Dick was born in St Albans in 1935 to a family of journalists. On leaving school he trained as a journalist on the Herts Advertiser. For his National Service he was a press attaché to the GOC Malta. On his return to England he worked as a reporter on the Richmond & Twickenham Times where he acquired the reputation of being a man about town with an open top sports car enjoying his job and an active social life.
Looking back on his time in Malta, Dick now had itchy feet and wanted to go abroad again. He joined the Ministry of Defence as a press officer and was posted to Borneo, Cyprus and Bahrain. When he returned to work in Whitehall he resigned. He moved to Cyprus where he met Angie and started a caravan business in Kyrenia. This venture came to an abrupt end with the security situation and Turkish invasion of Cyprus. In London he was recruited by Michael Rice, a Middle East Consultant, who had a government contract in Oman to develop the newly formed Ministry of Information. Dick served as a press officer with the responsibility of looking after foreign journalists and liaising with the military in Dhofar. His initial two year contract was extended for five more years. For another three years he went on to work as a press officer for the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. With his contacts he was then offered a job as acting General Manager for a Lonrho company which later became OIG. He left the company in 2000 but remained in Oman for another ten years before retiring to the U.K. where he felt honoured to be invited to join the SAF Association.
Dick will be remembered by many as the Chairman and choir master of the Muscat Rugby Football club. He was also Vice Commodore of the Capital Area Yacht club, where he kept the ‘African Queen’ a boat he found abandoned on the beach in Dhofar. Many friends and visitors were invited on picnics and outings down the coast, which used to begin with Dick playing Land of Hope and Glory over the loudspeaker as the ‘African Queen’ left harbour passing the British Ambassador’s residence.
Dick had a great sense of humour and enjoyed telling stories about life in Oman, but it was not all fun. Dick was taken seriously ill and narrowly survived a life saving operation. It was touch and go but he joked afterwards that he was Lazarus returning from the dead. For the rest of his life Dick suffered ill health, but was always cheerful in adversity.
Dick and Angie were able to spend time in New Zealand with their daughter Louise and her family for the last time during the lockdown. Not long after their return to Bexhill, Dick was taken ill. He died on the 8th of November 2020 after a short spell in hospital.
(Julian Paxton)
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