Notable OJs



Sir Paul Bryan DSO MC
The former Conservative MP went into politics after distinguished service in the Second World War and he rose to be Minister of State at the Employment Department under Edward Heath. He helped to shape the Conservative Party in the 1980s and was also chairman of the all-party Hong Kong group during the same decade. At St John's, he became the youngest member of the First XI, was a drummer in the school band and became a stalwart member of the choir. He died in 2004.


Gavin Hewitt
He became a Special Correspondent for BBC News in 2000. Since then he has reported on many major stories both at home and abroad including the September 11 terror attacks, the Bali bombing and the Iraq crisis. Mr Hewitt, who was born in London, has also spent time in America as the BBC's Washington Correspondent.


Sir Anthony Hope
He was born in 1863 and was a lawyer who wrote novels in his spare time. The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) was an international success but none of his later novels, including the sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898), enjoyed such popularity. He died in 1933.


Father Vivian Redlich
He was a missionary in Papua New Guinea when the Japanese invaded in 1942. The decision to remain at his post led to his beheading in August that year. Our Chapel is dedicated to the martyr who attended St John's from 1916 to 1917. The island's Martyr's Memorial School was founded in 1948 as a memorial.


Lord Richard Rogers
He was born in Florence, Italy, in 1933 and was sent to Britain before the outbreak of the Second World War. He is regarded as one of Britain's most influential architects with projects including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Lloyds building in London and the Millennium Dome. Lord Rogers has become the second British architect to be commissioned to help design buildings at Ground Zero in New York, the site of the terrorist attacks.


Victor Silvester OBE
As England's top dance band leader, he sold 75 million records over a recording career which lasted 50 years. He won the World Dancing Championship in 1922 and by the early 1930s was the most renowned dance teacher in England - a reputation which quickly spread worldwide. By 1937, he had his own dance music programme on the BBC, eventually making 6,500 broadcasts. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1961 for services to ballroom dancing. He died in 1978 whilst on holiday in France.


The Venerable Ted Ward
The Venerable Ted Ward was Archdeacon of Sherborne from 1967 to 1984 and before that spent 12 years as Chaplain of the Royal Chapel in Windsor Great Park. At Windsor he was responsible for the Sunday services attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, and by members of the Royal Household. He retired in 1984 to Alresford in Hampshire. He died in November 2005 at the age of 86.


Sir Leonard Woolley
He was born in London in 1880. The son of a clergyman, he made his name after discovering the tombs of Mesopotamian royals in present-day Iraq, in the 1920s. The renowned archaeologist was knighted for his achievements in 1935. He died in 1960.