John Nicholas Cave Easter (17 December 1945 – 11 January 2016) was an English squash player,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and businessman.

Education

John Easter attended

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rug ...

, before going up to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, where he got an honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Squash career

A tall, naturally gifted player, Easter got his squash

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

for Oxford in 1966 and 1967 (the latter as captain). Between 1971 and 1983, he played 31 times for Great Britain and England. He turned professional in the 1973-74 season after leading Great Britain to second place at the World Championships in South Africa. At one stage he was ranked No. 9 in the world. His best performances in the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

were reaching the quarter-finals in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

(when he was seeded seventh). Easter won a gold medal for the

England men's national squash team The England men's national squash team represents England in international squash team competitions, and is governed by England Squash. Since 1981, England has won 5 World Team Squash Championships titles, and 42 European Squash Team Champion ...

at the

European Squash Team Championships The European Team Championships (ETC) are the international squash competition played between teams representing different nations organised by the European Squash Federation. Countries enter teams of four or five players to represent them in ...

in 1973.

Cricket career

A pace bowler, Easter spent several seasons in the First XI at St Edward's School, captaining the team in 1964. He played for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1966 without establishing his place. He also played once for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Second XI. In 1967 he won his blue at Oxford, playing every match and taking 34 wickets at an average of 32.44, impressing with his accuracy. He took 5 for 62 against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

. He was unable to play for most of the 1968 season, but returned to the team towards the end and won a second blue.

Later life

After doing some

modelling A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided into ...

in his younger years, Easter spent his working life in the financial world. He was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

in 2007, and died in 2016. He and his wife Glynis had a daughter and two sons. One son,

Nick Easter Nicholas James Easter (born 15 August 1978) is an English rugby union coach and former player. He played as a Number 8 for Orrell, Harlequins and the England national team. He began his career in 2001, playing for Orrell, before moving to ...

, played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from 2007 to 2016. The other son, Mark Easter, played rugby union for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

and

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Easter, John 1945 births 2016 deaths English male squash players English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 20th-century English sportsmen Oxford University cricketers People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford