Cross Keys 2019

90 Years of St Peter’s College Castle Hill House Project A day in the life of the Head Porter

CROSS KEYS ST PETER’S COLLEGE

CROSS KEYS CONTENTS

ST PETER’S COLLEGE / AUTUMN 2019

A Last Word from the Master

1

Development News

2

Castle Hill House Project: Why ‘Living in’ Matters 90 Years of St Peter’s College

4-5 6-11

Alumni Feature: A Small but Mighty Community

12-13

Portraits of an Oxford College

14-15

Alumni Feature: A Memorable Journey

16-17

Fellow Feature: St Peter’s Inspiring Women

18-21

Fellow Feature: Coming to St Peter’s

22-23

Fellow Feature: Travel in the Time of Cholera

24-26

A Day in the Life of Paul Irons, Head Porter

27

JCR Women’s Officer

28

MCR Officer

29

Threepenny Opera

30-31

Alumni Feature: Tales of the Twilight

32-33

Alumni News

34-35

2018-19: A Year in Pictures

36-37

IMAGE CREDITS: Edmund Blok p. 1, p. 2, p. 3, p. 11 (top right), p.11 (top left), p. 11 (centre), p. 11 (bottom left), p. 11 (bottom centre), p. 14 – p. 15, p. 21 (bottom), p. 27, p. 36 (top left), p. 36 (centre page), p. 36 (bottom right and left), p. 37 (all except top left and centre left).

Design Engine Contents (top), p. 4 – 5

4 12 22 30

The opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily the official views of the St Peter’s College, Oxford.

The Editor thanks all who have contributed and advised on this year’s issue.

Please send all feedback to: kathryn.worthington@spc.ox.ac.uk

Professor Judith Buchanan p. 11 (bottom right) Credit Supreme Creations/ Bags of Ethics Contents (second from top), p. 12 – p. 13 Credit Supreme Creations/ Bags of Ethics

Editor: Kathryn Worthington, Development Communications and Marketing Officer

Courtesy of authors p. 17, p. 19 – p. 21, p. 28, p. 29, p. 32, p. 34, p. 35 (top), p. 35 (bottom)

Design: Windrush Group Ltd

Ben Darwent Contents (bottom), p. 31

Printing: Windrush Group Ltd

Tartarus Press p. 33 Roo Waters Photography p. 36 (top left) Professor Thomas Adcock p. 37 (centre left) All other images: St Peter’s College and Creative Commons

MARK DAMAZER CBE MASTER

A LAST WORD FROM

THE MASTER We are 90 – and 40. The College admitted its first students in 1929, with the express purpose of widening opportunity for those from poorer backgrounds. We should never forget the Chavasse family, who founded the College, but it was not until 1979 that half the human race got a look in.

That was when St Peter’s admitted women. This edition of Cross Keys properly celebrates both anniversaries.

We have changed the portraiture in the Hall in recent years to reflect better the contemporary identity of St Peter’s. And now we have placed in the Lodge – you can’t miss it – a photo display featuring various members of staff, students and Fellows, with brief descriptions of how they came to be at St Peter’s. It is a vivid reminder of how international and varied a community this is.

There are some very specific reflections on the impact of St Peter’s in this edition – by our Emeritus Fellow, Professor Edith Sim, and by a strong College supporter, Smruti Sriram-Blunt.

There is an article, too, by Chris Hoyer-Millar about a philanthropic cycling venture – a reminder that SPC should be mindful of a world beyond Oxford.

Many current students have strong charitable instincts, and we have tried in recent years to link up to Oxford-based organisations beyond St Peter’s, to the benefit of everybody concerned.

It is busy here – very. The Bursar (Doug Shaw, who joined in January) and his team have been grappling with Castle Hill House (CHH), the vital building project that we need to help students get the most out of their St Peter’s life. We are using the architects who masterminded the award-winning Perrodo project. The plans are well advanced for what promises to be a development that enhances the city as well as the College. You can read about how we are campaigning to make sure that we can build CHH without having to borrow so much that we risk the College’s finances.

Rosie and I have had a marvellous nine years. But there comes a moment, and by the time you read this the College will be led by the excellent and estimable Professor Judith Buchanan. I wish her all the very best of good fortune and know that thousands of you will be providing the support that any Master needs to sustain this fabulous place.

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MONICA POPA DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS DIRECTOR

DEVELOPMENT

NEWS The magic of Gaudies A year on­­– and what a time it has been! So many special occasions, such joyful moments intermixed with intellectual stimulation and interaction – it could only happen at St Peter’s! Among the many and varied events that we organise, my favourite occasions in the College’s alumni calendar have to be the Gaudies. There is nothing like a Gaudy for participants and organisers alike. The lead-up starts months in advance with preparation, and crescendoes as more and more replies come in as the RSVP deadline approaches­­­. Then comes the day itself. Cue trepidation, emotion, nerves as the afternoon arrives and you catch the first glimpse of alumni approaching the Chapel doors, looking around to see if they recognise one another, and then . . . the hug. And from that moment on comes the sigh of relief, accompanied by the knowledge that all the time we spent preparing for this moment has all been worth it as the Gaudy unfolds into an evening of emotion and shared memories.

Although the range of emotions is present in each and every Gaudy, two Gaudies in the past year stood out. The first was the Gaudy for alumni who matriculated prior to 1960; the second was the Women’s Gaudy, which marked the anniversary of forty years since the arrival of the first female undergraduates at the College. Two very different occasions, or at least so it appeared at first glance.

However, if you had waited a little longer as you listened to the murmur of the conversations and spoke to the alumni, you would have realised that in fact the two were not very different at all. The recurrent theme of the inimitable St Peter’s spirit, the one of welcome, of allaying the nagging doubts or outright fears that you don’t belong, the striking of lifelong friendships, and the final realisation that although the years ahead will be hard work, they will also be fun. And, at the end of it, unbeknown even to yourself, perhaps for years to come, you

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will have emerged as a changed person – you are now part of St Peter’s. Addressing the packed Dining Hall of 140 alumnae, Fellows, and students, Joanna Zonneveld (1990), the first woman JCR president, brought laughter and cheers, testing the limits of the revamped acoustics of the hall as the audience raised the roof. The 1960s alumni, who stayed long into the afternoon, were not dissimilar.

I encourage anyone who is yet to return to a Gaudy to do so to experience these remarkable St Peter’s moments with all their excitement and energy. We have a calendar at the back of the magazine with all upcoming Gaudy dates. Please don’t take my word for it – do come and experience the Gaudy for yourselves.

My, how good the College looks!

The other common reaction from those returning to College since the Perrodo renovations were completed last spring is the sense of awe and amazement as to how the College has been transformed. Alumnus and visitor alike, time and time again, comment on how striking the College looks. How the planting has transformed even the greyest day into a spectacle of scent and colour, and how brightly the stone shines on a beautiful summer day in Trinity term. As we look forward to transforming Castle Hill House into second-year student accommodation, we have something to aspire to and emulate. You can read more about our goal of providing safe, secure accommodation in the pages of this magazine. Our great hope is that by the end of the calendar year, with your help, we will have reached our target of £15 million, spearheaded by a £5 million matched challenge fund, which will enable us to begin construction in Hilary 2020 and achieve completion by Michaelmas 2022.

Opposite page left: That moment when a Gaudy truly begins Opposite page right: 40th Anniversary Women’s Gaudy Below: Our high-flying alumnae

We look forward to welcoming our Master-elect, Professor Judith Buchanan, who will join us from the University of York where she is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Goodbyes and welcome This Michaelmas 2019, we look forward to welcoming our Master-elect, Professor Judith Buchanan, who will join us from the University of York, where she is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. A former Fulbright Scholar and Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford, Judith has an academic background in both early modern literature and the study of film, and is a leading authority on Shakespearean performance histories and on silent cinema.

As thrilled as we are, we are also very sad to say goodbye to our current Master, Mark Damazer CBE, and his wife, Rosemary Morgan (Mark and Rosie), who have played such an enormous part in the College’s life for the past nine years. They have been instrumental in shaping the direction of the College, putting it firmly on the Oxford map, and have engaged speakers to excite the envy of the Oxford Union, which we have rivalled for the past nine years. Many of you have returned to College after long years of absence during Mark’s tenure, and have since become lifelong friends and loyal supporters. As we say goodbye to Mark and Rosie, we hope to continue to fill the Chapel with the world-renowned speakers who brought to it a glory unknown since the sermons of St Peter’s first Master, Christopher Chavasse.

Alumni gatherings (around the world) I cannot end a review of the year without mentioning our international alumni, and in particular the St Peter’s alumni reunion in Tokyo at the University’s Meeting Minds Weekend in March.

We are grateful to our alumni from Japan and neighbouring countries for their attendance and support. Special mentions are owed to our gracious host at the International House of Japan, Mr Koh Kasuga (1965), as well as to William Hsu (2013), who acted as unofficial cheerleader, ensuring that Oxford alumni from Taiwan were some of the most highly represented at the weekend. In New York in April, St Peter’s alumni were again hosted generously by Patrick Turner (1978), and the meeting spearheaded the formation of an informal

alumni group that will meet more regularly in New York in between College visits. We are also grateful to Jeremy Taylor (1992), who hosted us for the City Drinks event at Lazard’s in the heart of Mayfair last October.

The Law Society event, enabled by the generosity of Nick Segal (1976), has to be one of the most enjoyable in the College’s calendar, bringing together current law students with loyal generations of law alumni. The intimacy of the event, coupled with the calibre of speakers and conversation exchanges at dinner, are unrivalled.

This year, to address the students and audience, we welcomed Max Hill QC (1983), Director of Public Prosecutions, to whom we are indebted for his time and tantalising insights.

Thank you As always, we are grateful for all your support, participation, and loyal engagement with the College. On behalf of our students, Fellows, and staff we thank you for your continuous and generous encouragement, and for the many ways in which you give it to us, whether it is through mentoring and hosting, or, for those able to do so, through much needed philanthropic assistance.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our alumni events in the coming year. There remains nothing to say apart from thank you and see you soon!

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WHY ‘LIVING IN’ MATTERS Next year, we are building new accommodation so our second-year undergraduates can ‘live in’ at College. Student Finance Officer, Katie PullenRowland, explains why this is so important.

When people ask me about some of the financial challenges our students face today, one undergraduate’s story sticks out.

Ram Choudhury came to us for help at the end of his first term. Like many first-year students, he faced the prospect of trying to make new friends while focusing on his studies. He also had to find a shared place to live for his second year. That can be tricky enough, without the landlord requiring both a guarantor and a substantial six-months’ rent up front.

His parents could not act as guarantors, as they lived in rented accommodation. Ram was understandably stressed, and his prospective housemates were waiting on him. ‘I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience what I’ve been through,’ he tells me. Eventually, the College negotiated the landlord down to three months’ rent up front, and provided a grant to help Ram cover the cost.

‘St Peter’s helped me a lot during this process,’ he says, ‘but we need to do more to help future students avoid these situations.’

Sadly, the state of Oxford’s housing market means I’m hearing more and more stories like Ram’s.

Currently, we can’t shield students from this in the way most other colleges can, as we are unable to house our second-years on site. Happily, and thanks to the considerable generosity of our College community, this situation will soon change, as we commit to building affordable student accommodation in an adjacent building. Recently,

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference this project will make for students like Ram.

The pressure of ‘living out’ First of all, consider some of the facts. Oxford has been rated the least affordable city in the UK, according to Affordable Cities Review 2019

by Lloyds Banking Group. Oxford University also advises students to budget 20 per cent more than Cambridge to cover living expenses, according to the website QS Top Universities.

With limited available accommodation, a growing student population, and average monthly rents of £450–£650 per month, it’s not hard to imagine the pressure living out can place on undergraduates.

‘It’s changed so much since my time,’ says Abigail Williams, Professor of English Literature and Fellow for Equality and Diversity. ‘The pressure to sign up for a house in your first term at University is immense. Students queue up outside estate agents before Christmas, even though rental agreements don’t start until August. The quality of housing can be awful, too. For students, it can feel like no one cares about you.’

As Student Finance Officer, I see the problems this can lead to. I’ve seen students, who often don’t know their rights, signing all kinds of contracts.

When things go badly wrong, such as a boiler breaking or a bed bug infestation, they might have no legal protection and no one to turn to.

Further problems Living out can create further problems, too.

Travelling in by bike or bus is difficult, particularly for those with disabilities. Journeys to and from College can be unsafe, especially at night.

Opposite page: New quad at Castle Hill House

Below: Castle Hill House cross section

Finally, there is the obvious financial impact. Paying fees and deposits up front, and staying on top of rising rents, is a challenge, especially for those whose parents are less well off. ‘Students who can’t afford to secure accommodation feel embarrassed in front of their peers,’ says Abigail Williams. ‘In a way, it means undergraduates become segregated according to their backgrounds.’

As people struggle to make ends meet, and potentially take jobs on the side, their standard of work can drop. ‘We only have an eight-week term,’ says Abigail, ‘so there’s no room for sorting out accommodation crises.’

Through all of this, our teams provide all the support we can. This can be practical financial help, or pointing students to legal advice. We talk undergraduates through budgeting basics, and ensure that counselling or mental health care is available.

Living in, reaching out ‘St Peter’s currently is among the Oxford colleges with the lowest number of applications,’ says Abigail Williams. ‘That’s largely because we can’t offer accommodation to students in their second year.

Crucially, this means we’re missing out on bright students from less well-off backgrounds. If we’re to be a more inclusive place, this must change.’

Enabling our second-year undergraduates to live in is a major first step. As a result, everyone will be

mixed together, across different backgrounds and subjects. The whole year group will be stronger, with closer relationships between students and College staff. Students like Ram will feel more supported, so they can focus on their studies, make the most of their time here, and thrive.

THE CASTLE HILL HOUSE DEVELOPMENT Creating affordable accommodation for talented students of all backgrounds.

You probably know we have acquired Castle Hill House, a freehold property on New Road next to Canal House, used for decades by the local Conservative party. With your support, we will develop this into two buildings with fifty-two high-quality rooms, so we can house nearly all our undergraduates in St Peter’s accommodation.

A generous donor has recognised the transformational potential of the Castle Hill House Project, and wishes to celebrate Mark Damazer’s tenure as Master. They have gifted the College a maximum of £5m to match all your donations before the end of 2019.

To find out more and to make your donation, please visit www.spc.ox.ac.uk/chh or phone 01865 614986.

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90 YEARS OF

ST PETER’S COLLEGE

1928 Francis Chavasse dies.

An appeal is launched to found St Peter’s Hall in his memory

1929 The Wall Street Crash

William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield 6

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1929

1929

1930

1936

Christopher Chavasse installed as Master

St Peter’s Hall opens with an initial intake of 40 students

St Peter’s achieves its first success on the river, narrowly missing out on blades

Lord Nuffield gives £50,000 to St Peter’s, rescuing it from closure

Christopher Maude Chavasse, OBE

1937 Amelia Earhart disappears

1939 World War II breaks out, and Westfield College, London, are evacuated to St Peter’s

1940

1940

Hattie McDaniel becomes first black American to win Academy Award

Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister

Revd Robert Wilmot Howard Revd Julian Thornton-Duesbery

My begin early educa ning o f WW2 tion started teach . Post at the ers in -wa c he When an Old mistry and r, I had goo d mathe been Boy o at f my s chool matics. encou Pot Hall ret wh urned ra to visit o had humb ged me to apply. le fam , ily and I came he proce no on ed to f rom a e tertiar Oxford y educ dreamed I ! w ation, I have let alo ould since ne spent and m my ar have b ried the lan life teachin dlady’s gc een m a a fam daugh hemistry ily of w rried sixty one ye ter. We hich w a - Alex e a r e an very p rs and have roud.

(BA Ch der Eames emist ry, 195 3)

1940

1942

1945

Julian ThorntonDuesbery elected Master

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman star in Hollywood classic Casablanca

The first electronic generalpurpose computer, ENIAC, is built

1945 Robert Howard is elected Master

1945 End of World War II

1947 A decree is passed giving St Peter’s the status of a New Foundation

1952

1953

1955

1955

Princess Elizabeth ascends to the throne at the age of 25

‘Besse’ staircase officially opened

Julian ThorntonDuesbery is elected Master for the second time

Rosa Parks refuses to relinquish her seat to a white passenger

90 YEARS 1,080 MONTHS 32,850 DAYS 788,400 HOURS ONE ST PETER’S. Much has happened since St Peter’s Hall first opened its doors in October 1929: two global recessions, one world war, four monarchs, one abdication, 18 different prime ministers...

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During this same time, the St Peter’s community has been transformed from a small Permanent Private Hall of just forty students (all of them men) and three tutors (ditto), to a thriving co-educational college with over 350 undergraduates, 200 or so postgraduates, and more than 150 tutors, lecturers and staff, all hailing from over 40 countries.

But if the story of our development appears to be at once certain and steady, the reality has not always been quite so neat and tidy. On at least two occasions, St Peter’s has come close to collapse, first as a result of the Great Depression, when only an 11th-hour donation by Lord Nuffield rescued the fledgling Hall from near certain financial ruin, and later during World War II, when our buildings were taken over by the students of Westfield College, London, for what was then an unknowable length of time.

1957

1958

Billy Watson appointed Chaplain and Tutor in Theology

St Peter’s acquires de facto possession of Canal House

1961 St Peter’s granted Royal Charter of Incorporation as full college

1963 Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Out of adversity comes strength, however, and the immediate post-war period was one of growth and change, during which St Peter’s became first a New Foundation (1947) and then a full college of the University (1961).

The arrival of women in 1979 marked another key moment in our history, one whose fortieth anniversary happily coincides with the appointment of Prof Judith Buchanan as our first female Master.

What the next ninety years will bring is, of course, anyone’s guess. But, one thing is certain: as long as St Peter’s is around, the men and women who pass through its doors will be welcomed by a community that is at once proud of its past and ambitious for its future.

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1964

Tony Abrahams becomes first St Peter’s student elected OU President

1968

1969

1969

1972

1972

Sir Alec Cairncross elected Master of St Peter’s

Staircase V demolished to make way for the Matthews and Latner buildings

Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to step on the Moon

The Latner Building is officially opened

Richard Burton gives tutorial to students at St Peter’s

in eturn ef to r uddle of li e r t a grea nd a h nd the It was of 1979 to fi hered arou a t s a dy g , I owe elma Micha omen alrea e pioneers the first w os e, young ables…To th icular to Su rstood t t e r ll a d a n p b pin elen, t. In ho u al deb in Oxford w n, and to H n o s r pe et isio y n I’d m e of Joy Div not actuall perso s c a r’s n e a w t t ” r e aff po tP the im lised that “T to them, S s k ea who r name. Than ke home. li al e r e r o y m m feel o t d e start sley ael Bo - Mich , 1978) gy (Zoolo

1978 Prof Gerald Aylmer is elected Master of St Peter’s

1979

1979

Prof Christine Greenhalgh elected first female Fellow

First female students arrive at St Peter’s

1979 Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister

1980

1981

1982

Election of first female JCR Officer

Marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana

Argentina invades the Falkland Islands

1983 First St Peter’s marriage

1983

1984

L. Cronshaw becomes first St Peter’s female Blue

Work begins on renovation of Old Girls’ School

40 YEARS OF WOMEN AT ST PETER’S For many of us, it’s hard to imagine that there weren’t always women at St Peter’s. The timeline here is a reminder of just how recently the College went mixed. So how did that happen? If we follow the paper trail through the College Archives, we can trace the way the College adapted in response to changing times. The first whiff of revolution emerges with the Master, Alec Cairncross, writing in the College Record in 1976. He begins by explaining that ‘an event that caused quite a stir in Oxford during the year was the passing of the Sex

Discrimination Act . . .’ He notes that even St Peter’s has been stirred by this new legislation, compelled by a journal to rewrite an advert for a job in medicine, because the wording referred repeatedly to potential candidates as ‘he’. Sir Alec was puzzled by all this: ‘Reflecting that I could find no obscenity in the use of the third person masculine singular I suggested that the Act could hardly affect St Peter’s since we were a men’s college and a charity and fresh legislation could not override our charter.’

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1985

1986

1986

1989

Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union

Maradona scores ‘Hand of God’ goal against England

Newly refurbished Chavasse Building opens

Fall of the Berlin Wall

1990

1990

1991

1991

1999

2000

St Peter’s College Football Club O.U.A.F.C Champions 1989-1990

Nelson Mandela released from prison

Joanna Holt elected first female JCR President

Prof John Barron is elected Master of St Peter’s

Women’s Gaudy marking 20 years of coeducation at St Peter’s

The world celebrates the Millennium

There is not a sense, at this point, that the College is brimming with enthusiasm for the great change. What’s really fascinating, following this story through the Archives, is how an air of slight bewilderment evolves into a clear sense of anticipation, and even excitement, over the next four years. Twelve months after the Master was bemused by objections to the word ‘he’, he announced that women would be admitted as undergraduates by 1979, and women eligible for fellowships at the same time. By the time the first cohort of women had been admitted, in 1979, the Master says that the College would have definitely done worse academically in admissions had it stayed all male. By 1982, he is looking forward to the first set of finals results from women, hoping they will raise the academic standard from the year before.

This story is quite revealing about how change happens – it demonstrates that innovation, revolution, often accrue momentum as time goes

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on. It shows that institutions can find it initially hard to evolve – but they do it – and then they act as if it was totally normal and had always been that way!

As we celebrate a glorious four decades of women at St Peter’s, I hope we can be mindful of the ways in which all the enlightened early supporters, all those first women, paved the way for the vibrant, inclusive community that we recognise in St Peter’s today.

Women’s Gaudy

1999

2003

2004

2007

2008

2010

2016

Prof Bernard Silverman elected as Master

Facebook is formed

by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard

Steve Jobs and Apple launch the first Iphone

Barack Obama elected President of the United States

Mark Damazer CBE elected as Master

Britain votes to leave the European Union

2018

2019

Hubert Perrodo Building opened

Prof Judith Buchanan elected as Master

Professor Judith B uc

hanan

Mark Damazer CBE

elected to have been llege, to d te h ig el d Co ‘I’m f St Peter’s nour to as Master o rk Damazer. It’s an ho of this a succeed M e next chapter in the lifey and I be part of th community. My famil ining exceptional ch looking forward to jon are very mu ssor Judith Buchana you.’ - Profe

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A SMALL BUT MIGHTY

COMMUNITY

SMRUTI SRIRAM-BLUNT REFLECTS ON HER TIME AT ST PETER’S

Jimmy and I were in a tutorial with Dr Gavin Williams, Tutor in Politics, about Rousseau’s Social Contract – a favourite subject area for Gavin, one that he had over thirty years of experience on.

‘Read out your introduction, the first and last line of every paragraph, and then the conclusion,’ Gavin said in his warm South African accent. Having never written essays before (I was more of a sciences student at A-levels), I read out the introduction that I had laboured some twelve hours on. It was laden with all sorts of long, unnecessary words and some mediocre analyses. Jimmy, my stellar tutorial partner, sensing my ebbing confidence, chipped in and helped decipher my essay. Despite my initial trepidation, the one-hour tutorial turned out to be one of the most empowering and intellectually interesting experiences of my life. This was because Gavin showed genuine interest in what I had to say about Rousseau, however banal or trite my ideas were. He would quote from his original weathered copy of the Social Contract, unpick the choice of words used, and test the logical structure of Jimmy’s and my thoughts.

I matriculated fourteen years ago, but the Rousseau tutorial has left an indelible mark on

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me and says a lot about the culture of St. Peter’s: international, open-minded, and wildly understated.

I read PPE, a ‘famous’ degree because a lot of British politicians have read it. My cohort at St Peter’s was unbelievably hardworking, never sought the limelight, and was completely engaged with the rigorous course material. Its members came from all walks of life, from all over the world.

Jimmy was from Scotland, and my fellow PPEists came from Latvia, the Czech Republic, the USA, France, Italy, and other parts of the UK – I was the only Londoner. I was truly humbled by how eloquent the international students were – the subject matters were complex and the language very technical (think Epistemology, Comparative Government, and Macroeconomic Theory), and, albeit through thick accents, they often outshone many native speakers in tutorials. I help run my family business now, and the international exposure I got at St Peter’s has allowed me to trade with confidence with my Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and other European clients.

St Peter’s really is inclusive and supportive. The College family system, the close-knit JCR, and the loyal support during extracurricular activities were invaluable. I have loved attending weddings for my College ‘dad’, College ‘wife’, and adopted College ‘daughter’. On international business trips around the world, I can often lean upon old connections from SPC to make my stay less lonely – from lassis on rooftops in Delhi, to vegan dinners in Berlin, to cycle rides through Zurich, to loft parties in Manhattan. The academic community is especially supportive. In particular, I must give thanks to Dr Nic Cheeseman, Dr Hartmut Mayer, and Dr Massimo Antonini, who believed in my application to the College. I am forever grateful for the three years I spent at Peter’s. The experience has completely changed my life, my confidence, my ambition, and my mind set.

As with all PPE essays, my final point is my third.

St Peter’s might be small, but it is mighty. The College attracts a lot of students who are humble but outstandingly brilliant, often ranking high firsts

St. Peter’s really is inclusive and supportive. The College family system, the close-knit JCR, and the loyal support during extracurricular activities were impeccable.

across the University, or gaining rowing or rugby blues, or, in my case, running for President of the Oxford Union. Gavin Williams, an esteemed, worldrenowned professor, took great care in listening to my fresher’s essay, and he stood for something that the College does best: no matter what age you are, what background you are from, or what experience you have, you will be listened to and taken seriously.

I have enjoyed reconnecting with the College and our current outgoing Master, Mark Damazer, who has brought a great injection of BBC pizzazz to St Peter’s. I hope that through my charity work with

Wings of Hope Children’s Charity we can inspire future students to apply to St Peter’s and have current SPC students mentor them to get in. Who knows, perhaps we can get a few scholarships set up too! But for now, if any students, alumni, or academics want to discuss sustainable packaging or ethical fashion, then I would be delighted to connect them to my work at Supreme Creations/ Bags of Ethics. Moreover, if Jimmy wants to do another tutorial then I would be the happiest girl in the world!

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PORTRAITS OF AN

OXFORD COLLEGE The Who We Are exhibition, which is displayed in the Porters’ Lodge at St Peter’s, celebrates the varied and different people who make up our college community.

The students and staff you see here have chosen to be photographed to represent their age, class, background, disability, faith, gender, sexuality or heritage. Some of these identities are visible, others are not. Each person has a different story to tell about who they are – and, together, they make us who we are.

ELEANOR BLACKWOOD (ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, 2016).

MARIA ADELA DULCE

My friends call me El, but to my family I’m Ena. I’m half Canadian and half Scottish. Growing up I moved around a lot, but feel most attached to London. I think a big part of what drives me is the belief in and desire for progressive change. It sounds clichéd, but I think we each have the opportunity and the responsibility to make some kind of difference however we can.

EMMANUEL OLADOKUN (ENGINEERING SCIENCE, 2016).

I am from Wythenshawe, a town in Greater Manchester. I am an Engineering student who enjoys sports, especially football. Being Christian is a core part of my identity. My faith shapes who I am and affects the decisions I make, daily.

ISRA’A SALEM ABU-MAHFOUZ

My friends and family call me Maria. I am from East Timor, a country in South-East Asia. I am a mother, a Catholic, and a sister. I am a scout at St Peter’s. My Asian heritage is particularly important to me in terms of my identity, but I hope that when people see me the first thing they notice is my smile!

JOSHUA SILBERSTEIN BAMFORD (DPHIL ANTHROPOLOGY, 2018).

(DPHIL EARTH SCIENCES, 2014).

I am a mother of four children, a wife, and a scientist. I am Muslim and Arab. I grew up in a big family in a small village in Jordan, to which my parents came in 1948 as refugees from Palestine. My father, who is 100 years old, did not receive a proper education, but worked hard to ensure his children had the opportunity to be formally educated.

I am the first person in my family to undertake doctoral research.

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Back home (Perth, Western Australia), people call me Josh, but time spent in Finland means I also answer to ‘Yossuah’. I think of myself as an academic nomad, having studied multiple disciplines in multiple countries. I’m also a singer, dancer, son, grandson, Jewish Humanist, environmentalist, and occasional activist. My relationship with my family is probably the most important aspect of my identity, which makes living abroad so much more difficult. My grandfather, a neurologist who came to Australia as a Holocaust refugee, is my biggest inspiration.

ERENA CHORANJI I am originally from the Punjab region in northwest India. I am a wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker, and a Christian.

I would say that my faith and my family life are particularly important parts of my identity: they are who I’ve been for a long time and who I still am, and they are the parts of my identity that keep me going. My work in College as a ‘scout’ means that I have the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people.

GAIL MICHELLE JONES AND SUE CAIN

JOANNA NEILLY I am a Fellow at St Peter’s and I’m from Bangor in Northern Ireland. It was a good place to grow up, where the civil conflict was something I mainly experienced via TV and murals. I’m a linguist, teacher, and eternal student, who considers herself Northern Irish/Irish/ European/British-ish. My accent is an important part of my identity. I didn’t know I had one until I came to ‘the mainland’, as we call it back home! My parents have working-class Catholic roots, but they always encouraged me to think about the world beyond Bangor.

YEN LING PHAN People I know sometimes call me ‘short cake’, ‘half-pint’ or ‘pixie’! I come from Wales, a beautiful country that is home to the busy city of Cardiff. I am a mother and grandmother. Being friendly and helpful is an important part of my identity.

I was born in Barnstaple, North Devon, but moved to Oxfordshire when I was five. Besides being hardworking, I think of myself as a mum, friend, and loving daughter. I feel it is particularly important to be happy and friendly.

SAMUEL BODANSKY (MATHEMATICS, 2015).

My family sometimes call me Shmuel, my Hebrew name. I am a proud Yorkshireman from Alwoodley, North Leeds. I like to think I have two religions: Manchester United and Judaism!

I guess Judaism is the most important part of who I am. It permeates every part of my life.

People call me Ling, and I am from Guangdong, a busy province in south-east China. I describe myself as someone who cares for her family, a wife and mother.

Being a mother is a very important aspect of my identity, and I am incredibly proud of my daughter.

JAMIE GREEN

(DPHIL MODERN LANGUAGES, 2016).

INÉS MORENO DE BARREDA I am from sunny and lovely Spain, and I’m first a mother, then a friend. I also teach from time to time. Family is very important to me. I grew up very close to my twentyeight cousins, and this has shaped my personality. We learned early on to care for others, but not always to challenge opinions. My journey from PhD student to tutor in Economics has taught me to practice what the English call ‘thinking outside the box’.

I come from Malton, a small market town in North Yorkshire, where I am the only Aston Villa fan around.

I am a sports mad, disabled student who has cerebral palsy. I would say that having a disability is an important part of my identity but it doesn’t define me. Before applying here, I thought of Oxford as an inaccessible, old-fashioned city that would be a nightmare to navigate in my wheelchair, but the reality is very different!

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A MEMORABLE JOURNEY

CHRIS HOYER-MILLAR (MODERN LANGUAGES, 1993) TALKS ABOUT HIS BIKE RIDE IN MEMORY OF HIS FRIEND, NOEL SPEAKE (HISTORY, 1993)

Picture the scene: it’s the Summer of 1995, and two scruffy SPC undergraduates, mightily hungover after a night carousing in a pub in Cork, stagger into a camping shop. We’re three days into a hitchhiking trip around Ireland. We’d planned an epic journey across the Americas, but funds instead dictated a cheap flight to Dublin. Things are going well and we’re having a lot of fun, but we’ve already blown our minimal funds. Radical action is required. We decide to economise by camping: we need to buy a tent and sleeping bags, but we’ve only got £50. ‘That’s the best I can do lads. You’ll be grand. It’ll add to the adventure’, the manager explains with a grin as he hands over the tiny one-man tent and single sleeping bag. For context, my travelling companion, Noel Speake, was 6ft 3 and (even) in 1995 weighed 16 stone.

And so we set off on a round-Ireland trip in a oneman tent with a single sleeping bag which we must share for the next fortnight. If you’ve watched an episode of The Inbetweeners, you will know what followed as we worked our way along Ireland’s west coast: a wonderful blur of chance encounters, new friendships and nothing more pressing to consider than where the next pint of Guinness was to be had.

I often think back to that trip and to my days at SPC, many of which (too many, perhaps) were spent in the pursuit of fun with Noel, an extraordinary character and a force of nature. We remained best friends after Oxford, but that trip has become particularly poignant since Noel’s death three years ago, just six months after being diagnosed with cancer. No day passes without a memory of the great man or recollection of one of his many sayings: ‘Millar, do you know what I like about you?

Nothing’ or ‘You’re a modest man with much to be modest about’. And so on...usually rounded off with

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reference to his first-class history degree ‘highest in the year, Millar’ and a quote from Primo Levi/Joseph Conrad/‘Big’ Ron Atkinson.

It struck me that the best (and most useful) way to remember Noel would be to raise funds to assist SPC undergraduates from less privileged backgrounds. In the years since we left SPC the cost of a university education has risen exponentially. Opportunities we perhaps took for granted are not so readily available to the next generation. And so it was that last summer I set off on a 520-mile solo bicycle trip around the Highlands of Scotland to raise money to support a Noel Speake bursary to be administered by the excellent SPC Foundation. In many ways, the trip was similar to the Irish expedition, except this time with hotels and a support car. And, of course, very sadly, without Noel, who would have relished providing acerbic commentary from the comfort of the support car as his friend crawled up yet another hill.

I could go on at length about the route (the North Coast 500), the landscape (stunning, particularly along the northwestern tip of the coast) and the food (variable, though Noel would have approved of the Kylesku hotel). But the best thing about the trip is that, thanks to the generosity of Noel’s wonderful family and friends, and the organisational skills of Peter Petyt and Charles Ind, we have now raised over £19,000 to establish the Noel Speake Bursary. The first grant will shortly be made to an SPC undergraduate. I hope there will be many more grants (and bike trips) over the years to come.

We remained best friends after Oxford, but that trip has become particularly poignant since Noel’s death three years ago, just six months after being diagnosed with cancer.

From left: Jeremy Hill (History, 1993), Noel Speake (History, 1993), Chris Briggs (History, 1993), Chris Hoyer Millar (Modern Languages, 1993) and Dave Parry (History, 1993)

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ST PETER’S

INSPIRING WOMEN THE ‘INSPIRING WOMEN’ EXHIBITION, WHICH WAS PUT TOGETHER ESPECIALLY FOR THE WOMEN’S GAUDY IN MARCH, CELEBRATED THE DIVERSE ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR ALUMNAE. HERE IS A SAMPLE OF SOME OF THOSE FEATURED IN THE EXHIBITION.

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LUCY BAILEY

(English, 1979)

Lucy has become a successful director in theatre and opera, having directed in world famous festivals and theatres, including the Wexford Opera Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, the RSC, and the Globe Theatre, London. She was instrumental in setting up The Print Room, a theatre and performance space in London.

CAITLIN HARVEY

(née Burbridge) (Geography, 2007)

Whether through her church or as a Community Organiser for Hackney with Citizens UK, Caitlin has spent her years since graduating serving communities in London with curiosity, compassion, commitment and a sense of fun.

She has led campaigns for Community Energy in Hackney and for staff at her local cinema to receive the Living Wage.

ROCIO CALVOVILCHES

(Visiting Student, 2000)

Dr Calvo-Vilches currently works in the US, where she has created an initiative to increase the number of Hispanic social workers. The initiative was so successful, it is now the model used on a national level in the US community.

FELICITY CLOAKE (English, 2001)

Felicity Cloake is a respected food writer, with six critically acclaimed cookbooks to her name. She has also previously won the Guild of Food Writers award for Food Journalist of the Year.

PROF GIUSEPPINA (PINA) D’AGOSTINO (DPhil Law, 1996)

Professor Pina D’Agostino has become a global name in the field of intellectual property law and technology, distinguishing herself as a scholar, lawyer, innovator, entrepreneur and mentor. She is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the IPilogue, the first Intellectual Property law blog of its kind, and Founder and Director of Osgoode’s Intellectual Property Law and Technology Intensive Program, the first legal clinic of its kind helping start-ups. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Intellectual Property Journal and has received various honours and awards.

KIIRA GUSTAFSON

(Visiting Student, 2004) Kiira Gustafson is serving as HIV Director and TB Technical Advisor at Population Services International in Myanmar and sitting on the Guidelines Development Group for the new WHO HIV Self-testing Guidelines. Under her leadership, Myanmar achieved the world’s highest HIV case finding among the 30 USAID-funded countries.

CAROLINE MODARRESSYTEHRANI

(English Language and Literature, 2004)

Caroline ModarressyTehrani is an Emmy Awardnominated correspondent and journalist, whose reporting has tackled some of the most critical social issues of the day. Her work for VICE helped expose the Italian Mafia’s involvement in human trafficking and exploitation of economic migrants travelling from Africa to Europe. Her series on voting disenfranchisement of the disabled in several American states prompted proposed changes to the law. Her documentary on the loss of Medicaid coverage for disabled adults won a journalism award. Today, her new documentary series for HuffPost covers stories that bridge the ideological and socio-economic divide.

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AFUA HIRSCH (PPE, 1999)

Afua has exposed the conditions of racism in the UK. Her book Brit(ish) (Penguin, 2018) was a fantastic look at multiculturalism and the barriers that ethnic minority and poor students face in the UK.

NATASHA JAKUBOWSKI

(Geography, 1992)

Natasha was voted The Anomaly of the Decade for changing the shape of business. As Head of Innovation in New York, she has developed countless products and initiatives for multinational corporations like P&G, Diageo and Disney. She is responsible for imagining, collaborating and innovating better futures.

HELEN LEWIS (English, 2001)

Helen has become a highly respected and influential journalist. She also regularly appears on BBC Radio 4 news and comedy programmes, giving political insights in a clear and accessible way.

HENRIETTA LEYSER Former Fellow of St Peter’s College

An excellent historian, great teacher at SPC, effective and humane welfare officer and, at the same time, a loving and supportive wife and the mother of four happy and successful children. Few women in St Peter’s have been so widely loved and admired.

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LAURA MCINERNEY (PPE, 2001)

Over the last decade, Laura has been extremely influential in shaping and scrutinising education policy in Britain. A JCR President during her time at St Peter’s, she went on to work for KPMG, after which she left to train as a teacher, before winning TeachFirst’s Teacher of the Year award. While teaching in east London, she took the Department for Education to court, using Freedom of Information laws to scrutinise how the government approved free school requests. After studying in Missouri, she returned to Britain to become the first editor of Schools Week. She also founded TeacherTapp, an app aimed at improving the quality of data about teachers and teaching.

SALLY MARMION

(Modern Languages, 1981) Sally worked behind-the-scenes as an abridger/ adapter of great and classic novels for Radio 4’s ‘Book at Bedtime.’ Tragically, her life was cut short at the age of 53 by cancer. She gave much to the artistic community, but anyone reading the ‘Bookseller’s’ review of her life (23 February 2017) will see just how much she gave to the artistic community, as well as to the wider public who regularly listened to her work. She was also a great friend to many at college. She married her first boyfriend, David Atcherley-Symes, an undergraduate at St Peter’s, and they were happily married until her untimely death in 2017.

DESPOINA MAVRIDOU

(DPhil Biochemistry,

2004)

Dr Mavridou is a biochemist from St Peter’s working on the investigation of the role of disulfide bond formation in Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Her lab is now situated in Imperial College.

KAREN POPP

(Jurisprudence, 1980)

Karen is a successful US lawyer with an international practice and is considered a leader in the bar. Having started her career on Wall Street, she has been a US Presidential appointee and has served in other senior positions in the US government. She is currently a leader at a major global law firm. Karen has received many accolades and awards, and serves in other leadership roles for several organisations.

KENDALL HOPE TUCKER

(Visiting Student, 2012)

Kendall is the CEO and Founder of Polis, the fastest growing in-person data and door-to-door technology company in the United States. Polis is currently working with the two largest energy companies in the US, the two largest telecommunications companies in Canada, and multiple home security companies. She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree. Kendall and Polis have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and on the TODAY Show.

JOANNA ZONNEVELD

(née Holt) (Modern Languages, 1990)

First female JCR President, captain of the first SPC Cuppers Netball victors 1992, member of Summer VIIIs blades crew, all round awesome person who still runs the thread through many alumni years.

EMILY CRITCHLEY

(English Language and Literature, 1999)

Emily Critchley is a prominent contemporary poet who has edited Out of Everywhere 2, an influential anthology of contemporary innovative poetry by women, and co-edited MeToo: A Poetry Collective in the Chicago Review.

WOMEN’S NETWORKING GROUP NEXT STEPS We look forward to keeping you up to date with the St Peter’s Women’s Networking Group. If you want to learn more, please get in touch.

E: development.office@spc.ox.ac.uk

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COMING TO ST PETER’S PROFESSOR EDITH SIM, EMERITUS FELLOW AND FORMER TUTOR IN BIOCHEMISTRY, TALKS ABOUT HER EXPERIENCES AS ONE OF THE FIRST FEMALE FELLOWS AT ST PETER’S

Turn back the clock to 1991 when Gerald Aylmer was still Master. It was in Trinity Term and I was interviewed for the position of Tutor in Biochemistry.

Having studied Biochemistry at Edinburgh, in 1973 I came to Oxford with my husband to work in the Biochemistry Department.

A Research Fellowship in Biochemistry had been advertised, and it was the opportunity I had been looking for. At the time, I had two young children, Grace and Francis, and I was employed as a Wellcome Trust Senior Lecturer in the Pharmacology Department.

My interview for the Research Fellowship was held in the old Davis room. The great hazard was a low hanging light-fitting poised at head height above the table. Fortunately, I was too short to crash into it when shaking hands with the Chairman! Mark Moloney, along with the Master and the kindest Senior Tutor, Martin Powell, asked searching but fair questions, and I was later thrilled to be offered the position.

What was life at St Peter’s like in 1991? St Peter’s was (as it still is) very friendly. By the time I took up my Fellowship, John Barron had replaced Gerald

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Aylmer as Master. Peter Hayward and Gilbert McKay were very welcoming. Gilbert, a fellow Scot, touchingly gave me by way of welcome

Opposite page right: St Peter’s College Record 1991

Opposite page bottom: St Peter’s College Choir

Below left: Students enjoy the College grounds

Below: Matriculation 1991

we were in demand to serve on committees. When I was appointed to a University Lectureship in Pharmacology in 1996, I was extremely grateful that the Governing Body agreed that the post should be transferred to St Peter’s, as I felt very much at home, and enjoyed the interaction with colleagues and undergraduates at St Peter’s.

When Peter Newell retired in 2003, I was Head of the Department of Pharmacology. I was very keen that the College should retain a formal post in the Biochemistry Department. The Governing Body agreed and the Rank Fellowship was advertised.

Dr Nick Lakin was appointed as Official Fellow and I took on a role as Tutor. After a few years, I took on the role of Tutor for Graduates and resumed my place on the Governing Body.

a translation of the Lord’s Prayer in the Doric.

Professor Peter Newell was a great source of advice. He generously gave up his room in college for me, which turned out to be an excellent place for tutorials, as well as a retreat for book writing and thinking.

There were very few women on the Governing Body – just Professor Christine Greenhalgh and me. Until my arrival, Professor Greenhalgh had been the sole woman for twelve years. As the only female Fellows,

In 2011, I left Oxford to become the Dean of Science, Engineering and Computing at Kingston University, but thanks to the Governing Body, Nick Lakin, and newly-appointed Master, Mark Damazer, I was able to continue as Senior Research Fellow.

Three years later, I was honoured to be made an Emeritus Fellow of St Peter’s after my retirement from Kingston University in 2014.

I greatly value the interactions I have had with St Peter’s and its characters: Henry Mayr-Harting with his generosity of spirit, the different Masters – Gerald Aylmer, John Barron, Bernard Silverman, and the ‘get things done’ Mark Damazer. There was also Olivia Henley and the indomitable Lily Dear. I have learned so much from my St Peter’s colleagues over the years. It is an experience I greatly appreciate.

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TRAVEL IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (AND COUPS AND COMMUNISM) ST PETER’S STUDENTS ABROAD IN THE 60s, 70s, AND 80s DR RICHARD ALLEN, COLLEGE ARCHIVIST AND RESEARCH FELLOW

Like all Oxford students, those at St Peter’s are fortunate to have access to a wide range of funds and bursaries, almost all of which are supported by the generosity of benefactors, among them many alumni. One of the longest-running such schemes is the Christian Deelman Travel Fund, which has been in continuous operation since 1965. Established in memory of the man in whose honour it is named, the Fund exists to award travel grants to applicants ‘whose proposals combine a sense of adventure with the traditional desire to broaden the mind or to effect some immediate scholarly aim’.

The story behind the Fund is one that few (if any) recent recipients of a Deelman travel grant will know. Even fewer will know how previous recipients spent their time on their travels. Readers of this article would be forgiven for thinking that such information would probably not survive in any archival form, save perhaps as part of an interview.

But anyone reading this who was fortunate enough to win a grant from the Deelman Fund will remember that they had to submit a written report on their travels. Remarkably, the reports submitted by students between 1965 and 1980 have not only survived, but now form part of the College Archives, where they help shed fascinating light on the overseas experiences of St Peter’s students during a turbulent period of the twentieth century, and on the various ways in which travel abroad has – and sometimes has not – changed in the subsequent decades.

The origins of the Deelman fund itself can be traced back to one of the unhappier episodes in St Peter’s history. Born in South Africa, Christian Felling Deelman came to Oxford as a scholar at

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New College in 1956, graduating with a first in English. After a year in advertising, he returned to the city as a Research Lecturer at Christ Church, before being elected as a Tutorial Fellow in English at St Peter’s in 1963.

His appointment came at crucial point in the history of St Peter’s. Just two years earlier, the College had received its royal charter, and, in many ways, Deelman’s arrival represented part of the handing of the St Peter’s baton from the first generation of tutors, among them Ralph Houghton (1896–1990), whom Deelman was elected to replace, to those who would take the ‘new’ College into the future.

Sadly, his time at St Peter’s was as brief as it was transformative, and, following a sudden illness, he died on 31 July 1964 at just twenty-six.

Speaking at his funeral five days later, then Master Julian Thornton-Duesbery (1955–68) reflected on Deelman’s ‘vivacity’ and ‘enthusiasm’ during his brief time at St Peter’s. It was in the spirit of these qualities that his family established the travel fund in his memory, and it was in the summer of 1965 that the first recipients, who travelled to East Africa (Michael Hulse, 1962) and the Basque country (Robin Dixon, 1964), received their grants.

Looking today at the reports written in the wake of such trips, one is struck by the wide variety of places visited, many of which were then either behind the Iron Curtain or unaccustomed to seeing Western visitors. Travelling to such destinations was, of course, not without its difficulties, as Stephen Cobb (1968) discovered in July 1969, when a Royal Geographical Society expedition of which he was part was delayed by the assassination of the Kenyan trade unionist and

The tradition of combining academic pursuits with a desire to travel is one that has carried on to the twenty-first century, with recent recipients of Deelman awards having travelled to everywhere from South America to Japan.

politician, Tom Mboya (1930–69). Even seemingly routine travel destinations could throw up unexpected problems, as Peter Jackson (1971) found when he was forced to cancel his planned trip to Italy in 1973 due to a cholera outbreak that eventually claimed eighteen lives. Likewise, Jeremy Stickings (1969) had to abandon his intended trip to Jordan in 1970 due to the outbreak of armed conflict, only to arrive in Reggio Calabria, his second destination, to find the region racked by neofascist riots backed by the Mafia (now known as the Reggio revolt).

Fortunately, the reports, each of which was carefully typed up by the College Secretary, show that the majority of trips passed without major incident.

Fig. 1

Fig. 1: page from report by Robert Schraer (1978) of trip to Israel in 1979

At first comprised of a handful of sheets, the reports themselves, which were sent to Christian Deelman’s mother, evolved over the course of time, with many students taking the time to illustrate their offerings with postcards, clippings, or photographs.

As such, they not only preserve the experiences of their authors, many of whom were travelling beyond Western Europe for the first time, but also visual records of various parts of the world that have since changed beyond all recognition. Among the places captured in this way are mid-1970s Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, which were visited by David Parfitt (1973) as part of a survey of Islamic architecture; military-coup-controlled Thailand, visited by Martin Moss (1973) and Martin King (1974) as part of a wider Oxford expedition in 1976 to study competition among shore-dwelling crabs; late-1970s India, which was visited by Steve King, Ian Ellingworth, Richard Bishop, and Tim Priest (all 1977) in an effort to study the feeding ecology of nilgai antelope; and Socialist Czechoslovakia, in which Michael Wysmans (1978) found himself enjoying the delights of Prague, but only after intimidation by the secret police had put paid to a previously planned reading party near the Polish border with Czech dissidents (among them the philosopher Julius Tomin).

As the above makes clear, the activities in which St Peter’s students participated overseas were as diverse as the places they visited. For some, the experience of travelling and working in their chosen destination was to have a profound impact that lasted well beyond their return to Oxford. Such was the case with Steve King, who got in touch as I was writing this piece to tell me that his lifelong love of India, which he has since visited more than a dozen times, and in which he does charitable work as a supporter of Adventure Ashram (www. adventureashram.org), began with his trip there in 1977. I feel certain that his case cannot be the only one.

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Fig. 2: Steve King with Libby Harrison (St Anne’s, 1977) on elephant back in Khana National Park, India, 1979

Fig. 3: Photograph by Martin Moss, showing typical transport options in Sukhothai, 1976

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

The tradition of combining academic pursuits with a desire to travel is one that has carried on to the twenty-first century, with recent recipients of Deelman awards having travelled to everywhere from South America to Japan. Although recipients no longer submit handwritten, illustrated reports, the spirit of the Deelman Fund is one that carries on to this day. Thanks to the generosity of the Deelman family, it will continue to allow St Peter’s students to broaden their horizons for many years to come. Needless to say, it is such acts of generosity that make St Peter’s, as well as Oxford in general, such a wonderful place to study and work.

If you would like to find out more about how to give to St Peter’s, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Development Team, who will be happy to help. Alternatively, if you think you have something that you would like to deposit in the Archives, including any travel reports from later excursions (thanks to Ian Ellingworth for already sending some additional photos of his trip, including the elephant one above!), or if you’d like to know a little bit more about the history of St Peter’s, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at: archives@spc.ox.ac.uk.

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Fig. 4: Page from report by David Parfitt, with postcard showing Umayyad Mosque, Aleppo

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

PAUL IRONS HEAD PORTER AT ST PETER’S

We talk to Paul Irons, St Peter’s College Head Porter and a familiar face to many alumni and students.

How long have you been working at St Peter’s?

Since 2006, so just coming up to thirteen years. The place itself hasn’t changed much, but we do see the students change a lot.

Many of the students come back to see us when they’re in Oxford.

We had many alumni who came in yesterday to say hello and to look around College.

What did you do before you worked here?

I was the Manager of the Greyhound Stadium in Oxford.

I was there for fifteen years.

What is your favourite part of your job at St Peter’s?

I enjoy dealing with people face to face. Also seeing the students grow. Often at first they are very nervous, although some come and they’re full of confidence straight away (sometimes too much confidence!). Then they seem to find their feet and we see their confidence grow when they’ve been here a while.

There’s a vast difference between when they begin and when

they leave. Some people have a complete transformation, in the way they dress and in the way they act. Three years after starting, they’ve really blossomed.

Can you describe your job using five words?

I can describe it in one – varied.

You never know what’s coming next in this job. There is no set routine. You could be dealing with something or helping someone, then the fire alarm goes off.

Then there’s something else that needs sorting. We have to react to whatever is happening in College.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve had to react to?

Without naming names, we once had one of the world’s most famous explorers running into the Lodge in a panic because he couldn’t find the Oxford Union, which, of course, is just around the corner from here!

What is the best thing about working in an Oxford College?

Dealing with all kinds of people, from the people you see every day to members of the royal family and other recognisable faces from television. You just

never know who will walk into the Lodge (or run in in a panic). You never know who will be on the phone when you answer it. Every day is different.

What do you do when you aren’t here at St Peter’s?

I like watching football. My wife and I also spend a lot of time with our grandchildren. I like to travel.

I like Portugal. We also have a lot of family in America, so we enjoy travelling there.

What is your favourite thing about St Peter’s?

It’s such a nice environment to work in. The gardens are beautiful. Everybody knows everybody. Everybody from the staff, the students, the Fellows, and the alumni are very friendly.

We also very quickly get to know the students. It makes for a lovely place to work.

Fun fact I was once an owner of Wembley Stadium. The managers of the company I worked for were being given shares in Wembley PLC. In truth, I think I probably owned a chair leg, but I think ‘owner of Wembley Stadium’ sounds a bit more exciting!

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A COLLEGE OF

ONE’S OWN

OLIVIA MAPPIN-KASIRER (MODERN LANGUAGES, 2017), JCR WOMEN’S OFFICER

To borrow from Virginia Woolf, ‘a woman is to have a room of her own, (a spot in the library) and (a friendly college) if she is to (excel intellectually and socially)’. With our 24/7 library and nine welcoming porters, St Peter’s offers more than that. Women have not only been welcomed at College, but have become vital members of this vibrant community, even before the arrival of the first female undergraduates in 1979. During World War II, St Peter’s Hall welcomed female students from Westfield College, London, who escaped the dangers of the Blitz to continue their studies.

Despite wartime horrors, these women showed Oxford their intellectual promise and curiosity. I like to think of this as a stepping stone in the history of women’s excellence at SPC. It continued through the changed admissions policy, the election of the first female JCR President (1991), and the women’s Gaudy in 1999. Today women make up 75 percent of the JCR executive committee. It has helped create a College that is a true home for women, where they can successfully pursue academic and social ventures.

Joanna Zonneveld, the first female JCR president, believes being a woman at St Peter’s never slowed down her active life in College. She was able to focus her attention on tending to the St Peter’s community, rather than on having to affirm her place because of her gender. The men in her cohort felt just as proud as the women for being students when the first woman JCR president was elected.

The 40th anniversary provides a superb moment to celebrate the successes of the past and the promise SPC holds for future involvement of women in the College’s social and intellectual life.

So, what are today’s women of the Junior Common Room up to? They are excelling in their chosen fields. This year, Lucy Manukyan (Biology, 2017) is the first female student at SPC to have received the prestigious and competitive Laidlaw Scholarship.

Almost all the recipients of the 2019 Anjool Maldé scholarship were women: Poppy Robertson (Modern Languages, 2017); Ellena Murray (English,

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2017); Bethany Clarke (Maths, 2017); Francesca Chapman (PPE, 2017); Georgina Hayward (History, 2016), and Katie McAllister (Jurisprudence, 2016).

Freshers are also showing academic promise.

To take just one example among many, Minnie Karanjavala (Engineering Science, 2018) is an Engineering Ambassador for the University and has received the Diamond Jubilee Scholarship.

SPC women are making their mark in sports. In her first term, Maddy Dibble (History and Economics, 2018) created the St Peter’s climbing club. Ellie Harrison (Biological Sciences, 2017) scored the winning goal in the field-hockey Varsity match. She was assisted by Alexa Copeland (Economics and Management, 2016), who won her third consecutive Varsity game. The St Peter’s women’s football team is at the top of the league.

St Peter’s women thrive in Oxford’s cultural life. Every week, Kerenza Hurr (BA Music, 2016) conducts the choir at the Wesley memorial church.

Isabella Gilpin (BA Archaeology and Anthropology, 2018) gave a moving performance in the feminist musical, Made in Dagenham, last term. Georgie Botham (English Language and Literature, 2016) directed the Playhouse show, Threepenny Opera.

Abigail Hodges (Philosophy and Theology, 2017) is behind the production of many University-wide arts magazines.

Women at St Peter’s take leadership roles in different College and University groups. For the fourth consecutive year our JCR President is a woman (Gemma Roper, PPE, 2017), and so is the stellar team of Secretary (Louisa Woolley, Biochemistry, 2017) and Treasurer (Alice Inman, Economics and Management, 2017). Aideen Duffy (Economics and Management, 2016) is co-founder of the University’s 180degrees Consulting. The Law Society has been run by women for the past three years, this year led by Marina Hou (Jurisprudence, 2017). Laura Cooper’s (Biological Sciences, 2017) performance on University Challenge for SPC is a must-see! Our welfare representatives and peer supporters balance their responsibilities while

pursuing their courses, sports, and artistic activities.

Izzy Watts (Geography, 2016), Miranda Loughry, Lucy Koster (both Archaeology and Anthropology, 2017), and Ellena Murray (English Language and Literature, 2017) have undertaken College projects like the Gender Pay Gap Report.

Throughout the years, SPC has shown itself to be an environment that encourages women to succeed and contribute to the world. The examples above (a mere sample from the long list of women’s

achievements) make plain that SPC’s current and past classes are composed of phenomenal women.

‘Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of [their] mind[s].’ If only Woolf would have known about women at St Peter’s, she would have chosen to study here rather than at UCL. And, who knows, maybe her most famous work would rather have been entitled ‘A College of One’s Own.’

GIVING BACK:

CHARITY IN THE MCR ISABELLA DEUTSCH (MSC STATISTICAL SCIENCE, 2018), MCR CHARITY REP

As Charity Rep, I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to contribute, together with the members of the MCR, to the College’s benefaction by means of various activities and projects throughout this past year.

Like so many other students, I not only found a home in St Peter’s, but also grew accustomed to the wonderful city of Oxford: its dreaming spires, its cosy cafes, and, of course, its infamous chip vans, all of which made me feel instantly welcomed. It felt only natural, then, for us as an MCR to give back to the city we had come to know as our home.

We selected the Oxford Winter Night Shelter as our chosen charity for this academic year. From January to March the charity provides warm beds and food to rough sleepers in central Oxford. With our donations we hope to support this local charity and its volunteers to aid rough sleepers in the coldest months of the year.

In Michaelmas Term 2018, we designed Charity Jumpers featuring our iconic Cross Keys symbol and sold them to the members of the MCR. They were a huge success, and we were able to donate a stunning £370 to the Oxford Winter Night Shelter!

Not a day goes by where I do not see someone wearing their green St Peter’s jumper proudly representing our College.

in the spirit of James Bond. We invited the MCR to gamble for a good cause in our very own charity casino, which took place in the MCR and upstairs music room. Accompanied by thematically appropriate drinks and outfits, there were great prizes to be won at roulette, blackjack, and the highly competitive poker tournament. The night left us with great memories and another £375 raised.

As the British sunshine kept making short appearances, we needed to swap our heavy jumpers for some lighter wear. Therefore, for Trinity Term we sold stylish T-shirts featuring a map of Oxford with the Cross Keys indicating the location of St Peter’s.

Next to those big events, we also organise clothes swaps where preloved pieces either get a second chance within the MCR or are donated to Oxfam.

They are a splendid opportunity to update our wardrobes, and to combat fast fashion and poverty all at once.

I am grateful for being able to be a part of the MCR committee while supporting a local charity. It has been a great experience to work together and amass a substantial donation for such an important cause. I want to thank both the team of the Oxford Winter Night Shelter for their continuous work and also the members of the MCR for their donations.

For Hilary Term, I teamed up with the Social Secretaries to put together a memorable night

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THREEPENNY OPERA GEORGIE BOTHAM (ENGLSH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, 2016) TALKS ABOUT HER AMBITIOUS PRODUCTION OF BRECHT’S THREEPENNY OPERA

In the drama scene and beyond, the opportunities afforded to me by Oxford have been unmatched, and also incredibly important personally. One such opportunity came through meeting the Cameron Macintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre, Deborah Warner, at the end of Hilary Term 2019. It was the chance to talk to an expert and an inspiration, someone who’s been a major player in theatre for decades, with two Olivier awards, a Tony, three Drama Desk awards, and a CBE for ‘services to drama’ to her name. As someone who’s wanted to be a director for five years, and loved theatre since the age of three, this was a Big Deal for me (that’s a big deal with a capital ‘B’ and ‘D’). As we sat down to discuss the road ahead, she asked what shows I’d done at Oxford, so I thought I’d start off by telling her about my most recent show – a production of Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera at the Oxford Playhouse. Before even going into the details, upon hearing the name, Deborah (who is known for her productions of Brecht) suddenly said, ‘Oh wow, how did you manage that? That’s a really big show!’ She wasn’t wrong.

The Threepenny Opera is considered to be the ‘original musical’, kicking off the entire genre and changing the face of theatre for good.

Written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, who are considered the fathers of modern drama and music, Threepenny is a show you owe something to even before you see it – its influence reaches from Broadway, to film format, to Nick Cave, to Netflix. You’d struggle to find a single film at the box office that doesn’t take something from Brecht’s practices, whether it’s a style of humour, an approach to self-creation, or even the use of montage. On top of that, our adaptation was written by multi-award winning playwright Simon Stephens for the National Theatre, and this was its first production since the Olivier Stage (which meant that we had to rethink the stage direction ‘Four black Mercedes pull onto stage’. We went with

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a play car rolled onto stage by an actor instead). In all, our production had a company of over seventy people, twenty-seven songs, an onstage roving band, a 600-seat venue, a five-figure budget, and a week-long run. Deborah was right. It was a Big Show.

Each year, the Playhouse offers a number of slots for which students can bid with a show (this means having a team, a budget, and a detailed plan for the production). It was a huge decision, and a lot of pressure, and one for which I’ll be grateful for many years to come. The environment that Oxford fosters within the drama system meant that the team I had was varied and brilliant, with students from nearly every college, all of whom were dedicated, creative, and kind. One of the simultaneously most stressful and most rewarding aspects of Oxford theatre is the blurring of the boundaries of roles, which means everyone gets stuck in in ways that go beyond the job description. Our Set Designer stepped into the role of Production Manager; both our Musical Director and Assistant Musical Director were onstage in the band and action every night; our Assistant Director was an actor for one of the matinée performances. It’s this sense of collaboration that ensures the final product is something everyone is proud of; everyone feels that he or she has contributed to the colourful mess onstage, even until the final curtain comes down. This empathy from every team member has been exceptional, and such creative support was encouraging and inspiring.

That support is particularly needed for a practitioner such as Brecht. Approaching Brecht as a director feels a lot like being a 9-year-old about to perform the ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy on stage at The Globe, in front of a full audience of Shakespeare scholars. What if you mess it up? How are you (in your little 9-year-old’s shoes) going to compare to all the experts out there and why are you even trying?

The breakthrough came with a mini-documentary featuring a diary entry from one of Brecht’s actors; during a rehearsal, Brecht asked ‘what idiot wrote this?’, whilst holding his own book. It was at this point that I remembered that Brecht was about breaking as well as making, and that it was okay to experiment and toss the rulebook out of the window. So, with this in mind, and with the support of all the actors and crew behind me, we scrapped the ending and started again.

One of the reasons for this decision was that portraying a ‘true’ Threepenny meant following the spirit of the show rather than the letter – the aim rather than the exactness. Threepenny is as

fun as it is dark, and as chaotic as it is ordered. It’s riotous, but everything and everyone has a place.

Unashamedly cynical, and yet relentlessly silly, Threepenny is anything but quiet.

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t multiple occasions in a variety of settings where I had to sit back and ask ‘does this work or is it just bonkers?’, but I’ve realised that if this wasn’t the case, we would definitely have been doing it wrong. If nothing good was ever easy, then nothing worth saying was ever achieved simply, or, in our case, without a lot of party props, a Little Tikes play car, and the question ‘what idiot wrote this?’

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TALES OF THE

TWILIGHT PROFESSOR JOHN GASKIN (PPE, 1956) TAKES INSPIRATION FROM ST PETER’S COLLEGE FOR THE SETTING OF HIS GHOST STORIES

In a recent Channel 4 TV Documentary on Oxford in the Civil War, reference was made to the Royal Mint being ‘located in the College of New Inn Hall’.

It is this historical fact, together with the minting of the fabulous gold Triple Unite coins of Charles I, that supplies part of the subject matter for John Gaskin’s new book The New Inn Hall Deception (Tartarus, 2019), an Oxford story of mystery, the contagion of dishonesty, and of guilt that becomes an external reality operating through place and chance, the place being a very familiar college.

History is set in the present century, but he has supposed the New Inn Hall survived attempts to close it in 1887 and became the college we now know but with the old name retained, and two structural differences: one being that the remains of the mediaeval Hall still stand and house the Principal’s Lodgings, as they did; the other being that the Chapel has a crypt.

John Gaskin has used ‘the College of New Inn Hall’ in earlier volumes of dark tales – see for example, ‘The Double Crossing’ in The Master of the House (Tartarus, 2014) – but insists he is not writing about the supernatural. His stories are, in his own words, ‘tales of the twilight, of the borderlands of experience. If they leave a sense of thoughtful unease about things not quite understood, then indeed I have both succeeded as a writer and preserved my professorial integrity as a sceptical philosopher: one who sheds doubt upon certainties.’

His new story ends in a college divided by hostility between the new and the old, but it begins in Huntingdonshire.

It was started far from Oxford, and with no apprehension of death, by a mildly neurotic

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government employee who was curious about something he saw from a train. Those who have travelled on the east coast railway from Newcastle to London will have passed the place. The best view, because you have some slight warning of its approach (and the train will be travelling very fast) is to be had by sitting on the left hand side of the carriage facing the direction of travel. Your warning is one of the larger city stations followed by several miles of flat arable land, a large neglected birch wood broken by patches of bracken and rank grass, and then a gently sloping pasture. At this point the track bends ever so slightly to the right, and if you look ahead, close against the side of the carriage, you will see the dark outline of the unidentifiable square building, the base of which lies behind a low hill. A few seconds later the railway gives full view of the structure, which is perhaps half a mile away to the east. It is, or was, a church.

The silhouette seen from the north was the top of its tower. It appears to be old, perhaps fourteenth century; perhaps a more than usually faithful Victorian reconstruction of something seemingly mediaeval. It is of a familiar pattern: crenellated stone tower, chancel with low pitched roof and a nave with a side aisle, but it has a closed, dead aspect. As you turn back to the life-enhancing reality of your computer screen you will say it is of no interest. Then an odd feature of what you saw may strike you. The building stood alone. There was nothing to justify its existence; no village, no houses, no road: just a church and a graveyard in empty fields. You resolve to look again next time you pass, but you forget. Alban Bloomfield did not forget. But he could not have foreseen the deadly seed his interest would sow for himself, and for others far away and unknown.

Copies of The New Inn Hall Deception are available to buy from Tartarus Press for £35, but a limited number are available for St Peter’s College

alumni for a reduced rate of £20. Please do get in touch with us if you would like to order a copy of The New Inn Hall Deception.

E: development.office@spc.ox.ac.uk

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ALUMNI NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS Dr Denis Alexander (Biochemistry, 1964)

Oxford vs. Cambridge Alumni Ice Hockey

In June 2018, Dr Denis Alexander published Is There Purpose in Biology? (Lion Hudson, 2018).

In this latest book he explores the long history of the question of purpose in nature, including the correlations between recent evolutionary biological data and the Christian doctrine.

Yelena Biberman (Visiting Student Programme, 2002)

St Peter’s alumni Jonathan Solomon (Jurisprudence, 2010) and Robert Meagher (PPE, 1978) played on the same team against Cambridge for this year’s alumni game in Ottowa. Here they are at the match in the jerseys they wore when they played for the Blues.

Share your news with the St Peter’s College Alumni Community.

We are always happy to share the successes and milestones of our alumni. If you have some news that you would like to share in next year’s issue of Cross Keys, please get in touch.

E: development.office@spc.ox.ac.uk

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Why do states gamble with their national security by outsourcing violence – arming rebels, criminals, and ordinary civilians – inside their own borders?

Drawing on over 200 interviews, archival research, and fieldwork conducted across Asia, Europe, and North America, Biberman introduces a new approach to understanding state–nonstate alliances in civil war.

Grace Blakeley (PPE, 2011) At the beginning of 2019, I was appointed economics commentator at the New Statesman, where my weekly economics column often sat alongside Mark Damazer’s pieces for the magazine!

Prior to joining the New Statesman, I was writing my forthcoming book Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation, which will be released on 10 September. The book shows that a new economic model – finance-led growth – emerged in AngloAmerica in the 1980s, and has deeply impacted all areas of economic activity: from households experiencing rising debt levels, to corporations focusing on shareholder value, to governments

Dr Jon Fuller (PPE, 1960) In May 2019, Dr Jon Fuller (pictured above) was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Human Letters by Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida.

Dr Fuller was awarded his honorary doctorate in recognition of his thirty-five years of service as a Trustee.

The Revd Christopher Idle (English Language and Literature, 1959) In September 2018, the Revd Christopher Idle published a collection of hymn-texts, Trees Along the River in celebration of his 80th birthday. This third publication completes a series begun with Light Upon the River and continuing in Walking by the River. The hymns are offered for congregations to sing in praise of God and encouragement of one another.

Professor Terence Meaden (Physics, 1954) In 2018, Professor Terence Meaden published A New Bible in Three Testaments (New Generation, 2018). increasingly outsourcing their spending to the private sector. This model ultimately collapsed in 2007, and Stolen traces many of the UK’s current economic and political problems back to the growth and demise of finance.

Derek Clarke MBE (Physics, 1959) In 2018, Derek Clarke was awarded an MBE for running the Duke of Edinburgh Award in two Hertfordshire Schools and for his service to young people in Hertfordshire. Mr Clarke, who has helped thousands of students through their Duke of Edinburgh Award, has been involved with the award since his time at St Peter’s. He is still involved, and, at the time of writing, was in Snowdonia assessing a Gold Expedition for a Nottingham school.

Prof Dr G. Terence Meaden, MA (Oxon) MSc. (Oxon) D.Phil. (Oxon) FRMetSoc, is a professional physicist, meteorologist and archaeologist with undergraduate and doctoral degrees (1954-1961) in physics as well as a MSc in archaeology from Oxford University. He has made significant contributions to research in empirical knowledge philosophy (200819), Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology (19812019), tornado climatology (1972-2014) and low temperature physics (1957-1975).

Gerhard Schneider (MSc Mathematics, 1978) Professor Gerhard Schneider has been elected Prorektor of Freiburg University. His three-year term started on 1 December 2018.

Rhiannon Drake (Geography, 2007) Rhiannon Drake premiered her new musical, ‘The Year Without A Summer’, at the Drayton Arms Theatre in Kensington, London in February 2019.

The show is inspired by the extraordinary lives of The Romantics in 1816 and made up one half of ‘Herstoric’, an evening of new musical theatre focusing on the untold stories of some significant women in history.

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2018-19 A YEAR IN PICTURES

The Damazer Years

Benefactors’ Service

Women’s Gaudy

Eights Week

Benefactors’ Service

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Edmund de Waal Talk

Pre-1960 Gaudy

Eights Week

St Peter’s Presents John Humphrys

Howard Society Lunch Engineering Dinner

1968 50th Anniversary Reunion

Advent Carol Service

1995-1997 Gaudy

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2019

29th March Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races

24th October and 27th October Two special choral evensongs to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of St Peter’s College

17th - 18th April Meeting Minds Alumni Weekend, New York City

8th November 1959 Reunion Dinner 27th November Asset Management Dinner 1st December Advent Carol Service 3rd December Oxmas Drinks, London 5th December Advent Carol Service 12th December The Varsity Match, Twickenham

2020 20th – 21st March Meeting Minds Alumni Weekend, Berlin

25th – 31st May Eights Week 28th June Benefactors’ Service 4th September Biochemistry Dinner 17th September 1960, 1965 & 1970 Anniversary Reunions 19th September 1980-84 Gaudy 18th – 20th September Meeting Minds: Oxford Alumni Weekend 20th September Howard Society Lunch 29th November Advent Carol Service

28th March 1998-2001 Gaudy

Our events calendar is always subject to changes and additions.

Please visit www.spc.ox.ac.uk for the most up-to-date details about our upcoming events.

For further information about any of these events or to book a place, please contact the Development and Alumni Relations Office: development.office@spc.ox.ac.uk +44 (0)1865 614984