Graham Parry, a long-time regular at the Boy, has died in his sleep in Australia aged 42. The archetypal 'gentle giant', he played top-class rugby for Hertfordshire but will always be remembered as an easy-going, kind, unaffected and humble person who was great company and an endearing character.

'Big' Graham moved to Queensland more than a decade ago to build a more sun-kissed life in Cairns. But he was always keen to come home to Bricket Wood where his family has lived for 50 years. Never out of shorts in blisteringly hot Cairns where he worked for the town council as a qualified horticulturalist, Graham often returned to England in mid summer and then complained that at 78 degrees C it was cold and he should buy a duffle coat. His ideal day in his home country would be a few pints of Lowenbrau in the Boy and a curry across the road after enjoying England's rugby team stuffing the Aussies 'in their own back yard'.

His distinctive Oz-style baseball cap, anorexic roll-ups and a growing Aussie 'twang' to his voice will be a reminder of how he joyously embraced life in all its weird and wonderful forms. One of his great claims to fame was that he was one of the few people on the planet to have read in in its entirety Stephen Hawking's unfathomable book A Brief History of Time. Graham was at the Boy in Christmas 2006 with his young son Thomas. The strong bond between them was evident. Thomas loved the quiz machine and Pringles crisps. Graham loved lager, and his son.

The Black Boy would be a better place with more Graham Parrys. His friends will miss a - in many ways - larger than life guy whose life it is an honour to have been part of.

Our sympathies go out to his mother Joan, son Thomas, brother David and sister Jackie. Funeral details will follow.

(BT Mick and BBC Graham)