Peter Viney's Blog

In Loving Memory: Nick Keeping 1950-1999

Nick as Hotspur in “Henry IV – Part One”, 1967
(Karen played Lady Percy in the same Bournemouth School production.)

When we started work on the “Drama Evenings”  (LINKED) page on our original website in 1999, we hadn’t seen Nick for a few years. We’d missed him. For many years he had always come round on Christmas Day with presents for all our kids, who always looked forward to seeing “Uncle Nick”. Often he joined us for Christmas lunch. Somehow the years passed and we lost touch. You shouldn’t, but we did.

On Saturday (13th March), we started calling round to tell all our old cast members about the page and that it was about to go up on the site. Peter had bumped into Chris Owen on the beach that morning who had said that Nick needed a heart operation. We were so keen for Nick to see the old pictures, to remember the great times.

On Monday morning the page was ready to go up when we heard the news. Nick had died in Poland of a heart attack, age 49.

Nick introduced us to each other.
Nick was Guy’s Best Man.
Nick was one of the witnesses at our wedding.
Nick was the first to arrive with presents and good cheer when our kids were born.
Nick played Father Christmas for kids (brilliantly) at our Christmas parties.
Nick was always the life and soul of the party.

If the cards had been dealt differently, Nick could have become a great actor. His talent was extraordinary. Every time we worked with him on stage we felt that charisma, that star quality. Instead he became an inspirational teacher, then turned his talents to marketing. He had been Head Boy and Cadet Under-Officer at Bournemouth School, so destined for a glittering career. He was intending to go to Sandhurst and become an army officer. We shared the experience of our fathers dying after our A-levels. I went on to university, but Nick never did.

Peter still remembers a discussion with Nick sometime in 1971 about how to teach the first lesson with a class of beginners. Nick said that he had the ultimate ice-breaking activity. Naturally, Peter wanted to see it. “You’ll have to pretend to be a student, though,” he said.
“But they’ll speak to me before the class. They’ll find out I’m English …”
“No, they won’t,” said Nick, “Just say ‘Albanian’ if anyone speaks to you.”
So Peter joined the solemn group of beginners waiting for their first lesson. A couple of friendly students addressed him, one in German, another in Spanish. He just pointed to his chest and said “Albanian.” It worked Nick came in and sat straight down and started calling the register. As he was calling it he started leaning further and further back in his chair. The chair was on two legs. A few more names, a bit further. Then crash! Nick went straight over backwards onto the floor. And lay there. He groaned. The class looked at each other in consternation. What were they supposed to do? The groan got louder, more plaintive. Then students got up, moved forward, started trying to speak in English, trying to help. Nick gave it 30 seconds then leapt to his feet, “Good morning!” And the class was under way. Pure theatre from the first minute. Next to our teacher’s room in the beginners’ group we had a cupboard with wigs, costumes, hats, telephones, realia, ironing boards, bunches of plastic flowers. For Nick, every lesson was an event. That was Nick.

No one who met Nick will ever forget him

Nick performing “My Way” his favourite song.

Nick as Inspector Sniff in Muldoon Manor

ADDED 4 MARCH 2023

People do look at these pages after so many years. I was delighted to receive this memory from Paul Watts of Nick.

Nick Keeping

At the beginning of the third form at Bournemouth School, I had my first encounter with Nick Keeping who had just been made a prefect. As we lined up in the junior playground, this maniac rampaged amongst us, screaming abuse and insults, instilling fear and mirth in equal quantity. His fellow prefects stood at the top of the steps seemingly unsure of their role in all this. A cross between Basil Fawlty, Freddy Starr, Adolf Hitler and any number of certifiable lunatics, this character had no equal. (The first two had at that point yet to make an appearance of course).

As this continued twice daily, I was to discover to my horror, having been talked into joining the Army section of the CCF by your Major Brylcreem (Lt Col by this time), that the leader of my platoon was to be none other than the newly promoted Corporal Keeping. God help us.

His performance at playground line-up was insignificant compared to his role as a drill instructor. Backed up by a miserable sod of a sergeant he was about to make life a fearsome hell. But it turned out to be nothing of the sort. As a sensitive young lad, I was to discover all this was an act – in retrospect I suspect concealing his own insecurities – and that beneath was a kind and empathetic soul who actually helped me through a difficult time. When no one else was looking of course.

So, fond memories of someone who soon after disappeared from my world completely although was never forgotten in my memories. Then while idly wandering through some meaningless Google and /or Facebook searching one evening, I somehow stumbled upon your WordPress article about NK. Above all, as my memory becomes more and more unreliable, it was good to have it confirmed that this man was in fact a brilliant actor and not the sadistic nutter that he would have had everyone believe.

Thank you for that and belated condolences on the loss of your good friend.