I was Jonathan’s maths teacher until I left Chetham’s School of Music in 1986. For no particular reason, it just entered my mind the other day to try to find out how he was getting on and the news of his passing shocked me.
As a pupil, Jonathan was very intelligent. He was in the top set for maths and he sailed through the subject with never a difficulty. He sat on the front row next to Stephen (on the right in the photo below).
He might make a quip before or after the lesson – but never during it; he was respectful and a model student. His humour, at least with me, was that he liked to make wry observations, but he was never unkind. He didn’t tell jokes. He was always cheerful with a twinkle in his eye – but he was not a show-off. He was not loud and he didn’t draw attention to himself. In fact, he seemed a rather gentle boy and maybe a little shy. Perhaps it was because he was smaller than average and slightly built, and that made him seem younger than he was.
I was 13 years older than Jonathan and he would always say something if our paths crossed at school, but there were areas of his school life about which I knew very little. For one thing, although I lived at the school, I was never involved in boarding so I cannot say how he got on there. Some boys and girls would come to my flat for coffee, to talk and to listen to classical CDs – but never Jonathan. I also took swimming sessions and went on summer camp with the school, neither of which he was interested in. But I remember hearing him play the Malcolm Arnold clarinet sonatina with Stephen and thinking it was just as good as the professional recording I had.
Chetham’s is a unique school and not to everyone’s taste. I know of some who loved it and miss it sorely but I also know of someone who said that he would have gone mad if he’d stayed there any longer. There were some arrogant pupils (which was not Jonathan’s style at all) and competition between players, but most were very nice to know and my own memories are very fond ones. Boarding seemed a happy place as far as I could tell, despite the odd case of bullying. The school was very liberal and perhaps pupils needed more support and structure.
I am grateful that Jonathan ended up having such a positive influence on so many young lives, to have brought so much joy to them, to be supported by so many good friends and colleagues, and to have been so talented; how many people have lived such lives?
I shall always remember Jonathan with affection and I feel privileged to have known him.
Three cuttings from Chetham’s school newsletters:
