Old Blue News March 2003
Gillian Anderson of X Files fame made her West End debut this winter in the two-hander What the Night is For, co-starring with Olivier Award winner Roger Allam (Pe B, Th A 64–72) who provided “most of the energy and vitality” (Times, 12 November). A Times interviewer (25 November) called him “funny and self-effacing, a famously nice guy who has been showered with the sort of acclaim which should have made him the household name that he still isn’t.”
The three Gregory brothers (Eliot, Julian and Ryan, all CH 95–02) appeared on the ITV gameshow Blind Date on 9 November. Eliot was selected to go on a date to Belgium, reporting back on 16 November.
Three current CH pupils turned up on BBC1’s Breakfast on 10 September. India Martin, Gemma Batte and Senior Grecian Ben Barber talked to presenter Julia Bottsfield about the history of their uniform.
Co-founder of the YouGov online polling organisation, Stephan Shakespeare (Kukowski, Pe B 68–75) is now its director of public opinion research. His clients include Channel 4, ITN, the NHS and Mayor of London Ken Livingstone (Almoner c. 70s). YouGov has taken over responsibility for the Tory party’s private opinion polls and Shakespeare is said to be a growing influence on Iain Duncan Smith’s political strategy.
Libby Purves in The Times (3 December) described a party which marked the fortieth anniversary of the television satire show That Was The Week That Was. “In a poignant moment for friends of this newspaper, Bernard Levin (PB 37–45) – after watching his young self on the screen – took a hesitant bow: the abrasive, combative intelligence and courage of his heyday were cheered to the echo.”
In The Times’s education forum on 27 February Vikki Askew (Hatton, Horsham Staff 84–99) advised the family of a thirteen-year-old boy whose father’s death had left them unable to meet school fees to consider CH, which “gives bursaries to 96 per cent of its pupils, with 40 per cent paying no fees at all.”
The Telegraph on 24 July talked to Maggie McCurry (5’s, 6’s 60–66) who moved to the US 25 years ago to study acting at Lee Strasberg’s academy, went into the music business and has now become ‘a heroine to thousands of American dog lovers as the pilot of the world’s first flying greyhound rescue service.’ Last summer she undertook her most ambitious project: an eight thousand mile, twenty–five stop tour, collecting unwanted greyhounds from racetracks and delivering them to adoption centres across the States.
Ansar M Haroun (Mid A 59–66) was recently the US Army’s Chief Psychiatrist for five countries in South West Asia, based in Afghanistan. He has now returned home to California.
Artist Mich Maroney (Hertford 73–78) has lived and worked in Hungary and Ireland but has been in South London for ten years and is based at Childers Street Studios in Deptford. “I use simple geometry based on the dimensions of the human body to set up rigid structures in which simple areas of colour can be given free rein and in which nature can be evoked but not represented.”
William Ward (La A 65–71) has been a broadcaster and journalist for twenty years. When he lived in Italy (1979–93) his work appeared in many British publications and on BBC radio and television. Based in London since 1994, he is fulltime UK correspondent for three important Italian publications, Panorama (Italy’s leading weekly news magazine), Il Foglio and Il Riformista (which are both “very high brow but low circulation daily newspapers”). He can also be spotted occasionally in the Sunday Times, Economist, Spectator and Evening Standard; the BBC uses him as an all-purpose commentator on Italy; and he delivers lectures and after dinner talks on a wide range of Italian themes. Contact him on wjcward@aol.com.
In aid of “Music for Harry”, which raises funds for cystic fibrosis research, Sebastian Scotney (Col B 66–73) and the Maggini String Quartet have recorded the Mozart Clarinet Quintet. The CD has a limited-edition cover by leading abstract artist Rebecca Salter and costs £20 from Julia Hughes, Music for Harry, 2 Vale Croft, Claygate, Esher, Surrey KT10 0NX (cheques payable to Royal Brompton and Harefield Charitable Fund (No. 1057)).
A torn cartilage put paid to the plan for John Cugley (Pe A 64–73) to row from Dublin to Limerick and back again last September in aid of the children’s charity SPARKS; the project will be revived this year.
After working for two large City law firms in a variety of positions, chiefly in education and training, Azeem Ali Khan (Mid A 76–83) qualified as a psychosynthesis counsellor and is now practising at two locations in London. He offers a sliding scale of fees to accommodate those on limited budgets, and alongside general counselling has a particular interest in the area of work and career choices.
For the past two years Tim Alderson (Mid B 67–74) has been Finance Director of the marketing services group Creston. Previously he was Finance Director of the Products and Service Division of Thames Water Plc, successfully completing its restructuring, and for five years before that he was the company’s Corporate Finance Manager, responsible for acquisitions and most group financial controls. Latterly he was a principal consultant of KPMG.
Shared Intelligence is a consultancy seeking to improve our urban and rural communities and to create learning networks. Its finance director is Jeremy Harding-Edgar (Pe B 63–72) who has been a chartered accountant since 1980 and was a partner at Hays Allan before establishing his own practice. Small and medium sized businesses, largely in the service sector, are his speciality, and through his Eclipse Consultancy “we extend the role of the Accountant from that of “score-keeper” to “business coach”.”
A spirited interview with Lord Simon of Highbury (Mid A 50–58, Senior Grecian, Governor & Almoner) appeared in CAM, the Cambridge University alumni magazine, marking his appointment as chairman of the Cambridge Foundation. He recalled rowing, boxing, playing rugby and running for CH; Arthur Rider (Horsham Staff 31–73, Hertford Staff thereafter, Governor) famously warned him that if he didn’t slow down he risked “becoming a burnt-out shell of a man” by fifty. On his fiftieth birthday he sent Arthur a telex “saying that I had not burned out – and certainly wasn’t a Shell man” (Simon spent thirty-nine years with BP).
Two more credits for our man in Hollywood, Patrick Emerson (Mid A 81–88): he played a film director in Laud Weiner, a short movie starring David Hyde Pierce, and contributed his voice to the video game Medal of Honor Frontline.
Nick Heckstall-Smith (La A B 74–?80) was first assistant director of the acclaimed film The Hours and of the romantic comedy The One and Only.
Jason Flemyng (Mid A 78–83) appeared in the recent movies The Bunker and A Flight of Fancy and will shortly be seen in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Louise Winstone (4’s 77–83) popped up last March in the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles was staged recently at the Rosemary Branch theatre in Islington in a translation by E F Watling (Ma A B 12–18).
Chris Grady (La A 69–76) has moved from the Pleasance Theatre in North London to a post with Cameron Mackintosh.
In St Albans last year tenor Philip Salmon (Col B 69–75) headed the cast in a much admired production of Mozart’s Idomeneo. ‘Philip Salmon’s portrayal of Idomeneo was inspired,’ said the Herts Advertiser. ‘Not only is he a super classical “English” tenor, but he also has tremendous acting ability.’
Performance poet Attila the Stockbroker (Basil Baine, LB 68–75) toured the US and Germany last summer.
At the Daily Telegraph, Nigel Richardson (La A B 69–76) continues as deputy travel editor.
One of the counsel in a recent case which established that the tax rules applying to subcontractor construction companies comply with the Human Rights Act 1998 was Timothy Jones (Col B 62–69).
Ian Alexander-Sinclair (La A B, MdA 58–65) has retired as a partner with the law firm Mills & Reeve in Norwich.
The Rev Bridget Woollard (3’s 66–73) is living in Telford as Chaplain of Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust.
The Rev Simon Horne (Col A 74–81) is Team Vicar of Fordingbridge and Breamore and Hale in the diocese of Winchester. He obtained a PhD in 1999 from Birmingham University.
Mark Hutton (Th B, Ma A, Gr E 96–02) is now at Warwick University, reading Mathematics and doing lots of music. Amy Leadbeater (Ba B, Gr W 00–02) has started at De Montfort University and Emma Judge (Col A, Gr W 95–02) is at Leicester “and loving it – though I am starting to miss CH and its little ways…” Meanwhile Ben Ashton (La A, Mid B 97–02) is in the sixth form at an East London school, and working at weekends at Waitrose, Canary Wharf.
Con Coughlin (Pe B 66–73) appeared on ITV’s Dimbleby on 8 December as a commentator on the Iraq crisis.
Dubbing mixer Mike Aiton Browne (Th B, CA 77–84) has been cropping up in the credits of BBC1’s Crimewatch.
In October Lt–Col John Stephenson (Col A 40–48) took the chair at the Stragglers of Asia Cricket Club’s annual dinner at the East India Club.
Brian Walling (Ma A 53–60) was glimpsed in The Times’s “Questions Answered” column, asking why the media tend to preface the names of certain countries (Lebanon, Sudan, etc.) with the definite article.
The Rye and Battle Observer (6 December) gave a dramatic account of Battle’s eleventh annual pickled onion competition, in which “old master” and “wily veteran” Peter Wildey (Ma A B 53–59) chalked up his third victory. Wildey’s onions were declared “a perfect balance of heat and spice with an awesome crunch”. A Dracula-like photo showed him open-mouthed, poised to bite a doomed onion.
A centenary tribute to the composer Berthold Goldschmidt (Evening Standard, 15 January) condemned BBC head of music William Glock (Ba A B 19–26/8) for allegedly imposing “an atonalist writ” on the BBC, which caused Goldschmidt, “a relentless melodist”, to stop composing.
Sheila Hinton (née Murphy, 3’s, 5’s 51–59) spots references to Coleridge everywhere from the front page of The Times to the Ely diocesan magazine, which quoted his tribute to the slavery abolitionist Thomas Clarkson: “He, if ever human being did it, listened exclusively to his conscience, and obeyed its voice.“
When Harold Evans was voted the greatest newspaper editor of all time last year he said he thought the title should go to either W T Stead or Thomas Barnes (CH 1796–1804).
Inside the refurbished Reading Room at the British Museum (first opened in 1857) two large panels flanking the main doors list notable holders of Readers’ Tickets. At least three are OBs: Edmund Blunden (Col A 09–15, Senior Grecian), poet and critic; Leigh Hunt (CH 1791–99), poet and essayist; and Constant Lambert (Col A 14–22), composer, conductor and critic.
Letters to The Times:
11 November: Russell Vallance (Mid B 58–66) identified the oldest living holder of the Victoria Cross and the source of the metal from which the medal is cast (Chinese cannons). Another correspondent quoted Richard Needham (Col A 23–30), long-serving columnist on the Toronto Globe & Mail: “As you grow old, you lose your interest in sex, your friends drift away, your children often ignore you. There are many other advantages of course, but these would seem to me to be the outstanding ones.”
3 January: Robert Heller (Pe A 42–50) argued that economic problems in the eurozone cannot fairly be blamed on the euro.
10 January: Robert Stone (Mid A 59–67) ascribed young people’s low interest in classical music to the BBC’s policy of segregating different musical genres into different channels, rather than offering a varied diet.
20 January: David Crease (Pe B 38–46), apropos of the work of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, suggested that “Those seeking empty warheads should perhaps look first in the Pentagon.”
12 February: O A Denly (Th B 35–42), President of the Disabled Drivers Association, recounted his struggle to obtain a one hundred percent discount from the London congestion charge for his specially adapted car.
On 21 November Brian Polley (Col B 44–53) had a letter in the Daily Mail about the naming of various Central Line underground stations.
Robin Gill (Ba A 37–44), who runs the Royal Anniversary Trust, supplemented the Times obituary of Viscount Younger of Leckie with a brief tribute (4 February) to his work as the Trust’s chairman.
CH was represented by David Farrington (La A B 56–63, Treasurer 02– ) at the thanksgiving service for the Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Lord Porter of Luddenham at St Margaret’s, Westminster, in January. Also present were the Rt Rev Frank Weston (Th A 45–54, Governor & Almoner), who led the prayers, and Sir Christopher Zeeman (Mid B 34–43).
At the memorial Mass for the late Duke of Norfolk in November Maj–Gen Patrick Stone (Col A 48–55) represented Princess Alice Duchess of Gloucester (widow of Henry Duke of Gloucester (President 37–74)), the present Duke of Gloucester (President 74– ) and the Duchess. Princess Alice reached the age of 101 on Christmas Day.
Maj–Gen John Grey (La A 45–52) was among those attending a thanksgiving service for Major General Derek Pounds of the Royal Marines in January.
According to ‘Latest Wills’ in The Times, Alice Joyce Walmsley of Worthing left part of her estate to the Christ’s Hospital Presentation Fund of the Guild of Freemen of the City of London.
The Telegraph obituary of the historian John Prestwich recalled his prolonged joust with the late Professor R H C Davis (Horsham Staff 47–48) over the correct dating of the charters conceded to Geoffrey de Mandeville.
A Times obituary of management guru Reginald Revans (21 February) said he had “eschewed the opportunity to attend Christ’s Hospital – claiming that yellow socks and a frock coat were not to his taste…”
While commanding 127 Infantry Brigade, Brigadier Tony Firth (Pe B 29–37) visited some cadets in training on Anglesey and afterwards took the trouble to write a personal letter of good wishes to the inexperienced young officer in charge – who after Firth’s death wrote to The Times (21 August) praising this “inspirational leader”: “writing that letter to one of the least important members of his command can only have taken a few minutes but to me it meant a very great deal.”
CONGRATULATIONS
The Very Rev John Arnold (Ba A 43–52) has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Durham University (in December he resigned as Dean of Durham).
Richard Castle (Th A 68–76) was promoted to Group Captain in January and is now the Senior Personnel Staff Officer at HQ Personnel and Training Command, RAF Innsworth. He is also continuing with his PhD on the psychological aspects of burns trauma, following his experiences in the 1999 Paddington rail crash.
Gerald Davies (Horsham Staff 71–74), chairman of the Wales Youth Agency, was appointed CBE in the New Year Honours.
Dame Ruth Deech (néeFraenkel, 7’s 53–61) received the 2002 Jewish Care “Woman of Distinction” Award.
Laurie Swan-Ingrey (Th B, Mid B 91–98) has successfully completed Commissioning Course No 021 at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and been granted a commission in the Royal Artillery.
Francis Warner (Mid B 47–54) has been awarded a DLitt by Oxford University “for his 65th birthday”.
And belated congratulations to environmentalist and ornithologist Professor William Sladen (Pe A 30–37) for having two locations in Antarctica named after him: Mount Sladen on Coronation Island in the South Orkneys and Sladen Summit in Victoria Land.