Obituary: Rev Alistair Todd; former Fettes pupil whose shrewd diplomacy was vital in Hong Kong Born: 21 December, 1920, in Belfast. Died: 27 March, 2012 in Sussex, aged 91. IN THE 1960s Alastair Todd, while serving in the UK embassy in Hong Kong, was involved in Mao Tse-tung's Cultural Revolution in China. China was closed to outsiders and diplomats in Hong Kong were the only source of much of the detailed information of events inside Peking. Todd spent many hours briefing visiting diplomats and writing reports of the internal activities taking place. He was an articulate man blessed with much integrity and charm his and shrewd observations of Chinese affairs proved vital to parliamentary visitations from the UK. An all-party delegation arrived in Hong Kong led by the MPs Tom Driberg and Jack Cunningham and Todd advised that maximum tact be excersised in any conversations or interviews. Todd supervised an extensive tour of Hong Kong's border with the Chinese mainland. As soon as the MPs arrived at the border several members started taking photographs of Red China. The delegates were immediately surrounded by local party officials and were subjected to abuse for quite some time. Todd had to enter into the most delicate negotiations and calmed a difficult situation with his knowledge and understanding of Chinese society and customs. The situation was resolved after some hours and at a meeting the following day a member of the delegation asked that a complaint be registered. Todd quietly said no action would be taken as the MPs should have followed the clear instructions he had given them. It was such potentially damaging incidents that saw Todd at his most calm and most efficient. As Todd recalled after his retirement, "All good Communists were obliged to show loyalty by attacking any who held back - among those, of course, the arch enemies, the Imperialists who ruled Hong Kong." Alastair Todd was born in Belfast to Scottish parents - his father was a professor of history at Queen's University Belfast. Todd was educated at Fettes College (1935-39) where he was a keen piper and in his last year was appointed pipe major in the school band. He was a talented classicist and read classics in a shortened wartime degree at Corpus Christi, Oxford. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery and commanded a gun battery after D-Day as his regiment fought its way across France and the Netherlands into western Germany. The strenuous campaign was worsened for Todd as he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the throat, which was to remain lodged there without pain for the rest of his life. Todd was demobbed in Hong Kong, and decided to pursue a career in the colonial civil service. His first appointment was as a private secretary to the governor, Sir Mark Young but he rose to hold various posts within the embassy including become director of social welfare and defence secretary. On retirement he held the post of Deputy Colonial Secretary. Both posts proved to be demanding an arduous. As the Ministry of Defence's representative he had to escort many UK delegations around Hong Kong and explain the early negotiations regarding the handing back of the colony to the Chinese authorities. As early as the Forties Sir Mark Young had unveiled ambitious plans for beginning the process of democratisation. The talks were to continue for many years by successive British governments. For three decades Todd and his colleagues at the Hong Kong embassy entered into negotiations with the Chinese that, by and large, proved fruitless. Todd's own responsibilities were more taken up with the flood of refugees who entered the colony which created for him, as the welfare officer, complex administrative difficulties. A particularly challenging time came in 1966 with the Star Ferry riots. The Star Ferry was one of the commercial successes of Hong Kong and an emblem of its expanding economy. When there was a strike it caused much unrest in the community and at the embassy. It was quite uncomfortable for a short time, but nothing to compare with what was to follow the next year. The Cultural Revolution in mainland China raised serious political issues in the colony and a wave of terrorism engulfed Hong Kong that was unprecedented. Todd, who worked closely with the local police, came under increased pressure. Dealings with the Chinese authorities demanded immense tact and patience. The pressure was, clearly, less demanding than in the run-up to the hand-over of the colony in the Nineties but it required cool heads to maintain good relations with Peking and keep Whitehall informed of an ever changing situation. Todd proved ideal - his clear-sighted dispatches and calm advice was invaluable to senior officials both in London and Hong Kong. Todd was host to another all-party delegation that visited the colony: it comprised many noted politicians of the Seventies including Edward Heath (who later entered into serious negotiations with China as prime minister), Denis Healey, Michael Stewart and Roy Hattersley. Todd was most impressed with the delegation's grasp of the political conditions then ruling in Hong Kong - although he commented that he was amazed at the quantity of rich chocolate cake Heath " packed away." Todd, who was appointed CMG for services to the Hong Kong government, remained a devoted family man. When he married he made two decisions: one, to give up golf and secondly always to go home for lunch with his wife every day. In his youth he had been a keen golfer and angler but in his later years he much enjoyed embroidery. In the mid-Fifties Todd became more involved in religious matters and acted as a layman at St John's Cathedral, Hong Kong. In 1971, at the age of 50, he decided to leave the colonial service and return to England to study for the priesthood. He had completed a diploma in theological studies by a correspondence course with London University and he then attended Salisbury Theological College. He was appointed curate at St Mary's, Willingdon, East Sussex in the mid-Seventies and then vicar of St Augustine's in Brighton. He carried on working into his 80s, and was a mainstay in the Willingdon parish. In Hong Kong Todd had married Nancy Buyers, and they had four children. She predeceased him, as did his eldest daughter. He is survived by two sons and a daughter. Alasdair Steven