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DialogueWLV WINTER 2014 ISSUE 19

09 BEHIND THE CRIME SCENE

21 FIRST WORLD WAR

26 DOWNTON HAPPY

How forensic science uncovers the truth

British success or mitigated disaster?

The man who gets paid to draw the stars

PHOTO-SYNTHESIS

The mind’s eye of photography student Mike Sprigg page 17.

DialogueWLV Welcome Welcome to the latest edition of Dialogue WLV. We aim to showcase some of the very best things the University of Wolverhampton has to offer – from our writers, academics and students.

With the 100th anniversary of the First World War looming, we look at how the conflict was portrayed and whether we can ever really say it was a British success.

08

We are lucky to have one of the country’s leading experts in Professor Gary Sheffield and he offers a different perspective to some of the more popularly held beliefs about the war.

We uncover the reality about crime scene investigation, how research carried out by the University is helping law enforcement to spot lies, and why zombie narratives in films and TV aren’t so far-fetched.

Two of our students have made a significant contribution to this issue in both words and pictures along with columns on social media and obesity from two of our academics.

There’s also a fascinating insight into the world of David Downton, a University of Wolverhampton graduate who sketches the rich and famous, and a glimpse at what it takes to create the perfect athlete.

This certainly demonstrates the breadth of what we do here and why we are the University of Opportunity.

I hope you enjoy it.

03 IN THE NEWS – a brief look at University headlines.

05 WHOWHATWHEREWHENWHYHOW – are the questions and we give you this edition’s answers.

07 FROM AtoB – Columnist Dr Aidan Byrne looks at what impact social media has on our privacy.

08 MOVE MORE, EAT LESS, LIVE LONGER – What can we do to tackle the ticking obesity time bomb?

09 CSI WLV – We find out how students learn how to forensically decipher

a murder scene

12 I CAN SEE A LIAR – Black tongues and long noses may be the stuff of fairy tales but there are other ways you can tell if someone is telling fibs.

14 GOING VIRAL – The next big pandemic could be only a cough and sneeze away.

17 PHOTO-SYNTHESIS – Photography student Mike Spriggs shares the world as he sees it through a lens.

21 IN DENIAL OF VICTORY – Blackadder style shambles or strategic success. What’s the real story behind the First World War. 26 THE ART OF OBSERVATION – We talk to David Downton, a man

who draws the stars as he sees them.

29 THE LILAC FRAME – A story from Creative Writing student

Jason Anson.

Geoff Layer Vice-Chancellor, University of Wolverhampton

31 BODY OF EVIDENCE – Have you ever wondered what it takes to be the ideal athlete? Professor Alan Nevill shares the secret top sports teams want the answer to.

33 IN PICTURES – Events from across the University captured by our

snappers.

IN THIS ISSUE...

21 12 LIAR LIAR

14 ZOMBIE NATION

31 BODY FORM

Can you tell when someone is telling you a lie?

Dystopian fantasy or the next phase of human pandemics

What makes the perfect sports star?

09

17

26 Front cover image by Mike Spriggs - Antony Gormley’s Another Place, Crosby Beach, Merseyside

03 Dialogue WLV

Inthenews...

01 Green Shoots Four Black Country businesses have benefited from grants from a fund run by The University of Wolverhampton and the Express and Star newspaper.

The £1.4m Green Shoots Fund aims to boost economic growth and job creation in the Black Country among small to medium sized enterprises. (SMEs) The scheme, funded by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, invited Black Country based businesses to bid for between £10,000 and £50,000 each, which they would have to match fund and be able to demonstrate they could generate a return on the investment.

The first beneficiaries of the fund have been announced.

These are Adams Enclosures of Brownhills and Phoenix Cutting Services, Wednesfield.

A £50,000 grant from the fund will help Adams create six jobs, including three at senior level. The company makes high quality metal enclosures for controls and switchboards and supplies the likes of Siemens and the London Underground.

Meanwhile Phoenix will use its £50,000 grant to create two jobs and overhaul vital equipment. The company laser cut sheet and plate materials for the packaging and printing industries as well as producing flatbed cutting tools for platen and roller press applications.

Further awards of grants will be made in the coming months.

02 Supporting the Unsung Hero The first ten delegates of a University of Wolverhampton project supporting the Armed Forces are now ready to start up their own business.

Supporting the Unsung Hero offers a business start-up programme for the dependants of serving Armed Forces personnel, Reservists and Veterans to enable them not only to financially support their family but integrate them into the local civilian community.

The programme was set up through the Armed Forces Covenant LIBOR Fund announced by Prime Minister David Cameron last year.

One of the first successful beneficiaries of the project is Sally Wagstaff. She said: “After leaving the Navy in 2011 following 18 years dedicated service as a Nursing Officer, I decided it was time for me to focus on my family’s future needs and prepare for my husband’s retirement from the Royal Navy Medical Services.

“The programme has given me the confidence and knowledge to understand how to approach my business idea in laser hair removal. Within two months of starting

the course I had devised a business plan and with the help of my assigned business mentor I have successfully secured funding. I am now the company director of my own business Xodos Aesthetics Ltd and I couldn’t praise the programme enough.”

Each intake of the Supporting the Unsung Hero programme offers information and advice on self-employment, a business start-up course and individual/group mentoring for seven months with business advisors from the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

The project is delivered through the Wolverhampton Business Solutions Centre in conjunction with the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and The Ministry of Defence Hive Information Service.

Professor Geoff Layer, ViceChancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, said: “This is a really vital project.

There is, rightly, a lot of support and attention for those serving in the Armed Forces.

“But there is perhaps less for dependents of those individuals, despite the amazing work they do.

This project is a way of redressing that and shows our commitment to the wider community as the University of Opportunity.”

03 There’s no

placement like homes

Students and tenants will benefit from work opportunities, experience, training and education as part of a new 15 year deal.

The University has signed

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an agreement with Wolverhampton Homes, Bullock Construction and Wates Living Space.The agreement will see the creation of new employability opportunities for students, graduates and communities at all levels within the City of Wolverhampton.

It is underpinned by the recent framework construction deal with the two construction companies worth £250m over 15 years to improve thousands more homes in the city, as well as take on apprentices.

04 The whiff of success The problem with rubbish and waste water is that it pongs a bit.

But thanks to work by a microbiologist from the University of Wolverhampton this could be consigned to the rubbish bin.

Dr Wan Li Low has been working with Cannock-based company Odour Services International Ltd (OSIL) to develop the use of bacteria for removing odours.

Dr Low completed the first year of her degree in Kuala Lumpur, before switching to the University of Wolverhampton to complete her studies, after hearing about the institute’s reputation in microbiology.

She achieved a first class degree in BSc Biological Sciences in 2007 and was awarded a University scholarship for a PhD in microbiology which she completed in 2012, when she started working on the KTP project.

05 Investing in city developments

Lesley Roberts, Chief Executive of Wolverhampton Homes, said: “This is a really big boost and big commitment to our city and I’m really excited that we’re part of it.

The project uses sulphur-oxidising bacteria to target smells given off from waste water and rubbish found in the recycling industry, as an alternative to existing chemical solutions.

Following months of planning and preparatory work people can now see the University’s new Science Centre taking shape.

“We’re passionate about helping our tenants to find training, skills and local job opportunities – and this agreement with the two construction firms and the university, alongside our own LEAP apprenticeship programme, is a big step in the right direction.”

Now, after starting work with OSIL in 2012, Dr Low has been chosen as winner of the 2013 Business Leaders of Tomorrow award from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) group.

The six storey development in Wolverhampton’s Stafford Street will provide more than 6,000 square metres of space for around 2,500 students and be home to 150 staff. A phased opening will begin in September with the remainder opening in December 2014.

Paul Hampton, a principal lecturer within the Faculty of Science and Engineering helped co-ordinate the agreement. He said: “I wish to thank the directors of all three organisations for their tireless contribution towards making this agreement possible.”

The University currently has over ten fulltime placement students working with the framework partners and further levels of engagement are planned for 2014.

‘‘

Paul Hampton

I look forward to a long and continued relationship and a further continuation of workplace and employability opportunities, all of which better prepare students and graduates and members of our community for the world of work.

‘‘

Principal lecturer within the Faculty of Science and Engineering

The KTP is a UK-wide group which pairs up businesses, organisations and education institutions to provide mutual benefits by sharing knowledge technology and skills with each other.

Dr Low was given the award for developing a strong scientific knowledge of OSIL’s products and capabilities; for using these skills to impress new business clients, leading to new contracts; and for helping to create and develop new microbiological technology with the company.

Dr Dave Hill, principle lecturer in Applied Biology at the University, said: “Wan Li’s success against national competition reflects her ability to combine academic scientific skills in microbiology with business acumen.

“This has led to substantial business success for the company (OSIL) but also for the University of Wolverhampton with some excellent case study examples and research projects being implemented into the MSc postgraduate programmes.

“It is exciting to see our own graduates achieving success in implementing the transfer of University knowledge and skills into local businesses whilst showcasing the importance of micro-organisms in our everyday world.”

Costing £21m the building will house teaching and research labs across a range of scientific disciplines as well as a schools teaching lab, where pupils from the Black Country can find out more about science.

The work started as the University’s new Faculty of Science and Engineering officially started operating on 1 August 2013. The new Faculty, formed from the former Schools of Applied Sciences and Technology, was created in order to respond to industry calls to tackle the shortage of graduates with skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Clearing work has also started for a new teaching building for the University of Wolverhampton Business School. The £18m flagship building will be located at the junction of Molineux Street and Camp Street.

Its six storeys will provide a combination of teaching and social learning space.

The aim is that the building will be completed by May 2015.

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whowhatwherewhen WHO?

WHERE?

The goal-scoring hero of the Italia 90 World Cup has joined forces with the University of Wolverhampton to help underprivileged children in Cameroon.

The University of Wolverhampton has signed a memorandum of understanding with one of Malaysia’s top universities, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

Roger Milla

Roger Milla (centre)

Roger took the footballing world by storm after scoring four goals in the 1990 tournament, each celebrated with a trademark corner flag dance. He helped Cameroon reach the quarter finals, the furthest an African team had got. Roger, who still holds the record for the oldest player to appear and score in a World Cup at the age of 42, has long since retired but now works to help others in his birthplace, Yaoundé. The Cameroonian capital is home to Cœur d’Afrique Solidarité, The Roger Milla Foundation, which supports disadvantaged young people and helps them access better educational and social opportunities.

The foundation has just launched a new multimedia centre with the support of the University to help improve English language and ICT skills in vulnerable children and orphans.

Sabah

WHAT?

British Judo New Centre of Excellence Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis officially opened British Judo’s new Centre of Excellence at the University’s Walsall Campus in November. Denise, who is an Honorary Graduate of the University, was joined by young judo players and representatives from British Judo and UK Sport.

The University beat off competition from around the country including Bath and Loughborough to host the Centre, which aims to produce the next Olympic champion.

The £1m venture saw buildings converted to provide a state-ofthe-art dojo and strength and conditioning suite for up to 100 judoka.

Training judoka will also have access to the University’s facilities including sports science laboratories. The Centre itself will play a key role in nurturing some of the country’s best players in years to come, in particular Great Britain’s junior athletes between the ages of 17 and 22 years old - potential 2020 Olympians and beyond.

A delegation from the University ledt by Vice-Chancellor, Professor Geoff Layer (centre left) signed the new agreement.

It will see both higher education institutions collaborating in a variety of areas including developing academic programmes around oil and gas, nursing, banking and finance as well as research opportunities.

The programmes will be delivered with UMS in Sabah although both organisations are also exploring opportunities for student and staff exchanges.

Sabah is one of three states of Malaysia and is located in the eastern part of the island of Borneo. It’s Head of State, Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Juhar bin Haji Mahiruddin is also the Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah and a former graduate of the University of Wolverhampton, where he studied law.

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whyhow WHEN?

Wolverhampton Debates The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, will lead a talk on poverty as part of the next Wolverhampton Debates.

Dr Williams, who is currently the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and Chancellor of the University of South Wales, was the 104th leader of the Church of England and held the office for 10 years until 2012.

Dr Williams’ lecture will look at what we mean by poverty, both nationally and internationally, and at some of the ways in which religious ideas help – and occasionally hinder – effective understanding and response to it.

The event called Thinking about Poverty will take place at the University’s Arena Theatre in Wulfruna Street on Tuesday 18 February 2014 from 7pm. For more information visit: www.wlv.ac.uk/ arena

WHY?

been linked to impaired muscle strength and a predisposition to injury.

The study found that dancers taking vitamin D supplements, showed signs of great improvements in jump performance and muscle strength.

Now this and other work carried out by the University’s Dance Science team is helping treat injured dancers at a new dance rehab clinic which was opened in Birmingham by the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science (NIDMS).

The NIDMS, launched in April 2012, is a partnership of organisations which study dance health and injuries and aims to provide a radical new approach to dancers’ healthcare.

The partners are: Dance UK, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Jerwood Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Dance Injuries, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, University of Wolverhampton, University of Birmingham and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

Along with the research carried out by each partner, the NIDMS has opened an NHS-based rehab clinic at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London.

Experts from the University have been looking at why professionals who train indoors during the winter exhibit low vitamin D levels, through lack of sunlight exposure.

It aims to provide access for all dancers to high quality, evidencebased, dance specific healthcare and dance science services, and fosters research into dance injuries, education for dancers, teachers and scientists, while also offering specialist treatment for dancers.

The project found that this lack has

As a result of the University of

Dancing in the sunlight

Wolverhampton’s studies, dancers will be scanned and treated for vitamin D deficiencies at the clinic.

HOW?

To make bio-plastics from old chip pan oil Researchers from the University’s micro-biology department have come up with a novel way to dispose of waste cooking oil – turn it into something useful.

A team led by Dr Iza Radecka has developed a process of transforming the greasy cooking by-product into a bio-degradable plastic.

The oil, taken from the University’s canteen, has a microbe added to it and is placed in a fermenter. Then ultrasound is used to separate the biomass from the leftover oil and the solution is then freeze dried. The resulting polymer is extracted and pressed into sheets of bio-plastic.

The process is not only environmentally friendly but cheaper than using fructose or glucose to make plastic.

The new bio-plastic material could be used to make environmentally friendly packaging or products for bio-medicine or the pharmaceutical industry such as implants, internal drug delivery systems or a scaffold for new tissue growth.

Dr Aidan Byrne Senior Lecturer in English, Media and Cultural Studies

FromAtoB

Aidan Byrne

07 Dialogue WLV

Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) stated that “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place”, while Scott McNealey of Sun Microsystems was even pithier: “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it”.

One of the fascinating things about the Media half of my job (I teach English Literature half the time and Media/ Cultural Studies the other) is the extreme nature of peoples’ responses to what we used to call ‘new media’ and now call ‘social media’.

Every company, every university and every celebrity has to have a Facebook page, a Tumblr page and a Twitter account.

Some of them even pay ‘online reputation management’ companies large amounts of cash to rather unethically promote positive commentary and expunge negative (however justified) news, review and comments from the web.

For the evangelists, this is the future. They understand that it’s not what a person or organisation does that matters for future success, but how they’re perceived in public. People are now said to ‘curate’ their online lives: making sure that they’re seen as positive characters with as big a social network as possible. It’s got to the point that I’m seen as weird for not having a Facebook account. As Glenn Mulcaire said at the Leveson Inquiry, “privacy is for paedos…privacy is evil”. Well before Mr Mulcaire got his moment in the sun,

Perhaps being bothered about this is simply showing my age.

I look at many corporate media feeds and see what linguists call ‘phatic conversation’: communication with no meaningful content: all it does is establish a link between the speaker and listener. While useful between humans unsure about each other – between men, football is a common opening gambit – I’m not convinced that universities or companies gain much from the frequent one-sided or inane commentary that appears on their status updates and Twitter feeds. It feels needy and in fact alienating. The best social media outlets are funny, responsive and personal: the worst are intrusive and impersonal.

As far as I can tell, the less people know about social media, the less concerned they are about the business model and the impact they have. My students and many friends are so used to having things for free (music, TV etc) that they seem to think Twitter, Facebook and other channels are charitable enterprises providing a service out of the goodness of their hearts. One of our academic mantras is ‘if it’s free, you’re the product’, and we spend a happy few hours explaining that every single word, emoticon and picture they send becomes the property of the corporation, to be sold to any paying customer. It’s not just the simple things, like searching your feed to discover that you like a particular brand of jeans. Facebook knows who your friends are, where they all live, how often you talk to them, the subject, your sexuality, your political opinions and myriad other pieces of saleable information which might not even seem like it to the content generator (i.e. you).

What’s the effect of a world in which everything – love, hate, your taste in socks – becomes a commodity? My students and friends are quite happy with it. They’ve traded privacy for convenience and the younger ones agree with Schmidt and

McNealey: privacy never existed for them.

CCTV tracks their movements, ID card access lets the university or office know where they are, the National Security Agency and the Government Communications Headquarters read their texts and Facebook silently sells their souls.

I’m more concerned. The technoutopians believe that privacy is a curse.

Like Mulcaire, they see privacy as – at best – an antisocial act, a refusal to join the human race by declining to share thoughts, feelings and reactions to every passing event or experience. Once we get over the idea that being an individual requires some degree of privacy (even that of one’s own head), they think that our social problems will fall away. Worried about your sexuality being condemned by your community? Share it: everyone’s forced to recognize how common it is. Infuriated by your neighbours’ noisiness? Film them, post it on the web, shame them. Distrust your government? Track their movements and film their meetings. (Actually scratch that: it’s pretty clear that privacy is going to become a privilege of the elite and the powerful).

What does total openness do to individuals? My guess is that we’ll become practiced liars. We’ll poke and like and retweet brightly and conscientiously and cheerily because not to do so will be to look secretive and untrustworthy. Foucault invoked Jeremy Bentham’s perfect prison, the Panopticon, to imagine a world of total surveillance. In it, we’ll behave as though we’re being watched because we can’t know where the jailer’s eyes are resting at any particular moment. We won’t need to be made to behave because we’ll discipline ourselves.

Will we be any nicer, or more honest?

Can anyone behave ethically motivated solely by fear of each other? Of course not.

“O brave new world / How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world / That has such people in’t”, wrote Shakespeare – a sentiment which fits nicely into a single Tweet.

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Move more, eat less, live longer Not a day goes by without obesity grabbing the headlines in some way. House wall removed to free 50 stone man, 10 stone 5 year old removed into care, UK topping the highest obesity levels in Europe, but why should we be so concerned?

In the past 50 years obesity has continued to rise to the point many of us are no longer able to recognise a normal body weight. The measure of obesity, called the body mass index (BMI), was first used by insurance companies to measure health risks of weight. Those with a body mass index of 18-24.9 were at very low risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease or gall bladder disease, but as the BMI rises the risks become greater.

portions, eat a balanced diet of cereal, fibre, fruit, veg, pulses, fish, meat and finally carbohydrates in moderation. It seems everyone is looking for that special diet where they can eat and drink what they like, when they like and never gain weight, sadly that diet does not exist.

We now know that around 32 chronic diseases associated with being overweight including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, muscular skeletal conditions, obstructive sleep apnea, gout, osteoarthritis, and several forms of cancer. become prevalent These conditions not only reduce quality of life but could also end up bankrupting the NHS.

with physical activity alone.

Many people continue to underestimate how much physical activity one actually needs to undertake in order to lose a pound of fat. Research shows the most successful way to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight is through a combination of healthy eating and physical activity.

There are many schools of thought as to the sudden increase in obesity, not just in the UK but globally. For those around since the 50’s or before, there seem very obvious causes.

Much heavy industry is now done by machines; computers have taken over our lives; TV, once a treat of less than 4 hours a day now runs 24 hours a day with 100s of channels to choose from; where once children played outside many now sit and play cyber-sport on computers; and food is available in abundance 24 hours a day.

Really, it’s little wonder we are all getting fatter.

Obesity is often described as extremely complex but the undeniable truth remains that if we take in more energy than we expend then we are likely to gain weight.

Sadly it is not obvious to some as to what types of food should be taken only occasionally or as a special treat. Fast foods, fried foods, take-a-ways, snacks, crisps, cakes, biscuits and high energy drinks being amongst those that should be taken with caution. Fruit juice can contain as much sugar as fizzy drinks and many people insist on value-for-money large cappuccinos and other high energy drinks which often contain almost a third of our daily energy requirements.

Nothing has really changed over the years and the message remains constant. Three meals a day, perhaps a light snack in between to keep you going, avoid large

Although physical activity is important to musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health it is extremely difficult to lose weight

Although the UK has the highest obesity rates in Europe most other European countries are also showing an increase.

In 2013 the Organisation for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD) indicated that in countries where height and weight were measured 57% of all adults are overweight or obese. Obesity among adults exceeds 50% in 21 of 34 countries evaluated.

The UK government is looking at strategies to counter the obesity epidemic, including supplying free school meals to all primary school children, working with the food and drinks industry to improve labeling and false claim advertising, improving cycle paths and parks, but without banning certain foods directly or enforcing exercise for all, one has to ask

what more are they expected to do?

There is no doubt there is no solution.

The big question is what can you do personally. I propose the change4life mantra has it right; move more, eat less, live longer.

Jane DeVille-Almond Senior Lecturer in Primary Care Chair of the British Obesity Society

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CSI WV1 FORENSICS

To give its forensic science students the most realistic training it can, the University of Wolverhampton has its own “murder house� on site, in which experts carefully stage gruesome killings and violent assaults. Chris Jones paid it a visit.

Dialogue WLV 10

There is a small house tucked away in the middle of Wolverhampton which, every year, is the scene of more gruesome murders than anywhere else in the city.

questions behind a crime.

He said: “For all the advances that DNA analysis has provided for criminal investigation – and that is a lot – last year, of about 100,000 cases, identifications of 65,000 of them were made from fingerprints, against 35,000 through DNA.

‘‘

But for Dr Raul Sutton, Head of Department for Forensic and Molecular Science at the University of Wolverhampton, while the scientific analysis of this evidence is important, it is understanding how that evidence came to be in the scene at all – and why it has been found where it has – which really starts to answer the

“Fingerprinting has been around for over a hundred years and the UK’s database has the prints of just over two million people on it and that is just one detail at a crime scene.”

If that level of investigation – the way an accumulation of tiny details and facts can slowly tell a story about what happened – excites you, you’re not alone.

It has been 10 years since the University first ran the forensics degree course and its rise in popularity has been bolstered by the proliferation of crime dramas like CSI, NCIS and other Scrabble-winning titles.

With their focus on the procedure of criminal investigation, and detailed and technologically advanced methods of evidence analysis, it might seem that the shows can be praised for raising the profile of the forensic art.

But, as Dr Sutton says, it is the shows’ neat narratives, wishful

“The two biggest crimes the show commits are having such conclusive evidence in every case, and having experts specialising in so many different areas. You get people analysing blood samples one minute and chasing after suspects the next.

‘‘

Dr Sutton

Although, on the whole, this “CSI effect” is diminishing, modern juries expect so much more from forensics: one-hundred-percent matches from fingerprints, unambiguous suspect matches from what might actually be circumstantial evidence and most of all, the idea of this neat case with no loose ends.

‘‘

At the heart of the trade is deductive reasoning and though the careful analysis of a crime scene involves interpreting the details of a visual scene – calculating the angle of blood sprays, the depth of impression on carpets – the constellation of broken glass shards and so on – the real work of finding proof takes place in the laboratory.

Dr Sutton

If you wash your hands, dry them and then roll your thumb on the screen of your mobile phone, you will leave a great print, really straightforward to use in identification.

The house, you see, is a prop; a stage upon which crime scenes are artfully created, designed as complex puzzles for those studying Forensic Science to pick apart and solve.

Over and over again, it forms an unnervingly realistic urban crime scene for students of this modern science to learn their intricate craft and give them a near-real experience of the life of a forensic scene investigator.

thinking and uncannily accurate investigation techniques which have given viewers – and thus potential jurors in criminal trials – unrealistic expectations of forensic abilities.

He said: “I think what people see in CSI and other shows like it is a dramatized version of the reality.

What the writers have to do is fit an entire investigation into 45 minutes of entertainment.

‘‘

Beyond its nondescript, UPVC front door and up its creaky wooden stairs, the white walls are regularly splashed and sprayed scarlet with blood.

In the bedroom, the sheets are frequently rumpled and torn aside, the fabric soiled and stained. In the kitchen, the dusty linoleum beneath the window is scattered with broken glass; the scene of a forced entry.

Inside this grim little home is story upon story of horror and death.

And the only people who can piece together the clues and tell those stories are students at the University of Wolverhampton.

The reality is much messier. When it comes to fingerprints, often marks are smudged, stretched, smeared or partial.

11 Dialogue WLV

So to get a suspect from an abandoned, messy crime scene needs a set of real skills and it is these which students on the University’s course first learn, then put into practice.

On entering the “crime scene” for their practical exam, they will don the famous white suits and gloves, before making their way, in small groups towards the scene.

This could have been prepped as a murder, a sexual assault or break-in and they might have to take samples of blood (bull’s blood) or semen (again, from bulls); to look at the pattern and location of broken glass to determine an impact; look outside, in the flower bed to see if there are any shoe prints. No matter what they investigate, they will have to be meticulous and careful – one wrong step could destroy vital evidence.

The students are given an allotted amount of time – “longer than they would have in real life” – and, following the evidence gathering, will spend time in the laboratory, analysing the samples and reaching their conclusions.

The training is rigorous, and as realistic as it can be within the limits of criminal law, but there is real demand for the course – forensic science continues to attract students in droves.

Dr Sutton says: “There is, I think, a kind of person for whom the idea of seeing science in a pragmatic context – in using principles of science in the solving of crimes – is endlessly fascinating. I would know, I’m one of them.”

BSc (Hons) Chemistry – THE RETURN The University of Wolverhampton is this year offering BSc (Hons) Chemistry for the first time in more than 10 years.

The reason behind the decision, Dr Raul Sutton explained, is a growing demand for subjects with real world applications.

Dr Raul Sutton

‘‘

So much of our physical world is created by chemistry. Oils, plastics, rubber, cotton; chemistry provides the raw materials of our lives.

This has never changed, but students’ attitudes – and the job market – has. It might have been the case, years ago, that students went after those courses which most intrigued them.

But with changes to the fee structure, people are looking for a subject with the most practical applications; it is getting value for money and making sure what you study can help you get work in the real world.

‘‘

“So when I say that only between five and ten percent of all fingerprints will match to an individual who is not the homeowner, it sounds low, but you can see why.”

For this reason, we have seen a surge in demand for degrees which link to real world jobs and chemistry is definitely one of those.

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It’s likely that you’ve told a lie at some point in your life, and that someone has lied to you, too. But is there a way we can find out when someone is lying to us?

Patrick Campbell met with psychologist Dr Coral Dando to find out…

I Can See a Liar

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In front of the eager, hungry newspaper men, Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the United States, stood at a rostrum bearing the famous presidential seal and said these words: “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. I have earned everything I have got.”

Nearly 25 years later, on January 26, 1998, at another press conference – this time in Washington DC’s White House – Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, stood before reporters and told another giant lie.

He said: “I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false.”

In both of these cases, the men were found out. Nixon resigned and Clinton’s reputation was left in tatters. They had both done wrong; that much was clear.

And what made it so much worse was that they had both looked their country – their people – right in the eye and lied, at the very highest level.

The subsequent discovery of these lies cost the American people in dollars, hard work and heartache.

So imagine if they could have spotted the lie just by looking at their president’s face. Imagine if the flicker of an eye, the twitch of a lip or the touch of a brow could give it all away.

It is these signs and more that Dr Coral Dando, cognitive psychologist at the University of Wolverhampton, has been studying in her latest research on the process of lying.

She said that the first clues arise depending on who is being spoken to.

She said: “Judging when a stranger is lying is very difficult, and the psychologist who comes up with a method to conclusively prove when someone is fibbing will become a very rich person indeed. However, the analysis of behaviour becomes much easier when it’s a person you know very well.”

So does this corroborate with my belief that I can lie to strangers, yet I can never lie to my mother?

“Yes, absolutely. Your mother knows

you better than anyone – she knows your behavioural traits, when you’re comfortable and relaxed, when you’re uneasy. If you tried lying to her, she might not be able to say exactly how she knows, but she’ll be able to pick up on the fact that you wouldn’t be reacting as you would normally.”

There might be no conclusive way to prove that a stranger is lying then, but research recently undertaken by Dr Dando has shed light on a way that the chances of uncovering a liar – and, perhaps more importantly, a truthteller – can be improved drastically.

“My research – was focused on investigative interviews, the primary method of collecting verbal information from those suspected of wrongdoing.

“It took three years in total to set up, with two years of that time dedicated to devising, testing and implementing the computer software that we used for the task.”

Dr Dando’s research explored how and when possibly incriminating information is revealed during interviews. By structuring an interview in a certain way, it became possible to investigate the chances of detecting whether someone was lying or telling the truth.

“So during an interview there are essentially three ways of revealing the known information to the suspect.

Firstly, you reveal the information straight away, and ask the interviewee to explain it. This is called Early Disclosure.

Secondly, you hold everything back until the end of the interview, let the interviewee provide his account, and see if his story matches the information you know but are holding back. This is called Late Disclosure.

“Thirdly, you put bits of information to the interviewee throughout the interview, like a ‘drip-feed’ effect, and ask them to explain them one by one. This is called Gradual Disclosure.”

Dr Dando’s research saw 151 volunteers playing an interactive computer game as either a liar or a truth-teller, before being interviewed under one of the Disclosure conditions.

After the interviews were conducted, 30 more volunteers individually viewed recordings of interviews from each condition, and were asked to state whether they believed the interviewee was telling the truth or not. The findings were intriguing…

“What we found was very interesting and could be very important for the future.

“When people watched the interviews under the Early Disclosure and Late

Disclosure conditions, their success rate at spotting the liars and truth tellers was 49% and 50% respectively. In essence, it was simply chance – a toss of a coin. Information revealed in this way during interviews was basically no help whatsoever.

“However, when people watched the interviews under the Gradual Disclosure conditions, their success rate at spotting the liars rose to 66%, and the truth tellers to an incredible 76%. Overall this equalled a figure of 68%, much higher than the other conditions. It isn’t 100% and it isn’t perfect, but it’s significantly better than simply 50/50 chance.”

So why is this?

‘‘

Coral Dando

“When someone is lying they tend to create a story and try to outmanoeuvre their investigators.

However, presenting the information to them gradually severely limits the opportunities to do this, and makes it so much more taxing for them to keep their story believable and free from inconsistencies.

‘‘

On November 17, 1973, a news conference was held in Orlando Florida, at which an audience full of Associated Press editors heard one of the biggest lies ever told in modern history.

“Doing it this way also proved beneficial in terms of highlighting those who were telling the truth. Gradual Disclosure gave truth tellers the chance to account for each piece of information along the way until everything had been addressed, and made them more aware of the knowledge and expectations of the interviewer.”

Dr Dando’s study, published in Legal and Criminal Psychology journal, was commissioned and funded by the Economic and Physical Sciences Research Council. Being a former police officer herself, she’s keen for her findings to be taken on board by the police.

“Sadly the Early Disclosure method isn’t redundant, and that’s partly why I undertook this research in the first place.

When interviewing those suspected of being terrorists, for example, any new methods to help determine whether they’re telling the truth or not are vitally important for national security.”

So there you have it. In the future, lying and getting away with it might not be as easy as you thought…

Dr Coral Dando is a Reader in Applied Cognitive Psychology at the University. She teaches Cognitive and Forensic Psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

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Going Viral Worldwide pandemics have captured the headlines in recent years. Is it just hype or are we a cough and a sneeze away from a devastating global virus. James Allen reports.

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First comes exposure. It’s followed rapidly by infection. Within days its epidemic…then it goes pandemic.

Evacuation is too late so all we are left with is devastation. All that remains are survivors, the carriers and the dead.

“Rather than some sort of Rage or T virus, it is much more likely that something like a superflu or the release of engineered or stockpiled viruses such as anthrax, smallpox or even The Plague, are more realistic dangers.”

This may sound like the plot of a Hollywood film but tackling the next big pandemic or worse, a deliberate attempt to release a biological weapon on a population, is all too real.

The Swine Flu pandemic of 2009 is a perfect example. The H1N1 virus is estimated to have killed 284,000 people worldwide in just over a year.

“There is a tendency to focus on the spectacular when it comes to viruses, especially amongst the media. So things like Ebola, SARS, Corona Virus and large pandemics get disproportionately highlighted.

Originating in Mexico, the virus was a combination of bird, swine and human flu viruses further combined with a Eurasian pig flu – coining the term Swine Flu.

“It is far more likely that existing strains of flu could combine to produce a new superflu, which can be incredibly infectious and resistant to existing antibiotic and anti-viral treatments.

antibiotics – resistance to these drugs is growing and soon we will run out. There have been no new antibiotics created for 15 years.

Reconstructed Spanish Flu

According to Dr Martin Khechara, a senior lecturer in biomedical science at the University of Wolverhampton and bio hazard expert, the explosion in such plot lines can be linked back to the global economic depression.

He said: “When you look back down the years at large scale pandemics that have had devastating effects they have occurred at times of global depression such as the Spanish Flu in 1918.

“The idea of a pathogenic virus causing damage is a definite possibility. Some of the films around this subject feature ridiculous pathogens but the science behind it - the actual biology of transmission and how that would work is very real.

It wasn’t the first time the H1N1 strain had gone pandemic. Between 1918 and 1920 it proved highly deadly killing 50100 million people globally. The strange thing about this virus, which became known as Spanish Flu due to Spain being the only country reporting deaths due to the suppression of news by countries involved in the First World War, was that it killed predominantly healthy young adults opposed to children, the elderly or those with underlying health conditions, as with many flus.

Undoubtedly the movement of troops and sailors across large areas during the war exacerbated the spread of the virus, as did the poor conditions and malnutrition of troops on the front line.

In some quarters Spanish Flu has been mooted as providing the tipping point for the Allies in the conflict.

“At the minute the Western World appears on top of it but the world is not prepared for something new, there is complacency,” continued Dr Khechara.

“You just have to look at the issue with

‘‘

The Spanish Flu basically tricked people’s bodies or more specifically their immune systems into killing themselves. If we had something akin to that either through someone creating it or viruses combining, that could cause the world a significant problem.

‘‘

The likes of 28 Days Later, I Am Legend and Contagion may well provide an extreme version of a deadly virus which turns its hosts into zombie – like creatures, but in fact the science behind the films is, in part, very real.

While the biggest fears may exist around the spread of a virus there are also very real fears about the deliberate release of a biohazard by a terrorist organisation or rogue state.

Recent history brings the US anthrax scare and the Tokyo nerve gas attacks to mind, as well as the use of biological weapons in various wars and conflicts.

One of Dr Khechara’s main fields of expertise in how to combat biological

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Spanish flu ward at Camp Funston, Kansas, when the epidemic began in 1918

He said: “Countries around the world look at ways they can counter potential attacks but they can be very difficult to deal with.

‘‘

Looking at the Anthrax scare in America the envelope sent to Senator Daschle contained just 1g of the substance. That 1g contains millions of infectious spores and is enough to kill a room full of people. In the end five people died. There is a vaccine but it needs catching early.

‘‘

“So anthrax is a big fear as it could also be placed in food or water supplies or dispersed into the atmosphere in a spray. It can incapacitate and kill, is easy to make and to disseminate.

“Smallpox is another concern. Even though the World Health Organisation

(WHO) eradicated it in 1979, fewer and fewer people are vaccinated against it and there’s also a worry some nations have stockpiles of it.

“It has been well documented that during the Cold War that the former USSR weaponised millions of tonnes of smallpox and nobody is quite sure what happened to that. There are fears that smallpox could also be re-engineered from existing cowpox or white pox.

“Smallpox can survive in the environment for days. It targets the body’s immune response and initially presents itself with similar symptoms to coughs and colds. It is also acutely infectious.

“The Plague is another – it is still about and there have been cases in Turkey.

You can order it online.

“Both treatable but carry same initial symptoms of cold and flu meaning misdiagnosis is common.”

But viruses and bacteria can also be put to good use. Dr Khechara’s latest research looks at creating viruses that seek out and eat bacteria.

“Enzybiotics is a growing field of work and provides great potential for the

answer to the problem posed by greater resistance to antibiotics.

“Basically it involves the use of bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections.

‘‘

In the future people could simply take a tailor-made cocktail to treat themselves. There really is a renewed interest from microbiologists in this area particularly with current antibiotics running out.

‘‘

weapons and what counter measures can be deployed.

“We only really know around one per cent of the microbiology make up of this planet - who knows what else is out there?

“It is often said we have a big event in this area every 100 years which means we are due one pretty soon.”

Hopefully it won’t be a zombie apocalypse.

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Photographic memory Photography started out as just a hobby to Mike Spriggs. But capturing the world around him has become a passion, so much so he’s given up his job to study it at the University of Wolverhampton.

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I woke up about 3am, looked out the guesthouse window and saw the aurora for the first time in my life. I rushed out with my camera and didn’t stop taking photos until daybreak.

It’s not exactly one of the best photographs of the northern lights I’ve ever seen but it’s a favourite photo of mine, not just because it holds memories of the first encounter of the aurora but because of the other-worldly landscape it dances over. It could almost be another planet.

2

Mike Spriggs

‘‘

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1. Old Art Deco Cinema, Kingstanding, Birmingham 2. Northern Lights, near Vik, Southern Iceland 3. West Coast of Iceland 4. Skogafoss, Southern Iceland 5. Old Lighthouse, Fleetwood, Lancashire 6. Millau Viaduct, Southern France 7. Ratcliffe Power Station, Nottingham 8. Rugeley Power Station, Staffordshire 9. Rugeley Power Station, Staffordshire 5

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10. The Cobb, Lyme Regis, Dorset 11. Antony Gormley’s Another Place, Crosby Beach, Merseyside 12. Wolverhampton Civic Hall, West Midlands 13. Middle Beach, Studland, Dorset 14. Llandudno Pier, North Wales

‘‘

Mike Spriggs

I first took up photography as a hobby in 2008 after viewing the beautiful minimalist work of Michael Kenna, an English landscape photographer. As time went on I became increasingly passionate about photography, mainly concentrating on black and white landscapes and architecture.

Photography gave me escapism from the stresses of work and took me to places where I otherwise might never have visited if it hadn’t have been for my camera.

I’ve worked in manufacturing for the last twenty years and in 2013 I was in a fortunate position where I could leave all that behind and study photography full time. I missed out on university after my A-levels, choosing to go straight into work, so I feel privileged to be able to do a BA (Hons) Photography degree at the University of Wolverhampton at this stage of my life. The whole idea of immersing myself in a subject I love with other like minded students was deeply appealing.

Choosing Wolverhampton was an easy decision. I liked what the course offered and I live near Cannock so commuting is easy.

Reviewing my first semester I’ve certainly started looking at other people’s work, as well as my own in a different light. I’ve been exploring different genres and avenues which I otherwise wouldn’t have done had it not been for studying on the course.

It’s early days but it would be nice to think I’ll be confident enough to make a career change at the end of the three years and make an income out of something I love doing.

‘‘

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In Denial of V Remembering In the pale pink light of dawn they stared across the blasted land before them, waiting for the whistles.

Though their bodies felt slack and stiff with lack of sleep, their eyes were opened wide with fear; still they waited for the whistles.

And then, in the chill of the early morning, above the whispers and whimpers of final vows and promises, those whistles finally came, loud and shrill.

with nearly two-thirds of all the officers involved that day among them.

“But I would argue that it was a strategic success. Some would even say it was a victory.”

In the space of a working day for those back home, 20,000 men had died; 20,000 husbands and sons, workers and inventors and future world leaders, stars of entertainment and the sports field.

And for what did they die? Some metres of land in a field in France.

It is a revisionist and challenging argument about one of the most controversial moments in conflict in British history. But surely he can’t actually mean it?

Does this sound like a success?

Could it ever?

And on that morning, July 1, 1916, they moved, thousands upon thousands of soldiers, climbing up from out their trenches and moving across the land, pushing forward towards their deaths.

For Gary Sheffield, one of the University of Wolverhampton’s newest professor recruits, and one of the country’s leading experts of the First World War, it was.

By the end of that first day, the death toll for what would become known as the Battle of the Somme stood at 20,000 for the British,

“Everybody’s idea of the Somme was that it was a complete disaster,” he says, leaning forward into the notion.

“Absolutely I do,” he says. “The Somme left the German army so damaged it was far less effective.

“War is, by its definition, a process of attrition. At the crudest level, it is about killing or disabling your enemy.

“And this was no different with the Somme. What people forget is that it was not just that first day; the Somme battle went on for 140 days afterwards and there were many days where things went very right for the British.

Dialogue WLV 22

The Troubles have claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people in Northern Ireland since 1969 and left large parts of communities in Ulster polarised, with hate and suspicion engrained for a generation. So 15 years on from the Good Friday agreement has anything really changed? James Allen reports

Victory: g WW1

Professor Gary Sheffield

Cheshire Regiment in the trenches, Somme 1916

Dr Eamonn O’Kane and Dr Christopher Norton at Wolverhampton Art Gallery’s Northern Ireland collection

23 Dialogue WLV

“Firstly, this idea of the slow walk is a myth and Hague didn’t actually order it anyway. Some walked but some went forward in a rush. But the speed didn’t actually matter.

The failure on the day was that the British artillery went wrong.

This is what led to the numbers of deaths on that day. But even so, the outcome of the Somme as a whole was a strategic success for the British.”

This belief – that the Somme was a futile endeavour – is just one of a roster of popularly-held opinions about the First World War which Professor Sheffield wants to see changed.

He feels the whole war is held in a negative light by the people of this country, and that it needn’t be.

And this is really the time to draw attention to it: 2014 marks 100 years since the great conflict began and a series of events are planned nationally and locally, to remember the occasion.

In fact, this year will be the first of five years’ worth of memorials, spanning the full length of the war and Professor Sheffield is playing a key role in the organisation of many of the top events.

He said: “I have been advising the BBC and the Government on their programme of events and working with various national groups.

“What you don’t want with this anniversary is five years’ worth of Remembrance Sunday. I am really passionate about the idea that we have an educational approach to these events and try to be as creative as possible in

“Because there were so many.

The British were strong and really played a key part in pushing the Germans back, who were by then a spent force precisely because of the work the British and other allies had done. The final 100 days of the war were victorious for the British and we should commemorate this.

‘‘

But it seems all anybody really knows - and all we ever really remember - are the so-called “disasters” like the Somme and in this way the whole perception of the war is skewed.

Another distorting feature of the national memory of the First World War – according to Professor Sheffield – is the idea of the poet’s war: the lamentations, the romantic idealisation of Wilfred Owen’s “doomed youth”.

He said: “The First World War is thought of as this utter disaster and this futile effort by the British and that is the way it is taught in school.

‘‘

Teachers look at Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and this poets’ view has become the accepted truth; while they did not bear false witness, theirs was a narrow and partial view, not shared by the vast majority of British soldiers.

‘‘

Professor Sheffield shakes his head.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Government has so far failed to come up with a way of commemorating the series of British victories which took place at the end of the war in 1918.

‘‘

But what about the slow walk famously ordered by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig for troops to walk slowly towards the enemy lines?

And the failure to cut the German wires before they finally reached the opposing trenches?

remembering the war.

“But this is a view I have been arguing against for more than 20 years.”

For Professor Sheffield, the First World War was a triumph for the Allies. It was Britain’s efforts in France, at the Somme, which

eventually forced Germany back and from then on, to switch their attentions towards naval warfare, which in turn resulted in the submarine attacks on US merchant shipping and prompted American entry into the conflict.

And, he argues, Britain felt this way at the time of the war.

‘‘

The vast majority of people felt that it has been a success. And at the end of the war, the 100 days in 1918 which were, in effect, a string of victories for the British – they were regarded as such at the time.

‘‘

“By the end of 1916, the Germans were weakened considerably and the British were then a formidable force.”

“Yet in the 1920s and 1930s there was a backlash against this view.

People took up the war poets’ narrative of the war, the lamenting, tragic view that it has all been a futile waste of human life.

“And despite the fact that many people disagreed with this view, because it was held by the chattering classes, it was the one which became accepted and remained so, taught as such, ever since.”

The biggest problem students of First World War history have, Professor Sheffield says, is casualties and the large numbers of them.

“We have, as a nation, never recovered psychologically from the casualties inflicted in the First World War,” he says.

“They are the heaviest Britain has ever suffered and one should not minimise the grief and trauma they caused. But they were not disproportionate, considering the achievements of the army as a whole. Britain played a role similar to that played by Russia in the Second World War, fighting the attritional battles that gravely weakened the German army.”

As the centenary dawns – “The British love an anniversary,” Professor Sheffield says – the

Dialogue WLV 24

nation will be prompted to think about the five years of conflict which engulfed much of the world.

and dusted in the way that the Napoleonic Wars are,” Professor Sheffield says.

Professor Sheffield says: “I am working with the government and I want these anniversary events to be about discussion and debate.

There are so many aspects of the war and these should come into the open. At the heart of the government’s approach is an education package and I feel it is important to break away from this idea that the war was simply one long disaster for Britain. It was a war of national survival.

“Those wars are studied only from a historical perspective. But the First World War is still going on, in a sense.

“I am loathe to say you can learn lessons from history. But there are some things about the First World War which speak to us today, especially in regards to the role of the armed forces and the way we remember and support them.”

But for Professor Sheffield, this centenary event is a real chance not simply to remember, but reassess. With no living survivors of the conflict left, and our appreciation of the conflict only possible through memories and images on record, it is important to try and set that record straight.

“The First World War is not done

“The British national effort during that war was extremely impressive and the whole country was mobilised in a remarkable way. It galvanised the nation so strongly.

“To remember the conflict in any other way – that’s the real tragedy, the real futility.”

WOLVERHAMPTON’S PART IN THE CENTENARY

Along with the national anniversary events, Professor Sheffield has been helping to organise events for the University of Wolverhampton.

These will include a series of lectures in 2014 with leading historians, which will examine different aspects of the war.

Professor Sheffield has drawn on his extensive contacts in the world of war history to put together a list of speakers and details will be announced at a later point.

He is also helping to create a new master’s course in war studies, focusing on the British Empire and

the First World War. And there are also plans to set up an online centre for First World War history. It will be a “one-stop shop, a virtual centre for knowledge, discussion and opinion on the war.”

THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN TEN OBJECTS

Ahead of the centenary events, Professor Sheffield has published The First World War in 100 Objects. It offers a unique perspective on the world’s first truly global conflict. It traces its history through the examination of iconic items like the Zeppelin, the gas mask and Winston Churchill’s cigar, to personal objects which tell the poignant stories of individuals and official documents, medals and badges.

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The First World War in 100 objects – a selection 01

Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s car. The assassination of the Archduke was the trigger for the war. Most historians believe that Austria and Germany were primarily to blame for starting the war.

02

Leete’s ‘Lord Kitchener’ Poster. The most famous British poster of the war, the impact on recruiting was surprisingly limited, but it has become iconic in the years since.

03

Rum jar. The daily tot of rum was critical boost to the morale of troops in the trenches.

04

Lenin’s train. The arrival in Russia of Lenin, allowed through German lines in a sealed train, did much to hasten the Bolshevik revolution of November 1917.

05

Lawrence of Arabia’s headdress. The First World War reshaped the Middle East and we are living the consequences today.

06

Commonwealth War Graves commission headstone. The British Empire suffered about 1 million military dead. CWGC cemeteries are to be found all over the world.

07

Mark V tank. The British took the lead in developing modern warfare, making extensive use of new technology.

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U-boat. The German submarine campaign against merchant shipping came close to driving Britain out of the war in 1917.

09

Family photograph. The resilience of the home fronts was an essential factor in sustaining the war effort.

10

Kathe Kollewitz’s statues. The German sculptor’s famous statues of mourning parents, located in a German war cemetery, captures the sheer horror of war. Her 19 year old son was killed in 1914.

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The Art of Observation Since learning his craft at the former Wolverhampton Polytechnic in the 1980’s, David Downton has gone on to become one of the country’s most celebrated fashion artists. But it is his current, one-of-a-kind job which has attracted recent headlines. Chris Jones reports.

27 Dialogue WLV

There are some jobs which sound so good you can hardly believe they are real and that somebody gets paid to do them.

David Downton’s is just such a job.

Get this: he is paid to stay at luxury London hotel Claridge’s, to drink in its bars and frequent its halls, to sleep in its elegant rooms and dine in its award-winning restaurant.

And all he has to do is draw some of the guests who stay there.

That’s it.

As the Mayfair hotel’s first artist-in-residence (maybe any hotel’s first artist-in-residence) David is on-call to deploy his unique gifts at capturing likenesses and add to the hotel’s framed portraits of the great and good who stay there.

But his route to this dream artistic licence has been a circuitous one.

Born in Kent in 1953, David took a BA in Illustration and graphics from the University of Wolverhampton (or, as it was then called, Wolverhampton Polytechnic) in 1981.

He said: “I feel sometimes I didn’t make the most of my time in Wolverhampton, really. There were all kinds of things I let slip.

Images: page 26 Valentino 2006 above Dita Von Teese 2008 below Erin O’Connor 2002 page 28 Cate Blanchett Australian Vogue 2009 Dior Couture 2006 YSL 2010

“I had always drawn, throughout childhood. All children do, really, it is the first and most primal way of communicating.

“But then some, maybe most, let it go, move on to words and talking and let it go. And then later, as an adult, they say that they “just can’t draw” and resign themselves to it.

“But for me, it was my little thing. My brother was a prodigy and he had cricket and he was lauded for it. So drawing was my thing and I buried into it.

“And I was good, I was told I was good and that just fed into it.”

He has come a long way since then, establishing himself in the front rank of fashion illustrators.

His client list include Tiffany & Co, Bloomingdales, Harrods, Top Shop, Chanel and Dior and he has drawn some of the world’s most beautiful women, like Erin O’Connor, Catherine Deneuve, Linda Evangelista and Dita Von Teese.

But like any real artist, it is his work which has made his reputation and, his style is inimitable and immediately identifiable.

His work has that barely-there quality, that effortless impressionistic touch of the inspired sketch artist.

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Confident slashes of black ink define the strong lines of a slender neck or the stalk of a feather in elaborate headwear; gentle sweeps of grey and of sepia trace out the lines of noses, foreheads, jawbones; soft washes of rose invoke the blush of cheeks.

And at the centre of each and every one of these hallucinatory images are the clear, sharp features of a face: the shine of bright blue eyes, the scarlet smooch of lips and the poise of a nose.

Some of David’s portraits are more complex than others. Some invoke a sense of place, a piece of furniture or two; others highlight jewellery, a meticulous rendering of an earring or necklace. And still others eschew all of this, giving only the most ghostly impression of a being at all.

they are repeat guests or people known by the top brass. But, taken together, these people form a snapshot of Claridge’s circa 2013.

Yet in every piece, the features of the face sit bright and alive, skewering the essence of every subject with unnerving accuracy.

“It lends itself to the kind of open intimacy you need with a portrait. So people come in, sit with me, we share some drinks, I make some sketches and what I’m really doing all this time is generating raw material.

And as so often with effortless craft, the effect, David says, is arrived at with time, care and hard work.

He says: “I work hard to make it look like that. Each piece is the result of a number of different sketches, which I do in person, with the subject. But the actual finished piece is done at home.”

It was in 2011 that David was approached by Paula Fitzherbert, the public relations director for Claridge’s, who suggested a meeting with the hotel’s general manager Thomas Kochs. From this meeting came the idea of the artist-in-residence and David’s current tenure as such.

In his unique position, David has two types of work. The first is to capture particular guests – often highlighted well in advance of their stay – which have a connection to the hotel in some way, and portraits of which will go on the wall, framed, as part of a growing collection.

“These aren’t simply celebrities,” David says. “When I first began to talk with Thomas we had only this idea that I would be artist-in-residence.

“We didn’t know exactly how it would work other than the fact that it would replace the role of a photographer, be something different.”

These portraits – which David refers to as the Hall of Fame portraits – have included people like Sarah Jessica Parker, Paul Smith and Dita von Teese (who wanted, like Kate Winslet’s Rose in Titanic, to be drawn naked).

Many of the guests who go up on the Hall of Fame have long-standing connections with Claridge’s. Maybe

But in the down time (for between these sittings there is a fair amount) David has taken on another series of pieces which are planned, booked and conducted in the hotel’s bar – the Fumoir.

It was the bar’s very atmosphere which prompted David to begin these pieces.

He says: “It’s a dark, confessional kind of space. With the Lalique glass and the velvet it has this eternal twilight kind of feel. You can order a Martini at nine in the morning and not feel like an alcoholic.

“The talking and the body language, all that is personality and all of that is what you try and capture in a good portrait.

“I suppose the kind of people I have drawn – Erin O’Connor, Stephen Jones, Poppy Delevingne – they are all people of the fashion world and so there is a lot of surface to them. But to capture that can be as truthful as an oil-on-canvass work which plunders a hidden depth to a person.”

Many of these pictures done at the bar were recently featured in an exhibition called Midnight at Noon, which captured the eternal-night feel of the Fumoir.

But whether he is holding a studio session in the bar or being dispatched to draw a particular guest, what makes David’s drawings so recognisable is his gift for likeness; the art of capturing the essence of a person in art.

His extraordinary grasp of likeness is one of the main reasons he gets paid to sit in one of London’s most exquisite hotels drawing beautiful people, and while artistic skill can be studied and learned, likeness, he says, is a gift.

“Likeness is a knack. I have it and I think I have always had it, to a degree.

Some people say beauty is in symmetry but I don’t like it in a drawing. What I look for is strong features, those sharp lines and strong curves which make that face unique.

“A person’s face is there in the eyes, nose, the eyebrows. If you get those right, you can essentially sit them on the page and you have that person.”

29 Dialogue WLV

The Lilac Frame Short story by Jason Anson – first year BA (Hons) Creative and Professional Writing and English student.

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Sitting on my windowsill and staring blankly at the horizon, I regarded my childhood town - and the memories therein - with nothing but an air of apathy. The stretch of land from the front yard to the tree dotted purview was all I had ever known.

A van made its way up the road and came to a halt at the end of our driveway. The rear doors swung open and out stepped my father. I watched as my mother greeted him, civil as a stranger. The door to my bedroom soon opened, and my father’s head peered in.

“Hey, champ. You all packed?”

“Yeah.”

We carried my boxes to the van, the memories rattled inside as I walked down the stairs. After packing the van, we stood awkwardly in the driveway - my father and I at one end, my mother at the other.

“I’ll call you when you’re all moved in!” my mother called out to me, as I got into the passenger seat of the van.

She didn’t.

The drive was long, my father and I spoke some before I drifted in and out of sleep.

When I woke, we were on a long road flanked on both sides by fields of lilac. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and saw her. She was wearing a yellow dress, and she danced in the lilac field. The lilacs brushed her legs and stained her dress. Her blonde hair caught the sun and wouldn’t let it go. ..........................................................

I fell asleep that night in my new bedroom, half unpacked, thinking about the girl in the lilac field. In my dream we were childhood sweet hearts, enveloped in a nostalgic infatuation. I woke with a plan: to find her in the lilac field. I packed a bag with a sketchbook and some pencils.

I found the field but I didn’t see her so I sat down and began to draw. I had almost burned through all my purple pencils when I saw her. She was in a blue polka-dot summer dress. It fluttered gently in the breeze like the lavender flowers around her. Her thin arms were outstretched as she walked down the aisle of lilac, her fingertips glided across the petals.

I looked up to take note of the way her hair fell on her shoulders. When she was stood

several feet away, she saw me.

“I’m, uh, just drawing the field. I-” I stumbled on my words; in my fixation I had quite forgotten my shyness.

“Could I see? Your drawing?” she asked.

I handed her the sketchbook. She complimented my drawing and asked if I could draw her. I was happy to oblige, so she sat opposite me and smiled as if I was taking a picture.

The lilacs framed her face perfectly. My hand moved slowly over the paper so I could do justice to her beauty. A large smile broke free from her lips when I showed her the finished picture. We sat and spoke some more until we exhausted the conversation and sat in silence. I wanted to kiss her. She must have seen me looking wistfully at her lips because before I could move my eyes away she came towards me and kissed me.

She gasped and pulled her lips away.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, it’s okay. I wanted to kiss you too.”

“No, I’m sick,” she told me, as her eyes watered up. “You should go.”

I didn’t see her again. ..........................................................

Two months later, I was walking with my father and we saw a convoy of hearses. A congregation of sullen faces dressed in black.

We followed them onto the lilac fields.

A tombstone.

A grave.

No. Four men, all crying, carried a glass-top coffin on their shoulders. I hadn’t seen her yet but I knew it was her.

When I did see her, I began to cry. I watched as she was lowered into the grave, I noted how the lilac around her grave outlined her coffin. It trembled gently in the wind.

I saw her face, the lilacs framed it perfectly. I was looking at her blank, colourless face but I could only see my own drawing, full of colour.

I saw her smile through the lilac frame.

31 Dialogue WLV

Body of Evidence Creating the ideal athlete

The analysis of sports is an ever-growing industry, with managers, coaches and players desperately trying to stay one step ahead of their rivals. The end results can be seen on the field, but who collects the data, conducts the research and presents the conclusions in the first place?

Patrick Campbell travelled to Walsall Campus to meet a man who does just that…

A recent revolution in Major League Baseball – covered in depth by Michael Lewis in his book “Moneyball” – has shown how data has now become king in professional sport, and teams are using statistics and analysis more than ever to recruit players. But who are the people behind the scenes developing this ground-breaking research?

Professor Alan Nevill is Professor in Research at the University, as well as being the Editor in Chief of The Journal of Sports Sciences. As a specialist in biostatistics applied to health, sport and exercise sciences, analysing athletes is a labour of love.

Professor Nevill’s research has focused on athletes’ body shapes, and their possible links with success.

‘‘

Professor Alan Nevill

My main research interests involve investigating, analysing and modelling data recorded in sport.

Since 2009, I’ve analysed top division footballers and world-class sprinters, and next May I’ll be presenting my findings regarding male tennis players to a sports sciences conference in Orlando, Florida.

‘‘

Over the last 20 years, the lines between sport and business have become increasingly blurred.

Nowadays, a football team is a “franchise”, a player on the team is “an asset” and fans are reduced to being mere “customers”. With the financial stakes sky high, managers and team owners will stop at nothing to get ahead of the competition, and understand that they cannot afford to make expensive mistakes.

Dialogue WLV 32

“What do I mean by this?

Well, BMI stands for Body Mass Index, and is a recognised measure of muscle mass in athletes competing in high-intensity sports.

“RPI stands for Reciprocal Ponderal Index – which sounds complex, but is essentially how lean/ linear an athlete is, and is calculated using the athlete’s height and weight values.”

When analysing top-flight footballers in regards to their BMI and RPI back in 2009, Professor Nevill discovered something interesting.

“When looking at ‘successful’ players – and I defined that by those playing for the top six teams in the Premier League – I found that their RPI figure was significantly greater than the players from the other fourteen teams. Put simply – the better players are taller and leaner.

“These players will be more successful at heading the ball (defensively and offensively), will be able to close down their opponents more efficiently, and will be more adept at running long distances.

“Our results would be exciting for football scouts, managers, and chairmen – it urges them to pay more attention to body shape when considering potential players for their squad.”

But what about exceptional players

from abroad who don’t fit into this category – Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, for example – all of whom are 5ft 7in?

“The research is based on Premier League data, so perhaps generalizing to other leagues might be extrapolating too far. Our findings did also suggest that it is goalkeepers and central defenders who have the higher RPI figures in a team, compared to attacking players such as Messi.”

After his research into top-flight footballers, he turned his attention to world-class sprinters.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the secret to sporting success was a reduced BMI figure and an increased RPI figure. You’d be wrong if you applied that logic to tennis players.

Professor Nevill’s final research project on this theme has centred on male pro tennis players between 1982-2011.

“How do you define a successful tennis player? It’s difficult – but for my investigation I arbitrarily classified a ‘successful’ player as one who made the third round (or beyond) of a Grand Slam tournament, with an unsuccessful player being eliminated in either of the first two rounds.”

“What we found with the sprinters is that once again RPI is a significant factor for success – but this is an emerging factor and can only really be seen when analysing the data from the past decade or so.

Professor Nevill’s research into tennis players has yet to be published, but his initial findings seem to suggest a dramatic contrast to footballers and sprinters.

‘‘

“It appears that in recent years, BMI has emerged as an important factor associated with success in Grand Slam tournaments. There has been an increase in the BMI figure, and a decrease in the RPI figure – suggesting that elite male tennis players are becoming more power athletes as opposed to endurance athletes.”

If we take Usain Bolt as an example – he is taller and leaner than sprinters of the past, such as Linford Christie or Maurice Green. This linearity gives Bolt the advantage of having a greater stride length, due to his longer legs.

‘‘

“My research has been based on the changing shape of athletes in regards to their BMI and their RPI.

“The longer stride length gives the athlete an advantage towards the second part of the race – the more powerful, bulky runners will get explosive starts but will then fall away slightly.

“What is particularly interesting about this is that this has only recently been the case – in prior decades, a high BMI figure was associated with sprinting success. Athletes such as Usain Bolt are transforming the sport and it’s very exciting to see.”

This hypothesis is perhaps evident to the naked eye – Grand Slam winning players such as Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have physiques the likes of John McEnroe or Boris Becker could only dream of, and female players such as Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova are much stronger than their 1970s counterparts.

Sportspeople are changing, and it’s vital that managers and coaches understand this. The future success of your team? It might just come down to the numbers…

33 Dialogue WLV

INPICTURES...

01 - 09 The launch of the British Judo Centre of Excellence at the University of Wolverhampton’s Walsall Campus 10 - 14 The West Midlands Regional Fairtrade Forum which was hosted by the University

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15 - 21 Celebrating 50 years of teaching at Walsall Campus.

22 - 24 Students from the Dominican Republic who are studying at the University as part of an agreement with the Dominican Government were hosted for dinner along with the Dominican Republic ambassador.

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THANKYOU...

To everyone who has played a part in helping create this issue of Dialogue WLV. Once again thanks to all those who wrote something for us, particularly Chris Jones and Patrick Campbell.

Thanks to Kulbir Entwistle for another fantastically designed issue and Asia Mela and Debbie Prewitt for proofing duties.

Special thanks to our contributors: Aidan Byrne, Jane Deville Almond, Gary Sheffield, Coral Dando, Martin Khechara, Raul Sutton and Alan Nevill and to David Downton for the interview and beautiful illustrations.

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Thanks to our student contributors Mike Spriggs for the stunning photography feature and Jason Anson for the short story.

And final thanks to the Express and Star, Lion Print, and Hall Photography.

Enjoy.

James Allen Dialogue WLV Editor

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