My father, Les Barclay, who has died aged 85, was an internationally renowned expert on radio wave communications, still contributing his knowledge and experience until a few days before his death.
His interest in radio began at the age of 14, when the local amateur radio society set up a temporary station at the Essex scout jamboree. This hobby developed into a lifelong career, as he moved from school to an apprenticeship at EK Cole (EKCO) in Southend, where he worked in the radio receiver development laboratory, successfully studying for a London University external degree in physics and mathematics on day release at the local college.
A significant turning point in his life came in 1956, when he joined the Royal Society International Geophysical Year Antarctic Expedition, spending two years at Halley Bay. His role was to study the ionosphere – the layer in the atmosphere that reflects radio waves around the earth. On his return, Les joined the Marconi research laboratories at Great Baddow, Essex, where he remained for 17 years, developing ways of predicting the ionospheric conditions which affect propagation – the way radio waves travel (or “propagate”) through the atmosphere. This focus on propagation continued as he moved to the Radiocommunications Agency in the UK civil service (1977-94), and then to his own consultancy.
Les was born and brought up in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, the son of Dorothy (nee Jarvis) and William Barclay. William worked as an office manager for a firm of monumental masons, where Dorothy also worked as a clerk after her children grew up. Les attended West Leigh junior school and then the local grammar, Westcliff high school for boys. He left at 16 for EKCO.
As his career progressed, he represented the UK at the International Telecommunications Union, gaining a reputation for his expertise and mentoring of others, as well as his ability to chair challenging international meetings. Les greatly valued and enjoyed this aspect of his work, and his contribution was acknowledged by the ITU in May, when they appointed him honorary chairman of the Radiowave Propagation Study Group.
Les served for 45 years on the parish council of Cold Norton, Essex, making many contributions to the wellbeing of his local community, until he moved to Ripon, North Yorkshire, in 2015.
Les married Janet Allen in 1960, and one of their lifelong shared pleasures was folk dancing. In his younger days he was one of the founding members of a morris team, the Benfleet Hoymen, who first danced in public on Coronation Day in 1953. And even when health problems meant he was no longer able to dance himself, Les continued to encourage dancing through local clubs.
Les is survived by Janet, his children – Andrew, Philip, Mary and me – and seven grandchildren.
