DialOGue 2020

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine Issue #5 2020

DR HENRY DOWLEN COVID-19, An Unfinished Tale

PETER WHITE A Life in Music: 36 Years at the RGS

WILL KERR Dream. Design. Dyson.

RICHARD BAMPFYLDE Writes from Beirut

SIMON BIRD ON HIS DIRECTORIAL DEBUT The Big Interview

FROM THE EDITOR

Philippa Green Editor

Since the publication of the last issue, early in 2020, life has taken an unexpected turn and thrown many of our plans and expectations in the air.

Events have been postponed and both little daily moments and significant landmarks put on hold.

Since March we have been unable to welcome OGs and other visitors back into School as the RGS moved to remote learning for the Trinity term. But the necessary re-adjustment to a different way of life and work has given rise to new opportunities and shown the true strength of the RGS community. The School has shown enormous resilience, imagination and initiative in continuing to provide an outstanding education and the wider RGS community has continued to engage supportively with our aims. The move to digital engagement, particularly through some of our events, music, lectures and more has enabled OGs across the country, and indeed internationally, to log on and take part in occasions that might previously have been harder to share because of location.

We have been moved by an overwhelming sense of goodwill, a sense of belonging, and generosity in small gestures of kindness and big offerings.

RGS Salutes You (p58) is our way of saying thank you to OGs who have made extraordinary contributions during the pandemic.

We are nearing the completion of our Twenty for 2020 Bursary Campaign (p12) and have seen outstanding support from OGs, parents and staff during two major fundraising events this autumn – the Telephone Campaign and Giving Day – showing that in difficult times there is still a willingness to help others.

We are proud to announce that the School reached the finals of the UK Social Mobility Awards for School/College of the Year 2020, testament to the transformational work taking place thanks to the Bursary Fund.

There is no OG events calendar as, at the time of going to press, we’re not yet able to invite OGs and other guests onto the School premises. However, we will continue to host digital events, and are planning in the hope of holding reunions back at the RGS in 2021 for the Classes of 80/81, 90/91, 2000/01, 2009/10/11 plus other OG events for wider groups. We’ll let you know! If you don’t receive our regular emails and want to hear about year group reunions or other opportunities, please email og@rgsg.co.uk. Do keep in touch to share your news and ideas as we love to hear from you.

I hope you find plenty to read and enjoy in this edition and we wish you all the best for the year ahead.

Editorial Team and acknowledgements Editor Philippa Green Communications should be addressed to the Editor: og@rgsg.co.uk or RGS Guildford, High Street, Guildford GU1 3BB. Acknowledgements With sincere thanks to all those who contributed to this edition of the OG magazine or helped with its production.

We would particularly like to thank those not credited elsewhere: Mary Buylla Helen Dixon Peter Dunscombe Georgie Grant Haworth Phill Griffith Nina McCoy AJ Moore

Jimmy Pressley Jenny Rothwell Kathryn Sweet Alan Thorn Jeremy Whittaker Denise Walsh

Many thanks to all those staff and families who share OG news with us and support us at our events.

Our grateful thanks as always to the Catering Team, Estates Team and IT department who give us such wonderful support throughout the year at our events.

This magazine was designed by Haime & Butler and printed by Lavenham Press. It is produced annually by the Development & Alumni Relations Office, Royal Grammar School Guildford.

Front cover: Simon Bird © Xavier Mas.

Registered Charity Number: 1089955. © Royal Grammar School Guildford 2020.

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

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CONTENTS

04 SCHOOL NEWS Welcome to the Class of 2020

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32

06

University Destinations

07

The Headmaster’s Address

08

Twenty for 2020: The RGS Bursary Campaign

12

RGS International

16

Staff Leavers

18

RGS Sport

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20 FEATURES The Big Interview: Simon Bird

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COVID-19, An Unfinished Tale... by Dr Henry Dowlen

28

A Life in Music: 36 Years at the RGS: Peter White

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Dream. Design. Dyson. By Will Kerr

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34 OG COMMUNITY

56

OG Events

36

RGS Connect

40

OG News

42

The RGS Photography Competition

52

OGs Back at School

53

OGs and Careers

54

OGs Making a Difference

56

OG Sporting News

62

Leaving a Legacy

64

Terry Jones OG 1961: An Appreciation

65

Bob Willis OG 1968: A Tribute

68

Obituaries

70

The Games Room

76

The Tudor Collection

78

The Games Room Solutions

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Contact us

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

SchoolNews

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Welcome to the Class of 2020 Our newest OGs, the Class of 2020, experienced an unprecedented U6 year owing to the impact of COVID-19: remote learning, no A level exams nor the chance to enjoy many of the occasions and moments which signify the end of school days. We are enormously proud of you all and welcome you to an OG community of over 5,400 people worldwide.

There will be opportunities aplenty in the future to celebrate your association with the RGS as OGs, and we wish you every success and happiness, now and in the years to come.

2020 A LEVEL RESULTS

Upper Sixth

Despite the significant challenges to education during this year of the pandemic, RGS students achieved another outstanding set of A level results.

133 351 75 16 candidates

A*/A grades were secured

boys achieved a clean set of A* and A grades...

of whom gained a perfect set of A* grades

TOP 14 DEGREE COURSES SUBJECT

THE COCK HOUSE CUP NUMBER OF RGS STUDENTS

Sciences

22

Engineering

21

Economics

16

International Relations/Politics

10

Philosophy/PPE

10

Mathematics/Computer Science

8

Languages

7

Business/Management

7

Combined Hons/Liberal Arts

7

Geography

5

History

5

Classics/Archaeology/Anthropology

5

English

4

Architecture

3

Valpy House proudly displays the Cock House Cup at their virtual House assembly, having won the trophy for the first time since 2004. Valpy staff Dr Louise Whall (Deputy Housemaster) and Sam Baker (Housemaster) with the Valpy Deputy House Captain and House Captain.

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

UNIVERSITY DESTINATIONS

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The Class of 2020 Bursary “We feel very lucky to have been able to offer the opportunity of this RGS education to our sons and, as they leave, we want to be able to pass that opportunity to another – to a boy as bright as our sons, but without the resources to take up his place and realise his potential.

That is why we have chosen to support the Class of 2020 Bursary.”

The parent champions of the Class of 2020 Bursary

You can find out more about our ‘Class of...

Bursaries’ and our Twenty for 2020 campaign on p12 and rgs-pass-it-on.co.uk

Edinburgh 7

Newcastle 4 Durham 24

Leeds 6

Sheffield 3

Nottingham 10

Loughborough 3

Birmingham 5 Warwick 6

Cambridge 13

Oxford 4 Bristol 6 Bath 13

Imperial College 6 LSE 3 UCL 5

Exeter 10

13 are attending other institutions, 1 is studying abroad, 2 are in employment and 11 are making post A level applications.

University data includes those who made a direct application for entry in 2020 (or a deferred place in 2021) and also those who made post A level applications for entry in 2020.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

The Headmaster’s Address On the occasion of the virtual senior prize-giving, Wednesday 8 July 2020.

Looking back over the 2019-20 school year is like reviewing two completely different worlds. In September 2019 things were normal, and the words Corona, pandemic, R-number and furlough were not a part of our lexicon; of late, they are all we have heard about. We have finished the school year in a very different world, the world of lockdown. Extraordinary things have been forced upon us recently, but extraordinary things have happened at the RGS in response. So maybe that adjective is even more appropriate at this time than usual.

You will, perhaps, be the judges of that at the end of this address.

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hank you for joining us for our Virtual Prizegiving, an event which, like many others, has been adapted as a result of the restrictions placed upon us at this unprecedented time. In spite of those restrictions, I am delighted to be standing before you even if it is only on a screen.

When I told my wife that my Prizegiving address was to be via video she thought that was a very good idea because, unlike my usual address in Holy Trinity Church, my audience have the opportunity this year to switch off if I became boring or long-winded. I hope to be neither.

It has been an extraordinary year at the RGS. In a speech such as this, I would normally use that adjective to express the wonderful events and achievements of the School. This year has been extraordinary, but for all the wrong reasons and I am not sure it is the appropriate term to use for what we have all, collectively, been through over these past four months.

When I reviewed the events of the first two terms in preparation for this address it was with a huge sense of nostalgia for the things we used to be able to do. The usual events by which we mark our progress through the school year were still occurring during the first two terms.

Our Commemoration Service, the Carol Service, concerts, plays such as The Tempest and Nicholas Nickleby, sports fixtures, trips abroad. We took them for granted – I don’t think that we will in the future. One of the good things about lockdown is that it has reminded us all of the importance of joining together for

community events. Having led numerous online assemblies recently, I will never again forget how important it is for the School to meet together as a body. We may be cramped, we may be hot, some of us may be sitting on the floor, but that time for the School to join together is priceless.

There have been so many highlights of the first two terms that it is almost invidious to single out a few, but I would like to select some which deserve special mention.

The shooting team’s success during the summer was remarkable. The RGS team won the much-coveted Ashburton Shield and their score combined with that of the Old Guildfordian veterans’ team was sufficient to also win the Lucas Trophy.

At the first assembly in September I was presented with the largest trophy I have ever received, in the form of the Ashburton Shield, and the most expensive, in the form of the £35,000 sterling silver Lucas trophy. Unsurprisingly, it had to be returned to Bisley straight after the assembly.

The HMC Conference of public school Heads from around the country was held in London in October. I wouldn’t normally regale you with stories from what is

When I reviewed the events of the first two terms in preparation for this address it was with a huge sense of nostalgia for the things we used to be able to do.

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

Musician of the Year competition

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From Alice to Arizu performance

usually an uneventful few days, but this year’s Conference was made memorable by the participation of the joint RGS/GHS chamber choir. Their performance, under the direction of Sam Orchard, at the Annual Service held in the Old Royal Naval Chapel, Greenwich was exquisite.

I cannot remember ever feeling so proud and emotional at an RGS occasion.

Another emotional moment for me was the unveiling of a plaque to those Old Guildfordians who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First World War. In September, a service of dedication was held in St George’s Memorial Church, Ypres, with the names and ages of those who died on the Ypres Salient being read out. It was a very moving experience.

As for the Lent Term, it was wonderful to see Theo Collins’s speed skating success at the Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, winning a Silver medal and speaking so eloquently to the BBC in an interview there. The Musician of the Year competition was an extraordinary demonstration of musicianship of the highest order won by saxophonist Angus Miller. Any one of the six finalists could have won, including Second Former, Killian Hess. I am delighted that two of the finalists, Ruben Berstecher and Stan Lawrence, agreed to perform for us in our ceremony this evening and I thank them for taking the time to record such inspiring performances. One further highlight of the Lent Term was the performance of From Alice to Arizu staged

by RGS boys and Japanese students from Rikkyo School. To experience the confidence of our boys as they performed the Alice in Wonderland story in Japanese was remarkable.

The General Election in December was an opportunity for the boys to stage their own mock election. The RGS result, a victory for the LibDems with the Greens in second place, didn’t quite mirror the national result. Whatever their political persuasions, I should imagine that every public school Head across the length and breadth of the country was breathing a sigh of relief when Boris Johnson was re-elected Prime Minister with such a healthy majority. There is no doubt that a victory for the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn would have created an existential threat to every public school in this country. The focus group, Labour Against Public Schools, was gaining traction amongst some in the Labour Party and had the support of its leadership. The aim of this group, whether driven by political doctrine or simply by envy, was to abolish all public schools, or to create the conditions which made it impossible for them to continue to exist.

I have used many public occasions to speak about my passion for partnership and support for our local community and our local state schools and I believe we are doing a fantastic job in engaging in this way for the benefit of so many. I am proud of the fact that RGS staff provided such support for Kings College Guildford that they were able to move from a disastrous Ofsted grading of ‘Special Measures’ to one of ‘Good’ within the space of a year. I am proud of the fact that our String Scheme provides musical tuition to so many primary school children, I am proud of the fact that our out-reach programmes change the lives of young people in the Guildford area. None of this would have been considered if Labour Against Public

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Schools was setting the educational agenda. I wrote in a message to all staff on the morning after the General Election that the election result meant that threats from hostile political factions had now diminished but that we could still expect challenges ahead and we needed to be prepared for an uncertain future. I did not realise at the time how true that message was, and how soon those challenges were going to assail us.

It became clear towards the end of the Lent Term that the Coronavirus outbreak was going to cause significant disruption for everyone in the country and to schools in particular. The penultimate week of the Lent Term was difficult for the RGS because of the very high numbers of pupils and staff who were not able to attend as a result of self-isolation, but we used the time well to train all staff and pupils in the use of Microsoft Teams for lesson delivery.

As a school which was in the early stages of its technological journey, the prospect of remote learning was daunting for many, but I am very proud of staff and students alike for the manner in which they engaged. Innovations very rarely happen at speed in any school but our community went from low competency to reasonably proficient within the space of just a few days. And as I now look back on the Trinity Term it is with a sense of huge pride and gratitude for the progress which has been made. To have been able to establish almost a full timetable for the boys during this term, to have been able

Visors made in the Design & Technology department

to set homework where relevant and to have assessed when required, is a remarkable achievement and I cannot thank you all enough for your willingness to adapt so effectively.

All RGS staff work extremely hard in normal circumstances. The creation of a remote curriculum resulted in even greater burdens as every online lesson has to be carefully planned and resourced.

I can only express my sincerest thanks to every member of staff who has stepped up to the plate. I could not have asked for any more from you and I know, having received so many emails from parents, that your efforts have been hugely appreciated.

This is one of the many I received: “I want to express my deepest gratitude at how this crisis is being handled by RGS. As a parent I feel informed, supported and reassured. It is also a brilliant lesson for the boys, the RGS is leading by example when it comes to adaptability.”

Helen Keller wrote ‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much’. Never has that quotation felt more apt or more poignant as self-isolation and lockdown have inevitably created a sense of separation and disconnection. As a community which thrives on physical and social interaction, this imposed distance for a school such as the RGS is all the more challenging. With this in mind, we coined the phrase #RGSTogether as a way of reminding us that despite our separation,

we are still very much united: students, staff, parents, governors and the wider community alike.

It is remarkable that so much has happened during the time of lockdown. At a time when many educational institutions have closed or, at least, significantly reduced their outputs, the RGS seems to have flourished in its creativity. We have created enrichment programmes for both Upper Sixth and Fifth Form, we have designed a new timetable of transition to A level lessons, we have run virtual fixtures, in which we fielded the largest school team ever, of over 200 boys, we have staged virtual concerts, the rendition of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto via Zoom from living rooms was sensational. Other notable events include: the House lockdown competition, the RGS Photography competition, success in Young Enterprise (online, of course), the RGS Bake Off, the Senior Prefects weekly magazine to keep the community connected. The RGS has been a hive of industry over the past four months.

I am pleased to affirm that the School value of Service is a reality rather than just rhetoric, a firm belief that we can work in partnership with others to make a difference. There have been so many wonderful examples this term. Donating our entire stock of lab safety specs to the Royal Surrey Hospital, our Design & Technology department making over 400 free visors for 25 different healthcare

Cross Country success

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

At a time when many educational institutions have closed or, at least, significantly reduced their outputs, the RGS seems to have flourished in its creativity.

organisations, boys making visors and ‘no-touch’ tools for GP surgeries and care homes, Easter cards sent to care homes, elderly Old Guildfordians phoned just to touch base, virtual concerts performed for six care homes, despite food shortages cakes were baked as part of the RGS Bake Off for charity, families throughout Surrey and beyond donned RGS sports kit to run and cycle for charity, and I was very grateful to my senior team as they slept out under the stars over one weekend to raise money for homeless young people.

This term alone, despite the lockdown, we have raised the staggering sum of over £18,000 for those less fortunate.

And our partnerships have also thrived.

Our staff have been delivering online lessons to those whose remote provision is more limited, and our community have donated over 50 devices such as laptops, tablets and desktops to Kings College in support of their pupils who did not have access to this technology. We engage in such partnerships because it is the right thing to do, it chimes entirely with the School’s value. This is, perhaps, a characteristic of schools such as the RGS that Labour Against Public Schools chooses to ignore. The RGS has done some remarkable things this term. On one level we have never been more distant, but on another level we have never been more unified.

As we come to the end of this highly unusual year, we can celebrate what has been achieved. But alongside that celebration is also a sense of sadness. We have lost two of our most esteemed Old Guildfordians, cricketing legend Bob Willis, and Monty Python’s Terry Jones. And the realities of the dangers associated with the Coronavirus have also been brought home to us with the very sad loss of one of our parents from COVID-19. The shocking death of George Floyd in America has also had a major effect on society and on our community. As a school which is overwhelmingly white, the RGS, perhaps more than other schools, has a duty to address the issues of racism in our society so that our students leave the School knowing the prejudices which exist, having been taught the reasons for inequality in our world, and having the belief that everyone should be held in equal esteem and should have the same opportunities irrespective of colour or

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creed. I am committed to addressing this and will publish an action plan as to how the RGS will respond once I have spoken to current pupils and Old Guildfordians, and have sought advice from professionals in this field. Good may yet come from the death of George Floyd in that institutions such as the RGS are spurred into action.

I wondered at the start of this address whether I could describe the year as extraordinary. I think I can. We have faced so many challenges of late but we have responded magnificently to those challenges. As we state on the home page of our website, ‘Our gates are closed; our minds open’.

I am incredibly proud of the way in which the School has adapted. I firmly believe that we will be a better school because of the skills we have been forced to learn in providing an exceptional remote education.

So many people have done so much to make this happen, the staff, the pupils, the parents and the governors, and I thank you all for your contribution.

I have to admit, I am desperate for some semblance of normality in September. Let us all hope that our doors can be thrown wide open once again – because we have missed each other’s company so very much. But, should circumstances dictate otherwise, I am absolutely confident that this exceptional school has the capacity and the creativity to continue to do extraordinary things – it’s what we do.

Dr Jon Cox Headmaster

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

TWENTY FOR 2020 The RGS Bursary Campaign

2020 has been as difficult a year as any of us can remember and yet the RGS community has never been so generous, reaching out to help those less fortunate.

25% 19 In the last 12 months, nearly a quarter of the 8,657 households in the RGS community have donated to the Twenty for 2020 campaign and to our emergency Hardship Fund.

Together, you are now supporting 19 transformational bursary places and have ensured that no boy has yet had to leave the RGS as a result of the financial fallout of COVID-19.

Our Twenty for 2020 campaign goal is now just months away and with it, the completion of our first step to a time when every bright boy who earns his place at the RGS can take it up.

Opening doors to opportunity

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

CLASS OF 2020 BURSARY

43 £45k families raised over

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RGS GIVING DAY 2020

£100k+ Gifts are still coming in, but over 28 hours on 15/16 October, 1,278 members of our community – including staff and pupils – donated over £100,000 to the Bursary Programme and Hardship Fund.

in gifts and pledges to help create

30%

of a bursary, opening the doors of RGS to another bright local boy as the Class of 2020 departs and securing a wonderful legacy.

Austen topped the leaderboard for most donors and Powell for the most amount raised.

NATIONAL SOCIAL MOBILITY AWARDS 2020 Finalists in the School/College of the Year category, recognising our work to widen access to our School.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

3 14 1,000 weeks

RGS TELEPHONE CAMPAIGN 2020

young OG callers

calls

£140,000 raised in pledges and gifts from OGs and parents and hundreds of messages of support for our long-term vision.

Conor Flynn OG 2017

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

Would you like to join us on our journey?

Nathan Janmohamed OG 2019

Transform lives by becoming a Friend of the RGS with a regular gift, pass it on in perpetuity with a legacy or find out more about our work to widen access to our school, via rgs-pass-it-on.co.uk – and look out for our 2019/20 Supporters Review in early 2021 to see the impact of your giving.

Alessio Orlando OG 2017

Fraser Dupuis OG 2018

rgs-pass-it-on.co.uk

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

RGS INTERNATIONAL Bob Ukiah, RGS Chief Operating Officer

This September, RGS opened its first school in Nanjing as part of a long-term partnership with Gemdale Corporation of China. RGS Guildford Nanjing’s first cohort numbered just over 100 Chinese pupils at junior and senior levels, with most of the senior pupils boarding. This was a considerable achievement given the student recruitment difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

RGS Guildford Dubai

RGS Guildford Nanjing

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RGS Guildford Qatar

Matt Ford, the founding Principal, said: “I’m excited and honoured to have the opportunity to establish the first RGS in China and to bring our values and ethos to our new school community.”

Our agreement with Gemdale is to open up to six schools in China over the coming years with the second school planned to open in 2022. The standard of facilities and resources provided for the school in Nanjing is exceptionally high and bodes very well for the future.

Our overseas adventure started in 2016 when we opened RGS Guildford Qatar with just 30 pupils.

The school in Qatar has gone from strength to strength and now educates 740 boys and girls.

The school intake reflects its environment and so is a mixture of Qataris and other Arabic nationalities together with expat children from the UK, mainland Europe, Australia and South Africa.

Most teachers are English and the school follows an English curriculum leading to GCSEs and A levels. Most importantly, the school feels like an RGS with the same values and learning habits.

We have partnered with UK based schools group Cognita to open RGS Guildford Dubai in September 2021. Building work is on track and our first staff have been hired. We are very pleased that Clare Turnbull, formerly Head of Lanesborough, has relocated to head the Dubai prep school.

The design of the school is state of the art and the aim is to create an RGS school that blends the best of RGS with the best of Cognita within an Emirati context.

Through this expansion we have remained true to our original aims, which were partnership; engagement in global cultures; enhanced reputation for the School; and an income which

can be used to support our school in Guildford to the benefit of our boys.

We are developing the collaboration between Guildford and overseas. The aim is to establish links that could lead to a variety of activities ranging from student exchanges to pen-pals (or should that be e-pals?) to international online RGS chess tournaments.

In the past two years our international schools have raised over £360,000 for RGS Guildford, an amount that should grow as our family of schools and our student numbers increase. This additional income is being used solely for the benefit of the boys in Guildford and will contribute significantly to the School’s vision to become needs blind within a generation.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

FAREWELL AND THANK YOU In July 2020 we said goodbye to three staff who have retired from the RGS after an astounding 56 years of dedicated service to the School between them.

Shirley Perrett, Mathematics (joined 2003), Denise Walsh, Library Assistant (joined 1993) and Stewart Armstrong, Chemistry (joined 2008) have given an enormous amount to the School, in so many different ways, and we wish them a long, well deserved and very happy retirement.

Thank you for everything!

Shirley Perrett taught Mathematics for 17 years and was equally appreciated for her phenomenal energy and contribution to extra-curricular activities. She was responsible for the Duke of Edinburgh Award for many years, participated in the RGS expedition to Cambodia, recruited staff relay teams to compete in the South Downs marathon and started a weekly staff running club. She also ran 17 marathons, including an ultramarathon of 38 miles, and is a Guinness Record holder as part of a centipede of 47 people tied together in the London Marathon.

Denise Walsh joined the RGS as the Library Assistant just as the Mallison Library moved to its current location at the top of the New Building, and shortly after the library catalogue became computerised. Over the last 27 years she has worked for three Librarians and given great help to countless boys and staff. She has kept a close eye on news about OGs, many of whom will have spent time in the library over the years. For the boys and staff, their abiding memory may be of her meticulous and wonderful costumes and characterisation on World Book Day, be it as Miss Marple or Mrs Durrell to name but two.

The total distance in “Get on your Bike� covered across the week by all participants was 4,807 km, that is equivalent to the distance from Guildford to the middle of Africa!

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

Left: Chris Gossage OG 1994 and son Will at the Virtual Charity Run Below: Lower School boys enjoying cricket

Sport at the RGS continued throughout Trinity Term with a fantastic programme of online challenges to keep the boys active and improving their skills while the School moved to remote learning. Weekly PE challenges ranged from climbing stairs to the equivalent of the top of landmarks in Japan (Gold was Mount Fuji at 1511 staircases!), running, “Get on your Bike” and home “gym” workouts suitable for house or garden, all with a competitive twist. Trick shot challenges instigated by the Senior Prefect Team also proved very popular!

RGS SPORT A Virtual Charity Run brought in wonderful support with entire families (and dogs) running, walking, jogging or cycling in RGS sports kit, ties and scarves for Shooting Star Chase, a local charity chosen by the RGS as one of its nominated charities this year.

The School even managed several virtual sports events such as a virtual Athletics match against KCS Wimbledon and Caterham School. The format of the event was simple, the boys had to run as far as possible in 20 minutes, recording their results. It was great to see over 250 RGS boys taking part in one competition.

Michaelmas Term 2020 saw the boys back in the School and sport started with an extended cricket season lasting up to half term, with the boys enjoying fixtures against several local schools.

Rugby and football training also started during the term.

The RGS Hockey 1st XI reached the semi-finals of the England Hockey Schools Championships, a first for RGS. INDIVIDUAL SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS Theo Collins (5th form) represented Great Britain in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, winning a silver medal in the Speed Skating Mixed Team Sprint Final. He became GB’s first Olympic long track skater to compete in any Winter Olympics since 1992.

Cross Country Team

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Will Barnicoat (L6) won the U17 men’s National Athletics Championships in

February 2020 and received a trophy engraved with previous winner Mo Farah from 1999 and 2000. He was also selected to represent English Schools Athletics Association in the ISF World Schools Cross Country Championships and invited to run for the second time for the England U20 team.

Luke Mills-Hicks (1st form) was selected to race in the World Orienteering Championships in Denmark.

Sam Baker (5th form) won a Silver medal in the Mens’ Doubles Badminton tournament held in Cyprus and was ranked number 5 in England for his age group.

Johnnie Matheson (L6) and Peter Wilkinson (L6) were selected for the British Cadet Rifle Team’s (The Athelings) tour to Canada in 2020. They keep up a tradition of RGS boys being selected for The Athelings. Cameron Philp (L6) was first reserve for the tour.

The RGS Cross-Country team of Charlie Kershaw (U6), Ben Fitzpatrick (U6), Sam Perryman (U6), Will Barnicoat (L6), Tom Jones (L6) and Andrey McIntyre (L6) travelled to Coventry to take part in the King Henry VIII relays. This is the top schools race in the country and attracted over 50 boys’ teams. The RGS ran with great determination and were the equal of the challenging conditions. The team finished 3rd school, with Will running the 4th fastest lap of over 350 runners and Tom the 9th.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Features

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

THE BIG INTERVIEW

SIMON BIRD

By Philippa Green

Simon Bird OG 2003, star of The Inbetweeners and Friday Night Dinner, talks about his film directorial debut, Days of the Bagnold Summer, and shares his thoughts on life at the RGS, comedy, acting and the world of film.

A

fter leaving the RGS, Simon gained a double 1st in English from Queens’ College, Cambridge and went on to complete an MA in Cultural and Critical studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. At Cambridge he was president of the Footlights comedy society, where he met future co-star Joe Thomas. They subsequently took a number of shows to the Edinburgh Festival and were eventually cast in The Inbetweeners. For his performance as Will McKenzie, Simon won British Comedy Awards for Best Actor and Best Newcomer and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Actor. He has also starred in six series of Friday Night Dinner. As a writer Simon created The King Is Dead for the BBC and co-created Chickens, which was nominated for Best Sitcom at the Broadcast Awards.

He recently set up his own production company with Studiocanal and has a number of TV shows and films in development. Simon spoke at the RGS Senior Prizegiving Ceremony in 2010 and narrated the original RGS promotional film, Always Part of the RGS. ➧

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

What particular memories do you have of RGS? Most memorable RGS moment?

Well, I have lots of fantastic memories, but if pushed I think the pinnacle of my RGS career, and potentially of my life so far, and I include in that my wedding and the birth of my two children, was the Charity Day Assembly we staged in the upper sixth. I think it was assumed we’d just rock up and do some perfunctory impressions of the senior management team. But we spent genuinely weeks preparing for it with an almost military focus and absolutely no staff oversight.

I mean, we took it very seriously. We treated it like the Olympics opening ceremony. We pre-recorded segments, we pored over the script, we choreographed elaborate song and dance numbers. We even released it on DVD complete with deleted scenes, Easter eggs, and a blooper reel, which we then sold to the lunch queue. The ambition of that was totally driven by Tim Rothwell, and then seen through by Mark Lambert, James Clark, Jake Goodman, Michael Mullin, Tony Richardson, Rich Sears, et al. I’m sure it was truly terrible but it was my first taste of live comedy, and of devising something from the ground up, and it was just intoxicating and certainly fed into my desire to try stand-up. We couldn’t believe what we were getting away with. That’s the sign of a great school I think, one that allows, and encourages, their students to be a bit disruptive and mischievous and generally question authority.

I understand you had to push to get drama onto the agenda at RGS after a year out at an American School.

How did you do that? Acting/Comedy and directing may not have been not very ‘RGS’ in 2003…

Yes, I had this very strange RGS experience in that I took a year out between my GCSEs and A-levels while my parents went on sabbatical in the US. So I was very lucky to have a second bite of the cherry. I came back older, wiser and battle-hardened after a year in an American high school with the jocks and the geeks, and it really was that stereotypical. There was a varsity football team and a glee club. It was like spending a year inside the film Grease. But obviously that experience shook me out of my comfort zone and I came back determined to do all the things I’d been

too nervous to try first time round, chiefly drama. So I petitioned the school to start a Theatre Studies A-level, and they, I think just out of pity at the idea of me joining the year below with no friends, acquiesced.

What is it that you love about comedy?

Oh wow. I have no idea how to answer that question. I guess I don’t really see comedy as something distinct or separate that you can either love or hate.

I mean, who doesn’t love laughing?

I guess to my mind life is inherently pretty absurd, and I appreciate people who are able to draw out and highlight those absurdities. It’s the most pretentious thing I’ve ever said. I mean, I instantly regret saying that.

Was a career in drama always the dream for you? What drove you to make it happen?

Oh no. No, I never thought about it in career terms until I was very far down the line. That world felt entirely remote and unobtainable and sort of magical to be honest. TV shows and films felt like these perfect nuggets that materialised fully formed out of nowhere. It never crossed my mind that they were made by real people. It wasn’t really until I started meeting agents and producers and commissioners after university that I understood that it’s just an industry like any other, comprised of very normal, scruffy, shambolic people.

Tell us about the film, Days of the Bagnold Summer.

Ah right, yes, let’s talk turkey. Days of the Bagnold Summer is my directorial debut.

It’s a feature film based on a graphic novel of the same name by Joff Winterhart and it’s about a fifteen-yearold metal-head spending the summer holidays with his long-suffering librarian single mum. It’s a sort of melancholic comedy and it’s out now on all your favourite digital platforms.

Why did you choose that particular story?

How pertinent does it seem right now?

There are a lot of reasons why we settled on that particular story. Primarily because I was obsessed with the book, which is just brilliantly funny and poignant, not to mention very perceptive about the humiliation and agony of both adolescence and parenthood. Also, I felt

Below & opposite top: Monica Dolan (Sue) and Earl Cave (Daniel) on set of Days of the Bagnold Summer Opposite bottom: Simon with Rob Brydon on set

Photography © Rob Baker Ashton

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

like there was a niche in the market for a British coming-of-age comedy-drama.

I didn’t really feel like there was a British equivalent to American films like Juno or Boyhood or Lady Bird. But then there were a range of other more cynical considerations as well. The story is contemporary, it’s a two-hander, and it is miniscule in scale, which is all to say that, in the scheme of most films, it was phenomenally cheap to make. I knew that as a first-time director it was going to be an uphill battle raising the finances so I wanted to make sure I was pitching a package that was affordable and represented good value for money.

And just to loop back round to your other question, yes it seems bizarrely pertinent, in that it’s about a mother and son whose summer holiday plans are suddenly cancelled and so are forced into a sort of quasi-lockdown. I promise I didn’t orchestrate a global pandemic to make my low-budget indie film feel more compelling.

Why directing? What is it like being the other side of the camera?

I’ve always secretly wanted to direct.

Which is not to say that I don’t love acting, because obviously it’s a total joy.

But I’ve always found it a bit creatively stultifying. You have no sway over the words in the script, the shape of the story, or the ultimate look and tone of the project. I think I was drawn to directing for the same reason I was drawn to live comedy, in that it affords you much more control over the material and allows you to communicate in a more direct fashion with an audience. The whole thing lives or dies by your decisions, which is obviously stressful and terrifying, but ultimately very rewarding when, or if, you make something you’re proud of. Big if, that one. Absolutely colossal if.

I read that Guildford was considered as a location for the film – why? And in what way does the town resonate with your vision of the setting for the story?

Oh yes, I’d forgotten about that. We scouted various houses and locations in Burpham and Merrow. One of the great qualities of the book is that it’s sort of anonymous, it doesn’t specify a time or a place so it encourages you as a reader to put yourself in the character’s shoes.

So when I read it, I immediately pictured Guildford, and then, when the film looked

like it might be happening, betraying a worrying lack of imagination, I thought we should just film it in Guildford!

Ultimately it didn’t happen because if you shoot outside the M25 you have to pay the cast and crew’s accommoda— sorry I just fell asleep halfway through that sentence I was finding myself so boring. We filmed it in Bromley. I’ll leave it at that.

Could you recommend three films for budding filmmakers?

Oh, great question. There’s a 7-minute short film on Youtube by the Duplass Brothers, called This Is John, which is an object lesson in the entrepreneurial spirit required to get a film made. They shot it on their parents’ video camera for a total budget of $3, and it ended up winning the Sundance Film Festival and launching their careers. The message being, I guess, that production values should always be secondary to an original idea, a good script and relatable characters. I know it’s going to sound like I’m obsessed with film-making brothers but another set of brothers, the Dardennes Brothers, also demonstrate that and everything they’ve ever made is brilliant. And then as a wild-card, the totally left-field and indescribable Songs From The Second Floor by Roy Andersson shows you shouldn’t feel constricted by genre or precedent. It sometimes pays to take risks and make something totally idiosyncratic.

Oh, and American Movie is a great documentary about how not to do it.

I’ve always secretly wanted to direct.

Which is not to say that I don’t love acting, because obviously it’s a total joy. But I’ve always found it a bit creatively stultifying.

What message could you offer to pupils and OGs wanting to do something less traditional?

Oh wow, I don’t think I’m in any position to be giving advice to be honest. I think anyone who is treating me as a guru is in serious trouble. All I can share really are some facts about my career which might potentially be illuminating. One is that I have never got a job I’ve auditioned or interviewed for. Everything I’ve done has either been material I’ve generated myself or has come through contacts I’ve made off the back of material I’ve generated myself. So for instance I was cast in The Inbetweeners because the writers saw a live show I put on years before and then hired me to write sketches for a radio show they produced.

Then when their sitcom was commissioned I essentially hounded

Photography © Rob Baker Ashton

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them into giving me a part. So it was pure, unadulterated nepotism, but I was only in the position to benefit from that nepotism because I’d wormed my way into their lives. So I guess the moral of the story is two-fold. You’ve got to be a self-starter and then once you get in the room you’ve got to be nice, and someone that people want to help out. The other thing I’ll say because it is just true, is that my path into doing something less traditional was pretty traditional. I did my A-levels, went to university, did a Masters.

And each of those very conventional stepping-stones really helped my extra-curricular activities in different ways. The comedy society at university introduced me to a lot of like-minded people and provided the structure for me to develop as a writer and performer.

And then I received funding for my Masters, which basically supported me to live in London while I found my feet on the live comedy circuit. Of course I’m fully aware that I’m speaking from a position of massive privilege and that lots of people aren’t able to access the sort of institutions I’ve been lucky enough to take advantage of. And it goes without saying there are any number of other ways to break into the industry but for better or worse that was my route.

Days of the Bagnold Summer was released in June 2020 and stars Monica Dolan and Earl Cave, with Rob Brydon, Tamsin Greig and Alice Lowe also in the cast. A great soundtrack by Belle & Sebastian accompanies the film and the screenplay is by Lisa Owens. Available to watch on Amazon Prime, BFI Player, Curzon Home Cinema, Google Play, iTunes & Sky Store.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

COVID-19, AN UNFINISHED TALE...

Dr Henry Dowlen OG 1997 MBE

Dr Dowlen trained in the military, in medicine and in public health.

He has worked for the Government, humanitarian organisations, military and the UN in complex emergencies globally, ran the build of one of the Nightingale hospitals and is currently involved in the national COVID-19 response.

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here are clear reasons why this pandemic is causing such enormous global shockwaves.

In comparison to other infectious diseases it occupies a relatively unusual set of behaviours that make it successful in propagating far and wide without being so devastating that it burns out. However, there are many who believe that COVID-19 could be a test-run for something worse; for example, a disease which causes more fatalities or spreads more easily from one person to another.

The lessons we learn from this outbreak will shape every aspect of society for generations. Getting on top of an infectious disease outbreak is a collective responsibility, and we must ensure that those lessons are applied by all of us, but we should also not forget the lessons of the past. There exists standard guidance for how to respond to public health threats of national concern, and they work, they have been developed based on evidence and applied in multiple geographic settings over many years.

The standard wisdom about this guidance has been that it mainly applies to lower income countries with fragile socioeconomic systems, but the year 2020 has challenged that assertion.

For instance, there have been huge efforts applied to testing and tracing, but contact tracing is a difficult art form, it requires trust at an individual and societal level. It is also vastly time consuming, with even small outbreaks of disease requiring hours of patient investigation to identify a source and those at risk.

Command, control, coordination, collaboration and communication are all vital. These are not aspirational throwaway buzzwords but relate clearly to different parts of an infectious disease outbreak response of international concern. Clear structures for rapid communication and decision making are vital, as is cross-border coordination.

Borders are often the source of persistent disease transmission towards the end of an outbreak.

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Especially important is the role of social science in conducting rapid anthropological research into what is driving behaviours, rumours and fears in communities, and then connecting that into insightful clear communications that help people understand their part in the community’s efforts to reduce disease transmission.

Earlier this year a highly ambitious project was launched to build numerous new ‘Nightingale’ hospitals across the country...

Running one of these builds was an extraordinary personal experience

The infrastructure to support the machinery of large-scale outbreak response is also vast, consisting of laboratories to process tests, supply chains to ensure scarce resources are deployed where they are most needed, infection prevention and control teams are trained and deployed to deal with multiple and variable hazards, and finally health care facilities are prepared to deal with the ill.

Earlier this year a highly ambitious project was launched to build numerous new ‘Nightingale’ hospitals across the country in record-breaking time, to provide additional capacity in case hospitals could not cope with the burden of caring for those unwell with COVID. Running one of these builds was an extraordinary personal experience, with hundreds of people committed 24 hours per day to achieve something together that often felt impossible. The whole community around the site offered support of every kind, construction crews worked around the clock, volunteers stepped forward and NHS workers trained to work in the new facility in record time.

At that point it was believed that COVID was a single-organ disease affecting the lungs, but we quickly learned that it is in fact a multiple-organ affecting disease requiring much greater levels of intensive care. This has huge implications for the Nightingale hospitals, should they be required again, in that they need to be much more capable than first envisaged.

Nevertheless, the Nightingale work was the embodiment of the type of no-regrets national decision making and collective community action required to tackle this, and any future crisis of a similar scale.

At the time of writing, the country is facing another difficult set of decisions about how to approach the pandemic.

With new infection numbers rising fast and outstripping the capacity to test people with symptoms, decision makers are looking to the number of people admitted to hospital as one of the few key indicators that can guide what should happen next.

What seems certain is that the restrictions

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on social interaction, as the only evidencebased intervention proven to interrupt transmission, will continue to tighten.

Anything more that could be written in this article about what might happen next will be just one more prediction to add to the plethora already circulating.

The underlying tension that has been at the heart of difficult decision-making is between those who want to prevent excess deaths, and those who want to protect the economy from significant damage. The morbidity and mortality associated with a long-term severe impact on the economy is one factor that should, from an objective point of view, perhaps be part of the national dialogue. In reality, however, it is hard enough to gain traction with the public about behavioural change against an invisible disease, let alone have a discourse about the trade-off between short and long term health economic damage, i.e., notwithstanding the capacity of the health system to care for those infected, the morbidity and mortality associated with allowing COVID to spread relatively unchecked and therefore minimising economic damage, versus the longer term morbidity and mortality associated with restrictions which cause economic damage that impacts on quality of life indicators.

There is a sense that this is all unprecedented, and for most people in the UK that is true, but globally and historically it is arguably not.

In the Ebola crisis in West Africa only six years ago, there was a national lockdown for an extraordinarily long period of time, with enormous resilience demanded of the populations there. In the Zika virus pandemic four years ago, the socio-economic and mental health effects were profound.

Prior to vaccines and better health care, population attrition from infectious disease was an accepted norm to be endured. Not only are the World Health Organization (and yes, it’s with a ‘z’, the UN have their own dictionary), and national public health bodies constantly combatting infectious disease outbreaks which could have global impact, but diseases of all types cause health, social and economic distress which we – to a large extent – accept as natural or at least tolerable.

This pandemic has affected all of us and will continue to do so for some time.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Peter White in the Music School

A LIFE IN MUSIC 36 YEARS AT THE RGS

By Peter White, Director of Music 1984 to 2020

What had attracted you to the RGS when you joined the school in 1984?

I was working at a very prestigious boarding school in Yorkshire, and although I loved the countryside, I wasn’t very happy there. I think I was missing both the South and a rather more urban existence. The school was also a large Benedictine monastery and, it has to be said, a bit of a strange place; the fact that I wasn’t catholic didn’t help.

Having been a pupil at a big boarding school myself, I was sure that that was the sort of school I wanted to work in but I saw the ad for the RGS post and thought, with the arrogance of youth, well I could slum it there for a couple of years before progressing to another big public school.

I came down on a sunny October day for the interview and it really was love at first sight.

What was so appealing?

The tangible sense of energy and purpose of a school that had only just opted out of the state sector really grabbed me. It seemed a happy school too, and compared with the institution I was working in, filled with relatively normal people. The business-like approach of a day school, something I had never experienced before, was refreshing. Long, slow paced boarding school days were replaced with busier but much shorter days, and of course, weekends were my own again. In many ways, my own childhood and education at King’s Canterbury and Oxford had been rooted in centuries old tradition and the relative freshness of the RGS was instantly attractive. I suspect I’d always been a bit of an iconoclastic and I’m not a great believer in tradition for tradition’s sake.

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Tell me a little bit about the facilities at the school at that time.

There were about 700 boys so the school wasn’t significantly smaller than it is today, but in terms of buildings, it was probably half the size. My previous school was set in two thousand acres, there was a farm and you could even do hunting as a sports option, so the RGS seemed tiny.

Music was housed in about four rooms in what is now the 6th Form Centre with a flimsy plastic ceiling, above which there was a cavernous space which amplified the sound from the rooms below. One good thing was that with no parking in Top Court or North Court, no sports Centre, no Astro etc., the boys did have much more space to play in. It seems a little cramped now.

And what about the music?

My predecessor, David Whelton who went on to manage the Philharmonia Orchestra, had achieved remarkable things in a very short time but nevertheless, by the standards of what’s there today it was still pretty embryonic.

There were just a few small ensembles and a school choir but no real orchestra as such. But there were some astonishingly fine musicians amongst the pupils; I have crystal clear memories of every one of them! David had formed an orchestra called the Guildford Sinfonia and there was a choir called the Chorale and these recruited musicians from many local schools which gave fantastic opportunities for the best pupils at the school.

You have been lucky with the talent amongst the pupils.

Every year I have witnessed astonishing musicianship. The raw material at the RGS is fantastic but it’s wonderful to see talents develop, musical awareness grow and of course in many cases, see success beyond the RGS in what is a hugely challenging profession. I’m not sure if people are quite aware of how much time learning a musical instrument requires and just how much the boys give to the school.

But I have had very talented colleagues too. I would have achieved nothing without them from Tim Venvell’s fantastic support when I first arrived and didn’t really know what I was doing, to the amazing team I’ve had around me in recent years. I’m incredibly proud of RGS music which I think compares well

Peter White conducting a School concert in the old Civic Hall, 1986

with nearly any other school in the land but it has been a team effort from the very start.

What are your stand-out memories?

Too many to list. The big things of course; my first concert in the Old Civic Hall, Shall Life Inherit, tours abroad, the orchestra playing Shostakovich 5, Verdi Requiems, the concerto concerts and the wonderful spectaculars with Grayson Jones and the High School. But little things as well, moments when you know that music has had a transforming effect on a young person.

You must have seen many changes during your time.

Huge changes both at the RGS and in the profession in general and whilst there have been massive improvements, I sometimes wonder if everything’s for

the better. I’m not sure that computers have added quite as much to teaching as some think and they certainly seem to create a lot of work outside the classroom! Nationally, the role of the teacher has evolved significantly and it’s a little sad that ‘management’ has become a career target for so many these days. I am very proud that I have been in the classroom every day of my teaching life.

What are your reflections as you step down from being Director of Music?

It’s a wonderful job and an enormous privilege to be a teacher at such a great school. And without doubt it’s the people, colleagues and pupils that make it so rewarding. I can honestly say that I have loved almost every day of it!

To work as a teacher and a musician is a double blessing.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Will Kerr OG 2005 graduated from University of Nottingham with an MEng degree in Product Design and Manufacture and was recognised with a design award from the Royal Society of Arts. He joined Dyson as a graduate in 2010. In 2019 Will became Head of Product Development, South East Asia, based in Singapore. He has worked on early concept development in the UK, through to manufacturing & operations in Malaysia & Singapore. Projects have included self-righting cylinder vacuums, cord-free battery technology, robotics, vision systems and machine-learning.

DREAM. DESIGN. DYSON. Will Kerr OG 2005

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ate on a Friday night, standing on a humid production line in Johor Bahru, across the Straits from Singapore, you can’t help but feel a long way from the career options neatly described on cards in Mr Mant’s Careers Library back in Guildford.

At school, ‘engineering’ was a pretty foreign concept for me, but by gravitating towards maths, physics and technology, a master’s degree in Product Design and Manufacture at the University of Nottingham soon followed.

On reflection, it was perhaps the innovation that Mr Kelly was bringing to our sixth form Technology classes that lit the fire for design and ‘making things’. I remember clearly the first 3D printer the school acquired, enabling us to print our designs into physical components while we watched. I was hooked – and the 16:26 to Haslemere station was missed all too often.

Upon leaving university, I managed to convince an award-winning design consultancy in London Bridge to take me on. Immediately I was to work on live

projects, designing flat-screen TVs and smart tablets for some of the biggest electronics companies in the world.

I thought it was the dream ticket.

Soon though, I realised that an RGS education meant that, for me, design needed to be grounded in science, logic and genuine breakthrough. Making black squares look as similar as possible to a Californian product, just wasn’t going to cut it.

Dyson employs 6,000 engineers and scientists globally, with over half based in the UK. It remains a private company and invests over £10m per week in R&D. As a young graduate, the vast campus littered with design icons such as a Harrier Jump Jet in the car park and a Concorde engine in the café, is daunting but exhilarating. Situated north of Bath with over 129 laboratories, 200+ live projects are currently being worked on.

In June, I was fortunate to have a Zoom call with a current RGS sixth form student.

He was trying to decide whether to attend a top university or to accept an offer to join The Dyson Institute, a university created on the Dyson campus in Wiltshire.

The ethos running through the site is that of iterative design – design, build, test – and the rich lessons you learn from failure. So when Dyson engineers stand on stages to launch products in front of the media, you’ll hear them talk of the “5,127 prototypes it took to reach the final design”. Hyperbole perhaps, but factual none the less.

Having spent ten years working for the company and attended ten of the most remarkable Christmas parties you could imagine, I was able to share the merits of this private design firm – so often in the public spotlight in recent years.

Unless our engineers can demonstrate that a concept truly works, and is better than anything else out there, then that project will be consigned to the bottomless archive of designs to ‘nearly make it’.

And so to the West Country, and to Dyson.

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In the time I’ve worked in the industry, the complexity of the challenges being faced and the products making their way into homes has grown exponentially, but the spirit of the design process is unchanged.

As a young graduate, you have immediate design ownership of small parts and assemblies on high profile projects. For me, it was a concept for a ‘helical drive dog’ which improved the acoustics of a fastspinning brushbar(!?). Seemingly trivial now, but receiving my first granted patent was an exciting step.

In the early stages you learn the basics of engineering drawings, tolerance stacks, user interaction and design for manufacturing. And you learn fast. At any moment, you may be invited to talk through your latest progress with Sir James – as Chief Engineer he still holds a passion to develop the designs day-to-day alongside the engineers themselves.

More recently, based in Singapore, I have followed the company’s growth into South East Asia and now have the opportunity to lead a 300-strong design team across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Concepts for new products and components such as motors, batteries, and robotics, are imagined in the UK. It is then our task to develop them and ready them for production.

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As a young graduate, you have immediate design ownership of small parts and assemblies on high profile projects.

Getting a chance to build production lines to realise our ideas at scale, is what brings the greatest reward, and has accented my career so far with the highlights you don’t forget.

Seeing that first machine make it successfully to the end of the production line, with an exhausted team around you, is what makes it worthwhile.

Dyson’s expansion in Singapore has at times been high profile, but reflects the growing importance of markets such as China, Korea and Japan to technology firms like ours.

Having recently spent time in Tokyo and Seoul, what is hugely apparent is the thirst these consumers have for the latest innovative tech, and how, as users, their culture and lifestyle result in requirements that are noticeably different to the West.

Whilst our designers may intuitively understand the needs of a UK home, insights into the priorities of a Japanese family are just as critical – for example,

the premium placed on improving indoor air quality and the resultant high awareness of intricacies such as PM2.5 particles.

Comparisons with the RGS are easily drawn. They are both organisations with ambition, invention and restlessness. And at both, you benefit from being surrounded by people of the highest quality.

In my experience, too, a great sense of drive runs through both. In Dyson’s case, trying to compete with fierce, global tech firms with far larger budgets, leads to a constant ‘start-up’ mentality and comes with high pace and high pressure.

In such an environment dominated by commercial, operations, legal and engineering challenges, it is crucial to identify what gives you your energy, and to carve out time for those activities.

For me, it’s still scribbling on top of design drawings and getting hands on with the latest physical prototypes, just as it was after 4pm down in the Technology department at the RGS.

The UK Dyson campus, located north of Bath has 129 laboratories on-site

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

OGCommunity

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

OGEVENTS L–R: John Downham OG 1943, Gil Carter OG 1963, Tom Archer-Burton OG 1996, Dr Jon Cox Headmaster and Robert Strick OG 1949

REMEMBRANCE SERVICE November 2019 OGs, pupils and staff joined in remembrance in Great Hall on 11 November 2019 to pay tribute to all those who have lost their lives in conflict from the First World War to the present day. In a moving ceremony, wreaths were laid on behalf of the School and Old Guildfordians, the Last Post was sounded and Tom Archer-Burton OG 1996 gave the address. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Blues and Royals, Chief of the General Staff’s British Army Fellow for Defence and Military Analysis and is the Chief of the General Staff’s British Army Fellow at the IISS. His message about the future nature of conflict and how people from many walks of life, careers and skillsets could contribute to defence was both moving and inspirational.

Poppy crosses commemorating each OG lost in the First World War, handwritten by boys from across the Lower School and planted on the lawn in front of the New Building

Tom Archer-Burton OG 1996

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CAROL SINGING December 2019 OG CAROL SINGERS led by Matthew Sargent OG 2018 gathered on Guildford High Street for an afternoon of wonderful singing and seasonal good cheer shortly before Christmas in 2019.  Listen to them again and enjoy the festive spirit via RGS Guildford youtube https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=hBr3Jf2UHhM

Carol Singing outside Holy Trinity Church L–R: OGs Yousuf Mirza 2018, Hamish Klintworth 2019, Callum Holmes 2016, Ridley Hymas 2019, Mark Thornton 2016, Nick Edwards 2018, Adam Wills 2018, Henry Bowler 2017, Nathan Janmohamed 2019 and Matthew Sargent 2018

Making music in the courtyard of the Old Building

UNDERGRADUATE DRINKS December 2019 Last year over 100 RGS undergraduates and staff met at the Albany Pub in Guildford for our annual drinks evening to celebrate the end of a busy term and the start of Christmas holidays. ➧

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

UNDERGRADUATE DRINKS continued

Our OG Events programme has been paused throughout 2020 due to COVID-19. We will be re-scheduling all the decade reunions that were due to take place and will confirm dates once we know when we are able to welcome you all back safely to the RGS. In 2021 we are planning to host reunions for the Classes of 1980/81, 1990/91, 2000/2001 and 2009/10/11 plus various other new OG events. If you would like to get involved, please email og@rgsg.co.uk

Live.Love.Bleed.

RUGBY Casual apparel for the more discerning rugby fan

L I V E L O V e B L E E D R U G B Y. C O M

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Our alumni platform RGS Connect is now four years old and has a population of over 2,000 users. Over that time, it has become a trustworthy and dependable resource for all our community. It is the place to go for updates on School and alumni events, photos from reunions and from the archives, and interesting news from the School and further afield. Over the last year it has been a friendly space for OGs to reconnect with old classmates and the odd teacher. Our alumni span nine decades, with OGs graduating from the School just this year, back to 1935.

RGSCONNECT Why it’s important to stay connected

Most importantly, RGS Connect is a great resource if you are seeking professional and careers advice. Over 75% of our community are willing to help. That’s over 1,500 professionals willing to share their knowledge and experience. The ability to search the directory by company, industry, position and location makes it effortless to access this intelligence.

rgsconnect.com

2,094 members

Next year we hope to expand the professional development attributes by working with recruitment companies, to post job opportunities in a wide variety of levels and industries.

1,528

Our young OGs are facing uncertain times as they graduate so if you have knowledge of your industry or insights into how to succeed on the career ladder, join today at rgsconnect.com and pass on your experience to the next generation.

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countries

One recent OG from the Class of 2020 took advantage of just these benefits when deciding between offers from Russell Group universities or an apprenticeship position at one of the UK’s leading technology firms.

Read his story on the opposite page.

universities attended

willing to help

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Lucas Savage OG 2020 Former School Captain I’d always assumed I would end up at uni. I was offered places at Bristol, Durham and Nottingham for physics and philosophy, and going straight to university is the route that most of my year group would be taking.

When I first heard about the Dyson apprenticeship, I thought it was an interesting idea. Although paired with Warwick University, it’s completely separate to UCAS and is designed to allow UK tech companies to run their own degree apprenticeships, so I applied with the thinking it was just another potential option.

To begin with I didn’t take it too seriously, it was only towards the end I really started to consider going to the Dyson Institute. When it came to making my decision, it was a difficult choice to make.

A resource like RGS Connect seemed too good not to be used whilst I was deciding where to go. It gave me access to industry professionals who I would never normally be able to contact and in my experience, everyone I connected with was extremely friendly and responsive. Just as I was having to make my decision on where to go, I was able to connect with an engineer at Dyson.

It wasn’t an easy decision to make but Will Kerr (see page 32 for his feature on life at one of the UK’s most enterprising firms) was highly supportive and gave me a greater understanding about the company. I feel I got a real insight into what to expect and being able to seek advice from someone on the ground, helped me make my mind up. I’m thrilled to be one of only 35 people accepted onto the programme.

As to be expected, it’s a demanding programme. I was recently asked if I was classified as a student or an engineer and to be honest, I’m both, depending on the day of the week. On Monday, Tuesday and Friday I work as an engineer in different design groups within Dyson.

Over the next two years I will spend time with the hardware, software and mechanical engineering teams on a four-month rotation.

On a Wednesday and Thursday, I am essentially a regular student. I have my lectures at Warwick University – these are usually fairly intense given that all of our lectures are squeezed into these two days!

But this will all be worth it because when I graduate, on top of the BEng (Hons) Engineering I will have a level 6-degree apprenticeship and significant professional experience that may be sufficient for me to apply for chartership should I choose to pursue engineering.

I have only just started out, so I have no firm plan for after I graduate by any means.

But if I get a 2i or above in the degree, I will have a guaranteed job at Dyson, and this is certainly a potential option.

Have I met James Dyson…? Yes. Despite the current COVID-19 situation, I have seen him twice since I arrived. He did an announcement about the Dyson Institute gaining degree awarding powers – meaning my year will be the last year to get a degree from Warwick, after that they will get a degree from the Dyson Institute themselves. And I saw him again in a random corridor within Dyson – he was very friendly. Furthermore,

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some engineers in the years above me have been able to present design ideas to James Dyson. This is pretty exciting given that he is more than capable of putting good ideas into action.

I’m lucky. The right person joined RGS Connect at the right time for me. You can never be certain that you always make the correct decision, but I know I am very happy with where I’m at.

To those OGs graduating after me, I’d advise that when making big decisions, it’s often easy to get wrapped up in factual detail about courses, accommodation and other factors such as these. It is very difficult however to get a good impression of what studying/ working at a student place might feel like day to day and whether you’ll be happy there. Reading websites and articles may help but I found that the best way to get an impression of what the culture of a business or university is like is to speak with the people who have lived through it. Remember, the people who have lived through it are not necessarily the same as the people writing websites and other information.

Because I did reach out to someone who knew the ropes, I am now really enjoying working at the Dyson Institute, and the wide variety of challenges it delivers. It is very hard work but the development that I have seen happen in just the month and a half that I’ve been here gives a real sense of achievement. Arguably, I still have not experienced the ‘normal’ Dyson experience, but I can tell you that they look after their undergrads really well.

The best way to get an impression of what the culture of a business or university is like is to speak with the people who have lived through it.

Dyson UK campus

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

OGNEWS

Catch up with OGs from across the generations and around the globe.

LAURIE WEEDEN OG 1938 was interviewed on Guy Martin’s D Day Landings, a programme for Channel 4. Laurie was a Horsa glider pilot and was featured in the Big Interview in DialOGue #3.

OG friends gathered at Olivio’s restaurant in Guildford in February 2020: TONY SHORTER 1956, BOB HOWELL 1957, KEITH HAVELOCK 1958, CARL DORE 1957, NEVILLE HARMS 1958, DAVID GERRARD 1957 AND COLIN MAGGS 1957.

KEITH HAVELOCK OG 1958 retired from the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys Council after 48 years, in early 2020. He began his “trade mark career” in the 1950s and has held many senior posts in the profession since then, notably as past President and Honorary member of CITMA, Chairman of Committees and then Secretary General for 10 years of the European Communities Trade Mark Association, and Partner of D Young & Co LLP for 21 years. He has seen the world of Intellectual Property evolve from a relatively small group of dedicated professionals to the independent Chartered organisations of today, and been involved in landmark cases across the years, notably PizzaExpress v Pizza Hut, Waterford, Arsenal and Budweiser to name but a few.

Keith says he has been fortunate to have had throughout his career agreeable and talented Partners and associates all over the world. Currently, he is still in regular contact with ten or more of his OG contemporaries, at least half of whom meet annually to have dinner together in Guildford (see the group photo above).

GRAHAM CLARKE OG 1964 came back to visit the School in December 2019.

Keith with Terry Jones OG 1961 at an OG reunion at Terry’s house

JOHN BALLAM OG 1941 celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary on June 17 2020, married to Freda at St Edwards Church, Sutton Green, Guildford.

John and Freda on their wedding day

Celebrating 70 years later with family

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

LEON DORÉ OG 1965 has been painting his way through the lockdown.

NIGEL GILLINGHAM OG 1972 and captain of RGS rugby 1st XV 1970/71 is now Senior Vice President of the Rugby Football Union and is due to become President in August 2021. The one-time Leicester second row – he played for the Tigers in their victorious reign in the 1980s – is now playing as big a role on the administrative side of the game as he did years ago as a player.

RICHARD TILBROOK OG 1979 was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary in August 2020 following the retirement of Edward Chaplin CMG OBE at the end of 2019. He works with the Archbishops’ Appointments Secretary on the consultations for diocesan bishop and Crown deanery appointments, attending meetings of the Crown Nominations Commission as appropriate. Richard is Clerk to the Privy Council and has been acting as the Prime Minister’s Appointments Secretary since January 2020, having previously served as Deputy Appointments Secretary. His earlier civil service career was spent at the Government Communications Headquarters, in the Department for International Development and in the Cabinet Office, where he oversaw the operation of the honours system for a number of years. He is also responsible for advising the Prime Minister on the appointment of Lord-Lieutenants.

Memories of SPORTS DAY 1983 courtesy of BRUNO GUILLAUME OG 1982, featuring former RGS Headmaster JOHN DANIEL and former Deputy Headmaster JOHN LAUDER with STEVE SHORE, former English/PE Teacher in charge of cricket, next to a fantastic collection of trophies. Former Deputy Headmaster BILL GILLEN is on the far left.

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JAMES SUNDERLAND OG 1988 was elected as the Conservative MP for Bracknell in the November 2019 General Election after 27 years in the Army. He was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1993 and served operationally worldwide, reaching the rank of Colonel before his early retirement. He commanded 27 Regiment RLC in Aldershot and was serving back at Sandhurst as the Commander of the Army Engagement Group when he left the Army with only six days’ notice to become the local MP! Since arriving at the House of Commons, he has been active in a range of debates and issues, not least in Defence, SEN, Global Britain, International Trade and the Union. He introduced the recent Desecration of War Memorials Bill and is also Chair/Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for Veterans, the Armed Forces Covenant, Motorsport, Overseas Territories and the Falklands.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

OG friends from the CLASS OF 1990 gathered back in Guildford from across the country for an informal 30-year reunion on 12 September 2020.

L–R: Matt Froggatt, Nick Nelson, Steve Harris, Gavin Werrett, James Meakin, Nick Wilson-Jones and Anthony Glasper

ALASTAIR WIPER OG 1998 is based in Copenhagen and specialises in Industrial Photography. His new book Unintended Beauty captures the beauty in industrial production with a collection of stunning and thought-provoking images. His work was also exhibited at RIBA Forms of Industry in London in 2020.

MARK LAMBERT OG 2003 played his 250th game for Quins against Exeter on 1 March 2020. It was a very close-fought match which went to the wire right up to the last minute, when Quins secured a well-deserved victory. Mark was given a rousing reception as he led out the team and Ugo Moyne, ex Quins and England player, paid tribute to his old teammate in his testimonial year. Mark has been heavily involved off the field too with The Harlequins Foundation and Future Hope, and he is also Chairman of the Rugby Players’ Association.

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

ALEX RUSSELL OG 2004 got married in May 2019 with three other 2004 OGs in attendance – BEN WYNNE as Master of Ceremonies, JONATHAN STURGEON as Head Usher and KARAM SARIDAR as a guest.

NICK STYLIANOU OG 2008 was part of the Sky News team in Hong Kong covering the protests in October 2019, which won a BAFTA for News Coverage in August 2020.

Nick was field producer for Mark Austin in a half-hour special news programme as the protests entered their fifth month.

At the BAFTAs, the Sky News team beat competition from ITV News At Ten’s election results, Victoria Derbyshire’s Men Who Lost Loved Ones To Knife Crime and Newsnight’s Prince Andrew & The Epstein Scandal interview.  Watch their award-winning programme at https://vimeo.com/367812241

Above: Karam Saridar Below: Jonathan Sturgeon (left), Alex Russell (2nd left), Ben Wynne (far right)

JONNY STEPHENS OG 2008 was named Innovation Consultant of the Year 2020 by the Management Consultancies Association (the consulting industry body). This is a nationwide award and Jonny, who works for BearingPoint as Manager – Customer and Growth, was shortlisted and faced interviews from independent panels (his included the BBC’s Maryam Moshiri), and eventually beat Deloitte’s Head of Blockchain (amongst two others from EY) on the awards night. He has delivered meaningful and measurable change for clients across a broad spectrum, giving him a great perspective on how different businesses innovate to stay relevant.

Jonny’s experiences range from cuttingedge breakthrough innovation to long-term sustainable change.

Nick Stylianou second left with Sky News team.

Photos courtesy of Cathy Chu

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

Architects DAVID SCHNABEL OG 2009 and Guylee Simmonds bought a marine survival lifeboat, Stødig, in February 2018 and after a year-long conversion left in May 2019 on a five month, 5,000km voyage to the Arctic. Along with Shackleton, Guylee’s dog, they travelled from Newhaven in the UK to Tromsø, far north in the Norwegian Fjords. The route skirted the Belgian and Dutch coast, passing the Kiel canal in Germany into the Baltic. They passed up the Danish then Swedish coast past Copenhagen and Gothenburg, before a rough crossing of the Skagerrak south of the lower tip of Norway.

The lifeboat then loosely followed the route of the famous Hurtigruten ferry, passing up and through the fjords and islands to Tromsø. Situated at 70° north, Tromsø is the northernmost city in the Arctic and having arrived, the lifeboat and crew spent the winter there, skiing and camping. The aim of the expedition was to explore this wild and isolated landscape whilst demonstrating the ability of design innovation to facilitate the recycling and reuse of similar decommissioned vessels – and to document and share the adventure through photography and film. Follow the story of their design and adventure with Stødig at @arcticlifeboat and arctic-lifeboat. com. A 40-minute documentary is due for release in late Autumn 2020.

Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel with Shackleton aboard Stødig. Photograph

by Develop Images

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

ARJUN ODEDRA OG 2010 got married in July 2018 to Natalie, who he met at Birmingham Medical School, with MICHAEL BARKER OG 2010 as their best man. Natalie and Arjun both work as doctors at Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, where their son Marcus was also born in November 2019.

Will Barnes and Barney Curtis exploring Wadi Rum, Jordan

“Life on Mars”

Top: Arjun and Natalie, seated, with best man Michael Barker. Above: Natalie and son Marcus outside the RGS

WILL BARNES AND BARNEY CURTIS OGs 2011 were fortunate to make it to Jordan early this year (and even more fortunate to make it out... with Will catching the final flight out of the country before a two week COVID-19 quarantine was imposed). Alongside exploring the more famous Lost City of Petra, they spent three nights at a Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum. Living just a mile from Laurence of Arabia’s former desert camp, they explored the dramatic desert and rock formations in searing heat, meeting only the odd 4x4 or camel. This trip inspired Will to create a short film called Life on Mars.  Watch the film here: https://vimeo.com/ inspiringadventure/lifeonmars

ALEX BROWN OG 2011 – in August 2019 Alex represented the Bermuda rugby team at full back, beating Guadeloupe in the final to win the RAN Caribbean Rugby Championships. He was also asked to play for Italy at the World Rugby Classic event held in Bermuda in November 2019 – the team was made up of ex Italian internationals and ex professional players.

Alex Brown (back row 5th from left) – Italian Classic Rugby team

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Alex Brown 3rd from left in victorious Bermuda team

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

ALASTAIR ADAMS-CAIRNS and GUY HIPWELL OGs 2012 and great friends from the RGS, graduating from RAF Cranwell on 16 July 2020 as Flying Officers ‘with ‘Merit’.

ALASTAIR ADAMS-CAIRNS and MAX BURGIN, also a great friend and another 2012 RGS leaver, having climbed Mont Blanc together. They climbed up the Trois Monts route overnight and ‘summitted’ at about 8 a.m. on the morning of 23 July 2019.

They descended via the Goûter route.

JACK MORRIS OG 2014 starred in Belgravia on ITV in early 2020, playing the role of Charles Pope in the new historical drama by Julian Fellowes. Jack will be on stage in London’s West End in 2021, playing Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird. His stage name is Jack Bardoe.

Jack Bardoe as Charles Pope in Belgravia

TOM BARRASS OG 2015 has achieved a first in his Masters in Theoretical Physics from Durham University and is now at King’s College London studying for a Masters in Financial Mathematics.

ALEX COCKWILL OG 2015 is a part time photographer and aspiring engineer. As a self-taught photographer he has brought his technical background into the photographic realm, specialising in urban images. With over 20,000 followers on Instagram (@alex_ cockwill), his work also features in publisher Trope’s ‘London’ book as part of their City Series, and in ‘Streets of London’ by Mendo’.

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

THE VARSITY CHESS MATCH was played in March 2020 at the RAC Club in Pall Mall.

DANIEL SUTTON OG 2015, playing for Oxford, got a draw and HARRY GRIEVE OG 2019 played for Cambridge and won his game. The final score was Cambridge 5 1/2 – Oxford 2 1/2 . Cambridge have now won 60 matches to Oxford’s 56, with 22 matches drawn.

HANTIAN WANG OG 2018 plays alongside Harry Atkins in the Cambridge University Hockey team.

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OGS AT THE RGS CATHEDRAL CAROL SERVICE 2019. Recent OGs THANG TU, MATTHEW SARGENT, JAMES CASHMAN and JOE BATE returned to sing in the choir and met other OGs and staff in the congregation.

TOM ROWLAND OG 2016 is three years into studying medicine at Oxford and has taken a year out to study for a Masters in Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

His goal is to work in global infectious disease policy and control.

THOMAS HOLLAND OG 2017 was on the victorious Cambridge side as, after four years without a win, the Colleges XV rugby team finally reclaimed the Varsity Trophy, beating Oxford 29-26 in a match that went down to the final minutes.

L–R: Oliver White, Jonathan Andrews, Hamish Klintworth, Thang Tu, Matthew Sargent and James Cashman

HARRY ATKINS OG 2018 is Men’s Club Captain of the Cambridge University Hockey Club for the 20/21 season. He joins many other OGs who have represented the university in Varsity sport and says, “I’m excited to take on this role for my final year and to now both organise and play in the annual Varsity matches against Oxford.”

L–R: Dan Osborne, James Cashman and John Saxton, former RGS Head of History, at the Carol Service

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

HARRY GRIEVE OG 2019 has continued to enjoy success in the world of chess. He triumphed at the 24-hour chess marathon fundraiser tournament, Checkmate COVID-19, held on Chess.com with 459 participants in June 2020. To come first ahead of Daniel Gormally, English Chess Grandmaster, and with seven other Grandmasters playing, was brilliant and Harry helped to raise £10,000 for the British Red Cross. Daniel said of Harry “He was talented and quick and deserved to win”.

See Harry’s chess puzzle in the Games Room on p76 featuring one of his games from the tournament.

JAMES MILLER OG 2020, an environmental campaigner and nature documentary filmmaker, spent a night with a badger sett in a wood near Guildford to raise money for leading youth homeless charity Centrepoint. James has appeared on Sky News Kids public speaking at the RSPB AGM, previously won the national Cairngorms Nature Young Presenter Competition and a prize at the British Wildlife Photography Awards. He was also interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 News discussing the State of Nature report 2019. In June 2020 James hung up his hammock for the night alongside a clan of badgers.

 You can watch the film of his time with the badgers here: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=sLrdBs2qTY4&feature=youtu.be

TIM YOUNG, former RGS HEADMASTER with OGs MICHAEL SALEH 2004, PETER BROUGHTON 1995 and DUNCAN TOMPSETT 1996 at a Rank Foundation event.

ALFIE JOHNSON OG 2019 signed a professional contract with the Rugby Football Union in July 2019 and from August that year, became a full-time member of the Elite England Men’s Sevens Squad. After stand-out performances for the RGS 1st VII in winning the Surrey Plate and reaching the quarter finals of the Rosslyn Park National Schools’ Vase competition, Alfie had been selected to play for top invitation Sevens side Samurai RFC in the National Super Sevens Series.

An England call-up ensued, and he was selected to represent England in the Hamilton leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, remarkably, less than a year after his final appearance in an RGS shirt.

Further international recognition followed as he went on to feature in the Sydney, Los Angeles and Vancouver legs, before the COVID-19 outbreak curtailed the England Sevens programme for now.

OGs TIM SEDGLEY 1960 and ALEX NORRIS 2020 connected through our recent Telephone Campaign and discovered that they were/are currently both students at St John’s College, Oxford. They met up for lunch and had a lovely chat about Oxford and RGS days. Alex said, “As it happens, we’re exactly 60 years apart which made it such a fascinating experience for both of us, I think.”

Here they are in St John’s College itself.

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

JOHN SIMPSON, FORMER RGS DIRECTOR OF STUDIES has generously donated a stained-glass window commemorating 500 years of the RGS. It can be seen in the Old Building near the Chained Library.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE 1965 AND BEYOND Prompted by recent OG successes on University Challenge, we discovered that the Christ Church, Oxford team in 1965 contained not one but two OGs, JOHN PENYCATE and MICHAEL LEGGE OGs 1962, who fell just short of reaching the final in the series of University Challenge that year. Both have gone on to enjoy illustrious careers.

Michael recalls “It was only the second series of the programme. Team selection at the college was a pretty chaotic affair: sample questions were read out to a packed room of aspirants and we were invited to shout out the answers. When it came to the filming we discovered there were no professional question setters; Bamber Gascoigne, the producer and their friends all pitched in with suggestions. The rules were different then too. Teams had to win three matches in a row in order to reach the quarter finals. We became the first team to qualify for the knock-out stage in that series. We then had to wait 18 months before there were enough teams through to hold the quarter finals. After one more win, we lost to Edinburgh who were then defeated in the final.”

On graduating Michael Legge joined the Civil Service “fast stream” in the Ministry of Defence where he served as a junior private secretary to Lord Carrington, the Defence Secretary, and then worked in several policy divisions including a posting to the UK Delegation to NATO in Brussels. This led to an appointment to head a new division responsible for Nuclear and Arms Control policy at the time when key decisions were being taken on the replacement of Polaris

by Trident and the deployment of cruise missiles in the UK. He was then seconded to the Rand Corporation, the leading US think tank, to write a monograph on NATO nuclear strategy.

On his return from the US Michael became Head of the division overseeing all defence policy outside the NATO/Warsaw Pact area. This included the Falklands and he achieved unwelcome fame as the author of a paper about the sinking of the Belgrano, intended for a Parliamentary select

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committee and leaked to an Opposition MP by a colleague, Clive Ponting.

In 1988 he returned to Brussels as NATO Assistant Secretary General; a year later the Berlin Wall fell and the whole East-West security relationship changed fundamentally.

He chaired a committee charged with drafting a new NATO Strategy for the post-Cold War era which was finally approved by a summit of Alliance leaders in Rome in 1992. A posting to the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast followed, as the Deputy Under Secretary responsible for Security, Policing, Prisons and Criminal Justice and the senior Whitehall Civil Servant resident in Northern Ireland for three years in the run-up to the Good Friday agreement.

After five years as Personnel Director for the Ministry of Defence he retired (by now appointed both CMG and CB) to become Secretary of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. In 1988 Michael’s son Christopher was awarded a King’s Scholarship to the RGS but because of the family’s return to Brussels he was unable to take it up.

John Penycate went on to make a career in television journalism. He started on the late Sir David Frost’s ground-breaking show on ITV in the ’60s and then joined BBC TV Current Affairs in 1968 and was a producer on, successively, 24 Hours, Midweek and Panorama. In the mid-80s he went front-ofcamera, and for the rest of his BBC career was a Correspondent for Panorama, Newsnight and The Money Programme. John travelled extensively in his job, reporting from such places as Iraq, Afghanistan and Argentina during the Falklands war. He covered the troubles in Northern Ireland, and wars in Africa. He interviewed dozens of political leaders worldwide, and – for The Money Programme – business leaders like Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black.

His was the last television interview with the late Robert Maxwell.

With colleague Tom Mangold, John wrote the Vietnam War non-fiction bestseller The Tunnels of Cu Chi and also co-wrote the life of a serial murderer, Psychopath. He has been a lecturer at Westminster University and Goldsmith’s College, London University, a media-trainer, and has lectured on the ships of nine cruise-lines. He and his wife Evelyn live in London, and he has been elected to membership of the Garrick Club, the Hurlingham Club, the Royal Television Society and Chatham House.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

THE RGS PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION This took place during lockdown and we asked, “What makes you smile?”

Here are some images from OGs across the world.

ALAN CASSIDY OG 1967 and Aerobatic Pilot. “How about this?”

MUNRO BRETT-ROBERTSON OG 2007 in Australia. “This makes me smile. My daughter and me”.

JONATHAN LO OG 2006. “My new-born girl Matilda, who was born on March 26th, so a week after lock down, has brought endless joy during the lock down. She makes me smile and keeps my spirits up during this strange new time. This is a photo shoot I did with her at home using my photography studio lights about one month after she was born.” Jon is a semi-professional photographer with a portfolio specialising in stage productions, portraits and weddings. www.jonlophotography.co.uk

ALEX DAWE OG 1999 and BA Pilot. “Flying my aircraft for the first time since March to repatriate people from Cape Town (taken over the Channel just after departing over Guildford on Sunday night, 24 May 2020).”

STEVE HARRIS OG 1986 in California. “My garden makes me smile”.

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OGs BACK AT SCHOOL It’s always a real pleasure to welcome OGs back to School and several have returned to give talks to various societies and year groups.

Bret Charman OG 2006 gave a wonderful digital General Studies talk about his career as a wildlife photographer, accompanied by stunning images of animals and birds he has taken all over the world.

Daniel Sutton OG 2015, who has studied at both Oxford and Harvard Universities, gave a fascinating talk on the role of Classics in shaping the early USA.

James Cashman OG 2016 gave an inspirational message about gay adolescence and the journey of self-discovery that continues through university life, focusing on the importance of authenticity and self-acceptance, as part of LGBTQ+ History.

Nathan Janmohamed OG 2019 gave a talk to The Pride Society on the reality of being LGBTQ+ in sport. Later in the year he gave an uplifting talk to the boys in the online Charity Assembly about the value of volunteering at School and in all walks of life. This year he took part in the RGS Telephone Campaign, raising funds for the RGS Bursary scheme. Before returning to Loughborough for his second year of University, he worked for the first half of the Michaelmas Term 2020 in the Music Department as well as helping out with the training and development of the budding XC athletes throughout the year groups at the School.

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

OGs continue to offer fabulous support to our careers programme, both at the annual Careers Convention and Careers Seminars and through RGS Connect, our bespoke digital platform where OGs can find and offer careers support as well as professional and social networking.

Here is a snapshot of some who we welcomed back to the RGS Careers Convention in January 2020.

OGs AND CAREERS

Alex Brackstone OG 2015

Alex Osborne OG 2016

Jake O’Connell OG 2010

Jon Atkinson OG 2002

Max Burgin OG 2012

Oliver Woolcott OG 2014

Tom Lingard OG 1995

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

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Andrew Rothwell, Oliver Bazin and Joe Lyons OGs 2007 at the RGS Careers Convention

L–R: Ben Robinson OG 2009, Peter Dunscombe (RGS Director of Careers & Higher Education), Chris Whitehead OG 2012 and Calvin Ngwena OG 2015 – speakers at the Careers Seminar: Creating Social Impact

If you would like to get involved, be it at a careers event or offering advice, mentoring, internships or work experience, please email og@rgsg.co.uk or sign up to RGSConnect.com Thank you!

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

OGs Making a Difference

RICHARD BAMPFYLDE OG 1998 WRITES FROM BEIRUT I’m currently marketing and teaching sustainability at Brummana High School, the British school in Lebanon. BHS is an independent, non-profit, coeducational school in the mountains over Beirut, a short 25-minute ride from the capital. The campus reminds me of RGS Guildford with plenty of space, new facilities mixed seamlessly with historic buildings (from the 1870s) and plenty of nature and fresh air to help inspire the next generation.

I’ve spent nearly 15 years of my career in the Middle East now, starting off in Bahrain and moving to Beirut and finally to Brummana 12 months ago. I have some roots in Lebanon: my mother was raised here and indeed my parents met and married here. The country and region have always fascinated me, particularly having grown up in the 80s with the Lebanese civil war in full-flow and often discussed over the Sunday lunch table.

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Donations can be made here: https://bhs.edu.lb/giving/ donation-appeals

T

he August 4th explosion in the Beirut port area, which resounded across almost the whole country and was even heard 160 miles away in Cyprus, has had an enormous impact on the country and society. Given Lebanon was already experiencing an economic collapse including a dramatic devaluation of the local currency, as well as social and political turmoil, all before even considering the impact of COVID-19, suffice to say the country has seen much, much better days.

In the clean-up operation following the tragic event and aftermath, many BHS students and staff responded with assistance on the ground, helping the injured, clearing streets of glass and beginning to put back together buildings and lives. The school’s Student Council initiated a community collection on campus, delivering car loads of food, clothing and sanitary products to NGOs operating in Beirut. Nearly $1,500 in cash was also raised for the Lebanese Red Cross.

This kind of charity/philanthropic involvement is essential to young children’s education, and perhaps even more so in a country where limited state services leave large sections of the population without the usual safety net countries around the world so often provide. I remember charity and fundraising work being integrated into our education at RGS, as well as receiving great support from teachers when undertaking a volunteering expedition to Sinai, Egypt with the then British Schools Exploring Society in the summer between Lower and Upper Sixth.

Shortly after the blast Brummana High School launched the emergency Beirut Fund which aims to raise money to cover tuition fees of families affected, either losing their homes or their businesses due to the shockwave. Some have even lost both. So far BHS has raised 50% of the necessary funds required to cover fees (c$1,000 a year per student now given the Lebanese Lira devaluation).

The Beirut Fund will come to an end at

the end of the year. Should any of the RGS community wish to respond, please see https://bhs.edu.lb/giving/donationappeals The haunting memories from August 4th still remain amongst all of us who were unfortunate to have experienced such a disaster, with the white cloud above the port area akin to a nuclear bomb engrained for a lifetime. With local and international support, the country is renewing itself. It is hoped that the next generation, many of whom are educated at Brummana High School, can now lead Lebanon forth into a brighter future for all. Long live Lebanon!

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

RGS SALUTES YOU

As COVID-19 started to take hold and the country went into lockdown, we became aware of OGs working on the frontline of the NHS, bravely giving medical expertise and care in extremely difficult and challenging situations.

Their families and friends shared news and photos with us, often a quick selfie in PPE before or after a long, exhausting and emotionally draining shift.

RGS Salutes You was our way of saying Thank You. We decided to acknowledge our OGs and their dedicated work on our social media – Twitter, RGS Connect and Facebook – both through individual posts and every week in the Thursday Clap for Carers. You can read their stories on the website at: rgs-ourcommunityRGSSalutesYou Many turned their hand to medical demands outside of their usual specialism or worked hard to keep providing much needed care in maternity, cancer, children’s health, anaesthesia, general practice and more. Many are continuing to do so as the pandemic shifts again.

Resourcefulness, stamina and sheer tenacity allied to medical skill and commitment have been shown by them and their colleagues, and for this we are truly grateful.

Here are some of those OGs we heard about – there are many more and on behalf of the entire RGS community, we say a heartfelt Thank You to each and every one of you.

Alex Calvey OG 2006

Alex Rossides OG 2009

Amour Patel OG 2006

Daniel Bruynseels OG 1994

Dominic Rossides OG 2011

Douglas Macmillan OG 1983

George Badham OG 2008

Jagdeva Mehet OG 2009

Sarinda Wijetunge OG 2012

George Gathercole OG 2015

James Nickells OG 1985

Joe Bruynseels OG 1996

Nick Wilson-Jones OG 1990

Pete Steed OG 2002

Sharon Pontin RGS Nurse

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

Andy Turnbull OG 2004

Arjun Odedra OG 2010

Douglas White OG 2012

Barney Wong OG 2007

Ben Rusholme OG 2009

Daniel Becker OG 1988

Ed Coats OG 1998

Gareth Davies OG 1999

Gavin Werrett OG 1998

Greg Neal-Smith OG 2010

Harry Chadwick OG 2006

Hussein Hassanali OG 2002

Justin Kelly RGS DT

Kyle Fleischer OG 2011

Laurence Suckling OG 2010

Rhys Watkins OG 2011

Rob Loveless OG 2007

Jack Langan OG 2016

Misha Verkerk OG 2006

Nicholas Dawe OG 2001

Robbie Tuffley OG 2009

Sam McKeown OG 2016

THANK YOU

Sipan Shahnazari OG 2009

Stephen Joseph OG 2009

Xander Cary OG 2009

Xav Peer OG 2014

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BRAIN INJURY IN RUGBY Tom Goodbourn OG 2015 and PhD researcher at Durham University is specialising in mild traumatic brain injury in professional rugby players.

H

ead injury in rugby is an everpresent facet of the game and a significant issue for researchers who are aiming to reduce the potential risk and severity associated with contact sports. Concussion remains the most common injury seen across all levels and codes of rugby with RFU protocols in place to assess head injury and return-to-play criteria. Any type of head injury should be considered serious and the protection of all who play the game, youth players up to the careerprofessionals, is paramount.

American football, ice hockey and soccer also face this challenge and the implications for long-term health complications are being explored across these and other impact sports. So, what makes this particular piece of research so ‘ground-breaking’?

Tom belongs to a consortium of world-leading universities from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK all focussing on a different element of concussion in rugby. In the UK, his team focusses on the analysis of the forces that players are exposed to during training sessions and matches through the use of head-mounted impact

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sensors. This is combined with other data streams to be the first study of its kind to have a multi-source approach of:

• impact telemetry monitoring • blood serum analysis • visual/cognitive screening • player neck strength • scenario video analysis in both men’s and women’s rugby. The inclusion of video analysis supports the identification of higher risk ‘plays’ or techniques that may potentially expose a player to more serious head impacts.

The findings will be combined and

presented to the relevant organisations to improve understanding of the longterm physiological effects that exposure to head impact can induce in all sports.

Safety and enjoyment of the sport can then move forward hand in hand.

Tom writes: “As we believe the entire point of this type of research is for the benefit of player welfare, the option of crowdfunding the major costs (£32,000) became a popular idea. Think: ‘research funded by the people, for the people’.

If you are interested in supporting the research, the link to the GoFundMe is: https://gf.me/u/x9gdm3.”

The RGS adopted the Return2Play Concussion Management system five years ago in order to ensure that the recommended concussion guidelines are met for our pupils.

Online consultations are available at each stage of the sign off process with doctors who have expertise in concussion. Pupils also receive an annual update on the protocols, usually delivered by the Medical Director of our concussion consultancy, Dr Sam Barke.

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OG SPORTING NEWS FOOTBALL A huge thank to Guildfordians FC for a very enjoyable fixture against the RGS 1st XI on 5 January 2020 which the School won 5-3. A number of OGs play regularly for Guildfordians FC which is based at Stoke Park, Guildford and fields two teams in Divisions 3 and 7 South.

The club are always keen to welcome new OG players so if you’re interested, email og@rgsg.co.uk

OG SHOOTING SUCCESS Congratulations to the nine Old Guildfordians Rifle Club members selected for the GB squad preparing for the 2023 World Long Range Target Rifle championships: David Armstrong OG 1986 Matthew Charlton OG 1989 Liam Cheek OG 2012 Matthew Ensor OG 1997 Chloë Evans (OGRC rule 4c) Miles Horton-Baker OG 2019 Derek Lowe OG 1991 James Shepherd OG 2010 Jon Underwood OG 1988 In addition, an update on the “Summer” competitions (all shot in September 2020 in glorious weather, with appropriate social distancing): Jon Underwood managed to win the St Georges Cross to add to his impressive haul of major wins and there were four OGs in the top 25 overall: Chloë Evans, Liam Cheek, Archie Whicher and Jon Underwood. Congratulations should also go to David “Milko” Armstrong who managed 2nd in the Jersey Summer meeting, using an old jacket and a borrowed rifle!

As a club, the OG Rifle Club won the Bank of England, the Steward, and came 1st and 2nd in the Marlingham (Public Schools Vets) matches. Well done to all members as this was truly a team effort... all done within bubbles of self-isolation (there were certainly plenty of bubbles!).

One bright side to COVID-19 is that Old Guildfordians continue to be the top club in the UK for 2020 and the RGS maintains its top shooting school status as neither the Astor nor Ashburton competitions were shot this year!

Archie Whicher OG 1984 (Captain, OGRC)

Jon Underwood with St Georges Trophy 2020 (top) and his St Georges Cross (bottom)

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CRICKET The 2020 RGS School cricket season was silenced in the Trinity Term 2020.

No one strode out to bat, no whomp of leather on willow. All was quiet at Bradstone Brook. To compensate for the lost season, Richard Black, RGS Head of Cricket, arranged something special; a game between what would have been our 1st XI from the Class of 2020, plus a few extra young OGs, vs the MCC. On 13 September 2020 our boys faced club players at Bradstone Brook.

The game was competitive but lighthearted and one the OGs will certainly remember. Special mention should go to Ali Curran OG 2017 and Harry Foster OG 2020 who both bowled well to end with figures of 7-0-44-4 and 8-0-40-3 respectively.

Nevertheless, the MCC scored 209-9 in 40 overs beating our OG field who scored 111 for 10 in just 30.5 overs.

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SPORTING SHORTS The RGS OG cricket team featured the following players: Will Perceval OG 2020 (Capt) Charlie Vincent OG 2020 Harry Foster OG 2020 Ayush Bose OG 2020 Tom Perceval OG 2019 Harry Relph OG 2020 (Wkt) Alastair Curran OG 2017 Ben Shaw OG 2017 Harvey Brooks OG 2020 Sam Finch OG 2020 Alex Tiplady OG 2020

HOCKEY continues to be played at universities across the country with about half the current Exeter 1st team comprised of OGs! A number of OGs are enjoying great success for teams in the England Hockey League Men’s Premier Division. Our popular OG fixtures against the School will resume when COVID-19 restrictions allow.

CROSS COUNTRY ALUMNI RACE OGs will again be racing next year and welcome anyone looking to take part.

Please email og@rgsg.co.uk for details, as well as joining the School’s Strava group for motivation.

GOLF If you would like to join the OG Golf Society, please email langfordp53@ gmail.com or allenjp@talk21.com

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AUSTEN, BECKINGHAM, HAMONDE, NETTLES, POWELL & VALPY...

FOLLOW IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS: LEAVE YOUR LEGACY The RGS was founded with a legacy from Robert Beckingham and, for over 500 years, legacy gifts have been used to support every aspect of School life. The six RGS Houses above are named for great benefactors to our School.

A gift in your Will is a great way to follow in their footsteps. It can also be a tax-efficient way of giving and will cost you nothing during your lifetime. Unrestricted legacies – the application of which is left to the discretion of the School – are exceptionally valuable, as they can be used wherever the need is greatest when the time comes. Alternatively, you might wish to direct your bequest towards a key area of the School’s work that you particularly cherish and we would be very happy to discuss this with you.

School was a special place, is to consider making a gift in their memory.

If you choose to remember the RGS in your Will and inform us of your intention, you will be included in our Beckingham Society, a small but growing group of dedicated supporters who have chosen to remember our School and meet annually for lunch with the Headmaster.

If you would like to talk confidentially about leaving a legacy to the Royal Grammar School or making an In Memoriam donation, please contact Georgie Grant Haworth on +44 (0)1483 880665 / ggh@rgsg.co.uk

In Memoriam Gifts A particularly eloquent and enduring way of commemorating the life of a relation, friend or colleague for whom The Royal Grammar

An In Memoriam gift is a lasting tribute that can play a valuable role in helping to secure our future. The gift may be an individual benefaction or the proceeds from a collection made in someone’s memory.

You may prefer to request that donations be made to the School in lieu of funeral flowers, or to make a donation each year to remember someone’s birthday.

Alternatively, you can also read more about how to make a legacy gift in the ‘Ways to Support /Remember Us’ section of the ‘Support-the-RGS’ pages of rgs-guildford.co.uk

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TERRY JONES OG 1961 AN APPRECIATION Writer, film director, comedian, poet, librettist and historian, Terry Jones achieved worldwide renown with Monty Python’s Flying Circus after early success on comedy shows such as Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report. His love of the absurd and a style of visual, often slightly surreal, comedy brought anarchic humour to the group and inspired many comedians across the generations. It was on Python that he honed his directing skills, notably on Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. He created many memorable moments and characters, both in the sketches and films, and made something of a speciality of playing middle-aged “screeching” women.

T

erry went on to direct a comedy fantasy film, Erik the Viking. He also co-created and co-wrote with Michael Palin the TV series Ripping Yarns and in 1987 directed the film Personal Services. In 1996 he wrote and directed an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, in which he also played the part of Mr Toad.

He became a popular children’s author with a number of books, including Nicobobinus, the story of a boy who can do anything, and The Saga of Erik the Viking, which won the Children’s Book Award in 1984.

A keen historian, Terry wrote several books such as Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary and wrote and presented TV documentaries on ancient and medieval history (Crusades, a four-part documentary series for BBC TV and his Emmy Awardwinning Medieval Lives). The complete works of Chaucer was his Desert Island book of choice.

In 2016 it was announced he was suffering from a form of dementia which robbed him of his ability to communicate, an especially cruel blow. He received a standing ovation in October that year when he appeared on stage to receive a BAFTA Cymru Award for his outstanding contribution to film and television. Born in Colwyn Bay, his family had moved to Guildford when he was four years old but he forever felt Welsh to his core.

Once asked how he would best like to be remembered, Terry replied “Maybe a description of me as a writer of children’s

books or some of my academic stuff. Or maybe as the man who restored Richard II’s reputation. He was a terrible victim of 14th Century political spin, you know.”

Terry’s time at the RGS was a foretaste of the eclectic life he would go on to lead.

As School Captain, House Captain of Beckingham, Rugby Captain (as a wing forward) and sometime wicketkeeper for the 2nd XI Cricket team, TGPJ also excelled at shooting (Imperial Challenge Silver Medallist) and gained School and/ or House Colours in rugby, gymnastics, cricket, boxing and cross-country. He was on committees for the Debating Society,

English Society, General Games and Editor of The Guildfordian. Terry was awarded the Powell Essay Prize for English Literature in 1959, JG Simpson Prize for English Literature in 1960 and achieved a Commonership to read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He later said, “The master who had the most effect on me was someone probably no one else remembers: Don Martin.”

(English teacher). Terry was Vice President of the 1991 RGS Appeal and wrote the forward to To be a Pilgrim, a book of OG recollections for the 500th anniversary of the School. ➧

Terry Jones (right) and friends rehearse a Goons sketch, 1959

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A reunion with OG friends at Terry’s home

OG friends remember Terry Jones Terry was one of the Claygate gang who commuted to School together; OG friends recall occasions involving “station masters” caps, mild explosives and other deviations”.

“Christmas concert parties, one per house, had riotous sketches and songs, in which Terry was a leading light”. His spectacular Three Little Maids from School in drag lives on in the memory.

“His banter was great”. Terry apparently also persuaded the Headmaster to discontinue the wearing of School Caps by Prefects.

In John Daniel’s time as Head, Terry was invited to speak at an OG Dinner.

His address brought the house down, involving as it did a two-man Python sketch which he persuaded John to take part in!

Duo for Two Violins In The Sixth Tone System, one of Terry’s Desert Island Disc choices, was played in class music lessons by Mr Dusseck. Those who laughed were reprimanded so Terry bought a copy and trained himself not to laugh at it. He admitted to rather enjoying the piece later on in life.

An OG friend of Terry’s visiting the small village of Baixa in South Western China came across a little poster advertising Dr Ho, a practitioner of Chinese traditional herbal medicine. “Seeing me, the “doctor” came out of his house and asked if I knew Terry Jones! “Well yes” I said, and he pointed to the poster which included a press cutting recording a visit the “famous Terry Jones” had made to him a couple of years previously!”

Terry contributed a poem, Space Journey, about his mother (to whom he was especially close} previously published in The Independent on Mother’s Day 2006, to Keith Havelock’s anthology of poetry.

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Tongue-in-cheek correspondence

Little known facts: The Pythons were very popular in the USA, including the IT community, which led to two now common usages. Junk email is known as “Spam” after the sketch in which Terry recites a menu which consists of “spam, spam, spam…”.

Also a programming language is known as “Python”.

Michael Lane OG 1964 and his wife, actress Jenny Agnew, ex Guildford County School, discovered they had many mutual friends – chief amongst them was Terry who had a wonderful gift for loyalty, fun and friendship.

Mike has vivid memories of Terry’s fairmindedness and popularity as School Captain and also that he was CQSM of the School Cadet Corps – which added a piquant touch to the Monty Python parody of army drill!

Michael Palin described Terry as thoughtful, warm, generous and sociable. OG tributes added “irrepressible, great fun, kind, loyal, unchanged by fame, fairminded, popular “ – qualities seen in abundance by his School friends over the years. He died on 21 January 2020.

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BOB WILLIS OG 1968 AND FORMER ENGLAND CRICKET CAPTAIN One of the giants of English cricket, Bob Willis’ career spanned decades, from his days as a cricketer for England to his time as a pundit on Sky TV. The legendary fast bowler took 325 wickets in 90 Tests from 1971 to 1984, claiming an outstanding career-best 8-43 to help England to a famous win over Australia at Headingley in the 1981 Ashes. He captained England in 18 Tests and 29 one-day internationals before his retirement in 1984.

B

ob subsequently worked as a summariser on BBC TV before joining Sky Sports as a commentator in 1991. He continued to work for Sky and was part of their coverage of the 2019 Ashes series.

Having appeared for both Surrey Schools and the County Colts, Willis represented Surrey for the first two years of his professional career before spending 12 years at Warwickshire, finishing with 899 wickets from 308 first-class matches at an average of 24.99.

Cricketing career Willis made his international debut aged 21 in the 1971 Ashes after being called up to replace the injured Alan Ward. He played the final four Tests of the sevenmatch series as England won 2-0. Willis went on to tour Australia in 1974 but had to return home injured. He returned to the England team in 1976 for the last two Tests against the all-conquering West Indians. That year in India, he took 20 wickets, including 5-27 at Kolkata and 6-53 at Bangalore. In the 1977 Jubilee Test at Lord’s he floored the Australians with 7-78: at Trent Bridge he took 5-88; and at the Oval, 5-102. His heroic 8-43 led England to beat Australia at Headingley in the 1981 Ashes and with England following on in their second innings, he helped Ian Botham to add 37 runs for the last wicket. Touring India and Sri Lanka the following winter, he was appointed England captain. Facing India

RGS 1st XI cricket 1969 (Bob Willis front row third from right)

and Pakistan, he took 25 wickets, winning both series. A fearsome strike bowler, Willis intimidated even the world’s finest batsmen and in his final Test match in June 1984 he achieved yet another historic career landmark: 52 “not outs”, a record in Test cricket.

At England’s 1,000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country’s greatest Test XI by the ECB. The Bob Willis Trophy tournament was held for

the first time in 2020, a one-off, first class cricket tournament in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Essex won against Somerset.

Bob was not awarded Cricket Colours when at the School, which came up when he met Dr Jon Cox, RGS Headmaster, a cricket fan and member of the MCC, a few years ago. Dr Cox promptly sent him an RGS Cricket Colours tie, which Bob duly wore when he was next on Sky Sports.

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Bob is seen here in the 1st XI cricket team in 1965. According to The Guildfordian of the time: “The first XI had the best season in its history by emerging undefeated from 15 games. Three matches were won by over 100 runs. The wickets were spread evenly between the five main bowlers – Beeson, Denning, Howard, Martindale and Willis – who between them took 115 wickets.”

OGs remember…here are a few of the many memories of cricket and friendship shared by his contemporaries at RGS. Bob would stop to chat and reminisce with OGs when and wherever they bumped into him Monday morning assemblies where the results of school matches would be announced: the opposition bowled out for a handful of runs, then our opening batsmen cruising to victory. A great player, sadly missed.

I remember opening a door at a party to find Bob on his own in a bedroom singing along to a Bob Dylan album. He was a true original. (In homage to his great musical hero, Bob Dylan, RGDW would later add Dylan as a third forename by deed poll.)

Walking past Lords with a group of cricketing mates in the ‘80s, Bob was walking towards us. I had always bored my pals with the tale of taking a catch at 4th slip off Bob’s bowling … not sure they really believed me, but when Bob said “Hello Boney” and stopped for a 5 minute chat, I think that they were more convinced. One of a kind he was.

It was terrifying even to watch Bob bowling in school matches, so much so that it was a key factor in my decision to opt to do Athletics in the Sixth Form!

What about the story of him missing the second day of a Surrey U21 match as he went to the Isle of Wight to see Bob Dylan and couldn’t get back in time?

I didn’t know him at all well but for me his stance on apartheid as much as his part in the “Botham” test was a source of profound admiration.

In Bob’s final year he was the House cricket captain but decided not to bowl in inter-house matches ... his reason... we had nobody who could keep wicket to him!

In 1962, in the Summer months Dickie Dawkes encouraged me to attend Parkhurst to assist in Cricket Coaching.

Some years later my brother, Roger OG’66, informed me that one of the boys I ”coached” was Bob Willis. I cannot say, in any way, that I had a dramatic impact, or any, on his ability or subsequent scintillating career. Nice story though.

Remember that old greatcoat that he used to wear!

Bob Willis OG 1968 joined RGS in 1960 and died aged 70 on 4 December 2019 after a three-year battle with prostate cancer.

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OBITUARIES It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of OGs from the RGS community over the past year. We rely on information coming to us from the OG and RGS community and every possible endeavour is made to ensure accuracy. Wherever possible we have included valete information from our School records.

Ronald Smith OG 1937. Nettles 1929-1937. School Prefect 1937. Gen School Cert 1937, Cert “A” 1936.

OTC L/Cpl 1937. School Colours: Football 193435-36-37. House Colours: Rugby 1935-36-37; Cricket 1935-36-37. Member AFA Public Schools XI 1936-37. Member General Games Committee 1937. Member House PT Team 1935-36-37. After Ron left school, he worked in London for a motor insurance company travelling daily from Guildford. Eventually the company moved him to Brighton where he lived with his wife, Enid.

He took early retirement in the early 1970’s.

Always involved in the church, Ron was ordained as a minister of the United Reformed Church in 1978 serving churches in the Brighton area. His love of sport continued through his support of Sussex Cricket and Brighton and Hove Albion FC. His recollections of his RGS days were featured in DialOGue #4 p82 as he celebrated his 100th birthday. Died 12 July 2020.

James Wakeford OG 1938. Nettles 1933-38.

Cert “A” 1937. OTC L/Cpl 1938. Empire Marksman 1935-36-37-38. House Colours: Football 1937; Rugby 1938. Died 6 February 2020.

1940. House Colours: Rugby 1940-41; Cricket 1940-41; Athletics 1938; Boxing 1939-40 (Winner Class “D” 1939). Michael Staff OG 1979 who worked for Arthur wrote: “Arthur was a ‘true’ Guildfordian, born in Weston Road in 1924.

On leaving the RGS he became a Captain in 114th Field Regiment, Burma. He subsequently trained as an architect and set up his architectural practice, merging with another to become Nye, Saunders & Partners in Guildford.

Arthur was for many years Surveyor to the fabric of Guildford Cathedral, the appointed Diocesan Surveyor to the Guildford Diocesan Parsonages Board and held Inspecting Architect appointments ‘looking after’ numerous churches in the Guildford and Southwark dioceses. Arthur personally designed many of the replacement parsonages in Guildford Diocese built during the 1970’s and 80’s. A passionate sportsman, he was a member of Blackheath Cricket Club for many years. In 1952 he married Irene May Allison and they had two devoted daughters, Allison and Emma, and four grandchildren.

He was a loving family man, charming, always smartly dressed and loved to entertain.” Died 6 April 2020.

The poem below was written by Arthur’s grandson, Daniel Goddard, who lives in Singapore.

THE ARCHITECT My grandfather was an architect, Always designing from his chair, Surveying the world and its structures, Strong, pragmatic and fair.

Imposing in the office, Difficult at times and often direct, Treated by those that knew him, With admiration and respect.

Arthur Saunders OG 1941

Arthur Saunders OG 1941. Austen 1936-41. 2nd Class Scout 1938. Cert “A” 1940. JTC L/Cpl 1941.

Empire Marksman 1941. School Colours: Football

Spring afternoons with his girls, The scent of rose petals in the air, Giggling and gossiping together Dressed for the occasion, debonair.

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Long summers spent in France, In the shade of old fig trees, Surrounded by his friends, Reminiscing under the gentle breeze.

Broad shoulders and towering, He would walk down thin country trails, Me scuffing my feet behind him, Misty mornings and smell of hay bales.

Time stood still for a moment, As we fished together by the lake, His warm hands upon mine, Thin ham sandwiches at tea break.

Francis Perriman OG 1948

Sunday lunches at school house, a Gin and tonic close to hand, An Airedale nuzzled by his feet, watching sport on Grandstand.

My grandfather was an architect, someone you couldn’t help but adore, The patriarch of this family, Rest in peace, evermore.

Geoffrey Snelling OG 1945. Austen 1938-1945.

Cert “A” Pt 1, 1945. Died in Spring 2019.

Lawrence Roy Gilbert OG 1948 Beckingham 1941-48. Matric 1946. 1st Class Scout 1945. Green All-Round Cords 1945. Asst Scoutmaster 1946.

House Colours: Rugby 1946-47; Swimming 1945-48, Capt 1946-47. Member House PT Team 1945-46-47-48. Roy was a great supporter of the School for many years and died 1 March 2020.

Here is an appreciation from his wife, Frances: “Roy, as he was always known, attended the Royal Grammar School from 1941 to 1948. He was a typical example of how the scholarship system offered by the School enabled a boy from a home with a modest income to have a superb income and then proceed to university. He looked back on his schooldays as a supremely happy and fruitful time, and often spoke of his friends and teachers with loyalty and affection.

In later years he was a devoted member of the Old Boys’ Association and looked forward to their meetings. RGS was a treasured part of his life.”

Keith Hollis OG 1948. Nettles 1940-48. Gen School Cert 1946. 2nd Class Scout 1942. Asst Scoutmaster 1946. House Colours: Athletics 1947; Cross Country 1948. Member House PT Team 1946. Died 16 July 2020.

Francis Perriman OG 1948. Perri, as he was known to all, was a proud Old Guildfordian and loyal supporter of the School throughout his life, attending many OG social events and musical occasions at the School. A longstanding attendee at the Market Day concerts, he loved the music-making at the School and took delight in identifying and naming virtually every pupil in the School photo of 1948, for which we are ever grateful. After university in London, Perri joined the Merchant Navy where he worked for 35 years as a Chief Engineer, travelling the world.

He spent a long and happy retirement travelling, pursuing his love of model railways and his garden, always surrounded by his beloved cats.

His valete reads Austen 1940-48. Matric 1948.

Cert “A” 1947. JTC L/Cpl 1947. Empire 1st Class Shot 1946-47. House Colours: Rugby 1947.

Member House PT Team 1946. Much loved by his wife Gina, family and all who knew him, died 20 June 2020.

David Bull OG 1949. Beckingham 1942-49. Won a scholarship to the grammar school at the age of nine. Cert “A” 1949. CCF L/Cpl 1949. Empire 1st Class Shot 1947-48. House Colours: Football 1948; Boxing 1947-48; Swimming 1949. Member House PT Team 1948. David and his wife Jan immensely enjoyed the Old Codgers Reunions organised by Kenny Wyatt OG 1952, catching up with everyone David knew. As an OG, he was very proud to have attended the School. Died from COVID-19 6 April 2020.

Brian Bedford OG 1950. Nettles 1941-50. Prefect.

Matric 1949. CCF L/Cpl 1949. Cert “A” 1948.

PTI 1948. Empire 1st Class Shot 1947; Marksman 1948. School Colours: Football 1949-50; Rugby 1948-49; Athletics 1947-49, Capt 1950, Victor Ludorum 1950, County Colours 1950, England School Sports 1948; Cross-Country 1950, Gymnastics 1948-49, Capt 1950. House Colours: Football 1948-50; Rugby 1947-49; Athletics 1945-49, Capt 1950; Cricket 1948-49; Gymnastics

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1948-49, Capt 1950; Cross-Country 1948-50; Swimming 1948. House PT Team 1947-49, Instructor 1950. Brian was a loyal member of the Old Codgers for many years and is much missed.

Died 27 February 2020.

Alan Harding OG 1950. An appreciation from Colin Christmas OG 1950, family and friends: “In 1943 Alan obtained a scholarship to the RGS and in 1950 was awarded a scholarship to University College, Oxford to study medieval and modern history. Before going up he undertook two years’ National Service and after graduating completed a B.Litt. specialising in medieval legal history. There he met Marjorie (then Aitken) who was reading chemistry at Somerville and they married in 1958. Medieval history was always of special interest to him and academia beckoned: he was appointed Lecturer at Edinburgh University in 1961. He took teaching and the support of students very seriously, becoming Director of Studies, then Associate Dean and ultimately Reader in the Department of Medieval History. His first book, ‘A Social History of English Law’ was published in 1966.

He organised a conference on British Legal History in Edinburgh in 1967 and was involved in others around the country in later years.

In 1980 Alan moved to the University of Liverpool as Professor of Medieval History.

Both the University and the City experienced great problems during the early 1980’s: The Toxteth riots, University funding reduced and the Hillsborough disaster among others. But Alan’s and Marjorie’s principles stood them in good stead, putting work, colleagues and students first. The widely used book “England in the Thirteenth Century” was among his publications in this period. On his retirement in 1997, Alan and his wife returned to Edinburgh where they both had Honorary Fellowships at the University. Here he completed ‘Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State’, started in the 1980’s and eventually published in 2002. Alan enjoyed hill walking and explored many places in the UK, Europe, USA and China. He had a great interest in classical music and attended many concerts at the Edinburgh Festival. An end of term musical interlude by one of the masters when he was in the fifth form at the RGS was the moment he discovered classical music.”

Died 23 August 2019.

Peter Batten OG 1951. Hamonde 1945-51. Died September 2019.

John Willis OG 1952 died in May 2020.

John Andrews OG 1953

John Andrews OG 1953. Nettles 1945-53. House Captain 1953. Prefect 1951-53. GCE A Level 1953.

CCF CQMS 1953. PT Instructor 1951; 1st Class Shot 1950-52; Marksman 1953. School Colours: Football Capt 1953; Athletics 1951-53 (Victor Ludorum 1952); Boxing 1950, Capt 1951-53 (Winner Class “B” 1950-51, School Champion 1952); Cricket 1952-53. House Colours: Football 1950-52; Athletics 1948-50; Cricket 1950, Capt 1953; Fives 1951; Rugby 1950, Capt 1953; Swimming 1952. Committees: Debating, General Games, Geographical Society. House PT Team 1949-52, Instructor 1953. Died in Dubai in January 2020.

Interview with Grandpa (John Andrews) about school in the olden days

By Ava-Lola Chudleigh-Lyle When were you born? I was born last century!

In August 1934.

So how old you? I am 81 years old.

What school did you go to when you were younger?

When I was eleven I went to the Royal Grammar School in Guildford in Surrey. It was a school for boys only. RGS is a really old school. It dates back to 1509. So it is more than 500 years old.

Did you like school? Yes. I liked school. I worked hard, but I was particularly fond of sports. I was in the football team, rugby team and cricket team.

Were the teachers strict at the school? Yes. I think they even used the cane on naughty boys. Not me though!

What was school like? There was no technology in my day. No computers at all. We worked off

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old wooden desks with inkwells. We had chalk and chalkboards in primary school to learn how to write, and then when we were in secondary school we used pens with real ink.

It was very traditional.

How did you get to school? I was very lucky as we were one of the few people who had a car.

My father would drive me to school, but I would often walk even in the rain.

Did any famous people go to your school? Yes. Terry Jones who starred in the Monty Python Series.

Roger Bowers OG 1960

How long did you stay at the school? I stayed there until I was 18 years old and then went to Sandhurst to train to be an army officer (he rose to Major, 1st Kings Regiment, Liverpool).

Peter Bullen OG 1953. Nettles 1948-53. He was a Lance Corporal in CCF, Scout with the Holy Trinity Troop and spent his working life as a reporter. It was Pete who first encouraged his friends on the path of electronic Christmas greetings instead of sending cards, to save resources and donate to charity, a win-win for everyone. He died of cancer in 2014.

Tony Evans OG 1954. Hamonde 1950-54. Prefect 1954. Entry to Sandhurst 1954. GCE O Level 1953; Magnus Prizes for History and Geography 1953.

CCF Sgt 1954; Guard 1952. School Colours: Rugby 1951-53, Capt 1953; England XV 1953; Football 1952-54; Athletics 1952-54. House Colours: Athletics 1950; Football, Capt 1953-54; Gym 1953.

General Games Committee 1954. Died 3 September 2020.

Michael Floate OG 1954. Prefect 1953. Surrey Agricultural Scholarship to Reading University.

CCF: CQMS, Empire Marksman. House Colours: Boxing, Cross-Country. Member General Games Committee and Science Society Committee.

Died April 2020.

James Eastwood OG 1956 died 31 May 2020.

Roger Bowers OG 1960. Austen 1957-60. School Prefect 1960. GCE O Level 1958. A Level 1959-60.

CCF L/Sgt 1960. Cert “A” 1957. Empire Marksman 1958-60; Acting Platoon Commander 1960.

Played Chess for House 1959-60 and School 1960.

House Crossword Captain 1959-60. Won Top Commonership in Classics at Wadham College, Oxford 1960. Roger was influential in English language teaching over five decades and a key figure at the British Council for many years. On graduating, he joined the British Council and was posted to Ghana in 1965; he later led projects in India and Egypt and was a visiting professor at Ain Shams University, Cairo from 1980 to 1984.

In 1985 he became director of the British Council’s English Language division. At the end of the cold war in 1989, Roger was influential in setting up initiatives to develop English teaching in eastern and central Europe. In 1992, he became assistant director-general of the British Council, overseeing restructuring and expansion as the organisation became more commercial and enterprise oriented. In 1998 he became CEO of the Trinity College London Examinations Board in the areas of English language testing and teacher training, music, and speech and drama.

He retired in 2006, and in 2007, after 10 years of work as a trustee, became chair of the AS Hornby Educational Trust, an English language education charity. Roger was made OBE in 1984 and CMG in 1997. Some of his best memories were of the School, where he mentioned in particular, Colonel Bishop, who taught classics and encouraged him to apply for Oxford. His widow, Jenny, comments: “I was Roger’s colleague, partner and then wife over 36 years.

I was always touched by the affection with which he spoke of RGSG, and the admiration he had for its teachers who provided high levels of education and commitment in a struggling post-war Britain. Roger understood how essential

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

was the support by parents of their children in education, including his own family. We had several happy celebrations with a number of his former classmates and colleagues at the house of the late Terry Jones – great camaraderie, after all these years.” Roger is survived by Jenny, by his first wife Gwen, and their children Mark and Alison, and his four grandchildren, Ellie, Holly, Hazel and Pippa. Died April 2020.

breast cancer screening. Both recommendations were acted on, saving many lives. He also played an important role in the development of NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and is credited with assembling the evidence for the progressive ban on tobacco advertising. Described by Virginia Bottomley, “as good as they come: a man of total integrity and ability”, at 6ft 4in tall, his children’s friends called him the Big Friendly Giant. Clive continued to keep close links with his School friends and helped organise a reunion for them in 2017. Died 26 December 2019.

Adrian Bentley OG 1971. On leaving the RGS, Adrian took a catering course at Guildford Technical College, gaining his first job at the Percy Arms in Chilworth. He later worked at the Mad Hatter in Guildford and the Onslow Arms in Clandon, followed by many years at Langans in London, until he retired. He was a great scout and venture scout and later helped with the pantomimes at the old Royal Surrey County Hospital. Died 13 June 2020.

Clive Smee OG 1960

Peter Jenkins OG 1971 died in January 2020.

Clive Smee OG 1960. Austen 1953-60. School Prefect 1959-60. Magnus Prize for Economics 1959. CCF L/Cpl 1959. Cert “A” 1957; Classified Signaller 1958; Asst Instructor 1958; 1st Class Shot. School Colours: Badminton 1958-59-60, secretary and treasurer 1960; Athletics 1960, capt 1960. Half Colours: Athletics 1959. Member School Cross Country team 1960. House Colours: Athletics 1960, capt 1960; Cross Country 1960.

Clive was Chief Economic Adviser and Head of Analytical Services at the Department of Health from 1984 to 2002 and developed the idea of evaluating the cost-effectiveness of medical treatments and injecting the findings into government decisions. An exceptional economist, he guided eight Health Secretaries throughout his career, inspiring a generation of health economists and policy researchers with his incisive commentary and analytical skills. He was the recipient of a Nuffield Trust Fellowship which enabled him in 2005 to write a memoir – Speaking truth to power: two decades of analysis in the Department of Health – which remains very relevant today. An early example of his lasting contribution came in 1985 when he commissioned two breakthrough studies. The first concluded that, despite the controversially high expense of heart transplants, they might be cost effective and were therefore worth pursuing. The second used international evidence to make the case for the UK to adopt

David Benest OG 1972

David Benest OG 1972. Prefect; 1st XV rugby team. David was commissioned into The Parachute Regiment and enjoyed a varied career including several tours in Northern Ireland, his last as Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion in South Armagh for which he gained his OBE in 1997. He was also awarded the MBE in 1989 and a GOC’s Commendation in 1991 and rose to the rank of Colonel. In 1982 he was Regimental Signals Officer with 2 Para during the Falklands conflict which saw the battalion defeat the Argentines at the first major land victory at Goose Green. His account of their campaign formed the basis of 2 Para Falklands: The Battalion

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at War by Major General John Frost published in 1983. A specialist in counterinsurgency he volunteered to serve as counterinsurgency advisor to the British Ambassador in Kabul in 2008. He was also Director, Security Studies & Resilience Group at the Defence Academy.

David gained a 1st class degree in international relations at Keele University and in retirement combined his military and academic interests, reviewing numerous books for the British Army Review. David raised funds in aid of The Ulysses Trust, a national charity dedicated to funding expeditions for young Army cadets. Having discovered that his local newspaper delivery was in jeopardy he volunteered to become a ‘paperboy’ and take on the round, donating all his earnings to the charity. Five years on, he had raised more than £10,000, and been shortlisted for Wiltshire Life magazine’s Local Hero of the Year. David was a passionate advocate for equal access to education for all. He attended OG dinners and reunions and was principal speaker at the 2012 RGS CCF and OG Mess Dinner, discussing the importance of School CCF in future life. In November 2012 he returned to the RGS to give a King’s Lecture about his time with 2nd Batallion, Parachute Regiment during the Falklands War – his first-hand account was inspiring and thought provoking. His friend and fellow OG 1972, John Chaplin, wrote “He was someone who had deeply held and consistent views, which also came with a very high level of personal integrity. This is something he had as a young person at the RGS and retained through his life. His contribution and leadership in having such a vibrant CCF during his tenure as CSM made a very significant contribution to the school.” David died at home from heart disease on 10 August 2020.

Robin Havard OG 1974 died in May 2020.

Martin Randall OG 1974. After leaving the RGS in 1974 Martin attended UMIST where he studied Business Administration. His early career was in Product Marketing, working for several leading food companies, remember the Honey Monster? He transitioned into key Account Management for international Advertising Agencies, moving to Hong Kong in this capacity in 2000. Martin became a resident of Hong Kong, started his own business and in total spent 18 incredibly happy years there before succumbing to cancer on 14th September 2018. Martin is survived by his partner Valentina, two sons Chris and David and granddaughter Scarlet.

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Jack Izatt OG 1978 died 31 January 2020.

Thomas Patterson OG 1980 died 2019.

Joe Lyons OG 2007

Joe Lyons OG 2007 joined Global, Europe’s largest radio company, in 2011 and rose to become Senior Producer of Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp. Since 2016, Joe had been producing Roman at Capital Radio, starting with him on the evening show then moving to the breakfast slot a year later. He also produced Capital Breakfast when it was hosted

by Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon, was a freelance producer at Classic FM and worked as a video content producer. Joe was one of the ReelWorld Radio Academy top 30 under 30 people in 2016 and also had spells at Apple Music and talkSPORT. He studied Management & Psychology at the University of Leeds and had a Masters in Radio Journalism from Goldsmith’s College, University of London.

He returned to the RGS to offer valuable and entertaining advice at the Careers Convention in January 2020. Much missed by friends and family, he died on 4 August 2020.

To submit an obituary or notice of death, please contact Philippa Green on +44 (0)1483 880665 / og@rgsg.co.uk

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DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

THE GAMES ROOM Chess Puzzle by Harry Grieve OG 2019 In June 2020, Harry won a 24-hour Arena tournament called “Checkmate COVID-19” held on Chess.com, with 459 players participating. The marathon chess event raised £10,000 for the British Red Cross and Harry was victorious, ahead of GM Daniel Gormally and FM David Haydon. This puzzle is taken from a game played during the marathon: Boyd – Grieve, black to play.

Solution on p78

Dedication by Mash Letters in clues represent the digits 1 – 9 in an order to be determined.

1

Solvers must discover how to fill the grid in two different ways using only a single set of clues.

5

Once done, a single row in each grid must be converted to letters to reveal two inscriptions.

Normal rules of algebra apply and there are no leading zeros.

Solution on p78

2

3

4

6

7

Across 2 E(EA + E + √ E) 5 G + J + R 6 (T – A + R)W 7 J + DPRT(J + W)/(D + P)

1

5

2

3

4

6

7

Down 1 AE 2 (EA + G)RT/A 3 (DP – A + AR)((DP + A)J + P) 4 (ART + AA + D)(RT/A + W)

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

Crossword by Jeremy Whittaker, retired RGS English Teacher 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10 11 12 13 15

14

16

17

18 19

20

21

22 23

25

24

26 27

28 29

Across

Down

1 Made a mess of Head’s info (9) 9 Passage is found in lyric poem (7) 10 For example, a newspaper column (7) 11 Notes distorted sounds (5) 12 Lizard wrecked clean home (9) 13 Dying to have indoor bog back (7) 15 Your goal today, perhaps, loves? (5) 17 Push something like a spade, only shorter (5) 18 Seeks out and destroys (5) 19 Nick is non-religious (5) 20 Old men belt out tune going by (7) 23 Superior specimen? Capital! (9) 25 Moral authority (5) 27 Take care; embracing trouble is the last thing you want (7) 28 Dismissed by team: a mere shell (7) 29 Astonished, we hear that teacher approved! (9)

1 Picked up stamps and old money (6) 2 Spots revolting stain is out (10) 3 Improve when safe from stumping (8) 4 Relative said to be in Riviera resort (5) 5 Fixated on hanging on (9) 6 Attend to silent doctor (6) 7 Gore instrument (4) 8 Judges same user erroneously (8) 14 Producers of home counties farm milk struggling (10) 16 Speaking in tongues? (9) 17 Better head of monastery (8) 18 Livelier song from bird that is on the wing (8) 21 Work out core temperature of Arctic dweller (6) 22 Top journalist given title (6) 24 Boy to run out (5) 26 Empties bottle (4) Answers on p78

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78

DIALOGUE Issue #5 2020

THE GAMES ROOM SOLUTIONS

THE TUDOR COLLECTION RGS Merchandise

Chess puzzle solution

Crossword solution

Qxe4 2.Qxe4 Nf2+ 3.Rxf2 Rd1+ 4.

Qe1 Rxe1+ 5.Rf1 Rxf1#

Across 1 Fashioned 9 Episode 10 Article 11 Tones 12 Chameleon 13 Done for 15 Solve 17 Shove 18 Culls 19 Notch 20 Passing 23 Uppercase 25 Right 27 Tail end 28 Outside 29 Surprised

Dedication solution The clues give a valid grid-fill using letter equivalences of: D, A, P, R, T, W, J, G, E for the digits 1 – 9. But there is also a second possibility: P, A, D, T, R, J, W, G, E giving a very similar result.

The top row 5837 is the same in both cases, but converting it using the different sets of equivalences gives either TGPJ or RGDW, followed by two dates. These give dedications to two of the RGS’ most famous old boys, Terry Jones and Bob Willis, who both unfortunately died shortly before the last issue.

1 5 7

T 1 2

2

G 9 0

3 6

P 4 2

4

J 2 0

1 5 7

R

2

G

1

9

2

0

3 6

D

4

W

4

9

1

9

Logical solution path To yield an integer square root, E must be one of 1, 4 or 9. The first leaves 2a short of three digits whatever the value of A, and the second only works if A = 3, but then 4d would start 0.

Hence E = 9, and A must be 2, giving 837 at 2a and 512 at 1d.

2d starting 8 means that RT must be in the range 18 – 21. But either 3/6 or 3/7 for R and T run into contradictions at 6a/4d or 5a/2d.

So R and T must be 4 and 5 in either order.

Then from 4d, only W = 6 and D = 1 or W = 7 and D = 3 are viable.

3d is between 340 and 349, so P must take the lowest remaining value.

5a now has to be 19 however the last few letters are distributed, which means that 2d forces G = 8.

The pairs D/P, J/W and R/T cannot now be disambiguated, and choosing either value in any pairing fixes the remaining letters, leading to two distinct grid-fills.

Down 1 Francs 2 Situations 3 Increase 4 Niece 5 Dependent 6 Listen 7 Horn 8 Measures 14 Filmmakers 16 Languages 17 Superior 18 Chirpier 21 Intuit 22 Headed 24 Peter 26 Guts

Browse through our bespoke selection of merchandise exclusive to the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. Our catalogue includes traditional collectables and fun items and gifts.

Traditional range • RGS cufflinks • OG silk tie • OG bow tie • Scarf • Golf umbrellas • Folding umbrellas • Specially commissioned artwork prints (both classic and modern) • The illustrated History of the Royal Grammar School by Nigel Watson • Postcards of the School Classic items and gift range • RGS branded notecards • Playing cards • Rugby balls and footballs • Tote bags • Keyrings • Power pack to recharge your devices • Monopoly Guildford edition.

To see the full collection, please visit our online shop at rgs-guildford.co.uk/our-community/ rgs-merchandise or to place your order email merchandise@rgsg.co.uk or call +44(0)1483 880665

SHOP NOW LAST ORDERS FOR CHRISTMAS BY 16 DECEMBER

The RGS Old Guildfordian Magazine

YOUR DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI TEAM With over 5,000 OGs in over 40 countries, the OG community is a strong and growing international network. Keep in touch to receive the latest OG and School news and events updates.

Georgie Grant Haworth

Philippa Green

Jenny Rothwell

Helen Dixon

Development Director

Alumni Relations

Development Executive and Governors’ Secretary

Marketing and Communications

If you are interested in supporting our bursary programme (intellectual or financial) please contact Georgie.

A former parent, Philippa is responsible for our relationship with you beyond your RGS years, organising many reunions and events.

Also a former parent, Jenny is our data expert as well as managing our Tudor Merchandise range, and supporting the RGS Governors.

Helen is responsible for all our communications with you and manages the online community site, rgsconnect.com.

 ggh@rgsg.co.uk

 pmg@rgsg.co.uk

 jrr@rgsg.co.uk

 hsd@rgsg.co.uk

 +44 (0)1483 887143

 +44 (0)1483 887144

 +44 (0)1483 880665

 +44 (0)1483 880665

Development & Alumni Relations Office Royal Grammar School High Street Guildford Surrey GU1 3BB

 +44 (0)1483 880665  og@rgsg.co.uk  rgs.guildford  @RGSGuildford  @RGSGOG #RGSPassItOn

rgs-guildford.co.uk

rgsconnect.com

rgs-pass-it-on.co.uk

79

THE TUDOR COLLECTION RGS Merchandise

To see the full collection, please visit our online shop at rgs-guildford.co.uk/our-community/rgs-merchandise You can also place your order by email: merchandise@rgsg.co.uk or call +44(0)1483 880665

SHOP NOW FOR CHRISTMAS ORDER BY 16 DECEMBER