My friend Gerry Browning, who has died aged 83, was a fiercely independent man who defied stereotyping.
Born in Hull, the oldest child of Leonora, a barmaid, and Victor, a tram and bus driver, Gerry was seven when the second world war began. He was twice evacuated, but fled and made his way home, until he was allowed to spend the war in what he described as a feral existence in Hull, without other children. Stumbling into Albert Avenue baths after an air raid one day, he saw lines of dead bodies laid out in the empty swimming pool, which was being used as an emergency morgue.
A talented footballer, Gerry spent much of his national service being flown around the country to play soccer for the RAF. On leave, he cycled over Yorkshire’s moors and dales and the Lake District.
He worked as a bricklayer. During break times, he would be found reading the Guardian. If a radio was available, he preferred jazz to silence and silence to pop music. He resisted working overtime, believing longer hours would merely reduce basic pay as well as impairing his quality of life. He took part in the national builders’ strike of 1972.
At his home in Hull, he kept an immaculate backyard garden and insisted on freshly ground coffee. Each week he and his best friend would savour one quality bottle of wine together. Through cycling, walking and hostelling, Gerry became intimate with the north of England. He introduced many friends and their children and grandchildren to the pleasures of rambling.
As a child, Gerry had hidden under the threepenny stand at Hull FC’s Boulevard Ground after youth matches, emerging to watch the first team later. Even in hospital in his last days, he would suddenly remember Hull had played that day and demand a match report.
Gerry was passionate about jazz and saw most of the great musicians of the past 60 years in concert. His favourites were probably the US composer and saxophonist David Murray and the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim.
He was separated from his wife. His soulmate of later years, Dot, died in 2014. He is survived by his daughter, Victoria, and granddaughter, Brigit.
