Michael Wagner
Michael Wagner (1917 – 2017)was born in London on 2 November, the second of three children. He joined the army during World War II and, after being captured in North Africa, managed to escape from an Italian Prisoner of War Camp, spending five months hiding in a chapel. After the...
Michael Walmsley
Michael Walmsley was born on 9th September 1960 to Pauline and Roy. He had a younger brother, David, and was close to his maternal grandparents. He grew up in Holywell Green, West Yorkshire. Michael was a lifelong Liverpool FC supporter, travelling all over England to watch them play and sometimes...
Michel Prigent
Michel Pierre William Prigent (1943-2019) was born in Hereford, to Margaret and Pierre. He was the eldest child of four, with brothers Alain, William and sister Jean. The first three years of his life were spent in England and then in Brittany, but the family followed his dad’s postings first...
Mona Stakes
Mona Stakes (1927–2019) was born in Dewsbury, the only child of Leonard and Florrie Spurr. She had an idyllic childhood which came to an end when her dad fell ill and died when she was only ten. Mona grew up very quickly, taking responsibility for many of the household chores....
Neil Faraday
Neil Michael James Faraday (1968-2018) was born Neil Redhead in Cambridgeshire, to Margaret and John. He was the middle child of three, with brothers Martin and Andrew. He went to Dartford Road Infants and Westwood Primary School and then on to Hereward School for his secondary education. Neil’s first job...
Nic Snow
Nic Snow (1963 – 2019) was born in Hammersmith to Betty and Alf. He had three siblings, Malcolm, Elaine and Chris. His parents separated when Nic was nine, and he and Chris spent a year in New Zealand with their father. On return, Nic spent chunks of time with his...
Nicholas John Levine
Nick was born on 21st December 1938 the second child (Catherine was born 1935) of Sydney and Leila. The family were evacuated to Berkhamsted while Sydney stayed mostly in London working at the Ministry of Supply and on air raid duty. After the war the family moved to Highgate where...
Nicholas Price
Nicholas Ernest Price (1939-2018) Nick was born in Stanmore in Middlesex to Ernest and Margaret Price. He had an elder sister, June. Nick’s first job was in avionics with Ultra Electronics in Park Royal. Later he joined the family business making pottery vases. Nick married Frances, ‘the girl next door’,...
Nigel Watson
Nigel Jerome Edwin Watson (1947–2019) was born in Southall, one of seven children, and grew up mainly in Putney and in Wolverhampton. He was a talented guitarist, singer and composer. He collaborated and toured with numerous well-known artists, in particular, Peter Green. Nigel had three children, Josh and Alistair in...
Noel Gibbard
Noel Gibbard (1922 – 2018) was born on 12th December 1922 in Hornsey, London, to May Mallard and William Gibbard. He had an older brother and sister, Roger and Rosalie. His childhood home was in Folkestone but he was evacuated during the war. Noel trained at the officer cadet training...
Olive Elsie Leech
Olive Elsie Leech (1921 – 2023) was born on 7th June 1921 the first child of John and Elsie Dainton. Growing up in North Islington, London, Olive had to take care of her younger siblings, Ken, Albert, Jack and the twins Stanley and Edith as their mother was often unwell. ...
Olive Settle
Olive Settle was born on the 29th July 1928, the daughter of a senior nurse and a head gardener, and her childhood, growing up in the gardener’s house in a park, was a lonely one, though one which taught her to love nature. She signed up under age into the...
Olive Smith
Olive Smith (1938-2017) was born and raised in Harrogate, the younger of two children. She met John, her first husband, when she was 20 and lived with him in Singapore whilst he served with the RAF. Upon returning from Asia, she and John lived at various air bases in and...
Oliver Fyson
Oliver Fyson (1953 – 2020) was born in Witney on 31st October 1953 to Richard and Ella. He was the fourth of five children. He was the first member of his family to go to university. He studied engineering at City University in London. Once qualified, Oliver worked on a...
Olivia ‘Livvie’ MacDonald
Olivia ‘Livvie’ MacDonald (1934-2018) grew up in war-time Birmingham and remembers the Lancaster bombers leaving the Longbridge works near her home. She had a sister, Ruth, and a brother, John. Livvie learned guitar and performed locally in a folk band. She joined The Royal Signals as a radio operator in...
Otto Ephrem Carballo
Otto Carballo (1945-2018) was born and raised in Trinidad, the youngest of six. He won a scholarship to a prestigious secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago, and then to the University of the West Indies. He later won a government scholarship to study architecture in England. When he was 23,...
Pam Llewellyn
Pamela Llewellyn (1933 – 2017) was born Pamela Jones in Bromley on 28 September. She studied History at Birmingham University and then went on to obtain a PGCE in London, allowing her to become a teacher. She held a variety of teaching posts, eventually ending up as the Head of...
Pat Berry
Pat Berry (1927 – 2020) was born in Sunderland on 5th May 1927 to Celia and Leonard. She had two siblings, Celia and Len. Pat passed her eleven plus exams and attended Bede grammar school, where she became head-girl. She was only twelve when WWII started. Pat trained at Langham...
Pat Kendall
Pat Kendall (1934 – 2014) was born in Bethnal Green, London on 19 October, one of six children. She worked as a machinist and enjoyed sewing, travelling, and spending time with her family. Pat married husband Alan in 1955 and they remained married until her death. They had three children:...
Patricia ‘Pat’ Wright
Patricia ‘Pat’ Wright (1952-2017) was born on 1 May in Sunderland and raised in South Hetton, Hartlepool, and Seaton Carew. She was an only child. After training as a primary school teacher, she went on to spend 30 years as a special educational needs teacher, in the later years becoming...
Patricia Clark
Patricia Mary Clark (1933-2019) was born in the tiny village of Corofin, in Ireland, to Michael and Mary. At the age of 15, she was sent to stay with her sister in Cardiff to look for employment. She trained as a nurse and joined the newly-formed NHS, and specialised in...
Patricia Hosking
Patricia Margaret Hosking (1953-2018) was born in Gloucestershire to Jack and Margaret. She had three older brothers, David, Anthony, Colin and a younger sister, Sylvia. She married Keith in 1973, and in 1976 they bought a house in Oxfordshire where their four boys, Thomas, Robert, Michael and Kenneth, were born....
Patricia Legge
Patricia Legge (1940 – 2019) was born Patricia Ivall on 13 March 1940 in Alverstoke, Hampshire. The family moved to Duxford, where Pat grew up with her sister Fay and her brother Jim. Whilst working at Babraham Research Institute in Cambridge, she met Anthony Legge, whom she married in December...
Patricia Margaret Buxton
Pat was born on 17 August 1937 in Epping Hospital to Sidney and Gladys Jones the third of four children, Eric, Ron and Melvin. Pat went to school in Loughton and then to Walthamstow College. In 1956 Pat married Bruce Buxton and they moved to Derbyshire where Helen and Lynn...
