), leading to a lifelong friendship. Eddie Hammonds and Graham Kalton, both school rugby stars, figured in the handful of Alleynians at the LSE. His own sporting skills lay in the calmer fields of snooker and fencing. After graduating at the LSE in 1962 he took a master’s degree at the University of Indiana and then returned to London and earned a doctorate at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He also took courses at Stanford and Michigan as well as Hong Kong and learned Mandarin. Long before it became fashionable he saw that Chinese studies were going to be a major academic field. In 1969 he joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University at Nashville and was later appointed Associate Professor. He taught East Asian politics there until his retirement in 2001. In 1970 he published a major work, The Government and Politics of Communist China , a text which was later translated into Derek John Waller (1948-54) 09.09.37-31.12.09
seven languages. An enthusiastic and adventurous traveller, especially in Asia, his journeying, much of it with Gayle, his second wife, and mostly under their own steam, included Tibet, Vietnam, North Korea and Burma as well as China and a memorable tracing of the entire Silk Route back to its Middle Eastern terminus. Encouraged by Gayle, together they climbed Mt Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. As a sideline he ran a highly successful transatlantic business of rare books on Central Asia which helped to pay for his annual trips. In 1990 he published The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet and Central Asia , a book primarily about the ‘great game’ of International rivalry in the region. Although based in the USA, he retained his UK citizenship and came back every summer and for many years directed the summer school programme of southern US universities. Particularly treasured were visits to the theatre and museums. He was much admired and respected by his students. His professionalism and depth of knowledge were combined with personal warmth and charm. Teaching came naturally to him and in retirement he took much pleasure in giving a helping hand to local children with their maths. A cheerful, good natured character and great company, he is now much missed by a wide circle of friends in many parts of the world. He bore his last illness with commendable courage and equanimity. Brian Attewell has contributed significantly to this obituary of his long time friend. Fred Whiting OBE came to Dulwich from Brightlands school. After leaving Dulwich, he went to work in the City in insurance. He was a member of the Dulwich Club where he played tennis, squash and hockey, and was also a member of an amateur dramatic society, which is where he met his future wife, Yvonne. With storm clouds gathering over Europe, he joined the Territorial Army in 1938, as a member of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC). At the outbreak of war, he served with the HAC in England and then in North Africa. He and Yvonne got married during his embarkation leave in August 1941, but three weeks later he sailed from Liverpool, not to return for four years, when the war ended. During the retreat from El Alamein and after the fall of Tobruk, he was taken prisoner. He was reported ‘missing, believed killed’ back in England, and it was six months before Yvonne and his family knew he was still alive. As a prisoner of war, he was moved from Libya to Italy and then to Germany when Italy surrendered, ending the war in Stalag 4C in what is now the Czech Republic. After the war ended and Fred returned to England, he and Yvonne moved to Cornwall and Frederick John Wells Whiting (1931-34) 13.07.17-03.04.11
44 Obituaries
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