Brian was born on the 10th April 1926 in Wandsworth, London. He was educated at home by his mother until his entry into Miss Bedford’s Prep at the age of 6.
At the outbreak of war, Brian and his two brothers were relocated to Petersfield in Hampshire, a time Brian recollected was “mostly peaceful and reasonably sunny,” unhampered by the outbreak of war in his rural location. His mother was able to accompany her boys as a designated school helper. His love of languages shines through in his school reports. At the age of 17, headmaster Cyril Broom commented, “An admirable record of great promise and a remarkable record of all round activity.” During his time at Emanuel Brian became a prefect, School Captain and Lieutenant of the School.
In 1944, after completing his schooling, Brian joined the RAF for aircrew training. While on exercise in 1945 with the RAF in Devon, he was summoned to a building in Torquay for the news that the war had ended. Wondering what to do next while completing his national service, he and his friend Frank Curnon spotted an advert for French and Russian courses at Caius College, Cambridge. They flipped a coin; Brian’s call was Russian, Frank’s was French and their careers were mapped out from there.
Following demobilisation, his interest in languages led him to Pembroke College Cambridge where he obtained a degree in Russian and French. While there, he was introduced to his first wife Barbara, whom he married in 1949. Jenny was born in 1950 and Sue came along in 1952.
After his degree, he was recruited for a permanent post and career at Eastcote, an outstation of Bletchley Park, and then relocated with his young family to what became GCHQ in Cheltenham.
In 1960, during the cold war period, the family travelled to RAF Butzweilerhof, Germany, for a GCHQ 3-year posting.
After his divorce in 1964, Brian returned to work in Cheltenham and in 1965 married Hanne, who he had met in Germany. Hanne brought her young son John to the marriage and later David, Gillian and Sarah were born.
In 1976 the opportunity arose for Brian and his family to go to Laurel, Maryland where Brian was seconded from GCHQ to the National Security Agency. During their time there they enjoyed camping, visiting museums and hosting diplomatic parties.
In 1980, the family moved back to Cheltenham and bought a house in Great Western Terrace which was the family home for 30 years and where the whole family gathered for big occasions. It is also where Brian started his home brewing enterprise which continued for many years.
Brian remained at GCHQ until his ‘retirement’, during which he worked part-time as a driver for Mitsubishi. He continued to do this well into his eighties! He also became president of the over 50s club in Cheltenham, walking weekly with the group and keeping in touch with members until his death.
After Hanne’s death in 2011, Brian spent the last ten years of his life happily enjoying his days being a patriarch, being visited regularly by family, keeping in touch with friends, doing his daily challenges, driving his car and staying active walking and cycling on his static bike.
Brian had a lifelong love and interest in language, speaking Russian, French, German and smattering of Italian. He enjoyed crosswords and Suduko, completing the Times cryptic crossword and mephisto daily up until a couple of weeks before his death. He also had a passion for music, in particular, classical and Jazz, but was open to anything new. He mentioned hearing and developing an enduring love of Mozart while attending Miss “Fanny Chaplin’s extra French lessons” when at school in Petersfield. Brian also enjoyed amateur dramatics which he took up whilst he was at Emanuel and continued at university as a member of the Cambridge Footlights and then at the Playhouse in Cheltenham.
He was a robust and vigorous conversationalist. He had a great sense of humour, making up silly songs and rhymes, and sending humorous posts to the family via Facebook. He loved animals, and in particular dogs and enjoyed walking and the countryside.
He was thoughtful, measured, fair-minded, engaged and engaging. He always tried to see both side of an argument. He was wise, kind, supportive, encouraging and trustworthy.
Apart from his mantra of ”clearing up as you go along”, he also believed in “treating others as you would wish to be treated”. He had a strong belief in the goodness of human nature and the ability of people to turn their lives around, regardless of their pasts; ”never give up on someone.”
Taken from the eulogy kindly provided by Brian’s family
We interviewed Brian about his time at school and as a School Captain in 2020. You can read the full interview here – An interview with former school captain Brian Haydock (OE1933-44)