Christopher Pelly
Obituary
Christopher Pelly was born in Ruislip in 1939, the first child of Captain Nigel Pelly OBE and Betty Pelly.
When war broke out and his father was on flying duties with BOAC, Christopher was sent with his mother to Northern Ireland to stay with cousins for 6 weeks, an adventure which lasted almost 5 years! In 1944 the family moved to St. Andrews as his father was flying Mosquitos from RAF Leuchars as part of the Ball Bearing runs.
In 1945 Christopher’s father was posted to Egypt with the joint RAF/BOAC Desert Supply service and Christopher attended the English School Cairo where he made many happy memories. On return to England, Christopher and his brother, Mark, were sent to Mourne Grange school in Kilkeel then, from 1953-1958, to Campbell College in Belfast.
Christopher studied Ancient and Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin and received his BA in 1962 and his MA in 1966. During his time at University he played rugby and was in the rowing eight. In 1962 he participated in a non-stop walk from Belfast to Dublin, a distance of 103 miles. Christopher and forty-five other Trinity students set out from Belfast City Hall at 10am on Saturday and he arrived 46¼ hours later, in Dublin at 8.45am on the Monday morning as the last participant, without having had a wink of sleep.
Christopher's first job was teaching Latin and English at the Overstone School in Northampton. His next teaching job, in 1970, was teaching English to employees of Fiat and Olivetti in Ivrea, Italy. During this time Christopher became fluent in Italian and joined the Ivrea rugby club.
Three years later, on return to England, Christopher taught English as a foreign language to students at Eurocentre Bournemouth and during the summer months, acted as Principal of the Eurocentre Brighton summer school.
In 1980, aged 40, Christopher auditioned for Mastermind. To his surprise he was accepted and won the first round at Gorton College Cambridge, scoring 10 points on the subject of Oscar Wilde. In the semi-final, his chosen subject was the Life and Works of Vladimir Nabokov but he was pipped to the post by taxi driver Fred Housego who went on to win the final.
Christopher's fluency in Italian and love of languages led him to join the Bournemouth Anglo-Italian society and became its president in 1986.
Christopher took early retirement from Eurocentre and made the most of his free time with cycle trips, two parachute jumps (one aged 80!), playing squash and tennis and spending time with his wife, two children and three grandchildren. He continued to be active right up until his sudden passing in June 2026.