The Cantuarian 2023

The Cantuarian 2023

CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Front Cover: Will Brunt (6a, MO). Inside Cover: Kidaco 2

CANTUARIAN | 2023

CONTENTS The Captain’s Speech Will Gaffney 6 Chaplain’s Chapter Lindsay Collins 8 King’s News 10 Purple Patch Purples 12 Under New Management 16 Shells Salvete Prize Winner 2023 Daven Chan 18 Scholars 20 Pupil Achievements 22 Music Lucas Emmott 24 Leading by Example Charley Woodhead 30 Drama Jago Bromley, Harry Baxendale, Delilah Bessant, Izzy Stewart-Stanton & Camilla Instance 34 Rowing Bear Cochrane 45 Trips 48 New York Maddie Aldag 50 Chess Piece Tim Selyukov 54 Charity Committee 56 Modern Languages Teachers & Pupils 58 Tradescant House Trajan Majomi 66 From the Archive Peter Henderson 70 Rusty Roof Geoff Nelson & Margot Royer 78 Farewell to a Legend: Paul Pollak Peter Henderson 82 Alan Watts OKS Trajan Majomi 92 OKS Anniversaries 94 The Spy Next Door Giorgio Boiteux 98 What a Peach David Perkins 102 Let Me In! Téa Sand 108 Sebastian Barker Poetry Prize Winner 2023 Sophia Harkness 110 Maugham Short Story Prize Winner 2023 Bee Billett 112 Walter Scott Prize 2023 Samantha Yeung 118 King’s Week 2023 Samantha Yeung 122 Salvete 130 Valete 136

CONTRIBUTORS Editor Anthony Lyons Photographers Matt McArdle and Anthony Lyons Designer Cobweb Creative Archivist Peter Henderson Cobweb Creative yvonne@cobwebcreative.org Matt McArdle Photography mattmcardle13@mac.com The Cantuarian info@cantuarian.co.uk

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editorial Rusty Roof (Page 78)

T

here is never a quiet year at King’s, but just take a look at the news section, the list of trips and the catalogue of pupil achievements for 2023! We’ve had a lot of fun choosing highlights from this creative commotion.

words and phrases. (There must be a German word for wondering at words.) We are also astonished by the ambitious plans of our leaving Purples, who intend to do everything from chilling out to running the UN.

The spare aesthetic of the dance in this year’s At last, we’ve been able to say hello properly King’s Week was truly classy, and it’s heart-warming to the new science building, but thanks to our to see actors and musicians, in their indefatigable archivist this task reviews of the year, appreciating is happily wedded to an archive ‘It’s heart-warming their peers fully, even from other revelation that the idea for a new to see actors and year groups and on different stages. science building was first discussed musicians, in their For the first time ever, we have in 1956. reviews of the year, three former Head Choristers of appreciating their St. Paul’s Cathedral School in each were some big anniversaries peers fully, even from There of the first three years at King’s, a this year, not least the 80th birthday other year groups and of the ever-young and ever-inspiring kind of musical full house. The latest on different stages.’ chorister, a Shell, muses frankly on Sir Michael Morpurgo OKS, a former the costs and rewards of running Captain of School who continues to such prestigious prep school singing when he was delight children and adults alike with his creative so young. genius. And our archives provide a teasing footnote to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First The to-die-for network of teacher contacts Folio. continues to make trips abroad, like the one to New York, much, much more than sightseeing. And But most of all this year it is the sorrowful duty of we marvel at the imaginative charity work inspired The Cantuarian to mark the passing of one of the and managed by pupils, who keep alive a tradition school’s great souls, Paul Pollak, the sui generis that enlightened the dark ages. aesthete and intellectual who was at the heart of King’s for most of his adult life, and shaped much of Pupils have once more been pushing their minds its modern ethos and topography. He is now surely and bodies to the limit, as you’ll see in the pieces our genius loci. May the great man, after a great on chess and rowing, and a brilliant chemistry life, rest in peace. teacher teams up with one of his pupils to look behind the façade of the International College’s Of course, it is also our sad duty to say farewell to award-winning architecture, which relies heavily some deeply impressive colleagues, among them on the appliance of modern science. three superb heads of department, but we say hello to several more, not least our new Head, Jude We also pay tribute to a film director who, in his Lowson, who seemed magically settled in before wonderful short films, represented King’s to the she arrived. outside world for twenty years, and we celebrate the exhaustive savoir-faire of the Modern Anthony Lyons Languages Department that salutes the cultures Editor they teach by sharing some of their favourite info@cantuarian.co.uk

Déjà Vu (Page 72) 4

CANTUARIAN | 2023

Music (Page 24)

Charity Committee (Page 56) Chess Piece (Page 54)

Farewell to a Legend (Page 82)

Drama (Page 34) CANTUARIAN | 2023

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THE

CAptain’s Speech

Will Gaffney, Captain of School (left) and Stanley Weir

G

by Will Gaffney (6a, SH) Shirley Hall Thursday 6 July 2023

ood afternoon.

Since that moment last June when I was called into Mrs. Worthington’s office to be awarded such an immensely privileged position as Captain of School, although I confess at the time slightly wondering if I was in some big trouble, in all honesty I have been pretty terrified about standing up here in front of you all today.

As acting head this year, she has been nothing short of phenomenal, the true epitome of service-based leadership. It has been an honour to work with her and, on behalf of the pupils, thank you for stepping in this year and helping us through to the end of our King’s journey.

I would also like to thank the housemasters and housemistresses for their utter dedication to the children in their care, for creating So, as is the way of the modern world, I of course thought about true homes away from home for us, and alongside the Hsms, those the easy way out and turning to Chat GPT or AI, which would have other staff members (we all have one) who are offered a plethora of gratitude and platitudes just there, who always find time, who lend an but I quickly realised I would have lost sight of ear, offer advice, keep an eye out. Thank you the depth of history, tradition, authenticity and for supporting and guiding us. the true ethos of King’s but most importantly the ‘I couldn’t imagine being individuality of all of you that has made our time 18 and one of those Now, for most of us our King’s journey started here so special. in Shell four years six months and two days enormous grown-up 6a’s ago, when we took that infamous photo on the Working alongside Mrs. Worthington this year who welcomed and looked steps of the Memorial Court as a group of, what I have gained such a fascinating insight into the after us.’

I think is fair to say, baby-faced 13-year-olds. enormous task it is to lead a school, and not just any school – a school dating back to 597AD that is I remember being told by my then housemaster, steeped in the past but progressively embracing Mr. Ninham, ‘Remember this moment because a new future, whose values are ingrained in the you will blink and your five years will be gone. You’ll be standing fabric of the walls under the spires of the Cathedral. It’s a truly unique here in your leavers’ dress waving goodbye.’ At the time I thought he place that will remain in our hearts lifelong. Some of you will know was crazy. I couldn’t imagine being 18 and one of those enormous Mrs W. for your sins and others for your successes and joys. However, grown-up 6a’s who welcomed and looked after us. But now five the Mrs. Worthington that so many of you don’t see is the one I now years on those words could never be more true. know works tirelessly and gives every ounce of her energy to you all.

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CANTUARIAN | 2023

‘I couldn’t be prouder or more grateful to have had the opportunity to spend five formative years growing up here with you.’

Reflecting on our time together as a year group, I am reminded of the challenges we have faced through, dare I mention, the Covid lockdowns, the resilience and new skills we all learnt, one of which importantly included rolling out of bed at 8:59 in the morning and dialing into a Teams call for the first lesson of the day at 9.00.

But we navigated the uncertainties with incredible purpose. Despite the school terms that we physically missed, we have forged amazingly strong bonds, which is testament to the magical ability of King’s to bring people together from all different cultures and backgrounds, building lifelong friendships.

According to Martin Luther King, intelligence and character are the goal of true education.

King’s has offered us the chance to develop both of these, being a place where every success and passion is celebrated: from science to sport, from jazz and drama to boxing. And we take with us the valuable life lessons that every individual is to be accepted and that every achievement is important in its own right.

For me, personally, King’s has been a place to develop my faith – helped along by the extraordinary Cranmer Society, which has grown from being a small group in Mr. Smiley’s front room to a gathering of many in the PSC on a Friday night and often the absolute highlight of our week.

The ethos of King’s is hard to define and put in words.

You have to live here to feel it and understand it, but King’s is renowned for turning out kind, compassionate young adults who, I am told, you can recognise for their core values.

These are the young adults that we have now amazingly all become and I couldn’t be prouder or more grateful to have had the opportunity to spend five formative years growing up here with you.

‘Despite the school terms that we physically missed, we have forged amazingly strong bonds, which is testament to the magical ability of King’s to bring people together from all different cultures.’

I wish you well in your futures ahead and leave you with the words of urban poet, Kendrick Lamar: ‘Live your life, live it right, be different, do different things.’

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Chaplain’s Chapter

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CANTUARIAN | 2023

Senior Chaplain at King’s, The Reverend Lindsay Collins, shares her thoughts on the past year.

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have a friend who has a sign hanging in her kitchen, which reads, ‘Everyone brings joy to this house; some when they enter and some when they leave.’

I always wonder, when I visit her, which category I come under!

Schools are by nature places of comings and goings. This has been especially so for King’s, where during one year we have experienced one Head retire, an acting Head take over during the interim, and now look forward to what a new Head will During the past academic year there have bring. Every academic year ends with been many comings and goings in the life of us saying goodbye to our 6as, many this country. In the Autumn Term we seemed of whom have lived and breathed to have a revolving door of Prime Ministers the King’s community for five years when Boris Johnson’s resignation resulted in or more. And as they leave and move the 49-day premiership of Liz Truss, beginning onto pastures new, a new group of on the 6th September, before Rishi Sunak students is waiting in the wings to join became Prime Minister us and become on the 25th October. part of the King’s ‘There was an outpouring experience when Two days after Liz Truss the new academic of national grief for a became Prime minister, year begins.

Queen who symbolised Queen Elizabeth II died constancy, security and on the 8th September, But, unlike my ending her 70-year friend’s sign in her kitchen, faithfulness throughout reign, and there was an the comings and goings of those who come through the outpouring of national doors of the King’s School all life.’ grief for a Queen who bring joy, not by coming or symbolised constancy, going but by being – by being security and faithfulness throughout the part of the King’s community, which values people comings and goings of life. The world for who they are, not purely for what they achieve; changed dramatically during her reign by being part of the history of a school that has but, as many testified in their tributes, she always prioritised wisdom, kindness, participation remained a ‘beacon of certainty’ and ‘a and co-operation; by being known both as an constant presence’ in the lives of the people individual and as part of something that works of the UK and Commonwealth. more powerfully by sharing that individuality in community and in the service of others.

While the Queen’s coffin was carried into St. George’s Chapel for the Committal Service At endings and beginnings, at every coming and in Windsor Castle, the choir sung Psalm going, we may find ourselves saying, like the 121, which ends with ‘The Lord will watch Psalmist, as we contemplate our future, ‘I lift up over your going out and your coming in my eyes to the hills – from where will my help from this time on and forever more.’ It is a come?’ Perhaps the reply that will provide an Psalm that we sing as a school every year in anchor for us, that can be the beacon of hope and our Commemoration Day Service because it stability in our ever-changing world is, ‘My help articulates the need for us to have an anchor comes from the LORD, who made heaven and to keep us steady in times of uncertainty and earth’, the one who ‘watches over our comings change. and our goings both now and forevermore.’

‘Those who come through the doors of the King’s School all bring joy, not by coming or going but by being – by being part of the King’s community.’

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King’s NEWS 2023

First Lesson in New Science Building on 23 April 2023 UCAS Day in Statements

Shirley

Hall

for

6b

Personal

Refurbishment of Biology Department 10th Anniversary of Globalist Modern Language Magazine Opening of Ecology Garden for Staff and Pupils of International College Five Ukrainian Pupils Arrive September 2022 Judy Mitchem in New Role as Director of External Strategy Memorial Court: Swimming Pool for a Day New Queningate Turnstile Staff and Scholars Attend Installation of Very Revd. Dr. David Monteith as New Dean New Floor in Dining Hall after Flood First Electric Car in School Fleet New Chair of Governors: Count Benoit de Vitry d’Avaucourt Nick Lyons OKS: New Lord Mayor of London First School Charity Dinner First Shell and Remove Charity Sponsored Walk Partnerships Conference at Birley’s: DEI and Learning Support School Hosts Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at Etty Hillesum Conference

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CANTUARIAN | 2023

King’s Week Drama CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Purple Patch

Every year we ask leaving Purples what they want to do when they grow up.

agner ConstantinddW Term le of the Lent

’s in the mi t.

I joined King e pandemic hi weeks later th o tw g d in an ow ll 20 20 the fo ny people, yet ma ow y kn ar ’t in dn rd I di extrao been the most ve ha s st ar mo ye e e thre I met th fe so far, when time of my li w it’s time to No s. p of friend ou gr e g in az am sure all thes apter, making ch w at ne Wh a t r. ar ve st me fore es stay with ri mo me ny l ma fu So er wond How long? s? Where to? ar next? Who know or Reading? Ye rk tions… Yo es qu me ed Ti ! er op sw unan y? Now st ance or German Fr , to UK e me Ti Th out? y goodbye. ass. Time to sa ose to raise a gl e young man wh th me to be Ti h. uc ’s to ng in Ki keep at The nners I learnt values and ma Thank you. u. yo k you. Than School. Thank

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sabella I really Cable want to travel b said to ut, like me recen Mrs All tly whe wanted en n she as to do, ‘y k e o d what I u can’t re from tra ally ea velling rn a liv ’, so I h degree w ing ope a Ge ill help ography me find really w somethi ant to s ng. I ju ee the w I could st orld, so study vo maybe lcanoes, deserts, or glaci and I de ers, or finitel love of y want t Geology o k e . ep up my I some cha also wan rity wor t to per k h , aps do b me reall ecause h y happy elping o . u B u t makes t hey, m will ha aybe non ppen, an e of thi d I will normal s job doin end up g g norma etting a future l t h ings, bu self can t I hope look bac all the my k and sa right r y , i s ‘You too k s ; you wer y o u k m a de yours e good t elf prou o people d; ; and yo u’re hap py.’

ls a Coco Mt diseases are ctelin

ha res ld me t y inte . rked m once to a e p ersity n s o v e i h Som at un , whic g e c n i n e v s i a t sc misbeh rious i edical g biom o myste s n ted to i s a y i v d i u y t st m mo n bod a a m I o u . h e The bute t ues m contri intrig d nt n y e a t r i y e x icac diff comple ts for is intr n h n e t i m e t t r a tre eres explo ar int ent of l m u p o c o t i l t e t r v a wan the de ave a p cer. I es. I h nd can a n as at a i e a diseas r of br ese a h y t d t or o u t t curren the s ly in p o e t e e d t e u ut ib mor ases. B delve d contr or dise vel an f e ife l l s e r a r a live on cu o cellul h t c r m a i e a res nt to p I y mome future I end u r e e v r e e h fear cing ter w thout , embra i s no mat w t e s r k g s ve ri t re aking em. Abo withou rom th t and t f s e ng g i l n d l i a u n ear spre its f erson, e and l p r u d . l n e i i m a k nd of f o be a e arou wish t to thos y g all, I r e ve en positi

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CANTUARIAN | 2023

Georgina Hawken

After finishing school, I find myself unsure what lies ahead. How ever, amidst this uncertainty, one thing I am sure of is that I want to travel and I have discovered a newfound int erest in Sports Psychology. The correlation between the mind and sports inspires me, and I am excited about the possibili ty of diving deeper into this field by getting a degree at Newcastle Univer sity, not only finishing with a degree but with a Geordie accent. Combining my love for travel with Sports Psychology wou ld allow me to broaden my horizons and contribute to this field with a unique per spective.

drews Lucy An rinary Science

Vete o study distant I hope t not-tooe h t n i ol ar was at Brist a gap ye g n i k a T en it’s a future. but giv g n n i l a e er get o very app I’d rath e s r e u b o c ar will five-ye away. I raight t s abroad t e i c n h wit xperie e k r o w do ch will able to ays, whi d i l o h ds e th all kin during erience p x e e h o t t e just allow m ork, not w y g r n a i b n i f lam of veter ctices o a r ly p e t l i a on defin traditi It will . s n o y i l t ra cal and cast nd physi tally a n won’t e m t a a h e t b b but jo o g n i g esting t challen be inter l l I i n w o i t I ess stop me. the prof area of to know t a g h n w i t e se ’s exci t i es. t u b n sibiliti end up i rous pos e m u n e there ar

Ka

Grace St

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phens-Sp It has a ada lways be en Medic me. Ever ine for since I w as old en cover my ough to teddies w i th plast known th ers, I’ve at I bel ong in t professi he medic on. I pla al n to reapp my gap y ly durin ear, in w Benny Sharp g h ich I al to throw so hope In the future I would in some w like ork expe at home rience and abro to be a civil engineer. ad. At th my medic e moment al aspir Buildings and bridge ations a s towards re point oncology really are fascinati ed and surg ng, hope to b ery, so I e able t as strange as that sou o combin nds. during m e the tw y career Who knows? Maybe som o . But som eday in there ewhere , for my you’ll safely walk ove o r w n sanity going to , I’m have to a bridge designed by keep up me! so my ai my music m is to s I would love to contin , neak my ue some Lon way into don choi to play sport, cricke r s t in and hope adopt me . One day they particular, and improv I’d love e a family to start . So, bas what I’ve learned fro ically, w m my grow up hen I I’d like time at King’s through t o be ridic busy. Som ulously e things the fantastic coachi ng. never ch ange.

jsa Frib After I erg leave K ing’s, I’v set on t e got my he fina sights ncial se with a F ctor, st inance d a r ting egree wh embark ich I wi on this ll A utumn. I been cap ’ve alwa tivated y s b y of finan the dyna ce, and mic worl g o d i ng on th trip to e Econom New York i c s definite my inter ly pique est. I se d e myself w a fast-p orking i aced env n ironmen numbers t, crunc , analys h i n g i n g marke and mak t trends ing stra , tegic de have a r cisions eal impa t h a t ct. That don’t ge is if I t eaten a l ive by t process. he job o Ultimat r ely, I h clue wh ave no r at lies e a l i n t he futu have to re; I jus trust Go t d and us have to e what I improve t h e lives of I also h ope to h others. ave a lo t of dog s.

r Stanley Weliing to Asia with my

travel arn more re I will be d try and le In the futu an e or pl ex nd to either dearest frie I will then we live in. d rl fe out wo li e a th t about and star a si ay al M ve to d on this. attempt to mo I am undecide . ty si er iv to un race car there or go start my own y da e on to tions also have I have ambi an series. I ic er Am or h try and itis team in a Br some form to in cs ti li po enter in trust a desire to and help rega y et ci so h is en lost. improve Brit which has be , ic bl pu l ra mily and I from the gene to have a fa an pl I y, antl offer them Most import ol that will ho sc a to them d at King’s. hope to send at I have ha wh to r la s simi opportunitie

Margot Royer a

me My dream is to beco udying st be surgeon. Soon, I’ll which s ew dr Medicine at St. An a on in will help me hone d. el fi e th speciality within by d ue ig tr Currently, I am in rgery. After reconstructive su lf as a establishing myse ure into nt ve surgeon, I hope to prove im d an medical research r to fe of n ca the treatments I will I , ds ar rw my patients. Afte ing ur ct fa run a medical manu te bu ri st company to di rnational ui eq pment to inte nisations ga public health or standards and improve health tries. un co in developing

Lucas Eu

le First, I am off o n a year o ut to Ne w Zealand, where I will be playi ng rugby and enjoying the sun.

Then I will b e return ing to study Business , Economic s, and Finance, hopefull y at Loughbor ough, wh ere I can cont inue to play rugby at a high l evel.

After th at, my pl an is to sel l my sou l, become a stockbro ker, earn som e good mo ney and reti re early to travel t he world .

CANTUARIAN | 2023

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teux Giorgio Boiia n and hope

d Ital I am French an The nd the world. ou ar l to live al ar go on a gap ye plan now is to e nc na Fi MA the CG to study for ification ogramme qual Leadership Pr omics. degree in Econ and then do a in sity, I will jo Once at univer y rr ca to s nd as ba societies such gs on t e saxophone am on playing th re ties. I am unsu various activi gree, do with my de what I want to degree is the right but I know it tedly ics is undoub because Econom iences’. the social sc the ‘queen of ect I y of the subj I feel the stud how to used to look at love could be th my ld problems. Wi solve real-wor tion emulate a frac life I hope to ’. eni, vidi, vici of Caesar’s ‘v

e dhounsfor around o o W James n any fu e had to

bee so I’v General. hasn’t ars now, a e r a e f y oming much at War ndred f bec u o y h r m e o a tw nd e dre rests me v o spe up th te ike t n l hip, i e s give y t r qui oph ola s h o ’d c l I s i re Ph in , so in pu o remain oment ears t y ple the m m y w i a e a w t f he s x t d e n h n i t f s as s wi the thing erhap fter, y p a n e d a r n e m a s th up to now a l go sity k l r e a o and v h t i s un , I ing lder t y u a r o h t h t s C g of y s a K goal ailin le over m aps a le. F h d n b r n i i e i s p b e s m f, po h my mysel ould land n wit c e for rtain , n e t c u Londo i t is at for g d n a o i o e h g ’m e t itary mak , if I s). On about mil e. h d c r i o h L (w of iel ng ouse readi g Kreigsp the H all keep n i n h desig – I s y and r o t s hi

Okere od person Francis go a mostly

be e and like to f my lif o n o i I would t r ut when od propo orry abo w o t for a go t o gh n ome. I’d ul enou ing to c o g s i successf e u ous life paycheq y virtu l b a d n my next o s ea ppier an live a r meet ha I n ’d o I like to s . r m pe left the e every n when I and leav a . I’d h e t m i d t e l fil all the d g e r more ful i t -lastin not feel and long e l e b c like to a i n n o as one build re ind some f s p y a l h like to l r pe equa nships – d raise relatio down an e l t e to be t k e i s to . I’d l h t i w my enough n e most of s childr ppy for a h virtuou fe d i n l a h my n strife tent wit n o c . joyous i t e l b i m gu like to free fro n a days. I’d m a and die choices

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CANTUARIAN | 2023

Adele Batchel

or Thinking of my future plans an Natalya Hoare d aspirations is a daunting task I hope to study English , given I have ve ry little idea Literature at university. of what my life wi ll look like.

Beyond that I still haven’t Though I find co mf or t in the fact made up my mind! I have that no doors ar e cl osed, and I considered journalism, can go wherever life takes me, I the law, the military and suppose in the near future I’m becoming a poet. Which excited to take a year off and of these drastically gain some indepe nd ence working different paths I take in London and th en travelling is currently a mystery, in South Americ a.

Af te r that, my but I am very excited to plan is to read Chemistry (grade start figuring it out. s allowing, at Br istol or Oxford ).

From there I ha ve no clue. I do n’t think research is what I want to do but a Chemistry degree fortunat el y allows for a wi de range of jobs in different indust ries. I look forw ard to exploring th e possibilities.

Natalia Shah

ril Ridza After King’s, I’m going to study Biological Sciences at the University of So uthern California, spec ialising, I hope , in Marine Biology. It’s qu ite ironic that I aspire to be a marine biol ogist, since I ge t incredibly seasick! I certai nly look forwar d to overcoming this challenge in my next few years at university to pr epare for work, when I also plan to get my scuba diving ce rtification.

However, being a marine biolog ist isn’t just about divi ng and swimming around with octopuses and fi sh (though I am looking forwar to that). Most ma d rine biologists work from a lab, analysing data and graphs , calculating statistics, and culturing samp le s. Although the actual job of a marine biol ogist is much more mund ane than it soun ds, I hope to be able to expe rience it in th e future.

llen Libby Muduy War Studies

g to st t to I’m hopin sure wha entirely t o ome N c . e L b C at K rhaps t, but pe a h t ar r w e t r o f do a list or journa t a m t o s l p ju i a d stly, ent. Hone d n o p nk s i e h r t r co y. I ing I enjo h t e m it o s g d n fin rrowi nge is na e l l of a h e c g n e th a ra se I enjoy u a c w e o b n k : n o dow ult t t’s diffic i s y t m c f je o b su rest with the o d o l t ’l I t a k wh thin I like to life, but go along.

I s out a t i e r u g i f

Poppy Ladd

What’s next? Go od question. I am taking a year ou t to be a sport’s gap at St Johns Coll ege Prep in Camb ridge because I need a break before even more studying an d more exams. I have always lo ved sport and I hope to carry on at university, but more for fun than co mpetitively. Af ter that, I hope to study Geograph y with discovery module s in Psychology (which previously was not the plan, bu t my love for Psycho logy developed while revising for th e A’ Level). This year I have learnt th at there is more to life than exam s and uni and, if all else fails, then I will marry ri ch and have five do gs. We will see.

au Elizabeth Hud y Aerospace

Fleur Rex

chosen to study bassador I have am ng ri pi as As an iversity. The Relations at un l na io at rn te In ape adds an political landsc ng gi an ch ly nt consta while equally nt to diplomacy, me te ci ex of t elemen influence it. rtunity to help po op e th ng ti presen Nepal this year ish Embassy in it Br e th to ng Movi me experience sting will help po my ar xt the ne e as th me a taste for d, I hope, give an e yl st ar fe ye li this king a gap re this I am ta future. But befo and different m oo nd the classr yo be e or pl ex to pair where I ginning as an au be am I . es ur cult become part of my Spanish and e ov pr im to pe ho nya to become en I am off to Ke th , ly mi fa r he anot excited about. ich I am beyond wh t, en ud st p a ga

, I will st If all goes well Bath. ‘Aerospace e University of th at g in but er ne Engi d pretentious, ds daunting an un so g’ in gs er in ne th Engi anes and gineering of pl en e th h’s st rt ju Ea is it thin the beyond flight wi es go s It et y. ck fl ro that such as tends to things ex d an e’ re ac he ‘sp sp atmo the word When people hear and satellites. oating around fl es ch billionair ri e ur r ct pi ey th racing to conque or politicians y it av gr h, rt ro Ea ze in here on all the problems it, neglecting n’t be viewed as ld ou e really sh ac sp g in or pl ex but many rich people Sure, there are . ve ti ga ne at th , but I want to t and pollute it oi pl ex ll wi o wh of the universe d our knowledge an e nc ie sc r he furt g us grasp the dition to helpin ad In . to us nd ou ar nturing out in the universe, ve of e al ne sc ci al di ss colo logy and me advance techno space will help needed to reach nc ent and scie e pm ui eq on e th e nc si entations here actical implem pr ny ma es s ur ha ed e oc spac ical pr for precise surg Earth. It allows nding of many ta rs de ent in our un em ov pr im e th or and bettering countless lives ng vi sa , es as se di to be a part of e change I want th is is n.

Th y. et soci e right directio r society in th ou sh pu lp he d an

Kamal Shaha

b Karyali I have applied for a degree in Global Business administration . I wish to get a better understanding of the world of business to then able to achieve be my goal of beco ming an import figure in the fo ant otball world. Un iversity is the first step towards that go al and I’m very excited to have this opportunit y. Furthermore, I enjoy helping others, so I hope to be able to give kids in less developed countries the opportunity to reach the elite level in footba thereby fulfil ll, ling my lifelong ambitions while helping others. I want my future self have no regrets to and be proud of achieving my objectives, work ing hard to get there, and bein there for my fa g mily and friend s at all times.

Wi

ll Gaffn At the t ey hreshold of my ne skills I xt chapt have lea er, the rnt duri – to pivo ng my ti t and to m e at King’s learn fr successe s and fa om my mi i s l takes, u res, and unpredic to cope w tability i t h life’s , will be determin essentia ed to pu l r . s u I am differen e my pas sion for ce. My dr m e a a m k ing a is to wor Office o r at the k for th e Foreig UN, but d and work n e finitely abroad a to trave nd embra l ce the u nknown. CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Under

New

Management

Minty Scott (6a, BR) Vice-Captain of School

Minty was born in London then moved out to the Essex coast. Before joining King’s in 2019 as a Sports Scholar, she attended Orwell Park Prep School in Suffolk. She is now studying English, French and Politics at A’ Level and has applied to study International Relations and French at university. Minty parades around Green Court for CCF and is a keen cricketer and netballer.

Whether playing flute or piano, or singing in the Chapel Choir, Minty cherishes her music. Minty wants to improve the lives of others, through the Foreign Office or by becoming a barrister. She also wants to study languages and politics, and travel the world!

Trajan Majomi (6a, TR) Vice-Captain of School

Trajan was born in London but has spent most of his life in Los Angeles. He is currently studying English Literature, Philosophy and Economics at A’ level and has applied to study Philosophy and Linguistics at university. Outside of academics, he spends his time rowing and listening to music. His current favourite music is by Black Midi, Bill Evans and Rick Ross. In the future he hopes to become a published and cited author.

Oscar Virgoe (6a, MO) Head Scholar

Oscar was born in Nairobi before moving to numerous countries around the world, including Brunei, where he now lives. He joined King’s in 6b as a choral exhibitioner after being a chorister at the Chapel Royal. He now studies History, Economics and Geography. He enjoys music, opera, and art and takes a great interest in exploration and anthropology, with ambitions to travel the world.

Liza Barkova (6a, LX) Captain of School

Liza was born and grew up in Moscow. At the age of eleven, she and her mother moved to St. Petersburg so that Liza could attend the Vaganova Ballet Academy.

After a year there she returned to the International School of Moscow before joining King’s in 2019 as a dance scholar. Since then, her family has moved to Italy and are now moving again to the UAE. She is studying Maths, Physics and French at A’ Level and has applied to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at university. Outside of academics, she spends her time on theatre, debating, playing two musical instruments and learning her fourth language.

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SHELLS SALVETE PRIZE Winner 2023 Every year there is a prize for the best essay by a Shell beginning with the words ‘When I first came to King’s...’

Daven Chan (Sh, MT)

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hen I first came to King’s, I realized I was about to trace the footsteps of William Harvey, St. Augustine, Chaucer and many other great people who had turned new pages in history. Their legacies have endured the test of time, inspiring and educating people even today.

Coming to King’s, I felt thrilled but uncertain of my path ahead. What would I become one day: a cardiologist, a poet or a historian?

nothing dangerous would happen. The coach reminded me to be prepared always to avoid unexpected scenarios and to stay independent. I recall a scene where I was steering a boat myself and a huge gust of wind toppled my boat over and I fell into the water. I remembered the safety drills so I climbed on the back of the boat. I applied my bodyweight to tip the boat over and back onto the right side, twice, and I succeeded delightfully in the end. It was a valuable life lesson, and I enjoyed the experience.

Learning at King’s has been life-changing for me. There was a long list of clubs and societies to choose from. I eventually One day I was walking towards the lunch hall when I saw a chose the debating club because I aspire to be a good orator, table full of posters. They read, ‘Vote now!’ I was confused, sharing knowledge in world politics and and I asked people around me what was democratic ideals, in which debating plays a going on. ‘It’s the mock election so, as they ‘With the ballots and say, you can have a taste of voting.’ I was huge part. It was nerve-racking at first since I was frightened of speaking in front of an intrigued because this was the first time voting box in place, audience and, worst of all, embarrassing I had come across an election. I walked I listened to them myself. I listened to the etiquette and rules towards the campaigning candidates to find and learnt about the out the platforms of their parties. They were of debating carefully and jotted down notes frantically. The teacher randomly assigned all sitting by a table with voting paper and a stance of different participants and I landed on the opposition ballot box in front of them. With the ballots political parties.’ team. In order of speaking, I was second to and voting box in place, I listened to them last. The teacher gave us the debate notion and learnt about the stance of different and the debate started. I was nauseous with fear, desperately political parties. I thought carefully about my preferred party, thinking up arguments and points for elaboration. assessing their values. I realized that other less fortunate people may not have the same political rights as I do in the Then it was my turn. I stood up anxiously and addressed the UK and I remembered my mum told me that representative audience. I was stuttering over my arguments so the teacher democracy is no longer present in Hong Kong nowadays. So I silently gave hand gestures to encourage me. As I went on, the decided to exercise my rights well by casting my vote. nervousness dissipated and I spoke clearly. After the debate, amongst others I was given a round of applause. The hour Last, but not least, on my first school day, when I and other passed in the blink of an eye. I packed my bags, preparing to pupils were summoned to the Cathedral for the assembly, I leave, when unexpectedly the teacher asked me to come over could not help admiring in awe the grandeur of Canterbury and have a chat.

Cathedral. I was honoured to be in a school affiliated with such a historical and magnificent cathedral. ‘Remember to ‘First time debating?’ bring your hymn books,’ said the Matron. I took my issued hymn book and set off to the Cathedral. When I arrived, ‘Yes, sir.’ everyone was silent: they probably sensed the solemn mood.

We were escorted to our seats and then the great bell rang ‘Great job. Your argument was sophisticated and delivered for a minute. We opened our hymn books and then several well. Now you know that you only have to overcome the initial hundred people were singing in unison and I was absorbed fear and then you can take it in your stride.’ into the holy melodies of the hymns. We then started to pray, with Amens echoing all over the Cathedral. I was sad when the I nodded, leaving the room with pride. assembly was over. This was a memorable day, one that I will never forget, when I recalled the path of saints behind me and At the beginning of the year I made a resolution to do a thought of the path I will pave for myself. sport that I have never tried before, so I chose sailing. Like everyone else, I was afraid of capsizing and getting soaked, My time at King’s has been filled with joy. King’s has made me so I reminded myself to be ready for any obstacles in my way. feel included and taught me to be responsible, independent The coach made sure that I had the proper equipment, and and organized. It has inspired me to achieve greatness, and for taught me how to insert the gears onto the boat myself so that I will need hard work, independence, and perseverance.

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Scholars There are two types of Scholars at King’s: Entrance Scholars (KS) at 13+ or 16+ Honorary scholars (HKS) at 16+ (for the strongest I/GCSE results) Scholars are admitted to the Cathedral Foundation in a ceremony at the start of the year (within the King’s Evensong) and have various privileges including wearing a black gown (not generally taken up), a special jumper, the obligation as part of the Foundation to process at Matins and Evensong, and the right to get married in the Cathedral. Academic Scholars are expected to be scholarly: to work hard; to set a good example to their peers in how they study; to be a good influence on their peers and in their house; and to achieve excellent results.

Batchelor, Adele Dwerryhouse, Honor Poddi, Cat Goar, Minnie Martinyuk, Olha Shahril Ridza, Natalia Seaton, Maisie Subramanian, Purnesh Mak, Roberta Sharp, Benny Holland, Freddie Knight, Thomas Davies, Anton Boiteux, Giorgio Gunasekara, Theon

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Lee, Chiyu Dallas, Oliver Mak, George Whiteley, Jacob Shapiro, Alexander Loika, Vera Butler, Mattie Chan, Chelsea Chew, Adeline Hau, Elizabeth Lin, Elina Lankina, Zlata Chau, Sophie Chen, Cherry Ross-Archer, Izzy

Wilkinson, Talia Amadi, Treasure Liu, Zhiyi Yuen, Hei Tung Cray, Naomi Lian, Wendy Stokes, Emilia Melrose, Imogen Hay, Chloe Wu, Jialin Niewerth, Niki Woodhouse, James Butt, Alice Hoare, Natalya Lester, Charlotte Rex, Fleur Barkova, Elizaveta Li, Yi Fan Smith, Millicent Bennett, James Wang, Yanyi Virgoe, Oscar Levine, Sophia Mullen, Libby Davis, Cerelia Hiller, Charlotte

Cable, Isabella Gunathilagan, Nanthana Ross Russell, Claudia Piccinin, Holly Wang, Dora Cordeaux, Amelia Zhang, Hanshuo Normand, Benoit Okere, Francis Emmott, Lucas Lee, Justin Tsang, Jeffrey Fuller, Cameron Densham, Jake Merican, Kieran Wang, Joseph Allen, Patrick Ho, Ching Yiu Bastin, Iona Chan, Sylvain Hinds, Ottilie Karavanska, Sofiia Ngernanek, Mimi Stephens-Spada, Grace Fox, Honor

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PUPIL NTS E M E V E I ACH – 2023 2022 General Academ ic Twelve Oxbridge

Offers

Art Historian Luka Zarkov (6 a) self-publishes Impressionism an Beyond d Chiyu Lee (6b) re the Institute of aches Final of Economic Affair & Vinson Centre s Monetary Policy Essay Prize

Drama: B r Arts Awaonze rd Camilla I Athena C nstance ox Delilah B Luke Whe essant eler-Wad dison Molly Jo n Camilla es B Theodora alcomb C Sophia R aser obinson Flavia P e Thomas H llumbi owse Olivia R i Dylan Sh dge earer Tabby Ra i Augustin kes Rupert B Cook r Imi Glad ett well Ayshia A m Isabelle in S Tom Ding tewart-Stanton le

Samantha Yeung (6b) ‘highly commended’ for short story in Young Walter Sc ott Prize 2022 Alison Wong (6b) ‘highly commende in Peter Cane d’ Prize for Lega Reasoning 2023 l (Corpus Christ College, Oxford i )

Mandarin andarin ridge M or UK B e s e n i ion f 2022 Ch Competit g n i k a e p S Schools n : Dayya Beginner e z i r P First Tariq Group: Beginner ones (R), e z i r P Molly J First Gillies cLeod (R), Magnus M iott (Sh), Tara l Felix El r Mali (R) to k i V ), h (S

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Other pean Chess U18 in Euro ia ss u R : Tim Krassel 22 20 Tournament nger 23 mark Challe ervidda le Te F CC Tom Fahy: ross Hardang – skiing ac Expedition Plateau Innovation t Compost won Go e: won is pr er d Cook Book Young Ent t Finals an en K e th in d Award company awar overall best i d Teodor Mal ll Zacka an Wi , y on it ns ar h ch Jo r Charlie athon fo Angeles mar ran the Los or on and Teod arlie Johns h Ch it w , ko k en or w de Dima Av charity r fo de ra lg Mali in Be es ag an ph or on ay Competiti Education Ess se er m Im : nd Téa Sa Award Officer Army British : am tr Ou Theo 2022 Scholarship

Economics &

Mathematics

Physics & Bi

ology

final of b) reaches (6 g en Zh e Els ty London n Universi Northeaster ay Competition (4500 ss Economics E s) ie entr r Girls Olympiad fo Mathematical na Zeng va Shen; Quee E : n io ct in Dist thy Wang; ela Shi; Ca Isabella g n A : it er M va; Emma Luo; Nastya Vidyae Judy Zhu; Catherine a; Liu; Lily M uen Y ia ph So ; Chen Olympiad athematical British M Round One : Louie So an; Aiden Distinction Kieran Meric : it er M Chen ympiad hematical Ol at M n to il Ham : Dora Wang Distinction Olympiad athematical Maclaurin M : Eva Shen Distinction

Physics Indu strial Cade ts Silver Award Sophia Lev in Nikolaus Ni e, Elizabeth Hau, ew Honor Dwerry erth, Justin Lee, house, Estel le Olcott Physics Olym piad Three gold; tw o silver; elev some golds en in the Inte bronze; Competition rmediate Intermediate

Biology Olym

piad Gold: Sze Ch ai Luk, Emma Luo Silver: Jeff re Bronze: Inig y Tsang o Wang, Vanessa Lenderking, Franky Highly com Kam, Benoit Normand mended: Soph Lavina Ng, Zlata Lanki ia Yuen, na, Clarice Lau Imperial Coll eg Prize: Raynau e London School Team d’s and Sclero derma First Place Yuen, Lavin Nationally: Sophia a Ng, Clari ce Lau, Inigo Lende rking

Sport Natalia Shahril Ridza: Commonwealth Bronze in Cad et Epée and Malaysian Women’ s Open Champion (2022)

James Woodhouse and Natali a Shahil Ridza: Fencing Kent U18 ind ividual champions in Epée

Mattia Maini: GB Kitefoili

Jack Beckley England U14 Fencing 2023

ng (2022)

Nathan Sumner: England U16

Hockey

Matteo Cherwayko: Jamaic a U18 in RAN7 tournament in Mex ico U18 Sevens (2022) – top try sco rer, with seven tries and youngest pla yer

Home International Rowing Regatta: Tabitha Butterfill and Poppy Brooke Turner won Gold in Women’s Junior Pair and Women’s Junior Eight for England in World

Sean Qian: Boys U16 Epée British Champion 2023

Rowing Beach Sprint Finals : Bear Cochrane won Bronze

Public Schools Fencing Compet ition: Boys Epée champions overal l; Girls second place overall

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Music Review of the Year by Lucas Emmott (6b, MO)

A

nother school year goes by, and I ponder what made this one special for me. Music tends to be the answer because it is always the perfect break during a busy day, a time to relax and express yourself in a medium like no other. More and more seems to be happening each year as old traditions are brought back to life, such as the school musical, a choir tour to Reims and a pupil-led concert. Everything, no matter what it is, requires a lot of time and effort to organise, prepare and perform. Many thanks go out to all the music staff who provide constant support for eager pupils in a packed schedule, parents who encourage and fund their interests, and audience members who come to appreciate and enjoy the dedication and talent put on display many times a week.

This year featured a wide array of performances, starting with the house song competition, which was another hit. Innovation from houses attempting to mash two or even four different songs together created an engaging arrangement that kept everyone guessing what was coming next. Then the comedic delivery of Short People from the school’s a cappella group left the recording full of deafening laughter.

While the leaves fell on Green Court, a Symphony Orchestra concert welcomed in the Autumm breeze with hunting calls from the Willam Tell Overture, signaling the approach of the end of term and the beginning of the Christmas festivities.

Jesus Christ Superstar showcased the combined ability of the Music and Drama Departments in four superb productions requiring endurance and patience of a professional standard.

The musical tells the 24

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‘The weekly service provides regular opportunities for the Crypt and Chapel Choirs to sing and the whole school to come together under the roof of the beautiful Cathedral.’

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well-known story of the Passion of Christ in a thrilling manner with full support of backstage crew to light up the stage in wonder. The band, largely composed of pupils, filled the pit below and accompanied the candle flickers in the darkness, carols echo in those stars who showed their talent in singing, dancing and great arches and people say their goodbyes before they travel home for a wellacting. Many fellow pupils and staff deserved break. members came to see the show as ‘King’s Week is the only well as numerous members of the In the Lent Term the Crypt public and local schools. Everyone way to round off the year Choir and Chamber Orchestra was accommodated wonderfully at a school like King’s, a were fortunate enough to in the Malthouse Theatre for what week full of passionate go to Canterbury’s sister city, proved to be a memorable night. events presenting a vast Reims, in France’s gorgeous One constant memory of the year array of talent from Music Champagne region. This was in collaboration with a French is the ‘Friday at 5:15’ concerts. and Drama and Art.’ choir that sang with us at the Composed of unique solo and small lovely venue of Le Cirque de group performances, they offer something new and interesting just before the weekend. Reims. The monumental piece we endeavoured to Many of them have a common theme reflecting the prepare was none other than Mozart’s Requiem, season or highlighting a particular culture’s music. This quite possibly his most famous work. So, after an gives anyone the chance to sing a beloved tune from extensive coach journey, a few rehearsals, and back home and share it with others. Another recurrence some free time to explore the sparkling city with is the weekly service that provides regular opportunities its stunning cathedral, we finished off the weekend for the Crypt and Chapel Choirs to sing and the whole with an exhilarating performance. It’s such a brilliant school to come together under the roof of the beautiful experience to go on choir tours like this and I am very Cathedral. Never is this truer than in the Advent service grateful to everyone who endured the additional and the Christmas Carol Concert, when the light of a stress that accompanies such a trip.

‘ I know that our new Headmistress will receive a delightful welcome from the King’s Community and will aim to encourage everyone to excel in all they can do next year too.’

King’s Week is the only way to round off the year at a school like King’s, a week full of passionate events presenting a vast array of talent from Music and Drama and Art. This year once again featured classics such as Jazz on a Summer Sunset, the Virtuosi and the Serenade, which offered lots of pieces that were recorded as part of a Crypt Choir Spotify album, ‘Everyone was Reconciled Voices. Alongside accommodated this were new ideas like wonderfully in the the Sounding Out Concert, Malthouse Theatre for starring the wonderful what proved to be a children who come into school every Saturday for memorable night.’ instrument lessons and other fun sessions. This programme aims to bring the gift of music to anyone. Other fan favourites were the school’s rock band playing AC/DC and the Gala Symphony Concert, a final tribute to many 6a musicians when they played for the last time together. The programme displayed an outstanding array of concertos and various solo performances, and we look forward to seeing how it inspires others to follow suit. I know that our new Headmistress will receive a delightful welcome from the King’s Community and will aim to encourage everyone to excel in all they can do next year too. CANTUARIAN | 2023

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‘Other fan favourites were the school’s rock band playing AC/DC and the Gala Symphony Concert, a final tribute to many 6a musicians when they played for the last time together.’

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Leading By

Example Charley Woodhead (Sh, MR) reflects on his time as Head Chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral School. (Photos of King’s)

R

unning part of one of the top ten choirs in the world isn’t something most twelveyear-olds get to do. Being Head Chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral School now seems surreal, but the good thing about being at King’s is that I am around other people with similar experiences.

Sadly, this whole ‘Head Chorister’ system is becoming rarer because many cathedrals and major choral churches around the country are calling time on the idea of one chorister being in charge, branding it ‘outdated’ and ‘no longer relevant’. But if the right person is chosen for the job, it can benefit not just that child but the whole choir as well.

My own experience is mixed. I joined the choir late, but my control of the TV remote because the Year 7s can’t seem to rectify experience was limited even further by the pandemic inhibiting a dispute among themselves; and, of course, remembering to return any singing by people in the same postcode. When we eventually the set of keys I am using to open the school gates to whichever did get back to singing properly in the cathedral, unfortunate organist happens to own them. Many many choristers were vastly inexperienced, and the past have learnt to thrive on this pressure, ‘Even when the going in when the senior year left and it was my year’s something I never felt I had mastered. gets tough, you know turn to run the choir, we had one hell of a lot of repertoire to re-learn. My job that year, along It does have its upsides, though. Even when the that someone must with the rest of the Year 8s, was to draw these going gets tough, you know that someone must have have believed in me children together into the choir that once was. believed in me enough to give me the responsibility in For me, this involved, amongst other things, enough to give me the the first place – and, evidently, it led me to a place at rehearsing the music for Evensong (as a result of one of the best senior schools in the country. responsibility in the being ten minutes early for practice, usually the first place.’ fault of some over-excited teacher), registering As Head Chorister, I did many things which I never the younger choristers, conveying their thoughts would have thought possible. We sang at a charity on life to a member of the boarding staff, and generally making sure fundraising evening at the Reform Club in London. I read out part of they didn’t run riot as a consequence of the limited experience The Fallen by Laurence Binyon in front of two and a half thousand war they had gained during ‘Home Learning’. veterans on Remembrance Sunday. I greeted the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester on two different occasions and did an interview for live Thus, it was not all plain sailing. As Head Chorister, if you get television. I sung the Allegri Miserere from the Whispering Gallery something wrong, at least one person is going to think it is the end on Ash Wednesday and Once in Royal David’s City at Midnight Mass. of the world, and pounce on you almost immediately. For someone And, to top it all off, we sang the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee service like me who isn’t a born leader (and has a chronic phobia of getting live on television in front of the former Prince of Wales, the current into trouble), that can be a little unnerving. There are also multiple Prince of Wales, pretty much all of the royals and most of Parliament, extra responsibilities – such as attempting to stop sleepless boys including the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. It’s a good job from having a mothers’ meeting at eleven o’clock at night; seizing nobody asked me to think too much!

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The best feeling I had, though, was after I had finished being Head, when the choir sang for the first time without my year. We, and they, had all been nervous about this moment anyway, and we certainly weren’t expecting it to be the Queen’s memorial service, which they managed to pull off with a day’s rehearsal inside the first three days of the new academic year whilst still attending school!

I could see they were all absolutely petrified, but it looked pretty seamless on television, and in this instance, that’s what counted…

Having a good leader can have an astonishing effect on other boys. Younger ones who may be less confident in making themselves heard, both in the choir and the school, have someone to look up to and talk to when they need advice. Others may feel that they can tell the Head Chorister something more freely than they can tell an adult, with equal trust that something will be done about it (eventually). Moreover, not everyone wants to be a leader – many just need someone to help them do their bit and flourish. There was a boy at St. Paul’s a number of years ago who was an astonishingly good singer but didn’t want the extra

burden of being in charge. It is a little like being the England cricket captain. Some of the greats of the game were pushed into leadership, but ultimately decided that they were much better off focusing on their own game, rather than the whole team.

Others are quite the opposite; they thrive leading a group of like-minded people in doing something they love.

A system based on leaders is mirrored all over our society. People work much better under a leader or leadership team than trying to run a country or business with nobody in particular in charge – that way of approaching things has been proven unworkable in so many different countries and places, so there is no reason why a cathedral choir should be any different.

‘As Head Chorister, if you get something wrong, at least one person is going to think it is the end of the world, and pounce on you almost immediately.’

So why are so many choirs moving away from this established tradition? Equality and antielitism are often cited as reasons, but it is very often the parents of the choristers who push these institutions away from the Head and Deputy Head Chorister ideology. Having spoken to representatives from other choirs about what

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‘Younger ones who may be less confident in making themselves heard, both in the choir and the school, have someone to look up to and talk to when they need advice.’

they think, they all agree that the children don’t really worry that much about who will be in charge next year or who will get this prestigious solo that everybody wants. Yes, it would be nice to have done a big solo in front of somebody important, but the amount of pressure that some boys are put under to do well from their own families is unbelievable.

A good example of a way to combat this is King’s College Cambridge’s arrangement whereby nobody is told (including the boys) who is going to sing the coveted Once in Royal David’s City solo until fifteen seconds before it happens, when the choirmaster points at one boy who subsequently executes the performance to the best of his ability. Even if it is a complete shambles, not much will come of it; it is very important not to dwell on mistakes too much in such a fast-moving life.

We were very lucky at St. Paul’s that, although we did have a Head and Deputy, all the Year 8s were treated with similar respect, even the ones whose voices changed before the end of the year – and Mr. Carwood (the choirmaster) took us out for ‘coffee’ once a fortnight at Starbucks, a place to let your concerns (and opinions of strangers’ fashion senses) out of you.

So it is important to remember that being Head Chorister – or simply being a chorister at all – is not an ‘elitist’ thing which is out of reach from most of the population. Whilst often stressful, it gives a young person the leadership skills they need to succeed in this insomnious world.

But the key message from this is that if we don’t give young people the opportunity to experience leadership at an early age, then our society cannot possibly expect to be well led, as the current ‘revolving door’ at Number 10 Downing Street suggests.

You can’t thrust a load of clueless young adults into a world that has been all but wrecked by the past generations, and especially by the people we have in power now. This country, along with the entire world, needs experienced leaders as much as it needs clean water and hot food, and we can’t let another generation go by without teaching at least some of them how to organise a team. 32

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‘If we don’t give young people the opportunity to experience leadership at an early age, then our society cannot possibly expect to be well led.’

Before Charley, Louis Plaskett (R, LN) and Toby Davies (5, MO) were both Head Chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral School.

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Drama Jago Bromley (6b, TR), Harry Baxendale (6b, TR), Delilah Bessant (Sh, MT), Izzy Stewart-Stanton (Sh, CY) and Camilla Instance (Sh, KD) share their theatrical highlights of the year.

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‘The large cast pulled off what a parent described as one of the most ambitious school productions of Jesus Christ Superstar ever!’

I

t was a very busy year for Drama and Dance, and it all started with our performance of Jesus Christ Superstar in December. Over 70 pupils took the stage, with ten more in the orchestra pit to bring this incredible performance to life. Directed and choreographed by Miss Frances, and musically directed by Mr. Bersey, the large cast pulled off what a parent described as ‘one of the most ambitious school productions of Jesus Christ Superstar ever!’ The lively rendition of the classic rock opera opened with Oscar Rice on the electric guitar, clad in the colourful garb of a Seventies hippie, alongside a slick light show designed by Rob Gutteridge, which had the audience blindsided from the start. The show included large dance numbers full of tie-dye and bright costumes; intense standoffs between the apostles and the leather-clad authority, fresh out of a KISS concert; and harrowingly poignant moments too. There were many incredible vocal performances, especially from Jesus (Stirling Hampton), Judas (Harry Baxendale) and Mary (Imogen Melrose), making it a truly unmissable show, which lit up the school for four nights.

Jago Bromley Throughout the year, there are several opportunities for groups to meet when not working towards a show. Drama Excellence consists of pupils across all years who have been successful in our scholarship auditions or have been invited to join the group since joining the

school. This year, we have both performed and discussed a huge range of techniques from physical theatre, where we had to make inanimate objects come to life, to verbatim theatre, as well as more naturalistic styles. The group is an incredible way to pursue your love of drama, a way to connect with other year groups and make lots of friends. Last year, the Junior Drama Excellence Group (Shell and Remove) got to run our own workshop to the Junior King’s students, where we not only got to practise our leadership skills but also got to teach them a style of acting they had never tried before, and spread our love of drama to a younger group of students. Drama Excellence not only performs numerous times a year in showcases and King’s Week, but we also learn about different theatre practitioners and get to know the wonderful place that is the Malthouse.

Delilah Bessant In King’s Week, Drama always has three wonderful shows. This year, the Shells and Removes performed Oliver Twist. We were challenged with performing outside and had to battle with difficult weather conditions, but everyone managed it amazingly. We had great costumes and props (including trapdoors and coffins) that brought the stage alive, telling the story of a poor orphan boy who just wants a loving home but is abused, rejected and dragged from place to place.

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‘We had great costumes and props (including trapdoors and coffins) that brought the stage alive, telling the story of a poor orphan boy who just wants a loving home.’

away in search of someone to take him in. He meets many new people and has multiple adventures, some extremely dangerous, until finally he is reunited with his relatives and can live the life he has always wanted, with a loving family. The cast captured this emotion beautifully and the story was truly believable. Rehearsals were fun and engaging. It was so rewarding after all our hard work to see the show finally put together for King’s Week. It was a joy to be a part of and an experience I will never forget!

Izzy Stewart-Stanton We also had KiDaCo taking to the stage, which is always huge fun. This year it was exciting, entertaining and overall a blast. The show opened with our incredible Dance Excellence performing Bob Fosse’s Bye Bye, Blackbird before the show continued through a number of group performances ranging from K-Pop to Acro and Hip-Hop to Ballet and Lyrical among others. Each of the dance scholars had their own section of the show, celebrating the first year in which every year group has a dance scholar. These scholars aided the choreography of their sections alongside our brilliant Head of Dance, Mrs. Outram, which meant that they got to expand their skillset into teaching and choreographing.

Both these larger group sections and the soloists were incredibly 38

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‘The cast captured this emotion beautifully and the story was truly believable.’

‘We were challenged with performing outside and had to battle with difficult weather conditions, but everyone managed it amazingly.’

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‘Witches, murder and brawling landlords all featured in this year’s production of Shakespeare’s most spinechilling play.’

powerful: they impressed everyone not only with their ability to dance but also to move the audience emotionally. KiDaCo is not only for those dancing weekly and with tons of past experience, but it is for anyone who can bring energy and joy. This came to light in the large Steps Megamix. Set in an airport, following the stories of the hundreds of passengers passing through, and bringing poignancy, joy and comedy throughout, Mrs. Hands’ and Mrs. Outram’s choreography allowed many pupils to shine.

Camilla Instance We also performed Macbeth, Senior Play and swansong of our outgoing Director of Drama, Mrs. Beattie, which returned inside this year. Witches, murder and brawling landlords all featured in this year’s production of Shakespeare’s most spinechilling play. King’s Week 2023 was blessed with the final bow of our magnificent Head of Drama, Mrs. Beattie. Patrons were transported into a world where darkness rules and the battle to the top is a long-fought and bloody war. A breath-taking revolving set, a stellar cast and a soundtrack that included the likes of Katy B and Arctic Monkeys certainly made this a King’s Week play to remember! The collected imaginations of our school community were captured by breathtaking performances from all involved.

Both Macbeths, Harry Baxendale and Cecily Carter, thank you, Beatts!

As ever, everyone involved in Drama this year has been so with passion and enthusiasm, whether that’s been within the studios, on the Malthouse or just outside in the biting wind! We look forward to 2024, and another energetic year in the Performing Arts.

Harry Baxendale 40

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‘Each of the dance scholars had their own section of the show, celebrating the first year in which every year group has a dance scholar.’

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Rowing ace Bear Cochrane (6a, MR) records the key moments of the year.

R

owing at King’s, while still niche and undersubscribed, is magical, tucked away at Westbere Lake. Rowing at King’s doesn’t necessarily attract the most athletic of individuals, but the sport itself requires little athleticism, instead requiring a strong determination and focus to achieve certain objectives.

This year, the Boys Senior Squad has seen the most successful season since before Covid-19, with numbers advancing over just a single boys eight (this we struggle to achieve year on year). We started the season in September bringing some positive results from our initial racing at Maidstone Autumn Head. Here the boys (Majomi, Haldane, Cochrane, Gibbs, Liebeskind) won the Fastest Junior Boat Pendant in the J18 4+ Category, followed by the J16 Boys (Foley, Boehmer, Dobson, Cropper, Liebeskind) winning the J16 4x+ event and Bear winning the Open J18 1x event comfortably, boosting confidence before his early selection trials in November.

Soon after this Bear also won the OJ18 1x event at Cambridge Small Boats Head. At Teddington Head in November, the J18 Boys Quad (Majomi, Haldane, Michie, Gibbs) put in an impressive performance whilst Bear undertook early recognition trials for Great Britain in Boston over a 5km course, coming 74th out of 134 of the fastest rowers across the country. In December is where there was a true momentum shift within the boys squad. At Hampton Small Boats Head, whilst Bear put in a commendable result of 5th out of 43 in the OJ18 1x event, there was a general consensus that the result of 9th in the OJ18 4x was not the result we wanted and there was a need to up our game to be more competitive at races. Following the Christmas holidays, Bear returned to Boston with pairs partner, Ishan Tomasi of Westminster School, London. Here the trialling process was divided into 3x3km trials where Bear placed 33rd, 34th and 26th, helping to showcase the level of athletes King’s rowing can produce. Maidstone Spring Head saw the boys squad sweep multiple events. The Op 4+ (Majomi, Haldane, Cochrane, Cropper, Liebeskind) saw them put in a very solid performance to make them the Fastest Junior Boat of the Day. The event also saw two further King’s fours with ‘matched’ ability coming just three seconds apart from one another (Flesch-Ellie, Haldane, Foley, Dong and Foley, Cropper, Dunaev, Michie). Shortly after this the boys squad was dropped in at the deep end at Schools Head, placing 14th out of 22, showing a huge step on from last year despite the general consensus within the crew of it being a poor performance.

Training Camp in Temple-Sur-Lot, France, was a highlight for the boat club as a whole. It was a great way for everyone to bond together and to shut out the stresses that are bombarded at you when at school. Following our return from France the first race was Chiswick Regatta in April. Chiswick was one of the largest highlights of the year starting the day with a very comfortable win over St. Paul’s to win the J18 8+ event. It struck the crew that even as underdogs in an event that hope should never be lost and that complacency comes with its repercussions. Following the morning win we endured more racing in the Op 8+ event against Poplar Blackwall to put us into the final. We drew Aurial Kensington in the final where we won by a comfortable three lengths winning this category too. At Poplar Regatta the Boys Eight faced a tough draw and a poor race performance. However, after recouping after 44

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Rowing

the race we focused our minds onto the objective of the second race.

It was to be, at the time, the best performance the boys eight had performed. Following National Schools Regatta there was a ‘2k test’ seeing six out of the eight boys go below seven minutes, an infamous trademark to achieve in rowing criteria. This 2k assessment also saw Bear Cochrane break the school record of 6:28. This was previously set

by Freddie Allinson in 2017. Bear achieved a 6:23 and now sets his eyes upon breaking 6:20 before attending Scottish Rowing Selection in July.

Alongside this, Tabitha achieved a 7:28, breaking Fatima Mansoor’s record last year of 7:43, putting Tabitha in a very good place for GB Trials in her final year. National Schools Regatta saw the boys have a tough weekend. The initial heat started frantically proving the race to be disturbed, the semis saw the rudder snap and the final saw the boys miss out to Bryanston by half a length, who we were hugely eager to beat. Between National Schools and Henley Qualifiers the Boys Eight put in some large improvements helping to pull away from the frantic life of exams at school. The selected crew for Henley Qualifiers consisted of Cox- Mim Byfield-Lees, Stroke- Trajan Majomi, 7- Isak Dobson, 6- Bear Cochrane, 5- Nick Haldane, 4- Roman Dunaev, 3- Jem Cropper, 2- Maxime Flesch-Ellie, Bow- Callum Michie. Whilst very sadly not qualifying, the boys eight put together their best performance ever in a year of entries which was very tough, missing out by four seconds. We now look towards Bear’s Scotland Rowing Trials and if he is successful he will compete in Ireland late July. He is also hoping to be selected for the Great Britain Beach Sprints team after putting in

a very solid 3rd position at the most recent trial where he will compete in the World Beach Sprints Final in Italy.

and Lams, Lester) put in a very good performance, coming 7th and 4th in a strong field of competition.

At Maidstone Spring Head the girls saw some good performances. The Senior Girls 4+ won the The Senior Girls Squad has seen a year like no WJ18 4+ event and the Fastest Junior Women’s other before it is truly commendable what they Boat Pennant, which showcased huge ability, just have achieved and done to six seconds behind one of the bolster women’s rowing at King’s.

King’s Boys J18 4+. Again, the ‘It was a great way In September, the girls squad had two girls pairs (Brooke-Turner, for everyone to bond large divisions in ability, which Butterfill and Lams, Lester) put in together and to shut was showcased at Maidstone very good performances coming Autumn Head. However, the top out the stresses that are 2nd and 1st. At Schools Head the girls 4+ (Lams, Lester, Brookebombarded at you when Girls Eight had an eventful race Turner, Butterfill, Liebeskind) put with numerous technical issues. at school.’ in a very good performance to With all hope lost and dreading win the category and win Fastest to hear the results, they came an Junior Women’s Crew. Following this Tabitha and astonishing 6th despite this. Over Easter Training Poppy joined Bear in Boston attending the Early Camp the girls improved a huge amount, and it Recognition trials for Great Britain, both putting was a highlight being able to paddle alongside in a very commendable performance. King’s has one another. Poplar Regatta was tremendous never sent three athletes to Great Britain trials for for the Girls Eight (Lams, Lester, Brooke-Turner, one season, so this showcased the performance Butterfill, Barkova, Errikson, Green, Eroshina, the school has on offer. At Hampton Small Boats Liebeskind), winning the event of the OWJ18 8+ Head the two girls pairs (Brooke-Turner, Butterfill category. This saw a fantastic race against Tideway

‘The Senior Girls Squad has seen a year like no other before. It is truly commendable what they have achieved and done to bolster women’s rowing at King’s.’

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Scullers School and Latymer Upper School, who both are top-end programs amongst the girls rowing program scene. Winning this placed King’s firmly on the map as a strong school competitor for women’s rowing and visibly saw the momentum of the girls program raised from this point onwards.

At National Schools, the OWJ18 4- (Lams, Butterfill, Brooke-Turner, Lester) produced a quick time trial result to put them in the A-Final amongst the top

‘The boys and girls eights were able to paddle alongside one another far more and this was very helpful and also astonishing for younger years to view as inspiration for their prime school rowing years to come.’

eight fastest girls fours across the country. The girls J16 4+ (Green, Errikson, Cochrane, Eroshina, Liebeskind) had a far tougher time at National Schools Regatta, getting through to the C-final, but as a young crew, this inevitably was an eye opener to the national standard of rowing and with still two years left of schooling or even three for one member of the crew by their 6a year their competitiveness will have risen hugely. Following National Schools Regatta, the pair consisting of Poppy Brooke-Turner and Tabitha Buttefill raced Metropolitan Regatta, coming 6th, against various senior crews such as Cambridge University. This bodes well before their second year at attempting GB Junior Trials 20232024. Barnes and Mortlake Regatta saw some great results for the Girls Senior Squad, bringing home a large number of tankards. They won the OWJ18 4+ category and the OWJ18 8+ category, giving the club a large morale boost before enduring on Women’s Henley and subsequently Henley Qualifiers. Between Barnes and Mortlake Regatta and Women’s Henley both the boys and girls eights

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follows: Cox- Elisabeth Liebeskind, Stroke- Eva Lams, 7- Charlotte Lester, 6- Poppy BrookeTurner, 5- Tabitha Butterfill, 4- Liza Barkova, 3- Laura Green, 2- Matila Errikson, Bow- Uliana Eroshina. Now, wishing Poppy Brooke-Turner and Tabitha Butterfill the best of luck at England Trials in July.

‘It would also be good to have a larger number of Sixth Formers to join the rowing scene and participate at Henley in years to come.

Your mind is the only barrier.’

were able to paddle alongside one another far more and this was very helpful and also astonishing for younger years to view as inspiration for their ‘The courage and prime school rowing years to come. At Women’s Henley, the Rowing at King’s has certainly determination shown girls eight put in an astonishing developed since Covid-19, and by the girls was effort to qualify for racing where hopefully it continues to grow commendable and they into the future. It is hugely they drew Lady Eleanor Holles were making history for exciting to see just fifth formers School in the Heat. Despite losing the Heat, the courage having enough determination King’s.’ and determination shown by to be members of the First the girls was commendable and VIIIs for both the Girls and Boys they were making history for King’s, being the Squads. However, in the future it would also be first King’s Canterbury crew to race at Women’s good to have a larger number of Sixth Formers Henley. At Henley Qualifiers the Girls Eight raced to join the rowing scene and participate at hard, with the best pace they have achieved all Henley in years to come. Your mind is the only year but like the Boys Eight, it was not enough barrier. for qualification. The Girls Eight selected was as

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Trips Flatford Mill

New York

Cricket Tour

6a Ecology 03-05 October 2022 Elizabeth Lockwood

6a Economics 31 October – 5 November 2022 Lynda Horn

UAE 6b, 6a 10-18 February 2023 Richard Singfield

6b, 6a Art and Photography 21-25 October 2022 Isobel Dutton

Barcelona

Reims

Rem, Fifth, 6b MFL 16-20 December 2022 Bergonia Garces-Ramon

All year groups Crypt Choir 10-13 March 2023 Will Bersey

Rome

Hamburg

6b, 6a Classics, RS and Philosophy 21-26 October 2022 Dan Cardinal

Rem, Fifth, 6b MFL 16-19 December 2022 Amelie Blum

Amsterdam

Poland 6b, 6a History 22-23 March 2023 Claire Anderson

Les Deux Alpes Lake District Autumn 6a DofE Gold 22-27 October 2022 Adam Vintner

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Ski Trip All year groups 02-08 January 2023 Mat Lister

Tenerife 6b, 6a Geology 24 March – 1 April 2023 Mike Mawby

2022 - 2023 Bay of Naples

Angelesey

Peaks

Shell Geography and Classics 24-29 March 2023 Freya Dolan

6b Earth and Planetary Sciences 19-22 May 2023 Mike Mawby

6b DofE Gold Summer 12-16 July 2023 Adam Vintner

Ireland Paris

Lyon

6b, 6a French and History of Art 24-26 March 2023 Florence Zanardi

Rem French 17-31 May 2023 Justine Marechal

6b Rowing 20-23 July 2023 Jon Williamson

South Africa Dorset Holland 6a Hockey Tour 24-27 March 2023 Chris Laslett

6b Geography 09-11 June 2023 Freyja Dolan

Fifths, 6b Rugby 29 July – 12 August Richard Singfield

South Africa Flatford Mill Anglesey DofE Gold Spring 25-30 March 2023 Adam Vintner

6b Biology 11-13 June 2023 Elizabeth Lockwood

Rem, Fifths, 6b Hockey 29 July – 12 August Richard Singfield

Iceland 6b Geography 07-11 July 2023 Freyja Dolan

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New York

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Maddie Aldag (6a, BR) enjoyed the Economics trip to New York during Autumn half term between 31 October and 5 November 2022.

‘A

head of us lies a week of Economics, sightseeing, suits, American food and optional morning runs.’ This is what we knew about our Big Apple trip before departing from Heathrow on 31 October. After a long and tiring flight, we arrived at JFK and hopped onto a bus that would take us to our home for the next week, the world’s tallest Holiday Inn.

and Credit Suisse before taking a tour of the UN headquarters. At these meetings, we were able to see real trading floors and enjoy informative talks from the employees of globally successful banks. Not only were we grateful for their friendliness but for their willingness to answer questions about current issues and the daily activities of employees. We were lucky enough to see the reaction of staff at Credit Suisse seconds after the federal bank increased its interest rates on 2nd November, helping us understand how such changes play out.

We headed straight into the depths of the financial district for a tour given by our Economics teachers, and we got to see places that some of us only knew from After a delayed arrival at the United Nations movies, such as Wall Street, the New York Headquarters, a tour immersed us in the Stock Exchange, Fearless Girl and Trinity history of the UN whilst we viewed rooms Church, and we took a group photo in such as the General Assembly Hall. This front of the charging bull experience allowed us without realising we had to understand the aim ‘McCann showed jumped the cue. Despite and work of the UN and us how to go about the time difference and jet gave us an insight into lag, we managed to make creating a successful areas such as military it to Times Square for our spending. advertisement and first American dinner at the let us design our own On our fourth day, Hard Rock Café but even more interesting were the idea for a project they McCann showed us how unique Halloween outfits to go about creating a were working on.’ that passed us on the successful advertisement bustling streets after our and let us design our meal. We ended the night on a high, literally, own idea for a project they were working when we visited the top of the Empire State on at the time. Here we saw how the mind Building for a mesmerising view of the city. of a creative manager works and we were introduced to one of their most successful The next day we were in a courthouse ads ever, the one for L’Oréal that was for a private talk from a judge, Abraham launched over 50 years ago. Taking a break Flott, and a lawyer named Clark Abrams, from the advertising world, we headed who investigates firms involved in money over to Morgan Stanley for a question-andlaundering. We discovered the variety of answer session with some employees after cases the courts handle daily and got some a tour of their offices. After almost visiting idea of what is involved in being a lawyer. the old office block of H&K Strategies and (If it wasn’t for our next appointment, we meeting a famous actress from Stranger could have witnessed a real trial.) But we Things, we finally met with Richard Millar, were off to spend a few hours in the Met the CEO of H&K, a unique public relations to see a variety of works, ranging from firm, who enlightened us about H&K’s magnificent ancient sculptures to a display involvement in the Adidas and Kanye West of hairy cheese. We grabbed lunch in Fifth situation.

Avenue and Central Park before heading over to the Tenement Museum, where we On our last day in New York we took a ferry heard about immigration experiences and to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty what it means to be American. before visiting the 9/11 memorial museum.

We then returned to the airport, ready for The following day we were dressed in suits a long flight filled with sleep and memories (too formal for most New Yorkers) because of a trip that outdid all our expectations. we would be meeting people from Citibank

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Chess

Piece

Tim Selyukov (6a, GL) looks back on his chequered school career in the game of kings.

C

hess is hard. Now I know what you’re thinking. How can a game with thirty-two carved pieces of wood on a sixty-foursquare wooden board be hard? I’ll try to explain.

My dad taught me chess when I was five. I saw my brother and dad playing chess together and they were having a lot of fun, so I asked my dad whether he could teach me how to play. From that point on, I would always come back from school and challenge my brother or my dad to a quick game. At first, it took my mind off school life, just one of those things you enjoy after a long day.

Although at first it was just fun for me, at some point my progress was better than my dad had expected. He started to believe I was something special so he hired a personal coach to train with me four hours a day. It’s hard to remember what happened later, but what I can say is that over the years I went to many National Tournaments for my age group in Moscow.

Coach and I kept working until I was seven and I made the crucial decision to study in the UK. You could say this was a mistake, looking back at it now, but it’s hard to judge things that could have happened. From the ages of seven to thirteen, I studied at a boarding school in Broadstairs, called Wellesley House. From there, it’s hard to judge whether I made the right choice in the end or not.

rapid and blitz. Classical chess is where each player gets one hour and thirty minutes for the whole game. Rapid chess is when each player receives fifteen minutes for the whole game and Blitz chess is when each player receives three minutes for the whole game.

Having explained the different time controls of chess, it is quite easy to understand why I was not too happy at the age of seven to find out that I had to play for an hour and thirty minutes against old men.

It had been too hard to concentrate in lessons at school for longer than thirty minutes but now I also had to play classical chess. Back in Moscow, I had only enjoyed playing blitz chess because it just felt more fun to play a game where the chance of mistakes was higher and so the game became more interesting rather quickly.

However, in classical chess the chance of mistakes is very low purely because of how much time each player has to think about their moves.

Classical chess was not that interesting when I was seven, but I still decided that it was realistically better that nothing.

Nevertheless, over the years it started to become more and more tiring to turn up after school on a Monday since the school workload also happened to increase significantly. At some point, when I was around ten, halfway through prep school I decided to officially stop going to the club because I got to the point where I wasn’t enjoying playing and felt that it wasn’t right to keep going.

At Wellesley, although there was a chess ‘ I had only enjoyed playing blitz chess activity on a Wednesday, I thought that it wasn’t enough. All contact with my coach back because it just felt more fun to play in Moscow vanished and so my chess activity Throughout my time at Wellesley, as a a game where the chance of mistakes began to rapidly decrease. That was until school we went to the annual chess event was higher and so the game becomes the Head of History and Chess at the school, held in Sandwich for Kent Prep Schools, more interesting rather quickly.’

Robert Page, introduced me to the Broadstairs where I won all my games over the six Chess Club. We had many conversations with years. Nonetheless, I cannot say that this him after Chess activities and I was trying to find somewhere in Kent was a great achievementsince the level of chess in the UK at the where I could play some extra chess. He introduced me to the club time, and at the present moment, is rather low. This is not because where you would go every Monday after school to play chess with people in the UK aren’t capable of producing good chess players, some of the older guys. because they very much are: Michael Adams, Gawain Jones, David Howell, and the list goes on. In spite of that I think it’s just because This seemed like such a great opportunity for me until I realised that the UK doesn’t count chess to be a real sport, unlike other countries they played classical chess. There are three types of chess: classical, like Russia, USA and India, which all count it as a sport. Therefore, 54

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Going back to my earlier question: was my decision to move to the UK correct? Looking back now, I will happily say it was. As much as us humans like to contemplate how life would’ve looked if we made a certain decision, we will truly never know because what’s in the past is in the past. I used to sit in my room and ask myself questions such as, ‘Why did I come here? I could have become one of the best chess players in the world by now.’ But that’s not what it’s really about. Regret is one thing which I’ve learnt over the years is useless. It’s okay sometimes to sit by yourself and ask yourself deep questions connected with ‘It felt so fresh and new to the present or the future, play the game which I had but I don’t ever believe in thinking about decisions truly been missing for all you made in the past. Who these years.’ truly cares if I was world champion in another life by now? I didn’t choose that path and so I have to try my best to do what I can now. I know this part is not necessarily just about my chess story, but I just wanted to talk about life in general.

Apologies for getting side-tracked, but I felt that what I said was necessary for some people out there to hear. During that COVID-19 lockdown in March 2019, I discovered online chess through the platform chess.com. I started playing against random people online and had more enjoyment from it than from any other chess-related events before. It felt so fresh and new to play the game which I had truly been missing for all these years.

As much as I agree with most people that the COVID lockdowns of 2019 were rather terrifying, they gave me a reason to do something which I hadn’t done for almost five years. I would even go as far as to say that I wouldn’t be as happy in life if it was not for the lockdowns in 2019. since the UK doesn’t count chess as a sport, it obviously doesn’t invest anywhere near the amount of money that these ‘chess nations’ invest, which is why it’s harder to become a great chess player in the UK. Frankly, I stopped any serious levels of chess when I stopped going to the Broadstairs Chess Club when I was ten years old. I wouldn’t go on to play chess for another five years. I have to say that those five years, when I quit chess, might have been the best five years of my life.

There were times when there wasn’t much schoolwork and you could just kick a football or a rugby ball about with your friends. During those times, I can happily say that I didn’t once think about entertaining the thought that I could come back to that boring board game. You could say that my chess career was over before it had even started.

I joined the King’s School, Canterbury just one year before Coronavirus, but at that time I was still not interested in doing chess for activities on a Wednesday afternoon. But when I came back to school after the 2019 lockdowns, I had a chat with the Head of Psychology and Chess, Mr. Hutchings, who told me about the great chess team the school had and how it would be a good idea for me to participate in the Wednesday chess activities so I could get myself onto the school team. The rest is history.

Having said all of that, during the outbreak of COVID-19, I was in pure boredom having been locked in my house for months on end. That’s when, one could say, there was a resurrection of something far greater than just a boring board game, but rather a part of life. Some people believe that things always happen for a reason and there is no event in your life that happens randomly. I have to say that I agree, because as much as I would say that I enjoyed those five years without any idea of chess in my mind, I believe that it was life telling me that I just needed a break.

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The

Charity CommitteE

M

embers of The King’s School Charity Committee come from various year groups. As a bridge between the school and wider society we reach out to people in need and help vulnerable individuals: we wish to protect their human rights and empower them with access to resources and pools of knowledge.

We also hope to spread empathy and shape a better understanding of the world within our Canterbury community. Two of our members shared their thoughts: ‘The opportunity to connect and help one another within our community has always been a priority of mine. As a student at King’s, I recognise my extraordinary position. Being in the City of Canterbury, it is important that the school respects the space we share. Supporting a charity of the term allows us to be integrated in helping to provide for a charity, and being a part of this committee I want to help create long-term support even after the term ends.’ (Minty Scott) ‘The Charity Committee allows me to meet and work with people who share the same passion, to bring our influence on wider society.

The meaning of a charity is to create social harmony by eliminating inequality and help with unfortunates, and the meaning of the Charity Committee is to be a bridge that reaches out from the school.

Therefore I am keen to offer my own note.’ (Cathy Wang) Our committee arranges various events during the academic year to fundraise for the charity of the term, which is chosen by a school vote. So far, we have introduced home clothes day, a charity dinner, auctions and a charity walk. Alongside fundraising, we introduce tutor periods, soup days and assemblies so that students have a chance to learn about the charities they are supporting and have a taste of individual struggles. We believe that by holding these events we can make real changes to needy communities, both by raising money and by raising awareness. At the same time, each and every student can participate as a responsible individual who cares about the outside world.

Beyond the charity of the term we value other causes in the King’s community so house activities are welcomed, such as the annual Walpole Carnations. We hope that with more participation from each house in future charity work will be more integrated into the school culture.

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The 22/23 academic year was busy and exciting for the Charity Committee. We supported three charities of the term: Rwanda Action, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and WaterAid. Many thanks to everyone who nominated them. In the Autumn Term we supported Rwanda Action with our Sixth-Form Charity Dinner.

The tables and seats were sold quickly, and during the dinner an auction was thrown and pushed the atmosphere to the peak. In the Lent Term we supported CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) with a charity walk held by the Shells and Removes. On 15 March the Shells and Removes spent half the day with members of CALM, taking part in workshops to raise awareness of young people’s mental health. The other half of the day was spent in a sponsored walk from Whitstable to King’s. The pupils found it a refreshing and valuable experience. In the Summer Term we supported WaterAid through online auctions and a collection of King’s Week events, from a Pamper Hamper to a limited-edition signed rugby shirt, fête stalls, a second-hand uniform sale and a culture fair. We raised over £3500, hugely exceeding our target of £1000, thanks to the kind donations from the King’s community. It was a triumph. Contact The Charity Committee: charity@kings-school.co.uk

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Department:

Modern Languages We asked Modern Languages Teachers and Pupils to tell us their favourite foreign words and phrases.

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T

Eachers

Hester Galmés-Davies Head of Modern Foreign Languages For me the joy of learning and teaching languages has always been that feeling of discovery when you seize upon a new word or idiom that encapsulates something you’ve always felt but never had the words to express. German does this phenomenally, with its love for compound nouns and very literal imagery: from ‘Kopfkino’, which translates to ‘head cinema’ and refers to the images we replay in our minds, to the wonderfully literal ‘Glühbirne’ (glowing pear), which is the German for light bulb. Some of these expressions have found their way into English, including ‘Zeitgeist’ (spirit of the times), ‘Wanderlust’ (desire to travel) and the notorious ‘Schadenfreude’ (a joy taken in others’ suffering). It’s hard to pick a favourite but one that always makes me smile when I share it with students is to play ‘die beleidigte Leberwurst’ (an insulted liver sausage). Broadly comparable to ‘being in a huff’, it was used recently when the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz of ‘playing the Beleidigte Leberwurst’ for refusing a state visit to Kyiv. It’s such a comical and evocative image, and one that for me embodies the quirks and joys of the German language.

Begoña Garcés Ramón Head of Spanish My favourite Spanish word is ‘alhelí’. It means ‘wallflower’. ‘Alhelí’ was borrowed from the Arabic (al-ḵayriyy or alẖayrí), just like many words beginning with ‘al-’ and with an interspersed ‘h’. (The Arabs were in Spain for eight centuries until 1492 and left many words in the Spanish language.) Lorca used it in his poems, and it is in the title of a song sung by Nat ‘King’ Cole. It can be spelt without the ‘h’, but I prefer it with. It is a very poetic word, unlike its English equivalent.

Lixin Liu Head of Mandarin 己所不欲，勿施于人。 These are the words of Confucius, which translate to ‘Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.’ I like this saying because it is a reminder for myself of the importance of treating others with respect, empathy, and fairness; and I use it to encourage my students to put themselves in others’ shoes.

Julian Karolyi Head of Careers and Teacher of French I’m particularly fond of the French word ‘pantoufle’ – in English, ‘slipper’. My father would always use that term over the English. It suggests to me warmth, comfort and cosiness in a way the English fails to do. While its etymology is a bit hazy – possibly Italian in origin? – the suffix ‘-oufle’ is vaguely onomatopoeic, suggesting inflation or muffling of a noise, or perhaps the sound one makes after a long day when one puts on a pair of ‘pantoufles’. A related word is ‘pantouflard’, which means someone who enjoys staying at home.

And ‘pantouflage’ is a slang term for when politicians are eased into high-paying but undemanding jobs after leaving politics. Truly a word for our age.

‘We are meant

Jack Walker to try and fail, Teacher of French and German to take leaps of My favourite word in German is ‘Warmduscher’, which refers to someone faith, only to who would only take a warm shower (not land face-down an icy cold or burning hot one), implying that they are a bit of a wimp who is on the floor. So unwilling to step outside of their comfort go take an icy zone. It’s too easy to get comfortable, shower or two.’ to stop challenging yourself, and to stop finding it necessary even to leave the house. We are meant to try and fail, to take leaps of faith, only to land face-down on the floor. So go take an icy shower or two. I think this word fits nicely with my affinity with cold-water swimming!

Rob Harrison Housemaster of Tradescant and Teacher of French and Spanish Having studied Linguistics at university, I’ve always loved looking at the etymology of language. One of my favourites is ‘sabotage’, a word that derives from the French ‘sabot’ (a wooden shoe or clog).

When factory workers wanted to show their bosses that they were deserving of better treatment, they would throw their ‘sabots’ into the machinery.

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‘To me this is a positive phrase, showing that wherever you are in the world you can be at one with yourself and your surroundings.’

Zoe Allen Head of Life Matters and Teacher of Spanish I am a big fan of Spanglish and love the way language evolves and changes to suit the communication needs of the users. For this reason, one of my favourite phrases is ‘estar de duty’ (to be on duty), a phrase only used and understood (as far as I am aware) by the King’s School Spanish Department. Only we know exactly what we mean when we mix King’s-isms with Spanglish to make our very own linguistic dog’s dinner.

Maya Authier Teacher of French I like the Italian idiomatic expression ‘In bocca al lupo’, which translates roughly as ‘in the mouth of the wolf’, because it can be very scary when you learn Italian, and you hear it for the very first time. In fact, it comes from theatre, and is now used to wish someone good luck, so it truly has nothing to do with a real wolf or its mouth. It is, however, interesting that the sentences associated with luck are both strange and a little violent in various languages: recall ‘break a leg’ in English, while in French we use a bad word starting with ‘m’ that I really can’t write here.

Thomas Pote Chaplain and Teacher of French One of the beauties of language is how idioms evolve from the weather and how that affects daily life. One of the first examples of this I came across in Italian is ‘cogli l’acqua quando piove’ (‘collect water when it rains’). The phrase is used to mean ‘take advantage of every opportunity when it presents itself’. In a land where agriculture is a way of life for so many, but where there is little rainfall, we can see the importance of taking every opportunity to collect water for the crops. It can be fun to find the equivalent idiom in English. Here we’d use ‘make hay when the sun shines’, showing that whereas rain in our climate is traditionally not lacking, hot sunshine is. I wonder how these idioms may evolve further given how the climate in both countries is changing…

Jo Bao Teacher of Mandarin My favourite phrase in Chinese is 此心安处是吾乡, which means ‘my home is wherever I feel at peace’. This was written by a famous Song dynasty poet called Su Shi, who was consoling a friend sent away from his home by the emperor. However, to me this is a positive phrase, showing that wherever you are in the world you can be at one with yourself and your surroundings.

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Yi Wang Teacher of Mandarin 赠人玫瑰，手有余香 is a saying that translates as ‘Give someone a rose and leave a scent in your hand’. I like this saying because it promotes the act of doing good things or showing kindness to others, and emphasises their lasting, positive effects. It encourages me to seek out opportunities to be kind and reminds me of the importance of even the smallest acts of kindness.

Naomi Madeley Teacher of Japanese The phrase 猫に小判 (Neko ni Koban) means ‘a gold coin for a cat’. A koban is a large gold coin from the Edo period in Japan.

However, a gold coin is of no value to a cat, which would probably sniff it with disdain before turning away. So this idiom means to give someone something which is inappropriate or of no value or use to them. I like this proverb because the image of the cat turning up its nose at the gold coin is pleasing and memorable.

Amelie Blum Teacher of German German is often perceived as a harsh and aggressive language but the word ‘Gänsefüßchen’ shows it can be very sweet. The word ‘Gänse’ means geese and ‘Fuß’ is a foot, with ‘Füßchen’ meaning tiny feet. So ‘Gänsefüßchen’ is our word for quotation marks because they look like tiny little goose feet. ‘Zweisamkeit’ is another cute concept, which is technically the opposite of ‘Einsamkeit’, meaning loneliness, but actually means being alone with the person you love or deeply care for. It is also a

language that has a word for anything, and anyone can create new words: ‘merkeln’ refers to our former chancellor’s tendency to think things through in depth; Guttenberg was a politician who plagiarised his PhD thesis, so ‘guttenbergen’ became the term to say someone plagiarised. During Covid the term ‘Coronamüdigkeit’ was coined to describe the fatigue we felt, the sense of being tired of living in lockdown.

Last, there is ‘Fernweh’, the longing for a place you have not been to yet. Overall, German is a quirky language that is much more fun than it sounds.

Elena McCaffrey Teacher of Russian With six cases, noun declensions and verb conjugations (have I lost you yet?), Russian can be nothing short of Latin in terms of endings and forms you need to remember to speak the language. I decided to explore some fun ways to use mnemonics that make sense in English to teach some initial phrases. Here is a quick guide to Russian for native English speakers.

‘Privet’ (‘hi’ in Russian) is the name of the street in a Harry Potter book and movie. It is actually the name of a shrub in English. You can say ‘Privet’ to someone whilst walking in a leafy street. If you have been asked how you are doing, or ‘Kak deelah?’, you may naturally respond ‘horror show’ because it sounds similar to ‘kharashoh’, which means ‘good’ in Russian.

We always strive to be polite, so ‘spicy bar’ will help you on this occasion, since it sounds like ‘spasibah’, a Russian word for ‘thank you’. When people are sneezing, it is appropriate to order ‘boots off’ in a very stern manner as it sounds like ‘boot’ ‘zdaroff’, which means ‘bless you’ in Russian. If you are overwhelmed with feelings, ‘yellow blue bus’ is your expression. It sounds like ‘ya lyublyu vas’, which means ‘I love you’ in Russian.

Darío Galmés Gazapo Head of Fifth, Teacher of Spanish My favourite word in Spanish is ‘Mediterráneo’.

Deriving from the Latin ‘mediterraneus’, meaning ‘inland’ (medius: ‘middle’ + terra: ‘land, earth’), this word reminds me of my home in Mallorca, and it has an excellent range of sounds within – a hard ‘r’ with a diphthong at the end. Just saying it out loud is relaxing and takes you away on a daydream.

I feel that its etymological complexity really reflects its outstanding history and geography: the cradle of civilisation that has seen endless empires rise and fall but has remained perennially beautiful throughout history.

this phrase because it can be adapted to our everyday life. If we can wait, have faith in God and accept all the bad things that happen in our life, one day we will be rewarded. Normally, it is very difficult to wait and to hope and not to react, often aggressively, when facing difficulties or when someone is frustrating us.

It is an act which requires a great deal of self-control.

To control our negative emotions and make sure they don’t become destructive towards ourselves and others is a big virtue.

Svenja Glass German Conversation Teacher Are you at all familiar with that painful yet strangely satisfying soreness in your muscles after exercising, saying ‘you’ve done a great job’, ‘you’ve not exercised in a while…’ and ‘you’ll look funny tomorrow when you try to walk up the stairs’? I imagine you are nodding understandingly, even if you might not be able to give me a polite chuckle because your tummy muscles remember yesterday’s crunches at the gym. ‘Muskelkater’ is the German word for that pain. ‘Muskel’, as you will have guessed, means ‘muscle’, while a ‘Kater’ is not only a ‘male cat’ but also a ‘hangover’. ‘Ein Muskelkater’, therefore, is technically a muscle hangover.

‘‘During Covid the term ‘Coronamüdigkeit’ was coined to describe the fatigue we felt, the sense of being tired of living in lockdown.’’

Claire Raynal French Conversation Teacher I’m a cinema enthusiast, and my favourite pastime is trying to guess the plot twist of a movie. Very often, in fact, said film is so poorly made that the outcome is predictable, and therefore it is ‘cousu de fil blanc’, which in French means ‘to have been sewn with white thread’. You can also use this idiom when someone is so obviously lying that you can clearly see the fabric of their lie: ‘un tissu de mensonges’.

Were French tailors terrible liars?

Pasqua di Tano Teacher of Italian ‘La pazienza è la virtù dei forti’ means ‘Patience is the virtue of strong people.’ As a language teacher, I can say that learning a language requires patience and perseverance . We cannot expect to learn a language in a short time and without any effort. However, I like CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Pupils Gabrielle Berlin (6b, BR) Studying French My favourite French idiom is ‘coup de foudre’, which literally translates as ‘a lightning strike’. It means love at first sight.

However, if it is only moderate love at first sight, usually when talking about an object, you can say ‘coup de cœur’. This is my favourite expression because I find it much more dramatic than the English version (‘love at first sight’) and I find it quite funny that French people describe falling in love as being struck by lightning.

Téa Sand (6b, CY) Studying French, Spanish and Italian ‘dolce far niente’ is popular idiom in Italy which means it is nice to be doing nothing, and people use it to show the importance of taking life slowly, luxuriating in it and enjoying the simple things that require minimal effort. ‘coup de foudre’ in French means love at first sight but literally translates as ‘bolt of lightning’, which I think is a really beautiful way to capture what being ‘struck by love’ for the first time feels like. ‘media naranja’ in Spanish literally translates to ‘half orange’ but I love that it means someone’s better half in a relationship – their soulmate.

Asuka Arai (Sh, LX) Studying Japanese, French and Spanish 鉄は熱いうちに打て (Tetu ha atuiuti ni ute) in Japanese means ‘to strike while the iron is hot’. The iron can only be struck and shaped while it is hot. The idiom teaches us that there is always a time for things to be done, and you shouldn’t miss opportunities. There are two meanings to this idiom: ‘take an action before it’s too late’ and ‘you should get educated whilst you are young.’

Kent Horiguchi (6b, SH) Studying Japanese 自業自得 (jigō jitoku) is a common phrase used in Japan that tells you that your actions resulted in good or bad luck. The definition for jigō-jitoku is ‘you get what you give’, which could also be described as Karma. I like this idiom because of its usability.

Hannah Mulheirn (Sh, LX) Studying Japanese, French and Spanish I like the phrase ミイラ取りがミイラになる (Miratori ga mira ni naru). Mira is a mummy and this idiom’s direct translation is ‘Someone who hunts a mummy will become a mummy.’ It teaches us not to be hypocritical and says that we should not just think about other people but also take care of ourselves.

Inigo Lenderking (6b, LN) Studying German and Japanese German is known for its unshackled vividness. One of my favourite German idioms is ‘Ich krieche auf dem Zahnfleisch’, which translates as ‘I am crawling on the flesh of my teeth’, essentially conveying a sense of extreme exhaustion. Another example of this hyperbole is the German version of ‘break a leg’, when wishing someone good luck: ‘Hals und Beinbruch’ means break a leg and your neck.

Riko Yoshida (Sh, KD) Studying Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish 犬も歩けば棒に当たる (Inu mo arukeba bo uni ataru) means ‘A dog hits a stick when walking.’ This is a well-known saying in Japan and means that if you are too forward you are likely to meet with disaster, or each person has their own day. You can have a bad or a good day, but people don’t have good or bad days on the same days; everyone has their own day and time.

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Eugénie Rieuneau (6b, JR) Studying French My favourite French saying is ‘chercher midi à quatorze heures’, which directly translates to ‘looking for noon at 2pm’. It means to overcomplicate and make things hard, similar to the English phrase ‘to make a mountain out of a molehill’. Although the uses vary, this expression has been used in French since the 16th Century.

I find the idea of misreading the time on purpose funny.

‘I like this phrase because it doesn’t just refer to learning: no matter what you do, you won’t succeed without trying your best.’

Olha Martyniuk (6a, BY) Studying German One of my favourite Ukrainian words is виднокрай (vydnokraj), translating literally as ‘the edge of what the eye can see’. An English equivalent would be the horizon, but this phrase means something more poetic, evoking that overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by a landscape stretching seemingly endlessly away.

Alden Wong (Sh, GR) Studying Mandarin and Spanish “谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦” means ‘Who knows that every grain of rice in your bowl is the result of hard work?’ At first, I thought it was pointless and irritating to finish the few grains of rice left in my bowl. However, thinking about the people who worked hard for the food to get into my bowl, not only the farmer, also the people who cooked the food, it is truly a waste not to finish your food.

Kelvin Cheng (Sh, TR) Studying Mandarin and French One of my favourite phrases in Mandarin is 学如 逆水行舟，不进则退, which comes from a book in the Ming Dynasty. This phrase tells us: ‘Learning is similar to sailing against the current: if you don’t advance, you will retreat.’ I like this phrase because it doesn’t just refer to learning: no matter what you do, you won’t succeed without trying your best.

Tony Liu (Sh, GR) Studying Mandarin 画蛇添足 means ‘drawing a snake with feet’. This phrase refers to a story about a man who was good at drawing and made a bet with his friend that whoever draws a snake first gets to drink the wine.

He finishes early but decides to add some feet to the snake, which makes him lose the bet. I like this phrase since it’s a simple way of describing an unnecessary move and the story reminds people to think before they carry on doing something stupid and unnecessary.

Justin Chu (Sh, GR) Studying Mandarin and Spanish My favourite saying in Mandarin is 近朱者赤， 近墨者黑, which means ‘If you are close to good friends you become good; if you are close to bad friends you become bad.’ When I was young my dad told me I needed good friends and told me this saying. It has taught me that friends influence my personality a lot so I should be close to good friends who can influence me in a good way.

Maegan Chen (Sh, KD) Studying Mandarin, Japanese and German A common yet hard-to-translate phrase in Chinese is 加油, used in both Mandarin and Cantonese. Its literal meaning is ‘add oil’. Used like a cheer, it has a range of meanings, like ‘Good luck!’, ‘Go for it!’, ‘I’m rooting for you!’ or ‘Let’s go!’, and originated from the Macau Grand Prix during the 1960s. Supporters at the time used the phrase to encourage racers to step on the gas. Nowadays, 加油 has evolved into an expression of comfort, as well as a rallying cry during sports events or protests.

Bernice Tso (Sh, BR) Studing Mandarin and French 四海為家, ‘the four seas are your home’, is my favourite Chinese phrase. It tells you to feel at home anywhere, which is a word that suits me since I am in a boarding school and my home is very far away.

It means that no matter where I am I can still feel at home in Hong Kong, sitting in the living room.

Justin Wu (Sh, GR) Studying Mandarin and French ‘缘分’ is a special word in Chinese culture that embodies the spirit of fate and serendipitous events we encounter throughout our lives. It means a ‘fateful coincidence’, and suggests that relationships, whether with one’s friends, family, or partner, have always been destined to happen.

However, 缘分 does not always have to speak of a life-long relationship; it could also be used to describe just a simple encounter with an old friend at your local Tesco. 缘分 enriches our lives and by embracing it we can appreciate the unexplained magic that intertwines our lives.

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Spanish teacher and housemaster, Rob Harrison, teaches Florence Walton in the Walpole Room of Palace Block.

Teaching the

Teacher Maths teacher and organiser of King’s Week, Florence Walton, is being taught Spanish by her colleagues at King’s.

‘M

iss! Does that say joo-way- to convince the genuine 13-year-old next to go?’ he asked, leaning across me that copying would not help him in future my work as I hid it like a proud life and managing (I hoped) my smugness primary-school pupil during that he couldn’t make out an exam. “’k, but really, what my writing in the latest gap‘I have received such does it say?’ exercise. Since then, I amazing kindness from fill have received such amazing It had all started the the Spanish Department, kindness from the Spanish previous Easter, when I went with MBG-R, DGG and Department, with MBG-R, RTMH welcoming me DGG and RTMH welcoming to Salamanca on a Spanish exchange trip. I had started me into their classes, MLM into their classes.’ out as a member of staff giving me conversation but, a few Duo Lingo levels and a handful of classes and LB even taking me through La brief grammar lessons later, I joined a Year Casa de Bernarda Alba individually so I could 7 Spanish class. I was leaving the school to benefit fully from joining the sixth form trip come and teach at King’s and didn’t teach to watch it. I took the GCSE in 2022, revisiting any of those pupils, so I participated whole- public exams after a few years’ break, and heartedly. I was known as ‘Florencia’ and have been tackling part of the A’ Level course once even ended up on the wrong side of since. the ‘distinction or detention’ lesson, only being saved by the physical inability to put a It is amazingly refreshing to learn alongside teacher in detention. my own teaching. For so much of the time, teachers are the ones who know the most And so, fourteen years after my own Year 9 in the room and are constantly looked to for experience, I was back as a Shell pupil, trying answers and advice. To turn up to a lesson 64

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and have free rein not to understand, to be bad at something, to ask as many questions as you like and to be on a level with the pupils is a real joy. I can’t make every lesson and my speaking leaves quite a lot to be desired (even after a week in a language school in Barcelona last Easter) but it is now a hobby and interest for life. Next year may involve more A’ Level lessons, purely conversation classes, or perhaps an attempt at a B1 or B2 course. In a sense, it doesn’t matter, because I just enjoy learning it in whatever way is possible.

It’s certainly made me think about other subject options too: music, psychology and computer science are currently topping my list. My Spanish comes up in conversation sometimes and teachers will frequently say there’s a subject they’d love to pursue but haven’t yet. People often cite lack of time as the reason and that is definitely a restriction, but I think it would be a shame to have all of this education going on around me and not to benefit from at least a small part of it.

Spanish Teachers Laura Bernardo & Begoña Garcés Ramón.

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Tradescant HOuse Trajan Majomi (6a, TR) tells us why he is proud to be a member of Tradescant.

W

hat is Tradescant? To me, it’s an You look up from your plate to find a portrait ever-changing concept, a beacon of an old, bearded scholar looking down at and a flagship of the values that you. For a moment, you contemplate how are most important in the school. Trad, such a portrait ended up in a school dining perhaps unassuming to some, transcends room. the expectation of what a boarding house should be. In fact, it inspires people with the Conversation over breakfast is usually a possibility of what a boarding house could debate or gentle beratement. Without be, namely a community in fail, every morning, you which values of honesty and walk away from breakfast ‘Trad, perhaps respect are celebrated to smiling. On your way out, a supreme degree. Writing you say thank you to Daisy unassuming to this article, I am humbled serving breakfast. Once some, transcends the for by the task of conveying back in house, you get expectation of what a ready for the day, for which the true essence of Trad. I have decided the best way boarding house should you need to collect your is to take you on a journey clothes. As you make your be.’ to enjoy a few moments way downstairs into the of honorary Trad-dom that laundry room, the steam should, hopefully, give you a brief glimpse of can be heard coming off Karen’s ironing Trad life. board. You always make sure to thank Karen on your way out because clean laundry is a It’s Monday morning. The sound of running blessing. The bell sounds, followed by the water can be heard down the corridor. thumping of footsteps down the spiralling Footsteps thump past your door. You get staircases. out of bed, look out at the Dovecote Lawn through the gothic window frames, and make By stepping into the cascade of people moving your way to breakfast. On the way you look out of the house you join the movement into into Mr. Harrison’s study to find his dog, Wilf, school. Like a troop of soldiers, you and your in his usual spot under the desk. Mr. Harrison fellow green ties march towards Green Court, is working away whilst greeting you with a donning books and binders. caring but sarcastic comment. Especially in the Winter, the sky lights up in brilliant streaks Upon returning to Trad in the evening, take of purple, blue and yellow, all seen above the your choice of two dining halls. After eating, library roof and past the monastery ruins as we consider a question of much importance: you go on your way. football or shmick? If the weather or the mood is not fitting: PS5 or Wii? If none of Up the stairs, in the Refectory, year groups sit these options seems enjoyable, a good chat amongst themselves. The Fifths have brought will always suffice. Never a dull moment in their revision books to breakfast, and are met Trad. with nostalgic remarks from the 6bs. The early breakfast-goers sit at the heads of each House meetings are three times a week, which table. The Refectory has a strange sense of always seems cathartic in a rather strange openness for such an old and wooden space. way. General school notices are announced;

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is a house of hard workers and brilliant minds, all being celebrated to a high degree. What is important to note is that the achievements themselves are not celebrated so much as the people. While it is easy to celebrate the achievement and how it makes the house look, it takes more care to celebrate the person responsible. Those who achieve good things are given prizes and takeaway dinners as well as creds within the house.

A culture of honesty and respect creates a transparent atmosphere in the house and has led to Mr. Harrison being a bit of a revered leader. Nobody dares go against his just rule. Nobody dares to bite the loving hand that feeds them.

To do so would be foolish. After all, he is a good bloke. A house points system motivates the boys to get merits and help around the house so as to compete for the highest score and contribute to their individual house points teams.

The highest individual scorer, along with the highest scoring team, gets a takeaway every half term. This year, the system has been a success, with some proving themselves house point farmers. Shell Archie Brown has shown himself to be an all-star in this regard, as well as being an exceptional shmick player.

Mr. Harrison roasts naughty Removes (wittily, of course); laughs are had, especially on Fridays. Evening prep, which is absolutely and unexceptionally taken seriously, is followed by discussion and general buffoonery in the halls and in dorms.

No tangible component sets Trad apart from the other houses in the school.

In fact, some would even say that Trad is laid out rather boringly, like a hotel. Three kitchens and three common ‘While it is easy spaces is nothing to rave about. It is more people who are celebrated in Trad. Naturally to celebrate the there is a high standard of achievement, achievement and how and thus high expectation. Sean Qian, a it makes the house national fencing champion, has set the bar look, it takes more of athletic achievement high. The strongest set of GCSE results out of any house sets a care to celebrate the high standard for this year’s Fifths, which I person.’ am sure will be exceeded, since they are a clever bunch. Harry Baxendale is one of the most prolific thespians in the school, appearing not only in school but in feature productions as well. Jerry Chan, one of our resident creatives, is a talented fashion designer, designing the house kit and our brand-new house tie. Aiden Masiero leads by example, dedicating massive amounts of time to volunteering and serving the wider community. The point is that Trad 68

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Sports play a big role in Trad, as they do in any house, really.

What makes Trad sports special is our absolute mastery of both footie and shmick. The quality of football skill is unparalleled. A footie rally can feel a bit like Brazilian favelas.

Shmick is played with a similar finesse, exclusively in front of the library against the water well structure on the Dovecote Lawn. In terms of school sports, every sport is played by Trad: Cricket, Rugby, Football, Sailing, Swimming, Tennis and Rowing all have strong representations. In particular, Trad feeds the school talent for Cricket, Football and Rugby. A wide array of interests is also present in Trad. A large part of its culture is the inclusivity of individual culture. This means that academic discussions are open to any subject matter, whether it be STEM- or humanities/arts- oriented.

This makes for a stimulating environment, although civilised conversations on purely intellectual matters are admittedly quite rare and often spiral into less polished and presentable dialogue. But this, of course, is another reason to love Trad.

To love Trad is to appreciate the people and the culture. I think the best sentiment of what it means to be in Trad was written by our very own Fifth, Aiden Masiero. The Trad Lad is a term that I have heard thrown around loosely, without any real understanding of what it means to be a Trad Lad. Upon asking him to write about what he felt makes Trad unique, he submitted the following: ‘Who is the Trad Lad? We prioritise the truth; otherwise, we would live a lie. We never take things personally. After all, there’s no fun in that.’

‘A culture of honesty and respect creates a transparent atmosphere in the house and has led to Mr. Harrison being a bit of a revered leader.’

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m o r F e h t ARCHIVE 70

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Every year we ask Archivist, Peter Henderson, to share a treasure or two from his King’s moment-hoard.

‘Boys was an OKS and Dean of Canterbury. We don’t have a copy of the folio but do have the large quarto of 1629.’

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023 is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, without which we wouldn’t have Macbeth or The Tempest or sixteen other plays from the grand total of 36.

Boys was an OKS and Dean of Canterbury.

We don’t have a copy of the folio but do have the large quarto of 1629. There’s a superb monument to Boys in the Cathedral, showing him in his book-lined study.

I have just read Shakespeare’s Book by Chris Laoutaris. I hadn’t realised that William Aspley, one of those responsible for publishing Shakespeare, was also involved in producing, at the same time, a folio edition of The Workes of John Boys Doctor in Divinitie (1622).

A further connection is that ‘Compositor B’ of First Folio fame was also working on an edition of the Christian Dictionary of Thomas Wilson published in 1622: A Christian Dictionary – Shakespeare at Iowa (uiowa.edu). Wilson had been Lower Master at KSC in 1586-87. Again, unfortunately, our edition of this book is a later one. CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Déjà

Vu

King’s Archivist, Peter Henderson, reveals that a new science building, finished in 2023, was first mooted in 1956.

I

n the School Archives is a file labelled ‘Industrial Fund for Advancement of Scientific Education’. The first item is a letter dated 9 April 1956 from the Fund’s chief assessor to the Headmaster about ‘the problem of your science accommodation’. Another letter noted that ‘already the school has 16% of its roll in the Maths. and Science VIth, and – given good conditions of work – it seems very probable that that percentage may be considerably increased.’ The School needed more laboratories – but how many and where could they go? Visits and discussions ensued.

Robert Paine, a Canterbury architect and the part-time art master, presented plans for a reorganisation of the existing laboratories in the Mint Yard and for a new adjacent science block. A two-storey building with four physics labs would be placed between the Harvey Laboratory and the Schoolroom – roughly on the site of the future Mitchinson’s. There would also be a ‘new court’ on the left as you enter the Mint Yard Gate. His scheme is shown in the accompanying illustration.

In the event, the need for more than four labs meant that a site behind the dining hall was chosen. Darcy Braddell, the architect of the Great Hall (later the Shirley Hall) that was opened by the Queen Mother in June 1957, was responsible for the designs. This new building was then opened by Somerset Maugham in June 1958.

The Maugham Library and new physics labs were added later.

The ‘bright idea’ of consolidating science provision in the Mint Yard had thus been thought of over sixty years ago. 72

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View from Biology steps

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Paul Pollak put this very old but unidentified gargoyle in the wall of the (now-demolished) Mitchinson’s garden, next to the famous Marlowe plaque. It has now been elevated to first-floor level, and takes pride of place as the custos spiritus of the Science Block, between the Physics and Biology Departments.

‘The connection between the buildings makes life so much easier – we can move between our science lessons more quickly now.’

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View from Galpin’s

‘I love the huge windows – so much brighter than the old classrooms.’

‘I love the staircase, which looks like the surface of the moon.’

View from Mint Yard lawn

View from Mint Yard Gate

‘It’s great to be able to see the Mint Yard again after all this time.’

Lecture Hall CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Before JUNE 2017

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& after

NOVEMBER 2023

View from School House CANTUARIAN | 2023

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R

R

usty

The Editor wanted to know why the International College has a rusty roof, and asked Chemistry Teacher, Dr. Geoff Nelson, and Chemistry pupil, Margot Royer (6a, JR), to explain.

oof

T

he King’s International College is an award-winning structure on a former industrial site right beside the 19th Century brick Malthouse Theatre. It’s a modern building but its design evokes the local area’s industrial heritage. The darkorange steel cladding may recall classic railway carriages and the skeletons of skyscrapers, but it may also cause concern: will the cladding corrode and leave the International College naked to the elements? Never fear. The dark-orange steel is Cor-Ten steel.

To understand the advantages of Cor-Ten, we must consider structural steel as a building material. Steel is mostly iron mixed with about 0.1% carbon, which improves its strength and resilience. It is famous for its use in skyscrapers and Samurai swords. However, in the presence of water and oxygen, the iron in this steel will undergo oxidation and rust, forming brittle, orange-red hydrated iron oxides within the steel. The damage caused by the presence of iron oxides ranges from the merely aesthetic to unwanted Geoff Nelson and Storm material expansion (i.e. rust packing), to catastrophic failure of a structure under a load. To prevent rust, steel must be protected with a barrier, such as paint, plastic, or galvanisation, or be in physical contact with a metal that is more reactive than iron, a process called ‘sacrificial protection’. This protection against oxidation comes with a cost and hides the natural colour of steel, which can be aesthetically pleasing when used in architecture.

Cor-Ten steel provides the necessary, long-lasting protection for structures without the additional effort 78

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or expense of protection against oxidation. It was first used in the 1930s for railway cars, due to its strength and low cost. There was also lower complexity because there is no requirement for barrier protection against the elements. Rusting and corrosion are minimised through weathering of the Cor-Ten, which forms a patina on the building.

A patina forms on some metals and alloys when certain chemical and environmental conditions are met. Copper patina is perhaps the most famous example, forming the green exterior of the Statue of Liberty, the roof of Canada’s Parliament buildings and weathervanes made of copper. Patina is a low-maintenance and natural way to provide protection for structures along with its unique aesthetic

qualities. Protective layers of patina inhibit oxygen, moisture and air pollutants from corroding the underlying metal. But patina is not rust, which involves a different set of chemical reactions.

The Cor-Ten installed in the International College was initially blue-grey, turning orange when its patina formed in the varied atmospheric conditions of Canterbury. Within a few years, it should form a homogenous surface of burnt orange with blue overtones, which can be seen to some extent already. Once fully formed, the patina on the International College will slow corrosion to 0.5 mm

over 50 years on each side of the exposed Cor-Ten. Corrosion resistance is due to the alloys within the steel, namely phosphorous, copper, chromium, and nickel. The addition of phosphorous and chromium to weathered steel improves corrosion resistance.

Nickel aids the manufacturing process of Cor-Ten steel because it decreases brittleness when Cor-Ten is rolled into sheets. The high tensile strength of this material means that it is resistant to breaking under tension, which is an added benefit to its use in modern construction. We see now that the name Cor-Ten is an abbreviation of its two main structural properties: corrosion and tensile strength.

‘Cor-Ten steel provides the necessary, longlasting protection for structures without the additional effort or expense of protection against oxidation.’

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Cor-Ten will still corrode owing to rain and when this run-off does reach the ground salts; corrosion due to marine environments after contact with the Cor-Ten patina, is a well-known problem in Kent. An however, but these stains should not be accumulation of chlorideseen as detrimental to the based crystals would They are, rather, ‘The Cor-Ten installed in aesthetics. prevent the patina from part of the story of its everdeveloping, leading to the International College changing character. was initially blue-grey, unwanted damage. Testing conducted by BISRA (British High sulphur dioxide levels turning orange when Iron & Steel Research accelerate the deterioration its patina formed in Association) during the of weathered steel. Such the varied atmospheric levels are obtained due to 1980s demonstrated airborne chloride levels conditions of Canterbury.’ local traffic conditions, as decreased after 1.2 well as industrial pollution miles from the coastal shoreline. Because sources. However, emissions of SO2 have Canterbury is over eight miles from the sea, fallen by 98% in the UK since 1970 and are airborne chloride is not a threat to the patina presently about one third of the maximum on the International Centre. Moreover, the allowed level under NECR (National Emissions slanted roof of the IC allows efficient surface Ceiling Regulations) 2018 guidelines. runoff, which reduces the accumulation of Therefore, the patina on the IC is unlikely to any water in which electrolytes could be suffer adverse effects. present. There remains the risk of staining 80

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Cor-Ten steel does not need to be galvanised with a zinc coating or protected by a sacrificial metal. However, much care must be taken when it is attached to more reactive metals. For instance, galvanised zinc bolts will undergo bimetallic chemical reactions with Cor-Ten steel, leading to corrosion of both the bolt and the cladding, so an insulator is placed between the Cor-Ten and other metals to avoid this type of corrosion.

Thanks to the Cor-Ten patina we can be reassured that the International College has protection against the elements and remains aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The patina will provide a colourful backdrop to the generations of International College pupils who will study there, as well as reminding us that materials science can yield living spaces that are both practical and beautiful.

‘The patina will provide a colourful backdrop to the generations of International College pupils who will study there.’

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‘His wisdom was valued by headmasters and colleagues, as well as pupils.’

Paul Pollack, Second Master, with Headmaster Anthony Phillips, 1988 82

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Farewell to a

Legend Paul Pollak 1926 - 2023

by Peter Henderson

P

aul Pollak died peacefully at home on Sunday 14 May 2023, just a fortnight before his 97th birthday.

Paul Pollak was born to a Jewish family in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, in 1926. He came to Cornwall thanks to the Kindertransport and his guarantor was the Revd. William Henry Simmons, parish priest of The Vicarage, Baldhu, Truro. Hence Paul went to Truro Cathedral School before coming to King’s in September 1941. He was in Meister Omers, a Senior Scholar, Head of House and ViceCaptain of School. He left in 1944 and was thus one of those boys whose entire King’s School career was spent in Cornwall. Three years on a demyship at Magdalen College, Oxford (194447) reading Mathematics were followed by national service with GHQ Middle East Land Forces.

Paul joined the King’s School staff in September 1950 and was variously Head of Mathematics, Housemaster of Marlowe (1959-76) and Second Master (1976-88).

He retired in 1988. He was a shrewd and sympathetic housemaster, and his wisdom was valued by headmasters and colleagues, as well as pupils. Paul steered clear of games, and indeed exercise, but did help with swimming, especially ‘general bathes’, yet ‘Paul Pollak’s try’ in the rugby match against the 3rd XV had legendary status.

‘He was the first School Archivist, a post established in 1972, and continued in this role until 2006.’

Paul Pollak by Duncan Mitchell 1977 He was the first School Archivist, a post established in 1972, and continued in this role until 2006 and as assistant archivist thereafter.

He put his knowledge to good use as effectively the co-author of Thomas Hinde’s Imps of

Promise, the history of the School published in 1990.

He was an expert and discriminating magpie in his acquisition of pictures, buddhas, carpets, CANTUARIAN | 2023

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‘It is somehow appropriate that the final letter in More Dashing, the second volume of Leigh Fermor’s correspondence, is to Paul.’

books and anything that took his fancy when he scoured auction houses, antique shops and car boot sales. His own collection was eclectic although, as visitors to Blackfriars Street could testify, the emphasis was on accumulation rather than accessible display.

The School and Common Room have good cause to be grateful for his insistence that things should be stylish.

He was a man of wide-ranging interests. In retirement he coauthored scholarly articles with Roger Mallion on mathematics and mathematical chemistry. He also communicated with kindred spirit Patrick Leigh Fermor on such recondite matters as Paddy’s version of ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’ in Hindi. It is somehow appropriate that the final letter in More Dashing, the second volume of Leigh Fermor’s correspondence, is to Paul.

He was a very remarkable man who lived a richly satisfying life.

For the tributes to Paul on his retirement in 1988, see: The Cantuarian December 1987 - August 1988 by OKS Association | The King’s School, Canterbury - Issuu pages 177 and 181-86. National Service 84

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Paul Pollak by John Ward With the Queen Mother 1981

‘He was a very remarkable man who lived a richly satisfying life.’

Right: family photograph, January 1930 at Napajedla.

Jindřich Kapp†, Otto Kapp, Josef Kapp†, Dr Polnauer, Josef Pollak† Fritzi Pollak† (née Kapp), Jetty Ochs†, Vilém Kapp, Johanna Kapp†, Olga Kapp†, Paul Pollak, Robert Pollak†, Magda Kapp. † Murdered by Nazis in WW2 CANTUARIAN | 2023

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keenly aware of the absence of relatives on my mother’s side of the family. She was an only child who immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, leaving both her parents behind in Prague. Besides them, she had a cousin, Magda, who lived in Israel. And then she had Paul in England. That was it.

My encounter with Paul that summer was very meaningful to me and not only because he was a scarce blood relative. Rather, what I experienced in that meeting was recognition. I saw in Paul much of my grandfather Otto, Paul’s uncle; I saw in him aspects of my mother’s character; and I saw in him something of myself too. It wasn’t just about physical appearance, though that was certainly a part of it. It had more to do with his whole bearing as a person, the way he told stories, made jokes, expressed approval and disapproval, and so much more. Everything about him was strangely familiar. He was, on the one hand, completely unknown to me and yet absolutely recognizable as a member of my mother’s family. I got on with him very well. Since our first meeting in 1987, I remained regularly, if intermittently, in touch with Paul for the next 35 years.

I visited him here in Canterbury on about ten different occasions and, after my mother passed away in 2001, we corresponded on a consistent basis.

Refuge Thomas Ort pays tribute to Paul Pollak

T

hank you, Peter and Susan, for inviting me to this celebration of Paul Pollak’s life and for allowing me to say a few words about his family history. Let me begin by introducing myself and explaining my relationship to Paul. I am Paul’s first cousin once removed.

Paul and my mother – Alena – were first cousins on his mother’s side, so not the Pollak side.

I first met Paul in 1987 when I was 18 years old. It was the summer after my first year in university and, like so many American students, I came to Europe to have a good time – and maybe also to learn something. I was enrolled in a writing program in London.

My mother, naturally, insisted that I look up Paul, and I did so dutifully, though not without some apprehension. Who was this mysterious cousin of hers, a mathematician who resided in Canterbury and taught at The King’s School? Although my mother spoke about Paul regularly, she knew him mainly through their correspondence; she was just a child when she last saw him in 1939. Still, whatever my apprehension, I was eager to meet this cousin because I was always 86

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Paul was born in 1926 in Bratislava, which was then the second city of Czechoslovakia and is today, of course, the capital of Slovakia. He grew up, however, mainly in Prague; I don’t know when exactly his parents moved there. Paul’s mother Fritzi, or Bedřiška in Czech, came from a tight-knit family of Czech and German-speaking Jews, the Kapps, that hailed from a small Moravian town called Napajedla, not far from the border with Slovakia. Fritzi was the third of six children and the only girl. Two of her younger brothers died in childhood, so she really grew up with three siblings: Josef, the eldest; next, Otto, my grandfather; and then Heinrich (or Jindřich in Czech), the youngest. From my understanding, Fritzi was the golden child of the family. She was smart and funny and kind and beautiful. Everyone loved her. Paul too adored his mother and was very attached to her; his separation from her was extraordinarily painful.

Fritzi’s husband, Josef Pollak, was born in the town of Iglau, or Jihlava in Czech, but he really grew up in Vienna. Unlike the

Kapp siblings, who came from a mixed area of Czechs, Germans, and Jews, and who were completely bilingual in Czech and German, the Pollak family spoke mainly German. I mention all this because you may not know that Paul grew up speaking both Czech and German.

He communicated with his mother mainly in Czech but primarily in German with his father.

From what Paul told me, his childhood in Prague was quite idyllic.

His father was a successful businessman, and the family lived in a prosperous, middle-class neighborhood of the city. He went to a prestigious English-language school and travelled regularly to Napajedla and Vienna for holidays with the Kapps and Pollaks.

Czechoslovakia, furthermore, was just about as stable, democratic, and economically successful a state as it comes in Eastern Europe, so the late 1920s and early 1930s were a happy time. But things, of course, went downhill precipitously in 1933 when Hitler came to power. By 1938, the situation for Jews in Germany and Austria had become untenable, and with Czechoslovakia squarely in Hitler’s sights, that state was hardly a safe haven either.

Everyone who could sought to leave, but visas were in notoriously short supply.

Palestine in the summer of 1939 just before the outbreak of the war.

She later emigrated to South Africa and then eventually to the UK, where she died in 1993.

The only family unit to survive the war intact was that of my grandfather Otto, Paul’s uncle. Otto survived the war because he was married to a Czech Catholic woman and that mixed marriage protected him and his daughter Alena – my mother – from deportation until very late in the war. It was from Otto that Paul learned of the fate of his family.

It may be interesting to know that Otto urged and indeed expected Paul to return immediately to Czechoslovakia after the war. Magda, for her part, encouraged him to immigrate to Israel. Paul, obviously, did neither of those things, choosing to remain in England instead.

Let me conclude my remarks with a couple of observations. First, as you likely know, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to get Paul to talk about any of what I’ve just related to you.

Perhaps much of it is unknown to you. But over the course of my visits to Canterbury, Paul did reveal more, and on one occasion he shared something that was particularly wrenching. He told me he wished he had never been put on the Kindertransport and that he would have preferred to have died with his family. This may sound shocking, not least because it suggests a repudiation of the life he created for himself here, but I think it would be wrong to interpret it that way. Rather, I believe his remark was an indication of the measure of the pain that Paul carried with him for the rest of his life. I ought not psychologize him, but it seems clear to me that he suffered profoundly from the guilt of the survivor. He was never able to make peace with the fact that he survived the war and his beloved family did not.

‘After his family was torn apart by the war and his few remaining relations scattered across the globe, it was The King’s School and its community that became his true home.’

One of the few sources of hope was the Kindertransport program that started in Germany and Austria in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht pogrom. As you may know, in response to that appalling and murderous upheaval, the British government relaxed its visa restrictions for Jewish children seeking to flee Hitler’s clutches. In December of 1938, it began admitting to England the first of what would eventually be about 10,000 Jewish refugee children 17 and under. In March of 1939, the program was extended to Czechoslovakia. That is how Paul got to England. He left Prague on a transport in June 1939, soon after his thirteenth birthday. Sadly, Paul’s older brother Robert became ineligible for the program just as it was getting under way; he turned 18 in March 1939. All told, just 664 Jewish children were rescued from Czechoslovakia by way of the Kindertransports.

But Paul was one of those.

Once in England, Paul was able to correspond more or less regularly with his parents until the fall of 1940. After that, he lost direct contact with them and received only occasional news from others who were able to get messages out by way of the Red Cross. It was only after the war, in the summer of 1945, that Paul learned what happened to his family. In January of 1942, his mother, father, and brother were deported to Terezín (Theresienstadt in German), the main Jewish ghetto in the Czech lands. Most of the Kapp family was sent there too in the following months. Paul’s grandmother, Johanna Kappová, died at Terezín in February 1943. All things considered, this was a merciful fate.

The real horrors for the Pollaks and the Kapps began in the fall of 1944. In September of that year, Paul’s brother Robert was deported to Auschwitz and never heard from again. Three weeks later, Paul’s parents were transported to Auschwitz and never heard from again.

The same fate awaited his uncles Josef and Heinrich Kapp. The only one to survive the hideous cauldron of the camps was Paul’s cousin Magda. She too was deported to Auschwitz in October 1944 but somehow managed to endure it as well as multiple other camps through which she passed. In 1948, Magda immigrated to Israel and still lives there today. One of the few other relatives of Paul to have survived the Holocaust was his cousin Susi Pollak, who escaped to

Second, it seems to me that people in Paul’s position – orphans of history, but maybe orphans in general – will seek to create new “homes” for themselves in any way they can. Sometimes they do so by hurling themselves into ideological causes or by binding themselves to order-giving institutions because these provide them with the sense of meaning, community, and identity that their absent families cannot. Magda, for example, became a fervent Zionist in the postwar years. Some orphans gravitate to institutions like the military because their structure and hierarchy provide them with the fellowship and security they crave. These, however, were not Paul’s homes, so what were they?

One, I would argue, was England. Paul was immensely grateful for everything that England had done for him, and he identified powerfully with it. He thoroughly adopted English manners and customs, so much so that he was often mistaken for a native son.

Only his name betrayed him. And, as you surely know, he hated to travel, insisting that he had everything he needed right here. I don’t believe he left England since the late 1940s or early 1950s.

But Paul’s most important home by far was the institution to which he committed himself, the place that gave him career, community, security, and purpose. That institution was of course The King’s School. After his family was torn apart by the war and his few remaining relations scattered across the globe, it was The King’s School and its community that became his true home.

Thank you for giving that to him.

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8

6

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15

10

5

3

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4

9 12

1 Marlowe House: Housemaster 1959 – 1976 2 Prior Sellingegate: First residence of PP in the

Precincts.

6 Schoolroom: PP liaised with Betty Myerscough

on the design of a tapestry illustrating the history of the School, created in 1997 to celebrate 1400 years since the arrival of St Augustine.

3 Lardergate: Last residence of PP in the Precincts.

Thurlow, OKS and Lord Chancellor.

5 Memorial Chapel: Betty Myerscough designed

a tapestry especially for the Chapel.

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The Marlowe plaque, designed to celebrate 400 years since Marlowe’s death, is now attached to the wall of the Harvey Lab.

9 Green Court Trees: PP organized many of 7 Common Room: When the Common Room

4 Lardergate 2: PP acquired the bust of Lord

8 Harvey Laboratory:

moved into the Priory building in 1991, PP’s connections enabled it to be decorated stylishly, among other things using red and green House of Lords and House of Commons leather.

their plaques; note especially the one near Lardergate commemorating the 400th anniversary of William Harvey’s birth in 1578.

10 Dining Hall: Paul raised the money to purchase

Harry Goodwin’s An Autumn Chorale, Canterbury at the west end of the room, bought in 1974, painted in 1880.

A Paul Pollak Trail

by Peter Henderson

17 16

7

1

2 13

11 Shirley Hall: PP organised several portraits;

13 Luxmoore House: When the new house was

note in particular that to Arthur Gore, who joined the School in 1935 as a house porter and ended as Manager of the School Shop, retiring in 1986.

officially opened by the Queen Mother in 1981, PP was responsible for the design of the sundial incorporating a pun on Luxmoore’s name.

12 Walpole House: The goddess Guanyin began

14 Trees inside the Mint Yard Gate, in front of (old)

in India as the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, originally a male deity gradually indigenized as a female deity in China, so PP presented an image of Guanyin to mark the change of Walpole from a boys’ to a girls’ house in 1990.

Grange: The 450th anniversary of the 1541 royal charter was celebrated by Archididascali Arbor and Decani Arbor, and the Colin Cowdrey plaque is appropriately and decently hidden behind a tree.

Outside the Precincts 15 Old Synagogue: The gates into the garden

commemorate ‘JB’ and Marjorie Harris, and Richard Paynter.

16 Harvey House: Formally opened by Professor

Susan Greenfield in 1991.

17 The (new) Grange: PP corresponded with

Patrick Leigh Fermor over the wording of the plaque when he opened the house at St Augustine’s in 2007.

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Film

School

We asked film enthusiast, Charlotte Hiller (6b MR), to interview Patrick Redsell,who has been making promotional films about The King’s School and Canterbury Cathedral for twenty years.

P A high point in the cameraman’s day

‘The key to success, as with every industry, is to be ambitious and not sell yourself short; losing the fear of rejection plays a pivotal role in the success of an individual or company.’

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atrick Redsell works with his editor school offers hockey but also painting the and cameraman, Johnathan, as school’s values and principles, and esteem the writer, producer and director for teamwork and competition. A teacher of Suffolk Films. This freelance business holding the door open for a pupil presents creates commercial films, focusing on the value of a personalised education and educational promotion for clients such respect for the pastoral side of student as Eton College, Christ Church College, life. Often, to produce a distinctive touch Oxford, and The King’s School, Canterbury. to the filming, an ‘eye director’ is used Patrick and Jonathan have worked together by which, despite talking to and looking for nearly thirty years. at Patrick, who acts Throughout this period, as an interviewer, the ‘Patrick narrows filmmaking has evolved interviewee appears to hugely, and Suffolk Films down the content by be looking at the camera. has ably adapted to these selecting the clips that When shooting younger industry changes. children, a GoPro or strictly adhere to the Osmo is hidden amongst The filming process begins toys or given to some of brief, and also the with initial thoughts the pupils, enabling a visually compelling prompted by a ‘recce’ closer insight into life at shots.’ during which Patrick is that school. shown round a school, for example, and a light plan is outlined Once the content has been shot, the to timetable shooting the content. Then, demanding process of editing begins. Patrick an essential short brief with the client narrows down the content by selecting the occurs when the intentions, parameters clips that strictly adhere to the brief, and and overall feel for the film is discussed also the visually compelling shots. This is and a light plan is outlined to timetable really useful when sifting through mounds shooting the content. A school may wish to of footage. Any conversations that have stress a particular aspect or alter previous been recorded need to be edited down; perceptions. Upon arrival, Suffolk Films typically a thirty-minute interview will need carries two cameras (generally a gimble to be condensed into a two-minute clip and a larger broadcasting camera) and whilst maintaining a coherent narrative Patrick prefers to use a spontaneous line. After it is condensed, the content filming technique, because he finds a tight is handed over to Jonathan for stitching storyboard and in-depth plan constricting. together. Patrick uses the agreed message This enables him to capture an authentic when interweaving images and employs feel. music to emphasise a particular moment or add a crescendo in a sequence of shots.

When filming, Patrick uses subtext to Patrick’s experience has established a ‘build project a particular image. The hockey and release of tension’ as a crucial device to player he films isn’t just showing that the keep the audience engaged.

Drone camera pre-flight briefing

Seeking perfection can be a hindrance to both the creative product and when running a business. Patrick admits letting go of a film is one of the hardest things, since there will always be something more you want to do: just one more hour’s work, one more part to re-edit. short; losing the fear of rejection plays a pivotal role It is the great thing, Patrick says, about working in a team in the success of an individual or company, especially – another set of eyes defends you from the paranoia of important in an industry as competitive as filmmaking. perfection. Patrick’s spontaneous filming style makes Patrick urges anyone not to take rejections or problems editing lengthier, since there is always a lot of content. personally: some ideas won’t fit and disappointment In Patrick’s experience projects tend to take four to six is simply a facet of the creative process. Patrick spoke weeks to film, edit and produce, although the longest positively of a project Suffolk Films worked on for project has taken five years, when a nine months, even making a pilot. client wanted to document a house he Despite BBC2 admiring the project, ‘Establishing wellwas building on a Caribbean island he they ended up rejecting it, and respected practice bought. Extreme weather conditions, Suffolk Films was forced to move on combined with the client’s desire for a to something new. Furthermore, a through producing thatched roof (an architectural feature business is not defined high-calibre films and successful less suited to that location), meant by the number of employees, as fulfilling a client’s they had to return to the island several affirmed by Patrick. Not only have times – clearly a tough assignment! wishes, not your own, technological advancements reroles, releasing the need is the best advertising defined For Patrick, a commercial business to rent working spaces or for of all.’ owner, film making is a small business unnecessary film kit, he adds further built on connections and wordthat with fewer people involved of-mouth. He finds that exploiting your strengths is it becomes easier to maintain a distinct consensus of fundamental, often through trial and error, which Patrick creative ideas. This has enabled Patrick to establish a used to discover his strength in promotional films for more personal and focused dynamic with the client education, having previously worked as a teacher and without losing the opportunity to debate particular Schools Adviser for English and Drama. Knowing the decisions. market means Patrick has rarely needed to advertise his craft and most jobs Suffolk Films has worked on were When I asked Patrick of the difficulties he might face secured by the company’s fine reputation. Patrick says with potential clients, he immediately replied: ‘Preestablishing well-respected practice through producing conceptions.’ Striking a balance between managing high-calibre films and fulfilling a client’s wishes, not your and meeting the clients’ expectations is vital to a own, is the best advertising of all. You let the product successful project. Many clients come to Suffolk speak for itself. He says the key to success, as with Films with the expectations of Hollywood. But that is every industry, is to be ambitious and not sell yourself a format that belongs on a cinema screen, and Patrick has discovered that a replication of this in educational promotional films can be tacky and unoriginal, often appearing like a parody. Understanding visual language is complex and Suffolk Films has found this most in short promotional videos, so managing a client’s imagination is key. Having a minute of one thing when the film is two minutes long is unrealistic, especially considering the concentration of viewers has plummeted with the recent surge of 30-second videos on social media. One similarity between Patrick and Hollywood, however, is the importance of story-telling – it provides the film with a drive. Aristotle’s beginning, middle and end is not needed in this case, but neither do you want a simple collage of clips. Suffolk Films wants to tell the client’s story, producing an authentic product.

Filming a spontaneous conversation with former Head of Admissions, Rory Reilly, without the camera operator.

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50

th

Trajan Majomi (6b, TR) asked to share his interest in the remarkable Alan Watts OKS, who died too soon in 1973. Watts was a close friend of the great travel writer, Patrick Leigh Fermor OKS.

A

fter detailing his childhood experiences with the eclectic Patrick Leigh Fermor, Alan Watts prophetically stated the following: ‘The oddity is that the King’s School, Canterbury, founded by St. Augustine and endowed by Henry VIII, cannot claim the honour of one of its most imaginative alumni.’

These words were written in his autobiography, In My Own Way, published in 1972, one year before his death. While his intentions may have been to illuminate the remarkable achievements of his friend, I think this sentiment applies to himself and his own accolades. In my three years at King’s, I have not once heard mention of this OKS, who had a profound influence on modern philosophy and spiritual thinking.

Here I hope to contribute to Alan Watts’ legacy at King’s, and perhaps inspire others through illuminating some aspects of his own experiences at the school.

Alan Watts is credited with popularising the Eastern philosophies of the Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu traditions in the West.

Watts is more than an intellectual figure; he is a cultural icon within certain spiritual circles who holds a sort of cult following that has not diminished since the 1950s.

It is widely acknowledged that Watts possessed an impressive ability to write; in his works, he conveys rather intricate understandings of philosophy in a way that is extremely accessible. I strongly urge anyone reading this to read or listen to his work, even if you have no interest in philosophy or spirituality. His writing and speaking are colourful and thought-

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provoking on their own. One may marvel (I certainly did) at how a Kentish boy, born in the 1910s, attending (at the time) a rigidly Christian school, grew to develop a profound interest in Eastern thinking which led him to such extraordinary acclaim.

seems to suggest a certain fondness for his time at the school.

In his school career and academic character, Watts is a bit of a hero to me.

He always went against the status quo, the expectation, and pursued his individual In his autobiography, Watts includes certain interests. This pursuit, ultimately, grew details of his time at King’s that reveal into a cultural movement, and what how his early interests excites me about this is in spirituality may have how organically it seems ‘He always went developed. Watts fondly to have occurred. While against the status quo, Watts was still at King’s, recalls a housemaster of the old Grange named R. the expectation, and he joined the London S. Stanier who, he says, Lodge, and pursued his individual Buddhist ‘taught me inadvertently even wrote a pamphlet interests. This pursuit, serving as an outline of but interestingly all the fallacies of Western ultimately, grew into a Zen Buddhism. He was logic.’ In recalling his only seventeen when cultural movement.’ time in the ‘ancient he published his first room with stained-glass piece of work, which shields on the windows’ (most likely the is supposedly still read today, and his Schoolroom), he says that he often ‘took involvement in the Lodge led him to leave the pacifist side’ in discussions about war King’s a term before his graduation. and peace, perhaps revealing his natural attitude towards ethical questions that I have so far painted Watts as an admirable would later be manifested in his attraction figure, a visionary pacifist and profound to Eastern schools of thought. Interestingly, thinker who seems unappreciated at since Watts was a Purple, he would have King’s. While I do have the utmost been expected to administer corporal admiration for Watts, some aspects of punishment to the lower years. However, his character and his life would not be Watts denounced this practice and even exemplary in the eyes of the school. This encouraged the headmaster to abandon is especially true when considering the it because he felt it was morally wrong. more traditional and ‘boiled beef’ (in his Exploring Watts, you find his sensitivity own words) King’s that Watts attended. made clear, and this is arguably not only Towards the end of his career, Watts the source of his moral attitudes but his experimented with psychedelics and, at profound ability to communicate with that point, had developed a reputation as others. He often verges on the romantic a womaniser and an alcoholic. Much like when describing his time at King’s, which when we discuss art, this begs the question

whether we separate the person from their body of work. While these questions about Watt’s character are entirely valid, I believe his work should be appreciated within King’s on account of its influence and significance in culture and in people’s lives. The New York Times named him ‘Perhaps the foremost Western interpreter of Eastern thought for the modern world’, making him one of the central figures in the cultural integration between the East and the West in the 20th Century. Not only this, but Watts’ lectures and literature have helped people across the world interpret the meaning of Eastern philosophy and seek meaning in their own lives. In fact, my first introduction to Watts was while volunteering at a homeless shelter, where the charity organisers played an Alan Watts lecture that was followed by a discussion amongst the group about seeking purpose in life and so on. In a way, this was my own introduction to philosophical debate (at the time, I had no clue that Watts was an OKS or that I would end up at King’s). I remember the discussion as thought-provoking and emotional, as many recounted their experiences and their own affinity with what Watts had to say.

The only recognition I can find of Watts in the school is in his autobiography, which is in the library. Inscribed on the first page are the words ‘OKS author’. That’s it – the only association, to my knowledge, that the school admits with this great mind.

I hope I have introduced Watts to some of you. To others, you may have been reminded of him. Either way, I hope this article does him some justice and gives him a small place of remembrance in the school. CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Walter Pater

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Renaissance by Walter Pater OKS was first published in 1873.

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Edward Lucie-Smith

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Happy 90th Birthday to Edward Lucie-Smith OKS, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1933.

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Michael Morpurgo

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Happy 80th Birthday to Sir Michael Morpurgo OBE OKS, who was born in St Albans, Bedfordshire, in 1943.

Right: Sir Michael gives a talk in the new science lecture hall November 2023 Below: Captain of School MABM, Queen Mother and FJS in 1962

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Ollie Robinson

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Happy 30th Birthday to Ollie Robinson OKS, who was born in Margate, Kent, in 1993.

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Spy Next the

Door

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Giorgio Boiteux (6a, GL) talks to his neighbour near Paris, Mrs Noreen Riols MBE, who happened to be a secret spy for Churchill.

Giorgio interviewing Noreen Riols MBE

‘Noreen told no one that she spent her days meeting agents returning from behind enemy lines, acting as a decoy, passing on messages in tea rooms and picking up codes in crossword puzzles.’

Noreen Riols with her MBE

N

oreen Riols MBE is one of the In 1943 Noreen Riols graduated from the three remaining agents of Winston French Lycée in London, where she was Churchill’s secret spies, who made destined for work in the catering unit, but up a key part of the Special Operations while she was at the recruiting office her Executive. The SOE was created in June linguistic skills were noticed and she was 1940 to wage a secret war against the Axis enlisted as an SOE agent. Officially, she was powers and its agents were mainly tasked soon working as a secretary in the Ministry with sabotage and subversion behind of Agriculture and Fish, but in reality she enemy lines throughout Europe and Asia. was a trainer in Churchill’s secret school for The F Section at the SOE was so effective in spies, which taught espionage and sabotage its work that the allied commander, General and answered to Churchill directly. Riols, as Dwight D. Eisenhower, said a member of the F section, it shortened the war by six was involved in the training ‘The agency was so months and ‘was equivalent of agents sent to occupied to 15 divisions’.

France and recording the secret that it was feedback of the lucky ones not until after the The agency was so secret who returned. year 2000 that the that it was not until after the year 2000 that the files were Due to a fear of World War files were released, released, and the public was Three, the files were kept and the public was informed of its activities. secret until the year 2000, informed of its Because of the secrecy of which meant Riols had to the SOE for such a long time, keep her secret for almost 60 activities.’ there were few agents left to years, and even her husband tell its story when the official was unaware of what she silence was lifted. Luckily for us, Mrs Riols had been doing. One can only imagine the has lived long enough to write a book called surprise of her five adult children when they The Secret Ministry of Ag. & Fish: My Life in discovered their mother was a war hero. She Churchill’s School for Spies. writes in her book, ‘I was told immediately that I couldn’t tell anyone where I worked Mrs Riols is a lovely, witty, 97-year-old and what I was doing. The only orders I ever French and English lady with a strong sense received were to not ask questions, so the of humour. In the 2023 New Year Honours less I knew the better for my safety.’

List justice was done when Mrs Riols was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and she dedicated her medal to the memory of her comrades in the SOE.

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Noreen Riols at the entrance of her house, with her sense of humour on full display.

During their training the future spies learnt survival Many spies left children behind but Noreen skills, killing people silently, morse code, following Riols told me she would not have been able to someone without getting noticed, passing do it ‘because it would have broken me.’ She messages and so on. One of the most dangerous was glad that she never had to make such a assignments was being a radio decision because she was operator, which needed up to too young to parachute into ‘One of the nine months’ training with a France and by the time she most dangerous survival rate of only 50% per was old enough to begin mission. Radio operators had assignments was being training the war was almost to carry heavy material around a radio operator, which finished. and the Nazis could often needed up to nine identify them while they were F section was led by the months’ training with controversial transmitting messages. But the Colonel radio operators were essential a survival rate of only Maurice Buckmaster, who because without them the was a demanding man.

50% per mission.’ resistant groups were alone According to Riols he and could not be supported was exceptional and ‘an

by London. The operators were so dangerous incredibly hard worker and it is a real shame for Hitler’s war machine that the Nazis would that some disappointing comments and sometimes kill entire families in the vicinity where articles have been written about him.’ She the operator was known to be working. If the further complained, ‘It is very easy to speak London office did not receive a message after six badly about the dead.’ or seven days, they would know that those agents operating radios had been caught and were either It was difficult for woman agents to be dead or being tortured. respected by other agents, and they did not even have the same training: for example, five When agents landed by planes or by dingy trial parachute jumps was considered enough they were given an L tablet containing cyanide for women while the men had a right to six that would kill them within minutes. This was trial jumps. ‘Goodness knows why,’ said Riols. for use when, after being captured, a spy was The lack of practice jumps made it harder for not able to bear atrocious torture (sometimes a woman to be recognised for their service in concentration camps) without giving away during the war because the requirement for important information. Among the spies there a set of wings, a highly prized accolade and were about 30 women of whom only half came honour, was six practice jumps. back, for example Yvone Cormo, who had the courage to leave her daughter, Marianne, to serve king and country, but rejoined her after the war.

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‘I was told immediately that I couldn’t tell anyone where I worked and what I was doing. The only orders I ever received were to not ask questions, so the less I knew the better for my safety.’

Noreen Riols speaks at an F2F gathering in Italy, March 2013, as part of Women’s History Month. U.S. Army photo by Paolo Bovo.

‘When Mrs Riols was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) she dedicated her medal to the memory of her comrades in the SOE.’

Among the SOE staff there were double agents, and maybe even a triple agent, such as Henri Déricourt. He was retired from service during the war because every other time he dropped agents the Nazis happened to be waiting for him, so he went to live in Mayfair (he had no money before the war). He was subsequently put on trial in France after the war but another suspected double agent in the SOE testified for him.

La famille Boiteux

Working at Beaulieu, the finishing school for spies, recognising the supportive merits of the SOE helped Riols has a vivid memory of the day when they threw France in the long term by presenting it as a stronger a celebration: ‘We knew the war was going to end country, allowing French citizens to be better off. This matter is still debated amongst tomorrow, but we knew it today, so historians today. we had a party.’ After 60 years many of ‘By reading her book, I the courageous women and men who enjoyed those festivities had left us, can now see true heroism M16 disliked the SOE because was competition and this and were never recognised for their in better perspective and itantagonism cost lives when both achievement. cannot stop thinking intelligence agencies acted on about or being thankful the same operation, along with Riols and her colleagues fought for the the French Resistance. The SOE Allied cause and supported the French for for the sacrifices lost its support after Churchill lost but General Charles de Gaulle never made by heroines like the general election in 1945 and recognised the SOE, which greatly Noreen Riols.’ it was disbanded with some M16 ruffled the feathers of Riols, but encouragement. Riols explained she understood that de Gaulle was trying to show that France was still a strong country that this was natural evolution because the SOE had after being stripped of its superpower status, and not no reason to exist during peacetime.

Events may shape a person’s character but at the same time strong personalities also shape history, as shown when Churchill convined his war cabinet and people to never surrender. By reading her book, I can now see true heroism in better perspective and cannot stop thinking about or being thankful for the sacrifices made by heroines like Noreen Riols. I feel it is fitting to end this piece with a poem that ends the book itself: When you go home Tell them of us and say For your tomorrow We gave our today.

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What A

Peach

Historian Dr. David Perkins, Head of Research: Arts and Humanities at King’s, pays tribute to the most prolific author of everyone’s childhoodfavourite educational volume, the Ladybird Book.

T

he extraordinary life and career of playwright and author Lawrence du Garde Peach (18901974) is little known today. If he is known at all, he is remembered as a best-selling author of most of the titles in the Ladybird Adventures from History series.

In a strikingly modern fashion, L. du Garde Peach’s career comprised several careers. He involved himself in a bewildering number of enterprises: infantry officer, teacher, Punch humourist, university lecturer, university fundraiser, writer, pioneer of early radio, popular radio personality, magazine editor, producer of historical pageants, theatrical entrepreneur and Ladybird history book author.

and requested children’s broadcasters. His broadcasts touched millions and led to him becoming a known figure in the world of radio as far away as Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

What’s in a name? Even when L. Du Peach was a nationally known figure from BBC Radio in the 1930s and 1940s, children, and adults even, sometimes said ‘Eldegard’ as if it was one long name. L. du Garde Peach continues to attract attention as if it is imbued with a special quality. The playwright Alan Bennett said, ‘There is L. du Garde Peach, a name that seems to exist purely as a name: ‘Ladybird books I can’t see anyone being pointed out enthusiasts, of which to me as L. du Garde Peach, but this is because I wouldn’t know what there are many, tend to partly sex to look for, the du Garde somehow have views tinged with masculine, the Peach feminine, so the person unimaginable.’ In fact, L. du nostalgia. For many G was just plain Lawrence Peach and enthusiasts, Peach was known to his friends as Laurie.

Here we have a man who scored notable firsts as a pioneer of radio broadcasting at the early BBC. His play Light and Shade (1924) is commonly regarded as the second play written specifically for radio to have been broadcast. Peach was the first to sparked off a life-long spoof the new phenomenon of the radio weather forecast as well as the Ladybird Adventures from History was love of history.’ similarly new phenomenon of running a series of inexpensive, colourfully commentaries on sports matches. He illustrated, mini-hardback history was the also first to spoof events from British history in books for children that sold millions of copies from the Heterodyned Histories: Historical events as they might 1950s to the 1980s. For L. du Garde Peach this was a have been (1927). His radio plays, The Mystery of the retirement project – to the extent he ever retired – and Mary Celeste (1931), much acclaimed, and his Mutiny represented just one facet of his creative output. on the Bounty (1932) were the first dramatizations of these famous stories. Peach achieved formal recognition Ladybird books enthusiasts, of which there are many, in his own lifetime including a DLitt (1964) from tend to have views tinged with nostalgia. For many Sheffield University and an OBE (1972) for his services enthusiasts, Peach sparked off a life-long love of history. to literature and the arts, and he achieved the informal However, the academic community has not always recognition of becoming a household name particularly been as welcoming. To his critics, Peach produced an in the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1950s. He was one of the oversimplified, narrow-minded history suffused with first popular stars of BBC radio. Peach was astonishingly illusions of post-war Britain. Peach was not a completely productive: he wrote more than 400 plays, many of free spirit because his publisher had limited interest them written for radio. He had a long association with in cutting across the grain of conventional views. In BBC Children’s Hour and was one of the most popular Ladybird books there was a celebration of nature but

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publishing phenomenon. In November 1983 Peach was profiled in a segment of the BBC programme Timewatch. It was noted that the historian L. du Garde Peach’s books had sold thirteen and a half million copies. Whether Peach was an historian or just a writer of histories is open to question, but he certainly shifted books. The best-selling (85 million copies) and longest-running Ladybird series was the Key Words reading scheme, the ‘Peter and Jane’ books (some of you will remember them) that also enjoyed export success across the world, particularly in Pakistan, India and Singapore.

The Adventures from History sub-series began in 1956 with Peach’s Alfred the Great. Few individual writers were as well placed to write on a range of topics, including Stone Age Man, Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror, Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, Florence Nightingale, Captain Cook and Charles Dickens. Peach had experience of writing historical pen portraits for Children’s Hour and he presented artful, potted versions of the past that resonated with a wide audience.

The focus of Adventures from History tended to be on how powerful John Kenney personalities (predominantly but not exclusively men) shaped history. There was some error and bias as well as variation in quality: Stone Age also of ‘progress’, such as building motorways. One might also find Man, for example, did not stand up well even against what was known stereotypical portraits of family life. at the time. In Cromwell, Oliver was depicted being abducted as an infant by a monkey and getting into a childhood fight with Charles Loughborough-based printers, Wills & Hepworth, tapped into the I. There was a winged ‘Viking’ helmet depicted on the front cover growing post-war demand for children’s books. They weren’t a of Alfred the Great. According to Peach King John publishing house – they had just got into children’s and Richard the Lionheart were bad, Mary I ‘…was books in wartime as a result of disruption to normal a strange woman…’ and Captain Scott’s expedition business. The format of the books – a standard 54page volume including end papers – comes from the ‘The Ladybird books was ‘…one of the most gallant ventures in the history of our race.’ At war economy standard and the need to use every were a partnership Frank Humphris the same time, scrap of the largest piece of paper the presses could between Peach and Peach presented print. an illustrator, in most the Puritans as a isunderstood Wills and Hepworth had originally intended to cases John Kenney.’ m group.

Oliver discontinue publishing children’s books after the Cromwell was held end of World War Two and go back to printing glossy up as a good man, brochures for the car industry of the West Midlands. although there was reference in It was through the sheer determination of one employee, Douglas passing to his cruelty in Ireland.

Keen, that the directors of the company changed their minds. Keen That aspect of his time in power happened to have a wife and mother-in-law who were trained artists. was arguably brushed over. The book on Napoleon was positive Douglas Keen worked with them on a home-made mock-up of a book – there were no comparisons to that became British Birds and their Nests (1953). This book was the Hitler, for instance – but there first title in Ladybird’s new Nature series. Keen’s persistence paid off. wasn’t much on Napoleon and A second print run of 50,000 copies of British Birds and their Nests women or Napoleon on Haiti. quickly followed. By the time Keen retired in 1974 there had been a huge growth in sales. 24,000 of the standard-format books were sold The Ladybird books were a in 1946 and this increased to 24 million in 1974. partnership between Peach and an illustrator, in most cases When Wills and Hepworth found talented authors and illustrators to John Kenney (1911-1972). John produce material for a one-off, fixed fee, Ladybird Books became a 104

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Kenney was a commercial much more to Peach than a mere producer of patriotic homilies. artist and illustrator who As a cutting-edge radio dramatist, Peach did not shy away from illustrated thirty-one controversial issues including war, the arms race, and pacificism: Ladybird titles between Patriotism Ltd (1937) was subject to BBC internal censorship and 1954 and 1972. Kenney pulled from the air, a decision that was reported around the world; was a D-Day veteran who, Night Sky (1937) sought to bring home the realities of modern warfare. though not an official war Peach also wrote a play about the First World War but with no men in artist, recorded the landings the cast: Home Fires (1930). He became known also for hard-hitting and his regiment’s progress social-problem radio dramas: Bread (1932) was a family farming saga with drawings made at first of poverty and emigration from the agricultural depression of the hand. Kenney worked on 1840s to the Great Depression. Three Soldiers (1933) highlighted a number of the Ladybird the predicament of ex-soldiers from the First World War who were series including The Silver thrown on the dole.

Arrow – A Robin Hood Adventure (Series 549), Several of Peach’s radio plays touched on racial issues. His stance on Tootles the Taxi and The the subject was more nuanced than that of many of his contemporaries Circus Comes to Town (both and his attitudes were ahead of his time. In Ingredient X (1929), he series 413). Separately, presented corporate greed and the exploitation of Africa. In John he was also responsible Hawkins – Slaver (1933) Peach adapted Hakluyt’s Sixteenth Century for Revd Awdry’s Railway account of the notable voyages and showed how Hawkins, like Series (including Thomas other Elizabethan explorers, had to make profits from slave-trading the Tank Engine) between 1957 and 1962 and for to secure the monarch’s support. In The Cohort the illustrations in many of the Adventures from Marches: An Episode of the Roman Occupation ‘Several of Peach’s History Series. Kenney’s illustrations were crammed (1937), Peach recast then contemporary issues of radio plays touched with detail – there was just so much going on. The colonialism in the context of Roman Britain. pictures completed the text and helped drive the on racial issues. His story along and created an atmosphere, a feeling. stance on the subject As the author of more than 400 plays and many Kenney and Peach worked on, I think, 29 books books and articles, Peach tried to avoid producing (the first being Alfred the Great (in 1956) and the was more nuanced than a surfeit of his own work, occasionally adopting last being The Pilgrim Fathers in 1972) before illamusing strategies to keep his name off the that of many of his health broke up the partnership. There was also contemporaries and his programme. For instance, Great Hucklow players Frank Hampson (1918-1985), another World War once presented a Chinese comedy entitled The Two veteran. He was the creator of Dan Dare, attitudes were ahead of Beautiful Garden, which was attributed on the among other things. He did the illustrations for The programme to the Emperor Ming Huan of the T’ang his time.’

Kings and Queens of England Books 1 and 2 and a Dynasty. Dr Peach confessed, ‘This in fact was me.’ couple of other books from the Adventures from History series. Frank He then added mischievously: “Once I did the same thing with a Hampson loved trying to squeeze in as much detail as possible while Russian play. I attributed it to a fictitious author and afterwards a still maintaining the overall look of the image. He often used friends bright young man from the BBC approached me. ‘Of course,’ he told and family members as models: he took photos of them, sometimes me earnestly, ‘I am familiar with most of this chap’s other plays, in costume, in the poses he wanted.

People today see Ladybird books as a bit old-fashioned but quite a lot of at-the-time up-to-date technology went into their production.

Hampson bought one of the first Polaroid cameras, for instance, to get an immediate picture of what he wanted. The images in the Kings and Queens books are quite vibrant but they are not as colourful as the original images. There were limits to printing technology at the time.

Frank Humphris (1911-1993) studied at Gloucester College of Art, and worked as a painter and illustrator until the Second World War, when he served as a cartographer in the War Office plotting maps for paratroopers. He once climbed Clifton Suspension Bridge as a dare.

He amassed a collection of vintage western gear and antique guns, and became a specialist in western comics. In 1952 he took over the Eagle’s Riders of the Range. Humphris loved the world of the cowboy and he became a crack shot. He won trophies at Bisley and his skill as the ‘quick draw’ was featured on television. He wore his badge as honorary deputy sheriff of Bexar County Texas with pride. He did some of the later adventures in History Books, such as Henry VIII and Hannibal. Roger Hall did Elizabeth Fry. Peach is remembered for the Ladybird books which are seen as putting forward a particular kind of history but there was certainly

Above Left: image of Battle of Crécy from Kings and Queens Book 1.

Above Right: original painting of the Battle of Crécy in possession of the author.

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though I haven’t come across this one.’” Peach let the man from the BBC go on his way happy in his own delusion. Peach was more interested saying something for dramatic effect in strict accuracy or balance – if he could have it all ways round then that was better still.

Peach was a student of literature by training rather than an academic historian. So, he came at the task with a fresh perspective – certainly his own perspective. Every word was carefully chosen, every sentence carefully weighed. As an accomplished radio dramatist he was interested in how material sounded when read loud.

His writing was well-crafted, ‘Peach had artful. He had a tendency recycle and repurpose a lyrical to material going back decades.

engagement with life, and with the past, and revelled in an idiosyncratic approach.’

The Adventures from History series served up a version of history with its own spin.

They tended to focus on how powerful personalities (usually but not always men) had shaped history.

So, it could be more accurately termed Adventurers from History. The magic Adventures from History series of books came with striking colour illustrations by the artist John Kenney. The Peach-Kenney partnership lasted seventeen years and produced twenty-seven books.

These were a dynamic interplay of text and pictures, a kind of pocket-sized gesamtkunstwerk. Peach’s experience as a playwright and dramatist propelled

Frank Hampson

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Lawrence du Garde Peach

him regularly towards the anecdotal, giving his illustrator step-by-step opportunities for dramatic pictures, and the books sailed into an appreciative market. For all Peach’s talents as a storyteller, one of the issues with the books was that, having whetted the reader’s appetite, there were no suggestions for further reading that might add substance to the sketch offered. Also, at the height of their popularity and success, there was a sense that the Ladybird history books contained the seeds of their own destruction: even as early as the late 1960s, the books were already starting to look old-fashioned in form or content. Television was making children’s tastes – visual and presentational – slicker and more sophisticated.

When it came to history, Peach was primarily interested in the past as theatre, as a prime site for a kind of literary or dramatic archaeological investigation or quarrying,

and the transformation of material into archetypes or antitypes. Peach had a lyrical engagement with life – and with the past – and revelled in an idiosyncratic approach.

Here was a man who could see both sides of an argument; here was a man who could also hold two seemingly contradictory ideas in his head at the same time.

As a product of the Edwardian Avant Garde and World War I, Peach seems to have viewed the late 1960s with bewilderment.

He became relatively more conservative in later years or social conventions changed ahead of him. Adventures from History presented sometimes questionable views of the past but the dynamic interplay of Peach’s prose together with John Kenney’s vivid illustrations made each book a pocketsized Gesamtkunstwerk. At the time of his death, in 1974, Peach warranted only short obituaries in The Stage and The Guardian. For enthusiasts today, his books conjure fondly remembered episodes of childhood. A shorter version of this article has appeared in History Today (‘A Peach of a Project’ December 2021) and Derbyshire Life (July/ August 2021). He made a podcast on L. du Garde Peach with David Crowther of the History of England Podcast (May 2022) as well as a YouTube Video on the OKS Association channel: ‘Lawrence du Garde Peach and the Ladybird Adventures from History Series: Peach and History and the History of Peach’

‘Peach’s experience as a playwright and dramatist propelled him regularly towards the anecdotal, giving his illustrator step-by-step opportunities for dramatic pictures.’

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Let

Me In!

UCAS: The Perfect Personal Statement by Patricia Eustacia Chryton-Ward, intended for the study of English Literature at the coveted University of Oxford. Written by Téa Sand (6a, CY).

A

s the scintillating sun reached its zenith on a brisk summer’s day, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe uttered the following sacred words that would change my life forever: ‘The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.’ Upon reading these words, my four-year-old hands shaking with the weight of philosophical calling on my way to primary school, I decided there and then that my purpose in life was to avenge Goethe, my hero, and ensure that, through my extensive reading, literature should be saved. Having read the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopaedic Dictionary aged 7, I discovered a passion for language and the formulation of syntax that stoked an intellectual fire within me that was to never be put out. This is how my legacy began, and I fully intend to commit myself to study at Oxford in order to fulfil my destiny and make my great-great-great-grandparents proud.

Through my literary adventures, I find that my imagination has the incredible ability to transport me to new realms, leading me to become a depressed Russian aristocrat like Anna Karenina or a two-foot tall white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. An unmistakable chill goes down my spine when I find the longest possible book imaginable and bury myself in it, hardly emerging to eat or drink and sacrificing my sleep; in my most humble opinion, ‘short stories’ and books under 700 pages in length are simply amateurish, as one does not extract nearly as much pleasure from reading them. I shall stick with my 900 pages of 19th Century Russian social unrest, thank you kindly.

I can recall when I first set foot in a library; my parents thankfully decided that Biff, Chip and Kipper, and fairy tales, would not suffice to quench my unquenchable thirst for knowledge, so from my push chair I directed them to the Renaissance Literature section, and when my hands touched the leather-bound spine of the three-volume Complete Works of William Shakespeare, I felt the same calling that Goethe had provided me with a year earlier. Shakespeare himself reached out to

me across the centuries; it was no mistake that I first turned to the pages of Hamlet, as I find myself perfectly represented by the intellectual, reflective eponymous hero.

My extra-curricular activities are highly demonstrative of my desire to help everyone I can, even the elderly. By reading War and Peace to blind children in orphanages on the coast of Chile, I ensure that they understand the philosophy of existentialism and the futile search for the meaning of life from a young age. When I am not playing polo with the ladies at my local country club, I can be found holed up in my room writing novels based on my own heroes of literature, including the highly efficient and impeccably dressed Dolores Umbridge, whose story I tell in my new book, Hotter than Potter, which will be in Waterstones from next summer. All the money will be donated to various charities, some more important than others.

There truly is nothing I take more seriously than literature. Therefore, it seems to me the perfect time to take the next step and follow my undying passion.

As my favourite literary character, Lord Polonius, sagely proclaimed: ‘To thine own self be true’; I cannot deny myself truth, to be sure, so I speak honestly and ardently to the admissions tutors of this most prestigious institution. My love for printed matter must not be underestimated. In fact, it would be doing five-year-old Patricia Eustacia a great disservice if she did not pursue her dearest wish; whilst other children wanted toys on their birthday, I wanted world peace to be achieved through literature. I beseech you to help me fulfil this wish and set me on my path to humble myself in the face of literature and educate the common folk of the world on the necessity of the written word.

As John Steinbeck once declared, ‘Ideas are like rabbits.

You get a couple and learn to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.’ My mind is full to the brim with rabbits. Thank you and good day.

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The Sebastian Barker Poetry Prize Winner 2023

‘The Rose Filter’ by Sophia Harkness Yes, my heart is ‘feeling blue’.

Every shade of cyan and navy and Prussian – cobalt, if you want.

Because the curtains are never just blue, and my heart is never not coloured in streaks of steel that are clearly drawn by a child who has no knowledge of anatomy.

Because they spill messily over the lines that they are not meant to cross, and spread out past their allotted sections, but a child drew them, so I cannot be angry.

And yet the rose-coloured glasses that I insist on putting on whenever I look at you turn the world a sad purple instead.

And I’m not sure that it’s better.

You look good in purple; you look good in every colour you’ve ever worn.

The rose-coloured glasses aren’t working as well as they should, but it’s better than blue.

Because the curtains are never just blue.

And maybe it’s because you shattered the lenses and I glued them back together again, I stopped up the cracks of blue with tape, and patched the cuts the shards left with plasters because the red clashed with the purple and you look good in purple.

And maybe accepting that the curtains are blue would do me good, maybe I should throw the shattered frames out, but I would like my rose-coloured glasses to make me believe that you are purple.

And that my heart is not coloured in a child’s approximation of shades of blue.

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Somerset Maugham Short Story Prize Winner 2023

The Swan Box

by Bee Billett (R, MT)

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The Swan Box I lived in a small house at the forest border near Apeiron, a town known for its poets and diligent engineers.

Apeiron is an Ancient Greek word that means ‘without end’. Its name was changed to this at a time when people were fond of such phrases, and no one knows what it was called before then.

me. Within the cage was what seemed to be a human woman, but she couldn’t possibly be human because she was black and white as if she had been cut out from an old movie and put here before my eyes. The woman had glossy black hair, a soft compassionate face and a small slight figure weating a dress of cotton white material that seemed to cluster around her limbs. Her jet eyes pleaded for help. Those same eyes glanced down into her arms where a black and white baby nestled.

It was early in the morning when I decided to go and pick a fresh batch of herbs for my larder. Although I was familiar with most of the forest, there were some places I had not yet ventured into and when I wandered I noticed I hurried forward, reaching through the bars to try and a green feather on the path and as I picked it up I heard squeeze her through the gap of the doorless cage. When I the sound of water and grasped her outstretched was overwhelmed with hand it felt like water a tugging sensation and she seemed to melt pulling me towards it. but, instead of forming The rainbow-flecked a puddle, I realised waters shimmered that she had turned in the sunlight, and to feathers. Black and they seemed to cast white feathers swarmed an almost opalescent in the air while a gust of glow. The waterfall was wind blew them around fringed with shrubs the cage. The feathers and moss so that it were disappearing one gave the banks a frayed by one as if they were edge. As I stepped evaporating like steam. closer and closer, the waterfall’s magnetism For several minutes I became physical and I stood watching the cage could feel myself being while the feathers all propelled towards the disappeared. Now that water. A flame of panic the woman was gone, While I wandered I noticed a green feather on the path and when licked my insides as I I noticed a pale light I picked it up I heard the sound of water and was overwhelmed was dragged towards coming from another with a tugging sensation pulling me towards it. the waterfall. Surely, cave. I moved towards I would be bashed against the rocks or drowned if I the light. Nothing happened. When I entered the cave, I couldn’t escape. realised it was a tomb. The cave was almost round and in the centre was a huge stone sarcophagus. It was covered I screamed as a hole in the sheet of water formed as if in leaves and a hole in the roof let in light. a stone had been dropped through it. I expected to have my head crushed against the rock wall behind the water The walls of the tomb were piled high with thousands but instead I was thrust into what seemed to be a cavern of objects. There were beautiful and ancient gold and behind. Still choking for breath after the horror of what jewelled boxes, plates, and goblets, many in the style of had just happened, I began to take my bearings. the Medieval period. As my eyes glittered at the sight of so many treasures, I noticed a tiny silver box under I was definitely in a cave of some sort and the walls were a heap of amber combs. Although it was not nearly as dark and slimy with some kind of waterweed. While grand as everything else, it stood out and was studded my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a glowing with dew like gems of fiery iris blue. form further within the cave. Cautiously I began to edge forwards in case I was dragged towards it like I had been I couldn’t help myself. I picked up the box and touched with the waterfall. the elegant carved swans on the sides. This box wasn’t as elaborate as the others. Five swans swimming in a To my surprise, the glowing form seemed to be a golden circle around the exterior of the box was the only thing cage. But that wasn’t the only surprise in store for depicted.

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The Swan Box

an invitation for that evening. Who could possibly be sending me mysterious invitations? Quickly I skimmed the contents of the letter. I had been invited to attend a dance in the town square. The person inviting me was called Cassius Crow. I knew the surname but had no idea who the writer was so I decided to consult my Aunt Ada who knew everyone in the town and to see if she had also been invited.

‘Oh yes. His father left him everything when he died last winter around the time of his 21st birthday but he lives quite alone in that huge old place, apart from some staff who never come into town.’

Ada was plump with cheerful rosy cheeks and long thick dyed red hair which she claimed was the new blonde.

She had a huge fondness for cats and now owned at least five, and had a tooth missing from horse-riding as a child.

‘His father left him everything when he died last winter around the time of his 21st birthday but he lives quite alone in that huge old place.’

Although I know stealing is wrong, I was unable to resist the temptation to pocket the box – for safekeeping, I told myself. Then I went back the way I came, slipping through a gap in the curtain of water. Once released, I don’t know how I found my way back home.

That night I dreamt of going to the waterfall but this time I was following someone there. I could not see their face.

All I saw was a tall figure dressed in juniper green velvet.

Their hair was of blackbird hue and everything about them spoke of luxury and they emitted confidence.

When we reached the cage, the figure reached out his hand, which wore many rings of jet, ruby and emerald, to the black and white woman in the cage and, as he did, he turned to face me but before I could see his face I woke up.

The next morning I intended on going back to the waterfall to see if it was all a dream but when I put on my coat I found the silver jeweled box. I tried to open the box but it was locked. To my utter amazement there was a crisp letter on my doorstep, which spelt out my name in elaborate gold letters, and had a wax stamp on the back which depicted some kind of bird. I took the letter with me and used a kitchen knife to open it. Inside there was

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As I walked, I began to fret over which dress to wear but when I arrived home there upon my doorstep wrapped in paper was the most beautiful dress I had ever laid eyes on. It was the dark blue of a swallow’s feathers and of gossamer fabric. Thousands of tiny blue glass beads were held in delicate netting over it. ‘Like the box,’ I thought.

The overall effect of the dress was of a glimmering mist.

Around the edge of the town square that night were tables of food and honey-tinted champagne and the scent from bunches of lily of the valley. When I went to get another glass of champagne, I noticed two girls staring at me from across the square. They followed me to the table, where the champagne was.

‘You have something he wants,’ the smaller of the two said.

‘Something we know you have with you, and he wants it, so unless you want a few broken bones you’d better give it back.’

The other girl hissed and her eyes glinted dangerously as she raised her fist…

‘The box,’ the first girl demanded…

Before I could reply, a carriage appeared and they pushed me into it. When I began to register what had happened I noticed that the walls were covered with beetle wings.

It tilted with such force that I was forced to clutch the sides. Where was it taking me? How it was travelling all by itself was a mystery, but before I could begin to ponder this it began to slow down, and I knew we must be nearing our destination.

The Swan Box

If the carriage had surprised me, it was nothing compared to what I saw next. Before me was a castle that seemed to be made entirely of black and white chess pieces. Two knights loomed over me like gargoyles and at the heart of the castle was a huge cross marking the king, and the towers were black and white castle pieces. What a shadow this castle would cast! Not only was the form dramatic but also wildly intimidating.

The carriage gently tipped me out and I knew I must look very dishevelled. I pushed my hair out of my eyes and straightened my dress. I could now hear footsteps echoing from inside the castle. Someone was coming to greet me. But I was no courteous guest, considering I had just been kidnapped. I managed to muffle my gasp when I saw my host. Although I had never seen his face, I knew that this was the figure from my dream: this was Cassius Crow.

He welcomed me courteously, but I was furious. His mother had been renowned for her gentle beauty but there nothing gentle about Cassius. He had eyes as dark as his hair, a sharp jaw line, a slightly pointed nose and strong cheekbones, and this gave him an almost elvish look. It was also impossible not to notice the contrast between his pale skin and dark hair which made him blend well with his house. He was very tall and radiated confidence. He invited me inside.

toad about as large as a hot-air balloon. She greeted us with a crooked smile. The witch was like an ordinary woman except for her wispy lilac hair. She was crooked in posture as well so that she looked rather bent.

‘Toady here is all set whenever you are ready,’ the woman exclaimed with enthusiasm. Cassius turned to me and gestured to the toad.

‘Hop on, then,’ he demanded impatiently.

‘I won’t do any such thing-’ I began before he tossed me onto the toad’s back and hopped on himself behind me.

The glass in the roof folded back and then we were flying. I held on for dear life as the toad began to soar upwards and away into the forest. When we passed a tree, I grabbed a pinecone and stashed it in my pocket.

After we had reached sufficient height, he turned and spoke in a voice that emitted a deadly sweetness.

‘Give me the box, girl.’ He smiled maliciously.

‘No,’ I replied firmly, well aware that he could push me off, but I had his precious box and I knew he wouldn’t risk it. I saw an opportunity to escape, and took it. We were now flying past a bee’s nest so, with all the force I could muster, I threw the pinecone at the nest and leapt from the toad onto the ground.

It occurred to me that I did not know my way back home. He led me through the black front door to a grand entrance hall where a black goat trotted to his side.

‘What on Earth?’ I began.

‘Oh, this is Grendel,’ he interrupted. I wanted to giggle. A pet goat!

‘Now, we are going to go and see my witch,’ he announced.

‘Your what?’ I exclaimed. But he was already striding miles ahead of me.

We then entered a room with a ceiling entirely made of glass.

There in front of me was a middle-aged woman who was washing the strangest thing I have ever seen. It was a golden

When I caught my first glimpse of the pearly waters I was pulled through the sheet of water. The cage was there just as it had been only yesterday, and I could see a pale figure standing before it.

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I was running now; I had no idea where I was going but I knew that I needed to escape. Cassius would probably be hampered by the bee’s nest, but I doubted he would die. But it would definitely distract him. I ran and ran until I was panting so hard my joints groaned. It was at this point that I began to recognise my surroundings. I was near home. I was near the waterfall. I knew that Cassius knew where I lived so going home wasn’t an option, but the waterfall was.

The tugging sensation once again forced me forwards. I was near now. When I caught my first glimpse of the pearly waters I was pulled through the sheet of water. The cage was there just as it had been only yesterday, and I could see a pale figure standing before it. I rushed forward to ask the woman for help but this wasn’t a woman. It was Cassius. I paused in terror, unable to move. I had to blink several times to comprehend that Cassius wasn’t hurt. In fact there wasn’t a sting on him.

‘Please,’ he whispered. ‘The black and white woman you saw yesterday is the soul of my mother. The baby is me.

Please, give me the box. It is the only way you can set her free so that she may find peace.’ I knew he was earnest. The black and white woman appeared in the cage and, like in the dream, he was holding her hand.

‘Cassius, I’m so sorry,’ I whispered with shame and regret. ‘Here.’ I gave him the box and, as he took it from me, he produced a key from around his neck and unlocked the box. Inside, was a piece of jet and carved in the jet and inlaid with ivory was a swan, the same as the swans from around the box’s edge and, I now realized, from the wax stamp. Cassius held out the carving to his mother and, while they held it together, they both disappeared in a blizzard of black and white feathers.

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‘Cassius, I’m so sorry,’ I whispered with shame and regret.

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Let There Be Light

by Samantha Yeung (5, HH) Highly Commended in the Young Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2023

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Let There Be Light 13 July 13 1977 I’ve made it, Ma. This is it. I’m living my dream.

The solidity of the weightless silver card case in my pocket—and its existence—is very much palpable. In bold black letters pressed onto a subtle off-white, the little piece of card lies flat in the palm of my hand and reads: ‘CHESTER YOUNG: STORY EDITOR’ and under it: ‘175 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010’.

The words on the card seem to find their way into my mouth and sit there for a while, unspoken. These words leave a bittersweet aftertaste, peppered with flavourful hints of pride, accomplishment and disappointment.

Disappointment because I’ve worked so hard to be here, in the Flatiron Building, but when I leave my desk in all of its coffee-ring-stained glory, it means leaving the colourful world of fiction I’ve grown to love behind and going back to the shitty apartment I’ve grown to hate.

My fingers drum while I study the page of messy scrawls and doodles when a fleeting quote comes to mind – ‘When the lights went out, so did people’s inhibitions.’ Perfect for the character I’m working with.

that bleeds through the collar of my shirt. My forearm adheres to the uncomfortable faux leather armrests of my office chair and in the quick struggle to free it I steal a glance at my wristwatch—it’s well past nine. It’s one of those unbearable summer nights when cracking a window open does nothing but tighten the hellish grasp of suffocatingly sticky air.

The aimless wanderings of my fleeting thoughts provide no comfort to me as I step into the elevator. Chester Young, Story Editor, regresses into the lesser Chester Young—left alone to chase happiness in his lightless drabby world.

These distracting thoughts send my mind spiralling sluggishly; briefly captivated, my unfocused vision centres on the shiny black surface of my shoes.

The grating sounds of ancient cables and pulleys creaking swiftly draw me away from my musings.

Coming to a jerky halt, the car’s ornate gold and silver doors open, revealing a pair of brown loafers. Intrigued, my line of sight continues upwards, discovering neatly pressed slacks with creases as sharp as cut glass. His weary eyes and timeravaged visage contribute to the calcified air about him— clearly from a different era than today’s discos and bell bottoms. Perched on the gentleman’s nose is a pair of simple black shades which is distinctly odd as it is night-

‘You know, this kinda weather reminds me of In here, I am Chester Young, home—Sicily. I left that island for a reason—the Story Editor. But, in the rest weather, one of them.’ of this wonderful city, I’m Chester Young, the man whose world is painted in shades time, and we are indoors. of grey. Chester Young, Story Editor, is a publishing connoisseur. He’s respected, useful, and damned good As we wait for the elevator to begin its descent, he offers at his job. Yet, in this big, big world outside of crippling a tentative smile with kind eyes that seem to say, ‘I guess deadlines and calendars fit to bursting, I’m reduced to I’m not the only one here at this godforsaken hour.’ I nothing. This building and the job that comes with it smile back. inject colour into the monochromatic life I live. This is why I burn the midnight oil—not because I can’t stand He seems determined to break the silence and he speaks, my shitty apartment, but because I can’t stand myself gesturing at himself with a laugh. in it.

‘Leo, Leo Maltempi.’ He has an infectious grin. ‘You The sultry, humid night permeating my little office know, this kinda weather reminds me of home—Sicily. I window coats my world in a slight sheen of perspiration left that island for a reason—the weather, one of them.’

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‘Chester Young. A pleasure to meet you.’ He exudes friendliness and I am hesitant not to return it. ‘It can’t be so bad – better than sliding on ice all day here in the city,’ I respond wryly, looking him over once again. His oddity continues – he seems far too meticulous to be a man who likely grew up running wild on the sands of the Italian coast. He laughs, the sound ricocheting off the walls of the elevator.

‘True, true. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think of home.’ His wistfulness is endearing. ‘I bet there ain’t a day goes by when Sicily don’t think of me.’

As I lean in closer, drawn in by the hinted promise of an interesting interlude to assuage the monotony of the night to come, the pungent scent of citrus permeates my nose.

The sharp zesty notes of Leo’s cologne are a welcome stranger in the dusty elevator, transporting me right into the lazy afternoons of his nostalgic reminiscing. Now, this—this delicious satiating of both the Chester Youngs’ appetite for stories is a fáilte addition to what was going to be a monotonous night.

Leo opens his mouth to speak but the words die on his tongue as the fluorescent lights dim to a warm yellow.

They flicker and blink, as though struggling to stay awake before suddenly slumbering, much like the rest of this city at this hour. Leo remains unphased. What does phase us both is the violent halting of the elevator car, not too dissimilarly to the conversation we are having.

‘The lights have gone out,’ I muse, squashing a bubble of momentary panic. My simple observation seems to amuse Leo, who chuckles.

‘Welcome to my world, boy.’ That explains the shades.

I’m inclined to relate with Leo, being no stranger myself to lightless, confined spaces. The life I lead outside the office bears some similarities to the situation we are ourselves in—one likely caused by a power outage in the building.

‘Ah.’ I flounder a bit, unsure how to respond to that after all, what does one say to someone who’s blind? I don’t want to offend this intriguing stranger. Leo finds my lack of response amusing, his now-familiar chuckle reverberating in the dark, blanketing us both with the sound.

‘Yeah, shit happens. Y’know I could - well, actually, I am writing - write a book about all the shit I’ve been through.

Matter of fact, I was just finishing up signing a book deal at your offices. Apparently, they like my stories of

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‘Apparently, they like my stories of hot, lazy afternoons spent among groves of citrus fruit, sipping almond milk and munching on Indian figs.’ hot, lazy afternoons spent among groves of citrus fruit, sipping almond milk and munching on Indian figs.’ The chuckle reverberates once again.

I huff a laugh. ‘It sounds like paradise.’

‘It was. I spent many an afternoon in the shadows, desperate to escape that unforgiving glare, lounging in ancient Greek ruins. I still see those weathered, dilapidated façades, like bleached skeletons against the backdrop of the pale blue sky.’

I can hear his teeth grinding softly and imagine him carefully mincing the words he will say next.

‘But I didn’t spend so much time in the shadows just for fun, you know. Those old ruins are great for lurking and staying out of sight. Wish I could say I’m writing this book about perfect Italian summers, or picnics with my loved ones...’ Again, he sighs wistfully and my curiosity piques higher. ‘My story’s about men’s last wishes. Their words, their tears – and fears – just before they die...the way the light in their eyes just poof – extinguishes.’

Let There Be Light

The silence following his revelation rings in my ears.

Once again, this stranger has rendered me speechless. I can feel my brain scrambling for a logical explanation.

‘Were you a doctor during the war effort? It must’ve been difficult seeing these tragedies so often.’

‘Oh no, nothing so honourable,’ he continues. ‘A trained professional with expert hands, yes, but no, not in the same way.’

Hanging on to every word, I wonder whatever could this gentleman be talking about? An amusing thought comes to mind, and I crack a joke. ‘What? Like a hitman for the mafia or something?’

Leo considers this for a moment and replies, ‘Well, I did have to leave Sicily for a reason...don’t it feel good to just run away?’ His tone shifts from flippant to serious.

I roll my eyes. “Ha. Very funny. You should greet tourists with a sign that says, ‘Welcome to Fear City’, especially with the Son of Sam on the loose.”

Before Leo can reply, the elevator’s doors are pried open without notice, bathing us in swathes of bright, morning

light - its exposure quickly becomes painful. I look at Leo again, this time in the sun, and realise this calcified air surrounding him isn’t due to his age, or grounded wisdom. It is the crushing weight of the guilt that he carries with him - his guilt.

As I part ways with Leo, it is immediately apparent that I have met someone who is definitely...interesting, if not dangerous. Still, Leo briefly coloured my night, if not my life. But outside, outside of our chance encounter, the city has suffered an unforeseen apocalyptic event. Well beyond my line of sight, hundreds, if not thousands, of stores of all sizes have been looted. Stretching dozens of city blocks, debris litters the floors of our streets, from signage to rubble, to shards of cut glass from smashed windows. From where I am standing, acrid fumes envelop the city in billows of charcoal, waiting to be extinguished.

I learnt later that while Leo and I were stuck in the elevator that night, the city had lost all power for twentyfive hours. I’m not sure if I was fortunate - I was oblivious to what was happening - but I might have been a little too close to a killer for comfort.

Now, when life gives me lemons, I think of Leo.

‘But I didn’t spend so much time in the shadows just for fun, you know. Those old ruins are great for lurking and staying out of sight.’

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s ’ g n i

K

k e e W

2023

by Samantha Yeung (5, HH)

T

here is a distinction between a week at King’s and King’s problem was that the dining hall was only open from 6pm to 7pm, Week. While both pass in a blur of activity and demand a which coincided with my first concert. While this problem was not significant amount of effort, they both leave you with a sense ultimately resolved, it heralded the hectic week I had ahead of me. of accomplishment. A week at King’s is gruelling and relentless, but What did satiate my hunger for spectacle and extravaganza that King’s Week is everything a week at King’s is, and then some. Despite evening, however, was the jazz. Greek mezze for the win! It was a the commitment and sacrifices required to carry out something as brilliant introduction to an equally brilliant week, as well as to this spectacular as King’s Week, we deliver with zeal year’s Head of Jazz, Ilinca, whose true passion and a smile on our faces because we are proud. for King’s Week was evident in the bandages Proud, but not prideful, because King’s Week puts that adorned her bruised and bloodied hands ‘Despite the commitment you in your place and reminds you that there is by the end of it. always someone out there better than you. and sacrifices required to Friday went by like a whirlwind, kicking off carry out something as I’m Sam and I worked as the KW23 Front-ofwith the Lunchtime Concert in the intimate spectacular as King’s Week, setting of the Old Synagogue. This event is a House Assistant. This is King’s Week from my perspective. true hidden gem, with those in top ensembles we deliver with zeal and a treating you to friendly performances on smile on our faces because As someone who is usually involved but not a par with typical King’s Week headliners. we are proud.’ committed, competent but not spectacular, I Immediately afterward, The Voice in the Green was in an awkward limbo. I don’t mean this in a Court marquee showcased the vocal talent of self-deprecating way: it’s just that King’s Week many, ranging from Taylor Swift’s Love Story exposes us to a plethora of our own world-class musicians, some of to industry-standard pupil-written music. A short while later, the whom are hidden gems and others practically local celebrities. As marquee transformed yet again into the set of I’m Sorry I Haven’t a people, we have this innate inclination to compare ourselves with Clue. Now I started this event with absolutely zero context and left each other, and after attending concert after concert, performance more confused than when I arrived. I’m told it’s a very popular radio after performance, one of the things I took away was a demoralising show, but then again I don’t think I’ve ever voluntarily listened to feeling of not being able to measure up to the talent I had enjoyed the radio before. Highlights included Mr. Harrison (guess which one) a moment ago. However, I also tell myself that for every hour I attempting to play Beyoncé’s Single Ladies on the kazoo (successfully). put in they probably put in ten, or twenty, so therefore there is no comparison. Thank you, King’s Week, for reframing my mindset.

Friday evening was spent snugly under the stars in the reverent Great Cloister of the Canterbury Cathedral. The weather tried and failed King’s Week started off with hunger. Sitting on the fringes of the Shirley to put a dampener on The Serenade. It sent the wind. It sent rain.

Hall floor-turned-stage (why do the performers always get the worst While the Serenade Choir imitated the gentle pitter-patter of rainfall seats?) I whispered to the person next to me, ‘What if my stomach with finger snaps, we were stippled with raindrops. Not enough to starts grumbling in the middle of our performance?’ Personally, I be drenched, but enough to be annoying. Still, we soldiered on. I doubt Mr. Vivaldi would have approved of an inharmonious rumble was delighted by a lovely arrangement of Swing Low, which bore no to his Winter. My first concert of the evening was Thursday Night Is resemblance to the version we typically sing at Congers.

Music Night, followed by ushering for Jazz on a Summer Sunset. My

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Birley’s Saturday was a blast. I went mostly because there was no lunch served in the dining hall and, as we’ve already established, I’m a very hungry individual. I’d like to use this opportunity and platform to announce that catering makes an excellent brioche bun. It’s incredible. It’s light, airy, and faintly sweet, perfectly complementing the equally flavourful patties. The burger was the real star of the show. That evening’s Baroquefest was the first of its kind, which is pretty exciting stuff. While not boring, there was something about those Baroque melodies that lulled me to sleep several times.

We started Sunday off with some good old Matins. One thing I noticed about King’s Week was that there was virtually no opening for a lie-in. Those late evenings and early mornings are unforgiving.

Sunday afternoon kicked off the first of four AC/DC performances set in the lovely Dovecote Lawn of St. A’s. As the announcer of AC/DC, my job was brief, but it was nice pretending to be a cool band kid.

Next up came Jerry’s Magic Show. Now I know nothing about magic, but obviously it’s not real. I consider myself a sensible and pragmatic person — these tricks can surely be explained away. However, I found myself echoing each trick with ‘No way!’ and ‘Wait, how did he do that?’ I guess we’ll never know.

Sealing off the week, the Virtuosi concert was exceptionally virtuosic.

There’s no other word to describe it. It made me emotional. As the lush strings of the most euphonious arrangement of the Beatles’ Yesterday filled the grand Shirley Hall, I felt my heart swell alongside its uplifting melodies, however clichéd. That, to me, is what music is about. The next couple of days really went by in a flurry. Monday’s Are you smarter than…? featured a battle of wits between academic scholars and members of the Crypt Choir, who were largely scholars themselves (they won). I watched perplexed as Mr. Ocock and Dr. Johnson absolutely destroyed two unfortunate 6bs in the Maths Battle in the School Room. As a jazz aficionado, the Jazz Concert was a King’s Week high point. They came, they sang, they conquered the Shirley Hall stage. Dressed in viridescent hues, the King’s Swingers swung their way through the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, possibly in reference to their angelic sound.

Tuesday’s Cultural Fair on the Green Court showcased the diversity of King’s. While I munched on mouth-watering scallion pancakes, the hypnotic spectacle of the ceilidh’s undulating ring persevered in the rain. Pried away from the morning festivities, members of the Chapel and Crypt choir made a mad dash to the Cathedral for Choirs in the Quire, the punniest name yet. In the Malthouse, backlit dancers clad in black stepped in synchronicity to the tune of Bye Bye Blackbird; like shadows in the night, they snazzily moved with poise. Imaginary coconut in my hand, Act Two’s opening dance, Airport, transported the audience into early vacation mode. Wardrobe in ‘I found myself echoing three words: glitter, fringe, and flair. each trick with ‘No way!’

and ‘Wait, how did he do

Wednesday morning’s that?’ I guess we’ll never Sports Day was cancelled, much to my delight and the know.’ chagrin of a few. Instead, it was spent lazily lounging on the Green Court’s deck chairs. Back in the familiar territory of the Dovecote Lawn, the fourth and final performance of AC/DC wowed and delighted. Ms. Walton played whack-a-mole with illegal sitting on shoulders, and I bid farewell to the job I’d just begun to like. Cue card in hand, I practised delivery, style, and tone over the week, cumulating in a swift final show. It was the perfect job for me, much like how the Gala Symphony Concert’s closing number, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, op. 34 involved each and every performer, and King’s Week involves each and every student.

What made this King’s Week different from last year’s, or even the past seventy other King’s Weeks, was my own involvement. My King’s Week is not identical to your King’s Week. To quote Music Department superstar, Roberta, ‘Get involved! Spend time and do things with the people that you love.’ Don’t be afraid to join new things and meet new people, because the communities of King’s will welcome you with open arms. Above all, King’s Week is about coming together.

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Salvete

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Jude Lowson Head

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rowing up in Belgium, Jude was educated at Sevenoaks School and the University of Cambridge, where she gained a Masters degree in History and a Diploma in Management Studies.

After university, she began her career as a strategist at BBH, one of the world’s most prestigious advertising agencies, where she distinguished herself working with clients such as Audi and Unilever. After a moment of epiphany, Jude decided to move into teaching and has never looked back, loving the joy and stimulation of the classroom.

She began her teaching career at Whitgift School in South London, rising to be Head of Sixth Form before moving on to be Deputy Head Academic at Putney High. Before joining King’s, Jude was the Senior Deputy Head of King’s College School, Wimbledon, where she also spent a significant period as Interim Head. In August, Jude relocated to Canterbury with her wife, Kathryn, and daughter, Heidi, who is loving life at Junior King’s. Jude claims to do her best thinking while cycling and is frequently seen on the Kent country lanes. She is also a novice saxophonist and is intent on becoming accomplished enough to perform at King’s Week.

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Judy Mitchem

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Director of Exernal Relations

udy grew up in the leafy town of Sevenoaks and was educated at Benenden and Sevenoaks School.

After university she set off for the bright lights of London to begin a career in advertising. She worked for some of the UK’s leading agencies, eventually becoming Group Marketing Director of M&C Saatchi and Managing Director of the Ogilvy Group.

In this time Judy worked for some highprofile clients such as John Lewis, Virgin Atlantic and the Department for Education.

After over 20 years in agencies, she managed to perform a ‘career pivot’ by moving into education and joining the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), where she advised schools all over the country. She then set up her own business, Angelica Education, a strategic consultancy, working with both independent and academy schools. Judy is a Governor of The Elms Academy in Lambeth and a member of WACL, a women’s leadership network. She is the proud mum of three adult children, Tommy, Lucas and Lara, and a devotee of power yoga.

Alistair Goddard CCF Contingent Commander

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orn in Kent and educated at Tonbridge School, Alistair worked in executive search in New York before beginning a career in teaching. His most recent appointment was as Director of Co-curricular Activities at Wycombe Abbey.

Before that he was CCF Adjutant and an assistant houseparent at Christ’s Hospital.

The Sixth Form Enrichment programme he established at Wycombe Abbey won the TES Independent Schools Award for Creativity in 2021.

Alistair has an MBA in Educational Leadership from UCL and a PhD from King’s College London, where his thesis focused on defence and security policy formation. He is the author of several IGCSE History revision guides.

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Tanya Montague

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Maths

orn in Washington D. C., Tanya attended the French International School in Bethesda and the Lycée Français International in Tokyo. She moved to Paris to study Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science at the Lycée Louis-Grand before earning a double Masters at Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Paris.

Eager to understand the impact of Finance on Society, she started a career in Corporate Finance, advising large corporations, and moved over to education in 2018, teaching Mathematics and Physics for four years at Herne Bay High School.

In banking, teaching and personally, Tanya enjoys proving that many commonly viewed ‘impossible’ tasks are actually possible, and she asks from what better place than the Mathematics Department at King’s can one share this truth with pupils both academically and pastorally?

Thomas Pote

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Chaplain

aving grown up in Oxfordshire, Thomas read French and Italian at Royal Holloway before completing a research degree in modern Italian crime writing, looking at how contemporary authors engage with ethical dilemmas through their fiction.

Called to ordained ministry in the Church of England, he studied Theology at the University of Cambridge while training at Westcott House. He served a curacy in a parish in Guildford where he became something of an expert in online worship during the Covid pandemic.

Looking for a new adventure, he joined King’s as the Chaplain and is delighted to minister in a forward-thinking community steeped in Christian history.

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Hamish Roberts

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Geography

espite his Scottish name, Hamish was born and grew up in the small town of Tenterden, Kent. He attended Ashford School before studying Geography at Loughborough University and taking a PGCE Secondary (Geography) at Canterbury Christ Church University, before joining the Geography Department at King’s.

Hamish is an avid sportsman, with a particular passion for hockey, representing England U18, Scotland U21 and Scotland U23, and recently he’s been invited to join the Scotland Men’s Senior Squad. In 2019 Hamish won Gold at the European Championships with Scotland U21, scoring in both the semi-final (vs Ireland) and final (vs Russia).

Hamish is really looking forward to his time at King’s supporting both Hockey and Geography.

Jack Walker German & French

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orn in Belfast, Jack attended Grosvenor Grammar School, where he was Head Boy. After secondary school, he moved across the sea to pursue his passion for languages, studying French and German at the University of Bath.

Following graduation and a great year abroad, Jack returned to Germany and France to work as a ‘lecteur’ at the Université de Strasbourg and as an English teacher at various language camps in Germany. Before completing his teacher training in Liverpool, Jack worked for a year as a postman in Belfast, delivering lockdown shopping to the local community during Covid.

Jack hopes to continue delivering at King’s, where he joins the MFL department to teach German and French. He also enjoys leading the open-water swimming group.

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‘Jack worked for a year as a postman in Belfast, delivering lockdown shopping to the local community during Covid.’

Sarah Kerly

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PE

arah lived in Surrey and Dorset before settling, at the age of seven, in Kent. She attended Kent College, Canterbury, and went on to study Physical Education with Sport and Exercise Science.

She then took her education to the States, and read for a Masters of Science in Teaching and Curriculum Studies at Syracuse University (NY).

Sarah has been a part of the Great Britain development squad for Hockey and has represented her country in the European club championships on several occasions.

In September 2022,Sarah joined the Physical Education Department at King’s, and has brought with her an infectious energy and enthusiasm for PE and Sport.

James Green

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Physics

orn in Kent, James attended King’s School Rochester and was a cathedral chorister at Rochester Cathedral.

He studied Physics at King’s College London, specialising in Particle Physics and Cosmology.

After graduating James worked in software development for a company specialising in Energy Management software. He comes to King’s from Simon Langton Boys Grammar, where he taught Physics and assisted with the Astronomy Department using the school’s own observatory.

‘James is looking forward to enjoying all the co-curricular activities King’s has to offer, alongside his work in the Physics Department.’

James is looking forward to enjoying all the co-curricular activities King’s has to offer, alongside his work in the Physics Department.

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Elizabeth Lockwood

by George Harrison

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lizabeth Lockwood would like to donate her skeleton to the Biology Department when she dies. This has come as something of a disappointment to her Remove class, who were most unhappy about the last three words of her offer. In some ways, this sums up her approach to teaching: practical, engaging, occasionally mad but always carefully thought through. She retires after nearly nine years at King’s, where she has taught not only Biology but has also led any aspiring medics through their applications to universities and hospitals and, for the last few years, been Head of Department.

King’s is losing a proper schoolmistress. In a rarely-used word, she has a vocation to teach. She has a hinterland of interests and experiences to offer plus she enjoys the company of pupils. In her time here, she has tutored in Mitchinson’s, Luxmoore (where she was deputy housemistress), Broughton and, most recently, Marlowe. Her enthusiasm for the House Song Competition, the various choirs she has not been thrown out of, and for bee-keeping are all signs of her involvement in the life of the school, but no schoolmaster or schoolmistress would be worthy of the name without having their quirks. And Elizabeth has more than her fair share.

What she can do with Play-Doh has to be seen to be believed. She has a fearsome ‘look’ and can silence a class by opening one of her cupboards and revealing a show-stopper, almost on demand. Most of all, she makes time for her pupils when they ask for it.

‘She retires after nearly nine years at King’s, where she has taught And even when they don’t.

Elizabeth has worn her learning lightly.

It took some pressing to get her to talk about her studies in Pathology and Immunology and the fact that she has studied at the universities of Birmingham and Cambridge.

She has never felt the need to advertise her scholarship and has allowed it to speak for herself. This was evident not only Biology but has also led any aspiring medics through their in a recent question-andapplications to universities and hospitals and, for the last few years, answer session involving We hope she has a long been Head of Department.’ two visiting professors from and happy retirement. But Yale, when her questions not until she’s cleared her on the future of biochemical research revealed just how up-to- cupboards. Including that squidgy thing in the jar of formaldehyde, date she is when it concerns trends in immunology. She has led no matter what it is. her department through the pandemic and the refurbishment of the school’s laboratories whilst at the same time reintroducing the residential field trip for A’ Level students and extending practicals to include DNA fingerprinting and genetic engineering.

‘Her classroom does contain an The hands-on aspects of science are at the heart of her teaching and she claims to have a ‘thing’ for every aspect of the curriculum. One of those ‘things’ is, allegedly, a human heart in a jar – the veracity of this claim has never been proven, not least for legal reasons – but her classroom does contain an array of skulls, kidney stones and a tube of gallstones. If not used for teaching, they’ve come in handy in her rather macabre version of Subbuteo, in which she rigorously imposes the offal-side rule. The school’s table-top games club has expressed no interest whatsoever in taking on this activity after her retirement.

array of skulls, kidney stones and a tube of gallstones. If not used for teaching, they’ve come in handy in her rather macabre version of Subbuteo, in which she rigorously imposes the offal-side rule.’

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Lilla Grindlay

by Lucy Stansfield

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r. Lilla Grindlay joined King’s in September 2019, unwittingly at the beginning of an academic year that would proceed as no other. She arrived from Sutton Valence full of energy and drive, ready to take the helm in the English Department.

This was a baptism of fire as she steered a course through lock-down, very much a safe and confident captain, able to efficiently manage an A’ Level cohort and two GCSEs to the end of their courses. As we bubbled to get the data out, I realised that she was not only a great ally but also a dear friend who will be very much missed.

was enjoyed by young children and Hamlet obsessives alike and showcased Lilla at her best, in her happy place.

Initially a tutor in Carlyon and later in Marlowe, Lilla was a popular and caring mentor to her tutees and she was delighted to support her students in their concerts, plays and recitals. I am sure she took great pride in seeing her tutor group through to their last day at King’s and sending them off into the world as a group of talented and charming young people. Her passion for reading, theatre-going, singing and a light and fruity chardonnay ensured that she made many friends along the way through the common room book club and choral events. Lilla lives the cultural life with verve and delight, and this radiated through those she met.

Lilla’s four years as Head of Department have been characterised by a determination to move forward with greater cohesion whilst celebrating and championing individual passions and talents. Her learning walks quickly meant a transition to ballet pumps but this was just one of her initiatives to develop and enhance the department.

Lilla ensured that student experience Lilla and her new Senior Management was front and central of her teaching wardrobe will now grace the and many 6a pupils have benefited from contemporary classrooms of Rugby the blistering bootcamps on a Thursday School, Thailand, which presents evening; certainly a Covid-keeper. We also fresh and exciting challenges for a enjoyed formal Marlowe lectures from well-deserved promotion to Deputy Prof. Tiffany Stern and Prof. Helen Hackett Head Academic. A world away from in recent years, Lilla again spear-heading the Canterbury cobbles, Thailand ‘Lilla was a popular and caring mentor to her an intellectual yet accessible approach not only brings a slightly warmer dip tutees and she was delighted to support her to the A’ Level curriculum. The nowin the sea than the North Kent coast annual ‘Ethan Hawke and Pizza Night’ but also reunion with Lilla’s husband, students in their concerts, plays and recitals.’ will be another of her legacies. She was Bruce, after two years working apart. unafraid to stand up and speak up for not only the interests of the King’s loss is RST’s gain and in Lilla they receive a most royal lover department but also those of the school – fiercely pedagogical and a of literature but also a very human and dedicated professional. The flag-waver for a rich and diverse experience for all her students. This world is indeed her oyster, and the rest most certainly will not be extended to her colleagues in the department, two of whom trained silence. and qualified under her guidance. The light in P3 often burned long into the evening while she dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s to enable the department to begin a new day on the front foot.

Lilla was, as many people were, devastated that her first King’s Week had to retreat on-line but she harnessed that pent-up creativity by launching Hamlet in the Herb Garden. This quickly became central to the philosophy she developed in the department; a joyous and egalitarian celebration of Shakespeare in a spectacular location. Lilla was always motivated by the history and beauty that surrounded her, and was delighted to show off a semi-staged, script-in-hand reading with the A’ Level English students. When Hamlet teetered on a rocky ruin during his most famous soliloquy, the audience was transfixed but ultimately reassured that Max chose to be, rather than not to be, and returned to the stage. This professional but modest production 138

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Ellen Berry

by Florence Walton and Rob Harrison

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llen Berry joined King’s fresh from a Cambridge Masters degree and PGCE in 2019 as a friendly, smiley and keen new colleague who was willing to help everyone as much as possible. Whether it was covering a lesson, supporting a school social event, helping with rowing, debating or just being a great teacher, she always brought a positive and calm attitude to the tasks she takes on. Her step-by-step calculator guides to finding A’ Level statistics values may be eminently stealable, her rowing coaching and coxing may be firm yet unfailingly kind, but it is through her crochet that she achieved the most school-wide fame.

Before Ellen arrived, some might have thought crochet an activity for pensioners who want to make blankets and scarves, but she showed that it’s an amazingly cool hobby, allowing one to make the perfect scarf should one desire, but also the perfect present for a friend’s dog’s birthday or the perfect mathematical Christmas tree decoration for the annual inter-departmental competition. Her crocheting activity was always packed with students, eager to make their own woolly wear, but also to spend time with her, learn a new skill and relax in the brilliant atmosphere she created.

Getting increasingly involved in the life of the King’s pupils, she became an invaluable tutor in Kingsdown, where her tutees regularly said, ‘She is the best!’, and simply wouldn’t hear a word in comparative favour of anyone else. She puts anyone at ease, and this was quickly noticed and enjoyed in the boarding environment. When asked by a lost pupil for a description of Ms Berry, I said she was average height and friendly. The pupil was somewhat bemused, but another stopped to help and asked who the description had been of. When told it was Ms Berry, he just nodded and said: ‘Yes, that’s her!’

It would be amiss to skate over how good and dedicated a teacher she is too. In her time at King’s there were very few people who could match her conscientious attitude regarding prep marking (and setting) as well as ensuring that lessons were well-planned, clear and, most importantly, interesting for the students in her care. It is this attention to detail and enthusiasm that rightly saw her take on the Wednesday Activities Manager position during her last year. In this role, she showed all of these extraordinary qualities in great measure.

Ellen is a delightful teacher, colleague and friend who brought much fun, joy, kindness and warmth to staff and students alike. She will be sorely missed but we wish her all the best in her move back to Cambridge.

‘Ellen is a delightful teacher, colleague and friend who brought much fun, joy, kindness and warmth to staff and students alike.’

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Carrah Wright

by Philippa Rose

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arrah joined the King’s community twenty-two years ago, starting as a Library Assistant, and is now leaving us as our Deputy Librarian Academic.

Carrah joined us with a BA in Music from Occidental College in Los Angeles – one of Barack Obama’s alma maters, no less. While studying, Carrah worked as a Secretary at Caltech, Pasadena, in the Astrophysics Department that sent up the IRAS satellite, the very first space-based observatory to map the sky in infrared. Carrah remembers the excitement when one of the post-docs came ‘Carrah has that ability to show everyone this new thing called an email that they’d to envisage what the received from a colleague in the pupil needs and to Netherlands. Learning French translate that into at school, and later Spanish while working as a baker in a something the library restaurant, Carrah developed a can offer.’ love of reading Spanish novels and other language skills that we’ve come to rely on when cataloguing the many foreign language books in our library. We’ve also been very spoilt with her baking skills at many a library picnic.

Carrah is one of those rare people who are both warm and immensely wise. I’ll miss her storytelling and her kind heart. You see, Carrah really is the heart of the library – both personally and professionally. Carrah always makes time for others, offering encouragement and inspiring self-belief in anyone needing a bit of a boost despite her own immense humility.

She has even drawn attention from our resident library ghost, who has been known to knock the odd unloved book off a shelf for Carrah to take pity on and proceed to read in her free time. Moreover, Carrah has almost single-handedly catalogued every book that has entered our little library. Let’s just let that sink in, shall we?

That’s over 50,000 books! Many a pupil’s bibliography has been saved by Carrah’s abundant knowledge and her ability to answer queries like: ‘Can you help me find that orange book I used last month; it had a big map at the start.’

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I know that many pupils have been grateful to see Carrah at the front desk when they’ve found themselves at a loss with their Extended Project, their bibliographies, their research projects, essays, and presentations. Carrah has that ability to envisage what the pupil needs and to translate that into something the library can offer; combined with heaps of patience and a keen understanding of how teenagers work (having coped with two of her own), she can always turn a moment of panic into an opportunity for growth. Recently Carrah has shared the teaching of our Shell library lessons, and her lesson on disinformation and propaganda is one of our most popular.

Both a colleague and a friend for over a decade, Carrah has been a privilege to work with, and I’d like to express my enormous gratitude for all she has given to the library, its contents and custodians. We all wish her the very best for the next stage of her adventures, which I’m sure will be full of treasured moments with her sons and grandchildren.

Kristy Heaton

by George Harrison

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f a week is a long time in politics, then Kristy Heaton has been at King’s for a lifetime. In fact, she has been here for just one year, teaching both History and Politics, and is leaving us because she has been snapped up to lead the Politics Department at Marlborough College.

We are losing a first-rate, three-dimensional teacher who has brought to the classroom not only her enthusiasm for her subjects but also her experiences from a life before teaching. She has been a PR guru, television producer, vlogger and proprietor of her own YouTube channel. Her sheer energy levels inside and outside lessons have put fresh blood into the King’s Politics Department, with ballot boxes appearing around the school for a variety of issues plus the return of parliamentary-style debates. In addition, she’s been involved in orienteering, sailing and the life of Jervis House. We learn something of her approach to sailing by the way she refers to the safety boat as the ‘speedboat’ and counts her successes by reference to the number of pontoons she has not damaged each term.

The impact she has made is all the more impressive when taking into account that she goes for early-morning runs and is the mother of five children. Those children are another reason to miss her, since two of them, Esther and Lucy, are in Marlowe and have demonstrated the same gregarious qualities as their mother amongst the Shells across the School.

There is not a class she teaches which is not sorry to see her go, and the same can be said for the girls in ‘Self-deprecating, funny, Jervis, who have tried their best to teach her the meaning of teenage a good listener and full of idiom. It is those girls we have to common sense, she has blame for Kristy constantly saying galvanised both departments ‘for real’ in departmental meetings, she has taught in and been a giving her colleagues the ‘bombastic wholly positive presence in the side-eye’ and for complimenting Common Room.’ them by calling them a ‘drip’. One feels they have also given her a few made-up phrases, since she does tend to ask for a ‘Flaming Boomshanka’ when ordering a drink and she has completely misunderstood the meaning of a ‘Belfast Kiss’, as Mr Mawby can testify.

Brought up in Texas, where she learned to spit, Kristy struggled in her early days at King’s, where language was a major impediment to her classes understanding her lessons. ‘I’m going to cut me some snake’ took a bit of working out. It’s no surprise that she should have taken time to acclimatise to received pronunciation, after the early part of her career was spent travelling round the world. Spotted whilst an undergraduate at Bristol, Kristy was an international model for four years. Some may remember her from advertisements for Galaxy chocolate and Space NK but she also ran her own creative agency and worked in the world of public relations. It’s a relief that she discovered her ability to teach and brought to the classroom the same enthusiasm for her subjects as she demonstrated in her previous careers.

Self-deprecating, funny, a good listener and full of common sense, she has galvanised both departments she has taught in and been a wholly positive presence in the Common Room. We wish we had been able to keep her longer, not least because we will also miss Willow, her German short-haired pointer. CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Rebekah Beattie

by Rebekah Frances And whether we shall meet again I know not. Therefore, our everlasting farewell take: For ever, and for ever, farewell. (Julius Caesar)

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ebekah Beattie, a monumental wealth of theatrical knowledge and experience, has been Head of Drama for eight years, having taught at King’s for eight years before that, and in that time she has given a great deal of time and care to all the pupils who have passed through her classroom and her stage. She was instrumental in the creation of The Malthouse Theatre, which will now leave a legacy in her memory for many years to come.

It is hard to think of Mrs Beattie without thinking of her wonderful accomplishments on the various stages around the school. I will always remember attending my interview at the school in the middle of the tech week for Joseph K – her vision for this show was so modern and full of exciting technology that I knew from the moment I stepped onto the set in St Mary’s Hall that I wanted to be part of this visionary department. In the five years that I have had the pleasure to work with Rebekah, we have been unfortunately hampered by a global pandemic, but still she has created wondrous performances on an epic scale. Most notable was A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the opening of The Malthouse Theatre. The epic steampunk vision for the performance was truly magical, and I know that the pupils involved loved every minute. This was incredibly different to the hilarious sketches from all seven of the Harry Potter books in our pandemicimpacted King’s Week just for the pupils, and different again from the gorgeously intimate Great Expectations that used the traverse staging of the Malthouse for the first time.

There are other productions that stand out from before my time here that are a testament to Mrs Beattie’s direction: the wonderful production of Much Ado About Nothing in the Mint Yard, complete with a hot tub on stage; the stunning Romeo and Juliet in the same place; and the very exciting production of Woyzeck that captured Rebekah’s essence so perfectly and allowed her to be known as the crazy pea lady for many years.

Although she has achieved so much in her time here, Rebekah had a successful career prior to joining King’s as an actress where she performed in numerous productions in and around Bristol. This experience has meant that she has been able to give an excellent insight into the industry for all of her pupils, and a huge number have gone on to further training in the performing arts as a result of her inspiration.

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Her lessons have always been full of warmth and hilarity, while still maintaining the highest academic standards. In fact, we are lucky enough that Rebekah is author of the main textbooks for both our A’ Level and GCSE courses, and her insight will be greatly missed. Never one to waste a moment in her lessons without the most theatrical task, students will remember fondly for years to come her work on Brecht and Artaud, as well as her excellent exploration of a huge variety of comic and serious texts.

Alongside being a theatrical guru, Rebekah is one of the kindest teachers at the school. She never would turn away a pupil if they needed a listening ear, and her office became the heart of the Malthouse for a cup of tea and a chat for pupils, teachers, and support staff alike. The whole of the Drama Department has always been incredibly grateful for her support as our leader: fighting the battles that needed to be fought; always giving a kind word and praise for the hard work that she felt her department had put in; and a consistent air of mutual respect at all times. Her caring nature will be incredibly missed in the department, and we wish her, her husband, and two daughters the best of luck in their new venture in Winchester.

‘Exit, pursued by a bear.’ (The Winter’s Tale) 

Zoe Allen

by Rachael Heskins and Begoña Garcés Ramón

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oe joined King’s in September 2005, bringing with her a vibrant zest for life, a keen sense of humour and endless amounts of positive energy. She has been a much-loved and highly valued member of the Spanish Department, known for delivering lessons that are always well-planned and fast-paced. A quick glance at the chaotic pile of papers on her desk might leave some people feeling quite faint, but looks can be deceiving; in reality, Zoe is highly organised, extremely thorough, and very diligent in her work. She has high expectations of all the students she works with, regardless of the level of the set, and inspires and encourages them to hold high ambitions for themselves. Meanwhile, she can always be counted on to go the extra mile to help students maximise their potential. They appreciate her firm approach to discipline, which is always upheld with fairness and a kind heart. Her knowledge of South America and love of literature have helped shape the future of many a King’s hispanist, either by inspiring them to spend summers and gap years travelling in Latin America, or through her Literature Club sessions, essential for those preparing for language applications to Oxbridge. Meanwhile Zoe has also run countless trips to Spain, including to Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Granada, providing a sense of fun and giving inspiration to all have been lucky enough to travel with her.

Pastoral work has always been a key element of Zoe’s time at King’s.

She served for several years as Deputy HSM in Luxmoore under Liz Pidoux before taking over as HSM of Bailey, where she and her family spent five happy years. More ‘She is never short of a recently, she has been a tutor in hilarious story to tell, Jervis House, a job to which she has brought vast experience, either with the aim of from which everyone has making everyone laugh, benefited. In all these posts, or of putting the everyday Zoe has shown unfailing trials and tribulations kindness and a consistent focus on putting the needs of the of life in boarding into pupils first. She can always be perspective.’ counted on to give her utmost to make sure that they are well looked after, giving freely of her time to anyone who needs it. Her tutees, just as the members of Luxmoore and Bailey before them, know that in her they have a willing champion who will fight their corner to the last.

For the last five years, Zoe has overseen Life Matters, where the combination of her knowledge of the boarding environment and her previous careers and colourful life experience have helped her create a programme that is informative, engaging and above all relevant to our current students. Thanks to her, they will leave King’s armed with many of the tools they will need to tackle life at university and beyond. She has also worked hard on the school Volunteering Programme, establishing positive links with a range of local schools, charity shops and care homes, among others, enabling students to broaden their experience and giving them the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the local community.

Zoe is going to be greatly missed by all at King’s. A loyal friend and supportive colleague, Zoe has been the bedrock of every team she has worked in. She is usually the first to volunteer her time when someone is in need, and she can be relied upon to deliver wise advice whenever a problem presents itself. She is never short of a hilarious story to tell, either with the aim of making everyone laugh, or of putting the everyday trials and tribulations of life in boarding into perspective. She has a keen sense of right and wrong and will always stand up for those in need of support. The school will not be the same without her bright-pink clothes and leopard-print dresses when we resume in the Autumn and, in so many ways, she leaves a space that it will be impossible to fill. However, after 18 years of dedicated service she deserves a jolly good rest, and we all hope she will now enjoy the chance to spend more quality time with her husband, Rob, her children Freddie and Rosie, and their lovely dog Happy. We hope that leaving King’s will not mean leaving the classroom, and that for us this is not ‘adiós’ but ‘hasta luego’. One thing for sure, though, is that wherever she ends up working next, that place will be extremely lucky to have her, and we wish her the best of luck for her next adventure!  CANTUARIAN | 2023

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Claire Raynal

by Julian Károlyi

W

hen Claire joined the Modern Languages Department, specifically the French bit of it, we were in the midst of a leaving do for her predecessor. Claire arrived when the party was already welladvanced. I recall her look of surprise and slight anxiety when my opening welcome was to offer her a glass of pálinka, a drink that lights up any party, but can have consequences the next day.

She nevertheless grasped the glass with gusto, entering into the spirit of what is the warmest of departments, and has never looked back.

In her two years with us, she has made her presence felt across the school. As a much-loved assistante and valued member of the French Department, she has been tirelessly running literature clinics that lit up the eyes of our most ambitious pupils. Her exposition of Surréalisme for the Cercle Français has ensured another generation of teenagers will be haunted by the eye-ball-slitting scene from Un Chien Andalou, and will lie awake at night worrying about the dead donkeys in the pianos, while her second talk on Caribbean literature was an interactive tour de force. In addition, she has devoted countless hours to the support of Broughton – a hugely popular tutor, the girls will miss her sage advice and patience.

‘Without Claire, we’d all have had nervous breakdowns by now, and half the items wouldn’t have been nearly so good or have happened at all.’

I have warm memories of two trips to Oxford with Claire during which I was sufficiently engaged by her bubbling multi-lingual conversation to miss the turning for the M25 and nearly go through London. Her knowledge of literature, and her tolerance and openness to ideas are an example to us all: it was a delight to share her enthusiasm for the Russian lecturer who deconstructed the social implications of the way Chekhov set out dramatis personae, never getting beyond the first page.

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It is always a pleasure to be in the company of her sparkling intellect, and it has been an equal honour to play a small part in laying down a few signposts for her British cultural hinterland as she seeks to develop as an English teacher. Her enthusiasm for the socio-linguistic nuances of English – for every ‘whoopsie daisy’ and ‘jolly good’ – while devouring eclectic references that would be lost on one less sophisticated: from Fawlty Towers to early Bond, via Paddington Bear, Camberwick Green and Mr Ben, from Jane Austen to E M Forster and Evelyn Waugh, Claire has an insatiable appetite for it all. She is truly a model student.

Florence Zanardi has been very grateful to have Claire by her side for Café Théâtre (‘This is definitely my last time,’ says Florence… every year): without Claire, we’d all have had nervous breakdowns by now, and half the items wouldn’t have been nearly so good or have happened at all. Claire’s powers of persuasion are legendary – finally there’s going to be a scene from Cyrano, something we have been trying to get off the ground for years, while I appear to have said yes to doing ‘L’ Accordéoniste’ in drag – not sure how that happened.

Claire leaves us to take up teacher-training in Brighton – determined to be an English teacher. We in the department she leaves behind know that modern English is really half medieval French anyway, so she will no doubt flourish, and bring a unique and enriched insight to her students for years to come. They are very lucky to have such an enthusiastic, talented and energetic teacher to look after them, and we are very sorry to lose such a good friend and colleague.

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www.kings-school.co.uk info@kings-school.co.uk +44 (0) 1227 595501 148

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