In the spring of 1962 I arrived for the first time in Southampton, to be interviewed by Professor Zepler for a place on the BSc Electronics course that he had set up four years earlier. At that time only Southampton and Bangor had full undergraduate courses as opposed to others which offered third year options in Electrical Engineering. I was awarded a place and graduated in 1965.

In the meantime Eric Zepler had retired and started as a Research Fellow in ISVR. Naturally he looked to his old department for PhD students. Initially we worked on the sonic boom and our offices were in semi-detached houses in University Road. He was man with a large intellect and a real twinkle in his eye, who on arrival in this country had evidently read and completely digested Fowler’s ‘Modern English Usage’. Whilst he had a slight accent, his knowledge of grammar was amazing and I can still hear his voice saying, when reviewing the draft of a paper I had written, ‘Roger, you have a hanging participle.’

He could say a lot with very few words. One day he came into my rather untidy office and silently walked round observing the piles of paper, experimental worksheets and general detritus. When he got back to the door he said ‘Output is proportional to facility’ and left. He was an excellent supervisor who had the knack of drawing things from you that you didn’t know you possessed. Above all he was a kindly man and I, like many others, am better for having known him.

Roger Thornton, Professor of Hearing Sciences