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The Restoration Project Issue
Design & Print
Do Good Publishing
www.DoGoodPublishing.com
Winter 2013
Produced on material sourced
from a sustainable forest.
Winter 2013
2 Contents
TheCholmeleian Winter 2013
Editors’ Notes
This issue celebrates the opening of the new
Library, and the restoration of the Chapel
This issue celebrates the completion of the
Restoration Project. The new Sir Martin Gilbert
Library opened this September, and the
restoration of the Chapel nears completion.
We interview the Chaplain, Paul Knight, and
the Librarians, Mrs Mary Cunning and Mrs Tina
Janering, who run these buildings, so important
to the life of the School and which represent the
life of the mind and of the spirit.
The School lost one of its most distinguished
alumni, Sir John Tavener, this November, just as
we were getting ready to mark his seventieth
birthday. We publish an obituary adapted from
The Times, but we hope that OCs will write in with
their memories of John, and his time at Highgate
during a golden age of music at the School.
Many thanks again to Ben Dabby, the School
News Editor, and to the new team of Student
Journalists - we think the best we’ve had yet for
keenness and writing abilities!
The deadline for the next issue is the end
of March 2014.
The Editors
Simon Appleton, Ben Dabby, William Kimberley
Student Editors
Joe Berriman, Joe Baker, Lisa Benson, Sam
Coade, Dan Edge, Silan Fidan, Emily Hankin,
Omar Hussein, Ben Huston, Sophie Ishak,
Sam Karlin, Tavishi Kanwar, Natasha Knight,
Fraser Medhurst, Oscar Rocklin, Sophia ParviziWayne, Finn Strivens, Robin Johnson
The Cholmeleian
Highgate School, North Road
London N6 4AY
email
[email protected]
telephone
020 8347 2116
website
www.highgateschool.org.uk
Head Master, Adam Pettitt, with members of Year 7
The prelude to writing this editorial was a trip to the top of the chapel. Clambering
up the ladders, and picking my way somewhat nervously along the shifting
scaffolding planks which flank the northern wall I edged round the apse roof. My
eyes were drawn again and again to the Westmoreland slate tiles, less out of fear of
taking in the vertiginous drop to Southwood Lane than out of sheer admiration: row after
row of crisply hewn tiles, neat in their precise angularity, creating a beautiful sweeping
curve. The months of waiting for the plastic sheeting and scaffolding to be peeled away
and of hearing the Chaplain intone ‘Welcome to Chapel’ in the Auditorium, are coming to
an end, and with what glorious results!
This edition of The Cholmeleian turns its attention appropriately to the restoration
project: returning the chapel to its former glory and finding a new raison d’être for Big
School, spectacularly reborn as the Sir Martin Gilbert Library. Our youthful tour guides
showing round parents of prospective pupils in week one of this term stumbled on the
newly opened library: dumb-founded surprise gave way to stammering admiration as
they took in the sweep of the mezzanine, the rows of inviting books and spacious desks,
comfy chairs and inviting PCs, and the realisation that all this had been done for them.
Finally Highgate has the physical resource – and in what style! – to realise its aim to
make a scholar of every pupil: independent, creative and versatile thinkers able to master
the mysteries of the knowledge economy and to enjoy the pleasures of an imagined
world.
The transformation of Big School was made possible in part through a generous
donation by John Frederick Newsome, a pupil at Highgate between 1947 and 1954. Sadly
he has not lived to see the impact of his generosity but it is a particular pleasure to know
that another OC has invested so tellingly in the new life of his old and much-loved school.
Cholmeleians will know that we have appointed a Director of Development, Salima
Virji, who is quickly learning about Highgate’s extended community, our OCs and their
families; less well known yet is our first Archivist and Record Keeper, Julia Hudson, who is
getting to grips with the school’s archival riches – high on her list are two anniversaries,
our 450th in 2015 and the hundredth anniversary of the Great War. Watch this space!
Adam Pettitt
Contents 3
Regulars
News
Page 48
Feature Opening the Door of Faith
We interview Chaplain Paul Knight, whose ministry at the School since 1992 has earned
him the respect and affection of many generations of Cholmeleians.
News Simon Walker
Page 4
Simon Walker is the new DG of the
Institute of Directors
News Shooting
Bates’ Motel
Page 7
Freddie Highmore plays Psycho’s Norman Bates
in the second series of Bates’ Motel
News High Tones
Page 30
Highgate’s a cappella choir reaches the finals
of the Voice UK Competition
News Our Elected Heads
Page 31
Jamie Powe and Maddy Sands become
Highgate’s first elected Heads of School
Archive Memories of
Cholmeley
Page 45
As we say farewell to Cholmeley, OCs write in
with their memories of Highgate’s Junior School
4
News continued
28
Music
40
Art
43
Archive
45
School Sport
52
Letters
59
Obituaries
66
Announcements
69
Notes
71
Clubs & Societies
73
Features
Meeting the Librarians
24
Opening the Door of Faith
48
Recovering the Richness of Life
56
Our Man in Lambeth Palace
63
4 News
Simon Walker is appointed the New Director-General
of the Institute of Directors
communications strategy – spin-doctoring, as it
is popularly known, and he has taken on some
tough cases: John Major’s policy unit at Number
10, British Airways when it was hit by strikes and
the Royal Family from 2002-07. He has always
been interested in politics, and, in spite of his
liberal values, nearly became a Conservative MP.
His time at Balliol he remembers as ‘a nest of
political interest, where he met Benazir Bhutto,
Anne Widdecombe and Chris Huhne.
He describes himself as ‘right in the middle’ of
a Venn diagram of the media, business
and politics.
Although his present job brings the reward of
an impressive £300,000 pa salary, Simon says
he is not motivated by money, indeed he has
taken significant pay cuts to do jobs he thinks
important. He also relishes variety, as well as a
His business sense emerged
at Highgate, which he
attended from 1961-4. ‘I set
up a rather entrepreneurial
insurance scheme where
boys would pay me a
penny a week and receive a
substantial payment if they
were punished for misdeeds
– a shilling, or even half-acrown if they were beaten
by the Headmaster.’
Simon Walker is the new Director-General of the Institute of Directors
Simon Walker has been appointed the new
Director-General of the Institute of Directors.
Described by Robert Lea in The Times as
‘an outsider who has long been at the heart
of the British Establishment’, Simon is a
South African of British descent, educated
at Highgate Junior School, South African
College School and Balliol College, Oxford. He
becomes the voice of business at a time of crisis:
‘We are five years into the financial crisis. There
is a distrust and suspicion of business that is an
extremely serious threat to the functioning of
the free market. Business has a responsibility
to respond to that and the IOD in particular is
well-placed to do that. We have talked about
bank salaries in a critical way, for example, when
payments to executives at Barclays were three
times the total dividend payout to shareholders.
You end up asking: ‘Who is this company being
run for?’
Simon’s ability to present the case for
business comes from his background in
challenge, and has never been in the same job
for more than five years.
His business sense emerged at Highgate,
which he attended from 1961-4. ‘I set up a
rather entrepreneurial insurance scheme where
boys would pay me a penny a week and receive
a substantial payment if they were punished
for misdeeds – a shilling, or even half-acrown if they were beaten by the Headmaster.
Unfortunately, the authorities put a stop to this’,
he recalls. Apart from quashing his budding
business sense, he has nothing but happy
memories of Highgate, and would have finished
school there had his parents not taken him to
South Africa. He was much impressed with Mr
Thompson, the music master.
When not representing the interests of
business, Simon relaxes with his family – a wife
(from New Zealand; they go there every year)
and two children, watches Newsnight (he is a big
Paxman fan) and gardens. We look forward to
welcoming Simon to Highgate to speak about his
new role.
News 5
Martin Weale is Reappointed to the Bank of England’s
Monetary Policy Committee
Martin Weale has been elected to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee for the second time
Martin Weale (MG 1968) was re-appointed
to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy
Committee for a second and final threeyear term starting on 1 August 2013. Martin
commented: ‘My first term has proven to be
very different from what I had expected at the
outside. Despite very substantial monetary
support from the Bank of England, the recovery
from the recession of 2008/9 has been the
weakest since the Great War, while inflation has
been firmly above the two per cent target set by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This has created
a particularly unpleasant environment in which
to be making monetary policy. Looking ahead
there are some signs that the economic outlook
has started to improve, while the inflationary
pressures of the last few years seem to be
weakening. With the Bank Rate having been at
half a per cent since early 2009, I very much
hope that the underlying situation will improve
enough to justify some increase in the Bank Rate
during my second term’.
George Osborne, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, said: ‘Martin has been a very effective
member of the MPC throughout his first term. His
knowledge of the economy has proved invaluable
through a challenging period. I am very glad that
Martin will continue on the MPC for a further
term, and am confident that his expertise will
remain an asset.’
‘With the Bank Rate having
been at half a per cent since
early 2009, I very much hope
that the underlying situation
will improve enough to justify
some increase in the Bank
Rate during my second term.’
At Highgate, Martin says, ‘I studied Sciences
and Maths. The only sport I enjoyed was bridge
which I still play fairly regularly. I developed an
interest in Economics from reading the press
and from talking to one of my grandfathers
who was an Economics journalist. In the early
1970s Economics A-level was seen as a doubtful
qualification, and I was advised that it was better
to take Double Maths, Physics and Chemistry as
a precursor to an Economics degree. Mr Jones let
me apply to Cambridge to read Maths for the first
year (Part I Economics again being seen as less
helpful than Part Ia Maths), with the intention
of changing to Economics for the second year,
and that was the path I followed. On graduation
I spent two years working in the Statistics Office
in Malawi and then returned to Cambridge as
a researcher and lecturer. This was followed by
fifteen years as Director of the National Institute
of Economic and Social Research, before I joined
the Monetary Policy Committee in 2010.’
Martin was appointed CBE for his services to
Economics in 1999 and was elected an Honorary
Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 2001.
Cambridge University, from which he graduated
with a BA in Economics in 1977, and where
he was a fellow of Clare College, awarded him
an ScD in Economics in 2006. He received an
honorary doctorate from City University in 2007
and between 2000 and 2008 he was a member of
the Statistics Commission.
6 News
My Time in Post-War Paradise
Nina Sorensen Describes her Time in
Sri Lanka Helping Victims of the 2004 Tsunami
are now shaping its evolving culture.
At the beginning of the placement I spread
myself evenly across all the projects, from
teaching English to special needs and street
children, to assisting in an elderly home.
We were encouraged to not only develop
the existing skills we had, but also to throw
ourselves into unfamiliar territory in order to
build resilience in the difficult environments
we confronted. For my last three weeks I spent
most of my time at the orphanage, elderly
home and nursing college, with the orphanage
undoubtedly being the most challenging
experience of the whole trip. The facilities were
as basic as one could imagine, the smell was
sense-assaulting, and many of the babies and
toddlers had contracted infectious diseases
such as scabies. Others were also mentally and
physically disabled. But the time I spent here
was soul-servicing and the most memorable of
the whole trip.
‘The understanding I gained
from people I worked with
provided me with a totally
new perspective on how to
use the opportunities we
have to help the society of
which we are a part.’
Nina Sorensen has been helping rebuild lives in Sri Lanka after the 2004 Tsunami
‘Having survived the organised chaos and
fast-paced culture of Vietnam, a compelling
but distressing cultural tour of Cambodia
and endless exploring in Thailand, I landed
in the capital city of Sri Lanka to start my
volunteering placement in March this year.
I was first drawn to Sri Lanka not only for its
reputation of incomparable coastlines, but also
by my ambition to help the countless victims
of the 2004 Tsunami, the civil war which had
crippled the county for over twenty years, and
above all the most vulnerable people still living
in impoverished conditions. I found a locally-run
organisation founded by a relatively wealthy
but extremely humble businessman, Janaka,
who had lost both his parents in the tsunami and
witnessed the devastation to his local village.
His family opened up their house for volunteers
from all over the World, inviting us to share
our lives with the people we met, whilst also
educating us in the belief of Karma, and how Sri
Lanka is rebuilding itself after the events that
As well as my volunteering placements,
I was given the opportunity to travel the rest of
the island with fellow OC Chris De Kauwe (SG
2008). Our tour started further north of the Island
in Anuradhapura, then we made our way south,
climbing the ancient rock palace of Sigiriya,
navigating the last ancient King capital of Kandy,
and finishing at Adam’s Peak, a gruelling 7827ft
climb to see the most idyllic sunrise. Today, four
years on from one of the most devastating civil
wars of recent times, there is clear acceptance of
the many cultural groups that inhabit Sri Lanka,
including Tamils, which have enabled the country
to grow and benefit from their influence.
The understanding I gained from people
I worked with provided me with a totally new
perspective on how to use the opportunities we
have to help the society of which we are a part.
Whilst I had come to help others in a culture so
unlike my own, I felt so changed and educated
after the experience that it is the people whom
I left behind who I know will benefit from all the
positive karma for the gifts they gave me.’
Nina Sorensen (KG 2008)
News 7
Freddie Highmore Shoots Second Season of Bates’ Motel, –
then it’s Back to Cambridge to Finish his Languages Degree!
Freddie Highmore stars as the young Norman Bates in the prequel to Psycho
Freddie Highmore (EG 2010) has just finished
shooting the second series of Bates’ Motel in
Vancouver. Freddie plays the young Norman
Bates in the made-for-TV show, which is a
prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Freddie’s
character is actually quite likeable, giving people
what Freddie calls: ‘a weird sense of hope that
he won’t turn out the way he has to’. ‘Playing
the iconic Norman Bates isn’t such a bad gig…!’
commented Freddie. ‘I was never tied down by
Anthony Perkins’ performance; we all felt free to
‘re-imagine’ the Psycho mythology as the show
is set in the present day. One thing that we’ve
certainly managed to improve upon this season
is the roof on the top of the Bates house; in the
first season it was chopped off at the second
storey and the rest was computer-animated,
whereas we’ve now constructed the whole thing.
Vancouver is also lovely this time of year, though
a downside to shooting in the hotter summer
is that a dodgy smell starts to seep from the
rubbish dump across the road (and the old one
that actually forms the hill on top of which the
house sits). Vera (Vera Farmiga) is – as always
– wonderful to work opposite, and she fully
deserved her recent Emmy nomination for her
role on the show… I was there recently to support
her; a real shame she didn’t win! In between
seasons, I completed my languages ‘year abroad’
by spending the majority of the time in Madrid,
and next I’ll be heading back to Cambridge for
one last year. After that, who knows!? The good
thing about playing Norman Bates is that I know
I’ll be there until the end…everyone else must be
done in at some point!’
Freddie made his name as a child actor in
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding
Neverland but has avoided the child actor
syndrome, staying sane and grounded, for which
he credits his parents. He has avoided filming at
Cambridge, where he is completing his degree
in French and Spanish, in order to enjoy the
experience of being a Cambridge undergraduate
adding the study of Arabic to his languages,
as he would like to learn more about the culture
of the Middle East and the Arab world.
The child actor has turned
into a leading man,
described by a recent
interviewer as ‘the young
man with the soulful eyes’
The child actor has turned into a leading man,
described by a recent interviewer as ‘the young
man with the soulful eyes’. Whatever roles
follow Norman Bates, he’s sure to gather a
dedicated following.
8 News
Duncan Piper’s YLC
Making Tomorrow’s Leaders Today
Duncan Piper training tomorrow’s young leaders, and getting them to think in new ways about careers
Former Head of School, Duncan Piper (SG
2006), has started a consultancy to train
tomorrow’s young leaders. ‘In February 2008,
halfway through my degree at the University of
York, I received an email from the former Deputy
Head of Highgate. Charlotte Avery, by this time
firmly installed as Headmistress of St Mary’s
Cambridge, asked if I could spend some time
with her Head Girl and Senior Prefects to offer
them some guidance as they took on their new
roles of leadership. I had been Head of School
during my final year at Highgate (2005-06), and
she thought it would be useful for her girls to get
some advice from someone just a few years
their senior.
Chuffed with the invitation, I got on a train
to do as requested. But as I returned to York,
a thought emerged – perhaps it wasn’t only
Charlotte’s girls who needed such support. Within
a month, The Young Leaders’ Consultancy (The
YLC) was born and within two, I was delivering
prefect leadership programmes to nearly a dozen
schools across the country.
Whilst the programmes were incredibly well
received, I decided to replace my entrepreneurial
hat with an academic one as I committed myself
to striving for the First I felt I could achieve. On
realising that aim, I turned with open arms to the
corporate world and joined Procter & Gamble’s
business development graduate scheme – the
offer seemed too good to turn down.
The next two years zoomed past, but I soon
realised that corporate life (and selling soapsuds)
simply wasn’t for me. I wanted to do a job that
only I could do in the way in which I did it
and, at P&G, there wasn’t much room for such
individuality. It wasn’t until you were high up
the greasy pole that you could start making the
meaningful decisions I wanted to make at 21,
and I was too impatient to wait.
I resigned in January 2012 with a vision to
‘do my own thing’. I began by registering The
Pangaean Group Ltd. – an umbrella company
for any business interest I had and the vehicle
to seize opportunities at the drop of a hat. I had
grand ideas for events companies, restaurants
and publishing houses, but the first ‘brand’ of
The Pangaean Group would be a dusted-off
and relaunched Young Leaders’ Consultancy.
It soon became clear, though, that The YLC was
to become my sole and passionate occupation
– the more you work in education, the more
you realise just how much there is to be done.
The YLC now has a dozen inspiring
professionals (all in their twenties, leading their
own organisations and companies) to help us
create and deliver leadership, entrepreneurship
and personal development programmes to
some thirty leading independent schools up and
down the country. That number is set to double
over the next year. In recent months, we’ve
collaborated with UCL on a leadership research
project and have also started looking East – to
corporates in Malaysia, China and Thailand who
are sponsoring students to study at Oxbridge
and Russell Group universities before they
return to their home countries to work for their
sponsors. We’ve developed bespoke leadership
curriculums to stretch those students outside
of the classroom, alongside a mentoring and
coaching programme to support their social and
personal development, better preparing them
for the complex working world that awaits them
when they graduate.
As the son of two psychotherapists, I cut
off the hand that fed me with this remark, but
I believe we need all young men and women to
have the self-awareness and self-confidence to
lead themselves to a future of their own making,
whereby they avoid slipping, thoughtlessly,
onto a university course and then slipping into
a career. I believe they need to forget what is
‘expected’ of them by their parents and society,
and we need to offer them insight into how they
can take ownership of their own trajectories.
For only then would midlife crises be averted,
and psychotherapists be made redundant.
I also believe we need many more
ambitious, highly skilled and empathetic
leaders and innovators who have a keen eye
to see opportunities and the strength to take
appropriate risks with little fear of failure.
For only then will our economy and our society
be offered the chance it needs to succeed in the
most competitive of races.
I believe that it’s only when we have such
an in-touch and entrepreneurial workforce that
we can expect to see a healthy society built by
healthy, and fulfilled, individuals. The YLC is now
working to realise that vision.
Our ideas and initiatives develop every day, so
I’d welcome your thoughts on the work that
we’re doing. Please feel free to drop me a line at
[email protected] or visit www.theylc.com
News 9
A Walk on the Wild Side
Following in Mallinson’s footsteps: Jonathan Garner (TL 1953), John Hewett (SH 1954), John Murgatroyd (SH 1951), Brian Weford (SH 1952) and Nick Ullett (TL 1953)
An account of five OCs’ 450 mile hike through
the French Alps, inspired by the late Theodore
Mallinson.
‘Leaving Lake Geneva, in 2006, the GR5
sharply ascended through the pastoral Chablais,
with 6000 ft passes looking down upon the
ski-resorts of Morzine and Les Portes de Soleil,
before encountering the higher peaks of
Haut-Savoie around Chamonix. Everywhere alpine
flowers carpeted the slopes.
A typical day would be 3000 ft up and
down, or 6000 ft of ‘denivelation’ as the French
succinctly put it. Accommodation ranged from
a basic ‘Refuge’ building serviced by packhorse (or helicopter) in the mountains, to a
gite (hostel), auberge (inn) or chambres d’hôte
(guest house) in the valleys. We soon discovered
that in the land of 500 cheeses, no two types
of accommodation were the same, with much
overlapping between categories…Vive La France!
All, however, offered warm hospitality and great
company, ranging from eighty hikers on the
popular Tour de Mont Blanc, to just a handful in a
remote refuge. We also discovered early on, after
much confused map-reading, that a sign such
‘Les Cevennes 1700 m’ can mean altitude and not
distance…moreover, this particular hamlet may
no longer exist.
Skirting the Mont Blanc massif, we continued
southwards above Les Arcs and the ski-stations
of the Isère valley, before entering the remote
wilderness of the Vanoise National Park, a
conservation area known for its impressive wildlife, where even camping is strictly forbidden.
Here we spotted lammergeiers, or bearded
vultures, with their 6ft wing-span, massivelyhorned bouquetins, chamois and of course
shyly-curious marmots, a 2 ft long rodent
resembling a hybrid beaver and otter with a bit
of squirrel. They live above 5000 ft and hibernate
for seven months.
Then through the fortified border-town of
Briançon, the highest large town in Europe, and
into another National Park–the Queras–which
is much less frequented and the way-marking,
or lack of it, demands more attention. Here
we glimpsed the fabled Col de la Traversette,
reputedly the 6000 ft pass taken by Hannibal
and his elephants into Italy, and nearby
the narrow 18th century tunnel through the
mountain, just wide enough for a salt-laden
pack-donkey.
Next, the remote border village of Larche
which guards one of the few trans-Alpine roads
on the GR5, and we entered our final National
Park, the splendid Mercantour complete with
its population of wolves, which thankfully
remained out of sight…We did, however come
across the giant, white ‘Pastou’ sheep-dogs
which are trained to defend their flock of sheep…
from the wolves! The guide-book says they are
not dangerous but ‘do nothing to alarm them
otherwise they will react accordingly!’ And, of
course, being white, they are difficult to spot
amongst the sheep. In the Mercantour one
experiences the first hint of the Mediterranean,
with rock-roses and gentians giving way to
lavender and thyme, against a background of
crickets and bees.
The final fifty miles offers a choice – a
straight dash down to Nice or stay in the Park
with a big loop to Menton, following the ancient
‘salt-route’ (which stretched from the sea to
Turin), and considerably more challenging!
Skirting the famous Vallée des Merveilles, with
its hundreds of pre-historic rock-engravings,
we spent our last night at St Agnes, at 4000 ft
the highest coastal village in France, overlooking
the bright lights of Monte Carlo to the West
and the Italian border to the East. Happily, the
village was in full rehearsal for Bastille Day and
we enjoyed a truly memorable night at this gite
d’étape...or was it an auberge?
Ending on a high note, we had covered our
450 miles and a total ascent of 75,000 ft or
two and a half times Everest. Our memories
of snow-capped peaks, dramatic glaciers, and
amazing wildlife will remain with us, as also the
welcome and relief of reaching our nightly refuge
after some six to eight hours of gainful striding
through remarkable scenery. We were fortunate
also with the weather, in that we encountered
only one snow blizzard, one hailstorm, and little
rain (but some distant thunderstorms) over the
six days. And trying to maintain the school’s
sporting tradition, to the bewilderment of the
locals we had catching sessions with a cricket
ball or else frisbee throwing before breakfast,
and on one occasion to the disbelief if not
annoyance of the owner and his partner, had a
convincing English victory at an evening game
of boules.
Finally, we would like to feel that the
inspirational Theodore Mallinson would have
whole-heartedly approved, and that other OCs or
even eager pupils may follow in our footsteps.
Jonathan Garner (TL 1953)
10 News
From Highgate Satirist to The Times’ Deputy Diary Editor
Kaya in his new role as Deputy Diary Editor of The Times
Photo credit: Gareth Iwan Jones for The Times
Kaya Burgess (EG 2003), News Reporter and
Deputy Diary Editor at The Times (and former
Editor of Highgate School’s Broadsheet
magazine) looks back at his career
in journalism.
‘After a decade’s absence, a Fleet Street
institution has returned to the pages of
The Times.
The famous Times Diary column was
relaunched in the paper this summer to hoover
up the fascinating, revelatory or hilarious tales
that lurk behind the major news stories of
the day.
As a reporter at The Times for the past five
years, I have always been on the lookout for
breaking news stories, seeking out the most
striking and important ‘top line’ for any article
I write.
Though I am still a news reporter, my new
role as Deputy Diary Editor means I now also
have to look behind the headlines for revealing
quotes or amusing deeds that cast a wry light
on the people in the news – things that may
otherwise have gone unnoticed in the chaos of
the day’s events.
These tales could be a slip of the tongue
from a politician, a quirky anecdote from
an actor or novelist, a bold admission from
a prominent figure or any event that reveals
something intriguing or amusing that we did
not know before.
The Diary in The Times appears most
weekdays on page 11 of the paper and is named
TMS – not after the legendary Test Match Special,
but rather as a nod to Thomas More Square, The
Times’s home in East London.
A younger reader also pointed out that ‘TMS’
looks rather like text-message speak for ‘Times’,
but we cannot claim to have been quite cool
enough to have thought of that in advance.
I joined The Times as a trainee in 2008 –
fresh from a spell as an intern in the Paris bureau
of the BBC, back in the days when George W
Bush was still President and Lehman Brothers
remained a going concern.
I have since been Commissioning Editor of
a special iPad edition of Eureka, The Times’s
science magazine, and a feature writer on the
paper’s Times2 section and have reported from
Malawi, Kenya and Moscow.
For the past 18 months I have helped lead
the paper’s Cities Fit for Cycling campaign,
giving evidence at House of Commons enquiries
and striving to convince the Government to
invest in safer cycle routes as a means of easing
congestion on our roads and trains and saving
billions from NHS budgets.
I have always been passionate about social
affairs reporting – journalism that sheds light
on social injustice, the demonisation of the poor
and the lack of opportunity for those failed by
the system.
This is part of what I hope to achieve as
Deputy Diary Editor.
We are not interested in a celebrity’s love-life.
We do not choose our stories based on the good
looks or skimpy clothing of their protagonists.
We do not seek to outrage our readers by
appealing to crass prejudices. There is no party
politics involved – no politician of any persuasion
should be safe from a well-aimed jibe.
Rather, we are looking for stories that raise
an eyebrow or a laugh, examining an important
topic or figure from an unexpected new angle.’
Should you hear of any such tales, please do let
us know at [email protected] or on Twitter at
@TimesDiary.
‘We do not seek to outrage our readers by appealing to crass
prejudices. There is no party politics involved – no politician
of any persuasion should be safe from a well-aimed jibe.
Rather, we are looking for stories that raise an eyebrow or
a laugh, examining an important topic or figure from an
unexpected new angle. ’
News 11
Robert Myers goes Native for his Sixth Chelsea Gold
Robert Myers won his sixth Chelsea Gold Medal for the Brewin Dolphin garden
Garden designer Robert Myers (WG 1982)
has won his sixth Gold Medal at this year’s
Chelsea Flower Show with his design for
the Brewin Dolphin garden. The design uses
native plants, which, in Robert’s words, ‘capture
the spirit of the company’. ‘Brewin Dolphin is a
British company, so we reflected that in the use
of native plants. Their ethos is about personal
interaction and conviviality, but also security,
so it’s a garden where people can meet and
mingle and be entertained.’
The garden is crisp, modernist and
based on L- shaped forms, understated and
elegant but still a gardener’s garden, full of
what are essentially habitat-inducing British
native species used in a thought-provoking
contemporary way. It features clipped cushions
of box, with lots of colourful flowers which also
give scent. The wall is unusual and interesting,
with a steel frame into which are set panels of
marine ply, sculpted with a repeating relief –
the light catches the pattern and adds extra
interest. Similarly, the canopy which oversails the
dining area is a steel structure with timber slats
attached to it, with notches in the timber which
plays with the patterns of light and shade below.
Robert was under added pressure this year,
as Brewin Dolphin was awarded Best Show
garden in 2012.
Robert Myers Associates, Robert’s company,
has won many high-profile commissions,
including a children’s garden at Hampton
Court Palace and a new garden at Christ
Church Spitalfields.
Brewin Dolphin’s ethos is
about personal interaction
and conviviality, but also
security, so it’s a garden
where people can meet and
mingle and be entertained.
12 News
Keith Oliver: Profession, Passions and People
Keith Oliver, senior partner of Peters and Peters featured in the March issue of Superlawyers
Keith Oliver (HG 1969) was featured in the
March issue of Superlawyers, where he
described his passion for fast cars, football
and the law. Keith is Senior Partner at Peters
& Peters Solicitors LLP, a leading Londonbased firm dealing with fraud, business
crime, commercial litigation and compliance.
He describes himself as: ‘a lawyer who is in the
business because he wants to make a difference’
whose main priorities are: ‘getting the best for
his clients, football in general, and Manchester
United in particular, collecting and driving classic
cars and skiing’.
Just one example of his determination to get
the best for his clients was shown in securing an
acquittal for Kevin Maxwell, son of the disgraced
newspaper tycoon, in the 1990s when many
believed that he faced a lengthy jail sentence.
The Maxwell case highlights three hallmarks.
Firstly, that teamwork runs like a golden thread
throughout the thirty years of Keith’s career.
Secondly, his devotion to clients’ interests
and thirdly, the respect for his professional
colleagues which is widely reciprocated. He
always goes the extra mile for his clients, for
example getting back from the British Virgin
Islands in 2010 for a meeting with a client when
the volcanic ash cloud had grounded many
flights. Keith managed to fly to Spain, where he
persuaded a shocked taxi driver to drive him to
Paris so he could catch the ferry back to England!
Keith finds the idea of saying ‘no’ to a client
because of a weekend or holiday grotesque:
‘If you are lucky enough to do something you
enjoy, it’s the height of arrogance to say to a
client who’s instructed you in a crisis: ‘I’m sorry
I’m on holiday’ or ‘I don’t work weekends’.
When he’s not working hard for his clients,
Keith enjoys his fleet of classic sports cars, an
ever-changing collection of cherished’ boy’s toys’,
skiing at his apartment in the French Alps and at
Old Trafford watching Manchester United.
The connection between his professional
career and football is not an immediately
obvious one. His passion for the game started
on the playing fields of Highgate, fostered and
inspired by his father who was a devoted West
Ham supporter. Keith still plays and the game
has made him many friends in the legal field and
aided and abetted his professional successes.
This team approach comes naturally to the
footballing and gregarious Oliver but it is a
characteristic that sometimes embarrasses his
daughter Charlotte and her sister Alex, both of
whom he adores. ‘When we’re on holiday for
example, he’ll walk up and down the beach to
find anyone who wants to join his team in a
football match; he will obviously be the captain.’
‘He doesn’t seem to notice any distinction
between the teenagers he is enlisting and
himself. He insists on instructing them in playing
properly, even if they don’t speak English. It’s the
way he is’, they commented.
It may be part of his skill in building and
working effectively in teams that has enabled
him to earn a reputation as an extremely
effective negotiator.
‘You should always try and get on with
your opposite number, that’s a starting point,
although you will try professionally to get the
very best outcome for your client. I try at the end
of a case, win, lose or draw, to take my opponent
out for lunch or dinner’ comments Keith. He pays
tribute to Monty Raphael QC whom he regards
as his mentor. ‘He taught me the greatest legal
lesson of all which is ‘let’s deal with today’s
problem today’, a lesson well-learned by the
talented and gregarious Keith Oliver.
News 13
Hugh Montgomery and Sandy Saunders
are Elected Mayors
and a consensus view sought. I am also
Chairman of the Strategic Planning Group, which
now has also to take account of the impact on
residents of the misconceived HS2 proposal, and
the controversial development of 100 plus acres
of green Belt land about to be vacated by the
Ministry of Defence.
‘Although the Mayor’s role
in Beaconsfield is mainly
ceremonial, it carries with
it the Chairmanship of
the Town Council. In that
role I must ensure that the
immediate issues facing
the Town are debated by
Councillors and a consensus
view sought’
Hugh Montgomery, wearing his mayoral chain of office
Hugh Montgomery (EG 1951) was unanimously
elected by his fellow councillors at the May
annual general meeting of the council to the
position of Mayor of Uttoxeter for the year
2013-2014. His wife Hermione, who is also a
councillor, became the Mayoress.
On 27 July Hugh had his civic service of
evensong at the local parish church followed
by a charity dinner at the Town Hall. The event
was attended by over 100 guests including the
Deputy Lord Lieutenant, the local member of
parliament and over 30 civic guests.
Uttoxeter is an ancient Market Town
mentioned in The Doomsday Book with its first
Market Charter going back to 1252 which last
year received its own Coat-of-Arms to mark the
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Hugh chairs all meetings of the Council as
well as the Policy and Planning Committee
which includes the ‘Neighbourhood Plan’ under
the Localisation Act and the Emergency Plan
Committee; represents the Town of Uttoxeter at all
official events and welcomes visiting dignitaries.
Sandy Saunders (MG 1947) succeeded to
the Mayoralty of Beaconsfield on 7 May 2013.
Sandy writes: ‘Although the Mayor’s role in
Beaconsfield is mainly ceremonial, it carries with
it the Chairmanship of the Town Council. In that
role I must ensure that the immediate issues
facing the Town, (including concerns over traffic
flow, parking controls; over development, lack of
affordable housing, community safety, and the
use of recreational areas for our youngsters, and
community safety ), are debated by Councillors
During my first 100 days, I had the great
pleasure of inviting the Lord Lieutenant, the
High Sheriff, local MPs, Councillors and Officers
of the County and adjacent Districts, Towns and
Parishes and local organisations to my Civic
Service. I have since, amongst others, discussed
the use of Common land, and the pros and cons
of a new Relief road. In no particular order, I have
enjoyed hospitality at Bekonscot, the Marlow
Regatta, the Pride of Bucks event, and Open Days
at two of our local Old People’s homes; the Armed
Forces Day, and at the Training Establishment
at RAF Halton. I have opened the Enid Blyton
celebrations, and travelled to our twinned town,
Langres, for Bastille Day. In addition, I have
awarded prizes at local schools, attended the
Flag Lowering Ceremony at the Defence School
of Languages, submitted proposals for a Heritage
Gallery, and most recently was one of the team
judging charity projects at the Masonic Hall.
Next month’s diary includes the honour of
welcoming the High Sheriff to his Civic Service
here at St Mary’s and All Saints Church, and
Sunday 10 November saw me leading our
community in laying a wreath at the Town’s
Cenotaph in our service of Remembrance.’
In addition to their mayoral responsibilities,
Hugh and Sandy are both members of the Order
of the Fleur-de-Lys, an ancient Scottish Military
Order dating back to 1439. Hugh is Hereditary
Sovereign Grand Commander and Knight Grand
Commander. They meet in the Order’s Chapel
(The Chapel of Queens’ College, Cambridge) in
October each year for their annual investiture.
14 News
Matt Marais Kickstarts Fisherman’s Friend!
Matt’s design talent has been put to use in the creation of the Minke – a new fishing tool
Matt Marais (EG 2007) is part of a team
which has designed a new product to help
fishermen thread and cut lines effortlessly.
Meso Design launched its first internal project
on crowdfunding site Kickstarter this September.
The product is a fishing multi-tool called Minke
and it allows anglers to effortlessly thread fine
lines through small eyelets, tie clinch knots and
trim the lines. They hope to use Kickstarter to
raise the funds to cover the tooling costs and in
return for backers pledging set sums of money,
they receive a Minke tool. In 2012, Minke won
a prestigious Red Dot Concept Design Award.
Matt interned with Meso Design during his
summer holiday just before starting the final
year of his Masters degree in Product Design
Engineering at the Glasgow School of Art and
University of Glasgow. One of his projects was
to take the initial prototype for the tool which
had been designed by a student for their final
year project and essentially re-design it – both
aesthetically and for manufacture. ‘Before I
took on the tool’s development’, commented
Matt, its design had mainly focused on how
to thread a line through the eye of a hook and
then tie a common clinch knot. Ergonomically,
it was a little awkward and visually not that
eye- catching. My role was to improve how it
could work functionally and ergonomically, as
well as making an eye-catching tool that would
stand out against most traditional fishing tools.’
After Matt graduated, he worked for Meso
full time and was back on the project working
with colleagues refining the tolerances and
materials for manufacture and developing the
crowdfunding campaign which is currently live
on Kickstarter.
While working at Meso, he has also been
involved in a number of client projects from
bank note scanners to bike lights, photo booths
and iPad stands. Matt comments: ‘As a small
design and engineering firm it has been great as
I will work on these projects at every stage from
initial concept sketches right through to final
manufactured product.’
Since leaving Highgate, Matt started on his
Masters degree in Product Design Engineering
at Glasgow. Matt commented: ‘The degree
combines Mechanical Engineering taught at the
University with Product Design taught at the GSA
and leaves you with a Masters in Engineering
so a lot of options! It’s a great course as it’s one
of the few engineering courses where you get a
lot of hands-on workshop experience’. The GSA
projects are all design projects which incorporate
different aspects of Engineering – from shoes
to walk on water to personal alarms for the
elderly. Matt graduated with a First in June
2012 and then started working for Meso at the
end of that summer. Matt has now left Meso to
‘set about conquering the world on my own’.
He is developing his own products, having seen
the success of crowdfunding. Anyone wishing
to discuss product development should get in
touch with Matt.
Matt studied Design Technology at Highgate
all the way through to A-level. ‘It’s the perfect
subject for anyone looking to get into design
engineering/product design/industrial design’,
he commented. The workshop exposure offered
at school was a great advantage for starting
university and the course was taught really well.
This, combined with Physics and Maths, will
set-up anyone really well.’
For more information on the Minke see:
www.minkefishingtool.com which shows some
renders of the product and the Facebook page
also has some preliminary info:
www.goo.gl/vsXX14
News 15
Snap. Catch. Slam.
Harry Lobek’s Acting Career Takes Off
Harry Lobek has been acting in a new play at the Greenwich Theatre
George Clode (FG 2004) reviews Harry’s latest
role in Emma Jowett’s new play at the
Greenwich Theatre. ‘I recently went to see
Harry Lobek (HG 2004), in the Greenwich
Theatre’s production of Snap.Catch.Slam.
It has been a busy year-and-a-half for Harry,
acting in Ward No. 6 – nominated in the best
ensemble category at The Stage newspaper
awards for Acting Excellence – completing
a tour with Tall Stories Theatre Company,
performing in Waiting for Lefty at the Theatre
Royal Haymarket, and, most recently, filming a
short film with a BBC award-winning director.
Having seen him in most of these
productions, my expectations were high. As we
walked into the theatre, three ordinary-looking
people stared out at us from the stage which
consisted of three chairs, three naked lightbulbs, and three bland lengths of carpet. The
room was filled with the sort of tense silence
which usually follows a blazing argument.
Emma Jowett’s play is a sort of triptych; three
unrelated stories detailing a single moment in
each of the characters’ lives which changed them
irrevocably. It is a theme explored by films like
The Butterfly Effect and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
Just before the silence becomes unbearably
uncomfortable, Shian Denovan launches into
her tale of a teacher pushed to her limits by a
particularly nasty and troublesome pupil. Unable
to control this boy, her helplessness
and frustration bubble to the surface in
one powerful and emotional crescendo,
at the apex of which she lashes out and hits
him. She snaps. This was an excellent and
moving performance from Denovan whose
tightly-wound, close-to-the-edge character
was wholly believable and tragic to watch.
Harry was up next. I wondered, as he stood
up and launched into his monologue, what
twisted tale this football-pub geezer character
had in store. As his tale took us on a travelogue
of knife-crime and inter-estate violence,
I feared the worst. Actually, Harry played the
opening gambit as a bit of light relief. There were
a few much-needed laughs after the trauma of
the previous story, and he delivered the lines
with great timing. Then the inevitable shift from
comic to grave as the character remembered
discovering a housing block on fire and a Polish
family screaming for someone to help their
baby. There was some clever use of minimal
sound-effects here, and the introduction of
two actors portraying the Polish couple added
to the tension. The audience expects the worst
as Harry’s character recounts the moment
the father drops his baby out the window,
begging Harry’s character to catch her.
And he does. The simple wonder he conveys
having just remarkably saved a child’s life
contrasts vastly with the character’s original
cockney-boy swagger. This, I attempt to
say as a totally unbiased reviewer, was a
shining example of smart, diverse acting.
Teresa Jennings was eerie as the muddled
victim of mental illness. Her painted-on
smile gave way to confusion as phrases were
repeated and it became clear that what she
was waiting for – the return of her 5-yearold daughter from a play-date – would never
happen. Her disturbing tale also benefits
from the inclusion of additional characters, in
this case, the nurse at a psychiatric ward.
Snap. Catch. Slam. was a masterclass
in storytelling; one that stuck with me for
a long while after Jennings had finished
her piece, and not just because Harry and
I discussed it in the pub afterwards.’
16 News
Roger Raeder becomes Catholic Bishops’ Prison Adviser
Roger Raeder with Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, in a prison cell. Roger has been appointed Prison Adviser to the Catholic Bishops
Photo credit: Mazur/www.catholicnews.org.uk
Prison is the last place you would hope that
an Old Cholmeleian would end up. That I have
done time now for two stretches, one of six
years and one of fifteen years, I partly blame
Fr Peter Stone. Fr Peter’s first year as chaplain
coincided with my last, and he tried to teach
me A level Religious Knowledge. I did not shine
at this, but Fr Peter taught me skills which were
far more important than knowing when King
Nebuchadnezzar reigned. He inspired in me a
love of Jesus Christ and especially a desire to
serve Christ as a priest. With hindsight I see how
patient he was with a pious young man who
thought he knew it all. And I know that he held
me in his prayers on a regular basis.
Helped by him, and among others by
the example of Roy Giles, I was ordained a
clergyman in the Church of England in 1983,
and went to prison in 1986. This was part of my
second posting as a curate, and it was at HMP
Pentonville – that large, threatening building
on Caledonian Road – that I was a part time
chaplain. I hated it – for the first six months
anyway. But slowly I began to relax in this place
where so much misery seeps into the walls.
I began to see the men I spoke to not just as
people committed by the courts, but as complex
individuals whose stories were never simple,
many of whom had quite simply never had a
chance in life.
‘While never forgetting
victims of crime, I try to
make the voice of prisoners
heard beyond the walls of
their prison, and encourage
them, in the light of God’s
love, to change their lives’
After becoming a Catholic priest in 1995,
I asked Cardinal Hume if I could return to prison
ministry, and I was sent first to HMP Whitemoor
for three years and then to HMYOI Feltham for
12. In these places I was given the privilege to
celebrate Mass, to hear confession, to sit and
listen to people whom God loves, but not many
other people do. I am convinced that faith can
add a unique quality to young people’s lives,
and I have witnessed this many times. During
my ministry at Feltham, I could hear Fr Peter’s
voice in me as with patience I would just sit and
listen to young men’s stories, stories of crime
and violence, yes, but so often of deprivation
and neglect. And on many occasions they have
had so much to teach me about faith and trust
in God.
In September of 2013 I was given the
challenge of becoming the Catholic Bishops’
Prisons Adviser. Some 20 per cent of the 85000
people in prison are Catholic, and I support
chaplains and lay workers as they celebrate
Mass, hear confessions and pray with these
men, women and children in the 130 prisons
of England and Wales. While never forgetting
victims of crime, I try to make the voice of
prisoners heard beyond the walls of their prison,
and encourage them, in the light of God’s love,
to change their lives.
Roger Raeder (SG 1971)
News 17
Nicholas Bird hosts Ultimate Aviation Event
(With help from Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson)
Nick Bird has organised the Ultimate Aviation Event, with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson (foreground) as guest of honour
A new addition to the aeronautical calendar,
the Ultimate Aviation Event, a Career in
Aviation was recently organized and hosted
by Nick Bird’s (HG 1996) company, The Airline
Pilot Company. ‘A gathering of 250 aviation
enthusiasts, aspiring pilots and industry
professionals descended upon the Concord
Club, near Heathrow to hear heavy metal legend
and dedicated pilot, Bruce Dickinson, speak
passionately about his career from rock star to
airline pilot and beyond. To those of you who
are not familiar with Bruce, he is the lead singer
of the iconic Iron Maiden band, an enthused
aviator and the entrepreneurial brains behind
Cardiff Aviation, which is the new aeronautical
engineering and training facility based in St
Athan in southern Wales.
With a warm welcome by the toastmaster,
John Grosse, Captain David Henderson took to
the stage as the inaugural speaker for the event.
A former airline pilot with Singapore Airlines,
David talked about his career from University
Air Squadron through to being a highly
accomplished 22,000-hour commercial pilot.
Captain Henderson’s presentation befitted
the audience well, most notably as there were
some 150 Air Cadets present from a number of
squadrons throughout the Home Counties. In
particular he was very keen to emphasize the
importance of the University Air Squadrons on
his career. His cadetship with the University
Squadron not only allowed him to commence
his flight training with little financial burden,
but was also significant in developing life skills
beyond the cockpit.
After a short interval to recharge glasses,
it was time for Bruce Dickinson to take centre
stage. It was clear from the outset that Bruce’s
enthusiasm for aviation is considerable and
the audience was gifted with a three-hour
presentation of his career from boyhood to the
present day.
Dickinson’s big break into flying came after
completing a 757 type rating and joining former
UK airlines Astraeus. From here he progressed
to a command position before becoming the
airline’s marketing director in 2010.
His role as a pilot led to some high profile
flights, which include returning a group of RAF
pilots from Afghanistan in 2008, 200 UK citizens
from Lebanon during the Israel/ Hezbollah
conflict in 2006 and 180 stranded holiday
makers from Egypt following the collapse of
XL Airways UK in September 2008. In addition,
he flew Rangers FC and Liverpool FC to away
matches in Israel and Italy and for Iron Maiden’s
2008/2009 ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ World
Tour he piloted the band’s chartered 757, dubbed
‘Ed Force One’, specially converted to carry the
band’s equipment.
Unfortunately, Astraeus was forced to close
in November 2011 and with it went Bruce’s airline
job. Taking the opportunity to make a change
in direction, he branched into entrepreneurship
forming an aviation maintenance and training
business in St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan
in 2012.
At the end of Bruce’s presentation audience
members were afforded the rare opportunity of
a question and answer session with the heavy
metal legend, during which Bruce answered
scores of questions specifically dealing with
flight training. To conclude the day, Bruce gave
up his time to meet and greet everyone, have
their picture taken with him and sign autographs.
Nick Bird, an award winning aviator and
trained pilot, was delighted with the event:
‘The Airline Pilot Company was conceived to
enthuse people into aviation, and judging
by the feedback we got, we have succeeded
in inspiring a new generation of pilots’, he
commented. In particular, he would like to
thank two OCs who helped on the day, Johnny
Harvey (1993) who filmed the event and
Matt Caro (1996) who helped as an usher.
Next year will see the return of the Ultimate
Aviation Event with celebrity guest speakers.
Topics will include aviation careers, training
and also safety. Any Cholmeleians interested
in going should contact Nick, who will be
very happy to discount their tickets.
18 News
Nominations for May’s Council Elections
for Hamish Hunter and Adam Jogee
Adam Jogee (pictured) and Hamish Hunter have been selected by their parties as candidates in next May’s council elections
Hamish Hunter (SG 2010) and Adam Jogee
(FG 2010) have both been nominated as
candidates for the next council elections by
their respective parties – Adam by Labour
and Hamish by the Tories. Hamish commented:
‘My first political memory dates from the 2001
general election, when I was aged nine. I can
distinctly remember the Labour party’s posters,
prominently displayed all over London, depicting
the then Conservative party leader William
Hague and Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo
as ghoulish monsters coming to repossess
everyone’s homes. As a nine year old, I think
they struck me as amusing rather than having
any political significance. By the time the 2005
election had come around, I had become more
properly interested in politics and it was standing
as a Conservative in my school’s mock election
that really crystallised in my mind that I was of
the centre-right. I began campaigning with the
Camden Conservatives during the 2010 election,
mostly delivering leaflets and manning street
stalls in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency
which we eventually lost to Labour by 42 votes,
making it the most marginal mainland UK seat.
I continued to campaign with the Camden
Association in a couple of local by-elections, the
No to AV campaign (Camden was one of 8 areas
which actually voted ‘Yes’) and most successfully
for Boris’ re-election as Mayor of London. I am
standing in the Council elections in 2014 in the
Regent’s Park ward, where I have lived since my
family moved up to London from Yorkshire when
I was nine. The secret to selection? It’s putting
in the hours during the evenings canvassing,
delivering leaflets and walking the streets come
rain, wind or shine. You have to show that you’re
dedicated and willing to put the time in for other
candidates’ elections before you can be prepared
to stand yourself!’
‘I was the first elected Leader of Haringey
Youth Council and since that election in 2006;
I’ve been involved politically one way or another.
And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!’
commented Adam.
‘We hear all too often that young people
are not to be trusted or that they don’t care
and won’t bother voting so there’s no point in
reviewing the franchise and whether it should be
lowered to allow 16 and 17 year olds the vote. I’ve
campaigned for the lowering of the voting age
and welcome the recent commitment of Labour’s
Leader Ed Miliband to supporting what can only
be seen as a positive step.
There are many ways to prove that young
people (and I mean those below 30) care and
want to make a difference and one is to stand for
election yourself and so on 19 September,
I had the good fortune of being selected to stand
as a Labour Candidate in (Lib Dem held) Hornsey
in Haringey’s Council Elections next May.
Haringey is a diverse and cosmopolitan
community and its politics is no different. You
could slice Haringey right down the middle –
Liberals dominate the west and Labour dominate
the east. My ward, Hornsey, is slap bang in the
middle of the borough and will be a battle of epic
proportions. The Liberals won’t want to lie down
and I can assure you Labour will be putting up
one hell of a fight.’
We wish every success to our young
politicians, following in the footsteps of the
likes of former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke
and Secretary of State for Education,
Anthony Crosland.
News 19
A Man of Great Promise
A full obituary in The Aeroplane magazine of
6 April 1938 described a student who, ‘although
defective eyesight prevented him from
becoming a flying member of the Cambridge
University Air Squadron’, had nevertheless
managed to talk his way (‘by sheer keenness’)
into becoming a non-flying member. Barlow was
said to have spent all his spare time devoted
to the practical study of flying, submitting
articles and photographs to The Aeroplane
for publication throughout his student years,
including (aged 20) gaining a commission
to travel to Malta on the aircraft carrier HMS
Courageous to report on the RAF and Fleet Air
Arm units there. The conclusion of his final
article on British air power in Malta reveals a
maturity of judgement beyond his years and
the potential for a fine career in journalism
ahead. Indeed, such was the quality of Barlow’s
writing and photography, that The Aeroplane
was able to use the material from their archives
in February 2011 to run a 5-page article about
him entitled A Man of Great Promise.
‘Although defective eyesight
prevented him from becoming
a flying member of the
Cambridge University Air
Squadron, he had nevertheless
managed to talk his way (‘by
sheer keenness’) into becoming
a non-flying member.’
Greg Hammond has researched the story of Arnold Barlow (pictured), an OC with
a passion for flying, whose career was cut tragically short
A chance conversation with the Bursar at
the RAF College Cranwell, where I have the
privilege of being Deputy Commandant, led to
the story of a Cholmeleian who died tragically
young but whose legacy lives on.
The Arnold Barlow Memorial Fund,
amalgamated with others into the RAF College
Cranwell Prizes and Awards Fund by a 1999
Charity Commission recommendation, was –
I was told – set up to benefit cadets of the RAF
College, with preference to be given to former
pupils of Highgate School.
Presuming Arnold Barlow to have been a
Cholmeleian, I found an AE Barlow in the School
Register’s May 1929 entry, who left in 1935 for
Pembroke College, Cambridge, having been in
the cricket First XI for three years in succession,
and who was killed in a flying accident on 28
March 1938, aged 21. Flight magazine of 31
March 1938 reports the loss of a Supermarine
Stranraer flying boat of No 228 Squadron which
‘crashed into the sea about fifteen miles south
west of Ushant.’ It says that the ‘accident was
witnessed by the SS Consett, which at once
steamed to the scene, arriving at 6 am, and
searched the locality. The body of Mr AE Barlow,
a journalist passenger, was picked up, but the
bodies of the five RAF personnel were not found.’
A brief life, then, prematurely cut off – as
were those of so many of his contemporaries
in the forthcoming World War. But Arnold
Barlow’s family ensured that there were some
lasting memories of this only son: the portrait
at Cranwell (illustrated); the Fund, originally
used for scholarships, but turned into a prize
fund when the RAF College stopped being a
fee-paying institution after 1945; and, most
interestingly, a privately-published book
(‘…Ad Astra’) containing a collection of the
young journalist’s published writing and
photography, printed by his family in a limited
run. I was hoping that there might be a copy
of this in the RAF College Library, but our
searches drew a blank. The Aeroplane clearly
used the book as a source for their 2011 article:
indeed, it is pictured and described as a ‘scarce
collector’s item’. If there is a copy at Highgate,
it deserves careful preservation.
Group Captain Greg Hammond (FG 1979)
20 News
Vic and Tas OCs Enjoy Successful Reunion Lunch
Tim Acton hosted a very successful lunch for OCs in the South of Australia
The Australian OCs in the Vic and Tas area are
a loyal lot, meeting regularly, enjoying each
others’ company, and swapping memories
and memorabilia. If you are ever ‘down under’
go and see them! As they say, ‘we don’t bite!’
Tim Acton writes: ‘On Sunday 8 September
2013, approx 10,000 miles or 17000 kls from
London, a group of OCs living in the state of
Victoria, Australia met at The Brighton Marine
Hotel in Melbourne for the OCs (Victoria) Reunion
Luncheon held annually for umpteen years.
A total of 22 OCs and partners enjoyed a most
convivial, informal and enjoyable get-together,
whilst consuming fine food and wine and
reminiscing animatedly about times and exploits
at Highgate School.
We currently have 21 OCs on our Victorian
members’ list, ranging in age from 40 to 85.
Whilst we have a diversity of lifestyle, careers
and hobbies we have one thing in common –
‘We currently have 21 OCs on our Victorian members’ list,
ranging in age from 40 to 85. Whilst we have a diversity of
lifestyle, careers and hobbies we have one thing in common –
we each retain a strong emotional attachment to the School.’
we each retain a strong emotional attachment
to the School. Our ‘senior’ members speak fondly
of time spent at Westward Ho during WW2
(memories of H G Gibbons teaching the boys
how to eat herrings off the bone for example!)
and others remember Ingleholme, the
Junior School and of course their respective
housemasters, teachers and fellow-students in
the Senior School.
We have a collection of Highgate School
regalia – striped blazer, beribboned boater,
scarf and various ties – as well as a mini-library
of books about the school and we LOVE The
Cholmeleian magazine.
We would like more OCs to contact us when
they come here to live permanently or just for a
visit. We didn’t arrive on convict ships, still speak
English, don’t bite and love an excuse to provide
a welcome-party so please get in touch! ’
Tim Acton (WG 1950)
News 21
Anatomies: The Human Body, Its Parts and the Stories
They Tell (Viking), by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
is stirred with an electric blender in order to
maintain its homogenised liquid state. A food
writer, Stefan Gates, and self-styled ‘gastronaut’
converted fat extracted from his body into
glycerol for use in icing a cake, which he then
proceeded to eat.
In the chapter on The Brain, Hugh tells us
that the doctor performing the autopsy on Albert
Einstein secretly removed his brain. From this,
we have (possibly) learned how genius manifests
itself in the human body. Einsten’s brain was
missing the parietal operculum, one of the major
clefts that divides the brain into component
lobes. Without this, Einstein’s parietal lobes were
able to expand beyond the usual size.
The book is also very funny in parts.I enjoyed
his gentle ridiculing of the NHS questionnaire
which he has to fill in before he can become
a blood donor: ‘There are several questions
which it is impossible to answer with complete
certitude, such as have I ever: ‘had sex with
anyone who has ever injected drugs?’ or have
I: ‘ever had sex with anyone who may have
had sex in parts of the world where AIDS/HIV is
very common?’
Hugh has a gift for writing
about science in a way which is
totally comprehensible, without
simplifying his language or
ideas.
Hugh Aldersey Williams’ new book is a study of the human body
which bridges the gap between science and the arts
Hugh Aldersey-Williams (NG 1971) has
followed his bestselling Periodic Tales with
this informative and entertaining tour of the
different parts of the human body, and the
stories they tell about us. Each chapter has
the title of a part of the body, for example The
Head, The Brain, The Eye and so on, and looks at
how our scientific understanding of the body has
evolved and the role it plays in today’s culture.
Hugh looks at how our understanding of the
way our bodies work has developed, initially
through anatomists working on corpses stolen
from graveyards by the ‘resurrection men’, or
the bodies of criminals. In Rembrandt’s famous
portrait, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp, the
subject is a criminal, Adriaen Adriaenzoon,
hanged for stealing a cape and publically
dissected as the final stage of his punishment.
Some chapters are not for the squeamish:
Flesh ends with a look at the work of two
Australian installation artists who both
underwent liposuction and then mixed the fat in
a large transparent chamber to create an artwork
called Blender. Every few minutes, the mixture
There are plenty of entertaining literary and
cinematic references too, from Shylock’s pound
of flesh to Gogol’s story The Nose, where a nose
becomes detached from its owner’s face and
wanders round St Petersburg, insulting its owner
who is now of a lower social status. There are also
some thought-provoking questions about what
our relationship with our bodies might be in the
future. Will we be able to indefinitely prolong
our lives? Will we be able to upload our minds to
some grand ethereal network, and no longer be
dependent on flesh at all?
Hugh has a gift for writing about science
in a way which is totally comprehensible,
without simplifying his language or ideas. He
escapes those rigid classifications of ‘scientist’
and ‘artist’ and is equally at home analysing
a painting, a book,or a scientific idea. His latest
book is satisfying on many levels, and you
should immediately put it on your Christmas
reading list.
Simon Appleton
22 News
A History of Eton Fives, By Peter Knowles and Dale Vargas
The book traces the
work of a number of
groups and individuals
who, since the 1970s
have done much to
try to break down its
public school image
and spread the game’s
appeal more widely.
Peter Knowles and Dale Vargas have traced the history of one of Highgate’s best-loved games
Peter Knowles’ and Dale Vargas’s book
A History of Eton Fives does exactly what it
says on the tin, and rather well too. From the
opening lines, ‘Eton Fives is the best Court game
in the world,’ through to the final encouragement
of ‘hic noster ludus in perpetuam floreat’
(may this game flourish forever,) one always
suspected and quietly hoped, that this would
be a hugely supportive manuscript for the
game. Indeed it is. Given that the book has
concentrated on the history, rather than on
pub-shared anecdotes of legends, it enjoys a
light touch and is hugely readable.
The text draws out the game’s clear public
school and country house origins. An abridged
version might conclude that the same factors
which were Eton Fives’ early strengths, ensuring
that it spread both nationally and internationally
beyond the walls of Eton from the 1860s, were
ultimately those that were to limit to the sport’s
potential market later on. The book traces the
work of a number of groups and individuals who,
since the 1970s have done much to try to break
down its public school image and spread the
game’s appeal more widely. There has been some
success in this. The Schools’ Championships are
no longer preceded by the word ‘Public’ and more
recently public ‘pay as you play’ courts have
been established at the Westway Sports Centre
in West London. There is no clear momentum
behind this expansion, however and the book
acknowledges the largely financial difficulties
the game faces in maintaining, let alone
increasing, the number of courts available.
The same sequence is reflected in the
names and styles of those represented in
the book’s excellent pictures. School caps
and colours feature prominently as do titled
players: The Honourable Ivo Bligh, the First
Marquess of Willingdon and Arthur Lord
Kinnaird all clearly enjoyed the game in the
early years whereas images of more ordinary
members of society proliferate in the last few
chapters. In Chapter 17 (out of 20) we arrive
at pictures of lady fives players!
Cholmeleians will rightly anticipate that
Highgate is extremely well represented in
the tome. A number of the game’s most able
exponents fine-tuned their game in one or other
of the two sets of courts from which the school
has traditionally benefited. Howard Fabian
was the first non-Harrovian or Etonian to ‘have
the impudence’ to win the Kinnaird (National
Championship) Cup in 1930. The success of
Roger Beament, Highgate’s Fives coach between
1959 and 1975, in bringing through a generation
of winners including Mike Hayes, Tony Bundy,
Robin Rumsam, Andy Gibson, Richard Smethers,
Doug Wainwright, Mark Williams and Graham
Bond amongst many others is mentioned as was
the later successes of Edward Wass and Jamie
Halsted, products of the Brian Matthews era.
What might be deduced by some, who
reflect on the detail of the final chapters,
is the disparity between Highgate School’s
extraordinary, contemporary attainment at
different levels of the girls’ and boys’ Schools’
Championships and the Cholmeleians’ current
lack of league and cup success beyond school.
Was the whole History of Eton Fives written
as a simple wake up call to Fives-playing
Cholmeleians everywhere, to get their act
in order? Probably not, but it would be a
wonderful bonus to author Peter Knowles,
who coached fives at Highgate throughout his
30 year career, should any kind of revival be
inspired by his work.
CJ Davies (EG /KG 1972)
Chris Davies returned to teach at Highgate from
1985 – 99 and was housemaster of The Lodge,
following Peter Knowles, from 1993 – 9.
News 23
Alumni Office News
Salima Virji, our new Development Director
This term we welcomed the arrival of our
new Development Director, Salima Virji.
Salima read Classics and Social and Political
Sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge,
graduating in 2004. She has been working in
educational fundraising for the past eight years;
firstly at the Perse School, Cambridge (under
the headmastership of Nigel Richardson OC),
then at the University of Cambridge. She moved
to Oxford in 2009 and took up the position of
Associate Development Director at University
College, Oxford, before becoming Head of
Development at Magdalen College School in
2010. At Magdalen, she also taught Latin and
A Level Politics.
to fulfil its charitable aims. I’m also teaching
Year 7 Latin and Year 12 Critical Method, which
I’m enjoying very much. It’s a very exciting time
to be at Highgate’, she commented.
We finished the summer term with a very
well-attended event for our wartime era OCs,
always one of the highlights of the OC calendar,
and a successful regional dinner in Tonbridge.
The Annual Dinner was also a great success, with
over 120 guests, and a good representation from
our recent leavers, who enjoyed a tour of the
newly-opened Sir Martin Gilbert Library.
Barry Dennis and his football team from 1963
got together after an interlude of fifty years to
enjoy each others’ company and relive former
‘My mission here at Highgate is, I hope, simple: to engage
Cholmeleians of all vintages in the life of the School, and to
provide a range of opportunities for Cholmeleians to keep in
touch with each other, and to enjoy each others’ company’
‘My mission here at Highgate is, I hope, simple:
to engage Cholmeleians of all vintages in the
life of the School, and to provide a range of
opportunities for Cholmeleians to keep in touch
with each other, and to enjoy each others’
company at reunions and other events. I am also
responsible for raising philanthropic donations
from Cholmeleians, parents, and friends of the
School, to support the School’s ambitious vision
sporting triumphs, recalled by former team
coach, Roy Caddick. At the end of September,
Peter Burrowes organised a very well-attended
and convivial lunch for OCs in the East Sussex
area, and thanks to him for all his hard work
and careful planning, which helped make the
occasion run so smoothly. It was sad to hear, as
we were going to press, of the death of Roderick
Thomson (HG 1950). Roderick was our North
East of England Correspondent, and a loyal
and enthusiastic OC who had just organised
a splendid lunch for us in York at which two
past masters were recalled. Roderick spoke
about LG Markham, and Cedric Pulford read
an appreciation of Kyffin Williams by Stephen
Komlosy (TL 1954). Stephen’s recollections are
reprinted in the Letters pages. Our thoughts are
with Roderick’s partner and family and we would
like to express our thanks to Roderick for all he
did for the OCs.
We finished the year in fine style, with the
Cricket Club Dinner at the Highgate Golf Club, a
reunion for the classes of 2000-2010 and drinks
for our recent leavers in Central Hall.
There are plenty of events planned for
2014, details of which will be emailed to you
and posted on the website. A reunion lunch for
the 1950-60 era is to be held at the School on
Saturday 29 March, and I hope as many of you
as possible will take this opportunity to meet up
at the School. One event of special significance
will be our celebration of the Jewish Circle’s 75th
Anniversary. Launched long ago during the dark
days of World War II, the Circle continues to
thrive, and I know this event will attract a large
and supportive crowd, eager to celebrate the
unique contribution made by our Jewish alumni
to Highgate life. The date for your diaries is
Thursday 3 April.
Simon Appleton
24 Feature
MEETING
THE
LIBRARIANS
Silan Fidan (13 EG), Lisa Benson (13QG), Sophia Parvizi–Wayne (12 WG)
and Sophie Ishak (12 SG) meet Mrs Mary Cunning and Mrs Tina Janering, the
Librarian and Deputy Librarian of the new Sir Martin Gilbert Library
Feature 25
The Librarians are just as
important as the Library,
ensuring that the books
pupils need for study, as well
as reading for pleasure, are
suitable and easily accessible.
With over 1070 pupils and 125 staff, it’s a big job but one that Mrs
Mary Cunning performs with a quietly–spoken confidence and
assurance that comes from her long experience as a librarian, as
well as her passionate belief in the power of the printed word. She is
assisted by Mrs Tina Janering, appointed in 2000 and someone with long
experience of the School, staff and pupils. Together, they have brilliantly
managed the task of relocating the library from its site in the Old
Tabernacle on Southwood Lane to the futuristic environment of the new
Sir Martin Gilbert Library.
As you can tell from the attractive Texan twang, Mrs Cunning was born
in the States, and her grounding in the American system has allowed her
to incorporate best practice from there into the way she runs the Library.
In 1995 she relocated to London, where she initially worked in schools and
public libraries. She has worked at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, one of the
oldest in Europe, and in Britain second in size only to the British Library,
with over eleven million items. After Oxford, Mrs Cunning worked at
Brunel, finally joining Highgate in 2012.
We are lucky to have such an experienced Librarian to run this key
part of the School, and one who wants to change the way we think
about libraries: ‘the librarians who are stuck now – and there are still a
lot of them out there – are the ones who are stuck in the past’, says Mrs
Cunning. ‘The thing you have to do is change. I see myself more as a
facilitator of learning.’ We ask her if she thinks that technology threatens
the whole idea of a library. With libraries available in our computers, will
we need the physical space any more? Mrs Cunning responds: ‘I think
people will always enjoy the tactile nature of books. I am very keen on
technology (such as Kindles) but I think that the feel of a book in your
hand is something that people will always enjoy’.
Mrs Mary Cunning and Mrs Tina Janering
at the issuing desk of the new Library
26 Feature
A pupil studies in the scholarly calm of the new Sir Martin Gilbert Library
Feature 27
The relocation of the Library to the heart of
the School is a symbolic act, as Head Master
Adam Pettitt wants the library to be at the centre
of School life, as part of Highgate’s scholarly
ethos. Historians of the School might also like
to know that the Library is returning to where
it originally was in Victorian times – although
then it only occupied the stage area. Pupils at
Highgate are encouraged to see the Library as a
place where they can satisfy their curiosity and
learn beyond the confines of the curriculum.
The values of scholarship and learning that
Adam Pettitt wishes the Library to represent
are symbolised by the man in whose honour
the building has been named. Sir Martin Gilbert
(HG 1949) is a renowned historian, the author of
over eighty books, the official biographer of Sir
Winston Churchill and a leading historian of the
modern Israel. Although Sir Martin has not been
able to visit the Library due to ill–health, Mrs
Cunning tells us that ‘his wife was very moved
when she came in to see it’.
Every time you pick up a
book, your imagination
grows wider, your mental
landscape richer.’
Mrs Cunning sees her role as going beyond
storing, displaying and lending books. She is
working with heads of departments to see how
the Library can help meet their needs; she is
helping Sixth Formers with projects such as their
Extended Project Qualifications; she is providing
online resources; giving induction classes to
pupils throughout the School and running
drop-in surgeries. She sees a move away from
the old image of the library as a silent store of
books and a place purely to study – she wants
to encapsulate the idea of a ‘leisurely library’
where pupils can work quietly but also enjoy the
reading and research facilities provided.
In this interfacing with the academic life of
Sir Martin Gilbert, the historian in whose honour the Library is
named, and who embodies the scholarly ethos of the School
the School, she feels she has the support of the
School’s management team. With her status as a
head of department, Ms Cunning comments: ‘The
School is in accord with the mission statement
of what a school librarian should be doing as
designed by the Chartered Institute of Library
Professionals. I’m not just a nice lady down the
hall with a lot of books, I’m part of the team who
decide how our pupils learn, and how we can help
them do that better.’
In defining the new role of the librarian , she
uses an example: ‘There is a doll you can buy’,
she says. ‘It’s an old lady with glasses and grey
hair, tied in a bun. She has a book in one hand
and when you press a button, the other hand is
raised to say ‘sh!’ I’m determined to get away
from that image of a librarian. It’s just not me!’
Another issue requiring good judgement is
in the selection of books to be read, particularly
by younger children. How do you decide what’s
worth reading and what isn’t? The books in the
library aren’t selected purely on the basis of the
pupils’ enjoyment. They are age-appropriate
and rated highly by critics and the Librarians
are both there in order to help the pupils find a
Mrs Cunning with The Cholmeleian Student Editors, Lisa
Benson, Silan Fidan and Sophie Ishak
suitable book for them. With years of experience
under their wings, they know exactly what book
a student will enjoy and encourage reading for
pleasure. ‘I am not one to decide what pupils
read. It is more about empowerment – about
equipping them to choose for themselves’
comments Mrs Cunning. She wants the pupils to
expand their intellectual horizons and develop
their imaginations. She describes imagination as
a ‘landscape whose owner can choose what to
put in that landscape. Every time you pick up a
book, your imagination grows wider, your mental
landscape richer.’
But there have been lighter moments. We
ask her what the oddest incidents she has ever
witnessed in a library were, and this normally
eloquent woman is momentarily lost for words
– there have been so many! Finally she chooses
an incident from her days at Brunel University
where she had a most unusual encounter.
Shattering the peaceful tranquillity of the silent
library came loud cheering. Mrs Cunning left her
duties in order to inspect the disturbance, only
to find a birthday party was in full swing, which
included a birthday cake with candles!
28 News
Chrysalis Partnership
Grows to 26 Schools
This summer, the Chrysalis Summer School was attended by 26 partner schools from across London
This summer saw an unprecedented level
of outreach work, as Highgate’s Chrysalis
Summer School extended its partnership to
twenty-six schools from Haringey, Camden,
Ealing, Newham and Barnet. Dr John Lewis,
Highgate’s Community Partnerships Director,
was full of praise for the success of the scheme,
and explained that ‘for the past two years,
the Chrysalis partnership has gained such a
reputation that more schools are now asking
each year to join in, which explains the record
number who came to Highgate this summer.’
The numbers are certainly impressive: in total
twenty-eight teachers at Highgate provided
inspirational classes to fifty-four Year 10 pupils
and challenging seminars to seventy-eight Year
12 pupils in Art, Economics, English, French,
Geography, History, Mathematics, Philosophy,
Politics, and each of the three sciences. These
seminars are designed to push high-achieving
pupils well beyond the confines of their A Level
syllabuses, and also encourage pupils at partner
schools to make use of Highgate teachers’
expertise throughout their final year at school.
Pupils from partner schools returned to Highgate
in November for Chrysalis interview workshops
designed to prepare them for Russell Group
and Oxbridge university applications, as well
as departments’ Sixth Form extension classes
across the humanities and sciences.
A separate initiative in which Highgate School
has been instrumental is the foundation of the
London Academy of Excellence (LAE) in Stratford,
East London. Its founding Head Master, Robert
Wilne, is a former Head of Mathematics at
Highgate, whose vision was to take ‘the very best
Academy, and Highgate gives its name to one
of its eight Houses which are at the centre of its
cocurricular life. Consequently it was with great
pleasure that Highgate welcomed sixty-five Year
12 and Year 13 pupils from the Academy this
autumn, each of whom spent a day in lessons
with pupils who had volunteered to act as their
hosts. Pupils were allocated to their Highgate
‘buddies’ on the basis of the subjects they were
‘For the past two years, the Chrysalis partnership has
gained such a reputation that more schools are now
asking each year to join in, which explains the record
number who came to Highgate this summer.’
from the independent school sector and the very
best from the free-school movement…to create a
new model of education.’ Although entirely statefunded, the LAE is sponsored by eight leading
independent schools, each of which has formed a
close link between specific subject departments:
Highgate’s Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry
Departments, for instance, exchanges ideas
for best practice with its counterpart at the
studying, and in this way pupils were welcomed
to lessons in almost every academic department
across the School. The day was an enormous
success, and more are planned for the future.
News 29
On the Highgate Road
The Highgate party visited the Great Lakes High School, our partner school in
Uganda, where they taught in a primary school, as well as visiting a game reserve
This summer twenty-six Sixth Formers visited
Highgate’s partner school in Uganda, the
Great Lakes Secondary School, writes Lisa
Benson (13QG). ‘Leaving behind running water,
air conditioning, and tarmacked roads, we spent
a week teaching in local primary schools.
It was an inspiring experience, and we also
learned that successful lessons take a lot of
planning, and that teaching is not as easy as
our own teachers make it look!
We had a lot to learn about the Ugandan
syllabus. There are, for instance, no foreign
languages in the timetable and the number
of maths lessons the pupils received meant
that even at primary school level, many of them
could out-master our A Level students in the
subject. What was most interesting about the
Ugandan syllabus were the lessons on gender
equality within the household, which seemed
admirable in what can be a deeply conservative
and politically troubled country.
Indeed, chatting after school back at the
Gorilla Inn made us realise the impact of
Highgate’s fundraising for the Great Lakes High
School. Actions like donating unwanted shoes
has meant that many of the pupils no longer
go barefoot. We helped in the building of an
infirmary for children who fall sick, and toured
the new science laboratory, which was also
the result of fundraising by Highgate’s pupils
and parents.
A computer suite is now in the process
of being finished and hopefully will ensure
increased job prospects for the pupils. Above
all, it has also led to this incredible connection
order to forge even stronger connections with our
sister school, Highgate is now setting up a penpal scheme between its pupils and own in Years
7 and 8. This will undoubtedly be a great success,
as we have so many different experiences
to share.
After our week of teaching we were lucky
enough to visit the Queen Elizabeth Game
Reserve, and none of us will forget the sight of
‘What was most interesting about the Ugandan syllabus were
the lessons on gender equality within the household, which
seemed admirable in what can be a deeply conservative and
politically troubled country.’
we have with the Great Lakes and some
neighbouring schools: on our last evening we
invited local headmasters and pupils to join
us for an evening of entertainment which saw
a terrific performance by the Kirima Primary
school’s choir, together with unforgettable local
dances. Speeches made by both sets of teachers
revealed how valued our contribution is, and in
seeing elephants and hippopotamuses in the
wild. I hope that next year’s Sixth Form will
jump at the opportunity to visit the Great Lakes,
which I can truly say was the most worthwhile
experience I have had in all my years at
Highgate.’
Lisa Benson (13 QG)
30 News
High Tones
The High Tones, Highgate’s a cappella choir at Wellington College
for the final of the Voice Festival UK Competition
At the start of summer, the School’s a cappella
choir travelled to Wellington College for the
Voice Festival UK competition, writes Conor
Wilcox-Mahon (13NG). ‘Christened High Tones,
the sixteen-strong ensemble was in high spirits
as it began the day with a series of workshops
with other choirs from all around the country. We
were incredibly lucky to have Dominic Peckham
as both adjudicator and mentor for these
sessions, a director of the National Youth Choir
and professional opera singer in his own right.
His inspirational instruction was hugely useful,
and Highgate took a strong lead in participating
in discussion aimed at improving a choir from
within, as well as more technical activities such
as successful vocal percussion technique.
For the performance itself, we had prepared
a strong set over a number of weeks, which was
eventually narrowed down to just two songs
for the purposes of the contest. Oscar Darwin
(13EG) arranged both Alex Clare’s Too Close
and Bohemian Rhapsody to a complex and
hugely impressive standard: he was rewarded
with the arrangement prize for his work. Amid
intimidating competition including that of
‘With an award more than
any other choir, Highgate
left triumphant and eager
to continue to develop as
one of the very best school
choirs in the country’
last year’s winners, the Acabelles, the High
Tones pulled off a brilliant performance.
The choreography was praised for its coherence,
and was exciting without getting in the way of
the singing, thanks to the direction of Charlotte
Holtum (13KG). The singing itself was balanced
and tuneful, the upper parts especially pulling
off very technically demanding chromatic
sequences to the delight of our judge, who also
praised a rare tenor sound. Thomas WilcoxMahon (11NG), as the rhapsody’s poor boy,
was lauded for rising to such a challenge with
confidence and ability beyond his age. Although
the choir from Wellington itself would eventually
claim the overall prize, Highgate claimed the only
solo award of the day, thanks to Beth Chalmers’s
(12NG) powerful and impressive solo building up
to the huge chorus of Too Close, which triumphed
over countless of the best voices from each
choir. With an award more than any other choir,
Highgate left triumphant and eager to continue
to develop as one of the very best school choirs
in he country.’
Conor Wilcox-Mahon (13 NG)
News 31
Our Elected Heads
Our first elected Heads of School, Maddy Sands and Jamie Powe
For the first time in Highgate’s history, this
year’s Heads of School were elected by the
entire year, as were their Deputy Heads of
School. Another change to the system was
the appointment of School Prefects, who were
invited to apply in Year 12 and go through an
interview process. Teachers were also included
in the election process, as voting was open to
the Common Room, with teachers’ votes worth
the same as pupils’. The highest polling pupils’
names were put forward for consideration to
the Head Master Adam Pettitt, and Jamie Powe
(13KG) and Maddy Sands (13KG) were duly
elected as this year’s Heads, to meet with Mr
Pettitt each week and represent their peers’ views.
The change to the system was initiated by
discussion at Sixth Form Council and led to
extensive debate in the Sixth Form and Staff
Common Rooms about the pros and cons of
moving to elections. ‘I think at first people were
quite sceptical about voting,’ writes Deputy
Head of School Olivia Fox (13HG), ‘as some
people thought it would become a popularity
contest. But after members of our year prepared
a formal debate for Assembly, we started to
think that it would be empowering to have a
say in the structure of the school.’ The role of
the Deputy Heads and Prefects is to support the
Heads of School both by setting an example to
younger pupils and also to explain the opinions
of students to teachers, and vice versa. ‘We also
The change to the system
was initiated by discussion
at Sixth Form Council and
led to extensive debate in
the Sixth Form and Staff
Common Rooms about the
pros and cons of moving to
elections
play an ambassadorial role,’ continues Olivia,
‘which I enjoy as it’s fun sharing my fantastic
experiences of Highgate with prospective
parents.’ For the Deputy Heads, the role also
entails a working breakfast every other week with
the Head Master. ‘I enjoy this the most,’ writes
Riaz Razaq (13FG), ‘having a say in various issues
that the Head presents to us during breakfast,
and being able to influence school life. It can be
challenging, too, as I have to manage my time
to fit in extra duties alongside my homework,
sport, and my Year 7 class, 7O.’ This is one of the
key roles of School Prefects, who this year were
appointed after being invited to apply for the
role, and going through an interview process.
About half of the Prefect body is assigned to
helping with a Year 7 form. Other roles include
speaking to potential pupils and parents at
open days, as well as ensuring that the hungry
younger years get their tuck at break!
Following the democratisation of the Sixth
Form Council two years ago, it seemed only a
matter of time before the elections of Heads
of School would come up for discussion.
After passionate debate on both sides of the
argument, it was put to the vote and the current
Years 12 and 13 voted in favour of an election.
There was a high turn-out on polling day and
Returning Officer Mr Miller, Head of Politics,
ensured that there were no rigged ballot boxes
or voter intimidation. The AV system was used
and produced a very tight set of results: only
the Head Master will know how close these
results are to what he would have picked under
the old system!
32 News
Low Energy Scheme
Launched at London Zoo
Highgate pupils at the launch of the Low Energy Scheme at London Zoo
On Thursday 3 October 2013, a number of
pupils involved in the Highgate’s newly
founded Energy Management Society
travelled to London Zoo to assist the unveiling
of the Low Energy Company scheme (LEC),
a project led by Lord Redesdale OC, founder
of the Energy Managers Association, writes
Oscar Rocklin (13 SG). ‘Once at London Zoo,
the first fully accredited company under the
scheme, the pupils were charged with directing
guests from some of Britain’s most illustrious
firms and institutions to the unusual surrounds
of ZSL’s rainforest exhibit. Here, in the company
of the enclosure’s regular primate inhabitants,
the presentation of the accreditation certificate
to the zoo took place with great pomp and
ceremony with some comments from London
Zoo employees about the positive impact the
scheme was already having on company ethos
and energy usage, impressing upon the audience
and the environmentally-minded Highgate pupils
present, the benefits gained by taking simple
steps to encourage energy conservation.
The official unveiling was followed by a
series of presentations from assorted captains
of industry on the advantages of the LEC which
makes both business and environmental sense
for firms trying to cut energy costs as well as
live up to their societal responsibilities. Another
The pupils were charged
with directing guests
from some of Britain’s
most illustrious firms and
institutions to the unusual
surrounds of ZSL’s rainforest
exhibit.
selling point stressed by the organisers was the
fact that it removes the need for expensive use
of contractors to train staff, with employees
taking the course themselves, a valuable
qualification that could be taken on to their next
job. Again, pupils from Highgate lent a helping
hand in the preparation of the conference room,
organising and handing out name badges and
greeting guests. During his opening address
Lord Redesdale OC spoke on how the IPCC report
on climate change has given assurance to the
claim that humans are ‘definitely responsible’ for
global temperature change and that we must act
accordingly to guarantee the planet’s future.’
He also stressed the increasing significance of
the scheme in light of the fact that for the next
10-15 years, energy security is set to become a
major issue for Britain as green energy sources
slowly come on stream to replace coal-fired
power stations. It was stated that effective
energy management could help keep energy
demand at a level sustainable for supply and
that a mere 3% reduction in ‘wasted’ energy
consumption could save the national economy
£3Bn per year.
After further speeches from figures with
impressive business backgrounds on the merits
which the LEC would provide to their sector,
including from a manager involved in the UK’s
Coca-Cola manufacturing supply chain, students
were generously treated to an hour’s free time
inside the zoo itself.’
News 33
Highgate’s England Team Athlete
Sets Her Sights on Tokyo 2020
events and sports she has participated in: ‘I was
involved in swimming at county and national
level for seven or eight years, before going into
running fulltime. I also got involved in rowing,
where I was UK No 1 when I was eleven, the
pre-Olympic triathlon team, the school netball,
hockey, and rounders teams.’ But despite her
natural sporting talent, her career so far has not
been without adversity.
Despite having ‘absolutely
no sporting background
whatsoever’, Sophia has
developed into one of
Highgate’s most promising
sporting talents.
Sophia Parvizi Wayne, back in training after a hamstring injury, and setting her sights on Tokyo 2020
Sophia Parvizi-Wayne (12WG) is certainly not a
stranger to success, writes Sam Coade (12MG).
‘Having won the Camden Schools Cross Country
Race by 400 metres when she was in Year 3 (it
was an 800 metre race!), it was clear that she
had a bright future in sport. Despite having
‘absolutely no sporting background whatsoever’,
Sophia has developed into one of Highgate’s
most promising sporting talents, initially trying
her hand, successfully, at a number of sports,
before focusing her efforts on running. Not only
is the amount of sport that she has participated
in astounding, but the level at which she has
performed. Sophia reels off the numerous
This year, Sophia has recovered from a
hamstring injury that kept her out of action for
ten months. The exceptional standard to which
she holds herself made this difficult to cope
with: looking back on her performance whilst
recovering, she feels it was nothing short of
‘appalling!’ But since then, she has gone from
strength to strength. Highlights of the past
year for Sophia include winning the UK School
Games, the National League Finals, and at the
end of September, the South of England Road
Relays. While her athletic ability has never been
questioned, the mental strength required by her
to come back strong after ten months out shows
her outstanding maturity, and Sophia says she is
interested in the psychological side of sport. The
ability to respond well to problems is a quality
that separates good athletes from the very best,
Sophia explains, adding that London 2012 was a
‘really big inspiration, especially seeing women
doing well.’ On a more practical level, she also
said it was ‘really useful’ to see the techniques
and training routines used by the athletes.
Despite already having achieved a lot, Sophia
is not one to rest on her laurels: she admits she is
‘a bit of a perfectionist.’ Her current aims include
doing a half marathon next year (‘if my parents
let me!’), cementing her recently acquired place
on the England team, and, looking farther ahead,
to Tokyo 2020. If she continues to enjoy the
same amount of success as she has recently,
there is no reason why she can’t achieve her
goals.
Sam Coade (12MG)
34 News
Highgate in Honduras
The Honduras party gathered environmental data and monitored a deadly fungus, as well as learning how to scuba dive
Located between San Salvador, Guatemala,
and Nicaragua, the Republic of Honduras is
one of the poorest nations in the western
hemisphere, write Joe Baker (13TL) and Finn
Strivens (13KG), but it is also one of the most
biodiverse countries on the planet.
Unfortunately its famous national parks are
threatened not only by climate change but also
logging, urbanisation, and the invasion of foreign
species like the Chytrid Fungus, which puts all of
its indigenous wildlife at risk. Our mission was to
make a real contribution to Operation Wallacea’s
attempt to safeguard this wildlife for the future
in a vigorous week of hiking and collecting data,
before spending our second week on a
university-level reef ecology course whilst
learning to scuba dive.
Our opportunity to take part in cutting-edge
research was in Cusuco National Park, which
has one of the highest numbers of species
found nowhere else in the country. With only
a handful of scientists in a park spanning
234 square kilometres, school and university
volunteers play an essential role in Operation
Wallacea: a network of scientists and academics
committed to conservation in nine critical
countries around the world. And so it was with
a sense of making a real contribution to the
protection of a unique environment that groups
of us surveyed two 400 square metre sections
of the park. This was no easy task, as parts of
these transects took three hours of walking
across mountainous terrain to reach from our
tents. But the beauty of our surroundings was
all the motivation we needed, and we were
struck by the splendour of Orchid Bees: the
beautiful, iridescent, and stingless cousins of
the humble bumble bee. Once arrived at our
sections, we caught and tested amphibians for
the deadly Chytrid Fungus, and collected data
about the size and health of trees, leaf-litter
density, and the condition of the canopy. This
information allows scientists to build up threedimensional maps of entire ecosystems which
show interactions between different species. It
also reveals the amount of carbon that is stored
in the forest, and this is crucial to carbon-trading
schemes which reward companies for protecting
areas of land in order to offset their own carbon
emissions.
Moving from the heart of this vast ecosystem
to the beautiful island where we learned to
scuba dive and take our university-level course
on Marine Ecology felt like both a reward and
another reminder of the importance of the
work of Operation Wallacea: for here too, an
extraordinary reef ecosystem is under threat
and in decline. The hours spent beneath the
waves learning to scuba dive were unforgettable
for each of us. The trip was over far too quickly,
despite all we had managed to achieve. Before
we knew it, we were back in San Pedro Sula
Airport posing for a photo with Mr Harrison and
Dr Crawford before Miss Shelley. We can’t thank
each of them enough, and we are so grateful to
Dr Crawford for organising the expedition.
Joe Baker (13TL) and Finn Strivens (13KG)
News 35
Next Stop, Hollywood!
Guy Oberlander. The young actor has big plans after the success of his recent performances
Looking back, Guy Oberlander (11MG) never
expected he would want to become an actor,
but picking up an advertisement for an open
audition at the Celebrity Talent Academy
changed everything. Winning a one-year
scholarship to its ‘Advanced Career Programme
in Commercial Television and Film Acting’ was
the start of something new. ‘I had a wonderful
time there,’ he writes, ‘met some great kids,
and with the help of very charismatic teachers
I began to develop self-confidence and the new
skills needed for stage and television acting.’
From this point on, Guy has had his heart set on
a career in acting, and has managed to develop
his skills whilst also managing the challenging
academic demands of his final year before the
GCSE examinations in June.
Two of Guy’s most recent performances
have been especially notable: the first was his
recent role in a short film called Fibs, written
by James Sharpe and produced by Russell
Noon for Moonray Films, near Bristol. ‘It was
Winning a one-year
scholarship to its ‘Advanced
Career Programme in
Commercial Television and
Film Acting’ was the start of
something new.
mostly filmed outdoors,’ Guy tells us, ‘and that
particular week was one of the rainiest and
coldest last winter! I loved the whole experience,
though, of being on site with the actors and the
film crew and although it was really hard work
with nine hours of filming a day, and very, very
cold, I had a wonderful time and gained so much
experience.’ Guy has put this experience to good
use in his latest venture, which was playing
Lonnie in a moving play called Writing to the
Queen, by Danielle Corgan in Covent Garden.
‘It was about an Orthodox Jewish family who
lose everything as a result of a court case,’ he
explains, ‘and the devastating effect it has on
them. It was the first time that I felt like a real
actor, and totally different from my experience
on the film set. On stage, you get one shot at it
and it has to be the very best you can do! It was
so well-received, and the overwhelming feeling
of achievement has left me with a real taste for
acting which I truly want to pursue in the future.’
Watch this space!
36 News
The Reach of Highgate Physics
Highgate Physics Department’s very own Steve Conduit (back row, third from right) was in South Africa teaching youngsters this summer
This autumn Highgate’s Head of Physics
Mr David Smith was delighted to receive a
letter from Professor David Wolfe, Emeritus
Professor of Physics at the University of New
Mexico. The letter was one of deep gratitude
to Mr Steve Conduit, Highgate’s longstanding
Physics technician, who this summer spent a
week in Soweto, a township of some two million
people southwest of Johannesburg, teaching
eighteen teachers from across the country how
to build simple pieces of laboratory apparatus
at almost no cost at all. Along with Professor
Wolfe and Dr John Nunn from the National
Physics Laboratory in Teddington, Steve taught
his colleagues not only how to build pieces of
equipment for physics experiments, but also
how to maintain them and use them safely with
pupils. ‘They are in desperate need of help,’ wrote
Professor Wolfe, ‘and immensely grateful for all
they receive.’
Such simple things as simple motors, a
speaker-microphone combination and a standing
wave generator were huge hits, bringing smiles
of delight to faces unaccustomed to any sort
of construction activity. ‘Having Steve for the
week of this trip was absolutely vital,’ Professor
Wolfe’s letter to Mr Smith continued, ‘and
his contribution was extremely popular with
Simple motors, a speakermicrophone combination
and a standing wave
generator were huge hits,
bringing smiles of delight to
faces unaccustomed to any
sort of construction activity.
everyone. I am writing to express my personal
gratitude to Highgate School and to you both for
allowing him to vanish for a week for this crucial
help. The Institute of Physics is also, of course,
extremely grateful to you as well. Steve has been
a real find for us and, I am sure, for you as well.
It was a true pleasure working with him and,
again, thank you very much.’
Steve commented: ‘We ran several workshops
over a period of five days, which included
making simple pieces of physics equipment that
teachers could use in their lessons and showing
participants how to perform several ‘wow
factor’ demonstrations that can be performed
with inexpensive materials. I then had the two
weekends to explore Soweto and the surrounding
area. It was during one of these excursions that I
bumped into OC Anthony Huszar at the Museum
of Apartheid in Johannesburg. I am very grateful
to the school for granting me leave to carry out
this very worthwhile work.’
News 37
Healing the Red Pepper Hearts
Omar Hussein learned how to make the tools to perform keyhole surgery this summer
For a week during the summer, Year 11 and
Year 12 pupils from across the country made
their way to the University of Southampton
for a biomedical engineering course run by
the Smallpeice Trust, writes Omar Hussein
(12 MG). ‘I was lucky enough to gain a place
on this course, which provided an insight into
studying science at university. Seminars we
attended ranged from discussions of biocompatibility, stem cell reproduction, bone
fixation techniques, joint replacement, electromuscular stimulation, and even using motioncapture equipment to analyse the walking
movement of footballers with osteoarthritis.’
‘One of the best features of the course was
the task we were all given to complete over
three of the days we spent at Southampton.
My team was faced with performing keyhole
surgery on a rather unconvincing fake body.
The patient had nails in his orange pepper
kidneys, custard in his red pepper heart, and blue
tack virus all around his chest cavity! We began
by investigating where all the problems were
with our small camera that was inserted through
some small holes that we made. It was only then
that we discovered the gravity of the situation.
The nails had been strategically placed so that it
was almost impossible to retrieve them without
making another hole.
‘My team was faced with
performing keyhole surgery
on a rather unconvincing
fake body. The patient had
nails in his orange pepper
kidneys, custard in his red
pepper heart, and blue
tack virus all around his
chest cavity.’
Even worse, the heart was surrounded by
balloon lungs that could deflate at any time.
Once our initial investigation was finished,
we spent the rest of the day constructing the
surgical instruments that could be used to heal
the patient. After several hours slaving away
with pipe-cleaners, duct tape, and lollipop sticks,
we had finished our creations and were ready to
begin the operation! With only fifteen minutes to
save our dying patient we inserted our homemade pump into the heart. It worked perfectly,
extracting all of the custard. Unfortunately it was
the only thing that worked. Our attempt at fixing
the gastric lining resulted in super glue being
sprayed everywhere and the grabbing system
could only remove one nail out of six. Then in
the resulting panic and with time running out,
we punctured both lungs. One lung I admit,
was my fault, but the other one was nothing
to do with me. The course ended with a dinner
at the University where we could speak with
PhD students and lecturers about a career in
biomedical engineering. It was a memorable
week which opened our eyes to opportunities
that few of us had considered before.’
38 News
Year 6 Go to
Wales!
Shakespeare in the Pre-Prep
Year 6 had an action-packed visit to North
Wales this summer
For the past two years in June, every child
in Year 6 has set off to the Prince’s Trust
Pembrokeshire Activity Centre in Pembroke
Dock in June. The success of this venture has
made it a firm fixture on the calendar, for out of
all the fun and action-packed days the pupils
form lasting friendships which are indispensable
to them when they return to Highgate in Year 7
up at the Senior School.
The daily diet might include
surfing, coasteering, crag
climbing, sailing, raft
building, or canoeing, and
after a bite to eat, evening
activities ranged from
green gym to climbing at
the Centre’s state-of-the-art
facility.
This year was as busy as ever at the
Activity Centre, and the children loved the wide
range of instructor-led activities. Indeed, the
daily diet might include surfing, coasteering,
crag climbing, sailing, raft building, or canoeing,
and after a bite to eat, evening activities
ranged from green gym, to problem-solving,
or even to climbing at the Centre’s state-ofthe-art facility.
Parents often remark that their children seem
more mature when they collect them on the
Friday afternoon, and this is no doubt due to the
self-confidence and leadership skills the children
develop during their week away. For many, it is
the first time away from home, but with so much
to do every day there is rarely time to stop and
think about home and many of the children are
reluctant to leave!
Pupils in the Pre-Prep were given an introduction to the Bard with
a Shakespearian adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Pupils in Year 2 in Highgate’s Pre-Prep have
been tackling Shakespeare! During Drama
lessons the six and seven year olds were
introduced to two of The Bard’s much loved
and most child-friendly plays: A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night. They had
been learning about the Tudors as part of the
whole school topic of Famous and Important
People.
The children loved the stories and their
larger-than-life characters and, responded
brilliantly when role-playing many of the scenes.
As a result of the children’s ability to grasp
Shakespeare’s work with enthusiasm, it seemed
Hippolyta is a Venezuelan who met Duke
Theseus when Greece outbid her country to host
the Olympic Games; Demetrius and Lysander
are Olympic athletes; and Puck has returned to
Greece as a gangster with two less than bright
Sicilian sidekicks! The story was condensed but
some of the original language was included.
The cast of thirty-two wholeheartedly threw
themselves into their roles, learning some
difficult dialogue along with songs and dances,
including a conga! The audience loved it,
showing their appreciation for all their children’s
hard work with a well-deserved standing ovation.
As one parent said after the performance: ‘It
The cast of thirty-two wholeheartedly threw themselves
into their roles, learning some difficult dialogue along with
songs and dances, including a conga! The audience loved it,
showing their appreciation for all their children’s hard work
with a well-deserved standing ovation.
obvious to perform one of the plays for Year 2’s
final production in the Pre-Prep at the end of
the summer term.
Dream On, as the name suggests, is based
on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and has all
the characters of the original but with a twist:
was a challenge but, you know, the children
got it.’ They certainly did and with grounding
in Shakespeare from such an early age, there is
no doubt that they will continue to be inspired
by the greatest playwright the world has
ever known.
News 39
The Astrodome
The Pre-Prep’s Colour and Light project
began this year with a visit from the
Astrodome: a portable space theatre
company. Set up in the Mills Centre, pupils
visiting in groups were amazed to be able to
climb inside the blacked-out dome and wait
for their space adventure to begin!
The Space Show took the
children on an imaginary
space flight from Earth to
the outer edges of our solar
system.
Pupils in the Pre-Prep took an imaginary space flight, courtesy of the Astrodome,
a portable space theatre company
The Space Show took the children on an
imaginary space flight from Earth to the outer
edges of our solar system. They learned about
star constellations and how they got their names,
and were especially fascinated to learn about
Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11, shown in video
clips of the first landing on the moon. Finally,
the children delighted in spotting shooting stars
flying across the roof of the dome.
Oliver takes Bronze!
This summer, Oliver Weisfeld (9 MG) was one
of eight selected to represent the Team GB
Table Tennis team playing at the JCC Maccabi
Games which took place in Orange County,
California. The JCC Maccabi Games began in
1982, designed to present athletic, cultural,
and social opportunities to Jews from around
the world.
of sports, including Lacrosse, Baseball, and
Soccer. He had a wonderful time, and although
he narrowly missed out on a medal in the singles
competition, where he came fourth, he went on
to win Bronze in the mixed country doubles, and
another bronze in the team competition! It was
an amazing experience for him, living with a US
family for 11 days, and making friends from
The JCC Maccabi Games began in 1982,
designed to present athletic, cultural, and social
opportunities to Jews from around the world.
Oliver flew to America with seventy-five
other participants aged between thirteen and
sixteen, where over two thousand children from
many different countries competed in a range
across the globe. He is hoping to take part again
in 2014 when the Maccabi Games will take place
in New Jersey. Well done Oliver!
Oliver Weisfeld was selected for Team GB
in the Maccabi Games in California
40 Music
Music Review
The Choir on tour in Vienna
Characteristic of Highgate’s musical ambition
and success outside of school itself was the
Easter Tour to Vienna, which involved the
Lazarus Ensemble, Chorale, and Chamber
Orchestra. The musicians performed at
Karlskirche, Votivkirche, Peterskirche and St.
Stephen’s Cathedral, which make up the musical
fabric of a city which was home to Beethoven,
Mozart and Haydn. The repertoire was varied for
each location: the Chorale was in the greatest
demand, performing sacred pieces such as
Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli which took
on their original character and life in the vast
acoustic spaces. The Lazarus Ensemble and
the Chamber Orchestra paid homage to Mozart
and Bach respectively with the Serenade
for Winds in C minor and Concerto for Three
Violins. Both singers and instrumentalists came
together to perform Bach’s Easter Cantata.
Each rendition made such a great impression
that many unsuspecting visitors chose to stay
for the entire concert, and the musicians were
delighted to look up from performing to notice
their gathering admirers. For the 2013 leavers,
the tour was a final celebration of many years of
musical dedication, and such a spirit made the
experience both enjoyable and rewarding.
For the 2013 leavers, the
tour was a final celebration
of many years of musical
dedication, and such a spirit
made the experience both
enjoyable and rewarding.
For the first time, the ever-enthusiastic Jazz
Orchestra had the opportunity to perform at
Pizza Express Dean Street last May. Taking place
just before the GCSE and A-level examinations,
the concert was a welcome distraction to many
of the performers and was enjoyed by family,
friends and passers-by while having lunch in
the dimly-lit, ambient performance space. For
the first half of the concert, a school jazz quintet
took to the floor, having only been formed in
the weeks leading up to the event. In particular,
their performance of Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay
illuminated the open solo texture of the piece,
especially with Sam Coade’s (12MG) saxophone
solo. The second half of the concert was a long
set performed by the Highgate Jazz Orchestra,
which contained many references to the diverse
spectrum of influences that make up the genre.
Daniel Hilton’s (12HG) solo for My Foolish Heart,
a piece made famous by Bill Evans,
demonstrated the role of the deeper and
richer timbre of the alto saxophone in the jazz
ballad, and Theo Hurford’s (12SH) solo for the
aptly named Listen Up! showed an affinity
for personality in improvisation. The band are
hoping that they will be able to repeat the
successful format of the concert in the future,
and are delighted at such a rise in profile for jazz
at Highgate.
A concert dedicated to the music of Mozart
and Beethoven rounded-off the Highgate
Music 41
Music Review
The Jazz Orchestra at Pizza Express
Community Orchestra’s (HCO) season at the
finale of the last academic year. The evening
was presented by Classic FM’s John Suchet,
the author of Beethoven: The Man Revealed, who
was able to add considerable colour and narrative
to the facts of Beethoven’s life. He sought to
bring us an understanding of the man through
key moments of drama in his life, providing
an insight into his struggles with deafness and
love that provoked such an intense creative
genius. The programme consisted of two pieces:
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 and Beethoven’s
Symphony No.1 in C major. The piano concerto
was performed by international concert pianist,
Ingrid Jacobi, who holds a Steinway Hall Artists
Prize. Composed in the final year of his life,
1791, the piece complemented Beethoven’s First
Symphony which was composed nine years later.
The symphony was the true highlight of the
concert: it demonstrated Beethoven’s determined
originality in a composition which is both
innovative and comic. The performers upheld the
highest professionalism at all times and, once
John Suchet tells Beethoven’s story
42 Music
Music Review
The Symphonic Band, having progressed to the finals of the National Music Festival for Youth, were
invited to play as one of the eight best groups in the country at Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
again, demonstrated the vitality of Highgate’s
dedicated musical community.
With such a vibrant set of ensembles,
Highgate has also successfully exported its talent
to competitions and events across the country
during the last academic year. Notably the
Symphonic Band, having progressed to the finals
of the National Music Festival for Youth, were
invited to play as one of the eight best groups in
the country at Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
Elsewhere, the school a cappella group visited
Wellington College for the annual Voice Festival
UK, again to compete nationally. After a morning
of workshops, the group sang their set of Queen’s
Bohemian Rhapsody and Alex Clare’s Too Close,
winning prizes for arrangement (Oscar Darwin
OC) and best solo (Beth Chalmers 12NG):
incidentally, the largest haul of any group.
The House Singing competition, taking place
in the third week of the Michaelmas Term, serves
as an apt finale to this review. To an audience of
over a thousand, all twelve Houses performed
songs arranged, prepared and sang by often
over forty House members. The atmosphere
in the Mallinson Centre was electric as each
House took to the stage, and it was agreed that
the overall standard was the best for years.
Paul Harrison, the guest adjudicator from City
of London School, also stressed how tight the
that each performer conveyed pushed them
into second place. Third were School House;
Phoebe Marquand’s (13SH) arrangement of
AWOLNATION’s Sail was particularly praised for
conveying all the punchiness and sharpness of
the original heavily instrumental track. Solos
The atmosphere in the Mallinson Centre was electric
as each House took to the stage, and it was agreed
that the overall standard was the best for years.
rankings were, identifying six Houses within a
few points of each other. In the end Kingsgate
nudged ahead by a single point for the win:
Jamie Powe (13KG) arranging a powerful
quintet to lead into a mash-up of Misery and
Troublemaker (made famous by Maroon 5 and
Olly Murs respectively) for a performance both
detailed and enthusiastic. Dynamism was the
key in Northgate’s performance of Get Lucky
by Daft Punk, where the energy and enjoyment
from the more serious singers of each House
were often extraordinary: Sario WatanabeSolomon (12FG) and Cameron Burt (11TL) lifted
their Houses to levels which exceeded what
could have been expected from only two weeks
of rehearsals.
Conor Wilcox-Mahon (13NG)
Benjamin Huston (13MG)
Art 43
Summer Art Exhibition
Laser Cut Perspex Sculpture, Matt Rooney (13FG)
Highgate’s Summer Exhibition revealed the
impressive extent to which Highgate’s artists
have developed their talents, writes Director
of Art Ms Marina Nimmo. The ethos of the
Art Department is to encourage its pupils to
think independently and to discover new ways
of portraying the world as well as interpreting
other artists’ work, and this year we are very
grateful to Seán Lennard Berney (8H), Leo Salem
The ethos of the Art
Department is to
encourage its pupils to
think independently and
to discover new ways of
portraying the world
(10TL), Annabel Silver-Setchfield (12EG), Patrick
Bell (13TL), and Matt Rooney (13FG) who have
chosen one of their peers’ exhibits to review.
Their reviews illustrate the diverse range of its
GCSE and A Level pupils’ interests, as well as the
huge amount of time and effort they put into
perfecting their work. The exhibition has been
enormously popular, and our congratulations go
to all of the artists.
Detail of a Walnut, Patrick Bell (13TL)
44 Art
Summer Art Exhibition
Continued
War, Milo Saville (12FG)
Mat Rooney’s Laser Cut Perplex Sculpture
was completely captivating, writes Leo Salem.
Rooney’s initial inspiration came from looking at
the routes different people took to get to School
each day. The idea of multiple journeys, each
with unique starting points but all converging
at a common destination runs throughout the
whole project, which he represents using layered
and abstracted forms. Rooney’s research into
Ernesto Neto’s sculptural works is clear, as
Rooney expresses his studies on the movement
of people as several three-dimensional pathways
of interlocking squares. Rooney explained that he
intended initially to make these out of mirrors,
reflecting to the observer their own journey as
they travel around the piece. Ultimately though,
his decision to use Perspex works perfectly, its
transparency making visible the layers as one
journey overlaps another. Most striking of all is
how this is a moving piece in itself: it changes as
we approach it or move away from it, revealing
a contrast between disorder and order. From a
distance we see a fluid sculpture, but closer in we
see that it consists of regular geometric squares.
Patrick Bell’s (13TL) Detail of a Walnut is a
series of seven pencil drawings to near life-like
scale which show the rotation of a walnut, writes
Annabel Silver-Setchfield. The small boldness
draws you closer to the work while the shaded
surface of the walnut is given away with subtlety.
Partly echoing the Turner Prize 2012 nominee
Paul Noble, who created drawings of supernatural
landscapes of a precise knobbly texture similar
to that of the walnut, Bell was also inspired by
Galileo’s research represented in The Six Phases
of the Moon (c. 1610). In his own drawings,
Bell transferred the expression of the relation
between the sun, moon and earth through the
drawing of light to further investigate the ways
in which an object such as a walnut can be
viewed, hence the rotation of the walnut.
My eye was caught immediately by Milo
Saville’s (12FG) War, writes Seán Lennard Berney:
rows of toy soldiers tied to a large blanket.
The formation was clear-cut, with the small
figures, guns in hand, tied with red string. It was
the contrast between the grey background, the
soldiers’ uniform green, and the bright red which
tied them down that made the work so powerful:
a challenge to the pathetic devastation of war.
As though a frozen snapshot of conflict, and
even of humanity itself, it pulls apart the chaos,
and reorders the men, one side juxtaposed
wholly with the enemy, all trapped in the same
My eye was caught immediately by Milo Saville’s
(12FG) War. As though a frozen snapshot of conflict,
and even of humanity itself, it pulls apart the chaos,
and reorders the men, one side juxtaposed wholly
with the enemy, all trapped in the same game...
The series maintains a successful balance
between scientific investigation whilst being
pleasing towards the eye, as the walnut wants
to come out of the two-dimensional paper on
which it appears.
game, and strings them on a soft grey blanket,
highlighting their fragility and powerlessness to
a greater sense of order, above, unseen, utterly
in control.
Archive 45
Memories of
Cholmeley
As we say farewell to Cholmeley, OCs look back at their time
in Highgate’s Junior School.
Ma Long was sent for!
‘Summer term 1934 was a major event in
my life: I started as a day boy in the Junior
School. Although not eight years old until
the following September I was allowed to
follow my two older brothers provided I
passed a brief test set and invigilated by the
kindly headmaster, Mr Dumaresque; despite
mistaking Captain Cook the explorer for
Captain Hook the pirate of Peter Pan fame
I succeeded.
Dressed in new, but oversize, blazer, shorts
and stockings (anticipating future growth)
I cut a sad little figure from the evidence of that
We always looked forward to
those delightful days when
our form master or mistress
was absent, for then we
found Ma Long sitting in
front of us and we were in
for a treat.
Geoffrey Haskins: fondly recalls the visits of Ma Long, with her tales ‘of the olden days’
term’s school photograph belying an ambition,
even then, to lead an adventurous life. It must
have been a good preparatory school proving to
be an effective springboard for life. Our futures
lay in many roles: doctors, lawyers, engineers,
scientists and at least one BBC outside
broadcasting expert, a Spanish diplomat and a
Bond Street jeweller. In 1934 we were introduced
to Latin and French grammar, competitive
mental arithmetic, the importance of spelling,
and the joys of ‘nature study’. For the last subject
special exercise books with pages for drawing
specimens and writing descriptive text were
issued; I gained particular credit for my sketch
of frogspawn. A vivid recollection, however, is the
staff; names have faded over the years but there
are fond memories of three enthusiastic ladies
46 Archive
Geoffrey Walker points to the (now whitewashed over) Foundation Stone which he remembers being dedicated by the Bishop of London
Michael Hammerson looking out of the
window through which ‘Whiskers’
Markham threw inattentive pupils’ books!
teaching the junior classes, one of whom wed Mr
Arthur Field and left; we admired Field’s gripping
tales of life in America; then there were the
World War one soldier survivors: Messrs Hamilton
(history, including how to construct a trench) and
‘Whiskers’ Markham (Latin and Literature) who,
badly damaged, walked with a limp and sported
a hearing aid; there were younger men whose
names elude me but I recall them running a
Wolf Cub pack and teaching us about football
and cricket.
We always looked forward to those delightful
days when our form master or mistress was
absent, for then we found Ma Long sitting in
front of us and we were in for a treat. Miss Long
had retired after many years on the staff of the
Junior School and lived nearby in a cottage in
Castle Yard, handy for a short notice summons
to hold the fort. It may be ungallant to say so,
but she looked just like an amiable version of
‘Grandma’ in the cartoons by Giles: After a few
minutes attending to our lessons we would
divert her attention and she would launch into
one of her tales of life in the ‘olden days’. They
covered many events and occasions, often
involving outwitting intruders bent on evil. Just
what nefarious intentions were to befall them
all was never made clear, but Ma Long and her
boys were more than a match and the enemy
was always routed. As one tale finished, we
would urge her on to the next, until it was time
for the bell to ring and we were released to run
wild in the grounds, play cricket, indulge in the
current craze for conkers or whatever was in
fashion, and Ma Long could withdraw to enjoy
some refreshment. In 1938 we moved out of the
old dusty, rather ugly, Victorian building and
travelled down the hill to a new Junior School;
purpose built, shiny and spotless. Life was
different although the same staff moved with us.
The advent of Mr Quentin Robinson (son of the
illustrator Heath Robinson) to the staff proved a
great joy; he had a talent for writing plays and
I enjoyed acting in them in parts such as King
Cacaphonius of the Seven Kingdoms – a tale of
Arabia, and Mr Rodpole, a Borough Surveyor in
a drama about local government intrigue. Years
later I met Quentin in a sailor’s pub one evening
in Burnham-on-Crouch and asked him how he
wrote such excellent nonsense: he replied that
three pints on a Saturday evening did wonders
for the imagination.
Years later I met Quentin in
a sailor’s pub one evening
in Burnham-on-Crouch and
asked him how he wrote
such excellent nonsense:
he replied that three pints
on a Saturday evening did
wonders for the imagination.
After the end of the 1939 Summer term we
went on our holidays anticipating our starting
in the Senior School in September. Some of us,
imbued with religious fervour, went to the annual
Crusader Union camp, held that year in Cornwall
where, on the 3rd of September, our world
changed forever. Instead of returning home from
camping we were transported to Westward Ho!
for our new school term – my adventurous life
was off to an exciting start under the influence
of a newly joined, charismatic, young master –
Theodore Mallinson.
Geoffrey Haskins (WG 1939)
Archive 47
The Pageant of 1953: Shows Queen Boadicea (Peter Phillips) surrounded by ‘her’ tribesmen and women with some
Roman soldiers. Some names remembered include Hackman, Appleby, Wright, Coulcher, Harding and Kelly.
Walter Winterbottom and East Fife
One rainy day we moved into a classroom in
Junior School, and Walter Winterbottom asked
who our favourite football team was. Amongst
the more normal responses of Arsenal and
Tottenham Hotspur, some bright Herbert chirped
up ‘East Fife’ and I have followed the club ever
since.
I cannot remember the reason but one day
Mr Sherwin took us into the drive to the side of
Junior School, and he let off a fire extinguisher.
Playing the violin out of tune at
morning assembly
I was never very good at playing the violin but
one day I was asked to accompany at Assembly
one morning. However I played out of tune.
Playing cricket and catching practice
When Mr Ball (I think) stupidly used two balls for
catching practice, I got him in the balls when two
of us returned the balls at the same time.
Running in Kenwood
Probably a favourite for us boys, running in
Kenwood and finding shortcuts which the
Running Master didn’t realise we were using.
Shows the Normans headed by the late Jimmy Arlott. Alastair is far left standing. Other names
include Martin (x2), Glenn, Bates, Green, Hine, Binnie, Lyne, Rosen, Pearce, Bennett and Passingham.
Inglehome
There was a Spy Club in the Basement, led by
one of the Masters. We had code books and fake
guns. One day someone entered while we were
having a meeting but we all froze and didn’t
know what to do!!
The Pageant of 1953
I was in Ingleholme at the time of ‘The Coronation Pageant’ that was staged by the Junior School
(both Ingleholme and Cholmeley) in 1953 to celebrate the Coronation and I remember there was
much excitement in practising and staging this event. If I remember correctly, each form staged a
different tableau – mine depicted the Norman era. As you can see we were all very well-costumed and
looked very professional.
John Brownlie (QG 1961)
Alistair Roach (HG 1957)
48 Feature
Paul Knight outside the door of the Chapel
Feature 49
Fraser Medhurst, Chapel Prefect and Student Editor, talks to
The Reverend Paul Knight, Highgate’s Chaplain since 1992.
Opening the Door of
z
Z
he resolve to leave. Of course this was partly
As leader of a growing Chaplaincy, soon to
because he was uncomfortable advising people
return to the recently restored chapel (the
to make decisions that primarily benefitted the
Crawley Chapel, as it is actually named), his
bank. His resignation was a rough process: Rev
role within the school is of more importance
Knight thought that it would be fairest to give
now than it has ever been.
the bank a year’s notice so that they would not
The path that our Chaplain took to Highgate
consider promoting him or giving him any extra
started towards the end of his own time at
training, and he needed this time to
school when, at the age of about
His first day is find a place at a theological college
eighteen, he underwent a dramatic
conversion experience that resulted
best described somewhere in the UK and move to
wherever that may happen
in a swift advancement of
as different –
to be. Shockingly, when he
his personal spirituality.
In fact, within a year
going from quiet churches told his line manager of his
plans, Rev Knight was told
Rev Knight thought
with small congregations that he could either tender
that he might at some
point get ordained, but
consisting primarily of older his resignation the next
or his job would
it would be fifteen years
persons to a youthful school morning
be made so difficult that he
before he actually made
of 500 pupils and
would wish he had.
arrangements for this to
So
he
resigned; he also started
happen.
120 staff could
contacting theological colleges
The Reverend Paul Knight joined
have been quite until he was offered the one place
Highgate in August 1992, and in
twenty-one years of dedicated
an uncomfortable, available at Oak Hill College in
Southgate, North London, over the
service to the school so far he has
if not terrifying, phone. The next step Rev Knight
become an integral part of our
had to take was to find the funds to
community.
transition…
pay for his training and his family’s
For the previous decade and a
upkeep during the two years that
half, he worked as a bank manager
he attended the college. In an attempt to sell
at Lloyds TSB – it seems that this job was
his house (the equity from which would cover
vaguely similar to a job in the clergy via a shared
training costs and support his family) he visited
pastoralism; Rev Knight knew his customers and
the estate agency next to his bank – that was
wanted to do the best that he could for them.
the Tuesday – despite there being houses in his
Only when this style of friendly banking was
area that had been on the market for six months
terminated in favour of a harsher system that
for less money than he needed, his house
prioritised the business over the customer did
50 Feature
Due to retire next year,
Rev Knight is comforted
by the continued
commitment of the
governors and Adam
Pettitt to the Chaplaincy
at Highgate, and thinks
especially that the Head
will drive the School in the
right direction spiritually
and otherwise.
Rev Paul Knight taking a service in the unrestored Chapel
was sold – that was the Thursday. Rev Knight
commented that it might be arrogant of him to
say that it was a miracle, but it confirmed to him
his personal philosophy: if a door opens, it would
almost be rude to ignore the invitation that it is
presenting. That said, it appears to him that God
was opening that door, so the whole experience
did go some way to strengthen Rev Knight’s
religious faith.
Finally ordained, Rev Knight was the Rector
to some parish churches in rural West Sussex;
his job included acting as Chaplain to Farlington
School, and it was the headmistress of this
school that pushed him to apply for the job as
chaplain at Highgate in spite of his lack of formal
teacher training. His first day is best described
as different – going from quiet churches with
small congregations consisting primarily
Paul Knight, Fraser Medhurst, Chapel Prefect and author of this piece, and Silan Fidan,
Student Editor, watch restoration work nearing completion in the Chapel under the
direction of Stephen Freeth of the Capital Projects Team
of older persons to a youthful school of 500
pupils and 120 staff could have been quite an
uncomfortable, if not terrifying, transition, but
Rev Knight instantly encountered a feeling of
homely security. Crucial to enjoying his new
role was the energy that he got working at
Highgate: being surrounded by astute and lively
boys, he couldn’t help but get caught up in the
excitement of School life. This, he believes, is the
future of people that want to work with their faith
– getting involved, engaging with people about
religion and making faith solid and incarnate are
all ideals that the Christian Church preaches and
with which Rev Knight agrees wholeheartedly.
His arrival at Highgate was not without its
difficulties – for instance gaining the trust of
an entire school to such a point that they might
confide in him details of their personal lives
and secrets took time (around two years, so he
estimates). Ultimately however, Rev Knight did
establish himself in a pastoral role, and continues
to be a port of call for any grieving or struggling
member of the school community. Whenever he
is called upon in this way, it is often the case that
simply listening and taking the issue seriously is
fairly curative, or at least starts the process, but
it is when this is not sufficient that our Chaplain’s
attachment to the Anglican Church comes to
the fore. It seems that regardless of a person’s
spiritual view, there is a restorative or therapeutic
power possessed by formalised religion that only
an ordained person can evoke – lighting a candle
in chapel, or singing a hymn in memoriam,
carries the mixture of solemnity and explanation
that a troubled person often needs. It is for this
reason that Rev Knight is humbled and privileged
in leading the school in the Act of Remembrance
and similar acts of mourning and celebration.
Perhaps it is worth noting that his pastoral
Feature 51
mission to the School has come with a cost:
Rev Knight has at times been confronted
with issues that he feels totally unqualified to
assist with, and of course receiving the brunt
of hundreds of highly intelligent pupils giving
coherent reasons not to believe has caused a few
crises of faith. Through these, though, his everpresent awareness that faith only exists in the
face of doubt has allowed him to maintain his
spiritual integrity.
It would seem reasonable to assume that, in
an increasingly secularised society, the School
would have become less religious in the past
twenty-one years, but Rev Knight estimates
that in his time the percentages of believers and
non-believers have remained fairly constant.
The pupils are now as they have always been:
experimenting with faith, and different ideas.
The proportion of the staff that are open about
their belief seems to have increased. As a result,
the future of the Chaplaincy seems quite secure
(and is not hindered by a requirement for an
Anglican Chaplain in the School’s constitution),
though it could take many different forms –
growing multiculturalism and diversity might
result in the appointment of rabbis and imams
and suchlike. Already operational in many other
schools, both independent and state-maintained,
the idea of multi-faith chaplaincies should be,
according to Rev Knight, hugely exciting for the
School. Due to retire next year, Rev Knight is
comforted by the continued commitment of the
governors and Adam Pettitt to the Chaplaincy at
Highgate, and thinks especially that the Head will
drive the School in the right direction spiritually
and otherwise.
When retirement does eventually arrive for
Rev Knight, he plans on moving to a modest
house in deepest rural France. There he will assist
the Chaplain of Poitou-Charentes, the region in
which his future fulltime home is located. The
area is larger than Wales and entirely tended by
St Michael, proudly restored
Restoration work on the saints in the apse
one woman, who is responsible for all Church of
England baptisms, weddings and funerals that
are needed by the British ex–patriates in her
chaplaincy’s territory.
Moving to France is a major change that is
thankfully yet to come, but won’t be the first that
the Reverend Knight has seen since he started
his Highgate career – the decision to introduce
girls into the School for instance broke with over
400 years of single-sex education. A less obvious
but more Christian change is the School’s
philanthropic work – when the Rev Knight
started, that the school was a charity might
have been rather awkward to justify, but we are
now fully committed to supporting charitable
fundraising and volunteering. Financing the
Great Lakes High School in Uganda through the
biennial sponsored walks and raising further
sums for other causes during the Charity Week
that takes place every Lent term is admirable,
and possibly even more so is our developing
devotion to offering our time and extensive
array of skills to other people in less fortunate
circumstances through outreach and voluntary
work.
The Chaplaincy, which now consists of both
the Reverend Knight and the Reverend Nicholas
Lamb, who was appointed as Assistant Chaplain
last year, will be totally revived when our Chapel
is back in use after more than a year of delicate
restoration that has brought it back to its original
condition. Currently exiled to the depths of the
Dyne House Auditorium, the whole of the School
will be glad of the triumphant entry back into
our preferred place of worship, an occasion that
will be heralded with a hearty rendition of, if the
pupils have any say in the matter, the unofficial
but undeniable school song: Jerusalem.
52 School Sport
Athletics
On Your Marks, Set...Go! The start of the House Athletics Competition
Following on from 2012’s Olympic year, and
taking on board the Legacy of the Games, we
continue to plan for our young sportspeople’s
development. This meant taking a closer look
at what we strive to achieve in Sport across
the Foundation and many parents will have
contributed via the Sports Survey. The task
of challenging every pupil to discover what their
individual skills and abilities are in Sport and
Exercise, and trying to maximise this potential,
is no small feat! In spite of the weather, and
thanks to the continued dedication of pupils and
staff alike, 2012-13 saw another year packed
with developmental and competitive events.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin said that ‘The Olympic
Games are the quadrennial celebration of the
springtime of humanity.’ Maintaining a Legacy
approach will allow further growth in Sport at
Highgate, and this report gives a flavour of what
our pupils have experienced through the eyes
of performers and coaches.
Alastair Tapp
Athletics continues to enjoy something
of a resurgence, particularly as entering the
Hertfordshire Schools’ League (in spite of
geographical inaccuracy!) has provided
a much greater structure for competition.
We are also looking forward next year to playing
our part in helping Haringey recapture its
glory days of Athletics, by adding the Haringey
Schools’ league to our fixtures.
Our tradition of producing talented middledistance runners continues, and these have
now been joined by some excellent younger
performers in the more technical events.
Their willingness to train hard, and consistently
produce personal bests has meant that fifteen of
them have been selected to represent Haringey
at the Middlesex Schools’ championships later
in the term. Congratulations to everyone who
has worked hard to contribute to the team as
a whole, and in particular to the following for
being selected for Haringey – Terence Fawden,
Oliver Light, Marjolaine Briscoe, Anna Willis and
Sophia Parvizi-Wayne in the 1500m; Loly Rapley
in the 800m; Nick Kvasniov in the 400m; Olivia
Their willingness to train
hard, and consistently
produce personal bests
has meant that fifteen of
them have been selected
to represent Haringey at
the Middlesex Schools’
championships later in
the term.
Hirschfield in the 200m; Minna Griffiths and
Claudia Chmielowska in the Hurdles; Georgia
Allen in the Javelin; Ludo Radley in the High
Jump; Andrea Guariglia in the Triple Jump;
Seb Maskrey and Patrick Henderson in the Pole
Vault. A special mention should go to our Year
7 athletes, many of whose performances would
have been good enough to be selected, but they
will only be eligible next year!
School Sport 53
Cricket
U13 A Cricket Team
Following on from a rain-ruined season last year, each team
has been able to play a full complement of fixtures this
season. The 1st team have had a very successful season beating
the Cholmeleians as well as Chigwell and local rivals UCS in the
opening 6 games. Outstanding performances have come from
Charlie Yorke-Starkey and Jamie Powe and there was an excellent
50 from all-rounder Nick Friend against Aldenham.
Each of the junior teams are still in the Middlesex Cup and the
Under 15 and Under 14 teams have both had outstanding seasons
which augurs well for the future. Ben Hopkins and Andy Wilder
have featured in most of the Under 15 victories while the Under 14
team have relied heavily on Jack Bruce and new boy Josh Friend
in their 5 victories to date. Jack Bruce has represented Middlesex
as has Tom Waine who sadly has been off games due to a knee
condition this summer.
U15 A Cricket Team
The 1st team have had a very successful
season beating the Cholmeleians as
well as Chigwell and local rivals UCS in
the opening 6 games.
54 School Sport
Fives
The winners of the Mixed Competition were Eve Smith-Bingham and Charlie Noble
The Fives season began in late September
when Eve Smith-Bingham and Aimee Paul
lost 2-3 in the final of the Ladies Under 25
Championship to the pair who this term won
the Ladies Open. Later in November they led our
top three pairs to victory in the Black Cup – an
open competition for Ladies. The other girls in
the team were Amira Reimer, Phoebe Bracken,
Marjolaine Briscoe and Olivia Hirschfield. In the
Lent term, Eve and Aimee won the Girls Under 15
and Under 18 competitions and the Ladies Under
21 Championship beating Amira and Phoebe in
the final of all three competitions and Marjolaine
and Olivia came third each time.
Our boys have also enjoyed success. Charlie
Noble and Christy Blackaby reached the semifinal of the Open at the Championships at
Shrewsbury losing to the eventual winners from
Harrow in a very close match. They still have
one more year to win it. Joe Berriman and Kane
Rayner won the senior competition at the Eton
Tournament, showing our strength in depth in
the Seniors. Charlie and Eve beat Christy and
Aimee in the final of the Mixed Competition.
Max Holdsworth and Ben Hopkins almost
provided the shock of the Championships by
taking the favourites from Shrewsbury to 5 sets
in a thrilling match in the Under 16s. They are
both Under 15s and will be a strong force next
year in this age group.
Our boys provided three pairs in the U14
semi-finals. James Hopkins and Oliver Light
played brilliantly beating Ingimar Tomasson
and Alex Randall in one semi-final; Joseph
Gibber and Sam Tansey matched the power and
strength of a very good pair from St Olaves to
win comfortably by showing a much wider range
of shots in the other. The final was an excellent
display of sportsmanship and superb Fives, but it
was Joseph and Sam who played the better shots
under pressure, ensuring victory.
Two weeks earlier Ingimar and Alex had
beaten James and Oliver in the final of the Prep
Schools Under 13 Championship in a fantastic
match. We are lucky to have two exceptional
pairs in this age group. With that victory,
Ingimar finishes his junior years having won
three Under 12 Championships, three Under 13
Championships and an Under 14 Championship!
This has been a very rewarding season with
the School winning nine competitions.
This has been a very rewarding
season with the School
winning nine competitions.
School Sport 55
Golf
Golf has grown continued to grow substantially with 40+ pupils playing regularly.
The pupils have played in various tournaments including the Shire Cup, the Independent
Schools Cup, and matches with St Albans, St Columbas and the OCs. Leif Tomasson continues to
improve, and should lead the team well over the next two years. Next year looks promising under
the new stewardship of Mr Butterfield.
Golf has grown continued to
grow substantially with 40+
pupils playing regularly.
Rounders
The U15 Rounders Team
U16A
The formidable backstop and first post
combination of Eloise Most and Sasha Singh
always made life difficult for opponents.
New-found bowler Sophia Ferré did an
outstanding job; big hitter and left-hander,
Florence Malster created a huge stir when
playing at Godolphin and Latymer. She hit two
balls clean out of the field, narrowly missing
breaking a window on the first occasion!
The safe hands of Ellie Thomas, Anna Kovar,
Beth Belin and Imogen Ryan have helped
to secure many victories. The U16A team
have come a long way, improving their
understanding of the game by securing double
outs on a number of occasions as well as having
developed their ability to perfect this sport.
U15A
By far the strongest sport for the U15 girls,
they have enjoyed an excellent season.
The girls work very well with one another,
always supporting and encouraging each
other. There were some fantastic wins against
strong opponents, beating City 20-10½ and St
Edmunds by a whopping 18-5½. Julia Wilkinson
has an amazing throwing arm and regularly
stops rounders being scored with her accurate
throwing to Captain Helen Pugh on 4th post.
Georgia Allen has a superb bowling technique,
and all the girls deserve congratulations for a
fantastic Rounders season.
U14
The girls always look forward to dominating
the circuit in the summer season and the
dynamic duo of the Katz-Roberts sisters
continued to upset even our toughest
of opponents. With intelligent fielding
formations, safe hands and some glorious
batting, both under 14A and B Rounders teams
remain undefeated. Stand-out performances
from Phoebe Bracken, Anna Lebe, Carolina
Valensise and Aimée Paul have helped cement
the Highgate Under 14 Rounders squad as a
force to be reckoned with.
U13A
The U13A rounders team have enjoyed a
fantastic season. Minna Griffiths has been a
wonderful Captain and her ability to encourage
her team with positive comments is admirable.
Each match has been won by large margins
made possible by some key players in the
team; Evie Lawlor, Olivia Hirschfield and Gaia
Wise have demonstrated strong batting. Grace
McIntosh, Isabella Gill, Anna Willis and Talia
Augustidis have stumped or caught many
players out. Bowler Issi Schiff has been the
corner stone of the team.
U12A
With Year seven girls representing Highgate
from U12A to U12E team, the girls have
shown both excellence and a high level of
performance. The U12A team recorded wins
over rivals Godolphin and Latymer and St
Edmunds College, whilst only narrowly losing
to City of London Girls School and the Harrodian.
The safe hands of Talia Pamensky, steady
bowling from Kira Rothwell and Ayley Loh has
also kept the opponents score to a minimum.
Big hitters Aoife Walter, Gemma SmithBingham, Lara Bolton-Patel, Ashley Cluer,
Sophie Gidman and Rachel Howard-Dicks
always keep the score board ticking over. Viva
Ruggi’s alertness and ability to read the play
has made her an asset to the team.
56 Feature
Brother Damian
Recovering
Life
the Richness of
Feature 57
D
URING HIS FORMATIVE YEARS ROGER KIRKPATRICK (FG 1953)
ATTENDED HIGHGATE FROM 1953 TO 1958. NOW KNOWN AS ‘BROTHER
DAMIAN’, HE IS A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ST FRANCIS,
CURRENTLY BASED IN NEWCASTLE ALONGSIDE FELLOW FRANCISCANS IN
THEIR COMMITMENT TO POVERTY, CHASTITY AND OBEDIENCE.
At School, Brother Damian admits he was ‘not a candidate to become a Franciscan
brother’ but was introduced to Christianity by a friend with whom he used to catch
the bus home, by the name of Stephen Bryant. Another influence was Mr Palmer,
a Maths teacher at the Junior School who left to join the Society of St Francis in
1953. Aside from religion, memories of Highgate include his career as a runner and
the communitarian values the school instilled into him, something he would take
with him. After being confirmed by the then Chaplain, Edward Cox, in 1959, Roger
left, qualified as an accountant, was offered a Partnership in a firm but left in 1963
for a semi-paid job as PA to the Financial Secretary of the SPG (Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel) in Westminster.
By 1966, Roger had come to feel strongly that a monastic life with the Society
was his true calling and that year he and thirty other young men and women began
the journey to a live a life based on Franciscan principles. There began three years
of training until he was able to take monastic vows. Brother Damian explains that
the aim of these vows is to eliminate choice from one’s life, in the same vein as
the disciples.
One of the central, and most widely known facets of a monastic
existence is a life of prayer. Morning Prayer is made up of readings from
the old prayer book in order to ‘feed the mind’.
In his career to date he has served in the North East of the England, the East End
of London, Worcester, Birmingham and Dorset. Much of this has involved the care of
the Society’s assets and new Brothers. Over the course of eleven years he served as
Provincial Minister from 1991-2002 after which he was given the revered position as
Vicar of the historic Island of Lindisfarne.
The most sensitive and challenging period in his career was working in Northern
Ireland during the 1980s, whilst the Troubles rumbled on all around. Brother Damian
recalls his time as hospital chaplain at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast,
including a sobering eye-witness account of severely injured British soldiers being
hauled in for emergency treatment. It was these harrowing experiences which led
Brother Damian to establish an organisation called ‘Remember Our Child’ in order to
support the bereaved families of some of the 18,000 children who die in the UK each
year, including through a remembrance service held in a cathedral once a year.
In addition to all these postings and achievements, Brother Damian also
acknowledges that over the years he has been able to utilise his financial and
mathematical background to help bring ‘modern accounting practices’ to the
Society, something made all the more important considering the significant assets
both physical and monetary held by, or bequeathed to, the Franciscan community.
One of the central, and most widely known facets of a monastic existence is
a life of prayer. In the morning there is half an hour of silent prayer, followed by
Morning Prayer which is made up of readings from the old prayer book in order to
‘feed the mind’. Finally there is Communion for half an hour before breakfast, the
Brother Damian on his visit to Highgate
58 Feature
TheCholmeleian Summer 2013
Roger Kirkpatrick in his Highgate days in the CCF (third from right). Head Master, Alfred Doulton, looks on
majority of which is practised simultaneously, in
a group. The importance of this lies in getting the
day ‘started as you mean to go on’, with purpose
and community solidarity.
An idea which has come to be of great
significance to Brother Damian is ‘The Economy
of God’. In his words, this refers to God having ‘a
purpose for us all’ which means that everybody
is included and no-one is left out’. It is this which
leads him to believe strongly that everybody
must play out their lives in a sincere way and
being a Brother is a ‘wonderful opportunity’ to
do just that. He admits, however, the obvious
sacrifices and struggles involved in maintaining
such an existence, the foremost being the
renunciation of anything resembling an ordinary
family life.
Community action is a major facet of
monasticism which Brother Damian is keen to
stress. His current work in the Newcastle area is
seen as vital to help combat the acute hardship
felt by many. One particular story is of a former
serviceman’s suffering from PTSD and the loss of
two of his children, with limited access to welfare.
He sees a distinct need for the care provided
by the Society and others like it as he only sees
such social problems getting worse with sluggish
economic growth especially in regional areas, as
well as benefit changes such as the bedroom tax,
Although his life is dedicated to spiritual
fulfilment which involves a large degree of
isolation, it is surprising to note the modern
utilities available to him and he says that
internet and TV provision to the Brothers is more
than satisfactory, and no different to what a 21st
century, tech-savvy teenager would expect at
home. Brother Damian even boasts of his Twitter
account, with a sizeable 280 followers. He sees
this as a new and exciting method of reaching
out to the wider Franciscan community and
interested general public which the Society has
embraced with open arms.
Brother Damian is candid about the future of
the lifestyle he leads. With technology advancing
and people’s attention span shortening, he
clearly sees a threat to future membership of
Societies like that of St. Francis. But mixed with
this pessimism is a palpable excitement at the
prospect of what he calls the ‘New Monasticism’,
as a growing body of people try and turn their
backs on the barren, joyless and hectic world
that we inhabit in favour of a more ‘spiritual’
proto-monasticism. In this respect, Brother
Damian now feels that more than ever, he is
striving to ‘recover the richness of life’ and help
bring the simple, but powerful pleasures his
lifestyle can provide to a wider audience.
Oscar Rocklin (13 SG)
The Franciscan Brothers in the Priory Courtyard
Letters 59
Singing for Britten
with a sleeve design by John Piper) of the
Canticle Abraham and Isaac, sung by Peter Pears
and the then ‘boy alto’ John Hahessy, who later
metamorphosed into the tenor John Elwes, with
Britten unsurpassed at the piano. Much of the
music of Abraham and Isaac movingly reappears
in the War Requiem. But of course we knew only
the boys’ choir’s short interventions in the whole
I think we knew that the War
Requiem was something
special; but I doubt many of
us knew how special. Nor did
we guess how the work – and
that first Decca recording,
remastered on to CD at least
twice – would catch the
public imagination and hold
it ever since.
Benjamin Britten
The photo at the back of the Summer 2013
Cholmeleian of ‘the Boys of the Highgate
School Choir’ – as we were billed – at the time
of the recording of the Britten War Requiem
vividly evoked for me, as David Lowden hoped
it would, that time now more than fifty years
ago. I was in the Chapel Choir and my voice
was just breaking, but for a brief transitional
period I could manage an unsteady alto, so was
included on the lower line of the two-part boys’
choir for the recording. This then led to a live
performance at the Albert Hall a few days later,
where in a time before video monitors ‘Cherry’
Chapman had to lean backwards perilously over
the rail of the upper balcony to get his cues from
the two conductors (Britten himself and David
Willcocks) far down below. My parents, in the
audience, were predictably proud of the choir’s
involvement, temporarily forgiving the regular
letters from headmaster AJF Doulton announcing
another fee increase.
I think we knew that the War Requiem
was something special; but I doubt many of
us knew how special. Nor did we guess how
the work – and that first Decca recording,
remastered on to CD at least twice – would catch
the public imagination and hold it ever since.
And not just in England, where the poetry of
Wilfred Owen interleaved with the Latin text
of the Mass for the Dead could be expected to
be welcomed and understood. I am not sure
how much any of us knew of Britten’s body of
work up to that moment, beyond the works
like the Young Person’s Guide and the Simple
Symphony which were already ‘in the repertoire’
in concerts and on the radio. I believe I already
had an EP of his Missa brevis, written for and
recorded by the daringly ‘Continental’ voices of
the Westminster Cathedral Choir under George
Malcolm, better known to me as the leading
British harpsichordist of the day; and by then
perhaps also the magical Argo LP (mono only,
work when we turned up at the Kingsway Hall for
the first day of recording in 1963.
The hall was at that time still in use as a
Methodist place of worship, under the energetic
pacifist and socialist Rev Donald Soper (he also
had a ‘pitch’ at Speakers’ Corner every weekend).
We were high up in the balcony, and although
we were recorded directly on microphones in the
hall itself, I believe that John Culshaw, Decca’s
star recording producer at the time and Britten’s
long-term collaborator, fed our sound out into
a stairwell and picked it up again from there,
in order to create the otherwordly and distant
effect the composer wanted. Some of those who
reviewed the two LPs, in their austere all-black
box with white lettering, thought that – against
what seemed technically possible – Culshaw had
managed to make the boys’ choir sound above
the rest of the performers. It was, of course, the
relatively early days of stereo, but capturing the
spatial relationships between orchestra, chamber
ensemble, two male soloists (Pears and FischerDieskau) at the front of the platform and soprano
(imperious and touchy Vishnevskaya) at the back
of the orchestra just in front of the main choir
was Culshaw’s aim; he seems to have managed
it triumphantly.
There are of course – as of Britten’s entire
life – copious records, diaries, letters and
photographs of the recording sessions: no
composer has left behind so complete an archive,
housed in a brand new purpose-built archive
next to The Red House in Aldeburgh, where
Britten and Pears lived, largely funded by the
royalty stream from Britten’s compositions.
On the most recent reissue of the Decca War
Requiem, there is even a selection of rehearsal
60 Letters
Singing for Britten
Continued
tracks from the Kingsway Hall sessions. Britten
was predictably appalled that Culshaw had kept
the tape recorders going between ‘takes’, but the
recordings do give a sense of the atmosphere
and confirm my memory that Britten was
polite but firm about what he wanted from all
his performers. He seemed to me as James
Bowman once described him: rather ‘correct’ and
formal, but underneath also friendly and warm,
like a boys’ school housemaster. After all, he
remember that we choirboys got a discount over
the retail price of the LPs. There was a sort of
sequel: with other Highgate boys, I was given a
free ticket to the public celebrations of Britten’s
fiftieth birthday in the Royal Festival Hall. It was
a concert performance on his actual birthday, 22
November 1963, of his opera Gloriana, originally
written for the Coronation. The work is not one of
his best, so much so that it is the only one of his
operas which he never recorded as conductor.
I would not have such an intense relationship with music,
were it not for the encouragement and opportunities
which Highgate offered. That was a gift enough for
a whole lifetime.
was in fact of my parents’ generation and thus
very distant – or so it seemed – from my own
adolescent life in semi-suburban north London.
The recording done, it remained to wait for it
to be released and to acquire my own LP copy
(in those days, with a choice between mono and
stereo). What fee (if any) the School got for the
recording would be good to know, but I seem to
It had a patchy reception when first performed
and had not been heard since; the new Covent
Garden production in 2013 has not done well with
the critics either. I don’t recall what I made of it
that evening, though the cast was pure gold (but
why were the William Ellis Boys’ School Choir
invited to sing and not Highgate?); but at the end
the audience seemed strangely uncelebratory.
In the Northern Line train on the way home to
Barnet I saw an Evening News: Kennedy had
been shot in Dallas.
Living in Aldeburgh, as I now do, is to be
at the epicentre of the Britten industry, cult
and memory-factory; ‘Britten 100’ this year
has already shown what an extraordinarily
varied and skilful body of work this difficult
and impossibly talented ‘man of music’ left
behind, even though the real centenary of his
birth was not until St Cecilia’s Day in November
2013. I doubt I would feel the same connection
with Britten, had I not taken part in that
recording long ago; but more generally I would
not have such an intense relationship with
music, were it not for the encouragement and
opportunities which Highgate offered. That was
a gift enough for a whole lifetime.
Philip Britton (MG) on leaving Highgate went to
Southampton University (LLB 1968) and Oxford
(BCL 1970) and had a career as an academic
lawyer, at Warwick, Lille II (France) and King’s
College London. He is now Concert Organiser of
Concerts at Cratfield, a summer chamber music
series in East Suffolk
www.concertsatcratfield.org.uk
The Death of Robert Clark
The theatrical issue of The Cholmeleian
made its welcome arrival but bearing
the sad news of Bobby Clark’s death.
He was the most impressive Highgate boy
in my time, which is always a dangerous
title but his accomplishments were many
and extraordinary. I enclose a 1936 photo of
Highgate School (Junior) Cricket XI captained
by RA Clark. At an early age he was head
and shoulders above the rest. What was not
mentioned in the obituary was his winning
personality. His parents I remember as warm,
generous-hearted people and Bobby was a
fine exponent of these family gifts. He was
brave, courageous, likely to engender loyalty
and unfettered support. His work with SOE is
reminiscent of TE Lawrence, whose propensity
for blowing up Turkish trains is well-known.
I am in awe of all he achieved in Dalmatia
and similarly of his wide experience in London
commerce and beyond. I am one of that
soundless clapping host who were proud to
have known Bobby Clark at an earlier time.
Robert Clark, front row, centre. His leadership skills were evident from an early age
David Cairns (FG 1937)
Letters 61
John Richards – Memories of the 60s
John leaning against Mr Fulward’s Tractor
John with Gerry Gibbon (second left), Peter Jones (centre) and Graham Kitchen (right)
The location of the photograph (left, top) is at
the corner of the main playing fields behind
School House, quite close to the farthest end
of the Dining Hall. There was a magnificent oak
tree (behind the tractor) which was occasionally
(and I think illegally) used for climbing. Mr
Fulward is very dim in my memory but was the
archetypal groundsman, with leather jerkin,
flat cap, and quite a belligerent attitude. I think
I may have been told not to lean against his
tractor.
My close friends then (in the second picture)
were Gerry Gibbon (leftmost), Peter Jones
(centre) and Graham Kitchen (rightmost). I
stayed with Peter Jones’ family in Andover
during one school holidays, which was made
memorable by visits to the American airbase to
play with his go-kart; his father was an American
serviceman stationed in the UK, and they had an
amazing American car, a Studebaker Lark. Gerry
Gibbon, Graham Kitchen and I were 3 of the 5
from Highgate who went on a boating holiday in
a cabin cruiser on the Norfolk Broads, the other
two being Andy Forssander and Noel Gauk-Roger.
All of whom had much better success with the
ladies than I did as I recall, partly due to the fact
that I got stung on the tongue by a wasp when
we were on the pull…but I’m not bitter…
Peter and I were obsessed with model
aircraft, and had between us made several
quite complicated models with engines, flaps,
ailerons etc., and flown with control lines in
a circle, usually on the Junior Playing Fields
alongside Bishopswood Road. There was little
encouragement for this sort of thing, and I
often found myself in trouble with being late for
classes so I could apply a final coat of paint on
my model or whatever. Peter had the advantage
of being able to buy engines and models from
the PX (Post Exchange) at his father’s US Airbase,
I often found myself in
trouble with being late for
classes so I could apply
a final coat of paint on
my model
mostly infinitely cheaper than those for sale
in the UK, or for parts just not available here.
Peter and I did go out of bounds to the nearest
model shop of any size, H J Nicholls in Holloway
Road (this became an internationally famous
shop), mainly to drool over the fantastic models
on show there. And yes, we did get caught, and
punished. Maybe that’s why I never became an
aeronautical engineer!
John Richards (TL 1959)
John (r) and Peter Jones with model aeroplanes
62 Letters
Kyffin Williams
An Appreciation by Stephen Komlosy
Stephen Komlosy recalls a ‘ tall willowy, mad figure, flowing long blond hair,
blond Zapata mustachioed, eight foot yellow scarf streaming out behind’
As I trudged from The Lodge to the top of
the hill by the school I was assailed by the
first sight of Kyffin Williams, the new art
master. The tall willowy, mad figure, flowing
long blond hair, blond Zapata mustachioed, eight
foot yellow scarf streaming out behind, army
surplus overcoat and drainpipes all bestride the
fierce clanking vintage car, all brass fittings,
exhausts and no roof, puffing and billowing
up the hill. Agog we were, could this really be
a school master! Surely, old Doulton could not
have agreed to this! The physical impression
never faded, because the extraordinary character
of this extraordinary man was every bit as
flamboyant and expansive.
A keen art student, I somehow managed to
convince the school that because I wanted to
take Art ‘O’ Level a year early, I had to give up
the precious Tuesday afternoon Air Force CCF
to spend in the Art School with Kyffin and the
only other student; a certain Anthony ‘Froggie’
Green. Froggie was Kyffin’s favorite student,
which I could not understand, because, to my
untutored eye his childlike boldness and colors
were too primitive to attract attention from so
great a man; my own feeble attempts to produce
photographic likeness were surely infinitely
preferable. But not to Kyffin, whose own bold
expressive impressionist and unique Kyffin style
with sweeping blocks of colour and simple,
but accurate line caught an unsuspecting world
by storm a few short years later when he became
a famous Royal Academician, followed by the
brilliant and quirky Froggie.
Despite the huge personality and the
greatness of the man, those afternoons were
some of the best hours of my life, despite
that Kyffin hated my prissy little details and
threatened to send me to classes given by the
other art master, [Michael] Carr, a fate worse
than death if you wanted to paint with gusto
and freedom. Of course, I learned to be bold and
to use great sweeping strokes and create real
art in the Kyffin Williams style, but, not having
the basic original talent like Froggie Green,
the powerful Williams influence was so strong
that I simply became a pale imitation and was
consigned to a lesser world to create pop stars
and companies.
I kept in touch with Kyffin over the years
by letter, but met him only once after leaving
Highgate, thirty years ago, at one of his
exhibitions at the Royal Academy accompanied
by my new wife, Patti Boulaye. Kyffin was
amazed that his painting could command such
prices, but I was not. He was never confident
of his commanding skill, never headstrong
and surprisingly modest for such an outgoing
personality, always kind, a teacher, gentle,
persuasive and above all, a leader. Later, in one
Kyffin was amazed that his
painting could command
such prices, but I was not.
He was never confident of
his commanding skill, never
headstrong and surprisingly
modest for such an outgoing
personality, always kind, a
teacher, gentle, persuasive
and above all, a leader.
of my letters, I had the temerity to proudly
include a photo of a painting that Bratby had
done of Patti; that was the only letter to which
he did not reply! I thank God that I had the great
and unlikely fortune to have such a great man
as a teacher and role-model in my life;
what memories!
Stephen Komlosy (TL 1954)
This piece was read at the recent
Cholmeleian lunch in the North by
Cedric Pulford
Feature 63
Lambet
Palace h
STAFF P
ASS
Ed Thor
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Press Of
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Our Man in
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on The Church Times.
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This September,
itors find out about the
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64 Feature
Ed relishes the chance to play a significant
role in getting the most senior figure in the
Church of England’s message across to a
far larger audience than during his reporting
days.
Ed’s position will be of great importance in
projecting the Church’s message to a society
where faith is growing, especially in London, in
the face of challenges from today’s materialistic
and aggressively secular society. Before Ed
starts work at Lambeth Palace, ensuring he gets
the Church’s message out to a media hungry
for soundbites and sensationalism, what better
practice than a grilling from The Cholmeleian’s
crack team of student editors?
Immediately Ed was put on the spot as the
new Archbishop’s suitability was quizzed, given
his eleven year stint working in the oil industry.
‘Most people were really positive about the fact
that he’d had a corporate career and could bring
some kind of management experience and
expertise to the role’, commented Ed. Convincing
appraisals continued, varying from ‘very
relational’ to ‘businesslike’ – all of Ed’s answers
informative and fairly phrased, a quality he
undoubtedly picked up as an editor. ‘I think he’s
tried to manage expectations by downplaying,
but there’s a lot going on under the radar’,
Ed adds.
Ever the journalist, Ed soon exposed the
lack of Church Times subscribers among the
Highgate journalists, but there was genuine
interest in the workings both of the newspaper
itself and the religious and wider issues it
addresses on a weekly basis. Ed also pointed
out that, unlike the mainstream daily press,
the process of what constitutes a newsworthy
item for The Church Times is not a plain–sailing
choice. ‘Editorially we’re more on the liberal side
of the Church of England’ and the general desire
is to ‘play it straight.’ The results of this are
there for all to see with the newspaper enjoying
a subscription boost in 2012, bucking a general
trend that has seen a nationwide decrease in
newspaper sales in the last couple of years.
Asked why this was the case, Ed suggests that it
probably stemmed from ‘an increase in web and
twitter presence’ coupled with ‘some really good
marketing.’ Upon further research I discovered
Ed on journa
listic assignm
ent in Jerusa
lem, reportin
g for The Chur
ch
Times
ishop
Ed with Archb
ortly
sh
Welby. Ed is
ng
ki
or
w
to begin
Palace
at Lambeth
ishop’s
as the Archb
r
ce
ffi
Press O
Feature 65
that Ed regularly tweets both from
his own He was highly resp
ected, particularly
and the official Church Times acco
unt which among my friends who
were atheists or of
to date has around 11,000 followers
, keeping other faiths. I learned
that you could have
his audience, both young and old,
up to date intellectual credibilit
y while having faith.’
and well informed of the news and
issues These are attributes whic
h Ed has applied
most relevant and pressing to the
Church of to his editorial role,
often dealing with
England and its supporters.
controversial issues within the Chur
Our questions allowed Ed to delve into
ch of
his England. Undoubtedly, equa
lly beneficial to
own personal beliefs, opening up the
mind of his character building was
Ed’s time rooming
a journalist who specialises in eccle
siastical with our very own Mr
Seymour whilst they
affairs. Hot topics included Church
legislation both studied English
at Leeds University.
discussed in last July’s General
Church
Moreover, his journalistic fires were
Synod such as the progress in the
first
campaign stoked within the walls
of Highgate although
for female bishops and also the
biblical this was not a career
path Ed was set on
grounding for the idea that hom
osexuality from an early age.
His A–level subjects
should be condemned. ‘People often
give included History and Engl
ish so when an
their text to justify their view from
the bible underground, satirical
magazine, The Voice,
or from any text really. So, I always
find you was recognised by the
School and rebranded
have to go a bit beyond slogans and
engage into an official school pape
r under the name
in some proper conversation’. Ed
made it The Broadsheet Ed ‘and
a bunch of us who
clear the debate within the Chur
ch is by were into it did it on
a Tuesday afternoon
no means a black and white case
of right under the guidance of
Mr Marsh’. The fact
and wrong. ‘If you’re significantly
going that The Broadsheet is still
thriving within
to change your position on somethin
g like the school community is
testament to Ed’s
having women bishops or marr
ying gay legacy. The lack of cens
orship enforced by
people in church, the burden of proo
f is on his old teacher was certa
inly an incentive
the people making the change beca
use the for Ed even if he does
admit that at times
Church for 2000 years has thought
one thing, this might well have led
to the paper getting
so you have to make a good case
. I think temporarily closed down
.
the vast majority of people are agre
ed that,
These days, it seems unlikely
whatever the New Testament says
that
in isolated The Church Times
will need to worry
places, there is a broad narrative that
Christ about closure and Ed sum
s up the paper’s
came to bring liberty and equality.’
refreshing stance perfectly: ‘Accuracy
Furthermore Ed has history in
above
both sensationalism’. Justin Welb
y’s contact with
political and business fields, having
worked the media is in safe hand
s.
for a political magazine in West
minster.
This gave us further insight into the
overlap Joe Berrima
n (EG 13)
between religion and politics, spec
ifically
bishops sitting in the House of Lord
s. ‘It’s
a very healthy thing. Bishops see
things on
the ground perhaps more than som
e other
politicians who live in a Westminster
bubble.
Their churches run things like food
banks,
they see people struggling with
austerity
cuts, they come across immigrants
who are
having a really hard time or asylum
seekers.’
At Highgate, Ed came under the influ
ence
of our Chaplain, Paul Knight: ‘He was
quite an
influence on me…for embracing ques
tioning
and not being afraid of difficult
questions.
66 Obituaries
Sir John Tavener
1944 – 2013
Sir John Tavener
Sir John Tavener, who has died aged 69,
was one of the leading composers of his
generation, and the product of a golden age
of Highgate music under the direction of
Edward ‘Cherry’ Chapman. Among his fellow
pupils were the composers Brian Chapple, fellow
composer John Rutter, the pianist Howard
Shelley and the future founder of the London
Sinfonietta, Nicholas Snowman. The son of a
builder, although, he hastened to add: ‘not one
who changes taps and things’ but a restorer of
mansions and stately homes, Tavener won a
scholarship to Highgate in 1957, at a time when
the choir was regularly called on by the BBC for
works requiring boys’ voices. He was soon singing
in Mahler’s Third Symphony and Orff’s Carmina
Burana. The Choir sang at the première of
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in 1963. It was
too at Highgate that he first began to compose
and also played the solo part in Beethoven’s
Fourth Piano Concerto.
He first achieved public recognition with the
première in January 1968 of his avant garde
cantata The Whale. Eight percussion players
were needed for the battery of drums, bells and
gongs in addition to a football rattle, amplified
metronomes and an amplified sheet of glass.
For five minutes the instrumentalists and singers
were invited to make it up as they went along,
the choir was called on to grunt, snort and
yawn and a choir on tape sang permutations
on the word ‘swastika’. The Beatles’ interest was
aroused because Tavener’s brother, Roger, won
contracts for renovation work by the family firm
at the groups’s offices and homes. Ringo Starr
was the first to hear a tape of The Whale. John
Lennon authorised the Apple recording, which
was produced by Nicholas Snowman because
the Apple management had no idea how to set
Obituaries 67
Sir John Tavener
Continued
John Tavener (3rd from left) with the winning HG House Music Team of 1959. Photo courtesy of Bertie Bellis.
up an orchestral recording session. Immediately
Tavener became Britain’s most fashionable
young composer, and even featured in Vogue.
Within ten years, however, he had
disappeared from the headlines; he had
converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and
was composing austere, slow-moving pieces
suffused with the beliefs and musical culture of
his chosen faith.
The wider public forgot Tavener. That changed
dramatically with the première at the 1989
BBC Proms of The Protecting Veil, a lengthy
rhapsody for cello and strings. Released on CD,
The Protecting Veil became one of the bestselling
classical recordings ever. Suddenly Tavener – an
Western preoccupations and the baggage of the
avant-garde. He grew to think of his compositions
as musical icons, aids in the contemplation of
God. Some aspects of Tavener’s lifestyle were
little altered by his spirituality. He remained fond
of fast, expensive cars, of good food and fine
wine. As a composer, he never forgot his earlier
love of dramatic gestures or striking sounds (he
especially cherished a high soprano’s piercing
radiance). The delight in spatial games evident
in his 1968 Prom commission In Alium reached
its apogee in The Apocalypse of 1992, similarly
designed for the circular vastness of the Albert
Hall. His interest in the East deepened when
in 1974 he married a Greek dancer, Victoria
Suddenly Tavener – an imposingly tall figure,
with long flowing blond hair – was being stopped
by excited fans at airports.
imposingly tall figure, with long flowing blond
hair – was being stopped by excited fans at
airports. His fame spread still further in 1997
when his short choral piece A Song for Athene,
one of many inspired by the death of friends, was
included in the Westminster Abbey memorial
service for Diana, Princess of Wales. Other wellknown works were his setting of William Blake’s
poem The Lamb and A New Beginning, which was
chosen to see in the new century at the end of
1999 in the Millennium Dome.
Once the Orthodox Church had finally claimed
him, in 1978 he began to strip his music of
Maragopoulou. The marriage was annulled
eight months later, but he converted to Russian
Orthodox Christianity in 1977. In 1980 he
suffered a stroke, which left him with ‘auditory
visions’ and out-of-body experiences. He viewed
these as a gift from God. Further inspiration
arrived in 1981 in the form of Mother Thekla,
the Abbess of the Orthodox Monastery of the
Dormition at Whitby, who had written a book
about Mary of Egypt which Tavener wanted
to use as the basis for an opera. She agreed,
and became his librettist (and, before long, his
spiritual guide). She was forceful and fiery, and
their working rapport almost telepathic.
Tavener had been hit hard by his mother’s
death in 1985, and he was thrown into crisis
again in 1990 when he was found to have a
leaking heart valve caused by the hereditary
disease Marfan’s syndrome (also the reason
for his tall stature, but until then undiagnosed)
and a tumour in his jaw. He almost died on the
operating table, but again regarded the illnesses
as God-sent.
Tavener’s spiritual quest led him ever
onwards. He began to take in elements of Islam
and Hinduism. His search for a pow-wow drum
for The Veil of the Temple (2003, an all-night vigil
first performed in the Temple Church, London)
brought him in contact with a medicine man. The
Beautiful Names, commissioned by the Prince of
Wales – a close friend – and given its première at
Westminster Cathedral, was a setting of the 99
names of Allah found in the Koran.
His newest work, Three Shakespeare Sonnets,
was due to be given its première in November at
Southwark Cathedral. He was knighted in 2000.
He is survived by his wife, Maryanna, whom
he married in 1991, and by a son and two
daughters. His fellow OC, John Rutter,
commented: ‘He was absolutely touched by
genius at every point. He could bring an
audience to a deep silence which is a very rare
gift. He believed that music is for everybody
and is a prayer.’
Adapted from The Times
68 Obituaries
RIG Hughes
1937 – 2013
His academic work was
widely respected and
included The Structure
and Interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics and
The Theoretical Practices of
Physics published in 2010 by
the Oxford University Press.
It was reviewed as ‘a highly
original, beautifully creative
book...It breaks new ground
in the philosophy of physics.’
RIG Hughes
One of my enduring regrets is that after
leaving Highgate, where we went through
from Junior to Senior school together, Rig
(Richard Ieuan Garth) Hughes and I saw little
of each other as our careers took us along
different paths. Rig went to North America
and became a highly respected philosopher
and I went abroad as a diplomat. Rig and I went
right through Highgate together, from the Junior
school until leaving for National Service – he
went into the Royal Artillery – and then on to
different universities. In Rig’s case this was
St Catharine’s, Cambridge, where he became
a star of the undergraduate revue world along
with many other now well-known names of the
generation of Jonathan Miller. His extremely
witty and intelligent songs, which he sang to his
own guitar accompaniment, are remembered
today among revue aficionados. His time at
Cambridge was later described in a programme
for his group ‘The Pedestrians – London’s
hopping madmen’ as ‘three years of learning to
play the guitar and dance the Charleston.’
There was, however, a really serious side to
Rig. After leaving university he became a master
at Highgate, teaching maths and physics as
well as being a housemaster. My father, Arthur,
‘Alfie’, Field, was at the time second master, and
was very fond of him, speaking warmly of his
common sense and charming good humour.
Rig was ably backed by his first wife, Sue, with
whom he had two children, Nicholas and Kate.
While at Highgate he continued his interest in
music, appearing with his friends, including
his lifelong collaborator, Geoff Strachan, in ‘The
Pedestrians’ at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
in 1965. On that occasion the piano was taken
over from OC David Cullen by his former pupil
John Rutter, OC. In the late 1960’s he changed
course and moved to North America where
he earned a D.Phil in philosophy at Vancouver
University and subsequently held teaching posts
at the universities of Toronto, Princeton and
Yale, ending up for the last 24 years until 2012
at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Here we finally met up after many years apart.
In Columbia he was active in the theatre and
through that met and married his second wife,
Barbara, another theatre enthusiast, who was
a tower of strength in his final illness.
His academic work was widely respected
and included The Structure and Interpretation
of Quantum Mechanics and The Theoretical
Practices of Physics published in 2010 by the
Oxford University Press. It was reviewed as
‘a highly original, beautifully creative book...It
breaks new ground in the philosophy of physics’.
I should also mention that Rig was a talented
football player and coach. I remember playing
with him in the School 2nd XI where his low
slung centre of gravity made him a formidable
dribbler. There must be many OCs like myself
who have the fondest memories of Rig’s humour,
kindness and intelligence. We must all wish that
we had been able to see more of him. In recent
years Barbara and Rig visited us in Virginia and
we had some marvellous conversations. But as
he wrote in one of his ‘unforgettable’ songs,
I Forget –
‘There comes a stage of middle age
When all your wits flake off in bits
They don’t bid us ‘au revoir’
They just say ‘Goodbye’.
Goodbye, Rig – friend, philosopher and
gentle soul.
John Field (WG 1948)
Announcements 69
Deaths
Glasborow (1933) During 2012, David
Walters Glasborow, aged about 91. He was
Captain of Athletics in 1939, and served in
the War as a Lieutenant, R.N.V.R. He was an
economist with the British Iron and Steel
Federation 1949-54, with the British Transport
Commission 1954-62, and the British Railways
Board 1963-8. He was Director of Research and
Planning at the National Business Corporation
1969-81, and retired to Maidenhead, Berks.
Tackley (WG 1934) On 8 July 2013, John
practised as an architect in the United States
and Britain. He retained a lifelong affection for
Highgate and bequeathed his collection of books
to the school library.
Parr (1943) On 26 July 2013, Douglas
McEwan (1938) On 4 April 2013, Dr Peter
Dawswell (CH 1946) On 30 August 2012,
McEwan. He was always very proud of his time
at Highgate, with a lifelong fondness for the late
Theodore Mallinson, of whom he wrote in a recent
edition of The Cholmeleian. (A fuller obituary to
appear in the next issue)
Howard Fairford Tackley, aged 90. John Kitson
(1937) writes: ‘Not being drawn towards the
traditional sports, he enjoyed shooting and was
proud to be selected for the School VIII in 1938
and 1939. He is reputed, during the war years
at Highgate, to have set a new record for the
shot putt which stood for a number of years.
He left school in 1940 and volunteered for the
RAF, obtaining his pilot’s wings after training
in America. Destined for Fighter Command, he
found on a training session that he suffered from
vertigo and was transferred to RAFVR. After the
war he joined Stephenson Clarke, Coal Factors,
becoming insurance manager. He became
proficient at Bridge, and he and John Kitson
formed a 55-year partnership which included an
appearance in the National Pairs Final. Ill health
in recent years forced him to give up playing. He
leaves his wife, Joan, to whom he was married
for over seventy years.’
Haskins (GH 1935) On 3 August 2013,
Adrian Keith Samuel Haskins, aged 90. He
served in the RNVR during the Second World
War, and had been a Director of E. Pollard & Co.,
Shopfitters, of Bromley, Kent. He maintained
contact with the Friends of Highgate School
and always spoke highly of the school. He was
buried at Beckenham Cemetery.
Stillman (FH 1936) On 30 July 2013,
Roylance Arthur Stillman, aged 89. He was
Captain of the Cricket XI 1940-1-2 and of Athletics
1941-2, was in the Football XI 1940-1, and was
Head of School 1942. After studying at Oriel
College, Oxford, he served during the war as a
2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Marines. He was
Supervisor of Schools in the Rift Valley, Kenya,
1953-7, Assistant Head of Kingsmead School
1957-86 and Chairman of the council of the
Independent Association of Prep Schools in 1979.
Knight (WG 1938) On 29 January 2013,
Christopher Shirley Knight, aged 87. He attended
the Architectural Association School and
George Whyte
Whyte (Junior School, 1940)
On 31 August 2012, George Whyte. He was a
noted opera composer and a writer; the book for
which he will be best remembered is his definitive
guide to the Dreyfus affair. His obituary appeared
in the Jewish Chronicle for 21 December 2012.
Johnson (EG 1942) On 2 April 2013,
Anthony William Johnson, aged 83. Born in
Muswell Hill, he was at the school when it was
evacuated to Westward Ho!, and was called up
into the RAF during WW2, where he trained to
become a radar mechanic at No. 2 Radio School
at Cranwell. Following his time at Highgate (with
many amusing stories about Mr. Mallinson and
Dr. Herxheimer), he joined his father in the family
optometrist’s business (with branches in Camden
Town and Kentish Town), originally founded
in 1801. On his father’s death, he took on the
business and retired in 2005. (Information from
his son George Anthony Johnson, OC: FH, CH,
SG 1969-1979).
Cameron Parr, aged 83. He was Chairman of the
O.C. Sports Club and Captain of Hockey, and was
President of the Old Cholmeleian Society 1989-90.
John Sydney Dawswell, aged 78. John was born
in Hornsey along with his brother Brian (EG
1950). His family remained in London during the
war; he attended the Junior School and boarded
in the Senior School. He took an engineering
degree at Northampton Engineering College.
Then followed national service as Captain in
the Signals. John’s career as civil engineer then
began, initially working for McAlpines on the
construction of the Shell Centre on the South
Bank. In 1960, he joined W.S. Atkins & Partners,
consulting engineers, where he stayed for the rest
of his working life. His posts included resident
engineer supervising works at junctions 1 and 2
of the M1, a partial secondment to the Ministry
of Transport for which he was awarded an MBE.
Almost all the rest of John’s working life was
spent commuting from North Finchley to head
office in Epsom, where he became one of Atkins’
technical directors, taking responsibility, among
other things, for the internal management of
the large highways department. All his life John
was very involved in music, spending many
evenings and weekends playing the trumpet in
orchestras, theatre pit bands, and as a soloist.
One of his favourite engagements was Handel’s
Messiah, which included playing in the Royal
Albert Hall. Later John sang solo bass parts in
many oratorios and amateur opera productions,
including the Piggotts music camps. Another
important side to John’s life was his faith. He
was a lifelong churchgoer; and after retirement
became actively involved in church life, serving as
churchwarden of St Paul’s Finchley; this involved
long and complex negotiations to build a new
church annexe. John was a man of considerable
energy, with a very full schedule of commitments
throughout his 70’s, and he continued doing as
much as possible even as his cancer progressed.
In 2011 he celebrated 50 years of marriage to
Pam, who survives him, together with David
(KG 1976), Andrew (KG 1977), Mary and five
grandsons. (Obituary from his son David).
Hughes (GH 1948, and Common
Room 1958-1969) On 14 January 2013,
Dr. Richard Ieuan Garth (“Riggy”) Hughes, aged
76. (See Obituaries)
70 Announcements
Deaths
Cooke (Common Room, 19531955) On 6 October 2012, Anthony John Cooke.
His first appointment after leaving Oxford was
Assistant Director of Music at Highgate School.
Alan White (HG 1950) writes: “This coincided with
my time there as a sixth former. Although he did
not teach me, he did have influence musically
on me. After the orchestral rehearsal I would
accompany him to where he stayed, which was
on my way home. All aspects were discussed,
but as he did not get on with the Director and I
was told things which perhaps I should not have
been!! I am eternally grateful that he advised
me to go to Harold Darke for organ lessons at the
Royal College of Music. Musically, my greatest
memory was of a concert which he organised in
our last term. The piece was the first movement
of Bach’s fifth Brandenburg concerto, with myself
playing the solo piano; the solo violinist was
Anthony Camden (TL 1950), who later became
principal oboist of the London Symphony
Orchestra.” The funeral was held at Leeds Minster,
and was followed by a private cremation.
Humber (CH 1954) On 29 November 2012,
Bruce Martyn Humber, aged 70, from cancer.
He left peacefully, in his sleep, listening to his
favourite music and surrounded by his family. He
will always be remembered as a loving husband
to Maureen, a supportive father to Sarah (who
provided the information) and Andrew, a loving
grandfather who always had wine gums for his
grandson, Ethan; an accomplished armchair
sportsman; an eternally frustrated Arsenal
supporter; a lover of music and the owner of a
wicked sense of humour.
Schubert (SH 1954) On 5 June 2013,
Peter Eric Schubert, aged 71. Strongly
influenced by Theodore Mallinson, he was a
keen sportsman, in particular hurdles, and he
hurdled for the county. He left school to work in
the family business, which he took over at the
age of 18 following the death of his father. In
1985 he moved to Yorkshire, where he continued
to run the business with great success. He leaves
his wife Sue, and children Mark and Lydia (who
provided the information), who will continue
running the family business in Yorkshire. He also
leaves behind children Phyllis and Bob from a
previous marriage.
Beament (Common Room
1959-1975) On 1 February 2013, Roger
Beament, aged 78. Roger was born in 1934
at Burrowash, Derbyshire. He was educated
at Lancing and did his National Service in the
Sappers before reading History at University
College, Oxford. His first teaching post, in 1958,
was at Highgate, where he taught History and
Politics under Alan Palmer and Tommy Fox.
Young schoolmasters were expected to be allrounders and Roger was an outstanding example.
He was active in the Combined Cadet Force, the
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, and above
all in running and coaching the school’s very
successful Fives teams. Richard Smethers (EG
1962) writes: “He built an unbeatable Fives team
in the Sixties and I was lucky to have been a part.
I played for many years with the Old Boys and
made many friendships. All of this is attributable
to the enthusiasm and love of the game which
he inculcated in me. His classroom teaching
was always stimulating and he had a great
sense of humour which was most endearing….”
He became Housemaster of Queensgate in
1962, after only four years, a post he held until
Jones (WG 1959) On 12 April 2009,
John Robert Jones, aged 65, from cancer.
A leading recording engineer, he worked for
Decca, RCA and Ace Records and set up his own
mastering studio, Sound Mastering, at Harlesden
before going freelance. He leaves his wife,
Norma, and two sons. His obituary appeared in
The Times for 14 May 2009.
Young schoolmasters
were expected to be allrounders and Roger was an
outstanding example
1975. Jonathan Hoffman (QG 1965) recalls his
Housemaster: “I have only good memories of
him. He was a dedicated schoolmaster and was
always sensitive, kind, gentle and wise. I know
that many – probably all – of my contemporaries
thought the same.”
Roger eventually succeeded Alan Palmer as
Senior History Master when Alan was invited by
Weidenfeld & Nicholson to become a full-time
writer of history books. Alan regarded him highly:
“He had an easy rapport with pupils of all ages
and was a firm but kindly disciplinarian.” In
1975, Roger became Deputy Head at Woodhouse
Sixth Form College, where he also taught History,
introduced A Level Law and subsequently
became Vice-Principal. This was a major
change in his career, leaving the independent
sector and using his intellect, clarity of thought
and qualities of leadership to help establish
Woodhouse as a highly respected Sixth Form
College. At this time, too, he moved to St Albans
where he met and in 1977 married Anne, happily
taking on three step-children. It was a great joy
to them both when their own daughter, Emily,
was born in 1978.
After a full and rewarding career, Roger
retired in 1995 to enjoy the cultural life of St
Albans, especially the Abbey music. He enjoyed
art, opera, researching family records and
especially, with Anne, world travel. Following a
chest infection last year, Roger was diagnosed
with leukaemia and died in hospital on
1 February 2013, aged 78. At his Memorial
Service in St Albans Abbey, the many tributes
recognised his contribution to education, his
integrity and imperturbability. All who knew him
will be saddened by his passing. (Information
from David Bolton)
Jem Connor
Connor (EG 1990)
On 31 January 2013, Jem Kemal Connor,
aged 35, from the effects of chicken-pox,
in the Highgate Hospital. He obtained a 2.1 in
Jurisprudence at University College, Oxford in
1999 and a Distinction in LPC (Solicitor’s Course)
at the University of Westminster (2000). During
2000 he was a paralegal with Barlow Lyde and
Gilbert on the Barings Bank Litigation; during
2002-3 he was a paralegal with Bindmans on
the Jubilee Line fraud case; and was a part-time
editor with Butterworths, 2001-2 and 2003-4;
and a part-time teacher at the London School of
Economics on LLB Land and Trusts course, 20034. His pupillage was at Enterprise Chambers,
Lincoln’s Inn, 2004-5. He was subsequently
self-employed and had been travelling in various
South American countries, and had been living in
Bolivia for the past few years, but was in London
for a short stay at the time of his death.
Notes 71
Notes
The last manuscript of Gerard Manley Hopkins
(1854) remaining in private hands has been
acquired for £50,000 by the Bodleian Library.
Containing previously unseen deletions and
revisions, it is a draft manuscript of his poem
Binsey Poplars, written in 1879 in response to
the felling of trees along the Thames, and was
a lament on man’s disregard for the sanctity
of nature.
issue, p.64, and match his family’s achievement
of 3 generations at Highgate. His son David (EG
(1973) went on to become a paediatric intensivist
at St Mary’s Paddington and David’s daughter
Rosie started in the senior school in 2012. He
adds that Alan Bedwell Sr. (EG 1953) is a friend
and that they live in the same road in Highgate.
Something (he provocatively adds) about
Eastgate (or the Highgate air)?
The memoirs of Stanley Aylett (1924) were
republished with selected letters and an
introduction by his daughter Holly in July 2013.
First published in 1979, Surgeon at War begins
in September 1939 when Aylett (1911-2003)
left his Registrar post at King’s College to join
the Royal Army Medical Corps. His diaries and
letters describe the first advance into France
in 1940, the Dunkirk campaign, a sea journey
round the Cape to join the 8th Army in Egypt;
leading a Field Service Medical Unit in the desert;
the British invasion of France, and his work in
clearing Sanbostel, near Bremen, one of the
most notorious prisoner-of-war camps and also
a Concentration camp, for which he was awarded
the Croix D’Honneur.
Clive Edwards (NG 1951)
has accepted an appointment as Commodore of
the Merchant Navy Association Boat Club, and
is now retiring as Station Manager of the NCI
Lyme Bay Coastwatch Station, although he will
be remaining involved with the NCI as Deputy
National PRO and as a watchkeeper at the Lyme
Bay station.
Anthony Green R.A. (1951)
had a major retrospective exhibition of his work
at the John Davies Gallery, Moreton-in-theMarsh, Gloucs., during July 2013.
For orders and further information, please
contact Holly Aylett at [email protected]
John Amsden (EG 1937)
was reminded, when reading in his parish
magazine (St. Mary’s, Primrose Hill, London)
about film star and actor Robert Donat (190558), that he was among a group of Highgate
School boys who were invited to take part in the
filming of the classic 1939 film about school life,
Goodbye, Mr. Chips, part of which was filmed
at Highgate, and starring Donat. He writes that
“being an extra meant spending the days in
an ill-fitting school uniform, hanging about
waiting for something to happen or taking part
in rehearsals of scenes which finished up on the
cutting-room floor. However he did appear in
one scene of the film, when he was sitting in the
school chapel behind the junior lead, John Mills
[n.b. the film star, not the present Chairman of
the Governors!]. The school OTC band appeared
in the film, marching – but the music was played
by the Coldstream Guards band! The pay was a
guinea a day – not bad, when pocket money was
sixpence a week – and with the three guineas he
earned, he bought a second-hand telescope, with
which he watched Luftwaffe bombers in their
first daylight raid on London during the Blitz.
Tony Inwald (EG 1950, and for a number
of years the School doctor) was quick off the
mark to take up the challenge thrown down by
Alan Bedwell (QG 1992) in the Summer 2013
demon.co.uk). His next project for Amberley
will be a unique collection of photographs of
Hampstead Heath in the 1880s, taken by noted
Hampstead historian and builder of the Pears
Soap empire, Thomas Barratt.
John Brownlie pictured with the Sierra
Leonian Minister for Agriculture, Food
and Fisheries in Lalehun
John Brownlie (QG 1961) a retired
Chartered Civil Engineer with W.S.Atkins, worked
for seven months in Lahelun Village in Sierra
Leone’s 75,000-hectare Gola Forest, helping to
build staff accommodation for a proposed new
National Park to provide opportunities for the
100,000 people who live there. He supervised
the construction of four buildings in phase
one of the project. While walking away to get
a better mobile phone signal for a conference
call, he found himself face-to-face with a ninefoot cobra, but survived the experience to be
able to talk about his work to the Institute of
Civil Engineers at Shire Hall, Shrewsbury, on
13 November 2013.
Michael Hammerson’s book Highgate from Old
Photographs published this August
Michael Hammerson (WG 1956)
published Highgate from Old Photographs
in August 2013. A compilation of 180
photographs of the Highgate area between
the 1860s and 1930s, it takes a historical tour,
with commentary, through Highgate. It is
published by Amberley Books, who specialise
in photographic histories of towns and villages
nationally, and can be ordered from most
bookshops, or on-line at http://goo.gl/jSVkWA,
or direct from the author (michael@midsummer.
Olivia and Jessica, David’s granddaughters
David Buchler (GH 1964) writes to enter
his family in the OC generational championships,
citing his father-in-law George Whyte (Junior
School 1940), George’s nephew Laurence
Whyte (HG 1966), David himself, and David’s
granddaughter, Olivia Dein (2010).
72 Notes
Notes
Head of Post in New York 2000-5). From 2005 he
was British High Commissioner to Barbados and
from January 2010 was Governor of the Cayman
Islands. In 2002 he was made a CBE for his work
in helping the families of British victims of the
9/11 attacks in New York. He is married to MarieBeatrice and they have three girls and two boys.
Daniel Hope (EG 1986) was interviewed
on BBC Breakfast TV on 29 July 2013, about his
new record and his appearance the next day in
the Proms to play Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.
2. On the 31st, he performed in the Bristol Prom
playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, recomposed by
Max Richter.
Adam Yamey’s new book on Albania
Adam Yamey (HG 1965) has published
another book, Albania on my Mind, in which he
refers to his time at Highgate. When aged 16,
he coveted a copy of S.E.Mann’s 1932 Textbook
of Albanian grammar, which was at the time
still on Foyles’ shelves, at the unaffordable price
of fifteen shillings (£0.75). Then, in 1969, he
won the 2nd prize in the Bodkin Biology Essay
Competition at Highgate School, where he was a
pupil – for which, he concedes, there were only
two entrants! The prize was fifteen shillings to
be spent on books – but when he requested the
treasured volume as his prize, he was told that
the school was not prepared to give him Mann’s
Albanian grammar as a prize. No reason was
supplied, and Adam was furious. His newlypublished book is a history of his obsession with
Albania and an account of his visit during the
last year of the dictator Enver Hoxha’s life. It is
available from Amazon in both hard copy and
electronic form http://goo.gl/O8mKK9. His next
book will be Scrabble with Slivovitz – Once upon
a time in Yugoslavia – more details another time.
Tim Benson (WG 1991) has been
elected Vice President of the Royal Institute
of Oil Painters. His painting of a Woman with
a Facial Disfigurement won the Arts Club
Charitable Trust Award at the 2013 annual
exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait
Painters at the Mall Galleries in London. He
recently held an exhibition of his work at the
Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery.
Andrew Emery (HG 1992) has been
called to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands by
Mrs Justice Ellis of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme
Court. Although still based in London, Andrew has
full rights of audience in the Territory and can
advise on all legal matters connected with the BVI.
Prenal Agarwal (NG c/2008)
graduated in July 2013 from the University
of Warwick with an Upper Second Class with
Honours in Biological Sciences.
Matthew Kujawski (c/EG 2011)
was awarded the Degree of Master of Engineering
with First Class Honours in Mechanical
Engineering from the University of Bristol in July
2013.
Jack Light (c/EG 2011) was awarded a
Moberly Scholarship in PPE by St Hilda’s College,
Oxford, in June 2013, in recognition of his
excellent work in the subject.
Duncan Taylor, CBE (SH 1971) was
appointed Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Mexico,
from September 2013. He began his service with
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1982,
and during his career he has held the positions
of Second Secretary in Havana (1983-7); Head of
Japan Section, FCO, (1987-9); Head of Commercial
Section in Budapest (1991-6); Director of Latin
American Affairs on secondment to Rolls Royce
(1996-7); Head of Consular Division, FCO (19972000); and Deputy Consul-General and Deputy
Tim Benson’s Portrait of a Woman with a Facial Disfigurement
Submissions to the magazine should
preferably be sent via email to
[email protected]
with appropriate images.
If this is not possible please send content to:
The Editors
The Cholmeleian
Highgate School
North Road
London N6 4AY
telephone
020 8347 2116
website
www.highgateschool.org.uk
Design & Print
Do Good Publishing
www.DoGoodPublishing.com
Winter 2013
Produced on material sourced
from a sustainable forest.
Winter 2013

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