I have known and been a close friend of Richard’s for getting on for 50 years.  It has been a privilege to know such a ”giant” of a man both physically and metaphorically.  I first met him through our shared passion for playing badminton.   As members of the Wimbledon Squash and Badminton Club, we both played to a good standard: Richard was very competitive and so was I, so our games were hard fought.  Being so tall, he had a vicious smash and I often felt I was just scurrying around trying to retrieve the shuttlecock. 

Richard was multi-talented and very committed to improving the things he cared for.  I realised his management skills when he took on the Chairmanship of the Badminton Club, oversaw its modernisation and the building of new courts to its long-term benefit.
Other Wimbledon activities we shared?  One was playing competitive bridge. Dare I mention those all-night Saturday sessions which usually lasted until dawn? Maybe not.

But for all these “competitive” interests, I got to know Richard better through wine appreciation and wine-tasting trips. He was a founder member of the Imperial College Senior Common Room Wine Tasting Group in the mid-1970s and helped organise wine-tasting trips, initially to France, long before they actually became fashionable.  Richard invited me to some of the tastings and to a wine trip in 1978.  I think that he himself probably went on most of the trips until his last one in 2013 to Tokay in Hungary.  They were great fun and generated many memories to laugh over. But that’s another story for another time!

Richard was always a calming influence.  On one occasion, returning from a wine trip, the UK Customs were on a work-to-rule.  We had over 400 bottles purchased on the trip, all stashed under the seats and strapped onto the roof.  When we were pulled over and ordered to unload our precious cargo, Richard was the natural choice to deal with Customs and stay calm.  Some hours later we were allowed to continue, but not after much hauling of cases down from the roof and back up again.

He also had the knack of getting what he wanted on those trips.  On one occasion, at the end of an excellent visit, the cellar master asked us if there was anything else we would like to taste.  Richard piped up to say in his dry unassuming way: “May we try the 1947, please?”  No one else would have dared but, as per usual, he had done his research and knew that it was the best vintage that that vineyard had ever produced. Given the etiquette of these things, the cellar master had to open it for us.

As the trips were usually in the Easter vacation, group reunions were organised for the summer, always very generously at Richard and Marilyn's house use in Wimbledon.  These were always well-lubricated affairs which obviously required a taxi home afterwards.
Richard was a “giant” in more senses than one. He was a great friend and will be much missed by his Sporting and Imperial College Wine-Tasting friends.