Bill Phipps cup - silverware for Mary Gilbert

To describe Bill as "interesting" is akin to describing the Tower of London as "nice" and the crown jewels as "pretty".

Bill joined the club in 1982 and soon had us all in fits of laughter and merriment with his musical virtuoso performances on the nose flute and bicycle pump as well as his unique diving style (sideways-on, after two or three stutters).  He was never one to brag or embellish his background, but the more you spoke to him over the years the more you began to slowly understand the fantastic history that built this fantastic character.  A character that, unsurprisingly, fitted in seamlessly with his fellow members of the Serpentine Swimming Club.

Born in Berlin on 21 April 1936 where his father Sir Eric Phipps was the British ambassador, Bill was bounced on Adolf Hitler's knee as a baby.  It was Sir Eric who had early observed the threat from the Nazis and reported this back to London.  Sir Eric was transferred to Paris in 1937.

Bill served with the Royal Marines from 1954 to 1956.  On leaving the marines Bill briefly dallied with studying biology at the University of San Francisco.  Waking from a drunken spree in Vancouver, British Columbia, Bill found he had joined the Royal Canadian Navy.

Whilst in the navy Bill became a deep-sea diver.  He used to recount Serps-side that this was nothing like the romantic James Bond tropical waters frogman.  He said it involved walking around cold, dark and filthy harbour floors salvaging wrecks, searching for unexploded mines and dead bodies.  Bill recalled that he at first suffered from claustrophobia, but “down there nobody can hear your scream, no matter how loud”.

Though he did enjoy his navy life Bill was keen to come home and marry his sweetheart Henrietta and tried various ruses to convince the Canadians he should be sent back to Blighty.  At one time, when “tipsy” he threw a champagne cork at an officer and jumped overboard into the icy waters off Newfoundland.  Fished out just in time, he was court-marshalled and placed in solitary confinement.  Despite such escapades, Bill was eventually awarded an honourable discharge in 1960.  Soon after he married Henrietta, a landscape architect and daughter of artist Henry Lamb.

Once discharged and home, Bill undertook an apprenticeship as a silversmith.  On completion he worked from his garage off the Portobello Road before moving to a workshop in Clarkenwell Road.  In 1963 was recommended to the Art Workers’ Guild.  Bill’s skill and reputation led to many commissions and exhibitions, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Goldsmiths’ Hall and the Design Centre.  For many years Bill also acted as club engraver of our race cups and trophies.

Bill was a competent musician, having played the fife at school and then moving on to the flute and piccolo.  But it was his skill in producing a tune from an adapted bicycle pump and also from a nose flute that provided the magical musical memories for many at Serpentine parties over the decades.  He could also produce a brilliant blast on the trombone.

Sadly, Bill died on 1 October 2009 aged 73.  An obituary in the Daily Telegraph reported that at Christmas 2008 “…he found himself short of breath in the water.  When mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer, was diagnosed, he submitted to treatment with more amusement than hope, and greatly enjoyed sharing macabre jokes with a former boxer in his ward.  His doctor described him as a ‘heart-lifting’ patient, as opposed to the more common ‘heart sinking’ variety”.  Those that knew Bill would not be at all surprised by this tribute.

Bill was Freeman of both the City of London and the Worshipful Company of Silversmiths.  (Not many, if any, Serpies knew that  -  he was not one to boast)