Our friend Maurice Seddon, who has died aged 87, was a highly unusual and inventive person who took an uncompromising stance on life.

He was born in what he always described as "Elgar's old house", to a German concert pianist mother, Margarete Gertrude Necom, and her husband, Frank, the heir to Seddon's Salt. Their home was Severn House, in Hampstead, where the composer lived from 1912 to 1921. The family fortunes changed drastically when Maurice's father deserted his mother, sister and older brother. This had a deep effect on Maurice as he saw his mother and sister descend into alcoholism. His brother, Frank, died of kidney failure.

Via a German connection, Maurice was introduced to the educationist Kurt Hahn and was awarded a place at Gordonstoun, the Scottish school that Hahn founded in 1934. This was followed by service as an officer in the Royal Corps of Signals. These twin elements introduced Maurice to ideas about healthy living and electronics. He was his own herbalist, eating large quantities of raw garlic each day coated in lavender oil.

One of his inventions was heated clothing. When working as a dispatch rider on a vintage BSA, he was dressed head to toe in black leather, with a tabard proclaiming: Heated Gloves and Clothing. He could be seen plugging into his motorbike and heating up his lunch.

Maurice combined the bearing and voice of an officer with the attitude of a bohemian. His diplomatic and linguistic skills were often employed by friends who had trouble with their businesses or other general problems.

He was our friend for many years, during which we holidayed together in Rhayader, in mid-Wales, where Gordonstoun had decamped during the war. For nine of those years he visited the restaurant that we had in Borough Market in Southwark, south London, every day, sometimes twice a day.

Maurice lived in Datchet, Berkshire, and latterly at a residential home. We loved and enjoyed him. He was irrepressible and irreplaceable.