Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑Mon Aug 15, 2022 5:03 pm
A few familiar names there, and some I've played. I wonder if P Dean (Game 248 - 1955.09.12, good to see ISO Standard date format) might be Dr Paul Dean, Director of National Physical Laboratory 1977-1990. If he retired at the usual (then) age of 60, that does not quite fit, but he might have left early. He might have upset someone as he does not appear to have been given a CB or whatever on retirement. He was graded 190ish when I played him in the Surrey League.
I've struggled a bit with P/Paul Dean previously. (Players with only one forename initial and a common surname are always a trial. By contrast it is usually surprisingly easy to track down forenames for players with three forename initials and a common surname so long as you're looking for them on FindMyPast and not Ancestry.) These are the various P Dean references on BritBase. There's a P Dean who played in the 1963 British Under-18 Championship, scoring a respectable 6/11. No place of residence given. Another (or the same) P Dean played in the 1975 Major Open, scoring 5½/11, no place of residence available. Then, a Dr P Dean (Sutton) scored 4½/11 in the 1979 Major Open, which I assume is Kevin's aforementioned Dr Paul Dean. It's reasonable to assume it's the same Dr P Dean who made the same score in the 1980 Major Open. And 4½/11 again (such consistency) as P Dean in the 1984 Major Open.
That's it as regards text references on BritBase. In my databases I have a P Dean playing three games in the 1950s, one at the 1955 Bognor and two at the same event in 1959. I have one game from the 1960s, from the aforementioned 1963 British Under-18 Championship and I seem to have identified him as Paul Dean (though I'm beginning to have my doubts about the "Paul"). And, courtesy of Geoff Chandler, I have a game played by Dr Paul Dean from the 1974 Paignton Premier in which he drew with Dr JM Aitken. That's the lot.
Further snippet of info: Dr P Dean was graded 5a (177-184) on the
1961 BCF Grading List and his club affiliation given as "NPL, Waltham-Leyton".
So there would seem to be two P Deans on BritBase, Dr Paul Dean born around 1930 and the other P Dean born around 1945.
This photo found online of Dr Paul Dean, director NPL, taken in 1980, would appear to be of a man born around 1930. I don't see why this should be inconsistent with the P Dean who played Leon Rosselson in the 1955 British Universities Championship as he could have been a post-grad student somewhere. One also has to bear in mind National Service which sometimes accounts for students being a bit older in the pre-1960 period than they usually are these days.
The grading list has five P Deans, plus a Paul A Dean of Bournemouth. One is a Paul Dean of Wallington who last played in 1999 and had a grade of 169. Is he the NPL man? My feeling is that all the P Deans above were Dr Paul Dean, born around 1930, except for the younger 1963 British U18 competitor who is as yet unidentified (which means I'll have to amend the 1963 file to change him from "Paul" to "P").
