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Chri� Church MattersI S S U E 2 5T R I N I T Y T E R M 2 0 1 0

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“History illuminates the soul…..”

The globe lamp by Richard Morin, photographed by the Chaplain on thefront cover, is both a first rate piece of craftsmanship and a strikingsymbol for Christ Church Matters.

Welcome to the 25th edition in which the Dean writes about the grip ofhistory, religious pilgrimage and using ones imagination in the search formeaning. The archivist portrays Dean Aldrich, on the 300th anniversaryof his death, as an enlightened man of the Arts, and the Choir SchoolHeadmaster elucidates how important the vital flame of the Artsremains in education today.

We have new research shedding light on the 71 Garter Knights who wereor are Members of the House, the Curator of the Picture Gallery haswritten about the travels of Wolsey’s Hat; it was Lord Acton who pointedout how history illuminates the soul; and the Assistant Librarian seekssupport so one of the House’s most interesting portraits of Wolsey cansee the light of day.

In the modern world Lord Lawson seeks clarity and truth regardingGlobal Warming, suggesting we focus on mankind’s real problems;exciting research by Dr Wade Martins aims to understand the veryearliest stages of Parkinson’s disease and thus create a greaterunderstanding of that most debilitating of diseases; and the RegiusProfessor of Moral and Pastoral Theology highlights possible paths for usthrough difficult and seemingly impenetrable moral issues. Old MemberPeter Bebb (1965) wants to spark the light of reform in the way we aregoverned, and in bringing about greater economic growth and socialstability.

Our eyes are opened to the joy of reading the Bible by the Tutor inTheology, a piece illustrated by two beautiful illuminated images fromWolsey’s epistle, and the 101 photos by Bettina von Kameke explore theChrist Church community and illuminate the sitters in a multitude ofways.

Within the magazine is a flyer inviting you back to the House for theAssociation weekend and GCR 50th anniversary celebrations. It promisesto be a splendid few days and we hope as many of you as possible willmake the effort to attend all or part of the festivities. Please book as soonas possible. There are many other events listed on the inside back cover,which we hope both appeal to you and on which the sun will shine.

Simon OffenChrist Church Association Vice President and Deputy Development [email protected]+44 (0)1865 286 075

Editorial Contents

Emma SindenAlumni Relations [email protected]+44 (0)1865 286 598

FRONT COVER: Christ Church has recently installed a newlight under Fell Tower by the Deanery, which nowilluminates a formerly dark area under the tower. RichardMorin who works in the Clerk of Works team has createdan excellent replica of the Victorian lights in Tom Quad. A fine example of the skilled workmanship of the in-Houseteam. Photo by Ralph Williamson.

DEAN'S DIARY 1

CARDINAL SINS – Notes from the Archives 2

CHRIST CHURCH KNIGHTS OF THE GARTER 4

CATHEDRAL NEWS 6

ART FOR ART’S SAKE – News from the Cathedral School 7

TRAVELS OF A HAT – Wolsey’s ‘galero’ goes on tour 8

GLOBAL WARMINGNigel Lawson (1951) considers the options 10

TORPIDS 2010 – Boat Club news and reports 12

REFLECTIONS ON TOM QUAD 14

ASSOCIATION NEWS 15

JCR – Raising Funds for Charity 25

OVAL HOUSE – Celebrating Award Winners 26

OXFORD THINKINGSue Cunningham on her University role 27

SCR RESEARCH – Understanding Parkinson’s Disease 28

THE MORALITY OF THE IRAQ WAR 30

101 FACES – An Exhibition of Christ Church Portraits 32

EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE – Peter Bebb (1965) 33

BOOKS WITH NO ENDING… 36

EVENTS LISTING inside back cover

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Living in the Deanery gives us, I suppose, a certainproprietorial attitude to Alice. After all, here is‘Alice’s nursery’, still in use for play and still in itsdark-panelled Victorian state. Then there is thechess-board tiling in the hall-way, the famousdoor leading from the Deanery garden to the onenext-door (‘the loveliest garden you ever saw’),and the tree in which Alice’s cat used to sit, nowmuch propped.

The somewhat possessive feeling shows itself inthe belief that Harry Potter is an upstart who hasunfairly invaded Christ Church, not to mentionpeople’s imaginations. Maybe he will pass andAlice will, once more, ascend the throne.Possessiveness also leads to the belief that peopleshould not mess too much with the story. We tookourselves off to the recent film and reckoned itgood in parts. There was a splendidly hi-techrabbit-hole, a superb rendering of Tweedledum andTweedledee, a good mouse and a grand-paternalcaterpillar. The jabberwocky, however, looked likeall those other run-of-the-mill computer-generatedmonsters (not nearly up to Tenniel’s standard)and for some reason Alice had reached about theage of twenty, presumably so that she could havea Hollywood romance of a sort with the MadHatter, refuse the hand of a brainless suitor and(improbably) sail off to the East. Ah, well.

For the last three years, I have been the host tolargely American groups who have been learningabout developments in world religions. When inOxford, I have taken them to Binsey as a place ofreligious pilgrimage and a proper country church.

To me at least, it has been but a short leap to do areading in parts of the story of the Mad Hatter’stea party, with the addition of a few simple itemsof fancy dress: the odd pair of ears, a mouse-bonnet and a top hat. For those who do not knowBinsey, it is an enchanting place, with a well in thechurchyard associated with the story of Frideswide– the patron saint of Oxford – and known for itshealing powers. To understand the part played bythe well in ‘Alice in Wonderland’, it is necessary toknow that ‘treacle’ once referred to medicinesgiven for various diseases and by extension tohealing waters. So the Binsey well is a ‘treaclewell’; hence the Mad Hatter’s immortal lines: ‘Youcan draw water out of a water-well, so I shouldthink you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well– eh, stupid?’

The Alice stories are sometimes ratherfrightening for younger children (‘off with his

head’), but continue to fascinate other childrenand adults all over the world. One of the greatLewis Carroll experts is an Old Member of theHouse: Edward Wakeling (1981) and it is he whoorganises the Universal Snark Club which has ameeting and dinner here at Christ Church on adate near to Carrol’s birthday: 27th January . Theassembled company is given soap and railwayshares, and join in an animated reading of ‘TheHunting of the Snark’.

Alice endures; why is a raven like a writing desk? �

Dean’s diary

Christopher LewisDean

‘You can drawwater out of awater-well, so

I should think youcould draw treacleout of a treacle-

well – eh, stupid?’

Film Frames © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

L Sir John Tenniel’sJabberwocky Wood engraving by Dalziel

l Reading the story of theMad Hatter’s tea party inBinsey

J The ‘treacle well’ inBinsey Church yard

L The Red Queen and Tweedledee and Tweedledum fromTim Burton’s film, “Alice in Wonderland”

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December 1710, that Christ Church was“miserable, only as we have lost our oldhead, not for want of a new one.” He hadbeen an extraordinary dean, a learnedpolymath but comfortable, too, with apipe, popular music, and a pint of good ale.

Perhaps he is best known fordesigning the New Library, a project hedidn’t see even begun, but he was alsoresponsible for the completereconstruction of Peckwater Quad in thefirst years of the eighteenth century.

The old Peckwater Inn had beenrevamped completely during the Tudorperiod under Dean Thomas Ravis, a bornadministrator and committee man. ThePeckwater project would have been rightup his street. It was a quick job; finishedin time for the start of the 1601/2academic year, a decree was issued thatthe new rooms were to be used primarilyfor the ever-increasing numbers ofgentlemen commoners. The Inn hadbeen given a completely contemporarylook with beautiful bay windows all

round, castellations, and attic roomswith dormer windows on the north side.A Tudor manor house in all but name.

By Aldrich’s time in the Deanery,though, the Elizabethan look was a bittired, and hardly suitable for the sons ofthe rich and influential whom Aldrichwas encouraging into Christ Church. Thedean put pen to paper, and came upwith a new design. The grand Palladianedifice, rather out of step with theBaroque style that was popular at thetime, was to be stern and strictlyclassical. Seizing upon the bequest of

Judith Curthoys Archivist

Cardinal SinsNotes from the archives

Thomas Hearne, librarian and keenobserver of all matters Oxonian, notedthat Henry Aldrich was one of the mosteminent men in England, whether onethought of him as a scholar, a gentleman,or a Christian. Canon Stratfordcommented, when Aldrich died on 14

He had been anextraordinary dean, a learned polymath

but comfortable, too, with a pipe,

popular music, and a pint of good ale.

L Sir Godfrey Kneller, Henry Aldrich, 1696oil on canvas, 73.7 cm x 61 cm

I “The North Prospect of the New Quadrangleof Christ Church in Oxford”. Photographed by Dr Cristina Neagu.

J Peck Quad reflected in the Library windows. Photo by Matthew Power www.hinkseystudio.co.uk

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nearly £3000 from Anthony Radcliffe, hebegan to build. Three foundation stoneswere laid on 25 January 1706, and all ofthe Chapter and noblemen in residenceat the time each added a stone to getthe building off to a fine start. The deankept a close eye on the works, and signedarticles of agreement with WilliamTownesend, master mason, and GeorgeSmith, the carpenter. Each side was doneseparately, allowing accommodation inthe other two sides to remain in use, andfor money to be collected. Most of thestone was from Headington, butaccounts show that “fine Barnsly stone”from Gloucestershire was purchased forcapitals and pilasters. Townesend’scontract for the construction of the westside of the quadrangle is detailed andprecise. Cellars, dug to be used as wine-cellars for the undergraduates, were tohave walls made of common wallingstone 4’ 3” thick except under thecolumns where they were to be 5’ 9”.

The walls of the first storey were to beof fitting stone, to match the north side,and 3’ thick. Those of the second and thirdstories were to be 2’ 3”. Walls between thebed chambers and general room were ofbrick, and of one brick’s length, and wallsbetween bed chambers and studies, onebrick’s breadth. Everything was set out tothe same detail including the projectionof the pilasters and columns, the numbers

The Elizabethan look wasa bit tired, and hardly

suitable for the sons of therich and influential whomAldrich was encouraging

into Christ Church. The dean put pen to paper,

and came up with a new design.

and positions of chimneys. One chimneystack was to be large and fit for use in thekitchen marked on the plan. Smith’scontract, for all the woodwork, wasequally precise. All the woodwork was tobe of oak, except for the three upperflights in each staircase, which would beof elm. The rooms were, on the whole,rather grand. On the first floor were largedouble sets suitable for gentlemen. In theattics were more fundamental rooms forservants or for servitors.

Aldrich did not see his designcompleted – the final bill from theexternal contractors was not paid until 3 January 1712 – and it was then that hissuccessor, the less than successful dean,Francis Atterbury, tried to take the credit.He decided to erect a statue of himself,holding a model of Peckwater, in thecentre of the new quadrangle. Just foronce, the dean must have noticed thegrimaces of disapproval across theChapter House, and thought better of it. �

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631 George Legge, 3rd Earl ofDartmouth

632 George Granville Leveson-Gower,2nd Marquess of Stafford 1stDuke of Sutherland

633 Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway,2nd Marquess of Hertford

635 Richard Colley (Wesley) Wellesley,1st Marquess Wellesley

645 Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earlof Liverpool

650 Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst

651 Henry William Paget, 1stMarquess of Anglesey

657 Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess ofHertford

KG. NO.* NAME OF KNIGHT COMPANION OF THEORDER

414 Robert Sidney, Viscount Lisle, aft. 1st Earl of Leicester

434 Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby

446 George Villiers, 2nd Duke ofBuckingham

476 Henry Bennet, 1st Earl ofArlington

478 Charles Palmer, later FitzRoy, 1stDuke of Southampton, aft. 2ndDuke of Cleveland

496 James Butler, 2nd Duke ofOrmonde

507 Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl ofPembroke and 5th Earl ofMontgomery

563 Thomas Osborne, 4th Duke ofLeeds

566 John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville

570 Daniel Finch, 7th Earl ofWinchilsea and 2nd Earl ofNottingham

574 Hugh Percy (formerly Smithson)2nd Earl, aft. 1st Duke ofNorthumberland

590 Granville Leveson-Gower, 2ndEarl Gower, aft. 1st Marquess ofStafford

599 William FitzMaurice (later Petty)2nd Earl of Shelburne aft. 1stMarquess of Lansdowne

607 George Nugent-Temple-Grenville,1st Marquess of Buckingham

612 Francis Godolphin Osborne, 5thDuke of Leeds

619 William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (formerly Bentinck), 3rdDuke of Portland

629 George Finch, 9th Earl ofWinchilsea and 4th Earl ofNottingham

Knights of the GarterMany readers will know that Christ Church can boast thirteen Prime Ministers and eleven rulers of India amongst its Old Members, but you might not know the House has had 71 Knights of the Garter.

The latest invested was Sir Antony Acland KG GCMG GCVO. These pages list those Knights, and displays the Shields of the 25Founder Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter, appointed in 1348 by the Founder of the Order, King Edward III.

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677 Alexander Hamilton, 10th Dukeof Hamilton and 7th Duke ofBrandon

679 George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle

680 Edward Adolphus Seymour, 11thDuke of Somerset

684 William Harry Vane, 1st Duke ofCleveland

686 George Granville Leveson-Gower,2nd Duke of Sutherland

690 Henry Somerset, 7th Duke ofBeaufort

692 Henry Vane, 2nd Duke ofCleveland

693 James Gascoyne -Cecil, (formerlyCecil) 2nd Marquess of Salisbury

697 James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess,later 1st Duke of Abercorn

698 Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2ndEarl Talbot

710 George William FrederickHoward, 7th Earl of Carlisle

711 Francis Egerton, formerlyLeveson - Gower, 1st Earl ofEllesmere

718 Granville George Leveson -Gower, 2nd Earl Granville

719 Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquessof Westminster

724 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales,later King Edward VII

725 Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl ofHarrowby

726 Edward Geoffrey Smith - Stanley,14th Earl of Derby

727 Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton,5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme

729 Charles John Canning, 1st EarlCanning

730 Edward Adolphus Seymour, 12thDuke of Somerset

732 Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earlof Shaftsbury

739 George William FrederickBrudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquessof Ailesbury

746 Francis Howard de Grey Cowper,7th Earl Cowper

750 Charles Henry Gordon - Lennox,6th Duke of Richmond, later alsoappointed 1st Duke of Gordon

758 Leopold George Duncan Albert,Duke of Saxony and Prince ofSaxe-Coburg-Gotha, later 1stDuke of Albany

771 Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne -Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

783 John Wodehouse, 1st Earl ofKimberley

791 Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess ofLondonderry

796 George Henry Cadogan, 6th EarlCadogan

800 James Hamilton, ViscountHamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn

801 Archibald Philip Primrose, 5thEarl of Rosebery

809 William Henry Walter Montague- Douglas - Scott, 6th Duke ofBuccleuch and 8th Duke ofQueensberry

811 Henry George Percy, LordWorkworth, later Earl Percy,finally 7th Duke ofNorthumberland

849 William Lygon, 7th EarlBeauchamp

869 Alan Ian Percy, 8th Duke ofNorthumberland

879 Edward Frederick L, Baron Irwin,later 3rd Viscount Halifax

899 Charles Frederick AlgernonPortal, 1st Viscount Portal ofHungerford

915 Robert Anthony Eden, after KGappointment – 1st Earl of Avon

922 Hugh Algernon Percy, 10th Dukeof Northumberland

934 Derick Amory, Viscount Amory

943 Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7thEarl of Longford

960 Miles Francis Fitzalan-Howard,17th Duke of Norfolk

964 Oswald Constantine John Phipps,Marquess of Normanby

969 Quintin McGarel Hogg, BaronHailsham of St Marylebone

987 Sir Erskine William Gladstone Bt

989 (Sir) Anthony Arthur Acland(Appointed 23rd April, 2001)

* Reference numbers allocated by Grace Holmes,Archivist to the Dean and Canons of Windsor inher book, The Order of the Garter: Its Knights andStall Plates 1348 – 1948 Windsor, 1984. Preface by Sir Colin Cole, KCVO, TD, FSA GarterKing of Arms.

Biographies taken from DNB, Burke’s Peerage & G.E.C.

With thanks to sponsor & researcher,[email protected] of the Garter, Descendants’ Representative.

5

The Order of the Garter The Order of the Garter was founded

by Edward III in 1348. The Garterceremony, involving The Queen, The

Duke of Edinburgh, other members ofthe Royal Family and the Knights of

the Garter, still takes place every yearin St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

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The offering of daily worship is at theheart of Cathedral life. It often comes asa surprise, even to those who knowChrist Church well, to learn that duringterm-time there are normally twenty-sixservices held in the cathedral each week.These include Morning Prayer, where theclergy and a few others gather in theLatin Chapel at 7.15 am, Choral Evensongat 6pm, which can draw hundreds,particular during the height of thetourist season, the informal CollegeEucharist at 9am on a Sunday morning,and the new Sunday evening After Eightservice, with high-profile visitingspeakers.

Daily worship provides an important wayof linking the cathedral and college.Every day, different parts of theinstitution are remembered in prayer;students with a capital and small ‘s’ readlessons at Sunday Matins and Evensong;the College Choir sings Evensong onMondays during term, and members ofChrist Church Music Society take part inAfter Eight. Many members of ChristChurch attend services, and it’s alwaysgood to welcome former members whoattend Evensong and College Prayersbefore a Gaudy. The cathedral is opendaily from 7am to 7pm, and provides ahaven for students and others in need ofa peaceful, prayerful environment. In oursupposedly secular society, it is

interesting to note how many peoplecome to this and other cathedrals.During Advent and Christmas 2009,attendance at services and other eventsin Christ Church increased by 7,000 onthe previous year.

As well as the constant offering ofworship, many special events take placein the cathedral. On 17 March, LordHarries of Pentregarth (a former Bishopof Oxford) delivered the inauguralRichard Harries Lecture, on behalf of theCouncil for Christians and Jews. Thetheme of the lecture was ‘Who do wethink we are? Jewish, Christian, Britishand Human Identities’, and involved alively discussion with Dr Tony Bayfield,

Head of the Movement for ReformJudaism. The interfaith dimension wascontinued when Elias Chacour, MelkiteArchbishop of Galilee, delivered the firstBibleLands lecture on 13 April. TheArchbishop, who has been nominated forthe Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions,drew a large audience who came to hearhim speak powerfully and movingly on‘Educating for Peace in Israel andPalestine’, with responses from Jewishand Muslim speakers.

In a rather different vein, the Sub-Dean,Edmund Newell, joined up with actressJeany Spark, of BBC TV’s Wallander, topresent Grimm Tales on 27 March as partof the Sunday Times Oxford LiteraryFestival. The production explores thespirituality of brothers Grimms’ fairytales, using Poet Laureate Carol AnnDuffy’s adaptations of Cinderella, SnowWhite and Little Red Riding Hood, withoriginal songs by composer Nick Bicâtand writer/film director Philip Ridley.

As ever, the cathedral musicians continueto provide music of a very high quality.Recent highlights include two Holy Weekperformances: Dupré’s organ meditation‘Chemin de la Croix’, given by OrganScholars Ben Sheen and MichaelHeighway, and Buxtehude’s ‘Membra JesuNostri, performed by the CathedralChoir’s. This followed soon after thechoir’s sell-out performances of Haydn'sCreation in the Mercatorhalle, Duisburg.�

Cathedral News

L Elias Chacour giving the first BibleLandslecture on 13 April 2010

Phot

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Dan

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olin

© P

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SA)

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The concepts of multiple intelligences and multi-sensory learning have on the one hand passedfrom fashionable educational theory into dailymainstream classroom practice and on the otherhave begun to look in many cases less likerevolutionary innovation and more like thesystemisation of things everybody had alwaysknown. It does not take long for any teacherworth her or his salt to realise that differentchildren learn best in different ways, and thatthese differences are often clustered around, forexample, a preference for visual, auditory or tactilecues – or a combination of any or all of these.

It would not, therefore, have been difficult to justifythis term’s Arts’ Day at Christ Church CathedralSchool on educational grounds, despite the factthat for pupils aged seven and above the “normal”subject timetable was completely dropped.Instead, boys participated in three styles ofworkshop: Music, Poetry and Art. Theinternationally renowned violinist Tasmin Littleengaged in an exploration she calls “The NakedViolin” which aims both to demistify aspects of thisextraordinary stringed instrument whilstcelebrating the beauty and versatility of its sound.The boys’ reaction was immediate andenthusiastic: “I really liked it – I learned all sorts ofthings I didn’t know”; “A musical masterpiece!”; “I didn’t expect to be moved – but I was”. With theschool’s advanced violinists Tasmin was able toexplore some of the subtleties of the bow hold(crucial, apparently), bowing itself and variousother techniques. Ms Little is a born communicatorand had the gift of swiftly putting boys at theirease. What a wonderful opportunity to learn fromsomeone at the top of her profession.

The poetry workshops were led by KennethSteven, writer and poet frequently to be heard on Radio Four. Here the boys were, perhaps, inmore familiar territory – we use words in schoolevery day and everyone is encouraged both toread and write poetry. Kenneth’s strength was hisquiet knack of showing to his young writers notonly that they had wonderful ideas but that these ideas could be taken further and, with work, turned into poems. He stayed the wholeday in school, judging in the afternoon the annual Poetry Reciting Competition that has along tradition at Christ Church. We believe thatthe dual skills of learning poems by heart andspeaking them aloud (from the heart) are reallyimportant. Anyone listening to the older boysspeaking the words of Wilfred Owen or JohnKeats or the younger ones with their Roald Dahland A A Milne would surely be convinced of this belief, as well as appreciating the enthusiasm that only children can bring to thissort of activity.

Rounding off our kinaesthetic carousel was ourown Head of Art, David Cotterill, whoseworkshops led to a number of multi-media worksinspired by the graphic word. This work has led toand inspired a larger, collaborative piece whichnow dominates the floor space in one of the ArtRooms.

You could say, then, that there was something inArts’ Day for everyone’s style of learning: or youcould more simply conclude that an under -standing and enjoyment of music, poetry andpainting lie at the heart of any attempt to createa civilised society. �

Mr Martin BruceHeadmaster ChristChurch Cathedral

School

Art for art’s sake…

It does not take longfor any teacher worth

her or his salt torealise that differentchildren learn best indifferent ways, andthat these differencesare often clustered

around a preferencefor visual, auditory

or tactile cues...

7

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When Thomas Wolsey1 was created cardinal byPope Leo X on the 10th September 1515, he alsoreceived the scarlet hat (galero) – the crown thatthe papacy gave to its princes, the cardinals. Wolseycould not travel to Rome to be vested by the pope,therefore, the scarlet robes and more importantlythe hat, this insignia of Wolsey’s newly obtainedpower and status had to be sent to London. Thiswas no small matter and the hat travelled over theAlps with a protonotary of the papal court. It arrivedtwo months later and was carried through Londonon the 15th November 1515 in a lavish procession,ending at Westminster Abbey where Wolsey wasceremoniously crowned cardinal on the followingSunday, the 18th November 15152.

We can assume that in the fifteen years untilWolsey’s death in 1530 the hat accompanied him onall his travels. Extraordinarily, the hat’s journey didnot seem to have ended then. Wolsey died aprisoner, while on his way to London to face thecharges of high treason. He was buried in LeicesterAbbey without a monument, his grave nowunknown3. It was the custom, however, that uponthe death of a cardinal his galero would be placedon his tomb where it would slowly and visibly decay.Given Wolsey’s status at the time and the way hewas buried it is highly possible that this did nothappen. In 1710 a cardinal’s hat, said to be Wolsey’s,was discovered by Bishop Burnet in the GreatWardrobe. It subsequently found its way via HoraceWalpole’s collection and Charles Kean’s theatrecostumes to Christ Church (1898).

In 2009 the Governing Body of Christ Churchagreed to send the galero on another journey tofeature in an exhibition4 at the Center for British Artat Yale. It fell to me to accompany it over theAtlantic to New Haven, Connecticut, 494 years afterits arrival in London5.

The hat and I were picked up by a truck on acold and wet October morning at five. We hadpacked it the day before in tissue paper and threecustom-made boxes fitting together like a Russiandoll. That morning we had only to strap the crateinto the climate-controlled back of the van and driveto the airline’s warehouse at the airport. Eightcouriers from other British institutions had alreadyarrived and stood there shivering next to theirclimate controlled boxes containing all kinds oftreasures. I knew some of the other couriers, fellowcurators and conservators with whom I alreadybonded during many hours spent together atairports and in warehouses.

In situations like this the etiquette ofintroduction demands one reveals one’s institutionand freight, which immediately establishes thehierarchy of the group. Normally I am up there withthe Michelangelos and Leonardos, but this time Iaccompanied an old, greasy and moth-eaten hat,whose sole importance and aura derived from itsprevious owner (real or assumed). It was neither theprecious material nor the intrinsic beauty; it wasjust the concept, the idea, of history and fame that Iguarded. Not that this is less important, Napoleon’ssocks and Jackie Kennedy’s Chanel dress have

The travels of a hat

Upon the death ofa cardinal his

galero would beplaced on his tomb

where it wouldslowly and visibly

decay. GivenWolsey’s status atthe time and the

way he was buriedit is highly possiblethat this did not

happen.

Cardinal Wolsey’s ‘galero’ goes west under the watchful

eye of Jacqueline Thalmann

Jacqueline ThalmannCurator of the Picture

Gallery

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prominent places in world-renowned museums, butit somehow made me the jester of this group,whilst the king and queen were the two couriersfrom the British Museum.

After hours in the fresh air of the breezywarehouse during which we supervised and helpedsecure fourteen crates of all shapes and sizes intoflight containers (fig 1) we finally could leave for thelounge, but only board the plane when loading wasfinished. It has happened that cargo was bumpedto a later flight and the couriers separated fromtheir charge – a courier’s worst nightmare.

Landing in Boston, three films later, the wholeprocedure was reversed, magnified by the lack ofsleep and the fear that one’s fingerprints and irishave somehow mutated creating problems atimmigration. However everything was fine and thewaiting started again – waiting for the plane to beunloaded, for customs to be cleared, for the air-containers to arrive in the warehouse and for thefourteen crates to be carefully arranged into aspecialised van. After each box was individually andsatisfyingly strapped in and the couriers packed intoa minibus the convoy set out from Boston for theYale Center for British Art in New Haven where ourtreasures were stored in the vaults overnight.

The next day the exhibition installation was infull swing with complicated structures andhanging mechanisms being patiently secured bycurators, conservators and technicians. I, however,only had to retrieve my hat-box from the vaults,break the seals and with heightening anticipationun-wrap its content. I fear it must have been ananticlimax to the exhibition curator and textileconservator when we finally lifted the tissuepaper of the last box to reveal – an old hat.Needless to say, we remained professional,assessed its conservational state, marked all itsimperfections on the photographs – no changeshad occurred during transport – and could finallyplace it on its pedestal (fig 2)

Never have I had such a simple trip with an artwork. Never was I so relaxed when the forklift truckcame close to the ‘hat-box’ and never did I feel sopretentious in my role as curator. However, it is vitalto accompany these works for insurance reasons, asmany things can go wrong, and because contactwith far travelled colleagues and sight of the worksin their care is always beneficial. �

999

1. No contemporary portrait ofWolsey came down to us. Allexisting portraits are based ona coarse posthumous profile atthe National Portrait Galleryand a drawing by Jacques LeBoucq in the library in Arras.Discussion of Wolsey’sappearance in Peter Gwyn, TheKing’s Cardinal. The Rise andFall of Thomas Wolsey, London1990 pp. XVI–XVII.

2. A description of thismagnificent event can befound in J. H. Lupton, A Life ofJohn Colet, 1887, pp. 193–198.

3. The magnificent tomb worthyof a cardinal that Wolsey hadplanned for himself was neverrealised. The monumentalblack sarcophagus which hehad already ordered holds nowthe remains of Lord Nelson atSt Paul’s Cathedral.

4. “Horace Walpole and StrawberryHill” the exhibition is now at theV&A until the 4th July 2010.

5. The hat is a genuine cardinal’shat made of rabbit fur felt andsilk in Italy at around 1500. Wecannot be sure that it wasWolsey’s but it is not unlikely.

L Fig 1

L Fig 2

HELP SAVE CARDINAL WOLSEYIf you enter the Library at present none ofthe familiar statues and paintings isanywhere to be seen; they have all beensent into storage for the duration of thebuilding works. Although disconcerting,their absence this academic year has hadthe advantage of providing a blank canvas,enabling us to become more aware of thearchitecture and the impact it was meantto have on the viewer. Recovering some ofthis space’s former glory is an importantpart of what is going to happen in theLibrary during the summer of 2010.

Our aim to be able to bring to theLibrary a rather unusual portrait ofThomas Wolsey would aestheticallyenhance the entrance hall with a painting deeply relevant to the setting.

In Christ Church alone there are eight versions and copies of Wolsey’s image, and atfirst sight the one we have in mind for the Library does not appear to be very different.The portrait shows him at the height of his power. He is wearing the scarlet robes of acardinal and his face is turned in profile. However, looking more closely one notices thatthis is Wolsey as we have not seen him before; unlike the other images the body of theCardinal is pictured frontally. He is sitting on a carved chair wearing a white collar andcape edged with elegant and intricate patterns of lace. Instead of gripping a scroll in onehand, he holds an unfolded document. Echoing the fine gossamer lines of the laceimmediately beneath, the writing, although up-side-down, faces the viewer and is clearenough for us to be able to start reading it: “Rex omnibus ad quos …”

Unusual and intriguing this painting is, sadly, too fragile now to be viewed. Itrequires restoring to a stable condition. A discoloured film of varnish needsremoving, losses of paint and ground need filling and retouching invisibly, and anisolating varnish applied. Weak areas of wood on the frame need consolidating.

The estimated cost of this work would be some £5,000. If you are interested indonating to this project please contact Simon Offen at Christ Church. It would bewonderful to have the portrait in place for the reopening of the Library in Michaelmas,and restoration can commence immediately we have raised the money. �Dr Cristina Neagu, Assistant Librarian

L Cardinal Wolseyartist unknown (late sixteenth century) Oil on canvas (123.5 x 100.5 cm)

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1010

It is a truth universally acknowledged thatactions speak louder than words. Nowhere is thistruer than in global warming policy.

The world’s political leaders are ostensiblyagreed that, if the planet is to avoid what iscustomarily misdescribed as ‘catastrophic climatechange’, our economies and lifestyles will have tobe decarbonised in short order.

At the same time, the major oil companies aredevoting roughly 95 per cent of their massivecapital investment spending to future oil and gassupplies, which they would scarcely be doing ifthey felt the future for oil and gas were in anydoubt. And China, while busily building new coal-fired power stations at the rate of one a week (ithas already overtaken the US as the world numberone CO2 emitter), has become the new imperialpower in sub-Saharan Africa, using its substantialpolitical and economic muscle to secure control ofthe raw materials needed for its future growth, inparticular African oil and gas reserves.

The Chinese are not stupid. With tens ofmillions of their people still suffering from acutepoverty, and from the dire consequences ofpoverty such as preventable disease, malnutritionand premature death, it is understandable thattheir overriding priority is the fastest feasible rateof economic development. And this means, interalia, using what is, and for the foreseeable futurewill remain, by far the cheapest available form ofenergy: carbon-based energy. For India, whose

population is set to overtake even that of China,the priority is inevitably the same.

So it was no surprise that last December’s UNclimate change conference in Copenhagen, whichwas intended to secure a binding globaldecarbonisation agreement, ended in completefailure. True, there was a Canute-like agreementthat the temperature of the planet ought not tobe permitted to rise more than 2ºC above theestimated 1850 level. But this was simply a figureplucked from the air, devoid of either scientificbasis or the slightest operational significance.

The future, then, is one of steadily risingcarbon dioxide emissions leading to steadilyincreasing amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Does this matter? And, if it does, what will wedo about it?

Whether it matters depends partly on howmuch warmer it is likely to make the planet, andhow much harm any warming may do. Boththese things are far from clear.

The first is unclear because climate scienceremains a particularly uncertain science. WhileCO2 is indeed a greenhouse gas, increasingconcentrations of which may be expected to have(other things being equal) a warming effect,scientists disagree about how large that effectmay be (this is particularly affected by ignoranceof the effect of clouds). And, of course, otherthings may not be equal: there is much in climatescience that remains unknown. Nor can the

GLOBALWARMING

Nigel Lawson(1951)

Adaptation, not decarbonisation, is the only way forward...

The answer isobvious: adapt. This is what

mankind has alwaysdone, throughout theages, and what we do

today around theworld, where

temperature variesvery considerably...modern technology,which is developingall the time, meansthat our capacity toadapt is greater than

ever before.

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massive computers now used to providetemperature projections reduce the uncertaintyone whit. All they can do is process the data fedinto them (much of which, it is generally agreed,is of pretty poor quality) using models based ontheories which may or may not be correct.

No doubt that is why, although the modelspredicted that global warming would accelerateduring the first decade of the 21st century, so farthis century there has been no recorded globalwarming at all.

But of course there may be in the future. TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), set up under the auspices of the UN toadvise the world’s governments, suggested in itsmost recent Report that, by the end of thiscentury, the mean global temperature wouldprobably rise to between 1.8ºC and 4ºC aboveestimated 1850 levels – that is, to between 1.1ºCand 3.3ºC above today’s level.

Would that matter? Hard to say. There areconsiderable benefits, as well as costs, from awarmer climate. The IPCC has somewhatdiscredited itself by predicting a number ofspecific negative impacts which havesubsequently been found to be wholly devoid ofany scientific or empirical basis. And it wasconspicuously reticent about the positive impacts.

Overall, it concluded that it would be in thedeveloping world where the net adverse effectswould be greatest, and that, as a consequence, bythe end of the century, if nothing was done to stopthe warming, living standards in the developingworld, instead of being rather more than nine timesas high as they are today, would ‘only’ be rathermore than eight times as high as they are today.

Unfortunate, but scarcely catastrophic, onemight think. Perhaps this is why, in the mostthorough opinion survey so far conducted amongclimate scientists, when they were asked whatthey considered ‘the most pressing issue facinghumanity today’ only 8 per cent answered either‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’.

It is, of course true that the IPCC may havebeen too optimistic in their developing worldgrowth projections. But it was those growthprojections which drove their CO2 projectionswhich in turn determined their temperatureprojections.

So, what to do, should this warming occur(which it may or may not do)?

The answer is obvious: adapt. This is whatmankind has always done, throughout the ages,and what we do today around the world, wheretemperature varies very considerably between, forexample, Finland and Singapore, both of whichseem to manage pretty well. And moderntechnology, which is developing all the time,means that our capacity to adapt is greater thanever before.

Unlike decarbonisaton, which is prohibitivelyexpensive and is not going to happen, adaptation isrelatively cheap and will happen. It enables us topocket the benefits of a warmer climate whilereducing the disadvantages. And, perhaps evenmore important, it forces us to focus on the realproblems afflicting mankind. For the harmsproduced by warming are not new problems, butthe possible slight exacerbation of existingproblems, such as tropical diseases, droughts,tropical storms, and so on. These are what need tobe addressed in any event, warming or no warming.

And this, I am confident, is what we – withone exception – will do. That exception is thiscountry. The UK, alone in the entire world, hasenacted climate change legislation obliging us,unilaterally, at very heavy cost, to carry out aprogramme of rapid and completedecarbonisation. Since we account for less than 2per cent of global emissions, it can have norelevance whatever to the temperature of theplanet. But it is, bizarrely, touted as worldleadership: Britain leading the rest of the world byits example.

It is indeed an example to the rest of theworld. An example of what not to do. �

Nigel Lawson isChairman of TheGlobal Warming PolicyFoundation(www.thegwpf.org) andauthor of An Appeal toReason: A Cool Look atGlobal Warming(Duckworth).

The UK, alone in theentire world, hasenacted climatechange legislationobliging us,unilaterally, at veryheavy cost, to carryout a programme ofrapid and completedecarbonisation. It is indeed anexample to the rest ofthe world. Anexample of what notto do.

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Christ Church Boat Club Torpids Report March 2010

Jon Carley(1980)

Once again a very good year for the Club; themen retained the Headship won last year and,while the ladies’ 1st Boat lost a couple ofplaces, other crews rose, gaining valuableexperience. Just how valuable this experiencecan prove to be was amply demonstrated bythe performance of the men’s 1st Torpid. In2009 there were four members of the 20082nd Summer Eight aboard when theHeadship was won with bumps on Oriel andPembroke; this year only one man from lastyear’s 1st Summer Eight was available. Thusthe Torpid was made up once again largely ofmen who had come through the noviceprogramme at Christ Church and who hadlearned their bumps racing in Lower Boats.

It was always going to be difficult to holdthis prize in the face of a strong PembrokeTorpid; not one of their crew had learnedhis rowing in Oxford and on paper this wastruly David and Goliath. Coach Ben Reedbegan with a small squad and the hope that wemight gain some returners from OUBC andOULRC. This did happen in the end but notuntil the eleventh hour when injury and illnesshad depleted the tiny squad to the extent thatlong and gruelling outings at Wallingford wereconducted with only six men. Hard andunremitting land training from Octoberonwards turned these young men intofighters; the knowledge of the strength ofthe enemy kept them to task throughout.Augmented by one Norse newcomer and bytwo returners from OULRC this fairlyinexperienced crew raced as underdogs andheld public sympathy throughout the fourdays. Not only that, but they raced hard andwell under pressure; Pembroke closed each

day in the Gut – and each day the House drewaway to finish clear, culminating on the Saturdayin a prolonged and bitter fight in which the enemy

were seen off only at the end of theboathouses. Great celebrations resulted, witha boat carried back to the House, dinner inHall with the Trophy and the boat then burnedand leapt in traditional style – our thirdburning in a year. Given that the men’s 2ndTorpid gained a great deal from racing and roseone place, then the example lies before them;it is in their hands to follow where others haveled. Congratulations are due to Coach BenReed, borrowed cox Zoe de Toledo and to DavidBrock, James Fifield, Tom Montgomery, MagnusProesch, Ian Maconnachie, Thomas Hine, TomSmith and Captain Guy Arnold.

The ladies also raced valiantly but were ratheroutpowered by their opponents – Magdalenwent on to take the Headship from St Catz –and a strong SEH crew. Coach Karl Offord is

determined, as are the girls themselves, to putthis slip right come Summer Eights. The Ladies2nd Torpid, coached by Old Member LennyMartin, were only allowed two days of racingowing to the prevailing water conditions – butnevertheless gained a bump and also haveplenty to look forward to in Eights.

With six men set to return from OUBC (threeBlues, three Isis) the outlook for Trinity Term isexcellent at all levels. It was splendid to seeso many Old Members present to cheer onour Torpids (despite the bitter cold) and wehope that May 26 – 29 will bring both thesun and many more former ChCh oarsmenand women: we hope to be able to put on a show well warranting your journey! �

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Professor Anthony Hopwood

Christopher Sprague (1962)

Joe Lau (1999) and his wife Jen recently fundedthe purchase of a new scull, which Joe asked to benamed after Professor Anthony Hopwood.Regrettably Professor Hopwood was too ill toattend the Boat naming but his wife Caryl gaveus these words which he had dictated.

“I have always been honoured and privileged tohave been both Dean of the Saïd Business Schooland a Student of Christ Church. From thebeginning I always thought it was important tohave a close working relationship between thecolleges and the Business School and I workedhard to achieve this. I’m sure that it helped thatthere was a shared sporting interest, i.e. boats;something that certainly provides a rationale fortoday’s celebrations. So I would like to thank Joeand Jen Lau for their generosity in funding thissplendid new scull, and for providing the contact

to celebrate our mutual successes on the river, atthe House and at the Said. It has been goodworking together and I hope that it will continue.Thank you!”

As CCM was going to print the sad news arrivedthat Professor Hopwood died on 8 May at hishome in Henley.�

Sir William Gladstone has made a most generousdonation to the Boat Club. This had been used topurchase a new four and to finance in part thepurchase of the eight in which the House wentHead of the River last summer. The Gladstonefamily has played an important part in the historyof the Boat Club. Sir William himself stroked the 1stTorpid to the Headship of the River in 1948 andserved as President of the Boat Club in 1949. Hisgreat grandfather was W. E. Gladstone (also ofcourse a House man) who, so far as is known, neverpulled an oar in anger.

Sir William's uncle, A.C. Gladstone, rowed four timesfor Oxford between 1906 and 1909. He was in theHouse crew that went Head of the River in SummerEights in 1907 and with Sir William's father, C.A.Gladstone, he was in the crew which retained theHeadship in 1908 and went on to win the GrandChallenge Cup at Henley that year – the College'sonly victory in this event to date. A.C. with anotherHouse man, H.R. Barker, also won the Silver Gobletsat Henley that year. He rowed in the winning Britisheight at the 1908 Olympic Regatta and won theUniversity Pairs three times (in 1908 with hisbrother C.A.) and the University Silver Sculls once.

Sir William's brother, Peter, rowed for Oxford in1950 and 1952, winning in the latter year and wasPresident pf the College Boat Club in 1952.Another brother, J.F., who was President in 1962-63, stroked the House to the Headship of theRiver in 1962. This crew was coached by thebrothers' father, C.A. Appropriately the fourpurchased by Sir William is to be named “A.C. andC.A. Gladstone”. �

Boat naming

Christ Church Boat Club and the Gladstones

American StandardCompanies Professor of

OperationsManagement, Student

of Christ Church1997–2009, and former

Dean of the SaïdBusiness School.

I 1st Torpid 1909. A.C.Gladstone is third fromthe left in the back row

L Sir William Gladstone

j Tom Montgomery, MrsHopwood, Joe and Jen Lautoast the new boat

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For an American medievalist, life on TomQuad never ceased to amaze. Most ofmy life I would not have imagined that Iwould live literally a minute away fromthe doors of a medieval cathedral, or thatit would be my job as canon of ChristChurch to be part of its services. I studiedand restudied its corbels and carvings, itswindows and choir ceiling, although Iadmittedly gave less attention thanEdward Evans did to the seventeenthcentury monuments. I enjoyed beingwrapped in the depth of its silenceduring early mornings or said eveningoffices in the latin chapel, wherecenturies of prayer seemed to linger aswe took our turn. The soaring choralservices were consistently transporting.Contemplative worship was theframework and foundation of ouroutreach to the quarter of a milliontourists who passed through every year,although some of them thought theyhad come only to see (in the words ofone Italian teenager) “the Harry Potteruniversity”!

Out of my back window, I could seethe tower of St Mary’s Church, where –

besides the memorials of Cranmer’s trialand burning – is a plaque to John DunsScotus. Exiting the back gate, I couldstride down Merton Street where ThomasCromwell took delight in burningmanuscripts of Scotus’ works, therebycreating employment for Scotus scholarswho have to piece the texts back togetheragain. Nor could I forget how an Oxfordchancellor, who had lost his job when hefell out with the dons, used his critique ofOckham’s writings to forward his careerwith the Avignon pope John XXII. (Myfirst book was on William Ockham.)

During my second or third year,college maintenance decided to repair thegas and water pipes. Up came theflagstones, and out came thearcheologists, who had to oversee anydigs for possible historic finds. Theirexpectations were not disappointed. Oneday, as I was headed for my class inLecture Room 2, I was taken aback. In thedigging near the steward’s office doorthey had uncovered medieval graves, oneof a woman, whose skeleton was inalmost perfect condition. Somethingabout the bones enabled them to tell her

age. Her teeth were perfect. I joinedRhona Lewis in wondering whether itwould be disrespectful to take her picture.In the end, I thought not. How amazingthat human beings could continue tomean something to one another after allthese years! And I went off to teach myclass on Duns Scotus. Later they found ahoard of unusual coins. I concluded thatwe should all be buried with pockets fullof change, for the benefit of futurescholars.

Not all of Tom Quad’s charms weremedieval, nor even sixteenth andseventeenth century. There were theresolutely cheerful custodians, smilingand helpful in all weathers, teasing me ingray skies and down pours that we shouldput in a word with ‘the man upstairs’. Thecustodians were also my source forexplanations of why we were flying whichstandard on any given day. The porterswere also unusually resourceful, as readyto provide first aid to those who stumbledand fell on the cobbles, as to Fed-Ex apackage. In the cathedral, our vergerswere simply the best! My five and a halfyears at Christ Church has given me muchto remember and much to ponder. Myhusband Bob and I are grateful for ourtime with the House. �

Marilyn McCord AdamsThe Revd Canon Professor

Reflections on Tom Quad

Not all of Tom Quad’s charms were medieval

L Left to right: Marilyn McCord Adams withher husband Professor Robert Adams andCanon Professor Marilyn Parry

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CHRIST CHURCH ASSOCIATION NEWS

EditorialIn this edition we mark the 20th anniversary of theChrist Church Association. I remember being involvedin the very early days and being impressed by theenergy and drive generated by just a few foundingmembers. I had wanted to do more to help launchthe Association, but work commitments got thebetter of me and so I dipped out for a number ofyears. Then, in 2002, I returned to help out byagreeing to edit Association News. It’s a role that is astime consuming as it is enjoyable. I am not fortunateenough to be in a position to give a large amount offinancial support to the college, and so no invitationto the Board of Benefactors has yet been forthcoming,but the work I do with the committee is my way ofgiving back to an institution which has given me somuch. Like many Old Members, I had a wonderfultime during my four years at Christ Church. My yearsat the House enabled me to launch into my careerand led to my subsequent marriage to a fellowHouse chemist, Richard Marsh (1981).

Reading the articles submitted by other Old Membersmade me understand just how much Christ Churchhas meant to them and how willing so many are tohelp with the committee. Old Members have beeninstrumental in organising some of the marvellousevents which have been laid on for us. We are verylucky to have such variety and creativity in theseevents. In the past few months we could have tastedgame in Scotland, or gone behind the scenes at theSir John Soane’s museum, or watched the OxfordCambridge Boat Race from the London Rowing Club,or headed off for a Schubert recital at Wigmore Hallor joined a reception for finance professionals, toname but a few. There is much variety too in thebooks written, edited or published by Old Members.The books we have chosen to highlight in this editioncover 1000 years of annoying the French, a non-clubber’s guide to Ibiza & Formentera’s heritage andunderstanding how parables work. David Bond(1989), in his ingenious film, Erasing David,demonstrates the scary truth about just how muchinformation people can find out about us throughdata mining.

I am delighted that Association News now hasadditional help. Freya Howard (1998), pictured onpage 17, has kindly volunteered to work with me onAssociation News. Her enthusiasm and application have beenwonderful. And it is always handyworking alongside someone withthe same initials, so you can duckout of action points!

Fiona Holdsworth (1981), [email protected]

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20th anniversaryof the AssociationTo mark the 20th anniversary of the Association, inthis issue we hear from five Old Members who havebeen involved with the Association Committee atsome point since its inception.

CONSTITUTIONS DON’T MATTERI was delighted to receive an invitation to dinner inChrist Church to celebrate the twentieth anniversaryof the formation of the Christ Church Association. ButI was puzzled. What had I done to deserve thishonour? I had never been a member of the Committeeof the Association. In fact apart from attending anumber of drinks receptions in London and the oddgarden party in Oxford, I had hardly participated in theaffairs of the Association at all. And then Iremembered. I had drafted its constitution. Even thisseemed a rather flimsy connection, as I distinctlyrecalled having told Nick Alexander (1973) that I woulddraft it, but only on condition that once it had beenadopted, it would be put away and never looked atagain. (Looking at the rule book often means trouble.)Still, I accepted the invitation and despite feelingsomething of an interloper much enjoyed theoccasion. The one drawback was that I had the goodfortune of sitting at dinner next to Fiona Holdsworth(1981), Editor of Association News. On learning of mylimited role in the creation of the Association, sheinsisted that I should write an article about it.

At first it seemed a fairly unpromising topic. But onthinking back, I recalled that framing a constitution hadnot been an altogether easy task. I was not a member ofthe organising committee and the original project, asrelayed to me and contrary to what had actually beendecided, was to create a body with the twin objects of“friend-raising”, in other words serving as an old boys’and old girls’ club, and of fund-raising for theeducational purposes of the House. This gave rise totwo problems. First, I needed a crisp statement of whatthe educational purposes of the House actually werewhich I could adopt or adapt for inclusion in the objectsclause of the draft constitution. You would havethought that such a statement would be readilyavailable. You would have been wrong. In an effort to behelpful, Edwin Simpson supplied me with copies of thecollege statutes, unhelpfully adding that I would notfind them the slightest bit of use. How right he was! Weall know of course that the institution that is ChristChurch defies description. But the college statutes werecompletely silent except about important matters suchas the maximum number of honorary students. So Idevised my own formula. This, I admit, was not difficult.

FrancisBarlow (1959)

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CHRIST CHURCH ASSOCIATION NEWSCHRIST CHURCH ASSOCIATION NEWS / 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSOCIATION

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But the second problem was very much moredifficult to resolve. To be an effective fund-raising bodythe Association would need to qualify for charitablestatus. For this purpose its objects would need to beexclusively charitable. There was no problem with thefund-raising activities. But to marry the social activitieswith the charitable objects and present them asexclusively charitable was a tall order. (Of course ChristChurch had been getting away with it for years, but thatdid not mean that we would!) In reliance on an oldauthority in which it had been held that the provision ofan annual dinner for the Aldermen of the City of Londonas trustees of a charity was conducive to the betteradministration of the charity and therefore charitable, Icobbled together a formula which subordinated thesocial functions of the proposed new association to itscharitable fund-raising purposes. According to thisformula having a glass of beer with one’s mates was notsimply a social event; in fact it was not a social event atall; it was an essential – indeed indispensable – part ofthe charitable activity of promoting the educationalpurposes of the College! I cannot now remember exactlywhat form of words I used, but I was not at all confidentthat my attempt to square the circle would pass musterwith the Charity Commission.

At this point Divine Providence, in the shape of theDean and Governing Body, intervened and I was put rightas to what the objects of the new association were to be.There had apparently been an unfortunate precedent. Arecent appeal for funds by an Oxford college had floppedbecause, unbeknownst to the college, its Old Membershad shortly before been approached for donations by thecollege’s Old Members’ association and in consequencethey were suffering from “charity fatigue”. I happilyjettisoned the fund-raising element of the objects clauseof the Association in favour of the purely social or“friend-raising” element and in order to assure thecollege authorities that there would be no unwelcomechange of direction I included in the draft constitution aprovision that it could not be amended without theGoverning Body’s consent.

The friend-raising activities of the Associationhave been remarkably successful. There have beennumerous receptions and lectures in addition to theannual garden party in the Masters’ Garden in June.The success of these activities owes an enormousamount to the comprehensive data-base of OldMembers’ contact details which Robert Rice (1965)spent so much time and effort in setting up.

In fact the constitution doesn’t matter. It is the data-base which has been the Association’s most significantcontribution to the fund-raising activities of the House. Ithas provided the House with a very useful tool forextracting money from its Old Members which it has nothesitated to use in the most shameless fashion. Early

this year some of you will have received an invitation tojoin the newly created 1546 Society. For those of you whohave not received an invitation I should explain thatmembership of this society is absolutely free. There areonly two conditions. All you have to do is (1) make a willleaving a legacy to the House and (2) die. If you have anydifficulty fulfilling either of these conditions the Alumniand Development Office will be very happy to assist. �Francis Barlow (1959)

I took on the treasurer role at the suggestion of RobinGilkes (1965), my predecessor, who I had known at ChristChurch and at Coopers and Lybrand where we bothworked at one time. The main change was to agree thatthe Association should be self funding: in other wordsthat we should not have to go cap in hand to the Collegeon an annual basis but that everything we did shouldhave a ticket price to cover its costs. Initially the Collegeprovided staff but eventually this was combined withthe appeals department for administrative purposeswhile keeping the two activities separate. The collegealso provided support when events were held on thepremises (eg the summer marquee) – and indeed still does.

We did consider moving to a subscription model – RobertRice (1965) who had done so much to set the Associationup strongly supported this. At the time the majority feltthat this was a step too far as the active membership wasstill quite small and the potential cost considerable. Onething which helped me reach the conclusion on funding was when I asked the then Dean what the College’s viewwas on the matter: he replied “The college has as manyviews as there are Dons – we have found over the last500 years that it works better this way”!

We settled on two core events – city and lawyers –which are identifiable alumni groupings – others arehard to find - getting country clergymen togetherwas felt to be a step too far.

I was time barred eventually and handed over toPhilip Wright (1972) – another alumnus from what isnow PwC. I enjoyed the opportunity to keep in touchwith the college - a good mix of people. I think thereis an opportunity to do a lot more with the alumnusbody and I predict that it will become the norm aseducation budgets get cut. Christ Church is wellplaced to lead this movement but it needs realvision, enthusiasm and investment from the College. Perhaps things have moved on since my day! �Robert Boyle (1966)

The main change was to agree that the Association shouldbe self funding: in other words that we should not have to gocap in hand to the College on an annual basis...

RobertBoyle (1966)

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At a Dinner in Hall at the end of February to celebrate20 years of the Christ Church Association we werereminded that on October 27th 1989 the then Dean,Eric Heaton, had called a meeting at Christ Church ofa wide range of Old Members to discuss the settingup of an alumni organisation, something that manyother colleges had already done. Many of those whoattended the original meeting and who have helpedThe Association over the years were present at theDinner.

Very explicitly the original purpose of this bodywas not fundraising, but what has subsequentlybecome known as “friend raising”. I think it mighthave been Simon Offen who first coined that entirelyappropriate term.

At the end of the meeting, much to my, and I suspect,everyone else’s surprise, Eric asked if I would initiallylead this initiative, which I was only too happy to do.

A smaller group of around a dozen of us metseveral times in the following months to discuss howbest to achieve this. We canvassed Old Membersabout what might attract them most and concludedthat a summer garden party, to be held in theMasters’ Garden, would be a perfect first event.

This duly took place on 6th July 1991 with nearly300 people attending. Unsurprisingly this remainsour biggest event to date.

At the time the College had no DevelopmentOffice or Director. It was entirely The Steward, JohnHarris, and his excellent staff who actually made it allhappen, and continued to do so, though withincreasing help from an embryonic DevelopmentOffice as the years went by.

In those days as Old Members (so much lessoffensive a term in one’s 30s than in one’s 50s) wereceived one mailing a year; The Annual Report, andone invitation every 5 or so years to a Gaudy. As TheAssociation we were tapping a market starved ofsupply! So little wonder that there was so big aresponse.

Today much has changed, and, I hope, for thebetter.

These days we probably receive a minimum of 3mailings a year and more emails and invitations to atleast that number of events.

The Association has been involved in an impressivelywide range of activities since. Our most altruistic haveperhaps been the Careers’ Advice and Vacation jobschemes which we believe have helped 100s ofundergraduates and Old Members too. We have hosted

debates, lectures, networking (pah!), subject, year, sports,regional, and so on, events.

I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to a privateChrist Church viewing of the John Soane’s museum, mymost favourite London museum, organised by thedeputy curator (Helen Dorey, 1982) a not so Old Member,and what a privilege. The only thing to top that was aChristmas event a couple of years ago, organised bySimon Offen, at Waddesdon Manor, which he used torun, one of the most magical things I have ever been to,and I try to get about!

As the years have gone by and the DevelopmentOffice has bloomed the fundraising agenda hasbecome ever more urgent. This remains the preserveof the Development Office rather than of TheAssociation, but, I suspect there are few Old Memberswho resent any blurring.

The best thing that I have learnt from my mother, sofar, is “to count your blessings!” One of the biggest andbest was to go to Christ Church.I doubt I am the onlyOM to believe that! �Nick Alexander (1973)

I read English at Christ Church before setting off on mytravels around the world followed by further study inLondon. I really enjoyed my time at the House andreading Christ Church Matters one day I was attracted tothe idea of becoming a ‘year representative’ andencouraging everybody to keep in contact with eachother: October 2nd 2010 will be our first Gaudy and theyear representatives are currently putting their headstogether to arrange further events. I recently acceptedwith great pleasure an invitation to help with theAssociation and earlier this year became secretary. I amalso helping Fiona Holdsworth edit the Associationsection of Christ Church Matters. �Freya Howard (1998)

Most Christ Church undergraduates in recent years willbe familiar with the Association for its role in supplyingthe Old Members who speak at careers evenings andgive invaluable advice and contacts across a range ofprofessions. As Careers Rep in my final year at college, Igot to know the members of the Association who dealtwith the careers side of things very well, and came toappreciate the tremendous help they provide tostudents. I therefore already knew a number of membersof the Association Committee when, upon finishing myundergraduate degree, I was invited to join. This made itan easy decision.

I was by far the youngest of the Committeemembers when I joined, and the fact that there wassuch a spectrum of ages on the Committee was part of

Very explicitly the original purpose of this body was notfundraising, but what has subsequently become known as“friend raising”.

NickAlexander

(1973)

FreyaHoward

(1998)

AnnabelCharnock

(2001)

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the appeal, as it provided a link to the College’spast and an insight into what being a studentthere was like in previous years and even decades.Becoming a member of the Association Committeegave me the opportunity to both keep in touchwith Christ Church and gain a new perspective onits operations. The close relationship between theCommittee, the Development Office and theSteward affords us a better understanding of whatgoes on behind the scenes to keep a college likeChrist Church running, and also the financialburdens it faces – something I hadn’t reallyconcerned myself with as a student.

During my time on the Committee I haveorganised two events for recent leavers, joined thenew Year Rep Scheme witnessing its developmentfirst hand, and more recently taken on someresponsibility for the Vacation Placement Scheme. Ihave thus had the opportunity to meet OldMembers I didn’t know during my time at college,keep in touch with some that I did through theevents and Year Rep dinners, and finally to take onsome of the support role that CommitteeMembers provided for me when I was Careers Rep.

My time as an undergraduate at Christ Churchwas incredibly special and memorable, and I wassad to leave it behind. By joining the AssociationCommittee I have been able to build a new anddifferent relationship with the College that will goon into the future, so that, for me, Christ Churchisn’t just a piece of my past. �Annabel Charnock (2001)

The close relationship between the Committee, theDevelopment Office and the Steward affords us a betterunderstanding of what goes on behind the scenes to keep a college like Christ Church running, and also thefinancial burdens it faces

The Wigmore Hall,Schubert recitalThe period between Christmas and New Year is hardlythe best time of the year to organise a concert inLondon. On the other hand, competition for WigmoreHall dates is fierce. So, the Christ Church Association andI plunged in and accepted the Wigmore Hall's offereddate - right in the middle of London's 'dead period', on 27December.

All the more satisfying it was, therefore, that weattracted an enthusiastic audience of over 200 to attendan all-Schubert song recital.

The soloists were soprano, Dorothee Jansen, my wife, andpianist Francis Grier and this was their second 2009 all-Schubert recital at the Wigmore, the first having been on13 July. Both recitals were generously attended andpatronised by members of the House.

2009 was my Gaudy Year and it seemed a good idea toinvite, to the first of these two recitals, all mycontempories from the 2009 June Gaudy. Many of theseHousemen took up the invitation and contributed to adelightful and spirited audience at the July recital.

The Perpetuity dinnerfor 1984-1995 yeargroupsIn 2006 a group of Old Members from 1980-83 held adinner at the Ivy Restaurant, which raised £375,000towards the restoration of the East Wing of the Library.Since then the development programme has moved on,horizons have broadened, and it is recognised that givingto any part of the House is ultimately, through financialindependence, to guarantee our core values. There is nodoubt that there are troubled times ahead and thesupport of Members of the House will be crucial.

The dinner at Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill in SwallowStreet on 21st January was kick started by Luke Chappell(1986) and me. We had the support of an organisingcommittee and the Development Office, with an aim tofocus in particular on the Library West Wing and theSports Pavilion, but in reality on whatever has a specialmeaning for the donor. It was to be a celebration of our

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The second of the two recitals, last December, bycontrast, was conceived as a fund raiser for the recentlyestablished Wakefield Scholarship at Christ Church. Theevening had a beautiful atmosphere, with the ChristChurch members of the audience also attending winereceptions, before and during the interval of the recital inthe well-appointed Bechstein Room.

The programme for the December recital was composedexclusively of songs associated with Schubert's youthfulromance with the singer, Therese Grob.

The Wakefield Scholarship is named after that doyen of19th century colonial reform, Edward Gibbon Wakefieldand, in commemoration of Wakefield's seminal role inthe founding of european New Zealand, the WakefieldScholarship provides, triennially, for a graduate scholarfrom our eponymous Christchurch, New Zealand, tostudy for a year at the House.

To have been able to connect with Christ Church andHousemen in the context of these two recitals has beenaltogether a joyous new departure for me in my work as animpresario. So it was with pleasure that I accepted aninvitation, at the beginning of 2010, to join the Christ ChurchAssociation as music representative. I have my thinking capon for what might be possible in 2011, and beyond. �Haydn Rawstron (1968)

time at the House and to support the recently publisheddevelopment plan, In perpetuity.

Our initiative was further spurred on by the MoritzHeyman Gift, in which there was a proviso that 1/8th ofthe income could only be released when matched bydonations from those matriculating after 1983. MichaelMoritz even made an inspiring DVD especially for theoccasion which he sent over from California, to beshown at the start of the meal.

The Dean presided, with senior Members of the Houseand the Development office in attendance, but whilstthey were certainly present ‘to teach the joy of giving’the evening was a great success socially too; just askhow many of the sixty who attended had sore heads thefollowing day! The wine and champagne flowed; we hadan excellent dinner of fresh crab and prawns, roasthalibut, and chocolate and hazelnut terrine; andconversation took us all back to evenings in Hall, theUndercroft and the Bear. Michael Dobbs (1968) gave awitty talk alluding to his career as both politician andnovelist.

Many thanks to all who helped organise the evening, toall who attended and who have pledged to give to ChristChurch and particular thanks to Luke Chappell, withoutwhom the evening could not have happened. Our agecohort has pledged in excess of £750,000 to date. �Christophe Egerton-Warburton (1989)

L Michael Moritz L Michael Dobbs

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Game tasting in ScotlandTwenty Old Members and spouses/partners gathered inMarch at Reediehill, Auchtermuchty for the first ChristChurch Scotland event. Whilst the dining room of theFletcher’s farm house might not rival Hall the amount ofgame we ate and the quality of the wines drunk wouldhave made our Founder proud.

Nichola Fletcher is an expert on gamecookery having written five books andlectured on the subject all over theworld. Her tutored game tasting wasfascinating, informative, delicious andfun. To taste and compare nineteendifferent types of game, both

feathered and furred, some very fresh, some hung, somesmoked, some cured, and some marinated was a treat.The ability to match them with whites and reds from theChrist Church cellars made for an even greaterindulgence.

The highlights? The Goldeneye (duck) with the ViellesVignes Macon, the Grey Squirrel with the Sicilian Fiano,both the Grouse and Woodcock with Chateau Beaumont2000 and the Red Venison with Cornas 1995. But aboveall the chance to meet other Housemen and women innew and stunningly beautiful surroundings. �Simon Offen (1986)

Behind the scenes at Sir John Soane’s MuseumAt the end of March thirty lucky Old Members, with their family and friends,enjoyed a marvellous after hours exploration of the Soane Museum; thesupreme example of a house museum in the world. Led by Helen Dorey(1982) the Deputy Director and Inspectress, the group mingled over a glass ofwine in the library before the candle lit guided tour of the Museum. The tourwas illuminated further by Helen’s unsurpassed knowledge of the collection,which is still educating and inspiring ‘Amateurs and Students in Painting,Architecture and Sculpture’.

Soane bought and rebuilt 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields as his family home in 1792.Twenty years later he moved into No. 13, where he designed a sequence ofromantic and picturesque interiors which demonstrate how an architect cancreate the ‘poetry of architecture’ by a combination of light, clever spatialplanning and decoration. Here he displayed his collection of paintings,sculpture, architectural models, and other diverse artefacts including theEgyptian sarcophagus of Seti I, excavated in the Valley of the Kings in 1817.Soane lived alone after his wife’s death in 1815, devoting himself to theconstant improvement and expansion of the Museum as a striking settingfor his collections. In 1833 he had a private Act of Parliament passedbequeathing his house and Museum to the nation on his death, on conditionthat they be preserved in an unaltered state.

Having marvelled in particular at the Picture Room with its hinged screensand the Breakfast Parlour we had time to talk with Helen over another glassof wine in the library/dining room. The incredible “Pompeian red” of the walls,the ingenious use of mirrors and the rich woodwork makes the room perfectfor evening entertaining. Candle-lit dinners can be held for up to 30 as well asreceptions for up to 80.

You could visit the Soane a hundred times and still see something new andexciting; I urge you to support it and go. www.soane.org �

Simon Offen (1986)

L The Soane Library (PHOTO: MARTIN CHARLES)

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EVENTSThe 2010 Xchanging

Boat RaceSome one hundred Members of the House, mostly from the Boat ClubSociety, gathered at the London Rowing Club on Saturday 3rd April for the156th Oxford Cambridge Boat Race. Many thanks are owed to Chris Sprague,Chairman of the Christ Church Boat Club Society, and also Chairman of theLRC Committee for providing the venue.

Seasoned wet bobs with ruddy complexions and blister hardened handsregaled the younger members with stories of sinkings, mutinies and victoriesby canvas widths or many boat lengths. Most were enjoying the facilities andlooked as if they might be in need of Jeeves’ tonic the next day. Dry bobs likemyself were politely received, encouraged to make full use of the bar if in adispensing mood, but made to realise that real athletes row, whilst everyoneelse just plays games.

The LRC is a superb vantage point from which to observe the start at PutneyBridge, so pints in hand we crushed onto the balcony to see Oxford take anearly lead. Those in the know were pretty confident that the Dark Blueswould win and the Boat Club was justifiably proud of having three ChristChurch/Kellogg rowers in Isis, and three in the Blue Boat; The Joy of Six.

Within a few minutes the boats disappear from view so inside we rushed totop up the drinks and take up position watching the big screens. Newsfiltered through that Isis had not quite beaten Goldie; grimaces all round.Unfortunately Oxford could not put clear water between themselves and theTabs and gradually, tragically, yet almost inevitably Cambridge drew levelthen took the lead. I asked what was happening and was told that the drinksneeded refilling.

I’m afraid I still can’t explain why Oxford came second, but I am nonethelessin awe of the six Christ Church/Kellogg rowers who made it on to the riverthat day. Seeing their efforts first hand was a privilege. Hopefully most ofthem will not look back, but forward to next year and be able to competeagain with greater success. I’ll raise a glass to that! �Simon Offen (1986)

L Christ Church’s Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of the USA. (PHOTO BY RICHARD HEATHCOTE)L The Soane Breakfast Parlour (PHOTO: MARTIN CHARLES)

L The Dome area (PHOTO: MARTIN CHARLES)

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Reception for financeprofessionalsOn 5th May, the eve of the election, seventy OldMembers gathered at PWC on Embankment for a drinksreception. Writing this report a week later it is true to saythat despite all the opinions on offer about what mighthappen the following day nobody that evening foresawwhat lay in store.

Perhaps the timing of the gathering was not ideal, butPhilip Wright (1972), our host, warned us to avoid the yearend, and the month end, if we wanted any accountantsto attend. Given that warning, despite the heading, westressed that one neither needed to be a financier nor aprofessional to come; we were not disappointed.

Some actuaries turned up to invigorate proceedings andas the evening got darker we even welcomed a fewbankers as they slipped in. One very young Old Memberin banking looked in quickly whilst “at the gym” to sayhello, grab some sustenance and a dose of reality beforereturning to his desk. There were Hedge Fund managerswho had bet both ways on the election result, andanalysts picking apart the canapés. An auditor askedabout the event’s cost and was relieved to hear that wehadn’t actually overspent our budget; it was just theallocation that fell short of our expenditure.

Philip welcomed us, the Deanthanked Philip and the waitingspeakers, and said a few wordsabout the robust health of theHouse. David Buik’s speech wasitself robust; pulling his ownleg about his looks andinadequacies as a speaker,giving a thorough account ofthe Credit Crunch, and a

crunching account of the political parties. PeterOppenheimer (above) followed up with a masterfulpaper on Oxford University Fundraising and why theColleges must show the way. Apologies if the speechescombined were over long; but as they say, there are threetypes of accountant, those who can count and thosewho can’t. The speeches were sandwiched betweenplenty of decent wine, some excellent canapés, and lotsof reminiscences and chat.

Many thanks to Philip for supplying the venue, and to hiswonderful PA, Dolores John, for her help with theorganisation. �Simon Offen (1986)

Andrew Chamblinmemorial concertThe 2010 Andrew Chamblin MemorialOrgan Concert was performed to greatacclaim by the internationallyrenowned organist Dame Gillian WeirDBE HonFRCO on the 11th May beforean audience of over 350 in ChristChurch Cathedral. The Chamblinfamily, Andrew’s friends, Students andstudents of the College, Old Membersand members of the general publicwere present. Dame Gillian’sappearance marks the fourth annualorgan concert given in memory of thelate Dr Andrew Chamblin (1991) in aseries which already boasts animpressive set of performances bysome of the country’s top organists:Thomas Trotter FRCO, Simon PrestonOBE HonFRCO and Dr Jennifer BateOBE FRCO. Dame Gillian magnificentlyperformed an eclectic range ofsixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenthcentury pieces in chronologicalsuccession by Rossi, D’Attaignant,Pachelbel, Buxtehude, De Grigny, Schnizer and Bach. Of particular note was her commanding rendition ofBach’s Passacaglia BWV 582, the penultimate piece in anexciting programme, before she concluded with Bach’sFugue in Eb major BWV 552b, earning rapturousapplause from the audience.

Prior to the start of the concert Clive Driskill-Smith(1996), the Cathedral’s Sub-Organist, recounted to theassembled audience Andrew’s passion for the organ andhis accomplished career as a theoretical physicist.Andrew, a native of the city of Amarillo in Texas, hadstudied both the organ and the harpsichord. He came upto Christ Church in 1991 as a postgraduate to studymathematical physics under the supervision of ProfessorSir Roger Penrose before being invited to move to theUniversity of Cambridge to study theoretical physics forhis doctorate under Professor Stephen Hawking. Inconjunction with the annual Memorial Concert at ChristChurch, the Department of Applied Mathematics andTheoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge holdsan annual lecture in cosmology in Andrew’s memory.More details about the Memorial Concert series can befound at www.chch.ox.ac.uk/development/old-member-charities/andrew-chamblin-fund. �Jo Ashborn (1988)

LL The audienceat the concert,with theCathedral organoverhead

L CarolineChamblin(Andrew'smother), DameGillian Weir andClive Driskill-Smith (CathedralSub-Organist)

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1000 Years of Annoying the French

I’m pretty sure I got into Christ Church thanks toa joke. I’d applied to read French and German,and my trio of interviewers – David Luke, AlbanKrailsheimer and Christopher Robinson – wererather dismissive of the third A level I’d taken.

“What on earth did you learn fromGeography?” Christopher asked. I’d enjoyed doingGeography, but guessed that it wasn’t politic toadmit it. “How to write with enthusiasm aboutthings that don’t interest me at all,” I replied, andgot a laugh.

I must confess that some of the essays I latersubmitted to the trio also followed the“enthusiasm about things, etc.” model, althoughby the time it came to Finals they’d shown methat it was far more productive to write aboutthings that did interest me. And they’d alsotrained me how to stand up for my ideas, even ifthese didn’t particularly enthuse theunfortunate tutor having to listen to them.

At the time,however, I didn’t realizethat this was what I’dlearnt. I thought thatall I’d acquired was ashort-livedacquaintance withthe likes of Rabelaisand Thomas Mann –as well, of course, as apretty useful degreecertificate.

It wasn’t until2004 that Iunderstood.

I’d done variousstints in language-teaching, lexicography andjournalism, and had written the odd novel thatno one except paper recyclers was interested in.In 2004 I began writing one about a subject thatreally interested me. I’d been working in Francefor ten years, and shoe-horned all myexperiences into a comedy called A Year in theMerde.

No one wanted to publish this one either, butI decided to stand up for it, and self-published it.Unexpectedly, it actually sold. Not only that – italso got me noticed by a major publisher whohas just brought out my sixth book on France.

The new one is called 1000 Years of Annoyingthe French, and is a light-hearted retelling ofhistory, the main thrust being that even thoughwe’re now friends, the past keeps popping upand slapping us in the face.

Recently, while doing promotion, I foundmyself on Radio 4, arguing with CliveAnderson about who actually “won” theHundred Years War. Suddenly I was back atChrist Church, jousting over ideas, the maindifference being that Clive and I had to stopafter six minutes so that someone else couldplug their new book. Speed tutoring – I think

it could be a useful skill for today’s students,though they might not appreciate its valueuntil much later in life. �Stephen Clarke (1978)

1000 Years of Annoying theFrench is published by BantamPress. The cover price is £16.99.

Ibiza & Formentera’sHeritage: A Non-Clubber’s Guide

Whether architecture buff orsecret week-end clubber, this is auseful companion for getting togrips with a small archipelagothat has not received a very fairpress of late. Before becoming theMed’s glamour-and-sensation capital, Ibiza wasknown to artists and architects for ravishing

farmhouses and pre-Roman treasures,including the largest Punic necropolis inSpain and a rare cave-sanctuary to Tanithidden deep in the northern wooded hills.Among other cultural surprises are Moorishwatermills, fortified churches, refuge anddefence towers, and the show-stoppingRenaissance walls, completed in 1585 duringthe reign of Philip II – invictissimo (invincible)as Davis wryly notes.

The present book is the result of fifteenyears’ investigation, with a wealth ofdrawings by the author that highlightcultural must-sees in both Pityusan islands –the Greek name that evokes the dense pineforests still to be found on both

of them. Three recreations showDalt Vila (the Upper Town) atvarious stages of its development,with a magnificent double-pagespread of the completed townwalls. Equally delectable are bird’s-eye views of the flat-roofed hamletof Balafià, and cutaways of awindmill, a town palazzo, andcountry farmhouses – to namejust three special monuments.

Davis’s jargon-free text ispacked with lively anecdotes andis it a pleasure to read frombeginning to end. Among themaps is a rare 1765 treasure fromKew, the first accurate delineation of the island’scoast, while a section of colour photographsshows the island as it is today. Generouscoverage of Formentera includes recreations of amegalithic burial chamber, a Bronze Agesettlement and a Roman fort, while the Ibizancasa payesa basks in a well-illustrated chapter allto itself. The final section deals with salt-extraction and traditional irrigation, withcaptivating drawings such as a cutaway of a

mule-powered waterwheel (noria) whichexplains the ingenious subterranean workings.All in all, a unique guide, reference tool andgraphic compendium. Full marks to Barbary for

this long overdue tribute to thetrue heritage of these unpolishedBalearic gems. �Martin Davies (1979)

Ibiza & Formentera’s Heritage: A Non-Clubber’s Guide by Paul R.Davis; editor Martin Davies.

This title and others about Ibizapublished by Barbary Press canbe ordered direct [email protected], orthrough amazon.co.uk. For a fullrange of titles, seewww.liveibiza.com

How Parables Work

Humphrey Palmer (1949) took Greats, andlater Theology, taught briefly at Christ ChurchCollege, Kanpur, and Madras Christian College,and mainly at Cardiff University. In retirementhe has published a book, How Parables Work.

The book is about Jesus' parables, and howhe set them to work. A parable offers acomparison between two items (here calledVerdict and Judgment). The Verdict wassomething that Jesus' hearers knew all about,and could readily agree to, like Only SickPeople need Doctoring. Armed with thatagreement he then came up with aJudgment; Only Sinners need Helping to

Repent; implying that they had agreedto this as well, as thisJudgment and that Verdict'run parallel'.

Is that a tall order? Tallerin some parables, perhaps.But it was a well-known wayof arguing. Any parable-hearer realized that agreeingthe Verdict was going to lethim in for something more.What more, he did not know -yet.

To check this theory,consider some parableswhich have reached uscomplete with Judgment.

For those told without, the theory can atmost help us to guess. �Humphrey Palmer (1949)

Further introduction is attempted inwww.palmerparables.co.uk. The book was printed by Lulu, N.Carolina andpublished by the author in 2008. Price about £10post free from Aphrohead.com (search onHumphrey, parables).

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Erasing DavidAt 12 noon on Monday 10thJanuary 2009 I left myhouse in Hoxton, London,waved goodbye to mypregnant wife and toddlerand went on the run. Iknew that two veryexperienced privateinvestigators were out toget me. They had myname and a recentphotograph. I assumed itwould not take them long to discoverwhere I lived so I felt an urgent need toget as far away as possible. There are 250CCTV cameras within a mile of myhouse. Did they have access to them? Idrove to St Pancras. I passed four sets ofautomatic number plate recognitioncameras. I checked in to Eurostar andheaded to Brussels. I had booked anopen ticket in a different name, which Ichanged into my name at the station.How long would it take them to findthat?

I had hired Cerberus, the privateinvestigators, well known as the best inthe business. I was on the run andmaking a feature length documentarycalled Erasing David for the Channel 4BRITDOC Foundation and the JosephRowntree Reform Trust. A crew wasfilming Cerberus as they tracked medown. I was filming myself as I ran away.I wanted to know what other people can

know about me. What isout there in the publicdomain? Can it be used toprofile me to the extentthat a determinedinvestigator, or identity thiefor stalker, could know what Iam likely to do in the future– and grab me? Whereshould we draw the dividingline between the state andthe individual?

Was I caught? Forgive me for notsaying. When the month was up andCerberus showed me what they hadbeen able to dig up and extract fromfriends and family (all of whom I hadwarned to watch out for people fishingfor information about me), my lifechanged. If they had shown me any onepiece of the information they had found,I would have felt it pretty insignificant. Incombination, though, it painted anincredibly highly resolved picture of aman who had not been particularlycareless with his data but nonethelesswas utterly trackable and predictable.

I am now determined that my childrenshould have the chance to sidestep thismassive data trawl. Am I paranoid? No –being paranoid means that they are notreally out to get you.

For more information on the film and toview the trailer: www.erasingdavid.com �David Bond (1989)

The OxfordUniversity alumniinter collegiate golftournamentA grandiloquent titlefor an enjoyable day.

Two colleges, St Catherine’s andPembroke, held aregular golf matchbetween their twogolfing societies. In1997 they decidedto extend theirmatch and invitedMerton to join them. The contestwas moved to Frilford the following year.The number of colleges grew graduallyuntil 2006, when the decision was madeto extend the tournament over twocourses and invite more colleges. ChristChurch was one of those and wesucceeded in being third. The followingyear we won and since then have been4th, 5th and this year third again. Weclaim, though with no statistical proof,that this makes us the top college overour period of play. Certainly we havealways ‘been in the mix’, as theprofessionals would say.

The tournament is now held on twocourses at Frilford and involves 18colleges and 160 competitors. Eachcollege can field a team of 10 (with fourreserves, if available) with the best 6 toscore over a single round of stablefordfollowed by lunch. In the evening anoptional dinner (wives are also invited) isheld in one of the college halls. The eventtakes place in the end of March or earlyApril and most colleges are able toprovide bed and breakfast if required.

The day provides a great opportunityto see old friends and to meet new ones.The golf is played off handicap so allstandards are potentially competitiveand we have a real chance of winning(the Dean gave us a dinner in Hall as areward for our last victory).

Why not come and join us? �Robert Seward (1965)

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Casa Alianzacharity cycle rideThis summer threeChrist Churchundergraduates will beundertaking thechallenge of a lifetime. Engineeringundergraduate Anton Hunt will beleading an expedition to cover the 4,000miles from San Jose, California to SanJose, Costa Rica by bicycle. He will bejoined by two other engineeringundergraduates from the House, IanMainwaring and Oliver Smith.

The expedition will cross five differentcountries and will involve three monthsof cycling through incredibly diverseterrains, ranging from arid deserts togreen mountains in Mexico, humidjungles throughout much of CentralAmerica finishing with tropical rainforestin Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The journeywill be as much a mental as a physicalchallenge. For more information and ablog of their preparations see:www.sanjosecycle2010.com.

Through this endeavour they hope toraise money for the Central Americanstreet children’s charity Casa Alianzawhich does amazing work with over12,000 vulnerable street children inHonduras, Nicaragua and Mexico. Anysupport would directly help withrehabilitation and housing schemes inthose areas.

Anton says: “Donations of any size arewelcome and would really boost ourdesire and determination to completethis huge challenge. Please visit ourfundraising website:www.justgiving.com/sanjosecycle2010and give generously. Many thanks foryour support!”�

Anton Hunt, Oliver Smith

and IanMainwaring

(all 2006) Christ Church

JCR

Kilimanjaro climb in aid of Help for Heroes The climax of Isla Kennedy’s story of herclimb for Help for Heroes, to raise fundsfor Headley Court as thanks for their helpafter her accident.

“The big rucksacks and Help for Heroesclothing gave away the other teammembers as we met at Heathrow on 3rdDecember to fly with Ethiopian Airlinesto Kilimanjaro.

We set off at 8am on day one with theporters leading, our bags on their heads.The pace was slow through dense jungleand we took short breaks every few hourswith a longer stop for lunch. We arrived atMachame camp (3100m) in day light andwere welcomed with popcorn and tea. Oursleeping tents had already been set up andafter a rest we had dinner; usually soupand bread followed by a pasta or potatodish and then fruit. Bed beckoned by 10pm,we woke daily at about 6.30am with tea,coffee or hot chocolate, and breakfast wasat 7am, usually porridge and fruit.

Day two took us on moor land up to theShira Plateau and day three was moor landand rocky semi-desert up to Lava Tower. Itis better to walk high then camp lower tohelp prevent mountain sickness, so wedescended to Baranco camp (3,950m) withsome beautiful views. Day four was toughtrekking across Baranco Wall; I wasbeginning to struggle, but the supportfrom the others was brilliant. The KaranguValley is the last water stop on the routeup to the summit and the altitude left memore breathless than usual. We finallyarrived at Barafu camp (4,550m) at about5pm for dinner and a short rest.

We were woken at 11pm to start thesummit trek at midnight. At thisaltitude it was cold enough forthermals. I was already tired from theday’s walking and relatively short rest;by 1am I had been sick. The doctor letme carry on but by 2am I was too lightheaded and wobbly to continue andhad to be helped down by one of theporters. It was very disappointing not toreach the summit, but I knew I had triedmy best and had reached 4,900m. Threeothers dropped out but everyone elsereached Uhuru Peak (5,895m) beforereturning to camp at about 8am.

Before returning we had somespeeches, thanked and tipped thelocals, and joined in some singing anddancing. It was an emotional andlovely end to the trek. Altogether weraised about £50,000 for Help forHeroes after fees and costs. I had afantastic time, experiencing somewonderful trekking and scenery,meeting some great people andmaking many new friends. Not onlydid I help the charity but the trek wasalso a great personal challenge.Eighteen months before the climb Icould not even walk after my braininjury. Many thanks to all whogenerously donated, and supportedboth Help for Heroes and me.” �

Isla Kennedy(2006)

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Oval House Theatre celebrates GOLD Arts Award winners Oval House Theatre is proud to announcethat Zephryn Taitte and Shavani Seth, twograduates of the Oval House YouthTheatre Group, have been awarded GOLDArts Awards.

The Award is a national qualification thatrecognises how young people develop asartists and arts leaders, assessing a widerange of arts and wider skills includingcreativity, communication, planning andteamwork. Zephryn and Shavanirepresented Oval House Theatre and weretwo of only twelve participants whoprepared and worked towards the GOLDArts Award between January andSeptember 2009. Prior to this the awardhad only been achieved by two otherpeople in London.

The Awards programme, planned by ArtsAwards and the University of London, andsupported by Shoreditch Festival, involvedfive arts organisations which were eachpartnered with a Higher EducationInstitution. Oval House worked with theRose Bruford College of Speech and Dramabased in Sidcup. Julian Bryant, Director ofCommunity Outreach said “Working withOval House on the Gold Arts award projecthas been a very rewarding experience,both for the College and for the GoldAward students. It was evident from theoutset that Oval House was instillinghighly positive artistic and professionalvalues in the young people, it was great tosee Oval House members identifying

career paths for themselves that includedhigher education as an option.”

Caroline Bray, Arts Award RegionalDevelopment Coordinator, London said“Arts Award and University of the ArtsLondon were proud to work with Shavaniand Zephryn from Oval House Theatre.Their specially devised piece of theatre,`Grandma’s Legacy’, was a huge hit atShoreditch Festival and theirprofessionalism and dedication madethem a real pleasure to work with.”

`Grandma’s Legacy’ was produced byShavani, written by Zephryn, and directedby both.They worked with a group of fiveyoung actors to develop the piece of part-improvised physical theatre. The storycelebrates Grandma’s life through theexperiences of a Caribbean family,disjointed from their cultural history;exploring morals, family, celebration,Caribbean folk tales and calypso music.

Shavani believes the experience has givenher the skills to help her as an artist, andhas inspired her to continue learning andcreating art. The Award has given her theopportunity to go to university where shehopes to study acting.

Oval House Theatre is proud of theinvolvement in the GOLD Arts Award aspart of an ongoing programme of worksupporting artists and arts leaders oftomorrow .�

Melanie SharpeOval House

Development Associate

“It was evident from the outset that Oval House was instilling highly positive artistic and professional values”

“The Gold Arts Award was a fantasticexperience. It is a hands-on way oflearning that has given me skills thatwill help me immensely as an artist...”

The origins of Oval HouseThe foundations go back to the ChristChurch (Oxford) Mission in East London,which was formed by Housemen in 1882 tohelp poor families. The organisation was, in1931, refounded by John Arkell (1928-31) inKennington as the “Christ Church (Oxford)United Clubs”. It was a typical boy’s club.Financial and volunteer support fromHousemen and their families, and Royalpatronage enabled Oval House as itbecame known in the 1960’s to surviveand prosper, developing into a communitycentre offering drama, dance and music foryoung people with deprived backgrounds.Peter Oliver was the real artistic founder ofOval House, and under him it became animportant centre for fringe theatre. It alsohelps disabled artists in many fields,advises school leavers, and runs courses foryoung people excluded from school. To findout more see Bill Rathbone’s piece in “A Portrait of the House” and visitwww.ovalhouse.com

26

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272727

On the 23rd April 2001, St George’s Day, I startedas Director of Development at Christ Church. Nineyears on, the battles with dragons have been fewand far between.

Instead I have felt honoured to be working closelywith many Old Members, friends and academiccolleagues who have immense passion and visionfor advancing Oxford, in all of its many forms. AtChrist Church I was responsible for heading theDevelopment Office in the largest fundraisingcampaign the House had ever undertaken – withthe magnificent leadership of Sir David Scholey. Iam now proud to be supporting the advancementof the whole University, as their Director ofDevelopment for the Campaign to raise aminimum of £1.25 billion.

The Campaign for the University of Oxford,“Oxford Thinking”, was launched on 28th May2008; with £575 million already raised in theprivate phase which began in August 2004. Thereare several remarkable elements to it. First is thatthe Campaign is the result of the colleges andUniversity working together, with a set of sharedpriorities, to raise more financial support than anyEuropean university has ever sought to do before.The second is that by the end of January 2010 wehad together raised over £817 million towards thegoal. The proportion of Old Members contributingto the Campaign in 2008/9 was over 14% withsome colleges reaching over 30%. One of thegoals for the Campaign is to encourage increasedlevels of Old Member support across the board.

Despite these difficult times the generosity of OldMembers and friends continues to demonstratethe high regard that exists worldwide for Oxford,whether for our unrivalled tutorial teaching or forour cutting edge research. With such encouragingprogress to date we should be confident in ourcombined ability to raise the substantial sums stillneeded to secure the University’s future. Fundingfor vital academic posts and programmes is one of

several key priorities, as is securing financialsupport for undergraduate and graduate studentsto ensure ‘needs-blind admission’. There is alsoconsiderable demand for investment ininfrastructure – from the restoration of Grade 1listed buildings to the building of new facilities onthe Radcliffe Observatory Quarter to house newInstitutes for Mathematics and the Humanities.

The ethos of Oxford Thinking is one thatencourages donors to support whichever aspectof Oxford they wish to. Furthermore there is theshared understanding across Oxford that a gift toany part of our broad and complex institutionsupports the whole. To be leading theDevelopment effort for the Campaign is a veryprivileged role, which allows me to buildsustained relationships with those delivering theacademic priorities for Oxford and those whogenerously support them. An Old Member ofChrist Church said to me many years ago, when Ispoke to him about our fundraising activity, thathe was impressed and touched by the care andintegrity we took, respecting, above all things, theimportance of his relationship with Oxford. Ispoke with him again only the other evening.

Although in 2006 I swapped the elegance of thePeck 9 rooms for the 1960’s surroundings of theUniversity’s Wellington Square, I am proud still tobe a devoted member of the community that isChrist Church. I was given such a warm welcomewhen I arrived, and I am enormously grateful forbeing invited back onto the Governing Body ayear after leaving.

In my first few days at Oxford I found my selfsitting next to a Tutor. He asked how long I hadbeen in my job – I told him I was very new andstill had an immense amount to learn. Heresponded that so had he, having arrived a mereten years earlier! I still have a great deal to learnand much to discover, but I cannot imagine abetter place to do it! �

Sue CunninghamDirector of

Development,University of Oxford

Although in 2006 I swapped the

elegance of the Peck 9rooms for the 1960’ssurroundings of the

University’sWellington Square,

I am proud still to bea devoted member ofthe community that is

Christ Church.

j The Chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford, ChrisPatten, speaking during anevent in Seattle during the2010 North AmericanReunion

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28

The Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre (OPDC;http://opdc.medsci.ox.ac.uk) is a newly-formedgroup of scientists and clinicians, with a uniquecombination of skills, working within theinterdisciplinary research environment at Oxford.The Centre was launched in February 2010,supported by the generous donation of the £5million Monument Discovery Award fromParkinson's UK, the leading supporter of Parkinson’sdisease (PD) research in the country. Two of thefounding OPDC scientists are the Christ ChurchMedical Tutors: Dr Richard Wade-Martins and DrStephanie Cragg. Together with nine other Oxfordlaboratories they aim to create a world-classresearch centre dedicated to understanding theinitial causes of PD with a view towards developingnew molecular therapies to halt the diseaseprogression at the earliest stages. The formation ofthe Centre brings together internationally-leadingscientists studying multiple aspects of PD, from thegenes which may underlie susceptibility to PD,functional analysis of brain cells (neurons), and thewiring of neuronal circuitry; with leading clinicalexperts in the diagnosis and treatment of PD. TheCentre includes two world-leading Medical ResearchCouncil Units in Oxford and the UK’s top-rankedUniversity biomedical sciences department, theDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics.

Degenerative disorders of the brain, like PD, arebecoming more common as our population getsolder. The symptoms of PD include tremor,stiffness, and slowness of movement while non-motor symptoms include memory loss, sleepproblems, low mood, anxiety, and constipation. PD

involves the loss of neurons that produce thechemical dopamine, referred to as dopaminergicneurons. Various other brain areas are alsoaffected throughout the course of the illness. Ourunderstanding of what causes PD is limited andthere is currently no cure or treatment that canprevent or reverse the neuronal cell loss seen inPD. Treatment is made more difficult because thephysical symptoms of the disease only becomeapparent when the underlying neuronal changesare well underway. Research must make everyattempt to identify early changes, before thesymptoms of this debilitating disorder becomeapparent. As Richard explains:

“Our aim is to define a three-fold signature of riskfor PD, using the science of genetics, proteins andbrain imaging to understand the very earlieststages of PD. We must be able to first detect, andultimately halt, pre-symptomatic neuronal loss toprevent the occurrence of PD. The OPDC will startby collecting DNA from a cohort of approximately2000 new PD patients, their relatives and age-matched healthy controls from an extendedThames Valley area with a population ofapproximately 2.5 million, to better understandthe genes influencing disease. We will alsosample blood and fluid from around the spinalcord and brain to look for proteins which maychange with the onset of symptoms. We will usehighly-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) imaging of the substantia nigra; the regionof the brain principally affected by PD. Oxford hasstrength in MRI of the brain and houses one ofthe most powerful MRI magnets in the country.

Richard Wade-MartinsTutor for Medicine

Degenerative

disorders of the

brain, like PD, are

becoming more

common as our

population gets

older.

Understanding Parkinson's disease

“Our aim is to define a three-fold signatureof risk using the science of genetics, proteinsand brain imaging to understand the very

earliest stages of the disease.”

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Nick Pitts-Tucker(1968, Classics)

The Joan Pitts Tucker Family Trust is a small fundnamed after my mother and has in the pastdonated on a rather random basis. However whenthe opportunity to help fund a graduate to studywith the new multi-disciplinary OxfordParkinson’s Disease Centre came to our attention,through the Christ Church Development Office,we were immediately attracted because it is bothcutting edge research and multi-disciplinary, justlike my mother’s work in Hut 6 at Bletchley Parkin the deciphering of Enigma.

It seems to us that this form of funding willbecome all the more important for researchers inthe future as whatever they admit at present theGovernment has run out of our money. Foreveryone’s sake high-end research must go on atChrist Church and at Oxford thus the opportunityfor people like us to get involved both matches aneed in the University and fulfils our wishes.Furthermore as the marginal tax rate risesindividuals have the chance to become muchmore active by allocating pre-tax income tocharitable activities.

We would like to share our thoughts on this topicwith others and have suggested that theDevelopment Office creates a forum for like-minded people and family trusts. This is one ofthe great privileges of belonging to the House! If you are interested in helping with matchedfunding for research projects, in whatever area, do contact Simon Offen at Christ Church. �

Dr Cragg and Dr Wade-Martins are thetwo Official Students (Tutorial Fellows)in Medicine at Christ Church. They worktogether selecting undergraduatemedical students at interview,conducting and arranging tutorials andmonitoring progress during their threeyears studying pre-clinical medicine.They are both founding members ofthe Oxford PD Consortium and theirtwo laboratories are located at theDepartment of Physiology, Anatomyand Genetics.

“We share a common interest inunderstanding the molecular basis ofPD and have previously co-supervisedseveral graduate research students. Weare now delighted to report that due tothe generosity of the Joan Pitts-TuckerFamily Trust we can announce the Pitts-Tucker/Moritz studentship inNeuroscience to fund a graduatestudent to be jointly supervisedbetween our laboratories. The holder of the Pitts-Tucker/Moritzstudentship in Neuroscience will be

admitted to Christ Church as agraduate student and become amember of the Graduate CommonRoom (GCR). This will provide themwith membership of an active andflourishing graduate studentcommunity.

We are grateful to the Joan Pitts-TuckerFamily Trust for their support ininitiating the studentship and to theMoritz fund for matching the fundingto allow the studentship to happen”.�

Research must make

every attempt to

identify early

changes, before the

symptoms of this

debilitating disorder

become apparent.

The JoanPitts-TuckerFamilyTrust

L Human dopaminergicneurons

L A PET scan showingreduced dopamine activityin the brain of a patientwith Parkinson’s disease

The Christ Church Joan Pitts-Tucker/Moritz studentship in Neuroscience

We will correlate MRI measures in living patients,relatives and controls with changes seen in post-mortem PD brain.

We will take advantage of the ongoing revolutionin DNA technologies to identify changes in theDNA of PD patients, and relate these changes tothe dysfunction of neurons in PD. We will userecent advances in stem cell technology togenerate neurons from skin cells taken by simplebiopsy from individuals in our PD patient cohortwho are carrying genetic variations thatpredispose them to PD. From these stem cells wewill generate dopaminergic neurons carryingdisease-associated genetic variations in a cellculture dish to understand how and whyneuronal function changes. We will then expressthese genetic variants in mice and rats to mimicwhat goes wrong in the brain early on in PD.Using the expertise in neuroscience at Oxford wewill characterize how the release of dopamine ischanged in the brain of our models, affectingelectrical communication between brain cellsknown to be vital for movement, thought andemotion. We will also identify how the physicalconnections between brain cells are altered, andwhy certain neurons stop working properly anddie. These improved models will more accuratelyreflect the human disease allowing us to defineprecisely how, when, where and why brainfunction is disturbed early on in the developmentof PD, before obvious symptoms appear”.

Working together the scientific and clinical teamsin the OPDC aim to uncover molecularmechanisms underlying early stages of PD, thusenabling early diagnosis of PD and the ability togenerate models that will allow identification oftherapies for treatment before symptoms arise.�

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The Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war has run abouthalf its course. Judging by the dominant reaction ofthe British press, its sole function is to prove whatwe all know to be true: that the invasion wasimmoral and Tony Blair is to blame. The surfeit ofmoral certainty among the commentators issuspect; the zealous clarity of their moral watersneeds muddying.

For sure, the invasion and occupation of Iraq wasmorally flawed. The US administration’s motivationwas hubristic and preparation for postwarreconstruction was woefully inadequate. Yet mostjust wars are flawed. Take the war against NaziGermany. The RAF’s indiscriminate bombing ofGerman cities was largely driven by “Bomber”Harris’s vengeful hatred. While thedestruction of Hitler's hegemony was verygood, the entrenchment of Stalin’s wasvery bad. Any complex human enterprisewill involve moral flaws. What needsdetermining is whether and how theseundermine its justice as a whole.

As proof of the Iraq invasion’swickedness, critics invoke the civilian deathtoll, soberly reckoned at 100,000–150,000.But Europe’s liberation from Nazidomination cost the lives of 70,000French civilians and 500,000 Germanones throughbombing;and,whereasthis

was the direct responsibility of the British andAmericans, most Iraqi civilians were killed byforeign or native insurgents. Yes, the occupyingpowers were obliged to maintain law and order,and failed initially. But the insurgents wereobliged not to send suicide bombers into crowdedmarket places, and they have failed persistently.

Arguments about a war’s disproportion are oftenintractable. If one assumes the Iraq war was unjust,then no civilian deaths were worth it. Yet inaffirming the justice of the war against Hitler weimply it was worth the deaths of 30m civilians. Theloss of 150,000 civilians therefore does not, of itself,make the Iraq war unjust. The invasion would be

harder to defend were the country's newregime to fail. But that has not happened

yet, and those critics who care more forIraqis than they hate the former US and

UK leaders George W. Bush and MrBlair will hope it never does.

If determining the Iraq war’sproportionality is difficult,

maybe determining itslegality is easier.

Do not be sosure invadingIraq wasimmoral

Nigel BiggarRegius Professor

of Moral and Pastoral Theology

First Published: March 11 2010 in

The Financial Times

Any complex humanenterprise will involve

moral flaws. Whatneeds determining iswhether and how

these undermine itsjustice as a whole.

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It would seem so, given the assurance with whichsome lawyers have damned it before Chilcot. Butsuch condemnations can only be opinions, sinceinternational law can be variously interpreted.However, even if we grant that the invasion wasillegal, we still have to grapple with the fact thatso was Nato’s 1999 intervention in Kosovo, whichis now widely regarded as legitimate. Theimplication? That legality is not the final word.Current international law is morally problematic.It denies the right of states to use military forceunilaterally except in self-defence, while reservingthe enforcement of international law for theUnited Nations Security Council, whose capacityto act is hamstrung by the right of veto in theservice of national interests.

The decisive issue in evaluating the Iraq invasionis not whether it was morally flawed ordisproportionate or illegal, but whether it wasreally necessary to stop or prevent a sufficientlygreat evil.

No one disputes that Saddam Hussein’s regimewas grossly atrocious. In 1988 it used chemicalweapons against Kurdish civilians in what,according to Human Rights Watch, amounted togenocide; and from 1988 to 2003 it murdered atleast 400,000 of its own people. Critics of theinvasion would presumably not tolerate such aregime in their own backyard; and an effectiveinternational policing authority would havechanged it. Is the coalition to be condemned forfilling the vacuum? Yes, there have been similarvacuums that it (and others) have failed to fill –Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Darfur. But is it not better to

be inconsistently responsible than consistentlyirresponsible?

Now add the concern about weapons of massdestruction. This was sufficiently grave to rousethe UN to litter the period 1991-2003 with 17resolutions calling on Saddam to disarmpermanently. Given the shocking discovery in themid-1990s of Iraq’s success in enriching uraniumand coming within 24 months of nucleararmament, and given the regime’s persistentflouting of the UN’s will, there was good reasonto withhold benefit of doubt and to suppose thatit was developing WMDs. It was not just MessrsBush and Blair who supposed this. So did JacquesChirac, then French president, and Hans Blix, theUN’s chief weapons inspector.

We now know this reasonable supposition wasmistaken and that the problem was less urgentthan it appeared. But it was still urgent. Saddamwas intent on acquiring nuclear weapons andsupport for containment was dissolving. DavidKelly, Britain’s chief expert on Iraqi WMDs, famousfor being driven to commit suicide, is less famousfor being convinced that the problem’s onlylasting solution was regime-change.

Maybe critics of the war view with equanimitywhat might have happened without the 2003invasion, trusting that the secular rationality ofRealpolitik would have prevented the rivalrybetween Iraq’s atrocious Saddam and Iran’smillenarian Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad from turningcatastrophically nuclear. In this age of suicidebombers, however, such faith is hard to credit. �

Colloquium on the ethicsof national interestOn 5 February 2010 the McDonald Centre forTheology, Ethics, and Public Life here at ChristChurch hosted a one-day colloquium on the ethicsof national interest and British foreign policy.Inspired by Sir Christopher Meyer's book, Gettingour Way, the gathering was co-sponsored with theRoyal Institute for International Relations atChatham House, London, and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict.

The title of the book (and the more recent BBC4 TV series) –“Getting Our Way” – is a symptom of the current lurch awayfrom liberal idealism back toward realism in foreign policy. Thepost-invasion woes of Iraq are widely held to have writ largethe imprudent and hubristic folly of trying to ‘save the world’

for liberal democracy, and to counsel more modestand self-regarding ambitions in the future. In lightof this, the Christ Church conference discussedquestions such as: What future for an ethicalforeign policy? Must the new realism be brutallyselfish? Are we forever fated to bounce back andforth between absolutist Kant and cynicalHobbes? Or can national self-interest itself bemorally obligatory?

In addition to Sir Christopher Meyer himself, a former HMAmbassador to the United States, the colloquium included SirIvor Roberts, former HM Ambassador to Italy; Mr Jeremy Hill,former HM Ambassador to Bulgaria; Major-General (ret'd) TimCross; Professors Nigel Biggar (Christ Church), Paul Cornish(Chatham House), Gwyn Prins (LSE), and Nick Rengger (StAndrews); and serving officials from the Foreign &Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.�

The decisive issue inevaluating the Iraq

invasion is notwhether it was

morally flawed ordisproportionate or

illegal, but whether itwas really necessary to

stop or prevent asufficiently great evil.

Sir Christopher Meyer (left) with Nigel Biggar

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101 Faces of Christ Church A photographic exploration of the community of Christ ChurchIn the autumn of 2008, the German-bornLondon-based artist Bettina von Kameke wasinvited to a residency at Christ Church. 101 Facesof Christ Church presents 101 photographicportraits of the academic and the domestic staff,the choristers, the clerks as well as the Cathedralstaff, all of which form the basis of the ChristChurch Community.

The strict documentary-like character of thesephotographs is playfully interrupted by one asset,an old-fashioned giant fob watch, which thesitters hold in their hands. The fob watch providesa surreal element and gives the project aconceptual grounding. Founded by Henry VIII, the

dynamic betweentradition and change –enabled or disabled by thepassing of time – is one of

the most important issues at Christ Church. Von Kameke has worked with a variety of

enclosed communities including a circus, amerchant vessel, a monastery and a prison. Shebegan her series of work about enclosedcommunities in 2001, when she sailed with thirty-

one Burmese merchant seamen from England toSouth Africa over a period of four weeks. 101 Facesof Christ Church is the fifth in series. Through thecelebration of everyday rituals, the long-timecommitment of the staff and students, and thehistorical place, with its walls and hidden doors,Christ Church has a unique and enclosedcharacter, which this exhibition seeks to explore.

In her work Von Kameke questions andexplores the interior and exterior conditions,means and forces, which make a communal lifesustainable.

An enclosed community is generally based onshared religious, commercial or traditional valuesand aspirations. Von Kameke’s pictures disclosethe individual aesthetics of an enclosedcommunity, which she carefully observed throughthe viewfinder of the camera. Von Kameke statesthat “the camera, either still or moving, createsdistance but at the same time allows me to entermy subjects’ intimate privacy. The camerafunctions as an interface between myself andthe world outside. The camera becomes mysecond skin.”�

For more informationabout Bettina’s work visitwww.vonkameke.com

“The camera functions as an interface betweenmyself and the world outside. The camerabecomes my second skin.”

L Bettina Von Kameke atthe Private View whichwas held in Blue BoarQuad on 23 April 2010

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Effective governanceA proposal to provide effective governance, economic growth, and social stability

This article is a summary. The full article can be read at www.perendie.com.

My former tutor’s article, Economic musings (CCM Issue 24), correctly asserted that “thecentre of gravity, in all senses, of the world economic crisis, is the North Atlantic area,especially the United States and Britain. That is where the delinquent banks whichtriggered the crisis are located, and where public finances are in the biggest mess.”

The credit crunch and the disillusion with parliamentary democracy prove that thereis a problem with the way we govern ourselves, as organisations and states. I wouldlike to propose a solution which, if implemented, would go a long way to providingeffective governance, economic growth, and social stability.

The problemAll our existing institutions andregulations failed to prevent the creditcrunch, the Madoff and Stanford frauds,the obvious risk of bankers lending topeople who can’t afford to repay, and thecollapse of numerous financialorganisations. The banking crisis wascaused by banks knowingly lending topeople who couldn’t repay; therefore thecrisis was predictable. So why did theydo it? Because current governanceprocesses don’t work. In both the publicand private sectors they are unstrategic,disconnected, impersonal, inefficient andreactive.

Lord Digby Jones, former directorgeneral of the CBI and Trade Minister,said of the Civil Service, “Frankly the jobcould be done with half as many. It couldbe more productive, more efficient, itcould deliver a lot more value for moneyfor the taxpayer. And the levers ofchange, the ability to affect change areso rare, because of the culture.” Wasteabounds in the multiple tax, benefitsand identification systems.

Political governanceThere is a problem with politicalgovernance in particular. We live in anoligarchy where our choice in who governsus is effectively restricted to two partiesoffering similar policies and similarincompetence to govern. We areimpoverished by a government which stealstaxes to pay the interest on the debt it has

assumed without our consent. We arecontrolled by myriad rules and regulationsabout what we can say and write and do.Ronald Reagan's criticism of the USA’sbureaucracy applies to our country: “If itmoves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.If it stops moving, subsidise it.”

What have we got in return for theseintrusions on our freedom? Net debt of£742 billion (February 2010) and globallythe Bank of International Settlements saysthat the value of outstanding derivatives is$1.114 quadrillion, or $190,000 for everyperson on the planet. These casino bets,with no underlying asset value, arecompletely dependent on confidence inthe system, a confidence that can easilyevaporate. If our governance apparatusdoesn’t prevent these risks, what use is it?If our governors don’t prevent these risks,what use are they?

The response to the crisisThe response to the financial crisis hasbeen to increase the same ineffectiveregulation and to lend public money tothe people who caused the crisiswithout asking the people who own themoney. Nothing significant has been putright. There has been no attempt totackle the under-lying causes of thecrisis, namely the lack of transparencyand failure to predict the predictable.

In one desperate attempt to dodgethe bullet the government has turned tooutsourcing which rather than solveproblems merely moves them. It saves

1. http://www.officialdocuments.gov.uk/document/cm71/7170/7170.pdf

Peter Bebb (PPE, 1965)

money but by further separatingorganisations and processes it increasesdysfunctionality and diminishesoutcomes.

The response to the political crisishas been to tweak the existing system,typified by the document “TheGovernance of Britain”,1 which ispresented as the first step to “forge anew relationship between governmentand citizen.” However the paper merelystrengthens the present oligarchicsystem and by moving powers toParliament disfranchises the electoratefurther. Politicians still seem to think ofthe electorate as children who need tobe controlled and patronised.

The think-tanks agree that ourpresent approach to governance isbroken. Their analysis is impeccable butthey lack sustainable solutions. Andsolutions won’t come from the CivilService:

A solutionThere is both an opportunity and a needto make fundamental changes in theway the public and private sectororganisations are governed. The modelproposed here is new and rendersexisting governance obsolete. It isderived from research of 500 private andpublic sector organisations.

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34

An effective governance systemOrganisational structures are inherentlyinefficient because they separate people,processes and information. In an effectivegovernance system everything theorganisation needs to do and employ todeliver its required outcomes is causallylinked at all levels. Consequently, theprobability of achieving the requiredoutcomes is predicted and preventiveaction can be taken. Existing roles,products, and processes are simplified andcosts are reduced.

Everyone is asked to state themeasurable contribution they will maketo the corporate outcomes. The voluntaryapproach increases commitment andmakes use of unused ability. Everyone setstheir own status and rewards through thesignificance of the outcomes they committo deliver.

Anyone can see what contributioneveryone is making towards the corporateoutcomes, and their own progress.Knowing that one’s progress is visible topeople up, down, across and outside theorganisation is a powerful motivator. Thetransparency makes governance effective.The consequent productivity increasecreates a virtuous circle of happyshareholders, customers, employees andsuppliers leading to further productivityincreases, which translate into asustainable 20% increase in stakeholdersatisfaction and 20% reduction in costs.

Since none of the 500 organisations Ihave investigated operates in this joined-up way, the potential productivityimprovement is immense. The solutionhas been applied successfully to severalpublic and private sector organisations.There are four steps:

1. Agree a specific, measurable andjoined-up picture of the future withthe organisation’s leaders

2. Using the picture of the future as a'zero-base', align the current

objectives, deliverables, processes,initiatives and costs with the requiredoutcomes to mitigate the risk of non-delivery (see table below).

3. Invite successive levels of theorganisation to say how they willcontribute to the future outcomesand deal with risks

4. Using the business managementsystem,2 inspect the probability ofrealising the required outcomes andchange processes and resourceallocations if necessary

As well as delivering significant DCSF costreductions, the approach would “makethis the best place in the world for ourchildren and young people to grow up.”(DCSF, The Children’s Plan: Building brighterfutures) Improvements of this sort acrosscentral government would significantlyincrease the electorate’s satisfaction with

government and reduce the net debt.For example the 410 local authorities and11,000 town, parish and communitycouncils in England and Wales spend over£113 billion a year to carry out similarfunctions. Implementing the strategydescribed above would lead both tosavings of at least £20 billion and anincrease in stakeholder satisfaction.

If all public and private sectororganisations were to implement thissolution, there would be improvementsin predictability, accountability,transparency, and reporting. The existingcumbersome, expensive and ineffectiveregulatory framework would be replacedby the business management system.

Making the UK a democracyA new generation has come of age withthe Web and is using its creativity andcollaboration to address challenges facingour country and the world. The FacebookCauses application has more than 60million registered users who are using thepower of social networks to raise moneyfor charity. Meetup.com helps interestgroups formed on the Web to get togetherin person – and a remarkable number ofgroups do so for civic purposes. Twitter andYouTube played major roles in helpingorganize political protests in Iran's election.

Many government leaders recognizethe opportunities inherent in harnessinga highly motivated and diverse populationnot just to help them get elected, but tohelp them do a better job.

2. The business management system linkseverything an organisation needs to do and employto deliver its required outcomes at all levels acrossthe whole value chain. This allows the organisation'sleaders to make and see the effect of a change in atarget, activity, resource or budget immediately.

DCSF Resource (England only) Volume £ billions

Frontline staff 682,000 £55 £54,560,000,000

Other staff £20 £20,348,948,000

Current costs £75 £74,908,948,000

Required FTEs 597,180 £48 £47,774,368,421

Resource release 36% £27 £27,134,579,579

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President Obama exhorted Americansto rise to the challenge: “We must use allavailable technologies and methods toopen up the federal government, creating anew level of transparency to change theway business is conducted in Washington,and giving Americans the chance toparticipate in government deliberationsand decision-making in ways that were notpossible only a few years ago.”3

We are connected like never before andhave the skills and passion to solveproblems affecting us locally as well asnationally. Effective governance provides uswith the ability to govern ourselves and toget government information and serviceswhere and when we need them.

Politicians are the main barrier to thisdesirable scenario and social progress ingeneral. Their hunger for power and lack ofcreativity stand in the way. Politicians andsenior civil servants have proved theirinability to run countries by allowing thecredit crunch.

In this wiki age, it makes no sense for649 Members of Parliament who cannotrepresent the varied views of millions ofconstituents to travel and sit together towatch the Cabinet’s will become law.Parliament is an anachronism. The internetis a more economic, efficient and effectiveway of gathering the views of theelectorate.

Real democracy could take £200 billion(30%) off the cost of running the UK byreplacing our unproductive politicians andsenior civil servants by a few elected co-ordinators with emergency powers only.We would be better off in every way byrepresenting and governing ourselvesthrough effective governance. We would,however, need to guard against the folly ofcrowds, the tendency of human beings toact as herds and follow any leader.

Governance by allIn a BBC broadcast on 15 April 1957,4

Spedan Lewis (above right), the founderof the John Lewis Partnership, said: “Thepresent state of affairs is really aperversion of the proper working ofcapitalism. It is all wrong to havemillionaires before you have ceased tohave slums. Capitalism has doneenormous good and suits human naturefar too well to be given up as long ashuman nature remains the same. But theperversion has given us too unstable asociety. Differences of reward must belarge enough to induce people to do theirbest but the present differences are fartoo great. If we do not find some way ofcorrecting that perversion of capitalism,our society will break down. We shall findourselves back in some form ofgovernment without the consent of thegoverned; some form of police state…thegeneral idea of substituting partnershipfor exploiting employment…makes worksomething to live for as well assomething to live by. Here may be thenew source of working energy of whichour country is in such grave need.”

Include customers and suppliers inthe partnership, and you have agovernance structure which practicallyrenders ineffective external governanceredundant. The business management

3. www.forbes.com/ 2009/08/10/government-internet-software-technology-breakthroughs-oreilly.html

4. www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/ Display.aspx?&MasterId=947efa13-8aac-47d9-b30a-e59a7bbca56c &NavigationId=548

system is needed to balance theconflicting interests of thesestakeholders since this isn’t possiblemanually.

Effective Governance NetworkIf you are convinced the currentgovernance system is not going toprevent future crises, join me insearching for a way to implement thesolution I’ve outlined here or propose analternative at http://openrsa.ning.com/forum/ topics/effective-governance-network or to [email protected].

It is not just at the national level thatthese ideas could be effective. The “Inperpetuity” document defines the ChristChurch’s key objectives and the strategyfor achieving these objectives: raisemoney. Obviously, money is a necessarycondition of the perpetuity of ChristChurch. But is it sufficient?

The credit crunch has verified thefollowing instruction: “Do not store up foryourselves treasures on earth, wheremoth and rust destroy, and where thievesbreak in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19)

A single strategy is risky. The chanceof perpetuating Christ Church could beincreased by

• Developing a broader causal strategyusing the governance processdescribed above

• Including in that strategy ways ofmarketing the college5 and exploitingWeb 2.0 to extend the education thecollege offers to a wider audience offee-payers.

Such an approach would complementthe defensive increase in funding with apositive increase in service and income.At least, a decision not to join or exploitthe wiki world should be deliberate.�5. By, for example, linking the website to courseinformation and repeatedly winning UniversityChallenge!

In this wiki age, it makes nosense for 649 Members ofParliament who cannotrepresent the varied views ofmillions of constituents to traveland sit together to watch theCabinet’s will become law.

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Books with no ending...Bibliophilia without Bibliolatry

Dr Mark EdwardsTutor in Theology

“The wife said that it was blasphemy to quote thescriptures out of church” (Henry Fielding, JosephAndrews, part 4 chapter 11). It can happen bychance, for, as C.S. Lewis says, we use biblicalphrases all the time with only a vague sense thatthey come from somewhere. And it can be donesurreptitiously: it is said that an American novelistonce threw a group of clergymen into a fermentby reciting seditious passages from Luke’s Gospelwithout divulging the name of the author. Buthere are some questions to try out in a pub quiz.Which of these classic titles are scriptural: Eyelessin Gaza, Lord of the Flies, Where Angels Fear to

Tread, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Strait is the Gate, TheLast Temptation, The Golden Bowl? Which of thefollowing is not a biblical quotation: “Woe untothem that get up early in the morning”, “Ourhearts are restless until they find rest in thee”, “Ishall cut off him that pisseth against the wall”?Scholars can discuss the sublime in literaturewithout remembering that it was Robert Lowth, inlectures on poetry at Oxford, who discoveredsomething loftier than the high style of the Greeksor the orotundity of the Romans in the vertiginouseloquence of the Hebrew prophets. Classicists canexpatiate on the Greek origins of western culturewithout so much as mentioning the NewTestament, the book for whose sake the study ofGreek was cultivated in early modern England.

Of course there are plenty of atheists who read theOld Testament for ammunition (the King Jamesversion is still the bloodiest), and many “apocalyptic”films are spiced with tags from the Book ofRevelation, or (like Eco’s Name of the Rose) with linesthat purport to be tags but aren’t. But to read thetext for a frisson is as limiting as to read it from thepulpit; you must read it like any other book (asColeridge said) to learn that it is not quite like anyother. In its power of saying almost too much in ahandful of words, the Old Testament outdoestragedy and the Norse sagas: think of Jacob’swrestling with God (“I will not let thee go until thoubless me”), the first circumcision (“a bloodyhusband art thou to me”), the sating of Amnon’spassion for Tamar (“the hatred wherewith he hatedher was greater than the love wherewith he hadloved her”), the confrontation of Ahab and Elijah(“hast thou found me, O mine enemy?”). Thegospels are better known, we think, but second-hand acquaintance won’t enable us to enjoy thebittersweet comedy of the woman who sought outChrist because she “had suffered many things frommany physicians”, or the pathos of MaryMagdalene’s tart rejoinder when she comes toanoint a body and is accosted by two common orgarden angels: “they have taken my Lord, and I knownot where they have laid him”. It is fashionable tospeak of the role of secrecy and suppression in theformation of Christianity, and it is true: there are lotsof things they don’t tell you in The Da Vinci Code. �

Ms 101, Master ofCardinal Wolsey Epistle-Lectionary (England,1528), fols.29 and 33v.

One of a pair ofLectionaries, thisimpressive liturgicalbook wascommissioned byCardinal Wolsey. Thevolume, now kept inChrist Church Library,contains the text forfeast days. The Cardinalspared no expense onthe manuscript. Heinvited Pieter Meghen(who later becamescribe to King HenryVIII) to write out thetext. The work of theilluminator ischaracterized bytraditional Flemishpainting techniquescombined with aMannerist sensibility.

The miniatures selectedare of the Hebrewscapturing the fallingmanna and theVisitation.

For details, see the onlinecatalogue of Westernmanuscripts(www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library/western-manuscripts).

For further information onthe most recent research,see Library’s termlyacademic journal(www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library/newsletter).

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

enclosed with your copy of ChristChurch Matters.

Contact: Emma Sinden, AlumniRelations Officer +44 (0)1865 [email protected]

24 – 26 September2010 OXFORD ALUMNI WEEKEND:SHARED TREASURESOxford

Oxford University is delighted to inviteyou back once again for the 2010Alumni Weekend in September. Joinfellow alumni and alumnae for threedays of talks, lectures, walks, tours andmany more activities.

Contact: Oxford University [email protected]+44 (0)1865 611610 or sign up for email updates atwww.alumniweekend.ox.ac.uk

29 September1960 REUNION

Christ Church

A reunion dinner for Old Members whowill be celebrating the 50th Anniversaryof their matriculation in 2010.


OCTOBER 2010

1 October 2010GAUDY (1997-1999 MATRICULATES)Christ Church

Contact: Helen Smith, Steward’sSecretary +44 (0)1865 286 [email protected]

9 OctoberTHE MOZART EXPERIENCE

7.30pm, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

A performance of Mozart's Requiemand Ave Verum sung by the Choristersof Christ Church and WorcesterCollege, ex-choristers and friends.Conducted by Dr Stephen Darlington.

Tickets: £15.00 from Christ ChurchCathedral School +44 (0)1865 242 561(Students and children free)

21 OctoberALUMNI DRINKS FOR MEDIA, TECH & START-UPS6.30 - 8.30pm BusinessBecause, Unit 4,Archer Street Studios, 10-11 ArcherStreet, London W1D 7AZ

Join other Christ-Churchers frommedia, technology and start-upbusinesses. Hosted in the office ofnew-media start-up,BusinessBecause.com, in the heart ofSoho, you can expect lots of energyand ideas, but probably plastic cupsand jeans, rather than champagneglasses and tailored suits!

Tickets: £12.00

Contact: Emma Sinden, AlumniRelations Officer, +44 (0)1865 286 [email protected]

NOVEMBER 2010

4 NovemberLAWYERS’ DRINKS RECEPTIONFreshfields, 65 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1HS

A drinks reception for Old Membersworking in the legal sector. Moredetails and a booking form will besent out in the next eMatters.


6 NovemberEARLY GAUDY FOR 2003, 2004 & 2005

MATRICULANDSWestminster School, Little Dean’s Yard,Westminster, London, SW1P 3PF

A reunion to bridge the gap betweengraduation and your first Gaudy.Booking forms will be posted toeveryone during the summer.


10 NovemberYEAR REP DINNER

London (Venue and time tbc)

The annual meeting and dinner forChrist Church Year Representatives.

Contact:Emma Sinden, Alumni RelationsOfficer, +44 (0)1865 286 [email protected]

For news and more information about events, please visit our website www.chch.ox.ac.uk

25 May – 29 August 2010 CHRIST CHURCH PICTURE GALLERY:THE FIRING LINE – DEPICTIONS OFCONFLICT IN THE COLLECTION OFGENERAL JOHN GUISEChrist Church Picture Gallery

War and battle have always had aplace in art – from prehistoric cavepaintings to the most currentconflicts of the 21st century. Forcenturies rulers of states had theirmilitary encounters visually glorified,choosing not only their own militaryencounters, but more often famoushistorical and mythological battles.

Critical depictions of war, with very fewexceptions, only occurred from the mid-19th century. The subject matterdemands monumentality and most ofthe painted, woven and sculpted worksare impressive in size with the intentionto overwhelm and awe the viewer.

Opening times1 May – 30 September 2010: Mondayto Saturday 10.30am – 5pm; Sunday2pm – 5pm.

1 October 2010 – 30 April 2011: Mondayto Saturday 10.30am to 1pm & 2pm –4.30pm; Sunday 2pm – 4.30pm.

Contact: Picture Gallery +44 (0)1865 [email protected]/gallery

SEPTEMBER 2010

13 SeptemberBOARD OF BENEFACTORS’ GAUDY

Christ Church

Contact: Simon Offen, DeputyDevelopment Director +44 (0)1865 286 [email protected]

18 SeptemberMATHEMATICS DINNERChrist Church

A dinner in Hall to mark theretirement of Michael Vaughan-Lee on30th September this year.

Contact: Emma Sinden, AlumniRelations Officer, +44 (0)1865 286 [email protected]

24 – 26 SeptemberASSOCIATION WEEKEND & GCR ANNIVERSARY Christ Church

A programme and booking form forthe weekend of celebrations isenclosed with your copy of ChristChurch Matters.

Contact: +44 (0)1865 286848/286877or [email protected]

25 September CHRIST CHURCH ASSOCIATION AGM AND DINNERChrist Church

A programme and booking form forthe weekend of celebrations is

DECEMBER 2010

9 DecemberVARSITY RUGBY MATCHTwickenham Stadium, Rugby Road, TW1 1DZ


13 DecemberST JOHN’S, SMITH SQUARECHRISTMAS FESTIVAL: CHRISTCHURCH CATHEDRAL CHOIR CONCERT7.30pm, St John’s, Smith Square, London

Christmas Festival Concert introducedby Howard Goodall (1976). Conductedby Stephen Darlington.

Box Office: +44 (0)207 2221061 orwww.sjss.org.uk

18 & 21 DecemberA CELEBRATION OF CHRISTMAS:

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL CHOIR

8pm, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

Carols and readings. Christ ChurchCathedral Choir conducted by StephenDarlington. Ticket information fromMusic at Oxford.

Box office: +44 (0)1865 244 806 orwww.musicatoxford.com

Event booking forms are available to download at www.chch.ox.ac.uk/ematters

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Development and Alumni OfficeChrist Church

Oxford OX1 1DPUnited Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1865 286325Fax: +44 (0)1865 286587

Email: [email protected]

designed and produced by baseline . oxford

photography by kt bruce and ralph williamson, unless otherwise acknowledged

101 Faces of Christ Church

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