Mark Pittaway

A senior lecturer in European History at the Open University, he wrote course books, travelled all over the world giving papers at conferences, and was a visiting lecturer at Oxford University.

His main focus was social and economic history and the effect on workers. However, he had an incisive grasp of all the political issues as well.

With a younger brother and sister – the children of Trevor and Janet Pittaway – he was born and brought up in Wakefield. He went to Netherton Infant and Junior School, then Horbury School and Wakefield District College for his A-levels, going on to Warwick University where he obtained a BA Honours Degree in History (Class 1).

Specialising in Eastern European History, he was awarded his PhD by Liverpool University for a thesis which examined the interaction between industrial workers, the Stalinist state and the process of socialist industrialisation in Hungary between 1948-1958.

Before joining the Arts Faculty of the Open University, he spent a brief period teaching at Edge Hill College of Higher Education.

He visited Hungary regularly, and became a much sought-after conference speaker around the world.

He published widely, producing journal articles and book chapters in both English and Hungarian – an unusual language skill for a scholar of his generation. His latest monograph, Industrial Workers and the Socialist State in Hungary, had been delivered to Pittsburgh University Press and he was working on a history of Hungary for Blackwell. Meanwhile, his work had broadened and he was also researching a new project on borders and identities in Austria-Hungary 1938-1960.

As well as being fluent in Hungarian and German (he first studied German at Horbury School and Wakefield College), he could read and speak French and Italian. Even though he was based in Milton Keynes, home of the Open University, he returned to Wakefield regularly and took part in two recent year group reunions from Horbury School when over 90 classmates met up.

Talented, knowledgeable and possessing an infectious sense of humour, Mark was excellent company and had a wide circle of friends.