The
Churchill NEWSLETTER 2013
The Contents PAGE 3 Message from the Master PAGE 4 I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist… PAGE 5 Continuing a Nobel tradition PAGE 6 Churchill returns to New York PAGE 7 Operation Iceberg PAGE 8 A way of life PAGE 9 A day in the life PAGE 10 Making money to making history PAGE 11 Letting them in PAGE 12 Skipper Paddy aiming for four PAGE 13 Chariots of Fire
Welcome! As ever we have tried to cover a range of topics in this edition of The Churchill newsletter. Featuring fellows, students and alumni, you’ll find everything from cricket, women in politics, Nobel Laureates, food and drink to furniture exhibitions (no, we haven’t turned the College into an outpost of MFI or IKEA!) but chairs have been a highlight over the last year with a fascinating retrospective of Hans Wegner chairs on display in the Jock Colville Hall to your very own named chairs in the dining hall – they’re still available so please do get in touch if you want to have your name on a chair for posterity or should that be posteriority?! Wherever you are in the world I urge you to stay in touch, get involved and continue to be part of the wider Churchill community. We have a number of events taking place and would love to see you at them. See the Back Page for further details. If you can’t be there in person, try a virtual visit by going to our website www.chu.cam.ak.uk or Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Churchill College is a truly global entity and has a unique connection to the Commonwealth, it being the national and Commonwealth memorial to Sir Winston Churchill. In March, during Commonwealth Week, we paid homage to this distinction by hosting a special dinner with guest speaker, Lord Watson who is, amongst many other things, Chairman of the Council of Commonwealth Societies. In April the Master visited alumni in the Far East and, for the first time, in the UAE. As some of you know, our Alumni Relations Manager, James, is helping to set up alumni groups around the globe so if you are interested in participating in a group near where you live please do let us know. I hope you enjoy this year’s newsletter. Please do let us know what you think as your opinions are very important to us. Sharon Maurice Development Director
PAGE 14 To sleep, perchance to dream… PAGE 15 Catering for Churchill PAGE 16-17 The art of sitting comfortably PAGE 18 Caption competition PAGE 19 Churchill College publications
Published by Churchill College Editor: Tim Cribb Storey’s Way Cambridge CB3 0DS. Tel. 01223 336197; Fax 01223 336177; Newsletter.Editor@chu.cam.ac.uk Design & layout: www.cantellday.co.uk All texts, photographs and illustrative material, except where acknowledged otherwise, are © Churchill College 2013. We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce illustrations and photographs: Gavin Bateman, Sal Brinton, Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Noelle Caulfield, Ray Goldstein, John Gurdon, Helen Czerski.
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Message from the Master “Back tae auld claes and porridge” – but it hasn’t been at all like that since Elizabeth and I returned from our travels in April. We were both delighted to be able to attend the launch of the exhibition Churchill: the Power of Words, which ran from June to September at the Morgan Library in New York. It was a very special affair, with the Director of the Library, Bill Griswold, the Vice-Chancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, and the other Boris (Johnson) making what can be most succinctly described as complementary speeches. I am reliably told by the historian Andrew Roberts that afterwards the Mayor of London took over the cycling from an exhausted pedal-cab driver to reach their dinner destination in Manhattan, declaiming his powers as Chair of Transport for London. The exhibition was a tremendous success, drawing record crowds to the Morgan throughout. We are now getting close to realising our hopes for the New Court, and my sincere thanks to all who have contributed towards making this possible. The final phase of fundraising was launched at a special dinner hosted by Lesley Knox (UG72); in the 50@50 campaign, we are seeking support from individuals and groups of alumni to name a room in the New Court for a contribution totalling £50K (after gift aid or equivalent if you are in the USA), which can be pledged over up to five years. It is a very exciting prospect to be on the threshold of this development. We again hosted the alumni reception at our flat in Edinburgh in August – no objections yet from the neighbours with 40+ present! We were delighted that Natasha Squire, widow of Founding Fellow Peter Squire, was staying with us. We are planning a major trip to the Far East in 2013, to include the alumni receptions which the Vice-Chancellor will host in Singapore (probably 7 April) and Hong Kong (probably 20 April). We hope to meet alumni then, and in between we
are planning to visit Beijing, Shanghai and Fuzhou, in part to visit clients of the Møller Centre. Beforehand we will have a week in Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand, to see our daughter Sara, and to renew my acquaintance with the wonderful underwater world there. This all means that we are likely to miss the second of the events in collaboration with Clare, King’s and Lucy Cavendish to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the admission of women, which will be at Churchill/ Lucy Cavendish, on 20 April 2013. The first of these was preceded by a wonderful concert in King’s College Chapel, which featured Penny Driver (UG80), who gave a superb performance of the Prelude, Sarabande and Gigue from JS Bach’s cello suite No. 2. In all this extraordinary richness of College life, I mustn’t forget the academic. Our warmest congratulations go to Sir John Gurdon (F73, now Honorary Fellow) for
the Nobel Prize for medicine in recognition of his work on cloning and stem cells; to Ray Goldstein (Fellow), the Ig Nobel Prize (the College’s first) for his beautiful Physical Review Letters paper on the shape of the ponytail; and to our students, who came out fifth (out of 29) in the Tompkins Table of Cambridge College undergraduate academic performance (to those of you as confused as I, yes, it was first announced as fourth, but The Independent newspaper made a mistake). Your college continues in good heart. David Wallace
ABOVE: Artist Tai Schierenberg and our Head of House
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I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist… Having recently returned from a week of banquets and other extremely generous entertainments during the so-called Nobel week in Stockholm, this seems a very far cry from my earliest exposure to science at school over 50 years ago. At that time, soon after the end of World War II, teaching in science did not start until the age of 15. After the first term, I came bottom of the bottom class out of 250 students in the same year and I was dismissed from any science for my remaining time at school. Nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to be able to return to a science career having left school. How could this have happened? The short answer is that, nowadays, it could not. I enjoyed learning how to translate Homer, Aeschylus, and other Greek and Latin literature into English for my remaining time at school, but my real interest was always in insects and plants, which I used to grow in my free time. Thanks to extensive parental help, I was able to do enough elementary science teaching to start a Zoology course at Oxford; getting into Oxford was itself precarious; the admissions tutor said that I would be accepted on condition that I studied any other subject than Classics, in which I had taken the Entrance. In the end, I got a good degree in Zoology. I was rejected for a PhD in entomology, but was accepted by an outstanding Lecturer at Oxford to do a PhD in embryology. What time there was left between learning zoological facts, mostly paleontology, I liked to keep fit and got into the second university team for skiing and squash. Within a year of starting on my PhD work, luck was on my side, and two major technical hurdles, which could have removed a career in science from my grasp, had been resolved. Before the end of my PhD work, the major question to which my PhD work had been addressed had been answered to a large extent. This
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question was whether all different kinds of cells in the body had the same sets of genes. I remember a contemporary of mine saying ‘this is the kind of work for which people get a Nobel Prize’, although it didn’t seem so at the time. At the invitation of George Beadle, I went to CalTech for postdoctoral work in bacteriophage genetics, at which I was extraordinarily unsuited. I returned to Oxford as an Assistant Lecturer in Zoology and was accorded a very favourable Research Fellowship at my Oxford College, Christ Church. In spite of great support from heads of other departments in Oxford, and notably from Rodney Porter (Nobel Prize for
antibody structure), I accepted a job offer from Max Perutz at the MRC laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Since it started, just over 50 years ago, it has fostered, spawned, or whatever, no less than 17 Nobel Prizes on a modest budget. I have always been immensely grateful to Max Perutz (X-ray crystallography) for appointing me to his institute. To move to Cambridge from a very secure professional and comfortable domestic life in Oxford was a substantial risk and challenge [at the age of nearly 40].
Having resigned my Research Fellowship at Christ Church, Oxford, I shall be forever grateful to Richard Keynes (Physiology, Cambridge and a founding Fellow of Churchill) for getting me invited to have an E-class Research Fellowship in Churchill only a few years after moving to Cambridge. At Churchill, I was generously spared the (to me) substantial discomfort of mid-week afternoon committee meetings. I always felt like a parasite (not that for a moment the College made me feel this) because I enjoyed the privilege of belonging to High Table where one met an extraordinarily wide range of interesting visiting Fellows, and indeed teaching Fellows of the College, while not contributing in a material way to the success of the College. After just over 10 years at the MRC Molecular Biology Institute, my close colleague Ron Laskey and I were invited by Professor (later Sir) Gabriel Horn to accept Professorships in his department of Zoology in Cambridge. As it turned out, this somewhat risky move paid off to an unexpected extent. My long-time colleague Ron Laskey and I were offered money to initiate a new Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology in Cambridge. Having started as a Cancer Research Campaign supported research
group for Ron Laskey and myself, it has now developed into an institute containing some 17 groups, some 250 people, and an annual budget of about ÂŁ9 million. Since those early days, I have been preoccupied with the important question of how it is that a somatic cell nucleus can be rejuvenated or reprogrammed by components of an egg. This reprogramming is the basis of the concept that it may be possible to give patients with aged or diseased tissues new rejuvenated cells of all different kinds of the body starting from accessible skin types such as skin or blood. During my scientific career, my wife Jean has been extremely tolerant of my long
hours in the laboratory and extensive trips to foreign meetings. After some 25 years as a Research Fellow at Churchill, I was kindly offered the job as Master of Magdalene in Cambridge. Having benefitted a great deal from that, Churchill has been so very kind as to invite me to become an Honorary Fellow of the College, thereby enabling me to continue this long association since 1973. John Gurdon (F73; Honorary Fellow 07)
LEFT: Sir John Gurdon ABOVE: Sir John’s Science Report
Continuing a Nobel tradition My collaborators and I were thrilled to learn in the late spring that we were to be awarded, jointly with Prof. Joseph Keller of Stanford University, the 2012 Ig Nobel Prize in physics. The Ig Nobel organizers swore us to secrecy on the matter until the award ceremony in Boston, to which we all travelled in late September. It was a hilarious and enjoyable evening at the famous Sanders Theatre at Harvard University. The ceremony was broadcast live on the internet and we received many comments from people around the world who watched it. Ray Goldstein (F07) Patrick Warren, Ray Goldstein, Robin Ball
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Churchill returns to New York Over time, a cadre of Churchill College graduates and other Churchillians spoke about ‘bringing Churchill back to New York, ‘the city where his mother was born’, the first city he visited in America, on November 9, 1895 (he was on his way to Cuba), and also the city from which he left America on his last visit, leaving Idlewild Airport for London on April 13, 1961. documents, artifacts, and recordings, ranging from edited typescripts of Churchill’s speeches, to his Nobel Medal and Citation, to excerpts from his broadcasts made during the London blitz. The centerpiece of the exhibition was the ‘pod’ where eight of his most famous speeches were heard with accompanying words and relevant newsreel footage.
In 2009, an approach was made to the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. Churchill read widely and lived by his pen; while the Morgan Library exists to collect and preserve the literary and artistic tradition upon which he built his writing and career. Thus was born the concept and the title of the exhibition Churchill, The Power of Words. It was curated by Allen Packwood, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre and Declan Kiely of the Morgan Library. Thereafter, Martello Media of Dublin were hired to design the exhibition’s layout and the audio-visual pod. The exhibition opened on the evening of June 7th with a large crowd and many eminent people present, including the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, the Mayor of London and Caroline Kennedy. (The speeches are available at www.winstonchurchill.org). The exhibition drew large crowds from June 8 to September 23, 2012 and received multiple positive reviews. The exhibition brought to life the man behind the words through some 65
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In parallel a series of related events took place; these included a book written by Sir Martin Gilbert entitled Churchill, the Power of Words, a Speakers series that included Celia Sandys and others, a film series, and other events. The exhibition also provided the backdrop for the soft launch of ‘The Churchill Archive On-Line’, an ambitious collaboration between the Archives Centre and Bloomsbury Academic to digitize the entire Churchill Papers collection. Out of so many wonderful Churchill quotes, the one that appeals to me most is one from 1943. ‘The empires of the future are the empires of the mind’ (During a speech WSC made at Harvard University on receiving an honorary degree, September 6, 1943) While different people can interpret it in their own way I think of the internet, websites, connectivity, collaboration and all the wonderful things that derive from these new paradigms and technologies. The exhibition was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise Churchill’s profile and in particular to try and connect with a younger generation. Personally I felt this way with two lively teenage sons and especially around the high value of leadership. We decided that we needed a special means of providing an interesting, attractive
gateway to communicate the exhibition and the importance of Churchill directly to contemporary experience to those under 21. Towards this end, a wonderful website (www.discoverchurchill.org) was created by an enthusiastic team.
Allen Packwood said at the time: “I hope and believe that this website will be a great vehicle for taking Churchill's words and deeds to a wider and younger audience.” Positive comments were received and people liked the modern trailer set to music. It had wide global reach; a sample of 100 hits came from as many as 70 cities globally all the way from those in China to Chile. The exhibition was an extraordinary success and it was a great personal honour to have been involved since its inception, working with professionals of high excellence in their fields. Allen Packwood and others have set the bar very high for future Churchill exhibitions and events. Stay tuned! Michael Norwich (UG66)
ABOVE: The first page of the Discover Churchill website © Estate of Yousuf Karsh
Operation Iceberg Physicists do like space-time diagrams. But in the excitement of thinking about particles and photons zooming about on paper, we sometimes forget about the diagrams we travel in reality. Peter Wadhams (now Professor) was an undergraduate at Churchill, reading physics from 1966 to 1969. I studied the same subject at Churchill from 1997 to 2001. Same place, thirty years apart. Last summer, our paths met on a ship in the Davis Strait, just west of Greenland. Also present at the same point in time but 50 metres away in space was a polar bear, and underneath the polar bear was a massive tabular iceberg. Peter and I stood on the bow of the ship and watched the bear. The bear peered back at us for a while, and then wandered off. The iceberg stayed put. After all, the iceberg was the star of the show.
Operation Iceberg was a BBC Two series about iceberg formation and destruction, and it was all filmed during one six-week expedition to Greenland. I was excited about the series because its aim was to show the process of scientific discovery, something that is all-too-often missing from science TV. The BBC had assembled a collection of scientists who normally
worked in the Arctic, and had persuaded them to join our expedition so that they were all collecting data in the same place. I was one of the presenting team, there to follow the scientists, assist with practical work when possible, and to help tell the story of the science being uncovered. The first three weeks of the expedition were spent perched on a ledge overlooking the front of Store glacier. It was a stunning setting for a camp, and it was a huge privilege to spend three weeks with a clear view of the glacier front. The glacier rumbled and boomed as it marched along, and every few days we were rewarded by the sight of a massive chunk of the ice front breaking away and starting its journey down the fjord. The largest chunks, each approximately a cubic kilometre of ice, rotated as they broke away to reveal ice that had been hidden away under the glacier for thousands of years. Peter joined us when we set off in an Icelandic ship to study a large tabular
iceberg out at sea. The snappily-titled Petermann Ice Island B1 had split away from the Greenland ice cap two years previously, and we were there to look at the mechanisms helping it break up. After spending several days surveying, some scientists (including Peter) finally got out on to the ice to set up experiments. Just as they were finishing, a huge crack opened up a mere 100 metres or so behind the group, almost parallel to the iceberg edge. This fracture must have been three kilometres long, and all I could think of was the fractures I had studied in my first year materials science course, which had a maximum length of about one millimetre. This was fracture mechanics on a grand scale, and Peter was standing on top of it. Fortunately, we had taken extensive safety measures, and the team all got back on to the ship quickly. I’m sure that when Peter did his early work on iceberg break-up, he had never dreamed that he would be quite so close to that physics in action. I loved the expedition and the opportunity to talk about the physics of ice and the ocean. Operation Iceberg got a very enthusiastic reception when it was broadcast, and I’m glad that Churchill College played its part in this project. Helen Czerski (UG97, PG02)
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A way of life Politics isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life. Either you get the bug, or you don’t, and that’s important, because the personal commitment you need to make to succeed is considerable. And so it should be. Seeking elected office is not something to be undertaken lightly. I joined the Liberals in 1974 aged 19, in the run up to the Europe Referendum the following year. Many years followed of delivering leaflets, going to conferences, becoming an agent, until 1993 when I was elected to Cambridgeshire County Council as a Liberal Democrat for Castle Ward (including Churchill College) and also became the Education portfolio member, with a budget of £250m p.a. All too soon after that I was mentored and supported to become an approved candidate for Parliament. I was selected for neighbouring S E Cambridgeshire, a seat with potential, and useful for learning the ropes. I attended excellent party training to develop my team, how to use election software to maximise our data, working with volunteers. But as a woman with young children and a demanding job it was always tough to balance. At 22%, there are still too few women MPs. In 2003 I was selected to fight Watford, a top three-way marginal target seat. Here I discovered the nastier side of politics. Cambridgeshire was a positive oasis of courteous behaviour! The personal abuse hurled at all politicians via the local newspaper and on leaflets was breathtaking. In addition I was the target of a campaign of criminal damage, harassment and stalking over a three-year period, culminating in the arrest and conviction of my Conservative opponent. This was extreme, even by political standards, but we were determined not to let it get in the way of our campaign. Frustratingly, in both 2005 and 2010 we narrowly failed to take the seat by 1400 votes. I had turned down going into the House of Lords before, but when offered the chance in late 2010 I agreed. The Lords is something of an extreme contrast to the hurly burly of the campaign trail. It is an excellent revising scrutiny Chamber, 8 THE CHURCHILL 2013
vote. My colleague replied “We try not to do anything as vulgar as that”. My role these days is leading on Bills, or parts of Bills, for my party, taking part in fascinating topical debates, asking Oral Questions in the House. I miss helping the public with casework (we don’t do that in the Lords), but find the work fulfilling and busy. And House of Lords reform? I believe it is overdue and necessary, but that’s another story. which has expertise is many subjects, not just amongst the politically neutral Crossbenchers (one of whom is Lord Broers). Instead of the Punch and Judy style of debate found “in Another Place” as the Commons is quaintly referred to, courtesy is extended to speakers, interventions much more considered. On my first day I met a friend who was a newly elected MP and a long serving Lord. As the Commons Division bell went, the MP asked us if we were going to
Sal Brinton (UG81)
TOP: Sal Brinton with Nick Clegg, Watford 2010 LEFT Sal Brinton and husband, Tim Whittaker
A day in the life I wake at 6am, I am only ever up early for a media interview, otherwise I tend to work until very late. The 7.15 train gets me into Kings Cross and a car takes me to the Sky studios where I have agreed to talk about the Savile Report. As a Reader in Forensic Psychology, I usually do two media appearances a week but the Savile investigation kept me busier. My role in cases like this is to provide some information the public won't readily be able to get from the newspapers. This morning I explore how the Broadmoor incidents could have happened in the wake of the Ashworth Inquiry which had a major impact on secure hospitals like Broadmoor. Back in Cambridge I cycle to Shire Hall to check my Councillor mailbox. One of my residents has been ripped off by a trader. I ring her to check facts and then I contact the County Trading Standards Officer to investigate further and report back to me. There is an overgrown tree on the Madingley Road cycle path which I report for trimming. And someone’s disabled badge renewal has been delayed. While I am chasing that up on the phone, I report two potholes for mending by email and put them on Fix-My-Street as well. We have campaigned to have software that can report and be transparent about this work but it is a constant battle to try and bring the County Council in to the 21st Century. Casework is the most
rewarding aspect of being a councillor, and what may seem like small issues can be a major factor in people being able to get around Cambridge or being isolated. I write some Thank You cards to those who helped during a recent Euro-selection. I am delighted to be high on the list at number three to stand as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the European parliament elections. In the evening I go to a hall where Norman Lamb is due to speak. As Minister for Social Care, Norman is in Cambridge to consult about putting a cap on the amount that people would have to find to fund care costs in later life. After the talk he ensures that everyone’s question is replied to and provides thoughtful answers. I am still bemused, but rather proud, that warm, unstuffy friends in politics are now ministers creating a stronger economy and a fairer society. Afterwards I bring Norman up to date about a national pilot scheme which I helped launch in parliament. It is called the Ugly Mugs Scheme and will improve
the level of intelligence regarding crimes committed against sex workers in the UK. The scheme is already showing good results as it meets its aim to encourage and increase the level of reporting of hidden crimes against women. I hope that this vulnerable group of people will have the system fully funded one day as the pilot is run on a shoestring and funding will run out after six months. Norman listens carefully and promises to read the information pack I prepared. We agree to meet and discuss things again when there are more results to evaluate – this time in Cromer of all places! A by-election is due there so I have a hunch our meeting will end up with a canvassing session. Belinda Brooks-Gordon (PG95)
ABOVE: Belinda contributing to the understanding of sexual offending patterns LEFT: Councillor Brooks-Gordon pressing the importance of women’s safety to the Minister of State for Care and Support, Norman Lamb
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Making money to making history As a Chief Executive I have spent quite a bit of my time with headhunters – mostly as the recruiter but occasionally as the candidate. There was a brief time when I was looking to make a major change in my life when I turned to those I knew for advice on how to make a radical career move. It was not a happy experience. ‘But Caroline you are in your mid-forties – you have left it too late’ said one. ‘Your experience is in the energy sector, that’s the only sector where I can reasonably place you’ said another. Thank goodness I didn’t listen to them. I am writing this piece whilst in Delhi, where I am meeting with the new CEO and Chair of Sightsavers India – we are investing in fundraising here now not just programmes, tapping into the new wealth that is being created. Over the next few months I will be visiting Congo-Brazzaville and Southern Sudan, as well as meeting with people from World Bank and WHO, all in the cause of eliminating avoidable blindness and fighting for the rights of disabled people. If I had listened to those fusty old headhunters I would never be in this position. And loving what I do. My career has been unusual. I studied Physics because my father said ‘it would lead to a good job’ and anyway, I was no good at Chemistry. I came to Churchill because I was blown away both by the Energy group at the Cavendish (sadly demised now) and Cambridge itself. I wanted to spend three more years studying if I could do it in such a place, and do something relevant to society (the first ‘energy crisis’ was upon us then). From Cambridge I joined the oil industry – mainly to earn some money. Being an academic is all very well but I was too venal to put up with the pay and the short term contracts that made getting a mortgage impossible…. So I then spent the next 17 years in an industry where men well outnumbered women. But having done Physics this was of course entirely the norm for me. Indeed things didn’t change until I joined the
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charity/NGO sector where women outnumber men… People ask me what it was like working mainly with men – I think they expect lurid tales of sexual harassment or a desperate fight to be taken seriously. I can honestly say I experienced very little of either – at least after the first few years. I did have one boss joke constantly about us having an affair – but a rather risky stratagem of calling his bluff in the hotel soon put paid to that. I remember too a boss who clearly felt deeply threatened by me, who tried to stop an important promotion by telling my new boss that I was a ‘raging feminist who spent a lot of time with the women’s network.’ Bad call on his part as the new boss was, unbeknownst to him, a raging leftie who was a member of the Communist party. He thought this made me ideal for the job, so it backfired. My career in the oil industry ended with a couple of lucrative deals that gave me financial security – one selling the part of the company I ran, and the other helping another company turn around and sell its own gas subsidiary. At that point I knew I needed something different – whatever headhunters might say. My advice to others is that you should not let yourself be pigeonholed – it is possible to make a radical change. I got myself some charity experience first by taking a non executive directorship at a housing association; I was then very loud at the Sightsavers interview – I decided to be memorable even if I didn’t have all the necessary experience. It worked. So these days I spend some of my time meeting Ministers of Health, some persuading donors to support us, and some time sitting with people in the most deprived communities in the world,
talking to them about their lives. I get to see the world as it really is – in all its contrasts. I see poverty at its most extreme, but also communities who bind together in a way that I think we, in the UK, may have lost. I am at my happiest, I think, when I am doing public speaking – and particularly talking about the fact that we stand poised at the moment to eliminate some of the most disgusting diseases on earth – blinding trachoma and river blindness (one very painful, the other causing unbearable itching, and both causing blindness). If we can do that (and with enough will and resources we can), then I will have played a part in history. Who could ask for more than that in a career? Caroline Harper (PG81)
Letting them in 1972 saw the admission of women to Churchill, Clare and King’s, and the first admission of women undergraduates to Lucy Cavendish (until then for women graduates only). The four colleges have joined forces to hold anniversary celebrations this year, and the first took place on Saturday 17th November, based in Clare and King’s. Your roving reporter attended. The celebration started with afternoon tea in Clare, whose team laid on plenty of hot drinks and two kinds of delicious cake. (Coffee and lemon, since you ask.) The rather small room in which it was held literally brought everyone together, getting things off to a properly warm start. We’d been told to leave in good time for Evensong at King’s, so we straggled over in the drizzle to queue outside the Chapel for what seemed a long time. But that gave us the chance to get chatting to other queuers – my neighbour was a delightful Lucy Cav alumna who had read a first English degree at Oxford in the days when the syllabus stopped at 1900. Fed up with this, she moved east for a second BA in English at Lucy; the Cambridge syllabus in those days extended to a progressive 1945. I swapped a few similar tales about the Modern Languages degrees in each institution, tales which somehow seemed of a piece with the fact that it took Oxford’s men’s colleges rather longer than Cambridge’s to go mixed (1974). (To be fair, Oxford did allow its existing women undergraduates to proceed to degrees nearly thirty years earlier than Cambridge, 1920 versus 1948, but we won’t talk about that now.) Eventually we got into the Chapel, where we were put in pews whose cunningly placed wooden knobs just in your back seemed designed to stop you nodding off,
but it was worth it. We were right next to the choir, and the sublime singing and wonderful setting more than compensated. But – no girls in the choir? Treble and alto still sung by little boys and countertenors? Blind tests reveal no differences between young girls’ voices and young boys’. In the 1960s, David Willcocks, who conducted the St Matthew Passion broadcast from the Festival Hall every Easter, broke with tradition and used girls from London schools for the ripieno chorus in the opening ‘Come, ye daughters’. No one ever complained. It’s all the more regrettable because the musical training acquired in choir schools has helped many future male composers, while potential female ones have been shut out from it – one reason, it’s been speculated, for the historic dearth of women composers. Early in the service, the Evensong celebrant referred to the Gala’s marking of the admission of women by ‘King’s and several other colleges’. In case we hadn’t understood that the ‘several other’ colleges were not for naming, he repeated the phrase verbatim later in the service. You could almost hear Churchillian, Clarean and Lucyan hackles collectively rising.
drawn from the alumnae, current students and Fellows of the four colleges, and one of the soloists was our own cellist Penny Driver (U80). By now, everything was running a tad late, so the planned reception merged with the dinner in an atmosphere of comfortable chaos. For reasons unclear to us, all the Churchill people were seated at a table marked King’s. Dinner was jolly, with a serious note, however, struck in a speech by the Vice-Chancellor, who took us through the shameful pre-1972 history of Cambridge’s exclusion of women and emphasised that female professors are still in a small minority of 15%. Then it was post-dinner drinks, on which your reporter can’t comment as she retired at this point. The whole occasion had been convivial and optimistic. But let’s not forget that in other parts of the world women not only lack education but may die for it. A month before our Gala, as readers will remember, fifteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for daring to promote the education of women. We may think the battle’s won here in the UK, but we can feel for those millions of deprived women elsewhere. Alison Finch (F72)
Next came free time to test our memories of suitable watering-holes near King’s, tests mostly passed with flying colours. That was followed by a superb collaborative Gala Concert. The performers were all women
ABOVE: Four-College Gala Concert
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Skipper Paddy aiming for four! Churchill has had a few Cricket Blues in the past, Jim Fitzgerald and Hugh Pearman in the ‘60s, Tony Lea and Ian Burnley in the ‘80s. But never has it had the captain of the University cricket side – until now, in the person of Paddy Sadler. Two Fellows of the College with close connections to CUCC, Ken Siddle and Edward Craig, took the opportunity to congratulate Paddy and have a chat about his career so far, his aspirations and the upcoming Cambridge season. Paddy, who has a Scottish mother and an English father, began life in London but moved to Edinburgh when he was six. His introduction to cricket was with his club side – unlike so many Varsity
cricketers he did not go to a cricketplaying school – so he was playing with and against adults from the age of 11, as well as for LLAS – a side comprised of players from across state education in
Edinburgh. Unorthodox maybe, but it certainly worked: nine years on, he was in Australia captaining the Scotland under19 team in the World Cup, with games against Bangladesh, Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Ireland. We tried an old chestnut: did he have any cricketing heroes? If there was one, he said, it would be Darren Gough, who was doing his quick bowling for England just when aspiring quick bowler Paddy was at an impressionable age. Bound to come up was the question of the importance of sport in University life. Paddy is as enthusiastic an advocate as you will come across, speaking warmly of its value in the lives of individual students both in and after their time in Cambridge, and its power to connect the University with the wider community. He accepts, seemingly with no reluctance, that admissions must be based on academic criteria. He emphasizes, however, that the University and the Colleges must vigorously support those sportsmen and
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women who do clear that hurdle, urging that all such support should continue and, wherever possible, be strengthened. With the three of us offering experience of CUCC over more than 50 years (ouch!) it was equally certain that we would touch on the changes that half-century has brought. Paddy’s attitude is clear, and as positive as can be: there is no question of aiming to revive the club’s past, which depended on outside circumstances that no longer exist. However, it is an object of respect and a source of inspiration, and what it inspires in him and his colleagues is a determination to embrace the game as it now is and to take the club forward, laying down a record which their successors will be proud to follow. For a start, it would be nice to win the one-day 50-overs game against Oxford at Lord’s four years running, a target right within their reach next season. The CUCC captain traditionally has the last word on matters of selection. Here Paddy may face some difficult decisions, but if so at least his problems will be of the right kind: with eleven (!) Old Blues back this year, and some promising freshmen coming into consideration, breaking into the side will be hard and retaining one’s place will be far from automatic. So expect some good viewing
at Fenners, and watch out in particular for the T20 Varsity-match, where (so Paddy said, doubtless drawing on last season’s experience at The Parks in Oxford) a good crowd can supply real home advantage.
Australia in Australia. Few cricketers will quarrel with either of those choices. Ken Siddle (F82) & Edward Craig (F66)
A final question before Paddy was off to a training session: what were his top cricketing experiences so far? He picked out playing at Lord’s and playing against
Join us at Lord’s Dating back to 1827 (pre-dating the first Boat Race in 1829), the Cricket Varsity Match is the oldest Oxford v Cambridge fixture and one of the oldest continuously played at the headquarters of world cricket.
Oxford counterparts on the Nursery Ground while the men face off on the main square.
Churchill's Paddy Sadler (U10) will lead the Light Blues through the Lord's long room and in to battle with the old enemy.
If you would like to join us in supporting Paddy and the Cambridge team in the Churchill College hospitality box at Lord’s for the Varsity Cricket Match on Saturday 15 June please contact Hilary for details on 01223 336240 or email development@chu.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge women will also play their Varsity Match on Saturday 15 June. They will take on their
We hope this will be the perfect opportunity to see Cambridge win and for Churchillians to get together.
Chariots of Fire Winston’s winners did it again. It may have sounded like hollow posturing back in summer 2012, but this year’s Churchill College ‘Chariots of Fire’ team pulled off a first-ever hat-trick back-to-back-to-back ‘three-peat’ in the Colleges’ Cup. With students tending to move on from College (eventually) we do see a fairly regular turn over in team-members, and this year there were three people to replace. We were delighted, in the year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the admission of women to Cambridge, that one of our female Junior Research Fellows turned out for the squad to join two older (though not wiser) fellows representing the SCR. Still no advance on staff numbers though, so our intrepid captain was, once again, left alone to represent that part of the College community, while two new fleet-footed MCR members volunteered to keep our
numbers up and our time down. The competition was tougher than ever, with the next College team only two minutes behind us, but we were indeed leaner, meaner and faster (albeit by just six seconds) than last year, which was enough to bring us home in 11th place overall. This was an advance of three positions since 2011 and, curiously a further three from 2010 when we romped home in 17th. I hesitate to lay down a challenge to better this by another three places in 2013, but it would have a nice mathematical structure, wouldn’t it? Colm Caulfield (PG87/F05)
ABOVE: Winston’s Winners, 2012
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“To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub…...” Hamlet (III, i, 65-68) Last November the University’s Festival of Ideas explored the theme of ‘Dreams and Nightmares’ so we decided to take part in the programme by organising an event at Churchill. Churchill is synonymous with science and technology but we wanted to involve our arts and humanities students, alumni and Fellows as well as our scientists and engineers. Exploring ways in which we might do this
with translation booths for international
provided a great excuse – as if an excuse
conferences on the peaceful use of
was needed – to get some of our Churchill
atomic energy.
arts and media stars around the table in the Cockcroft Room and brainstorm. Not
The panellists were made up of Fellows and
surprisingly there were several impressive
current students: Sir Christopher Frayling,
ideas from interactive installations in the
Professor Melissa Hines, Professor David
Jock Colville Hall to a Churchill film
Spiegelhalter, Dr Alex Webb, David Neal,
festival. What we finally decided to test the
Kat Vaughan and Hilary Costello. A
water with was an event entitled ‘Confront
fascinating discussion took place with lots
the Nightmare’.
of challenging questions from the audience giving food for thought for future debate.
Bearing in mind the College’s mission at its foundation to apply science for the benefit
This year the theme for the Festival of
of society and the fact that its first Master,
Ideas is ‘Frontiers’ and we are working
Sir John Cockcroft, was awarded the Nobel
on an online project, so please visit the
Prize for splitting the atom, we decided to
College website next Term for details
explore and confront past, present and
and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter,
future dreams and nightmares, looking at
Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram
the way in which a scientific dream for the
and Vimeo to be part of the action!
future may become a present nightmare, as well as the way in which science and scientists have been represented in public media. We organised a panel discussion chaired by the Master and inspired by a series of film clips compiled and introduced by Sir Christopher Frayling (UG65). These included various Hollywood depictions of ‘Frankenstein’, Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’, ‘Dr Strangelove’, Greer Garson as ‘Marie Curie’ and Paul Wilmshurst’s (UG81) BBC drama documentary, ‘Hiroshima’. It was particularly apt that the event took place in the Wolfson Hall, which at Cockcroft’s request was originally fitted
2 THE CHURCHILL 2013 14
Sharon Maurice Development Director
Catering for Churchill Catering is developing at Churchill at a rapid pace as the needs of the modern student continue to evolve. It’s important that we keep pace with the High Street in order to meet their expectations. Developing the Buttery into a café-bar has helped keep pace with the social needs of students as we see a huge shift away from the traditional student lifestyle and one where students are now drinking coffee and getting late night eats and using social media in the confines of the bar. The aim in the buttery is to ensure it remains the meeting point, retains the identity of the College and uses the ‘brand’ to full effect. Last year we sold just fewer than 10,000 cups of coffee, 2500 home baked cookies and just over 1000 pizzas in the Buttery. The Dining Hall has similar changes occurring as the menu develops to deal with students diverse dietary requirements. The Chef team cater now, more than ever, for the individual. A modern menu is really important and we are constantly searching for improvements and better ways to produce. Our ongoing move away from bought-in products, towards more homemade, is a welcome development. One of the key tasks is to ensure that we have a well-trained team which has both the knowledge and skills to keep this development process moving forward, ready to implement change when required. Importantly, this must be matched by a great service delivery team who are responding to all our customers’ diverse needs. Making this a financial success is all about team work, with the Catering Department and wider Hospitality Department each having its part to play. The increased use of IT in the department has enabled us to take full control of purchasing as we now buy 90% of our produce via e-procurement, finding the best price and introducing quality suppliers. A till system that can be moved to different locations, deal with all our different customers, and be updated instantly is important when dealing
with 165,000 transactions per year. A powerful conference system allows us to maximise room usage and respond to customer enquiries quickly. Thus the College is able to offer as much of itself as possible and keep all the teams informed of what’s going on and where. However, the most important part of life in the College Catering Department is the people that work here, they all care and strive to do their best for the Students, Fellows, Alumni and Conference Guests, they have great experience and knowledge and all know what is required of them by the College and the importance of this task. David Oakley Catering Manager
ABOVE: Some of the Churchill College Catering team
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The art of sitting comfortably One of the most influential designers of the 20th century, who turned furniture into works of art to support the human form, was celebrated with an exhibition in college. Hans J. Wegner’s iconic work can be found in the permanent collections of museums around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Wegner, born in Denmark in 1914, received almost every major recognition given to designers during a career that spanned from the early 20th century until his death in 2007. The exhibition, Chairs by Wegner, brought together some of his most recognizable furniture of the last century, including the type of chair used by future Presidents Kennedy and Nixon during their famous 1960 Presidential debate. As exhibition curator, I’d provide a passionate and compelling argument if asked whether furniture can also truly be classified as art. This isn’t simply an exhibition about chairs, it’s about how design can fundamentally change the way we live. Hans J Wegner’s furniture unites form and function; in every design he places the highest demands on comfort and ergonomics. To Wegner, a chair isn’t just a piece of furniture, but a work of art made to support the human form. The exhibition at Churchill brought together 30 individual items of furniture spanning the whole of Wegner’s career, from his design for a child’s chair, ‘Peter’s Stool’ (1948) – which was made as a gift for the
young son of his friend, the designer Børge Mogensen – to his bespoke design for the ‘Møller Chair’ (1990). Indeed, much of the furniture on display comes from either Churchill College or the Møller Centre, that sits in its grounds and was founded by a gift from the shipping magnate A P Møller. The exhibition marks the 20th anniversary of the Møller Centre and also includes rare Wegner designs for sofas, tables and lighting. Over his career, Wegner designed more than 500 chairs with many different woods and styles. Proof of his enduring popularity and the timelessness of his designs is evident in the fact that many of his iconic designs are still in production today.
16 2
Although he was earnest in his ambitions, Wegner allowed himself the space to have fun, too. He said: “We must take care that everything doesn’t get so dreadfully serious. We must play – but we must play seriously.” During his lifetime Wegner won the Lunning Prize, the Grand Prix of the Milan Triennale and was an honorary Royal designer for industry of the Royal Society of Arts in London, as well as receiving an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art, awarded at the same time as Martin Scorcese received his. It will be interesting to see if the reputation of Scorcese’s films lasts as long as that of Wegner’s chairs. Barry Phipps Fellow and Curator of Works of Art
3 17 THE CHURCHILL 2013 13
Where are they now and where are their trousers!?
Can you identify any of these 1983 students? Image courtesy of Robert Bartlett (U80)
Caption Competition Can you think of a caption for this picture of Henry Moore (right) supervising the installation of this sculpture at Churchill in 1966? A prize will be awarded to the best entry, which will be published in the next Newsletter.
Send your captions and ‘Where are they now?’ answers to newsletter.editor@chu.cam.ac.uk Image courtesy of Nick Denbow (U64) 18 2 THE CHURCHILL 2013
CHURCHILL COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS The College is pleased to announce that it has published four new books to add to its collection. The books available include: Canon Noel Duckworth: An Extraordinary Life by Michael Smyth (U67) Flying Roast Ducks Recollections of Sir Hermann Bondi 1983 - 2005 by Paula Halson Graffiti Artworks and Poems from Churchill College by John Kinsella New revised edition of Corbusier comes to Cambridge Post-war architecture and the competition to build Churchill College by Mark Goldie
All books are available for purchase from the Porters' Lodge or online from the College Website at www.chu.cam.ac.uk (by selecting the merchandise tab). 19 3 THE CHURCHILL 2010 2013 23
Points of contact Accommodation All Alumni and Past Fellows with internet access are asked to request accommodation by visiting www.churchillians.net and completing the online form. You will require a username and password for this which can be requested from the Alumni Relations Office by clicking the link at the top of the homepage. Alternatively please telephone the Conference Office on +44 (0)1223 336233 or email: conferences@chu.cam.ac.uk.
Alumni Association churchill.association@chu.cam.ac.uk Alumni Relations Office alumni@chu.cam.ac.uk James Adamcheski-Halson, Alumni Relations Manager: +44 (0)1223 336083 Hilary Stimpson, Development Officer: +44 (0)1223 336240 Livia Argentesi, Development & Alumni Relations Assistant: +44 (0)1223 331546 Development Director Sharon Maurice +44 (0)1223 336197 development@chu.cam.ac.uk Churchill Review Editor Professor Alison Finch review.editor@chu.cam.ac.uk Newsletter Editor Mr Tim Cribb newsletter.editor@chu.cam.ac.uk High Table Bookings alumni@chu.cam.ac.uk All Alumni with internet access are kindly requested to book High Table by visiting www.churchillians.net and completing the online form. You will require a username and password for this which can be requested from the Alumni Relations Office by clicking the link at the top of the homepage.
Alumni Events 2013 The full calendar of events can be found on www.churchillians.net 15 June 2013 Varsity Cricket Match at Lord’s Please go to www.churchillians.net for further details and to book your place.
15 June 2013 Boat Club Dinner Please go to www.churchillians.net for further details and to book your place.
6 July 2013 Reunion Dinner: 1999-2002 The Reunion Dinner for those who joined the College between 1999 and 2002. Please go to www.churchillians.net and visit the link in the ‘What’s new’ box on the homepage for further details and to book your place.
7 July 2013 Association Garden Party and Family Day
27 September 2013 7th Annual Association Golf Day* Come and join Churchillians and current members of College in a friendly competition for the Association Golf Trophy at Cambridge Meridian Golf Club.
28 September 2013 1972: Conversation 28 September 2013 Churchill Association Dinner* & AGM 1 November 2013 Alumni Formal and Pav A dinner for those who have recently graduated.
Join us from 2pm-5pm for a family friendly event at Churchill. Please go to www.churchillians.net for further details and to book your place.
15 August 2013 Master’s Reception in Edinburgh The annual event hosted by the Master and Lady Wallace in their home town.
Porters’ Lodge +44 (0)1223 336000
27-29 September 2013 Churchill Alumni Association Weekend*
Møller Centre +44 (0)1223 465500 reception.moller@chu.cam.ac.uk
1963 Reunion Event
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27 September 2013 Churchill Association Wine Tasting*
To celebrate 50 years since they joined the College. Further details can be found in the accompanying document.
Events 2014 Dates to be confirmed and further details to follow. June 2014 Special concluding event for all donors to the 50th Anniversary Appeal (invitation only)
* Bookings for these events should be made by following the booking procedure for the Association Weekend, Annual Dinner & AGM accompanying this Newsletter.
The College is a member of the Amazon Associates Scheme. Every time you shop with Amazon, please visit www.churchillians.net and click the animated Amazon link at the bottom of the homepage and do your shopping in the usual way. For every item that is despatched to you, Amazon will make a donation to the College at no expense to yourself. It’s a simple way to support your College.
There are a number of ways to give to your College – a full list with further instructions can be found at: www.chu.cam.ac.uk/alumni/development/ways_to_make_a_gift.php
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