the old radleian 2013

2 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3 3t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

When I first wrote in this magazine in 2000 I spoke of the excitement I felt at the opportunity to lead a school with ‘... high standards, high expectations, able boys and the talented and committed staff ’. Thirteen years on and starting my final year as Warden I still find the same excitement and enjoyment in what is a wonderful job in a great school.

Over the past year we have particularly focused on developing greater independence of learning and an enhanced awareness of issues in the world amongst Radleians. This has not been at the expense of the traditional strengths of the school with academic, sporting and cultural performance remaining very strong, but it reflects the need to meet the needs of a changing world. Through numerous external speakers, the growth of trips and the development of new societies, at which boys can present on areas of particular interest, we have sought to encourage inquisitiveness and independence of thought, and it was very gratifying to see this recognised in a quite outstanding report from the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate. The work of the creative writing group remains exceptional and Henry McPherson’s poem When I’m finished won first prize in the SCJ National poetry competition. The rewriting of a Goethe fairytale by a number of our A-level German candidates was runner-up in another national competition, James Allen won an Inter-Schools Medical Lecture prize and it has been heartening to see many boys achieving gold medals in national physics and chemistry competitions. The annual conference with St Helen’s was entitled Fifteen Minute Inspirations and boys and girls were entertained by my speakers (including current Radleian, Tom Saunders) who showed the part of economy and precision in public speaking. All this has taken boys beyond the demands of GCSE and A level and developed self-confidence.

A greater understanding of the world around us has been enhanced through trips to Iceland, Honduras, Tanzania, Italy and Russia as well as through the continuing social service programmes which see boys from the Vth form and 6.1 contributing greatly in local primary and senior schools, retirement homes and other centres. The outstanding work

Letter from Angus McPhail, the Warden

Dear ORs,

of boys in raising very significant sums for charity, including Freddie Florin who swam the Channel in July, has again provided great experience, not only in the completion of often demanding challenges, but also in planning and fundraising.

Over the past year Radley has worked with The Education Fellowship, who sponsor Desborough College, an Academy in Maidenhead, to provide educational expertise and help the Academy fulfil its potential. Andrew Reekes has been coordinating the work of Radley dons in the classroom and on the games field and it has been heartening to see such a positive relationship develop and standards such as GCSE results improve significantly. In the coming year Chris Lee will be on secondment as Head of Sixth Form there. This link brings real benefit to Radley dons and boys as does the burgeoning relationship with the Gehandu School in rural Tanzania where a second group of boys went to teach and help install a crucial water pump this summer. To these partnerships will be added the restoration of Radley’s link with Kent School in Connecticut, a link that goes back to the 1920s. I was fortunate to visit Kent and speak at their graduation in June and I have no doubt that dons and boys will enjoy the opportunity to visit and get

to know that school and benefit from the knowledge (e.g. of American universities) it can provide.

Also central to the education a Radleian receives is the teamwork and experience of performing that comes through drama at all levels. From the Haddon Cup, through the year group plays (such as the outstanding production of Twelve Angry Men by members of 6.1) to a first Junior musical, Oliver, and a quite outstanding performance of The Laramie Project, we have been blessed with tremendous entertainment. And the musicians have not been left behind. The tour of Tuscany was a great success and Radley choirs have performed evensong in St Paul’s, Bristol and Wells cathedrals as well as giving a memorable performance in the Mozart Requiem. Instrumental gifts are honed through the various competitions and this year saw success for Henry McPherson (Wharton Piano), Oliver Williams (Hudson String prize), Campbell Baum (Gunn Cup, woodwind), Ben Rees (Gunn Cup, brass) Sam Ringer, Otto Burney and Campbell Baum (Guitar Prize), and Badlands and Ed Morgan (Battle of the Bands). Alex Walker won the Ferguson Singing prize and Ned Campbell triumphed in the Milligan Music Theatre Competition. Equally significant has been the rise in standard in the inter-social

The Warden speaking at Kent School, Connecticut, USA

Above: The New BuildingBelow: Biology Expedition to Honduras


Letter from the Warden Letter from the Warden

Above: The Radley Choir at St Paul’sBelow: Radley boys use their DT skills to help repair desks at Gehandu School, Tanzania

part song, won this year by D Social, and the continued growth of participation in leavers’ recitals for the Stoughton-Harris prize, in which James Moore, Matthew Clarke and Henry McPherson particularly shone. Last, but by no means least, we have again treasured the wonderful artwork that provides pleasure and stimulation as one walks around the school. It is greatly to Ian Ellis’s credit that the new building in Clocktower Square opened with a stunning collection of work by boys and Old Radleians. Radley remains a school that other schools want to beat in all sporting endeavour and our strength lies in both the quality of the top teams and in remarkable depth. The rugby club fielded up to 24 teams in an afternoon and the results against many of the strong schools on our circuit were remarkable: against Tonbridge 15/21 matches were won; against Oundle 17/18, against Marlborough 13/18 and against Harrow 16/20. The 1st XV was a fine side and it was heartening that throughout the club 65% of matches were won. The success ratio in hockey club was similar and the 1st XI did very well to win the Oxfordshire championships and reach the semi-finals of the South regional competition. After four years of great success the cricket XI this year proved harder work, but the side got better and better as the season progressed and the captain, Freddie Fairhead, scored 50 on

debut for Middlesex 2nd XI. Lower down the school there was an unbroken opening partnership of 255 in 30 overs by Ben Bowman (144*) and Archie Boscawen (80*), and all of this was a tribute to Andy Wagner, whose tremendous contribution to Radley cricket was recognised by Sky Sports who presented him with the ECB Coach of the Year award. On the river it was good to see a number of crews winning ‘pots’ and the 1st VIII performed well at Henley with two of the crew, Charlie Elwes and Robbie Wendin, winning places in the British coxed four at the World Championships.

We also remain one of the strongest tennis schools in the country and the level of participation would no doubt surprise many Old Radleians for whom tennis was very much a minor sport. This year in all about 6000 sets of competitive tennis were played against other schools with a win percentage of just under 80%; given the outstanding strength in the junior years I expect that Radley tennis will be a force for some years to come. It was also pleasing to see two athletes breaking school records: Senior Prefect, Alex Orr, ran 14.6 for the 110 metre hurdles and Archie Wilson broke the intermediate 200m record with a time of 22.59. Soccer is another growth sport – we field up to 16 sides – and the highlight for the 1st XI was a 4-2 win against Wellington having been 2-0 down with ten minutes remaining.

As always we have also had to say farewell to a number of dons. The Tutor of J Social, Mark Hindley, contributed enormously in his 14 years at Radley and we wish him and the other members of Common Room who have left Radley (Sholto Kerr, John Adams, Cathy Ellott, Tom Elphinstone, Ed Pearson, Mike Hemingway and Abbie Stephenson) happiness in their new roles. D Social will also greatly miss Sally Denyer, a tremendous PHM for twelve years.

I leave to last what is probably the most noticeable change at Radley over the past twelve months. Where once was the corrugated iron of the Old Gym is now a magnificent new building comprising History and Politics classrooms, an extension to the Sewell Centre gallery and DT workshop, and a coffee shop for boys and parents together with a variety of other rooms. At the same time we have completed, re-designed and renovated that most important of Radley buildings, Shop. The joy is that at the heart of Radley there is new life and light which will add hugely to what promises to be a memorable final year for me.

The GB Junior Coxed Four with Robbie Wendin and Charlie Elwes in the stern

Roge

r Sha

w


Radley from the Air

Radleyfrom the air

Alex Dernie and Max Horsey prepare the Quadcopter

Radley Video, run by Max Horsey, films plays, shows and concerts in the Theatre and Silk Hall. Max has a team of around 20 boys who operate the cameras and help with post-production. They film for a growing number of outside organisations including prep schools and societies. Their sales of DVDs help fund new equipment and they have recently purchased a Quadcopter and have been using it to get some stunning stills and videos of the College. Some of their images are shown on the following pages. Visit their website at: www.radleyvideo.co.uk

Above: Looking up the drivesBelow: From the end of the pitches


Radley from the Air


Radley from the Air

Some pictures from a larger aircraft


Radley from the Air

13t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 312 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3


Radley from the Air


17t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

16 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

The crew of Boston BZ590 - from left: Sergeant David Raikes, Flight Sergeant David Perkins, Flight Sergeant Alexander Bostock and Warrant Officer John Hunt

A Boston bomber taking off from a rain-soaked airfield in Italy in March 1944

David Kennedy Raikes(B Social, 1938-1942)

On 20th July 2013, David Raikes was laid to rest at the Padua War Cemetery in Northern Italy. The service, held on a beautiful bright sunny morning in the immaculate cemetery, was a perfect memorial to Raikes and his three fellow airmen who were killed in action in 1945, whilst bombing enemy targets along the River Po.

Three RAF personnel: Sergeant David Raikes, 20, the pilot, Flight Sergeant Alexander Bostock, 20, the radio operator, Flight Sergeant David Perkins, 20, the navigator and one RAAF airman, Warrant Officer John Hunt, 21, the gunner, were shot down in the final days of the war as the allies pushed the German army up against the River Po. The war in Europe ended just 10 days later.

The service marked the end of a remarkable story. Raikes and his fellow crew members had lain buried in the wreckage of their Douglas A-20 Boston Bomber, undisturbed, for 66 years until a local amateur historian, Fabio Raimondi, was contacted by an elderly local man who, as a child, had witnessed the Boston bomber crash into a field near his village on 21st April 1945. The plane had buried itself in the sodden ground on impact, and in the fog of war the crew of flight BZ590 were lost to the world, and their families.

Raimondi and his team of fellow amateur archaeologists soon found evidence of the wreckage in the field, near Copparo, and over a period of time, painstakingly, excavated the wreckage. A few personal effects were recovered and with the help of an inscription on the back of a watch discovered in amongst the wreckage, they

Crow

n co

pyrig

htA

ir H

isto

rical

Bra

nch,

Roy

al A

ir Fo

rce

Celebrating a Life

19t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

18 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

Excavations at the site of the crash in 2011

were able to trace the four brave airmen who lost their lives in the crash and the history behind flight BZ590.

As relatives of the crew were to discover over a few days in July, Raimondi’s work and the story of the discovery of flight BZ590 had captured the imagination of the local community.

At the site of the crash the Italian military, police and villagers came out in force to show their respects to the fallen airmen and their relatives at a simple ceremony held in the middle of a cultivated field, under the clear blue sky of the Italian summer. A local man, with some distant Scottish heritage, played the bagpipes as we approached the spot where for 66 years flight BZ590 had lain hidden.

A party of thirty had travelled from the UK and joined up with a contingent from Australia to celebrate the lives of their long lost relatives and to finally lay them permanently to rest. The group represented the families of the fallen airmen, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the MoD

and the British Embassy personnel in Rome. Amongst the group were three generations of Radleians; Raikes’ brothers, Roger and Tim, along with his nephews, David and Anthony, and grand-nephew Matthew.

From Copparo the group travelled west along the River Po to Felonica. Felonica was a focal point in the closing stages of this war, having crucial crossings over the River Po for the retreating Germans. Once again the townspeople and civic dignitaries had assembled in large numbers outside their museum, Museo della Seconda Guerra Mondiale del Fiume Po. After the formalities, including a heavily Italian accented rendition of “God Save the Queen”, we were shown round the museum which commemorates the role Felonica and the surrounding area played in those final days of the war. An entire room had been dedicated to the crew and remains of BZ590 and David’s brothers, Roger and Tim, were invited to formally open this new addition to the museum. On display were a corroded service revolver, buttons, badges and belt buckles from the

deceased servicemen. The front landing gear that had torn off on impact and a disfigured machinegun were amongst hundreds of other, smaller, fragments from the wreckage. In one glass cabinet, a book: The Poems of David Raikes, was proudly displayed, paying homage to an old Radleian whose life was cut short by the tragedy of war.

The full military burial service the next day was the opportunity to lay Raikes and his crew to rest, after 68 years. The ceremony was conducted by the RAF and RAAF, with the Queen’s Colour Squadron laying the four servicemen to rest in a single coffin with practised ceremony. Again, the local community, the Italian Military and Police attended in force, showing their support for fallen combatants of a war long since over. The service was poignant; however it was also an opportunity to remember and celebrate a young man and his achievements; the joy he had brought to those who remembered him, his poetry and to wonder what more he would have achieved if he had been allowed to live a full life. (continued on page 28)

Above: at Felonica Town Hall and below: at the crash site

21t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

20 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

A simple wooden cross laid at the crash site by Wing Commander Lee Turner, Officer Commanding 18 Squadron

Mik

e D

rew

ett,

Crow

n co

pyrig

ht

A lone piper plays a lament at the crash site – the spot marked by flowers from the local villagers

Mik

e D

rew

ett,

Crow

n co

pyrig

ht

23t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

22 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes, nephew of Sergeant David Raikes, reads his uncle’s poem ‘Let it be Hushed’ at the graveside

25t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

24 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

27t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

26 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

29t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

David Raikes

28 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

Let it be hushed; let the deep ocean close

Upon these dead. Others may laud their parts,

Raise monuments of marble in their names.

But we who flew with them and laughed with them, –

We other crews who, living side by side,

In outward contacts slowly came to know

Their inmost parts, would rather leave untouched

The wound we healed, the love we buried there.

These men knew moments you have never known,

Nor ever will; we knew those moments too,

And talked of them in whispers late at night;

Such confidence was born of danger shared.

We shared their targets, too; but we came back.

Lightly we talked of it. We packed their kit,

Divided up such common useful things

As cigarettes and chocolate, rations stored

Against a rainy day that never came.

‘And they cast lots among them!’ Someone said,

‘It was a pity that he wore his watch;

It was a good one, twenty pounds he said

He paid for it in Egypt. Now, let’s see,

Who’s on tonight. Ah, Taffy – you’ve a good one!

You’d better leave it with me.’ And we laughed.

Cold were we? Cold at heart. You get that way.

Sometimes we knew what happened; how they crashed.

It was not always on the other side.

One pranged upon the runway, dipped a wing,

The navigator bought it, and the gunner.

The other two got out, a little shaken.

Bob crashed when doing an air test, just low flying

– At least they think it was, they couldn’t say.

The plane was burning fiercely when they found it;

One man thrown clear, still living, but he died

On way to hospital. The loss was ours, –

Because I shared an aeroplane with Bob.

We had to get another D for dog.

And some did not come back. We never knew

Whether they lived – at first just overdue,

Till minutes changed to hours, and still no news.

One went to bed; but roused by later crews,

Asked ‘Were they back yet?’ and being answered ‘No’,

Went back to sleep.

One’s waking eyes sought out the empty beds,

And ‘Damn’, you said, ‘another kit to pack’;

I never liked that part, you never knew

What privacies your sorting might lay bare.

I always tried to leave my kit arranged

In decent tidiness. You never knew.

But that is past. The healing river flows

And washes clean the wound with passing years.

We grieve not now. There was a time for tears,

When Death stood by us, and we dared not weep.

Let the seas close above them, and the dissolving deep.

LET IT BE HUSHED

by David Raikes

Ray Madge, the half-nephew of Warrant Officer John Hunt, plays the last post at the graveside

(from page 18)And some did not come back. We never knew Whether they lived – at first just overdue Till minutes changed to hours, and still no news.

Raikes wrote of the fear of losing his friends. Men who knew moments you have never known, nor ever will. In the end, however, with a tragic poignancy he may well have foreseen, he himself joined the ranks of those who never came back.

Raikes was an accomplished poet, having had his poems posthumously published in 1954, and The David Raikes Poetry Prize is presented annually in his memory. However in addition to being a thoughtful poet, he was also a humorous and mischievous young man, and his surviving brothers remember a sibling who would find fun in much of what he saw and did. Whilst at Radley, he authored an unauthorised magazine containing witty and scurrilous stories

about life at school and a few Dons were known to have been the focus of Raikes’ light-hearted pen strokes!

Those few days in July, finally laying to rest this talented, humorous Radleian were a fitting tribute to him and all the many brave young men and women who have lost their lives in ensuring our continued freedom.

Tony Raikes (1977)

Mik

e D

rew

ett,

Crow

n co

pyrig

ht


Behind the Island

behind the

About a mile downstream of the Radley College boathouses, an island divides the river. The main channel for river traffic now passes to the Radley side of the island. Fallen trees and vegetation block the passage on the Nuneham side and make navigation almost impossible except by very small boats.

Many generations of Radley wet-bobs used to take refuge behind the island to relax out of sight and maybe enjoy an illicit cigarette or beer. They may not have been aware that previous Radley scullers had the pleasure of more formal entertainment when tea was served at the Lock Cottage.

Tom (L.C.R.) Balding, a boy at Radley from 1921 to 1926 and a member of the 1st VIII in 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1926, reported that, sometimes, he used to scull from the Radley boathouse (then at Sandford) down to the island, eat tea at the cottage then scull back to Sandford. He said it was the “best meal of the day”.

RADLEYCOLLEGE

BOATHOUSES

THE ISLAND←

island

Mar

y Ev

ans

Pict

ure

Libr

ary


Behind the Island

A postcard showing Radley crews at the Island in about 1900

The Lock

The cottage was called ‘Lock Cottage’ but there has been no lock in this part of the river for over 200 years.

The history of the lock at Nuneham begins in 1279 with records of one called “Bunselock”.

Originally dams and weirs may have been built in the river to trap fish in large quantities, or to provide a head of water to power mills. The water was penned in by a line of stakes across the stream. The stakes were supported by a bank of chalk and stones, over which the water fell.

When the river began to be used by barges to carry cargo, openings were built in the weirs with boards that could be removed. These were called flash locks, the term flash or flush denoting the rush of water when the boards were removed to allow a barge to pass through. Travelling downstream with the rush of water was sometimes hazardous but

relatively easy. The barges going upstream had to be dragged through the opening using a winch stationed above the weir.

The whole process involved a huge waste of water with the level of the water above the lock being lowered by several inches and needing several days to return to its normal depth. Flashes were required, not only at the weirs, but frequently to float barges over shallows in the stretch of river some distance below the weir.

In 1576 it was recorded the “Thupper Locke of Newnam is a great Annoisennce to the Ryver of Thames, and to the drownynge of the Meadowes there bycause there is no order taken how high he shall penne the water”.

A list of locks on the Thames of 1585 mentions three locks at Newnam kept by John Mollyners.

In a his book of 1632 John Taylor complains of a fishing weir and a sandbank at Nuneham.

It is said that a flash lock is shown in a map of 1707 which also shows the main channel running past the island on the Nuneham side of the river. In 1716 this lock was repaired at the expense of the first Viscount Harcourt. In the late 1700s after negotiation between Lord Harcourt and the Thames Commissioners, it was decided that it was not necessary to have any form of weir or lock at Nuneham.

The Cottage

The Lock Cottage is shown in the Nuneham Estate map of 1707. It is thought that the cottage was ‘improved’ as a romantic eye-catcher for the first Earl Harcourt by Capability Brown during 1779-1782, the last of his commissions – Capability Brown died in 1783.

Oxf

ords

hire

Cou

nty

Coun

cil O

xfor

dshi

re H

isto

ry C

entr

e

Above and below: Cottage in Nuneham Park in the early 1880s

Copy

right

The

Fra

ncis

Frit

h Co

llect

ion

continued on page 38


Behind the Island

Oxf

ords

hire

Cou

nty

Coun

cil O

xfor

dshi

re H

isto

ry C

entr

e

Above: Looking toward the ornamental bridge and cottage on the Thames. Photograph taken 1882Below: A similar view in 2013

Oxf

ords

hire

Cou

nty

Coun

cil O

xfor

dshi

re H

isto

ry C

entr

e

Above: Lock Cottage, Nuneham Park. A boating party standing on the riverside walk designed by Capability Brown. Photograph taken 1882Below: Almost the same view in 2013


Behind the Island

Oxf

ords

hire

Cou

nty

Coun

cil O

xfor

dshi

re H

isto

ry C

entr

e

Above: The steps to the cottage in 1895Below: All that remains in 2013

Oxf

ords

hire

Cou

nty

Coun

cil O

xfor

dshi

re H

isto

ry C

entr

e

Above: The rustic thatched cottage created in the park by Capability Brown between 1779 and 1782. The photograph was taken in 1895Below: The ruins of the cottage in 2013


Behind the Island

Conservative Fete 1839 © River & Rowing Museum/Gift of the British American Arts Association from the Collection of Thomas E Weil

They make most not for the University picnics that the summer term brings to these hospitable woods, but when the revolt of the town sets in with the long vacation. The river is as populous as ever then with dashing young fellows in flannel, and enchanting young ladies dressed in the depth of fashion. Great and many barges are towed down to Nuneham, and there merry people dance round Carfax, and float up again to Salter’s in the heavy purple dusk, trolling snatches of song.

Down the Thames in Victorian Days (1886) by Julia Isham Taylor (an American):

A little below the house there is an island in the river connecting by a light rustic bridge with the right bank. There is a charming cottage here which guards the landing place for the excursionists. We found a pleasure party just preparing to leave. The scene was one of the prettiest

imaginable. It was almost sunset and the atmosphere was thickening with the rich incense light. The foliages of the wooded island and upon the right bank were as freshly luxuriant as in June and the polished ivy over the cottage and the dull smoothness of the lawn showed off to perfection the white flannels and brilliant jackets of the young men. There was some laughing and calling to and fro, the voices all as pleasantly toned as the waning light. Two girls had taken a few steps on the bridge and stood half leaning on the rail. Their figures were strikingly graceful. One was in white, the other in pink: the simplicity of line and color (sic) in the dresses making an excellent effect. I know I shall see that rustic bridge with its pretty spring and those two handsome girls a little towards one end of it – bright silhouettes of color against a lovely green – as long as I remember ’86.

In Thamesland (1906) by Henry Wellington Wack:

Just below Nuneham Park a very picturesque island is well worth exploration, provided the old lady who lives in the straw-thatched cottage near the rustic bridge which joins the island to the park will permit a landing.

This old dame – perhaps a pensioner of the manor – would not permit us to approach her shore in order to photograph the island and the moss-grown bridge, which appears more like a well-designed stage-setting than a structure in man’s service.

In passing through that arm of the stream which washes the banks of Nuneham Park we disturbed the old dame’s ducks with our audible admiration of the scene’s loveliness. It may have been Russell’s red face or my white hat, the refreshments tucked in the

Celebrated Cottage at Nuneham Courtenay 1795

© T

rust

ees

of th

e Br

itish

Mus

eum

The Bridge

In about 1791 a bridge, at the site of the old weir, was built from the Nuneham bank to the island. It is shown in Cooke’s Views of the Thames with coloured etchings and engraved plates by W.B. Cooke and G. Cooke.

In the 1839 lithograph of the Conservative Fete and Regatta at Nuneham a ‘new’ bridge is shown.

A New Map of the River Thames from Thames Head to London by Henry Taunt (1872):

Nuneham Bridge: The middle arch of this bridge must be avoided, on account of the extreme shallowness of the water under it.

Nuneham, the seat of the Harcourt family, the favourite gathering-place for picnic parties from Oxford, is one of the prettiest spots on the whole of the river.

The park, which contains about 1,200 acres, extends along the Oxfordshire bank for some distance; it is finely varied with beautiful rolling slopes, rising from the margin of the water, and in places where the waving foliage of its overhanging trees is mirrored in the silvery Thames, it forms a tableau only surpassed by Cliveden itself.

The house is situate on the brow of a hill, a short distance from the river, and is in the Italian style, but owes its chief attraction to the very beautiful gardens which in their day were considered almost unrivalled ...

But the loveliest views at Nuneham are those around the spot where pleasure-parties land; the rustic cottages set in masses of sylvan shade, and the picturesque bridge crossing the side stream, with the whole picture of still life reproduced in the clear waters below, form a series of beautiful pictures such as nature only can produce.

By previous application by letter to the agent, stating probable number of party &c. permission can be obtained for private

parties to land on Tuesdays or Fridays, and tea is provided at the cottages if required.

The Upper Thames, Harpers New Monthly Magazine (1884):

... we arrived at Nuneham, one of the most delightful spots on the river. The park and gardens are superb. They help to keep up the illusion which makes the Upper Thames seem like a river intersecting one continuous pleasure-ground.

On one side of the river, woods of oak; on the other, verdant meadows; the oaks stretching their umbrageous branches into the flood, the meadows coming down into the very water in carpet – like terraces of green velvet. Here and there the redbrick village can be seen through the trees.

The Royal River (1890) by D.S. MacColl:

Presently one comes upon a little island connected with the Nuneham side by an intensely rustic bridge. By the landing stage is a cottage with exaggerated thatch. Here they make tea.

from page 33


Behind the Island

Mar

y Ev

ans

Pict

ure

Libr

ary

Nuneham Courtenay, from the Bridge 1890

boat on both sides of Russell’s round body; or it may have been due to the old lady’s bad liver – a common complaint in the malaria of the Thames valley.

At any rate, this irate dame took her stand on the duck-landing with a broom in her fist and a look on her unkindly face that portended assassination. As the nose of the canoe touched the beach, Russell leaned forward to step out. Suddenly a shower of gravel and water poured upon us from the enemy’s vigorously wielded broom; a shove and a kick and we were literally swept out to sea, followed by the anathema of this rebellious shrew.

There was no arguing the matter with her for either brotherly love or the King’s coin. Her obstructive zeal evidently amounted to a passion, and the kodaker from the fastnesses of New York seemed to be the special bête noir of this beaver-tailed dame of the banks of Nuneham.

However, once out of reach of her sand-spitting broom, we photographed her cottage and the bridge. Then waving back

our qualified respects, we emerged into the broader reaches of the river.

Just below the island we overtook the barrister and the architect... making slow headway. They saw us come from under the rustic bridge, and inquired, with some curiosity:

“How did you get through there?”

“Oh”, said Russell, “we got through there all right after one tornado and a large syndicate of small difficulties. Our pilot house is stove in, the first mate is full of gravel, and the helmsman disabled! Can you fellows lend me a clean shirt?”

A merry twinkle gleamed in the barrister’s eyes as he viewed my mud-draggled colleague. He seemed to know the beaver-tailed dame of the banks of Nuneham.

The Thames (1906) by Geraldine Edith Mitton:

The lock cottages, which are a popular resort in the summer, stand beside a pretty

wooden bridge which connects the islands with the mainland. Masses of wild roses and flowering clematis add their delicate touch to the beauty of the overhanging trees... the general public, after writing in advance, are allowed to picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from May to September...

✳

During the 1939-1945 War the cottage was abandoned and eventually fell down. The bridge remained until the 1960s but it became dangerously rotten and was taken down in the late 60s or early 70s.

Fallen trees and vegetation have taken over the area and nothing remains to suggest that this was once a favourite destination for both Radley boys and river parties from Oxford.

Jock Mullard

Nuneham Bridge 1811 from Cooke’s Views of the Thames with coloured etchings and engraved plates by W.B. Cooke and G. Cooke

Wild Rose Nuneham Courtenay Pottery – this Pattern, based on the illustration from Cooke’s Views of the Thames, was used on Blue & White Pottery. It was particularly popular from 1820 to 1860 when it was made by over fifty different potteries in Staffordshire and elsewhere


Animal Magic

Hamish Mackie in Antarctica in 2011

animalHamish Mackie (1987), one of the top British wildlife sculptors

magic

Edward Lucie-Smith, Art critic and Historian:

Creating representations of animals is one of the oldest forms of art. It can be traced right back to the Palaeolithic era. Hamish Mackie therefore stands at the end of a very long process of development. Essentially what the sculptor of animals has to do is to combine keen powers of observation with empathy. It is not enough simply to observe – he has to fuse himself with what he observes, without tumbling over into the anthropomorphic.

Hamish Mackie, now internationally acclaimed, has emerged as one of the most talented and original wildlife sculptors of his time. Partly this is due to the fact that he is the master of a virtuoso technique, in a technical tradition that dates back to Rodin. What Rodin did with the human body, Mackie applies to animal forms. Rodin, perhaps influenced by the impressionist painting, was fascinated by the way that light flickers over forms – especially over forms that are actually or potentially in motion. Mackie, dealing with subjects where capturing motion is the very essence

Elephant seals


Animal Magic

of what the artist has to do, shows himself adept at achieving this – his animals always seem to be on the move, or ready, at any moment, to move.

This is achieved through the manipulation of the clay with which his sculptures begin. When we look at his bronzes, we are always conscious that they are made with human hands – that the gestures of the hand always remain clearly visible in the finished bronze. To a certain extent, the spectator is actually encouraged to participate in the creative process. Just as the sculptor empathizes with the animals he portrays, so too the spectator identifies himself with the sequence of manual gestures that lead the artist towards the finished image that is finally presented to the public. Working in this way requires not only physical skill, but also huge self-confidence. The artist pursues and tries to capture what can only be a momentary vision. In the 19th century, Eadweard Muybridge’s celebrated series of stop-motion photographs of human and

animal locomotion completely changed perceptions about the shapes made by both human beings and animals as they moved from one position to another. Artists have continued to struggle with this revolution right up to the present day – all the established conventions for representing the movements of animals were overthrown. There is, however, one curious footnote to this situation. As the recent Ice Age Art exhibition at the British Museum demonstrated, carvings and engravings from the earliest epochs of art often seem truer to Muybridge’s discoveries than they are to animal images from later epochs.

In a number of daring sculptural groups, Mackie has set himself the task of recapturing an innocent directness of vision that also exists in Ice Age Art and of translating observations of this purified sort into fully three-dimensional form. In this sense, he is a much more experimental sculptor than he appears to be at first glance. His animal sculptures take us back to the very beginnings of art, but also incorporate aspects of the revolution in our

approach to the natural world that did not begin until the radical experiments and technical advances made in the second half of the 19th century.

The results have a compelling freshness, but also great emotional force. Looking at these sculptures, the spectator often feels that he or she is in the actual presence of the creature portrayed.

✳

Through his work as a sculptor Hamish Mackie has had the privilege of observing wildlife in many corners of the world at first hand, thus bringing his passion for the natural world into his sculptures. Largely self-taught, Hamish’s style is unique; his work captures the inner core, strength, and grace of the subject. His sculptures are his own interpretation, and not a photographic representation of the subject. Through his close observation and his expressive manipulation of the materials Hamish is able to capture an instinctive moment of animal behaviour.

Left: Albatross head. Above: Humpback, mother and calf breaching


Animal Magic

Hamish frequently works in spontaneous, often unrepeatable, fluid gestures. This confidence is born from many years of mastering his craft. It is this assertive handling of materials, which results in strong dynamic, living sculpture. However his sculpting ‘technique’ will vary according to how he perceives the subject; for example, a compact feathered bird such as an albatross will be sculpted in a tight method, in comparison to the free feathers of an owl that dictate a looser handling.

✴

Born in 1973, Hamish grew up on a livestock farm in Cornwall, England. He developed a love of wildlife at an early age. After Radley, Falmouth School of Art and studying design at Kingston University, it was in 1996 that Hamish began sculpting full time, thus turning his passions into a career. In 2007 Hamish built a studio in Oxfordshire, where he now lives and works with his wife Laura and their three daughters Isabella, Matilda and Otterlie.

Since his last London solo exhibition in 2010, Hamish has travelled to Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Africa and United Arab Emirates to study his subjects. “Observing animals in their own environment is essential to understanding the subject’s physical and instinctive traits. For example, the disposition of a captive leopard is very different from that of a leopard in the wild.”

At a time when contemporary art is criticised for lacking craft, bronze casting is a refreshing antidote. Each sculpture takes on average four months to be sculpted, moulded and then cast into bronze. It is a highly skilled, labour-intensive process. Hamish’s sculptures are cast in England by the Lockbund Sculpture Foundry. He has a 20-year history of working with this foundry building a crucial relationship between sculptor and founder; together rising to various technical challenges, from casting intricate feather detail to a life-size cheetah supported on one leg.

Whatever the sculpture, the finish is always of museum quality. Simon Allison of Lockbund tells Hamish to sculpt what he wants and they will work out how to cast it.

Bronzes are made by pouring molten bronze into a ceramic investment - known as the ‘Cire Perdue’ or ‘Lost wax’ method. The same technique dates back 5000 years. The skill of transforming one material into another is to preserve all of the detail of the original.

The quality of the casting allows the artist’s manipulation of the clay to remain clearly visible in the finished works, so that even a fingerprint can be seen. This is integral to the artistic process as Hamish’s work is reliant on the virtuosity and spontaneity of his gestures “to capture what can only be a momentary vision.”

Hamish has previously staged a number of successful international solo exhibitions, perhaps the most notable being his 2012 show at Mallett in New York. Last year his work was also selected to be displayed in

Above: Bull charging, head upBelow: Otter, fish take-away


Animal Magic

Above: Hamish at the Dubai Camel Research CentreBelow: Camel, life-size

Above: Cheetah sequenceBelow: Leopard stalking, life size


Animal Magic

Grosvenor Square and Oxford Street as part of the Cultural Olympiad. His work is held in public and private collections around the world. Public commissions include Merrill Lynch, Hiscox Insurance, Barclays Bank, The National Trust, Woburn Abbey, Floors Castle, and Sogo Hong Kong.

Through his sculptures he also helps to raise funds and awareness for charities including Tusk Trust, and the Countryside Alliance. Hamish hopes that he can highlight not only the beauty of our natural world, but also, and perhaps more pertinently, how fragile our relationship with it is becoming.

Hamish Mackie Solo Show7th - 19th Oct 2013

The Gallery in Cork Street28 Cork Street, London, W1S 3NG

www.hamishmackie.com

Swift, life-size Above: Hamish works on roe buckBelow: Red deer stag & hind

Left: Grouse standing, Centre: Caracal head, Right: Elephant calf, size matters


New Books, CDs & DVDs from ORs New Books, CDs & DVDs from ORs

Broke of the Shannon and the War of 1812Tim Voelcker (1946)

Seaforth Publishing (19 Sep 2013)ISBN-10: 1848321791ISBN-13: 978-1848321793

Captain Broke’s victory in 1813 over Captain Lawrence of USS Chesapeake, which was to have far reaching influence on the future of North America, did much to restore the morale of the Royal Navy, shattered by three successive defeats in single-ship duels with US frigates, and stunned the American nation which had come to expect success. 2013 sees the bicentenary of the battle and this new book seeks to reverse the neglect shown by most modern historians of one of Britain’s finest frigate captains, who by his skill, determination and leadership won one of the bloodiest naval duels the world has seen. Even now both Britain and the USA claim to have won the war but only Canada, the third country heavily involved, can fully claim to have done so, for the peace that followed established her as an independent nation. Leading historians from all three countries have joined to give their sometimes conflicting views on different aspects in a way to interest and entertain general readers, as well as challenge academics. It is a tale of political and military blunders, courage and cowardice in battle, a bloody ship-to-ship fight, and technical innovation in the hitherto crude methods of naval gunnery. It also tells the human story of Broke’s determination to achieve victory so he could return to his wife and children after seven lonely years at sea.

New Books, CDs & DVDs from ORsNew Books, CDs & DVDs from ORsThe Adventures of AchillesHugh Lupton (1966), with Daniel Morden and Carole Hénaff (Illustrator)Barefoot BooksISBN-10: 1846864062ISBN-13: 978-1846864063

Hugh Lupton has been a central figure in the British storytelling revival for thirty years. He tells myths, legends and folk tales from many cultures. His many books include Tales of Wisdom and Wonder, The Story Tree, Tales of Mystery and Magic and his novel The Ballad of John Clare. He lives with his wife, Liz, in Norfolk. Daniel Morden has been a professional storyteller since 1989. His book Dark Tales from the Woods won the TÍr na nÓg Children’s Book Prize in 2007. Daniel lives with his family in Abergavenny, Wales. In 2006, Daniel and Hugh received the Classical Association’s Award for ‘the most significant contribution to the public understanding of the classics’. Carole Henaff is inspired by her travels and is never without her sketchbook. She studied theatrical literature in Paris before moving to Barcelona to study graphic design and illustration. Carole has illustrated children’s books in France and Spain, including Smara, which was awarded the Isaac Diaz Pardo Prize for Best Illustrated Book, 2006. She has also illustrated The Arabian Nights for Barefoot Books.

The Irregular Safari (eBook)Hugh Aldersey (1945)BookPodASIN: B00A5ZP7ZIISBN: 978-0-9873527-2-9

A nineteen year old is catapulted out of an 1890s rural lifestyle into the ‘cradle of terrorism, genocide and reprisals’, in a strange land. Thanks to some military type training, he is able to survive wounding, capture, escape and emergency surgery and rescue a business while fighting as an ‘irregular’ to help hasten the end of the Boer war. He encounters the slave trade, mass murder reprisals and terrorism. During this time, he falls in love with a very beautiful girl of mixed race and has the prejudice of a ‘mixed’ marriage, false accusation and relentless victimization to overcome.

About the Author:Hugh Aldersey was educated at Radley and Birkenhead College and worked in heavy engineering before going into the British Army. He was commissioned in REME and served in Egypt with African Colonial troops, British troops and native tradesmen. On leaving the Army he migrated to Australia and was editor of the Australian Mechanical Engineering magazine. He has also held a number of positions in technical marketing and has travelled extensively.

Consumed: How Shopping Fed the Class System)Harry Wallop (1988)CollinsISBN-10: 0007457081ISBN-13: 978-0007457083

Harry Wallop is one of the sharpest and funniest journalists writing in Britain today. He has an instinct for the killer detail that truly brings a story to life. Jay Rayner

This is the story of how we became defined by what we consume.Discover what the thickness of froth on your morning coffee or where you buy your jeans really says about you, and the role of retailers and big business in this new class system.In this revealing account, award-winning journalist and consumer affairs expert, Harry Wallop takes a fresh look along society’s dividing lines and uncovers how our lifestyles and consumer choices are the new determining factors of class and social status in modern Britain.Find out which new social categories you and your friends belong to in today’s modern consumer world. Insightful and engaging, Consumed will completely change the way you think about your shopping habits.

About the Author:Harry Wallop is an award-winning journalist and feature writer at The Daily Telegraph. He also presents prime-time consumer programmes on Channel 4.

Henry Cecil: Trainer of GeniusBrough Scott (1956)

Racing PostISBN-10: 1905156847ISBN-13: 978-1905156849

The story of trainer Henry Cecil is one of the great redemption songs of sporting history: decades of success at the highest level followed by years in the professional and personal depths, then a glorious resurrection topped by the unbeatable Frankel, widely considered the greatest racehorse of all time. Hollywood could not have scripted the tale better. Henry Cecil is the trainer who did not fit the mould: the shy, foppish figure who despite his aristocratic profile unleashed waves of popular affection previously unknown in Flat racing. The public loved Cecil, and he returned that affection with a bemused tilt of the head and self-effacing humour. Despite that self-deprecation, Cecil’s record testifies to his being one of the greatest racehorse trainers in history, with 25 wins in English Classics to his credit including the Derby four times as well as countless other big-race victories around the world. But what makes the figure of Henry Cecil so compelling is the extraordinary personality behind the records, and no one is better placed to chronicle the giddy highs and desperate lows of his story than Brough Scott. The former jockey and leading sports journalist has witnessed the Cecil genius at close quarters for decades, and tells the full story with honesty and candour as well as admiration and affection.

Driving Ambition - My Autobiography Andrew Strauss (1990)Hodder & Stoughton(10 October 2013)ISBN-10: 0340897899ISBN-13: 978-0340897898

An outstanding opening batsman and natural leader, Andrew Strauss captained his country in 50 of his 100 Tests. During his time in charge, England emerged from a turbulent and controversial period to become the world’s top team, establishing him as one of the most successful captains of the modern era.

This is the honest and entertaining story of a quiet, unassuming man who became a magnificent man-manager, leading England to victory in the 2009 Ashes series and again in Australia the following year. Strauss is a fine raconteur and this outspoken autobiography will appeal to all those who love cricket.

Strauss wrote his name into the record books when he became only the second England batsman to score a century at Lord’s on his Test debut, in 2004. He played in the 2005 Ashes victory and was appointed England captain in 2009. Under his captaincy, England regained the Ashes in 2009 and held on to them in 2010-11, the first series win on Australian soil for 24 years. In 2011, he led his country to the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test world rankings for the first time. After captaining England in 50 of his 100 Tests, he retired from all forms of cricket in 2012. He was awarded the OBE in 2011.

Cycling to the Ashes: A Cricketing Odyssey From London to BrisbaneOli Broom (1993)Yellow JerseyISBN-10: 0224091875ISBN-13: 978-0224091879

One man, one bike, two Mongoose cricket bats, one tropical disease, 16,000 miles and a lot of dead kangaroos.

Oli Broom loves cricket. So much so that in 2009 he left his nine-to-five job in London and set off to cycle to Brisbane for the Ashes. Along the way he played cricket in the shadow of the Blue Mosque, slept in a goat pen in Sudan, dodged a 5-metre crocodile in the outback, battled mountains in sub-zero temperatures in Bulgaria and successfully negotiated the treacherous highways of India.

Starring the colourful characters he met on his travels, this is a funny and poignant tale for anyone who’s ever dreamt of jacking in the day job to embark on an incredible adventure.

An epic adventure. Bear Grylls

I think it’s pathetic he isn’t cycling home again. Ian Botham

Completely potty. Aggers

Forbidden Book: A NovelJoscelyn Godwin (1958) and Guido Mina di Sospiro

Disinformation Company LtdISBN-10: 193887501XISBN-13: 978-1938875014

This gripping page-turner has something for every fan of occult fiction: a murder mystery set against the conflicts of Islam and the West with symbolism, alchemy and magic fuelling the action. The evocative setting of Venice and the Veneto dominates the plot, along with vivid scenes in Santiago de Compostela, Provence, Washington and the Vatican.

The Forbidden Book delves deep into esoteric knowledge and practice, thanks to Guido Mina di Sospiro’s extensive knowledge of Catholicism and Joscelyn Godwin’s authoritative studies of the western esoteric tradition. Underlying the fast-paced action, the reader will find a profound treatment of moral and political dilemmas, the conflict of religions and the frightening possibilities of the occult.

This is a really excellent book gripping, thought-provoking, mysterious, deep and resonant with esoteric knowledge. It keeps you turning the pages in a most compelling way. I couldn’t put it down. Graham Hancock, author of the international bestsellers The Sign and the Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, and Heaven’s Mirror

Gazette


New Books, CDs & DVDs from ORs GazetteReceived with thanksFrom John Scott (1948), Clive Carr (1947) and Ted Dexter (1948) an illuminated photograph of the Oxford and Cambridge Golf Teams of 1924 including the Revd. J.C. Vaughan Wilkes (far right, front row sitting – marked with the arrow)) who was to become Warden of Radley from 1937 to 1954.

DVDs

Rodelinda: The Metropolitan OperaHarry Bicket (1974), ConductorRenée Fleming with Stephanie Blythe and Andreas SchollDeccaASIN: B008XNPNV2

Stephen Wadsworth’s 2011 production of Handel’s opera for the New York Metropolitan stars Renée Fleming in the title role. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts the Met’s orchestra and chorus; Stephanie Blythe and Andreas Scholl co-star.

A terrific Met cast shines in the glorious tangle of Handel’s ‘Rodelinda’.The Classical Review

The Metropolitan Opera orchestra under Maestro Bicket provided an animated and beautifully detailed reading of Handel’s luxuriantly melodic score.ConcertoNet.com

The Wizard: The Life of Stanley MatthewsJon Henderson (1958)

Yellow JerseyISBN-10: 0224091840ISBN-13: 978-0224091848

The first full and objective autobiography of a sporting legend, revealing the professional and private lives of one of the world’s greatest ever footballers.

Stanley Matthews taught us the way football should be played. Pelé

I couldn’t believe he was just a man. He was the best player in the world. Bobby Charlton

He told me that he used to play for just twenty pounds a week. Today he would be worth all the money in the Bank of England. Gianfranco Zola

Stanley Matthews is one of the most famous footballers ever to play the beautiful game. Nicknamed ‘The Wizard of Dribble’ for his deadly

skills, he made fools of defenders around the world. He played 84 matches for England in a career that spanned an extraordinary 33 years and such was his popularity that attendance for his club teams, Stoke City and Blackpool, more than doubled when he played. He was a global superstar decades before Beckham, Ronaldo or Messi, yet what do we really know about this legendary man?

This first full and objective biography looks beyond the public face of the ‘first gentleman of soccer’ to explore a life not without controversy. This was a player who clashed with his managers, who felt undervalued in the age of the maximum wage – leading to a charge of blackmarketeering – and who was criticised for his showmanship and perceived lack of team spirit. There were private dramas too – an unhappy first marriage that produced two beloved children, and a second, to the love of his life, a Czech with a dark secret even Matthews never knew and which acclaimed biographer Jon Henderson reveals for the first time.

Recreating the magic on the pitch and analysing the key moments that made Matthews great, this is a meticulously researched story of a national hero and a fascinating insight into English football in the 20th century.

What the book does well is convey the ethos of football in a bygone age, when money was secondary to sportsmanship and even world-famous players would take the bus to the ground . David Robson, Sunday Telegraph

The Battle of Worcester 1651Editor: David Hallmark (1960)

The Battle of Worcester SocietyISBN-13: 978-0957242111

A Collection of Essays on the History of the Battle. A stunning publication with supporting pictures, illustrations, and photographs. The book brings some of the greatest academic minds regarding the English Civil War to one compendium of essays and writings. Contributors include Professor Ronald Hutton, Professor Malcolm Wanklyn, John Sutton, Peter Gaunt, Tony Spicer and many others.

Copies may be obtained from the shop at www.thebattleofworcestersociety.org.uk

←

Radley Tai Chi with a cricketer on the boundary

Gazette Gazette


From Brian Ford, local historian, an album of Radley photographs two of which are shown below.From Jerry Cain (1962), a photograph of the Octagon and Covered Passage.

From Robin Taylor (1935), who died in May 2012, via his nephew Chris Baillieu (1963), bound copies of The Radleian from the 1930s

James Delingpole in the Spectator, January 2013:

Incidentally, talking of toffs, I understand I have caused much hurt at Radley by suggesting in a recent column that it was a poor man’s Eton. This was unintended for two reasons. First, as is widely known, Radley is way, way socially smarter than Eton these days. Second, I have nothing but admiration for the school. Not only are all the Radleians and Old Radleians I have encountered (e.g. Owen Paterson) splendid chaps, but there’s a brilliant English teacher there who actually uses my articles in his classes as an illustration of how to write. How inspirational is that?

Above: After 1902 but before 1931 when the new wing and B Social were builtBelow: The Octagon, Long Dormitory and Market Place, c.1890

Gazette Gazette


From Nick Fenton (1980), some of his father’s photographs of Radley in the 1950s, one of a fixed-seat tub four shown below:

From Steve Horner (1958), some photographs from a Horner family album of the 1938 1st VIII. The crew won the Ladies’ Plate at Henley and then went over to race Tabor in the United States. J.C. Horner was spare man for the crew and rowed in the race which Tabor won in very rough conditions by ⅓ length.

From Peter Clayton Russell (1937), a copy of the Illustrated London News from June 1947, the Radley Centenary Year, containing pictures of Radley by their artist, Captain Bryan de Grineau.

Gazette Gazette


From Paul Eward (1956), an article from the Ross Gazette about Henry Lenox Napier, OR, who died when the Hospital Ship Anglia hit a mine in 1915:

Much of the information for this article was supplied to the writer by Clare Sargent, the Archivist and Librarian at Radley.

Above: Demolition of the Old Gym in 2011 – picture taken from H SocialBelow: The back of the New Building in 2013 – from approximately the same position

Gazette Gazette


Get

ty Im

agesJustin Stenhouse (1989), DSO

An Announcement from the Ministry of Defence, 5 October 2012:

DSO for Army Major who charged enemy lines

An Army Major who threw himself into the line of fire to save the lives of his elite Army unit in Afghanistan has been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

Major Justin Stenhouse, aged 36, from 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, was the Squadron Leader of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF) during Operation HERRICK 15.

This elite force is tasked with taking the fight to the insurgents, disrupting their chain of command and limiting their movement of weaponry, with Major Stenhouse leading his men on around 70 missions, often in heavily-contested areas.

During one of these daring missions to recover weaponry from insurgents, Major Stenhouse and his men came under heavy fire. With his soldiers pinned down by the force of the attack, Major Stenhouse ran forward into oncoming fire to take the momentum away from the enemy. His actions shocked the insurgents so much that they withdrew from the attack.

On another airborne mission in support of Afghan soldiers, Major Stenhouse, from Hartfield in East Sussex, led an operation to defeat a group of insurgents who were preparing to carry out a series of attacks on the provincial capital of Helmand.

As soon as he landed, it was obvious that the insurgents were intent on fighting to the death. With complete disregard for his own safety, and under intense fire, Major Stenhouse led the assault on the insurgents’ position. His personal bravery undoubtedly saved lives and set the conditions for operational success.

Indeed, throughout his tour, the BRF removed 29 insurgents from the battlefield, seized 1.6 tonnes of homemade explosives, including 61 improvised explosive devices, and captured 21 weapons.

Some of these captures were made in December last year [2011] on the day of the Prime Minister’s official visit to Afghanistan, when Major Stenhouse planned and personally led four separate aviation assaults against the enemy.

Major Stenhouse said that during the tour the individual bravery of soldiers across the board amazed him.

He said:

“The main threat was not from bullets but from IEDs. Because of their indiscriminate nature, that is what we were most worried about.

“When you do come under fire, you have to keep moving otherwise the bullets come closer to you and your soldiers.

“We saw dust being kicked up by bullets within a metre of us. The concern is how to get to the next stage, talking to those around you about what to do and getting air support.

Gazette Gazette


The comedian, actor and television presenter, Alexander Armstrong, performed in Your Face Sounds Familiar, a six-week run of live Saturday-night talent shows on ITV, to raise awareness of his chosen charity, the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust. Charlie Waller was at Radley from 1982 to 1987.

From the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust website:

To the outside world Charlie Waller had everything to live for, a successful career, good friends and a loving family. In September 1997 Charlie committed suicide at the age of 28. He was suffering from depression and no longer had the strength to cope with life. Shortly after this tragic event his family founded The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust.

The aim of the Trust is to increase awareness of the signs and the dangers of depression amongst young people and to encourage those who may be depressed to seek help. It also encourages those

that are well to pick up the symptoms in others and persuade them to get help.

Five hundred people attended Charlie Waller’s funeral. He was neither old, nor a local stalwart such as a publican; he was not a young victim whose senseless murder provoked commentators to talk of “a community in shock”. Nor was he a figure of renown, whose obsequies the great and good felt bound to attend. Charlie Waller was simply a 28 year-old advertising executive from Fulham, unknown beyond his contemporaries. His death had an impact which continues to affect those who knew him.

Since Charlie’s death in 1997, his parents, family and friends have worked through the Trust to increase awareness of the symptoms and dangers of depression and remove the stigma that is attached to mental illness.

The website of the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust is:cwmt.org.uk Charlie Waller

Alexander Armstrong performs Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire

The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust“We were carrying around 30kg or more in kit in case we had to remain overnight while out on patrol in insurgent safe-havens; for instance if the weather turned and the helicopters couldn’t pick us up. As a result, it was difficult to run anywhere.

“We had great support from the Warthog squadron. Nothing frightens the insurgents more than a large number of armoured vehicles.

“I just did my job. The planning and nine months of mission specific training we did prepared us so that, when we were faced with the enemy, we reacted automatically. When we needed to seize the initiative it was second nature to do what I did.

“I can’t emphasise enough how much the success of the mission was down to the other 122 men in the squadron.

Major Stenhouse, who is now based at the Defence Academy in Wiltshire, said the tour had produced tangible successes.

He added:

“The weapons we seized were significant but it was also the things such as reconnaissance and transition to Afghan-led patrols. We can be proud to have made a substantial difference during our time there.”

His citation concludes:

“Stenhouse has delivered one of the finest examples of enduring courage and leadership during a challenging, dangerous and demanding tour. His commendable courage and dogged determination has been interspersed with a number of magnificent displays of gallantry.

“His relentless drive, inspired leadership, personal courage, tactical acumen and flawless judgement mark him out as extraordinary during HERRICK 15.

“The DSO is awarded for distinguished leadership during active operations against the enemy.”

Three OR High Court Judges: Sir Jeremy Stuart-Smith (1968), Sir Colin Mackay (1956) who retired in September and Sir James Dingemans (1977). Another OR High Court Judge, Sir Andrew Popplewell (1972), managed to avoid the camera.

Gazette Gazette


Wardens of Radley

The Rev. R.C. Singleton (Founder) 1847-1851The Rev. W.B. Heathcote 1851-1852The Rev. W. Sewell (Founder) 1853-1861The Very Rev. R.W. Norman 1861-1866The Rev. W. Wood 1866-1870The Rev. C. Martin 1871-1879The Rev. R.J. Wilson 1880-1888The Rev. H.L. Thompson 1889-1896The Rev. T. Field 1897-1913The Very Rev. E.G. Selwyn 1913-1918The Rev. Canon A. Fox 1918-1924The Rev. Canon W.H. Ferguson 1925-1937The Rev. J.C. Vaughan Wilkes 1937-1954W.M.M. Milligan, MBE 1954-1968D.R.W. Silk, CBE 1968-1991R.M. Morgan 1991-2000A.W. McPhail 2000-

Numbers at Radley

1940 367 1945 398 1950 419 1955 436 1960 470 1965 484 1970 474 1975 528 1980 585 1985 587 1990 613 1995 616 2000 629 2005 629 2010 678 2012 688 2013 688

Socials

A Ryder’s (2008), Rathbone’s (2003), Wesson’s (1995), Nye’s (1991), Johnson’s (1984), Pound’s (1973), Way’s (1963), Stewart-Morgan’s (1951), Paton’s (1936), Macpherson’s (1915), Vidal’s (1914), Wharton’s (1879)

B Greed’s (2003), Holroyd’s (1993), Spens’s (1984), Dowding’s (1973), Langdale’s (1968), Fisher’s (1953), Eason’s (1938), Nugee’s (1924), Stone’s (1895), Titherington’s (1891), Vincent’s (1879)

C Sparks’s (2006), Shaw’s (2004), Jones’s (1996), Derham’s (1990), Featherstone’s (1984), LeRoy’s (1978), Morgan’s (1969), Batten’s (1964), Thompson’s (1950), Cocks’s (1935), Hellard’s (1924), Barmby’s (1909), Evans’s (1879)

D Crump’s (2011), Holden’s (2000), Bamforth’s (1996), Wylie’s (1985), Hirst’s (1978), Flint’s (1971), Stuart’s (1960), Gardiner’s (1945), Watkins’s (1937), Stevenson’s (1916), Pott’s (1915), Simpkinson’s (1895), Raikes’s (1879)

E Lawson’s (2012), King’s (2008), Beasley’s (2003), Hopkins’s (1989), Aird’s (1974), Goldsmith’s (1958), Llewellyn Jones’s (1948), Hope’s (1926), Newman’s (1921), Moss-Blundell’s (1918), Birt’s (1914), Kirkby’s (1879)

F McChesney’s (2004), Davenport’s (1994), Hastings’s (1985), Hudson’s (1970), Taylor’s (1965), Crowson’s (1950), Southam’s (1938), Hedgecock’s (1919), Davies’s (1911-1915), Croome’s (1892), Orlebar’s (1889), Hobson’s (1887), Dalton’s (1879)

G Jackson’s (2011), Matthews’s (2010), Hammond’s (1998), Gamble’s (1993), Waller’s (1988), Doulton’s (1979), Stoughton-Harris’s (1967), King’s (1953), Morgan’s (1936), Boyd’s (1930), Wilson-Green’s (1919), Bryans’s (1884), Kindersley’s (1882), Horsburgh’s (1881)

H May’s (2012), Edwards’s (2001), Barker’s (1989), Usherwood’s (1974), Birks’s (1962), Waye’s (1948), Brown’s (1945), Smale’s (1919-1940), Lowe’s (1909)

J Langton’s (2013), Hindley’s (2008)

K Murphy’s (2008)

Angus McPhail will retire in July 2014. The new Warden will be John Moule, present Headmaster of Bedford School.

Will (1993) and Ed Tuke (1991) unveiled a plaque on the Oxford University Boathouse at Wallingford in June to commemorate their father, Peter Tuke (1957), the architect, shown below at the opening of the building in 2007.

Gazette Gazette


Above and below: The Scottish Dinner

Some Radley Events of the last year

Gazette Gazette


Above: The Cambridge Student DinnerBelow: The Liverymen’s Dinner

Above and below: The London Networking Party

Gazette Gazette


Above and below: The 1979-1986 Reunion with an exhibition of work by ORs and boys and the Grand Opening of the Sewell Centre Art Gallery by Jenny Saville. Henry McPherson (2008) composed music for the occasion which he played with Simon Carr.

Above and below: The Pre 1958 Reunion

Letters Letters


drinking wine etc – other members did and he would not so as to keep fit. [There is a picture of the crew on page 59]

He was a kind and gentle giant, a god amongst men.

✳

From Roger Goodlet (1955)

My contemporary, Peter Howard’s reminisces about brewing beer in the Old Gym, which you published in your last issue, brought back different memories of “Burke’s Beerage”, the drinking competition inspired by Patrick Burke. For unlike Peter, I was found out and the consequences of this chose the direction of my life thereafter. Patrick Burke and I were great buddies and both of us were renegades. We tested authority to the limit by wearing ‘brothel creeper” crepe-soled shoes over our tightly tailored trousers and smothered our “duck’s

sherry after a beating and this might put me in the lead in the competition! However, I also remembered that Warden Milligan had been a Rackets Blue at Oxford and therefore was rumoured to be able, by a special flicking of his wrist, to wield a wicked hiding (which alas I found to be very true!). The punishment over and before I tripped off to my maths exam, Warden Milligan told me the thing that frightened me most – that my father had been advised of my sins, which although he didn’t condone (and secretly I think was rather proud of), he was much more concerned about my A level prospects. With absolutely no input from me (I had no idea of a career) he had hoped I could follow in his footsteps and read Engineering at Oxbridge. Hearing from my Dons that because I had done almost no work during the last year I would most probably fail, and therefore a place at Oxbridge was probably beyond my grasp, my father decided to terminate my school career at once. So, aged seventeen, I was removed from Radley at the end of the Summer Term 1959. When my exam results confirmed my A level failure, my father acted swiftly. Not for me three gentle years amongst the ‘Dreaming Spires’ or even under ivy-covered red brick, for I was sent to Coventry, not metaphorically, but literally, no questions asked, to work on the shop floor of a well known motor car factory he was involved with. He even chose my digs and I found myself incarcerated in a back to back terraced house with no internal plumbing and outside ablutions – with an old lady, who was the widow of a shop steward in the railway union. When I complained, he said “Hard luck, you put yourself in this position. Life is tough and you need to put a bit of “iron in your soul” if you are to survive.” He insisted that I could still make a reasonable living by becoming what he referred to as “a lazy engineer”. I hated everything about my new life but in retrospect it did me a world of good. While my father was alive, I persevered for I know he always had my best interests at heart. But when he died at a young age a couple of years later, I handed in my notice and headed for Hong Kong where over the subsequent thirty five years I found success in a career in commerce, a field that I loved but something my engineer father had hardly heard of and certainly knew little about.

tail” teddy boy haircuts with copious quantities of Brylcreem. We wolf-whistled the local girls and generally behaved badly. We thought ourselves the utmost of cool. The “Burkes Beerage” drinking competition came into being as a result of a scheme thought up by Warden Milligan known as ‘X-Day’, when the whole school was given a free day out in which they were encouraged to pursue their hobbies by visiting museums and the like. Patrick, I and three others took a train to Banbury where we spent the morning getting very merry in a pub and the afternoon making a nuisance of ourselves in the Odeon cinema. We were very pleased with ourselves and so the challenge was issued.

Thereafter, our pub visits became a regular Sunday morning event. After chapel, about four of us would walk over to Sandford lock and drink our beer in the pub there. We became blasé about the ease with which we could stray. But when retribution came, it came swiftly. One Sunday about three weeks before the end of the Summer Term and the day before A levels were due to start (and I think I remember correctly), Nick Rosier and I were having our usual drink when, to our horror, Mr Lachlan, one of the Dons, came into the pub. He ignored us, perhaps because he was with friends. We slinked out of the bar as quickly as we could. Mr Lachlan had a reputation for being slightly absent-minded and so we thought perhaps he hadn’t seen us. However a couple of days later days later, a summons came from John Harvey, the Senior Prefect, for me to report to Pups’ study, where I was confronted with the evidence and told that because I held and had abused my position of authority (I was a House Prefect and Nick wasn’t) my sins were considered to be more serious than his and that I was to be immediately de-prefected. I was told the Warden wanted to see me after lunch (right before my maths A level exam). I feared the worst. (All canings at Radley in those days were administered after lunch). I trivialised my predicament to my peers during a lunch that I could hardly eat and showed as much bravado as I could. As I walked down Covered Passage to meet my fate, I reminded myself of the legend (which alas, I found not to be true!) that, to show that the matter had been put to rest, the Warden (being a gentleman) always offered one

LettersThe Old Radleian 2011From Ian Corrie-Hill (1941)

R.T. Hull Lewis

The brief factual obituary of Tim in the 2011 magazine disclosed little of the steadfast friend and true gentleman, in both senses of the word, that I shared a study with.

At the start of his career in 1951, these qualities made him for 12 years, the perfect, dependable Colonial District Officer in Uganda. Finally he was for 26 years with the Ministry of Defence in London, Trinidad and Hong Kong, working quietly behind the scenes so that when he retired in 1990 there were no accolades or honours that went with the job!

Tim’s sense of humour would have agreed that he would have been perfect for the role of Uncle HUSH HUSH in Salad Days.

Tim was a product Radley, (and the nation), could be very proud of.

The Old Radleian 2012

From Martin Blake (1942) I was intrigued to read Peter Howard’s letter about the Dons’ Plays of the 1940s, but puzzled to see that he arrived in 1956. How did he manage to quote so freely from the Dick Whittington series? He brought back happy memories to me.I was present at the Plays from 1942 to 46 and enjoyed them immensely, as we all did. In retrospect they seemed vintage years, though doubtless there have been many others. Are there records in the archives, I wonder?

A leading item not mentioned by Peter Howard was of course Charles Wrinch’s songs, which I recall from 1942 and 1946 when he returned from his second exile. Two favourites were Moscow and Himas’as, some of which I still remember. I’m going back to Himas’as, never to roam no more;I’m going along and singing this song, a day’s march nearer home.

There’s a cottage so sweet at the top of the street, and it’s number 94,But I’m going back to Himas’as, Him as has the pub next door! I recall rather less of Moscow. I’ve just come back from Moscow, you must go to Moscow,It’s the place where they grow bolsheviks...

He then gets to know and falls for Iva Petrovotski.

Iva Petrovotski used to squatski on my knee. Did we care a jotski, we did notski, no not we.

They are then persued by her husband.

Her husband drove his droski right through the Russian nightski, and the wolves around did howlavitch and growlavitch and prowlavitch.

Finally he had to pay him compensation. paid him fifty thousand roubles, English money eighteen pence.

These songs brought the house (Old Gym) down! Can anyone supply more words?

✳

From Richard Ingram (1939)

I am very touched that you should quote my letter of October 2011…

College Pond froze solid at the beginning of 1940 so people brought their skates from home or had them sent overnight by Parcel Post. The B.E.F. were still in France, Dunkirk was later.

Talbot and I shared a motor coach home to Bath because of petrol rationing. His father Admiral Talbot came to Bath with the evacuated Admiralty. They rented a house in Pulteney Street. Bath was bombed two nights running. Admiral Talbot was standing at the head of the table to carve a meal. He regained consciousness to find himself sitting on the front doorstep still holding the carving knife. The front door was shut, as were also the dining room doors. All over Bath it was the suction

of the blasts which tore off frontages. Everybody had a War Story to tell.

I bought my next pair of skates when I was at Sandhurst in ‘44-45. In Westphalia we used to swim in a quarry near Münster. It duly froze in January 1947 and we skated on Lady Day, March 25. Exactly a month later on 25th April it was so warm that we and our German girlfriends peeled off and swam in it! 1947 was a famous Vintage.

✳

From Gillian Breckenridge, sister of David Kaye (1934), a picture of David who died on active service in 1942.

His obituary in the Radleian:

In February 1942, on active service, Charles David Fearnley Kaye, Pilot Officer, R.A.F.V.R. (Hellard’s - Cocks’s, 1934-39). David Kaye was one of the nicest and most unassuming, and also one of the best all-round athletes that Radley has known. When he first came here in September 1934, a rather lanky and very quiet and reserved new boy, probably no one realised into what an outstanding person he was going to develop before he left. He was not one who caught the public eye much in his earlier days, but his passionate desire to make himself as physically perfect as possible eventually bore fruit. He was a good boxer and runner, a member of the first XV, and rowed ‘6’ in the fine crew that won the Ladies’ Plate in 1938; he was Captain of Boats in the following year. As a School Prefect and Head of his Social he rendered inestimable service to the community at large; the members of his own Social in particular will remember the inspiring and yet unostentatious way in which he infected them with his own enthusiasm and the will to win. He was essentially one whom others felt impelled to follow and support without being conscious of a specific call being made upon them to do so; the wish to gain his esteem rather than the reverse seemed so entirely the natural thing. His sad and untimely death in his country’s service will be deeply mourned by all who knew him.

In her letter Gillian Breckenridge wrote: I visited Radley after David passed away and sat next to the Warden... I remember David going to America to row against a crew there. He was so keen on not

David Kaye

Letters Letters


Despite my experiences there, I sent both my sons to Radley and now my sister’s grandson, who started in ‘A’ (my and my son’s old Social) last September, has become the first of the third generation of the family to become a Radleian. Meanwhile, I have tried never to influence my sons (or daughter) in their chosen careers, religion or politics. I think it is a parent’s job merely to educate and advise. Both my sons did well at Radley, for there is a work ethic in today’s school, which was not apparent in the fifties. “Bloods” and renegades were the stars in those days and to be seen to be a swot was considered in the jargon of the day as “square”. Today Radley is a much better school. PS. Not once did a publican challenge our age. I can’t remember what punishment befell Nick.

✳

From Philip Burton (1949)

The note from John Scott in The Old Radleian 2012 and the cricket ball he has acquired make an intriguing coincidence. I also have a cricket ball recording a similar feat. It has a silver plaque reading: ‘R. Burton Southgate CC v London Hospital CC 4th June 1932 All 10 wickets for 11 runs’ and it belonged to my father. It is kept on a stand from which the original ball is lost (used during the War I think) and this silver plaque celebrates ‘A Great Double “Hat-Trick – Philip” Sept 8th 1935’ thus marking the

date of my birth. Clearly my arrival was not allowed to interrupt the cricket.

During my time at Radley my father made a point of playing for the Berkshire Gentlemen against the 1st XI each year. Sadly I never played against him but it was not easy to get into the XI in 1952 and 1953 (I played for the 3rd and 2nd XIs). I assume that John must have played against my father in those years. Dad’s comparison of the two captains concerned was that if you bowled a good ball to Christopher Walton you might well get him out, but if you bowled the same ball to Ted Dexter you didn’t know whether it would get him out or come straight back over your head for six.

These were some of the “glory” days of Radley cricket but what went on at a lower level should, perhaps, not be forgotten. The 3rd XI fixture against Aldworth (1952) stays in my memory. We arrived before the home team – moved the cows into the next field, took down the electric fence and then helped to get the wicket ready. The game was good, the result (forgotten) immaterial, and then we went to the pub. On our return to Radley we got the ritual rollicking that every 3rd XI must have got – for drinking, smoking and getting back late. I never found out how the fixture came about but when I was in that pub a few years back I remarked to the landlord on the wall plaque celebrating such games and he said he had some bad news for me – “The price of beer’s gone up!”

The Revd. J.C. Vaughan Wilkes

Lusimus

From Martin Blake (1942)

Clock Tower

I was fascinated to read Clare Sargent’s splendid article on Clock Tower in the June Lusimus. All ORs have special memories of the first new building to be erected at Radley by the founders in 1847, if only by having to walk past it along that narrow passage to avoid going through Pups’ Court. It was indeed an extraordinary but visionary decision to spend money on such an “iconic structure with no utilitarian function” before anything else, and it remains strangely symbolic of the school that has developed around it, and which is ‘no ordinary place’.

I have a special memory of Clock Tower, for it was I with my study companion Richard Wallers (aft. Lannoy) who were appointed during the war, as members of the Campanological Society, to ring the bells each evening before Evening Prayer, while the whole school lined up

in Covered Passage before processing into Chapel. Clare notes how bells were forbidden during World War II, and mentions the exception made on 15th November 1943 after Alamein. I think it must have been the following year, with the D Day Landings, that the regular ringing of the bells was reintroduced. Richard and I would go from G Social (Morgan’s) to the Tower ten minutes before the service – around 6 pm – and begin by tolling the smaller bells to call boys to assembly. Then there was a short break during which pups walked up and down Covered Passage arm in arm, and then Peter would be tolled until most were in Chapel, at which point we would take our places slightly late. I sat in the loft for my entire career, being in the choir, only sitting in the nave for my Confirmation, and later when reading the lesson as a Pup; oh and when John Wilkes created new Pups in Chapel after his ordination.

In 1955, much influenced by a monk of Solesmes Abbey whom I had met two years earlier, I became convinced of the indivisibility of Christ’s Church and the necessity of communion with the successor

of St Peter and was received into the Catholic Church. I am of course delighted that more and more boys from Catholic families are now accepted at Radley, and I think William Sewell would have been pleased had he lived in our more ecumenical times. The Oxford Movement, of which Radley was a child, is now reaching its maturity. The daily singing of Evensong was for me a great formation, and I still pray the Magnificat every day.

From Mark Powell (1949)

I read the wonderful article about Clock Tower. I am sure all Radleians will remember with considerable fondness, the regular striking of the hours during their time at Radley. In those days, the hours struck all through the night as well. For several years after I left I would wake up and hear the clock striking and find that the time was as I had just ‘heard’... Clock Tower certainly made its mark on me... happily not the only mark left by my Radley education! Glorious days of which perhaps not the most was made at the time... but for which I am always thankful.

The view towards Clock Tower from inside the new buildingReflections of School and Clock Tower in the new building

From The Revd. Canon Livingstone (1942)

After some correspondence about his address at the Memorial Service at Radley in 1986 for the Revd. J.C. Vaughan Wilkes, Warden of Radley from 1937 to 1954, the Revd. Canon Livingstone wrote: In my tribute to Warden Wilkes I meant to include these illuminating words of my Social Tutor [Clem Morgan]. As Head of Social I went daily to see him. One day he said to me “I’m afraid I’ll have to leave now. I have to go and see what the Warden is up to – and stop him doing it.”

Letters Letters


SONNET TO A FRIENDby Flying Officer Henry Medrington (at Radley 1937-1942)

a Lancaster Navigator, missing, presumed dead on 17th December 1944,12 days after his 21st birthday

If I should not return, well, there will beNo opportunity for grief or sighingFor I aspired to the Higher DestinyWished to have died, yet feared the thought of dying.

No more of that, no sweated lonely bouts,With subtle, sly, insinuating dread.No strangling of my hope by unseen doubts;Be thankful then, for I am better dead.

Yes I have loved to live, through the short years,But covet, still, the undiscovered sea.I will accept your pity, not your tears.Pity yourself, but do not pity me.

I’ll have no creeping mourners, sombre clad,The Lord gave, and the Lord reclaimed – be glad!

Henry Noel Taylor MedringtonFlying Officer57 Squadron

Obituary from the Radleian, March 1946

Missing, now presumed killed on operations on 18th Dec 1945, Henry Noel Trevor Medrington, Flg. Off., R.A.F.V.R. (Smale’s, H, and Southam’s, F, 1937-42). From his earliest days at Radley, Henry Medrington showed promise of a vivid personality, and after Smale’s Social was broken up, he was one of a group who in Southam’s, became School Prefects and were outstanding in their several spheres. He was lighthearted and vigorous in all his School activities, keenly enjoying his games; but his true interests lay in drama and literature and he became Wilson Librarian and Hon. Sec. of both the Dramatic and the Literary Societies. He already wrote with distinction, and

his One Act Plays, some of them written for the Dramatic Festival, showed not only a vein of satirical humour and acute powers of observation, but also a deep sense of spiritual values. Here was an indication of what his career might have been. Immensely tall, he feared that his long legs would exclude him from the RA.F., and was delighted when he was accepted. Commissioned after a period of training in Canada, he became a navigator and with more than twenty operational flights to his credit was almost due to be grounded when his plane was lost.

In a letter written shortly before his last flight he says: “My own existence is being

eked out with something of a jerk; periods of calm follow periods of violent activity. It isn’t good for the nerves, I find, but on the whole I confess to a kind of happiness which is as original as it is inexplicable.” His friends will be glad that he found that happiness.

The Medrington Trophy, originally awarded for the best original one-act play or drama was awarded in his memory. It is now presented as the academic prize for 6.2 Drama

From Richard Ingram (1939)

Sonnet to a Friend by Flying Officer Henry Medrington, an RAF Lancaster Navigator.

“Henry Med’s older brother Stan sent this to me because an essay I wrote for The Radleian about Stan’s 1936 generation put us in contact and allowed me to send him my own memoir of happy days in the school Amateur Dramatic Society with

Medrington, Money and Motion during the 2nd World War. He wrote to me, with this poem:

‘My brother Henry was 21 on December the 5th 1944 and twelve days later, as a Lancaster Navigator, was missing over Munich on his 23rd trip.’

In March of 1942 Henry Med’ had produced Abraham Lincoln with our

Tutor, A.K. Boyd, and taken three parts in the plays, as I did. Then eighteen he left to join the RAF, at the end of that term.

Henry’s abrupt and forceful style in the sonnet reminds me of the declamatory manner from the stage in the Old Gym, which Boyd and Wrinch taught us to use declaiming Shakespeare heroics. ‘Pity yourself, but do not pity me’.


Obituaries Obituaries

after leaving the Army, had a distinguished career in industry.

On the morning of February 13 1944, the landing craft carrying the 8th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (8 RF) was creeping into the harbour at Anzio, when down through the barrage balloons dived four Focke Wolf bombers. The captain on the bridge took a flying leap under a table and the CO of 8 RF would have followed him had there been room.

The nearest bomb narrowly missed the stern of the landing craft, which ploughed on into the harbour wall. “Well,” announced the captain, “At least you chaps won’t get your feet wet.”

Williams, as adjutant, quickly discovered that the battalion was in for a very tough time. The country was dense, thickly wooded and intersected by ravines choked with undergrowth. It lent itself to infiltration by the enemy and made it difficult for the Allied soldiers to maintain contact with one another.

The German attacks were relentless. At Battalion HQ, Williams and his CO had the agonising experience of hearing over the wireless the unfolding of disasters — “platoon overrun... company surrounded... subalterns killed in heavy fighting... unable to hold out much longer... too late for help now” — and being unable to avert them.

The position where rations and ammunition were delivered every night was highly exposed and subjected to constant bombardment; but Williams took no account of the danger to himself in organising the swift collection of these supplies.

On one occasion a wounded man who was under constant small arms fire called for help. Williams at once went to his assistance. He himself was then wounded, but he pressed on and led the stretcher bearers to recover the man. He later refused to be evacuated and remained on duty. He was awarded an immediate MC.

George Mervyn Williams was born on October 30 1918 and educated at Radley. He hated school and once ran away, but

was brought back by his elder brother. Aged 19 he borrowed £500 and opened a tobacconist’s shop in the Finchley Road, but war was looming and the next year he was commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers.

Posted to the 8th Battalion, he served in Iraq before taking part in the North Africa campaign, in which he was wounded at Enfidaville, north Tunisia. He rejoined 8 RF in Italy on the Garigliano river in winter 1943. After the end of the war he moved to Greece to take up a staff appointment at the British Military Mission.

Williams was demobilised in 1946 and became assistant to Sir Isaac Wolfson, the philanthropist and managing director of Great Universal Stores. In 1949 he returned to Wales on becoming sales director of Christie-Tyler, a small, underperforming company on the Bridgend trading estate, Glamorgan.

The following year he was appointed managing director, a post that he held for the next 30 years. Money was tight. His wife ran the farm and a commercial chicken business. (Their son cannot endure the taste of chicken to this day.)

Williams was chairman of Christie-Tyler from 1959 to 1985. In 1972 the company was listed on the stock exchange and became one of the largest upholstery businesses in Europe.

He was appointed High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1966, CBE in 1977 and Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan in 1986. In the 1970s he bought a house near Crickhowell, Powys, where he created a much admired arboretum.

George Williams married first (dissolved), in 1940, Penelope Mitchell. He married secondly, in 1950, Grizel Stewart. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their son.

George Williams, born October 30 1918, died January 7 2013

Nairne On 4.6.2013 The Rt. Hon. Sir Patrick Dalmahoy Nairne, GCB, MC, MA (g, 1935-1940). He was a Junior Scholar and was awarded an Exhibition to University College, Oxford.

From The Times:

Urbane civil servant who kept vital services running in the Winter of Discontent and helped to reshape Britain’s Armed Forces

Sir Patrick Nairne was an outstanding civil servant who occupied key positions in the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office, before ending his career as Permanent Secretary to the colossal Department of Health and Social Security. He belonged to what has become known as the “gilded generation” of civil servants who entered Whitehall in the late 1940s, matured physically and mentally by their experience of the Second World War. He rose to be one of its most glittering members. On retirement he became Master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, helping to shape its distinct ethos, while also throwing himself into a vast range of public works.

George Williams

Sir Patrick Nairne

Dodwell On 16.5.2012 Timothy Leonard Rowland Goodwin Dodwell, MC (h, 1928-1933). He was an Exhibitioner and a Prefect. He played in the lst XVs of 1931 and 1932. After Radley he spent a year at St. George’s School, Rhode Island, USA before going up to Christ Church, Oxford. He joined the Burma Oil Company and then served with the Frontier Force Regiment from 1939 to 1946 becoming a Major and being decorated with a MC. He became a Coordinator with the Shell International Petroleum Company. His son, James, was at Radley.

Coles On 27.8.2013 Charles Leslie Coles, OBE, VRD (a, 1931-1934). At Radley he was an Exhibitioner and winner of the Storrs French Prize. He was known as “Minnow” Coles because he spent a large amount of time at College Pond, showing his early interest in nature which led to his career. With the full support of Warden Ferguson he started the first jazz band at Radley.

He joined the ICI Game Research Station in 1936 before serving with the RNVR from 1937 to 1962, retiring as a Lieutenant Commander. He was a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany between 1943 and 1945. After the war, he helped to set up a new base for Game Research at Burgate Manor in Hampshire, establishing what was later known as the Eley Game Advisory Service. They leased a local 4,000 acre estate and for fourteen years ran it as a demonstration and experimental shoot. In 1968, ICI had to withdraw most of its financial support for game advice, so in May 1969 the Eley Game Advisory Service and the Game Research Association merged to become the membership based Game Conservancy with Prince Philip as President, author Peter Fleming as Chairman and Charles Coles as Director. In April 1980, it was registered as a research and education charity called The Game Conservancy Trust.

Charles Coles wrote about Natural History and Field Sports in the press and broadcast on radio and television. He was the author of six books on these subjects. His cousin, Bob Ely, and his son, Julian, were at Radley. A full obituary will be in the 2014 Old Radleian.

Crowley-Milling On 24.12.2012 Michael Crowley Crowley-Milling, CMG (f, 1931-1935). He went up to St. John’s College, Cambridge and became Captain of the Lady Margaret Boat Club in 1937. After university he joined the Research

Department of the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company and worked with them from 1938. He became senior research engineer at AEI Ltd. in 1961 and from 1963 to 1971 worked at the new nuclear physics laboratory set up at Daresbury to build the 4 GeV electron synchrotron. From 1971 to 1982 he was at CERN, Geneva, responsible for control and instrumentation system for the 300 GeV accelerator. In 1977 he became Leader of SPS Division and from 1979 Directorate Member responsible for accelerators at CERN. In 1981 he was responsible for Control system design for the LEP Project. From 1983 he was a consultant on computer control systems to laboratories in USA, Germany and Italy. He was awarded a C.M.G. for services to science in 1982.

Packer On 27.6.2013 Edward Carew Packer, (a, 1931-1935). After Radley he worked for H. Huntsman & Sons Ltd. (Tailors) of Savile Row, then served with the RASC from 1938 to 1949 becoming a Major. He was in the Army Emergency Reserve until 1954 and was awarded the Emergency Reserve Decoration (ERD). He returned to H. Huntman & Sons and was Managing Director from 1946 to 1968 and Chairman from 1968 to 1991 when he retired.

Williams On 7.1.2013 George Mervyn Williams, CBE MC TD (f, 1932-1935).

From The Daily Telegraph:

George Williams, who has died aged 94, was awarded an MC in Italy in 1944 and,

Obituaries

Citation for George Williams



National Maritime Museum (1982-86) and Chancellor of the University of Essex (1983-97) when it was building its reputation.

He was government monitor for Hong Kong in 1984 and founding chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 1992. He published, in 1993, in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Demystifying Bioethics: a lay perspective. His medical background, too, served him well as a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He was a governor and member of council of the Ditchley Foundation, from 1991-1996.

Art was never forgotten. From 1976 to 1989 he was president of the Association of Civil Service Art Clubs. He was an FRSA from 1978 and chairman, in 1988, of the advisory board of the Oxford Museum of Modern Art. Twice he had pictures exhibited in the Royal Academy and he had several shows in London. A collection of his watercolours hangs in St Catherine’s College.

His chairmanship of the Society of Italic Handwriting indicated one of his spare-time interests. His Whitehall minutes were said to be easily identifiable by the fine, clear script.

He married Penelope Chauncy Bridges, also from a family with a strong military background, in 1948. She survives him, with their three sons and three daughters.

Sir Patrick Nairne, GCB, MC, civil servant, was born on August 15, 1921. He died on June 4, 2013, aged 91

From The Times Lives Remembered:

Michael Bell writes: Your obituary of Sir Patrick Nairne (June 5) talks of his energy and hard work in key roles in the Ministry

of Defence, but perhaps fails to give the full flavour of his unique style. Pat liked to get his hands dirty — not for him Olympian delegation — and his determination to do the work of everyone on his staff meant that he was perpetually short of time. “Walk along with me” would very likely be the order if you wished to consult him, as he strode the corridors in the brisk military manner which he never lost. He would spend the weekend dictating minutes to his troops, which would start arriving on Monday afternoon. They would take the form of identifying an issue he believed needed to be addressed, and then setting out in crisp sub-paragraphs how he believed it should be tackled. Signed off, of course, in his elegant italic hand. Most of us simply turned the minute round; the exceptionally non-conformist might reorder the sub-paragraphs.

Despite his intelligence, he had a brisk way with intellectual pretension. He liked things to happen. “You Wykehamists,” he once said to me, disapprovingly. “Too bloody logical.”

The Ministry of Defence was indeed fortunate to have civil servants of the calibre of Pat Nairne and Frank Cooper at the head of its affairs in that era, as well as ministers such as Denis Healey and Lord Carrington.

John Pattisson, former Vice-Chairman, Radley College Council, writes: May I add to your deservedly warm tribute (obituary, June 5). Sir Patrick was, as you say, knighted in 1975, and he was advanced from KCB to GCB six years later. In 1982 he was appointed to the Privy Council, an exceptional distinction for a civil servant,

in anticipation of his becoming the government monitor at the forthcoming key negotiations on the future of Hong Kong. He was selected personally for this important role by Margaret Thatcher, who held Sir Patrick in the greatest respect, reputedly averring that he could be trusted as he was “one of us”.

Among the many bodies to which Sir Patrick gave inspirational service was the governing council of Radley, his old school, of which he was an outstandingly valuable and fondly admired member from 1976 to 1999. Not surprisingly, soon after his appointment he successfully spearheaded plans to build a much-needed arts centre, which he was able to open in 1979. It remains an innovative and thriving facility, and a fitting reminder of Sir Patrick’s love of the school.

David Young writes: Other contributors are spot on in recalling Pat’s astonishing appetite for work. As a young civil servant I worked directly under him on nuclear defence matters and specifically on briefing for Nato Nuclear Planning Group meetings. These meetings churned out vast quantities of paper and I fear I skimmed some of them until it became painfully clear that Pat had somehow found time to read every word. That he might have been a model for Sir Humphrey is perhaps supported by the fact that I once heard him say to Denis Healey, “I could not fail to disagree with you less, Secretary of State”. I am still not sure what it meant.

From The Guardian:

Distinguished public servant who worked at the MoD and went on to head the DHSS

Sir Patrick Nairne said that Whitehall’s culture of secrecy was bred in the bone of British parliamentary democracy.

Sir Patrick Nairne, who has died aged 91, was one of Britain’s great, and most enlightened, public servants at a time when they had the opportunity to shine. A highly civilised man of rare talents and interests, he rose to the top in Whitehall through administrative and managerial flair – virtues he combined with humanity, a deep appreciation of the arts, and enthusiasm for facing difficult intellectual and moral challenges.

He spent most of his career in the Ministry of Defence – he came from a military background. But after a spell in the Cabinet Office in 1975, his special qualities

And

rew

Fes

ting/

Uni

vers

ity o

f Ess

ex

Sir Patrick Nairne

Patrick Nairne was born in 1921, the son of a Lieutenant-Colonel. After leaving Radley his education, like that of his contemporaries, was interrupted by the war. Commissioned into the Seaforth Highlanders, he took part in the Battle of El Alamein with the reconstituted 51st Highland Division – the original formation having been isolated and obliged to surrender at St-Valéry-en-Caux towards the end of the Battle of France. At Alamein the task of 5th Seaforths was to protect sappers making gaps in the minefields to allow the 8th Army’s tanks to break out. It was a gruelling business and the Highlanders’ casualties were heavy.

He was wounded in Tunisia towards the close of the war in Africa but recovered in time to be with 5th Seaforths for the Anglo-American invasion of Sicily in July 1943. He showed outstanding initiative and gallantry on July 13 and 14 when he went forward to reconnoitre enemy positions at Francoforte and identify the key strong-points. His action, which allowed the Seaforths to continue their advance, earned him the immediate award of the Military Cross.

On demobilisation he returned to University College, Oxford, where he took a first in modern history in 1947. (He was made an honorary fellow of the college in 1981.) He joined the Admiralty after coming down from Oxford, and spent the next 26 years either there or in the enlarged Ministry of Defence. He was private secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1958-60 and later private secretary to Denis Healey for a time, when Healey, as Defence Secretary, was recasting the role of Britain’s Armed Forces and their commitments.

In 1970 Nairne was made Deputy Under-Secretary (Policy and Programmes), a key appointment in the ministry, second only to the Permanent Under-Secretary. He worked closely with Peter Carrington as Defence Secretary and was his great supporter. He was engaged in all the turf battles of the Armed Services as successive governments strove to integrate proud, independent bodies with different priorities and traditions and ever increasing financial demands into a modern postwar unified Armed Service.

Negotiations with the crustier of the admirals and generals must have been difficult, but those veterans soon learnt that this quiet, diplomatic and ever courteous young man, although of modest military rank, had many times heard bullets whistle past his ears.

Whatever one’s view of the Falklands conflict, any impartial observer was forced to applaud the smooth integration of the three Armed Services. Not a little of the credit

for that logistically nightmarish operation must be attributed to Nairne’s efforts over two and a half decades at Defence. He never got home before 9pm and often worked until midnight. Even on holiday he was productive, painting two or three pictures a day.

Healey in his autobiography of 1989 said of Nairne, “He turned out to be the perfect choice for the most difficult two years of my service as Defence Secretary, when I was taking my most important decisions on equipment, commitments and strategy... Unfailing courtesy and a pretty wit made him a joy to work with.

“He also shared my pleasure in all the arts. His father, a retired army colonel, had taught art at Winchester, and Pat was a good watercolour painter, rather in the style of Wilson Steer. He always took a paint-box when we travelled together. If I snatched a few minutes to take photographs in the Hadramaut or San Francisco, he would take out his paints and do a sketch, sometimes to be worked up into a larger picture later, perhaps while he was watching his sons rowing... I shall always regard him as the very model of the best British civil servant, with a genius for administration bred of his early years wrestling with the Royal Navy.”

Nairne’s battles with Frank Cooper, the voluble Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, would have been interesting to overhear. As Healey once said of Cooper “I wouldn’t treat Sir Frank’s evidence as totally impartial; he is an extremely intelligent able politician as well as a civil servant.” Healey would never have spoken in such equivocal terms of Nairne.

In 1973 he moved to become Second Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office, where he stayed for two years. This too was a testing period, covering the 1973-74 “winter of discontent” during which the miners’ strike led to power cuts and the three-day week. Sir Patrick, as head of the Cabinet’s civil contingencies unit, was heavily involved in keeping emergency services going – a task for which he had been prepared by his early experience in the Admiralty, placing sailors in London docks during the unofficial strike of 1948. He was also praised for his adroit performance during the early part of Harold Wilson’s Labour Government which returned to power in early 1974. In his time at the Cabinet Office he was responsible for the first nationwide referendum on EEC membership.

Instead of returning to the MoD as PUS as his contemporaries expected, Nairne was promoted in 1975 to lead that huge

conglomerate the Department of Health and Social Security.

He was knighted the same year, and then began an anxious baptism while learning about a ministry whose complex structure made it one of the most difficult briefs in Whitehall. It says much for his brilliance as an administrator that he guided the department through a difficult time, retiring in 1981 with an enviable reputation in Whitehall.

In his extended career as a very senior civil servant Nairne thought hard about the relationship between the permanent, detached non-political service and the politician. He articulated some of the problems of these relationships in an interview on BBC radio in 1981. The problems of the conflict between politicians who want to be seen to get things done, and the civil servants who have to attempt to carry out their orders, will remain for as long as democratic government exists.

Some longed to ask whether he was in part the model for that most sinuous of television characters – Sir Humphrey Appleby? Did he give advice? It was never admitted although occasionally polished glimpses of Sir Humphrey in action could be detected. Certain family members did admit, privately, that he may have offered advice to the BBC.

He was elected Master of St Catherine’s in 1981, the year that he retired from Whitehall, and held this post until 1988. It was said that he was headhunted for the job partly because of his political connections but also because he had six children and therefore must know about young people.

To follow an institution like the founding Master Alan Bullock was no easy act but with his gentle diplomacy, tact and administrative skills and astonishing range of contacts and experience Nairne continued a developing tradition. If St Catherine’s College, Oxford is different, and continues to be different from most Oxbridge colleges in so many ways, it is due in no small measure to him. In the same year University College, Oxford, awarded him an honorary fellowship.

Freed from the constraints of the Civil Service he could have retired into that obscure, civilised world of a college governing body but instead he threw himself into public works of prodigious range and commitment.

Inevitably he served, with his Admiralty and defence background, as a Privy Councillor, on one of the most difficult reports, that of the Lord Franks review of the Falklands conflict. He was a trustee of the



Legat On Eric Hugh Legat, (d, 1937-1941). He rowed in the lst VIII of 1941 and served with the RNVR from 1941 to 1946 becoming a Lieutenant. He became a solicitor in 1950 and a Partner in Messrs. Wilson & Sons of Salisbury from 1953 to 1992.

Milligan On 31.8.2013 (Donald) Michael Milligan, (g, 1937-1941). He served with the RNVR during the war and became a Lieutenant. He was a rubber planter with the Guthrie Group of Companies from 1950 to 1966 and was Acting Manager of the Sengkang Estate (United Sua Betong Ltd.), the Sua Betong Estate and several others. He was Manager of the Karmen Estate from 1943 to 1966. He was Resident Agent of the Matson Ground Estate, Windermere from 1966 to 1981.

Whittington On 5.6.2008 Leslie Morris Whittington, AFC (d, 1937-1941). He went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge on a short course then served with the RAFVR from 1942 to 1945. He became a Flight-Lieutenant and was later granted an Extended Service Commission. He rowed in the RAF VIII at Henley in 1948. He was granted a Permanent Commission in 1950. In 1953 he broke the flight record between London and Darwin. He retired from the RAF as a Squadron Leader and was awarded the AFC. He was a Test Pilot with the English Electric Company from 1953 to 1955 and with the Folland Aircraft Company from 1955. Folland

was aquired by Hawker Siddeley, which later became part of British Aerospace He received a Queen’s Commendation in 1971. He retired in 1975.

Worsley On 23.2.2013 General Sir Richard Edward Worsley, GCB OBE (a, 1937-1940). He played in the lst XVs of 1939 and 1940. At the time of his death he was one of four Radley Senior Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath with Lord Craig of Radley (1943), Lord Wilson of Dinton (1956) and Sir Patrick Nairne (1935)

From The Independent:

General Sir Richard Worsley: Soldier who oversaw the end of Britain’s presence in the Far East

Richard Worsley’s talents as a staff officer showed early, when he was appointed adjutant to 2 Rifle Brigade during the desperate battles for Italy in 1944, and carried him to the top, a place on the Army Board, by his career’s end more than 30 years later, as Quartermaster General to the Forces. In between he had helped to organise the end of Britain’s imperial commitments in the Far East, and masterminded much of her task in Germany during the years of the Cold War.

Even in a campaign his country would rather forget, Suez in 1956, the then Major Worsley maintained morale in bruising situations, an ability for which he had already gained praise in Italy. Worsley was at the elbow of the British commander Lieutenant General Sir Hugh Stockwell on 6 November as Stockwell made his last hazardous mission at Port Said, hoping to receive the enemy’s surrender. Alas, neither he nor Stockwell knew that politicians in London were about to lose their nerve and call the whole endeavour off.

With the Anglo-French forces close to victory in regaining the canal from the Egyptian insurgents who had seized it, Worsley, who was the general’s General Staff Officer 2, and Hugo Meynell, the general’s ADC, procured a landing craft and escorted Stockwell and his French deputy, General André Beaufre, from the headquarters ship HMS Tyne to the shore to discuss terms. But not all the enemy were so minded. “We were machine-gunned,” Meynell said later. “Quite a lot of the woodwork disappeared between Dick Worsley and me.”

Nevertheless luck attended the unflappable Worsley as the general gave up on securing a surrender, and having given orders for offensive operations to continue, started back in a commandeered assault craft at nightfall for the blacked-out HMS Tyne moored beyond a harbour breakwater. “Major Worsley exercised his somewhat limited knowledge of the Morse code with an Aldis lamp to attract someone’s attention”, the disgruntled Stockwell reported. Soon after, they saw a light high up, and, after manoeuvring close in, managed to get on board, despite the sea-swell, up ladders let down the side: “a stroke of luck for a temporarily lost commander,” Stockwell observed. (The incident is recorded in Suez 1956 by Barry Turner.)

From The Times-News of North Carolina, 28 January 1953

General Sir Richard Worsley

– a real belief in public administration and an ability to run organisations, including the chairing of meetings, effectively – were recognised by the prime minister, Harold Wilson, who appointed him permanent secretary, the official head, of the mammoth Department of Health and Social Security.

Denis Healey, one of Wilson’s cabinet stalwarts, described Nairne in his 1989 autobiography as “the perfect choice for the most difficult two years of my service as defence secretary, when I was taking my most important decisions on equipment, commitments and strategy … Unfailing courtesy and a pretty wit made him a joy to work with.”

The agendas and priorities of the DHSS were very different from those he was used to at the MoD. Yet he drew parallels between them, comparing the often tense relationship between civilian administrators in the MoD and military chiefs with that between DHSS civil servants and the consultants and drug company lobbies.

Born in London, Nairne was the son of a colonel in the Seaforth Highlanders and he married a daughter of a colonel. He was educated at Radley College, Oxfordshire, and University College, Oxford, where he was awarded a first in modern history. But that was only after second world war service had intervened. He joined his father’s regiment, and after fighting in the Battle of El Alamein and recovering from wounds in Tunisia, he took part in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. In recognition of his initiative and outstanding bravery searching for and

identifying weak points in enemy positions at Francofonte, north-west of Syracuse, he was awarded the Military Cross.

After leaving Oxford in 1947, he joined the Admiralty, one of the five organisations to be merged into a combined MoD in 1964. After a succession of posts there, many of them in ministers’ private offices, and many playing a key role in integrating the three branches of the armed forces, Nairne became deputy under-secretary (1970-73). At the Cabinet Office he was second permanent secretary and he ended his Whitehall career in 1981 at the DHSS.

In what he said was a great surprise, he was asked if his name could go on a shortlist as Master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, to succeed the historian Lord (Alan) Bullock. It was unusual then, though not now, for Oxbridge colleges to elect “outsiders” – even former Whitehall mandarins – as heads.

Nairne was master of St Catherine’s for seven years. Soon after he took up the post, he was made a privy counsellor and appointed a member of the Franks committee, set up to review the events leading up to the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands in 1982. While the committee described a catalogue of errors, it was attacked for absolving the Thatcher government from “any criticism or blame” for the junta’s decision “to commit an act of unprovoked aggression”.

Nairne soon joined other recently retired top Whitehall officials in the growing campaign for the repeal of the “catch-all” Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act. “Had Sir

Humphrey Appleby changed his spots?” he asked, referring to the senior official in Yes, Minister. “Any Freedom of Information bill would have important exemptions; matters affecting national security, such as the organisation of a British nuclear test, would certainly be exempted,” he warned.

He fully recognised that ministers and civil servants were always attacked for their disposition to cover up not only what needed to be kept secret, but what could be politically damaging. “The secrecy culture of Whitehall,” he openly acknowledged, “is essentially a product of British parliamentary democracy; economy with the truth is the essence of a professional reply to a parliamentary answer.” He was under no illusion that there was a long way to go before that culture was fundamentally changed and the doctrine of “the need to know” is replaced by that of “the right to know”.

Nairne enjoyed wrestling with difficult ideas. He was the first chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (1991-96) and in 1993 published Demystifying Bioethics: A Lay Perspective, in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

He was also a gifted painter of watercolours and his pictures were twice exhibited in the Royal Academy. A collection of his watercolours hangs in St Catherine’s College. Sandy, one of his sons and director of the National Portrait Gallery, told the magazine Oxford Today in 2010 that Patrick encouraged his children to make room for art. “There’s a line of art that runs through my family. Even though my father spent all his time organising things and making things better, he brought us up with the idea that art had a very strong place.”

Nairne was also chairman of the Society of Italic Handwriting and his Whitehall memos and minutes were well known for their fine, clear script.

He and his wife, Penelope, a lay reader for many years, were part of the church wherever they lived and his Christian beliefs were important to him.

Penelope, whom he married in 1948, survives him, as do their daughters, Katherine, Fiona and Margaret, and sons, Sandy, James and Andrew.

Patrick Dalmahoy Nairne, civil servant, born 15 August 1921; died 4 June 2013

A Thanksgiving Service will be held for Sir Patrick Nairne at St Mary’s University Church, High Street, Oxford at 2 pm on Thursday 17th October.

The Franks Committee in 1982, inquiring into the events leading up to the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands, meeting for the last time in Whitehall. From left: Lord Lever, Sir Patrick Nairne, Merlyn Rees, Sec to the Committee Tony Rawsthorne, Lord Franks, Lord Watkinson and Lord Barber.

PA/P

A A

rchi

ve/P

ress

Ass

ocia

tion

Imag

es



The address from his service:

Guy had a long and full life, a kind and loving man, second son of Myrtle and Harold, brother to Michael, Christopher and Simon

Born in Golders Green, Hendon in 1925, a public school boy from an early age, he went to Radley and then on to study Architecture at Liverpool University. By 1943 he had joined the Fleet Air Arm as a Sub Lieutenant Fighter pilot.

From then on Guy held a lifelong interest in aircraft, often reminiscing about Harvards, Hellcats and Tiger Moths. For his 80th birthday his daughter Jane arranged a flight from Cornwall to Chichester. He enjoyed the turbulence and got quite excited as they were bumped about! Whilst enjoying his last few years in Chichester he was able to sit in the garden at his home and watch Spitfire displays, always a pleasing sight, but Guy often mistook other small aircraft from the aerodrome as Spitfires, but he would not be told otherwise.

In the 1960s Guy took up his next love, horses. Qualifying with the British Horse Society as an Instructor in 1965, he went on to enjoy hunting, teaching and judging – we were often reminded that he judged a Princess in Dressage, with eyes on the rider, Guy and the other judges agreed that the horse was definitely far more attractive than the royal rider! He has passed his passion for horses on to Jane and visited her horse at the stables quite a few times, never missing a fault or incorrect stride!

After having a variety of careers in the South-East of England, including positions with Birds Eye, selling frozen foods, Unilever, marketing soaps and Carreras Rothmans as a director, Guy moved to the South-West to become a hotelier in 1969.

The move to Falmouth fired a passion for yachts and Guy was soon to purchase a whole fleet over the next couple of decades! He enjoyed the challenge of the English Channel or tacking down to the Helford River. His eldest daughter Samantha recalls scrubbing the hull of a yacht from in the water; his standards were high and a clean boat was faster! Jane and Guy had great fun racing in Falmouth harbour and the occasional trip to the Scilly isles often accompanied by his good friend John Beale.

Guy was a great lover of the piano and classical music, he played regularly and many friends and family were entertained by his tinkling on the ivories. During his retirement he was lucky to have a Baby Grand in the lounge which was well used.

His love of the piano and his talent to play has certainly passed to the next generations with his sons and grandsons being naturally talented with a number of different instruments – I am sure he is very proud.

Although suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, Guy’s last few years were relaxed and comfortable, surrounded by new friends in a splendid Georgian house, very suitable for a public school boy, with ladies waiting at his table and bedside. The staff always had lovely things to say about Guy and his jolly sense of humour, a real charmer; he never lost the twinkle in his blue eyes and made friends with ease.

There are many lovely memories of Guy and he touched the lives of so many over his 87 years. He was a much loved father of six, grandpa, husband, uncle and friend. We all know he will be missed but never forgotten and loved as always.

Raikes On 26.3.2013 Dacre Francis Alexander Arthur Raikes, OBE (b, 1939-1943).

From The Times [with additions]:

Dacre Raikes was a distinguished British businessman who made Thailand his home for 60 years and promoted British and Thai business links as well as Thai classical music abroad.

The son of Vice-Admiral Cecil Staveley Raikes, Dacre Raikes was born in 1925 and educated at Radley College. He joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in 1939.[Bad eyesight resulted in him being a cypher clerk. He served in the Mediterranean, watching the Vichy French, and then in the Far East.] His war service took him to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, on a signalling mission which he described as “completely futile” but which sparked off his love of the tropics.

After the war, he worked in British Guiana as a sugar planter, before moving to Thailand in 1951 with the Borneo Company. [He hated being a sugar planter as the labour was effectively indentured and the country consisted of a coastal strip of sugar plantations. He claimed that his regular form of transport was a bloody-minded donkey.]

His first post was in the forests of north-west Thailand managing the company’s teak concessions, an experience which left a lifelong impression on him. During his four years as a “teak wallah”, Raikes became fascinated by Thai culture. His cine film of life in the teak forests is an archive treasure. In this setting he first heard Thai music

played on traditional instruments. [During this time he became increasingly involved in Thai culture and was a founder member of The Bangkok Music Society bringing musicians such as Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar to Thailand. He was a leading light in The Siam Society.]

Raikes remained in Thailand for the rest of his life, rising to be managing director of the Borneo Company which was absorbed by the Inchcape Group in 1967. He was chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in 1967-69, and on the boards of other companies. As regional manager of Borneo-Inchcape, he presided over a major expansion of the company’s interests. His imposing official residence in Bangkok enabled him to live in style, which led to some friction with retired Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer, an Inchcape board member, who paid him a visit and declared the property too palatial for a single man. Raikes countered that the company’s prestige obliged him to represent Inchcape at this level, and eventually prevailed.

Raikes was involved with the cultural activities of the Siam Society for 40 years, and was vice-president from 1984-1999. In 1979, he organised workshops on Thai classical music for students and musicologists in London and Aldeburgh, and staged concert performances by Thai musicians and dancers from Srinakharinwirot University in Cambridge, Sussex and York. Over the following decades, he introduced Thai classical performers to audiences worldwide. He was tireless in using his contacts to organise and fund annual concert tours to cities in South-East Asia, Europe and North America. He always accompanied the tours himself, combining the roles of tour leader, translator, programme editor, and nanny-in-chief for groups of 35 or more. Unsurprisingly, he was held in great affection by generations of young performers whose horizons he widened so dramatically. [In 1994 in recognition of his work he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Srinakharinwirot.]

In the mid-1970s, Raikes built himself a magnificent teak mansion, Ban Phlu Luang, in North Bangkok. Here he entertained his wide circle of friends from the Thai and European communities with classical concerts and dance performances. He had learnt to play two instruments himself and was occasionally persuaded to join in. A tall, lean man, ginger-haired in his youth, Raikes had a disarming personality, containing some of the old-world breeziness and bonhomie found in characters drawn

Immediately on their return, the party, who had been out of radio contact for five hours, received London’s urgent signal: “Ceasefire at midnight.” With the snatched-away victory vanished much of Britain’s remaining international prestige. Worsley was one of those who went on in the 1960s and ‘70s to salvage what was left.

A soldier acutely conscious of history, who in 1944 had made his men pause in St Peter’s Square in Rome to savour the Eternal City’s recapture, he was to take on diplomatic as well as military responsibilities with Nato in Germany. His success, as a former infantry officer, in changing the role of a cavalry regiment, the 1st Royal Dragoons, from armoured cars to the new Chieftain tanks at Tidworth between 1962 and 1965, led to his promotion to command the 7th Armoured Brigade in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) until 1967.

Having already been an instructor at Sandhurst and Staff College, Worsley attended the Imperial Defence College in 1968 before taking over as Chief of Staff Far East Land Forces from 1969 until 1971, with the task of closing down the British military presence in Singapore.

He was General Officer Commanding, the 3rd Division, another mechanised force, from 1972-74, and then Vice-Quartermaster General at the Ministry of Defence before returning to Germany in 1976 command of 1(BR) Corps, where he remained until 1978. His last appointment, QMG to the Forces, was from 1979-82.

Richard Edward Worsley sprang from a family of notable cricketers, his father HHK Worsley being the brother of first-class batsmen AE and CEA Worsley. He was born at Grey Abbey, County Down, and attended Radley College before being commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in July 1942.

His first operational experience came in Tunisia, where his battalion formed part of the 6th Armoured Division, before joining the Eighth Army for the Italian campaign, eventually fighting its way up to Austria.

The 21-year-old Worsley as adjutant helped the Rifles overcome their hardest trial among the fierce battles for Italy, when lives totalling two companies were lost in bitter fighting at Tossignano, 19 miles south-east of Bologna. The new formation of men, battalions merged because of the heavy losses, appreciated his dry wit and organisational competence.

He spent much of the first 10 years after the Second World War in Germany, first as a company commander in 2nd Rifle Brigade, then in 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade in BAOR in 1952, and, after Staff College in 1954, as GSO2 to the reformed 11th Armoured Division.

After the Suez debacle and a stint in Malaya in 1957 as the emergency there was drawing towards its end, he seized on another period at home at Staff College in Britain to marry a brigadier’s daughter, Sarah Anne Mitchell, always known as Sally, in 1959. The couple had a son, Henry, and a daughter, Charlotte.

Worsley was made OBE in 1964, and knighted in 1976 at the end of his command of 7th Armoured Brigade. He became Knight Grand Cross on retirement from the Army.

British industry however, was eager to snap him up, and he joined Pilkington Group, staying till 1986, as chief executive and then chairman of its electro-optical division, and chairman of its then subsidiary Barr and Stroud, makers of tank sights and binoculars. In 1983 he was made a Freeman of the City of London, and after leaving Pilkington, he served as chairman of Western Provident Association from 1989-96.

One of the sacrifices to a life dedicated to military duty was a home and family life, and though his children had happy memories of accompanying him at Singapore, his first marriage was dissolved. In later years he put down roots at Bensgrove Farm at Goring Heath near Reading, having married, in 1980, Caroline, Duchess of Fife, the former Caroline Dewar. There he cultivated vines, producing about three tonnes of grapes a year which went to a local co-operative

making English white wines. He did the planting himself, and took pride in his vines’ straightness and exact spacing.

He is survived by his first wife, Sally, and their children Henry and Charlotte, and by his widow Caroline and his stepchildren, Alexandra and David.

Cross On 21.3.2013 Oliver Louis Campbell Cross, (c, 1938-1942). He served with the RA during the 1939-45 war becoming a Captain. He went up to Reading University and represented them at Hockey, Squash, Cricket and Tennis. He became an animal nutritionist and later Managing Director of Duffield Mills producing animal feeds for pigs, poultry, cattle, sheep and game at Saxlingham near Norwich. He retired in 1987.

Brigg On 27.1.2012 John Rodney Wilford Brigg, (d, 1939-1944). After Radley where he was a School Prefect he went up to read Physics at Christ Church. He became a Chartered Accountant in 1950 and was the Company Accountant at Estée Lauder from 1967 to 1992. His sons, David, Michael and Peter, were at Radley.

Cobb On 11.10.2012 Major Bryan John Winstanley Cobb, (e, 1939-1944). After Radley where he was Director of College Agriculture and a Prefect he went up to New College, Oxford. He joined the RAFVR in 1944 and the Royal Armoured Corps in 1945. Later he was commissioned into the 13/18 Royal Hussars becoming a Major in 1958 and second in command of the regiment in 1963. It is reported that, at one stage, he ran his regimental pig farm and used the profits to buy new flags for the regiment. He was mentioned in despatches in 1952 (Malaya). He retired in 1969 and farmed in North Yorkshire.

Kilburn-Toppin On 1.1.2013 John Conning Kilburn-Toppin, (d, 1939-1943). At Radley he was Captain of Fives in 1942 and 1943 and Captain of Athletics. He went up to Trinity College, Oxford on a wartime short course prior to joining the Royal Armoured Corps. He was commissioned into the 16/5 Lancers and became a Captain. After leaving the Army he became General Manager of the Commercial Vehicle Division of the Ford Motor Company in Germany, then Regional Director, Northern Europe. His half brother, Alistair Kilburn, was at Radley.

Odling On 31.3.2013 (Anthony) Guy Odling, (g, 1939-1943). He rowed in the lst VIII of 1943. His brothers M.F., C.A. and S.H. Odling were at Radley, as were two cousins and two nephews.

General Sir Richard Worsley



kept up with string. He drove, pipe in mouth, a battered open-topped Austin Seven, which frequently broke down.”

After leaving school, he was drafted into the Buffs and rose in rank to Lieutenant. Characteristically laid back and with exceptionally good timing, he did his national service just as the war was finishing, and was stationed in Greece, Picardy and lastly in Norfolk. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy his time in the army.

In 1949, he attended Trinity Hall at Cambridge where he studied geology and specialised in mineralogy. Whilst he was there he both rowed and played rugby and very much enjoyed punting along the backs. He had a real love of adventure, and travelled extensively in the years following his graduation at Cambridge; working in India for three years, followed by stints in what was then the Gold Coast and Togoland in Africa and then Oman and Jordan. Typical of his generosity, after returning from one of these trips, he bought his parent’s house for them at Brewer’s Wood, which they had been renting for years.

He always had many interesting tales to tell from his travels, and these were captured

and well documented in all the photographs he took. An avid photographer – every single one taken in black and white – he would contort his body into all sorts of positions and practically hang off precipices, if it meant he could get the right angle for his picture. He seemed to have the knack of taking photos – always with a rather beaten up looking box camera – that really captured how a place functioned and this almost certainly came from his great empathy with people and an interest in how they lived their lives. This continued when he returned to Britain and his entire life is pretty much documented in over 20 large photograph albums, each photograph individually labelled, each label painstakingly typed on his old Imperial typewriter.

During the early 1960s, he felt ready to settle down and engaged in a correspondence club. He and Patricia wrote many letters to each other before finally meeting in Sevenoaks, Kent. They continued to meet over the coming months, and he proposed, after a punt trip up the River Medway, in keeping with a man of Kent and a Kentish Maid. Unfortunately, someone stole the punt pole and they had to paddle back!

Shortly after marrying, they moved to South Wales where he took up a job as Geologist with the National Coal Board. He remained with the Coal Board until he took early retirement in 1987. As with everything else in his life, he managed to achieve an enviable balance between work and home life, and always found time for a lunchtime pint in the working day.

As a result of his (and Patricia’s) parenting skills, James, Chris and Jess enjoyed a childhood which was pretty idyllic; travelling around in a succession of decrepit yet somehow stylish vehicles, and had a series of quirky pets, almost all named after types of money, Groat, Tanner, etc. He and Patricia had a long and happy marriage together and made it to their 50th year but sadly not quite their Golden Wedding Anniversary.

His three children were immensely proud to have him as a father. He was always kind, thoughtful and willing to provide advice. He arranged many wonderful family holidays with meticulous attention to detail, travelling by train and boat, throughout Britain and Europe.

He was well known(!), respected and very much liked in his local pub, The Barley Mow, in Penllyn and could be heard on many an evening to be telling some improbable, but true, tale of previous adventures. He had an encyclopaedic memory and could rattle off the names of all the places he’d ever visited, the Greek alphabet, passages he learnt in school or complex geological data with equal ease.

He was a very content person and it is comforting to know that he knew he had had a long, full and fulfilling life. He once said that his only ambitions in life were to settle down with a good woman, have a family and see a bit of the world and was genuinely delighted he had achieved all three! A few days before he died, he told his son Chris how very lucky he had been with his children and grandchildren.

A man with an amazing sense of integrity and constitution, he kept his illness hidden right until the end, almost certainly to protect his nearest and dearest from the heart-ache of knowing he was terminally ill. A gentle, gentleman all his life, he is and will be forever greatly loved and missed in the hearts of his close friends and family.

He leaves his wife of 49 years, Patricia Sally (née James) Forster Brown, his sons, James Westgarth Forster Brown and Christopher Mark Forster Brown and his daughter Jessica Dominique Forster Brown. Also, his four grandchildren: Zoe Anna

Mark Forster Brown

publisher, shown a draft of the book, advised that there was too much on the logging industry, and not enough on the characters he had encountered, so Raikes embarked on a fresh draft.

Dacre Raikes, OBE, [Member of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand], businessman and propagator of Thai culture, was born on December 29, 1925. He died on March 26, 2013, aged 87.

Douglas On 25.12.2012 Gordon Forester Douglas, (c, 1940-1944). He served with the Grenadier Guards during the 1939-1945 war becoming a Second Lieutenant.

Chamberlayne-Macdonald On 15.8.2013 Major Nigel Donald Peter Chamberlayne-Macdonald (formerly Bosville Macdonald of the Isles), CVO, OBE, DL (b, 1941-1944). He served with the Scots Guards in Italy in 1946

by P. G. Wodehouse, but leavened by a more reflective, scholarly side. At his house, English afternoon tea was always served.

In later life, his years under a tropical sun took their toll and he suffered relentless bouts of skin cancer. Being unable to walk unaided proved no barrier to his attendance at concerts, lectures, and Siam Society meetings. There was an element of theatre to his arrival at these events – bent almost double, with someone ahead to open doors, an attendant on each arm, and his driver bringing up the rear with a wheelchair, Raikes would aim steadfastly for a strategic vantage point. His memory for names and faces never deserted him.

He was eventually obliged to move into an apartment off Sathorn where friends kept a close eye on him. Here, surrounded by books and papers, he worked on another volume of his autobiography, returning to his earliest days in the teak forests. His

and 1947, Malaya in 1950 and 1951 and the Canal Zone in 1952 and 1953. He was equerry to H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucester in 1954 and 1955, and Assistant Private Secretary from 1958 to 1960. He was High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1974-75 and then Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire in 1975. He was a Gentleman Usher to H.M. The Queen in 1979 and Extra Gentleman Usher to H.M. The Queen from 1997. He was a Member of The Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland (Royal Company of Archers), Chairman of the Hampshire Association of Boys’ Clubs from 1967 to 1982, Vice-Chairman of the National Association of Boys’ Clubs from 1969 to 1990 and President of The Coaching Club from 1982 to 1990. He was President of the Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford Boy Scouts Association from 1962 to 2002. He was awarded the Order of St. John in 1958, L.V.O. in 1960 and O.B.E. in 1980. He had two grandsons at Radley.

Forster Brown On 28.9.2012 Mark Westgarth Forster Brown, (e, 1941-1945). His father and his brother, Dominick, were at Radley.

Born in Maida Vale, London in 1927 the son of Westgarth Stanhope Forster Brown and Jill Daphne Sanxter (née Tompkins) Forster Brown, they moved to Brewer’s Wood House, Sissinghurst in Kent when he was just two years of age. Here, he enjoyed a simple and happy childhood, with his three younger siblings; Dianthe, Dominick and Stella. He attended Arden House and then Radley. It was at Radley that he learnt to withstand freezing cold temperatures due to the requisite cold bath every morning! His boarding schooling instilled in him a sense of independence and a quiet resilience that he showed throughout his life. He had several summer jobs from the age of about twelve. In his own words, “These included hop-picking (enjoyable), blackcurrant picking (boring), cherry picking (15ft ladders – alarming), then for several years helping with the hay-making and harvest at Lovehurst Manor, Staplehurst.”

He was gently eccentric and had a wide range of idiosyncrasies. This is summed up best by a short paragraph written by his good friend Ian Corrie-Hill, whom he met at Radley:

“After leaving Radley, Mark was able to adopt his own eccentric persona. He liked to be unconventional in dress, activities and motor vehicles, usually wearing an old straw hat, hobnailed boots and trousers

Dacre Raikes (left) meets the King of Thailand



enjoyed the challenge of diversifying into haulage and dairy farming, as a way of spreading the company’s risk across different business sectors.

Aside from his own business interests, father invested time and energy in developing what eventually became the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. Encouraging exporters and fellow manufacturers whilst providing a growing range of economical services was at the heart of what he worked to achieve as a long-serving director and treasurer of the chamber.

In addition to a passion for the gardens he created and maintained, my father also contributed his time to a number of local charities. Fred Smith could always be relied upon to turn up on time, every time to a wide variety of meetings regardless of the weather or his health, whilst the rest of his family were often expected to fit in around his commitments!

Nonetheless, when father was away from his beloved West Riding of Yorkshire he took great delight in being “the big kid” sharing his joy in monumental beach excavations, swimming, sailing and of course cricket with his five children.

In retirement my father left behind his industrial heritage to enjoy the delights of Malhamdale where he created another garden and helped to run the Malham Show. Whilst his health was good, father helped my mother in “entertaining” their nine grandchildren by leading them on walks up and down dale regardless of the weather, traditionally finishing at one of his favourite hostelries where he could enjoy a pint of beer, banter with local farmers and (until the law changed) fill the pub with his pipe smoke!

Ashworth On 18.1.2013 Michael Edward Ruthven Ashworth, (f, 1944-1948). After Radley he worked for the Anglo-Thai Corporation Ltd in Bangkok from 1950 to 1955, then Richard Thomas & Baldwins Ltd from 1957 to 1968 and the Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society from 1968 to 1990. He became an Associate Member Institute of Supervising and Management in 1972. He retired in 1990.

Harben On 15.6.2011 Henry Peter Bostock Harben, (a, 1944-1945). He lived in Castle Cary in Somerset but had little contact with Radley after he left.

Opie On 29.1.2013 Air Commodore Brian William Opie, RAF (Ret’d) (c, 1944-1950). At Radley he was Second

Prefect and played in the lst XV of 1949. He went to the RAF College, Cranwell and was a member of their hockey team. He attended the RAF Staff College in 1963 and the National Defence College in 1974. He retired as Air Commodore, Administration Branch in 1985 and then became Bursar of Malvern Girls’ College. He was President for the Midland Area of the Royal Air Forces Association and a voluntary helper with the Royal United Kingdom Benevolent Association.

Spragge On 21.12.2010 David Charles Spragge, (b, 1945-1949). On leaving Radley where he was an exhibitioner, he joined the Royal Navy (Engineering Branch), becoming a Lieutenant in 1955 and a Lieutenant Commander in 1963. He lived on the Isle of Wight and was one of the authors of The Royal Solent Yacht Club. The First 125 Years, a history to mark the 125th anniversary of the club.

Rix On 8.11.2012 Timothy (Tim) John Rix, CBE (d, 1947-1952). At Radley he was an Honorary Scholar and Second Prefect.

From The Times:

Educational publisher whose promotion of textbooks at home and abroad made Longman a powerful force

Tim Rix was the former chairman and chief executive of the publishing house of Longman who realised the huge potential for educational publishing, especially overseas, and presided over the company’s impressive expansion at home and abroad.

Timothy John Rix was born in 1934 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, the son of an architect, Howard Rix, and his wife Marguerite. Educated at Radley College, the young Rix read English at Clare College, Cambridge; this was followed by National Service in the Royal Navy and a year as a Mellon Fellow at Yale. In 1958 he began his publishing career at what was then Longmans, Green & Co, founded in 1724. After three months as a proof-reader and three as a schools sales representative, he was posted to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as publishing manager for the Far East and South-East Asia regions, undertaking extensive sales trips.

He returned to Britain in 1963 as a senior publisher for English language teaching (ELT) materials, an area in which Longmans became a market leader. He became head of the ELT division in 1964, a director of the company in 1968, joint managing director in 1972 and chief executive of what was by then Longman Group in 1976; he became chairman in 1984.

The company had been acquired by S. Pearson in 1968 but the constituent Pearson companies operated with considerable independence. Rix recognised early the enormous international opportunities for educational publishing and under his leadership the company expanded; by 1989 it had seven distinct publishing sectors including ELT, schools, university, legal and medical publishing, as well as specialist educational publishing for the African and Caribbean markets and the Arab world. The schools division published the innovative Breakthrough to Literacy project and the Nuffield science courses; the Churchill Livingstone medical imprint published

Tim Rix

Forster Brown, Keira Verde Forster Brown, Lloyd Scott Callaghan and Amelia (Millie) Rose Callaghan.

Henderson On 26.3.2012 (Philip) Andrew Henderson, (e, 1942-1946) After National Service in Ireland and Germany he became an articled clerk to solicitors in Chichester. When he gained his qualifications he worked in Bedford before moving to work for solicitors in Sandown on the Isle of Wight in 1959. Eventually he took over the firm and worked there until he retired in 1989. His brother, John, was at Radley.

Davenport On 17.12.2012 David Talbot Henry Davenport, (b, 1943-1948).

From his brother, John:

David was born in Delhi where his father was working at that time for Dunlop. About a year after his birth the family returned to England where his younger brother, John, was born a few months later. They moved to Cheshire and lived throughout the war in the Wirral.

In 1943 David went to Radley, where he was probably the first 4th generation pupil, his great-grandfather, C.T. Davenport, having started at Radley eighty years earlier in 1863. At Radley he was in the 1st VIII at the age of just 16 in 1946 when that crew came close to winning the final of the inaugural Princess Elizabeth Cup as well as winning two races in The Ladies’ Plate. David rowed two more years in the 1st VIII becoming Captain of Boats in 1948.

After Radley he was called up for National Service, which he served in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Most of his time was spent in Mogadishu when no-one knew where it was.

David went up to University College, Oxford after his National Service to read PPE. He continued his rowing and rowed for his college successfully in 1952 and 1953. The oars hanging in his house, including winning the coxless fours in 1952, are a testament to his success. He also rowed at 6 for Oxford in the 1953 Boat Race, but despite starting as favourites they were beaten by Cambridge.

As well as rowing, David also played a lot of bridge while at Univ, playing for Oxford in a winning team against Cambridge.

He graduated in 1953 and went to work for Canada Life, first of all in Toronto and then in London managing their investments. In 1960 he started up one of the first private portfolio management companies in London with his friend James Rowlatt who he had met in the army in Mogadishu. This proved

to be a very successful business which was eventually taken over by Aitken Hume. However David then started up another similar business, CS Investments, which also prospered. He was involved with Barbour Index and was instrumental in bringing that company to the market.

In 1960 he married Patricia Barham. They settled in London where they raised two girls and a boy, before moving in 1974 to Kent where they had another boy. Both his sons, William and Jeremy, were at Radley.

David’s interests included, first and foremost, bridge. He had an international trial in 1959 and played right to the end of his life to a very high standard. When the laws of bridge were revised David was chairman of the Card Committee of the Portland Club who hold the copyright of the Laws. In this role he played a major part in their revision, combined with bridge clubs all over the world.

The art market was another interest, and he collected old master drawings during the 60s and 70s. There were several dealers who were personal friends with interests in antiquities, chinese ceramics as well as furniture and objets d’art and paintings.

He also had sporting interests, shooting regularly at his brother-in-law’s estate in Kent amongst other places and took great pleasure in training his own dogs for the shooting field. He took up salmon fishing when he was about 45, which he enjoyed for the rest of his life. He even took up skiing at the age of 57 in order not to

be left behind by the rest of his family. It was typical of him that even if he had no technique he also had no fear and would hurl himself down the slopes in the slightly vain hope that he could stop at the bottom. He was physically very strong – maybe a legacy of his rowing – so managed without much skill.

David never really retired. He continued to take a very active interest in the Stock Market and ran a small art investment company until the very end. He enjoyed excellent health all his life, but was diagnosed with cancer in August 2011. Having succeeded in most things he never expected that he could not beat the cancer, and right up to the very end was planning for the future.

Smith On 6.2.2013 Frederick Sydney Reresby Smith, (e, 1943-1945). His son, Richard, who was at Radley, writes:

A proud Yorkshireman who was happiest creating gardens whilst surrounded by his large family, my father spent many of his games periods whilst at Radley College helping cultivate the vegetables to supplement wartime rationing. Due to the lingering effects of rheumatic fever, cricket was the only game father was allowed to play although not quite in the manner of his boyhood hero, Sir Len Hutton!

Frederick Smith’s ancestors on both sides of his family were manufacturers, some more successful than others. Great grandfather Enos with his brother Ai built up a substantial business as wire rope makers (eventually becoming part of Bridon plc, now owned by Melrose plc) whilst other relatives included tar distillers and shirt-makers. There was an expectation that my father would maintain the family tradition and in some way be involved in manufacturing.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with a Bradford firm and a brief spell working in Leeds for what is now KPMG, my father joined Yorkshire Tar Distillers. When North Sea gas was discovered in the 1960s the subsequent consolidation in the tar distilling industry gave Fred Smith a difficult choice; move his wife and five children to the West Midlands or take redundancy and look for another opportunity. My father stuck to his roots and joined an engineering and motor retail business based in his home town in 1968.

The company that Fred Smith eventually led for many years enjoyed a roller-coaster ride through the various global economic crises of the 1970s and 1980s. Father

David Davenport



was to follow. He put his book aside, pulled the blanket over him and went to sleep. And he snored very loudly, so loudly that I had to get up and walk up and down so that other passengers would not think it was me.

On another occasion was when we were in Argentina at the time of the return of Peron. The situation in Buenos Aires was quite tense so for safety we moved out of our hotel and stayed in the home of our representative, Michael Dean. The only room available which we had to share was the childrens’ room in which stood a large toy giraffe. When I got back from the bathroom Tim was in bed convulsed with laughter. I could not understand why until he pointed to the giraffe which he had dressed up in my pyjamas. This was the Chairman and Chief Executive of the distinguished house of Longman!

Tim cared passionately about Longman and the wider book trade. His contribution extended well beyond his role in Longman. He was a distinguished President of the Publishers Association from 1981 to 1983 and he served on many other working parties, and boards including the British Council and the British Library. He was deeply interested in the history of publishing and the booktrade, and he commissioned and oversaw Asa Briggs’ massive A History of Longmans which was published by the British Library in 2008. And in 2011 in the tradition of Thomas Norton Longman in 1921, he published privately a book of personal Longman memories with contributions from 17 Longman staff. A second volume is due shortly.

Tim was lucky to have the support and encouragement throughout of Gillian. Tim had to be away from home a lot but Gillian loyally always backed him and took pride in his achievements – and Tim knew that and was hugely comforted by it.

One of Tim’s final achievements was to secure the acquisition of Addison Wesley, a leading US educational publisher. This was to be the base upon which Pearson Education’s huge development in the US in the last 20 years was built. It is ironic that disagreement with Pearsons about the management structure of the combined Addison Wesley Longman caused Tim to retire from Longman in March 1990. It was a low time for Tim, and Longman, but as Francis Bennett will say later, Tim’s contribution to the booktrade was far from over. And Tim’s attachment to and interest in all his Longman friends continued until he died. I and many others were lucky to have had Tim as colleague, boss and above all friend.

The Memorial Address by Francis Bennett:

One afternoon, more than forty years ago, I turned up at the Bedford Square office of the Publishers Association as a very reluctant recruit to the Training Committee. I knew nothing about training, I didn’t know anyone on the Committee, and I had never met the chairman. I was completely unprepared for the dashing, powerful, charismatic figure with his remarkable intellectual energy, a mind that moved at the speed of light, and an infectious enthusiasm for the task in hand which quickly dissolved all my reluctance. Nor did I expect his succession of jokes and witticisms that reduced me to a near permanent state of laughter. This was my first meeting with Tim. I had never come across anyone like him before and I certainly never have since. It was the beginning of an invaluable friendship.

Tim believed profoundly in the value of publishing. He never had any doubts about the benefits of books and literacy and throughout his life he worked to put those beliefs into practice. You can see this

in the breadth of his non-executive roles and through his network of friendships, and the huge energy and commitment he brought to both. This is the unheralded side to Tim, the private influence behind the scenes, the things he did that never gained the headlines but which shaped careers and companies, where his experience, his deep understanding of the mechanisms of what we do brought untold benefits in so many different ways. His presence made things happen that might otherwise not have happened, and many of us – publishers, authors, readers – have gained immeasurably from what he did.

He served on the boards of a number of publishing companies, Yale University Press where he was Deputy Chairman for more than twenty-five years, Frances Lincoln, Jessica Kingsley, Edinburgh University Press, and Whittles Publishing, a small Scottish publishing company. He was the Independent Publishers Guild’s Honorary President from 1994 to 2007 and played a key role in the IPG’s development. He was an external member of the Finance Committee of Oxford University Press for

Tim Rix – Portrait by Benedict Rubbra

major works such as Gray’s Anatomy; the university division published in a wide range of subjects, with key ventures such as the Longman Annotated English Poets series continuing to the present day.

ELT remained what Rix once described as “the love of my life” and by 1979 approximately 25 per cent of Longman’s turnover came from this area. Key publications included Eckersley’s Essential English for Foreign Students, L. G. Alexander’s bestselling course New Concept English and his Longman English Grammar, a number of courses by Brian Abbs and the magisterial Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (a return to the lexicographical heritage of Longmans which had published Dr Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language in 1755) was published in 1978. It was the first of a range of dictionaries for learners of English.

Throughout the period of his stewardship, Rix practised a policy of open communication to the staff. He pioneered annual reports for staff on company performance, providing sales data but also highlighting key trading factors which might affect future performance from year to year both positively and negatively, particularly in volatile overseas markets. The company had grown to become the leading educational publisher, but features of his leadership were his very personal style of management, approachability, wit and modesty. The possessor of a phenomenal memory, he knew most staff by name and continued to keep in touch with many of them long after his retirement.

Publishing is a competitive industry, but he was a firm believer in co-operation in matters of common interest; he also encouraged staff to “put something back” through participation in industry committees and publishing training ventures. He was the elected president of the Publishers Association from 1981 to 1983, served on the boards of the British Library and the British Council, was chairman of Book Marketing from 1990 to 2003, chairman of the Book Trust from 1986 to 1988 and chairman of the Book Aid International charity from 1994 to 2006. He was appointed CBE in 1997.

The company extended its international reach through joint ventures in France, Germany and the Netherlands and grew through a number of acquisitions, in particular Pitman Publishing and Macdonald & Evans in 1985 and the US

science and technology publisher Addison-Wesley in 1988. After Rix’s retirement in 1990 he served on the boards of smaller publishing houses, including Edinburgh University Press, Yale University Press, Jessica Kingsley Publishers and Frances Lincoln.

Rix is survived by his wife, Gillian, and their son and daughter, and by a daughter from his first marriage.

Timothy Rix, CBE, publisher, was born on January 4, 1934. He died on November 8, 2012, aged 78

The Memorial Address by Michael Wymer, a Longman colleague:

Some time ago Tim and I were being driven to Loughborough to attend a Ladybird Board meeting. We were sitting in the back of the car and Tim as always was working on his papers. Suddenly he passed one to me. “Read that and let me know what you think.” I passed it back to him. “Sorry Tim. I can’t read in a car. It makes me sick”. “How pathetic” said Tim. “Do I have to do everything!” I decided I had better train myself to read in a car and I can now do so. It is one of the many things I have to be grateful to Tim for.

I knew Tim as a colleague, boss and friend for 54 years. I had been at Longmans for a short time before he joined aged 24 in 1958. Immediately it was clear that he was formidably bright, was very charismatic and that he had a great sense of humour. After a brief period of training Tim worked as an educational publisher dealing with overseas markets, initially the Caribbean and Latin America. In 1961 he was posted to Kuala Lumpur as publishing manager for the Far East, returning to the UK in 1963 to become head of the English Language Teaching division. His vision and leadership in both publishing and marketing led to a massive expansion in this sector of the business. ELT was probably Tim’s first love and he developed close ties with Louis Alexander and other distinguished ELT authors. It was Tim who was primarily responsible for giving Professor Randolph Quirk the backing he needed for his great survey of contemporary English and to form a team to produce the major Grammar of Contemporary English. Largely through ELT Tim developed a close relationship with the British Council and its work around the world. Later Tim was to serve on the Board of the British Council.

It was no surprise when in 1972 he became Joint Managing Director, and on the retirement of John Chapple in 1976, Chief

Executive and in 1984 also Chairman. During his time as Chairman and Chief Executive, he oversaw great expansion and change. He sought to grow the traditional Longman businesses in the UK and internationally, in education, ELT, medical publishing, and by developing new businesses to reduce the dependence on the huge but high risk business in Nigeria. This was done by the development of business in Law and Tax based on the acquisition of Oyez, business education through the acquisition of Pitman, other expansion in journals, and very importantly through development in North America which eventually led to the acquisition of Addison Wesley.

Under Tim’s leadership Longman was enormously successful. He built a team of committed managers, and oversaw a more professional approach to such matters as recruitment, training, performance appraisal, and ensured that all sectors of the business underwent regular strategic reviews.

For me and I think many others, Tim was fun to work with. He probably had a greater influence on my life than anybody outside my family. He was always encouraging; he gave one the confidence to have a go and not to be afraid of making mistakes. He had an amazing memory and knew who everybody was; he talked to them and made them feel he really cared, which he did. I remember walking into a crowded room at a sales conference where I was supposed to know everybody but realised that there would be a lot of people that he had not met. “Who is that girl over there?” he asked. My mind went blank. “It’s er er er” I muttered. “Isn’t it Sheila Waples” he said. “Yes, Tim, and you knew it the whole time!”

For Tim there were not enough lunches and dinners in the week. But a working meal with Tim, with or without visitors was invariably stimulating and fun. Tim travelled widely all over the world. He always worked hard, but he always found time to relax over a drink or meal with the many people he met. He enjoyed it and so did they. He built a colossal network of contacts with whom he never lost touch. I travelled with him a lot. Flying back from Australia after a fairly exhausting trip, after a meal and a drink or two, Tim got out his business papers and worked on them for a period. As in the car driving to Loughborough, he then passed them to me and said “Have a read of those and let me know what you think”. I had a go. He then got out his book, “A Book of Heroic Failures”. As he read he started to laugh and laugh, louder and louder. Concentration on his papers for me was impossible. But worse



He was born on 30 September 1935 in Purley in Surrey but at an early age moved to Yorkshire.

At his preparatory school when the headmaster’s wife was expecting a child, John wrote a poem to celebrate the birth. You may not think this unusual, but being John it was, as he wrote the verse in Latin.

Later he went to Radley College in 1949 and then straight from there to be a cadet at the RAF Technical College at Henlow.

From there he went to Cambridge. At Cambridge, apart from getting a 2nd Class Honours in Mechanical Sciences, he found time to row for his college and train as a navigator with the University Air Squadron. This influenced his interest in avionics. On his return to Henlow he worked for six months before managing maintenance of avionics for Shackleton aircraft at the RAF stations in Cornwall.

At 25 he was sent to look after aircraft communications on Christmas Island with Operation Grapple in the British Indian Ocean Territories involving nuclear testing. As if that was not enough he also had another drawback, the responsibilities for the RAF detachment in Honolulu. What a drawback...

From there he returned to Henlow for an 18 month postgraduate systems engineering course. His efforts resulted in a Master of Arts from St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge.

On 19th March 1966 he married his wife, Pat, who was also serving in the RAF. Two weeks later they moved to Fort Worth in Texas where he worked on Airborne Radar and navigation and attack systems for the F111 aircraft.

Accident prone, John caused consternation in Texas when walked into a plate glass door shattering it. The owners were scared they would be sued under the compensation culture that was common in the States. Not a mark on John. On another occasion out there he was working on his car which was jacked up, but something went wrong, causing the car to fall from the jacks, with John trapped underneath. Fortunately he was not injured but had the embarrassment of having to call on his neighbours to rescue him.

When leaving the RAF in the USA, as he reached the airport with his friends to see him off, he took his uniform cap and discarded into a rubbish bin. Shortly after the refuse collector or bin man seized the opportunity, retrieved the hat and was last seen walking off proudly wearing a RAF cap. Quick promotion.

1967 he returned to UK and lived with Pat’s parents for about a year. He was then working at the MoD on the fighter and bomber radar requirements for the next 20 years, including the attack and terrain-following radars for the Tornado aircraft.

Described as retiring, he also had a dry sense of humour and was one of the boys when in the company of the men only.

In 1973 he was due to attend the Defence Staff College. He was a Squadron Leader, but reviewed his options and took early retirement.

Pat and John then moved to Epsom until 1974 when the purchased the property in Itton. John then worked for British Aircraft Corporation, in their guided Weapons Division in Bristol until 1980.

From there he went to British Aerospace (Dynamics) Ltd. He was responsible for a Department working on the computerised guidance systems, and field testing of these, in particular the Rapier system. In 1991 the company decided to move to Stevenage. John was quite happy to accept early retirement again.

Always thinking, and often outside the box, he was very interested in saving money. He found a system of making the home domestic boiler more efficient. Tom Ogilvie, a former colleague from Bomber Command, who worked with John in Texas and at the MoD was so convinced he had an extra set of cables installed in his new home for this reason. They are still there and have never been completed. Tom does not know if it works or what it was. John never told or showed him.

Roofing: John and Pat decided to use fibreglass on the flat roof, and laid the base. Then they mixed the epoxy resin and hardener, spreading it evenly over the surface. They had not worked out the speed of the setting agent. Soon they were both stuck firmly to the roof. They had to step out of the footwear and leave barefooted. Then they had the problem of cutting the footwear free. John went back to the old-fashioned roofing felt.

As we all know John has suffered ill health over many years. He lost his wife Pat to cancer in 2005. He himself suffered from heart and renal problems as well as diabetes. He also underwent an operation for bowel cancer. When talking to him recently, having been told it had returned and was inoperable John was very upbeat saying “You have to look at it as they did their best. Even though not successful in removing it all, they were in that they have given me at least three extra years and maybe more”.

After retirement John joined Probus in 1997 and has served as Assistant Secretary, Secretary, Chairman and then President.

He was also a keen supporter of the Radley Foundation. He has made a point of leaving a share of his estate to Radley and other charities.

Many have spoken of John being quiet. Like any good married man, he let Pat do the talking for him. Later he himself became more chatty about all and nothing, but he never ever spoke about his work in the RAF or later with BAE. This change was before he lost Pat to cancer. There is in my mind no doubt that he missed her. Even now the cupboards are still full of her home-made preserves. At last they will be together again. He will suffer no more, but I hope that we all will remember him and be thankful we have known him. God bless you John.

Fea On 19.4.2010 Peter Sinclair Fea, (f, 1949-1953). He was in the lst XVs of 1951, 1952 and 1953. At one time he was on the advertising staff of the Sunday Times but he did not keep in touch and details of his later career are not known.

Foster On 14.4.2013 David Malcolm Foster, (g, 1949-1954). He was in the Gym Team in 1952 and 1953, won the Diving Cup in the same years and played in the lst XI Hockey Team of 1954. After Radley he joined the RAF and enjoyed a two-year exchange tour with the Royal Navy before joining the Air Fighting Development Squadron in 1961. He became a Flight-Lieutenant and left the RAF 1966. He served as Managing Director of Cine-Europe Ltd from 1971 to 1992, Managing Director of Cinevideo Ltd from 1975 to 1992 and Chief Executive of Cine Holdings from 1984. He loved Radley and was a regular at OR golf days.

Shakerley On 11.5.2013 Geoffrey Clive Howell Shakerley, (h, 1949-1953). Clive coxed the excellent 1953 Radley eight which reached the final of the Ladies’ Plate at Henley. He went up to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford and then worked with the Swire Group in Australia, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Japan for 22 years. On his return from Tokyo in 1981 he kept busy with the CLA, farming and local government. His brother, Gavin, was at Radley.

twelve years, he was on the Boards of the Soros Foundation’s Centre for Publishing Development in Budapest and of the Central European University Press and of the Sterling University’s Centre for Publishing Studies, he was Chairman of Edinburgh University Press, a member of the Stationers’ Livery company, he was a private investor in a number of small companies, among them Book Marketing Ltd of which he was also chairman, he believed strongly in the value of the publishing archive at Reading University and encouraged many of us to send our records there, he was a stalwart supporter of Boswells, and the Society of Bookmen. All of this demonstrates his tireless use of his energies to help others and to help the industry as a whole. If we add this list to everything else we have heard today, we are left with an extraordinary depth of influence that I believe is unmatched by anyone else of his generation and indeed may never be matched again. He was a truly protean figure. Small wonder, then, that in 1998 he was awarded a CBE for services to publishing.

Friendship for Tim was not a passive state. He fixed dates to get together well in advance, and when he met you it was always with the same deep interest in what you were doing and always, of course, with laughter and endless witticisms. Many of us in publishing owe him an enormous debt of thanks for the generosity of his friendship. He helped us, advised us, encouraged us, supported us, gave us opportunities, stimulated us, argued with us, never hiding his views if he thought we were wrong, or muddled in our thinking. He made demands on us because he expected us to meet his own high standards and we were always better for it. His influence, and the values he stood for, are shared by so many of us whose careers have prospered because of his continuing interest in and support for what we were doing. He was the most wonderful friend and colleague.

The last time I saw Tim was a few days before he died. We had our usual monthly lunch, this time at the Garrick. Tim was on terrific form. We discussed the state of the industry – that was how we always began – then how Yale University Press was doing, then onto politics and the state of the nation, the crisis at the BBC, then books we were reading - and then back to publishing again.

I walked away down Garrick Street, my mind buzzing from two wonderful hours in his company. Our lunch was, I said in my email to him, a hugely enjoyable

and stimulating occasion. It was always like that. I came away from every lunch, every conversation we had, filled with enthusiasm and ideas, and not just about publishing. Tim’s interest in the world, his restless curiosity, never dimmed for a moment which was why being with him was always so exciting.

Now the lunches have come to an end, the conversation has closed, the glass of Merlot is empty and won’t be refilled, the laughter is stilled. What we are all left with are his example of extraordinary service to the business he loved and memories, memories of those wonderful moments of excitement and pleasure in the company of a truly remarkable man who has enhanced and inspired the lives of so many countless others. How much we all owe him.

Stenhouse On 11.8.2013 Dr Jeremy Nicol Stenhouse, (g, 1946-1951). He was a Junior Scholar at Radley and a Prefect. He played in the lst XV of 1950. He went up to Caius College, Cambridge and then to the Oxford University Medical School. He was in General Practice in Faringdon, Oxfordshire from 1961 to 1993.

Denby On 22.2.2013 Alan Timothy Denby, (f, 1948-1953). Tim rowed in the superb Radley lst VIIIs of 1952 and 1953. The 1952 won the Princess Elizabeth

at Henley and the 1953 crew reached the final of the Ladies’ Plate. He went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge and rowed in the Cambridge University VIII of 1958. He was a Lloyd’s Broker from 1958 to 1965 then a farmer until 1988; He was a Director of Safetylite Ltd. (Photoluminescent Materials) from 1991.

Leftley On 7.5.2013 Dr Peter Leftley, (c, 1948-1952). After Radley he went to Westminster Hospital from 1952 to 1958, rowing in their 1st VIII and playing in their 1st XV. He became Resident Obstetric Officer, Cambridge in 1959. He was a General Medical Practitioner in Totton, Hampshire from 1960 until he retired on health grounds in 1992. He was a Primary Care Audit Facilitator for Hampshire from 1992. His brother, Roger, and his son, Tim, were at Radley. He asked that everyone remember him in their own way and that there be no address at his service.

Carter On 15/5/2013 John Gordon Carter, (e, 1949-1953).

The eulogy by Bryan Martin:

John Gordon Carter Chartered Engineer, Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

The 1953 Radley crew. Back row, left to right: John Petersen, Christopher Billson, Michael Holcroft, Robert Fegth, Tim Denby, Reg Talboys. Seated: Robin Raikes, The Revd. Bill Llewellyn Jones, John Shirley-Priest, Joe Bailey, Philip Chauncy. Front: Clive Shakerley



encourage the wildlife. He was planning his garden design up to the last.

He led the fight over the parking threats on the Common, campaigning strongly for months.

As always, Brian was the perfect gentleman, but his illness robbed him of achieving further objectives.

His sons Peter and Dominick have been stupendous towers of strength. Without them, he would not have survived. Sally has been extremely supportive as always and her contributions have been tremendous.

Together with his carers, Annecy and Alice, and the Ward Staff at St George’s and St Raphael’s, they gave Brian a better quality of life, for which we shall always be very grateful.

The great blessing is that he saw his grandchild Maria Louisa and knew of a sister to her, due in May.

We were fortunate to be able to see Brian on the day he died. He would have been very pleased to see his friends today as he was always appreciative of anyone caring.

From the tribute by John Petersen (1950):

I have been asked by Peter to say a few words about my memories of Brian at Radley, rowing and rugby and rabble-rousing perhaps!

My memories go back to 1950 when Brian arrived as a new boy in Llewellyn Jones’s Social (Radley speak for House). I too had been placed in the same social and when we met up it was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. He too was a wet-bob (another piece of Radley speak for rowers) not surprising when one learned of his father Lewis Tanner’s long association with Thames Rowing Club.

Another sprog (new boy) to our social was Chris Foster-Brown (who wanted to be with us today but illness prevents it). Brian, Chris and I then shared a study for the rest of our time at Radley. Chris would be the first to acknowledge that Brian was the intellectual in our study whilst we languished in the bottom sets. Brian was very much the philosopher, the thinker, he should have been an academic I always felt.

Brian, Chris and I then proceeded to play rugby in all the age groups until we reached the 1st XV under the captaincy of John Scott who went on to captain Oxford then play for England. John I am glad to say is here today. Brian then succeeded John in captaining the XV in 1954. Chris being a smaller dry-bob was a pugnacious scrum half whilst Brian and I packed down in the second row of the scrum. Brian was a hard, fierce and

noisy competitor both on the rugby field and on the river where we rowed together including in the last Radley VIII to compete in the Ladies’ Plate at Henley; me at 5 and Brian, behind me at 4, shouting orders and encouragement all the way up the course!

After Radley Brian went on to greater things on the river with Thames Rowing Club where he rowed in the Grand in 57-8 and in 1959 represented Great Britain in the European Championships at Mâcon. A number of those crews are here today, Ian Wilson, Bill Griffiths and Kit Nisbett’s widow, Valerie, and her sister who were all close to Brian.

I didn’t see much of Brian at that time being in the Army in Germany and Cyprus, except when on leave when I often found myself press-ganged by Brian into filling a spare seat in some Thames crew in the Head of the River or suchlike – army rugby training is not good for that!

But we still had time for some rabble-rousing. Chris F-B reminded me of an evening with Brian driving around Wimbledon, after a heavy night out, collecting pub signs with Chris, the smallest, on our shoulders removing the chosen sign. And it was Brian who drove us back in the following morning’s hangover to return them!

Brian also continued with his rugby at Richmond, this time with Bill Griffiths (I was at London Welsh at the time although we never played against one another,

thankfully.) They also played for the Public School Wanderers and even occasionally for the HAC when called upon by another OR, Leo Cooper. So even although Brian escaped National Service (he failed his medical because of flat feet of all things!) he still played for the HAC as Gunner Tanner.

Brian was passionate about certain things. He inherited his interest in cars from his father who ran the family firm Tanner Brothers in the Kings Road. His pride and joy was a splendid yellow Delage which I was never allowed to drive. Bill Griffiths tells of a night-time drive to Crewe and back after an outing on the river just to show off the splendid beast. They returned blue with cold because Brian insisted on the open top to enjoy the night air.

Brian then switched his affections to a new stripped-down Mini where he demonstrated its manoeuvrability and his driving skills by demonstrating to his passenger, me, his speciality, a 180 degree hand brake turn.

In 1960 Brian was best man at my wedding in Cardiff to Pauline after which I rather lost touch with Brian the bachelor. I know he shared a flat with Brian Radcliffe, another old friend here today, after which he met and married Ana Maria and went to live in Portugal where they had Peter and Dominick. Peter went on to Cambridge where he rowed for Selwyn about which I know Brian was very proud. One of the last favours Brian asked of me was to help Peter

Woolley On 11.7.2013 John Timothy Woolley, (a, 1949-1953).

From the Antiques Trade Gazette by Paul Viney, Chairman, Woolley & Wallis:

Tim Woolley was always destined to be a fine art auctioneer. His grandfather, John Turton Woolley, founded Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury in 1884 and was succeeded by Tim’s father, Stanley Woolley, who together with his brother Dick ran the company for many years.

After leaving Radley and doing his National Service, Tim had a brief stint at Henry Spencer’s of Retford (unpaid apart from a £10 Christmas bonus!) before joining Woolley & Wallis in 1955.

From those early days until his retirement his way of doing business never varied. It was based on integrity, courtesy, charm (which he had in abundance) and always putting the interests of the client first. His simple belief that if you really look after your clients the rest will follow proved a successful formula throughout his career.

His technical knowledge was prodigious and in over 40 years in the industry I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with such depth of knowledge covering so many disciplines as Tim. Yet he remained a man of great modesty who wore his considerable expertise lightly and he was always happy to pass on his knowledge, especially to those younger than him.

Tim had a high regard for the trade and once said to me “the trade are our bread and butter and often a good deal of the jam as well”; and from his earliest days he went out of his way to develop lifelong friendships with some of the most eminent dealers around. In silver there were Mrs How and Michael Welby; in paintings John Morton-

Morris; in jewellery the Nortons at S.J. Phillips and Roger Hinchliffe; in European ceramics Bob Williams and Errol Manners; and in furniture Martin Levy.

In similar vein he seldom regarded other auctioneers as competition but more as colleagues with whom to share the slings and arrows of our industry, and men such as Anthony Coleridge at Christie’s and Richard Barton at Dreweatts became close friends.

Tim was a superb auctioneer. Skill, speed and wit were his hallmarks and his interplay with those attending was at times a joy to behold. I recall on one occasion when selling a silver spoon in the form of a broomstick he said: “Ah, now here’s something for the mother-in-law.”

He loved getting to know new clients and when paddle bidding was first introduced some 15 years ago he was distinctly unenthusiastic. He understood it as an administrative necessity, but bemoaned the fact that, as with phone bidding, it created another barrier between the auctioneer and the client and prevented him from discovering the names of new buyers.

Tim spent over half a century carrying out insurance and probate valuations for clients and friends (and the former almost inevitably became the latter) throughout the country, and he had a prodigious memory of who he had met and what he had seen.

About six months ago I was asked to update an insurance valuation last done by Tim over 40 years ago. I mentioned this to him on the phone and there was a slight pause before he remarked: “Oh yes, I remember it. I think you’ll find there’s a rather nice marquetry longcase clock by Delander in the drawing room”. And he was right!

He leaves behind a formidable legacy, and any success we may have been fortunate enough to enjoy at Woolley & Wallis in recent years owes an enormous amount to the reputation that Tim built up for the company over many decades. We simply wouldn’t be where we are today without him.

Our deepest sympathy goes to Tim’s beloved wife Anne, his son Toby (currently head of clocks at Christie’s King Street), his daughter-in-law Helen and his two adored grandchildren, Kate and Oliver. Tim was very much his own man, a one-off, and we shall not see his like again. He was an enthusiast who loved his work and from the letters, phone calls and emails I have received since his death it is clear that there are many like me who consider themselves very fortunate indeed to have known and worked with him. Admired and respected by all, loved by many, he will not be forgotten.

Tanner On 1.1.2013 Brian Sydney Tanner, (e, 1950-1954).

From the tribute by his brother, Michael:

Brian was born in Southfields on 9th September 1936 and died peacefully after a long illness on 1st January 2013, aged 76.

He was the middle brother of three, me, Michael, being the eldest with James the youngest.

Our mother and father, Peggy and Lewis, lived in Chartfield Avenue, Putney and finally in Calonne Road, Wimbledon.

Brian had lived in Wimbledon Village in Chester Road overlooking Cannizaro Park for very many years. He used to attend this beautiful church and Sally and I went to a concert here with him.

Brian went to school at Willington in Putney during and after the War and then went to Radley where he excelled in rugby and rowing.

Brian was intellectual and the brainy one of us three. At Radley his nickname was the ‘Bishop’. During the wartime Blitz a memory of Brian falling over a rhododendron bush was when we were running to take shelter in the Anderson and thinking that he had been hit by a bomb! My mother followed with a plate of sandwiches!

Also after our father’s evacuation from Dunkirk and his unit’s reassembly in Northern Ireland, en-route we stayed for a short time at a farm at Moreton-in-Marsh. I remember Brian, then about 4 years old, losing his gumboot in the mud when retreating from a curious herd of heifers, subsequently, inadvertently letting some cows into the farmer’s orchard.

I also remember helping Brian to extract a tooth using the string and opening window technique. It didn’t work!

Brian and James were motor fanatics and there were of course, memories of Tanner Bros Motors Ltd best forgotten!

I recall one Christmas, Brian returning from Scotland with just a toothbrush and a haggis and his Delage vintage car on a train flatbed wagon.

He was our ‘best man’ when Sally and I got married, as I was his when Ana Maria and he were married. Brian has been a remarkable godfather to Judy, our eldest daughter.

With the passing of the years, amongst other achievements, he attained his Degree in Business Management at Cranfield College.

He was always a keen photographer and very fond of his garden and the birdlife, putting up nesting boxes and feeders to

150th Boat Club Reunion – Left to Right: Brian Tanner, John Petersen, John Maunsell-Thomas, Philip Chauncy, Clive Shakerley, John Hutchins and Brian Folley

Tim Woolley



In the early 1980s Christopher left the Army and decided to settle in Dorset to farm his family estate. At the same time he also worked as a consultant in the defence industry where he played a key role in the development of Challenger 2, the world’s leading tank.

In July 2013 he was taken gravely ill and passed away in Southampton General Hospital in October. He is survived by his son, Charles, and two granddaughters, Cara and Posie.

Slocock On 2.7.2011 Patrick Henry Slocock, (g, 1954-1959). At Radley he was a Prefect. After a year as a Primary School teacher at the Anglican Mission in Sarawak he went up to St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. From 1966 to 1967 he was Principal of Miri Secondary School, Sarawak and from 1968 to 1970 Principal of St. Mark’s Secondary School, Marudi, Sarawak. In 1971 he established Form Six at St. Michael’s School. After a Dip. Ed. at the University of Hong Kong he became Senior Lecturer (English and History) at De La Salle University, Manila and later an Assistant Professor. He was also an English teacher at the Philippine Maritime Institute, Manila. From 1976 to 1981 he was a lecturer at the Asian Institute of Management, Makati, Manila. From 1981 to 1993 he was sole proprietor of a tutorial school in Hong Kong. He retired in 1993 and lived in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. His father, A.A. Slocock and his brothers, N.A., D.M. and R.J. Slocock were at Radley and all gained places at Oxford.

Lloyd On 8.9.2012 (John) Richard Conway Lloyd, (b, 1955-1958). After Radley he became a stockjobber and then joined the Powell Duffryn Group in 1965. He was Managing Director of Powell Duffryn Oil from 1990 to 1997 and Managing Director of Powell Duffryn Shipping and Storage Ltd. from 1991 to 1999. He was a Member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. His father, W.R. Lloyd, was at Radley.

Gilbert On 8.4.2012 Jeffery Francis Gilbert, (f, 1956-1961). He won the Chemistry Prize in 1961 and was Hon. Sec. of the Golf Club in 1960 and 1961. After Radley he joined Lloyds and was a deputy underwriter with the Agnew Syndicate. Later he worked for Atrium plc. His brother, James, and his son, Nick, were at Radley.

Robertson On 13.12.2012 Christopher Alexander John Robertson, (e, 1958-1963). He went up to the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He obtained a private

pilot’s licence. He was a Quality Control Inspector with G.W. Padley (Poultry) and later a driving instructor. He died after an eight month battle with pancreatic cancer. His father and his brothers, Neville and Timothy, were at Radley.

Lewis On 13.8.2012 James Richard John Lewis, (h, 1960-1964). He died suddenly in Poland where he was staying for a few months. At Radley he won the Dean Henderson Junior Scripture Prize. He became a Travel Writer and was the Best Consumer Travel Writer in the Canadian Travel Awards of 1991. He was a Chairman and Trustee of WISE, a charity to unite the common interests and separate heritage of the Welsh, Irish, Scots and English and involved in Environment Research and Musical Events. In 2000 he organized the Sullivan Centenary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a chorus of over 500 D’Oyly Carte soloists from the original company. The event was compered by Richard Baker. He also had a property business. His brother, Nick, was at Radley.

Ashworth On 20.1.2013 Richard Anthony Charles Ashworth, (e, 1961-1965). At Radley he won the History and French Essay Prizes and went up to read History at Southampton University. He represented Thailand in the World Fireball Sailing Championships in 1971 and in the World 505 Sailing Championships in 1973. He represented Hong Kong in the World Dragon Sailing Championships in 1993. Between 1969 and 1979 he was with Jardine, Matheson & Co and from 1980 to 1990 with Hiram Walker/Allied Walker. From 1990 he was Regional Vice-President, Cognac Marketing with Camus Overseas.

Stott On 20.1.2013 Dr Richard Anthony Phillip Stott, (b, 1961-1966). He went up to St. Thomas’s Hospital and played cricket and hockey for the United Hospitals. He was captain of St. Thomas’s golf in 1969 and cricket in 1970. He became Senior Partner of a General Practice in Epsom. When he retired from medicine he became an artist.

Llewelyn On 8.12.2012 Justin Cather Llewelyn, (a, 1966-1971). He was in the lst XVs of 1969 and 1970 and a member of the Fencing Team.

From Harpers Wine & Spirit Trades Review:

Champagne Taittinger UK brand ambassador Justin Llewelyn, who played a

pivotal role in the development of the sales and image of the brand over 40 years, has died.

Llewelyn who had not been well for some time, passed away on December 8, just a few days before his 60th birthday, following a heart attack. Noted as being “always one to spread happiness and fun”, he attended the Hatch Mansfield Christmas party the night before he died. He had worked alongside the agency since 1998 developing the brand through the hotel and restaurant sector as well as the specialist retail sectors in the UK.

He had, until recently, been the Consul General for Great Britain for the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne and a dignitaire and member for the Conseil Chapitral, the governing body of the OCC. He conducted talks and tastings throughout the UK and was known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the world of Champagne.

Hatch Mansfield managing director Partick McGrath said: “Dear Justin was without doubt one of the kindest and most generous people that we will ever meet. He never had a bad word to say about anyone. Over the past 20 years he worked tirelessly to promote Taittinger in the hotel and restaurant industry and it is due to his hard work and total commitment that Taittinger is such a strong brand in this sector today. He will be sorely missed by all of us and we must remember all the happy times that we had with him.”

He added: “He was a man of many talents, with a wicked sense of humour, and I for one am going to miss him dreadfully”

Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, president of Champagne Taittinger, said: “Justin Llewelyn had a Champagne soul and attitude. Friendship, elegance, generosity and a natural sense of humour. As an ambassador of the French culinary traditions, he was a real epicurean and on top of it a marvellous Champagne compagnon, not only for the Taittinger house and family but also for the Champagne fraternity as general consul of the Ordre des Coteaux. Like his father he was also a great and passionate actor, but in the field of Champagne, for the best bubbles of our dreams and lives.”

Llewelyn, who lived in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, leaves behind his wife Claire, and daughters Rosamund and Charlotte. He was the son of Desmond Llewelyn, who played the legendary Q in 17 James Bond films. He was an admirer of all things Bond and enjoyed the fact that Taittinger Comtes de Champagne was 007’s choice in Casino Royale.

As well as his knowledge of Champagne, Justin was also one of the UK’s leading

get into Leander which, with Ian Wilson’s help, we were able to do.

Brian’s brother Michael has already spoken of Brian’s years after Radley, rowing and rugby but I shall always remember him as a very passionate individual committed and loyal friend. Who can ever forget his deep hearty laugh, a real philosopher who should have been an academic as I have said. Always shoulder to shoulder on the pitch or on the river – I am glad he was always on my side.

Goodbye, old friend.

Bois On 11.2.2013 Herbert Bois, (h, 1951-1955). He played in the lst XVs of 1955 and 1956, the lst Hockey XI and was a member of the Athletics Team. He joined Watney Mann in 1961 and later became Managing Director of Watney Mann Enterprises Ltd. He was Managing Director of Winton Laboratories Ltd. (Norden) and Winton Nordtech Ltd, a Director of IMA AB, Managing Director of IMA Revent AB, Director and Chairman of Wint Clean Air AB and Chairman and Managing Director of Ecotone Refill Sweden AB.

Skelley On 14.6.2011 Air Commodore Richard Patrick Skelley, (b, 1951-1955). After leaving Radley he went to RAF College, Cranwell and had a distinguished career with the RAF, serving as a jet and helicopter pilot, and going on to reach the rank of Air Commodore before completion of his service in 1993. He then acted as a Regional Commandant for the Air Training Corps before finally retiring in 2001. During his retirement he lived happily with his wife in North Somerset, playing golf, and spending time with his seven grand-children. He also became the Chairman of the Somerset branch of the SSAFA Forces Charity.

Hillard On 24.9.2012 David John Hillard, (e, 1953-1958). At Radley he was a Prefect and winner of the History Essay Prize. He took a Teachers Training Course and later went to King’s College, London. He was a schoolmaster at Stone House from 1958 to 1970 with a break for his degree at King’s. He was at Wellesley House from 1970. He was Co-author of the Fundamental Mathematics series. He was a volunteer at the CAB.

From Wellesley House:

David Hillard, who has been fighting a battle with cancer for some time now, has died peacefully at home. David retired at the end of the summer, having been one of the cornerstones of Wellesley over many, many years. He will be hugely missed by all.

Barne On 18.10.2012 Major Christopher Miles Barne, (d, 1954-1958). His son, Charlie, was at Radley and wrote the following:

Christopher Barne was born on 12 May 1941 in Cairo. His mother had single-handedly made her way across war-torn Europe to join her husband who was fighting the war as an officer in the Royal Dragoons. Christopher went to Sandroyd Prep School and then Radley where his diminutive stature and booming voice were used to great effect as a rowing cox.

On leaving Radley, Christopher went to Sandhurst, thereafter obtaining a regular commission in his chosen regiment, the Royals Dragoons, which shortly after became the Blues and Royals. For the next twenty years he served in Northern Ireland, Malaya and Germany rising to the rank of Major. In his spare time he often hunted with the South Dorset and in Leicestershire, as well as being a keen yachtsman.

A Rugby Reunion of the early 1950s at the OR Dinner. Scrum down with (back left to right) Briant Holland, Derrick Ashcroft (their coach), John Scott, with the second row (front) of John Petersen and Brian Tanner



equestrian commentators working at such well-known events as, Badminton, Blenheim, Burghley and the Gatcombe National Championships. He also acted regularly as FEI steward and was proud to officiate as a steward at the last three Olympics.

From Horse-Canada.com

Justin Llewelyn, an FEI Steward and the familiar and distinguished voice of horse trials in Great Britain, passed away at the weekend after a year of ill health. His health deteriorated on Saturday night (December 8th) and he died at his home in Lincolnshire. He was 59.

Born in London to Celtic parents – his father was Welsh and his mother Irish – Justin was an FEI Steward, and was also Steward General for all disciplines in Great Britain for many years. In his role as FEI Steward, he was in charge of the mixed zone – where athletes are interviewed by the media post-competition – at the last three Olympic Games in Athens, Hong Kong and London. He was already seriously ill when he was working in Greenwich, but was determined not to miss the chance of

officiating at his home Games.Justin’s day job was as brand ambassador

at the champagne house, Taittinger, and he was the British Consul General for the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne, the official fraternity of the champenoise. He was well known as a knowledgeable and authoritative commentator at all the major British horse trials, including Badminton, Burghley, Bramham, Blenheim, Gatcombe and Chatsworth, and was never happier than when he was in the commentary box with his regular colleagues Mike Tucker, Giles Rowsell and Richard Clapham.

Justin’s father was the much-loved actor, Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in the James Bond films for more than 30 years. Justin went to the same school – Radley College – as his famous father, and was a leading light in the school’s stage productions, but in later life he often said that commentating was the nearest he got to realising his theatrical ambitions.

“We have to stay calm and reasoned and not get over-excited, which can be quite a skill,” he said in a media interview in 2008. “But my father was an actor and commentating is the nearest I get to my own theatrical career. I think I’ve taken all the

acting knack from my father and transferred it to the commentary box.”

He was a generous sponsor of equestrian sport through his contacts in the champagne industry. His last major appearance on the international competition scene was at Burghley last September.

“Justin was a larger than life character in every way,” FEI Eventing & Olympic Director Catrin Norinder said. “He was such a familiar face, and a familiar voice, on the Eventing circuit and was incredibly generous, both with his time and with sponsorship. The Eventing scene in Britain and internationally won’t be the same without him, and nor will the mixed zones at future Olympic Games. He will be much missed.”

Justin Llewelyn is survived by his wife Claire, and daughters Charlotte and Rosamund. Claire shares Justin’s love of Eventing, and gave a home to the retired top event horses Shear H20, Shear L’Eau and Ringwood Cockatoo and rode them in Dressage competitions.

White On 13.9.2012 Richard Ellis White, (g, 1966-1970). He went up to Reading University and was in the farming and haulage business. His brother, Peter, was at Radley.

Snodgrass On 7.10.2012 Nicholas George Atkin Snodgrass, (e, 1967-1971). He played some games for the 1st XI in 1971 but did not keep in touch with the College after he had left.

Horner On 24.11.2012 Richard Bristowe Horner, (f, 1974-1978). After Radley he went to R.M.A.Sandhurst and later to the Oxford Brookes Business School where he graduated with a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He became Strategy Manager for Dial Contracts Ltd and then Managing Director of Grays Inn Consulting. His father, David Horner, two uncles and several cousins were at Radley. Two of his nephews are currently at Radley.

About eight years ago he was diagnosed with a heart defect which grew progressively worse, and this was found to be a genetic defect, Fabrese disease, new to science and inherited through the mother’s gene. The final outcome after many months in hospital was a heart pump fitted at Harefield Hospital in August – again very new and he was one of the first patients in the world to be fitted with this device which is about the size of an AA battery. Unfortunately he was really too weak for it to succeed. He fought to the end with his family alongside him.

Honorary Members

Correction: in the 2012 Old Radleian, we made an error in the date in Richard Beauchamp’s obituary. The entry ought to have been:

Beauchamp On 1.10.2011 Richard P.L. Beauchamp, Bursar of Radley from 1991 to 2008.

✳

Balme. Maurice Balme (Don at Radley 1951)

From the Daily Telegraph

Maurice Balme, who has died aged 87, was the brother of a war hero who in 1941 salvaged an Enigma machine from a sinking German submarine; he himself was to win fame in the rather less life-and-death struggle for the survival of Classics as a significant subject in school and university curricula.

When Oxford and Cambridge dropped Latin as a requirement for entry in 1960, thereby jeopardising the future of Classics, Balme, a master at Harrow School, was a key figure among those who rose to the challenge of maintaining the subject’s standing. He and Mark Warman, a Harrow colleague, duly produced a book entitled Aestimanda (“Up for discussion”), which compiled passages from works by Greek and Latin authors and presented them as material for literary debate. The publication of Aestimanda has been the main reason why the appreciation of classical literature, rarely a priority until then, has become a feature of everyday classroom teaching.

At the time the book was published, most schools were still following Victorian teaching methods which treated ancient literature as a corpus of work to be analysed linguistically, leaving many students floundering in a mind-numbing morass of gerundives and deponent verbs. But for the Aestimanda experiment to work, teaching methods also had to change, and here, too, Balme was a major influence.

In the late Sixties he sat on the advisory panel for the Cambridge Latin Course, which broke new ground by teaching Latin through reading stories in the language (often in well-illustrated textbooks that featured the adventures of Caecilius and his family).

In those early days, grammar was supposed more or less to take care of itself, but Balme was not entirely happy with this approach. Working out his own principles

Maurice Balme

of language teaching, he embarked on Athenaze (“To Athens”), a beginners’ Greek course. This, too, was a reading course with a lively narrative, vividly conveying life in the fifth century BC, its young hero graduating from back-breaking agricultural labour, through a miraculous cure for his temporary blindness by the god of healing, to involvement in Athenian wartime politics. But it was underpinned by a strong grammatical backbone. Later published by the Oxford University Press, Athenaze is now the world’s bestselling Greek course.

Two Latin readers also appeared, one based on Petronius, the other on Apuleius, both still in print. The latter was a collaboration with James Morwood, another Harrow colleague with whom most of Balme’s later books were written. The major product of this partnership was The Oxford Latin Course, like the Cambridge Course based on reading but, like Athenaze, insisting on the learning of grammar.

Balme wrote delightfully fluent Latin prose as well as having the talent to fling off an ode in the style of Horace, and the narrative of the course, based around the life of the poet, is characterised by a fine empathetic imagination: Students enter the world of the late Roman republic and early empire, and are plunged into wars, dazzling poetry and perennially relevant human problems.

Maurice George Balme was born on October 22 1925. After leaving Marlborough, he did wartime service with

the Royal Marines, breaking Japanese codes at Bletchley Park. In 1941 his brother, David Balme, a sub-lieutenant on Bulldog, led a boarding party on to the captured German submarine U-110, retrieving an Enigma machine and codebook. Some historians have claimed that the feat helped turn the tide of the war.

After the conflict, Maurice went up to Trinity College, Oxford, where he won a First in Classical Mods. He taught briefly at Radley and Charterhouse before moving on to Harrow in 1952. There he remained until his retirement 33 years later.

As a teacher Balme was innovative, lively and committed, though his tongue could have a sharp edge. After a stint as Head of Classics, he became a housemaster, numbering among his parents Diana Rigg and Joanna Lumley. His wife Sarah, a talented painter , proved a splendid chatelaine, her forthright opinions adding as much spice to their dinner parties as her excellent cuisine.

Balme was a gallant rather than virtuoso cellist; he edited unpublished writings of the 17th-century diarist John Aubrey; and he translated the Greek comic playwright Menander for Oxford World’s Classics. When he and his wife retired to Yorkshire, he was able to give full vent to his passion for gardening.

Sarah Balme died on November 29. Her husband died eight days later. They are survived by a daughter and two sons.

Maurice Balme, born October 22 1925, died December 7 2012

Justin Llewelyn

Kit H

ough

ton



Ferrar Harry On 19.2.2013 aged 97. Common Room – Head of Modern Languages 1969-1980

From The Radleian 1980:

PROFESSEUR, PHILOSOPHE

The white Citroen GS Pallas glides silently up the front drive: M. le professeur est arrivé. It seems entirely suitable that Pallas Athene, goddess of wisdom, should give protection to M. le professeur’s chariot; perhaps less wholly fitting that it should be white. For Harry Ferrar is very far from fulfilling Barry Webb’s description in his Listener article on the BBC/TV series, Radley: a View from Inside, of schoolmasters as being “a mixture of arrogance and naivety”. If white be the colour of innocence and unworldliness, then who is less unworldly than H.F., on occasions a risqué raconteur, a man matured by his wartime Burmese days in the Forgotten Fourteenth Army, and developed into a Grand Vin by regular visits to post-war Europe? Good Francophile that he is, he knows his onions. And who, pace Athene, is unowlishly wiser, less naif, than the sympathetic and witty teacher of French and German, sometime head of department, sometime imperturbable master in charge of examinations, at Radley for the past eleven years (after service as Second Master at King’s School, Worcester), commuting from Park Town and returning each evening to continue his work on the Oxford Concise French Dictionary, due to appear this very autumn? Samuel Johnson described the compiler of a dictionary (and he should know) as a harmless drudge. The description seems unapt for H.F., and it is hard to think of someone so sprightly turning any task into drudgery. Harmless? Well, if Radley’s motto fits, he is certainly as harmless as a dove and as wise as a serpent in combining modesty with scholarship. It is given to few schoolmasters to edit an Oxford Dictionary; and his A French Reference Grammar has long been a standard textbook in schools and universities.

One can think of few people one would rather, as they say, go into the jungle – or be stranded on a desert island – with, not simply because he knows how to cope with jungles (and desert islands might not be all that different) and would know how to survive, but because he would be such a restful and reassuring companion

with an inexhaustible fund of fun. In the jungle his common sense would carry one through; on the desert island the pace of life would not preclude the slow savouring of the appropriate philosophical speculation or the ribald story told to temper the grosser aspects of la condition humaine. And his choice of discs would be interesting.

The white Citroen GS Pallas glides silently down the front drive: M. le

Harry Ferrar

professeur est parti. Partir – c’est mourir un peu. But it is au revoir and not adieu. We expect to catch glimpses of you, cher Harri, cycling about Oxford in your beret (with imaginary if not real onions on your handlebars) for many years to come. And, let us hope, frequently gliding silently up the front drive in the white Citroen to visit us.

P.D.L.W.

David Flint

From one of his pupils:

He was a terrific teacher – far too clever for us. He used to slip jokes in to his teaching and immediately say “Well, never mind” if you didn’t get it. The next couple of minutes would be spent furiously backtracking to see what the joke was. They were complicated and witty and I only got about a quarter of them. I will forever treasure the hours spent in the Wilson Library with him, discussing Racine and Molière one to one; in my memories of these sessions, these would be in front of a fire – did they have a fire in the Library? Maybe you don’t know but he edited one of the French dictionaries.

A very good guy. He used to have these awful shiny suits; he said he would buy a suit and then wear it continuously until it finally gave up the ghost...

Flint On 19.4.2013 after suffering from dementia for several years, David Reginald Flint, a Don at Radley from 1962 to 1999 and Tutor of D Social from 1971 to 1978.

From The Radleian 1999

David Flint has retired after 37 years. In Radley’s 152 years of existence only four dons have taught for longer, ‘Kitty’ Wharton, Jo’ Eason, Theo Cocks and Tony Gardiner. As a good schoolmaster David involved himself in much more than his work in the classroom, but it is proper that this should be remembered first. For every term of those 37 years he taught Physics, for three years as Head of Department. Each lesson was well-prepared, organised and professional, and after everyone of them he kept a detailed record in an exercise book. To keep up with developments in his subject he spent a term at York University on a refresher course, and twice went abroad on a year’s exchange, first to Peterhouse in what was then Rhodesia and later to Phillips Academy in the United States. He retained his keenness for the subject to the end, often pestering his Head of Department to buy exotic new pieces of equipment - and this was only partly because he was so adept at breaking them. Soon after his arrival at Radley he also taught Chemistry. In an experiment he set light to a lump of phosphorous, and the resultant smoke bomb caused the evacuation of a floor at the Labs. Subsequently he confined himself to Physics.

David has had a wonderful record as a games master. He was involved in a major game at Radley in every term of his 37 years. After Bristol University he spent his teacher training year at Downing, Cambridge, where

he won his oar in Mays Week. He coached on the river in his first year at Radley, then converted to cricket in which, together with hockey and rugby, he continued to immerse himself. He played as a centre for Oxford (City) Rugby Club for a number of seasons, and, as a former flanker, he coached the Radley Ist XV pack. When asked recently why, at his time of life, he still devoted so much time and effort to organising, coaching, umpiring and refereeing, day in day out, he said simply “I just love it.”

He joined the Corps early on in the halcyon days of Major Peter Way and R.S.M. Howe, and enjoyed the comradeship and humour of his colleagues, as they appreciated his company and mischievous humour. He succeeded Peter Stuart as Tutor of D Social and carried on the friendly tradition of the Social, earning the boys’ respect for his integrity and for the trouble he took in sorting out the problems of individuals. It was while he was a Tutor that he married Deborah, a graduate of St. Andrew’s, who was teaching History at St. Mary’s, Calne, which she continued to do at Radley until she started a family.

In Wyndham Milligan’s last year as Warden, David, together with Peter LeRoy, started a Christian Forum, a weekly talk and discussion on a particular Bible theme or Christian concern. Each Tuesday a striking poster appeared on the Today Board, inviting boys to 2 Chestnut Avenue for a talk given by an outside speaker. The interest this aroused can be judged by the Christian Forum farewell party for David and Deborah which attracted over 70 Old Radleians, among them a number of ordained ministers from a wide range of Christian positions; heartwarming evidence of their appreciation of a man of integrity and strength of character, in whose kindness, gentleness of approach and friendliness, as well as his inability to speak ill of anyone, they recognised true Christian virtues.

Throughout their 25 years of married life Deborah has given tremendous support to David, not least in Christian Forum. They will be much missed at Radley, but have retired not far away at Garsford near Wantage. We wish them and their sons Toby and Edward, Old Radleians both, all the best for the future.

Tony Money

105

Sport

t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3104 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

Obituaries

Parsons on 7.5.2013, aged 96, Jim Parsons, Member of Council 1969-1996. He was on the General Purposes Committee from 1981 and a Common Room representative for many years.

Richard Morgan, Warden 1991-2000, writes:

One of the chapters yet to be written in the history of Radley concerns the contribution made to the College by individual Council members. This will not be easy, for Council minutes rarely refer to individuals, so the evidence is more likely to come from the memoirs of those involved. The Council are the Trustees who have special responsibility for two key areas of governance – continuity and money. Radley has been more than fortunate in recent years in having Council members of stature, who have given time and wisdom to making decisions central to the future of the school. None contributed more in the last fifty years than Jim Parsons, who died this May aged 96.

Jim was persuaded to join the council by his old friend Jock Burnet, with whom he had served in the Air Ministry during the War. He joined in 1969, the year after Dennis Silk became Warden and left in 1996, a period during which Radley moved from genteel shabbiness to relative prosperity. Jim had begun his career as a schoolmaster but after war service, he became an outstanding

Alby Shale (2004) batted for 26 hours in July at the Oval to break the World Record (subject to confirmation) and raise money for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation - more details in the News & Notes section.

Sport

Played 15, Won 4, Lost 8, Drawn 3, Cancelled or abandoned 4

The review I have been told by younger and more sensible members of the committee not to rant, so I won’t. But the results this year were not good, despite a late season rally that saved our stats from a 75% loss ratio. It is only human nature to ask why, and what can be done to improve. The underlying stats beg more questions: why did we score more than 200 only twice? Is it a coincidence that the only two five-fers were in two of our rare wins? Was this the first season ever without a single Rangers century? I believe that the answers lie buried somewhere in the mystery of these last questions: is it right that only 4 Rangers played more than 4 of the 16 games (Henson, Hollis, Dearden

& Wright), and that only one of them is (biologically – ignore the birth certificate) under 40?; and that we used a total of 84 players?; and why was it so hard for match managers to raise sides?

I know that the following observations reveal me as a cricketer from another age (cue rolled, here-comes-his-rant-after-all eyes), but I believe that the answer to all of these questions is that there are not enough members of the club who look at their diaries in April and count down the days before they can say to themselves “Hooray! Hooray! The month of May! Cricket every weekend begins today!” In other words, I believe that we would have more successful - and therefore enjoyable - seasons if more cricketers tried to find some sort of form by playing more regularly. It would be unfair to suggest

that these problems are exclusive to the Rangers, since we had three sides cancel on us. But there would be a lot less angst if more Rangers examined their diaries and applied proactively for as many games as possible, rather than waiting to be cajoled into sporadic outings by increasingly desperate emails to all hands.

We will be holding a Committee meeting in the off-season to discuss these issues and others that will mean that there are changes ahead. One is the fixture list: we have steadily increased its length, and the number of home games now exceeds the groundstaff ’s capabilities, so some will have to go. We will be able to play some of them at the opposition’s ground, but we may need to cease playing some of the wandering clubs. A shorter fixture list may be no bad thing, given the difficulty of

industrialist and main board director of GKN, Chairman of Spirax Sarco and a director of many other companies. As Personnel Director at GKN, Jim showed such skill that he steered the company through those horribly difficult years of labour relations during the 1960s, 70s and 80s with only one stoppage. At the same time, he also founded Business Schools, based on the Harvard Business School, which was a significant development for the country. Yet he still had the time to give to Radley his very special qualities for nearly thirty years.

Jim arrived early for meetings, not only because he relished driving Aston Martins and XK Jaguars. He was one of the Council representatives with special responsibility for looking after the Common Room. This meant that he, and another Council member, were available to see any Common Room member before the Council meetings to hear anything that concerned them. In other institutions, this could have been a recipe for disaster but such were Jim’s skill and confidentiality, there was never a hint of embarrassment for Council or Warden from such insider information.

Some distinguished men and women find it difficult to apply their professional skills in other areas of life. They are too specialised. Jim saw life in the whole and over the years he made decisions on the

Rangers

And

rew

Cow

ie/A

FP/G

etty

Imag

es

need to have the very highest quality of teaching, the sale and buying of land, the transformation of the living standards of the boys, the creation of numerous new buildings and the appointment of Wardens and Bursars. He was a team player, perhaps not surprisingly as he played rugger for England, he was an excellent listener, he never settled for second best and he had outstanding judgement about people

I know that Dennis Silk and I felt not merely the strength and support of the Governing Body but also that they were our friends. It was a true partnership. Jim Parsons was at the heart of that Council, he had a deep understanding of what was best for Radley and he enriched all our lives.

Footnote from The Radleian 1994

Mr. Jim Parsons, member of the College Council, was invited to Paris as a guest of the French Government on November 11th 1994 to attend the celebrations commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the award of the Freedom of Paris to Winston Churchill. Mr. Parsons is one of the two surviving members of the R.A.F. Rugby XV which on that day in 1944 played the French Armed Forces XV at Parc des Princes. The R.A.F. won 26-6 but both French tries were scored by a future Prime Minister, Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

Improvements to Shop

106 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3 107

Sport Sport

t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3

by Spoof. On the second afternoon the YGs were set, by accident rather than by design, a target of only 135 with a leisurely 40 overs to complete the task. Despite a slow start of only 20 runs in 40 minutes, this still looked easily achievable. But the run rate crept up to 5 an over due to possibly the most accurate spell of bowling of the season. One of our Stoic imports went for only 18 from 10, and our own Lanky Metronome, mercifully de-gloved, bowled the last 16 overs unchanged. The YGs needed 10 off the last 2 overs with 6 wickets in hand and an O’Kelly at the crease. Still odds-on to win. Wrighty came charging in for his last over and split the webbing between his fingers stopping a Grimshaw Grenade going for overthrows. His captain rushed up, full of concern. “It’s not your bowling hand is it? Well, finish your over clutching my handkerchief so

Rangers Results

Radley College W Radley 190 Rangers 191-3 J Wright 5-43

Romany D Romany 235-4 Rangers 211-9 North 54

MCC L MCC 240-6 Rangers 136 Waddell 74, 6 ducks

Jesters L Jesters 218 Rangers 126

Bradfield Waifs Cancelled

St Edward’s Martyrs L Teddies 147 Rangers 138

Sherborne Pilgrims Cancelled

Old Wellingtonians L Radley 198-9 OWs 199-8

Old Amplefordians L Ampleforth 240 Rangers 183 Odam-Smith 51

Oxford Downs D Downs 186 Rangers 144-8 J Wright 62, H Wright 4-46

Borderers Cancelled

Gussets W Gussets 195-8 Rangers 196-5 MacDowel 58, Sewell 74, Ely 3-34

Marlborough Blues L Rangers 156 Blues 158-1

Shopwyke Strollers Abandoned Strollers 176 Rangers 128-4 C Goldsmith 3-28

I Zingari L IZ 209-9 Rangers 119 J Wright 3-59

The Apricots L Apricots 242-6 Rangers 224 C Langton 50

Gloucester Gypsies W Gypsies 133 Rangers 134-5 McLaren 6-30

Yorkshire Gents D Rangers 177 & 149 YGs 191-9 & 133-5 JH Johnson 69, T Freyne 55, G Grace 3-28

Hampshire Hogs W Hogs 186 Rangers 190-4 R Henson 3-14, Grimshaw 3-36, J Wright 75*

there was familiarity in the threat of a pair of O’Kellys. We fielded a mixed handful of Virgins, including James Fawcett in his first game for the Rangers for over twenty years. Sadly he damaged a buttock receiving some gentle throw-downs, so we must wait another year before he can remind us of his silky skills. The squad was full of all rounders, allowing the employment of eleven bowlers in the first innings and three ‘keepers, including that wrongest of cricketing sights, a tall stopper, when 6’5” Johnny Wright donned the gloves.

The first three innings were uneventful, other than 50s from John Henry Johnson and Theo Freyne, and the customary implosion of our second innings for the same old reasons: lashings of Tetleys, Hi! Ho! and a batting order upended

raising sides. The other significant agenda item will be succession planning over the next season or two for the post of Hon Sec, which your humble scribe cannot hold forever. I wish the President and Committee success in their search.

A few highlighted match reports: Our First Victory Against the Radley 1st XI for Many Years Charlie Langton writes: I won the toss and bowled. Cave and Wright opened up and both bowled very well. We were playing leg side wides so there were a few of those... Wright picked up a few early wickets and we had them 5-2. They limped onto about 90 for 7 after 29 at lunch. The fielding was generally pretty sharp and we took all our catches and could have had about five run out with direct hits or if Dearden had managed to get the stumps! Jos and I bowled in tandem for 20 overs to get the rate up (I bowled off three yards attempting off-spin... I even managed a maiden which I think is my first for ten years!) We bowled them out for 190 off 48. Wright finished with 5.

Yorke-Long and Wakefield opened up and both looked good until a dodgy lbw for Marcus. Wads batted well and we were ticking along until Wakers was out. The run rate dropped and forced pressure on Wads who holed out at mid-on. After Catchpole fell over and dislocated his shoulder he retired hurt. Jos and I were in at 90 for 3 and finished off the chase with 8 overs to spare.

[To be fair, after losing some amazing players from recent years this was not a vintage school XI. Nonetheless, it is a noteworthy event since I cannot remember the last Rangers victory.]

The Last Match We Didn’t Lose for Two Months On a three-sweater April day Romany were captained by Rangers veteran Charlie Pritchard (who only ever plays against us these days). An early wicket taken by Will Langton proved to be the last enjoyed by the Rangers for 100 runs, owing to a partnership that featured Bertie Cornett, another of the 4 Radleians playing for the opposition. But runs proved as slow to be gathered as wickets, and honours were even at lunch: 111-3 off an impressive 35 overs. Veteran Geordie and long-time tormentor of Rangers

bowlers Billy Johnson injected some life into the innings with a sparkling 80* and Romany eventually declared at 235-4 off (possibly 3 too many?) 57overs, leaving us 45 overs to get ‘em.

We started badly but quickly: 45-3 off 8 overs, with 13 runs shared between the top three (Pratt on debut, Moynan and McLaren). North led the fight back with 54, helped by Heinrich (a quick-fire 3), Shuttleworth (21), Turner (30), Wilson (16) and J Henson (28). Had we lost one or two fewer wickets, or been allowed a couple more overs, we would have probably sneaked it. But after a couple of overs the last pair - Langton (22* & R Henson (1*) shut up shop when the run rate hit 10 an over, and the match ended in an honourable-enough draw with the Rangers at 211-9.

Our First-Round Exit from the Cricketer Cup Team: J Dalrymple (Capt), Waddell, Marriott, West, Duffell, North, B Hutton, S Dalrymple, Buchanan, Cave, Wallis. We went to Wellington with a strong side and high hopes. The conditions were not ideal for batting - a wicket that resembled Jackdaw and persistent drizzle that made boundaries a rare commodity. Nonetheless, we were happy enough with 198-9, which consisted of 20s and 30s by Marriott, Hutton, West and Buchanan, fortified by the gift of 24 wides. Unfortunately our sniggering was premature, as we proved to be been even more generous in donating them 28 in return. However, our major undoing was in fact their pinch-hitting World Champion rackets player, who scored 72 out of their first 98 runs. Once he was out in the 20th over we regained some control, and only one other batsman scored more than 10. But the damage had been done, as by then they needed to jog along at little more than 3 an over. It is to the credit of the team’s spirit and JD’s leadership that we managed to restrict them to a margin of victory of two wickets and two balls. Hopefully we can build on this when we take on Whitgift next year.

The CM-J Trophy One of our longest-standing fixtures has been against the Marlborough Blues. For many years we played away, until the trips to the Savernake hospital with bleeding batsmen prompted a switch to the more

predictable bounce of Bigside. When Cricket’s Best Friend sadly passed away there was an enthusiastic reaction to the suggestion that we commemorate the great man, an Old Malburian who had sent his two sons to Radley, by playing for a trophy.

All was arranged: RM-J was lured out of retirement one last time to captain the Rangers; his mother joined us for the day to present the magnificent trophy, funded jointly by the Radleian Society and the Malburian Society, whose chairman and president were on hand as players for some lunchtime speechifying; the sun shone, and Adam prepared an absolute shirtfront.

The only thing lacking was any demonstration of cricketing ability by the Rangers. We won the toss and batted, but three of our top order, all past Captains, lasted four balls between them. Harry Catchpole (56) and Rupert Marriage (34) saved some face, but our total of 156 felt about 50% short of par. And so it proved: they knocked them off without losing a wicket.

The captain’s analysis offered some consolation: “Our batting in the first innings was unacceptable. The wicket was very good for batting, we had a great opportunity and we let ourselves down. We have plenty of experience in our top seven and we have seen already in this series guys can score runs against this attack. Our shot selection was poor and we did not have the discipline England had.” Why the consolation? Because this is what was said by Michael Clarke after his Australians suffered a 347 run defeat at Lords. We were not the only side to have a shocker that day.

The Yorkshire Tour I am delighted to report that, after a 2 year break due to logistical issues, we returned North to do battle in Gods Own County, determined to help the YGs celebrate their 150th anniversary. The weather forecast was terrible for the Saturday, but we somehow stayed on for the whole day, albeit not entirely drily, which meant that we could play enough cricket to set up another thrilling finish.

We found a much-changed opposition - no Reynolds, Baggy or Billy, and Dick Brewster now a retired spectator - but

you don’t spray the umpire with blood. Welcome to Yorkshire!” “But I was born here!”, he squeaked, then gritted his teeth, avoided the eye of his anxious parents on the boundary, and charged in again to concede only 3 runs from the over. Good lad!

But 7 off the last still seemed a cinch. However, despite flailing wildly at each delivery, all the YGs could manage was 4, amazingly, even despite a dropped catch. It was the perfect finish, the pavilion packed with spectators in the evening sun and I swear you could hear the Great Escape playing somewhere in the background. Yet again, after 2 days of combat and after-hours fraternisation, this great fixture delivered a finale worthy of its reputation. Who said draws are boring?

108 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3 109

Sport Sport


Autumn Meeting at Royal St. George’s Golf Club, October 2012

Scratch Cup Winner Will Bailey 74

Runner-Up Ian Haszlakiewicz 77

Handicap Winner Ian Haszlakiewicz 39 points

Runner-Up Philip Godden 37 points

Veterans Winner Will Bailey 37 points

(over 55) Runner-Up Tony Pearce-Smith 27 points

Captain’s Prize Foursomes: James Rogers Memorial Trophy

Winners Andrew Dow & Ian Haszlakiewicz 46 points

Runners-Up Callum Macqueen & Charlie Oakes 35 points

The Birkmyre Salver

2012 Winner Ian Haszlakiewicz

Spring Meeting at Denham Golf Club April 2013

Scratch Cup Winner Tom Etridge 70

Runner-Up Bobby Molavi 74

Handicap Winner Tom Etridge 37 points (on last 9 holes)

Runner-Up Bobby Molavi 37

Veterans (over 55) Winner Will Bailey 35 points (on last 9 holes)

Runner-Up Simon McCowen 35 points

Bruce Cup (under 35) Winner Andrew Dow 32 points

Past Captains Prize Nick Wright 33 points

Foursomes Winners Ian Haszlakiewicz & Lorne Smith 36 points

Robin Turner Matchplay Trophy at The Berkshire

Final Will Bailey beat Nick Wright 2/1

Halford Hewitt

Radley beat King’s Canterbury (3-2), St Bees (4½-½) and Uppingham (4½-½) but lost to the eventual winners, Eton, (3½-1½).

Bernard Darwin

Radley beat Cifton and Harrow but lost to the eventual winners, Tonbridge

Full reports of the Halford Hewitt and the Bernard Darwin can be found at www.radley.org.uk/ORGolf.aspx

Golf – Annual Results

The Serpents 2013

Serpents Rugby

Officers and CommitteeHon. Secretary Patrick McMeekin [email protected] 07796 448334Chairman Tom Gibson [email protected] 07795 810798Club Captain Jamie Brownlee [email protected] 07769 726628Fixtures Secretary Adam Creed [email protected] 07793 274061Social Secretary Charles Pountney [email protected] 07736 775502

There were two main highlights last season, the first and most encouraging being the Serpents versus Students match on Bigside at the beginning of December. Their victory over us another display of strength from the bloodline that this club is depending on, we’re expecting it to bear some fruit this season! Unbelievably, the second was our result in the league which by April, turned into something of a great escape.

Without wanting to celebrate mediocrity, we were cruising in mid-table until once again the dreaded ski seasons began. Unfortunately when forfeiting a match, the other team don’t just claim the points, you also get docked the same amount (rather like when you’re cruising on a 2:1 at university and your department think it’s sensible to schedule a field trip to Tenerife... I digress). The long and short of it was, by February the cat was toying with the pigeons and we needed to win half of our remaining fixtures to avoid relegation. Luckily, despite losing one we should have won (Raynes Park), we went on to win some we could have lost (Mitcham, London Media and Old Haileyburians). This eventually left us level on points with others in the drop zone but safe on the basis of an extra win. We had achieved the absolute bare minimum to maintain our

status in Surrey 3 which, for many, was a cause for celebration!

Avid readers of the Old Radleian may have noted from years past, that this is where we really excel. So, as it was a Lions year and with many heading out to Australia for the latter half of the tour, our social was scheduled for 10am at The Fest on the Fulham Road, a Germanic bastardisation run by antipodeans, in front of the 1st Test. Furthermore, prior to our last match at the Richmond Athletic Ground, they very kindly informed us that rates for next season were to more or less double. Having become somewhat accustomed to not finding processed dog food at the bottom of every ruck, the committee decided that a fundraiser would be appropriate – hence The Catalina Wine Mixer was born! A BYO BBQ on Parsons Green for all Serpents, past and present, and their friends. At the time of writing, LBHF somehow signed off on a temporary events licence, thus allowing us up to 499

people and momentum on Facebook has been growing alarmingly... Finger crossed!

SponsorsThankfully, although our kit has just completed its second season there’s still life in it yet! That being said, pitch hire is also expensive and we’re always keen to hear from people looking for an upstanding group of individuals to accurately portray and enhance the culture of their company/brand through the medium of shirt sponsorship. Please contact the Hon. Sec. – your help is appreciated, as of course is the continued support from the Radleian Society.

International TicketsAs an RFU sanctioned club, we do have access to these on an allocation basis. Should anyone be looking for match tickets well in advance (6 months!), we can potentially help. Please contact the Hon. Sec. for more details.

Results22/09 H Guildfordians W: 18-1029/09 H Old Caterhamians L: 29-3106/10 A Old Amplefordians L: 58-020/10 A Mitcham W: 3-1227/10 H Raynes Park W: 24-2903/11 A London Media L: 27-1424/11 H Economicals L: 52-302/12 OR Students L: 12-2708/12 A Reigate L: 25-715/12 H Old Haileyburians L: 0-2905/01 A Old Caterhamians HWO12/01 H Old Amplefordians L: 15-2826/01 H Mitcham W: 18-1609/02 A Raynes Park L: 10-316/02 H London Media W: 32-2602/03 A Economicals L: 63-2009/03 H Reigate W: 41-2423/03 A Old Haileyburians W: 20-706/04 A Guildfordians L: 50-7

2012-13 Season OverviewSurrey 3 – Position – 8th (P18, W7, L11)

2012-2013 Player of the seasonJames Pond-Jones

110 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3 111

Sport Sport


SailingOfficers of the Old Radleian Sailing Association:

Alexis Dogilewski (Commodore)[email protected]

Nigel Anderson (Hon. Secretary) [email protected]

Simon Palmer (Hon. Treasurer)[email protected]

Arrow TrophyAt Cowes in October, the Arrow Trophy (top right) was won by Rugby, the Sherborne Salver by Charterhouse and the Winchester Target by Ampleforth. The Radley crew of Julian Facer (1982), Nigel Anderson (1987), Simon Palmer (1987), Richard Cross (1972), Henry Warner (1999), Richard Pull (1996), Ross Culbertson (2003) and Ben Sears (2007) won the Radley Shaker. The racing was run by Billie Bowles and Alexis Dogilewski (1958).

Ham

o Th

orny

crof

t ww

w.ya

cht-p

hoto

s.co.

uk

The 2012/2013 season was one of adjustment for the Old Radleian Football Club with Nick Sydney-Smith stepping down as captain after two superb years in charge, replaced by Ben Gibson and Tom Maxwell, and many of our more senior

Football

Roge

r Sha

w

members, who have been stalwarts of the squad for many years, unavailable for large parts of the season.

Thankfully we were able to blood some new players fresh from university into the

squad to take their places but found we didn’t always have time to gel together as a squad resulting at times in somewhat inconsistent performances. There were however enough excellent results to prove that, when at full strength, the team is good enough to challenge any other in the league. The best example of this being the first away game of the season against the Old Bradfieldians, where a full-strength Radley side scored six fine goals (whilst also conceding three just to keep things interesting) in a very encouraging performance of counter-attacking football.

We then went one better in the first round of the Arthur Dunn Cup, winning 7-2 against the Old Eastbournians before being put to the sword by a very strong Premier Division outfit, the Old Foresters, in the second round.

We finished the season in 7th place in the league after a winter of cancellations and rearrangements due to the snow rather put us off our early stride. With a number of new players already brought in, and hopefully more to come from the latest crop of ORs to leave university, there is certainly hope that this coming season will be a huge success.

Tom Maxwell

If anyone wants to get involved, please contact Tom Maxwell at [email protected] or Ben Gibson at [email protected]

Round the Island RaceThe ORSA crew of ten with Julian Facer (1982) as skipper, Richard Saker (1953) as tactician with Simon Palmer (1987), Richard Cross (1972), Ross Culbertson (2003) and guests, took part in the Round the Island Race in early June (bottom right). Their time was about 7 hours and they came tenth in their class of 40. The perhaps unsurprising news was that Sir Ben Ainslie had beaten ORSA (and everyone else) with a race record of 2 hours and 52 minutes. Alexis Dogilewski (1958), the Commodore, provided essential refreshments and advice on dry land.

112 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3 113

Sport Sport


BigB

lade

Pho

togr

aphy

BigB

lade

Pho

togr

aphyHenley Competitors

The Mariners Four of Charlie Shaw, Arthur Sants, Oscar Richards and Rufus Eadie beat Gloucester Rowing Club in the first round but lost to Mitsubishi by one length on the Thursday.

Ollie Wynne-Griffith rowed for Molesey Boat Club and reached the semi-finals of the Thames Challenge Cup.

Simon Charles rowed for Agecroft and reached the quarter finals of the Wyfold Challenge Cup.

Mariners Rowing

The Mariners Four (above and right) competes in the first round of the Wyfolds at Henley

BigB

lade

Pho

togr

aphy

Mariners Charitable TrustDuring the last year the Radley Mariners Charitable Trust has given grants to: Radley College Boat Club to help fund rowing trips and training camps; Maidenhead Rowing Club to help buy a double; Hinksey Sculling School to assist equipment funding; Marlow Rowing Club to help purchase a double and/or coxless four.

MastersJeremy Picton-Turbervill (1966) won gold at the British Masters Rowing

Championships at Nottingham in May in the Masters F (over 60) IM3 Single Sculls.

Henley TicketsDonald worked his usual magic with the Henley tickets given by Mariners and he was able to provide the Radley parents and supporters with everything they needed. His efforts have resulted in another £4,000 being raised for the Harry Mahon Cancer Research Trust. The money is used to purchase state of the art machines for the diagnosis of, and research into, cancer at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

114 t h e o l d r a d l e i a n 2 0 1 3 115

Sport Sport


Richard Morgan, former Warden, speaks about DonaldAbove: Henry Morris, President of the Radley Mariners, opens the party at Henley in honour of Donald LeggetBelow: Donald reacts and (far right) is presented with a blade by Tom George, the Captain of Boats


News & Notes News & Notes

The Revd. Robert Lloyd (1933) 80 years since I came to Radley. Amazing! The college was just on half its present age. Getting about slowly, but not too bad for my years. Keep going!

Roy Jones (1935) I am a poppy seller and am tracing my family history using a reader’s ticket for the National Archives, Kew.

Captain Edmund Carlisle (1936) 91. Lost a leg, otherwise fit. Would welcome visitors.

David Humphreys (1936) I still travel including overseas, fitness allowing. Although I cannot stand in choruses for long periods I still sing especially in workshops and now as ‘congregation’ in church.

The Revd. Brian Harley (1938) On Trinity Sunday 2014 I will be celebrating sixty years as an ordained priest of the Church of God in the Anglican tradition. I was ordained in Bristol Cathedral on Trinity Sunday 1954.

David Colman (1942) Greta and I celebrated our Diamond Wedding anniversary in May 2013.

Peter Blencowe (1943) Aged 83, and with 10 grandchildren, I feel very fortunate to remain in good health, and so able to enjoy an active life. Our 52nd wedding anniversary shortly coming up.

Peter Sterwin (1943) I have retired from consultancy but continue as a trustee Director of the Shell Pensioners Benevolent Association, together with other voluntary activity. Still continue to follow the horses that follow the horses.

John Bowen-Jones (1944) Enjoying Spanish heat and cold – taxpayer-resident status. Like old Fordson Tractor – all go on T.V.O. [Tractor Vaporising Oil].

Bob Ely (1944) Our Carers Centre has a new manager who is striving to raise the funds we no longer get from OCC. I went to the Salzburg Easter Festival... for the last time. (Rattle has now taken the Berlin Philharmonic to Baden Baden!) Shirley has two wonderful live-in carers and is

News & NotesThese are published in year order with an occasional alteration to accommodate pictures

now wheel-chair bound. We have bought a special car to take the wheel-chair! I’ve had less time at Lord’s this year. Our daughter in Oz has been over three times to see us. We still do lots of social things!

Sam Curtis (1945) Having retired in 2005 after 55 years as a Land Agent managing country estates, and also as treasurer of the British Driving Society in 2012 after more than 39 years, I am now supposed to be a ‘Man of Leisure’ but I am still looking for time to be leisurely. Still breeding Welsh ponies and enjoy accompanying

my wife when she judges Welsh ponies at horse shows which has included judging in the USA, Canada, and Australia.

John Berney-Ficklin (1946) Enjoying retirement with my wife in the beautiful Southern California Coachella Valley city of Palm Desert where there is sunshine for almost 360 days of the year. Our daughter and son, together with granddaughter and grandson, also live in the valley. Continue to do occasional consulting on large grinding mills and gearless drives for the mining industry.

Tony Heath (1950) Held my second solo exhibition of my paintings and drawings this time in the Bankside Gallery by Tate Modern in London in early May 2013

Dmitri Kasterine (1945) has given a splendid selection of his photographs to be displayed in the new building on the Old Gym site

John Clements (1946) 2012 was not a good year; My Jo’s health deteriorated progressively and she died on the 24th November, twelve days short of our 58th anniversary. Our daughters have been wonderful, and in March I visited the youngest in Durban – we spent 4 days at Ndumo Game Reserve in north Natal, on the Mozambique border – a beautifully unspoilt and remote sanctuary with a quiet and unhurried atmosphere; just what was needed. I consider myself very fortunate in having good health.

Tim Voelcker (1946) Organising Bicentenary International Symposium on Broke of HMS Shannon and the War of 1812, in Ipswich, October 12/13.

Alastair Dunlop (1947) In my 80th year. Travel widely in UK and Europe. Eldest granddaughter is 22 and reading Medicine. The Open Golf Championship was held at my club, Muirfield, where I’ve been a member for over 58 years.

Andrew Kerr (1947) Still associated with Glastonbury Festival. Have written autobiography Intolerably Hip (Frontier Publishing).

Robin Phipps (1948) Finally given up Yacht Racing (except with long-suffering friends as crew) after 55 years. Still involved in Race Officering etc. Otherwise more time spent at our house on banks of Charente, Cognac.

John Rogers (1948) It is sixty years since I left Radley. The cruising season is underway – to the Baltic before the Mediterranean and Florence. The year is busy, generally. I am Worshipful Master for the fourth time. The choir is very busy and church fundraising intensive. We really enjoyed the Pre-1958 Reunion at Radley.

John Scott (1948) Engaged in a battle since August 2010 with ME/CFS.

Tony Walton (1948) A monograph on my work (and me) has recently been published by the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology). Information about acquiring this 128 page book is available from USITT – 800 938 7488 or online at www.usitt.org and at selected bookstores in the US such as the Drama Bookstore, NYC.

George Freer (1949) Daughter in London Marathon – just over 4 hours. Grandson plays ice hockey for New Zealand Ice Blacks – Pilot instructor presently on contract in Adelaide. Son-in-law is trainer for Ice Blacks.

Charles James (1949) Had to give up driving (blackouts!) so back to cycling again, while friends drive the Bentley (and me!) to rallies and events. Currently working on a course in Ecclesiastical Latin for priests and students.

Brian Roper (1949) Had a great 4 weeks in Western Australia in January, average temperature 44 degrees – it was hot.

Peter & Sue Van Oss (1949) We have put our house on the market and are hoping to find a house in the Alton/Alresford area of Hampshire. Peter had a new knee at the beginning of June.

Mark Newcombe (1950) My son JCD (Charlie) Newcombe is an Anglican Vicar in Brussels, married Emma in 2011 and they have twin daughters (born February 2012). I also have twin grandsons, aged 14, currently at Pangbourne College.

David Rouse (1950) Struggling to make ends meet. I should have ‘networked’!

Rod de Courcy-Ireland (1951) I thought I had finished restoring my 1970 Mercedes 280 SL Sports Car, but have just had it judged at a Concours d’Elegance event at Mosport, and now have quite a long list of deficiencies!

Air Commodoree The Hon Sir Timothy Elworthy (1951) lives in South Oxfordshire, New Zealand and London – contemporaries welcome.

David Armitage (1954) Currently only working 2 days per week. I have recently become a Volunteer Appropriate Adult at Aylesbury and Wycombe Police Stations. This is fascinating work.

Dm

itri K

Jast

erin

e



is due in mid-2014. If you have difficulty finding a copy and would like one, please email: [email protected]

David Gardiner (1955) We now have five grandchildren with potential for more. Despite family pressures we are happy to remain living in rural Herefordshire.

Martin Peters (1955) Appointed by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, Grand Master, to be provincial Grand Master for the Masonic Province of Berkshire and installed in September 2011.

Alastair Warrington (1955) Very enjoyable OR reunion in June – met people I had not seen for fifty years. When can we have another one? The school looks pretty good!

Tim Willcocks (1955) Kids all happily married off at last. The past three years have seen me on the Annapurna Circuit (Nepal) and Tonariro Crossing (NZ). Damn knees now telling me to take gentle walks on the Malvern hills, and to seek my life partner more locally! (Do we only have one?)

Robin Bridge (1956) Now retired. Moved from Hong Kong to Philippines.

Mike Stanger (1956) Quipu TV’s work in its first two years of trading as a live, multi-camera, online broadcaster has covered cricket, indoor and outdoor hockey, netball, swimming, tennis and cheerleading (!) international events, reaching 150,000 viewers in 125 countries... The power of the internet!

William Theed (1956) Won the Duke of Cornwall Award for Forestry.

Dr John Armstrong (1958) I often give talks about wind and tidal energy, and would be happy to do one at Radley.

Andrew Collins (1958) Much enjoyed meeting a different group of ORs at the recent Liverymen’s dinner. My idea that life is quieter (or easier) with partial retirement is nonsense, but it is invigorating to be involved in matters outside the rigours of legal practice.

Richard Dyott (1958) I have now fully retired but seem to have more to do than ever before.

Jonathan Henderson (1958) I recently had a biography: The Wizard – The Life of Stanley Matthews published by Yellow Jersey Press.

Stephen Williams (1958) At Maryland Shakespeare we are exploring the original practices of Shakespeare’s Company (including very little rehearsal). We recently mounted The Merchant of Venice, Comedy of Errors and Richard III, in 3 days, with the same company of actors, and about 12 hours of rehearsal per play. We are forging a partnership with Goucher College in Towson, Maryland to further this work.

Andrew Burnett (1959) We continue to split our time between Bath and rural Buckinghamshire (under threat from HS2). Parish/Community activities and providing consultancy on Excel keep me busy.

Rod Chamberlain (1959) Now enjoying two small bank boards (one Sharia-Compliant, one dealing exclusively with the social economy) as well as the ESU (who gave four of our family gap-year exchange scholarships to the States) and my own, much beloved, career guidance business.

John Barrett (1954) After many years at the AA, latterly as Business Relations Director, I retired at the time of the takeover by Centrica in 2000. Started Barrett Business Relations in 2000 and by 2006 became involved in the Takeover and Private Equity world. We came 2nd in the acquisition of the AA from Centrica. With Carlyle Group we managed the takeover/acquisition of the RAC from Aviva in 2011.

Alexander Hamilton (1954) 2012 brought a year of festivities to London, and, for me, not only a bankside view of the Jubilee River Pageant, but also a summer of Olympic volunteering at the Olympic Park – it will be hard to match that in 2013.

Kenn Back (1955) I am co-translator of the Argentine Antarctic Book Cuatro años en las islas orcadas del sur [Four years in the South Orkney Islands] by José Moneta – first published 1939 in Buenos Aires. Moneta first wintered in Antarctica in 1923, only 12 years after Captain Scott & co. The book is not particularly gripping or well-written (nor, if I may say so, well translated)! However, it is of geopolitical interest to the UK. The English edition

Peter Batty (1962) His wife, Linda, writes: We left Panama (Peter shown on top of the lock excavation in Panama) on 1st May and moved to our “retirement” home in Corpus Christi, Texas. But after unpacking suitcases and organizing details for home and car, we drove to Maryland where Peter started working again for his former company Sheladia. He’ll work full time just one more year, until he’s 65, after then just part time for the company, only choosing projects to his tastes! He hopes to do most of the work out of our Texas home. So, other than the initial several months in Maryland, as well as periodic trips back and forth to Maryland during the year, we will be based in Texas.

Paul Fickling (1959) Olympic Radley: I was a volunteer fleet driver. It was enormous fun whizzing around London in brand new BMWs in the Olympic Lanes. Park Lane to the Olympic Park in about 30 minutes!

Michael Roberts (1960) I have had the privilege of being the Master of the Girdlers Company for 2012-2013. I have hosted a dinner at Girdlers Hall for Old Radleians who are Liverymen of the City of London.

Professor Andrew Hughes Hallett (1961) Rankings do not stop at Wimbledon. I am now ranked in the top 0.7% of economists world-wide and am due to deliver the 12th annual lecture on the ‘State of the European Economy’ at the College of Europe in Bruges (October 2013).

Patrick Steele (1961) Now all the children have flown the coop I am travelling more for pleasure and spending time with Margaret and our four (soon to be five) grandchildren. Working from home keeps me out of trouble, while hiking, canoeing (off to the Yukon on an eight day trip), skiing and sailing help keep me fit.

Lorne Smith (1962) edits the independent golf website www.FineGolf.co.uk and has launched an App, ‘Challenging Courses’, that helps golfers discover the finest 200 courses in Great Britain and Ireland. Golf Monthly featured an article on FineGolf recently. Held an inaugural www.finegolf.co.uk day at Temple G.C. in September with Donald Steel, the golf architect of the Radley Golf Course, involved.

William Close (1963) Always pleased to welcome ORs to Bath! Kevin O’Riordan (1962-1967) was here recently.

Mark Hayter (1963) I was ordained Deacon at Hereford Cathedral in July 2012. I am now serving my curacy in the St Weonards Benefice and am to be priested on September 28th in the Cathedral. I am now fully retired from teaching.

Nicholas Yool (1963) As a member of an elderly and poor touring team I was surprised to find myself playing against the excellent Leprechauns at Merrion Cricket Club, Dublin. It was even more of a surprise when Roland Budd, who was playing for the opposition, recognised my OR sweater and donned one of his own.

Dr Christopher Bochmann (1964) Reelected for a second 4-year term as Dean of the School of the Arts of Évora University.

Simon North (1964) Last chemo for Lymphoma still working. Working full-time. Daughter, Emma, got married in September last year. Son, William, rowing in two man boat in Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in December this year – 3000 miles. Very Proud Dad!

Professor Sir Michael Richards (1964) has been appointed the new Chief Inspector of Hospitals. The job specifications: the Chief Inspector will be responsible for assessing and judging how well hospitals put the quality of care and the interests of patients at the heart of everything that they do. He will provide the public with assurance that services are safe, effective, caring, well led and responsive to people’s needs. He will oversee a national team of expert hospital inspectors that will carry out targeted inspections in response to quality concerns and regional teams of inspectors

Jeremy Metcalfe (1953) I am now retired but continue to fly my own homebuilt aircraft, Sheila, a kit plane from Australia that I put together. I am pleased to say that I have lost a stone in weight since the pic was taken but I don’t seem to be able to lay my hands on a more recent version. I am now 74 but still fly regularly from my strip behind my house. I call it Bonnington International Airport!

who will undertake routine inspections on a regular basis of all hospitals. He will also lead the development of a ratings system for NHS acute hospitals and mental health trusts.

John Bridcut (1965) was appointed MVO (a Member of the Royal Victorian Order) in the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Honours. He is currently working on a feature-length documentary for the centenary of Benjamin Britten, to be shown on BBC Four later this year. Earlier this year he produced Colin Davis in His Own Words, a tribute to the British conductor who died in April.

William Colbatch-Clark (1965) In addition to my land agency practice, I am also running our family farm in Herefordshire. We are enjoying living in Powys.

Donald Graham (1965) Retired over four years ago. Busy now planting trees, driving our old tractor and going on holiday on the motorbike.



Jonathan Hoar (1965) Retired and living in Dorset. Still enjoying horseracing for which I achieved a yearning while at Radley!

Jeremy Picton-Turbervill (1966) I won gold at the British Masters Rowing Championships at Nottingham on the 19th May in a single scull at Masters F (over 60) IM3.

Terry Blake (1967) Working with Duncan Crole as UK Partner in Lemon LLC, a US location-based marketing platform.

Simon Blackett (1968) Midlife crisis – just bought a Morgan.

Henry Curteis (1968) Married 2012 to Shane Milay in Manila. Lived there 2005-2012. Now back in UK. Two sons, Charles (5) and Sean (1). Writing blog www.the-tap.blogspot.com. In touch with John Collett, Adam Williams, Orlando Kimber, Charles Rogers – met playing tennis in Manila as partners!

The Ven. Julian Henderson (1968) is to be Bishop of Blackburn. On 10th October he will be consecrated as a Bishop by the Archbishop of York at a ceremony at York Minster, before his formal inauguration as Bishop of Blackburn at Blackburn Cathedral on 19th October.

Dr Johnny Birks (1969) Enjoying Ecological Consultancy – still rowing and sculling with Upton Rowing Club.

Richard Huntingford (1969) Enjoying the ‘plural’ phase of my career with a variety of Board roles in the Media and Marketing and Charitable Sectors.

Simon Robinson (1969) is Prime Warden 2013/2014 of The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.

Christopher Sandford (1970) My book on the English Summer of 1914 will be published in April 2014, and a book on the political partnership of Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy should follow in Autumn 2014.

Julian Haywood Smith (1971) We run a small bed & breakfast from our converted barn in Suffolk. Visitors to Woodbridge looking to stay overnight can find us on www.woodbridge66.co.uk. ORs always welcome!

Chris Parkhouse (1973) I have been invited to join the board of the Institute of International Management Practice and have also been invited to act as an Honorary Commander of the US Air Force 423 Communication Squadron.

Jonathan Waterer (1973) Still running a B&B establishment and horse training business in Devon. In August 2010 I trained 20 shire horses to pull the waggon which carried the re-created Titanic anchor for the Channel 4 documentary. The horses pulled 19.5 tonnes. Looking for more film work.

Tim Lambert (1974) Centaurs built its first brand new, state-of-the-art, artificial Rhino-turf rugby pitch in Singapore in 2012, a few months ahead of the Saracens venture! Playing really well. Good also

William Greig (1969) William and Gill Greig were Highly Commended in their Ballroom and Latin Gold Medal Tests examined by the International Dance Teachers’ Association (IDTA). They are now preparing for their next medals.

to have eldest son, Charlie (OR), score the first 3 (hat-trick) tries on the pitch. Catching up with Tom Bartlett (1974) in Sydney for the Lions 3rd Test and later Chris Martin (1974), Mark Woodward (1975) and Des Lenahan (1974), all F Social, in England late July – been too long for these reunions!

Roger Churchill (1975) Acquired Katco Limited in January 2013.

Charles Tyler (1975) and Marc Eschauzier (1979) established Miraviva Travel in 2012 and are now offering tailor-made experiences in Latin America, www.miravivatravel.com

Guy Arnold (1977) Founded ‘Investors in Feedback’ www.investorsinfeedback.com a free feedback gathering service for all organisations and feedback quality assurance marque.

Mark Cadbury (1977) Sponsored team for Flannels 4 Heroes run by Tim Brocklehurst (1979), called ‘Cadbury Cavaliers’. Three boys, now 18, 17 and 15, Jack going to Loughborough in October, Harry at Millfield and Rory at King’s Bruton.

Sir James Dingemans (1977) Appointed a High Court Judge on 10 June 2013, and knighted on 5 July 2013.

Harry Bicket (1974) Harry Bicket (1974) conducted Giulio Caesare at the Metropolitan Opera during April and May in New York. Harry has been appointed chief conductor of Santa Fe Opera starting in October and he will conduct a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio in the summer of 2014. Harry became artistic director of the English Concert in 2007, and continues in that position.

Mark Foster-Brown (1977) Looking forward to Thomas joining A social in September. Still putting on the occasional discotheque with Mark Soundy (1977).

Robin Saker (1977) Jill, our son Jasper (6) and I live in the idyllic Hunter Valley (a fabulous wine making region in NSW) on small acreage with a border collie called Panda and various horses/ponies. Jasper goes to the local school conveniently 500m away. Jill works 3 days in Sydney for Westpac Bank. For the past 5 years, I have worked for myself as a contract Trainer/HR consultant. I am currently contracted in safety training with the mines and do some work in adult further education up to Diploma level. Jill and I enjoy lots of hobbies, amongst the obvious wine/food etc. we both regularly compete in various long distance running events in Australia and overseas.

Angus Watson (1977) Taking a short sabbatical after 5 years with Centrica. Sailing round Ireland with Laura, Eloise (2) and bump! Survive that, survive anything. Otherwise living in Winchester.

Frank Albert (1976) married Jennifer Stock in September 2012 at Evergreen Lake House in Colorado. 50th Birthday Skydive above. Currently creating FundraisingFrank.com, making fundraising principles affordable to those seeking to transform the world.

The Right Hon Lord Poltimore (1971) I have worked in the Art world for over 30 years but recently I was offered a new career, albeit for a few days, filming Danny Boyle’s movie Trance starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson. I was of course typecast and played an auctioneer. Hollywood has not called, so I don’t think I can give up my day job but the experience was fascinating and one I will always remember.

The Revd. Dr Michael Lloyd (1971) has been appointed Principal of Wycliffe Hall in Oxford.

Jeremy Atkins (1972) Having run a market research agency for the last fourteen years, I have now set up a nautical publishing company to keep me amused alongside the research company. Called Fernhurst Books Ltd, we have bought Wiley Nautical’s list of some 180 titles. Life is now very busy!

Robbie Stevens (1972) Successfully cycled Land’s End to John O’Groats in July 2012 raising, between 26 of us, £95,000 for Alzheimer’s Society. Teamed up with Swedish partner ‘Say it’ to produce audio and video content for interactive English Language text books for Scandinavian market.



Sean Henry (1978) held an exhibition of his sculptures at the Glyndebourne Opera House during the 2013 Festival.

Edward Way (1977) Appointed Head at Carrdus Prep School – owned by Tudor Hall. Started September 2012. Sam, my son, started in G social at the same time.

Jeremy Billinge (1979) Currently training for my Commercial Pilots Licence – 14 exams to study for and take, 30 years after doing my A levels!

Angus Chilvers (1979) I am enjoying being a Radley parent and reconnecting with the school, although the life of a wet bob is considerably tougher than we dry bobs had it!

Dr Tom Shakespeare (1979) In June 2013 Tom presented four essays on A Point of View on BBC Radio 4.

Edward Bowsher (1980) I am still working as a financial journalist in London. I am engaged to Lucy Nutt.

Robert Gourlay (1980) Still living in Oxon and am in touch with a number of ORs. Recently became Chairman of my Polo Club. Enjoying watching my children compete in various different sports.

Ed Jones (1980) I run a commerical property development company in London, live in Hampshire and have one son in C Social and another starting in September. Most of my spare time is spent watching them play rugby, football, cricket etc!

Sir Charlie Mayfield (1980) was awarded a knighthood in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Andrew Eliot (1981) The business has now expanded into Asia, with the opening of an office in Singapore this year.

Benjamin Philips (1981) In process of setting up hospitality business at family home. Been trading 2 years so still in early stages. Challenging times with much to occupy one!

Hugh Riley (1981) is a Chartered Surveyor living near Thame, Oxfordshire, with two sons, Harry and George, and long suffering wife, Louise.

James Turner (1981) Appointed Queen’s Counsel this year.

Charlie Mackesy (1976) held an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and drawings at Gallery 27 in Cork Street in September 2012 – www.charliemackesy.com



Jens Baylis (1984) was assistant editor for Great Expectations, directed by Mike Newell and starring Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Holliday Grainger

Mark Rowand (1982) and his family visited Christian Albert (1982) in Charleston when they toured the East Coast of the United States.

James Pearce (1983) Some of you will already know that, after 19 years at the BBC, I have decided to step down from my job and leave at the end of the year. It has been the hardest decision of my life, but I know that it’s the right time for a change. 2012 will never be repeated. I could not be departing on a greater high. 2013 is a chance for new adventures, for me and for many others who have dedicated so much of their recent lives to London 2012. It’s not in my nature to coast along. Stepping down from my job and going freelance will bring me the freedom to try new challenges. It’s slightly scary, but also very exciting.I’m still planning to be a familiar face/voice on the BBC. Being freelance will enable me to work on a much wider variety of outlets. Hopefully there will also be some interesting opportunities away from the BBC. Rumour has it that there is a life outside the BBC, so after 19 years it’s probably about time that I had a look for myself.It’s been a privilege to work for the BBC in such a high profile role. I’m well aware that the job of BBC Sports Correspondent is one of the best jobs in the world. I have loved every minute of it.This is not the end - it’s a new beginning. I look forward to discussing fresh opportunities with many of you over the coming months.

Steve Baldwin (1982) Our first child, Benjamin, arrived in August 2012 and Lucy and I are delighted. Both of us continue to work in the city, though trying to spend more time up in Shropshire.

Julian Facer (1982) Commanding 7 Regiment Army Air Corps at Middle Wallop and living with the family in Shrewton.

Piers German (1982) Now heading up the Private Clients Department at Armit Wines in Notting Hill advising on cellars for clients from all over the world including contemporaries from Radley and Army days. Son George, now 4, starts at Dulwich Prep in September.

Jim Hill (1982) Our daughter, Eliza Alexandra Hill, was born on the 19th January 2013.

Rupert Till (1982) was awarded the British Sporting Art Trust Prize by the Society of Equestrian Artists.

Chris Tufnell (1982) Harry and Hector continue to thrive at Elstree. The practice is providing longer hours with less return. Same as most businesses really...

Christian Albert (1983) Vivienne Elizabethy Kinzie Albert was born on 16 July 2013, a sister for Christian.

Adrian Theed (1983) Veteran rowing madly – won 4 at Nottingham in June. Promoting wood chip energy. Driving company efficiency by understanding variation using statistics.

Alastair Gell (1984) Delighted with the arrival of Willow Josephine Gell who is half French. Enjoy teaching Maths, perfecting my Agassi backhand and eating oysters in Cornwall.

James Mackay (1984) I was married in December 2012, to Maria Elena Valencia, at St. James The Great Parish, in Manila, Philippines.

Alex McMillan (1984) spent a year as the Asia Real-Estate Correspondent for Reuters but has now opted to return to freelancing with his company, Dragonfly Media, writing about property, finance and scuba diving.

Tobin Ashby (1985) I have left AXA UK to become a legal director at the law firm Pinsent Masons, working in the insurance team.

Sam Eccles (1985) Living in Clapham and Hampshire. Married Bella in January 2013. 4 children. Working in Marketing.

Tom Horsey (1985) Living in Hampshire with wife (Suzie) and children (Arthur, Amelia, Florence and Hugo). Running a Greek Equity Fund.

Sid Inglis (1985) After 17 very happy years at Ludgrove and the last five as Headmaster, we are moving to Elstree School where I take over as Headmaster in September 2013.

Mark Beeching (1986) Second son, Charles Basil Beeching, born 27th January 2010.

Tom Cornell (1987) We have baby number 4 arriving in July to join Maisie (8), Albert (6) and Walter (4) and we move from Scotland to Singapore in August to start a new chapter.

Vasco Litchfield (1987) Just had our second child, Victoria. Living in Notting Hill.

Hamish Mackie (1987) exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May and has a solo exhibhition at The Gallery in Cork Street in October (7-19).

William Ashworth (1988) Pix and I had another daughter in April 2013 – Honor Willa Veryan.

Nick Gault (1988) is on a two year long distance cycle journey through the Americas.

The Revd. Nick Hiscocks (1988) Life in sunny Bournemouth continues to thrill us and challenge us. Children growing fast: Lucy (8), Millie (6), Jonty and Titus (3). Church growing too though not as fast! Playing squash for local club. Looking forward to any ORs popping in while on the south coast. See more on www.christchurchwestbourne.com

Adam Joy (1988) Played with the England team that won the Men’s over 35 Category in the European Touch Rugby Championships, hosted in Treviso during September. Touch rugby is a small but growing sport in the UK (somewhat

bigger in the southern hemisphere). England sent 7 Teams to the Euros and all 7 made it into their respective finals with 3 golds and 4 silvers.

Rupert Kitching (1988) is currently Chief of Staff of Task Force Helmand in Afghanistan.

Charlie Parker (1988) Having worked with the Four Seasons Hotel Group in many exciting international locations since graduating from university, it is wonderful to be based back in the UK at Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire! Any ORs are looked after with extra care – please drop in! The hotel is situated near Hook.

Andrew Coulton (1989) Now living in Woodborough near Nottingham working as a GP. Have 2 daughters – Mala (3) and Lavinia (1).

James Gayner (1989) Now working in Army HQ having finished commanding my company in June. One son, Rory (1½) and a brother or sister for him due before Christmas.

James Haigh (1989) Married to Laura with 2 children, Eliza (4) and Noah (1). Living in S. Oxon and still in touch with several ORs.

Robin Martin-Jenkins (1989) George Martin-Jenkins was born in December, 2011.

The Revd. James Radcliffe (1989) Started working as Rector in Lavant as of March 2013. Joshua Jake, a brother to Isabelle Grace, was born on June 5th.

James Rooth (1989) Loving living in Devon and working in London a couple of days a week. The arrival of Lucy, who follows Isla and Emma, makes me an increasing convert to co-education at Radley!

Tom Ashby (1990) Lucinda and I had Poppy-Alice (our first) in August 2012. We live in Wandsworth and I work in East London. Contact me at [email protected] for a pint in the Alma!

Malcolm Borwick (1990) We are still living between Argentina, Palm Beach and the UK. Running Polo Clinics in the Winter months and still playing for England in the Summer season. Jaime, our son, is down for Radley in 2023! Looking forward to it.



James Burton (1988) conducted Schola Cantorum in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford in October – the programme included the Requiem by Brahms and ‘The Convergence of the Twain’, a poem by Thomas Hardy on the sinking of the Titanic, set to music by the conductor.

Alexander Davenport Jones (1988) Delighted to announce that we are expecting twins in November 2013 to join Poppy who was one in June. Autumn sees the official launch of the much anticipated website by Fat Grape.

The hospitality group have spent six months finessing the website and aim to become the UK’s leading web site exclusively dedicated to the auctioning of fine wines.

Publicity stuff: The main focus of the site is on round the clock auctions of fine wine from both private and trade customers alike. In particular, it focuses on premium service and efficiency which founder Alex Davenport Jones sees as integral. He refers to the service industry as being ‘seriously lacking in good customer service at present...’ He continues to explain that ‘during years of working with other people it amazes me that still in these tough economic times we cannot be efficient, friendly and show that we do, in fact, really value our customers...’.

The energy behind the website stems from 20 years of passion taking him from the Cognac region of France to the stifling vineyards of Australia, from the foothills of the Andes to the wineries of Stellenbosch. Alex has visited over 70 countries and has seen the vast majority of the world’s wine regions. ‘I feel a sense of frustration that so many people are unaware of the plethora of wines available to them. I hope we can provide an entertaining and interesting mechanism from which customers can buy and sell their wines in volumes which work for them. The spectrum will be broad and thus allowing customers a great selection alongside the lowest fees on or offline.’

The site goes live 24th September and looks set to make quite an impact...



Harry Wallop (1988) My first book, Consumed – How shopping fed the class system was published by Collins. I also presented a number of Channel 4 documentaries, including Dispatches: Secrets of Poundland and Something for

Henry Fyson (1990) Recently set up Fyson Ltd, a residential building company in London.

The Revd. Tony Heywood (1990) I’ve been a team Vicar in Thetford for two years now and it has felt like an encouraging start. With two colleagues I cover five churches in and around town and we have started a new congregation on a deprived estate. Grace Church, Abbey Estate meets in the Local Primary School and will meet weekly from October. My wife Helen has helped establish a foodbank and we await the imminent birth of our first child. It’s all go!

Mark Maunsell-Thomas (1990) has recently returned from India where he has been living since 2005. He was at the Bihar School of Yoga where he was one of the main English Language Yoga Teachers. He also managed a variety of the Ashram departments including the kitchen, library and the annual painting of the whole Ashram. He is currently living in Devon teaching those living with HIV and the terminally ill.

Ibrahim Rashdan (1990) established CFUELS in March 2013, the first nano-emulsion diesel and fuel oil production company in Malaysia.

Alexander Stanford-Tuck (1990) I am now living in Kent with my wife and two children whilst running my own property firm www.somersproperty.co.uk from offices in Mayfair and Kent.

Harry Wills (1990) Boxing (Harry ‘The Hurricane’ Wills) in the Boodles Boxing Ball 2013 at The Grosvenor House Hotel in September.

James Amos (1991) Identical twin boys Harry and Johnny Amos arrived in September 2012. All good fun so far...!

Charles Bond (1991) Enjoying underwriting which is enabling me to travel to the Caribbean and the Middle East. Trying to play more cricket and travel for pleasure. Just returned from Japan and off to Zimbabwe later this year to work with lions as a volunteer.

Nic Platt (1991) Married Henrietta in July 2012. Still competing with the British Skibike Team and won bronze medal at the World Championships in 2012.

Edward Whittington (1991) I am pleased to announce the birth of William in January, brother to Henry (3½). I am now working as a partner at Moore Blatch Solicitors, which has offices in Richmond, Southampton, and Lymington. Still living in Thruxton in Hampshire.

Alastair Lamb (1992) Graduated with PhD in April 2013. Working back at Addenbrookes having been appointed as Clinical Lecturer in Urological Surgery. Emily and Joshua now five and three (and three quarters!). Helen still a full time mum. Still serving in student ministry at St Andrew the Great.

Joe Lampe (1992) is married and living in Avon, Connecticut in the United States. Two beautiful daughters, Vera (3) and Sasha (1). Teaches English, public speaking, and film at Avon Old Farms School for boys. Also coaches cross-country running, swimming and track.

Nick Shelley (1992) After 11 years in the NHS I have just set up as an independent psychologist offering consultation and training to professionals working with traumatised children. We have moved to Lancashire, our 6th house move in past 12 years. Daniel (8) and Aiden (4) continuing to thrive.

Alex van Kuffeler (1992) I married Lucie in April 2013 in London and am currently looking to move to Battersea, I have sold the flat so unfortunately the beekeeping and candlestick making one-man industry has taken a downturn.

Henry Hereford (1989) I have been very busy as an actor – most recently I starred in Liz and Dick, the Elizabeth Taylor biopic opposite Lindsay Lohan and just completed working on Happily Divorced an American sit-com opposite Fran Drescher and Joan Collins. I am in the movie Liars All with Alice Evans, Matt Lanter and Gillian Zinzer which is to be released in May.

Nothing. Channel 4 has commissioned a new series, Secrets of the High Street, to be presented by Harry Wallop in which a crack team of salespeople take to the high street to show the secret tricks, marketing techniques and scams, both legal and

illegal, carried out daily in shops and restaurants across Britain. By showing the consumer how easy it is to be duped the aim is to equip everyone with the knowledge they need to become smarter shoppers.



Christopher Ward (1992) Attended a lovely service at Radley for the christening of my close friend Tony Jackson’s daughter, Annabel, in May and am honoured to be her godfather.

Henry Baggott (1993) married Poppy Rebecca Gilroy in June 2011.

Jamie Howkins (1993) Now got 2 boys - Oliver (2) and Thomas (6 months).

John Morton (1993) Our second daughter, Thalia Emmeline Rose, was born in March 2013.

Toby Tallon (1993) married Emma Baynham in June 2012.

Alex Thom (1993) has recently married Lucinda Macdonald and continues to work in management consulting at Deloitte.

Keith Goddard (1994) I started my own catering and events company last year. Munch Food Company. www.munchfoodcompany.com

Hereward Swallow (1994) I spent all my cash on fine dining, partying hard and beautiful women. I now have a financial advisor. He’s at his wits’ end.

Jolyon Smith (1994) On 18th May this year I married my beautiful wife, Jenny Cantrell. We continue to live happily in Bromley, Kent.

Alex Torrie (1994) married Elizabeth in October 2012. First child expected in December 2013. Completing doctorate in Spinal biomechanics – submitting December 2013.

Sam Andrews (1995) We now live in Gloucestershire and have a ten month old baby girl, Emmeline Lily, born on 15th August 2012.

Matthew Penley (1995) Practising as a Solicitor in Gloucestershire at WSP doing general private client work.

Jack Clarke (1996) My engagement to Ms Femke Boersma was announced in June 2013.

Andrew Strauss (1990) To mark the Bicentenary of the present Lord’s Ground in 2014, Andrew Strauss has compiled a visual record, Lord’s: A Celebration in Pictures, based on the vast archive of Getty Images and the Club’s photographic collections. Many of these pictures have rarely been seen before, and some have never been published until now.

Jamie Snowden (1992) On the 25th March 2013, Harry Snowden was born – a brother for Lettie now 2½ years old. Our business is growing – and we have built another 10 boxes and so creating a 40 box yard. The season has started well, and long may that continue.

Nick Saltmarsh (1991) is Managing Director of the Planters Inn, a Relais & Chateaux hotel in the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina.

Get

ty Im

ages

The foreword is by H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, and the preface by J.M. Brearley.

The MCC has awarded Andrew Strauss Honorary Life Membership of the Club. Strauss’s invitation recognises his exceptional contribution to the game, which included 100 Tests for England – 50 of them as captain. He is one of England’s

most successful skippers, and won back-to-back Ashes series in 2009 and 2010/11 before leading his team to the top of the ICC Word Test Rankings later in 2011.

In May Andrew Strauss was the Guest of Honour at a Spring Lunch held by The Lord’s Taverners. The event was hosted by former England Cricket Captain and President Chris Cowdrey.



Pete Hawkins (1993) had a sell-out solo exhibition, ‘Behind Closed Doors’, of his paintings on antique doors at The Outsiders in Greek Street

D-K Cooper (1996) is Executive Producer of Low Down, a film looking at the life of pianist Joe Albany from the perspective of his young daughter as she watches her father contend with his drug addiction during the 1960s and ‘70s jazz scene.

Ivor Lewin (1996) In June 2013 he successfully defended his title as Combined Services Single Sculls Champion.

Henry Morris (1996) announced his engagement to Lauren Matthews in November 2011 with the wedding planned for September 2013.

Ben Withinshaw (1996) On May 31st 2013 I married the beautiful Gemma Natalie Gibbons at Farbridge, West Dean, West Sussex.

Edward Quicke (1997) is currently the Training Major at the Queen’s Own Yeomanry, before returning to the Light Dragoons to be Operations Officer. Henrietta and I had a baby boy, Hector Alexander, on Christmas Eve 2012.

Henry Reily-Collins (1997) Four and a half year on running Hallidays Hydropower business, I have now completed the first Archimedean Turbine in London for The National Trust and have recently won the contract to do the same for Blenheim Palace. The business is going strength to strength and now running investment scheme looking to attract EIS investors. And it was great to see many familiar faces at the OR networking event in June 2013.

Charlie Hartley (1998) recently launched a new online joint venture importing and selling American candy and soda at www.yankeepop.co.uk. The web design and PR agency, Impression DP, continues to grow and has now entered its 4th year of trading.

Hugh Powell (1998) Currently working in the NNUH (Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals) in Norwich and an ST3 in Paediatrics. Working towards membership for Royal College. Enjoying life in Norfolk.

Michael Quicke (1998) A busy two years. Got engaged, graduated from medical school, had a child, Rupert, with my partner, Emily Kaye. We are getting

married at the end of June 2013 and are thoroughly enjoying our boy while balancing the demands of both being doctors!

Charlie Fellowes (1999) I am in the middle of completing my Racehorse Trainers Course with a view to taking out a licence at the end of the season. I hope to set up training in Newmarket.

Hannah Nye (1999) I continue to pursue a career in operatic performance, and will be performing with Co-Opera Co. on their 2013-2014 UK tour of Madame Butterfly and The Mikado. See www.co-opera-co.org for details.

Nick Coles (2000) Recently commissioned into The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, having left the working life in London – based at Fort George, Inverness.

William Dyott (2000) Still in Australia, now based in Melbourne. Working on new projects in Thailand and Myanmar, looking for copper and gold. A keen member of South Melbourne Rowing Club and trying to teach myself how to kite surf!

The Revd. Mischa Richards (2001) was ordained Deacon in June by the Bishop of Chichester and is serving at the Parish of St Martin, St Wilfrid and St Alban, Lewis Road with St Richard, Hollingdean in Brighton.

Alex Binnie (2002) graduated from Peninsula Medical School (Exeter and Plymouth Universities) and started in August as a junior doctor in Lincoln.

Jamie Brown (2003) started a job after graduation as a technology consultant in London – I love it, having so much fun!

Alastair Hope-Morley (2003) graduated from Oxford with a First in Chemistry – starting a career as an Energy Consultant in London.

Nick Pelly-Fry (2003) Currently working for Manhattan Loft Corporation in London and enjoying the property industry. At the end of May ran the BUPA London 10km in aid of B-Eat – beating eating disorders.

George Ulmann (2003) was awarded a First in his Natural Science finals at Pembroke, Cambridge. Starting as an actuary with PWC in September after captaining the Cambridge University Polo Team on a tour of China.

Archie Vey (2003) I am off to live in Salamanca for 5 months to learn Spanish. I will be teaching English on the side. Once 5 months are up, I hope to use my Spanish and previous work experience in a suitable role in Spain or South America, potentially in the drinks industry again or a completely different field!

Robert Carington (2004) is currently living and working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Charlie Brookhouse (2005) has just graduated from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge with a First in English. For his Part II Tripos dissertation on Wordsworth he was awarded the Mary Altham Prize for English. He has also been elected Honorary Senior Scholar of Caius College. In September he will begin studying at UCL for an MSc in Digital Humanities.

Alexander George (2006) transferring from Manchester to Yale.

James Milner (2006) is spending his summer vacation from Leeds University working as a volunteer on the Conservation programme in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

Nick Gubbins (2007) has a Professional contract with Middlesex CCC.

Arthur Sants (2007) started at Dartmouth, USA in September 2013.

Charlie Shaw (2007) started at Princeton University in September 2013.

Ollie Wynne-Griffith (2007) has been rowing at Molesey Boat Club. Started at Yale University in August 2013.

Tom George (2008) is planning to go to Harvard.

Freddie Sjostrom (2000) (as Freddie Stroma) had a significant part in the box office success, Pitch Perfect.

Patrick Derham (Radley 1984-1996, C Social Tutor 1990-1996) has been appointed Head Master of Westminster with effect from September 2014. He is currently Head Master of Rugby School.

Andrew Gordon-Brown (Radley Common Room 2003-2007) was appointed Headmaster of Truro School – he started on 1st January 2013.

Honorary Members



Nig

el F

renc

h/PA

Wire

Alby Shale (2004) came to Radley on a Sunday in June for an eight hour continuous batting net as practice for his attempt to break the Guinness World Record at The Oval on 15th/16th July. Alby successfully completed his 26 hour batting challenge which, subject to confirmation by Guiness World Records, will be a new world record. In his marathon effort, Alby faced 6062 balls or 1010.2 overs from over 200 bowlers and remarkably was only bowled for the first time well into his fifteenth hour at the crease! He has also raised over £4000 for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation.

From The Independent By Charles Reynolds:

England beats Australia again – Alby Shale sets new world record with a little help from David Cameron

While most English cricket fans were trying to recover from the nerve-shredding Ashes victory at Trent Bridge, one man was embarking on inflicting an even more extraordinary Australian defeat.

In Kennington, under the historic pavilion at The Oval, Alby Shale was painstakingly inching his way to a world record as he attempted the longest-ever individual cricket net.

The record, set by Australia’s Jade Child, stood at 25 hours, but beginning at 6:45am on Monday morning the 22-year-old batted for a full hour longer to claim his own victory over an antipodean rival.

His herculean 26-hour effort was in aid of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation – a charity established to build the first proper cricket ground in the country.

Prime Minister David Cameron and cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew, both Patrons of the charity, were among those who turned up to bowl during Shale’s marathon crease occupation.

England international Ravi Bopara, at the ground for Essex’s evening T20 clash with Surrey, was another of the several hundred who turned up at all hours to ensure that the 26-hour record was finally broken at 8:45 on Tuesday morning.

Under rules set down by Guinness World Records, the Newcastle University graduate was allowed a five-minute break every hour, to refuel and rest, and he batted with such concentration that incredibly it wasn’t until after the 15-hour mark that he was bowled for the first time.

Former Lancashire cricketer Stephen Speak, who batted for 24 hours, first set the gruelling record in 2001, which stood until October 2012 when Child surpassed it to claim the record for Australia.

Both those feats of endurance were substantially lengthier than first class cricket’s longest innings, played by Indian Rajiv Nayyar, which lasted 16 hours and 55 minutes and benefited from regular meal breaks and two rests overnight.

However Shale trumped them all, to score more early points for England in this Ashes summer and earn his place in the record books.

The Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, RCSF working alongside the Rwanda Cricket Association and the MCC

Foundation, aims to raise £600,000 to build the first ever cricket stadium in Rwanda.

The Prime Minister bowls to Alby Shale

AFP

/Get

ty Im

ages

AFP

/Get

ty Im

ages



Get

ty Im

ages

Left: The sun glares down from a new office building in the financial district in The City of London. The concave side wall of the 37-storey skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street, known locally as the ‘Walkie Talkie’ building, was blamed for focussing the sunlight and melting parts of a parked car. Above: Harry Wallop (1988) attempts, for the Daily Telegraph, to use the heat to fry an egg.

Claire Bradshaw and Craig Ogden perform at the first Coffee Concert in the the new building by Clock Tower in September

the old radleian 2013

Documents