John Currie

John David Currie (3 May 1932 – 8 December 1990) was a sportsman who played rugby union for England in 25 Test matches and also appeared in first-class cricket matches for Somerset and Oxford University. He was born at Clifton, Bristol and died at Leicester.

Rugby career Currie was educated at Bristol Grammar School and played his early rugby for Clifton and Somerset before attending Oxford University to study geography. He appeared in four Varsity Matches for Oxford, on each occasion opposed by David Marques. The partnership with Marques lasted for 22 consecutive Tests spanning five years, a successful period for England as they won the Grand Slam in 1957 as well as Five Nations championship titles in 1958 and 1960. He retained his place for the next match, a non-first-class game against the Royal Air Force, but those were his only appearances for Somerset's first team, although he played for the second eleven in the Minor Counties Championship up to 1955. In both the 1956 and 1957 seasons, he was at Oxford University and he was tried for the cricket team in several matches, but with little success. His highest score was 38, made out of a total of 95 in the match against Yorkshire in 1957. He had dropped out of the Oxford side well before the University Match in both seasons and so did not win a cricket Blue to go with the rugby ones. After leaving Oxford, he played second eleven cricket for Gloucestershire for a couple of seasons.