Michael Woodruff - Personal Life

Personal Life

The Woodruffs had two sons, followed by a daughter. Their first son completed a medical degree at University College London and became an ophthalmologist. The two younger children both did their tertiary education at Sheffield University. The second son became a civil engineer and the daughter completed a science degree in botany.

Woodruff and his wife were avid tennis players and had a court in their home in Edinburgh. After moving to Edinburgh, Woodruff took up sailing with the Royal Forth Yacht Club, and went on to compete in some races. He owned a boat was known to go sailing on it in the Mediterranean each summer with his wife. During his student years, Woodruff was a keen rower and field hockey player.

Woodruff was a lover of classical music, and after taking up the organ at university and learning from A. E Floyd, the organist of St Paul's Cathedral, he became the college organist at Queen’s College in Melbourne; he later learned to play the piano. In his spare time, Woodruff continued to pursue his love of pure mathematics, especially number theory. He periodically attempted to prove Fermat’s last theorem, but failed.