Letter: Tom Phillips obituary

I was at the Henry Thornton grammar school in Clapham, south-west London, with the artist Tom Phillips and we became close friends, swapping passions and enthusiasms: his for painting and mine for cinema, and mutually music. He was undoubtedly the cleverest person at the school, with such a range of interests that it was difficult to keep pace with them. He was restless and loved challenges, telling me once that he chose to learn the bassoon simply because he had been told it was the most diffic