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Professor John Tudor Laird 1921-2010

Ikey Laird was an authority on the English writer Thomas Hardy's works, in particular he wrote a seminal book on the ways in which Tess of the D'Urbervilles was shaped so that it could be published under Britain's 19C censorship laws.

He published and edited several surveys of Australians and other war literatures: Other Banners, Australia's Experience of War and On All Fronts. His family understands that this developed from his desire to interest the cadets in their study of English.

His World War 2 service was in the allied code-breaking effort. Like many other brilliant academics around the Western world. John Laird served in the highly secret inter-allied (Aus/UK/USA) intelligence and code-breaking unit Central Bureau that was part of Macarthur's SWPAC HQ. This included service on Morotai doing traffic analysis. This unit's existence was not officially acknowledged until the 1980s, and week before his death Ikey received a UK medal for those who served in the cryptanalysis effort during WW 2.

Husband of Pat (dec). Father to Margaret, Patricia and Ian
Grandfather to Anne, Jane, Robert, Alex, John and James
Greatgrandfather to Aidan, Masen, Charlize and Xavier