Cross Keys 2014 / St Peter’s College

Cross Keys / June 2014

Summer / 2014

Cover Story: Meet Alexander Tyndall, Bar Manager, along with the rest of the JCR Committee / p.32 The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: A Ten Year Review Dr Lawrence Goldman / p.4 All That Is Solid: The Great Housing Disaster Professor Danny Dorling / p.16

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St Peter’s Open To Creativity

Contents 2014

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A Word from The Master

04 Feature: 10 Years as Editor of The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Dr Lawrence Goldman, Editor, 2004-2014 07

News: St Peter’s Enters Team on University Challenge

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News: More Than a Makeover

10 Feature: Law Matters Tom McKeown meets Dapo Akande 12

Events:

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Gaudy 1990-1994

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Gaudy 1995-1999 | 25 Year Anniversary Reunion

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A Celebration of Engineering | Military Might

16 Feature: All That is Solid: The Great Housing Disaster Professor Danny Dorling 20

JCR News

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MCR News

22 Feature: Francis Bacon and Henry Moore Dr Francis Warner 26 Feature: New Inn Hall Street Silver Sean Rippington, College Archivist 28

Peter’s People:

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Tradition and the Future: The New Bursar Reflects on his First Term

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Meet the Editor of Cross Keys

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Meet the JCR Committee

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A Week in the Life of a Schools Liaison Officer

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Sport: St Peter’s Sporting Jewels

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Keeping In Touch: Global Networks and Representatives Year Group Representatives | SPC 10

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Staying Connected

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Event Listing

Editorial A word from The Master

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elcome to the 2014 edition of Cross Keys – designed to give you a flavour of many aspects of St Peter’s life and, in so doing, act as a vivid reminder of just how much academic, cultural and sporting activity we can cram into this small part of Oxford.

The buildings and quads have their charms, but a substantial part of the College’s public and teaching spaces will soon be transformed. This is thanks to a truly splendid donation from Perenco UK, the firm associated with the Perrodo family – two of whom (Francois, 1996 and Bertrand, 2004) studied here. The College’s Director of Development and Alumni Relations tells you more about the plans on page eight.

For the last decade our Tutorial Fellow in History, Dr Lawrence Goldman, has masterfully edited one of the University’s most historic and prestigious publications (and thanks to philanthropy there will soon again be a second Tutorial Fellow).

He is handing over the reins later this year, and here he reflects on his time guarding and developing a precious part of the University’s heritage. Since writing his piece he has been appointed to the prestigious post of Director of the Institute of Historical Research in London and a Professor – so this is his St Peter’s swansong.

Another famous part of Oxford University, the Ashmolean Museum, had its most successful exhibition ever in late 2013 – a brilliant look at the contrasting but complementary work of two of Britain’s greatest 20th century artists, Henry Moore and Francis Bacon. The idea for the exhibition came from a lecture delivered to students decades ago by our Emeritus Fellow in English, Dr Francis Warner, who writes about the genesis of the exhibition – on page 22.

For the first time in many years we have a University Challenge team. I dabbled with University Challenge over Christmas for my old Cambridge College, and although it worked out alright I have unquestionably retired. My hopes and support are now firmly focused on St Peter’s. It is hard enough to win one round and the team has already done well to be selected to take part. Once you have read the piece, do remember to watch and shout at the television in support later in the year.

Dapo Akande, Tutorial Fellow in Law, has been much sought after this year. He is a world authority on international public law and his views on the legitimacy of western intervention in Syria have helped frame the public debate. Here he reflects on his Oxford life after 10 years in the job. By contrast, Professor Danny Dorling, who writes about Britain’s housing crisis, arrived only this year as Professor of Human Geography, but he has not arrived silently – his inaugural lecture drew over 500 people.

Our history is rooted in the idea of extending opportunity. We take this mission very seriously (as does the University as a whole). It is not always easy. There is a torrent of mis-information that has to be fought, and a lot of school visiting that needs to be organised. Our effort is spearheaded by Alice Wilby – herself a former St Peter’s student who enjoys a University-wide reputation for her work – about which you can find out more in this edition.

Our new college archivist, Sean Rippington, writes his first piece for Cross Keys. He is busy digitising the archive and will also be the designer and curator of an exhibition to commemorate World War One through the lens provided by the Chavasses, the College’s founding family.

That will not be for this year, as so much else is being done around the outbreak of the war. We will be sending you more details closer to the time.

You can read about recent College events, and you’ll find a profile of Natasha Denness, Editor of Cross Keys, as she reaches six years in post. You can also savour the flavour of contemporary College life through accounts by other contributors – not least the President of the JCR, Navjeev Singh.

So please enjoy this St Peter’s smorgasbord and do help us if you can.

We have much to do!

Mark Damazer CBE

Feature

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10 Years as editor of The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Dr Lawrence Goldman, Editor, 2004-2014

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eptember 2014 marks the 10th anniversary of the publication, online and in print, of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

It is also the point at which I shall be stepping down as Editor of the Dictionary after a decade in the role. I shall be leaving St Peter’s after 24 years as the College’s tutorial fellow in Modern History as well. It’s time to take stock.

As published 10 years ago, the ODNB included the biographies of approximately 55,000 people in over 50,000 articles. At more than 65 million words in length, it was the longest work ever published in English. Since then we have added essays on a further 4,000 people (4,077 in 3,777 articles up to January 2014). Half of these new entrants to the Dictionary were our near contemporaries; they died in the decade 2001-2010. The rest are what we sometimes refer to as ‘missing persons’ from more distant periods of British History who were not included in the 2004 edition, but whose importance merits their addition to the pantheon.

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Feature

How do we choose new entrants to the Dictionary?

We have the help of more than 450 advisors, nationally-known leaders in their fields, organised into 43 panels from archaeologists to zoologists (with artists, chemists, mathematicians, physicians, politicians, sportspeople and writers et al in between). Most entrants choose themselves through acknowledged eminence. There are areas of national life, however, such as the arts, where opinions differ.

The Editor has been left to decide on the competing claims of a performance artist and a stained-glass painter, for example. The latter will leave a lasting record for generations to come, and the former, by definition, leaves nothing. On one occasion the office stopped work for 10 minutes to debate whether Reg Varney, the star of the television comedy On the Buses, merited an article. Sadly, he didn’t make the cut. We are asked constantly about the criteria we apply in choosing entrants to the Dictionary. The truth is that there are no criteria. The choice depends on the informed judgment of many people, be they colleagues of the deceased, our advisors, editorial staff in Oxford, and public opinion.

The range and flavour of the ODNB can be tasted in the biographies of people who died in 2010 and were added this January. Michael Foot, leader of the Labour Party, rubs shoulders with Jimmy Reid, the communist leader of the ‘work-in’ at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in the early 1970s. The journalists Tony Howard and Alan Watkins, colleagues at The Observer, now rest together in the pages of the ODNB. We include the novelists Beryl Bainbridge and Alan Sillitoe, and the screenwriter Alan Plater (Z Cars and Softly, Softly).

The senior Law Lord, Tom Bingham, is joined by Alderman Andrew Cunningham, convicted in the Poulson corruption scandal in the 1970s. The actors and siblings, Corin and Lynn Redgrave, are included together. We also include Ingrid Pitt, the ‘Queen of Horror’ in many Hammer films. Sir James Black, the Nobel Prize-winning pharmacologist, and Sir Maurice Wilkes, one of the pioneers of electronic computing in this country, are included. Sporting figures of quite different types abound: Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins (snooker); Malcolm Allison (soccer); Alec Bedser (cricket); Greville Starkey (flat racing); and Dick Francis, later a hugely popular writer, from the jumps.

Alexander McQueen, the fashion designer, and Malcolm McLaren, the godfather of punk and manager of the Sex Pistols, are both included. Norman Wisdom became a national screen hero in Albania. Jayaben Desai may have been forgotten, but she led the Asian workers in their famous strike at the Grunwick photographic plant in north London in the late 1970s.

‘Notability’ comes in different forms and may depend on the 30 seconds of heroism, as in the case of a winner of the Victoria Cross, or on a lifetime of service to the nation. Our articles benefit from the delay of three to four years between death and publication. They are not obituaries but considered monographs written with the benefit of personal papers and the information of colleagues and friends. The difference between obituaries of Jimmy Savile upon his death and the essay on him to be published in January 2015 (my final contribution to the ODNB) is justification for the delay.

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‘We hope that we have helped to bridge the gaps between academic and popular history, and between history and biography’

Online publishing assists us in keeping the Dictionary up to date. When, in 2012, Richard III’s skeleton was found buried in a car park in Leicester, we were able to add a paragraph to our article on the king explaining this. When, in 2005, the BBC showed some newly-discovered films of the Edwardian era, we commissioned an article on the filmmakers, Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon.

The sudden vogue for Henrietta Marshall’s school text, Our Island Story, published in 1905, led to the publication in the ODNB of a biography of the author within months. We have carefully followed the debate over the authenticity of a portrait of Jane Austen, adjusting our text as the argument has developed. The Dictionary strives to be authoritative, and as scholarship moves on, so the text changes.

We hope that we have helped to bridge the gaps between academic and popular history, and between history and biography. In 2012, there were 1.3 million visits to ODNB online, and some 6.3 million pages (ie individual biographies) were viewed. The Dictionary is widely used in research universities around the world, but some 20% of visits to its website emanate from public libraries.

Leslie Stephen intended the ODNB to be a source of accurate and useful information about the lives of those who made British history without selfcongratulation or chauvinism. We hope that we carry on in that tradition, and that we help to break down the needless boundaries between academic and popular historical writing.

From October 2014, Lawrence Goldman will be the Director of the Institute of Historical Research in London. His successor as Editor will be Sir David Cannadine.

News

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St Peter’s Enters Team on University Challenge

If you watched the Christmas series of University Challenge you will have seen the Master take his former Cambridge College, Gonville and Caius, to an impressive overall victory. It was great to watch, and it provoked much social media discussion. Roger Mosey, Master of Selwyn College Cambridge, said via Twitter: ‘University Challenge

confirming that if invited to take part in a quiz against Mark Damazer you should probably make your excuses and leave.’ Hoping to follow the Master’s success, we have a team of St Peter’s undergraduates battling it out in 2014.

The series is due to be aired later this year and we hope you will join us in wishing them the very best of luck.

Gabriel Trueblood

Spike Smith

John Armitage

Edward Roberts

Andrew Lee (reserve)

Matriculation Year: 2011 Subject: Medicine From: London

Matriculation Year: 2010 Subject: Mathematics From: Maidenhead

Matriculation Year: 2012 Subject: Mathematics From: Lancaster

Matriculation Year: 2013 Subject: History From: London

Matriculation Year: 2010 Subject: Mathematics and Philosophy From: Bristol

News

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More Than a Makeover Andrew Thomas, Director of Development and Alumni Relations

A successful and vibrant college is inevitably brought about through a combination and collision of various factors, substantially involving people – inspiring, world-class tutors and staff, energised students from a wide variety of backgrounds, and an engaged base of alumni ready to encourage the next generation. Despite being an institution with one of the lowest endowments in Oxford, we have typically managed to punch above our weight and create these ingredients.

This doesn’t disguise the fact that we need to continually improve in almost every aspect so that we remain competitive in a rapidly evolving global marketplace for education. Every year we want to attract the best students, regardless of their background or financial means, and we hope and anticipate that alumni and friends will continue to boost the funds we have at our disposal for bursaries and the enhancement of the overall student experience at St Peter’s.

The tutorial system is also an expensive but indispensable bedrock to our teaching, and we must ensure that we can entice and afford the very best academics.

Against that background it would be easy to simply direct any windfall monies to those vital elements and continue to patch-up rather than transform our physical infrastructure. However, we recently received the largest gift in the College’s history, £5 million from the Perrodo family. After being presented with a range of options the donor specifically wanted to focus on the renovation of our public spaces and meeting facilities as an initial and immediate way to help generate the fit-forpurpose environment that our students and academics need to fully flourish.

Commencing in summer 2014, a programme of upgrade work will be undertaken over the next two to three years. It will comprise:

• A new scheme for the entrance to the College off New Inn Hall Street, including permanent disabled access and a remodelled Lodge.

• The substantial reorganisation of our main Linton Quad, producing an improved orientation between the Chapel and the surrounding buildings and spaces.

• The redesign and likely fusion of Hannington and Chavasse Quads, including the possible erection of a new building against the wall of the Baptist Church.

• Upgraded and expanded conference facilities, including a ground-floor extension to the Latner Building.

• The renovation of Hannington Hall, especially its windows and acoustics.

The first phase, for which we have already applied for planning permission, will centre around the entrance to the College and Linton Quad. We will then move on to creating a detailed scheme for Hannington and Chavasse Quads that will complement our long-term estates

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strategy. The artist’s impression of the first phase can be seen below.

We can’t wait to get started for several reasons. Whether it is the clear hazard of badly buckled paving, the large scale puddles that develop after even the briefest of showers, or the difficulties faced by our disabled visitors, there are a range of practical issues we need to solve.

We all know about the unique spirit of St Peter’s, but we also need to create a greater sense of theatre so that prospective students can’t resist applying and visitors to the College go away with a truly memorable experience. However, the emphasis will always be on practical

sophistication rather than opulence, and we intend to create and preserve as many green spaces as possible on what is a very tight campus – hedges, plants and trees are the Master’s great passion, well maybe after Tottenham Hotspur!

Our tight layout and lack of decanting space will mean that the scheduling of the work will have to be carefully managed, in part because we rely significantly on our summer conference business. Which brings me to how the project will also enhance our aesthetic and practical appeal to the corporate and conference market. Oxford Colleges are unusual enterprises in that their key

customers – students – are largely not on site for approximately five months of the year. Hence the opportunity for generating incremental revenue if there is access to modern meeting facilities, dining halls, and quality accommodation.

We aim to compete much more strongly in this arena so that we can improve the College’s bottom line and enable further investment in core activities.

So now for the short-term pain of noise and building contractors, but we are confident it will be worth the wait and we are very grateful to the Perrodo family for giving us this chance to take St Peter’s in to a new era.

Feature

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Law Matters Tom McKeown Meets Dapo Akande, Yamani Fellow and Tutor in Public International Law; Associate Professor of Public International Law

It sounds like you’ve been doing a lot of travelling lately, then! How do you manage all these various projects?

You’ve put your finger right on what is probably my biggest challenge: juggling all the various things I do. I’m not sure I’m very good at it really. Obviously there is teaching – I teach undergraduates, master’s courses and I have several doctoral students – and then there is academic research in terms of producing articles and things like that. There are bits of administration to do across the College, faculty and University and other work, like with the UN. Then there’s the blog for the European Journal of International Law (EJIL), which is probably the thing that actually keeps me busiest! I do enjoy the variety though.

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s well as teaching law students at all levels, Dapo still manages to find time to advise states and various international organisations on matters of international law, all while juggling a widely read blog and his duties as a father of three. I caught up with him in his office on New Road – a den of relative calm compared to the bustling centre of Oxford, just yards away.

What have you been most occupied with recently?

I tend to work in a range of areas in international law, but over the last few years I have probably looked more at the law relating to armed conflict and international criminal law. I am currently working with the UN on humanitarian assistance in armed conflict – so looking at the obligations of states and non-state groups involved in armed conflicts to grant access to entities seeking to deliver humanitarian relief.

For example, if we were thinking about the conflict in Syria at the moment, there are many areas of Syria which are besieged, where the parties of the conflict – both the government and the non-state groups – haven’t allowed aid to come in. So we’re trying to look at circumstances when parties in an armed conflict have an obligation to allow this and what the UN and other humanitarian agencies can do when parties do not comply with their obligations.

You’ve mentioned your work with the UN – have you had much experience with international organisations?

I have done a bit before, but it has turned out to be a main feature of my work over the last year. Looking back, it’s actually something that’s kept me quite busy. In addition to the work on humanitarian access, I spent time over the summer working with the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions on

the legal framework regulating the use of drones for targeted killings. I was involved in the writing of a report for the UN General Assembly on this issue. Much of the expert review of the report was done at a meeting on the topic which was held at St Peter’s. All of this led to one of the highlights of my year, which was taking part in an event on drones and targeted killing at the UN in New York during the annual General Assembly. I have also done some work with the African Union, and in the past year I have been working with them on the question of the immunities of heads of state before the International Criminal Court. In the same period, I helped the Commonwealth Secretariat produce a handbook on the law of armed conflict and international criminal justice and gave a lecture at NATO’s academy on the application of human rights law in armed conflict.

How did the blog come to be?

I was already on the board at the EJIL, and about five or six years ago a couple of blogs run by academics started to pop up; I just thought the journal should do this too. There wasn’t a blog at the time – at least not in my field – that was connected with a leading journal. It was mainly individuals or groups of individuals doing it themselves. And I thought this would be a new way of doing scholarship, or disseminating knowledge.

So I brought it up at one of our meetings and everybody said ‘that’s fantastic, what a good idea... why don’t you do it?’ So that’s how it came about, and why I ended up having to do it!

‘We recruit very strong students and they’re excellent to work with’

I hear you used to quite enjoy a good argument. Is that still the case?

Not so much – when I was growing up I certainly did!

I marvel at the fact that now I’m not as argumentative as I once was, as it was one of my main motivations for going into law. People would say ‘you should go and be a lawyer because you love to argue’.

Now, though, it’s not so much the argument in terms of debate; it’s more the argument in terms of putting forward reasons, so I’m probably much calmer now, personality-wise! What I’m much more interested in now – and that’s probably the academic side of me coming out – is trying to marshal the argument.

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How optimistic are you about Law at St Peter’s?

I think it’s as strong as it’s ever been. We recruit very strong students and they’re excellent to work with. We probably have fewer here than 10 years ago, which is a conscious decision in line with the general decision to reduce numbers by a little bit, so we now take six law students a year. I think it was a really good decision. It’s just as competitive, if not more so, to get in. But it’s a nice cohesive group. Well, most of the time!

You’ve been here for 10 years now.

What, in your eyes, is the most attractive feature of the College?

There’s the one thing people always say about the College – that it’s friendly. And I have found that to be the case. It’s actually a very nice community of people, and that’s what you want in a college – a community that’s based around scholarly activity, from undergraduate students coming here at 18 through to the Fellows who have been here much longer. It’s not a place where you just come into work and leave and that’s it – you feel like you belong.

I think it could have something to do with the size, not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of the actual size on the map. We don’t have a lot of space here so we’re quite close together, and I think that makes a difference.

You spent a year teaching at Yale Law School. How, in your eyes, does Oxford compare to American institutions?

I actually still go over there quite a bit; I really enjoy being there. These are obviously two fantastic institutions, but Oxford is a much more international place. When I was a visiting professor there a few years ago they set out a strategy to become a global institution, but actually the international character of the place does not really compare with Oxford.

The whole world is at Oxford. You have students and faculty members from all over the world here, so this place just has a much bigger international presence than any of these other law schools, and that’s really nice in terms of the connections between students and colleagues.

Do you have any other interests you pursue to get away from law every now and again?

It’s either work or home for me. I’m quite into sport, though. Football is my main sport – watching rather than playing – but I enjoy several different ones. That said, my work is also what I really enjoy and that’s how I got into it. The things I have always been interested in – even as a child – are international relations, politics, and current affairs, and that’s what’s moved me into the work that I do.

Events

EVENTS 2013-2014

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During the past year St Peter’s has welcomed hundreds of visitors to events in College. These ranged from Gaudies to subject dinners, and from large talks in the Chapel to small seminars in Canal House. We have enjoyed listening to talks from Dr Rowan Williams, Robert Peston, and Martin Sixsmith, as well as hosting the BBC Radio 4 show Any Questions with Jonathan Dimbleby. In addition to this the Master, Vice Master

and Director of Development and Alumni Relations have met alumni at St Peter’s College events in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Toronto, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco and Cape Town. We hope there has been something to interest everyone and we are looking forward to welcoming many of you to events over the coming year. Up-to-date event information can be found on our website www.spc.ox.ac.uk.

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Gaudy 1990-1994 Peter Blackman, 1990 I could hear New Block before I could see it. Huge, block rocking beats of house music were thumping out across College. I’d brought a kettle, clothes, sports kit, books, and a small cassette player. Someone else, though, had clearly brought woofers, tweeters and an amplifier that went up to 11.

That person was Moussa. Incredibly cool Moussa from London. He was on the ground floor, like me, as were Kevin, Andy, Chris, Phil and no doubt some others whose names and faces have slipped away over the years.

It’s 1990 and this is now home. I’m in New Block, which was then genuinely new. I’ve said an impatient and ungrateful goodbye to my mother (who didn’t tell me until years later that she only cried when she got back to the car), dumped my kettle, clothes, sports kit and books, and I’m off to the bar, where the promise is that it might get ‘messy’.

And here I am again. In New Block.

Except now it’s 2013. It did get ‘messy’ in 1990. That night, and for the next three years. Moussa left after a term, shortly after Operation Desert Storm commenced. The events weren’t connected. St Peter’s simply wasn’t cool enough for him; he went back to London and studied at the Ministry of Sound.

Chris and Phil became lifelong friends of mine. Andy went on to become a don.

Kevin found God – or perhaps it was the other way around – married Hilary and that’s all I know.

I’m back in New Block for the Gaudy.

No one knows quite how to pronounce it, or what to expect.

During the first part of the evening, we all pretend to be grown-ups. There is champagne in the quad, and while there is the occasional exclamation of delight as people meet each other, the atmosphere is subdued. It is a little like the first day of term, except no one asks what A levels people did. Instead they ask the adult equivalent: ‘and what do you do?’

A presentation from the Master follows in the Chapel. He is excellent – engaging and informative. But the PowerPoint format only serves to increase the strangely business-like air of the occasion. We are not working. We are not networking. We are reunioning.

Left to right: Neil Scotchmer, Gurminder Bhachu, Robert Sheppard, Nicholas Mavron

It is about now that I begin to receive cheeky texts and messages from friends sat in other rows – we are beginning to regress, to return to our student state of mind. The hands on the clock in the Porters’ Lodge must be spinning backwards. Ivor has arrived to repair bicycles during the evening and night shift. Alan and his enormous set of keys are unlocking and preparing the bar.

The faces in the photographs behind the bar are morphing into those from more distant times – whom Alan will tell you were so much more fun than you will ever be.

Dinner in hall and the evening begins to catch alight. The warmth and conviviality of the room, lit up with so many good memories for all, is a delight. I am on top table. ‘Are you a major donor?’ asks a wellmeaning but ill-informed friend. There is an excellent speech by Matt Jukes, and a highly competitive historical quiz on our years at college from the Master. Now there are no witty texts, Facebook messages, or Skype updates from friends around the room. We have put away the childish things that never leave our adult hands. We are enjoying the here and now, wrapped up in the there and then of the past.

To the bar. All formality and reserve gone now. Rounds of drinks become huge, unwieldy, reaching out and drawing new and different people in each time, such is the desire to buy someone you know a drink to show you that you care. The bar is a bear hug of friendship and happiness.

Something else curious is also happening.

Truths are emerging. The intensity of the bond forged at college is burning off the protective armour that we put on each day

to deal with life. The impossibly consistent success at work, the perfection of marriage, the blessing of such wonderful children becomes interspersed with ‘My wife nearly died.’ ‘I think he might be a functioning alcoholic.’ ‘It just hasn’t turned out like I thought it would.’ ‘My son died.’

The night does not become negative. As it draws on, and we can feel it coming to an end, it becomes more intense. We rage against the coming of the light of Sunday morning. In a world where we largely stay in touch via digital social media platforms, with all the opportunities that those offer for embellishment, edits and evasion, here is real honesty and openness. These people truly know us – and we them.

I woke up in New Block. After a night of pretending to be 19, I felt 90. In a moment of midlife crisis I had decided to cycle to Oxford from my home in Bristol. It had been seven hours of leisurely fun. The Master and I had exchanged brief notes on saddle chafing over dinner. Now I had to get home. My head was pounding so hard I thought Moussa had moved in next door.

I’m too old to call my mother to come and get me – she would rightly say no anyway – and so, after a wonderful night off, I was going to have to pretend to be grown-up. I put on my headphones, selected a 1990’s indie playlist on Spotify, wearily climbed on to my bike (that hopefully Ivor’s spirit has serviced overnight) and wobbled off back to my family.

Peter Blackman read English Language and Literature in 1990. He is a director of global advertising network, The Gate, and lives in Bristol with his wife, Gabrielle, and two daughters, Cecelia and Beatrice.

Events

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25 Year Anniversary Reunion Guy Voizey, 1988

Left to right: Adam Dickinson, Louise Springthorpe (née Hoyte), Jenny Gibbons (née Weaver), Jonathan Gibbons, Andrew Hutchinson, Rachel Hutchinson (née Richardson)

Gaudy 1995-1999 Jake Wallis Simons, 1999 Apart from the Master, Fellows and college representatives, there were two sets of people at the St Peter’s College Gaudy. One was the group of alumni.

The other was a collection of ghosts.

Or that was how it seemed. As I sat on one of the well-worn benches in the dining hall, I had the sense that the spirit of my 19-year-old self must be in there somewhere, stressing about an essay deadline and pigging out on college cannelloni.

For this, in the end, is what a Gaudy is all about: awakening the memory of the person you used to be – recognising how different is the person that you are now – and reflecting upon the journey in between.

For us, of course, it is St Peter’s that deserves gratitude for that journey. As I mentioned in the short speech that I gave when I proposed the toast to the College, when I arrived at St Peter’s I was so unworldly that at the first English class I attended, I mispronounced the word ‘banal’ and rhymed it with, I’m sorry to say, ‘anal’.

How on earth did that bookish pipsqueak make it through the rigours of an Oxford English course and come out the other side equipped to face the world? It was through the efforts of those at St Peter’s.

We all must have similar – if, admittedly, less embarrassing – stories.

And it was a delight to see that the journey that St Peter’s is now offering to students has been energised by Mark Damazer, together with his excellent team of fellows, tutors and other staff. They have imbued the College with a special vivacity, not to mention a connection with the world of the media.

Several times, I thought that I saw my ghostly self out of the corner of my eye. But he never materialised. If he had, I would have given him one message: you’re in safe hands.

Jake Wallis Simons, novelist, broadcaster and features writer for the Sunday Telegraph, read English in 1999.

Twenty-five years after walking up the path to the Lodge as nervous members of St Peter’s, a significant proportion of us returned for an anniversary reunion. Back in 1988, the experience was all new: as a place to live and study and with many new people to meet and friends to make. In 2013, it was the opportunity to catch up with those friends and see how the College has changed over the years.

In many ways, the College is the same as it was back then: the New Building is still new (it wasn’t quite finished when we joined so its first residents had to share staircase rooms at the beginning of the Michaelmas term) and most of the other buildings and rooms serve a similar purpose. There have been some major improvements such as to the Lodge, although having sofas in the bar did raise some eyebrows. There are some less obvious changes reflecting the wider environment: there’s evidence of a tighter approach to security in College and the ubiquity of mobiles made the little phone booth at the bottom of the Matthews staircase redundant some time ago.

Although it was interesting to have a look around the College, the real reason for attending was the chance to see old friends. The experience of living, working and socialising so closely with each other all those years ago has resulted in many lasting friendships. Yet the true spirit of St Peter’s is

Left to right: Gwyneth Rees, Fiona Falle (née Ker), Jackie Ranawake (née King)

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the way it is just as easy to talk with people we haven’t seen since graduation, as it is with those we still see regularly.

The evening had a certain familiarity about it. It was like going to a JCR Guest Night: black tie, a quick drink before the formal proceedings, a reception, dinner in hall, speeches, and then back to the College bar. This time, the pre-drinks (for some) were in the Malmaison (still the prison in 1988) and the reception was in Canal House (rather than the bar). The College wined and dined us royally. The Master welcomed us and questioned us. His 1988 themed quiz showed what might have been had University Challenge not been on hiatus in the late 1980s; the prizes (bottles of College wine) demonstrated how well he knew his audience. The former JCR President and Vice-President both gave speeches, each evoking strong memories of our time as students.

It is easy to come up with the idea of a 25 Year Anniversary Reunion. It is much harder to make such an event successful.

On behalf of the attendees, I’d like to thank the Master and the College, particularly the Development Office and the Bursarial Staff, for allowing us to return and for making us feel at home again. The bar staff were very accommodating and didn’t seem too shocked by the 40-somethings trying to pretend they were 18 again!

Finally, the Class of 1988 are lucky to have, in Jackie Ranawake and Claire Brown, two people who went to extraordinary lengths to make this event such a success.

2013 saw the return of engineering science to St Peter’s after a gap of some 12 years.

To mark the return of the subject, an event was held on 27 September to which all St Peter’s engineers, past, present (we had a couple of post-graduate engineers), and future were invited. This included the two emeritus fellows, Professor John O’Connor and Dr Stuart Turnbull, and myself as the present fellow (I am also an alumnus).

In all, we had a very respectable turn out of 78, which I am fairly confident is the largest number of Peterite engineers to congregate in one place at one time.

The evening commenced in the chapel with the Master introducing the two speakers for the evening. First was Dr (now Prof) Mike Osborne of Exeter College, who tutors St Peter’s engineers in maths.

Mike spoke about his research using

machine learning techniques to forecast changes to employment patterns – such as looking at which jobs are going to be replaced by robots. Mike was followed by Dr Jessica Leitch from Run3D, a spinout from the University which she set up to commercialise her research on gait analysis and the diagnosis and prevention of running injuries before they happen.

We then proceeded up to the hall for a quite excellent meal – so excellent that the Master felt obliged to warn the incoming students present not to expect food of quite this standard every day when they started their undergraduate careers a few weeks later. We were treated to witty and amusing speeches from John O’Connor and Stuart Turnbull – both delivered distinctive styles very familiar to the many former students in the hall.

On a personal level, the evening was inspiring, giving me the chance to talk to different generations of St Peter’s engineers, to discuss how things had changed or stayed the same, and to speculate on what might happen in the future. It is a privilege to be responsible for the future of engineering at St Peter’s.

On this occasion, it was a real privilege to welcome and to hear a speech from General Sir Nicholas Houghton, St Peter’s very own Chief of the General Staff. Joined by his lovely wife Lady Margaret, Britain’s senior military official provided alumni and friends with a unique insight in to the strategic challenges he faces and the dynamics of working within government circles. The overall impression he gave was of a man with real intellect, a determination to assemble the right blend of resources that can contribute to a wide range of scenarios, and a desire for diplomacy to be deployed well in advance of military muscle. We are in safe hands, it appears!

Sir Nick was also delighted to see Professor Henry Mayr-Harting, his old History tutor, at the dinner, and memorably recounted being more anxious about handing in his first piece of work to Henry than he had been during his three years of active service in Northern Ireland immediately prior to coming to St Peter’s!

The evening was made even more special during pre-dinner drinks when the Master was able to welcome Dame Theresa Sackler and inform her that the College’s Governing Body had elected her as an Honorary Fellow in recognition of her family’s support of St Peter’s and many other causes. She was both surprised and delighted.

A Celebration of Engineering Dr Thomas Adcock, 2001

Guy Voizey read PPE in 1988. He is currently a financial journalist specialising in corporate treasury. Guy was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Canterbury in the 2010 General Election. He lives in Whitstable with his wife, Tina, son, Stuart, and daughter, Molly.

Military Might Andrew Thomas, Director of Development and Alumni Relations At the end of January 2014 we held another in our series of dinners that have been very generously hosted by Dahlia Salaam Rishani (1985) and her husband Ramzi at their wonderful London home.

In October we were treated to a personal appraisal of leading world events by the BBC’s Political Editor, Nick Robinson.

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All That is Solid: The Great Housing Disaster Professor Danny Dorling

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n September 2013, Professor Danny Dorling took up the Halford Mackinder Chair in Geography. Danny’s work concerns issues of housing, health, employment, education and poverty. His latest book, All That Is Solid: The Great Housing Disaster, is published by Allen Lane. Here, Dorling gives us an insight into his research, as he uses it to try to explain to a wide audience current trends in housing.

We are currently suffering a housing crisis that is slowly but steadily turning into a disaster. Many try to bury their heads in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening. Often those people are part of a small and shrinking group who own property out right and/or are landlords themselves and have been making great profits in recent years.

For the large majority of people in Britain (a majority which is getting larger and larger every day), for the roofless, the homeless, for almost everyone who rents, especially those who rent privately, and for many people who have a mortgage, housing circumstances are on average worsening. What little wealth most of these people have is shrinking, while their costs are escalating.

Feature

The real cost of living crisis is tied to the cost of housing and the low quality of what we get for such a high and rising cost. In January 2014, The Financial Times released an analysis showing that over the course of just the last five years the equity of mortgage holders in Britain had fallen by £169 billion, while that of landlords had risen by a massive £245 billion1. The vast bulk of this gain will have gone to only a minority of landlords and they secure it at a great cost to millions of other people.

A tiny number of people are benefitting greatly from austerity Britain. An even smaller number are enriching themselves beyond the wildest dreams of most people. This is at the majority’s housing expense. We need to step back, see where we truly are, and understand how we got here. Collectively we could all be so much better housed for so much less.

Housing does not cost what we are paying for it. Our landlords do not spend most of our rent maintaining the properties we live in. The price of property does not reflect the cost of rebuilding, especially in the south of England. Rents are often higher than mortgages. Mortgages are enormous because housing prices are so high, but we are fooled into believing that they are not high because we are told interest rates are low.

The money we borrow still has to be paid back.

A huge amount of money borrowed at low rates of interest results in just as much profit for the bank as smaller debt at higher interest rates did in the past. And when interest rates rise… what then will happen?

What has happened to housing since 2011 is not what the current chairman of the Conservative party said the plan was. In 2011, Grant Shapps suggested that price stability should be the aim of government policy, by which he meant prices rising by two percent less than earnings. In 2012 and 2013, as average earnings fell, national average housing prices rose. Shapps’ 2011 suggestion was that people should “…see their homes as places to live rather than as investments”2

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‘The real cost of living crisis is tied to the cost of housing and the low quality of what we get for such a high and rising cost.’

Our housing market is fuelling a prince and pauper future. The richest tenth of children by household in Britain are growing up in families with well over a hundred times as much housing wealth as the poorest tenth3. As a result, rich and poor children in Britain currently lead parallel lives: their paths rarely cross and their perception of what is normal is easily distorted. The poor often believe that the rich must be happy. The rich often believe that the poor must be dangerous.

House prices in London rose by more than £40,000 a flat or house last year, which is much more than most people in work in London were paid that year. Most people in Britain cannot expect to afford to buy an averagely priced property in future unless there are larger price falls or many years of above housing inflation wage increases. Rents are rising even faster than house prices, and even in areas where prices have fallen, rents have mostly risen.

Housing is by far the largest component of the cost of living crisis. It was very bad even before prices rose last autumn. The BBC took a couple with a child living on £22,000 a year, around the median level, and found that in a third of England they would have to spend at least 35% of their annual income on housing costs if they rented, even for the very cheapest rental property in the area. Alternatively, if they risked rising interests rates, and had managed to save or be given £20,000, and took out a mortgage, they could still 3 All That Is Solid page 57 and Dorling, D., Ford, J., Holmans, A., Sharp, C., Thomas, B. and Wilcox, S. (2005) The great divide: an analysis of housing inequality, London: Shelter, http://www.dannydorling.org/?page_id=460

5

4

3 Ratio

1 See page 317 of All That Is Solid, which this short article is drawn from. Figures from K. Allen, personal communication on ‘cash buyers versus mortgages, the Savills analysis’, 16 January 2014, published as K. Allen, ‘Home buyers left behind in Britain’s two-speed housing market’, The Financial Times, 18 January 2014, http:// www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea516116-7f92-11e3-94d200144feabdc0.html#axzz2qh9T0sM5.

2

2 All That Is Solid, page 4, HP Sauce (2013) Cunning Stunts, Private Eye, 23 August – 5th September, No. 1347, p.9.

1

0 Inequality in distribution of rooms per person for people in private households in England and Wales, percentile ratios, 1911-2011

1911 1921 1931 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011 90:10 ratio

90:50 ratio

50:10 ratio

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Per cent of households with dependent children

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

2011/12

2010/11

2009/10

2008/09

2007/08

2006/07

2005/06

2004/05

2003/04

2002/03

2001/02

2000/01

1999/00

1998/99

1997/98

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1995/96

1994/95

1993/94

1992

1991

1990

1989

1988

1987

1986

1985

1984

0%

Households with children in private renting, % in England 1984-2012 Source: Figure 3.4 of Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (2013) State of the Nation 2013 October 2013, London: The Stationery Office https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/251213/State_of_the_Nation_2013.pdf

not afford to buy even the cheapest property on the market in almost 30% of districts in England.4 Often people suggest that the solution is building. But, to put it very crudely, a major reason we have a housing crisis as dire as today’s is because older, richer people have never used the properties that they own as inefficiently as they’re using them now. The bestoff tenth of people in Britain in terms of housing now have, on average, five times as many rooms in their homes per person as to the worse off tenth. This ratio exceeds even the record levels of the Downton Abbey times of maximum former inequality which were recorded for the year 19215.

Millions of extensions – lofts, basements, and so forth – have been added to existing property over the course of the last decade or so. Although 4 All That Is Solid page 64 and Easton, M. (2013) ‘Rent ‘unaffordable’ for low-income families in third of UK’, BBC News, July 15th, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ business-23273448 5 From Figure 6 of: ‘Relative housing inequality: The decline and return of housing space inequality in England and Wales, 1911-2011’, Rebecca Tunstall, Director, Centre for Housing Policy, University of York (in press)

‘A major reason we have a housing crisis as dire as today’s is because older, richer people have never used the properties that they own as inefficiently as they’re using them now.’

house building is at an historic low, the actual supply of dwellings per family, and especially rooms per person in Britain, has never been higher. This is because so many more rooms have been added to private-sector property. But what has also changed is who is able to own so much of this property, and the return of large-scale private landlords.

One in four of all households with children in England now rely on private renting for their housing. That proportion has accelerated recently, with the greatest increase occurring a couple of years ago. And private renting is not an ideal situation for children – if their family must move on, there’s no guarantee that they can stay in the same schools.

What has happened since 2008 was largely unanticipated. Landlords did not meet together as a group and plan to increase their wealth so quickly with such devastating effects on young families looking for stability and trying to get on the housing ladder. However, they currently run the risk of gaining the reputation of bankers.

A lot needs to change in housing in Britain soon, because we are not where we planned to be.

JCR News

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JCR

Live. Love.

Laugh.

ST PETER’S COLLEGE PRESENTS

Navjeev Singh, JCR President The 2013-2014 academic year started as it does every year – with 100 fresh-faced first years being greeted with bear hugs from the St Peter’s mascot and the Freshers’ Committee enduring the backbreaking task of helping freshers with their luggage with a big, welcoming smile. Our JCR prides itself on being Oxford’s friendliest.

That spirit was on full display during Freshers’ Week, with activities of all kinds on offer, from talks and tours to Boat Club barbecues, pub crawls and alcohol-fuelled nights out, to introduce the new members to life at Oxford’s best college.

Freshers’ Week was just the beginning.

As with every year, St Peter’s JCR has been one of the most active around Oxford.

Starting with entertainment, our JCR continued the strong tradition of having the most (and the most fun) bops around Oxford, often ending with sweaty and fairly boozed Peterites belting out the College song with pride. Our bar was once again voted the best in Oxford, and rightly so, with a more extensive range and lower prices than can be found in any other bar.

There has been no shortage of welfare activities either, with the welfare team, as it does every year, ensuring that everyone in the JCR is properly taken care of in every way imaginable. Sport at St Peter’s has had

PETER’S DOES

TAKE ME OUT

THIS FRIDAY• 7:30PM IN THE JCR LET THE CROSS SEE THE KEYS! IN AID OF THE ACTION AGAINST MALARIA FOUNDATION

£2 OTD

its ups and downs in recent years, but the ups have been really impressive, with strong performances in a number of University sports including rowing, lacrosse, rugby, pool, gymnastics, canoeing, basketball and athletics.

Along with continuing traditions, the JCR also sought to establish new ones.

Our lovely Charities Officer organised a JCR edition of Take Me Out, successfully setting off sparks between members and raising (loads of) money for a good cause.

We also hosted the inaugural Sports Dinner, which celebrated sport in St Peter’s College. A particular highlight from the

night was the first-ever high table pingpong championship, during which the Master took on former England cricketer and SPC alumnus, Jamie Dalrymple, but unfortunately lost despite a spirited fight. Some members of the JCR have taken it upon themselves this year to post entertaining and detailed reports of the important SPC matches on our Facebook page, keeping the rest of the JCR up-to-date and invested in college sport.

Our revered and extensively used foosball table has also been replaced with a newer, swankier one. The fact that the new JCR president-elect painstakingly built it himself, right after being elected, is testament to the continued commitment of the JCR Committee to ensure St Peter’s continues to have the best entertainment facilities around Oxford. We have also created a range of new societies, from the College Business Society, which helps JCR members with career direction, to the College Stretching Society, which helps members improve their flexibility. On the academic side, after a little JCR lobbying, there is a new prize rewarding fantastic collection performances.

All in all, the JCR has had another stellar year, continuing traditions and breaking new ground. More impressively, our JCR does not depend on a big endowment to be the cohesive and friendly body we are known to be. Instead, we thrive on the active participation of all members to continue to deliver an excellent Oxford experience to each and every JCR member – an experience that improves the way we live, helps us focus on the things we love, and reminds us to laugh every step of the way.

St Peter’s College Business Society Navjeev Singh, JCR President The Business Society was founded to create more direct links between alumni and current students. St Peter’s is fortunate to have alumni doing some of the most amazing things in nearly every field imaginable. The Business Society hopes to act as a conduit for the previous generation of Peterites to inspire the current generation to do even more amazing things in the future. It is somewhat poetic that a current

MCR News

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MCR

Free Pizza, New ARMCHAIRS AND TWO hundred graduate students Hazel Tubman, MCR President

student and a supportive alumnus thought of the idea for the society simultaneously and independently.

In its first year, the committee has already organised St Peter’s-focused talks, a CV clinic, socials, dinners and workshops with the help and support of various ex-Peterites. It is the committee’s aim to ensure this pace continues and to create more innovative and impactful events for 2014-2015, which will greatly benefit current members of the College.

The success of this society’s mission, to improve all career-related aspects of student development, depends on the contribution and assistance of our alumni. This assistance can come in any form – ranging from offering internship opportunities and delivering workshops to participating in society dinners – and will hopefully go a long way towards helping St Peter’s mould individuals who go on to be successful in whatever field they choose to enter.

If you would like to contribute in any way, please do email us – the committee would be delighted to work with you.

SPC Business Society Committee 2013-2014 President: Navjeev Singh (navjeev.singh@spc.ox.ac.uk) Vice-President: Edward Lund Directors: Miriam Reason Amy Watts Nick Brown Beth Timmins Samuel Iles Emma Buchy-Dury

This year has been an exciting one for the MCR community. With a greater intake of graduate students in October than in previous years, it was more important than ever to welcome the new cohort – and returning students to the College. Many of our new graduates arrived early and, following the lead of last year’s Committee, we arranged dinner events, drinks and movie nights for a week preceding term to help them familiarise themselves with Oxford, St Peter’s and the MCR. The fantastic attendance at our first ‘official’ event, a champagne reception, was a sign of things to come. MCR members have been incredibly involved this year: our Committee has expanded, attendance at general meetings has multiplied (nothing to do with the free pizza, I’m sure), and new and existing members have shown a real enthusiasm for the MCR as a place and as a community.

This year, we have been working on filling our newly refurbished common room.

Regrettably, we haven’t yet been able to get the hot tub that was requested, but new chairs and rugs, and plans for artwork and photography to adorn the walls, are turning it into a cosy space to relax, procrastinate and – occasionally – get some work done. It is also our venue for bops, held after our termly Guest Night dinners which are an opportunity for MCR members to invite friends, family or (bravely) their supervisors to a fantastic formal dinner put on by the catering staff in college. There’s nothing like a bop to break down barriers and what some SPC graduates lack in dancing style

they definitely make up for in enthusiasm.

Flailing arms and energetic jumping aside, these have been sell-out events, testament to the hard work of our Social Secretary, and the friendly, convivial atmosphere of the MCR as a whole.

This year is also the first year that has seen the MCR do some charity fundraising.

Proceeds from various events managed by our Charities Officer are going to the Sudan Medical Relief Project, elected by common room members in Michaelmas term. The funds we have raised will help the project to buy much-needed medical supplies. With Charities Officer established this year as an official position on the Committee, we very much hope that such efforts to make a difference continue next year and beyond.

The College serves graduate students on much more than just a social level. In Michaelmas term, weekly Graduate Seminars at Canal House gave graduates the opportunity to present their research and gain important presentation experience.

They were very engaging and informative talks; anyone that can make Pure Maths more understandable to arts students, as Giovanni Alberti did in fourth week, is a hero. In Hilary term, a Graduate Symposium allowed MCR members to present their research to compete for a prize for the best presentation. True to form, the papers were of a very high standard.

Trinity term starts in a few weeks and with it, a new termcard of events and a new MCR Committee. Next year will be a very exciting one, with a group of new graduates to welcome, and the start of building works, made possible by the generous donation to the College earlier this year. I’ve greatly enjoyed my two years at St Peter’s and will miss it when I leave.

However, if my experience here is anything to go by, I have no doubt that the MCR will keep going from strength to strength, in true St Peter’s fashion.

Second Version of Triptych

Francis Bacon and Henry Moore Ashmolean Museum 12 September 2013– 19 January 2014 then Art Gallery of Ontario 5 April – 20 July 2014

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS 2014.

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immediately to Toronto to chair our discussion, showing no sign of strain: the ultimate professional.

Moore’s art often evokes tenderness, but it is not sentimental. In the exhibition is a fascinating small figure that Henry Moore created for his daughter Mary to appreciate when she grew up. It is a bronze Maquette for Mother and Child, 1952, and here his compassion is for the mother. Memories of Henry’s and Irena’s broken nights gave us this unforgettable image where a greedy baby reaches for, and is held back from, the breast by a mother so nippleswollen, sore and sleep-deprived that her head is simply represented by the top of a toothbrush whose bristles are fangs – Moore’s shorthand for what she is thinking.

Both Bacon and Moore loved poetry. Bacon would joust quotations from W.B. Yeats with me.

Moore often sought, as in this maquette, to find an equivalent in sculpture for poetic metaphor. The fanged toothbrush is an example.

In one of his drawings made of Londoners (mainly women and children, sheltering from the Blitz on the platforms of the London Underground) Figure in a Shelter 1941, he collapses the fact that the sleeper is in a tunnel into her own shape. She is both woman and tunnel at the same time, thus saving him drawing her surroundings, which appropriately are darkness. Her legs double as railway tracks, making the metaphor complete. © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2014 / www.henry-moore.org

Dr Francis Warner

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n Friday 13 February 1970 I gave a lecture on these two artists to the O.U. Critical Society. In the audience was an undergraduate named Richard Calvocoressi. Over 40 years later I received a letter from him as Director of the Henry Moore Foundation inviting me to join him and Martin Harrison, editor of the Catalogue Raisonné of Bacon’s works, as curators of a proposed exhibition taking up the ideas I had propounded. Christopher Brown, the museum’s Director, had provided the Ashmolean for this.

It was the most successful exhibition ever held at the Ashmolean, drawing 44,698 visitors. The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto bought the exhibition, thanks to the generosity of our Honorary Fellow Albert Latner and his two sons Steven and Michael, both graduates of St Peter’s. The A.G.O. changed the sub-title from ‘Flesh and Bone’ to ‘Terror and Beauty’ adding a number of fine photographs of the Blitz, taken by Bill Brandt.

At the opening of both the Oxford and the Toronto exhibitions we had a panel discussion where we were joined on stage by Mary Moore, Henry’s daughter, whose own daughter – Henry Moore’s granddaughter – is a graduate of St Peter’s.

Mark Damazer, our Master, in Toronto for Oxford University the week before our opening, flew back for the Gaudy here at the weekend, then returned

Maquette for Mother and Child, 1952

Feature

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© The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2014 / www.henry-moore.org

Figure in a Shelter, 1941

‘…a mother so sore and sleep-deprived that her head is simply the top of a toothbrush whose bristles are fangs.’

‘King Nebuchadnezzar did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven.’ as were our bodies after a night in the garden Anderson shelter. This painting is another of Bacon’s greatest, but such is his versatility this makes its claim on our intellect first, then it horrifies.

At first glance it is a nude man on all fours apparently eating grass. The heavily painted black and slanted rectangles that frame the figure place the viewer securely in a dark room looking out at this nude man who is unaware of us. His bottom is to our left and his head, down and almost out of © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2014 / www.henry-moore.org

For me the work that most evokes this time – I was bombed out of our first and second homes – is Moore’s Four Figures in a Setting 1948. Moore had previously, amongst his shelter drawings, given us the Three Fates 1941.

Plato tells us in Book X of his Republic that a man called Er was left for dead on the battlefield, but revived and reported back to us what he had observed in the next world. He’d seen the three Fates, ‘the Daughters of Necessity’: Clotho, who spins the thread of each person’s life, Lachesis who measures the length, and Atropos who severs it.

It is not hard to understand why Henry should choose to draw the three Fates. Every one of us knew that, with each present raid, the length of our lives was being measured and no one could know whose thread of life Atropos would have severed by morning. Four Figures in a Setting 1948, which is clearly a building adapted to become an air raid shelter with its windows concreted out, shows the three Fates, one hidden (Atropos) by a blood-streaked screen to the right of the frame, and a fourth figure, representing you or me, coming in from the left, wondering what the result of that raid was, and what one’s own fate is to be, but as yet unable to see the hidden figure of Atropos. It evokes uncannily well that feeling of apprehension on coming up from a shelter when the All Clear sounded, wondering who and what had been destroyed.

Though Bacon was opposite to Moore in so many ways, one of the interesting awarenesses that surface placing them together in this exhibition is that, products of the same violent and war-scarred half-century, they come from opposite directions to similar techniques in resolving artistic dilemmas.

Bacon, too, turns to the ancient Greeks for what he called his ‘armature’, in his second version of the triptych painted during one of the most ferocious times of the last twelve months of the war: ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion’ [Second Version of Triptych 1944] 1988. Here it

is not the Three Fates of Moore but three Furies of Aeschylus. This is a terrifying triptych – one of the most visceral and horrific in twentieth century art.

One could hardly have a more extreme contrast in visual art of rhyming concepts than what both artists take from Greek literature.

In art up to this time pictures of Golgotha, of the Crucifixion, show the three figures at the foot of the cross as the three Marys – Mary Magdalen, Mary Clopas, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, just as we are told in St John’s Gospel. We see their grief by the expressions on their faces.

Neither Bacon or Moore were believing Christians. Bacon was a militant nihilist. Now Bacon takes this trope of the three at the foot of the cross and shows us not what the grief of the three Marys looked like, but he turns this inside out. Three figures here reveal not the outward show of emotion but are so presented as to create in the viewer the emotions of panic and despair the Marys were experiencing. Note also the title refers to ‘a crucifixion’. There were many crucifixions before Calvary, and now London itself is being crucified.

The post-war years also are recalled for me by Bacon’s painting Man Kneeling in Grass 1952. When the food ran out, my mother had cooked us nettle soup. We in the Vicarage remembered The Book of Daniel, chapter 4 verse 33:

Shelter Drawing: Three Fates, 1941

25

© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS 2014.

sight, is to our right. He kneels with his legs parted amongst the long grass.

If you stand in front of it, this is what you see.

If you move to your left, that is also what you see.

If, however, you walk to your right, and press your shoulder against the wall on which the picture hangs, and look for a while, you begin to appreciate Bacon’s technical genius. The nude man is now facing the other way, his bottom towards you. More frightening is the new fact that whereas before you had thought you were alone watching a nude man, who was unaware of your voyeurism, you now see someone has been watching you all the time. A shadowy figure’s shoulders, with the bottom part of his head, looms up from the grass behind the arch of the grassy nude’s back, watching you in a central position right opposite where you were when you first viewed; yet he cannot be seen from the front.

This was painted in 1952 with the fear of nuclear war in the air. Are we all to be reduced to eating grass once more, or nettles, and even when naked spied on by people who do not know that they themselves are being watched? It is the lookingglass world of the Cambridge spies, and the cold war warming.

‘…they come from opposite directions to similar techniques in resolving artistic dilemmas’

Man Kneeling on the Grass, 1952 © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2014 / www.henry-moore.org

Four Figures in a Setting, 1948

Feature

New Inn Hall Street Silver

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Sean Rippington, College Archivist

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ne of the more unusual enquiries I’ve had recently was from the Revd Dr Douglas Dupree of Balliol, relating to some silver that his College had lent to St Peter’s. The story starts in 1995, when a cordial agreement was reached between the Master of St Peter’s College, John Barron, and the Master of Balliol, Colin Renshaw Lucas. On account of the historic links between New Inn Hall and St Peter’s College, Balliol would permanently loan some of its New Inn Hall silver to St Peter’s.

The items to be loaned were two serving spoons, two soup ladles, and two pairs of candlesticks, all with the New Inn Hall crest engraved upon them.

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The history of New Inn Hall goes back to 1349, when it was founded by Bishop John Trillek of Hereford. It was originally known as Trillock’s Inn [sic], but by the 17th century had come to be known as New Inn Hall, from which the street takes its name. It gained a reputation for its lawyers, but is perhaps best remembered for being used as a mint by Charles I during the English Civil War. Balliol inherited the silver, archives and library of New Inn Hall when, following a University Statute of 1881 supressing Halls at Oxford, New Inn Hall was incorporated into Balliol in 1887.

The New Inn Hall buildings were used to house entrants to the Indian Civil Service, who would then take two-year probationary courses at Oxford. When these courses stopped running in 1891, Balliol had no further use for the site and decided to sell up.

Francis James Chavasse, then Master of Wycliffe Hall, joined with the Rector of St Peter-le-Bailey, William Talbot Rice, in purchasing the newer part of New Inn Hall, known as the Cramer Building.

Erected in 1833 by Dr J A Cramer, then Principal of the Hall, the building was substantially remodelled in 1896 by Chavasse and Talbot Rice; as can be seen

on the right of this 1896 watercolour, the building was reduced to its façade before being reconstructed.

Chavasse wanted to purchase the rest of the site and move Wycliffe Hall there. As it was, he could not raise the funds. Oxford City Council purchased the remainder of the site, demolishing the oldest buildings, and constructing the Central School for Girls (now the Chavasse building).

Chavasse and Talbot Rice then opened the remodelled Cramer Hall in January 1897, renaming it Hannington Hall, with the intention of using it to host missionary meetings and a library. This building became St Peter’s dining hall in 1929, which it remains to this day.

Fast forward to November 2013. The Argentarius at Balliol, the Revd Dr Douglas Dupree, was conducting an audit of the College silver and realised that a pair of candlesticks included in the 1995 loan could not be New Inn Hall silver. Unsure as to why they were included in the first place, he wrote to St Peter’s asking for them to be returned. To sweeten the deal, he generously offered to gift 12 silver New Inn Hall spoons and 12 New Inn Hall knives with silver handles by way of a replacement. Naturally, we accepted!

The knives are pistol butt handle style with silver handles and steel blades, probably dating from around 1800. They are all inscribed In usum Principalis Nov Hosp Ox, meaning ‘For the use of the Principal of New Inn, Oxford.’

The spoons are of identical size and design, fully hallmarked and in pristine

condition. On one side they are inscribed with the Oxford University arms and In usum Communarii, which translates as ‘For the use of Commoners’. The donor’s name and hallmarks are inscribed on the other side.

The first Master of St Peter’s, Christopher Chavasse, maintained a strong interest in the links between the ancient New Inn Hall and his fledgling St Peter’s. In 1933, he arranged the loan from the Bodleian of a portrait of Sir William Blackstone (Principal of New Inn Hall 1761-1766) which still hangs in Hannington Hall to this day. He was eventually dissuaded from encouraging these links, for fear of overstating the continuity between New Inn Hall and St Peter’s. However, it is perhaps with St Peter’s that New Inn Hall is now most closely associated and we can be thankful that Balliol has assisted us in continuing to recognise the history of our site.

I‘ve been working as the College Archivist since last April. The job has proved an interesting one so far – although the College is not the oldest, St Peter’s has packed a lot in to its 85 years. Like all colleges, the real interest lies in the people that have lived, worked and played here since its foundation. From the Chavasse family onwards, I don’t think that this College will ever run out of stories to tell.

Please do get in touch with me at archivist@spc.ox.ac.uk if you have any historical enquiries. I’m also always keen to receive any St Peter’s memorabilia that you may wish to donate to the archives.

Peter’s People

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Tradition and the future: The new Bursar reflects on his First term James Graham, Bursar

I’m writing this article in the garden of our cottage in Devon, where it’s the most beautiful spring afternoon. Although it snowed here on Thursday – nature has been keeping us on our toes recently – it does seem winter is finally over. The primroses are out, I’ve seen a water wagtail in the garden twice this weekend, and we saw our first lambs during our walk on Dartmoor this morning. A wonderful context within which to reflect from a distance on my first two terms at St Peter’s.

My friends ask me all the time about St Peter’s; this is the first time I’ve written about it. I usually start by telling them it’s very interesting, enjoyable, important, and valuable. I move on to describe its ethos and tradition, and how it’s friendly and informal, almost unavoidably so given its compact city centre site. I describe how St Peter’s aspires to be open and accessible to all those who have the qualities and talents to contribute to life at the College and would benefit from the education and experience they could have here. But I thought I’d start this account by explaining what led me to St Peter’s, and return to these themes and impressions later.

I read English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where I came across a Bursar for the first time. I remember him as a kind and friendly presence at the College, but most of all I recall the reassurance and help he gave me when settling my final bill before graduation was a bit of a challenge.

I remember thinking that I rather liked the sound of his job, and then parked the idea for 30 years. I loved my time at Magdalene. I rowed in the 1st Boat and coached the 5th Boat to its oars. Those of my era will remember why we called that boat ‘Never Mind the Rollocks’.

I then went on to have a career in financial services, firstly at Accenture and then SBC, which subsequently became UBS. From a start in systems based management consultancy I moved on to large-scale programme management and a series of COO roles in investment banking, which gave me a solid grounding in logistics and controls, and in setting up and running business operations.

While I was at UBS, I was vice chair of Community Affairs, and through this became a trustee of the East London Business Alliance (ELBA), a regeneration charity whose aim is to create opportunities for the underprivileged in East London.

A vital part of this was working with the schools in the borough; in my case with the education authority (then known as the Learning Trust) in Hackney, the borough where I was responsible for ELBA’s activities.

This involved mentoring head teachers and students. One of the things I am most proud of having been involved in is the setting up of The Bridge Academy in Hackney, which UBS sponsored.

In 2004, I became a Governor of my old school, Latymer Upper in Hammersmith, and in 2010 I became Chair. Latymer Upper is an academically selective, co-educational day school, with a liberal ethos and tradition of access and diversity. I’d the immense good fortune to gain a local education authority scholarship (a ‘free place’ as we called it) to Latymer Upper, otherwise I would not have gone there. During my time as a Governor we have managed a £50 million plus buildings programme and introduced a new curriculum, but for me the most important aspect of what we’ve done is to have raised sufficient funds internally and through our development effort, to have 104 students at the school on means-tested scholarships. In 2004, we had just seven such scholars.

Eating Together and Conversation Latymer Upper held its annual Oxford Latymerian Dinner in 2011 at St Peter’s, and the first impression I got of the College was that the food was very good but its High Table made conversation challenging.

After two terms I confirm these initial views; the food remains very good and the table needs addressing (as do the Hall acoustics). It’s interesting that eating and conversation were my two impressions before I arrived at St Peter’s because they are two of the things that have struck me most since, as being important aspects of a residential academic community.

Conversation dominates life at Oxford, from one-to-one supervisions to Governing Body meetings. Conversation also sustains the informal life of the College. Our compact site means we are always bumping in to each other and starting or continuing conversations. Our tradition of Fellows taking the next available place at lunch in Hall means the same. It is well documented that families across society spend less time sitting down eating together and talking. The same is true of organisations and businesses, hence a proliferation of sandwich shops so people can eat on their own, at their desks, and avoid talking to each other. But all big things start with a conversation, and most things are sustained by it.

Details Matter So what else has struck me? The details, and the care taken with the details such as the attention paid to the siting of the wifi boosters on the College walls, or the prototypes we experimented with until we were satisfied that the ledge added to the gallery shelf in the Library would not degrade its aesthetic, or the striking furniture and curtains in the SCR. The

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Porters’ knowledge, and the attention they pay to what’s going on and how our students are faring. Our menus, and the sourcing of our food.

Ethos and Tradition I’m also struck by the care taken in the renewal and development of our ethos and tradition, and by the participation of the College and its family and friends in this.

There have been a great many memorable occasions already: the wonderful service of the Rededication of the Chavasse Grave Cross; the extraordinary masterclass given

by Lang Lang, not just in piano playing but in communication; the deeply moving lecture given by Dr Rowan Williams on Science, Faith and Knowledge; our Thursday evenings, where we enjoy peaceful reflection and our very talented choir at Evensong, followed by Guest Night where we share the company of our friends and colleagues.

The Perrodo Project I could not end this account without mentioning the Perrodo Project and the extraordinary generosity of the Perrodo family. St Peter’s has a wonderful story to tell, and great development potential.

To fulfil this potential and take on the challenge of maintaining and developing the College for future generations, we depend on such generosity. This gift will enable us to take the next big steps in improving our buildings and open spaces, which will benefit all of our residential academic community – students, Fellows, staff, as well as our guests at events and conferences. This will be a challenging project, but I look forward to everyone’s involvement in it, and to seeing how St Peter’s benefits from it.

Peter’s People

Meet The Editor of Cross Keys

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Kate Longworth reflects on six years in post for Natasha Denness, full-time Alumni Relations Manager, part-time blogger

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We’re often asked, each of us, what we do and what our specific piece of the Development and Alumni Relations machine is. I try to explain it in terms of a Venn diagram: one set of activities relating to alumni relations – events, publications, e-news, social media and so on – logically relating to our fundraising activities on the other side. The further one probes, the more that diagram starts to look like Venn reimagined by Escher, an endlessly tessellating infinite loop.

But what it all loops back to, and what unites us, is a solid belief in St Peter’s. Our students, when they speak to generations of alumni during the annual telethon, are always struck by the fact that in spite of the myriad lifestyles, ages and locations, they instantly recognise a shared spirit – a bond. Their conversations sparkle with the warmth, tolerance and humour that we in the Development and Alumni Relations Office see as much in the alumni body as we do with each new intake. Our work is underpinned and indeed inspired by the shared conviction that St Peter’s, constituted as it is by that membership, is a cause worth every last shred of our effort.

It’s a conviction that will bind friendships too, of course, and I am as fortunate in my colleagues as I believe is St Peter’s. Natasha Denness is the sole remaining member of the team that I joined in February 2011, and as of September this year she will have been heading up alumni relations for six years.

Many of you tell us that you’ve noticed the increase in activity during that time – the sleek energy of the Cross Keys redesign, the highest rates of social media engagement in the collegiate University, events to suit a broad range of tastes in outposts as far flung as Nairobi. She is, for what it’s worth, a very Peter’s sort of person – hard working, ambitious, supportive, and always ready with a quick burst of delightfully eccentric wit to lighten an onerous day (even at St Peter’s such days do exist).

A growing contingent of members are also becoming aware, however, that in Natasha we have a celebrity in our midst. Meet Candy Pop: a blogger, published photographer, and regular speaker at cyber conferences.

Natasha’s blog, featuring photographs of ‘my home, my adventures, and some of the things I find along the way’, currently receives up to 20,000 visits a month. The reach of her influence has been recognised

by Laura Ashley, for whom she guest blogs. Pinterest, Boden and Etsy have also approached her with project proposals, as have the BBC and ITV. Another ongoing venture is with a brand so prominent and illustrious that she – and therefore sadly I – am not permitted to divulge its name.

One feels, as one sips tea from a vintage floral teacup in her apartment – home to her collection of ‘old things’, arranged with the clear yet elusive skill of the art graduate – that one is visiting an exhibit.

And yet, as when one visits her blog, there is a feeling of comfort and warmth. The bittersweet rush of nostalgia, some say, revolves around memories of now-distant closeness, and yet works to increase one’s sense of social support and connection.

Anyone can take a shot of spring daffodils, but Natasha’s caused a recent visitor to reflect that it ‘makes me very happy. It reminds me of my Mum, I feel like she is all around in the spring!’

‘I work in alumni relations and fundraising because I like, in a very small way, to feel I’m making a difference’ Small wonder, then, that the editors of several magazines and books have run ‘at home’ features on Natasha, and that an ever-increasing range of brands seek to inveigle their merchandise into her home or onto her person – and thus in turn her photographs and her blog. We regularly stand around her desk as she unwraps gifts from admirers – many of them top brands eager to associate. These treasures are only featured, though, when Natasha feels a genuine affinity – she has turned down many and refuses to benefit from advertising on her blog.

Indeed, and here’s the rub – Natasha is notoriously modest. I’d worked with her for some time before she casually let slip mention of ‘my blog’. It was only on one of those occasions sipping tea in her apartment and turning the pages of a

gloriously glossy book of interiors that I found myself looking at the sofa upon which I was sat. She has been known to shush me as I lean over her shoulder to acquaint a visitor with her talents, and it took considerable persuasion from her closer circle for her to finally accept one of the many invitations to speak.

And so, then, how does Candy Pop the blogger relate to Natasha Denness, Alumni Relations Manager at St Peter’s College?

(Apart, that is, from the photographs of the College that adorn our publications and social media.) ‘I work in alumni relations and fundraising,’ she says, ‘because I like, in a very small way, to feel I’m making a difference.’

And as Candy Pop, ‘I love my photographs to evoke a happy memory or to take people away for a moment.’

And there – for those of you who have reconnected with your contemporaries at a Gaudy, leafed through an article by one of your erstwhile tutors, found your matriculation photograph on Flickr and circulated it to friends across the globe, or ‘liked’ a photograph of the Matthews underpass on Facebook – is the key!

I asked Natasha if there is a standout moment for her: ‘I recall the day a grieving daughter visited the College to see where her father had studied. She had with her the letters he’d written to her mother during his time here, and she told me how fondly he spoke about St Peter’s. After studying the letters for a while we managed to locate his old room, and a few telephone calls later I was able to take her inside. It was an honour to share that moment with her. Quite an emotional day.’

Visit Natasha’s blog at candypop.uk.com.

She is also on a range of social media sites including Instagram (@candypopimages).

Peter’s People

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Meet the JCR Committee

Navjeev Singh, President I am the current JCR President, and in my second year of Economics and Management.

I was born and raised in Singapore. My favourite thing about St Peter’s is the friendly atmosphere, I find myself to be completely at home here.

During my time at St Peter’s, I have had the opportunity to get involved with a wide variety of societies, giving me the chance to organise, among others, Oxholi 2013 and Diwali Ball 2013. I am also part of the athletics team. My most exciting project right now is the creation of the St Peter’s College Business Society, and I hope it will continue beyond my time here at Oxford.

Lucy McDonald, Vice President I’m a second year PPEist from London. I focus mainly on philosophy and I love the fact that the tutors and lecturers here are so well-respected in their fields; I feel privileged to be taught by them.

My favourite thing about St Peter’s is the arts scene; so many students are outrageously talented at so many different things, and it’s really inspiring. I’m lucky enough to play in the College jazz band, Cross Keys, and at every rehearsal I’m in awe of my bandmates!

Olivia McCormick, Secretary I am currently a second year Historian who is dabbling with the Arabic language. Although raised briefly in the United States, I have spent most of my life in and around London.

My tutors, Dr Goldman and Dr Gerrard, provide endless life advice and wonderfully obscure facts over tea, toast, cake and sherry, along with hosting the well-loved and timeless History Dinner. As most of the scientists complain, the life of a historian at St Peter’s is pretty comfortable!

In my eyes, the best thing about St Peter’s is the reputation we have of being the artsy, fun, friendly College. I can go anywhere in the University, mention my college, and receive a nod of acceptance, a smile, even sometimes a jealous raise of the eyebrows. All in all St Peter’s remains the best College in Oxford!

Emily Buckland, Treasurer I’m a second year PPEist and I’ve really enjoyed my time at St Peter’s so far due both to the welcoming nature of the College, and also the breadth of study within PPE. This year I am the JCR Treasurer. I’ve really loved getting more involved in College life through being on the JCR Exec. It’s given me experience in a wide range of things, from organising Fresher’s week to the Christmas hog roast, as well as committee meetings and GMs, and naturally keeping the finances in check. I think St Peter’s has a really nice sense of community so it is a privilege to be part of such a friendly college!

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Laura Covington, Entertainment Rep I am a second year historian, originally from Reading.

History at Oxford is extremely diverse; I’ve had the opportunity to study a vast array of topics, from Persia in the 6th century to gender issues during 1960’s Europe.

One of the best things about St Peter’s is the College sports teams; I play for the netball team and I’m the ladies badminton captain. Sport at St Peter’s is really accessible and a lot of fun to get involved in.

I’ve really enjoyed organising all the College parties as well as annual events such as the hog roast and the ceilidh, which have really brought the College together.

Evie Hicklin, Arts Officer I’m from Leicestershire, and I’m studying History of Art. It’s a brilliant subject, drawing on many other disciplines, and has encouraged me to look at art and visual culture in a completely new way.

The best thing about St Peter’s has to be the people who are here – everyone is just so friendly! Despite studying and having a passionate interest in all things ‘arty’, I have an A-Level in Maths and I very nearly applied to study Architecture at university...

(I’m glad I didn’t!)

Karen Pollard, Female Welfare Office I’m in my second year studying medicine. I wanted to study medicine for the very clichéd reason of wanting to help people and I still feel that way.

The best part of my course, for me, is the clear application of what we’re learning to real-life situations – even the theoretical aspects of the course can be applied to potential clinical problems.

It makes all the time spent studying seem much more worthwhile to me!

I’m from Lockerbie, so coming down to St Peter’s was quite scary at the start of first year, and there still are times when I wish I wasn’t so far from home (although I do realise it’s pretty much just up the road in comparison to some people!)

But St Peter’s is such a friendly College, and there are so many wonderful people around, that it was really easy to settle in and it soon felt like home.

That’s probably my favourite thing about St Peter’s.

Alexander Tyndall, Bar Manager I’m a second year English student. I’ve always loved English but I think part of the decision to study it at Oxford is that it gives me a few more years to decide on a career!

There’s nothing more fun than being able to loll about on the grass in Trinity term with a book and call it work.

I came to Oxford having lived in Cambridge for 15 years; so far nobody’s held it against me, though.

Before starting at St Peter’s, I’d never worked behind a bar before or done any management, but it sounded like fun. It’s quite a full-on job making sure the bar is always well-stocked and running smoothly, but it’s really rewarding when there’s a buzzing atmosphere on a weeknight. The social side of the bar really is the best part of College life. The alumni events during the holidays can be some of the most entertaining, though, and the alumni certainly give the students a run for their money. I’m always attracting comparisons to a man named Alan, who was in my job in years past. So far, most of them have sounded like compliments!

Peter’s People

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A Week in the Life of a Schools Liaison Officer Alice Wilby (2003), Schools Liaison Officer I’m often asked what I actually do in schools liaison. The overall aim of my role is to encourage well-qualified students who may not otherwise consider Oxford to apply (ideally to St Peter’s as well as Oxford). Oxford has divided the country into ‘regional link areas’ for each college,

to simplify the way we do outreach (not admissions, where geography doesn’t play a part). St Peter’s looks after local authorities in Merseyside (Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral), North Wales (Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd, Flintshire and Wrexham), and North East London (Enfield and Waltham Forest). Like many jobs, there isn’t really a typical week, but to give you a flavour, I’ve reconstructed a week of outreach time from the end of March. This was 10th week of Hilary Term, which is a relatively busy time of year for outreach work.

The week actually began on Saturday, when I collected a hire car, loads of St Peter’s prospectuses, and a carefully printed list of postcodes for schools I’d be visiting. Monday to Wednesday involved visits to four schools in Liverpool, one to speak to a huge group of year 8 and 9 students, two to give introductory talks about Oxford to sixth formers, and one to give a detailed workshop about the admissions process to teachers and sixth form students. In the middle of these visits I had a detour to Wrexham to represent Oxford at the North East Wales Higher Education Fair (basically loads of universities in a room handing out prospectuses and advice to thousands of sixth form students). While I was negotiating Welsh roads, a group of

prospective theologians were having lunch and a tour of St Peter’s as part of the theology open day.

Back in Oxford on the Thursday, the day started with a student ambassador giving a tour of College to a group from Liverpool who had been staying elsewhere in Oxford. Then, jointly with the department of statistics, we hosted a statistics study day for sixth form students. It started with workshops at the very impressive new maths institute

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building, before students came over to St Peter’s for lunch and a taster session with our statistics tutor, Geoff Nicholls.

Finally, at the end of the day, I squeezed in a quick meeting to discuss changes to the College website.

Friday was slightly quieter, and involved a huge number of emails and expenses forms, a meeting about our open days in July, planning a residential visit for April, chatting to a tutor about outreach plans in their subject,

producing some admissions statistics, and chairing a meeting of the steering panel of the Pathways Programme (www.pathways.ox.ac.uk) – a crosscollege outreach programme which St Peter’s is heavily involved in.

A different week might have involved far more visits into College from school groups, and fewer visits out, and there are occasional weeks that involve no schools at all. Overall, we host 30-40 school visits to College per year, and I do

90-100 visits to schools, in addition to our commitment to university-wide access schemes like UNIQ and the Pathways Programme. Exactly what we offer to schools is constantly changing as we try to assess the impact of our activities, and most events are targeted at particular schools or students. Everything we do is with the aim of attracting the most academically talented students to apply to Oxford and St Peter’s, regardless of where they’re from.

Sport

Sport in Brief

St Peter’s Sporting Jewels Andrew Thomas, Director of Development and Alumni Relations Sporting pursuits continue to feature heavily for current students and for many of our alumni. Here is a brief roundup.

We can’t really begin with anything other than three (or possibly four) cheers for Karl Hudspith on winning his third Boat Race. The 2014 race was Karl’s fourth in succession and his dedication is a real inspiration. We also have great admiration for how he dealt with the trauma of being President during the 2012 race, when his crew’s efforts were scuppered by a protestor.

St Peter’s students also featured in some other Varsity match victories. Zandy Macdonald played in the Varsity Rugby Match at Twickenham in December and helped the Blues run out 33-15 victors.

Same-shaped ball but different code: Jack

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Baker (Captain) and Luke Jagoe were both in the Rugby League team that thrashed Cambridge 40-0 in London. The boys are pictured with the trophy, and it was great to see so many SPC students there to cheer them on – congratulations!

Third-year Isobel Gordon, Captain of the University Pistol Shooting team, has excelled in what is a new sport for her, especially after the College helped her to fund a new pistol – she previously had to share one with a team-mate. She won a Half-Blue in her team’s Varsity match triumph with a score that now enables her to compete at National level.

Our sports provision was made all the more possible by a number of generous supporters, especially the St Peter’s College Foundation, which supplied a range of new kit and equipment. We are also grateful to Harjeev Kandhari (1993) and his company, Infinity Tyres, which has sponsored the Boat Club this year (and for the next few years) and enabled additional coaching resources, amongst other improvements.

In April, we were also able to purchase a new Men’s VIII. During a riverside ceremony conducted by our very own Rt Rev John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford and SPC crew member of 1969, it was named after Francis King OBE (1966)

and his family in recognition of his dedication to the club over many years.

Thank you to all of our donors who have made this possible. A special mention should go to two students, Anders Jay and Bruce Guest, who rowed in the ‘Old Tub’ towards the source of the Thames.

Although they were ultimately thwarted near half-way by technical issues, they did manage to raise nearly £2,000. The 2014 Summer Eights regatta is due to see the debut of the new boat.

We held a sports dinner in February that proved to be a highly enjoyable celebration of this vibrant element of College life. During an evening when most of the students who have performed for a St Peter’s team this year were present, Jamie Dalrymple (2000), the former England cricketer, delivered a motivating speech and also ended up playing the Master at table tennis across the full length of High Table! Despite riding high from his recent victory in University Challenge, the Master was gunned down 7-3 by Jamie.

Our Current Students vs Old Boys Rugby match in March was again a great success. Coinciding with the final day of the Six Nations, we were able to combine a hard fought match, won by the Old Boys, with watching matches in the JCR/Bar and dining in Hall. Thank you to all the alumni who made time to come back – we hope your bodies have now recovered!

Last but not least, we commend the team led by Barry Anson that came a very respectable fifth in the Universitywide Alumni Golf Day in March.

Stop press: Men’s 1st boat and women’s 2nd boat get Blades at the 2014 Summer Eights. Congratulations to all our rowers.

Keeping in Touch

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Keeping in Touch Global Networks and Representatives St Peter’s has networks all over the world through which alumni meet and share stories about their time in Oxford. Alumni gatherings have fostered business networking, new friendships, and general help and support. They are a valuable way to continue to benefit from your membership of St Peter’s.

Our committed and engaged body of alumni volunteers help us to keep alumni in their area connected. In the past few months they have organised events in London, Devon, Liverpool, Cambridge, York as well as many international locations. We are very grateful for the work they do.

If you would like to put your part of the world on the St Peter’s map and become a Regional Representative for your area, please contact Natasha Denness for further details.

Year Group Representatives

SPC 10

To promote strong ties within cohorts we are currently recruiting Year Group Representatives. This will enable us to organise special year group activities in addition to the regular Gaudies. If you are interested in joining this body of volunteers, please contact Natasha Denness.

SPC 10 is our alumni event programme for those who matriculated within the past 10 years. This initiative was the result of feedback from our younger alumni and mirrors Oxford 10, which is run by the University of Oxford. We aim to hold one event per calendar year.

The Development Team

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Development Team Andrew Thomas, Director of Development and Alumni Relations andrew.thomas@spc.ox.ac.uk

Staying Connected 1

Keep us up-to-date with all your contact details and receive:

Natasha Denness, Alumni Relations Manager natasha.denness@spc.ox.ac.uk

• Termly e-newsletters • Cross Keys • The College Record

Kate Longworth, Development Manager kate.longworth@spc.ox.ac.uk Louise Strano-Cashin, Research and Information Officer louise.strano-cashin@spc.ox.ac.uk

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Attend an EVENT Meet St Peter’s alumni in Oxford and around the world via our regional networks. Please visit the St Peter’s website for up-to-date event information. You can also subscribe to the event feed.

Olga Batty, Development Assistant olga.batty@spc.ox.ac.uk Further information development.office@spc.ox.ac.uk 01865 614985

Hear our NEWS

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CONNECT through social networks The social media sites are not only used to share news, events and photographs, they are also a great way for alumni to link up. As the audiences grow we hope we can develop a place where members can connect with others from their cohort, in their region or field of employment, and so on. You will find us on: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Flickr Don’t forget to visit the St Peter’s College website and blog. www.spc.ox.ac.uk

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SHARE your stories If you have any news, from changing jobs to having children, please let us know.

We’d love to hear from you.

Event Listing

2014 Friday 19 – Sunday 21 September University of Oxford Alumni Weekend 2014 Saturday 20 September 6.00pm Gaudy 1970-1974 Sunday 21 September 11.30am Howard Society Lunch 3.00pm Talk: William Morris (Lord Nuffield) and his benefactions to Oxford Colleges Monday 3 November 6.00pm Neil MacGregor Wednesday 26 November 6.00pm Andrew Marr Thursday 11 December Varsity Match 2014 Please contact the Development Office if you would like to attend any of the events.

For further details of all our events, please visit the website www.spc.ox.ac.uk Gaudy dates for your diary 2015 Easter Vacation 2000 – 2004 September 1985 – 1989 2016 Easter Vacation 2005 – 2009 September 1975 – 1979

www.spc.ox.ac.uk