Radleian LT 2016

THE

L E N T 2016

RADLEIAN

Partsong | Sailing | Adam Smith Society Coventry Cathedral | Honduras | Henry IV Part One | Rowing Tank News Round Up | Blues and Royals | Tanzania | Sean Henry Designer In Residence | Ambassadorial Visit | Patience Agbabi | Steeplechase THE RADLEIAN

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PARTSONG Partsong, a highly anticipated event, took place in Silk Hall on Thursday October 15th, with a live broadcast in the Theatre.

Each Social had an a cappella group, roughly consisting of ten people; the music performed varied greatly but mainly consisted of pop songs. The adjudicator was Howard Ionascu, former Head of Academic Music at Radley and Director of the Junior Academy.

First of all, B Social performed ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns n’ Roses. They worked well as an ensemble, although I did not feel that, in the solos, the backing vocals were strong enough. The rhythm in the piece was consistent, however the backing beat, made by claps often varied in volume; I do not feel this effect was very successful. Overall, I believe this was a good performance. However, although they worked well as an ensemble, they did not perform to a great quality in the backing vocals.

E Social were next with the first compilation of the night: music ranging from ‘Stand by Me’ to ‘Rolling in the Deep’.

The soloists were very strong and there was great contrast in the backing vocals; however sometimes, they did drown out the soloists. This was a good performance

by E Social; however the fact they had such a big group meant there was only one soloist.

K Social performed ‘Bam Bam’, which had a strong backing beat, made with the foot and hands. They sung with an upbeat tempo and worked well in harmony. Their singing was well-balanced throughout the range.

G Social performed ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran. Although I feel this song may

not have been the best choice according to the expected format, I think it was well adapted and used the pauses well.

They sung reflectively with warm backing vocals.

D Social chose the ‘Sound of Silence’. This was a really good choice for the format, although I feel they did not exploit the full potential of their choice. I feel this was because the majority of the song was sung in unison and they did not have strong backing vocals.

‘Help’, delivered by C Social, was sung confidently. A really good ensemble with complementing harmonies helped the

overall feel of the piece. The backing vocals did well to measure their collective volume when the soloists sung, in order to allow them to be heard clearly.

J, with ‘Hunger of the Pine’, a good song for this format of performance, started well, with the gradual building up to the climax of the song, where J performed a great mood swing from mellow to energetic.

I felt that their backing vocals were not quite as effective in the livelier parts of the song.

H Social performed with good mood changes, in time, and with good harmony amongst the singers. Along with great contrast, I felt this was a highly effective piece.

A Social performed ‘The XX’ with great fluency and harmony in the backing vocals; complementing their soloists greatly. I felt there was also good balance in the piece.

Finally, F performed the second and last compilation of the concert. They performed with great colour and a lively tempo. Their piece conveyed a great sense of style.

In the end; the results were as follows: 3rd place to G, 2nd place to C and 1st to J. I feel this concert was a success as a whole, showing very different acts and personalities from all of the Socials.

Alex Senior

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E Social, Shell

SAILING Sailboat racing has been described as ‘chess on the water’ requiring similar tactical abilities, combined with technical knowledge and boathandling skills to make boats perform at their best. Then there is the physical challenge: sailing requires strength, agility, balance and fitness in order to emerge victorious. An ability to work as a team, cope under pressure and make quick, sound decisions is also important.

Developing these skills, while being in the great outdoors and enjoying the camaraderie of the team, make Sailing the ideal sport to try at Radley.

Radley boys have been sailing since the 1960s and the sport is currently on the rise again in terms of numbers and performance. This is due to a variety of fortuitous circumstances, such as the fantastic facilities at Farmoor, the variety of boats available to the boys

and the fact that sailing at Radley is now available all year round. As with all sports, however, what really makes a difference are the people involved.

Firstly, our intrepid sailors in general – from Shells to 6.2s – who turn out regularly for training and matches no matter how challenging the conditions.

Most of all, we are genuinely lucky to have our Coach, George “Yoda” Barker and our Captain, George Chilvers. Both have worked tirelessly to develop a more competitive sailing team over the past couple of years, ably supported by Chris and Dom James, whose expertise has been invaluable in moving things forward.

Consequently we have seen a wide variety of sailing events recently, from the Inter-Social Regatta in Fireflies (won for F by Chris James, crewed by Lauren Thomas) to Cowes Week, where George

C (helm), George “Boris” Dillon-Robinson, Kit Merrill and Felix Reynish struck gold, winning the Youth Section of the SB20 Grand Prix.

Notable ups and downs in between included losing to old and current Wykhamists at Seaview Regatta twice, the Shell Sailing Days/Swimming Galas in April and September and managing a very respectable 2nd place overall in the Warsash Spring Series. Well done again to George C, whose trusty kite flyers, mainsheet pullers and jib setter at various times were Dom James, Boris D-R, James Chelton, Will MacMillan, Olly Daly and, of course, Yoda. Aside from a number of various matches against local schools, another great highlight was the Itchenor Schools Regatta. Having expected to come last, Olly D crewed

by Boris D-R wildly exceeded their own expectations, with a respectable 39th place out of 49 in the Firefly event, while Will Dodd and his trapezing crew/tea bag, George C impressed in their 420, nonchalantly winning the Silver Fleet event.

Most excitingly of all, we are going to do it all again this year: ably assisted by our extremely promising crop of Shell sailors - Charlie Spraggs, Richard Butterworth and Will Brooks-Ward. No pressure, boys!

Anne Mühlberg Librarian and Head of Sailing

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THE ADAM SMITH SOCIETY The Adam Smith Society originated from my desire to create an Entrepreneurial/Business Society, the aim of which is to get inspirational speakers who have been successful in business to come and talk to the Radley community. I wanted to have the opportunity to meet and listen to a variety of individuals who had either succeeded in business or had been entrepreneurs, and not only those who had been graduates, but also those who had succeeded through pure hard work and determination. Whilst exams are important, they are not the “be all and end all” to success in business life.

All four speakers we have welcomed so far to the Society have been a great success.

I thought it would be beneficial to many of us here at Radley to have the opportunity to listen to the visiting speakers in a relaxed setting, and the Coffee Shop has been the perfect venue to hear the speakers explain how they have forged their path to success, and offer us advice and direction. I am keen to read Economics at university and a lot of what we study is about theory so it is always good to see how things do,

or sometimes don’t, work in practice.

There are so many different paths that can be taken to success, which is something that isn’t always evident to us, when so much of our focus revolves around exam success. Some guests have preferred to give a talk, whilst others have preferred a Q&A session.

Either way, the boys attending have been given the opportunity to ask the speakers lots of questions.

We are enormously lucky in that the Radley Community has a wealth of very talented individuals, be they ORs or parents and friends of Radley. I see these connections as opportunities and it makes sense to take advantage of them. This year, we have already had two ORs as speakers. James Lambert, who was founder and Chairman of R&R Ice Cream and is the current Chairman of Wagg, was the speaker at the inaugural meeting of the Adam Smith Society back in October 2015.

He spoke inspiringly about his journey from Shell 6 to running one of the world’s most successful ice-cream businesses. Then, in January 2016, we welcomed Douglas Ker, now Chief Executive of Meli Melo, formerly in the insurance industry. In this talk, Douglas was interviewed by his father, Roger, also an OR, which made for a very interesting event. In between these two meetings, we welcomed Julian Hall, a serial entrepreneur

known as the ‘Ultrapreneur’, who gave a really lively, interesting talk on his experiences. I particularly enjoyed our visit from Sir Christopher Gent, a current parent, earlier on the Lent term. He is a “Lion of British Industry” and it was fascinating to hear of his success at Vodafone and, more recently, at GlaxoSmithKline. He also gave people brilliant advice about what, in his opinion, are the key ingredients to being successful in business.

Many people would welcome such opportunities not only to listen to inspirational speakers such as these, who have visited Radley thus far, but also ask questions and seek advice.

Indeed, one of my key priorities is to encourage more people to attend these events, as they are hugely inspirational and give people an incredible insight into a variety of very successful businesses.

Looking forward to the next few terms, I am hoping to welcome a variety of highly successful people as guest speakers to the Society and those of us who are considering a career in business in the future should definitely not miss these events.

Tom Fenwick J Social 6.1

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IFS Investor Competition

James Lambert, OR

Twenty-three Radley teams competed in the national IFS Student Investor competition. Each team was given £100,000 of virtual money to invest in the FTSE 100. Three Radley teams have reached the Semi-Finals by finishing in the top 250 out of nearly 8,000.

On Wednesday the 28th October in the Coffee Shop, The Adam Smith Society was lucky enough to host Mr James Lambert OBE, OR (EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 UK), who spoke about his experiences both founding the R&R Ice Cream company, and then about his time as chairman. Mr Lambert started by explaining how the company was founded. When he left Agricultural College, he went to Canada, where he sourced cattle to bring back to the UK, where he started the company. It started as a cattle farm with a small ice cream factory on site, and he thought that sourcing the finest producers of milk, he could then create the finest ice cream, which he started to do soon on this farm in his home county, Yorkshire.

An internal School competition was held in the Coffee Shop on February 4th. Three of the most successful funds gave a presentation on their investment philosophy in front of an eager audience and esteemed panel of judges: Mr.Cox, Mr.Woodling and Mr.Molyneux. It was very similar to an episode of ‘Dragons Den’.

The first team to give its presentation was CGMF Global, who outperformed the FTSE by nearly 10%. They told the Dragons their money would be placed into the Pharmaceutical sector and Defence sector because the fund believed these sectors were undervalued, having looked at P/E and D/E ratio.

The next team to give a presentation was Azap Azoff. Rufus Eyre gave an interesting analogy, saying stocks are like a beauty pageant: you don’t vote for who you think is the most beautiful, but who the others think are the most beautiful. Alex McGrigor then expressed how important keeping up to date with the news is and used the example of buying BP. They said their greatest strength as a firm was their honesty and ability to learn from previous mistakes.

The final team, Hit or Miss, came into the competition with little or no knowledge of the FTSE 100, yet ended up coming 12th in the entire country. Going forward, Hit or Miss predict oil prices will stay low and think Taylor Wimpey and Vodafone will bring in big returns for the Dragons.

The company grew year on year and now supplies the UK with 50% of its ice cream. Mr Lambert specified that in order to succeed in starting a company, you must start with an idea, and plan how it will succeed on a weekly basis, then monthly, and then yearly; but only after having reached the goals that you set yourself should you move on and be more ambitious. He said that if you don’t reach what you set out to do, you need to reconsider what you are doing wrong until you do succeed.

One of the key messages in this talk was that a company will not grow to be a ‘super-company’ overnight. It takes years of dedication and annual growth in order to succeed. He demonstrated this in revealing that the risky £40,000 investment he made with six friends in their 20s, has led to an annual income each year of around £700 million about thirty years on, thus demonstrating that you need to take risks in order to succeed.

Alexander Milne

The winners were Hit or Miss who received £130,000, whilst CGMF Global could only manage £120,000. It was a brilliant finale to a fantastic evening.

Ollie Martyn-Hemphill F Social, 6.1

H Social, 6.1 Douglas Ker, OR

On Wednesday January 13th at 8:30pm in the Coffee Shop, the Adam Smith Society were lucky enough to host Douglas Ker OR talking about his successful career in the insurance industry, and as an entrepreneur, working with his wife in her handbag company, Meli Melo.

Mr Ker stressed the importance of internship and work experience, and utilising parents’ contacts in various industries. From University, Mr Ker described how he went into insurance broking, where he climbed the ranks at Miller, then Aspen, and also did an MBA. Mr Ker decided to leave Aspen to help his wife grow Meli Melo, which at the time was a very small business. He told us how important it was to do what you enjoy.

Douglas Ker then went on to say that he believed in having many careers during one’s lifetime, and wanted to become an investor and, after, donate to charity. Finally, Mr Ker gave us some advice on how we could succeed in the business world and as he spoke, it was clear that everyone was listening intently. The talk concluded with a question and answer session and it was a lovely evening, listening to a talented Old Radleian talk about his passion.

Tom Whitbread and Alexander Dernie A Social, 6.1 Sir Christopher Gent On Wednesday January 27th at 8.30pm in the Coffee Shop, the Adam Smith Society hosted the talented father of two Radley boys, Sir Christopher Gent. Sir Christopher became director of Vodafone in 1985.

When he left Vodafone in 2003 he had transformed it into a £135 billion business in 115 different countries. He went on to become chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s sixth largest pharmaceutical company.

He began by talking about missing out on his place at Lancaster University - going out into ‘the university of life’. He explained the excitement of business, stressing the importance of high-risk takeovers to be successful. In his time at Vodafone he increased the value of the company by six times its original price.

Sir Christopher spoke about the qualities required to be a successful businessman.

He encouraged us to face up to challenges, have a sense of resilience when times are tough, and be a good team player.

But above all merit and hard work was, in Sir Christopher’s eyes, the key quality for success in business.

Freddie Grant H Social, 6.1

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THE SHELL BUSINESS GAME On Sunday 17th January, half the Shell Year participated in the Shell Business Game. We were split up into our Social teams of about seven people. The games started at 10.30am and for the first couple of hours, up until lunch, we were told about useful things to have on our CV and to have an interest in a wide range of activities and to develop skills (for example, learning how to play an instrument to a high level shows significant levels of effort and dedication).

We were also told that we really needed to get stuck into life and make the most of every opportunity that there is, as there are now around a hundred people applying for a highly-paid office job, of which only seven or eight will receive an interview. We were then issued with a list of ten people applying for a job in an outdoor educational school. We had to decide who was going to get an interview; this was not necessarily about their A level results. This was a really

useful exercise, as it put us in the feet of a head-hunter and it also demonstrated that a CV is much more than just a list of exam results!

After that, we received a very short paragraph about other things to take into account when deciding whether to give the person an interview. This drilled into us how important it is that everything you post on social networks is always out there even when you delete it; after reading these small pieces of information the list of candidates really re–shuffled.

Just before lunch, we were each given a role in our business, where we had to design a product and evaluate how we were going to get it onto the shelves and how we were going to sell it. We also had to create an advert about it, which was probably the best part of our product, thanks to a particular member of the team’s brilliant skills on imovie. Our product was a special smoothie maker which told

the user all the nutritional values of the smoothie, including a sugar counter. The fruit that went into it was also part of the product and was the “second-rate” fruit that is always picked out or is chucked in the waste, just because of its appearance; but after all, it doesn’t matter what the fruit looks like that goes into a smoothie. As part of the company the fruit would be available in small brown paper bags in supermarkets across the UK. We all were given a large role to play and I was given the role of sales director. This was a fantastic exercise, as we were really encouraged to work as a team and to listen to each other’s ideas; it also gave a taster of what the business world is like. After a few hours developing our idea, we were asked to pitch our idea. A couple of us had to give a short speech about our product and the idea behind it.

We then showed the advert we had made about our project. Each of the ten teams pitched their idea, some being more futuristic than others.

After everyone had finished presenting their ideas, all the plans were judged by the Business teacher, Jonathan. He gave a number of different prizes, including one for the best business plan, the best advert and an overall prize for the best product idea and advert, which K social won.

It was a fantastic day and was definitely worth giving up Sunday for. I learned a huge amount about the business world and the key factors that make up a successful business. I also had a really strong message about good aspects for a CV. I am sure this will help in the future.

Alexander Scott K Social, Shell

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COVENTRY CATHEDRAL On Monday 8th February, the entire Choir were treated to a trip to Coventry.

More than 100 members of the Choir had a fascinating tour of both the current Cathedral as well as the previous Cathedral, which was bombed in World War Two. Both tours were filled with interesting historical and architectural information, from looking at the artwork of the Cathedral to learning into the history of the strong connotations of peace prominently

conveyed throughout the Cathedral.

After a short rehearsal, we had the privilege of singing evensong in such an amazing acoustic and beautiful building. For many of the boys, this was the first time they were able to sing in a building of that size.

The Choir performed an array of music written by Howells including Like as the Hart as well as both his Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. The service was attended

by members of the Radley community as well as members of the public of Coventry.

The trip was finished off with a well deserved trip to Pizza Express.

The Radley Choir has successfully performed in yet another amazing venue.

Adam Hargreaves H Social 6.2

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HOND tents perched under blue tarpaulin.

There was also a hut which doubledup as both a classroom and a scientific research facility, and an endless supply of local coffee on-tap (only when I returned to England did I realise that I had been drinking two quadruple espressos a day).

The night of our arrival in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, gunshots were clearly audible from our eighth floor hotel window. That was why the Gran Hotel Sula had armed guards stationed outside its entrance. We did not have long to contemplate our situation, however, since we were soon to be heading up a mountain. After a brief bout of post-flight relaxation in the form of building human towers in the hotel swimming pool, we were repacking our backpacks in preparation for the week ahead. The next morning we were loaded on

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to trucks to begin our ascent into the cloud forest. Despite most of us nursing a desperate need for the lavatory within the first hour – a problem not at all helped by the rough terrain – the mountain came as a welcome relief from the heat of the world’s most dangerous city. The stunning views did provide a worthy distraction.

At last we reached Operation Wallacea’s base camp, located deep within Cusuco National Park. The clearing that was to become our home for the next week was a sprawl of

We remained at base camp for four days, accompanying multiple young and eccentric scientists as they carried out their research.

A particular highlight were the herpetology walks where we often left in the dark to look for reptiles and amphibians. The latter were swabbed for chytrid fungus, an infection devastating the world’s amphibians, and the results returned to base camp for genetic analysis. On these short treks we would also bump into a whole host of fascinating insects and other invertebrates.

Throughout the week we also engaged in habitat surveys, mistnetting (we caught a beautiful nightingale thrush), tree climbing, bat hunting, pitfall trap setting and small mammal trapping. One group were fortunate enough to be present at the discovery of a new species of mammal, and were the first to capture it on film. The discovery was an amphibious water mouse belonging to the rare genus Rheomys and could be a mammal species new to science (pictured bottom right).

DURAS Mid-week we began the trek to Guanales, one of the satellite camps.

Halfway there we passed another group on their return journey who warned us of what was to come, in particular, what was to become known as ‘the cliff’. It was not quite a cliff but, nevertheless, the remainder of the trek was pretty steep. Despite multiple falls, we managed – surprisingly, perhaps – to accumulate zero injuries. Guanales was very different to base camp: a mass of hammocks, tents and washing lines built on hilly terrain.

The lavatory was a pit and the shower was a waterfall. We had a lot of fun. The scientists had been out of contact with society for several weeks, speaking to base camp once a day via walkie-talkie.

They had created their own religion and wanted nothing more than to find out who had won Wimbledon.

One particularly memorable Dutch herpetologist, Jesse, slept with snakes in his hammock. Sitting around the campfire one evening the conversation took an unexpected turn away from bowel movements and stool analysis, moving onto what the scientists would bring back with them if they could quickly nip back to civilisation. The consensus was split between a Sunday Times cryptic crossword and the final two episodes of Game of Thrones.

At Guanales they were conducting similar studies but in tougher terrain.

However, one unique activity was the dawn chorus bird walk. Leaving at four o’clock in the morning, we crept along a transect until reaching a plateau from which we could see a valley through the trees. There we sat as the sun arose and the birds began to stir. For a pure, unadulterated stretch of time it seemed the only sound in the world was that of the birds and the trees. Then the cicadas began and instantly the forest filled with the drone of their vibrating tymbals. Although it’s astounding the noise these insects can generate, you cannot help but resent them for

breaking the peace. Luckily another quadruple espresso was waiting for me back at camp.

After the “Jungle” week of the expedition the group transferred to the Caribbean island of Utila for our “Marine” week of scuba diving and many other delights. We had been prepared for this by the Radley SubAqua Club which will feature in a future Radleain article, along with a snapshot of island life in the tropics.

Michael Noone Head of Biology

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HENRY IV The play starts a few years after ‘Richard II’ left off. This was a fast pace, high-energy performance filled with comic moments and intense battle scenes, which had us all fearing for the limbs of the cast. The set was beautifully detailed and captured the Medieval atmosphere. Instead of Richard’s emblem of the White Hart there was a White Swan in the stained glass window to show Henry IV’s reign had begun. He was played by Archie McChesney. Archie at times showed his vulnerable side in this performance. It was clear to see that ruling and having the disappointment of a son like Hal, had aged him. We first encounter Ned Marriott as Hal, Henry IV’s son, appearing from a pile of bed sheets after a late night. Ned conducted himself in a manner unsuited to royalty, which was sometimes comic but always raw and believable.

The stand-out performance was by George Dillon-Robinson who played Sir John Falstaff, one of Shakespeare’s greatest comic creations. In the fat suit, wig and

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long grey beard there was no denying he was The Lord of Misrule and could never be contained. He was the joker throughout and always undermined the serious moments with perfect comic timing. For example pretending to be dead when Douglas, played by Arthur O’Kelly, fought Falstaff in his assortment of pots and pans for armour. Artie Diamandis played Poins, Hal’s partner in crime. Artie bought a cheeky but friendly persona to the stage, as the two of them bounced off their own mischievous intentions.

The leader of the rebels. Harry “Hotspur” Percy, was played by Benji Waller. His performance was brutal and frighteningly aggressive at times. His Wife played by Elin Kaemmer-Bailey however, managed to strip him of his macho persona as well as his shirt, as we witnessed an emotional scene between lovers.

The seedy City of London, Cheapside, was conveyed in The Boar’s Head Tavern run by the Landlord and his wife, Edward Agnew

PART ONE and Alexandra Yorston. Olly Daly, as Francis the “Drawer” or Barman, stood out in a comic cameo role, as he ran around the Tavern in a hilariously hectic manner.

The play culminated with battle scenes.

Full armour was worn and heavy metal swords brandished as the fight commenced.

I was completely submerged in the action, as grunts roared and sparks flew from

swords. Due to the ferocity at which they hurled their swords at one another, it was no doubt a fight to the death.

The costume designer Lianne Rowland outdid herself, as highly decorative fur rimmed capes graced the stage, alongside peasantry rags and armoured men. Falstaff was seen in a fat suit as well as a white whispery beard and messy wig. However one of the most astonishing looks of the evening created by Lianne was George Hervey’s face. George played the role of Bardolph, one of the shady, heavy-drinking character’s of London. He had a blistered face and a repulsively bulbous nose that reddened at the tip. This prosthetic work was so realistic he was unrecognisable.

Matt Barker created a visually delicious set, ranging from stained glass windows to unmade beds. There was certainly no expense spared. The performance all round was full of life, most likely down to the passion and expert knowledge pumped into the production by Mr Lowe. It had everything from sword fighting to drunken vagrants. What more could you want?

Arran Ryder H Social, 6.1

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THE JOCK MULLARD The Jock Mullard Rowing Tank, Radley’s brand new indoor rowing facility, opened in September 2015. It is a wonderful new addition for the Boat Club and represents the culmination of a long-held ambition to have a rowing tank in the heart of Radley Campus.

In order to ensure that the new rowing tank was the best it could possibly be, the College visited a number of tanks across the UK and as far afield as Ireland and the USA. We seriously considered building a tank which incorporated running water. However, not only are they very expensive and complicated to build, the water can get very rough, with standing waves and a maximum water speed only equivalent to a boat moving at about a rate of twenty-four strokes per minute. It was therefore agreed to select a tank that would accurately simulate the acceleration of a boat.

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The College decided to consult a world-renowned expert in rowing biomechanics, Dr Valery Kleshnev, to discuss how we could improve the design of a rowing tank. It was important to ensure that the new tank would offer a superior facility for the boys to train in, as well as generate a similar experience to being in a real boat.

The College had the idea to incorporate a dynamic stretcher attached to a flywheel as part of the tank mechanism. After a number of technical discussions with Dr Valery Kleshnev, it was agreed to look at a rowing tank in St Pietersburg which uses a simpler bungee cord recoil mechanism. After trying the design it was clear that it offered the most realistic feel of any of the tanks we had tried up until then. This was especially noticeable when we tried it

straight afterwards in stationary mode - the difference was striking.

We appointed an architect to design the rowing tank based on the one we trialled in Russia. The result was better than we ever dreamed possible.

Thanks to the help of Radley Don, Jonathan Wheeler, and his son William, an engineering student at Oxford who helped design the mechanical components, we managed to create a tank that closely resembled an actual rowing boat.

We also enlisted the help and expertise of Ray Smith in the Radley IT department to create a system of eight cameras to offer a variety of views of the rowers. Images are projected onto a screen in front of the tank giving rowers live feedback, instead of having to look sideways at a mirror. The cameras are controlled using an iPad allowing the coach to choose different

ROWING TANK views. Coaches can also use the cameras to pause or use slow motion whilst the rowers train.

The new rowing tank offers an excellent indoor facility for the boys and provides an outstanding opportunity to work on their rowing technique. It can accommodate ten boys in stationary mode or eight boys in dynamic mode and can be very quickly changed from sweep to sculling.

The J14s use the tank to get used to the basic movements and technique in a controlled environment. They usually have their first proper taste of sculling in the Lent Term, when the river is flowing fast and the conditions are usually cold and wet. It is difficult for coaches to coach basic technique, as the current pushes the boat into the bank as soon as the crew stops for any length of time. The new rowing tank

allows us to teach J14s about slide control, timing and blade-work before they get on the water for the first time.

This goes a long way to helping them understand what they should be doing once in the boat on the river.

The J15s use the tank to adapt to the new challenges of sweep rowing before they actually get in a sweepoared boat. The rowing tank allows coaches to walk beside the rowers and show them exactly what to do, helping them to improve their technique.

The older boys use the tank to improve their overall technique, or they can even carry out a full training session in place of a water session, if the tank is in dynamic mode. It is an excellent facility, particularly in the winter months when water time is limited.

An additional benefit is that the tank is based on campus, which means we can get more boys training during the

course of an afternoon. The tank will be used on every afternoon where sport is scheduled, as we always have one of the age-groups doing a “land� session on these days.

We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful new facility available to all the boys and we are very grateful to all those who made it possible. We look forward to reaping the benefits in the years ahead.

John Gearing 1st VIII Coach

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NEWS ROUND UP ‘In New Authors We Trust’, October 28th

CCF Biennial Inspection, November 2nd

Spens Trophy, November 5th

The CCF Biennial Inspection took place on the morning of Monday November 2nd.

The highly-anticipated Spens Trophy final, held in Silk Hall, was yet again a fulfilling end to a Herculean competition. The final consisted of last year’s victors, K Social, who were up against C Social.

There was a parade at Mansion, with the entire CCF Contingent present for the first time in the academic year: including the CCF Band, the Guard of Honour and all three Sections: Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

Three published authors visited in October to speak to us about their novels and then answer the many questions we had for them.

Leo Hunt spoke about his debut novel, ‘13 days of Midnight’. He graduated from UEA in 2014, achieving a First in Creative Writing and American Literature, and wasted no time starting his first novel at the age of 19.

After years of refining, his horror novel was published, and received 4/5 stars from the Good Reads website and 4/5 on Amazon.

Our second speaker was Carla Spradbery, a very passionate author, who has written two published novels, “100 Society” and “The Memory Hit”. She opened with a very interesting story about how her passion for writing started when she was in only Year 2 at school. She was given a paperback book and sent to the dining hall for an afternoon to write her first epic, and ever since then has been hooked.

The opening rounds were very close, with both teams trading blows; K took the lead early on, swiftly moving one hundred points ahead. However, C Social were not to be defeated easily and managed to get back into the competition - levelling the scores.

Yet K, once again, pulled ahead; this time putting a lead of two hundred points between themselves and C. From then on, K closed the competition out and won by 310 points (660 - 350).

Guitars Unlimited, November 2nd A large crowd gathered in the Silk Hall to witness the annual ‘Guitars Unlimited’ concert. We were graced with pieces not just including electric and acoustic guitars, but also from keyboard, violin, drum and bass players as well. It was obvious that all the pieces were rehearsed well and in turn proved to be exquisite performances.

The Warden presented the trophy to the winning K Social Team: James Mocatta, Harry McGrath, Jamie Walker and Tom Binks.

Special thanks must go to Mr Tolputt, the Question-master Charlie Rothbarth and Time-keeper Felix Barbour for putting on such a special Competition.

Henry Austen, E Social 6.1

Al Baker, D Social 6.1

Al Baker, D Social 6.1 Richard Beard is an old Radleian and the distinguished author of books such as ‘X20’, ‘Lazarus is Dead’ and ‘Acts of Assassins’. He came to Radley to explain how his writing career developed since his time at Radley, playing rugby and enjoying school life, just like the spectators present at the lecture.

Mr Beard cited the novel ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce, a book which he read in his last term at Radley, as the book which inspired him most into becoming an author. From there, Mr Beard went on to explain how he went from a university student at Cambridge to a published author with ‘X20’, a book about the desire, risk, repression and denial a man experiences when trying to give up smoking. He went to the University of East Anglia to obtain a Creative Writing degree there, before seeing ‘X20’ become his first published novel. He then went on to mention some of his other works such as ‘In Damascus’, Oliver Donaldson, F Social 6.1

Hudson String Prize, November 10th

Silk Hall Coffee Concert, November 5th In November one of Radley’s frequent Coffee Concerts took place in the Silk Hall. It had a relaxed atmosphere that mixed with some of the more energetic pieces, which the boys played. The variety was extensive, despite the majority of pieces being played on string instruments.

The Musicians and the pieces they played included: Hrishi Shah (cello) – Andante

by Haydn, Charles Wantz (piano) – Own improvisation, Keir Howard (double bass) – May I by Leogrande, Andrew Shaw (violin) – Pastorale by Rieding, Henry Martin (cello) – Romanze by Reger, Felix Reynish (violin) – Malagueña by Sarasante James Gosling, A Social 6.1

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The Hudson String Prize consisted of seven pieces. The instruments ranged from violins, to a harp and were played immaculately by boys of different ages throughout the school. The harp was played quite beautifully by Adam Hargreaves, and concluded the evening in a very calming way.

1st Place - Ignacio Urzaiz, 2nd Place - Kier Howard, 3rd Place (joint) - Adam Hargreaves - William Cox. Pieces: William Cox - Resignation - Violin, Ignacio Urzaiz - 1st mvt (Concerto in D) - Violin, Hugo Halford-Harrison - 3rd mvt (Concerto in G) - Violin, Kier Howard - May I - Double Bass, James Strain - Resignation - Violin, Felix Reynish - Malagueña - Violin, Adam Hargreaves - Leaving Stoer - Harp.

Alexander Milne, H Social 6.1

Singapore Visit, November 11th

help four injured men. This act of courage meant he was captured the next day and taken to a temporary prison camp, twenty miles north of Arnhem.

It was here where Peter and two friends escaped the camp, only to be captured by Nazis deer hunting. He joked how comical it must have been for the Germans to go deer hunting and then return with three British men.

The Singapore Chinese Girls School (SCGS) visited Radley. in November. The 26 girls were from the equivalent of Year 10 (Removes) and 30 of our Removes were given specific roles as hosts, aided by four College Prefects, who gave the girls a tour of the campus. As well as experiencing classes in our English, Maths, Modern Languages and Science Departments, the girls joined some of our boys at lunch and sampled the Coffee Shop atmosphere.

Later, 40 Radleians listened to some excellent short presentations by the SCGS girls on the history, education system and food of Singapore, as well as Singlish. The Q & A session which followed, proved to be an excellent forum for the pupils of each school to quiz each other about the qualities and priorities of their respective institutions.

On Sunday November 15th, Tom Jewell ran in the ‘Rugged Radnage’ cross-county event – on a windy, muddy and hilly 10km course.

He came in as fourth-placed Under-18 male and was placed 28th overall.

Independent Schools’ Bagpipe Competition, November 15th

Peter then told us how he walked over 330 miles after the war, due to the Russians sending him off in the wrong direction.

Peter made another joke, saying he was not superstitious having been liberated on Friday the thirteenth of April.

One of the highlights of the talk was listening to Peter answer the boys’ questions about Arnhem; he told us the only difference between Arnhem then and now was the size of the trees.

It was a truly fascinating talk and such a great opportunity to learn and appreciate how brave a generation they were. Lest we forget them.

The 9th Independent Schools’ Bagpipe Competition took place at Radley in Silk Hall. Pictured are the winners of the ‘15 and Under’ Quick March Category – Bryce Jersing (from Abingdon, 1st) and Radleians, Hugo Bertie (2nd) and Albi Tufnell (3rd ).

Oliver Martyn-Hemphill, F Social 6.1 Coffee Concert: Harri Guy, November 18th

A very fitting conclusion to the day was to see the SCGS girls amongst the audience for the film and talk about Arnhem, by Peter Clarke, one of the Arnhem veterans. This was a most enjoyable visit and one of great mutual benefit.

Arnhem, November 11th

It was appropriate that Radley had the privilege to listen to an Arnhem veteran, Peter Clarke, on the day of Armistice, 11th November during Academic Priority Time.

We had the pleasure of listening to Peter Clarke give a summary of his life and role in Arnhem. Peter, who is soon to turn 95, told us how he went from training to be a solicitor in Croydon, to becoming a glider pilot and then setting up a simple first aid room in Arnhem.

The flight into Arnhem was his 250th solo flight. He was flying an eighty-eight foot Tiger Moth, carrying over a dozen men.

His greatest act of bravery was that, after being in Arnhem and Oosterbeek for six days tending the wounded, he decided not to leave with his comrades but stay and

Edward Snowden: Traitor or Patriot?, November 13th As part of the 6.2 Friday Lecture series, Radley was particularly fortunate to host a highly-topical talk by the distinguished BBC and ‘Panorama’ reporter (and former parent) Peter Taylor. Mr Taylor (pictured here with SR) spoke about his recent ‘Panorama’ programme on the Edward Snowden affair – ‘Spies and the Law’, giving his audience of Radleians and dons a unique insight into the complexity of this issue of spying, safety and the activities of organisations like, in Britain, GCHQ and, in America, the NSA and CIA. Throughout the talk, he constantly urged his audience to ponder this essential question: was Edward Snowden a Traitor or a Patriot?

At a Coffee Concert in November Harri Guy played three pieces on the alto saxophone.

‘Caravan’ by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol; this was in a Jazz play performed in 1936.

The next piece was ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from ‘The Wizard of Oz’. and the final piece was ‘Take Five’ by Paul Desmond.

Aemil Sobhan, C Social,Shell

Christmas Jumper Day, December 7th

Rugged Radnage, November 15th On the final full day of school, Monday December 7th Radley entered into the festive spirit in true ‘sartorial style’ with a multitude of Christmas jumpers popping up all around the College. ‘Radley Christmas Jumper Day’ was held to raise funds for ‘Shelter’, a charity whcih helps those who are homeless. The whole scholl took part in this event and raised £1,000.

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French Exchange, December 18th

higher than pre-industrial times. He then went on to say that unless there are drastic measures taken by energy giants such as Shell and Exxon, this goal will never be achieved.

Inter Social Chess, January 21st

Alex Beare, K Social 6.1

Shell Trip to Munich, January 11th

Finally, three days before our departure date, the Foreign Office advice changed in our favour and the 18th annual 6.1 French exchange with the lycée Ste. Geneviève in Asnières-sur-Seine was clear to go ahead.

Nineteen boys took part in the exchange which included lessons in the host school, as well as cultural visits to art galleries and monuments. One highlight was a day trip to Versailles, which included a visit to the fascinating exhibition celebrating the 300th anniversary of the death of Louis XIV, “Le roi est mort!”.

CCF Llangorse Climbing Trip, January 8th

Fifteen Removes went to Llangorse Climbing Centre on the CCF ‘Christmas Climber’ trip. They all experienced indoor bouldering, caving, high ropes, belaying and zip wire and climbing on man-made and natural rock surfaces. In the race up the ‘wire ladder’ times ranged from three minutes, down to just 22 seconds!

Geography Society Trip, January 11th

A group of 25 Shells who study German went on a trip to Berlin. The trip involved mainly visiting the famous Berlin Christmas Markets and touring historic landmarks.

We visited the book-burning Memorial next to the Humbolt University on Unter-denLinden (“under the Linden trees”) which was the site where the Nazis threw out all the books from the University library that had anti-Nazi content. The Memorial was amazing. It was an underground square room with white empty bookshelves, with only a little viewing window above it: designed so that you cannot see the whole room, signifying that you cannot grasp the whole picture or enormity of this event.

This was coupled with a chilling quote from Heinrich Heine “Once you start burning books, you start burning people”. Later on we visited an area of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie was also visible. Our eyes were all on stalks when we saw the Wall itself, as we didn’t think it would be that big! The final part of our trip consisted of visiting the Jewish Holocaust Memorial and Museum which was very chilling and moving at the same time.

The Inter-Social Chess competition of 2016 commenced, with ten fiercely-contested matches (E vs C and D vs B). Aemil Sobhan from C Social was the first to surrender his King to Mr Harry Gent, and the wickets kept falling from then on for E Social, leaving them, at the end of the evening, 4-1 down.

All of these matches were played in very good spirits. After half an hour of gruelling Chess, C Social progressed to the next round, leaving E Social with a feeling of dissatisfaction, where they will face the well-drilled G Social.

The Chess played between D and B Socials is an evening that will go down in Radley Chess history, ending in a 3-2 nail biter. The deciding match, which started at 9:00pm, ended at 10:20, with either Social’s fate resting in the fingers of Messes Baker and Fitzalan-Howard. It was a neck and neck match, until the latter struck with a fantastic fork, leading B Social to victory. The overall result was 3-2, leaving Mr Crump with his head in his hands; however, he feels strongly that his youthful team will flourish next year. He congratulated B Social saying that the ‘weight of experience told’. B Social proceed to the next round to face the notoriously talented F Social.

Oliver Martyn-Hemphill, F Social 6.1 and Alexander Milne, H Social 6.1

Interview Techniques for Medics, January 28th

Edward Roest, E Social Shell

Luka Jibuti, January 20th

The Harris Society attended a lecture from Professor Michael Jacobs at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the topic of the recent critical UN conference in Paris, regarding climate change. Having been Special Adviser to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for six years, Jacobs’ take on the next 40 years of climate change was as credible as any. He talked in great depth about the reality of the COP21 agreement and how complex the task world leaders would be faced with in keeping global temperatures below two degrees 16

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As a prospective medical student there are many hurdles which need navigating in the application process.

The Coffee Shop was full, standing room only, for an amazing Concert by Luka Jibuti, 6.2, on electric guitar, accompanied by WOCM on bass guitar and Wallace Ruby on drums. Luka Played two classics: “Ain’t no Sunshine” and “Little Wing”, the song made famous by Jimi Hendrix. As AJAW observed, it was “a record audience” for a Coffee Concert.

A successful interview is one of these hurdles and the 6.2 medical applicants were lucky enough to benefit from the wealth of experience offered by two retired OR medics, who came to put each of us through a mock interview.

Dr Tony Roques (1953, left) and Dr Jeremy Russell (1957, right) very kindly gave up their precious time and successfully

created an interview situation to assist in our preparations. They asked searching and challenging questions, then offered constructive feedback on our performance.

This afternoon was extremely beneficial and has helped to give all five of us confidence when facing our interviews in the forthcoming weeks in order to secure offers to study medicine.

project, intriguingly named ‘The Noise of Ice’, to Antarctica to photograph ice in its many guises. Enzo also spoke eloquently on the devastating impacts of global climate change on this beautiful landscape and the pressing need for environmental protection.

Real Tennis Champions, November 7th

The 6.2 medical applicants would like to thank Dr Roques and Dr Russell for their valuable help this afternoon. We hope to be able to inform them of successful offers In the not too distant future.

Oscar Perry, F Social 6.2

County Championships, February 2nd Radley had great success in the Real Tennis National Schools’ Doubles tournaments, which take place in courts across the country.

The Seniors tournament was held at Queen’s and the runners up in the A grade tournament were Henry Batstone (h) and Felix White (g).

The County Cross Country Championships were held at Radley in sunny but extremely tough, blustery conditions, the course very heavy and wet underfoot. Henry Insley (above left), captaining our committed Junior team, had been narrowly beaten in the Area Championships just a few days before and clearly determined to turn the tables on his rival. In a competition against all the schools in the County, state and independent, he established his front position early on and with typical competitiveness and stamina, pulled away to win convincingly.

Henry Insley is Radley’s first Junior County Cross Country Champion for several years and has now been invited to join the Oxfordshire County Cross Country Team for the All England Schools Championships.

3rd in the A grade tournament were Oliver Martyn-Hemphill (f) and Freddie White (g).

5th in the A grade tournament were Leo Boddington (g) and Harry Meek (h).

The winners of the B grade tournament were Jack Foreman (e) and Harry Foreman (e) and coming 5th in the B grade tournament were George Eaton (h) and Fergus Ryan (d).

Arran Ryder won the 6.1 section of the Competition with Fuller’s ‘Valentine’; Jamie Farr was second, with an extract from Barry Hines’s ‘Kes’; Oliver Donaldson came third, with a passage from Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milk Wood’.

In the Fifths category of Declamations, there was a tie for third place between Artie Diamandis (from ‘Silence of the Lambs’) and Rory Betley (with his own composition,‘Just One Minute’). Second was James Innes-Ker, with Leiris’s ‘You will not have my Hatred’.

The winner was Arthur Tapner, with an extract from Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’.

William Redley won the Removes section, with an extract from ‘49th Parallel’; John Fu came second with Thayer’s ‘Casey at the Bat’; third, was Harry Salter with Hughes’s ‘The Rescue’. Oliver Reed-Daunter won the Shell category (with Rosen’s ‘My Dad knows Everything’) – with Thomas Isaacs coming second (with an extract from Durrell’s ‘My Family and Other Animals’) and Jack Dhillon third (reciting Auden’s ‘As I Walked out One Evening’).

Richard Beard praised the “very high standard” of the Competition and stressed to the audience what a “valuable exercise” learning poems and passages like these was (“a great skill to have”).

British Museum, February 9th

The under 16s tournament was held at Radley and the champions were Ned Gordon (c) and Benedict Yorston (b) (pictured above).

In 3rd place came Will Barker (d) and Hugo Carr (b) and in 4th place Milo Daly (g) and Oscar White (g).

The under 14s tournament was held at Oratory and the champions were Edward Crowston (d) and Max Wetton (b). The runners up were George Bishop (e) and Jack Sykes (f).

The Classics Department took Shells 3 and 4 on a very enjoyable outing to the British Museum. They are pictured (above) with the Elgin Marbles.

Declamations 2016, February 8th

Classics Reading Competition, February 11th

The Finals of the annual Declamations Competition took place in the Theatre. The Judge was the distinguished writer and OR, Richard Beard.

The annual Classics Department Reading Competition welcomed back Chris Martin who taught for twelve years at Radley before his retirement four years ago. Chris enjoyed a high quality competition.

Winners included: Remove Latin and Greek double winner Will Shott and Fifth Latin winner Dominic AnwylJones, and Sixth Form Latin winner Dan Kirchlechner and Greek winner Magnus Smellie.

The Noise of Ice, February 3rd

During Academic Priority Time, a full Coffee Shop enjoyed an enlightening and visually striking presentation by photographer and environmentalist Enzo Barracco.

Originally a fashion photographer, working with esteemed colleagues such as Vivienne Westwood, Enzo recently became fascinated with the infamous expedition of Ernest Shackleton. This resulted in a month-long

George Chilvers won the 6.2 Category, with his powerful rendition of Tennyson’s poem ‘Ulysses’; second was Conor Mosedale, with an extract from Bennett’s ‘A Life like Other People’s’; third, Rupert Milne with an extract from Gilligan’s ‘Breaking Bad’.

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THE LAYING-UP OF THE UNION STANDARD OF THE BLUES AND ROYALS Standards are the evolution from the banners of knights from the Middle Ages and now they have come to symbolise the spirit of the regiment: a theme that the Regimental Chaplain would touch upon in his sermon to the College.

The Blues and Royals were created in 1969, with the amalgamation of the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues) and the Royal Dragoon Guards (the Royals). The Union Standard represents the service which both of these regiments and then the Blues and Royals themselves have given in the service of the Crown and Country. The Standard that was being laid up in the College Chapel was initially presented to the Regiment in 2003 by Her Majesty the Queen and throughout this period the Blues and Royals have been at the forefront of operations, particularly those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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With boys waiting expectantly, the call of ‘By the centre, quick march!’ rang out through the brisk Sunday morning.

In perfect time, the band of the Household Cavalry began their march to Mansion with all the ceremony that the boys of Radley had hoped for. The band, followed by the Union Standard, proceeded to Mansion to await the handing over of the Standard to be carried into Chapel. As brass gleamed and boys craned their necks to watch the ceremony, the National Anthem sounded out, as the Union Standard proceeded up the stairs of Mansion to make its way to Chapel. Radleians, old and new, filed into Chapel to participate in a service that means so much to both the Regiment and the College. The Standard was brought into the Chapel accompanied by the Regimental slow march, where it was handed to Colonel Cowen, who in turn presented it to the Chaplain. With the words ‘I receive this Standard for

safe custody within this Chapel’, the Standard became an integral part of the Chapel and therefore of the history of the College.

The sermon by the Regimental Chaplain, the Revd. G Scott, focused on the sense of duty that a Standard brings; in the Napoleonic era it stood as a reminder of the cause and as an object to rally around in the heat of battle; whereas now it stands as a reminder of duty both to the country and to the Queen. So too, it was suggested, we see such rallying points in our lives at Radley: the crest of the College binding us under the motto of ‘Sicut serpentes, sicut columbae’.

Harry McGrath K Social, Second Prefect

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TANZANIA Radley’s fourth consecutive summer Tanzania trip (with Inspire Worldwide) was better than ever. The twelve 6.1 boys were fabulous company for MRJ, MH and DLC and fully committed to meeting the considerable and diverse challenges in front of them: fundraising, preparing and teaching lessons at Gehandu School, performing and debating in front of large audiences, making friends with African children whose life experience could not be more different and the small matter of climbing the highest free standing mountain in the world – Mt Kilimanjaro (5895m above sea level).

The first week saw us rescale Kili’s summit (see Hughie’s account opposite), via the demanding but very scenic seven-day Machame route.

No thanks to Turkish Airlines, who mislaid our bags (and kit) in Istanbul for 24 hours. Ian Forbes (our legendary ex-military mountain leader, veteran of the Balkans conflict and Marathon Des Sables) managed to nurse Adam Hargreaves (h) to the top with parasol for his sunlight-triggered migraine, along with Hughie Jamieson (g), Rupert Milne (k), Rufus Eyre (e) and Tom Heptinstall (c). The rest of the team

battled altitude bravely through the final summit climb, getting to between 4800m and 5800m.

The stunning safaris at Tarangiri and Ngorongoro provided welcome respite before the main event: the week at Gehandu Secondary, our partner school in Mbulu, North West Tanzania. This year there was some exceptional teaching on display, notably from the teams of Oliver Smith (k), Rufus Eyre and Adam Hargreaves. But everyone made fabulous progress and adapted fast because there was no hiding place once dozens of seated pupils awaited their first instructions.

Debating against corporal punishment at Gehandu saw James CrosthwaiteEyre (d) cross swords (in his first language) with the Headmistress’s daughter-in-law (in her third). A draw. Then Rufus, Oliver and Adam (arguing in favour) were pitted against the Catholic Seminary School, over whether women should have more power in Tanzania. The ‘arguments against’ were as extraordinary as Oliver’s desperate attempt to bring in Queen Victoria.

Tom Binks (k) led the Radley XI to a lucky 1-1 draw against nimbler and shorter opponents in our farewell football match against Gehandu.

Larger opponents had been more crushing at the Seminary. Rupert was leading scorer, heading a solid spine of Eds: Lennon (c) and Gordon (k).

The cultural assembly will live long in the memory for the Iraqw dancing and singing that the Gehandu pupils treated us to (… ‘Dear Smitt (etc), what a wonder you are’ ….). But we treated back with Seven Nation Army

by C Social’s Harri Guy and Ollie Moffat, DLC’s team ‘Wimoweh’, Adam (as Richard II) and Rufus / Rupert (Argument sketch).

Other enduring memories include: the sheer energy for life in the youngsters of Titiwi Primary School, visiting Gehandu pupils’ homes with their starkly cramped, dark living conditions and recording a local radio programme.

The 2016 team of seventeen 6.1 boys have already begun their preparations….

Mark Jewell Head of Community Partnerships

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.) After five ‘Jerusalem’ final ascent singing of p ek, the stee was full days’ tr night, with headKilimanjaro ember. t n u o id M m g t er cent Climbin ng rem started a e felt 100 p e made ce I will lo it without n n o e ri o e N p s. e ex h an ne torc ryon ot have do heless, eve rim We could n ther, boosting each well. Nevert s towards the crater e g d to a t re g a ro e h in in w w rk s ic f o e w tim hero ud o rale when all feel pro other’s mo the long climbs. End and we can Five of us made it to g y n n d. tough duri ns of football, Radle we achieve here the dawning su io less discuss nding out about life in e summit, w lar shadow of Kili’s th fi ectacu g guides, gossip and threw a sp e clouds beneath. The our amazin traction m o s, fr th ia to n Tanza a dis for all of u peak on ge success ence. eryone had altitude. u h ev a d s re a su w n k e ng tre peri er-increasi lifetime’ ex from the ev dancing with the pora ‘once in a s d g ieson Singing an guides in the evenin Hughie Jam , 6.2 d r n u o o b d d n ci e G So al help ters a ettable and l was unforg o. (I’m sure the loca r to us us togethe ppreciated our rauco a Tanzanians

I was initially reluctant to do this trip but realised it would be foolish to let such a rare opportunity slip away. It’s an experience I will never forget: it totally changed my outlook on life.

The lifestyle of the Gehandu pupil is utterly different from mine: technology, sanitation and transport are far more basic. More profoundly, their attitudes are so different. Children of all ages are desperate to learn as much as they can, because it is the only way to escape the cycle of poverty and give themselves the means to a better life. To them, learning is a gift, not a chore.

At Radley nearly everything is ‘handed to you on a plate’; but you never fully appreciate this until you witness what it’s like for those who have to struggle through their lives. Teaching at Gehandu, visiting locals’ homes, where families slept, cooked and kept animals all in one room, and seeing the market at Mbulu, where vendors sold a huge array of items for next to nothing, gave me a far greater appreciation for what I take for granted back home. I would highly recommend this trip because it will give a sense of fulfilment and profoundly change your outlook on life.

Soon after the term ended in December 2014, I em barked on a 100-mile kayak trip from Radley down the Thames int o London. My training was almost non-existent, so I was fortunate to ha McGrath accompanyin ve Harry g me. I’m still not sure why I chos e December, as it turned out to be some of the worst three days of my life but I knew the £1,230 I raised would go a long way in Tanzania. The curre nt was very weak and we made it to London on the third day.

At Radley, our trip gro up ran the Krispy Kreme Sale in April which raised £810 and a ca ke Gaudy which went ve sale on ry well, raising over £1,000 thanks to the baking efforts of dozens of supportive mums.

All of this money rai sed, including the other boys’ priva te fundraising will go towards impo rtant developments at Ge handu. These include the use of a refitted classroom as a board ing hostel, with mattresses, bunks an d more, as well as plans to purchas e computers for educational mentorin g via Skype (with EDCLUB chari ty) between Radley and Gehandu.

Ed Gordon K Social, 6.2

Rupert Milne K Social, 6.2

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GEHANDU ‘Many thanks for giving us your time, advice and teaching my girls and boys.

Everything continues to improve each year we are together.’

Leokadia Maydi Headmistress Gehandu School Leokadia Maydi, now 53, is a stately, wise and softly-spoken lady with the characteristically high cheek bones of her native Iraqw tribe, whose expression is never far from the most girlish of smiles. I first met her in 2011. One year later, eighteen Radley boys and three dons were visiting her Gehandu School for the inaugural July visit. We have been back each summer since and the relationship between our two schools is thriving, warm and strong. Leokadia thanks God that we chose her school to build a relationship with. ‘I still can’t believe Radley College chose to come to my school – out of all the schools in the world – it is a kind of miracle!’

The reason we partner Gehandu is because CJR grew up in its small town,

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Mbulu. And of all schools there, Gehandu was the most committed to starting a partnership. These personal connections are what gives our relationship a head start. But each year of visits between our schools, more and more teachers and pupils get to understand each other and what we can do to help each other. Our focus on seeking mutual benefit is what strengthens our partnership and makes it more sustainable.

Gehandu pupils have a tough time. Not only is there lack of material comfort at home and school, and no entertainment from social media and the internet, but education opportunity is very hard to seize. All Tanzanian pupils must pass their GCSE exams in the English medium – yet neither they nor their teachers are confident in English and lessons are traditionally un-interactive and dull, with little resources beyond a blackboard and splintering chalk. Only 20 per cent may hope to achieve the pass marks to do sixth form study. Job opportunities are bleak without qualifications; and not wonderful with them.

Radleians raise money for school

resources, and our pounds go a long way in rural Tanzania – our donations built Gehandu’s water pump in 2013, so pupils no longer had to carry water from the well to school before lessons. But more importantly, we can help Gehandu pupils learn English, which can enable them to pass their exams and become more self-sufficient. We aim for this by preparing interactive lessons delivered

by Radleians that we expect their pupils to enjoy and their teachers to adapt into their own teaching.

What we get from visiting Gehandu is obvious. Radley boys see for themselves how other people manage without the material abundance we take for granted, a set of values based on hard work, supporting each other and being positive. They will learn communication and teaching skills, starting with the sobering experience of a first lesson in Swahili at Gehandu! And they will enjoy getting to know the children and teachers and discovering a shared sense of humour that transcends cultural boundaries. Not least, they will feel that they can make a difference in other people’s lives.

SCHOOL Have we made a difference in Gehandu? Leokadia Maydi, Headmistress Gehandu School insists we have.

The 2014 teacher visit to Radley and all the Radleian lessons at Gehandu (each year since 2012) have showcased the importance of interactive lessons with group work, which Leokadia is encouraging her teachers to plan into all their lessons. They are eradicating corporal punishment.

They now have electricity and a photocopier to make lesson resources and refurbished labs and a flat screen TV. Our donated Radley textbooks supply a large school library that has been restocked with newly-purchased local textbooks and will eventually house computers for pupil use. We have supplied hundreds of English textbooks for use in Titiwi Primary School, which feeds Gehandu.

The wonderful EDCLUB charity, which connects Nairobi street children to UK sixth formers for educational mentoring via Skype, has inspired us to try to set this up at Gehandu. This way boys will be able to keep in touch with their Gehandu friends on return to UK. And more Radleians can make contact with our partner school without the expense of travelling there (or the inconvenience of having to climb Kilimanjaro first!).

More importantly, Gehandu pupils will be able to learn through the internet. We are exploring how to get it to their remote location and will fundraise accordingly.

Specific partnership benefits to Gehandu since 2012: Water pump (2012-13) A new pump freed up pupil time and energy for education, which would have previously been tied up by fetching water in buckets from the well. This was 80% funded by Radley and 20% by community.

Boarding house mattresses (2014-15) Providing more mattesses in the girls’ boarding houses has enabled pupil take-up to rise from 16 to 80.

With more time spent at school and far less travelling time it has meant hostel girls now outperform the rest of the school.

Beds and mattresses have also been provided for a new boys’ boarding house (2015) Teacher visit to Radley (next one planned for 2017) The visiting teachers see warmer relationships develop between teachers and pupils, which underscores the move to abolish corporal punishment. In addition, the Head uses the prospect of being chosen for the Radley visit to incentivise her teachers to get better results from their pupils.

Mobile phone project (English Language learning software) This pilot project saw pupils spend an average of 16 hours learning English using dedicated mobile phones over four evenings and as a result has improved results.

Gehandu loans a set of these phones to pupils as an alternative to learning from scarce textbooks.

If anyone in the Radley community has a position in a global telecom company, there is an opportunity to revolutionise learning in rural Africa waiting.

Teaching resources The boys’ fundraising has meant a whole range of resources have been donated to Gehandi.

Including: chemistry equipment and chemicals, laptops, a photocopier to assist with worksheet resources, and a range of textbooks.

Waking up at 5: naturally to th 45 doesn’t come surprisingly, e Radleian. But, th complaints. W ere were few Tanzanians oue knew that the awake and he r age were already house and fa lping around the rm. Furtherm or had a job to do. In our team e, we three, we had s of pr eighty-minut epared our two e during the te English lessons rm (in training sessions with were excited MRJ and EEND) and about finally to teach. getting However, stan class full of quding up in front of a staring at yo ietly eager children u one of the m in anticipation, was os experiences t nerve-racking of my life. Up then we had till ta excellent teac ken for granted the Radley and onhing we receive at with the chal ly when confronted le did we truly nge ourselves ap Teaching was preciate this fact! is their third no easy task; English la weren’t used nguage and they to the intera ctive styles of our te their initial sh aching. But after shouting out yness we had them th rainbow or la e colours of the ughing as th eir Deputy Head w given directio as blindfolded and navigate the ns (in English) to class human maze.

We also had the chance to with the stro interact ng students in sm est and weakest used a video all groups. We ca interviews an mera to conduct d build their confidence sp scrabble and eaking, whilst using sh George Orwel ort books like help their re l’s Animal Farm to ading.

All credit mus students; thei t go to the Gehandu and their less r school is Spartan on un-interactive s are typically teacher, copy (just listen to the fr and keep quie om the board hand at teac t!). Trying our hi eye-opening ng here incredibly an substantial ac d was the most hievement fo of us. r most Oliver Smith K Social 6.2

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SEAN HENRY Radley College has been fortunate enough to acquire an exceptional Sean Henry sculpture for display in Paton’s Quad outside ‘A’ Social until the end of the Summer Term.

Henry is a world-renowned British artist, born in 1965. He is married with three children and lives in Wiltshire.

He has exhibited work in London, Stockholm, New York, Munich, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Sydney.

Henry’s work frequently features specific characters as a starting point.

He takes passers-by, friends, or people he meets on the street, such as a homeless man he met in London; he

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was then used in a number of pieces such as ‘Man On A Bed’ and ‘Seated Man’.

His prolific sculpture ‘Seated Man / The Indifferent Sky’ features ‘John’ striking a contemplative pose, although he still looks outwards towards the viewer. In this version Henry has positioned John on a Cor-ten steel bench. ‘ ‘The Way It Is’ by Ann Elliot describes it as ‘the end sloping and its form open and light. The entire composition is complete, a satisfying whole, and Henry draws us in through detail, the direct gaze, the loosely-clasped hands, the

feet firmly grounded. The choice of shoes and clothes fell correct. This is a person of the utmost dignity regardless of his plight.’

John already has many admirers, with both staff and boys going up to him to get a closer look and take in the infinite detail and life-like gaze the piece has.

Many thanks must go to Sean Henry himself for lending us this magnificent piece and the Art Department for managing to procure such a splendid piece of artwork.

DESIGNER IN RESIDENCE During Michaelmas Term, the incredible opportunity to teach design practices to a group of Radley’s finest boys came to me, in the form of phone call from my teacher, the Chair of Industrial Design at Savannah College of Art and Design.

I was asked if I’d like to go to an English independent boarding school and teach 13-18 year-old boys how to use power tools and methods of design in their work. Of course I jumped at the chance; I tied up my boots, put my senior classes on hold, and headed overseas to a world geographically and culturally quite different from my own.

I found the Radley Design and Technology Department (D/T), its faculty and facilities, far superior to what I could have imagined any high school to possess. In a world where, more than ever, designers must strive to be responsible and imaginative, it was heartening to see that Radley has introduced design to young minds in a holistic way.

From learning material sciences, tooling, sketching/ rendering, all the way to production, the D/T teachers have given Radley boys a strong foundation of knowledge. Coming from Radley, a student going into a design-focused education will find themselves at the top of their class; they come armed with a skill-set others could only dream of at their age.

My role in the D/T was to assist in design and materials theory, workshop skills and safety, creative thinking strategies, rapid prototyping techniques, and drawing for design.

Outside of D/T, life at Radley was equally challenging and rewarding, as I was able to immerse myself into the school culture through Form Masters, Cocoa, the sailing team, Books and Biscuits, the art department, rugby team events, and more.

I felt an immense respect for both the students and faculty at Radley as, after all the events of the day were done, I found myself exhausted yet fulfilled.

The most gratifying thing of all was the boys’ enthusiasm to absorb the things I was teaching and to see it embodied in their work.

A day doesn’t go by without reflecting on the amazing time I experienced at Radley and it has had a profound impact on me and my life. I’m so glad I got to spend time with y’all!

Lydia Batchelder Designer in Residence

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THE US AMBASSADOR VISITS RADLEY On the morning of Wednesday September 30th in the Theatre, Radley hosted a high-profile visiting speaker, with many boys and dons fortunate to hear from His Excellency Matthew Barzun, the US Ambassador.

The Ambassador began by sharing the advice that he had been given by US President Barack Obama, which was simply the one word, “listen”. Many of us could take great benefit from such advice in our own lives.

The Ambassador actively sought audience participation and his presentation revolved around sharing our ideas of how America is perceived.

The majority of listeners wished to visit America for a “vacation”, but a much smaller proportion had any desire to live there in the long term.

We were asked to write down the main issue which “frustrates, concerns and confuses” us about the American culture. The majority of the audience highlighted Gun Crime as the principal issue and His Excellency helped us to explore the subject by telling us that although there are three hundred million guns in the United States, only a minute percentage of these are used

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in violent crime. This sparked a lively debate, with the audience challenging the necessity of owning semiautomatic weapons for “self-defence”.

The inflammatory media channel ‘Fox News’ was also identified by many in the audience as a confusing element of American culture: although much to our surprise, the Ambassador informed us that only three million out of 320 million Americans watch Fox News.

The final topic covered was about what the US did well to inspire the rest of the world. The topics here included independence, innovation and most of, all space travel. Many in the audience suggested that the British were jealous, due to their diminishing influence on the world stage and the potential that such huge advances may have on our capabilities as a race.

His Excellency then turned to the topic of what America does well in the eyes of the world. United States engagement or leadership in world events was suggested by many of those listening, which led the Ambassador to observe that, “when the US stays out of world events, good things tend not to happen.”

Several examples of US involvement, or lack of it, were discussed and all those suggested seemed to support His Excellency’s statement. The conclusion of this discussion was that the US tends not to get involved in international affairs until the threat reaches a level where it becomes a domestic issue, for example World War II or the attack on the World Trade Centre.

His Excellency closed his talk by highlighting the strength of the relationship between the US and Britain, a friendship based upon “sharing frustrations and being honest with each other as nations.”

This inspirational talk from Matthew Barzun inspired much discussion between the boys both around the school and back in Social.

Charlie Betton D Social, Senior Prefect

PATIENCE AGBABI On Wednesday 10th February, the highlyrespected poet, Patience Agbabi, spoke to an extremely engaged audience in the Coffee Shop from 4 until 4.45pm.

Listeners were fortunate enough to hear Patience recite six of her poems flawlessly: most of these were from her 2014 collection, ‘Telling Tales’, inspired by ‘The Canterbury Tales’, by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Each poem that Patience recited had a different theme, often linked to one of Chaucer’s original characters, which she had tried to connect herself to in some way. Before reciting certain poems, she read the biographies of the people the poems were about – for example, the Wife of Bath - which gave us a base

knowledge of what the poem was going to be about and its influences.

Patience also put on certain accents when reciting certain poems. Her second piece, ‘Flats and Sharps’, was recited with the accent of a 21-year-old black man’s voice, now dead. Another of the accents she used was that of a Nigerian woman, which is where Patience’s family is originally from. She used this accent to recite ‘What Women Like Best’ – her brilliant take on Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale’, a poem about the Nigerian woman’s complicated life, part of which being her five, now dead, husbands.

A particularly memorable recital was Patience’s ‘Unfinished Business’: a poem set in Gravesend on the River

Thames, where she lives. This poem was particularly dark. Patience’s posture conveyed this very vividly, hardly moving at all whilst reciting this poem. When she had finished reciting, she said, “It is absolute hell to perform [this poem] every time, and you can now see why.”

A request for an ‘encore’ was granted, with the declaiming of some of Patience’s rather raunchy work: ‘The Kiss’, based on Chaucer’s ‘Miller’s Tale’. This was indeed the first time she had ever read this particular poem in a school. It concluded the wonderful address, prompting a great deal of laughter and clapping.

Alexander Milne H Social, 6.1

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THE STEEPLECHASE We were fortunate that the weather stayed dry for the annual 2015 Steeplechase on the afternoon of Tuesday December 1st; yet despite this it was one of the wettest courses for some time, conditions underfoot particularly muddy and slippery.

With the change of Tutor in B Social, the rumour on the street was that this was finally the year their eight years of

As the number crunching went on into the late evening it soon became clear that B Social’s hold on the overall trophy had slipped away and we were to have a new Social in charge. Whether this was as a result of the change of tutor or whether the previous tutor had simply handed Mr Scott-Malden a poisoned chalice we shall never know. Conspiracy theories abound.

The Radley College Steeplechase is the only remaining all-school sporting event for Shell to Fifths, and even though the 6.1 and 6.2 race is voluntary, more runners take part than need to in 28

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consecutive victories could be brought to an end. C Social were being primed on packing tactics by the Master in Charge of the event (though this seemed to have only a minimal effect, sadly), D Social were hoping their rowers would prove invincible and F Social were pinning their hopes on their newly-acquired ‘secret weapon’ in the Shells, Henry Insley (now Oxford County U15 Champion).

The race was competitive at the front, but a betting man would not have put money against the eventual winners, all favourites for the medals.The Shells managed to run the correct route this year and not take the massive shortcut of 2014, and most of the Seniors made it round, albeit some finishing almost in the dark and long after the kind marshals from Common Room were warming themselves with a cup of tea, or stronger.

celebration of the pain and manly image of cross country running (or occasionally in an effort to show off the latest fancy dress item or recently acquired biceps).

Individual Social results:

Individual Athlete Results

Winning Social in the Seniors: J Social

Shells: 1st Henry Insley; 2nd Ben Hoddinott; 3rd George Daly.

Overall Trophy: D Social (interrupting B Social’s winning streak of eight Steeplechases).

Intermediates: 1st Archie McChesney; 2nd Jake Dickie; 3rd Max Senior.

Seniors: 1st Tom Jewell; 2nd Miles Rowse; 3rd Jamie Farr.

Winning Social in the Juniors: B Social Winning Social in the Inters: D Social

Anthony Williams Head of Cross Country