The Aularian
ST EDMUND HALL OXFORD
SPRING 2010 • ISSUE 17
INSIDE THE AULARIAN
Meet Principal Keith Gull
Remembering John Cowdrey and Bruce Mitchell
Authors, Educators and Entrepreneurs
Communism and the Modern World
Breeding and Collecting Rare Plants
PLUS: Honouring Long-Serving Staff, Aularians in Politics, Conservation Notes
The Aularian - Spring 2010
2
Welcome to The Aularian
CONTENTS
College News
From the Bursar by Ernest Parkin
China Growth Centre Update Obituary for Bruce Mitchell by Lucy Newlyn Obituary for John Cowdrey by Blair Worden Professor Derrick Wyatt QC Retires by Adrian Briggs
Notes from the Garden
Aularian Weddings at the Hall
Aularian News: The St Edmund Hall Association,
Aularian Golfing Society, Friends of the Boat Club,
Friends of the Rugby Club
4
5
6
7
8
9
9
10
STUDENT NEWS
Profiles: Hall Clubs & Societies by Nithya Natarajan
JCR President’s Report by Charlie Wilson
Aiming For the Stars by Amy Mcleod
MCR President’s Report by Shari Levine
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13
14
15
FEATURES
A Recipe for Longevity by Funda Ustek
16
Keeping the Isis Flowing by Matej Bajgar
17
The Red Flag by David Priestland 18
Reflections on a Junior Research Fellowship by Shahira Samy19
Aularians in Politics by John Dunbabin
20
Breeding a ‘Cornish Chough’ by Raymond Thornton
22
Plant Collecting in the Himalayas by J.E. Michael Arnold
23
Online Learning by Barrie England and Henry Fagg 24
A Rewarding Path by Sophie Smith and Joy Hibbins 25
Stories from the Jungle by Rasmus Larsen
26
An Aularian Entrepreneur by Simon Blezard 27
Aularian Authors: Crossley-Holland, Hewitt, Bockstoce
28
Hall Proud
30
From the Alumni Relations & Development Office
31
OU Alumni Weekend & College Events
32
Cover photograph by Lilly Smith (2009,
Modern Languages) who is the first
Aularian child of an Aularian couple.
Lilly’s parents, Helen Duckworth (1981,
Medicine) and Tim Smith (1982, Geography)
were the second hall couple to get married.
A note of thanks to the more than 50
students, Old Members, fellows and staff
who contributed to this edition of The
Aularian. Please let the Alumni Relations &
Development Office know if you would like
to contribute to next year’s edition.
The Aularian Trivia Competition
Read The Aularian, answer the following
questions, and become eligible to win one of
four autographed copies of the books featured
in the newsletter. The following prizes will be
awarded to the first three correct entries drawn
at random: Hands Up: A Year in the Life of an
Inner City Teacher by Oenone Crossley-Holland,
Sporting Justice: 101 Sporting Encounters with
the Law by Ian Hewitt, Furs and Frontiers in the
Far North: The Contest among Native and Foreign
Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade by John R.
Bockstoce
1) In what year does the first mention of the Hall
appear in public records?
2) Name three websites that make it easy for
Aularians to stay in touch.
3) Since its inception in 2006, how much money
has been donated and pledged to the Hall’s
Annual Fund?
Send your answers to the Alumni Relations &
Development Office, St Edmund Hall, Oxford,
OX14AR or aularianconnect@seh.ox.ac.uk. The
closing date for the receipt of entries is Tuesday
1 June 2010. Winners will be randomly drawn
from amongst the correct entries and will receive
prizes shortly after the closing date.
The Global Aularian Community
As an Aularian, you are part of a global community offering both social and
professional networking opportunities. We hope you will take advantage of
this extensive network and with an established Facebook group, the newly
developed LinkedIn Group, and the Aularian Connect alumni networking
site, there has never been a better time.
ON Facebook: The St Edmund Hall Old Members group has 780+ members
The Hall’s Facebook group has the second largest membership of any Oxford college.
ON LinkedIn: The St Edmund Hall Old Members group has 470+ members
The Hall’s LinkedIn group has the largest membership of any Oxford college.
ON Aularian Connect: www.aularianconnect.com
4,600+ published Aularians 2,570+ of whom are willing to give career advice to other Aularians
Regional Coordinators: Check the page to see if your area has a coordinator.
Year Group Leaders: 25 year groups have leaders hard at work to keep everyone in touch.
Career Opportunities: Advertise a post or find a job on the Career Opportunities page.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
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From the Principal
Professor Keith Gull CBE DSc(Hon) FRS FMedSci
the Hall in terms of its scholars and exhibitioners. I have learned
how so many of the opportunities for assistance with academic
study, scholarships, electives, internships, and masterclasses
in sport and the arts are supported by Alumni. We are very
grateful for this continuing support that affects so positively on
the lives of our present students. Your commitment, time, and
money have impact and enable us to provide the opportunities
that change lives!
The new buildings – the Chough Room and Jarvis Doctorow
Hall – have had their first year of intense use. They provide all
common rooms with superb space for meetings, lectures, and
events and set a new standard for Hall facilities. The challenge
now is for us to match this standard in the rest of the Hall, whilst
sensitively observing the historic nature of our site. Improving
the physical infrastructure really assists our intellectual and
general collegiate ambitions.
I was immediately struck by the ambience of
this place. It is different and it is special.
I write this in late January after Oxford has experienced one
of the coldest and snowiest periods for quite some time. I can
reflect on one full term at St Edmund Hall and a few weeks
of Hilary. My wife, Dianne, and I were welcomed by fellows,
alumni and staff on 1 October last year and I must offer my best
wishes to Mike Mingos and Stacey for their courtesy and advice
in the handover. I was immediately struck by the ambience of
this place. It is different and it is special. Is it nature or nurture
that makes Aularians what they are? Whatever the ingredients
or process I was rapidly introduced to the Hall spirit when after
two days in post I welcomed the 1959 Matriculation group back
for their 50th Anniversary Luncheon. The first term’s events
then demonstrated that St Edmund Hall is still attracting the
academically bright student but with added talents.
I arrive in the Hall with a background as a microbiologist
with a research laboratory at the Sir William Dunn School of
Pathology. My research focuses on African Sleeping Sickness,
a devastating disease in sub-Saharan Africa. I have also spent
a number of years running courses for young scientists in both
East and West Africa. This interest in education, development
and the many faces of Africa is something that I will encourage
in students at the Hall. Dianne and I welcomed all of the freshers
at small drinks parties in the first weeks of Michaelmas Term. I
was delighted to meet many freshers who had contributed to
voluntary programmes in Africa and around the world in their
gap years. In addition, JCR members have spent time working
on development projects with Rwanda Aid. This charity was
assisted by funds raised by an evening event – ‘Teddy Hall’s
Got Talent’ – which certainly lived up to its name. Over 20 acts
performed to a packed Wolfson Hall – mime, song, dance, music
and composition of all types by both individuals and groups. This
artistic talent is matched of course by sporting prowess. It was a
pleasure to host dinners to celebrate general sporting successes
and another specifically for the Women’s First VIII who yet again
reached Head of the River in Summer VIIIs. This balances nicely
with forthcoming events to celebrate the academic success of
I observed above all that the future of the Hall looks bright
in terms of the young people that it is attracting from all over
the world. There are, however, very serious issues ahead.
Oxford has entered a very difficult period financially. Just before
Christmas the government and Higher Education Funding
Council announced the latest rounds of cuts to University
teaching budgets. These will have an immediate impact on
the Hall and increasingly so over the next three years. The Hall
works in partnership with departments and faculties who will
be driven by relatively short-term financial and managerial
decisions over the next few years. During this difficult time we
must protect and strengthen our core activity of having the
best minds teaching the best students via a unique tutorial
system. We must do this whilst supporting the superb worldclass research undertaken by our fellowship. The health of all
of the disciplines will be put under stress. Ensuring that we can
provide the intellectual support and outside opportunities for
many generations of Aularians to come has to be our central
theme.
The founding history of the Hall does not place it in that group
of Oxford colleges with large reserves. This buffering capacity is,
however, exactly what is needed over the years to come. The
Hall will need to look to its own devices to develop endowments
for our core tutorial positions and JRFs that enliven our research
activity and contribute to the Hall’s intellectual breadth. We
must not lose academic disciplines or reduce the quality of our
teaching and student experience because of these government
stringencies. I see a particular milestone ahead. The records
do not allow a precise date of establishment of the Hall but
the date of 1317 is significant since there exists the first public
record of the Hall (a rental payment to Oseney Abbey) named
as Aula Sancti Edmundi in that year. 2017 therefore brings a
milestone of 700 years. Whilst the years running up to 2017
are likely to be some of the most challenging in the modern
history of the Hall my intention is that we pass this milestone
completely confident of the next 700 years!
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The Aularian - Spring 2010
College News
From the Bursar
The last six months have been full of
activity and improvements. The late summer provides a brief hiatus between the
busy conference season and the annual
return of students, and we took full advantage of it. Prior to the start of Michelmas Term, we undertook four significant
upgrades.
Two completed renovations will probably never be noticed by members of the
Hall, yet students and staff will reap the
benefits on a daily basis. The first was
the renovation of the electrical system of
Portrait of
Sir Stephen Tumim
Dr Ernest Parkin
the College Library. This was last done in
1969, when the Hall took on the church
of St Peter-in-the-East as its library. Over
the years, small failures began to develop, and over a year ago we began planning for a complete renovation. This was
done from mid-July to mid-September.
It included, as well as the straightforward electrical work, the refurbishment
of the heating (how prescient was that?)
and the renovation of the desk surfaces
on the main floor. The second ‘behindthe-scenes’ project was the replacement
of the stoves in the Wolfson Hall kitchens. These were original to the building,
which was done in 1970. In both cases we
elected to do the work on our schedule,
ahead of the inevitable (and almost imminent) breakdown.
The third project is an important investment in the history of the Hall and the
protection of its records. With generous
alumni support, we emptied the historical archive room off the chapel and the
student record room under the Alumni
This portrait of former Principal Sir
Stephen Tumim hangs in the Old Dining
Hall alongside that of Professor Mike
Mingos. It is on loan to us from the artist,
Beth Marsden.
Beth is a young artist from Wales who
has undertaken a number of commissions
to paint portraits of academics in Oxford
and elsewhere. She has shown widely
across Britain and Ireland and in Vienna,
both in group and solo exhibitions. Beth
comes from a family of painters and
sculptors who run classes together as a
family and often hold week-long courses
in painting and sculpture. This exposure
to drawing and painting from a very young
age has brought about Beth’s passion for
portraiture.
If any Old Member wishes to help
the Hall to acquire this portrait, please
contact the Development Office.
In aid of the St Edmund Hall Annual Fund
Photograph by Kate Roessler
© St Edmund Hall 2009
St Edmund Hall
Queen’s Lane
Oxford OX1 4AR
T: 01865 279000
www.seh.ox.ac.uk
Christmas Cards Raise £2,034 for the Annual Fund
Many thanks to the Old Members, students, and staff who supported the Hall’s
Annual Fund through the purchase of the
2009 Hall Christmas Cards. Card sales
raised more than £2,030 which is over
£400 more than the previous year. Hall
Christmas Cards will be back in 2010, so
look for the order form along with the
2009-2010 Hall Magazine in October.
SantaQuadFull.indd 1
16/09/2009 14:33:59
artweek 2010
Relations
& Hall
Development Office, and
St
Edmund
installed Rackline rolling shelving. This
gave us about 30% more storage space
and easier access to all our records. The
next step will be to engage a professional
archivist
to catalogue
St Edmund
Hall our historical holdings and organise them.
The fourth project is one we can all
notice and enjoy. It involved the cleaning
of the façades of the Canterbury Building
and
St Vice-Principal’s
Edmund HallCottage, and the repair of stonework on the Chapel façade.
The successful work reveals the wonderful variety of periods and styles of the
stonework in the Front Quad. Architects
Stthis
Edmund
refer to
pleasingHall
variety as ‘texture’,
and it is to most of us one of the pleasures
of visiting St Edmund Hall. Sometimes it
is not seen consciously; for example, few
people notice that the North Range is not
oneSt
building,
butHall
two. Other times it is
Edmund
the juxtaposition of different periods like
the Canterbury Building (20th Century)
and the Vice-Principal’s Cottage (17th
Century), that work so well together.
artweek 2010
artweek 2010
artweek 2010
artweek 2010
artweek 2010
St Edmund Hall
maY 10-15
Get out your paintbrushes,
cameras and clay – planning for
Artweek 2010 is underway!
Everyone with a Hall connection
is invited to display their original
work at the Hall from 10 to 15 May
2010 in the College’s annual Artweek
exhibition.
Previous exhibitions have
included sculpture, photography,
paintings, drawings, calligraphy,
jewellery, sewing, knitting,
needlework, printing, glass, wood
and metal work and much more.
Exhibits will not be for sale during
the show; however, we will produce
an event programme featuring all
exhibitors along with their contact
details for those who are interested
in selling their work after the
exhibition.
Entry forms are available on the
Alumni News page of the St Edmund
Hall Website at www.seh.ox.ac.uk.
For more information or to
request an entry form by post,
please contact: Kate Roessler
e: kate.roessler@seh.ox.ac.uk
t: 01865 279 055
The Aularian - Spring 2010
5
College News
Teddy Hall Ball 2010: Eastern Promise
After tremendous hard work by the Ball
committee, the Teddy Hall Ball 2010: Eastern Promise has been approved, and following the amazing experience attendees
had at last year’s Ball, the portents for this
year’s are, if anything, even better.
The Ball has always been a place for
Aularians, young and younger, to gather
and celebrate being a part of this historic
college community. With the front quad
looking absolutely stunning and the oneof-its-kind graveyard providing an unique
setting for an Oxford Summer Ball, Teddy
Hall has built up a strong reputation for
some of the most enjoyable balls in Ox-
ford. To discover what we have to offer
at this year’s Ball, visit the ball website at
www.teddyhallball.co.uk.
The Ball is on Saturday 1 May. Tickets
are £85 and are already on sale via the
website. With the Oxford Tube running
through the night and stopping right outside the College, and accommodation also
easily available in town, this is a great opportunity to gather your friends and rediscover the splendour of Teddy Hall in the
most magical way imaginable.
Please do not hesitate to contact
tickets@teddyhallball.co.uk for more information.
China Growth Centre Update
CGC Director Dr Linda Yueh delivers the Centre’s inaugural lecture
Launched in Michaelmas Term 2009
with Dr Linda Yueh as Director, the
new China Growth Centre (CGC) is an
evidence-based research centre that can
bring together and challenge the views
about China on economic issues that have
domestic as well as increasingly global
implications. China’s re-entry onto the
international stage is the most notable
shift in the structure of the world economy
in the 21st century. Understanding what
drives its growth, its fluctuations and its
prospects for continued development has
become important not only for China but
also for the global economy. In its first
year, the Centre has planned a number of
activities and events, including lectures,
seminars and an international workshop.
A seminar series on the Chinese
economy will be held jointly with the
Department of Economics in Hilary Term
2010. The series will include speakers
from the World Bank, the President
of the UK/EU Chinese Economists’
Association and eminent economists like
Barry Naughton from the University of
California at San Diego who is the 2010
Astor Visiting Lecturer. A discussion
paper series is planned for the spring
that will feature contributions from
an international network of research
associates. Finally, the centrepiece of this
year’s activities will be an international
workshop jointly organised with Peking
University in Trinity Term 2010 on the
theme of ‘China’s Economic Growth:
Structure and Productivity.’ The workshop
will feature internationally renowned
scholars working on China from around
the world. The workshop will explore the
short-term challenges to, and long-term
prospects for, continued economic growth
in China, and the papers are intended for
publication in a special issue of the Oxford
Bulletin of Economics and Statistics.
To realise the aim of becoming the
premier research centre on the Chinese
economy, an endowment is being sought
to expand the Centre’s activities. Over
the next three years, the Hall is aiming
to raise £5 million in endowed funds to
support three main areas: (1) the post
of Director of the CGC, thereby also
funding a Fellowship in Economics; (2)
two Research Officers who will undertake
original research; (3) a Visiting Academics
Programme which will develop a global
network of associated experts that will
contribute to the profile and research
of the CGC. Funding will be required
to provide suitable accommodation in
Oxford and travel costs.
This is a very exciting project, and
one of many initiatives which will enable
the University of Oxford to become the
world’s leading institution for the study
of China in all its contexts. If you would
like to become involved in the future of
the CGC, please contact the Development
Director, Yvonne Rainey, on +44 (0)1865
279096 or yvonne.rainey@seh.ox.ac.uk.
Contact details can be found on the
CGC website: www.seh.ox.ac.uk/CGC.
A new book by Dr Linda Yueh, The
Economy of China, will be published in
May 2010. The book provides an overview of key issues in China’s economic
development and transition and highlights the role of institutional reforms
to enable a better understanding of
China’s growth trajectory and its wider
impact on the global economy, including the recent financial crisis.
6
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Obituary
Bruce Mitchell, 1920-2010
An important era in Hall life came to
an end on 30 January with the death of
Bruce Mitchell, the last of the troika of
English dons who collectively taught the
subject for over 100 years. Much loved as
a tutor, devoted chapel-goer and Tutor for
Graduates, Bruce was one of the most distinguished and renowned scholars in his
field. He inspired generations of students,
not only with his enthusiasm for AngloSaxon, but with his practical good sense
and generosity of spirit.
Raymond Bruce Mitchell (known as
Bruce from birth) was born on 8 January 1920 in New South Wales. His father
was a Minister, so family life was spent on
the move. He went to school in Hobart,
Adelaide, and Melbourne, becoming a
teacher in Victoria while at the same time
pursuing part-time studies in the University of Melbourne, where he graduated
in 1940. During the war, he served in a
tank regiment originally intended to go to
North Africa, but after the fall of Singapore
kept back in Australia for possible defence
against Japanese invasion. Discharged in
1946, he remembered his army years as
happy and valuably formative.
After a brief post-war period running
a printing company in Melbourne, he returned to University in 1947 to complete
an MA in English. It was while struggling
to master Anglo-Saxon – a necessary qualification for his degree – that he became
hooked by the language. Most people
would have been deterred by the shortage of good textbooks on the subject, but
this only acted as a spur to Bruce’s perseverance and curiosity. The rest of his academic life was dominated by his passion
for the rigorous discipline of Old English
syntax. In 1952, he was awarded an MA
with First Class Honours for a highly specialised thesis on Adverb Clauses in Old
English Prose. This was a very happy period in his life, not least because he met
his English wife-to-be, Mollie, with whom
he came to Oxford when he was awarded
a Scholarship for study abroad. He wrote
his D.Phil thesis on Subordinate Clauses in
Old English Poetry at Merton, and in 1952
he and Mollie were married in the Church
of St Peter-in-the-East.
In 1954-1955, Bruce was a Lecturer at
Merton College, and also at the Hall. In
1955 he was elected a Fellow and Tutor
at SEH, partly on the strength of a superlative reference from JRR Tolkien. After
successfully completing his D.Phil, he began Old English Syntax, a labour of love
which lasted 25 years. In assembling this
magnum opus, he had Mollie’s unfailing
encouragement, as well as her practical
support as skilled typist and proof-reader. The massive two-volume work was
published in 1985, and awarded the Sir
Israel Gollancz Memorial Prize by the British Academy two years later. Bruce, with
characteristic good humour, inscribed his
advance copy: ‘Requiem for a Misspent
Middle Age 1959 – 1985.’ Meanwhile, he
also published, with Fred Robinson, his
Guide to Old English (1967) – an essential
textbook, now in its seventh edition – and
many other scholarly works. Well into his
retirement (which started in 1987) his
productivity was formidable: his Invita-
Inside Old English: Essays in Honour of Bruce Mitchell
tion to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England (1994) proved immensely successful
in reaching a wide readership and transforming the discipline. Complete with a
map, 36 illustrations, a glossary, and two
indexes, this vivid and erudite account of
Anglo-Saxon society entices its readers
with a ‘menu’ and ‘five courses for you
to make your choice’ – evidence of the
practical pedagogy which made Bruce so
influential. A festschrift, Inside Old English, compiled in his honour in 2006, acknowledged that ‘his impact on the study
of Old English as both teacher and scholar
is literally incalculable’.
Bruce was an inspirational tutor, who
regarded his teaching as integral to his
research. He earned his students’ respect with his dedication to his subject,
and won their undying affection with his
eccentric collection of anecdotes, jokes,
aphorisms, and quotations – some of
them in Latin and Old English. The tutorial
system enabled him, as he himself put it,
to ‘drink from a living stream’. At the end
of each day of tutorials he did just that
– his personal tankard awaiting him in the
buttery. The Hall suited him, and he gave
generously of his time to college life, especially the chapel. He was a methodical
man, who believed in maintaining strict
routines. During his ‘misspent’ middle
age, he got up early, working for several
hours before breakfast and taking a brief
nap in the early afternoons. He always
sat in the same place at the foot of the
table in Governing Body meetings, wearing a green eye-shade and delivering his
opinions forthrightly. He served for many
years as Tutor for Graduates – his hearty
welcome and anti-English jokes securing
his popularity with the Hall’s overseas
students. He was an active sportsman,
keen on hockey, tennis, and beagling, and
a fanatical supporter of Australian cricket.
He wore his massive erudition lightly – for
which, as for much else, he will always be
remembered fondly. Prof Lucy Newlyn
Edited by John Walmsley (1957, English)
As so often happens with these things, the idea of a festschrift came to me as Bruce and I were musing in the buttery one
evening over a pint. In view of his contributions to the study of Old English over 40 years, and his international reputation as a
scholar of Old English, I asked Bruce whether anyone had thought of presenting him with a festschrift. His ‘No, not so far’ was the
starting signal for a project which was to take five years to complete.
The authors of the papers are all scholars with whom Bruce had close connections over the years, as colleagues, as co-authors
of works on Old English, or as former students. Colleagues from the United States and Canada, Australia and Japan offered contributions, as did scholars from Finland, Germany and of course the UK. The essays themselves cover topics from the whole spectrum
of Old English philology – textual criticism, hermeneutics, grammar, and the lexicon – all of them areas in which Bruce made contributions of central importance. Each essay in its own way represents the state of the art in its chosen field.
In addition to the essays and other scholarly accoutrements, the volume contains a portrait of Bruce (wearing his Aussie tie!), a
biographical tribute by Professor Fred Robinson (Yale University), and a bibliography of Bruce’s publications. Oxford: Blackwell
7
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Obituary
John Cowdrey, 1926-2009
John Cowdrey became a Fellow of St
Edmund Hall in 1956, the year before it
became a college. His appointment combined the posts of Chaplain, which he
retained until 1978, and Tutor in Modern
History, a position he held until his retirement in 1991, when he became Special
Research Fellow. As a tutor he held a university lectureship too, but the College
was his first loyalty. Within the Fellowship
he was one of the last links with the intimate community of the Hall as it stood in
the earlier part of John Kelly’s Principalship, before the erection of the Emden
and Kelly and Wolfson buildings and the
expansion of the Governing Body. Cowdrey warmly admired Kelly, as he did Kelly’s predecessor Emden.
The son of the head gardener at
Moundsmere, a stately home in Hampshire (and a devoted gardener himself)
John served in the navy from 1943-1946,
an experience which he remembered
happily and from which there arose his
interest in Mediterranean history and
culture. He was next a Scholar of Trinity
College, where he gained a First in History. Then came a degree in Theology,
a subject he subsequently taught at St
Stephen’s House, the theological training
college on the site that is now Norham St
Edmund. He was ordained in 1952. His
biblical and patristic interests would endure after his teaching had moved from
theology to history. Until prevented by the
afflictions of old age, when he developed
Parkinson’s Disease and his eyes began to
fail, he would read a part of the Old Testament in Hebrew on alternate days.
A deeply private man, of sometimes
intense feelings and convictions, John
did not find conversational spontaneity
easy. Yet his gentle smile and transparent kindness, and an occasionally almost
roguish sense of humour, dispelled any
hint of wintriness. So did his concern for
his pupils. Nonetheless his inner life remained concealed. It had two centres.
The first was the scholarship that made
him a leading authority on medieval ecclesiastical history. To it he brought heroic industry, uncompromising standards,
and a formidable range of linguistic and
technical skills. The result was a torrent
of distinguished and enduring publications, whose originality and stature were
recognized by his election as a Fellow of
the British Academy in 1991. It was seven
years later, however, that there appeared
the book that meant most to him, his
monumental life of the reforming pope
Gregory VII. The English Historical Review
hailed it as the climbing of an ‘academic
Everest’ and as ‘a masterpiece’. He would
have savoured the compliment, for the
standards and values of the EHR were
his own. His last book, on Archbishop
Lanfranc, followed in 2003.
The second centre of his inner life was
his faith, which he seems to have acquired
as an undergraduate. He always thought
of the Catholic tradition within the Church
of England as his spiritual home. He acted
as deputy to the Vicar of Marston, the village where he lived with his wife Judith,
who predeceased him. They are survived
by their three children.
In a moving address at John’s funeral
in the church at Marston, the present
Chaplain, Gerald Hegarty, a neighbour of
John, gave us an abiding image of him as
he made his way home on Sundays after
presiding over the 8 am Communion. ‘He
walked steadily, in his cassock, the regular outdoor dress of the secular English
clergy since the end of the Middle Ages,
eyes to the ground, giving an almost
timeless sense of a certain ideal of the
English priest: mature, reflective, local,
but carrying within himself the theology
and discipline of the church universal: an
intelligent, but traditional way of believing and being a priest.’ In his beliefs and
ideals, as in his scholarship, John was immune to the pressures of contemporary
opinion and was his own man.
Prof Blair Worden
Honouring John Cowdrey & Bruce Mitchell
Both John Cowdrey and Bruce Mitchell have made remarkable
contributions to the life of the Hall and have left indelible impressions
on the generations of students they taught.
Each, in his own way, was a great scholar and teacher and the
College intends to honour the individual memory of both men by
raising funds to establish either a named bursary or a prize. With
the establishment of these individually named memorial funds,
future generations of Aularians will benefit from the outstanding
contributions that John Cowdrey and Bruce Mitchell made to the
Hall. We hope that many of those taught by these Fellows will be
able to assist with these two schemes.
The Alumni Relations & Development Office will be in touch with
more details regarding these memorials over the next few months.
To express our affection and honour the
memory of Bruce Mitchell a celebration
of his life will be held on the afternoon of
Saturday 24 April 2010 at St Edmund Hall.
The Alumni Relations & Development
Office will be communicating
further details in due course. Email
aularianconnect@seh.ox.ac.uk or call
01865 279 055 if you are interested in
attending.
John Cowdrey requested that no
memorial event be held in his memory.
8
The Aularian - Spring 2010
College News
Professor Derrick Wyatt QC Retires
The following is an excerpt from the speech given by Fellow Adrian Briggs at
Derrick Wyatt’s retirement luncheon on 20 June 2009. More than 120 former
students, colleagues and friends from around the world attended the event.
And so it comes to pass that the person
who has, for the last 29 years, been the
loyal understudy to the star attraction,
junior to one of Her Majesty’s Counsel,
has to step up to the top job. For this
really is the top job in College: the Senior
Law Fellow is the only post which really
counts. Principals come and Principals
go. But the Senior Law Fellow just stays
put.
and ‘teacher’, and ‘University’; but these
were turbulent years. When you allow for
the time he will have spent on industrial
action and secondary picketing, and
moonlighting at the premises of the
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, it all
added up to probably little more than
six weeks of actual educating. In 1975
Derrick headed back to Cambridge for
a spot of teaching. But then in 1978 he
Let us drink a toast to Derrick Wyatt: QC, Professor, and
Hall Man. But the greatest of these is Hall Man.
Derrick’s origins are in Liverpool. We
all have to come from somewhere, but
Derrick never really left it behind. True,
he did get as far as Cambridge for his
degrees, but went back to Liverpool as
fast as the bus could carry him. He spent
a year in Chicago, a city whose reputation
for criminal creativity often leads to its
being thought of as the Liverpool of the
United States, but then it was back home
again. From 1971 to 1975, Derrick was
employed as a university teacher at the
University of Liverpool. I say ‘employed’,
came to the Hall, and the next thing we
know, it is 2009, and that, really, was that.
It was not quite the diary of a travelling
man, but the world’s loss has been the
College’s gain.
And what did we produce over those
31 years? Oddly enough, the very same
question is being addressed in a speech
being given in Wadham College to
mark the retirement this year of Jeffrey
Hackney, Derrick’s predecessor in office
in this college. They will be looking at the
law reports and the list of judges, and
saying: ‘he’s one of ours, she’s one of
ours’, and so forth. Not for us, these stuffy
old traditions, these pompous displays
of smug satisfaction. We do things
differently here: in the last 31 years the
Teddy Hall Law School produced more
people who served time at Her Majesty’s
Pleasure than graduates who went on to
serve Her Majesty on the bench: at least
two convicts, and two MPs (no relation,
alas). I think that is marvellous.
Derrick has had a parallel career as a
QC, mostly spent before the European
Court on behalf of the United Kingdom
government, patiently explaining the
position of Her Majesty’s Government
to the judges of the European Court.
The undoubted highlight came when he
asserted that the United Kingdom was
entitled to slop, er, mess all over the
shoreline at Blackpool. This was because
the sand at Blackpool was not, actually, a
beach: with all that toilet material piled
up and floating around, so tiny were the
numbers of people who actually dared
use it that it didn’t count as a beach at all.
If his legal practice can be summed up in
a single line, it is this: Derrick Wyatt, the
Man Who Put the Poo in Blackpool.
It is Derrick’s reputation, but also your
esteem, which has brought so many of
you, so happily for us, back here this
afternoon. We are all delighted that you
have all come back, and thank you all for
making the journey and the sacrifice. And
we hope you will come back and see us
again. When you do, I will be the Senior
Law Fellow. There are some people who
will tell you that inside every second
fiddle, there is a first violin, yearning to
be free. Be assured that this is absolutely
not true. Life as a second fiddle is a
blissful dream. Someone else does all
the difficult bits, and you can just hide or
run away, respecting rank and avoiding
responsibility. In this case, it was the
happiest life a lawyer can have, playing
second fiddle for 30 glorious years to
someone whose long and happy and
above all, index-linked, retirement we
mark today. Let us drink a toast to Derrick
Wyatt: QC, Professor, and Hall Man. But
the greatest of these is Hall Man.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
9
College News
Notes from the Garden
With thanks to Susan Kasper, College Gardener
Winter in the garden is a time for cutting, sorting, planting, and planning and that is just what is happening at St Edmund Hall. As we look
around the College at this time of year we can see the underlying structure of the gardens. It is during this mid-winter pause that we can reflect
upon what we have and what we hope to create in the future.
In 2009, College Gardener Susan Kasper designed and replanted the
garden outside the JCR. The site had been used as the supply holding
area during the recent construction of the Jarvis Doctorow Hall. The
area was cleared, with all the hard landscaping done in-house by our
maintenance team. During the Easter break, Susan planted over 300
herbaceous perennials and shrubs which will fill out in the coming years
to create a calm green oasis surrounding a new rectangular pool and
fountain. Sanquisorba officinalis, iris, and Knautia macedonica will provide dots of colour throughout the summer with bulbs in spring and
grasses, bamboos, and herbs in the autumn and winter.
The new garden has opened up the area, flowing out from the existing
paving, clearing the Old City Wall of the dark and dusty shrub covering
and highlighting Graham Midgley’s wall sculpture. Three new benches
were donated by the 1955 year group for the space. The benches will
be handmade by Gaze Burvill and were commissioned by Roger Farrand
(1955, History) and John Cox (1955, English).
David Bolton (1957, English) made a gift of two new benches for the
churchyard gardens, one of which is dedicated to Bruce Mitchell, Reggie
Alton, and Graham Midgley.
In the months ahead we will begin formulating a plan to create green
spaces that unify and enhance all of St Edmund Hall, including the gardens of the Churchyard, Front Quad, Back Quad and Top Quad as well
as the gardens at the William R. Miller Building and at Norham St Edmund.
As the first snowdrops of the year are beginning to peek through the
earth, we can only look forward to many lovely things to come.
Aularian Weddings at the Hall
Lucy Davie (1992, Modern Languages)
married Adrian Heaven in the Chapel on 10
July 2009. Close friends from college days
were there to share the happy occasion;
Sarah Morrison (1992, Modern Languages)
was bridesmaid.
Ginny McGrath (1997, Geography)
and Charles ‘Chippy’ Light (1997,
Law) were married at the Hall on 30
June 2009.
Claire Harper (1996, Physics) married David
Andrews (1996, Engineering) on 29 August
2009. The ceremony was held in the Old
Dining Hall followed by a drinks reception
in the churchyard. Claire is the daughter of
Peter Harper (1970, Physics) and the sister of
Thomas Harper (1999, Physics).
10
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Alumni News
St Edmund Hall Association
The St Edmund Hall Association has
had another active year.
Our two main social events were,
as usual, the Summer Reunion and the
London Dinner. At the Reunion we took
the opportunity to give Mike Mingos
a rousing send off, and also – with his
help – to beat the JCR team at cricket
Sir Jon Shortridge (1966, PPE)
by six wickets! The London Dinner was a
particularly jolly occasion and it was good
that, despite the wintry weather, some
125 Aularians turned up to enjoy it.
With the help of the Hall’s Alumni
Relations and Development Office, we
are trying to build the Hall community
outside London. We have established a
network of Regional Coordinators in such
far-flung places as Australia, Canada, the
USA, and Hong Kong. We are now turning
our attention to the rest of the UK. We
would like, if possible, to hold some events
in such places as Leeds, Manchester,
Bristol and Edinburgh. So if there are any
Aularians in these, or similar, locations
who would like to help organise a dinner
or a drinks evening for us please let either
me or the Development Office know.
We are also keen to complete our
network of Year Group Leaders – Aularians
who are prepared to devote a little bit of
time to keeping their year group in touch
with each other electronically and, if they
Aularian Golfing Society
It is a delight to report that the Hall
was victorious in the 2009 OU Inter-collegiate Alumni Golf Tournament played at
Frilford Heath last April. This is the third
time in eight years that SEH has been
proclaimed top golfing college and congratulations are due to: Adrian Haxby (‘77),
Simon Denehy (‘77), David Ashworth (‘64),
Arwyn Hughes (‘62), Ron Hurren (‘55), David McCammon (‘61), Gerald Barber (‘63),
Ken Hinkley-Smith (‘60), Jim Markwick (‘56)
and Brian Amor (‘56).
Almost 200 alumni representing 19
colleges participated, and special mention should be made of Adrian Haxby.
With 41 Stableford points, playing off
12 handicap, he was declared the Tournament’s individual winner – all accomplished without the support of either
his personal caddy or sniffer dog! Simon
Denehy’s performance is also worthy of
mention - he arrived late and without so
much as a single practice swing amassed
36 points off 5 handicap! But it was a fine
all-round team effort with vital scores in
the 30s from most others. It is encouraging to know that all members have agreed
to appear at Frilford again this year to defend their title. We wish them well!
wish, making arrangements to meet up
from time to time. So do let me know if
you would like to volunteer.
One of our particular concerns this
year, given the difficult economic climate,
has been to provide careers advice for
students currently at the Hall. The City
Aularians put on a very good event in
London in May. We plan to hold another
this year in Oxford, and to broaden it out
to include much more than City-based
activities.
Finally we are looking to fill some
vacancies on our Executive Committee,
particularly for the decades 1945-54 and
for the latest decade that begins in 2005.
So if you would like to be able to give
back something to the Hall in this way,
and have the time and the energy to do
so, please do get in touch.
My contact details can be found (along
with so much else!) on Aularian Connect
at www.aularianconnect.com.
Chris Atkinson (1960, Geography)
2010 Aularian Golfing Society Fixtures
Date
Event
Location
19 March
Match v St John’s (Cantab)
Royal Mid-Surrey
26 March
OU Alumni Tournament
Frilford Heath
20 April
AGS Spring Meeting
The Berkshire
17 May
Match v Temple Seniors
Temple
9 June
AGS Summer Meeting
Richmond
22 July
Match v FitzBilly
Mid-Herts (Harpenden)
27 August
AGS Oxford Meeting
Studley Wood
14 September
Match v Corpus
Huntercombe
ANY MORE AULARIAN GOLFERS?
Additional members of the Society would be very welcome. Aularians wishing to play in any of the above fixtures should contact
Chris Atkinson (1960, Geography) at chrisatkinson565@btinternet.com or call the Development Office on 01865 279 055.
11
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Alumni News
Friends of the Boat Club
Friends of the Rugby Club
Feargus Murphy (2007, E&M)
Darrell Barnes (1963, Modern Languages)
The Friends of the Boat Club have enjoyed another year
supporting the men’s and women’s crews: we do this through
paying for coaching, training camps, incidental expenses
and, thanks also to the support from our sponsor, Jones Day,
purchasing equipment and kit.
The effect of our involvement has been impressive: the women
remain Head of the River for the fourth successive year and the
men are making significant gains; the Boat Club can also boast
one of the best equipped boathouses on the Isis; and we have
been fortunate to secure the services of top coaches for both the
men and women.
In the summer of 2009 we launched an appeal to raise funds
for The Friends of the Boat Club Fund, with the aim of attracting
some £200,000 which would make the future of the Boat Club
secure; not too surprisingly in these difficult economic times,
funds have been coming in at a slower rate than we would have
wished.
Thanks to our new constitution, which has given us tax-exempt
status, we have been able to obtain over £3,000 from HMRC,
money which goes a long way towards paying for coaching, for
example.
In Hilary Term 2011 the Boat Club marks its 150th anniversary
and a committee of the Friends has been established to organise
suitable means of commemorating this significant event.
We have also established a Facebook group – St Edmund
Hall Rowers – as a medium for attracting current and recent
undergraduates and as a discussion forum: do please join us!
If you feel, as I do, that rugby is a core part of the Hall spirit,
then don’t hesitate to become a member of Friends of the Rugby
Club. This is a newly launched club, with no monetary obligations, aimed at all Aularians who were involved with rugby whilst
at the Hall at whatever level. We already have 112 members, and
I believe there is potential for so many more. There is a real passion for Teddy Hall rugby, both on and off the field. The Friends of
the Rugby Club wants to continue that passion and allow Aularians to continue their relationship with SEHRFC once they have
left Oxford.
To find out more about the benefits of joining Friends of the
Rugby Club, such as an invitation to the annual Old Members’
Match and Dinner, regular newsletters with stories of Hall rugby
throughout the years, and updates on our season and Cuppers
Campaign, then go to www.seh.ox.ac.uk and navigate to the
alumni page, where you will be able to download the inaugural
newsletter. Please contact me at feargus.murphy@seh.ox.ac.uk
or Betony Bell at betony.bell@seh.ox.ac.uk with any questions.
On Teddy Hall Rugby
Sean Brassill (2008, Engineering)
‘I love rugby and have played since a young age,
and so naturally I got involved when I arrived here.
It is also a brilliant way to meet new people and
breaks down the barriers between different years.
‘The highs are naturally our successes, including
last year’s Cuppers Campaign, though we unfortunately lost in the final. We did get relegated last
season but have since made a successful return to
the 1st Division.
‘College support for the team is good between
friends but could be much improved upon. Matches
mid season don’t get huge crowds especially if the
weather is bad. However, the big matches like the
Cuppers final draw supporters in their hundreds.’
Sean was interviewed by Nithya Natarajan (2007, English)
AULARIAN CONNECT
You are invited to join the more than 4,600 Aularians who have registered on the
St Edmund Hall alumni networking site, www.aularianconnect.com. We hope you will
visit the site and enjoy all the benefits of being an Aularian.
The Online Aularian Directory:
Update your details
Search Aularians by name, matriculation year, subject, career, interest, location and more
Subscribe to the Hall’s quarterly e-bulletin by publishing your email address
Also on the Site:
Book an Event Page (more than 900 bookings taken!), Events Information, Event Photo
Archive, Year Group Leaders, Regional Coordinators, Aularian Advertisements, Career
Opportunities Page, Publications Archive, Opportunities to Get Involved, Roll of Donors,
Aularian News, Alumni Benefits
The Aularian - Spring 2010
12
Student Feature
Profiles: Hall Clubs and Societies
Nithya Natarajan (2007, English)
While the diligent students of Teddy Hall continue to beaver away at their studies,
this does not stop them participating in a wide range of clubs and societies to
develop other interests and skills. These include the Alternative Choir, the Annual
Ball Committee and the Women’s Football Club. Let’s take a closer look at some of
the people behind the societies...
Arts society
& alternative choir
Rosie Shann (2007, Law) and Sophie
Ackroyd (2007, English) are co-founders
Rosie Shann:
When I arrived at Teddy Hall I was
quite disappointed with the lack of student-based arts events within the College. Singing, dance and drama have always been passions of mine and I really
didn’t want to lose that.
Luckily Sophie had the same feelings
and together we ran for JCR Arts and
Culture reps and then in 2008, set up Arts
Soc to enable us to put on variety shows
and open-mic nights at College.
This meant we could have members
who could help out and we gave
something back to them by keeping them
up to date on auditions, shows, gigs and
anything artsy coming up in Oxford. Arts
Soc currently has about 180 members.
The creation of the alternative choir
was intended to get a wider range of
people involved with music in College.
Chapel choir is great but it’s not for
everybody, and previously the only other
alternative was to audition for one of the
University’s choirs which are difficult to
get into and can be quite intense.
We were actually surprised with the
level of enthusiasm the alternative choir,
‘Dirty Laundry’, attracted. We’ve currently
got about 30 permanent members with
a range of abilities and styles. Sophie is
the musical brains behind a lot of the
songs, but we’ve had arrangements by
multiple different members and we really
encourage members’ input.
Teddy Hall
Ball Committee
Tom Pope (2008, PPE)
President, Teddy Hall Ball Committee
I got involved initially because I was
just keen to get involved in different
things and see what I fancied; I ended up
finding myself very involved and really
enjoyed it.
When I was asked to head Ball
Committee, I suppose I couldn’t really say
no. Last year’s went so well I could see
that there’d be a big challenge in place to
make sure we surpassed it, and that was
definitely a factor.
I think the ball is very important for
College because it is one of the few
events which genuinely gets everybody
together – with everyone in one place
for seven or so hours you get a great Hall
spirit thing going on and the atmosphere
is incredible. I would like to see lots more
of the MCR attend; those that came last
year gave hugely positive feedback, with
more attendance we would really have a
proper all-Hall Ball.
To find out more about the Ball this year
please visit www.teddyhallball.co.uk, or
email Tom Pope to find out about special
pricing for Aularians:
thomas.pope@seh.ox.ac.uk
Women’s
Football Club
Louisa Cantwell (2007, History)
former Captain and current member
I got involved because apart from rowing, this is the biggest and most popular
girls’ sport at Teddy Hall. It is well-organised and I love sports and so was keen to
get involved at college level.
We also, in my opinion, have the best
socials. There’s not much we haven’t
done – Pub crawls, Fancy Dress outings,
and of course the odd night in with a
movie and take-away pizza. We have got
to know sports teams from other colleges through crew-dating them, and also
grown closer as a team.
Without a doubt the best social is always our end of term celebration; we
hold an alternative award ceremony for
the team with some rather interesting titles for prizes.
I also love the fact that we win so many
of our matches, it is a really great feeling,
especially when you are quite a few goals
down and the match suddenly turns to
your advantage.
College participation is amazing – our
coaches are male members of the College who give up their free time to help
out. Our longest standing coach since I
have been in the team is Chris Watkin, a
third- year medical student.
The worst thing that has happened
whilst I have been on the team is losing out to the Christ Church/Oriel Team
in the Cuppers quarter-final three years
running – we will get them one day.
College support has been amazing
throughout – I am always astounded at
how many people turn up to our matches
considering their strange locations and
odd timings. In the latter stages of Cuppers, we had easily 200 people from College come out and support us. The most
memorable supporters were probably a
group of American students sporting the
majestic Teddy Hall Crest on their bare
chests despite the pouring rain, and the
shouts of ‘HALL!’ are unstoppable.
13
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Student Feature
JCR President’s Report Charlie Wilson (2008, Mathematics)
2009 has been a busy year for the JCR
of Teddy Hall, and I could not possibly
mention everything that has collectively
been achieved in this space. Instead I’ll
take us through just a tiny fraction of the
numerous Hall activities, a keyhole view
of the breadth and depth of interest and
energy that is still alive and well at St
Edmund Hall.
We’ll start with football. Football in the
Hall had an outstanding season in 08/09
– a 13-match winning run culminating
in the Premiership title. Despite being
favourites for the Double, in a fiercely
contested final the Hall lost 2-1 to St
John’s, in an extremely well supported
and enjoyable match. They are well
placed in the current season, presently
third in the premier league, and pressing
to retain their title in the new year.
Moving on to rugby, the Hall had a great
Cuppers campaign last season, securing a
place in the final only to be beaten 2216 by Keble College. This year Teddy Hall
won Division 2 to earn their place back in
Division 1, where sights are firmly set on
becoming champions. The Hall eagerly
anticipates a promising year’s Cuppers,
with a strong intake of Freshers joining
more experienced members to push for
the title (with the added help of eight
university representative players).
The third sport I can mention (due
to lack of space only, I can assure you)
is rowing, in which the Hall can boast
another fantastic year. The men’s First
and Second VIIIs achieved 17 bumps
collectively in Torpids and Summer
VIIIs, with blades achieved in Torpids by
both boats. The Women maintained the
headship in Summer VIIIs, which was first
captured back in 2006, in an exhausting
four-day competition. Following this they
completed the traditional ceremony of
walking a wooden boat back to College
and smashing it up.
Moving on now to other notable areas,
one event (among many) that deserves
a mention is the now (hopefully) annual
‘Teddy Hall’s Got Talent’ competition. This
event was organised entirely by the Hall’s
Arts Society within the JCR. It attracted
19 acts, including singers, bands, a
dance group, choirs, poi and rappers.
Also included were the previous year’s
winners, the Teddy Hall Alternative Choir,
‘Dirty Laundry’, who themselves went on
to win ‘Oxford’s Got Talent’, against the
best across the University in 2008. In a
fantastic night that saw over 300 attend,
I am positive that we have the foundations of a great year
ahead of us, and I look forward to experiencing it and
sharing it with you all.
Dan Henchman (2006, Modern Languages) at the Teddy Hall’s Got Talent
and winner Ollo Clark perform a fantastic
mime, £2,800 was raised for Rwanda
Aid, one of a number of charities with
which the JCR has an increasingly close
connection.
Continuing along the theme of artistic
talent within the Hall, I’m proud to
mention the Hall success in Drama
Cuppers. This competition asks Freshers
to produce, rehearse and market a
performance, all within their first term of
arriving in Oxford. A tall order you may
think, but it was not beyond our current
crop of Freshers, who came up with an
outstanding performance of Hansel and
Gretel to win the entire competition.
Finally, and in a slightly different
direction, but highlighting the range
of student interest within the JCR, we
come to the Crisis Scholarship Fund.
Entirely a JCR initiative, it is a fund which
is concerned with students from any
world region whose higher education has
been compromised as a result of political
conflict. The management and funding
are under the control of the JCR, with
the College deciding on the successful
applicant through the usual interview
process. Excitingly we can expect the first
‘Crisis Scholar’ in Michaelmas Term 2010
– watch this space.
I hope this whistle-stop tour has been
sufficient for those sadly no longer residing
here to get a flavour and a reminder of
the Hall spirit that is being continued to
this day. I am positive that we have the
foundations of a great year ahead of us,
and I look forward to experiencing it and
sharing it with you all.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
14
Student Feature
Aiming for the Stars
Current Rhodes Scholar of the Hall, Myron Rolle (2009, Medical Anthropology), is an American
football player with professional talent and aspirations who stepped away from the sport for a year to
study at the Hall. Amy Mcleod (2003, PPE) interviews this unconventional Hall man.
If Myron wasn’t taken he’d be the most eligible
bachelor ever. St Edmund Hall’s Rhodes Scholar of the
moment is a 23-year-old American football player, almost doctor, head of his own charitable foundation;
non-drinking or smoking, family-orientated, God-fearing hunk; taking a year-out to pursue his intellectual
interest in anthropology. I am still not certain he is
real – we conducted the interview over Skype and all
other correspondence went through his manager (and
brother) McKinley – but then again he does have his
own website complete with video evidence.
To put his celebrity status into context: Myron
could have made the first draft for the National Football League (NFL) last year and now be a paid professional if Oxford had not been calling. Such a position
can demand a salary of up to eight million: ‘That’s not
pounds, but it is good money.’ Luckily recruitment of
college football stars is an annual event and this year
Pressure can burst pipes or make
diamonds. I hope it makes diamonds
out of me.
he will travel to the NFL Scouting Combine, Indianapolis, in anticipation of the actual draft in April. For
a soon-to-be-pro his confidence is yet to reduce into
arrogance: ‘A heart throb? Oh boy! That’s a difficult
question...You are going to have to ask my mother.’
For those who have no concept of American football
Myron explained its importance in student life: ‘Young
high school students choose a college on the basis of
the football team even if they don’t play the sport – if
you have a winning side the whole spirit of the campus
increases. Every Saturday is a dedicated day to go and
drink beer with your friends, if that’s what you want to
do, see the game, and afterwards party some more.’
Myron plays ‘safety’, the last line of defence, in a game
which is a bit, but not much, like rugby: ‘I practised
with the Blues actually – I found that it was a much
different sport – there is more running and those guys
hit hard. I didn’t play any games because I want to
keep my body healthy.’ No offence intended, ‘I have a
lot of respect for those guys – they are physically fit
and very disciplined. I appreciate that.’
Some have criticized Myron’s decision to risk a lucrative career in football for one more year in academia,
but with his brother in Oxford managing his training,
and media profile, his focus has been maintained. In
fact his scholarly status is now part of his public persona: as the face of Xenith (a brand of helmet) he is
now their ‘cerebral athlete’. Luckily Myron does not
mind his relative anonymity in Oxford – ‘I find it quite
refreshing actually’ – but he did have a chuckle the
third time he was asked for his name at the College Office during induction. ‘Oh! You must be our American
football player!’ was the repeated response. ‘I am 215
pounds, 6 foot 2 and black,’ said Myron ‘I don’t think
there were many people like me walking around.’
With a room in Norham Gardens overlooking
University Parks he is chuffed with his lodgings and
spends most of his time between Rhodes House on
South Parks Road, St Edmund Hall, and Combibos, a
little café in Gloucester Green he has found that serves
pancakes: ‘They know me in there now, I just ask for
‘the usual.’ He has seen the sights but has settled in
at the Hall, pleased with his choice over the likes of
Christ Church – ‘Hogwarts? Oh yeah I’ve been there,
but I prefer Teddy’ – and warmed immediately to Hall
Principal Keith Gull: ‘He is the antithesis of what I
thought an older English man would be like. I enjoy
his company and when he is at formal hall you know
that you are guaranteed a laugh!’
He is taking courses in medical anthropology:
‘Whatever I learn about science, I like to bring it back
to the pragmatic and ask: ‘How does this affect real
people in real time?’’ A nice sentiment Myron actually
follows through. The Myron Rolle Foundation currently runs three programmes: a leadership and wellness
programme to help foster children in Florida state, the
The Aularian - Spring 2010
15
Student Feature
building of a free health services clinic in Exuma, Bahamas, and an education initiative for Native American
children focusing on diabetes awareness. His story,
chiming with the American dream, provides hope and
encouragement. All you have to do is set your sights:
‘My father said “Aim for the stars and even if you miss
you will still be amongst the clouds.”’
I am struck that he has achieved more at 23 than
most might in a lifetime: ‘My parents preached that
if I worked hard in school, treated people the right
way and believed in the Lord there was no ceiling to
my growth: spiritually or physically. I believed it.’ He
has the maturity of someone who has long been prepared for the level of responsibility he has taken on:
‘I learnt to embrace being a role model – I am in the
spotlight and I know my behaviour can influence in a
good or bad way, so I hold myself to a higher standard.’
A strong support network of friends and family enables him to manage his responsibilities and besides:
‘Pressure can burst pipes or make diamonds. I hope it
makes diamonds out of me.’
Pro-ambition, hard-work and discipline I wonder
whether he feels set apart from British undergraduates: ‘No I don’t: I find them to be quite ambitious
and compelled and I think that’s awesome,’ but he
acknowledges they don’t all share quite his level of focus, ‘The younger JCR kids from Teddy Hall are a little
wild – I see them going out to pubs and clubs during
the week and I am like “Man I don’t know how they
are going to study in the morning!”’
Opposing this youthful hedonism his holistic approach to maximizing his potential, while making sure
he is benefiting the world, is bordering on prophetic.
I don’t know if Britain breeds this type of ambition
– the tabloids tell a slightly different story about our
football players out-of-hours – but thankfully Myron
is not as unhuman as his CV makes out. He does not
take himself too seriously, he got most of my jokes
and is not incapable of making mistakes: ‘The thing I
am most looking forward to most about the summer?
Ummmm...apparently Magdalen’s got horses: I wanna
see some horses!’
MCR President’s Report Shari Levine (2008, Mathematics)
The MCR, MCR Committee, and I all look
forward to the rest of the academic year,
both for the academic challenges and social
atmosphere unique to our common room.
There have been some great things happening in the
MCR. We started off the year with a great new MCR
committee who have been hard at work, and with all
of their efforts they pulled off what many graduate
students considered to be one of the best Freshers’
Weeks in Oxford. Events included an informal meet
and greet at the Norham Gardens Graduate Centre, a
pizza party, a buffet dinner on behalf of the College,
and a few weeks later – though still definitely part of
the Freshers’ welcoming – a matriculation celebration
in the MCR. The committee has also successfully
hosted our annual Christmas dinner – standing on
chairs while singing the Teddy Bears’ Picnic was
mandatory, of course!
We look forward to many other MCR social events
to come in the next two terms. Our committee will be
hosting a high class wine and cheese evening, Burns
night with Ceilidh dancing, and several welfare teas,
and we will be continuing our weekly tradition of cake
morning.
We also welcomed Principal Keith Gull to Teddy Hall
at the beginning of this academic year. With his help,
the JCR President and I have been working together to
ensure great improvements will be made over the next
few years. The JCR and MCR are specifically working
toward greater integration and interaction between
the JCR, MCR, and SCR. Joint projects will include
the Teddy Hall Ball (both JCR and MCR members will
organize and host the event), a JCR vs. MCR sports
day in Trinity Term, and discipline-specific seminars
in which SCR and MCR members can talk about their
research. David Priestland initiated the seminar
tradition with his graduate seminar nights in Norham
Gardens, one of which has already successfully been
organised this year.
The MCR, MCR Committee, and I all look forward to
the rest of the academic year, both for the academic
challenges and the social atmosphere unique to
our common room. I wish the best of luck to those
students sitting examinations and completing their
research, and hope everyone can take advantage of
what promises to be a warm and exciting summer.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
16
Academic Feature
The Red Flag:
Communism and the Making of the Modern World
Dr David Priestland, Tutor in Modern History
Photo by Jerry Bauer
When I was a student at Oxford in the early eighties,
we were constantly talking about communism. I
knew few communists, but we all had views on the
intentions of the Kremlin, nuclear weapons, and the
nature of communist societies. This was the era which
historians now refer to as the ‘Second Cold War’,
when Reagan’s United States launched its assault
on communism throughout the world. International
tension was high, and we now know that we came
very close indeed to nuclear war in November 1983,
when the Soviets misinterpreted an American military
exercise (‘Operation Able Archer’) as an attack. At
the time it seemed essential to understand the
Soviet Union, and after I took Finals I decided to do
graduate research into the history of the communist
movement. My subject was that bloody, and still
mysterious episode in Soviet history - Stalin’s Terror
of 1936-8.
Now, of course, this is all part of a distant era.
Communism has fallen in Europe, and the largest
ruling Communist Party, the Chinese, has abandoned
the central tenet of Marxism-Leninism: the rejection
of the market. Of course, that makes my work less
relevant, but in many respects the end of communism
makes life easier for its historians. The communist
period can be seen as a particular historical era that
we can study without having to take sides in old Cold
War debates.
This is what I tried to do in The Red Flag – a history
of global communism as an ideology, and a political
system. I learnt some Chinese, so that I could do some
genuinely comparative work, and I delved, for the first
time, into the histories of Ethiopia, India and Cuba.
My main objective was to challenge the view that
communism was just an accident, or a weird, utopian
political system that only appealed to small groups
of disaffected intellectuals. While communists rarely
commanded the support of the majority, their ideas
did make sense to large numbers of people, because
they seemed to solve a central problem of modern
societies: how to combine equality with a prosperous
modernity. Communism had greatest appeal in highly
stratified societies, where it seemed that business,
in close alliance with traditional elites, was resisting
equality and holding back economic development particularly in the more authoritarian European states
before World War I, and the decolonizing Third World
states of the 1960s and 1970s.
Modern communism emerged among intellectuals
and urban artisans during the French revolutionary
period; subsequently Marx and his followers forged
an ideology and organization that eventually appealed
to a substantial minority of the European working
classes. But it was World War I that really gave
communism its first great boost. The war seemed
to confirm the Marxist analysis: that selfish elites
were callously sacrificing ordinary people’s lives.
After the war, Marxist-inspired revolutions broke
out throughout Europe, from Germany to Italy, from
Hungary to Russia. The revolutionary wave ebbed
shortly thereafter, leaving only the Soviet regime and
a number of small, beleaguered communist parties.
But the crisis of world capitalism and rise of the radical
right after 1929 gave communism another fillip, and it
remained appealing throughout the inter-war period,
especially to intellectuals. Only after World war II,
when an authoritarian USSR began to seem deeply
unattractive compared with a new, more regulated
form of capitalism, did communism cease to be a
dynamic force in Europe.
Just as communism was fading in the West, it was
benefiting from a new struggle against inequality, in
the developing world. European efforts to recreate its
empires after World War II, and American attempts
to bolster traditional elites after their fall, generated
a new wave of revolutionary movements, supported
by the USSR, China and Cuba. The American defeat in
Vietnam, and the Marxist-inspired student rebellions
of 1968, both encouraged the forces of revolution
throughout the world.
But communists were more effective in their
struggle against old-regime inequalities than they
were in forging wealthy and equal societies. The
non-market, command system could not compete
with a revived capitalism; and communists could
17
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Academic Feature
not show how the radical participatory democracy
they promised was compatible with a planned, oneparty state. Having destroyed the hierarchies of old,
communist regimes established new systems of
inequality and privilege, both within their countries,
and between them.
It was this gap between ideal and reality
that ultimately destroyed communist rule. With
Gorbachev, a group of reformers came to power who
were determined to end party privilege and create a
more economically dynamic form of communism. It
was the chaos brought by their failed projects that led
to communism’s collapse.
Since the end of communism, economic inequality
throughout the world has increased enormously. So
will communism return again? It looks unlikely – at
least in the West – partly because of memories of
communism’s failures, but also because economic
inequality generally has not been enough to revive
the radical left. The sharp political and cultural
inequalities seen in aristocratic societies and empires
have also been required. So while it seems we are in
for a long period of slow growth, high unemployment
and relative decline, the nationalist right is more
likely to benefit than the left. But the global South is
another matter – especially South Asia, where caste
discrimination is still powerful, and Latin America,
where there is a good deal of resentment at American
power. There, the red flag could well fly again.
Reflections from a Hall Junior Research Fellow
Dr Shahira Samy reflects on her three years as the Jarvis Doctorow Junior Research Fellow
in International Relations and Conflict Resolution in the Middle East
I did not know the end of the three years would
come creeping so rapidly. The world feels different
from how it did two-and-a-half years ago when I took
up my fellowship at Teddy Hall. I can of course argue
I now have a richer vocabulary: ‘collections’, ‘battels’,
‘high table’; not to mention counting days in weeks,
spelling ‘Hilary’ with one l and figuring out how to
simultaneously belong to a college AND a department!
Not that any of those things was ever explained to me
but who said that the pursuit of meaning was ever
easy or straightforward!
So also does the outer world feel different twoand-a-half years after I first set foot in Oxford.
My fellowship consists of looking into issues of
international relations and conflict resolution in the
Middle East. When I arrived, my initial project was
to develop my doctoral dissertation into a published
book which pondered the quest for reparations to
Palestinian refugees in the context of negotiating a
solution to the overall Arab-Israeli conflict. Virtual
as well as physical space to work, exposure to the
constant traffic of ideas which makes Oxford much of
what it is, gave me room to push my boundaries and
build on my interests. Over the past years I’ve taken
part in many projects and have gone on lots of field
trips to the Middle East, exploring broader refugee
issues and problems of irregular migration in the
region. At present, while preparing to launch my first
book, I’m kicking off work on my second one. Teddy
Hall and its fellows provided a sense of belonging as
I worked, researched, travelled, wrote, and thought
– those were my JRF years.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
18
Special Feature
A Recipe for Longevity
Interview by Funda Ustek (2009, MSc in Comparative Social Policy)
Photograph by Richard Budd (2009, MSc in Education and Research Methods)
While they spend most of their time in the Hall kitchens, with 129 years of service to the Hall
between them, chefs Gerry Hogg, Gabriele Cavaliere, Barry Wixey and Cliff Dandridge are
familiar faces to generations of Aularians.
From left to right: Barry Wixey, Cliff Dandridge, Gabriele Cavaliere and Gerry Hogg.
Gerry Hogg
Hall Chef for 41 years
Gerry Hogg has spent two-thirds of his
life in the Teddy Hall kitchen, where he
loves the cooking and the environment.
He says that at times he saw the kitchen
staff much more than his own family; and
without the friendship they built in the
kitchen, this would not be possible. Gerry
remembers the Old Dining Hall, and the
old kitchen below the Old Dining Hall: the
Hall has become bigger; and the varieties
of food they cater for have expanded but
the favourite food of all students during
these forty plus years has been traditional
English food and pasta. Gerry’s mother
was born in India and he likes cooking
spicy food; but the other chefs usually
prevent him, since he at times goes to extremes. Gerry cannot imagine himself in
another college or in any other kitchen.
Gabriele Cavaliere
Hall Head Chef for 40 years
Gabriele Cavaliere has spent more than
two-thirds of his life in the Teddy Hall
kitchen; sometimes working for more
than 60 hours a week. He says that the
biggest change in these 40 years has been
the Hall becoming a mixed college. But in
terms of the food preferences of the students, he says, there has not been a big
change. Traditional English food has always been the favourite of the students;
although he cannot help but mention that
he likes cooking his own national cuisine:
Italian food. He says 40 years at the Hall
just flew by; with laughter and the smell
of good food in the kitchen.
Barry Wixey
Hall Chef for 28 Years
Barry Wixey came to Teddy Hall straight
from school. According to him there has
not been a big change for him in these
almost 30 years, but he likes the continuity, the kitchen, cooking and the other
chefs. He met his wife in the Teddy Hall
kitchen. Barry is responsible for the delicious desserts of the Hall and he likes
preparing sorbets, puddings, cheesecakes, and crumble tarts which he knows
are student favourites. When Barry is not
cooking he enjoys his other talent: singing. Once when Cliff Dandridge and he
were singing along to the Bee Gees in
the kitchen their song was followed by
great applause from the Dining Hall from
some American conference participants.
Barry and all the chefs agree that what
students think about their food matters
to them very much. He is trying to be as
creative as possible in the kitchen.
Cliff Dandridge
Hall Chef for 20 years
Cliff Dandridge says there have been so
many changes in the Hall; such as modernisation of buildings, addition of the
Jarvis Doctorow Hall and Wolfson Hall.
He has worked for many colleges but
Teddy Hall has always had a special place
in his heart and that is why he has stayed
here for twenty years. The friendship the
chefs built up in the kitchen has been the
biggest reason for this. Cliff agrees that
traditional English food is the most popular among students; especially roasts. He
remembers the night the chefs changed
the Chaplain`s beer with pure vinegar in
the College Bar; all the chefs remembered
that night very clearly and with laughter.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
19
Special Feature
Keeping the Isis Flowing
Interview and photograph by Matej Bajgar (2009, MSc Economics for Development)
When the Hall acquired the Isis Guesthouse in 1988 it called upon the mother-daughter duo of
Housekeeper Sue Heath and Scout Elaine Kavanagh to get the place up and running. Five years later
they were joined by Scout Maria le Donne who had already been hard at work at the Hall for 13
years. Together they make a charming and highly-professional trio who have kept the Isis (and the
central site) on track for 97 years between them.
How long have you been at the Hall?
Sue: I came to the Hall in 1978. First, I
worked at the central site because at the
time the College owned neither Isis nor
the houses in Norham Gardens.
Elaine: When I was 13, Sue (who is Elaine’s
mother) found me an evening job in the
dining hall. When I turned 16, the College offered me a full-time job. I thought
I would take it for a couple of months. I
have been here for 25 years now.
Maria: When I came to the College, most
of the modern buildings in the central site
had not yet been completed. I worked
there with Sue and Elaine. Twenty-two
years ago, the College bought the Isis hotel and Sue and Elaine moved there from
the very beginning. I joined them five
years later.
How has the College changed since
you came here?
Sue: I think everything was more relaxed
back then. We now have all these lectures
about chemicals, food hygiene, fire... We
even go to lectures in manual handling
where they teach us to lift heavy objects.
Before, there were no health and safety
rules. When we needed to climb up a ladder, we did. When the cellar was flooded
at Isis, we went there, water going as high
as our knees, we did not mind. Admission
of new staff was also less formal. There
used to be no interviews. Percy James,
the steward, just came and asked us
whether we knew someone who would
suit the job.
Maria: I still remember the Hall as a
male-only college. Students used to be
more fun, then. They did all these practical jokes. Once they bricked up a door
to one student’s room. In the morning
the victim woke up, opened the door and
saw a wall!
Sue: Yeah, and they stole a goat and kept
it just outside Wolfson. And do you re-
From left to right: Elaine Kavanagh (25 years at the Hall), Sue Heath (32 years at the
Hall) and Maria le Donne (40 years at the Hall)
member the coffin in the corridor in Emden building? There was a skeleton in it!
What has made you stay at the
College for such a long time?
Maria: During RAG Week you could pay
50p and nominate someone. Then, during a meal, the Phantom Flan Flinger
entered the dining hall, dressed up all in
black and wearing a mask with just two
holes for eyes. He marched up and down
the rows of tables and when he reached
the person you had picked, he threw a
flan at the person’s face.
Sue: I am happy here. If you are happy to
come to work every day, you know that
you are at the right place.
It seems that students had quite
a rough sense of humour in those
days...
Elaine: When I first worked at the College
at the age of 13, Maria and I worked together.
Sue: We were not innocent either. Once a
student told Maria and Elaine that a don
was coming to his room on that day and
the student asked them to make his room
look as homely as possible. When the
student and the don arrived in the room
a few hours later, they found all the furniture turned upside down. In the end, our
‘surprise’ was useful as few things could
be better for breaking the ice between
the student and his teacher.
Maria: She was such a nice young girl
with spiky hair!
Maria: We are a great team, that is it.
We like each other. And when one of us
is ill or on holiday, the other two fill in the
gap. We need not talk about it, we take it
as something normal.
Elaine: You took me under your wing, I
was so shy.
Maria: Yes, you were my baby.
Elaine: Still am!!
The Aularian - Spring 2010
20
Special Feature
Aularians in Politics
John Dunbabin, Emeritus Fellow
In an election year thoughts turn
naturally to politics. Perhaps no
subsequent Aularian has held as high
a political position as St Edmund
(Archbishop of Canterbury, 1234-40); but
he has had several eminent successors.
Quite how many is hard to say. For, even
today, College records concentrate on
people’s admission and time at the Hall,
supplemented by the taking of their
degrees and perhaps by references for
early job applications. For earlier periods
we have much less. So people’s later
achievements can be overlooked – one
list of those Rhodes House had lost touch
with included the then Prime Minister
of Australia! There is, too, the problem
of what should be taken as constituting
Perhaps no subsequent
Aularian has held as high
a political position as
St Edmund... but he has had
several eminent successors.
political distinction. Henry Parker (160452, BA 1626, MA 1628) had a ‘hand’
in ‘many seditious pamphlets’. As ‘the
Observator’, ... [he] was the central
figure [on the Parliamentary side] in the
pamphlet wars of the early and middle
1640s; he also worked as Secretary for
the Earl of Essex, Cromwell, and Ireton.
More recently, in the 1950s, ‘the Grand
Inquisitor’ Sir Robin Day (1923-2000,
BA, 1947, Law, Honorary Fellow 1989)
‘transformed the television interview’
into a confrontational exchange at
odds with the deference previously
shown politicians in Britain and still
common elsewhere. But we must restrict
ourselves to parliamentarians, indeed to
those elected to parliaments – though
White Kennett (1660-1728, BA 1682,
Tutor and Vice-Principal 1691) crowned
a career as pamphleteer that he began
as an undergraduate by becoming
Bishop of Peterborough (1718-28), and
as such supported his patron the Earl of
Sunderland in the House of Lords.
Moreover information as to political
careers abroad is less readily to hand
than for those in Britain. Until recently
they were probably fairly few. But my
predecessor as Lecturer in Politics, Neal
Blewett, though later declaring that ‘in
some ways political science ... was not
the best preparation for politics’, entered
the Australian parliament (Bonython,
1977-94, Labor), rising to be Minister
for Health (1983-90), for Trade and
Overseas Development (1990-1), and for
Social Security (1991-4). Of my former
pupils, the Filipino Ferdinand Marcos
Jr (1957-; BA, Special Diploma in Social
Studies, 1978) became Vice-Governor
(1980-3) then Governor (1983-6) of the
family stronghold Ilicos Norte, resuming
(following an interlude after the fall of his
father the President) as Representative
of its Second Division (1992-5), Governor
(1998-2007), and again Representative
(2007-). Larry Pressler (1942-; Diploma
in Public and Social Administration,
1965) was South Dakota’s Representative
(R) (1975-9) and Senator (1979-97),
steering through major revision of the
The Aularian - Spring 2010
21
laws on telecommunications. And when
in Ottawa, I was given a wonderful late
night tour of the deserted Parliament
buildings by my former supervisee,
John Milloy (1965-; DPhil.1994), who
was then working for the Minister for
Intergovernmental Affairs Stephane Dion;
John was elected to the Ontario Legislative
Assembly (Lib., Kitchener Centre, 2003-),
becoming Minister for Training, Colleges
and Universities in 2007. This list is, I
am sure, less than comprehensive; and
it would be appreciated if readers could
signify omissions to the Hall’s Archivist,
Dr Nicholas Davidson.
Nearer home, Dr Davidson’s trawl
of the Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography revealed several Aularian
MPs.
Sir William Jones (1566-1640). He
matriculated in the early 1580s, and later
married the widow of Warden Hovenden
of All Souls. MP for Beaumaris in 1597,
1604, and 1614, Caernarvonshire in
1601. He made a career chiefly as an
administrator and a judge, finding
reluctantly against Hampden in the ‘Ship
Money’ case.
The Restoration saw a peak in the
Hall’s undergraduate numbers, and
was followed in 1679 by something
of an annus mirabilis in terms of MPs.
There were then elected: Sir Robert
Atkyns (1647-1711) – matriculation 1663,
Fellow of the Royal Society 1664, MP for
Cirencester (1679-81), Gloucestershire
(1685-7). A ‘non-juror’ (unlike his father),
he turned after the Revolution to local
history, and is commemorated by a lifesize memorial effigy.
Sir Francis Charlton (1651-1729) –
matriculation 1666; MP for Ludlow (167981), Bishop’s Castle (1685-7); in 1685 he
passed the Ludlow seat on to his brother
William (also matriculation 1666), who
died three days after election.
Sir Richard [‘Speaker’] Onslow (16541717) – matriculation 1671; MP for
Guildford (1679-1710), St Mawes (17101716). He became Speaker (1708-10),
but ‘his inability to pretend any kind
of neutrality in the chair lost him the
goodwill of moderates and tories alike’.
His partisanship, evident also during the
impeachment of Dr Sacheverell, earned
him membership of the Privy Council in
1710, but eclipse during the subsequent
Tory reaction. Come the Hanoverian
succession, he became briefly Chancellor
of the Exchequer (1714-15), and in 1716
Baron Onslow.
Sir Thomas Littleton (1647-1709)
– matriculation 1665, MP for Woodstock
(1689-1702), Castle Rising (1702-5),
Chichester (1705-8), Portsmouth (17089), had already served as Speaker
(1698-1701); but ‘a bladder problem,
necessitating frequent exits ..., made him
a laughing stock’. He was more successful
as an administrator: on the Treasury Board
(1696-9) he helped establish the Bank of
England, and, as Treasurer of the Navy
(1699-1708) he introduced accounting
reforms that ‘remained in force for much
of the eighteenth century’. Later, too, he
‘often diverted the House of Commons
with a pleasant story which was always
à propos’.
Littleton’s contemporary at the Hall,
John Methuen (1650-1706, matriculation
1665) sat for Devizes from 1690 to his
death (save for a brief interruption in
1701); from 1697-1702 he also presided
(not altogether successfully) as Lord
Chancellor over the Irish House of Lords.
He is chiefly remembered for his time
as minister (from 1703 ambassador)
to Portugal (1691-6, 1702-6). Here he
helped detach Portugal from its French
alignment, and in 1703 negotiated the
‘Methuen [trade] treaty’ that provided
favoured access for Portuguese wines.
For half a century one could usually tell an
English gentleman’s politics by whether
he drank port (Whig) or claret (Tory).
Lastly Alexander Denton (16791740) – matriculation 1697, succeeded
his brother (and, earlier, father) as MP
for Buckingham (1708-10, 1715-22); in
1709-10 he also served as an Irish MP.
In 1722 he became a Justice of Common
Pleas, but failed to gain further judicial
promotion.
Of course, not all MPs make it to the
Dictionary of National Biography. So this
list may not be exhaustive (though the
decline after the long 17th century cannot
be accidental). The Archivist would be
grateful for any further pre-20th century
names.
For the more recent period, Stephen
Lees (of Cambridge University Library
and the History of Parliament) has
identified the following MPs; since most
are happily still alive, their achievements
are given more baldly.
James Francis Oswald (1838-1908),
QC and Chancery lawyer; MP for Oldham
(1895-9), Cons.
(Nicholas) Guy Barnett (1928-86) – MP,
South Dorset (1962-4), Greenwich (197186), MEP (1975-6), Lab.; Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State, Dept. of the
Environment (1976-9).
Norman Russell Wylie (1923-2005)
– BA 1948, History, Honorary Fellow
1975; MP, Edinburgh Pentlands (196474), Cons.; Privy Council, 1970, Lord
Advocate (1970-74); Senator of the
College of Justice (1974-90), Justice of
Appeal, Republic of Botswana (1994-6).
John Francis Spellar (1947-) – BA, PPE,
1969; MP, Birmingham Northfield (19823), Warley West (1992-7), Warley (1997-),
Lab.; Privy Council, 2001; Minister of
State, Ministry of Defence (1999-2001),
Transport (2001-3), Northern Ireland
(2003-6).
Robert Victor Jackson (1946-) – BA,
History, 1968, President of the Oxford
Union (1967), Prize Fellow and Fellow of
All Souls (1968-86); MEP, Upper Thames
(1979-84), Cons.; MP, Wantage, 19832005 Cons., 2005 Lab.; Parliamentary
Under Secretary of State, Dept. of
Education and Science (1987-90),
Employment (1990-2), Office of Public
Service and Science (1992-3).
Andrew Raikes Hargreaves (1955-)
– BA, English, 1977; MP, Birmingham Hall
Green (1987-97), Cons.; Parliamentary
Private Secretary to the Minister of
State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(1992-7).
Peter Butler (1951-) – BA, English, 1973,
Post Graduate Certificate of Education,
1974; MP, Milton Keynes North East
(1992-7), Cons.; PPS to the Chancellor of
the Exchequer (1995-7).
(Christopher) Paul Farrelly (1964-)
– BA, PPE, 1984; MP, Newcastle-underLyme (2001-), Lab.
Mark Christopher Field (1964-) – BA,
Jurisprudence,1987; MP, Cities of London
and Westminster (2001-), Cons.; Shadow
Minister, for London (2003-5), Financial
Secretary to the Treasury (2005), Culture
(2005-6).
David Michael Gauke (1971-) – BA,
Jurisprudence, 1993; MP, Hertfordshire
South West (2005-), Cons.
If you know of anyone who was not
included on this list, College Archivist
and Tutor in Modern History,
Dr Nick Davidson, would be grateful
to know. Please contact him at:
nicholas.davidson@seh.ox.ac.uk
The Aularian - Spring 2010
22
Aularian Feature
Breeding a ‘Cornish Chough’
Raymond Thornton (1954, Chemistry) recounts his experience growing magnolias and
his creation of the ‘Cornish Chough’ which will find a home in the Hall Gardens in 2010.
The ‘Cornish Chough’ Magnolia
I was a member of the Hall in the mid
1950s, and a considerable rarity in those
days, a chemist! I completed a DPhil in
1957, partly under one of the most distinguished scientists of the day, Sir Robert Robinson. The Principal, who gave me
much support was the Rev Dr Kelly.
Subsequently I moved away from
chemistry into biochemistry and genetics.
I am a keen gardener and a move to the
New Forest, with a large garden of peaty
soil, led to a growing collection of rhododendrons. However, in spring 1980 while
visiting Cornwall I came across magnolias
of a size and splendour I had not thought
possible. These were examples of the socalled Asiatic magnolias which thrive in a
‘Cornish Chough’, was
named firstly as part of our
bird series, secondly for the
Hall, thirdly for its Cornish
origins and finally because
we have seen choughs
adjacent to the garden from
which its parents originated,
Caerhays Castle.
mild climate. Most magnolias in British
gardens date from the 1800s when an
unemployed French cavalry officer, after
Waterloo, decided to breed magnolias
instead. His name was Etienne SoulangeBodin: hence Magnolia Soulangiana.
However, plant hunters in the early
1900s discovered much more spectacular magnolias in provinces of China such
as Yunnan. Seed collectors such as E.H.
Wilson were employed to seek out novelties and send them back to England.
J.C. Williams of Caerhays Castle, The
Gorran, Cornwall was the pre-eminent
recipient and built up a fabulous collection, which exists to this day. Other collections are at Trewithen, Lanhydrock
and elsewhere. These plants are quite
expensive (currently up to £70 each) and
so I decided to grow them from seed,
possibly in line with some elementary genetics and wait for 12-25 years for them
to flower.
The choice of parents had to be balanced against what might be available,
mostly in other people’s gardens, but
each magnolia would be unique. My son
Tim joined me in the enterprise and suggested naming the plants after birds.
Starting with seed sown in autumn
1980, the seedlings have been flowering
every year since 1994, and each spring is
an exciting time.
‘Avocet’ and ‘Snow Goose’ were
amongst the first to flower, both white.
Then came ‘Cuckoo’ and next ‘Cornish
Chough’, which was named firstly as part
of our bird series, secondly for the Hall,
thirdly for its Cornish origins and finally
because we have seen choughs adjacent
to the garden from which its parents originated, Caerhays Castle.
‘Cornish Chough’ has a very large flower, white with pink markings, and some
frost resistance. By now it is quite a large
tree with over 100 flowers in 2009 and we
expect the plant to be at least 15 metres
high when fully grown. We will be making
a gift of one to the Hall later this year.
We have continued hybridising with
the aim of producing yellow and red magnolias. We have achieved our first goal
with ‘Greenfinch’; the second is more
elusive but we have high hopes of a second generation cross of which we have
about 40 seedlings.
We do produce limited quantities of
our plants from grafts; if any member of
the Hall is interested, or would like more
information, please contact me at
dibdenpartners@btinternet.com.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
23
Aularian Feature
Plant Collecting in the Himalayas
J.E. Mike Arnold (1952, Forestry)
Over the years I had become increasingly drawn to the literature of exploration and discovery in lesser known regions of the world, and to the challenges
and sense of satisfaction that those involved seemed to experience. When I arrived in Oxford in 1952, to read Forestry,
my sights were set on joining the Oxford
University Exploration Club, in the hope
that I would be able to take part in one of
its expeditions.
The Chairman of the Club then was
another Aularian, John Hollin (1950, Geography), who soon got me involved in
its activities. One expedition that was
being planned was to a remote and little known area of the Himalayas in the
northwest corner of Nepal. Though I was
not a mountaineer this seemed to be very
much what I was looking for, and when I
was invited join it as its botanist I was delighted to do so.
There followed a year immersed in the
tasks needed to plan, organise and equip
such a venture, and get ourselves, by late
July 1954, to the place on the India-Nepal border which was to be our starting
point. There we were joined by a geographer from the University of Otago, fresh
from climbing Barotse in east Nepal with
Edmund Hillary, who brought with him
two Sherpas from that expedition whose
experience was to prove very valuable.
With local porters to help carry our equipment and supplies, we then set off on the
23-day trek to our destination.
A consequence of having to mount
the expedition during the university long
vacation was that we were travelling in
the period of summer monsoon rains,
not the best time to be doing so. As we
moved further into the mountains the
rains became heavier, trails more slippery and precarious, and swollen rivers
more difficult to cross. The gorge through
which we had planned to reach the upper
valley that was our target proved to be
impassable, and we had to trek further
north to find a route less exposed to the
monsoon weather in order to get into it.
Here, at an altitude of about 15,000 feet,
we established our base camp, close to
the border with Tibet.
At the head of this valley was a pass, at
19,600 feet, used in the summer by traders between Tibet and Nepal. Fourteen
days after our arrival travellers arriving
from Tibet warned us that the Chinese
had learned of our presence in the area
and had soldiers out looking for us. We
were therefore careful not to cross the
ridge that we assumed to be the border, and subsequent events showed that
it was as well that we did so. In the following year three members of a Welsh
mountaineering expedition in the same
area did enter the valley on the other
side of the pass, and were captured and
imprisoned by the Chinese. By the time
they were released it was the middle of
winter, but their captors forced them to
return to Nepal over the same high pass,
by then snowbound and closed, a journey they were fortunate to survive.
We spent the next month collecting
and surveying in the valley and on the
mountains above it. My main task was
to record the occurrence of flowering
plants above 15,000 feet, and to collect
specimens of these plants for the Natural
History Museum in London. As it was the
monsoon period the whole area was carpeted with plants, and my main problem
proved to be keeping my rapidly growing
number of specimens dry during the long
wet trek back down out of the mountains
in September.
It was many years before I had a chance
to find out what the Museum’s analysis of
what I had collected had revealed. When I
did I learned that a grass that I had found
at about 18,000 feet had proved to be a
previously unrecorded species, and had
been given the name Poa arnoldii (Melderis). My one outing as a plant collector
thus resulted in the satisfying personal
outcome of a species bearing my name.
The Nepal expedition was one of the
most interesting and rewarding experiences I ever had, and it largely satisfied
my urge to find out what it was like to be
involved in exploration. It also triggered
an interest in the problems that people
who live in such difficult environments
face, which helped shape what I did later.
After Oxford, and then graduate studies
in economics, I worked for many years for
the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations. In the 1980s this took
me back to Nepal, where I found that the
area where I had been in 1954 was still
considered to be amongst the least easily accessible in the country. Indeed some
of the older of my Nepalese colleagues
were clearly surprised to learn that I had
managed to visit it at that time – and that
I had survived that experience!
The Aularian - Spring 2010
24
Aularian Feature
Online Learning
Two Aularians (with 41 years between them) share how they are using the internet to teach.
Grammar for Grown Ups
In spite of its apparent lack
of appeal, people can get
surprisingly impassioned over
points of grammar.
Grammar is a word that can produce
yawns, perhaps even among Aularians. To
many of us it may bring back unwelcome
memories of learning the endings of
third conjugation Latin verbs or of trying
to sort out the difference between a
complement and an object. Undeterred
by such thoughts, I have been running a
grammar blog for the past year.
Grammar is often thought of as a
description of how to talk and write in
polite society. It is no such thing. It is
the mental rule book that tells us how
to make words from smaller units of
meaning and how to make sentences
from words. The remarkable thing is that
we can do it without effort and without
instruction by the time we’re old enough
to go to school. Schools don’t need to
teach us grammar, but they do need to
teach us about grammar, a very different
thing. By some accounts they no longer
do so. Why should we want to know
about grammar? Because it’s interesting.
Because it helps in the learning of other
languages. Because the more we know
about language, the more effectively
we can use it and repair it when it goes
wrong.
In spite of its apparent lack of appeal, people can get surprisingly impassioned over points of grammar. Try asking
someone what they think about people
The Tutor Pages
Barrie England (1961, English)
who say ‘between you and I’. Try asking
someone about my use of ‘they’ in the
preceding sentence. People seem to find
it difficult to take a rational and informed
view of such matters, preferring to repeat
some half-remembered diktat handed
down one Wednesday afternoon in a
dusty schoolroom. Some native speakers may say that merely by speaking a
language they know all there is to know
about it. That’s like saying that because
they breathe they’re experts in pulmonary physiology. Understanding grammar
requires deliberate engagement with the
subject.
My blog may be found online at: www.
grammarforgrownups.wordpress.com
and I welcome comments. Topics over the
year have included the use of participles,
the growth of the invariant tag ‘innit’,
the relative pronouns ‘who’ and ‘whom’,
the forms ‘shall’ and ‘will’ and the use
of ‘I’ and ‘me’. It contains a reading list
for those who would like to pursue any
interest I may have roused.
Henry Fagg (2002, Education)
Thetutorpages.com is an online directory of private tutors with a difference – each tutor submits an article
on their expertise, thus helping parents and students decide who best to hire. Henry Fagg, the founder of the
site, explains the unusual origins of his business.
While still at Teddy Hall, I undertook
a research trip to Japan to investigate
trends in foreign language learning, and
it was during this trip that I realised just
how enthusiastic Japanese learners are.
Despite the problems associated with
their education system (and there are
many), individuals of all ages seemed tremendously interested in learning outside
the system. The Japan that I witnessed
was a nation of enthusiastic, self-directed
and lifelong learners. There were many
opportunities to learn informally either
one-to-one or in small groups, and there
were a good number of companies set up
to facilitate these exchanges.
When I left Japan, I realised that there
was a lot to be learned from the Japanese
approach to personal tuition. In order to
put some space between my experiences
in Japan and a new life in London, I de-
cided to travel home overland. The sixday train journey from Beijing to Moscow
helped me settle on my ideas for the new
company I wanted to set up. Without this
stop-gap – this opportunity to look at my
career from a great height, as it were – I
doubt that I would have followed through
with my plan.
My private tuition company as it
stands today draws on both my experience as a private tutor and an educational researcher. Rather than simply being a
tutoring agency, thetutorpages.com asks
tutors who wish to register to demonstrate their enthusiasm by submitting one
or more articles on their expertise. Tutors
teach all manner of disciplines – from academic subjects to musical instruments
and languages – and the range of articles is no less diverse. Examples include
‘How to Prepare Your Child for a Selective
School’, ‘Learning Latin GCSE Vocabulary’ and ‘How to Approach Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata (1st mvmt)’. The Tutor
Pages therefore not only showcases each
tutor’s skills, but is fascinating to browse.
For more information, or to register as a
tutor, just visit www.thetutorpages.com.
25
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Aularian Feature
Rewarding Paths
Two Aularian women share how they have found reward in unexpected places.
Women in Technology
Unsure what to do with an academic
background mixing arts and sciences, I
managed to get a first job in marketing by
starting off with a short internship for an
online booksellers. I had to finance myself (and it was a horrible job) but I was
surprised how interesting I found online
business, and I’ve since stuck to working
in digital media. I’m currently working as
Digital Marketing Executive with private
equity firm 3i, having previously worked
On Being a Carer
I read Modern Languages at the Hall from
1981 to 1984 and have been my mum’s fulltime carer for the past three years.
Up until six months ago, I was running
a community project that I set up in
the local area, which provided free
educational courses to people with
physical or mental health issues, or other
barriers to learning, including addiction.
In April it had reached the point where I
could no longer run the project and be a
full-time carer.
Sophie Smith (1999, PPE)
for a digital agency and prior to that a
small website working to co-ordinate international development projects.
I’m evangelical about careers in digital
media partly because I surprised myself
by how much I enjoy it. I’ve found working in the industry satisfies my creative
skills and allows me to spend most of my
working day communicating and working
out how to solve problems. It’s probably
the perfect role for a PPE graduate who
didn’t fancy politics or the civil service!
The ground my career now occupies
comes between the people who don’t
want to dirty their hands with technology and those too involved with the
technology to be able to communicate
it effectively to outsiders. Think of me as
a translator. I understand just enough of
the technical stuff to grasp what’s important; I’m human enough to explain this to
those who need to get an outcome, but
don’t want or need to know the nuts and
bolts of the technology.
There’s a real opportunity for people who can provide this combination
of ‘hard’ skills like reasoning and intelligence and ‘soft’ skills like communication. This is probably true of any industry,
but this skill set is of especial use in the
technology sphere, where individuals
and businesses need assistance to get
the outcome they want.
I’m constantly surprised how many
intelligent, career-minded women avoid
engaging with technical subjects. I’ve
worked alongside many women who
seem to see it as unfeminine and unattractive to be too aware of the technical side of things. Yet technology is integrated at all levels of business, and so
there’s a clear career argument for becoming involved. Eight years of working
in this industry have shown me that the
‘soft’ skills that women often bring effortlessly to their working lives are highly
valuable in this area. I might have come
to the industry completely by accident
but I’m glad I did – and I’d recommend
it to people starting out in their careers.
You might be surprised what a rewarding
path it can deliver.
Joy Hibbins (1981, Modern Languages)
I am coping – three years in. I put this
down to three things. Firstly, I’ve inherited
my mum’s optimism. Secondly, exercise
has undoubtedly helped my mental
outlook. Thirdly, and unexpectedly,
gardening. Three years ago, I decided to
make the garden flower-filled so that my
mum could see beauty every day through
the window. Seeing beauty definitely has
a positive mental effect. There is also a
feeling of hope, and of new possibilities,
when you see things growing.
Mum has a degenerative condition.
This means that neither of us wants to
think about the future – because we don’t
want to think about how bad things might
get. The result is that we live totally in the
present. This means you make every day
as good as it can be. Caring for someone
can be incredibly rewarding.
There is a huge dilemma for full-time
carers who want to work. The Government
has put some money into respite care,
but many carers are not getting access to
this. Out of the funding that was given to
my local NHS Trust specifically for carers’
respite in the past year, only a quarter of
the amount was actually spent on carers’
respite. The money designated for carers
was not ringfenced, and was spent in
other areas of the NHS.
The Jobcentreplus network has been
tasked with giving advice and support
to carers who want to work, even if
it’s part-time. I have been to my local
Jobcentreplus twice, and been turned
away twice, having been told that they
do not offer such help to carers. On the
second occasion, the person on reception
asked why I did not register with a care
agency for work as a care assistant.
Presumably as I’m my mum’s carer, it is
expected that care work is what I would
do as a job too.
Being a carer has definitely made me
a stronger, more tenacious person. Many
carers have had to develop this tenacity,
and, as a result, I believe that, in future
years, carers’ lives will be very different.
Carers will fight to change the current
situation.
The NHS funding statistic has been reported in
the press and confirmed by my local NHS Trust.
The Aularian - Spring 2010
26
Aularian Feature
Stories from the Jungle
Reflections from a group of Oxford conservation practitioners
Rasmus K. Larsen (2004, MSc. Biodiversity, Conservation and Management)
Mike Skuja, Jo Marie Acebes, Alexander Savabini, Sian Williams
View from Mt Kinabalu, jungles of Sabah, Borneo
‘What the planet needs is more conservation practitioners – professionals
who will drive the hard bargains, make
tough decisions, and who are prepared
to compromise idealistic principles for
end products that may not please environmental activists, businesses or governments. The new millennium desperately needs this hard-nosed new breed
of conservationist equally at home in the
concrete or equatorial jungles’. This was
the rationale, in the words of the then
coordinator Dr Richard Ladle, underlying
the Master of Science course in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management,
which we studied during 2004/05 at the
Oxford University School of Geography
and the Environment.
Since graduation our experiences have
included the launching of a new nonprofit organisation which takes on the
challenge to combine conservation with
poverty alleviation in Africa, Asia and
Latin America (Mike); whale conservation
and initiating community-based marine
sanctuaries and environmental education
Learning how to conduct
biodiversity assessments
and write technical reports
must go hand-in-hand with
acquiring competencies such
as negotiation, policy making,
and welfare economics.
in the Philippines (Jo Marie); coordinating local partnerships to deliver ecosystem scale conservation and championing their interests in the development of
national policies in Scotland (Sian); business consultancy and economic advisory
to enhance the integration of sustainable
solutions in markets and industrial globalisation (Alexander); and facilitating
non-coercive natural resource policies in
South-East Asia and Scandinavia, which
permit stakeholders to reconcile diverging perspectives and interests (Rasmus).
Now, half a decade later, in a year
which has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity, we have just
started to reflect on some of the ‘nosing
around in the jungles’ which our MSc.
programme prepared us for. What does,
or should, conservation practice look like
today when, as acknowledged by the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development, joint actions for reaching the envisioned reduction in biodiversity loss and
contributions to equitable social and economic development remain appallingly
insufficient? What are the implications of
this apparent shortfall for the education
of conservationists post-2010?
Many students enter conservation
programmes with the hope to work in
‘exotic’ places far from home, and the
conservation movement has been criticised for representing the imposition of
concerns of the educated middle class
in affluent nations on struggling popula-
tions in poor countries. Yet, the diverging
interests between high- and low-income
countries and their citizens can also offer
significant opportunities. Conservation
professionals can lead efforts to raise domestic financial support for international
work outside of their own country. For
instance, the cause of combined poverty alleviation and conservation can be
marketed to the developed world’s pocketbooks (loves animals) to drive on-theground action in developing world villages which may not care about animals but
whose priority is actually poverty alleviation or livelihoods. This requires linguistic
skills, social flair and imagination in order
to reconcile diverging problem definitions. It involves developing relationships
based on trust and working with planners
and developers in order to ensure damage is reduced, and mitigated for and
that available opportunities for restoration afterwards are fully explored.
Still, conservation is a career path with
a relatively high degree of insecurity and
uncertainty, particularly for new graduates. Whilst the possible careers are
many, they are rarely institutionalised
with actual career tracks or peer guidance. In the absence of the insurance
mechanisms associated with permanent
employment many practitioners never
move beyond project employment, and
the financial risk is high, personally and
possibly for one’s family. This deters many
from pursuing their aspirations, and produces large numbers of ‘closet conservationists’, who choose a safer career path
and seek to effect positive change within
a more ‘traditional’ work place. Several
of us, and many of our colleagues, have
had to choose a job which we find morally acceptable and personally rewarding
but without any financial stability. For
some, there are instances where they put
themselves in danger because of a commitment to championing principles of dialogue and/or the rights of poor farmers
or fisherfolk to participate in deciding on
the future of the land and resources on
which they depend.
Academic institutions such as Oxford University play an important role in
equipping young professionals with rigorous scientific skills, but the ‘scientisation’
of conservation also presents a significant
challenge. Learning the skills required to
The Aularian - Spring 2010
27
Aularian Feature
effect sustainable transformations, such
as how to find funding windows and manoeuvre complex grant application procedures, can easily drown in expectations
about research publications in a competitive career system which runs counter
to direct societal and environmental responsibility. And where does the expertise in addressing complex transdisciplinary environmental problems as defined
by stakeholders fit in an academic system
which rewards specialisation? Similarly, as
a value-driven practice, the education of
conservation professionals often strikes
university departments in the centre of
contentious epistemological debates on
the nature of knowledge and knowing,
truth and subjectivity. Scientific rigour is
here less about reducing uncertainties
regarding extinction rates or population
sizes and more about ensuring that bargains are made and decisions reached in
an ethically acceptable manner. Learning
how to conduct biodiversity assessments
and write technical reports must go
hand-in-hand with acquiring competencies such as negotiation, policy making,
and welfare economics.
At first sight, people who commit to
facilitating rigorous and ethical processes
of environmental change, which build on
the multiple kinds of knowledge owned
by the many stakeholders affected, must
indeed be hard-nosed. They occupy an
uncertain middle ground between accepted communities of academics and
practitioners without clearly institutionalised career tracks and, not seldom,
patronised by interest groups in positions
of power. However, what helps you sur-
vive in the ‘jungles’ and makes your life
there worthwhile to yourself and others
is not stubbornness and irreconcilable
upholding of personal or cultural ideals.
Notwithstanding technical expertise, it
requires foremost personal reflexivity,
a will to dialogue, and skills to communicate. Therefore, conservationists must
strive to enter the jungles of diverse but
interconnected interests not only hardnosed but equally open-minded and curious. In the words of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie when she spoke
at Oxford University, their task is to help
policy makers move beyond simplified
‘single stories’ of nature and people, and
assist stakeholders to jointly construct
the necessarily complex stories of their
environments, themselves and, hopefully, a desired future.
An Aularian Entrepreneur:
Simon Blezard on the development of The Bar Exchange
As we hurtle into a new decade of possibility and opportunity, it is important
sometimes that we take a step back from
our busy professional lives and ask ourselves ‘Are we happy? Are we fulfilling
ourselves in our careers?’ If the answer
is no, then perhaps there is something
we can do to change this, and setting up
your own business could be the answer.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘Every
worthwhile accomplishment, big or little,
has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a
beginning, a struggle and a victory.’
So if you choose to embark on this
route, be prepared to give up your free
time, your social life, your savings and
peace of mind...at least for a couple of
years. And be prepared to roll with the
punches! There are no guarantees for
entrepreneurs, and ultimately there are
two determining factors to your success:
courage of conviction and being in the
right place at the right time.
When I left Teddy Hall in 1995, like
many graduates these days, I didn’t rush
into a career as an investment banker or
management consultant. Instead I went
off travelling, learned a new language,
and brushed up on some life skills first.
‘Well, why not?’ was what I told my parents, ‘Working life can wait a wee while.’
Upon my return to England I moved to
London and spent more than ten years
working in advertising agencies and with
the Internet, with four of those years
spent happily in New York City. However,
I had always told myself that ten years
in corporate life was the maximum I was
prepared to invest before setting up on
my own. With this goal in mind I remained
hell bent on achieving three things during
that period: (1) mastering my domain, (2)
learning the pitfalls from other entrepreneurs, (3) building a strong network
of business and professional contacts all
over the world. This achieved, all I needed next was the ‘idea’ and some financial
backing to support it. And let me tell you,
ideas come to you when and where you
least expect them to!
My epiphany came in my local pub in
London as the Bar Manager complained
to me how difficult it was to find decent,
trained staff. And thus the notion of ‘Bar
Exchange’ was born: a global social network for bar and hospitality professionals
that facilitates recruitment, training, venue, and brand promotions all in one place
on the web: www.barexchange.com.
Bar Exchange launched in May of 2009
and to date we have some 500+ venues,
20,000+ brands and 6000+ active members on the site, our intention being to
roll-out internationally in 2010. Yet, in
the same vein as when a writer publishes
a novel and it becomes ‘owned’ by its
readers, so too are we witnessing Bar Exchange becoming the property of its us-
Simon Blezard (1991, Modern Languages)
ers. A colleague said to me early on, ‘This
business could take one of two routes;
either it becomes a drinks marketing
company or it may end up being a ‘dating’ site’!
Irrespective of what Bar Exchange eventually becomes, I am prepared to encourage the development of the site in a manner that most suits its user base, and we
are already challenging traditional forms
of corporate advertising by allowing users to publish their own videos, reviews,
and opinions to share a voice.
sblezard@barexchange.com
28
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Aularian Authors
Hands Up! A Year in the Life of an Inner City Teacher
Oenone Crossley-Holland (2002, English)
Aged 18, having just finished five
months teaching in the foothills of the
Himalayas, I promised myself I would
never, ever make myself teach children
again: it was just too hard.
After reading English at Teddy Hall I
moved to London and paid the rent by
being an usher at the Old Vic Theater
and working as a temp at a glossy magazine. While friends had secured graduate
schemes, I waited, not sure what I even
wanted to apply for.
One weekend, at an Aularian’s house
in the country, a guest started seducing
the party with tales of the school he was
working in. He’d signed up to Teach First,
the scheme which places determined
graduates into inner city schools having
had only six weeks initial teacher training. The young teacher told us how ineffectual he was in the classroom – how
his authority ranked several rungs below
that of the more dominant students.
I remember thinking that it sounded
awful and terrifying; teaching in an inner
city school was the absolute hardest thing
I could think of doing. Once I’d thought
that, I thought it was what I should be doing.
I was accepted on to the Teach First
scheme and at the same time thought I’d
try my luck pitching an idea for a column
to the Guardian – I would be their ‘New
Girl’, a teacher in a tough school in London sharing her experiences of the chalk
face.
Believing only my parents and a few
loyal friends to be reading the fortnightly
column, I was surprised after its second
year to receive a letter from the publishers John Murray. Even more surprised
when initial conversations led to the commissioning of Hands Up! A Year in the Life
of an Inner City School Teacher.
As an English student, I’d always
thought of writing a book as a lifetime’s
ambition. I’d daydreamed about possible
titles and first lines but could never come
up with even the simplest fictional plot.
Faced with a commission of 80,000 words
I reasoned with myself that I’d managed
somewhere around 8,000 for a dissertation at Teddy Hall, so all I had to do was
write ten dissertations.
The writing actually came quite easily.
My husband (my boyfriend at the time)
had gone off to Malawi for the long summer holiday and so, deserted, I found
myself recounting from experience, filling in the gaps between the columns I’d
written.
I suppose, like any writer, I’ve got mixed
feelings about the result! My favourite
review was from Dan Glazebrook at The
Morning Star who wrote that although
the book ‘does not really have any of the
ingredients of the great literature of the
genre,’ it is a ‘strangely compelling read’.
I set out wanting to speak honestly in
the book about my own difficulties and
successes teaching in challenging circumstances. It ended up being about more
than just working in a school, it’s an imprint of a year.
I’m currently in my fourth year teaching and it continues to be maddeningly
challenging – I think that’s why I’m still
doing it. When I have a whole term that
seems easy I might just hand in my notice
and try to do something more difficult,
like writing a piece of fiction.
Sporting Justice: 101 Sporting Encounters with the Law
Ian Hewitt (1966, Law)
What does an Aularian, with a sporting pedigree, do after a 30-year career
as a practising lawyer? One, Ian Hewitt
(1966, Law), has written a book on sport
and the law. Not a legal textbook but a
book aimed at sports fans generally. Given the long association between St Edmund Hall and sport, it will interest many
Aularians.
Sporting Justice: 101 Sporting Encounters with the Law recalls, in a lively and entertaining way, 101 cases involving sport
or sporting personalities that have come
before courts or tribunals. From corruption at baseball’s 1919 World Series to
Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick and the West
Ham/Carlos Tevez affair; from JPR Wil-
liams’ libel suit with the Daily Telegraph
to McLaren’s spygate saga in motor
racing. Appearances are made by Tiger
Woods, Greg Rusedski, Stephen Hendry,
Kerry Packer, Christine Ohuruogu, Sir Alex
Ferguson and many others. Some cases
have shaped the course of their sport,
others are of more light-hearted interest
– such as the wife who obtained a divorce
claiming that, for her husband, ‘golf was
his mistress’!
Ian was a former captain of the University’s tennis team and a member of
the successful Oxford/Cambridge side
that defeated Harvard/Yale in the 1968
Prentice Cup in the US. For many years
he was a regular County player for Hamp-
shire. He now sits on the Committee of
Management of the Wimbledon Championships. He admits, a little sorrowfully
these days, to being a lifetime supporter
of Southampton FC. His day-job for over
25 years was as a partner in London in
the corporate department of leading international law firm, Freshfields. Advising
on mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures was a long way from the sporting
field, although he did act for the FA on
the formation of the FA Premier League.
After retiring as a full-time partner a few
years ago, he went back (in a ‘fit of enthusiasm’) to university to take a part-time
diploma in sports law at King’s College,
London. ‘It was pretty strange taking a
29
The Aularian - Spring 2010
Furs and Frontiers in the Far North
The Contest among Native and Foreign Nations for the Bering Strait Fur Trade
John R. Bockstoce (1966, Archaeology)
In the summer of 1969 I first became
aware of the complexity of the historical
Bering Strait fur trade. I was an assistant
on an archaeological survey near the village of Gambell on St Lawrence Island,
where many of the Eskimos routinely dug
in the ancient middens nearby for saleable artifacts and curios. I was offered
several collections of glass beads, which,
they said, had been traded to their ancestors by other Eskimos who lived forty
miles across the northern Bering Sea, at
Indian Point (Mys Chaplina) on the Chukchi Peninsula of what was then the Soviet
Union. When I asked why these excavators
had recovered so many beads I was told,
‘Most of the people died here a hundred
years ago.’ One of the Eskimos showed
me a figurine he had carved from a piece
of walrus tusk. The small sculpture was a
stylized form of an Eskimo warrior wearing Chukchi-type armour. I asked if those
people who had died a century before had
been killed in warfare. ‘No, they starved
to death,’ was the reply.
I left the island puzzled and curious
about the region’s history, and although
I thought about these questions from
time to time, no ready answers presented
themselves. But in the following years, as
I studied many museum collections from
the Bering Strait region and western arctic
America, I saw beads and other artifacts
that could have originated only in Asia,
and my interest grew about why and how
these things had arrived in North America.
At the same time I began to grasp how
vast were the distances that the Bering
Strait fur trade encompassed. In the 1970s
I travelled by small boat throughout the
region, descending the Tanana and Yukon
rivers by canoe from Fairbanks to Cape
Nome and travelling along the coast by
walrus-hide umiaq from there to Barrow
Strait in Arctic Canada. Later I twice traversed the Northwest Passage by boat. On
these journeys I met a number of natives
who many years before had participated
in the fur trade, and I began to appreciate
what their lives had been like as frontier
trappers in an earlier era, when their existence had been simpler and harder, yet
to them was remembered fondly.
The fur trade of Bering Strait was one
aspect of the European expansion into the
most remote regions of Asia and America.
At times it involved the contest for dominion between Russia and Great Britain,
but at its basis was always the search for
profit – in whatever way it was defined
by the participants. Far beyond the Europeans and Americans who sought to buy
furs, ivory, and whalebone for the markets
in the south, members of 50 native nations provided these commodities to one
another – and to foreigners – in return
for goods that they required or desired.
Manufactured goods, coastal products,
inland products, tobacco, tea, alcohol,
and hundreds of other things changed
hands many times in the immense region
between the Kolyma River in the west and
the Mackenzie River in the east.
No matter which goods were exchanged, these transfers were almost
universally regarded as advantageous by
both parties. The belief that the native
peoples were grossly exploited by foreign fur traders has long been current;
yet the natives of the Bering Strait region
willingly participated in these exchanges,
and on both sides of the exchanges the
participants thought they were receiving
a favourable reward – by whatever scale
of values they chose to measure that reward. The fur trade was an agent of massive change in the region, and this book
is my attempt to answer those questions
that I first pondered on St Lawrence Island
40 years ago.
Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2009
written examination again after a 35-year
gap. It was an ‘open’ exam – you could
take in your notes and textbooks!’
Ian had previously written a more formal (and, he admits, ‘drier’) book for lawyers but Sporting Justice was a new adventure for a wider audience. He enjoyed
putting it together. The greatest challenge,
says Ian, was trying to ‘write more like a
journalist and less like a City lawyer!’
Ian vividly recalls his law tutorials at
the Hall in the late 1960s with David Yardley and Jeffrey Hackney (‘an inspiration’)
in rooms by the front quad. ‘I am not sure
that Jeffrey Hackney would approve of the
legal content of the book but I hope he
would give me some marks for trying.’
The book has received good reviews.
Simon Barnes, leading sports columnist of
The Times, described it as ‘a fine book...
racily put together by legal standards...a
treasure trove of human folly’. A review
for the Sports Journalists’ Association
called it ‘an illuminating book, meticulously researched and entertainingly written’. Another (Ian thinks it was meant to
be complimentary) was by reviewer who
thought it ‘a thoroughly entertaining legal
book to fall asleep over after dinner’.
Ian likes to say that the book is aimed at
the ’thinking sports fan’ – but confidently
believes that includes many Aularians!
Available at: www.sportbooks.ltd.uk
The Aularian - Spring 2010
30
Alumni News
Hall Proud
Aularians (and their families) around the world are proud to wear Hall colours. If you have a photo
of yourself wearing Hall gear, please send it to the Alumni Relations & Development Office and you
may see yourself in the next issue of The Aularian.
Charles Bewlay, son of Bernard
Bewlay (1980, Metallurgy) in
New York in his custom romper.
Tim Houghton (1991, English & History) in
Pennsylvania, USA at an ‘Art Show’ with daughters
Charlotte (5) and Felicity (1).
Tim Needham (1996, Computation/
Mathematics) at his home in Wiltshire in
January 2010.
Nigel Clarke (1966, Modern Languages)
wears his Hall polo shirt as he prepares to
attack a dozen oysters while on holiday in
Brittany.
Darrell Barnes (1963, Modern Languages)
wears his College tie at the London
Aularian Drinks event in November 2009.
Tomo Nakano (1991, Oriental Studies)
was married at the Hall seven years ago
and poses here with his ‘new teddy’ at
his home in Nagoya, Japan.
The Hall Collection by Hackett London
In 2009, Teddy Hall partnered with Hackett London to produce an exclusive line
of high-quality St Edmund Hall clothing and accessories that includes polo shirts,
ties and cufflinks. Aularians around the globe have made the most of this unique
opportunity to show their affection for the Hall.
To order from the UK visit: www.hackett.com/seh
To order from overseas or if you do not have internet access:
Contact Kate Roessler at kate.roessler@seh.ox.ac.uk or +44 (0)1865 279 055
31
The Aularian - Spring 2010
From the Alumni Relations & Development Office
Fundraising Update
2009 was a tough year for most of
us financially, and so I was struck by the
generosity of our Old Members who continued to give, particularly to the Annual
Fund. This was a great success not only
in terms of the amount raised (£335,000)
but the proportion of Aularians who supported it. Our participation rate was 17%,
which is a 3% increase on the year before
and 5% higher than the University average. However, we are still a long way behind the best performing college, Univ,
who have a remarkable 30% participation rate. That must be our target, but
Knowing that we could
count on our Old Members’
response was vital
even then we will be a long way behind
the participation rates of 60% for American institutions in the Ivy League. I have
no doubt that the competitive Hall spirit
will spur many of you into action! In the
2008-2009 financial year the Hall raised a
total of £1.3 million in fundraising income
(comprising annual fund donations, major gifts and legacies) which is a great re-
sult. We hope to exceed that target this
year as we have more ambitious projects
planned in a challenging period.
We are especially grateful to those of
our law alumni who gave or pledged money towards the interim funding for our law
fellowship. When Derrick Wyatt retired,
the Law Faculty decided to freeze the
funding for its share of this jointly funded
post for five years in order to save money.
This meant the Hall had to take the decision either to lose one of its Law Fellows
(not an option) or raise the equivalent of
the University’s share, which amounts
to £30,000 per year or £150,000 over
five years. I am happy to say that many
responded enthusiastically to our appeal
and we have now reached that target of
£150,000 in cash and pledged income.
Knowing that we could count on our Old
Members’ response was vital in enabling
the Hall to recruit a new Law Fellow without delay and without interrupting the
teaching schedule for our students. Our
plans must now turn to securing the future of law in the Hall with endowments.
This is just one example of how our ambition long-term must be to remove our-
The 2010 Annual Fund
The St Edmund Hall Annual Fund
provides essential annual support in
helping the College to bridge its funding
gap and to shape its future. Our goal is to
secure the College’s financial foundations
through encouraging the widest possible
support of the Annual Fund at a
comfortable level for each donor. Since
its inception in 2006, over £1.3 million
has been donated and pledged to deliver
a wide range of projects which underpin
the College’s commitment to supporting
its students, providing the highest quality
teaching and living environment and
investing in its infrastructure to preserve
the historic fabric of the College.
The combined support of alumni,
friends of the Hall and parents of current
students will enable the Annual Fund to
support the following projects in 2010:
 Undergraduate Bursaries
and Hardship Funds
 Postgraduate Scholarships
 Front Quad Façade Refurbishment
 Masterclass Funding
 Refurbishment of the Junior and
Middle Common Rooms
 St Peter-in-the-East Garden Project
The majority of donations to the
Yvonne Rainey, Director of Development
selves from the caustic short-term modulations of University funding patterns.
We were also fortunate to receive a
donation of £100,000 from the Shaw
Foundation towards the work of the China Growth Centre and a further £100,000
from an Aularian, who wishes to remain
anonymous, towards the extension to
the senior common room. Our priorities
going forward are threefold:
(1) Preserving and using our heritage – in
particular, the Old Dining Hall, Old Library
and Chapel are in need of sympathetic
restoration.
(2) Endowing existing Fellowships – we
must maintain our current level of excellence in teaching and attract new talent
through the creation of more Junior Research Fellowships.
(3) Supporting our students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, through
bursaries, scholarships and prizes.
As Keith settles into his role as Principal, we will be working to put together
a compelling Case for Support to take
St Edmund Hall into a new and exciting
phase of development over the next ten
years.
Betony Bell, Dep. Director of Development
The 2010 Annual Fund Telephone Campaign Team
Annual Fund are made over the phone
each spring when a team of 15 current
students call up Old Members to talk to
them about life at the Hall today, how the
College can develop its relationship with
Old Members, and this year’s Annual Fund
projects. Each year the team of students
(this year’s team pictured above) greatly
enjoy connecting with Old Members and
being part of the worldwide community
of Aularians.
The £1.25 billion fundraising campaign
for the University of Oxford, the Oxford
Thinking Campaign, is very much a Campaign for the whole University and a gift
to St Edmund Hall is a gift to the Campaign
and counts toward the Oxford Thinking
Campaign total. We thank all those who
have supported and those who continue
to support the Hall and its Annual Fund.
A full list of donors to the College is published each year in the College Magazine
and also on www.aularianconnect.com. If
you would like to donate to the Annual
Fund, please contact the Alumni Relations
& Development Office.
ST EDMUND HALL OXFORD
SPRING 2010 • ISSUE 17
Oxford University Alumni Weekend
College Events 2010
‘Shared Treasures’
20 March
1970 40th Anniversary Gaudy
27 March
PPE Reunion
14 April
US West Coast Dinner, LA, California
With the recent reopening of the Ashmolean and redevelopment of the Pitt
Rivers, Oxford University Alumni Weekend will bring some of the University’s
‘treasures’ to the fore, uncovering some of the tens of millions of objects in
the University’s collections, as well as looking at how some of these items
are conserved and shared, and the impact that their study has on a range of
academic disciplines at Oxford and around the world. The event will also be
highlighting the growing success of projects that encourage academics from
different disciplinary backgrounds to share their experience to approach
problems from a new angle. Booking forms for the weekend will be posted in
May. For more information visit www.alumniweekend.ox.ac.uk.
16 April
Floreat Aula Society Dinner
16 - 17
April
North American Reunion
Waldorf=Astoria, New York City
1 May
Teddy Hall Ball
www.teddyhallball.co.uk
29 May
Parents’ Garden Party
May/June
London Aularians Drinks Reception
25 June
AB Emden Lecture
26-27 June
Summer Reunion
OXFORD UNIVERSITY ALUMNI WEEKEND AT THE HALL
27 Aug
Aularian Golfing Society Meeting & Dinner
Friday 24 September & Saturday 25 September: St Edmund Hall will have 50
rooms available to Old Members and their guests only. No parking available.
11 Sept
English Reunion
Friday 24 - Sunday 26 September 2010
24 - 26 Sept University of Oxford Alumni Weekend
Saturday 25 September
2.00 pm Lecture by Hall Fellow, Professor Paul Johnson ‘Islet cell transplantation – a minimally-invasive cure for diabetes?’
4.00 pm Home from Home by Dr Chris Mann (1971, English)
6.00 pm Evensong in the College Chapel
6.30 pm Drinks reception for Old Members and their guests
7.15 pm Dinner for Old Members and their guests
For more information on College events during the Oxford Alumni Weekend, or
to RSVP, please contact the Alumni & Development Office at the address below.
24 Sept
1960 50th Anniversary Gaudy
25 Sept
1989 - 1994 Matriculates Gaudy
22 Oct
Parents’ Dinner
Nov
London Aularians Drinks Reception
Dec
Varsity Match
Dec
Carols in the Quad
Details of all events can be obtained by visiting
www.aularianconnect.com
Log on to www.aularianconnect.com and win Hall Hackett Gear
LOG ON TO AULARIAN CONNECT:
Since its establishment in 2006, more than 4,600 Aularians have logged on and published details on the Hall’s online alumni
directory at www.aularianconnect.com. Log on to the site between 1 March and 1 June 2010 and you will be automatically
entered into a draw to win your choice from the Hall Hackett range.
UPLOAD A PHOTO:
Log on to www.aularianconnect.com and upload a photo of yourself in
your record and publish it on the site and you will be automatically entered
into a draw to win your choice from the Hall Hackett range. The closing
date for the competition is Tuesday 1 June. To add your photo to your
record on www.aularianconnect.com, logon, select My Details, and then
Profile Photo. If you do not have access to the internet, you may post your
photo to the Alumni Relations & Development Office at the address below
and we will add the photo of your behalf. We are happy to return your
photo after it has been loaded to the site.
EXAMPLE
Name: Polly Cowan
Year: 2002
Initials: PJC
Career Advice
Winners will be notified of the result shortly after the 1 June closing date and will receive their choice of a Hackett polo, tie or
cufflinks. No cash alternative may be substituted for this prize.
The Aularian Editor: Professor David Phillips Production Editor: Kate Roessler
Photos by Kate Roessler and submitted by article authors
The Aularian is produced by the Alumni Relations & Development Office
St Edmund Hall, Oxford, OX1 4AR Tel: +44 (0)1865 279055 Fax: +44(0)1865 279030
email: development.office@seh.ox.ac.uk
website: www.seh.ox.ac.uk or www.aularianconnect.com
The views expressed in The Aularian may be those of the author alone and not necessarily held by the SEH Governing Body