the wykehamist - Winchester College

THE WYKEHAMIST
Winter 2013 - No 1465
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Editorial
DEMOCRACY COMES AT A PRICE
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Front Cover: Peter Eugene Ball “The Scholar Christ”
Above: PEB Exibition in Chantry
Three of the five plays put on this half have had a central theme of the perils of totalitarianism. We have witnessed at QEII the Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Animal
Farm (the Hoppers’ house play) and the Third Wave
(the Furley’s house play); all received rave reviews.
They epitomised the dangerous appeal of radical ideologies, and reminded us of the misery which inevitably
follows social experiments of these kinds. The horrors
of Stalinism and Nazism, when remembered or re-lived
through the medium of theatre, should be enough to
make us vigilant in protecting our own fully-fledged
democracy in Britain, which is not as robust and indestructible as we might assume. Universal suffrage is a
relatively new achievement in this country, yet it is yet
to celebrate its one centenary. We should not assume
that democracy is guaranteed to be a permanent fixture
in this country. So-called ‘civilised’ democracies have
throughout history shown an infatuation with authoritarian strong men and radical politics: witness the appeal of Marxism to intellectuals and academics such as
George Bernard Shaw and Ralph Miliband; and even
fifth-century Athens, the Victorians’ shining beacon of
civilisation, succumbed first to the mass populism of
the demagogues and then to an oppressive oligarchy.
Totalitarianism is still very much a reality in the 21st
century: one only has to look at the current Hungarian
government’s selective amnesia regarding the Second
World War and its attempts to rewrite the Hungarian
constitution, the kleptocracies of Putin’s Russia and the
Politburo’s China, and Egypt’s relapses into Islamic and
then secular dictatorships, to see an alarming trend in
Eurasia towards dictatorships. In Britain our main concern is the growing national contempt for our current
cadre of politicians. This is epitomised by the BBC’s
Jeremy Paxman, who takes pride in regularly humiliating our political leaders and pouring scorn on the establishment. In a recent interview with the comedian/
actor Russell Brand, he admitted that he does not vote.
If this nation’s self-appointed grand inquisitor does not
wish to take part in the social contract at the heart of
our democratic system, then how are we to interpret
his scathing contempt for our embattled leaders? When
Brand came to speak to five hundred Wykehamists in
New Hall four years ago, the only thing I now remember him saying is that we all have a duty as citizens of
this country to vote. We must be wary of jumping on
the populist bandwagon and of chastising our democracy, for it is not as immovable as we might think. We are
fortunate to live in a tolerant, liberal society, and those
of us privileged to be at Winchester are members of a
free-thinking and intellectually vibrant community. We
must embrace our mass-participatory democracy and
all its inclusive faults, for as this country’s finest Prime
Minister remarked, ‘democracy is the worst form of
government except all the others that have been tried.’
GOOD TEACHERS
Recently Nick Clegg and fellow Liberal Democrats have questioned Michael Gove’s free school
policy, on the grounds that it allows the employment
of teachers who have no formal teaching qualification. Clegg objects to employing such people because qualifications help ‘guarantee’ minimum standards. Introduction of such standards would be a
return to New Labour’s supposed standardisation and
centralisation in state education, which can be considered as a threat to scholarly learning in school.
Teachers should be judged on their ability rather than
their qualifications. Clegg should know this as well
as anyone, having benefited from sitting at the feet
of unqualified but scholarly and inspiring teachers at
Westminster. The qualification might be helpful but it
should not be essential. The whole point of free schools
is for them to be free from inhibiting protocols and
centralisation. Clegg’s ideas are another attack on the
revolution in state education that is needed. It should be
learning that should taking precedent, not government
targets and minimum standards. Instead of looking to
shore up minimum standards in schools, our government should be aiming for the promotion of learning.
With its free school project the state education system is finally moving away from education where
targets are more important than the learning experience. There should be interchange of ideas between
the state system and the independent schools. The
ethos at schools like Winchester, where targets and
league tables are less important than the quality of
teaching measured by scholarship and lively presentation, is the one the Government should encourage.
Schools should not be stifled by restrictive curricula,
but should be places where wide learning flourishes.
We are fortunate at Winchester because we are in an
environment where the intellectual is not stifled by
cliché. Div is the most important factor in providing
such a context and it is one of the things that makes
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Winchester an independent bastion of educational
thought. To build and work towards the Winchester
ethos in the state system would liberate heads, teachers
and pupils. The free school project would be greatly
improved by the adoption of an unexamined subject
where wide learning and not statistical targets is the
aim. This would assist the Government’s project of
making more schools into places of learning rather
than factories churning out examination statistics. Our
school proves that a school works better as a place of
free thinking rather than centralised targets. Our Government would be foolish not to take this into account.
The Wykehamist
EDITORIAL
The Wykehamist
FEATURES
Editors
Michael Askins
Tom Howard
6 Recitā – Patrick Chambers
8 Winchester, Home of Scholars & Angels – Benedict Maciejewski
ARTS
9 Biloxi Blues – Christopher Troop
10 QEII this Half – Sam Groom
12 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui – Tom Howard
13 Glee Club – Will Nestor-Sherman
15 The School Concert – William Ashford
WICCAMICA
16 Berlin 2013 – Sam Groom
17 Look – Richard Ibekwe
19 How It All Fits Together – The Head Man
21 The New York Marathon – NAS
23 Ladakh 2013 – William Ashford
26 Freden 2013 – Sam Groom
SPORT
27 Golf – Jack Keating
28 Archery – Charlie Peters
29 Soccer XI – Alex Sachak
New Hall under construction
THE REGISTER SHORT HALF 2014
30 Vale PSAT – Thomas Yarrow
31 Vale RSS – AJPA & KMP
34 Vale NF – PJMC
37 Societies Diary
38 Music Diary
41 Sports Diary
Features
Richard Ibekwe
Theatre
Sam Groom
Tom Howard
Music
William Ashford
Sport
Charlie Peters
Alex Sachak
Wiccamica
William Ashford
Michael Askins
Patrick Chambers
Benedict Maciejewski
Photography
Patrick Beddow
Don in Charge
RDT
Correspondence to vgr@wincoll.ac.uk
Musa
Talking: picture by Dominic Rae
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RECITA 2013
Patrick Chambers (B) was there.
One of the beauties of poetry is that it is, like all art
forms, subjective. Thus it is no surprise that the reading
aloud of poetry is equally contentious and when a
competitive element is added it seems there are always
differing opinions. The adjudicator of this year’s Recita,
the poet Stephen Boyce, had a hard task in choosing
his top three from both the junior and senior sections,
and broke from the norm by starting the competition
off with the recitation of his own poem, ‘Soundless.’
contrast to this, Toby Philip’s (G) recitation of ‘Wind’
by Ted Hughes was masterly: he caught the sound of
the “booming hills” and his enchanting voice helped
the words flow like the wind which they describe. He
gave the impression of being both fascinated by and
in awe of the poem, and it was a delight to hear him.
These ten poems made up the junior section of the
competition and Stephen Boyce was pressed to choose
three. He put ‘V for Vendetta’ in third place owing to
Alexander Ind (H) started with ‘Epilogue to Asolando’ its great demonstration of the menace involved and ‘Oh
by Robert Browning, bringing out the colour and Come all ye faithful’ in second for its fine illustration
interrogative aspect of it well with a very clear voice. of humanity. Mr. Boyce had been listening to Dylan
Harrison Taylor (D) followed with Kate Donovan’s Thomas on his way to the competition and thought that
‘Yearn On’; despite lacking in clarity at points, he Henry Lloyd’s performance was a skilled one which did
evoked both a naive aggravation and a melancholy not imitate the poet at all: for this ‘The force that through
aching. This close engagement with the poem the green fuse drives the flower’ won the junior section.
captivated the audience and he appeared touched
by what he was saying. Henry Grandage (G) filled Zachary Tiplady (Coll) began the Queen’s Silver
School with childish wonder during ‘Blackberrying’ Medal with a confident delivery. His change of voice
by Sylvia Plath, and this curiosity, combined with was effective and the emphasis of the word “locked”
a fast-paced delivery, made it a joy to listen to. was dazzling; he portrayed both the ironic and pathetic
Henry Lloyd’s (A) compelling rendition of ‘The force sides to ‘Dockery and Son’ by Philip Larkin. ‘My last
that through the green fuse drives the flower’ by Dylan afternoon with Uncle Devereux Wilson’, by Robert
Thomas conjured up the poem’s dynamism with Lowell and recited by Ivan Kirwan-Taylor (F), was
the aide of an upright stance and some well-placed if anything even more breath-taking: this was spelldiminuendos. Harry Berry (B) recited a speech from binding, and with a fluent voice evoked both childish
the film ‘V for Vendetta’ by the Wachowski brothers, enthusiasm and nostalgia for a deceased uncle. He
and was remarkable! He was a demagogue, displaying took over the role of this young boy with skill and
both a comic and evil side, and inhabited the character maintained the poem’s energy right until the end.
of a man vying for what he thought was justice and William Nestor-Sherman (B), arriving with seconds
individual responsibility. Alec Younger’s (F) ‘Oh to spare (having just played in a guitar ensemble)
Come all ye faithful’ also elicited a few laughs from offered a speech from Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’.
the audience, though he seemed to focus on the poem’s With hand on heart, he occupied the persona of a
irony, rather than its pathos (which weakened his tormented man and appeared close to tears at points;
performance). Tom Steward-Smith’s (A) interpretation it was a dramatic and moving spectacle. ‘Youth’s
of Emily Dickinson’s difficult poem ‘Because I Testament’ by Mickael Lermontov was recited by Tom
could not stop for death’ had a true melancholia Shaw (A), who brought calculation, combined with
to it, despite being rather overridden by the rhyme an undertone of bitterness, to the poem. His change of
scheme (which detracted from the poem’s power). voice in the last section brought out the antagonism to
the female neighbour concerned. Edward Sweet-Escott
It was clear that Alexander Butcher (A) understood his (G) gave a section from ‘England’s Standard’ by Lord
poem, ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna’ Macaulay a profound rise and fall, with some of the
by Charles Woolf, and his strong voice and balanced impassioned lines exclaimed at the top of his voice.
tone aroused the feeling of patriotism and the turmoil ‘Friday. Wet Dusk’ by Christopher Logue, performed
of losing a fellow soldier. Tobias Schroder’s (Coll) by Jamie Onslow (A), evinced in a vivid register the
interpretation of ‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney was idiosyncrasies of three men in an Indian restaurant.
very matter-of-fact and lacked the reverence and He delighted in each word, whilst at the same time
resolution that are integral to the poem’s meaning. In displaying disgust towards these obscene men.
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Ben Chua’s (E) recitation of T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ was confident and fluent and
lacked emotion. He sacrificed colour for pace and was
matter-of-fact in a poem that is so focused on human
decay and life’s “hundred indecisions.” His voice was
flat and at times seemed to slip into melodrama. ‘How
to treat the House Plants’, written by Kit Wright and
read by Jonathan Hedley (F) was the most humorous
performance of the evening. He exposed the irony in
being rude to plants for their own good and his ability to
shift from the voice of husband to wife was very comic.
This contrasted with Sam Groom’s (Coll) ‘Goodbye’
by Alun Lewis which was delicate and touching; he
evidently felt the poem’s implication and caught its
grace well. Jack Bolton (E) followed with a resolute and
personal speech by George VI on the outbreak of World
War II, and Sasha Reviakin’s (H) lovely voice did not
take away from the darkness that emanated from his
poem, ‘The Moon and The Yew Tree’ by Sylvia Plath.
Mr Boyce said that anybody could have won and
emphasised the importance of “not just understanding
the words, but what the poem means for you.” ‘Dockery
and Son’ was awarded third place, recognising Zachary
Tiplady’s interpolation of character without any sense
of falsity. The adjudicator liked Tom Shaw’s intimacy
with the audience and hence ‘Youth’s Testament’ took
second. That left the winner: Ben Chua was awarded
the Queen’s Silver Medal because of his ability to let the
words of T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece speak for themselves. It
was an excellent evening, the standard higher than ever.
War Cloister
Inscription in War Cloister
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WINCHESTER, HOME OF SCHOLARS
AND ANGELS
Benedict Maceijewski (K) reviews two
This term Winchester had the privilege of showing some
of painter Iain Vellacott’s latest and finest works. The
exhibition appeared inArt School’sAngelus Gallery from
16 to 29 September. This exhibition held a rare appeal to
Wykehamists. The painter himself is an Old Wykehamist
and thus is able to get inside the Winchester psyche.
Angelus Gallery provided the perfect setting.
On show at the same time was work of the renowned
sculptor Peter Eugene Ball’s work. His exhibition
entitled Scholars and Angels provided much food
for thought and was very impressive. It took place
from the 15 September to the 3 October. The setting
for this exhibition was also very well selected.
The paintings have a definite warmth to them. This is It was displayed in Chantry, an ideal setting.
created both by the scenes illustrated and by the loose
brushwork deployed in depicting them. This loose This exhibition succeeded in combining its two main
brushwork also plays a very useful role in enhancing themes, academe and divinity. Forty figures, angels
the viewer’s sense of perspective and adds to the and scholars, were shown. These contrasted and
painting as whole. I felt that this was particularly played against each other very nicely. Some were
evident in the painting entitled School. It is the devotional pieces, some were irreverent; some grave,
superb use of light that draws me to this painting. some whimsical. While Peter Eugene Ball is more
The late autumn evening is captured brilliantly. widely known for his religious work he also completes
a large amount of secular work. What really struck
The scenes depicted were astutely and adeptly chosen. me about the exhibition was the vibrancy with which
One got the feeling that the entirety of a Wykehamist’s the sculptures spoke. The materials of seasoned
life at school was at some point captured on canvas. wood, copper, enamel, gold leaf and patterning in
The scenes illustrated include cricket, Chapel Choir, various colours are characteristic of Ball’s work.
Winchester College Football and meal times. It is the
simplicity of these scenes that allows the exhibition and The School is fortunate to possess several of Ball’s
the artist to encapsulate the feel of a Wykehamist’s life. It pieces, in Chapel, Chantry and Michla. One striking piece
was this encapsulation that made the exhibition so special. depicting a Winchester Scholar is currently on loan to
Moberly Library. During the course of the exhibition Ball
While the exhibition was on I was pleasantly gave a question-and-answer session to divs, revealing
surprised at the enthusiastic reception that it his skill, wit and humour. Div and History of Art sets
received around the School. It was widely acclaimed were streamed in and out of Chantry to admire and
a great success and the consensus was that the enjoy. Members of the public had plenty of access too.
Laura Ellen Bacon: Willow Sculpture
see page 33
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BILOXI BLUES
Chris Troop (Coll) reviews PSAT’s final
Simon Taylor’s last play at Winchester in Cloister Time
2013 had to have everything. After 23 years of service
spearheading Winchester drama, the anticipation for
this play was colossal and it did not disappoint. Jointly
cast and co-directed with Jack Cammack (A), the play
had all the aspects of a typical PSAT production: a fusion
of the School’s very best acting talent, a striking set,
bursts of emotion and engagement from the audience
and a typical PSAT ‘find’ among the cast. The find was
Jack Keating (C), who captivated the audience with his
extremely convincing rendition of Eugene. There was
an endearingly genuine feel to his performance. There
were laughs, there were tears, and there was almost
endless applause. It was a wonderfully entertaining
and heartfelt production, tinged with the sadness of
knowing that we were never going to be treated to
that PSAT touch ever again. It was a fitting send-off.
The first scene of Biloxi Blues introduces the cast of
army recruits on their way to a remote training camp in
middle-America, Biloxi. This serves as a comprehensive
introduction to most of the cast. Every one of the army
recruits was acted to a very consistent standard, though
the parts vary considerably in characterization. What
is more, each character in the group was portrayed
as attractive and likeable, adding agreeably to the
general flavour of the production. William Ashford (D)
complained and battled his way through adversity as
Epstein, apart from Eugene the only Jew in the group.
Fergus Bentley’s (G) faux-terrible singing delighted
and endeared us to him as he punctuated the beginning
and end of the production with badly-remembered
forties show-tunes. Alex Swanson (B) was hilarious,
encapsulating Boston cockiness perfectly as he told
inane anecdotes, while Junaid Belo-Osagie (A) bullied
his way entertainingly through the play, memorably
drawing special attention to his flatulence. Harry
McWhirter (K) also deserves a lot of credit for how
bravely his role as the soldier accused of being gay was
portrayed, especially by a man in the third year. What
struck me about this ensemble was how the trivial could
switch to the serious very quickly without missing
a beat; a testament to how expertly it was directed.
Special mention must go to Charlie Mayne (A) for his
excellent portrayal of the psychotic Sergeant Toomey;
many of his mannerisms referred to Christopher
Walken’s famous interpretation of the character in
the 1988 film. Uncompromising, unfair and macabre,
Mayne’s Toomey was as entertaining as he was
intimidating, a true example of a character the audience
‘loves to hate’. His character assassinations were timed
perfectly for maximum effect. The climax of the play,
as he emerged drunk and gun-wielding, was shocking
and moving. His fall at the hands of his greatest
rival, Epstein, commanded unexpected sympathy.
There was also a small but delightful Peter Symonds
contingent represented in Biloxi Blues by Miranda
Gamble and Matilda Bedford. Miranda’s role as
Rowena, the only prostitute in the town of Biloxi,
was a memorable cameo appearance. Simple and
carefree, her calm contrasted hilariously with Eugene’s
awkwardness. Matilda, playing the role of Daisy,
Eugene’s ‘sweetheart’, delivered an innocent and
sweet a character too. The couple’s interaction felt
appropriately genuine and heartwarming, as together,
they presented a model of subtle stage romance.
Over the years Simon Taylor has touched the hearts of
many in his productions. This last one was a special
triumph. In his retirement he has left behind him a
lasting deposit of theatrical know-how, wisdom and
love that will nourish Winchester drama for many
years to come. This play marked the end of an era,
and the dawn of a new age. To this man who has been
so generous with his time and care, all Wykehamists
who were directed or taught by him say Thank You.
Laura Ellen Bacon: Willow Sculpture
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QEII Short Half 2013
Sam Groom (Coll) is politically challenged.
faulty props, inept technicians and the aforementioned licet hair-tearing for a company. This in mind, Jencollapsing scenery. The cliché runs that comedy is nings’ large-cast show was brilliantly bad, and dethe hardest theatre to produce, and the farcical com- serves whatever sort of praise we judge appropriate.
edy of things-going-wrong-on-stage the very limit of
Hopper’s House Play Animal Farm; The Coarse Acting Show; Furley’s House Play The Third Wave
Maybe it was MDH’s new management, or maybe the
drive and verve of certain individuals (looking at you,
SA and Kieran Tam (A)). Certainly Joe Cunio had a lot
to do with it. At any rate, compared with precedent, or
at least with our unfair conception of the precedent, this
term’s House plays have looked fantastic. Hopper’s
had a few impressive pieces (windmill!) while remaining tastefully sparse; Furley’s went all out, completely
creating an A-block classroom and then draping it with
Nazi-esque banners. The Coarse Acting Show is left off
this list because it was not good enough, but then it
was not supposed to be good enough. Hugo Jennings
(C) and his team did a perfect job of making a throwtogether falling-down set that screamed AMATEUR
PRODUCTION, for such was the intended nature of
his farcical show. Indeed, it may have seemed more like
a House play than the others - but more on that later.
The others were both very professional. Despite the perennial struggle to find a whole cast within a single House,
there were no weak links in Hopper’s Animal Farm.
(We can overlook the odd quirk, like the fact that Adam
Wordley’s Napoleon, a powerful performance, was the
tallest man on stage, because they were funny.) People
like Tom Howard, Scardino and Alex Beeton stood out,
and we were even treated to performances from directors George Allen White and James Vickery - lucky us.
Nothing was unclear, diction-wise, and technical tricks
abounded, most memorably the back-lit screens upstage
that created silhouettes at certain chilling moments.
Putting across a message in a theatre production is harder than you might think. One has to sustain an appropriate mood throughout and it is very dangerous to laugh
at oneself. Hopper’s took this step, making a joke, for
instance, of all the times the characters say “No animal shall wear clothes.” Wryly raised actors’ eyebrows
abounded, and some couldn’t keep straight faces. Such
self-referential moments not only broke the illusion of
reality-on-stage (just as when George Herring’s Old
Major addressed us, the audience, as he lectured on
the evils of “human beings”), but also complicated the
general mood of the play. Was it a comedy, or serious
political allegory? The play’s direction (White, Jeremy
Choo et al) decided, it seems, that the message of the
book/play is so well known that it did not need to be
driven home, and the company could afford lightheartedness here and there. That said, there were hilarious
moments—the gossiping of Hens Byers, Tellwright and
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Vickery mi. comes to mind—that still kept the integrity
of Orwell’s idea. Here, the Hens’ innocence makes us
pity them more when they are ground under the wheels
of Animal Farm, and therefore compels us further to
hate the regime. Of course, to ask a House play for
100% of the deadpan (death-pan?) would be unreasonable. One wonders, though, if Animal Farm is suited to
this kind of production. It was, that said, undoubtedly
Hopper’s through and through, Hopper’s humour and
Hopper’s hearts; and this is what we came for, after all.
Furley’s put on The Third Wave, the play of the true
story of a Californian school that is best known via the
film Die Welle, and made it their own in another way.
Namely, director LMG edited the script to move the
action to Winchester College, and all the schoolboys
(who are most of the cast) were re-cast as Furleyites. In
this way, though dozens of boys trod the boards, there
were only two actors, Jamie Onslow (history don Ron
Jones) and Ed Horrocks (variously Jones’s future self
and the play’s narrator, Jones’s girlfriend, his boss, his
parish priest and a war-veteran grandfather of a class
member). All the others played themselves. This made,
for those in the audience who knew many or all of the
boys, for a bizarre experience which, although not truly
theatrical in a sense, eventually, in my opinion, made
the message of the play stronger; i.e. anyone can be
seduced by fascism, even you and your friends at your
£30,000 p/a public school. Onslow was a solid centrepiece. He held the play together admirably and illustrated Jones’s struggle to remain detached from his
experiment and not enjoy his new-found power. On
the other hand, Horrocks, or possibly the director, had
taken the opportunity to perform a kind of “Horrocks
Variations” in which this man represented as many genders and classes as possible within a seventy-minute
production. This was certainly funny, but one couldn’t
help wondering whether A House had run out of actors.
Every time I have tried to compliment a member of
the Coarse Acting Show company on their hilariousproduction I have felt as if I am putting them down.
Say not “That went smoothly”, which would mean they
missed the point entirely; but can I really say “Well
done, that was a complete bloodbath”? For the programme consisted of three short plays, each of which
was put on by an amateur company, and each of which
was plagued by amateur companies’ problems: actors
out of action, with stage fright or forgetting their lines,
The Head Man’s house through South Africa Gate
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The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Glee Club in Cathedral
Tom Howard (I) reviews the first play of the year.
William Nestor-Sherman (B) was in the eye of the storm.
‘Only death is free.’ So mused Arturo Ui, otherwise
known as Adolf Hitler, in Bertolt Brecht’s allegorical
satire on the rise of Nazism. This play, challenging both
for the director, Sam Groom (Coll), and the audience
itself, is Brecht’s attempt to demonstrate that Hitler’s
rise to power could and should have been prevented. A
difficult play to perform because of its length, Groom
and his cast unquestionably succeeded in making
it a captivating and visually powerful spectacle.
The audience witnesses the rise of Ui from the least
respected mobster in Chicago (Germany) to kingpin
of the Cauliflower Trust (the Prussian Junkers) in both
Chicago and Cicero (Austria). He achieves this by
exploiting the financial uncertainty of the depression
and the unwillingness of the citizens of Windy City to
look past their own individual preoccupations and to
confront a common enemy.
Rupert Meadows (G) masterfully played the title role in
this, the first play of MDH’s stewardship of QEII. He
captured the disdain with which Hitler/Ui was viewed
originally as he struggled to impose himself on petty
hoodlums and to find an opening into the cauliflower
business. There is an amusing scene, the funniest in the
play, where we see the transformation of Ui begin at the
hands of an affected thespian, brilliantly portrayed by
Ed Horrocks (A), and the origins of Hitler’s oratory and
his infamous goosestep. Ui visibly grows in confidence
as the play progresses, culminating in his brazen
treatment of Mrs Dullfeet (Hannah Tickle), a mourning
widow. The female parts were played convincingly by
actors from Peter Symonds College.
But everything you’ll see tonight is true.
Nothing’s invented, nothing’s new
Or made to order just for you.
The gangster play that we present
Is known to our whole continent.
A base knowledge of Nazi history is essential, and it helps
to know one’s Shakespeare, for there are allusions to
his plays throughout. Brecht assumes that the audience
is familiar with Shakespearean tragedy. There is an
intriguing scene when the ghost of Roma appears to
Ui in a dream, as Macbeth and Richard III were visited
by their victims’ ghosts. Amschel de Rothschild (B)
played Dogsborough (von Hindenburg) well, bringing
out his internal torment as he realises that he has made
a pact with the devil, blackening his name forever.
All the cast spoke with Chicago accents and, with a
few exceptions, were clearly audible throughout.
There were some scenes which were a little static, with
little movement on stage, and the tension did at times
drop when the impressive Meadows was off-stage,
but on the whole the play was a pleasure to watch.
As ever in QEII the stage was visually impressive,
with a clever framed portrait of Dogsborough, the
legitimate front of Ui’s crime syndicate, dominating
the set. Groom deserves credit for the play’s
slickness: it was evident when watching that every
detail had been addressed, right down to (what I
believe was) the inaugural serving of ice cream at
QEII during the interval.. It was an ambitious choice
-The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui was an excellent
In a play at times so oppressively dark, lighter choice to commence this year’s drama programme.
moments are interspersed effectively, and there are
interesting contrasts between Ui’s henchmen, such as
the loquacious Guiseppe Givola (Goebbels), played by
Tian Wolf (Coll) and his maniac enforcer Emanuele
Giri (Goering), played by Jamie Onslow (A). William
Ashford (D) was at his best playing Ernesto Roma,
Ui’s original right-hand man before he is squeezed
out by Givola and Giri. The power struggles in Ui’s
mob demonstrate the initial tensions within the Nazi
party, which Brecht via the opening monologue
(Rosa Tallack) assures us are uncomfortably accurate:
Cloisters: the west walk
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The Nielson was handled with the right amount of
frivolity and control to give the impression of early
spring. The repetitive fluidity of the string phrasing
and tranquil steadiness of the clarinets gave rich contrasts to the courage of the brass and the thunderous
thrill of the Glee Club chorus. Of particular note was
the light flippancy of the children’s chorus, a mixture
of the ever-impressive Pilgrim’s Quiristers and many
of the younger female sopranos. The playful antics of
Beethoven began his composition of the epic Ninth the young children of Funen were sung beautifully,
Symphony, “The Choral” in D minor, against growing enough to make even the coldest hearts of the audideafness and a contemplated suicide. Greatly affected ence to melt with the warmth and joy of springtime.
by these personal tragedies, he made his art his salva- The two soloists in the mini chorus sang with all the
tion, resulting in the composition of many of his greatest conviction needed and projected well, managing to
symphonic works. These include his fateful Fifth Sym- hold their own against the vast space of the Cathephony in C minor, his heroic Third in E flat minor, and of dral. NPW led with a light-hearted gusto and passion.
course the Ninth, all immense pieces of music that were
longer and more dramatic than any other ever written. During the first two movements of the Beethoven, the
The Ninth was the first choral symphony composed by orchestra remained responsive and fine-tuned, making
Beethoven. With the words taken from the “Ode to Joy” good work of the difficult phrasing. Unfortunately, bepoem written by Friedrich Schiller, it is split into four cause of the acoustics of the Cathedral, some of that inmovements: the “Allegro ma non troppo,” the “Scher- tensity was lost within the vast space that the music had
zo,” the “Adagio molto e cantabile” and the “Presto.” to occupy. Nevertheless, the orchestra did well given
the challenging circumstances. The third movement,
Springtime on Funen by Carl Nielson was the last the Adagio, was held with a great degree of softness
major choral work written by the composer and rec- and care, with variations in key signature held confiognised as his greatest. Influenced by the folk songs dently without compromising the quality of sound. The
of his mother, this piece was written to accompany a highlight of the concert was the fourth and final moveprizewinning text by Aage Bernsten. His richly play- ment, the Presto, the only movement in which the choir
ful memories on the island of Funen determined the sings. The chorus was responsive and accurate in its
light and lively feel of the work. The music is delight- timings on almost all occasions, as NPW allowed little
fully buoyant and lavishly diatonic with vibrant melo- room for error. The confident and astonishing volume
dies and rich modulations. The piece bears the marks of sound that was produced sounded marvellous from
of the Danish countryside awash with swaying grass, the choir stalls; it must have been even better resonatblooming water lilies and of course good-natured, flir- ing through the Cathedral for the audience. The piece
tatious children dancing among falling apple blossoms. and the concert were closed with the stunning finale
The Winchester College Glee Club Choir and the Win- of the fourth movement which moved with a frantic
chester Music Club Choir joined forces to tackle this mu- prestissimo, filling the building with colossal sound.
The Glee Club concert this term featured two of perhaps the most ambitious pieces in the choral society’s
history, challenging each other for the hearts of the
audience with breath-taking intensity and musicianship. The atmosphere created left us all feeling overwhelmed with the passions of the two great composers resulting in an thrilling musical event, one that
certainly stayed in the minds of those who were there.
sic, a challenge for NPW to organise and conduct. As a It was a spectacular concert.
singer in the chorus myself, I was stunned by the progress
the choir managed to accomplish in the little time it had
to rehearse. Due to the efficiency of the rehearsals and
with helping hands from OT and JJS, the choir quickly
got to grip with the two pieces. Four soloists joined us
for the concert, contributing enthusiastic performances
that delighted all and which gave the chorus a necessary
rest during both the rehearsals and the concert itself.
13
School Concert
William Ashford (D) There are virtuoso oboists, and there is Tommy Peet (F).
The packed-out auditorium fell into respectful silence as
Peet swaggered onto the stage like John Wayne, oboe in
holster, ready to do battle with Haydn’s Oboe Concerto
in C Major. After months of rehearsing, practicing and
memorising the music it had all come down to this
single moment. The music began with thick C major
chords that bathed the audience in golden sonority but
it was Tommy’s first entry that told the audience that
this was going to be a spectacular concert. With his
eyes closed like a possessed shaman he effortlessly
played the music with the expressive quality of a true
maestro. When he reached the tricky, virtuosic solo
cadenzas that explored the extremes of the oboe’s
range and required great concentration and precision,
and without the safety net of the orchestra behind him,
he seemed unfazed, masterfully demonstrating his skill
and inherent musicianship with flair and dynamism.
(His fingers moved so quickly it was like watching a
millepede on a treadmill.) This vulnerability not only
drew the audience in but focused every ear onto the
wonderfully pure tones that filled the hall. (I really am
not joking when I say that his rendition was worthy of
a performance at the Wigmore Hall.) With a wink of an
eye to NPW, the orchestra seamlessly re-entered at such
a controlled volume that the oboe could soar gloriously
above the orchestra like an eagle. He delivered the
music with such ease that the oboe seemed to be an
extension of his voice. It was aural honey. If you
closed your eyes during the performance you could
have imagined being inside some huge Esterhazy
country palace listening to the elegant sonorities of
the plucked harpsichord beneath the liquid oboe.
What impressed me most was Peet’s ability to switch
from rhapsodic panache to melancholic lament within
the space of a few notes. The antiphonal dialogue
between orchestra and soloist was electrifying.
His highly expressive playing together with the
responsiveness of the orchestra made the performance
memorable. Peet showed exhilarating flair and
brilliance. More riveting even than the virtuoso
passages was his tone, splendid and intense right
to the end of every note. So appreciated was his
performance that he was called back to bow four times.
Haydn’s Oboe Concerto in C major has been the subject
14
Iain Vellacott: Going Back Up to House
of great debate. For centuries, scholars have disputed
over the work’s authorship as the orchestration is far from
typical Haydn with its use of kettle drums and trumpets
as part of the orchestral accompaniment for a concerto
of this type that uses the light-voiced solo instrument
of the oboe. Nevertheless, whoever wrote it, whether
Haydn or Kozeluch, Peet did the composer proud.
After the excitement of the first piece there was even
greater anticipation for the next act, Gabriel Faure’s
Pavane (originally performed in the same year as the
Requiem -1887) an orchestral miniature played by the
Symphony Orchestra. Faure is a composer who bridges
the Romantic and Modern eras. Taught by Saint-Saens
and teacher of the great radicals Ravel and Debussy, his
music looks back and also forward. The music of Pavane
draws inspiration from both the old and the new as the
piece’s form is derived from the pavan, a sixteenthcentury, a duple-meter dance that originated in the
courts of Italian nobles; the orchestration, although rich,
is thoroughly modern, possessing the transparency and
lyricism of a new aesthetic. The clockwork pizzicato
arpeggios played by the lower strings that accompany
the haunting silver melody above evoke the sound of
a lute from olden days. The music finally reaches a
dramatic central episode before returning to the opening
material. Although only six minutes in length, the piece
easily managed to captivate the audience. NPW’s and
ADA’s rehearsals were rewarded as the orchestra played
the music with confidence and subtlety, responding
with musical intuition to every wave of the baton.
Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major is Mozartian
in flavour. Composed in 1816, Schubert was infatuated
with Mozart’s music at the time. This is particularly
noticeable in the lighter orchestration, his only
symphony not to include trumpets, timpani or clarinets.
The Allegro first movement is greatly reminiscent of
the opening movement of Mozart’s Symphony No.40.
To me the Schubert is the happier version of the
Mozart. The buoyant, joyous spirit of the music and
the seemingly spontaneous melody produced smiles
throughout the audience. Another of Schubert’s heroes
makes an appearance in the work with the Beethovenianlike repetition of material and unanticipated shifts and
modulations to unexpected keys. Schubert famously
15
carried Beethoven’s coffin through the streets of
Vienna at the mass funeral (there were 10,000-20,000
mourners) in 1827, a year before he too was to die.
The performance was testimony to the hours and
days of hard work of the orchestra and was a brilliant
demonstration of the orchestra’s competence both as
individuals and as a group. It was lucidly communicative
because of the orchestra’s ability to hang on NPW’s
every gesture. The concert was a complete triumph.
Berlin 2013
Sam Groom (Coll) did not get lost in translation.
The morning after was yet more challenging, for
we visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Not
built to be an extermination camp, rather a labour
camp, Sachsenhausen was the model for other camps
across Europe and therefore was disturbingly familiar
to us in many ways. For example, after a long walk
through forest, a visitor sees the famous words ARBEIT MACHT FREI in iron across the gate. To try
to do justice to an experience like this visit in a few
On arriving in the city on Friday morning, we barely words, as they who have been on the History departhad time to drop our bags before making our way out to ment’s Holocaust trip know, is to risk making light of
the Olympic Stadium, battling with public transport: a the complex and profound feelings that surround these
system of trains, trams, tube and buses that was baffling places. Suffice to say that we came away with a fuller
if reliable, and that we would know well by the time we appreciation of the burden on Germany’s conscience.
left on Tuesday. The stadium was colossal, and, pertinently, imposing. Rebuilt to house the 1936 Olympic We saw more amazing things. The Reichstag building
Games, it was a massive piece of propaganda and gives and the Bundestag parliament chamber; ancient Roman
one an idea of how Berlin—the “World Capital”— and Middle Eastern art in the Pergamon Museum; the
would have looked had Hitler had his way, i.e. classical- multi-storey Central Station; a play and an opera. But
ly-inspired and designed to make the individual feel in- what will stay with us, I think, is the sheer fun of explorsignificant. The football enthusiasts were excited by the ing a new city with the as ever masterfully-organised yet
players’ changing rooms, and the jacuzzi that is legally relaxed BLHM and her second-in-command, called up
required in all professional sports facilities in Germany. with two days’ notice and nothing but the numbers one
to ten in German, AEWA. It would surprise you how
Next day we had a private tour of central Berlin, seeing far Latin can get one when ordering kebabs in Berlin.
many museums and memorials: to the victims of war, on
all sides; to those dead in the Holocaust; to the homosexuals and Romani people who were killed by the Nazis.
Each looked completely different and cut an eerie, contemplative space out of the noisy capital. The sites were
both moving and thought-provoking, and in some instances their erection had caused controversy. The question of how we relate to the past and the sins of our fathers is chillingly significant and ever-present in Berlin.
The autumn leave-out 5G trip to Berlin is only four
years old, but it already feels like an institution. And
that, in a place like this, is saying something. This year
we went to explore the legacy of the Nazi period in
the city, in the form of memorials and the few pieces
of Nazi architecture that remain. Laugh-a-minute, as
you see, but we did have the sobering experience of
unavoidable interaction in German to sober our joyride.
Cloisters the vault
16
LOOK
Richard Ibekwe (Coll) explores the value of looking
The devil, it is said, is in the detail. I have certainly
found that details are often the most important and
interesting parts of things, but all too often we overlook them. In our busy lives, full of toytimes, sport,
music and drama, dominated by smartphones and social media, it is easy to say that we have no time for
them. Attention is repaid, though, if we stop and look.
entering through South Africa Gate (the entrance from
Kingsgate Street), which were designed to provide access to planned buildings beside the Cloister that were
never built. The doors are permanently closed. On the
outside, high on the wall of the northeast corner pointing
towards Flint Court, is a plaque honouring those who
built the Cloister; in my time at Winchester, with numerous trips by this corner on my way to New Bethesda
Think of a typical day at Winchester. Many in the
(College Sick House), I have only recently noticed this.
School, especially the Commoners, pass through War
Cloister daily several times. How often have you really Many other parts of the School are replete with such
stopped to look at its details? Those who have will have interesting details that reflect its rich history. That is
appreciated the thought and effort that was put into its to be expected of a place that has been around for so
design and construction. SF, the Archivist, once showed long. A journey to old Cloisters is a good example.
me a pamphlet that was produced at the time of its open- Entering through the gate, one can see in the wall iming. It explains the thinking behind the various features mediately to the left a blocked arch. On the opposite
of the Cloister, many of which I had not noticed before. side there is another, more easily seen from the outThe four corners of the Cloister, for example, are “dedi- side. The story behind this tells of the disassembly
cated to the greater Dominions [of the British Empire; of Chapel Tower during Butterfield’s Victorian alAfrica, Australia and Canada] and to India” and are terations. To make reconstruction easier the builddecorated accordingly with carefully-researched coats ers laid out the stones in order on Meads, and to
of arms, symbols and inscriptions, which “attempt to make access to Meads faster they cut out the arches.
express historical, geographical, mythological, and
WGD, quite an expert on such things, gave me a tour
other dominant facts and influences of these portions
of Kingsgate Street, showing me how much can be
of the Empire”. In the floor of each corner you will
learnt about the history of a building by looking carenotice large circular slabs, quarried in the parts of the
fully at it. Several houses show evidence of modifiEmpire they represent, inlaid with symbols of bronze.
cation to brickwork, insertion and removal of winNotice the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom dows and the like. The Headmaster’s house (Witham
this School is dedicated, in the gable above the gate Close), opposite South Africa Gate, appears to have
from Meads into War Cloister, with her monogram in had its front door inserted where there was origiflint-work above. On either side of the gate is a tab- nally a window. Notice also the false window paintlet, recording the dates on which the Foundation Stone ed in on the top floor of 5 Kingsgate Street for symwas laid (15 July 1922) and on which the Cloister was metry. There is what appears to be the impression of
opened (31 May 1924). Just inside the gate from Meads a fossil at the foot of the front door of Number 14.
to War Cloister there are four square stones set in the
That the road was originally at a lower level and was
floor, taken from the Ruins of Ypres, each inlaid with
subsequently raised is evidenced by a number of houses
the double cross of Ypres in bronze. Their inclusion
with front doors level with the pavement and the tops of
is both subtle and moving. Standing between those
some basement windows only just visible. A number of
stones, look up and notice a wooden roof angel in the
buildings are adorned with the monogram of the Sun Intrusses of the Cloister, of which there are a number
surance Company to show that they were insured; Toye’s,
around the Cloister. And there is, of course, that powerwhich has two white ones, was originally two houses that
ful, moving and beautiful inscription high up around
were joined, with the current front door inserted at the seam.
the perimeter inside the Cloister: “Thanks be to God
for the service of these five hundred Wykehamists…” In Flint Court, in front of the wing to the left when
you look in from Meads, some square impressions
Another interesting detail is the door and blocked arch
are visible in the pavement. These were probably left
in the northwest corner of the Cloister, looking left after
17
over from railings that stood there when Flint Court
was the Commoners’ residence before conversion to
classrooms. Slight discolouration of the brickwork
above the central façade facing Meads was caused
by a fire there in 1947; old photographs show an impressive pediment that stood there and was apparently damaged in the fire, removed and never replaced.
A great deal more could be commented on many other
things, but space restricts me. I hope this article has
shown what fascinating things can be discovered by
careful attention to detail. I would strongly encourage you to look out for other such things, both within and without the School. Take a closer look, for
example, at the clock in Moberly Library and try to
translate the inscription above the door of the Dons’
Common Room. Stop and look- it’s worth the effort.
Iain Vellacott: Kingsgate Street
HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER
We print here an address given to V Book and VI Book 2 by the Headman on 9 January 2013.As the opening paragraph
explains, the address was the first in a series about how the School’s principal officers work together.
the dons, to prospective parents and other outsiders?
What is his personal style and manner? Is it extrovert
or reserved? Is he Captain of the First XV or more the
scholarly type? Does he come across as an efficient
manager or more of an intellectual or does he seem
more like a vicar? Is his style intense or more relaxed,
earnest or humorous? Is he given to rousing speeches
or a quieter mode of persuasion? The style needs to
suit the school. The prevailing tone of Winchester, as
I see it, is basically intellectual: it is a place in which
learning, high culture and good conversation (includSo what do I do? How do I spend my day? Perhaps ing humour) are what matter most. Most of the dons
from your point of view mine is the most mysteri- fit that description and that is the model of the good
ous of all the roles, because you don’t see me much life we commend to you. So that is the tone I need to
in div rooms or in boarding Houses or in the PE Cen- project and explain both inside and outside the School.
tre. There are different ways of doing any job and
how you do headmastering will depend on the char- Second, and closely allied to its tone, are the School’s
acter of the school and its established organisation- character and values, which need to be made consisal structure and on the personality, particular inter- tent and clear. What is the School’s character? It has
ests, strengths and weaknesses of the person doing it. a strong sense of its history, of its uniqueness and difference from other schools. Winchester is not the most
I have been headmaster of three schools over a pe- famous school in the world, but it is the most venerable.
riod of 24 years, each of them different in charac- It prefers to think in terms of character not branding,
ter, though all of them concerned with the same which is too commercial to match venerable. Good
basic constituencies of Governors, parents, Old teachers are more important than state-of-the-art buildMembers, teachers and pupils; and beyond them, ex- ings. We are understated, a little embarrassed about
ternal groups like government departments, inspec- such things as mission statements and the apparatus of
torates, the press and the general public. When you the modern world of public relations. Our prospectus
think about it, very few roles require contact and ac- and website are text-heavy and image-light, they seek
countability to so wide a range of interested parties. to appeal to people who like to think seriously about
While I have the ultimate responsibility of managing education, who are sceptical about the extravagant
the School day-to-day, I could not possibly do it all on claims some schools make and suspicious of glossy
my own. A lot of my responsibility has to be delegated clichés that lack substance. This may explain why in
to other people, such as those I mentioned a moment the current “celebrity” climate Wykehamists are disago. Over the years I have learnt that the golden rule is, inclined to go into politics, so high in PR and low in
only do what only you can do. So I delegate the direction analytical principle. In the current climate our values
of studies and the organisation of the curriculum, the can appear a little unworldly, and indeed they are, if
organisation of sport, music, fundraising, day-to-day by unworldly we mean a certain scepticism about
pastoral care of all of you, the care of the grounds, to modern trivialism. The shorthand for all that is Div.
We thought it might interest you to hear this term from
a number of us as to what we do in the School in order
to make it work; and not just make it work, but make it
a lively, colourful, stimulating, happy place in which to
live and learn. So you will hear from the Second Master,
the Director of Studies, the Master of Music, the Chairman of Dons’ Common Room, the Chaplain, the Senior
Housedon, the Head of Sport and others who have particular responsibilities in the School. This should give
you a clear picture of how we all work together as a team.
other people – many other people – about 500 of them.
Old Bethesda
18
Third, the Headmaster must ensure that the day-to-day
Only do what only you can do. So what can only the order of the School is well-understood and embraced
Headmaster do? I think there are seven main areas. so that people can live and work happily together. The
prevailing experience must be one of harmony and not
First, the Headmaster sets the tone of the School. This dissonance. Allied to this is the School’s system of disis a subtle matter. What language does he use when cipline, which is managed on a personal basis consistent
he is talking about the School, as I am now, to you, to with fairness. Our system of Warnings, without deten-
19
tions and rustications and other heavy machinery, works
because our standards and values are clear; and you are
intelligent enough to get the message and respectful
enough of the community in which you live to want
to co-operate. The way the dons relate to each other,
the way they treat you, requires an order and discipline
which is so well understood that it happens naturally.
The appointment of dons is a key responsibility. I spend
a lot of time talking to dons, supporting them in their
work, helping them to find solutions to their difficulties, whether professional or personal. Most of them
are here for much longer than you, or indeed me, and
their professional fulfilment is important to them and
their families. They are, as it were, the Headmaster’s
apostles; I look after them and they in turn look after
you, academically and pastorally. The Housemasters
bear the greatest part of the School’s pastoral work.
Fourth, and for the most part invisible to you, but essential to your well-being, is the School’s process of
management. You might get the impression that the
Headmaster can make any decision he likes and then
impose it on everyone by fiat. I suppose he could do
that, but it would not be very effective. It is important that decisions are taken with appropriate dispatch
but after consultation. The Senior Management Committee meets under my chairmanship once a week. I
meet the Housemasters every Monday morning. I meet
with the Bursar every Monday morning too. Heads
of department meet at least once a term. I meet with
the Co Praes, who are an important part of my link
with you and your concerns, every Friday morning.
Fifth, and also invisible to you, is my accountability for
the day-to-day operations of the School to the Warden &
Fellows. In theory they could tell me what to do, but in
fact they never do, because they have delegated to me full
responsibility for ensuring the good order of the School.
They are responsible for ensuring that the School’s policies and finances are in proper order. There are six different sub-committees and I attend all their meetings,
so I see a lot of them and keep them well-informed.
Sixth, because of the seniority of the School on the
national scene, the Headmaster of Winchester is expected to have a national profile. In years gone by, this
tended to take the form of prominence in the Headmasters’ Conference (HMC), but for the last decade
the national action has been much more focused on
the maintained sector and what independent schools
can do to help struggling maintained schools lift their
standards. The Academy movement has become significant and Winchester made its mark early when in
2008 it was one of the first independent schools to enter
into a partnership with an Academy; over the past five
20
years we have given human resources to governance
and teaching in order to help Midhurst Rother Academy out of the doldrums to a very respectable place in
the West Sussex LEA. I am also a non-executive director of two Academy providers, each managing about
seven academies, and a Trustee of a consortium of nine
preparatory schools, some of which send boys to Winchester. On the international scene the School has a
growing profile in providing consultation for schools in
the Far East and partnerships with ten schools around
the world through the Winchester International Symposium. We are currently in the process of setting up
the Winchester European Symposium. And to come
back to base, there is one other important thing. The
Headmaster of Winchester has a special responsibility
to look after the Chapel and what goes on it. It is crucial that he understands the function of the Chapel and
takes a close interest in it, because what happens here
is connected with everything I have talked about: the
tone of the School, its character and values, its pastoral service, its intellectual and cultural life. Winchester
cannot be Winchester without its Chapel. It is the only
place (apart from the Cathedral) in which we can meet
as a large group. We have been particularly fortunate
in recent years to have had Chaplains of high intellectual, pastoral and moral calibre. I meet with them
every Monday morning too. The Headmaster is called
the Ordinary of the Chapel, meaning that he ensures
that faith and order are given the prominence they deserve in the formation of a good life. All of this comes
down, in the end, to good relationships among people
who share common basic values and who enjoy working in a team. The metaphor that sums up best what I
do in the School is the conductor of the orchestra, who
has the whole symphony in his mind, ear and heart,
who interprets the music to the players who can play
all the instruments I cannot, so that every individual
instrument can make its distinctive contribution to the
complex and beautiful whole. In the coming weeks
you will hear from some of the individual players.
Lessons in School
The New York Marathon
NAS ran in it!
It advertises itself as the world’s largest sporting
event, with 48,000 runners and crowds of over two
million spectators lining the streets. The world’s most
renowned road race, the full 26.2 miles, it was an
even bigger event than normal this year, having been
cancelled last year in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy,
and after the bombings at the Boston Marathon in
April. Quintessentially American, every aspect of the
New York Marathon is on the largest scale, with Mayor
Bloomberg declaring the race open, a cannon as the
starting gun, with a barge shooting out streams of water
dyed red, white and blue, and speakers blaring out the
inevitable and ubiquitous song ‘New York, New York’.
Meanwhile, a military fort doubles as the race ‘village’
catering for all these runners before the start with
free doughnuts and free drinks (some 90,000 bottles
of water and 40,000 cups of coffee), and with the
legendary urinal – the world’s longest – stretching an
eye-watering 290 foot long (google it for photographic
proof). There are 130 live bands along the way, and
6,000 volunteers participate, giving out 2.5 million
cups of water to the runners, with 41 medical stations
equipped with five tons of ice, 14,000 plasters and 400
tubs of Vaseline. Truly, you can’t understand the scale of
it all until you’ve been there and witnessed it first-hand.
For me, it was the culmination of my mid-life crisis.
By bizarre chance the marathon was five years to the
day since I’d visited the doctor expecting to be told that
it was all the fault of a diet overly rich in cheese and
wine. But there was more to it than just that, and if you
find yourself in a similar state don’t necessarily assume
it’s your hedonistic lifestyle that’s to blame. Your
thyroid gland controls your entire metabolism and mine
just happened to have given up, resulting in dramatic
weight gain, and loss of energy and loss of feeling too:
I was having to boil a kettle to heat up my hands before
playing the piano, and within twenty minutes they were
so cold again as to be effectively immobile. With the
medication eventually sorted, it was time to get fit, and
having started it’s been hard to stop. A year later I ran
my first marathon (not a success – I managed to forget
my shoes!) and, within two more years and four stone
lighter, at the Pisa Marathon I achieved the magic sub-3
(way off professional times, or indeed the likes of RSN,
but still a time considered to be the holy grail for amateur
runners) and with it came qualification for New York.
Thus I found myself in the front pen of one of the
three start waves on a very cold and extremely windy
morning in New York. One thinks of New York as being
flat, but it’s a hilly marathon route with at least five
continuous climbs, each equivalent to going to the very
top of St Catherine’s Hill, and the first of these happens
in the first mile as you cross the Verazzano Bridge,
from Staten Island to Brooklyn. The course prides
itself on crossing and linking the five boroughs of New
York and it continues through Queens and the Bronx,
before eventually winding its way though Manhattan
to the finish line in Central Park. Along the way you
witness much of the economic inequality (a survey last
month had 15% of New Yorkers living beneath the
poverty line) and the cultural diversity of New York,
with large Spanish, Polish and Mexican enclaves in
Brooklyn and Queens. At half-way you cross the twomile long Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan, with all
its skyscrapers and brash commercialism, and the most
extraordinary barrage of sound as the crowds scream
their support as you enter the final stages. There are
only a few moments of silence on the route, along
the bridges (where spectators are not allowed) and
the other – perhaps my most abiding memory of the
race – in the Hasidic Jewish quarter in Williamsburg
which we ran through just as their religious services
were coming to an end. Dressed all in black, the men
with their top hats and long beards, they studiously
averted their gaze as runners do not conform to their
dress code (no low-cut necklines, sleeveless shirts or
shorts) and there was an eerie silence for at least a mile
before we entered the rapidly growing and vibrant
Puerto Rican neighbourhood on Bedford Avenue.
I had one simple aim, to finish under three hours,
but it wasn’t to be, not just because of the hills, but
a strong headwind for the first twenty miles put paid
to any concept of personal bests. Even the winner of
the men’s race, Geoffrey Mutai in 2hrs 8 mins (just
try and imagine running at thirteen miles an hour for
over two hours) was three minutes slower than his
own course record which he’d set two years before.
My own time, 3:00:43, was enough to put me in the
top 2%, but that’s not as impressive as it might sound:
events like these are inclusive and they’re more about
21
the ‘fun-runners’, each with their own personal targets the enormous benefits of running, with such minimal
and so many of them raising vast sums for charity. kit and minimal cost, and such a huge gain for body
and soul. With Winchester at the centre of so many
Marathon running has increased massively in the past beautiful trails – the South Downs Way (to Eastbourne),
few decades (up by 50% in America in the last twelve the Clarendon Way (to Salisbury), the Pilgrim’s Way
years) and this is set to continue. Amongst our own (to Canterbury), the Monarch’s Way (to Worcester), the
staff, marathon runners include Messrs Berry (who Millennium Trail (to Portsmouth), the Itchen Way and
ran the Marathon des Sables, probably the toughest of many more – you can head off in any direction and there
all of them, with five marathons over five days across are countless paths to get you away from civilisation.
the Saraha Desert), Cramer (who managed to run the We are so fortunate to live here and running offers one
Paris Marathon by accident!), Leigh, Nash, Nickerson, of the best opportunities to enjoy the beauty of the
Shedden, Tarrant and Mrs Talks. One only has to witness landscape on our doorstep. It’s never too late to start.
the perseverance and determination of almost all in the
final yards of Jun, Jun Jun and Sen, to be reminded of
NAS finishes a marathon in Pisa - not New York!
After the race
22
LADAKH 2013
William Ashford (D) reports on the completion of the project.
Having precariously dodged our way through the
Himalayas we landed safely at India’s highest airport
(3,256m), Leh, and were greeted by a group of smiling,
red-robed little nuns who proceeded to bless us with
prayers and ceremoniously adorn us with sacred silk
scarfs decorated with intricate Buddhist symbols.
We threw our bags onto the roofs of our dust-covered,
carpeted and incense-smelling
Maruti Suzukis
and headed towards Basgo, a tiny village thirty
kilometres outside of Leh and our home for the next
week. The nunnery, a five-minute walk away from
the campsite, was being built to provide a home for
destitute girls to provide them with an education and
the opportunity of continuing to live life as a nun.
on the roof, picking up a pickaxe to smash the rocks
and then jumping down only to do it again! One
particular event that sticks in my memory was when
we formed two columns of workers and raced each
other with bags of bricks and piles of logs. It ended
with a very loud Ladakhi chant with all of us shouting
at the top of our lungs - ‘Yammu, lammu, tongley.’
While our resident linguist Amschel de Rothschild
(B) managed to hold his own in conversation with the
nuns in near-fluent Ladakhi, the rest of us invented
our own composite multinational language that used a
variety of different tongues: French, German, English,
Arabic, Hindi, Australian, Mandarin, Japanese and
even Glaswegian. These mixed-language sentences
referenced Bollywood films seen on the plane, to the
Although a team of Wykehamists had worked on the UK Top 40 and even 15th century Japanese commands
site last year there was still a lot of work to be done. cribbed from Shogun: Total war. Eccentric sentences
We were divided into three teams and assigned specific such as “Donde esta tapa s’il vous plait thugdzetche?”
tasks such as levelling the floors, transporting rocks were common and both parties understood one another.
and firewood onto roofs and making and moving mud
bricks. We worked in the morning to avoid the worst Even though the nuns had no material possessions
of the sun’s heat, stopped for elevenses (usually a cup they were the most happy, selfless, loving and giving
of cha and a custard cream) then ploughed on until people We had ever met. They were the embodiment
lunchtime, then snoozed for an hour in our oven-like of team work. Not once did I see them argue or
tents, then returned for a final push at two o’clock raise their voice or become angry. As the lead nun
before finally retiring at five. It may not sound like said, ‘The purpose of life is to be happy and useful.’
much but when you are shovelling dirt into sandbags Although we worked on the site for only five days, we
for hours on end, at lung-squeezing altitude and with managed to move the project on to the final stages of
the sun 100% stronger than it is at sea level, believe me, completion and I know that quite a few of us will be
it is hard work. Even the athletes among us suffered. returning in the near future to check on the project.
It was only the perennially-cheerful nuns who kept us
going. Without them we would not have accomplished Before we bade our new friends farewell we put on a
what we did. They kept us entertained for hours on little show for them and the inquisitive local villagers.
end with their practical jokes and made the work a Will Malpass’s (C) brilliant improvised percussion
pleasure. Nuns and Wykehamists sang and danced drum solo on metal water canisters, an extremely fast
together under the light of the Himalayan sun to the rendition of ‘I am a very model of a modern majorrhythm of shovels smashing granite. When illness, general’ by Jack Bolton (E) and a surrealist sketch
rabid dogs and exhaustion plagued us in the night it performed by de Rothschild, William Ashford (D) and
was the thought of them that made us forget our mortal Hamish Coles (K) were received well: but it was our
worries, woke us up in the morning and spurred us on. grand finale, an interesting remix of The Beach Boys’
“I Get Around”, The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”
On the building site, these little Jedi padawans insisted and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” that was received
on helping us by carrying the bags of rocks and with rapturous applause by nuns and villagers alike.
bricks to speed up the building process. It was quite And so it came to pass that on the eleventh day we
extraordinary. I could not imagine a six-year-old in set forth on our next adventure. Led by founder
Britain willingly taking a heavy bag of dirt out of of The Lotus Flower Trust John Hunt, we (and 42
my hands, climbing barefoot up a ladder, dumping it ponies) began the six-day uphill trek to 5,000m.
23
As we climbed higher we left behind the dusty and
desolate moonscape of Leh and found ourselves
engulfed by walls of gun-grey stone that hid the sun
from view. Like termites in the belly of Koln cathedral
we marched past these serrated and jagged walls of
rock and were numbed by the spectacular views that
dwarfed us. I felt microscopic in the presence of these
omnipotent, omnipresent and monumental Goliaths
of stone that looked like the fins of a prehistoric fish
or the vertebrae of some huge coiled dragon. I was
half expecting to run into a pack of Uruk-hais…
these brave men pulled us through. Together with
AF’s expert advice on what to bring up the mountain
and where to put the items exactly in your bag (and
his encyclopedic knowledge on the Eurovision song
contest) we all felt in safe and more-than-capable hands.
With every step downhill the invisible weight on our
chests was lessened. The air became fat with oxygen. It
felt as if the vacuum cleaner that had been thrust down
my oesophagus and had been sucking out the little
precious air in my lungs. Never have I been so grateful
to the most basic necessity of life! Life-giving oxygen
We trudged on determinedly through the wind and returned to my body, I could feel it nourishing my arteries
rain, through rivers and up mountains, enduring both like water spilling onto the roots of a wilted dandelion.
the extremes of heat and cold. Tanta (man or machine
I know not) and his expert team of men were the The wagon train finally came to a stop at the Saboo
engine workers for the whole operation. Along with Ayu nunnery where JJCW made a farewell and
JJCW, they were first up in the morning and last to thank-you speech to the nuns, after which we
go to bed. They were the ones who could set up tents said an emotional goodbye to our new friends.
in blizzards in less than a minute, provide delicious
food at altitude and guide ponies over ravines and up Having haggled and bought many an ethnic garment
cliff-faces before we had even peeled our eyes open in Leh (sherwanis, kurtas and turbans) from a host of
from our sleeping bags. I remember watching Tanta eccentric traders, we boarded the plane to New Delhi.
effortlessly saunter the final ascent to 5,000 m in Through the dense humid mist we had a whirlwind tour
flip-flops and denim jeans while I panted and flapped of the city, visiting the Isa Khan Tomb and the Humayun
around like a freshly-caught goldfish in frying pan. Tomb before heading off to the Baas Educational Trust
School where we had great fun teaching and playing
We came across a local shepherd and an ancient woman with the pupils. Even though we were slaughtered by
who churned yak milk into butter with a piece of string the local cricket team (who played barefoot and texted
and elbow grease. As we climbed higher the air became while batting and bowling) the trip ended on a high with
thinner (every breath felt like a razor blade ripping an unforgettable afternoon relaxing in the palace-like
the inside of your lungs) the team became a close-knit Tikli Bottom guesthouse, swimming in the pool, playing
unit of brothers. Without Alvin Pao (B) constantly chess and devouring an excellent celebratory dinner.
encouraging me up the last 200m or so I would have
given up, crumpled into a ball and rolled back down the JJCW was a fantastic team leader with the organisational
mountain in defeat like a dried out woodlouse. However skills of a modern major general. Having been to Leh
cheesy this may sound, it really was team work that before he was an aficionado on the area and provided
got us through the tougher parts of the expedition. us with wise and sensible advice like a learned
sage. SDM and AF were not only good company on
Reaching the summit was a moment of pure ecstasy. For the trip with their reservoirs of information from
days I had been engulfed in a bowl of dark stone and had the X-men to X-rays but also invaluably useful
seen nothing but the brooding rock above. At 5000m, gurus on trekking. We had a brilliant time in India.
even though the effects of altitude were making me feel
as if I had had a lung surgically removed with a rusty
spoon, I felt like an Old Testament prophet looking down
at the world beneath, touching the clouds with the branch
of an olive tree and letting the cold wind blow through
my wizened hair and across my weather-beaten face.
Essential to the success of the trip were the two highlyqualified and highly- banterous Scottish doctors
Jamie Hill and John Copland. During the darkest days
of the trip, when almost everyone was feeling the
effects of altitude, exhaustion, sun stroke and curry,
24
The convent in Ladakh
The Ladakh working party
The Trusty Servant
25
Freden International Music
Festival 2013
The ISGA European
Championships
Sam Groom (Coll) didn’t mention the war.
Jack Keating (C) was on the course.
even by the standards of professional musicians—and
made good lasting friends; I discovered a sample of a
beautiful region, where a beautiful community lives; I
heard, for free, two weeks of world-class music; I ate
and drank in such a way and to an extent that can only
be described as Germanic. All this was made possible
by ADA twenty-three years ago, when he founded the
Festival, and every year since, when he is the driving
force behind a stunning musical team, and this year,
when he invited me to join him. I now see the man
It is a unique event. Freden is a very small village set with even more than the respect in which I have long
in postcard rolling hills and woods, where everyone held him: deference stops me calling him Adrian whenknows everyone else and needs no one else. For three ever our paths cross—until next summer, of course.
weeks in summer, however, it is host to a series of
concerts, talks and exhibitions of the highest standard.
Last year’s theme, Die Welt zu Gast (“playing host to
the world”), meant the programme had been saturated
with exotic world music. This year, then, there was
no theme (Kein Thema!), so a great variety of music
was heard, from Vivaldi to Hosokawa to the premier
of a work by Texan Kerry Turner. Performers included
Bayreuth veteran Sarah Fryer, singing Wagner; pianist Thomas Hell, playing, among other pieces, Ives’
unique Concord Sonata; and our very own ADA as the
mainstay of the Festival’s ensemble camerata freden.
To the Wykehamist, ADA is a man of mysteries. The
bouncy-haired figure seen by most only atop the conductor’s podium is worldwide a renowned performer
with an ever-growing list of recordings to his name.
More remarkable, though, is that this year, for his
twenty-third year—twenty-three would you believe
it!—ADA was artistic director at the International
Music Festival in Freden, Lower Saxony, Germany,
and I was lucky enough to work on its practical team.
As I say, I was there. I had been conned into volunteering
to do jobs that were earning other (teutophone) youths
35€ per day: in the daytime, printing programmes and
setting seats; before and after each evening’s concert,
pulling pints and selling snacks. A kind couple put
me up free of charge. They, Dorle and Werner Meyer,
lifelong inhabitants of Freden, were the two most hospitable people imaginable, and the Festival had taken
advantage of their kindness over the years. Compared
with the Italian quartets and crowds of American college students they had been loaded with in past years, I
was easy to look after. I certainly was not whole populations of concerts turning up at their patio of an evening, demanding drinks, staying until the early morning
and sometimes sleeping on their floor. That gives you
an idea of Freden’s atmosphere during these weeks.
I went primarily for my German. Indeed, if that were
all I had gained I would be happy, for two weeks spent
living and working with (no offence) unsympathetic
German-speakers of all ages can do terms of good for
your language. Beyond that, though, I had a unique
experience. I got to know many fascinating people—
26
ADA with his fiddle
Fromonds’s Chantry the vault
Golf at Winchester has been on the rise in recent
years, thanks to the investment made by the OWGS
and the involvement of RSM and SDM. The fact that
we were even taking part in a competition like the
ISGA European Championships shows just how far
the golf programme has come. Going into this event
the team had endured a difficult couple of weeks,
with an especially tough loss to St John’s Leatherhead
in the first round of the ISGA Matchplay. There was
definitely the feeling that we’d been underperforming,
so we were hoping to bounce back in Spain.
Winchester’s time to shine. Keating started where he left
off the day before racing to -6 under through 11 holes,
with 7 birdies. Unfortunately a couple of bad holes on
the way in saw him drop back to -3 for the day. Behind
him Joshua was having a much better day which saw him
post an impressive +1, holing a vital birdie putt on the
last. When Cheung and Stojilikovic both came in with
rounds of +5 all we could do was wait for the results.
Whitgift’s A team had won the team event
comprehensively and so the best we could hope for was
second. At the same time we knew that Cheung had a
The inaugural ISGA European Championships good chance in the individual nett, while Keating might
got under way at Villaitana on 25 October with a place in the individual gross. After an agonising wait the
practice round on the Levante Championship course. results were revealed. With Cheung, Keating and Joshua
That evening we found that the group’s food and all well under their handicaps for the week, we won the
accommodation had been upgraded and so for the team nett comfortably. With a trophy in the bag, along
rest of the stay we enjoyed a five-star experience with some weighty medals, we waited to see where we
off the course. Early the next morning the first day’s had placed in the gross team event. We were second.
competition took place on the Poniente course where While we didn’t receive any prize we knew that this
the teams played fourball-better-ball for team rankings. result was an good achievement from where we had been
Winchester’s first pairing out, Jamie Joshua (I) and after the first day’s play. In the individual competitions
Jack Keating (C), came in with an encouraging -4. Cheung missed out on winning the individual net by
The second pairing of Alex Cheung (D) and Sergej one shot, whilst Keating came second in the gross. The
Stojiljkovic (F) didn’t play as well as they would have individual winner came from the Whitgift A team.
liked but were still able to manage a respectable score
of +3. Whilst -1 sounded like a good total we found All things considered, it was a fine performance from
ourselves sitting in second last position overnight. the Winchester team, one which will be hard to follow
in the future. Thanks have to go to SDM who was much
The next afternoon the individual stroke play got more than just the don-in- charge. Over the four days
underway on the Levante Course. On the singles days he was our psychologist, coach and number one fan.
the best three scores from each team went towards the His laid back yet competitive approach helped us create
team total and so when it became clear that Saturday a hugely enjoyable feel within the team which probably
wasn’t Joshua’s day there was some added pressure on helped us get the best out of ourselves on the course.
the rest of us to produce. Luckily that is exactly what Since arriving back the new ISGA rankings have
we did. Cheung posted a remarkable +7, especially been published and all four members of the team are
when you take into consideration his handicap of 15 currently sitting in the top 25. I think it would be fair to
and his 8 on the par 4 13th. Stojilikovic, the youngest say that this result has established Winchester as a force
member of our team, also fell foul of the 13th taking to be reckoned with on the independent school’s circuit.
a 7 in what was a solid round of +9. It was however
the captain’s day, shooting his first under par round at
just the right time. With a combined total of +15 for
the day we jumped up the rankings into 4th position.
Sunday morning saw the final round of the competition,
this time individual stroke play on the Poniente Course.
With individual and team prizes up for grabs it was
The team
27
Archery
A SOUND SEASON OF SOCCER
Charlie Peters (B) traces the growth of a new sport.
Alex Sachak (C) looks back over the games.
Winchester College Archery Club was founded in 2004.
It started as a niche and relatively minor sport, but as
time progressed, it gained huge popularity. Indoor and
outdoor archery are available to Wykehamists, with
many of the more advanced archers as well as the
team’s coach, Tomas Maliszewski, giving coaching and
training advice to the junior members. Membership has
grown hugely at the Archery Club with an extensive
junior presence being attracted each year to the squad.
for all Wykehamists who wish to represent Winchester.
Before 2010, the School had failed to send any archers
to the national competitions, instead operating at a
fairly low level of competition outside of term time.
However, Winchester has now managed consistently to
train several archers to compete at the highest national
level each year. Last season, under the captaincy
of Daniel Njoo (E), Winchester sent eight archers to
compete at the indoor nationals in December. All of
the archers finished in the top thirty-five, with Nicholas
Barnfield (B) finishing thirtieth, David Wu (E) placing
twenty-sixth, Frederik Boumeester (A) finishing
thirty-third, and Njoo winning the silver medal. It
was a highly successful trip. At the outdoor nationals,
Winchester did not experience the same success. With
the challenge of shooting up to 90 metre targets and
having to face experienced adult archers, they struggled.
However, in the under 18s category, Boumeester
finished twenty-fifth. This was the first ever placing of
a Wykehamist at the outdoor national championships.
Archery, in its competitive form, operates in a
similar way to shooting. Archers must try and get
as close a grouping as possible in their rounds, with
the overall scores being counted after the final round
to determine the leader board. Each training session
focuses on improving the accuracy of the archer,
through his posture and ability to determine the best
shots. TM has an excellent pedigree as a competing
archer, and gives his professional advice to each
aspiring archer, regardless of ability. The archers
all shoot the recurve bow, which is the most widely
used type of bow in the world, even at the Olympics. Archery is a typically Wiccamical sport. During Cloister
time, the archers can enjoy a relaxed atmosphere on
With so few other schools offering archery as an activity, Bursar’s Field shooting in the sun. During Short half
Winchester has struggled to organise matches. This and Common Time, the Wykehamists shoot in the Cecil
leaves lots of time available to training for the indoor Range. There, the boys have the ability tactically to
and outdoor national competitions. Alongside the analyse their shots after each round in preparation for the
excellent participation at national level, the archery club indoor nationals in December. Archery is now becoming
also boasts matches against St Swithun’s roughly twice a seriously successful and popular sport at the school, and
a month. At junior level, the school provides kit and more success is expected at this year’s indoor nationals.
equipment. This makes it a surprisingly accessible sport
Lawnmowing: picture by Dominic Rae
28
ter the final whistle blew was the highlight of my time
in the XI. We continued our march forward in the ISFA
cup with a 4-2 victory, Nicolas Sollohub (D) continuing
to be in the goals and Hands acquiring the first yellow
card of the season. Facing up to Ardingly that Saturday
was always going to be a stiff task and so it proved. I
managed to bring down their pacy left-winger in the
box after five minutes of play but Ardingly moved one
goal ahead - it did not look good. But we proved ourselves to be made of sterner stuff with defence rallyThe first Sunday back from holiday saw soccer the XI ing under the leadership of Tom Bacon (D) and Patinvolved in the novelty of the knockout rounds of the rick Trant (K). The final score of 3-1 was an injustice
ISFA-6-A-Side Cup, the first time any Winchester side as we applied considerable pressure in the second half
has made it past the group stage. Harry Hands (K) and and rattled a very strong side. Bedales were comfortthe captain George Herring (I) linked up together with ably beaten 4-1 the next week. The OWs sent us off to
particular effectiveness. The promise did not continue Leave-Out with a 1-0 loss with a stunning goal that was
as XI suffered against a tactically smart St Bede’s side the only thing that separated two evenly-matched sides.
that passed the ball better than any team we encountered all year. The subsequent 3-2 loss against KES We returned from Leave-Out with a match against
Whitley was a disappointment. This was a game I will Lancing after one day’s training. We quickly went two
never forget after being ordered to sort myself out by goals down but replied with good intent in the second
Lew Chatterley and reacting by fouling their striker in- half to achieve a 2-2 draw. We played brilliantly against
side our box to give them a penalty. A response was Alleyn’s, and after an early goal by Herring we led for
needed - and that was exactly what came. Winchester sixty minutes, only to succumb agonizingly to two late
struck up three goals in the first ten minutes of the game goals by Alleyn’s. The biggest game of the season came
against Harrow and cruised to a comfortable victory. next as we faced up to Latymer in the third round of
the ISFA cup. We played in front of a big crowd on
That Saturday the XI faced up to its first “big” game of Bull’s Drove for the first time in the season but sadthe season against Eton. The game looked to be going ly lost after Latymer scored goals in the first and last
well at half time when the score was 1-1 but insuffi- minute of the game. A very strong Bradfield side was
cient fitness and concentration condemned us to a 5-2 next and we were determined give a response to their
loss that was not nearly as bad as it looked on paper. ISFA cup loss. The game finished 3-1 but the BradOur first ISFA cup game was the following week and field coach noted at the end that we did not deserve
Winchester came back from one goal down to win 2-1. to have lost the game. The whole team played their
Vincent Kerck (A), in what would end up being his last socks off and we were able to hold our heads high after
full game of the season due to injury, played admirably the game. After that came a 4-2 victory against Midand Robin Richards (D), our goalkeeper, proved to be hurst Rother College, a great finish by Angus Woodthe “difference” between the two sides. Mr Chatterley man (E) saved our blushes after falling 2-1 down.
decided to change things around against Hampshire
Schools U16s by introducing some of the next genera- The team would like to thank our coaches Lew Chatterley
tion. Soccer XI achieved a draw, the first time any XI and GJW for their inspiring coaching throughout the seaside has come away with a result against Hampshire son, and the ground staff for the great pitches prepared.
schools. The side trained exceptionally hard over the
next week in expectation of the important games to come.
After the loss of a number of key players at the end
of last year there were fears that this Soccer XI would
not be a competitive side. The pre-season soccer
camp seemed to suggest that this would be the case.
In the first competitive game of the season a physical Corinthian Casuals side dismantled Winchester.
However, the season ended up a surprisingly successful one, with a number of stirring performances by a side that has shown impressive team spirit.
Then the XI overcame Charterhouse 2-1 for, what Mr
Chatterley believed, the first time in seventeen years.
Richards continued a series of astonishing performances with some mind-blowing saves and the team worked
together brilliantly to secure the victory. The feeling af-
29
VALE PSAT
VALE RSS
In a postscript to the Vale we published in the last number, Thomas Yarrow (Coll 2000-2005) remembers him.
QEII Theatre was a shrine for me and for many
during our time at Winchester. The building itself
with its faded upholstery, chipped wooden railings
and musty atmosphere seemed as hallowed as
the 14th century buildings I lived in. Presiding
over it all was the great enabler, Simon Taylor.
Enthusiasm and sympathy are mixed in him to such an
extent that his passion for creativity and theatre cannot
help but inspire in eager young minds a desire to achieve
the closest to their potential, and so it is no surprise to
me that his tenancy as Head of Drama has created what
history may well call a revolution in theatre at Win:Coll.
One could point to the four-fold increase in the number
of productions per year, and to the fact that so many of
these productions have been boy-led. Directing plays
could have been among the most stressful experiences of
my school life, but Simon’s encouragement, unflagging
support and comfort made the burden one to which there
was added not an ounce of despair. Projects which were
“not a good idea”, with Simon’s help became some of
the greatest achievements I have accomplished to date.
with old friends from school- and new friends
who have been equally inspired by Simon in their
own school years. Not only that, but this summer
a youth production company created by a group of
like-minded boys while still at Win:Coll:, which
could never have existed but for Simon’s fostering
presence and support, will celebrate its tenth year.
I am an actor now because of Simon. People may
look at that as a good or a bad thing, but it is what
I have been most passionate about for a long time.
It is passion, encouragement, friendship and love
which I hope will continue to be the hallmark of
QEII after Simon leaves to join my world in London.
Music has been a very important part of his life, for
he is an accomplished violinist and, with Ann, brought
up a musical family. He knows that dulcet tones come
only from hard work, and you will often hear music
wafting from his lab or his study - either just him
practising, or a quartet that he assembled, making
chamber music together in the time-honoured way.
And he has always been willing to stiffen School
Orchestra as concert day approached. In the early days,
he used regularly to play in the Winchester Operatic
Society productions, as well as in the major city
orchestras; and it is good that he has taken his place in
the theatre pit again during the recent run of Patience.
Many a CV contains a section extolling the virtue of
“interpersonal skills”, and Simon recognised the value
theatre plays in education by setting up the Junior Play
Festival, which nurtures exactly these qualities. It allowed
older boys the freedom to write, direct and manage a
small team, while giving younger boys the opportunity
to cultivate talent, develop self-confidence and forge
friendships which might otherwise never have happened.
Friendship, in fact, is what I have taken most from
my experiences in QEII under Simon’s mentorship,
because he created an atmosphere in which that alltoo-dangerous word ‘love’ is allowed to exist. I have
never felt closer to a group of human beings than I
did in his rehearsal rooms and in performance during
King Lear, and this included the stage management and
technical teams. So much of the actors’ onstage work
relied on the friendships we had developed offstage
with Simon at our helm, and he taught us to bring that
feeling on with us every time we made our entrances.
People keep coming back to Winchester because of
the camaraderie he instilled. I have been involved in
two productions of the Winchester College Players,
30
has been, he has been just as vigorous in what is now
known, I think, as co-curricular work, seemingly
effortlessly keeping a large number of activities
simultaneously on the go over an extended period. A
keen and competent recreational sailor himself, holding
all the necessary certificates, he ran the sailing club
here for many years. An enthusiastic photographer, he
chronicled the life of the School with a very fine set of
monochrome images in the days of film, and was then
one of the first to embrace the new technology and to
The research he did for his doctorate gave him a taste recognise its potential. Scores of thespians - especially
for experimental work and, throughout his career, he the Furleyites - over the years have been grateful for his
has delighted in devising elegant experiments and labours in producing portfolios of play after play, while
sportsmen have game after game recorded for posterity.
Richard Shorter is a man of many parts, and is ever
ready to acquire new skills. Sensing that the successful
candidate for the post here would be an expert in
electronics, he made himself into just that before
applying for the job, and has been our resident guru ever
since, working in the electronics projects lab (before it
was overtaken by the ‘little black box’ revolution), and
becoming a mover and shaker in the world of Electronics
Examining, when you could still do it as a separate subject.
Also, in the early days, he ran the theatre lighting and
was the acknowledged expert on all things technical
in the theatre. It is perhaps just as well that New Hall
is being refurbished because, with his departure,
there would be no-one left who knew how the New
Hall theatrical rig went together! His expertise was
invaluable when Furley’s was putting on plays,
without which it is doubtful that some of our more
ambitious sets could have been completed in time.
Play in the Seventh Chamber
He served a spell in the Undermaster’s office,
rationalising, inventing timetabling systems, and
generally aiming much of the School’s organisation
towards the twenty-first century. But the most important
demonstrations, which he has enthusiastically shared
job a Winchester don can undertake is the running of a
with the rest of the Physics department. Peeking into
House; and Richard and Ann moved into Furley’s in 1993.
his lab during up-to-books hours, you invariably see
a beautifully organised whiteboard and, as like as One of the first things he did was to establish a
not, a java applet running on the projector, for he is a mechanism for enabling New Men to get to know
great searcher of the internet for apposite simulations. each other - bonding, I suppose you would call it
nowadays. His idea was that we would all go to the
Great as his enthusiasm for the classroom and Physics
31
Lake District at the beginning of the Short Half Leave- Symphony Orchestra for three decades, and a front-desk player
Out. The idea was only partially successful because the in various ensembles in the wider community. In recent years
first batch of New Men enjoyed it so much that they he was Chairman of the Winchester Symphony Orchestra.
wanted to repeat the exercise as One-Year Men, and
again as Two-Year Men (MP and V Book), so that the
trip rapidly lost its function as an ice-breaker. But it
was the start of Richard’s next enterprise, which was
to turn Furley’s into a DofE centre. We tutors were
all packed off to the relevant training courses, while
Richard coped with the admin and cajoled the men
into completing what they had started - and when I
consider how arduous a task all that proved to be when I
subsequently extended the project to the whole School,
I marvel that Richard took it all in his stride alongside
the myriad of other tasks shouldered by a housedon.
I suppose I may be forgiven for viewing this period
through slightly rose-tinted spectacles, for I found both
Richard and Ann enormously supportive of me as a
House tutor. If I was finding the production of a play
going through a rocky patch, with the men not learning
their lines or not turning up to rehearsals, there would
always be a glass of wine before I went home, and a
word in the ear of the relevant Furleyites before my
next visit - and Ann was a treasure when it came to
finding the right look for a play. They were a welcoming
couple outside the House routine too, inviting the
House chaplain and me to share part of their family
holidays on Dartmoor during several Easter breaks.
Egg Flip Night in School
RSS has served Winchester since his appointment in
1980. All good things must come to an end - albeit
a little later in life now than when I had to retire.
What is amazing is that Richard and Lucy have just
started a second family, and that Richard is looking
better than ever on it. We wish them well as Richard
settles to the serious business of retirement, and
thank him warmly for his time of service here.
AJPA
An additional note from KMP
RSS’s long and distinguished career at Winchester
encompassed Head of Science and Housemaster of Furley’s.
He was also persuaded at two different times to undertake
the role of Undermaster – a responsibility for which an
amount of persuasion might have been necessary but was
certainly worthwhile. His razor-sharp mind cut through
the inevitable plethora of administrative demands, and
he created whole-school timetables with imagination and
enviable logic – identifying solutions to seemingly intractable
difficulties, and seeing essential patterns and possibilities
that were beyond the perception of most other dons.
A very keen violinist, former member of the orchestra that
accompanied the Chelsea Opera Group, it is part of RSS’s
life blood to play in orchestras and ensembles. No matter
how busy, he was a loyal member of the Winchester College
32
Compass in Science School collection
LAURA ELLEN BACON was Artist in Residence during November 2013. Her large-scale cane sculptures, constructed with assistance from boys in the School, follow patterns of natural air flow through
the surrounding space. The sculpture in Figure 1 follows the wind paths echoing through the foyer and
up the stairwell of Art School. Figure 2 will be installed in the Warden’s Garden.
33
VALE NF
I asked Nicholas Fennell what he had been up to for the
past forty years or so. He is a man of whom a thousand
stories are told, but I wanted to be able to write this
Vale, or ‘Wale’ as the Latinate confidently voice it, with
knowledge from the horse’s mouth. We sat back in the
deepest chairs we could find, and for a happy and absorbing hour or more, I heard what he had been doing.
He came to Winchester in 1974 for a year, to teach Russian and French. He was a tutor in Toye’s under Kenneth
Kettle, a linguist himself. But then he made off to Soviet
Armenia for a year, where he was lector at the Yerevan
State University. In 1976-7, he had two jobs in Toulouse, running alongside one another: English Assistant
at the Centre pédagogique régional, and lector in Russian at the University. In 1977 he returned to Winchester.
He marks out his career first by a list of the Houses
where he was tutor: Hopper’s, Phil’s, then a return to
Toye’s. I know from experience how much Nicholas
gives as a tutor. His Preces, sometimes so short and
sharp they leave the whole room in gaping silence,
sometimes substantial offerings on such unfathomable
questions as the theology behind the Orthodox rite of
Easter, never failed to raise the level. He is a connoisseur of the absurd, and it wasn’t always easy to know,
when he picked up an absurdity, whether he was about
to take it in the direction of hilarity or towards the serious. In the end, the whole show, tutoring, teaching,
his own work, has always been serious, very serious.
Entertainment, buffoonery, the Falstaffian, the Gargantuan, was where he housed all that really mattered.
With such qualities, the company he offered the housemaster, who had perhaps spent the day wrestling with
the money-box while preoccupied with the weighty
question of how best to look after his flock, amounted
to nothing less than a moment of enlightenment in the
week. It probably mattered very much that Nicholas,
for years, tutored on a Wednesday evening, right in the
middle of the week. The sense of humour, ranging effortlessly from light comedy to the ribald belly laugh,
is prodigious. Nearly everyone will know the sound of
it from hearing his laughter in the theatre. When he was
acting various cameo parts in the Minack production of
Great Expectations, he laughed so loud, still onstage,
at the eating scene between Pip and Herbert that Simon Taylor had to get him out of earshot. That was
the exception. The rule is that everyone wants him to
stay in the audience, because they know, actors and all,
34
that if Dr Fennell is there the play can’t die. He is the
proverbial life and soul. And this went into his tutoring,
this healing laughter with its effect of raising the level.
In the classes he taught, besides laughter, there was
the never-questioned, unflagging faith in the material of the subject, whether the grammar of Russian or
French or the right reading of a novel by Dostoyevsky.
‘I loved the feeling, after teaching French literature to
a really good class, a class with native speakers in it,
that I had pulled it off. I didn’t have the French, not
really, but somehow I had pulled it off. It had worked.’
And the same kind of feeling after ‘pulling off’ his part
in Robin Price’s production of Ionesco’s Exercices de
Conversation et de Diction Françaises pour Étudiants
Américains, or from good readings of plays in the sessions of Frog Soc. Nicholas studied Italian at university, and I remember when we had a group reading the
Inferno for a while, how he would go about it. It was
no joke. Dante was telling us something, in a beautiful
language, but telling us something difficult, something
which was there, which we might not be able to lay
hold of, but which if we were going to read him at all,
it was our job to try and get hold of. The vagaries of the
hermeneutic circle seemed to wither, and the quest for
a sturdier truth commenced. Yet none of this without
exuberance. Recently he told a Div of mine that if they
wanted to understand Crime and Punishment, the thing
to do was ‘to get their laughing-gear round it’. Or ask
his Russianists, who remember what я пишу, ‘ya pishu’, means (‘I send’), because it derives from the language of the Amazonian tribe who use pea-shooters to
send messages. The laughter, the academic earnestness,
the turn, at times, to the sardonic, have woven a web
of loyalties round him. There are many who remember their classes with Dr Fennell as the golden thread
through Winchester. The loyalty is also to a tradition,
and one which like all good tradition scatters fashion
(‘Fashion is the mother of death’), yet keeps surprising
itself with its own inventiveness. The list of those whom
Nicholas himself remembers with special affection
and respect is an embodiment of a tradition in figures
who, like the figures of Dante’s poem (Paradiso rather
than Inferno) remain immediate because they have become not just themselves but a way of doing things:
John Thorn, Jo Bain, Liz Nash, John Surry, Alan Conn,
Michael Fontes. (‘The voice – Fontes’s voice! You
know why you do Russian? Russian in, Russian out.’)
Nicholas and Vassiliki are going to live in Eastleigh.
He knows Queensland, he knows Florence, he knows
the monasteries of northern Greece and he knows Mt
Athos; and he knows France and Armenia. But Eastleigh, ‘with its (concrete) canals and Palladian echoes’
(Nicholas’ words) is the unsung English response to
Venice. What will he be doing? The answer leaves one
boggled at first, and then more and more absorbed. He
is going to write History. It is easy to see how this interest has long formed a reliable background, or rather a
grounds, of his teaching. ‘I could only do this kind of
work because of the generosity of Win Coll’, he says
with feeling. ‘I will always be grateful.’ He will hope
to get a Leverhulme grant as a member of Winchester
University, to research and write a book on the Russian monastery of St Panteleimon on Mt Athos. He
has already written a more general book, The Russians
Drawing by Marcus Scott
on Athos (Oxford 2001), an edited version of his doctoral dissertation from the University of Southampton
in 1997; and a study of The Prophet Elijah Skete on
Mt Athos, in Russian (Moscow 2011). But the history needs revisiting: the archives have been opened
up since the late ‘90s, and there is much more to be
told. There are even documents which Nicholas has
transcribed and which have since mysteriously dis-
appeared. The story of St Panteleimon hangs on the
catastrophic moment in 1912 when the Russian navy
sailed through the Straits to the holy island of Athos
and arrested 800 monks of the Russian monastery, all
of them accused of stirring unrest by their insistence
that the uttering of the name of Jesus in the hesychastic
prayer (a brief but central prayer used in the Orthodox
Church from early times) has the force of a sacrament.
These heretics, as they were called, were expelled. The
pandemonium in which monks had been thrown off
cliff-tops or otherwise manhandled was brought to an
end, and a monastery of 2,000 was reduced to 1,200.
The story, the searching in the archives – itself a story,
and we can picture Dr Fennell driving tough bargains
with curmudgeonly abbots and librarians – will make
quite a tale. But this is the whole world in a drop; more
than a local slice of life. Two Russian monks have already been ‘persuaded to quit the island’ after trying
to write histories of St. Panteleimon. The material is
painfully sensitive, because it has to do with Greek national self-identity defining itself through the distinctiveness of the Orthodox Church, and with the possibly still more intricate historical-religious picture the
Russians, on their side, make of themselves. Nicholas
imparts a sense of the global fatality of these goings-on,
a sense we can learn from them; and when he speaks
of them, he does so with an unmistakeable attachment
to the task of writing good History. Listening to him, I
recalled his love of accuracy, of exactness of expression made possible by an ear for idiom. There is some
traffic here between the study of language and that of
the past which has borne and, it is clear, will bear fruit.
The research and the teaching are linked up in specific ways too: ‘It means I can write Russian now’, he
says of writing on the Skete of Elijah in Russian. And:
‘It means that I know what academic method is, and
this matters in the classroom.’ One colleague referred
to Nicholas’ occasional ‘grumpy iconoclasm’. (Not in
the religious sense.) It’s a phrase that could be misunderstood, but one hears its sense again, to do with the
refusal of received ideas, in his own remark on all this
History he is doing: ‘In History you can never be impartial.’ You want to be, but you can’t be. The other
side of this taking of pains is the thrill of memory:
‘When you go to Mt Athos you are aware of History
living. It’s all those centenarians with long memories.’
Theatre has been a significant part of Nicholas’ time
at Winchester. Simon Taylor told me that when he first
came to the School, Fennell’s performance of Pozzo in
Waiting for Godot was still talked of as a benchmark.
He was Dr Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Lionato in Much Ado About Nothing and Mr Wopsle in
Great Expectations, the last two directed in The Minack
in Cornwall by Simon Taylor. He was Lady Bracknell
35
in The Importance of Being Earnest, which he directed himself as the Toye’s House Play in 2003. ‘A
handd.........bag?’ He directed Charley’s Aunt in Toye’s
Garden (dangerously weather-dependent, but the gods
were favourable), The Good Doctor (Checkhov sketches done in 2008), Daisy Pulls It Off (2010), Ionesco’s
The Bald Primadonna, all for Toye’s. His style of directing is exact and ambitious. In some curious, half-magical way, he gives everyone the confidence they need by
expressions of disbelief that the play will ever be ready
for performance. I think the cast felt confident because
it was so obvious he knew what he was doing, knew the
level he wanted to reach, and wasn’t going to let anyone
fall short. As in any good teaching, no one was excluded, everyone was caught up in the thrill of getting there,
and ‘there’ was somewhere definite in his mind and
worth working for. His staggerment that he should need
to tell anyone not to ‘block’ onstage was a case in point.
not ****fielding there’, he said - and then tried to catch
the ball in his hat. Bowling Michael Nevin out (caught
in the slips) was a high, probably the highest high; but
when, years ago, Fennell’s team lost a football game
17 goals to nil at Charterhouse, he got in the bus and
wondered miserably why he was still a schoolmaster.
I have missed out two things. One, a very important
one: Nicholas as mentor to colleagues. He invents new
materials for the classroom. He shares them. He brings
on those who will teach after him: Stephen Rich and
others. He is a generous man. It is in the same spirit that
he has inspired clever pupils. The other thing is a comedy, and the full story of it is in a 2008 Quelle, written up
by Alasdair MacKinnon. It’s the story of how Dr Fennell took his senior Russian sets to a play in the West
End. They were aiming for an artsy staging of some
Dostoyevsky in an artsy warehouse in a backwater.
The bus-driver got in a muddle. Westminster went past,
Theatre was at the centre, too, of Frog Soc, which Nicho- Buckingham Palace swung by, Piccadilly, other sights
las ran from 1997 to 2009. I was honoured to be asked to a in the wrong order, then the backwater but no warehouse
couple of readings. He raised our level. We sipped good to be seen. In the end they settled for hamburgers in a
wine in the garden of Nicholas and Vassiliki’s beautiful part of town your Mum wouldn’t want you to set foot
house, which seemed to capture all the light of Kingsgate in. But the joy is in the search, and when they got back
Street, while the dusk crept up on Feydeau’s farce from to Winchester, they had had one of the best trips ever.
the wilderness of blackberry bushes beyond the lawn.
How we will miss this brilliant man. How I will
Games? He loved Yearlings D cricket with Nick miss the red cords flitting by to re-affirm the seriMacKinnon. ‘Wins were few’, reports NIPM, ‘but ous comedy of teaching. We wish Nicholas and
when they came they were due to Nicholas’s work on Vassiliki, and their family, the happiest of continuthe boys’ catching, his fielding practices aided by the ations in Eastleigh and other places near and far.
bag of cricket balls that he liberated from less needy
teams during a season.’ In the ‘80s, he had his own team PJMC
of ‘Fennell’s Rabbits’. Geoffrey Eyre was unsure. ‘I’m
Diary SHORT HALF 2013
Societies
2M Lecture
Prof Peter Biller
An Inquisitor in 1307
Classical
Tian Wolf (Coll)
Alex Hollomby (H)
Virgil’s Aeneid
The Odyssey
DT
Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
The 2012 Olympic Torch
Empson
Henry Eliot (OW)
Dr Timothy Lustig
Mr Mark Forsyth
Medieval Literature
Sir Thomas Malory
Mark Forsyth: The Inky Fool
FrenchFilm Polisse
Film Les femmes du 6ème étage
Geography
Mr Robert Guest
Economics of Global Migration
Hispanic
HE Saborio de Rocafort
Costa Rica
History
Mr Simon Kerry
Prof Antony Best
Lord Lansdowne
The Smuts Speech of 1934
IDEASMr Philip Spanos
Dr Lorrain Warren
Renewable Energy
Entrepreneurial process
Music
Mr Nicholas Wilks
Nielsen & Beethoven
Oriental
Mr Damian Harper
Sir David Brewer
Mr Michael Rutland
Living in Beijing
UK-China Business Relations
Bhutan & China
Ramsay
Dr Dieter Helm
The Carbon Crunch
Science
Mr Ian Fraser
Prof David Tong
Prof Chris Proud
Surveying Reefs in the Gulf of Thailand
Black Holes
Understanding Cancer
Theo & Phil Dr Nigel Warburton
Dr Simon Oliver
Sacrificing One to Save Many
Theology & Evil in Films
NF in touch with the world
36
37
Music
Chamber Music I (Scholars’ Concert) – 22 September
Bassoon Concerto K191
Mozart (1756-91)
Impromptu in Ab maj D935 Schubert (1797-1828)
Cello Sonata op. 40
Shostakovich (1906-75)
Double Bass Concerto
Capuzzi (1755-1818)
String quartet op.17 in D majHaydn (1732-1809)
Andante & Scherzo
Busser (1872-1973)
Etude in E maj op. 10 no.3 Chopin (1810-49)
Oboe Concerto
Att. Haydn (1732-1809)
Music for a while
Purcell (1659-95)
Violin Sonata in G min
Debussy (1862-1918)
Joseph Rhee (E) bassoon, OT piano
Angus Robertson (B) piano
Max Cheung (Coll) cello, NAS piano
Orlando Beeny (H) tuba, OT piano
Nicholas Lau (B), Jacob Thorn (Coll) violins, Calvin Chan (D) viola, Samuel Grew (B) cello
Alexander Toal (B) trumpet, OT piano
James Fraser (Coll) piano
Thomas Peet (F) oboe, NAS piano
William Ashford (D) voice, NAS piano
Kazuma Costello (F) violin, NAS piano
Music Scholar’s Concert, Avenue St Andrew’s, Southampton – 26 September
String quartet op.17 in D majHaydn (1732-1809)
Nicholas Lau (B), Jacob Thorn (Coll) violins, Calvin Chan (D) viola, Samuel Grew (B) cello
Double Bass Concerto
Capuzzi (1755-1818)
Orlando Beeny (H) tuba, OT piano
Cello Sonata op. 40
Shostakovich (1906-75)
Max Cheung (Coll) cello, NAS piano
Meditation
Massenet (1842-1912)
Nicholas Lau (B) violin, ADA piano
Andante & Scherzo
Busser (1872-1973)
Alexander Toal (B) trumpet, NAS piano
Rondo Capriccioso
Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Max McCulloch violin, ADA piano
Oboe Concerto
Att. Haydn (1732-1809)
Thomas Peet (F) oboe, NAS piano
Music for a while
Purcell (1659-95)
William Ashford (D) voice, NAS piano
Violin Sonata in G min
Debussy (1862-1918)
Kazuma Costello (F) violin, NAS piano
Quiristers’ Concert, All Saint’s Church, Odiham – 5 October
Missa Orbis factor
Plainsong
Winchester College Quiristers, MDA Director,
Where’er you walk
Handel (1685-1759)
JJS, Charles Maxtone-Smith (B), Henry
An Evening Hymn
Purcell (1659-95)
Websdale (B), Organ
Magnificat in D min
Dyson (1883-1964)
Ricercare in C min
Pachelbel (1653-1706)
Ex ore innocentium
Ireland (1879-1962)
My song is love unknown Archer (b. 1952)
O Mensch, bewein’
dein Sünde groβ (BWV 402) Bach (1685-1750)
Panis angelicus
Franck (1822-90)
Ave verum corpus
Fauré (1845-1924)
Chaconne in E min
Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Down by the Salley Gardens arr. Britten (1913-76)
Missa Brevis
Britten (1913-76)
Somewhere over the rainbowArlen (1905-86)
Concert: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring – 6 October John & Fiona York (piano)
Chamber Music II – 13 October
Sonata in G min BWV 1020 Bach (1685-1750)
Impromptus op 90 nos. 2,3,4 Schubert (1797-1828)
Suite for violin/piano, op 6 Britten (1913-76)
Ballade No.1 in G min op 23 Chopin (1810-49)
Les cloches de Genève
Liszt (1811-86)
Intro. & Rondo Capriccioso Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
38
Edward Cunningham (K) oboe, NAS piano
Samuel Grew (B) piano
Jacob Thorn (Coll) violin, ADA piano
Victor Lu (I) piano
Nicholas Lau (B) violin, ADA piano
Violin Recital – 17 October Edward Daniel violin, ADA violin/piano
Sonata for two violins op 56 Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sonata for piano/violin op100 Brahms (1833-97)
Suite for violin & piano op 6 Britten (1913-76)
Guitarfest Concert – 20 October
Amontillado
Cottom (b 1954)
Richard Ibekwe (Coll)
Mexicana
Nuttal (b 1952)
Kevin Lo (B)
Montanas Nebulosos
Linsey-Clark (b 1956)
Romance from Grand SonataPaganini (1782-1840)
Alexander Crew (I)
Blue Moon
Rodgers (1902-79)
& Hart (1881-1943)
Rondo in G
Carruli (1770-1841)
Michael Turner (Coll), William Nestor-Sherman (B) Ozymandias (words by Shelley, music by Michael Turner) Angus Robinson (Coll) voice, Michael Turner (Coll)
Guardame las Vaches
de Narvaez (1500-65)
Michael Turner (Coll)
Misty
Garner (1923-77)
Jerold Chu (H)
Rondo in D
Sor (1778-1839)
William Nestor-Sherman (B)
Torna a Surriento
De Curtis (1875-1937)
Jerold Chu (H), Michael Turner (Coll),
Alexander Crew (I), William Nestor-Sherman (B), Andrew Baxter-Zorin (A)
Waltz op 69 no 2
Chopin (1810-49)
Adrian Neville
Kalimba
Kindle (b 1960)
Zachary Habgood (I), Yeonjoon Bae (I), Andrew Baxter-Zorin (A), Kevin Lo (B), Michael Turner (Coll), Alexander Crew (I), Richard Ibekwe (Coll), Jerold Chu (H), directed by the Vida Guitar Quartet
Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin (1898-1937)
Vida Guitar Quartet: Mark Eden, Mark Ashford, Helen Sanderson & Christopher Stern
Britten & Purcell Recital – 22 October
Abraham & Isaac
Benjamin Britten (1913-76) & Henry Purcell (1659-95)
Paul du Plessis-Smith counter-tenor, Paul Bentley tenor, Richard Allum piano
Piano Masterclass – 7 November
Sonata in Ab maj op 110
Beethoven (1770-1827)
James Fraser (Coll) piano
Sonata in A Maj K331
Mozart (1756-91)
Angus Robinson (Coll) piano
Piano Concerto in A Min op16 Grieg (1843-1907)
Sikun Chen (Peter Symonds) piano
Chamber Orchestra Concert – 10 November
Pavane
Fauré (1845-1924)
Winchester College Chamber Orchestra:
Kazuma Costello (F), Nicholas Lau (B), Geng To
Law (E), JDF, Jacob Thorn (Coll), ADA violin I, Matthew Lloyd-Wilson (H), Justin Kim (A), Ryan
Shum (B), Thomas Allinson (Coll), Charles MaxoneSmith (B), Hyunseog Lee (H), George Weil (B)
violin II, Amschel de Rothschild (B), James Fraser
(Coll), Calvin Chan (A), Ryan Chan (A) viola, Sam
Grew (B), William Ashford (D), Max Cheung (Coll),
Min Hyuk Choi (Coll), Christopher Cheng (Coll) cello, Jasper Hart (D) double bass, Henry Hole (Coll),
Oliver Yu (I) flute, Edward Cunningham (K), Arnold
Ching (C) oboe, Benjamin West (G), George Petrie
(I) clarinet, Christopher Stern (Coll), Maximilian
Kadarauch (H) Bassoon, Hugh Chilcott (H), Henry
Duxfield (H) horn, Lauens Bainton (K), Alexander
Toal (B) trumpet, Edward Sweet-Escott (G) timpani
39
Oboe Concerto in C Maj Attr Haydn (1732-1809)
Thomas Peet (F) oboe
Symphony No 5 in Bb Maj Schubert (1797-1828)
Winchester College Chamber Orchestra
Chamber Music III – 14 November
Works Villa-Lobos (1897-1959):
Mazurka Choro
William Nestor-Sherman (B) guitar
Preludes Nos 3& 1, Homage
Michael Turner (Coll) guitar
to Bach, Homage to the Countryman
Area from Bahianas Brasilieras No.5
Carrie Gothard soprano, Jerold Chu (H), Michael Turner (Coll), Alexander Crew (I), William Neston-
Sherman (B), Andrew Baxter-Zorin (A) guitars
Pavane pur une infant défunte
Ravel (1875-1937) William Elger (A) piano
Sonata for Violin & Piano
Debussy (1852-1918)Kazuma Costello (F) violin, ADA piano
String Quartet in F maj op 17 Haydn (1732-1809) Nicholas Lau (B) & Jacob Thorn (Coll) violins, no 6
Calvin Chan (D) viola, Samuel Grew (B) cello
Glee Club Concert – 21 November
Symphony No 9
Beethoven (1770-1827) Winchester College Glee Club & Quiristers,
Springtime on Funen
Nielsen (1580-1626) Winchester Music Club, Voices from St Swithun’s & King’s School, Winchester Music Club Orches
tra, Nicholas Wilks conductor
Chamber Music IV – 28 November
Sonata in A maj K331
Mozart (1756-91)
Angus Robinson (Coll) piano
Five Songs from Schubert (1797-1828)Benjamin West (G) voice, NAS piano
Schwanengesang
Nocture No4 in Eb maj op 36
Fauré (1845-1924) Jacob Thorn (Coll) piano
La Cathédrale Engloutie
Debussy (1862-1918)Jacob Thorn (Coll) piano
Concerto in A min
Vivaldi (1678-1741) Academy Orchestra conducted by ADA: Samuel Morton Morris (G), Matthew Lloyd-Wilson (H), George Weil (B), Victor Lu (I), Alexander Tagg (B), Rory Bedford (Coll), Kieran Mackison (E), Angus Robertson (B), Maxim Meshkvichev (B) violins, Krishna Amin (Coll), Adrian Cheng (Coll) violas, Bernard Ko (C), Tobias Schröder (Coll) cellos, Thomas Collings (H) double bass
Cantores Episcopi Mince Pie Concerts – 5 & 6 December
Chawker’s House Concert – 12 December
Sports Results
Soccer
Team
PlayedWon DrawnLost
Soccer XI
19
6
3
10
Beat Charterhouse 2-1; Reached last 16 of the ISFA Cup
2nd XI12
4
2
6
3rd XI 8
4
1
3
4th XI 9
5
0
4
5th XI 6
2
1
3
6th XI 3
1
0
2
7th XI 1
1
0
0
Sen Colts A 11
3
1
7
Beat Eton 2-1
Sen Colts B 5
1
0
4
Sen Colts C 6
1
1
4
Sen Colts D 3
0
0
3
Jun Colts A 14
5
2
7
Beat Charterhouse 5-1
Jun Colts B 11
3
2
6
Jun Colts C 7
1
1
5
Jun Colts D 7
3
0
4
Jun Colts E 3
0
0
3
Yearlings A 14
4
0
10
Yearlings B 10
5
1
4
Yearlings C 9
2
2
5
Yearlings D 6
2
0
4
Yearlings E 4
0
0
4
Total
168 53
17
98
Golf
Team
PlayedWon DrawnLost
Seniors
10
6
0
4
Knocked out of ISGA and HMC Foursomes; however the B team are through to the 2nd round of the ISGA whilst the As are in the final of ISGA Regional Plate
Juniors3
1
0
2
ISGA Euro Championships runners up
Rackets
Team
PlayedWon DrawnLost
Princes6
4
0
2
Overall
25
10
0
15
Sailing
Team
PlayedWon DrawnLost
Overall
7
5
0
2
2nd (11) in BSDRA Midland Area Championships
16th (26) RYA ET National Youth TR Championships
Laura Ellen Bacon: Willow Sculpture
40
41
Fencing
Team
PlayedWon DrawnLost
Foil A
8
4
0
4
Foil B
7
5
0
2
Epee A
8
6
0
2
Epee B
7
7
0
0
Overall
31
22
0
9
Water Polo
Team PlayedWon DrawnLost
U18 6
3
0
3
Beat Charterhouse 6-5 with last shot of the game
Basketball
Team PlayedWon DrawnLost
U18 1
0
0
1
U16 1
1
0
0
U14 1
1
0
0
King Richard II in the east window of Chapel
SALVETE
James Alexander Allan Barron
Callum Peter Barnes
Susan Ingram Carpenter
Henry Benjamin Cullen
Julian Edmund de Bono
Liam Paul Francis Dunne
Lucy Deborah Ford
James Robert Fox
John Mark Greenwood
Sarah Joanne Harden
Robert Stephen Moore
Luke James Ronaldson
Christian Schofield
Thomas David Shaw
Middle Gate
42
The lithographs on pages 20,30,32 and on the back page are
from the Garland sequence of Winchester College (1870).
43
44