Anthony Quick spent 23 years of his 35-year teaching career as headmaster of Rendcomb and Bradfield colleges. Alongside his innate talent for dealing with people, Quick also had an astute grasp of finance: at Rendcomb he was simultaneously headmaster and bursar.
After attending Shrewsbury School he won a scholarship to study oriental languages at SOAS and was employed by Naval Intelligence during the war, in the Persian Gulf and Ceylon. On returning to England he went up to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on the colonial service course before switching to read history.
He started his teaching career at Charterhouse and it was here that he met his wife, Jean Sellar. While at Charterhouse, he collaborated with Denis Richards on a series of history textbooks that have since been reprinted several times. In 1961 he moved to Rendcomb as headmaster. During his ten-year tenure, he increased the numbers threefold and expanded the sixth form to include girls.
In 1971 he became headmaster of Bradfield College. There he also oversaw the introduction of girls into the sixth form, as well as the introduction of new subjects such as design and technology.
He retired in 1984 and during this time he learnt Russian and stood for Parliament. He also found time to write the definitive History of Charterhouse School (1990).
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Anthony Quick, headmaster, was born on May 26, 1924. He died on September 27, 2006, aged 82