Our old friend Charles Handy has died aged 92. Andrew Hill has written a well-deserved fulsome obituary in the Financial Times. The only things I can add to it are that Charles was, to me and many others, the epitome of a great mentor combined with a practical, decent human being who never let competition deflect his high personal standards. The world of business, of politics, of defence, of ideological passion is fraught with compromise of how we might behave. Charles didn’t compromise. He set out his realistic standards for anyone who wanted to share them. Then he lived them himself, not martially but kindly, wittily and lovingly.
Not mentioned in his obituary is the fact that Charles was an excellent cook. Eliza and I still talk of the memorable chicken lunch he gave us the last time we visited him and Elizabeth in Norfolk. He tended the food he cooked as carefully as he tended those who sought his advice. ‘Sustenance for the body is as important as sustenance for the mind’, he said.
We say of people who have died that we will never forget them. With Charles my parting words won’t be those. Instead I say “We will always remember you”.
I’m sure he will see that as more positive.
May his spirit be blessed.
And we send our deepest condolences to Scott & Kate.
John Bittleston
14 December 2024
