Head Master’s Lecture

The Head Master’s Lecture

We were delighted to welcome Marcus Beard (Second’s 2006–2011) as the guest speaker for the Head Master’s Lecture at the end of November.

The title of his talk was Downing Street, Disinformation, and Dystopia. Marcus (left and centre) has just finished a six-year posting in the UK Civil Service, most recently working at 10 Downing Street, where he led the UK Government’s social media response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2015 and 2021, he worked as a digital advisor at HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office and HM Revenue and Customs. During his time in government, he advised international partners such as NATO, the G7 and the governments of Ukraine, Bulgaria and Macedonia on digital strategy.

In his very entertaining and informative lecture, Marcus explored how trends in digital and social media have shaped how the UK Government operates. Six years ago the focus was on the press and media; today digital has gone native and is now the driving factor for all communications. He also provided the fascinating inside story on how policymakers had to adapt through a referendum, two general elections, three Prime Ministers, countless Brexit deadlines and an unprecedented global pandemic. Tackling misinformation and disinformation became a priority and they developed a system which enabled them to respond with a rebuttal within four minutes of something being published.

It was wonderful to be able to have Marcus live in Great School alongside a group of Sixth Formers in the audience, as well as broadcast it all online to our Lancing community.

We are really looking forward to the next Head Master’s Lecture on Thursday 27 January with guest speaker Daniel Mendoza (Sanderson’s 1982–1986).

The title of his lecture is Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. Professionally, Daniel advises a full spectrum of clients on buying and selling commercial property investment assets. He joined the industry in 1986 at the age of 17 and is a founder of Ereira Mendoza, established in 1990. He has been a guest columnist for the leading trade journal Property Week since 2004 providing insight and analysis into unfolding market dynamics.

Daniel has been a Trustee of The Anne Frank Trust for just under 20 years and currently chairs the charity. It is now recognised as the UK’s leading educational charity in providing young people with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to challenge ALL forms of prejudice and discrimination and is able to demonstrate their impact via independent academic assessment.

His journey to The Anne Frank Trust started in his youth – he has always been interested in what shapes peoples’ attitudes and behaviours towards each other, in a world where those attitudes and behaviours are not always positive, accepting, or self-serving. In his desire to answer these questions and believing that people are on the whole products of their environments and experiences, Daniel wanted to be involved in an organisation that could bring about longterm attitudinal and behavioural shifts of significant scale, which is precisely what The Anne Frank Trust is doing.

Daniel (right) has been married to Michelle for 25 years, has two children – Jack and Evie, aged 22 and 21 respectively – and a blind and nearly deaf 14-year-old Labradoodle who used to respond to the name Lola when her hearing was better.