My stepfather Dennis Wardleworth, who has died aged 85, was a polymath whose remarkable life spanned nuclear physics, art history and a lifelong dedication to social justice through the Labour party.
Born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, during the second world war, the second of four children of Elizabeth (nee Hutton), a former jazz singer, and Harry Wardleworth, a transport engineer, Dennis enjoyed a happy if modest working-class upbringing. A gifted pupil, he won a scholarship to Bedford Modern school, excelling academically and at cricket, before reading natural sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. Specialising in theoretical physics, he worked at the Cavendish laboratory, and was tutored by Paul Dirac, the quantum pioneer.
