The Martlet - Issue 1 by Abingdon Publications

NEWS We reflect on the injustice of House Singing

WORLD The shocking aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan

CULTURE The best places to go this winter

Martlet

SPORT Who will win the T20 World Cup?

The

SPRING ISSUE

Abingdon School’s Leading Newspaper

ISSUE 01

THE

R.I.P BLACKBERRY P.11

BIG REDESIGN ISSUE

TYPHOON HAIYAN: THE AFTERMATH P.6

PHOTOCOMPETITION RESULTS INSIDE! P.12-13

COVER STORY

Laying foundations for the future

Daniel Alcock and Sam Chambers speak to the Director of Finance and Operations, Bruno Delacave, about what we could expect from this ambitious task to build Abingdon’s biggest and newest building.

he science centre project, which we have already heard a great deal about, is making excellent progress and building is soon to start. The adjacent coach park was completed during the summer holidays and the builders’ barriers are already in place along the North side of the science centre site. All being well the new science centre will be ready by September 2015. We spoke to Bruno Delacave about the exciting development of the site.

Q A

What are the most important things to know about the new project?

The science centre will make a significant difference to the way in which science is taught at Abingdon School. We have designed the building to provide spacious labs and working areas, equipped with modern furniture and equipment. Accessing the building and moving around it will be really convenient unlike our current science build-

ing. The teachers will benefit from extra facilities such as the project rooms, an outreach lab and improved technicians’ facilities. As well as the big labs there will be breakout spaces where pupils can work in groups or catch up on homework or study. The architects have successfully built a number of similar centres and, together with the skill and knowledge of our teachers, governors and advisers, we

Continued on next page

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

School COVER STORY

Laying foundations for the future Continued from cover page are confident that the new science centre will be a building that the School can be justly proud of. It will be modern, light, airy, spacious and it will make the experience of learning science at school hugely enjoyable.

Q A

How long have plans existed for the Science Centre?

A plan was agreed in 2011 to expand the provision of science teaching at Abingdon. This was not only because of the significant number of pupils choosing science throughout the school, but also because of the vital place science occupies in this school’s ambitions as well those of the country as a whole. The school’s existing facilities, which include various large and small classrooms, old and not-so-old, as well as portakabins were not properly meeting our needs. The school awarded the design contract to Hopkins Architects (of Olympic Park Velodrome fame) and the planning applications were successfully made and granted; we are now ready to build.

Q A

When will building of the Science Centre begin?

Q A

Will other departments move?

In the summer term of 2014. After the work done to the coach park, we now have an area available to start building.

Yes, the Health Centre will have to move as it is located where the Science Centre will be. The Health Centre will move to the ground floor of Whitefield. Two tennis courts outside Crescent house will also go but this will be compensated for by those being made available at Tilsley Park.

Q A

What have been the biggest challenges so far?

Gaining planning permission for such an ambitious project was a difficult and delicate issue, because the school wanted to design a building that met our current and future needs while at the same time meeting with the approval of the people living in the area. With all parties working carefully together, in sympathy with the existing built and natural environment and working to very good standards of sustainable construction, the final proposal will be, I am sure, a real success. The next chal-

lenge is ensuring that it is an affordable building and that it can be built in time. A great deal of work has been and continues to be done, in order to make sure that we meet our goals.

Q A

Any dangers that could cause disruptions?

I hope not! We are doing all that we can to deliver the building in accordance with our plans. However, we can’t control everything whether it is an ‘Act of God’ or terrorism or war or civil strife, none of which we hope to have to face! The main problem will be sourcing the materials and finding the right people to build the new science centre, but we are hopeful that the risks of delay will be low.

An architect’s impression of the new Science Center from Farringdon Road.

When the building is complete, will the current science classrooms still be in use?

The school is thinking carefully about how to make best use of this space. Some academic departments would benefit from the extra teaching and support areas, while others may see it as an opportunity to consolidate their departments into one area. We need to agree how to refurbish the building by the time the Science Centre is complete. The current science wing will be free and there are a lot of possibilities for what it could become.

Q A

When will the new Webb’s houseroom be available?

The precise location of the new Webb’s houseroom will be finalised once we know how we are going to use the current science building. We know that the portacabins which Webb’s and the second hand uniform shop currently occupy will be removed in due course.

Q A

Finally, will you be building a school café?

We have been working on a cafe in the building that was formerly Webb’s houseroom. Our plans have yet to be finalised which means that I can’t give you any precise details about it, but I can assure you that we are excited about opening a café for the benefit of Abingdon School.

The modern, bright and stylish perception of the future Science Centre

“

The planning applications were successfully made and granted; we are now ready to build.

”

Bruno Delacave

The new facilities will include...

21 teaching laboratories (for the sciences), study areas, project rooms, preparatory rooms, a greenhouse and a pond.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

School NOTICES

Council Chatter: News at a glance Edward Turner-Fussell takes a dip in the murky political waters of our benign dictatorship

HEALTH

UTILITIES

FOOD

Cleaning residue ‘unlikely’ to kill anyone

Big School bathroom overhaul

House lunches to stay, despite flow issues

Afternoon tea to be had in the new café

The strange scum that often forms on the cutlery is in fact cleaning fluid. While it is not pleasant to look at, it is absolutely harmless. Although nothing can be done about it, it is hoped boys will remove such cutlery from the boxes and send them back through on their own trays.

A total overhaul and refit of the Big School toilets has been added to the list of works. In our humble opinion, such a refit has been overdue for years! The Mercers’ Court hand dryers are also to be refitted. The hand-pumps in Biology have been replaced already: no more greasy hands!

Mr Dawswell notes that as the system is being accepted, it is beginning to move faster. Ms Lusk also points out that it’s the housemasters’ discretion how the boys are to sit and not a universal school policy. In order to help the situation, food that is easy to make and serve is being provided on a Wednesday.

A very interesting idea has arisen with the projected arrival of the new Café. This is the impeccably English idea of Afternoon Teas, much like morning snacks, to be made available for purchase. Mr Dawswell says this will be looked into and we strongly hope that this will turn out an affirmative answer!

EDUCATION

SPORT

Confusing grades to stay despite complaints

The textbook library; read around the topic!

Rugby Tour Ties for home Air-con in the sports hall use only unviable

Grades, being a system unique to Abingdon, can be difficult to comprehend for overseas students’ parents. It was decided, however, that as a key was provided for them it should be fairly easy to see the correlation in exam grades. A ‘leaderboard’ was proposed, but this was abandoned.

A bank of textbooks may be made available from the Library. The Library will look into this possibility, including the provision of non-standard textbooks and source materials for students. Now all those bookworms who enjoy reading around their favourite subject will not have to make do with Wikipedia!

Rugby Tour Ties are NOT a school tie, just a memento of the trip. Therefore, we are not to wear them at school. We also have enough ties as it is, so really we do not need to have these ties for school use.

The air-conditioning in the sports hall is very expensive, yet we do not use it for sport sessions. The supply fans will be left on overnight to draw in cold air to ensure they are cool, and as a planning restriction exists on the fans, we are required to minimise their use.

SAFETY

MISCELLANEOUS

St Helen’s bus ‘too dangerous’

Fear of mud bath makes wooden gate forbidden

Town leave to remain exclusive

Odds and ends

It has often been asked why boys cannot use the St Helen’s bus service. The reply is that it would be dangerous to let hundreds of boys go between the buses, there is no space on said buses and that the school wants to encourage the Other Half as much as possible.

Students cannot use the wooden gate by the Science Annex. Instead, they can go down Long Alley barely 20 metres away. The reason for this is that the path would become muddy and unusable. We agree! It’s bad enough on Upper Field.

Some boys have pointed out that it is difficult to get Town Leave from Housemasters, and have asked if tutors could possibly give it out. Mr Dawswell says that this defeats the point of the change, so it is to remain as it is.

A new, lighter rugby shirt for warm days has been issued. No doubt they will be flying off the shelves. The 30 minutes sport period in period 5 will remain. The lack of Wi-Fi for iPads in music classrooms is to be looked into.

Feel free to send messages to the Council or even better, the Martlet’s dedicated automata at martlet@abingdon.org.uk

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

School

School House sings, if you can call it that, If You Wanna by The Vaccines

Southwell-Sander’s sing like a football crowd with 500 Miles

Housemaster’s Comments “What chance does (insert house name here) stand in the House Singing Competition?”

Boyd’s: ‘Go away’ Christodoulou’s: ‘We will try our best.’ Cotton’s: ‘We have Mr Cotton, we’re going to win!’ Crescent: ‘We always come 4th’ Davies’: ‘Um… 120%’ Franklin’s: ‘*Laughs*... About 0’ School: ‘We always lose’ Southwell-Sander’s: ‘The best! We will win.’ Webb’s: ‘Laughable.’ Lower School: ‘Meh!’

Bad Romance? The winning house belts out Bad Romance

EVENTS

Competition or Bad Romance?

Patrick Cole guides us through a line-up of performances from last year’s House Singing

pon reflection, one wonders whether the House Singing Competition received equal enjoyment and enthusiasm from all participants. With accusations flying around about the adjudication, what chance did each house have?

The Competition LOWER SCHOOL The first performers were Lower School who sang Counting Stars by One Republic. They sparked off the usual ‘Ahhs’ as they walked on stage and assembled themselves into a neat choir. I knew the standard was high within a few seconds of their starting. They were

clear and their voices melted together perfectly.

SOUTHWELL-SANDER’S Next up was Southwell-Sander’s with the football crowd classic 500 Miles by the Proclaimers. Their conductor wowed the audience with his confidence as he walked on stage wearing a kilt! For a song usually performed by a drunken mass, they were surprisingly clear with their words until the chorus. Here they came dangerously close to being like a rabble. The rules of the house singing competition state that the entries must be monophonic, or melody and accompaniment in texture, that is to say, that they must all be singing the same thing

at the same time. However, in the chorus, Southwell-Sanders cheated by splitting the choir in half. (Even now, they still insist that the other half were singing the same thing.)

COTTON’S On next was Cotton’s entry: Happy together by The Turtles. The song seemed too low for them, but I suppose they wanted to show that they are tougher than their name implies. They seemed to all enjoy their participation, although there was a trumpet solo in the chorus which completely drowned out all the singers.

CHRISTODOULOU’S Cottons was followed by Christodoulou’s, who performed the supposedly timeless Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley. The usual ‘ahhs’ commenced as they walked on, and this time these were accompanied by laughter: the shortest member was a fourth year. It was rather hard to hear the words, but the tune was clear. Worryingly perhaps, the band seemed the best part.

WEBB’S Next came Webb’s, who sang Reach for the Stars by S Club 7. The ‘Ahhs’ for this house became ironic, as they had the tallest walking on first. They made the

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Lower School have their say with Counting Stars by One Republic

Christodoulou’s managed to ‘Rick-roll’ the entire school rather controversial decision of having seemingly no dress code (either that or Webb’s really is as unruly as some of its members make it seem!), and they didn’t seem to be standing in any set formation (although they did assemble themselves as close to the back of the stage as possible!). When they began singing it was immediately apparent that the song was far too low for their range, but was delivered with a lot of energy from the conductor.

SCHOOL During a brief interval in which Boyd’s moved to wait in the wings, School took to the stage, avoiding any ‘Ahhs’. They sang If You Wanna by The Vaccines. They had strong pitch and dynamic interest but it was all drowned out by a rather exuberant drummer ( but this may have something to do with the fact that I was standing next to him!). The ending came as quite a shock. We came next and sang Naïve by the Kooks. I can only assume that we were amazing. The ‘Ahhs’ this time all went to Mr Boyd!

CRESCENT Having run around and snuck into the auditorium, I was just in time to see Crescent being brought forward by their conductor as they had assembled them-

selves even further back than Webb’s. They sang Pompeii by Bastille which is a favourite of mine so my notes on them appear kinder than those of my peers. Be that as it may, I noted that they had good dynamics, rhythm and pitch, despite all looking like they would rather be anywhere else.

DAVIES’ The penultimate performance was delivered by Davies’ who sang On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons. Their journey onto the stage was filled with laughter as one boy had forgotten his white shirt and accepted the traditional jeers and whoops with a wave, promptly followed by him tripping on the piano leg. Their singing was energetic, if a little low, but the performance was stolen by a boy in the front row fidgeting.

FRANKLIN’S Finally came Franklin’s with the extremely risky (and risqué!) choice of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. They were assembled extremely professionally in an exact square and all standing in the exact same way. But this didn’t change the fact that this rather large group of teenage boys, and their Housemaster whispered to us ‘I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as

it’s free!’ which due to its outrageous inappropriateness drew great laughter. Despite the song choice, Franklins were (uncomfortably) clear and rhythmic. Their tuning cannot be faulted.

The Adjudication The Adjudicator was the Director of Music at Radley, but as a result of the unmistakable booing, he hastened to point out that he’s an Abingdonian at heart. He made brief comments about each house before finally announcing the top 3.

THE FINAL RESULT 3rd: Cotton’s 2nd: Boyd’s 1st: Franklins In the end, 950 boys left the Amey Theatre with a feeling of great injustice, and perhaps the most shocking result being that Webb’s, despite the backing of the Head of Music, failed to even place. Strains of “Next year is our year!” could be heard as Franklin’s were left celebrating their second win in 3 years.,

House Singing Comments Boyd’s ‘No effort in following the words, but it was all two notes.’ Christodoulou’s ‘a sort of ‘raw’ energy’ Cotton’s ‘dynamics and variety, especially on held notes, was good’ Crescent ‘syncopation worked well’ Davies’ ‘Brave off beats in the chorus, but was too low’ Franklin’s ‘Lots of energy and very effective song choice’ School ‘Dips in the words, but good tone and energy’ Southwell-Sander’s ‘Well projected, the bottom notes were lost.’ Webb’s ‘Came alive in the chorus’ Lower-School ‘Good variety, more light needed, but clear nevertheless’

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

News EVENTS

Typhoon Haiyan: An unprecedented tragedy Sam Chambers reflects on one of 2013’s most shocking disasters

don’t think any of us in the western world understand how quite devastating and destructive Typhoon Haiyan was and is continuing to be in the central Philippines. The Philippines is a typhoon-prone area and is going through a particularly bad ‘patch’ at the moment. In this typhoon season alone, at least four category 3 and above typhoons have hit the Philippines, with Haiyan being the worst of them. Haiyan made landfall 4.40am in the Philippines on Friday 8th November and left a devastated country in its wake. Super Typhoon Haiyan was a phenomenal storm by any standards and broke records. The winds sustained speeds of 195 miles per hour, peaking at 235 miles per hour making them possibly the highest on record. There was also a 13 foot (4 meters) storm surge that wreaked havoc on the archipelago and many have grim predictions for what’s left behind. Many think up to 4,500 have died with thousands more being unaccounted for. Over 1.5 million people have been affected directly and over 1,000,000 have been displaced. The structural damage is also beyond comprehension. In most typhoon affected areas 70-90% of buildings have been badly damaged or completely destroyed and masses of infrastructure such as roads and power have been blocked or put out of use for weeks. One of the main issues is the fact that the Philippines is a LIC (low income country). This means that they do not have the means to properly prepare for or deal with the aftermath of a serious event such as a typhoon of this scale. It also means that the quality of the countries building/infrastructure is poor; this is a reason why up to 90% of buildings collapsed in the worst hit areas and have made relief work somewhat difficult, estimates saying that around 280,000 houses have been severely damaged or completely flattened. Another disadvantage of being a LIC is that a significant proportion of the aid given to the country is external, from places such as the United Kingdom or the United States. This means even though there is organised and professional help, it takes vital days for the aid to arrive which could be the difference between life and death for thousands. Currently, thousands don’t have basic necessities such as food, water or first aid. Due to this, the initial death toll is set to substantially rise in the next few weeks. But arguably the worst damage is

1.9 million people were left homeless

“

Over 1.5 million have been affected directly and over 1,000,000 have been displaced. The Grade 5 super typhoon strikes with 195mph winds what the typhoon has left behind. Entire towns may take years to be rebuilt or may never be able to rebuilt. For some people, they may be the only member of their family left alive, so the damage is past simply clearing the debris and removing the dead bodies. However, aid is arriving in the Philippines as we speak. In typical British spirit, the generous public has donated over 30 million pounds to go with the 50 million from the government and the warships sent carrying supplies to the affected people. All the calls to the cameras, however, are of despair and loss of a friend or family member. To make matters worse, looters are all around and many police officers have deserted their posts after the storm. But with this tragedy comes inspiring stories from around the world. For example, a young child took the appeal personally. Shoichi Kondoh drove down to the Philippine embassy in Tokyo with his mother and handed over all his life sav-

ings to the ambassadors for the appeal. Even though it was the equivalent of £31, it was the fact he gave all he had to help other people, less privileged than himself in their hour of need. Another story of this kind is one from Coron. In one of the affected areas where at the airport, foreign tourists took the initiative readily and helped pack and unload supplies from relief aircraft arriving at the airport. Along with all these admirable acts of individual generosity and kindness, many nations have played their part in rescuing the citizens of the PhilippinesAmerica leading from the front with 100,000 dollars in cash but more importantly troops to help rescue people and maintain order, lots of transportation including two aquatic vehicles to further aid the efforts and also a naval aircraft carrier is being sent with vital supplies and helicopters to speed up the relief. Other notable benefactors include Germany, who have sent £500,000 as well

”

as 23 tonnes of relief goods such as food, sleeping bags, fuel, bottled water and emergency equipment. Japan also deserve mention for donating $10 million, an amount that is expected to rise within the next few days. This typhoon is a human tragedy of unprecedented scale that I don’t think any of us understand. You reading this at the moment probably have no idea of what this freak disaster has done to the lives of millions not just in the Philippines but on every continent in the world. We are too sheltered from events like this. I know not many of us can, but imagine a disaster like Typhoon Haiyan hit England and seriously affected you, would you want people to help and make a real difference? You don’t have to donate, but I would, just to even save one family, or one neighbourhood. What if it was me? What if it were you?

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

News

Following the first Obama shutdown, 10% of government employees were sent home

Dan Alcock looks at the media’s perception of the socalled ‘apocalypse’ and tells us exactly why it happened and what it really means.

ast year, as I’m sure many of you will know, the US Government entered what was called a ‘shutdown’. However a lot of people do not know what this means or why it happened. It really wasn’t the apocalyptic event that some people in the media commented it as. The Huffington Post released an article called ‘11 Reasons Why A Government Shutdown Is Terrible For You’, stating reasons such as ‘The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) would close, and that National Parks wouldn’t be open. Sure these things are bad for tourists and for workers who get no pay, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Soon after the shutdown finished, things were running smoothly again. So to begin, why did the government shutdown? Well the US Government operates over a fiscal year which begins on the 1st October and ends on the 30th of September, and each new fiscal year a plan is made for how all the money is spent. There was a dispute between the two main political parties - President Obama’s Democrats and the Republicans. They couldn’t agree how the fiscal year starting on the 1st October 2013 was going to be funded; they had until midnight but they just could not make a decision. You may be thinking that this hasn’t happened recently, and that is right. The reason it happened this year is due to a

America’s Heart Attack EVENTS

Was the Government Shutdown really exactly what the media had feared? bitter stand-off over how to make President Obama’s healthcare law affordable. The idea behind this is very similar to the NHS. Every month all people over

US SHUTDOWN It was the second longest lasting US shutdown ever, lasting 17 days. 85% of government activities were still funded during the shutdown. Obama, of course, was still paid during this ‘crisis’.

18 will have to pay a fund towards it, but visits to the doctor and hospitals will be a lot cheaper or free. Previously in the USA the common man would get health

insurance only if they could afford it. Republicans are completely against this service because of the cost for the government as well as the belief that it is un-

“

A bitter standoff over Obama’s healthcare law

”

fair to force people to pay this insurance every month. An agreement could not be made about whether Obamacare should be part of the budget. As a plan could not

be made this meant government-funded services had no money to keep running. With all ‘non-essential’ government funded activities closed down, tourists couldn’t visit national parks or the Statue of Liberty, air-traffic controllers were not paid and overall 800,000 federal workers were out of work and had to stay at home with no pay. The US military however continued to work as they continued to be funded, so that the soldiers could stay on duty. On the 16th October 2013, a fiscal deal was agreed between the Republicans and the Democrats. This measure extended the federal borrowing limit until 7th February 2014 and it is funding the government until 15th January 2014. The deal was then voted on and it passed through house. President Obama signed the deal shortly after midnight. So what happened then? Well the shutdown was temporarily halted, and the country was funded for six weeks. After this time a fiscal budget had to be agreed on; the Republicans continued to fight against the health care law being imposed, and the Democrats had to settle for a compromise. The Government Shutdown was a blow to many people who worked for the government, as well as being costly. However, with essential programs still running during the event and the fact things are temporarily fine, I believe that the media didn’t have to have top new stories titled with things such as ‘Economy is destroyed forever!’ Shutdown happened in 1995 and the USA have recovered fine from that. It is the perfect example of the media blowing a slightly trivial economic problem out of proportion.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Feature

ROWING SUCCESS Abingdon win at Henley Royal Regatta MR EARNSHAW Abingdon’s newest Head of Rowing

Olympic rowing comes to Abingdon INTERVIEW

Tom Buckle delves into the accomplished past of Abingdon’s new Head of Rowing, Mark Earnshaw What area of Olympic rowing were you involved in? I worked with the Olympic teams for the last two Olympics. I worked with the men’s heavyweight team and in that time I was the lead coach of the sculling team. In the past we didn’t have very strong sculling teams but over the course of the last two Olympics we got every boat qualified into the Olympic teams. In Beijing I coached a boat that won a bronze medal and I’ve coached many international medals in that time. At the London 2012 Olympics we had one bronze medal and two fifth places in terms of sculling and we got the best results we’ve ever had in Great Britain. I also worked with a lot of our medallists as one of the three full time men’s senior Olympic coaches. What makes a successful rowing coach? I think there are probably three key things to every rowing coach. The first is you have to be very determined, so you have to have real grit because rowing is a sport where you have to train very hard and commit a lot of time to it. The second one, which is probably the most important, is the ability to inspire others with a vision for the sport, so that may be a competitive goal, it may be trying to win things, it may be just being part of crews and enjoying that but making sure there’s a clear vision for people to aspire to. The last one is having a very good tech-

nical knowledge of the sport, and that’s the technique of rowing but also very much the training and recovery that takes place as part of rowing. So those are the main things for doing well within the sport so each rowing coach needs to have each of those.

“

I hope the school can become one of the leading rowing schools in Britian

”

Mark Earnshaw

When did you start rowing? Around 1994 so about 19 years ago. Why did you want to start? When I started I got into rowing because of the training. I’d done a lot of athletics and football when I was young, and was very keen on training and trying new sports. When I was at university I asked which sport did the most training and they said it was the rowers so I joined them really to start training, not with the

intention of rowing. But then I was pestered to start and I loved it the minute I got on the water. I really enjoyed myself. What makes you love the sport? I think mainly for me that fact that it is a very simple sport, it’s very straightforward and it’s not complicated. As well as this it’s very aspirational as you have many clear goals, when you’re training you’re trying to achieve your own personal goals as well as your crew’s goals as it’s very goal orientated. But the most enjoyable bit is the camaraderie that goes around, so the feeling of being part of a team and having a very strong bond with those in your team. How long have you been a rowing coach for? Around 17 years now, so the first part of my coaching I did at university and then I became a teacher and trained some of the young students at my school at the time, including Alex Gregory who became one of our Olympic Champions at London 2012. A lot of the people that I coached were selected into the national team and I was asked to go and work with the Great Britain squad and became a professional coach for the last eleven years since 2002. What do you hope to do to change the rowing at Abingdon? The school’s team is very successful and

has done very well over the last few years. It has a very good set-up and is very well supported in the school. I would hope that the school could carry on that success and being one of the leading rowing schools in Britain. I want to keep the training fun as the boys really enjoy being part of the boatclub and I hope we continue that because it’s a very positive place to be. Finally I would like to see if we can get more boys into the Great Britain junior rowing team as well as continuing to do well in the national competitions such as Henley. Why did you want to come here? I wanted a new challenge. I loved teaching when I was teaching before and I missed it. I’ve been working with the Olympic team for the last ten years and I felt I wanted to return to teaching whilst being able to coach as well. How have you enjoyed your first term here at Abingdon? It’s been great. It’s been busy but I’m impressed by how motivated and driven the students and staff are. Do you have any advice for novice rowers? All I can say is rowing a boat well on a quiet, sunny, misty river in the morning and rowing a boat quickly is the best feeling you will ever have in the world, and you should just try it out.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Feature

OAs: Then and Now INTERVIEW

Nick Rees

Nick Harris finds out about one Abingdon rower who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Rowing plays an important part of life here at Abingdon School. But rowing on the Thames is a far cry from the physically and emotionally demanding journey that Nick Rees, OA(1994), will undertake. He and Ed Curtis will be rowing (unsupported and self-sufficiently) across the Atlantic, from La Gomera, part of the Canary Islands, to Antigua, an island in the Caribbean. This is a feat completed by fewer people than have climbed Everest and is extremely challenging. Nick and Ed will be going in shifts: two hours on, two off, 24 hours a day. This results in burning 8000 calories a day and losing about 20% of their bodyweight. At the same time, they will be raising £250,000 for Breakthrough Breast cancer. Despite his busy preparations he was able to answer a few quick questions for me about his time at Abingdon.

AN IMPRESSIVE FEAT Nick Rees will cross the Atlantic this year

PRIDE AND JOY Nick Rees on his boat

The

Q&A What did you want to be when you were at school? I wanted to be an airline pilot but also wanted to run my own business having done Young Enterprise. What was the worst thing that happened to you at Abingdon? A car crash in the final year – fortunately we all got out. Most treasured possession? A ring my grandmother gave me. What could you have not survived your schooldays without? Sense of humour. Rowing or cricket? Neither – tennis! Favourite things to buy from tuck shop? Snickers bar.

Favourite school lunch? Roast. Favourite thing on TV at the moment? Sadly X Factor! Mozart or Radiohead? Radiohead What one thing that you have learnt at Abingdon has helped you the most in what you are doing now? Have confidence in your own ability. Back yourself. If you don’t, nobody else will. One piece of advice for the future? Do what you enjoy at work. Remember the important things in life: family, not money.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Culture FILM

Success for Skyfall: Where next for Bond? Nick Harris asks, will the next Bond fall in line?

James Bond returned to our screens for a 23rd time, will there be a 24th?

Under the auspices of Daniel Craig, the Bond franchise has been consistently inconsistent. Will the next Bond emulate its predecessor or be as disappointing a sequel as Quantum of Solace?

eaving the cinema, after having seen Skyfall, I, and I am sure many other Bond fans, breathed a sigh of relief. It had been at a higher level compared to the awful Quantum of Solace whose constant action and not enough of ‘classic James Bond’ failed to overwhelm critics. However, Skyfall proved to be a much greater film. It kept the series up to date whilst still containing that undercurrent of Bondish humour. It was overall a better film than Quantum of Solace and arguably Casino Royale. The question is what comes next? Well, MGM have already taken steps to ensure the success of Bond 24. They have persuaded Sam Mendes to return to direct it, making him the first person to direct two Bond films back to back since John Glen. But he was worried about it himself, despite agreeing to do another film: ‘“I felt I put everything I possibly could into this film and it was the Bond film I wanted to make. And if I felt I could do the same again, then absolutely I would consider doing another one. But it is a big task and I wouldn’t do it unless

I knew I could”. So do we really want another Bond film that doesn’t have everything he could possible put in because that’s what Quantum of Solace felt like. So, there are five steps that Bond’s creators could take in order to make Bond 24 as successful as, if not more so than its predecessor.

Make the film more personal One of the brilliant things about Skyfall was that it went deep into Bond’s past and problems. This has always worked for me in other films such as Goldeneye where Bond’s friend goes bad on him. In my opinion it is good to give the Bond

“

One of the brilliant things about Skyfall was that it delved deep into Bond’s past

”

the chance to gain or lose something that really matters to him. However, the film has to be careful not to be too fragile or run the risk of emulating its predecessor.

Create a new secret syndicate Perhaps the Quantum idea that was abandoned at the end of Quantum of Solace could be morphed into a modernised version of SPECTRE. This would add some of the old Bond fun back into the film. Although, if not executed well, it could end badly if we go back to all the stroking cats on chairs business. This will be aided by the possibility of the next two Bond films being written back

SKYFALL Total worldwide takings:

£541,466,267 After 40 days:

£94,277,612 UK takings in 2012:

£103,000,000

= HIGHEST GROSSING UK FILM EVER

to back giving the chance of a huge world threatening disaster that Bond needs to solve.

Have a better ‘Act 3’ Although Casino Royale and Skyfall both impressed, they both failed upon the final scenes. The underwater battle in Skyfall felt like it was added to augment already failing tension and although Eve Green’s Vespa finale added emotionality it again did not feel satisfactory. Not since Goldeneye has a Bond finale been sufficiently overwhelming.

Explore more of London It felt nice in Skyfall for Bond to walk the streets that millions walk each day in central London, visit the Tate Modern and ride the Tube and it was genuinely heart-warming. The idea of an internal crisis was a plot fleetingly wasted in The World is Not Enough and could provide fuel for a new SPECTRE.

Introduce a stronger female lead Although I enjoyed Eva Green’s performance, in Quantum there was no true Bond girl and the Severine character in Skyfall was killed almost minutes after being introduced leaving no room for character development. This, with Moneypenny working at a desk job, means we require a stronger female presence: a more classic Bond girl.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Culture

As Apple gets sweeter, Blackberry goes sour TECH

Is this the end of the berry? Patrick Cole finds out.

or slightly more than Abingdon is spending on Tilsley Park, Blackberry looks set to be bought out from it crippling debt by Fairfax Financial Holdings. Blackberry has been on the back foot since the iPhone was first announced on the 9th January, since which time its stocks have dropped by over 96%. The company was originally known as ‘Research in Motion’ but this changed in 2003 when it began manufacturing the phones that it is now famous for. The name it is now known by was a representation of the design of its phone keyboards—Blackberry. This was the birth of smartphones. The Blackberry quickly became the must have phone, with a physical ‘qwerty’ keyboard that no phone before or since has had. After its introduction people jumped at the chance to have their thumbs in a blurred typing frenzy while the rest of the world had to press A/a22-555-2-22-55-22-33-777-777-999 just to spell out the word ‘Blackberry’. Unlike its rival, Apple began, and continues its existence triumphantly. Rather than news of vitiating debt, Apple is celebrating the release of their twin 7th generation iPhone products: the iPhone 5s and 5c, the sales of which have topped 9 million. The only teething problems with this release were minor: short supplies (the 5s sold out in one day!) and a problem with their unnecessary fingerprint scanner that nobody wanted in the first place. The iPhone was first introduced by Steve Jobs, late CEO of apple, who announced it in his address on the 9th January 2007 with: “I have been looking forward to this for two and a half years... today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” Apple sold the millionth iPhone 1 only 74 days after its release. Today, six

years later, it has sold 9 million within the launch weekend of their 7th generation. At first, one of the CEOs of R.I.M scoffed at the idea of a touchscreen phone, saying that users wouldn’t like having to use a touchscreen over a physical keyboard as it would be much easier to make errors. Not as much as a year after saying this, Blackberry released the Storm, a touchscreen phone of its own. However, true to Blackberry’s views of user-friendliness, the Storm had a feature that made the

shipped 850,000 Playbooks in within the first three financial quarters. A financial quarter is three months from the release date and is used to track sales of profits. From this we can see just how poor the Playbook fared compared to the iPad. Blackberry promised its users a native email application within the first two months of sales, yet it did not arrive for ten months. To break down the Playbook’s sales, it dropped from an initial quarter of 500,000 sales rapidly to a third of 150,000. December 2011 was disastrous for

“ ”

Blackberry had again waited until it was in a crater to drop a bomb phone click every time you press something. This was to avoid any mis-clicks. This feature was known as “Sureclick”. However, just as Blackberry thought of the iPhone, critics deemed Sure-click clumsy and awkward. But worst of all, it was slated as being harder to use than the iPhone. The iPad was announced in 2010, which was marked as yet another blow to RIM. Their own tablet, the Playbook, was announced not too long afterwards. The Pad had an operating system based on the popular iPhone operating system (iOS 5.1.1), a local email system and up to 64GB of memory and a 9.7” screen. By comparison, the Playbook had a brand new operating system (the imaginatively named: Blackberry Tablet Operating System) the same amount of memory, no email and a 7” screen. It took roughly 37 days for Apple to sell a million iPads, but RIM had only

Blackberry as at the beginning of the month it took a $459 million write-down on unsold Playbooks. Later that month the company lost a lorry containing 5 thousand Playbooks. Six Blackberry Executives left RIM between March and September. One of the biggest tragedies for Blackberry occurred on the 10th of October 2011. A failure with hardware left millions of users in a blackout. For two days the network providers had to console the livid users, despite it being no fault of theirs as Blackberry refused to comment. On day three the other of the two CEOs of Blackberry issued a video statement apologising. This catastrophe lost Blackberry over 50 million dollars. The Blackberry world woke again on the 13th of October. Blackberry had again waited until it was in a crater to drop a bomb, in that they announced the newest Blackberry, the Blackberry 10 operating system,

(whose name was changed from BBX due to threatened legal action from BASIS international who had been working on a product called the BBX, or Business BASIC eXtender, since 1985) had been pushed back to ‘late 2012’. By the end of 2011, Blackberry had reached a six year low, as shares dropped by 75% and it was worthless as a functioning company. One may go as far as to say that the contents of a beggar’s hat were worth more than Blackberry by the end of 2011. Finally, the Blackberry 10 was released in 2013, at which point Blackberry attempted to make a big turnaround. They officially changed their name from RIM to Blackberry and hired a new creative director. All looked good for Blackberry after the BB10 was successfully reviewed, but once the rave headlines wore off, it was too little too late. Had BB10 been released on schedule, it would have been a major contender to the iPhone, and given Blackberry a leg up out of the seven year deep hole it had dug itself; but at the time it was insignificant. Despite its solid hardware and keyboard, the quarterly sales were revealed as a $518 million loss which caused the stocks to drop 30% in half a day. In August, Blackberry announced that it would consider bailout offers. This was announced before a $1 billion loss and four and a half thousand redundancies, which equated to 40% of its entire staff. Now it is set to be bought out by Fairfax financial holdings for $4.7bn. When Apple entered the phone market in 2007, it was dwarfed by Nokia and Motorola, who were under the shadow of Blackberry. Motorola turned to Google, and Nokia is being saved by Microsoft as Apple outgrew them both, and now it has uprooted Blackberry itself.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Culture

1st Place - Henry Capon READER SUBMISSIONS

The Martlet’s Photocompetition We feature the photos that captured our imagination and grabbed our attention 1st Prize - A sponsored clock from Old School UK and a £10 iTunes voucher 2nd and 3rd Prize - A pressed vinyl bowl and a box of Cadbury Celebrations To collect your prize, email martlet@abingdon.org.uk.

2nd Place - Micah Hayns

3rd Place - Harry Best

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Honourable Mentions

Rob MacLennan

Alistair Smith

Harry Venables

Archie Williams

Benjamin Hall

James Hogg

Heyse Ip

Charlie Normaton

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Culture TRAVEL

Escaping the winter blues Blake Jones suggests ways to fight the cold winter weather and catch some early summer sun.

t is the winter season and it becomes harder to choose holiday destinations, so since this is Britain we must have an article dictated by weather. In summer it’s easy, since most places, save Oxfordshire, have hot weather and can make good poolside retreats. Yet in winter Mauritius can make a more miserable trip, so the choice of destination becomes more significant. So I have suggestions for ways around this, also considering that unlike the summer when the holiday is at least nine weeks long, there is less free time and impending exams can also limit time away. For a long weekend trip when the weather is not as hot, I would recommend visiting Madrid, Spain. In the summer, when most European retreats are ideal, Madrid becomes too hot, especially if one wants to visit the tourist attractions there. While in summer, Barcelona is a better alternative; in the winter season, ideally autumn time or early spring, Madrid is at a cooler temperature better for travelling around. Madrid provides the opportunity for an actually relaxing city break without the pressure to see the must-see sites. The main sites can be done in a few days, thus it is ideal for a long weekend, though they add to enjoyment if you see them, not pollute you with guilt if you miss one out. Madrid is not just about the tourist sites but also more about the culture and atmosphere there. Enjoy tapas, paella and a very large amount of pork and ham, the traditional dishes, which are served in most places but with various degrees of authenticity. The finest tourist attractions to go to

“

A safari can be a good way to take a relaxing but adventurous trip

”

are the Prado museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Alumenda Cathedral, the Buen Retiro Park and the botanical gardens. Leave plenty of time for the art galleries or be precise in what you go to see, because you can spend a long time in them, and unless you are looking for specific pieces you will be pulled into the ‘slow and thoughtful museum walk’ and spend at least the whole afternoon there. The Buen Retiro Park is filled with magnificent sights, from lakes to fountains to monuments to a glass pavilion, but the Botanical gardens only need a fairly brief walk through. I would recommend avoiding the Reina Sofia museum, since the art there is not very memorable and the modern art is stronger in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Prado. The Sunday flea market does not have enough traditional Spanish stalls and instead is more commercial and has international stalls selling items found anywhere, including England. Chiefly, Madrid has the weather, culture and atmosphere that time can be spent in simply but pleasingly, and thus the ideal place for a break away. For a longer trip away, lasting around a week, I would suggest going on a safari trip, maybe to South Africa. A safari can be a good way to take a relaxing but adventurous trip; one does wake up early and go to bed late, yet the middle of the day is spent sleeping or resting. The trip speaks for itself; basically it’s like being in the middle of a David Attenborough documentary whilst escaping the digital life. It will have a wide range of typical African animals and mesmerising settings, so trust your lodge and ranger to make sure your trip shows you everything you want to see. Before going to a safari lodge you need to arrive in South Africa by flying into a city. If you fly into Cape Town, then you could spend about two days there. Whilst staying in Cape Town you may want to visit Table Mountain, the spectacular mountain that looks over all of Cape Town, Boulders beach, a beach filled with penguins and Robben Island, the island where Nelson Mandela and many other prisoners stayed during the Apartheid regime. The trip should take ten days, although it depends how much time you want to spend on safari. Be relaxed with planning this trip, but be prepared

BUEN RETIRO PARK is wonderful all time of year

BOULDER BEACH often attracts penguins to the beach for anything, from zebra corpses to an elephant fighting a lion, everything will be forever memorable. Safari is a classic trip for an eternal reason, it combines the paramount elements of getaway in an effortless style, with relaxation, adventure and a thoroughly different setting, which make it deserve the status as the top holiday genre. For those who are more adventurous and have more time at hand may wish to pioneer their travels to South America. It is a less common continent to go to, so I would guess that many have not been there before, but I declare South America to you as one of the most underestimated sections of the world. The main reason why it is not as commonly gone to is because there are not too many direct flights from England to South American countries, yet there are plenty of options if one has a connecting flight through Madrid, which I hope some readers now fancy visiting. In our winter the weather is hotter than normal, due to it being in the Southern Hemisphere, so now is the time to go. In the future the obvious attraction is to go to Brazil for the 2016 Olympic Games, yet the other countries must not be forgotten. In South America, Peru, Argentina and Chile all have their own advantages. Peru calls for a longer time away there, although two weeks can be an appropriate amount of time for each. The main appeal of the Peru is to visit the remains of the Incas with the money shot of the holiday photos being of Machu Picchu,

the ruins of a city on a n incredibly high mountain overlooking the clouds; before booking check whether Machu Picchu will be open at that time, since it is sometimes closed. Part of the Amazon rainforest is in Peru, as is part of Lake Titicaca which can bring a level of tranquillity which the other lakes or tourist welcoming rainforests of other countries do not always have. Argentina has tremendous range of attractions, from the colossal Perito Moreno Glacier to the tango district of Buenos Aires to Iguassu Falls. A considerable amount of time should be spent in Buenos Aires, the capital; one can pay their respects to Eva Perón whilst there at the grave site where she and many other famous Argentinians are buried or otherwise observe the most colourful parts of the city. Chile is also as promising, with the most popular part of the Atacama Desert, the Easter Island heads nearby and Santiago to add a twist of city life. Chile is perfect for stargazing with the sky at night being clear enough to see planets without a telescope, it provides the most tremendous spectacle with the El Tatio Geysers, an area with 80 geysers, sending up water and steam and in the heart of the desert, sweeping sand dunes surrounding you wherever you look. That is just the tip of the iceberg for suggestions of winter hideaways; there are endless more possibilities and places to go. Yet we are British and care little as to where we go as long as we can have some sun.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Culture DRAMA

Third Years, Fokkers and Frollicking Blake Jones reports from the frontline.

The 3rd Year cast showcases a classic play in style this January

he third years performed Biggles Flies a Fokker Home; now you have read the title, wait a few moments to finish giggling. We are often told to not judge a book by its cover, or a play by its title, yet Biggles Flies a Fokker Home is able to describe the plot, period and genre in one HS.404 shot, which would be very useful when answering Question 01 in the Drama GCSE paper. Quite simply, the pilot Biggles, with his friends Algy and Ginger, goes undercover into WW2 Germany to find the prototype for the new German plane, the ‘Fokker’, and then flies it home to Britain, all done with farce and innuendos. One of my pet hates in plays is when there are several actors playing the same role to make it more equal and easier without, considering it is uncomfortable and confusing for the audience. So I had my doubts about Biggles when I heard that three of the characters were played by three actors each. However, instead of chunks one, two and three with different actors in each, there was constant changing of the Biggles, Algys and Gingers with scenes featuring all three actors of each character. This allowed the audience to get used to the concept early on and then enjoy the play having accepted

it. This idea is then used in the conclusion of the play when the fourth wall is tailboy bombed. Being the competitive person I am, I cannot help but compare it to last year’s third year production, ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’, which in some ways was relatively similar to Biggles. The idea of a play

with one actor saying that they looked to Hugh Laurie to find their character, which worked well with having Biggles, the opposite of Rowan Atkinson’s anti-hero, being the stereotype who fits so nicely as the butt of all ‘Blackadder’s’ cynical humour. However I will not use my space here to spread propaganda that

“ ”

Nearly the whole cast dressed as Germans, dancing and yodelling. within a play (play-ception), whilst in an intimate setting with a simple plot, seem to be constants. The most considerable difference was the humour; ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ had little humour, but was described to us as a ‘black comedy’, this however brought allegations of racism and showed how there was considerable lack of knowledge regarding theatre genres in our class. The comedy in Biggles was incredibly ‘Blackadder-esque’

our production was better. The play had specific moments of visual excitement, with an unexpected plane made from the ‘junk’ around the stage, a rug representation created by an actor lying down in a onesie and a scene with nearly the whole cast dressed as Germans, dancing and yodeling. There were effective dramatic moments such as the ‘killings’ of Eve, Niamh and Genève, which were particularly funny despite

being thought of as deaths; the reveal at the end when the Algys’ character suddenly changes and the plot becomes more confusing than it originally seemed and the final moment, when the battle of Britain begins and the whole cast runs from the audience and the stage, through the seats and out the doors, a terrific end to the play. Particular mention must go to Silas Gills, who handled the ridiculousness of Algy whilst making his character believable and thus allowing the audience to be absorbed in the story whilst having a good chortle. Daniel Rohl, who played the Nazi officer with a very strong, yet not cheesy, accent must also be given praise. In addition, Joe Salter, who performed as a Biggles, had remarkable fluency during the show and therefore came much more naturally to the role and should thus be given great acclaim. Overall, Biggles Flies a Fokker Home was a challenging play, but the cast handled it mightily considering there was much more pace through rehearsals than the third years had last year. The future is full of promise for this year group in drama and I look forward to future productions working with them.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Sports SHOOTING

Rifles at the ready

Henry Waterson provides an insight into the goings-on in our school’s inconspicuous shooting range at the bottom of Lower Field.

RANGE

Abingdon school rifle club is a 25 yard range. Whereas most are 50m, this one was built quickly to train soldiers. It can be set up for air rifle at 10 yards using electronic target changers or .22 shooting at 25 yards. The back wall is faced with a rubber sheet with an armoured metal plate behind it to catch rounds.

EQUIPMENT

RANGE OFFICER

This is a .22 match rifle of a similar sort used by our club It is made by the German company Anschutz and is used in conjunction with a jacket and sling assembly. Bolt: The main moving part. Used to cock the weapon. Every rifle has its own. Too short and it will not fire – too long and you will get breech explosions. Luckily the serial numbers match up. Barrel: The barrel is rifled with a 7 groove counter clockwise twist engraved inside it. This gives immense accuracy. Tailor made barrels can cost up to £10,000 Sights: We use an aperture sight. They have no magnification and targets are simply enlarged at longer distances. The sights must be aligned perfectly and can be adjusted from side to side or up and down so that the shooter can keep the same point of aim. Here is a diagram of an ideal sight picture:

HENRY WATERSON takes aim with a .22 rifle

CLUB ROOM

The clubroom is where we keep our innumerable trophies, photographs of past trips. We compete in county competitions at Beckley range near Oxford, visit Bisley—the national shooting centre—and we have recently competed in a postal match against New Zealand. There is also a rather unremarkable toilet and a Kitchen, which we cannot use due to stern health and safety restrictions due to possible lead contamination. At our rifle club we shoot .177 air rifle as well as small bore .22 calibre. The club has license to shoot larger calibres but the range is actually CCF operated. We use a variety of weapons, including both CO2 and break barrel air rifles, all sizes of Anschutz and Walther .22 rifles and a few others that tragically have had their day and are in need of replacement, along with many of the other rifles which are mostly 40 years old! At the shooting club we have a special relationship with the rifles we use. Each is numbered and some have their own names – like Jim.

ARMOURY

This is where the rifles, ammunition and log books are kept. Until recently ammunition supply was restricted termly. The log books must be filled in meticulously to meet with MOD standards and every round is accounted for. The rifles are kept safe and sound in numerous gun lockers.

Trigger: A .22 rifle has a 2 stage trigger, meaning that it can be suppressed to stage 1 and then gently to stage 2 to ensure a smooth trigger pull. Hand Stop: Key to adjusting the shooting position – moves up and down forestock. Stock: The butt at the rear is adjustable up and down and some rifles have butt hooks that attach to the arm. On modern rifles the stock is made of aluminium and has more adjustable parts than you can wave a pineapple at. Ammunition: The rounds we use are all from Eley, who manufacture ammunition for the military as well as for civilian use. An Eley round goes through 1200 quality control checks during its production! Those that fail are sold on the cheap – a resource exploited widely by the club. Most of the ammunition in a reject box is good, but if one round fails then the batch fails.

This is Mr Alan Smith. He is Abingdon’s shooting coach today and has worked under numerous shooting masters since joining the school 23 years ago. Alan began his shooting career after a successful spell of competitive motor racing. A sponsor just so happened to be a member of the Pressed Steel rifle club and invited Alan to have a shoot one weekend. From there , Alan applied his racing mind set to shooting and went on to become the club junior champion, the Oxfordshire Junior Champion, the national junior champion, shot amongst the junior international medallists, the national junior record holders, the British school champions at both national and international levels and also competed against the police and army shooting teams and despite cheating from the police, won. He was selected to shoot in the world’s top 100 and once defeated the US champion, as well as breaking the air rifle record three times in as many weeks. Alan has coached many shooters who went on to become very successful and he almost became the official coach of St Helena. As you can well imagine, Mr. Smith soon licked the school’s rifle club into shape and has since set up annual matches against Stadt in Germany. Finbar Riley, an OA, has gone on to shoot in the commonwealth games trials in the England academy – the best in the country. Alan is a dangerous competitor with a long list of achievements to his name. That said, Alan is very humble and this information was only accessible strictly via interview!

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Sports

Arsenal master ‘heavy metal’ football to silence the yellow wall FOOTBALL

Aiden Steer discusses why teams shouldn’t be focused on football’s beauty contest but on the basics of hard work.

THE ARTISTS Will Arsernal’s style win them trophies?

THE YELLOW WALL Dortmund fans are among the most intimidating in Europe

“W

ork your bollocks off in midfield”. Sounds easy enough but after playing about 20 minutes of a local Abingdon-Radley derby I was knackered. It seemed pretty straightforward in practice with our team philosophy based on Oldham’s dogged display in the FA cup the week before by knocking out Liverpool. “Hustle, hustle, hustle” the words rang in my ears as I backed off and invited the Radley central midfielder to waltz into the space in front of me. Bearing down on goal the ball and his legs were swiped away from him as an Abingdon boy came flying in with an aggressive slide tackle. The attacker lay sprawled on the turf whilst a second defender followed up and smashed the ball onto the next pitch. With Borussia Dortmund snatching a win at the Emirates in the Champions League and Arsenal returning the favour by pulling off a memorable victory in Germany a week later, it was evident that beautiful football doesn’t always win you matches. Jurgen Klopp (the Dortmund manager) praised Arsene Wenger’s philosophy but said he preferred “fighting football” after the first game in North London. You may argue that all football teams display a fighting mentality, after all this is what provides the sort of drive needed to win titles and it is also the basis of a great team. But it is easy to succumb to a feeling of despondency. Think of Lance Armstrong and his

“

He likes having the ball playing football passes... It’s like an orchestra. But it is a silent song. I like heavy metal more. I always want it loud.

”

Jurgen Klopp

submission to performance enhancing drugs. It is sad to see a professional athlete take such desperate action but it demonstrates an attitude of ‘I’m never going to reach the heights and levels of the top guys if I don’t take these substances’. It is the realization that he felt he wasn’t strong enough that makes it more shocking. The fluent, artistic style that has become so well associated with teams like Barcelona and Arsenal is great to watch and it illustrates the beauty of the game. But in the case of the latter it hasn’t won them trophies. Perhaps they’re missing a sense of intensity and ferocity in their play. A key aspect of football is hard work and Klopp demands that his team switch between defence and attack as quickly as possible. This does not just rely on raw speed but there needs to be a great sense of teamwork involved as well. The ability of a wolf pack to track down and kill their prey requires a lot of coordination and cohesion. It is true that each individual wolf makes the success of the pack but it is also true that the pack makes the success of the individual wolf. Some people may argue that the neat, creative passing demonstrated by Arsenal and Barcelona is an example of a team working together. This is true but not every team has the players, ground or ability to produce this type of football and so they should be heavily reliant on a high intensity game and a hard working attitude off the ball.

“

There is no better example of the need for ‘heavy metal’ football than the gutsy, tenacious performance shown by Arsenal in the return fixture.

”

There is no better example of the need for ‘heavy metal’ football than the gutsy, tenacious performance shown by Arsenal in the return fixture. A team prided on their ability to dominate the possession stats over the course of a 90 minutes, recognized the need to put in a resolute sometimes scrappy display against one of Europe’s best clubs. Dortmund had only failed to score once in their previous 60 home games, which shows the achievement accomplished by Arsenal. Dortmund could not break down an organized Arsenal defense I am not saying that there is no need for beautiful football. Rather I love the way it can be done so effortlessly but no matter how good the team you cannot have an orchestra if heavy metal is not the conductor.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Sports CRICKET

Who will win this year’s World T20? In what promises to be one of the most closely fought competitions in the history of sport, Toby Jupp investigates the possible outcomes of Bangladesh 2014.

INDIA

WEST INDIES

‘The Bookies’ Favourites’ Captain: Mahendra-Singh Dhoni T20I Ranking: 2 2012 Performance: Super Eights Key Man: Mahendra-Singh Dhoni – The Chennai man plays a crucial role with both bat and behind the sticks, and will be key to any Indian success One to watch: Ravi Jadeja – Since making his debut in 2012, the all-rounder has become an integral part of the side with his explosive batting and left arm spin. Possible XI: Ro Sharma, Dhawan, Raina, Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni (c/wk), Jadeja, Ashwin, B Kumar, Yadav, I Sharma Playing in what is close to home conditions, and having won the Champions Trophy in June, India quite rightly head into this as favourites – and this team has many strengths but some could argue that they are short of a quality fast bowler.

‘The Defending Champions’ Captain: Darren Sammy T20I Ranking: 5 2012 Performance: Winners Key Man: Chris Gayle – The powerful batsman has established himself among one of the best in the business. One to Watch: Sunil Narine – The young spinner will be key in sub continental conditions and has established himself in the IPL after making his international debut in 2011. Possible XI: Gayle, Charles (wk), Samuels, Simmons, Bravo, Pollard, Russell, Narine, Sammy (c), Roach, Badree. It wouldn’t be right to start anywhere other than the defending champions. Their main strength is their depth in batting and bowling but perhaps lack a world-class wicket keeper.

Verdict: Runners-Up – may just fall at the final hurdle...

Chris Gayle is widely acknowledged as one of the most destructive batsmen, boasting a record of 148 boundaries in just 34 T20 internationals.

SRI LANKA

‘The Pretenders’ Captain: Dinesh Chandimal T20I Ranking: 1 2012 Performance: Runners-Up Key Man: Lasith Malinga – The world’s greatest T20 bowler can win the tournament himself and his slingy action confuses the best at times: if he doesn’t perform, Sri Lanka will not win One to watch: Ajantha Mendis – He finished last year’s World T20 as leading wicket taker and the talented spinner is a key part of the Sri Lanka side, the crafty bowler can turn the ball both ways. Possible XI: Jayawardene, Dilshan, Sangakkara (wk), Mathews, Perera, Chandimal (c), J Mendis, Kulasekara, Eranga, Malinga, A Mendis The ‘pretenders’ to the throne could emerge victorious as they probably should have done on home turf last time out and their team is jampacked with star names. They probably lack an out-and-out ‘slogger’ though, such as Gayle or Pietersen, who can turn a game on its head. Verdict: Semi-Final – a talented team that will go far.

The Indian challenge will be led by MS Dhoni, their influential Keeper-Batsman. Verdict: Winners – they will pick up their first T20 title.

ENGLAND

A great deal of Sri Lanka’s hopes rest on Lasith Malinga’s shoulders, as the veteran spearheads their bowling attack.

‘The Young Stars’ Captain: Stuart Broad T20I Ranking: 6 2012 Performance: Super Eights Key Man: Jos Buttler - With the omission of Kevin Pietersen from the squad, Jos Buttler will be promoted to 5 and is now undoubtedly England’s most effective and dangerous batsman in the short format. He also has a job to do with the gloves, an area which he can still improve. One to watch: Chris Jordan Chris Jordan has genuine pace as a bowler, and can also be quite handy with the bat as illustrated by his first class average of 22. Possible XI: Hales, Wright, Stokes, Morgan, Buttler (wk), Root, Bopara, Broad, Jordan, Tredwell, Dernbach England’s young stars, the likes of Hales, Root, Buttler, Stokes and Jordan, could help England lift the trophy. Their main strength is the bowling attack but the main concern will be that many of the batsmen, such as Bopara and Morgan being worryingly out of form. Verdict: Semi-Finals – perhaps a bit optimistic but the talent is there.

Buttler must now step up in the absence of Kevin Pietersen and must deliver his best form if England are to relive the glory of the world cup of West Indies 2010.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

PAKISTAN

AUSTRALIA

‘The Past Masters’ Captain: George Bailey T20I Ranking: 8 2012 Performance: Semi-Final Key Man: Shane Watson – The strong all-rounder will need to perform with both bat and ball if his side are to emerge victorious in Bangladesh. One to watch: James Faulkner – Since he hit an eye-catching 50 against England in the Champions Trophy in June, he has made his test debut and, like Watson, will need to perform with both bat and ball for Australian success. Possible XI: Finch, Warner, Watson, Marsh, Bailey (c), Maxwell, Haddin (wk), Faulkner, Coulter-Nile, Johnson, Ahmed. Australia was once the dominant force of all forms of cricket but recently they have fallen behind in T20. Their particular strengths lie in their explosive top order batting, Aaron Finch’s fastest 150 against England, and their pace bowling attack, featuring an in-form Mitchell Johnson, however they lack a top spinner and in sub continental conditions, may well prove their downfall.

As the team’s main all-rounder, Shane Watson will need to perform in order to land Australia’s first t20 title.

‘The Big Game players’ Captain: Mohammad Hafeez T20I Ranking: 3 2012 Performance: Semi-Final Key Man: Saeed Ajmal – Ajmal is, whether his action is legal or not, the most effective bowler in T20 at the moment. And Ajmal could, if on form, fire his country to success in Bangladesh. One to watch: Mohammad Irfan – the 7ft1 giant burst on to the scene in last year’s Champions Trophy and the left-arm fast bowler is one of 3 left-arm pacemen in this team. The 31-year old is certainly one to look out for – not that you could miss him! Possible XI: Jamshed, Shehzad, Hafeez (c), U Akmal (wk), Malik, Amin, Afridi, Riaz, Ajmal, Junaid, Irfan. Pakistan may seem on the surface to be the worst team in contention, but the likes of Afridi and Hafeez have been around for a long time, and know what they’re doing by now. The likes of Jamshed and Akmal are exciting young prospects and Pakistan may be high among the favourites.

Verdict: First Round - They’ll bow out of a tough group.

Verdict: First Round – like Oz, they’ll bow out of a tough group.

SOUTH AFRICA

NEW ZEALAND

‘The Underachievers’ Captain: Faf du Plessis T20I Ranking: 4 2012 Performance: Super Eights Key Man: Dale Steyn – without doubt, Steyn is in the top 2 bowlers in t20 and many will debate that Steyn is a better bowler than Malinga. With Steyn undoubtedly the spearhead of their attack, much of the Proteas’ hopes lie on Steyn. One to watch: David Miller – There is not much pressure on Miller to perform in this star-studded batting line-up. He performed very well for Yorkshire in the domestic T20 a couple of years ago and has since become a feature of this South African team. Possible XI: De Kock (wk), Amla, Du Plessis (c), De Villiers, Duminy, Miller, McLaren, Parnell, Steyn, Tsotsobe, Tahir Despite constantly boasting the no. 1 test ranking and some of the best players in cricket (Amla, De Villiers, Steyn…), one-day trophies always seem to just elude South Africa, maybe, with Duminy and Tahir though, the slow, spinning conditions will suit this team. Verdict: First Round – disappointment again.

As one of the world’s best T20 bowlers, Steyn has both the pace and the skill to fire South Africa to glory later this year.

‘The Dark Horses’ Captain: Brendon McCullum T20I Ranking: 7 2012 Performance: Super Eights Key Man: Brendon McCullum – As captain and one of the most talented players in this team, McCullum is carrying a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders and experienced stars like him will have to light the way for the younger stars One to watch: Kane Williamson – Williamson is the pick of NZ’s young stars and can do a job with both bat and ball, in sub-continent conditions, his off spin could do his team a good service Possible XI: Guptill, Rutherford, B McCullum (c/wk), Taylor, Williamson, Franklin, Anderson, Vettori, N McCullum, Southee, McClenaghan With young stars like Williamson, Corey Anderson and Mitchell McClenaghan combined with seasoned internationals, Daniel Vettori, the McCullum brothers, James Franklin and Ross Taylor, I think New Zealand could be dark horses.

Verdict: First Round – a step too far for the dark horses.

Should Ajmal reproduce the form that destroyed England during their 2012 UAE tour, he could steer his side towards the latter stages.

McCullum’s then world-record score of 123 in a T20 against Bangladesh in the 2012 World Cup highlights his brutal approach to batting.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Sports

FORMULA ONE

Where next for the world’s fastest sport? As F1 continues to expand, it’s clear there will be both winners and losers. Toby Jupp asks which cities will get to the chequered flag first.

n the past decade, Formula One has started to expand to areas of the globe that never seemed to be feasible. A race calendar that once consisted of just 6 European races plus the Indy 500 looks set for a 25-race calendar. The rise of the ‘BRIC’ nations has started to take its toll, with Brazil joining in 1973, China in 2004 and India as recently as 2011. Russia is scheduled to join in 2014 but plenty of other countries have expressed interest in joining a rapidly increasing calendar.

Western Europe

I’ll start with Western Europe, a continent that once dominated the calendar. I feel that with a 25-race calendar, the interested countries are vying for 9 places. Starting with the one that is most certain: Italy. This, despite its financial difficulties, would be the last country from Europe that would lose its race, for one main reason. Ferrari. The team that has come synonymous with the sport and is easily the most influential in the world. The Monza circuit has hosted more races than any other, and it is one of the few races that has survived from the original calendar back in 1950. Now onto those that are almost defi-

nite: Monaco, like Italy has a future set in stone and is the most glamorous race of those on the calendar. The street circuit in Monte Carlo has no reason to worry. Also the German and the British Grand Prixs (GPs) will remain, Germany and Great Britain account for nearly half the drivers in the sport and the circuits of

“

Formula One has started to expand to areas of the globe that never seemed to be feasible.

”

Hockenheim, Nurburgring (both Germany, which alternate every other year) and Silverstone (GB) are iconic within the sport. The revived Austrian GP will also have quite a safe future, not least because Red Bull have won the last 4 drivers’ and constructors’ World Championships. Spain currently has financial woes but there appear to be 3 viable options, with

Barcelona and Valencia currently alternating as well as FIA-favourite Jerez which hosts a testing session every year. I also believe that Belgium has a secure future, despite like much of Europe having funding problems, at the historic circuit of Spa-Francorchamps, another member of the original F1 calendar. Now onto those not currently on the calendar. France must regain its position on the calendar one day and although Formula One Management’s Bernie Ecclestone dream of as Paris race may never come to fruition, a race at the Circuit Paul Ricard near Marseille may be the circuit that finally establishes F1 in France. Shortly after the Austrian GP was given a revival, the Portuguese circuit at Estoril was given an FIA license, paving the way for Portugal to follow in their footsteps. However it is the Algarve circuit in Portimao that is a more feasible location for any future Portuguese GP. There are also proposals to host second Grand Prix in Italy, at the Ferrari-owned circuit at Mugello and the UK, in a glamour circuit around the streets of London but neither seems likely to happen at the moment.

Scandinavia, Central, Eastern and Southern Europe There are just 2 slots available, one of which is certain to go to Russia, which will make its debut at Sochi in 2014 but could move to Moscow as early as 2016. The other race will probably go either to Turkey or Hungary, with the latter the more likely to host it. The Hungaroring circuit in Budapest recently signed a deal to extend its stay to 2020 but after that it may be the Istanbul circuit that has the last laugh. Greece and Croatia both want representation on the calendar, but with the former bankrupt and the latter having no connection to the sport at all, neither will happen. I can see one of the Scandinavian countries getting in on the act, with Finns Kimi Raikkonen, who has signed for Ferrari for 2014, and Valtteri Bottas establishing himself at Williams, and Dane Kevin Magnussen securing a drive at McLaren next year. If one of these countries comes knocking, they’ll be hard to turn down.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

How could this new-look calendar shape up? 1) CHINA Shanghai 2) MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur 3) AUSTRALIA Melourne 4) BAHRAIN Sakhir 5) INDIA New Delhi 6) MOROCCO Casablanca 7) MONACO Monte Carlo 8) FRANCE Le Castellet 9) CANADA Montreal 10) SPAIN Jerez/Barcelona 11) PORTUGAL Algarve 12) AUSTRIA Red Bull Ring 13) BRITAIN Silverstone 14) GERMANY Nurburgring 15) HUNGARY Budapest 16) BELGIUM Spa-Francorchamps 17) ITALY Monza 18) SINGAPORE Marina Bay 19) JAPAN Suzuka 20) RUSSIA Sochi 21) UNITED STATES Austin 22) AMERICA New York 23) MEXICO Mexico City 24) BRAZIL Sao Paulo 25) ABU DHABI Yas Marina

US & Canada

This is easily the most simple to choose. Canada will continue to host its GP at Montreal, and Austin may be the circuit that at last establishes F1 in the States. I think that the long-anticipated American GP in New York will eventually happen (fingers crossed!) and there are no other viable options in this region.

Africa and the Middle East

This is perhaps the most intriguing area at the moment. Currently the two places are occupied by Abu Dhabi and Bahrain but I think three slots will be allocated to correspond with the growing interest of African countries. Abu Dhabi, out in the desert, definitely will remain as it is among the most popular in the paddock and there is a real ‘feel-good’ factor around the stunning Yas Marina circuit - there are rumours that it will host the finale from next season, and F1 wouldn’t give the finale to a country that they weren’t sure of. I, like many, have been very critical of the continuous inclusion of the boring Sakhir circuit in Bahrain but it appeared

to turn a corner this year and depending on the successful inauguration of the night race in Bahrain, it may have a future. If this does succumb to failure though, the Losail Circuit near Doha in Qatar will be waiting to pounce. Then I think Morocco will finally succeed in bringing F1 back to Africa after South Africa finally appeared to all but abandon its plans in bringing F1 back to Africa via the country that last hosted one from the vast continent.

The Far East

This is the area that F1, in particular Bernie Ecclestone, has targeted the most in the last 10 years. There are currently 7 races in this part of the world, and I only see 6 openings in the future. Japan should be one of the safest of the current races in the Far East, as it is financially sustainable, and the historical circuit at Suzuka is up there with the likes of the Nurburgring and Silverstone among the iconic circuits. The industrial powerhouses of India and China seem safe, despite the former being excluded from next year’s calendar. The circuit in the

suburbs of Delhi is contracted to return from 2015, and China is a key market for F1 to tap into. I’m going to make a bold prediction, but I think it will swap its space with Oz as the season opener to prolong the interest of F1 in the country. Despite all its doubters, it would be a huge shock of F1 were to lose Australia, which relocated from Adelaide to Melbourne in 1995 and has been the season opener since 1996 for all seasons bar 2, which were hosted by Bahrain in 2006 and 2010. Since it joined the calendar in 1999, Malaysia has become one of the first names on the calendar, its unpredictable weather always excites and is very unique. Another definite is the night race in Singapore, which, like Malaysia, offers something unique. The night race is the only of its kind (until Bahrain 2014) and is a certainty to retain its place on the calendar. Korea will lose its slot, not just because of the farce which saw a truck driving across an area of a track where cars were doing 200mph but because it has failed to develop into a circuit that is irreplaceable, e.g. Singapore and Abu Dhabi - empty seats do not help their case either. But if both Bahrain and Qatar

fail to impress, it may well be Thailand or Vietnam which get their chance in the cities of Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh respectively.

Latin America

This is the area to watch. Currently Brazil remains the sole representative but if the calendar does expand to 25 races, it will need a partner to be paired with in consecutive weeks. Mexico will almost definitely be that country, with Mexican Sergio Perez set for Force India in 2014. The Grand Prix will probably take place in 2015 though originally set for 2014. Pastor Maldonado’s move to Lotus may well pave the way for a Venezuelan GP and if he can be successful enough, and rack up enough demand in his homeland, a PDVSA-backed Venezuelan GP may happen. Argentina also wants a return to the Mar del Plata circuit. If the likes of Venezuela, Argentina and even the likes of Chile, Colombia and Peru can stir up enough interest, a Latin American revolution like that of the Far East could take place.

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

The Penultimate Page MARTLET

A letter from the Editor

Thomas Lawler says a few words about The Martlet.

Dearest Reader,

hope that with this new issue of The Martlet we have been able to breathe new life into this wonderful paper. I feel that the team working on the paper currently is truly fantastic and a real joy to work with. However, we still need more writers, more editors and more photographers! I feel that The Martlet should and could be a paper for everyone. This is after all a paper made by the boys for the boys. As a result I want to encourage people to write about what truly interests them or about their passions; in my opinion if people write about their interests then the quality of writing will match their level of interest. Having said that, it is crucial that The Martlet does not lose track of its core values: to inform and to entertain. This is currently not a concern of mine as I am very confident that the paper is in very capable hands. With all the latest news and information (both local and worldwide), The Martlet is the paper for the school. Our articles are wide ranging: in this issue alone, we have everything you need to know about the new Science Centre, right through to the prospects of the next James Bond film. As mentioned previously it would be great if we could get more recruit to join the team, but if commitment is not your thing or you can’t fit it into to your timetable, come along to one of our meetings or if you have written a piece send it in and if it gets through the selection process, you may see your work in one of our wonderful issues. My aim is to really push for this paper to become a paper that everyone can be proud of and can relate to, this is a paper that should inform and entertain. I am extremely proud to be working with such a great group of people, and as you read on I do hope you enjoy their hard work. — Thomas Lawler

READER SUBMISSIONS

Have Your Say The Martlet wants to know what you think

Caption Contest

Write to Us

“If you had £15 Million to spend on Abingdon School, what would you spend it on?” Send your responses to martlet@abingdon.org.uk, with your name and tutor group, and stand a chance to be featured in next term’s issue!

THE MARTLET SPRING ISSUE

Humour

Dudley’s Dilemmas HUMOR

Abingdon School’s unofficial mascot takes the time to respond to our most trivial of problems. By Henry Waterson

Dear Dudley, Please help me! I’ve lost my favourite pencil! I’ve had this pencil for nearly two years and it is a deeply treasured item to me. I only use this pencil on special occasions in order to preserve it, but last Monday I must have left it in Little School after Tutor because I can’t find it anywhere. Normally in these situations I would send an e-mail to everyone in the school, offering them a hearty congratulations and a hug if they return it to me, then afterwards I would send everyone a picture of Rowan Atkinson as Captain Jack Sparrow because of the good mood I’d be in. Instead I can’t do that, because one of the scary teachers said that we couldn’t send happy reward-offering messages anymore! I have no idea what to do and I am really confused! Please help me! —Anonymous Dearest Master Anonymous, You are not alone in your plight. I have encountered and resolved many cases similar to yours. You can rest assured, for there are numerous ways in which a pupil can end the search for their treasured items. I did in fact use the following guidance to track down my second favourite chew toy on one occasion. The first thing that I advise is that you confirm whether or not the article is in fact missing. It may be that your pencil has eluded you yet is still about your person. Before taking further action, it would be prudent to examine every orifice of your car, blazer, school bags and bedroom. It may be the case that a fellow pupil has seen your coveted pencil and either kept hold of it to return to you when the next opportunity arises or is considering selling it on the black market, on which novelty pencils are surprisingly desired. Such lost possessions as your pencil tend to turn up in good time, whether it be as a result of its rediscovery or its return by a responsible colleague. However, these cases do not always have a bright end and it is my duty as the school’s only advice giving dog to alert you to the risks. It is known that there are several criminal circles operating within the Abingdon area who specialise in the theft of day to day items. Reports have surfaced regarding the feared Humberto Dunaway earphone snatching gang, the accursed Franklyn brothers, responsible for the theft of numerous mobile phones, and the sinister Quezada cartel, who make use of exceptional camouﬂage to snatch watches oﬀ pupils’ very wrists. I sincerely hope that your pencil has not found its way into such a criminal organization, but if it should be lost forever, then you can always rely on Clancy and Wiseman’s writing utensil insurance company to get you a great deal on your pencil insurance. They can give you a quote for a subtly calculated charge of £300 plus VAT should you decide to protect the other contents of your pencil case. I hope that you find your cherished pencil without the use of a blanket email or consorting with the devil, which is definitely the worst solution. By the way, you may wish to purchase one of my own second hand pencils which I have collected and stored underneath my rug for just such an emergency. Love, Dudley

{Big}

The

Quiz

Test your wits against this mega quiz by Tobias Jupp

Sport

Entertainment

1. Who is the all-time leading wicket taker in Test Cricket? 2. Who recently won the Golf PGA European tour? 3. Who are the sponsors and kit manufacturers of the England Rugby Team? 4. Which football team do Piers Morgan, Mo Farah and Lewis Hamilton support?

11. Name the winner of last year’s X Factor.

21. Which currency is used in Japan?

12. Which ongoing British TV Series stars Sarah Parish and is based on Greek mythology?

22. Which is the most eaten fruit in the world?

13. In which year did Eastenders begin? 14. Which actor plays the title role in Johnny English? 15. Which celebraty’s real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta?

5. To which Bundesliga football team does Germany’s oldest debutant goalkeeper belong?

16. Who wrote the original book series ‘The Hunger Games’?

6. Who won the very first football World Cup in 1930?

17. Who founded Apple?

7. Which team will ex-Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa drive for in 2014?

19. True or False: Cats is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

8. Who is the current manager of Barcelona FC?

20. Which TV Network has just bought the rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League for £897 million?

9. What is the World Record time for the 100m sprint, held by Usain Bolt?

General Knowledge

18. Who won the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest?

23. What is the only word in the English language ending in –mt. 24. What is the most populous city in the world? 25. Who invented the telephone? 26. Which river runs through the cities of Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest? 27. In what country is Ryanair based? 28. What is the Italian city ‘Torino’ known as in English? 29. The Olympus Mons is the tallest volcano in the solar system, on which planet is it? 30. What is the largest bone in the human body?

10. Who has won more boat races between the Oxford and Cambridge universities?

10-20

1. Muttiah Muralitharan 2. Henrik Stenson 3. O2; Canterbury 4. Arsenal 5. Borussia Dortmund 6. Uruguay 7. Williams 8. Tata Martino 9. 9.58 seconds 10. Cambridge

11. Sam Bailey 12. Atlantis 13.1985 14. Rowan Atkinson 15. Lady Gaga 16. Suzanne Collins 17. Steve Jobs 18. Denmark 19. True 20. BT Sport

0-10

Hmmm, maybe you’re not making the most of that private school education. And this wasn’t even that hard. Are you sure you’re not better off reading The Blazer?

A decent score, but still not exactly setting the world alight. You’re probably sitting in G3 territory at the moment. You better get those books out and start cramming.

20-30

Either you deserve that scholar’s tie, or you were looking at the answers! You must be the captain of the House General Knowledge team!

Nick Harris Patrick Cole Samuel Chambers Tobias Jupp Tom Buckle

PUBLISHER Emma Williamson

COPY EDITOR George Jeﬀreys

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Thomas Lawler

DESIGN EDITOR Asten Yeo

STAFF WRITERS Aiden Steer Blake Jones Daniel Alcock Henry Waterson

MANAGING EDITORS Thomas Harkness Henry Wilkinson

ILLUSTRATOR Michael Man

If you have any comments, questions or enquiries, write to us at martlet@abingdon.org.uk Design by Asten Yeo

Printed by the Newspaper Club

21. Yen 22. Banana 23. Dreamt 24. Tokyo 25. Alexander Graham-Bell 26. River Danube 27. Ankara 28. Turin 29. Mars 30. Femur