On Behalf of the Old Diocesans Ambassador, Dr Paul Murray, and the staff at the ODU, we would like to thank OD Peter Elliott (1967W) one of the Branch representatives of Europe (France) for his contributions to the ODU. He has decided to step down and we will miss the important advice about the ODU’s branches and representation that he has given.

After leaving Bishops, and gaining a BA degree at UCT, Peter Elliott (1967W) won an Elsie Ballot Scholarship to Cambridge University in 1971, where he read law and was elected a Senior Scholar of Trinity College. After graduating he pursued a legal career in England, in private practice and in industry. After retiring at the end 2011, he and his wife Maddy moved to Languedoc, France, where they live surrounded by vines, in a landscape not unlike parts of the Western Cape.

Peter Elliott has had a lifelong interest in both history and art and devoted much of his time to researching and writing books with an art history tilt.

Some of the books he has authored include:

• Eight Months in the Veneto. A story of the endurance and courage of British Liaison Officers with the partisans in the mountains of the Veneto, Italy. 1944–1945
• The Spilhaus Family. Five hundred years of history (1450–1950)
• Nita Spilhaus (1878–1967) and her artist friends in the Cape during the early twentieth century.
• Constance: One Road to Take. The Life and Photography of Constance Stuart Larrabee (1914–2000)
• Thomas Muir: ‘Lad O’Pairts’. The Life and Work of Sir Thomas Muir (1844–1934), Mathematician and Cape Colonial Educationist

Peter, in the past, has kindly donated important Bishops memorabilia to the ODU Archives. As part of the Peter Elliott archive there is a photo of him and his colleagues in White House where they were all prefects in 1967.  

From L to R in the Back Row: John Parker, Robert Cheetham, Peter Elliott & Howard Bradshaw.  In the Front Row from L to R: Michael Wale, Chris Winearls and Ross Kelly.   

In the school magazine of that year it is reported that “Elliott is Editor of The Bishops Mitre, the new internal school publication which has replaced the College Courier.”  He certainly went on to make the most of his early career in writing!

We wish Peter well and hope that he will visit us again soon at the ODU.