AUTHOR and teacher Peter Morris Kingswell died peacefully at home in Christchurch on November 23, aged 76.

Born in Newport on February 23, 1937, to Harold and Dora Kingswell, of Whitwell, Peter spent his early years in and around the village, attending Whitwell and Niton schools before being awarded a scholarship to the County Secondary Grammar School.

There he excelled at athletics and was made head boy.

On leaving school, Mr Kingswell did his two years National Service in the RAF and then went on to Exeter College, Oxford, to read French, graduating in 1961.

His first job post graduation was at Perkins Engineering in Peterborough, but he soon returned to the Island where he worked for a time for J Arthur Dixon before his first teaching opportunity presented itself, and he took up a post as a French teacher at Portsmouth Grammar School.

It was here he was taught how to properly administer corporal punishment – with many of his subsequent pupils attesting to the fact that he had been taught well.

In 1966, Mr Kingswell and family moved to Bournemouth and he assumed the position of Head of Modern Languages at Winton Boys’ School where he taught through to 1974.

Whilst he took some time away from teaching in the early 1970s to run his own small business, he was drawn back to his vocation in 1976 at Arnewood and subsequently at Winton Boys’ School, Ferndown and Poole Grammar School through to the 1990s.

In 1997, he re-married and spent the next 16 happy years with his wife, Mary, enjoying frequent travel to the south of France where he could continue to make use of his second language whilst making several lasting friendships with other ex-pats and locals alike.

He is survived by his wife Mary and his two children and grandchildren.