Regent's Now 2016

THE MAGA ZINE OF R EGEN T' S PARK C O LLEG E, O XFO RD

REGENT S NOW -2016-

Welcome to Regent s Now The Revd Dr Rob Ellis - The Principal

Welcome to another edition of Regent’s Now. It is once more a great delight to bring you this magazine, with its mix of articles keeping you up to date with some College ‘goings on’, and giving you a glimpse into the lives and careers of alumni, students, and friends.

Regent’s Now reflects the extended community of the College, making its mark in Oxford and around the world. Once again I am sure that you will be struck by the rich diversity of Regent’s as we approach ninety years in Oxford, and our sixtieth anniversary as a Permanent Private Hall of the University.

Reports from the JCR, MCR and Ministerial Association begin by grounding this edition in the life of the students. Lily Johnson reports on the ‘busyness’ of the JCR – no wonder some have taken to Pilates and Mindfulness. Tim Nagy gives a flavour of the cosmopolitan MCR, with a greater range of disciplines and nationalities than ever.

Tom Cox refers to the changes in the congregationbased ministerial course, and these have been quite momentous. We hope that in a few years’ time we will be seen to have been ahead of the curve, as the demand for more flexible patterns of formation grows, but it would be foolish to deny that there have been teething problems. We are very grateful for the forbearance and constructive help of students in this transition period.

Suzie King is rather modest about the College’s Women’s VIII in her sport report – their remarkable achievement in winning the 2014 Christ Church Regatta and gaining Blades in Torpids and Summer VIIIs two years running makes them preeminent among our College sports teams. Julia Padfield shows how the excellent tradition in drama has been maintained, and Elizabeth Webb’s report on Oxford Debating shows how it has opened up possibilities for travel, competition, and the acquisition of transferrable skills.

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You can also read about Access work in College – a sphere in which staff and students combine well – as we try to make sure that potential students who might never have thought about Oxford are encouraged to do so. Visiting students are a really important part of our community, too, and

two of our third-year students went on a road trip to visit several visiting students in the USA; another remembers being a visiting student forty years ago; and a Georgetown alumnus tells of a Regent’s association that has proved to be extremely significant.

There are a number of important reports from staff, as well as a couple of pages introducing new staff; we are fortunate to have been joined by new tutors in Economics and Classics and the first Fellow for the Study of Love in Religion, and also by Stephen McGlynn who takes up a new post, Head of Operations, as our Bursary functions are reorganised.

The Angus project on ‘Baptist History: the Hidden Treasure of a Nation and Beyond’ has been a great success – Emma Walsh, whose enthusiasm and leadership have been so important for this major piece of work, describes and reflects upon it. Julie Reynolds gives a Development update – do note the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2017: watch this space.

In College, we often talk about the importance of developing our academic culture. For some clues about what that might mean, read the article in which our award-winning tutors Leif Dixon and Lynn Robson talk about why their students rate their tutorials so highly and how one tries to nurture academic aspiration and achievement in undergraduates. Here we see two outstanding tutors at the top of their game.

Towards the end of the magazine several contrasting pieces by former students, including Greyfriars alumni, will fascinate and intrigue, and Andrew Moore describes two festschriften presented to honour Paul Fiddes. In the final article on vulnerability, a key theme in philosophy, Pamela Sue Anderson provides an insight into some of the current work of one of our leading writers and researchers.

All in all, I am sure that you will find this edition of Regent’s Now informative and stimulating. I hope that you enjoy reading it – and allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support and encouragement of the College. www.rpc.ox.ac.uk

Contents Features 14

Excellence in Teaching and Learning

18

Visiting the Visiting Students

27

Performing Lucretia

29

Within the Love of God

31

Perspectives on Witchcraft

36

Enhancing Life

Leif Dixon & Lynn Robson

Jack Wakefield & Peter Heath Johanna Harrison

p. 14

p. 25

Andrew Moore

Nicholas Lory & Richard Hoskins Pamela Sue Anderson

p. 39

p. 21

Regent's Now 4

JCR News Update

5

MCR News Update

6

News from the Ministerials

7

Sporting Highlights

7

Drama Highlights

20

Regent s Remembered

8

Oxford Debating

21

International Encounters

9

Angus Lottery Project

22

An Unexpected Journey

10

Development Review

23

Wine and a Wedding

12

New Staff

24

Greyfriars: Then and Now

17

All Welcome at Regent s

25

Greyfriars Changed Me

40

Almanac

26

Monastery of Sound

Lily Johnson

Timothy Nagy Tom Cox

Suzie King

Julia Padfield

Elizabeth Webb Emma Walsh

Julie Reynolds Various

Victoria Condie and Holly Kelsey n/a

p. 29

Alumni News Steve Mace

Ellie and Lucas McLaughlin Malcolm Evans Sarah Knowles Peter Ventress

Mark Rachovides Rupert Abbott

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JCR News Update

Lily Johnson (Philosophy & Theology) - JCR President Anyone who has spent time in Oxford will know that students here have a particular understanding of what it means to be busy. Regent’s students are by no means an exception to this, facing a constant barrage of opportunities to ‘get involved’, opportunities which we are always keen to take up. From student journalism, to drama, sport, and international relations, Regent’s students take part in all aspects of University life at many levels.

Within the College, the JCR continues to provide a strong base from which to approach these activities. Favourites, such as brew every day at 11am and 4pm, continue and serve as an excellent break from the library.

Biscuits, tea and communal procrastination is a particularly Regent’s combination!

Every Friday we still have a packed social calendar; bop themes this year have included Movies, 1980s and History. As usual, these were attended by a vibrant mixture of fancy dress. A group effort by seven third-years who dressed as each of the seven deadly sins for the Hallowe’en bop stands out in

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my memory as particularly impressive, both in inspiration and in execution. In between these bops we have been treated to socials, ranging from karaoke, a charity talent contest, Burns’ Night, Eurovision watching, a charity quiz, Pimms and croquet, along with so many more.

This year we celebrated Emmanuelle’s birthday, for the third consecutive year, with a party in aid of Meningitis Now, in memory of former Regent’s student, Antonia Bruch. We were treated to an array of talented musicians, both from within College and from across the University. There was also the obligatory bouncy castle. After a fantastic afternoon of tortoises, raffles and baking contests we were especially proud to discover that we had raised a fantastic

£1,289.70! This was especially impressive since the brilliant sunshine of the first half of the day was replaced by a prolonged downpour. Another highlight of the JCR calendar is the Final Fling, our annual ball which happens at the end of Trinity Term. This year the theme was Atlantis and, as usual, we prepared for it with great excitement. We were particularly grateful this year to Regent’s alumnus and College Treasurer, Tony Harris (English, 2007), who very generously donated champagne for the evening.

In the midst of all this hustle and bustle we have also attempted to introduce some calm on Pusey Street with weekly Pilates sessions, as well as Mindfulness organised in the Chapel on Monday mornings. Other welfare events have included film nights, picnics and recently people took part in anonymously pidging each other little gifts for a week. Through all this our little community off St Giles’ is shown to be not just a busy one, but a diverse one.

This is a diversity of interest, activity and opinion. We’re very lucky at Regent’s to have this in our community. I am frequently reminded of the motto of Rutland, England’s smallest county: "Multum in parvo". www.regentsjcr.com @regentsoxford Regent s Park College JCR

MCR News Update

Timothy Nagy (MTh Applied Theology) - MCR President To start, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Tim, and I have recently been elected as MCR President. I began the MTh course at Regent’s in October, and I have truly enjoyed studying in such a vibrant academic community. I am from Massachusetts, and I completed my undergraduate studies in Vermont.

It is an exciting time for the MCR at Regent’s. The lounge and study space have been refurbished, debts have been paid, new leadership is in place, and past leadership is still around to ensure a smooth transition. With all of this infrastructure in place my vision is simple: COMMUNITY. I will be encouraging students to use the refurbished spaces, to attend Formal Hall each week, and to engage in interdisciplinary discussion. My hope is that the lounge space will act as a hub for MCR members to discuss research, relax, and foster lifelong friendships. Furthermore, I hope to collaborate with JCR and SCR leaders in an effort to build up the Regent’s community as a whole.

The members of the MCR are a truly diverse group of students.

Countries represented include Canada, USA, UK, Peru, Hungary, Germany, China, Ghana, Zimbabwe, India, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, and Thailand. The array of subjects studied is, perhaps, even more diverse. Students are studying sociology, theology, linguistics, archaeology, global governance, literature, politics, diplomacy, law, economics, business administration, and several more subjects. It is phenomenal to have such intellectual and international diversity at Regent’s!

Members of the MCR have continued to excel in all aspects of College life. Eleanor McLaughlin (DPhil Theology) submitted her doctoral thesis on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s concept of ‘unconscious Christianity’ – one of the first scholarly explorations of the topic. Alexander Pfeiffer (DPhil Geography) rowed for Regent’s in the men’s boat.

Katherine Hinzman (MSt History of Art & Visual Culture) was accepted into a doctoral program at the University of York, and I myself am a member of The Oxford Commas, a University

all-male a cappella group. Also of note, the MCR implemented a small grants scheme for a student to purchase books for their research. In Trinity Term, Emilie Noteboom (DPhil Theology) became the first recipient of this grant, and the MCR plans to continue this scheme on an annual basis.

All in all, the MCR has had a great year and is in excellent shape going forward. I want to include a sincere thank you to Matthew Mills (DPhil Theology) for the work he did during his three years as MCR President and for his continued involvement at Regent’s. This positive report is largely due to his dedication to the MCR and to Regent’s as a whole.

At his request, I will begin to work with the Development Office to think of ways to engage the alumni community of the MCR. Moreover, I am thankful for Anna Kirby-Hall (BA Theology) and Scott Ables (DPhil Theology), for their leadership in the MCR during this past year as well. The support of these past leaders has given me great confidence for the success of the MCR. I am very much looking forward to representing the postgraduate, ministerial, and mature students at Regent’s and, even more so, to bringing them together in a brilliantly diverse community. www.regentsmcr.com

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News from the Ministerials Tom Cox (MTh Applied Theology)

Ministerial Association Representative Ministerial training at Regent’s Park is a time of preparation. It’s a time to be formed theologically and spiritually, as well as practically, in order to be commended for ordination within the Baptist Union.

However, this preparation is not limited to personal formation. The community of ministerial students is regularly preparing for other aspects of life together. For example, the last few months of an academic year are a time to prepare to say goodbye to the graduating third-years, which is always a difficult experience as we say goodbye to much loved friends, and for those third-years themselves to prepare to settle in to the churches to which they have been called.

Last academic year (14/15) was also a time of preparation for big changes to the structure and content of ministerial formation at Regent’s Park, which, amongst other things, has resulted in a reduction of the time we spend in College and has affected our engagement with the life of the wider University. These changes kicked in at the start of Michaelmas Term 2015 and saw the ministerial community return in ‘-1st Week’ (Oxford parlance for the week before the week before the start of full term!) to participate in our first four-day (previously three-day) block week programme on Incarnational Ministry. We then returned the following Tuesday (no longer Monday and Tuesday) of 0th Week to begin our nine-week (up from eight-week) regular term. Further block weeks on Death and Dying, and Engaging in a Multi-faith Society in Hilary and Trinity Terms respectively, including visits to Oxford Crematorium and Synagogue, and a smattering of other key events have all fitted together to complete our first year in this new structure. One particular highlight was to welcome Regent’s alumnus, Joshua Searle, as speaker at the annual Whitely Lecture, this year entitled ‘Church Without Walls: Post-Soviet Baptists after the Ukranian Revolution’.

With much less time available to engage in the life of the College, I express my thanks on behalf of the ministerial community to all who have continued to make us feel a valued part of the community, especially the MCR, which has provided treats for us each week, and we hope that we can continue to contribute value to the life of this wonderful place. We also remain very grateful to our tutors for all their hard work in helping to form us for ministry, particularly at this time of change.

L & R: The Oxford Synagogue

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Sporting Highlights Suzie King (English)

Despite being a relatively small community, Regent’s is always keen to get involved with sport, and often with considerable success. This year, Regent’s has competed in several different cuppers tournaments including netball and football, with rounders coming up in the summer. In Trinity Term last year, Regent’s won mixed netball cuppers! Later in Hilary Term, to keep up the success rate, the men also made it to the final of football cuppers, coming out on top, with fresher Felix Jones (English, 2015) as notable goal-scorer.

Rowing, as ever, is an integral part of sport at Regent’s. The women entered a novice boat in the Christ Church Regatta, winning their first few races. In Hilary

(Geography, 2015) currently training to trial for the women’s Blues boat next year. Kate Cole (History and Economics, 2013) continues to sail with the Blues sailing team, and Will Yates (PPE, 2013) competed in his last matches with the University Fives team before his Finals this term. Fresher, Camila Whittaker Regent’s also has several individual (PPE, 2015), is also part of the Blues athletes who dedicate many University Tennis team. hours of their week to achieve an incredibly high level of fitness And finally, of course, Regent’s and technique in their sport. continues to have many ruthlessly Hebe Westcott (English, 2014) competitive croquet players out scored the winning goal as part in the quad every day in Trinity of the Blues Netball team in their Term, enjoying the sunshine with Varsity match against Cambridge Emmanuelle! Many teams have in Hilary Term. For a second year, also entered croquet cuppers Peter Burke-Smith (Geography, this term with results yet to be 2014) has rowed with the Oxford announced.

University Lightweight Rowers, with fresher Hattie McCleod

Term, both men and women entered Torpids, with the women achieving blades – their third set of blades in a row. Both boats are also entered for Summer Eights in 5th week of Trinity Term and are currently training hard with coach Pete Bond (Modern History, 2000) to hopefully achieve blades.

Drama Highlights

Julia Padfield (English)

As with every year, Regent’s has been keen to get stuck in to a wide variety of Arts endeavours and with great success too! To kick off the new year in Michaelmas Term, the first-year drama cuppers team made it through to the final of the competition and were also nominated for the Spirit of Cuppers title; way to set a precedent for the great year to come for the Arts at Regent’s!

whole college proud with both its strong Regent’s presence and its critical acclaim from those who watched Shakespeare come to life on the quad this Hilary. In Trinity Term, despite biblical downpours at Emmanuelle’s birthday party, Regent’s still got the chance to see this year’s Summer Play later on in term - Savannah Fishel’s take on Aesop’s Fables - and as always everyone loved watching it!

Of course, at Christmas the Regent’s pantomime made sure that everyone, whether performing or watching, got involved in having a good laugh and celebrating the Regent’s spirit, as well as being a bit risqué with the humour at times but what’s new, eh? Lucy Clarke’s production of Coriolanus then made the

Talented first-years Tara Snelling and Ellie Siora directed their very own thought-provoking short film Bench, with Thomas Jordan providing the score. Screened at the Oxford Student Film Festival in Trinity, Bench undoubtedly put Regent’s on the map by showcasing everyone’s talents.

Over the past year, our own Cassian Bilton has continued to storm the Oxford drama scene, appearing in an almost obscene number of plays, including the incredible Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Orphans. In a similar vein of Regent’s pride in the wider University, Rosie Richards has made a great addition to the awesome a capella stylings of The Alternotives since arriving this year, and Suzie King continues to be an indispensable marketing genius for the theatres in Oxford!

All in all, a cracking year for Regent’s in the Arts and here’s hoping next year will be just as exciting!

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Oxford Debating Elizabeth Webb (Theology)

My first serious encounter with debating only took place when I arrived at Oxford, and little did I know about the extent to which I would travel the world and meet new people through my involvement with the Oxford Union.

The first attraction for me was the strategic and critical thinking element of debating. At Oxford we practice British Parliamentary debating which is not based on style at all but solely on the content of your argument, and this was an encouragement to me; I felt able to navigate the content in an intellectually rigorous way without being stifled or intimidated by an overtly complicated set of rules or procedures. (Newcomers take note.) Of course, a by-product of this approach to debating is the skills you acquire along the way: essay writing can improve no end as a result of honing your ability to analyse the nub of an argument with precision.

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Travelling has been extremely fun and has also included some beautiful places that perhaps I wouldn’t ever have chosen to visit (Texas, Leiden, and Paris, to name a few), though the first gruelling journey to Durham on a cold rainy day in October 2014, just after I joined as a fresher, nearly put me off completely! It has also been brilliant to meet so many people from diverse backgrounds from all over the world, and to meet up with them on the circuit again and again.

This was particularly so when I convened the Oxford IV 2015 last Michaelmas, which is the largest and most prestigious debating competition in the country, consisting of 450 participants from across the world, including the top international universities. I had previous experience of convening the Oxford Women’s Open, but the scale of the IV was on another level entirely and required a huge commitment of time and energy.

We chaired a large committee

and needed to keep them motivated and on-track, often at times when they themselves were abroad or occupied with other commitments. We liaised with our existing sponsors, and a successful pitch to a new, bluechip sponsor then brought a raft of new challenges to balance their respective needs and branding requirements with those of the existing player. New emails arrived every day about timetable and room planning, visa processing, budgeting and food requirements.

It was exhausting and stressful, but without a doubt I can say that this was one of my most rewarding experiences at university so far, and one that I know will stand me in great stead in my future career.

It’s true that I have given a lot of time to debating these last two years, but I can honestly say that I am grateful for everything it has given me in return, and would encourage anyone out there to take a look for themselves at the opportunities debating offers.

Successful Angus Lottery Project

The Revd Emma Walsh (College Librarian) ‘Baptist History: the Hidden Treasure of a Nation and Beyond’ is the name of the outreach and development project which The Angus Library and Archive has been undertaking for the last three years. It cost £488,000 and was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Newington Court Fund (The Baptist Union of Great Britain) and The Particular Baptist Fund. It has seen over 1800 people engage with The Angus in new and exciting ways, alongside which 17,600 new library and archive records have been created and 17,250 digital images have been taken. We have also developed a variety of online resources such as schools resources which have been downloaded over 5000 times and are being used by schools across the country.

Underpinning the project is a new website providing a platform for the various activities in one place.

Since its launch, the website has had over 13,000 visitors, looking at over 65,000 pages. As a result of the website people are now, for the first time, able search the archive online alongside the library catalogue, look at a digital library of 200 significant Baptist items and search a database of over 10,000 Baptist people who have made a contribution to Baptist life from the 1600s to today. The website enables people to see online versions of all of the exhibitions we have developed, look at a virtual tour of Baptist sites in Oxford and book places on training courses. It also provides information on the collections and how to access the Angus for

research, with approximately half of all requests now coming through the website.

The outreach activities have spanned a variety of audiences from the general public, to school students, and local churches.

These activities have included: five exhibitions on the following subjects: slavery, the changing roles of women, literature, the Congo and World War I. Each exhibition had two accompanying talks, all of which have been informative and inspiring. Six Archive Taster Sessions, where twenty Year 10 and 11 students came and spent a day learning how to carry out research using primary resources. These days were some of the most rewarding of the project, as it was often the first time the students had been allowed or had the opportunity to use items that were old or fragile, inspiring a number to consider doing History for their A Levels. Seven tours, with a variety of groups each with their own focus, such as an interest in rare items, Baptist history, and family history. Six ‘Telling and Protecting your story’ training courses have been run around the UK, helping local churches from a variety of denominations learn how to protect their records, past, present, and future, and also how to write an engaging church history. All of these activities have been supported by a dedicated team of over thirty volunteers, each bringing their own skills and experience to the various roles, from research, to exhibition development, archival work and transcription.

One of the main aims of the project was to develop resources in such a way that they could continue to be used once to project had officially ended. We are already seeing this with the continued use of a number of the exhibitions, the on-going downloading and use of the schools resources, and a maintained interest in the church training days. The website will also continue to advance with the most recent development being the purchase of two digital scanners, enabling us to sustain a digitisation program once the project has ended, resulting in even more items being accessible to the public.

The success of this project has only been possible because of the hard work of a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. It is hoped that both the Angus and the College will continue to benefit from the project for many years to come, ensuring that The Angus Library and Archive is no longer the hidden treasure of a nation and beyond, but rather a treasure which is known, accessible and able to help more people engage with Baptist history either because of their own Baptist roots or because Baptists and the dissenting tradition have had such a formative influence in the history of the UK. www.theangus.rpc.ox.ac.uk

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Development Review

Julie Reynolds (Director of Development & Alumni Relations) News and Events It has been a busy year for Development and Alumni Relations at Regent’s. In September 2015, we made our annual Oxford Alumni Weekend, with alumna and buyer for the Wine Society, Sarah Knowles (Geography 2003), guiding us through a wine tasting on Friday evening and then a garden party in the beautiful sunshine on attended by the Chancellor of the University, Lord Patten of Barnes, and we were delighted to welcome a few Greyfriars alumni to Regent’s, some for the

Will Watt leaving to concentrate on his voiceover work and the arrival of Mr Matthew Mills.

Matthew did his undergraduate Regent’s and he returned to Regent’s to begin a doctorate in He is a very active member of the Regent’s community as MCR President (2013-2016) and Junior 10

Dean, and has very quickly become an invaluable asset to the Development team.

October 2015 saw the Principal and me undertake a two-week tour of the USA, which included four states and over a dozen cities, including Baltimore, Waco and Macon. It was a valuable opportunity to connect with our American alumni who were extremely hospitable and warm, and many friendships were renewed. We were then back to the US in April 2016 for the North American ‘Meeting Minds’ reunion. It was wonderful to be able to join some of our alumni and colleagues for dinner at the breath-taking Library of Congress and then listen to lively debate during the academic programme on topics such as leadership, American politics, and the environment.

Alumni Weekend. All events can be found on our website, so please do check it regularly: www.rpc. ox.ac.uk/newsandevents/. We would love to welcome all of our alumni to an event soon.

Communications One of our current priorities in Development is to make sure that alumni communications are more make sure that individual alumni receive the information which is most relevant to them in a way introduced the termly newsletter which is sent by email and includes information on the life of the College and upcoming events.

We have also started using social

a new Twitter page: twitter.com/ RegentsOx. Also, due to tightening charity regulations, as a registered charity Regent’s is required to verify and document your consent to roll out in 2016 with May seeing in order to contact you in the a second Ministerial Reunion and future. It’s very important to us a Greyfriars Formal Hall dinner, that we are able to stay in touch the annual London drinks in with all of our alumni and to keep July and more wine and a bit of you updated on our news, events, Shakespeare for this year’s Oxford updates and campaigns. In the New

Year we will be providing a number of ways for you to register your consent and we would be very grateful for your cooperation.

Fundraising continues to focus on fundraising. students meet their tutors on a weekly basis for academic is one of those things that make Oxford such a special place to learn. From many alumni, I know how profoundly rewarding they found their own tutorials, where they learned how to think, and their lives. However, this kind of one-to-one teaching is expensive, which is why the College is so grateful to all of those who donate towards our general fund to help cover the costs of things like teaching. Whether it is a few pounds a month or a bigger sum once a year, this income helps Regent’s to concentrate on what education. We are immensely proud that in three of the last four years one of our team has won an award for teaching excellence: in 2013, Dr Lynn Robson (English) was declared Most Acclaimed Lecturer in the Humanities by the Oxford University Student Union; in 2015, Dr Robson obtained a University of Oxford Teaching Excellence Award; in 2016, Dr Leif Dixon (History) won the OUSU award for Outstanding Tutor in the Humanities.

just how committed we are to providing the highest quality of teaching and learning, but we also need the support of donors to ensure that we can continue

to improve. If you would like to donate to the College, you can do so at any time and in a way that works for you. If you would like to set up a monthly direct debit, visit our page on the University website: www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/ regents-park-college. Whether you have donated before or may consider doing so in the future, you are welcome to contact me by telephone: +44 (0)1865 288141, or email: julie.reynolds@regents. ox.ac.uk.

As one recent donor said: ‘I am very honoured to be able to support Regent’s Park College

did I receive the unparalleled academic education to be expected from Oxford University, I also found myself surrounded by a caring, supportive, creative and diverse community of people, both in the wonderful professors,

a friendly and welcoming place for education and research, in an atmosphere of academic freedom, and sensitive community in which all are able to grow and discover has certainly been my experience and, I hope, that of others too.

It is a privilege to be part of this community and I am delighted that I will be able to carry on playing my part here in the future through my legacy.’

Our Diamond Jubilee!

2017 will mark the 60th anniversary of Regent’s becoming part of the University of Oxford – our Diamond Jubilee! Whilst we are mere striplings compared to some of our more elderly college neighbours, it is something that we are determined to celebrate. At the moment, we are looking for donors who would be prepared to

graduate students, the ministerial you may be able to help, please get candidates and the undergraduates in touch. More details of the year’s activities are in the accompanying among Oxford Colleges, and I am Jubilee brochure included with glad to give support in order to this year’s Regent’s Now. We will ensure that future generations are also have a special Jubilee page as blessed by it as I have been.’ on the website, which will go live just before Christmas and will be updated regularly. We hope that Legacies: you will be able to join us at one of the various special events we plan to have throughout the year.

Another way to support the College is by remembering us in your will. For more information

www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/regents-park-college @regentsox

will/, or please contact me on the number or email above.

Our very own Ms Fiona Floate, Personal Assistant to the Principal since 1988, has explained why she has chosen to leave a legacy: ‘I want to see this College continuing to provide 11

NEW LECTURER IN ECONOMICS

Pawel Adrjan

Pawel joined Regent’s in October 2015 as College Lecturer in Economics. He holds a BA in International Studies and a BS in Economics from the Huntsman Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and an MPhil in Economics with distinction from Oxford. Prior to postgraduate study, Pawel spent eleven years in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Barclays in New York and London in a variety of risk management, ratings advisory, treasury and regulatory roles.

His doctoral work at Oxford is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Pawel is an empirical labour economist and his research

focuses on the relationship between firm productivity and employee compensation. One of his current research projects examines the trends in employee compensation in the UK and its changing share in national income. He investigates why the relationship between workers’ compensation and the firm’s income varies across firms, and analyses the extent to which changes within the universe of firms have affected the decline in labour’s share of UK GDP since the 1970s.

Another strand of Pawel’s research, in joint work with Professor Brian Bell, investigates the effects of legacy pension costs on UK firms and their employees. Since the early 2000s, large deficits related to historic pension commitments to workers

have arisen in many occupational pension plans, requiring substantial, unexpected payments from the sponsoring employers.

This project examines how these deficit funding payments for legacy pension commitments are shared between employees and shareholders.

At Regent’s, Pawel teaches firstand second-year undergraduate Economics courses and looks after Economics students’ academic needs. He has already contributed to Access and Outreach initiatives by giving taster lectures in Economics to Year 10, 11 and 12 students, both in the College and through the University-wide Oxford Pathways programme.

He also arranges and oversees the teaching of Economics and Mathematics to Regent’s Visiting Students.

NEW FELLOW IN THE STUDY OF LOVE IN RELIGION

Dr Minlib Dallh, O.P.

Br Minlib is Research Fellow in the Study of Love in Religion. Originally from Burkina Faso (West Africa), Br Minlib is a Dominican friar and a member of the Southern Province of the USA. Educated as a jurist in Burkina Faso, he arrived in the USA to pursue doctoral studies in constitutional law. While preparing for the Law School Admission Test at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he encountered the Dominican friars in the area. In 2000, he joined the Province of Martin de Porres.

After completing his MA and MDiv at the Aquinas Institute in St Louis and St Louis University (MI), in 2004 Br Minlib was 12

sent to the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies (IDEO) in Cairo for Arabic and Islamic studies. In 2011, he completed a PhD in Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at the University of Exeter and Hartford Seminary (CT USA) with a focus on comparative mysticism. After graduation, he taught at various universities in the USA: Hartford Seminary, Loyola University New Orleans (LA), Rosemont College (PA), and Candler School of Theology at Emory University (GA).

Br Minlib’s primary research is on comparative mysticism: Christianity and Islam. Other research interests include: the Christian discipleship of vowed Catholic religious men and women living in the abode

of Islam and the history of Dominican orientalism. With regard to the Love Project at Regent’s Park, Br Minlib’s research focuses on medieval Christian women mystics’ use of bridal/ marital language and erotic imagery. His research includes pre-modern Sufi women’s concepts of intimate love of God or living in love with the Divine Beloved. His interest extends to the thorny relationship between hanbalism (arguably the most conservative school of jurisprudence in Sunni Islam) and Sufism’s religion of love. In this case, he has a particularly interest in the contribution of Hanbali Sufi women to mystical love. www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/love-in-religion

NEW LECTURER IN ANCIENT HISTORY

Dr Alison Rosenblitt

Alison has come to Regent’s to act as Lecturer in Ancient History and Director of Studies in Classics. With Dr Leif Dixon, she has also just admitted Regent’s first students for Ancient and Modern History.

Alison works on the late Roman republic, especially the Latin historian Sallust, who appeals to her, she explains, because he watched his world fall apart and because he is fascinated by troublemakers – even if not always sympathetic to them. She has also been working recently in classical reception, where her research is focused on the modernist American poet E.E. Cummings; Alison says that she likes the

way that Cummings responds to Classical verse: ambitious, provocative, and disobedient.

Alison’s first book will soon be available: E.E. Cummings’ Modernism and the Classics: Each Imperishable Stanza (Oxford University Press, forthcoming, 2016); the American modernist E.E. Cummings is not normally thought of as a Classicallyinfluenced poet. With his experimental form and syntax, his irreverence, and his rejection of the highbrow, there are probably very few current readers who would name Cummings if asked to identify twentieth-century Anglophone poets in the Classical tradition. But for most of his life, and even for ten or twenty years after his death, this is how

many readers and critics did see Cummings. Cummings specialised in the study of Classical literature as an undergraduate at Harvard, and his contemporaries saw him as a ‘pagan’ poet or a ‘Juvenalian’ satirist, with an Aristophanic sense of humour. E.E. Cummings’ Modernism and the Classics aims to recover for today’s reader this lost understanding of Cummings as a Classicising poet.

Alison’s second academic book will be Rome after Sulla, with Bloomsbury Academic, and she is currently writing her third book, a commercial non-fiction book which sold to W. W. Norton via her literary agent, Georgina Capel.

NEW HEAD OF OPERATIONS

Stephen McGlynn

Stephen joined Regent’s in May 2016 in the new role of Head of Operations, responsible for the oversight and management of the College’s non-academic services and resources. Stephen and his team look after matters relating to accommodation and housekeeping, catering, conferences, maintenance and estates, security, and health and safety. He is also a Fellow of the College and a member of the Governing Body.

With a background in work psychology, Stephen is currently writing his doctoral thesis at the Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management

School. His main area of interest is how organisations can best support their employees’ learning and development. He is also interested in topics related to psychometrics, diversity and inclusion, vocational selection, and the use of innovative technologies in research methods and psychological practice. He teaches on a range of topics across work psychology and human resource management at undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive levels.

Stephen graduated in 2010 with a degree in Experimental Psychology from New College, Oxford, and has a Masters in Occupational Psychology from the University of Sheffield.

in post, Stephen comments: “Regent’s Park has offered a very warm welcome and it’s been easy to quickly feel at home – a real testament to the infamous Regent’s community spirit. In getting to grips with the role, it is clear that the College has great untapped potential, and we have high ambitions for both the College’s facilities and finances, reflected in the new arrangement of the former Bursar role. I’m delighted to be able to spearhead these important developments with Nicki Kilpin as Head of Finance, and look forward to meeting many of our alumni along the way, collaborating together on projects and catching-up at our Jubilee events.”

Reflecting on his first few months 13

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Dr Leif Dixon (History)

Dr Lynn Robson (English)

Excellence in Teaching and Learning In this year s Oxford University Student Union Teaching Awards, nominated by students, Dr Dixon won the award for Outstanding Tutor in the Humanities. In 2013, Dr Robson received an Oxford University Teaching Excellence Award and, in 2015, she won the OUSU award for Most Acclaimed Lecturer in the Humanities. In this article, they discuss the experience and purpose of teaching, the fostering of an academic culture at Regent s, and our future.

Leif: From a student’s perspective, Like students, tutors can feel experiences of the tutorial system vary. When the working week has gone well, tutorials are deeply rewarding and actively enjoyable, leaving students eager to follow up leads and incorporate feedback into their next essay. If they’ve been distracted by social events or personal problems, tutorials feel like a harrowing prospect: something they simply hope to survive. It might surprise you to hear that for the tutor it is not so very different. We’re not – or certainly should not be – actors who read from the same script every time. I teach because it is tremendously energising to engage with bright young people, to be made to think on my feet as I demand that they think on theirs, and to offer individual, targeted, constructive advice – which means responding to a unique situation every time.

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vulnerable. Maybe I know less than I should about the topic?

Perhaps I don’t understand the student’s approach? Once in a while, a student will write an essay that is so brilliant it answers every question that I’ve ever thought to ask. I try to embrace this uncertainty. If the essay really is that good I tell the student it is and that I’m just going to try to figure it out as I go along. It’s probably the most important thing that I learned as a young tutor: don’t fear your ignorance; don’t close down discussions because you are anxious about revealing your ‘inner charlatan’; don’t seek safety in order to preserve an illusion of control and authority. I tell students to trust their instincts: they have taught me to trust my own. All I can really promise is to give students my undivided intellectual and emotional attention for the whole

tutorial. It’s not a lot to ask, even if it is sometimes quite a lot to give.

When tutors and students work together to the best of their abilities they share many of the same excitements and anxieties.

Such similarities shouldn’t be surprising: teaching and learning are symbiotic, and a good tutorial is essentially a collaborative effort.

We even share the same seasons: feeling rusty at the beginning of term and exhausted towards the end. College changes when the students go home and I anticipate their return with an enervating mixture of excitement and apprehension. But I am always happy that they’re back because the College comes alive again.

Lynn: Yes, learning involves collaboration, which makes it a conversation. However, it doesn’t just involve the relationship between student and tutor; it

must include the ones between the students themselves and between tutors either in the same subject or in different disciplines.

Collaborations work when we’re capable of self-critical and independent thinking and I think it’s important to help students understand this so that they can take ownership of our tutorial conversations and be able to apply the insights they gain once they’ve closed my office door behind them.

I see students arriving at Regent’s who are exceptionally talented and successful but who are less good at judging their own capabilities, who wait for external approval from examiners or from my feedback on their weekly essays, who are eager to be freed from target criteria but are apprehensive about the less structured world that this beckons them towards. Over the past couple of years, I’ve used the tutorial’s flexibility to promote students’ confidence so they can recognize the quality of their work and take an increasingly expert role in our weekly conversations.

I’ve introduced students to selfassessment, encouraging them to evaluate their own writing, commenting on its strengths and weaknesses, identifying lines of argument they want to explore further, and questions they want to ask. You might think this would increase my own sense of

vulnerability, but the opposite is true. The students and I learn from each other: they consult my expertise and wider knowledge, I listen to their ideas and, as we discuss the connections between them, learning and teaching become collaborative rather than a process of instilling knowledge.

Does it work? The best evidence that it does is in conversations that have carried on beyond tutorials: students often arrive telling me that they’ve read each other’s essays beforehand and have already discussed the texts, authors or topics that they’ve chosen for that week. They make suggestions for next week’s work as we’ve already established the ideas that are interesting them in, say, the development of the novel, and I make suggestions for other things they might read.

Students edit their own essays, not waiting for my comments, intent on refining their ideas and expressing them as persuasively as possible. This helps break down the gap in students’ understanding about how tutorial essays relate to examinations as essays become part of students’ learning, not just an outcome of it, open to revision and reinterpretation.

Leif: One reason I enjoy working with Lynn so much is because of her fresh, insightful and innovative approach to teaching.

Her points about generating self-

critical and mutually-supportive attitudes in students pinpoint a vital issue: the tutorial is not an event that occurs in its own little world, but is an aspect of a wider process of learning and constructive interaction. Teaching, no matter how brilliantly delivered, can only do so much to generate enthusiastic and wellbalanced students who perform to the best of their abilities. So, what happens when the student leaves the tutorial and chats with their friends in the JCR? Do they all have a sly laugh about having ‘got away with it’, and head to the pub? Do they pretend they don’t care, but return to their room to work hard in isolation? Do they put down ‘weaker’ members of the group, competing destructively among themselves? I’ve seen all of these dynamics in different colleges. Once established, an academic culture is difficult to change.

What really impresses me about the current generation of History students at Regent’s is how supportive and constructively ambitious they are. Like Lynn, I often hear asides in tutorials about how students have worked together, consulting other students who are doing similar papers, or how they’ve made use of Regent’s focus on the Humanities to discuss their ideas with theologians, classicists, or philosophers. One of my favourite moments from

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last year was when a first-year told me that they had learned a huge amount from a finalist about a particular topic; and then a few days later being told by the same finalist that talking to the firstyear had really helped them to consolidate their own ideas.

One of the difficulties that I faced when I arrived at Regent’s was the perception of some students that they should have limited ambitions because it isn’t a large or famous college, or because they didn’t apply here in the first place.

There isn’t an easy or foolproof way to break this self-fulfilling prophecy but I think it helped that I’d previously taught at several other Oxbridge colleges and could tell them with confidence that I rated them very highly or, where necessary, that they needed to adopt a different attitude. Finding the right tutors for students’ individual needs was important in making the teaching process as stimulating as possible.

The key, though, is to find the right students to begin with.

We’ve lobbied successfully for Regent’s to be given an equal place in the University’s admissions process, ending the ‘opt out’ clause and increasing our visibility to potential applicants. Now it’s important that we make good decisions about where the

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conversations and collaborations between colleagues – students can be confident that their tutors work together to deliver truly integrated degree programmes. We’ve built on our academic foundations and confidently extended our range into Classics and English, Theology and Oriental Studies, and History studied jointly with English or Politics or Economics.

Such positive developments are ongoing: next year we will launch the new degree programme of Ancient and Modern History.

Perhaps we could go further still. The ethos at Regent’s has brought about such strengths in interdisciplinary learning and teaching. The commitment of individual tutors to promoting Regent’s, working in Access and Outreach activities, ensuring Lynn: The JCR bar may be that we’re treated equally in the (rightly) beyond a tutor’s University’s admissions process, reach, but we shouldn’t forget draws talented students to that a thriving academic life is our community and makes us something that has to permeate optimistic for the future, but I the whole college. In the time I’ve worked at Regent’s our perceptions want more. I want to see Regent’s become a centre of excellence of what our academic culture is for teaching and research in and could be have shifted and Humanities and Social Sciences grown. We’ve recognised our through funded Fellowships expertise in Humanities and and seminars, and through Social Sciences and in delivering investment in our infrastructure, an outstanding academic perhaps establishing a collegeexperience for students studying joint honours degrees, and as Leif based centre for interdisciplinary studies. Investment in the talent said, the students benefit from of our tutors and students is an that directly. Our size enables investment in our future. true potential lies when we’re confronted with a deep pool of talented candidates. Of course, we look for academic excellence but we also search for candidates who are passionate, who have a sense of independence, and have even faced some struggles in life. Academic culture cannot be imposed from above, it’s forged in the student bar, in apparently inconsequential conversations in the JCR – in all the places that tutors cannot, and should not, reach. But what tutors can do is think very hard about the candidates to whom they want to offer places, and be willing to work hard to develop talent that may not have been fully brought out by the school system.

All Welcome at Regent's

Widening Access and Participation Dr Victoria Condie - Access & Outreach Officer The Access and Outreach year is defined by the main University Open Days in June: two days of constant activity, invariably coinciding with either a heat wave or storms. Last year, Regent’s welcomed around one hundred and fifty visitors. Our feedback is always positive, and this is due to the indefatigable work and enthusiasm of the student helpers who are our greatest asset in terms of promoting the College.

Fair access is the key goal for the entire collegiate university, and part of the role of the Access and Outreach Coordinator and committee is to plan and run events to facilitate and encourage this. Highlights so far this year have included our annual visit from the Sponsors for Educational

Opportunity Scholars: a group of Year 11 outstanding students who visit Regent’s in order to experience something of college life and work. We also have continued our association with the Scholars programme by recently running a Year 12 study day focussing on Politics and Economics. The response was very encouraging and our programme of tailored study days will continue to focus on progress within specific subject areas.

Special thanks must go to the outgoing JCR Access representative, Freddy Rendall.

Freddy suggested running teachers’ seminars and dinners with a view to establishing an ‘institutional memory’ of Regent’s. The first event took

place in February and was highly successful. This will be repeated in the autumn. Freddy and some of the JCR also designed and wrote the very effective Alternative College Prospectus.

Freddy’s successor, Holly Kelsey, is doing excellent work not only in galvanising volunteers for College tours and Q&A sessions during visits but also in designing literature promoting Regent’s to school groups. Access and Outreach couldn’t function without the continuing goodwill of our tutors and students.

We look forward to planning more successful programmes, and hopefully seeing our work rewarded in applicants who have discovered Regent’s through one of our events.

Holly Kelsey (History & English) Since being elected JCR Access and Outreach officer in Hilary term, I have been getting other students involved in Access both for Regent’s and the wider University. My main role is to co-ordinate the Regent’s Student Ambassadors, a group of student volunteers interested in Access who volunteer at our events, from tour-guiding school groups around College to answering prospective students’ questions over lunch. I have been encouraging all Regent’s students to get involved with University-wide Access initiatives such as Target Schools and was delighted that so many took this

opportunity, with students from across the years getting involved with the shadowing scheme for Year 12 pupils.

I have also been pushing social media as a way of celebrating and publicising the Access work Regent’s is doing. Following the lead of many other colleges, I have written tweets for Regent’s including the hashtag #oxoutreach, in order to make the work we do more transparent and recognised within the University.

I have only been in this role for a term, but have already found it hugely rewarding, from helping allay fears of prospective students

who think Oxford is stuffed with geniuses who never have fun, to being told by one student that she was choosing History GCSE based on how much fun it sounded coming from me and the other students.

The next project is to organise the Open Days this year, and I really look forward to working with other helpful and enthusiastic students to show prospective applicants what a welcoming place Oxford – and Regent’s – can be! #oxoutreach

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Visiting the Visiting Students

Jack Wakefield (2013, Theology) & Peter Heath (2013, Theology) Editorial by Dr Lynn Robson, Director of the Visiting Student Programme

Regent’s Park’s Visiting Student Programme has been flourishing over the past few years. Each term, between 15 and 18 visiting undergraduates, mainly from universities in USA and Europe, study alongside their full-time colleagues, either staying for a whole academic year or for one or two terms. We currently have partnerships with 6 US universities: Carson Newman University, Tennessee; Columbus State University, Georgia; Georgetown College, Kentucky; Mercer University, Georgia; University of Oklahoma, and William Jewell College, Missouri. We’ve also been delighted to welcome students from other US universities such as Harvard, Yale, USC, University of Texas Austin and Claremont-McKenna as well as those in Germany, Austria, Iceland and Singapore. Visiting students enrich Regent’s community in so many ways, from their outstanding academic achievements, to their enthusiasm for drama, music or playing Quidditch and their contributions to our recent outstanding sporting achievements. In the last couple of years a designated JCR rep. for visiting students has emphasised their importance to College and made their welcome even warmer.

When the visiting students leave us they have wonderful memories to take with them but they also know that they will always be members of Regent’s and that the friendships they made here are strong and long-lasting.

Eight planes, four states, two Brits, and one mission: to visit the visiting students.

In our three years at Regent’s Park College, Jack Wakefield and I have been unable to stop making friends with visiting students.

Each term, a casual ‘hi’ flourishes into a friendship, making it hard to say a final ‘goodbye’ come the end of term. The majority of these friends reside across the

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pond, so at the end of our second year we decided that it was time to plan a journey to the USA to pay them a visit. The trip would give us a taste of the Deep South, the South, the Midwest, and the Northwest, allowing us to meet up with around thirty former visiting students.

Michaelmas Term of our final year ended, and our US adventure

began. Atlanta, Georgia was our destination. The first game we played on American soil was ‘count the guns’, this was fun, but we soon lost count and were excited to be reunited with our friend from Columbus State University who had come to pick us up. She was a wonderful host and we unexpectedly found ourselves staying in a rented apartment in the centre of the city. Our days were filled with sight-seeing, relaxing, Southern food, and an unlimited supply of sweet (iced) tea. We visited Martin Luther King’s childhood home, one of the churches he served as a minister, and the Atlanta Civil Rights Museum. Being good tourists, we had dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Atlanta and were joined there by some more friends from CSU.

After three days in Georgia, we began the journey to our second destination, Kentucky. We drove through Tennessee, stopping at Chattanooga, and driving past Nashville. As we drove through rural Tennessee on a Wednesday afternoon, we were surprised to find that the only thing we could pick up on the car radio was a sermon broadcast! On arriving at Georgetown College, we were greeted by an assortment of friends who had all come to Regent’s for different terms over the last couple of years. In theory we knew that they all knew each other, but it was still quite strange to see them interact!

Before retiring to the house we were staying in, we were invited into a sorority house the night before Finals; this was not for the faint-hearted but an interesting experience nonetheless, and great to see some old friends!

Kentucky was beautiful. Over the following days, we visited the Keeneland Racecourse, Lexington town, Red River Gorge, Frankfort, and the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. One of our friends, a mustang-driving digital media specialist in the Kentucky State Capitol, gave us a private tour of this impressive government

building in which she helps to make state legislation.

After five days in Kentucky, we took a flight from Louisville to Kansas City, Missouri changing at Chicago. Our friend from William Jewell College met us at the airport and presented us with fast food called ‘Taco Bell’, which she informed us tasted better drunk. The sleeping arrangements for the first night could only be described as a triple bunk-bed, and the rest of our time in Kansas City was equally companionable.

Our friend gave us an insight into her life by taking us to her favourite childhood restaurant, to the galleries that had inspired her artwork, and by introducing us to some of her best friends. There was a slower pace to this part of our trip; we found ourselves spending afternoons in record stores and thrift shops while our evenings were spent hanging out in bars decorated to resemble Irish pubs. Jack had his birthday during our time in KC, so we went ice-skating and tried the famous Kansas-City style barbecue for a celebratory dinner.

Our final destination was Seattle, Washington in the Pacific Northwest. Our friends from

Pacific Lutheran University gave us sushi (a big deal in Washington), took us to the midnight premiere of Star Wars, and showed us around Seattle, including the world-famous Space Needle. One night, we went to a bar called ‘Keys on Main’ where two resident pianists compete by playing song requests for tips of $20 or more; one pianist plays a song until outbid. In this part of the country it really does like to rain and snow! It was a mild December throughout the country, but the contrast between 20°C in the Deep South and the snow we experienced ten days later when hiking in the Northwest with the PLU guys was astonishing.

A short article can hardly capture the hospitality and kindness we were shown in Washington, and indeed all the states we visited.

Perhaps it is not unreasonable to say that in becoming ‘visiting students’ ourselves, vulnerable bonds of friendship were renewed.

So step up Americans, we await your next visit. You will find a mattress on the floor, a cup of tea in your hand, and we will no longer call you a ‘visiting student’ – you will simply be a friend.

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Regent's Remembered

Steve Mace (1976, Visiting Student)

I came to Regent’s in the fall of 1976, not knowing quite what to expect. I grew up in the middle of America – what is commonly referred to as ‘flyover’ territory – and had never been exposed to what we Yanks call sculling. I soon discovered things like rowing in a bath tub (which, of course, gets you nowhere), punting on the Cherwell (not much faster, actually) and bumping in Torpids (which in truth involves no impact whatsoever). I found myself jogging down Cornmarket for a daily workout on the river, bumping (with impact, I’m afraid) busy shoppers and daydreaming students along the way. One of the highlights of my year abroad was participating in a sponsored row from Oxford to London (organized by Stroke Roger Juhnke), docking within sight of the Tower Bridge and accepting a key to the City from the Deputy Lord Mayor.

Although I returned to and graduated from my college back in the States, William Jewell, I remained in contact with Principal Paul Fiddes and eventually became acquainted with a number of distinguished friends of the College – including Carroll Stevens, Olin Robison, Davis Bunn, Greg Riggs and Mark Fell. I am now privileged to serve on the College’s Fundraising Committee, working with the remarkable Director of Development, Julie Reynolds.

How has Regent’s affected me? Let me give just three ways:

My view of the world was immeasurably broadened and enriched. My travels in Europe (including a two-week tour of the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union) whetted my appetite for future journeys – including North and South America, Asia, South Africa (on safari, of course), India, Dubai And, oh yes, between workouts I and Saudi Arabia. I was also able had the opportunity to learn the to work for the organization Oxford way – spending a full hour founded by legendary global each week in a tutorial session investor Sir John Templeton, who with some of the most prominent lived in Lyford Cay in Nassau scholars in the world. Shakespeare, and whose motto was ‘Why limit Old Testament (with Rex Mason) your search for opportunities to and – my personal favorite – one country?’ I have attempted Reformation Church History to carry Sir John’s legacy with me (with Principal, Barrie White). throughout the remainder of my My one claim to fame is that Rob career.

Ellis (Regent’s current Principal, of course) was a student during my I gained a love for the sea. I have time among the dreaming spires. been able to dive in Bermuda, 20

the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean Sea, as well as in the Persian Gulf. I have also learned to sail, and have chartered boats in the Bahamas and the Mediterranean (including a trip to Croatia this summer). I have also been foolish enough to sail on a few occasions in some rather dreary weather in the Solent, near the Isle of Wight.

I learned the power of networking.

One of my favorite stories is the way I met a fellow named Cecil Foster-Kemp on the London train and, as a result, our row to London was filmed and featured in a BBC television program called Nationwide. This demonstrated to me at such an early age how much can be accomplished by developing personal relationships.

Although I earned an undergraduate degree, went on to law school and have earned a number of professional designations, I have always been most proud to say that I spent a year at Oxford – and, in particular, at Regent’s Park College. I am passionate about perpetuating the legacy of this wonderful place and the way it represents our shared values within the context of the wider University – please join me in ensuring that our mission continues to bear fruit.

International Encounters

Dr Ellie McLaughlin (2003, Theology) & Lucas McLaughlin (2005, Visiting Student) Ellie: I started out as an undergraduate at Regent’s in 2003, coming from Geneva to read Theology. I never thought that I would be part of the College community thirteen years later!

As an undergraduate, I was very involved in the Boat Club and was part of the Regent’s/LMH team that crossed the channel in 2005.

Lucas: I was a visiting student from Georgetown College in 2005-6. I tried to take advantage of all of the opportunities Regent’s had to offer. I spent an inordinate amount of time at the river and playing table football in the JCR. I also ended up cooking pancakes, burgers, and chicken wings for a good proportion of the JCR population. After my year in Oxford, I completed my undergraduate studies in English and Art. The partnership between Regent’s and Georgetown College has created countless friendships and an educational benefit for both institutions.

alumni as friends visited us in our tiny flat near the Jet d’Eau. Ellie: We’ve been back in Oxford since 2011, and I have just completed my degree. My research was on the idea of unconscious Christianity in the later writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945).

Being part of a community in which there are many theologians to learn from was particularly helpful in the early years of my research, as I was trying to hone my ideas and test them against others’.

Lucas: When we came back to Oxford we worked together as Junior Deans for two years, which meant that we quickly got to know all the students and staff. We now live in East Oxford but still the College staff and Fellows continue to make me feel welcome. In the last few years, I have been working on artwork using photography, including Oxford locations such as St Giles’ and

Christ Church Meadow. I try to convey the collective memory that these places hold. I had my first exhibition in Oxford last year – ‘10 Trees’ – and am now working on my next show. Look for details on my website.

Ellie: I continue to teach at Regent’s, working with undergraduates, postgraduates, and students following ministerial formation. I also work for the Journal of Theological Studies.

I recently presented some of my findings at the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture, which supported my research. We love living in Oxford, and Regent’s has played a big part in us being based here. www.lucasmclaughlin.com @lucasmclaughlin facebook.com/lucasmclaughlinartist

Ellie: We got married in 2008, and moved to Geneva for a few years.

I completed a master’s degree there and worked for the Anglican Church, but in the end decided I wanted to pursue further study.

I knew that Regent’s would be a great place to work on a DPhil, so I applied to Oxford and returned to Regent’s.

Lucas: I spent my time in Switzerland teaching English at the International School of Geneva and skiing and hiking in the Alps. We hosted many Regent’s 21

An Unexpected Journey

Professor Sir Malcolm Evans (1979, Jurisprudence)

I am not an advert for career planning. I cannot honestly remember why I decided to study Law at university (indeed, I am not entirely sure that it was I who decided this at all).

In any event, by the start of my third year it was clear enough that doing so had been a big mistake.

I neither understood what I was doing, nor enjoyed doing it very much. So I knew with complete and utter clarity that when I left university I would leave Law behind me. And when I did leave, I took up a job working for the Standard Chartered Bank, in its International Banking Division – one of the most desirable graduate jobs available. It remains a mystery to me how I got the job, as I had no real idea what a career in international banking would involve (at that time, it was not as clear as it is today that it would at least involve earning very large sums of money). As it turned out, it involved doing very little, as my entry into the world of banking coincided with a collapse in the market, and even I could see that the bank had over-recruited, and it was not going to fund my empty days forever.

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Meanwhile, another unexpected thing had happened: I got a First in my Finals. I will never forget my Law tutor, Martin Matthews at University College, greeting

me with the words: ‘I take it you have heard about this shock to my system’. At the same time, the then Dean, John Morgan-Wynne, suggested I thought of doing a BCL. Of course, that was out of the question as I was giving up on Law. But a year later, I found myself back at Regent’s, not doing a BCL, but starting a DPhil in Law. Admittedly, it was in International Law (which was then regarded by real lawyers as not really Law at all) so that was alright.

When I was at school, I was not one for sports – indeed, I once said that my sport was avoiding sport – but there is no avoiding a Regent’s Captain of Boats. So there was an air of inevitability about my ending up rowing in the Men’s Eight whilst an undergraduate, and when I returned as a postgraduate student, I was myself Captain of Boats for two years (as well as being JCR President – in those days there was no separate MCR). So being at Regent’s caused me to end up doing all sorts of things which I would never have thought of doing: and I suppose to that might be added meeting Alison, my wife, and becoming a relatively early example of a ‘minister’s husband’.

The trend continued: I was appointed Lecturer in Law at Bristol University (a long time ago) where I am now Professor of International Law and have been Head of its Law School and Dean of its Faculty of Social Sciences and Law. For no very

apparent reason, early on I started to think about issues concerning International Law and Human Rights (then a relatively new topic) and found myself writing what turned out to be one of the first books on the subject for many years. Then a colleague asked me some questions about International Law and places of detention, and that unexpectedly sparked research and writing concerning torture and torture prevention. Suffice to say, I am now Chair of the United Nations Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and continue to be an advisor on religious liberty to numerous international organisations.

Most recently, there has been another unexpected turn – I have been appointed a member of the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales. Equally unexpected is my currently being Chair of Regent’s Governing Body and College Council. Doubtless I ought not to mention my feeling of complete incredulity when ‘presiding’ over my first College Valedictory service. Wasn’t that something that the eminent and distinguished Sir Godfrey Le Quesne did when I was a student at Regent’s? Oh yes, Sir…that’s something else I did not plan. No, career planning has not been my strong point: but my entire career, and just about everything else, owes just about everything to my time at Regent’s.

Wine and a Wedding Sarah Knowles (2003, Geography)

I read Geography at Regent’s Park from 2003-2006 and now, ten years after graduation, I am coming back to College to get married to a man I met at Oxford – fingers crossed for sunshine!

We asked Regent’s to host our reception within twenty-four hours of getting engaged as the College meant a huge amount to me and we both spent a lot of time there in my third year, and we were delighted that the Bursar said ‘yes’ immediately! It will mean so much more to us to celebrate our wedding in a college where there are already many happy memories.

I felt at home at Regent’s very quickly, making friends with many on my Upper Balding corridor and fellow Geographers. With only thirty-six students in our year (a big year at the time) it was easy to settle in to college life quickly. By Christmas of my first year, I was elected as JCR Welfare Officer and joined the Exec., and I loved being thoroughly involved in day to day life of the College. During my three years at Oxford, I was exploring my own ideas of feminism and, perhaps auspiciously, founded the Regent’s Rabbits women’s club (aka. drinking/dining team, although there was no actual rule about having to drink, I hasten to add).

Amongst other things, this Society gave us an excuse to explore other colleges and halls, going on ‘dates’ with sports teams at Keble and Christ Church, among others.

Imbibing was clearly a bit of a theme for me as in my third year I joined the Oxford University Wine Circle, which was a little more highbrow than the Rabbits...

Under the guidance of Janet Scott, Team Captain for the Oxford Blind Tasting Team, I quickly became very focused on learning everything there was to learn about wine, and especially blind tasting. After just two terms, I secured a place on the Varsity Blind Tasting team (yes, there is such a thing) and competed against Cambridge, at the Oxford and Cambridge Club on Pall Mall, sponsored by Champagne house, Pol Roger. The competition was judged by wine doyen, Jancis Robinson MW, and wonderfully the dark blues were successful and, incredibly, I achieved the top score for our team. This propelled us (post finals which passed in a summer blur) into our first international competition held at Pol Roger in Épernay, against a French university team, on French wines. Amazingly, I won again, which led to a conversation with James Simpson MW (Pol Roger’s MD) about joining the wine trade now that my Regent’s days were over.

With no other plans, I packed a bag and headed first to Bordeaux and then on to Australia, New Zealand and South America to pick grapes and learn more about wine and winemaking. On my return, I started working for a series of exams within the wine trade, and began in a sales and

marketing role for an independent wine wholesaler in South London, all the while moving in with my old Upper Balding next door neighbour. I changed jobs in 2008 to become a wine buyer for a specialist wholesaler in London (Amathus Drinks) and began my Master of Wine studies in 2010.

In 2014, I moved to my current role, working at The Wine Society, a co-operative mail order wine club established in 1874, to join their established wine buying team. I now have the buying responsibility for Australia, New Zealand, Austria and the USA. In 2015, I passed the final element of the Master of Wines exam and became one of only 341 Masters of Wine (abbreviated to MW), which marks the end of the study options within the wine trade – a huge relief! Wonderfully, my passion for and fascination in the world of wine continues to grow with every bottle I taste or winemaker I meet.

The extensive travel I am able to do echoes back to my initial interest in the study of Geography, which certainly still bares relevance to my chosen career (although I can’t lie – modern languages would have been useful too!).

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Greyfriars: Then and Now

Peter Ventress (1980, Modern History and Modern Languages) Like many of my contemporaries I had not chosen Greyfriars, it had chosen me from the ‘pool’ of candidates who had not won places at the colleges of their first choice. I remember my interview with the then Warden, Cassian Reel, and being told that same day much to my delight that I was to be offered a place to study Modern History and Modern Languages, in my case Russian, from October 1980. I knew little about Greyfriars itself, though a little about the friars as my mother had taught at their primary school in Peckham some years before.

Overall, my experience of Greyfriars was positive. The minor irritations such as the Enclosure rule, restricting females to the ground floor of the building (occasionally circumvented) and the small scale of the College itself were minimal compared to the advantages of the opportunities afforded to its students. Being a small college much of our academic supervision took place elsewhere and I was able to have my pick of some great tutors from other colleges. My Russian was supervised by Mark Everitt, chaplain of Merton and I was fortunate to have some fine History tutors at St Catherine’s, Jesus and St Antony’s. In fact both my ‘special’ papers were supervised at St Antony’s with Harry Willetts, engendering in me a passion for Tsar Alexander I and Ronald Hingley, building on an already deep love of the works of Chekhov. The Hall was also good enough to sponsor my term in Belorussia, an interesting and lively experience.

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Despite arriving in Oxford with a broken arm, I was able to build a modestly successful football career, playing both for Balliol and for one season the Centaurs.

Perhaps the highlight was Cuppers semi-finals with Balliol. Again, being part of a small college drove one to look outwards and explore so much of what the University had to offer, be it through drama, journalism or the Russian Society.

Greyfriars members certainly acquitted themselves well in many spheres during my time there.

lunch proved too exotic for some palates then there was always tea and unlimited toast at 4pm.

Since Greyfriars, I have enjoyed a wide-ranging international career in industry working in banking, paper, office products and textile management businesses. I have lived in France, Netherlands and Canada and worked in many different countries around the world. My last full-time job, from which I retired last July, was as the CEO of a FTSE 200 company called Berendsen. I now work On the social side we also as a non-executive director for punched above our weight. Our four FTSE companies, sit on the first ‘Gunningham’ Party took audit committee of the University place in the church hall one winter of Kent, am a director of a and was swiftly followed by the multi-school Catholic Academy inaugural Garden Party, soon to Partnership in Kent and am become part of Greyfriars and generally enjoying getting used Oxford folklore. I remember (or to a life of semi-retirement. I am at least I think I do) fishing some married to Karen, whom I have younger members out of the pond known virtually all my life, and after rather too much (them not have three grown up daughters. me) of the perhaps just a touch too The eldest Sarah was accepted strong Pimms we served on one of by Greyfriars the year it closed those sunny May afternoons. and enjoyed three very successful and full years at Regent’s Park.

As a community, we had our ups Clare, our middle daughter, and downs. Generally we rubbed went to Oxford Brookes for two along pretty well with the friars years and Anna, our youngest, or at least as well as they rubbed went to Merton. So, the Oxford along with each other. There was connection is very much alive the odd breakdown in relations. A in our family. All three are now few days’ silent protest at dinner teaching. when one of our number had been rusticated. The odd late One of the disadvantages of the night complaint about the noise small scale of Greyfriars over the on the top floor of the Friary. But years has been the lack of any overall it was a happy community. effective alumni community. I Meals were variable but since our applaud Matthew Mills’ efforts to Georgian cook, Rufina Hill, had try to build something through taken over my Russian education the auspices of Regent’s Park. from Day One, I diplomatically www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/greyfriars enjoyed them all. If the food at

Greyfriars Changed Me

Mark Rachovides (1981, Modern History and Economics) One of the joys of parenthood is answering an endless stream of questions, mainly from your children, but more occasionally from neighbours and teachers.

Being rotund and having three youngsters and a spouse who is far brighter than me probably places me at a disadvantage but somehow I muddle through each day with a little help from a good education.

My happy days at Greyfriars above all made me self-reliant and fuelled a curiosity which still burns today. It took a while to fully understand that but, from being a very shy young man who smoked and ate too much and avoided public speaking at all costs, I now chair a European Industry Association and make about twenty speeches a year. (I still eat too much but at least I now do so in many countries.)

Did I really listen to A. J. P. Taylor lecture? Did Greyfriars students really attend a course of seminars

by Dennis Mack-Smith on the Risorgimento en masse? It was wonderful to simply go along

and listen to great academics speak, whatever their field. Once we realised that neither ID nor a ticket was necessary to pass go, the doors opened in more ways than we could possibly have imagined at the time. Many times I think back to my time at Greyfriars and pinch myself.

Greyfriars changed me. I still lived at home after graduating but soon became the main breadwinner and took to responsibility easily.

Change became a positive, a strange comment perhaps given the constants that a religious setting for study set. Each term a new tutor, a new set of ideas, a new venue, a new set of standards.

Meeting new people and finding ways to work with them. What do I do today? Pretty much the same.

Recently we moved to West Sussex from London (our ninth home in twenty years, itchy feet I guess?) and our seven year old son has rekindled his interest in ancient Egypt. (I wonder what happened to the great collection of Egyptology texts in the Greyfriars

library.) These things never leave me; the people, even the jokes and silly adventures (I still limp a little from a knee injury sustained on the Iffley Road). Even Mrs Hill, our Russian Cook, influenced me. For sixteen years, I sat on the board of Russian companies and have travelled from the Urals to Mongolia, the Pacific to the Artic circle all within Russia. I heard her voice many times often shouting ‘don’t eat that! You are fat enough already’.

Thirty-two years on I have been a banker, a director of mining and oil and gas companies, a Cathedral Churchwarden, School Governor, meddled in a vineyard with a view over Mount Athos and now an industry leader advocating for change in a very different world. The other day I watched a programme on the Easter Rising and saw the role of the Capuchin Friars. I will tell the kids about that and how lucky I too was to have been given so much by them.

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Monastery of Sound Rupert Abbott (2001, Modern History) I read Modern History at Greyfriars from 2001-2004. I was excited to have been offered a place at Oxford, though was a bit apprehensive about studying at a religious hall – Greyfriars hadn’t been my first choice. However, I soon found that the intimacy of Greyfriars – there were no more than fifty students – fostered a supportive environment, and at the same time encouraged us to explore everything that the University had to offer.

Greyfriars, under Warden Fr Tom Weinandy, OFM. Cap., certainly punched above its weight in the University, and I had many impressive contemporaries, including ‘Blues’ and ‘Firsts’. We also dominated the University’s Law Society, with three presidents – including me – in three years.

I met a number of incredibly interesting people through that society, including guest-speakers Jonathan Aitken, Howard Marks and Bruce Reynolds, who masterminded the Great Train Robbery!

One of my happiest Greyfriars memories has to be our inaugural

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‘bop’, the aptly named ‘Monastery of Sound’. I was JCR President at the time and, while our annual Garden Party was wellestablished, we wanted to do something a bit different to put Greyfriars on the map. The night was a sell out, with around 500 students – 10 times our student population – descending on the Greyfriars church hall.

I think that all of us who have had the opportunity to study at Oxford are very fortunate. It was a privilege to attend lectures and tutorials led by the very best minds. I remember stopping by

the Oxford Union on my way to a tutorial and meeting Tony Benn, who read my essay on British decolonization, signed it and sent me on my way! Studying at Greyfriars and Oxford has, I think, shaped what I have done since, encouraging me to explore the world and take risks with confidence.

After Oxford, I studied Law and trained as a Solicitor at the U.S. law firm Baker & McKenzie. I then had the opportunity to work for a human rights organisation in Cambodia, where I had previously volunteered one summer, and that was really the start of my human rights work. Since then, I’ve worked for the UN as the Officer-in-Charge of the defence section at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal in Cambodia; and at Amnesty International, where until recently I was the Deputy Asia-Pacific Director. And now I’m exploring running my own business, as I’ve just set up a new human rights consultancy firm and hub, ‘RightStart’, with two friends.

Performing Lucretia Johanna Harrison (2011, English)

Even here she sheathed in her harmless breast a harmful knife, that thence her soul unsheathed.

̶ The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare

‘The Rape of Lucretia’, a chamber opera by Benjamin Britten (191376), was written in 1946, when the world was still reeling from World War II (1939-45), and the work itself can be read as a metaphor for the rebirth of Europe after that period of great violence.

The original tale, included in the History of Rome by Livy (c. 59BC17AD) and made famous in an epic poem by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), tells of how Lucretia, the wife of an Etruscan nobleman, Collatinus, committed suicide after being raped by one of her husband’s comrades, an ‘upstart’ named Tarquinius. According to the original tale, Lucretia’s rape and suicide resulted in the overthrow of the Etruscans and, ultimately, the transformation of the Roman kingdom into the Roman republic. However, the story has also been used in a post-

Classical context to explore the Christian mystery of redemption, with the heroine herself occupying the place of Christ.

Throughout history, Lucretia (also known as Lucrece), has been immortalised as a great Christian martyr, despite the fact that her life took place five hundred years before the birth of Christ, and Britten’s opera is no exception.

Many audiences have expressed discomfort with this, accusing Britten and others of playing ‘fast and loose’ with history. However, it seems to me that this is precisely where the genius of the opera lies: in bringing together pre-Christian and Christian narratives in order to express the timelessness of human redemption. Just as the play occupies different spaces in time – the time when it was written, the time in which it is set,

and the time in which it is performed – so, theologians argue, Christ’s death is ‘re-lived’ in different times and places, especially when communities gather to worship.

The heroism of Lucretia, then – like the Passion – is played out on stage and ‘relived’ during each performance; it is made present for each audience and each person.

The catharsis (even, redemption) felt by spectators at a performance of Britten’s opera should not, however, necessarily lead to an endorsement of Lucretia’s action; it is more complicated than that.

One the one hand, it is tragic that she, as a victim, felt the need to take her own life. Yet, on the other hand, her death is undeniably

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redemptive. Her purity and her victimhood so perfectly evoke the figure of the crucified Christ, whilst the reactions of some of those around her call to mind the grief which Christ’s mother, Mary, may have experienced at the foot of the Cross. It is no coincidence that during the rape, the Choruses make supplications to the Virgin Mary, nor that Lucretia’s old nurse, Bianca, expresses horror at her own inability to protect her mistress from the evil acts of others. Performing in the opera and reflecting upon it later, I do not think that this tension – between the tragedy and the beauty of Lucretia’s act – can or should be avoided; like the Passion, perhaps, there may be a sense in which it is simply beyond our understanding. It is certainly beyond mine.

Down the centuries, Lucretia has also frequently been portrayed in art, with depictions ranging from her lying supine in death to the moment directly after she stabbed herself. The image that encapsulates everything I feel about Lucretia, especially her vulnerability, has been painted by Rembrandt (1606-69), showing the moment when, having pierced

her side, she pulled on a bell beside her bed to call her maids.

There are many ‘most heartbreaking’ lines in Britten’s opera but a strong contender must be: ‘Give him this orchid, and tell him a Roman harlot sent it – tell him to come back to her. Tell him to come home.’ Following her rape, Lucretia called for her protector to return, not to vanquish the already-fled Tarquinius but to hold her and comfort her, and her desolation is clear.

After three nights of attempting to portray a sexual assault on stage, I felt as if I had encountered something deeply unclean. Lying ‘dead’ on stage at the end of the production, I had a lot of time to listen to the characters around me, all of whom repeatedly cried: ‘Is this it all?’ The most moving

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moment for me was the Male Chorus’ response to this question: ‘It is not all...he is our hope, Jesus Christ.’ And that, of course, is the whole point of telling the story of Lucretia in the first place. To be reminded of the eternally redemptive Christ at the lowest dramatic and emotional point of the opera consistently brought me back from the brink of asking the same question as the other characters: ‘Is this it all?’ www.johannaharrisonmezzo.com

Within the Love of God The Revd Dr Andrew Moore

seem to be too much.

Philosophers love distinctions, and one that they sometimes use is between ‘change’ and ‘Cambridge change’. This has nothing to do with any rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge; the difference is between a real change and what is only a seemingly real change. In Oxford – and doubtless elsewhere, too – there is a related distinction, between a secret and an Oxford secret.

There is a custom amongst academics of honouring particularly distinguished senior colleagues by presenting them with a book – known as a festschrift – celebrating their work and their research interests. These books are meant to be a surprise to the person being honoured, but usually the secret leaks. There is a process in academic circles by which a real secret becomes a mere Oxford secret, where in the former case you tell no one, but in the latter you do tell other people, though only one at a time.

When Anthony Clarke (Tutorial Fellow in Pastoral Studies and Community Learning at Regent’s Park) and I began working on our festschrift for Paul Fiddes, it seemed too much to expect that we’d be able to keep our plans from reaching Paul’s ears. There was not just one festschrift but two, and many members of the Regent’s community knew about or were involved in the production of the two books. It is doubtless a sign of the respect and esteem in which Paul is held that our secret was no mere Oxford secret: we succeeded, much to our surprise, and much to the delight of Paul.

Each festschrift had a different theme: one was on the doctrine of God, and the other looked at Paul’s contributions to the church.

These themes were chosen to reflect the fact that Paul is not just a front-rank theologian, the central focus of whose work has been the doctrine of God, but that he is also a man of the church who

has made major contributions to Baptist life nationally and internationally, and to ecumenism.

Within the Love of God: Essays on the Doctrine of God in Honour of Paul S. Fiddes was published

by Oxford University Press and included a distinguished cast of contributors who tackled a broad range of issues related to the doctrine of God, and to Paul’s own work on it in particular. There were essays by John Barton and John Colwell on biblical themes in relation to the doctrine, and from a recent Muslim collaborator of Paul’s – HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Paul is a well-known advocate of the view that God is responsively involved in the world, even to the degree of putting his own being at risk and undergoing suffering at Calvary. Amongst others, Frances Young, Jürgen Moltmann, Keith Ward and Paul Helm contributed to the section focussed on the deep doctrinal and philosophical themes raised by Paul’s teaching

As with all festschriften many people are involved in producing the book. There are contributors, people who would have been contributors had they had time to write for the book, and then there are publishers, publishers’ catalogues and bookshops. To expect that a real secret will not become an Oxford secret would 293

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about divine passibility. The final part of the book looked at God in relation to humanity, and here there were contributions from, amongst others, Pamela Sue Anderson, Oliver Davies, David Burrell, and Chris Rowland.

systematic theologians. ‘How wonderful it was’, said Paul, ‘to have John with us at what must have been one of the last occasions of doing theology together. It was a real joy to do theology with John’.

The book has clearly been of interest to many theologians, so two of the contributors – Judith Wolfe and myself, both former doctoral students of Paul’s – decided to convene a colloquium at St Andrew’s University to discuss Paul’s work. Not only is St Andrew’s a powerhouse of teaching and research in Christian doctrine, it also is the home to several of the contributors, including Steve Holmes and John Webster. In fact, for many, the colloquium was the last time they saw John Webster alive. John was Professor of Divinity at St Andrew’s, an erstwhile colleague of Paul’s in Oxford and, with him, in the front rank of contemporary

The colloquium took place on a bright spring day in April this year, and it was very well attended. The main speakers introduced their contributions to the book, Paul replied to them, and then there was open discussion. It was an intense day of lively and sometimes quite technical discussion of the doctrine of God, and it was also very enjoyable and spiritually refreshing – one attendee described it as the best conference he had attended. All of us owe a big debt to Paul for the effort he put into composing his replies to the papers, and to St Andrew’s who hosted the event for free.

Speaking after the event, Paul said

how much he had appreciated others’ engagement with his thought and the opportunity that the colloquium had provided for everyone to develop their own thinking.

The two Festschriften are Within the Love of God: Essays on the Doctrine of God in Honour of Paul S. Fiddes (edited by Anthony Clark and Andrew Moore, and published by Oxford University Press) and For the Sake of the Church: Essays in Honour of Paul S. Fiddes (edited by Anthony Clark, and published by Regent s Park College).

Perspectives on Witchcraft Nicholas Lory (2012, Social Anthropology)

Professor Richard Hoskins (1992, Theology)

Nicholas Lory and Richard Hoskins reflect on their encounters with the phenomenon of child witchcraft accusations in the modern world. Nick describes his experience of film-making in Africa, and Richard considers his work as a novelist and adviser to the Metropolitan Police.

Nicholas Lory As I write this I am in black tie sitting in an art deco hotel room in the centre of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. In a few hours I’ll be attending the prestigious African Movie Academy Award ceremony where I have been nominated for two ‘African Oscars’, as they’re called throughout the continent, for a film that I produced last year: ‘The Cursed Ones’. In total, our film is nominated for thirteen awards, making us the most nominated film this year, and the second most nominated film in the history of the award. I am, I think, quite justifiably anxious about the whole affair. Not least because I am the only non-African producer nominated and by far the youngest. This is my first trip back to West Africa since shooting the film in Ghana in 2014, and 2014 was actually my first time in West Africa at all. So, while I don’t think I can quite claim the region as a second home just yet, there is a certain feeling of bringing our film back to its roots after being away for two years.

I finished my Social Anthropology MSc at Regent’s Park at the end of 2013. I had some years of experience as a cinematographer on a variety of small projects at that point. Prior to starting at Oxford, I had worked on a terribly low-budget horror feature film

and a number of short films.

While I was at Oxford, the filmmaking community was only just starting to get off the ground as far as I could tell. I worked with director, Alex Darby, and producers, Emily Precious and Aidan Grounds, on one of the only student short films being made that year. From what I gather, now, just three years later, the film-making activity at Oxford has grown quite considerably. It was only days after submitting my Oxford dissertation that a Ghanaian director, Nana Obiri Yeboah, got in touch with me, more or less out of the blue.

He was shooting a feature film in London about a Ghanaian immigrant and was looking for a cinematographer. We shot the film relatively quickly and the result is not the finest piece film-making around. Nonetheless, it introduced me to Nana and introduced me to the world of African film.

I originally came across the phenomenon of child witchcraft accusations in West Africa during my Anthropology studies at Regent’s. Young children are accused of being witches and wizards, possessed by the devil, and responsible for whatever otherwise inexplicable ailment has befallen the family or wider community. With the children’s own parents often being the ones to initiate and escalate

these accusations, it is difficult to enforce laws and offer protection to the victims. The accused children become easy targets; they are ostracized, often tortured, and sometimes even killed. The exact causes of this epidemic and how precisely to approach a solution is of course complex. What really drew me to the tragic story, though, is just how unknown the problem is. As Europeans, perhaps we most readily associate witchcraft and wizardry with Harry Potter, Hallowe’en, or cases of persecution in Europe and America in past centuries. Very few of us, indeed, would imagine that witchcraft remains common practice throughout much of the world. Although manifestations of witchcraft that lead to child abuse are far less common, the problem is widespread and growing. Last month the BBC reported that in London the number of child abuse cases linked to witchcraft has risen drastically in recent years; in 2015 there were 60 cases (www.bbc.com/news/uk-englandlondon-36300200).

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In early 2014, I approached Nana Obiri Yeboah and writer, Maximilian Claussen, about the subject and the prospect of making a narrative film about it. They both shared my enthusiasm for the project and we immediately got to work on the script. Six short months later I was in Ghana counting down the days before we started rolling on the first scene.

Although our production was to be firmly rooted in West Africa, it was always our intention to reach a wide, international audience. We knew that to do so it was imperative for the film to, as far as possible, reach the technical standard that we have grown so accustomed to with American and European films. This posed an immediate challenge in Ghana, where trained crew and professional equipment is relatively uncommon. In the end, we flew in ten experienced crew from around the world (UK, Italy, Germany, USA, and South Africa) to head up some of the departments. The bulk of the crew – about forty people – were sourced locally in Ghana, though.

For many of the foreign crew it was their first time working in West Africa. Almost everything about working in the region is

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different from what they were accustomed to at home, which meant that they had just as much to learn from the locals as the locals had to learn from them.

A great example of this is one of our grips, ‘Spanner’, who was responsible for some of the camera equipment and someone that I came to greatly admire during our production. Without access to the professional equipment available to film-makers elsewhere, Spanner set about recreating some of the devices he had seen online. He invited me to his workshop one day and I was taken aback by what he had achieved in what was really an alleyway between his house and the next. He had successfully built from scratch a remote controlled pan-tilt head that could run up and down a pair of cables, not dissimilar from the devices you see hovering over football pitches used to capture the action from above. Given the level of precision required to manufacture equipment like this that is actually usable, I had never thought it possible to make at home. Spanner proved me wrong though; the majority of our film was shot using various pieces that Spanner had built. Moreover, he was always on site, ready with a screwdriver and welding machine in hand, should something go wrong!

Ultimately, I think it was these kinds of collaborations, not only on a technical, but also a creative level, that really contributed to the cross–cultural viability of the film.

We shot the entire film in a village called Mangoase; a village that grew up around a British railway depot at the turn of last century.

The terrific beauty of nature having gradually retaken such incongruent structures, we were eager to shoot in Mangoase for practical reasons. To begin with, its diminished population meant that there were a plethora of uninhabited buildings to choose from for our sets, and few people to disturb us while we worked.

The village was also conveniently located an hour’s drive away from the nearest hotel, albeit along a dirt track – a small price to pay for an otherwise perfect location!

It was not without worries that I arrived in this place where the train tracks of my ancestors still scarred the native landscape, bearing witness to a recent past not forgotten. It was those men who first brought Christianity here, and it was not lost on me that I was now returning to highlight problems that they had helped cause. Although the film quite specifically criticizes

child abuse and corruption, not witchcraft or Christianity itself, it became a genuine concern of ours that we could be misconstrued as criticizing local beliefs and institutions. What I had not anticipated was quite how widespread and varied the belief in witchcraft was. It was not a rare occurrence for us to hear matter-of-fact talk of witches; everything from how to protect ourselves from witchcraft to outright labelling of others, even children, as witches and wizards.

Moreover, these beliefs were not confined to the rural population.

The vast majority of our Ghanaian film crew, most of whom came from the cities Accra and Kumasi, agreed quite genuinely with local sentiment about witchcraft.

On top of that, there was the local Pentecostal church and its outspoken ministers to contend with. In the end, however, it wasn’t religion that caused a problem, but good, old-fashioned politics.

I discovered, during our time in Mangoase, that the recent Idris Elba blockbuster, ‘Beasts of No Nation’, had been shot in precisely the same village, finishing mere weeks before our arrival (it turns out we shared a location manager). While this had the definite upside that the locals were accustomed to a film crew disrupting their daily lives, there were a number of problems that resulted directly from it. Firstly, with a budget of $6m, ‘Beasts of No Nation’ were able to pay locally-hired workers and background actors substantially higher wages than we could afford. Although we paid everyone well, we simply didn’t live up to the locals’ expectations when they heard that another film crew was coming to town.

This, among other things, led to

some contention within the village about our presence. We endured a few days of everything from minor nuisance to outright sabotage to, believe it or not, an attempted murder (the culprits are still in prison). It all culminated with my being summoned (alone!) to a meeting of the village elders.

a second bottle of schnapps to a different household the next morning; that of the Mayor.

A few days ago we received an overwhelmingly negative review of the film from a German critic, asserting, basically, that as nonAfricans we had no right to make films in Africa about Africans.

I sat in a round with a dozen This immediately transported me elderly men (including the local back to my Social Anthropology Head of Police and the tribal tutorials and, honestly, part of Chief) understanding only the me had to agree with our critic. odd snippet of Pidgin English, but However, in a reply to our critic mostly feeling lost in a language so I asked her, as I perhaps should local that even our own Ghanaian have asked myself back in Ghana, crew didn’t understand a word. whether it is not precisely this I soon realised that my presence kind of ‘us’ and ‘them’ dialectic at the meeting was not for me to that poses the most contemporary engage in conversation with them. threat. Sure, we might be unable Rather, their intention was to to accurately represent an African remind me politely of who ran the culture (ignoring momentarily village. Receiving their message that the director was in fact loud and clear, the next morning Ghanaian). But should that I paid a visit to the chief with a preclude our trying to do so? bottle of local schnapps in hand.

Am I, as a white Englishman, A peace offering of sorts, that we restricted to making films only might be able to continue shooting about other white Englishmen? our film unhindered. Much to my Perhaps my purview extends surprise, I was soon summoned (at least at time of writing!) to again, this time by a new group the rest of Europe – I imagine I who purported to be the actual would not have received similar village elders. Among them was criticism had I made a film about the Mayor of the village. Having heard of my previous meeting and not wanting to be outdone, the opposing political faction in the village had organized a similar gettogether. My participation at said gettogether again remained strictly observational.

Nonetheless, I dutifully delivered 33

Italians, for example. It appears to me that our tendency, firstly, to overly distinguish between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and, secondly, to ascribe to that distinction too much importance across disciplines, is inhibiting fruitful collaboration and, ultimately, harmonious coexistence. We had a genuine desire to make a film about a subject that we considered important and felt should be brought to light. I can only hope that other film-makers employ similar motives and do not succumb to a narrow list of subjects that they are allowed to address.

I am being called down to the lobby now for transfer to the award ceremony. Tonight comes

Professor Richard Hoskins I fell into Africa at the age of twenty-one, for a gap year that lasted six. ‘Witch branding,’ telling a child that they’re possessed by witchcraft, became an epidemic whilst I was there.

Of the estimated fifty-thousand street children in one African city alone, Save the Children research found that eighty per cent were there directly as a result of witch branding.

When I came up to Regent’s Park, in 1992, I was older than most of my undergraduate contemporaries but younger than many pastoral students. Despite little opportunity to contemplate Africa on my Theology BA (unless Augustine of Hippo counts!), I soon returned to the theme. During my PhD at King’s College London, I found myself appointed to a lectureship and thereafter as Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religions at 34

at the end of many months of travelling around the world to attend festivals. We have screened in places like London, Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Hamburg, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Rome, and even on the islands of Cape Verde! We have many more screenings around the world planned for the coming months, so this is not actually the end at all. The aim, ultimately, is to achieve a limited theatrical release for the film before licensing it to international TV stations and the likes of Netflix as well as releasing it on DVD, and finally to take a mobile cinema around rural areas of West Africa to screen the film at schools. For now, though, we are thrilled for so many people, and for so many different kinds of

people, to be watching the film. I didn’t imagine for a second, sitting with the elders in Mangoase, that I would be travelling the world with our film, flying from one sold-out screening to another. It truly is an honour.

Bath Spa. There I inaugurated the African Religions module.

One day during my tenure I was minding my own business when the head of a murder investigation at Scotland Yard rang my office.

The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

theme has almost invariably been witchcraft. Or, rather, witchcraft and Christianity. The phenomenon that I first witnessed in the 1980s in Central Africa has begun to appear in Europe.

Victoria Climbie was eight years old when, in February 2000, she was brutally tortured and killed in Haringey, London, by her ‘aunt’ Marie-Thérèse Kaou and partner Carl Manning. They thought she was a witch. A year later the torso of a young boy of African descent was found in the river Thames.

Other serious cases followed, from Child B to the brutal murder of Kristy Bamu in 2010.

For the past fifteen years, I have helped police and social workers investigate nearly two hundred serious crimes. I’ve presented a BBC2 documentary, ‘Witch Child’, written countless newspaper features and a Sunday Times top ten bestselling book, The Boy in the River (PanMacmillan, 2012), which was Gold Dagger Winner at the 2013 Crime Writers’ Association Awards. Filming on it is due to start soon.

Not all of my casework has involved Africa and neither has all of it involved children. But those two elements have coalesced in a significant number. The driving

The Cursed Ones won three awards at AMAA in Nigeria: Best Director, Best Cinematographer, and Best Production Design.

As I relate in my book, witchcraft has always featured in African traditional religions. E. E. EvansPritchard’s epochal Witchcraft Amongst the Azande introduced the west not only to social anthropology but also to belief systems which seemed, even by the early twentieth century,

was the devil’s work, just as it had been the devil’s work in Jesus’s time. And instead of remaining a nebulous exterior force, the preachers told their gullible flocks that it possessed people.

Especially children.

Every bad event, every financial downturn, even bad dreams – you name it – every misfortune was attributed to the child in your midst. He or she had become a conduit for the devil.

to be alien to us. It did little to stem the popular belief that Africa is a ‘heart of darkness,’ a continent of strange customs and barbaric practices. But as EvansPritchard has demonstrated, African traditional beliefs are a system for explaining the world in which they live. They contain checks and balances in a mostly benign equilibrium that lasted many centuries. Witchcraft was considered an exterior malign force that could be controlled by healers. Protective charms and rituals warded off the most pernicious aspects of witchcraft.

And there the matter might have rested had Christianity not come along. Or, rather, evangelical Christianity.

In the 1980s, fed by American and European tele-evangelism, a message invaded Africa that taught a literalist reading of the New Testament. Traditional Religions, far from being seen as relatively benign, became the arch-enemy from which one needed exorcising. They were the work of Satan. ‘Witchcraft’

And as the pastors preached this message so their solution spread. The children must be exorcised or cast out. This was Jesus’s message, apparently; and now it was theirs. Exorcism became big business. Holding centres sprang up where children were detained until such time as their families could pay the pastors to deliver their witch child. The delicate systems that Evans-Pritchard so carefully described were turned on their head.

I’ve seen children beaten, burnt and brutally murdered. For my documentary we filmed a young girl being sliced open with a razor blade by a ‘Christian’ pastor delivering her from witchcraft.

I’ve walked with street children, thousands of whom are there directly as a result of Christians telling them they’re possessed.

I’ve listened to their stories of abuse and torture…all done in the name of Jesus. I was at the flat where Kristy Bamu’s bloody remains were found on Christmas Day 2010 after his sister and her boyfriend tortured him to death in the belief that he was possessed by witchcraft.

I have tried to educate. Mardoche was eleven years old when I first met him, shivering in the corner of a Chelsea youth psychiatric ward. His nurse told me that what Mardoche most needed was our prayers. She pointed to a red light: ‘I’ll be watching you.’ I stepped across the coconut-white tiles and squatted. But before I could say anything, the boy looked up.

‘I am not a witch,’ he said, ‘I don’t even know what this kindoki is.’ I sat with Mardoche’s family in Kinshasa as they insisted he should be returned to the Congo to be exorcised of his kindoki – witchcraft in the lingala language.

I called for a Bible and, opening it at the story of the Centurion, asked if they had enough faith in Jesus to believe he could heal across the Continents? But the truth is that the demonology of the first century really has no place in twenty-first. And that’s a much harder lesson to convince African pastors to accept.

Does it make me angry? Yes. Does it make me depressed? Yes. Do I despair? Yes. But it also makes me want to drag that German film critic of Nick Lory to the places I’ve been. The question isn’t: ‘how dare a so-called nonAfrican comment on Africa.’ It’s: ‘how dare we stand by whilst any child is abused in the name of Christianity?’ Except for a shrinking group of 1970s inspired hand-wringing white liberals, the world is moving on. We’re no longer afraid to make crosscultural judgement statements. As I can attest from my work, crime knows no boundary. Nor does racism. Shared humanity, and the rights of the child, have to drive us to speak out and act.

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Enhancing Life:

Vulnerability and a Liveable Life Professor Pamela-Sue Anderson Recently in the USA, a 29-year old man shot a woman in a cinema in Seattle when his concealed gun accidentally went off. The man said he was carrying the weapon as protection from mass shootings.

This strange logic generates an outcome that is precisely the opposite of what was intended: rather than offering protection, his gun made the world less safe.

Like others around the globe, that American citizen was striving for invulnerability. Like many men and women today, he assumed that his vulnerability could be overcome by carrying a weapon.

However, the evidence is very clear: the presence of more and more guns continually increases violence; and more terror seems to increase terror. Ironically, striving for invulnerability puts us at risk; that is, this striving makes us vulnerable.

The contention of my current research into ‘Enhancing Life’, which is generously supported by funding from the John Templeton Foundation, is that striving for invulnerability misses certain possibilities for human enhancement. We miss the very capability which acknowledged vulnerability can bring to every dimension of life on this planet.

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We might agree that vulnerability, as depicted in global news reports, is an openness to violence, loss and death. However, in contrast, my research aims to demonstrate that in order to enhance life, vulnerability should be allowed to function as a capability for openness to affection; as such it is inherent in all life. For example, mutual affection through vulnerability is a necessary characteristic of a good friendship; friends are open to each other, come what may! If we are going to create good friends, vulnerability must be allowed to function as an openness or exposure to affection between us.

The urgent question under consideration is: how can the apparently ‘normal’ reaction of fear of (further) violence in response to a wounding, or a loss, become transformed by affection within our bodily lives? The truth is that healing wounds through affection might create new relationships, which traditional moral philosophers would have called, the ‘good’ of friendship.

You will see, of course, the huge ethical challenge which my research into ‘Enhancing Life’ faces. The ethical grounds

for acknowledging and valuing vulnerability are not always apparent. Given the global cycle of vulnerability, fear and violence, it is generally difficult for any of us to imagine how an exposure to loss of life can be transformative.

Nevertheless, it is a task of my research to seek creative and confident persons who believe in transformative experiences – not as an outcome of any free choice, but – as a belief in vulnerable life, its capability and possibilities.

For instance, we might find in a philosophy of needs a new way to be transformed by recognition of human vulnerability due to life’s basic needs; that is, instead of recognising vulnerability as an opening to injury only, it might offer a transformative experience: opening up to one another’s needs.

But, can vulnerability transform us by exposing individuals to the huge number of needs, not only of our vulnerable loved ones, but of other vulnerable lives at a great distance from our own? My question is: what could provoke us to ‘enhance’ life – that is, to make each life count – by responding to violent loss with openness to both mutual affection and accountability? My proposal is that vulnerability should be allowed to function as a capability

for life’s affections; notably, friendship might develop, by way of philia, as mutual affection in vulnerability and for a liveable life.

Whether we recognise or deny the ambiguity characterizing the all-too-human experience of vulnerability, it colours a deeply shared dimension of our lives together as human beings. Failing to acknowledge and accept this vulnerability can, ironically, leave us open to even greater hurt and loss. In her very first poem, written at the age of 14, the American poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), recognized that vulnerability is inherent in life: ‘I thought that I could not be hurt…

Then suddenly my world turned grey, and darkness wiped aside my joy. A dull and aching void was left, where careless hands had reached out to destroy my silver web of happiness.’ In my current research, I have hypothesized that vulnerability actually serves as a provocation for enhancing life by creating a space for transformation. Vulnus, a wound, as ‘an aching void’ to be healed, forces us, quite simply, to stop and think about how we are undone – opened up – by others.

The idea that vulnerability can be seen as positive is controversial, even in religious settings, where one might expect an embrace of care for the vulnerable.

The ‘unthought’ is part of the philosophical problem here; what is unthought generates the fear of vulnerability and of being vulnerable. Take a prominent example in the world of public intellectuals and gender theorists, Judith Butler. Butler’s writings, especially since 9/11, have forced many of us to think the unthought in terms of vulnerable and precarious life (see my ‘Silencing

and Speaker Vulnerability’, Keynote on International Women’s Day, Durham University, 9 March 2016). Butler’s challenge for us is to think a ‘constitutive sociality’, to understand that we are undone by one another, and so, we need to recognise our exposure to one another as constitutive of ‘liveable lives’: we are precarious in desire, rage, and in loss of health, love and life. In short, I might say that Butler’s constitutive sociality means that we need each other; this is not a choice. Instead, openness to change can be transformative precisely in recognising that we are vulnerable just as all of life is.

In contrast to the popular media imagery tying vulnerability to violence by portraying lives as (say, collateral damage) exposed to, as well as a reason for, violence, I find support in Butler to keep vulnerability squarely focused on transformation. I am proposing that vulnerability can function as the capability for transformative experiences. Even after mass death, critical illness, personal bereavement or a traumatic birth, people have been capable of an openness to change.

Transformative experiences might produce an immediate or an eventual change, sometimes through forgiveness.

In Trinity Term 2016, I have been convening a weekly seminar at Regent’s Park, the title of which is: ‘Enhancing Life: Vulnerability and a Liveable life’, in which those attending have read and discussed texts from women such as Judith Butler. In particular, I am keen to learn from the responses of students and colleagues to Butler’s clear belief in being able to transform our thinking about what makes a life count; to move away from a corporate obsession

with risk, in gaining or losing money, of measuring life in terms of probabilities.

My contention is that ‘vulnerable’ can mean ‘capable’ to change.

In bereavement, vulnerability might open us up, moving us forward. In acknowledging our vulnerability, the hope is that we become capable of living (more) openly and fully for ourselves and for others. This assumes a striving to become what we are most ‘deeply’, or to employ another image, becoming in all of our ‘complexity’, in recalling Plath’s expression: ‘How frail the human heart must be – a throbbing pulse, a trembling thing – a fragile, shining instrument of crystal, which can either weep, or sing.’ The vital openness of this crystal, as captured in a throbbing pulse and a trembling thing, is deeply relational. As complexly vulnerable, we are capable of enhancing life relationally. Yet, when we are caught up in our corporate worlds, vulnerability as ‘risk’ and violence as ‘terror’ tends to break down relationships.

Thus, the ongoing challenge of my research is to reverse a reductive view of vulnerability, understood in our contemporary, social and political lives, as strictly negative; as ‘the hurt,’ which Plath describes, but without the ability to ‘sing’.

Pamela-Sue Anderson is Professor of Modern European Philosophy of Religion at Oxford, and Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy at Regent s Park. The opinions expressed here are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. enhancinglife.uchicago.edu/about

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39 13

The Almanac Recognising alumni, students and friends.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS Marcos Barclay, Deputy editor of Cherwell, Director of the short film The Tie Kate Bickerton, Editor in Chief of Versa News, Deputy editor of The Oxford Student Richard Birch, Writer for Cherwell Peter Burke-Smith, Sponsorship and Alumni Officer at Oxford University Lightweight Rowing Club Lucy Clarke, Director of Coriolanus Kathryn Cole, Founder and Co-Chair of SusCam, the OUSU campaign for suspended students Tom Fawcett, Mark Anthony in a University production of Julius Caesar Savannah Fishel, Oxford LGBTQ+ Society Social Secretary Laura Hamilton, Director of Oxford Women in Business

Events, Hertford Orchestra Lily Johnson, Convenor of the Oxford Lawyers Without Borders FGM Research Panel Suzannah King, Marketing Director for several University plays Chloe Lim, President of Oxford Student Minds, Volunteer Community Officer for Jacari Saskia Mair, Marketing Manager for Singin' in the Rain at the Oxford Playhouse Joshua Mascord, Technical director for Coriolanus Zoe Mathias, Social Secretary of the Oxford Theology Society Isabella Morse, Director of the Human Trafficking Action Group for Just Love Paul Ostwald, Founder of The Journal of Interrupted Studies, President of the German Society Nilen Patel, Treasurer of the International Relations Society Rosie Richards, Lead role in the

STAFF ACHIEVEMENTS Dr Leif Dixon, Outstanding Tutor in the Humanities (OUSU Awards 2016) Dr Lynn Robson, Outstanding Pastoral Support (OUSU Awards 2016) Bob Cowley, Best Support Staff (OUSU Awards 2016) The Revd Dr Robin Gibbons, Ecumenical Canon at Christ Church Cathedral Dawn Hanton & Lesley Greenaway, Retirement after 21 years’ service

play Splendour Ellie Siora, Co-Director of the short film Bench Tara Snelling, Co-Director of the short film Bench Rose Vennin, Editor of the Society of International Relations Journal, Speaker Relations Coordinator for the 2015 Oxford Climate Forum Elizabeth Webb, Chair of the Debate Select Committee, Convener of the Oxford InterVarsity Debating Competition Hebe Westcott, Blue in Netball Alexandra White, Producer of Coriolanus Isobel Wilson, Stage Manager for Coriolanus William Yates, Half-blue in Rugby Fives Taylor Yu, Editor of the Society of International Relations Journal, Sports Editor of Cherwell, Treasurer of CapitOx

IN MEMORIAM Charles Whitworth (1st February 2014) David Ewyn Morris (September 2015) Michael Arthern (September 2015) Dr Ioan Bunaciu (31st October 2015) Gordon 'Bernard' Hastings (November 2015) Philip Warren (7th December 2015) Maureen Geoffroy Sleeman (12th December 2015) Roger Hayden (3rd March 2016) Marie Isaacs (9th August 2016) Howard Tillotson (2nd September 2016)

In 2017, Regent's Park College will celebrate its Diamond Jubilee - 60 years as a matriculating institution of the University of Oxford. To mark this anniversary, we will be producing a commemorative edition of the College magazine. If you are an alumnus/a or friend of Regent's Park and would like to contribute an article, we would love to hear from you. Email: development@regents.ox.ac.uk.

With thanks to all who contributed to Regent's Now 2016.

This magazine was compiled and edited by the Development OďŹƒce, and designed by Will Watt.

Cover Image (Harpist, Anna Lapwood), and Final Fling pictures, by Oliver Robinson Photography - www.oliverrobinsonphotography.com.