My colleague and friend James Hodsdon, who has died aged 74, spent his working life at GCHQ in Cheltenham and, after retiring in 2009, devoted himself to his passion for the history of the people and places of Gloucestershire, especially Cheltenham and its surroundings.
James was born in Stratford-upon-Avon but grew up in Purley, Surrey, with his parents, Dennis Hodsdon, a trade union official, and Rosalind (nee Lowe), and his younger sister, Joan. He attended Wallington county grammar school and, after studying at Soas University of London and the University of St Andrews, with a doctorate in Arabic in 1972, he went to GCHQ, where he remained for 40 years, taking on occasional brief postings abroad.
