We have received the following announcement from the Royal High School Club in Edinburgh.
The Royal High School Club is sad to announce the death of Dr John Murray. John, who was aged 77, died suddenly at home on Monday 19th April in Le Gouzot, France. His funeral has already taken place.
John arrived at the Royal High in 1971 as Principal Teacher of Music after the death of Bill Bowie, becoming Assistant Rector in 1979, then Depute Rector in 1985, a position he held until his retirement in 2003. He was also Acting Rector in 1998.
John will forever be associated with the School music trips, the first of which was to Florence in 1975, then many more to Munich. He also made a major contribution to School sports, especially rugby.
In 1997, his volume ‘A History of the Royal High School’ was published and remains the enduring hardback history to this day.
We feel sure that given a relaxation in Covid restrictions, some form of celebration of John’s life will be held in due course, and the Royal High School Club will consider it a privilege to be part of it.
The grapevine has been hot with tributes to John, and support for Joan.
For more tributes and photographs see the Edinburgh RHS Club’s website
The photo shows Dr John Murray when he was Guest Speaker at our Annual Dinner at the Cavendish Hotel in London in March 2006.
His experiences touring Europe with 80 pupils for the School music trips are recounted in Music In Europe
Mr Murray was a bully and a fool. He suspended me from school for something I hadn’t done. Relying on a prefects version of events (to which he subscribed to) I was sent home with immediate effect. When I arrived home I told my mum what had happened. She knows me and by that I mean she knows if I’m telling the truth or not. On this particular occasion she realised I was telling the truth Unfortunately for JM my mum drove me straight up to the school and marched me into his office. He was put in his place quite quickly. My mums a Geordie from Gateshead good luck posh Liverpudlian. My suspension from school was lifted, however I seldom went back to said school. Thanks JM. I ended up with no qualifications because of a number of things you were incapable of. I’ve read a lot of nostalgia about you but the truth is, you were not very good at your job.