“Brilliant,” “Inspirational,” “Exceptional.” These are just some of the adjectives used by St Mary’s old boys to describe Adrian Jarvis who died recently at the age of 96.

Adrian was the former English and Drama Master at the school who established the much-admired annual plays which, under his production and direction, drew widespread praise.

Adrian was born in Manchester in 1925, the son of an artist who painted church murals. After marrying his wife Monica Woolcock, Adrian joined St Mary’s in September 1956, just before the move to the new school and the acquisition of Grammar status.

A devotee of The Goons, Adrian’s lessons were, by all accounts, hugely entertaining affairs and he instilled a love of literature and poetry in many.

Yet it was on the fine new stage in the assembly hall where he most famously plied his trade and, from Dr Faustus in 1957 to Macbeth in 1966, he won huge admiration for his productions and brought out the best in boys like Wilfrid Lockwood, Martin Merson, Edward Bell, David McAuliffe, Mick O’Hara, Martin Riley and Roy Cecil.

In 1965, Adrian’s eldest son Martin started at St Mary’s but the following year Adrian and his wife Monica decided to move to Canada. Their stay across the Atlantic was short-lived and the following year they returned when Adrian landed a job at the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. Their second son, Stephen, attended St Mary’s between 1967 and 1970 when the family returned to Canada, along with daughter Helen and third son, David, this time staying for much longer, returning to the UK in the mid 1980s.

Shortly after this project began, I started hearing tales of Adrian and realised how highly-regarded he was. It was a delight when I was told by former Principal Secretary Frances Lovett that he was alive and well and living near Barnstaple in Devon. I was able to have several highly enjoyable and entertaining conversations with him and he had retained that infectious zeal which so many old boys had told me about.

It was his son Stephen who told me that Adrian died on 1 February aged 96 in North Devon District Hospital, surrounded by his family. He suffered a fall but then developed a chest infection which resulted in his death.

Stephen said: “Dad was amazingly well-read and very knowledgeable. He was also incredibly generous and gave to well over 20 charities. He loved the theatre and enjoyed slapstick humour, as well as being a big fan of the likes of Laurel & Hardy and Jacques Tati and the silliness of The Goons.”

Back in Devon, Adrian and Monica formed a theatre company called Stage West which performed a number of plays in the St Ives area of Cornwall. He was a voracious reader, enjoyed gardening and was actively involved in his local Catholic Church, ironically also called St Mary’s, in Barnstaple.

The book, which will be published later this year, contains many tributes to Adrian but for now let this from John ‘Buck’ Hennessy (St Mary’s 1958 to 1963) suffice:

“What a wonderful teacher he was – so full of life, humanity and care. We were also lucky to have him as our Form Tutor and for French. Suffice to say that amongst my modest collection of ‘O’ Levels were English Language, English Literature and French. All due to the enthusiasm of one marvellous man.”