Patrick died last week from Ca Colon. He was well until February 2009, he was able to travel to Hungary for his son's wedding last year then declined rapidly in recent weeks.

He is survived by a son & daughter.

I shall always remember him as a one off - a rare wit and gifted raconteur who could make the most mundane of everyday events hilarious.

His iconoclastic career as a student was typified by his 2nd MB response to the question "Describe the structure & function of skin..."  -  was to write the words of the Alan Sherman song " You gotta have skin....All you really need is skin ... It's the stuff that if you've got it outside; It helps to keep your insides in.....

He lived the student life to the full, achieving his ambition of being arrested by taping a Rag Week poster to a statue of Rabbie Burns, then pled in defence that he was English.

He kept his defiant humour throughout his illness and remained good company throughout.