An Evening With

Lockdown has seen the introduction of a new series to the Plymouth College Enrichment Calendar.

‘An Evening With…’ has seen Mr. Mutlow interview a range of different guests on a variety of topics, enabling them to share their stories with our community. Since January, Tom Daley (Olympic Diver and OPM), Christophe Ridley (Premiership Rugby Union Referee), Heather Knight (England Women’s Cricket Captain), John Hannah (Film, television and stage actor), Tom Pursglove (Conservative MP), David Pond OBE (retired Navy Commodore and CEO of GB Wheelchair Rugby), Jacquie Bird (ITV Westcountry News Reporter) and Pete Reed OBE (Triple Olympic Champion as well as former World Champion rower who is now paralysed from the chest down) have all spoken with honesty and candour about the lessons they have learned through their experiences and the advice they would offer. More importantly, each has also identified their takeaway of choice with Sushi, Indian, Chinese, Italian and Burgers all making an appearance.

The series has been compelling viewing with so much for everyone who has tuned in to take away. The speakers have been very different, but no less interesting, whether providing a guided tour of a Montreal apartment, joining us from a quarantine hotel room in New Zealand or dashing back from the Treasury Bench in the House of Commons to get on Zoom for 18:00. At the outset, the intention has been to broaden the horizons of our young people and to offer them an insight into what it takes to be successful in any given field. This has certainly been achieved, and the messages of hard work, resilience and perseverance have been consistent threads.

This term, we were able to commemorate International Day of Women and Girls in Science and as such, we got to talk to Vicky Vincent OPM, who not only spoke to Mr Mutlow last term about her career as a Team GB diver for 2014 Commonwealth Games, but spoke to us about entering into her career in Medicine.

“I think I have always enjoyed science. Even before secondary school, I always enjoyed playing around with commercial chemistry kits, growing salt crystals and looking at different slides under my own microscope. However, I think I really began to realise my love for it once I reached Year 7, mainly because the sciences were then split into physics, chemistry and biology, allowing myself to explore the different areas in greater depth.”

Vicky and her family relocated to Plymouth when she was 11 and she started her journey with Plymouth College in Year 7, where she trained with fellow OPM, Tom Daley, and also was able to pursue her love of Biology:

“I would always present my findings to my biology teacher, who was Mr Prideaux at that time, who would always encourage me or point me in the right direction to further facilitate my learning. I think biology has always been an interest for me due to the degree of complexity surrounding the human body. The way in which the body functions at both a microscopic and macroscopic level has always been fascinating to me. Knowing how the body works, I believe, is so important as that really is what we are. I think this, and the fact that there is so much to learn, was appealing to my inquisitive nature and is what drew me towards this subject.”

When discussing her future in Medicine, the possibilities are endless: “As medicine is a 5-year course (hopefully 6 because I am hoping to intercalate), I am still quite a way off from qualifying! There are so many different aspects to medicine that it’s difficult to have a clear idea of what to do when I am only in my second year. However, at this moment in time, I feel that I am interested in potentially applying for an Academic Foundation Programme job for my foundation years. This specific programme will allow me to be able to carry out some research or, alternatively, learn how to become a medical educator, during my first two years as a doctor. I think this caters well for my want to be a doctor, as well as my want to pursue a small amount of research alongside my future job. I’ve also had some ambitious ideas about pursuing a PhD later on down the line to really challenge myself, but we’ll see how we go! In terms of what specialty, I really don’t have that much of an idea at the moment – emergency medicine, intensive care, ophthalmology, nephrology and gastroenterology are the current topics of interest. However, these really do tend to change on a monthly basis! Next year, I will be heading into my clinical years where most of my teaching will take place on the wards. Older years say that this is where you start to get an insight into what interests you and what you may be best suited to.”

Dawn French

Former St Dunstan’s pupil, actor and author Dawn French, has created two one-off episodes with UKTV Gold .The first is a retrospective about ‘The Vicar of Dibley’, where she will be partner-talking with screen-writer of the program, Richard Curtis, to get nostalgic and look back on the rehearsals and filming of the legendary series.

Co-writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, as well as producer Jon Plowman and actor James Fleet, who plays Hugo Horton, all sat down to talk about their favourite moments of the show, revealed unseen footage and also remember the stars who are no longer with us, such as Emma Chambers, who famously played verger and French’s right-hand woman, Alice Tinker.

She has also paired up, once again, with comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, in a one-off special from the set of their ever-famous French and Saunders sketch show - where they will be discussing the plethora of female figures that have contributed to the comedy scene both in history and the world today.

Clive Jenkins and Jonathan Mallalieu

At the beginning of this term, composer and former Plymouth College Director of Music, Clive Jenkins, had his piece Romance for Viola and Strings played on Radio 3 as part of the Classical Breakfast Show with Martin Handley. The piece was originally composed in 1987 for Plymouth College OPM Jonathan Mallalieu.

Clive Jenkins was educated at Plymouth College and furthered his education at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he read Modern Languages. He then continued his passion for music by becoming a conductor of the City of Plymouth Light Orchestra for many years and wrote and presented programmes about West Country music for the BBC in Devon and Cornwall.

After studying at Plymouth College, Jonathan Mallalieu then studied at Oxford University and worked as a freelance musician before following post-graduate studies at London University and later St. Andrew’s University. Jonathan has had a distinguished career in the world of Performing Arts and has been Director of Music in several schools within the UK. He has extensive experience as a Theatrical Director, having produced over thirty shows including Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, Oliver, The Insect Play, Grease and West Side Story. Jonathan has composed TV theme songs, as well as music for cinema adverts, documentaries, video and short films in the UK, Europe and the US and has written many songs, piano pieces, orchestral works, educational music and even a musical. He is now a freelance composer, musician and producer as well as Artistic Director of Beauville Arts.