E  Michael James Lighthill was born in Paris on 23 January 1924, son of Ernest Balzar Lighthill ('Bal'), a mining engineer who retired and returned to England in 1927 at the age of 59. James's mother, Marjorie, daughter of a Yorkshire engineer, L.W. Holmes, was 18 years younger than her husband; James had a brother, Olaf, 17 years older than himself, and a sister, Patricia, nine years older, who survives him. Bal had changed the family name from Lichtenberg (originally of Alsatian

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... n) in 1917. James was a precocious child, showing early evidence not only of his mathematical ability and of his formidable memory but also in many other areas such as music, languages and chess: his father, quite a good player, gave up the game when James beat him at the age of about 10, blindfolded. James was educated at private schools, and at the age of 12 won a scholarship to Winchester. It was a wonderful coincidence that another 12-year-old scholar at