Perhaps that should be ‘friend and work colleague’, since anyone who knew Dave in any context was, for him, by definition a ‘friend’. All the tributes so far submitted make it hard for a latecomer to the site, such as I, to say anything original. But then, surely that is in itself a testimony to the quality of the bloke. We were both given jobs in the Hall Cross English department on the same day and (typically, as it turned out!) we finished that day together walking back to Doncaster rail station and having a pint together before our trains arrived. From that point on I regarded him as a ‘mate’…. and look back with wistful pride on the fact that from that day he would address me, as he would so many others, as ‘mate’. On the teaching front, my eighteen years seniority to him in terms of experience counted for nothing, he taught me more about the skills of classroom teaching than he will ever have known, not that I always put those lessons into practice. Like everyone who has responded to these tributes so far I always regarded Dave’s friendship as a gift, and if ever Dave was absent from a social or professional gathering of which he’d normally be a part then that gathering was crucially incomplete. And it will poignantly remain so from now on. I’ve observed elsewhere how Dave had the ability to hold an audience even though quite often he didn’t have the slightest idea he was doing so, indeed he would be appalled to be told that he was in any way central to whichever context he found himself. He gave of himself as a matter of routine, it was who he was, and his students as well as his friends loved him for it. It’s no exaggeration to say that you always looked forward to being with him, whatever the circumstances, and there can be no greater testimony to this fact than that his students shared that anticipation with his friends and colleagues. The affection and respect that we had for him was none the less profound for those he taught, as James has so movingly testified. He had a capacity for rapport that I envied and was at the same time in awe of, and a crucial ingredient of this rapport was his ability to empathise intellectually and emotionally with everyone he came into contact with. He was able to pitch his erudition perfectly, without ever giving the impression of showing off or patronising his audience, and he gave his attention unconditionally to all who responded to his generosity. Given his love for and insight into music, ‘pitch perfect’ perhaps goes some small way to achieving the impossible when we try to sum Dave up. Dave was quite simply the kindest and most generous bloke I’ve ever known, and was permanently tuned in to give of himself in the interests of whoever might be with him. A really lovely man, and I hope the memories I have of him can go at least some way to filling the gap in my life he’s left behind.