Atrium, Old Pauline News, Autumn/Winter 2023

ATRIUM AUTUMN /WINTER 2023

ST PAUL’S ALUMNI MAGAZINE

Past Times

In Conversation

Omar Burhanuddin

The Hijacking of Flight 73

Teaching at both SPS and SPGS

In support of the Gap Year

Editorial Welcome to our Autumn issue, with articles ranging from a hijack story and Masters Remembered to gap years, an eminent Pauline translator and teachers who have taught at both St Paul’s and St Paul’s Girls’ School.

I

met Tom Howarth (High Master 1962-73) fifty years ago, when he interviewed me for a place at St Paul’s. He had left by the time I arrived in 1973 but I quickly realised he was a legendary figure. Peter Thomson (History Department 1961-84, Surmaster 1976-84) once told me Howarth could walk into any humanities lesson in the School and teach it effortlessly, whether it was English or French, History or Classics. He later wrote books on modern British and French history.

His successors might point out that times have changed since Howarth’s day, and that they have had many things that kept them awake that he did not have to worry about. Diversity, for example. There was almost as low a percentage of non-white boys at St Paul’s when Howarth retired in 1973 as when he took office in 1962. Or safeguarding.

There was not a lanyard or a glass door in sight in Howarth’s day.

I do not suppose Tom Howarth had to worry about school fees rising too high.

When I started at St Paul’s months after he had retired, there were parents who were BBC producers, museum curators, artists and academics, art publishers and employees of the British Council.

I imagine the social mix has changed dramatically as fees have rocketed.

And what of Oxbridge places? In the 1960s and early 1970s dozens of Paulines went to Oxbridge, with many awarded scholarships or exhibitions.

Fifty years on, admissions tutors are looking for ethnic diversity and a much broader social mix. It is interesting that in 2022 almost as many Paulines started at American universities (34)

as at Oxbridge (41). It is not just where pupils go that has changed. It is also what they study when they get there.

For the year that started at university in 2022, there was one classicist, twenty scientists, eighteen mathematicians, eighteen economists and ten studying some kind of computer science degree.

What would Tom Howarth have thought about that? What would Tom Howarth or any of his predecessors have made of today’s world? And what would any of the 21st century High Masters have made of St Paul’s in the 1960s? Perhaps this explains why High Masters do not stay as long as they used to. Between 1769-1938 there were six High Masters who lasted an average of almost thirty years. (Dr Walker retired at 75). Between the Second World War and 1986, almost half a century, there were five at an average of almost ten years. Since Warwick Hele retired in 1986 to the present day, there have also been five High Masters, at an average tenure of around seven years. The growing demands of the job seem to be taking their toll.

One final personal note about my interview with Tom Howarth. After the interview, he wrote to my mother and said, “Mrs. Herman, your typewriter spelt so appallingly I nearly didn’t pursue your son’s application.” I dare say there may have been occasions when his successors would have wanted to write such letters to parents, but I doubt they would have done so. As was written when Howarth was High Master, “The Times They Are a-Changin”. They still are and always will be.

David Herman (1973-75) Atrium Editorial Board

The Editorial Board thanks all contributors, information providers and proof readers and it wishes Kate Wallace its very best wishes as she goes on maternity leave.

Cover photo: James Trotman (2017-22), St Paul’s and Cambridge cox Design: haime-butler.com Print: Lavenham Press

CONTENTS

25

22

28

33

51

03 Letters

25 Pauline Profile

37 Old Pauline Club News

OPs comment on a heroic oarsman, wartime harvest camps and A-H Clubs

Jonathan Foreman on EV Rieu, the translator and poet

Including Reunions, Sport and Colets

06 Pauline Letters

28 Tanya at the St Paul’s Feast

Tej Sood and Peter Cromerty write in

10 Briefings Including memories of Bryan Robson and Harry Quinn, books and boots

20 In Conversation Theo Hobson meets teachers at both the girls’ and boys’ school

22 The Interview Coxing, Omar Burhanuddin talks to James Trotman

Bob Phillips describes the Ukrainian refugee’s experience

30 The Christian Union Profoundly Good Times

33 The Rise of the ‘Gap Yah’

45 Obituaries Including the oldest OP and a former Lord Mayor of London

51 Past Times The hijacking of PA 73

53 Crossword Lorie Church sets the puzzle

54 Pauline Relatives

Omar Burhanuddin is in favour

Neil Wates meets the Grant brothers

36 Et Cetera

56 Last Word

The Furnivall Sculling Club

Michael Simmons on being a duffer at sports

01

ATRIUM CONTRIBUTORS

Michael Simmons (1946-52) read Classics and Law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He qualified as a solicitor and after two years as an officer in the RAF practised Law in the City and central London for fifty years. Since retiring, he has pursued a new career as a writer. Michael is in touch with a sadly diminishing number of members of the Upper VIII of 1952.

Bob Phillips (1964-68) went to Churchill College, Cambridge. Since then, he has been a GMWU shop steward in a bleach works, a social worker, a university lecturer in psychology at Cambridge, a director of a Midlands company making sewers, and a partner in E&Y, running their Philadelphia management consulting office. In retirement, he writes books.

Peter Cromarty (1966-71) was an air traffic controller in the UK and Bahrain for 18 years. He became a safety regulator for the UK Civil Aviation Authority in 1989 and in 2007 he emigrated to Australia to take up a post with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Peter became an Australian citizen in 2012, retired in 2016 and was married in 2022 to his partner of nine years. He had a crime novel published in 2022 entitled Death or Grievous Bodily Harm. He enjoys running (slowly), flying, building a Sling 2-seater aircraft and sitting in the local café drinking tea and reading the papers.

Piers Thompson (1972-76) now runs Portobello Radio, the community station for North Kensington and the area around Grenfell Tower. He has been DJing at night since he left School and spent most of his working days in various bits of the film production business. He is a trustee of Youth Action Alliance and a board member of Kensington and Chelsea Art Week amongst multiple other local commitments.

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ATRIUM

AUTUMN /WINTER 2023

David Herman (1973-75) spent almost twenty years working in television and another fifteen writing for various newspapers, magazines and academic publications.

Jonathan Foreman (1979-83) read History at Cambridge University, then Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has been a war correspondent, a film critic, a leader writer, and has reported from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

He is the author of two books, one on Foreign Aid and its challenges (Aiding and Abetting, Civitas 2015), and the other an anthology of American history (The Pocket Book of Patriotism, Sterling, 2005). He has written for many publications on both sides of the Atlantic and in Asia. He is currently writing a book on Empires.

Theo Hobson (1985-90) studied English Literature at York, then Theology at Cambridge. He has written books on religion, and many articles. He has worked as a teacher as well as a writer and journalist.

He recently went to art college, so he is now a struggling artist as well as a struggling writer.

Tej Sood (1993-95) is Publisher and Managing Director of Anthem Press and Executive Director of Sainc Biotech. Prior to entering the publishing industry, Tej worked as an M&A investment banker in New York and London and had a stint as a journalist in Moscow.

He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, a City of London Livery Company, and holds degrees from LSE and Yale.

Lorie Church (1992-97), when away from the workplace, encourages people to put letters in little squares.

He has had puzzles published in various titles internationally. As well as contributing to the Listener series, Mind Sports Olympiad and Times daily, he sets Atrium’s crossword.

Neil Wates (1999-2004) worked in the property sector for 15 years, latterly as Managing Director of his own firm. He is a trustee of a UK based charitable trust and an NGO committed to the alleviation of social violence in East Africa. He is the founding director of Friendship Adventure, a craft brewery and taproom in Brixton. Neil is the 30’s age group representative on the OPC Executive Committee.

Omar Burhanuddin (2017-22) is a recent St Paul’s leaver. During his gap year, he worked as a Development and Engagement Assistant at St Paul’s, and took up a fellowship with the non-profit Project Rousseau over the summer of 2023, serving asylumseekers and low-income students across New York City. He aspires towards a career in public policy. Omar will be going up to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to read History.

Atrium’s Editorial Board: Omar Burhanuddin, Jonathan Foreman, David Herman, Theo Hobson, Neil Wates and Jeremy Withers Green.

LETTERS

Honing his authority

Dear Atrium, I was very sad to read of the death of Richard Hone (1960-65) (Obituaries, Atrium Spring/ Summer 2023).

I knew Richard initially, at a distance, as a mere Cadet in the CCF, while he had risen to the heights of Under-Officer. In this role, and in uniform, he would supervise boys climbing the staircase to the Dining-Room for lunch.

I clearly remember him looking imperiously down from the balcony. There was no need for any shouting to maintain discipline; his presence alone ensured an orderly ascent of the stairs.

I got to know him better as a member of the St Paul’s Shooting Team, of which he was Captain, and I enclose a photograph of him, (right) with the Team, at the “Ashburton” competition in 1965. Also in the photo is the late (Sgt!) Nick Sargent (1960-65), of whom I also have fond memories.

In retrospect, Richard reminded me of the “whip” (prefect) Rowntree in Lindsay Anderson’s film “If....”, but Richard was much more benign beneath that imperious appearance.

Best wishes, Mike Ricketts (1963-1968)

An heroic Pauline oarsman

Letters

Dear Atrium, Visiting the MCC Library at Lord’s I noticed a book entitled The Boat Race – The Story of the First Hundred Races between Oxford & Cambridge by Gordon Ross. I delved into the book and came across a picture of a two-man scull with the caption: “Afloat Again – Alan Burrough fought his way back to competitive racing after severe war wounds which included the loss of a leg”.

Alan Burrough (1931-34) joined the Gunners on the outbreak of war in 1939 and was posted to Egypt. In 1942, he was hit by shrapnel, a few months later he was hit again and was wounded for a third time when he all but died from his injuries. Courage alone cheated his death. He was at Wadi Zamzam, the last action before Tripoli was occupied, when as artillery observation officer, his tank was hit several times at point-blank range. The driver was killed, most of the crew wounded and Alan’s leg was blown off below the knee. When night fell, he was picked up by an armoured car and taken to a Regimental First Aid Post and temporarily patched up. He was then sent to Cairo for a gruelling period of hospitalisation before being transferred to South Africa for rehabilitation. There, Alan found a sculling boat on the Vaal River and calmly got into it and took it out. When he returned to England, he started rowing at Thames Rowing Club and in the spring of 1944 ventured out in a pair with his brother John, who was serving in Coastal Command. Flight Lt John Hardy Burrough (1926-31) RADVR was killed in action in November 1944 and is on the Old Pauline Roll of Honour.

Alan continued his come-back as an oarsman and in 1946 was elected captain of Thames Rowing Club. It was not thought possible for him to row at Henley, but he took a seat in the Stewards Four and was all set to row in the Grand Eight. However, at Henley he tripped in the changing room and broke the big toe of his good foot. This was on the Friday before the Regatta opened and, although he dropped out of the eight, he did row in the Stewards Four.

Alan was appointed a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta in 1951 and was on the Management Committee from 1960 to 1985. In 1987, he and his wife Rosie donated £515,000 to the regatta, enabling the purchase of a lease of Temple Island for 999 years. He was also the owner of Corbiere (though the horse was registered in his son’s name), which won the 1983 Grand National.

I think Alan Burrough would be very proud that St Paul’s School Boat Club in 2023 is celebrating its 100th Anniversary of participation at Henley – where he lived in a house that looked onto the finishing line – and the recent success of the St Paul’s School 1st VIII in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. Best regards, John Dunkin (1964-69)

03

LETTERS Gloomy classrooms during the very cold winter of 1947 Club names – no longer A to H

Dear Editor, It is with some surprise, and I believe little known amongst many OPs, that the School has dispensed with the nomenclature of the Clubs – A to H. The Clubs are now called Houses and are named after the current Undermasters. This seems strange as should an Undermaster leave then the ‘House’ would be renamed. Potentially on more than one occasion in a given year.

I further understand that this is not the decision of either the Governors or the teaching staff but the ‘management executive’ of the School.

Both my son and I are sorry that our next generation, who is currently at SPJS, will not be able to follow in the family tradition of ‘E’ Club.

Perhaps, if others are as disappointed as me by the change, they might raise their voices too and persuade the ‘management executive’ to rethink.

Yours sincerely, Nick Brooks (1965-70) Treasurer of OPC

Pauline Bridge

Dear Atrium, I am sure that Hugh Neill (Maths Department 1966-72) may have been responsible for setting quite a few Paulines down the righteous path to Mathematics but he was also at least partly instrumental in sending me to a somewhat different career.

When I came to St Paul’s in 1970, the School had three long lunch breaks (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and the 5th Form’s mathematics first stream was taught by Mr Neill in the period before lunch on at least one of those days. It therefore came about that I was in the classroom when the long break started, and mathematics gave way to the Bridge Club, supervised by Mr Neill. I had learnt the rules not long before and became hooked when I started playing. From that point on, my time at St Paul’s was a battle between the masters (who foolishly considered Latin and Greek should be my number one and two priorities) and my predilection for Chess, Bridge and Poker.

Amongst my bridge-playing colleagues were Tim Cope (1967-72), who has represented both the UK and South Africa, Pete Jackson (1968-73), who played for England as a junior and Jon Speelman (1969-73), who was a keen bridge player when not playing Chess – he reached the world championship semi-final, so he did have divided loyalties.

Other teachers who I remember being highly competent and enthusiastic players were my tutor Stephen Baldock (1958-63, Classics Department, Surmaster and High Master 1970-2004), and fellow Classics master Stephen Willink (Classics Department 1973-88).

Barry Rigal (1970-75) (Full-time bridge player, teacher and writer)

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ATRIUM

AUTUMN /WINTER 2023

Dear Editor, Although a member of the 1952 Upper VIII, I suspect that I have slipped into oblivion from Michael Simmons’ (1946-52) “sadly diminishing number of survivors”. I rarely meditate on my Pauline days, but in recent editions of Atrium I have taken great interest in the contributions of Michael and Mark Lovell (1948-52) and the numerous references to other contemporaries.

Michael’s latest article A Climate of Fear reawakened many memories and aroused much sympathy and fellowfeeling but definitely not nostalgia! I shudder at the thought of the gloomy classrooms during the very cold winter of 1947, when electricity was only turned on at 4pm.

Of course, pupils have to accept the situation they find and have to adapt to it. I do not recall that I felt especially unhappy at the time, but in retrospect I have the feeling that I did not really ‘belong’. Perhaps it lay in my background: state school (not prep school), Nonconformist, politically Liberal, no great sportsman, with a dislike of boxing and anything military, and rather shy. I felt tolerated, but not really accepted. Still, I do acknowledge that it was Pat Cotter’s single-minded determination that got me into Oxford – even if I soon abandoned Classics for PPE. In the 1960s I left the UK and spent most of my working life in the English department of the Dolmetscherschule Zürich. My students were future translators and interpreters, professions demanding high skills in the correct and appropriate use of language. Had I perhaps experienced something similar in Upper Eighth Form? It was a challenging and fascinating job.

I decided to remain in Switzerland after retirement, and my contacts with the UK have gradually diminished (that word again!). For me, Brexit was the last straw: I have not visited the UK since.

I fear I have not been an active or committed Old Pauline, but I send undiminished greetings to any who may remember me.

Duncan Kelly (1947-1952)

Is Chinese on the St Paul’s curriculum?

Dear Atrium, I was very interested in the article on China by James Trapp in Atrium.

He makes the important point that very few of the staff in the Foreign Office speak Chinese. It is equally important, if we want to increase trade with China, to have more people in commerce who can speak the language.

From 1977 to 1989 my wife was Deputy Head of Easthampstead Park School, familiar to Old Paulines as their wartime home, but by my wife’s time a state comprehensive. During that period, it offered a GCSE O level course in Chinese. I believe that a few other state and independent schools were also offering the subject.

Does St Paul’s provide courses in Chinese at GCSE and A Level and, if not, has the possibility been given some consideration?

With best wishes, Michael Orlik (1957-62)

Parker and Whitting

Summer Harvest Camp

Dear Atrium,

Dear Editor,

I much enjoyed reading Keith Pratt’s (1951-56) reminiscences about Frank Parker (Modern Languages department 1928-65) and Philip Whitting (History department 1929-63). We never knew PDW’s wartime history either, but our rumours were quite different from Keith’s. We believed that “Abdul” (our nickname for him dreamed up by Vanni Treves (1953-58) was a fluent speaker of Serbo-Croat and Montenegrin and had spent some of the wartime years working for SOE with Tito’s partisans, fixing up airfields as the Germans retreated in Yugoslavia. I am surprised that Keith’s form’s rumours were not passed on to later generations. The Guardian’s obituary of PDW (December 20, 1988) wrote: “During the Second World War, Whitting became a squadron-leader in the RAF, working on intelligence in the Mediterranean where he could bring to bear the first-hand knowledge of Byzantine regions that he had accumulated.” So, Keith’s information seems much more accurate than my generation’s.

I recall many hours spent in “Parker’s attic” and occasionally in the leper’s corner. He inspired in me a deep love for the French language which served me well in later years. Like PDW, he often was prepared to digress, and on one occasion began to describe in clinical detail what happened when one suffered a congestion cerebrale.

This proved to be too much for a classmate in the leper’s corner, who fainted and slid to the floor with a loud crash. This was the only time I saw Frank Parker lose his composure – albeit only briefly.

I also much enjoyed the article on the history of Folio, since I was one of the co-founders. My job was to hunt out copy since I was a totally inept cartoonist. I therefore wrote to Montgomery, who was still on active service at the time. Subsequently I received a letter from Switzerland containing a handwritten note saying that “he had not the time” to write an article. A pity, given his appetite for publicity.

Lastly, I am going to take issue with Robin Hirsch (1956-61) about High Master Gilkes’ nickname. My father always claimed authorship, not because ANG was “such a drip” (which he was indeed) but because of the way he glided – “trickled” – along the School corridors.

In 1942, the Minister of Agriculture, Robert Hudson, proposed a Summer Harvest Camp initiative to help fill the labour shortage in the farming industry which was a particular problem at harvest time.

I am now 93 and the following is my recollection of the Farming Camps run by the School during the Second World War. My problem is that my memory is the only source of information, I kept no diary at the time and photographs were very rare because the RAF consumed most of the photographic supplies.

During two successive summers I attended Farming Camps in Gloucestershire with a friend, Tim Withers Green (1942-49). The first year we joined a camp based in Tetbury: I think the Master in charge was Mr Monk-Jones (Master 1928-62). On this occasion, Tim and I were too young to work on the farm, so our job was maintaining the camp where we all slept in bell tents. The following year I think it was Mr Hendtlass (Master 1939-66) and his mother who were in charge of the camp. This time Tim and I were allowed to work on a local farm, and we were joined by another friend, Peter Johnson (1943-48).

Our job was “stooking”. This involved picking up the sheaves of corn which had already been cut and propping them up so that the corn could dry. We were “doing our bit” and were paid a small remuneration. In a couple of weeks, if the weather had been dry, the stooks were collected and put into a threshing machine where the corn was separated.

In the Dad’s Army episode, “All is Safely Gathered In”, the programme depicted a farm where the harvest was being collected. This was exactly how it was for us.

Yours sincerely, Richard Johns (1941-48) A WW2 Summer Harvest Camp

All best wishes, David J Smith (1953-58)

Restore the Special Feast Service

Dear Editor, I think something should be said about the way the annual Feast Service in St Paul’s Cathedral is conducted. I attended the February 2023 service with my family. We were surprised to find that it has been merged into the standard daily St Paul’s Cathedral evensong service. That is a pity, partly because the crowd of people wanting to celebrate the School vanish into the general congregation. It is a pity not to be able to recognise one’s fellows.

Surely the relationship between the School and the Cathedral, now 514 years in duration, is something that really is special – to the Cathedral as well as the School?

The relationship was special to Dean Colet.

I have been to previous annual services which have been genuinely special to the School – meaning that the congregation consisted of worshippers for whom the School is important. And the two School choirs. And School staff. And the members of the Mercers’ Company, in their robes. A service that recognised the unique relationship between St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Cathedral, and which honoured their unique history.

Being an anonymous part of the daily evensong does not convey that relationship in anything like the same way. Can we please restore the earlier, more appropriate, approach?

Best wishes, Bob Phillips (1964-68) 05 5

PAULINE LETTER

Letter from Seattle and London

Tej Sood (1993-95) writes, as he moves back home to London after five years in Seattle, about his hopes that St Paul’s might help shape the current generation of pupils including his son Ishan, who enters the 4th Form in September 2023.

For the past five years, my family has enjoyed an invigorating time in the Pacific Northwest. This distance has allowed me to see the UK in a different light.

What are the differences?

For starters, both cities are notorious for their wet and overcast days. Unlike London, though, Seattle at least enjoys a predictable long Californian summer, with limited humidity, otherwise known by locals as the “amnesia period”.

Seattle, home to Starbucks, Boeing, Expedia and Costco, has an economy almost entirely driven by the tech giants (Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta and T-Mobile). One can measure its housing market or even dinner reservation availability based on the performance of the NASDAQ in any month.

Helped by President Biden’s climate bill and its billions to be spent on clean energy, there is yet hope in Seattle. London and the UK still need to seize the chance to take the long view and become a leader in fighting climate change.

In the Seattle area there are opportunities for young people to participate in football and, increasingly, cricket (thanks to the Indian tech community). Its car-crazy disposition, though, means a parent always needs to be available to drive kids to practice and games. Membership and match fees are high and the emphasis seems to be on winning rather than on development. In the football and Ashes-mad UK, there seems to be a greater density of ‘grassroots’ clubs locally, driving the development of young people both as players and people. Although this brings about its own raft of issues – hyper-competitiveness and early heartbreak for young people booted out of ‘academies’ – the pathway and affordability are greater over here.

In Seattle, British humour – amiable banter, irony, satire, self-deprecation – is rare.

06

ATRIUM

AUTUMN /WINTER 2023

Tej Sood

Life in London can be slow – I’m speaking not just of the traffic, but the focus on doing things better, at the right pace. Tortoise Media, co-founded by James Harding (1982-87) is an example of a high-quality, in-depth journalism outfit, prioritising substance over speed. In the sporting arena, Test Cricket, arguably the ultimate test of endurance and character, is still fighting off limited-over formats – albeit in the new, brash Bazball style! In Seattle, life is just fast. There would be riots if baseball took five days – although, to be honest, nine innings seem to me to be more than enough already.

And, Seattle does not have a school quite like St Paul’s.

This was aided by how the School was set-up – tutor sets, organised societies and team sport all had the effect of encouraging the Brownian motion of serendipitous encounters between pupils.

St Paul’s was instrumental in helping me develop the courage, confidence and social skills to be anything, go anywhere and be anyone. I came from a non-affluent family, having previously been educated mostly in the state sector, but I did not find it difficult to form friendships and relationships with other Paulines. This was aided by how the School was set-up – tutor sets, organised societies and team sport all had the effect of encouraging the Brownian motion of serendipitous encounters between pupils. This was perfectly underlined by the effect of the old Atrium – from which this publication takes its name – with its open-plan layout and plentiful nooks encouraging a fantastic mélange of vociferous arguments and quieter, more intimate conversation.

In Seattle, British humour – amiable banter, irony, satire, self-deprecation – is rare.

School exposed me to thought-provoking literature and challenging ideas. Attending talks in the Montgomery Room was always enriching – and, I might add, a welcome break from tackling fiendishly difficult problems in Maths classrooms! This experience influenced my choice of subjects at university and ultimately sowed the seeds for me to pursue a vocation in publishing, centred around research, discussion and debate.

It has been quite a journey. It started with an internship at an investment bank, arranged by the School. During my gap year – itself an alien concept to my family at the time!

– I worked in finance, taught in Nepal and played football for the OPs. After a couple of years at a bank, I tried my hand at setting up a wind power company with a friend from university and then did a stint at a telecoms start-up.

All this before settling in the book publishing industry.

More recently, I have become involved with a start-up that uses fermentation (a type of biotechnology harnessing microorganisms to create a chemical change) to produce food ingredients and other industrial products.

At heart, St Paul’s is, as a school, part of the elite. However, as I experienced it, all of its pupils benefit from the School’s inherent advantages, no matter their background. From top-class facilities to nation-leading teaching staff, pupils stand to gain immeasurably. Surrounded by highly motivated peers and supremely capable teachers, my son Ishan (who joins the 4th Form in the Autumn) will surely see his academic game raised, his critical faculties fine-tuned and his social skills sharpened.

I fully expect him to explore and develop new and existing interests at the School. As far as sports are concerned, I hope he will continue to play cricket and to row, in addition to trying his hand at new sports. Ishan enjoys design and technology and, as a Boy Scout, he gained some wonderful outdoor experiences. I look forward to seeing him involved in similar pursuits at St Paul’s, like joining Team Firefly (the school motorsport racing team) or partaking in the School’s entrepreneurial endeavours.

have a sense of belonging, driving them to feel a duty of care to their environment. St Paul’s, without overtly seeming it, is rooted in tradition. The School can impart principles, old and new, to complement the values that boys will undoubtedly gain at home, in their social circles and from their faith – or, these days, more likely from TikTok. Over the years, as an alumnus, I have attended various events, more recently virtually, and published the odd book by authors connected to the School. As a parent-alumnus, I suspect the nature of my relationship with the School will change. I know St Paul’s is using its privileged position to engage more with the local community, encouraging pupils to volunteer and alumni to support various new initiatives.

I am looking forward to learning more about the West London Partnership programme – it seems that this could serve as a “replicable model” that others might adopt. In a similar way, the Seattle-based Roundglass Foundation, an organisation founded by a successful entrepreneur, has built a “prototype” to restore villages in Punjab by tackling the root causes locally. This reminds me of another difference between the two cities – there are more tech billionaire philanthropists pursuing global social causes in Seattle than in London.

Now that I am again based in London, I plan, amongst other things, to make myself available for the next OPAFC Vets game. Given that all three of my children have developed a serious interest in cricket thanks to the infectious, Ben Stokes-led revolution, I might even put my hand up when the next SOS call comes out from the OPCC 3rds! And of course, I will hope to indulge in some of that famous British humour – although, if that call does come from the 3rd XI Captain, I will likely be the one providing it with my rookie bowling action… 

On the beach in Seattle

St Paul’s is a bold independent institution that is wellplaced to offer a classical yet forward-thinking education.

Defying fashion, it continues to provide a broad-based liberal arts education, which encourages pupils to explore issues, ideas and methods across the arts and the natural and social sciences. Students learn how to learn – and begin to love doing so. I look forward to my son being able to develop the art of debating, persuading and public speaking at school.

Whilst research and education are critical in helping advance a better society, it is still fundamental that we instil positive values in young people, so that they can make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes. They must 07

PAULINE LETTER

Letter From Queensland: Peter Cromarty (1966-1971) writes about a very busy retirement I am well into retirement and I have never been happier. However, it was not always that way for me, so, what changed?

In 2018, Atrium’s forerunner published an article of mine about my struggle through school (an unabridged version is on my website thecrom.com). I worked really hard to keep up but in every subject, I was always in the lowest third of the class and, frequently, I was dead last.

Performing so poorly day after day was continually humiliating. I left St Paul’s with the bare minimum qualifications I needed but I also left reserved, shy and lacking confidence. I now firmly believe that my low self-esteem stemmed from the experience of being among such high achievers at school.

I became an air traffic controller. The training, again, was tough for me but I graduated and went on to have a very rewarding and enjoyable career as an operational controller in the UK and Bahrain.

Peter’s aircraft

During my 7 years in air traffic control (ATC) in Bahrain the Iran-Iraq war was in progress. Strange and challenging things happened that I would never have seen as a controller anywhere else. There were many hijacks that came into our airspace: mine was the Indian Airlines Airbus A300 hijacked to Dubai. There were aircraft crashes, the attack on the USS Stark in which 37 crewmen were killed, unusual covert and not-so-covert missions by the Iraqis and US Forces (some of these I have covered in videos on my YouTube channel). While all this was going on we still had all our usual traffic to handle. Have you noticed how flights between Europe and the Far East always connect in the Middle East in the middle of the night? Yes, the night shifts were bedlam!

Once back in the UK, with the Safety Regulation Group of the Civil Aviation Authority I worked my way up the seniority ladder. I was quietly proud that I had successfully completed 7 years in one of the most challenging ATC environments, but it surprised me when I realised that my staff, peers and seniors respected me for it. They even sought out my opinions and advice. I can almost name the exact date when the penny finally dropped and I realised that, perhaps, I was not as thick and stupid and slow as I had always thought. My outlook on life had become much more positive and self-confident. I was 47 years old.

At work, I was given some plum jobs and was sought out for more when other similar tasks came along. I was sent on business to Ghana, Mauritius, Finland, the Falklands, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands among others. I loved it.

I was asked to take over under-performing sections to bring them up-to-speed and given under-performing staff to manage and look after. My seniors must have seen something in me that I was still only just beginning to realise about myself. I won a management post in a new area against stiff competition.

In 2006, I was invited to take up a role being created in the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in Australia.

I thought it was some sort of scam and that they would be asking for my bank details next. (Evidently my old self-doubt had not disappeared completely.) Six months

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Peter’s book

Retirement is also great and if you have not tried it, you should give it a go.

later, with my new-found self-worth and only a little ‘imposter syndrome’, I was in Australia working for CASA as an Executive Manager.

My only real experience of Aussies was watching them in the Ashes – the aggression, the sledging, the massive celebrations when they took a wicket. So, I was somewhat concerned about the reception I would receive from my Australian co-workers. What I did not know then was that most of them or their parents were from somewhere other than Australia as well. They were, without exception, welcoming, friendly and supportive. My move to Australia had the potential to be an unmitigated disaster but turned out to be the most wonderful experience.

Six months after my arrival, the CEO had sufficient confidence in me to ask me to stand in for him as one of the four members of the Aviation Policy Group – the peak civil-military body for Australia. Here I was, just off the aircraft from UK, representing all of civil aviation in Australia at a meeting at which long-term policy was decided (such as the second Sydney Airport). I had to pinch myself.

One day in April 2016, after 45 years in the workforce, I was suddenly made redundant. My partner and I moved to her place about an hour north of Brisbane. Brisbane is not like Sydney or Melbourne: it does not have their hustle and bustle (by Aussie standards). It is much more laid-back, the people seem friendlier, less rushed and are happy to stop and say, “G’day”. Maybe it is the climate: it is sub-tropical, so it can be very hot, rainy and humid for a few months in the summer. However, one gets used to it and the rest of the year is beautiful. I like Queensland – a lot.

Queensland is a big place. It is nearly 3,000 km from north to south along the main highway. That’s the same as driving from London to Gibraltar and back. My wife and I will be driving to The Big Red Bash in July (10,000 people camping at a 3-day rock concert near Birdsville – think Glastonbury in the Simpson Desert with red dust instead of mud). It is 1,600 km due west of here and we will still be in Queensland.

After 2 years of sitting in cafés reading the papers, I needed a new challenge to stimulate the aging grey-matter. Over the next four years I wrote and had published a crime novel

called Death or Grievous Bodily Harm (available worldwide on Amazon as an eBook or paperback). I tried to make it all about the story and less about the relationships because that is what I like in books. People have told me it is a real page-turner, which is very kind of them.

After the book I was looking for a new project: I bought a kit aeroplane. My first priority, though, was to get my pilot’s licence back after several years’ break – no point in building an aircraft if I could not fly it. And no point in getting flying lessons if I could not pass the medical examination. After many tests CASA gave me a clean medical certificate and I now have a current pilot’s licence. And a Sling aircraft in the shed: 4,000 parts and 17,000 rivets. It is a South African two-seater, powered by a Rotax 100 HP engine and it cruises at 120 knots at 18 litres per hour with a range of 750 nautical miles. I cannot wait to fly it – and did I mention the lovely weather and the size of Queensland?

Queensland is a big place. It is nearly 3,000 km from north to south along the main highway. That’s the same as driving from London to Gibraltar and back.

I am grateful to be fit and healthy – I still run 5km twice a week. After three heart operations I am happy just to get out for a run these days. My mental health is much more robust. Last year my partner of 9 years and I were married.

Life has never been better.

With eight acres, 4 horses and 2 Rhodesian ridgebacks we are never bored. The Queensland grass grows as you look at it, so, cruising up and down cutting the grass on the tractor is frequently required and very therapeutic.

Australia is a great place and Queensland is the best part of it – if you have not been here, you should try it. Retirement is also great and if you have not tried it, you should give it a go. Queensland and retirement: highly recommended. 

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Briefings Masters Remembered Bryan Robson (English and Drama departments 1970-94) and Harry Quinn (English department 1966-79) David Herman (1973-75) shares his memories.

It was a strange experiment. In 1973 Bryan Robson and Harry Quinn started teaching one of the two Lower 8th English sets. They were to teach all the lessons in the same classroom and at the same time.

They had a ball. They were both Geordies who had studied English at Oxford. They both loved modern drama, especially Beckett and Pinter, and contemporary poetry, above all, Larkin and Heaney. Robson was an accomplished actor. I still remember his extraordinary rendition of a scene from Pinter’s The Homecoming, which he could recite by heart forty years later. Quinn directed a superb production of The Dumb Waiter in 1975.

There was only one time when Robson and Quinn fell out. It was Spring in the Middle Eighth and we had come to our last set text: Herzog by Saul Bellow. I had never heard of either.

Robson promptly announced he wasn’t going to teach an American novel. ‘It’s not English’, he said, and that was that. Quinn could not have responded more differently. He grew a droopy moustache and wore hip glasses like something from Easy Rider. Herzog was a revelation to me.

I fell in love with Bellow and with Jewish-American literature, a romance that has lasted all my life, and I owe it all to Harry Quinn.

There was one other strange thing about those lessons. One of the pupils was the son of Brian Rix, best known for his West End farces, then at the height of his fame. Robson and Quinn, lovers of Godot and The Birthday Party, had no time for Brian Rix’s success. His son took this in his stride and went on to have a very successful career as a 10

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TV comedy producer. There was someone else in the set, a brilliant, shy English student who happened to be the son of their hero, Harold Pinter. He went on to be awarded a Scholarship to read English at Magdalen College, Oxford. A kind, thoughtful and sweet-natured boy, Daniel (1971-75) deserved a happier life than the fates gave him.

Bryan died on 21 May 2016. I went to his memorial service at the Grosvenor Chapel in London. It was packed. I never knew that he had sung with the Grosvenor Chapel Choir for years. He was an extraordinarily cultured man.

He acted with the RSC, in the days of John Barton and the young Peter Hall, sang with this fine choir and read and read. The service was deeply moving.

The opening music was by Elgar. Brian’s words quoted in the programme were telling. ‘It wasn’t Elgar’s violin concerto that tugged me this way and that, it was the Introduction and Allegro for Strings: that was the music that made me understand how English I was – all that windswept restless chasing about and cross-rhythm energy and then the sudden, irresistible melancholy and secret sadness, the knowledge of an immense sadness, but held in a balance with the surging, tumbling energy of the rest.’

Later music included ‘Thou art my King, O God’ by Thomas Tomkins, Linden Lea and The Vagabond by Vaughan Williams, Agnus Dei from Mass for

Bryan Robson

Four Voices by William Byrd and Dum transisset sabbatum by John Tavener.

The readings were The Owl by Edward Thomas, ‘a favourite moment from David Copperfield’, Blueberry Picking

by Seamus Heaney, ‘A favourite moment from Much Ado about Nothing’ and Toad’s Song from Toad of Toad Hall, adapted by AA Milne.

It was magnificent. I sat enthralled.

It spoke of a whole life and, more than that, a whole culture. It was so English.

Much of it heralded from that great century of English music and literature, from Dickens and Vaughan Williams to Edward Thomas and Elgar.

This selection would have spoken to a whole generation. Bryan was born in County Durham in 1935. He did his national service, studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was a choral scholar, acted with the Bristol Old Vic and the RSC and was head of English at St Paul’s for almost twenty years. And yet though I loved those readings and that music, it was a very different world opened up for me by Harry Quinn that will live with me all my days. I wish I had thanked him before it was too late. He died in 2007 at only 63 after many years as head of English at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh. 

John Hudson (English department 1999-2018) Neil Wates (1999-2004) shares his memories.

‘But I keep reading the Bible. There’s a lot of killing in that.’

John Hudson had a habit of stopping the class reader mid-flow to deliver some of the choicer lines from our set texts himself. In the case of Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall, it was no doubt a mercy mission – the clunky delivery of the 13-year-old Pauline butchering a novel rich in subtext, nuance and satirical touch. I speak with confidence here because I was that student. John Hudson then delivered another winner of a line with the understated panache and dry wit which so defined him as a teacher.

Little did we, his first influx of 4th formers in 1999, know. Prior to taking a place as teacher of English at St Paul’s, John Hudson had worked as an actor since 1978. TV shows (Peak Practice, Kids, The Bill) accompanied a stage career opposite the likes of Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon. Many in that position would be inclined to mention those accomplishments and would be justified in doing so – not least to emphasise a point whilst interpreting a script – but his modesty and sensitivity of the importance of the text, combined with a profound ability to communicate, meant no names were dropped. His authority came from his intelligence in interpretation and his erudition, quickly finding equal standing in a notable English department alongside Messrs Venning, O’Keeffe, Sutcliffe and Bussey.

I played a small part in his production of Macbeth in 2004 – an amalgamated version of small messenger parts incorporating that famous cameo that is the porter’s speech. Not heavy on comedy, the Scottish play – but Mr Hudson’s vision was clear – this was a space for some comic business to offset the hellish reality either side of it.

His first step was to ask me what I thought the purpose of the porter’s comic interlude was. All I knew was that a practical reason has been proposed: Macbeth speaks of the ‘blood’ on his hands in the previous scene. There is a technical issue here – the actor would need to go and clean his hands and get changed out of his bloody costume before coming back on stage. Samuel Taylor Coleridge thought the dialogue so unlike Shakespeare that it must have been written by someone else, ‘for the mob’ (in our case, Paulines and parents). Alexander Pope also thought that one of Shakespeare’s fellow players had written it, and he consequently gave it short shrift. However, there are artistic reasons for this scene, too. It is filled with possibility and it is filled with neat cross-reference and Mr Hudson gave it and me time and focus accordingly. He did this by asking rather than telling, which was almost certainly the long way round given his pedigree, but he knew it was the right approach for the play and for young actors.

John Hudson died in 2018 and so he was robbed of his final career stage – we were told not to mention the word ‘retirement’ when he left School after 19 years. He planned to return to the stage, to continue to direct and write musicals and to perform live as a musician (yet another quiet string to a powerful bow). He is remembered as something of an understated polymath – a teacher, actor, director, musician and scholar (he had a PhD in Alan Ayckbourn). ‘I bear a charmed life’ says the eponymous Scotsman in the play; quite. 

John Hudson

His authority came from his intelligence in interpretation and his erudition, quickly finding equal standing in a notable English department alongside Messrs Venning, O’Keeffe, Sutcliffe and Bussey.

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BRIEFINGS

Pauline Gallantry Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Watson, (1888-95), VC DSO Graham Seel in Scholars and Soldiers recounts Watson’s story of gallantry from the North-West Frontier to the Somme.

“Oliver was born on 7 September 1876 in London. During his time at St Paul’s, he proved a keen sportsman – he rowed, boxed, played cricket and rugby. His obituary published in The Pauline described him as: “A splendid wing forward in an exceptional School XV, fast enough to have played outside, and never sparing himself a moment right up to no side”. The same pen judged that: “Though inclined to be idle in school hours, [Oliver] was very far from unintelligent; indeed, his abilities were decidedly above the average, and he could be a distinct thorn in the flesh of certain masters who mistook him for a fool. Popularity and success did not spoil his modest and manly disposition”.

Upon leaving St Paul’s, Oliver proceeded to Sandhurst. Passing out with Honours in 1897, he was given a commission in the Green Howards and served with that regiment in India.

In the Tirah campaign in 1897 he was severely wounded while assisting a fellow officer who was mortally

Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver C S Watson,

by George Spencer Watson

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wounded. In the Boxer campaign of 1900 in China, Oliver served as Transport Officer. He was again wounded in 1904 and invalided home.

A period of illness meant that Oliver left the army and took to farming.

Upon the outbreak of war in 1914 he volunteered for service with the London Yeomanry (Westminster Hussars) and served with this unit in Egypt. Promoted Major, Oliver accompanied the Hussars to Gallipoli.

On returning from Gallipoli, he was posted to 2/5th Bn. KOYLI, this battalion arriving in Le Havre on 14 January 1917.

After his namesake Lieutenant-Colonel W Watson became a casualty on 3 May 1917 during an attack upon the Hindenburg Line near Bullecourt several miles south-east of Arras, Oliver organised a second attack. He was awarded the DSO for his action, the citation reading: ‘On 3 May, during the attack near Bullecourt, Lieutenant-Colonel W Watson commanding the battalion was killed. Major O C Watson was sent up to take his place. On arriving at the railway cutting, he found men of all units of the Brigade who had returned there after the first unsuccessful attack. Displaying the highest soldierly qualities, he organised these men, inspired them with his own coolness and confidence, and personally led them forward to a second attack.

This attack was eventually brought to nothing by machine gun fire, but Major Watson continued to advance alone, in an endeavour to reach the men still holding on in front, until he was badly wounded. All units of the Brigade are talking about his great gallantry and fine leadership’.

Oliver was severely wounded during this attack. He was obliged to lie overnight in No Man’s Land and was not brought in until dusk the following day; he carried one arm in a sling from this time.

At the time of his death on 28 March 1918 Oliver was commanding 5th Bn. KOYLI. It was charged with holding up the advance of Germany’s forces in the Somme sector, a short distance south-east of Gommecourt.

‘Just the sort of thing Watson would do!’ – an epitaph to be envied.

The citation for which Oliver was posthumously awarded the VC on 8 May 1918 reads: ‘At Rossignol Wood on 28 March 1918, for most conspicuous bravery, self-sacrificing devotion to duty, and exceptionally gallant leading during a critical period of operations.

His command was at a point where continual attacks were made by the enemy in order to pierce the line, and an intricate system of old trenches in front, coupled with the fact that his position was under constant rifle and machine-gun fire, rendered the situation still more dangerous. A counter-attack had been made against the enemy position, which at first achieved its object, but as they were holding out in two improvised strong points, Lt-Col Watson saw that immediate action was necessary, and he led his remaining small reserve to the attack, organising bombing parties and leading attacks under intense rifle and machine-gun fire. Outnumbered, he finally ordered his men to retire, remaining himself in a communication trench to cover the retirement, though he faced almost certain death by so doing. The assault he led was at a critical moment, and without doubt saved the line. Both in the assault and in covering his men’s retirement, he held his life as nothing, and his splendid bravery inspired all troops in the vicinity to rise to the occasion and save a breach being made in a hardly tried and attenuated line.

Lt-Col Watson was killed while covering the withdrawal’.

Pauline Planes The Verdon Roes Oliver’s obituary published in The Pauline remarked that: ‘The official account of [Oliver’s] end is certain to arouse among those who knew him the frequent comment: ‘Just the sort of thing Watson would do!’ – an epitaph to be envied, surely’.”

A copy of his Victoria Cross is displayed in Richmond, North Yorkshire. He is commemorated alongside approaching sixty First World War dead on the War Memorial at St Mary the Virgin Wargrave, Oxfordshire. No ranks are shown, and Watson’s VC is the only gallantry award carved in the stone. 

The Avro Lancaster

No ranks are shown, and Watson’s VC is the only gallantry award carved in the stone

Avro Lancasters were flown by 617 squadron, ‘the Dam Busters’ in the 1943 raid on the Ruhr Dams. The ‘Avro’ name has a Pauline connection. A V Roe Aircraft Company was founded in 1910 by two Old Pauline brothers, Alliott (1891-92) and Humphrey Verdon Roe (1891-94).

Alliott was an early aircraft designer and pilot and in 1909 was the first Englishman to achieve the feat of a powered flight travelling 900 feet above Walthamstow Marshes in his Roe 1 triplane. In 1913, he designed the AVRO 504 which was flown during the First World War and for which he was awarded the OBE. Alliott was knighted in 1929 for services to the aviation and was further honoured when inducted in 1980 into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame in San Diego. There is a memorial tablet in St Andrew’s Church in Hamble dedicated to Sir Alliott and to his two sons Eric Alliott and Lighton who were both were RAF squadron leaders and killed in the Second World War. Alliott’s brother and co-founder Humphrey fought in the Boer War as a lieutenant in the 1st Manchester Regiment, winning the Queen’s South African Medal with two clasps. He resigned his commission in 1901 to join his brother at the AV Roe Aircraft Company. In 1917 he joined the Royal Flying Corps as an artillery observer. He later married Marie Carmichael Stopes, the co-founder of the Marie Stopes Family Planning Clinic.

There were two other Pauline Verdon Roe brothers: Everard (1894-98) who went into the Church and served as a Royal Navy chaplain, and Spencer (1891), a surgeon who was a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War. 

Oliver Watson’s memorial at St Mary the Virgin, Wargrave

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BRIEFINGS

Pauline Album

Pauline Boot

Piers Thompson (1972-76) listens to FUSE by EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL Ben Watt (1976-80) has more hit records than any other OP, as half of Everything But The Girl, with his wife Tracey Thorn.

Between 1984 and 1999, they made 10 critically acclaimed albums, eight of which went gold and two platinum. This is despite a hiatus in 1992 when Ben developed Churg Strauss syndrome, a rare auto-immune disease. He later wrote a memoir, Patient, about his near-death experiences. EBTG played their final gig at the Montreux Jazz festival in 2000.

There has been no new material until this year, as Ben and Tracey concentrated on raising their kids, amidst pursuing solo careers. In April 2023, they released Fuse which went straight to No 3 in the UK Album Chart, and it is a cracker.

On the first single, Nothing Left To Lose, it seems like they have never been away. Tracey’s voice is as clear and strong as it ever was, offering hope and heartache at the same time, against a clubby downtempo beat. It is accompanied by a striking shot-in-one-take dance video.

The sense of existential ache against the rhythms of a night in clubland continue in songs like Forever, Time And Time Again, and most poignantly in Lost. There is a glimpse of parenthood in When You Mess Up and keen social observation in the characters who populate No-One Knows We’re Dancing. Interior Space abandons the dancefloor for a sonic seascape built of field recordings from Druidstone Beach.

Fuse reeks of escape, looking for a place of safety, freed from anxiety, whether on the dancefloor, karaoke bar or a remote Pembrokeshire cove. EBTG continue to experiment with different styles to create a record that is fresh whilst reassuringly familiar. Tracey’s vocals sit beautifully on Ben’s arrangements which are lush, sophisticated and deep. It is an unexpected but welcome return and definitely worth your time. 

ATRIUM

Pauline Appointments

David Abulafia

David Abulafia (1963-67), Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean History at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, and a former Chairman of the Cambridge History Faculty has been awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List. His books include Frederick II, The Discovery of Mankind, The Great Sea and The Boundless Sea which was the winner of the Wolfson History prize in 2020. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Academia Europaea, a Commendatore of the Italian Republic and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe and at the University of Gibraltar. He has been the Apposer at Apposition, is a Vice President of the OPC and is a contributor to Atrium. 

FUSE album cover

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The Eton collar and the Wellington boot have been around for a while but now St Paul’s has entered the fashion world with the Flint Wood chukka. Modelled by David Flint Wood (1974-79) – the one with the beard. 

AUTUMN /WINTER 2023

Pauline Books Atrium (unless otherwise described) uses reviews provided by authors or their publishers.

Isaiah Berlin: A Life Michael Ignatieff’s biography, Pushkin Press, June 2023 Reviewed by David Herman, who has published almost twenty articles and reviews on Isaiah Berlin.

Sir Isaiah Berlin (1922-1928) was one of the most distinguished Old Paulines of the 20th century. He was a leading post-war philosopher and liberal political thinker, perhaps best known for his writings on liberty during the Cold War. In 1909 he was born in Riga, now the capital of Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. His governess, writes Ignatieff, would take him to the public gardens, where ‘Crimean veterans sunned themselves.’ His family moved to Petrograd during the First World War and as a young child he witnessed the Russian Revolution before he and his family fled to Britain in 1921. He was educated at St Paul’s and studied Greats at Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1928-32). In 1932 he was elected to a fellowship at All Souls and became one of a group of leading young Oxford philosophers during the 1930s, along with AJ Ayer, Stuart Hampshire and JL Austin. He worked for the British government in New York and then Washington during the war and then went to the Soviet Union where he met several great writers including the poet Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak.

These encounters changed his life.

Returning to Oxford he changed to political philosophy. From 1957-67 he was Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford. His famous inaugural lecture, “Two Concepts of Liberty,” was delivered in 1958. He was appointed a CBE in 1946, knighted in 1957, and appointed

to the Order of Merit in 1971. He died in 1997, having lived to see the fall of Soviet Communism.

During the 1990s Berlin was interviewed by the writer and broadcaster Michael Ignatieff, himself the son of an Old Pauline, who had fled with his family from Russia after the Revolution. These interviews, along with three interviews for BBC2 during the mid-1990s, formed the basis of Ignatieff’s acclaimed biography, Isaiah Berlin: A Life (1998).

A revised edition, written with Berlin’s literary editor Henry Hardy, who has also co-edited four volumes of Berlin’s letters and edited eighteen volumes of Berlin’s essays, has just been published by Pushkin Press.

It is interesting to compare the new edition of Ignatieff’s biography with the original, published 25 years ago.

Both are beautifully written and full of fascinating insights. Many of the interviews were conducted in Berlin’s apartment in Albany, on Piccadilly.

As Ignatieff writes, Berlin’s ‘life has been spent in places just like this, in the walled gardens and highwindowed rooms of English institutional privilege.’ Berlin lived a charmed life, writes Ignatieff: ‘parents who adored him, an exile that did not scar him, election to All Souls at twenty-three, marriage to a gifted, supportive and wealthy woman.’

He was Jewish, a lifelong Zionist, but he was also a consummate insider, never held back by antisemitism. He became a well-known broadcaster on

the BBC and a reviewer and essayist for prestigious journals and newspapers.

In the 1950s he was invited to become a Director of the Sadler’s Wells Trust and was appointed a Director of the Royal Opera House. He watched the Coronation of the Queen from the Daily Telegraph window in Piccadilly, sat with Margot Fonteyn and Cecil Beaton to watch the trooping of the Colour ceremony in 1954, met Picasso and Shostakovich, Khruschev, Kennedy and Nixon.

Ignatieff is not Jewish, but has a Russian background (his family memoir, The Russian Album, has also just been republished by Pushkin Press) and like Berlin is a passionate liberal, at home in political philosophy. He does not just understand Berlin’s life and ideas, his affection for Berlin runs through the biography.

The biggest difference between the two editions is that so much has been published about Berlin in the intervening 25 years, including the four volumes of letters. Times have changed also. When Ignatieff was writing his biography, liberalism had won the Cold War. The Soviet Union had collapsed. Berlin had lived to see the defeat of two terrible tyrannies, Nazi Germany and Stalinism. The book ends on a note of triumph: ‘In a dark century, he showed what a life of the mind should be: sceptical, ironical, dispassionate and free.’ After 9/11, Iraq and Ukraine, the world looks very different. 

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BRIEFINGS

Alex Paseau (1988–93) Indispensability Alex Paseau is Professor of Mathematical Philosophy at Oxford University. His latest book, Indispensability, was published in June 2023. A fundamental feature of modern science is how mathematical it is. The question the book examines is whether the applications of maths to science give us reason – perhaps even the only available reason – to think maths is true. For example, if geometry could not be applied in architecture, engineering, physics and even day-to-day life, would there really be reason to think it is true?

Indispensability, co-authored with Alan Baker, tackles these issues and is written in an accessible fashion for university students.

The book’s first half traces the evolution of the Indispensability Argument from its origins in Quine and Putnam’s works, taking in naturalism, confirmational holism, Field’s programme and the use of idealisations in science along the way. Its second half examines the explanatory version of the Indispensability Argument and focuses on several more recent versions of easy-road and hardroad fictionalism respectively.

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Bernard O’Keeffe (Staff 1994-2017) Private Lessons: The Garibaldi Series, Book 2

Bruce Howitt (1952-56) The Lazarus Doctrine – the fifth book in the Ari Lazarus Terror series

On an autumnal Sunday morning, a hungover jogger stumbles across a dead body covered in blood, in Barnes Old Cemetery, a long-abandoned Gothic graveyard frequented by druggies and drunkards.

The victim had spent the summer working in Italy for the wealthy Rivetti family, who appear to have something to hide, as too do his bosses at the high-end Forum Tutorial Agency. And why are his old friends, who he had been partying with the night before, quite so reticent when questioned?

Enter D I Garibaldi, the Met’s only non-driving, country-music loving detective. His first step? Unravelling the complex workings of the Forum Agency.

Ari Lazarus and his anti-terror agency, 9, create a doctrine to discourage supporters of the Hezbollah terrorist organisation.

The agency outs politicians and other high-profile anti-Semites who support the destruction of Israel and world Jewry. The Hezbollah are relentlessly pursued across the globe and eliminated. The Lazarus Doctrine has 4 parts. 1) Uncover the stipends paid by Hezbollah to promote their agenda. 2) Face the enablers with their financials and drain their illicit accounts in front of their eyes. 3) Expose their corruption to their families and organizations. 4) If the targets are Hezbollah, they are eliminated.

David Arrowsmith (1993-1998) Corona David Arrowsmith is a TV Executive with nearly 20 years’ experience creating award-winning factual television.

He holds degrees in English Literature and Script Writing.

Corona is the dark and dystopian Sci-Fi, perhaps even Cli-Fi, debut novel from David Arrowsmith, author of Nevada Noir: A Trilogy of Short Stories.

In a fallen London, how far will one man go to save his family and himself – or is it already too late? Trapped in his top floor mansion block apartment in Denmark Hill, South East London, can The Man escape and pick his way through the crumbling ruins of the city, avoiding the violent gangs that now vie for supremacy and find his heavily pregnant ex-wife? Can a belated act of heroism wash him clean of his sins, or is he too far gone? In a world where civilization has fallen, what hope is there for the future?

This is a story about the dark – and the light – inside all of us. It is about man’s inhumanity, and humanity. It is a story in which the threat, the danger, comes from within us – not from the undead or vampires or even a virus, but from our neighbours, our friends, and even ourselves. Corona combines elements of dystopian fiction with the literary survival horror of works such as J.G. Ballard’s High Rise and Concrete Island. It is the perfect read for fans of The Road, I Am Legend, The Last Of Us, The Walking Dead, Mad Max or even Shaun of the Dead.

Sam Peters (1991-96) Concussed: Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth Sam Peters has written the definitive account of sport’s concussion crisis, how its ‘dirty secret’ was finally made public and what rugby union must now do to save itself.

By recounting the untold story of the most influential sports campaign in British newspaper history, which turned concussion in professional rugby from a niche issue into front and back page news, Concussed poses the questions all sports lovers need answering as evidence grows linking sports-related concussions to premature deaths and dementia.

Expanding his research from rugby to football, NFL and other contact sports, Sam Peters brings an unparalleled breadth of experience, depth of knowledge and journalistic rigour to a subject he has written about and campaigned over for a decade.

Now sport’s ‘dirty secret’ is out in the open, Peters asks: how can rugby and other sports save themselves from the vested interests which threaten their very existence?

‘Peters’ work is in the greatest tradition of British journalism: fearless, unstoppable and committed to righting a profound wrong.’

DAN SNOW (1992-97)

‘Sam Peters has fought a truly magnificent campaign on concussion in rugby … sport will be safer because of it.’

STEPHEN JONES SUNDAY TIMES RUGBY CORRESPONDENT

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BRIEFINGS

Thomas McStay Adams (1955-1959) Europe’s Welfare Traditions Since 1500: Reform Without End

Max Dickins (2001-06) Billy No-Mates: How I Realised Men Have a Friendship Problem

After St Paul’s, Thomas McStay Adams studied history at Harvard and the University of Wisconsin and published Bureaucrats and Beggars: French Social Policy in the Age of the Enlightenment in 1990.

In Europe’s Welfare Traditions Since 1500: Reform Without End he traces the interwoven traditions of modern welfare states in Europe over five centuries, explores social welfare from Portugal, France, and Italy to Britain, Belgium and Germany.

He shows that the provision of assistance to those in need has faced recognisably similar challenges from the 16th century through to the present: how to allocate aid equitably (and with dignity); how to give support without undermining autonomy and motivation; and how to balance private and public spheres of action and responsibility.

Across two authoritative volumes, Adams reveals how social welfare administrators, critics, and improvers have engaged in a constant exchange of models and experience locally and across Europe. The narrative begins with the founding of the Casa da Misericordia of Lisbon in 1498, a model replicated throughout Portugal and its empire, and ends with the relaunch of a social agenda for the European Union at the meeting of the Council of Europe in Lisbon in 2000.

Max Dickins is a published playwright, actor, presenter, comedian and author of Billy No Mates, which has been translated into multiple languages and is currently being adapted for television. On the page, Max’s writing has been featured in the Observer, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, and GQ. On the stage, Max’s critically acclaimed play Man on the Moor has toured nationally. On the airwaves, his radio show on Absolute Radio was nominated for a Sony Award.

While on screen, Dickins has appeared numerous times on BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Big Show.

When Max Dickins decided to propose to his girlfriend, he realised there was no one he could call on to be his best man.

He quickly learned that he was not the only man struggling with friendships. For decades, countless studies from across the world have confirmed that men have fewer close friends than women – and the problem gets worse the older men get. But what goes wrong? And what can men do about it? Dickins went in search of answers, talking to world-leading experts and treating himself as a human guinea pig testing their recommendations.

His funny and charmingly candid search takes him to the doors of world-leading experts. It forces him to examine the friendships he has had over the years, and where they have foundered. And, briefly, it sends him to the website 'Rent A Friend', where he pays someone to hang out with him.

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Robin Renwick (1951-56) A True Statesman: George H W Bush and the ‘Indispensable Nation’ Lord Renwick of Clifton KCMG is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords. He was ambassador to South Africa in the period leading to the release of Nelson Mandela, then British ambassador to the United States between 1991 and 1995. He lives in London. He is the author of Fighting with Allies, A Journey with Margaret Thatcher and Helen Suzman: Bright Star in a Dark Chamber.

Marking thirty years since the end of George H. W. Bush’s presidency, Robin Renwick paints a warm, affectionate portrait of a President who sought to unify rather than divide his country, and whose staunch belief in diplomacy strengthened cooperation around the world.

A True Statesman explores Bush’s core belief in the United States as the ‘indispensable nation’ in helping to deal with world crises, charting his efforts to end the Cold War, secure the reunification of Germany and drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Extending beyond Bush’s time in office, it also reflects on US foreign policy over the past three decades, examining the consequences of his successors’ differing approaches to America’s role on the world stage.

Incisively written by a former British Ambassador to Washington, this insider account offers fresh insights into both the 41st President and America’s foreign policy from Iran–Contra to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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IN CONVERSATION

Seeing Both Sides Theo Hobson (1985-90) invited three teachers who have worked at both St Paul’s and St Paul’s Girls’ School to compare notes.

Atrium: First of all, what took each of you from one school to the other?

Lizzie Beesley: Well, I had a big gap. I began teaching at SPGS in 2020, nearly thirty years after teaching at St Paul’s.

My husband Ed was Head of History and Politics at the boys’ school and so I moved from Rugby to be with him.

I loved teaching the Paulines, so I figured SPGS would be a good fit for me if the girls were anything like their compatriots over the river.

Matthew McCullagh: I began teaching Classics at St Paul’s in 2010 and moved to SPGS as Head of Classics in 2018.

I had been vaguely thinking of a change towards the end of my time at St Paul’s but was also reluctant to move from somewhere where I was very happy.

Paul Vanni: I started teaching French and Italian at St Paul’s in 1998, and after 13 happy years I moved to SPGS in 2011 to take up the role of Deputy Head. I had never intended to move from one school to the other, but when the opportunity arose, I couldn't turn it down. And in fact, I also made the reverse move: by chance I found myself back at St Paul’s in 2022 for two terms only. It was incredible to be back at the School after over ten years.

I have to say, I fell in love with the place all over again.

Atrium: Initial impressions of the difference?

MM: SPGS proved to be a mixture of the very different – apart from the obvious difference, I mean the architecture and general ‘feel’ of the School – and the rather similar – at my first few parents’ evenings, I realised that the reason some of the parents looked so familiar was because I had taught their sons the year before!

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LB: I think the uniform is a massive difference. It increases the formality of St Paul’s as against SPGS whose students use clothes as an expression of their individuality, especially in the Senior School. And this affects the staff – because we don’t have to police the uniform, there’s fewer barriers between students and staff.

PV: Yes, relationships between staff and students are incredibly strong at both schools, but the lack of uniform at SPGS does mean that there are even fewer points of tension simply because staff do not have to be constantly telling students to tuck in their shirts or to do up their top buttons.

MM: In terms of the different atmospheres of the two schools, one of the major differences for me is their use of space. I love the beautiful buildings of SPGS but miss being able to take a lunchtime stroll round the vast sports fields on the Barnes site. The shape of the schools also has an impact on how staff mingle: at St Paul’s, I had my own classroom next to the rest of my department; at SPGS, the size of the school means we aren’t able to have our own classrooms, so there’s more time spent in the staff room, where we share ideas and, more importantly, cake, with colleagues from other departments.

PV: I agree about the different physical environments.

And I think the shape of the school day also has an impact on the atmosphere. At St Paul’s, everyone has an hour and 45 minutes for lunch with clubs and outdoor sports. Lunch is shorter at SPGS and, of course, the Field is a five-minute walk away. The buildings at SPGS are beautiful and places like the Great Hall do lift the soul, but moving from St Paul’s to SPGS, one of the first things that struck me was how compact SPGS seemed, and how sometimes a day would pass and I would barely step outside.

St Paul’s School

St Paul’s Girls’ School

MM: Another issue is that the girls start two years earlier, at 11. This makes the teaching experience a bit different.

I had a novel experience in one of my very first lessons at SPGS when a baby tooth came out in class!

PV: Yes, the endearingly infectious warmth and enthusiasm of girls in years 7 (and 8) makes a real difference. Events such as the MIV Tea just exude innocence and fun.

LB: The Year 7 girls certainly make the place seem more youthful as they literally run from place to place, their high-pitched voices ringing through the school. And that contributes to the greater sense of informality.

MM: I agree, and I think the greater informality of SPGS extends into the classroom; the students are of a calibre where it is possible to have a fairly relaxed attitude, and indeed the school makes a point of not needing to have too many explicit rules. Last period on a Friday afternoon at both schools, though, can sometimes be quite a lively 35 minutes!

Atrium: I know it’s a sensitive subject, but no one’s really mentioned how girls and boys are educationally different…

LB: I’d say the younger girls are very unselfconscious in their enjoyment of learning which is less true of the more experienced fourth form at St Paul’s. All the students I have taught really value scholarship and want to pursue their own academic interests. I remember a Wittgenstein craze when I was at St Paul’s, for example. I think boys are prepared to take more risks intellectually and maybe be more voluble in lessons, but the SPGS crew are probably more researched and nuanced in their approach. These are gross generalisations, of course, and I can only speak to my experience of teaching English and not other subjects.

MM: It’s difficult to generalise about differences between the actual teaching experience at the two schools, since pretty much everything I’ve seen at one school has surfaced at the other, albeit to a greater or lesser extent.

Both sets of students seem to enjoy the same sorts of things in class, but I’d agree with Lizzie that students at St Paul’s are a little more immediately forthcoming in discussion, while those at SPGS more measured (but these are just general tendencies, with lots of exceptions on either side). Another point that has struck me is a greater fondness for collaborative work at SPGS. Finally, one definite difference is that my most requested end-of-term film has gone from Russell Crowe in Gladiator to that singalong masterpiece, Disney’s Hercules. 

“The uniform is a massive difference. It increases the formality of St Paul’s as against SPGS whose students use clothes as an expression of their individuality.”

“I had a novel experience in one of my very first lessons at SPGS when a baby tooth came out in class.”

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THE INTERVIEW

James Trotman (2017-22)

Atrium editorial board member (and class contemporary) Omar Burhanuddin (2017-22) met James Trotman (2017-22) to discuss all things rowing, both reflecting on past glories and speculating on the future.

J

ames Trotman left St Paul’s last year, going up to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge to read Economics. It is not in academics, however, but in rowing that he has made waves. Trotman lives and breathes the sport, having led the SPSBC crew to a victory at Henley last summer winning the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. Not content to rest on his laurels, later that same summer he coxed the GB Junior eight to a Silver Medal at the World Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy. As if that were not enough for one year, with James on the rudder the Cambridge Women’s Eight won the Boat Race in a Light Blue clean sweep in March.

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Q: Are there any teachers from St Paul’s – rowing coaches or not – who you might credit as particular sources of inspiration?

A: That’s easy: Bobby Thatcher and Donald Legget, the 1st VIII rowing coaches, are the main guys. To be frank, I’m only where I am because of their coaching, really. I was also coached by Doug Perrin in the Fourth and Sixth Form, and he was pretty cool too, definitely inspiring me to continue beyond the first season.

“If you’re at SPS, you probably don’t realise it, but you are at the best schoolboy rowing club in the country”

The Boat Race’s Half-Way Post

Q: Why do you think St Paul’s has had, both in this year and others, such a significant showing in the Boat Race?

A: The rowing programme at St Paul’s is easily the best in the country.

Bobby Thatcher’s coaching is the best in the country. And then that calibre is mirrored at Cambridge, giving us the chance to carry those skills and abilities forward. The women’s crew haven’t lost in several years, and the men won in 2021 and 2023 despite being the supposed underdog in both years. I would credit that to the quality of the coaching, the quality of the squad, and the dynamic we have – Cambridge has the ‘One Club’ system that lends itself to a healthy culture. The coaching’s excellent, and Pauline rowers kind of know that when they’re applying.

Q: It has been commented upon elsewhere that your coxing sometimes takes a rather aggressive line.

Any comments?

A: Oh, this is ridiculous. This whole thing began because of a journalist at the Daily Telegraph… As a cox, you’re encouraged to stay on the Surrey station. It’s very common for coxes to take the bend too tightly there, risking getting sucked into the corner and

losing the fast water. So, I was just trying to avoid that. It wasn’t supposed to be aggressive. It actually worked a treat because it basically finished the hopes of The Other Place. You would’ve seen how quickly they fell back – they tried to get us and couldn’t, and within around two minutes they were three lengths behind. It wasn’t supposed to be aggressive, but defensive, insofar as a cox must defend the possession of their own water. It just so happens that it also cooked Oxford and ended the race there. I will happily take credit for that.

Q: Do you have anything to say about your status as a new progressive icon, being part of a gender-swap cox duo?

A: I really enjoyed being on the women’s crew, getting different perspectives and dynamics in the squad. It’s something I’d always had at the back of my mind: that I might want to try something different. I really enjoyed it, and although I haven’t committed to anything yet, I expect that I’ll definitely try it out again.

Q: What are the worst and best part of being a cox?

A: The worst? Well, there are always some fixtures where we didn’t row the way we wanted to and get the results we’d hoped for. It’s always difficult to work out our next steps after that, really, and as the cox, it’s quite easy to blame everything on yourself. If the rowing wasn’t particularly good, you’ll ask yourself ‘Why didn’t I spot that?

Why didn’t I make this particular call during the race?’. It’s a natural, unavoidable tendency to take responsibility for everything, and you just have to deal with that. As the for best part? Probably just those final weeks leading up to race. Spending time with the crew and simply focusing on rowing the whole time, you don’t have to think about much else. You can enjoy your time together, just adding the finishing touches.

You’ve already worked towards an essential base and rhythm that you’re happy with, and so it’s only the finer details you need to work on right before a race.  23

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Q: Can you describe a day in the life of a Cambridge cox?

A: Rise at 5:30am. Row for a bit, and then head back to town by 9 and straight into the faculty for four hours of lectures. Lunch. Work in the library for a while. I’ll probably have a supervision at some point in the afternoon, at which point I’ll have to return to college. After that, I’ll usually go to one of the afternoon weight sessions back at the boathouse, much of which is actually spent supervising the rowers, ensuring that nobody injures themselves, as well as discussing the training plan and progress with the coaches. I’ll also do administrative tasks around the boathouse, which is fast becoming a perennial job of mine. Then I’ll go and eat dinner, usually work some more, then sleep, rinse and repeat.

Q: You have had an impressive year, from the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, to winning a GB Silver Medal at the World Championships, and now triumphing in the Boat Race.

What’s next? How do you see your rowing career evolving through the rest of your time at Cambridge, and potentially beyond?

A: Provided I pass my first-year exams, I’m booked in for two more years. I would definitely like to do the Boat Race another two times…well, we’ll see about third year. But many people do try to take a fourth year to extend their rowing career: to be honest I haven’t really thought about that yet. In terms of GB stuff – I didn’t sign up to trial for the U23s this year, but I might next year or the year after.

As far as the Boat Race goes, I would like to win the Men’s Race at some point. There are two Paulines I know – Matthew Holland and Jasper Parish – who’ve won the race on both sides, so I could try and become the third.

That would be awesome. But I’m not targeting the Olympics or anything like that.

Q: ‘Better to burn out than dwindle away?’

A: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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Q: Is there any advice you’d give to beginners: people just getting into rowing, and particularly those at St Paul’s?

A: If you’re at SPS, you probably don’t realise it, but you are at the best schoolboy rowing club in the country.

Everyone at St Paul’s should give rowing a try, perhaps in the 4th Form at some point. I did, and I really enjoyed it: you can do it for a couple of weeks and if you don’t like it, you can leave.

The key to becoming a good cox while you’re there is receiving feedback from the crew on how you can be useful to them, and then acting on it. Besides that, remember that although the coach may spend 99% of the time coaching the rowers, you should still be absorbing all of it. That’s how you develop an understanding of rowing technique, boat skills, things like that. So don’t be put off by the coach mostly focusing on the rowers either; you can, and should, always go and ask the coach ‘how can I improve?’, or ‘what do you want to see from me?’

That, in a nutshell, is the secret of moving up into the top boats.

Be proactive and stick with it if you enjoy it.

Q: What were the worst and best moments of your time at St Paul’s?

A: Obviously, when the School was closed during COVID and I could hardly do anything – that was miserable. But my best moment was definitely Henley 2022. At the end, I jumped into the river of my own free will and was not thrown in!

I had clearly come a long way. 

James Trotman – the winning line

“My best moment was definitely Henley 2022.

At the end, I jumped into the river of my own free will and was not thrown in.”

EV Rieu

PAULINE PROFILE

EV RIEU

Jonathan Foreman (1979-83) celebrates the great Pauline translator and publisher,

(1899-1905)

B

ack in the days before the internet, if you were studying foreign literature, modern or classical for ‘O’ or ‘A’ level, it was hard to find English ‘cribs’ for whatever book you were supposed to be translating. The only easily available translations of French, Latin, Greek or Russian books were the black-covered Penguin Classic paperbacks. Some were usefully literal and accurate, others much less so. For Greek ‘O’ level in the early 1980s we were assigned to study Book (really chapter) VI of Homer’s Odyssey.

“ It became clear that Rieu had slightly bowdlerized the text, taking the sexual charge out”

I did not realise at the time that the Penguin edition’s translator, EV Rieu, was an Old Pauline, that he was the editor and founder of Penguin Classics, that his Odyssey was the first and most successful of the entire series, or indeed one of the best-selling classical translations ever published. I just knew that it was indeed usefully accurate, for homework and examination purposes, if not entirely word-for-word reliable: the class was about halfway through translating Book VI when it became clear that Rieu had slightly bowdlerized the text, taking the sexual charge out of the encounter of shipwrecked, naked Odysseus and the teenaged

princess Nausicaa to whom he gives ‘a lovely sleeping-gown’, though none is mentioned in the original.

There was an important secondary benefit to having a copy of Rieu’s Odyssey. It meant you had the opportunity to read the other 23 ‘books’ that made up the whole epic, to experience the adventures of the crafty, beguiling Greek hero’s ten-year voyage home from the Trojan War, and therefore have at least some sense of why the ancient epic was considered a classic. Reading the whole thing was not suggested to us, let alone required of us. In the way of the era, our teachers seemed  25

PAULINE PROFILE

concerned only with the mechanics of translation and ensuring that our mastery of the small part of the Odyssey that was the examination board’s set text. That Homer’s 2,800-year-old-epic is among other things, an adventure story packed with shipwrecks, captures, escapes, seductions, frustrations, losses, revenges and triumphs was somehow not considered important enough to impart.

Fortunately for me and many others, Emile Victor Rieu, scholar of St Paul’s School and Balliol College, Oxford wanted the world to appreciate the full power of the Odyssey. Rieu is probably the most celebrated of the many distinguished Old Pauline translators, rivalled at the top of the profession by the slightly younger JM Cohen (1915-21), who worked for him at Penguin.

He was born in 1887, the son of a Swiss-born professor of Arabic and Persian who taught at Cambridge. Three of his five brothers were killed in France during the Great War. In 1912 he went out to India to set up the subcontinent’s branch of Oxford University Press. As the Indian writer Sridhar Balan pointed out ‘he was a curious choice to head the Indian operations of OUP,’ but for the head of the press, Humphrey Milford, the fact that he was a Balliol Man trumped any lack of experience in publishing or of Asia.

His management and enlargement of the OUP India was a success, thanks in large part to his wife Nellie who took over his job when he was commissioned into the 105th Maratha Light Infantry for the duration of the war. In 1919, malaria forced him to return to the England where he joined the Methuen publishing house.

He was still working for Methuen, though serving as a Major in the Home Guard, when he began his translation of the Odyssey. He was inspired to embark on it during the London Blitz. To distract his wife and daughters during the blackouts and raids he would translate more enjoyable passages from the Odyssey. This worked well enough for him to have a go at rendering the entire epic in prose, essentially turning the Odyssey into a novel. He offered a draft to Sir Allen Lane, owner of Penguin, the pioneer of the sixpenny paperback, who jumped at it, and then hired him to work at Penguin. Together they founded the Penguin Classics imprint, with the Odyssey coming out as its first book in early 1946, followed soon after by his Iliad (with Maupassant’s short stories in between).

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Rieu’s Odyssey turned out to be one of the most successful translations in the history of publishing… It was Penguin’s best-selling book for two decades, until surpassed by Lady Chatterley’s Lover

The Iliad translation

Rieu’s prose versions of the two Homeric epics were controversial, then and later.

Although he had taken a First at Balliol and declared in his introduction to the Odyssey ‘This version of the Odyssey is, in its intention at any rate, a genuine translation, not a paraphrase or a retold tale, he was not an academic. Some classical scholars thought the language he used was too prosaic and informal, failing to convey the ‘nobility’ of the original or the impact of Homer’s repeated phrases such as ‘rosy-fingered dawn’ although there were plenty of repetitions of ‘the wine-dark sea.’

Rieu’s Odyssey turned out to be one of the most successful translations in the history of publishing. It sold more than three million copies and was Penguin’s best-selling book for two decades, until surpassed by Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

Indeed, it would be hard to exaggerate the impact of his Odyssey and his subsequent translation of the Iliad. They were read by millions of people around the English-speaking world who had never been exposed to the classics, let alone been taught Latin and Greek. In particular, they were read by servicemen returning from the war, men for whom the Odyssey – the story of a man coming home to a wife and son who do not recognize him – had particular resonance.

One of them was the novelist Allan Sillitoe who said it was coming across Rieu’s Odyssey when he returned from Malaya that gave him a love of the classics.

The Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh even wrote a poem entitled On looking into E.V. Rieu’s Homer, echoing Keats On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.

Rieu’s second contribution to the interior lives of millions of people came through his editorship of the Penguin Classics imprint, from its founding in 1946 to 1964. As head of the imprint, Rieu recruited writers and poets of the first rank – always preferring them to academics – and was responsible for commissioning translations that became as famous and successful as his own.

It was he who commissioned Robert Graves’ Suetonius’ Twelve Caesars (later the basis of his I, Claudius novels), translations of the Song of Roland and Dante’s Divine Comedy by Dorothy L Sayers, already celebrated as a crime writer, and the much-praised translations of Tolstoy by Rosemary Edmunds (a Paulina). He also brought in JM Cohen, his rival as the greatest OP translator.

The latter, who had taught himself Spanish and Russian after leaving school, wrote the Penguin Classics versions of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Rousseau’s Confessions, Montaigne’s Essays, Pasternak’s Selected Poems and Bernal Diaz The Conquest of New Spain. With Rieu’s encouragement the polymathic Cohen spread his wings to become a distinguished literary biographer of Borges among others and a pioneering anthologist, authoring the Penguin Dictionary of Quotations among other bestsellers.

Rieu himself did several other Greek and Latin translations for Penguin. The imprint had 160 titles by 1964 and was selling more than a million books a year.

It was a revolution in paperback publishing. Among its most successful books was The Four Gospels by Rieu himself. Rieu had been a lifelong agnostic, but the experience of translating the New Testament inspired him to become an Anglican, at the age of 60.

On the other hand, Rieu was responsible for the celebrated Penguin translation of The Koran by Nassim Joseph Dawood.

As a young scholar, recently arrived in England, Dawood had attended a lecture

by Rieu in 1954 and, as he later told an interviewer, was enthralled by Rieu’s belief in “a new kind of translation” that would take up “the challenge of emulating the excellence of the original” while using idiomatic English and avoiding archaism and excessive literalism. The example that Rieu liked to give of the latter was the translation of the eccentric French endearment ‘mon chou’ as ‘my cabbage’ instead of perhaps ‘my darling’.

Rieu had a second avatar as a hugely popular author of verse for children. His most famous poems are probably ‘The Hippopotamus Birthday’, ‘Sir Smashem Uppe’ and ‘The Unicorn’. His 1932 collection of children’s verse ‘Cuckoo Calling’ was reissued three decades later as The Flattered Flying Fish and Other Poems and illustrated by EH Shepard (1894-96), his fellow Old Pauline celebrated for The Wind in the Willows and Winnie-the-Pooh.

“ Rieu had a second avatar as a hugely popular author of verse for children.”

Said the Flying-Fish: ‘Fancy remembering me, And the dress that I wore at the Porpoises' tea!’

‘How could I forget? said the Shark in his guile: ‘I expect you at eight!’ and rang off with a smile.

She has powdered her nose; she has put on her things; She is off with one flap of her luminous wings O little one, lovely, light-hearted and vain, The moon will not shine on your beauty again!

Rieu in High House. The symbols by his name stand for President of the Union, Scholar of Balliol College, House Colours, 2nd XV and Foundation Scholar

In surviving photographs, Rieu looks austere, as befitting a publisher who was upset when Penguin Classics stopped having plain, unillustrated covers. But he was apparently modest and good humoured. In his retirement speech, given when he stepped down from running Penguin Classics in 1964, he said ‘The Penguin Classics, though I designed them to give pleasure even more than instruction, have been hailed as the greatest educative force of the twentieth century. And far be it for me to quarrel with that encomium, for there is no one whom they have educated more than myself.’ 

The Flattered Flying-Fish Said the Shark to the Flying-Fish over the phone: ‘Will you join me to-night? I am dining alone.

Let me order a nice little dinner for two!

And come as you are, in your shimmering blue.’

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St Paul’s Cathedral

Tanya at the

St Paul’s Feast Bob Phillips (1964-69) describes the magic of St Paul’s Cathedral and the sanctuary of London and Surbiton

The Berlin family fled from Petrograd to escape persecution as bourgeoisie, and then from Riga in Latvia to escape persecution as Jews. They found a haven in Surbiton in early 1921. Isaiah (1922-28) went to Arundel House Preparatory School (now incorporated in Surbiton High School), and then St Paul’s, where he was, as a boy, and remained, as an adult, one of the intellectual superstars of the School.

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Tanya

There was a short prayer near the end of the service for Ukraine. Tanya must have been concentrating hard, because she understood it, and her face lit up

Tetiana (“Tanya”) is another refugee from the Russians – in her case from the battlefield of Kharkiv, in Ukraine but almost on the Russian border.

She, too, has found a haven, I hope, in Surbiton where my wife and I live, with another extra member of the household – a young lady from Tamil Nadu.

There are many tales of refugees finding an intellectual home and an education for life at St Paul’s. Here are two more outstanding examples: Ralph Blumenau (1939-42), a refugee from Nazi Germany, arrived at St Paul’s in 1939 and spent almost the whole of the war as a scholar there, leaving in 1943 to become a distinguished historian and philosopher (Philosophy and Living, A History of the Jews in German-speaking Lands). Jon Blair (1967-69) was a refugee from political oppression in South Africa. He was at St Paul’s from 1967 to 1969 (an Eighth Form contemporary of mine) and went on to a dazzling career in film-making (Anne Frank Remembered, Schindler, Navalny – The Man Putin Couldn't Kill, and many more) and the award of a CBE. Britain, after some false starts, reacted handsomely to these crises of refugees from Nazi Germany and from apartheid South Africa. It is reacting equally well to the crisis of Russian persecution of Ukraine, allowing refugees to be matched to willing hosts in the UK, at least for six months – and then mostly just hoping for the best.

One of those who benefitted from the altruism of an earlier age in Britain was Alf Dubs, now Lord Dubs. He was

It may be that some of the readers of this article are living in conditions where it would be possible to free some spare room that would be hugely appreciated by another person running away from impossible conditions, or danger. I am sure many Old Paulines, or parents of contemporary Paulines, will have done this already.

If you can identify space beyond your needs, I urge you to contact Refugees At Home by scanning the QR code. We have found them to be extraordinarily helpful and very well organised. And, of course, they are doing a job that is vitally important for a civilised world. We can tell you that the experience of hosting someone from another land, striving to make a new life, is amazingly rewarding.

evacuated, as a Jewish child, from Nazi-invaded Czechoslovakia, on the Kindertransport. Alf Dubs was not another St Paul’s success story – he was educated at Cheadle Hulme School, when it was a grammar school.

He enters our story because of an organisation called Refugees at Home.

Alf Dubs is Patron of Refugees at Home – a charity that finds people with spare space in homes in the UK and matches that with people who desperately need space because they are fleeing from harm. “Any of us could be refugees if circumstances change.” It was Refugees at Home who put Tanya and my family together.

It might not have been Tanya.

Refugees at Home, after they came to look at the accommodation we had available, said that the next need might be a Syrian family, or someone from Afghanistan – both places where the UK government has made some statements about wanting to help refugees. But it was Tanya, after a gruelling three-day journey by train from the easternmost part of Ukraine to the far west, then through Budapest and an aeroplane: 1000 miles all told, stopping and starting through war zones. She arrived here, initially finding difficulty sleeping because Surbiton is so quiet, and then experiencing terror at the explosion of fireworks for the Chinese New Year.

But life has settled down, and we are all four a very harmonious household, with the two younger ones – Thillaikkararsi and Tanya – bonding. And the Council has provided English classes, supplemented by one-on-one teaching. Tanya is very determined to master English as fast as possible and land a good job. She was a supermarket manager in Kharkiv.

Her English is very rudimentary right now. But something remarkable happened at the Festival Evensong Service for the School, at St Paul’s Cathedral, on Monday 6 February, standing with us under the periphery of the dome, hearing our singing projected back at us. There was a short prayer near the end of the service for Ukraine. Tanya must have been concentrating hard, because she understood it, and her face lit up.

The magic of St. Paul’s, and the sanctuary of London.  29

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1940’s Houseparty

Profoundly Good Times Four OPs celebrate the centenary of the Christian Union’s houseparties

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Ed Fryer (2004-09) works at Fuller’s and is a Christian Union officer This October we belatedly celebrate one hundred years of Christian Union Houseparties. The pandemic not only disrupted our centenary plans, but also led to the first houseparty postponement since 1919. This event brings together hundreds of Old Paulines who attended Christian Union Friday and Sunday meetings as well as Easter and Summer Houseparties. We will celebrate with some of the activities that made houseparties so special.

A game of “podex” (rounders/cricket hybrid), a short service (or “meeting”) with a talk from Bishop Richard Atkinson (1971-76), a “sing-song” (a meetings institution) and, most importantly, plenty of time for old friends to catch up.

How it all began…

A Christian Union was formed at St Paul’s in 1885 with a small number of boys beginning to meet on Sunday afternoons in a West Kensington vicarage in 1900. In 1919, the first summer houseparty was held at The Greyhound, Ardingly. Eric Hayward (1913-15) writes in The Story of the Meetings: “The idea of a summer house party specially designed for boys as opposed to camps under canvas was a new, indeed a revolutionary concept which had never been envisaged, let alone carried out, before the Great War, and to the best of my knowledge and belief we were the very first pioneers in this kind of spiritual adventure. The first summer party was in 1919 and lasted a week. It was composed of five officers and seven boys. Words almost fail me adequately to describe this

1950’s Houseparty

1990’s Houseparty

party. I cannot believe that there has ever been anything quite like it before or since; it really was the most astonishing week I have ever spent.”

I attended my first houseparty in 2005 and realised that it was a special place to be. I later learned the concept of “thin places” and realised that the houseparty was one of them, a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin. In Eric Hayward’s words, it was “I later learned the concept of ‘thin places’ and a place of “greater joys, realised that the houseparty was one of them, a greater peace place where the boundary between heaven and within, more earth is especially thin.” laughter of a kind different from that of the sniggering world, deeper friendships, [and] a sense of purpose”.

After leaving St Paul’s, I was invited to join the team of Old Paulines who work with the School to organise and run houseparties. They remain just as fun to attend eighteen years after my first, but what keeps me coming back is the opportunity to show current Paulines something deeper about the world, about faith, the person of Jesus Christ and the nature of God.

Robert Stanier (1988-93) is vicar of St Andrew and St Mark, Surbiton.

In a recent book, the Archbishop of York described an encounter with a woman serving him coffee at Café Nero, who asked him why he was a Christian and he in turn asked her what she thought of Christians. Cottrell writes: ‘she explained that “when she met people of faith, she found they largely broke down into two categories.

For the first group, faith seemed to be their hobby; they went to church but it didn’t make much difference to the life they led. The other group embraced their faith so tightly, it frightened everyone else away.”’

At the Christian Union I encountered a third category. People who did care about being Christians and for whom it did make a difference, but who were not so precious about it that they were going to be scandalised if you decided it was not for you.

Religion was new to me. Yes, I had been baptised as a baby, but no one in our family had been in church after that.

And so, the members of the Christian Union were the first Christians I met.

I gradually realised how lucky I was.

Since getting ordained, I have come to understand that too often people who go to Church do fit the categories that woman assigned. In some cases, you wonder why they bother, save that it is a relatively cheap social club. In other cases, you meet Christians who have made the bar for entry out to be so high that outsiders feel they cannot attain it, and so it cannot be for ‘the likes of them’. Half-grateful for the excuse, they walk away.

The Pauline Meetings slice past the unhelpful dichotomy of Christian hobbyists and Christian fanatics.

Yes, the Meetings ask you to take this seriously, for to take the question of God with appropriate seriousness should lead to genuine awe from time to time. But also, Meetings’ leaders have always been aware that you cannot (and should not) pressure teenagers to make an intellectual acceptance of certain cognitive statements about Jesus. All you can do is lay out an environment in which encounters with the Holy Spirit are possible. This has some wonderful fringe benefits: I do not think I have ever laughed quite so consistently as I did when I was on houseparties, for example. Happy times indeed.

In my parish ministry today, I try to shape an environment in which joyous Christian encounter is possible, but I do not want to make the entry barrier any higher than it needs to be. The Meetings taught me that, and I will be forever grateful.

Sam Hole (1997-2002) is vicar of St Luke’s and Christ Church, Chelsea.

I was a relative latecomer to membership of the Christian Union.

I did not get involved until the Lower Eighth – first beginning to go to the houseparties, then forming a regular pattern of attendance on Friday  31

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afternoons. Towards Christmas in my final year, I began to attend at Barnes on Sunday afternoons. A year after leaving school, I had a memorable time cruising through the Norfolk Broads on the boat trip.

And that was that. I did not continue as some of my friends did as an officer. Over my university years I was rather more involved in low church circles. But a seed had evidently been planted.

So, one Christmas in my mid-20s, tired of the theology and personal dynamics of the evangelical church in Camberwell in which I was worshipping, I headed instead to the neighbouring Anglo-Catholic parish. It is often said that visitors to a church decide within 30 seconds whether this is the place for them. In my case, that was certainly the case. I settled into that new church. Within a few years, I was on my way to ordination.

I have no doubt that the meetings played their part in that journey. They shaped me, however briefly, in a liturgical, liberal Christianity. Looking back over my initial years of work as a teacher and church youth worker, I am reminded that it was the meetings that gave me the initial experience of working with younger people. When I think of my contemporaries whose paths in adult life most closely resonate with mine, it is my friends through the Christian Union who first come to mind.

And then there was the Portsmouth project. Like so many others, it was through the meetings that I got involved in that week down in Portsmouth, leading a children’s camp alongside adults with physical disabilities. It was work unlike anything I had known before, with people whose experiences seemed at first glance worlds apart from mine. But I remember feeling from the outset that this was meaningful, valuable work. It also, of course, began a lifelong association of port with good times.

So, I have fond memories of the Christian Union. It shaped my faith in ways I barely appreciated at the time. And, perhaps most essentially, the meetings were fun.

I remember laughing, a lot. For all those people who have given up so much over the years to run the meetings, I am very grateful.

Theo Hobson (1985-90) is a theologian, religious journalist and an Atrium editorial board member.

Without the Christian Union, I do not think Christianity would have got under my skin, entering my blood. My parents were moderately churchgoing, but that probably was not enough. I would probably have drifted away from religion as a teenager.

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Instead, for a few years, I had a sense of belonging to a religious community of sorts – it was very formative.

In the summer before starting at School, I went on a houseparty. I adored the clubby vibe, the games, the traditions, the lingo, the gossip, the praying together in the dorm, the sing-songs with cocoa. It was bliss, like being at Hogwarts.

Every evening there was a service in the chapel, at which an ‘officer’ gave a talk. It was so much more fun than stuffy old church.

“I have no doubt that the meetings These impressive young played their part…they shaped men (of about nineteen!) me, however briefly, in a liturgical, would testify that their lives were committed to liberal Christianity.”

God, that they tried to be good Christians. They warned that being a Christian was not all fun, it meant a lot of effort, it meant daring to seem uncool. But this effort, this sacrifice was worth it: it gave one a ‘relationship with God’ (the key phrase).

At School it was a thrill to know lots of the older boys – even some prefects! The houseparty spirit was kept alive by Friday evening meetings at school and Sunday afternoon meetings in Ealing. I went back for more houseparties every summer and Easter holidays for the next few years.

But in my last couple of years at school the appeal faded. It was partly that I was a bookish free-thinking type, critical of all orthodoxies. I wanted to debate theology, and there seemed limited appetite for this at the Christian Union. So I drifted away, but not very far: I was still a believer in my way, and soon I was doing a further degree in theology, and then writing books and journalism about religion. It is all rooted in my exposure to the happy earnest piety of the Christian Union. Yes, it was a privileged, innocent all-boys bubble, but the Spirit can do its work even in such weird cultural spaces. 

PAULINE PERSPECTIVE

THE RISE OF THE

‘GAP YAH’

Omar Burhanuddin (2017-22) on the merits of taking a year off Mastery of Revolut cards. Rudimentary salsa moves.

Hot-potato-in-the-mouth accent. A newfound fetish for all things spiritual, following the models of John and George circa 1967.

These are just some of the traits commonly observed in that endearing species, the teenage Brit on their ‘Gap Yah’. Anybody unfamiliar with this breed, or eager for further description, should consult the video by the same name on YouTube. If you ever need conclusive proof that the well-travelled are not always worldly – two often conflated things – an encounter with these twits should suffice.

But what, pray, explains the emergence of such parasites? There are a few reasons. Your A Levels results might have exceeded all predictions, encouraging another go at university applications. You might enjoy the chance to travel (read: country-hop).

A gap year remains the only real chance to pause your ‘professional progression’ for a while without having to explain yourself to future 

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employers: it is a trodden path.

Whatever the reason there is a lot to be said for taking a year off between finishing school and beginning university.

Before I get to that, though, a word about what I have done. After holidaying with my family during the summer after A Levels, from August through April I worked in the St Paul’s School Development and Engagement Office (my first ever job). Fundraising and marketing, mostly. Following that, I took up a fellowship with the not-forprofit Project Rousseau in New York City from May through July. The role was from tutoring low-income students and running food and clothing distributions, to chaperoning cultural outings and assisting attorneys with asylum cases during the ongoing migrant crisis in the city. This is being fuelled by Putin’s war, the muchpublicised bussing of Latin American migrants from border states into Democratic cities, and the lesspublicised refugee crisis following the Western capitulation to the Taliban. The work was exhilarating, if occasionally emotionally taxing.

But, having interacted with people from all over the world – Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela and West Africa, to name a few (a veritable survey of global trouble spots) – I would not have had it any other way.

Now, my case for The Gap Year. I do feel that I have learned a lot since leaving school that, had I not taken a year off, would only have come to me much later. I can only speak from my own experiences, and at the risk of verging on the preachy, I encourage any and all of these opinions to be challenged as mere undergraduate trite. The nature of these reflections means they are primarily targeted towards my age group, specifically the incoming cohort of Old Paulines.

Everyone, however, is welcome to throw stones. With that out of the way, here are some of my key take-aways…

1

Suffering is bad for you.

If something hurts, it’s (almost always) not good for you.

Experience is nothing without reflection. By itself, pain may only embitter one’s character, not ennoble 34

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it (hence my main quibble with Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, authors I otherwise adore).

2

Without conscious effort, life can become surprisingly isolating very quickly.

At school, everybody sees each other every day. Everybody is on roughly the same ‘track’. Bonds are forged automatically, more or less. But as paths diverge later on, this ceases to be true. It becomes ever more important to steward your friendships proactively and go out of your way to maintain them. This requires serious, mutual commitment.

3

You cannot control how others feel.

Especially, perhaps, about you.

4

Work (professional, academic, or otherwise) and life are different things, and should be treated as such.

This one hit me especially hard, with my Eighth Form self a perverse freak who spent too many weekends up until 2am completing coursework weeks before the deadline. It turns out that work is never finite, but behaves like a gas, expanding to fill up whatever space you give it. It is up to you to decide what balance suits your pace and priorities. From there, it is all about compartmentalising. Once done for the day, your mind should be trained to disengage from work, however much more there is to face tomorrow.

5

Being friendly and being friends are not the same thing.

Any gig in an office should teach you this in no time.

6

When we are very young, the world loves us. When we are a little older, the world pretends to love us. At a certain point, the world stops pretending.

Very few people genuinely – genuinely – care about you, going out of their way to put your best interests first.

You can probably count them on one hand. This makes it even more important to be your best self for those who do care. Anger, irritability and disagreeableness are shown up as deeply immature behaviours (at least most of the time), for they

indicate a failure to recognise this truth. Equally though, you should free yourself from the fear of others’ (most likely non-existent) judgement.

Whilst terrifying, therefore, this condition can also be liberating.

7

Environment is everything.

You can be a very different person to different people and will shock yourself by how much your character depends upon the circles you surround yourself with. Choose diverse companions, and you will find out things about yourself – what you are capable of, what you can feel, what you find valuable – that will genuinely (and very often, pleasantly) surprise you.

8

Time is not money. It is far, far more valuable than that.

Accumulate memories, not possessions.

I defer to the late Martin Amis, one of my favourite modern authors, on this point. On romantic memories, he writes, “make sure you clench them in the fist of your mind, so you remember them later. They become very important…you spend quite a lot of time in the past, thinking of those moments… it’s like a pension for when you’re old”.

Omar

9

Well-developed emotional intelligence is much less common than you think.

Amongst many things, emotional intelligence involves two related areas.

Not only does it involve regulating how your emotions manifest externally (behaviour – most people eventually get the hang of this), but how they affect you internally (how you choose to spend your emotional energy). The latter is a process that can be done solo: journaling is best, I have found.

However, since it requires breaking down and analysing your thoughts (the whats and whys of how you feel), after which you are better placed to decide how to respond and act, a great conversation with somebody else is unmatched in helping you steward your emotional capital. Far, far fewer people can do that well. If done properly, good behaviour comes naturally. If not, it is a strain.

To the key point: would I have learned all these things anyway, had I gone to university this year? Perhaps, but I suspect much more slowly. For one, many of these points only reveal themselves in the world of work.

Far from dismissing the benefits of university, though, I believe I have

only gained a greater appreciation of them. Many people I have met, with pressing personal and professional commitments to attend to (often just to scrape by), simply have not had the luxury of time. But intellectual endeavour – reading, writing, studying, reflecting, debating – requires that precious commodity, historically reserved for the leisured classes. To have three or four years of time at your most potentially productive, where society economically supports you rather than the reverse, with oneself thereby unburdened from the stresses of adulthood simply to allow for the enriching of the mind? And for all that to be not merely socially accepted but encouraged and admired? That is a truly wonderful thing.

species proliferating in great numbers across the Global South.

It is definitely possible to waste a gap year. Without naming names, I have seen it done. Eschew careful planning – or at minimum, a few actionable ideas of how you will construct a basic routine – and it can derail into a directionless mess, leaving you well and truly behind your peers beavering away in their labs and libraries.

So, for me the argument is settled.

Planned carefully, and approached not as a temporary suspension of, but as an alternative avenue towards growth, a gap year can be life changing. Taking mine was one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

But my experience tells me another story. I only have to compare myself to who I was one year ago. Far less shy, I have proven to myself that I can speak to all sorts of people. My social circles have multiplied and diversified as a result. I have a better idea of what I value, particularly in relationships and, for when the time comes again, professionally. I am more cheerful and have developed strategies for keeping content no matter the ups and downs of that unpredictable butterfly, ‘happiness’. Best of all, I can better control my emotional energy, electing who and what – and who and what not – to care about.

Nor is the institution immune from its ecological costs, with the ‘Gap Yah’ 35

ET CETERA

I’ve Lost My Wife to Hammersmith’s River Rat Theo Hobson (1985-90) tells Furnivall’s story

Frederick Furnivall

Last year my wife decided she needed a hobby, and I have barely seen her since. She joined a rowing club. The club in question, Furnivall Sculling Club, is right opposite the School, and so it might be of interest to Atrium readers who are considering getting back on the water. Also, it is part of Hammersmith’s illustrious history.

You have probably idled away some pleasant hours in Furnivall Gardens, or at least passed by on your way to the Rutland or the Dove, and maybe you are vaguely aware that it is named after a Victorian philologist, philanthropist, and quite possibly philanderer. I first came across Frederick Furnivall when I read Simon Winchester’s book The Surgeon of Crowthorne, about a resident of Broadmoor who contributed definitions to the New English Dictionary.

Furnivall was the dictionary’s original editor, but he lost interest in the project. According to John Banville in a review of Winchester’s book, he was ‘a colourful character who had no intention of allowing the job to interfere with his devotion to teaching young waitresses from the ABC teashop in New Oxford Street to become skilful rowers of a racing boat of his own design.’

My wife is no teashop waitress, but in a sense, I feel that she is a long-distance recipient of Mr Furnivall’s attentions.

He was a man of many enthusiasms. Alongside his literary labours, including a parallel text edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, he co-founded the London Working Men’s College. He was also interested in the education of women, but their physical development interested him even more. He saw the chance to kill two birds with one stone.

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He had always been a keen oarsman.

In 1845, he launched the new type of narrow scull, and later started races on the Thames for sculling fours and eights. In 1896 he founded the Hammersmith Sculling Club, at first devoted to working-class girls. I am sure his intentions were pure, but messing around in boats is surely a hobby that throws people together in a rather unique way.

Furnivall’s literary chums included Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows, and he is thought to be the inspiration for the rowingmad Ratty.

I have been asked to mention that the club is recruiting rowers of all genders, classes and levels of competence. It is known as the friendliest of the rowing clubs, and the best value for money. Though it has an excellent gym and the latest rowing machines, it feels more like a quirky Oxbridge college than a slick sports club – unlike the bigger Putney clubs. You can join a crew or opt for social rowing – either way expert tuition is on hand. There is a genuinely inclusive feel: the novice and the dabbler are valued as highly as the wannabe Boat Race blues.

Above all, it is an excuse to spend a lot of time in the best bit of London, one of the only places where the city yields glimpses of a rural idyll, and an air of seaside freedom. I think that is chiefly what draws my wife there, a few times a week.

Asked to sum up the experience she points me to Ratty’s riverside rapture: “All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”  Tess Wickstead, Theo's wife

Furnivall Rowing

OLD PAULINE CLUB NEWS

St Paul’s Alumni Association News Ed Vaizey (1981-85) reviewed his two years as Old Pauline Club President at the AGM in June When our strategy was agreed in late 2020, the ambitious target across six areas was to update and improve: • our governance, • our relationship with St Paul’s School, • our engagement with OPs, • our communications offering, • the freehold structure at Thames Ditton and • alumni involvement at the OP sports clubs.

It was always going to be challenging to achieve the target and the pandemic has of course not made it any easier.

1. Governance – We now have a single committee with representation across alumni age groups and the Pauline community.

no longer possible. In summary, the strategy decision of gifting the freehold at Thames Ditton to the School remains in place, but there is uncertainty on the timeframe in which that strategy can be implemented.

6. Sport – Old Pauline cricket, football and rugby will continue to play sport at Colets for the foreseeable future, and it is very good to see the increase in playing numbers, particularly at the cricket and football clubs. A Cycling association has been started.

Finally, I would like to thank Brian Jones, Nick Brooks, Sam Turner and all the other members of the Executive Committee, and Ellie Sleeman and her team for their unstinting support. 

2. Relationship with St Paul’s School – The Club’s relationship with SPS has continued to improve, helped by more OPs being appointed as governors, by the governing body being represented on the Executive Committee and by alumni commitments to fundraising increasing led by the 150th Appeal. Over the 2 years more than £2.5m has been raised from OPs. Ed Vaizey, OPC President (2021-23)

3. Engaging with OPs – James Grant OP starts next week in the School's Development and Engagement Department with responsibility for Pauline relations. James will take the lead on networking, engaging and fundraising across the St Paul’s alumni community. This appointment has the potential to transform the OPC’s engagement across our membership. Simon Strauss is building on the successes in the New York area and is heading an initiative to reenergise the Club’s overseas network. The Earliest Vintage Lunch is now being held annually with over 100 in attendance.

Summer Drinks was held for the first time last week. The year group reunions are being restarted post-pandemic with over 250 attending earlier this month. The Professional Networks are meeting regularly with the Entrepreneurs’ tomorrow. Engagement is on the up.

4. Communications – Membership of our LinkedIn page is increasing. The monthly newsletter is being read by more alumni. Atrium now has an editorial board. The success of the LinkedIn page is the first step in developing the Club’s social media presence.

5. Colets – Progress has been slow due to several factors, including the pandemic and the School’s realisation that developing its western playing fields at the Barnes site is 37

OLD PAULINE CLUB NEWS

Appointments The OPC has three new Vice Presidents whose elections were approved at this year’s AGM. Harry Hampson (1978-83) is a parent of two OPs and is a current SPS Governor. He is one of the Global Chairs of Investment Banking and a member of the Executive Committee at J.P. Morgan.

Professor Stuart Russell OBE (1974-78) is a professor of computer science at the UC Berkeley and adjunct professor of neurological surgery at the UC San Francisco. He holds the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering at UC Berkeley, where he founded and leads the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence. He is the co-author of the textbook AI: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach used in more than 1,500 universities in 135 countries.

He gave the 2021 BBC Reith Lectures, on Living with Artificial Intelligence. Stuart was awarded the OBE in 2021 for services to artificial intelligence research.

The Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MBE, VR (1986-91) has been MP for Tonbridge and Malling since 2015 and is currently Minister of State for Security. Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist and as a public relations consultant in the Middle East. He also had a part-time role as an officer in the Territorial Army serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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New members of the OPC Executive Committee are Kut Akdogan, Simon Hardy and Dave Methuen.

Kut Akdogan (2001-06) runs Gaussian, a technology and services holding company. The companies he has founded and led in the past spanned MedTech (Hero Health), fintech (Visor), and worktech (Sapium Strategy).

Over the course of investing (Newton Three) and running incubators (Brainchild and Newton Three), he has advised companies on product, technology, transformation, organisation, operations and finance, across the MedTech, AI, Worktech, Robotics, SaaS, Industrials, and Hard Goods industries. Previously, he was a consultant at Bain and a theoretical aerospace engineer. He grew up in London before attending Princeton University.

Much of his philosophy and approach, professional and otherwise, centres around the symbiosis between the UK and the US.

Simon Hardy (1974-79) has retired from Nestle, having joined the company from Oxford in 1984. Work took him to the USA and to the group’s headquarters in Lausanne where his final appointment was as Global Head of Strategy Development. He is now living in London and runs a wine company from home, having taken a Wine and Spirits Education Trust Diploma in 2009. Simon has recently taken over as Chairman of The Old Pauline Trust and is a nonexecutive director of Colets.

Dave Methuen (1995-2000) is a Senior Director at CBRE, valuing commercial property in Central London. Amongst the clients is The Mercers’ Company property portfolio. He has played cricket for OPCC since he left the School and been on tours with the club to Barbados and Sri Lanka. He played rugby for the OPFC until it started to hurt too much. He attends the OPC/SPS Real Estate networking events and was previously a director of The Old Pauline Trust.

The Old Pauline Trust

Old Pauline Club

Apply to the new board for financial support for a life-changing project.

President J Withers Green

The Old Pauline Trust was set up in 1972, the centenary year of the Old Pauline Club. The Trust manages a substantial capital fund, the income from which is used to benefit members of the Club and the School.

The Trust makes awards of up to £500 to Old Paulines undertaking worthwhile projects around the world. Previous examples include volunteering for a leading human rights agency in Delhi, providing expertise in finance to a charitable organisation in Panama, a gap environmental project in Borneo and volunteer work with Mercy Ships in Africa. In addition, each year it finances the Thomas Clarkson award, the Old Pauline Club prize and the Old Pauline Club Shield (awarded to a Pauline in U8th who achieves distinction at national or international level). It makes contributions to support the School’s Summer Festival, funds portraits of retiring High Masters and maintains the War Memorial.

Financial support has been provided for School sports tours and other ventures. Old Pauline affiliated clubs (Rugby, Golf, Cricket and Soccer) benefit from regular Trust support to improve facilities or enable younger members to play a fuller part in their activities.

The Trust welcomes applications from individuals or societies for project grants– please scan the QR code. Please address applications and any questions to the Secretary, Sam Hyman (sam@hymanestates.com).

The Old Pauline Trust has recently appointed new directors to the Board.

Simon Hardy (1974-79), Chairman: Founder of Fitting Wines and previously marketing and business strategy professional at Nestlé in UK, USA and Switzerland; member of the Old Pauline Club Strategy Implementation Committee and co-opted for strategy on the OPC Executive Committee; past player for the Old Pauline Rugby Club and Extra A Captain.

Adrian Clark (1993-98): Head of Business Risk and Governance at Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management; past player for the Old Pauline Rugby Club and the Old Pauline Cricket Club.

Duncan Gordon-Smith (1984-89): Chemistry teacher at Graveney School in Wandsworth; Old Pauline Rugby Club 1st XV Captain 2000-01 and Chairman 2003-06, previous regular for the Old Pauline Cricket Club and a Vice President of the Old Pauline Club.

Marcus Grainger (1990-95): Partner at Piiq Risk Partners specialising in aviation insurance, an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and a Chartered Insurer. He played rugby for the Old Paulines for a decade.

The other directors of the Trust are Nick Brooks (1965-70) (Treasurer), Tim Cunis (1955-60), Charles Duckworth (1957-62), Sam Hyman (199297) (Secretary) and Peter King (1967-71) (Immediate Past Chairman).

Autumn 2023

Past Presidents C D L Hogbin, C J W Madge, F W Neate, Sir Alexander Graham GBE DCL, R C Cunis, Professor the Rt Hon the Lord McColl of Dulwich, The Rt Hon the Lord Baker of Dorking CH, J M Dennis, J H M East, Sir Nigel Thompson KCMG CBE, R J Smith, B M Jones, The Rt Hon the Lord Vaizey of Didcot Vice Presidents Professor D S H Abulafia CBE, T M Adeyoola, Rt Revd R W B Atkinson OBE, Professor M D Bailey, P R A Baker, R S Baldock, S C H Bishop, J R Blair CBE, N St J Brooks, R D Burton, W M A Carroll, Professor P A Cartledge, M A Colato, R K Compton, T J D Cunis, A C Day, S J Dennis MBE, Sir Lloyd Dorfman CVO, CBE, C R Dring, C G Duckworth, A R Duncan, J A H Ellis, R A Engel, D H P Etherton, The Rt Hon the Lord Etherton of Marylebone PC, Sir Brian Fall GCVO KCMG, N J Fitch, Sir Simon Fraser CMG, KCMG, GCMG, B R Girvan, The Rt Hon the Lord Godson of Thorney Island, T J R Goode, D J Gordon-Smith, Lt Gen Sir Peter Graham KCB CBE, The Rt Hon the Lord Greenhalgh of Fulham, Professor F D M Haldane, H A Hampson, S R Harding, R J G Holman, J A Howard, S A Hyman, S D Kerrigan, P J King, T G Knight, J W S Lyons, I C MacDougall, G C Matthews, Professor C P Mayer CBE, R G McIntosh, A R M McLean CLH, I C McNicol, J D Morgan, A K Nigam, N H Norgren, The Rt Hon George Osborne, Sir Mene Pangalos FRS, T B Peters, D M Porteus, R M Rayner, The Rt Hon the Lord Razzall of Mortlake CBE, The Rt Hon the Lord Renwick of Clifton KCMG, B M Roberts, J M Robertson, J E Rolfe, Professor S J Russell OBE , M K Seigel, J Sherjan, J C F Simpson CBE, D R Snow MBE, S Strauss, A G Summers, R Summers, J L Thorn, R Ticciati OBE, The Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MBE, VR, Sir Mark Walport FRS, Professor the Lord Winston of Hammersmith Executive Committee Jeremy Withers Green (President & Chairman of the Committee), Ed Vaizey (Immediate Past President), Sam Turner (Secretary), Nick Brooks (Treasurer), Kut Akdogan (30s Decade), Simon Hardy (Co-Opted, Strategy), Sam Hyman (Co-Opted, Surveyor), Brian Jones (Co-Opted, Nominations), Dave Methuen (40s Decade), Elizabeth Monro-Davies (Parent), Nog Norgren (50s Decade), Ali Palmer (Governor), Rishi Patel-Warr (20s Decade), Jehan Sherjan (Thames Ditton), Ellie Sleeman (Development), Simon Strauss (Overseas), Nick Troen (Staff and AROPS), Jack Turner (Sports), Neil Wates (Communication & Engagement) Nominations Committee Jeremy Withers Green (Chairman), John Dennis, Brian Jones, Peter King Strategy Implementation Committee Brian Jones (Chairman), Nick Brooks, Michael Colato, Simon Hardy Sports Committee Jack Turner (Chairman), Rob Rayner, Jehan Sherjan, Nick Troen Advisory Council John East (Chairman) David Abulafia, Richard Atkinson, Peter Baker, Simon Bishop, Jon Blair, Paul Cartledge, Michael Colato, Ross Compton, Richard Cunis, Tim Cunis, Alan Day, John Dennis, John Ellis, Robert Engel, Brian Fall, Simon Fraser, Dean Godson, Mike Graham, Stephen Greenhalgh, Harry Hampson, Richard Holman, Peter King, Charles Madge, Alan McLean, Jon Morgan, Francis Neate, Robert Rayner, Tim Razzall, James Rolfe, Mike Seigel, Nigel Thompson Archivist Kelly Strickland Accountants Kreston Reeves LLP Trustee OPC Trustee Company Limited

39

OLD PAULINE CLUB NEWS

OPC Events New York

The Old Paulines and Paulinas in New York organized three events in the first half of 2023.

The annual Betsy’s Ball, the February “beat the winter blues” evening was hosted by Betsy Morris, wife of the late Jamie Morris (1959-63).

In January and June, a dozen Old Paulines, Paulinas and guests gathered for lunches in the grand Main Dining Room at the University Club in New York.

The OP New York social gurus, led by Jaime Felber (1999-2004) and James Ritchie (2011-16), have organized monthly drinks evenings beginning Wednesday 9 August.

There will be a reservation at Jaime’s establishment, Pretty Ricky’s, at 101 Rivington Street, New York NY 10002 at 7pm on the 2nd Wednesday of every month.

Summer Drinks

Neil Wates (1999-2004) and Toby Ejsmond Frey (2001-06) hosted the OPC Summer Drinks at their Friendship Adventure Brewery and Taproom. The evening provided a great opportunity for OPs to meet in a laid-back setting and to enjoy the award-winning craft beer and some live jazz.

Reunions

It was a pleasure to welcome OPs back to the School site for the first Pauline reunions since 2019.

From 8-10 June, those celebrating 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 years since leaving St Paul’s were invited to visit the School, reunite with old friends and staff members, and tour the modern buildings.

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Cotter Cruickshank Lecture Earliest Vintage Lunch

Old Paulines who left the School on or before July 1973 were invited to attend the 2023 Earliest Vintage Lunch, held at the School on Thursday 30 March.

Attendees enjoyed a light-hearted afternoon and were entertained by the speaker, Lord Razzall of Mortlake (1957-62). The OPC President, Lord Vaizey of Didcot (1981-85), was in the Chair and proposed the toasts. Grace was said before lunch by Hugh Mead (Common Room 1966-86).

Professor Tim Rood (1982-86) delivered the 2023 Cotter Cruickshank lecture, in which he reflected on the ambivalent, shifting position of the Classics in Edwardian Britain. Alongside Head of Classics, Robert Taylor, he encouraged us to ponder the importance of studying Latin and Greek for the timeless insights into the ‘human story’ that they can reveal.

OLD PAULINE SPORT

Upcoming Events 2023

12 October OPC Annual Dinner 18:30 at School 17 October New York lunch with the High Master 12:00 at The Harvard Club 10 November Remembrance Service 10:45 at School 22 November A celebration of St Paul’s Rowing, 18:00 at The Watermens’ Hall 25 November Wessex Branch Lunch 12.30 at the White Hart Hotel, Salisbury

2024

CRICKET Jack Turner (2008-13) reports Looking to build on the successful relaunch in 2022 of a 3rd XI and with the 1st and 2nd XI maintaining their highest ever league positions in Surrey Championship Division 4, the OPCC welcomed two new captains at the start of the 2023 season. Upneet Arora (Honorary OP) and Oscar Jefferson (2010-15) took on the 1st and 3rd XIs respectively while James Grant (1990-95) took over from Tom Peters (1989-1994) as Club Chairman. Chris Berkett (2006-10) stood down as 1st XI Captain after seven successful seasons.

After a rain affected start which sadly saw two matches against St Paul’s cancelled, the league season eventually got underway in mid-May and saw very different seasons across the three sides. The 3rd XI was unbeaten going into the last few matches of the season and hunting promotion but fell agonisingly short with a loss in the last match. The 1st XI and 2nd XI fought hard but were both relegated to Division 5. This was particularly cruel to the 2nd XI who won their final three games in style.

Some superb contributions set up some memorable wins. Charlie Claisse hit a century in a 3rd XI win, while Freddie Eltringham (2015-20) scored a century off 75 balls in an unbeaten 5th wicket partnership of 160 to give the 1st XI victory against Old Kingstonians.

The club has fielded well over 50 Old Paulines this season with leavers from each of the last four decades playing. If you would like to get involved for the 2024 season, please email turner.jack2@googlemail.com

5 February St Paul’s Feast 17:00 at St Paul’s Cathedral and Mercers’ Hall 28 March Earliest Vintage Lunch 12:00 at School

3rd XI after their 1 wicket win vs. Hampton Wick

41

OLD PAULINE SPORT

FOOTBALL Jehan Sherjan (1989-94) reports.

It has been another successful season for OPAFC, though on reflection it was a case of small margins that separated us from even greater glory on the pitch.

The 1st XI built on last season’s cup success with a strong league campaign, agonisingly missing out on promotion by a goal difference of 1 on the final day. They also narrowly lost in the semi-final of the AFC Challenge Cup as they sought to retain last season’s silverware. The quality of football they played bodes well for next season.

The 2nd XI continued to develop their squad and finished third on goal difference, which was enough to secure them promotion to Division One South. They were also denied at the semi-final stage of their LOB Cup campaign, through a combination of administrative technicalities and some questionable selection tactics from the opposition.

The 3rd XI enjoyed excellent availability, which was matched by some suitably entertaining football, helping them to finish 6th in their league.

The squad is already looking forward to building on this season’s success under a new captain.

In their debut season in a vets league the more experienced members of OPAFC started brightly but struggled to compete with some of the stronger clubs as the season progressed. They look forward to building on this experience for next season's league campaign.

Off the pitch, OPAFC scooped two awards at the 2023 AFA Recognition Awards. The Wilkinson Sword trophy recognised the club for exhibiting the ethos of the AFA, whilst the magnificent facilities at Colets saw us win the Grounds Team of the Year.

Special thanks are owed to Jack Wellby (2000-05) and Max Gordon-Brown (2006-08), who stepped down from many years of sterling service as Secretary and Fixture Secretary respectively. Both have made huge contributions to the running of the club on and off the pitch.

OPAFC is planning on adding another Saturday XI and welcomes players of all abilities to join in – either through summer training or by contacting with Ciaran Harries ciaran.harries@btinternet.com

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Brothers Ben and Jack Turner receive the Summer Meeting Foursomes tankards from Captain Nigel Williams

GOLF James Grant (1990-95) reports.

The Old Pauline Golfing Society has had a successful season so far. This includes a superb effort by Charlie Prior's Halford Hewitt team, at a wet and windy Royal St Georges and Royal Cinque Ports, Deal. The team beat Sherborne and Glenalmond (schools ranked far higher than St Paul’s) before falling to Dulwich at Deal on the Saturday.

We finished 2nd in the Public Schools Putting tournament but did not quite qualify for the Grafton Morrish finals. Charlie Prior will take over from Chris Vallender (1960-64) for both competitions from 2024 onwards, and we thank Chris for his excellent work over the years as player and organiser.

Matches have included wins against St Paul’s School, King’s Wimbledon and Old Amplefordians, while we tied with Old Uppinghamians to retain the Aviator Trophy.

Our Spring Meeting was held at Betchworth Park GC, with Oliver Gilford (2006-11) winning the handicap competition and James Grant the Scratch. The Summer Meeting at Hayling Island saw Jack Turner (2008-13) win the Mercers Cup Stableford competition and Sayers Cup scratch prize, with an impressive gross 78. As if that was not enough, Jack also won the afternoon foursomes prize, along with his brother Ben (2012-17).

Our Meetings are open to OPs, Old Paulinas, SPS Teachers and guests. The Autumn Meeting was at Wyke Green and the Winter Meeting will be at West Hill on 2 November.

New members are always welcome and for more information about joining our friendly society, please email Hon. Secretary James Grant on jsg@stpaulsschool.org.uk

RUGBY Tim Morris (1983-88) reports.

2022/23 has been yet another good campaign. The 1st XV finished an impressive third in the league, losing out to two teams who had both dropped down from higher leagues as part of a broader restructure. We were strongly in the frame for a second consecutive promotion, before injuries took their toll and a couple of the big games narrowly got away from us. We saw the 2nd XV claim a notable win against Harlequin Amateurs, as well as finishing runners up in the Surrey Combination 2 Final. The Vets enjoyed a balanced season, mostly noted by a series of Friday night fixtures.

Twenty-six Old Paulines represented the club throughout the season, amassing an impressive 150 appearances by alumni. Significant contributions were made by Sam Attfield (2013-18), Theo Moreland (2014-19), Max Hart (2013-18), the Elway brothers (2009-21) and Edan Baines (2014-19) to name a few. It has been particularly pleasing this year to see many of the younger players gain recognition at the end-of-season awards dinner for their on-field achievements and contribution across the squads.

So on we march into a new season full of optimism, winning the Bowl at the

Chiswick 7’s in July setting us on our way.

The 1st XV will continue in the Surrey leagues with the first league fixture scheduled for 16 September, at home against Guildfordians. We also look forward to hosting the annual School vs previous year’s leavers game in December – a fixture that was unfortunately cancelled last year due to the weather.

ULTIMATE FRISBEE Alumni win an Ultimate Frisbee match against the School.

Ultimate Frisbee is fast growing in popularity at St Paul's with over twenty 8th Formers playing. On Wednesday 28 June the School was delighted to welcome back the 2022 first team for a training session followed by a match against the current first team squad. There was some hotly contested sibling rivalry between the Hitchcock brothers (Archie and Will) and the Davies brothers (Billy and George), but in the end the extra experience of the OPs made the difference, as they won 8-5. It was great to see them and hear tales of university-level ultimate frisbee, with several of the OPs already playing for their universities’ first and second teams.

OP Team: Senan Bottomley, George Davies, Nick Haas, Sandro Enukidze, Ben Roberts, Rana Sarin, Will Hitchcock, Rory McDowell, Rehman Oomer (All 2017-22)

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COLETS New Opportunities At the core of the success of Colets Health & Fitness lies its longestablished connection to St Paul’s School. Founded by devoted alumni, their vision was to create a space where alumni could reunite, enjoy sports, and access luxury fitness facilities.

Today, this vision is a reality, with Colets continuing to embrace the local community and the Old Pauline teams whilst striving to further develop its offering to meet the growing demands of its members.

With a rich history dating back to the 1920s, Colets proudly hosts the Old Pauline Rugby, Football, and Cricket teams, providing a home for their matches on its award-winning grounds. Under new management, Colets is committed to the Old Pauline's sporting heritage and setting new standards for both the Grounds and Health Club.

Already renowned for its two-storey gym, 25m swimming pool, four fitness studios offering over 150 classes weekly and six squash courts catering to players of all levels, Colets envisions even greater potential. For example, the recently refurbished “Basil’s at Colets” serves as a vibrant bar and kitchen for hosting a variety of social events, notably the popular “Comedy at Colets” nights featuring internationally acclaimed acts like Hal Cruttenden (1982-87), and inspirational speaker engagements such as the one given by rugby legend, Shaun Edwards.

Colets’ services extend well beyond the Gym, from pre-school childcare and junior activities to outdoor fitness classes and specialised active aging programmes. Explore the various ‘Clubs within the Club’, such as the VC Colets cycling group celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and the 10+ teams participating in the Surrey squash leagues each season. With an array of diverse opportunities, Colets warmly invites you to explore all the possibilities and discover a world beyond the Gym.

Bringing Colets to you …

Colets is only 30 minutes from Central London and then a short two-minute walk from Thames Ditton station.

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to watch Old Pauline Sport, joining us for our social events or considering membership, we would love to welcome you.

Alumni and their partners are already entitled to a membership discount of over 30% and there is no Joining Fee to pay. If you want to learn more, enquire via info@colets.co.uk or call our reception team on 020 8398 7108.

But we would like to do more…

As the fitness market continues to reinvent itself, the focus on health has never been stronger, with many of our members recognising the genuine relationship between physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.

With that in mind we would like to get your feedback on our latest initiative that brings Colets even closer to you.

As part of our member’s journey, we have been exploring different ways to keep members engaged – whether taking a break from their membership, travelling or just unable to visit the Club as regularly as they would like.

Via our new website, we are putting together a compelling portfolio of services for a nominal monthly fee, no strings attached. Included in this membership would be unlimited access to digital content from our

partner Les Mills, educational fitness and nutrition content, booking privileges for social events, plus product and service discounts from our Health and Fitness affiliates.

Whether you are cheering for the Old Paulines sports teams, attending social events, or considering membership, Colets welcomes you with open arms.

With its commitment to enriching lives through Sports, Social activity, and Health and Wellbeing, Colets truly appreciates your support so we can build a stronger community together.

coletshealthclub.co.uk We would be interested in getting your feedback on our ‘Colets@home’ membership and would be grateful if you would take part in our survey.

Simply scan the QR code here to take part.

OBITUARIES

In Memoriam David K Anslow (1954-59) Stephen A Basham (1957-62) Robin M Boddington (1948-52) Sir David W Brewer KG, CMG, CVO, JP (1955-58) Philip D Buddell (1956-61) Louis M Davis (1940-44) Peter D Englander OBE (1965-69) Robin S Excell (1954-60) Geoffrey P (Geoff) Finch (1950-55) Dennis R Frank (1930-33) Peter L Graham (1960-63) Alex J Harris (Former Deputy Manager of Colets) Hilary R Haydon (1945-50) Graham R Hollins (1977-82) Giles T Holman (1960-64) Fiona Huggett (Former Peripatetic Music Teacher at Colet Court/St Paul’s Juniors, 2005-2023) Jeremy S Jasper OBE (1943-46) Claus M (Michael) Kauffman (1943-48) David E M Kemp (1946-51) Peter J Kennett (1944-48) Richard S Lister (1959-63)

Dennis R Frank (1930-33)

Dennis Frank, formerly the oldest living Pauline, died in June 2023 at the age of 105. He and my father were lifelong friends.

Dennis grew up in Hampstead and attended The Hall and Peterborough Lodge preparatory schools before entering St Paul’s in 1930. He enjoyed the School but his time there was cut short by the early death of his father.

His father had a business making and selling men’s ties. In those days there was less emphasis on going to university and sons were often expected to enter their fathers' businesses whether they wanted to or not. Dennis's mother took him out of the School to help with the business when he was only sixteen. Dennis felt aggrieved that when he went to find the High Master to say that he had to leave, the High Master, perhaps understandably, had no time to give Dennis the customary farewell interview because he was on his way to teach classics to an Upper Eighth Class.

Dennis was commissioned into the Royal Signals in the Second World War and served in Italy and Austria.

Dennis played Golf with the Old Pauline Golfing Society and was an honorary life social member of Sudbury Golf Club.

Dennis spent his last years in a residential home in Golders Green and spent much time playing the piano. He lived to a great age, outliving all the other residents. He remained in excellent health and was always pleased to receive birthday cards from the Old Pauline Association after his hundredth birthday. His health remained good until the very end. He was 105 and would have been 106 in July. He became ill towards the end of June and was taken into hospital where he spent only a day and a night before his life ended. A visitor on his last day tried to encourage him by telling him to “keep buggering on”, to which Dennis replied, “bugger off !” and passed away.

Michael Orlik (1957-62)

Edward Lyons (1949-54) Michael J P Marks CVO, CBE (1955-58) John B (Bernie) Maycock (1952-56) David A Newton-Smith (1954-58) Michael L Oliver (1946-47) John S Riddalls (1962-64) John M Rye (Former School Porter, 1977-99) Geoffrey M S (Geoff) Scott (1961-66) William R (Bob) Skeat (Former Master, 1975-2000) Laurence M (Lance) Slater (1951-55) Robert H L Watkins (Former Master, 1974-99) Geoffrey L Wilson (1938-42) Anthony J Winner (1945-49)

Issue of The Graphic, 1932, depicting life at St Paul’s while Dennis was at school

45

OBITUARIES

Stephen A Basham

Roger L Earl

Ralph R M Ehrmann

Born in 1942, Stephen arrived at St Paul’s from Durston House, in Ealing in 1957.

He took an active part in school life from the start and always appreciated the opportunities and the good grounding St Paul’s gave him for the future. He was a keen sportsman and his main sport was rowing. He started as a cox, being fairly slight of build, but after two years he graduated to sculling and finally to an eight where he rowed at number three.

When Stephen left school, he joined the family advertising and staff recruitment business but after four years he decided he wanted to see more of the world. He went first to Australia where he joined an advertising agency in Sydney for a year before travelling through to India and Tibet on his way home to the UK. He joined another advertising agency in London before ending his career owning a printing business which satisfied his entrepreneurial flair.

Throughout his life, Stephen had many and varied interests including sailing and cruising on holiday to various parts of the world. He was a good pianist and an astute Bridge player. He was playing tennis and golf twice a week until a fortnight before he passed away.

He was an active member of the Old Pauline Lodge being a Past Master and Secretary for many years.

Stephen and Nancy were married in 1971 and had two daughters and a son – Charlotte, Harriet and Rupert.

Subsequently they had eight grandchildren who all gave Stephen great joy.

David Basham (1954-58), brother

Roger Lawrence Earl truly lived life to the full. He was utterly unique: a true force of nature and he is hugely missed.

Roger won a scholarship to St Paul’s, and felt indebted to them for how they crafted, guided and educated him while never stifling aspects of his personality that served him so well later in life.

His career was spent in the insurance market, his key role being at Fenchurch where one of his business partners sums it up so well: “For me, and so many others, it was the best day of our professional lives when we ran into Roger”.

Roger supported many causes including the RAF Benevolent Fund, Fly Navy and the 11EOD Felix fund. He had a passion for music and sport, playing the trumpet in a band and continued to enjoy many Jazz gigs and Lord’s cricket matches with his daughter Meredith into his 80s.

But most important to Roger was his family. Just before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughters in which he said: “Don’t mourn me, be happy to celebrate my life – it’s been long and truly wonderful.

I’ve enjoyed everything I could have dreamt of, the support of a fabulous and ever beautiful and loving wife and best friend, of my equally extra special and much adored daughters and my lovely grandsons, and son in law; an exceptional circle of true, loyal friends, several of them heroes from the Greatest Generation; an almost total absence of enemies; travelled the world; raced a Formula 1 car and a D Type at the greatest circuits on the planet; ‘done’ the Mille Miglia; flown in a Spitfire, missed out only on a flight in a Lancaster (but I guess something had to give!); and have been wholly fulfilled in a long and fruitful business life. So, smile for me, laugh and don’t cry, no man could have asked for more!"

Earl family and friends

Ralph was born in 1925 in Leipzig, into a German-Jewish family. With the rise of Nazism, the family moved to London in 1933 and became British citizens in 1939. He attended St Paul’s for a relatively short time, joining his elder brother Gus, and completing his Matric at the young age of 15. He was evacuated with the whole school to Crowthorne when war broke out. Ralph completed his studies before volunteering to join the RAF. “Airman Ehrmann” trained as a bomb aimer-navigator only for his aircraft to crash on its last training flight in 1944.

Following demobilisation, he worked with SG Warburg Merchant Bank where his speciality was turning around manufacturing companies. This took him to Airfix, a struggling plastics company, where he suggested that the company should diversify into making modelling kits using the new plastic polystyrene imported from America. The kits were a huge success and Ralph soon found himself in the public eye as the face of the toy industry. In the late 1960s and 1970s, he served as chairman of the British Toys and Hobbies Association.

After almost 30 years at Airfix, Ralph and his wife Inge moved to the US where he ran a small conglomerate, Clabir. Following retirement and the arrival of grandchildren, Ralph and Inge were drawn back to the UK. He remained active, spending time at the Institute of Directors mentoring young entrepreneurs, collecting modern art, and chasing after his grandchildren.

Ralph married Inge in 1955. She had lived in South Africa since the 1930s and, like him, had been born in Germany. Their happy and fulfilling partnership lasted 66 years and both were devoted to their children, Philip, Helen, and Alexandra – all of whom attended St Paul’s/St Paul’s Girls’ School – and their grandchildren.

He and Inge bore the tragedy of the loss of their daughter Helen (married to Simon Rooms 1973-78)) to cancer in 1997 with a fortitude that belied their deep sorrow.

Philip Ehrmann (1972-77), son

(1957-62)

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(1954-57)

(1939-40)

The photograph attached to Peter’s school leaver’s report

Sir David W Brewer KG, CMG, CVO, JP

Peter L Graham

Peter D Englander OBE

Sir David Brewer, who died in May aged 83, was successively Lord Mayor of London and Lord Lieutenant of Greater London before being appointed a Knight of the Garter.

David William Brewer was born in Luton in May 1940 to parents both of Cornish descent. His father, Dr Hugh Francis Brewer, was a clinical pathologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital specialising in blood transfusion; his mother, Elizabeth, née Nickell-Lean, sang with the D’Oyly Carte opera company.

Brought up in Hampstead, David was educated at St Paul’s School and the University of Grenoble before joining what was then Sedgwick Collins in 1959.

David spent his working life with Sedgwick, the City insurance broker, and latterly with its US parent, Marsh (which bought Sedgwick in 1998), specialising in developing the group’s Asian businesses.

Having joined as a teenager in 1959, he completed his half-century when he was Marsh UK’s Vice-Chairman from 2007 to 2009.

Genial, courtly, voluble and energetic, Brewer went on to be Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London from 2008 to 2015 – fulfilling a vast number of public and royal engagements, including the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012 and was awarded a Garter Knighthood in 2016.

His involvement in the life of the City and its liveries had begun early, when he was apprenticed to the Merchant Taylors’ at the age of 14, his father’s forebears having worked in the drapery trade. He was Master of the Company in 2001-02.

David loved music and listed his recreations as “golf, mechanical gardening, chocolate and paronomasia”, the latter being a love of punning. He was a Vice President of the Old Pauline Club.

In 1985, David married Tessa Jordá, daughter of the Spanish-American orchestral conductor Enrique Jordá, who survives him with their daughters Olivia and Gabriella.

Adapted from the obituary published in The Daily Telegraph on 4 July 2023

Peter Graham was born in London. From his earliest days he was plagued by ill health and aged 7 was sent to school in the Swiss mountains to benefit from the cleaner air. Following his brother Anthony, he joined Colet Court in September 1955, boarding for five years and leaving with a junior scholarship to St Paul’s. Peter enjoyed fencing and won a style prize in his first year. He fenced for the colts team until a pulled hamstring ended his brief sporting career. He was awarded a senior scholarship in 1962 and left in December 1963, having won several form prizes.

Peter took up a place at Magdalene College, Cambridge to read History.

After a few weeks, he decided to switch to Economics, a subject of which he knew very little. In his first year he was surprised to achieve the highest grade in that tripos of anyone in his college. He stayed on to take an LLB. Peter was awarded an exhibition at the end of his second year and a scholarship at the end of his fourth.

After graduating, Peter joined the firm of Norton, Rose, Botterell & Roche, qualifying as a solicitor in 1971 and becoming a partner in 1977. He remained at the firm for almost 30 years. In 1999, he joined Paisner & Co as a consultant and remained there until retirement in 2017. He was a member of the Law Society’s company law committee for 27 years, serving the last two as committee chairman. He also served on numerous government and external committees relating to company law reform.

After retirement, Peter devoted his time to family matters; reading; listening to and sponsoring recordings of opera and other classical music; and coin collecting (he had founded a numismatic society at St Paul’s). Peter had an irrepressible sense of humour. He leaves his wife Susan and son Edward and is much missed by his family and many friends.

Susan Graham, widow

Peter Englander was a devoted family man who was known for his integrity, generosity, compassion and moral compass. He was a mentor, advisor and friend to many, and was always generous with his time. Despite being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2018, he lived a full and active life up until the last few months, including memorable family holidays, skiing in the Alps and on safari in Kenya.

Peter also lived to see his two eldest sons marry and to meet his two baby grandsons. We are so grateful for that.

The friendships he made at St Paul’s lasted a lifetime. The following obituary was written by Peter himself, on 21st June 2021.

While Peter did not stand out academically or on the sports field at St Paul’s, he always considered that the School gave him an excellent educational background which enabled him to succeed subsequently.

From St Paul’s, he graduated from Manchester University with a first-class degree in chemical engineering. After working for Air Products, he won a Kennedy Memorial Scholarship to study management at MIT. After completing the course, Peter joined Boston Consulting Group, working in Boston and London before leaving to study part time for a PhD in ‘Innovation in the Telecommunications Industry’. He was awarded his doctorate in 1985.

He joined Apax Partners, a venture capital fund, on its formation in 1981. The first fund raised £10 million. The most recent fund £10,000 million. Peter stayed with Apax for 30 years, serving on the Investment and Approval Committees.

Whilst at Apax, Peter set up and chaired the Apax Charitable Foundation, the largest of its kind in Europe.

In 2019, Peter was awarded an OBE for his philanthropy. Peter served as Chairman of Bridges, a social investment fund until 2019 and as a Trustee of The Kennedy Memorial Trust until 2022. However, the achievement he was most proud of was his marriage to Leanda for 38 years and their three wonderful sons, Simon, Tom and William.

Peter (1965-69) followed his father, Geoffrey (1928-31) and was succeeded by his youngest son, William (2009-14) at St Paul’s.

Leanda Englander, widow

(1955-58)

(1960-63)

(1965-69)

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OBITUARIES

Hilary R Haydon

Graham R Hollins

David E M Kemp

Hilary Haydon, who died on June 7th aged 91, spent the last 27 years of his life as a Brother of Charterhouse. His training for this role started at Colet Court, now St Paul’s Juniors, and then at St Paul’s.

Possibly the least sports-minded boy ever to have passed through the School, he did admit to having enjoyed shooting whilst in the school’s CCF. It suited him, he said, right down to the ground. “You lie on your tummy, as still as possible, and then, with your index finger, attempt to make the most infinitesimally tiny movement possible.” Despite what the boys of the late 1940s were told, he always said, being in the CCF proved absolutely no help whatsoever during national service. He then studied Moral Philosophy at Trinity Hall, Cambridge on a scholarship. From Trinity Hall he went to another institution characterised by quads, rooms off stairs, communal meals, wood panels and a Master – Gray’s Inn. In 1959 he married Australian journalist Judith Whitlock and, with family in mind, they moved to Broadstairs in Kent, where he took up a post at Kingsgate College teaching law for the Workers’ Education Association. When the WEA ceased operations at Kingsgate in the early 1970s, Hilary commuted to London to work for, successively, the P&I Clubs, Holborn Law Tutors and Hambros Bank, finally returning to the practicing bar for a brief spell at the newly formed Canterbury Chambers before retiring.

Widowed in 1993, Hilary joined his last wood-paneled institution with a Master, The Charterhouse, in November 1996.

This was an ideal base for him to explore his great passion, London, about which he had an extensive library and an even more extensive knowledge. He made an ideal Charterhouse Brother. Widely travelled, Hilary preferred the inaccessible to the well-trodden, counting Hoxha’s Albania and North Korea amongst his more unusual destinations. Hilary leaves a son, Peter, and a daughter, Katharine.

Peter Haydon, son

Graham attended both Colet Court and St Paul’s, before graduating from Jesus College, Oxford (1983-86), MA (Hons) in Zoology. He was gregarious and full of life, so the marketing world was an obvious choice including time with the likes of L’Oreal, Reckitt & Colman, Unilever, and eventually his own consultancy company.

He was a passionate sports supporter as well as rugby player for the Old Paulines and Harlequins. Sports led him to become the Group Product Manager for Lucozade Sport before he moved to Sydney and there became Head of Marketing for the Australian Rugby Union.

This period enhanced his support for England! His other passion was travel with a couple of world tours, and delivering corporate training in several countries, visiting nearly 100 over his life. One of these trips was with his girlfriend, Susie.

They settled in Sydney in 1995 but decided to separate although remained friends. It is fair to say that Graham was not the easiest person to live with.

Graham returned to London and became a very passionate, and vocal, supporter of the Harlequins. The link with the team goes back to our father who was Physio of the team from the late 1950s when rugby was amateur.

In 2016, Graham was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour. Surgery followed and he was able to continue to travel for training and sport, combining Lions tours and World Cups. Unfortunately, the tumour continued to grow, and in November 2019 he had a stroke. After a couple of years, which included hospital, rehab plus COVID delays, he took up an invitation to return to Sydney and stay with Susie. During the couple of years that followed they grew closer and, even though wheelchair bound and struggling to communicate, they married in April 2023. This was to be a short marriage with his death in June. He is survived by his wife, stepsons and brother.

Bill Hollins (1968-73), brother

At St Paul’s, David was a school Prefect, Captain of H Club, an Under Officer in the CCF and a member of the 1st XV and 3rd XI. After National Service, during which he served in Nyasaland and on operations in Malaya, he worked for four years in Baghdad, where he met his wife Nicola.

Returning to the UK after the Iraq Revolution in 1958, he worked for Gestetner Ltd for several years, and then joined Rank Xerox Ltd, with whom he stayed for the rest of his career in sales, sales management and marketing, retiring in 1987.

On retiring he moved to East Devon, where he had owned a home since 1972, and spent many happy years with his wife and children. All in all, as he said, it was a very happy, very contented, very fortunate life.

He died on 18th March 2023, aged 90.

Alexandra Chase, daughter

(1945-50)

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(1977-82)

(1946-51)

Peter J Kennett (1944-48)

Known as Peter Kovacs at St Paul’s, he was born in Berlin before his parents emigrated to London. Peter attended the Hall School in Hampstead, before gaining a scholarship to St Paul’s.

He loved his time at St Paul’s, representing the School at rowing and was very active in the debating society (a passion for political debate that he maintained through his life). But it was the love of history and politics where SPS left its strongest mark. The inspiring lessons from Phillip Whiting and the discussions in the History VIIIth, created a lifelong interest (and resulting library) that Peter held to his final days.

After military service and a change of family name, Peter studied Economics, Politics and History at the LSE, where he was Captain of Boats. In his final student days, he met Christine Minns and, after qualifying as a chartered accountant, proposed marriage. 65 years of happy marriage and three children, followed.

After qualification, Peter worked at various stock brokers and merchant banks, before establishing PJ Kennett & Co Ltd, to identify and initiate mergers between West German and British companies. He ran this for 30 years, funding school fees, opera tickets and the pleasures of life.

Peter, Christine and the children, lived a vibrant life in Highgate. Along with the family, Peter’s great love was opera and theatre. He was very knowledgeable, with an extensive library of books, programmes and recordings. From 1947 to 2018 he saw every opera production performed at Covent Garden.

He shared his love of theatre and opera with his children from an early age, and in retirement Peter and Christine would travel around Europe and the US to attend the latest productions.

Peter’s was a life well led; a life of strong and lifelong interests and views that he shared until his final days, with excitement, joy and passion.

Nick Kennett (1973-78), son

David M Rollitt

Teacher of Mathematics and Rugby Coach (1977-2015) David was born in Wakefield in 1943 and died peacefully in December 2022, four years after a Metastatic Prostate cancer diagnosis.

David attended Barnsley Holgate Grammar School and played rugby for Barnsley, Wakefield, and Yorkshire School sides. He graduated from Bristol with a BSc in Physics, followed by a Diploma in Education from Loughborough.

In 1964, he began teaching Physics and Mathematics at Colston’s School, Bristol, in the days before full-time professional rugby.

An unforgettable figure on the rugby field with his prematurely white hair (earning him the nickname, ‘Old Grey Fox’) and his all-action style of play, Dave was speedy in attack, a superb tackler in defence and supremely fit. David played in all three back row positions for England, picking up 11 caps between 1967 and 1975, and played 16 times for the Barbarians.

In 1977, David and the family moved to London where he joined St Paul’s. He taught a full timetable of Mathematics and managed rugby touring sides, taking them to destinations all over the world.

He also led numerous Pauline ski trips.

He was joined at St Paul’s by his wife, Shirley – the School’s Head Science Technician for 20 years. The couple organised multiple fundraising events over the years for Paulines who could not afford to take part in rugby tours.

Before retirement, Dave took a term’s sabbatical to learn more about Australian rugby coaching, residing at Scots College and joining national coach Bob Dwyer and Jeff Sayle at Randwick RUFC. The result was an undefeated SPS side the following season.

David’s other major contribution was in raising a family with Shirley. He was a proud father to Pippa – a physiotherapist, and Eben (1986-91) – a former rugby player and now an Executive Director. In his spare time, Dave was a talented pianist, DIY specialist, and carpenter. David was a wonderful, devoted husband, father, grandfather and uncle, supporting us at every stage of our lives. Rest in peace, Old Grey Fox. Shirley Rollitt, widow

William R (Bob) Skeat

(Former Master 1975-2000) It is with great sadness that the family of William Robert “Bob” Skeat announced his death, on 9 April 2023, at the age of 83. He died peacefully at Kingston Hospital after a long and very courageous battle against pancreatic cancer. He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 59 years, Hazel, his son Chris, his wife Cate, and their two teenage sons Liam and Jake.

Bob joined the School staff in the Latin department of Colet Court in September 1975. He became a “first form” teacher for new boys joining in their third year, teaching “catch up” French and Maths on Saturday mornings in the 1980s. He remained at the prep school for 25 years, mainly teaching Latin, before retiring in 2000. For many years he taught in the same classroom on the first floor above the main entrance, known back then as 3S. He also taught Latin in St Paul’s senior school for a number of years.

Whilst at Colet Court, he enjoyed several trips as school leader of the ski expeditions to various resorts in France and Italy. He was a keen sports enthusiast and, whilst at the prep school, he completed numerous laps of Richmond Park for the Leonard Cheshire Homes and Royal Marsden charities on the sponsored school walks.

He was born in Westminster on 7 April 1940, attending St Clement Danes School in London in 1951. He went on to study Classics at St Andrews University in Scotland in 1958, graduating with an MA in 1962, teaching at Liverpool College and Lady Margaret’s School, Parsons Green, before his employment at Colet Court.

The funeral was held at St Anne’s Church on Kew Green, where he had been a parishioner for nearly 40 years, on 15 May 2023. If anybody wants to make any charitable donations, Bob chose The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and Kingston Hospital, who took such good care of him.

Chris Skeat (1980-85), son

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OBITUARIES

Laurence M (Lance) Slater

Henry J Roche

Anthony J Winner

Lance, youngest son of Ivy and Victor Slater, was a Londoner born and bred; he grew up around Shepherd’s Bush.

During the Blitz, he was evacuated with his older brothers, Geoffrey and David, to Pucklechurch near Bristol. Luckily for him, it was quite a pleasant experience.

On his return to London, Lance started school. He was very grateful for the education he received and was forever telling people that he went to St Paul’s.

In 1956, he was called up for National Service, during which he learnt Mandarin Chinese and spent a year in Hong Kong on military service. Afterwards, he came home and gained a BSc in Estate Management at London University.

Lance then worked in London for 20 years before specialising in commercial property in the Thames Valley area and eventually setting up his own business: Slater Associates, in Marlow.

Following two heart attacks in his 40s, he had a successful 4-way bypass operation in 2003, which was the start of official retirement but not inactivity.

A great sportsman and life-long supporter of Fulham FC, football and rugby were his first loves. He played football and squash until his heart attacks, after which he transferred to golf. He enjoyed playing a good round at Flackwell Heath Golf Club until September 2022.

Lance was an active member of the Marlow community and loved being involved in local matters. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Marlow, of which he was President in 1998, and a founding member and Vice President of Marlow Town Regatta and Festival.

He was also a member of Marlow Chamber of Trade, and took his turn at being President.

Lance was a very involved and happy family man. He had 3 daughters: Hilary, Gillian and Sarah, two step sons: Chris and Martin, two grandchildren: Holly and Tom, and wife Pauline.

Lance was loved by all who knew him: a one off, very special gentleman.

The Symes Family

Always appreciative of language’s structure, my younger brother Henry relished the rigorous Cotter-Cruickshank Greek-Latin regime at St Paul’s. He won a Classics Exhibition to Magdalene, Cambridge where he gained a prize for Latin Verse composition – spending the money on Solti’s Tristan recording. For his third year at Cambridge, he abandoned the evaluative questions of ancient literature for the reassuring precision of linguistics, telling me vividly about Indo-European genesis and of the various evidence for the Ancient Romans’ pronunciation. His typical literary tastes were Dornford Yates, Arthur Ransome and Sherlock Holmes.

His school Ancient History essay grades stuck at gamma. Once he really applied himself – but still got gamma: “I don’t know what they want!” he wailed.

“The Gracchi to Nero” never caught Henry’s imagination, and his underlying diffidence was not dispelled until, aged 24 (after 2 years’ teaching 11–13-year-olds at a private school in Ilkley), he joined The Royal College of Music to study piano under David Parkhouse (dates). Henry was inspiring to live with as he worked thoughtfully on building his technique to convey music’s power. “Music”, he said, “exists to make sense of life.”

He and I loved St Paul’s music under Ivor Davies (choir, wonderful hymns, lively orchestra) but the rigorous teaching programme which Henry needed was not available. Nevertheless, Ivor said Henry’s playing at a school concert of Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto was outstanding.

Well-liked as Head of Music Staff at the Royal Ballet, Henry savoured the expressive synthesis of Dance and Music. His solo piano performances there included Les Noces, Ondine, Rituals (Bartok) and Isadora. With the Ballet, he visited China, Australia, Brazil etc., where he would invite distant but appreciative (and hospitable!) cousins to the ballet. He fostered the life and music of Mendelssohn’s dear friend, our ancestor Moscheles, who had worked for and revered Beethoven. When I cooked spuds and fish for my brothers, Henry transfigured things, playing especially ballet scenes or Bach.

James Roche (1956-62)

Anthony Winner, who has died aged 88, had three different careers and loved them all. After he qualified as a chartered accountant his father fell ill, so he began running the family firm, the Gift Coupon Company (rivals to Green Shield Stamps).

From there he moved into retail and took over a chain of London shoe shops. One, in Leather Lane, appeared in the Paul Newman thriller The Mackintosh Man after Anthony lent Newman his office there.

Later, Anthony switched to life insurance, where he flourished by being honest and ethical in a business then notorious for hard-selling chancers.

Cleaning up the industry became a mission, and, in later roles with the Life Insurance Association, he influenced what became successive Financial Services acts. He also realised, with the Helm Godfrey partnership, his long-term dream of creating a practice to unite financial specialists of all kinds under one roof.

When he retired, his gala farewell dinner at the Drapers’ Hall testified to the respect he earned in the industry.

At school he had boxed, played bridge, founded a football club, and invented a version of cricket played entirely with pencils. When I was little, my friends used to come to the house to ask if he could come out to play. I could come too, but, with his warmth, skill and sense of fun, he was the main attraction. Later, he became a fine amateur football referee, all-London bridge champion, and a leading member of the Acol Bridge Club, where a tournament now bears his name. He took up distance running in his late forties and, in his fifties, ran two London marathons and one in New York. He built a unique collection of stamps from imperial-era Malaya and was a key figure in the Jewish Genealogical Society. He was blissfully married for 66 years to Monica, an artist, and had three children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

David Winner (1970-74), son

(1951-55)

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(1958-63)

(1945-49)

PAST TIMES

The Paulines on Pan Am Flight 73 Photo by aussieairliners.org

Mike’s Story

In 1986 Mike Thexton (1972-76), then 27, was returning to the UK from Karachi in Pakistan after spending the summer hiking in the Himalayas when a Palestinian terror cell hijacked the airliner. Pan Am 73 never left the runaway and for 16 terrifying hours, Mike and 400 others were held captive by the four men, who were armed with rifles and hand grenades. 21 people were killed and more than 100 injured during the hijack.

Mike Thexton

The terror group’s leader Zaid Hassan Abd Latif Safarini had planned to fly the plane into an Israeli military target, which would likely have seen all on board killed, but the pilots escaped through a hatch before they could break into the cockpit. After the hijackers had pulled Rajesh Kumar out of a seat and shot him, they went through the passengers’ passports.

Mike’s name was called out by the terrorists (who were targeting Westerners) and they held him at the front of the plane through most of the rest of the hijack.

Mike was on a flight home after visiting the Himalayas to honour his brother, Peter, 30, who died three years earlier while climbing Broad Peak, the 12th-highest mountain in the world. On being taken to the front of the plane, Mike begged his captor not to kill him: ‘Please, please don’t hurt me. My brother has died in the mountains, my parents have no one else. He (Safarini) just waved his hand as if to say, I haven’t got time for that.’

Despite being convinced he was going to die, Mike managed to survive the encounter with just a ‘scratch’ to his elbow. After being held at the front for hours, he fell asleep before being woken up by one of the terrorists who instructed him to go back to the other passengers.

Mike was stunned to discover the reason he was spared. After more than three decades of wondering why, Mike spoke last summer to Safarini who is in jail in the USA and asked to know why he had not been killed.

Safarini's reply astonished him: 'You mentioned to me that your brother is killed,' he said in broken English.

Mike comments, ‘When I said that 12 hours earlier, I didn’t think he was even listening. And yet he remembered it 12 hours later at the end of the hijack, and 36 years later when we spoke. I had thought of a number of possible reasons for him giving me that chance, but this one had never entered my head’.

After reading theology at Cambridge, Mike qualified as a chartered accountant and still works as a chartered tax adviser. He now lives in Kew with his wife Kathy. They have two daughters in their 20s. He has published 6 books, ranging from his experience on Flight 73 in What happened to the Hippy Man? to a Tolley annual on VAT, and four novels written for anyone who wants an epic tale that does not rely on magic or science fiction (the Xessus series). He has recently recorded ‘the Hippy Man’ as an audiobook.

Rugby was the only Winter sport on offer to Mike at St Paul’s. He now  51

PAST TIMES

plays football twice a week and referees children’s matches most weekends during the season, where the experience of surviving a hijacking provides a useful sense of proportion when dealing with shouty parents.

The last time Mike visited the School was for a careers fair where he was prepared to talk to anyone about being a tax adviser or a football referee, but all the boys were

interested in was investment banking.

He was surprised to see Peter King (Classics Department 1976-2016) walk out of the Undermaster’s office – Mike’s last term at the School was Peter’s first as a master, and the careers fair was shortly before Peter retired some forty years later.

Mike after the hijacking

Edwin’s Story

Remarkably, the Pauline connection to Flight 73 does not end there. Edwin Pomeroy (1946-51) was also on the flight.

Edwin is now into his 90s and plays down his involvement, remembering that, ‘when the shooting began at the end, I dived under a seat and somehow knocked myself out. I have no recollection of it until I came to some minutes later’.

Ed Pomeroy

After reading Greats at Oxford Edwin spent a career in finance, working for the most part in Citibank’s international travelling inspection team. He was on the flight because of a business trip to the Far East, the last stop of which was Karachi. He was due in London that weekend for his nephew’s 21st birthday party. He missed it and his luggage was lost for a few days. The only part of the hijacking he does not remember is the last few minutes when the shooting began.

He was the only first-class passenger on the flight, and was the first to encounter the hijackers when he was sent to the back of the plane where he had to sit on the floor throughout. He played cards with another passenger for much of the time.

Edwin will never forget the moment when the name Michael John Thexton 52

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came over the intercom. ‘When they called out his name and asked him to the front, I recognised that he was the young guy I had briefly spoken to in the lounge who was wearing a T-shirt with something about St Mary’s Hospital on it, and he had said something about going on an expedition in the Himalayas. I was relieved, assuming that someone on the plane had a medical problem and the hijackers had somehow found out from the passports that Mike was a doctor and were showing concern for the person by calling for a doctor. Little did I know why he had been called.’

Following the escape from the plane, the passengers were in the lounge where Edwin spotted one of the hijackers pretending to be one of them – the very same man who had held a grenade a few yards from him, minutes before. He comments that ‘I went against my nature and, for once in my life, shouted out pointing out the man’.

After the hijacking, Edwin made his way to the Sheraton in Karachi because that was where he knew he would find an alcoholic drink. The next morning a waiter at breakfast dropped a plate and all the Flight 73 passengers in the dining room scurried under their tables, only to

re-emerge a few seconds later laughing nervously. Edwin was soon back at work, and despite Flight 73 and having been booked previously on two flights hijacked in South America, he continued to fly. He is set soon to take another long-haul flight from New York to London as he returns to England full time.

Mike and Edwin spoke recently.

They cannot remember how they found out that they had both been at St Paul’s. Edwin comments that ‘it is not something that would normally come up in an airport lounge’.

A new documentary has been made about the hijacking, its historical context and the impact on those involved. Mike took part in the making of the film, which is a mixture of interviews and reconstruction. The documentary was first shown on Sky Documentaries on 24 April, and can be watched On Demand and via the ‘Now’ app.

Mike also spoke about the hijacking and the documentary on a recording on the BBC R4 PM programme, first broadcast on 26 April 2023. The recording is available on BBC Sounds. 

CROSSWORD

Orsino’s ‘if’ by istenem

The coloured sequences, read right to left, then top to bottom complete a famous quote.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

6 8

9

11

10

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13 14

15

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21

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Across 1 Aloof mother protects backward dimwit (7) 5 Moped with sixth sense in V&A (5) 8 Note sound accommodation for buzzers (1-4) 9 Famous and incompetent (7) 10 Smart alien captures fallen angel (7) 11 She is regularly caught by sea wreaths (5) 13 Gypsy chosen to host violent maniacs (7) 16 Noise is good for teenagers (5) 17 What may happen after drawing chopped parsley (7) 18 Round trip avoids California with round of applause (7) 20 Oxford maybe supported by student venue (5) 21 Strong as an ox (5) 22 Worried sensing colours at sea (7)

Down 1 Stablemate lost energy, once first coming last. They come between counter and silverware (9) 2 French setting of 1/1000 inch that is universal (6) 3 Giddy goats used to be driven faster (9) 4 Bangs in the US follow madman with political fanatics (7,6) 5 Tank tax (3) 6 Scottish drink coach returns to edge of town (6) 7 Disemploy chopper (3) 11 Measures of ice cream in cups fools screwball (9) 12 No time for basic acrobatics where dunes form (9) 14 Kind person, English (6) 15 Doing what rower does, flying topless (6) 18 Junior bantamweight entertaining world (3) 19 Creepy girl (3) 53

PAULINE RELATIVES Despite a difference in professional focus for brothers James (1990-95) and Alastair (1993-98) Grant, their success shares a root cause – their education. Both speak to a strong sense of purpose imbued by their time at St Paul’s and this remains key in their day-to-day professional lives.

Neil Wates (1999-2004) meets the Grant brothers

James Grant

Alastair Grant

Older brother James left St Andrews University in 2000 and worked in commercial events before moving into charity fundraising, in which he worked for 8 years – most recently as Head of Individual Giving & Legacies at SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.

He credits his success as a fundraiser with communication skills honed under the auspices of the School’s English department. He draws from his time as a pupil and mentions “Pauline confidence”; particularly when it comes to the being able to network and form relationships, and his confidence with public speaking –never something that he has been nervous about. By any measure, the English faculty during his time was strong with John Venning and Bernard O’Keeffe in particular inspiring him always to get to the point.

A tangible skill and one he relies on often, if not always.

Younger brother Alastair also has fond memories of English at School.

He remembers O’Keeffe, Graeme May and Joe Sutcliffe particularly – their focus on the value of ideas particularly

struck him. He also speaks very fondly of his tutor, then Undermaster Gwyn Hughes. His degree at Nottingham primed him for more than 20 years working in Sports Business, initially in cycling alongside OP Hugh Roberts (1969-1974) and latterly as a commercial consultant spanning many sporting disciplines. Both brothers were keen sportsmen while at School and that has continued after their graduations. James has been a regular at Thames Ditton, playing OP cricket since 1995 and is now chairman of the OPCC as well as being Hon. Secretary of the Old Pauline Golfing Society.

It seemed fitting then, when James took on the role as Associate Director, Alumni Relations at St Paul’s earlier this year – strong Pauline networks were par for the course. Following the modernisation of governance at the OPC, James has been a member of the Executive Committee as the rep for the 40’s generation decade. So, this is less the case of poacher turned gamekeeper and more amateur turned professional.

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James’ primary focus is the engagement of OPs of all ages. It is an exciting role as there is a strong sense that the OP community is incredibly well connected between themselves but perhaps not as well connected to the School itself. There is a real opportunity through events, professional networking and other activities to bring Old Paulines closer to St. Paul’s. Once engaged, there is the hope that they might wish to donate to the School’s Bursary appeals.

James describes what it is like working at his old school, decades later. “It is in a very physical sense a different place thanks to all the building work, although a few bits are exactly as I remember” says James.

“There has been similar structural change to the holistic and pastoral approach, too – it is interesting to see what exists now that didn’t before, such as a full-time post looking at US Universities, significant careers advice for leavers and a Head of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.” James is pleased – perhaps the only member

of staff who is – to recognise the remnants of the former buildings.

“I like that there are Easter eggs left of the 1960s design. The last teaching building still standing is temporarily housing St Paul’s Juniors and is the old science block, not that I spent much time in there if I could help it.”

Alastair’s alumni activities are on a more focused but no less impressive scale and the aspirational and collegiate elements of his time at School ring just as true. As well as running a successful freelance sports sponsorship consultancy, in 2021 he became a founding partner of Chelsea Surgical Partners.

Chelsea Surgical Partners was created to bring together leading consultant surgeons in multiple specialties. Their business model is a completely new one – they take care of their surgical partners’ businesses by running their backoffice needs, whilst building their profile and sourcing new business, providing them with the freedom to concentrate on their craft and ultimately, to become the best surgeons they can be.

It was in fact the idea of another Old Pauline who – pleasingly – is from another set of brothers contemporaneous with the Grants.

Alastair’s friend Paul Goubran (19962001) has gone into business with Alastair at CSP. It is no surprise that Alastair was an early confidant – the Grants and the Goubrans both grew up in Grove Park, Chiswick on the same road, and they have since swapped Godfather roles and share fond memories of time at School. They were under no illusions however when setting

up CSP – a nascent business in this space lives and dies on building the right team. Where else to look then but a trusted alumni network. They are pleased that two of the founding medics in their practice are OPs. Srdjan Saso (1996-2001) is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Gynaecological Surgeon who recently performed the first womb transplant in the UK, and Marcus Posner (19962001) is a Consultant Ophthalmologist and Ophthalmic Surgeon. Alastair explains that theirs was “an intense experience of education, but when you are looking to work with someone it helps that you can already know and trust their work ethic. We have built a strong starting team of Founding Consultants and it is great to be working closely alongside a group of fellow OPs as we build the business.”

While Alastair is working on excelling in a new professional space, James is particularly excited by the School’s focus on fundraising for bursaries and the good work of the West London Schools Partnership. Just 9% of active Old Paulines give or have given to school appeals – so in the first instance his priority is to increase that level of financial support. But the role is just as much about Engagement. There are plans to set up new hubs around the world where OPs can get together. He cites the successful New York branch, run by Simon Strauss (1968-73) and wants to roll that out into other parts of the USA and across the globe.

James also wishes to improve business networking for OPs and match more young OPs with business leaders.

Professional challenges face both brothers. For James at the Alumni office, an initial challenge is the perception that the School is affluent and does not need money. The solution to this challenge will be eloquent communication about the cause, and perhaps we’re back to drawing from the English department of the mid-90s to help achieve that.

James freely admits that he said no to funding calls in the past, as he has always been able to think of worthier causes. But the more the message is out there about what the fundraising supports, the easier that conversation can become. It is not just fundraising for new buildings as it used to be – the focus is on providing incredible opportunities for underprivileged children, and therefore changing lives.

As well as strongly believing in the

Bursary model, James was particularly heartened to learn that the current crop of English A Level pupils has been giving their time on Saturdays to teach English in underprivileged environments – there is even outreach to a Ukrainian school through the West London Schools Partnership.

For Alastair growth targets are more tangible. There are plans to expand the CSP business to support twenty specialists in the coming few years and engage with healthcare providers overseas (they are already trialling this in Lagos, Nigeria). They will also venture into bricks and mortar and further opportunities in the private medical sector over the coming years. “There isn’t anyone else doing this in this way,” says Paul Goubran: “there are a couple of groups set up by surgeons but they are set up by type of surgery – for example groups of Orthopaedic Surgeons. There is no direct competition and we have created the first group of multidisciplinary Consultants that takes care of the whole journey from strategy and approach through to billing.”

In particular, James looks forward to the very near future. “Although I was fully engaged with sports and the social side of things, I do not feel like I got everything out of school that I could and should have done academically. And over the years I have come to regret that a little. I felt like I left something behind, so it is great to have a new opportunity to come back and work a little bit harder than I did between 1990 and 1995.”  55

LAST WORD

Sport for the duffers Michael Simmons (1946-52) celebrates his G Club colours, not his Exhibitioner’s gown.

I desperately wanted to be good at sport at St Paul’s but it was not to be.

I was blessed with fast eye-to-brain coordination but the link from brain to hand was distressingly slow.

I knew what to do but, by the time I did it, it was usually too late.

My boyhood hero was C B Fry. After rising early with prayer and a cold shower but not necessarily in that order, he would cycle to Lords and score a century before lunch in the Test Match for England against Australia. He would then return to his rooms and compose twelve perfect Latin hexameters. I always had the suspicion that he was too good to be true and might have feet of clay.

A recent biography confirmed it.

I practised hard but I achieved little.

My end of year report could have read “he plays at work but works at play.”

It was my ambition to play in a school team: any team. But it was not to be. I once asked Martin Stephen, then High Master, at a dinner why so little attention was given to sporting duds like me. “Allocation of resources, dear boy” was his answer. Being in the management field at the time myself, I immediately understood, even if I didn’t approve. Not long ago, I had the 56

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pleasure of watching my grandson, Harry, representing St Paul’s Juniors at soccer against Dulwich. We fielded no less than eight teams in his age group. Everyone, however incompetent, had the chance to play and enjoy a winner’s or loser’s tea afterwards in the Dulwich pavilion.

One of the reasons for moving from West Kensington (or East Hammersmith: take your pick) to Barnes was the lack of outdoor sport facilities. I still miss to this day Waterhouse’s red brick and terra cotta, pseudo-gothic, fairy palace.

Needless to say, I was one of the many packed off to Ealing on sports afternoons. It was alright for me as Ealing was on the way home but I pitied those whose journeys were in the other direction.

In the summer, I was one of a pathetic group who practised endlessly after school in the cricket nets. One day, I was bowling after much practice in a groove, when Bo Langham (Common Room 1916-56) brought along Morrison (1947-50), a promising batsman in the Colts.

Incidentally, I abhor the word “batter.”

That is what you fry fish in. I bowled endlessly to Morrison, each ball landing innocuously, but on the same spot, albeit on a good length. He played elegantly forward to each delivery. If the need to go home had not intervened, he could be playing forward to my bowling to this day and I would still be delivering the ball harmlessly but on a good length.

Langham took him away but said not a word of encouragement to me. Morrison prospered sportingly: I did not.

One Wednesday afternoon at Ealing, I had been practising my batting in the outfield. I felt in surprisingly good touch. When it was my turn to bat, I executed a perfect cover drive off the first ball. I watched in amazement as the ball skimmed in an arc across the turf swiftly to the boundary. The next ball was on my leg stump. I turned my wrists elegantly to put it away on the on side but my timing was slightly faulty. The ball hit the edge of the bat and lobbed up gently to be easily caught by my friend, Mark Lovell (1947-53). Thus was my Olympian innings prematurely ended. Once fielding for G Club, making up the numbers as usual in a shield game which included the

School’s best players, the ball fell kindly for me and I executed what looked like a slick piece of fielding.

There was a ripple of applause from the spectators on the boundary. In the next over, I was unfortunately placed in the covers: big mistake. I swooped one handed to cut off a drive only to miss the ball completely. It would have been best to field me on the boundary to hide me away but my throw was pathetic. It needed a middle man to return the ball from me to the wicket keeper.

My few successes and many failures are still fresh in my memory. Rugby was difficult for me without my glasses. I once went haring off on the adjoining pitch to retrieve the ball, only to be called back because it was a ball from another game. I did sometimes use my height effectively in the line out, but not when the ball was wet and slippery like a bar of soap. Sometimes, a couple of us would take a ball out after school and attempt to kick it feebly to each other. I do not think I ever mastered the drop kick.

In my final summer, I captained G Club’s lunchtime league team at cricket. Some forty years later, I joined a law firm where the senior partner had been my great rival as captain of the F Club team. I was a very slow opening batsman which tended to defeat the object of the exercise, which was scoring quickly in the brief time available. In one game, after some criticism, I decided to do better and lofted my first ball for six back over the bowler’s head before reverting to type. How different from my cousin, Richard Simmons (1955-60), now sadly no longer with us, who joined the School after I left. He had to bear the burden from certain masters of my alleged cleverness, so he told me, but he was an effortless sporting god and a member of the School’s first eleven at cricket. How I envied him.

I did eventually receive a reward of sorts. I was awarded my G Club colours before leaving. If there had been an accompanying citation, it would have read: “He always turned out when asked and performed to the best of his ability, however inadequate.”

In those last few weeks as I swanned around the School in my Cambridge Exhibitioner’s gown and my newly minted G Club tie, I know which of the two gave me more pleasure. It was not the gown. 

Home of the Old Paulines sports teams

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MORE THAN JUST A GYM Our not-for-profit health club in the heart of Thames Ditton, Surrey.

Originally set up by the Old Paulines, this Club offers discounted rates for alumni and staff of St Paul’s School.

With a 25m pool, a two-storey gym, 4 fitness studios, 6 squash courts plus spa facilities - we have everything you need to kick-start your fitness journey in 2023!

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THE GIFT OF EDUCATION LEAVING A LEGACY TO ST PAUL’S SCHOOL

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