Greig Barr

Richard Winn writes: As the manager of the Oxford University Rugby Football Club tour of Japan, in 1952, Greig (obituary, June 23) was masterly. He had fought against the Japanese but was prepared to go back and bring reconciliation. It was courageous. It was a most happy tour (led by the charming Giles Bullard) with much travelling. He had players of international standing and of all ages, but kept the whole show on the road with great tact, reminding us of our responsibilities on the social side — apart from wanting to win! He looked after us with a fatherly eye and gave very good advice. He was a delight to know.

Gordon Clyde

Tim Clyde writes: My actor brother Gordon Clyde (obituary, June 21) was playing Robert Browning in Robert and Elizabeth at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, in the 1970s. He was very short-sighted and was not wearing his contact lenses for a matinee performance. While pacing up and down the stage, awaiting the arrival of Elizabeth (played by Ruth Madoc) he stepped off the front of the stage and fell on to several startled OAPs in the front row. He apologised, dusted himself down and climbed back on stage, just in time for a puzzled Elizabeth to make her entrance. His next line, duly delivered, was “Thank goodness — I thought something had happened to you.” Much laughter, and the audience loved it.

Marion Simmons

David Jeffreys, QC, writes: Marion Simmons (obituary, June 20) was truly a pioneer in the teaching of advocacy. She was one of a handful of Gray’s Inn enthusiasts led by the late Michael Hill who, in the early 1990s, imported from Australia the “Hampel” method, which was to become the model for advocacy teaching in all four Inns of Court. Small and slight in stature, she was a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm — and surprised some contemporaries, perhaps more familiar with the cut and thrust of daily court work, by her excellence as a teacher.

Richard Southwell, QC, writes: As a head of her then chambers, I led Marion Simmons, QC, as a junior many times. She was the hardest worker I knew: on one case she worked nearly 18 hours a day for almost two months grappling with difficult mathematics, and was always fresh and keen in court (to the dismay of her pupil at the time). Marion was a member of our Bar committee, which recommended continuing professional training (especially in advocacy) for barristers in their early years in practice. She was the hardest-working member, with an acute sense of the possible, and went on to help to establish good advocacy and ethics training in Gray’s Inn.