Roy Johnson (1955 – 2025)

Bishops 1972 classmates were saddened to learn recently of the death of Roy (Twiggy) Johnson (1972,G) on 29th December 2025 in London. His family emigrated to Cape Town from Tonbridge Wells in the UK, so that his father could take up employment with Geneva Construction. The Johnsons lived in Pinelands and later moved to Rondebosch. Roy started at Bishops Prep in 1967 and matriculated at the College in 1972, with distinctions in Mathematics and Chemistry and overall with a First Class Matric.

Roy possessed a precocious and formidable intellect, even at a young age he had in-depth understanding of many fields of learning. For example, in Standard 8 he reached the finals of the National Science Olympiad, being two or three years younger than the average age of the other contestants. He was also an active member of the intellectually focused Ten Club, chaired by the Principal, to which membership is invited rather than volunteered.

Despite his strong science background Roy opted to register for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cape Town in 1973. He majored in English and History and Theory of Art, graduating with distinctions in both. He then switched to Fine Arts, moving to Michaelis on the Hiddingh campus.

Roy was well-liked, imaginative and sociable. One year he threw a birthday party where each item of food was dyed to take on its complementary colour. For example, egg yolks were blue instead of yellow, whites were black, and meat was green!

After university Roy gravitated to the  restaurant industry and, inter alia, managed the  train carriage restaurant in Sea Point. He subsequently worked for advertising companies in Johannesburg before returning to the UK. He eventually moved to Buckinghamshire, forming close friendships there, and keeping himself occupied principally as a digital creator while dealing admirably and uncomplainingly with a slipped disc problem.

Roy maintained an encyclopaedic knowledge  of all types of music, from rock, through various modern genres, to classical music. Later in his life he became fascinated by Asian rock groups, with a particular interest in two Japanese genres, kawaii metal and video kei, while still maintaining his broad interest across genres. At that time Roy corresponded frequently with Japanese fans and, typical of his broad intellectual interests, started learning kanji (one of the three Japanese character sets).

Throughout his  life Roy never lost his deep humanism and commitment to his core diversity, equity and inclusion values. Although not a political activist, his empathetic personal conduct and joyous but wry nature were an inspiration to all who crossed his path.

At a personal level, Roy was an excellent companion who delivered his challenges wittily and would tolerate any equally witty rebuttal. A good testament to his sense of humour was his embracing of his nickname which he greatly preferred to "Roy". Even his mother called him Twig!

Roy will be sorely missed by many.

The tribute was written by Rob Adam (1972F).