I met Dr Jon Whiteley on quite a few occasions at the Ashmolean , he very kindly invited me to the print room , to look at the pictures of my great great Aunt Martha Combe . I went to his talks on the Combe's which he gave from time to time , which were so informative ,
From an early age, Jon loved drawing and, at the age of 6 years in 1951, he would amaze his fellow actors and film crew members on the set of The Rank Organisation's “HUNTED” the first of two films in which he co-starred with the late Dirk Bogarde, with the drawings he did with his pencil and sketch pad. I have a couple of photos of him doing this. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied that he wanted to be an artist. So he was born with a love of art. But he was much more than an artistic Oscar winning child star of the 1950s. He was a much loved and thoroughly nice person of whom I've never heard a word said against. I was very saddened to hear of his death from a brain tumour in May, 2020. His funeral details were not published at the time, but for anyone who would like to visit his grave, to pay their respects and perhaps leave a few flowers, he rests in Botley cemetery, Botley, Vale of the White Horse district, Oxfordshire. Rest In Peace, Jon. You are a legend.
