Mansfield
Spring/Summer 2007
In This Edition ... 1
Principal’s Welcome
2
Mansfield Fellows
4
New Books
Joel Rasmussen, Tutorial Fellow in Theology John Sykes, Professorial Fellow in Materials Engineering
David Leopold, Fixed Term Fellow in Politics Peggy Morgan, Lecturer in Religious Studies
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Mansfield’s Dialogue with Rome
8
Visiting Student Programme
John Muddiman, Tutorial Fellow in New Testament Studies, Associate Chaplain and Dean of Degrees
Mary Ann Lund
10
Pluto and the Planets
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
12
A Musical Treasure - Mansfield College Organ
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From The Archives: Heaven’s Gate at Mansfield
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Development News
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Mansfield Alumni
Paul McEvoy (Geography, 1983) Nick Valner (Law, 1973) Justin Rowlatt (PPE, 1984)
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Alumni News
Events in 2007
Michael Freeman
Carrie Fehr
Back Cover
Entries for the 2007 Photographic Competition Designed and Edited by: Janet Dyson, Carrie Fehr and Michael Freeman We welcome suggestions and contributions from our readers. Please contact the Development Office for further information on any item in ‘Mansfield’.
Mansfield College, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TF T: 01865 270998 F: 01865 270970 E: development@mansfield.ox.ac.uk W: www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Principal’s Welcome Dr Diana Walford CBE
“So, what is it exactly that you do, as Principal?” This is a question I am often asked. Strangely, I find it a particularly difficult question to answer; not because I am slacking, I hasten to add, nor because I get up each morning and wonder if I can find anything to keep myself occupied. No. It’s more that I find myself doing such a bewildering variety of things that I am at loss, when asked, for a suitable form of précis. This term, for example, I have immersed myself in the fundamentals of mounting an Auction of Promises for our forthcoming Gala FundRaising Dinner; appeared, with the Bursar, before the College Contributions Committee to be cross-questioned on Mansfield’s finances; recruited a new Development Director (Paul McCarthy who joins us just as this magazine is going to press); undertaken graduate student reviews (Collections) with the Tutor for Graduates; drawn up an itinerary for the visit to the College of the former President Carter (of which more – much more – in the next edition); chaired the Admissions Executive of the Conference of Colleges; done my bit for the University by serving on various committees and on the Review Panel for the Oxford Language Centre; chaired the Governing Body and, as ever, eaten for England (or so it seems). The accompanying photo shows me in full flow at the German Embassy at the beginning of May, delivering a few words of introduction on the occasion of the second Adam von Trott Memorial Lecture. There is more information on the lecture in the Development News on p.18. The story of how the College comes to be involved in helping to raise funds for young German scholars, in the field of politics, to spend a term at Mansfield is a fascinating and moving one. Adam von Trott zu Solz was a young German law student who spent a formative term at Mansfield in 1929. He was put to death, age 35, by the Nazi regime because of his part in the plot to assassinate Hitler. A fund was launched in his memory, at a dinner at Mansfield in 2004, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the abortive plot. Already some £18,000 has been raised or pledged and we hope to welcome the first Adam von Trott scholar in either 2008 or 2009. At the end of this term we say farewell to our Chaplain, Fellow in Theology and Director of Ministerial Training, Walter Houston. Walter has been a Fellow of the College and a strong contributor to our community for seven years and we wish him a happy, healthy and productive retirement. Likewise our warmest good wishes go to John Odling-Smee, our distinguished Lecturer in Human Sciences, who is also retiring.
Mansfield Fellows along the lines of, ‘Wouldn’t you agree that the sort of questions we tend to call “religious” questions are among the most interesting and important questions human beings ask?’ Given that I answer ‘yes’ to that question, I’ve been fortunate to tread an academic path allowing me to focus on some of the ways certain influential thinkers conceive the various relationships between ethics, aesthetics, and religious commitment. My book on the poetics of the Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard (Between Irony and Witness: Kierkegaard’s Poetics of Faith, Hope, and Love) has afforded me the opportunity to engage this nexus of interests in the writings of one important (if also puzzling) modern thinker. The book proposes a new way of understanding the depth of Kierkegaard’s engagement with early German Romanticism, and of the contours of his alternative to that movement. This ethics-aesthetics-religious commitment nexus figures importantly in both of my current larger-scale projects as well. The first is a translation from Danish (with an introduction and annotations) of Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s New Poems that I’m collaborating on with a colleague from the University of Copenhagen. Heiberg was Denmark’s leading dramatist and literary taste-maker in the nineteenth century, and a vocal proponent of the kind of Hegelian philosophy Kierkegaard loved to hate. The second larger-scale project is an exploration of the notion of ‘rational faith’ in the writings of Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel, and a critical assessment of Kierkegaard’s conception of the limits of reason in the wake of the former two figures.
Joel Rasmussen Tutorial Fellow in Theology When my wife and I and our three young sons (aged 10, 8, and almost 5) arrived in Oxford this January, we were new not only to the city, but to the United Kingdom. We moved here from the state of Massachusetts in New England where (after completing research in Denmark and my Ph.D. at Harvard) I divided my time between parenting, writing, lecturing on ethics and aesthetics at a small liberal arts college, and rehabilitating a Georgian colonial house built in 1760. It would be untrue if I didn’t admit that I enjoy rest and relaxation as much as the next person, but in my personal experience over the past several years ‘R and R’ has primarily meant ‘research and restoration’. Back when I would spend summers during my undergraduate years working on farms and construction sites in the mid-western state of Kansas, academic peers and construction co-workers alike would occasionally wonder aloud at my seemingly strange combination of choices. In many ways, accounting for how I spent summers was the easier of the two responses; I liked working with my hands, I dreamed of someday restoring an antique house, and summer jobs were a great way to acquire the necessary skills. Responding to the second question was considerably more difficult and less specific. Not surprisingly, it never occurred to me to answer that I hoped to become an Oxford University Lecturer in Nineteenth Century Christian Thought and a Tutorial Fellow in Theology at Mansfield College. Rather, I often responded with a question for them, something
The first few months since we have arrived in Oxford have passed quickly for me. My wife enjoys the city, and was pleased with the fact that snowfall here is minimal in comparison to New England. The boys are not finding it difficult to befriend new playmates. As for me, I love my work at Mansfield College and have more than enough to keep me occupied. But, all the same, if anyone has a run-down house you’re looking to unload, give me a call!
John Sykes Professorial Fellow in Materials Engineering Articles written by new Fellows introducing themselves to the Mansfield community have featured in recent college magazines. I have enjoyed the insights into their lives and been struck by the diversity of their interests. Obviously, having taught at Oxford since 1978 and been a Fellow at Mansfield since 1987 I shall have to take a different approach. Nevertheless, I’ll begin with a quick background. I grew up in Leicester, attended a local grammar school, and went to Cambridge to read Natural Sciences, then Metallurgy. After nine years in Cambridge, I moved to the Chemistry Department at City University to teach and research Electrochemistry, then to Sunderland Polytechnic.
in Mansfield MCR. Fuel cells running on hydrogen fuel can power electric vehicles and reduce carbon emissions, provided the hydrogen is generated from a renewable source. However, a safe convenient way of carrying the hydrogen is needed. High-pressure hydrogen is being used, but the weight of the metal cylinders is considerable. Liquid hydrogen doesn’t require high pressure, but the tank needs efficient insulation and gas slowly boils off – so you might park the car with a full tank and return to find it empty. So magnesium hydride, which contains about 7 wt % hydrogen, is actually an effective way to transport hydrogen. Our research looks at how catalysts are able to make charging and release faster at lower temperatures.
Since joining the Department of Materials in 1978, my main research area has been corrosion. Nowadays the chief focus is organic coatings – that is paint. Jonathan Crossen (Hi, Jon!) tried some experiments a few years ago using the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM), then being developed by a colleague Andrew Briggs, to examine the interface between a coating and a metal substrate (he was looking at the effect of water on adhesion). The SAM projects a beam of ultrasound down into the material and collects reflections from objects, or interfaces beneath the surface, working like an echo-sounder. By scanning back and forwards over the surface (like destroyers searching for a submarine) we assemble an image of what lies beneath. The first illustration shows one of his images, with tiny blisters forming at that interface under the action of water, destroying adhesion and allowing local initiation of corrosion. Nowadays we use this as a standard technique. Fortunately EPSRC provided funds to buy a new instrument that can quickly scan a whole panel, whereas Jonathan built up his larger images millimetre by millimetre.
All being well, October should find me busy with four or five new projects that will run through until my retirement. It will be sad when I finish scientific research and lose that special involvement with young scientists starting their research careers. I hope to leave Materials at Mansfield in good heart; Jason Smith has joined as a second tutorial fellow, with funding from Hewlett Packard. Our undergraduates (now 15 of them) are mostly prospering and there are some promising young researchers in the MCR. Watch this space!
SAM image of coated steel after 642h exposure to water scale bar = 0.1 mm
The same grant provided a Scanning Kelvin Probe that cleverly senses the potential beneath an insulating coating whilst operating in air, by scanning a thin vibrating gold probe just above the surface. From these measurements we are able to deduce where corrosion is starting and how the process is working. This has shown that corrosion damage at a defect develops in an entirely different way from what we had all thought. The illustration shows such a map. In recent times I have also been working on hydrogen storage in metal hydrides – my student Mauro Porcu was
SKP potential map for corrosion site on lacquered steel can. red =+ve, blue = -ve.
New Books ... David Leopold, Fixed Term Fellow in Politics, sets out the culmination of many years of research
The various articles and manuscripts that Karl Marx (1818-1883) produced in the first half of the 1840s, when he was in his mid-twenties, have become known as his ‘early writings’. At the time, they attracted very little in the way of either popular attention or critical acclaim. Most of this work was not published contemporaneously, and the few items that did appear at the time did so in radical journals with tiny and uncertain circulations. It was some ninety years before the work of ‘the young Marx’ began to be published more widely, and some of the early writings (the most significant being all of his surviving study notebooks) have appeared in print only in the last thirty years. That the majority of these early writings were published first in the 1930s had a significant impact on their reception. By the time they came to be more widely available, Marx’s thought had already become associated with, and (in bowdlerised form) propagated by, the Soviet Union. Much of the subject matter of the early writings – the innovative discussion of alienation in work, for instance, or the modestly extravagant account of the conditions for human flourishing – did not fit easily with that Soviet model. As a result, responses to the early writings became polarised into two narrow camps, with a barely concealed political agenda. Enthusiasts for the Soviet Union tended to dismiss them as an early ‘false start’, as juvenilia which Marx had subsequently and rightly abandoned. Critics of the Soviet Union tended to welcome them as the long lost ‘philosophical’ key which enabled Marx’s work as a whole to be understood properly for the first time. The result was an over-simplistic, and politically motivated, debate about whether Marx’s intellectual development was to be understood in terms of continuity or rupture – whether, as was often said, there was ‘one Marx or two’?
thoughts for himself (and not in order to elucidate those thoughts to a wider audience). As a result, the ideas and arguments that they contain require some considerable unearthing and reconstruction. Both analytical and historical skills are needed if that project is to be carried out with any success. Once unravelled, Marx’s early writings contain much that is unexpected and interesting. Not least, they confound the expectations of modern readers, including those who are familiar with the secondary literature on Marx. For example, it is an interpretative commonplace that he saw ‘politics’ as an alienated dimension of social life that would somehow ‘disappear’ in the society of the future. Yet in the early writings, Marx has positive things to say about contemporary political life, and identifies the rational and humane society of the future as having a political dimension. His comments, in this latter context, would seem to owe something to the tradition of civic republicanism. Marx’s recently published study notebooks offer important insights into his contemporary influences and critical targets, and, in the present case, confirm that he had read Aristotle and Rousseau with care and interest.
Even considered apart from that distorting and simplistic interpretative framework, the work of the young Marx is difficult to understand. The early writings are written in an unfamiliar and idiosyncratic intellectual idiom, they presuppose considerable knowledge of political and philosophical debates in contemporary Germany, and many were written in order to help Marx clarify his
Perhaps the most suggestive parts of the early writings involve Marx’s reflection on the individualistic environment of contemporary civil society, on the achievements and failings of modern political life, and on the future possibilities of human flourishing. Given the number and variety of topics involved in these discussions, it is difficult to come to a simple critical verdict on the early writings as a whole. Of course, even when unravelled, the views propounded by the young Marx are not always coherent or persuasive. For example, his concept of ‘community’ is overwhelmed by a variety of conflicting associations, whilst his justification for failing to clarify the institutional arrangements of the society of the future is ultimately unconvincing. But the benefit of engaging with the history of political thought is not exhausted by identifying an author’s ‘correct’ views and ignoring the remainder. We can learn also from failures and half-successes, from trying to work out what motivates an argument and where it might, or might not, have gone wrong. Above all, the early writings present us with an unusual spectacle. They show a powerful and imaginative intellect engaging with important and complex issues, many of which are of continuing relevance. For readers who approach them with an open mind, and without the (familiar but foolish) assumption that Marx is an author whose views have to be swallowed or rejected in their entirety, the early writings are of abiding interest.
The cover of The Young Karl Marx includes a contemporary allegory of Marx as Prometheus. This cartoon was prompted by the closure, by the Prussian government (in 1843), of the Rheinische Zeitung, a recently established radical weekly, of which Marx had been editor. It identifies the radical journalist as Prometheus, punished for daring to defy the gods. Tied to a printing press, rather than a rock, his liver is pecked out daily by the Royal Prussian eagle. The eagle-eyed may be able to see that the raptor in question is tethered by a lead which is controlled by the tiny figure of what is a squirrel seated in the chair in the top left-hand corner of the picture! The allusion which contemporaries would have recognised is to J.A.F. Eichhorn (1779-1856) – Eichhörnchen being a German word for squirrel – the Prussian minister partly responsible for the ban.
Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions On Muslim attitudes to homosexuality Azim Nanji writes ‘ The Qur’an condemns homosexual practice with particular reference to the story of Lot’ but ‘in very recent times a very small minority have tried to assert the right to be openly gay, but they have experienced wide-spread opposition from the mainstream of Muslim society. However, as attitudes change, there are developing differences across the regions as to the extent to which an openly gay lifestyle can be tolerated’ (p. 298).
Peggy Morgan, Lecturer in the Study of Religions,
describes the second, expanded edition of a book she has co-edited
On attitudes to work in Judaism Clive Lawton writes ‘ Wage and employment ethics are discussed in both the Torah and the Talmud…..an employer is not allowed to withhold payment from an employee for a job done. However, unless formally contracted otherwise, a worker is allowed to withdraw labour at any time, since God is understood to say “I did not free you from slavery to become slaves to others” (p.180). Many want to emphasise a simple ‘common core’, a ‘golden rule’ ethic which is common to all religions, but anyone engaging at close quarters with practitioners and the long complex history of religions will appreciate that both within religious traditions and between them there is a great deal of diversity on key issues, often with no fixed or final view. This book takes each of six religions as rounded wholes, each section being written by a specialist who has worked closely with a religious community and in some cases is a member of that tradition. Discussion of particular issues is set against a description of what it means to be Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian or Muslim, where the lines of authority and decision making are and what personal qualities are valued. On the forty five wideranging themes addressed, from attitudes to advertising, marriage, wealth, vegetarianism, war and ecology, to name but a few, there is often a strong sense of the tensions between ideal views and lived realities. A few summary examples from a complex text of 354 pages exemplifies this.
Eleanor Nesbitt points out the tension between an emphasis on friendship with, and respect for, those of other faiths in the Sikh tradition and the unwillingness of many Sikh parents to accept their children’s marriage to those outside their faith (pp. 148-149), a not uncommon problem across faith traditions. When I co-ordinated a team in the mid 1990s to produce the first, shorter edition of this book, we had an eye on the needs of educators and their students as ethics was, and still is, a major focus of interest. I had no idea that it would become a ‘best seller’. It quickly found its way into medical libraries; was used by those in the media; became a basis for education in the caring professions; was placed on bibliographies in police colleges; acted as a stimulus for discussion in interfaith groups as well as providing substantial input in its text and resource lists for teachers and students.
On Hindu attitudes to abortion Werner Menski writes that classically ‘Abortion would only be allowed if the mother’s life is in danger due to the pregnancy….but in real life the situation is quite different…..since medical technology now makes it possible to determine the sex of an unborn child in early pregnancy….female foetuses are being aborted in large numbers…….This is certainly a matter of concern to many Hindus who would condemn such practices and several Indian states have passed laws prohibiting sex testing and resulting foeticide’ (p.36).
Mansfield’s Dialogue with Rome John Muddiman, Tutorial Fellow in New Testament Studies, Associate Chaplain and Dean of Degrees
Above: Revd Dr John Muddiman meets Pope Benedict XVI at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Dei Verbum George Caird, the sixth Principal of Mansfield, represented the Reformed Churches as official observer at the Second Vatican Council (1962-5). In the book cover (above right), he is being presented to Pope Paul VI at the end of the last session. The Cardinal in the foreground is Johannes Willibrands, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity at the time. A few months later, George delivered a series of lectures in London on ecumenism, which were published under the title, Our Dialogue with Rome (OUP), including one chapter that was a warmly appreciative discussion of the Constitution on Divine Revelation, the Vatican II text known as Dei Verbum. It encouraged Catholics to read the Bible, and to read it in new translations from the original Hebrew and Greek and not from the Latin Vulgate that was a nice change! And since then regular Bible reading has been adopted universally and with enthusiasm in the Roman Catholic Church. Dei Verbum also solved a long standing conflict between Protestants and Catholics on the relation of scripture and tradition. Protestants used to argue for Scripture Alone, while Catholics claimed that Sacred Tradition was a separate and equal source of divine Revelation. In the Vatican text the two were understood together to flow from the single and only source of divine revelation, God’s gracious self-disclosure in Jesus Christ. That was a real breakthrough in ecumenical dialogue. In September 2005, The Catholic Biblical Federation held a major conference in Rome to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Dei Verbum. Over 60 Catholic Bishops and 400 other delegates from around the world were present, including representatives of all the major denominations. I, as the College’s George Caird Fellow in Theology, was invited to be a speaker at that conference. I have been for 15 years a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, helping to write agreed statements like Life in Christ on Morals (contraception etc.), on The Gift of Authority (on the pope as universal primate etc), and on Mary Grace and Truth in Christ. During one of those meetings, I was presented to Pope John Paul VI; the Anglican bishop doing the introduction was Mark Santer, formerly Bishop of Birmingham. In 2005 I was asked to present a review of Dei Verbum and its influence on ecumenical dialogue, especially from the perspective of the dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Professor Frances Young did the same for Methodist-Roman Catholic dialogue. As the official representative of the Anglican Communion, I am here photographed (above left) being presented to Pope Benedict XVI, with Cardinal Walter Kaspar, Head of the Council for Christian Unity, positioned, more discreetly this time, in the background. So, history does sometimes repeat itself!
Visiting Student Programme Mary Ann Lund, Junior Research Fellow in the Humanities and Director of the VSP Programme at Mansfield
Visiting Students May 2007 The visiting student programme at Mansfield has been established since the 1980s, and today accepts up to forty students annually for a full year of study in Oxford. Most of our students come from liberal arts colleges and Ivy League universities on the East coast of the USA, from Boston to Pennsylvania and Washington D.C, with a few from further afield. Over the years we have built up strong links with US colleges: one college has sent us students every year for nearly two decades, and several others have established academic scholarships for study here, which have proved highly competitive. Visiting students major in arts, humanities, and social science subjects, and many take the opportunity to develop their knowledge of more than one discipline while they are in Oxford. As a tutor, I find this breadth of study a particularly rewarding aspect of tutorials with visiting students: a student may, for example, bring an understanding of philosophy fruitfully to bear on a reading of a Shakespeare play. While traditional subjects, such as history and theology, are very popular, a few visiting students have become enthusiastically involved with newer Oxford subject areas, at the Oriental Studies Faculty or the Centre for the Environment, for example. The Mansfield programme has a reputation for its flexibility of approach, allowing students as far as possible to pursue their academic interests and finding specialist tutors from across the university. This brings its challenges to the job of Programme Director: six weeks after arriving at Mansfield, I found myself looking for tutors in subjects as diverse as Latin American art, politics in Victorian London, and Egyptian archaeology. While some students cover a wide range of topics during their year, a few choose to remain with a tutor over the course of two or three terms in order to pursue a particular line of research. It is gratifying to observe the early signs of skills and interests which will develop into postgraduate work, and indeed one or two return to Oxford for Master’s degrees and doctorates. It would be misleading – and moreover impossible – to describe a representative visiting student experience, since each student finds his or her own way in Oxford. However, in my meetings with students I have found some common themes emerge. The pace of Oxford terms and the rather undefined nature of tutorial courses are at first a challenge for American students, used to long semesters and detailed course descriptions in catalogues. The discovery that university libraries are closed at weekends is also a source of bafflement, and leads to some rapid
reorganisations of work schedules in the first weeks of term. Nonetheless, it is impressive how quickly they adapt to Oxford’s quirks, even the endless roadworks on Magdalen Bridge which they battle through on their daily trips to college. By the middle of Hilary Term many are experiencing what so many Oxford undergraduates have felt: the sense that their time here at college is speeding by all too fast. Along with their intensive academic programme, the visiting students are, on the whole, keen to squeeze in all the extracurricular activities they can, from rowing and netball to drama and even origami, and (no doubt) those student societies which generally meet on licensed premises. At the same time, a refreshing characteristic among some of the visiting students is a willingness to get involved in activities beyond the university. One student this year volunteers at a local homeless shelter, another at the Oxfam shop, while a few attend local groups and clubs for all ages at community halls. Outside of term, the accommodation block at Ablethorpe becomes a base for European travels, especially at Easter: this year half the group toured Ireland in a bus, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. As Director of the programme and as a researcher in English literature, the pace of my year tends to fluctuate. The busiest time is the second half of every term, when I organise the next term’s tutorials and send out a flurry of emails in order to find two tutors for each student. The rest of term and the vacations are much quieter, and I am able to work on my own research: a book on the great seventeenth-century prose work The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton, and another project, broader in scope, on medicine and religion in the same period. In the Autumn I visit some of the American colleges to talk to potential future students and meet staff at the study abroad offices. This has given me an insight into the higher education system there, and helped me to appreciate what a change coming to Oxford must be for some students: wandering through one college campus, I realised that Mansfield’s buildings would fit neatly into their sports stadium! In Hilary Term, applications from potential students appear in my pigeon hole, and the planning for next year begins. The visiting student programme continues to be an academically strong and important part of college life. While it will not expand beyond its current numbers, it will grow academically: we hope soon to accept students from Asia as well as the United States, a move which will add further to the diversity of the student body.
Dr Mary Ann Lund
Pluto and the Planets Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Professorial Fellow in Physics, is on the Resolutions Committee of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Here she talks about the lively discussions concerning the definition of a planet at the 26th General Assembly of the IAU in Prague in the summer of 2006. At that time it was believed that Pluto was another major planet, but it soon became clear that the initial measurements were wrong and Pluto was an anomaly in our solar system. It is much the lightest planet, with a moon (Charon) that is half its size. It is also in an eccentric orbit which does not lie in the same plane as the orbits of all the other planets. For a long time it has been suspected that Pluto and Charon were originally much more distant objects later deflected into the orbit closer to the Sun where they are now found. Astronomers have recognized and lived with this anomaly, but the increasing sensitivity of telescopes is now revealing more objects like Pluto and Charon beyond Neptune. New telescopes opening in the next few years will dramatically increase the number. If Pluto remained in the list of planets today, we would also have to include several of these new objects, generating a list of perhaps a dozen planets. Given a few more years, the number could double. Science has to move on in the light of new data and so there was a clear need for re-definition.
The Pluto System (top) and NASA’s New Horizons Satellite
Who defines and names planets, comets, asteroids and stars? Well, of course, these days a committee, a committee of the International Astronomical Union, which is the world body responsible for astronomy. It met last summer in Prague, and it was there, in a blaze of publicity, that the status of Pluto was changed – it has ceased to be a major planet. I found myself, unexpectedly, at the centre of the maelstrom, trying to hold a calm centre! Pluto was discovered in February 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in the USA, founded by Percival Lowell. Lowell devoted the last years of his life to the search for the outermost planet, but he died in 1916 and it was not until the 75th anniversary of Lowell’s birth, 14th March 1930, that the Observatory announced Pluto’s discovery to the world.
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Jocelyn Bell Burnell
As one of those responsible for the wording of resolutions, I went to last year’s Prague meeting with some anxiety. The world’s press were present in force, not least because there were evident tensions within the IAU. My fears proved exactly right and the Assembly meeting turned into a fractious affair, frustrating for all parties. As a member of the Resolutions Committee, I was called upon to calm the waters and facilitate the taking of the formal vote. This produced a good definition of a planet, with Pluto identified as the first and most accessible of a new group of objects for which a name had yet to be found. So now a planet is a body that orbits the Sun, is large enough to take up a round shape under its own gravity, and dominates its orbital region. Recently discovered Pluto-like objects So how did Pluto get its name? On the morning of the Lowell Observatory’s announcement of the discovery, in a North Oxford house, eleven-year old Venetia Burney was having breakfast with her mother and grandfather. Grandfather read out the report in The Times about the discovery of the new planet and noted that it had yet to be named. Venetia piped up and said it should be called Pluto. The grandfather was Falconer Madan, who was Bodley’s Librarian, 1912 – 1919, and he was sufficiently impressed by the suggestion to mention it to his friend, Herbert Hall Turner, who was Savillian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford. The next day, Turner telegraphed the suggestion to the Lowell Observatory where the name found immediate favour, in part because the first two letters echoed Percival Lowell’s initials. And so Pluto it became. Venetia Phair (née Burney) is now in her eighties and lives in Epsom, still acutely conscious as well as proud of her place in astronomical history.
Herbert Hall Turner
Venetia Burney
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A Musical Treasure The Chapel organ is now over a century old and in need of restoration. Michael Freeman writes about its installation and the task now facing the College.
As a college with a very poor endowment, one of Mansfield’s perils in the past has been the occasional necessity to sell some of its moveable possessions to balance the books. In 1951, facing particularly straitened circumstances, this resulted (sadly for today) in the sending of several minor paintings by Thomas Gainsborough for public auction. The upside of perpetual poverty, however, is that non-moveable possessions are left much as they are. Whereas richer colleges have periodically replaced or re-modelled parts of their fixtures and fittings, Mansfield’s have remained by and large untouched. No more is this true than of the great organ in the college chapel. Built by Vowles of Bristol and commissioned in 1890, it is the largest organ constructed by that firm to have survived basically unaltered throughout its working life. As Christopher Kent, a specialist who has recently examined the organ observes, the outcome is that the musical character of a classic Victorian factory organ remains intact. The three-manual Vowles organ was the gift of W.H. Wills of Bristol, the family that had already been generous benefactors in the college’s re-founding several years before, as part of the move to Oxford from Spring Hill in Birmingham. The organ’s public
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opening took place on 20th May 1890 when the organist of Bristol Cathedral, George Riseley, gave an inaugural recital of music by Bach, Handel, Haydn , Mendelssohn and others. A garden party followed and, later, there was an evening concert, largely of sacred music, arranged by the college’s own organist, John Farmer. At the time, commentators remarked on the near perfect musical acoustics of the chapel, for singing as well as for music, a feature that many college members still notice today. And Erik Routley, the college’s renowned hymnologist, was moved to write in the 1950s of the richness and sonority of the Vowles organ: ‘a classic and beautiful instrument, of very unusual quality’. Nothing lasts forever, of course, and the Vowles organ forms no exception. It has received periodic maintenance and also periodic adjustment. But now, 117 years after its building, a major overhaul is long due. According to Christopher Kent, Mansfield’s instrument, together with that at Wadham College, remains one of the few late romantic organs in Oxford. It awaits the attentions of a professional organ builder. Parts of the instrument will need to be dismantled and removed to workshop for renovation. Other parts will need to be renewed in entirety. The college bursar is still awaiting detailed
figures for the costs of overhaul, but there is now a pressing need to re-launch the college’s organ appeal. This was started several decades ago and the fund currently only runs to a few thousand pounds. Preliminary estimates suggest that a six-figure sum will be needed to achieve a full overhaul, a figure that may well cause a few raised eyebrows. However, substantial grants are available for the restoration of historic organs, especially where the owning party can demonstrate a significant financial pledge of its own. In other words, the mountain we need to climb in terms of fund-raising is not so high after all. The purpose of this article is to invite all those alumni who remember the college’s organ to consider donating to its restoration. All gifts, large or small, will be most welcome. The organ’s specification can be found at: http://npor.cam.ac.uk reference D07710. This is the National Pipe Organ Register of the British Institute of Organ Studies. There are tentative plans afoot for an organ benefit concert in the near future. Once restored, it is possible that the college may mount regular summer organ recitals, open to the general paying public, as a way of generating an income stream for further maintenance of the instrument. This would be supplementary to the income that is now being generated from the organ in association with the increased use of the chapel for wedding ceremonies.
For further information about donations, please contact the Development Office where staff will be very happy to assist.
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From The Archives... Mansfield as you never saw it ………….. or did you?
Heaven’s Gate at Mansfield College, 1980 Twenty-seven years ago, Mansfield was selected as one of the locations for the filming of Heaven’s Gate, directed by Michael Cimino, and the hiring fee for use of the college site provided the seed-corn for the first development campaign. Mansfield was chosen for its resemblance to an American Ivy League college of the 1870s and the set designers made a series of striking changes to the quad to enhance its credibility. A makeshift medieval curtain wall, a replica of Oxford’s Longwall, was erected along the Mansfield Road frontage, complete with twin gateways. Made from plaster and hessian, the wall was soon fooling visitors to Oxford, as was the 90-feet high beech tree that the set designers positioned in the centre of the main college lawn. There was further mock medieval walling between the John Marsh building and the Principal’s Lodgings, in the process cleverly disguising the office of the then college secretary which, among architectural purists, is always regarded as an incongruous modern addition to Basil Champneys’s original design. The film company needed large numbers of extras for many of the scenes and hordes of undergraduates and not a few staff soon signed up, looking for their moment of stardom, including Alma Jenner the College Librarian (see opposite - top left). Most of them quickly discovered that filming involves hour upon hour sitting around idle, with action confined to a few precious minutes. If any of you were in the film, please send us your recollections, or, better still, photos. Here is your chance to become a ‘come-back kid’!
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Heaven’s Gate, 1980
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Development News Since the last edition of the Mansfield magazine was published, six busy months have elapsed in the Development Office. It has been a pleasure to meet so many alumni and friends during my first year at Mansfield and I am looking forward to seeing many more at forthcoming summer and autumn events. The month of December saw our first trip to Twickenham for the Varsity Match. Despite the bitter cold, there was plenty of food and liquid sustenance, but our enjoyment of the rugby and our afternoon was not quite enough to secure an Oxford triumph; let’s hope to see a larger party supporting the Oxford side next December. The following weekend we held the Gaudy for those who matriculated between 1985 and 1990. The evening began with a four-course dinner in Hall and the festivities continued late into the night as alumni and their guests repaired to the College Bar. Early in the New Year, Sir Jeremy Greenstock gave the Hands lecture, and the Chapel was packed for his informative talk on ‘Globalization’s Mid-Life Crisis’. The Mansfield Association held its Annual Dinner during March. The dinner was followed by a speech given by Philip Aylett (English, 1974) about his time working as the Director of Strategy and Communications in the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman in Westminster. The Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting at 11 a.m. at the Summer Garden Party on 24th June. During their overseas holiday, Mansfield’s former Principal, Dr Donald Sykes, together with his wife Sarah, hosted two events for us in the USA. The first took place in Boston and the second in New York. A full set of photographs will appear in the next edition of the magazine. The Sixth London Drinks Evening was held during April at the Pitcher & Piano, Trafalgar. It was good to see so many alumni join us for what is probably our most popular event. The Seventh London Drinks will be held during September and details will be available on the website nearer the time.
The First Trip to the Lehmann Brothers’ Varisty Match, December 2006
Gaudy for Matriculation years 1985-1990, December 2006
Gaudy for Matriculation years 1985-1990, December 2006
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The Annual Mansfield Association Dinner, March 2007
The Sixth London Drinks, April 2007 Alongside this busy schedule of events, we have watched the development of the Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal. As mentioned in the Principal’s Welcome, an Appeal has been set up in memory of Adam von Trott zu Solz, who spent Hilary Term 1929 at Mansfield and who was later put to death by the Nazis for his part in the conspiracy to kill Hitler. The income from the Appeal will provide a bursary for a German scholar to spend a term at Mansfield studying Politics. Support for the Appeal, since its formal launch last autumn, has been widespread and the fund for the Bursary is growing healthily.
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On 3rd May, the second Adam von Trott lecture was held at the German Embassy, by kind permission of His Excellency The German Ambassador. Around 100 attended the lecture, which was given by the Reverend Dr Keith Clements (former Secretary of the Conference of European Churches) on “Faith, European Values and the American Dream: Echoes from the German Resistance.” (For further information on the Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal, please contact the Development Office.)
The Second Adam von Trott Lecture at the German Embassy Dr Diana Walford, Mr. Hans H. Blomeyer-Bartenstein (Deputy German Ambassador) and Reverend Dr Keith Clements On the other side of the ‘Development’ coin, I am pleased to report that the Quad was refurbished during February and we have said a firm farewell to the potholes! The overall appearance is very smart indeed. In terms of ‘virtual’ development, we are looking forward to our new website which is currently being designed and, we hope, will go live during the summer. As you may remember from the last edition of ‘Mansfield’, there was a strong emphasis on the tutorial system. This theme now features centrally in our aims for this year’s Annual Fund, which was launched during March. Our aim is to increase the endowment of our tutorial fellowships and secure the future of teaching in these subjects. Alongside the Fellowships Fund, we have received widespread support for the Principal’s Fund and the Student Support Fund for Bursaries. We have received over £3,500 for the Annual Fund. Over 25% of alumni have now made a gift to the College and we very much hope to raise this figure to 30% in the forthcoming year. We are extremely grateful for the generosity and commitment of our donors and this generosity has most recently been expressed through substantial donations towards the Geography and Philosophy Fellowships. Our Legacy Campaign was launched last autumn and we are pleased to report that six alumni have joined the College’s Legacy Society, The Glover Society, by pledging a gift to Mansfield in their wills. In time, these pledges will make an enormous impact upon the College’s ability to secure its future. We shall be holding our first Glover Society Lunch on Saturday 15th September. For further information on leaving a legacy to Mansfield, please contact the Development Office or mark where indicated on your update form. The Development Office has undergone some other changes since we were last in touch. Andy Wood, the Development Director, left Mansfield at the end of March to take up a new role at the University of Reading as their Head of Development. We are so grateful for all his work while he was at Mansfield and hope to see him from time to time. Paul McCarthy, our new Development Director, comes to us from Cardiff University. He has already spent some time in College, and we hope he will be very happy at Mansfield when he joins us permanently at the beginning of June.
Carrie Fehr Development Officer 18
Mansfield Alumni Climbing Cotopaxi
Paul McEvoy (Geography, 1983) describes life in Ecuador
Scaling Cotopaxi’s Glacier Fifteen years in Latin America have given me the opportunity to live in a number of different countries, including Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras and Panama. None of these countries is quite as special as Ecuador - a geographer’s paradise! Coincidentally, my boss (Tim Bower, Mansfield, Law 1980!) is also a keen fan and, during his visits, usually manages to put more mileage on my car than I do myself in six months.
mornings for a 30 to 40 minute ride. Within minutes one is in the countryside, riding along a disused railway line amongst dairy farms (where they still milk by hand). Dogs are the main hazard. At least the goats don’t bite! Ecuador offers incredibly varied landscapes, from Pacific coastlines and mangrove swamps to snow capped Andean volcanoes, and from the islands of the Galapagos to the Amazon jungle. Ecuador’s highest peak is Chimborazo and, at 6,310 metres above sea level, is actually further from the Earth’s centre than is Everest (I’ll let you try to work that one out – answers on a postcard, please!)
I work as Country Manager, Ecuador for Lloyds TSB Bank. Though the office is in Quito, we live a dramatic 20 minute drive (and 400 metre descent) into the valley of Cumbaya (still 2,400 metres above sea level.) The weather in Cumbaya is noticeably warmer and drier than the capital in which, given the altitude, one can experience the four seasons in a single day.
Ecuador’s most loved mountain is Cotopaxi. At 5,897 metres, it is the world’s highest active volcano. Whilst its last eruption was 200 years ago, the 2 metre boulder (erratic) in my neighbour’s garden (60 kilometres from Cotopaxi) is testament to its power. It has a classic
Here I have switched from Oxford’s traditional form of transportation (mine was an upright with 3 gears) to a much more sophisticated mountain bike. I go out most
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shape and permanent (though receding) glacial cover, and its location in the central highlands away from the humid Amazon orient, means that it enjoys the highest number of clear days of any of Ecuador’s volcanoes. Last November I was able to realize a dream of climbing to Cotopaxi’s summit. Whilst not a technical climb, the ascent requires good physical condition and, even more important, requires preparation by way of acclimatization to the altitude. A guide provided my friends and I with a six week schedule, which started with us cycling from Quito to a peak at 4,200 metres – the descent was fun, though it did involve my coming off my bike at 40 km ph (thankfully we were on a dusty trail.) Not deterred, we did some training in walking over the glaciers of Cayambe – the only place on the Earth’s equator with continually sub-zero temperatures – 0° longitude and 0°C. The weekend before Cotopaxi we climbed another peak at 5,200 metres, having stayed the night in a refuge. This provided my worst case of “zorocho”, or altitude sickness. During the day the sun creates risk of avalanche on Cotopaxi, and so the climb takes place at night. Complete with crampons, harness and ice picks we set off from the refuge at 01.30 for what was to be a 6 hour climb over sand and gravel, rock and then snow and ice. Of the 25 who left the refuge, only 8 of us made it to the summit. It was a beautiful morning and at sunrise there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. This afforded a wonderful view of several snow capped peaks, as well as into the gaping crater. As a demonstration of Ecuador’s diversity, the following weekend the family treated itself to a long weekend Scaling Cotopaxi’s Glacier in the Amazon jungle, close to the border with Colombia. To get to Cuyabeno National Park requires a 40 minute flight from Quito, followed by 3 hours in a minibus and 2 hours in an outboard canoe. A twitcher’s paradise, during the 3 days we spotted more than a hundred species of bird (Ecuador has an amazing 1,500 different species of bird.) We saw woodpeckers, toucans, flycatchers, tanagers, herons, parrots, as well as the “hoatzin” (stinky turkey), kites and osprey. Also, we were able to see one of the Amazon’s two species of dolphins. Ecuador is not short on political and economic excitement either. Nine Presidents in ten years attests to that, not including the three who declared themselves President on the same day. The economic crisis of 1999 reduced the country’s banks from forty-two to twenty-two, with the country losing 60% of its bank deposits. This financial crisis lead to the country adopting the US Dollar as its currency. Recent elections promise further volatility, with a new President hoping to lead a socialist revolution though with the help of a decidedly rightwing majority in Congress! Through the Bank we support a number of small charity projects. In Ecuador, a little money can go a long way, and with just a little organization, imagination and staff involvement, we have been able to make a meaningful difference to the life of some of the country’s most needy. One project involves the elderly community of San Jose de Minas. The economic crisis at the end of the 1990s
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resulted in mass emigration, principally to the United States and to Spain – with a population of twelve million, there are 1.5 million Ecuadorians living overseas. New York is Ecuador’s third city in terms of population! Typically it was the young and active that left and, whilst their monthly remittances home are such an important source of income for the local economy, the social cost has been significant. San Jose de Minas is one such town, left with an elderly population. The Bank’s contribution has been to build a modest surgery and to arrange for a monthly “brigade” to attend to the more basic medical needs of the elderly. One Sunday per month a small number of staff accompanies a team of doctors from Quito. With the help of some of our pharmaceutical company customers we are able to provide them with free medicines. Another project is El Parvulario, a school for mentally handicapped children. In Ecuador the State provides very little support for such schools. Here, we provide the transportation to take the eighty-six children to their classes. Also, with some financial support from the Lloyds TSB Foundation for the Channel Islands we were able to build and equip a new carpentry workshop. Special mention goes to Helen Bower (Mansfield 1980) who, through an event of the Spanish club at her children’s school, very kindly raised funds which went towards physiotherapy equipment and computers. Thanks Helen. Ecuador is a truly fascinating country, and one that I would recommend most strongly to any budding adventurer. Machu Pichu in Peru is typically combined with the Galapagos Islands as a two centre holiday, though these travellers miss out on the wonders of mainland Ecuador. The country is a popular destination for back-packers, has excellent Spanish language schools, and offers many opportunities for gap year students. Do get in touch if you’re passing through or plan a trip to Ecuador - just ask the Development Office for my details!
Paul McEvoy and friends on the summit of Cotopaxi
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Life After Mansfield: Apples & Beatles Nick Valner (Law, 1973) tells us about representing The Beatles I read jurisprudence at Mansfield from 1973 to 1976. I had three wonderful years, including coxing the First Eight and winning my rudder. I applied for Articles (as a training contract was called in those days) to a firm in London called Frere Cholmeley, mainly because they acted for The Beatles. Like many of my generation I was, and am, a total Beatles’ fan. (In 1998 Frere Cholmeley merged with Eversheds, where I still am.) I joined Frere Cholmeley in February 1977 and almost immediately was assigned to the team on a case The Beatles were bringing against a company called Lingasong, who were releasing an unauthorised album of The Beatles playing at the Star Club in Hamburg in 1962. We failed to get an injunction before a crusty old judge: he felt we were trying to enforce a private right under statutes which were really criminal rather than civil. Twenty one years later we reversed the result! The law had changed in the meantime in favour of performers, giving them civil rights, and we won the case when Lingasong tried to put the same concerts out on CD. That victory came in May 1998. The case is famous for one fact. It was the last time George Harrison made a public appearance. He had the whole court in stitches when he was giving his evidence. He was probably the funniest person I have ever met. Even the judge had to put his hand over his mouth to hide the fact that he was killing himself; but we could see his shoulders rocking! The last ever public film footage of George was taken by a BBC crew outside the Carey Street entrance to the Royal Courts in London, after he had given his evidence. Two people are walking down Carey Street - the other one is me! George became a true friend of mine, and it was utterly devastating to all who knew him when he died in November 2001. He did me the great honour of appointing me his executor, and trustee of his Estate. Winding the clock back to the ‘60s, on 30th August 1968 The Beatles released “Hey Jude” as a single. The ‘B’ side was “Revolution”. It was the first record to be released on the Apple label: the ‘A’ side showing in the middle of the record a shining and delicious Granny Smith apple; and the ‘B’ side was the apple cut in half.
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This became probably the most famous and iconic label the world of popular music has ever known. All Beatles records thereafter and all their official merchandise and other products went out on the Apple label as did the earlier albums and singles when they were re-pressed, and the records of other artists who had signed up to The Beatles’ company which was called Apple Corps Limited (a pun on “apple core”). I will refer to it as “Corps”. Corps began to register the “apple” name and the logos of the apples as trade marks all over the world. A trade mark is a “badge of origin” of goods or services and, when registered in an official Trade Mark Registry, gives the owner monopoly rights in that country so that noone else can use the mark without a licence. Trade marks are a vital part of any company’s business, ensuring a standard and creating a brand in the company’s products or services and stopping others cashing in on a company’s trade, reputation and goodwill, and confusing the public as to where goods or services have come from. Perhaps the most famous trade mark in the world is the word “Coca Cola” in the distinctive handwriting. In 1976 two ex-college lads (one called Steve Jobs) started to build computers from their garage in California. They decided to call their company “Apple Computer, Inc.” Jobs was a great Beatles’ fan and does not deny where he got the name from. The company gradually grew and grew and started trying to register its own “apple” marks throughout the world but found that in many countries it could not, as it came up against the prior registrations of The Beatles’ apple marks. To allow Apple Computer (“Computer”) to carry on its business, the two companies entered into an agreement in November 1981 concerning the use and registration of “apple” marks. Essentially, Computer was allowed to go ahead with registrations and use of apples, but was
Graeme Longmuir and Nick Valner, Eights Week 1975
We will never know, now, whether we were right or wrong! After months of negotiations, the case settled on 3rd February 2007. We closed the deal at 4.25 a.m. on the Saturday morning, and put out a joint press release on the Monday, 5th February. Because the terms of settlement are confidential, I am not allowed to disclose them, even to such a distinguished readership as friends of Mansfield College. All I can do is repeat what was said in the press release, namely that Corps assigned all its apple trade marks to Computer and obtained a licence back to use on Corps’ products, and the litigation was settled.
specifically excluded from using the marks on anything to do with music - even goods which recorded or reproduced music. All went well until the late 1980s. Computer then went too far. Corps sued Computer in 1989 for breach of the 1981 agreement, claiming that Computer was manufacturing computer products designed specifically to create and synthesise music and putting “apple” marks on them. The trial of that action began in London on 29 October 1990 and occupied over 100 days of the Court’s time before the parties reached a settlement on 9 October 1991. I had to give evidence personally during the trial; it was an “interesting” experience being cross-examined by a top Q.C. (I have now actually done it five times in various cases.)
My sons say I have the best job in the world. Acting for The Beatles for 30 years has been a truly amazing privilege. This has in turn led to the growth of a substantial music practice - other cases for clients like Sir Elton John, Sting, the Hendrix Estate, the Bob Marley family (we had a case on for them, which we won at the same time as the Apple/Apple trial - the bass guitarist Aston Barrett claimed a share of the record royalties) and U2. It has been, how shall we say(?), fun.
All went well for another twelve years. But then this new agreement became the subject of another Court action in 2003. Basically, the 1991 agreement allowed Computer to manufacture computers and software, even if they were capable of reproducing or transmitting or playing music. Thus, unlike the 1981 agreement, they were now able to make what became the iPod and put an apple logo on it. What they could not do, and what remained the exclusive province of Corps, was to put their marks on “any current or future creative works whose principal content is music and/or musical performances, regardless of the means by which those works are recorded, or communicated, whether tangible or intangible.” In other words, they could not use marks on or in connection with music content itself.
It was Mansfield which kindled the fire, gave me a fantastic academic grounding in the law, and set me on my way. It was a fellow law student at Mansfield, Richard O’Sullivan who introduced me to another law student, his sister Jane, who was at St Anne’s. We met in 0 week of the very first term in 1973, married in 1979 (once we had qualified as solicitors - what responsible people we were!), and are now seeing our own children through university. We glean from their highly edited accounts that they are probably having as good a time as we had back in the 1970s!!
When Computer launched its iTunes website in April 2003, Corps said that they had gone into Corps’ exclusive area - they were selling music and putting their apple marks on the website and on all the marketing which launched it and continued to promote it. So we sued them again in July 2003. The action came to trial on 29th March 2006 and, this time lasted just 5 days. We felt the trial went really well, that we had won the debate, and that the trial judge was with us. We were thus truly surprised when he handed down his judgment on 8 May, finding in favour of Computer. In a nutshell, he found that Computer were using the apple marks in connection with their transmittal service of the music, not on the music content itself. As we felt the judgment was wrong we filed an Appeal. The “Skeleton Argument” of our Counsel in support of the Appeal, some 43 pages long, took the judgment apart, line by line, point by point. The Appeal was due to be heard before the Court of Appeal on 27th February 2007. We were confident of overturning the judgment - but with civil litigation one can never be sure, and the case was, in fairness, ultimately one of perception - what the apple trade marks were being used on.
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An Ethical Correspondent Justin Rowlatt (PPE, 1984) on being Newsnight’s Ethical Man
Justin Rowlatt at home with Elsa If I had been asked to draw up a list of my priorities when I left Mansfield in 1987 protecting the environment would not have appeared on it. I wanted to bag myself a job in journalism and get myself a car, maybe even a girlfriend. If scruffy students like me did stop to ponder the prospects of the planet it was nuclear Armageddon that we worried about, not climate change. Back then no one was concerned about glaciers melting. Climatologists were warning of an impending ice age not global warming. Even so, if you had presented any of my contemporaries with a college photo I don’t think anyone would have picked me out as the person most likely to become an eco-warrior. I didn’t want to save the world. I wanted to save up a bit of cash and travel round it. So how come my family and I have spent the last year doing everything we can to cut our carbon footprint? I’d love to be able to claim it was down to a damascene conversion to the climate cause but it was not. The reason is that I got myself my dream job. Last February I became a correspondent on Newsnight. In the weeks before I took up my new post I fantasised about my new role. I daydreamed about being asked to jet off around the globe on the trail of the big international stories. I imagined myself investigating the political and financial scandals of the day, breaking the stories that would bring a government down. It was not to be. On my very first day the editor called me into his office. He didn’t want to hear my story ideas. He had other plans. “What do you think of the idea of one of our reporters spending a year trying to
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Justin in a compost coffin at the home of Britain’s (unofficial) composting king, John Cossham reduce their impact on the environment?” he wanted to know. What did I think? It sounded like the most boring assignment possible – Muesli correspondent – but this was the first day of my dream job. I told him I thought it was a fantastic idea. Minutes later I stomped out of his office the BBC’s brand new and first ever “Ethical Man”. My new role had nothing to do with ethics as taught by Michael Freeden in his office at the foot of the Principal’s Lodgings. In my editor’s lexicon for “ethical” you should read “environmental”: what he wanted me to examine was what one fairly ordinary family can do to – if anything – to tackle the threat of climate change. My first report asked viewers to send in suggestions for “devilishly difficult” tasks for Ethical Man. I expected a handful of hippies to answer but we got more than five hundred email responses, articles about Ethical Man appeared in two national newspapers and I was invited on to television and radio programmes
Justin Rowlatt with The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Rev Dr Rowan Williams
Clearly there were thousands of would-be ethical men and women in the Newsnight audience. It was obvious I would have to take my ethical endeavours seriously. Judge for yourself whether I did – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/ethical_man/default.stm. But my new position as the BBC’s Ethical Man certainly changed the way my family and I live. Over the coming months we were to give up our car, stop flying, slash energy use in our home and even change our diet. Indeed, now my year has finished I fear that my period as “Ethical Man” will be one of the defining episodes of my broadcasting career. I say “I fear” because although I believe that our series of reports was a timely and original way to report on one of the most important issues facing mankind I don’t think that is all they will be remembered for. I think colleagues (and maybe some viewers) will find it hard to forget the sight of me urinating on my compost heap. I suspect they will remember my wife telling me to p*** off on national TV even if my efforts at Mongolian throat singing and my attempt to record cows burping are forgotten. But according to my wife the most dramatic impact of the project is how I have changed. I now automatically calculate the carbon consequence of everything I do. As I reach for a punnet of Chilean blueberries or contemplate a weekend break in Marrakech I can’t help but clock up the carbon cost. My wife thinks my new concern for the environment makes me a better person. That’s debatable but one thing is certain – it doesn’t make me any happier. Now I’ve got something else to feel guilty about.
The Family: Justin at home with his wife, Bee, and the children Eva, Zola and Elsa
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Alumni News David Agnew 1986, PPE My wife Lela and I own Civic Square, a real estate development company which specializes in downtown redevelopment projects. We live in Charleston, South Carolina with our 1 year old son, Dallas Jamison Agnew. Frederick Atkinson 1964, History I am retired clergy now. In Trinity Term 1978, I was a postgraduate study leave student. I had a B.A., M.A., MDiv. from Schools in the USA and my church (United Methodist USA) had a renewal programme of three months; I spent a wonderful time in Mansfield. I was also there in 1975 in the North American Summer Session. Eleanor Burn 1998, Geography I am recovering from the excesses of six months in Moscow and Hong Kong. I am now settling back into London and looking forward to a long hot (Moscow was -40 degrees) summer. Christine Granich (neé Caputo) 1988, Visiting Student I work full time and am the mother of two children. I have a daughter, Nikita Grace, who is three and a half and a son, Jagger, who is one and a half. I enjoy working in the judiciary and have been a lawyer for almost fifteen years. Julian Cason 1986, History Julian Cason (Modern History 1986) is married to Catherine, they now have a little son ‘Jam’ (James) born 24/1/06. Pamela Clemit 1979, English Pamela Clemit is a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, for 2006-7. She has been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2007-10) to begin work on a scholarly edition of William Godwin’s letters, the first of its kind, to be published by Oxford University Press in six volumes.
Elaine Cogan 1998, Philosophy & Theology I am now teaching Religious Studies to various cads and bounders in Ruislip and am living in the grand town of Wembley. Patricia Dean (neé Brown) 1979, PPE Very happily married - late in life and spending five years in Singapore. Returning with husband and stepchildren to the UK in the summer of 2007. Life is rich and strange and the best bits are utterly unexpected. Simon Holt 1960, Jurisprudence Obtained B.A in English and American Literature in 2004, UCLA. Currently reading for an M.A in 20th Century British History. Awarded Preston Jubilee Prize (outdone by eldest son who got a first in Philosophy at Hull after having been refused entry at Mansfield!). Selected for Lancashire Senior Golf Squad 2006/7. Played for Country v Northumberland and also in Scottish Northern Seniors Open Championships 2006. John Inglis 1969, Mathematics After 8 years of teaching mathematics in high schools, I retired in 2005 from 25 years of publishing school books in Mathematics, Science, English and Mathematical Literacy. My wife Margi died 7 years ago, and I now have a happy partner relationship with Marie Odendaal. Julia Kent 1996, Law I was writing on “The Slammer” (a children’s sitcom) which was aired before Christmas and am now working on other projects for the BBC. David Kieff 1987, PPE Currently living in Boston, Massachusetts, where I am a surgeon. I would welcome any visits or contact from Mansfield alumni, particularly
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from those matriculating in 1987. Would like to pass on my best regards to Danielle Greenberg, Steven Radlett, Tariq Isa, Andrew Spigarolo and many more! Ian Kirby 1992, Theology I was inducted as minister of the Axminster Group Pastorate (Axminster, Charmouth, Morcombelake and Seaton United Reformed Churches) in August 2006. Hank Kopel 1980, PPE Hank Kopel (1980) married Dawn Weiner in October 2003, and became a step-Dad to a wonderful daughter, Rebecca (now 10). The Kopel family welcomed a baby son, Joseph Isaac, in February 2006. Hank is a federal prosecutor in New Haven, Connecticut, specialising in counter-terrorism and criminal forfeitures. Dawn works as a gynaecological physician in Greater New Haven. John-Daniel Laurence 1997, Physics We have just had our second boy, Benjamin (7lb 10oz) on 11th December 2006. Bianca Locsin 1996, PPE I graduated from Yale Law School in 2003. Now I work as a programme manager for Konrad-AdenauenStiftung, Philippines, a German Political Foundation focusing on Insitutional and Political Reform Projects in the Philippines. Matthew Maclaren 1996, Mathematics I’m getting married on the 10th May, in Cyprus Tony Martin 1977, PPE Anthony Martin has taken over family concern “John Martin Ltd” in Genval (Belgium), the leading Special Beer Importer and Distributor. Active in
Please send your news to: development@mansfield.ox.ac.uk many continental countries, brands include Guinness (epecial export), Red Stripe, McEwans, Magners, Gordon as well as Timmermans Lambic Beers which this year celebrates its 225th anniversary. Anthony is also active in the family hotel group “MARTIN’S HOTELS” that includes the Chateau du Lac in Genval, the Grand Hotel in Waterloo and others in Leuven, Bruges and Brussels. Paul McEvoy 1983, Geography As you have just seen from his article, Paul has been living in Quito for the past three years and is Manager of Lloyds Bank in Ecuador. He met his wife Maribel during an earlier posting in Guatemala, and they have a twelveyear old son, Thomas. They live in a mountain valley, at over 2,500 metres, just outside Quito and Paul enjoys regular mountain biking on local trails. In November 2006 Paul climbed the world’s highest volcano, Cotopaxi (5,890 metres), climbing over a glacier to reach the summit. Two friends are now trying to persuade him to join them in attempting Chimborazo (6,300 metres), whose sunmmit is actually further from the centre of the earth than Everest! Andrew McLuskey 1988, Theology After a very pleasant period teaching philosophy at Bedales. I have decided to concentrate on Doctoral work. The (fairly current) topic is ‘God and the Big Bang!’. Dom Pancucci 1977, English I am a journalist and have recently been involved in a Transformational Education with Landmark Education - who shift you from where you are now to where to you want to be. www.landmarkeducation.com
A Mansfield Collaboration
Greg Wolfe (1980 English) and Suzanne Wolfe (1981 English)
Looking back on it, the notion that Suzanne and I would fall in love within three weeks of arriving at Mansfield College in 1981 and then go on to marry and work as literary collaborators for a quarter century—well, let’s just say that it seems less fated to me now than it did back then. After all, I was a “young fogy,” a pipe-smoking, ascot-wearing prig from the United States and Suzanne was a convent-school rebel from Manchester heavily into avant-garde theatre. We actually met and argued, appalled at one another, across the seemingly innumerable sherry parties of that first Michaelmas term. And yet sparks flew. There was our shared love of literature, for one thing, and unfinished spiritual journeys that we helped each other walk, converging in a firm, if unblinkered, embrace of the Catholic Church. Within a few weeks, Suzanne made great strides in humanizing me (the ascot hit the rubbish bin post haste) and I...well, I’m sure I offered her something.... Soon we found ourselves with a lot less time to gaze at one another: we were too busy writing essays for our tutor, John Creaser. We adored and feared him, the fear stemming not from any mean-spiritedness on his part, but from our own desire not to disappoint him quite so much at our next tutorial. He was quite simply a brilliant teacher, a scholar who never held literature captive in an ivory tower but always believed it had something to do with...life. At Freshers’ Fair we failed to find a university club that spoke to us so we started our own: the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society, still going strong. We knew, of course, that many people tended to make Lewis into a plaster saint and we were determined that the Society not fall into that trap. So we chose to have first-class speakers not only address Lewis himself but also his friends, such as Tolkien and Charles Williams, and his larger literary and spiritual preoccupations. Astonishingly, speakers of this caliber came at our invitation, from Lewis’s contemporary, Owen Barfield, to poets
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Or via our website: www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk like John Wain and John HeathStubbs, to the then-Bishop of London, Graham Leonard. We were married at the Church of the Holy Name in Manchester, which had once briefly been served by a Jesuit named Gerard Manley Hopkins. And then off to America. We founded a literary quarterly called Image, now in its eighteenth year, which features art and literature that engage religious faith. We co-authored four books together, including a guide to children’s literature. I wrote a biography of the twentieth century journalist Malcolm Muggeridge and Suzanne recently published her first novel, Unveiling. Somehow or other we managed to bring four beautiful children into the world: Magdalen, Helena, Charles, and Benedict. Did I mention that we teach literature at Seattle Pacific University? It hasn’t always been easy (OK, that’s an understatement), but one of the sustaining joys of our life together has been that our professional lives have remained anchored in the literary life we enjoyed so much in our years at Mansfield.
Peter Poulter 1960, English Retired at the end of 2006 after nearly 40 years in the United Reformed Church (former Congregational) ministry. Last seven years as Northern Synod Moderator. Stephen Reid 1978, Theology From April 1st I moved from being a congregation-based minister to an appointment as a Presbytery Minister. This involves pastoral care of ministers in a Presbytery region, along with responsibilities for co-ordination, review and consultation processes within the region, mission-planning with ministers and congregations and mediation and conflict-resolution. Don Rudalevige 1962, Theology Retirement thus far has been terrific 5 weeks in Britain and France catching up with folks, including the Sykes and Kingstons (‘61). Then to California to see our younger son and wife and a winter trip to Nicaragua on a Mission Programme. Great news for us is that our elder son, Andrew, and his family will be 2 years in Norwich from the Fall of 2007, as he directs Dickinson College’s programme at the University of East Anglia. He will also be part of the Political Science Faculty. Nick Small 1987, Geography Anna Katherine was born 20th December 2005, our first child. I have been involved in pioneering lowcarbon volume housebuilding since 2004, since before it was politically a hot potato, or commercially fashionable. Clifford Staff 1969, Modern History In addition to my usual contributions to the local Mind Magazine, I have recently been voluntarily working with the NHS Patients’ Council involving practical experience within Hillingdon Hospital and also in the community, especially the near vicinity.
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Colin Thomann 1997, Jurisprudence My son Sebastian was christened in the College Chapel in August. Carl Viehe 1966, Political Science I have written for devotional publications: Upper Room, These Days and Secret Place. Mike Walton 1956, English Thirty years of teaching, culminating in headship of a designated community comprehensive school in east London. Retired 1990. In 1992, helped set up new charity, Education Extra (now part of ContinYou following merger), for out-of-school-hours learning activities (OSHLA). Deputy Director for approx 10 years. Now a freelance consultant, mostly writing and editing, mainly about parental involvement, family learning, OSHLA, and extended schools. I have an 11-yearold daughter, Lara, and have lived in Wanstead for twenty years. Married to Vivien, who is currently working for ContinYou. Am involved in many local activities (eg governor at local primary school). Paul Worsley 1966, Jurisprudence 2006 Appointed Crown Court Judge. Sitting on S.E. Circuit as Itinerant Murder Judge.
Events for our alumni, parents and friends
2007 23rd June Gaudy for Matriculation Years 1975-1980 Mansfield College 24th June Summer Garden Party Mansfield College
For all current students, alumni, parents, tutors, staff, former staff, friends and their families. The Commemoration of Benefactors Service and the Mansfield Association Annual General Meeting will be held during the day
8th September Tenth Annual Parents’ Dinner Mansfield College 15th September Glover Society Lunch Mansfield College 15th September Mathematics Alumni Dinner Mansfield College
Up-to-date information on all our events, including booking forms, will be added to the website as soon as it becomes available. You will find our on-line events calendar in the ‘Alumni and Friends’ section of the site.
www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk
Entries for Mansfield Photographic Competiton 2007
The Development Office Mansfield College Oxford OX1 3TF Tel: 01865 270998 Fax: 01865 270970 Web: www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk Email: development@mansfield.ox.ac.uk