A FORMER Salisbury College lecturer and keen photographer from Barford St Martin has died aged 75.

Paul Whiteside taught drama at Salisbury College from 1973 until he retired in 2000.

Mr Whiteside was born on October 6, 1936, in Putney, London and, during the war, he was evacuated to Heysham in Lancashire.

In 1945, he returned to his parent’s home in East Acton, London, and he got a place at Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham, West Sussex.

After school, he was conscripted for National Service which, as a pacifist, he completed by working as a porter in a hospital.

He was offered a place at Oxford University to study chemistry but chose to train as a Dominican priest.

However, towards the end of his training, Mr Whiteside decided to leave without being ordained and returned to his mother’s London home in Shepherds Bush.

He began running a youth club at a local church where he discovered his passion for drama, and later applied for a teaching course at The Central School of Speech and Drama.

In 1965, he met his wife Celia, 64, at a protest march in London and they married in June, 1966.

Mr Whiteside’s first teaching job was at Colne Valley High School in Huddersfield and, in 1973, he moved to Salisbury where he worked in further education at the college.

He specialised in speech, movement and voice and directed many Shakespearean productions.

Mr and Mrs Whiteside moved to Barford St Martin in 1993 and, when Mr Whiteside retired, he spent much of his time on his hobby of photography.

He also had a keen interest in politics and public affairs.

Mr Whiteside died on May 15 from complications following a fall. He is survived by his wife, sons Ben and Laurie and five grandchildren.

Mrs Whiteside described her husband as “gentle, understanding and a campaigner for the truth”.

His funeral is being held tomorrow at Salisbury Crematorium at 12.15pm.