Martin Strawson's Memorial Website

We had a great time when Martin visited us in Japan. Things that stand out were his attempts at speaking Japanese which he had been studying earnestly at evening classes. Only whenever he got stuck for word he'd revert into French and completely baffle people. It was funniest when he then started to try and speak French to the owner of a French restaurant we went to.

He visited us in February which was pretty chilly. Martin could not get over having to take your shoes off when going round tourist sights like temples which obviously weren't heated. he eventually took to carrying additional pairs of socks.
I'm sure he got everywhere. Bumping into him on the cliffs at Bambrugh was pretty bizarre but he seemed to take it completely in his stride.
I'm certain that I needn't mention Martin's ability to talk the hind legs off a donkey and I'm sure you'll have a lot of stories to that effect. I guess that was what drove him to master a range of other languages most recently Spanish. Most recently he seemed completely oblivious to Ed and my efforts to punt us through end of term carnage on the river as he merrily nattered away to us ten to the dozen. All in all so many funny memories. Just sitting down to write this makes me think of more but I shall stop there. Claire Phillips

How this for amusing.... when we were all living in France and v poor, we entertained ourselves of an evening by playing the board game Risk.... in fact you could say we got a bit obsessed by it. a bottle of red, a locked door, and it was 'let battle commence'. One night we stayed up until 4am playing it, and poor Martin had to go to work the next day, but we wouldn't let him leave until world domination had been achieved. He was so tired the next day getting up for work that he accidentally put travel wash on his hair instead of hair gel, and only realised when it started to rain and his hair started to froth... I still have an email somewhere with him ranting 'look at the time! it is 7am I have had 3 hours sleep thanks to bloody Risk!!!' It still makes me chuckle. Rachel McClusky

During our final year at uni, Martin and I shared a flat in Selly Oak along with Amy, Mike and Caroline. We had a lot of fun that year, even though we were all busy with exam stress. Martin, of course, possessed special powers with amazing abilities to sit at his desk learning more biology than should ever have been possible. But he also always had a lot of time for the rest of us; for our flat dinners, pub trips, for the Guild and for Yoga lessons with sparkly Olga. Of course living together is always an interesting experience. Martin, having a never-ending supply of energy, would be up, breakfasted and working before the rest of us had even considered the possibility of
getting out of bed. Caroline, on the other hand, was able to re-press the doze button on her alarm clock at least four times whilst apparently still being asleep. Owing to the impressive cardboard walls of our converted-office flat, the rest of us would be very
aware that Caroline had planned to get up half an hour ago. Late one morning, bemused as to how anyone could
possibly continue to sleep in the same room as this ringing alarm clock, Martin decided to offer a helping-hand. I remember him standing in the corridor with a look of mischievous amusement on his face, banging the bottom of a large saucepan with a wooden spoon. It was a hilariously funny sight. And just one of many Martin-moments. Katherine Bainbridge

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