Michael Mavor
Jonathan Smith writes: I taught Michael Mavor (obituary, Jan 11) when he was a boy at Loretto, and later became a colleague of his in the English department at Tonbridge School. Back in the early 1960s the name M. B. Mavor was on my list for Oxbridge lessons, where we read Wordsworth’s Prelude, and he was in the first play I directed there, Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter. He was very good in class and very good on stage. No surprises, he was very good at everything.
Great achievers, and great allrounders, often attract envy and resentment. Michael suffered this less than most because he was so naturally modest and generous. He never (in my company) said an unkind word. He left that to the rest of us.
Perhaps Michael’s diabetes, about which he spoke so openly and wittily in Tonbridge Chapel, needs to be mentioned. If he was to do all he planned in his life, he knew that he had to be balanced and well prepared. He was brave and tenacious but always sensible. In private he was funny and warm, but work was work and he intended to be in good shape. You couldn’t be the head of three distinguished schools if you weren’t. He was quietly tough; no self-pity. He was like that as a boy; he was like that as a man.
Advertisement
The Rev Pat Johns writes: I was senior mistress at Gordonstoun School when Michael Mavor arrived in 1979 as headmaster. From the first, he was clearly an exceptional head. He had the gift of being able to solve problems with people so that everyone felt that they had been listened to and that a fair conclusion had been arrived at. There were still some resentments about the introduction of girls a few years before his arrival, and his firmness, always backed by a gentle humour, very quickly helped to ease things.
His addresses to the school were memorable. In particular, his address in St Paul’s Cathedral at the memorial service for Earl Mountbatten and the members of his family killed by the IRA was strong, sympathetic and a masterpiece of spoken English. (One of those killed was a pupil at the school, and Michael showed immense kindness and wisdom in helping his surviving twin.)
Alistair Forsyth writes: Michael Mavor and I entered Loretto Nippers on the same day in January 1956 and remained very good friends throughout our school careers at Loretto up to 1964.
I continued to meet him at regular intervals throughout his highly colourful life and was fortunate that he confided in me regarding the challenges he was facing in his three great headmasterships at Gordonstoun, Rugby and Loretto. He was full of extraordinary wisdom but at the same time quite humble and always keen to ask other people’s opinions. He was a truly remarkable man.