'Quirky' Old Etonian leaves house to homeless charity

A QUIRKY Old Etonian has left his Grade II-listed house to a charity to give someone a place to live.

- By Emily Smith

David Guinness gifted his three-bedroom cottage to homelessness group Emmaus Gloucestershire after wanting to “make a difference”.

Charity staff plan to have the house - worth up to £180,000 - ready for a family to move in by Christmas.

Rose Niland, of Stroud, was David’s close friend for 11 years and called him “very eccentric and quirky”. The retired physiotherapist met him when he played the organ at a carol service.

She said David, who was born in Belgravia in 1938, went to Eton and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge.

He worked in teaching and engineering, including on the US space programme, and died aged 81.