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Sydney Augustus Elwood, administrator: born Cambridge 26 February 1907; Chief Clerk, Cambridge Union 1948-67; married 1937 Leonie Bagstaff (one son, one daughter); died Cambridge 12 October 2001. Sydney Augustus Elwood, administrator: born Cambridge 26 February 1907; Chief Clerk, Cambridge Union 1948-67; married 1937 Leonie Bagstaff (one son, one daughter); died Cambridge 12 October 2001.
For generations of undergraduates participating in the Cambridge Union, the benign, ever supportive Sydney Elwood – “Squid” – with his twinkling smile encapsulated their welcome to the university’s debating society. Many young men and women who subsequently became prominent in public life have reason to be grateful for his kindness when they were at a vulnerable embryo stage.Elwood was born in Cambridge, where his father was a reporter for local newspapers and his mother worked in college domestic service. He left Cambridge High School for Boys at 15, in 1922, and went straight to the Cambridge Union as a very junior clerk. In 1926, his family remember, he was the recipient of a telephone call from the future Labour MP Stafford Cripps saying that he would not be able to speak.

Two days later the General Strike began.In the Second World War, he volunteered for the Royal Air Force and became a Flight Lieutenant and radar operator (later an instructor for other operators). On demobilisation he returned to the Union and on the death of the formidable “Mr Brown” was chosen in 1948 as Chief Clerk.The job specifications of the Chief Clerk are somewhat elastic. He (or now she) is responsible for the smooth running of the Union. In theory, he is answerable to the student President and Committee. In practice, since Presidents are ephemeral creatures, lasting about 17 weeks from election to the end of term when they pass the baton to a successor, the Chief Clerk keeps the Union on the rails. He does the accounts, organises the catering, places contracts for maintenance, and a host of other matters, besides dealing with day-to-day business.

He is also a source of advice and experience: Elwood advised the late Nicholas Tomalin as President that “This house would publish and be damned” would be a particularly apt motion, at a time when rows concerning the powers of the Lord Chamberlain in relation to Lady Chatterley’s Lover were at their most combustible.At the beginning of Elwood’s reign he had to deal with as Presidents the exceedingly clever Percy Cradock of St John’s College, later ambassador to China, and the flamboyant Norman St John-Stevas, later Leader of the House of Commons and now Lord St John of Fawsley. His last President before he retired in 1967– and was given an honorary MA degree – was Ann Mallalieu, now Baroness Mallalieu and a distinguished QC and leader of the pro-hunting lobby.Elwood had many prot?s. Among his Presidents Kenneth Clarke MP, former Chancellor of the Exchequer and President in 1963, was “extremely fond” of him:He remained calm, quiet, smiling, and reassuring in the face of the over-excited and hyperactive activities of the student debaters and politicians all around him.Michael Howard, former Home Secretary, President in 1962 and now Shadow Chancellor, says:I cannot think of anyone who more completely matched up to the description of one of nature’s gentlemen. I went up to Cambridge as a raw grammar-school boy from South Wales and Sydney Elwood could not have been more considerate.Greville Janner, former MP for Leicester, President in 1952 and now Lord Janner of Braunstone, says he “could not have coped” without Elwood’swise, general and constant guidance and encouragement. He was generous in his quiet praise, tactful in his criticism, and the soul of kindness.Norman Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, President in 1964 and now Lord Lamont of Lerwick, characterises him asthe perfect Permanent Secretary dealing with student politicians, even more difficult than adult politicians. He was full of diplomatic skills and tact – a walking Who’s Who.

He knew every joke in every Cambridge Union or Oxford Union speech from Ken Tynan to David Frost.One of “Squid’s” pursuits away from the Union was rowing. He was held in high regard as a coach by the city rowing clubs in Cambridge.Tam Dalyell. Zolt?Sz?ly, violinist: born Kocs, Hungary 8 December 1903; married (one son); died Banff, Alberta 5 October 2001. Zolt?Sz?ly, violinist: born Kocs, Hungary 8 December 1903; married (one son); died Banff, Alberta 5 October 2001.
Zolt?Sz?ly was a distinguished violinist who became known internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. He was also a gifted composer whose works included a string quartet and a duo for violin and cello. His arrangement for violin and piano of Bart? Romanian Dances became one of the most popular in the repertoire.Sz?ly was born in Kocs, Hungary, in 1903 and showed early talent for the violin. He was accepted, as one of its youngest students, into the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he was a pupil of Jen?bay for violin and Zolt?Kod? for composition.He graduated at 18 having been awarded the Maestrodiplom and shortly afterwards gave a series of sonata recitals with the composer B? Bart?The two men became close friends and henceforth Sz?ly was a tireless promoter of Bart? music at a time when it achieved little popularity in the music world in general.It was Sz?ly who commissioned Bart? Second Violin Concerto and gave the premiere with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Willem Mengleburg in Amsterdam in 1939.