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John Emanuel Bodie OBE was born on 8 August 1930 and passed away peacefully on 30 September 2023 at the age of 93 years.

John attended Bigshotte Prep School before joining Bradfield and he was there alongside many other Bradfieldians. Speaking earlier this year of his time at Prep School John said: “As a feed school for Bradfield, Bigshotte produced many famous OBs especially in the late 1920s and 30s. Gordon Brierley was Headmaster for 27 years. We all loved our school to the extent we had an old boys’ lunch every year until five years ago when it became too much to organise. I went there at the outbreak of war, my brother followed and many of my family. I have the fondest memories; I could reminisce for hours about it.”

Army House 1948

John joined Bradfield in January 1944 and was in Army House where he went on to become a House Prefect. He played in the second XI hockey and cricket teams in 1948, was part of the athletics team and also a Lance Corporal in the Junior Training Corps, which later would be known as the Combined Cadet Force. His brother Anthony (C 52-56) also became a Bradfieldian.

Brian Whalley (E 44-48) was one of John’s longest serving school friends and remembers him as a classicist who ‘fagged’ for an older boy in his first year and helped the Prefect with his Greek homework, so was relieved of some of his duties as a result. Amusingly he also remembers one particular inter-House cricket match in which John, who was a slogger of a cricket ball, hit the ball as hard as he could towards Bryan on the boundary referring to him as a “dropper” and Bryan on this occasion caught the ball thus depriving John of his runs!

After Bradfield John went to study at the London University College of Estate Management before becoming a Chartered Auctioneer and Estate Agent. He became a Partner at D E & J Levy on Piccadilly in SW1 working there for nearly sixty years until 2009 when he set up his own business.

John was married to his wife Judy for 60 years and his two children Benjamin (A 85-90) and Grace (J 94- 96) also attended Bradfield College. He had two grandchildren Humphrey and Jeanie.

In 1988, as a Council member (1986- 2000), John recommended a new approach to College fundraising with the creation of an independent fundraising entity which was founded in April 1990 and known as The Bradfield Foundation. John became a Trustee and worked tirelessly to help fundraise alongside his contemporaries. Major projects included Squash Courts, which bear his name, the 9-hole Golf Course, Blackburn Science Centre and Greek Theatre restoration.

He did a great deal and said little about it. A man of great courtesy and generosity, and beneath it all a very learned man. His service to the College he loved is beyond compare.

Peter Smith, Headmaster 1985-2003

He was also behind the suggestion in the late 1990s that a full-time Secretary be appointed for the OB Society, enhancing the two hours per week provided by Basil Johnson. From that suggestion The Bradfield Society was born. As one of life’s “doers” he often used his powers of persuasion to improve the College in so many areas, including the conversion of the Masters’ Tennis Court below Hall into the Sunken Garden that exists today.

Peter Smith was the Headmaster (1985-2003) during John’s entire stint on the Council and said he exemplified the best of Bradfield. “He did a great deal and said little about it. A man of great courtesy and generosity, and beneath it all a very learned man. Most will recognise the businessman and the sportsman, but he was a learned scholar too – in art, architecture, history, calligraphy (what beautiful letters he could craft!) and all things Italian. He wore his learning lightly. His service to the College he loved is beyond compare.”

John was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2002 Birthday Honours for charitable services, especially to health and education. He was a long-time friend of Margaret Thatcher, who he had worked alongside before, during and after her time as Prime Minister. The photograph of John and Margaret was taken around 1998 when she opened an office building in Golden Square for Dormeuil Freres alongside John.

In 2012 John generously donated a 17th Century Verona Marble Wellhead from his garden to Bradfield which is now placed at the side of Big School in Quad surrounded by flower beds and underplanted with roses.

John was a steadfast supporter of Bradfield Waifs cricket and a regular guest at Waifs Week. He played frequently for the Waifs from the year after leaving Bradfield in 1949 right through to 1972. At his peak John made 13 appearances for the team in 1955 and was recorded with a batting average of 17 runs. James Wyatt (G 58-63) noted that it was John who instigated the ordering of Waifs cricket sweaters in club colours to smarten up the team and remembers him always being immaculately dressed and that his selection for the Sussex Martlets cricket team could have been won on his appearance alone! Bryan Whalley also noted that although John was a very successful man, he was not flamboyant at any time in his life. John’s last visit to Waifs Week was in July 2022 with friends ‘Jumbo’ Fuller (H 51-56) and Bryan. He also enjoyed a trip around the College in a Golf Cart to see his garden in Quad.

The current Headmaster, Dr Christopher Stevens, got to know John well both in College and as one of the guests he generously hosted to lunch at his beloved London clubs. Most recently he met with John in September 2023 and found him as interested in the College as ever, enduringly supportive of Bradfield in his words and deeds, typically wise in his observations, and justifiably proud of an institution very much in his debt. His positive influence on the people and the place will prove a fitting legacy.

Compiled by Karen Ward, The Bradfield Society

John Bodie Remembered by Peter Smith, Headmaster 1985-2003

When the then-Warden, Sir Gordon Palmer, invited John Bodie to join the Council in 1986, he knew he was getting a man with an enduring love for his old school, with an acute business brain, and with an experience and expertise in property development and management surpassed by none. What he could not have anticipated, however, was that this was merely the tip of the iceberg, and that there would be few areas of School life that did not benefit from John’s wise benevolence over the next 15 years.

As a governor and a long-serving member of Council’s most important sub-committee, the Finance Committee, John was at the forefront of the big changes that were taking place in the financial strategy of the School and the consequent developments in its estate. Remarkably for an Old Bradfieldian of conservative instincts, he readily bought into the idea that, if the School was to grow and prosper, then it was necessary to abandon the cautiously prudent approach to investment whereby no new facility could be started until savings had been safely accumulated in the bank. Instead, if the business case was strong enough, John argued that Council should take the risk: investment would be justified by future receipts. When other governors, for instance, wavered over whether a second girls’ house should be embarked upon so soon after the first, he sought assurances that the marketing position was strong and then threw his weight behind the proposal. This was important, because when John spoke (which was relatively rarely), others listened. His view was respected by all, whether they be City lawyers or Vice-Chancellors. Moreover, together with Warden Richard Stanley, he was responsible for the recruitment to Council of some really effective governors.

This ambition for Bradfield was behind his work in the establishment of the Bradfield Foundation. It was John who brought up the idea of a permanent fund-raising office (as opposed to ad hoc individual appeals), and it was he who, along with a few others, made it happen in practice. He was a very effective, practical man. For instance, the first tranche of Foundation donors came largely from his circle of Bradfieldian acquaintances. He had the idea and he made it happen.

This financial energy soon made itself apparent in the development of the estate, and in all aspects of property development John was always at the Bursar’s right hand. He introduced one of his favoured London architects, DEGW, to design both the Sports Complex and Faulkners House. He was determined that each new building should in some way enhance Bradfield’s beautiful environment. When others were troubled at the cost of en suite facilities in new boarding houses, John looked to the future. A traditionalist at heart, he could nevertheless sense the wind of change. If boarding was to survive, it had to change.

But there was so much more to John than finance, business and property. He handled the difficult role of parent-governor, when first Ben and then Grace were in the School, with great restraint and wisdom. He made sure that the interests of the Old Bradfieldian Society were properly represented in Council. College sport, in all its manifestations, received his full support. Members of staff valued his encouragement and his many private kindnesses. His love of horticulture found expression in the design of the College garden (the former Masters’ tennis court) by his recruitment of the distinguished garden designer Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall. His gift of an Italian Rosso marble well-head enhances Quad just outside the door to Big School.

John exemplified the best of Bradfield. He did a great deal and said little about it. A man of great courtesy and generosity, and beneath it all a very learned man. Most will recognise the businessman and the sportsman, but he was a learned scholar too – in art, architecture, history, calligraphy (what beautiful letters he could craft!) and all things Italian. He wore his learning lightly. His service to the College he loved is beyond compare.

From the October 2023 issue of
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