OB Lecture Series

OB Lecture Series OB Lecture Series

For many years, I have wanted to

create an Old Bristolian Lecture Series that would involve a great selection of

Old Bristolians joining us, ideally, in the 1532 MacKinnon Theatre across many weeks.

When we went into lockdown in March 2020, as with many other businesses we had to think of alternative ways to continue our connection with the OB community but also to offer new ways of connecting with us.

The first step was to take our regular Friday Lunch Club offering and see if that would work remotely, which it did - really well! We then decided to launch a virtual Lecture Series to be held in the evenings, perhaps one a fortnight, and with the ability to have guest speakers and indeed audience members, from all over the world.

To launch the series, we were delighted to secure Old Bristolian Robert Lacey. Known for his illustrious career as a Royal Historian, biographer and of course for his work as a historical advisor on Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Robert has often visited us at BGS to talk to our students so it was great to be able to share his knowledge with a wider audience.

Robert spoke passionately about his time at BGS and how much it meant to him, before going on to discuss his latest book ‘Battle of Brothers’ which details the relationship between Prince William and Prince Harry. Robert gave us great insight into how he writes his books and his inside knowledge of the Royal family.

Next up, was author and Old Bristolian Anna Hoghton. Anna is an award-winning children’s author, poet and filmmaker and

joined us to discuss her first novel ‘The Mask of Aribella’ a children’s novel with a timely title given the pandemic! Anna gave an inspiring talk about her passion for writing and her journey throughout her career. Her novel received some excellent reviews and recently won the Quality Fiction Award at the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards.

In November we were delighted to host Professor Alex Betts as our guest speaker. A renowned Political Scientist and Forced Migration expert, Alex presented on his research in Africa and how we could stop people migrating

by supporting them in their own countries. Alex has previously spoken in person at our A Level Presentation evening about how his life has changed in comparison to his years at BGS. Alex is also married to a fellow Old Bristolian.

Just before Christmas, we welcomed comedian and author Mark Watson to our Lecture Series. I’m sure many of you have seen Mark on TV; Mark is a regular guest on celebrity game shows and has

recently appeared on Mastermind and Richard Osman’s House of Cards. Mark joined us to discuss his new book ‘Contacts’ but got lost in memories of BGS, with many of his former classmates and teachers joining the talk. It was a relaxed talk and as always with Mark, very entertaining.

Before we wrapped up for the Christmas holidays, we welcomed local Member of Parliament and historical writer Chris Skidmore to

talk about his latest book ‘Richard III’. Chris spoke about his career and his passion for history.

After the success of the first series we started 2021 with three new lectures. In January we heard from CBBC presenter and writer Joseph Elliot who talked about his latest

book ‘The Broken Raven’, the follow up to his hugely successful ‘The Good Hawk’. Most recently we had OB Rebecca Guy speaking to us about her career in nutrition. Rebecca discussed all

the different opinions on healthy eating and aimed to dispel some diet and nutrition myths. Didn’t manage to watch them live? You can catch up on these, and many more, on our website here: https://alumni. bristolgrammarschool.co.uk/pages/ video-library

Peter Jakobek

We were so pleased to be able to catch up with Luke Grenfell-Shaw who joined us from Ankara to talk about his expedition on a tandem, riding from Bristol to Beijing. He was interviewed by current Head of House Ben Scott (Black house).

(Staff 1982 to date)

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

DO YOU HAVE ANY NOTABLE MEMORIES FROM SCHOOL?

DO YOU HAVE ANY PHOTOS FROM YOUR TIME AT SCHOOL - WE’D LOVE TO SEE THEM AND SHARE THEM HERE OR ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA

RECENTLY MARRIED?

HAD A BABY?

STARTED A BUSINESS?

WRITTEN A BOOK?

RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY?

LET US KNOW HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU & YOUR ENDEAVOURS

EMAIL OBS@BGS.BRISTOL.SCH.UK