My father, Jeffrey Roberts, who has died aged 88 of heart disease, was a British diplomat whose postings took him to Pakistan, Paris, South Africa and Singapore.
Born in Warrington, Cheshire, Jeff was the eldest of three sons of Margaret (nee Smith), a domestic servant, and Arthur Roberts, a wire drawer. He attended the local Boteler grammar school, where he excelled in sports. An outstanding gymnast, he played football in the Warrington under-18 league, winning the local Stockton Cup.
At the age of 16 Jeff left school to start an apprenticeship as a clerk at Rylands Brothers wireworks in the town. His career was interrupted, though, by a call-up for national service in 1951. His unit was to be sent to Cyprus, but he arrived a day late, missed the boat and instead went into the Intelligence Corps, where he worked on radio intercepts.
On demobilisation in 1953, he joined the civil service and spent the first years of his career working at the National Assistance Board in Widnes, helping people not covered by National Insurance. There he met Pamela Waude, and they married in 1966.
The following year Jeff joined the Foreign Office and moved to London, where he and Pam bought their family home in Pinner. During his career in the Diplomatic Service, Jeff alternated overseas postings with service at the Foreign Office in Whitehall. From 1969 to 1971, he was in Rawalpindi-Islamabad in west Pakistan, where he supported people migrating to the UK. Next was Johannesburg, South Africa, where he escorted trade missions from the UK. There his two children were born in the 1970s.
Further postings came in Paris (1981-84), and finally Singapore (1984-88), where Jeff was first secretary, commercial. In this role he promoted British trade in Singapore, helping UK companies build the country’s first underground rail system and acting as a guide for visiting ministers promoting British interests. In his last posting, in London, he was in charge of the flag cars for British ambassadors overseas, maintaining the fleet of vehicles at all British embassies.
After retiring in 1993 he continued to live in north-west London. He loved traditional and Gypsy jazz, and would often go to music festivals. Always very sporty, he was a member of Pinner Hill golf club. He also continued to travel, too, enjoying holidays in Mexico, the US, Mauritius, China and Hong Kong as well as spending New Year’s Eve of the millennium on both sides of the international date line, crossing from Tonga to Samoa. He was a lifelong Labour voter and Guardian reader.
He is survived by Pamela, their children, Nancy and me, two grandchildren, Henry and Ben, and by his brothers, Jim and Alan.
