The following obituary was written by Jonathan Smith (CR 67-02)

Was there anything Dick Longley could not do? He was an outstanding academic, a brilliant scientist.  He was outstanding in his schooldays at Dulwich College, before winning a major scholarship at Jesus College, Cambridge. He took all this in his stride, as he did as Head of Physics for many years at Tonbridge. His colleagues and his pupils recognised an exceptional person.

He could play any game, golf, tennis, squash, rugby, you name it, and play them all at a high level. While he was at it he played the guitar and he sang well. He was, everyone agreed, simply remarkable on computers, awesome, a legend. I wouldn’t know too much about that, but I do know that he was very well read and that he loved poetry. He read, widely, every day. He always had a novel on the go.

And yet there was, it seems to me, an even more unusual aspect to Dick. Given all his apparently effortless gifts, he could have been accused of being, once in a while, superior in manner or tone. Yet in all our years of friendship I never once, not once, at School or on holidays, heard him make a mean or unkind or dismissive remark. He left all that to the rest of us.      

He never pushed himself forward. He wasn’t interested in the politics of any community. He had no time for all that. It never came up. Instead he made a practical contribution. He was a leader of the community service group, the CSG, but in this as in much else he took no credit. He shunned the limelight. While others were feted he went on working, working quietly, absorbed in whatever came to hand, with his clarity of mind shining through.

As a matter of course he ran the extra mile. For example, every Easter he organised the annual Reading Party, first of all up in the Lake District, leading us on memorable walks, map in hand, climbing the fells every afternoon, always looking for a new challenge. But the mornings always brought hours of silent study. And then for years he took the Reading Party down to North Cornwall, a part of the world Dick knew intimately. All this was organized with no fuss. It just seemed to happen. If it was stressful he never showed it.

If you ever wanted help with your prep, well, the Longleys had all bases covered. The sciences, the arts, languages, maths, divinity, having difficulty? Ask the Longleys. They’ll help, they can explain. I’ll ask Dick. I’ll ring him up now. Hi, Dick, do you have a moment?

Helen, Jenny, Jeremy, Jacquie, Jonny, what a family. And what an extraordinary man Dick was.