Roger Blakeborough-Pownall

29^th September 1944 - 19^th July 2020

Roger was born in Llanon, Cardiganshire, son of Ron, a fighter ace from WW2 and latterly a PE teacher, and Sarah Eleanor an English teacher.

He came up to Queens’ from Rhyl Grammar School to read Part I Economics. An enjoyable Long Vac Term with several confrères in the summer of swinging 1965 facilitated the change to the Law Tripos. In addition to some novice rowing, Roger’s main sporting delight during his years at Queens’ was shooting

Following Law School in Guildford, Roger took Articles with Denbighshire County Council and after qualifying moved to South Wales. In due course he established his own practice in Swansea, subsequently diversifying into various commercial enterprises.

Prior to his arrival in Swansea, Roger had fostered a long-lived love of fast cars and for motorsport in general.  He attended the Jim Russel school of Motoring where he met a then unknown Brazilian by the name of Emmerson Fittipaldi who was apparently determined to become a professional racing driver and was in sheer disbelief that Roger was there purely for fun.  

Roger always hoped to follow his father’s path to the skies as a pilot but when the RAF told him he was only welcome to fly a desk he politely declined, and upon his arrival in Swansea took flying lessons and enjoyed taking to the skies as the free bird that he truly was.

However, all of this changed when he married Susan Gunn, his first wife and took on her children, James and Caroline, as he found a new devotion to family life which continued with the arrival of his son Christopher in 1979.  In the late 90s, when again single, he met the love of his life Pauline who also had two sons, Gareth and Rhys, and Roger was delighted that he had a big, genuinely happy family although the challenge of seating five children, their partners and ten grandchildren was interesting!

Whilst family life saw an end to Roger’s racing and flying days – his love of fast cars continued. To the day he died he was besotted with the contents of his driveway and never was he so happy as with his Ford Mustang and Tesla combo, although he never did achieve his dream of owning a classic Jag XK150 SS.  

His love for life was, though, not limited to being a petrol head, he was a keen outdoorsman, fisherman and dearly loved his guns and shooting generally. Habits he passed on to his children as he imparted his knowledge with his typical zest and fervour. This general love of life notably extended to food and alcohol, and he was as ever keen to make sure all around him enjoyed all the gastronomic and alcoholic delights he could think of, especially fine wines and their suitable accompaniments food wise.

His biggest joy in life was to see those he loved have the best of everything, irrespective of himself, and tried to ensure, when bringing up his children, that they had the best he could offer, which included teaching them chess, how to drink whisky and shoot!

Roger was also famous for his endless supply of anecdotes, stories and terrible jokes, however without ever really knowing what was truth or fiction, there were not many who were not enthralled by his skills as a raconteur. The content of his stories and jokes was so often second to his captivating delivery of such.

This love of adventure had seen Roger travel all over the globe and enjoy wonders that many of us could only dream of.  Particularly given his love of the Wild West the fact he was able to go to Tombstone and see the OK corral on their last trip was an especial highlight.

Since his passing, so many people have described his qualities: what a kind man he was, what a charmer he was, what a gentleman he was, and what a gentle man he was.  He was all of those things, but he was not exclusively gentle and easy going and he wouldn’t have wanted to be described exclusively as such; he was forthright and wilful and he was never afraid of the fight or its consequences. He never backed down, irrespective of adversity and no matter the odds against him. Yet the abiding memories amongst those who knew him were of him being gentle, measured and kind – he surely struck the balance of being a good man.

Pauline Blakeborough-Pownall

15^th October 2021