My father, Ronald Clarke, who has died aged 89, was an education officer who helped design courses in public administration for developing economies.
Born in Poole, Dorset, the only son of Doris (nee Clarke), a Post Office clerk, and Harold, a surveyor with Poole city council, Ron went to Bournemouth boys’ grammar school and loved playing piano duets with his father. As a teenager, he found soulmates in the local Methodist church youth group; his religious faith ebbed away over the decades.
