2 minute read
Pauline Relatives
The Rachmans
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There is a vicarious pleasure in being dropped into the midst of a very clever family breaking bread. It may have been just half of the philosophy and history-steeped Rachman family, but as the full tribe comes with a clutch of firsts, listening to Gideon (1976-80) and his youngest sons Nathaniel and Adam (2012-17) provides you with the family’s cocktail of Yesterday in Parliament and University Challenge in a summer pub garden.
Fatherly satisfaction and a good slab of pollock kept Gideon (Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator for the Financial Times) quieter than his professional persona might normally allow as Nathaniel and Adam outlined their coming-of-age film about peer rivalry, currently in busy development, and funded by their pandemic earnings from tutoring.
“Hopefully comedic,” they chimed, with an echo of the Coen Brothers – awfully clever, off-beam funny, and with the potential to subvert and parody.
While Gideon has informed countless audiences over the past six years of the vast shift east after 500 years of Western global economic domination, Nathaniel and Adam took over the conversation as they talked about studying for ‘Panic Masters’, filmmaking, and that other seismic shift that can happen in a lifetime – having a teacher with the power of epiphany. Gideon and his twin sons all feel that they were blessed with these figures. For Gideon, it was the inspiring powerhouse 1970s History department. For Adam it is the much admired, Dr Rufus Duits (Philosophy Department since 2009), opening out the worlds of philosophy and theology with a cast, ranging from mountains to Heidegger. In Andrew Broughton (English Department since 2003) and Judith McLaren’s (English Department since 1992) teaching, Nathaniel found the guidance that gives true definition to education, the process of drawing forth.
Gideon talks fondly of his years at St Paul’s and suggests, “As you get older you track your life through the institutions you were at.”
However, he was ambivalent about the choice of school for his children. It was Olivia, wife and mother who was the driving force behind the twins going to St Paul’s. Their elder siblings, Natasha and Joe, went to Latymer and onto Oxbridge. Olivia was right, St Paul’s suited Nathaniel and Adam and they suited it. They excelled in both classroom and debating chamber but describe themselves as “physically feeble”. They were glad that a ‘multisport’ half was on offer where they could hone their ultimate frisbee and ping pong skills.
Nathaniel and Adam are swapping universities for their Masters with Adam moving to Oxford and Nathaniel to Cambridge. They have not been attracted to US postgraduate courses, viewing them as being too long while US undergraduate degrees were too expensive. As they weigh up future careers, the list includes academia, the law, public service, and even journalism. Gideon may of course be able to counsel for and against the last of those. Perhaps as they look out over the sanctum of Craven Cottage, pondering infinite possibilities and Fulham’s return to the Premiership.
