Graham Stephenson (C 57)

Graham went to Eagle House before entering the Combermere in 1953. He was a keen cricketer and played two seasons in the 1st XI winning the Prince Christian Victor Bowling Prize in 1957. He also won a RAF Flying Scholarship and learned to fly in Tiger Moths and Chipmunks at White Waltham before joining BEA as an apprentice. After serving his apprenticeship at BEA, Graham moved on to BOAC in 1966, where he was to become an airport manager. A natural linguist, he went on the develop a career in civil aviation and was sent all over the world – taking in Teheran, Toronto, Dubai, Kano, Tel Aviv, Rome, Zurich and Moscow. 

Graham was an enthusiastic OW cricketer and always enjoyed OW week at College, staying in his old dormitory and enjoying the comforts of the Common Room. In 1966, he managed a successful OW tour to Northern Ireland with Fred Berry travelling as the OW umpire. He also played cricket for Sussex Junior Martlets, MCC, Incogniti, Horsham and his local village Rudgwick. He played rugby for Horsham and ice-hockey for BEA. 

In 1973, he was sent to Zurich to merge BEA and BOAC into one British Airways operation and then ran BA’s handling operation at Gatwick Airport until 1979, when BA shed 20,000 jobs – a result of the earlier merger. Graham took a ‘golden handshake’ and became Director of Development at Luton Airport.  

Itching to get back into the airlines, he took a job in Jeddah working for Saudi Arabian Airlines and subsequently took over Jet Aviation’s Saudi Arabian operation, building the company’s business terminal in Jeddah. Following his success in Jeddah, Graham was invited by London City airport in 2001 to develop its business aviation centre and went on to develop similar centres in Berlin and Kuala Lumpur. 

In 2010, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award, in recognition of a career spanning over 50 years and including crucial roles in the establishment of some of the world’s top FBOs (business aviation centres) – Jet Aviation Jeddah, the jet centre of London City airport, and Sky Park Malaysia to name but three. 

Among the many highlights in his career perhaps the most memorable was, in Graham’s own words, ‘having Concorde as my private jet for the day to fly me and my family from London to Jeddah and parking the aircraft right outside my office. Who can beat that?!’ 

For many years, Graham retained his private pilot’s license and used to enjoy flying across the channel in a Cessna for a day out in northern France. He eventually retired to France and did consultancy work for several years before returning to the UK to be nearer his family and settling in Torquay.  

Graham was born on 15th August 1939 and passed away on 19th October 2023.