The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 21

OBITUARIES 1 21 The Guardian Saturday November 8 1997 Baroness Patricia Llewelyn-Davies The politics of charm Face to Faith Buddhism distorted Vlshvapanl and 1959 earned her coverage. But few remember run-ners-up. Her next decade was spent as director of the African Educational Trust, talent-spotting clever young Africans like Robert Mugabe for further education. Later, from her place in the Lords, she helped convince Lord Carrington to back radical Mugabe rather than the UK's original choice as Zimbabwe's first leader, Joshua Nkomo. She only began to come out of obscurity when made a life for practising Buddhism in the West, the appropriate forms could only be discovered through open-minded exploration in the light of Buddhist principles.

This approach of working from principles has made the FWBO idealistic, flexible and creative. While these qualities have produced its considerable success, they have also led it into difficult areas. Principles are fine, but they are abstract, and spiritual life needs deeply to touch one's emotions. One difficulty concerns the lifestyle of residential communities that emerged from the FWBO's explorations. Many people follow this because of benefits they experience and limitations they see in conventional alternatives.

But suggesting some conditions are more favourable for spiritual practice can be misunderstood as a dogmatic rejection of the alternatives. The commentators quoted by the Guardian misunderstand the FWBO in this way, and the same misunderstanding gives rise to a genuine difficulty within the FWBO. People with families can be left feeling marginalised, or implicitly criticised even if that is not intended and the FWBO is grappling with the challenge of including people with families while still valuing the benefits of communal living. There have been occasions when the FWBO has deserved criticism. It can be a short step from an idealistic assertion that one thing is better than another to saying "we are good, and they are Outsiders, internal failings, even one's own personal weaknesses, can be disowned or rejected in a way that legitimises negative emotions, rigidity and group exclusivity.

This, I believe, is what happened at the FWBO centre described in the article. cessors' white-feathered helmet, gold-laced epaulettes and jangling spurs on ceremonial occasions. Instead she wore one of her lovely dresses made, curiously, by the dressmaker who could not be similarly inspired by Mrs Thatcher adorned by a badge designed by Garrards, the Crown jeweller. Pat was troubled more by her central task of opposing 400 Tory peers (plus another 100 disguised as Cross-benchers) with 140 ageing Labour peers, of whom only 90 would turn up on a three-line Whip. She had trouble with the vinegarish nonagenarian Lord Shinwell, whose truculence could force her to snap: "I am about to propose a motion for the abolition of ever-body over 90!" She was also angry that Baroness Fal-kender (Harold Wilson's political secretary, the former Marcia Williams) would not speak and.

initially, would not even vote. Like many former left-wingers in the Lords, she went slightly native there. In 1976 she told Jean Rook of the Daily Express: "I would rather hope that things here will go on as they are. The Lords is the ideal second chamber unprejudiced by reactionary constituents' views, not under direct party pressure, and very civilised, good-mannered and well-ordered." At Labour's 1977 conference she tried to stop a motion to abolish the Lords by urging the abolition of all hereditary titles, while warning that Labour had to think through what they wanted to put in the place of hereditar-ies in a badly-needed second chamber. The abolition vote was carried by 6,248,000 to 91,000, under the leadership of TGWU chief Jack Jones, who had refused a life peerage.

Bound by that vote she then helped work out a reform including the abolition of the hereditaries. ARONESS Patricia Llewelyn-Davies, of the great I charming achiev ers of her era. has died at 82. She had nine years coaxing tired old men to come out to vote as Labour's first woman Chief Whip in the Lords, from 1973. Before that she had another career as a talent-spotter of young Africans, including one Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's current president.

Although the onset of ME caused her to give up as Chief Whip in 1982, she concentrated her remaining energies on favourite crusades. In 1993-94, with Lord Walton, she backed euthanasia, an old enthusiasm. In 1987-88 she abandoned her usual restraint to tongue-lash Catholic peers friends like Lord Longford and opponents like Lord Rawlinson for resisting a woman's right to choose. In 1989 she again smote Lord Longford on behalf of childless couples when he opposed embryo experimentation. She never achieved the fame she merited, despite being married for 37 years to the renowned architect and town planner Richard Llewellyn-Davies, the creator of Milton Keynes, who became a peer before her.

This was because her own career involved four rounds of worthy obscurity. Her first 11 years, 1940-51, were served as an administrative civil servant, mainly under Philip Noel-Baker, whom she accompanied to the Security Council when he was Bevin's number two at the Foreign Office. Her next decade, 1951-59, was dimmed by being Labour's runner-up in three Tory-won contests, beginning with her defeat by Enoch Powell in Wolverhampton SW in 1951. Her beauty and her publicity sense she campaigned from a London taxi and then a bubble car in Wandsworth Central in 1955 Philip Marsden Baroness Patricia Llewelyn-Davies Labour's first woman chief whip in the Lords friend Burgess as another ten tinck Street, London, house to Blunt and Burgess, and being involved in orgies there. "The truth is," wrote right-wing spy-writer Chapman Pincher, "that Rothschild and his first wife had offered accommodation to two former Cambridge friends, Patrica Parry and Tess Mayor.

When Rothschild was posted out of London by MI5 he wanted to dispose of the lease and offered it to the two young women. They could not afford the rent, and as the accommodation was on three floors, it was agreed that they could sublet to friends. One of these friends was Anthony Blunt, then in MI5 and seemingly above suspicion. He suggested his Sabatino Moscati Punic words Medicine for Brazil 's THE GUARDIAN'S article on the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (October 27) touched on issues of genuine concern, especially in its criticisms of the FWBO centre that went badly wrong in the 1980s. While it is good to explore these issues the sensationalised article is a poor starting point.

It got many things wrong and took others out of context. It made false links between particular difficulties and the FWBO as a whole, and offered a travestied version of the FWBO's teachings that were said to legitimise them. For the record, nobody I know in the FWBO is a misogynist, family-hating promoter of homosexuality. Actually, we're Buddhists. But saying this begs the question: what does it mean to be a Buddhist in the West? How can Buddhist teachings be a meaningful, spiritual path for Western ers, and not just an exotic hobby? The FWBO can only be understood as an attempt to answer these questions.

Several approaches have been taken in bringing Buddhism to the West, all of which have limitations. If one simply transplants a Buddhist tradition from Asia, it will come encased in Asian cultural forms that are liable to hinder the Dharma from meeting the real spiritual needs of Westerners. Then again, if one just picks those bits of Buddhism that seem appealing and relevant, the Dharma will be filtered through one's pre-existing concerns (say, those of psychotherapy) and its distinctive message will be obscured. The FWBO takes a third ap proach. Sangharakshita in sists that the varied and divided Buddhist tradition has an underlying unity.

All schools teach a path to Enlightenment, and define this path through common principles. When Sangharakshita founded the FWBO in 1967 he wanted to strip the tradition back to this essence so that a new Western Buddhism could develop as ex perience showed how univer sal Buddhist principles could be expressed in the new con text. The prize was great making Buddhism a viable spiritual path for the modem world and a force for good in society. But how could the ideals be lived out? The fluid conditions of modern society posed many questions Buddhism never faced in traditional societies. What lifestyles are most sup portive of Buddhist practice? What teachings are most rele vant? What is the role of mo- nasticism, and what is the place of sexuality in the spiritual life? A short-cut to establishing a religious tradition is imposing rules and structures which define acceptable behaviour.

But the FWBO aim ot creating conditions for spiritual transformation goes far beyond mere religious observance. Without a pre-existing model CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS ON PAGE 2 on November 6, Sir Christopher Bland was described as the director general of the BBC. He is, of course, the chairman of the BBC. DAVID McKie in his column on the Comment page on Thursday, November 6, mis takenly described the UK In dependence Party as "now de It isn't, and its headquarters remain at 80 Regent Street, London, W1R 5PE. It's the policy of the Guardian to correct errors as soon as possible.

Readers may contact the office of the Headers Editor, Ian Mayes, by telephoning 0171 239 9589 from 11am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Fax: 0171 239 9897. E-mail: Ian.Mayesguardian.co.uk Olympic horsewoman, 44; Lord Greenhill, former head of the Diplomatic Service, 84; Admiral Sir Nicholas Hunt, director-general, Chamber of Shipping, 67; Michael Jackaman, former chairman, AUied-Domecq, 62; Dame Gwyneth Jones, operatic soprano, 61; Wolf Mankowitz, author and playwright, 73; Joni Mitchell, singer and songwriter, 54; Jonathan Palmer, racing driver, 41; Dr Ralegh Radford, archaeologist, 97; Jean Shrimpton (Mrs Jean Cox), hotelier, former model, 55; Dame Joan Sutherland, operatic soprano, 71; Helen Suz-man, South African liberal champion, 80; Sir Anthony Wheeler, architect, 78; Peter Wilby, literary editor, New Statesman, 53. On Labour's return to office she chuckled throatily over her new, style title peer in 1967, one of Harold Wilson's vintage years. To distinguish her title from her husband's, she originally wanted to be called Lady Hamilton, her mother's maiden name.

But the College of Heralds thought the Earl Nelson of Trafalgar might take offence. Her intelligence, charm and manipulative skills enabled her to soar ahead. A government whip (or Baroness-in-waiting) in 1969-70, she became Deputy Chief Whip in 1972 and was elected the first female Chief Whip over two male rivals in 1973. On Labour's return to office in 1974, she chuckled throatily over her new, Gilbert-and-Sullivan style title of Captain of Her Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, as Henry Vm had dubbed them in 1509. Luckily, the Queen agreed that, at 5ft 4ins, Pat did not have to wear her male prede to Cornell Medical Center, for life.

Back in London, his imagination was fired by two infectious diseases prevalent in Latin America. The first, South American trypanosomiasis, or Chagas disease, appealed to him because the infectious agent was transmitted by a large bloodsucking insect that infested poor rural housing. The infection caused heart disease that affected millions of people and could also lead to gross enlargements of the gut, or The second disease, also transmitted by an insect, was mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, which although less prevalent than Chagas disease, caused monstrous destructive lesions of the face. His vigour and enthusiasm helped to encourage the Wellcome Trust's interest in tropical medicine and to motivate the Wellcome Harvard London scheme (1971-1981), which seconded young scientists to the tropics and yielded high quality research. He collected a string of degrees and non- confidence, Liberal non-conformity, and a faith in Trotskyism, which long ago insulated him from any illusions about the Soviet Union.

The son of Lord Caradon, and a nephew of Michael Foot, he had a classic establishment education Shrewsbury, Oxford, editor of Isis, president of the Union but fell among lefties as a young reporter in Glasgow. His investigations have long been the backbone of seriousness in Private Eye and were so at the Daily Mirror, until he quit over plans to dumb-down the paper. An early recruit to International Socialists, and now a stalwart of its inheritor, the Socialist Workers' Party, he wins over sceptical audiences with wit, passion, facts and She had come a long way from the Patricia Parry who was born in Bala, North Wales, to a Conservative father who soon mourned: "To think I have fathered a future Bessie Braddock!" the firebrand Labour MP for nearby Liverpool. After attending Liverpool College in Huyton, she went on to Gir-ton, where she was best known for bowling googlies. Among her friends at Cambridge were Victor (later Lord) Rothschild and Anthony Blunt.

Fifty years later, after the Philby, Burgess and Blunt disclosures, former MI5 man Lord Rothschild was accused of letting rooms in his Ben- poor were stimulated by his foresight to dedicate their careers to infectious diseases. Despite all his informality, Philip could be heard respect fully addressing his senior colleagues as Yet he was famous for courageously and self-destructively debunking the egocentric and arrogant, at whatever level. He was the antithesis of those who briefly set foot on Brazil ian soil and fled home, and of those whose inaptitude and insecurity led them to cling to money, status and power. He took them to eat crab and drink rum in the poorest bars, or to drive relentlessly along potholed tracks to reach the latest disease outbreak. He had a theory, which seldom worked in practice, that potholes were best approached at speed, so that he could glide over them, barely shaken.

In 1987, he was prematurely undone by a road accident in the city of Brasilia, which he just survived through the devotion of his second wife, Maria. This left him in constant pain and with his zest for life trapped by declining physical strength. He had scant regard for his condition and was not a good patient. He moved from intense mental activity with his writing, his students and his painting, to periodic despair. A severe stroke committed him to inertia and finally led him to peace.

He is survived by a son and daughter from his first marriage to Sue and by his widow Maria. Michael Miles Philip Davis Marsden, physician, born January 7, 1933: died Octo ber 4, 1997 film actress, 65; Prof Chris-tiaan Barnard, heart transplant pioneer, 75; Ivor Capita, Labour MP, 39; Alain Delon, actor, 62; Ken Dodd, comedian, 66; Elizabeth Gale, opera singer, 49; Edward Goldsmith, editor, the Ecologist, 69; Frederick Gore, painter, 84; Nerys Hughes, actress, 56; Kazuo Ishiguro, author, 43; Rickie Lee Jones, singer, 43; Paul McKenna, hypnotist and broadcaster, 34; Sir Denis Mahon, art historian, 87; Dr Geoffrey Nuttall, ecclesiastical historian, 86; Tadaaki Otaka, conductor, 48; Rifat Ozbek, fashion designer, 44; Pattl Page, singer, 70; Martin Peters, footballer, 54; Morley Safer, writer and television journalist, 65; Prof Sir Robert Shields, surgeon, ant. Pat, then a wartime tem porary administratrive civil servant, served successively in the Ministry of War Trans port, the Air Ministry and the Foreign Office, under Philip Noel-Baker, who much later served under her command when elevated belatedly to the Lords. Apart from many admiring friends, Pat leaves three daughters, Melissa, Harriet Lydia Rose and Rebecca. Andrew Roth Patricia Llewelyn-Davies Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Has- toe, politician, born July 16, 1915; died November 6, 1997 tion in 1946 was on an Islamic subject, but the direction of his later studies was shown 1951 by a monograph on ancient Hebrew inscriptions.

In 1950 he was appointed professor of the history of religions at the University of Florence, followed by another chair that city and an ap pointment in Naples (1953). In 1954 he became professor of Semitic philology at Rome La Sapienza University. Sub sequently he was appointed professor ot Hebrew ana com parative Semitic languages at Tor Vergata University in the capital, where he remained until his retirement in 1992. He was a frequent visiting professor in Britain and the United States. His contributions to Semitic scholarship included a monograph on the history and relationships of the consonants in the Semitic Yes (1954), and his useful Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Lan guages (1964) produced with three other specialists in Arabic and Akkadian.

Moscati was an active director of the Istituto di Studi del Vicino Orients, and of the Centro di Studi Semitici in Rome. He belonged to many institutions both in Italy and abroad, including the British Society for Old Testament Study and most significantly the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (founded in 1603), of which he became a member in 1968, and served as its president in 1994. He is survived by his wife Anna and two daughters. Terence Mitchell Sabatino Moscati, Semitic scholar, born November 24, 1922; died September 8, 1997 Leonard, playwright, 71; Roger McGough, poet, 60; Dame Kathleen Raven, former chief nursing officer, DHSS, 87; Stella Richman, television producer, 75; Tony Slattery, writer and actor, 38; Donald Trelford, former editor, the Observer, 60; Dessa Trevisan, journalist, 73; Marina Warner, writer and critic, 51; Tom Weiskopf, golfer, 55. Yesterday's birthdays: Ian Balding, racehorse trainer, 59; John Barnes, footballer, 34; Air Marshal Sir John Donald, 70; Sir John Egan, chief executive, BAA, 58; the Rev Prof Christopher Evans, theologian, 88; Dr Billy Graham, evangelist, 79; James Gray, Conservative MP, 43; Lucinda Green, LIKE many devotees of tropical medicine, Philip Marsden, who has died aged 64, gave a large slice of his life to working in tough conditions overseas.

In 1971, at the age of 38, his career stood at a crossroads. After achieving considerable academic distinction in this country and the US, he chose to settle in Brazil and work on horrific, neglected diseases that afflicted the poor and had no satisfactory treatment. Brazil embraced him as her own. He was affectionately referred to throughout Latin America as "Felipe" and renowned for his sharp intellect and eccentricity. A popular speaker at national and international conferences, he often arrived in a canary yellow shirt, shorts and luminous socks, with a plastic bag as briefcase, to give a stunning and scholarly exposition on tropical medicine.

As a boy he was an ardent bug hunter and budding entomologist. Educated at the La-tymer Grammar School in Enfield, he went on to read medicine at University College London, became house physician at the Dreadnought Seaman's Hospital in Greenwich and then moved to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in St Pancras Way. He had many rich anecdotes about these years, some unprintable and none written down. Two tours of duty in Africa followed, in the Gambia and in Uganda, from which emerged a treatise and series of publications on the then little understood big spleen disease or "tropical splenomegaly He taught for two years in New York, after which he was appointed Visiting Professor of Public Health BUT it would be tragic if the difficulties ideals bring in their train led to the ideals being abandoned. Instead one needs to learn how to apply ideals skilfully, and to see one's own shortcomings.

There are no short cuts to maturity, but I believe the FWBO has indeed matured, in part through learning from the pro blems discussed in the article. Members of the Western Buddhist. Order follow ethical precepts that insist their idealism begins with how one acts and speaks. It takes time and maturity to see how vital are these basic values. The FWBO is still evolving and I have seen it change enormously over the years but I feel confident that it is gradually realising its ambitious project of embodying the ideals of Buddhism in western culture.

Vishvapani is a member of the Western Buddhist Order and editor of Dharma Life magazine Death Notices GOLDSMITH. Anna, diod 5 November 1997. age 83. HAYWARD, on October 13th at homo peacefully, aged 83. Stella Frances Kathleen, beloved wifo of Graham Funeral to be hold on Wednesday November 12th al the Randalls Park Cromalorlom, 12 noon Family llowors only.

All donations to Ox-fam. Enqulnos to W. A. Truolovo, 0181 642 8211. ISADORA, beloved companion lor 13 years of Adrian Beaumont of London.

Diod at homo, quietly in her sleep November 5th 1997. Will bo missed immensely Ashos to bo scattered in Mosoley, Birmingham, her spiritual homo. LAZAR, Leonard. Suddenly, aged 81 Born Johannesburg, South Africa, 1916. Advo-cato of the Supremo Court.

Barrister, Gray's Inn Lecturer in Low. LSE. 1962-1982. Writer. Enduring opponent ol Apartheid and racism 'Look on tho rising sun' (Blake.

Songs ol Innoconce). Greatly missed by his children. David, Ann and Michael. Enquiries to FD D. Burroughs, Penzance, 01736-364062.

No flowers Donations to Oxlam or Save the Children. ONWURAH. Modgo, aged 69 years, diod peacefully In London on 3rd November 1997 after a long and courageous struggle against cancer and arthritis. A woman ol great generosity, passion, curiosity and integrity, nor spirit lives on in the hearts and minds ol her three children, sister, family and many spocial friends. The funeral wlllbe hold al West Road Crematorium, Newcastlo-upon-Tyno.

on Monday 10th November at 12 noon. TYRRELL. Poter, AA Patrolman ol Sutton. Cremation at the West Norwood Crematorium, Wednesday 12th November al 3 o'clock. All friends welcome.

Family llowors only, donations to B.E.N, co A. Yoat-man Sons. 384 Norwood Road, Wost Norwood SE27 9AA. Tel 0181 670 1127. WILLIAMS (Nee Lewis), very poacofully on November 3rd at Waters Edge Nursing Home, Barry.

Beryl, beloved wife ol tho late Walden, formerly of Greenway Road, Neath. Dear sister of Peggy and a much loved aunt ot Hoion and lamily. Resting at James Summers and Son, Roalh Court Funeral Homo, Cardiff, until the service in the Chapol on Tuesday, Novembor 11th at 12.30pm, followed by cremation at Mid-Glamorgan Crematorium at 2.00pm. WITHAM. Anthony John, In troasurod memory of my beloved husband, my Tony who passed away peacefully altar a short illness.

Husband ol Carolyn Wltham, loved and honourod father of Thoreso Wilham-Koslerls, Michelle and Stuart Wltham. Son ol Reginald and Elsie Wilham deceased. Our hoarts are broken, our house Is empty, we will miss you forever. All of 55 Boloyn Avenue, Enfield, Middlosox EN1 4HR. In Memoriam LAW.

Trevor James, 6 yoars yesterday but always in our hoarts. Jean-Pierre, Tootslo and Elliott. WIBBERLEY. Gerry, (81193). Lovo never aios.

ror mo ana aeain are one, even as the river and the sea aro Births ALLEN. Julian and Charlotte, are proud to announce tho birth ot their son Ashley on 4th November 1997. To olace vour announcement lalanhnnn 0171 713 4567 or fax 0171 713 4129 botwflnn 9am and 3pm Mon-Frl. A WORKING with lan- VB1V guage and texts, Ita WW ly's Sabatino Mos cati, who has died aged 74, was for more than three de cades an international figure in ancient Semitic particu larly Phoenician and Punic studies and more gener ally, in Near Eastern and Mediterranean studies. He also encouraged exploration.

of; Phoenician and Punic sites in Sardinia, Sicily and Malta. He initiated excavations at Tell Mardikh (ancient Ebla) in Syria, which was particularly known for remarkable texts from the third millennium BC. He participated in excavations in Israel at Tell Gath, Ramat Ra-hel (probably Biblical Beth-Haccherem) and Akzib. Moscati was particularly known in the English speaking world for his books Ancient Semitic Civilizations (1957), The Face of the Ancient Orient (1960) The Semites in Ancient History (1959) which was based on his Cardiff, University of Wales lectures and The World of the Phoenicians (1968). Those works were only a selection from his Italian works which also included a 1955 volume on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 1985 he he founded the archaeological monthly, Archeo, writing regularly for it, and for Corriere della Serra. In 1988 he organised the magnificent exhibition, The Phoenicians, at Venice's Palazzo Grassi, editing and substantially writing its 750-page catalogue. Of Jewish descent, he was born and educated in Rome. After a first degree he studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute where he concentrated on Hebrew and the Semitic languages. His first publica 67; Iain Sproat, former Conservative minister, 59; Richard Stoker, composer, writer, 59; Di Trevis, theatre director, 50; Tamas Vasary, conductor and pianist, 64.

Tomorrow's birthdays: David Barrie, director, National Art Collections Fund, 44; Victor Blank, banker, 55; Lord Bra-bourne, television and film producer, 73; David Constant, cricket umpire, 56; Jill Dando, broadcaster, 36; Bryan Davies, Labour MP, 58; Karen Dotrice, actress, 42; Lou Ferrigno, actor, 45; Ronald Harwood, novelist, playwright, 63; Katharine Hepburn, actress, 88; Alis-tair Home, military historian, 72; Prof Ieuan Hughes, paediatrician, 53; Hedy La-marr, actress, 84; Hugh ours along the way, including a cherished Chalmers medal from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1973) and the OBE (1990). He was a prolific writer, with more than 400 original research papers and numerous chapters in the principal textbooks of medicine. His publications were wide-ranging, but most focused on the two diseases that drew him to He had a theory, which seldom worked in practice, that potholes were best approached at speed, so that he could glide over them, barely shaken Brazil, on his campaign to continue the search for low-cost drug treatments and on his beloved insects, the triato-mine bug vectors of Chagas disease. He was Professor of Tropical Medicine at Brasilia University from 1973 until his death. There is no doubt that Philip Marsden's greatest contribution to tropical medicine arose from his infectious enthusiasm, charismatic teaching and ability, even through brief personal encounters, to cut straight to the heart of the matter and reshape and invigorate the lives of those around him.

He leaves a host of proteges who paradox. But then the British always loved a radical toff. Today's other birthdays: Rupert Allason, thriller writer, former Conservative MP, 46; Stephane Audran, it Weekend Birthdays WITH the Appeal Court reportedly poised to quash the murder conviction of James Hanratty, his champion, campaigning journalist Paul Foot (right), has good reason to celebrate his 60th birthday today. It would be the latest in an impressive line of wrongful convictions righted, wicked men exposed and once hopeless cases given hope from John Poulson (bad), through the murder of nurse Helen Smith, to the Bridgewa-ter Three (innocent). For history's sake, add to the list Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose reputation as a radical Foot has splendidly revived.

Foot brings to his causes a fierce pen, ferocious energy and an appealing capacity for outrage, born of an unusual mix of upper middle-class.