Peter Thompson 1943 - 2024

Peter was Born in Ripon, Yorkshire in 1943 into a talented family and was the older of two clever boys, his younger brother Rick was also at Glyn Grammar and he too graduated from Oxford. Their mother was a primary school teacher and father a civil engineer. Both parents were talented musicians, his mother a pianist and hockey player. Father owned a set of harmonicas that travelled with him through the war; he bought Peter a ukelele and then his first guitar and he was a scratch golfer from the age 18. Peter once said the reason he didn’t take up golf was because it meant too much time away from the family. It may also have been simply that he was busy with other interests. Good parenting was much in evidence and Peter certainly felt his home provided an intellectual upbringing, a Methodist environment and a first class introduction to Public Service.

In 1956 Peter joined Glyn at the end of the school year having transferred from Leeds where he had attended Roundhay Grammar, a school with its own swimming pool and where Peter developed as swimmer, learned to dive and also play Rugby. His sporting prowess in football and cricket continued at Glyn and he established himself as an inspiring and a strong tackling full-back for the Firsts X1 whilst at the same time captaining both Abbey House and the School at Cricket. 

Soon Peter went on to work his magic on a third game, basketball, when it was introduced under the guidance and coaching skills of a new teacher, Mr P R Ray and later Peter Lofthouse, who inspired stellar performances several years in a row. In 1962, Peter’s House Team, Abbey, became the first house ever to win the Basketball Competition without losing a game. This was due in part to the coaching and inspired leadership from his friend and team-mate Viv Astling. That same season saw another achievement unequalled by any previous school sports team when Glyn reached the semi-final of a national under-18 championship. John Perrett was in the team with Viv and Peter.

From Glyn, Peter won a place at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where he studied law. The next three years were very happy and Peter continued to enjoy sport at a the same high level. He joined the basketball team which predominantly comprised Americans who were much better players and the team won everywhere they went resulting in Peter gaining two half-blues. Energetic and committed he went on to captain his college at football and cricket. He claims to have been completely idle at his studies and would have preferred to have studied English rather than Law. He read prolifically from Works of Shakespeare and later to works of Carl Hiaason and Elmore Leonard. He spent much time playing music, his beloved guitar and he formed a skiffle group, liked to sing blues and ballads. He was very active socially, was elected the President of the JCR - the college undergraduates - and chaired the very first college ball, becoming very well known as a person of considerable energy and enthusiasm.

When after three years he failed to get his degree, he should not have been completely surprised, describing himself as one of the worst students ever. He was fortunate to have organised articles of clerkship with a firm of solicitors in the City of London but without his degree had to do 4 years instead of 2. Before taking this position he went off travelling around America from the East to the West coast and back on the Greyhound bus. He had a very happy time, loads of interesting experiences including selling encyclopaedias door to door and making enough money to get to California. He did say though that there was one occasion he was chased out of town by a local sheriff presumably who didn’t like the idea of an enlightened populace.

Back in London and re-contemplating the study of law he was also enjoying time with his brother Rick and friends and formed a small Group of musicians in which Pete was lead vocalist and played guitar. In the summer of 1966 they busked their way round Europe together. Realising at this point he was a poor law student Peter reached a seminal moment when his employer suggested maybe he would be a better musician than lawyer. Determination and sheer doggedness suddenly kicked in and eventually Peter passed all outstanding law papers and became a solicitor which he described as a watershed moment in his life.

In 1972 Peter and Liz decided they wanted to see more of the world. They applied to the Australian Embassy and emigrated as ten-pound-poms. Friends helped introduce Peter to a good choice of work and he fell on his feet working in big city firm handling building and construction disputes, motor car disputes and family law, while he was making many new friends. Ever energetic Peter played professional football, taught law students, and assisted the Legal Aid Committee. At the end of two years they might have remained but Peter’ strong sense of family resulted in their return to the UK. Not by the most direct route; they chose the Trans-Siberian railway but taking in New Zealand, Hong Kong Tokyo, Tashkent, Moscow and Leningrad on the way. Victoria, the first of their three children, was born in October 1973 and was carried back to the UK inside Peter’s coat.

Back in the UK by June 1974 Peter settled in Woodbridge, Suffolk where he set out on a career as a litigation solicitor joining as a partner in a 6 partner firm in Ipswich. He and Lizzie went on to have two more children and shared huge pleasure in passing on their love of travel, books, sport, music and the outdoors. As parents they both strongly supported the state school model, Lizzie as a Headmistress and later an advisor to the Department of Education and Peter a determined and enthusiastic Parent and Governor of their children’s Primary, Middle and High schools. He went on to encourage local solicitors to participate fully in the promotion of State schools as Head of Relations and Diversity for the County and President of the local Law Society. By the early 90’s Peter’s firm had merged into a 250 partner firm. He found himself being in the position of a senior partner with 7000 employees gaining a wider experience of international law, finance and marketing.

In the late 90s he was appointed Circuit Judge which to begin with he described as a most nerve racking experience. Most judges were appointed from a position of barrister and as one of a small number of solicitors he found himself sitting amongst barristers who had been in court almost their entire career. But it was a very proud moment which as a younger student of law he would never have imagined. With it came status and authority. His huge propensity for fairness and a balanced outlook and a desire to pursue just outcomes were much a part of his character and so once again he soon found himself thoroughly enjoying his work. 

He continued to pursue his love affair with sport and the outdoors and for many years shared long holidays with family and friends at homes in the foothills of the Pyrenees and on the east coast of Australia. He gave his time generously and often to help others and was very active in the lives of his grandchildren. He rejoiced in the company of others, sharing stories about both the difficulties and the joys of life. From about the age of 70 he developed Parkinson’s Disease but with his levels of optimism, perseverance and sheer stickability he survived to enjoy his 80th birthday when others would have given up. Like the “worse student of law ever”, he once said, “any sensible person would have given up”. There were a great many friends at Peter’s memorial service who said what a great friend and kind person he had been to them all and his brother Rick summed it up perfectly when he said, “He was a wonderful brother, a role model and an exceptional bloke. Parkinson’s was a cruel disease.”