Peter Calver (OB 1961-1968)

Peter Calver, who died on 19 January aged 75 after a brief and devastating encounter with bowel cancer, was a man of formidable intellect and wide-ranging curiosity.

Educated at Brentwood School as a scholarship boy, Peter’s academic gifts were evident early on. According to a meticulous spreadsheet of significant dates he kept throughout his life, he sat his O-levels in 1966 and A-levels in 1967 and 1968, and during those years took part in the British Mathematical Olympiad. He may have spent an initial year in the Prep School, though even Peter himself left that detail intriguingly uncertain.

After leaving Brentwood, Peter went on to study Accounting and Commerce at Southampton University. True to form, he began work in the City on the Monday following his final examinations, embarking on a career that combined mathematical precision with entrepreneurial flair.

Peter later founded two highly successful and very different businesses. In 1985 he established Audiogenic, which developed and published celebrity-endorsed football, cricket, rugby and other sports games for home computer consoles, delighting thousands of players until the market shifted decisively towards PC gaming. Some years later, he founded Lost Cousins, a genealogy website launched over 23 years ago which went on to earn the loyalty and respect of thousands of amateur and professional family historians around the world. The site reflected Peter’s love of logic, detail and problem-solving, as well as his generosity in sharing knowledge.

Much of Peter’s ambition, perseverance and mathematical gift were honed at Brentwood. Although, as a schoolboy, he may have felt that the Masters did not always know as much as he did, he later came to appreciate that the School gave him far more than an opportunity to demonstrate intellectual prowess. It instilled habits of thinking, resilience and independence that served him throughout his life, well beyond the realms of formulae and slide rules.

Peter is remembered as a devoted husband to Sian, a loving brother to Sue and Andy, and a valued friend and colleague to many. He combined sharp intellect with dry humour, a strong sense of principle and an enduring curiosity about the world and its patterns.

A memorial service to celebrate Peter’s life will take place at Old Park Meadow Natural Burial Ground, Essex, on Friday 6th March at 1pm, with refreshments to follow. In keeping with Peter’s wishes, formal black attire is not required, and some of his silk ties will be available for guests to wear or keep as a memento.