Lusimus June 2015

Lusimus THE RADLEY BROADSHEET

www.radley.org.uk

Issue 31, June 2015

Huddy

We record with deep regret the death, on 8th March 2015, of Anthony Hudson, Tutor of F Social 1970-1984 and Sub Warden 1979-1988. A Thanksgiving Service in The Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel at Pangbourne, was attended by well over 800 people including a huge number of Old Radleians and members of Radley Common Room, past and present.

A full obituary will be published in The Old Radleian later in the year.

Members of F Social with Liz Hudson after the Service

Foundation – pages 2-4

Michael Bawtree – pages 8-11

A toast with Hudson’s Ales at the Kings Arms, London W1

Charities – pages 13-15

Thames People – page 17

Sport – page 19-20

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Events in the Far East – March & April 2015

Hong Kong

Singapore

Kuala Lumpur

2

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Foundation Progress Report from Anthony Robinson

£17m received in gifts and pledges since 2000 - £11.5m in the last seven years; Bursary Awards increase from 10 in 2008 to a record 47 in September 2015; Rowing Tank opens shortly; £100m remains the ultimate target.

Total value of Cash Gifts & Pledges and Legacy Promises since the start of the Foundation in 2000

£3,000,000 £2,500,000 £2,000,000 £1,500,000 £1,000,000 £500,000 £0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Cash Legacy

Establishing the Foundation

It was 1998 when Warden Richard Morgan asked me to help him create a Foundation at Radley.

As a result of his exceptional vision, we can now look back on fifteen years of progress and achievement that felt impossible at the outset.

Understandably, we were all a little nervous at first about the concept of a Foundation but, gradually, the fundraising and grant-making have gathered pace to such an extent that,

by May 2015, donations and pledges total £17,205,000. During the last fifteen years an astonishing 7,860 gifts have been received and 25% of all living Old Radleians and 37% of past and current parents (since 1995) have supported the work of the Foundation. The bar chart above illustrates the history of giving since 2000 and how £11,529,000 has been raised across all Funds during the last seven years.

Bursaries

Giving has accelerated as strong support has developed for our Foundation Bursary Programme, spear-headed by the Armed Forces Fund. In 2008 the Foundation was financing 10 boys through Radley but, in September 2015, the number will rise to 47. This is probably our greatest achievement to date.

The number of boys from State Primary Schools applying for Foundation Bursary Awards has increased dramatically. Many are talented all-rounders who will benefit hugely from the multiple opportunities Radley has to offer and, at the same time, make a valuable contribution to College life. Three of this year’s candidates for Foundation Bursary Awards also sat the scholarship papers – and one of them gained a top award.

A Choice of Funds to Support

The secret of a successful Foundation is having a range of different Funds that offer choice to potential donors. We all receive hundreds of requests for charitable giving each year and, inevitably, we support the ones that strike a chord with us personally; the need must be crystal clear and the cause has to appeal emotionally. The variety of Funds within The Radley Foundation offers a wide choice and, as the table on the right shows, many have won support during the last fifteen years.

Farewell

Please keep supporting what is a fantastic charity.

If you are considering making a donation, have a look at our website to see the different ways we are helping people. The Radley Foundation belongs to all of us – Old Radleians, Parents and supporters – and provides us with an opportunity to help the College achieve wider diversity, improved facilities and higher academic excellence. I have no doubt that, with John Moule as Warden and Colin Dudgeon as Development Director, the College and Foundation will forge ahead in partnership to make Radley an even greater school. I will be handing over responsibility for the Foundation to Colin (see bottom of page 5) at the end of July.

The Rowing Centre

The Rowing Tank, next to the Running Track, is looking magnificent. It is a good example of how ORs and parents with a love for Radley rowing have been able to gift to the College, through the Foundation, a training facility that will help Radley crews become more competitive at regattas. How wonderful it would be if this generosity were to lead to Radley winning the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley again in the near future.

The Future

Many challenges lie ahead and much work remains to be done. Arguably, the greatest threat to the future of Radley is affordability; will our traditional families still be able to afford to send their sons and grandsons to Radley during the coming decades? My own belief is that many will need small ‘top-up’ bursaries from the Foundation to add to the 80% or 90% of fees they may be able to fund themselves. I can see a scenario in about 2030 when as many as 25% of boys at Radley are supported by the Foundation in this way. However, we are a long way from being able to offer this kind of essential support in addition to our current programme of Foundation Bursary Awards. The Fundraising will need to continue, I believe, until the Foundation reaches the £100m mark that Warden Morgan originally identified in 1998 as our ultimate target.

Thanks

I would like to thank the many people who have made this journey possible: Warden Morgan for his continuing inspiration; the Trustees for their commitment, trust and wisdom; Warden McPhail and Warden Moule for their exceptional leadership; my loyal and brilliant Foundation team of Hamish Aird, Jock Mullard, Lucy Johnsson, Kim Charlton, Hannah Nye and Caroline Monaghan for their dedication, skill and patience; the Council of Radley College for their generous funding of the Foundation’s costs. Most of all, I would like to thank our many donors for their outstanding support, encouragement and generosity during the last fifteen years.

The Foundation is up and running but our most important years lie ahead.

Anthony Robinson Development Director, OR and Former Parent

Funds of the Radley Foundation Number of Gifts Value

and Pledges Grand Total

2000 - 2015 Armed Forces Fund Chapel Fund Cricket Net Fund Endowment Fund Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund Malcolm Robinson Memorial Fund New Theatre Fund Old Gym Redevelopment Fund Rowing Centre Fund Round Pavilion Fund Scholarships & Bursaries (Immediate Use) Fund Scholarships & Bursaries (Capital) Fund Silk Fund Trustees’ Discretion Fund Unallocated Funds Others GRAND TOTAL 3

1875 £1,958,691 2 £56,250 95 £35,256 70 £406,499 430 £507,661 73 £194,010 809 £434,925 12 £196,982 234 £413,702 80 £133,866 615 £2,842,294 4 £3,237,348 724 £964,539 2742 £5,574,309 5 £102,275 90 £146,167 7860 £17,204,774

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET The Development Director, Anthony Robinson

No history of Radley can disguise the fact that for approximately the first 120 years of the life of the College, its finances moved from parlous to fragile and back again several times. When Dennis Silk arrived as Warden in 1968, the Radleian Society had more money in its Funds than the College and it took several years before the great partnership of Warden Silk and Bursar Jones gave Radley the financial engine power to create the school it is today.

Radley is one of the many schools that has had to live on its fee income rather than rely on endowment money but there are three people who have made very significant contributions

to that vital income beyond the fees, in the last eighty years.

The first was Vyvyan Hope who in 1930 was responsible for the appeal that raised the money to buy the farms surrounding the College and thus guaranteed that Radley remained a haven from the encroaches of both Abingdon and Kennington.

The sale of some of that land in 1972 provided the money that transformed the campus and the balance sheet; the second was Tony Money who ran the wonderfully successful appeals for Dennis Silk by writing hundreds of individual letters to Old Radleians and raised vast sums that enabled the Sewell centre, and much else, to be built. And then came Tony Robinson.

In 1999, Tony was a member of the Council. I remember his toleration of my teaching in the old Marionette theatre in the 1960s (now part of the Library) and the warmth of his smile has not changed one iota. After a distinguished Radley career, not least on the river, he built an exceptionally successful business in the furniture world, much helped by his wife, Sally, who is a very talented designer.

He was an immediate supporter on the Council of the proposal to stop individual appeals to Old Radleians and instead, build a Foundation on the lines pioneered so successfully by schools and universities in the USA. Thus Mrs Judy Longworth was persuaded to leave her role as Development Director at Balliol College, Oxford in 2000 and create the Foundation, which she did by raising the first £1million. However, when she decided that she should return to Oxford, the Foundation began to lose momentum.

Just when the Council were anxiously considering the very future of the project in 2008, Tony offered to stand down from the Council and take on the executive role as Development Director.

Thus he arrived in Top House, this very tall Old Radleian, full of smiles and huge determination, with a real passion for the future of Radley.

His inheritance was not ideal though the basic organisation was in place. What was needed was to translate the vision into reality through drive and imagination. Armed with

The Development Director tests some of the equipment for the new Rowing Tank 4

modern technology, plus a fountain pen worthy of Tony Money, he set about creating a formidable team that has worked extremely hard with the closest attention to planning and detail.

However, a Development Director can be exceptionally efficient but still fail to raise money. The successful Director has to be able to persuade people to reach for their cheque books and when it comes to the art of persuasion, Tony is world class. There has never been any smart talking, and anything that might be considered as hustling was unthinkable. Tony’s success has lain in his belief in the cause. Radley needs money for Bursaries so as to enable boys to come to the school who would otherwise be excluded by the cost; Radley needs money for the Armed Forces Fund to help all those children whose parents have suffered in the wars; Radley needs money for many other causes, not least the rowing tank to offset Eton’s advantage of having its own rowing lake. Tony has sought to meet all these demands. He has travelled the world, especially to the USA and the Far East, and such travel needs a huge amount of thought, work and energy.

And all such campaigns need time for relationships and trust to flourish over the years rather than months. Money is hard earned and benefactors want to make sure that their endowment is well invested and well spent.

In 2000, we set the target for the Foundation at £100 million. Some regarded this as ridiculously ambitious, while others thought there was no point in such a project unless we aimed high. Tony’s infectious charm, his gift for making friends, his hours of painstaking work, his building of the team and his love of Radley, mean that, together with those all important legacies, the amount so far raised nears £20 million.

The Council has pledged the funds raised by any land sales to the Foundation, so the target is coming within reach. This has the most profound implications for the widening of the entry into the school and for the very justification of the College itself.

Good Development Directors raise lots of money: great Development Directors embody the values of the institutions they represent. And in the end, it is the values that matter. The real reason why so many Old Radleians, parents and friends of Radley have supported the Foundation is that they believe that the Radley values of steeliness and gentleness, moral courage and resilience in adversity, generosity and good manners, are values that need to be preserved in the backbone of as many people as possible. Tony has stood tall for these values and that is why the Foundation has flourished mightily under his leadership and why Radley will always remember him with gratitude, admiration and affection.

Richard Morgan

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Oliver Skelley & William Davie-Thornhill/Radley Video

The Warden

One of the very satisfying – though somewhat embarrassing – aspects of being Warden is the fact that people seem to think that you are responsible for all the impressive things that go on. It is far from the fact, of course, especially when I have only been at Radley for a few months. But pride overcomes embarrassment . . . and I accept the plaudits.

A fine example was a recent event when nearly 50 prep school Heads came to visit for a day finding out more about our scholarships process and to spend some time discussing how we can maximise the smoothness of academic transition between phases of education. Needless to say, we took the opportunity to show off some of the considerable talent we have at our disposal and it was a joy first to see their faces and then receive the

many compliments in person and on paper in the aftermath.

Amongst other things, the Radley Clerkes (a group of close harmony a cappella singers), a range of solo performances (a song from The Book of Mormon and Schubert’s Ave Maria certainly provide contrast!), a 6.1 – an HMC Eastern European Scholar from Georgia – playing his own composition on the electric guitar and three winning declamations from earlier in the year. And perhaps the best moment? Another 6.1 delivering a short lecture – with no notes – on epigenetics to showcase our in-house lecture programme that encourages boys, as well as dons, to give 15 minute talks on a subject of their choice. Epigenetics: few of us understood it but we knew it was good. The guests left Radley in no doubt as to our cultural and academic edge, thanking me and congratulating me. The

and really special Evensong sung last week by a group of ORs alongside members of the current choir. Old Radleians returning to the College, some for the first time for fifty years and more, were fulsome in their praise for the event and for the way in which the current boys had interacted and performed. It was a truly heart-warming occasion which represented what Radley, over the generations, has been about.

I was more than happy to accept all the compliments.

sort of embarrassment I can cope with.

It happened again on Saturday last when I arrived at the National Schools Regatta in the aftermath of a very successful Friday when the 14.1 Octuples won Gold – the first such victory since 1997 – and the 14.2 crew won silver.

Sadly, my presence was clearly a distraction as three crews agonisingly finished fourth on the Saturday (including a 1st VIII affected by illness) but still several parents kindly congratulated me on the super results for the Shells. I hope very much that such success continues – and the signs are encouraging across the Boat Club – but take very little credit for it. Still, it makes me feel good.

I share such stories, of course, to illustrate two things: the way in which the boys reach extraordinarily high standards and the hard work that goes in from the Common Room and all staff to ensure they are inspired, guided, encouraged (and occasionally cajoled) to those levels. I tend to be there as such things reach their climax,

But perhaps the best example of late was the rather low-key

Service of Commemoration

but I am not there when the early morning weights session starts, or at the first rehearsal as a piece is seen for the first time, or in the form group when that choice of declamation is discussed. Nor at the science lesson when a boy is first inspired to explore beyond the syllabus and discover an interest in cutting edge biological research, or when the Precentor had an idea for a new kind of OR reunion.

If Radley is a good school (and it is) and if the plaudits are deserved (and they are) then such success is due to the hard work of many. As so many people take the time to thank and congratulate me as the Warden on the above, and much more beside, I hope they realise the effort that goes in from all who work for the College. The plaudits are for them.

Kirsty Wigglesworth - WPA Pool / Getty Images

New Development Director

The Queen receives a posy from Sophie Thorneloe, and sister Hannah (R), whose father Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe (1983) died in Afghanistan, after a Service of Commemoration at St. Paul’s in March for troops who were stationed in Afghanistan 5

Colin Dudgeon is honoured and delighted to be joining Radley in July following ten years as Development Director at Stowe. Prior to that, he worked in commercial radio and in a number of other businesses.

Born and brought up near Belfast, with a degree in Jurisprudence, he is an ardent Irish rugby fan, a golfer of very mediocre standard and harbours notions of rowing again. He is looking forward enormously to the opportunity of meeting and working with the Foundation team, everyone at the College, Old Radleians, Parents and other members of the wider Radley community.

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Witness to the Earthquake in Nepal Extracts from emails from Chris Fraser-Jenkins (1961 and member of Common Room 1974-1976) who lives in Kathmandu.

don’t use. It was quite a good one, so Jacob and I enjoyed putting it up and we took it to the local school sports-area, Mega-School, Shanti Tole, around the corner where masses of people were sleeping out.

Everyone fitted in, though not a lot of space after Nirmala squeezed in! But at midnight there was a thunder-storm as well as a bigger tremor. People all over Kathmandu must have had a tough time of it as nearly all the population is sleeping outside. Luckily our tent managed to keep reasonably dry inside. There was a lot of commotion every time there was a tremor though – one went on for about two minutes, but smaller than before. The papers says it might be for 72 hours – which will mean a third night out if so – and there is no chance of electricity for a considerable time, so no communication.

Earthquake Day 3 Just to say we’re OK here in Kathmandu, though it’s been a bit of a trial. Jacob and I were on a mini-van going to the town on Saturday when suddenly masses of people came running out towards us shouting and screaming in a panic and the van began rocking and tipping in the earthquake, much bigger than what we’ve ever had before here. Hard to stand up with the ground swinging – Jacob thought it was like the funfare! Then clouds of dust came up from where houses were collapsing near us in Balaju.

So we walked back home to Sheshmati and were relieved Nirmala, my wife, was all right, sitting in a field as another big one happened as we were walking back, with the ground heaving about. After that, another smaller one every half hour or so. It was sunny luckily, so Nirmala stayed where she was with all the other people from round our houses. I had to get to the bank as my pension should be there, being near the end of the month and as we’d nearly run out. So Jacob and I walked down to town to the Bank’s ATM, but it was perhaps a day too soon. Many houses cracked, or with collapsing foundations; old traditional ones with the nice windows gone; one modern one had fallen in one piece right across the road and half on top of a taxi. But we met friends by the Student Guest House in Thamel, who told us all the big temples and tower had fallen down, so we walked on down to Durbar Square – everyone out sitting in the street as it was too scary to go into the houses, every so often one had fallen down,

Kathmandu or was leaning onto another one, or part collapsed. Durbar Square was an appalling sight – half the old Royal Palace was collapsed onto the road, and all the big pagoda temples were just heaps of rubble, though the Kumari house and Bhairav statue were still OK. Every time another tremor came people were running away from the remains of the old Royal Palace or other buildings. Thousands of people were there, shocked at the destruction and the area being converted in seconds into what looked like a bombsite. People and the Armed Police and Army teams were digging dust-covered people out of the rubble, but many of them were obviously dead – including where the stump of the Bim Sen tower had been, but had collapsed on the houses.

Apparently in Bakhtapur only one temple is left, and as far away as Manakamana in Gorkha (special for Nirmala and our family) it’s been destroyed – in Gorkha most

Queueing for buses - over a million residents of Kathmandu returned home to help in their villages

houses have gone apparently, so we fear that it may include the family’s little house in the village there. But no phones, electricity or email so we can’t find out.

Saturday night we slept on our mattresses in a field nearby as you couldn’t stay in the house because of the after-shocks every hour or so – some too big for comfort, starting with a deep boom and then shaking or swaying. It was OK for most of the night, but started raining a bit after midnight – and we went to sleep in our house courtyard, but had to run out about 5 times or more with it all swaying about and the telephone wires going mad, or poles being pulled down.

We stayed out much of the day, occasionally going into the house to cook or bring something from the emergency rucksacks I keep.

On Sunday we all walked down to where mother-in-law is staying for a visit with the younger sister, near Thamel – as she was scared and they wanted to come up to our place.

Again the bank was deserted as everyone is too afraid to go inside, and all offices and shops closed unless very small one-storey buildings. But we do have rice, potatoes, water etc. at home, so are OK and I managed to buy a couple of good cabbages on the way back, so no problem. Everyone is sitting out in open places, parks etc. – and on the way back, the bus-station has turned into a huge refugee camp with thousands of people as they have water available, and food in the shops there, or being given out. Mostly all talking and laughing in the usual Nepali 6

way – but no food deliveries coming to the shops, so I don’t know what will happen if it runs out. No Army or Police around (apart from Durbar Square), though a large convoy of Army trucks with Chinese rescueworkers in red uniforms with food and tents came past – they have always helped when there are problems here. Nothing else visible, so everyone’s just waiting it out – but the tremors just keep going on, then you may get a gap and it looks like they’re coming to an end – but then another medium-sized one. I also got a newspaper and the destruction and extent of the disaster all over central Nepal is pretty huge – it was a 7.8 or 7.9 scale earthquake, the one that tradition here says comes every 80 years – that was pooh-poohed by the Government Seismological Department last year!

Last night I managed to find a tent I bought some years ago, for botanical excursions – but

I went to the house at 5.00 this morning when it was light – only a few small tremors by now, but unfortunately Nirmala left the kitchen light on last night from our Battery invertor system after I’d gone to the tent, so now we have no electricity either! A shop or two are open, but nothing much left in them – biscuits, Coca-Cola, rice, Wai Wai Instant noodles at quadruple price, mainly. A cup of tea – so must be all right! We hope these tiring tremors will stop today, or tomorrow, with luck, and then things can start to recover – food-deliveries to the shops, electricity, emails, phones and the darned bank to get a little cash in the pocket are what we need!

If I find any email place I’ll try to send this (there are none at present). I reckon it should soon limp back to tolerable – apart from all those who’ve lost their homes and families – and the destroyed religious heart of Kathmandu.

Collapsed temples in Durbar Square, the religious heart of Kathmandu

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET A Memorial in The Netherlands

Dharahara was a 61 metre tower in Kathmandu

George Racine Herbert

Peter den Tek

One of the shields with the names of George Herbert’s crew

4 May 2015 ...Then of course we taught together under the remarkable and late lamented David Hardy, who was one of the most stimulating teachers ever.

A memorial to George Racine Herbert and his crew and that of five other planes was unveiled in the Netherlands in May this year. George was killed, aged 21, flying over Holland in June 1943.

all received a name tag with their name, the name of their relative and which plane it was.

The six planes had six different colours so people could identify other relatives. For the people and for me it was amazing and emotional to see that more than 70 years later the crews were reunited through their families.

the only word I have for that is “Humbling”.

I took a walk up to my favourite hill forest here yesterday, Nagarjun, just outside Kathmandu, though the darned leeches were out aplenty as we’ve had a lot of unseasonable rain (which didn’t help when we were sleeping in the field last week with no cover on the first night!). It was so sad to see a beautiful little village of what were the lovely traditional Nepalese houses entirely lying in a heap of rubble, and people all sitting around a tent shelter.

Aid has been so slow to reach beyond Kathmandu – which is now recovering rapidly and getting back to normal, but unprecedentedly without its active spiritual centre of the magnificent pagoda-temples.

From the Radleian magazine of March 1944: Missing in June, 1943, now known to have been killed in action, George Racine Herbert, D.F.M., Pilot Officer, R.A.F.V.R. (Hope’s, E, 193540). He was a School Prefect, and a useful player at many games, representing the School at Swimming and Boxing and being in the second Cricket, Football and Hockey teams. But by those who knew him he will be remembered chiefly for his unfailingly cheerful disposition.

We always felt that he had just the qualities needed for a firstrate pilot, and so were more delighted than surprised when, as a Flight Sergeant, he was awarded the D.F.M. in May, 1942.

He soon after became a Warrant Officer, and then was gazetted as a Pilot Officer in January, 1943. He must have been an ideal leader to be under in an emergency, and we understand that the testimony of the crews who served under him fully bears this out. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

13 May Another big earthquake came yesterday, an independent quake, not aftershocks, and smashed many more buildings so we slept in a tent in the field again – seems endless sometimes. We must have been through well over 100 tremors so far. One aftershock at 2 am last night sounded like a big underground explosion, then shaken around!

All Kathmandu photos © Chris Fraser-Jenkins except the one below Nurphoto/REX_Shutterstock

One trouble is that the “government” has declared not a penny can go except through them – and we all know what that means! If only we could rid our lovely country of the leeches and get the King and army back to sort it out as everyone now longs for – but say no more!

...Now we’re back in the flat – we were so lucky it didn’t fall.

But there are still worrisome aftershocks every day – and worse, at night, when it invariably wakes one up scared – I sleep with my shoes on so I can wake my wife (who would snore right through an atom bomb otherwise) and Jacob (who is 10 now) in case it goes on a little longer and we had to run out. We had a considerably sharper jolt yesterday afternoon – that’s 10 days after the big one and they seem never to be coming to an end, though last night was the first quake-free night, so I’m feeling less tired this morning.

May 2nd started with an emotional salute by the BBMF Lancaster and a Dutch Spitfire.

Our royal guest [Prof.mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven, the uncle of Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands] and many dignitaries arrived and speeches were given by the mayor, the King’s commissioner, a family member and myself. We then followed the band of the Royal Dutch Air Force who marched to the monument 150 metres away whilst playing military music. There the unveiling took place and the Last Post, one minute silence and the four national anthems were played.

The names of all 36 men were read out by a relative and a 9 year old girl who won our school poem competition read out her poem. All guests then went back to the conference centre where we had a drink and could meet each other. Local eyewitnesses were introduced to the families of the airmen and

The next day the Brits and the Foundation visited Rotterdam Crooswijk where the 11 British and 1 Canadian airmen are buried. This was very impressive and emotional. In the afternoon we went by bus past all crash sites which again was very impressive. In the evening we met at the bar of the Hotel where they all stayed. On the 4th all left for America, Canada and England.

Your flowers and card were there and a flower was placed on the grave of G.R.Herbert. The police estimated that more than 600 people were at the ceremony.

On the monument are the names of the villages where the planes came down and on the base six shields with the names, planes and dates. This symbolises the eternal link between the villages and the 36 airmen and their families. Many friendships were made specially amongst the Brits themselves. Many people have enjoyed this and told me that this was one of the best days of their life.

There is a video of the event at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa_ PQOeNhTI

From Bridget Clarke (St Johns Wood History group), May 2015: George was the only casualty who had no family member to remember him, so we were very glad that we had been able to find a photo from Radley [provided by Clare Sargent, the Radley Archivist] to send to the organisers as well as some flowers.

Peter den Tek, the organizer of the event, reported to Bridget Clarke:

The cremation of the dead at the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, 1 May 2015

On May 1st all families arrived from America, Canada and 32 from Britain. In the evening we had a get-together and they 7

Prof.mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven unveils the memorial

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Michael Bawtree – As Far As I Remember

Prefects 1955: Back row left to right – G.S. Richmond, J.A.S. Harlow, R.N.M. Johnstone, S.C. Dixon Seated – M. Bawtree, F.T.A. Hole, The Warden, W.M.M. Milligan, R.H. Anson, P.E. Cook

Michael Bawtree (OR, 1951-56) has been working for several years on his memoirs, and this year has published volume 1, covering his first twenty-five years and taking us up to the day he took ship to Canada – which has been his home ever since. There are two full chapters on his time at Radley, and we asked him to provide us with a passage from these. The extract he has chosen describes his friendship at Radley with Peter Cook, and their collaboration on a musical for the Marionette Society in 1956.

Somehow – it happened so fast – I had become a young man. I had grown out of my adolescent anxieties and confusion – or had learnt to suppress them. And as part of this growing up I had begun to find friends among my near contemporaries; real friends.

Richard Latham had left the school by this time, winning an organ scholarship to Exeter College in Oxford. But there

were others in King’s, like Richard Hale, who had come with me on the Denmark trip and was a promising artist, and the larger-than-life Noel Slocock, with whom I think I shared a study, and whose exuberant temperament, sporting enthusiasm and general joie de vivre made him a wonderful friend.

But now for the first time I had also begun making friends in other parts of the school.

One of them was Jonathan Harlow. We had arrived almost together as entrance scholars, but he had taken his path into English and History, so that we saw less of one another in class.

One day, though, we happened almost by chance to be in each other’s company, and went for a long walk around the sports fields. We began to talk, and found that we amused and engaged each other more than we had expected.

Jonathan, with his long face and slightly bowed head, had a pedantic and gently sarcastic manner. He spoke carefully, thinking as he went, and used a rich vocabulary.

He had absorbed a great deal of knowledge and many ideas, and I suddenly knew that this was a friend that I would keep, my first genuinely intellectual comrade-in-arms.

We exchanged long and interesting letters over that summer holiday. Jonathan wrote brilliantly.

We had another contemporary who was now becoming a friend to both of us. Peter Cook had arrived with

Jonathan a term after me, and once our ‘O’ level exams were over he moved off into modern languages. But he had been making his mark on the stage since his first days at Radley, and recently had astonished our little world with his performance as Don Armado in Peter Way’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost. He had also drawn attention with his unique performances in comic plays and sketches, some of which he had written himself. To be honest, I always found his acting rather awkward physically, even selfconscious. But his force of character on the stage, his timing and his wit shone out in everything he did.

My first distinct memory of Peter Cook, though, was not in the theatre at all, but somewhere on the Berkshire Downs, where the Radley cadet force was conducting its annual Field Day. A mock battle was in progress, which meant that cadets were given their orders and then sent off in small sections into the hedgerows and ravines to scout for the ‘enemy’ and attack them with blank ammunition. I suppose there was a plan. Anyway, at one point in the afternoon a group of four or five of us found ourselves somehow cut off from the main action, and out of sight of the officer masters, who were chivvying the ranks elsewhere. Peter was with us. We sat down along a handy stone wall and rested our rifles.

8

The sounds of mock battle grew faint. We could hear the birds singing, and even bees and wasps and beetles as they buzzed past. Wild flowers glowed in the long grass. And in this suddenly surreal space Peter began to talk. It’s impossible now to put a finger on the reason for the hysterics which started to overcome us, with Peter giggling quite as much as we. Perhaps that day was the first time that he had found that strange droning delivery of his, far back in the throat, while making remarks of blinding obviousness. “There goes a bee... buzz, buzz, buzz. I like bees. Now there’s nothing I like more than a bee...” and so on. Occasionally we chipped in with our own additions to the theme, and Peter enjoyed that too, building on them, improving them, turning them inside out, as he did his own.

It was a tour de force which seemed to come out of nowhere, and we finally picked up our weapons and went back into battle with an overwhelming sense that what we had just experienced was more real than our military manoeuvres.

When we returned to Radley in the autumn Jonathan, Peter and I had all become School Prefects (‘Pups’) and heads of our socials. This meant among other things that along with the other five ‘heads of social’ we had access to the supreme inner sanctum: the School Prefects’ study, which lay beyond a stout and forbidding oak door off the covered passage in the middle of the school. ‘Pups’ Study’, as it was known, had been a source of respect and fear during our whole time at Radley. It was where the Senior Prefect administered canings for serious misdemeanours.

It was where the great gods like Dexter had come and gone. And now here we were, gods presumably to the junior boys as we walked sternly through that door, but once inside behaving simply as another bunch of clever-silly youngsters. Our particular group of school prefects was different, though, from all others in the history of Radley, in that we had our own resident comic genius: Peter Cook.

Perhaps, in fact, we had witnessed and participated in the genesis of Peter’s developing style: some remark, or observation, situation or object was noted and laughed at, and then became a pretext for endless variations, each spinning off into further absurdity while we rocked with laughter. I often became a foil for his spiel, learning to ape his tone of voice and to follow him into his fantasies, and our shared fun brought us closely together over the next months.

It will be obvious by now that I was not a trouble-maker, nor any kind of a thorn in the side of the establishment, during my years at the school.

I sought approval. I was friendly. I exuded team spirit.

I took responsibility. I was loyal to the school and took it seriously. I was respectful to my elders. I also thought of myself as deeply Christian, praying every night and confessing my sins (such as they were) and going regularly to Holy Communion on Sundays.

Programme for Black and White Blues

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET But all this rather numbing parade of apparent virtuousness is not to say that I was without guile or impertinence. We had all learned to imitate our teachers over the years, and had become adept in taking off the ponderous nasal tones of our own social tutor Mr Raymond T. King, the unctuous, pursed-lip manner of the Reverend Charles E.B. Neate (‘I’m celebrating myself tomorrow morning’), and the guttural bray of historian Mr J.V.P. ‘Rutch’ Thompson (‘Then it was that Louis put his spoke in the Hapsburg pie’ was his oft-quoted and glorious mixed metaphor). The low, bubbling wheedle of the rotund cricket coach Mr Ivor A.W. Gilliatt, with his ‘r’s pronounced as ‘w’s and his barely-suppressed pederastic tendencies, was another favourite target.

But with Peter Cook we entered a whole new league. For Peter there was nothing and no one which was not food for his genial mockery. He was overcome not by the serious satirist’s savage indignation but by helpless laughter at the absurdity of it all. The whole school and everything in it was a continuing carnival of ridiculousness. Peter’s ridicule was cosmic.

At some point in that autumn term, though, Peter began to focus more and more on one persona, like a lens through which he focused his satirical view of the world about him.

As school prefects we had now graduated to the high table in Hall, where it was our turn to sit around the polished oak board

Above and below right: Michael Bawtree reading at Radley in May

with its sparkling cutlery and be waited upon by Mr Boylett.

And for reasons that will never be known or understood, it was Mr Boylett who became Peter’s unlikely übermensch.

Boylett must have been in his fifties at that time: short and bowed, with grey hair around a balding pate, and a mouth that reminds me now of those Thurber mouths, open like birds’ beaks. He would dress in shabby tails, grey waistcoat

and tie, like a waiter in some Hungarian nightclub. Boylett worked with a fixed and affable smile always on his face – complemented somehow by a complete, utterly complete, absence of humour. However we teased him, he continued to smile, responding with remarks of sublime simpleness.

In our arrogant way we had never stopped to think twice about Mr Boylett. He was part of the landscape. But it was Peter who took painstaking note of the man. Boylett’s humourlessness, his gentleness and his utterly literal simplicity were all reproduced in a brilliant vocal portrait, to which he and the rest of us added brushstrokes from one day to the next. Peter achieved the feat of looking at the world through Boylett’s eyes and seeing it as a wondrous, inexplicable phenomenon. Peter was not cruel: his attention was even in a sense a mark of respect.

Boylett, whom the rest of us ignored or passed off as a silly little man, became somehow mythologised. The more pathetic and simple the poor man was, the more Peter saw in him an absurdist superhero.

It became hard not to giggle through our luncheon sessions with the Warden, who was not sure what it was all about.

It would be misleading, though, to suggest that we spent our entire time laughing our heads off. As head of King’s 9

Social I found I was for the first time a leader, and had regular meetings with our Tutor, Raymond King, on many matters of our administration. I was also in charge of my house prefects, and the group of us must also have met from time

to time to discuss the running of affairs, and what to do about the ‘difficult’ boys in the social.

But once again, these meetings and discussions have been utterly obliterated by time. I can remember only, and only too well, that in the course of

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET the two terms that remained to me I had to administer two canings. Nothing, not even being a victim of it, could have more effectively turned me against corporal punishment.

One of the pleasures of those last terms at Radley was the amount of time we were given to study on our own, outside the structure of the timetable.

It was I suppose a preparation for our university careers, and no doubt many hours were frittered away in foolishness.

But the need to study for the Oxford scholarship exams in December concentrated my mind a fair amount: perhaps

Oxford exams were past, I set to work. I had written only two or three songs before this, but I had the confidence of the young, and turned them out pretty fast, so that when we returned to school in January I had a score to offer. Chris had suggested that Peter write the dialogue in rhyming couplets, thinking that this might provide a form to cover up any amateurishness in the writing.

Couplets were not really Peter’s style, but he delivered.

His script, named Black and White Blues, told the story of a jazz band, led by a Mr Slump, going out to Africa. I rack my brains to recall anything else

Above and right: between Radley and National Service – hitchhiking to Rome in 1956 rapidity of fast American-style musical numbers: my pace, even with lively songs, was I am sure unbelievably turgid – while of course jazz was for me an unknown language. Since the central group in the show was a jazz band, this was clearly a slight disadvantage.

out in front of the miniature stage to take our bows. The true stars of course, as I know now, were the boys who made and manipulated the puppets from their platform above the stage. Some of them created a lifelikeness in their characters which was truly astonishing.

Luckily, my ignorance was shared by most of the boys and their parents who came to watch the show when we finally presented it in March, a few weeks before my time at Radley ended. I was luckier than Peter because I played the piano for the show and was kept thoroughly occupied, whereas Peter suffered the usual fate of the writer in the theatre, whose work is done before anybody else’s begins, and has little to do but to stand around offering suggestions, often politely declined. But at the curtain call Peter and I were stars, highly applauded as we came

One member of that audience was Dicky Olivier, an Old Radleian and brother of the legendary Laurence. Married to Wilma’s niece Hester and manager of his brother’s estate at Notley Abbey, Dicky had become a family friend and often visited us at Studley. He was absurdly enthusiastic about Black and White Blues, insisting that he introduce it to ‘Larry’.

We produced a record of the show (which sold 400 copies!) and one evening a month or two later Dicky invited Wilma and me out to their cottage at Notley, telling us that ‘Larry and Viv’ might drop in for a

A pub lunch for Hamish Aird, Peter Way and Michael Bawtree in May not enough, since in the event I failed to win more than entrance into Worcester College. I had the option of sitting further exams to other colleges in the next two or three months. But Worcester was where I wanted to go, and luckily my ‘A’ level marks were good enough to earn me a scholarship from the County of Oxfordshire. So my last term, from January to April, had no academic sword of Damocles hanging over me: I was free as the wind.

This was just as well, because in fact my hands were full. Chris Ellis had approached Peter Cook and myself in the autumn term and invited us to write a musical for the Marionette Society’s next big show. Peter would write the book and the lyrics, and I would compose the songs. Peter delivered his script to me around the end of November, and once the

about it, and thankfully have no memory of my music either: not a single ditty.

I had two handicaps in composing the music. In the first place, I was so naive as not to understand the basic form of the musical theatre song. My knowledge of light vocal music went only as far as folk ballads and Gilbert and Sullivan: so ‘verse, chorus, verse, chorus’ was the only shape I was comfortable with.

Of course I knew some of the old ‘standards’ but, with my usual reluctance to analyse, or to follow a guide, I had never got the idea of the musical ‘bridge’ into my head. The result was that though I could usually create a good tune, the overall effect, when I think about it now, must have been clunking in the extreme, with few changes of key or tempo within any song. I also had no ability to reproduce the sheer

Prefects 1956: Back row left to right – G.S. Richmond, J.A.S. Harlow, N.A. Slocock, R.N.M. Johnstone, A.G.H.Clare. Seated – P.E. Cook, F.T.A. Hole, The Warden, W.M.M. Milligan, M. Bawtree, S.C. Dixon 10

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Alan Messer/REX

drink. They did, and I had the delight of spending an hour or more in their rarefied company – tempered only by the excruciating embarrassment of having Dicky forcing them to listen to a track or two of our highly amateurish effort.

Black and White Blues was the fourth marionette show in which I had been involved, having missed out on an extraordinary Magic Flute in 1953, but having sung Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore a year or two later. Even at this distance I must pay tribute to the way in which Chris Ellis had developed the permissive creative ambience of Radley’s marionette theatre of those days. It was one place at the school where anybody of any age could make a contribution, from the school prefect to the new boy. Many of the boys that became involved were not academically minded at all, but Chris gave all of them a chance to shine. Out of the woodwork appeared amateur electricians, carpenters, scene painters, costumiers, and puppetmakers, printers, singers and players: all drawn to the excitement of putting

Associated Newspapers/REX

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as Derek and Clive in the 1960s something together. It seems wrong-headed, when I think about it now, to make this kind of creative group effort a chance happening rather than a vital part of our education.

But perhaps it was the whole activity’s faintly subversive and improvisatory quality which was its great virtue.

“Oh, sit down Bawtree,” said the major, picking up my file.

I mentioned that in writing the music for Black and White Blues I was handicapped in two ways. My second difficulty was simply a matter of cultural snobbery. I had been brought up, starting at my previous school, to have a reverence for High Art, and though the writing of light music appealed to me strongly, and though I had a gift for a singable tune, I was beset by the sense that I was somehow letting the side down, and should be dashing off string trios and piano sonatas. I remember being so concerned about this that sometime that term I bicycled down to visit Charles Wrinch at his home in Radley village, and asked for his advice. I forget what he said, but I was to go on for some years writing songs that people enjoyed, so I suppose he argued me out of my silliness.

“Yes, sir.”

[POST-SCRIPT. Less than a year later, Michael, now doing his National Service, attended the War Office Selection Board (WOSB) to be vetted for a commission.

The climax of the process was a personal interview with the Commanding Officer. Michael describes what took place:

Cast of ‘Beyond The Fringe’ February 1962, clockwise from top left: Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore 11

My turn arrived, and I marched into his office giving my smartest salute – never very smart, I’m afraid, but energetic at least.

“How are you enjoying WOSB so far?”

“Oh, quite a lot, sir.”

“Good, good... Oh, I see you were at Radley.”

“Jolly good school. My two boys are there. In fact I was up there last term and saw a fascinating puppet show they put on, called Black and White something or other. All written by the boys.

Marvellous. Did you see it?”

“I, er – I wrote the music for it, sir.”

“Did you really? My word!

Cracking good show. Well, that’ll be all, Bawtree. Good luck.” He stood up and shook my hand.

“Goodbye sir, and thank you.”

I saluted and clattered out.

Who is to say that art has no purpose? Within a few hours I heard that I had been accepted for a commission. Not only that, but a good mucker of mine, an Old Etonian, who had journeyed south from Strensall with me and who certainly knew how to pass the port, was turned down.]

To order your copy go to: www.mereobooks.com Click on Buy Our Books and then select Author Surname B and click on Bawtree, Michael Purchase price is £12.99 plus postage

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Jamie Laing (2002) – Made in Radley David Reynolds (1962) – Saturday Live look you in the eye when he spoke to you and you mustn’t underestimate how important that is if you want to engage someone. I actually think I do that in life, in part because he did.

He had wonderful wit and a nice turn of phrase. In boys’ schools the lads make fun of each other and he would join in – not in a bullying way but in a well-judged, measured manner. He was a good guy.

Mark Hindley by Jamie Laing from the TES magazine 13th February The Made in Chelsea star might have been ‘a little bit cocky’ in school, but in English he was all business, thanks to his teacher’s sporting approach to literature.

I was a little bit cocky at school, as you can probably imagine. I enjoyed it though, mostly because I loved sport – especially rugby – and Radley College was big on sport.

Mr Hindley taught me rugby, but what was really impressive was that he made me enjoy English too. One followed the other. His ability to connect with me on the rugby field meant he had my attention in the classroom where another teacher perhaps might not have.

What was really interesting was that his teaching methods didn’t change dramatically between the two. He had a way of relating the competitive side of sport to English classes – for example, that the desire to outwit or outsmart an opponent wasn’t hugely different from the way that authors toyed with a reader and played with the written word. But what was perhaps more bizarre was that I

found I could translate my new understanding of English to the rugby field. I became very good at analysing literature and playing fullback. I could use that ability to analyse the pattern of a game. I realise that’s an odd parallel but it worked for me.

I guess the highest compliment I can pay Mr Hindley is that we didn’t want to miss his lessons.

We respected him, he made us laugh and he made us learn.

Jane Eyre, Hamlet, The Great Gatsby, The Color Purple: I have great memories of learning these works, all taught by him.

I remember that Mr Hindley would make us take it in turns to read out loud when we studied a text, rather than just sit there with the monotone of one teacher jabbering at you. It was immersive to be part of the lesson, and competitive because you’d try to read with more drama than your classmates.

That was it – he made it competitive – I love competition.

To this day I don’t understand why teachers feel they have the right to talk down to kids.

Discipline them, sure, but don’t talk down to them. Mr Hindley wouldn’t talk down; he didn’t think he was better than you.

What sort of guy was Mr Hindley? Stern when he had to be, great fun when he didn’t.

I remember using a break-up with a girlfriend as a reason for not doing an essay and let’s just say that, with the use of choice words, he made it clear that wasn’t an option.

Work was work, for Mr Hindley – it had to be done – but that didn’t mean our lessons were drab. I think that’s so important.

School should be entertaining, classes should be engaging and this guy got that. He would

In short, what I’m saying is, if he had to choose his top five favourite students in his career, I’d 100 per cent be in that list.

Jamie Laing was talking to Tom Cullen before his UK Schools’ Mission on Red Nose Day in March to help get 300,000 children across Africa into education and learning.

Jamie Laing Born: 3 November 1988 Education: Radley College, Oxfordshire; studied drama at the University of Leeds Career: Star of reality television series Made in Chelsea and founder of confectionery brand Candy Kittens

Mark and Lou Hindley

Simon Langdale by David Reynolds on Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 21st February David Reynolds was asked about his book on the trip he made along Highway 83 from Canada to the Mexican border. “… we wondered if you had a special teacher at some point in your life who moved you – David Reynolds what about you?”

“Yes I did. I think he will be surprised if he is listening to this because he doesn’t know about it. He taught me History and I had to write an essay every week, and he used to give them back to me with red handwriting at the bottom – and usually I got something wrong – muddled up James I with James II or something – easily done – but he always wrote, for week after week, ‘this is well written’. And that started me to think – I was sixteenish – what kind of career I might do – and thought about journalism – and that got me on the track that I have followed. And he was called Mr Langdale – and I hope he’s listening...”

Simon Langdale 12

Reviews of Slow Road to Brownsville in the press: Immensely illuminating and enjoyable account of a road trip along Highway 83. Books like this prove that good travel writing remains not only very much alive, but essential.

The Bookseller Reynolds ... rides off, a lone English ranger, into a historical North American hinterland that exists as much in mythical reference as in modern reality. ... Ride shotgun with Reynolds as he pit-stops at diners and gas stations, and detours by way of legendary landmarks, where he reflectively enjoys cracker-barrel wisdom, saloonbar wit, and good-ol country wackiness.

Iain Finlayson, The Times About the Author: David Reynolds was one of the founders of Bloomsbury Publishing and is now a director of Old Street Publishing. Based in London, he is the author of Swan River: A Memoir of a Family Mystery, which was shortlisted for the PEN/Acklerley Prize for Autobiography and Memoir.

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET E Social 24-hour Charity Football two JustGiving pages and offline donations. These pages will remain open for another two weeks and all donations – however large or small – will be gratefully received (links below). https://www.justgiving.com/ George-Gent https://www.justgiving.com/ George-Gent1 A huge thanks goes to all the staff who helped make this On the weekend of Saturday 7th February and Sunday 8th February, the boys and Dons of E Social took on the challenge of playing 24 hours (6 pm on the Saturday to 6 pm on the Sunday) of 5-a-side football.

The entire group was split into two teams; the green team captained by the Head of Social Nick Tross Youle and the white team captained by Second Prefect Charlie Stone. This was a fundraising event to raise money for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The boys played with great spirit and fun throughout the 24 hours and despite nearly 900 goals being scored, it all came down to the last thirty-minute segment, with Team Tross Youle up by just six goals. They managed to maintain this lead and took the Trophy, which was presented

by Arsenal and England legend Martin Keown (right with Nick Tross Youle), who gave up over two hours of his time on the Sunday to support our event.

It was also very special that Mark and Rachel Waller, the parents of Charlie Waller (E

event happen – everyone down at the Sports Centre, the Dons connected to E Social, our Matron Clare and in particular Mr Glendon-Doyle for his tireless support throughout the 24 hours. I must also thank the E Social parents for their support on the fundraising front, and in particular Fran Mahon for her huge input – including organising for Martin Keown to be present at the event.

Tim Lawson: E Social Tutor

Social 1981-1986) were there to present the other prizes, including the Golden Boot, which was won by Harry Foreman (Remove) for his near fifty goals over the 24 hours.

We had huge support from the entire Radley community over the 24 hours, and the boys were delighted to see the Warden, who appeared at 6 am to play in a thirty-minute segment for Team Stone (and scored a hat-trick in the process).

At present the boys have raised well over £6,000 through the

Old Radleians are invited to ride the Tour de France route in 2016 20 Year Memorial Ride for Will Wates

Many of you will know at least one of us Wates brothers and particularly will remember the tragic death of our youngest brother Will Wates on his Gap Year in 1996, almost 20 years ago (where does the time go?). We, his family, founded the William Wates Memorial Trust (WWMT) in 1998 with a mission to help the most disadvantaged young people keep away from a life of crime and violence, and fulfil their potential. We achieve this by giving grants to around 20 charities a year that support young people and engage with

them through the mediums of sport, arts and education.

The Tour de Force

10 years ago, to commemorate 10 years since Will’s death, we created the now phenomenally successful Tour de Force cycling event – to ride all or part of the actual Tour de France route each year, just one week ahead of the pros. To date, our riders have raised over £2 million pounds for the Trust. The event has come of age and now challenges the riders to reach a punchy £500,000 a year – as big a challenge as the ride itself!

Up to 150 riders cycle anything from 2 to 10 stages each year, while a further 40 riders (known as ‘Lifers’) ride all 21 stages of this epic cycling challenge. Not all Tour de France stages are killer mountains of course – there are some that are shorter and flatter than others – so there’s something for everyone, while even one stage still represents a significant cycling challenge.

We pride ourselves on running a very inclusive event where camaraderie is everything. Fellow riders 13

help and support each other and we have a great team of mechanics, doctors and physios on the road to back you up.

We even signpost the entire route each day. All you have to do is ride, eat and sleep (and we sort out all your food and accommodation too of course!).

Old Radleian Team 2016

2016 is a very special year: to commemorate 20 years since Will’s death and 10 years of the Tour de Force, we want to bring an Old Radleian team to the event. Our vision is to have at least one Old Radleian on each

stage of the event so that we have a full relay and between you all, the team covers the entire route of the Tour de France 2016. We also have one guaranteed Lifer place available for an Old Radleian.

If you’re interested in taking part, please contact Sarah Perry at: info@tourdeforce.org.uk or on 0131 3000796.

We very much look forward to riding with you in 2016!

Rick Wates and the Wates Family www.tourdeforce.org.uk

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET New World Record – Marathon

Cycling up the west coast of South America

Guthrie Fenton (2005) and his friends from Durham University are taking on this formidable physical and psychological challenge in an attempt to raise £80,000 for four causes: The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) Headley Court, The Mark Donegan Fellowship and Cancer Research UK. They arrived in Cusco in April and have raised £50,000 so far.

They would be very grateful for any support you may be able to offer, and no donation is too small!

Guthrie is also hoping to inspire others to take up their own challenges, so please do spread the word.

In April Mike Ellicock (1988) ran the London Marathon for Support our Paras and the charity he set up and leads, National Numeracy.

He ran with a 20-pound pack and finished in 2 hours 56.39 beating the existing Guinness World Record by 10 minutes.

www.uppingtheandes.com

Saddle Sand Sea Their aim is to fulfil a long-held dream to raise over £300,000 to fund their challenges and most importantly, support their chosen charities – The Prostate Project and The EY Foundation.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MikeEllicock

Charity Row This summer Charlie Merton and James Newton are rowing from Radley to Westminster Bridge in Central London.

They aim to cover the 180 km stretch of the Thames in a double scull and in just under 2 days, camping on the side of the river overnight.

They are raising funds for The Brain Tumour Charity: www.justgiving.com/CharlieMerton1

Combat Stress In order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War, two Radley 6.1 boys, Nick Bennett and Charlie Barber will be undertaking a pilgrimage to the battlefields,

cemeteries and memorials of the Western Front. They will be marching over 150 miles, at around a marathon per day for 6 days, paying their respects to 120 of the School’s Fallen at over 50 different Cemeteries and Memorials along the trench lines from Albert to Ypres, taking in the battlefields where many Old Radleians and staff fought, finishing at the Menin Gate in time for the evening playing of the Last Post.

They are raising money for Combat Stress to help the vital work they perform in supporting ex-Servicemen. www.combatstress.org.uk www.justgiving.com/ memorymarch

All three events are well organised and well established, each one of which has received, and continues to receive, a great deal of media interest.

Paddy Montgomery and Seamus Crawford In August Paddy Montgomery (2000) sets off on Saddle, the first part of Saddle Sand Sea, the world’s toughest ‘triathlon’.

Saddle is the 2015 Race Across Europe (www. theraceacrosseurope.com), a 2933 mile cycle race to be completed within 12 days, starting in Calais and finishing in Gibraltar, crossing the Alps twice and the Pyrenees once.

(The Tour de France is 2131 miles in 21 days).

14

The next two parts of the ‘triathalon’ are: Sand, the 2016 Marathon Des Sables (www. marathondessables.co.uk, a six day ultra-marathon covering 250 km in the Sahara desert and Sea, the 2017 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge (www. taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge. com): a 3000 nautical mile rowing race across the Atlantic Ocean from La Gomera to Antigua.

The Prostate Project is a registered charity established in 1998 by prostate cancer patient Colin Stokes and his consultant urological surgeon, Mr John Davies. Their ambition is to give men a better chance of beating prostate cancer.

The EY Foundation is a UK charity that helps young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, find alternative routes into employment and education, or even set up a business. www.saddlesandsea.com

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Everest in the Alps Challenge

Marathon des Sables

Rob de Laszlo (1990) and friends completed their ‘The Everest In The Alps’ challenge in aid of the Brain Tumour Charity.

In April James Tufnell (2007, pictured in action above right) and Alex (using his first name, Hector) Sants (2002) completed the Marathon des Sables, a six day ultra-marathon covering 250 km in the Sahara desert – an event described as the hardest footrace on earth.

Rob reports: As we had anticipated, it was a huge physical and mental challenge to scale over 8,848 metres in 4 days. Completing the event took 10-13 hours a day of trekking uphill on our skis, and involved many blisters, exhausted muscles and the consumption of hundreds of energy bars!

Of course, nothing we went through comes close to the challenges that Toby (a two year old classmate of Rob’s son who is being treated

for a brain tumour) and others like him face. Most importantly the team raised a massive amount, over £2.6m and counting, for the Brain Tumour Charity. The money raised will enable the charity to sponsor a specific research programme into the treatment of tumours of the type that Toby has, and it is hoped that Toby himself will benefit from the results of the research. www.everestinthealps.com

Krispy Kreme for Gehandu

From an email from James (18 April 2015): Having just left hospital for hopefully the final time, it would appear that I can finally put the Marathon des Sables behind me at last.

I arrived back from Morocco on Monday and have completed the race! It was very eventful.

By some miracle I won my class, I created a stress fracture in my right leg, broke my ankle and most importantly successfully raised £10,000 for Mencap.

challenging race conditions in which friendships were bound to be forged.

Halfway through the longest 60 mile leg, at about midnight, having traversed too many kilometres of sand dunes, in the clearest of nights, under a plethora of stars, I had the realisation that this was the hardest but most beautiful thing I had ever done. Whilst my right leg was in a state of fractured numbness, the world rolled back and made for a rather spectacular few hours; even if it was agonisingly painful and terribly hot.

Possibly the biggest high for me came at the end of the second day which was around 20 miles long, in which, having climbed our third mountain (this one being the same height as Snowdon) I met a team of US Marines. When I told them I was running for charity, we decided to have a race to the finish. If I won, they would all donate to Mencap, if they won I would cook their suppers that evening. Anyway at the end of our five-mile race, across the sand dunes before the camp, I am delighted that Mencap gained £40!

end the race on account of a severely damaged leg, does not make for a happy few hours nor days since. I was in a lot of pain, an experience I shared with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who did the penultimate checkpoint with me. With the oldest Briton completely unable to do sand dunes and the youngest, absolutely incapable of doing any distance on the flats, with my walking stick/ staff we made for a terrible pair of competitors engaged in undoubtedly the slowest race ever seen. I finally passed him over the last set of dunes with my passing comment to him being “Sir Ranulph, from the youngest Briton to the oldest, in the immortal words of Sir Winston Churchill, Keep buggering on”. However, the most important aspect of this whole debacle was raising funds for Mencap. The charity is currently involved with helping young children with learning disabilities to communicate and speak.

In April doughnuts were sold in aid of Radley’s partner school in Tanzania, Gehandu Secondary School. £550 was raised in 15 minutes.

I flew to the Sahara on the 3rd April and started what was scheduled to be the 30th Anniversary and hardest edition of the Marathon des Sables on Sunday morning with an initial 25 mile leg. Over the course of the next week I had to live off a diet of cold freezedried ration packs, horrid energy bars and salt tablets.

This horrendous diet combined with the sweltering, inescapable heat made for some suitably

Charity Bake Sale

Charity Piano Concert

Guy Carter (2012) and friends organised a cake sale to raise funds for Christian Aid’s work in the slums of Nairobi.

A concert organised by Adrian Goldsmith (1967) raised over £40,000 in aid of Prostate Cancer UK. Adrian’s own composition, Fantasy for Orchestra and Piano, received a standing ovation.

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In terms of lows, as my results sadly show, doing an eleven and a half hour marathon to

www.justgiving.com/JamesTufnell2015 Alex Sants is raising £5,000 for Refuge, a charity for women and children who experience domestic violence. www.justgiving.com/HectorSants3

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Radley Choir at New College

James Burton (1988) conducted Schola Cantorum at their 55th Anniversary Concert in the Sheldonian in May. Oliver Wilson (1988) led the Violas in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Stephen Clarke, the Radley Precentor and former conductor of Schola Cantorum, sang in the Schola Alumni Chorus.

The Chapel Choir sang Evensong at New College, Oxford in April

Rogation Sunday

Chelsea Flower Show

Roger Shaw

Schola Cantorum at the Sheldonian

The Rogation service at Radley in May to bless the fruits of the field and ask for God’s mercy on all of creation

Newsquest Oxfordshire

Love Oxford

Congregations from over 30 churches in Oxford combined for an open air service, Love Oxford, in the centre of the city on 3rd May. Charlie Cleverly (1964, above right), Rector of St Aldate’s Church, welcomed the thousands who had gathered in Broad Street.

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Hamish Mackie (1987) was awarded the commission of six life-anda-quarter size horses as a centrepiece for the Berkeley Group’s new development at Goodman’s Fields in London. The six horses used in this project are all based on different breeds of horses: Andalusian, Arab, Irish Draft, Thoroughbred, European Warm Blood and Thoroughbred/Shire. The Andalusian Stallion (above) was shown at the Chelsea Flower Show in May before the unveiling at Goodman’s Fields on 25th June 2015.

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET People of the Thames Exhibition in the Sewell Centre Gallery Paul Bircher (1944) came to Radley from Somerset in April to open the People of the Thames Exhibition by photographer Jil Orpen.

The Exhibition in the Sewell Centre Gallery ran from 17th April to 15th May. Four of the photographs are shown below together with the notes from the exhibition.

Paul Bircher, Old Radleian 1948 was an outstanding year for this Old Radleian. After Henley Royal Regatta he and his rowing crew were chosen to represent Great Britain in the Olympics at Henley, where the crews raced three abreast over 2,000 metres. They managed to get to the final, only to be beaten by the Americans. Rationing was still in force but Paul recollects old oarsmen sending down chunks of venison to “beef us up”.

Photographed at his home in Somerset Giclée print

Robbie Wendin As Radley’s Captain of Boats in 2014, Robbie maintains that rowing has provided him with much more than individual achievement. “Win or lose, you’re satisfied that you have done your best and completed the race with the people who are now your brothers. You have forged a bond that is not easily broken.” He hopes to continue his rowing career at a university in the US. Photographed at his home in Newbury Giclée print

Tim Crooks, Old Radleian It is Tim’s conviction that the challenge for rowers is simple: the bigger the strokes, the faster you go. He may have a point, since he was Britain’s Fastest Schoolboy Sculler at Radley College in 1967 and a multiple winner at Henley and other international regattas. He competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics and rowed to silver at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Photographed at his home in Fetcham, Surrey Giclée print

Annabel McChesney (née Eyres) Annabel was a competitor in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics at a time when UK women rowers were not supported financially like their competitors. To fund her rowing she designed and marketed a range of rowing products under the banner of Rock the Boat, a company that is still going strong. A portrait artist, Annabel is also a star rowing coach at Radley College.

Photographed at Radley College Boat Club Giclée print

Election Results May 2015 Conservatives – retained their seats Constituency Simon Hart (1977, A) George Hollingbery (1977, C) George Freeman (1980, H) Owen Paterson (1969, D)

% of vote

Carmarthen West & Pembrokeshire South Meon Valley Norfolk Mid Shropshire North

43.7 61.1 52.1 51.4

George Grant (1998) was the Conservative candidate for Bradford West. He came third, not far behind George Galloway and more than doubling the Conservative vote of the 2012 By-Election. The seat was won by Labour. If there were any other OR candidates in the recent General Election please send a message to: jock.mullard@radley.org.uk 17

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Calendar of Events 2015 Radleian Society & Foundation

Caroline Monaghan our new Events Wizard

Portrait of Andrew Motion

Please contact Caroline if you have questions about Foundation and Radleian Society Events: Tel: 01235 543171 Email: caroline.monaghan@radley.org.uk

As we went to press Sir Andrew Motion (1966), and the artist, Fiona Graham-Mackay, unveiled a portrait of the former Poet Laureate. The portrait featured in a BBC Radio documentary in December and was later purchased by Radley.

Radley Mariners Henley Drinks Thursday 2 July, 12.30 pm at the Boat Club tent in the Henley Cricket Club Car Park Rowing Tank Opening for donors Sunday 6 September Shell Parents Drinks Sunday 20 September, Radley Anthony Hudson Rugby Lunch Saturday 3 October, Radley OR Dinner Wednesday 2 December at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, London Drinks for Young ORs December, London Student University Dinners Lent & Summer Terms 2016

Chapel Choir Reunion

Rugger

Tom West (2009) after playing as a replacement for the England U20 team against Italy in February – England won 61-0. Tom West and Will Stuart both have two year contracts as Academy players at Wasps. Both left in 2014.

About 30 Old Radleians and their families returned for the Choir Reunion in May. After a rehearsal during the afternoon they joined the Radley choristers and members of the Chapel Choir for Evensong. This was followed by a memorable dinner in Hall. Above: Stephen Clarke, the Precentor, conducts the rehearsal.

Lacrosse

Ben Robinson (2007) played for the Nottingham University Lacrosse team which beat Oxford by 21 points to 6 in the British Universities Championships 18

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Cricket

racingfotos.com/REX/Shutterstock

Above: Many Clouds ridden by Leighton Aspell and trained by Oliver Sherwood (1969) jumps the last to win the 2015 Grand National. Below: the front row of Leighton Aspell, the jockey, Oliver Sherwood, the trainer and Trevor Hemmings, the owner, celebrate the win.

Cross Country

Roger Askew/REX

racingfotos.com/REX/Shutterstock

Grand National

The England and Wales Cricket Board has appointed former England captain Andrew Strauss (1990) as Director of England Cricket. In this new highperformance role he will be responsible for the longterm strategy of the England men’s cricket team and for developing the right coaching and management structure to support it. Andrew Strauss, who led England to two Ashes wins and took his team to the top of the ICC World Test Rankings, reports to the Chief Executive.

Back row (L to R): Tom Binnie (2006), Henry Astor (1983), Ben Pollard (1986), Chris Tufnell (1982), Ralf Arneil (1987), Mike Tufnell (1985) Front row (L to R): Ben Scott Knight (1983), Hugh Handy (2006), Alex Fereday (1993), Tom Horsey (1985), Simon Robson Brown (1986) Paul Fernandez (Radley Common Room) led the field but was followed home by Old Radleians in 2nd ( C. Tufnell ), 3rd (Binnie), 4th (Pollard), 6th (Handy), 7th (M. Tufnell), 8th (Astor), 9th (Robson Brown) and 10th (Scott Knight) places.

The 2016 race will be on a Tuesday in early/mid March, and runners of all abilities and ages are welcome. To sign up for a fun afternoon run and an evening programme of events, just e-mail: oldradleianxc@gmail.com 19

Nick Gubbins (2007), the Middlesex opener, at work in the Radley nets in May

Lusimus . THE RADLEY BROADSHEET Real Tennis

Rowing

Adrian Theed (1983), on the left with the London Rowing Club group

Freddie White (g) and Oliver Martyn-Hemphill (f), Under-Sixteen National Schools Doubles Champions

Edward Rees (2009) rowed for the Oxford Lightweight crew in the Henley Boat Races in April – Cambridge pipped them at the post by four feet.

BigBlade Photography

A closely-fought Championship Final held at Radley on Sunday 8th February, under the watchful eye of coach (and former World Champion) Chris Ronaldson, saw Fifth-formers Freddie White (g) and Oliver Martyn-Hemphill (f) overcome a strong Canford pair – coming back from 2-5 down to triumph 8-5 in the Under-Sixteen National Schools Doubles Championship. The Remove pairing of Benedict Yorston (b) and Ned Gordon (c) brought home further success, comfortably beating Eton 6-0 for the third place and already looking strong contenders for next year’s final.

From the London Rowing Club report on the Masters Racing in Monaco in February: The following race had two LRC masters double sculls, former Commonwealth Champions Jonty Williamson and Marcus Williams reuniting to take on Adrian Theed and Stewart Harries. A hectic start saw Theed and Harries eventually emerge at the front with a French double from La Seyne. These two doubles exchanged the lead no less than eight times with rarely more than a length and a half between the two boats until a simply sublime line steered around the penultimate buoy (it just had to be said!) gave Theed and Harries command of the race and a winning run home…

On Sunday 1st March Luke Danby (1984) and Conor Medlow became 2015 Amateur Doubles Champions.

In the final they fought back from a set down to win 5/6 6/5 6/2 6/4. Luke lost to his partner Medlow in the singles semi-final.

Nick Holland (1973, third from right) with the Oxford Veterans Crew

Donald Legget (1956) was part of the Cambridge coaching team for the 48th year (he started in 1968); Nick Holland (1973) rowed in the victorious Oxford Veterans crew which defeated Cambridge by two and three quarter lengths – the race was from above Hammersmith Bridge to the Boat Race start; Robert Clegg (1984) umpired the Isis Goldie Race; David Searle (1969) continues as an Executive Director of The Boat Race Company Ltd., the organisation that stages the Boat Race; Miles Morland (1957) supported the Oxford Lightweight Women (below) – the members of the crew would otherwise have had to pay all their expenses for travel, training, kit and accommodation.

Radley College, Abingdon, OX14 2HR Web: www.radley.org.uk

BigBlade Photography

Conor Medlow (left) and Luke Danby (right), Amateur Doubles Champions

Contact Details

GB Under 25 Captain

Ben Boddington (2007) has been appointed (aged only 20) Captain of the GB Under 25 Real Tennis Team for the World Championships in the summer.

Anthony Robinson, Development Director Tel: 01235 543151 Email: anthony.robinson@radley.org.uk Lucy Johnsson, Administrator & PA to Development Director Tel: 01235 548543 Email: lucy.johnsson@radley.org.uk Kim Charlton, Data Wrangler Tel: 01235 543172 Email: kim.charlton@radley.org.uk Caroline Monaghan, Events & Communications Wizard Tel: 01235 543171 Email: caroline.monaghan@radley.org.uk

Rowing USA

Hamish Aird, Foundation Philosopher Tel: 01235 548574 Email: hha@radley.org.uk Jock Mullard, Print Purveyor Tel: 01235 543103 Email: jock.mullard@radley.org.uk The Radley Foundation – Registered Charity No. 272671 The Radleian Society – Registered Charity No. 309243

Ollie Wynne-Griffith (2007) rowed at 7 in the Yale crew which won the Eastern Sprints at Worcester, Mass in May 20