About Oli

Oli tragically died in a car accident on the A34 during a stormy night in October 2020 whilst on his way to his parents’ home for the weekend. The photo here taken on a business trip to Berlin, shows the happy person he was and his desire to immerse himself in local culture and to try new foods. He was a bright, happy, witty, fun, thoughtful, kind, tolerant and generous young man. He will be remembered mostly for his infectious joy, his charismatic nature, delightful and deep conversations, and for the unwavering support he gave to all his family, friends, his girlfriend and indeed anyone who needed a friend. Oli’s boss described him as someone who made the most of every opportunity and gave more than he took.

He detested prejudice of any kind and worked hard to ensure that everyone around him was included and cared for. He was a strong ally and buddy to his LBGT+ friends and was proud to openly wear his PRIDE Tee-shirts. The testimonials and memories from his friends and colleagues show just how much he blessed and enriched so many lives. He had lived most of his life in Tadley, in North Hampshire. He attended local schools and college in Tadley and Basingstoke before earning a place at Jesus College, Cambridge to study Computer Science. He was a keen mathematician and linguist, speaking French, Spanish, and Japanese.

He graduated in 2014 and set up his own computer games company (Arpeggio Games). He was keen to learn more about the world, so jumped at a chance to move to Japan in 2016 for a year to teach English to local school children and to improve his knowledge of the Japanese culture and language. 

On moving back to the UK, he joined “Unity”, a successful video game software company based in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was a Lead Software Engineer in the Xbox team and travelled all over the world to present at conferences. He is credited for his contribution to the development of two major Xbox game titles (“Outer Wilds” and “Ori and the Will of the Wisps”). He also played a key role in the development of seven new games released with the new Xbox consoles in November 2020.

Oli’s major passions outside of work were acting, music, and theatre. It was drama that helped turn Oli into the confident, inclusive, and articulate person he became. From a young age, Oli joined local theatre groups and we saw him grow from acting and singing in small local productions, into playing key parts in major amateur productions with “The Silchester Players” near Basingstoke and drama groups in Stratford-upon-Avon. In Stratford-upon-Avon, he played Laurie in Little Women, and André in the comedy “Supersnout”, which won a national drama award. When he died, he was rehearsing for a role in the comedy musical “Avenue Q” which went on to be produced (in his memory) in September 2022 after the pandemic.

Oli was proud to live in a rented flat owned by the Shakespeare Trust that looked directly across the street onto the house that was Shakespeare’s birthplace. Before the pandemic, he would try and watch a play every week at the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Nothing pleased him more than buying tickets for his family and friends to watch the plays with him.

As his way of giving back to the theatre community, Oli became a patron of the RSC. We were proud to receive a personal email about Oli from Gregory Doran and Catherine Mallyon, the Artistic Director and Executive Director of the RSC to say how missed he would be for his involvement with the RSC team and his engaging interaction in the Patrons’ events over the last few years.

His memorial tablet in the quiet cemetery at St Peter’s Church in Tadley includes the message “I’ll be right by your side no matter what”. This is an adaptation of a line from the song “No Matter What” used in Oli’s favourite cartoon series “Steven Universe” and is a personification of Oli’s caring nature.

Below is a video of the song with photos of Oli with his family and friends.

The back of his memorial tablet has a sentence in Japaneseあなたに出会えたことに感謝します

This translates as “I’m grateful that I met you”. Oli was fluent in Japanese and was just about to take his latest National Language qualification. His family and Japanese friends felt it fitting to add this sentence in Japanese to the memorial.

Oli had a full life that was taken away too soon. If there is one message from his life; it is that you need to take every opportunity and give more back than you take. Please consider donating to the Foundation we’ve set up in his name to help other young people develop key life skills through the performing arts.