Randoll Coate facts for kids

Gilbert Randoll Coate (born October 8, 1909 – died December 2, 2005) was a British diplomat. He was also a famous designer of mazes and labyrinths. He created many amazing and tricky mazes around the world.

Early Life and War Service

Randoll Coate was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. His father, Charles Philip Coate, was a businessman living abroad. Randoll went to the Collège de Lausanne. Later, he earned a scholarship to Oriel College, Oxford in England. There, he studied French and German.

In 1940, during World War II, he joined the Intelligence Corps. This group gathered important information for the army. Randoll used his language skills to question prisoners of war. He worked at a place called the "London Cage". He also took part in a special commando raid in Norway. Later, he helped Greek resistance fighters free the city of Kalamata.

A Career in Diplomacy

After the war ended, Coate joined the UK Foreign Office. This is the part of the government that handles relationships with other countries. As a diplomat, he represented Britain in many places. He worked in cities like Salonika, Oslo, Leopoldville, Rome, and The Hague. He also served in Buenos Aires, Stockholm, and Brussels. He retired early in 1967.

Designing Amazing Mazes

Randoll Coate loved art and history for a long time. After retiring, he started designing mazes. He created over 50 new mazes in Britain and other countries. Coate's mazes are special because they often include hidden symbols. Even though you can't usually see a whole maze from above, his designs often had secret shapes. These shapes were important to the people who asked him to build the maze.

His first maze was called The Imprint of Man. He finished it in 1975 for a private garden in Gloucestershire, England. The maze was shaped like a giant footprint. It was 57 meters long and 29 meters wide. This size was meant to match a person as tall as the Eiffel Tower! The maze was made from 3,000 yew bushes. It ended up being too big for the field. So, Coate extended it into the nearby river. This created a small artificial island for one of the "toes." This complex maze had 132 symbols. These included numbers, signs of the zodiac, and different animals.

Some of his other famous mazes include:

• Pyramid (1977) — This yew hedge maze was shaped like a pyramid. It was built at the Château de Belœil in Belgium. The hedges got taller as you moved towards the center, reaching 6 meters high.
• Creation (1979) — This yew hedge maze was in Sweden. It had many layers of symbols. From one view, its egg shape looked like the Garden of Eden. It included figures for Adam, Eve, the Serpent, and the apple. From another view, the hedges formed the shape of the horned Minotaur. This creature is from the ancient Minoan labyrinth story.

Working with Minotaur Designs

In 1979, Coate met Adrian Fisher. Fisher was another person who loved designing mazes. Soon after, Coate and Fisher started a maze design company called Minotaur Designs. They worked together on 15 mazes between 1979 and 1989. They sometimes worked with a landscape architect named Graham Burgess.

Some of their joint projects were:

• Archbishop's Maze (1980) — This maze was made of brick paths and grass. It was at Greys Court in England. It had Christian symbols. It honored a speech by Robert Runcie, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury.
• Beatles Maze (1984) — This maze had brick paths and water channels. It was at the first National Garden Festival in Liverpool, England. In the middle, there was a huge 18-ton sculpture of a yellow submarine. The maze itself was shaped like an apple. This was a nod to The Beatles' Apple Corps record label.
• Bath Festival Maze (1984) — This stone path maze was in Beazer Gardens in Bath, England. It celebrated the city of Bath. It had designs based on Georgian fanlights and arches from a railway. It also had a Roman-inspired mosaic circle in its center.
• Marlborough Maze (1988) — This yew hedge maze was at Blenheim Palace. It was for the Duke of Marlborough. Its design was based on an old stone carving. It included symbols of cannons, banners, and trumpets.

Other Notable Mazes

Randoll Coate also designed these mazes:

• Sun Maze and Lunar Labyrinth (1996) — These were at Longleat, near Bath, England.
• Lappa Valley Railway Maze — This yew hedge maze was in Cornwall, England. It was shaped like an early steam locomotive.
• El laberinto de Borges (Borges Memorial Maze, 2003) — This box hedge maze was in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina. It was built to remember the writer Jorge Luis Borges, who was Coate's friend. The maze was inspired by Borges' short story "El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan". It was shaped like an open book. It even had a quote from the blind writer in Braille. The quote said that a book and a labyrinth are "one and the same."
• A similar design to the Borges Memorial Maze was built in Venice, Italy, in 2011. It is near the basilica of San Marcos, in the San Giorgio Maggiore gardens.
• Alice in Wonderland Maze (1991) in Dorset, England.
• Ziggurat Maze in Moray, Scotland.
• Ariel Maze in Jersey.
• Pommerie Maze in Shropshire, England.

Family Life and Awards

In 1955, Randoll Coate married Pamela Dugdale Moore, who was a painter. They had two daughters, Caroline and Penelope. He received several honors for his work. He was made a Chevalier of the Ordre de Léopold in Belgium in 1965. He also became a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1966.

Randoll Coate passed away on December 2, 2005. He was 96 years old. He died in Le Rouret, France.

Images for kids

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  Beazer Garden Maze in Bath

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  Mosaic at the centre of the Beazer Garden Maze