Sydney Pigden
Teacher credited by the England footballer Ian Wright as ‘the first positive male figure’ in his life
SYDNEY PIGDEN, who has died aged 95, was for 30 years a teacher at Turnham junior school, on the Honor Oak estate in Brockley, south London, where his pupils included Ian Wright, the future Arsenal and England footballer, who credited Pidgen with much that he subsequently achieved.
Wright had a difficult childhood. His father had left, his stepfather was abusive and his mother became an alcoholic.
In his 2016 autobiography A Life in Football, dedicated to Pigden, Wright described him as “the first positive male figure that I had in my life”. Pigden taught Wright to read and write, “but most importantly how to keep calm and communicate with people instead of just flying off the handle”.
Pigden was an accomplished sportsman who played football into his fifties and golf in his eighties. A qualified referee, he had run the line at Wembley in a schoolboy international. He was Wright’s first coach – as he was to David Rocastle, also of Arsenal and England – and would encourage him not to blast the ball, but pass it into the net, “like Jimmy Greaves”. Wright called it “a piece of advice that stayed with me my whole career”.
Shortly after retiring in 2000, Wright was the subject of a television documentary that took him back to Highbury. There he was reunited with Pigden, whom he believed had died. Their affecting meeting – Wright, once more the schoolboy, whipped off his cap – has been viewed online more than 1.2 million times.
Sydney Charles Pigden was born at Sydenham, south London, on April 25 1922. He had an older brother, Dick. Their father, who had fought in the First World War, was a milkman and money was short.
At Kilmorie Secondary School for Boys, Syd was at the top of his class of 34 pupils, but the family’s circumstances obliged him to end his education at 14. Both his parents died the following year, and he moved in with an aunt. His former headmaster was determined that his schooling should continue and funded him through evening classes, which enabled Syd to gain his School Certificate.
Young Syd’s enthusiasms included cycling – he would think nothing of riding to Brighton for the day – and the cinema.
He became a clerk at the War Office before joining the RAF in 1941. Sent to Canada for training as a pilot, he discovered that he was as bright as many fellow fliers from more privileged backgrounds – and often more practically minded. In the autumn of 1942 he joined No 164 Squadron.
He flew Spitfires before the squadron was re-equipped with Hurricane fighter-bombers. From airfields in southern England, the squadrom raided enemy shipping and coastal targets. It then converted to the Typhoon in March 1944, and using rockets, mounted attacks against radar stations and transport in preparation for D-day.
Only later did Pigden speak much about the war. Once, he and a friend had tossed a coin to see who would take a new aircraft up for familiarisation. Pigden lost, and watched in horror as something went wrong in mid-air and the other pilot was killed.
Subsequently, No 164 moved to airstrips in Normandy to support the breakout into Belgium. Pigden was commissioned in July 1944 and towards the end of the war in Europe was Mentioned in Despatches. After taking part in the Victory celebration fly-past, he was demobbed in 1946 in the rank of Flying Officer.
Pigden returned to the Civil Service, where his work included processing applications for teacher training. Without telling anyone, he slipped in his own and was accepted by Wandsworth Teacher Training College, graduating in 1949. He taught at a school in Catford for a year before moving to Turnham.
He enjoyed going to the races, especially at Kempton, often planning his summer holidays around the racing calendar. In recent years he had been a presence at Shoreham Aircraft Museum, to which he had donated his RAF mementos.
Sydney Pigden met his future wife, Aileen, at a dance while stationed in Scotland, and they were married in 1946. They had a son who died shortly after birth and Aileen died in 1968.
Sydney Pigden, born April 25 1922, died December 27 2017