Brian Bruce Gidney

6^th April 1938 - 18^th March 2019

Brian Gidney was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey and as a child attended Arundel House, Surbiton before receiving a scholarship to attend Kingston Grammar School. At Kingston, Brian excelled both as a scholar and sportsman, becoming Vice-Captain of School, Captain of Cricket, playing 1^st XI hockey and being selected for the England Schoolboys Cricket XI. He completed National Service with RAF Bomber Command, before coming up to Queens to read Law (Economics) in 1959.

While at College, he was selected for the Varsity hockey match in four consecutive years, including the last two as Captain. He also earned a place in the combined Universities “Swallows” tour of South Africa in 1961 and was notably, part of Queens’ winning Cuppers hockey side in 1960, scoring two diving goals in the final. In cricket, he was a regular in the Cambridge Crusaders between 1959-1962, before being selected for the University’s first-class match against the touring Pakistan Eaglets in 1963.

Following graduation, he accepted a teaching position at Charterhouse and taught briefly there, before being offered in 1964, a two-year posting to Hale School, in Perth, Australia.  In Australia Brian met his future wife, the school nurse at a competing school, and subsequently determined to marry and stay on at Hale as Head of Economics, initially as 1^st XI Hockey Coach and later, for some 15+ years, as 1^st XI Cricket Coach.

In 1985, he moved to a similar role, at Wesley College, Perth, where he achieved great success as a Cricket Coach, winning public-school championships and a number of national schoolboy championships.  During that time, he also managed biennial tours of a Combined Public Schoolboys of Western Australia Cricket XI to England, involving a number of players who later went on to play for Australia (and one for England). In 2000, he was awarded an Australian Sports Medal, for services to the coaching of cricket.

From 1965-2012 he also tutored and lectured on a part time basis at The University of Western Australia, where he greatly enjoyed teaching young adults.  In late 1997, he retired from secondary school teaching to focus on his golf game, and in 2012, finally retired from university duties. 

Brian Gidney passed away in March 2019, but retained to his final days, a love for academic pursuits, of political debate and of the games of cricket, hockey and golf, and a wicked sense of humour.  To quote the pen-portraits from the 1960 Diamond Jubilee Varsity Hockey Match programme, “Acknowledges compliments modestly with “Thank you, fans.””

Jon Gidney

21^st April 2021