David A Hill (QM 1963-70)

1952 - September 2017

David Hill died in Budapest in September 2017 after a diagnosis of cancer. He was born in Walsall in 1952 and attended Chuckery Infants and Junior School before starting at Queen Mary’s in September 1963. At Queen Mary’s he was Captain of Tennis, played for the First Rugby Team, was Drum Major of the CCF Band and a Prefect. He took A-levels in English, History, French and General Studies.From 1970 he trained at St Paul’s College, Cheltenham gaining a C.Ed, with Distinction in practical teaching and a B.Ed. Joint Hons (Bristol) in English and Sociology of Education. After teaching for three years in UK state primary schools, he moved into English as a Foreign Language teaching, spending 14 years in northern Italy, 6 years in Serbia and 14 years in Hungary. He had a year back in Plymouth to do a postgraduate Diploma in EFL and later also did an M.Phil. research degree in Applied Linguistics (both Exon). After working at a primary teacher training college in Kosovo, and a university in southern Serbia as British Council Lektor, he moved to Milan as the British Council’s English Teaching Adviser for northern Italy, training teachers at all levels throughout the region. When that post was cut in 1998, David went freelance and moved to Budapest, Hungary.

His first major book – a resource book for teachers on using visuals – was published by Longman in 1990, and he has gone on to write, co-write and edit a further seventy publications for the EFL market around the world and UK secondary schools. He has produced specific materials for countries as varied as Italy, Kazakhstan, India and Egypt as well as for global markets. David has worked in over 40 countries. His novella in Budapest – is a world best seller, having sold half a million copies.

When not working, David followed the wide interests he first started whilst at Queen Mary’s. He has written a book and many journal papers on ornithology and botany, and discovered a new species of Crocus for science. He was a free -lance musician, performing regularly, largely blues, accompanying himself

on piano, guitar and harmonica; he has played with many bands around the world. He has had four volumes of original poetry published. And finally he has written and lectured on art and architecture of the period 1830-1920, and led many guided tours to see art nouveau architecture.

Many Old Marians will remember that David was our guest speaker at the Old Marians’ Dinner in 2013. He leaves a wife and daughter.