Giles was born in Scotland in 1954. He showed a passion for languages at Merchants, where he slipped in extra O-levels in Spanish, Russian and Modern Greek, learning the latter from the ‘Teach Yourself.’ book!  In 1976,Giles gained a First from Peterhouse, Cambridge, in Modern and Medieval Languages, and then spent some years working in South America.  In the early 80s he moved to Italy where he initially taught English to the Roman Police, then moved to Udine, teaching at the Oxford Schools of English, based in Venice.  His love of language, though, led Giles to translation, working for the University of Udine before going freelance.
In 1985, Giles married Grazia, an English teacher, and with her travelled widely, from the Americas to the Far East, but his home from now on would be Italy.  As a translator, Giles specialised in wine and the arts, creating his own website, ‘Watson’s Wine Glossary’, as a resource for translators. He translated, co-ordinated the team of translators, and edited the yearly guide ‘Italian Wines’ from 2001 onward.  Giles translated over fifty books, most notably those by Beppe Severgnini, foreign correspondent for the Italian newspaper ‘Corriere Della Sera’, many of which were best sellers. He also contributed a column to the newspaper, and when they started to publish a daily online edition, Giles was the obvious choice.
Giles fully immersed himself in Italian life, and was an enthusiastic member of the ‘Slow Food’ movement, reviewing restaurants and food producers for the group. He was a keen mushroomer, and enjoyed getting up early when at their chalet in the mountains to hunt for the best.  Meals with Giles and Grazia would always include hand-picked mushrooms.  He was also very active with the local Multiple Sclerosis Group, working tirelessly as secretary and fundraiser.

As the tribute in the Corriere, by Beppe, and the many messages of sympathy on the Pro-Z.com translators’ forum attest, Giles was a much loved and respected man.

‘His contributions were unmissable, not only on wine, but particularly on linguistics and etymology, of which he had an encyclopedic knowledge.  A man of great intellect but always of great humanity, a real gentleman’;   

‘a man of culture, intelligent, extremely prepared, witty, with a nice sense of humour’;

‘I will miss his professionalism, his witty speeches, and his gentle irony’;

‘we all learned something from Giles, all of us will remember him with admiration and regret, but also with gratitude.’

Giles died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 26th 2015, soon after his 61st birthday, and just a few weeks before his 30th wedding anniversary. He is very sadly missed by everyone who knew him.

Maurice Watson MTBS 1966-1973.

Richard was born in Crosby in 1945 and attended Merchant Taylors’ School there.
His interest in music began at an early age and he learned to play viola (possibly with A. D. Ashcroft).   However, it was science subjects which formed his main ‘A’ levels, in addition to music.  He studied chemistry at Nottingham University and did research in organic chemistry.  This was followed by 2 years as a research supervisor at Liverpool University.
Meantime, he played viola in various orchestras, starting with Liverpool Youth Orchestra, and moving on to a mixture of orchestras when at Nottingham.
He came to North Wales in 1971 when he started work as a Research and Development Chemist at Peboc, Llangefni, Anglesey.  He remained there until 2002 when he took redundancy/early retirement.
We met through a shared interest in hill walking and married in 1978.  Richard enjoyed sea-fishing and trout fishing, often during holidays in Wales.  His piscatorial interests led to him joining a local Marine Science Group who were monitoring marine life in the Menai Straits.  This work led to the group receiving, at Buckingham Palace, the Duke of Edinburgh’s prize of the British sub-aqua club in 1990.
In the 1980s, he joined Bangor University’s extra-mural orchestra, playing viola and then bassoon.  When a local wind-band was formed, he joined this, playing firstly bassoon and then flute/alto flute.  Once he’d taken early retirement, he began arranging music for wind ensembles, eventually on a professional basis.    The high point of this work was hearing his own arrangement performed by Bloomsbury Winds at St John’s, Smith Square, London.
Richard coped magnificently with his final illness which was cancer.   He was a warm, loving, caring husband (I have had M.E. for many years).  His wit and humour kept us feeling ‘upbeat’ during difficult times.  He died on 25^th October 2014.

Jeanie Hatton

Much loved father, husband and former Merchant Taylors’ Old Boy, Dennis Parker, passed away in July 2013 aged 87.
Born in Essex, Dennis spent his early childhood living in Crosby and attended Merchant Taylors’ School in the 1930s when his father transferred to Liverpool through work.
Dennis lived in the suburbs in Crosby surrounding the school, the housing in the area had been newly built and was very modern for the era.
A keen rugby fan, he used to play for Merchant Taylors’ School teams, and retained fond memories of living in Crosby, the friendliness of people in the North West and the friends he had at the school.
He remembered visiting the Kop at Liverpool Football Club, and he loved to travel on the Overhead Railway into the centre of Liverpool to see the port at its peak in the 1930s.
A highlight of his time in Liverpool was attending the opening of the Queensway Tunnel in 1934 and walking through the tunnel before it opened as a VIP guest of his father who worked for the company that supplied the paint for the construction.
Dennis’s family moved back to London before the war, he finished his education in Surrey, and after national service in the RAF he qualified as a chartered accountant and had a successful career in finance, retiring in 1990.
He never forgot his time at Merchant Taylors’ and unfortunately missed the opportunity to re-visit later in life.
My father is survived by his widow Gloria and by his son, son Kenneth and daughter Clare.