Memorial Lunch: Stephen R Hill James Hughes-onslow
A memorial lunch was held to celebrate the life of Stephen Hill, former Chairman of Gerald Duckworth, the publishing house.
Seventeen of his oldest friends, many of them City and legal luminaries, gathered in a gentlemen’s club in St James’s Street.
Stephen was an enthusiastic raconteur on a variety of subjects. He wrote learned books on Sanskrit, the British economy and Brexit, The Power of Plato and a history of Boodle’s club. He was proud to send his son to Eton, his old school.
An accountant by profession, he worked with Colin Haycraft, Duckworth’s Chairman for nearly 25 years.
Haycraft, his novelist wife, Alice Thomas Ellis, and Hill held wild discussions at their Camden house, along with their friend Dame Beryl Bainbridge (pictured), who contributed to keeping Duckworth afloat with her many novels.
Stephen became a regular financial adviser at the Old Piano Factory, Duckworth’s headquarters in London’s Camden Town. Hill’s skill was in sharing his enthusiasm for writing books while helping to balance the books.
Among the many writers Hill took under his wing was Terry Major-ball, older brother of John Major, who had made his living making garden gnomes with his father and younger brother.
Haycraft, the distinguished Oxford sportsman and academic, found this hugely funny and encouraged Terry to write his memoirs, in the style of the Diary of a Nobody.
Hill offered enthusiastic support to Terry and once accompanied him from Stringfellows nightclub in Covent Garden to Downing Street to offer ‘young John’ advice on how to run the country.
Those who attended his memorial lunch were generous in their praise of his eccentricities and many fine qualities. JAMES HUGHES-ONSLOW