John Bramble obituary

My erstwhile tutor John Bramble, who has died aged 78, was 1 of a radical of Latinists who, betwixt the precocious 1960s and 80s, utilized caller captious approaches to rejuvenate the survey of past Latin texts.

John was calved successful Salford to Clifton Bramble, a concern manager successful the Manchester Corporation’s transport department, and Louisa (nee Murray), an head with the Co-operative wholesale society.

He was educated astatine Manchester grammar schoolhouse and past astatine Cambridge University, wherever helium gained a first-class classics grade and a archetypal people successful portion of an English degree. He went connected to bash postgraduate enactment connected the Roman writer Lucan’s savagely pessimistic epic connected the civilian warfare betwixt Julius Caesar and Pompey. In 1967 helium was elected to a inferior probe fellowship astatine Peterhouse, and successful 1970 helium moved from Cambridge to Oxford to instrumentality up a fellowship successful classics astatine Corpus Christi College.

With his person Oliver Lyne, John introduced to Oxford excitingly caller ways of reasoning astir Latin literature. In his unconventional tutorials, looking astatine a Latin poem mightiness alternate with listening to Jimi Hendrix arsenic a mode of exploring however the latter’s reworking of The Star-Spangled Banner could formed airy connected Horace’s show arsenic an Augustan propagandist.

His published output, portion not prolific, included invaluable contributions connected the Roman poets Catullus, Lucan, and Persius.

John’s different passions included motorbikes and gardening. As Corpus Christi’s plot master, helium was instrumental successful appointing arsenic assemblage gardener David Leake, who created 1 of the slightest accepted of assemblage gardens, with towering bamboo and meandering marrows successful the Corpus beforehand quad.

In 1986 John took aboriginal status from Corpus connected wellness grounds. He was to person galore years of progressive retirement, creating good gardens successful the assorted homes successful which helium lived and pursuing his intelligence interests successful a succession of antithetic places, arsenic restless successful assemblage arsenic helium was successful mind. He developed an involvement successful the reception of oriental religion and mysticism successful the modern world, and wrote a singular publication titled Modernism and the Occult (2015).

Having a spiritual attachment to Tibetan Buddhism, helium spent clip connected retreat astatine the Kagyu Samye Ling monastery astatine Eskdalemuir successful Scotland. In his past home, successful Totnes, Devon, helium became a regular visitant to the town’s Golden Buddha Centre.

He is survived by his sister Christine.