Guy (C1 1966-70) was third generation Marlburian arriving from the Dragon School with an Exhibition. He left after A levels and took his Oxford Entrance from St Edward’s School Oxford, where his father was a housemaster, gaining an Exhibition to Oriel College to read classics which, after Mods, he changed to Philosophy and Religion. But all the time his deep love was music; American country and folk.
After Oriel he remained in Oxford, as a gigging musician, sometimes touring abroad, once as a support act to Julie Felix, sometimes working as a milkman or a laundry delivery man. He wrote original songs, had an encyclopaedic memory, sang solos and harmonies and could play just about any song on demand. A collection of guitars, banjos and harmonicas followed him throughout his life.
His music took him to London where he played as a professional act in pubs and clubs. No longer a milkman but now a housemate and live-in builder helping his brother, Rupert (C1 1969-72), renovate a house. He was supremely skilled and careful, but gloriously unqualified. As an electrician he got work. He was a page ahead in the manual when doing a major rewiring job. The client, Helena, was very pleased with it. They married.
Whilst he never lost his passion for music, he needed to pay the bills. He completed a law conversion course in London and was called to the Bar in 1986, moving to Bristol. He was a member of a Chambers specialising in commercial, employment and discrimination, and published three books on technical aspects of the law, with two still in circulation. At the same time, he was a founding member of a very successful band, The Shrinks, still going strong and on Spotify. Appointed the legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, he became a part time Chair of Employment Tribunals before becoming a salaried employment judge in 2002 working first in Cardiff and Shrewsbury, then London. He was revered for his ability to dictate judgements without delay after hearings, save for a roll-up outside, with little need to check the chronology or page numbers of documents, using only plain English, and producing something so precise, complete and fluent. That took real ability. He cared about people and justice. He would then ditch the suit and tie, don the shorts, or perhaps his hand-dyed orange and red Zimbabalooba trousers, Birkenstocks, beret (black or yellow) and cycle home.
When the Pandemic came, the start of which coincided for Guy with recovering from a serious heart operation, the move of his profession online was a door closing for him. Without the face to face and the social aspect of the job, he didn’t want to return to work, reincarnated as a virtual judge. He retired in 2020. He enjoyed a busy retirement of travel, museums, galleries, theatre, walking and cycling across London, and plenty of live music, big acts and small. He adored the London life of Highbury with the views across the City from his balcony. Musicians like a drink, a cigarette and meals late into the night. Never quick food for Guy, only proper meals cooked with culinary flair and pride, whatever the hour.
Guy died unexpectedly on 17 June, a week shy of his 71st birthday. He was knocked off his bicycle and after returning from hospital casualty to his flat, collapsed. He was divorced but remained close to Helena, with whom he had two daughters, Jo and Laura.
Just a fortnight before he had been in Paddock Wood, Kent, and spoke for the family in celebrating the 80th Anniversary of D Day at the birth place of his maternal grandfather, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, the architect of Operation Overlord. On parade as such, he gave a masterful and moving tribute without notes, and yes, in his shorts and Birkenstocks!
