Rory came to Wrekin in September 1957 and was one of 16 new boys in York House. Rory was on various rugby teams until badly damaging his knee in 1960. Despite this injury, Rory managed to break the School high jump record, as well as become the captain of the school boxing team and excell in gymnastics and swimming.  
 
Rory’s academic strengths were in languages, having lived in Liguria and Tuscany for two years before joining Wrekin he already spoke Italian - which he was able to keep in with the help of with Mrs Sidoli who ran a café in Wellington. Rory was also able to enhance his understanding of French and German under the guidance of Wrekin’s splendid language teachers Mr Evason and Mr Drought.
 
In his final year at Wrekin, Rory became Head of York House and Head of School for his final two terms. Rory went on to study at St. Peter’s College Oxford having won a scholarship to read French, German and History.
 
Having been born in Perth, Western Australia, Rory returned to his roots to work as an Australian diplomat, with early postings in Ghana, South Korea and Egypt. Rory went on to become Australia’s Ambassador to Iraq and subsequently Ambassador to Italy. Specialising in disarmament, Rory played an important role in the UN and later as secretary of the Canberra Commission for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
 
Alongside his career in diplomacy, Rory is a keen writer and has produced a number of poems which have been published in leading Australian journals on a wide range of themes inspired from his experiences travelling the world.
 
Since 2001, Rory has devoted his time to writing, focussing on Middle East issues. In addition, Rory has published a work of historical fiction on Italian partisan in World War II, and co-authored two books on voting by the Italian diaspora in the parliament in Rome. In 2016 his biography of famed Italian POW and mountaineer Felice Benuzzi was published in Australia and the Italian version came out early in 2017. This was followed by a biography of Ben O’Dowd, an Australian hero of the Korean War which was published in 2019.
 
Rory has maintained contact with his exact (1957-62) contemporaries Chris Rowe and Mike Jones (Saxon) who both migrated to Australia, and with Martin Pinder (W 1958-63).
 
You can read Rory’s poetry here or to find out more about his life and work please visit his website.