PAULINE RELATIVES
If you were to type Pauline Family into a search engine, one of your first hits would be the Vaizeys. Polly and Ed (1981-85) are first generation Paulina and Pauline. Their brother, Tom (1978-82) was at School between them. Ed’s wife Alex was at the Girls’ School for the 6th form. The second generation is working its way through with Kate in her final year at the Girls’ School and Martha and Joseph are at Brook Green and Barnes. Our conversation was over lunch at a restaurant suitably equidistant from the two schools. Polly and Ed’s mix of tenderness and shared intellect was palpably bright against the view of the wintery sun and grey Thames. They have the ease of a shared life. Why St Paul’s? The short answer is that the family home was in Chiswick and their mother (Marina Vaizey, the renowned arts writer) still lives close to it. There is also the longer answer. Their father, John Vaizey, who died when Polly was at Oxford and Ed was at School, was an Economics professor specialising in education. In the late 1960s he was appointed to Harold Wilson’s Public Schools Commission. While serving on the Commission, Lord Vaizey met Tom Howarth (High Master 1962-73) and decided St Paul’s was the route for his children, despite the controversy of his Labour Party membership at the time. Polly started at Bute House (where she is now a governor) in 1971 and Ed left St Paul’s 14 years later in 1985. John and Tom
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ATRIUM
SPRING / SUMMER 2020
