A very sad day today . Our friend Gill's father died yesterday. Patrick Kavanagh CBE was deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 1977 to 1983. We met him many times over the years and had lots of Sunday lunches with him at Gill's. When he was assistant commissioner he was in charge of "traffic".

A few years ago I told him, at a party, that I was taking my advanced driving test. As we were leaving he shouted accross the room "Don't forget - mirror, signal manoeuvre".

The photo of him and Gill was taken by me at Gill's 60th birthday party at her house. We had called a private taxi to leave but were so enjoying meeting old friends that I gave the driver £20 and sent him away. I did the same to the second taxi! We went home in the third.

Earlier this year he took us out (and he was in his 90th year) for a lovely lunch near where he lived. He had to walk supported with one hand on my shoulder. I told him I felt as though I was being arrested. Kath and I are really pleased we met him again in his final year

He had a great sense of humour but also a steely determination. One could see how he rose from a PC to such a high police rank. There is an entry in Wikepedia outlining his career. There is a full page obituary in The Times of 13/12/13.

We will miss him greatly.