An anarchist, toper, raconteur, marathon runner and practical joker, he described his pastimes as "soothsaying, shelling peas and embroidery"[1] and argued that Adam and Eve were the first anarchists: "God gave them only one order and they promptly broke it".
[2] He was educated at Stowe School, Regent Street Polytechnic and King's College, Cambridge.
Initially, staff jobs included Peace News, New Society (since subsumed into the New Statesman) and The Times Literary Supplement (TLS), and he became known for an oddball but passionate take on the passing scene.
These bland, sterile and gassy beers provided Aunt Sallies for his regular Saturday column in The Guardian, "Boston on Beer", which started shortly after the launch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
[7] Some regular readers might have been disappointed to hear that: "Despite all the talk of real ale, I have to say that, if ever I saw Richard in the village pub, he was usually drinking something stronger.