THE PEMBROKIAN Pembroke College Development Office Newsletter
Autumn 1998 Issue IX
THE MASTER OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE ROBERT STEVENS DCL PORTRAIT PAINTED BY Tom PHILLIPS RCA 1998
PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
College Dinner is at the heart of the Pembroke experience; an occasion when friendships are made which last for life. The Dinner is presided over by the Master or Senior Fellow, but always under the watchful eyes of the four previous Masters whose portraits hang over the fireplace. Currently these are: Sir Roger Bannister (elected Master in 1985), Sir Geoffrey Arthur (1975), Sir George Pickering (1968) and Ronald McCallum (1955). Elsewhere in the Hall hang the portraits of Dr John Smyth (1796); Dr Bartholomew Price (1892), Dr Homes Dudden (1918) and Dr Francis Jeune (1843), the latter of whom was responsible for the building of the Hall. The portrait of Sir Geoffrey Arthur by Organ first broke the tradition of a portrait of the Master in academic robes. Sir Roger Bannister's portrait returned to this tradition but the new portrait of the present Master, Dr Robert Stevens, reproduced on the cover of this Pembrokian, is again a departure from the traditional portrait.
MASTERS OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE 1624 Thomas Clayton MD - no portrait
1809 George Hall DD
1647 Henry Wightwick BD - no portrait
1843 Francis Jeune DCL
1647 Henry Langley DD
1864 Evan Evans DD - portrait by W W Ouless
- no portrait 1660 Henry Wightwick (restored)
- no portrait
- portrait by LC Grubbe -portrait ascribed to W M Tweedie
1892 Bartholomew Price DD, FRS -portrait by Marmaduke Flower
1664 John Hall DD - portrait (circle of John Riley)
1899 John Mitchinson DCL - no portrait
1709 Colwell Brickenden DD - no portrait
1918 Frederick Homes Dudden DD - portrait by Kenneth Green
1714 Matthew Panting DD - no portrait
1955 Ronald McCallum MA - portrait by James Gunn
1738 John Ratcliffe DD
1968 Sir George Pickering DM, FRS
- no portrait
- portrait by John Ward
1775 William Adams DD - portrait by j Roberts
1975 Sir Geoffrey Arthur MA - portrait by Brian Organ
1789 William Sergrove DD
1985 Sir Roger Bannister DM -portrait by John Ward
- portrait, artist unknown 1796 John Symth DD - portrait by Henry Howard
1993 Robert Stevens DCL -portrait by Tom Phillips
PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
1918 FREDERICK HOMES DUDDEN DD 19.1) Kenneth Green
1968 SIR GEOFFREY ARTHUR MA by Brian Organ
PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
ARTICLE BY TOM PHILLIPS RA - PAINTER IN RESIDENCE 'Within weeks of agreeing to paint the portrait of the Master (and his agreeing to be painted by me), something so serendipitous occurred that it could only be regarded as a good omen. Not only did it produce a solution to the picture's beginning, but it gave extra meaning to the very last marks that I made on the canvas. I received in the post, without any forewarning, an invitation to a Pembroke event with an oddly familiar image on the card. It was, in fact, a reproduction of the first painting I ever sold, The City, which had been purchased by the Junior Common Room Art Committee in 1958 (for ÂŁ12). I had thought it lost. It had, so I learned, only turned up again in recent months and now was here to haunt me with two salutary questions; "Was I any good then?" and "Had I got better?" Strangely enough this picture had been painted in Walton Crescent forty years ago, only a couple of hundred yards from where I found myself working on the portrait of the present Master of that same College. In some sense it was inevitable that it should be included in the picture I was working on. Thus, The City, formed the basis of the background and I had fun copying my former self , between the sittings (over a dozen of them), with Robert Stevens. I signed the work by copying the signature of The City and changing the date. The Master seemed to enjoy the sittings as much as I did and all proceeded most affably. I tried to accommodate his desire to have portraits of his family included in the picture, but any other specific face seemed both to distract from his central image, and to be too fussy. Therefore, a ghostly outline of wife and daughter appear together with a third subsidiary picture (perhaps, if you could see it, of a dog). We had already agreed from the outset that the portrait should represent the Master as a human being rather than a coathanger for academic symbols, i.e. that it was not going to be "a robes job" The Master's tie is a conflation of all the various ties, mostly of what used to be called a "loud" character, that he wore over the year or so that we spent on the work. Otherwise, the picture has no mysteries or hidden allusions, nor any special technical methods used in its making. Robert Stevens has a larger than life presence that called for no amplification. Thus, I see this painting as a particularly "straightforward" work in keeping with those portraits in the Hall and elsewhere in the College which I admire. I had great pleasure in delivering after a gap of a mere forty years my second picture to Pembroke."
THE CITY SHOWN ON LEFT (COURTESY OF PEMBROKE JCR) WAS THE FIRST PAINTING TO BE SOLD BY TOM PHILIPS
PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
PEMBROKE PROFILE DR PAUL SMITH DEAN AND UNION TEXAS PETROLEUM FELLOW IN ENGINEERING
Paul came to Pembroke having been Senior Lecturer at St Andrew's University and Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College, London. Originally trained as a Chemist, he moved in the early seventies into the field of Pulsed Power Engineering which provides a fundamental technology for high power lasers, particle accelerators and many defence applications. He holds contracts both from the Engineering and Physics Research Council and from the Ministry of Defence and he also sits on the Defence Scientific Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Defence. Paul is a consultant to industry, both in the UK and also abroad; for example, he has consulted for many years at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA. Within the College he teaches both Electrical Engineering and Engineering Mathematics to Pembroke undergraduates reading Engineering and related subjects
PAUL SMITH
This portrait was created in 1995 by his son BEN SMITH, who is a graphic artist.
PEMBROKE FLAG This new flag is held by Clerk of the Works, Brian Simpson, and Gloria Mundy. It looks large in the picture but is in fact much smaller than the one which flies from the College Tower. It probably holds one record; it remained in College for the shortest time of any College flag! In fact, it was bought for one of our wellwishers and now adorns their premises. If you see it, do tell us!
From March 1999 he will face yet another challenge! The College has elected him to be the University's Junior Proctor for one year. This will be formidable even to Paul's considerable administrative ability but we are sure that his four years as Dean of Pembroke will stand him in good stead in this very important role!
PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
COLLEGE ACCOUNTS — 3.1 JULY 1998 — PEMBROKE MAKES A PROFIT! The College's annual Accounts are now with the auditors and show a profit for the first time since 1988. Indeed, the year 1988 was exceptional in that large amounts of cash were held on deposit to fund the Sir Geoffrey Arthur Building so, in reality, the last "true" profit was achieved in 1979. That the College made a profit last year was, in part, due to the efforts of all our Members. The Endowment Income has risen appreciably thanks to the success of our Campaign. Without doubt also the realistic rates now charged to our students have played a significant part in this. Furthermore it is clear that the US student programme makes a major contribution whilst serving to broaden substantially the education of Home and Overseas students. Incidentally, Oxford colleges are too polite to make a profit (or loss), they make a surplus (or deficit)!
A copy of the College Accounts may be obtained from The Development Office, Pembroke College, Oxford OX1 1DW. Please enclose a cheque for £2.00 to cover costs. Certain Trusts have been funded substantially through the present Campaign. The current balances are:-
ACADEMIC PURPOSES
111K
RHODES/PELCZYNSKI
£200K
HEUSTON/BLACKSTONE ABRAHAM/O'BRIEN
£249K £190K
COLLEGE INVESTMENTS The day-to-day management is in the hands of managers Mercury Asset Management, but the overall supervision is provided by a committee chaired by John Govett (1962), formerly Managing Director of Schroders plc. The committee includes the Master, four Fellows and two other former members:- George Gray (1963), formerly Managing Director, Portfolio Trading of SBC Warburg Dillon Read and Charles Wood (1959), Vice President International Operations of Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK) Limited. Frank Buckley, Foundation Fellow, formerly Chairman of BTP plc and of Sutcliffe Speakman plc, is also a member.
SCHOOLS RESULTS - 1998 FIRSTS - 13 UPPER SECONDS - 69 LOWER SECONDS - 20 THIRDS - 1
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PEMBROKE COLLEGE • CHRISTMAS CARDS •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • You will find enclosed an order • • form for this year's Christmas • • Card which depicts the Altar in • • the Damon Wells Chapel. • • • • • PLEASE print your name and • • address clearly as this will be • used to send you your order. • • • • e eeeeeeeee • eeee
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1998
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PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
COLLEGE BENCHES
MISSING 1988 Peter C Bevin Jamie L Bronstein Nicola Crumpton Kimberly A Freedman Susan A Furlong Julian C Gooding Colleen K Kelly Mohamed A Khashoggi Frederica C Law-Turner Maeve G O'Marah Melissa A Pirie Andrew J Riley Grace L Sapol Stephen Stokes Caroline A Williams
Most of the benches around College have been given as memorials. For students, they represent an escape from the hustle or work, a place to read, a place to chat and a place to flirt! For visitors, they represent an escape from the busy activities of Oxford and somewhere to enjoy the best college gardens in Oxford. If you wish to donate a bench, contact the Development Office.
1989
NORTH AMERCIAN
Benjamin 0 Akiwumi Robert W Anderson Paul 0 Carrese Adam L Chadwick Eleanor L Clark Keith Little Lucia L Lomotan Jonathan G Moggs Alison L Parlin Katharine M Razzall Patrick B Reilly Ilana D Treston Jian Tu
REUNION 2000
THE NORTH AMERICAN REUNION WILL TAKE PLACE MONDAY,
JULY
31ST THRU FRIDAY, AUGUST 4TH.
FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN FUTURE COPIES OF THE PEMBROKIAN - WATCH THIS SPACE!
MEMBERS' DIRECTORY
1998
THIS WILL BE PUBLISHED DURING MICHAELMAS TERM. IF YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS AND WOULD LIKE US
WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THOSE MEMBERS
TO INCLUDE IT IN THE DIRECTORY. PLEASE LET US
WHO HAVE KINDLY HELPED US TRACE OUR
KNOW USING THE E-MAIL ADDRESS BELOW - NO LATER
MISSING MEMBERS
THAN 27TH NOVEMBER. IF ANY MEMBER NO LONGER
IF YOU ARE ABLE TO
PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE WHEREABOUTS
WISHES THEIR NAME TO BE INCLUDED, PLEASE INFORM
OF MEMBERS LISTED ABOVE, PLEASE CONTACT
THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE.
THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
development.secretary@pmb.ox.ac.uk
PEMBROKE COLLEGE NEWSLETTER
- DIARY DATES Tuesday, 17th November 1998 Thursday, 26th November 1998 Thursday, 3rd December 1998
Crry GROUP RECEPTION, Capital International Limited, London 6.30 - 9.00 pm MEDIA RECEPTION,
Groucho Club, London 6.30 - 9.30 pm
CHRISTMAS CONCERT, Damon Wells Chapel 8.00 pm An evening programme of seasonal music presented by Pembroke College choir assisted by St Peters, followed by refreshments. This in the past has been very successful and hope that you will support the event once again Please contact the Development Office if you would like to reserve tickets
Saturday, 9th January 1999
GAUDY 1968 - 1972
Wednesday, 3rd February 1999
NORWICH RECEPTION,
The Assembly Hall 6.30 - 9.30 pm.
Tuesday, 23rd February 1999
WOMEN'S RECEPTION,
The Groucho Club, London 6.30 -9.30 pm
Friday, 16th April, 1999
OXFORD ALUMNI INTERCOLLEGIATE GOLF,
Contact John Barlow, 01865 276502, if you are interested in being selected Saturday, 8th May 1999
PIANO RECITAL - PERFORMED BY - MATTHEW KOUMIS (1982)
An evening of enjoyable music. Performance commences 7.30 pm Refreshments and a light buffet will be available. Tickets may be purchased through the Development Office Saturday, 15th May 1999
ANNUAL BLACKSTONE LECTURE
To be delivered by Professor Peter Birks - for further details please contact John Eekelaar - 01865 276429 Sunday, 16th May 1999
Saturday, 29th May 1999 Friday, 25th June 1999 Friday, 24th September 1999 Saturday, 26th September, 1999 Monday, 31st July Friday, 4th August 2000
EXBURY HOUSE GARDENS, Exbury, Hampshire World famous among English Gardens, once described as "Heaven with gates open". Guided tour of gardens by Exbury's Head Gardener. Further details will be published in the next Pembrokian ANNUAL GARDEN PARTY
GAUDY - 1988 - 1989
PEMBROKE SOCIETY DINNER
PEMBROKE COLLEGE SOCIETY ACTIVTTY DAY
NORTH AMERICAN REUNION
Further details of this event will be published in future copies of The Pembrokian
If you are interested in helping the College with much-needed sponsorship or with the organisation of events, please contact the Development Office on 01865 276478 or e-mail - gloria.mundy@pmb.ox.ac.uk