Radleian MT 2015

THE

M I C H A E L M A S 2015

RADLEIAN

The Producers | Tracey Emin | The Grenadier Guards The Election | The Radley Year | Music Tour 100 Years of Rugby at Radley | Piano Extravaganza Florence | Fragile | Creative Writing | Art | Design and Technology

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the new look Radleian Magazine. We want to achieve a more dynamic, ‘real-time’ feel and to integrate it with our new website, recently launched. An online version will have additional content, allowing use of video and other digital links. Please do take the time to look at it. The aim for the hard-copy magazine, to be published twice a year, is to have much more boy-driven journalism and for it to give alternative insight into what happens here at Radley. In this way, it continues to be a record of events but in a more flexible manner than has been possible in the past. That said, ironically, in one sense we are only going back a generation as for many years the Radleian was a bi-annual publication led by a team of boy editors.

The abiding impression of my first year at Radley was of the fast-moving whirlwind of events and achievements that make up life at the College. I hope that the new website, a regular e-bulletin from me, and this new version of the Radleian, supported and extended online, will capture this and keep you fully in touch and up to date. We are very proud of what goes on here and of what the boys achieve. It is great to be able to share it.

John Moule Warden

THE PROD This reviewer saw the college production of “The Producers” on the Saturday night of its run, by which time, unqualified praise had been showered on Robert Lowe’s gleefully irreverent show. This kind of front-loaded expectation can often lead to disappointment but in this case, the hype was more than justified. The Producers delighted beyond any possible anticipation: bravura, virtuoso performances and astonishingly well-choreographed ensembles linked together to provide an unforgettable evening of escapist theatre and musical entertainment.

The super concentration of tweed in the audience was more than matched by a cornucopia of taffeta, sequins, spangles, Jack boots, lederhosen and rhinestones on the stage. We were warned that this was the show that put the camp into Mein Kampf but could any of us really have been properly prepared? You know when a school play is a little racy when you are sitting two seats down from AER and you see him loosen his tie! What could have been more delightful in the depths of a wet and miserable November than a show that crackled with excitement and brought the Ziegfield follies to OX14?

Ned Cambell’s scoundrel producer, Max Bialystock, roared onto the stage as the King of Broadway with remarkable confidence and extra comic embonpoint stuffed into his costume. He brought a manic and unmistakably Jewish dimension to the role, albeit within the traditions of musical theatre: part Groucho Marx delivering innuendoladen patter while pacing up and down with that lecherous lope, part obsequious Don Juan to the superannuated nymphomaniacs of “Old Lady Land”, part Fagin, hoarding his dollars in the company safe, taking them out, caressing them and even greeting them with a memorable “Hello boys!”. This part

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requires weapons grade stamina and Ned delivered with knobs on.

“Betrayed”, his solo number in Act Two, was a tour de force as the imprisoned Bialystock rewinds through the entire show, singing all the songs, mimicking all the actors.

It was frenetic, schizophrenic, nuanced and utterly convincing.

Amongst all the froth and shimmer of the show, this soliloquy brought moments of genuine pathos which allowed the reconciliation song, “’Til him”, in the following scene, to be all the more tender and believable.

Will Dodd was equally fantastic, delivering arpeggios of neurotic behaviour in his carefully calibrated portrayal of the preposterously but endearingly naïve accountant, Leo Bloom. He sang delightfully, displaying tremendous subtlety, musicality and comic timing and he was also noticeably fleet of foot in the dance numbers. Crushed by his tyrannical boss “is that the disgusting smell of self-esteem?” he dares to dream of Broadway.

“I’m not going into the toilet….I’m going into Show Business!” Riddled with insecurity and nervous ticks, Bloom’s odyssey and eventual epiphany gives the show added dynamic development and Will Dodd’s performance was always assured and often stunning. Beyond their individual performances as Max and Leo, it was clear that a bond had been formed between Ned and Will and that a strong and mutually respectful off-stage friendship underpinned their highly successful on-stage collaboration.

The love interest came in the shape of Holly Evans and her knockout interpretation of Ulla, the blonde, Swedish sex-bomb secretary. Her exceptionally accomplished singing and dancing allowed Holly to inhabit this role utterly convincingly. She was unambiguously hilarious, believably burlesque, she had it and my goodness did she flaunt it.

UCERS Finn Salter amazed as Carmen Ghia, Roger de Bris’ “common law” assistant. Sibilant, limp-wristed and relentlessly funny “May I take your hats, your coats, your swastikas?” he shimmied and sashayed up and down the stage, delivering clipped oneliners and remaining relentlessly and unequivocally in character. There was just as much acting as performing in this role and Finn impressed from start to finish.

“I’m supposed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia but I think I look more like the Chrysler building.”

Arran Ryder displayed phenomenal stage confidence as a 15 year-old in full drag, viper-tongued, frothy and camp as a box of frogs. He held us spellbound in his stunning costumes and with his equally impressive vocal abilities. It takes some chutzpah to conga into the audience, wearing

a sequinned frock, accompanied by the Village People but Arran didn’t even blink. He even had the cojones to sit on the new Warden’s lap and ruffle his hair! I can’t think of a more fitting tribute to make to Arran’s performance than to say that he made it all seem so easy. His knowing looks and winks at the audience provided comical punctuation to the songs he belted out with all the swagger and confidence of Ethel Merman in her heyday.

Ed Walker displayed great theatrical flexibility playing more than one memorable part, but his vocal delivery flowered fully in Springtime for Hitler as he gave an assured performance and hit some seriously impressive notes. George Chilvers, Alex Hutton, Freddie Light and Ned Marriott had brief moments of glory in a range of different roles and these quality performances were encouraging indicators of the healthy scope of dramatic potential at Radley.

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Apologies to the cast for not having the space to mention you all by name but you really were extraordinary.

Disciplined, entertaining, convincing and above all, a delight to watch. The feeling that you were all enjoying yourselves was palpable and the effort you put in to making sure the audience got as much out of the show as you clearly did was very much appreciated.

The roll call of talent that went into this show is endless but no review could be complete without mentioning those who toiled relentlessly behind the scenes: Lianne Oakley-Rowland with her stunning costume designs, Jonathan Goodall’s set painting and Matt Barker’s production management and lighting, to name but three.

The wow factor, authenticity and flexibility that was provided by these three elements transformed the College Theatre into a magical

theatrical wonder box. Glamorous dancing girls in gold lamé popping out of filing cabinets, monochrome accountants in green visors twirling, tapping and delivering high kicks, old ladies crippled with arthritis, leaning on Zimmer frames, nothing was too ambitious, too fantastic or too OTT for Robert Lowe’s team.

Mark Lambert’s Franz Liebkind gave us one of the show’s most memorable numbers but who, during that extraordinary Bavarian cri de coeur, was not wondering how those pigeons worked?

The music, under Stephen Clarke’s expert baton, was taut, tuneful, sassy and slick and his 23 individual musicians gave us pathos, drama, melodrama and comedy from a score which is, amongst other things, a love letter to the Broadway Musical.

Max Horsey’s excellent “making of “ DVD allows us behind the scenes to

see just how much hard work went into the choreography and musical rehearsals. After a few minutes viewing, you get a genuine sense of esprit de corps and the feeling of a theatrical company, working, playing and laughing together with a common aim in sight. Gloriously and unapologetically politically incorrect, this show endures because it has memorable songs, a great script and a big heart. Many congratulations must go to Robert Lowe for his superior, imaginative and ingenious direction and for making a show with a cast of over 40 players look so effortlessly natural and professional.

I am reliably informed that there were very few evenings, even after extensive rehearsals, when Robert did not come home buzzing with excitement about the production.

Many thanks to all involved for providing quality entertainment, just when it was needed most.

Simon Barlass

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6 February 2015

O

TRACEY EMIN

THE RADLEY

CHRONICLE

A POUND SHO

P WILLIAM BL

AKE kay. Tracey Emin Exhibition. At Ra dl ey . Tracey Emin.

TRACEY EMIN ! I was excited. I’d heard a lot about her. Her unmade it absurd that M bed fetched £2.2 odern Artists are been the subject million, and had all about not-con and yet they them of much controve forming, selves conform RE rsy. I’d seen the be newspapers and it LIGIOUSLY to th d in the of ‘Modern Art’ didn’t take me lo e style .

I mean, the dog co ng to be disengag I was completely uld have been dr ed by it. well, and her ‘n’s indifferent to the awn co uld have been the image of this unm In other words, it correct way roun ade bed. then it would have meant it wasn’t ar d, but be t in my perception. en inconsistent w obviously. It’s an ith the style of m vagueness, abstrac I mean, unmade bed, let’s ys t tic cl uelessness and ae not get all philoso about it – although sthetic unconcerne that Modern Art de phical , if you do want dn es m s ands. to get philosophic it, it’s quite disgus al about ting to think that something is labe just because someo And these people lled art ne sells it in an ar who arrogantly ca t gallery. Isolated context, art should ll themselves artis go as far as to insu out of its remain art, and if ts, actually lt the real artists. you take Emin’s bed out of its ar Emin said in an in that it is not art to unmade t gallery context, terview ‘s la p a bit of oil paint on it ceases to be ar stretch of the very a picture’, referri t by any a canvas and mak stretchy, modern ng to e th imagination. e work of more co Isn’t it funny that nventional artists. no w sh e’s the one who’s But I was excite Anyway. She also being judgmental? d nonetheless: th said, while I’m qu e Warden advise assembly at the sta oting, that ‘the id d in his painting was repu rt of term to aban ea of lsive’, and that ‘a don prejudices, to preconceptions, fter the abortion… of creativity made expel and to th e idea no se ns e whatsoever. I ha engage with thin the idea of art to d to totally reinve gs with ca rry nt on .’ I have a problem an open mind. So with this. Clearly I went to the exhibitio she doesn’t un n with ‘I w o u ld s a y to E m in an open mind, : g iv e ar us something t, if she believedes rsit tacandn ready to to p e rc eive! A canvas, engage. But the be reinvented. Th art did with the words e very not engage m no ‘O tion of art is on h e. The D ia n a , e of D ia n Saatchi Gallery de a, Diana, Diana expression. Yo scribes D u , ca D n’t ia n ia a, reinvent it, Emin as someo na’, written on ne who be it ca us g iv e ‘engages the view s me nothing.’ it has no boun e er with daries, her exploration of no limitations, universal emotions as long .’

But this is inaccu First, I didn’t sy as it fulfills th mpathise much w rate. e m ost ith the emotions she exploring, so they fundamental crite expression, and re was ’re not really univ rio n ac of tio n er on sa maybe I am harsh l in that sense – the part of the view but here, maybe I am er. th e only one who does have shared expe Barthes’ ‘The Dea rience with Tracey n’t th of the Author’ Emin. rightly shows us is about the view that art er’s perception of Or maybe not. Se it, not about the in tention; I would sa cond, she doesn’ artist’s y to Emin: give us t always explore What do I mean by emotions. something to perc A canvas, with th this? Well, some of eive! e words ‘Oh Dia her art is so object shallow, that neith na, Diana, Diana Diana, Diana’, w ively er the words ‘exp , Diana, ritten on it gives lore’, which impl nor ‘emotion’, w me nothing. And ies depth, the way she ‘uniqu hich implies feel to address ely’ brings togeth ing or reaction, ca One of her pieces er ‘the literary an n ar ap ts’, with sketches ply. on show at Radley d visual and poems on the is composed of a of a bulldog wearin same canvas – I say that this has be sketch g the Union Flag, would en done before, an with the words, ‘It that I didn’t know d much better. wasn’t what you look lik e’, written poorly I reason that this beside it. pound-shop Will So there I was lo iam Blake hasn’t reinvented anythi oking at it, but it really ng. And while pe just didn’t look ba am I as a viewer ople will think th ck. How has done its job, supposed to enga at he r art on the grounds that ge and react to so so bland, vague an it has prompted mething the reaction that d ridiculously ab in I me have expressed in stract, to the exte becomes inaccess this article, I wou nt that it this a laughably ible? It didn’t ev ld call wrong, clichéd ar oke emotion: I ju on and forgot ab gument that can st walked universally to justi out the piece un be used fy any piece of ba til it came to w article. It certainly d art. If my Engl riting this gives me an F grad didn’t feel like Em ish don e for a poem, I ca in was exploring an in particular, ther nnot contend its br because it has crea ything e just wasn’t enou illiance te d such a strong re gh there. And I ha clue why the ‘n’s action of disappro the don. Let’s be ven’t a in the writing wer val in se rious. Let’s stop e flipped so that th the wrong way ar being pretentious ey were stop calling everyt ound. But neither .

Let’s hi ng art. does she, probab ly. Isn’t YANNIS GIDOPO ULOS (E Social, 6.1)

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THE LAYING-UP OF OLD COLOURS OF THE

GRENADIER GUARDS In 2014, an illustrious OR, Maj Gen Sir George Norton KCVO CBE (1976, h), wrote to The Warden, asking if it might be possible for the Grenadier Guards to ‘lay up their Colours’ in the Radley Chapel. General Norton is a former Commanding Officer of the Grenadiers, as is Brigadier David Maddan (1974, b), a current parent. Many other ORs have served in the Grenadiers, including Captain Nico Wills (1999, f), who was part of the Guards’ Parade at Radley on Sunday, 21st September 2014.

The Grenadiers, like all regiments, have immense respect for their Colours and there was great tradition and ceremony in the way they were brought to Chapel. It proved a special Service with at least 100 Grenadiers

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present; there was a full Parade beforehand in front of Mansion.

Afterwards, the two Colours were mounted in special brass brackets in the Ante-Chapel, where they remain on view.

As the Chaplain observed, these Regimental Colours will hang with honour in Chapel, because they express in a very tangible way three great Christian virtues – Love, Service and Sacrifice. Love, in the sense of the deep friendship and support that is given to individual soldiers in the daily life of the Regiment; Service, in the way that each Guardsman dedicates their lives to the service of Queen and the United Kingdom; and Sacrifice, in the sense that, ultimately, each soldier

is willing to lay down their lives for the Nation – and the values it upholds.

Fifteen Grenadier Guards gave their lives in Afghanistan – a sacrifice we are eternally grateful for.

And so the Colours will hang in the ante-Chapel and as boys, dons and members of staff leave the Chapel each day, they can look up and be reminded of the Love, Sacrifice and Service of the Grenadier Guards, as an inspiration to all.

On the evening before the Ceremony, Saturday 20th September 2014, at 7.30pm, a well-attended Concert took place by the Band of the Grenadier Guards in the Theatre.

WHAT DO THE COLOURS MEAN? Many regiments have Colours: standards or banners that were carried into battle in times past. Colours embody the rich traditions, history and fighting skills of a regiment and bear an embroidered list of its battle honours across the centuries – especially significant perhaps in this bicentenary of Waterloo.

The Grenadiers have two Colours: the Regimental Colours and the Queen’s Colours and both were brought to the Radley Chapel on that Sunday.

(Their new Colours were paraded in front of the Queen at ‘Trooping the Colour’ on Horse Guards Parade in June 2014.)

Colours are made of delicate materials, like silk and velvet, that suffer wear and tear and they have to be replaced every ten to twelve years, even though they are no longer carried into battle. When new Colours are made, a regiment needs to find a place to ‘lay up’ its old Colours. A regiment such as the Grenadier Guards has many options for this, including The Guards’ Chapel in Wellington Barracks and other important landmark churches and chapels. It is a huge honour for us that they have chosen our Chapel.

There wil l be an ar ti cle on the Laying -up of the Union Stan dard of the Blues an d Royals next issue.

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THE ELECTION The first three weeks of the Summer Term saw the entire College gripped by election fever. This General Election was billed as one of the most important for a generation, and we hoped the appetite for our traditional Mock Election would match this.

The remit from the Warden before this process was set in motion was clear – do our best to ensure the boys are interested and informed.

However, what followed far surpassed all aspirations we had when the candidates were announced on day one of the Summer Term.

The election would be fought between seven candidates – five from traditional parties; Ollie Horridge (e) for the Conservatives, Ed Whitbread (h) for Labour, Yannis Gidopoulos (e) for the Liberal Democrats, George Dillon-Robinson (e) for UKIP and Charlie Rothbarth (h) for the Greens.

The other two came from new parties; Archie Clifton-Brown (a) for The Empire Party and George Trelawny (c) for Mebyon Kernow (translating to ‘Sons of Cornwall’). Our first sighting of the candidates came with the ‘Meet the Candidates’ event on Tuesday 21st April in the Coffee Shop.

Each candidate had the stage for four minutes to outline what their campaign was all about. This drew a huge crowd, which bode well for the rest of the process. All seven spoke with great clarity and passion – but

the day seemed to be won by the final candidate to speak – Clifton-Brown – whose mixture of nationalistic pride, bold policies and gentle mockery of all other candidates seemed to capture the mood of the watching crowd. The scene was set and the campaign now built towards our marquee event – ‘Question Time’ in the Theatre, chaired by the Warden.

However, before this event the first poll was taken to see what the

initial thoughts were of the student body – or electorate in this case. The results were unsurprising in that the Conservatives led (34% of the vote), but very interesting in that snapping at their heels were the insurgent movement called Empire (33.2%).

Labour were lagging behind with 13%, and their star front man Whitbread knew there was work to do. The other four parties were clearly going to have their work cut out. However, politics is famed for earthquake moments within an election season, and with Question Time on the horizon this election was about to get its very own.

It came in the shape of a one man political movement – or Ed Whitbread, as he is known to his friends. The whole Question Time event was a huge success – a packed theatre audience, live-streamed and then watched post-event by more people than any other Radley event (including members of Britain’s military delegation to the UN!), fierce debate from all candidates and very well managed by the Warden. Horridge performed very well on the night, tackling the Empire rhetoric head on and fighting Whitbread with all his might. However, no leader was a match for the latter – he spoke with passion,

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poise and the knowledge of someone who genuinely believed in what he was campaigning for. His closing speech was one of the moments of the election, and simply served as the icing on the cake of an event which had impressed from first minute until the last. Huge credit must also go to George Dillon-Robinson – the youngest of all the candidates, and he performed very well on what must have been a nerve wracking occasion for him (although his amusing facial expressions didn’t highlight any clear nerves). The next poll highlighted what a big impact this event had clearly had on the opinions of many boys. The Conservatives polled 31% of the vote, whereas Labour now had 28% (with Empire not far behind on 25%). We now had a clear three horse race, and campaigning would be fierce for the next couple of weeks. Each candidate then had a one-on-one interview with the Warden which was filmed and placed on the Radley Video website.

The Warden did not pull his punches and the boys performed very well in the face of some tough questioning.

Ollie Horridge once again performed very well (along with Whitbread) and was continuously impressing with his knowledge of policy, and his ability to argue his case.

After the publishing of manifestos, much advertising and a final informal debate (with Dr Walker as chair) in the Coffee Shop, all that was left was Election Day itself. This took place in Covered Passage and each boy voted at their Social-based polling station.

The response from the boys was just as we expected – out of the 688 boys in college, 657 voted equalling a turnout of 95.4% (special mention to E and H Social who had 100% turnout) – no apathy in sight at Radley. The Coffee Shop was a hive of excitement (and standing room only) as the results were announced at 6.45pm by the

Head of Politics Dr McMahon. There was a total of 700 votes up for grabs (including those cast by Common Room) and the bottom four positions highlighted that polling data had been accurate (at least somebody got their polling right!) – Greens 13 votes, Liberal Democrats 25 votes, Mebyon Kernow 32 votes and UKIP 45 votes. The Empire Party performed very well receiving 160 votes – which left a predictable battle between the top two. In the end the result went the way we always predicted it would – but only by 27 votes – Conservatives winning with 226 votes (32.3% of the vote) to Labour’s 199 (28.4% of the vote). Ollie Horridge was very gracious in his acceptance speech – congratulating all the other candidates, and particularly commenting how the performance of Ed Whitbread had been a real highlight of the process.

We also trialled another voting system on Election Day (Supplementary Vote) to see if this altered the result or

offered a ‘better’ result. This system meant the Conservatives won again, but this time with 50.5% of the vote – thereby giving increased legitimacy to the result.

The success of the process was summed up by how engaged the College was as a whole – wherever you turned you seemed to find boys talking about the election with genuine passion and – most importantly – from an informed standpoint. The biggest credit must go to the seven candidates who were quite superb throughout – and particular praise to Ollie and Ed who just kept raising the bar at every turn. A big vote of thanks to all the hard work of the Politics Department, and in particular the Warden whose passion and support for the process was hugely important at every stage.

The final vote of thanks goes to all the staff and boys whose enthusiasm and interest made it a few weeks to remember.

Tim Lawson

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THE RADLEY Academic  A Levels: At A2, 85% of results were graded A*-B and 89% of AS results were A or B grades (there is no A* at AS). The College’s A*/A total at A-level was 58%. Twelve boys gained three or more A* grades at A-Level. The effects of the national squeeze on grade inflation - with raised grade boundaries - was felt for the fourth year running, but a good number of boys and departments did extremely well.

 GCSEs: The GCSE and IGCSE results brought in 81% A*/A grades (and this total may rise further after re-marks). This year’s A*s constituted 48.42% of all (I)GCSE grades.

 Oxbridge: 16 boys received offers of a place at either Oxford or Cambridge: Tom Batchelor (h), Hugo Brewer (a), Dan Chirita (g), Ed Christie (j), Dominic Davis (g), Josh Dernie (a), Lorenzo Edwards-Jones (b), Jack Hewitt (j), Fergus Laidlaw (j), Xida Li (e), Alex McCulloch (a), Oliver Padovan (c), Jake Sopher (c), Tarquin Stephenson (k), Charlie Stone (e), Jack Woollett (b).

 Art: Artists visited many galleries and exhibitions this year and ten boys went on a trip to Florence in February. A level artists joined Desborough College on a trip to the Barbican Gallery, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy. History of Art students have also benefited from trips to the Ashmolean. Talks have been given by Anthony Slinn, architect Alan Berman, writers David Boyd Haycock and Ross King, and Art Historians Nick Ross and Tom Parsons. Exhibiting Cornish artist Mark Spray ran a landscape painting workshop and IPE led a Tracey Emin inspired workshop.

 Biology: In July 45 students and staff amended a conservation expedition in the Honduras cloud forests, discovering a new species of mammal in the process. The Dissection Society investigated the anatomy of a range of species. Medical Society heard a talk by Dr Alice Unwin, on setting up a hospital in Uganda. Ben Cobbold (j) organised a talk by orthopaedic surgeon Mr James WilsonMacDonald. Biology Society speakers including Dr Caroline Pond, wildlife camerawoman Abbie Barnes and John Shuckburgh from Oxford Wine Company. to the national ‘Biology Olympiad’.

Five students achieved ‘Commended,’ two were ‘Highly Commended’, two received ‘Bronze’, two ‘Silver’ and two ‘Gold’. With Dan Chirita being selected to go through to the next stage. James Mocatta (k) came second in the Peterhouse Essay Competition. The 6.1 visited Dale Fort Field Centre in Pembrokeshire. There were trips to Oxford and also the Natural History Museum.

 Chemistry: 6.1 boys went to Bristol University for a laboratory-based day in which they analysed caffeine. 6.1s also synthesised hydrated

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copper (II) ethanoate in the department labs, and took these to the x-ray crystallography department at Oxford University. 6.1 and 6.2s sat the Chemistry Olympiad paper, with Dan Chirita (g) earning a gold medal; Ollie Padovan (c), Charlie Betton (d), Luke Wild (b), Adam Hargreaves (h) and Henry Rees (j) were all credited with silver medals, and James Mocatta (k), Ben Cobbold (j), Michael de Winton(f), Louis Wood (e) and Alex McGee (f) all earned bronze medals.

 Geography: Fieldtrips saw boys visiting Exmoor’s rivers, the valleys of South Wales, Bournemouth’s seafront, London’s Brick Lane and the high tech Williams Formula 1 centre.

Some 6.2s also visited Beijing and Shanghai.

The annual ‘Worldly Wise’ quiz was won by C Social. The boys enjoyed lectures on UK socioeconomic

 Classics: Harry Constant (b) had the idea for a panel show, ‘Classical Would I Lie To You’.

We also hosted an Oxbridge talk on Dido with Abingdon School, given by Dr Celia Campbell.

The annual Reading Competition was judged

by Judith Affleck, formerly Head of Classics at Harrow. Harry Constant (b) won the Greek and Lorenzo Edwards-Jones (b) the Latin. Harry and Josh Dernie (a) later won first places at the Oxford Area Classical Reading Competition at the Classics Faculty in Oxford.

There was a visit from Dr Nigel Spivey of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and the Coffee Shop also hosted regular short Classical readings.

 Design and Technology: All 142 Shells completed the cable car challenge, to design a car to travel across the suspended 9m course in the workshop.

It was won by William DavieThornhill (e) and John Peers (a). OR’s Oli Elliott and Nick Holland returned to explain their work, designing luxury yachts for Terence Disdale and high-end drinks packaging for Design Bridge in London.. We continue to forge links with Savannah College of Art and Design.

 Economics: 6.1 Economists enjoyed a trip to Beijing and Shanghai plus attended a variety of conferences and talks. A trip to the Institute of Directors to hear the State of the Economy talks was a highlight, and helped to prepare for the Royal Economic Society’s essay competition.

 English: Students enjoyed a range of activities, including 17 theatre trips to Oxford, Stratford and London, 13 visiting lecturers, ten visiting writers, three meetings of the studentled Shakespeare Society, and two dons vs students debates. The 6.1s went to Petersfield in Hampshire to explore the landscape that inspired the war poet Edward Thomas.

Members of the Creative Writing Group, Charles Saunders (h), Ed Whitbread (h) and Harry Constant (b) all produced Leavers’ Anthologies of their work while at Radley.

inequality (Professor Danny Dorling), extreme weather events (Dr. Nicholas Klingaman), urban decay (Professor Heather Viles) and Geographical Information Systems (Adam Dennett). The sixth-form Harris Society held the first ‘Solstice Dinner’ with girls from Wycombe Abbey.

 Geology: Field trips to geology sites like Durdle Door took place; while in March, 6.1

YEAR 2014/15 pupils attended the Oxford Colloquium at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

 History: Freddie Knoller, the 93 year old Holocaust survivor, was a memorable speaker. 6.1 Historians visited the ‘Magna Carta’ exhibition at the British Library, and

 Mathematics: We retained our award as the best school in the country for Additional Further Maths at A level. All nine boys in the top Further Maths set last year went on to gain places at Oxford or Cambridge, in subjects ranging from straight Mathematics to Physics, Engineering and Architecture.

Success in the Senior Maths Challenge saw nine silvers and 22 bronzes, and golds to Ed Christie (j) and Xida Li (e). At the Intermediate level there were 14 golds, 22 silvers and 21 bronzes.

We linked with Horris Hill and entered a team of four boys for the Junior Team Maths Challenge. Radley was represented by Freddie Horler (b) and James O’Leary (e), and came 3rd out of 28.  Modern Languages: The 17th

both 6.1 and 6.2 Historians attended the Chalke Valley History Festival.

Some 6.2s visited Washington DC and New York City. Conor Mosedale (f) was awarded the Malcolm Robinson Travel Scholarship, covering his travel to the College of William and Mary, in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA; Harry McGrath (k) received a commendation in the 2015 Vellacott History Essay Prize.

annual exchange with the Lycée Ste. Geneviève in Paris went smoothly and Josh Dernie (a) and Charlie Stone (e) won the South West of England Joûtes Oratoires regional finals. Rupert Grace (OR) came back from Selwyn, Cambridge to talk to linguists about Oxbridge applications and A level French candidates enjoyed a revision evening with Tudor Hall girls.

The German department held its annual “Kneipenquiz” and speed-dating event. As well as the trip to the Christmas Markets in Berlin, there was a trip to the John Lennon Gymnasium in Berlin. Theatre trips included “Oppenheimer” at the RSC Stratford. The Spanish department hosted a Salsa night with Tudor Hall and at Easter, the annual 6.1 Madrid trip took place.

The Spanish Society welcomed Archie Whitworth (OR). Our Hispanists also enjoyed an evening with Tudor Hall girls, improving conversational skills.  Physics: Talks included Dr William Poole from Oxford, on Newton’s Optiks, Colin Stewart on time travel and Dr. Ben Goldacre talking about ‘Bad Science’. Departmental outings have included Thorpe Park and “Oppenheimer”, as well as a Remove trip to the National Grid HQ near Wokingham. Boys participated in the Physics Olympiad, as well as an online Physics brawl and the US High School Physicsbowl competition. Henry Rees (j) gained a gold medal in the AS Olympiad, with Ben Cobbold (j) and Ed Day (c) gaining silver awards. In the Physicsbowl competition, Radley was the only UK school to take part and came second in Region 14. Six boys worked with a detector on loan from Birmingham University and investigated cosmic rays. The results were presented at the International student science conference held at Radley in March.

 Philosophy Society: Dr Nick Beckstead of

the Effective Altruism movement and Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford spoke on utilitarian decision-making in charities. Philosophy writer Julian Baggini delivered a lecture on Personal Identity. We also received an entertaining talk on Political Philosophy from RKM, and a presentation on Sexuality, delivered by IKC.

 Politics: Radley held its own Mock Election.

Our candidates were superb in Hustings, and in a Question Time debate chaired by the Warden and streamed live. The winner with 217 votes was Oliver Horridge, Conservative (e); the Labour Party runner-up with 199 votes was Edward Whitbread (h); also involved were: Archie CliftonBrown, Empire Party (a); Charlie Rothbarth, Green Party (h); George Trelawny, Cornish Nationalist Party (c); George Dillon-Robinson, UKIP (e); and Yannis Gidopoulos, Liberal Democrats (e). We also focused on the Congressional Mid-Term elections. In October, we travelled to Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York. We visited the Supreme Court and Congress and saw the original Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Dr Simon Singh, journalist and broadcaster, discussed matters of science and free speech. Dr Ben Goldacre also spoke about Bad Science and bad thinking.

 Theology: A senior Army Chaplain was in

residence for a week, giving a series of talks about the ethics of war and life as a chaplain in the military; in the Lent Term a member of the aid agency Christian Aid also spent a week in college, talking about the work of Christian Aid and its overseas projects.

 Speakers: Radley continues to attract a

superbly impressive line-up of speakers, who offer new perspectives and often challenging ideas for boys and dons, which can then be debated afterwards in the Coffee Shop and socials - in some cases, for long afterwards. A glittering 6.2 speaker series included: the local MP, Nicola Blackwood (re-elected by a large majority in May 2015); Professor Sir David Omand, former Director of GCHQ and counter-terrorism expert; war photographer Rick Findler; war journalist and writer James Brabazon; behavioural economist Paul Craven - who explained why, as individuals and groups we make our (often wrong) life choices; The Very Rev. Canon Prof. Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford - who spoke about his work as a public censor of films and advertising; Rupert Soames, head of outsourcing giant SERCO; Daily Telegraph sports writer Jim White; scientists and broadcasters Simon Singh and Ben Goldacre- who attacked bad thinking and shoddy research; Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown - who spoke of his time as a test pilot and of his other extraordinary experiences in World War Two; and Freddie Knoller who described his time as a Jewish fugitive of the Nazis and his time in Auschwitz. In addition to all these (and more) guests, boys were treated to talks by their dons and by their peers in what is increasingly a very vibrant and varied salon culture at Radley.

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Activities  Declamations: In the Declamations Finals, Henry Chapman (b) won the Shells Competition, with his reading from ‘Henry V’; the Removes section was won by Oliver Daly (a), with his rendition of Hardy’s poem, ‘At Castle Boterel’; the Fifths Prize went to Joshua Bowesman-Jones (j), with his reading of ‘Pike’, by Ted Hughes; Felix Barbour (f) won the 6.1 competition, with his extract from ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’; finally, the 6.2 competition was won by Finn Salter (d), with his reading from Guinness’ ‘Memoirs of my Great Great Uncle’.  Deutsche Werbe: Teams from various schools were given a brief created by the German National Tourist Office to encourage young Britons to visit Germany.

The remaining teams followed a brief set by the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart: to create an idea that would entice young Germans to visit the Staatsgalerie. The German National Tourist Office awarded joint first prize to the Tonbridge team and one of the Radley groups for their campaigns ‘The feet of Germany’ and ‘DER App’.

Another Radley team claimed victory in the Staatsgalerie brief, by impressing the gallery clients with their ideas for a skatepark in front of the museum.  Investor Challenge: 60 Radleians signed up to run a virtual FTSE stock portfolio. The top Radley team was Investor Squad which delivered a pleasing +15% return.  Spens Trophy: In an exciting final between A and K Socials the presiding question-master, Ed Whitbread, was left searching for new rules when the scores were tied in ‘normal’ time. An extra five minutes was agreed and K Social squeezed home.  Debating: Radley Union debates included “This House believes that World War One should be celebrated rather than commemorated”, “This House would vote for Margaret Thatcher in the present day” and “This house believes that Edward Snowden was justified”. The Senior Debating Final debated the Motion ‘This House believes tolerance is the best way to defeat terrorism’, with A Social, Matt Isles, Josh Dernie and Charlie CliftonBrown, proposing and H Social, Charlie Saunders, Adam Hargreaves and Ed Whitbread, opposing. Judge SR declared A Social the winners.The Junior Debating Final between J Social (Oliver Skelley, Daniel Bishop and Ben Broughton) and B Social (Freddie Horler, Johnny Evans and Benedict Yorston) debated the Motion “This House believes Britain should leave the European Union”, with The Warden judging. The Winning team were B Social.

6.1 debaters also travelled to Downe

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House on June 18th to debate the topic “Should Europe have an open border policy to migrants?”  D of E: The Gold expeditions took place in the Brecon Beacons and the Lake District. Gold Awardees – Hugh Gordon (c), George Harris (OR, b), Ben Horbye (h), George Marlar (c), Angus Robinson (g), Alfie Stephenson (d), Charles Stevens (c), Will Tufnell (g), Oscar Manville-Hales (h).  Adventure Training: 17 cadets attended a two-night climbing trip at the end of the Michaelmas Term at Llangorse. Eighteen boys also attended a five-night camp in the Brecon Beacons. In the Summer Camp, boys attended a seven-night trip to the Lake District. A group of Shells also went to Boars Hill to take part in lessons and practice on aspects of bushcraft. This year we have also had two Wakeboarding trips at Milton Keynes.  Community Service: Four teams of musicians and actors provided entertainment in three different care homes each week. A team of classicists ran an introductory course in Latin at Fitzharry’s Secondary School. Eight local state primary schools hosted different groups for activities including extension Maths, chess and coding. Help with gardening and dogwalking remain valued by the local community.

Medsoc members also assisted at a local dementia care home. In July, 13 6.1 Radleians spent three weeks in Tanzania, visiting Gehandu Secondary School to teach English (after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro). Whilst at Gehandu, they learned about the lives of the pupils through developing friendships with their pen pals. They also participated in two inter-school debates on corporal punishment in schools and the role of women in Tanzania politics, recorded a local radio programme on English culture, performed sketches, dance and music and competed in several football matches.

39 Biologists also helped with data collection in a long-standing scientific study in the Honduras jungle, at the same time as a new mammal was discovered!  Charities: Notable events included a 50k sponsored relay run on the College track, in which boys including Archie Barrow (j) and James Sloan (c) raised over £4,700 for the Heaton Ellis Trust (Motor Neurone Disease). Ben Rees (a) raised £2,000 for Downs Syndrome in his debut London Marathon. Finn Salter (d) and his father raised £20,000 for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust in their joint Channel Swim, which also benefited

nearly £4,000 from E Social’s 24 hour football event (which also raised £3,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital). Charlie Rothbarth (h) raised £1,780 for Alport UK; Oscar Perry (f) raised £350 for Marie Curie Cancer Care in a special sponsored swim at College and another sponsored swim raised £1,500 for Leonard Cheshire Disability Trust. Muscular Dystrophy benefited over £700 from A Social and D Social in the Oxford Town and Gown 10k run. D Social have also raised well over £1,000 for a range of boy-chosen charities, including British

Heart Foundation, Myeloma UK and Winston’s Wish. £1,365 went to the Royal British Legion in the Poppy Appeal. The golf course’s charity day saw £3,500 raised for Thomley. Nearly £5,000 will be raised for Gehandu (our partner school in Tanzania) through fundraising activities.

Over £9,000 has been raised in Chapel collections for various charities. Over £2,200 was raised for Christian Aid (for children in Gaza) by the Chapel fifth form

project. The Helen Clarke Fund has also surpassed its £150,000 target.  CCF: The CCF held Adventure Training camps in the Brecon Beacons and the Lake District, a climbing camp at Christmas, Field Weekends at Bramley, RAF Cosford, RAF Brize Norton, Portsmouth and in the Chilterns, a number of boys undertaking courses with the Royal Navy in the summer holiday, an Army camp at Longmoor, and an RAF camp at RAF Benson.

Nick Bennett (J) and Harry McGrath (K) were awarded Army

the new Dean of Christ Church, Oxford University, who delivered the College Sermon. Jon Holder spoke about the Cutteslowe Project in North Oxford and Duncan Weaver, a Chaplain in the British army, challenged us to think about faith in the theatre of conflict.

It was an honour to receive the Queen’s Colour and Regimental Colour into our College and Chapel on September 2014 – and at the beginning of the academic year, the Bishop of Oxford installed John Moule, as our new Warden.  Archives: Throughout the year we have been remembering Radleians who fell in the Great War: with a brief personal history published to the school and on the web. Two 6.1s have been inspired by this to undertake a ‘March in Memory’ in aid of the charity Combat Stress. Nick Bennett and Charlie Barber set out on the day after Gaudy to walk 252km, visiting as many Radleian War Graves as possible along the Western Front. Radley Archives website was launched this year and was selected by the BBC magazine ‘Who do you think you are?’ as one of their TOP 50 websites to follow this year: www.radleyarchives.co.uk.

The Arts

Scholarships.

This year also saw a re-vamped and revived Inter-Social Competition for the Cock Cup, the oldest trophy in the CCF, donated in 1909.  Chapel: Jonny Walker, representing Christian Aid, encouraged boys to make the connection between global warming and the scorched earth of Ethiopia. It was also a privilege to welcome Martyn Percy,

 Drama: The College Play was ‘The Producers’, based on Mel Brooks’ film. A large cast sang, danced and acted their way through this lavish spectacle. Directed by RM Lowe with Musical Direction

by SDJ Clarke, the cast were led by Will Dodd (d) and Ned Campbell (e). The 6.1 play was a production of ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, held in the Studio Theatre. This cast was led

by George Hervey (h) and directed

by DCK Edwards. The Remove Play, directed by TA Barfield, was a version of Under Milk Wood, staged in the round on the main stage. The Shell Play was The Ministry of Ideas, a premiere written by Ed Whitbread (h) and directed by Adam Hargreaves (h), assisted by RM Lowe. The 6.1 Exam performance was an extract of The Madness of King George, which gained the seven actors, and their director George Willcox (h) full marks all round – a rare occurrence. The 6.2 exam devised pieces included another script by Ed Whitbread (h), which the boys are taking up to this year’s Edinburgh Festival.  Music: The College’s musicians visited Kent School, Connecticut, on the annual tour. The trip included a joint concert with Kent musicians, as well as the provision of music for Chapel services at the school

and locally, and finally a performance in nearby New York City. The major event of the Lent Term was a performance of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers.

H Social took the honours in the InterSocial Partsong Competition, performing songs by Fleetwood Mac and Mumford and Sons. Lorenzo Edwards-Jones (b) won the Classical, and Luka Jibuti (e) the Electric, categories of the Guitar Prize. The Festival Class of the Hudson String Prize was won by Ned Rees (a), whilst ‘cellist William Dodd (d) won the Hudson itself.

The woodwind and brass winners of the Gunn Cup Festival Class were saxophonist Will Redley (k) and trombonist Benedict Yorston (b) respectively. Flautist Jamie Codrington (a) and trumpeter William Robson (h) were the winners of their categories in the senior competition. The Wharton Piano Competition was shared

by William Dodd (d) and Max Benson (g).

The Milligan Music Theatre Cup was won

by Freddie Elwes (j).

The inaugural Warner Percussion Prize was won by Arthur Tapner (f). The honours in the Battle of the Bands went to Larry and the Telecasters (best band), and to William Pike (b) (best instrumentalist).

The ‘15@1:15’ concert series attracted bigger audiences than ever, for lunchtime coffee concerts. Concerts have also been given in support of Old Radleian John Lubbock’s charities working with Autism and Alzheimer’s.  Art: The most talked-about exhibition of the year at the Sewell Centre Gallery was ‘Love was on Your Side’ by acclaimed British artist Tracey Emin. This fascinating collection of her work offered a rare opportunity for Radleians and the public to engage with one of the biggest names in the art world. The Oxford Times described this show as ‘the sort of smart, provocative move that makes Radley College the kind of forward-thinking institution that could make (the reviewer) reassess the merits of elitist education.’

Tracey Emin aside, the year began with a fascinating joint show by Heads of Art Rob Campbell (painting, prints and sculpture) and Graham Mobbs (ceramics and prints), inspired by their mutual love of exploring the British landscape by canoe.

This show was followed by ‘Radley Reach’, the fruit of a two-year project

by Oxford artist Sarah Wenden. This was complemented by an extraordinary collection of old photographs from the College Archive. Cornish painter Mark Spray exhibited next. His powerful paintings in response to the landscape and literature were enjoyed and used extensively by our Art students.

The Oxford Printmakers came next, with a vibrant show in celebration of the art of printmaking. The year concluded with a photographic exhibition by Jil Orpen entitled ‘People of the Thames’.

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Sport  Athletics: Highlights include Sam Way (g) breaking the school record in the Intermediate javelin and Long Jump, Tom Jewell (b) running 2.04 in the 800m and, Ollie Moffat (c) running 51.9 in the 400m. Theo Strutt (b), Milo Morgan (e), Tom Jewell (b), and Ollie Moffat (c) also won the County championships in their respective events and Sam Way (g), was two-times County Champion.  Badminton: The season saw us winning six of our seven matches: bolstered by county and university trainer, Larry Ng. The first pair was Damian Lumley (f) and James Sheppard (c), with support from Charlie Clifton-Brown (a), Joshua Dernie (a), Tom Hradecky (f), and Elliot Wood (e), and Hugh Bowen (d).  Cricket: The biggest visit this year to our Cricket Academy Programme was that of the new ECB Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss (b) who shared his thoughts on preparation as well as presenting Mungo Fawcett (b)and the club captain James Todd (g) with their colours.

The challenge of finding competitive cricket for all remains a tough one as more and more schools drop teams. A young 1st XI found things tough but the club has enjoyed some memorable success lower down. There were wins at Eton for Midgets 1, 2 and Colts 1,2 which is a rare occurrence and the club won 67% of all matches played. The 3rd XI and Colts 2 lost just once all season and the strength of Midgets cricket bodes well for the future. On an individual note hundreds were scored by Luke Stalder (e), Geoge Innes-Ker (h) and Val Brooke (h). Among the bowlers Will Payne (c) took 5 wickets on 2 occasions, Charlie Purton (h) led the 1st XI attack and took 6-40 against a very talented MCC side and Monty Martin-Zackheim (k), Will Pockney (h), Will Maddock (a), Artie Diamandis (h), James Sloan (c) and Freddie Horler (b) all took 5 or more wickets in a innings. Freddie Horler should also be congratulated on his leadership of the Midget 1 side. They won all of their school games and travelled to Cheltenham missing 4 first team regulars for a T20 tournament and emerged victorious there too.

Nick Gubbins (OR, h) has been playing in Middlesex’s 1st team this summer and scored a magnificent maiden List A century against Sussex. The fact that he is regularly in touch with ARW and recently came back to school to have a net shows how much he values Wags’ technical input and he deserves great credit for his tireless work as he moves into his 31st year in post!  Cross Country: Hugely encouraging for the future was the number of Shells running, the U15s finishing first in the Vale Championships against tough

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opposition (State and Independent schools). Freddie Thackray (a) finished in third place individually.  Fives: The Shell Fives Tournament was won by John Peers (a). The matches against Winchester, Tonbridge and St Paul’s have been greatly educational for our players (senior and junior), although there has still been room for some individual success, including Charlie Rothbarth (h), Felix Barbour (f), Freddie Horler (b) and Rupert Curtis (b) against Tonbridge, and Thomas Boulton (h) and Jamie Walker (k) against Winchester.

34. We are strong at the top end of the Colts and Colts 1 had a successful season, despite losing players to the 1st XI. Our 1st XI, under the expert guidance of DJC for the first time, recorded some excellent results against some good teams. The 2nd XI had another good year and won their ISHL league along the way. Block wins against Bradfield, St Edwards, Abingdon, MCS, Cheltenham and Wellington were very rewarding.  Lacrosse: Of the club’s eight matches, seven were won, under the

 Football: A record-breaking 125 matches were completed: with Colts 1 having a particularly strong season, Tom Eden (d) scoring in nearly every league fixture.

Unfortunately, the club overall won only 36 matches, drawing 25 and losing 64.

The 1st XI too had a tough year. After another excellent tour to Villarreal in Spain, they lost in both the first round of the LB Cup and the Shield competitions.

Colts 2 finished as team of the year: captained by Tom Rutherford (g), they lost only one fixture. Colts 3 were goal machines, with golden boot winner Charlie Davies (d) scoring 13, Hugo Eyre (f) scoring 11 and Robbie Horton (k) bagging 10, ending as the top three goal scorers for the club. Tristan Kleinwort (b) was the club’s Most Valuable Player with four man-of-the-match awards.  Golf: Tom Wright (c), James Todd (g) and Fred Campion (J) reached the regional final of the ISGA National School’s event, only to lose a tight match to Bedford School. The boys defended the West of England School’s Championships and returned victorious once more. Tom and Fred were joined on this occasion by Alex Bibby (g), George Innes-Ker (h) and Harry Bartlett (k). Tom, Fred, James and Alex finished runners-up in the scratch section and winners of the handicap section in the South East School’s Championship at West Sussex Golf Club.  Hockey: We were fortunate to secure the services of Peter Bennett as our hockey pro. Once again, many of our Shells were introduced to the game.

Congratulations to HC’s Midgets 2 for winning their league. Our Junior Colts were exceptional. JC2 and JC3 were unbeaten and secured the ISHL titles at a canter. In total this year-group won 27 matches and lost just four, scoring a phenomenal 129 goals and conceding just

leadership of Captain, Catherine Wilson. St. Helen’s, Stowe, Malvern St James, Downe House and St Mary’s Calne all visited.  Rackets: This year has seen a strong influx of Shells playing: including Harry Purton (h), Louis Needham (h), Rory Marshall (j), Tom Sweetnam (j) and Oscar White (g).

 Real Tennis: Will Barker (d) and Hugo Carr (c) reached the semi-final in the U14 National Schools doubles at Oratory.

The top Remove pair of Ben Yorston (b) and Ned Gordon (c) came third in the Colts National Schools Championships.

Colts Freddie White (g) and Olly MartynHemphill (f) won Silver in the National Schools Championships. Both Felix and Benedict Yorston (b), proved their credentials by reaching the finals of their respective age-groups in the GB junior doubles, and continuing to be part of the GB junior squad, while Felix also

won the B grade Invitation Schools singles event at Radley in December.  Rowing: In October we saw Harry Behrens (b) crowned College Single Sculling Champion and the first four achieve a podium finish at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, USA. Radley’s top four went on to further success at National Schools’ Regatta later

in the summer season, winning gold in Championship coxed fours. The Senior National Champions were: Miles Rowse (g), James Newton (f), Charlie Elwes (j), James Brocklebank-Fowler (f) and Sean Gearing (f) as cox. The 1st VIII made the semi-finals in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge at the Henley Royal Regatta and we are delighted that Charles Elwes, James Newton, Joshua Bowesman-Jones and Freddie Elwes were all selected to represent Great Britain in 2015 at various events.At the other end of the club, the new Shells were busy trying out for a newly introduced prize of Sculling Socks, for which a successful trip in a single to Sandford Lock and back is required. By Christmas, we had awarded twenty pairs, which pointed to a strong year ahead for J14s. Indeed by the time we reached National Schools’ in May, we had produced three formidable Radley octuples. They came away from the Regatta with Gold in J14 First boats and Silver in J14 Second boats. The J14 National Champions were: Dominic Woolf (j), Jack O’ Hara (h), William Redley (k), Jamie Walker (k), Luke Miles (k), William Nelson (k), Henry Williams (e), Theo Metcalf (b) and Matthew Dawson (d) as cox.

Elsewhere in the club, there were a good deal of fourth places at National Schools, but J15-1 picked up the winners’ pot at Bedford Regatta.  Rugby: P195 W107 L82 D6 It was fitting we played Sherborne on the opening day of the season, because matches between the two schools go back to Radley’s inaugural season in 1914.

This September 2014 fixture was a celebration of rugby as we played all 20 matches at home, in front of the R.F.U. President.

The Centenary Cup was awarded to Radley, who won 12 matches.

Celebrations continued the following weekend against St. Paul’s; the 1st XV, captained by Harry Ryan (e), recorded a 14-11 victory. The 1st XV also retained The Silk Cup with the 13-10 win at Marlborough.

The Club won 55% of the matches, with block victories over Sherborne, Oundle, Marlborough, Bedford, St. Edward’s and Cheltenham. The Midgets were the most successful age group, winning 80% of their matches. Bertie Southgate (k), playing for Midgets 3rd XV, kicked a last minute touchline conversion to seal victory over Tonbridge; Midgets 3, captained by Edward Pascall (d), were Radley’s only unbeaten rugby team. Other successful teams included the 5th XV, captained by Alex Hanbury (j), who only lost one match. ORs Tom West (f) and

Will Stuart (d) signed professional rugby contracts and West made his debut for England U.20s against Italy in February.  Sailing: The Inter-Social Sailing Regatta was contended on the river, with Chris James (f) and Lauren Thomas taking the spoils. February saw Radley winning our SB20 match against Abingdon. Crews consisted of helms George Chilvers (j) and Chris James, crewed by Will MacMillan (c), George Dillon-Robinson (e), James Chelton, Otto Bodycombe (f), Dom James (f), Tom Gates (d) and Ed Touche (d). Our first big success came in April, when Radley came second overall in the Warsash Spring Series. The SB20 was ably helmed by George Chilvers and crewed

by Dom James, George Dillon-Robinson, James Chelton, Will MacMillan, Olly Daly (a) and George Barker. June saw six sailors entering Itchenor Schools Regatta in June.

Will Dodd (d) crewed by George Chilvers brought home the bacon, winning the Silver Fleet in their 420, and the Removes put in a decent effort in their Fireflies. Olly Daly, crewed by George Dillon-Robinson came 39th out of 39 boats. Just how much the Radley team has improved over the year was proved by George Chilvers, crewed by George Dillon-Robinson, Kit Merrill (f) and Felix Reynish (k), who for the cherry on the top went on to win the youth section of the SB20 Grand Slam at Cowes Week.  Squash: The team had another strong season, as the coaching prowess of Scott Handley started to take effect. The senior squad competed well in the Roehampton Schools Invitational competition and have been promoted to the top division next year. Sam Austin (c) led from the front, ably supported by Oliver Martyn-Hemphill (f), Charles Stevens (c), Hugo Besley (c), Joe Beckford (c) and James Lee (c).  Swimming: We have seen some strong swimming from Finn Salter (d), James Bantoft (g), Guy Walker (a), Henry Roberts (h) and Arran Ryder (h) this year, whilst Ben Rougier (f) and Bill Davis (h) demonstrate promise in the younger years.  Tennis: The final tally saw the Club as a whole win 66 of the 96 fixtures played; and the Bigside VI win 14 of 17. Highlights of the season have included a run to the regional final of the Glanvil Cup, reaching the last 24 in Britain and winning both the top seed singles match (Wolmar BorisMöller (d)) and the top pair doubles (Boris Möller again, partnered by captain Harry Ryan (e)). Colts dominated OXIST and RHWM tournaments, led by captain Harry Osborne (f). Midgets also won their OXIST tournament, with stylish play from Oscar White (g) and partner Joe Beck (j), together with professional performances from Hugo Carr (c) and Tom Sweetnam (j).

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20 May 2015

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MUSIC TOUR 2015

his year’s Music Tour was unmatch ed in the history of Ra dley Music Tours. In distance. Never befor e have the Americans had the pleasure of the thirty poshest ch oirboys/ instrumentalists to be found in any of the ma ny green pastures of this pleasa nt land and approxim ate ly ten glass-smashing screa m-wielding choristers.

In the weeks leading up to thi s most exciting of expe ditions, we had practices galor e. Those who could pla y the violin played the vio lin, those who could pla y the bassoon played the bassoon and those wh o were deficient of playing ability bashed the pe rcussion, sort of in time.

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keep away the cold. Un derpants left on window sills overnight were found to be frozen solid the next day.

It was up between 6:30 and 7:30 every day, de pending on year group, to go and have a shower. Sh aking a leg was not optional for those who were ne xt to be wrenched from the lim ited comfort of their beds; granny faffing was co mpletely forbidden. Ea ch team had a five-minute minib us drive to get to the sh owers, with one of the two dri vers (either Kevin or Kevin), who had both kindly volunteered to drive us back and forth between show ers, accommodation an d the school itself. Each mo rning, the distance betw een the Engineering building and the minibus’ open doors may have been only a few steps, but if yo u didn’t run like the clappers the n your nether regions would very much suffer the consequence of not enough protection from your pyjamas.

We had been warned tha t it would be cold and it was.

Throughout the week, the temperature rarely made it into the lofty heights of positive and ‘you would n’t be long getting frostbite’ in those freezing tempe ratures.

Although we arrived at our accommodation (read below for more inform ation) at an unearthly hour, it was still possible to Accommodation aside glimpse the snow-bomb , this was a really arded rather houses of New Engla sp lendid tour. After an nd. We felt like Lucy early wake-up at the when she hands first entered Narnia; of SLN (Supreme Leader there was so much sn Naylor), we had break ow and whopping great icicle fast be fore heading over to s hanging from every the school, where we roof that we were sure that we ha bre d akfast again. We rea ’d accidentally came lly were going for across a snow scene from a fil the Am erican stereotype fro m. Everyone at Kent m day 1. It was the was sick n on to the back teeth of sn to les sons. From Statistics, ow and after a few da to Physics, to English ys even the childish glee wh to , Latin, most of the les ich accompanies the sons were enjoyable sight of snow (no matter how an tea d chers tried to include much – a light dusting us in any way possible or even . a single snowflake wi ll do) for every Engli shman That evening, we had began to wear off. If our first event in their even half the amount Chapel. of snow Although there seeme we saw at Kent had fal d to be no difference len in this country, the at all n, we all to the way things are agreed, the whole coun done in their Chapel, try would go into meltd they own. call themselves Episc opalian (basically Ch urch of All those going on the England, but called tha tour fell into the heffa t because it isn’t in En lump gland). trap of not asking wh The only real differen at the accommodation ce is that the choir stand would be like. We were all too s at the ba ck of the Chapel. And no, thi preoccupied by the wa s didn’t mean that rm-up bash the weekend befor no bo dy saw us throughout the ser e and then, let’s not for vice. The amount get, the pre-tour packing party of neck-turning occu on the eve of our de rring during the servic pa rture. e was Furthermore, our ch such that I don’t think ums at Kent (we we anyone was actually re each pa assigned a buddy with ying the pri est any attention. The cong similar interests to us) regation of students had not forewarned us of what see me d to appreciate a taste of was to come during ou Monteverdi (the r stay in the Engineering de whole of which you partment (N.B. ‘Eng will be able to watch ine ering on this department’ is not a typ Sunday!), Howells an o.) Imagine the Barke d Elgar (the guy who r Gym wr ote I with a lower ceiling, Wa s Gl ad ), but their appreciation a carpeted floor and did not quite match 26 beds in it. Yep, you’ve go wh at we ha d experienced on the t it. The heating (a fai Florence tour two rly key part during night tem years previously (i.e. peratures of -20˚C, yo oriental tourists taking u mi selfies ght imagine) either malfu with supposedly fam nctioned or was set ous soloists). Furtherm to turn ore off every two hours du , we we re sh oc ked that, as soon as ring the night. It did the last ‘Amen’ had zilch to left the lips of the congregation, sudden ly every

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17

100 YEARS OF RU 1914 a bad year to start a new sport? From its foundation in 1847 until 1881, Radley had its own version of football, with a team of twelve players. Then, between 1881 and 1914, the school played Association Football.

The heading R.C.R.U.F.C. made its first appearance in The Radleian in February 1911. There were a number of enthusiastic players among the teaching staff, including Lance Vidal and ‘Sam’ Hales, who had both played for Harlequins. Edward Gordon Selwyn was appointed Warden in 1913 and, at the Common Room Meeting in Summer Term 1913, there was a proposal that Rugby Football should replace Association.

In February 1914 the most controversial notice ever to appear at Radley was posted: ‘Rugger will be played next season.’ From September 1914 Rugby Union was to be the official sport of Radley College.

War was declared on 4th August 1914.

The first season’s report highlights the difficulties of introducing a new sport under wartime conditions.

Only four players in the XV had ever played rugby before. The team photo has blank spaces for HaymanJoyce and Griffith ‘left to take up commission’; Bucknall himself, the first ‘Captain of Football’, left at the end of the term to attend Sandhurst.

Potential opponents were suffering from the same loss of players, because of the War. Richard Bucknall left Radley in 1914 to go to RMC Sandhurst. He served with the Gurkhas in Mesopotamia during WW1. In WW2, he was with

the Indian Army, 2 Gurkha Rifles, when he was killed in action at Singapore on 10th February 1942. The other members of that first 1st XV were Herbert, Griffith, Hayman-Joyce, Freeman, who ‘all get through a lot of useful work’; Blythe and Sainsbury, ‘improving with every game they play’; Wood and Morkill, ‘two scrum-halves capable of partnering Bucknall … both have good hands’; ‘of the threequarters, Monson in the centre should do well, and Marshall is a certainty on the wing, if his knees will stand it; he should be a useful attacking player. Vawdrey has plenty of dash and seems likely to be the other centre; and so far there is little to choose between Crump and Heslop for the wing position. Williams and Coote are competitors at full-back, the former being the better tackler.’

Of the seventeen boys named in that first 1st XV of 1914, seven were killed in action between 1916 and 1918: Freeman, Blyth, Wood, Monson, Marshall, Vawdrey, and Coote; and two more severely wounded. Between them they won three MCs (one with Bar), and two DSOs (one in WW2), and two were ‘Mentioned in Despatches.’

TA Langford-Sainsbury became one of the most distinguished Old Radleians: having survived WW1 in the RAF, he rose to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. He continued playing rugby after the War. Two of the earliest three coaches also fell in action: in 1914 Lance Vidal was appointed Tutor of A Social. He still holds the record for the shortest tenure of any Tutor. A few weeks after taking up the post he joined the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was killed in action at Givenchy on 25th September 1915.

‘Sam’ Hales, a history master, joined up as a Private in 1914, received his commission for gallantry, was twice wounded, awarded the MC, and killed in action on the Somme on 6th July 1916.

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The first match against another school was scheduled for November 1914 against Sherborne. Unfortunately the fixture was postponed because of illness at Sherborne: until 27th November 1915, at Sherborne.

UGBY AT RADLE Y Here, Radley were simply outclassed, and admitted it: ‘by half-time the score against us was 19, and though the beginning of the second half showed a slight revival, our opponents were always ‘top dog’.’ Sherborne won by 5 goals and 7 tries 46-0 (70-0 today).

The Captain of Rugby for that earliest match was Alick Blyth, Senior Prefect for one term in 1915. Blyth was an archetype of a cultured Edwardian, in stark contrast to the stereotype of rugby players as ‘muddied oafs.’ He was Secretary of the Literary Society, winner of the James, Heathcote and Gibbs Scholarships, and was awarded a Classical scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1915 – a place he never took up. Blyth was killed by a sniper whilst leading his men in an attack during the Third Battle of Ypres (Paschendaele) on 23rd August 1917.

In addition, three others in the 1915 team eventually became Senior Prefects of Radley: Esmond Giles, Edward Wallis and Victor Vickerman. Most of the team left the school in 1916 or 1917 and only Norman Albury, who died of wounds when his Royal Flying Corps plane was shot down over France in September 1917, and Charles Newton, killed in action in September 1918, did not survive the war. Charles Gibbs and Henry Nugent Head were both awarded the Military Cross in WW1, whilst Donald Manning won the MC in 1944 for guerilla fighting in Burma.

20th,1917 they were soundly beaten by a team of New Zealand Officer Cadets based at Wadham College. In the return match on November 21st, Radley adopted the New Zealanders’ tactics, which resulted in ‘the best football seen at Radley in the last three seasons.’ The New Zealanders still won, but Radley could congratulate themselves that they were becoming a force to be reckoned with.

The team of 1918 had come up through several years of serious rugby coaching, as exemplified in the ‘Character’ of

Edward Wallis, who had played in that first match against Sherborne and now captained the XV against Eton. As Captain and as leader of the forwards, he succeeded in the all-important respect of keeping the side together.

Wallis’s 1918 XV finally brought victory to Radley against another school: in a match where Radley were clearly the stronger side, they defeated Eton 8-6.

Clare Sargent, Archivist

In the following year, the Sherborne fixture was again cancelled, so Radley’s next school match was against Downside, on All Saints Day 1 November 1916, at home. Downside won 43-0. Once again, Radley’s players were drawn from a group of gifted boys, most notably Desmond Cancellor, another future Senior Prefect, whose novel about his schooldays ‘Young England’ was published posthumously after he was killed in action on 1 November 1918.

But the steady growth in the game among the junior boys eventually paid off. In 1917 Radley achieved their first victory against an Oxford College side, beating ‘Magdalen’ 8-0, and in the return match won 49-3. They were also learning a lot in defeat: on October

THE RADLEIAN

19

PIANO E XTRAVAGANZA

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY MINUTES The Piano Extravaganza 2015 World Tour on 11th March was a magnificent display of ……… well pianos. The Extravaganza consisted of 91 pianists ranging from the ages of six, up to the grand old age of 57 (I won’t say who) and ranged with the simple capabilities of a pre-grade 1, to the mighty skills of a professional and these all consisted of Dons, Dons’ children and pupils.

These pianists all shared only eight pianos. With at most three to a piano it was quite a squeeze.

They worked around it, starting off with a selection called ‘Dancing Around Europe’, beginning with ‘Norway’, which was quite slow to begin with. As the song continued, it became much faster and louder and then …… silence and it was back to its normal rhythm. It was a charming opening to the concert.

Next was ‘Hungary’, which started off as quite a harsh sounding song and not too pleasing to the ears, but as time went on, it became enjoyable and was performed very well with its swift change of dynamics from loud to soft, which added to the charm of the song.

I may have judged too quickly at first, as it was very well performed.

Next was ‘Dancing Around Spain’ with another quite slow start, quickly forming into a fast-paced song with varying dynamics. This piece was not to my liking, but was well played by the pianists as it did seem challenging.

Next was ‘Austria’, which was definitely a lighter song than the previous two.

The piece was well-paced and played with very gentle dynamics, which were kind to the ear. Which saved our ears after the loud pieces we had had.

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The next part swept us to the Swiss Alps to listen to a ‘Swiss Yodelling Song’. This song was a light piece and was very enjoyable to listen to. It was a peculiar song but performed well.

This was followed by ‘Dancing Around Bohemia’.

‘Dancing Around Bohemia’ started with a very loud fast start, which was preceded by a softer part; but the strong beginning did come back and was repeated a few times. It was quite a conventional piece, especially compared to the previous one. ‘Dancing Around Bohemia’ was followed by ‘Russia’.

‘Russia’ was an extra-special piece because it involved what everybody loves, audience participation. Brown paper bags had been handed out at the beginning and our job was to blow them up and then pop them when told. This plan came apart when one pianist directed the audience and most people popped their bags in the wrong place, and so they kindly played it for us again at the end and we got it right, amazingly. With all that aside it was a great piece, loud and amazing. I’m sure if there were any Russians there they would have felt very patriotic, longing for the ‘Motherland’. There were quite a few giggles from the audience

forth, from loud and soft, as well as the pace changing for these parts.

Then ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. This piece was played entirely by Dons from all over the school. From Languages to Maths. Even though I may be young, it did make me think of the film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. It is a piece I enjoy very much and especially hearing it played at such a good standard in real life. The piece was played very well, and sounded amazing. It was a very nice song to sit back to and simply enjoy.

whenever an unexpected piece of music started and was recognised. This was a very funny and special piece that was extraordinarily played.

Next to come was ‘In Dahomey’, which was entirely played by music Dons and so everyone knew they were in for a treat, and right they were. The Dons played with many changes of pace and dynamics; with the capabilities of such people we were not surprised, but all the same it was like being a dog waiting for a treat, you’ve no sooner had it before you want more.

‘Dished up at Billabong’ was to follow.

The piece was very staccato at the beginning and was loud, but then suddenly dropped in dynamics to a much quieter piece and was very gentle.

This piece varied throughout back and

The next piece was ‘Americana’.

‘Americana’ started with loud chords played every so often. The piece became very patriotic with good dynamics and pace and was played with the utmost confidence. Once again, if there were any Americans among the audience, I’m sure they would have been standing with a fist over their heart. The piece then returned to American roots ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’. The piece was clearly very well-written and performed brilliantly by the pianists.

‘Yellow Bird’ was to follow. The piece was quite repetitive, but then was built upon to form a very joyful performance.

The music was quite a fast pace with ranging dynamics and very well timed.

The final piece was, fittingly, ‘The Final Frontier’ and started off with the welcoming theme tune of ‘Star Wars’.

The beginning had a loud start played almost exactly as the film. Many other pieces from space films such as ‘E.T.’ were played, with their own take on them, at different speeds and with different dynamics. This piece was

incredibly sophisticated and gave a wonderful end to an amazing night of music.

The Piano Extravaganza was a marvel to behold. With pieces that made the audience giggle and pieces that made us inspired. We were all disappointed to hear it was time to leave after an hour of spectacular performances.

All the pianists, organisers and producers should be proud of their amazing achievement. It was the best assortment of pianos being played side by side and by themselves I have, and probably ever will, hear.

Robin Mathewson (H Social, Shell)

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FLORENCE Art Trip to Florence The train to Florence from Pisa on Friday 13th February was superbly on time. We passed through plains and farmland, with an amazing mountainous backdrop. It was a quick walk to the hotel from the station; this was delayed however, by the delights of the chocolate market along the way.

After leaving our bags in our rooms, we made our first stop at the Marino Maini Museum. We were the only people there and this gave us a great opportunity to look around at the horse and rider projects, as well as other works.

After this first experience of Florence art history, we went for a walk around the old city, starting in the great Piazza Della Repubblica with its buzzing atmosphere.

We headed for the Futurists Café. We ordered the richest hot chocolate, whilst discussing the views and artwork of the Futurists. We next approached the Palazzo Vecchio which acts as the town hall. On our way we touched the bronze boar which stands close by. It is said that if you put a coin in its mouth and let the water push it down into the drain, then you shall return to Florence - which we all wanted to do, after we saw the great statues that stand outside the Palazzo.

The replica of Michelangelo’s David and the Serpentine were an outstanding sight on our first day.

The Church of San Lorenzo was our next visit. The chapel was a private church for the Medicis, the richest family in Florence - to this day unfinished. The façade of the building was not completed by Michelangelo, who was commissioned by the Medici household. Inside we saw the amazing detail and money that went into building the interior: high ceilings with individual wooden and golden engravings; giant arches on the end of pillars; magnificent frescoes on the ceiling of the inner dome and the face of one wall. As we walked around the main chapel we were slowly led into the old Sacristy. On a separate smaller dome, was painted the night sky and constellations that lined up perfectly with the same night sky as the one on the Sacristy ceiling.

After dining at one of the great restaurants in Florence, ZaZa’s, Mr Ellis led us round to the Duomo. It is the biggest chapel in Florence and stands huge and white in the night sky. With an intricate façade created by Brunelleschi, it stands out massively from the rest of the square.

Saturday 14th February, started by visiting the Medici tombs. The building itself is an impressive feat of architecture; it has a traditional terracotta tiled dome, huge windows and a pentagon shape. It holds

precious objects: such as minute reliquaries in the finest detail. Even the floor is crafted in marble – while the tombs were crafted from boulders of marble, four times the size of any man. The surreal domed ceiling conveys a striking sense of the division between God and man.

Finally, in a room off the tombs, there is a Michelangelo sculpture of Day and Night. Night is polished and shines in the light, whereas Day is rough and scarred. The tombs show how the Medici wanted to be remembered: simple and elegant, with a chain of family history. The building also proves how many craftsman there were in Florence then.

We stopped for lunch at Mario’s – one of the oldest restaurants in Florence - then walked across the city to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is most famous for its massive dome, the Duomo of Santa Maria Del Fiore, constructed by Brunelleschi in the 15th century. It was the tallest freestanding building in the world in Brunelleschi’s time.

To get to the Uffizi Gallery, across the other side of the river, we walked across the Ponte Vecchio, which apparently a German bomber would not destroy because of its beauty. It was unlike any bridge I have ever been on: shops are set up on the bridge making you feel like you are not on a bridge, until the middle section, where the shops open out to create a viewpoint down the river.

Our last attraction was the Uffizi Gallery, which contains hundreds of Renaissance paintings and marble sculptures. During this period artists portrayed the human form as God-like: large, muscular and almost impossibly toned: a movement called Mannerism.

On Sunday 15th, we set out to the Casa de Buonarotti. This house was the one that Michelangelo lived in: now a museum that holds much of his work, including the façade of the San Lorenzo chapel in wooden form. There is a small room that has frescoes from wall to wall and all over the ceiling.

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After Michelangelo’s home, it was only fitting that we went to see the huge sculpture of David in the Accademia.

The David in the Gallery was very different to the one in the Palazzo Vecchio. This one seemed to stand taller with grace, and as though it were actually a living, breathing thing. Much of the group sat down to draw and take pictures of the statue and then ventured round the gallery seeing other art works.

Before our last sightseeing of the day, we went to the market to eat and shopped for gifts and wallets. The leather in Florence is the finest in Italy and can be shown to be genuine by holding a flame to it, as it is impossible to set fire to real leather. Silk is another great product that is easy to get in Florence.

Next, we visited Michelangelo’s resting place in Santa Croce. Inside the huge chapel that looks a lot like that of the Duomo, we saw the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo lying

opposite the hall near the entrance to the church. Further down the great halls of the chapel, are many other tombs and private prayer areas, decorated with gold paints and wooden altar placements. During a flood in 1966, a cross created by Michelangelo was half destroyed as it lay in a small room that looked much like the old Sacristy in the church of San Lorenzo.

Our last day in Florence, Monday, started by visiting The Brancacci Chapel, which is the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. The chapel has amazing frescos that convey a sense of a journey: from the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, to the Adoration of Jesus Christ. From the Brancacci Chapel we went to the Church of Santo Spirito.

This chapel has a gothic feel and was not as grand as other chapels we had seen. However, Michelangelo was allowed to make a study of the corpses coming from the convent’s hospital; in exchange, he sculpted a wooden Crucifix looked after by the monks.

After our lunch in the Mercato Centrale (food market), we went to the Medici Palace, Palazzo Medici. It is was a great experience seeing the Palace’s conference room. The conference room has an arched ceiling with vivid frescos in vibrant colours. The ceiling is almost framed by the gold and white walls and I found my eyes constantly wandering.

We all wanted to climb the Bell Tower of Florence Cathedral: smaller than the Duomo but the view is incredible. It was the highlight of the trip, seeing all the places we had visited that week. The bird’s eye view highlighted how straight the roads were, starting from the base of the tower and fading towards the mountains on the horizon. As well as seeing Florence, you could see the scale of the Duomo. It was gigantic.

James Skinner (B Social, Remove) and Tiger Beck (A Social, Remove)

THE RADLEIAN

23

FR AGILE A Review of the premier of ‘Fragile’ – a new film entirely written, directed and produced by Radleians

production team of Josh Dernie (a), Alex Dernie (a), Hugo HalfordHarrison (d) and Seb Aldous (e).

professional production could have been made by already busy and committed pupils in their spare time.

The premiere of ‘Fragile’ took place on the evening of Thursday 25th June, in the Theatre, in front of an audience of Radleians, parents, PHMs and dons.

The film stars Adam Hargreaves (h), and Finn Salter (d), and investigates and questions the nature and problems of personal identity, uncertainty and angst. It includes guest appearances from JRWB, as a psychologist and DCKE as an English teacher. Max Anderson (j), Ed St John (j) and George Elworthy (j) also featured. The music for the film was written by Will Dodd (d) and Charles Saunders (h).

It was perhaps fitting that Ed Boase himself was back at Radley that same day of the premiere, to lead a one-day Film School, ‘Young Film Academy’, for all Fifth formers, as part of their end of Term ‘Life Skills’ Programme.

‘Fragile’, two years in the making and entirely shot on location at Radley, is the first film by a Radleian for nearly twenty years: since the film ‘Taboo’, directed by OR Ed Boase, who now has his own film production company, was made back in 1997.

Written by Edward Whitbread (h), who also wrote the June 2015 Shell Play ‘The Ministry of Ideas’, this eighteen-minute film was directed

by Alex Rae (j) and Jeremy Elmhirst (c) - with help from Arthur Woyka (a) and his

Reflections of the Co-Director It all started in the summer of 2013 when Jeremy Elmhirst, MPH and I decided we wanted to produce a short film. Jeremy and I had both

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Andrew Cunningham

The film left its audience both stimulated and thoughtful – and impressed that such a

been part of Radley Video since the Shell year and having worked as part of the production crew on the previous Radley short film “Borderlines” we decided that we wanted to try to direct a film. We approached Ed Whitbread to ask if he would write a script for us and he described his idea for the script that went on to become “Fragile”. He completed the script over the summer and when we returned in September we auditioned actors for the two

main parts and planned the location for the shoot.

We started shooting in January and continued on and off until July due to scheduling conflicts between actors and crew. We then moved on to the edit which, being a very slow process, has taken the last year to complete. The film was finally shown on 25th June 2015 in the Theatre. It’s been a very long and sometimes stressful process but I can truly say that Jeremy and I have really enjoyed it, and have learnt a lot about the film-making process.

We are both very grateful to all those who have given up their time to contribute to the making of this film.

Alex Rae (J Social, 6.2), Co-Director

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30 April 201

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More et es to ci ag kl er so gh or av as w ou on en an th e: the back 3.3% der perspectiv working houses that they give oa e, br om y or fr a rt ef e pa er m om e th fr co th it y are k at y, half povert Conservatives in this countr treatment. Loo y es od g dl us go bi se ho ts po to e ge s up th S ie of bring ones. ly appl tax affects 0.5% by British citizens, and will this really on t e on th si ye , , an es ss M ss ne ne si ned arantee d busi of bu tes increased . We will gu aren’t even ow d medium size ra on an ch ss l lli hi al ne bi w m si S .7 of bu . r £1 ss ei e of l health busine had th timated revenu in a week, and treat menta multinationals economy, have es r d ou an an of ss in ne ne si bo bu with back ousness use of food %, while big the same seri sts will come 10 te he T ith er . an w nc th on ca lli e bi or 0 in the by m by £1 ysical health, this economic ation tax cut ph or In rp as . co 10 d 20 ha e n, they sinc have ledge that, ofte sed by 109% ea ow cr kn in s ha s linked. bank of te ta claims to s inextricably on e e er th ar am t C a se k di zeropara to loo d e e will abolish n for the UK, e d ly W ne n io o sh fa e u yo have rap the ves hav ti a v ,127 worse ‘… s contracts, sc r £1 e ur e s ho ar n ds o ol C eh he hous d bedroom tax, abolish thisee e il a f the income our country. T e le hi v w a h ar ye ts a off s us and ra ral Democra 10% of earner e non-dom stat ib L ’ e … th of the lowest to £8 an , ts d n e e a W r il a ig f m er 4%. inimum wage ov m e im by th d e pe m op la dr has st some nt to b a w P . These are ju greatest fall I ur e ho K th U en se d n a have productive a Parliament irer and more fa er a ov ds es ar ag w w to in e will work anifesto. of the ways w tlined in our m ou e ar since 1874. e s H an r. pl tte r be he society. Our ot ly been much the state cord has hard e deficit re th ic e lv om need to look at ha on ly ld ec on ou ’s u sh on yo e , er w ce am oi at C th ch ’t the Liberal r to make this g’s suggestion gether. He hasn have failed, de lin to or ar es al D iv it In at of ed rv d or se ri pl t on de C it d ge immigrants ing that he coul share of GDP r country. The ant to blame a w ou as IP of K U at d th an by 2015, claim lf of in no way iled and to achieve ha at they have ocrats have fa th on in 2010-11, em lli es D bi su is 53 l £1 ia as even managed anding for est It w financ lped. I am st e have the low down by half. structural and he W r . s, ar fo ay ye w x ta y t an simply is not rren nd it can be e in in m billion in the cu s. We are £300 billion mor erbated and, ritain can be. A B ac t ex ea gr w ho will be £90.2 20 ve e I know th since the 19 onomists belie s.

Labour becaus o-thirds of ec production grow Tw it. d. r than this mes ed ne lp an be he t pl inally they’ve ll of a lo tte an he th a ) e or m y debt than orig om falls ITBREAD (H rmed the econ expert analysis DWARD WH E of t gh ei w e austerity has ha th it sterity may ruin ives must face affect them: au The Conservat ’t on w at th , se f cour against them. O . it wins elections t bu s, economie

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CREATIVIT Y A sample of the Creative Writing, Design Projects and Artwork produced by boys this year

How to Kill a Time Traveller (as read from a time traveller’s perspective)

such inexhaustible terminological clarifications).

Stage 2: Gain full control of time and space. This helps enormously

Stage 7: Shoot the time traveller.

Stage 6: Years will pass as present passes into future which, in turn, becomes the past’s present. Through present, past and future, our Time Traveller will travel, while you etch directions on Museum walls and ruins.

Eventually the traveller will follow instructions, issued from past, present, future (simultaneously, you remember) until, passing the present and the past, he will find the future’s present, past and will present himself in the present’s future (sed future having passed into present of course). His presence now presented in the future/present your past plan may now be enacted.

Stage 5: Presently, the future’s present, past, safely passed through the present to the future (some future’s, past, remember), through present past and future time (as a time capsule, say) depending on when you’re reading this, wait twenty odd years.

Stage 3: With your newfound power you must now focus on the traveller himself. Remember that the traveller has the tendency to be in between time and space, though, of course, since he has been through time and space, we can rule with 100% likelihood that at any given moment the traveler is either present in the past or present in the future. He may not be in the present but could have passed through to the future but not back to the past.

Similarly he may be, at any given moment or, to be precise, no given moment, outside of time: present in unpresence, as it were - neither present, past or future. So to recap: the traveller will either be in the future or the past, or the present passing to the future (named, at present, the present, or, indeed the future’s past and other

Identity Fraud Somewhere there’s a man sitting on a ridge where the trees breathe just loud enough to drown thoughts with spring sap of fragrant firs. The sun hangs by a thread over his horizon; spelling the daily death of days as it plunges and, snapping, sets darkness boiling like blood from the wound until it spreads across the sky’s inky blue and blackening the more ink leaks from the nib of the sward.

Somewhere that man’s fingertips tap the dust to the tune of a hundred such-spent days. He doesn’t know the words or the name, nor does he need to, not yet. All he needs are the notes raging round his havocked head and the hope for each coming night.

There’s a promise he makes to tomorrow at the edge of dreams when the serried

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Stage 4: Time Travellers love time. So steal the past and make it interesting, something he would love. For example make him the king of egypt. Wrap it up and present this past as a present to the future.

ranks of horrors draw swards. He swears to keep the days for joy when night promises pale dread of past pains.

Marked as he is by a twisted silver sliver of tortured flesh formed as half a heart on the back of his hand, he looks and lo it hooks him by the heart and heaves him back to when it began to bleed and each and every time fate rent it wide again.

Grazing the dent, bent in back above the scar of love and sent into the flames and flurrying ash which dash against his brow as waves crash into the prows of some found’ring fleet.

So the man pockets the hand and homes on the piled hay that’s lying lazy in heaps happily warmed with borrowed brightness, breathing white and heaving light, defying deathly idle ice.

He each morning longs just as great Achilles’ shade to shake the shackles

Stage 1: Definitions. First we must be clear what we’re talking about.

Remember that your past is both a future’s present and a past’s future, passing by with time, until presented in the present - your future’s past, of course, as well as your past’s future making the present the future and the past, both of which also represent the present, the past, and the future. This makes no sense and perhaps it never will.

Ed Whitbread (H)

of the dead land he rules from his feet to serve the land of living things. The lowest part on holy earth seems heaven sent to Thetis’ son and him. To him, far-flung fame of glory gained stands stunted second to simple joys amidst this sound and this fury; if it be his part to play he’ll play it though it falls short of old renown won by blood and tears of short-lived heroes that fell in the pursuit.

The song he sadly sings sounds half of home and half of her, though he’s not so sure if he is I nor if I am me or we or they.

Harry Constant (B)

You view a can of the slideshow D Artwo esign and rk by on the clicking image s.

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Bereft A book in the park with its folios and pages, which breathe in the damp, musty air after a bout of soft rain in spring.

It lies, untouched by human hand but by the wispy fingers of the wind, which flutter and caress, and creep between individual pages.

Left by a negligent owner long ago, it waits, unfaltering in its naïve loyalty, for that same hand, that same set of emotions, that same reader, to return and reclaim this unwanted treasure.

Josh Dernie (A)

Vines Vines hanging from trees blocking out the dim light.

How can we hope to see, through this sea of ideas.

They throw us ropes, lifelines, before we drown.

Left, Right, Heart, Brain, Steel.

Power comes from the barrel of a gun, and the bullet that twists and writhes from its cage, leaving only bodies, hanging from the iron trees like vines.

Declan McCarthy (B)

Strong Peace I dream of a peace where the world unites, Unites to reach a common goal.

Where war’s the norm, not a broken silence, Then peace is achieved, true and whole.

You dare to fight for a powerful peace, A victory, not a lack of defeat.

You’re not afraid to leave your family, And three meals a day isn’t a treat.

The thought that you will see your children’s Wedding day before you die, And hear a new-born baby’s laugh And not mistake it for a cry.

Your life is more than staying alive, Your life is more than grief and sorrow; You hope you’ve got a right to survive, And that you’ll see the sun tomorrow.

The Waterfront The clouds that circle the mountain round Filter the dull brown into grey.

And take from this mound Take far far away Away the thoughts of any bounds Or the possible light of day.

And this then again is found When one looks the other way.

Where sea replaces ground And the optimistic bay Attempts to close the mighty sea around.

The attempt is weaker than winds of May: I guess no end will ever be found.

Rupert Curtis (B)

Charles Saunders (H) Rick Tuss

Drift In the haze of the drifting afternoon Thick with the golden haze of pollen grains The grass undulates like a warm ocean; Horses lie, rolling in long grass, snorting; A brook pumps through, a beating artery Streaming past as clear as flowing crystals; In the recess beneath the cool bank Tiny fish flicker across the muddy bed; A frog sits silently on its haunches In reeds which spike up through the bank in tufts; Crane flies glance the unbroken surface, Ripples from their touches spread until green streaks Swoop down like hawks on their glittering wings.

The summer afternoon rolls on.

Will Irons (G) 30

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His life was a train, not stopping At his platform; he saw himself Clearly in the glass that raced Past him, presently stationary.

But it sped on, indifferent To the brief image Ghosting its glassy flank.

He met his own gaze Until his reflection fell Off into the nothing.

He grinned (fancying his skull visible through the flesh) Into the swift anaesthetic nothing.

Harry Constant (B)