Old Blue News December 2005
On the last day of 2005, the Wall Street Journal published a sensitive and thoughtful appreciation of the painting 'Watson and the Shark' by John Singleton Copley, owned by CH until the 1960s (a copy now hangs in its place at Horsham). This elicited a letter to the editor from the husband of Phyllis Judge (nee O'Sullivan, 8's 39-44) challenging the description of CH as 'a London boys' school': 'My wife, an Old Girl... who attended the school on a London County Council scholarship during World War II, tells with understandable pride that the school has always enrolled both genders. ' There follows a pithy, admiring account of the Foundation's history. Another correspondent quotes Charles Lamb's 'immortal description' of Coleridge's CH schooldays.
Andy Bing (Col B 72-78) is sales director & co-owner of the sustainable salmon company Loch Duart Salmon, the first producer to meet the RSPCA's Freedom Food standard for fish and winner of the Gold Award for Best Food in the 2005 Daily Telegraph 'Taste of Britain' Awards.
Since 2004 Wendy Johnson (nee Wright, 2's 61-67) has been at Merseybio (which develops and supports the life sciences sector on Merseyside) leading the ebiocommunity project. This offers life science/biotechnology professionals state-of-the-art information and partnering facilities via a specially developed web portal, Esymbio.com. Wendy would be pleased to hear from any OBs working in life sciences/biotechnology who would be interested to use this facility - 'although we are based in Liverpool we have users from all over the world.'
Bob Craig (Mid A 52–57) was installed in October as Master of the Worshipful Company of Constructors. At the Installation Dinner Michael Pickard (Pe B 50–57, Governor) was Principal Guest and the Master saluted Court Assistant Emeritus John Gillham (Th B 28–35, Governor) who selected him from CH to become a trainee with the Bovis Group and has been his friend and mentor ever since.
The release of Stoned – Stephen Woolley’s biopic of Brian Jones, founding member of the Rolling Stones, who died mysteriously in 1969 – has brought new fame to its leading actor, Leo Gregory (Mid A 90–95), who calls Jones “the original Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain”. Leo first appeared on screen aged thirteen in the American TV mini-series Jewels and now has twenty film and TV credits to his name. Before Stoned he was carving out a reputation as the ultimate hoodie, chiefly based on his role as a rampaging council estate teen in the 2002 TV drama Out of Control. Last year he played a vicious, jilted football thug in Green Street alongside Elijah Wood. Look out for him soon in Perfect Creature, a big-budget vampire thriller with Dougray Scott. Meanwhile he’s been chosen by GQ magazine as Armani Mania Man of the Year 2005, “a man who like the fragrance embodies a combination of masculinity, charisma and style”. Previous holders of the title include Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd and the former England goalkeeper David James.
In the past two years guitarist Paul Cuddeford (Pe A 80–87) has composed and recorded three live library albums for JW Media: Buena Latina, Claret Everywhere and Big Blues Bash. For a decade he has been a regular addition to the highly respected Music Sculptors team, one of the top sound-to-picture companies in the country, and amongst a lengthy credit list his compositions include: Sky Michael Jackson Trial; BBC Correspondent titles; Cutting Edge incidentals for Channel 4; Making Space for Channel Four; The History Channel main idents for Sky; and commercials for Nintendo and Adidas. Among his arrangement and guitar credits for the Music Sculptors is the BBC’s multi million selling ‘Perfect Day’ featuring David Bowie, Bono, Dr John and Robert Cray. “Having spent a few years in Hollywood in a band it amazed me to see Gene Simmons at CH, two very contrasting worlds I thought could never meet.”
With a BSc in Acupuncture from Westminster University, James Whelpton (Ma A 79–87) is in practice at The Acupuncture Clinic, Marlow, Bucks, and has worked for the English Institute of Sport treating members of the British Olympic team. He is also the father of three young children, which has led to a special interest in all areas of obstetrics and gynaecology.
At Tate Britain’s current exhibition Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: London and Paris 1870–1910, the first painting shown is ‘London Visitors’ by Tissot which features two CH boys on the steps of the National Gallery. The original is normally in Milwaukee so this is a chance for anyone interested to see it without incurring the air fare! The exhibition finishes on 15 January.
Sabina Stewart (1’s 62–70), whose high-flying career as a recruiter we reported earlier, has now taken a sabbatical from her job to go to France and do up a house with her husband.
Dame Ruth Deech (née Fraenkel, 7’s 53–61) has been appointed to a life peerage and will sit as a non-party independent member of the House of Lords. She is thought to be the sixth Old Blue to be raised to the peerage. Her predecessors were Field Marshal Viscount Seaton (John Colborne, CH 1785–89), the surgeons Berkeley Moynihan (Wd 16 1875–81) and Russell Brock (Th A 15–20, Almoner), the Labour Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart (La A 18–25) and the former head of BP David Simon (Mid A 50–58, Senior Grecian, Governor & Almoner), a minister in the first Blair government.
The Director of the Max Planck Institute of Astrophysics, Professor Simon White (Pe B 62–68), appeared on BBC2’s Newsnight on 1 June talking about the Millennium Run, the largest-ever computer simulation of how the Universe evolved into the shape it is today, which has been carried out by an international team of astrophysicists led by researchers from the Institute and is expected to explain observations made by astronomers and shed more light on the Universe’s elusive dark energy field. The simulation tracked some ten billion dark matter particles over roughly thirteen billion years of cosmic evolution.
The latest from Captain Laurie Swan-Ingrey (Th B, Mid B 91–98):
I have been serving since May 2003 with 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (1 RHA), based in Tidworth, Wiltshire. Highlights have been deployment on a three month Brigade Exercise in Canada and a six month tour as a Infantry Troop Commander in Basra last summer during a period of intensive insurgent activity – you may have seen members of the Regiment in the BBC Documentary (in which my Battery, The Chestnut Troop, did not feature due to our attachment to The Cheshire Regiment). I now find myself on a six month tour with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus just five months after returning from Iraq! I finish in Cyprus in October and become an Armoured Forward Observation Officer in 1 RHA calling in artillery fire in support of the Royal Tank Regiment throughout a busy training year.
One of the three artists whose work was on view this summer in a London exhibition entitled Correspondence is the painter Mich Maroney (1’s 73–78). Her pictures are made up of layers of acrylic paint in varying degrees of density and are “a response to the ambiguities and tensions in relation to space, the object and the human body”.
On 17 September Bryan Hall (Prep A/Ma A/Col A 63–72) will be raising money for Save the Children at the annual Dragon Boats festival at Bewl Water (on the Kent/Sussex border just off the A21 south of Lamberhurst. “I am looking for sponsors and anyone wishing to help can get in touch via email. We are also looking for some paddlers as we are a few short at present. We have been in the final every time we have taken part and have won it once but don’t let that put you off!”