Bruce Perkins (1960)

Bruce Graham Langton Perkins was born on January 10^th, 1940, the eldest son of Hector and Gladys, at the family home, 49 Restons Crescent, Eltham. A younger brother, Duncan, arrived in 1945 and after the war the family settled in Eltham where Bruce attended Roper Street Primary School.

From 1951 he attended Dulwich College, representing the school at rugby, hockey and cricket. It was following a serious injury on the rugby field in his early teens that he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes – a condition that he would have to manage carefully for the rest of his life.

In 1960 he took up a place at Queens’ College, Cambridge to read Modern & Medieval Languages, specialising in German and developing a deep knowledge of both language and culture. As a student he was also a keen hockey player and a member of the Cambridge Union Debating Society.

After graduating Bruce joined the Modern Foreign Languages Department of Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith where he spent his entire professional career, playing a key role in the development of the school’s German Exchange Programme with the Johanneum, Hamburg (possibly the longest running school language exchange in Europe). As a keen music-lover Bruce developed an extensive knowledge of classical music and was a devoted member of the school choir. He was also an enthusiastic and effective coach of rugby and cricket at school level and continued to play cricket well into middle life, captaining the Old Latymerians’ Sunday 1^st XI for the best part of a decade.

Following his retirement in 2000 Bruce continued to indulge his love of sport. He still followed rugby closely and was both a member and regular attendee at Kent County Cricket Club. However, he became increasingly disillusioned with men’s sport and his interest switched to the women’s game, and rugby in particular. From 2017 until shortly before his death on April 8^th 2026 he contributed more than two thousand articles to the “4 The Love of Sport” website, helping to elevate the profile of women’s rugby.

Bruce bore his lifelong diabetes with great fortitude, learning over time how to manage the disease discreetly. He was a member of Diabetes UK and was immensely proud of his collection of medals awarded in recognition of the courage and perseverance of living with diabetes for over 50, 60 and 70 years.

Written by Bruce’s family.