Old Blue News December 2004
Last year Guy Masterson (Mastroianni, Pe A 72–79) staged the highest-grossing drama in the history of the Edinburgh Fringe: a revival of Twelve Angry Men with an all-star cast consisting almost entirely of comedians, Bill Bailey among them. This year he looked set to repeat the trick, directing One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest with Frances Barber and the Hollywood actor Christian Slater. But three weeks into rehearsals Guy withdrew from the production in a storm of controversy, citing “an untimely amalgamation of unprecedented stresses, personal and professional,” which left him “physically and emotionally unable to continue”. Two new directors were brought in, while Slater caught chicken pox, putting the show’s prospects in doubt; but it played to packed houses and transferred to the West End, where its booking has been extended into January – a triumph that must surely owe a good deal to the foundations laid by Guy, who has bounced back by staging a well-received all-Aussie production of Twelve Angry Men in Australia. Meanwhile at the Edinburgh International Festival Paul Hoskins (Col A 77–84) conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Rambert Dance Company’s Mahler and Dance event.
In her first stage appearance since graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama, Emma Campbell-Jones (Col B 86–93) played the heroine, Lizzie Bennet, in a touring production of Pride and Prejudice with Sylvester McCoy, Rula Lenska and (guaranteeing media attention) John Leslie as the villainous Mr Wickham. The critics tended to disparage the show while applauding Emma: in Edinburgh the Scotsman called her “intelligent and lovely” and the Evening News said she was “easily the best thing about the whole production”, a judgement echoed by Charles Spencer in the Telegraph. “Campbell-Jones should be pleased with a promising debut” added The Stage.
Currently running at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford is A Gentle Madness: The Photographs of Tony Ray-Jones (Col B circa 1950–59). Ray-Jones (1941–72), who died of leukaemia at the age of thirty, was an original and influential photographer who worked extensively in the United States but is best known for his 1960s images of Britons at play. ‘I have tried,’ he wrote, ‘to show the sadness and the humour in a gentle madness that prevails in a people.’ He was one of the very first photographers to have their work exhibited at the ICA and according to an article in The Guardian on 2 October he changed the face of British photography forever. The exhibition runs until 9 January and will then be touring.
Social and military historian Crispin Swayne (Pe B 76–82) has had an extraordinary career. Best known for presenting Greatest Military Clashes on Channel 5 and Great Battles (which he co-wrote) on Discovery Channel, he was commissioned in the Blues and Royals after university, spent three years as a tank commander, trained recruits at Pirbright (winning the Commandant’s Commendation for record pass rates) and devoted two years to training Canadian special forces in settings as diverse as the Arctic Circle and the first Gulf War, receiving the Governor General’s Commendation. Unwilling to “fly a desk” he left the Army in 1993 and became a freelance recruitment consultant, advising among others the Mirror Group, the Prince’s Trust and Channel One. He has been a gallery manager for Sotheby’s, provided music and poetic voice-overs for the BBC’s Travels with Pevsner and Monet Moments, is an accomplished pianist and composer, sings and plays in a successful blues band and is a popular MC and DJ. In the mid-Nineties he had an annus horribilis with testicular cancer and has since run the London Marathon twice for Cancer Research. He also took part in the destruction of the Berlin Wall.
After almost twenty years at Fairwind Shipping Jean Richards (née Peacy, 3’s 57–64) has left to become Chairman of Datatrac, a fast-growing company providing compliance for the ISPS code, data capture and advanced safety systems for shipping. She continues to serve as a Director of Cambridge Academy of Transport and to act as a shipping consultant and expert witness.
Anne Buddle (5’s/8’s 61–66) is now Head of Exhibitions and Collections Management at the National Galleries of Scotland.
An admiring profile of Paul Mackney (Pe B 60–67), charismatic general secretary of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, appeared in The Independent on 1 April. His style was described as open, self-confident, immensely warm and displaying a rare leadership quality. Elected seven years ago, he took over a union in crisis and revived it; five years later he was re-elected unopposed, and he’s the first NATFHE leader to be elected to the TUC General Council. Of his days at CH: “It was a brutal regime where the older boys beat the younger ones, but it gave Mackney a decent education.” Two sixth-form teachers (not named) inspired a love of English literature and modern history.
German prosecutors have told British government officials they plan to re-open the investigation into the death last year of Jeremiah Duggan (Th A 92–99) (see March 2004), in the light of new evidence compiled by his mother and her lawyers that casts grave doubt on their initial verdict of suicide. Eighteen months on, there were long, sympathetic articles in The Observer (31 October) and The Washington Post (24 October) with more details of Jerry’s final days and the shadowy group with which he was entangled. The Post called him “an energetic young man with a mop of dark curls, a sunny personality, an international array of friends and a broad range of interests... He wrote poetry. He relished literature, art and music – the Beatles most of all. Jeremiah was always softhearted, the kind of person who believed every homeless person he passed on the street was his responsibility”.
Double bassist Ilin-Dime Dimovski (Ma A/Gr E 00–01) has been studying at the Faculty of Music Arts, Skopje, Macedonia. At this year’s Skopje Summer Festival he was jointly responsible for the music for a play by Dejan Damjanovski and in July he was one of three young musicians who gave a concert in the city’s Daut Pasha Amam, the Great fifteenth-century Turkish bath that is Macedonia’s national gallery.
In October the violinist Zheni Kanani (LH A/Gr E 99–01) performed Bach’s Chaconne for unaccompanied violin in D Minor at the opening of an exhibition at the Gallery of Art and Thought, Rome.
Over the summer Eliot, Julian & Ryan Gregory (all Mid B etc 95–02) shot a promo for Sky Movies with Ben Kingsley and did a day’s filming for CBBC’s comedy show kERCHING!, to be shown in January. (They’re doing something special for Comic Relief too.)
Also in January, watch out for another BBC1 Big Cat Week co-presented by the intrepid wildlife photographer and artist Jonathan Scott (Col A 59–68). The original Big Cat Week last year was the most popular wildlife series since David Attenborough’s Blue Planet in 2000.
Jake Rendle-Worthington (Th A 91–98) is a freelance researcher in the wildlife film world. He has an MSc in animal behaviour from Exeter University (his first degree was philosophy and psychology at Liverpool) and has been a game guide and elephant trainer in Zimbabwe, where he hopes to return in February. Having worked for Tigress Productions and done brief stints at other places researching for (mainly) natural history documentaries, he’s looking for more work in that area.
In July Glenn Fox (Mid A 81–88) joined the London office of Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) as Director, Infrastructure Finance, taking lead responsibility for Public Finance Initiative and Public/Private Partnership transactions in the UK and Europe. Glenn began his career as a Principal at the Treasury, followed by spells with Andersen Corporate Finance and MBIA Assurance SA.
At ‘One’, the franchise holder for the new Greater Anglia railway operation, Theo Steel (Th A 58–67) is projects director, overseeing major schemes such as improving the performance and organisation of Liverpool Street station and the development of Stratford.
Since 1992 Giles Drew (Mid B 57–66) has been headmaster of St Edward’s Church of England Comprehensive School in Romford, Essex, founded in 1710.
Peter Hewitt (La A 73–?80) directed the recent film of Garfield – with Bill Murray voicing the title role – and co-wrote the story (though not the screenplay) of Thunderbirds. Since then he’s been directing The Great Hartford Elementary Heist for release next year. Incidentally, is the Phil Hughes with whom Peter co-wrote Thunderpants and the as yet unfilmed Shooting Stars the same Phil Hughes who was his exact contemporary in LH B and Lamb A and later Head of Drama at the European Media Development Agency?
Chief Executive of Cambridge City Primary Care Trust is Chris Humphris (Mid B 69–77) who previously ran community health services in East Cumbria and prior to that was Chief Executive of Northumberland Community Health Trust.
At Wageningen University, Holland, Professor Linden Vincent (2’s 62–69) heads the interdisciplinary Irrigation and Water Engineering Group, which develops “socio-technical” theoretical frameworks and research approaches to understand the relationships between irrigation and rural transformation.
Esther Maughan (4’s/Col A 83–90) is a frequent contributor to the sustainable development magazine Green Futures.
The firm of Dominic Barrow works with industry-leading companies, helping them understand the links between the money they invest in IT and the delivery of real business value, and finding ways of maximizing their return. The man in charge is Chris Potts (Mid A 71–77), a regular and sometimes controversial conference speaker whose views on the latest strategic IT management issues are often sought by the press.
Aziza Khan (3’s 80–84) is a dentist in London, specialising in dental care and advice for socially excluded and homeless people.
Landscape With Figure (Radio 3, 6 June) was a portrait of the poet Keith Douglas (La A/Mid B 31–38), killed three days after D-Day (on a reconnaissance mission described by one of his surviving fellow-officers as “totally irresponsible” since Douglas was second-in-command). Those taking part included the padre who buried him, his biographer and people who knew him. The Telegraph called it “the real thing… unsentimental and challenging”, though Richard Arblaster (Th B 48–56) found it disappointing from an OB point of view: “There was no mention whatsoever of Douglas’s own education, but a number of snide remarks about his reaction to, and relationship with, other tank commanders from Eton, Harrow etc. These remarks made little sense when no word of his own alma mater was heard.”
Staged earlier this year at the Finborough Theatre, London, Jason Hall’s Eyes Catch Fire was a Critic’s Choice in Time Out. From a strong cast of eight, Alexander Lanipekun (La A 92–99) was one of two actors singled out for praise.
Rachel Gull (7’s/Col A 80–87) is head of the Commercial Litigation and Employment department at Massers Solicitors in Nottingham, where she has been since 1991.
Defence lawyer Edmund Fish (Mid A 80–88) is a partner at Bishop & Light solicitors, Brighton.
Clive Exton (Brooks, Mid B 40–45) is one of the writers of the ITV1 series Rosemary and Thyme, starring Felicity Kendall and Pam Ferris as gardeners-cum-detectives.
The referee of the Harlequins versus Newcastle Falcons rugby match in September was Sean Davey (Staff 92– ).
Theo Usherwood (Th B/Mid B 92–99) is now a journalist on the Nottingham Evening Post. At Warwick University he studied history and sociology and had great fun editing the student newspaper The Warwick Boar in 2002–3; in 2003 the paper was runner-up for Student Newspaper of the Year in the Guardian Student Media Awards. Since then he’s done a journalism course at Cardiff with the aid of the Sue Thomson Foundation, a charity which supports CH.
A BBC2 documentary in June on the Elgin Marbles was kinder than some commentators have been to Sir John Forsdyke (CH 1895–1902), Director of the British Museum in 1938 when the marbles were damaged by inappropriate cleaning methods. Far from blaming him, the programme gave him his due for discovering what was happening, bringing the work to a halt and launching an inquiry.
Ben Dowsett (Mid B 87–95) is curriculum manager for music technology at Farnborough Sixth Form College.
This year’s National Performance Festival for Young Organists included a workshop taught by Joanna Marsh (Staff 97–02).
Steve Hilton (Ma A 81–83, La A 83–86) was a front-runner (though unsuccessful) for the Tory candidacy in the ultra-safe seat of Surrey Heath, and also sought nomination in Kensington and Chelsea. Hywel Williams in The Guardian on 7 July described him as one of a tight-knit group of thirty-something friends who surround Michael Howard and represent the future of their party.
The Daily Mail on 5 July had a story about the polemical comedian Mark Thomas (Pe B 74–81) who while preparing for his one man show in London was rung by a critic from The Independent asking for details of the second half as he (the critic) could not stay until the end. Thomas, outraged, repeated the conversation to the audience – and the critic, duly shamed, remained to the end of the performance.
RAF man Matthew Adams (La A B/Mid B/Gr W 95–02) reports ruefully that having completed his officer training, obtained his commission and gone through forty hours of navigator training he “got chopped – looks like I’m going to be one of you civvies again.”
At University College London, Noah Ojetola (Ma A B/La A 94–99) is in the final year of a Mathematics with Economics degree. He’s Vice-President of UCL’s Urban Music Society – named as Society of the Year 2003–4 – and is also one of its in-house artists, performing as MC Mastermind.
The prospectus of Cardiff University’s chemistry department includes a nice photo of a white-coated, begoggled Gemma Martland (LH A/Gr E 94–01) who says she’s being equipped to pursue “a vast array of careers” but is considering doing further research after graduating, with a view to working in forensics or medical chemistry.
Economics student Dave Sheppard-Burgess (Mid B 92–99) plays alto sax in the Edinburgh University Wind Band and has just spent a year as Treasurer of not only the band but its alumni association, the Old Blowers.
A major event in the life of St Andrews is the annual Kate Kennedy procession. In this year’s procession Guy Vesey (Pe B/Pe A/Gr W 94–01, Senior Grecian) was wearing what was said to be the best of the costumes: Earl Haig’s field-marshal uniform with chancellorial gown.
Pianist James Belassie (Ma B/Gr E 96–01) has been performing with the Girton College Music Society, Cambridge. Thomas Sibley (Ma A/Gr E 01–03) is reading Aeronautical Engineering and playing badminton at Imperial College London. At Newcastle University Boat Club Joe Leiserach (Mid B/Gr E 96–03) is responsible for kit and safety. And at Bristol University Alexandra Martinelli (Col B/Gr W 00–02) took part in an African-style performance in the Dance Society’s big show of the year.
Bea Rothon (LH A 91–98) is a volunteer with Youth Music Theatre UK, to which Chris Grady (La A 69–76) is consultant.
The Whitgift Doubles Tournament, inaugurated last year, aims to encourage younger players of Rugby Fives to become much more involved in the senior fives ‘circuit’ by pairing them with the country’s best players. Among those taking part in the first tournament, according to February’s newsletter from the Rugby Fives Association, were former schoolboy champion Tom Curtin (La B/Mid A/Pe B/Gr W 95–02), now reading Art History at Sussex, and Teesside University student Dan Clydesdale-Cotter (Pe B/Ma A/Ma B/Gr E 95–02). The latter and his partner stormed through to the final by winning their group convincingly, but unfortunately neither could play in the final due to Bank Holiday commitments. Tom also played in a hard-hitting match in the President’s Cup. What news of more recent contests?
Noted on the Court & Social pages: Major-General John Sutherell (La A B 59–65) presiding as Colonel of the Regiment at the regimental dinner of the Royal Anglian Regiment; General Sir Garry Johnson (Mid A 48–54) presiding at a reunion dinner of the Eaton Hall Officer Cadet School; Robin Gill (Ba A 37–44) hosting a reception at 11 Downing Street celebrating ten years of the Queen’s Anniversary Trust for Higher and Further Education; and the former Editor of BBC radio and TV news and head of the BBC’s American operations Peter Woon (Col A 42–49) attending the thanksgiving service for Alistair Cooke at Westminster Abbey.
The Rev Caroline Hewlett (née Hewitt, 4’s 80–87) has moved from St George’s, Leeds, to a second curacy in Aldborough with Boroughbridge and Roecliffe (same diocese). She continues as Chaplain of the Leeds Combined Court Centre.
At St Helen’s church, Abingdon, Martin Crick (La A 78–85) is the ringing master and/or tower captain. St Helen’s bells, never very impressive, have become increasingly troublesome and moves are afoot to replace them with a lighter ring of ten bells in a single-level metal frame.
A Sunday Telegraph opinion piece in July recalled that in the 1979 election campaign Mrs Thatcher undermined the electoral appeal of the National Front when she warned that unless immigration was curbed Britain would be “swamped” by an alien culture. Ronald G W Rickcord (La A 44–50) wrote in to point out that within weeks of winning the election she had permitted 30,000 Vietnamese “boat people” to settle in the UK.
The Times’s Latest Wills column noted that Margaret Vasey, of Cookham Dean, Berkshire (presumably the widow of Ken Vasey (Th A 26–33, Governor)) left £5,000 to CH.
This year’s Wilkinson Lecture at Worcester College, Oxford, was about the writer Jocelyn Brooke’s brief career there in 1927–8. He and his closest friend put together an avant-garde literary magazine (suppressed by the authorities two days after publication, though defended by the Sunday Times) to which the only other contributor was Eric Bennett (Col A 1920s), later a journalist, author and PR man and one of the editors of The Christ’s Hospital Book (1953).
In October Simon Finch Rare Books Ltd was offering for sale a good, crisp copy of the first edition of Bedwell’s translation of Ramus’s Geometry, signed by its original owner, James Hodgson FRS, Master of the Royal Mathematical School from 1709 to 1755. A snip at £650.
Horsham District Council’s Business Today magazine for September devoted its Top Company Focus page to CH, with a handsome aerial photo only slightly marred by being printed back to front. The school’s financial basis and the constraints on its spending were explained, and the Clerk outlined CH’s recent efforts to make itself better known to local business, voluntary and community sector organisations and to “create a Greater link between business, education and disadvantaged children”, exemplified by the launch last year of the Horsham District Scholarship for companies to support a pupil at CH.
RAIL magazine in January had a quiz including the question: “What did the boys of Christ’s Hospital school sing as the last train from Horsham to Guildford called at their station? (June 12 1965)” – ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Rock Island Line’ or (correct answer) ‘Abide with Me’?.
Published in the Telegraph last Christmas, a collection of 19th century public school slang compiled by Ben Schott of Miscellany fame contained three CH words: “cruggy” (hungry); “nighshiuos” (ingenious); and “scuttle” (cry out under oppression with a view to attracting the notice of one who is in authority).
A Times editorial (10 May) on the charitable status of independent schools asked whether such schools could extend more of a helping hand to the needy, and cited CH as an inspiring example of what can be achieved.
And in November the British, American and Australian press reported that Gene Simmons, frontman of the rock band Kiss, is to star in a new reality TV series to be made at CH. Rock School will chronicle his efforts to turn CH pupils into a rock band. “The culture clash will be hilarious” predicted Channel 4 chief Andy Newman.
The compiler would like to apologise for recent unconscionable delays in responding to emails and letters. He will try to do better.
CONGRATULATIONS
Tom Allwood (Ma B/Ma A 91–98) won the ‘City prize’ in the 2004 Insight Guides/Independent on Sunday Travel Photography Competition.
Thomas Cairncross (Ma B/Ma A 93–00) has passed out of Sandhurst and been granted a commission in the Light Infantry.
Timothy Clayson (CH 1960s) has been appointed a Circuit Judge, assigned to the Northern Circuit.
Alan Fletcher (Mid B 41–48) received an honorary doctorate last year from the University of Kingston.
Eliot, Julian and Ryan Gregory (CH 95–02) have been signed by ICM Models.
Dr Stephen Harrison (Col B 71–78) has been awarded the title of Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at Oxford University and appointed a Visiting Professor at Bergen University, Norway.
David McKie (Col A 45–53) has been shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award for his book Jabez: the Rise and Fall of a Victorian Rogue.
Bryan Magee (Ba A 41–48) has been awarded the J R Ackerley Prize for Autobiography for his book Clouds of Glory: A Hoxton Childhood.
The Rev Christopher Moody (Mid B 62–69) has been appointed an Honorary Canon of Leicester Cathedral.
Professor Alan Ryan (La A 51–59, Almoner) has been elected an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a student.
The Rev Hugh Williams (Mid B 54–62) has been appointed an Honorary Canon of Winchester Cathedral.