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The Theatre Issue
Summer 2013
2 Contents
TheCholmeleian Summer 2013
Editors’ Notes
This issue celebrates the School and its alumni’s
success in the theatre. Photo: Paul Coltas
Adam Pettitt proudly shows Lord Hill round the new
Charter Building on the day of its official opening
It is appropriate that this issue of The
Cholmeleian takes the theatre as its theme,
as the cast of our School play, The Tempest,
prepares to take the show to Edinburgh.
This is the second time a Highgate production
has visited the Fringe Festival, and a hugely
educational and enjoyable opportunity it
presents. They will be there from 19 – 24 August,
and would love OCs in the audience!
Thanks to all those who have contributed
to this issue, especially our student editors, who
have deftly juggled examination commitments
with writing for the magazine, and to Michael
Hammerson for his continued sterling work
in collecting a gratifyingly large collection of
Notes and News.
The deadline for the next issue is
15 September.
February saw the arrival of planning permission for a new Junior School on the site
of Cholmeley House, the Fives Courts and the old Tuck Shop – I hope you will enjoy
reading about this in the magazine – but no sooner than we had got this exciting
project underway than the indefatigable Capital Projects Team are at it again: the
re-development of the Dyne House site, or the abandoned swimming pool and the
gym block. The latter serves as a drama studio, of course, so it will come as no surprise
that we have our sights on this site for a theatre, a drama studio and drama classrooms
to bring our modest drama facilities up to standard.
Drama as a subject is, like art and music, a door into a different world: in a highly
academic school pupils need variations in rhythm and experience, and drama makes
connections, changes outlooks and discovers strengths in personality which enrich both
the individual and the community. With drama or theatre studies taught in every year
group from Nursery through to the Upper Sixth, and curriculum productions at GCSE
and A level and plays in the Lower and Middle Schools, the Sixth Form, in French and in
Greek, musicals and poetry readings, I’m always amazed that our legendarily creative
and patient Director of Drama doesn’t collapse under the pressure of timetabling it all
in the one barn-like space. So it is good that The Cholmeleian is turning its attention to
the theatre!
Elsewhere we are asking ourselves how to prepare future generations of Cholmeleians
to be computer literate and computer scientists. The Government’s new computer
science curriculum looks well informed, but we want to situate it in the context of active
technological discovery and experimentation: we are planning a pilot scheme in Year 7
to draw design technology, computer science and IT together in a project-based, creative
curriculum which draws on developments in this field, such as the Maker Movement.
The conundrum we face is two-fold: any technology our eleven-year-olds master now
will be defunct by the time they are seeking graduate employment but British industry,
starved of British-trained computer scientists and engineers, is looking east for its
recruits. So we must ignite that passion for innovation and enquiry as well as train the
problem-solving logic and rigour which fuel the lucrative parts of high-end electronic and
communications engineering.
In the last edition you will have read about our thinking in sport. A wide-ranging
questionnaire has hit all parents’ inboxes and we are processing the results. We have
already decided to re-design and re-brand PE and Games as one all-encompassing and
inter-connected subject, Sport and Exercise (SpEx?), in order to maximise the impact of
curriculum time and to serve the needs of all pupils: we know we must make them and
keep them fit, and we’d love them all to become sportsmen and women, but we need to
diversify the options to make this double-headed aim a reality.
If The Cholmeleian editorials don’t quite feed your hunger for Highgate news, get into
the weekly, term-time Highgate blog: http://goo.gl/sVMMd
The Editors
Simon Appleton, Ben Dabby, William Kimberley
Student Editors
Polina Andreeva-Asprem, Flo Bedell-Brill,
Joe Berriman, Anna Brigden, Alex Dickson,
Scarlett Evans, Nick Fortna, Ben Huston,
Minna Jeffery, Henry Smith, Constance Van
Stroud, Connor Whitmore, Jo Wickham and
Conor Wilcox-Mahon
The Cholmeleian
Highgate School, North Road
London N6 4AY
email
ocmag@highgateschool.org.uk
telephone
020 8347 2116
website
www.highgateschool.org.uk
Adam Pettitt
Contents 3
Regulars
News
Page 21
4
News continued
26
Music
35
Drama
38
Art
40
Profile
46
Archive
48
School Sport
50
OC Sport
58
Friends’ Report
59
Announcements
60
Notes
63
Obituaries
70
Clubs & Societies
72
News New Junior
School Plans
Letters
74
Planning permission granted for work on the
new Junior School
Features
Feature The Bodyguard Star
Simon Appleton interviews Lloyd Owen – currently starring in the West End hit
The Bodyguard
News OC Oscar Winners
Tom Hooper and Andrew Ruhemann win Oscars
Page 4
News Goodwin Airport
Page 5
Page 26
Gordon Rankine unveils hub airport plan
for Goodwin Sands
News Lord Hill opens new
Charter Building
Page 27
Jonathan Hill officially opened the new Charter
Building in January
Feature Making Plans
with Nigel
Page 23
Nigel Williams is planning to write a play for
Highgate’s 450th anniversary
Making Plans with Nigel
23
From Page to Stage
42
The Bodyguard Star
54
The History Boy
66
4 News
Tom Hooper and Andrew Ruhemann
Win Oscars
Tom Hooper with one of three Oscars awarded for the film version of Les Misérables
Tom Hooper (QG 1985) and Andrew Ruhemann
(HG 1976) have between them won four Oscars
in the recent academy awards. Tom Hooper,
the director, who achieved critical acclaim
for The King’s Speech, has achieved another
triumph with the film version of the musical,
Les Misérables, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell
Crowe and Anne Hathaway. Andrew Ruhemann’s
Passion Pictures studio has received its third
award (and second Oscar for Best Documentary)
for Searching for Sugarman, the story of
the disappearance of legendary musician,
Sixto Rodriguez.
Described by Tom as ‘the great anthem of the
dispossessed’, Les Misérables was nominated for
eight Oscars, and won three for: Best Supporting
Actress (Anne Hathaway), Best Sound Mixing
and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The film also
won three Golden Globes for: Best Musical, Best
Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Best Actress (Anne
Hathaway).
Critical acclaim has been instantaneous, with
praise for the way Tom has captured the energy
and emotion of the musical. His masterstroke,
commented The Telegraph’s critic, is to: ‘treat the
speech as dialogue, not singing. The cast’s vocal
performances were recorded on set as live rather
than lip-synched to studio tapes, and this gives
the music a vital presence within the film.’
United about Brian Clough.
Tom is described by actor Russell Crowe as a:
‘tough guy. When he wants something he is
In an interview in The Observer, Tom described how he was
inspired at Highgate Junior School by drama teacher Roger
Mortimer and made his first film at Highgate aged fourteen.
In an interview in The Observer, Tom
described how he was inspired at Highgate Junior
School by drama teacher Roger Mortimer and
made his first film at Highgate aged fourteen.
Bomber Jacket, which won a runner-up prize in
a BBC young film-makers’ competition, tells the
story of his grandfather, a Lancaster bomber
navigator, killed in 1942 aged thirty.
He directed plays at Oxford and after
university worked on TV soaps, like Byker
Grove, Eastenders and Cold Feet but it was his
collaboration with screenwriter Peter Morgan
which gained him critical attention: Longford a
drama about Myra Hindley, and The Damned
going to have it.’ Tom’s response is that: ‘there
is a need for toughness when managing a $61
million budget.’
Andrew Ruhemann’s studio, Passion Pictures,
added another Oscar (for Best Documentary
Feature) to the two already earned (for the
animation The Lost Thing and the documentary
A Day in September). Searching for Sugarman,
by Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn, tells the
story of the legendary musician, Sixto Rodriguez,
who disappeared mysteriously in the 1960s.
News 5
Gordon Rankine unveils £40 Billion Hub
Airport Plan for Goodwin Sands
Gordon Rankine unveils his consultancy’s plans for a new hub airport on Goodwin Sands
Gordon Rankine (WG 1967), is one of the
founders of Beckett Rankine, a specialist
marine consultancy, who made the headlines
at the end of last year with his plans for a new
£40 billion hub airport on Goodwin Sands.
Gordon explains the thinking behind the striking
new proposal: ‘The UK’s most important and
perhaps longest-running, infrastructure debate
of our generation is what to do about south-east
England’s airport capacity.
With Heathrow operating at around 99% of
capacity and Gatwick forecast to also be full by
2025 the proponents of new runway capacity
argue that the UK, and particularly London, is
already losing out to other European airport
cities such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.
The opponents argue that we all need to fly
less and there will then be no requirement for
additional capacity. One difficulty with this
argument is that with a rising population in the
UK we would all need to fly a lot less to produce a
reduction in demand and there is little evidence
that, as a nation, we are willing to do this.
For London to retain its position as a
leading global financial centre it needs to be
well connected with a hub airport. As London’s
current hub at Heathrow is effectively full it has
been dropping regional flight slots to make way
for more profitable long haul slots. As a result
Heathrow is increasingly failing to serve the UK’s
regions. Schiphol Airport now serves more UK
destinations than Heathrow.
A number of proposals have been presented
for resolving this capacity shortfall; these include
one or two additional runways at Luton or
Stansted. All these inland airport proposals have
encountered vigorous objections as south-east
England is densely populated and a major hub
airport is a huge and un-neighbourly item of
infrastructure. Such major infrastructure also
takes ten or more years to plan and build which
means it cannot be delivered within the life of a
government term. This long timescale makes the
project vulnerable to cancellation, as evidenced
by Heathrow’s third runway experience. The
key requirement for any scheme is therefore to
achieve political consensus, and in an attempt to
achieve this consensus the government has set
up the independent Airports Commission under
the chairmanship of Sir Howard Davies.
In addition to the proposals for expansion of
existing airports there have also been several
proposals for new hub airports to replace
Heathrow; all these proposals are in or adjacent
to the Thames Estuary. The two most credible
schemes are Foster & Partners Thames Hub
proposal which is partly on the Isle of Grain,
partly on reclaimed land, and Doug Oakervee’s
proposal for an offshore airport on the Kentish
Flats north of Whitstable.
Specialist marine consultancy Beckett
Rankine examined both these proposals for new
airports and concluded that both of them had
serious defects. Not only is the Thames Estuary
a valuable, and much protected, ecological
habitat but the Grain site is hardly big enough to
accommodate a four runway airport and future
expansion appears to be impractical. The Kentish
Flats (Boris Island) scheme is less constrained on
site area but its terminal is to be located over 20
miles from the airport to Ebbsfleeet connected
by a rail tunnel. Both schemes have attracted
vigorous objections from local communities and
environmentalists.
At Beckett Rankine we therefore wondered
where a four runway airport could be located in
south-east England. The site needs to be circa
25km2 just for the runway platform with a noise
footprint extending to circa 100km2. We did not
find a lot of candidate sites! But one stands out.
Goodwin Sands which lie to the east of Deal are
big enough to accommodate at least five 4km
long runways with 1.5km separation to enable
independent runway operation. The sands
are about 4km offshore and with the runways
aligned with the prevailing wind there is no
overflying of the coastal communities. Goodwin
Airport, as we call the proposal, is further from
London than some, but not all, other proposals
but with a link into HS1 the journey from London
to the airport will take less than 40 minutes. The
distance from London also means that Goodwin
is closer to France and Belgium and the proposal
has been warmly welcomed in both countries as
the hub airport for northern Europe.
Unlike other airport proposals Goodwin
Airport is a ‘greenfield’ site with minimal impact
on its neighbours. The site is not subject to
any environmental protection and is already
in government ownership. There is no existing
infrastructure on the site to be relocated. There
is no ideal solution to south-east England’s hub
airport expansion needs and all proposals have
their disadvantages; however we believe that of
all the options available Goodwin Airport is the
most sustainable with the minimum adverse
impact on communities and the environment.’
For more details about the scheme see
www.goodwinairport.com.
6 News
Barry Dennis and Rodney Brody were 2012 Livery Masters
to help young, in some cases disadvantaged,
people find jobs. It is overall a very rewarding
experience and to a certain extent you get out of
it what you put in to it.’
Barry explained how the livery company
elects its Master: ‘Each livery company is
governed by a Court, similar to a Board of
Trustees or Directors, and members of the Livery
are elected to the Court by the members of each
Company. The Court then elects a Master, again
similar to a Chairman or Managing Director
who serves for a twelve month term, and who
represents the company at many events and
ceremonies throughout the city of London. It will
not be unusual for a Master to attend well over
100 events during his year of office.’
‘Almost from their earliest
times the ancient guilds
undertook a responsibility
for the education and
training of young people.
Training apprentices in the
skills of their craft or trade
was an important part of a
liveryman’s duties. Modern
livery companies actively
promote apprenticeship
schemes as the best way to
provide thorough training,
especially in the specialised
technical skills which are in
demand today.’
Barry Dennis, Master of the Water Conservators, in his ceremonial
robes of office
Barry Dennis (TL 1958) is one of two Old
Cholmeleians who were Masters of their livery
companies in 2012. Barry was Master of the
Water Conservators and Rodney Brody (TL 1955)
was Master of the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers.
Barry commented: ‘To be Master is a unique
opportunity in one’s life as you are able to attend
many events, mostly within the City but also
outside, that you would never be able to attend
otherwise. Being rowed in our Company cutter
(a small boat rowed by six people) in the Jubilee
Pageant just behind Gloriana is an example. Ten
hours on the river in a small boat was testing!
Attending Buckingham Palace is another. I did
well over 120 events during my year.’
‘It also gives you the chance to meet and
work with many people who hold senior positions
within the City of London, like The Lord Mayor
and the Sheriff of London, for example. I have
worked with a committee in the City of London
‘Almost from their earliest times the ancient
guilds undertook a responsibility for theeducation
and training of young people. Training
apprentices in the skills of their craft or trade was
an important part of a liveryman’s duties. Modern
livery companies actively promote apprenticeship
schemes as the best way to provide thorough
training, especially in the specialised technical
skills which are in demand today.’
Recently, Sandy Saunders (MG 1947), Richard
Brewster (CH 1959) and Iain Chamberlain
(CH 1963) have been Masters of their livery
companies, and we would be delighted to hear
from other OCs who have held office in theirs, or
who are active in their company’s affairs.
News 7
Michael Payne, the Man who Marketed the Olympics
Michael Payne is responsible for turning the Olympics into a best-selling global brand
Few people know more about marketing the
Olympics than Michael Payne (SG 1956). He
played a key advisory role in helping Lord Coe
design the winning bid strategy for London,
and subsequently went on to advise on Rio’s
successful 2016 bid. His bestselling book,
Olympic Turnaround, describes how the Olympic
movement went from bankruptcy to the world’s
best-known brand, selling more than one million
copies in 14 languages.
He runs his own global strategic consultancy
with a wide variety of clients including political
campaigns for cities bidding for the Olympics
and leading corporate and media organisations,
including Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula 1 and Sir
Martin Sorrell’s WPP. He is currently advising on
the bid for the 2020 Olympics.
Following the success of his book, he has
become much in demand as an industry
commentator for the Financial Times, Fortune
and for CNN, the BBC and CNBC.
Writing exclusively for Sports Pro, he wrote
a special report on the successes and failures of
the Games. ‘The greatest Olympic Games yet’,
was his opening verdict. ‘The city was dressed
to look Olympic, the broadcast images delivered
global record TV audiences and Sebastian Coe
and his team delivered on the promise to the IOC
to inspire a generation.’
‘The venues’, he went on, ‘have been sensibly
built with real legacy in mind; the depressed
East End has been transformed; a new image of
Brand Britain has been presented to the world,
with the tourist industry set to reap the rewards.
Suddenly, Britain feels a confident place.’
The city was dressed to look
Olympic, the broadcast
images delivered global
record TV audiences and
Sebastian Coe and his team
delivered on the promise
to the IOC to inspire
a generation.
Michael rated Broadcasting 9/10, with the
BBC getting peak audiences of 28 million,
‘beating royal weddings, World Cups and the like’;
venue atmosphere also scored 10/10. Branding
he scored at 9/10, ‘from the iconic rings on the
Thames and the Olympic-dressed St Pancras
Station, London was impeccably Olympian in
its attire’. With the exception of the placement
of the Olympic Cauldron (1/10) he rated the
torch relay highly. Social media were used
successfully, with Twitter crashing on more than
one occasion, peaking at 80,000 tweets a minute
during Usain Bolt’s 200m win, and 116,000 tpm
for the Spice Girls’ closing ceremony reunion.
One of the few failures he cites was licensing,
with the target of £1 billion in retail revenue
unlikely to be achieved, and few true mementoes
which could become family heirlooms on sale.
Indeed reports have been received of statues of
the Olympic mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville,
officially retailing at £10, staring forlornly out of
the windows of Poundland!
Michael recalls his time at Highgate spent:
‘pouring all my energies into competitive ski-ing,
which I was getting into by age 13’. After leaving,
he became a pro ski-er on the world freestyle
tour. ‘As history recalls’, he went on, ‘I was a
lot better at finding sponsors than winning the
World Cup, which led to a timely career change
into the sports marketing industry.’
He lives with his family in Switzerland, where
he is able to indulge his passion for ski-ing every
weekend in season – ‘extreme off piste trekking
in Verbier’ and is pleased that his eldest has has
made it into university to study Management
and Economics at King’s.
8 News
Cholmeley is Runner-Up in Westminster
Dog Of The Year Competition!
MP David Burrowes with Cholmeley, who came second in the Westminster Dog of the Year Competition
MP David Burrowes’ (NG 1977) dog Cholmeley
– a three-year old golden Labrador – was
runner up in this year’s ‘Westminster Dog of
the Year’ competition. ‘Cholmeley has a lovely
nature and is full of energy’, commented
David. Although the judges agreed, top prize
went to fellow Conservative Charlie Elphicke’s
four-year old Norfolk Terrier, Star, whose interests
(as befits the dog of a Tory MP) include ‘chasing
seagulls, stealing ice-cream and barking at
French doggies across the Channel’. Labour MP
Lindsay Hoyle’s Rottweiler took third place.
This has been a busy time for David. In
September last year, he was appointed PPS
to Rt Hon Owen Patterson, Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
He retains an advisory role to Oliver Letwin,
Minister for Government Policy, particularly
on drug and alcohol policy, a role which
reflects David’s interest in social justice. David
helped lead the Conservative Party’s policy
review in 2007 concerning drug and alcohol
addictions. The 18-month review led to the
ground-breaking reports Breakdown Britain
and Breakthrough Britain. The reports formed
the basis for the Conservative Party’s approach
to reforming drug and alcohol treatment.
David is described as: ‘hugely popular with
his colleagues and an advocate of the strong
and compassionate conservatism that
represents the best future for our party.’
‘Hugely popular with
his colleagues and an
advocate of the strong and
compassionate conservatism
that represents the best
future for our party.’
As Shadow Minister between 2007 and 2010,
he helped write the party’s Green Paper Prisons
with a Purpose, which forms the basis of the
government’s reforms to the criminal justice
and penal systems. David is also a campaigner
for the better protection of war memorials,
following a desecration of a local memorial,
and a campaigner for the life-saving value of
umbilical cord blood. Recently, he has spoken
against the redefinition of marriage in the gay
marriage debate, emphasising his commitment
to the historical value of marriage as a distinctive
institution for a man and a woman, adding: ‘it’s
about marriage, not about homosexuality.’
Outside the corridors of power, David enjoys
walking Cholmeley, supporting Arsenal FC
and looking after his family of six children.
He is also Chairman of the Conservative
Christian Fellowship and a trustee and
active participant in his local church.
His fellow Conservative MP, and former
classmate, Robert Halfon (QG 1982), has also
earned plaudits for his role in preventing
the fuel duty rise, costing the Chancellor
one billion pounds a year in lost revenue.
Robert hailed this as: ‘a victory for White Van
Conservatives.’ This victory adds to Robert’s
growing reputation as a highly effective
campaigning MP, a reputation based on
effective use of the internet, building alliances,
asking Parliamentary questions and keeping
the government onside. He has also made his
mark on the Public Administration Committee,
chaired by fellow OC, Bernard Jenkin.
News 9
The Man with a Head for Heights:
Mark Clarke’s High Points
Mark Clarke on the Old Man of Coniston, Lancashire, with brother Tim (QG 1963)
‘In 2008 I set myself the goal to visit all 85 of
Britain’s historic counties (39 are in England,
33 in Scotland and 13 in Wales) and to stand
on the high point of each.
In August 2012, some four years later, I stood
on Aran Fawddwy in Merioneth, Wales and my
quest was complete; I had climbed over 100,000
feet and walked nearly 500 miles, visiting many
of the most beautiful and remote parts of Britain.
So far as I know, only one other person has ever
completed this feat before.
I had visited all but a handful of the counties
before, but all too often I was just passing
through on some motorway or dual carriageway
without time to gain any proper appreciation
of them. Although I previously thought I had
a quite good knowledge of British geography,
I soon discovered I knew a lot less than I
imagined! I went to several counties which I
previously did not know existed – Wigtownshire,
Clackmannanshire, Peeblesshire, Kincardineshire,
Montgomeryshire and the like, and about 90% of
the high point names were new to me.
So my project was a big step into the
unknown; but it turned out to be the most
fantastic treat, adventure and indeed education
– easily the best project I have ever done,
appealing at many different levels and in
many different ways, tremendous fun and with
countless learnings and pleasant little surprises
throughout.
43 of the counties have high points over
2000 ft; 12 of these are over 3000 ft and 2 over
4000 ft. So some serious walking was needed in
many counties; but not so at the appropriately
named Boring Field in Huntingdonshire, which
has the distinction of being (at 263 ft) the
lowest of Britain’s county high points, nor in
Suffolk and Nottinghamshire where the county
high points are on roads, nor at Holme Fen in
Cambridgeshire, which is (at minus 9 ft) Britain’s
lowest point.
Easily the biggest challenge on my journey
was in August 2011, breaking my leg on the
remote moorland of Renfrewshire’s Hill of Stake
– on my own, miles from anywhere and anyone,
in the mist and without a mobile phone signal. A
very tricky moment to overcome!
This accident was obviously disappointing in
itself, but also as I had only three more counties
to go and had planned to complete the full set of
all counties just a few weeks later. It was quite a
struggle to get my get leg back to normal, and
on many occasions I thought it would not be
possible for me to finish the last three climbs.
So a year later when, in August 2012, I stood
with my son on Aran Fawddwy in Merioneth
and completed my quest, I was naturally very
pleased; but also sad, as the project had been
so memorable, and somewhat relieved to have
finished successfully, as the final three peaks
which I did this year proved to be quite a tall
order in the circumstances.
By the end, I was widely travelled. I had
not only climbed over 100,000 feet and walked
nearly 500 miles; I had driven over 15,000 miles
in cars, travelled over 8,000 miles in trains, flown
over 12,000 miles in aeroplanes, and stayed in
74 B&Bs. All this in 54 trips from my home
in London.
I discovered Britain is a superb place, a
wonderful country with tremendous variety and
assets, a delight to travel through, particularly
when you are off the main roads and off the
beaten track; seemingly as good a place to live in
and visit as anywhere in the world.
Looking back, my interest in hillwalking
started when I was at Highgate. I signed up to
the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and, as
part of this and other school activities, made
several visits to the school cottage, Cerrig Pryfaid
in Snowdonia, culminating in my Gold Award
expedition over four days and 50 miles. In this,
I followed in the footsteps of my brothers Tim
(QG 1965) and Charles (QG 1963) who both did
similarly, in the process pulling off the perhaps
unusual feat of three brothers each achieving the
Gold Award.
These visits to Snowdonia took place under
the excellent direction of Highgate schoolmasters
Anthony Sadler and Roger Beament and opened
my mind to the many delights of hillwalking in
remote places; in retrospect I can now see this
was something of a life-changing, formative
experience. Happily, the mountain skills and
disciplines which I learnt then in Snowdonia
stood me in excellent stead in my High Point
project – on the project, I even used the very
same compass which I had used in school
expeditions in Snowdonia some 40 years earlier!’ A book, titled High Point, on Mark’s journey is
published by Vertebrate Publishing
Mark Clarke (QG 1966) and a Governor
of the School
10 News
Painting the Pageant
David Porteous Butler’s picture of the River Pageant
David Porteous-Butler (MG 1958) was one
of the artists chosen by the BBC to paint
the River Pageant, part of the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee Celebrations, in June.
David battled poor weather
conditions and technical difficulties
to produce the finished canvas.
Painting from photographs, David also
produced a large painting of the Pageant
against the London skyline, which he
donated to Save the Children, following a
promise made two years earlier. The painting
was auctioned, and prints and cards have
helped raise revenue for the charity.
This January, David has exhibited at the
Albany Gallery in Cardiff, Kyffin Williams’
favourite gallery, where May Yapp, the gallery’s
owner, was Kyffin’s agent in Wales. David’s
exhibition is of his palette knife paintings,
a technique learned from Kyffin. The most
striking painting is a portrait of the man
himself – described as ‘an informal, intimate
glimpse of the famous artist at his most jovial’.
Kyffin spotted David’s talent while a pupil at
Highgate, and helped secure him a place at the
Royal College of Art, which he couldn’t take up
because the College suspended its experimental
admission of Sixth Formers. David went instead
to Hornsey School of Art, which he didn’t like, and
left after a year to go into his parents’ business
– the rag trade. He went on to build a successful
business but when this collapsed in the 90s,
‘I had to reinvent myself’, he commented,
‘and that was the time to start painting.’
‘It’s a powerful, expressive
way of painting and I’ve
found my own voice through
it’, he says. ‘I am not a Kyffin
clone – a lot of people try and
copy him but I wouldn’t want
to do that.’
In 2003, as he embarked on his new career
he visited Kyffin at his home in Anglesey. ‘I did
a couple of drawings of him going to sleep in his
armchair and afterwards he spent a long time
looking at each one. I felt almost embarrassed.
Then he said: ‘Well, if you can draw like this you
won’t have any problem being a portrait artist,
if nothing else.’ When I told him I’d started
painting with a palette knife he looked as if he’d
been struck. ‘You’ll be the outcast of the art
world from now on’, he said. David’s first three
palette knife paintings sold straight away, and
the success spurred him on to make more. Soon
he was hooked. ‘It’s a powerful, expressive way of
painting and I’ve found my own voice through it’,
he says. ‘I am not a Kyffin clone – a lot of people
try and copy him but I wouldn’t want to do that.’
The current exhibition highlights the
differences between the two artists. David’s style
is much more intricate than Kyffin’s. At times,
a close examination is needed to confirm that
a palette knife and not a brush is responsible.
Although based in Suffolk, David has
a deep affinity with North Wales and for
this show he has contributed paintings
made on repeated visits to the area, on
one of which he stayed in Kyffin’s former
home, which is now a holiday home.
David held further exhibitions at the Albany and
at the Clarendon Fine Art Gallery on board the
Queen Mary 2. His next project is a solo show in
the Gallery Steiner in Vienna in 2014. He runs an
annual tutored painting holiday in the Ariège,
details of which can be found at
www.pbart.co.uk
News 11
Robert Clinton awarded British Empire Medal
for services to Veterans Aid Charity
Servicemen and women in crisis for more than
80 years. Many of those seeking its help are
homeless, drug or alcohol dependent, unwell or
in despair. All receive immediate help and an
enduring commitment to rebuilding their lives.
On hearing about his award Robert Clinton
commented: ‘It has been a great privilege to be
associated with Veterans Aid over the last six or
so years and I am most honoured to receive this
award, which I consider is as much for the great
team running the charity as it is for myself.’
‘Robert’s support for
this charity has been
inspirational. The honour
is richly deserved and
welcomed by all at VA where
he is regarded with respect
and affection. His unstinting
and self-effacing voluntary
support really typifies what
is best about our country
today. He makes me proud to
be British.’
Robert Clinton, winner of the Empire Medal for services to charity
Veterans Aid
Robert Clinton (TL 1954), the Honorary
Treasurer and Trustee of Veterans Aid, has
been awarded the BEM. The charity provides
support for homeless ex-serviceman and
women, providing approximately 20,000
nights of accommodation a year and
responding to around 2,000 calls for help.
It puts an average of four people per month
through detox and provides creative solutions
to a wide variety of problems. The honour is in
recognition of his work over the past six years
providing the financial advice and guidance that
has sustained the charity through recession.
Veterans Aid’s Chairman Brigadier Johnny
Ricketts said, ‘Robert’s drive and enthusiasm
has led to a complete modernisation of the
charity’s finance and governance system. The
change of fortunes that he helped deliver has
been so successful that Veterans Aid recently
won a European Business Award for business
transformation. His wise counsel has helped to
turn this relatively unknown charity into one of
the most important organisations of its kind.’
Veterans Aid has been caring for ex-
Robert joined Veterans Aid after a
distinguished career in the City and in industry.
He held appointments as Corporate Treasurer of
a number of UK-based multinational companies
and was Head of Corporate Finance at a wellknown stockbroking firm until his ‘retirement’
in 1999. He served in the Honourable Artillery
Company in the 1960s and has held a number
of public and private non-executive Board
appointments. Robert attended the Senior School
as a boarder in the Lodge from 1954-59, having
previously been in The Junior School. At School,
he took part in a number of productions by the
Dramatic Society. On leaving, he went directly
into the City. He has, for many years, lived in
West Suffolk near Newmarket and he and his
wife, Joan, have been much active in owning and
breeding horses. Robert also has a very keen
interest in horology and is a Liveryman of the
Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.
CEO Dr Hugh Milroy added: ‘Robert’s support
for this charity has been inspirational. The
honour is richly deserved and welcomed by
all at VA where he is regarded with respect
and affection. His unstinting and self-effacing
voluntary support really typifies what is best
about our country today. He makes me proud to
be British.’
12 News
The Business Section Law Event at Lincoln’s Inn
The OCBS guests at the Law Event in March enjoy a guided tour of historic Lincoln’s Inn
The Law Event this March at Lincoln’s Inn
was a great success. The forty-four guests
included fourteen Sixth Form pupils, keen to
learn more about life in the law. They enjoyed
meeting OCs practising law, including judges,
barristers and solicitors – some at the start of
their careers, others more senior in practice.
The evening began with sherry in the
Members’ Common Room, followed by a tour of
the historic Inn of Court, built on land given by
the Earl of Lincoln in the fourteenth century. The
Inn has produced countless luminaries of the
legal world, as well as sixteen prime ministers,
the last being Tony Blair. John Donne was once
chaplain at the Inn, and dramatist Ben Jonson is
said to have worked as a bricklayer on one of the
Inn’s seventeenth century walls.
A delicious three course dinner in the old
Court House followed, where portraits of eminent
lawyers gazed on the diners from wood-panelled
walls and polished candelabra completed the
sense of occasion. After dinner Professor Sir
Roy Goode (SH 1946) gave an entertaining and
thought-provoking speech about the importance
of the law, with some witty stories from his own
long and distinguished career as a practising
lawyer and academic. A question-and-answer
session followed, where the audience addressed
questions to a panel of distinguished lawyers. Sir
Brian Neill (WG 1935) was the senior legal figure;
a former Appeal Court Judge and a leading
authority in the field of defamation. They were
joined by district judge, John Zani (WG 1966);
Karen Friebe, a partner with DLA Piper and Chair
of Highgate’s Parents’ Association; Justin Edgar
(GH 1993), a solicitor with Harbottle and Lewis,
who specialise in entertainment law, and Andrew
Emery (HG 1992), a barrister in Malin’s Chambers,
and a specialist in commercial law.
Questions about how to get into the law, and
which branch of the profession to choose, were
put by the pupils then more general questions
followed: about the sentencing policy in the
London riots, the Chris Huhne and Vicky Price
trial, and the role of the law in maintaining a just
and fair society. Brian Neill, who advises Eastern
European countries on their legal systems,
told the audience how the legal systems in
those countries were often corrupt, and how an
ineffective legal system leads to a breakdown in
society.
Roy Goode advised his listeners to go into the
law for career satisfaction, not money, and he
commented that the culture of long hours at city
firms meant that many young lawyers were not
living a full life. He also argued that the cuts in the
legal aid budget were pricing the poor out of the
legal marketplace. Karen Friebe argued that the
law was becoming more inclusive, with women
being encouraged into the profession, as well as
representatives of ethnic minorities, although
there was still a way to go before the legal world
becomes fully representative of society.
The evening was enjoyed by all, and a further
event is planned for this autumn. If you are
in practice as a lawyer, or thinking of joining
the profession, do consider joining the OCBS
Law Section.
News 13
Taking the Scottish Play to Japan
Oskar McCarthy and members of the theatre company on tour in Japan with their production of Macbeth
Oskar McCarthy (SG c/2007) recalls touring
Japan with a production of Macbeth. ‘Last
September, I spent three weeks performing
Shakespeare’s Macbeth in venues around Japan
with a group of students from Cambridge
University. The Pembroke Players’ Japan Tour
has, since its inception in 2007, rehearsed and
toured a Shakespeare play to the Far East each
summer, and this year we travelled to Tokyo,
Kyoto and Yokohama, performing in schools,
universities and an international theatre festival.
I graduated from Cambridge in summer
2012, having spent much of my four years
performing in a wide variety of plays, musicals
and operas, from the Footlights’ Pantomime
to a one-man show about playing the French
horn. Each production brought its own peculiar
delights and challenges. Performing as bleak
a tragedy as Macbeth to an audience who do
not understand English, let alone Jacobean
verse, however, proved to be one of the
most demanding, yet artistically rewarding,
challenges of my performing career thus far.
Our production was set within the sober
environment of Edwardian Britain on a stage
with few props and little outwardly physical
action. We thus found ourselves having to
focus on conveying meaning purely through
Shakespeare’s text itself. However, the language
barrier and the fact that – owing to the demands
of being a touring company of nine actors
– many of the parts were doubled or even
tripled, meant getting the play’s (complicated)
story across to audiences whilst maintaining
a naturalistic aesthetic at every performance
was emotionally, and physically, draining.
When you have spent four hours travelling
to the theatre by bus and train, two
building the set, and another hour mingling
‘Performing as bleak a
tragedy as Macbeth to
an audience who do not
understand English, proved
to be one of the most
demanding, yet artistically
rewarding, challenges of my
performing career thus far.’
with indefatigably cheerful Japanese
students, it sometimes felt impossible.
In one early matinee performance at Yokohama
International School, we performed to 300
English-speaking schoolchildren, having already
led theatre workshops on scenes from the play
with them that morning. They seemed restless
from the beginning, and, when I strode on
as Macduff to face the usurping Macbeth in
the climactic finale, our fight provoked titters
rather than the shocked stillness we yearned
for. We came off stage exhausted. And yet, a
few days later, several student-written reviews
appeared online lavishing our production with
praise. What we had read as disconnectedness
had really been attempts on the students’ behalf
to ease the dramatic tension that we had created
in their school gym. Similarly, when we were
faced with stony silence by an adult audience
of the general public at Nigiwaiza Theatre
a few days later, we were just as unnerved.
However, this time it was the sheer emotional
(and, one suspects, linguistic) investment
in the two hours passage of our play that
provoked a rapturous applause at the curtain.
Touring in a foreign country taught me a lot
about what it means to be an actor. After three
weeks of early mornings and late nights we
were all shattered, yet each new audience
demanded a performance as fresh as our first.
As I move into the industry professionally,
I am learning to relish the responsibility that
comes with entertaining a new audience
every night, and the opportunity to travel
the world whilst doing what I love.’
Oskar recently appeared as Edmund Bertram
in Hampstead Garden Opera’s production of
Mansfield Park by Jonathan Dove, performed
Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate.
14 News
Ollie Breaks The Language Barrier
Ollie Dotsch – teaching in Malaysia in his gap year, and loving it!
Ollie Dotsch (WG c/2012) is spending his
gap year teaching English in Malaysia as a
recipient of the HMC’s Bulkeley-Evans Gap
Year Scholarship.
‘It’s quite a shock when you are put in front
of a class of 130 sixteen year olds at the age of
eighteen and realise that your only qualification
for being there is that you speak English as a
first language, but that is where I found myself
within a month of arriving in Malaysia. It was
only then that I came to understand that this is
what I would be doing for the next eight months
and that I would have classes of eager thirteen
to seventeen year olds probably expecting to
become fluent English speakers by the time I
leave.
This all started quite a few years ago when
I decided to take a gap year – and so far it
has turned out to be one of the best and most
important choices I have ever made. After
researching and dismissing the more ‘corporate’
gap year companies, I finally came upon a
charity called Project Trust which gives you a
mixture of teaching and travelling and that by all
accounts is very reputable, very worthwhile and
very well run. My gap year experience actually
started long before I actually flew off to spend
eight months in Malaysia and began months
before with fundraising. To raise the money I
needed, I approached many charitable trusts
and even went as far as having a sponsored leg
wax! The charity first holds a selection week and
also a week of training at their headquarters
on the Scottish Isle of Coll. It was this drive of
theirs to find and foster volunteers with the right
attitude and the extensive support system in
place overseas that led me to believe that this is
a charity that cares about the volunteers it sends
and the communities that we are sent to and was
therefore the right choice for me.
The school was not exactly what I expected
for two reasons: firstly, their grasp of English is
already very good and secondly, the school is a
lot more religious then I than I thought it would
be, even though I knew I was entering a highly
Islamic population. The reasons for this became
clear when I experienced their work ethos and
understood the syllabuses they follow. So let me
explain: the school has two syllabuses running
simultaneously, one program (unique to the
school I am at) called Ulul Albab which is the
religious syllabus whereby students must learn
and recite by heart the Qur’an, and the normal
IGCSE syllabus for English, Maths and Science.
This leads on to their work ethic, which is very
admirable: their day starts at 5am for Morning
Prayer, and then there are lessons till 5pm with
a break at 10am and lunch. After 5pm they have
one hour of sport or more often than not, sleep,
and then dinner and evening prayer, followed
by prep time which usually runs till around
12pm. In this time, many students manage to
work through the Qur’an, learning and reciting
two pages a day, and all the while maintaining
high spirits and incessantly trying to add me on
Facebook.
So why am I here if their English is so good?
Well, they may be good at the basics but their
confidence in speaking English is very low indeed
and they are completely baffled by our English
tenses, but most importantly, who else is going
to stamp down on their use of Americanisations?
That is therefore what I do, I talk to them, I teach
them and I mentor them. I introduce new English
and give them the confidence to use the English
they already have – and I absolutely love it.’
News 15
Take Me To Pitcairn!
Julian McDonnell has made a documentary tracing the path of the Bounty mutineers
Julian McDonnell (SG 1984) has made a
documentary about his quest to visit the
Pitcairn Islands, Take Me to Pitcairn, which
premiered in January. ‘Ever since I saw the
film Mutiny on the Bounty as a boy I’ve been
fascinated by the romance and adventure
of this story and the extraordinary feat of
survival achieved by Captain Bligh who, after
the mutiny, was set adrift in the middle of the
South Pacific with meagre food rations and no
charts’, commented Julian. ‘He was being sent to
almost certain death, but managed to save the
lives of his companions after a record-breaking,
open boat voyage lasting forty-eight days. The
mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, knew this
was a hanging offence and sailed off into the
unknown, in search of a remote desert island
where they would never be discovered. It was
the biggest media event of the age, and to this
day the descendants of these mutineers still
survive on Pitcairn Island, numbering only fifty.
With no airport, and only a couple of supply
ships every year, it must surely be one of the
most enigmatic communities in the world.’
Filming the publicity-shy islanders, and with
virtually no budget or film crew, Julian managed
to produce a gritty, reality-style documentary
which visits all the principal ‘Bounty’ locations
and demonstrates how this part of the world still
has some magical hold over people and causes
tension even today. It also proves what one man
can achieve if he puts his heart into something.
With no airport, and only
a couple of supply ships
every year, it must surely be
one of the most enigmatic
communities in the world.
‘The boat journey to Pitcairn was way above
my budget’, commented Julian but, ‘having
been impressed by my previous documentary
My Evil Trade – A Pedlar’s Life the owner of the
boat charter company said he’d take me for
free if I made an environmental film for him
first. He was a scientist and it entailed four
weeks sailing around the uninhabited Phoenix
Islands saving the endangered bird population.
Unfortunately, no one told the captain of the
boat and he resented having a ‘free-loader’ on
board, and by the time we were due to pick up
the paying passengers for Pitcairn, tension was
at a high due to bad organisation, delays, and
an unseaworthy boat. It seemed that 200 years
after the mutiny, history was repeating itself as
anxiety soon gave rise to anger and despair. It
soon became evident that the film wasn’t purely
about the Bounty; it was about the remarkable
characters I met who shared the same obsession
as me, and were willing to go through anything
to carry out their life-long dreams and get to
Pitcairn. This would be my story. This would be
my documentary. My discreet filming would
allow me to capture the natural reactions of
those involved – a notional journey of a group of
dreamers thrown together in a tropical paradise
where things do not go according to plan.’
In the process of making the
documentary, Julian describes himself
as having invented a new genre: ‘realityhistorical-docu-comedy-drama’!
Check the website details
www.takemetopitcairn.com
16 News
The Boys are Back in Town!
(Left to right) Luke Vignali, Satbir Choudry and Philip Deja, back in Highgate and offering their legal services to the community
While this may not quite be worthy of the
Guinness Book of World Records, Philip
Deja (EG c/2002), Luke Vignali (WG c/2005)
and Satbir Choudry (EG c/2006) thought it
noteworthy that OCs now make up half of
the lawyers at Streathers Highgate LLP, a
small but expanding local law firm. While
academic advice to faceless corporations. So,
after almost five years as a City lawyer he joined
Streathers Highgate at the start of this year to
set up a commercial practice there, using the
experience he gained in the City to advise local
businesses, charities and individuals on a wide
range of commercial matters.
OCs now make up half of the lawyers at Streathers Highgate
LLP, a small but expanding local law firm.
Streathers Highgate has only been going since
2010, it retains close links with its parent,
established West End firm Streathers Solicitors
LLP. Incidentally, OC Ian Sturt (NG 1961) was the
book-keeper at Streathers Solicitors for many
years and his son Charlie (MG 1994) is now bookkeeper at Streathers Highgate.
Although Philip, Luke and Satbir are now
colleagues, they each arrived at Streathers
Highgate via rather different paths.
Philip trained and qualified at a large,
international City law firm before growing
increasingly frustrated with giving technical,
Satbir is the newest addition to the team at
Highgate, having recently joined the firm from
a niche litigation practice in Finchley. Although
Satbir has experience in a broad range of civil
litigation matters, his expertise lies primarily in
employment law, acting for both employers and
employees on a wide variety of employment law
issues. Satbir has fond memories of his thirteen
years at Highgate between 1993 and 2006, from
his role as one of the Three Wise Men in the
Pre-Prep nativity play to playing regularly for the
School’s football and cricket teams.
By contrast, Luke is Streathers through and
through. He completed a stint of work experience
at Streathers Solicitors before Streathers
Highgate even existed, then joined Streathers
Highgate as a trainee solicitor shortly after the
firm’s inception. Luke qualified last year and
now specialises in wills, probate, trusts and tax.
He also advises on a wide range of property
matters acting for local home owners and first
time buyers, many of whom are OCs. Up until
University Luke had lived in Highgate his whole
life and he takes great satisfaction in providing a
service to local people. He also likes being close
to the golf club!
Streathers Highgate is looking to offer work
experience placements to current Highgate
sixth-formers, potentially in conjunction with
Streathers Solicitors in the West End.
And any readers looking for a local law firm
to advise on conveyancing, wills, probate,
commercial, employment or other matters can
contact Streathers Highgate on 020 3074 1900.
Philip Deja (EG c/2002)
News 17
Robert Zikel Music Bursaries
Robert Zikel. His family have been generous benefactors of the School since Robert’s early death in 1978
A generous bequest of £50,000 in memory
of Robert Zikel (1969) has enabled the
establishment of music bursaries to fund
lessons for pupils at Highgate. Robert Zikel’s
early death from leukaemia in 1978 aged
twenty-one led to the establishment of the
Robert Zikel Alpha Awards, which are given to
pupils at Prize-giving for hard work over the
course of the year. Gold, silver and bronze awards
reflect the level of industry of the winners.
This further bequest from the family follows
the death of Robert’s mother, Elizabeth, in
2012. She has also left a beautiful Steinway
Grand Piano to the School, dating from the late
nineteenth century. The piano was bought in
the early nineteen fifties by Robert’s father,
Werner, because it reminded him of the
furniture his family was forced to leave behind
when fleeing Hitler’s Holocaust in the nineteen
thirties. The family home in the exclusive
Charlottenberg area of Berlin and the music
room were furnished in the Biedermeyer style
of the period, with a beautiful cherry wood
Steinway Grand the centrepiece of the room.
Werner became a successful mechanical
engineer, who died in 2008 at the age of 98.
Robert’s time at Highgate was a memorable
period in his growing up and character formation,
and the family’s generous gifts recognize that.
Robert was an enthusiastic member of the CCF,
rising to Sergeant Major, and was also a keen
shot with a splendid Finnish rifle given to him
‘A fine fellow, always willing
to stop for a chat. His loss
is something that can’t
be measured.’
by his father. He was awarded the Robbins Cup
for Best Warrant Officer in 1975. He was made
Head of House, and at Prize-giving in July 1976,
he was awarded the OC President’s Prize, as
recognition of his outstanding contribution to
the School. His death from leukaemia was a great
blow to the family, as Robert was a beloved only
son. Roy Giles wrote in The Cholmeleian that he
was: ‘one of those few entirely positive people,
and held a special place in our affections. We
were honoured and proud to be given his rifle
and accessories by his parents in his memory.’
Theodore Mallinson remembered him as: ‘a
fine fellow, always willing to stop for a chat. His
loss is something that can’t be measured.’
This was to be the first of many gifts
the family made to the School in his name.
Werner contributed to the appeal launched
by Lord Garner, the Chairman of Governors,
for a new mathematics teaching block – the
Garner Building. ‘Highgate School played
such a part in Robert’s life, his education and
character formation, and showed affection and
warmth during his illness, when Lord Garner as
President of the Appeal invited me to become
Vice President, I welcomed his invitation, and
contributed to the appeal’, he commented.
The piano was first played at the School
in a concert this summer, commemorating
the family’s generous contributions to the
musical and academic life of the School.
18 News
Andrew is an Amazing!
Andrew teaching photography as part of the Amazings scheme
If you have flown Ryan Air recently, you may,
as you settled back into the seat after takeoff, have noticed in their in-flight magazine,
news of Andrew Pegram’s (WG 1963) work with
the Amazings. The Amazings (see theamazings.
com) are a group of teachers, all over 50, passing
their skills on to the younger generation through
a series of classes in wide variety of subjects.
Based in North London, the project
encourages older people to share their lifeskills,
with classes ranging from Urban foraging to
quilt-making. The groups’ aim is to recover
the tradition of learning skills from the older
generation – a tradition we are losing. The
number of classes is bewilderingly large – you
can learn how to tell stories, make corsets,
become a head masseur, a potter, or, if you go to
one of Andrew’s classes, a street photographer.
Andrew describes the appeal which street
photography has for him: ‘I happened to fall
in love with photography by chance, learning
the discipline as a by-product of studying
printmaking (photographing research material).
For me, the spiritual father of photography is
the Frenchman Henri Cartier-Bresson. It’s about
the unexpected, finding people in unusual
circumstances and catching it. We see unusual
aspects of life all the time, but it’s catching that
really unusual moment and preserving it forever.
‘Community is very
important to me – I have
been a volunteer for many
years. Where the Amazings
scores is twofold: it uses
older people to teach life
skills some of which might
otherwise be lost and it
rewards those older people
for doing that work.’
I’m trying to catch that unusual happenstance’.
He lists his favourite places to photograph
as: ‘any Market – Leadenhall, Columbia Road,
Petticoat Lane, Portobello Road. I love the street
markets of the world and have photographed
in Europe, North America and Asia. I’d love to
visit the Far East and photograph more markets
– Hong Kong for example,’ and comments:
‘Community is very important to me – I have
been a volunteer for many years. Where the
Amazings scores is twofold: it uses older people
to teach life skills some of which might otherwise
be lost and it rewards those older people for
doing that work.’
As well as being an OC who learned his art
under Kyffin Williams, Andrew is linked to the
School through sending his two boys, Jack (KG
c/2006) and Freddie (KG c/2012), to Highgate.
Andrew has also returned to the School to
teach highly successful printmaking classes. ‘I
am a multi-disciplined artist with a background
in interior design, but my specialities are
printmaking, House Portraits in Pen and Ink, and
photography. I have exhibited at various galleries
around London, recently completing my 15th
exhibition, and have also dedicated my time to
teaching children as a visiting artist at Highgate
School’, commented Andrew.
News 19
Milward-Oliver’s WW1 Medal
Acquired for the Archive
Regiment on 25 September 1917 but he appears
not to have served overseas with them and the
medal is named to him in the 23rd Londons.
On 12 December 1917 he was attached to the
1st School of Air, Royal Flying Corps, from the
7th Liverpools, presumably hoping to be an ‘air
ace’ – but it was not to be. On 1 January 1918,
How did he persuade his
parents to allow him to
volunteer, and what age did
he give to a recruiting office
which, in theory anyway, did
not accept men under 18?
Henley Henley-Smith, Curator of the School Archives, with his latest acquisition,
the WW1 service medal belonging to Gerald Milward-Oliver
The School has purchased the World War
One service medal belonging to Gerald Hugh
Milward-Oliver (1910), who served as a Private,
later Lance Corporal, in the 23rd London
Regiment, the Queens Surrey Rifles. Michael
Hammerson has researched his story: ‘Not yet
sixteen years of age when he left Highgate,
his address was shown as 45 Church Crescent,
Muswell Hill, and his occupation as ‘student,
Highgate School.’ We know, from the interview I
recorded with Fred Molz (1907), that Headmaster
Dr. Johnston tried to dissuade his pupils from
leaving School too early to enlist for the war,
predicting that it would go on for at least three
years and that they would have plenty of time to
finish their education and enlist; did Johnston try
to persuade the even younger Milward-Oliver to
wait? If so, clearly he failed, and Gerald became
one of the 250,000 youths aged between 15
and 18 who were anxious not to miss some
action in a war which, everyone knew, would
be ‘all over by Christmas’. How did he persuade
his parents to allow him to volunteer, and what
age did he give to a recruiting office which,
in theory anyway, did not accept men under
18? He was commissioned in the Liverpool
he was hospitalised, and evidently deteriorated
quickly until on September 14 he was shown as
permanently unfit for any military service. He
relinquished his commission on 1 January 1919
through ill health. His medal index card shows
him as deceased by the time his medals were
issued, and the 1922 Highgate School Register
gives his date of death as 15 April 1920, aged
23, but there seems little doubt that he was a
war casualty, and he is, appropriately, recorded
as such on the School’s 1914-18 Roll of Honour.
His medals were sent to his father Mr F MilwardOliver, at their Muswell Hill home.’
Thanks are due to our Bursar, John Pheasant,
for some skilful bidding on e-Bay.
The Military Cross, British War Medal and
Victory Medal awarded to Rev. Edgar Noel Moore,
Military chaplain, killed in action on 5 January
1918, appeared in September on e-Bay, although
the School was unable to secure these. He was
ordained in 1913 and in August 1916 he was
appointed Chaplain, 4th Class, to the Forces
and after several months’ service at a training
camp at home he joined his regiment, the 20th
Battalion Liverpool Regiment, on in May 1917.
On 31 July 1917 he won the Military Cross
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion
to duty’, as the citation records. While the
Battalion to which he was attached was
forming up in the assembly position, they were
heavily shelled, but with splendid disregard of
danger he walked along the top tending the
wounded and consoling the dying. Throughout
four days of heavy fighting, he displayed a
magnificent example of courage to all ranks
whilst burying the dead and assisting to carry
stretchers, whilst under heavy shell fire’.
20 News
Ion Trewin (Tl 1956) Reviews Coming Second Doesn’t
Count By David Nesbit, Cedric Pulford and Tony Noel
Coming Second Doesn’t Count by David Nesbit, Cedric Pulford and Tony Noel
To say ‘I was a boarder at Highgate’ is to admit to being part of another world. Many
younger Cholmeleians reading this will be amazed with the revelation that in a bygone
age forty per cent of the school’s pupils were not day boys. To be more precise some
three hundred boys lived in, occupying five senior and two junior boarding houses.
Publication of the enthralling Coming Second Doesn’t Count, lovingly compiled by
David Nesbit, Cedric Pulford and Tony Noel, will ensure that what we endured will not be
forgotten. Endured? Actually I enjoyed my eight years, beginning as a weekly boarder in
the junior school’s Field House in 1952 before moving into the senior school’s The Lodge
in 1956. Indeed these recollections from a score of Lodgers are generally affectionate,
while acknowledging that boarding across six decades in the twentieth century was very
different, spartan even, from what we have learnt to expect from school life today.
Highgate’s boarding facilities were centred on Bishopswood Road, that curve off
Hampstead Lane that thanks to its playing fields has also long been the sporting heart of
the school. The Lodge, otherwise 4 Bishopswood Road, is not a particularly prepossessing
Victorian house. In fact nor were four of the other converted houses, Grindal, Cordell,
Waiting or Field. Only School and Cholmeley were purpose built. The Lodge had actually
begun elsewhere in Highgate, in the Grove. It was originally called Fitzroy Lodge, first
becoming a boarding house in 1869. Sixty years later it moved to Bishopswood Road
and became The Lodge (or TL in schoolspeak). Astonishingly from then until 1957 it had
but one housemaster, H J Gibbon, affectionately known to my generation as Gubbo or to
others as HJ or HJG,
Coming Second Doesn’t Count is in fact as much a celebration of this remarkable
schoolmaster as a history of Highgate boarding. Contributor after contributor pays tribute
to him either directly or via observation or anecdote. To think, as one Lodger remarks,
that our school termtime home was actually a modest house originally designed for a
single family and a few servants. Yet for twenty-eight years HJ and his wife had to put up
with living in close proximity to the three dozen boys under their care. Although the main
house entrance for the Gibbons was up steps to the porticoed front door, we, the boys,
had a less salubrious way in. Thinking back it beggars belief that on opening our door
we immediately had to pass two pairs of urinals (always niffy to my memory) in a block
containing bathroom, lavatories and boot room that had been tacked on to the Victorian
house.
Once inside, up a short flight of stairs, turn left and we entered our
common room complete with noticeboards and ineffectual central
heating pipes (I remember once trying to warm frozen feet on them,
before being warned by Gubbo that this way I risked chilblains).
From the common room we entered the house’s hall, off which were
the Gibbons’ ground floor quarters. The basement rooms were ours,
housing a prep room, table tennis, a piano, an ancient billiards table,
and in my time two temperamental boilers that supplied us with our
hot water. We boys were responsible for keeping them alight (could
that possibly happen today?) and I am not alone in recollecting
carrying shovel loads of red hot coals from the housemaster’s boiler
(which never seemed to go out) along a basement corridor in an effort
to relight ours.
We shared the main staircase with the Gibbons. If I recall correctly
two dormitories were on the first floor along with a sickroom and the
Gibbons’ bedroom. (What can it have been like having your bedroom
next to the junior dormitory? At least holidays must have been bliss!).
The second floor had more dormitories, matron’s quarters, and then
climbing to the attics one found the house monitors’ dens. Straight
ahead was the bedroom cum study for the head of house. In its floor
was a trapdoor with a ladder into the dormitory below. This was a
rudimentary fire escape, which wouldn’t, I feel certain, pass health and
safety regulations today. I recall all these years later a fire practice that
required everyone, including matron, to descend. Oh how concerned
she was that we might see up her skirts!
Inter-boarding-house rivalry was serious, particularly with Cordell
next door. The 1953 Coronation year was the high point, when the
house won nine cups, as the house photograph shows. For Gubbo this
was a particularly proud moment. Although academe mattered to
him, so did sport. At Aldenham, where he had been head of school, he
was also captain of cricket, football, shooting and fives. But Malcolm
Brown recalls less happy times with Gubbo taking his housemaster
responsibilities so seriously that he could be spied ‘sinking lower and
lower into his deck chair as The Lodge underperformed on the sports
field once again.’
‘Coming Second Doesn’t Count is in
fact as much a celebration of this
remarkable schoolmaster as a history of
Highgate boarding’
After being awarded the Military Cross in World War One, he read
maths at Cambridge (and taught the subject throughout his Highgate
career ensuring in the process that he got me through maths O level,
thereby becoming the first Trewin to pass a maths exam). He was
also a fine and fluent writer, witness his response to a letter on his
retirement from Sir Colin Imray, who had offered thanks for the care he
had shown him and his contemporaries.
‘Sometimes [he wrote] in those moments between waking and
sleeping, I have played one of those dream rounds when every drive
went down the middle, every approach split the pin, and every putt
hit the back of the hole. You made me feel that my house-mastering
approached that perfection whereas I am only too conscious that I have
foozled and scuffled and I have failed to win a medal. But – I have tried
to do the things with which you credit me; and, in the long years of house
mastering, I have tried to put the needs of the boys before my own. I do
believe that TL has contributed something to the school which cannot be
measured by cups or scholarships.’
News 21
Ion Trewin
Continued
Thanks to his experience being evacuated with
part of the school to Westward Ho! in world war two,
that ‘something’, believes Ross Kessel, was to move
the school towards a more collegiate ethos, and
away from its earlier more authoritarian one. He
took pride in diluting the caste system that marked
off prefects and monitors from lesser breeds lower
down the school. He also understood that we were
growing up and should benefit from being trusted.
Called into his study for a chat, he would reach for
his pipe and get down to business. The seriousness
of the occasion could be measured in matches
struck, for HJ rarely managed to keep his pipe alight
for long. Would it be a disciplinary zero? The record
was said to be twenty.
By the end of Gubbo’s housemastership, food
rationing was over, but until 1958 the school lacked
a purpose-built dining hall. Field House had its own
kitchens (as did Cholmeley House) but we Lodgers
ate at School House, where we often found Mrs
Doulton, the headmaster’s wife, helping to serve.
But by the seventies the Governors realised that
The Lodge, like other boarding houses, had to be
modernised. More briefly covered than the
Gubbo era, the editors recount how The Lodge
moved with the times. But just as in his time
The Lodge left its mark by continuing to provide a
procession of heads of school. However in 1991 it
ceased to be a boarding house. The demand was no
longer there. The story of the house continues, but
that’s for another volume.
Coming Second Doesn’t Count is a superbly
produced illustrated record of a way of life that
shaped the lives of all its inhabitants. I am certain
that being a day boy just wasn’t as much fun.
Ion Trewin (TL 1956)
Review of Obsessed: The biography of Kyffin Williams by
David Meredith and John Smith
Obsessed, the new biography of Sir Kyffin
Williams by David Meredith and John Smith
How I wish that this book had been available
five years ago! My own journey into the world
of the late Sir Kyffin Williams RA began
in earnest in the summer of 2007 when I
embarked upon the task of putting together
a presentation designed to keep his name
alive at Highgate. Initially Kyffin’s two volumes
of autobiography Across the Straits and A Wider
Sky were of course invaluable sources; and
then in 2008 Ian Skidmore’s fact-filled, but unindexed and in places disappointingly inaccurate
biography Kyffin: A Figure in the Welsh Landscape
appeared. Happily David Meredith’s delightful
‘scrapbook’ Bro a Bywyd/ His Life, His Land: Kyffin
Williams arrived on the shelves in the same
year, supplementing the words that I had been
devouring with fascinating pictorial material.
Finally text and images have come together in
this intimate and thoroughly researched tribute
to ‘Wales’s greatest artist’. Authors David Meredith
and John Smith were both close and obviously
much valued and trusted friends of Kyffin,
and their personal experiences bring touching
insights to almost every page. Knowing them
both a little, it is fun to try to work out who wrote
what, assuming that the chapters were divided up
between them. But there is a third hand at work
here, and that is Kyffin’s. He is frequently quoted,
and it is rightfully pointed out in Chapter 16 that
he was himself a wonderful writer.
There is much here that will inform both
those already familiar with Kyffin’s life, work and
haunts as well as novices like me. Yet Obsessed is
not a difficult read; in fact it is very much a ‘page
turner’ because of the variety of the chosen
themes and the genuine fondness with which
they are tackled. The unevenness in the length of
undermine the overall quality of this publication.
The colours picked for the cover and endpapers
are an inspired choice, the binding is superb and
the paper is impressively heavyweight. In fact at
the London launch when copies were piled high
on a table ready for purchase, David Meredith
feared for the audience’s feet in the event of a
volume taking a tumble! Gomer’s advertising has
highlighted the inclusion of over one hundred
images, and these – many of which are new to
me – do indeed complement the text expertly.
So it is a shame that some of the reproductions
of Kyffin’s oils suggest that they were snapped
in situ on gallery walls – because of the way in
which they are lit from the side or above.
Obsessed will not be the last word on Kyffin –
new avenues of enquiry continue to open up, as I
know only too well from my own humble efforts.
And more academic analyses of his art have yet
to be undertaken, though Chapter 14 does an
excellent job of dissecting his ability to capture
the essence of a subject in a portrait through
‘There is much here that will inform both those already
familiar with Kyffin’s life, work and haunts as well as novices’
the chapters, particularly towards the end where
there is almost a rush to tie up loose ends, could
perhaps be a little distracting for some readers,
however. And though I know that proof-reading
was carefully attended to, a few inconsistencies
seem to have crept in nevertheless.
These are minor points and in no way
a few ‘moments of palette knife pleasure’.
Meanwhile the authors have done an outstanding
job of reminding their readers what a significant
and so very human figure Kyffin was, both
because of and despite his obsession.
David Smith
22 News
Alumni Office News
Members of the 1965-75 era enjoying a day back at Highgate in March
We said goodbye to Esme Noble, our
Communications Officer, in March, and she
left with our profound thanks for all she did
to help our work in the Alumni Office. Her
successor is David Setchell (EG 2002) brother of
Tom (EG 1989) and we wish him every success in
the new role.
The Law Event in March was a great success,
and I hope will create an enthusiasm for further
OC Business Events. Thanks to the lawyers on
the panel for giving up their evening to help,
particularly Professor Sir Roy Goode (SH 1946)
and Sir Brian Neill (WG 1935), who are among our
most distinguished lawyers, and who will be 80
years of age and 90 respectively this year. Many
happy returns to them, and thanks to them for
for giving us such an enjoyable and informative
evening.
I have been privileged to host some very
successful and well-attended reunions at the
School this spring, for the 1965-75 era, and
the 1975-85 era, in spite of the weather’s best
efforts to snow and/or rain on us! Thanks to Dr
Andrew Szydlo, who provided such explosive
entertainment for the 75-85 era with one of his
chemistry demonstrations. The final explosion,
in the confines of the Dining Hall, made a
spectacular reverberation! Thanks also to Henley
Henley-Smith for providing archival material for
the visitors, as well as conducting his popular
tours of the School. For a certain generation, it
is always the old swimming pool that lures you
back: either to reawaken happy memories, or a
shudder of horror to recall that water could be
quite so cold!
There have also been some good reunions
for those celebrating their tenth and fiftieth
anniversaries of leaving Highgate, the former
held in the Fraquelli restaurant in Piccadilly,
Asseggetti. We were very well looked after, and
the venue was perfect for the occasion.
If you haven’t seen the School in a while, you
can contact Henley through the Foundation Office
to arrange a tour on oc@highgateschool.org.uk
By the time you are reading this, we will all
be looking forward to the annual dinner at the
School on Thursday 19 September, and major
events including: the East Sussex Reunion on
Monday 30 September, so ably organised by
Peter Burrowes (FG 1945). Please let Peter know
of your interest on: peterburrowes@supanet.com
On 5 October a significant event for OCs in the
North, ably organised by Roderick Thomson, will
take place in York (see box for details).
On Saturday 28 September, there will be
a 25 Years On Reunion for those who left the
School in 1988. On 12 October, we are inviting
OCs at the School in 1963 to a performance of
Britten’s War Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall.
On 17 October we are holding an OCBS Finance
Event at the Club House, Mayfair, organised by
David Newman (QG 1979) and Mark Whittaker
(NG 1979) and there will be the Annual Cricket
Dinner on 1 November. Do check the website
for details and up-to-date information. I look
forward to welcoming you back to Highgate, and
I hope you share my excitement as our 450th
anniversary approaches!
Simon Appleton
Thanks to Roderick Thomson (HG 1950)
for organising this:
Cholmeleians in the North of England Reunion Lunch
Saturday 5 October
Bar Convent
Blossom Street, York YO24 1AQ
Sherry, three courses and wine for £35
Wives and partners welcome
Contact
The Foundation Office on
oc@highgateschool.org.uk or
Roderick Thomson on 01943 877753
Feature 23
Making Plans
with Nigel
Connor Whitmore (13SG) talks to Nigel Williams
(HG 1961) about his work as a writer and his plans
to write a play for Highgate’s 450th
24 Feature
Class Enemy – written in the 1970s
but still performed today – is perhaps
Nigel’s best-known play
The Wimbledon Poisoner, a
suburban black comedy and one
of Nigel’s most successful novels
Nigel Williams sees writing as a craft – appropriately
for a writer who’s been successful in so many genres:
screenplays, like the golden-globe winning Elizabeth,
starring Helen Mirren, adaptations for the stage, like
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, darkly-comic bestselling novels, like The Wimbledon Poisoner, and plays
like Class Enemy, written in the seventies but still
performed regularly all over the world.
The Golden Globe-winning Elizabeth,
starring Helen Mirren
Nigel has adapted the Golding classic
Lord of the Flies for the stage
25
‘I experienced Nigel’s skill as an adaptor at first
hand when I directed and acted in Southgate
House’s Lord of the Flies, adapted for the stage
from William Golding’s novel, in this year’s
House Drama competition. Nigel found adapting
the classic novel a challenge: ‘there isn’t much
dialogue in the book. You also have to find a way
of showing how the boys become men, so that
by the end of the book you think Jack and Ralph
are like Greek heroes. The island has to become
a brooding presence, and behave like it has a
personality of its own’. He has fond memories of
the famous novelist, whom he clearly liked and
admired – even if being a houseguest could be
trying: ‘He drank three bottles of wine a night so
when I’d finished drinking with him I could never
find my way to my bedroom. I worried about
barging into the wrong room. I kept wondering:
‘Is this the room in which William Golding
is sleeping?’
Class Enemy, one of his favourite plays –
which he maintains he found: ‘easier to write
than adapting other people’s work’ – follows the
same trajectory as Lord of the Flies in terms of
child psychology: the play describes the goingson in a class of South London schoolkids who are
without a teacher to teach them. In the teacher’s
absence, the children teach each other: ‘One of
them gives a lesson in vandalism because he
likes breaking windows and out of this sort of
mess comes a certain sort of sympathy between
them. It was a big hit in Germany, and I got a
cheque for five hundred quid the other day, and
thought ‘wow! This was first performed in 1978,
it’s been translated into every language, it still
earns me money and hasn’t gone away’, Nigel
adds gleefully.
It’s exciting that Nigel, for Highgate’s 450th
anniversary in 2015, is to write a play-withina-play about a school play, revolving around
the very school in which he first discovered his
tremendous literary talent. The play will give an
insight into the process of creating a piece of
drama and, in particular, school life for pupils in
general, which he is happy to reminisce about.
Mulling over a play he acted in as a youngster
at Highgate called Dandy Dick, Nigel recalls:
‘In those days you used to do the school play and
because it was all boys, some of us would have
to play girls and get into girls’ outfits, and the
headmaster’s wife donated brassieres which were
full of old newspaper. An introduction to drama if
ever there was one!’ He also fondly recalls Geoff
Pether, a maths teacher and play producer whom
he remembers as ‘an incredible guy’.
Unfaithfully Yours, Nigel’s most recent novel, was
published in June. Nigel describes it as ‘murder
and sexual goings-on among a group of sixtysomethings in the South of France.’
It’s these influences – along with
his father, who was the headmaster of a
grammar school in Kilburn – which have made
Nigel the versatile and consummate literary
craftsman that he is today. Although he enjoys
writing his own pieces, it’s often the adaptations
which are easier to put on. ‘Theatre is a young
person’s game – quite rightly – and getting an
original play put on is pretty difficult as most
honest professional writers will tell you. You
don’t get much original writing on in the West
End.’ But Nigel sees adapting others’ work as
having worthy precedents: ‘Adapting is part of
what a dramatist does. Shakespeare often took
an old play and reworked it. I think A Midsummer
Night’s Dream is his only original work.’
Even then, you often need box-office names
to sell tickets. Nigel recalls his play Elizabeth
had sold no advance tickets. When Jeremy Irons’
name was added to the bill, the theatre sold
£60,000 of tickets.
Bertie and Elizabeth, starring James
Wilby and Juliet Aubrey as George VI
and Queen Elizabeth
handsome friend on Facebook under his own
name. A six-hour television series about Nelson
Mandela is out soon, and his latest novel,
Unfaithfully Yours has just been published. It’s
an epistolary novel about a group of sixtysomethings: ‘who knew each other when their
kids were small and then come back to the South
of France where they all rented a villa. It’s about
murder and sexual goings-on.’
For Highgate’s 450th anniversary in 2015, Nigel
is to write a play-within-a-play about a school
play, revolving around the very school in which
he first discovered his tremendous literary talent.
Nigel sees writing as a hard craft: ‘It’s a tough
profession. I had a play on at the Royal Court
and a friend of my wife’s opened The Guardian
and read the review and she was practically in
tears. ‘How can Nigel stand it?’ she asked. But
if it’s going well you simply are never alone
because you have your characters for company.
I don’t have to work now to earn money but I still
write because I love it. My wife said the other
day: ‘we’ll go on holiday, but you’ll work. Well,
that’s what I do.’ And Nigel is still busy – indeed busier
than ever. His teleplay about PG Wodehouse
screened in March on BBC 4, he has written a
comedy about Facebook, called My Face, in
which someone puts a picture of a fantastically
Nigel’s advice for aspiring young writers is
to keep going: ‘it’s very, very easy for people to
say your work is no good, when it’s probably a
lot better than you think it is’. He remembers
writing: ‘what seemed like fifteen novels before
I got accepted’ and an early play he wrote at
Oxford about: ‘a girl becoming a nun. I mean,
what was going through my mind?’
Writing, for Nigel, is worth doing because he
sees one of the dangers of a free society is that:
‘people are not prepared to argue the case for
what they think is right, morally or socially’ and,
in spite of all the difficulties: ‘it never feels like a
job – it’s the best thing really.’
26 News
Building Plans Take a
Big Step Forward
(above and below) Computer-generated images of the new Junior School buildings
Planning permission has been granted for
the new Junior School to replace Cholmeley
House. A temporary school will be built
on Senior Field this summer ahead of the
demolition of Cholmeley beginning next
January. It will house the Junior School for two
years until the new building is completed in
late 2015.
John Mills, Chairman of Governors, said: ‘I am
very pleased that this crucial first step towards
our vision of a brand new Junior School has been
achieved and I congratulate the School’s Estates
team and their advisers on all the hard work they
have put in to get us to this point. Even harder
work, though, now starts in order to get us to the
finishing line two years from now. The prize will
be significant: a new, environmentally friendly,
school with good, up to date, facilities designed to
last for a century.’
Mark James, Principal of the Junior School,
emphasises that continuity, both of the children’s
education, and the Junior School’s heritage,
will be paramount: ‘We want to ensure that
the heritage of Cholmeley House is respected.
We will be working closely with the architects
and the children on the best and most creative
ways to end our time in this building. We will be
encouraging the children to produce art works
which can be incorporated into the new building.’
One important example of continuity is the
Cholmeley House Foundation Stone, a prominent
feature for 75 years on the front elevation of
the building. It records the opening of the old
School – then the ‘new’ one! – in November 1937
by Roger Hetherington, a governor of the School.
There are still several local Cholmeleians who
recall the occasion and they have been assured
that the stone will have pride of place, no doubt
alongside another, in the new School.
Meanwhile, the restoration of the Chapel,
and creation of a new Library in Big School
is making excellent progress and is due for
completion in the autumn of this year. ‘Both of
these are fine Victorian buildings in the heart
of Highgate Village – the face of the School to
the outside world – and their restoration will be
of significance and value not only to the whole
School community but to the wider community
too because of the buildings’ importance in the
landscape of the Village’, commented John Mills.
Adam Pettitt, the Head Master, commented
enthusiastically about the newly-restored
apse: ‘Even on a miserable December morning
with internal scaffolding, the crispness and
clarity of the colours were striking, as light
bounced back from the paintings’ burnished
gold. The overall effect is the more compelling,
set against the brilliant St Pancras orange of the
restored brickwork.’
Work will soon begin on the creation of two
new additional laboratories on the roof of the
Garner Building, allowing ‘decant space’ for the
refurbishment of classrooms and laboratories in
the Science Building.
John Mills said: ‘The Junior School and other
projects are right at the heart of our plans for
modernising and improving Highgate’s academic
estate. We are taking a long view: like our
predecessors 150 years ago or more, we want
buildings and facilities that not only meet present
needs but which will have every potential to
serve Highgate for another 150. I am grateful to
the many parents – current and former – and
Alumni who have already helped us to meet some
of the costs of these key new developments,
as well as the development of the School’s
charitable activities.’
News 27
Lord Hill Opens the
New Charter Building
Jonathan Hill with Highgate pupils at the official opening of the new Charter Building
The Charter Building, the School’s new
entrance and home to the English and
Geography departments, was officially
opened on 18 January by Jonathan Hill (NG
1973), Lord Hill of Oareford. Jonathan had
earlier that month been appointed Leader of the
Conservatives in the House of Lords, following
the resignation of Lord Strathclyde. He is also
a Privy Counsellor and Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster. In May 2010 he was created a life
peer as Baron Hill of Oareford, in the County of
Somerset, taking up the office of Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State for Schools at the
Department for Education. He guided the
Academies Bill through the House of Lords.
John Mills, Chairman of the Governing Body,
welcomed Jonathan and thanked him for his
many years’ work as governor of the School.
Jonathan, in his reply, praised the governors
for their vision and bold decision-making in
taking the School coeducational and expanding
its roll. He also praised the School’s outreach
work with its partner schools in the Borough of
Haringey, which reflected Jonathan’s educational
philosophy while a government minister. Heads
of School Ed Manuel and Constance Van Stroud
also welcomed Jonathan, saying: ‘knowing that
you started out at Highgate before going up to
Cambridge, the university whose nomination
brought you as Governor to Highgate, opens our
eyes to the opportunities which may await future
Cholmeleians: as Minister in the Department
for Education you oversaw the growth of Free
‘knowing that you started
out at Highgate before going
up to Cambridge…opens our
eyes to the opportunities
which may await future
Cholmeleians’
Schools which include Highgate’s partner
school, Hartsbrook School in Tottenham; we are
impressed and grateful that as so very recently
appointed Leader of the House of Lords you have
been able to join us to mark the official opening
of this building. We hope that you will enjoy
seeing the Charter Building in action.’
In his reply, Jonathan reflected on the
importance of the subjects taught in the
new building, particularly the ability to write
correctly-spelt, accurate, grammatical English.
Jonathan acknowledged a debt to the English
Department during his time at Highgate,
where he had been taught to write accurately,
although he remembered with amusement the
‘style wars’ of the time – a division between
those who encouraged florid prose and the
advocates of brevity. In the end, he read History
at Cambridge, before working in the Conservative
Research Department.
From 1989-91, he worked at the Number Ten
policy unit and served as political secretary to
John Major. He was appointed CBE in 1995.
After unveiling a commemorative plaque
in the entrance to the new building, Jonathan
enjoyed being serenaded by the School choir
with Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque, a piece
chosen to celebrate the light-filled quality of
the new building. Jonathan met members of
the School’s partnership school, including Sir
Pritpal Singh (SH 1966), headmaster of Drayton
Manor School.
28 News
Highgate’s Economists:
On Target!
International Fencing
Highgate Economists (left to right): Will Morley, Ed Manuel, Janet Talabi,
Sheerwan O’Shea and Rufus Pope
Highgate celebrated the success of some its most exceptional Sixth Form
economists in the Lent term, who competed in the London Area finals of this
year’s Bank of England and The Times Interest Rate Challenge Competition:
Target 2.0.
Competing for Highgate were Head Boy Ed Manuel (13SH), alongside Janet
Talabi (13TL), Sheerwan O’Shea (13WG), Will Morley (13QG), and Rufus Pope (13WG).
‘Having been declared winners of the regional competition in November 2012,
we were both optimistic and apprehensive’, writes Janet Talabi. ‘Although we had
progressed this far, we now faced tougher competition and higher expectations
from the judging panel. The task we had been set required us to step into the shoes
of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. This involved assessing UK
and global economic data in order to reach a decision as to what should be done to
achieve the Government’s 2% inflation target, and after several weeks of research
and preparation we were again ready to present our findings to a panel of Bank of
England judges. Equally as anxious as in November, we each delivered our speeches
to the panel who then grilled us over our unashamedly pessimistic outlook on what
could be done to achieve the Government’s inflation target.’
‘The air was thick with anticipation as the results were drip-fed to us by a judge
who confessed to being a keen viewer of reality-TV shows! Our analysis of the UK
economy proved successful as we were awarded 2nd place out of 59 London schools,
beaten only by the winners of last year’s national finals, St Paul’s School. The sting
of coming so close to complete victory was softened by the £650 cheque presented
to us, and we have very happy memories of all the work we did together. The
competition also taught us so much about how to unravel complex information and
present it in a clear, convincing way.’
‘We want to offer our sincere thanks to the many parents and staff who
completed the Highgate School Consumer Confidence Survey which we put together.
The results were displayed as part of both rounds and gave us a real edge in the
competition. We will have crossed fingers for Highgate’s next entrants into the
competition! The experience was brilliant, and the chocolate gold bars in our goodybag prizes were heavenly!’
Janet Talabi (13TL)
Olympic hopeful Isabella Gill (8B)
Undoubtedly Highgate’s keenest junior fencer is Isabella
Gill (8B), who dreams of one day competing in the Olympic
Games. She is already well on her way to achieving this goal by
devoting as much time as she can to training for the British Youth
Championship in May, and for the England Youth Championship
in June, where she will try to retain her title as England Youth
Champion. Her determined training has already allowed her to
make an outstanding start to the year, by achieving a terrific
result at one of the most popular international competitions for
junior fencers: the Paris CEP Marathon Fleuret. The competition
took place in the prominent Pierre de Coubertin Stadium, which
over two days provides a superb opportunity for Under-15s to
test themselves against ambitious fencers from across the world.
Isabella herself competed in the U15 England squad. ‘I found
the marathon extremely demanding’, she explained, ‘but very
enjoyable. It was a real thrill to fight other fencers from around the
world. I train three times a week but leading up to the competition
the training sessions became very intense.’
The international reach of the competition was thrilling. ‘The
most exciting thing about the competition,’ Isabella said, ‘was
knowing that there were over a thousand fencers taking part
from countries as far away as Venezuela and Brazil’, and in her
own category over 245 U15 girls competed from different nations.
Despite this stiff competition, Isabella’s finishing position was
the eighth-highest from the year 2000, in the top 64 fencers who
competed in her category. At the Challenge Wratislava in Poland
in March, Isabella finished 7/165 girls and she is looking forward to
the Italian U14 National Championships.
News 29
The London Academy of Excellence
and Highgate Exchange Visits
Sixth Form pupils from the London Academy of Excellence visited Highgate this February
Wednesday 14 November marked the first of
what we hope will become a regular exchange
of visits between Highgate School and the
brand new London Academy of Excellence
in Stratford. Founded in September, with the
support of Highgate and other independent
schools such as Eton and Brighton College, the
LAE is the UK’s first Sixth Form Free School.
For the 50 Lower Sixth pupils from ‘Highgate
House’ who came to visit, this was a chance
to take a good look around the school after
which their House was named. After pairing up
Highgate School pupils studying similar A Level
subjects, it was off to an introductory Assembly
from the Heads of School, Ed Manuel (13SH) and
Connie van Stroud (13KG), who discussed both
the academic and extracurricular aspects of
school life at Highgate. As the LAE will not have
an Upper Sixth Form until next year, the talk on
further education and university applications
was particularly well received.
Our guests then took the opportunity to sit
in on some of our lessons. Unfortunately for me,
my partner, aspiring accountant Fatima Patel,
favoured Economics and Maths over Double
German but many others worked together in
their chosen subject and an atmosphere of
healthy competition prevailed. In Further Maths
Bertie Mills (12SH) was quick to remark that
‘Many of the LAE pupils beat us to the answers
after only five minutes warm up in class!’.
After all the hard work, Highgate pupils
turned tour guides, showing their partners
around Senior School. The main talking point
was the difference in size between Highgate and
LEA where for now there is just one year group,
200 students, to fit into their building. One of the
pupils, Mary Akowe, explained that: ‘The smaller
size of our school gives us the luxury of knowing
everyone in our school and creates a warm and
friendly atmosphere in all the classes.’
After this, the five flights of steps up to Dyne
House was definitely not one of their highlights
during the tour! However, the lunch in the Dining
Hall that followed seemed to pass the test as well
as allowing us the chance to hear more about
life at the LAE. Those who remember Mr Robert
Wilne will be pleased to learn that he has made
an extremely positive impression on his new
pupils in his first few months as Headmaster of
the LAE. Mary and Fatima both agreed that his
unique teaching methods – including ‘elbows
off the desks’ and rapid fire questions to which
‘I don’t know’ is never a good enough answerreally do get the best out of all the Lower Sixth.
Both this and the mention of his brightly
coloured array of shirts and socks brought back
fond memories for those at Highgate who were
lucky enough to be taught by him.
On 5 February we paid a much-anticipated
return visit. Immediately noticeable were the
majestically coloured deep purple walls, a
trademark of Mr Wilne’s Maths department of the
past. Reunited with our partners and supplied
with refreshments we caught up with all the
news and developments since our previous
meeting. Among the most noteworthy, if not
controversial, topics that arose were the battle
for LAE house supremacy, with Highgate House
currently a narrow second.
We were given an insight into the LAE School
routine through an extensive guided tour which
included a majestic view of the new Olympic Site,
easily viewable from the classrooms at the top
of the building. One of those was my destination
for an History AS lesson which conveniently
coincided with the period our Early Modern
class was studying. Both Celia Dale (12WG) and
I had to be on our toes to match the pace of the
class, which focused on the bloody and brutal
regime of Queen Mary, enabling us to thoroughly
examine a crucial point in English history within
fifty minutes packed full of facts and sources.
After the success of both visits, this will
surely blossom into a permanent exchange that
can be continued long after our respective School
year groups have moved on to pastures new.
Joe Berriman (12EG)
30 News
Highgate Welcomes the
Chinese New Year
Jewellers of the Future
A Chinese New Year greeting from Highgate
More and more pupils are studying Mandarin at Highgate, as the news spreads
that its unique spoken and written forms are ‘definitely fun to learn!’ writes
Polina Andreeva Asprem (13FG). ‘Mandarin was first introduced into the school
curriculum in 2008 and since then it has quickly increased in popularity. Twenty-five
pupils are taking Mandarin for GCSE this year and ten intend to study it at A Level,
making it clear that the world’s most widely spoken first language is a popular new
addition to the school curriculum.’
‘As part of their studies both pupils and teachers celebrated the Chinese New
…the world’s most widely-spoken first language is
a popular new addition to the school curriculum.
Year enthusiastically in a week during Lent term packed full of engaging workshops,
visits to exhibitions on culture, and a Chinese film show. On Monday, twenty pupils
visited the British Museum for an insightful talk on the ‘Silk Roads’, followed by
an exhibition on Chinese art, pottery and embroidery. On Thursday lunchtime,
I joined a Mandarin Calligraphy workshop, where I found myself drawing Mandarin
characters amongst thirty fellow pupils against a backdrop of authentically
calm traditional ‘string-plucking’ music. Sario Watanabe-Solomon (11FG) finds
calligraphy a captivating skill, as the characters are representative of the word itself.
For example, ‘rén’, which means man, resembles a human in original scripture as can
be seen below:
It seems to be the characters as much as the spoken language which captivate
pupils. Gulliver Howarth (9NG) explained that ‘it’s not any harder than French’ to
understand them, and studying such a ‘different culture gives him a whole new
experience, different to other languages’. With over 14% of the world’s population
speaking Mandarin as their first language, many pupils also think that it will be a
useful skill to have in their future lives.’
‘Mandarin learning is thriving so much in Highgate that a ten-day trip to China
is planned for October, when pupils will visit places such as Beijing and Xi’an, giving
them an ideal opportunity to explore the country and to gain knowledge from the
history of Terracotta warriors to the every day bustle of current day China.
Polina Andreeva-Asprem (13FG)
This beautiful silver pendant was designed by Simone
Jackson (Y8) in the new silver jewellery classes
The newest addition to Highgate’s diverse range of Tuesday
Afternoon Activities is the ‘Silver Jewellery Workshop’ for
Year 8 pupils organised by Mr Thomson (Director of Design &
Technology) and outside expert Ms Sophie Charles, a working
jeweller of more than twenty years’ experience. Each week
the Senior DT room is now wonderfully transformed into a silver
jeweller’s workshop, with authentic peg benches and eager
young designers.
The children truly surpassed
themselves in their chosen projects,
and then it was their parents’ turn!
Besides learning how to use a range of tools specific to the
craft, such as doming blocks and stamps, half round pliers and
ring mandrels, one of the most challenging for pupils was grasping
how to load and use a jeweller’s fret saw. With its extremely fine
saw blades, it takes lots and lots of practice! Nonetheless their
enthusiasm and determination has seen them develop very fast.
The beautiful silver heart-shaped pendant pictured above was
created by Simone Jackson (8B), who learned about annealing,
which is the need to soften metals before working them, and
soldering with the jeweller’s torch itself!
The children truly surpassed themselves in their chosen
projects, and then it was their parents’ turn! The adults’ course
provided by the D&T Department allowed gave Highgate parents
the chance to experience the facilities their children get to enjoy
every day. The results have been (almost!) as beautiful as young
Simone’s, with parents taking great pleasure in the creative
challenges as well as each other’s company.
News 31
Can you stomach it?
Highgate’s biology teachers, Patrick Johnston and Gemma Gulliford won 3rd Prize and
£8,000 in the National O2 Learn Teaching Awards for their video on the digestive system
In December 2012, the Biology Department’s
Dr Patrick Johnston and Miss Gemma
Gulliford produced a video (‘The Human
Digestive System – Can you Stomach it?’)
which won 3rd Prize in the National O2 Learn
Teaching Awards. The video involved teaching
pupils about the structure and function of the
human digestive system through the use of
a giant model demonstrated by pupils from
the Year 7 Science club. It was one of the most
highly-rated videos among more than one
thousand uploaded to www.o2learn.co.uk,
by both the public and a panel of experts who
looked for educational value and creativity.
The Biology department has received prize
money of £8,000 which it will be spending on a
project designed to enhance the teaching and
enjoyment of Biology at Highgate. A huge Thank
You to all the parents, students and staff who
voted for the video.
Musician of the Year in Highgate’s
Junior School
Amos Sharp (Y6) won the Emunah Young Musician of the Year competition
Music has always been an essential part
of life at Highgate in each part of the
Foundation, from the concert-like service
in St Michael’s Church at the end of the
Michaelmas term to the array of concerts
and competitions in which pupils participate.
In the Lent term, for instance, pupils could take
part in performances ranging from the popular
music competition ‘Battle of the Bands!’ to the
National Festival of Music for Youth competition
in February, or the Rothenberg Recital and Junior
Ensembles Concert in March.
Amos Sharp of Year 6 went a step further
in the Lent term, entering and winning the
nationwide Emunah Young Musician of the Year
competition, run by the charity Emunah, which
supports vulnerable and deprived children in
Israel, in conjunction with the Jewish Chronicle.
He is also carrying on something of a family
tradition, as his sister, the cellist Anoushka
Sharp, was last year’s winner. ‘I felt completely
delighted to win’, said Amos. ‘The heats were
held at the Royal Academy of Music and I won
the String Section adjudicated by the renowned
violinist and Professor of Strings at the Royal
Academy of Music, Maureen Smith. The finals
took place a month later at the Royal College of
Music and were adjudicated by a panel of four
judges chaired by Malcolm Singer, who is both a
composer and conductor, as well as Director of
Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School.’
Amos also explained what had guided his
choice of music to perform. ‘I chose to perform
‘Meditation’ from the opera Thais, by Massenet,
because it is one of the most beautiful melodies
ever written and I thought the sound would
reverberate wonderfully in the enormous,
grand hall at the Royal College. I wanted to
demonstrate that music can have a hugely
calming and uplifting effect because that ties
in with the idea behind the music therapy
centres in the Emunah children’s homes. It was
particularly exciting to have been chosen as the
winner because the prize included a £500 award
from Wienerworld to my school with which to
buy musical instruments. It’s lovely to be giving
something back to the school as a way of saying
thank you for all the musical encouragement
and fun I have had so far at school.’
32 News
Escape from Desert Island
Victorian Day
Pupils at the Junior School celebrate Victorian Day
As part of the topic we are studying in History, Year 5 took
part in a fun ‘Victorian Day’, write Eleanor Fisher and Mehwish
Adnan of 5R. Everyone came to school in all kinds of Victorian
costumes, including chimney sweeps, famous people and
wealthy men and women. It was a very different world, including
life at school, which is nothing like it is today! We had to line up in
the playground in total silence and then after the register we were
sent into school. We then went into our classrooms splitting into
boys and girls. Everyone was a bit scared at first because we did not
know what to expect, but as the day went on we really enjoyed it.
This Junior School pupil escaped from a desert island as part of the
adventure of Science Week
For two weeks this term the entire Junior School were stranded on a deserted
island after their luxury cruise liner sank. Thank heavens the Junior School was also
celebrating ‘Science and Technology Week’, as this allowed pupils to put all their new skills
to use to discover first of all how to survive on the island, and second, how to escape.
The tribes gathered together to share their
experiences of the island, to sing their tribal songs
and to wave their tribe’s flag.
Pupils in Year 6 were placed in charge of finding clean drinking water, whilst Year 5
made Morse code tappers to message for help whilst exploring the flora and fauna on
this mysterious island. Year 4 went to work using their knowledge of structures in DT
to create luxury shelters to protect them from the elements. Year 3, meanwhile, were
placed in charge of learning to use and communicate with semaphore flags, and given
the all-important task of raft building.
At the end of the two weeks the tribes gathered together to share their
experiences of the island, to sing their tribal songs and to wave their tribe’s flag.
Many were happy to be boarding their rafts home but there were still many who
opted to stay on the island for good.
When we were ‘out of character’, we also
got to play Victorian games, to make
zoetropes, and we also took part in a
‘History Mystery’ where we looked at
some Victorian objects in groups and
had to work out what they might be.
After lunch we went into the playground to do ‘drill’, which is
what the Victorians called exercise. Everyone was scared to death
of Mr Allan because he was shouting , ‘left, right, left, right’ all the
time! We then had an object lesson about the potato. This was a
funny lesson because we had to pretend to be Victorian children
and our teachers were very strict. Some children got caned or were
made to wear a back straightener or finger cuffs! Some of us even
had to stand in a corner and wear a dunce’s hat!! We also recited
two poems. One of them we had to learn by heart and we could
read from the sheet with the other one as it was a performance
poem in a group.
When we were ‘out of character’, we also got to play Victorian
games, to make zoetropes, and we also took part in a ‘History
Mystery’ where we looked at some Victorian objects in groups and
had to work out what they might be. We tried really hard with the
Victorian handwriting and doing Maths using pounds, shillings and
pence, which were both really difficult! All in all, it was a fantastic
day giving us memories we will never forget.
By Eleanor Fisher and Mehwish Adnan (5R)
News 33
Science Week in the Pre-Preparatory School
taking place before them, and were mesmerised
just as much by the sight of liquid nitrogen
shrinking a balloon, which Dr Szydlo then reflated
and threw up and down! After such a captivating
assembly the children had learned a great deal
about Chemistry, and were eager to find out more
about the famous alchemist Robert Boyle whom
Dr Szydlo had told them about.
Every day of Science Week
was filled with fun activities,
and those towards the end
of the week lived up to the
standard set by Highgate’s
own Sixth Formers and Dr
Szydlo, with the arrival of our
visiting expert Farouk the
Science Week!
Pre-Prep pupils discover the fun of learning about science as part of Science Week
In a week packed full of assemblies,
workshops and visitors, the Pre-Prep’s
celebration of Science this year left pupils
excited about the diverse fields of scientific
discovery as well as eager to learn more from
Highgate’s resident experts and Sixth Formers.
One of the first talks was given by Highgate
Sixth Form Physicists from Mr David Smith’s
class, who gave an interesting assembly on
famous scientists which coincided with our
project on ‘Famous and Important People’. The
children learnt about famous scientists and saw
some interesting experiments. The highlight
was definitely the helium clownfish balloon
that manoeuvred around the hall above the
children’s heads! Then throughout the day the
Sixth Formers ran workshops for each class. Each
workshop consisted of five fun activities related to
Thomas Alva Edison, Robert Hooke, Wernher von
Braun, Alexander Graham Bell and Marie Curie.
Representing the excitement of discoveries
and research in the field of Chemistry was Dr
Szydlo’s eagerly anticipated assembly. There
is always excitement surrounding this Science
Week event, and Dr Szydlo gave the pupils an
unforgettable assembly: they sat transfixed by
explosions (including an exploding tin can of
petrol!) as he explained the chemical reactions
As ever, Science Week in the Pre-Prep was
just as much about pupils getting a handson experience of discovering knowledge for
themselves. One of the most popular activities
came on Wednesday, with a carousel of science
investigations which the classes rotated around.
These included an Angel Delight investigation
where the children saw its properties change,
rocket balloons, windmills, building spaghetti
structures, and the very popular hydrophobic
sand that could be poured into water and then be
removed and remain dry!
Every day of Science Week was filled with
fun activities, and those towards the end of the
week lived up to the standard set by Highgate’s
own Sixth Formers and Dr Szydlo, with the
arrival of our visiting expert Farouk the Science
Week! The wizard started our day with a very
entertaining assembly which saw him manage to
get a hard-boiled egg inside a conical flask! Then
throughout the day each year group attended a
workshop. Pupils were enthralled watching him
make ‘super’ bubbles which they could hold and
loved watching dry ice bubble in water! They
each made a spinning helicopter, too.
In an assembly at the end of the week,
pupils enthused about all of the activities they
had enjoyed and spent a lot of time explaining
what they had learned. This was a lovely way
to finish the week, as they discussed all of the
activities and investigations that had taken
place. We would like to thank Miss Presnail for
organising such a wonderful week.
Sarah Fleming
34 News
Learning about the London Fire Brigade
This Pre-Prep pupil found out how to put out a fire, helped by a fireman from the London Fire Brigade’s White Watch
Highgate Pre-Prep’s varied programme of
outside visitors continued in the Lent term
with three special visits from the fire fighters
at Hornsey Fire Station. Their visits were linked
to our project ‘Famous and Important People’,
and each year group was lucky enough to have
their own session with the fire fighters. They
told us about their uniforms and how they keep
them safe when they are on a ‘shout’. We also
learnt about the breathing apparatus and all
the equipment on the engine, and were even
allowed to sit in the cab of the fire engine and
test the sirens! Perhaps the most fun of all was
We discovered that the largest fire Graham had ever
attended was in a warehouse and it was about the size
of a football pitch!
had squirting water from the hose, and after this
hands-on experience everyone in Year One was
eager to ask Graham and the other members of
White Watch lots of questions. We discovered
that the largest fire Graham had ever attended
was in a warehouse and it was about the size of a
football pitch! Our favourite question was asked
by Sonny, who said: ‘Have you ever fallen in love
with one of the girls you have rescued?’ Graham
found this amusing and responded, ‘No, because
my wife won’t let me!’
Sarah Fleming
Music 35
Music
Junior Music Ensembles Concert (photo credit: Dr Andrew Szydlo)
October 2012 to March 2013: Out of all of
these events, perhaps the most memorable
came in October with the Highgate
Community Orchestra’s (HCO) performance
with the international star and classical
music advocate, Nicola Benedetti, who was
awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours.
The HCO comprises Highgate School pupils
(past and present), teachers, and parents, who
accompanied Ms Benedetti in a performance
of the Korngold Violin Concerto. Having played
with her once before, the orchestra now had the
pleasure of performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto
with the internationally-acclaimed cellist
Leonard Elschenbroich. The orchestra had only a
brief rehearsal with the soloists due to their tight
schedule, yet the performance was formidable.
As one would expect, the tickets sold out and,
perhaps for one evening, Highgate’s Dining Hall
was the centre of classical music in the country – an
impressive thought that is a credit to the ambition
of all involved, not least Mr Murphy as conductor.
Highgate’s own concerts tend to be split into
two categories: orchestral concerts and junior
ensembles concerts, which are often most
intense before many of the older pupils leave
for Study Leave in the summer in preparation
for academic exams. The Orchestral Concert
in November contained the ensembles of the
highest standard in the school: the Concert
Whitacre’s Seal Lullaby, a piece that he injected
with personality in signposting Whitacre’s
characteristic harmonic landscape. The concert
ended with William Walton’s Henry V Suite,
composed for the Laurence Olivier film adaption
of the Shakespeare play. The final movement,
Agincourt Song, was particularly rousing with the
As one would expect, the tickets sold out and, perhaps for one
evening, Highgate’s Dining Hall was the centre of classical
music in the country – an impressive thought that is a credit
to the ambition of all involved, not least
Mr Murphy as conductor.
Choir, the Lazarus Ensemble, the Symphonic
Wind Band, Chamber Orchestra and the
Symphony Orchestra. The concert also featured
Marcus Beadle (9EG) as a piano soloist for
the Symphonic Band’s performance of Eric
support given by the strings to the maximalist
folk chorale from the brass.
The more recent Junior Ensembles Concert
featured two of the largest junior groups,
Concert Band and Sinfonia; a wind and standard
36 Music
Music
The Lazarus Ensemble at the National Festival of Music for Youth Concert in February
orchestra respectively. Both were particularly
successful in displaying a high level of precision
from all the constituent sections in their
performances of the accessible and memorable
Movie Adventures Suite by John Williams and
Suite from Carmen Op. 40 by Bizet. In addition,
a real highlight of the concert was the Brymer
Ensemble, a clarinet chorus, who opened the
concert with the jovial Chattanooga Choo Choo
without a conductor.
The musical calendar also complements
orchestral concerts with competitions that
often demonstrate the distinctive skills of
individuals or groups. The first was the solo
music competition in October, which presented
a wonderful opportunity for musicians to show
themselves off at their best; and the results were
spectacular. After contests in each instrument
category, the top performers progressed to a
grand final, which exhibited huge variety in both
instrument and repertoire. On this occasion two
of the top three were Northgate singers: Beth
Chalmers (11NG) and Patrick Dodd (13NG).
Beth’s rendition of Sondheim’s The Ladies
Who Lunch was both technically impressive and
entertainingly executed, her relaxed presence
providing much for the audience to enjoy.
Similarly Patrick, who came second, was praised
for his ability to hold the full attention of the
audience for the whole of An Die Nachtigall by
Brahms. The winner, however, was Oscar Darwin
(13EG), playing piano: Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in
B minor. This technically demanding work was
mastered by Oscar, who played with flawless
accuracy and infused his playing with real flair.
Success in house music
demands a number of
things: primarily it requires
an intense commitment
from a number of talented
pupils, but also the
skill of arrangement is
fundamental in showcasing
diverse capabilities, from
dynamics to phrasing.
The House Instrumental Competition has
been dominated by The Lodge for a number
of years. This year, three other Houses found
themselves in contention after an evening of
performances from all twelve entrants. Success
in house music demands a number of things:
primarily it requires an intense commitment
from a number of talented pupils, but also
the skill of arrangement is fundamental in
showcasing diverse capabilities, from dynamics
to phrasing. In third place was Midgate with
Earth, Wind & Fire’s classic Boogie Wonderland,
and despite the substitution of the original
band’s floral shirts and glitter for black ties
and suits, the performance was both accurate
and colourful, and was clearly enjoyed by the
audience. Second place was awarded to School
House – a position that created a certain déjà
vu amongst the ensemble. Their choice of piece
was ambitious: Ravel’s defining composition,
Bolero, which features a repeated snare drum
motif throughout. This was performed by Chris
Blackaby (12SH) with rhythmical insistence
despite the vast crescendo throughout the
piece. First place went to Fargate’s rendition of
Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango, led and arranged
by Richard Footman (11FG) and featuring Alex
Grigg (13FG) on cello. In explaining his decision,
the adjudicator, Mr Kevin Brown, commended the
commitment to the opening texture, which set the
tone for a sophisticated and precise performance.
The Spring Concert – the grand finale to the
Music 37
Music
Fargate, winners of this year’s House Instrumental Competition
Lent term – returned this year to Southwark
Cathedral. Not only a prestigious location,
Southwark is also a vast acoustic space which
demands nuanced appreciation of articulation.
This was particularly true with the Chamber
Orchestra’s performance of Bach’s Concerto for
Three Violins, which featured Laurence Carden
(12TL), Peter Van Dongen (12MG) and Eve Smith
Bingham (9SH) as soloists, all of whom were
bold in both exposed and intertwined textures.
The Concert Choir, Chorale and Leipzig Consort
also performed Bach, namely his Easter Cantata:
Christ lag in Todes Banden. This featured Sam
Carl (OC) as a soloist, who commanded great
depth and clarity across a large acoustic range,
and is held in great admiration by Highgate
singers. The Symphony Orchestra’s performance
of Schumann’s Manfred Overture was similarly
sophisticated and displayed a great interplay
between conductor, Mr Wiggall, and the
performers. Collectively, the entire programme
was redolent of the skill and tenacity of Highgate
pupils, whilst also being a powerful reminder of
music’s capacity to elevate and inspire.
Ben Huston (13MG)
Conor Wilcox-Mahon (13NG)
The Choir at Southwark Cathedral
38 Drama
House Drama Competition
December 2012
engendered emotional satisfaction as the
audience rejoiced with Hansel (Dan Edge) and
Gretel (Lily Bracken) at their survival. Third came
Fargate’s Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a
dynamic performance cleverly compressed into
ten minutes. Great individual humour flourished,
led by Riaz Razaq as the White Rabbit bounding
erratically on stage in multicoloured attire
whilst exclaiming ‘I’m late!’ With comic contrast,
the plot was maturely led by the two Alices,
Annie Rouse and Jojo Wickham. Finally, with a
complete mood change, Southgate performed
a scene from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies,
adapted by Old Cholmeleian, Nigel Williams
(HG 1961). Careful interpretation of individual
characters portrayed the power struggle within
the group when Piggy’s glasses were forcefully
removed to light a fire. Directors Connor
Whitmore and Olive McKibbin designed costumes
of adapted Highgate uniform to enhance the
reality of the performance.
The performance reached
a professional level with
effective scene changes
comprising of blackouts
and music, enhancing the
polished comedy of the play.
Joe Berriman as Adrian Mole and Charlie Noble as the cat in Eastgate’s winning
performance of The Diary of Adrian Mole
After weeks of auditions and rehearsals,
Highgate’s first ever House Drama
Competition contributing to the Charley Cup
arrived. Out of the 12 houses in the semi-final,
Eastgate, Kingsgate, Fargate and Southgate came
out victorious to battle for the winning place in
front of an audience of parents, peers and the
adjudicator Ben Brown (KG 1982). Mr Brown is a
Cholmleian and playwright whose most recent
production, Three Days in May at the Trafalgar
Studios, received much critical attention.
Curtain up, and Eastgate with an adaptation
of The Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend
opened the competition. This was a hugely
successful work of comic artistry, driven by
the hilarity of the absurd relationship between
Mr Mole and Mrs Mole played by Joe Berriman
and Tasha Knight. Joe performed the character
with geeky perfection, innocent and unknowing
of the raunchy affair between his wife and Mr
Lucas, played with swagger by Ben Reed. The
performance reached a professional level with
effective scene changes comprising blackouts
and music, enhancing the polished comedy
of the play. Kingsgate followed, with a darkly
contrasting adaptation of Hansel & Gretel by
The Brothers Grimm. Using physical theatre,
a large chorus transformed the stage into
the tale’s haunted wood and witch’s cottage,
creating an utterly atmospheric performance.
The climactic burning of the witch, played
with sinister malevolence by Katie Waddell,
Curtain down, and Ben Brown had the
difficult job of declaring a winner from these four
very impressive performances. Judging with a
professional eye, Mr. Brown awarded first place
to Eastgate for their accomplished production
of The Diary of Adrian Mole. Particular credit for
this orchestration must be given to Tasha Knight,
who not only acted the part of Mrs Mole, but also
directed the performance. Fargate was awarded
second place, closely followed by Kingsgate
and then Southgate. Commendations for best
acting went to Jojo Wickham playing Alice with
‘innocence and sanity amid chaos’ and Sario
Watanabe-Solomon for his feline movement
and sharp acting playing the Cheshire Cat in
Fargate’s Alice in Wonderland. The adjudicator
also congratulated Eastgate’s Tasha Knight and
Southgate’s Tom Moulding and Sammy French
for their convincing performances.
This event was undoubtedly a success. Not
only did it inspire creative competition between
houses, but the great variety and skill of the
performances produced a highly enjoyable and
entertaining evening for all. Congratulations to
everyone who took part.
Constance Van Stroud (13 KG)
Drama 39
The Tempest
Edinburgh beckons for the cast of The Tempest
Two years on from the much acclaimed Much
Ado About Nothing, Highgate swapped the
sundrenched court of Messina for Prospero’s
mystical island in Shakespeare’s last great
play. At its heart lies a parable of virtue over
vengeance, compassion over retribution, enacted
by a motley cast of sailors, nobles, spirits, lovers,
villains and drunks led by Thomas Stephens’
formidable and entirely believable sorcerer.
The action begins with a merry band of
sailors whistling a sea shanty as they hoist a sail
but the tone soon darkens as Prospero emerges
from the throng to summon a storm to shipwreck
his brother who, twelve years earlier, had
stolen his throne, setting him and his daughter,
Miranda, adrift at sea. As Prospero proclaims
that ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on;
and our little life is rounded with a sleep’ – a line
deftly shifted from Act 4 but cleverly reprised in
its customary place – he clicks his fing ers and
plunges the stage and audience into darkness.
Marina Mylonadis’ bold decision to create a
spare minimalistic setting allowed Jamie Powe’s
original score to create a visceral sense of the
sailors’ peril and, later, a menacing background
to Prospero’s moments of violence and rage.
Similarly, the use of one large wooden box to
portray a place both of refuge for the ‘monster
of the isle with four legs’ and of romance in
hosting a game of chess between the starcrossed lovers Ferdinand and Miranda (Dan Edge
and Miranda Zeffman) was a clever touch. This
pared back approach served also to draw rapt
attention to the actors’ words, facial expressions
and movement around the stage, allowing every
one of Shakespeare’s nuances to be clearly
understood.
Despite the darkness lurking fog-like at
the edges of the piece, The Tempest is rich
with comedy. In this production it was in no
small measure down to the hapless duo of Uri
Inspector’s Stephano and Lily Bracken’s Trincula
(a witty and entirely Shakespearian gender
change from the original cast list) as the far
too convincing drunkards plotting Prospero’s
downfall. While Stephano staggered and giggled
across the stage, his slurred exclamations
were perfectly offset by the somewhat simple
Trincula who managed to balance both a perfect
Estuary accent and a bowler hat throughout
her performance.
The third member of the planned uprising is
Caliban, the monstrous but wounded prisoner
of his master, Prospero. For many of us in the
audience, Connor Whitmore’s portrayal of
the creature stole the show as he snarled and
howled his way around the stage on all fours
while still managing to elicit our sympathy and
compassion for the humanity deep within his
troubled soul.
Similarly, the tense and complex relationship
between Prospero and Ariel (with Charlotte
Holtum another successful gender switch,
swathed in a wreath of green-black feathers)
added further emotional depth. Her haunting
rendition of another atmospheric song from
Powe was beautifully done as was the final
parting from her master, with Prospero unable to
look her in the eye as she removes her delicate
mask and floats off, free at last. This is a scene
that lives on in the memory longer than most.
Senior directing duo Ms McLoughlin and
Ms Fehr deserve much praise for their tireless
efforts to mould the production into its
polished state. An equally influential part of the
directional team were Jake Morris, Conor WilcoxMahon and Frank Martin who ‘had never done
anything like it before’ with entire scenes the
product of their extensive work. And for anyone
lucky enough to get tickets for the upcoming
Edinburgh Fringe performances, Prospero’s pledge
to ‘fill all thy bones with aches’ will most definitely
not apply.
Joe Berriman (12EG)
40 Art
Art
Large abstract paintings by Year 9 artists
Art 41
Art
‘In the Lent term Year 7 and Year 8 staged an
exhibition in the Mills Centre which grew out
of our studies, and I think it looks amazing,’
writes Damon Falck (8B). ‘In Year 8 each class’s
work grew out of our study of ‘shelter’. In my
class, we started by looking at the beautiful
structures created by the bower bird, before
moving on to look at the natural shapes and
sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy, created out
of natural items and nearly always left in the
open and photographed. We created a small city
out of white straws as preparation for our main
project. After that, we progressed to planning and
building our final shelters, also using straws and
trying to use parabolic curves in the way that the
bower bird does. We had planned to paint them
all over with slip and put them in the kiln but we
soon discovered that they would not be strong
enough, and so we spray painted them with
various colours instead.’
Plant paintings by Year 7 artists
‘There was a lot of variety:
the busy shanty towns and
cardboard houses were
incredibly resourceful and
ingenious, and the hanging
white sculptures were
very elegant. Many of my
friends attended the Private
View evening, and we all
found it very interesting.’
‘Each class created a different form of
shelter, and each stood out. 8B’s had a vibrant
combination of colours, and looked incredibly
realistic when lit. Other classes were inspired
by shanty towns and the work of Antonio Ole;
Hanging Shelters by Rajani Shottar; abstract
shapes by Eva Rothechild, or the skyscapes of
Edward Sautao and Nathan Coley. There was
a lot of variety: the busy shanty towns and
cardboard houses were incredibly resourceful
and ingenious, and the hanging white sculptures
were very elegant. Many of my friends attended
the Private View evening, and we all found
it very interesting. We enjoyed seeing each
other’s artwork and what other classes had
done, probably secretly liking ours the most! An
incredible amount of planning had gone into all
of our work, and to see it finally constructed
and sitting among so many others, complete,
was amazing!’
‘Year 7’s work was very advanced and
Colourful straw structures are by 8B artists
beautiful, and grew out of their study of drawing
and painting skills. They used perspective and
tone to create three dimensional-looking works.
Then they put this into practice with painting,
and studied the use of primary, secondary,
tertiary, and complementary colours, before
making final drawings of plants inspired by
a wide range of artists. I remember studying
this topic in Year 7, and it is very nice to see how
a different group of people do it. Their section
looked stunning.’
‘Next year, in Year 9, we have the
‘Investigating an Object’ topic to look forward
to, where each pupil is given an object in
wrapping and goes through a journey of
drawing and painting the object both wrapped
and unwrapped, before producing a final work
inspired by both the object and the wrapping.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the art exhibition,
and everyone I know who saw it did too. I think
it was a very good opportunity to see your work
and others’ presented together, and see what you
have done and can do in the future.’
Damon Falck (8B)
42 Feature
Page
Stage
From
To
William Kimberley meets
Juliet Fehr, Highgate’s Head of
Drama, and some of Highgate’s
brightest young acting talent.
Feature 43
Highgate School has a long and proud
tradition of launching acting, playwriting,
film and theatre production careers,
underlying the important role that the drama
department plays in the life of the School.
Now under the stewardship of Juliet Fehr,
there has been an upsurge of interest in all these
elements. At first glance, for those who have not
been to the School for a number of years, there
might appear to be little difference, but as with
sports, there has been a quiet revolution taking
place in drama and theatre studies.
‘When I joined the School I came in to start
A-level theatre studies,’ says Juliet, ‘but as there
wasn’t a history of it at the School, I was a little
bit nervous about the sort of response I would
receive from both parents and the staff and
whether it would be taken seriously.’
For those who have not been
to the School for a number
of years, there might appear
to be little difference, but
as with sports, there has
been a quiet revolution
taking place in drama
and theatre studies.
‘I made the conscious decision that the first
play I directed would be a showcase for A-level
Theatre Studies and so produced a serious, quite
academic piece of drama that could easily have
been used as an A-level text. I had some really
strong performers who weren’t doing A-level
drama but they were good actors and this
really helped to set my stall out. It meant that
I overcame any negative attitudes there might
have been at the beginning, while having the
support of the Head Master was also a big factor
as that filtered across the entire School.’
Noga Inspector (in the middle)
in the musical version of
Roald Dahl’s Matilda
44 Feature
Juliet has overseen two major steps in
her short career at the School – one is the
introduction of drama as an A-level subject and
now a GCSE one, and the other is the House
Drama competition. ‘A-level is a serious academic
subject where we are not only studying texts as
in written English but also in performance, and
that’s the difference – it’s studying the characters
and how they behave in a performance rather
than the text itself. Theatre Studies is quite
different in how it is taught lower down the
School where it is more a mix of skills, but plays
are still studied and analysed. However, we also
look at issues, themes and things that might be
going on in the news or things that are pertinent
to a 13 or 14 year old and explore those through
the medium of drama.’
The House Drama Competition is a bold
move to bring drama to the forefront of School
activities by ensuring that every pupil in the
School has the opportunity to get involved.
Another important element is that it is a
no-go area for teachers as it is entirely run by
the students.
‘I started a House Drama Competition the
year before last in order to encourage the
older pupils to go through the whole process
of choosing the play, cutting and casting it,
designing the lighting, organising the props and
costumes and so on. This year almost all of my
A-level students directed their House Drama
entry, which had a massively positive effect on
what they were doing in class and helped them
understand how a production goes from the page
to the stage.’
The drama students themselves are inspired
to come into drama for a number of reasons.
For someone like Jack DeDeney, it was a natural
decision having two parents who tread the
boards while he also has an aunt who has written
‘It was great being on the
same stage as Rowan
Atkinson, who played Fagin
at the time I first started,
and I learnt a lot about
stagecraft and positioning
over the two years
I was there.’
Eleanor Burke in Britten’s opera,
The Turn of the Screw
Sario (left, in the pink shirt) has
plenty of West End experience. Here
he is in the cast of 13, which played
at the Apollo Theatre last summer
Feature 45
the play was going live. He says it was quite a learning curve but
one from which he learnt a great deal about managing time, people
and props and would put himself forward again. Eleanor Burke
has sung professionally in many of Europe’s leading opera houses,
including a major role in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.
They have all found the experience
fulfilling and, importantly,
it has helped them in their
studies of other subjects
Sammy French (to the right of the Tin Man as
you look at the picture) in The Wizard of Oz
a screenplay. For Charlotte Holtum, though,
her way into acting came despite her parents,
although her mother is now very supportive
(her father died three years ago). At the time,
however, her acting career was, as she terms it,
an act of rebellion. For Ruth Louis it was the same
story – her parents were not particularly keen
on her taking to the stage, but having an older
brother who is carving out a career in the theatre
helped inspire her.
Then there are pupils who could almost be
classified as the semi-pros – Sammy French, who
is trailblazing as part of the School’s first ever
GCSE cohort, and Sario Watanabe-Solomon. Both
have trod the West End stage in Oliver. ‘I started
with ballet but got bored with that,’ says Sario.
‘However, I’ve always liked musicals and when
a friend told me about the auditions, I thought
it would be fun to attend and that it would be a
good experience, but the next thing I knew, I was
offered a part. It was great being on the same
stage as Rowan Atkinson, who played Fagin at
the time I first started, and I learnt a lot about
stagecraft and positioning over the two years I
was there.’ Sammy has also played in The Wizard
of Oz, as, he reluctantly concedes, ‘a munchkin’!
For Noga Inspector it has been the dancing
side of the business that has inspired her to come
into acting while Killian Fitzgerald got thrown
into the deep end when he was ‘volunteered’ to
direct his House drama with three weeks before
The unanimous conclusion, though, is that they have all found
the experience fulfilling and, importantly, it has helped them in
their studies of other subjects, a point made by Charlotte.
‘It’s not just acting,’ she says, ‘but it gets you to think about
things in a different way. For example, why was the character
saying this or that or why was such a hand gesture being made? –
things like that. It’s something you automatically do on stage, but
it makes you evaluate and think, and it’s a process that goes across
into other subjects.
‘What Charlotte says about the analysis of subject and the
evaluation are things that are needed in every subject and I think
the students do that without even realising it,’ says Juliet.
Looking to the future, Juliet hopes that there will be a great
uptake in A-level drama and that it gets a bigger profile in the
School as an academic subject. ‘What is exciting is that plans are
being drawn up for a new theatre which should provide a lasting
legacy at the School.’
William Kimberley, Juliet Fehr and Tim Hyam with
Highgate’s young actors and actresses
46 Profile
Profile:
The MouldBreaking
Mrs Morelle
Constance Van Stroud interviews Mrs Morelle
Constance Van Stroud interviews Jessica Morelle, Assistant Head (Professional),
and the first woman to be appointed a Highgate housemaster.
Mrs Morelle on her mould-breaking appointment as housemaster of Westgate, with
Steve Radford (left) and Theodore Mallinson (right) former Westgate housemasters
‘I’m interviewing Mrs Morelle in her office,
as she reflects on her 22 years at Highgate,
first as a teacher of Russian and French, then
as a Westgate’s Housemistress and finally as
Assistant Head Professional. Younger readers
might need reminding that she is also married
to Mike Morelle, Head of Chemistry from 1970 to
1995 so she’s very much a part of the Highgate
family. She describes the transformation of the
School since she arrived, when there was only
one other female teacher and all the pupils were
boys. Mrs Morelle soon broke this mould, when,
after a few years of teaching Russian and French,
she became the first housemaster in the School’s
history. She shows me an old Cholmeleian article
titled: ‘Times they are a’changing’ that had been
written in response to her appointment. As a
mark of how old-fashioned the School was, one of
the letters to the editor from an old Westgate
boy reads: ‘So my old House now has a House
Mistress. Where will it end, I ask myself. Perhaps
when the School has a Head Mistress? Oh dear.’
Regardless of comments like these, she describes
Highgate as a ‘wonderful school,’ and proudly
tells me: ‘it’s really going up in the world and it’s
getting better. Co-education is a very good thing.’
Mrs Morelle explains how she enjoyed
Profile 47
Mrs Morelle carries out complex administrative tasks with quiet aplomb: here she organises the 2011 whole-School photograph
the position of Housemistress because the
relationships with the pupils and families
were ‘extremely rewarding’ as she was able
to watch and help the children grow up and
progress. And indeed, when I ask her what her
fondest memory or association was, she replies
touchingly: ‘I’ll tell you something that I always
used to say to my house at the beginning of the
term: although it’s lovely to have the holidays,
I’m always genuinely pleased to see you when
you come back. It’s the pupils that make
the place.’
Mrs Morelle became the
first housemaster in the
School’s history.
She is retiring as Assistant Head Professional
at the end of the year, (although staying on as
a teacher of Russian.) The majority of pupils at
the School know little of her role, yet it involves
all the administrative tasks that we think just
happen but it is Mrs Morelle’s meticulous and
painstaking work that ensures things like rotas
and schedules, invigilation, room changes and
cover are properly organised. It comes as no
surprise that Mrs Morelle is one of the hardest
working members of the School community; she
is in at seven every morning and generally does
not leave before six, with academic work still to
do. I gaped as I listened to her unending list of
jobs, and although we don’t want her to leave,
I can see why she is looking forward to slowing
down a bit.
Mrs Morelle has a simply enormous capacity
for organisation, coupled with a linguist’s eye
for detail. And indeed, looking round her office
as I interview her, it looks like she has every
lesson plan from the last 22 years neatly stacked
in the numerous box files which line her office
shelves. Unsurprisingly, when I ask her what
her most harrowing moment was in the last 22
years, she describes waking up in the middle of
the night realising that she hadn’t completed
a risk assessment for a School trip due to
take place the following day. Typical of her
conscientiousness, she didn’t get back to sleep!
Her determination for order and organisation
was inspired by her own teachers: ‘I had some
amazingly organised teachers’, she recalls, ‘and
I have some techniques which I still use which
I learned from some of the teachers in my girls’
school. I had some women teachers who taught
me Latin and they were inspiringly organised
and knew exactly what they were doing and
everything was in place and so on, and I was so
impressed with this that I have followed their
practice. I speak on behalf of all Mrs Morelle’s
students when I say that she has certainly
passed these tidy habits on to us.
Although retiring as Assistant Head
Professional, she still looks forward to practising
her true vocation as a teacher of Russian, which
will come as a relief to all her pupils. Although
she initially taught French and Russian, her first
loyalty is to Russian: ‘French is my bread and
butter, but Russian is my passion’, she remarks.
Indeed, her love of all things Slavic can be seen
by any who observe her hurrying around School
wearing a Russian fur hat and a bag decorated
with the Cyrillic alphabet. I remember in Year
8 when we had an introductory talk about the
different languages options in Year 9, being
interested by Mrs Morelle’s information that
Russian had no verb ‘to be’ in the present tense.
It is this talent for making the study of languages
interesting which is why our year comprised the
largest-ever GCSE Russian class, with 18 pupils.
Mrs Morelle laughed as I recounted this memory
to her, and replied that she would recommend
Russian to people who want to do something
a little different, more challenging, and who
have a great interest in literature and in a wider
culture than merely the West European. I ask
her what her favourite writer is and she replies:
‘I love Tolstoy, and my favourite poet is Pushkin,
you can’t ignore Pushkin.’ Since this edition
is about the theatre, I also ask her opinion on
Russia’s greatest playwright, Anton Chekhov:
‘The wonderful thing about Chekhov’s plays’,
she replies, is how they broke the mould at the
end of the 19th Century - something that I think
modern audiences take for granted but at the
time they broke the mould.’
So too, in her quiet way, has Mrs Morelle’s
career been mould-breaking and, following
her ‘retirement,’ no doubt she will continue
working nearly as hard as she does now, for the
benefit of all the pupils, parents and staff in the
Highgate community, for which she deserves our
undying gratitude.’
Constance Van Stroud (13 KG)
48 Archive
Roger Kean
Roger Kean (TL 1961) recalls the influence of Highgate’s art
teachers, Kyffin Williams and Anthony Green, on his early life
While sorting out material in the ‘capacious’
cellar of his Ludlow home, Roger Kean (TL
1961) stumbled across a batch of paintings
that he had completed whilst at Highgate
under the tutorship of Kyffin Williams and
Anthony Green. They included this faithful
depiction of The Lodge dated 1965, with the
dome of ‘Holy Joe’s’ – a ‘recurring symbol of
Highgate’ – lurking in the background.
A year later he was busy with a triptych,
‘the front panels in grisaille depicting fallen
angels, including Kyffin Williams (top left),
Anthony Green (bottom right), my friend from
The Lodge Noel Gauk-Roger (lower left) and,
for his sins, the young maths master, whose
name escapes me’. The triptych panels (showing
evidence of woodworking skills honed by Don
Bowles!) are in colour but Roger only possesses
a black and white photo of them. ‘It went to
someone, I know,’ but he has forgotten who…any
information as to its current whereabouts would
be welcome!
In a memoir Roger
remembers ‘Kyffin Williams,
grandly moustachioed,
intemperate and twinklyeyed by turns as the terror of
the art room, …which I always
remember as being like an
idealised artist’s garret.’
A picture by Roger of The Lodge, with Holy Joe’s prominent in the background
In a memoir Roger remembers ‘Kyffin
Williams, grandly moustachioed, intemperate
and twinkly-eyed by turns as the terror of the
art room, ...which I always remember as being
like an idealised artist’s garret – only on a grand
scale and perched high up above the science
block.’ He ‘enjoyed both carpentry and painting,
and with a little experience discerned that
both Mr Bowles in woodwork and Mr Williams
practised that most vital of a teacher’s skills –
how to appear angry at clumsy boys without in
fact being so.’
Archive 49
Roger as a pupil in the Lodge, 1965
A triptych depicting fallen angels,
with Kyffin Williams top left and
Anthony Green bottom right
Roger today
An etching made at the time
‘shows me in the tiny upstairs
sitting room overlooking the
back gardens of the houses
on The Boltons, with an
early Kyffin self-portrait à la
Rembrandt on the side wall’.
An etching of Kyffin’s studio in the Boltons,
off Fulham Road. Kyffin never forgave
Roger for cleaning it up!
Roger’s ‘educational trail: 3C to 4D to 5E’
did not seem promising, but after ‘gaining nine
O Level passes – some even respectable – (he)
stayed on for the 6th Form and A-Levels. One
of those was Art’, where he found his teacher
to be ‘ruthless…about lazy work, hazy thinking
and any suspected lack of commitment from
his students.’ It is well documented that ‘Kyffin
suffered from grand mal epilepsy, (which) often
left him unable to do his two or three days a
week at Highgate. On those days when he just
couldn’t make it in, I would get a note from him
via the office asking me to take on the Friday
afternoon periods given over to two of the Junior
School forms. This was my trial by fire, learning
how to become a teacher at the tender age of 17
to a bunch of unruly 11- and 12-year-olds.’
An application to the Hornsey College of Art
was successful and Roger embarked upon a
Diploma in Arts and Design course in fine artpainting. He stayed in touch with Kyffin and was
asked to move into his studio-apartment in the
Boltons while he was away painting the Welsh
community in Patagonia in 1968/9. ‘The warren
of artists’ abodes, situated between the Old
Brompton and Fulham Roads, was like something
out of a romantic art biopic film: a dank narrow
corridor led to anonymous doors, which in
turn opened onto a short narrow staircase and
into a two-storey open area, topped by a vast
north-facing greenhouse window. The studio was
typically a dusty mess. When Kyffin returned
from Patagonia, he was horrified to find the
place swept out, repainted and tidy. I don’t think
he ever forgave me.’
An etching made at the time ‘shows me in the
tiny upstairs sitting room overlooking the back
gardens of the houses on The Boltons, with an
early Kyffin self-portrait à la Rembrandt on the
side wall.’
The student rebellion which closed Hornsey
down throughout the summer of 1968 (led in
part by Kim Howells, who gave our fourth KW
Lecture in 2012) acted as a catalyst which drove
Roger ‘to switch colleges and transfer to film as
a new medium of expression’. His subsequent
career has taken him from film editing to
producing ‘the world’s first 100% electronically
produced full-colour magazine’ for home
computers at the start of the 1990s and on to
being a publishing managing director and editor,
achieving sales of over 1.7 million copies of 45
books worldwide.
David Smith
djs@highgate.demon.co.uk
50 School Sport
Cross-Country
This picture of Cecily Turner, Phoebe Littler, Molly James and Rachel Macdonald shows the winning Highgate U13 girls team from the Borough crosscountry championships. Cecily was also crowned individual Borough champion along with Terence Fawden, Marjolaine Briscoe and Harry Kleiman.
There were 2 Highgate wins at the Wellington
Relays – for the girls and the junior boys. Three
Y7/8 girls (Anna Willis, Olivia Hirschfield, Phoebe
Littler) have not only represented the school at
U19 level but have helped their team to win all
3 of their junior fixtures.
The Cross-Country First Team
Cross-country continues to prosper.
The season began with the boys recording
their highest ever finish at the Senior Knole
Run in 20 years of the competition – 7th
from a record entry of 50 schools, whilst
the girls took team bronze from 28 schools.
5 Athletes (3 girls and 2 boys) then qualified
from the Middlesex Schools Championships
at Harrow to represent their County at the
forthcoming English Schools Championships in
Derby. Terence Fawden in Y9, having recorded a
recent victory in the U15 boys’ race at the SouthEast Schools Champs, stands a strong chance
of qualifying for the English Schools team.
5 athletes (3 girls and
2 boys) qualified from
the Middlesex Schools
Championships at Harrow to
represent their County at the
forthcoming English Schools
Championships in Derby
Middlesex Schools Championships, Harrow
Congratulations to our 2 County Schools
Champions – Cecily Turner and Molly Patch,
as well as to our 5 qualifiers for the English
Schools Champions in Derbyshire on 16 March
(Molly, Dempster Fawden, Terry Fawden,
Marjolaine Briscoe and Anna Willis).
King Henry Relays, Coventry
Two senior teams from a wide range of year
groups competed at the prestigious King Henry
Relays, expertly hosted by King Henry VIII
School in Coventry. With a record entry of 54
boys teams and 30 girls teams from almost
every corner of England, Highgate did really well
to come away with 13th place in the boys’ race
(our 2nd highest finish since first competing in
1983), with the girls narrowly missing out on a
medal in 4th, but nevertheless winning 4 hardearned King Henry cloth badges, presented by
former Olympic Marathon silver medalist Basil
Heatley. Given the (almost impossible) terrain in
several spots of the course, it was an excellent
achievement for all 6 boys to break 14 minutes
and all 4 girls to break 16 minutes for each 2.3
mile leg. Congratulations to Sam Willis, who
returned to his best form with the HG boys’
fastest time of 12.54 and to Molly Patch who
recorded HG girls’ fastest and the 11th fastest
overall girls’ time of the day – 14.52. Also, a big
pat on the back to Jordan Barrett who stepped in
at the very last minute for the boys’ team.
School Sport 51
Fencing
Highgate fencers
In the Public Schools Championships this year, Isabella Gill left with a silver
medal, and nearly all went through after the first rounds of poules.
Fives
The Fives season has been curtailed somewhat by the
snow earlier in the term but we have enjoyed a successful
season so far. Our Under 12s did extremely well in the National
Championship with pair 1 (H Jenkins and L Perl) beating pair
2 (I Apukhtin and D Gran) 3-1 in a thrilling final. Our Girls have
won the Black Cup (3 pairs Ladies Competition) and we had both
pairs in the National U21 Championship with Eve Smith-Bingham
We look forward to the U13 Prep
Schools where we should have both
pairs in the final with I Tomasson
and A Randall
Fives. The finalists from Eton and Highgate at the championships.
and Aimee Paul beating Amira Reimer and Phoebe Bracken 2-1.
We look forward to the U13 Prep Schools where we should have
both pairs in the final with I Tomasson and A Randall defending
their title against J Hopkins and O Light and the Nationals at
Shrewsbury. We have high hopes for our top Senior pair (C Noble
and C Blackaby) and we will be very strong in the U14
and Girls.
52 School Sport
Football
The U13 Team reached the semi-finals of the Middlesex Cup
Following on from a rain-ruined summer
term which severely curtailed all sport
everyone returned in September with high
expectations. The Autumn Term included an
intensive fixture list for both football and netball.
In football, we played the traditional big block
fixtures against the likes of Charterhouse, Eton
and Brentwood as well as entering county,
regional and National competitions. The
highlights were the Under 13 football team
With most of the squad
returning next year 2013-14
looks likely to be the peak of
the success cycle!
getting to the Middlesex Cup semi – finals. The
Under 14 side lost in the Middlesex Cup quarter
finals. The 1st team lost to Shrewsbury in the 1st
round of the ISFA cup. Outstanding players have
included Henry Smith, Bertie Highmore and Ed
Manuel but with most of the squad returning
next year 2013-14 looks likely to be the peak of
the success cycle! Highgate regularly fielded 3
teams per year group on Saturdays as well as 6
or 7 senior sides. In terms of results the Under 15,
The Atlanta Tour in October
Under 14 and 13 sides all had positive seasons.
At half term 2 senior football squads went to
Atlanta USA on tour. In terms of representative
football players: Gabriel Seemungal (Year 10)
plays at Charlton in their Academy side. Tomas
Nevrkla (Year 9) plays in Orient’s Academy. Joe
Jacobs (Year 7) is currently on trial at Charlton.
Other successful Under 14 footballers include
Anton Baleanu and Callum Barry who have both
had trials with the ISFA side. In the Under 12
football side, Joe Jacobs was the player who
showed most promise.
School Sport 53
Hockey
Netball
This girls’ Hockey season has been marred by unpredictable
weather, with a number of the fixtures being cancelled due
to the snow which fell at the start of the season. Once the
season got underway, however, the Highgate teams have been
able to record wins against Queenswood, King Alfred School and
South Hampstead High School to name a few. At the Highgate U13
tournament, Highgate were placed 4th out of 8 schools and in the
U12s competition, Highgate were placed 5th out of 8 schools after
drawing three matches in their round robin draw and then going
For the second season in a row, we have
managed to create enough interest in
order to be competitive at U18 level.
Highgate have managed to enjoy
co-ed matches vs schools such as The
Harrodian and St Dunstan’s College as
well as Godolphin and Latymer.
The U18 Netball Team. The first long-haul tour to Barbados with
the First and Second Teams proved to be a resounding success
on to beat Surbiton B team in the play-off match. For the second
season in a row, we have managed to create enough interest in
order to be competitive at U18 level. Highgate have managed to
enjoy co-ed matches vs schools such as The Harrodian and St
Dunstan’s College as well as Godolphin and Latymer.
Key players who have enjoyed much success this term in
Hockey have been: Under 16: Ellie Thomas, Florence Malster and
Beth Belin. From the Under 14 team Cecilia Gran, Ruby Gold and
Eve Smith-Bingham deserve a mention. In the Under 12 squad Lara
Boulton-Patel, Millie Davies and Aoife Walter. Well done to all.
Swimming
Highgate Senior School Swimming teams have continued to
remain competitive in the Independent Schools’ Swimming
league, making the finals in the U12 and U13 age groups and
finishing in 6th position out of 26 schools overall. The older age
groups have also competed against schools such as Mill Hill and
Latymer Upper this season, with girls competing in all age groups
for a second season in a row.
Water Polo
The U13 Water Polo Team have had a very successful year,
remaining unbeaten during the the Michaelmas and Lent
terms. Most improved player has been Sam Smith, while Jake
Kovacs continues to develop at Watford Academy.
The U16 Netball Team. Three players who stood out were:
Anna Crucefix, Sasha Singh and Anna Kovar.
The Michaelmas term saw a full fixture programme of Netball for the Senior
School girls. Fifteen teams from under 12 through to Under 18 represented
Highgate over a course of fixtures and tournaments and we were very pleased
with their successes. For the 1st team the 3 players that have stood out include
Emmy Yatagai, Olivia Fox and Hannah Rapley. Notable achievements are County
representation from the Middlesex Satellite Academy and County Squad: in total
eight girls were chosen to train and represent our county. The Senior 1st and
2nd Netball teams travelled further afield to experience our major sport in an
international setting: the first long-haul tour to Barbados proved to be a resounding
success with four training sessions at local facilities and five fixtures against local
clubs and schools saw Highgate teams being pushed to perform at elevated levels, in
hot conditions and against extremely strong opponents. In the Under 16 squad the
3 players who have stood out are Anna Crucefix, Sasha Singh and Anna Kovar. In the
Under 14 squad key players have been Aimee Paul, Anna Lebe and Zara ShepherdBrierley while lower down, the Under 12 side who have displayed much promise have
had significant contributions from Ashley Cluer and Harriet Howarth, along with
several other key players. 38 girls are now set to travel to Jersey in October 2014
on our first combined Hockey and Netball tour where they will gain new coaching
experiences and play top quality clubs and schools.
54 Feature
Lloyd as Frank Farmer, the bodyguard in the musical
based on the movie with Whitney Houston and
Kevin Costner (photo credit Paul Coltas)
Feature 55
Simon Appleton catches up with
Lloyd Owen, currently starring in
The Bodyguard in the West End
I’m interviewing Lloyd Owen in his dressing
room at the Adelphi Theatre before he goes
on stage as Frank Farmer, the security guard
with whom Rachel Marron (played by Heather
Hadley) falls in love in the musical version
of The Bodyguard. It’s billed as the smash
hit of the season by The Mail’s Baz Bamigboye
and The Times Libby Purves describes Lloyd as
‘wonderful’. With his richly-resonant voice and
physical presence he’s perfect for the role, in a
production which has earned critical acclaim
and is set for a long West End run. Although this
is a musical, he doesn’t sing: ‘except a karaoke
version of the Dolly Parton song I Will Always
Love You, because I lose a bet in a bar’, Lloyd
comments, but he is thoroughly enjoying the
experience: ‘The audience for a musical is a
different one to the ones you get in ‘straight’
theatre, but they come with a terrific energy
and a desire to enjoy themselves’.
Lloyd began acting at Highgate, encouraged
by his parents, themselves actors. While still in
the Third Form, he was talent-spotted by the
Head of Drama, Philip Swan, after winning the
Lyttelton Speech Competition with a reading of
George Orwell’s The English People. A week later,
Philip asked him to audition for a production
of Othello. ‘I was walking home and he pressganged me into an audition’, recalls Lloyd. ‘That
was Philip’s great skill. I fabricated an excuse and
Lloyd with co-star
Heather Headley (photo
credit Paul Coltas)
56 Feature
Lloyd being made-up for his role in Roses of Eyam
by director Philip Swan, a big influence on his
early career as an actor
told him I had a doctor’s appointment, so he said
he would audition me right now. Anyway, he cast
me as Montano.’
After this nerve-wracking but hugely
enjoyable experience – (in his opening line the
famously deep voice turned into a squeak),
Lloyd found himself enjoying the attention, with
people congratulating him and telling him how
good he was. By the time he was fifteen, he had
caught the ‘bug.’ Roles – as Stanley in Roses
of Eyam and as Macbeth in Macbeth followed.
In Roses of Eyam, Lloyd played alongside Tamsin
Grieg, now also enjoying success as an actor.
Lloyd found the role of Macbeth fascinating,
and it’s one he would like to perform again.
‘It was very interesting studying the play in
English and realising the contrast between
learning that academic text in the classroom
and then trying to interpret it as it was meant to
be.’ It was a memorable production, with Gabriel
Triger directing, and the inventive idea of using
a laser for the airborne dagger of Macbeth’s
imagination.
RADA followed Highgate, and his early
Shakespearean roles stood him in good stead
when his first break came with the theatre
company Cheek by Jowl, who specialised in
Shakespeare. ‘We did thirty countries in three
years – it was absolutely terrific taking Macbeth,
The Tempest, Twelfth Night… round the world.’
‘What I love most is that
sense of us, the whole
auditorium, sharing
a universal human
experience and, on an
existential level, not
feeling lonely any more.’
Lloyd in Highgate’s production of
Roses of Eyam, with Tamsin Grieg
Another break was playing the role of Nick in
a memorable production of Edward Albee’s Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf, with David Suchet and
Diana Rigg.
Theatre, in spite of his many film and
TV roles – as Indiana Jones’ father in the TV
series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,
as William Heelis in Miss Potter and as Paul
Bowman MacDonald in the long-running TV
series, Monarch of the Glen, remains his first
love. ‘What I love most is that sense of us, the
whole auditorium, sharing a universal human
experience and, on an existential level, not
feeling lonely any more.’
It would be difficult from a list of the roles
he’s played to claim that Lloyd is ever typecast.
He’s played a gay Yorkshire farmer in The York
Realist; he’s taken his kit off as Brutus in Julius
Caesar for a nude shower scene, and played
solicitors in Indiana Jones and Miss Potter.
Lloyd thinks that this range is one of the great
advantages of theatre. ‘Film and television like
to slot you in one role – there’s less room for
manoeuvre because of the proximity of the
camera. That’s why I love the theatre – there’s
an understanding that an actor doesn’t have
to one hundred per cent have the physical
Feature 57
characteristics of the character he’s playing.’
I ask him how he prepares for a role, and
whether, like Daniel Day Lewis, a famous method
actor, he tries to live the life of the characters
he’s playing: ‘Olivier started with the shoes, then
he got the character’s walk, and got into the
character wouldn’t say that line’, he replies: ‘Well,
I’ve written that line, so go away and work out
the fact that your character does say that line.’
‘I read the script and then work out whether
I can hear the voice. It’s essentially about
hearing the writer’s voice. In Who’s Afraid of
‘Most actors are terribly observant. I spend my life
looking at people, and it gets subconsciously stored
to draw on when I play a role.’
character that way. Gielgud started with a prop –
something the character would own or use. The
only thing that counts, in my view, is conveying
the truth to the camera or the audience. English
actors differ from American actors in that they
trust the text. David Mamet wrote a brilliant
book about this, True or False, in which he says
that if an actor comes up to him and says: ‘My
Virginia Woolf it’s like a musical score, and it’s
about making sure I can hear the rhythm, the
rhythm of how he’s writing.’
‘Most actors are terribly observant.
I spend my life looking at people, and it gets
subconsciously stored to draw on when I play
a role. I also work out a character’s motivation.
Everyone wants something from the other
characters. When I can’t unlock a moment,
I’ll work back and ask, ‘What am I trying to do
with this character?’
He’s also inspired by the performances of
other actors, and was awed by Mark Rylance’s
recent performance as Olivia in Twelfth Night.
What roles would he like to play in the
future? Macbeth, of course; Iago in Othello;
Hamlet – ‘as long as no one gives it to me
because it’s completely daunting’, Lenny in
Pinter’s The Homecoming. He thinks (rather
modestly) at 46 he’s probably too old to play
Brick in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on A Hot Tin
Roof, and will have to wait to play Big Daddy.
Looking at Lloyd’s athletic build and boyish
expression, I think that’ll be a long wait!
The Bodyguard is showing at the
Adelphi Theatre. See the website
www.thebodyguardmusical.com or ring
the Box Office on 0844 579 0094
Lloyd starring alongside Hugh
Jackman in a pilot episode of
Viva Laughlin
58 OC Sport
Golf
Winner of the Kelly Cup, Robert Phillips, is presented with the trophy by Captain Robin Goodfellow
in and we shall continue to maintain our status
as participants in the hope that we shall at some
stage attract young members to continue what
Old Cholmeleian golfers have achieved in the
Society’s 107 year history.
2012 was a busy year with 10 matches
(we won 4 and lost 6 which is unusual as we
generally have a better win ratio) and a range
of tournaments and meetings.
Charlie Sturt, winner of ‘nearly everything’
at the Autumn Meet at the Royal Cinque
Ports, is presented with the trophy by
Robin Goodfellow
The Old Cholmeleian Golfing Society
continues to run a full programme of events
and matches sufficient to provide enjoyment
for all abilities of golfer. We have a vibrant
membership but would really appreciate more
interest from young golfers, whether it is school
leavers or past pupils finishing their university
courses. Do we have any young golfers from
the Cholmeleian ranks? Other schools seem to
have a regular influx of young talent and given
Highgate School’s academic success in recent
years it seems strange we cannot attract interest
from the younger generation that we will need
to come forward if our society is to survive once
the current group of ageing golfers finally have
to retire.
I have in previous issues of this magazine,
outlined the famous competitions we compete
Barry Read continues to
organise the hugely popular
Festival of Schools at
Highgate Golf Club and every
year since our centenary
in 2006 we have attracted
between 11 and 14 schools
each year to participate.
Our oldest competition dating back to 1906
is the Kelly Cup, a knock out competition played
off handicap. This year our Captain, Robin
Goodfellow, took control of proceedings and
generously sponsored the final to be played at
his exclusive golf club, The Wisley. This attracted
a large entry of 26 golfers. The semi-finalists
were Kim Harris who beat Peter Ambrose 2 & 1
and Robert Phillips who triumphed over Robin
Goodfellow in a very close match finishing on
19th hole. Robert beat Kim 3 & 2 on a beautiful
sunny afternoon at The Wisley.
Our Spring Meeting was held at Mid-Herts
Golf Club and Mark Walton was the most
successful golfer winning both the scratch cup
and the Merton Jones Cup for 12 handicaps and
below. The Tiger Cup for over 12 handicappers
was won by Robin Goodfellow.
Barry Read continues to organise the hugely
popular Festival of Schools at Highgate Golf Club
and every year since our centenary in 2006 we
have attracted between 11 and 14 schools each
year to participate. This year the Cholmeleian
first team won the Peter Feldman Memorial
Trophy for the second time with Zygi Kamasa
and Andy Savva taking the individual ‘Meer kat’
trophies with the excellent score of 40 points.
Our autumn meeting was held at Royal
Cinque Ports Golf Club in Deal in September 2012
and Charlie Sturt was the star performer winning
nearly every trophy.
By the time this magazine is published, our
2013 programme will be well underway but
there will be the opportunity for prospective new
members to join us for our 2013 Autumn Meeting
which is being played over the three courses at
Celtic Manor in South Wales. We will be playing
the 2010 Ryder Cup course. Please contact
the Society Secretary if you are interested in
coming along.
Robert Phillips
01372 375559
robphillips19@btinternet.com
Friends of Highgate 59
Friends of Highgate School Society
Registered Charity No: 1056624
Council (Board) Members at March 2010
Chairman JHE Arnold (1962)
Treasurer Mrs P Rothenberg (1952)
Secretary MJ Short
Head Master A Pettitt
MJ Colville (NG 1962), Mrs R Guenin, JA Henderson
(CH 1967), D Miller, J Northam (1947), BC Russell
(1957), JMA Thompson (1964), GL Yates-Mercer
(1945), JA Zani (1966)
The Friends of Highgate School was founded
immediately after the Second World War
with two main aims: firstly to support pupils
whose parents, or sadly in many cases surviving
parent, could otherwise not continue to afford
the fees and secondly to maintain a book of
Remembrance in the School Chapel. This year
the Friends have spent over £102,000 supporting
pupils so they can remain at Highgate, more than
double the amount we spent in 2011. This would
not have been possible without your generosity
which really does make a difference to the pupils
who need it. On their behalf, I thank all of you
who have given this year.
Over the last year, we have:
■■ Supported 15 students with educational
grants or loans
■■ Generated 12% more income from donations
and investments
■■ Continued to support the wider school
community
■■ Developed with the School a fundraising
programme to increase our future income
■■ Managed our finances so that despite the
extra demands our total funds remained
much the same
In 2012 we supported 15 students with
educational grants or loans. This is where
almost all of your money goes, both to help
students who otherwise would have had to leave
Highgate and also to allow exceptional students
whose parents could not otherwise afford to
pay the full fees to come to Highgate in the first
place. In 2012 we supported more than double
the number of students we supported in 2011.
We cannot overstate the importance of the help
we are able to provide through your generosity.
Mark Short, our Secretary and a teacher at
the School, has had a busy year dealing with
the initial applications and assessments and
deserves our thanks for his time and expertise
– he is the face of the Friends to parents,
potentially like you, with nowhere else to turn.
As time passes, many recipients come to
value more and more the help given to them
when it was needed. You should be proud that,
when you contribute to the Friends you really are
supporting the future.
In 2012, we generated 12% more income
than in 2011. In 2012 we spent over double
the amount on fees that we had in 2011 and so,
not surprisingly, have a deficit for the year. Our
policy is broadly to break even over time and so
we try to build up funds in good years to carry us
through the bad.
Membership of the Council. Fiona Lindo stood
down as a Director and Council Member at the
end of 2012 owing to other commitments. Since
her appointment in 2005, Fiona has contributed
much good sense and acumen to our meetings.
She leaves with our grateful thanks and we wish
her well for the future.
This year the Friends have spent over £102,000 supporting
pupils so they can remain at Highgate, more than double
the amount we spent in 2011. This would not have been
possible without your generosity which really does make
a difference to the pupils who need it.
Our Treasurer, Pippa Rothenberg, together
with our professional brokers JM Finn led by
Dominik Drozd, worked hard to ensure every
penny of your money is spent and invested as
well as possible. In the end, the Friends are not
here to make money but to support students
in great need. No Council member receives any
payment or expenses – in fact, our internal admin
costs for the year were only £121 in the year.
The Friends and the wider School community.
The types of projects which we supported in the
past are now financed by the School. We have
decided to concentrate in future on contributing
towards one or more major items as and when
these arise.
At our January 2013 meeting we appointed
Mrs Roslyn Guenin as a Director and Council
Member. Roslyn has considerable experience
with fundraising plus considerable knowledge
of the School over many years – she had three
sons here.
Future Fundraising. As I reported last year, our
income from donations has fallen in recent years
and we need to turn this round. We are now well
into developing a programme with the School
which should significantly increase our income
in future.
Financial Highlights for the year
to 31 July 2012
Income from investments, donations etc
2011 (£)
2012 (£)
88,297
98,880
Expenditure:
Education Grants & Loans
48,992
102,445
School Projects and travel scholarships
60
NIL
Expenses including audit fees
14,061
14,216
(63,113)
(116,671)
25,184
Deficit (2011 – Surplus) on normal activities
(10,088)
Realised gains on investments
40,517
3,407
Unrealised gains on investments
229,358
6,226
269,875
8,158
Net movement of funds
295,059
135,493
Fund balances at beginning of year
1,765,388
2,060,447
Fund balances at end of year
2,060,447
2,052,289
Almost all of us will know of people who have
suffered through the downturn to a greater or
lesser degree. But thanks to your support and
your money, there are 15 students who, whatever
turbulence exists in their home lives through
the death of a parent, serious illness or financial
problems, will stay at Highgate this year.
Please help us to help others with a Gift Aid
donation or remembering us in your will –
details from the Secretary, Mark Short:
mark.short@highgateschool.org.uk
John Arnold
Chairman
60 Announcements
Golden Weddings
Diamond Wedding
Waterston On 28 February 1953, at Moseley,
Francis and Janet Crossley celebrated their Golden Wedding this March
Crossley (MG 1952) Francis John Crossley
(MG 1952) and his wife Janet celebrated fifty
married years on 24 March 2012. Married at St
Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich, they now live in
Caversham, Reading. They have two daughters,
Alison and Sally, and four grandchildren, Tom,
Hamish, Isabel and Eleanor. The photograph was
taken on their actual anniversary on P&O’s ship
Ventura, where they celebrated with their family.
Birmingham, Allan Waterston (SG 1934) and
Heather Sansome, formerly of Edinburgh, now at
Sway, Hants. SO41 6AR. Allan worked in the family
firm of printers and stationers in Edinburgh until
he retired in 1987, so had few contacts with the
school except for one or two annual dinners.
When he retired to Sway, he contacted the late
Peter Davis (SG 1937), who recruited him to
manage the annual Wessex Branch luncheons,
which he did for ten years, followed by a further six
years as Chairman when Peter had to give it up. He
also served for six years as an elected member of
the Cholmeleian Office Bearers.
Deaths
Crauford (1930) On 13 September 2011,
Peter Lane Crauford, aged 93. He was President of
the OC society in 1973, and was Senior Partner of
Chambers, Rutland & Crauford, of Finchley.
Weddings
Beedle – Edriyani On 2 July 2012,
Michael L Beedle (GH 1960) and Ninik Edriyani
SH (Law) at the Gunung Zalmon Protestant
Church, Labuan Bajo, Flores. The couple now
live in Bali and Michael would be pleased to
hear from any OC travelling that way.
Hurford (TL 1931) On 5 February 2013,
Denis George Hurford, aged 94. He joined the
Royal Mechanical & Electrical Engineers as a 2nd
Lieutenant on the outbreak of war in 1939, rising
to Major, was a Major, was mentioned twice in
despatches, and became a Colonel in the Regular
Army. He lived in Ledbury, Herefordshire.
Mobile: +62 813 3806 5356.
Michael Beedle and Ninik Edriyani
were married in July
Engagements
Births
Oli Blair and Elinor De La Poer
Adam Alvarez and son Mischa
Blair – De La Poer The engagement is
announced between Oliver Blair (FG 1995) and
Elinor de la Poer.
Alvarez On 13 November 2012, in Hamilton,
Bermuda, to Adam (WG 1992) and Mrs Alvarez,
a son, Mischa.
Webb (TL 1933) On 7 January 2013 in
Melbourne, Australia, John Brian Lamboll Webb,
age 92 yrs. On leaving school, John became an
articled clerk with a firm of solicitors. He enlisted
in the Royal Engineers in 1941, was commissioned
and saw war service in Algeria, Italy and Austria.
He married in 1945, completed his law exams and
in 1952 he, his wife Margaret and their young son
Tim migrated to Australia. John joined the law
firm of Arthur Robinson and Co. in Melbourne and
later set up his own practices there in partnership
with his son. His daughter Rosemary was born
in 1959, he and his wife separated in 1985 and
John eventually retired in Melbourne in 1996.
For the last 27 years of his life John had a loving
partnership with Margaret Fitch and they greatly
enjoyed spending time sailing, golfing, going on
cruises and family life. They also owned a small
rural property near Melbourne where they spent
very happy times tending a prolific vegetable
garden and fattening cattle for market. John was
a very keen member of the 24-strong group of OCs
living in Victoria and he will be greatly missed – he
was a true gentleman. (from Tim Acton, WG 1950)
Announcements 61
Deaths
Crooke (GH 1933) On 22 December 2012,
Dennis Brocklehurst Crooke, aged 94. He was an
aviation engineer.
Glassborow (Fh 1933) On 23 June 2012,
David Waters Glassborow, aged 92. In the Football
1st XI in 1938 and Captain of Athletics in 1939,
he was a Lieutenant in the RNVR during the
1939-45 War. He gained a degree in Economics
at Cambridge, and was at the British Iron and
Steel Federation (1949-54), the British Transport
Commission (1954-62), The British Railways Board
(1963-4), the Transport Holding Co. (1965-8), and
was Director of Research and Planning at the
British Transport Co. (1969-81).
Allport (Hg 1935) On 30 December 2012,
Denis Ivor Allport, aged 90, after a short illness.
He was Head of School 1940–41 and a Governor
1981-1994. During the 1939–45 war he entered
the Indian Army, 1941–46. Keen to stay in India,
he joined Metal Box Ltd. in 1946, filling various
posts in the UK, Singapore and Pakistan;], before
becoming Managing Director of Metal Box Co.
of India, 1969–70, when he returned to Britain
and became Director of Metal Box Overseas Ltd,
1970–74, being in charge of the group’s overseas
operations. He rose rapidly, serving as Director
of the company, 1973–85, Managing Director,
1977–79, Deputy Chairman, 1979, and Chairman,
1979–85, when he retired. The Times for February
12, 2013 described him as “an industrialist who
embodied the patrician values of a previous age
but was forced to wield a modern-day axe… [and]
a keen public servant… His reign [at Metal Box
Co.] was turbulent. The company was strongly
affected by the recession in the early [Thatcher]
years, profits slumped, and Allport sold or closed
12 factories and reluctantly reduced the workforce
by 15,000. After three years of losses and heavy
reinvestment, profits recovered to £34 million
for 1983-84.” He was also Chairman, Castle
Underwriting Agents Ltd, 1989–94 and Director
of Devonshire Underwriting Agents Ltd, 1991–93;
Director of the Beecham Group plc, 1981–88, and
of Marley plc, 1985–91. He was a member of the
National Enterprise Board for adult literacy and
numeracy, 1980–83; of the National Research and
Development Centre, 1981–83; and was part of the
1986 3-man team under Sir Patrick Neill QC which
investigated Regulatory Arrangements following
insider trading scandals at Lloyds at Lloyd’s; its
recommendations were implemented over the next
seven years and helped to meet criticism of the
market until responsibility for its regulation came
under the Financial Services Authority. He lived
at Rolvenden, Kent, and leaves his wife Diana,
three children and eight grandchildren. A private
family cremation on 21 January was followed by
a Service of Thanksgiving at St Mary the Virgin,
Rolvenden, Kent.
Haskins (Wg 1934) On 15 August 2011,
Christopher John Haskins, aged 89. He was a
Flight Sergeant during the 1939–45 War. He was
Principal of John Haskins & Co., Finchley; Chairman
and Managing Director of Chelsea Insurances Ltd.
and Grenadier Properties Ltd.; and finally with
Glentree Estates.
Barras (EG 1936) On 26 July 2012, Brian
William Barras, aged 89. He served during the
1939–45 War I the Royal Army Medical Corps
and went into General Practice.
Clark (WG 1936) On 3 January 2013,
Sir Robert Anthony Clark, aged 89.
See separate obituary
Richard William Greenslade
Greenslade (NG 1937) On 12 December
2012, Richard William ‘Dick’ Greenslade, aged
87. Dick was at Westward Ho! from 1939 to 1943,
sharing a room with John Halliday in the Merley
Hotel where The Lodge and Northgate stayed.
There was little inter-school team sport, but TGM
ensured there was a strong cross-country team,
which Dick joined. ‘Mally’ threatened to drop him as
he was never ready, but he was reinstated against
Blundells; they finished First and Dick won the
school inter-house cross-country two weeks later.
At 18, Dick volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm.
He went to Canada and America for pilot training,
but was soon returned to the UK, commissioned
Sub-lieutenant in the FAA and, after a spell
at Lossiemouth Naval Air base, was posted to
Melbourne for 6 months. He was demobilised in
1947 and joined an engineering training course
with Peter Brotherhood, where he met his first wife
Shelagh; they were married in 1951. Gillian, their
daughter, was born in 1952, but the marriage broke
down and Dick moved back to his parents’ house
where his mother took over Gillian’s day-to-day
care.
He played football for the OCs, and became
involved with the OC Football and Sports Club.
Before the war, the OCs ran two football teams,
mainly playing friendlies against other Arthur
Dunn sides. The Dunn Cup team was selected by
an ad hoc committee from OCs playing in Senior
Amateur football, with some regular OC players.
The pre-war side included some senior amateurs,
including England amateur internationals TAJ
Webster, England cricketer Walter Robbins, and
Howard Fabian, who played as an amateur with
Derby County, and Arsenal during the School
holidays, but had never won the Arthur Dunn
Cup. This selection method continued for the first
post-war cups, but was not infallible; one year, a full
back, Chris Cairns, was selected as he was reported
playing full-back for a London representative side.
At match, he apologised that his football might be
a bit rusty; he was playing at full back, but for the
University Rugby team.
As sport changed, it became apparent in
the later ’50s that the club would need its own
ground. A group, including Ken Boustred, Leslie
Chamberlain, ‘Kaffy’ Frost, Tom Gould, Doug
Harvey, Peter Crauford, Dick and others, found
a potential ground in Totteridge, worked out a
budget and persuaded the OC Society to provide
the funding. It was quite another thing to operate
a sports club; but its funders, and many others,
put in the hours. Norman Harper looked after the
bar; Doug Harvey looked after the fabric of the
pavilion and Dick acted as chief Groundsman (they
couldn’t afford a full-time one). Any OC who uses
the Hendon Wood lane facilities today owes a
tremendous debt of gratitude to those who at this
time gave all their spare time to ensure that the
Club was set up as a professional concern. The fact
that it is still running well today says a great deal
about those who put in the long hours in its early
days, and Dick had a key role.
In the 60’s the OCFC was turning out Six teams
most Saturdays. Thanks to Howard Fabian, it had
a stream of young quality players from the School,
such as Mitchell, Murray, Jenkins (Glyn and Alan),
Gordon Clyde, John Buchanon, Colin Dryborough,
Keith and Barry Dennis, John Wadsworth and Bill
Knightley-Smith, but the team still struggled to
progress in the highly competitive Arthur Dunn
Cup. With the tougher defence and the new young
talent arriving from the School, performances
improved and in1958 they defeated Reptonians in
the final, becoming the first OC team to win the
Cup, winning it again in 1959.
He met Jean and they were married in 1963,
setting up home in Hertford. Jean gave Dick a
normal family life again, and Gillian a mother,
though she must have wondered sometimes
whether she had married Dick or the OC Sports
62 Announcements
Deaths
Club. He continued to play in the 1st and 2nd XIs
until in his 40s, and was one of the founders of
the Arthurian league. Back problems obliged him
to become goalkeeper for the Ramblers (an OC
euphemism for veterans). Dick played in goal for
8 years and never accepted that the opposition
could possibly score a goal without the assistance
of his incompetent defence. He didn’t take kindly
to losing and this was shown in the way he
struggled with his last illness. When a Hockey club
was started in the late 50’s, Dick took to the new
game. He enjoyed the speed, but found some of
the rules about tackling, and particularly keeping
the stick below shoulder height, frustrating. He
eventually found his niche as a goalkeeper, where
his quick reactions and courage made him a great
last line of defence. He continued playing until
he was over seventy; there is a rumour that he
was sent off in a hockey match at 72 for having a
slight disagreement with the umpire regarding a
short corner. We who knew him well find this hard
to believe. Dick didn’t do slight disagreements.
(Edited from the obituary by his brother Len
Greenslade (1941))
Neill (WG 1937) On 13 June 2012, Professor
Desmond George Neill, aged 87. He served in
the RAMC during 1939-45, and was a University
Professor in Canada.
Willison (WG 1937) On 18 February 2012,
Robin Gow Willison, aged 86. He was a doctor in
general practice.
Irwin (1939) On 12 April 2012, Philip Arthur
Gordon Irwin, Aged 87. He was a computer
programmer at the Bank of England.
Liddell (1939) On 22 February 2013,
Hamish David Kinross Liddell, Aged 85. He was a
chartered surveyor.
Marks (1939) On 14 February 2013, Bernard
Montague Marks, OBE, aged 89, while on holiday
Australia. He was at Highgate only for the summer
term 1939. He was a 2nd lieutenant in the West
Yorkshire regt in 1945. He was a director of the UK
recruitment agency, Alfred Marks Bureau, founded
by his father and taken over in 1977 by Adecco
purchased the Alfred Marks Bureau, Ltd. His OBE
citation in 1984 stated that he was chairman of the
federation of personnel services of Great Britain.
He leaves his partner, Joy Sampson, two children
by his late wife Norma, and two grandchildren.
Crisp (1941) On October 31, 2012, Kenneth
Alexander Crisp, aged 84. In the Junior School he
was at Hartland Abbey. On leaving Highgate in
December 1945, he joined the Army on National
Service, becoming a 2nd Lieutenant in the RASC
and, at the time, the youngest commissioned
officer in the Army. He was posted to Germany,
which still had pockets of Nazi resistance. On
leaving the Army, he joined the family business,
AE Crisp & Co. Ltd, as Sales Director. It was a
Builders’ Merchants, with HQ at Ballards Lane,
Finchley, and 5 or 6 other branches in north London
and Hertfordshire. On his father’s retirement he
sold his shares in the company and was later made
redundant. He then moved to Somerset where
he worked on property development, and then
joined the Graham Group of Builders’ Merchants,
eventually becoming Branch manager in Totnes.
During this time he bought a yacht, a 26’ Saddler,
and was at his happiest when sailing from Exmouth
to the Scilly Isles for summer holidays. When
the Group closed the Totnes branch he became
redundant again; being of an age where he realised
that his chances of finding employment again were
low, he sold his yacht and bought AFM Marine,
a Chandlers’ in Ferndown, which he continued
till retirement. He bought a house in Milborne St
Andrew, Dorset, and his retirement was happy until
his wife passed away on 11 November 2005. He
was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease and passed away at Blandford
Community Hospital on Oct. 31, 2012 at 2.10 am,
the exact time and date when his wife had died.
Holford (Ch 1942) On 30 July 2012, David
Alan Holford, aged 83, in Barnet General Hospital,
after a year-long illness. He was a medical
General Practitioner.
Garrett (1944) On 16 January 2013, John
David Garrett, aged 80. He played for the OC s
Football team and was Managing Director of John
Grant (Foods) Ltd. of Potters Bar. He lived in Arkley
Lane, Barnet. His brother Roger (NG 1948) was also
an OC.
Kentish (1944) On 31 December 2012,
Clifford Arthur Kentish, aged 81. He was a Systems
Engineer for IBM and later a Computer Consultant
for the Sperry Corporation. He lived in Birmingham,
and was the regional correspondent for the
Birmingham area.
Sanders (FG 1946) On 24 April 2012,
John Richard Sanders, aged 78. He studied
Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-Level and
graduated with a degree in Physics at Pembroke
College, Oxford. In 1957, after National Service, he
joined the BBC on a two-year Graduate Engineer
apprenticeship, and was offered a permanent
position at BBC Kingswood Warren Research
Department in 1960. During his 33-year BBC
career, he was involved in many ground-breaking
and award winning projects. He went on to become
Head of Studio Group and secured funding for
many research projects, including the development
of High Definition Television. On completing 25
years’ service, he received a personal letter from
the Director General of the BBC, Alasdair Milne, who
wrote:-“Throughout your BBC career in Research
Department you have earned a reputation for
complete reliability and for innovation. Your
contribution to television technology is greatly
appreciated, particularly your part in such projects
as the video Noise-Reducer, the Teletrack Special
Effect Signal Processor, and the solid state Telecine.
When the former Director General Sir Charles
Curran wrote to you in April 1974, he thanked you
for your contribution to the development of the
Sound-In-Syncs system, and I should like you
to know that your continued efforts are highly
valued and I wish you every success in your future
career.” He married Judy on February 2, 1963 at
St Andrew’s Church, Kingswood. His son Andrew
recalls that when he was about five years old,
‘Father Christmas’ brought him a plug-together
electrical set with batteries, wires, bulbs, switches,
a rheostat and a motor; by the time he was eight
he had his own soldering iron (much to Judy’s
concern!) and was building small electronic kits.
He is now Senior Engineer for Vision Systems at SIS
Live (formerly BBC Outside Broadcasts)! Richard
introduced many friends to his other great love,
sailing. When he retired from the BBC in 1990,
he was either sailing his yacht Melissa, or writing
articles on his experiences and nautical inventions
for well-known sailing magazines. Sadly, Judy died
in 2007, and a stroke in 2009 cruelly stripped him
of his independence, although he very enjoyed
seeing his two grandchildren Eddie and George. He
lived in Kingswood, Surrey. (Information from his
son, Andrew Sanders)
Dawe (WG 1951) On 12 February 2013,
Raymond Michael Dawe, aged 73, from a cerebral
tumour, after malignant melanoma. Apart from
multiple activities in local government (Tonbride
& Malling and, latterly, Cardigan), his interest
and action in set design/building and stagemanagement in the amateur theatre, he was
probably better known for his many years’ service
in the Bank of England, than for sharing Kyffin
Williams’ art prize (1956?) with Anthony Green RA.
A great motor-racing fan, he was a course marshal
for many years at Brands Hatch and a life-long
Porsche addict. His extraordinary enthusiasm for
all things, animal, vegetable or mineral, all beings,
matters, causes, elements, machines, made him
many friends – just as his great honesty and
sometimes excessive candidness, in the face of
less-than-memorable individuals, made him the
odd enemy or two. As Marion, his widow recently
said: “Original, unrepeatable, irreplaceable”.
(Information from Christopher J. Dawe, (WG 1954))
Announcements / Notes 63
Deaths
Crane (MG 1952) On February 22, 2013, Sir
Peter Francis Crane, aged 73. After graduating
at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and
Tulane University, New Orleans, he was called to
the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1964, and was in practice
on the Midland and Oxford Circuit, 1965-87. He
was Recorder, 1982-87; a Circuit Judge, 1987-2000;
Resident Judge, Peterborough Crown and County
Court, 1992-2000 and a Judge of the High Court
of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, 2000-07. He
was a Member of the Senate of Inns of Court and
the Bar, 1983-86, and of its Professional Conduct
Committee (1984-86) and Bar Committee (198586). He was a member of the Judicial Studies
Board, 1993-96 and 2001-06, Chairman of its
Criminal Committee, 2001-06) and a member of
the Sentencing Guidelines Council, 2004-06. He
co-edited 14th (1990) and 15th (2000) editions of
Phipson on Evidence. He was Chairman of Kettering
Constituency Liberal Association 1981-84, and of
Pytchley Parish Council, 1985-86. He leaves his wife
Elizabeth, four children and nine grandchildren.
A Memorial Service was held at All Saints Church,
Pytchley, Northants, on 12 March. An obituary
appeared in The Times for 2 March.
Cooke (Common Room, 1953-1955)
On 6 October 2012, Anthony John Cooke. His first
appointment after leaving Oxford was Assistant
Director of Music at Highgate School. Alan White
(HG 1950) writes: “This coincided with my time
there as a sixth former. Although he did not teach
me, he did have influence musically on me. After
the orchestral rehearsal I would accompany
him to where he stayed, which was on my way
home. All aspects were discussed, but as he did
not get on with the Director, I was told things
which perhaps I should not have! I am eternally
grateful that he advised me to go to Harold Darke
for organ lessons at the Royal College of Music.
Musically, my greatest memory was of a concert
which he organised in our last term. The piece was
the first movement of Bach`s fifth Brandenburg
concerto, with myself playing the solo piano; the
solo violinist was Anthony Camden (TL 1950),
who later became principal oboist of the London
Symphony Orchestra. The funeral was held at
Leeds Minster, and was followed by a private
cremation. An obituary appeared in the Yorkshire
Post for 20 October.
Gabriel (GH 1956) In August 2012, Michael
Clifford Gabriel, aged 68. Michael Gabriel qualified
as a member of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants in 1968 and in 1971 became the
youngest partner of City-based accountants
Macnair Mason. In 1974 he joined the commodities
house Gill & Duffus on the finance side. He was
appointed to various senior positions including
Managing Director of the metals trading division;
this required him to live in Brazil for 9 months
and was the start of his love of Brazil and long
term association with that country. In the late
eighties he became financial manager of Latin
America Securities, later acquired by the Foreign
and Colonial Group; during his term, funds under
management increased from about £2 million to
£5.5 billion, and he retired from F&C in 1999. In
2001 he was invited to become Chairman of the
Anglo Brazilian Society, starting the legendary
bi-annual Balls in the 80s. The Society is a charity
to assist street children in Brazil. It also introduces
the cultures of Brazil and the United Kingdom
to each country. He also generously assisted
many charities and individuals in later years. A
scholarship has now been set up in his name by
the ABS. He was also a Trustee of The Sir Joseph
Hotung Charitable Settlement, a charity donating
money mainly to medical research and peace
building in the Middle East. He leaves a widow,
Anita, and sister Denise.
Hughes (GH 1948; Common Room,
1958-1969, and Housemaster of
Midgate 1965-9) On 14 January 2013, Dr
Beament During February, 2013, Roger
Beament (Common Room 1958-1975), from
leukaemia. At Highgate he taught History and
Politics and was Housemaster of Queensgate
1962-1975. He left to become Vice-principal of
Woodhouse Sixth Form College in North Finchley
and retired during the ’90s. (Information from
staff colleague Guy Redmond (WG 1965), who first
met him on a computer teaching course at Barnet
College in c.1985)
Langrish-Smith (GH 1961) On 17
December 2013, Keith Langrish-Smith, aged 65.
Whitehead (School Chaplain, 1963-4)
On 7 February 2013, The Rev. Canon Dr Derek
Whitehead, peacefully, at his home in Fletching,
East Sussex on 7 February. After leaving Highgate,
he became Chaplain and Lecturer in Philosophy of
Religion at the University of Manchester.
Arnold (EG 1964) On 16 January 2013, Peter
Michael Eveleigh Arnold (EG 1964), aged 60. He had
been suffering from lung cancer for two years and
died peacefully in a hospice near Malaga, Spain,
where he and his wife Cat had been living for many
years (information from his brother, John Arnold,
EG 1962).
Spears (Technician in the Biology
Dept. during the 1990s) On 10 January
2013, Valerie Rose Spears, aged 72, beloved wife
of Brian Spears (Bursar 1986-1998) and mother of
Nicholas and Dominic, both Westgate pupils, at
Sandwich, Kent. She was diagnosed with breast
cancer in 2010. The funeral service was at Barham
Crematorium on January 22.
Richard Ieuan Garth ‘Riggy’ Hughes, aged 76.
(More information to follow)
Notes
The Rev. Roger Lewis Roberts (19111990, OC 1924) was remembered in the
150th Anniversary edition of the Church Times,
which he edited from 1960 to 1968. During this
time, the anti-radical Roberts was embroiled in
the debate raging over two books published by
the Bishop of Woolwich, John Robinson: Honest to
God, which argued that Christians should no longer
think of God as “the ground of our being” and
that “compassion for persons overrides all laws”,
and Objections to Christian Belief, the text of four
lectures by radical Cambridge Theologians; both
were bombshells in their time. Roberts became
Chaplain to the Queen, Chaplain of the Queen’s
Chapel of the Savoy, and a Commander and
Chaplain of the Royal Victorian Order. OC Roderick
Thomson (1950) writes that Roberts was, even in
the view of his Classical VI form master, the Rev.
CH Benson, so saturated in Classical learning that
it affected his grasp of the wider world. Benson
would opine that “Roger would have done well to
take the advice in Ecclesiastes 12: ‘of making books
there is no end; and much study is a weariness of
the flesh’.”
64 Notes
Notes
Prof Douglas Macdowell (1943) the
Chair of Greek at Glasgow University, reinstalled
through a bequest from Prof Douglas Macdowell
(1943), has been filled by Professor Jan Stenger
from Berlin. His cousin John Allan (TL 1946),
who reports the event, writes that is good that
Douglas’s wishes have at last been fulfilled, and
at the Commemoration of Benefactors Service
in June his name was duly read out, and will be
every year from now on. His friend Dr. Costas
Panayotakis, Reader in Classics at the University,
recently gave a lecture at Highgate School in
his honour, on the subject of Greek and Roman
Actors and Actresses.
Tom Frisch, Roy Patten and Tony
Weston, (all HG 1951) had a reunion
in Lewes on 1 December 2012. Tom now lives
in Ottawa, Canada and was in England with his
wife Wendy visiting relatives in Brighton; this
gave an opportunity to visit Roy Patten in Lewes
whilst Tony Weston and his wife Gillian were also
visiting Roy. The three last met in 1953, so had
almost sixty years of catching up to do. Earlier,
in London, Tom reunited with Malcolm Pitt (NG
1952), who sat next to him in Remove in 1952.
Tom hopes to be able to (finally!) revisit the
School on his next trip to England.
John Rutter (SG 1958) was the subject
of a full-page interview in the Church Times for
28 December 2012. In it he spoke warmly of his
memories of his mentors at Highgate, Music
Directors Martindale Sidwell (Junior School) and
Edward Chapman (Senior School).
Adam Yamey (HG 1965) had his latest
novel, Rogue of Rouxville, published in 2012.
It is a historical novel, loosely based on material
in the National Archives of South Africa, about
Jacob Klein, a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria to
the Orange Free State in the 1870s. It is available
on Amazon both as a paperback and also a
Kindle; the paperback version is also available on
http://goo.gl/FWz8S. For updates on Adam’s
work, see www.adamyamey.com
Daniel Hope (EG 1986) violinist, can be
heard talking to Classic FM’s Tim Lihoreau about
his new album, Spheres, and even showing his
1742 Guarneri del Gesu, on http://goo.gl/sGIKm.
In reference to including Fauré’s choral Cantique
de Jean Racine, Hope says: “The hymn text
talks about the ‘everlasting light of heaven and
earth’. But there was also a personal reason for
my choosing it: I sang it when I was at Highgate
School and have always adored this piece. There
are a number of versions as well as various
sketches of this student work. This beautiful
arrangement by John Rutter (SG 1958) also
aligns with my idea that if I chose existing works
we’d do them in contemporary arrangements.”
Alan Bedwell (QG 1992) now running
his own business from New York, sends this
photograph of himself, his father Alan LG
Bedwell (EG 1953), Vice Chairman OC Sports
Club, and grandson Elliott Steer (Y8) – three
generations of Cholmeleians. Can any other
readers match or beat that?
Richard Brewster
Richard Brewster (CH 1959) notes
that one aspect of the 2012 Olympics which did
not seem to be reported was the number of OCs
who were volunteers. This is probably because
it is so difficult to find out. He feels that, in his
small way, he was an Ambassador and is sure
that many other OCs were involved apart from
Howard Darbon, who is in the super-hero class.
His livery company ran a small article on his
minor job at Liverpool St Station, set out below.
There must be many other stories from other
OCs of their experiences during the magnificent
Summer of 2012; let us hear them. “Past
Master, Richard Brewster, was an Ambassador
at Liverpool Street station during the Olympics.
He said that he had tremendous fun although
he admitted that it was ‘hard work directing our
foreign friends to places he had never heard
of and they couldn’t pronounce’. One instance
was the two Argentinian women who arrived at
Liverpool Street station and demanded, in broken
English, to be shown the Beatles. Richard thought
they might want Abbey Road, but it transpired
they thought they were in Liverpool! He was very
impressed by how well the Station staff worked
with the Ambassadors to provide visitors with
a comprehensive and efficient service. Bravo to
Team GB and Team Stationers.”
Joshua Dacre
Joshua Dacre (FG c/2007) graduated
with a Masters in Research in Systems
Neuroscience with distinction from Bristol
University, 29 January 2013. He made the rare
achievement of being admitted to study for a
PhD in Neuroscience at Edinburgh University,
without a relevant degree or even Biology.
Richard Brewster
One of Tim Benson’s portraits
Tim Benson (WG c/2005) showed five
Three generations of the Bedwell family:
Alan Junior, Alan Senior and Elliott Steer (Y8)
paintings at the annual exhibition of the Royal
Institute of Oil Painters during December 2012.
Contact him at tim@timbensonart.co.uk
Notes 65
Notes
Orlando Weekes’ (GH 1997) group, The
Maccabees, were shortlisted for the Mercury Prize,
but were not the winners. Established by the British
Phonographic Industry and British Association of
Record Dealers in 1992 as an alternative to the Brit
Awards, it is an annual music prize awarded for the
best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Open to everything from Classical to Pop, it has a
reputation for being awarded to outside chances
rather than the favourites.
Joseph Cowie (WG c/2008) was
admitted to the Commissioning Course at the Royal
Military Academy, Sandhurst, in September 2012.
A poster for Oli Zeffman’s Melos Sinfonia
Oliver Zeffman (TL c/2011) conducted
the Melos Sinfonia in a concert on 11 January
2013 at the Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead.
The concert was a celebration of the (bi)
centenaries of Britten, Verdi and Wagner. Founded
by Oliver in 2010, the Sinfonia draws its players
from graduates and students from the country’s
leading conservatories and universities, as well as
from other youth orchestras.
Thomas Allen (WG c/2005) writes
that he has been busy with his art, as ever, and
is currently working on a 6ft canvas. He has been
selected by the judges of the National Open Art
Competition 2012 to exhibit one of his latest
pieces – a diptych entitled Perspectives On The
Infinite, one of 100 works of art, chosen from
over 2200 submissions, to be exhibited at the
Minerva Theatre, Chichester (11-21 October) and
then at The Prince’s Foundation Gallery, Hoxton,
London (24 October – 1 November), to be opened
by Turner Prize-winning contemporary artist,
Grayson Perry. Allen describes himself as being
‘Unrestrained by the demands of academic art
training’. He recently graduated in Sociology
with Economics at Exeter University and was
selected for two major national art competitions
in the last twelve months: The Sunday Times
Watercolour Competition 2011 and The National
Open Art Competition 2012. He had two works
selected for inclusion in the Royal Institute of
Painters in Water Colours Exhibition 2013; the
One of Thomas Allen’s paintings. Thomas is looking for gallery representation. Can any OC help?
works selected, Confusion of the Woken and
Love Eavesdropping on Past to Inform Indecision
While Lives Lived and Lost, were exhibited at the
Mall Galleries, London in April. He adds that he is
currently looking for gallery representation. His
website address is www.thomasallen.uk.com
Appeal: The Arthur Preston White
World War I Letters
The Centenary of the outbreak of the First
World War in August 2014 will generate
worldwide interest, and will surely be the
appropriate occasion for a reprint of the
Western Front letters of Arthur Preston White
(Common Room, 1919-1951), published for
the Friends of Highgate School in 1991 in an
edition of 500, sold mainly to OCs.
The 120 letters give a detailed, vivid, often
ironically humorous, and quite superbly-written
view of the fighting on the Western Front from
late 1914 to early 1918, including an unusual
account of the fighting on the slag-heaps at
Loos in 1915, and a 20-letter series covering his
regiment’s part in the Battle of the Somme.
Are there any OCs out there in publishing
who could help us bring this to reality?
If there are, please contact Michael Hammerson
on michael@midsummer.demon.co.uk
66 Feature
Three Days in May – Ben’s first West End
success, starring Warren Clark as Churchill
The
History
Boy
Alex Dickson (13 KG) meets Ben Brown (KG 1982),
whose historical drama, Three Days in May
was a recent West End hit
Feature 67
Larkin with Women, Ben’s play about the
tangled love life of poet Philip Larkin
Ben Brown is a young playwright whose plays
have been enthusiastically received by both
critics and public alike – Ben is particularly
pleased with the recent ‘Whatsonstage Best
New Play award’, voted for by the theatregoing public, for Three Days in May, an
historical drama set in the darkest days
of World War Two when Britain actually
considered surrendering to Hitler. Not bad for
a dialogue-heavy play that makes intellectual
demands of its audience, in which there are no
female roles, no-one sings and everyone keeps
their clothes on. Three Days ran for six months in
the West End, starring Warren Clark as Winston
Churchill and the legendary Alan Strachan
directing. Although this was Ben’s first West
The Promise ‘deserved
a transfer to the National’
and Larkin with Women
won the TMA Best New Play
Award in 2000.
All Things Considered – a black comedy about
suicide, and one of Ben’s first successes
End success – it even attracted an enthusiastic
double-page article by Richard Littlejohn in
The Mail – this is not Ben’s first taste of public
and critical approval. The Promise, an historical
drama based on the birth of the state of Israel, in
the words of one critic, ‘deserved a transfer to the
National’ and Larkin with Women, based on the
tangled love-life of the poet Philip Larkin, won
the TMA Best New Play Award in 2000. These
three plays demonstrate a talent for recreating
historical events and projecting them into a
dramatic form which Ben’s success demonstrates
can make gripping theatre.
68 Feature
I ask him if his time at Highgate helped him
develop his love of the theatre and writing, and
he recalls how Philip Swan, his English teacher
and Head of Drama, provided inspiration for
his playwriting and is still the first person Ben
shows a new script to. Philip took Ben’s first play
All Things Considered – a black comedy about a
philosopher who tries to commit suicide – up to
the Edinburgh fringe festival. Ben remembers the
first play which caught his attention, RC Sherrif’s
Journey’s End. ‘After reading it, you feel as if you
have lived through the war, ‘Ben recollects. He
still has strong links with Highgate, living nearby
and with his son David at the School in Year 8.
His wife Jenny, now Head of Sixth Form at St
Paul’s Girls, taught English here from 1995-2000.
He even swims in the men’s pond in Highgate
every morning every day of the year. He believes
it helps discipline his day – essential if you’re a
self-employed playwright, although Ben does
allow himself a slow-get up in the morning,
reading and doing some writing while still in
Ben judged this year’s House Drama Competition.
Ben is pictured with the winning house, Eastgate
bed. He also teaches creative writing at Royal
Holloway and works for a literary agent, reading
and commenting on manuscripts.
Ben feels that he is
constantly maturing as a
writer, especially when it
comes to the process of
creating a play.
Larkin with Women is a particularly
interesting example of the process Ben went
through to research and write an historical
play. He interviewed all three women involved
in Larkin’s complex ménage, and Maeve
Brennan, one of Larkin’s lovers, whose first-hand
experience of these very events was invaluable
to Ben’s portrayal of Larkin, wrote a ‘very nice
review’ after seeing the play. This shows how
bizarre and exciting being a playwright can be
when one of your characters comes to see and
review your play!
Ben feels that he is constantly maturing as
a writer, especially when it comes to the process
of creating a play. He says that he ‘used to dive
into writing’ but now sees it as: ‘making a jigsaw
puzzle when you have to have an idea of what
the picture is going to be about’. Ben is fond
of the saying that plays aren’t written, they’re
rewritten or ‘assembled.’ Intensive research
underpins everything he writes.
The process of putting a play on, Ben tells
us, shows how little security there is in the
theatre. While reading law at Oxford, he wrote
All Things Considered which was going to be put
on except that the director suddenly had a crisis
Feature 69
and as Ben recalls, ‘the whole thing fell apart’.
This was his first attempt at putting on a play
but it goes to show the rollercoaster nature of a
playwright’s life. Getting directors and producers
involved is not the only struggle and obviously,
Ben has to make a living, normally in the form
of royalties and making sure he puts ‘bums on
seats’. Ben thinks the adage ‘you can’t make a
living, but you can make a killing’ has a lot of
truth in the theatre. Three Days in May is Ben’s
biggest ‘killing’ so far, although Larkin has done
well for him, as it has entered the repertoire and
is frequently produced. Where Ben considers
himself lucky in his early career was meeting the
legendary producer Michael Codron while doing
a post-graduate course at Oxford. Michael Codron
has put on work by almost every significant postwar playwright, and he was crucial in getting
Ben’s work produced on the stage.
As a writer of historically-based drama, Ben
knows that his audience already knows what
happens: the challenge is ‘how the story gets
there’. In Three Days in May, Ben says that ‘little
tricks’ are needed to maintain the tension of the
play and to keep the audience interested so that
the outcome becomes less clear. He says that
Ben thinks the adage ‘you
can’t make a living, but you
can make a killing’ has a lot
of truth in the theatre.
as a playwright, ‘you’ve got to try and show that
events could have gone another way’ which is
what makes Ben’s work exciting – the exploring
of other avenues that could have been taken.
Finally, when asked about how he maintains
his passion and motivation for writing, Ben is
fortunate in loving what he does, indeed he says
that: ‘when writing a play about something, you
have to be absolutely obsessed by it, because it
is years of process and then years and years of
trying to put it on’. Ben is also drawn in by his
own ambivalence about a subject. He quotes
Tom Stoppard: ‘dialogue is the only way of
respectfully contradicting yourself’ and Alan
Bennett, who said that ‘you write a play when
you are in two minds about something.’
Ben is currently working on his new play
likely to be finished in 2014. He can’t give
much away, except the hint that: ‘if you do
something twice, you are repeating yourself, if
you do it three times, it’s a trilogy’. ‘I will say it’s
historical’, he adds.
Whatever it is, it’ll be worth the wait.
The Promise, an historical play about
the creation of the state of Israel
70 Obituaries
The Revd. Reginald Peter Stone
1932 – 2012
Peter Stone (he eschewed the Reginald!)
joined the Common Room as School Chaplain
in September, 1975, having spent the first 16
years of his priestly ministry in the Diocese
of Southwark, first in a parish and then as
Chaplain to Archbishop Tenison’s School.
After National Service, and an enviable
posting to NATO HQ in Fontainebleau, he read
Theology at Exeter College, Oxford, where his
tutor was Eric Kemp, later Bishop of Chichester.
Peter readily acknowledged his debt to his
College and whenever passing through Exeter (en
route to or from Falmouth where he lived) would
stop to give thanks at the tomb of its founder.
After taking his degree, he trained for the
Anglican Ministry at St Stephen’s House, Oxford
(it was on the Feast of St Stephen that he was to
die) and was ordained by Archbishop Geoffrey
Fisher in 1959 in Canterbury Cathedral.
When Peter retired, Richard Brewester (CR
1973-98) wrote a comprehensive account in
The Cholmeleian of Peter’s contribution to
Highgate, both School and wider community,
over the 17 years of his Chaplaincy: the revision
of the School’s RE Syllabus; the art concealing
art of his short addresses in Morning Chapel;
his scrupulously prepared, scripturally-based
sermons at House Evensong or in St Michael’s;
the succession of distinguished visiting
preachers across the Christian spectrum invited
on our behalf; his annual visit to the local Royal
British Legion and their participation in the
School’s Remembrance Sunday Service; his
encouragement of boys to be Chapel Wardens, to
serve at the altar and to read lessons so that they
were audible at the West end of Chapel!
He extended his pastoral concern to the wider
School community: baptising the children of
colleagues, sometimes marrying their relatives,
visiting the sick, comforting the bereaved and in
the celebration of the Eucharist and the saying of
the daily offices, both at the centre of his priestly
life, praying for us all.
Nor should we forget the part played by a
succession of West Highland terriers, all named
after Cornish Saints, as they accompanied him on
his early-evening stroll round Bishopswood Road!
Peter retired from Highgate in 1992, a year
of radical change in the Church of England.
With the deepest regret, he decided that he
could no longer continue as an Anglican priest
and he sought reception as a Roman Catholic.
In July 1996, he was ordained by the Bishop of
Plymouth, and it was Bishop Christopher who
preached the Homily and was principal celebrant
at Peter’s Funeral Mass (the Panegyric was given
by Fr. Philip Ursell, a close friend and onetime
Principal of Pusey House, Oxford). The size of
the congregation and the presence of some
two dozen concelebrating colleagues were an
eloquent sign of the respect and affection Peter
had won in his new ministry.
Shortly after his death, these words appeared
in The Times about a famous singer who had
once been a schoolmaster: “He was the very
best type of schoolmaster: kind, intelligent,
humorous, understanding and deeply in love
with his subject.” They could easily have been
said about Fr. Peter.
He was born on 13 January 1932 and died,
from cancer, on 26 December 2012.
Roy Giles
Head Master 1974-89
Obituaries 71
Sir Robert Clark
1924 – 2013
Sir Robert Clark, who died this January aged
88, was one of the most influential merchant
bankers of the 1970s and 80s, and habitué
of numerous boardrooms. He stepped in to
chair British Leyland when Sir Ronald Edwards
died and, more controversially, Mirror Group
Newspapers after the death of Robert Maxwell.
Sir Robert was a Governor of the School for 21
years from 1969 until July 1990.
His role in the SOE was featured in the
Cholmeleian in 2011, where, during World War
Two, he was dropped behind enemy lines and,
in his words, ‘had great fun blowing up railway
engines’, with Falla, his inseparable teddy bear,
tucked into his battledress. In 2010, he was one of
29 former SOE members who held a reunion at the
Imperial War Museum, followed by a dinner with
the Princess Royal at the Special Services Club.
His war ended when he was discovered in a
haystack by a German patrol, and he spent the
rest of the war becoming ‘an expert on the state
of jails in Northern Italy.’ When the war was over
he met, then married, his onshore SOE wireless
operator, Marjorie Lewis, following a message
sent in breach of the rules, ‘Bob sends love to
Marjorie’. Freed as the war ended, Clark wired her:
‘Arriving London from Germany. Meet me’. They
met, shook hands and later married.’
At Highgate, Clark was head boy and captain
of football and cricket during the wartime
evacuation to Westward Ho! He went up in 1941
to King’s College, Cambridge, to read Modern
Languages, but left after a year – during which
he won a soccer Blue – to join the Royal Navy.
Given a desk job because of his colour blindness,
he joined the SOE.
Demobilised in 1946 with a DSC, Clark joined
Slaughter and May. Working exclusively for
merchant banks, he became a partner at 29. In
1961, Clark joined the fast-expanding merchant
bank of Philip Hill, Higginson, Erlanders, and was
soon offered a directorship. Then a merger with
M Samuel & Co created one of the City’s two
largest merchant banks, embracing shipping,
insurance and investment worldwide. As head
of its issues and mergers, Clark was involved in
a series of high-profile takeovers. In 1976 Clark
succeeded Sir Kenneth Keith as Hill Samuel’s
chief executive, setting its sights on expansion
overseas; from 1980 he was chairman. Other
companies he chaired included Beecham,
Imperial Metal Industries, Marley and United
Drapery Stores. Among his directorships were
Bowater, Eagle Star, Marchwiel (later Alfred
McAlpine), Racal Telecom (later Vodafone) and
Shell. From 1976 to 1985 he was a director of the
Bank of England.
Clark became a director of Mirror Group
Newspapers in May 1991, becoming a friend of
Maxwell’s. He claimed after Maxwell’s downfall
that, although there had been 29 unusual
payments totalling £230 million to private
Maxwell companies over a year, no director had
the evidence to challenge their honesty. After
Maxwell went missing off his yacht the Lady
Ghislane and was subsequently found drowned,
Clark stayed on as chairman to sort out the mess.
Clark’s home for almost 50 years was a house
in Surrey designed by Lutyens for Gertrude
Jekyll (‘the best investment I ever made’). He
was a keen collector of antiquarian books, and
retraced the route of one of Cook’s voyages. He
was knighted in 1976. He leaves a wife, two sons
and a daughter.
Adapted from The Daily Telegraph
74 Letters
The Highgate Choir and
Britten’s War Requiem
‘Cherry’ Chapman conducts the Highgate Choir in the recording
studio. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the recording
In this centenary year of Benjamin Britten’s birth, David
Lowden recalls the choir’s recording of the War Requiem.
I was going to the Festival Hall to listen to Britten’s War Requiem.
To prepare, I borrowed a CD version from the library that turned
out to have some surprises.
First it was recorded in the Kingsway Hall on 3-5 and 8-10
January 1963.Benjamin Britten himself conducted the LSO with
Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano, Peter Pears, tenor and Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau, baritone. The Bach Choir and the LSO chorus sang
the choruses with the Highgate School Choir as the Boy choir with
Mr Edward ‘Cherry’ Chapman as director. That must have been the
high point for the Highgate School Choir, one that Cherry Chapman
had been aiming for. I expect you have records going back that
far but I wonder how many of those choristers are still around to
recall the rehearsals with Chapman and Britten. Might make an
interesting subject for a future Cholmeleian?
David Lowden (FG 1949)
We are inviting all members of the original choir and their
contemporaries to a performance of the War Requiem at the
Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 12 October
CCF Inspecting Officer
Anthony Green (SG/TL 1952) recognised the Inspecting Officer
from the Letters pages of the last issue as Colonel Alexander
Gregory Hood, a Grenadier Guardsman who fought from
D-Day to Berlin and won two MCs. He led the Queen’s Coronation
procession. Leaving the army, he opened an art gallery, and looked
after the sale of Anthony’s paintings for many years. Roderick
Thomson dates the picture as 1959 or later and recalls ‘Alfie’ Field’s
threat issued during rehearsals of the Inspection Parade: ‘If the
marching doesn’t get any better, I’ll call in a Guards serjeant-major
to drill you.’ This suggests that he had a direct line to London
District HQ, the nerve centre of the Brigade.
The Masaryk Society
Much as I welcome the re-emergence of the Masaryk Society as an informal
debating society its founders seem to have formed a very strange impression
of the society in its early heyday. Thanks to the good offices of Theo Mallinson,
I possess a copy of the meetings programme for the 1949 Autumn term when I was
apparently treasurer. To the best of my knowledge, all the then officers are still alive
and would, if approached, have assured the researchers that the society was not
some sort of ersatz Bullingdon Club.
In fact, it existed primarily to invite speakers to come and talk to its members
about their special interests. Most of those invited for the Autumn Term appeared to
be talking about their forthcoming Penguin books. Only two meetings were devoted
to current affairs debates and one of these was with the South East Middlesex InterSchools Group, which served the additional purpose of enabling Highgate SixthFormers to discover the existence of girls. The organising brain behind all this was
Tommy Fox, and the contact in high places his bosom friend Arthur Skeffington, a
long-standing Labour MP and member of the National Committee. For many years
Tommy and his wife Dorothy shared a house with Arthur and Sheila Skeffington and
their two children.
The functions undertaken by the new Masaryk Society were essentially carried
out by the Tuesday Debating Society, also chaired by Tommy Fox. In addition
he presided over the Tea Club, which met in the Village Café Shop and read and
discussed learned papers submitted by members. I can remember discussions on
the Twenties, Relativity and the Art of Film. Thanks largely to one man, there was an
intellectual ferment.
Colin Curley (1944)
Highgate Eccentrics
Charles Ross, having confessed that he came to the School dressed in a
kilt, suggested that readers might enjoy further memories of Highgate
eccentricities. Do write in with further reminiscences! ‘Those were very tolerant
times. There was no great pressure about exams and many boys (and masters)
were quite eccentric. One boy spent his time painting splendid portraits of pandas
dressed up in immaculate exotic uniforms. He did very little else. No one seemed to
mind. Another was obsessed by puppets. He built a complete puppet theatre in a
room in the Science Block and organised frequent performances for both boys and
parents. One summer was very hot, possibly 1951. Sitting on the Science Block roof
in the tantric position was all the rage.
Mr Kyffin Williams spent most of that summer on his back in the Michelangelo
position decorating the Art room walls and ceiling. It did not seem to occur to him
that he was supposed to be teaching us, and no one felt it appropriate to remind him.
In the Junior School there was a strange little man called Mr Baker who walked
around with his nose in the air. He used to stand by a boy and wind the hair above
his ear round his finger and gradually haul him out of his desk, while continuing
to address the class. Mr Markham was ancient, large, deaf as a post and lame.
He frequently hurled the board rubber, chalk and anything else to hand at boys who
answered him very quietly. If provoked, he hauled a boy on to his desk and belted
his back. Alternatively he gathered up whatever was on a boy’s desk and threw it out
of the window.
The redoubtable Mr Fox, who mostly taught the VI Form, sat on a dais with boys
sitting facing him on three sides. He was quite aware boys nearly behind him were
smoking. Only once do I recall him reprimanding anyone and then for interrupting
the class by coughing too loudly. One wonders if today’s more civilised world,
overwhelmed by grades, is as entertaining.’
Charles Ross (FG–Scots division 1948)
Submissions to the magazine should
preferably be sent via email to
ocmag@highgateschool.org.uk
with appropriate images.
If this is not possible please send content to:
The Editors
The Cholmeleian
Highgate School
North Road
London N6 4AY
telephone
020 8347 2116
website
www.highgateschool.org.uk
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