HumanitariansOPs helping others

Did Stephen Perse marry?Historians disagree

CareersFinding your dream job

Alumni Survey 2017A report on the findings

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25Humanitarians

OPs helping others

CareersFinding your dream job

Alumni Survey 2017A report on the findings

Did Stephen Perse marry?Historians disagree

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Qui facit per alium facit per se

The School’s motto roughly translated as ‘in helping others one

helps oneself’ is an apt introduction to this edition of OP News.

‘Valuing one another’ is the most important of The Perse’s

four school values, but also the one most difficult to measure.

Endeavour can be seen in the ‘effort’ grades on reports; intellectual

curiosity and scholarship shine out in the excellent exam results

achieved by Perse students, whilst breadth and balance can be

seen in the 100+ clubs and societies that meet regularly, and

in our sports, music and drama programmes, school trips and

outdoor pursuits camps. In contrast there are (rightly) few statistics

for valuing one another. But the qualitative is as important as

quantitative, and acts of kindness and consideration improve the

wellbeing and welfare of both giver and receiver. All the Upper

Sixth have to give back to others before they leave The Perse

through our enrichment programme. Many do so as volunteers in

our primary school outreach scheme, helping younger children

with academic subjects and personal development. As a teacher

I know that seeing others progress through your endeavour

is very gratifying – giving really is good for the soul. So I am

delighted that this edition has a feature on OP philanthropists

who are literally going out of their way to assist others.

This autumn we said farewell to two very distinguished alumni

who did much to help others. Sir Peter Hall launched numerous

theatrical careers and theatre companies, whilst defending the

arts in Britain. His work entertained and inspired, and we are

delighted that his legacy will live on in our Peter Hall Performing

Arts Centre. Sir David Tang was also an entertainer as well as a very

successful business man. He arrived at The Perse in 1970 barely

able to speak English but left destined for a life with the global

glitterati. He never forgot The Perse and gave generously of his

time, money and hospitality to support the School and its pupils.

Ed Elliott43rd Headmaster

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Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

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School News

Prep Science Officially Open As part of the Prep's Science Day, two very special guests cut the

ribbon to mark the official opening of the Prep's new science labs.

Professor Sir Mike Gregory, founder of the University of Cambridge

Institute for Manufacturing, and Dr Tim Minshall, head of the IfM's

Centre for Technology Management, were in attendance to launch the

outstanding new facilities after a question and answer session with

Prep students.

Following the official opening, pupils were thrilled by the arrival

of a hovercraft on the school grounds, courtesy of HoverAid, a charity

being supported by the Perse Prep this year. Children designed and built

their own mini hovercraft using compact discs, and after a presentation

from HoverAid representative Andy Mayo about the charity's work

delivering aid to remote communities in Madagascar, some lucky pupils

even had a ride in the hovercraft on Leighton lawn!

OLYMPIAD SUCCESS FOR THE PERSE

Jiaqi Chen (2017) won a gold medal at the International

Biology Olympiad (IBO) held at the University of Warwick in

the summer, when she was in the Upper Sixth. Jiaqi competed

against over 7,500 students from 675 schools to be one of four

students representing the UK in the international grand final in

Coventry, with participants from 68 countries around the world.

Her ranking of 15th in the world placed her as the most

successful participant representing the United Kingdom.

There was also Olympiad success for Thomas Read (2017),

who won a silver medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics

in Tehran, Iran. His result ranks him 40th in the world in Informatics.

TABLE TENNIS SUPERSTAR

Sophie Chiang (Year 7) won

two gold national titles in the

Table Tennis England’s National

Finals. For the second year in

succession, Sophie won both

the Under 12 Girls’ and Under

13 Girls’ titles. Assistant Head

of Sport Jon Peckett said of

Sophie’s win: “The PE and Games

Department are delighted for

Sophie. She is a highly talented

table tennis player and has shown

a huge amount of dedication to

her sport throughout the year.

We look forward to supporting

her further with her training and

competition commitments as she

progresses through the School.”

Olympians join Perse Sport

Not one, but two Olympians have joined the sport staff at the Upper.

Glenn Kirkham, who represented Team GB in men’s hockey in Beijing

in 2008 and at London 2012, has returned to the School as Director of

Sport after three years away, having previously been Assistant Director

of Sport and Head of Hockey. Meanwhile, Helen Richardson-Walsh, who

was part of GB’s gold medal-winning women’s hockey team in Rio in

2016, has been appointed as a games coach.

Glenn, who won the European title with England in 2009 and

earned 223 international caps, is delighted to be back at The Perse in

his new role. He said: “I had nine fantastic years here doing a range

of different roles and then the opportunity came up to apply for the

Director of Sport role and it was quite an easy decision, given my

knowledge of the School and how I’ve seen the School grow its sport.”

Helen, who made almost 300 international appearances and

competed in four Olympic Games, is relishing the opportunity to pass

on her vast experience and knowledge to students. She said: “I know

if you asked a lot of people in our (GB) squad why they started playing

hockey or why they carried on with it, a lot of people would say it was

because of a PE teacher, a hockey coach or someone who was really

key to them at an early stage of their life. I achieved great things in

hockey, so hopefully I can add that little bit of inspiration in that sense,

but I think all teachers are role models and there are already a lot of

incredible role models at The Perse.”

BALLETBOYZ GET PERSE STUDENTS IN STEP WITH DANCE WORKSHOPS

Members of the world-

renowned BalletBoyz dance

company put Perse students

through their paces with a series

of workshops in October.

Dancers Harry Price and

Jordan Robson led three

sessions throughout their visit,

demonstrating some moves

from BalletBoyz current touring

show Fourteen Days. They

then encouraged participants to

make up their own brief routines

based around what they had

been shown, including part of

a new piece choreographed

by Strictly Come Dancing judge

Craig Revel Horwood.

Theatre Director in

Residence Matt Hawksworth felt

pupils had gained much from

the experience of working with

the BalletBoyz dancers. He said:

“Lots of people wanted to take

part. Some of the pupils already

dance in our Junior Dance Club,

in our Middle School games

option and our Sixth Form, but

it was also great to see new

students who hadn’t taken a

dance class before. Harry and

Jordan were so enthusiastic and

supportive of the students. It was

really inspiring.”

STELLAR RESULTS PLACE

PERSE SECOND IN THE

LEAGUE TABLES

This year saw The Perse

celebrate incredible A-level

results, with 88% of entries

being awarded an A* or A

grade (or the Pre-U equivalent),

the highest percentage

ever recorded at the School

and one of the best results

recorded for any school in

the country. The results took

The Perse to second place in

the 2017 Times and Telegraph

league tables of independent

school public exam results.

Over half of all Perse

A-level results were graded

an A* (55%), compared to

8.3% nationally. The national

average for A*/A was 26.3%.

The School is very proud of the

Class of 2017 and wish them

all the best for the future.

RUGBY TOUR

62 boys and seven staff embarked on an 18-day trip of a lifetime

to South Africa, starting in Pretoria and the North West Provinces

before heading South through KwaZulu-Natal and finishing in

Durban. Three sides played four fixtures each over the duration

of the tour, with all matches closely contested in the rugby-mad

country. The highlight on the field was the 1st XV coming back

to win 26–24 against powerhouse Maritzburg College in the final

match of the tour. Off-field activities included visiting the Apartheid

Museum in Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Capture Site in

Howick, battlefields tour of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, a shark

dissection at the shark board in Umhlanga and the Valley of the Waves

water park at Sun City. The students also participated in a safari at

Bakubung Lodge, where they saw elephants, black rhino and lions.

PIANIST EMMA HARRIS HITS

THE RIGHT NOTE TO EARN

PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE

Emma Harris (Year 8) had the

keys to success in clinching the

prestigious Sheila Mossman

Memorial Prize. The honour

is awarded to the candidate

who achieves the highest mark

nationally during a single exam

period in ABRSM Grades 6–8.

Emma did just that in earning

Grade 8 in piano during the Lent

Term with an incredible score of

148 out of 150.

Candidates have to pick

three pieces to play, and her

prize-winning effort included

performances of a sonata by

Scarlatti, a rondo by Beethoven

and a nocturne by Paderewski.

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

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Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

Inte

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nal Humanitarian W

ork

Rebecca Firth (2008)

Community Partnership Manager,

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

Digital mapping to help humanitarians save lives

I joined The Perse for sixth form and, returning this year, it was great to see how much the school has grown and embraced change, yet somehow it all felt incredibly familiar, like it was just yesterday I was booming out ‘Jerusalem’ in the assembly hall.

Before The Perse, I’d been at a school where education was solely focussed on exam results, which

is code for memorising the mark scheme. After this experience, I was quite surprised in my first week to be asked ‘What do you think?’ during a biology class. Over the course of the Lower Sixth, I began to learn how to think for myself, and am very grateful to the teachers who coached me through what I’m sure were many particularly uninventive answers to interesting questions. I already loved geography, but was very lucky to be taught by Dan Cross, Duncan King and Chris Pyle, who kept the subject lively and engaging. Particular highlights included a weekly baking competition, in which the cakes were judged according to the qualities of soil.

I chose to study Geography at Cambridge University. I selected Robinson College, on account of thinking it would be the ‘most normal’, and fearing not fitting in. This prejudice was quickly swept away on my first night at Robinson, and what I found was a fantastic group of bright eyed, funny people who were focussed on having fun just as much as studying. Having always been told there are ‘no careers in geography’ (which I think I’ve now proved wrong), I went to university hoping to learn at least some ‘transferable skills’ that might prove vaguely useful. Similarly indecisive at the end of university, I did what most people who don’t know what they want to do, but want to live in

Website missingmaps.org rebeccafirth@hotosm.org

London, do, and tried my hand at consultancy. Despite being lucky to work for a supportive

company, I lacked a passion for what I did. One rainy November night, soul-searching for that mysterious ‘something more’, I went along to a Missing Maps ‘mapathon’ event I’d seen advertised. I didn’t really know what it was, but the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) logo was on the advert, so I thought it would probably be okay. What I didn’t realise before going was that huge areas of the world are completely unmapped in any system at all. With my iPhone I had access to five mapping apps at the tap of a finger. I assumed blank spaces on the map meant that no one lived there. Secondly, I had no concept of how difficult it is to deliver basic services like healthcare, water and sanitation, and town planning without a map. I started volunteering with Missing Maps and the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), helping crowdsource huge numbers of people to fill in these gaps in the global map, to provide humanitarian actors with the data they need to do their jobs more efficiently. We’ve developed tools that make mapping a simple activity that anyone can do online. Mappers simply draw buildings and roads over satellite imagery, we do some validation to make sure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, and up to date, open source, digital maps are made which are instantly available for humanitarians to use to save lives. The maps are used for a huge range of purposes, such as contact tracing for infectious diseases like Ebola, stopping Female Genital Mutilation, and responding to natural disasters. In the past few years over 40,000 people have contributed, and mapped the homes of 50 million people in the world who’ve never been on the map before, and organisations working in these areas can now provide services and aid to locations otherwise left behind.

After two years as a volunteer, last year I started working with HOT full time. With a background in geography and digital technology, and a desire to work in international development, humanitarian mapping is the perfect field for me, and I feel very privileged to work doing something I love. The crowdsourcing aspect provides an added benefit - waking up in the morning to find that volunteers on the other side of the world have completed huge tasks. Working with HOT is something I can do from anywhere in the world, so I embraced the ‘digital’ lifestyle and moved to Colombia. I previously thought I was friendly and welcoming to new people: the Colombian culture has completely redefined what that means for me, and the experience of learning a new language and place has been fantastic.

Matthew Lloyd (1979)

Consultant in diaster response technology

From naval officer to disaster response officer

I have never been a distinguished scholar: in my entire time at The Perse I received two prizes and one of those was a chocolate coin for arithmetic.

I emerged with a respectable clutch of 15 O and A levels. Unfortunately, one of those Os was meant to be A level Maths. I found it easy to understand Chemistry and Physics (I still use the knowledge daily, thank you Nuffield) but without a Maths A level to support them I had a problem finding a university place. Fortunately Surrey University was prepared to nurture my inner mathematician, and I emerged with a 2:2 in Materials Technology.

My career plan A (from the age of 4) was to become a Naval Officer, be promoted to Admiral and receive a knighthood. It began well: I passed officer training, learnt to manoeuvre warships and navigate out of sight of land (before GPS) as Officer of the Watch, and then became an Observer. An Observer is a flying warfare officer, in my case hunting Soviet submarines from Sea King helicopters. As most people have never heard of Observers let me attempt an explanation; it is a little like being an air traffic controller in that it involves sitting in front of radar

display and giving instructions to cooperating units. For ATC the seat is in a building and the cooperating units are placed on rail tracks in the sky; an Observer has to keep a 3D plot in his (sorry, in those ancient days there were no female Observers) head while sitting in an aircraft that is part of the 3D picture and constantly altering height, course and speed. At the end of the day the ATC goes home whereas an Observer has to find the single, moving, point in the

Military aircrew collectively are strongly extrovert and warships are not built for people needing solitude

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Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

ocean where one can put down without getting wet. Highlights of my career were: being aircraft captain, participating in the Richard Branson balloon crash rescue in the Irish Sea (my first SAR mission), and looking for survivors following the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion. Other skills I acquired along the way were: teaching electronic warfare (it’s only physics after all) and piloting unmanned target drones.

However, it was clear that I was not at home in the RN. It was only years later that I realised that I am an introvert (military aircrew collectively are strongly extrovert and warships are not built for people needing solitude). With the collapse of the Soviet Union, and starting married life, it was time to embrace redundancy and for career plan B – move to New Zealand and find a job. My career pattern in NZ has been to create a niche, mould it to fit me exactly (about 3–5 years) and then get bored because I am merely managing and no longer creating the role.

First I managed the field communications for the Department of Conservation. This was followed by the New Zealand Red Cross (my most satisfying job ever!). On behalf of the IFRC in Geneva, I created a technical team to provide voice and data communication tools, and technical support, for response to major disasters, globally. This team went to Haiti and Nepal and many lesser disasters. At this time I also discovered a flair for assembling ideas to create novel technical solutions, and then finding individuals with the expertise to make them real. Visiting nearly all the Pacific Island countries, to deliver hardware and/or training, is immensely satisfying too.

All my technical projects have been designed to travel by air as personal luggage and include: iridium phones packaged to survive disaster and operate indefinitely without infrastructure, portable VHF repeater systems, and the “Portable Potable” water maker (which can make drinking water for a village from sea water or fresh). During this period I began to be invited to address international conferences as an “expert” in catastrophe communications. This was flattering but back at work I was deeply in a rut, got bored, and resigned.

Career plan C: independent consultant in disaster response technology, in particular catastrophe communications. I’m not yet a success, but there is immense job satisfaction. I am currently working on a project, being piloted in Vanuatu, that permits the use of smartphones where there is no cellular infrastructure. I am also in the early stages of pulling together a team to create an inexpensive maritime UAV to perform rapid disaster assessment in remote Pacific Island communities.

There you have it, I hope I have entertained and informed. I doubt that my blunderings through life present any kind of a role to be modelled.

Daniel A. Gómez-Ibáñez (1961)

Executive Director, International

Committee for the Peace Council

Executive Director of the Peace Council

Fall, 1954: the 108 bus from Meldreth leaves me at a stop on the Trumpington Road, and I walk up the wooded path to the Prep School, eyes on the ground.

I’m looking for conkers: big ones – big enough to win. An invincible chestnut would be a big help, I think, because I began the term rather badly: a new boy with an American accent, turning up on the first day without a uniform, teased by my classmates and challenged by the biggest boy because I was dressed in long chino trousers.

My father was a professor on sabbatical and we were in England while he did research at Cambridge. My mother, to economise, was waiting for the parents’ sale of Perse uniforms later in the week. I had no idea that at eleven I

was too young to wear long trousers to school. So we circle warily on the gravel in front

of the school, fists up, my stomach turning over, surrounded by a cheering ring of classmates. No way out until – thank goodness – a teacher pushes her way firmly through the crowd. Rescue!

Rescue? She is holding two pairs of boxing gloves!

And so began my year at The Perse. I had a lot to learn. An English school was a completely new experience for me. It is probably not surprising that the lessons I remember best are not the academic ones, but those of another culture.

This was the first time I’d been to school away from Connecticut, but it was not the last. At The Perse I began learning French, which eventually

I admit to having no strong idea of where I wanted to be when I grew up

became fluent after some months at a village school near Strasbourg and two years of boarding school in Lausanne. As a graduate student I lived in the Pyrenees while doing field research for a PhD in geography. With these beginnings it’s probably not surprising that most of my professional career involved international work in one way or another. At first it was teaching at the University of Wisconsin, focused on European historical geography; later there were other jobs.

In 1993 I organized the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. Afterwards some of the world’s most prominent religious leaders asked me to find a way they could collaborate in practical peacemaking. The result was the Peace Council, from which I retired as executive director in 2008.

The first meeting of the Peace Councillors – a dozen leaders from eight of the world’s religions – was held in St George’s House at Windsor Castle in 1995. In 1996 the Councillors met in Chiapas, Mexico, hosted by Bishop Samuel Ruíz García, where their presence put an international spotlight on violence between indigenous Mayan communities and wealthy landowners’ paramilitary gangs, a war

the Mexican government had previously tended to ignore or tolerate. This established a pattern of annual meetings in places of conflict, always listening and learning first, establishing trust, trying to find ways of practical engagement with a peace process.

During the fifteen years of its existence the Peace Council provided seed money for bread baking and weaving cooperatives in Mayan refugee camps, equipped indigenous health workers, helped establish a shelter for victims of child prostitution and rape in Thailand, walked with Buddhist monks through heavily-mined combat zones in Cambodia, provided medical supplies to paediatric hospitals in North Korea, worked with international organizations to advance women’s rights and opportunities, promoted the peaceful return of Muslim refugees to Kosovo, and worked with the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, sharing the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with many other NGOs. Other programs took us to Palestine and Israel, Canada, South Korea, Northern Ireland, Mozambique, the Sudan, and even New York.

Quite a trip. It probably began on the Trumpington Road.

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Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

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Javid Abdelmoneim (1997)

President, MSF UK

Not so general practioner

Nowadays when asked why I became a doctor I explain that it was as a result of the unbeknownst-to-me collusion of my headmaster at school and an Iberian careers adviser lady who always mispronounced my name “khavid” (you know that throaty way of pronouncing “J”).

I had transiently considered going to medical school but at the time of GCSEs I found that I was failing Chemistry and so had discounted that casual notion (A-level Chemistry is an absolute requirement for entry to medical school). I had mentioned this in passing to the careers adviser and then thought nothing of it.

Starting A-levels I took double maths, physics and French, hoping to study engineering and thereafter to achieve my childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot.

About two weeks into Michaelmas term Mr Richardson came to the physics lab and pulled me out of the lesson. Imagine my anxiety at this moment. What had I done for the Headmaster to do this? Right there and then, as I stood, at the age of 16, on the path outside the building, he said that he had caught wind of my previous idea and that I ought to reconsider my life’s choice, switch A-levels to Maths, Chemistry, Biology and go to medical school.

Now I am the President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) UK and I work in Emergency Medicine in a central London NHS hospital that is a Major Trauma Centre.

Breezing through medical school with little appetite for becoming a consultant within the NHS I admit to having no strong idea of where I wanted to be “when I grew up”. Then, in 2001, in my fourth year of six, I came across the MSF campaign for access to safe, effective and cheap medicines in resource-poor settings. I volunteered to go along and do some face-to-face public campaigning for them on the pavements of Greenwich and became fixated on joining them once I qualified. It was a long road to finally getting assigned to my first field position in Iraq in 2009.

There I worked in the emergency room of the largest general hospital in Basra. In preparation for the forthcoming momentous first general election after the removal of Saddam, MSF had been tasked with bringing triage, trauma and mass casualty procedures to the department. This was done in anticipation of large-scale political violence, which thankfully never quite materialised in the city.

Near the end of my six months in Iraq a large earthquake devastated Haiti. I took a month's break at home and went there for six months, working in the emergency room and co-ordinating the medical inpatient and intensive care services of our 100-bed hospital in the capital’s slum, Cité Soleil. It was a violent place with no public health and hygiene facilities so bad that when cholera was washed into the slum with the rains of hurricane Thomas, the result was a rapidly spreading epidemic about which I am sure you have heard.

In July 2011, in response to the Syrian uprisings, I took up another field position in Lebanon, undertaking what MSF calls an ‘explo’. Along with one other person and a suitcase of cash I was to try to enter Homs, network with the relevant people and explore what help was needed. That was my brief.

A month later, we had tapped into the network of Syrian doctors in Homs and were able to supply them with mobile trauma and blood transfusion kits (which I had put together from goods purchased in Beirut with the aforementioned cash). This enabled them to treat wounded protesters (it was still early days, protesters had not yet taken up arms) in makeshift field hospitals away from the authorities and danger.

Since then I have worked for MSF in South Sudan providing mobile clinics by helicopter, in Sierra Leone for Ebola, and last year on a Search & Rescue vessel in the Mediterranean.

For the last two years I have been elected onto the board of trustees of the charity in the UK and this year was accorded the position of Chair of the Board, or President. In this role I represent MSF UK at the Council of MSF Operational Centre Amsterdam and also at the MSF International General Assembly. Since MSF is independent, self-governing and self-monitoring, the role of Trustee is significant since we have a culture of debate and reflection. As ‘MSFers’ we own The Movement and are responsible for its direction as well as safeguarding its adherence to its cause and principles, namely the alleviation of suffering through the medical humanitarian act and observing neutrality and impartiality in the name of universal medical ethics, offering assistance without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, creed, or political affiliation. It’s a pretty cool job!

School Archivist and former history teacher,

David Jones, looks at the history of the OP tie:

Probably fewer men wear old school ties

than once did; indeed few wear ties at all in

these informal days. 100 years ago it was a

different matter, and institutional ties were

proud indicators of status and belonging. Small

wonder that unauthorised wearing of such ties

was frowned upon. When complaints reached

the Old Persean Society of such caddish

behaviour they took the matter seriously.

Since the foundation of the OP Society

in 1901, Old Perseans were entitled to wear a tie

of violet and black stripes. Twenty years later,

the Perse had achieved such fame that an OP

tie seemed to have a cachet, for non-Perseans

were found to be wearing them. Early in 1922,

following indignant reports of ‘indiscriminate

use’ of the tie, the OPS committee considered

how best to protect the colours. The first step

was to modify the design under patent with the

addition of a white stripe, then to deal with just

one manufacturer, and to sell the ties exclusively

to bona fide Old Perseans through the OPS.

During the discussion other garments

were considered, including OP socks in two

designs, striped either vertically or horizontally.

They were to be further distinguished by being

‘three times the length of any ordinary sock’.

None have yet found their way into the archives.

In July 1923 a new difficulty arose. The

name of the tie manufacturer had been leaked

and it was feared that OP ties might yet find

their way onto the wrong necks. The matter

rested until January 1924, when the committee

decided to put three choices before OPs: keep

the existing new tie, return to the 1902 tie, or

change the colours. Replies to the circular were

inconclusive. Since the old and current ties

were problematic it was decided to redesign

with a new colour – red. This was taken from

the red dragons’ tongues in the coat of arms,

and not an allusion to the red of Perse colours

in Heppenstall’s time 50 years earlier.

Four designs were commissioned and

another circular sent to OPs for their verdict. A

black, silver and red design, taken from the school

arms, found favour with some;

others wanted no change. A compromise was

reached in a four-stripe tie of red on violet,

white and black. J.T. Masters of 20 King’s

Parade was to be the sole retailer. By 1927 OP

blazers in the same colours became available.

Examples of both are held in the archives.

Later, a black tie with silver pelicans

was produced exclusively for members of

the Old Persean Society, as distinct from Old

Perseans. (Membership of the OPS required

a subscription until 1988, when leavers were

automatically enrolled with no fee.) The tie was

subsequently modified to its present form with

the addition of thin silver and purple stripes.

The two ties are shown in Plate 6 of James

Laver’s School, University, Navy, Army, Air-

Force and Club Ties (Seeley Service 1968).

So far, the adoption of OP ‘onesies’

and baseball caps has been resisted.

Strong ties

11 12

OP News Old Perseans / Spring / Summer 2017OP News

Old Persean News

Isabella Della-Porta (2011) is appearing in Network at the National Theatre from November. Based on the iconic Academy Award winning film by Paddy Chayefsky, Network depicts a dystopian media landscape where opinion trumps fact. She will be appearing alongside Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) and Richard Cordery (About Time, Les Misérables).

Adam Crockett (2015)was awarded a pencil in the D&AD New Blood awards for his ‘Powered by Amazon Fresh’ advertisement. The awards, which celebrate the finest creativity each year across a diverse range of disciplines, are considered one of the most prestigious awards in design and advertising. In June, Adam also created and ran a ‘Pop Portrait’ workshop as part of the British Museum’s ‘The American Dream’ exhibition.

Javid Abdelmoneim (1997) presented Channel 4’s How to Stay Well, in which doctors examine medical scare stories and give advice on how we can safeguard our health. You may have also seen him on the BBC documentary No More Boys and Girls: Can Our Kids Go Gender Free, in which he aims to remove all differences between the way a group of seven-year-old boys and girls are treated for a six-week period, to see if he can even out the gaps in their achievement across a range of psychological measures, and ultimately examine the origins of gender inequality in our society.

Alex Harris (2016) was selected for a Harvard Institute of Politics Director's Internship with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office this summer, where he built forecasting models and prepared ministerial briefings on economies in Asia and Latin America.

Mark Emerton (1979) was appointed Master of the Bench at Gray’s Inn in the Trinity 2017 election.

Tess Howard (2017)won a bronze medal with England Hockey in the EuroHockey Championships after securing a 2-0 victory over Germany in Amsterdam. After achieving top grades in her A Levels this summer, Tess has just started studying at Durham University.

Hugo Chambré (2015) reports on the 2017 Cronk Cunis rugby festival: “On a scorching bank holiday Monday this August a group of 17 Old Perseans travelled down to Richmond for the annual Cronk Cunis Under 21 rugby festival. Competing in the 12 a side tournament this year for the first time, the boys came away victorious beating Bedford, Wimbledon College, St Benedicts and Bloxham – all in tight games. This was the third time a Perse side has competed in the competition and we hope it will become an annual tradition.”

Noel Young (1987) was awarded 6th place in the UK’s 50 Best Indies wine merchant awards in June. The judging team said that Noel Young Wines is a ‘feisty company that punches well above its weight in terms of quality, professionalism and influence’.

Kenneth Tharp (1978) was awarded a CBE for services to dance in the 2017 Birthday Honours. Kenneth retired from his role as Chief Executive of The Place in November 2017, and is currently a patron of the organisation.

Chris Howarth (1967) recently held a water-ski and wakeboard coaching course in Pyongyang, North Korea. The course consisted of both classroom lectures and a day’s on-water coaching on the Taedong River, which flows through the heart of the city.

Matt Leach (2011) represented Great Britain in the 10,000m European Athletics Cup in Minsk, Belarus on 10 June. Despite difficult running conditions, Matt achieved 12th place in his debut appearance with a time of 30:02:36 – the fastest of the GB males.

Patrick Bevan (2017) has been appointed Leader of the British Natioanl Youth Orchestra for 2018. Patrick has been playing with the orchestra, which is made up of 164 teenagers, for the last three years and is looking forward to taking on this new role.

Miles Pattenden (2000) recently published a new book – Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy – which offers a radical reassessment of the history of early modern papacy and the first major analytical treatment of papal elections.

1211

We are always delighted to hear about the successes of our alumni.

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

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Campaign Report

We are delighted to report that we raised over £400,000 in this academic year, bringing our campaign total to almost £2million. Thank you all for the part that you have played in this success.

Our Goals

— Doubling the means-tested support available as part of

the Bursary Fund, to enable us to reach out to talented

children whose families cannot afford a full fee and

support cases of unexpected hardship.

— Growing our educational impact in the community,

both locally and beyond.

— Realising the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to

transform and enhance the essence of the School

through the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre, which

will provide a inspirational environment for learning

beyond the classroom.

Bursaries (incl. endowed): £264,821

PAC: £22,269

Unrestricted: £114,000

Outreach: £7,705

Other: £105

Performing Arts Centre

Telephone Campaign

Bursaries

Outreach

Funds raised and restrictions

Our Bursary Fund ensures that a Perse education is

accessible to pupils from a wide range of backgrounds,

benefiting everyone at the school by creating a diverse

and inclusive community. One in ten Perse pupils

currently receives means-tested help with fees. In the

2016-17 academic year, 69 pupils received bursaries of

over 50%, with 19 receiving an award of 95% or more of

school fees. The bursary fund makes a real difference to

the lives of students, with recent recipients now studying

at top universities, including Cambridge, Imperial and

Birmingham.

Daniel, a recent Perse leaver, explains the impact

that receiving a bursary had on his life: “Unfortunately,

I was put in the difficult situation of my father passing

away after I had finished Year 10 and we were left with

no way of paying for my education. If it hadn’t been

for the generosity of all the donors who make these

bursaries possible I would have had to drop out of The

Perse at the start of my GCSEs. The Perse helped me

gain a place at the University of Cambridge, as well as

providing me with some of my closest friends.”

The Perse’s outreach programme allows the School to

fulfil its mission as a force for educational excellence

in Cambridge. Through our partnerships with 19 local

primary schools we provide new learning experiences for

younger pupils such as a mentoring scheme with Perse

sixth formers, trips to local museums, and the opportunity

to try new languages and extra-curricular activities. We

hope to do even more in the future by expanding our

science mentoring into the secondary age range, as

well as offering more primary pupils access to a musical

education. Perse students also help older local residents

with IT literacy through our ‘Digistart’ scheme, alongside

taking part in a choir for dementia sufferers and their

carers. Our popular community lecture series has provided

hundreds of local people with the opportunity to hear

world-class speakers explore subjects from soft matter

physics to the Northern Irish peace process.

We are enormously grateful to everybody who has made

a gift, of any size, to The Perse. Each donation helps us to

provide life-changing educational experiences to students

at The Perse and beyond.

In the 2016-17 financial year, 417 donors supported The

Perse. A quarter of these donors have now been supporting

the school financially for 10 or more consecutive years.

The School’s continuing success depends on loyal support

from our community and gifts of all sizes add up to create

a significant impact on the lives of current and future

Perseans. We are very lucky to have such a generous

support base, and we will be recognising donors who have

been giving for a decade or more with a special gift in the

coming months.

In November 2016, we unveiled our Benefactors’ Board in

the main school hall. This was a wonderful opportunity to

celebrate our major donors, beginning with Stephen Perse’s

founding bequest in 1615, and the continuing legacy of his

philanthropy at the School.

A century after legendary Perse teacher Caldwell Cook

developed his ‘Play Way’ of teaching through experience

and ‘doing’, learning beyond the classroom continues to

play a central role in a Perse education. Generations of

Perse pupils have developed their confidence, resilience

and creativity in the Mummery, and through public

speaking, debating and performance. We are delighted

that the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre is nearing

completion and we will soon have a purpose-built space

to continue this legacy for the 21st century.

Helen Norman, who will manage the Centre,

said: “Sitting at the heart of the Upper School, the new

building is a multi-purpose space that will be used by the

whole school community from 3-18. The space offers a

plethora of opportunities for pupils to become involved

in the centre - as a performer, in the technical crew, as

an audience member, exhibiting art work or meeting

friends for a catch-up in the café. We are thrilled that

our first flagship production will be the Lent Term Perse

Players Production of Billy Elliot the Musical. – ‘Act One

beginners to stage please.’”

In September 2017 we held our annual telephone

campaign. We spoke to 470 OPs and past parents to

update them on the latest news from The Perse. In

addition to this, OPs and past parents pledged to donate

almost £100,000 to the School, which is a testament

to the generosity of the Perse community and gives us

great confidence for the future. We are hugely grateful to

everyone who took part, in particular our donors, who will

be listed in the donor report for the 2017/18 financial year.

Our callers were all recent Perse leavers, and

greatly enjoyed learning about the history of The Perse

as well as benefiting from the life experience of our OPs

and past parents. Susannah Townsend (2016) said: “I really

enjoyed working as a caller in the telethon, and had some

wonderful conversations with Old Perseans. It was so

lovely to find out a little more of the history of the school

where I had such a happy time.”

Total: £408,900

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Every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of

our donor lists. However, if any error has occurred,

please accept our apologies and notify the Alumni &

Development Office so that we can amend our records.

Donations are listed in alphabetical order by decade

at the School.

* Donors who have given to the School for

10+ consecutive years

Donor List 2016-17

We are deeply grateful to all who have made a donation to The Perse, both those listed in this report and those wishing to remain anonymous.

Mr J P Stevens

In memory of Commander

& Mrs K G Sumnall OBE

The late Sir David Tang KBE

Mr D J Thompson*

Mr W D L Thompson

Mr J P Tunnicliffe*

Dr G D Wattles*

Mr G Woo

Class of 1980s

Mr N Brownlie

Mr R A Cliff

Mr J A Collins*

Mr D P Dorai Raj

Mr A J Finch*

Mr S M Groom

Mr I M Handley-Schachler

Captain P J Haslam

Mr S G Kelly

Mr D L Landy

Mr M J Leake*

Mr S A H Lello

Mr S J Martin

Mr T R Matthews

Mr M A Melford

Mr S P Morris

Dr F Moscuzza*

Mr J L J Newman*

Mr M P Newman

Mr P Peglar

Mr S C Riley

Mr G W Smith

Mr N A J Tait

Dr J P Toner

Mr N P E Weeds

Mr S D Wright

Mr G C Yen

Class of 1990s

Mr N K Amery

Mr P J Brotton*

Mr C R Bunten

Mr J J Butler*

Mr P C Cave-Gibbs*

Mr R E Challis*

Dr N S Y Chao

Mr S T M Chu

Dr R J H Dunn

Mr G C Dymott

Mr T G A Edgar

Dr G A W Evans

Mr A Farboud

Mr D M Goodridge*

Dr W K Hage*

Ms C E I Harwood

Mr J R N Jack

Dr V I Lesk

Mr M R F Lynn

Mr V Mahindran

Mr O P J Metherell

Mr A G Moir*

Mr T Morfett

Mr R N Oakeshott

Mr J Odell*

Mr M R Peachey*

Mr R M Pettett

Mr A C M Rabarts

Mr S P Rankine

Mr W F Reeve

Ms K C Pallister

Dr T Sivayokan

Mr J E Stobbs

Mrs A H P Sutherland

Dr M J Whitaker

Mr J G Williams

Mr D L Young

Class of 2000s

Miss R A Abulafia

Mrs H Beckett

Mr J A Bell

Mr A Burrell

Mr O W Callington

Mr J Chen

Mr L D Clayton

Mr E A Copeland

Mr J J Cottee

Mr Q P P Croft

Mr G E J Dean

Mr & Mrs T B Doble

Mr B R Donnelly

Mr P J H Dunn

Mr P B Feather

Mr B P T Freedman

Mr H W Frost

Mr B J Gamble

Mr L C Green

Mr A D Harris

Mr C L Harris

Mr R P Jones

Mr T J Latimer

Mr Y Liu

Mr C J Lyon

Miss A M Marris

Mr A J Milne

Miss K E Muir-Jones

Mr A S Nathan

Mr J E Nichols

Miss S E Nolasco

Mr N D M Paulson

Mr J Pearson

Mr A Porter

Mr A J Prentice

Mr S F G Smith

Mr J G T Unwin

Miss M L Wadham

Mr S A Walmsley

Mr T E Wass

Class of 2010s

Mr M H Du

Parents and Friends

of the School

Professor D S H & Professor

A S Abulafia*

Mrs E Armstrong

Mr J Barker & Dr C Hubbard

Miss M P Bedford*

Mr & Mrs N Brent

Mr M & Dr P Broadbent

Dr & Mrs W Budenberg

Dr K Buse & Dr S Hawkes

Mr & Mrs R Chandraker

Mr & Mrs P M C Clarke*

The Reverend Dr A & the

Reverend O Coles

Dr N Cox & Dr S Booth

The late Mr R D Crabtree

Mr & Mrs E M Downey

Mr & Mrs H N Edmundson*

Mr E & Dr S Elliott*

Mr C P Elliott & Miss P Holland

Mrs J Ellis

Dr & Mrs O Fawehinmi

Mr M & Dr S Fell

Dr & Mrs P J Fray

Mr & Mrs O Frakin

Mr & Mrs A Glinsman

Mr & Mrs S Goddard

Dr & Mrs A Grace*

Mr & Mrs R Greensitt*

Mr & Mrs T W Hague

Mr A & Dr J Hartree

Dr & Mrs T R Hesketh*

Mr & Mrs S Hirtzel

Mr & Mrs A T Hirzel

Mr & Mrs N Howlett

Mr & Mrs E Humbert

Dr C R Hunt & Dr V

Stephenson

Mrs S Hunter

Mr & Mrs T O Joyce

Mr S J Kern

Mr M & Dr K Kingstone

Mr M Last & Ms J Kershaw

Mr & Mrs N Ley

Dr X & Dr H Liu

Mr R & Dr A Lyon

Professor A MacGregor &

Dr C Reavley

Ms F Martin-Redman

Mr & Mrs T J C Mawby

Mr & Mrs A J G McGurk

Mr R H Nolasco & Ms L

Arthur*

Dr N Peabody & Ms B Hare

Mr & Mrs G Proudfoot

Mr & Mrs W N F Quantrill

Mrs R M Rainey*

Mrs L Rodwell

Mr & Mrs S N P Rosen

Mr & Mrs D Rosenwold

Mrs D Shave

Mr & Mrs B Singh

Mr B P Smith

Mr & Mrs G Smith

Mr & Mrs J Stalker

Dr S Stewart

Mr & Mrs A Stuart

Mr & Mrs M Sullivan

Mrs L Tibbs*

Mr & Mrs A Turner

Ms E Waldron

Mrs H Whiting

Mr & Mrs D Williams

Sir David & Lady Wright

Mr & Mrs I Wright

Mrs K Wright

Mr & Mrs R Yeoman

Mr & Mrs L C Yip

Mr & Mrs M G Zeitlyn

Mr & Mrs N J Zolman

Organisations

Ernst & Young

Fawcett Charity

Perse Parents Association

Sixth Form Charities

Committee

TTP Group

and 25 anonymous donors.

Mr P J D Scarlett MBE*

Mr R L Shadbolt

Mr D E Sibson*

Mr J C Sutcliffe-Braithwaite

Mr T G W Sweeney

Mr R J H Wheatley*

Professor J A Zetter

Class of 1960s

Mr D J Alexander*

Mr J S Andrews

Dr C N Barry

Mr M J Beloe*

Mr J A Bishopp*

Mr P R Bloomfield

Dr J E Bradshaw*

Mr J J C Brinsden*

Mr C M Byrom

Mr R A Camping

Professor R C Cheng*

Mr C D Chitty

Professor J Clarke*

Mr W O Cook

Mr R A Covill*

Mr D G Crawford*

Dr H M Davies

Mr G R Ditcham*

Mr R D Eastcott

Mr D I H Field*

Mr R S Gould*

Mr D B Goulstine

Mr J M Green*

Dr N Hamson

Dr J M R Hatfield

Mr J R Holy*

Mr C D Howarth

Mr R K Loukes

Dr M G Mason

Professor J A Mintz

Professor R F Mitchell*

Mr T R T Morris

Mr H A L H Mumford*

Dr R Murphey

Mr G Palmer*

Mr R F Perkins

Mr S J Perrin

The late Mr B R Robinson*

Mr C W Rose

Mr J H Sacks

The Reverend Canon R Sibson

Mr G A M Sims

Mr P J H Smith*

The Honorable R S Smith

Dr M A Spencer*

Mr R F Squibbs

Mr S J Stanley

Mr R D Stearn*

Sir Quentin Thomas*

Mr P E Thompson

Mr R J Thomson

Mr M G Townsend

Mr C V T Walne

Mr H J Wiseman

Mr P M Wrench*

Mr A C H Wright

Class of 1970s

Mr J P C Bailey*

Mr L J Beard

Mr C S Bell*

Mr A J M Brookes

Professor S E Buttrey

Mr S P Clemmow

Mr A C Cook

Mr D N Daughton

Mr S V De Boo*

Mr D A Farndale

Mr S C Farrell

Dr A J France

Mr R P Grace

Mr C P Hancock QC*

Dr W G Handley*

Mr P A Harlow

Mr D E Hart*

Mr S J T Hornby

Mr P J Johnson*

Mr B D Lanaghan

Dr J H Lee

Mr M H Massy

Mr A G V McClintock

Mr K A A McFarlane

Mr R I Morgan*

Mr S W Pain*

Mr R D Partridge

Mr W M Pattison

Mr J N Porter Goff

Mr A W M Reicher

Mr C F Rushton*

Mr R D Russell*

Dr L M V Smith

Class of 1930s

The late Mr M A Benison

Class of 1940s

Mr P T Armitstead*

Mr R A King CBE*

Dr L P Marsh

Mr N Musry

The late Mr F W S Taylor MBE*

Class of 1950s

Mr G Addison*

Mr M G Baker*

Mr M Bennett

Mr R G Birch

Mr J F Bullen*

Wing Commander E B Bywater*

Mr J W Charles*

Dr D C H Cheng

The late Mr M J Clark*

Mr A S Crawford

The late Reverend R W Dent

Mr R C E Duke*

Mr J A Elmore

The late Reverend C K Forecast

Mr R G Gee

Mr C A Greenhill

Mr J D Greenhill

Mr J M Hammond*

Dr B L Hunt*

Dr P Jackson*

Mr M D C Johnson*

Mr J M Kidd*

Mr R L Kidd

Mr T G King

Mr R A Lanham*

Mr T C Laurie

Mr I G Lyon

Mr R R Mansfield*

Ms A May*

Mr M M Mizen

The Reverend G J Murray*

Mr R C Norris*

The Reverend Canon D W Owen*

Mr T S Palmer

Sir Mark Potter

Mr M J A Powell*

Mr R T Rogers

1615

17 18

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1615 Society

Donors who make a gift of £1,615 or more to our An Enduring Gift campaign are recognised by becoming members of the 1615 Society, having their name included in the book of benefactors and receiving a special lapel pin.

Major Benefactors

Our major benefactors’ board recognises those who have made gifts in excess of £50,000 to The Perse.

Dr Perse Society Members

The Dr Perse Society recognises those who have made provision for The Perse in their will.

Mr P Ansell

Mr A C Appleyard

Mr & Mrs J C Aston

Mr J P C Bailey

Mr M G Baker

Mr M J Beloe

Mr M Bennett

Mr J A Bishopp

Dr J E Bradshaw

Mr & Mrs N Brent

Mr J J C Brinsden

Mr M & Dr P Broadbent

Mr A J M Brookes

Mr E J N Brookes

Mr P C Cave-Gibbs

Dr N S Y Chao

Professor R C Cheng

Dr A C Y Cheng

Mr Y Chew

Mr M J C Chong

Mr S T M Chu

Mr R H Clarke

Professor J Clarke

Mr S P Clemmow

Mr R A Cliff

Mr I M Handley-Schachler

Mr P A Harlow

Mr A D Harris

Mr A & Dr J Hartree

Captain P J Haslam

Sir Michael Heller

Mr A M Herriot

Mr & Mrs A T Hirzel

Mr J R Holy

Mr & Mrs N Howlett

Mr & Mrs E Humbert

Dr B L Hunt

Mr R W F Hutt

Mr P J Johnson

Mr M D C Johnson

Mr S G Kelly

Mr J M Kidd

Mr T G King

Mr R A King CBE

Mr & Mrs F Knowles

Mr B D Lanaghan

Mr A Landy

Mr C J Leak

Mr M J Leake

Dr J H Lee

Mr & Mrs G W Lewin Smith

Mr Y Liu

Mr R & Dr A Lyon

Mr R R Mansfield

Mr L G D Marr

Dr L P Marsh

Mr S J Martin

Dr M G Mason

Dr R & Dr A Mason

Mr M H Massy

Ms A May

Mr & Mrs J McNeil

Mr A G Moir

Mr R I Morgan

Mr T R T Morris

Mr H A L H Mumford

Mr J E Nichols

Professor C J Oon

Mr S W Pain

Mr J G Parr

Mr R D Partridge

Mr J R Pedley

Mr A J Pitt

Mr M P H Pooles QC

Mr M J A Powell

Mr & Mrs G Proudfoot

Mr & Mrs W N F Quantrill

Mr & Mrs G Rainey

Mr W F Reeve

Mr A W M Reicher

Dr & Mrs N P V Richardson

Mr & Mrs D G Richardson

Mr S C Riley

Mr J W Roberts

Mr & Mrs S N P Rosen

Mr C F Rushton

Mr J H Sacks

Mr P J D Scarlett MBE

Dr K B Seamon & Dr J A Biddle

Mr & Mrs J D Shave

Mr P Shelley

Mr D E Sibson

Mr & Mrs B Singh

Mr G W Smith

Mr B P Smith & Mrs P Hayden-Smith

Dr M A Spencer

Mr R D Stearn

Dr S Stewart

Mr V Sujendran

In memory of Commander & Mrs K G

Sumnall OBE

Professor M D Threadgill

Mr J P Tunnicliffe

Dr A & Dr V Warren

Dr G D Wattles

Dr A G Weeds

Mrs W J Whalley

Dr M J Whitaker

Mr M A Wilkinson

Mr P M Wrench

Mr S D Wright

Sir David & Lady Wright

Professor J A Zetter

and 19 anonymous members.

Dr L Marsh

Squadron Leader W Lodge

Mr A Bottomley

Dr R Haylock

The Wolfson Foundation

Mr R White

Mr M Fell

Mr M P H Pooles QC

Sir D Tang KBE

Mrs G Earnshaw-Smith

Mrs H Greenhalgh

Mr P J Johnson

Professor B W Lacey

Mr R R Mansfield

Mr & Mrs D G Richardson

Mrs C Thomas

Mr & Mrs W T Brown

Mr C F Kidman OBE

Mr & Mrs A Frost

Mr S S Bahwan

Mrs M Neve

Mr R A King CBE

Mr J J C Brinsden OBE

Mr L G D Marr

Mr H A L H Mumford

Dr A C Y Cheng

Mr & Mrs M J A Powell

Mr S P Clemmow

and 3 anonymous members.

Mr G Addison

Mr D I Alexander

Mr D J Alexander

Mr P T Armitstead

Mr M G Baker

Mr D Bowley

Mr & Mrs T K Boyden

Mr A J M Brookes

Mr E J N Brookes

Mr I J Burton

Mr P R G Cannell

Mr J P Cheffins

Mr D A W Clark

Mr J R S Cope

Mr E A Copeland

Dr B J Drake

Mr P N Draper

Mr A J Eden

Mr E Elliott

Mr R C H Genochio

Mr R W Goddin

Mr & Mrs S W Graves

Mr M C L Herring

Mr J G Hicks

Dr P G G Jackson

Mr P J Johnson

Mr M D C Johnson

Mr D J Jones

Mr A Kemp

The Reverend C M Kemp

Mr S W Kemp

Mr R R Mansfield

Mr L G D Marr

Dr R J Marsh

Dr L P Marsh

Sir Michael Marshall

Captain P McLaren

Mr O P J Metherell

Dr B Moore

Professor D F Nixon

Mr S W Pain

Mr R D Partridge

Professor D M Potts

Mr W F Reeve

Mr J W Roberts

Professor J E Salzman

Dr J A Sills

Mr J L Smart

Mr & Mrs A P J Smith

Dr M A Spencer

Mrs S H Stobbs

Mr R G Thomson

Dr J C Thurman

Mr D G Tomlinson

Mr C V T Walne

Dr A G Weeds

Mr R J H Wheatley

Commander D G M Wilkie

Dr P M Williamson

Mrs K Wright

and 1 anonymous member.

Dr S Perse

Mr G Griffith

Dr W H D Rouse

Lady Frazer

Mr I Hersch

Mr H C Cook

Mr A C Benson

Sir Harold Bowden

Mr G Macfarlane-Grieve

Baron Porter

The Industrial Fund for the

Advancement of Scientific Education

in Schools

Mr E Funge

Sir John Gray

Society members are listed in alphabetical order.

Major benefactors are listed in order of the date

their gifts were made to the School.

Society members are listed in alphabetical order.

The Reverend Dr A & the

Reverend O Coles

Mr J A Collins

Mr M J S Collins

Mr A C Cook

Mr D G Crawford

Mr J D Crompton

Dr H M Davies

Mr S V De Boo

Mr & Mrs C Dell

Mr A P Donoghue

Mr P N Draper

Mr M & Dr S Fell

Mr & Mrs O Frakin

Dr A J France

Mr & Mrs T Fryers

Mr & Mrs A Glinsman

Mr R W Goddin

Mr D M Goodridge

Professor I R F Gordon

Mr & Mrs A Grabowski

Mr J M Green

Mr S M Groom

Mr C P Hancock QC

Dr W G Handley

1817

20

Feature

19

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

Following feedback in our Alumni Survey, we have

launched a new profile series for OP News, drawing

on the experiences of Old Perseans to learn more

about the world of work, careers, and networking.

Our first column is co-written by Ben Todd (2007),

CEO and co-founder of 80,000 Hours and Erin

Charles, Events and Communications Officer.

You’ll spend about 80,000 hours working in your

career: 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, for 40

years. So how to spend that time is one of the most

important decisions you’ll ever make. And that’s why

we decided to found a new non-profit dedicated

to working out how to best spend this time.

80,000 Hours started back in 2011, when

I was an undergraduate student at Oxford. I

wanted to figure out how I could do work I loved

while helping to solve some of the world’s biggest

problems. My friend Will MacAskill and I set about

doing research to find out which career to choose.

We delivered lectures on our findings to fellow

students, and noticed that people were listening

and changing what they were doing with their lives.

Based on this feedback, we founded 80,000

Hours as a part-time project in collaboration with

researchers at Oxford. Our aim was to provide easy

to use, evidence based careers advice. In 2012 we

raised funding and hired a team, with myself as

our first employee. Since then, we’ve spoken to

hundreds of experts, spending hundreds of hours

reading literature and analysing job options. We’ve

learned a lot of lessons, made a few mistakes,

but most importantly have discovered that over

your career, if you choose well, you can probably

do good on the scale of saving hundreds of lives

or more, while doing work that’s more enjoyable

and fulfilling too. To date, our website gets over

1 million views per year, we’ve published a book

explaining our key findings, and thousands of

people have made major changes to their careers.

One topic we’ve researched is what truly

causes people to have satisfying work. People often

imagine that a dream job is well paid and easy,

but it isn’t always that simple. Studies show that

money does make you happy, but only a little. A

large study by Kahneman and Deaton (High income

improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-

being, 2010) showed that large increases in pre-tax

income only had small increases on happiness, and

beyond an income of around $50,000 (£36,700)

income has no relationship to day-to-day happiness.

So what should you aim for in a dream

job? At 80,000 Hours, we’ve applied the

research on positive psychology about what

makes for a fulfilling life and combined them

with research on job satisfaction to come up

with six key ingredients of a dream job. (You can

see the full details on our website: 80000hours.

org/career-guide/job-satisfaction/).

So, how would we sum it up? As we’ve seen,

money isn’t the key factor, and neither is it a

matter of self-reflection, or trying to find your

one true passion. Rather, we think the most

important criteria is work you’re good at, since if

you have that, you’ll be able to bargain for most

of the other criteria. However, you also need

to get good at something that helps others, or

you’ll eventually find your work meaningless.

So, our slogan for a dream job is: get good

at something that helps others, or even shorter,

“do what contributes”. That is the reason we set up

80,000 Hours – our mission is to help people find

a career that contributes. The rest of our resources

cover how to find a career that contributes.

The answers aren’t what we first expected.

We consider questions like “which are the biggest

global problems in the world?” showing there

are reasons to think that diarrhoea and artificial

intelligence are more pressing than local social

issues like homelessness; “what are the best ways

to help resolve these problems?” arguing that

sometimes you can do more good by seeking a

high-earning career and donating to the right

charity; and “which skills will be most useful in

the future?” (hint: it’s not programming). We also

cover how to best narrow down your options and

find which career offers the best personal fit.

1. Work that’s engaging

Engaging work draws you in, holds your attention,

and gives you a sense of flow. There are four

factors that contribute to engaging work: the

freedom to decide how to perform your work,

clear tasks with a defined start and end, variety in

the types of task you do, and feedback to let you

know how well you’re doing.

2. Work that helps others

There’s a growing body of evidence that helping

others is a key ingredient for life satisfaction. People

who volunteer are less depressed and healthier. A

randomised study showed that performing a random

act of kindness makes the giver happier, and a

globalised study found that people who donate to

charity are as satisfied with their lives as those who

earn twice as much. Helping others isn’t the only

route to a meaningful career, but it’s widely accepted

by researchers as being one of the most powerful.

3. Work you’re good at

Being good at your work gives you a sense of

achievement, and gives you the power to negotiate

for other components of a fulfilling job, such as the

ability to work on meaningful projects, undertake

engaging tasks, and earn fair pay. For these

reasons, skill ultimately trumps interest. That’s not

to say you should only do work you’re already good

at, but you want the potential to get good at it.

4. Work with supportive colleagues

Good relationships are an important part of having

a fulfilling life, so it is important to become friends

with at least a couple of people at work. But you

don’t need to become friends with everyone.

Research shows that what’s more important is that

whether you could get help from your colleagues

when you run into problems. Wharton’s Professor

Adam Grant even suggests that the ideal colleague

is one who cares about you, but is disagreeable

enough to give you difficult feedback. So, when

selecting a job, don’t only ask whether you’ll get

along with some people in the workplace, but also

consider whether the culture will make it easy to

get help and feedback.

5. Lack of major negatives

To be satisfied, everything above is important.

But you also need the absence of things

that make work unpleasant. Things like

long hours, job insecurity, long commutes,

and pay you feel is unfair all contribute to

job dissatisfaction. Although these sound

obvious, people often overlook them.

6. Work that fits with the rest of your life

Many people don’t get all the ingredients of a

fulfilling life from their job. It is possible to find a

job that pays the bills and excel in a side project or

to find a sense of meaning through philanthropy

or volunteering; or to build great relationships

outside of work. Remember to consider how

your career fits in with your personal life.

Find out more at 80000hours.org.

21 22

Special Interest

Alumni surveyIn March 2017 we sent out our first anonymous alumni survey. Thank you to everyone who responded. Here is a summary of our findings:

Respondents to the survey – evenly distributed across the decades

565

Most worthwhile fundraising priority:

72%read OP News

87%

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

Pre-1

950

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Our response:

We are very grateful to everyone who completed

the survey, as well as Stephen Stanley (1964) for

his help with the project.

We have taken into account the feedback

provided by the survey and in the comments

and hope to improve what we do accordingly.

We have redesigned our Year Group reunion

programme, offering more opportunities to

reconnect with old friends. We are continuing to

develop our alumni offerings abroad, especially

in Hong Kong and the USA, as well as different

UK regional locations. We will also increase the

provision of Old Persean news in our publications

and find more engaging ways to let OPs know

about the School’s current priorities and

charitable work.

A few respondents made requests for

information/changes in contact preference as

part of their survey comments. Unfortunately,

due to the anonymous nature of the survey, we

were unable to action many of these requests.

If you made a request as part of the survey, we

would be grateful if you could contact us by

email at PerseADO@perse.co.uk or by telephone

on +441223 403808 so that we are able to act

accordingly.

Read the full report at www.perse.co.uk

Giving back to the School

49%

Attachment to the School

48%

Providing wider access to a Perse education

43%Motivations for giving

A fifth of survey respondents had given financially to The Perse in the past three years.

Donors were asked to select all of their motivations for giving back to the School.

Bursary fund

76%

Outreach

13%

Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre

11%

Most worthwhile fundraising

priority

Respondents were asked to consider which of the current priorities they thought most

worthwhile, with the bursary fund topping the list. were interested /

very interested in the school today.

72%

of alumni think year group reunions are the best events

55%

The two earliest Perse historians, John Gray (1922)

and John Mitchell (1976), disagree as to whether or

not Stephen Perse was married. No wife or children

are mentioned in Perse’s will and the bulk of his

estate went to his several charitable benefactions. However, a mother-in-law is mentioned, Mrs

Ellvin, and Gray assumes that where there was a

mother-in-law there was a wife, who must have

predeceased Perse. He claims that ‘late in life

Stephen Perse married’ the daughter of Mrs Ellvin

and Simon Ellvin of Hevingham Park, near Norwich,

both named in the will. But Gray is unable to name

the daughter. Did he simply assume one?

Mitchell regards the position as unclear,

since in those days colleges were celibate

societies and Perse, as a fellow of Caius, would

have had to resign his fellowship if he had

married. Gray makes no reference to this rule and

the difficulties it would have caused had Perse

married. Yet Perse died as a fellow of Caius.

Mitchell’s suggested answer to this conundrum

is that Perse resigned his fellowship on marrying,

then resumed it after his wife’s death. But there

is no mention of any such thing in the Caius

College records, so we are no further forward.

A possible answer is given by Christopher

Brooke in his history of the college (1985).

There was in Perse’s time another meaning of

‘mother-in-law’, now obsolete: ‘stepmother’.

Perse’s father might have married for a second

time, late in life, a woman young enough to have

outlived both him and her stepson Stephen.

But that does not explain why Perse

refers to her as Mrs Ellvin in his will, and not Mrs

Perse. The answer to that might be that she also

remarried, to Simon Ellvin, after the death of

Stephen’s father. If so, it seems likely that Stephen

Perse did not marry, and that the ‘mother-in-law’

was his stepmother. That might also explain why

in the will she is, in Gray’s words, ‘mentioned

there in terms of the deepest possible affection’.

Of how many mothers-in-law is that said?

From the Archives

23 24

FR

OM TH

E A

RCHIVES

Obituaries

FREDERICK TAYLOR 1940

Peter Taylor writes:Fred Taylor entered The Perse via the Preparatory School and, although he was perhaps unduly modest about his academic achievements, took a keen interest in a range of activities including the Officer Training Corps and amateur dramatics. He was particularly gifted as an athlete, being Victor Ludorum in both 1939 and 1940. On leaving The Perse in the summer of 1940 he enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment, serving as an NCO until commissioned into the Frontier Force Rifles in the Indian Army in 1941. He served in Burma, Ceylon, and the North West Frontier of India until September 1946, attaining the rank of Major.

After the war he joined the Metropolitan Police, leaving after 18 months to take a course at the LSE, and then joined the Probation Service, for which he worked in Middlesex and Hampshire until 1961. In a change of role he next took up a senior mental health post with Durham County Council, remaining until 1966 when he joined the Department of Health and Social Security Social Work Service, retiring in 1983. He also found time to take an Open University degree course. His retirement in Steyning in West Sussex was very active with an involvement in a range of charities and local government bodies, including membership of West Sussex County Council Social Services Committee and chairing West Worthing District Community Health Council. He was awarded the MBE for services to charities and mental health in 2000. Fred died on 18 September 2016.

ERIC PETER JOHN GENOCHIO1954

Richard Genochio (1963) writes:Peter Genochio (1954) was killed while defending himself from bandits on his farm in Brazil in September 2016. He was the second Genochio in two generations to have been murdered. In 1922, his uncle, Lt. Henry Genochio (Royal Engineers), was murdered by the IRA.

Peter was an officer in the old-style (and very British) Merchant Navy. He late became First Officer on the British Antarctic Survey vessel John Biscoe, then Chief Officer of the Sail Training Association’s square-rigger Malcolm Miller. He also spent a period as a Bonny River tanker pilot in Nigeria. He finally came ashore by creating his own marine insurance company in Saudi Arabia and then in Salvador in Brazil. He was very successful in this field, and was able to leave it to buy a farm in Lapa province in southern Brazil.

He was born in Cairo during the Second World War. His mother and he were dispatched by the Army to the safety of accommodation with a South African family near Durban. He was unencumbered by schooling. This did not make for an easy return when the family settled in Cambridge. Moving to The Perse was a challenge. He did not shine. He did not like the School, a feeling which was reciprocated.

When he was 14, his parents, much to his relief, sent him to H.M.S. Conway, the Merchant Navy training college on Anglesey. Here he flourished. He joined the Union Castle line as a midshipman on the line’s cargo ships, later transferring to the Blue Funnel line and to Holt Brothers. These took him to further-flung ports whose very names – Port Swettenham, Lobito, Laurenco Marques – evoke the places and atmosphere found in the works of Conrad and Greene.

Politically he moved further to the right, and he declined to return to his own country with which he could no longer identify. However, he was by no means a misanthrope. In Brazil he became the single largest donor to a school for those with learning difficulties, and likewise to an old people’s home. Peter could be very convivial company but he remained something of a tortured soul. He was not destined to be entirely happy in any environment other than on board ship. His death marks the passing of a remarkable man who never found peace, yet had a life which was more remarkable than he probably realised.

"He was particularly gifted as an athlete."

Did Stephen Perse marry?

Sir Peter Hall, who passed away in September 2017, was a giant of British theatre and was instrumental in the development of two of the country’s greatest arts institutions. The legacy he left in the Royal Shakespeare Company, which he founded in 1960, and the National Theatre, which he moved to its home on the South Bank in the mid-1970s, will live on in future generations of actors, directors, and theatre-goers.

Peter Reginald Frederick Hall was born in Bury St Edmund’s in 1930, the only son of Reginald and Grace Hall. His father worked on the railways and his promotion to stationmaster resulted in the family moving to Barnham in rural Suffolk, then to Cambridge and nearby Shelford. Peter came to The Perse on a scholarship and shone during his time at the School, becoming Head of School in his final year, as well as achieving colours in tennis. He also gave a celebrated performance as Hamlet in 1949, which demonstrated his emerging talent as an actor. The reviewer for the Pelican magazine wrote that “Undoubtedly he was the nerve-centre of the performance, and in more than the usual way. He not only expressed overflowing life in his own role, he

infected others … The completeness of the dramatic illusion he established, the integrity of his acting, many of us will long remember.” This prediction proved correct, and it is clear nearly 70 years on that his astonishing performance is still firmly imprinted on many OPs’ memories.

After The Perse, Hall went on to do National Service, serving as an aircraftman in West Kirby, Warwickshire, and in Germany. He then won an exhibition to read English at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. During his time at Cambridge he was strongly influenced by OP FR Leavis (1914), as well as George ‘Dadie’ Rylands, who dominated the student theatre group the Marlowe Society and was devoted to its belief in the importance of verse-speaking in productions of Shakespeare. It was not until Hall’s final year that he established himself as a director of student theatre, but this was the beginning of a meteoric rise. In 1953, the year he graduated, his undergraduate production of Pirandello’s Henry IV was given a two week run at the Arts Theatre in London. He was soon offered directorship of the Arts, so aged 24 began running his own London theatre. In 1955 he was presented with the script of

Obituaries

2625

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, which he found “startlingly original”. Positive reviews in The Observer and The Times followed, and Hall was quickly established as a bright young talent.

Soon afterwards, having made his name in Stratford with productions of Love’s Labour Lost, Cymbeline, and Twelfth Night, Hall was offered the position of the theatre’s director. However, he was not content with simply running a successful annual Shakespeare festival. He had a vision of a theatre company in which actors would have longer-term contracts, and that would devote itself both to creating ground-breaking productions of Shakespeare and to using the skills the company had honed in performing his plays to stage new works. The result was the creation of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which provided a permanent base from which to launch creative reinterpretations of Shakespeare, such as his 1963 production of The Wars of the Roses with John Barton, which refashioned the original tetralogy into a trilogy, and wove the political tensions of the 1960s into these history plays.

In 1968, Hall handed the reins at the RSC over to Trevor Nunn and spent several years as a freelance director of plays, operas, and films, achieving great success with productions of Mozart and Monterverdi at Glyndebourne. However, he had a great talent for taking the reins himself, and in 1972 succeeded Laurence Olivier as director of the National Theatre. His great achievement in this role was the move to the National Theatre’s new home on the South Bank. Nevertheless, alongside this triumph of leadership and determination, during these years his creative output as a director included highly-regarded productions of Antony and Cleopatra, starring Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins, and Tony Harrison’s version of The Oresteia. Sir Peter was knighted in 1977 in recognition of his services to the theatre.

After he left the National Theatre in 1988, Hall continued to be catalyst for many new creative initiatives, establishing the Peter Hall Company, developing an annual summer season at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and playing a crucial role in the opening of the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Some of his most acclaimed work as a director also dates from this latter part of his career, including Orpheus Descending (1988) starring Vanessa Redgrave and The Merchant of Venice (1989) starring Dustin Hoffman. In 2010, to celebrate his 80th birthday, he returned to the National to direct Twelfth Night, starring one of his daughters, Rebecca Hall, as Viola.

Sir Peter remained a loyal friend of The Perse throughout his life, and many Old Perseans who attended the School in the 1960s will remember him returning to the School’s Speech Day in 1962 with his first wife, Hollywood star Leslie Caron.

Sir Peter is survived by his widow, Nicola, and his six children.

SIR PETER HALL 1949

PETER HALL PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE OPENING 2018

We are delighted to announce that the Hall family have kindly agreed for our new performing arts centre to be named after Peter. The Perse played a formative role in developing Peter’s artistic career and he was kind enough to recognise that. We are keen that his outstanding contribution to the performing arts is recognised by his old school and hope that Peter’s remarkable career will serve as an example and inspiration to future generations of pupils.

The Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre is nearing completion and will officially be opened in 2018 by members of Peter’s family. Designed by award winning theatre architects Haworth Tompkins, it is part of the most radical physical alteration to the Upper site since the move to Hills Road in 1960.

We are very excited about the drama, music, debating, art, public speaking and lecture opportunities created by the Peter Hall Performing Arts Centre, and we are very honoured that the Hall family are supporting the project.

There will be a number of opportunities for Old Perseans to visit the School and see the new centre in action – details of these events will be circulated in due course.

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

Jane Owen writes:In 2010 I rang David Tang and asked him to write a piece on interior design. We had not met. His response was forthright and surprising: “No. Interior design is crap,” he bellowed down the phone. “‘OK, so write that,” I bellowed back.

We had lunch at his set in Albany off Piccadilly and decided on an interior design Agony Uncle column. But the column’s subject matter kept drifting away from interior design to generalised name-dropping and anecdotes. Some readers loved it. Others hated it. Some FT staffers thought it funny. Others thought it unspeakable. Magic: a Marmite column!

One of the agonies of the column from the FT’s perspective was, sometimes, late delivery. David’s excuses, delivered in righteous tones, were in a class of their own: “Tomorrow morning at 9GMT. It’s ancestral grave sweeping holiday today. I will be haunted if I work.” “Kate Moss is making me have tattoos.” “The Queen says you are making me work too hard.” “I’m touring with The Stones.”

“I’m organising a fashion show on the Great Wall of China.” “I’m shooting in Liechtenstein/at Blenheim/Balmoral.”

Threatening to cut his FT pay, the traditional recourse of editors to recalcitrant columnists had no effect. However much he declared that he was not rich (David’s claim that he travelled economy was based on the fact that private jets, borrowed or otherwise, have only one class), he had a range of businesses and also seemed to do pretty well at gambling.

“You know you are talking to someone who have [sic] lost two entire fortunes on the roulette and won 350 thousand grand on it last week, being a bit vulgar!” he emailed a couple of years ago. He probably meant £350,000 rather than £350,000,000, but even so…

The columns were worth waiting for. The jokes were both terrible and brilliant, (“ ‘Herro’ ”, I once said entering a room full of English boys. One of them stood up and said: ‘Eton actually!’ ”) but his copy took up a lot of the FT lawyer’s time and included a remarkable variety of factual inaccuracies. David

Obituaries

2827

regarded the FT’s concern with getting the facts right as eccentric and bourgeois.

When asked to be more careful he replied: “Careful? Since when has the progress of Man been ever resulted from that insular approach of safety?” When the FT HR team emailed David with an invitation (order) to attend FTHQ for health and safety instruction he replied: “I would rather have a red hot poker up my arse.”

Political correctness was as low on David’s list of priorities as health and safety which meant that chunks of his columns had to be scrapped, regularly. This usually led to a forthright exchange of views. I would then attempt to sack him. And vice versa.

Even his non-controversial columns had their problems. For instance: Me: “What does ‘Come-in Banana’ mean? Nobody here has heard of it.” DT: “OMG: you lot are really lowbrow! Carmina Burana the great coral [sic] work by carl orff (old spice ad!). Hence all the puns! Cor blimey einstein!” Communication with David was sometimes baffling: Me: “Would you be able to do a video series along the lines of ‘David Tang’s weird and wonderful world’?”

DT: “ ‘O Oysters,’ said the Carpenter, ‘You’ve had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?’ But answer came there none — And this was scarcely odd, because They’d eaten every one.” We never made the video series and, given David’s social and travel schedules, it would have been a struggle. He entertained constantly and generously but was a stickler when it came to timekeeping. When guests stayed 15 minutes beyond the specified time at his Rules for Modern Life book launch at Annabel’s last year, David bellowed to the assembled dukes, politicians and glitterati: “F*** off. The party’s over.”

David had dizzying travel arrangements, pinging between Hong Kong, Cuba, New York, Nice, Caracas, Shanghai, all while emailing jokes, gossip, pictures (DT with Mick Jagger/a motorbike lavatory in Taiwan/on the Getty yacht/Theresa May’s cleavage) and news about his latest conquests from royalty to showbiz to plutocrats. He was irrepressible until, in 2014, he came up with his most extreme “late copy” excuse yet: “I have just had a 10-hour op.”

That was the first I knew that he had liver cancer. I now know that he had been in pain for some time. He never complained. Instead he told me:

“I have been reading Neruda’s ‘Ode to the Liver’! Did you know he wrote one? Marvellous.”

With great difficulty, and with FT editor Lionel Barber’s help, I persuaded David to have a four-week rest from writing columns. He complained bitterly about his enforced holiday. Over the next few years he was in and out of hospital but hid the fact from me so that he could go on writing his column.

Three weeks ago, after David had told me he had been informed that he did not have long to live, I went to see him at the Royal Marsden hospital in London. We had agreed to write his obituary together. The original plan had been to write it in mid-September but, suddenly, the date had come forward. His voice was croaky, weak, terrible. I asked him to stop talking but he insisted: “It’s my physio. I have to speak.”

I said he should forget any thought of writing columns or appearing at the FT Weekend Festival on September 2. He did not make it but, at the time, David was defiant: “I will appear at the Festival even if I have to get there in this bed.”

“Anyway, look,” he said, pulling an iPad from the bedclothes. “This is the guest list for my party at the Dorchester on September 6. I want intimacy except I’ve booked the London Symphony Orchestra and Hélène Grimaud to play for one and three quarter hours. There will be no special hugging or saying goodbye. If you see me again fine. If not, fine.”

It is not fine.

This article was originally published in the Financial Times and is reproduced here with kind permission.

SIR DAVID TANG 1973

“Political correctness was as low on David’s list of priorities as health and safety which meant that chunks of his columns had to be scrapped, regularly.”

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

30

w

JAMIE AT THE PERSE

The Gardiner family writes: “The School did us

the immense honour and kindness of arranging

a dinner in memory and celebration of the life

of our son, Jamie (2013), at The Perse on 14

October. Mr Elliott kindly invited Jamie’s year

and friends of ours with Perse connections. Over

120 guests gathered in recollection of Jamie as a

fellow student, PES companion, head boy and –

above all – as a friend. The evening, while wistful

and occasionally deeply poignant, was also

uplifting and we extend our deepest gratitude to

the School and all those who attended, especially

those who spoke so movingly and affectionately

of a much-loved, deeply missed, son.”

DOUG COLLARD’S TESTIMONIAL MATCH

On Sunday 25 June, OPs, staff and friends of

the School came together for a cricket match in

celebration of Doug’s 38 years at The Perse.

The morning began with the annual OP v 1st

XI match, which saw the OP team regain the

title after last year’s loss. The OPs batted first,

posting a good total of 178–6 from their allotted

20 overs, with former 1st XI captain Chris Pepper

(2015) top scoring with 69 off 47 balls. The 1st

team could not match the total, reaching 150 all

out from their 20 overs. Wickets were shared

amongst the OPs, with 2 wickets a piece for

Josh Gray (2013), Alex Jackson (2014), Rajen

Mahendra (2010), and John Howe (2014).

After lunch, Doug’s specially selected

XI stepped up to the wicket to take on a

second team of OPs from across Doug’s time

at the School. The OPs batted first and scored

187–5 from 30 overs, with Ed Pearson (2006)

and Reimell Ragnauth (1993) the pick of the

batsmen. Despite commendable performances

from Jeremy Burrows, Ed Wiseman (1992), and

Ben Creese (2010), Doug’s team were unable to

match the OPs. Doug remained 7 not out at the

end of play and received a standing ovation as

he walked off the pitch from his former students,

colleagues, family, and friends – a fitting way

to end 38 years of service to the school.

Recent Events

29

Obituaries

DONALD KENRICK 1947

Published in The GuardianThe Roma or gypsy communities have not had many loyal supporters from outside their own tight-knit worlds. Donald Kenrick was a marked exception.

Kenrick’s sympathy for such groups came partly from his upbringing in a Polish Jewish family living in Hackney. After wartime evacuation to Cambridge, he was given a place at The Perse School. Its provision for teaching languages – including Sanskrit – fired Kenrick’s linguistic enthusiasm.

He added to languages learnt at home and school by picking up Arabic while on National Service in Egypt. Returning to Britain, he studied Arabic and Hebrew at London University, where he obtained a first-class degree.

He spent time abroad teaching Arabs and nomads in Morocco, picking up the Berber language too. While working in London he met and married Bente, an architect. They had a daughter, Timna.

It was in the late 1950s that Kenrick’s interest in the Roma was sparked – he was attending a conference in Bulgaria, where he was living at the time. He wondered which language local musicians were singing as they serenaded restaurant tables – they told him it was Romani. He began to learn more about Roma language, history, and contemporary life, and he gained his PhD for an analysis of the Drindari dialect of Romani.

Back in Britain, he became involved with the Gypsy Council, which was prominent in trying to prevent a series of evictions of travelling people. At the first World Gypsy Congress in 1971, he was in demand as a translator with an almost unique ability to interpret. One researcher he worked with estimated that Kenrick could translate from more than 60 languages and spoke around 30.

His researches into Roma history bore fruit with the publication in 1972 of The Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies, co-written with Grattan Puxon; the book focused on Roma and Sinti suffering during the Holocaust. Kenrick’s later publications included Gypsies: From the Ganges to the Thames and The Romani World: A Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies.

When communist rule ended in central and eastern Europe in 1989, Kenrick found members of many European Roma communities facing renewed persecution. While in his seventies, he tried to help some of those arriving in Britain to make asylum claims. “I come along when I can, find a case and

Alderton, Michael Christopher (1981) died 27 January 2017, aged 53 years Benison, Maurice Alan (1936) died 6 August 2017, aged 98 years Coppen, Alan Richard (1943) died 6 May 2017, aged 92 years Cox, Lancelot Eijiro Eugene (1993) died 22 June 2017, aged 42 years Deacon, David Humphrey (1954) died 31 March 2017, aged 80 years Gale, Charles Philip (1951) died 10 March 2017, aged 82 years Graves, Royston Leonard (1951) died 15 February 2017, aged 83 years Harvie-Smith, Robin (1952) died 27 May 2017, aged 83 years Lummis, Michael John (1954) died 19 January 2017, aged 81 years Moore, Brian Charles (1950) died 20 July 2017, aged 85 years Shaw, Cyril (1950) died 12 May 2017, aged 85 years

Strawson, Michael Gordon (1960) died 8 Ocotober 2017, aged 76 years

More obituaries online

This list was up-to-date when we went to

print. Obituaries may be read in full on the

website perse.co.uk/alumni

do my best to get the government to see that these people are genuinely persecuted because of race.”

Kenrick also worked extensively for members of the British gypsy and traveller communities in disputes with local authorities over matters such as caravan pitches and building controls. He argued that better provision for such groups was needed not just to allow old traditions of movement to be maintained, but also to allow families to pursue their livelihoods in jobs such as knife-grinding.

He taught individuals to read and understand the intricacies of planning law. He would sometimes travel from London to Scotland to defend a family threatened with eviction from a campsite, returning in time the next day to teach one of his adult education classes. He died on 12 November 2015, aged 86.

TONY BILLINGHURST MEMORIAL

We gathered at The Perse on 16 September 2017

to celebrate the life of Tony Billinghurst. Following

a warm welcome from the Head, Ed Elliott, many

anecdotes and memories were recounted by

colleagues and former pupils: David Gant (1966), Sam

Lee (1989), Ashley Edgar (1961) and David Jones.

It was lovely to hear Jeannine Billinghurst bring the

formal proceedings to a close with memories of Tony

as a family man. Needless to say, The Van featured

prominently at every turn! Afterwards the family and

a group of OPs visited 92 Glebe Road (Northwold

House) for a trip down memory lane.

Old Perseans / Autumn / Winter 2017

31

Old Perseans and Friends

@OldPerseans

Old Perseans

Upcoming Reunion Dinners2017/9 1970 – 19792018/9 1999 – 2004

Young Leavers’ Drinks1 December 2017 6.30 – 8.30pm, The Perse. Open to Classes of 2012 – 2014.

Community Lecture: Henry Marsh CBE 17 January 2018 7.30pm, The Perse. Open to all.

Perse Business Network Reception22 January 2018 6.00 – 8.00pm, Allen & Overy. Open to all.

OP Sports Festival24 March 2018 Time TBC, The Perse. Open to all.

1994 – 1998 Reunion Dinner21 April 2018 6.45 for 7.30pm, The Perse.

Half Century Club Lunch19 May 2018 For alumni who left in or before 1968. Further details to follow.

For more informationplease visit perse.co.uk/alumni/events or contact the Alumni & Development Office by telephone on +44 (0)1223 403 808 or email PerseADO@perse.co.uk.

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