The Pauline 2017-18 by St Paul's School

THE

PAULINE 2017-18

THE PAULINE 2017-18 Incorporating The Old Pauline News

Contents 2 3

From the High Master From the Captain of School

Highlights 4 Wow factors

Academic Life 6 Pauline Worlds Julia Woods Essay prize Further Maths Projects 7 The Extended Project 8 Sure Light 9 Failure Happens The Thomas Gresham Bursary Award 10 SPS Expedition to Zambia 11 The High Master’s Prize 12 Picking Your Battles – Cameron McInroy 13 Library report Chapel Report 14 Confirmation 15 SPSCU University successes 16 Engineering 17 A day at Rockingham The Weizmann Competition 18 Chemistry 19 English – Illuminating Blake 20 Geography Conference Augmented Reality 21 History – Witch Hunt! Lower Eighth Trip to Cambridge 22 Maths – Rising to the Challenge UKMT Junior Team

22 European Youth Parliament 24 St Paul’s Enterprise 25 The Halley Research Network Fifth Form Entrepreneurs’ Day 26 Get Creative 27 Thinking Queer 28 Fourth Form Weekend Away Clubs 31 Avni Lectures 32 Staff Leavers 35 Staff Joiners

Outreach 36 Anna Freud 37 Clarkson Award 38 Philosophy for Children The Chari-tea 39 The Charity Run Pauls4All 40 School Links Trips to Sri Lanka & Zambia SPS Academic Partnerships

Art 42 Adam Hinton Exhibition Alexandria Turner: Illustration 43 Phytopia Exhibition Collection Exhibition 44 AS Art 46 A2 Art

Drama 48 Measure for Measure 49 One Man’s Terrorist

50 51 52 54

Talking Queer The Man Who Was Thursday The Trial Young Directors Programme

Expeditions 55 Backcountry Ski Trip to Japan Italian Study Trip to Alghero 56 Berlin Trip Italian Study Trip to Siena 57 Montpelier 58 Munich German Exchange Seville and Andalucia Trip 59 Venice Biennale 60 Defying Gravity on Mt Pico Naples Trip 61 Physics Trip to CERN Business Trip to Japan 62 Geography Conservation and Ecology Trip to Botswana Japan Cultural Exchange 63 Nine Elms Field Trip 64 Philosophy Trip Cumberland Lodge Philosophy Retreat 65 Athletics warm weather Training Camp U15A Cricket Tour to Sri Lanka 66 St George’s Park Football Tour Football – Senior Tour to Villarreal 67 HOCR 2017 Trip 68 Croatia/Montenegro Waterpolo Trip

68 Gold Duke of Edinburgh 69 Ski Trip Report Bouldering at Fountainebleau 70 Scotland Climbing Trip

Music 71 Concert Highlights 72 Barnes Young Musician of the Year 73 External Evensongs 74 Lunchtime Concert at FiSH Music Competition 75 Joint Concert Royal Philharmonic Society Group Prize 76 Zimbe Music Concert/Duet Tigertones Workshop

Societies 77 Society reports

Sport 85 SPS sports reports

Almanac 116 Prefects 117 Senior Prizes 118 Junior Prizes Fourth Form Prizes 119 Apposition Declamations 120 Upper Eighth Leavers 121 Leavers’ Destinations 122 Leavers’ Ceremony

Old Pauline News 123 Alumni magazine

Editor S Mackenzie; Assistant Editors Katy Waterfield, Guy Larlham, Aaron Watts; Design Simon Bishop; Photographs Umbreen Khan; Cover Artwork by Jamie Zealley Inside front cover Members of the Lower Eighth and Upper Eighth attending the Institute of Engineering for EngFest 2.0.

Acknowledgements The Pauline owes its annual debt of gratitude to colleagues who have done so much to record the incredible range of experiences available to Paulines of all ages.. It is the nature of the current design that those staff who run societies, organise trips and coach teams then also have the added task of helping to produce the reports that furnish our pages. I do not underestimate the time and dedication of my colleagues and I remain very grateful for their efforts on behalf of this publication. Umbreen Khan has provided many of the

photographs. Without her dedication, this publication would not be able to present the annual record of the School in such depth or with such appeal. Thank you also to Zeena Hicks and Eleanor Chownsmith for sharing their images. Particular thanks are owed to those parents who provided photographs of climbers, sailors, rowers and tennis players. I enjoyed our conversations and am grateful for your swift responses and the care with which you selected images for the magazine. The boys themselves worked hard to provide reports and thoughtful reflections. They are

too many to mention individually and credit has been given at the end of their reports, but there are several boys who deserve particular thanks for their particular efforts: Roma Rodriguez, Ned Russell, Kit Treadwell, Cameron McInroy, Leo von Malaise, Axel de Boissard and especially Thomas Wyche. Thank you all for your thoughts, reflections and help. Thank you also to this year’s team of Katy Waterfield, Guy Larlham, Aaron Watts and Simon Bishop without whom production of the magazine would not have been possible.

SMac

THE PAULINE 2018 1

FROM THE HIGH MASTER

What is a Pauline?

recurrent theme within this issue of The Pauline is the question ‘what is a Pauline?’, although it is posed as an exercise in self-reflection, not self-regard. My personal response to that question is partly shaped by my earliest encounters with the genus when working as a history don at Cambridge, from which I identified two common characteristics. The first was a sharp mind, ambition and academic curiosity. The willingness of Old Paulines to deploy their intelligence to address the question I had set rather than to parade like intellectual peacocks – a feature of many alumni of another leading London school – was attractive and rewarding. The second was a streetwise roundedness, over-layered with a sense of fun occasionally bordering on overexuberance (but a readiness to address the excess when required). These early impressions have been reinforced repeatedly since I arrived at St Paul’s. Paulines are inquisitive, independent, nonconformist and sparky, although sparky individuals need some guidance on how to avoid combustible material. The genuine desire to explore and question beyond the academic bounds of the assessed curriculum, and to do so in a competitively companionate manner,

are reflected in the frequency with which Paulines obtain more medal winners in national academic competitions than other schools submit entries. The engagement with the wider ideal of scholarship, rather than obsessing narrowly with public examination results, also equips Paulines with the perspective, wisdom and consolation to cope with the complexities of twenty-first century life and work.

…a sense of social and cultural freedom complements the freedom to roam intellectually and academically. Paulines engage in an unusually eclectic range of extra-curricular activities, whether as an eccentric passion or an international performer. Thus a sense of social and cultural freedom complements the freedom to roam intellectually and academically. Levels of tolerance for differences and respect for others are unusually high: while Paulines are capable of inappropriate behaviours, the incidence is unusually low for a school. This open-mindedness and acceptance of diversity explain how in

the same year a school that produced the greatest school 1st VIII in Britain in living memory also held its first Club fashion show, created a knitting society, raced its new home-built F-24 car in national competitions and established its first pupilled and pupil-sponsored bursary. Yet these impressive national successes and eclectic local activities do not flow from effortless ability. The most successful Paulines are motivated and industrious, however talented they may be, because the only place where success precedes work is in a dictionary. The pages of this issue of The Pauline provide ample evidence of determination, courage and resilience; the capacity for mature self-reflection in the face of acute disappointment; and, indeed, the kindness and consideration that also define the new model Pauline. Colet’s principal objective was to create a school to educate boys capable of fulfilling their primary responsibility to serve society. Being a Pauline was, and is, a state of mind. It represents a commitment to a particular intellectual, social and cultural experience more than to an institution. Beyond that state of mind, there is no such thing as a typical Pauline, because Colet’s net was intended to hold all manner of fish. Professor Mark Bailey

The High Master offering some final advice to Upper Eighth boys after the Leavers’ Ceremony

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A Sense of Pride Captain of School Johnny Routley reflects on his time at St Paul’s.

first joined St. Paul’s in 2013, and after five brilliant years, the time has finally come to say goodbye. Weary from a long period of exams, I told myself that I was definitely ready to move on to the next chapter and that I wouldn’t look back. Yet as St. Hilda’s gate closes behind me for the final time, I must admit a sudden wave of emotion came over me. I can’t help but think back to my first day, how far our year-group has come during this truly formative period and how much each individual has accomplished. Being a part of daily life at St Paul’s means experiencing the passion and vivacity that pupils manage to bring to any activity. There are few things that embody the Pauline spirit more than the fierce competition that boys demonstrate when fighting to win points for their Club, and especially the ability to get so strongly behind Clubs with names so banal as just the letters A-H. I will particularly miss the daily conversations with friends who take completely different subjects to me and seeing their eyes light up when they start explaining whatever history, English or politics they’ve been learning about. The perfect complement to this raw energy is the careful supervision and guidance of the staff. Whether by conscious design or not, the instruction that one finds here is in strong accordance with the words of advice of the French writer Antoine de SaintExupery: “If you want to build a ship, don’t start by distributing tasks and getting people to gather the wood and cut the planks, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” The results of the passion instilled by this philosophy are what makes up the bulk of the content of this magazine, which will serve as a much better testament to the extraordinary breadth

If you want to build a ship… teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Captain of the School, Johnny Routley (left), and vice Capatain, Max Hart, at the Leavers’ Ball

…to be a Pauline is much more than just saying you register at 8.30am everyday in a collection of buildings on Lonsdale Road… It is to say that you are part of a system that celebrates everyone’s diverse abilities and interests, and pushes everyone to unlock their full potential. and quality of all the achievements enjoyed by Paulines this year than I will be able to convey here. What I came to realise on my final walk out of school is that the thing I appreciate most at St Paul’s is the true sense of community; to be a Pauline is much more than just saying you register at 8.30am everyday in a collection of buildings on Lonsdale road (or just before 8.37am if you know how to play your cards right). It is to say that you are part of a system that celebrates everyone’s diverse abilities and interests, and pushes everyone to unlock their full potential. This year we see this sense of community inspiring pupils to use their talents to benefit as many people as possible. A few examples include a record amount being raised by the charities committee, pupil-led mental health

initiatives, and pupil-conceived bursary fund, and numerous pupils giving up their weekends to lead academic outreach classes in a variety of subjects. Though almost all of the architecture has changed since I started, as well as significant numbers of the pupil and staff bodies, this sense of community has never wavered – I distinctly remember feeling the exact same sense of pride in my school and peers in my first fullschool assembly on my very first day as I did in my final assembly on the very final day. The aforementioned developing philanthropic nature which I hope will become increasingly synonymous with the word ‘Pauline’ is what makes me most excited about the future of the school, and is something that I am certain will ensure that I will retain this sense of pride for years to come.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Wow factors YOUNG ENTERPRISE SureLight won the National finals of the Young Enterprise competition before going on to win the European finals in Belgrade. Zeki Dolen won the Königspost essay competition, a German essay competition run by King’s College, London.

MUSIC Daniyal Sachee (above) was principal oboe in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Daniel Atkinson sang in the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and with the prestigious Rodolfus Choir. Noah Zhou won the RPS Duet Prize for Young Instrumentalists. As part of his prize he will be given a recital opportunity at a major London venue in the 2018-2019 season. Eashan Shah and Cameron Soo played with the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. Calvin Leung won Barnes Young Musician of the Year 2018.

FIVES

RACKETS

Louis Odgers and Teddy Monro-Davies beat the strong Winchester pair to win the National Colts Doubles competition.

Matteo Perper (right) won the Foster Cup at the National Schools’ Elite Singles Rackets Championships.

ACADEMIC Luca Marino was selected to represent Norway at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Romania.

PHYSICS OLYMPIAD Navonil Neogi was invited to attend the annual British Physics Olympiad Awards Ceremony at the Royal Society. Henry Hampson won a BPHO top 50 Gold in the Physics Olympiad.

Ned Ashcroft won the prestigious Julia Woods History Essay Prize, awarded by St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

ROWING Calvin Tarczy and Douwe de Graaf (JM4-), George Dickinson, Oliver Parish, Thomas Horncastle and Axel de Boissard (JM8+) were all selected to represent GB at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic. All won gold medals. Ben Ray was selected to cox the JM8+ at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Cork, Ireland.

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Isaac Wighton (left) won the ‘Dear Jim’ cup at the National Schoolboys’ U15 singles.

FOOTBALL

GOLF:

James Street and Tyler Payne played for the England Independent Schools U15 team on their tour of Scotland.

John Richardson was selected as part of a mixed eight-person team to represent England in the annual U16 international against Spain.

David Narty set a new school High Jump record

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ATHLETICS

Claudius Wheeler won the U14 competition at the prestigious BLOKFEST event, a five-part bouldering series that takes place across London climbing gyms throughout the winter.

Phil Kastner came third in the U17 boys’ Octathlon at the South East Combined Event Championships. His score ranked him 4th in the UK. Greg Zoppos won the Middlesex Schools U17 Pentathlon Championships. He set personal bests in the 100m hurdles, javelin and 1500m and achieved an overall score of 2549 points, nearly 400 points more than the 2nd place athlete in the schools Doubles Championship at Queen’s Club.

TENNIS:

SAILING

Greg Zoppos en route to winning the Middlesex schools’ 100m hurdles

Derin Acaroglu was runner-up in the Tennis Europe event held in Bournemouth, winner of the U16 Grade 2 event held in Nottingham and winner of his age group in both the singles and doubles in the Tennis Europe event in Oslo.

Right: James Hammett (white cap) won a silver medal at the sailing World Championships in the boys U19 29er event. Far right: Bertie Fisher has been selected for the GB Sailing team and competed at the European Championships and the World Championships over the summer.

ROWING The 1st VIII had a remarkable season, winning the Schools’ Head, the Head of the Charles, National Schools and the Princes Elizabeth Challenge at Henley, breaking the course record by an extraordinary 11 seconds.

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ACADEMIC LIFE PAULINE WORLDS When asked the question “what sort of boy is a Pauline?” a wise former colleague replied with characteristic insight: “all sorts, no types”. The cover of this year’s edition reflects that statement. Jamie Zealley’s striking artwork sets off the idea on the front cover. The back cover also demonstrates that Paulines, separately and collectively, occupy many worlds and defy simple catagorisation. This section of the magazine explores the time, effort and dedication that these remarkable young men devote to the worlds they choose to inhabit. JULIA WOODS ESSAY PRIZE

What was the significance of the British Radical Movement in the 1790s?

n the snap election of May 2017, Lord Buckethead – a self-professed intergalactic space lord whose policies include the nationalisation of Adele – stood for parliamentary election, gaining 247 votes for the constituency of Maidenhead. This modern-day accessibility of politics may not have been what the radicals of the 1790s had in mind as they strove towards fairer representation and an amelioration of the Constitution; however, what they were is more important than what they wanted. Inspired by the French Revolution, this entitlement of the people to criticise Crown, Commons and Constitution had a tangible impact on the function of each of these three axioms of British society, an impact that proved “one of the turning points in English history”1, as the modernising waters of industrial commercialism first broke the dam of Britain’s decaying monarchic feudalism. Yet these waters were only temporarily those of E P Thompson’s Paineite republicanism and, in the long run, sowed the seeds of a budding workingclass consciousness. Although halted momentarily by the distraction of war with France, this approach to authority as something the people allowed, rather than one which the people served, is without a doubt one of the most important impacts of the period. Britain as a nation was, almost unknowingly, re-defined. The ‘poor stockinger, Luddites and obsolete framework knitters’, would not truly realise their potential until the radical movements of the 19th Century. However, the 1790s can be considered the first step in a long journey of the English working-man to escape,

Ned Ashcroft receiving the Truro prize for history at Apposition

the 1790s can be considered the first stepin a longjourney of the English working-man to escape… the ‘enormous condescension of posterity.’ to quote Thompson again, the ‘enormous condescension of posterity.’ 2 “Writing my Julia Woods Prize Essay was one of the most challenging and rewarding things, academic or otherwise, that I have ever done. For the first time, this essay was completely outside of the school environment. Finding myself completely stuck, I made more progress in a ten-minute conversation with Mrs Mackenzie than I had in the previous ten weeks. By the time

Further Maths Projects In the two weeks following the Lower Eighth summer examinations all the further mathematicians undertook a short research project, culminating in the production of a poster and a short presentation. The topics selected ranged from quantum physics to the efficiency of democratic voting 6 THE PAULINE 2018

systems. The best posters and talks went through to a grand final which took place in the Samuel Pepys Theatre on Wednesday 27 June. The best poster prize was decided by a vote, so it seems fitting that the winner was Adam Thompson’s poster entitled “How Efficient Is Britain’s Electoral System.”

summer came round, my room-turnedlibrary was a mess, and, by the end of the next three weeks of BBQs, garden cricket and many turned-down nights out, I had my 4000 words with a week to spare. A highlight of the process was calling my brother from Belgium with five minutes to submission, frantically screaming at him to find a book in my room so I could re-do a footnote. Aside from Oxbridge points or the prize money, I loved the process because it felt like a major turning point from Lower Eighth to Upper Eighth, doing something because I wanted to rather than because I had to, and I couldn’t recommend it more.” Ned Ashcroft Herbert Butterfield, Charles James Fox and the Whig Opposition in 1792, Cambridge Historical Journal, vol. 9, 1949, pg. 293. Found in Claeys, French Revolution Debate, pg.76 2 Thompson, Making of the English Working Class, pg.13 1

Parents and staff all agreed that the standard of the talks was incredibly high, which made life difficult for Paul Woodruff, who was returning to St Paul’s as the adjudicator. The award for best presentation eventually went to George Worledge for his informative talk on “Projectile Motion With Drag.” Congratulations to everyone on a fantastic showcase of talent, industry and some fantastic graphs. ADH

The Extended Project The Extended Project is an opportunity for a deep dive into something that fascinates a student. It teaches a wealth of cross-curricular research skills and when done well creates a unique and original piece of work. It also builds academic independence that is well appreciated by top universities around the world. Will Reith undertook a so-called Artefact project under St Paul’s Creative Writing programme. He introduces an extract from his work:

or my project I wrote two short detective stories in the style of detective authors from the beginning of the twentieth century. This extract from the first story is set in a café in Vienna in 1914, where the main detective character, Dr Reiter, deduces that the man whose case he is trying to solve is hiding something. The two characters then meet some further danger when beginning their meals. “Anyway,” said Dr Reiter, quite loudly for such a matter, “I believe I have an idea of what’s going on here.” “Well, then please tell me. You can’t keep David Jay undertook an Investigation, developing his knowledge and skills of coding in Python to build a neural network that could see hidden messages in images. He introduces the concept below:

that carries the least weight, for example in the number 1023, 3 is the least significant digit because changing 3 will have the smallest effect on the overall value of the number. Two shades of red. One apart from each other.

This means that if we encode the message in the least significant bit of each pixel, the pixel colour will change imperceptibly and that change won’t noticed by the human eye. This allows us to hide data in images.

café and vanished from Stanković’s view for a brief moment, before he returned, smiling and quite affable suddenly, and sat down once more. Just then the waiter returned, with an official, servile expression that one would expect to see on a waiter, and handed the pair the cutlery and some napkins. Stanković took a glance at them and turned pale, though it seemed that Dr Reiter did not notice, as he looked around for the food which should have been coming. He soon noticed the waiter bringing it, and looked back towards Stanković and smiled excitedly as the food arrived. The pair picked up their cutlery, though Stanković did so tentatively, and just as he was about to consume a piece of schnitzel, Dr Reiter shouted “Don’t eat that!” Stanković sat back in shock and dropped his clattering cutlery onto the table. Dr Reiter removed a toothpick from his shirt pocket and inserted it carefully into the schnitzel, before removing it again and looking over it in an analytical manner. “Yes, just as I suspected. This food has been poisoned!” Dr Reiter announced. the lab at UCL in the picture below, where he is preparing a sample for analysis. Joe used the School SEM for elemental analysis as well as the equipment at UCL. He writes: “For the scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis of the glaze, a piece of glaze was broken off the oil lamp and then broken down into much smaller pieces. This was then placed on a stub of metal with adhesive, so that it could be placed inside the SEM. Once in place, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis was used to determine the chemical composition of the glaze.”

Joe Beeching is interested in studying archaeology, and based his project on two objects given to him by his Grandfather. He is shown working in

The data is shown here and Joe continues: “From the most common elements in the glaze, a few things are evident. First is the fact that it is a glaze. This is shown by the high levels of silicon in the results, as silicon dioxide is an integral part of all

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When given the chance to do an EPQ I decided that I wanted to do something to do with neural networks. What is steganography? Steganography literally means “covered writing”. Steganography is the art of hiding a message inside an inconspicuous object so that the message can be transmitted without its presence being detected. How can we hide images inside other images? There are a few options but the simplest method (used by most other methods) is least significant bit (LSB) steganography. The concept of LSB Steganography exploits the fact that digital images are able to capture more information than the human eye can perceive. Images are encoded in pixels using a blend of red, green and blue (RGB) colours. Each pixel can represent over 16 million different colours. Therefore the human eye cannot perceive the difference between 2 adjacent shades of one colour. The least significant bit of a pixel is the rightmost digit (in binary)

that a secret - that’s exactly not what you’re for!” “Well, then I would advise you not to keep secrets from me – as my case subject that’s not what you’re for, Mr Lazar Stanković!” “What do you know about that?” Stanković’s voice devolved into a growl. “Mr Steiner does not exist. I am a detective who has access to the most complex records. A simple search in my archives for information under your name before I arrived revealed that you have disguised yourself as an Austrian because, given the state of relations between Austria and Serbia are far from harmonious, in fact the furthest from that state which they can be, you don’t want people to know that you are a Serb who is a former member of anti-Austrian group Narodna Odbrana.” “Please, that’s all behind me now!” pleaded our Serbian friend. “Just because this has happened you can’t give me away. I like Vienna, please don’t force me out.” “I see, I see,” Dr Reiter began to calm. “Please excuse me, I will only be one moment.” Dr Reiter walked towards the exit of the

THE PAULINE 2018 7

ACADEMIC LIFE PAULINE WORLDS Continued from page 7

glazes. Secondly, it is interesting that lead is used in high quantities, as many ceramics found in the middle ages use lead in their glazes…” Joe’s second object is “a bearded figure or Satyr” and he writes: “There are also similar looking objects in the British Museum’s collection. It is difficult to say exactly where these pieces are from, as these kind of stoves seem to have been found in many different places across the Mediterranean… it seems possible that it was produced near Halicarnassus, since many similar pieces in British Museum’s collection have come from there and the surrounding area… Within the sample, there are small amounts of volcanic rock, which implies that the site at which the clay was taken was near a volcano. This makes sense, as the site of Halicarnassus is near the Akyarlar volcano. The small amount of volcanic rock can also be explained by the fact the volcano has not erupted in recorded history.” He concludes: “From the results, it seems very likely that these artefacts are legitimate pieces. Datewise we can be sure that the oil lamp was not from the classical period; the glaze is reminiscent of similar oil lamps from the early Ottoman period (C14th-C15th). However, the sculpted stone fragment may well have come from around 300 BC. The usage of both scientific and observational methodologies improved the reliability of the results.” And in analysing his own performance: “From conducting this project I have been able to expand my knowledge on archaeological theory and techniques. The most invaluable part of doing this project was obtaining the experience of being able to conduct the scientific techniques myself and being able to apply them to a real world situation to find out about the history of the pair of artefacts. It also taught me many lessons about the value of time management and organisation. The process of doing an EPQ was the first time I had written a report of this length. I learnt how to order my ideas and research strategy, how to narrow my research questions, try not to digress, and focus my analysis in a way that could generate tangible results. This experience will prove invaluable when I go to university where I hope to study archaeology.”

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SureLight

“T

he winner kickstarted the business by selling scarves at rugby matches.” These were the words that announced us as the European Champions – taking us back to where it all began: a rainy day on Big Side for the St Paul’s vs Eton rugby games. This year, I have been lucky enough to run SureLight – the school’s Young Enterprise team, which became the UK’s most successful student company. As a group of passionate cyclists, we were inspired to do something about the shocking statistics released by Cycling UK, which reported over 18,000 cycling accidents in 2016. Of these, a quarter occurred when the front of a car hit the rear wheel of a bicycle. This translates to 15 cyclists every day getting knocked off their bikes because cars don’t see them slowing down or just don’t see them from behind. We committed to solving this problem with SureLight, a smart brake light for bicycles. SureLight was designed, developed and manufactured by us from scratch. With the engineering-genius of Luke Andrews and Thomas Dhome-Casanova, we invented our own proprietary algorithms which perform real-time digital signal processing on acceleration data. Using their own knowledge of engineering, Luke and Tom spent night after night in Tom’s basement calibrating SureLight’s built-in accelerometer – a motion sensor similar to those in smartphones, which allows SureLight to know when you are slowing down. When deceleration is detected, our algorithms increase the brightness of 16 ultra-bright LEDs, just like a car’s brake light, so that it is understood by everyone on the roads. It took 32 prototypes before SureLight was taken to market by our determined Sales Director, Ariff Castronovo. Overcoming the challenge of having what amounted to a fulltime job in external communications whilst having to prepare for A Level exams, Ariff has been responsible for some really exciting deals. To date, we have sold almost 100 units

– to businesses and individuals, making a total sales revenue of over £4,500. Bike shops across the UK have been trialling SureLight and, most excitingly, Deliveroo are rolling out SureLights to their riders in London and we hope soon, to Hong Kong. Our marketing team, led by Alessandro Farace and Jonah Vairon, had a huge role to play by spreading our aim of getting more people out of their cars and onto their bikes. One of the hardest things to do in any startup is to get your name out there, but with our social media, PR, graphic design and website guys, our Marketing team built an impressive professional brand. This created a springboard for further ventures, which took SureLight to the 160,000 subscribers of Cycling UK and Cyclefox. On our trip to the Liverpool International Business Festival, I was lucky enough to meet and discuss our product with HRH Prince William as well as to the next generation of Young Entrepreneurs. All this, along with our innovative product propelled us to awards, including our 1st place at the UK National Trade Fair, and victory in the Young Enterprise Company of the Year Competitions in Richmond & Kingston, South London, London, the UK and then, Europe. But most importantly, we have had fantastic feedback from our customers who are finding that SureLight is making them safer. It has not been easy: building a product from scratch, getting noticed by wholesalers and trying to build an online presence are just a tiny glimpse of the challenges we’ve faced. But with our incredible team of 12 and the guidance of our business advisors, Mr Bailey and Kester “you’ll-only-ever-sell-two-units” Khan, we have learnt more than we ever imagined and I would urge all our Lower Eighths to give it a try. Good luck to our boys who will challenge for the Young Enterprise crown next year. We will be here to support them along the way.

Ben Ray

Failure happens

n 10 January 2018 I received the news that my application to read History at Oxford University had been unsuccessful. It had been something that I had dreamt of, yearned for and striven towards for the last five years. In the actual moment of reading the email and processing what the news meant I think I was just dumbfounded. What ensued was the most emotionally wracking day of my life – every single one of my close friends, including two of my greatest mates, had received offers. Seeing one of them run down the corridor roaring ‘I got it; I got it’ was probably the moment of the day for me. He had worked immensely hard for it, had been held in Oxford for a day longer than any other PPE candidate, and had gone through a brutal interview experience. He deserved it. However, simultaneously it was a moment of pure grief; I realised what our diametrically opposite pieces of news meant for next year, and that was excruciating. By lunchtime I was in such a state that I could not even speak to my friends. I realised it would be better to take myself off and try to exorcise my negative feelings somewhere more private. When I returned to the main quad I knew that I had released the lion’s share of the raw emotion, and looking around I remembered why I was here, at St Paul’s, and decided to head to class. That evening was, in some ways, less traumatic for me, as I had expelled the unadulterated anger and pain that had welled up inside me throughout the morning. Nonetheless, consoling my mum, who had shared my dream and been the sponge absorbing my frustration, ire and brusqueness during the peaks of stress in the six-month process before my interview, was equally excruciating. The following morning, as I was walking hurriedly across

Hammersmith Bridge, trying to make the fateful 8.37am registration window, I remember mentally charting out two potential routes for my final six months at St Paul’s. The first seemed far simpler - all I had to do was remain crestfallen, become a recluse and decide to invest far fewer hours into my studies; after all, I had devoted countless evenings, nights and days to preparing for my Oxford exam and interview, and had not succeeded. ‘Why should I continue this futile toil?’ was the question that pervaded my mind. The second option seemed significantly more difficult and daunting – I would have to put this enormous body blow behind me and continue to strive for academic excellence, while simultaneously attempting to remain gregarious and not allowing this setback to define my year, or me as an individual. That morning, just as I crossed the bridge and stepped onto the sandy coloured towpath, I chose the second route. Writing this now, seven months after I received that email from Balliol, having completed my A-Levels and with them the most emotionally and mentally challenging year of my life, I realise how glad I am that I resolved to select that second option, and thus did not allow the sadness of being rejected from Oxford to consume me. It is true, I failed. I did not attain my greatest goal. However, failure is an indispensable and perpetually present component of life – a somewhat alien concept to us, as Paulines who are often so acclimatised to success at everything that we apply ourselves industriously to. Everyone is bound to fail at some point, be that in academia, sport or private life. My fall came on 10 January 2018, and it might come again next year on the ides of that month if I decide to reapply. Does the thought of it terrify me? Of course it does; I would be lying if I said it did not. What it does not do, however, is dissuade me from giving my all once again for something I care passionately about. Roma Rodriguez

The Thomas Gresham Bursary Award

a scheme that would increase access to the school, so that boys who were sufficiently bright enough, but were from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, could attend St Paul’s. In 2013 my vision for such a project was embryonic, unclear and unsupported; however, by the start of the 2016-2017 academic year, with the help of three of my peers – Leo von Malaisé, Luke Summers and Jonathan Routley – we had crafted a far more realistic, coherent and palpable proposal. We decided to found a Bursary Award, named after one of the school’s most eminent Old Paulines, Thomas Gresham, that would grant a 100% bursary to the top performing boy in the 11+ entrance exams into St Paul’s Juniors, who comes from a state primary school, and is in need of a full bursary, for the duration of his seven years at the school, thus rewarding academic excellence and providing full financial assistance to those who would otherwise be unable to attend the school.

The other crucial premise behind the Thomas Gresham Bursary Award was that it would become the school’s first named bursary award, hence giving primary school children and parents, who would otherwise not even think of applying to the school due to their personal financial situation, a tangible goal to work towards. Furthermore, contrary to the other bursaries offered by the school, we determined that the money for the Thomas Gresham would come wholly from student fundraising. After receiving ratification for the Thomas Gresham from Professor Bailey and the Board of Governors in May 2017, the four of us commenced our planning for our fundraiser night, which took the form of a quiz and was hosted by us, for around 250 parents and staff, in late September 2017. Our goal for the night was £15,000, which would form the lion’s share of one year’s fees at SPJ. The total sum raised by ticket sales and donations amounted to £34,426, enough for almost two years of that THE PAULINE 2018 9

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rivilege is something that we are surrounded by at St Paul’s; the academic and sporting facilities that Paulines enjoy are unparalleled, as is the willingness of the staff to satiate the intellectual inquisitiveness of the pupils, both during, and outside of the chartered hours of the school day. All the conditions are in place for one to thrive. When I arrived in September 2013, I was acutely aware of how fortunate I was to have the opportunity to spend my next five years at one of the finest academic institutions in the world, for, despite winning a place at St Paul’s, I would not have been able to come here had I not been offered a 100% bursary. Consequently, on 3 September 2013, as I walked rather gingerly across Founder’s Court for the first time, I promised myself that I would work to my maximum capacity every day in order not waste the amazing opportunity that the school had so philanthropically bestowed upon me. As well as this, I resolved to create

ACADEMIC LIFE PAULINE WORLDS Continued from page 9

brilliant education. Immediately after the dust settled on the fundraiser night, the four of us began our search for a new committee, to whom we could pass the chalice after we left in June 2018, thus perpetuating the fundraising and ethos of the Thomas Gresham Bursary Award. Following a rigorous application and interview process, we selected five guys in the Lower Eighth – Ariff Castronovo, Tom O’Driscoll, Albert Doyle, Adam Ramgoolie and Ben Ray, who will spearhead both the fundraising and the behind-the-scenes discussions with the Development Office about the changing nature and perceptions of bursaries, throughout the next year. All four of us have full confidence that their management of the Thomas Gresham bursary will be a resounding success. Following the accruing of the funds for the bursary, and the selection of its standard bearers for next year, there remained but one last objective for us – the selection of the first Greshamite. The four of us were immensely privileged to have been consulted in the selection process of the boy, who we are sure, although his name cannot be disclosed, as one of our aims for the Thomas Gresham was to offer Greshamites the choice of anonymity or visibility within the school structure, in order to make them feel most comfortable, will have a stellar Pauline career and be a credit to the school

We… had to take a massive chance and attempt to raise the money for it ourselves community in a multitude of ways. We are often asked whether founding and driving the Thomas Gresham Bursary Award has been a burden; it was an onerous task, as we had to not only convince the staff, parent and pupil bodies that an unprecedentedly novel concept such as this one could work, but had to take a massive chance and attempt to raise the money for it ourselves. However, while there have certainly been tough moments when it was difficult to see how the Thomas Gresham bursary would ever materialise into something real, all four of us have seen our creation of, and participation in it, as an honour, and something that we will attempt to aid and cherish for the rest of our lives. Roma Rodriguez 10 THE PAULINE 2018

Reflections on St Paul’s School’s Expedition to Zambia

efore setting for Zambia, I must confess that I simply had no idea what to expect. My experience of the African continent was very limited, and undoubtedly quite unreflective of the realities of life in these communities. Needless to say, I was thrilled, and perhaps a little tired, when our group of eighteen finally touched down in Ndola. On arrival, we were greeted by Dan, one of the directors in charge of overseeing the work of Beyond Ourselves, the charity for which as a school we had been hard at work fundraising over the past term. We were then whisked off by our trusty driver, Renwick, who had been tasked with guiding us around the Copperbelt Region, one of the principal economic hubs of the country, to the Nsobe game reserve, as we adjusted and were immersed in the new culture. My visit to

I was incredibly privileged alongwith the others to devise and oversee a sports day for the children this rural community was undoubtedly one of the true highlights of the trip, for it was here that I was first able to meet and work with the Zambian local people. I was certainly struck by the poverty that pervaded life here, but it was truly heartwarming to see the efforts of one of the game reserve’s owners, Fiona, who had been running a local community school, which was almost entirely reliant on donations. Fiona’s school was a great success, and I was incredibly privileged along with the others to devise and oversee a sports day for the children. This would have been one of the few opportunities that the children would have to simply enjoy themselves, and get

involved in some physical activity, since for many, after having completed their often arduous journey back home, they would be required to undertake a number of household chores. Mr Young often talked of the emphasis Zambian culture placed on being people-oriented rather than taskoriented, and this was no more apparent than when were invited to participate in a local outdoor church service. It was an especially surreal moment when we were asked to join in the singing and dancing, and whilst our rendition of Jerusalem was certainly incongruous with the local hymns and dances, it served as a pertinent reminder of how, despite being outsiders in a foreign land, we were invited wholeheartedly to share in the celebration. During the middle-part of our ten-day visit, we were based in the busy hub of Ndola, and it was here that we learnt of the work of the community schools that are partnered with Beyond Ourselves (these are non-government-run schools), specifically in both Janna and Greater Joy schools. It was in the former that were able to gain some first-hand experience of teaching, and whilst my partner and I were slightly apprehensive about the idea, it was great fun overseeing a first-aid lesson, and sharing in the laughter and excitement of the children who were most likely highly bemused as to the shake-up in their usual routine! I was also very fortunate to have a number of conversations with the local people and teachers, which I find to be deeply intriguing, as they gave me a unique insight into some of the burning issues into Zambian society today. As Zambia opens up more and more to Chinese investment, key questions about not only the efficacy and utility of these projects, which was clear to see on our visit to the Chinesebuilt Ndola stadium, but also the treatment of local workers will inevitably be raised. Sports Day at the local community school

Fiona at work at her school

One of the more shocking moments of the trip was when we were entering the mining town of Kitwe, which was an hour’s drive north-westwards of Ndola, Renwick pointed to an exceptionally large slag heap adjacent to the Mopani Mine (a source of great controversy in recent years on account of the environmental degradation it has caused), and explained to us that, just two weeks ago, a portion of it had collapsed, burying around fifteen workers underneath it, who had yet to be excavated. Such moments as these must form a lasting impression, and it was quite a forceful reminder that, despite the kindness of the local people, life remains incredibly hard in these communities, and whether it be the problems of drug and alcohol abuse, or the maltreatment of workers, these are issues that must be

despite the kindness of the local people, life remains incredibly hard in these communities brought to the forefront of development work. During our time in Kitwe, we made a number of visits to the various social enterprises operating in the region, and this demonstrated the power of drawing upon entrepreneurship and knowledge to directly benefit the lives of those in the wider community. A superb example of this, is the WIPHAN initiative, at the point where it provided much-needed employment opportunities to those most vulnerable in the community, namely widows and orphans. Our visit certainly showed us the importance of the work of NGOs and charities, who seek to remedy a number of the funding gaps that governments of LICs are unable to plug. Of course, there was very little that we could do ourselves in this short period time to make an impact on these communities, but this was not the premise of this expedition. Rather, the visit served very well to instil in us a number of unforgettable memories and moments that I am sure will encourage us not only now but in the future to act, where possible, on the profound disparities in standards of living across the globe, and to commit ourselves unequivocally to public service and charity both closer to home and further afar.

The High Master’s Prize

he High Master’s Prize is an annual celebration of the best of Pauline scholarship. At the end of their lower eighth year, boys are invited to research an area of their choice and produce an extended essay of up to 2500 words (or equivalent creative work) summarising their finding and conclusions. Boys are specifically directed to research areas that fit with their interests at university, but to produce work which takes them beyond the confines of the exam boards’ syllabuses. Last year, over 100 written submissions, artefacts and musical compositions were received, a record for the competition. Of these incredibly wide-ranging entries, four were chosen as winners of the High Master’s Prize: Max Hart for his work exploring how butterflies produce colour; Paul Heller (“Understanding the Terminator”), an exploration of the nature of perception; Timothy Kang (“Solving equations by origami”); and Alex Viviano for his exploration of why new sanctions on Iran should not be implemented. The submissions were all of outstanding

quality and five additional works by Daniel Atkinson, Jonathon Clark, Max Heitmann, Nicholas Heymann and Matteo Perper all received commendations. The essence of the competition, however, is not the awards to a few, but the chance for all who take part to exhibit the scholarship, determination and individuality that should be a hallmark of Pauline intellectual life. Many will have used the opportunity to test out their interest in their proposed course at university and get a real taste of independent study. Most of the boys who produced written submissions also chose to present their findings in an eight minute presentation. A St Paul’s Symposium in September allowed the boys to present their work to their peers and boys of all years. The very best of those presentations were selected for a joint symposium held with the girls’ school, with Luke Summers, Paul Heller and Daniel Atkinson being selected for the event’s finale last October. The audience were treated to a wonderful evening of entertaining talks and incisive analysis.

Sebastian Erskine

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Picking your battles

his last school year, I have spent over 500 hours rowing. This is a retrospective estimate, but, I think, a pretty good one. It averages out to roughly 15 hours per week during term time. That said, it hardly gives the full picture, failing to take into account the huge amount of time required to facilitate effective training – be it travelling, preparing food, or getting extra sleep. I can’t even begin to guess how long I’ve spent just thinking about rowing. Yet there’s nothing intrinsically admirable in spending a long time doing something, and there are many others at school who have also spent significant amounts of time on their own pursuits, least of all my own crew members who have spent just as much time training as I have, with dedication equal to or greater than my own. Ultimately I chose to spend so much time rowing because I enjoyed it. Not every minute of it, granted, but the lifestyle it brought with it, the friends I now have, and the attitude it has instilled in me, all convince me that my time spent in the boathouse has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have had. Training has been tough. Waking up at 6.45am – earlier than a normal school day – on a cold, dark Saturday morning to spend hours training in the rain is not enjoyable at the time, but one does feel an almost masochistic sense of satisfaction for having done it anyway. Donning warm clothes and walking across Hammersmith Bridge for lunch always marked the real beginning of my weekend. Over time, routine became habit, and I no longer questioned why I did it; it was obvious that this was what you had to do if you wanted to progress in the sport. People often talk of competitive sport requiring sacrifices, but they’re better described as choices. Choosing to leave a friend’s birthday party early, because of training the next day, is a decision that training is more important than a night out, and that staying out late would let down the crew. For me, the strongest friction came in trying to balance a flexible but unpredictable Young Enterprise schedule with the rigid rowing world. This was most obvious in our Tuesday after school weekly meeting, which fell at the same time as indoor ergo training. Thus, along with a dedicated teammate, I would journey to the boathouse straight after the meeting to train after everyone had left. Most Tuesdays we would not leave school until after 7pm, only to return before 7am 12 THE PAULINE 2018

People often talk of competitive sport requiring sacrifices, but they’re better described as choices the next morning for morning training; it would be dark by the time we left, and still dark the following morning. Furthermore, as we progressed through the Young Enterprise competition stages, the conflicting timetables became unresolvable, and I sadly was unable to do many of the activities I wanted to do – active selling, pitching to judges, and manning the trade stand. Perhaps the most frustrating moment was being absent when the team won the UK national final – it was during GB rowing trials for the Junior World Championships and Coupe de la Jeunesse. The autumn term of Upper Eighth was undoubtedly the toughest of my fifteen at St Paul’s. Juggling applications to university, history coursework, Grade 8 piano practice, and the gruelling winter training period, presented challenges, both mental and physical. Oxbridge school-run PPE classes inevitably clashed with training or my weekly piano lesson, and finding time to fit in sessions with university advisers was nigh on impossible: in the end I never actually had one. When, during October half-term, I was contacted by a Harvard coach about the possibility of recruitment, another stress was added to my plate – albeit one that I was thrilled to have. Events came to a head in early December, with my Oxford interview on my birthday, a SAT two days before, a coursework first draft deadline at the start of the following week, and, to top it all off, almost a full week of work to

catch up on, having been kept in Oxford for my interview longer than any other PPE applicant. In hindsight, I’d overburdened myself. Deadlines had piled up on each other such that I didn’t have time to do anything in advance; I started my Harvard application ten days before the deadline, and finished it late New Year’s Eve. The next day I had to begin writing the history coursework I was already supposed to have a first draft of. In the end both of my university applications were successful, and I completed my history coursework – although perhaps not to the standard I’d have liked. Choosing to prioritise academics and university applications almost undoubtedly hindered training, but that’s the nature of sport at school; the many pressures mean you are often fighting multiple battles, some of which you simply can’t win. School staff, in my experience, have often been incredibly understanding about this multi-faceted pressure on Paulines, and eager to help. Crucially, though, it has been the willingness of this year’s 1st VIII to prioritise rowing above other activities which has contributed heavily to our success, a conscious choice that our goals within rowing were more important. For the nine of us who won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley, setting a record time by eleven seconds, it was truly the culmination of five years of hard work. What we achieved throughout the season was incredible, and I couldn’t have asked for more. Thanks must go out to our incredible coaches Bobby Thatcher and Donald Legget, and our psychologist Stephen Feeney. It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to St Paul’s and the boathouse – I will look back on it with the fondest of memories. Cameron McInroy

THE LIBRARY

Chapel Report

‘But, what’s the Library for?’ Or… ‘But isn’t it all on the internet now?’

ay the word librarian and what image comes to mind? An attractive young woman taking off her glasses letting down her hair, an underfed brown-jacketwearing young man, or Terry Pratchet’s peanut-spitting orang-utan? Or do you see a date stamp and dust and silence? Librarianship seems to be a profession struggling to escape its image; an image that is as far away from reality as the chained libraries in medieval cathedrals. I believe librarianship is a service profession first and foremost. Our job is to provide the materials readers need or want, and to make sure they can find them easily. We provide support to those who need it and we try to encourage the serendipity of finding an interesting idea in an unexpected place. While a major part of our work is supporting the curriculum and the teaching and learning in the school we are also there for the simple pleasure of reading, or rereading, a good book. Librarians refer to materials and in the Kayton Library we really do have a whole range; from a fragment of Homer’s Odyssey on papyrus from the third century, to the most recent journal articles via our online Pages inside G K Chesterton’s notebook

service, JSTOR. If we include the Archives we hold everything from photographs to medals to sign posts. People have been predicting the death of the book for many years, and yet recent figures show paper book sales increasing against electronic books. Evidence suggests that electronic books work well for linear works (novels) but less well for textbooks. It seems that we have not yet learned to flip back and forth in the electronic media as well as we do in the physical. This is bound to change over time and libraries will be a part of that change. Predictions are notoriously difficult: there are more than the four computers in the world that Thomas Watson, the then head of IBM supposedly predicted. While I cannot guarantee that the libraries of the future will look like the libraries of today, I feel quite confident that there will still be people wanting information, education, solace, enjoyment and support; and books and articles and news will be providing it. And Libraries and Librarians will be there to help. Hilary Cummings Librarian, The Kayton Library

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he Chapel Year has been full of life, exciting change and growth. The Chapel has continued to find new ways in which to connect with the local and wider London communities. The weekly Chapel Eucharist has welcomed over 15 different local clergy to lead the service for the boys. This has been admirably supported by the Chapel Choir, directed by Mark Wilderspin and accompanied, through numerous musical genres, on the piano by Craig Greene. Profound thanks go to Craig Greene, who leaves us this summer, for his empathetic and often enlivening worship on the piano throughout his time at SPS. The bi-termly Corporate Communion, which is followed by the traditional ‘fry-up’ for all, serves to affirm the festal hospitality which is at the heart of the Eucharist. (The ‘fry-up’ was also well attended by the visiting local clergy!). The Rev’d Canon Monsignor James Cronin has once again given generously of his time to preside at the Roman Catholic Mass bi-termly. Chapel Assembly this year has focused on the themes of ‘Belonging’, ‘Identity’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Worship’. The Chaplain, Staff, guests, Old Paulines and local clergy have set about engaging the pupils to ask questions about the world in which they live in a space which is reflective, different and mobile phone free! In particular, we have considered what is at the heart of the Pauline community and what are its pressures and strengths. We have also considered how to invest in covenantal, not contractual relationships with each other and considered how Paulines can consistently show themselves to be more than just the sum of their grades. Confirmation classes moved beyond our four walls as we joined other young people from the locality at St Mary’s, Barnes. These classes were followed by an ‘open questions’ session with pupils from SPGS looking at the Christian faith and living as a Christian. Before the Confirmation Service, all pupils from both the Church of England and Catholic traditions met for a joint Service of the Word to celebrate their freely made commitment of faith and were supported by their friends and family. Then on the 31 March we joined well over 130 others from the London community for a candle-lit Easter Eve

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Chapel report continued from page 13

confirmation service at St Paul’s Cathedral. The ceremony was beautifully conducted by the Bishop of Willesden, the acting Bishop of London and well attended by pupils, parents and friends from St Paul’s and St Paul’s Girls’ School. John Colet Day this year followed the theme of ‘vocation’. The Rev’d Dr Jamie Hawkey, Dean of Clare College Cambridge, preached for the schools in the Cathedral. He challenged pupils to consider taking

It was a fittingway to remember the 500 Old Paulines and Old Coletines that never returned fromthe battlefield responsibility for living with integrity, to hone humility in the face of questions which are bigger than us, and to try learning the tenacity and confidence that comes from only a humble commitment to truth and love. In January, Old Paulines gathered, again at the Cathedral, for the Evensong sung by the schools’ choir, followed by a generously provided dinner at the Mercer’s Hall. The year also included a Choral Evensong at Worcester College, Oxford and a Remembrance service

Confirmation

n the 31 March we arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral for our Confirmation, the culmination of several Wednesday afternoons exploring the fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith. For these ‘Confirmation Classes’, we travelled to St Mary’s Church Barnes where, along with two members of the parish, we were taught by the Rev. Richard Sewell and our very own Mr Young. I think that we all reconsidered ideas and grew in our faith as a result of these meeting. Over 100 people from almost every diocese in London were there as either candidates for confirmation or baptism. The ceremony itself was beautifully conducted by the Bishop of Willesden, who gave an insightful yet humorous sermon. Even the weather smiled on us, with the clouds parting to allow a ray of sunlight through the window, prompting the Bishop to call God “a great choreographer”. This was definitely a great experience and I would profusely thank Mr Young for helping us all on this journey of faith. Jack Davies

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Remembrance Service in Founder’s Court

in Founder’s Court attended by all boys and staff from SPS and SPJ. It was a fitting way to remember the 500 Old Paulines and Old Coletines that never returned from the battlefield during the First World War. The Christian parent prayer group has once again been active in praying for the School and the wider community. Cindy Owens and Anne Saliu who organised a wonderful dinner for staff and parents to pray together. The SPSCU continues to be a place which is open to all, where boys can explore the Christian faith in a spirit of hospitality, compassion, enjoyment and respect. Josh Metcalfe has run his Upper Eighth form committee excellently, and has provided an array of fun and thoughtful Friday and

Tuesday meetings. I have also enjoyed working with the Old Paulines in preparing a vision for the future and continuing to provide the traditional Camps known as ‘House parties’. Finally, profound thanks, in closing, to the High Master and Surmaster in offering warm support through my own journey of ordination with the Church of England. It is with great excitement that I start training shortly and I would like to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my 7 years at the St Paul’s Schools and will sorely miss the stimulating and kind relationships that I have found here. I hope that the Chaplaincy, from SPJ, SPS and SPGS, enjoys growing this important and fruitful work in the years to come. TSY

UNIVERSITIES

2018: Another year of stunning Pauline Universities success across the globe

SPSCU

he Christian Union continues to be a community open to all, a place of connection and exploration of the Christian Faith and where there is a spirit of hospitality, compassion, enjoyment and respect. This school year has been truly great and we have continued with the tried and tested method of meeting every week on a Friday at 4:15pm with refreshments and a game of football afterwards. We have been fortunate to have a wide range of engaging talks at our Friday Meetings provided by a variety of OPs, members of staff (past and present) and other external speakers. Highlights for the year include a visit from the old school Chaplain the Reverend Allsop, Jarrett Wilson who works for the Leprosy Mission UK and updates from our annual football tournament. The 2017/18 academic year also saw the return of T-Bar with some incredibly silly and fun games being played each week for simple pride amongst friends and chocolate prizes.

a spirit of hospitality, compassion, enjoyment and respect As well as great work from the Committee throughout the year in organising the meetings each week, it has also been encouraging to see so many boys, from different year groups, getting involved and helping to build a strong and loving community. It is always hoped the SPSCU can take what is learned and practised here and on camp into both the wider school and community. Outside of the normal timetable the SPSCU also runs a Summer and Easter ‘house party’. We enjoyed seven great days at Edgeborough School for the Easter House Party. Here we got up to a multitude of sports and activities and learnt about some of the key teachings of Christ in a friendly, allinclusive and pressure-free environment. We are looking forward to all the future SPSCU events, including the Summer House Party, and I am sure the CU will be full of food, faith, fun and fellowship for the years to come. Josh Metcalfe

Chicago each admitted four Paulines. his year’s (2017-18 cycle) Duke, Cornell, Columbia, Yale and the University applicants have been University of Pennsylvania each admitted successful by any standards. In total a remarkable 188 offers were made to three Paulines. Brown also accepted two Paulines as did Princeton. Three Paulines Paulines by UK universities ranked in the selected highly ranked liberal arts colleges top 20 in the world. 48% of applicants to with two going to Wesleyan in Connecticut US universities were admitted by the top and the other to Davidson College in 20 global universities. (These rankings are North Carolina. California candidates were based on QS world university rankings for equally successful with Stanford, UCLA 2018). and Berkeley USC 61 Oxbridge (38 each admitting Oxford and 23 two Paulines. Cambridge) offers Students were were made, with also accepted 42 successful to Georgetown, applicants to Dartmouth, top American NYU and Johns Universities. Just University of Harvard, where 4 Paulines are Hopkins. In as impressive currently holding offers for 2018 entry addition, OP has been the Monty Evans was one of 3 from the UK Pauline record in achieving offers at other granted the prestigious Morehead-Cain extremely prestigious Russell Group four year scholarship to the University universities – for example, a record 110 of North Carolina. Meanwhile Canada Paulines have received offers from Bristol. continues to attract interest as a In addition, 66 offers were made by destination with four pupils currently Durham, 81 by UCL, 62 by Edinburgh, holding offers to study at McGill. with 50 from Warwick and 38 from The pupils deserve enormous credit Imperial. for all their hard work in achieving such Despite the growing numbers of splendid successes, but they have also outstanding international applicants, been very fortunate to have a 16-strong providing ever stiffer competition for SPS staff team of dedicated UCAS/US/ places, this was another fantastic year Global University advisers who have for St Paul’s pupils wishing to study in provided expert guidance and assistance America. Sixteen Paulines (including all along the way. Special thanks to our 3 OPs) received early offers. Thirty-six fantastic C & U officer, Sally Kirkham, current Paulines have opted to attend who has dealt so deftly with all the US universities, while six gap-year administration involved in processing a students also accepted US places bringing grand total of 209 UCAS applications. the total to 42 successful applications. Overall Harvard and the University of NJS

Yale admissions talk

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ACADEMIC LIFE

Engineering It has been an incredibly successful year for the engineering department: the department is growing rapidly and is involved in a number of exciting, large-scale projects. This section focuses on the ambitious F24 project that draws boys from different year groups together to design, produce and race an electric car.

Team Firefly at Rockingham

n my first year as Director of Engineering of Engineering to attend EngFest 2.0. We listened to fascinating talks about the future I can, without hesitation, say that it has of Engineering, and the pupils made such an certainly been busy. impression on Mischa Dohler that he later September and October saw the came to give a talk at school for Eng Soc and Greenpower F24 team race their car all the invited Amman Ahmad to do some work way to the international final, placing an experience with him. impressive 3rd out of all the new cars. But The end of the Autumn term and majority once the race at Rockingham was done, we of the Spring term were consumed by the opened up the Greenpower team to new recruits and the team grew from 15 to nearly 40 boys. Over the course of the autumn term F24 increased to include F24+ as the team designed and started building a new car. When the racing season started again in April, we had two cars ready to race. So far this season we have raced at Dunsfold Park, Rockingham Speedway and Goodwood, but the season Thomas Dhome Casanova doesn’t end until October, so on the starting grid with you’ll have to wait until the Kit Treadwell next edition of the Pauline to find out how the boys did. Or 6th Form as they tested and built their alternatively (if you are feeling impatient) products for GCSE controlled assessment. you can follow them on social media where Electronics and System & Control produced they are @fireflyf24, or watch their vlogs on an eclectic variety of products in response to YouTube on the FireflyF24 channel. the increasingly vague exam board prompts, October half term saw the Lower while in Product Design it became known as Eighth and Upper Eighth at the Institute 16 THE PAULINE 2018

the ‘year of the lights’ with 25 of the 28 pupils making some type of illumination. The spring term also saw the workshop busy once again with the Weizmann Safecracking teams as they manufactured their competition entries, and one team once again made it to the final in Israel. Meanwhile SPS Space were busy manufacturing their Balloon Sat, ready for the launch day in Belgium. The start of the Summer term saw the launch of the Engineering Professional Network, with a highly enjoyable panel talk and dinner. The GCSE projects, F24 and F24+ cars were on display, along with the interactive sand pit the Engineering staff built for Geography. The Summer term also saw the last of the Resistant Materials, Systems & Control and Electronics boys taking the GCSE that has been a staple at St Paul’s for so long. Next year promises to be even busier, with new GCSEs being examined for the first time, 2 cars becoming 3 and the Firefly team increasing in size once again, as well as more involvement from our Engineering Network with Eng Soc. I look forward to reporting the exploits of the Engineers to you once again. KNRD

A Day at Rockingham

he entire team met up at school at 6am getting ready for a busy day. Once we got there we all piled out of the van and walked to the paddock where we would help move the cars out of the transport van and into the pits ready for the race. Up on the gantry, however, it had started to rain and was getting heavier every minute, so Data and Telemetry needed to be setup quickly, which was easier said than done with a strong wind attempting to pick up our gazebo and fling it onto the racetrack. After a lot of time, some weighted blocks and a lot of rope, the data station was ready. Down below the cars were being fitted ready for scrutiny: only once driver safety had been assessed would cars be cleared to race. This involved checking the ground clearance of the cars as well as how well the seatbelt was made and the strength of the brakes. After getting through scrutiny we got FF01 out for practice

to assess how the car would run in the weather. FF02 was still having its final touches added, making sure that all the electronics worked well and the car ran smoothly. Halfway through the practice, disaster struck and FF01 axle snapped The data after driving over a large pothole. One team of the safety cars raced off to fetch it and we thought that would be it for FF01. In The repairs for FF01 involved finding a way this time FF02 had made it out but was also to turn two pieces of sheared steel pipe into struggling; it was not achieving the speed the a singular axle which would hold for the senior team had hoped and was recalled in second race and for FF02 to find a way to again. FF01 came back and we immediately tension the belt system well enough that knew that it wouldn’t race for the first race. the car could drive. Once these fixes were This dismayed many of us as we all wanted to made and multiple packets of biscuits were see the car race properly for the first time. The devoured, we were ready for the second race. decision was also made to hold FF02 back for This race was in glorious sunshine and went the first race so that the team could perform wonderfully with the cars managing to get some maintenance. across the line on the final bits of power. While the rain was coming down in sheets the cars were being repaired in the pit garage. Nick Haas

The Weizmann Competition

he Weizmann safe-cracking competition is an international physics contest based in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Every year teams from all over the world participate in this tournament, each building a safe based on the principles of physics, then taking it in turns to try and crack each other’s over the course of several rounds. Teams are ranked on their ability to crack other teams’ safes, as well as their own safe’s resistance to cracking attempts and the extent of their understanding of the physics principles behind the safe. To be able to qualify for attending this international tournament, however, teams from the UK have to compete in the national tournament first. We were one of two teams representing St Paul’s at the competition, comprised of Scott Harrington, William Isotta, Tom O’Driscoll, Navonil Neogi and myself. Our safe had two main puzzles to it. The first involved a U shaped tube, with a piston at each end. There was an offshoot pipe at one end, and the objective of this puzzle was to pour the water into this pipe (this was achieved by picking the entire safe up and tilting it). The second puzzle involved a large copper tube, and various clay balls, each containing either a non-magnetized piece of iron or a small neodymium magnet. The objective of this part was to identify which balls contained magnets, then drop them down the tube. Having settled on our design by the end of the Autumn Term, we began construction in January, working frantically during lunchtimes

and evenings to complete the safe in time for the tournament. Finally, the day before the competition, in true Pauline fashion, we worked until morning to put together the last part. We tore through the safes in the early rounds (sometimes quite literally, The safecracking team given the flimsy nature of several) – Westminster, in particular, stood no chance as we quickly managed to short-circuit their safe. Other safes required more ingenuity to solve, often incorporating advanced physics and electronics we had never before encountered, forcing us to improvise and think on our feet. At last, we returned to our safe during lunchtime. It had not fared so well: Westminster had, in retaliation, flooded our safe with water from the U tube, and despite our best efforts, the electronics proved difficult to repair. Working desperately over lunchtime and with help from the other St Paul’s team (S/O to Vinnie) we managed to get our electronics functioning once again just in time for the afternoon rounds. In the end, we came third in the national competition, earning us a place at the

international final in Tel-Aviv. Competing against teams from across the world, our team acquitted themselves admirably, with Tom pulling an all-nighter to ensure the safe functioned completely, and we finished seventh out of thirty teams. The Weizmann Safe-Cracking Competition was an excellent opportunity to gain experience in using physics principles in practical applications. Furthermore, it tested the dedication and ability of our team to commit and work together, and every member of the team proved invaluable, making a significant impact in different ways. Our thanks also go to some others who, whilst not in the team, spent a great deal of time helping on this project; working alongside these selfless and committed friends was truly inspiring. Yang Hsu THE PAULINE 2018 17

ACADEMIC LIFE CHEMISTRY

Lies in Chemistry

he life of a chemistry teacher is reliably punctuated by a short list of perennial questions from students. “What would happen if you mixed together all the chemicals in the lab?” Not much, but you’d be in trouble. “Can we blow up something today?” Usually no, but sometimes yes. And finally, one more thoughtful question: “Why do you lie to us every year in chemistry?” Now, few chemistry teachers see their profession as one with an aversion to truth telling. Certainly you could argue that there are some lies of omission, especially in the early years, but no human has a brain that can jump from the idea that atoms exist to a relativistic quantum mechanical picture of atomic structure in one step. Or even several hundred steps. And the simplifications (a preferred term to “white lies”) that are taught at first are tremendously useful. The simplifications, however, are not what students object to. They feel they have been told one wrong thing only for the lie to be exposed the following year and replaced with a wholly new idea. And quite often, they start to suspect that this new idea is just today’s new lie. Even if the lies are imagined, the feelings are not. How do you arrive in such a situation? This was the subject of the department’s inaugural Upper Eighth lecture – the first in a series that followed on from last year’s introduction of lectures as a regular part of the Lower Eighth course.

The heroes and villains of science tend to reside in the pattern-spottingstep To answer the question, consider the general pattern of science: first careful observations are made; the records are then studied for any patterns; any patterns are then woven into a theory; the new theory is then used to make predictions which are tested by experiments in which observations are made; and the cycle continues. The heroes and villains of science tend to reside in the patternspotting step where the human brain, which is innately skilled at recognising 18 THE PAULINE 2018

patterns, even where there is only randomness, can get a bit carried away. We are, as psychologist Daniel Kahneman put it, machines for jumping to conclusions. A chemistry example helps to shed some light on the lies. In the middle years of secondary school, students are introduced to the ideas of ionic and covalent bonding in which atoms gain, lose or share electrons. In doing so they form strong electrostatic attractions to other particles, and hence form chemical bonds. For most binary compounds, like NaCl or H2O, it is true that each atom loses, gains or shares electrons so that it acquires a noble gas electron configuration. In water, for example, the hydrogen ends up with the same electron configuration as its next door neighbour in the periodic table, helium, which is a noble gas. This observation about noble gas configurations is very useful: it allows us to predict that atoms of sodium will lose one electron when they react because that is what it takes for sodium to acquire a noble gas electron configuration. This is what any chemistry teacher will tell you. The alchemy of the lie comes in the next step. What do we know about noble gases? That they are extremely unreactive, that they are inherently stable. Wouldn’t it make sense then that if an atom, like sodium, were to lose one electron and in so doing acquire a noble gas electron configuration, the resulting ion would be stable too? That works nicely, and the universe now makes

more sense: we not only have a helpful predictive rule, but also a reason, a driving force, for a dangerously reactive element like sodium to react: it just wants to become stable. A year later, along comes a chemistry teacher and questions a diligent student about the formation of ionic bonds. The student does well and correctly predicts how many electrons are lost and gained in making sodium chloride. The teacher goes further and asks why sodium loses only one electron, or any electrons at all for that matter. The student then confidently orates that “It loses an electron because it wants to become stable, like a noble gas”. Even ignoring the momentarily anthropomorphised intentions of the atoms of sodium, the teacher is mildly horrified: “You think that ripping away an electron from sodium, at a cost of the injection of 500 kiloJoules per mole of sodium, is ‘stabilising’”? The “lie” is exposed and the lesson proceeds by considering the correct view – that moving electrons about has energetic costs, which are offset by the liberation of energy as new chemical bonds form. Noble gas electron configurations are a coincidence found in most but not all binary compounds. No lie was ever told, but one had to be undone all the same. The moral: pattern spotting and theorising are astounding human capabilities, but if you’re going to do science, you must keep testing your theories if you are to move closer to the truth.

Chemistry competitions 2018 has been a vintage year for SPS chemistry in national competitions. The Royal Society of Chemistry runs a nationwide, practical chemistry competition for students aged 16 and under called the Top of the Bench competition. Three years ago, SPS had never entered it before, but since then has been getting the hang of the sorts of challenges it poses and performance has been getting better year on year. In January Mr Orr’s Junior Projects Club team of Fourth formers Thomas ChappellPike and Sebastian Marsoner, Fifth former Ayham Alkhader and Sixth former Louis Odgers returned triumphant from the regional heat at City of London Freemen’s

ENGLISH

Illuminating Blake

The analyst team of l to r: Rae, Misri and Alimadadian get to grips with spectrophotometry

school in south London. Unfortunately they were just pipped to a place in the national finals by Brighton College, who were competing in a different region, but earned more points. There is a relative of the Top of the Bench competition that is open to A-level students: the RSC Analyst competition, which sets teams of three a series of tricky practical and deductive problems under time pressure in the setting of a university laboratory. SPS had never competed in the event before, but sent two teams drawn from Miss Squire’s Chemistry Projects Club to Greenwich University to literally test the waters. The team of Jamie Abbott, Cole Hunt and Shaan Kotecha made a slip in a titration calculation, which cost them valuable points; however, the team of Daniel Alimadadian, David Rae and Sahil Misri grappled successfully with an ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer at their first time of meeting to win the Greenwich heat. They had secured a place in the national finals at Bangor University in June. They did not place at the finals, but they did return with several handsome Welsh-language periodic tables. January’s RSC Olympiad paper has become a rich hunting ground for Pauline chemists in recent years as their appetite to demonstrate their prowess in problem solving has been whetted by the chance to discover some new chemistry. This year’s tally of 19 golds, 57 silvers and 36 bronze awards from 143 entries sounds

‘P

superficially similar to last year’s 111 awards from 144 entries until you realise that the distribution has shifted: one more gold and 11 more silvers this year than last. This was a truly astonishing set of results, even by SPS standards. It is sobering to remember that the number of schools in the country with enough A-level chemists

This was a truly astonishing set of results, even by SPS standards to win that many awards can be counted on one hand. The final act of the supercurricular year in chemistry was the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, a competition paper for the Lower Eighth only that was sat after exam season had ended in the summer term. Joe McGuire led the pack and earned a roentgenium award, which also granted him an invitation to a chemistry training camp at St Catharine’s in Cambridge over the summer. For the curious, roentgenium is the heaviest and rarest of the coinage metals in the periodic table – gold being the next-heaviest. After Joe came a parade of 17 golds, 23 silvers and 13 coppers (copper, of course, is the lightest of the coinage metals, and bronze isn’t an element at all, as any purist will tell you), meaning that nearly 90% of Pauline entrants earned an award. MJPS

rinting in the infernal method’ was William Blake’s description of his highly innovative technique for publishing his own poetry. It took Michael Phillips twenty-five years to work out exactly how Blake managed it, and on a January day in the historic library of Oxford’s Christ Church he gave a group of Pauline English students a masterclass on how to print plates from Songs of Innocence and of Experience using the same method, materials and infinite patience as Blake. Ink was made by mixing linseed oil with the same dry pigments that Blake used such as bone black, vermillion and gamboge. Precise replicas of Blake’s copper relief-etched plates were inked with a leather-covered dauber, a half-hour task of building up the ink in mist-thin layers on the relief surfaces. After meticulously removing any ink inadvertently flicked into the etched shallows, students were ready to sandwich their plate with sheets of handwoven paper and put it through a replica of Blake’s printing press, a process which demonstrated how with each pressing of the plate Blake produced subtly different effects. As curator of all the recent major exhibitions on Blake and author of numerous books, Michael’s knowledge of the poet and engraver is second to none and provided the backbone to a challenging seminar on issues such as Blake’s use of parody and the impact of life in Lambeth on his most celebrated poems. Our Pre-U students left Oxford fired up for continuing their study of the Songs and The Book of Urizen, some of them electing to use these texts as the basis for their extended coursework essay. We look forward to making the outing an annual event. AJB Blake Day

THE PAULINE 2018 19

ACADEMIC LIFE GEOGRAPHY

Foreign Aid Theme At Conference

7 November saw St Paul’s Geography Society hold the annual Geography Conference. This year the theme was foreign aid – a hotly debated topic at present given the on-going pledge to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on Overseas Development Assistance. We were fortunate enough to welcome a panel of four experts to talk about different facets of the issue. The first talk came from the UK Executive Director and Director of Policy and Practice at the International Rescue Committee, Mr Sanj Srikanthan. In his presentation Mr Srikanthan focused on the role of short-term emergency humanitarian relief – an issue that is of particular importance now as the total number of people displaced, both domestically and internationally, around the world has risen dramatically due to a combination of climate change and terrorist attacks. The second of the four presentations was delivered by Mr. Jonathan du Pont of the Policy Exchange Think Tank. During his talk he shed some light on an alternative,

and often less popular form of foreign aid – long-term economic development. His data revealed that in some cases aid through the development of a country’s infrastructure and economy could often be more beneficial as it seeks to solve the issues faced by the country at their source as opposed to the symptoms of the current disaster. The subject of the third talk from Ms Jameela Raymond, the UK Senior Policy Officer at Transparency International, detailed the issue of corruption of foreign aid and provided a fresh reminder that foreign aid is not as simple a topic as it may appear. She emphasised the difficulties faced by aid organisations and the government in using the money spent on foreign aid effectively as the countries most in need of aid and development assistance also tend to have higher rates of government corruption, meaning the money donated does not always reach the intended recipients. Finally, the talks were rounded off by Ms Rachel Chee, a worker on the front lines of foreign aid at Médécins sans Frontières Ms Chee spoke about seeing the impact

Augmented Reality

fter several hundred hard hours from Mr Clark in Engineering and Dr Herceg in Computing, the Augmented Reality Sandbox has finally become an actual reality. Initially devised almost two years ago when someone sent a very excited Mr Troen footage of a similar

apparatus, the St Paul’s sandbox uses technology developed by UCLA to bring physical geography to life and has been created entirely from scratch. The system uses a sensor that detects the elevation of the sand onto which a dynamic contour map, which reacts in real-time to

The SPS Geography Department’s brand new Augmented Reality Sandbox

Vibrating one’s fingers a few centimetres above terrain will create localised precipitation events Deltas – one of many fluvial geomorphological landforms which can be modelled

that foreign aid has on the people on the ground as opposed to just statistics as she shared her experiences of working in disaster zones such as a refugee camp in South Sudan as well as the Philippines supporting the reconstruction effort after Typhoon Haiyan in 2016. The evening was brought to a close as ever with a highly engaging Question and Answer session. Alongside the highly informative talks, the evening is also to be considered a charitable success with the Geography Society raising over £1,370 for Beyond Ourselves – a charity partnering with community schools in Zambia to help bring much needed education, nutrition and basic medical care to the orphans and vulnerable children in those communities. The evening would not have been possible without the hard work of the entire Geography Society Committee as well as the teachers of the Geography Department, with a special thanks going to Ms Cogbill for spearheading the event. While this year’s Conference is now over, next year’s promises to maintain the high standard set by previous Geography Societies and is any changes in elevation, is displayed. Yet the truly amazing feature of the sandbox is its ability to model water flows across any shape of topography. This is especially useful for demonstrating the principles of drainage basins and fluvial geomorphology. Variables such as gradient, drainage basin shape and drainage density all influence the rate at which precipitation reaches the main stem river, and the sandbox allows us to manipulate these characteristics and test the theories learned in class. In addition to being able to clearly demonstrate the formation of the fabled Oxbow Lake, we can also use the sandbox to create much starker features such as river terraces and incised meanders, as well as a host of glacial and arid features such as hanging valleys, zeugen and yardangs. This is due to the use of kinetic sand which provides a more cohesive medium with which to build. Think cookie dough without the cleaning up afterwards (or, sadly, the cookies). Teachers and classes from all years have sampled the sandbox, and although the numerous applications of it are still emerging, there is one thing that is certain – the remarkably consistent reaction from those that use it: “this, sir, is awesome.”

20 THE PAULINE 2018

NPT

HISTORY

Witch Hunt!

ur exploration into the field of witchcraft, which started nine months ago on a cold and eerie afternoon in Room 211, has led two of us out of London and over 595 miles to the heart of Germany. Germany has long been the home of witch-hunting, and remains home to the four biggest witch trials ever to have been witnessed, dwarfing that of Salem (the basis for Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.) Trier, the largest, saw the harrowing executions of over a thousand people. Having established our initial impressions of the subject in the first session, these ideas were immediately challenged by our first pack of reading, which not only brought to our attention the grave imbalance of convictions between men and women, but also discussed the ecclesiastical origins of the phenomenon. The church, a central pillar of medieval society, provided each community with a definition of normality and a forum for mass denunciation. Thus, any digression from this definition in ways of life or belief often led to accusations, especially at times of economic or social hardship for the masses. These periods of turbulence, such as the wars of religion or years of famine, saw marked

‘In the name of God, go’: Professor Peacey recalls Cromwell’s last words to the Rump Parliament.

increases in the number of witch trials. Communities often looked to supernatural forces to explain these difficulties, and women being more private in their actions than men at this time, were more susceptible to such accusations as fewer could affirm their virtues. It is for this reason that the subject has become a focal point for feminist discourse and writing. The feminist perspective has been subject to much change over the course of the past forty years, protofeminist historians initially interpreting the trials as evidence for specific persecution that served to reinforce the patriarchy. Later

writers, such as Lyndal Roper, have slightly amended this view, arguing instead that women were targeted not to perpetuate the patriarchy, but rather on account of their vulnerability in society thanks to an already repressive misogynistic system. These are very broad-brush summaries, the nuances of which, such as the use of demonology and psychoanalysis in explaining confessions, are outside the scope of this short article. All-in-all, it was great fun and we would highly recommend it to any aspiring future wizards (or dangerous intellectuals.) Orlando Strachan and Eddy Jones

Lower Eighth History Trip to Cambridge

t the end of June, ten Pre-U historians visited the University of Cambridge, accompanied by Mr Seel, Mr Toller and Dr Beesley. The aim of the trip was to gain a greater insight into reading History at university and experience college life first hand. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at Selwyn College, renowned for its beautiful architecture and stunning gardens, and to be able to make use of student facilities, such as the Refectory. Located right next door to the History faculty and a ten minute walk away from the centre of town, we were ideally placed to make the most of the experience. There were many highlights of the trip. Mr Seel presented the findings of his First World War archival research on his grandfather, Leonard Wilkinson, whose regiment was decimated during the German Spring Offensive of 1918. Each of the students also had the opportunity to present a twenty minute paper to the rest of the group on a topic of their choice. This took place in the inspiring setting of the Seeley Historical Library. The presentations were all interesting and informative, covering ten centuries, and

introducing us to a wide range of subjects far outside the scope of the Pre-U syllabus. I have set out the full list of titles at the end of this article. In addition, we had the opportunity to meet Dr David Smith, a renowned English Civil War expert and ex-admissions tutor at Selwyn College. Dr Smith kindly gave us an insight into the content of the undergraduate History Tripos at Cambridge, as well as the applications process, both of which were extremely useful. Finally, we enjoyed a walking tour of Cambridge at its best in the bright sunshine. Along the way, we took in various notable colleges, churches and bridges. Of particular interest was Mr Toller’s explanation of the different building styles in St Bene’t’s Church, the oldest building in Cambridge, which predates the Norman Conquest. Our trip to Cambridge was a thoroughly rewarding experience very much enjoyed by all. On behalf of the group, I would like to thank all of the St Paul’s teachers who were involved in making it happen, and of course Dr Smith for giving us so generously of his time.

Presentations were given on the following subjects: Kit Treadwell: ‘How far can we trust the early modern sagas as historical sources?’ Sam DeMarco: ‘Rediscovering Vinland’ Tom Carlton: ‘How and why did British ecclesiastical architecture change between 1120-1230?’ Mark Selby: ‘The Fourth Crusade and its consequences’ Dylan Cresswell: ‘What, if anything, was so great about Magna Carta?’ Oliver Maclean: ‘How important was the printing press in the Lutheran Reformation?’ David Zazo: ‘What can the history of chess teach us about the cultures that played it?’ Eddie Kembery: ‘What best explains the fall of the Ottoman Empire?’ Roma Rodriguez: ‘Were the causes of the 1848 revolutions primarily economic?’ Max Skoczylas: ‘Why did the Titanic sink?’ Tom Williamson: ‘The Eichmann Trial’

Dylan Cresswell

THE PAULINE 2018 21

ACADEMIC LIFE MATHS

Rising to the Challenge

his academic year has once again seen Paulines achieving tremendous success in mathematics competitions. The Senior Mathematics Challenge (SMC), held in November, was taken by 266 boys (mostly Sixth and Eighth Formers, but also including about 20 Fifth Formers) with impressive results: 117 boys received a Gold award, 78 a Silver award, and 57 secured a Bronze. The SMC is aimed at 16-19 year olds studying mathematics in the UK, and involves answering 25 multiplechoice questions (more or less in order of increasing difficulty) in 90 minutes. The first question on this year’s paper was: “One of the following numbers is prime: A 2017 – 2 B 2017 – 1 C 2017 D 2017 + 1 E 2017 +2 Which is it?” Twenty-seven SMC participants qualified for Round 1 of the British Mathematical Olympiad, including three Sixth Form boys (Maxime Vergnaud, Amartya Varma, and Alex Zeier) and two Fifth Form boys (Ayam Alkhader and Alex Kwang). Eight of these achieved a Distinction, scoring 30 or more marks out of a possible 60, and Lower Eighth Formers Navonil Neogi and Julius Zhang achieved a Bronze Medal, as did Upper Eighth Former Zacharie Sciamma. Julius and Navonil also qualified for Round 2 of this competition (as did Alex Kwang), with both of them achieving a further Distinction. Among the junior years, the Intermediate Mathematics Challenge, held in February and aimed at students in Year 11 or below, was taken by 341 pupils (including Haolin Zhao from SPJ). Sample question: “A particular integer is the smallest multiple of 72, each of

The medal count on this occasion was 171 Gold, 99 Silver, and 74 Bronze whose digits is either 0 or 1. How many digits does this integer have?” The medal count on this occasion was 171 Gold, 99 Silver, and 74 Bronze, with 34 pupils gaining entry to the follow-on Intermediate Olympiads in March. Special mention goes to Fourth Formers Johnny Cubbon, Sandro Enukidze, James Roberts and Ali Imam-Sadeque, Fifth Formers Ayham Alkhader and Alex Kwang, and Sixth Formers Amu Varma and Alexander Zeier who all gained Distinctions in their respective papers—as did Haolin Zhao from SPJ. Congratulations to everyone who participated. AAJ 22 THE PAULINE 2018

Joanna Bradley

UKMT Junior Team

t Paul’s returned to the national finals of the UKMT Team Maths Challenge once again this year. With over 1600 teams in the regional finals whittled down to just 88 for the nationals, the SPS team (consisting of Johnny Cubbon and Rehman Oomer from the Fourth form and Wentao Huang and Gabriel Treneman from the Upper Third) knew the competition would be tough, but given that they’d earned their place over stiff competition in the West London bracket they were definitely strong contenders. A shaky start was followed by an extremely impressive second half, and although they just missed out on the podium they ended up the best of the rest in an incredible 4th place. They put in a fantastic performance, and they should all be very proud. SH

European Youth Parliament

hen the St Paul’s team representing the UK at last year’s international EYP session in Norway arrived for two days team-building in the beautiful former mining town of Roros, they were greeted with heavy snow (in late April) and glimmers of the Northern Lights overhead. This year’s Lower Eighth EYP team - Tom Carlton, Tom Williamson, Vivek Thakrar, Adam Thompson, Toby Depel, Henry He, Adam Ramgoolie and Daragh O’Reilly - also found themselves stymied by the weather, as the unexpected snowfall at the beginning of March saw their regional heat rescheduled, and their original topics re-

allocated. Having originally prepared to defend a resolution on independence for Catalonia, they found themselves instead attacking a resolution on life after Brexit, and - when the team allocated to Human Rights pulled out - making a last minute leap to the defence of LGBT+ rights in the Chechen Republic. They worked brilliantly together as a team, and their knowledge, passion and enthusiasm, as well as their adaptability, obviously impressed the jury, who selected them to go forward to the UK national final at Liverpool University this September. If they are successful, they will become the seventh Pauline team to represent their country at an international EYP session, a hugely valuable opportunity at a time when the UK’s links with Europe are under pressure. St Paul’s have also been invited to the Erasmus EYP in Prague in the autumn, and we hope that Paulines will continue to involve themselves in this challenging but highly rewarding JMcL activity.

SPS Model United Nations

or one weekend in January, the Wathen Hall wore the flags of 50 different countries, and the physics labs were filled with over 200 students from 20 schools, including delegations from France and Austria, marking the school’s first ever Model United Nations Conference. The conference kicked off with a speech from Sir Peter Marshall, the first UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a Former Deputy-Sec Gen to the Commonwealth. His speech was fascinating and enjoyed by all, offering many memorable insights into the lessons to be learnt from the Second World War and into the motives that informed the UN’s creation. Throughout the weekend delegates debated in committees, each student representing the views of a particular UN member state: topics included the role of UN peace-keeping missions, what to do about climate change, refugees, how to determine state sovereignty, political instability in the Middle East, the rights of religious minorities and world-wide free speech. One committee took a step back in time to 1985 to address some of the problems of the

Adam Millard addressing the General Assembly

One committee took a step back in time to 1985 to address some of the problems of the Cold War Cold War, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and nuclear disarmament. This gave delegates the challenge of immersing themselves in the policy of their nation, as it was 33 years ago. It was something we hadn’t seen at other conferences and that we thought helped SPSMUN to stand out, adding an extra challenge to students who were willing to do even more research for the reward of placing themselves into the midst of an incredibly politically divisive and tense period of time for a weekend. We were impressed by how well students had prepared for the conference: the weekend was full of impressive debates, with chairs reporting that in their committees the vast majority of people spoke up at some point, making informed speeches and asking insightful questions. Most of all, the conference brought together a diverse group

OP Leo Warburton presenting the prizes to the best delegates in his committee, SPECPOL

of students from up and down the country and across Europe to talk about some of the most pressing issues of our time. This wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and commitment of everyone involved: the session presidents – Adam Millard, and OPs Leo Warburton and Toby Noskwith, head organiser Alex Vairon, the committee chairs from SPS and elsewhere, including SPGS, Queen’s Gate and St Coloma’s, the six teachers who gave up their weekend to supervise the event, the porters and support staff who helped it all run so smoothly, and of course Miss McLaren who was unendingly patient and without whose help we could never have put on the event. We hope that next year’s SPSMUN will be even better: if you’d like to find out more,

Adam Thompson and other prize-winners from the SOCHUM committee

check out the SPSMUN page on the school intranet for further details, and discover how you can become involved in the conference.

Adam Millard

THE PAULINE 2018 23

ACADEMIC LIFE

St Paul’s Enterprise SureLight: UK Champions

his year St Paul’s has provided more entrepreneurial events than ever before and will be expanding the opportunities for students of all years to develop their start-up, team-building and leadership skills. The Fifth Form Entrepreneurs’ Day was another resounding success and, for the very first time, the top three companies were invited to put forward a business plan over the summer holidays to double an investment figure of £150 each. Sixth formers will also be developing their own

St Paul’s students have always prided themselves on their entrepreneurial abilities business plans over the summer to compete for the much coveted Young Enterprise Company Programme which commences in September. St Paul’s students have always prided themselves on their entrepreneurial abilities 24 THE PAULINE 2018

but recently we have seen great strides made in terms of national recognition thanks to the hard work of Sam Schmitt and Edd Bailey and their respective YE teams. Building on the national championshipwinning success of VenturePad, St Paul’s produced two very strong teams in SureLight which has developed and manufactured a deceleration-detecting bicycle light and Raysafe, an EMFprotecting customisable phone cover led by Ben Rienecker and Mihaan Manji. Both teams were successful enough to make it to the notoriously competitive South London Final, but it was SureLight, overseen by the veteran adviser, Kester Khan and business guru/engineering genius, Edd Bailey, who went on to win this and then also the Pan-London Final which saw St Paul’s School representing London in the National finals for the second year running. Even more notable is that SureLight then went on to win the entire national competition, being crowned UK champions. But this was not the end of the road, five of their 12-man team competed

at the European Company of the Year Competition Finals in Belgrade, where they took home four awards, including two individual leadership awards for Ben Ray (Managing Director) and Luke Andrews

Best Overall Company – the most prestigious award for entrepreneurs at this age. (Operations Director), the customer focus award from Citi Foundation and the prize of Best Overall Company – the most prestigious award for entrepreneurs at this age. That these highly professional teams have produced such impressive products will mean that the school is now looking at ways to support both groups and their businesses next year, regardless of competition results. Any readers with a background in plastics, materials or phone or bicycle accessories willing to help develop these companies are invited to get in touch. NPT

The Halley Research Network

riday 11 May this year saw the grand launch of the Halley Research Community Network. The event consisted of many of the School’s leading science research students presenting posters and other work to a group of parents, students and Old Paulines involved in scientific research. We were also honoured for the launch to be made by Nobel Prizewinning Old Pauline physicist Professor Duncan Haldane. He shared some fond memories of his time at the School and his inspirational teachers. Having seen the amazing work on show at the event, Professor Haldane commented that it was clear that this was still the case. This event showcased the immense ability at the School and the support afforded to the students by staff. The freedom to pursue personal investigative projects in science is rare at a School and can nurture students with a passion for science and learning. The launch of this network was an extremely exciting event as it means that from this point onwards there will be a greater web of information and connections in the academic world for students to be mentored and further their projects.

I myself have worked on a project for well over a year into the colour mechanisms in butterflies. Through this I have learnt a great deal more about optics and photonics and have been able to analyse pigments with the vast resources and expertise available in the School science departments. But to imagine the depth to which I could have gone with the aid of the network makes me excited for those in the years below me. As this network grows over the coming years, it should develop into a strong support network for those budding young scientists coming up through the School. The School already has some superb resources, including Atomic Force and Scanning Electron Microscopes and Infrared Spectroscopy. These Old Pauline physicist powerful tools provide students Professor Duncan Haldane with the ability to analyse almost with his Nobel prize medal anything in great detail. In the coming years, I expect that students will continue to enjoy the freedom of individual and group research and use the opportunities available both in School and from the Halley Research Community Network. Who knows, maybe from the next generations of Paulines we will see another Nobel Prize in science. Max Hart

to imagine the depth to which I could have gone with the aid of the network makes me excited for those in the years belowme.

Fifth form Entrepreneurs’ Day

his year’s Entrepreneurs’ Day once again saw the entire Fifth form year group take on the challenge of designing a restaurant brand from scratch and delivering a business pitch to a panel of judges – all in the course of one school day. Dr Powell and Mr Troen were on hand to lend logistical and business advice to the 18 groups who were participating and were hugely impressed by the diversity of concepts that the Fifth form came up with. From Gourmet Hotdogs to Hawaiian Poké, Paulines once again demonstrated their knowledge and breadth of understanding of the food industry was second to none and the levels of research and effort which went into every single pitch was more impressive than ever this year.

Within a space of just 5 hours, every one of the 18 teams had managed to generate a fully fleshed-out business plan, complete with marketing strategy, menu offering and accounts. The best three to enter the final had meticulously researched their market and presented a variety of food genres. Among the finalists were Archie BoydTaylor, Charles Benello and James Baxter’s Sencillo which offered a right-on-trend Avocado-based restaurant, while Tom Skoulding, Oliver Slot and Sam Strachan’s Pull Up concept of exclusively pulled meats and vegetarian alternatives had mouths watering on a humid summer’s afternoon in the Pepys Theatre. Ultimately though guest judge and Director of Finance of SPS, Andy Francombe adjudicated that Bug-appétit,

an insect-based sustainable restaurant was innovative, commercially viable and well-branded in equal measure. This meant that Max Lanz, Chance Leviatin, Aidan Lim, William Lovell, Daniel Lucas, Tom Magalhaes, Joseph Middleton and Dara Mudan all receive iTunes and Amazon vouchers for their entrepreneurship skills. In a development new to 2018 and in keeping with the school’s push for more entrepreneurial activities across all years, all the students from the 3 finalist teams will be invited to participate in the 5th form Venture Capital challenge. Well done to everyone involved and a special thanks to Dr Powell for single-handedly organising such a tremendous event. Tom Skoulding captured the sentiments of the year, saying, “I enjoyed it so much, feel I have learnt so much and have also been given a taster of what starting a business might be like”. NPT THE PAULINE 2018 25

ACADEMIC LIFE

Get Creative

Each year the School runs Get Creative, a week of workshops allowing junior boys to explore creative skills not offered in the course of the mainstream curriculum. Top row: Origami. Middle row: African Drumming, Improvised Comedy, calligraphy. Bottom row: Spray paint T-shirt design.

26 THE PAULINE 2018

Thinking Queer

or a black girl walking white streets, home may be the one destination where the minority becomes the majority; for a Muslim boy in a Christian community, his family may prove a fortress from an intolerant society. All too frequently, a gay child will find that their front door bridges no such binary between the familiar and the strange, between recognition and alienation. This is because, historically, it has been the norm for gay children (raised by heterosexual parents who assume they have made a child in their image) to be denied the positive representation and open conversation they need in order to assure their mental health and happiness. When your status as a minority is not written on skin, it is doubly difficult to find others who speak your language and there is no guarantee of someone close by who is prepared to learn. Gay children should not have to work up the courage to ask for the key to a corridor otherwise kept locked, on the arrogant assumption it is no use to them (or worse, it is no good for them). Gay sexuality is not something you come to later in life or acquire through repeat exposure; puberty is universal, it happens young, and to silence its spectrum will always breed shame. I believe, as an educator, this is a conversation we are duty-bound to normalise. To mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, the School hosted Thinking Queer, a fortnight of events in October to celebrate gay culture in the UK, battle homophobia and provide support for the LGBT members of the Pauline community. The season began with a lecture from internationally renowned human rights activist Peter Tatchell on the political and social changes that gay men and women have experienced in this country over the last 50 years, as well as reflecting on the work that lies ahead. Following this, Hollywood actor Rupert Everett appeared in conversation to discuss his own contribution to the representation of gay life on stage and screen, through roles in Another Country and My Best Friend’s Wedding, as well as the forthcoming biopic of queer icon Oscar Wilde. A celebration of the music of composer Benjamin Britten, reflecting on his relationship with lover and long-term collaborator Peter Pears, was staged in the Wathen Hall, and a series of lunchtime lectures on queer artists and writers, from E. M. Forster to Francis

Bacon, were delivered by members of staff. The fortnight ended with Talking Queer, a new verbatim drama which explored the coming out process from the point of view of members of the Pauline community both past and present. I garnered over fifteen hours of original interview footage from nearly forty different speakers and set about editing this into a coherent soundtrack, which was then lip-synched by a cast of sixth form actors. This was not a scientific survey and represented nothing but an arbitrary cross-section of this institution. However, the echoes that resonated between individuals and generations (interviewees ranged from sixteen to mid-sixties) demonstrated, I think, that truths were being told; I hope that the production acted as both history lesson and rallying cry for the next generation. In total, the Thinking Queer fortnight raised just over £2000 for the Terence Higgins Trust and I must thank the many people within the Pauline community and beyond who contributed their time, energy, honesty and support.

Above: Rupert Everett with Christian Anthony

Christian Anthony

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Fourth Form Weekend Away 2017

arly on the Saturday morning of the August Bank Holiday Weekend, 155 new Fourth Formers and 22 members of the staff climbed aboard coaches leaving London, excited and apprehensive for the annual ‘Weekend Away’ trip. This excursion, designed to allow the boys to get to know a few people in the relaxed setting of an outdoor centre, Hindleap Warren, proved to be both exciting and enjoyable and resulted in many new friendships being formed. During the first day, the boys started their activities, with some groups going on the forest adventure walk, which culminated with a jump into a large mud pool, and others trying their skills with problem solving. After dinner, the evening activities included an anti-bullying workshop by a guest speaker, Rob Higgs. Using past experiences of his own, he outlined the differences between bullying and teasing, and gave the boys useful advice on how to handle unkind behaviour. On the final evening, the Surmaster came from London to speak to the boys about their careers at St Paul’s, and the values and opportunities that lay in front of them. This trip was a huge help to all the boys as the fun atmosphere, and team activities meant that boys from all different schools got to know each other. All in all, this made for an easier start to the new term, with boys able to recognise a few faces during the first days. A huge thanks must be given to all the staff who both organized this trip, but also gave up their Bank Holiday weekend to help, and to the boys who participated and embraced all the activities.

Alex Baines

Clubs A Club It was a mixed year results-wise for A Club, although few can doubt the enthusiasm and effort that was put in by all boys throughout the year. The Captain, Josh Greensmith, and the Vice-Captains, myself and Nick Heymann, had little trouble in finding eager boys for all events, whether it was Senior Iron Man or Fifth Form Kwik-Cricket. At the events themselves, we were always pleased to find other members of the club cheering on their fellow A Club members. Ending the year 5th overall, this was a position we held for the majority of the year - a solid effort, although certainly one to improve on next year. We all wish the new Captain, Isaac Williams, and the rest of his committee good luck for the next year - the fact we finished 2nd overall in the Summer Term indicates that the Club is in safe hands!

Patrick Bamforth

B Club Having finished last year in 8th, this year the only way for B Club was up. As it was unacceptable for a behemoth of the Club system such as ourselves to be in this position, (especially with other far less accomplished and nameless clubs ahead of us) Miss Pick assisted by captain Jasper and vice captain set to work. Serving Club, queen and country (in that order), an army of B Clubbers came flying out the blocks as we reached second early on. When Miss Pick sadly left the school in December, momentum was threatening to be derailed but just as the baton was about to fall, a green dragon from the skies known to you and me as Miss Cogbill, ably picked us back up again to reinvigorate the charge. With Jerusalem reverberating around Club meetings, we sped on and when we left, we found ourselves sitting pretty in 4th. All sleeping giants such as the England football team (at the time of writing, we are doing very well) have their time and for B Club the time has also come. By all measures, this year has represented vast progress but a title charge beckons. To old B Clubbers, come back refreshed and to B Clubbers new, you really are about to join something special Jasper Green

C Club The story of C Club, in many ways, mirrors that of Manchester United. The red kit, 28 THE PAULINE 2018

the dominance of past years, the multiple changes of leadership, even the fact that our current ‘manager’ has come from a rival team. And like United, C club has finally experienced a slump from greatness. But just as Mourinho is carving out a new era, so too is C. Events such as Club Science, Indoor Athletics, Junior Debating saw glimmers of the C of old. But it was ultimately Club Drama where the combined work of both senior and junior pupils produced a performance that not only echoes the professionalism of United’s Euro League victory but also showed what C ultimately represents: unity. The cohesion between those involved was so clear to see in the fast exchanges and harmonised singing and it was this that ultimately led to a production more polished than any this event has ever seen. The highlights of this year’s club competition came from those moments where different year groups united, not individual successes or opposition failures. It is these relationships between year groups that separates C from the other clubs and it is togetherness that defines our years of historic success. While this year may not have been all that we could have hoped for, under Mr Orr and Lucas the future of C Club is bright. The club will certainly reunite and I have no doubt that C will, once again, be carved into the cup. Will Allen

D Club It is perhaps telling that one of the most memorable events for D Club this year was the calamitous lifting of the trophy brought home impressively last year. Coming in as reigning champions, every effort was made to keep momentum up and look towards a consecutive victory – we even went as far as hiring a Club captain with the same name as last year’s victorious one. Dino D returned from his pilgrimage to try to spur on the youth to mighty victories; however, it took us several months to register our first victory, by which stage we were languishing behind the breakout leaders in mid-table. Our typical slow start had not stopped us last year so we remained determined to continue the fight but it was unfortunately not to be as we couldn’t quite find the breakout performance that we required to spur on the club. It has been a pleasure leading D this year, even if things did not always quite go as planned and I was left

with cuts on my face following the trophy fiasco. Hopefully those will have healed by next year to give Harry Grindle every chance to push for the 1st place that he, and all of D, deserve. #DoItForDClub Noah Roper

E Club No report at time of publication.

F Club

G Club winning the sack race at the inaugural Nearly Athletics event

G Club Engineering Challenge

The past school year has been a turbulent time. With the construction of a new teaching block, the destruction of the old one and the return of fish and chip Fridays there has often been too much change for Paulines to comprehend. Nevertheless, whilst the rest of the school was in tumult F Clubbers were reassured by the success and consistency of their club. For the third time in three years, F Club has finished in the top three. Indeed, whilst this year’s club captain may not have had the charisma of cult hero Mungo Russell nor the bellowing voice of previous skip Tom Chamieh F Clubbers did him proud like they did to his forefathers. The Autumn term had some outstanding performances: both Timothy Langer single-handedly winning Fourth Form Engineering and F Club’ s finest drama performance ever do stand out. Whilst the year progressed F Clubbers pushed on to dizzying heights including victories in cross-country, volleyball and the cultural heart of F Club - ultimate frisbee. Needless to say, F Club reached a crescendo with club singing. Harking back to the heights of 2016 F Club sung Breaking Free from High School Musical. 20 F Clubbers - of every age - stood on that stage and ‘sung’ until their hearts were content. The club may have finished 7th in that event but in the hearts and minds of the audience, F Club won - the only team to win a standing ovation. This capped off a hugely enjoyable year and one that could not have been achieved without the steadfast help of Mr Burrows. Many thanks to him and all that performed and cheered on the F Club. May these halcyon days continue. Luke Summers

G Club G Club’s drought was long and hopeless. G needed a saviour, a leader, a Messiah to come and wash away the sins of the past THE PAULINE 2018 29

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Clubs (continued) Inter-Club Championship Table 2017-18 Pos

Club President

Points

1st

Mr R Breslin

367

2nd

Mr J Blurton

315

3rd

Mr B Burrows

302

4th

Mr NTroen

285

5th

Ms S Squire

276

6th

Mr T Orr

262

7th

Ms J Pick

250

8th

Mr RTaylor

242

and break the curse in order to set G on a new destiny. This chosen one came into the picture (circa 2017 AD) screaming ancient G Club battle cries while wearing a golden cape and 2 gold chainz after bathing in litres golden syrup. This man came in the beautiful form of myself. I set out a goal last year to bring a championship to G. It wasn’t easy, but I gave everything that I had, I poured my heart, my blood, my sweat, my tears into the G. I don’t know why the man above gave me the hardest role, but I just kept that same positive attitude and instead of saying “why me?” I said this is what he wanted me to do. But of course, this was not the just doings of one great G. G Club is a club made of very unique people. Our meetings were like no other meetings. G was blessed with the gift of the Will El Hage who united the Club by flawlessly delivering tragically unfunny jokes. Our private DJ Arthur JJ provided G with magical melodies that injected the club with a hunger for glory. All of the Gs wanted the trophy and were willing to do anything and everything they had to to bring the championship home. We changed our approach, drew out a new blueprint, and were able to put together some spectacular, dare I say invincible teams. Yet the unexpected successes and persistent commitment shown by a young group of Gs are what gave us that 2018 G Club edge. We are now in the history books, and the G Club organisation shows extreme gratitude towards all of you who performed, supported or even just took part in the 30 THE PAULINE 2018

glorious G Club chant, it was a true honour to lead the extremely diverse and talented group of people that we call G Club. However, none of this could have been possible without Mr Breslin’s faith in the reviving of a once dead Club. We are extremely grateful for the example of commitment and support to every Club event that he provided that acted as the backbone of G’s success this year.

I came, I saw, and I conquered. But G’s future is bright. Winning is addictive, and now that the golden colours of G have been witnessed outside of the Milton walls, G will carry this momentum to prosperity and flourish with many more years of gold to come. G CLUB THIS IS FOR YOU!!!

Daryoush Chaharsough Shirazi

H Club What can be said about H Club this year, As joint captains, Dhruv and Matthew led without fear. With maroon in their veins and Blurts in mind, Two warriors led the young soldiers with pride. To battle H marched in athletics and drama, With Blurton in mind as their H Club father. They called him daddy and wished for his thighs, And with that kind of motivation, was it any surprise That the mighty H rallied in music and science, Not burdening the fourth form with over reliance. When we turned up, there was anticipation, As we left the other Clubs like our boi Tentacion. But let’s get back to what this is about, The typical H clubber, whether tall or stout. We are our own faith and race and creed, And we set the mould for what a Club needs. In the words of Love Island, H Club ‘cracked on’, Opponents had nothing to say but … ‘our head’s gone’. We approached this year will panache and grace, The culmination? A record-breaking second place. Like a well-oiled robotic fencer, we attack and parry, We force in rhymes and hand the baton to Jack and Harry. Dhruv Gidoomal

Avni lectures 2018

n Monday 21 May staff, parents and OPs gathered in the Physics department for the second ever Avni Lectures. Conceived by Suzanne Mackenzie and Ken Zetie and first held in 2016, the event marks the memory of Okan Avni a respected friend, colleague and teacher. Okan inspired students and staff alike with his wide range of interests and engaging lectures. It is therefore fitting that staff gather with the whole St Paul’s Community and share their own interests outside of the classroom in a series of lectures in his memory. The evening began with a wine reception and short introduction to the evening and Okan from Suzanne Mackenzie. The whole community were then treated to a choice of 16 talks ranging from particle physics to protest music but with one catch – they had to choose just four as there were four talks running in parallel in any one session. Our first session saw the 80 participants split to watch either: Stuart Block speaking of his adventures cycling through Africa to China; Graham Seel divulging the role that his Grandfather took in WWI; Katie Douglass described how to succeed with dyslexia; and Luke Warriner shared the secrets of ice cream. Session two involved a passionate Ben Burrows disseminating the important role of women in science; Tom Orr reminisced on his childhood and 5 years spent with parents

Luke Warriner sharing the secrets of ice cream

Katie Douglass describes how to succeed with dyslexia

Questioning, debate and discussion ensued fromevery talk enthusingand encouraging the audience to discover more on each topic sailing the world; Ryan Buckingham divulged the secrets of the Large Hadron Collider and possible Black Holes; Daniel Brigham challenged us to the question what are facts? After filling our boots with canapés and more wine we walked refreshed into session 3 where Suzanne Mackenzie delivered a heartfelt account of how we can navigate the vicissitudes of life and how others view us; Mike Jacoby talked of time and how we experience it; Mark Wilderspin uncovered the power of protest music; Philip Gaydon questioned what gender is and how it is discussed within sport.

Our final session of the night saw Ben Still covering the history of the Universe in LEGO; Elena Van den Berg spoke of her efforts to enthuse and stimulate in education; Gary O’Brien helped the audience develop their psyche to optimise performance in sport; Owen Toller journeyed to the famous buildings of Europe, divulging the secrets of Romanesque architecture.

Questioning, debate and discussion ensued from every talk enthusing and encouraging the audience to discover more on each topic. Staff saw their colleagues in a new light. Students saw expertise of their teachers beyond the classroom curriculum. Parents, OPs and governors were treated to a fully rounded view of academic staff.

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Staff Leavers These reports are shortened versions of speeches made to the Common Room

Richard Barker

Richard Barker has only ever made two mistakes in his long, varied and successful career. The first was to ask me to do his leaving speech, the second to describe it to me as a eulogy. I turned to Hugh Grant’s best man’s speech from the 1994 film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” as an inspiration. By 1994, Richard had already worked as a trainee Engineer with the North Western Electricity board. He had already taught at Stowe and Drayton Manor High School, and was by then in his sixth year at St Paul’s. My first port of call for material was Paul Woodruff. My predecessor did not let me down: to quote from his first line “I shall most remember Richard for his extended kindness and his humanity. Nothing was ever too much”. He continued: “Richard could argue with the doggedness of a Yorkshire terrier”. There is something of a terrier in Richard: the bright, intelligent eyes, the integrity and the loyalty to all those around him. There is also the way he wags his tail, metaphorically speaking, when he is arguing his case, the quizzical angling of his expression when he is digesting the views and arguments of others. And Richard does consider others, always in a considerate way, always in a way which emphasises “how can I help, how can I make something work?”. This has been so instrumental in many of the major roles he has taken on in this school: running games administration, running exams, running attendance. These are all roles that have needed his bright eyes, sharply focussing on the details, his technical skills to deliver in an unfussy way, but also, to return to PW’s first remark, his humanity. And as for his work in the classroom? Richard’s teaching and tutorial work always impresses as he allows the pupils to impress. He’s always claimed that he prepares his lessons walking up the stairs, which is one of the reasons he has never allowed him to teach on the ground floor. But his expertise both in mathematics and computing, about getting the best from pupils, about 32 THE PAULINE 2018

getting the best from his colleagues in the department he ran, is second to none. I returned at this moment to YouTube and Hugh Grant and something else resonated, which, if I may, I would like to conclude on. I remain in awe at someone who has given so much of his life to an institution, and remained so helpful, so admired, so simply liked as much as Richard is. Being asked to give a leaving speech is an honour, and quite something when you realise the esteem colleagues and pupils feel for one of one’s own colleagues. When I go, digging for the dirt will be easier for the poor individual in my position today. Getting the same accolades as Richard: that will be a different ball game. RJG

John Hudson

By 1978, when I was beginning my career as a teacher, John Hudson was already featuring in a TV series called ‘Kids’. By 1999, I was still a teacher and John, who had been working consistently as an actor in the meantime (playing opposite a long list of stars including Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon and Maria Aitkin to name but three) decided to train to teach but, being John, was concurrently also working on his PhD on Alan Ayckbourn – and moonlighting as an actor in the TV series ‘Peak Practice’. Teacher, actor, academic, student… Impressive. John came to St Paul’s for his PGCE teaching placements and was recruited to teach English from September 1999. He has always been hugely appreciated as a frighteningly well-read and informed teacher with a phenomenal memory and an inspiring approach, which both enthused pupils and made them feel wholly secure in their learning. He has also been an outstanding tutor, showing empathy, firm understanding and measured guidance. In his 19 years at St Paul’s as well as teaching English and drama, John has directed fifteen plays of immense variety and style: absolute highlights were an elegantly theatrical version of ‘Macbeth’, a near definitive production of Tom Stoppard’s challenging play ‘Arcadia’, a magical ‘Twelfth Night’ with live jazz band on stage, the recent sparkling production of ‘Merrily we Roll Along’ and ‘Amadeus’, a production

so important that even HRH The Prince of Wales sat in on a rehearsal …and laughed! Young actors responded to his wealth of experience, to the training and advice he gave them as aspiring performers and, remarkably, given the number of names he could have dropped to impress them or to illustrate his teaching and directing, he has always been remarkably modest. Colleagues in the English department remember with fondness his generosity with his time and expertise, on one occasion reading Sylvia Plath’s ‘Daddy’ to a Lower Eighth set, I quote, ‘in a way that taught them more about the poem in 2 minutes than they’d learned from me in a whole term. That’s probably my core memory of him - I can hear him reading it now.’ As a colleague John has always been collegiate, frequently in Common Room, always open to conversation on a wide range of subjects and a wise and sympathetic ear to older and newer colleagues alike. John was Universities’ adviser for UK universities and all overseas universities excluding the USA. He ran debating here for six years securing two significant victories– two separate teams trained by him won the ESU International Mace, a first for St Paul’s and the double a rare achievement not only by Pauline standards. And so, John leaves St Paul’s, but don’t mention retirement! John is looking forward to three new careers: returning to acting, continuing to write musicals and, finally, singing what he calls his ‘little’ songs, which for those of us who have heard him perform are anything but little: witty, touching, powerful, personal, edgy, beautifully crafted… All John’s world is a stage and in his time he has played and will continue to play many parts. John recently said: ‘St Paul’s is my job, not my life’ and I genuinely admire the way he has managed both an unquestionable commitment to his work, while cultivating such a varied and fulfilling life outside. EJTW

Matthew McCullagh

The other day I was reflecting that we in the classical world are notorious for a certain pessimistic view of life. Nothing will last, all is flux; if things are

going well, we are on the look out for things going badly. This is written into the Greek language with the binary particle words MEN and DE, “on the one hand”, “on the other hand”. So if in 2010 (MEN ) we were greatly fortunate to secure Matthew’s services, we knew (DE) that it couldn’t last and that some day he would wish to leave us for pastures new. Matthew, if anyone, is a high end academic, a former Fellow of Fitzwilliam, indeed a man writing a book about the Greek Aorist, and he could have been forgiven, when he arrived, for wondering, like Odysseus, amongst what breed he had fallen, but in next to no time he had emerged as a fully fledged school teacher, with a trademark questing and imaginative spirit. Not just Quizlet and Kahoot, not even just his game “ stultus es!” where boys are licensed to interrupt if they suspect a deliberate mistake; no, we’ve had some of the direct method too and thanks to him many junior Paulines now actually speak a bit of Latin thanks to Matthew’s pioneering work with the Youtube channel Magister Craft. But he is not just the most generous of co-workers in our classical vineyard, and a thoughtful departmental colleague, he has been a wonderful organiser of the Classical Society and Dinner; he’s done Outreach, he’s done Judo, he’s been the PGCE mentor, and he’s run a course on British sitcom. Matthew has many friends in all areas of the Common Room ( it’s actually rather difficult obtaining an audience of him at break time), and everyone has received with pleasure the news of his promotion to Head of Classics at SPGS . Not everybody received it at the time of course, Matthew being the last man to blow his own trumpet, but for many weeks I had people coming up to me and saying “I’ve just heard Matthew’s leaving- isn’t it terrible?” As to SPGS I remind him that North of the River in Brook Green he will be under the tutelary gaze of my wife who is in the MFL department and who has already earmarked him for a role in her French play. She says ”the part I have in mind for Matthew is that of a dashing officer, the moustache-twirling sort, with a knowledge of, and interest in, the Parisian night scene.” It is obviously the same man, though, going back to British comedy I prefer to describe him by means of that

simple life-affirming phrase of Harry Enfield’s: “ A bloody nice bloke.” Matthew, as you head north to take up your new duties, please accept this gift from all of us, thanks for everything you have done, buy yourself a barge and “This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.” SAM

Craig Greene

Craig joined us in September 2013 from St Catherine’s, Bramley, where he had been a Music Graduate Assistant. Although he was very early on in his teaching career, it was his abilities as an accompanist that sealed the deal on him getting the job. We had set candidates a Mozart violin sonata movement to rehearse with one of the boys, the only catch being that they were reading the music at sight. Of all of the candidates, Craig seemed the most natural in this situation and, indeed, didn’t even seem to be reading the music half the time, so good was his watching and communication with the violinist. I asked him after the audition, “Had you played that before?”. He replied, “No, but I did hear it once”. Once Craig had arrived, he quickly established himself as a popular and thorough teacher across all year groups. But the legend of his piano playing spread even more quickly, especially the nonchalant way that Craig would rattle off pretty much any piece the boys named by ear, play it perfectly and then shrug and say, “or something like that”. In his time at St Paul’s, Craig has worked with the Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra. Highlights have included Beethoven Symphonies No. 5 and 7, Brahms’s Academic Festival Overture (which he conducted at the first Summer Festival) and, more recently, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 with the Symphony Orchestra in his last Summer Concert. This last concert drew a very warm valedictory ovation from the audience and the boys really enjoyed playing this music under him. Less glamorously, he has played hymns for Fourth and Fifth chapel and accompanied the choir in many Eucharists and rehearsals, often bolstered by his first or second Diet Coke of the day.

Craig is a very humble and unassuming chap, but it is clear to all those who have worked with him that he has an incredible talent and has a very distinguished career ahead of him. It is therefore no surprise that he is heading off to Stowe to be Director of Music from September, where he will be swapping the building site, noise and concrete edifices of St Paul’s for the landscaped gardens and mile long drive of the former seat of the Duke of Buckingham. It has been an immense privilege to work with Craig for the past five years and on behalf of us all I’d like to thank him for all he has done at St Paul’s and to pass on our very best wishes to Craig and Louise for their future in Stowe. MDW

Ed Flute

To consider whether Napoleon was a great general, it helps to have an understanding of the attributes a great general might possess. It follows that an appreciation of military manoeuvers and logistical concerns would also be helpful. So it was then, that I spent a long summer afternoon preparing for the new Napoleon PreU course, desperately trying to focus as my husband (REME, ret’d; RMAS Queen’s Medal winner) moved cutlery and condiments around the dining table and used terms that I barely understood and had little chance of remembering. The expertise of a professional logistician having made little impact, there were two courses of action available: give the boys maps and hope they don’t ask too many questions (rarely a successful strategy at SPS) or turn to the infantry for help. Enter Ed Flute (Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, ret’d; winner of RMAS Sword of Honour). Ed served with distinction: in Iraq during the 2nd Gulf war and during several tours in Afghanistan including a 9 month tour in 2009, the bloodiest year of the conflict. During that time he worked with three separate Brigade Headquarters including 3 Commando Brigade and with two mechanised brigades. He arrived at St Paul’s with an impeccable military record, an MA in War Studies from KCL and a PGCE. Deficient as my knowledge of strategy and tactics may be, THE PAULINE 2018 33

ACADEMIC LIFE

Staff Leavers I knew enough to recognise that the perfect lesson was only an email away. And so it was. When not teaching my lessons for me, Ed organised the school site. As Chief Operating Officer during the decant and move into the new GTB (phase 1), Ed was busy. The introduction of new legislation, particularly the recent Data Protection Act (2018), kept Ed busier still. Grappling with the impact of changes that would frustrate the most patient of saints, Ed was never flustered, harried or short-tempered. He is the calmest of individuals, unflappable and the embodiment of cool. When asked what other transferable skills he brought to

If you ask Ed what his proudest achievement has been duringhis time at SPS, he will tell you that it is the placement of the sun-dial. SPS from his time in the army, he was most insistent that the main one was being able to eat 12 pickled eggs faster than anyone else. Cool Hand Luke. Despite the many and varied demands on his time, Ed has been a visible presence around the school. He enjoys talking to staff and pupils and whilst he pretends that he is ‘just chatting’, we all know that he is troubleshooting, heading off problems before they arise. Without him, we would have moved into the GTB and our documentation would be in order, but it wouldn’t have happened so smoothly or with such efficiency. If you ask Ed what his proudest achievement has been during his time at SPS, he will tell you that it is the placement of the sun-dial. With his customary attention to detail, he made the effort to learn about the sighting of Equatorial Armillary sundials, recognising that just plonking it down on the lawn would almost certainly result in someone from the Pauline community writing to point out its deficiencies. So diligently did he do his research and so meticulously did he align the sun-dial that when a member of the maths department emailed to say that it was a minute out, Ed felt justified in pointing out that the colleague in question had failed to consider the aspect of Uranus. Ed would like to be remembered as a ‘relatively decent bloke’. Well, you’re not, Ed. You’re a thoroughly decent bloke and you will be missed. SMac 34 THE PAULINE 2018

Rebecca Burridge

Becca joined us in the Geography department in September 2016, returning to the UK after 2 years at Harrow International school in China. Prior to this she spent 3 years at Highgate, having studied Geography at Edinburgh University. During her interview, despite a patchy connection via Skype, she clearly impressed us all with her ideas and her passion for teaching. Within the department she quickly made her mark, developing lots of resources for the new GCSE and A-level, and providing a forensic focus on the detail of mark schemes and specification. In her second year she took on responsibility for coordinating the GCSE course and she has also led three successful field trips involving hundreds of pupils. In addition she also led an overseas trip to the Azores for the lower school, landing on the edge of a hurricane in a small plane. This was an even more challenging arrival than it sounds, especially

Becca in many ways is never happier than in the outdoors knowing as she did that the plane only carried enough fuel to land in the Azores. Outside of the department, Becca quickly threw herself into lots of activities in the school which took her beyond the classroom. She joined the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze team in her first year and in her second year took on the expedition component of DofE Gold. Becca in many ways is never happier than in the outdoors - in her first year in particular there was a hardly a weekend or day in the holidays when she wasn’t away, taking expeditions for the British Exploring Society or indulging in her love of kite surfing. In fact the outdoors still beckons her and she is currently busy on the hunt for a camper van before she heads off up to Scotland and the outer corners of the UK. Becca leaves to become Head of the Geography Department at Bancrofts in Woodford. APDI

Tim Young

For someone who has only been at the senior school for one year, (although of course at St Paul’s Juniors since 2011) Tim has certainly made his mark and has had a tremendous impact on many people. As Tim is involved with so many aspects of school life, I spoke to a few people in the hope of gaining some golden nuggets. The first stop was the Theology and Philosophy department, when Phil Gaydon was only too willing to dish some dirt. Now we all know about Tim’s sporting prowess and his just ever so slightly competitive side, and apparently every week in the dept meetings, Tim has been keen to introduce the idea of a departmental ping ping competition. I think Rufus is still mulling that one over. I then chatted to Luke Warriner and James Blurton as Tim coached both the U15C football and U14C rugby teams. As well as saying what a fantastic coach Tim was, it was James who mentioned that every time he did his Friday check to see that the team notices were up, alongside the names, Tim would always some fun photos of the boys in action, which meant a great deal to them. For me, it is this personal touch that is so special about Tim and why I know he’ll be an outstanding vicar. My personal experience this year has been supporting Tim with his Chapel services. A compulsory religious service at 8:30am in the morning with adolescent boys is perhaps one of the hardest congregations that Tim will ever face, but because of the time, energy and thought Tim gave to services, the boys were all completely engaged and the warm round of applause that the boys gave to him on Wednesday morning was testimony to how much affection and respect they have for him. Tim has made a very brave and big decision to follow his faith and start the five year journey of ordination with his trainee parish in Hastings where he will be serving in a very diverse community and also be nearer to his family. St Paul’s loss is definitely the gain of

Staff Joiners Hastings and the Church. I have worked with Tim for six years and I have many wonderful and fun memories. I know that many of colleagues will echo my feelings that when the heat is turned up, you are definitely one of the people that I would want in my lifeboat. Not only do you sense when people are overwhelmed and offer much needed practical support, but you are also a huge source of emotional support. You care so much about people and relationships and for me this is your greatest strength. So thank you from all colleagues at St Paul’s, please take with you our love and best wishes, and keep in touch, because we want that picture of you in a dog collar on the Common Room noticeboard.

Nicola Good

Our first encounter with Nicola was a Skype interview. It was Spring 2017 and we were looking for someone to cover Eliza James’s lessons while she went

on maternity leave. The connection was incredibly bad and as Nicola’s face leapt around the screen, we were only able to make out every other word she said, but we were so impressed by what we did hear that we snapped her up and she has been absolutely excellent since joining us. Moving to London took a bit of getting used to for her, as she had spent the previous 17 years living on Jersey: a laidback, slow-paced place with low tax, low crime and early ends to the working day. What could possibly make you want to move to the hustle and bustle of West London, you might ask? Well, there was little German teaching on offer in Jersey and Nicola was keen to get a foothold back on the mainland, and if London life took a bit of getting used to, she certainly fitted in at St Paul’s unbelievably quickly. Somehow, she soon seemed to know everyone at the school, and could be found chatting away to a wide range of colleagues as if they were old acquaintances. She is an enormously friendly person, and we in the languages department took to her very

quickly and loved having her around. In a short space of time, she has achieved a great deal in the classroom. She is full of ideas and energy and has brought a wealth of teaching experience to the department. She wowed the chair of governors when he came and observed her, and several pupils have expressed their disappointment at her impending departure; they and we were delighted to be able to keep her a term longer than we expected. She has been a huge help, mucking in with an enormous range of things in a short space of time: helping with Eurosoc, taking boys to language conferences, organising an ultimately unsuccessful German debate against Latymer (I know we shouldn’t lose to Latymer, but there was some very dodgy umpiring) and spending her October half term in Berlin with the 6th Form. She has been an absolute rock and we would dearly love to have been able to keep her on – she will be a great loss and it feels like she has been with us far longer than four terms. She has been a wonderful colleague and we all wish her the very best for her next step. DEBP

CHAPLAIN Rev’d Matthew Knox

Matthew has been appointed joint Chaplain across St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Girls’ School and joins us after 7.5 years as Priest-in Charge of the Parishes of Tweedmouth, Spittal and Scremerston. He originally completed a BSc Physics at the University of Manchester and worked both as a Business Analyst and a Teacher. Matthew completed Theological training (BA) at the University of Durham in 2007. He will work at SPS for a set three days a week and at SPGS for the other two.

CLASSICS Sarah BurgesWatson

Sarah completed a maternity cover at St Paul’s from Nov 2016 to July 2017 and we are delighted to welcome her back. In the meantime, she taught as a temporary Teacher of Classics at UCS until Feb 2018. Sarah studied Classics at Cambridge, followed by an MA in Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and completed her PHD at Harvard in Classical Philology in 2009.

ECONOMICS Becky McGreevy

Becky joins us from Oasis Academy Shirley Park where she has been Deputy Head of Sixth Form (from Nov 2017) and Teacher of Business and Economics (from 2016). Prior to this she worked as a Process Engineer at Proctor and Gamble. Becky has an MA in Economics from Edinburgh University gained in 2014.

ENGLISH Hannah Warner

Hannah completed her MA Studies in Poetry at the University of Durham in 2011 following her BA Hons English from Clare College, Cambridge in 2009. Since September 2014 she has taught English at THE PAULINE 2018 35

OUTREACH Anna Freud

ACADEMIC LIFE

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Staff Joiners The Perse School, Cambridge, where she was also the Head of Oxbridge Admissions (Arts) and more recently also held the post of Senior Tutor. Formerly, Hannah taught English at Cranleigh School for two years.

HISTORY/ POLITICS Nathaniel Weisberg

Nathaniel begins his teaching career at St Paul’s straight from Cambridge University where he studied History at Robinson College, and specialised in global and international history.

LEARNING SUPPORT part-time Caroline Nolan

Caroline joins us after a total of six years as a Learning Support Teacher at Oundle School. She originally gained her degree in Political Theory and Institutions at Liverpool University and worked in various teaching roles before retraining in SEN in 2008/9.

MATHEMATICS Keri Cloete

Keri holds a BSocSci (Hons) Economics and Environmental Sciences from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She moved to the UK in 2012, gained her PGCE (TeachFirst) in 2014 at IoE, followed by a MA in Educational Leadership at UCL in 2016. Keri has worked at Meridian High School, Croydon since 2013, most recently as Head of Mathematics.

LANGUAGE ASSISTANTS

FRENCH Laura Urbiniak

FRENCH Justine Luna

GERMAN Lina Messaoudi

ITALIAN Katia Scicchitano

SPANISH Blanca Alonso Mateo

MUSIC William Fairbairn

William joins us from Truro Cathedral where he has been Organ Scholar for the last year. The year prior to this he was a Graduate Music Assistant at Sevenoaks School, which he combined with being Organ Scholar at All Saints’ Church, Fulham. William graduated from St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge with a BA Music in 2016. 36 THE PAULINE 2018

he Anna Freud Centre is a children’s mental health charity focused on both research and treatment as well as creating awareness. They do this by teaming up with leaders in all fields of mental health including neuroscience, social care and education to work together to improve understanding and practice. Their current aim is to “to transform current mental health provision in the UK by improving the quality, accessibility and effectiveness of treatment.” Last year I got involved in the centre after Mr Madden asked for volunteers to help design an app where people can receive advice. I realised how prevalent mental health issues are and how it affects everything we do through our emotions, our feelings and our thinking. I got very interested in the work that the Anna Freud charity is doing and wanted to work for their cause. I work there with a group of 14-25-year-olds on a wide range of activities such as creating services and projects at the Centre or raising awareness by talking and attending events as well as helping different organisations with research and co-facilitating workshops. One of the projects I am involved in is helping create videos and material for secondary school children to

COLET FELLOWS

Marilyn Gund

Iain Espey

encourage them to talk about their feelings and what to do if they are feeling down. One of the ideas behind this project is to try and reduce stigma around mental health. I love volunteering there as I get to meet new people from a range of backgrounds and jobs and get introduced to a range of opinions as well as ideas. Additionally, I get to participate in new projects and events that are going to affect society positively by helping young people. This feeling of contributing to making people’s lives better keeps me motivated. Arnav Aggarwal

Clarkson Award

have been working with two children’s music charities since 2015: Barış İçin Müzik (“BIM”) in Istanbul, and Nucleo Project (“Nucleo”) in London. BIM is located in Edirnekapi, a gritty, densely-populated working-class Istanbul neighbourhood made up of a mix of boys and girls with origins from Turkey’s main divides: ethnic (Turkish/Kurdish), religious (Sunni/Alevi), political (devout/secular). The school gives free daily music education to some 500 school-aged children. It operates daily, offering instrumental lessons, ensembles and orchestra experiences. Since it was started in 2005 by a philanthropic couple who still drive the programme, Yeliz and Mehmet Baki, BIM has transformed the life trajectory of many street kids and nurtured some brilliant musicians. It has also brought together, through western music, children from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, and succeeded in creating a welcoming and

BIMhas transformed the life trajectory of many street kids and nurtured some brilliant musicians harmonious community that contributes to the social inclusion of vulnerable youth. Nucleo was founded by Lucy Maguire in 2013. It offers free after school music lessons to about 250 children from mixed background in the Dalgarno neighbourhood of North Kensington in London. Open daily, children are offered instrumental lessons, singing lessons and orchestral education. It enables a very high level of achievement, with several students recently admitted to the National Children’s Orchestra. My involvement with both charities has been mainly coaching the woodwind groups, and the woodwind sections of the orchestras – 2 hours per week during the term time at Nucleo, and week-long stays at BIM during Easter and Summer holidays. This has been a truly fulfilling experience for me - both organizations have created an inclusive and joyful community attuned to the pursuit of musical excellence. A key output seems to be the advancement of social inclusion and social change. It is exciting to be part of this process.

The St Paul’s jazz concert at Kitson Hall: Mr Wilderspin flanked by 4 students and 2 Directors from BIM-Istanbul, as well as the Musical Director of Nucleo Lucy Maguire, and Ilyas and Ismail Mardin

Over the last 3 years it became increasingly clear to me that there would be great merit in building a cross-border bridge between these two charities – which feel to be twin siblings operating in two very different countries. Thanks to the Clarkson Award, this dream has become reality. With these funds, complemented by additional contributions from individuals in both Istanbul and London, I was able to set up an exchange program between BIM and Nucleo. The Musical Director of Nucleo has been on two weeklong residential teaching visits to BIM, focused on training the older students at BIM and strengthening their instrumental teaching skills, particularly in strings. In February, 6 Nucleo students had a week-long trip to BIM, which turned out to be a unique experience of cultural exchange through music for children from both sides. In March, four “young leaders” from BIM came to London for an intensive training week at Nucleo, observing the teaching and assisting in the instrumental and orchestral sessions. On 18th March,

they attended the St. Paul’s Kitson Hall jazz concert (see photo at top, with Mr Wilderspin, at the concert). This series of exchanges have evidently made a noticeable positive impact on BIM’s teaching capacity, as expressed by both the school’s founders and the students (see below their certificate of thanks); It also looks to have been the start of an enriching experience for Nucleo. For my part, I have found a new activity in fundraising for the expanding exchange programme between BIM and Nucleo.

Translation: “Dear İlyas Mardin – As the Barışİçin-Müzik family, we wish to thank you for your guidance/support in forming an exchange programme between ourselves and Nucleo Project. We feel indescribable joy and pride at being able – together with friends - to remove obstacles in front of the dreams of children.

THE PAULINE 2018 37

OUTREACH

Philosophy for children

hilosophy for Children (P4C) is a teaching methodology developed by SAPERE for promoting and developing higher order thinking, questioning, speaking and listening skills in primary school children. For the last two years, our Theology and Philosophy department has organised P4C training for some Lower Eighth pupils studying for the Philosophy Pre-U. Pupils have then delivered teaching sessions - to rave reviews - initially to classes at SPJ, and later to classes at local primary schools as part of our Outreach programme. These arrangements are, of course, beneficial to the primary-age children, who respond very well to being taught by senior Paulines, but it is also very beneficial to the senior boys themselves, who gain invaluable teaching experience and training, which also improves their abilities as learners, and a very impressive sentence or two on their UCAS application forms. The boys involved this year are Francesco Bailo, Leon Grahlmann-Rolfe, Theo Moreland, Robert Norris and David Zazo.

The difficult scenarios that they gave us made me think about situations I may find myself in andhowto solve them. Nicolas Behroun Some of the decisions we hadtomake couldbe life changingfor other people.

TomBonomini

The Chari-Tea

“O

n the Tuesday 13 of March, the Lower Eighth Form hosted a community tea with more than 30 of the local elderly community during their general studies period – helping to cement the core values that embody being charitable – mutual respect, kindness, friendship as well as gratitude and service. The Pauls4All Committee got to the scene an hour before the event, ready to serve. After a brief introduction

38 THE PAULINE 2018

by ourselves, and with tea, cake and biscuits on hand – the committee members made sure the vistors were settled in and comfortable – awaiting the swarm of eager, excited and seemingly surprised boys! After a brief talk by Mr Young on ‘being charity’, helping the community, and how every one of us is able to help in making the community a better place – the entire Lower Eighth Year were invited in groups into the dining hall, where groups of 4 or 5 boys interacted and had a chat with the elderly community, sharing stories and values. The level of engagement by the boys was truly impressive – demonstrating sufficient maturity, respect, as well as inquisitiveness, in order to get the most out of the occasion. The way in which the values of charity were immediately put into action, meant that all the boys embodied the ideals of ‘giving’ in real life. In our fastpaced and modern life, it can be too easy to forget to embody charitable values whilst going about our daily routine, as well as to think of charity in a purely monetary context. Charity can be thought to be a zero-sum game – and as demonstrated in last week’s tea – that seems not at all to be the case. As well as sharing cake and tea, the Lower Eighth also learnt to share values, hopefully taking away a new

perspective on helping the community in a selfless manner – not just so that we can learn more about others, but more about ourselves. It cemented the principles that in fact, interacting and sharing values

Insteadof simply‘donating’ money, the boys were able to put touse their own time as well as thoughtfulness andcare, in order toembody the true values of charity. with the local community and others – no matter their background, faith or religion – can be extremely beneficial to society. Instead of simply ‘donating’ money, the boys were able to put to use their own time as well as thoughtfulness and care, in order to embody the true values of charity. Many sincere thanks to Mr. Young for creating the basis for such an inspiring and truly charitable event, and thanks also to Miss Mee for helping with organisation on the day.” Kabir Bawa

“S

erving our visitors was a pleasure, but the real rewards came from just talking to them - or, more importantly, listening. Once the awkwardness of unknown people had been broken by refills of tea and cucumber sandwiches, two ladies at my table told me their stories, and talked about where they look for comfort and inspiration in life: for one, from the Lake District, this came from the church and her grandchildren, for

Charity Run

On Thursday 29 April, a group of ten Pauline’s and teachers congregated outside the boathouse, all dressed to follow the theme of “60s gym”, Max Heitmann being the most committed in a full tracksuit and wig. We embarked on our 12km venture with enthusiasm at a bright and early 9.30am in perfect conditions, blue sky and sun. The first part involved jogging up to Barnes Bridge, crossing, and returning back down the opposite side. Having completed this, we were all feeling relatively confident, buoyed by the rousing words fed to us by the Captain of School, Jonny Routley. We ran on down to Putney Bridge, passing our fellow Paulines who were marching down the river themselves, generally

the other, an Iranian Jewish woman with a playful, benevolent smile, it came from mindfulness and friendship. The afternoon was an important reminder that the values and privileges we take as given are very different to those of different generations and backgrounds, and that we can learn just as much from our elders as our peers. Thanks to Mr Young for organising a truly challenging, yet truly enlightening experience.” Alex Hayden Williams

receiving encouraging words from them that spurred us on further. From Putney Bridge onwards, the group began to splinter, Mr Young and Captain Routley bringing up the rear, deep in meaningful, intellectual discussion, just preceding JJ who was spluttering his way down the riverside path with only the wise words of Jonny filling his head, cut adrift from the main group up ahead. Finally, we all made it back to the boat house, exhausted, apart from Mr Milne who seemed to be up for doing it all over again. We were greeted by a burger and an assortment of cakes back at School which rounded off a hugely successful and satisfying run. A massive thanks must go to Mr Young and Mr Milne for organising the run and also to everyone who donated money to the ‘Beyond Ourselves’ charity. Arthur Jenkins-Jones

“I

’d like to thank you for last week’s opportunity to, in a sense, open our eyes beyond our youthful and privileged experiences of life. It certainly proved hard-hitting yet immensely rewarding to chat with Juliet, a lovely lady who has also developed Alzheimers. I would like to ask if there are any further opportunities to volunteer and engage with older adults on a regular basis?” Ariff Castronvo

Pauls4All

THE PAULINE 2018 39

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auls4All, the school’s charity committee, has been more active than ever this year, raising over £50,000 for our four charities across mufti days, quiz nights and talent shows. Our local and national charities, Real Action and CALM, were selected at the start of the year by a wholeschool vote, involving both pupils and staff. Real Action is an educational charity founded in 1999 - they provide ‘Butterfly Classes’ to children in West London that aim to improve students’ reading age by a year in just twenty classroom hours. CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) is a nationwide mental health charity that focuses on preventing male suicide. We also continue to support our international link school charities, Senahasa Trust (Sri Lanka) and Beyond Ourselves (Zambia). The Pauls4All committee - Alex HaydnWilliams, Benjamin Ballard, Darius Booth, Nader Farhad, Kabir Bawa, Lucas Quinn, Lucas Tanner, Matvei Silkin, Orlando Strachan, Rohan Chadha, Sacha Mattey and Tom O’Driscoll – have coordinated fundraising efforts, running events themselves on an almost weekly basis with funds raised split between the school charities. From lucky dips and bake sales in Founder’s Court to regular mufti days across the entire school, the smaller events provided regular income and visibility for our charities – raising awareness for CALM

OUTREACH

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Pauls4All (continued)

was equally as important as fundraising for the charity. Larger, after-school events provided another source of fundraising: a parents’ quiz night in the dining hall, raised over £1,000 whilst also featuring an awareness-raising speech from CALM’s James Baker.

SPS Academic Partnerships

School Links Trips to Sri Lanka & Zambia

he Composition Course in Partnership with the Royal College of Music takes place in the Spring Term over four weekends. Musicians from the state schools, academies and foundation schools Pauls4All Assassins come together to learn how to compose a piece of music. The pieces are performed by musicians from the Royal College of Music over the four weeks allowing the young students to improve on their pieces. Chosen pieces are performed at The Royal College of Music in a special concert. We were very excited to have our first graphic score on the course since it started, as well as a bit of drama when one of our students could not get to the concert due to the heavy snow.

s part of the St Paul’s school links initiative, in July 2017, ten Paulines (five 6th form students and five Lower Eighth form students) visited southern Sri Lanka, near Galle, to teach English and sport to 5-10 year olds in four different local schools. The aim of the trip was to expose the children in the schools to native English speakers so they could gain a better understanding of spoken English, which differs from their usual written English school syllabus. Shaan Kotecha writes: “We volunteered in the schools for two weeks, splitting into groups of threes and fours to teach around three to four classes per day at different schools. We were lucky to be assisted by four gap year students and other volunteers from the Senhasa trust, the charity we were in partnership with in our Schools’ Links program. We focused on basic spoken English such as colours, sports and even conversational statements. We also enjoyed reading to the students from our favourite childhood books and singing songs. We intended to make our teaching as interactive as possible, thus incorporating

…in the secondweek we ran a sports campfor the children, where we coached both the boys andthe girls in football andcricket. games such as Bulldog. Additionally in the second week we ran a sports camp for the children, where we coached both the boys and the girls in football and cricket. This was especially engaging for the girls who had limited 40 THE PAULINE 2018

SPS and RCM Composition Course

Magic Material Boarding School

n the first week of July 16 Year Ten students from state schools joined St Paul’s science staff, academics and

opportunity to enjoy these sports prior to our coaching. As it turned out, they were a lot better at cricket than we were. To have a lasting effect on the schools, we made voice recordings of spoken English from their textbooks on iPads, and donated these iPads to the schools to use as auditory education tools. We also raised over £6,000 collectively for charity and donated cricket and football equipment. Overall, it was an incredible trip and experience. I personally learnt a lot about education and teaching in Sri Lanka, and I hope that we have inspired the students

Determining the strength of an ox’s heart

industry professionals on a three day residential course on materials science. From determining the strength of an ox’s heart to making super composite materials, the students attended workshops and lectures that extended them well beyond the GCSE syllabus. Everyone had a fantastic time working in groups and challenging each other in competition before being treated to BBQ, pizza and liquid nitrogen ice cream. We would like to thank Diane Aston from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) and James Perkins from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School for their efforts in organising the school. We would also like to thank Rolls-Royce and the Armorers and Braziers, and the industry and academic speakers who gave their time to talk to the students.

to carry on learning English outside of their curriculum.” This summer, students are travelling to Zambia for a similar trip with Beyond Ourselves. St Paul’s hopes to build longterm sustainable relationships with the two charities. Anyone who is interested in this should get in touch with Mr Taylor, the new Head of Charities and Links School.

Royal Parks Half Marathon

n a bright Sunday morning in October, seven members of SPS staff lined up on the start line of the Royal Parks Half Marathon ready to race 13.1 miles past some of London’s most iconic landmarks. The elite team of runners: Phil Joy, Sophie Rees, Jon Bennett, Camille Shammas, Will Kricka, Martyn Powell and myself had been recruited by Lynne Montgomery (Biology technician extraordinaire) to represent the school in support of the Little Jimmy Brighter Future Fund, in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. We overcame injury, lack of training, and the rigours of autumn term at St Paul’s School and everyone in the team completed the course, some members managing to post very good times. Phil made it back the fastest, completing the course in an impressive 1:30.54. Together we managed to raise in excess of £3,000 for the appeal. The Little Jimmy Brighter Future Fund was set up by Pete and Emily Shaw (an Old Paulina) to buy lifesaving equipment for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Their son James William Shaw (little Jimmy) died aged just one month, despite the

We overcame injury, lack of training, andthe rigours of autumn termat St Paul’s School andeveryone in the team completedthe course heroic efforts of hospital staff. Just weeks after this tragedy, Jimmy’s twin sister Izzy became seriously ill with an unrelated condition and was rushed to surgery, also at GOSH. Thankfully Izzy’s operation was a success and she has made a full recovery. In memory of Little Jimmy, the family have decided to do all they can to raise funds for the hospital. So far they have raised over £160,000 and have paid for five new ventilators in Jimmy’s name. The fundraising continues and the ultimate fundraising goal is to kit out a whole theatre to perform specialist surgery on babies and very young children. The St Paul’s running team were delighted to be able to help raise funds towards such a worthy cause and as the Shaw family’s fundraising efforts continue, we are looking forward to next October

and pulling on our running shoes again for the Royal Parks Half Marathon in 2018. For more information on the Little Jimmy Fund or to donate, please see here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ littlejimmybrighterfuturefund

The ultimate goal is tokit out a whole theatre toperform specialist surgery on babies and very youngchildren.

SYF

THE PAULINE 2018 41

ART

Adam Hinton Exhibition: Shanghai Series 22 February-22 March 2018

n the second half of the 2018 spring term the Art Gallery hosted an exhibition by the documentary photographer Adam Hinton. The photographs on display were taken by Hinton in Shanghai and aimed to look at the changes in fast-developing China. The images contrast the new commercialised Chinese generation with the older more traditional generation of workers. During the exhibition’s time in the gallery, Adam Hinton came in to talk to Lower Eighth Art A Level students about his photographs and his working process. Hinton began by talking to us about his work as an advertising photographer and how he has worked on big ad campaigns for big brands such as NatWest, Adidas, and Canon. He said that it is these commissions that are his main profession, which jobs he uses to pay for his documentary photography trips around the world. Most of Hinton’s talk and the lunch that followed were focused on his documentary work. While only his Shanghai images were on display, he spoke about his trip to El Salvador and staying with and photographing the infamous MS-13 gang. He spent two weeks with the gang, which has the reputation as one of the most violent and notorious in the

world, speaking about how the gang situation in El Salvador is different from its portrayal in the press and film. Rather than the gang being a group of tough psychopaths, they were scared teenagers living in violent and impoverished communities that feel neglected by the government. Hinton feels that this story needs to be told. On his trips to El Salvador Hinton also visited The Penas Ciudad Barrios Prison, which is a prison of 2,500 inmates that is internally run by gangs, while the El Salvadorian police guard the perimeter fence. The prison, the inspiration for TV shows such as Prison Break, is overcrowded (it was only built for 800) with bad conditions. While it may seem mad to even consider entering the prison, Hinton explained how, once he was approved by MS-13, it was safe to enter the prison as the gang controlled the inmates on the inside and

so protected him throughout his visit. Throughout the following lunch Hinton continued to tell us about various stories from his many trips around the world including how he goes about setting up his trips and how he manages to meet gang members or whoever he is interested in photographing. Both the talk and lunch were a fascinating opportunity to listen to and talk with someone who has worked in such exciting and dangerous places.

Luke Osborne

Alexandria Turner: Illustration Milton Gallery, 27 September – 13 October 2017

or our first external artist’s gallery show of the academic year I wanted to create something fun and vibrant which would especially appeal to the St Paul’s Juniors Art students and the younger members of our community. I grew up in the same village as Alexandria so have always been aware of her work, and I knew her quirky characters and striking use of colour would look brilliant in our gallery here at St Paul’s. Alexandria currently has a children’s book in production that follows the lives of newly-weds Roger and Veronica, an ibis bird and chicken respectively. Veronica finds herself becoming suspicious of the family’s past involvement with violent Viking raiders once she moves into her new family’s home where all is not as it seems. We decided to use the original images for this book as the basis of our show. These are all large scale ink drawings with bold, contrasting sections 42 THE PAULINE 2018

coloured in gouache, which will be scaled down for the printing of the book. Our next thought was to have life-size wooden cut-outs of the characters to welcome our audience into the gallery. The subjects of Alexandria’s work are sometimes human but more often birds or rabbits who dress as humans and mingle with people in stories set throughout the most startling and revolutionary times in human history. Alexandria has worked on many commissions for promoting the teaching of history through stories for young children. In her illustrations we are introduced to jousting knights, protesting suffragettes, Georgian courtiers and Roger’s Viking raiders to name but a few. These characters were the main focus of our gallery visits from the junior school; after reading the story, they chose a character to decorate in their own style and take away with them. This was an incredibly enjoyable show to

put together; Alexandria was very keen for her work to be adapted to suit the needs of our space and students. I very much hope to work with her again in the future and I will be planning more shows such as this, which appeal to our younger students. I hope that by bringing engaging and colourful pieces for them into the gallery we can help them to see, from a young age, that Art galleries do not always have to be full of reverent silence and endless white corridors. Lucy Hancock

Art School & Milton Gallery Manager

Phytopia Exhibition

Milton Gallery, 8-30 November 2017

hytopia began life as an idea for an exhibition based on images of nature and gardens, but on meeting an old university friend it developed into an ambitious show attended by over 150 people for the private view. The Tree of Life is an idea that appears in many cultures and is understood in a multitude of forms from the genealogical to evolutionary, from cultural and political hierarchies to growth forms. The exponential nature of branching structures and the diversity this represents is a metaphor for life itself. Phytopia sought to harness the energies embedded in such structures and to celebrate the influence plants and organic forms have on nearly every aspect of visual culture. Yu-Chen Wang’s growth forms wove across wall or tables, emerging as partorganic, part-machine cyborg structures. Alicia Paz’ artificial flower mounds offered

saccharin seduction laced with poison, while Derek Jarman’s films had layers of real and metaphoric seduction more sexual in nature. Jarman’s delicate garden drawings were a sensitive and private adjunct to these films. Peter Fillingham conversely examined the floral metaphor of death and memento in Poppy. Pia Östlund’s ‘Nature Prints’, inspired by the eighteenth century Austrian, Herr Alois Auer, Counsellor and Director of the Imperial Printing Establishment in Vienna, added infinitely fine detail to botanical visuals. This exhibition explored the interconnectedness of diverse floral narratives and provided a platform for a range of individual approaches covering ideas from growth to gardens, memento to metabolism, commodity to collections. Exhibition organised by Ian Tiley and curated by Edward Chell.

Collections Exhibition

n January, SPARTA, in conjunction with the St Paul’s Art Department, curated a show exhibiting various art pieces lent by St Paul’s School parents. The exhibit showcased artwork covering a broad range of styles, media, and time periods. With artists from Rembrandt to Julian Opie, with furniture by Antonio Gaudi and original silver prints from Scott’s voyage to the Antarctic, it was an exciting and eclectic show, one very much enjoyed by parents and pupils alike. The SPARTA evening lecture series gave us three exceptional talks this year. In September the curators Eleanor Nairne and Lotte Johnson came fresh from the highly successful and critically acclaimed Basquiat Boom for Real show at the Barbican, to talk about the

three-year research and curatorial process of the putting the retrospective together. In February, art historian Katy Blatt delivered an enthralling talk to a packed Montgomery Room audience of students and parents. Katy brilliantly traced Leonardo da Vinci’s life, from his humble illegitimate birth to his death in 1519 in the arms of the French King. Most recently Matthew Slotover OBE (SPS 1977-85) talked about the history of Frieze Art Fair and the early days of Frieze magazine. His talk was a rare and candid

Participating Artists included: Joy Girvin Hilary Rosen Derek Jarman Marc Quinn Rosa Nguyen

Alicia Paz Yu-Chen Wang Peter Fillingham Pia Östlund Edward Chell Sian Pile Paul de Monchaux

look into the ever powerful and complex art market. This year we have organized two gallery visits for parents and boys. In the Autumn term we visited the Jasper Johns exhibition at the Royal Academy and in March SPARTA organised a group of parents and students for an architectural tour of the Royal Festival Hall, followed by the Gursky exhibition in the newly reopened Hayward gallery. The Gursky exhibition at the Hayward gallery

THE PAULINE 2018 43

ART AS

Banjo Bernand

Breuss Burgess

Luke Osborne

Isaac Williams

Nile Shaw

Darius Booth

Harry Walker

Aidan Ko

Edward Kembery Sebastian Hatt

Edan Baines

Sacha Mattey

44 THE PAULINE 2018

Fin Rudder

Daniel Toye

Theodore Mahon

Alexander Haydn-Williams

Dominic Lewisohn

Jamie Zealley

Benjamin Woodier

Sang Hon Wee

THE PAULINE 2018 45

ART A2 Luke Walters

Leo Blanning

Luke Walters

Constantin Gardey

46 THE PAULINE 2018

Alex Lewis Whittaker

Mackay Richie

Alex Lewis Whittaker

Zak El-Bas

THE PAULINE 2018 47

DRAMA

Measure For Measure

s we took our seats the set that lay before us immediately conveyed the world into which we would be immersed. High on the wall was a crucifix, rimmed in sleazy purple light and set against a dirty and rusty backdrop, most likely the façade of an insalubrious brothel or deserted warehouse. This was one of the first signs of religion subverted and corrupted, a prominent theme throughout the play. Upstage a wall covered half of the stage with a grubby plastic strip curtain, while to the left a platform stood, used by authority figures such as the moralistic Angelo and the scheming Duke to declaim their executive will. Mr Anthony, the director, had made the decision to clothe Shakespeare’s play in the trappings of the 80s’ disco scene, with characters dressed like pop idols of the time; most notably the costume of the pious Isabella, played by Miriam Agiru, echoed that of Madonna. The tale, re-sited to the Docklands of East London from the streets of Vienna, centres around the plight of Claudio, condemned to death on the charge of fornication by the ‘new sheriff in town’ Angelo, in whose hands power has been left by the Duke. The Duke disguises himself as a monk to observe how his deputy

Matt Hill with Josh Goldstein

Tom Zussman and Miriam Agiru

Matt Hill stood out for his great performance as Escalus, a virtuous man with a strong sense of justice administers the law. Isabella, the distraught sister of Claudio and a novice nun, is prevailed upon to try swaying Angelo to mercy. However, Angelo develops a fervent lust for Isabella and demands that she have sex with him in return for her brother’s freedom (Fie, for shame!). The Duke intervenes and contrives an elaborate plan to preserve her chastity, humiliate Angelo, and save the life of Claudio, making the Duke seem the hero. But with this carried out, he in turn demands Isabella’s love (and hand in marriage!) and we discover that he is just another tyrant. Light and sound in this production was used to its fullest potential, bringing to life the relentless energy and bustle of the city. This was most effectively portrayed in the opening sequence during which, with 48 THE PAULINE 2018

brilliantly choreographed and executed finesse, loud 80s’ disco music blared and strobe lighting filled the theatre, whilst a sizeable array of characters, all varying in their quirky outfits, danced maniacally. This was a glimpse into the panoply of characters and personalities that we would see emerge in the play, and the vibrancy of the city they inhabit. The unforgiving energy of the location could be observed when the downtrodden Isabella (Miriam), stumbling downstage, shaking with dread at her terrible moral dilemma, was drowned out by the blaring disco number.

The entire cast should be applauded for their hard work in injecting life into their characters and energy into their lines. Josh Goldstein, as the Duke, managed with great success to pull off the feat of portraying a character with a veneer of concern and kindness under the guise of a priest, who was in fact conceited, deceitful, and exploitative. Tom Zussman, as Angelo, displayed an impressive array of emotions, from triumph to utter dejection, and the scene during which he was physically overcome by his inappropriate love for Isabella made a powerful impact. Matt

David Zazo

Hill stood out for his great performance as Escalus, a virtuous man with a strong sense of justice that is often suppressed by his superiors and strained by circumstances. Leo Blanning, playing a government official often in trepidation at the power of his superiors, delivered a first-rate performance. Miriam Agiru shone in this production, bringing vigour and believability to a character constantly oppressed and used by others. Intermingled with the tragic though, there were touches of the comic, even to the point of hilarity. This dimension of the production was facilitated through the great performances of Will Allen as the boisterous and rambunctious New Romantic Lucio, never afraid to put in his two cents, and Harry Cotterell as the unsavoury pimp Pompey, both of whom delivered their sexual innuendos with mischievous relish. Comic relief was also provided by Tom Williamson’s bumbling and cuckolded policeman, Elbow. The way in which the production was executed brought out very relevant themes from the modern world. The predicament faced by Isabella, compelled by the force of influential powers unwillingly to engage in sexual activities reflects that of the actresses who fell victim to the sexual predation of Weinstein and others in positions of authority. The choice to have Miriam, as Isabella, spit in the face of Josh, as the Duke, drew gasps of shock at first but then triumphant cheers as the curtains closed on the play. It was an emphatic full stop to an incisive and highly entertaining piece of theatre which symbolised resistance to exploitative powers. Nick Montague-Jones Will Allen

One Man’s Terrorist

he kills a Russian Grand Duke for his socialist ideals. The lack of mass murder or the horrific staples of fundamentalist terror here provoked thoughts among the audience about the potential legitimacy of such violent action: can violence ever be morally correct? The second act moved to Afghanistan in the 2000s as the cast showed the consequences of a failed attack. Eddy Jones’ character refused to blow himself

The director used a thrust stage to give his actors a nearly 360-degree arc with which to engage the audience up next to government soldiers since there were innocent children nearby and subsequently received both anger and sympathy from his Taliban comrades. Keir Maclean was supposed to detonate a second bomb but, having failed to do so, he returned to the group visibly shaken by his close encounter with death. His subtle murmurings and shaking (which continued for the entirety) underpinned the whole scene, reminding the audience that those who carry out inhumane acts may well themselves be shackled by feelings that are actually very human. Then the play shifted to 80s Northern Ireland as the plot explored deeper into

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n today’s world of instant news, terrorism seems an ever-present threat to our society. News flashes or footage of the carnage attacks have caused provoke shock and horror, but they can never explain the cause of such events. They can never explain the mental strife of the intellectual turned bombmaker or the train of events that led the unemployed labourer to become a religious martyr. Without such explanations how is society able to understand and set moral standards for those who perpetrate terrorist acts? Theatre productions like director Edward Williams’ adaption of Les Justes by Albert Camus provide an important means for an audience member to decide how society should judge and explain such events. The director used a thrust stage to give his actors a nearly 360-degree arc with which to engage the audience as they jumped across history to explore the inner conversations of terrorist cells as they planned and executed violence. From Belfast to Kabul, from the 19th to the 21st century, Williams’ group of actors produced a compelling performance. The play started in Tsarist Russia as the cast began the plot’s emotionally charged drive among left-wing revolutionaries in the 1890s. The play showed the divides between terrorists themselves, with Eddy Jones impressively showing the complex euphoria of the left-wing intellectual happily resigned to die a martyr when

THE PAULINE 2018 49

DRAMA

Talking Queer

One Man’s Terrorist continued

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Eddy Jones

the human relationships that can blossom, even amid the violence of the Troubles. Carolyn Alam Nist powerfully portrayed the emotions that love between terrorists can produce, and David Zazo starred as the intimidating IRA commander. The entire cast’s Belfast accents were impressive (Karan Lawani’s in particular was very

The entire cast’s Belfast accents were impressive … partly thanks to help from the Surmaster, Mr Girvan accurate), partly thanks to help from the Surmaster, Mr Girvan, who one of the cast members told me was vital in helping them reach a level of fluency that seemed entirely natural. Next the play moved to Nazi occupied France in the 1940s as the play reached its tensest moment. The cast showed the successful assassination of a Nazi governor by a group in the French Resistance and the consequent imprisonment of one of their members, whose interrogation by an ice cold Machiavellian SS Officer (played by Alex Haydn-Williams) perhaps led the audience to conclude that some acts 50 THE PAULINE 2018

of violence are legitimate. But the scene ended with a reminder of the consequences of killing, and the sight of Amber Barrow playing the governor’s distraught and emotionally destroyed widow revealed that violence, though probably and only correct in this one instance out of the four, will always have an emotional impact that we, those who do not suffer it, can never understand. As the blackout dropped after this scene I felt somewhat in awe of what I had just seen, not due to any change of opinion, but rather due to the vast array of strong emotions I had just witnessed. This shock was enhanced by the final, surreal scene set somewhere in the future which dwelled upon the violence that had just occurred as an eerie monologue was heard describing the consequences of attacks. Like a calm after a storm, this scene gave the audience time to reflect on the ramifications of the attacks and how their own comprehension of terror had changed. The play succeeded brilliantly in that it did not force the audience to change their views of terrorists attacks, but rather gave them an understanding of not only the horror of violent bereavement but also, pivotally, of the tumultuous emotional effects that violence can cause the attackers themselves. Many thanks to the cast and Mr Williams for producing an excellent production. Will Dodd

2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, resulting in the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality and homosexual acts in England and Wales. As the culminating event of the week celebrating this, Thinking Queer, the Milton Studio played host to Mr Anthony’s all-new verbatim drama, Talking Queer, dealing with issues of gay rights, homophobia, discrimination and identity from true Pauline stories. All too often, when celebrating the 1967 Act we fail to remember that – although a significant victory in gay rights campaigning – it only marked a partial breakthrough. Homosexual acts were only legalised when both parties were 21 (a higher age of consent than for heterosexual intercourse), only in private (i.e. in one’s own home, curtains drawn, doors and windows locked, and with no one else in any part of the house), not in the armed forces or Merchant Navy, with only two men present and so on. ‘Procuring’ another man to engage in homosexual activity with a third party was also still a crime. Any offence breaking these harsh rules carried a maximum jail sentence of two years – at the time, this was the same as procuring sex via drugs, threats or false pretences, as well as the abduction of an unmarried girl under 16 from their parent. Furthermore, the outlawing of procuring / soliciting, as well as gross indecency laws and others still left many legal avenues open for prosecution. The ugly truth is, even if the law has improved since, homophobia still proceeds to rear its foul head across the world – both abroad in countries such as Russia and here in the UK, and we cannot let ourselves think that the fight for gay rights is one that has been won. Talking Queer (written and directed by Mr Anthony) made its audience acutely aware of that fact. Performed by a group of eight Sixth Formers, the show told the often tragic, sometimes hilarious, and always intensely powerful stories of twenty-four real life

The Man Who Was Thursday

Marcus Dunfoy, Juan Garcia-Rodenas, Finn Vogels

characters encompassing current and old Paulines, parents, and other leading figures through recorded interviews. The audience was introduced to the production with a series of soundbites of the general school public’s perception of gay culture, which were then starkly contrasted as we were confronted by the truth of the difficulties of acceptance from strangers, friends, relatives, and

we cannot let ourselves think that the fight for gay rights is one that has been won

Instead of being given a full-completed script at the start, we were handed rough versions of the relevant scenes shape the play that we would eventually be performing: I have never done a play before where it felt as though the entire company were working together, gathering different ideas and attempting different ways of staging a particular moment, to achieve a successful finished performance. This truly was a unique experience. Not only was the rehearsal process unlike any other I have done before, but the staging and technical sides of the production were just as impressive. As the entire play was set in a virtual world, the main focus of the set was the large white gauze fitted from the floor to the ceiling, on which images and animations of the different locations could be projected. The animated feel to these projections helped to create the sense that the world through which the characters were travelling was entirely fake. On top of the more regular rehearsals, the whole cast had to do an after-school session of filming

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even the interviewed themselves. Broken down into sections, each dealing with a different theme of the struggle for gay rights and marked out with both smoothly choreographed dance sequences and the subtle yet effective lighting design of Zachary Colton (taking the traditional colours of the Pride rainbow and using each to set the tone of the relative unit), the audience was taken on a brutally honest journey through each person’s experience with gay rights, culture, discrimination, homophobia, and the personal struggle. No member of the audience left the Milton Studio without

being in a furious discussion. Theatrically, there has never been anything quite like it. Although verbatim, Blythe-esque theatre has been on the rise in London, the production was wholly lip-synched, stripping back extravagant staging in favour of the power of hearing the true voices of the interviewees. Bold and honest, Mr Anthony’s writing pulled no punches and softened no blows – no story was sanitised and shied away from, and although there were moments of humour and lightness, it could not have been categorised as anything but starkly truthful. As well as the incredible difficulty involved in accurately lip-synching throughout the whole performance, the cast tackled what is essentially an entirely new method of theatre and handled it with skill and aplomb. Congratulations to Marcus Dunfoy, Juan Garcia-Rodenas, Callum Mackillop, Conor Sinnot, Nick Stanger, Eduardo Vicente, Finn Vogels, and Guy Ward-Jackson. Indeed, Talking Queer proved that SPS Drama can go above and beyond school productions to try an entirely new method of theatre that was truthful, daring, and profound, all the while addressing a hugely important issue in modern Britain. Neither I, nor any of its audience, will easily forget it. Justin Treadwell

his year’s Junior Play, The Man Who Was Thursday, was adapted from the novel by G.K. Chesterton. The play follows a group of police detectives working undercover as anarchists in order to uncover what their leader, Sunday, is planning. Although none of them initially realise it, they have all been placed on this council by Sunday himself, as he has picked them to help him destroy the current corrupt system and start a new one. He is, in fact, not the villain but only wants what is best for the future of humanity. The rehearsal process was both very long (two months!) and highly unusual. Instead of being given a full-completed script at the start, we were handed rough versions of the relevant scenes. Moreover, in many early rehearsals, we all had the opportunity to discuss with our director, Mr Broughton, how we could edit and create our scenes in a way that would make them relevant and interesting to all ages. For some scenes, such as the one where the detectives are lost in a construction zone of the Haven, we ourselves created many of the lines so that they would be accessible for our peers in the audience. It was an amazing feeling to help

THE PAULINE 2018 51

DRAMA

The Man Who Was Thursday continued

The Trial

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in front of a green screen. These photos and videos were then incorporated into the animations to make it feel like the characters on stage really were just computerised avatars and not real people. The technical rehearsal was unsurprisingly the most complex I have ever been involved in, with dozens of different projection, lighting, and 52 THE PAULINE 2018

sound cues. Looking back, I find it incredible that we managed to put together this incredibly complex play with so many technical elements and challenging characters. Nevertheless, credit is largely due to our director, Mr Broughton, whose countless hours of hard work ensured that everything was ready for the performance. I personally consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to play multiple roles, all very different in nature, and even abseil down from the ceiling, and overall I am incredibly proud of what we achieved as a cast. Caspar Jansa

irector Alex Kerr’s brilliantly bewildering production of Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’ satisfied me in that it did the story justice. I had both seen the 1962 film by Orson Welles and read the novel, so naturally I had high expectations and was overjoyed when the play met them. I was fascinated from the first sight of the set design, by Lizzy Leech, whose wonderfully stratified scaffolding dominated the foreground of the stage. The emotionless and purely systematic edifices of industrial gigantism that this setting represented reminded me of the bleakness in the aforementioned film. The play’s central character Josef K is arrested without given or known reason by two guards, yet is free to continue with daily life. Amidst the uncertainty of guilt and his deteriorating mental state, he awaits trial for his unknown crime. Kerr adopted Berkoff ’s 1970 introduction of a schizophrenically talkative chorus to act as an opening into K’s mind; this was well acted and ferociously physical with actors wandering, gliding, and charging into the action. Besides this, his own interpretation of Berkoff ’s prop doors was a great choice: they acted as entrances, windows, and ballasts in large structures in the courtroom. At one point they became a narrow hall in the court; this confined tunnel packed with people in a similar predicament to K, stumbling through with laborious monotony, symbolised the dismal and dreary procession through layers of judiciary system to ‘attain the law’. Kerr’s production might have suffered without a strong lead – but that he had. Felix Westcott (as K) stood before a courtroom of blank faces, his own face concentrated with courage for the first time in the play. He then vilified the court with everything he could muster. However, as chatter and uninterested grunts from the chorus arose, his face twisted into the same torment and confusion that had afflicted him from the moment he was arrested. From moments like this to ones of sexual confusion and tantalisation, or the frenzied depths of guilt and bewilderment, Westcott kept K poignantly relatable, something that made scenes such as this all the more frustrating. This was most notably evident in K’s harrowing execution where his usual charming look of nervous anticipation became a grimace, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes pained with questions whilst he is stabbed viciously. Westcott kneeled, staring out at you with his pasty face, painted with

Felix Westcott (centre)

FelixWestcott (as K) stood before a courtroom of blank faces, his own face concentrated with courage pale white smears. Fixed on your eyes with that tragic glint quivering for a second...he collapsed, dying ‘like a dog’, his triumphant performance coming to an end. Less morosely, Daniel Toye delivered (as Titorelli the painter) an impassioned history of his own life, his forefathers, and his many connections to the court all in flowing Italian accent. This outpour was made brilliant, of course by Toye’s performance, but also by the vibrant cubes of colour that snuggled into Lizzy Leech’s set. Each square section of the scaffolding was cast in a different colour and contained a different actor: these were the many portraits of Titorelli. As an artistic choice from lighting designer Fergus Norgren, under the assistance of production managers Dan Staniforth and Darren Mitchell, it worked perfectly to inject some colour and playful energy into the production. Millie Rivaz gave a standout performance as Leni, displaying the enigmatic

The Company

lasciviousness women had towards K. Leni possessed mystic allure for K as she glided around with feline grace. Her light, monotone voice riveted the audience into absolute silence, whilst her physical presence dominated the stage. The scene followed Leni’s seduction of K and climaxed in a hyper-charged sexual encounter. However, Rivaz’s powerful leers at the audience and

Daniel Toye delivered (as Titorelli the painter) an impassioned history of his own life, his forefathers, and his many connections to the court THE PAULINE 2018 53

DRAMA

The Trial continued

Young Directors Programme

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other characters suggested an underlying malignance that was acted with perfect subtlety. Similarly gripping was Eddy Jones as Block, a character demented by the court, his body physically torn and gripped by subservience. Upon finding out several years of work has had no effect on his trial, Eddy pounced across the stage on all fours, ripping at his matted and uncut hair until despondently returning to his submissive prayer-like state and kneeling before his lawyer. With Eddy’s potent use of physicality

Eddy pounced across the stage on all fours, ripping at his matted and uncut hair and horrifying panic, this scene was the first clear evidence of just how evil the unseen court is. To see Block treated like a dog with his life just in tatters was compelling and distressing. At some point in a lot of Kafka’s work (and definitely in this performance) you seem to suspend your consciousness of how odd the situation is; in a way you’re no longer a spectator, you are instead so appalled that you become just as helpless as K. By the end of it you understand how undirected anger at an invisible non-entity like a system can turn into self-inflicted guilt. Kerr made sure of this by entrapping the audience in the frames and poles of the court house, leaving us in a world devoid of any answers, and making sure it felt disconcertingly familiar. To quote Orson Welles: ‘It’s been said that the logic of this story is the logic of a dream...a nightmare.’ One that Kerr brought to life in the Pepys Theatre. Leon Rolfe 54 THE PAULINE 2018

utting on a play under my own direction was something I had often thought of doing. And so, upon hearing about the Young Directors Programme I instantly began searching for the text that I would aim to bring to life. I soon stumbled across an extract from ‘Silence’ by Harold Pinter, a profound playwright known for many things, including elegant language and refined character development. ‘Silence’ itself is a play describing the relationships between three characters. Ellen, a young woman in her twenties; Rumsey, an older experienced man in his forties; and finally Bates, a somewhat aggressive young man. The play tiptoes around the love triangle between these three characters, and while initially it steers towards Rumsey being a more suitable partner for Ellen in the audience’s eyes, old secrets are revealed as the play goes on, hinting at Rumsey sexually abusing Ellen when she was a little girl. Furthermore, we begin to see Bates as somewhat of a flawed hero, who wants to be the right man for Ellen but does not know how, as it is not in his nature. Plays chosen by other boys included ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ and even an adaption of the book ‘The Psychopath Test’. The following days were spent deciphering the text and creating my own interpretation which I began to visualise on stage, as well as acquiring a cast of talented actors featuring such stars as Jack Hammond and Harry Cotterell. Some initial workshops aided the process. Firstly, a professional director was brought in (whose first directing experience had been the very same Young Directors’ Showcase many years prior). The main focus of this workshop was how to talk to actors to convey what you are looking for, which we worked on through exercises, regularly swapping the role of the director. Another useful workshop looked at set design, where we explored various set designs from professional set designers and analysed them, followed by private sessions to discuss what we wanted to do with our set design. Finally, we each worked with a professional actor on one section of our plays to refine it. As the rehearsal process began and I worked on the text with the rest of the cast, a series of ‘eureka’ moments occurred as various themes emerged or became clearer (this was perhaps my favourite part of the process). Having chosen to perform in the Milton Studio, because I wanted scenes to feel up-close and intimate, blocking of the play

began quickly after. I decided to play it all as one scene, skipping back and forth through various locations and time zones which all pieced together to form a story of lost love and memory, with some darker tones. There were definitely some challenges faced during the process. For the actors, learning a thirty minute long piece within the space of a week was an obstacle, but one that was easily overcome by a capable cast. Meanwhile, as a director, there were certain dialogues which I failed to wrap my head around, or struggled to decide how to place them effectively in the piece. One of

learning a thirty minute long piece within a week was an obstacle, but … easily overcome by a capable cast these involved a series of lines from earlier in the play being repeated in succession by the actors. I wanted to use this to show how, despite all that the characters had been through mentally, they had failed to move forward and were still stuck at the beginning of the play. With help from the professional actor who worked on this ending with me, we made use of regular movement to show tension building up, and then let it go with pauses to imitate trying to move on, but failing. Finally the day of the first performance came and a week of intensive work from all involved was put to the test. I was thrilled yet nervous as the audience entered into the hazy and simplistic set that I had designed. While my play was tackling some rather dark issues, at those moments I couldn’t help but smile as my visions were realised and conveyed to the audience as the lights turned blood red. The first performance was, I felt, a huge success, holding a sense of intensity without becoming repetitive. Overall, this is an experience I am very thankful for; I am particularly grateful to Mr Williams for organising the process and to the various professionals he brought in to help and instruct us in our venture. Furthermore, I highly recommend aspiring directors or actors to take part when they have this chance, as it was both a pleasurable learning experience and one which gave a great first impression of the directing world.

Jay Bhandari

EXPEDITIONS Backcountry Ski Trip - Japan 2018

Isaac Huudis, Max Evans, Jonathon Clarke, Jamie Hughes and Mathieu Carlhian on Mount Shiribetsu

fter two flights, a drive and a 9-hour time difference, we finally arrived in Niseko and it did not take long for our group of 13 to hit the pillow hard. However, the next day was a completely different story and we found ourselves hitting an entirely different type of pillow. Niseko Hirafu was easily the most perfect ski resort any of us had ever seen, and we soon got stuck into the fresh, ‘champagne powder’ for which Japan is so well renowned. Over the next 6 days, we toured, jumped, sped, slayed and slashed the previously untouched, deep, light snow. Sometimes we skied from just off the ski lift and at others; we toured to the peak of a mountain where visibility was limited to the distance of your hand in front of you. Most of the time the

Niseko Hirafu was easily the most perfect ski resort any of us had ever seen snow was so deep we had to dig ourselves into the side of the mountain just to readjust our bindings. Nevertheless, it was worth it. Darting through the snow-covered trees in abandoned ski resorts and gliding along the ridgelines of mountains, we were guided by two human GPSs who seemed to have an incredible radar for perfect lines of deep untracked powder. Understandably, by the end of the day, everyone was exhausted but our tired legs were always refreshed and

comforted with a warm bowl of teppanyaki or udon in town. For the whole trip, the snow dumped all day and all night (including 60-70cm one night!). Japan was a snow machine that did not turn off and, although we had to sacrifice some visibility, the skiing was unrivalled. After our final day, skiing and touring amongst volcanic hot springs in the backcountry, it was time to pack our bags. The culture, the snow and the atmosphere made it so hard to leave. However, school would not wait and so we piled into the van for the last time, and made our way sleepily back to London. Many thanks to Mr Passmore and Dr Herceg; the ski trip to Japan did not disappoint. Basil Geczy

Italian Study Trip to Alghero

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he moment of truth: after two years of Italian tuition, would we be able to fend for ourselves for a week, staying with an Italian family in Alghero, Sardinia? During the October Remedy, twenty-nine 6th formers would find out. The nerves matched the prospect of a thousand-minute oral exam, with no role-play card or helpful examiner. And yet, as we got to know our hosts over the first evening, our confidence grew, as did the length of our sentences, as monosyllabic, nodding Sìs, gave way to more comfortable, colloquial and real conversations. We also noticed how our ears tuned into the language: we could THE PAULINE 2018 55

EXPEDITIONS Italian Study Trip to Alghero (Continued)

Berlin trip

n the October half term, I went on the Berlin study trip with other pupils studying German for GCSE. We went with the aim of improving our spoken German, but also to learn more about the city of Berlin and its history. Each morning, we had 2 lessons of German at the GLS (German Language School). During these lessons we did a mix of grammar and vocabulary, and had lots of conversations about current affairs and Berlin. The afternoons gave us a chance to escape the classroom to explore the city. We visited many famous sights, such as the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate and the Jewish museum using the local transport

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It was like being immersed in a Paolo Sorrentini movie. understand the conversations around us that previously had been an indecipherable din. It was like being immersed in a Paolo Sorrentini movie. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the picture. We rose early to make the most of the mattina and enjoy the emollient October sunshine and the quintessential pastries and coffee with our eminent teachers. This set us up perfectly for a few hours of expert tuition at Pintadera language school, which further elucidated the grammar, and gave us further opportunity to improve our spoken Italian. During the afternoons, after sampling 56 THE PAULINE 2018

the local fare (more on that later), we undertook various activities such as a treasure hunt, thus enabling us to locate a gelateria from any point in town, a boat trip to the Grotte di Nettuno, where we caught a glimpse of dolphins. We climbed trees, swam in the sea and yet the stand out activity of the week was the Alghero vs SPS football match. Despite the encouragement some of us perceived from defecting local fans, we barely escaped footballic annihilation; nonetheless, the score-line of 14-4 may be down to Italian accounting irregularities. One of the most memorable parts was the food. We were spoilt for choice: pizzerie, menus resplendent with ‘cibo gustoso’ and frutti di mare, not to mention our host families who plied us seafood fregola and horse-stew. The latter may not immediately make it into our repertoire at home, nonetheless, it was an interesting culinary experience. On our final day at the school we bade farewell to our Pinterdera teachers, giving them a thank you present to show our appreciation for all that they had taught us, leaving with what can only be described as the worst rendition of the Italian song Pamplona. As our trip drew to its conclusion, a tone of melancholy crept over us. Leaving our host families was a saddening event as the goodbyes were filled with floods of tears and much mutual affection. We would like to thank Miss Grogan, Miss Rahim, Mr Williams and Mr Tofts for organising such a memorable experience that was both highly valuable for our Italian language skills and extremely enjoyable. Rahul Patel and Luke Scott

Italian Study Trip to Siena

his year’s study trip to Siena exposed the six Eighth Form Italianists to the broadest range imaginable of experiences of Italian life, from philosophy lessons and thermal baths to rap battles and surprise birthday parties. The unifying threads running through all of our experiences was the great kindness of our host families in welcoming us into their homes and the tangible improvement in our spoken Italian. We were greeted early at Pisa Airport by an MFL faculty legend, last year’s language assistant and noted coffee enthusiast Peppe, who acted as our tour guide for much of the trip. After a long minibus ride through the stunning Tuscan countryside, we arrived at Siena, the eccentric and beautiful medieval city that would be our home for the next week. The evening was spent with our host families; the Lower Eighths who were new to the city were introduced to its many arcane customs, above all the famous ‘contrade’, the districts of the city which race against one another twice a year in the Palio, a fiercely competitive horse race around the town’s main square. The next morning, we began our daily routine of morning lessons at our hosts’ school, the Istituto Sarrocchi. These lessons ranged from philosophy to chemistry, and two of the tour party ended up acting as language assistants themselves in an English lesson. Seeing the realities of the

to get around. The Stasi prison was a favourite of many. We were guided through the prison by an expert guide, who showed us the cells of the prisoners and the many interrogation rooms there. I particularly enjoyed the visit to the German Historical Museum, as it provided a fascinating insight into the country’s rich history, both Italian education system was an eye-opener, with both the didactic teaching methods and the low levels of funding bursting our Pauline bubble. The next three hours were spent in intensive language lessons at the Università per Stranieri, then lunch together, with the teachers, at a different restaurant every day. Tuscan speciality ‘Pici’ (thick, hand-made noodles) were especially popular. Our afternoon activities ranged from a scavenger hunt with our hosts, to a trip to the thermal baths of Bagno Vignoni, the latter being welcome relaxation in an intense schedule. However, the intensity of the week contributed to the sense of total immersion that we felt and, despite the frequent rain, we often found ourselves walking along Siena’s narrow, picturesque alleys at any hour of the day, genuinely seeing the real-world value of language learning. One of the special highlights of the trip was an evening spent in the Contrada del Leocorno (Unicorn). The members of the contrada were incredibly proud to show us around their medieval church and modern museum, with dinner afterwards in the clubhouse. Finally, we competed against our hosts in an athletics meet, where Julius, despite not having competed for several years, managed to win the long jump. Afterwards, an informal England-Italy football match ended 4-3 in our favour after a well-taken hat trick from star player Prof. Tofts. We were sad to leave after a packed, fantastic week, but we knew that we were taking incredible memories and experiences home with us. Many thanks to i Professori Tofts e Williams for organising such a diverse and interesting itinerary. Alex Haydn-Williams and Frank Milligan

from many centuries ago and also its more modern past. The evenings were a time for everyone to relax, with lots of enjoyable excursions planned. We had great fun bowling and going to the cinema, whilst also getting a chance to taste some traditional and modern German food, for example the “Currywurst”.

We also got to watch a live volleyball match, which was the highlight for many. The fast-paced nature of the game and the atmosphere made it a very enjoyable evening. Thank you to Mr Perrin for organising the whole experience, and also to Miss Good and Julius, who accompanied us on the trip.

Kamran Ahmad

Montpellier

uring the last week of the Easter holidays, a group of staff and pupils alike went on an exchange to Montpellier. While we were there, we lodged in pairs, spending each morning learning French, and spending the afternoons sightseeing or undertaking various activities. Monday consisted of a guided tour of Montpellier, showing us both the older parts of the town, as well as the sprawling city centre. After this, we had a quick treasure hunt, running around the town from place to place, asking friendly - and not-so-friendly - locals about the area. With this complete, we headed back to our host families for a meal and rest, before another action - packed day. As Tuesday progressed, the weather improved, bringing beautiful blue skies and sun for our trip to the beach that afternoon. Down by the sea at Palavas-les-Flots, we had a couple of hours to spend as we pleased, with most playing a game of football or meandering along the coast. With Wednesday the inclement weather returned, which, as we would later discover, lasted for the rest of the week. This gave us Laser Tag in the afternoon, while some also visited the aquarium or ‘window-licked’ the shopping centre. After a highly competitive series of games, we were exhausted. On Thursday, it was time for some bouncing. Entering a vast space, we were greeted by many trampolines where we played dodgeball, competed on the obstacle courses or generally enjoyed ourselves. As the week came to a close, the weather

finally started to improve. After our morning lessons at the Ecole Klesse on Friday, we wandered around the central square for a casse-croute, and headed down to the station for a coach ride to Aigues-Mortes. Built as France’s first port on the Mediterranean, Aigues-Mortes is a stunning medieval town surrounded by immense walls to keep out the past invaders. Walking along the ramparts, the views were captivating, with beautiful sights of the sea and large salt marshes all around. After this wonderful journey back in time, we headed off, preparing ourselves for Saturday – a full day trip to Nîmes and the Pont du Gard. Arriving at the station, we travelled up to the site, walking along the ancient and extraordinarily well preserved Roman aqueduct, hundreds of feet above a striking valley. After our guided tour, we headed to the town, where we walked around the old city, stopping for lunch outside the centre. After our break, we toured the Roman arena, with some of us climbing right to the top, for some superb if slightly dizzying views. It was a spectacular way to end our final day in France. After such an action packed and exciting trip, we hopped on a plane back to the grey reality of Gatwick. Zack Colton 5F THE PAULINE 2018 57

EXPEDITIONS

Munich German Exchange

n December 2017, four Lower Eighth German students, along with six German students from SPGS arrived at Heathrow Airport for the longrunning German exchange to Munich. All were excited to set off: however, rather unhelpfully, that day was one of the few ‘snow days’ we have in England, causing the usual chaos and meaning that our flight was cancelled. Mr Collinson and Dr Field had another try at securing a flight the following day but, after waiting for an incredible seven hours, only a flight two days later could be booked. Once we actually arrived, the trip was very enjoyable. We enjoyed spending a morning in a German school, the Otto-vonTaube Gymnasium, which included being part of the English lessons - an interesting experience to see language learning the other way round. The trip also included a visit to a brewery, the obligatory Christmas market visit, a traditional meal and an informative tour of Munich in German from the English teacher on the German side of the exchange, Herr Uli Nürnberger. Most interesting of all was the cultural insight into German life (as opposed to the one shown in German textbooks) and the chance to use our German in real-life situations. And

so, a number of days later, having parted temporarily from our exchange partners, we returned home, and in completely the opposite way from which the trip began, we arrived back in Heathrow ahead of schedule. A thank you first to the exchange students for accommodating us in their homes and providing activities in the evenings and at weekends. Another thank you to Herr Nürnberger and everyone at the Otto-vonTaube Gymnasium for being so welcoming

to us. Finally, of course, thank you very much to Mr Collinson and Dr Field who had to deal with a trip that did not have the smoothest of starts, to say the least! The exchange students then visited London during the end of June just before the summer holidays. They saw a wide range of sights, including Bath, Hampton Court and a walking tour of Central London. We have very much enjoyed hosting them.

William Reith

Seville and Andalucia Trip

he annual Spanish language trip saw a group of sixth form Paulines venture to Seville for a week during the October remedy. Spending time in one of the most beautiful regions of Spain as well as extending the summer into autumn proved an irresistible combination! We arrived on Friday evening and spent time pursuing cultural activities; on Saturday morning we had an early rendezvous for a bike tour of Seville which took us to all of the principal attractions, including the Cartuja Monastery, the banks of the Guadalquivir River, the Plaza de España and the Cathedral. It was an excellent opportunity to figure out the layout of the city and to help us get our bearings. Sunday’s trip to Córdoba was an undoubted highlight. On the way we passed the hillside town of Carmona and giant roadside maquettes of the great sherry houses of Spain, Osborne and Tio Pepe. The city is the home of the great mosque, one 58 THE PAULINE 2018

of the world’s architectural jewels, and a well-preserved Jewish quarter and medieval centre. Córdoba was the pre-eminent city in Europe during the early Medieval Period and a symbol of the convivencia of the three great monotheistic religions. We also enjoyed the Roman Bridge, a medieval synagogue and plenty of sunshine!

The city is the home of the great mosque, one of the world’s architectural jewels After morning lessons at Clic language school, afternoon visits during the remainder of the week included a trip to the Cathedral and the ascent on foot of the bell tower (originally the minaret of the mosque that pre-dated the cathedral on the site). The panoramic views from the top of this tower

are remarkable, and the Cathedral itself is the largest in Spain, as well as being the third largest in the world. Next door to the cathedral are the Royal Palace and the medieval Jewish Quarter. The tour of the royal palace was fascinating and the gardens provided a calm place for the group to enjoy the afternoon sun as well as some exercise trying to avoid the attentions of an overinquisitive peacock! On another occasion, the boys enjoyed spending the afternoon on the roof terrace at CLIC meeting a group of students from Seville who attend the language school as learners of English. On a less formal note, at different points during the week the group spent a happy hour or two playing an impromptu game of football at a local park, savouring an ice cream at an award-winning ice cream parlour, and undertaking a treasure hunt around the city centre. On the final day, there were lessons in the morning followed by a lunch at the restaurant opposite the

Venice Biennale

enice. Tens of kilometres meandering around Venice’s canals, hundreds of artistic masterpieces, thousands of Instagram-worthy photos. Upon arriving, two private water taxis ferried us across the lagoon and along the Grand Canal, the city floating on the water around us like a fairy-tale; Disneyland for adults. Over our four days here, we would end up collectively exploring almost all of the city, from the famous Rialto to the infamous Lido, passing below leaning bell-towers and along winding back alleys, almost always with a map in hand, very often lost. However, most importantly, we were lucky enough to see some of the world’s greatest modern art in the heart of one of its greatest medieval cities. Our first morning was spent at the Palazzo Fortuny, where the eclectic curation of artwork felt more like a collector’s home than a gallery. In the afternoon, it was on to Damien Hirst’s ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable,’ an exhibition based on a lie: despite claiming to be the archaeological spoils of an ancient shipwreck, every single piece was in fact made in Hirst’s workshops. It had divided critics, and ended up dividing our tour group as well: some thought it

was a tacky flop, while others held that it was a bold revival of Hirst’s career. The debate continued that evening at dinner in

language school, which combined a relaxed vibe with some very good food. Overall, this was an excellent trip – the boys worked well together as a group, they were receptive to

what they were learning and they acquired some insights into the language and the country that will benefit their learning and stay with them for the future. PJCD

we were lucky enough to see some of the world’s greatest modern art

the hotel’s courtyard, boys and staff alike pitching in under the moonlight. The next morning, we woke up to find that a dense fog had descended upon the city. Visibility had reached practically zero, rendering our vaporetto ride to the Biennale incredibly atmospheric. We spent our second day at the Giardini, a park filled with different nations’ permanent pavilions. The frontrunners for best pavilion appeared to be Japan, where intricate landscapes had been created from thread; Korea, where communist statues had had their faces removed; and Russia, the official winner, which saw tiny ceramic workers overshadowed by a gigantic Romanov eagle. The next day at the Arsenale, the disused shipyards were as evocative as the art, icy blue water lapping against their crumbling brick walls. When we visited the Peggy Guggenheim, a compact yet world-class gallery of modernist art, the experience was wholly different, yet equally inspiring; as one of the party said, it was like listening to the classics after three days of up-andcoming bands. The skies on our fourth and final day were grey, and the mood was subdued. Yet, looking back on Venice as we were sped away across the Lagoon, we realised just how much we had packed into our time, returning to London full of inspiration. Many thanks to Mr Tiley, Mr Grant and especially our ever-knowledgeable tour guide Mrs Holmes for organising the trip, and for challenging and deepening our views on the many wonderful works of art we encountered. Alex Haydn Williams THE PAULINE 2018 59

EXPEDITIONS

Defying Gravity

t 2351m, Mount Pico is Portugal’s highest mountain, dwarfing the next contender, Torre, by an easy 350m. It’s also more than 1500km from Portugal, the mainland that is, isolated a third of the way across the Atlantic Ocean, and modestly hides three-quarters of its true height under the sea. What is more, it is also a volcano: beat that, Mount Everest! Although we began the long-awaited climb of Pico from sea level rather than under it, the team from SPS must still be in the running for the slowest up-and-down round trip recorded. Still, what goes up must come down and we did eventually reach ground level, having seen the terrain of Pico Island, the crater and the tops of clouds. The Pico Ascent was the culmination of a seven day odyssey which spanned three of the nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic which comprise The Azores. Flying into Ponta Delgada on the coat-tails of Storm Ophelia, the first night was wet but we awoke to sunny skies. Undaunted by the strong winds, our first day involved exploration of the aptly-named town of Furnas, trying out the geothermal springs and eating a local stew of meat and vegetables cooked in the hot earth, followed by a visit to the Botanical Gardens. The Azores lies at the junction of three major tectonic plates and is highly seismically active. The impact of this on the inhabitants’ daily lives is evident. We visited a centre for volcanology and geothermal research,

the Lake of Fire, saw dinosaur eggs and walked around the rim of the ‘Fat Mountain’ crater. The volcanic activity means also that the landmass of The Azores is expanding. We saw the new patch of land which appeared after an eruption in 1957 on Faial Island, and we visited the site of the local lighthouse now stranded a mile inland. Visiting The Azores was a chance to see how the challenge of isolation and living in the shadow of volcanoes is dealt

with and how they can be harnessed to provide opportunities such as tourism and renewable energy. Ed Pearson

Naples Trip

aving studied ancient civilisations for almost five years now, a trip to the Bay of Naples gave an exciting new perspective for places such as Pompeii or Herculaneum rather than observing them through textbooks. We were very fortunate to be able to stay in the beautiful town of Sorrento. The food was amazing (we were in Italy), the views overlooking the bay were amazing, and of course this was also home to some of the best lemons and oranges in the world. Led by a spectacular guide, Mr Taylor, our group was shown through the streets of two of the best-preserved ancient cities in the world, Pompeii and Herculaneum. Walking through the streets; entering preserved houses, food markets, forums; and seeing great statutes and 60 THE PAULINE 2018

… through the streets of two of the best-preserved ancient cities in the world mosaics was certainly an experience. Hearing the stories of Roman culture told by Mr Taylor, Dr McCullagh, and Miss Waterfield, I slowly understood why the teachers had such a great appreciation for the places that I had taken for granted in the past. One of my personal highlights of the trip was our visit to the beautiful island of Capri. We took a boat ride around the coast, providing exceptional views of the island. We were blessed with lots of sunshine but also a little mist appearing near the top of the

mountains captured in some amazing photos. We were also very fortunate to be able to visit the ‘Blue Grotto’, a cave illuminated by light reflecting on white sand through the water, clear as crystal. After we saw the rest of the island, we hiked up to the main town, where we had some classic Italian Pizza. After a small ice cream, we set of on another hike, the same hike that many a Roman had to take to get to Emperor Tiberius’s Palace. Mr Taylor told us stories about Tiberius’ cruelty: he would throw people off the cliff if they annoyed him. We loved it. Overall the trip was worth it and beyond, we explored ancient cities and temples, had some of the best food in the world and had a chance to practise our Italian. Giancarlo Ramirez

Physics Trip to CERN

n the small hours of one April morning, a group of forty Physics students from St Paul’s met at the check-in point at Gatwick Airport. This unholy hour marked the start of the St Paul’s trip to CERN – a 2 day whirlwind tour of some of the greatest research facilities in all of Switzerland, and despite the outrageous time our eyes were bright and starry with the thrill of such a trip. Of course, the highlight of the trip was, without a doubt, a visit to The “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire”, or otherwise commonly known as “CERN”, the world’s largest particle physics research institution. It sits astride the FrancoSwiss border near Geneva, and is home to the famous Large Hadron Collider and a number of other accelerators. Physicists and engineers use these accelerators to study the basic constituents of matter - the fundamental particles of the standard model - in their efforts to understand the intrinsic structure of the universe. The LHC - the jewel in the crown of CERN’s numerous facilities and equipment - is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator; it consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost

the energy of the particles along the way, colliding them together at close to the speed of light. The process gives the physicists clues about how the particles interact, and provides insights into the fundamental laws of nature. During our visit, we had a guided tour, and explored a to-scale replica of a section of the LHC, whilst a guide walked us through the components of the collider and the engineering that went into its construction. We also saw the Control Room, where technicians observed hundreds of computer screens in a scene reminiscent of a NASA mission control. The tour was followed by lectures given by

A Business Trip to Japan

he great British writer Rudyard Kipling began his “Ballad of East and West” with a now famously misjudged first line: Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment seat; [1889] The Paulines attending the November Economics Trip to Japan, however, were, unknowingly to them, to become a solid disproof by counterexample of Kipling’s postulate. The trip took us across nearly half of the Honshu, the largest and most populated island of the Japanese archipelago, starting from the capital, Tokyo, before traversing south to Kyoto, Hiroshima and then back again to Osaka. Being the heart of Japanese economics and politics, it was small wonder that most of the Economics side of the itinerary was centred around the city, with

its fast and effective metro system whizzing us from location to location with ease (when we didn’t get lost in the vast metro stations, that is!). While there, we had the pleasure of meeting with a wide variety of views on the outlook of the Japanese economy and solutions to its current impediment: from a passionate speech by a member of the National Diet about the need for ever lower interest rates, to a visit to the much more optimistic Financial Times, and finished off with a down-to-earth tenyear forecast at JP Morgan (and one that didn’t cost a dime at that). The broad views heard helped piece together a better picture of what the Japanese people themselves think of their situation, an important piece of information for any economist working on international problems. Of course, Economics, though in the name, was only half the raison d’être of the trip, with the other half being to experience Japanese culture and history. Everyone’s

scientists, and talks by PHD students from Oxford University who were researching there as part of their thesis. These gave us valuable insight into the cutting-edge research that was conducted here, limited not only to particle physics, but also encompassing computing and materials science, as well as revealing what being a researcher was like. The CERN trip was a highly stimulating and fascinating trip, providing unique insight into the life and work of particle physicists. For anyone considering a future career in such research, I would thoroughly recommend going on the trip. Yang Zhu and Ryan Ting favourite part of this was, unsurprisingly, trying and tasting genuine Japanese food, from the mouth-watering Okonomiyaki of Hiroshima and to the myriad different Kit Kat flavours, a virtual colour spectrum going from red bean paste to blueberry cheesecake. In between mouthfuls, we also visited a number of important landmarks of historical significance, including the Todai-ji temple complex, located in the ancient capital of Nara, whose sprawling grounds were home to a large number of friendly temple deer; and Itsukushima, an island off the coast of Hiroshima that is home to the Great Torii, the iconic gate-like shrine that seems to float on the waves. The most impactful sight, at least in the author’s opinion, was the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, the last remnant of the atomic bombing that claimed more than one hundred and twenty thousand lives, some seventy years ago. Surrounded by the constructions of modernity, it serves as a kind of link between a ruinous past and a prosperous future, one that Japan, and humanity as a whole, can hopefully achieve. Avanes Khachaturov THE PAULINE 2018 61

EXPEDITIONS

Geography Conservation and Ecology Trip to Botswana

ndoubtedly one of Africa’s hidden gems, Botswana distinguishes itself as a country from those around it because of the startling successes of the wildlife conservation programmes that it supports. Unlike its neighbours, Botswanan law is particularly protective of the enormous variety of creatures that reside there. Killing any animal, accidental or otherwise, can result in a hefty jail sentence and poachers are regularly shot on sight. This is good news for Botswanan - and indeed African - flora and fauna. A team of Sixth and Lower Eighth form geographers (Ben Samuelson, Tom Michell, Will Palmer, Jack Peachey, Dominic Lewisohn, Magnus Hopkins-Powell, Felix Atkinson and Joe Breadin) endured the 24 hour journey from London Heathrow to Livingstone on the Botswana-Zambia border to learn more. The focus of the trip was a journey down to the Okavango Delta, a series of radial inland lakes fed by the endorheic Okavango

River, an area famed for its abundance and diversity of savanna animals. We were accompanied by seasoned guides Gibson

and Onks who relayed hours of useful information about the natural wildlife which flourished in the most remote

Japan Cultural Exchange

n the first Saturday of October half term, four bleary-eyed Paulines and two intrepid members of staff, Mr Allon and Mr Ramsden, met at 7am at Heathrow terminal 3. Our final destination was to be Nagoya in Japan. Travelling via Frankfurt with four SPGS students and four students from Otto von Taube Gymnasium, we were part of a cultural exchange with Jishukan High School. Monday morning seemed to come around all too soon – indeed it was still Sunday evening in London when we regrouped and, having changed our shoes for regulation indoor slippers, lined up for our first assembly, keen to make a good impression and represent SPS respectably. The Principal, Mr Kawamura, welcomed us in front of the whole school. The daunting prospect of standing on stage and introducing ourselves to a sea of unknown faces was lightened by the enthusiasm and warmth of the whole school who responded by singing their school anthem. For some reason, they seemed particularly receptive to the news that SPS would be returning to Japan in 2018 with a touring rugby team. The purpose of the trip was to exchange cultural experiences, to forge friendships 62 THE PAULINE 2018

and to share language – although our Japanese counterparts had much better English language skills than we had Japanese, and they had the enthusiasm to match. We were immediately impressed by the formal classroom respect: repeated standing and bowing to their teachers is perhaps something we need to instil in Paulines? Maths and physics lessons were

Joseph Beeching, Samuel Skoulding, Thomas O’Driscoll, Ariff Castronovo

even more challenging in Japanese, as was Japanese literature, but we found our stride in English. On Wednesday morning we were back at school, ready to give our own presentation on British culture. We began with a hearty group rendition of Jerusalem and the National Anthem, complete with a full class flag-waving exercise, deploying the fifty

regions of the country - and remote it was, taking a total of 13 hours of driving in an unenclosed rig on the back of a modified Land Rover Defender through the Chobe National Park and beyond. Due to the efforts of non-governmental organisations like Elephants Without Borders (EWB) and other government agencies, the Botswanan African elephant population - an ecologically keystone species - is estimated currently to number 250,000 which is about 70% of all of Africa’s individuals. Indeed, elephants from all over sub-Saharan Africa seem to migrate to Botswana for the safe haven it provides. This remarkable phenomenon was evidenced by the enormous number of elephants roaming the grass and scrublands of Savuti and Moremi. Encounters included interrupting a pair of enormous bulls sparring, being ambushed by a baby elephant and her mother and witnessing a single tiny hornbill stand up to - and dominate - a pair of playful juveniles. In addition to stabilising and increasing elephant populations, the achievements of Botswana’s conservation effort were confirmed by the spotting of multiple lion prides, the rare brown hyena, three

honey badgers (though only and somewhat dubiously - by the 6th form members of the group) and astonishingly, a pack of African wild dogs which successfully hunted down and then dismembered an unfortunate impala right in front of our eyes. Towards the end of the trip the group was invited to the EWB headquarters in Kasane to learn about the tagging and tracking of Botswana’s animal populations and also inspected the elephant orphanage where very young elephants which had lost their mothers are rehabilitated before being returned to the wild. Finally, after many days of energy-sapping travel and camping in the bush, the boys still found it in themselves to assist with the building of a jungle gym at the local Catholic Mission as well as entertaining local children with their impromptu football and marimba skills.

The journey across Botswana’s ruggedly beautiful landscape demonstrated patently what can be achieved when conservation practices are prioritised. Miss Johnson, a native of Zimbabwe who led the trip with the consummate knowledge and professionalism of a park ranger, and I were extraordinarily lucky to have such a curious and considerate group of students and given their endless enthusiasm, energy and good grace throughout the 10 day trip, it is clear that we have some budding naturalists ready to ensure the continuation of some of the planet’s most precious wildlife species.

NPT

Nine Elms fieldtrip

small Union Jacks that we had brought with us. After our well-received presentation, we returned to lessons. This time we attended a Chinese literature class in Japanese, followed by a rather entertaining cooking class, which tested our culinary and linguistic skills. In addition to a full school day, we were allowed to participate in afterschool clubs, such as Calligraphy and a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. We travelled to Kyoto on Thursday and visited some beautiful temples including Kinkakuji, Kiyomizu-dera and Sanjusangendo with its one thousand golden warriors. The week was going by far too fast and returning to Toyohashi to our host families was beginning to feel like home. The students and staff at Jishukan High School and our host families welcomed us into their school, their homes and their lives. They gave us a unique glimpse into Japanese culture and provided us with a home away from home. The privilege was enormous, the experience extraordinary and we departed looking forward to returning their hospitality in London and giving them a fabulous week at SPS in March. Tom O’Driscoll

itting at my desk now, revising for my upcoming Geography exam reminds me of this fantastic day in Nine Elms when we went to observe the redevelopment of the area and collect primary data. On the train to Vauxhall station, I was able for the first time to get a glimpse of this ambitious project and after a short introduction by the teachers, we were split up into our groups and headed off to start and collect our data. Our first sample sites were all along the river and we battled against the bitter wind sweeping through the city to assess the local land use and undertake pedestrian counts. After enduring the elements, we were very relieved to bear away from the river and head into the main area in this redevelopment – Battersea Powerstation - which will become a global headquarter for Apple and boast hundreds of luxurious apartments (all for a hefty price). With our teachers’ ‘Health and Safety’ briefing ringing in our minds, we negotiated the narrow streets and pavements dodging large construction lorries that kept pouring in and out of the area. You get a real sense of the scale of the project when you get up close to construction sites. We eventually reached the peaceful and tranquil Battersea Park allowing us to refuel

but most importantly interview the local people about their opinions of these changes, such as installing two new tubes stations on the Northern line. After a good break, we moved onto the second half of the day, which involved leaving the construction zone and heading into nearby deprived communities. There we were able to observe the differences in land use and understand better the challenges faced by local people. At the same time we were able to see first-hand the clear contrast between growing Central Business District (CBD) and the more residential areas, which have received far less investment in recent years. Only time will tell whether the main Nine Elms redevelopement will be positive for those in the various housing estates nearby or whether gentrification will push up prices and drive younger generations towards the periphery of the city. Eventually we finished our loop around and after some final interviews outside Vauxhall we were blessed with an early dismissal. Returning back to our homes we collated our data and began to answer key geographical questions in order to better fully understand what this redevelopment really means for the entire city and its inhabitants. William Palmer

THE PAULINE 2018 63

EXPEDITIONS

Philosophy Trip

Festival Site

HowTheLightGetsIn Philosophy and Music Festival trip

or the first time, the Theology and Philosophy department took a group of Lower Eighth philosophers to the HowTheLightGetsIn philosophy and music festival in Hay-on-Wye in the May Remedy 2018. This festival runs parallel to the betterknown Hay Festival, and hosts some of the most exciting intellectuals, politicians, thinkers and authors working today. As far as big names go, Noam Chomsky was there, as were Ed Miliband and Diane Abbott. Our Head of Department, Rufus Duits, has been working with the Institute of Art and Ideas, who organise the festival, with the aim of putting on a special programme of events for Year 12 pupils. Dr Duits featured in two of the panel discussions on the main programme, both concerned with the nature of reality and the possibility of our access to it. We took a large cohort of Paulines and Paulinas, all studying Pre-U Philosophy and stayed within walking distance of the festival in an eerie and rambling old manor house called Baskerville Hall. The weather was relatively kind to us - only a little bit of rain and a little bit of mud and a little bit of thunder and lightning. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the series

of panel discussions and talks - especially the ones on the ethics of pornography and whether religious belief is reasonable - and were particularly enthused by the talks from philosopher Julian Baggini and transhumanist Anders Sandberg. One highlight was watching mesmerising cult band Tankus the Henge, featuring a shirtless trombone player, in a hall that had been, only a little while earlier, the scene of rarefied intellectual discussion on the nature of goodness. Among other topics discussed were whether there is really any such thing as the self, whether a post-gender world is desirable, whether human enhancement by technology is a good thing, whether we can ever access reality as it is in itself and why evil is more exciting than goodness. Overall the trip – the first of its kind in recent school history - was deemed a great success, and plans are already afoot for arranging a similar programme aimed at Year 12 pupils at next year’s festival.

Cumberland Lodge philosophy retreat 2018 (Joint with SPGS)

his Easter, for the first time, the Theology and Philosophy Department ran a revision retreat for Upper Eighth philosophers to the gorgeous palace of Cumberland Lodge in the heart of Windsor Great Park. Cumberland Lodge was built by one of Oliver Cromwell’s Captains in 1650, after Cromwell divided up the Crown estate of Charles I. Today, it is run by an educational charity devoted to providing facilities and opportunities for free academic discussion of pressing ethical and social issues. We shared the beautiful venue with experimental psychologists from the University of Bristol. Our ambitious and intense three-day revision programme was lightened by a quiz, by the film Memento, a run down The Long Walk to Windsor Castle and back, and by plenty of good food. We were also lucky enough to have a visit from Dr Natasha McKeever, who left the 64 THE PAULINE 2018

Battlefields trip

Dr Brigham navigates the intricacies of the free will

department last year to take up a position at the University of Leeds. She gave our keynote talk tackling the question of whether a woman can rape a man. The weather was kind to us, especially on the last day when sessions took place on the sunny lawn in front of the Lodge. Overall, enormous amounts of philosophy was done, and the pupils - from both SPS and SPGS - found it immensely rewarding and useful for their examination preparation.

n the first day of our visit to the World War I battlefields our tour guide, Mr Robert Watson, led the group to the Messines Ridge Crater, a massive bomb crater spanning 250 feet in diameter and twelve feet deep. Robert brought the group to Sanctuary Wood, where we saw weaponry and photos from the War and we were allowed to walk through the original trenches. The trenches gave us a glimpse of the brutal nature of life on the front, with permanent mud on the bottom and long barbed wire lines. Robert then brought us to St Jan and Tyne Cot British cemeteries, which alone are the final resting places of tens of thousands of fallen soldiers. We were all overwhelmed by a sense of the sheer scale and devastation of the war, with rows and rows of headstones stretching a great distance. The group then attended a Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, where boys laid down a wreath for the fallen Old Paulines. At the beginning of the second day, the students visited the Lochnagar Crater: equally as impressive as the Messines Ridge Crater. The Devonshire trench gave us an understanding of trench life, with claustrophobic, long, narrow passages about seven feet high. Many more memorials and cemeteries were visited which allowed us to pay our respects to the overwhelming number of people who gave their lives. We were then led to Thiepval Memorial and visitors centre where we saw the names of people who had died during the Battle of the Somme carved into marble along the walls. Once again the immense amount of names gave us an indication of the mass devastation that occurred. After a visit to Ulster Tower and Newfoundland Park, respectively an Irish and Canadian Memorial, Robert showed us Sunken Lane, a natural high ground in No Man’s Land, and Sheffield Park: two areas where the war raged at its fullest extent. The highlight of the third day was the Passchendaele museum. It has a great display of many war artefacts and provides a useful overview of all that we had seen on the previous days. Especial thanks are offered to Mr Watts, Mr Seel, Mr Madden, and Mrs Latham for their company on this deeply moving and informative outing.

Alexander van Lanschot

Athletics Warm Weather Training Camp to Portugal

n Easter Monday, a group of 16 excited athletes met at the airport to travel to Portugal for the preseason athletics trip. We were all feeling very motivated to get some good training under our belts and leave rain and stress behind. The morning training sessions were great fun, despite the somewhat early start, and under the watchful eyes of our coaches, we were able to reap the benefits of the warm weather. One of the great things about the smaller than usual training group size was that the coaches were really able to watch each athlete and help them become better as an individual. There were also afternoon training sessions for the ‘multieventers’ and more experienced sprinters, which also proved to be very productive. It was very inspiring to be training at the same track as many other talented young athletes, as well as many Olympians. As a complement to our training, there was also time for relaxation and other activities. The senior students were able to revise in the afternoons and the squad enjoyed Go Karting and Mini Golf, as well as going to a water park, following a hard day of training. A special mention must go to Mr Maguire whose name is now up on a leaderboard in Portugal, following an exceptional round of mini-golf. The food at the hotel was optimal and the wonderful hospitality of Brown’s made it feel like home for the week, particularly the thoroughly enjoyable “pasteis” they had on

offer. At night, we were able to play touch rugby on the AstroTurf before bed and it was memorable to play sports at the same ground as England’s Rugby team. The hotel was very much equipped for some of the best sporting teams in the world and we benefited greatly from the provision of such excellent facilities. This was my 5th athletics trip to Portugal with the school, and yet it was without a doubt the most enjoyable and successful training camp I have experienced. I would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Maguire for his constant motivation and organisation of the squad, as well as Dr Hemery and Mr Blake. Dr Hemery, who

seems to know everything there is to know about athletics, set up a comprehensive training schedule and under his guidance we were all able to fully develop our athletic ability. Furthermore, Mr Blake managed to make sure no one got injured during the trip, a problem in recent years, and even managed to fix some pre-existing niggles that some of the athletes were feeling. I would also like to say thank you to Ollie Hill and Nicky Crompton, the captains of athletics. These two senior sprinters very much led the squad with both their great leadership and outstanding ability, and Ollie’s speech at the final dinner is sure to be remembered for a long time. Harry Grindle

U15A Cricket Tour to Sri Lanka

and they got their run, handing us our first defeat of the tour. The next day we set off for the second leg of the trip in Colombo. We stopped at a local tea plantation then enjoyed a lunch at an Elephant Orphanage, before setting off for a spice garden. It was a vital day of rest, before another great game the next day. Anosh Malik starred with the bat scoring 84, and they needed one run off the final delivery. They scampered a run but after it had all been worked out, not even wickets could separate the two teams, as it finished a tie, at 178 runs apiece. After two tense matches, the fifth match came as a much-needed break for the team. Facing the British School Colombo,

Anosh Malik

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ith a man already down with a tummy upset, 40 C heat barely dealt with and an outfield that roughly resembled gravel, the team walked off the field broken but victorious. We woke the next day and travelled to the famous Asgiriya Stadium. This time we batted first, trying to make the most of the early cool weather. A dominant win ensued, with a century from Akhil Sofat and a well-rounded bowling performance. Our final match was momentous: every run rewarded by an air horn. After an improbable comeback, with one ball remaining, they needed one run to snatch victory. A dot ball and the game would be ours. However, the ball was scuffed away

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EXPEDITIONS U15A cricket tour to Sri Lanka (continued)

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It was an honour to play both of these teams and to see what cricket meant to them

we achieved an impressive victory. Our final two matches were against teams with inspiring backgrounds. First, we took on the Foundation of Goodness XI, a team comprised of orphans from the 2004 Boxing

Day Tsunami. We were utterly destroyed in our only T20 of the trip, with 71 runs taken off our first 5 overs bowled, setting the tone for what would follow. This paled in comparison to the opposition’s fielding, however, as half

our wickets fell to direct hits or stumpings. Completely humbled, our final match would be at the Surrey Oval in Magonna, a stadium and community built in 2007. After the tsunami had hit Sri Lanka, many families lost their houses and were forced to live in the bush, so in 2005, an Asia XI captained by Sachin Tendulkar, played a Rest of World XI, captained by Brian Lara to try and raise funds to help these families. It was played at the Oval and raised over £1 million to help build this community. It was an honour to play both of these teams and to see what cricket meant to them as well as to try and understand what they would have been through. It was a gruelling but amazing tour and I would like to thank our guide, Tony Opatha and all the teachers who organised and went on this trip. Alex Powell

St George’s Park Football Tour

group of 40 pupils from the Fifth and Sixth Forms and four members of staff travelled to St George’s Park for a pre-season football tour at the beginning of the year. This was an ideal opportunity to prepare for the season ahead and get some match time in the rough squads that would play together over the course of the term. St George’s Park is the home of England’s 28 national teams. It is an impressive facility comprised of 13 outdoor grass and 4G pitches (one of which has the exact dimensions and surface of Wembley Stadium), one full size indoor 4G pitch and an indoor futsal facility. While on tour, we were lucky enough to use the incredible hydrotherapy suite. We all used the hot and cold contrast pools and the variable depth pool to perform exercises in; however, some were lucky enough to use the underwater treadmill. This is an extremely expensive piece of equipment that is used to help athletes recovering from injuries during the rehabilitation stage. While away on our three-day tour, we

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had 3 training sessions with FA coaches and 2 fixtures per team against three different sides. The footballing action began with an afternoon training session on the first day on the indoor 4G pitch. On the morning of the second day, we used the hydrotherapy suite at staggered times. After another training session in the afternoon, the St Paul’s U16A and U15A sides faced Burton Albion, a local academy, in an evening game, winning both fixtures (1-0 and 3-1). The morning of our final day was spent relaxing in the hotel by most, before checking out at around midday before our final training session. After this, we had our final meal in the hotel. The second fixture for the U15 squad was against Lichfield Cathedral School (winning 8-3), while the U16A and a combined U16B/U15B played Tamworth, (drawing 1-1 and losing 1-0 respectively). Overall, I am sure everyone involved would agree that this was a tour that was both a very enjoyable experience and useful for our football development. I look forward to seeing the results on the pitch! Greg Zoppos 5G

Football Senior Tour to Villarreal

n overtaxing 4am morning kicked off the 2018 football tour of Villarreal. A vast improvement on last year’s lavish tour to Bolton, sunny Spain welcomed 40 Paulines with a tough 2-hour training session. The Villarreal coaches put us through the gears as the Christmas turkey and airport breakfasts were worked off in scorching temperatures. This was followed by a tour of the majestic L’Estadio Della Ceramica,

Joseph Alfille-Cook playing Mendelsson’s Violin Concerto

HOCR 2017 Trip

n the first day of every academic year, a new senior squad gathers in the boathouse, champing at the bit to begin the season. The grand slams of the domestic season begin only in March with the Schools’ Head of the River, so it is important that the long winter be broken up. The Head of the Charles in the October Remedy is a great momentum-builder in this respect. In only a short time the group has to move from a sometimes-disparate gaggle of oarsmen with differing technical and psychological perspectives on the sport to a well-oiled machine, ready to compete on an international stage. Talk was rife of St Paul’s dominance for the 2017-18 season with so many returners from last year, but the weight of expectation was capably borne on the boys’ young shoulders. The athletes got their heads down and an excellent six weeks of training was the result. Shortly before our planned departure for the States, danger man Calvin Tarczy had to have an appendectomy and was sadly unable to race. Tom Horncastle stepped into

the 1st VIII and Andrew Mattimoe the 4+, and we were once again a full contingent. Unfazed, the group headed to Princeton for our usual prerace training camp. Beautiful weather accompanied both this productive period and the race itself. On race day, a strong tailwind was blowing down the course and the water was warm – both favouring fast times. Before the start, there was shouting and whooping in the boat. Surrounded by our opposition and in the dramatic setting of the Boston Basin, we flew through the start. The speed for the first mile down the Powerhouse straight was blistering. Through the middle, cox Axel de Boissard called for more to overtake Atlanta Crew and take the racing line before the last bend, and he got it. We were closing fast on Sarasota up ahead as well, he said, further boosting our

adrenaline. We buried ourselves in the final dash towards the finish, not wanting to have any unanswered questions after the race. On arrival back at the Harvard boathouse, we were greeted by impassive faces and scattered applause. Damn, we thought. In reality, no results were yet available – normally they are published live, hence our initial dismay. Content that we had given our all and the best crew would win, we debriefed and got changed. When news eventually came through there were roars of joy from all on the boat ramp – a win by a massive 11s and a record by 20s. Notably, the 4+ recorded their highest-ever finish for the second year in a row, with 12th. Leo Von Malaisé

the home of Villarreal, and for around 20 minutes, the home of gruelling Pauline press conferences. This continued at the Mestalla a Atdays the Bullshead few later when Finn Teoh and Luis De La Riva Brown went head to head over their ‘transfer war’. The Mestalla equally played host to a much less hostile matchup for Pauline viewing, in the form of Valencia vs Girona, a game that thankfully saw the home side win 2-1. With a fresh black strip, and muchimproved fitness, three Pauline teams were now ready for fixtures of their own. A David Nartey thunderbolt highlighted the first match of the tour, which saw the First Team lose in a tight 2-1 as the rustiness of a long rugby season reared its ugly head. The Second Team went one better, beating their respective opponents 3-0 while the Thirds

were routed 5-1. A leisurely game of bowling muffled our scattered sorrows and they were wholly washed away in undoubtedly the coldest pool in Spain as Mr O’Brien showcased his lifeguarding prowess. A few of these torturous hydrotherapy sessions and some mediocrely strenuous training sessions later, the mighty C.D Malilla awaited. After the longest coach journey in history, the First Team were cruelly robbed of their first win of pre-season by two goals that were, to quote Mr Warriner, “so offside they weren’t even in Spain”, in a thrilling 4-3 matchup. The Second Team lost 3-2 thanks to fill-in Goalkeeper Toby Depel’s brace into his own net and Mr Allen’s Thirds proved no more fortunate as they succumbed to a 2-1 loss. The matches proved an excellent insight into the Spanish game as shocking referees

and frequent diving stole the limelight. Nonetheless, there were clear signs of improvement in all teams just in time for the biggest fixture of the lot: beach football. A perfect end to the tour and a truly glorious display of British beach football saw twofooters flying, Mr Warriner diving and over-exuberant celebrations everywhere. Fortunately, for every student involved, the teachers’ team was not victorious but thank you to Mr Warriner, Mr O’Brien, Mr Allen and Mr Halstead for a thoroughly enjoyable tour, nevertheless. As the dust settled on another football tour, replacing the tepid Spanish evenings for cold Saturday mornings seemed all the more unappealing but Big Side beckoned and the foundations were set for another solid season of Spring Term football. Ben Ballard THE PAULINE 2018 67

EXPEDITIONS

Croatia/Montenegro WaterpoloTrip

or the past century, water polo has largely been dominated by Eastern Europe. Teams throughout Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, and other Eastern European countries are renowned for their technical skill that is taught to them from the age of five and sometimes younger. Hence their hard earned physical stamina and strength, and their aggressive and highly physical style of play. It is for exactly these reasons that over the October remedy, the St Paul’s Water Polo programme embarked on a training tour to some of the most successful and highly respected water polo clubs in the world. Our first stop was in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, a beautiful town sprawled along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Throughout the year, lane lines and goals are set up in the sea for people to play pick-up games of water polo. Herceg Novi is also home to the Jadran Water Polo Club, the single most successful water polo club in the world. After a brief tour of their facility and their trophies hall, we began training. The training was rigorous and when we mixed teams with the Jadran players for a training game, the Paulines got a taste of true Eastern European water polo. We stayed in Herceg Novi for a couple of days, allowing us to squeeze as much training in as we could at the gorgeous outdoor Jadran pool. Next, we boarded a bus set for Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dubrovnik hosts the Jug Water Polo Club – a heated rival to Jadran. It was there that we had the opportunity to play a number of training games against the Jug team and although we lost each one, the experience was

invaluable. On our final morning in Croatia we headed down to a small, weather-worn pool on the edge of the bay. Two concrete slabs extended out into the bay allowing old, battered goals to be strung up between them. Although the water was cold, the experience of getting to play in an ocean pool was exhilarating for the team. Not to mention that the cold water kept them working out even harder just to stay warm. Although this was primarily a training trip, no foreign tour would be complete without an opportunity to take in the cities and areas visited. In both towns the boys had

the opportunity to enjoy the coastline, peruse the local shops, and get a feel for the city. We took tours of an island monastery as well as the Dubrovnik Old Town. All the while we were fortunate to enjoy beautiful weather and clear sunny skies. While the team returned to London tired and physically worn out, they also returned with a fresh enthusiasm and desire to improve and train harder. The boys came home inspired, having acquired a taste for the dedication and perseverance that characterizes the highest levels of water polo Nick Hoversten

Gold Duke of Edinburgh Training expedition to the Lake District

s Easter weekend came to a close the eager, Gold Duke of Edinburgh contenders witnessed the ongoing destruction of the old General Teaching Block and the school’s new ‘junkyard’ before setting off on a six hour journey to the Lake District. After a pitstop for McDonalds and a confrontation with some Blackburn fans at the services, we arrived at Patterdale Hall. There was a quick dash to locate the wifi box, and a flutter of snapchat messages, before we were put to work examining how to pack our rucksacks for the next day. On the first hike, Cooper truly got to 68 THE PAULINE 2018

grips with nature and the lack of facilities found in ‘Wild Country’. On the second day of training during a hike into what felt like Everest and after many, many slips and falls, the group’s confidence was truly tested and some were beginning to question this undertaking. This was made especially challenging by the cold downpours the ‘Beast from the East’ was bringing. However, a rousing speech from Mr Morland on how to set up a tent soon lifted our spirits again and we were ready to fight another day. This was possibly the longest day, but the reward of Liverpool vs City in the

the group’s confidence was truly tested and some were beginning to question this undertaking Champions League motivated us to continue. George, Max and Ivan led the group and navigated expertly through streams and sheep alike, enabling us to reach a very misty Red Tarn. However, feeling I had not contributed my bit for the day, I made an audacious

Bouldering in Fontainebleau

O freedom to socialise amongst ourselves in the evenings. Another highlight of the trip were the evening activities. These ranged from football tournaments to watching an ice hockey match. Such pursuits kept the trip interesting, serving as a break from the skiing, as well as a perfect way to finish the day. As they varied from day to day, they stayed exciting, for example, the fourth form football team beating a fifth form team in the football tournament. An enduring benefit of this trip has been the new friendships it created. I stayed in a room of both Fourth and Fifth formers, and I found that we built a friendship over the week despite the age gap, not only talking to each other in the room but skiing together as well. I also bonded with other boys of my age, through eating meals together, skiing together, and socialising in the evening. During this trip, I not only enjoyed myself skiing, but I found it was a perfect way to spend time with friends in a different setting. The hotel was near perfect and the experiences even better. I would highly recommend it for students of all ages. Alexander Henke

manoeuvre across the stream away from the rest of group, only to find myself landing in said stream. At this point the group discovered the benefits of a group shelter and how quickly it can warm you up, being somewhat reluctant to emerge from it after lunch. However, it was worth it to see the view

of Red Tarn as the mist cleared to show a dazzling frozen tarn sitting amongst the craggy peaks. By day four the rain finally stopped and we were rewarded with some spectacular views of the Lake District, now topped with a dusting of snow, as well as some dry boots. The following two

days brought a mini expedition putting into practice all we had learnt, which we thankfully survived and the rain held off and now we look forward to completing our practice expedition in the Brecon Beacons and assessed expedition in the Yorkshire Dales. Luis de la Riva Brown

Ski Trip Report

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t the beginning of the Easter holidays twenty one boys and six teachers met at 5 am in Heathrow terminal 2. Over the next days, we would enjoy ourselves on and off the slopes. The first to mention must surely go to the skiing itself. The instructors were willing to accommodate our desires and lead us to different places every day. They were very attentive both to our development and to our enjoyment of the trip. Thus, they took us across valleys and into different restaurants for lunch. Although the high temperatures had a pernicious effect on the snow conditions, we always had fun, and we used the first few runs in the morning, when the snow was the best, to try to get the highest top speed. Secondly, was the hotel we stayed in was marvellous. The accommodation was very modern while still maintaining the atmosphere of a youth hostel. The food was up to standard and we certainly liked the facilities, whether it be playing ping-pong, poker, football or jumping on the trampolines. After skiing, we could also relax in our rooms, chatting with our roommates. We had the

ur annual bouldering trip to Fontainebleau, in France, took place during the last weekend of September. Unlike in recent years, the weather was cooling off quickly and our luck finally ran out with the rain. Fontainebleau Forest, 35km south of Paris, is a gorgeous area of sandstone boulders, distributed higgledy-piggledy amidst a fragrant, undulating pine forest. It is a very peaceful place, populated largely by climbers, runners, and yogis. We were picked up from school on Friday evening by our tour bus, uneventfully crossed the channel at Dover, and slept rather fitfully until we arrived in Milly-la-Forêt early on Saturday morning, where I stocked up on patisserie for the sleeping pupils. This year, Tom Wyche’s birthday fell on the Sunday, so I also bought possibly the most beautiful chocolate cake that anybody on the trip had ever seen. The climbing was as brilliant as always, although interrupted every so often by rain that made the boulders slippery and unclimbable. Luckily, they dry off very quickly, so we could get swiftly back to work. One notable ascent was made by me - a vicious and precarious slab climb that had proved intractable for the last four years or so, even though I had seen some pupils levitate up it in ways that I could not understand. I finally managed it this time, when - curiously - it was a bit damp. Luke Walters did his obligatory party piece to impress the locals: an enormous dyno move that requires total commitment, precise hands, and a

EXPEDITIONS Bouldering in Fontainebleau (continued) brief warping of the space-time continuum. Inspired, several others tried too, to varying degrees of success and panic. Newcomers made impressively quick progress given the conditions. This year we ordered our Saturday evening pizzas a day in advance to jump the queue, which meant that not so much slacklining was practiced before we were full and tired - although the cramped bunks of the bus don’t beckon like most beds do. Sunday’s climbing was just as intense, and by early afternoon, fatigued and sore, we were on the way home. UK drum n’ bass act Sigma (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=KD5fLb-WgBU) had been on the tour bus just before us, we learned, but we didn’t tell the pupils about what they appeared to have left behind at the back of the fridge.

Harry Shaw considers his options

Scotland Climbing Trip

iving in a bustling city like London surrounded by buildings and busy roads offers little opportunity for interesting outdoor activities. As a result, short breaks from the city’s noisy streets can be both refreshing and entertaining and, with such geography as the United Kingdom has to offer, it is a shame we do not take the time to appreciate it more often. As the first term came to an end, pupils from St Paul’s School and St Paul’s Girls’ School ventured up to Scotland’s snowy Highlands for three exciting days of hiking, mountaineering and ice climbing. With the aim of becoming competent and independent climbers by the end of our stay, our local guides, Mike and Donald, ensured that we were sufficiently challenged whilst also teaching us the basics. In so doing, they made sure to emphasise the crucial ideas behind mountain climbing: teamwork, safety and mindset. Every step we were to take, we would keep these ideas in mind. Our first ascent of one of Glen Coe’s ridges consisted of a steep and snowy hike to its col before a rocky summit to one of the peaks. At first, the climb seemed intimidating for us new climbers but thankfully, Mike and Donald’s enthusiasm throughout our journey kept us excited and helped dissipate any preconceived anxiety. 70 THE PAULINE 2018

The day served to engrave us with proper mountaineering technique, which included footwork, layering, keeping warm, using a climbing axe, being aware of weather and climbing conditions. However, nothing had prepared us for the tiredness and physical fatigue we would experience after having climbed back down. With these foundational skills, we set out on the second day to climb a more challenging route, which called for a third guide to join our group and for us to divide into smaller sets. The ascent involved

technical equipment such as harnesses, ropes and crampons, as well as the use of regular anchors. In preparation, our guides taught us the three essential knots that we would be using: the clove hitch, the Italian hitch and the figure of eight. On top of this, we learnt about setting secure anchors and climbing in teams. The trip gave us the opportunity to alleviate any leftover stress from the year’s first term whilst taking part in unique activities that we could never have experienced during our busy day-to-day lives. Jonah Vairon

MUSIC

Concert Highlights As we look back on the year’s concerts and events, it always seems like the time has fl own – and yet the sheer mass of musical achievements reminds us of how much time and effort went into those fi nal products. This year has been another stellar year for St Paul’s musicians, running the musical gamut from those who have just started out in an ensemble to those who have run their own.

Performances during the Autumn Ensembles Concert

Autumn Term

Now a familiar event at the start of the year and with its own review in these pages, the Joint Concert was the first musical event of the school year. Early in October was another great established fixture, John Colet Day, in which SPS took the lead, providing a fanfare and leading the massed choir in performances of Bruckner and Monteverdi (who celebrated his 450th anniversary in 2017). The department was then delighted to be a part of the Thinking Queer fortnight of events, with a celebration of the music of Benjamin Britten. Curated expertly by Barnaby Martin, who runs two of our choral groups and is himself a composer inspired by Britten’s example, this concert featured collaborations with SPJ musicians and was interspersed with readings illuminating aspects of Britten’s life and work. A truly unique and focused event, it proved very popular with the audience that joined us. The Autumn Ensembles Concert, a familiar mix of experienced and new groups and, for many, the first concert at St Paul’s

Daniyal Sachee… has been a strong ambassador for St Paul’s music through his section principal’s seat in the National Youth Orchestra

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as a new Fouth Former or Lower Eighth, was suitably eclectic, with everything from Handel to Lennon & McCartney on the programme, via an arrangement of a Rossini overture for massed flutes! Another pillar of this term is the Winter Concert, which this year featured a performance of Mozart’s Oboe Concerto from Daniyal Sachee. Daniyal has been a strong ambassador for St Paul’s music through his section principal’s seat in the National Youth Orchestra, and he has enriched both major orchestras since he arrived at St Paul’s. It was a great pleasure THE PAULINE 2018 71

MUSIC

Concert highlights ▲

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to hear him perform a concerto and to truly take centre stage. Elsewhere on the programme, the Chamber Orchestra performed Stravinsky’s challenging Pulcinella Suite, conducted by Tom Evans. The Chapel Choir and Band offered the Irving Berlin medley that had gone down well under different personnel in the Summer Festival, and Motley Croon sang two a cappella numbers as well. A very full concert was concluded with Brahms’ epic fourth symphony, performed by the Symphony Orchestra. Our jazz musicians gave their usual sell-out gig at The Bull’s Head, with a full range of ensembles and combos showing what great depth of talent there is in our jazz programme. It was great to hear them later in the year at Kitson Hall as part of the Barnes Festival and the Upper Eighth quartet of Sawyer Adler, Ned Ashcroft, Josh Greensmith, and Finn O’Sullivan will be particularly missed and have been a great outfit in their own right at events and gigs throughout the year. The Chapel Choir, Big Band, Concert Choir, and Junior A Cappella Group performed in the Christmas Festival alongside colleagues in Drama and the excellent staff band Steel Pedagogy. A mix of carols, candlelight, fake snow and glitz, the evening had a wonderfully festive feel, as well as providing the final farewell performance of Barnaby Martin’s two choral groups (he left at the end of the Autumn Term with the music department’s best wishes for the future).

Spring Term

In addition to the usual evensongs, the Spring Term featured our Music Competition and a concert of choral and

Summer Concert

instrumental music. This latter concert was a collaboration between SPS musicians and our community choir, the Colet Choral Society. Two choral pieces by Fauré, the Cantique de Jean Racine and the everpopular and transcendental Requiem, were complemented by Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and a little-known piece for tenor

Barnes Young Musician of the Year Success for SPS!

n Saturday 10 March, seven Pauline musicians from the Fourth & Fifth forms competed in the Barnes Young Musician of the Year Competition (Tommaso Bailo, Eashan Shah, Robert Simmons, Aidan Ferrand, Benjamin Law, Aidan Choi, and Calvin Leung). This competition is part of the annual Barnes Music Festival and was this year adjudicated by renowned conductor and educator, Hilary Davan Wetton, who was extremely impressed with the ability of the SPS cohort. Robert Simmons received a special commendation for his fine performance of music by Frank Bridge, and Calvin Leung won the overall competition with a thrilling performance of Rachmaninoff ’s Prelude in G minor. CMTG

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and orchestra by Finzi, A Farewell to Arms. The tenor soloist on this occasion was Daniel Atkinson (Upper Eighth) who, with Thomas McGowan (who sang the baritone solo in the Requiem), has been a major stalwart of choral fixtures at St Paul’s. The Spring Term ended with another Ensembles Concert, with a variety of chamber,

a highlight was… the Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5

choral and orchestral performances, as well as a ragtime piece played by sixteen hands on one piano – surely as much a theatrical performance as a musical one!

Summer Term

The Summer opened as usual with a flurry: the culmination of the Spring Term’s Music

Competition and the Summer Concert happening early on before boys inevitably departed for Study Leave. In the latter, a highlight was surely the Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, under the baton of Craig Greene. Craig leaves St Paul’s at the end of the year to take up the post of Director of

Music at Stowe School, and it was a fitting farewell as a conductor that drew a warm ovation from the audience. After Remedy, our junior musicians took centre stage in the annual Fourth and Fifth Form Charity Concert, which raised nearly £600 for the Sistema England charity and which featured a highly capable Junior Symphony Orchestra in a lusty rendition of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks. Another highlight of this concert was the strong jazz talent emerging in the Fourth Form, making the loss of the strong musicians in the Upper Eighth a little easier to bear. Finally, the OP and Leavers’ Concert reminded us all of the talent we shall be missing next year from the Upper Eighth, as well as bringing back some familiar faces from the recent past. The end of the year is a suitable time to reflect on those who will leave us for the next exciting challenges in their lives. Craig Greene is of course amongst them, but we have three musicians who will go on to study the subject at university, two choral scholars at prestigious Oxbridge colleges, and so many instrumentalists and singers who will go on to enrich the musical scene around them. To them, we offer our best wishes and look forward to working with the musicians who continue to come through and carry on their good work. MDW

External Evensongs

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his year the Chamber Choir embarked on two external Evensongs in addition to their weekly diet of Eucharist services and special services as part of the school. For these, the Chamber Choir joined with SPJ Recital Choir, bolstered additionally by Mr Waterson and ably accompanied at the organ by SPJ Director of Music, Philip Berg. On Saturday 27 January we braved torrential rain to give Evensong at Worcester College, Oxford. We were greeted by Assistant Chaplain Matthew Cheung Salisbury, who led the service. The sumptuous chapel, which dates from 1720

MUSIC ▲

External Evensongs (continued) but was lavishly redecorated in the 1860s to high Victorian tastes, was filled with family, friends, and recent Old Paulines Sam Turner and Anuraag Vazirani. The following Monday, the choir gave the annual Feast Evensong for Old Paulines at St Paul’s Cathedral. With the repertoire of Walmisley and Maurice Greene (a former chorister of St Paul’s Cathedral and himself an Old Pauline) having had such a strong outing the previous Saturday, the acoustic of St Paul’s held no fears, and the service was warmly appreciated by all who attended. Thanks must go to Mr Berg, Mr Waterson, and Dr Evans (who accompanied the Saturday evensong in Oxford), as well as to all the boys for the hard work that went into preparing for these special services. MDW

Singing at the Annual Feast Service at St Paul’s

Lunchtime concert performances at FiSH

id-June saw our annual charity concert presented by the Fourth and Fifth formers. Plenty of young and emerging talent was clear for all to see in performances which included chamber music, jazz ensembles and the combined forces of Wind and String Orchestras to make a full-size Junior Symphony Orchestra finishing the concert with a spirited rendition of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. George MonroDavies, Teddy MonroDavies, Jonathan Wang, Sebastian Thomas and Cameron Ashton deserve special mention as they were all performing in at least three items each! The fourth form string quartet of Aidan Choi, Ismail Mardin, Alessandro d’Orazio and Felix Waller gave a particularly impressive performance and they clearly have masses of potential to become the leading Pauline musicians of the future. The concert raised over £500 for Sistema England, a charity, founded by Julian Lloyd Webber, that seeks to transform the lives of children, young people and their communities through the power of music making, as part of the international El Sistema movement founded in Venezuela. An impressive effort and it is going to be very exciting to see these young musicians’ talents developing over the coming years. MDW 74 THE PAULINE 2018

Music Competition

n Sunday 4 March the music department hosted the annual SPS Music Competition. Pauline musicians presented a wide range of music which illustrated their technical prowess and musical awareness. The array of musicianship on display was of an exceptional level, and all performers helped turn the event into a wonderful festival of music. We were delighted to welcome John York and Marc Dooley to adjudicate this year’s competition. John is a distinguished concert pianist and former Head of Keyboard at St Paul’s Girls’ School and Marc is a respected conductor and music editor. Their comments and insights were particularly valuable and we are extremely grateful for their contribution to the day. The winners of each class progressed to a grand final adjudicated by renowned organist, Jonathan Kingston. The final took place on 18 April and featured a fantastic selection of music across a diverse range of styles. The winner of the junior competition was Fourth Former, Benjamin Law (oboe) who performed two pieces by Jacob and Ravel with exquisite poise and control. The senior competition was won by Lower Eighth Noah Zhou (piano) who gave a commanding performance of Petrouchka by Stravinsky. Noah Zhou

In rehearsal

Joint Concert The joint concert is one of the highlights of the St Paul’s musical year and takes place almost before school has got going.

glory. The dynamic contrasts in Et in unum filium were fully explored, creating a thrilling experience for the audience before the delicately meditative soloists’ work in the Et incarnatus est, fleshed out by the chorus in the Et crucifixus; the dramatic change of pace into the Et resurrexit was handled brilliantly. The Agnus Dei began with a moment of tranquil radiance, the oboe superbly played by Daniyal Sachee soaring, before the soprano solo – here magnificently sung by Maya Banerjee – entered and interwove her melodic line with it. The Mass ended on a

Royal Philharmonic Society/Duet Group Prize

oah Zhou (Lower Eighth) won the prestigious RPS/Duet Prize for Young Instrumentalists, competing in two close-fought rounds on piano. A national competition established in 2016, it is a great honour for Noah to have won through in this second iteration of the biennial prize. He wins a cash prize as well as a performance opportunity at a major London venue in the forthcoming 2018-19 season. MJW THE PAULINE 2018 75

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ozart’s Mass in C Major, here conducted by Mark Wilderspin, lies half way between a fullscale solemn mass and a short one: it has a grand ceremonial setting and full quota of instruments, but also a compact structure. It also combines operatic qualities with profoundly spiritual tones. The explosive

opening of the Kyrie, with choir and orchestra entering together was spinetingling, and as the movement progressed, the soloists were introduced to the piece, creating a perfectly balanced interplay with all four showing remarkable control and poise. The Gloria began with some very precise orchestral playing with a high level of dynamic control, aptly introducing pairs of soloists singing in harmony, almost driving the orchestra and choir through the celebration of God’s (and the Emperor’s?)

MUSIC Joint Concert (continued) triumphant, almost martial, note with choir, soloists and orchestra building together to the magnificent finale. Sibelius’s first symphony is in E minor, a key associated with desolation and gloom. Its extraordinary orchestral textures and intensity, set against eloquent, often painful, solo instrumental melodies, were given full expression by the musicians of both schools under Leigh O’Hara’s guidance. In the first movement there were moments when the flutes sounded almost like the human voice calling over the orchestra, when the orchestral cellos created sounds like melted dark chocolate, when we were carried away

Zimbe! Music Concert

there were moments when the flutes sounded almost like the human voice by expressive slow crescendos building from beneath. Particularly striking was the harp and the muted horn melody, which introduced a tranquil moment before the movement built to its ominous close. The opening of the second movement is very exposed pian(issim)o, but the orchestra rose magnificently to the challenge with perfect tuning and timing, harps, clarinets, flutes, oboes, and clarinets all singing out in what one critic has described as ‘the birdsong of the winds’. The extreme tonal differences of the third movement, an anxious scherzo, were given full rein, with phrases in the woodwind having an almost disturbing Stravinsky-like quality.

Tigertones Workshop

n Friday 3 November, St Paul’s Music Department were privileged to play host to one of Princeton University’s leading all-male a cappella groups, the Tigertones, a group that has sung to two US presidents. They gave a workshop to the combined forces of the Junior a cappella and Concert choirs who had the opportunity to sing with the group as well as to hear them perform part of their London tour programme. It was an exciting event, and it was very clear that the boys relished the chance to work with this exceptional ensemble. BCBM

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As part of the B arnes Music Festival, Zimbe! came to the Wathen Hall in March. Students from B arnes Primary School, SPJ and SPS joined together with the B arnes Community Choir and the Rodolfus Choir to perform in this uplifting celebration of African music. Led by composer Alexander L’Estrange, traditional songs and infectious accompaniments took the performers and audience on a whirlwind tour of life in an African village. The fourth movement, a Fantasia, begins with a lush string motif, offset by crashing trombone chords. The movement develops like the great swell of a melting glacier, with mineral sounds from the brass, and short, unfinished, and apparently unrelated phrases from different sections, but throughout the orchestra kept a clear eye on the over-arching shape of the movement,

with the series of unexpected silences managed to perfection. Asha Badale’s superb timpani playing drove the piece towards its conclusion, an unexpected and understated final moment. This was orchestral playing of a very high standard indeed and as one fellow audience member said as we were leaving: ‘That was phenomenal!’ EJTW

SOCIETIES Bridge

his year has been an encouraging one for bridge at St Paul’s, although not quite reaching the heights of last year’s successes. With only two of the eight players from last year’s top two teams remaining, it was always going to be a challenge to regroup, but as our regular Tuesday and Friday sessions continued, as well as the Monday activity, it seemed that that would be a challenge to which we would be able to rise. The first event of the year was the traditional staff vs. pupils match. Although after the first half scores were even, in the second half of the match, the pupils, represented by Nicholas Heymann, Julius Bannister, Eduard Hueffer, and Liam Reed, managed to storm ahead to win by 39 IMPs. The spring term saw more competitive bridge opportunities; the first of these was a match against Reading School, which saw both teams of mixed ability lose. Next up was the annual Surrey Schools Cup, of which St Paul’s were the reigning champions. This year saw the entry of Westminster School to the event, and it was Westminster who came out on top, roundly beating our A team of Nicholas Heymann, Julius Bannister, Max Groeller, and Liam Reed (who came second). The culmination of schools’ bridge is the

Spot the hand!

Schools’ Cup at Loughborough every year, and this year was no exception, with two teams travelling up to compete. After four matches the A team of Nicholas Heymann, Roman Evans, Julius Bannister, and Max Groeller narrowly missed out on placing in the top four; they went on to finish second in the plate, with the B team of Max Fawcett, Otto Heese, Eduard Hueffer, and Rehman Oomer joint fifth. Bridge colours were subsequently awarded to Julius Bannister and Max Groeller.

Thanks must go to Mr Lyster for the encouragement and time he has given over the course of the year. Over my five years at St Paul’s I have hugely enjoyed playing bridge both with other members of the school and against other schools competitively, and it has been a pleasure to serve as captain for the last two years. Luckily, the future of the club is bright and there are several enthusiastic fourth formers who will do well over the coming years. Nicholas Heymann

The Resurgence of Chess

his year has seen a reinvigoration of chess at St Paul’s, with a plethora of tournaments, guest speakers, and training sessions with grandmaster John Emms. In the autumn we hosted a tournament vs. the grandmaster, where upcoming chess prodigies lined up to try their hand at beating him (alas, to no avail). The spring term saw two tournaments, a singles and a doubles, as well as club chess. The tournaments received a massive reception as the room was quite literally overflowing with keen players who wanted nothing more than to feel the exhilaration of sitting down at a board and the rush of victory at the word ‘checkmate’. These emotions were heightened by the fact that a box of 12 Krispy Kremes awaited the victors as a prize. Congratulations to William Lovell who won the singles tournament, and to Anish Ramakrishnan and Erasmus Kahane who won the doubles tournament. In the summer, Rohit Majumdar, Anish Ramakrishnan, Liam Reed, and William Lovell took part in the finals of the ‘Team Chess Problem Solving Championship’, and

they were looking to retain the title that the school had won last year. Going into the last round, they were on their way to winning, having not dropped a point. However, they failed to get any points in the last round, dropping into third. They look forward to competing for the title next year; for now, we have attached the first question from the last round if you would like to have a go! You have to find a way for white to mate in two moves against any defence possible. (The rest of the problems and all of the solutions can be found at bit.ly/TeamChess.) Towards the end of term we find the United Kingdom and Ireland Girls and

Team Problem Solving Medals

Boys Chess Championships, which some Paulines will no doubt be attending. We wish them good luck in their endeavours to bring home the title. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Chess Committee and Mr. Hewitt, without whom none of this would have been possible. Maximilian Skoczylas and Liam Reed.

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SOCIETIES

Classical Society

Credit for organising the latter talk goes to Ilyas Mardin, who became acquainted with the speaker while on an archaeological dig over the summer. Professor Phiroze Vasunia (KCL) discussed images of the Greek god Dionysus found in Gandhara (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan), while Professor Stephen Colvin (UCL) looked at the overlap between literature and linguistics in his discussion of the development of Greek prose writing.

ttendees of the Classical Society this year were served up the usual exotic smorgasbord of topics, with a programme that ranged into several fascinating areas well beyond the usual parameters of a school syllabus. Talks on literary topics included: Mrs Emily Evans (SPJ) on Tibullus and Roman love elegy, Dr Luke Houghton (UCL) on Virgil and Art; Dr Sarah Burges Watson, on the Orphic Argonautica; and Dr Luke Pitcher (Oxford) on Tacitus Annals I. Two talks dealt with ancient archaeology: Dr John Pearce (KCL) introduced us to the Vindolanda Tablets, while Professor Catherine Morgan (Oxford) spoke on excavations in Macedonia during World War I.

Data Science Society

ntering its second year, the Data Science Society attracted new members eager to learn the tool that has become fundamental to modern science, a field that transcends disciplines and has a staggeringly wide array of applications, from bioinformatics to

Debate Soc

peaker One: Honourable chair, ladies, and gentlemen, today I am going to prove to you why debating is great. Firstly, debating helps you keep up with many important things in current affairs, ranging from Trump’s policy in North Korea to private healthcare. While debating, you discuss these issues and argue for or against them. After this, having looked into these issues thoroughly, you can form your own opinion on them. Opposition Speaker: Point of information! However, wouldn’t you rather be going to other societies that are much more specific to certain subjects like MedSoc. Speaker One: Not true! Debating occurs on a Tuesday lunchtime in E2 and on Monday 78 THE PAULINE 2018

Left: Mosaic of Virgil from Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia), depicting the poet flanked by the Muses of history and tragedy. It is the oldest surviving portrait of Virgil (3rd century AD).

geographic information systems. Members spent the first part of the academic year learning the basics of coding and data manipulation in the programmes R and Excel, developing our abilities week by week until we soon found ourselves doing complex data manipulation and statistical analysis. Each week brought a new task and a new challenge, all of which stemmed directly from real-world scientific applications, meaning that we always understood the relevance of what we were doing, no matter how convoluted it may

have seemed. Our work culminated in an analysis of data on painted turtle nesting ecology collected in the field between 1989 and 2006, an exercise that proved to be quite revealing as distinct patterns began to emerge. Whilst we did not manage to achieve our ultimate goal of publishing our own paper, the society is still a young one and, being one that teaches skills so fundamental to modern science, one that will certainly bring exciting developments over the coming years.

after school if you want some more practice with our coach, Duncan. Therefore it does not clash with any of the main societies, and so you can go to debating without missing out on the other things that the school has to offer. Debating is great for everyone, if you are in the any year of the school; you

been very successful in recent years. We attend competitions that are held at LSE, KCL, Imperial University, UCL, Durham, Dulwich. ICYD, SOAS and in the eighth form, Oxford or Cambridge. We normally do very well in these competitions, and this year Lower Eighth and Upper Eighth teams got through to the national finals of the Oxbridge competitions. Therefore, when you come to debating, you can learn from these very experienced Eighth Formers, making you better so you can continue St Paul’s successful debating track record into the future! So to summarize: I have proven that debating is good for you in that it teaches you a lot but at the same time it is an opportunity to have fun with your friends. Thank you for listening and I urge you to attend!

there really is no good reason not to do it! can come along with some friends and debate together as one always debates in pairs or in threes. Therefore you can spend time with your friends, have fun, and learn about important events all at the same time: there really is no good reason not to do it! Furthermore, St Paul’s debating has

Sachin Bhardwaj Lock (U8th)

Hassan Sachee and Anthony Saidenberg

Discussion on Old Paulines during WW2

Dissection Club

uring the past term, we have dissected a number of different organisms, from Pacific rock oysters to African land lnails to octopuses. Each one revealed the fascinating intricacies behind the working of all these organisms, few of which are focused upon in the school syllabus. We began by deconstructing the outer layers of the organisms and were given instruction booklets to help us do this without damaging anything important. We then looked around the internal components of the organism, with the option of studying anything we found interesting under the microscopes, which helped to reveal even more detail about these creatures’ anatomy. One of the most engaging dissections was that of the African land snail. After removing the shell, we attempted to find the

vital organs within. We finished by injecting a blue dye into the pulmonary artery, which infiltrated the network of blood vessels and made the detailed system more visible, revealing how the circulatory system functions in real life. The penultimate dissection was a starfish, which I found especially fascinating. After removing the muscle tissue, we uncovered the hydroskeleton within – a cylindrical skeleton within the organism that is filled with fluid (an element of its water vascular system). This is an hydraulic system within the starfish which helps it to move, carry out gas exchange, and manipulate food, and it is only found in certain sea creatures. The final dissection that we did was upon an octopus, focusing specifically on its neural network. This was compelling, as octopuses have some of the most complex nervous systems among all organisms, two thirds of

An African land snail

its neurons being found in the nerve cords of its arms, rather than in its brain. Dissection Club has taught us much about the complexities behind a number of extremely interesting organisms and helped to bring what we have learnt in school lessons to life with hands-on science. It was an enjoyable and engaging way to spend a lunch break. I would like to thank Mr Burrows for taking time to arrange the dissections and for organising the club, providing a very informative and interesting variety of subjects for dissection.

Joseph Schull 5F

MedSoc

nce again, we were treated to a tremendous array of thoughtprovoking and inspiring talks. Across the thirteen, two particular themes emerged. The first was the importance of scientific research in developing treatments and the need to shape policies according to evidence. Susan Renouf shared the latest figures on e-cigarette use and their surprising, yet proven, ability to reduce smoking. Professor Sir Nick Wright offered a startling new view of cancer as an evolutionary process, each mutation creating a new competition for dominance between the tumour cells – a view which suggests how current approaches to chemotherapy might be adjusted to increase survival time. Dr Nick Linton, who moved into medicine after an engineering degree, explained how a new approach to visualising recordings of the heart muscle’s electrical activity had helped physicians find the source of and cure irregular heart-beats. Dr Martin Lewis discussed a different aspect of heart damage – why some patients respond to treatment and recover, while others do not. He showed the brilliant scientific detective work and elegant experimentation that allowed the underlying biochemical issues to be revealed, leading to a potentially game-changing improvement in treatment outcomes. Dr Sharmini Desigan and Dr Shade Parsapour explained how the new approach of minimally invasive surgery was now offering

Dr Elisa Lewington-Gower discusses the procedures for deciding who gets a lung transplant

cheaper, more effective, safer treatments for some conditions. Mr Michael Gilhooley discussed how basic scientific research was feeding into better treatments for blindness; Dr Elisa Lewington-Gower walked us through the brutally logical procedures for deciding who gets a lung transplant. The other theme for the year was the sobering realities of delivering healthcare. In a first for MedSoc, we had two GPs, one private and one NHS, comparing their working weeks. Dr Justine Panay, after many years in the NHS, had moved to Harley Street, and on balance, seemed to gain more job satisfaction than her colleague, Dr Alex Patton, an NHS GP partner. We had retired ophthalmologist, Dr K N Kutty (Darshan Arjun’s grandfather) drop in to give us a flavour of medicine in India, while Dr Emily Wise gave a moving account of her time battling drug-resistant TB in Uzbekistan, with severely limited resources provided

entirely through Médecins Sans Frontières. Dr Camilla Kingdon revealed the huge challenge of fighting bacterial sepsis in newborns, even in Britain’s finest hospitals, and Dr Akib Khan managed to convey some of the challenges Junior Doctors are facing on the new contract. The highlight of the year was the evening Q&A session with brain surgeon and awardwinning author, Henry Marsh. Tickets sold out within an hour. Henry reflected with his characteristically brutal honesty on his experiences in the operating theatre, his fascination with the workings of the brain, and his own mortality. Now he is no longer a full-time NHS employee, he also took the opportunity to lament what he sees as the lack of political leadership required to respond adequately to the ever-growing demand for healthcare from an ageing population. It was a treat to hear his views on anything and everything. SJR THE PAULINE 2018 79

SOCIETIES

GeogSoc

At the language cafe

EuroSoc

his has been an exciting, fruitful and interdisciplinary year for Eurosoc! We began in a celebratory mood with a cultural fair in the new atrium. Showcasing the culinary, cultural, and linguistic delights of the French, Spanish, Italian, German, Greek, Russian, and Mandarin community, the day was a huge success! Throughout the year, Eurosoc has had the pleasure to hear from lecturers, teachers and students from multiple disciplines. Students spoke on personal research, from the significance of Napoleonic societal reforms, to the impact of Dostoyevsky’s writing on Russia. Mr Williams’ offered fascinating insights into the writings of Camus, Mr Cairns’ discussed Hungarian linguistics, the language assistants presented on the celebration of Carnival across the world: we have been exposed to a plethora of enlightening cultural insights! Outside speakers have been similarly varied. Uli Hesse – renowned German producer and director – talked to Germanists and film-enthusiasts on the history of German cinematography. Professor Richard Maber

of Durham University gave the inaugural Languages Faculty lecture to pupils from both SPS and SPGS, discussing the presentation of tragedy in French, Italian and German society and identifying similarities in European theatre over a period of a thousand years. As debates over the customs union and Irish border escalated, we were excited to invite OP Jonathan Lis – Deputy Director of the political think tank British Influence – to discuss the future of Britain after leaving the EU. Claiming that it was almost impossible to have no deal and arguing for the necessity of a soft Brexit, he gave an incredibly informative talk for students from many departments and raised intriguing questions about British relations with the EU. Recently we also held the inaugural SPS Language Café – a fantastic opportunity for the St Paul’s languages community to enjoy a lunch made up of their respective countries’ food and participate in informal conversations with other students and teachers. This year been provided great insight into the inter-relationship of language and culture in multiple aspects of society, vastly broadening the knowledge of all attending SPS pupils. We cannot wait for the next!

Kabir Bawa discusses urban development

eogSoc continued its programme of wide ranging talks and activities for all keen SPS geographers. Speakers included experts from industry, academia, and policy-making. The 2017/18 calendar kicked off with a timely talk on the Geography of the EU by Simona Lammarino of the LSE, discussing the issue of migration, and the possible effects on both the EU and the UK of Brexit. This was followed by Richmond Park’s MP, Zac Goldsmith, whose wide ranging Q&A discussed issues in London such as Uber and housing, as well as his mayoral campaign and his views on the leadership of the Conservative Party. Other highlights included Aon’s Georgie Tuffin who talked about working as a catastrophe modeller: a great practical example of Geography in action.

Senior Historical & John Churchill Societies

his year has seen the school’s history societies reach unheralded levels of activity. The Senior Historical Society has met thirteen times since September and has welcomed speakers of the highest quality from across the UK. Addressing audiences mostly composed of Eighth Formers and regularly numbering twenty or more, various professors and lecturers whose work is essential reading for the Pre-U course have spoken on a series of key topics. These have included Dr David Smith, Professor Ken Fincham, 80 THE PAULINE 2018

and Dr Beesley, all on the English Civil War; Professor Harry Dickinson on the causes of the American Revolutionary War; Professor John Robertson on the European Enlightenment; Mr Watts on Marxism as well as on the conceptual history of civil war; and Professor William Doyle on the French Revolution. More niche subjects have included the Anglo-French carve-up of the Middle East, with Mr James Barr discussing his book A Line in the Sand; Mr Toller on the use of English churches as historical evidence; and Professor Matthew Jones on President

Kennedy’s policy in Vietnam. We were also privileged to welcome Lady Zahava Kohn in November to tell her phenomenal story of survival during the Holocaust. Since the Spring Term, the Senior Society has been complemented by the regeneration of a new and improved John Churchill Society, a purely pupil-run affair where Paulines give talks on any area of historical interest. Sometimes this runs in unison with the Junior Politics Society, and gives Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Formers the opportunity to debate historical and political theses on

Natural History and Zoology Society

fter a three-year period without a society dedicated to the ecological side of biology that is so often relegated to the margins of school syllabi, the Natural History and Zoology Society returned this year with a bang, aiming to bring natural history into the 21st Century with an exploration of the field’s complexities and real-world issues over the course of the year. The society was rebooted with a fascinating talk on ‘Alien Invasions’ by UCL’s Professor Tim Blackburn, who explored the history of human introductions of non-native species and the issues they can pose today. This lecture was followed by two student-led events, first

There were also a number of studentled talks. Harry Strauss and Patrick Elway gave a fantastic talk on the Geography of Rugby; Kabir Bawa provided great insight into urban development, as did Mihaan Manji on the topic of migration. There were also a host of games for younger years, including old GeogSoc favourites such as the Climate Change and Energy games, while plentiful food was supplied and won at the Christmas and Easter quizzes. None of this would have been possible had it not been for the tireless work of Miss Johnson and the wider geography department, to whom I would like to extend a huge thank you. The future of GeogSoc looks bright as an exciting new committee, led by Harry Cotterell and Ben Tatters, have taken on the mantle. Nicky Crompton topics outside the syllabus. These have included Caledonia, Scotland’s failed 17th century colony on the Panama Isthmus; Caesar’s victory over the Gauls at Alesia in 52 BC; the Chinese Labour Corps of the First World War; the 1920 Battle of Warsaw; and British imperial rule in India. We hope to continue the exciting momentum of this society into next year. Special thanks must go to Mr Watts, who has injected great energy into both societies and has been essential in inviting speakers of a consistently high calibre, and to all other staff who given their time to attend our meetings and give lectures themselves. Dylan Cresswell

a more light-hearted Christmas Quiz and then a micro-conference on island bio-geography featuring an excellent talk by Daniel Atkinson on the theory’s implications for nature reserve design, paired with one given by myself on the evolutionary processes that make isolated species so unique. The final meeting of the year was a fitting one to end with: a thought-provoking talk by Dr Claudia Gray, conservation biologist for ZSL’s Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered programme, featuring weird and wonderful animals on the edge of existence: this will certainly stay with members over the summer holidays and beyond. Sachin Bhardwaj Lock (U8th)

Athena Stevens

Isaiah Berlin Society

he Isaiah Berlin Society has had a particularly successful year, with students from every year group attending the sessions. In fact, the schedule was so impressive that one speaker took a picture of it: “to prove to my mum that I’ve made it as a philosopher.” Notable lectures came from seminal rule-consequentialist, Brad Hooker; the current Professor for the Public Understanding of Philosophy, Angie Hobbes; and ex-Knightsbridge Professor and renowned epistemologist, Quassim Cassam. A number of earlycareer philosophers also spoke to the boys on everything from video games to posttruth democracy and demonstrated how

philosophy is continuing to redefine itself and push society’s thinking forward in the 21st century. PKG

Listening intently during Bill Brewer talk

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SOCIETIES

Pegasus

FemSoc

egasus (the Junior Classics society) enjoyed its usual luminous line-up of talks by Eighth Form classicists, from Hanno the Carthaginian mistaking gorillas for strangely unresponsive humans, to a detailed coverage of the reasons for Julius Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon, to the mistakes made by eminent historians about Greek naval warfare, to the differences (and similarities!) between Cicero and Trump’s rhetoric.

s a ‘topper’ a ‘hat, an ‘adverb’, or a ‘metallic instrument for scraping off dirt’? This was the first question in Call My Bluff in which an Eighth Form team (made up of Harry Forsyth, Adam Millard, and Roman Evans) proved they were much better at sounding convincing and detecting flim-flam than the staff as, to gales of laughter, they took the win from Mr May, Dr McCullagh, and Mr Cairns. This first session was followed by workshops on such varied topics as writing cuneiform, staging a Greek tragedy, and ‘Republic’ Island (what

JobSoc

How to Pitch

Maths Soc

he Mathematics Society has been very active this year, starting with Dr Elena Boguslavskaya of Brunel University, who discussed (perhaps ironically) in the opening talk of the year the optimal moment to stop. She brought this to life in two fascinating cases: one of Russian scientists investigating the possibility of incoming missiles during the Cold War and the other of present-day analysts, who monitor the financial markets. This was followed by Mr Dominic Rowland, who returned to SPS to answer the question “How many primes are there?” He used clever approximations to estimate the number of primes smaller than ten thousand, and some students worked on his problem sheet for months. Dr Paul Cook, from King’s College, London, started his talk with the wave 82 THE PAULINE 2018

equation, went on to discuss fluid dynamics, and ended with a practical demonstration where he sent rings of smoke puffing around the room (even though it was not actual smoke, the fire alarm did not seem to understand the subtle physics of it all!). The interaction between algebra and geometry was interestingly discussed by Dr Geoff Smith, from Bath University, while Dr Riaz Ahmad filled the room to capacity with a financial talk entitled: “Hedge with

an edge.” Professor Imre Leader, OP, hosted an afternoon lecture for Eighth Form mathematicians, discussing winning strategies for several variations of Nim. He ended with a surprising proof of how Chomp can always be won by the starting player without needing to know the exact winning strategy. Two final year Imperial students discussed Mathematics at university, while several Old

would you do if you landed on a desert island and had to set up an ideal state?). Those keen to win Latin Countdown overflowed from RO6, while the annual Christmas quiz and a balloon debate on the greatest hero from the ancient world were well supported. Thanks must go to Mr Cairns, Mr Grant, Mr Kerr, Mr Gaydon, and Mr Taylor for running sessions. KEIW

Polecon

uring my time at St Paul’s, the highlight of my week has often been Polecon on Thursday lunchtimes. Having attended since the Fourth Form, it was an honour to join the committee in my final year, and together we’ve been able to present a high quality programme of external speakers, in addition to talks and debates from boys, which has been both varied and intellectually stimulating. Polecon’s speakers this year have come from all parts of the political spectrum. The first talk of the year was given by Sophie Walker, the leader of the Women’s Equality Party. It was fascinating to hear about her views on feminism and the part her party has to play in UK politics. In a disastrous year for UKIP, Polecon hosted its founder Professor Alan Sked as well as UKIP London Assembly member David Kurten, who offered contrasting views on the state of the party and its future role. DUP Chief Whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson delivered an intriguing insight into Irish politics and the supply and confidence deal currently keeping the government afloat. Paulines, most of whom are also currently studying Maths at university, returned to give talks: Ethan Sciamma discussed his recent paper on graph theory and Zhaoxin Wang gave an introduction to financial mathematics, preparing the audience for multiple talks about finance in the remainder of the year. Current Paulines were also involved throughout. Timothy Kang and Luca Marino both introduced their High Master’s Prize topics, “Origami Maths” and “Random Walks”. Tom Liu’s “Chinese Murder Mystery” was particularly popular, with teams competing to win boxes of fortune cookies. The year ended with “Max, Magic, and Maths”, a talk by former SPGT winner Max Heitmann, who once again amazed the audience with his unique fusion of maths and magic. Thanks to all involved, particularly the speakers, the committee, those who attended the talks, and to Dr Baxter. Zacharie Sciamma

Paul’s Pizza Christiane Amanpour

Sir Mick Davis, CEO of the Conservative Party, gave one of the most interesting talks of the year, discussing the day-to-day running of a political party and providing a glimpse into the workings of CCHQ. Journalism has also played a large part in Polecon’s schedule. In her talk, FT journalist Brooke Masters impressed boys with her knowledge of the banking industry and its regulation. Perhaps the highlight of the year was a pair of interviews conducted by Charlie Day (Upper Eighth) with the crème de la crème of political television presenters in the form of Evan Davis and Christiane Amanpour. Boys packed the Montgomery Room as Charlie turned the tables on the presenters, asking about how they got into journalism, their views on Brexit, the current geopolitical situation, and much more. The society this year continued its strong tradition of student-led talks and debates. Highlights included a debate between Adam Millard (Upper Eighth) and Alberto Chiesa (L8) about meritocracy and a talk by Henry He (Lower Eighth) on China. The committee’s thanks must go to Mr Edwards and Mr Schmitt for their tireless work helping to organise the society. Without their support, Polecon this year would not have been nearly as successful as it was. Adam Treger

Music Tech Soc

usic Tech Soc is a new spinoff of the ever-popular 4th form Music Production lunchtime activity,

hy did John Colet name our school after St Paul? What did Paul say or do that was so amazing and memorable? At Paul’s Pizza, we have tried to find this out, as we read more about the spectacular journeys of one of the first Christians. He finds himself distressed over the idols in Athens; in riots in Ephesus, where he spoke out about his faith; and even raising a young man called Eutychus after he fell out a window, whilst snoozing during Paul’s long talk! At Paul’s Pizza, we have had much shorter discussions than Paul’s all night sermon, but of equal value, as we have joined him in investigating the life which Jesus offers. We have been amazed at Paul’s bravery, as he went on to speak up for Jesus, even when it meant putting his life on the line. In some small way, amidst the pizza, the games, and the discussion, pupils have tried to come up with a ‘point of the day’, to take away and put into practice. (We just hope that the Gideons, who gave us the bibles, don’t mind the pizza stains that have occurred from week to week!) RB

exploring the music-making potential of the audio programs on school PCs (from Ableton Live to Cubase), plus whatever else pupils bring on their laptops. After two successful meetings, we’re aiming for a more regular timeslot. THE PAULINE 2018 83

SOCIETIES

Prestige

‘Blur versus Oasis’ debate

restige, the school’s Magic Society, has continued to meet during Wednesday lunchtimes this year. We have had regular contributions from our resident magicians, including workshops on traditional sleight-of-hand routines with a deck of cards such as ‘The Ambitious Card’, ‘Two Card Monte’, and ‘This, That, and the Other’, but also sessions on rope tricks and performing with chop cups. We have also witnessed some new, quirkier acts such as James Gravestock-Snee’s ‘Transforming Pallets’, or Matthew Ainsby’s ‘Magic with Coins’. Naturally, James Curtis’ ‘The Trick That Can’t Be Done’ remains a firm favourite. Prestige performed successfully at a number of talent shows and various Christmas and Summer Fairs at SPS and SPJ this year too, always impressing their audience and garnering praise and disbelief in equal measure. So much so, in fact, that some of our members are now receiving requests for private bookings! Sadly, we say goodbye to the outgoing committee: Upper Eighth Formers James Curtis, Thomas Panay, and Felix Westcott. They leave with our sincere thanks for their unstinting support and excellent leadership of the society over the past few years—their time and generosity has truly allowed the school’s prestidigitation society to flourish. LC

James Curtis performs ‘The Trick That Can’t Be Done’.

PopSoc

opSoc, the school’s modern music society, exists to provide a forum in which all genres of contemporary music can be discussed. This, the society’s third year in operation, has seen talks on a genuinely diverse range of music, with artists from Capital Steez to Crowded House, genres from Trip-Hop to Art Pop, and locations from Manchester to Australia. PopSoc meetings also vary hugely in their format, which helps to keep things fresh. In fact, the only thing linking the

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meetings is that they all take place at 1:15 on a Friday in M2! Two of this year’s most popular meetings featured Nick Montague-Jones and Leon Grahlmann-Rolfe dissecting lyricism in Hip-Hop and the UK Drill scene with fantastic humour and insight. Nick used his classical knowledge to compare Harlem Spartans with the actual Spartans, while Leon carried out a literary analysis of their use of metre. The aim of the society has always been to provide a mix of entertainment and musical discovery, and Rob Norris’ and Ben Harrison’s talks this year, on the eccentric Canadian singer and producer, Grimes, and the Bristol Trip-Hop scene respectively, provided both – Grimes’ Art Angels and Portishead’s Dummy now rank among the committee’s favourite albums. Both of the debates PopSoc hosted this year were heated and energetic: Blur vs Oasis resulted in a massive underdog victory for Blur, while Kanye vs Kendrick, with the largest audience PopSoc has ever seen, had a controversial conclusion as Kanye won the popular vote before and after the debate but Kendrick took the win on overall swing between the two votes. The PopSoc Fairs were well-attended and always enjoyable. The topics were varied – Manchester, Australia, Best of 2017, and LGBTQ+ artists, the latter meeting hosted in collaboration with PrideSoc – and the talks were fast-paced, especially George Gallop’s record-breaking forty-two-second speech on AC/DC. Thanks must go to everyone who gave a talk or simply came along, the committee – Frank Milligan, George Gallop, Max Alexander-Jones, Robert Norris, Vinnie Wang, Yang Hsu, and new recruit Ben Harrison – and above all to Dr Evans for his invaluable help with organisation. Alex Haydn-Williams

PrideSoc

uring the second half of last term PrideSoc, the society that talks about anything and everything related to the LGBTQ+ community, was born. Our goal was to provide a safe and inclusive place where anybody could speak their opinions or views, and I would regard it as a resounding success. The society has had a range of presentations from the weird and the wonderful to the controversial and the topical. We have had talks educating Paulines about iconic LGBTQ+ people such as the British composer Benjamin Britten and the outrageous actor and singer Divine. Furthermore we enlightened Paulines about the modern world of drag culture. We have debated and explored topics such as toxic masculinity and the negative traits of the gay stereotype in the media. We questioned why there are two different acting categories in awards ceremonies for male and female actors and wondered in which category is it appropriate for a transgender athlete to compete. We even discussed whether it is appropriate to enforce a 50/50 split of gender in all work places. Overall we have had an eventful, fun, and fascinating term, and we look forward to the next school year were we strive to have more contentious topics, more enlightening presentations, and more members for the committee. Daniel Toye

SPORT Aikido

ikido at St. Paul’s is continuing to grow larger and more popular each year. The main event for the team was a weekend of competitions and seminars hosted by SPS with Tokyo’s Sugamo-Gakuen high school coming to visit for the week. The weekend started with a grading run by Sugamo-Gakuen’s Haba-sensei, a 7th Dan with over 40 years’ teaching experience. The grading resulted in 6 students (Sebastian Rodgers, Ollie Moore, Tom Wyche, Christian David, Ramsey Gordon, Guillaume Bru and Charlie Gordon) earning their brown belts after months of training for the exam. For the first time ever, two SPJ students (Raphael GranierDeferre and James Sahota) were also awarded their brown belts. This is not an easy thing to achieve by any means at their age, so many congratulations go to them. Matthew Ainsby, Kieran Arora, James Gravestock-Snee and Kian Kamshad were also awarded their brown belts at a separate grading later in the year. The captain of Aikido, Eugenio Nanni and the previous Captain and OP, Bruno Colato were

awarded their certificates by Haba-sensei for reaching black belt in the previous years. Incredibly all three competitions resulted in wins for SPS. The two individual competitions were both won by Pauline captains of the Aikido team. The first was a style of competition created by Sugamo-Gakuen in which two competitors attempt to grab a hat off the other’s head without being thrown. This

Incredibly all three competitions resulted in wins for SPS was won by Bruno Colato. Eugenio Nanni then won the second tournament the next day. This was a toshu style competition in which both competitors attempt to throw each other to the ground. He won after an extremely close match against Sota Kaneko, a student from Sugamo-Gakuen. The third competition was a team competition, where teams of three

fought together in the Sugamo-Gakuen competition style. The winning team consisted of the Japanese school captain, Hikaru Yokozuk, Tom Wyche and Laith Gordon. We rounded off the trip with a team dinner for everyone who competed from both schools as well as many Old Pauline members of the St Paul’s Aikido team who had come to celebrate, one even from America! he team is now looking forward to next year where many of the new brown belts will be working hard for the chance to be graded for their black belts. This will be extremely tough and is something very few people achieve. Congratulations also go to Ollie Moore for being chosen as vice-captain of the team for the upcoming year. Many thanks to the Sugamo-Gakuen students: Hikaru Yokozuk, So Ota, Sota Kaneko, Ryu Sekiya, Kazuki Murata and Ishin Lin for coming all the way from Japan to compete against us and making the weekend as exciting as it was. We hope to take a Kata team to the international Thomas Wyche JAA in Spain in 2019.

Athletics Club The Guy Butler Shield 2018 St. Paul’s Athletics Team performed extremely well at the Guy Butler Shield Athletics Meeting, finishing runners-up behind the hosts Harrow and in front of Eton, who finished 3rd. The Senior and Inter teams performed superbly well to secure 2nd place at arguably one of the most competitive school-boy athletics fixtures in the country. Achilles Relays ‘Christopher Brasher Trophy’ 4x400m Winners 2018 At the prestigious Achilles Relays, held at the Roger Bannister Stadium in Oxford, our U17 4x400m relay team, Gregory Zoppos, Will Palmer, Philip Kastner and Tom White won the 4x400m Chris Brasher Trophy in a superb time of 3.38.7s. There was some very strong competition in the final including Eton, Harrow, Cheltenham and Hampton. All four boys ran superbly well, and after Greg opened up a ten metre lead on the opening leg, his team mates followed suit and kept on extending the lead lap by lap. Outstanding achievement by all four runners and thoroughly well deserved winners of the Chris Brasher Trophy.

Relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m) at the Radley Relays in a time of 3.54.8s. Lord Burghley Trophy 2018 St Paul’s Athletics Club came 2nd overall in the Lord Burghley Athletics Trophy with the Seniors finishing 2nd, Inters 1st and the Juniors 4th. It was a superb team effort with some outstanding individual performances and a host of new PBs. A new school record of 13.9s was set by the outstanding athlete of the day, Philip Kastner, in the Intermediate 100m hurdles. He also took wins in the high jump, discus, shot and a leg of the victorious

4x400m relay. Philip was deservedly awarded Performance of the Match for his throw in the discus. Tom White also had a tremendous day by winning the 100m, 200m A-string Inters and he also ran the final leg of the victorious 4x400m relay. Ben Tatters completed the Senior 800m and 1500m double by coming home 1st in both events with some superb middle distance running. David Nartey continued his great form after breaking the SPS High Jump Record, as he also won a fantastic double 1st place in the high jump and triple jump. Max Buckley and Will Palmer both won their A-string 800m, a

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▲

Medley Relays Winners 2018 James Grindle, Tom White, Greg Zoppos and Will Palmer ran superbly to win the U17 Medley

4x4 U17 Achilles Relay team

SPORT l ATHLETICS

Athletics (continued)

Liam Corcoran U15 High Jump Middlesex County Winner

Intermediate Medley Relay Winners

throughout the season they gave it their all and played to the best of their ability

Max Buckley (left) Senior 800m Guy Butler Shield Winner

distance that neither have been beaten at this year. They also came 2nd and 3rd in their respective A-string 400m. Monty Brown put in a courageous effort to win the Junior 1500m. The team gave absolutely everything to try to win the prestigious trophy, and it was a tremendous achievement to finish in 2nd place just behind Eton and ahead of Tonbridge, Epsom, Wellington, Brighton, Charterhouse and Marlborough. David Nartey’s (Upper Eighth) sets new High Jump Record at Marlborough College. On Saturday 12 May at the Marlborough Athletics Meeting David Nartey jumped a personal best and a new school record of 1.98m in the High Jump, breaking the previous school record of 1.91m held by Oladotun Saliu. David’s jump was good enough for entry standard for the National Schools. This was a truly outstanding achievement and will be remembered at the Marlborough Athletics Meeting for a long time to come, as the whole event came to a standstill to watch David successfully jump the height of 1.98m and then attempt a height of 2.00m that he

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narrowly failed to clear. Philip Kastner wins Bronze Medal at the U17 South-East Combined Events Championships. On the last weekend of the summer term, Philip Kastner took part in the South-East Combined Event Championships in Ashford, Kent. He had an excellent weekend, taking 3rd overall in the U17 Boys’ Octathlon, and also won an automatic qualification place for the English Schools’ Combined Events

Championships in September. He scored 4878 points, adding more than 750 points to his previous best, and narrowly missing the silver

The SPS Athletics Lord Burghley Team

Philip Kastner Performance of the Match Award at the Lord Burghley

Tom White (second from left) Inter 200m Guy Butler Shield Winner

medal by just 8 points. The standard of the competition was exceptionally high with this performance ranking Philip 4th in the UK this year. Philip has broken four school records in 2018 and also won field event performance of the match for his throw in the discus at the prestigious Lord Burghley Athletics Meeting at Eton College. English Schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Track and Field Championships 2018 Four athletes have been selected to represent Middlesex at the English Schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Track and Field Championships in Birmingham on 13-14 July. They are Liam Corcoran (U15 High Jump), Greg Zoppos (U17 100m Hurdles), Phil Kastner (U17 100m Hurdles) and Max Buckley (U19 400m).

William Hitchcock 800m Guy Butler Shield Winner

THE PAULINE 2018 87

SPORT l ATHLETICS

Athletics Club Results Event

Juniors Inters

Seniors Overall

Guy Butler Shield at Harrow School 5 2 2nd 2nd th st nd Lord Burghley at Eton College 4 1 2 2nd Marlborough College 3rd 3rd 4th 3rd st nd th Charterhouse School 1 2 4 3rd th th th Tonbridge School 5 4 4 4th Achilles Relays U17 4x400m Christopher Brasher Trophy Winners: Zoppos G M , Palmer W D, Kastner P C, White T A Achilles Relays U15 4x800m Silver: Brown M R L, Harrison B T G, Monferrer D A, Hitchcock W Radley Relays U17 Medley Relay Gold: Grindle J O M, White T A, Zoppos G M, Palmer W D Radley Relays U17 4x100m Relay Silver: Grindle J O M, White T A, Zoppos G M, Palmer W D Radley Relays U15 Medley Relay Bronze: Zhao M J, Shevchuk A L P, Monferrer D A, Hitchcock W Junior Track Athlete 2018: Chappell-Pike T H Junior Field Athlete 2018: Corcoran L J Intermediate Track Athlete 2018: Palmer W D Intermediate Field Athlete 2018: Kastner P C Senior Track Athlete 2018: Buckley M G M Senior Field Athlete 2018: Nartey D C T Marler Trophy for Outstanding Performance of the Year: Nartey D C T th

Boericke Cup for Outstanding Contribution to St Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Athletics Club: Buckley M G M

Colours 2018

4th Form 5th Form 6th Form L8th U8th Adams A J Grindle J O M Amirahmadi S K Bauer J S J Boericke R R Beverley J W Horler L C Illis D S Bemand B B Buckley M G M Brown M R L Schull J M Kastner P C Hart T G C Issa Y I M Chappell-Pike T H White T A Palmer W D Hawes J T K Hill O S H Corcoran L J Zoppos G M Tatters B J Lottig C W Ferrand A M C Nartey D C T Garcia-Rodenas R Strauss H T P Harrison B T G Hitchcock W Kenny A H Kobrin J M Leung C D Monferrer D A Shevchuk A L P Wilson L P D Zhao M J

Athletics Squad 2018 Adams A J Amirahmadi S K Baines E S B Bauer J S J Beeching J E Bemand B B Beverley J W Beverley S R Bishop M P Boericke R R Brown M R L

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Buckley M G M Chappell-Pike T H Corcoran L J Faria V Ferrand A M C Garcia-Rodenas R Grindle H R G Grindle J O M Gunn P M Harrison B T G Hart T G C

Hawes J T K Hill O S H Hitchcock W Horler L C Illis D S Issa Y I M Kastner P C Kenny A H Kim J S L Kim W Ko A S W

Kobrin J M Leung C D Little S J J Lottig C W Monferrer D A Moreland T B Nartey D C T Palmer W D Ritchie A M Schull J M Shaw H J E

Shaw S A Shevchuk A L P Strauss H T P Tatters B J Thompson O P M White C H White T A Wilson L P D Winningham S M Zhao M J Zoppos G M

SPS Atletics Team warm up for the Lord Burghley Trophy at Eton College

David Nartey clears 1.98m

St Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Athletics Club School Record Breakers 2018 U17 100m Hurdles Philip Kastner

13.90s

U17 Long Jump

Philip Kastner

6.41m

U17 Shot Put

Philip Kastner

13.36m

U17 Pole Vault

Philip Kastner

2.76m

U20 100m

Harry Grindle

10.70s

U20 High Jump

David Nartey

1.98m

U20 3000m

Ben Tatters

9:25.0s

Reef Boericke clears the water jump in the 2000m Steeplechase at the Guy Butler Shield

THE PAULINE 2018 89

SPORT l BASKETBALL l CLIMBING l CRICKET

Basketball

Climbing

U18

he U18 season got off to a terrific start, with three consecutive wins, including one over City of London, a team that have caused us considerable problems in previous years. Unfortunately we were somewhat humbled in our next game, as we were comprehensively beaten and knocked out of the Cup Competition by a very strong Whitgift side. Next was a narrow loss to King’s that never should have been, after we had once again had started brightly. Injuries and university interviews were a further hindrance, as squad numbers diminished for the next few games. More misfortune followed, with a broken hoop and the ‘Beast from the East’ forcing a number of our matches to be cancelled, including a final fixture against Forest School, which would have secured us a spot in the playoffs. Despite the awkward end to the season, the team can be extremely proud of the basketball they have played this season, as demonstrated by the 3-0 start, and the outgoing Upper Eighth should look back at their time as a part of St. Paul’s basketball with great fondness, after a number of successful seasons. I would like to thank Mr Maguire and Mr Lamptey for everything they have done for basketball in recent years; it has definitely been one of the highlights of my time here, and I am sure the rest of the team will feel the same.

he climbing games halves have continued to be extremely popular this year. Our team remains unbeaten, although that is perhaps largely due to the fact that our one annual fixture unfortunately fell through this year. We have, however, some exceedingly strong boulderers in the school at the moment, such as Nicholas Haas, Harry Shaw and Claudius Wheeler. Nevertheless it is the case that this year we say goodbye to a vintage crop of powerful Upper Eighth boys, in particular: Imraan Janmohamed, Julius Bannister, Isaac Hudis, and Luke Walters – all of whom have been key players in our adventure sports programme during their time at the school. Climbing continues to be one of the world’s fastest growing sports, and that it will feature in the Olympics 2020 will no doubt serve as a further propellant. With an exciting adventure sports programme and an impressive team of climbers, we remain wellRAD ahead of the curve at St Paul’s.

Finn Teoh

he 1st XI enjoyed a very successful season with impressive wins against Dulwich, KCS Wimbledon, Hampton, RGS Guildford, The Leys, Monkton and Fettes College. The draw against MCC was an exciting game with the scores ending level, off the last ball of the match. The season finished strongly with three wins from four matches in the Festival, which St Paul’s hosted, having only

U16

he basketball season was another long and challenging one for the U16s. Every Tuesday, a dedicated group of players turned up to work on layups, shooting, passing, defence, and team plays. The season kicked off with a narrow home defeat to KCS. It was clear that the long summer off had affected the fluidity of the team’s offense; however, the team’s high intensity defence was still working well. After two heavy losses to the two favourites in the league, Dulwich and Whitgift, the team put on an offensive masterclass against Royal Russell. The team led throughout the first half, but, eventually, Royal Russell clawed their way back into the game. As tiredness set in, a revitalised Royal Russell took the lead and eventually the game with a narrow eight point win. After the Christmas break, the team travelled to KCS and sought to avenge their narrow opening game loss. Stand out performances from Derin Acaroglu, Wilf Symes, Oli Bombicci Pontelli, Alessandro D’Orazio, and Kiki Ajayi, saw the team leading up until the final five seconds. However, a buzzer beater from KCS meant that the season had come to an end with another tough loss. Overall, it was a great season, in which the boys managed to gain good experience, with lots of room for WLK improvement for next season.

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Cricket 1st XI

P11 W7 D1 L3

Abdullah Nazir

had three completed matches prior to half term as the wet weather deprived them of the opportunity to do battle with Radley and Eton. The victories have been very much allround team performances, and this has been epitomised by the great comradery amongst the players, especially as the side included members from four different year groups. Having said that, there have been some outstanding individual performances. In the match against KCS Wimbledon, Freddie Harrison (15) took 5-43 with his leg spin, and there were centuries for opener Freddie Eltringham (125) and all-rounder Fergal Walter (108) in a total of 302-4 off 50 overs against a very good RGS Guildford XI. The following week against the MCC, the Captain, Abdullah

Abdullah Nazir produced the amazing figures of 20 overs, 4 maidens, 5 wickets for 46 runs Nazir, produced the amazing figures of 20 overs, 4 maidens, 5 wickets for 46 runs with his left-arm spin. Left-hand opener Rory Tegner and Anosh Malik (15) coming in at number three helped to give the innings a solid platform and there were cameo innings from Ivo Macdonald (87no v Reed’s) and Patrick Elway further down the order. On the bowling front, Arthur Jenkyn-Jones, Dylan Leon and Fergal Walter provided experience and pace, with

1st XI

the latter two gradually becoming potent forces with yorker length deliveries at the end of an innings. Miles Fumagalli (16) was a strong support act taking valuable wickets at crucial times. The balanced spin attack was completed by off break bowler Zach Campbell (15) who bowled extremely tightly at key stages against some very good opposition batsmen. Freddie Eltringham finished as the leading run-scorer with 438 runs with an average of 39.81 and Freddie Harrison was the leading wicket-taker with 21 at an average of 16.33. It was a particularly strong effort by Eltringham who kept wicket exceptionally well throughout the season and opened the batting with much success. A lot of hard work in the winter months and a strong commitment in the season paid off with some excellent results. The catching and ground fielding were excellent at times although the breath-taking onehanded running catch on the boundary by Ivo Macdonald against Reed’s would certainly be in any ‘Catch of the Season’ competition at any level. During the season Abdullah Nazir, represented Sussex CCC 2ndXI, Anosh Malik (15) played for Middlesex U17s, Freddie Eltringham (16) played for Surrey U17s and Freddie Harrison was a member of the Surrey NEB/AGW U15 XI.

2nd XI

nfortunately, Mr Taylor could not make it to our final two games. If he had been there, he might have given Seb some last minute batting advice, told me to win the toss and field first, and suggested to the bowlers not to bowl that line again. And yet, this is the only 2nd XI I can remember which has managed an unbeaten season. The team has finally stepped out of the imposing and iconic shadow of PJK. Statistically speaking, our best player of this season is Mallet – he has honed his batting to an art form and I personally was really shocked that he did not get the call-up to the Firsts. But if we’re talking about consistency, then I feel it’s only fair to bring up Rossy Menhennet, Mr Cricket himself. Ross played every single game for our side and was never afraid to keep his opinions to himself, even if they were derogatory comments about the newer members of the team. Rumour has it that Fin only played one game because he was afraid Ross would go even further than ‘bang average’ after a long day in the field. Although our season was unbeaten, there were some shaky moments – particularly against Dulwich. After some class swing bowling from new addition George Lyons and Ted James, we let them slip to 170 odd. It took a very impressive 65* from Raef to seal the deal, with Whiley in support with a

super quick fire 30. Potentially the finest chase I’ve seen in school cricket. The next game against King’s provided the first time Additya has batted for more than about two minutes in a stretch for the school; his 60* was muchneeded to steady the ship after a top order collapse. It was great to have him in the side when he decided to show up, even if we had to hide him in the field. Many of you might know Charlie as ‘magic hands Howard’ – while his hands are still impressive, he was confined to slip all year because of his aging limbs. They didn’t stop him, however, from bowling consistent offies all year at good rates. A shout out must go to Aidan Atkinson, who scored a 40* on debut chasing 190 against Hampton to win us the game after some of the more regular batsmen of the side failed. What a hero. It’s this kind of performance, from young players like Aidan with the bat or Mouneil with the ball, that will ensure the Seconds next year Ned Russell can continue our unbeaten run.

3rd XI

ricket for the 3rd XI this year was unfortunately overshadowed by wet weather, but when the sun was shining the team was able to put out some strong performances under the guidance of Mr Block. The first game of the season against ▼ Merchant Taylors’ was billed as one of the

THE PAULINE 2018 91

SPORT l CRICKET toughest of the season, yet our performance was impressive, with a strong bowling attack from sixth formers Odgers, Lyons, and Prasad restricting their runs before Mallet and Pincott led a fairly comfortable chase. The same seemed set to happen in the following game against St John’s, but a slight collapse in the middle order saw our chase fall one run short despite a valiant effort from Reinicker, Griffiths, and Skoulding. Only one more game was played to cap off the season against Hampton, and despite an almost entirely different team lining up to play than the one that had begun the season, the level of performance remained the same, as Dodd led the charge in a thirty run victory. In true third-team style, there was an embracing of team spirit throughout the season: despite the match against Cranleigh being rained off, we proceeded to play a football match instead, claiming a 5-0 victory that left the one run defeat the only blot on an almost Noah Roper perfect season.

4th XI

he ultimate honour any Pauline cricketer can have is representing the School’s 4th XI. This year that honour fell upon 14 of the finest cricketers I have ever worked with. What followed was a season filled with exceptional cricket, fantastic camaraderie and a victory in every match we played. First up was Merchant Taylors’ and after dismissing them for 80 featuring a stellar bowling performance including 3 wickets each for Kishen Singh and captain inspirational Luke Summers. St Paul’s then decided to keep the match entertaining by finally chasing down the runs off the last ball of the 25 overs, in what was to become the customary way of leaving the ball to allow it to run off for 4 byes. The second and final match of the season was against Dulwich College and this time after another brilliant bowling performance featuring excellent captaincy by Kishen Singh, St Paul’s chased down 121 runs in fine style, Aidan Atkinson scoring 92 free flowing runs and only just missing out on a century. Naturally, however, the final runs came from 4 byes. A very enjoyable season for the school’s BreslinR most prestigious cricket team.

U15 National Cup team

scored a century in Sri Lanka and returned to captain the Saturday side and bowl tight spells in the cup. Anosh Malik, Freddie Harrison and Zach Campbell were all superb with bat and ball and made a significant contribution to 1st XI Cricket as U15s. Ali Hilman scored a wonderful fifty against Stowe and Ben Pymont was a consistently good all rounder for this RGH impressive team.

U15A

verall this season was quite challenging as we lost our three key players to the 1st XI. It became a time of rebuilding with everyone taking on new responsibilities in a newly shaped top order. We started at home against Merchant Taylors’. Putting them into bat, we were left needing to chase a score around 150, but our innings never got going and we were bowled out for 68. The positives included 3 wickets

U15

National Cup

fter stunning wins against Hampton, Harrow and Merchant Taylors’ the St Paul’s U15s moved on to represent Middlesex in the National Cup. After comprehensive wins against Westminster and Stowe School in the National rounds, the team lost in the latter stages to the eventual winners Tonbridge. St Paul’s School U15s had a memorable tour of Sri Lanka in the lead up to the cup matches and this certainly helped see them showing their ability as one of the best U15 teams in the country. Akil Sofat

92 THE PAULINE 2018

U15A v Tonbridge

for Pymont and 2 for Ferrabee. In the next fixture against Dulwich at home we chose to bowl first and restricted them to 120. Our chase started off poorly with the loss of 3 early wickets, but 30s from Sofat and Hillman helped steady the ship. After some Pymont heroics we needed 8 off the last over but could not quite get over the line. With Cranleigh cancelled due to rain, we next faced KCS at home. We batted first and got off to a good start with a quickfire 25 from Garside but then suffered a small collapse. Pymont with 49 (including a huge six into the river) and Alex Powell (44) propelled our score above 180 and give us a big total to defend. We bowled well and restricted KCS to 140, giving us our first win of the season. We then faced Reed’s in our first away game in a timed format. They won the toss and decided to bat. We did not bowl well and after great batting from their opener and number 4, we were left

needing 239 off the remaining 35 overs. With contributions from almost everyone, including Garside (67) and Powell (57) we needed 12 off the final over, but unfortunately only managed 11 for the draw. Next, on a difficult pitch against Hampton at home, we managed a score of 150, with some late hitting from Pymont and McGuire. However, we did not fulfil our potential with the ball and in the field, and Hampton chased it comfortably with a few overs to spare. The final game of the season saw us face RGS Guildford away from home. We batted

Our bowling was the best it had been all season and we bowled RGS out for 67 first, scoring 180 thanks to Garside (45) and Sofat (38) as well as late hitting from Raman and McGuire. Our bowling was the best it had been all season and we bowled RGS out for 67. Thanks to all the staff and parents for their support this year, and hopefully we learnt from this experience and will come back stronger Akhil Sofat next year.

U15B

e began against Merchant Taylors’, where we won the toss and batted first. It ended with a tight loss, but Chowdary and Jarvis impressed with their opening bowling while Jopling and Powell were highly successful with their batting. Next came Dulwich: Powell scored 57, Hodges cruised to 37, and Jarvis, who came in late, scored a quick 29 off 18. Dulwich fell 74 runs short of the target, with Chowdary achieving 4-20. Against big rivals KCS, we scored a sound 180 thanks to 51 from Hasan, 34 from Chowdary, 26 from Evans, and 18* off 7 from Ezra late in the innings. Next, facing a good Reed’s side, we managed 137-5 in our first game on the big Hammersmith ground, with Jopling and Rowe saving the innings after a top order collapse to 52-4. We bowled Reed’s out for 115, with Hodges taking 4-22 and 2 wickets each for Jarvis and Chowdary. Our penultimate game was against Hampton. Batting first, we achieved a total of 148, with good scores from Hasan, Rowe, and Jarvis. Unfortunately, this proved insufficient – and Hampton won with 7 overs to spare, despite some good bowling. Our final game, away to RGS Guildford, ended the season on a high. As usual, Jopling won the toss but controversially he chose to bowl. With excellent spells from Stuart (3-21) and Rowe (3-9), we restricted the opposition to 134-9. The chase looked comfortable by the sixteenth over of the twenty-five over innings, being 94-0, with Hodges (39) and Evans (42)

putting on a fine opening partnership. But by the nineteenth over we were 102-4 and things were looking shaky. Fortunately, Rowe saved us once again with 24* and we won by five wickets with two overs to spare. That was the season over: four wins, two losses, and two fixtures frustratingly cancelled due to inclement weather. I would like to thank everyone who took part in our games, and we would all like to say thanks to Dr Langley, our coach, who helped Luke Jopling us through it all.

U15C

t has been a good season for the U15Cs. We started with a solid performance against Merchant Taylors’ with Jaiswal scoring an astonishing 68 runs, which saw him move swiftly up to the B team. We hit a respectable score of 159-6 and the opposition only managed a meagre 104 before they lost all ten wickets. The next game was against Dulwich College where Budd was the standout performer, scoring 54 runs before losing his wicket. He also got great bowling figures of 2-20 and Gibney recorded similar figures of 2-22. We pulled off another win but this one was far closer as we only won by 6 runs. Our third game of the season was arguably the biggest and most anticipated, against our rivals KCS. Our batting performance was mixed, with Gibney, Budd, and Ainsby getting scores in the thirties, but the rest of the team struggled and we only managed a total of 129 runs. This was very beatable. However, more spectacular bowling from Budd as well as Stubbs saw us to our third win, by 9 runs. In our next match we knew Hampton would be a formidable opponent and unfortunately they got the better of us. We managed a score of 156 off 30 overs but this was simply not enough in reply to Hampton’s first innings total of 190. Barker did hit a fifty in his first game of the season and Lam also made a decent 33 runs, so there were definite positives to take away from the match. The final game of the season was away against RGS Guildford. The pitch was questionable and situated in the middle of a park with a family having a picnic on the square! Unfortunately, late season injuries and illness meant we only had 8 players so we were undoubtedly doomed from the start. The opposition were not strong but with only 6 fielders we could not help but lose the match. Many thanks to Mr Malik for coaching us Milton Gibney throughout the season.

U14A

his was a really enjoyable season of progress and development – one that may not have showed in results against tough opposition, but certainly did in terms of individual improvement in technique, running between the wickets and fielding. In the first match against Merchant Taylors’, we dropped seven catches and in the final game against

Hampton we caught seven stunning catches which demonstrated the hard work of a super group of boys. A really promising win against Dulwich highlighted our sharp fielding by the whole team and a superb bowling spell by Matt Smith was backed up by him scoring 28 not out to steer a wobbling ship home to a 5-wicket victory. Alex Richards bowled superbly to take five wickets in the cup win against Teddington to take us into half term in good spirits. The second half of term was a demonstration of nearly performances where we either batted really well or bowled really well, but never both combined to quite win. A fine batting performance against Reed’s saw us post 184 against a strong team with Julius Turley batting through for 78 not out. We bowled poorly on this occasion which meant we lost narrowly and meant we just missed out on beating a very good team. Julius Turley batted superbly against Hampton the following week and again we just fell short as the rest of the batting order crumbled. Hyder Butt captained the side really well and was always very positive and he is developing into a decent left arm spinner. Jonny Cubbon was superb all year with consistently good bowling spells and scored a memorable 42 not out against Reed’s. Mattie Wrench was a positive batsmen, fielder and influence on the group and Harry Turner was easily the best fielder. A season of promise and a group that will continue to improve and deserve to win more RGH games next year!

U14B

he boys have really enjoyed the season in 2018. Even though we lost our early games by relatively large margins, the team spirit of the boys was excellent and clear progress was made throughout the season. With rain being present early season and tough opposition, our only win before half term was the KCS match. After half term and exams, the boys came back refreshed and really started to show their abilities, after putting Reed’s into bat Simmons and Mcfie shared 5 wickets to restrict them to 103. After a shaky start the middle order showed great composure to seal victory, with Kafton 25no at the end. Simmons, Saunders and McFie were constant thorns in the oppositions’ batting side, regularly taking wickets in virtually all games, bowling out KCS for 94, Reed’s for 103 and RGS for 118. Several batters made significant contributions, not always in winning circumstances, but often against the odds and really showed grit and determination. Aggala made 63 v Dulwich, Livesey 49 v Hampton and Horsell made solid progress through the year capping it off with a superb 37 in a thrilling tie at the end of the season, versus a good RGS side. Towards the end of the season Arav Patel and Charlie ▼

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Kafton stepped up with excellent bowling and batting performances, to really improve the quality of the side. More than anything else, I must praise the boys’ work ethic. Every practice session was undertaken with both enthusiasm and a commitment to improve. At the end of the season, we started to look like a team. With 2 wins and a tie out of 6 games it is testament to the hard work, endeavour and team spirit, shown by the boys after a difficult start to the PS season.

U14C

he U14C team had a tough season but one from which many positive lessons can be learned. Although we may have struggled in terms of results, the boys’ enthusiasm and desire to get better was a joy to see. The boys have been a pleasure to coach, and they quickly developed a good team spirit in some testing times. Hopefully, they can all come away from the term with an enjoyment and desire to carry on with their cricket next season. Very well done to all for their efforts.

Cross Country

he SPS cross-country team had a great season with Mr Milne, our coach, who enjoys marathons as his pre-work stroll, with additional coaching help from ultra-runner Mr Ting and decathlon champion Dr Hemery. We have been to a few competitions, the first being the King’s Trophy, an event that was new to us as a school. It consisted of a slog around Wimbledon Common, in which it was a requirement to jump into a stream and then crawl up a muddy bank. Max Buckley achieved an impressive 27 minutes and 35 seconds for 25th overall, and was followed up by Max Heitmann (60th), Henry Grainger (80th) and Thomas Kinirons (96th). We also had Harry Grindle putting in a big shift for 101st, running 80 times further than his usual race distance. Our next event was the Richmond crosscountry trials. In the senior team, Max Buckley achieved 2nd and Ben Tatters 5th, which qualified them both for the Middlesex trials later on in the year, where Max placed 9th. For the rest of the senior team, they ran out as a squadron and ran in as a squadron, with five of our runners finishing 12th to 16th in the senior team. In the intermediate team, Dan Illis, Will Palmer, Jackson Pickup, and Guy Ward-Jackson, all ran strongly to qualify for the Middlesex trials. Our final event was the 24-minute Paarlauf relay at Hampton, and after multiple twobridges runs and intense strategizing sessions on baton handover, we went with a squad four deep in seniors and three deep in juniors and

94 THE PAULINE 2018

Cross country team at Richmond

inters. To our dismay in the actual relay, we could only have three runners and so Banjo Bemand betrayed St Paul’s as there was not enough space for him in the team. He joined the Hampton’s team that ended up placing 5th, beating his own St Paul’s team by 50 metres. This all happened in the autumn term, and since then we have been getting ready for next year with the odd training run and regular sprint for the bus. We are very optimistic about the talented Max Bishop and Charlie White, soon to be joining us from SPJ. We will, however, be losing Max Buckley, a man whom we could truly rely on to do great things. Mr Milne has also been quite busy in the summer term, taking the rugby players for long riverside runs at naturally a much slower pace than ours. Banjo Bemand

Fencing

e held matches with Epsom College, KCS Wimbledon, St. Benedict’s, Harrow, and Abingdon: winning three matches, losing three, and drawing one. We had a great result in the Quadrangular Competition, winning back the trophy over close rivals St. Benedict’s, as well as emerging victorious against teams from Epsom College and KCS Wimbledon. In the School Fencing Championships, Felix Westcott won the Sabre, Ismail Mardin the Épée, and Rahul Patel the Foil. This year’s novice foil winner was Mrinaank Chilkoti. In the biggest event of the year, the Public Schools Fencing Championships held at Crystal Palace, we had four boys place in the top twenty of their respective weapons. This is a remarkable result considering the field of fencers was well over one hundred entries per weapon, with some of the most experienced fencers in the country representing their schools. Daniel Toye came twentieth in the Senior Foil, Philip Kastner came eleventh in the Junior Sabre, and Julian Sapper and Ismail Mardin came nineteenth and ninth respectively LL in the Junior Épée.

Fives

t was not until the final shot of the last match on the final day of the National Schools Tournament, at the end of the season, that we claimed a trophy and ended our two year drought. It has been a very encouraging season in many ways – great numbers participating enthusiastically in the 4th, 5th and 6th Forms, and some excellent progress from key players who should form the core of strong 1st teams in years to come. But the highlight was Louis Odgers and Teddy Monro-Davies winning the National Colts Doubles. It was the best they had played as a pair all season, and they thoroughly deserved to have their names added to the honours board by the fives gallery. In the Seniors, Matt Cheveley, Harry Jackson, Isaac Hudis, Tom Liu and Julius Davies jostled for position in our 1st IV. When Isaac was on form, he was capable of hitting the ball wonderfully cleanly with both hands, and caused a few upsets. Tom Liu was officially the Most Improved Senior player, managing to develop a devastating serve and sort out his footwork, to attack off the front foot. These five Upper Eighths, with Nick Heymann occasionally stepping in, and Lower Eighths Max Skoczylas, Kian Parsapour, and Anosh Ramakrishnan, formed a strong top eight who came away with wins over Cambridge University, Winchester, Whitgift, Tonbridge, Alleyn’s and Merchiston. The Colts had a good year, and not just because of the silverware at the Nationals. There was a kernel of keen, talented players who seemed to enjoy their fives and pushed each other along. As well as Louis & Teddy, Nick Stanger, Charlie Jobson, Shrey Bavisha, Guy Ward-Jackson, Ollie Pitman and Manan Pant provided such strength in depth that we were undefeated in school matches. A special mention for Shrey who had a battle with health issues to get fit, for Ollie who never said “No” to an away fixture, and for Charlie who was

3rd XI

Matt Cheveley (R) on the way to beating Isaac Hudis (L) in our internal senior singles competition, to claim the Cunis Cup.

capable of some of the best and worst fives in the year, seemingly at random. We are sorry to see him leave St Paul’s. The Junior Colts always seem to have a slightly thin fixture list, which inevitably makes it difficult to improve. Ben Pymont, Darshan Arjun, Aidan Choi and Gus Goulding made the most progress, listening carefully to advice and acting on it. Darshan was snapping at Ben’s heels by the end of the season. For the other leading players, Freddie Harrison, Anosh Malik, Alex van

National Colts Doubles champions, Teddy Monro-Davis (L) and Louis Odgers (R)

Lanschot and Luke Jopling, it was rather stopstart – Luke, in particular, had a season blighted by injury. Nonetheless, we were victorious in all but two of the school matches – maybe if there had been a better team selection, we could have beaten Tonbridge as well – maybe next year. After three fantastically close games against Aiden Whitham, Ben Roberts won the Beltrami Cup for internal singles. Alex Ridley and Benedict Harrison claimed third and fourth

places respectively. The other four regulars in the top eight (Alex Adams, Arun Hussain, Nico Zezza and Monty Brown) developed their tactics in the second half of term, but we faced some stiff opposition in school matches and at the Nationals, against boys who had been playing regularly for at least a year longer. Thanks once again to Mr J Harrison, Mr Toller, Mr Charlton, Mr G Harrison, Mr King and Mr Wilson who generously gave up their time to SJR help coach and to offer wise words.

Football 1st XI

lthough the football season usually starts in the spring term, this year it began early, with many of the squad attending strength and conditioning sessions throughout the second half of the autumn term. By the end, we had begun doing some ball work and were looked very strong heading into the pre-season tour to Villarreal. The tour started with an early morning arrival at Heathrow. The journey passed by seamlessly and we arrived in Spain in good time. It was an action packed first day with us beginning training only hours after landing. However, this was necessary as we had our first of two games on the day of arrival. The game was against a very strong local club. It was a hard fought game and we were unlucky to come out with a 2-1 loss. The second and final game of the tour came the day after the first against another local team called CD Malilla. Much like the first game we put up a strong performance. However, we were not rewarded with the victory we hoped for, losing 4-3. Despite starting the season with two losses the team looked strong going into the season. The season itself had its ups and downs with the side taking two unlucky early losses in the League. Despite this the team put in hard fought battles against Mill Hill and City

1st XI v Radley

of London to reach the quarter-finals of the Independent Schools Cup. The game against City was particularly thrilling, with the team showing great determination and grit to come back from 1-0 then 2-1 down, ending regulation time at 2-2 and subsequently playing extra time and finally ending with a 5-4 win on penalties. Despite the slow start to the League we ended the first half of term with a win against a formidable Tonbridge side. We continued this form into the second half of term with victories against Epsom and Radley. Unfortunately we could not continue this good run of results into the quarter-finals of the Cup with a 2-0 loss against one of the

best sides I’ve ever played against in Ardingly College, whose team consisted of several ISFA players. Despite many struggles throughout the season we had what could only be described as a fairytale ending, beating KCS at home on our first team pitch in what was for many of the team their last ever game for St Paul’s. After a long season our record ended as 7 wins, 5 losses and a draw, which was a somewhat disappointing result for a team that had the potential to be a top side in the League and Cup. This year’s team consisted of Max Sosna in goal, who made several crucial ▼ saves during many games and had

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consistently good composure and distribution when on the ball. The defense was made up of Finn Teoh, Ben Ballard, Andrei Williams and Alex Viviano, all of whom had exceptional seasons conceding very few goals. The Midfield Trio of Jon Kim, Raef Jackson and myself, with Josh Goldstein rotating in, dominated play from the middle of the park. Special mentions go to Jon, who worked harder than anyone else on the pitch making tackle after tackle and disrupting play, as well as Raef who pulled the strings from the middle and controlled the game. Our front three saw a lot of change throughout the season due to a surplus of Lower Eighth talent, including Alex Yu, Charlie Ezra, Shyam O’Leary and Spencer Whiningham who played in our cup fixtures. There was also a lot of UpperEighth talent coming from the season’s top scorer Nicky Crompton and Ed Wicken, a late arrival to the team, who had a 1:1 goal to game ratio over the five games he played. Lastly, our utility man Alberto Chiesa played almost every position on the pitch at some point during the season and much like all the Lower Eighths in the squad I expect to have a very strong season next year as senior members of the squad.

2nd XI

he 2nd XI enjoyed a great season. We triumphed in 15 out of 16 fixtures, and won the LISFA cup. After a wonderful and surprisingly warm tour to Spain, the team was raring to go for the start of the season. The new crop of Lower Eighths were looking sharp, and many of the older members of the team were keen to see the impact of the highly-anticipated Matt Mason. They were not disappointed. We got off to a great start, chalking up enormous wins against Cranleigh and Tonbridge, and remained unbeaten for the majority of the term. The League looked very promising as we easily overcame the schools we came up against, dispatching them with all-round displays of team excellence. Will Staveley and Ben Tatters provided much needed protection in the heart of midfield for a sometimes creaky defence, while James Cooper added a touch of flare and trickery to the attack. Ed Wicken was relentless in front of goal during this his second season with the side. Our last League match against Harrow was the title decider: a point would be enough to clinch the championship. It was a cold miserable day but the weather did not stop the game from being a feisty one. We kept the Harrow goalkeeper very busy; however, we were unable to convert any of our chances. He pulled off lots of great saves. Against the run of play, we were caught out and went 0-1 behind. In the second half, we were able to get one back thanks to a powerful header from Mackay Richie. Unfortunately, we let in a late goal and

96 THE PAULINE 2018

2nd XI v Hampton

the final score ended up 2-1. We did not let this disappointment affect what was truly a remarkable season. After overcoming tough opposition in the Cup such as City of London, we made it to the semi final, where we faced an immense test in Hampton. A tense atmosphere was broken by a large and supportive crowd, and we won 3-1 in extra time, with Ben Tatters scoring a wonder goal. The final was a repeat result, albeit in a more composed fashion: 3-1, and the cup to St Paul’s. I would like to thank Mr O’Brian on behalf of the rest of the team for guiding us to success.

4th XI

Dylan Leon and Will Staveley

layed 6. Won 6. Scored 21. You couldn’t say it was a bad season for Ross Menhennet. The only greater footballing mystery than how he scored at least three goals every game is how he was not promoted. Still, how could he have achieved this without solid build-up play? In my book, attack starts from defence; our keeper Vittorio Bottolli had a hard season ahead of him following on from Jonah’s goalkeeping heroics in our opening 7-0 win. Nevertheless, Vit kept opposition goals to a minimum. This was helped by our rock-solid defensive line, with the height of Noah Roper and Ollie Babcock coupling well with the silky skills and composure of Keir Maclean and Nick Stuart on the flanks. Moving up the pitch, we could always rely on Scott Harrington’s searing pace down the right as well as Toby Depel’s long balls on the left. Even despite losing one half of the Farlow-Depel partnership early on, our central midfield functioned beautifully under the all-seeing eye of Magnus McDowell – anyone who claims he was playing out of position should have a look at his pass completion rate. His offensive flair was balanced out by Billy Howard, our workhorse at DCM, who was in his element making

outrageous challenges on the muddy plains of Tonbridge. I myself enjoyed our attack the most when Jimmy Hammett was weaving in and out of defenders on the left – he’s another player who was most certainly hidden from 3rd team game time by Mr Allen. Speaking of whom, this unbeaten season would not have been possible without his tactical genius; only he could come up with a totally original way of structuring the Tottenham side – I mean SPS. He showed real gamesmanship by starting our Tonbridge match with three at the back, totally disorientating us, only to cleverly switch to four, thus bamboozling the opposition. Awarding him a Harry Kane award was the perfect end to a most enjoyable season. I only hope he manages to retain the use of our 4G pitch ‘the fortress’ for next year – if only he could make it Ned Russell a little wider.

5th XI

he 5th XI enjoyed an unbeaten season. The team revolved around our star keeper, William Dodd, who occasionally made saves and certainly filled the shoes of the departed Danny Menendez. Dhruv Gidoomal retained his place, securing, on one occasion, a couple of last-minute goals. Harry Forsyth dropped down from the 4ths to play for us this year and frequently found himself on the bench once more, filling in brilliantly when the masterful James Hammond ran out of steam. Tom Hart and Felix Atkinson often showed pace so far unprecedented in the 5ths to provide necessary cover. Will Allen and Luke Summers rotated throughout the season up front, both claiming several goals and Allen living up to a previous coach’s description: “an elephant on ice skates”. Edvard Astakhov converted more chances than last year and scored a couple of classy hat-tricks, claiming the 5th XI Golden Boot at the end of the season. Miss Van Den Berg became

Pedlow, was rewarded as he chased a poor back pass, lobbing the Harrow goalkeeper, levelling the scoreline. An intense team talk from our coach, Mr Troen, fired us up for the second half and, just a few minutes in, a thirty-yard screamer from striker Fin Bell put us 2-1 up. From then on we looked to kill the game, taking a little longer than necessary for throw-ins and goal kicks. Unfortunately, the referee saw through this and added a hefty amount of added time at the end of the second half. This gave Harrow an opportunity to bombard us with crosses, during which the number ten was able to force a scrappy header over the line, making it 2-2. This left us depend on Tonbridge losing their final game of the season against a somewhat weaker St John’s team which, unfortunately, did not happen. We came second by just a single point. Harry Morley

U16A

U16B

U16A

interim manager and took over leadership from Mr Edwards half way through the season, changing the infamous ‘narrow’ playing style of the team to a contrasting wide one with ‘one in the dumpster’, allowing Hamid Butt and Jack Peachey to provide mazy runs and the very occasional pass from the wings. The season was topped off with an Upper Eighth 2nd XI dominating the teachers in a 6-3 victory in which I finally finished a chance, taking my tally to 1 for the season. Unfortunately the 5ths were not invited to the Football dinner and our requests for a “Spoons” evening were denied on unclear grounds so we celebrated our season individually. We always were a close-knit team.

Henry Grainger

6th XI

his season the 6th XI experienced some early teething problems: we lost 3-2 to Tonbridge on the opening day of the season. However, the team soon found success. The first win came in the form of an impressive 11-0 away performance at Dulwich; later we triumphed 16-0 over Epsom, in no small part thanks to Nadim’s blinding volleys. This was, then, a successful season and we are grateful to our coach for his advice and support.

Matthew Moore

U16A

he U16As enjoyed a cracking season, narrowly missing out on a League title to a very strong Tonbridge side. We began with a successful trip to St. George’s Park, the England training ground. Having been coached by some of the FA’s finest, the team enjoyed a successful couple of games against academy sides, coming away with a win and a draw. Hoping to continue the form found during the pre-season tour, we travelled to Berkhamsted to play a team that had finished second last season. Running out 1-0 winners was a huge boost of confidence, placing us at the top of the table. We went into the final game before half term with a match against Tonbridge, which proved to be the pivotal game of the season. Having dominated possession for the entirety of the first half, a freak counter-attack resulted in a 1-0 loss. After half term, wins against Haileybury and Epsom put us in a menacing position, second place on goal difference. The final game came against Harrow, last year’s victors. A win would put pressure on Tonbridge. Early on in the first half, the Harrow striker pelted the ball into the top corner of the net: from our perspective an annoyingly fine finish. Just a few minutes later, though, the perseverance of the player of the season, Harry

wing to the formidable partnership of Dexter Conrad and William Craig, we secured a 6-5 win over Hampton in the first fixture of the season. The next set of matches was variable but the trajectory was encouraging: we lost 2-0 to Berkhamsted on sticky terrain; beat St John’s Leatherhead 3-2, despite conceding a penalty goal; and likewise won against Tonbridge, this time 2-0, thanks to what was the goal of the season, delivered by Maxime Vergnaud and Will Craig. Our match against Haileybury proved to be highly successful, with eight goals notched up by Maxime Vergnaud, William Craig, Nikita Forrester, and Aidan Atkinson. The team managed to score seven against Dulwich in a more competitive game. We won 3-2 versus Epson in a match yet tighter still, in no small part due to the heroic efforts of Quentin Fidance. Unfortunately the fine run of performances came to an abrupt end against Harrow, whose four goals deprived us of the League title. MLHJ

U15A

he year started with mixed emotions, as the delight of an excellent tour was tempered by the loss of James Street to injury for the rest of the season. Both he and Tyler Payne have represented the ISFA England team with distinction, and his absence, and that of others through unavailability and injury, most certainly had a negative effect on the side. Our first fixture was a friendly against Hampton, one of the thoroughbreds of independent school football. Our 3-2 victory, more decisive than the score-line would appear, was a real source of satisfaction, and similarly the 3-1 victory against Berkhamsted on the following Saturday was a relatively straightforward affair. ‘Wait until you play St John’s’ had been the parting words of the Hampton staff on the first Saturday of term, and when that day came, we saw exactly what they ▼ meant. Although we had the balance of play

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and chances in the first half, by the end of the game they were accelerating away into the distance. The League was clearly all about who was going to come second and, the week after, Tonbridge claimed that distinction as we put in an error-strewn performance, gifting them three soft goals and failing to score any of our own. This game provided the wake-up call that we clearly needed, and Haileybury were to feel the full force of that awakening as we ran in eleven goals on the coldest and windiest of days on a less than ideal pitch. In the early matches we had relied on Pat Gunn for goals, but on this occasion James Baxter was the hot-shot, scoring five times in the second half alone. A midweek friendly against Dulwich followed, where we once again showed our propensity to implode against unexceptional opposition. Epsom followed, once again in blustery conditions, but on this occasion we stayed well in control, and the 6-0 victory felt like an exercise in keep-ball rather than an attempt to score as many as possible. The trip to Radley was very similar, where the 5-1 victory was a somewhat desultory affair. The weather then denied us the pleasure of locking horns with Harrow, leaving only a friendly against King’s Wimbledon to finish the season. In a tale of two generous defences and some brilliant finishing by James Baxter, we ran out 4-3 winners. Looking to the future, this team has the potential to be as good as any we have had at St Paul’s. With more luck on the injury front, and, it has to be said, a willingness to train harder and listen better, they could yet sweep DJMH all before them.

U15B

The U15B football team had a great season in 2018. Starting off with an enjoyable tour, as well as a difficult loss to Hampton after playing quite well, the team managed to go on and achieve an unbeaten League season. Having lost to a team that had played football the term before and narrowly lost, the team had faith that winning the League was achievable. Our coach, Mr Maguire, was very intuitive throughout the season, changing formation at key times in the game to relieve pressure and shore us up at the back, with five in midfield. Going on from our loss, the team went on to learn from the U15As – and we enjoyed a great season. Notably, we won comfortably against Epsom and Radley. Throughout the season, there was a lot of personnel change, but the team was very adaptable and continued to play good football and keep the chemistry. Throughout the season, the team was able to score goals, but also concede very few. Everyone who played in the team always put in a great amount of effort, and did what was needed at the time, including positional changes throughout the season. Having won all our matches in the league bar one, it can be

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U15C

said that the U15Bs were a very strong team. Overall, therefore, I am pleased to report a very Zinedine Diabaté successful season.

U15C

his very successful season for the C team began with a 1-1 draw against Hampton. Although we did not win the match, it was a decent result considering we lacked the tactical genius of Mr Young and that we were 1-0 down with seconds to go. Budd saved the game, which began ‘eccentric’ celebrations. After a few changes in the side and the managerial department, the next game brought a 9-0 victory against Berkhamsted, including hat tricks from Applemans and Sanford-Bondy. After this, we battled through atrocious conditions to overcome a strong Tonbridge side in one of our toughest games of the season (3-2). Slot proved why he was our player of the season, with a performance of which Frank Rijkaard would have been proud. We then played our first away match of the season at Haileybury and annihilated them 6-0 with hat tricks from Ajayi and EvansAlcantara, who was our top scorer for the season. Harcombe, epitomising the team, put in some hearty challenges, before finally being taken off with fears for the safety of the

Harcombe, epitomising the team, put in some hearty challenges, before finally being taken off with fears for the safety of the opposing players opposing players. We then went to Dulwich, where the back line of Hart, Shaikh, Elway and Jancic, produced a defensive masterclass that was reminiscent of Milan’s defence in the 1990s. We won the match 2-0, continuing our unbeaten run. The next match was played at Epsom. We managed to grind out a 3-1 victory, leaving

just one more obstacle. The derby at King’s Wimbledon lay on the horizon and the team prepared for one last push. Sandford-Bondy opened the scoring with a header, before Roberts sent a rocket into the top-right corner to put some daylight between the two teams. We secured the win with some solid defending. That match concluded an incredible, unbeaten season. This report would not be complete without mentioning Caspar SimpsonOrlebar, who goal kept majestically throughout the season and provided assurance to the defence that anything going through the back line would not turn into a goal. He put his body on the line for the team week in, week out. I would like to thank Mr Young for providing great tactical insight and coaching us throughout the Tom Elway season.

U14A

t was a short but entertaining football season for the U14As. We started off by training for the first half term. We had our first game against Dulwich. A solid team performance helped by a few outstanding individual performances gave us a 7-3 win with a great hat trick from Danny Shai, one from Andre Saldahna, one from Jake Bidwell and finally two from myself. Our second game came against Epsom College. This was a tougher game due to a few very good individuals coming up against us. However, we were still able to gain a 4-0 lead with goals from Danny Shai, Kelechi Nwoko, Ben Petter and myself before they got two late goals to bring it back for a final result of 4-2. This win consisted of very strong performances from our midfield made up of Sasha and myself supported by a very solid defence. Our final game was against our rivals King’s College. It was a very intense game in which we found ourselves 2-0 down at half time. We kept fighting but a late goal from Danny was not enough for us and we took a 2-1 defeat. Overall it was a great season and we look Daniel Monferrer forward to the next.

Golf

counted towards the final standings, putting us in the top half after the first day. On the second day, I was he golfing year at SPS has determined to improve on my first always traditionally started round performance and was first with a 9 hole trial where new to tee off. Although I played better players can show us their skills golf on the second day, I found the and past players can exhibit any Nicklaus course to be too challenging improvements made over the long for me to shoot even a decent score. summer break. SPS enters two After my round, I soon realised that national knock-out competitions my thoughts were shared by all the every year, the main one being the players and my round of 87 started ISGA singles tournament, requiring to look a little better. It was definitely a three man team. The other one of the hardest golf courses I have competition is the HMC doubles ever played in and this was shown by tournament requiring six players, the very high scores on the the final Golf team: l - r Christian Smith, Hyun Yang (Captain) and John Richardson meaning we were very interested day. Christian came in with 90 and picking up the Regional Winners Trophy at the National Finals to look at all the new players who John ended the final for SPS with an could possibly make the six man team. This the two courses. We were lucky enough to 84. We ended up finishing 13th overall, which year the trial was held at Royal Mid Surrey have a bit of sunshine for the day but it was was a disappointing result, but everyone Golf Club and there were some excellent incredibly windy and looked to be a tough enjoyed the experience and the golf over scores, especially from one of the new fourth day on the course. Despite this, Christian the two days. That was the last event of the formers, Nicolo Sartori di Borgoricco. His played well and had a good first day year and ended another eventful year of golf excellent performance was rewarded with a shooting 74. John followed up with a round for SPS. I would like to thank Mr Smith for place on the singles team, along with John of 73, disappointing for his standards but still accompanying us to the final and give special Richardson and myself, for the first match a very decent score. I unfortunately could thanks to Mr Seel who organised the golf for of the year against Mill Hill school. We were not follow the rest of the team and ended us this year and I wish him and the future golf clear favourites for this match and with good a pretty dreadful round at 85. Luckily only teams the best of luck for the years to come. Hyun Yang performances from everyone in the team, two of the best scores from each school we managed to comfortably move onto the next round. In the second round we played against Highgate school and were lucky enough to have Christian Smith return from injury to replace Nicolo. This match also ended up being a comfortable victory for us giving us a place in the regional finals. Before we played in the regional finals, we hoped to carry over our winning ways to the HMC doubles competition. Unfortunately, more than half of our team were unable to play due to the Oxbridge exams, leaving us handicapped against one of the strongest schools in the competition, Wellington. Although the team fought hard, Wellington proved to be too good for us that day and Isaac Wighton supported by members of the Rackets Club ended up knocking us out of the HMC competition. However, we quickly put this led 2-0, during the latter stages Ivo’s opponent defeat behind us and looked forward to the began to find his range, and Ivo started Matchplay Regional Finals against Harrow. experiencing calf muscle cramps and therefore This was going to be our toughest match lost the next three games to lose 2-3 in an yet with neither school being the favourites. National Schools’ Singles Championships absorbing five game thriller. Isaac Wighton Despite this, we managed to come out on (December 2017, Queens Club, London) also had great success in winning the National top with exceptional performances from atteo Perper made Rackets history Schools U15 Singles Championships, for the both Christian Smith and John Richardson, when, as a non-seed, he spectacularly ‘Jim Dear Cup’. As top seed, Isaac, comfortably and thereby qualied for the National Finals won the Foster Cup, an elite event made it through to the final against a for the third consecutive year. The finals this for the top sixteen schoolboys in the country, relatively unknown Etonian who took the first year were held at St Mellion Golf Club in without dropping a single game throughout. game 15/11. The final against the 2nd seed Cornwall. We travelled down by train with This unprecedented achievement was also Tonbridgian was a little tense in the first game Mr Seel and Mr Smith and stayed in rooms the very first National senior trophy won by as Isaac, understandably nervous, needed extra provided by the club. The format of the a Pauline. In the same event, Ivo Macdonald points in the ‘Set 3’ to win it 16-13; after that he final was a 36 hole stroke play competition unfortunately drew a 3rd seed Wellingtonian settled and won the second game to take the (without handicaps) spread over two days. and although we had high hopes of an ‘up-set’, title. This event was very successful as we had a The first day was to be played on the Kernow ▼ not to mention the excitement we felt as Ivo great entry of eight boys. course which was the shorter and easier of

Rackets

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Matteo Perper with the Foster cup and members of the Rackets Club.

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National Schools’ Doubles Championships (March 2018, Queens Club, London) We were the top seeds and firm favourites for the 1st pair doubles, and, after dropping just 3 from 15 games in reaching the final, not to mention leading 2-1 against Eton in the final, it seemed the seedings were correct. However, the 4th game was crucial to win in this best of 7 game match, to be 3-1 as opposed to 2-2 is huge, so when that game hit 14-14, and the tie-break ‘set 3’, was chosen, the gallery’s level of excitement was at its peak. However, unfortunately for Matteo & Ivo, they could only muster one point & lost it 15/17, and with that, the next two games 10/15, 12/15 to lose 4-2. Similar to the 1st pair event, U15s Isaac Wighton and Oli Hatfield were top seeds. However, after dropping just 17 points en route to the semifinal, they came up against another Eton pair and sadly didn’t find their previous form, losing 1-3. The David Tate Cup (Internal Senior & Junior Singles Championships) This year’s school senior singles event was won by Ivo Macdonald, who defeated Matteo Perper in an epic battle that ended with exact points scored, 13/18, 15/12, 16/14. The U16 event was won by Dexter Conrad, who defeated Ben Samuelson 15/3, 15/5. Unfortunately it is that time of year when we say goodbye to our 1st pair, Matteo and Ivo, who arguably have been the most successful Pauline pair in our 18 years of play. It has not been all plain sailing over the five years, but when they competed for the school, it was with every ounce of commitment, and the club will miss them both. Nevertheless, it is heartening to record that our intake of fourth formers this year is as strong as could be hoped for, with Oliver Hatfield, George Livesey, Rana Sarin, and Kush Gupta, surely soon to consolidate the Perper ST Macdonald legacy.

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Rowing 1st VIII

n sport, there will always be those who seek to forecast the outcome of a race, or even a season, before it happens. An ambitious athlete must ignore these predictions, favourable or otherwise, because their own performance is the only one they can truly hope to control. This is especially true in a pure ‘racing’ sport such as rowing. In the wake of the historic performances of last year’s 1st VIII, and with all but one of those athletes returning,

the expectation of success was ever-present. However, having dealt with the exact opposite in 2017, (the crew that became National Champions were once written off as simply ‘a development year’), the returning athletes duly set the tone in training. Regardless of what was being said about us outside the boathouse, and whether you were a J16B returner or reigning world champion, the philosophy of each session was the same – to try and make it just a little better than the last. The performances of this season might give the impression that it all came easily – nothing could be further from

The 1st VIII victorious at Henley

the truth. Every athlete managed their own mix of pressures from home, school and the boathouse. Over the course of the year we worked continuously with our psychologist, Stephen Feeney, to whom we owe no small part of the resilience that carried us through the most testing times. The way the group performed at the Head of the Charles is testament to the work we put in to the mental side of the sport. Despite the loss of our five man to appendicitis just days before flying out, both the eight and the four achieved their highest ever placings, with the 1st VIII winning Youth Eights in a new record time. Our focus was always on making the boat go as fast as possible, not solely on beating the opposition. This kept us from becoming complacent, particularly after we showed our full strength for the first time against our amassed domestic competition at the Schools’ Head. We set another course record and took the overall win by 20 seconds. By now we had our eyes firmly on ‘The Triple’ – the elusive mark of an all-conquering junior crew composed of wins at the Schools’ Head, National Schools’ Regatta and Henley. At National Schools’ we showed we had widened the gap on our competition. Over the 2km course (less than a third of the Schools’ Head distance) we finished 15s ahead of a distant Radley College. The coxless and coxed fours picked up gold and silver medals the next day respectively. A few weeks later Marlow Regatta presented us with an opportunity to test our speed in fast conditions. We posted a 5:36.59, 0.6s outside the Worlds’ Best Time set by the Italian junior national eight in 2012

and came second in Men’s Championship Eights to a Leander crew of full-time senior rowers. This stands as the fastest time ever by a school eight. Soon enough, Henley rolled around. Our start, practised against the likes of Princeton and Oxford Brookes in the run-up to the regatta, was ferocious. We knew our opposition’s hopes of victory were fragile, and looked to break them in the first minute. Abingdon, Latymer and Radley were felled en route to Sunday. In the final against Eton, we broke our own course records from earlier in the week to the Barrier and Fawley, and

jubilantly crossed the finish line 11s faster than the old record. The official margin, too great to be measured in boat lengths, was, in the end, ‘easily’. To win at Henley meant the world to us. It was the vindication of everything we have put in to the sport. It was a set of feelings that evade description in anything other than cliché – the nine of us, best mates, together in our blazers, the evening light shining off the huge trophy, the distinctive red medal boxes in our hands. Reliving those feelings now, I find myself momentarily overcome by emotion. The pedigree of the crew continued to

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show at the final set of GB Trials shortly after Henley. Born a few weeks too early, Alex Langstone Bolt, Cameron McInroy and I were sadly ineligible to return to the GB team this year. All other members of the 1st VIII were selected for the World Rowing Junior Championships in Račice, Czech Republic. Boat Club Captain Douwe de Graaf and Calvin Tarczy, as last year, earned spots in the coxless four. At the time of writing the championships have yet to conclude, but they will no doubt be looking to repeat last year’s gold medal performance. Vice-Captain Axel de Boissard returned to cox the men’s eight again but with an all-new line up of rowers, one also featuring Oliver Parish, Tom Horncastle and George Dickinson. Their crew too will no doubt harbour hopes of a medal, and stands every chance of fulfilling them. Our thanks go out to our core coaching team of Bobby Thatcher, Donald Legget and Stephen Feeney, to all the other coaches and to the academic staff who oversee the Boat Club – Mr Perrin and Dr Killick; also to the High Master, Surmaster and countless other staff members who remain ever interested and accommodating in the lunch hall, corridor and classroom and are often present at the water’s

2nd VIII

he Second Eight’s season has been one of high highs, low lows and medium mediums. The crew was an amalgamation of four different boats from the previous year, ranging from the dazzling Senior Quad to the overachieving First Eight. Fixtures against Thames RC and the Cambridge Lightweights led up to the first race of the season, the Schools’ Head, a race which is far too long to be anywhere near enjoyable. Upon finishing, we knew we had (rather remarkably) broken the record and moved away from the surrounding competitors. We returned to the boathouse buoyant, only to discover Eton had broken the record by even more than us. However, this was merely fuel to the fire in our determination to do better. The Portugal training camp was a time of rejuvenation and self-discovery. With the aid of Sensei Charles Bourne and his knowledge of Qi Gong we discovered the fastest possible combination, as proven by defeating everyone’s second choice, the King’s First Eight. Led by the living spaghetti Daniel CraigMcFeely and me, the boat seemed to be in a good spot. Our excessive focus on hydration, rested legs, and Ben and Jerry’s only solidified this position. BASHER was the first demonstration of our rapid speed, where we finished in a strong second place. However, soon disaster struck.

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National Schools’ Regatta

I don’t doubt for a second that rowing at St Paul’s will continue togrow. edge; to the parents group, whose members and contributions are too numerous to list. This is not the end of something great; rather it is potentially the beginning of something greater. I don’t doubt for a second

that rowing at St Paul’s will continue to grow. Participation will grow, enthusiasm and support for rowing in the school community will grow, and the Club’s success will grow with along with them. I say to younger Paulines - Bobby has the blueprint, you have the parts. Believe me, you do. Accompanying the superlatives used to describe us this year was a lot of head-scratching – “How? They’re not even big!” Champions are made, not born, and Leo von Malaise they’re made here.

National Schools’ Regatta

With a lengthy (and quite frankly filthy) 750 metre sprint, we charged through the field My back proceeded to explode, leading to three weeks out of the boat. I was able to return just six days before NSR, slotting back in at three. On the day itself, after a disappointing timetrial and an eventful semi, where Hampton crossed lanes and rowed into us, we sat in fifth midway through the culminating race of the season. With a lengthy (and quite frankly filthy) 750 metre sprint, we charged through the field to finish third.

The season was rounded off with an assault on the Fawley Challenge Cup. The B quad put in a very strong performance to miss out on qualification for HRR by a mere two seconds, whilst the A quad qualified and then narrowly lost to a well-established Leander crew. Whilst for some the season did not live up to our hopes, the results at National Schools, School’s Head, and the first ever qualification of an SPS sculling crew at Henley tell a different story. These were remarkable achievements, especially considering the youth of the crew and the issues experienced. Seven of the crew will return next year to continue the legacy of Ash Ketchum Charlie Bourne and once again measure ourselves Max Deering against our opposition.

3rd VIII

ow many athletes does it take to make a third eight? Twenty-two is this year’s answer. And nine of those athletes were coxes. With this in mind, the third eight is best viewed as the fruit of the efforts of the whole Boat Club. In fact, given that the majority of the steering for this year’s crew was done by Levy Costanza, star cox for SPGS, this was an inter-club effort. This story ends on the Saturday of the National Schools’ Regatta where the crew of Kotecha, Craig-McFeely F, Mattimoe, Isola, Rosenfeld, Bektas, Seery, Majumdar and Castronovo won the morning time trial and raced well to a bronze medal in the winds of the afternoon. It is doubtful you will find consensus on which of the two imposters – triumph or disaster – this represented, but history is written by the man who writes the article for The Pauline. The facts are these: conditions slowed during the day, but the 3rd VIII slowed down by only a couple of seconds in their 500m splits between the time trial and the finals; the rest of the SPS crews excepting the 1st VIII - and many of those crews were medal winners - each slowed down by about 4 seconds. What stung was not a bad row the rowing was good, and the boat and crew moved well through the conditions; what stung was the revelation of the speed that Eton and Radley had hidden during the season. Now to the beginning. The third eight as an eight got going only part way through the spring term. All the pieces of the clockwork were present from January, but the mechanism as a whole began to tick only when there were a few weeks to go until the

Finding the right balance

Schools’ Head. Then, within the sweep of a hand, the crew came together: they wanted to train, they wanted to train more often, they wanted to train in the snow, they wanted to go on training camp (this was the first time a full third eight had gone on camp), they wanted to race, and they wanted to win. In the last week before the Head, every outing came with a steep change in performance. The result was a bright pink pennant: the first for an SPS third eight since 2011. Albert Doyle would leave the crew after training camp, and Connor Seery and Buster Parr would prove able substitutes for the sprint season, though these few brushstrokes greatly simplify a complex landscape. The crew is grateful to Dr Killick and his golden J15A crew, who provided some great competition in a series of spirited fixtures in Portugal and in the lead up to NSR. Nothing made the third eight pull harder than the bow ball of the J15A boat somewhere nearby. Further thanks are owed to many in the Boat

Club: to Mr Twyman and Mr Jones for their sharp insight, and particularly to those who were willing to get in the boat so that rowing could happen. In this category, special mention must go to: Kamran Ahmed, Ben Ray, Meer Dougramachi, Jack Morgan, Basil Geczy, Sriram Naresh, Philip Gong, and, most importantly, Buster Parr and Levy Costanza.

MJPS

J16 VIII

Even off the back of a gold medal at the National Schools regatta in 2017, our J16 year began with many key athletes pursuing other sports and leaving the remaining squad without the necessary depth for even one 8+. Despite this, those remaining pressed on with the routine winter training and when results went well at both Pairs Head and then Kingston Small Boats Head in quads, our squad began to condense back together. A quick 5k ergo test and a brief bout of Christmas training soon had us with an almost complete squad training hard for the Schools’ Head in an 8+ and a quad. Probably the most exciting part of that training was racing (and arguably beating) the Cambridge Women’s Blue Boat during a two-piece fixture at the end of January. We came out of the Head racing season with a set of respectable results at Schools’ Head: a silver medal for the 8+ and a solid 4th place for the quad—a remarkable improvement from our slow start to the year.

We then began our aptly named “Heavy Strength Weights” program: pioneered by Smithy and hijacked by Mr Blake, which carried us into the 2k racing season. Our first indication that we had truly made changes on our Easter training camp in Portugal was at BASHER regatta, where we dominated

the field. Our confidence was short-lived, however, when just 7 days later we came 5th of a 6-crew field in the 8+ at Wallingford regatta, despite our top 4+ having won the J16 4+ category that very morning. The takeaway for all of us was the importance of “training to win on our worst day”. Sorry faces ▼

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lined the rows of the coach back to school that evening, but we set about amending our training program to be smarter and work around our respective GCSE revision timetables for the final week before the National Schools’ Regatta. This proved successful on the first day of National Schools’; after winning a blisteringly fast time trial and semi-final, we came home with a silver medal in the 8+. Both halves of the eight then went on to race the next day in the coxless fours category, which saw the bottom 4- taking 4th place in the C final and the top 4- coming 4th overall. Overall, I would describe our season as an upwards spiral; lots of confusion and many surprises, but a constant upwards trend culminating in a very good result for such a small squad. The top 4- at National Schools’ have since gone on to beat the J16 4+ 2k school record and qualify to represent Great Britain in the annual match against France. A huge thanks to everyone involved with rowing this year, but mostly to Antony Smith, our hugely impressive coach who has once again proven that he can pick up the pieces of an overworked J15 squad and transform them into a mature and fast J16 squad. We wish you luck at LEH and hope you come and visit every once in a while!

J15A VIII

St Paul’s in lane one. Westminster in lane 2. Aberdeen in lane 3. The 2018 National Schools’ J15 final. All crews. Attention. Go!

he first part of the season began in January and ended in March, a period of variable weather and variable performances. After long pieces completed on the land and water, we raced several times before the pinnacle of this part of the season, the Schools’ Head of the River. Being a mercurial crew, and missing one of our crew due to injury, we were unsure of our chances, J15A

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and finished a disappointing 4th, losing to the winners Aberdeen by a significant 33 seconds. In this 2018 final, St Paul’s get out to a strong start, taking perhaps a third of a length from Westminster in lane 2 as they come through the 500m. Aberdeen and Abingdon are a length behind the 2 leaders. We knew we had to improve a significant amount before National Schools’. Going to Portugal on training camp was a big step in finding this improvement. We finalised the crew order, visited the beach, and learnt a few words of Portuguese. Coming through through the half-way mark Westminster have begun to close on leaders St Paul’s, bringing the margin back one second. The two leaders have now a considerable margin on the rest of the field. Coming back from the still lake in Portugal, it took a few days to adjust to the Tideway again. With less than a month until National Schools’, there was a new sense of urgency to the training. During these three weeks we continued to improve; by the end, after a few injury scares, we thought we were ready to race. Westminster continue to close in on St Paul’s, whose lead has been slowly diminishing. There is now a few feet between the two leaders as they come into the last 500m. We arrived at the venue early to have enough time to prepare for our time trial. With the hint of rain and grey skies, we had a time trial with much to be desired, another 4th place, with Aberdeen winning again. We had to race them in the semi final. Nervous and excited, we got out to a start which Aberdeen never responded to, winning strongly over the Schools’ Head winners. We

now had pole position for the final. With 500m to go Westminster start to sprint for the finish and St Paul’s respond. In the last desperate strokes into the line both crews are on the limit but St Paul’s still have the edge. They move out to a canvas as they cross the line, as national champions. On behalf of the J15As, we would like to thank Dr Killick and all of the coaches who have Joe Middleton helped us this year.

J15B

fter a rocky Head season, with a constantly changing crew, the boat finished 10th at the Schools’ Head. This was just the motivation needed as the crew pushed forward into the regatta season. After a training camp in Portugal, in which the rowing pushed on and improved massively, we were back on the Thames and ready to race. Chiswick Regatta, the first race of the season, turned out to be a massive success. For many of the crew this was their first victory. The National Schools’ Regatta was what everything had built up to. It was a windy day; we didn’t know what to expect, how we would compare to other crews and if our improvement would be enough. A solid row brought us in seventh in the time trial. We were not overjoyed, knowing we would have to overturn another crew in order to make the A final. We came up to the start of our semi final in lane 4, which was definitely going to be tough in the cross-headwind. The lanes showed in the results, and we came through the line fourth, securing a top lane in the B final. We were disappointed, as we had not got the result we came for, but we were still determined not to let our training go to waste. We ate, rested, and focused on the upcoming final, with the thought of winning in our mind. The wind was going strong, but

we drew the first lane, putting us in a great position already. We got off to a slow start, coming through the first 500m mark in fifth, a full four seconds off the pace of the leaders. Knowing that we had a great finish in store, we still couldn’t be sure if that was enough. The time to move was now. Over the next 500m Reading Blue Coat in the lane next to us faltered, and we pulled through powerfully to a lead at half way. Our rhythm was set, we had found our speed, but all of a sudden we were flanked by Shrewsbury two lanes over. For the next 750m it was back and forth between us, playing out as an absolutely fantastic race. Although Shrewsbury seemed to edge out a couple seats in front inside the last 250m, we gave it absolutely everything, cranking up the stroke rate, and pulled through in a last few desperate strokes to a 0.26 second victory. Although this was just the B final, putting us in seventh overall position, we went home with an impressive time and the feeling of victory, as well as the promise of great racing in the future against some newfound rivals. A massive thanks to our coach, Alex Watkins, and to Mr Bailey, for all their help and support throughout the year.

J14A

he J14 A crew has enjoyed considerable success this season. We started in the spring term, and we were eager to see what the months ahead had in store for us. After taking part in various events including Hampton Head and The Scullery, Bedford Regatta was our first race in separate A, B and C crews. After meeting at school at 7 o’clock in the morning, we drove to Bedford where, although we were greeted by a grey and drizzly sky, there was a highly competitive atmosphere. We had entered the J14 A octo competition and proceeded to the semifinals where, in spite of our strenuous efforts, we were defeated by Norwich School by a frustrating two feet. We also raced in quads, with the A quad qualifying for the final

Legs burning, arms aching, we were giving it everything. We passed the tents and the crowd erupted. which was eventually cancelled due to bad weather. The B quad, although having shown much potential in training, sadly crashed into a tree which the crew claimed had been clumsily placed near the start. However, all in all, it was a very positive day, giving us both confidence and highlighting a couple of issues to work on. With the news that Norwich would be at

Bedford Regatta: J14A beating Bedford School in a heat

the National Schools’ Regatta, we were keen to work our socks off for the event with only three weeks to improve. The NSR starts with a time trial, with only the top six boats (out of 30) proceeding to the A final to compete for silverware. Once we had recovered from this exhausting process, we were very pleased to have come in second place, although frustratingly just behind Norwich again. However, if anything, this built our confidence; injuries and crew changes only days before meant we were a new crew and we were very determined to prove ourselves. A nail-biting five hours awaited before the final, the last race of the day. We got into position in front of the stake boats. Next to us, our rival: Norwich. Other big schools in our race were Radley, Abingdon and Windsor Boys’, all anxiously awaiting the call. We came up into position. ‘Attention...... Go!’ It was a good, clean start, but we could feel Norwich pushing away from us. At the 500 metre mark, Norwich were ahead by over a second. Windsor Boys’ were behind us and we pushed off them, giving everything to catch up Norwich, who were now nearly four seats ahead of us. It was now or never. 200 metres to go. Our cox was shouting, urging us on. We took the rate up, increasing the number of strokes per minute. Norwich just one seat ahead now. Legs burning, arms aching, we were giving it everything. We passed the tents and the crowd erupted. We had to push now. Slowly, it came to us... we were ahead! It was down to the final sprint, and we had never pushed this hard before. We crossed the finish, completely exhausted and had won it! We had beaten Norwich in one of the tightest races of the day by 0.83 seconds. We have all really enjoyed our first year of rowing in what has been the most successful year ever for St Paul’s J14 crews. Crew: James Trotman (c), Toby Thorogood, Alex Marshall, Callum Elder, Julian McDonald, Ben Harker, Will Hitchcock, Basti Marsoner, Jonah Alex Marshall Bretherton and Alex Henke.

J14B

he season commenced in January under the shadow of dark clouds and heavy rain, as fierce tides ebbed and flowed around us we sat in the boat, attempting to take one proper stroke. Little did we know that in less than 5 months we would be national champions. Soon it was the summer term and with our first competitive regatta fast approaching, training intensified. We arrived at Bedford confident and excited. After 12 km of almost nonstop rowing we reached the final. We shot out of the blocks, neck and neck with Norwich. We kept up with them over the next 700 metres thanks in part to the power put down by Joe Leventis, Ed Doughty and Ethan Lim in the centre of the boat. Yet, as we pulled across the line, it was not quite enough and we lost by an agonising three-foot margin.

By the time we arrived at NSR we were a well-oiled machine The loss at Bedford left us with an ardent ambition to beat Norwich and win at the National Schools’ Regatta. We turned up the training intensity, pushing even harder on the ergos and on the water. By the time we arrived at NSR we were a well-oiled machine. The atmosphere at NSR was amazing; the roads were teeming and wherever you went, a boat was in sight. We qualified with the fastest time in the time trial and went straight into the A final. We sat up on the start pontoon for the final, nervously touching the boat up hoping for the best racing line; an unsettling silence fell over the six waiting crews, interrupted only by calm, encouraging words from our cox, Charlie Grimstone. The race was the culmination of our entire rowing season. As the marshal raised the flag the nerves ▼ dissipated, and we started to relax.

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“All crews, attention. Go!” As we heard the go, we levered our blades through the water and in a surge of savagery and white water, we were away. We made a clean start and as we settled into our rhythm we started pulling clear of the field. Three minutes and twenty-one seconds later we were National Champions and holders of the Dulwich cup, winning the J14 B event for St Paul’s for the first time since 2015. Overall the season has been thoroughly enjoyable, full of hard work by all the rowers, parents and the committed rowing reps, but most of all the coaches, without whom none of this would have been possible, particularly Mr Jones for his devoted coaching, Mr Twyman for his technical expertise and coaching and Mr Perrin for organising the season. It has been a great experience for the whole crew. Finn Lavington and Oliver Thomas

J14C

t the start of the spring term, over fifty of us assembled at the lofty summit of the boat ramp, eager to learn how to row. However, we were soon informed that we were here to scull, not row. We adopted this task with equal enthusiasm, spending the next few days flailing wildly at the water. Soon, we grasped the technique of sculling and were ready for our first race. We arrived at the Scullery (at Dorney Lake, the site of the 2012 Olympic rowing), having de-rigged the boats the day before, ready to row. At this point we were still in mixed crews, the coaches not yet having decided who had the supreme talent required to row in the mighty C crew. The mixed crews excelled, with one coming 9th out of roughly fifty crews, a promising start to the season. The next race was BASHER, where we were split into a top half and a lower half. We also rowed well there, promising a good season to come. Over half-term we went to Peterborough Lake, which was approximately

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Back Row: Oliver Thomas (1), Ollie Onillon (8), Joe Leventis (5), Ethan Lim (3), Ed Doughty (7) Front Row: Finn Lavington (6), Charlie Grimstone (Cox), Lorenzo Usai (2), Oscar Vitou (4)

4 feet deep, allowing us to capsize small boats to our heart’s content. Upon returning to school, we were finally split into crews. In these newfound crews, we went to Bedford regatta, full of confidence; we knew we had a start to rival any B crew, let alone C crew. When we arrived, we discovered our race had been delayed. We waited for three hours,

The National Schools Regatta is the largest schoolboy regatta in the UK, sowe were understandably nervous. the tension rising. We paddled up to the start, adrenaline flowing, only to wait half an hour for Radley to turn up. Finally, they arrived. We lined up, the umpire called: ‘SIT READY, ATTENTION, GO!’ We shot off into the lead, which we held for all of ten seconds before we caught a boat

stopping ejector crab, causing us to lose by over twenty lengths. However, there were many positives to take away, not least the fantastic first ten seconds we had had. We then began to grind away at our sculling, training seven times a week, or over seven hours a week, all in preparation for one race: The National Schools’ Regatta. The National Schools’ Regatta is the largest school regatta in the UK, so we were understandably nervous. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, there was no C crew competition, forcing us to race against B crews as well. We did very well in the time trial, coming 12th, just placing us in the B final of the B competition. In our final, we struggled off the start; however, we hung on, finally coming fourth in our final and second out of all the C crews present. This was, according to the coaches, the best result by a St Paul’s C crew that they could remember, so massive thanks and praise to everyone involved, particularly Dr Field for her brilliant coaching and motivation. Jack Davies

1st XV v Marlborough

Rugby

he 1st XV started the season well with two confident wins in Rome and healthy competition for starting places. Many players had performed well on tour, most noticeably Andrei William who scored several tries. There was, however, one noticeable absentee from the team. Jasper Green, who plays for the USA 7s team, was injured and was not able to play for the first half of the season. Edan Baines stepped up as his replacement, and proved a formidable force all season. Having returned to the UK the 1st XV had their first game on The Close at Rugby School, and secured a tight win. Injuries were already starting to take their toll and without Declan Thompson, Raef Jackson, Jasper Green

1st XV v Epsom

and Theo Moreland we lost against a strong Epsom team. We moved on quickly, playing Marlborough College and Alex Scott’s great running lines helped us to secure a victory. Mark Sapper had spent the summer working hard and was starting to exploit his boshing powers. After beating RGS High Wycombe, we suffered a loss in the Champions Trophy to eventual winners, Dulwich College. An injury-ridden team took the field against RGS Guildford and fought to the end to secure a victory, showing great team spirit and determination. A loss to Harrow School, followed by a win against London Oratory was to finish a good first half of term, with standout players being Will McGowen with his side step and pace, and Jon Kim with his experience of having played for the 1st XV for two years. After half term, the team went on to play KCS Wimbledon where Harry Strauss ran

down the wing to secure a draw for the team. Jamie Abbott continued to show great composure and bravery, and Dec Thompson demonstrated great foot skills and flare in the backline. The men in white went on to face Tonbridge where, for the first time, St Paul’s won on Tonbridge soil. Oliver Hill’s speed and jumping ability helped to secure a victory along with Max Hart’s control, decision-making and strategic kicking at fly half. Jasper Green,

…for the first time St Paul’s won on Tonbridge soil showed great athleticism, power and pace, making it almost impossible for teams to bring him down. After a historic victory, the team went back to training the following week in preparation for three big games ahead. We suffered a narrow defeat to Eton College, but we went on to beat both Berkhampstead and Radley College (both teams that some of us had lost to before). We sadly lost Joe Wyche to injury against Radley but Constantin Gardey continued to shine as one of our best players. In the centre, Raef Jackson held a talented backline together and Sam Attfield was a force in the lineout. We had one more week of training before our last match against Emanuel School, which proved to be an enjoyable win for everyone. Theo Moreland’s immense strength intimidated our opposition for the last time that season; Carl Lottig galloped his way through tacklers; there were tears of emotion after the game for what had been a fantastic ▼ season.

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We would like to thank Mr Blurton. He is the cause of such success and team spirit throughout the season and we will all remember him for the rest of our lives. He has developed our rugby so much both individually and as a team whilst making every minute enjoyable. We would also like to thank Mr Stevens, Mr Blake, Umbreen Khan and Nico Wilson for making it a great season for the 1st XV.

Freddie Turley (Captain of Rugby)

2nd XV

he 2nd XV enjoyed a season of quality rugby facilitated by a keen sense of camaraderie across the team. We began our pre-season work in Rome, where a last-minute try secured our victory over D’Abruzzo. Back in England, we lost to Rugby School by two points, but this pre-season was in no way indicative of the season that followed. Indeed, thanks to Patrick Elway and Woosang Kim we demolished Epsom 27-3 and then, owing to Fergal Walter’s notching up of twenty-six points, we dispatched

2nd XV v London Oratory

3rd XV after beating Radley College 20-7

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Marlborough 36-5. Our next clashes were against the two Royal Grammar Schools: High Wycombe and Guildford. These games were harder yet we prevailed, with standout play from Rory Tegner. Yet injuries started to take a toll on our team, leaving us without Ben Smith, Joe Wyche, Ben Reinecker and Tom O’Driscoll, who was elevated to the 1st XV. It was no surprise, therefore, that we just lost out to Harrow. Against KCS, however, we triumphed 34-0, in no small part thanks to man-of-the-match Ben Reinecker, and then against Tonbridge we did almost as well: securing a 17-0 victory that owed much to Remy Arnaud, Jonny Clark, Yaz Issa, and Charlie Howard. Next came Eton who would be a stern test for our team. Nevertheless on a cold and rainy day we stuck at it defensively and it was our magical, creative attacking play, inspired by a fired-up Ben Smith, which saw us to a clinical 24-20 win. This winning spree continued against Berkhamsted and Radley, and we finished the season one of the best 2nd XVs in the country and the best ever at St. Paul’s. We express our gratitude to Mr Burrows for enabling us to flourish as a team and for

coaching us so excellently: we would not have had the season we did without him.

3rd XV

Jonathon Clark and Fergal Walter

he 3rd XV had one of their most successful seasons in recent years, led all the way by Dr Gilks in his first season with the team. A strong start was made to the season in the first game against Epsom, in which the promise of the pack was made clear as the likes of Duncan Bacon and Roma Rodriguez dominated up front. The second game of the season saw the team without captain Noah Roper against Marlborough, and the nerves showed. After fly half Jack Hammond fired the team into a 17-14 lead, it took 10 minutes of heroic allout defence to secure a narrow victory. The following two games were more comfortable, allowing key players to shine on the big stage of the Hammersmith Bridge Pitch. Thomas McGowan made immense carries all around the pitch while the Sam BeverleyKelvin Leung engine kept on running; in the backs, Isaac Williams proved his quality with a delightful chip and chase try and Josh Zillig’s box-kicking game from 9 allowed for extremely dominating performances. The first big test was to follow against Harrow and, with the stalwart Jonny Routley set to miss the rest of the season and Hammond still recovering from a concussion, it was to prove an uphill battle. With Hammond missing it was down to wannabe fly half Julius Davies to kick the points from hooker, and two penalties in the first half gave us hope. It was not to be, though, as a strong Harrow defence, aided by a non-existent offside line, led to a 12-6 defeat, the first of the season. The derby against KCS followed, proving an opportunity to bounce back from a disappointing defeat, and it was an opportunity that was taken. Roper opened up the floodgates with an early score, after which the result never looked in doubt thanks in particular to a man-of-thematch performance from the players’ player of the season Josh Greensmith. What followed was one of the best matches in 3rd XV history away at Tonbridge: after conceding two early tries it looked like another disappointing defeat was on the cards but after an Arthur Jenkyn-Jones retrieval on a cross kick and a Lucas Tanner interception the game was back in the balance. What followed was a gruelling 40 minutes of rugby in which both teams traded penalties; unfortunately, it was Tonbridge who came out on top 18-17, but the high quality of rugby was clear to all on both sides. Despite the defeat, the performance spurred the team on to impressive victories

against Eton, Radley, and UCS before a final day thrashing of Emanuel in which Will Allen bagged himself a 10-minute hat trick. All in all, this was an incredible season, with 9 games won and just 2 close defeats – an unprecedented achievement for the 3rd XV.

3rd XI

Noah Roper

4th XV

With normal Pauline strength in depth lacking this year, the success of the 4th XV’s season was down to the commitment, passion and skill of a few committed warriors lead by superb captain Julius Davies. With the fixture list getting ever more competitive and the 4th XV frequently asked to play up a team, the boys played brilliantly to record significant wins over Epsom College (39-5), Marlborough (36-5) and RGS 3rds (18-5). Inconsistencies in team selection due to injuries above never once stymied the ambition of the 4th XV; theirs was a game built on quick, athletic forwards and rapier-like backs. The entire team should be incredibly proud of the character they showed throughout the season. There were hard-to-take losses against Harrow and Tonbridge but heads never dropped and each disappointment only redoubled the determination and grit shown in training the following week. This steeliness was reflected in the winning run the team went on at the end of the season, scoring big wins against Eton, Berkhamsted and Radley in each of their final three weekend matches.

4th XV v Emanuel

As recognition of their loyalty and effort over the year, the team were afforded the great honour of playing the Emanuel 2nd XV on the 1st XV pitch in the final game of the season. Clearly none of the boys were going to let this opportunity go to waste and they produced a feast of running rugby to defeat the opposition by over fifty points in front of what must have been a record crowd for a SJM midweek fixture.

U16A

fter a great pre-season tour in Oxford and pre-season game against Solihull, it was down to business with our first game against close rivals Epsom. Unfortunately, we narrowly lost but Henry Hastie managed to cross the line in one of the best tries of the season. We soon reset our trajectory, however, with great wins against ▼ Marlborough and RGS Guildford. RGS High

U16B Henry Pincott v RGS

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Wycombe left us with mixed emotions after a terrific first half but that all fell away in the second half, where, with a Scott interception disallowed, we had to settle for a draw. Things did not get any easier when we then came up against the giants of Harrow, but a new 10 and 12 partnership in Bell and Griffith brought some pattern and structure to the second half, which we won 7-5. The second half of the term started very positively with a comfortable win against KCS, and the best win of the season against a very strong Tonbridge side at home on the first team pitch, turning round the losses of the past two years. Extremely wet weather at Eton played into the opposition’s hands, and so a 7-7 draw was all we managed to take from

the day. It did not get much better with very cold conditions down at Berkhamsted the following week, where some injuries meant we could not hold on to the early lead. Finally, we ended back at home on the first team pitch with a great win against Radley to round off the season. Thank you to Mr Block and Mr Lawrence for a great season and some great Archie Turley results.

U16C

his is the second year that I have had the privilege of coaching this team and the improvements made during the past two years are a huge source of pride for me and should be for the boys. This year they put together some of the

most brilliant team performances that I have seen in my time coaching at the school. The performance in the 36-7 victory over a previously undefeated Harrow team was exceptional and featured several whole team tries. To then back this up with a hard fought 14-7 victory over an overconfident Tonbridge team showed a will, determination and team spirit that you rarely see in any team. I’m not going to highlight any individual performances, because as far as I’m concerned, this was a team effort from the first practice to the final match; a team of regular players playing together, beat a team of superstars playing as individuals. Thank you to all the boys for a memorable and RJB enjoyable season.

An unbeaten U15A

U15A

This was an exceptional season for a very talented team. They were the first team to go unbeaten on the regular Saturday circuit for over ten years. A focussed preseason in Durham with wins over Barnard Castle and RGS Newcastle prepared them for some sterner tests to come. The pack was the cornerstone of the success, winning good ball and smashing through the midfield before the backs finished with pace and precision. Tom Elway, Derin Acoroglu and Ben Pymont regularly took great lines from the skilful hands of hooker Freddie Harrison. Zac Campbell was a superb leader and player at fly half and demanded the ball at the right times for the magic feet of James Baxter, Tom White and Seon Shaw to finish some memorable tries. The success was also based on defence and winning the break down and the leader as always in this aspect was Dominic Satchell at open side, closely followed by Harry Finlay Brothers in the centre who spearheaded the defensive line superbly. Freddie Sims was the brains of the team at scrum half and always took the right option as the tactical mastermind

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of the side. There were many victories that the boys will remember where they piled on many points and scored so many wonderful tries, but the game that they will all remember was away to Tonbridge. This was a game where the team knew they had to be at their best as they had been comfortably beaten the year before. An epic encounter saw them win 8-5 and have to dig deep and display a courageous performance which included defending their own line for fifteen phases in the final minutes after a multitude of penalties. Within those final minutes the boys will have learnt more about themselves and each other than they did by piling on the points against the likes of Harrow, KCS, Marlborough , Dulwich and RGS Guildford earlier in the season. A tremendous season and one where the boys improved, enjoyed success and impressed Richard and me with their RGH discipline and work rate.

U15B

his was a superb season. After a very productive camp in Cambridge, bedding-in our systems, we hit the

ground running with a pack to confront allcomers: at numbers 4 to 8, Gillard, Ferrabee, Zoppos, Boatswain and Raman overwhelmed opponents, combining dexterity and rugby sense with a punishing physicality. The front row, too, was high quality: Gregory, BoydTaylor, Barker and Ross were terrific, hardrunning props, with Tan Lam an unbelievably destructive rucker. Charles Bennello was a welcome occasional addition from the As. Behind them, the back-line bristled with runners, if not playmakers: Chiesa, Schapira, Grindle, Palmer, Horler, Schull (and sometimes Lucas, Morgan, Powell, Kuenstler, White). Dynamism and physicality were the hallmarks of the team, marshalled by Faria at 10. Big wins were notched over Marlborough, RGS High Wycombe, and Harrow, with a clear pattern of direct, high-tempo attack established, supported by a probing kicking game. Any highlights reel would include Greg Zoppos’ smash-and-grab try from our own 22 against Harrow; captain Vasco Faria’s metronomic kicking, or chip and catch

against Marlborough; and James Grindle’s dancing feet against Greycourt. Outstanding performers are too many to name, but included Oscar Boatswain, for his hard carrying, tough tackling and rucking; Max Gillard, the hardest runner on the B circuit (until the As came calling); and the leadership of Faria. The toughest match of the season was a 5-10 loss at Tonbridge: on a big pitch, the side were challenged hard – and despite a valiant effort, in particular by Zoppos, fell just short of a second consecutive unbeaten season. But the clear season highlight was the side’s performance in the Natwest Cup match against Greycourt A side: representing the school’s hopes for progression on a glorious day, the team put on a scintillating display that will live long in the memory. A NGDW super season indeed.

U15B Vasco Faria v Harrow

U15C

his season, the U15C team reaped the benefits of an extremely talented year of rugby players. With such an unprecedented depth of talent, the U15C team was immune to the occasionally large numbers of injuries in senior teams. Although the headline record of 11 wins from 11 games is outstanding in its own right, the fact that the team did not concede any points in 6 of these games, and beat two B teams, only goes to reinforce their dominance. Ably led by fly-half Henry Kuenstler, who was deservedly voted ‘Players’ Player of the Season’, the U15C backline was as creative as it was dangerous. With the fast and fluid delivery from Edward Pearson at scrum-half, Barnaby Cotterell, Zac Zein and Rourke Palmer were able to lead the centre charge, leaving plenty of room for Patrick Gunn and Magnus Ellingsen to hammer home numerous tries. Even when under threat from the larger runners of Tonbridge School (33-12 Win), the team could only feel safe with the likes of Luca Harcombe taking no prisoners at full-back. With a relentless and tireless work-ethic, the U15C forwards were everywhere. Boasting strong versatility, many players enjoyed strong performances in multiple positions. The dynamic front row of Boaz Lister, Caspar Simpson-Orlebar and Matteo Corrado provided a solid foundation for the engine room of Tom Jarvis, Philip Evans Alcantara and Caspar Jansa. The work rate of our back row left oppositions merely guessing, as the team enjoyed turnover after turnover – a string of excellent performances by the likes of Emmanuel Theocharopoulos, Oscar Harrison, Adam Barker and Alec Ezra. What a pleasure to have coached these boys: I have thoroughly enjoyed our sessions together, and I wish them all the best. I am sure many of these players will progress to RJB the senior squads.

U15C v High Wycombe

U15E

or the first time in several years, the school was able to field an U15E team, thus demonstrating the depth of rugby talent and keenness in the year group. We started the season with an emphatic 51-0 win away again Epsom College’s U15Ds, followed up by a 52-0 win at home against Cranleigh’s U15Ds. However, we had a much sterner test away at Tonbridge in mid November, in a match that went right down to the final play of the game. Reduced to 13 by injuries in the higher sides, but leading by 10 points with 10 minutes to go, exhaustion started to set in and Tonbridge was able to draw level with just a couple of minutes left to play. Nevertheless, the captain, Bertie Fisher, did a fantastic job keeping morale up and rallying the team, and Faris Firyooze went over in the corner with seconds left on the clock. We secured the ball from the kick-off and sent it straight into touch for an exhausting but highly rewarding 41-36 victory. We finished an unbeaten season in style with a much easier 52-0 win away at Eton. Well done to all the boys involved and many thanks to all the other staff on the half for their assistance in my first term coaching ARL rugby.

U14A

Played 11 Won 7 Lost 4

eet and greets were kept short for those looking for a spot on the team, as around 40 boys headed out for rugby trials a day before the start of term. High levels of quality were on show but hasty decisions had to be made in order for preparations to begin for the first game and a showdown against Epsom College. Hotly contested and full of fire, the match took place on the steepest pitch imaginable. Nevertheless, after no points were scored in the first half, the match started to take flight with two blasting tries from Josh Zhao and an excellently carried out forwards try, putting the match to bed in our favour 19-0. The season continued to build with substantial wins over Marlborough (43-0), RGS High Wycombe (27-5) and RGS Guildford (48-7). The real rugby, however, was evident against a strong Harrow side who had a very solid defence and a group of skilful backs. In a nail biting game Harrow’s unconverted try scored in the first 20 seconds of the game was all that separated the teams. Many positives were taken though from the match, as the St Paul’s defence was impeccable, ▼ apart from those first twenty seconds. The

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offence was highly threatening with several moments of brilliance from Sasha Shevchuk and Liam Corcoran and overall it was a strong performance despite the loss. The season continued with two more wins over strong London Oratory (22-5) and KCS (19-12) sides, winding up to the heavy matches. Narrow losses to Tonbridge (15-7), Berkhamsted (26-12) and Radley (19-12) were gruelling and somewhat devastated the team, but we kept fighting hard and our fitness meant we finished all those games arguably stronger than the opposition. Overall, a highly promising season from a group of talented players who, with great coaching from Mr Briers and Gregor LockhartSmith, are eager to build on the performances Callum Elder, Captain going into next year.

U14A

U14B

his season was largely successful for the B team. Our first match was against Epsom with a solid performance from the whole team. It was a tight game and we drew 24-24, with a last minute conversion from the corner flag. Afterwards, with a few changes to the side and a lot of practice, we went into our second game against Marlborough, which we won very convincingly 53-0 with great performances from Oliver Onillon and Jake Sinclair. We went on to win two more matches against RGS High Wycombe and RGS Guildford. Our toughest game was against Harrow, where we lost 36-19. After half term, with a bit of a break we went straight into games with Kings College Wimbledon first. We unfortunately lost in a disappointing performance with them scoring a penalty to win with the last play of the match. This loss was hard but overall it helped us improve as a team. We went on to Eton and this game was certainly an odd one. We were down by a try by half time but were looking strong. Unfortunately with most of the second half to play the match was called off. The week after we prepared for our biggest game of the season against Tonbridge. We gathered our best side and we were sure we were ready. We were playing very well, winning by three points and were very confident. The match came down to the last play and we were in possession attacking their try line and all we needed to do was kick it out of play for the win. Unfortunately, we lost possession and they scored – a devastating defeat for us! We did redeem ourselves slightly with Mr Tiley, winning away at Berkhamsted, and a thrilling home win against Radley watched by a large crowd on pitch five. An enjoyable season although frustrating at times with some great performances. Many thanks to our coaches Jack Taylor Mr Tiley and Mr Tatton-Brown.

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U14B v Tonbridge

U14E

Played 9 Won 8 Drew 0 Lost 1 Points For 356 Points Against 56

he 2018 U14E team, led by “Captain Fantastic” Jack Davies, scored 356 points whilst conceding just 56 in 9 games. A narrow loss in an atypical repeat fixture against Tonbridge being the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season. The team, characterised by pack dominance and grit, were anchored by the front three of Kiyo Brandreth Stroud, Adi Jain and Zak Haralambous. Their scrummaging superiority and skilful hands in the loose were reminiscent of the All Blacks. Furthermore, Zak’s metronomic boot not only created impressive scorelines but also proved the difference in tight wins such as the first match against Tonbridge (2620). The powerhouse Ed Doughty (true to his surname) and sledgehammer Louis Kirkpatrick comprised a terrifying duo who used their

powerful, direct running to great effect, flattening opposition players in attack and scything them down in defence. The flankers, captain Jack Davies, utility man Sandro Enukidze, and tenacious Finn Lloyd were a class above the opposition. Jack led the team by example, singlehandedly turning opposition ball over with ease, whilst Sandro proved his ability to hurt teams both with the ball in hand and through commanding tackles. Finn, having settled into flanker midseason, utilised the pace that originally saw him play wing to shut down opposition fly halves like a homing missile. Arav Patel, player of the season, completed a formidable pack as he scored for fun from the number 8 position. His electric speed often saw him under the posts before the opposition had time to blink. The back line oozed class with the “9/10 axis” of Finn Lavington and Lysander Kahane demonstrating remarkable game management

U14C

U14D U14E

for such young players. Fortunately, their talkative natures translated into fantastic communication linking forwards and back. Wingers Aran Takhar and Will Thomson were evasive in the tackle and went from strength to strength with every game, whilst centres Gabi Fakih, Giancarlo Ramirez and Hussein Al-Killidar were a combination of acceleration and brawn that most opposition struggled to contain. Kelechi Nwoko’s safe hands and magical feet were an asset from fullback as he apparated out of tackles and onto the scoreboard. Many thanks to all those who contributed throughout the season such as Zain, Alex, Kasra, Joachim and George. It was an honour to coach a side so strong that only Tonbridge and Epsom managed to cross their try-line all season. Additionally, thank you to assistant coach Mr Gilman whose rigorous approach to conditioning through “laps” ensured peak physical performance throughout the season.

U14E Finn Lavington dives for the line against Tonbridge

U14F U14FvvTonbridge Tonbridge

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SPORT l RUGBY 7s l SAILING l SQUASH l TENNIS l ULT FRISBEE

Rugby 7s

ugby 7s continues to thrive at St Paul’s and the challenge grows as we experience success. All age groups enjoyed a tough but enjoyable training programme which focussed on their skills, game play, strength and conditioning. The players also were encouraged to express themselves and try new things without the pressures of big physical matches. Despite the awful winter weather and the cancellation of many tournaments, significant progress was made. The U18s started their season at Shiplake College where they lost in the final of the Cup competition. After winning their group, they proceeded into the knockout stages to beat Eastbourne College and Bedford School in the semi-final. They were to face a very strong Cheltenham College team in the final and lost 24-12, but it was clear that the U18s had the potential to have a very successful season. The next two tournaments were sadly cancelled due to unplayable pitches; however, the Old Pauline Club 7s would provide another opportunity before the Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s (RPNS 7s) to get performances right. After winning the group, the team lost narrowly against Eton College in the final. In the final event of the season at the RPNS 7s the U18s won their group in style, winning all four matches. They had to play against Monmouth School and Bishop Wordsworth’s School (other group winners) in the day 2 elimination group. St Paul’s won the group and progressed into yet another group. Winning this group would mean the U18s would make the final. After beating RGS Newcastle, Kingswood Bath sadly inflicted

Sailing

n the autumn term a group of keen Eighth form sailors continued sailing all the way through to December until it was too dark at the Queen Mary Reservoir in southwest London. In the summer term, Josh Waha, Josh Parker, Anthony Bennett, Charlie de Waal and Julius Zhang convincingly outsailed Hampton School in a number of races on a glorious sunny day with a decent breeze. They were sailing RS Fevas in all conditions including one day when they were caught by a couple of force 6 squalls, under the supervision of an instructor in a powerboat. That was incredibly exciting with dinghies capsizing like dominoes. However, as fast as they were flipped over they righted themselves again and continued flying along at terrific speeds. TL

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a 24-10 defeat to the team, bringing the U18s tournament to an end at the semi-final group stage. Congratulations to all boys involved, who at times, lit up the field with some outstanding rugby. The U16s had an excellent start to their 7s season. They won their group at the Merchant Taylors’ 7s, beating Eton College to first place and proceeded to the semi-final of the Cup competition. Unfortunately, they were drawn against a very strong Cheltenham College team, who won 19-12. Cheltenham were to proceed and win comfortably in the final. The U16s moved forward quickly and despite injury and unavailability they won two out of their four matches at the Old Pauline 7s. The cancellation of the Worth School 7s would result in the U16s attending the RPNS 7s slightly under-prepared. They started the tournament in excellent form, beating Truro School, Portsmouth Grammar School and Rydal Penrhos from Wales. Rugby 7s, however, can be a cruel game and complacency and poor intensity would see a strong St Benedict’s team beat St Paul’s in the group decider. It was an excellent season for the U16s and one in which many lessons were learnt.

Bertie Fisher sailing

The U14s began their introduction to the sport with a tournament at Merchant Taylors’ School. Despite losing their first game to Seaford College, they then proceeded to win all their remaining matches, beating Bishop Wordsworth’s School on their way to the final of the Plate competition. They were victorious in the final, beating University College School 33-14 to claim the Rugby Club’s first silverware of the season. The next two competitions were cancelled due to the unprecedented amounts of snow and rain, which left the U14s with only one tournament before the RPNS 7s. Despite this they won three out of four group matches, including a memorable win against the impressive Welsh school, Cathedral Llandaff. Sadly, however, a narrow loss to Stanwell School would prevent them from progressing into the last 32. They can be hugely optimistic about the future, as they possess some excellent 7s players. Congratulations to all the boys involved and for their hard work. And thank you to the coaches, Mr Blurton, Mr Stevens, Mr Blake, Mr Burrows and Mr Briers for their excellent coaching.

Squash

he end of 2016-17 season saw the senior squash side say goodbye to all of its top five members after a very successful season. In 2017-18, St Paul’s looked to their youth, to scout out the next potential impressive side. The U15s did not disappoint, recording an unbeaten domestic season including whitewash victories against Harrow and Eton. Kwang, Hatfield, Livesy, Spielmann, Wighton, Fisher and Sarin were solid throughout the season playing some fine squash. With a very keen set of Sixth Form students maturing in to the Lower Eighth and with an expansion of the squash programme planned for 2018-19, the future looks bright for SPS Squash.

Tennis

ennis continued to experience great county and regional success in the 2018 season. Senior pair Alex Renwick and Matteo Perper came runners up in the Surrey Schools Festival of tennis, losing to the familiar foe of Reed’s in the final. All year groups reached at least the Surrey League quarter-finals with the Senior 1st Team losing to winners St George’s 5-4 in a high quality semi-final. They finished 3rd after beating Hampton 8-1. The U15A improved on last years’ 4th place finish with a 2nd place finish after a deciding point semi-final winner. Arjun and Das showed great bottle to save 3 match points to then win. The Senior ISL team won their group and the Senior Rootham Shield team reached the semi-finals once more losing to their conquerors in last years’ final, Reed’s. The club has also had block fixtures against St George’s, Harrodian, Dulwich, Harrow and Tonbridge and is seeing more pupils than ever playing competitive tennis for the school. SPS has cemented itself as the top school in Surrey without a full time tennis programme and scholarships which is an extremely impressive feat. A special mention also goes to Derin Acaroglu, who won his first U16 LTA national title in Easter; he continues to play ITF tournaments at U16 and U18 level.

ISL group-winning Senior Tennis team

look so fresh? And surely they would change their opinions when they realised we had been coached by the triple threat of Mr Lowes, whose dedication is so great that he returned from his sabbatical especially for frisbee; Dr Herceg, a man with unrivalled defensive skills and an inspiring presence on the touchline; and AJ, who actually plays frisbee for his country. Their no-nonsense coaching style is epitomised by our team name: while other sides were called ‘Flux’ and ‘Air Badgers’ we were simply ‘St Paul’s School’ – a real statement of intent. On the day of the competition, we were hindered by one member of our group (who will remain nameless) oversleeping by an hour and a half. I would argue that this example was the catalyst for our greatness. It could even be debated that we might have done better if Max Buckley hadn’t been injured early on in our second game. He is tall and runs fast – attributes which separate him totally from the rest of our team. Having lost our first

three games on the trot, things were looking bleak. But our game started flowing and we used the wind well to win our final pool game, thus scraping into the Plate competition. Our Plate semi-final was a bit of a whitewash: 9-1 to SPS. The athleticism of Buster Mouritzen – who reportedly is even faster than Buckley – really came into play as the other side were exhausted after their hard-fought pool matches. Our defense played very well this game, with Nick Heymann making some key interceptions and allowing us to use a strong counter-attacking game. We then realised that we would be playing the team we lost to in the second game for the Plate final. If only we’d had the fresh legs of Ben ShindlerGlass to see us through. And when the score fell to 8-5 down I was very worried. This was not helped by our defensive specialist Max Groeller being a little too excited to get the frisbee onto the floor. However, we clawed our ▼ way back to 8-7 by the final hooter through

Ultimate Frisbee

ou wouldn’t expect it, but often I am met with scorn when I say that I played in the Ultimate Frisbee National Finals. Clearly anyone holding such a viewpoint is unaware of the fact that we are the elite athletes of the school. How else could we have won the Plate in the National Finals despite being seeded last? How else could our kit

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SPORT l ULT FRISBEE l WATERPOLO

ALMANAC School Prefects Josh Agrawal Ned Ashcroft Daniel Atkinson Patrick Bamforth Julius Bannister Reef Boericke Maximilian Buckley Nicky Crompton Philip Gong Josh Greensmith

▼

one really incisive pass by Henrik Ahmala and a curled floater into the endzone by Sam Ritblat. The game subsequently became first to nine points, prolonging the agony that all physical exercise had become. There were now struggles to be on the bench. It was bleak. They started with possession but we turned them over, before Henry Hampson pulled out a monster forehand to get our 8th point. With cries of ‘stay frosty’ coming from the sidelines, he did this again in the next play and Tom McGowan – to everyone’s surprise – pulled off the shakiest catch in history, followed by a nearly disastrous wobbly flick to our finisher Reef Boericke to end the game. ‘Frisbee’s coming home’ was shouted to the heavens. Mr Lowes cracked a smile. Scenes. This was the golden year of frisbee for SPS and no year will probably ever do as well as ours but I’m sure that, with another year of top-class coaching, the new Upper Eighths can attempt to build on our successes. The team comprised: Henrik Ahmala, Reef Boericke, Max Buckley, Harry Cotterell, Max Groeller, Henry Hampson, Nick Heymann, Tom McGowan, Buster Mouritzen, Sam Ritblat and Ned Russell (c).

Water Polo

t Paul’s ended the senior water polo season with an agonising fourth place at the National Plate Finals tournament, but the squad, perhaps characterised as one in development, still held its own against difficult competition. It was always a tall order for the senior team, which this time was made up mostly of the Fifth and Sixth forms, to emulate the success of last year’s cohort and progress through to the championship division in the English Schools’ League. But the result was nonetheless a respectable outcome given the

116 THE PAULINE 2018

circumstances, and while captain Miles Mizen brought his St Paul’s career to a close as the top scorer, the juniors also had a profound impact, playing well beyond their years. Sixth Formers Themis Frigo and Quentin Fidance, in particular, affirmed their ability as they helped St Paul’s to victories over Brentwood and Torquay, playing alongside leavers such as Reef Boericke, Oliver Waszkiewicz, and Josh Greensmith. The Fifth Form, too, played key roles during the season. Henry Ferrabee was the MVP in one of the group games, as Joseph Lakatos and Philip Evans Alcantara led for assists. They will now be expected to have the same sort of clout next season. That year starts again in September, which looks set to be a further inflexion point after the programme overhaul of last year: this season was the last for Master-in-Charge Nicholas Hoversten, who will be replaced by Mr Philip Gaydon. Hoversten, a former Stanford captain and U.S. National Team player, was, by all accounts, instrumental in the development of St Paul’s water polo during his two-year tenure, bringing a wealth of expertise and unparalleled experience. Above all, he injected some professionalism into the St Paul’s programme. Working alongside the other coaches Charles Elderfield and Hugo Lowell OP, the culture of St Paul’s water polo has undeniably changed for the better with Hoversten at the helm. That legacy is likely to continue. For the first time, St Paul’s will receive players from the junior school already drilled with that mindset of commitment and a strong work ethic, as Elderfield prepares to continue where Hoversten left off. There have definitely been easier seasons for St Paul’s senior water polo, and there have undeniably been more successful seasons. But for a sport in midst of a transition, things turned out far better than expected. Hugo Lowell

Maximilian Groeller Henry Hampson Max Hart Vice-Captain of School Max Heitmann Nicholas Heymann Matthew Hill Billy Howard Timothy Kang David Khachaturov Ivo Macdonald Joshua Metcalf Miles Mizen Fergus Norgren Nicholas Pymont Roman Rodriguez-Alarcon Noah Roper Jonathan Routley Captain of School Ned Russell Daniyal Sachee Zain Shaikh Luke Summers

Senior Prizes

TRURO PRIZE – History EN Ashcroft

GLUCKSTEIN PRIZE – Computing CAAM Parr

Faculty of Creative and Performing Arts JOHN WATSON PRIZES - Art AJ Lewis Whitaker, AD Haydn-Williams

Faculty of Classical and Modern Languages KYNASTON PRIZE – Greek NJF Pymont

JOHN COLET PRIZES – for outstanding academic achievement DP Atkinson, HC Hampson

SADIE PRIZE - Music SH Adler

CYRIL BAILEY PRIZE – Latin EO Wicken

MILLER PRIZE – Theatre Studies HS Murphy

CLEMENTI PRIZE – Latin WH Staveley

HALDANE PRIZES – for declaimers JI Clark, JJ Greensmith, MO Hart, P Heller

LIDWELL PRIZES – Extended Projects MF Heitmann, NA Sherman

BEDFORD PRIZE – Ancient History NM Montague-Jones

Faculty of English MILTON PRIZE – English WH Staveley

FRITSCH PRIZES – French JC Goldstein, TM Kang, R Rodriguez-Alarcon

BUTTERWORTH PRIZE – English P Heller

MONTAGU PRIZE – French WAG Reith

TRURO PRIZE – English EJ Kembery

BENTWICH PRIZE – German AL Zwick

THE ANDRE FU PRIZE – for an outstanding work of art CC Gardey

SABUROV PRIZE – English AD Haydn-Williams

GWYNN MIELL PRIZE – Italian A Vairon

THE BLAIR PRIZE – for creativity AD Haydn-Williams, RH Norris

Faculty of Humanities HAMILTON PRIZES – Geography NRM Crompton, MA Mizen, MOJ Moore

MARCUS PRIZE – Spanish CA Smith

THE VIITA PRIZE – for a piece of new writing or composition SH Adler, FA Westcott

CLEMENTI PRIZES – Geography KS Bawa, M Manji CHIBNALL PRIZES – Economics J Agrawal, A Khachaturov, APJ Treger BARNETT PRIZES – Economics R Chadha, Q He, EJB Jones, K Singh, MA Skoczylas, AR Thompson MORGAN PRIZES – Politics AJ Millard, CK Sinnott WALKER PRIZES – Politics Q He, EJB Jones ISAIAH BERLIN PRIZES – Philosophy Q Bagheri, P Heller LUPTON PRIZES – Philosophy FO Bailo, MSN Silkin, DM Zazo BEDFORD PRIZE – History SR Erskine

Faculty of Mathematics BURKHILL PRIZES – Further Mathematics NA Heymann, TM Kang, K Leung, ZA Sciamma TRURO PRIZES – Mathematics JI Clark, JJ Greensmith, MF Heitmann, A Khachaturov, D Khachaturov, JSL Kim, P Liu, L Marino, NA Sherman, EO Wicken, H Zhang Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering CREE PRIZES – Biology H Butt, JW Howard, MDC Perper, HO Ahmala, AS Castronovo, AJ Scott PERKIN PRIZES – Chemistry JI Clark, K Leung, JJ Luke, A Mattimoe, ECF Smith, D Alimadadian, AS Castronovo, AC Hunt, DJ Rae

WEINSTEIN PRIZE – History AM Breuss-Burgess

HALLEY PRIZES – Physics JJ Greensmith, MO Hart, LOJ Makower, JF Parker LJ Andrews, WCJ Isotta, N Neogi, AR Sharma

SABUROV PRIZE – History IA Macdonald

RENNIE PRIZE – Engineering LJ Andrews

THE BLUMENAU PRIZE – for philosophy MF Heitmann THE WOODHEAD PRIZE – for North American studies EJB Jones THE GRITTEN PRIZE – for International Relations BA Ray, CC Gardey

HIGH MASTER’S PRIZES – for outstanding Summer Essays MO Hart, P Heller, TM Kang, A Viviano THE REYNOLDS PRIZES – for all-round achievement IA Macdonald, FA Westcott THE VERMONT PRIZE – for outstanding service to the School MF Heitmann THE WATHEN PRIZE – for outstanding contribution to the School R Rodriguez-Alarcon THE OLD PAULINE CLUB PRIZE – for outstanding service to the School MO Hart THE JOHN WEITZ AWARD – for outstanding service to the School JWL Routley

THE PAULINE 2018 117

ALMANAC l APPOSITION

Junior Prizes

Faculty of Mathematics and Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering

Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Creative and Performing Arts

Mathematics ABI Alkhader JNR Gravestock Snee T Kwang MA Fawcett TJM Harray AK Varma MPJA Vergnaud A Zeier W Zhao

History SAJ Strachan BIA Wighton AC Atkinson CAM Bentley HMMA de Boissard M Sethi GNO Ward-Jackson

Biology TJ Elway JNR Gravestock Snee JS Johnston AM Cartwright MMA de Boissard H Imam-Sadeque MSH Noordeen EA Nutt JL Tigue

Geography RB Dembo-Shah FA Firoozye LMV Biamonti TO Gronskag WD Palmer AK Varma Philosophy FA Firoozye CP Leviatin CB Sinnott

Chemistry ABI Alkhader T Kwang AJK Lim HMMA de Boissard CPH David GHF Earle TJM Harray LIM Odgers WD Palmer

Art RSW Ko AM Cartwright DS Gupta MJ Stallworthy

Physics ABI Alkhader RB Dembo-Shah T Kwang AS Dhillon MA Fawcett A Fedotov EA Nutt LIM Odgers AK Varma

Drama BIA Wighton BJH Gibbons CB Sinnott

Engineering FAVLM de Biolley A Fedotov DB Whiley Computing JNR Gravestock Snee A Fedotov MSH Noordeen

118 THE PAULINE 2018

Music FA Waller SGE Thomas JH Wang

Fourth Form Prizes

Faculty of English and Faculty of Classical and Modern Languages English Literature JS Johnston HA Shaikh BIA Wighton EM Klein Wassink SJJ Little AJR Nolk NR Stanger GNO Ward-Jackson English Creative Writing CB Sinnott Greek CK Eveleigh HCGH Elder Latin LC Ho SJJ Little OPS Mulvin AS Prasad GNO Ward-Jackson Ancient History CP Leviatin JM Yin French XWG Chaudhary JS Johnston KF Chaharsough Shirazi MCI Duckworth JSC Robinson MJ Stallworthy KO Wiwen-Nilsson German VAU Raman MCI Duckworth TO Gronskag Italian CK Eveleigh O Bombicci Pontelli DB Whiley Spanish FJC Sims OS Parker AS Prasad Russian LIM Odgers

Academic Prizes EM Atkinson T Bailo ADM Baines SJ Bottomley ND Boyd-Carpenter E Coates HTGM Collins A Enukidze K Gupta A Imam-Sadeque BX Jacob A Jain TP Langer SMJ Marsoner AMLR Richards JW Trotman Moral Philosophy BX Jacob John Colet Prizes for outstanding academic achievement OR Heese IKM Mardin GM Monro-Davies TR Monro-Davies M Pant

Apposition Declamations Jonathan Clark: Finding the magic bullet for cancer

Paul Heller: Understanding the Terminator

Max Hart: Are coloured butterflies just pretty?

Josh Greensmith: The hidden beauty of the double pendulum

Professor Haldane the Apposer

THE PAULINE 2018 119

ALMANAC

Upper Eighth Leavers S H Adler J Agrawal M S W Akhtar M I W Akhtar W J S Allen R J W Arnaud A Arunan E N Ashcroft E E Astakhov D P Atkinson S C F Attfield D R Bacon Q Bagheri A Bakshi P A J Bamforth J C O Bannister D Barbakadze A R Bennett J K Bhandari S Bhardwaj Lock L J Blanning R R Boericke O B Bolton V A Bottoli M G M Buckley H Butt D M Chaharsough Shirazi M C Cheveley J I Clark N R M Crompton J L Curtis J C S L Davies C C A Day A A E M de Boissard D P de Graaf M E A Deering S Dhand I E Diaz Pascual G H Z Dickinson J P F Dunfoy W El Hage Z D El-Baz P G Elway M A Evans H A Forsyth C C Gardey M E S Gee D S P Gidoomal A Goel J C Goldstein P G Gong C M Z Goodarzi H T Grainger J F W Green J J Greensmith M V M Groeller E W Gunby J J Hammett J G Hammond H C Hampson J E Hansjee E G D Harris M O Hart S U Hasan M A Hatter M F Heitmann P Heller M J C Hensher A S F Heritier

120 THE PAULINE 2018

BLURTONJ MF APDI LDW GES PJCD OLCT BRESLINR AJB PJC MPP TGH MTG TNRK KNRD BENNETTJ SYF JMCL NPT NJM SJM BLURTONJ APDI APDI TNRK RAE PJC AJM GES BENNETTJ NJS MOM TGH DEBP PJC GES TNRK AJK RJG BLURTONJ SYF LDW SJM SJM TEW IJT OLCT TGH TMH EJTW MDW TEW BENNETTJ BRESLINR RAB LL MDW SYF NPT LL SJR TAL LDW NJM AGW PAC NJM MOM ATLT

L M Hernandez N A Heymann F J Hill M H M Hill O S H Hill C J G Howard J W Howard Dicks I R Hudis J A W Hughes B P Hunt Y I M Issa H J C Jackson R R A Jackson I L Janmohamed A Jenkyn-Jones O T C Johns G A Jones R G I Jones T M Kang P A Karavaikin L H Kearsey T D Kerr A Khachaturov D Khachaturov J S L Kim T O Kinirons S Kobler C Lam A C Langstone-Bolt D J Leon K Leung J B J Levi A J Lewis Whitaker D J K Y Lister G M F Lister J A Little P Liu C W Lottig J S Lowenstein D P Luccioni J J Luke I A Macdonald R I Mahbub R L Majumdar L O J Makower S J I Mallet O G Marchant L Marino R A Marshall L C Mattey A Mattimoe M A J McDowall A P McGinnie T A J McGowan W M B McGowan C J McInroy R D R Menhennet J C Metcalf A J Millard M A Mizen R H Mizuta-Spencer N Moatti M O J Moore J F E Morgan C J Mouritzen H S Murphy R A Musson E Nanni D C T Nartey

SJR DAE TCIM RAB BLURTONJ KNRD TPMEF NJM LDW CMTG RAD DAE BRESLINR PJCD CNYAS NPT MJPS SJRH PAC DJC SMAC SJR SS RAB MPP BENNETTJ AJK RJG IJT ATLT RB TNRK SNH JTH RB SS MF ATLT DEBP TMH TAL MDW TMH OLCT ATLT TE NJS MJPS MPP MTG DJMH SAM RJG LL LL AJM MDW ESB TEW DEBP OLCT AGW MOM GES SMAC SNH RAD DJC DJMH

A Nazir K A Newman M N Newman A G S Noamesi F R J Norgren T H Oliver N J R Osmond F M D L H O’Sullivan H F S Palmer T G Panay J F Parker C A A M Parr M D C Perper A V C Pinn J R Purcell N J F Pymont B J S Radstone A W Renwick S L C Richmond A M Ritchie O V Rivaz O L Roberts R Rodriguez-Alarcon G H Rogers N N K Roper J W L Routley E F C Russell D Z Sachee M A Sapper Z A Sciamma W P Scott Z A Shaikh A R Sharma N A Sherman B H Shindler-Glass J Simon J W G Simpson C K Sinnott B J Smith C A Smith E C F Smith M J Sosna W H Staveley H T P Strauss L I Summers D R A Tamary MacLeod C B Tarczy F C M Teoh A P J Treger F J C Turley A Vairon L O Vaughan A Viviano L S A M von Malaisé T U M M Von Bock und Polach J H Waha F R Walter L H Walters O R Waszkiewicz F A Westcott E O Wicken A M Williams A J A Wissen J J Wyche H M Yang D R Zaoui M Zelealem T E Zussman A L Zwick

AGW AJK TE PJC APDI GCL JMCL CMTG PJCD AGW CNYAS TEW SMAC SS MF SMAC RAE SS AGW AGW KNRD MJPS MOM IJT TCIM DEBP JTH AJM AGW TGH DJC RAE ESB NJM RB TAL JH EJTW KNRD SNH PAC JH SYF SJM ATLT AJB NPT RB SS BENNETTJ LL LDW SYF TE SJRH DAE AJK LDW JTH EJTW GCL OLCT TCIM MPP SJM MLHJ APDI KNRD DEBP

Leavers’ destinations University Subject, College

Year of Entry

Birmingham English 2017 Materials Science & Engineering 2018 Bristol Ancient History 2017 Biochemistry 2017 Chemistry 2018 Economics 2017 Economics & Finance 2018 Economics & Politics 2017 Engineering 2017 Engineering, Aerospace 2017 Engineering, Mechanical 2017 History 2018 History 2017 Law 2018 Neuroscience 2017 Spanish & Russian 2017 Brookes, Oxford Philosophy 2017 Cambridge Classics, Pembroke 2017 Classics, St John’s 2017 Computer Science, Gonville & Caius 2017 Economics, Emmanuel 2017 Engineering, Downing 2017 Engineering, Queens’ 2017 Engineering, St Catharine’s 2017 Engineering, St John’s 2017 English, Clare 2017 English, Gonville & Caius 2017 Geography, Emmanuel 2017 History, Gonville & Caius 2017 Human Social & Political Sciences, Jesus 2017 Maths, Corpus Christi 2017 Maths, St John’s 2017 Maths, Trinity 2017 Maths, Trinity 2017 Medicine, Jesus 2017 Modern & Medieval Languages, King’s 2017 Modern & Medieval Languages, Trinity 2017 Natural Sciences (Biological), St John’s 2017 Natural Sciences, Christ’s 2017 Natural Sciences, Clare 2017 Natural Sciences, Fitzwilliam 2017 Natural Sciences, Gonville & Caius 2017 Natural Sciences, Jesus 2017 Philosophy, Peterhouse 2017 Canada, McGill 2017 Canada, Queen’s University 2017 Cardiff Biomedical Sciences 2017 City, University of London Business Management, Digital Innovation & Entrepreneurship 2018 Durham Archaeology 2017 Archaeology & Ancient Civilisations 2018 Economics & Management 2017 Economics & Management 2017 Economics & Management 2017 Engineering, General 2017 Engineering, General 2017 Geography 2017 Geography 2017 Geography 2017 Geography 2018 Geography 2017 History 2017 History 2017 History 2018 Modern Languages & Cultures 2017 Modern Languages & Cultures 2018 Modern Languages & Cultures 2017 Modern Languages & Cultures 2017

University Subject, College

Year of Entry

PPE 2017 East Anglia Medicine 2018 Edinburgh Biological Sciences 2018 Chemistry 2018 Cognitive Science 2018 Economics 2017 Economics 2017 Geography 2017 International Relations 2017 Medicine 2017 Politics 2018 Psychology 2017 Exeter Geography 2017 History 2017 History & Ancient History 2017 Politics and International Relations 2017 Imperial College London Biochemistry 2017 Engineering, Chemical 2017 Engineering, Design 2017 Material Science & Engineering 2017 Medical Biosciences & Management 2017 Medicine 2017 Medicine 2017 Medicine 2017 Medicine 2017 Medicine 2017 King’s College London Ancient History 2017 Ancient History 2017 History 2017 Medicine 2017 War Studies & History 2017 Kingston Art Foundation 2017 Leeds Psychology 2018 London School of Economics Environment and Development 2017 Maths & Statistics, Financial 2017 Manchester Economics 2018 Newcastle Biomedical Sciences 2017 Nottingham Archaeology & Geography 2017 Architecture 2017 Criminology & Sociology 2017 Law 2018 Medicine 2017 Oxford Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular), St Hilda’s 2017 Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular), Worcester 2017 Biological Sciences, Balliol 2017 Biological Sciences, Jesus 2017 Biological Sciences, New College 2017 Biological Sciences, St John’s 2018 Biological Sciences, Worcester 2017 Chemistry, St Peter’s 2017 Classics, Exeter 2017 Classics, Queen’s 2017 Engineering, Balliol 2017 Engineering, Keble 2017 Engineering, New College 2017 French & Linguistics, Wadham 2017 Geography, Keble 2017 Geography, St John’s 2018 Geography, Worcester 2017 History, Balliol 2017 History, Magdalen 2017 History, St Hugh’s 2017 Italian & German, St Hugh’s 2017 Law, Trinity 2017 Medicine, Queen’s 2017 Medicine, St Peter’s 2017 Physics, Magdalen 2017 Physics, Trinity 2017 PPE, Christ Church 2017

University Subject, College

Year of Entry

PPE, Keble 2018 PPE, Pembroke 2017 PPE, Queen’s 2017 PPE, Somerville 2017 PPE, St Benet’s Hall 2017 Psychology, Experimental, Somerville 2017 Theology & Religion, Regent’s Park 2018 Queen Mary University of London Medicine 2017 School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London Arabic & World Philosophies 2018 Sheffield Biochemistry 2017 Medicine 2017 Southampton Engineering, Mechanical 2017 Engineering, Mechatronic 2017 Surrey Music & Sound Recording (Tonmeister) 2017 University College London Architecture 2017 Arts & Sciences 2018 Chemical Physics 2018 Computer Science 2017 Economics 2017 Economics 2017 Engineering 2017 English 2018 European Social & Political Studies (4yrs) 2018 Human Sciences 2017 Human Sciences 2018 Medical Sciences, Applied 2017 Neuroscience 2017 Philosophy 2018 Psychology 2018 University of the Arts London, Camberwell Art Foundation 2017 University of the Arts London, Camberwell followed by Leeds Arts University Art Foundation followed by Comics & Concept Design 2017 USA, Brown 2017 USA, Brown 2017 USA, Chicago 2017 USA, Chicago 2017 USA, Columbia 2017 USA, Columbia 2018 USA, Columbia 2017 USA, Cornell 2018 USA, Duke 2017 USA, Duke 2017 USA, Duke 2017 USA, Georgetown 2017 USA, Georgetown 2017 USA, Northwestern 2017 USA, Notre Dame 2017 USA, Pennsylvania, University of 2017 USA, Pomona 2018 USA, Princeton 2017 USA, Princeton 2017 USA, Southern California, University of 2017 USA, Stanford 2017 USA, Stanford 2017 USA, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2018 USA, University of California, Berkeley 2018 USA, Virginia 2017 USA, Yale 2017 USA, Yale 2017 USA, Yale 2017 USA, Yale 2017 USA, Yale 2018 York Business Management 2017

THE PAULINE 2018 121

ALMANAC l LEAVERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CEREMONY 2018

122 THE PAULINE 2018

Old Pauline News

Autumn/Winter 2018

S T PA U Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; S S C H O O L A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E

THE MAN CHARGED WITH BREXIT ROBIN WALKER MP

Undersecretary of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union

Contents 4 Briefings

All things Old Pauline â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including the story behind an unusual stained glass window that features the front elevation of St Paul's School at West Kensington

5 6

Letters

Old Pauline Profiles

50 Years at Barnes A Celebration Fanfare for a new era. St Paul's brass and woodwind at the opening of the new site at Lonsdale Road

Former Glories

The quest to virtually rebuild Alfred Waterstone's school

Et cetera

Peter Cromarty (1966-71) on the importance of self-esteem

Old Pauline Club Including medics Ashish Mandavia (above) and Jonathan Marler and entrepreneurs James Kafton, Alexis Dormandy and Joseph Cherrez

OP London

Jeremy Withers Green 2 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

People, events and reunions

Interview

Robin Walker MP(1991-96) is the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Exiting the European Union.

Editorial

30 36

Obituaries

Old Pauline sports A round-up from the Clubs

Past Times & Crossword

41 Last Word

Editor and designer Simon Bishop All correspondence to: The Editor c/o The Old Pauline Club, St Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School, Lonsdale Road, London SW13 9JT Copy for the spring/summer issue of the Old Pauline News, to be published in May 2019, should reach the Editor no later than 22 March 2019. Contact: opcadmin@stpaulsschool.org.uk

Dominic Frisby

Advertising in Old Pauline News For our current rates please contact the Editor, Simon Bishop: opceditor@stpaulsschool.org.uk

Diary dates

@oldpaulines Old Pauline Club Old Pauline Network

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 3

Rob Scott

I personally missed the move to Barnes by three years but was aware of the preparations being made in the neo-gothic red-brick edifice in West Kensington to take the School across the river. The CLASP buildings erected on the filled reservoirs of SW13 couldn't have been further from Alfred Waterhouse's imposing designs for St Paul's, but they paved the way for the recent developments that have seen an extraordinary tranformation of the School's facilities, with utilitarian buildings becoming more akin to a 21st century university campus. We're very grateful to a number of former teachers who made the journey from W14 for sharing their memories of the move. And to former Captains of School, one from each decade since the School has been at Barnes, who have written sometimes surprisingly candid stories of their various times at School. Before living memory of the old School in West Kensington is lost, Tim Cunis, with the help of Paul Velluet and a small team of SPS pupils working under the direction of Dr Chris Harrison, Head of Computing, has launched a project to create a virtual fly-thru of Waterhouse's building using digitised versions of original architectural elevations that reside in the RIBA Collection at the V&A Museum. Simon Bishop (1962-65)

Briefings

Old Pauline-related endeavours and interest

Rowing honours Freddie Davidson (2011-16) rowed in the Great Britain men’s eight that won silver at this year’s World Rowing U23 Championships held in Poznań, Poland. In the men’s eight final, GB pipped Romania to silver by less than one hundredth of a second in a photo finish. With eight medals in total, GB recorded its best-ever World Rowing U23 Championships performance, finishing third in the medal table.

Two Old Paulines Win Tony Awards 2018 Congratulations to Neil Austin (1985-90) for Best Lighting, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Robert Walport (20032008) for Production: Best Revival of a Musical, Once on this Island.

Old St Paul’s School in Stained Glass

Whilst visiting Northern Ireland with the After Eights (2008 Livery Past Masters Association), Former President of the Old Pauline Club, Nick Carr (196367), recently toured the Guildhall in Londonderry. Derry gets its London ‘prefix’ from the Royal Charter granted to the city in 1613 by King James I and to reflect the funding of its construction by the London guilds. The City of London Livery Companies, under threat of imprisonment in the Tower, generously volunteered to fund the Plantations of Ulster under the aegis of the Honourable The Irish Society.

The window (below) overlooks the staircase in the Guildhall and is comprised of eight lights featuring the Coats of Arms of the sovereigns who granted the various charters to the Mercers Company, and the Coats of Arms of the Honourable The Irish Society. The window also features views of important buildings connected with the company including the Mercers’ Banqueting Hall, the First Royal Exchange, the Present Royal Exchange and St Paul’s School, Hammersmith. The window is approximately 15 feet by 12 feet and contains 24 Coats of Arms including the Arms of King James I, King Henry II and King Richard II.

I know that voice!

After Garry Honey (19681972) pictured right) heard a voice on the radio he recognised reporting from an earthquake zone in Italy in 2016 he decided to reach out. In the first week of June, Garry met Timothy PE Hedges (1968-72) pictured left) in Italy while he was visiting Rome. Garry is based in Winchester, Hants should any OPs from School House or D club wish to get in touch. Garry and Timothy have both written pieces for the OP News about their memories of St Paul's at the time of the move to Barnes in 1968. Timothy's will run in the next issue – Ed.

New recording

John Paul Ekins (2000-05) has recorded a new CD, From the Shadow of The Great War – British Works for Cello & Piano with cellist Liubov Ulbysheva. The CD features works by Frank Bridge, Frederick Delius and John Ireland for cello and piano, written as a direct response to the First World War. For more information: www.jpekinspianist.com

Tipstaff and Town Crier Mike Seigel (1964-68 and member of staff 1973-99, 2011-14) has been appointed Tipstaff and Town Crier for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The appointment was made by the Mayor, Deputy Lieutenant and High Steward, who were looking for candidates who lived

4 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

within the borough, were of notable standing, and had strong links with the community. Mike satisfied all three criteria and is currently Chair of the Kingston Tour Guides. The position of Town Crier was originally that of ‘Crier of the Town Court’ and dates back to medieval times. The town crier would begin his cry with the words “Oyez, oyez”, accompanied by the ringing of a large hand bell to attract attention. It was the job of the crier or bellman to inform the townspeople of the latest news, proclamations, byelaws and any other important information, as at this time most folk were illiterate and could not read. Besides proclaiming the news, it was commonplace for Town Criers to carry out other essential duties. They were known to patrol the streets after dark, acting as peacekeepers and escorting people to the stocks, and making sure fires were damped down for the night after the curfew bell. Kingston did away with its Town Crier in 1914 but it was re-established in 1984 by the present Royal Borough and combined with the position of Tipstaff. The office of the Tipstaff is thought to have been created in the 14th century. One of the earliest records of the Tipstaff was mentioned in 1570: “The Knight Marshall with all hys tippe staues”. It was a position of both law enforcement and ceremonial duties. The name originates from the early law enforcement officers who would apprehend a person intended for arrest by enforcing their duty, if necessary, with a tipped staff or stave. The staff was made of wood or metal or both, topped with a crown. The crown, which unscrewed, was removed to reveal a warrant of arrest inside the hollow staff. More recently the Tipstaff has been a uniformed official of the Council who takes part in Civic processions and performs the function of regulating the pace, as well as generally attending on Members. Mike and his wife Wendy (member of staff 1993-2010) have made regular trips to Rwanda over the past eight years (see article in The Pauline 201011). Here they volunteer to help teachers teach English. They have also done this for a similar charity in Cambodia. In addition Mike has become a lecturer for several luxury cruise lines and is now one of Viking Ocean’s Resident Historians. He and Wendy thus spend up to eighteen weeks a year travelling the high seas, where Mike is able to continue teaching – but in a very different way!

Letters OP Diplomats

I enjoyed reading, in your Spring/Summer edition, the recollections of various Old Pauline diplomats, many of whom I recall from my own time in the Foreign Office. I served there from 1966 to 2003 in a variety of positions, the last of which was Ambassador to Germany. My time at St Paul’s was from 1957 to 1962 – you published in the same edition on page 27 a photograph of me at the Remove ’57 reunion last November. There is a long tradition of diplomacy at St Paul’s. Among those with whom I served, both sadly now dead, were Sir Marrack (Mig) Goulding, who was for many years a senior official at the UN and who gave the Cotter/ Cruickshank lecture in the early 2000s; and Sir Michael Alexander who was Mrs Thatcher’s first foreign affairs private secretary and Ambassador to NATO from 1986 to 1992. Sir Paul Lever (1957-62) I enjoyed your article about Old Pauline diplomats. One way or another I knew almost all those mentioned as colleagues, but in most cases not as fellow Old Paulines. Richard Makepeace (1966-71) l Richard served for 35 years in the DS, mainly in the Middle East including as Ambassador in Khartoum and Abu Dhabi and Consul General in Jerusalem.

Launch Pad to Success

Greetings and salutations from an old Pauline (1949-51) in the “Colonies”. On the wall in my study is a framed etching of the old Hammersmith school frontage; it was purchased by my father in 1950 from a bookshop in Mayfair. As I look at that etching I am reminded of my youthful days at St Paul’s and of the profitable academic disciplines instilled by my masters. My experience at St Paul’s catapulted me from mediocrity to excellence in attitude and effort. As an American boy in a British school I learned humility but eventually gained recognition from my peers in fifth form as a result of my victories on the swim team and my good marks at CCF inspections. The CCF was my initiation to military regimen and it greatly influenced my future choice of profession: the U.S. Marine Corps. One day our CCF formation was inspected by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery himself come back to his old school. He later joined the boys for lunch in the dining hall. All of my memories of those days are filled with thanksgiving for having had the opportunity to be exposed

to and moulded in the St Paul’s crucible. I count it as my launching pad to later successes. Earl Piper (1949-51), Colonel, US Marine Corps (Retired), Greenville, South Carolina, USA.

School Song

Last year I attended a moving funeral service of a cricketing friend in which some of his school friends sang the Sherborne School song in Latin. I recall that during the Feast Service there is a St Paul’s School prayer of the Founder: Oratinuncula ad Puerum Jesum, Scholare but I am unaware there has ever been a school song. Most great schools have a school song or songs which fosters pride and an esprit de corps and may I suggest a composer, hopefully an Old Pauline, be commissioned to write one for St Paul’s. John Dunkin (1964-69)

Wartime at St Paul’s and Colet Court

With the passing years it is an inevitable fact that there are fewer and fewer Old Boys with personal experience of life at the schools during World War II when they were away from their home buildings.This is sadly reinforced by the recent obituaries in The Pauline. I recently visited Danesfield House Hotel near Marlow. Colet Court had been moved to Danesfield House in the early part of the war only to be evicted later to make way for what became RAF Medmenham an Intelligence unit specialising in the interpretation of aerial photography. The period at Crowthorne is more often mentioned but if any first hand recollections are to be documented, no time should be lost. The people who were there at the time probably don’t realise what a treasure trove of information they hold in their memories – things which need to be gathered now or they will be forever lost. AT Jardine (1952-56) l If anyone would like to contribute anything from their time at St Paul's during WWII, please contact, in first instance, the Editor at opceditor@stpaulsschool.org.uk

OP brothers killed in WWI

I have been prompted by the excellent article about Jeremy Gordon-Smith in the Spring/Summer edition of the OP News and his book Photographing The Fallen, to write to you about two Old Pauline brothers killed in the Great War, which may be of interest. A little background – during a lifetime working at Lloyd’s, one of my greatest friends was Charles Letts in whose memory I and another close friend established an educational trust at

Newcastle University, Charlie having tragically died in his fifties in 2000. Charlie’s sister, Henrietta, is married to a now retired Newcastle don and their father, Trevor Letts, was Deputy Chairman of Lloyd’s in the 1960s. Knowing my enthusiasm for military history, particularly of the Great War and my hobby in tracking down detail of lost family members, Henrietta asked me to research her two great uncles who had been killed in the Great War but about whom she knew little. Helped by the brilliant CWGC website and those of the National Archives at Kew, I tracked down both their histories in considerable detail, including discovering that they were both Old Paulines! The elder, Captain R W “Rex” Robinson (1894-97) was killed aged 35 in Gallipoli on 15 August 1915 at Sulva Bay. He was in the 5th Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was one of 7 Inniskilling officers killed on that day alone. He is buried in the AZMAK Cemetery at Sulva and whilst visiting Gallipoli in 2015 for the centenary, I was able to find both his memorial and headstone (see above). He is among those who could not be positively identified after the years that had elapsed before the British dead were found and buried in the 1920s but was known to be definitely among those in the AZMAK Cemetery. He is therefore memorialized on the central Special Memorial under number 52 and the separate headstone states that he is “Believed to be Buried in this Cemetery”. This is common in CWGS war graves in Gallipoli. Rex is also recorded in the St Paul’s School Roll of Honour on page 35. His much younger brother, Lieutenant Wilfred Cane “Thistle” Robinson MC (1910-12), was killed aged 26 near Courtrai in Flanders on 25 October 1918, only 17 days before the Armistice. He was in the 26th Bn. Royal Fusiliers and was posthumously awarded the MC for his “fearless and able leadership” on 14 October, only 11 days before his death. Thistle is buried in the in Grave B1 in the Heestert Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, some three kilometers from where he fell. Roger Earle (1954-57)

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 5

Old Pauline profiles Entrepreneurs The St Paul's Entrepreneurs network is launched on 29 November. The Old Pauline News spoke to a small selection from a growing band of OP entrepreneurs to highlight what is becoming an increasingly attractive career option for many current Paulines.

Right Place, Right Time James Kafton (1984-89) was a corporate lawyer with Clifford Chance in the City for 10 years before he got the itch to do something more creative.

“I

wanted to build something useful, and not look back in my mid-sixties and think I hadn’t really created anything.” James and his two business partners saw an opportunity in the claims management industry and set up a company together. “We started with just the three of us working in the basement of my business partner’s house. At that point we had nothing but an idea. There was a lot of hard work involved in growing every aspect of the business from operations, to marketing and compliance. We sold the business and by the time we left we had a staff of about 200, and had recovered over £100 million of compensation for our customers. It was a very rewarding experience.” Currently, James is focusing on a women’s health clinic, The Evewell, based on Harley Street, with specialisms in gynaecology and fertility. “I’m drawn to ventures where I see there might be an opportunity. It’s often just being in the right place at the right time, where an individual or an idea can spark an

entrepreneurial interest. But it’s never straightforward. You can go through any number of hitches along the way. There are times on the journey when you are not sure you have got it right or whether it is going to work. You need a huge amount of resilience! For The Evewell, the significant issues initially were to raise money and find a building. With a great deal of perseverance and a chunk of luck, the two came together. “We now have a building on Harley Street which has been fitted out. We have been busy hiring staff and preparing for our regulatory inspections. We plan to open in October.”

There have been plenty of St Paul’s connections in James’s world There have been plenty of St Paul’s connections in James’s world. One of James’s business partners is now married to Richard Flax (1984-89), a close friend from St Paul’s. In fact, the lead investor in The Evewell is Old Pauline, Andrew Elder (1983-88). James has also worked with Joe Bitran (1984-89), another lawyer, whom he has known since they were at nursery school together. “For me, it’s

James Kafton

very important working with people you trust. Particularly to know that you are working with people who share the same values as you.” James is married with two children: his son Charlie, who is 14, has just finished his first year at St Paul’s and he has a daughter Georgina who is 12. James was a weekly boarder at School. His House Master was Ben Taylor. “He and his wife Susan and family were really important to me at that time in my teenage years. I did medieval history at St Paul’s, and I had the same teacher, Dr Ken Lawson, of whom I have very good memories, right the way through my time at School.” l For further information: www.linkedin.com/ company/the-evewell

Good Returns from Funding Food Joseph Cherrez (1996-98) started his own company, Primestox, three years ago – the world’s first food-focused funding platform. Investors help to support local food producers while earning good returns, sometimes achieving as much as 18% per year.

ow the company is up and running, Joseph is looking for someone else to take the company forward having received some exciting proposals to re-join the investment fund world. “It will be the

shareholders of course who will decide on who carries the business forward, but I’d be interested to see if any entrepreneurial OPs out there would consider taking what I’ve started and moving it to the next level. Setting up Primestox has been a very good learning experience for me. Very few people get to see the full cycle of running a business or making a loan. It has been fascinating – I have been working almost like an old-style community bank manager. Primestox funds artisanal food producers but is in itself somewhat artisanal in its way of doing things. There is also an important ethos here which is to give capable younger people a chance and the funding to get going. Primestox investors like this aspect

6 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

and in fact sometimes favour the smaller, younger businesses we deal with, in spite of their less-tested business models. The fact that investors can ‘meet’ the producers in our video clips and can see their products in the shops also adds to investor’s confidence.” Joseph studied maths at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, before joining Lazard as an investment banker in their corporate finance team, advising on mergers and acquisitions. He was given a posting to New York in his third year at the company as he wanted to get experience of US investment banking. Because of his interest in natural resources-based business, Joseph joined the aluminium department of Glencore,

Geeks Rule Alexis Dormandy (1983-88) has had an extraordinary career track record since his days at St Paul’s, beginning by gaining an MA in Medicine at Oxford, before joining McKinsey as a business analyst, then making a name for himself as a Group Director at Virgin, responsible for new business.

t Virgin Alexis launched Virgin Mobile and Virgin Active, both of which became billion dollar businesses. He also sat on the Group board. He later became Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Orange’s Consumer business which became number 1 in the UK market with over £3bn in revenues. In his spare time, he became European Chairman of RED, the charity founded by Bono which raised $120m in its first 18 months. He now invests in, and is Chairman of, a number of UK startups, and is also a partner at Atomico, one of Europe’s largest venture capital investors, founded by Niklas Zennstrom, the founder of Skype. Atomico focuses on companies led by experienced entrepreneurs, wishing to build global businesses that transform their category. Alexis’ role sources investments, helps companies grow rapidly, and works with entrepreneurs on sales and marketing as they scale their businesses. Since 2009 Alexis has also been Chairman of Wattbike, created in collaboration with British Cycling. It has

a Swiss-based commodities trader to learn more about metals, mining and international commodities trading. He also worked with a mining company, based in Sierra Leone to develop their agricultural division. “I was originally hired to raise finance to build the agricultural division but then went to Sierra Leone to start a demonstration farm on the ground, hiring 300 people, almost none of whom could speak English. The project went really well. We managed to clear 100 hectares of land on which we planted sugarcane and maize as well as other crops such as yams and rice. It all grew incredibly well and was a success.” It was this experience that led to some of the ideas behind Primestox. Joseph then returned to London where he was employed by an investment fund largely focused on mining in Latin

Alexis taking to the hills for the Wattbike team

grown from an unfunded prototype in 2009, to now being sold to consumers and gyms in 17 countries across five continents (and to be found in nuclear submarines). It is now considered to be the best indoor bike in the world. St Paul’s School is a customer! Since the start of the year, Alexis has also been Chairman of SPOKE, an e-commerce menswear business priding itself on men’s trousers that look good and fit. He also sits on the board of Teralytics, a big data company that processes 40 billion data points, from 475 million people worldwide. Alexis has a message, particularly for current boys at St Paul’s – especially those who might, as he did, find themselves placed in the ‘geek’ category. He candidly admits he was in the maths teams, but was the last boy to be picked to play in any sports team. But by the time he was at university Alexis had changed, both mentally and physically – so much so he was playing university rugby league and rowed at college and University level. “I once ended up on a pitch playing against someone who had been in the SPS 1st XV. We beat them. He literally looked at me saying, ‘Are you the same bloke who used to get picked last for everything?’ The

Joseph Cherrez

America, with a primary interest in ironore. “I advised them on the development of a large-scale project in Uruguay. The

positive to take from this that it is possible for anyone to change – a lot!” Alexis later represented the GB Age Group Team for the European Duathlon Championships. “As the boy who always walked the ‘two bridges’ run at SPS, that might seem surprising!” Alexis was also British Masters Ski Cross Champion. Alexis was attracted to McKinsey because of the firm's emphasis on training rather than on money. “As I knew I knew nothing, that seemed to me to be a good place to start. I loved it, the training was phenomenal.” This undoubtedly helped later when Alexis helped launch Virgin Mobile from a piece of paper to a live business in 10 months. “It was so much fun! You never knew what to expect. One day we were launching a business, the next Richard Branson was asking to get Colonel Gadhafi on the phone. I thought ‘this is going to be an interesting day’. A balloon was drifting into Libyan airspace and the pilots were worried that they were going to be shot down.” Alexis is now married with three children. “Life’s never dull!” l For more information: www.atomico.com; www.wattbike.com www.spoke-london.com; www.teralytics.net

Latin American angle appealed to me as I speak fluent Spanish, my father being from Ecuador. I also managed the acquisition and restructuring of a $300million iron ore mine in northern Brazil owned by Anglo American. I launched Primestox after that.” Joseph got married eighteen months ago. He remains in touch with several OP contemporaries (all 1993-98) including Michael Birshan who is a Senior Partner at McKinsey, London; Alex Edmans who is a Professor of Finance at the London Business School, Alex Lang, Nik Sindle and entrepreneur Balreick Srai, who also started his own business while at university, in events and promotion. l For more information: www.primestox.com To contact Joseph direct please contact the Old Pauline Club office at opcadmin@stpaulsschool. org.uk or through the OPC directory.

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 7

Old Pauline profiles Medics The St Paul's Medical profession network is launched on 20 November – bringing together many in the St Paul's community who either have careers in healthcare or have an interest in joining the profession.

When Advice Runs Full Circle Ashish Mandavia (2004-09) says he has always been attracted by the numerous opportunities that are available within medicine. He now works as a Director of the MSAG, (Medical School Application Guide), which exists to assist students applying to medical and dental school at English-speaking universities all over the world. He also ‘moonlights’ as a doctor in A&E for a local trust, while his clinical interest at the moment is ophthalmology with a particular interest in laser eye surgery. Ashish has also been involved in some cutting-edge digital development that is poised to revolutionise the efficiency of A&E care.

“T

here has been an effort recently to increase the available number of places at medical schools to try to fill the gaps that are expected to develop within the NHS. In my opinion this is five or six years too late, but this firefighting approach does mean that there are a lot more places available for students to apply for. Unfortunately, the competition ratio has continued to rise, as the numbers of applicants has also increased.” Ashish now talks to students on a regular basis, travelling to Liverpool every week to deliver a medical school preparation course – which takes them through the basic clinical skills they will learn in their first couple of years at university, giving them a flavour of what doctors actually do, as well as giving them advice about their university applications. “While I was at Bristol University I was on the interview panel for two years. You get insight, from the medical educational point of view, into what is being asked of the next generation of doctors. It’s a very exciting business to be involved in.” Ashish set up the Bristol Leadership & Management Society, at university, which gained a lot of traction. His efforts culminated in a change to the curriculum

Ashish Mandavia

that then offered courses in leadership and healthcare management. “I ran teaching days where we talked to students about what it meant to get involved in quality improvement projects for the NHS services being delivered, what it meant to be a leader in the NHS and how you don’t have to be a

you don’t have to be a consultant doctor to invoke change consultant doctor to invoke change. It was well received and is still running.” After his first two ‘pre-clinical’ years, Ashish spent his third year doing an integrated degree at Imperial College in healthcare management, learning about business strategy, entrepreneurship and care economics, which put him into a completely different category to other medics he was studying with. Once he qualified as an F1 (House

8 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

officer, first year) doctor, Ashish trained in radiology and gained experience in a busy gastroenterology ward. In his second year he moved to Lewisham Greenwich Trust where he worked in a challenging environment in an acute psychiatry hospital, then in an acute medical ward in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, before finally gaining four months experience in A&E. Ashish also found time this year to assist a start-up company set up a healthcare app inspired by Babylon Health, a vanguard company within a new wave of healthcare apps that provide remote healthcare delivery. MedCircuit is a digital patient questionnaire, an algorithm-led app that follows NICE guidelines, asking the same questions a doctor would ask. “The software is clever. Depending on the number and severity of red flags triggered by a patient’s replies, the patient can be quickly prioritised over someone with fewer or less severe symptoms – improving the efficiency of the throughput of the A&E department.

Ophthalmologist With Culinary Aspirations Jonathan Marler (2004-09) was in the same year at St Paul’s as Ashish Mandavia, (see opposite), also joining him at the Bristol Medical School for his foundation training. Later he gained an MA in Ophthalmology at UCL, Moorfields Eye Hospital. Jonathan has a passion for Asian and Indian cooking and is poised to briefly leave the beaten track of medicine to check how deep his interest really lies.

“I

put my interest in food down to my mum who is Japanese. Japanese cuisine is my favourite – more of a cultural thing in Japan. But my current favourite dish at the moment is Goan lobster. I really like the way South Indians cook crustaceans. You don’t really get this in the UK at all. It is actually very difficult to do, I’m still learning. What I like in all cultures that feature seafood is the freshness and simplicity of the dishes. Unlike French or Mexican cooking it is not so technical – more to do with the quality of the ingredients. When we think of Indian food we usually think of spices, curry, heavier dishes. I really like those too, but seafood, when I grew up in Japan, was always raw. In India it is much the same but marinated in very punchy spices, so that the result tastes bold but very simple. Indian seafood dishes bring those two qualities together. I am going to be working as a chef in Kerala, The information from the patient is also presented in medical text and terminology to the doctor and can be copied into the patient’s notes, avoiding the need for inputting again later.” Venture capital funding for the app was achieved in March from Mercia Technology. The system was piloted in Burton Hospital in the Midlands during April – now live with contracts lined up for hospitals across the UK. Ashish has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, helping to fund trips abroad by selling text books and stethoscopes to students while at University. What Ashish loved about being at St Paul’s was the opportunity to

Jonathan (left) with Rick Stein

on the south-western coast of India, for six months next year before I start my ophthalmology training.” Jonathan says it is not unusual for junior doctors to take time out to do other things. “I have a friend who has gone to work for Bollywood for a year; another who has become a racing driver!” “At medical school I chose ophthalmology for a number of reasons – firstly because it has a dual

We were never designed to be static or periods of time medical/surgical specialty. There are some specialties that involve a training period of seven years but qualify you to be both a physician and a surgeon. Ophthalmology is one of those. I also like the technical side of ophthalmology – there have been exciting new developments especially with laser eye surgery and bionic eye implants. You also get to treat all age groups. Most other areas of medicine will limit your demographics. Eventually, I would like to specialise in corneal transplant surgery.” push the boundaries. With Mr Hamlyn’s help, Ashish set up a drugs synthesis society in which different drug compounds were synthesised and their purity tested. He was also President of the Medical Society. With alumni like Sir Robert Winston attending lunchtime meetings, he felt he was in a very privileged position. “From a young age at School I had the chance to explore ideas beyond the curriculum which was such a unique position to be in. I also felt I could have gone down a number of routes – medicine, economics or art. I was awarded the Chelsea Royal Art College scholarship, which could have been a career option as well. I really appreciated the support I had at

Jonathan discovered during his foundation years that Ophthalmologists rarely worked at weekends or during night shifts, which would leave him precious time to continue his interest in cooking. Although he hasn’t discounted the idea of pursuing a career in cooking at some point, Jonathan says he is aware of the difference between cooking at home and doing it professionally. “I am interested in working in the industry for a short while to see if it is just a hobby or not. I suspect I will not leave medicine.” While at St Paul’s, Jonathan and Ashish Mandavia ran MedSoc which was managed by Mr Sam Roberts, not a doctor himself, but, Jonathan says that he was a huge help. Jonathan’s A levels included Biology, Chemistry, Maths and surprisingly, Ancient Greek. “I was the only scientist in Mr King’s Classics group. Mr King was also my brother’s tutor and became a family friend. He knew that Greek was not my main subject but he was very good at helping me to develop my fascination for it.” At School, Jonathan was a keen fives player and musician. He took Grade VIII piano and clarinet, something he’d like to get back to, time permitting. St Paul’s when I was applying to medical school. To be able, now, to offer advice to students myself has been a full-circle moment.” Ashish is considering joining the OP Cricket Club, particularly as it seems to be made up largely from his peer group. He was captain of the 2nd XI for its tour to Sri Lanka with Peter King, Will Hansen and Alex Wilson in his final year. l For more information: www.babylonhealth.com; www.medcircuit.com www.themsag.com

NEXT ISSUE Anil Visram (1974-79) Anaesthetist

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 9

Old Pauline profiles

The British Army in Northern Europe Iain Gale (1972-77), former art critic and journalist, now an author based in Edinburgh, is giving a series of 10 lectures at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly. Entitled ‘Blenheim to Berlin: The British Army in Northern Europe, 1704-1944’, Iain began his sequence of talks last month by examining the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, featuring that great Old Pauline, John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough.

ach of Iain’s talks will deal with a specific military campaign, ultimately focusing on one key engagement. All will be fully illustrated on a large screen, with maps and photographs of the battlefields as they are today. Where appropriate and wherever possible, they will also be accompanied by original battlefield archaeology, artefacts and scale models. Our publishing deadline prevents our being able to give advance notice of Iain’s October talk on Fontenoy in 1745, but subsequent talks starting with ‘Minden 1759, the birth of the British infantry’ on 6 November will be followed by ‘Waterloo 1815, Wellington’s masterpiece?’ on 13 December; ‘Mons, 1914, tactical triumph of the BEF’ on 16 January 2019; ‘Somme, July 1916, the British army’s black day’ on 6 February; ‘Cambrai, 1917, the birth of modern war’ on 6 March; ‘ France 1940, defeat into victory’ on 10 April; ‘D Day, June 1944, storming Hitler’s fortress’ on 8 May; and finally, ‘Arnhem, September 1944, a bridge too far?’ 12 June 2019. Iain has spent forty years visiting these battlefields and knows many of them intimately, conducting regular battlefield tours to several. As a writer and researcher he has gained an appreciation

of each of them and can offer a unique perspective. Iain comes from a military family and has always been fascinated by military history, recently discovering that he had an ancestor at the Battle of Waterloo when he travelled there for the commemoration. Having begun his career as a painting expert with Christie’s, Iain left auctioneering in 1990 to join the recently launched Independent firstly to compile art listings, later becoming their Deputy Art Critic. He was encouraged to travel to St Ives to interview famous artists there, resulting in a first feature article being published, the first of many weekly contributions. British artists were suddenly in the spotlight and Iain was one of the first to interview Damien Hirst before joining Scotland on Sunday as an art critic, in Edinburgh. While working on the paper, Iain was also approached to write a series of monographs, including

Iain delivered his firstever lecture, on the Battle of Austerlitz, while he was at St Paul’s works on Sisley, Corot and MacTaggart. He also founded Caledonia magazine. He served on the Scottish Committee of the Society of Authors and the Scots Dragoon Guards Waterloo Committee and currently sits on the Scottish Committee of Combat Stress. Iain began to write military history in 2003 and to date has had four works of military history and nine militaryhistorical novels published by Harper Collins, Quercus and Birlinn. He is currently working on a new history of the First Day of the Somme due out later this year and a three-volume work on the

Some of Iain's published titles

10 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

Iain Gale

Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. Having grown one career out of art criticism and then a second in historical novel writing, Iain says he’d now love to teach a seminar, a post-grad degree if possible, on war and culture. “It’s a fascinating area – the two are heavily connected.” Iain delivered his first-ever lecture, on the Battle of Austerlitz, while he was at St Paul’s. He enjoyed being in the school épée team that was runner-up in the Public Schools Championship in 1977. His ambition at School had been to lecture at Sandhurst. But after taking a History of Art degree at Edinburgh, a successful career followed in the art world, first as a Victorian expert at Christie’s. He was later asked by Christie’s to run their Modern British Picture Department in South Kensington. For his lectures and in his books, Iain has researched the two famous OP generals, Montgomery and Marlborough, describing the first as ruthless and the second as everyone’s favourite. “Marlborough’s chief talent lay in logistics, getting supplies in place before his men arrived. Camps and kitchens would all be functioning for the troops on arrival; 50,000 new shoes would be delivered for the march to Blenheim. To his troops, Marlborough was known as ‘Corporal John’, he was one of them.” l For initial enquiries please contact: iain.gale@yahoo.com

A Role for Diversity in Education Formally the UK Climate Campaigns Manager for Greenpeace, Robert Gueterbock (1984-89) turned to a career in education in 2004, training as a Montessori teacher. In 2011 he founded a new school, The Montessori Place, in Hove, Sussex and has been the Principal of the 120-pupil school, and a full-time teacher since then.

“W

OPs are invited to share their favourite places to eat, drink or experience in the capital. Please send your suggestions to opceditor@stpaulsschool.org.uk This edition's selection by Jeremy Withers Green (1975-80)

Where To Eat Robert Gueterbock

them to engage in broader-based activities that they would not otherwise experience elsewhere. At St Paul’s, Rob says it was the teachers who made the effort to get to know him as a person who made a lasting impression, such as Peter Lascelles his biology teacher and Dick Jaine for geography. He always felt that the open-ended possibilities offered by the art room were exciting, as was the incredible freedom he enjoyed when taking a scull out for a lunchtime row on the Thames. “As a Head Teacher now I can fully appreciate the efforts that went into giving us the freedom to do things like that; trusting us to take responsibility.” Rob believes that there is a growing dissatisfaction with mainstream education. “Sir Ted Robinson’s TED Talk entitled ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity?’ is the most watched TED Talk of all time, with more than 50 million views. The question ‘What is education for?’ will always be open to debate, so it’s necessary to keep diversity – and original thinking – alive in the education system. With rapid technologydriven changes to society, now is the time to consider radically different approaches to prepare young people for the world.” Rob studied Social Anthropology then took an MA in Environmental Anthropology at Kent University, wanting to eventually work in the environment sector. After volunteering for various organisations, he started working for Greenpeace in his mid-twenties, developing campaigns, liaising with other Greenpeace offices around the world and taking part in the ‘exciting bits’, like direct action, which led to two arrests, but thankfully no convictions. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to become a teacher!” l For more information: www.themontessoriplace.org.uk montessorieducationuk.org

The Carpenter’s Arms, Black Lion Lane W6 Hammersmith has any number of tradesmen’s pubs thanks to Wimpey being based there for a century. The Carpenter’s is the best. It first opened in 1871, survived a couple of doomed makeovers before reopening as a pub a decade ago. I became reengaged when A A Gill gave it five stars. Now run by the inimitable Simon Cherry, The Carpenter’s is a boozer with great food and wine.

Coffee time

La Cave, Hammersmith Grove W6 Who makes the best coffee in the world is always under debate at La Cave. Justin represents Australia, Stefano Italy and Monika Poland. Raouls works in Maida Vale but failed in Hammersmith. In came The Brackenbury Wine Rooms and La Cave and their giant cigarette-smoking moose. Also a deli and wine shop, La Cave is where you go for coffee. It is the heart of the community with mums and dads recovering after school run, wastrels taking a break from “working at home” and office workers.

Where to Visit

Police Memorials – St James’s Square SW1 and Charlesville Road W14 Michael Winner is remembered as a film director who lived in the house now owned by Robbie Williams. Winner was also the energy behind the Police Memorial Trust. There are approaching 50 memorials in the UK, each with its own story of courage and loss. The two memorials I visit are Yvonne Fletcher’s in St James’s and Stephen Tibble's in Barons Court. They are simple, elegant and moving. Yvonne Fletcher’s tragic story is well known. Stephen Tibble was off duty and only six months a policeman when shot by an IRA member following a raid on a bomb factory. It might otherwise be forgotten. If you've got five minutes, definitely do take a tour and have a read. Some of the stories are sad, some funny, but all are touching.

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 11

Courtesy of the Police Memorial Trust

e started the school with the aim of showcasing the Montessori approach all the way through to 18. We had no idea if the demand would be there, but once we began with the younger children, most people wanted to stay on. Every few years we’ve registered for older age-groups and now go through to 16 years. In 2016 we expanded into a second, thirteen-acre site in rural East Sussex where we’ve started the residential secondary programme, the first of its kind in the UK. The Montessori approach is radically different to traditional methods of education; we have mixed-age classes of 3-6, 6-12 and 12-16 years, and these communities feel more like busy creative offices than a classroom with the teacher at the front. A spirit of collaboration and cooperation characterises these mini-societies in which a dozen different projects might be happening at any one time. They have a lot of freedom, but it’s certainly not unlimited. Each student has as much as they are able to make good use of in an atmosphere of trust and respect. That’s also fun for the adults, as it means every day is totally different. Montessori begins by considering what it is that children are able do at certain ages and how it can offer them experiences that help them to fulfil themselves, rather than beginning with a set curriculum that leaves the child no option but to conform him or herself to the content. When you can follow and pick up on someone’s interest, it’s amazing how far and how deeply they will go. As a school we’re inspected by Ofsted so it has been satisfying to show that it’s possible to have academic excellence and an ‘outstanding’ school without the driver of formal tests, homework, set assignments, worksheets or even fixed lesson times.” Rob adds that Montessori students will take a limited number of GCSEs, freeing

OP LONDON

50 Special Feature

YEARS AT BARNES

A CELEBRATION 1968: Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy are assassinated; anti-Vietnam war protestors march to Grosvenor Square; students and workers go on general strike in France; Enoch Powell delivers his 'Rivers of Blood' speech; Apollo 8 orbits the Moon, the Civil Rights Act becomes law and the musical Hair opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre – plenty for Paulines to contemplate as the School makes the mile and a half journey from Hammersmith to Lonsdale Road in Barnes. Thanks to the help of new Librarian Hilary Cummings, a trawl through the archives has revealed some nostalgic visual material from those early days at the new site, a small sample of which makes an appearance here. Some of the teachers who made the short journey from old to new school write about their experiences, as do the Captains of School, one from each decade the School has resided by the river. We are very grateful for their contributions. But to set the scene, Garry Honey (1968-72) writes about his early days at Lonsdale Road.

remember my first term at St Pauls in 1968. New boarders in School House had to arrive a day before term began so I had the advantage of learning the layout of the site before the rest of the school. During the first week I enjoyed directing older pupils, and even some teachers, to their classrooms thanks to my colour coded plan of the school. As a new member of D club I think Monty would have been proud of my battlefield knowledge and short cuts. Despite being a thirteen-year old new boy, I had power to

The arrival of the great and good at Lonsdale Road. Colet's bust followed by portraits of Monty and Marlborough. High Master Tom . Howarth (second right) is on hand to make sure they are safely delivered

Early promises of a merger with SPGS to create a modern co-ed school were dashed after the first school dance unlock the mysteries of the labyrinth. Early promises of a merger with SPGS to create a modern co-ed school were dashed after the first school dance – the headmistress of SPGS being unimpressed with the less than gentlemanly conduct of SPS boys. Thus ended the dreams of many boys hoping to merge with girls and embrace the liberal values of the late sixties. Another sign of the times was the way the Maths department eagerly adopted the Schools Mathematics Project (SMP). Binary maths was considered the future of computer programming, which then consisted of card packs filled with only two digits: zero and one. To this day I still tell people that for two years of Maths O level I never wrote any digits from two to nine. In 1968 the playing fields at Barnes were not fit for use, the old reservoirs had been

12 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

cheaply filled and stones were a barrier to rugby and cricket. For all my four years at the School, the weekly trek to Osterley was major feature. We got to know the Piccadilly line, Hammersmith bridge and a cafe called the 'Odd Spot' where there was always a danger of being attacked by skinheads. I fondly recall my housemaster and German teacher Phil McGuiness, a kind and thoughtful housemaster as well as an accomplished German speaker, setting us vocabulary tests each week which we all dreaded. He knew this and would always announce on Friday the imminent in-class test with same phrase - which I shall render in English here for a wider audience - 'Because it is Friday, and the sun is shining, I have the intention to make you happy…' This was usually followed by a collective groan from the class as we knew what the next 20 minutes would entail. Garry Honey now operates a risk consultancy and executive training business on governance www.betterboards.uk and runs programmes at Henley Business School and the Stock Exchange.

Brave New World. St Paul's photographed from the Thames shortly after it was opened in 1968

Mind the stones! It would be three years before games were regularly played at the School rather than at Osterley because of detritus coming to the surface of the playing fields. From Folio 1968

High Master Tom Howarth with the prefects of '69

Boat Club Colts C 1968 with J Allport and D Porteus

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 13

50 Years at Barnes The High road to Barnes. L to R: Robert James, Anthony Gilkes, Surmaster AB Cook, Tom Howarth and Walter Oakeshott

A View from the Staff Room Stephen Baldock

Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis

My first-hand experience of the school added up to 39 years, five as a pupil (58-63) and 34 as a member of staff (70-04). I was absent for the actual move from West Kensington to Barnes, but that absence may have given me a better perspective on the metamorphosis. On my return in 1970, gone were the CCF, the Great Hall with its whole school assemblies, the first and second lunches, the boxing; yet the ethos was undoubtedly intact, the indefinable buzz, the purposeful engagement, the competitive bonhomie. That too was the conclusion of Anthony Jay in his film “Four High Masters”: for all the changes, the school which he had attended as a boy was the same as the one which his son had just joined. In the early Barnes years there were battles about long hair and uniform; student unrest was in the air. I recall that Dr Cruickshank put a large expanse of plain white paper on the wall of his classroom, allowing boys to scribble graffiti or whatever they wished (within reason), on the understanding that they would not use any other walls for the purpose. It is to the credit of High Masters and Surmasters of the time that there were no major crises and staff-student relationships remained good. The decades which followed saw steady, but not dramatic changes. The tutorial system was strengthened and tutors were

supported first by one Undermaster and then by several as year group heads. Female members of staff were recruited, some for senior positions. The curriculum became wider and more flexible; all boys would take three full years before the specialist Eighth Form courses (I had only had one year and sat O-levels without any science or humanities); Art, Music and Drama gained far better facilities and enjoyed a much higher profile; there were excellent facilities for indoor and outdoor sport, all on the campus. New administrative posts were created to ensure compliance with the ever-increasing bureaucracy. No longer was it possible for the 1st VIII to be transported to Henley in one staff vehicle, as John Allport had done in his pre-war Rolls-Royce, but the Pauline spirit lives on and for the preservation and development of this unique ethos, we should recognise the invaluable contribution of a significant number of long-serving teaching staff, too many to name in this short piece.

Tim Moore-Bridger

I joined the staff of St Paul’s in September 1967, to teach French and Latin. I had therefore one year in West Kensington, before the school moved to Barnes in 1968. My main memory of the first few terms there is of the way in which we all worked together to get used to the new building. It had quite an impact on the way in which members of staff treated

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each other. Senior colleagues, whom I had hardly dared speak to the previous year, were now approachable. We all ate together in what was in effect a staff canteen. After a year in West Kensington, where I had felt very young and inexperienced, almost overwhelmed by the history and tradition of the school and the buildings, I found the move to Barnes particularly exciting. My classroom was on the top floor in the Classics wing. It was bright, carpeted, with fans to provide rudimentary air conditioning, for it could get very hot in summer. We still went out to Osterley for rugby and cricket, as the fields at school were not ready for some years. I well recall seeing lines of boys picking up stones as they came to the surface on the Hammersmith Bridge side. l I remained at St Paul’s until 1988, when I moved to be Deputy Headmaster of Nottingham High School. In 1997 I was appointed Headmaster of King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, and remained there until my retirement in 2010.

Terence Pendred

Member of staff from 1963 to 1999, teaching Chemistry, and Head of Science from 1983 to 1999. To a junior member of the Chemistry staff of five years standing, the move to Barnes seemed surprisingly trouble free, but no doubt this was due to a good deal of forward planning by the then Head of Science, Jack Strawson,

and the smooth transfer of laboratory equipment, overseen by the Chief Lab Technician, Ted White. As I recall we had a very small number of familiarisation visits to the new buildings before teaching in the new Science Block began in earnest. There were more Chemistry Labs at Barnes, but space was at a premium and they were smaller than at West Kensington, where the cavernous labs had each housed a completely separate bench area and teaching space. To preserve this arrangement at Barnes it was necessary to mount the benches around the periphery, with tables for writing in the middle. This meant that those working at the benches had their backs to the teacher and were facing a wall. Nevertheless this arrangement survived into the twenty-first century. Other parts of the new school were less ready. The site consisted partly of reservoirs which had been filled in with the excavation material from the Victoria Line. Similarly a new boat house was not yet complete, and as a rowing coach I still had to cycle to Hammersmith Mall for outings. Some corners had been cut in the main building too. It was rumoured that several of the toilet pedestals were found to have sawn-off screwheads dropped into their fixing holes, so that they were not in fact fixed to the floor at all!

David Porteus

Member of the Physics Dept. and coach of Rowing and Rugby 1964-2001. The ‘Old’ School was a very imposing redbricked building. It looked as if something important went on there. Inside, the main corridor, which ran the length of the building, had a tiled stone floor and stained glass windows on one side and classrooms on the other. The classrooms had high ceilings with relatively small windows, meaning that the electric lights were on all the time. The teaching was done using black boards and white chalk (which got everywhere). What a difference to get to the ‘New’ School – carpeted floors, low ceilings, large windows, white boards, and for the Science Staff, only half the distance to walk to the Staff room. The old Dining Hall was on the top floor, 2 sittings, with Grace, while the Tuckshop was in the basement. Again, what a difference! Before the move, the Staff had meetings with the architects, who explained the aims and reasons behind the design, and so on. I well remember the ‘grounds’ architect explaining how the old reservoirs were being filled in by the spoil from the excavation of the Victoria line (it’s that

old!), nothing bigger than the volume of a house brick, and that the pitches would be ready to play on by the time the buildings were ready. No one believed him, but he was the expert. The pitches were played on for a short time, but after a lot of cut knees due to all the stones, it was back to Osterley, where the School had extra playing fields. Various schemes to get rid of the stones were tried, but the most successful way was by hand. There was a photo in the Standard of a number of young men, sitting in a long line, each armed with a long metal needle and a trowel, probing for and removing stones, boulders and bits of bicycles as they moved slowly forward. Then the pitches had to be re-seeded. It took ages. Three years after the buildings opened, all games were played at School. The new Boathouse was last on the list and wasn’t built for 5 or 6 years, till money

Buildings are built and . . . demolished, but Paulines are Paulines and, we hope, will never change. became available. Boys continued to walk to the old Boathouse on the other side of the river. This took about 20 minutes, just about the same time as it did from the Old School. I have often been asked if moving from the old buildings to the new changed the ethos of the school in any way. Not one bit. One hundred boys left in July, to be replaced by another hundred in September, to join those already there, as always. The group of Staff who combined to do the Times Crossword after 1st lunch in West Ken. would have an early lunch and get together to solve it in Barnes, as always (and there probably is a group still solving 50 years later). Buildings are built and buildings are demolished, but Paulines are Paulines and, we hope, will never change.

John Smith

Former President of C Club and Head of Classics The new St Paul’s was constructed using the ‘clasp’ system, involving hanging the outer walls on girders. York University had recently used it. The Classics department was on the top floor facing south, very hot in summer and cold in winter. One torrid summer day I complained to the Bursar. He did nothing until I borrowed a thermometer from the Physics department and found the temperature

A young Pauline tackles an early computer at Barnes

for a whole week more than 90 degrees. He bought an Italian air conditioner so noisy that teaching was a problem. Friday afternoon detentions continued after the move. In West Kensington it involved collecting rubbish within the school. In Barnes the target initially was the Eastern playing fields. The 1960s was the time when Victorian buildings were being pulled down. Hammersmith Council was responsible for the demolition of St Paul’s, built by Alfred Waterhouse. Fortunately School House, originally the High Master’s House, was spared. It is now a ‘boutique’ hotel.

Colin Stewart

‘A mile and an age away’; not a long move, either in time or distance, but a definite culture shock. Goodbye to an impressive Victorian building; hello to a more functional but less beautiful ‘clasp’ creation of the 1960s, with teething problems aplenty! Inside, the ‘new school’ had carpets! Never had those before and everything seemed so quiet! Having started my Pauline career teaching in the Upper theatre I appreciated normal classrooms with low ceilings and fewer draughts. But the ‘tannoy’ was a shock. Big brother was now talking to us and there was no escape; no Great Hall where the whole school could meet, but we did now have a Sports Hall! Eating was much less formal too. No High Table! We all mucked in together, cafeteria style. Outside, Oh dear! September 1968 was wet! Leave the building, and you were in a sea of mud, walking on duckboards. And the playing fields were a threat to life and limb! But we survived and the School continued to flourish in its fifth home. l Colin joined the staff in 1963 as an economist, assisting John Allport establish the ‘new’ Economics department. He was housemaster of High House, 1975-1987, and Head of Economics and Politics from 1987 until retiring in 1994.

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 15

50 Years at Barnes

Captains' logs Former Captains of School share their memories from their various decades at St Paul's since the move to Barnes

1960s

Julian English (1964-69) I think we were told that the new building was built according to the CLASP system. What we were not told that this was the acronym for the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme which had been developed by English Local Authorities to assemble prefabricated buildings quickly and cheaply in the 50s and 60s. Nor did we know that such buildings had a short shelf life. I am indebted to John Makey, for my anecdote, and it relates to the first term at the new school when I was a Prefect and not yet Head Boy. Before term started all Prefects were given a tour of the new school so that they in turn could show other pupils round. John Makey was in the group I showed round (form 5 LZ – meaning Latin was taken). It soon became apparent that I was very unsure of which room was which as I opened doors and peered around, blustering to try and hide my own confusion; it did not seem to matter. Slightly more alarming were the repeated

The friendships forged with those cricketers remain to this day static shocks encountered when opening the doors; luxurious carpeting was the culprit. Having gained a place at university I stayed on to play cricket, captain for a second year. I shall draw a veil over the results from 1968; we were a very young team. 1969 was much better – unbeaten against school teams – and laying the foundations for the annus mirabilis enjoyed by the team led by Howard Masters the following year. The friendships forged with those cricketers remain to this day with an annual lunch in London; sadly we will be one short this year – Mark Symons, a truly kind, witty, talented person and great gully fielder. Having ‘retired’ to Dorset twelve years ago I am still working, indeed I have two jobs, one in the private sector and one in the public.

1970s Geoffrey Matthews (1972-77)

I don’t remember much stopping to smell the flowers in Colet’s beehive, with 800 souls buzzing busily around what was in effect a very confined space. A factory of learning, housed in, let’s face it, deeply unattractive factory buildings. But there was a brutalist dignity to it all, a relentless functionality that spoke to the school’s determination to get stuff done. There was no ceremony. That was no loss, perhaps, but there was precious little tradition, either: had the iconoclasm perhaps gone a bit too far? Thank goodness for Dean John’s marble words in the front hall, and Monty’s memorial room. At least there was a chapel, but I was sorry there were no more communal Latin prayers, a sonorous daily contemplation of the roots of our felicity. Instead we had the voice of Big Brother (well, Don Pirkis) issuing from the sorts of tannoys so beloved of totalitarian regimes. Those morning notices were followed by a stampede to tuckshop and common rooms, with the cheese or sausage rolls in the former providing welcome sustenance before the truly execrable lunch in the canteen had to be endured. (My contemporaries will perhaps remember Joe the kitchen porter, and the story about the mashed potatoes… I remember a biologist dropping a rat’s tail into a plate of spaghetti, and endless bowls of crumble and custard emptied into victims’ blazer pockets). The noise in the canteen must have been something else: there as everywhere there was constant activity, unbounded energy… animal energy expended on the playing fields (once the stone-picking stopped and the topsoil was finally relaid), in the sports hall and on the river; and intellectual energy expended in classroom and laboratory, in art room and music room and theatre. What vistas opened up in those classrooms… Latin and Greek became my University subjects, but I can still hear Peter Thomson lecturing passionately about Mediaeval History from behind his high lectern, rhapsodising about the ‘euphuistic, periphrastic, pleonastic Amundenesse charter…’ or about Frederick II, ‘stupor mundi.’ He’d have enjoyed St Paul’s, the Emperor Frederick, proto-Renaissance man that he was. It was a school whose treadmill was set to the highest speed: I loved it, but

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I never lost the sense that others, less lucky, had got caught in the factory machinery. After reading Classics at Cambridge Geoffrey had a stint at McKinsey & Co. and then joined the Army, serving in Germany and Northern Ireland. He left the Army in 1987 and over the next 25 years worked first for research consultancy SRU and then in a variety of roles for the National Gallery, the Royal Household, the Foreign Office and the National Theatre. Since 2013 he has been Secretary and CEO of the Chelsea Arts Club.

1980s Lincoln Jopp (1981-86) Among the hundreds of memories of being in Barnes two stories stand out in my mind and both of them involve crossing the river at varying rates of knots. The prefects room had decided that we would like to do something for charity. There were very few mathematicians around. Nevertheless, we somehow managed to work out that if we

A landscape artist's perspective of the proposed School at Barnes

A favourite view for many Paulines since the move to Barnes

got a second dart board in, in 24 hours we should be able to do ‘a million and one down’. So, we had a plan – the Prefects Room 24Hour Sponsored Darts Marathon was born. The only hurdle was getting permission to be in the school overnight. Surely not a problem for prefects who were meant, after all, to be the epitome of responsibility. The Surmaster seemed somewhat unconvinced and said that we could only do it if we could get a master to agree to being there overnight too. We set about calling in favours, cajoling, blackmailing and so on. Finally, we found a master who would do it. Chris Jackson was very cool about it, as he was about most things. “Sure. Put me down for it but make sure nothing happens and that there’s no smoking in the prefects room when no one’s around. You probably won’t see me, but I’ll be around.” The deal was that we would all be on site all

night. We broke the prefects down into shifts so that there were two on each dart board at any one time. Needless to say, the lure of the pub was too great, and the off-shifts headed out. The Bridge pub and the Boileau Arms were considered ‘Masters’ pubs’ so we headed across the river and sat outside the Blue Anchor in the warm evening sun. Suddenly a fleet of fire engines came hurtling across the bridge from Hammersmith to Barnes. We thought little of it until we saw through the trees their flashing lights pulling up outside the prefects room by Big Side. Cue spilled pints and general mayhem as reality dawned on us – the school was on fire and the prefects had probably started it. We sprinted back across the bridge and down the tow path overtaking the usual dogwalkers and lovers. Oh, and Mr Jackson who himself was dashing back from the Bridge pub. The sense of panic was matched only be

the sense of relief when a burnt piece of toast, rather than a stray Silk Cut, was located as the source of the alarm. Mr Jackson and I looked sideways at one another. Not a word was spoken, but in that silence we both agreed that nothing would be mentioned of this incident ever again. The other story revolves around almost exactly the same territory. By some massive clerical error, I had been made the Captain of the school. On the day that I finished my A levels, like a Pauline homing pigeon, I was found again outside the Blue Anchor and proceeded to try to drink my body weight in pints of Directors. I was struck by the momentous nature of the day and thought that I would do my bit for posterity. “I am going to initiate ‘The Captain’s Swim’.” I slurred to my gang of Paulines and Paulinas crowding onto the pontoon down by

On the day that I finished my A levels, like a Pauline homing pigeon, I was found again outside the Blue Anchor

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 17

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the water’s edge. “I shall swim from here to the other side and in doing so am laying down the challenge to every captain that follows to do the same on the day that they finish their final exams. Who will come with me on this inaugural feat of endeavour?” Unsurprisingly, there weren’t many takers. It fell to the Captain of the first XV, my old mate Vince Neate, to bail me out of my embarrassment. “Go on then. I’ll do it,” he said with all the enthusiasm of Stephen Willink being asked to become the masterin-charge of cross country running. Dressed in a pair of rugby shorts I dived in. It started well, I thought, although I had rather underestimated the speed with which the tide was going out. I looked round at the half way point only to see Vincent still standing on the pontoon flicking enormous and vigorous V-signs at me. I made a gesture which was meant to suggest that he should come in and that the water was lovely. This was interpreted by my mates as a sure sign that I was in the advanced stages of drowning. So Vince dived in and the remainder all piled into cars and started driving round Hammersmith Broadway to come to my rescue. Why they didn’t just walk (run even?) across the bridge escaped me then as it escapes me now. Meanwhile I had made it two thirds of the way across and was starting to flag. With beer inspired logic, I saw the huge abutment sticking out of the water and made for it. There was a greasy rope

50 Years at Barnes 1st XI 1968. Julian English (Capt) third left front row.

hanging down and I somehow managed to haul myself up so that my feet were level with the rushing water beneath. Exhausted, I was surprised to see my mates now on the Barnes side and, miraculously, Vincent too who had somehow managed to overtake me. There was nothing else for it but to dive back in and swim the final third which I did. I got two very different tellings off for this whole incident. One from the mother of the girl who, I saw in retrospect, I was trying to impress. The other was from the High Master, Warwick Hele, who a Master had rather ungallantly dobbed me into. The High Man was much gentler than the mother. “Lincoln, I do hope that you are not encouraging anyone to follow you in attempting this foolhardy endeavour.” My classicist friends tell me that Empedocles reckoned that there were four elements. It occurs to me that my memories of St Paul’s at Barnes involve all four in some way, shape or form. In order to tie them all together in a nice neat bow, let me, like Aristotle, try to suggest that there is a fifth. So here’s to the Blue Anchor, long may she stand. Somewhat over your alloted 250 words Lincoln, but had to let this run. – Ed

1990s

Dan Snow (1991-86)

I was incredibly lucky to be part of an undefeated 1st XV side and a 1st VIII that won Henley. They were two experiences that taught me just as much as I learned in the classroom. I still get a warm glow when I look back on them now. Amazing camaraderie, hard work and great support from our coaches.

2000s Alex van Besouw (2001-06)

Reflecting back on St Paul’s in the years after the millennium the thing that stands out for me most is just how much the world was changing around us. The overriding memory I have of my first few weeks is sitting in French class on September 11th when the news came through about the attack on the twin towers. The tech revolution was already well underway by then and when my classmates and I left in 2006 the school experience was on the cusp of being revolutionised by the Internet and new tech. The School was changing throughout this period too with the arrival of Martin Stephen as High Master (along with his tie-wearing dog!), a succession of longerserving teachers departing, and plans announced to construct new facilities. The essence of the School didn’t change though. St Paul’s has always challenged its pupils to think critically and be curious. Inside and - often more importantly - outside class we were afforded numerous opportunities to broaden our horizons and prepare for the future. The things that stick with me now are the talks by speakers such as Rory Bremner, Anne Widdecombe, David Trimble and Boy George; the opportunity to act in plays like Lord of the Flies that went well above and beyond the standard you would expect of school productions; pacing it down the river in the 1st VIII during the Schools' Head; watching talented musicians in my year group hone their trade before going on to achieve commercial success; and the enduring friendships with smart and driven classmates from whom I’ve learned a huge amount.

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2010s Jonathan Routley (2013-18) When I joined St Paul’s in 2013, the School looked much the same as it had for the past five decades. However, after what seems now to have been a brief five years, the site has changed dramatically; the notorious Masterplan has entered its final stages, the iconic General Teaching Building has been razed, and comments such as, “You have to admit, it does look a bit like a prison,” have become much less frequent. Although the School’s time in Barnes makes up only one tenth of its total history, it’s difficult to picture us being situated anywhere else. The Pauline experience to me is as much marked by the unique academic environment, the pupil-teacher relationship and the dedication to all manner of extracurriculars as it is by having to work around the geese when using the pitches, knowing the art to taming the 419 bus and being able to pinpoint your position on the river by the strength of smell emanating from the Fuller’s brewery. Singling out just a few moments from my time here is challenging. I’ve witnessed worldclass performances in plays and cheered on the 1st XV and VIII to famous victories. I’ve seen a time at the School where pupils have wanted to advocate more for the bursary fund, mental health provisions and outreach work. Perhaps one of my favourite recent quotations was said by a friend about my role as Captain of School in helping mediate between staff and our year-group: “Jonny, if you were any less likeable or good at your job, you definitely would’ve been punched in the face by now.” A confusing compliment, but I’ll take what I can get. It goes without saying that I will deeply miss St Paul’s, and having just left I will soon start nine months work at the Cambridge-based medical robotics firm CMR Surgical. During my time there I will re-apply to university, and afterwards I hope to travel. l Plus ça change. Top: digger in 1968, below: digger in 2018

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Special Feature A watercolour by Alfred Waterhouse of his design for the south elevation of St Paul's School at West Kensington

Life before Barnes It is now 50 years since St Paul’s School left its fourth home in the magnificent and inspiring building in West Kensington, fronting onto the Hammersmith Road. The School occupied the building from 1884 to 1968 when it moved to Barnes, beside Hammersmith Bridge. I was lucky enough to be educated there and, as Archivist to the OPC, I’m keen to record as much as possible of life there before our living memories are lost. Tim Cunis (1955-60)

Courtesy of the RIBA Collection.

North front of SPS in 1939 from the Hammersmith Road.

Elevation view of the south front from the Cromwell Road (A4) Drawn by Alfred Waterhouse

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ith this in mind projects have been initiated to find, photograph and digitise the beautiful original drawings by its noted architect, Alfred J Waterhouse, who also designed the Natural History Museum. Thirty of these drawings have eventually been located. These are held at the V&A Museum in the RIBA Collection. With funding from the OP Trust Ltd and invaluable work by Paul Velluet (1962/67) and utilising his enthusiasm and RIBA Membership, it is intended that these digitised photos will now form the basis for a two-part project for a small team of SPS pupils working under the direction of Dr Chris Harrison, Head of Computing, to generate a 3-Dimensional fly-thru virtual ‘wire’ image of the building. Phase two of this ambitious Project will be to ‘wallpaper’ this virtual image using

It is intended that these digitised photos will . . . generate a 3-D fly-thru virtual ‘wire’ image of the building archive photos of desks, lockers, wall mosaics, the organ in the Great Hall with its balcony, the Dining Room and Chapel, etc. Many of these photos can be seen in the small red book St Paul’s School in West Kensington by Mr ANG ‘Tony’ Richards who acknowledges the diligent work of (pupil) Paul Velluet, who had the foresight to take so many photos before the building was demolished to make way for blocks of flats, a Nursery School and Hammersmith & Fulham College.

I know I belong to an age that's gone, and I know I can't complain, But when I came here the Hammersmith Road was a winding country lane. The fields were green close by me, you could hear the cuckoo call, Where now the traffic roars past Latimer Court and Cadby Hall. They only have celebrities now. We used to have heroes then. The Walker generation was a generation of men: Gollancz, Compton Mackenzie, Binyon and G K C, Their lives and their books are a witness to the lessons they learnt with me.

Top Floor, showing the Lecture Theatre(s), Dining Room, Kitchen and ‘Chemistry Lab’ which became the Walker Library

And many more, who in both the wars went out to fight and fall, Their names are written in letters of gold upon my chapel wall; And D-Day, the greatest invasion that ever the world has known, Was planned within my Board Room, and planned by a son of my own. I know I'm not a beauty, but whatever the smart folk say, I can claim a kind of grandeur in my own old-fashioned way; A stateliness, that nowadays is not very often seen – Well, just look over the river, and I think you'll see what I mean. I know I belong to an age that's gone, and there's something else I know: That now the days that I loved have gone, I too would be glad to go; The days of the widow at Windsor, when Britannia ruled the waves, Before the coming of Beatle brows and Hippies and all-night raves.

1st Floor, showing the Balcony to the Great Hall, the Art School and ‘Library’ which became the Chapel Ground Floor, showing the Foyer, HM’s Board Room, Great Hall and Room 10 which became the Staff Common Room

So this is the end. There is only one more thing I want to say To my daughter across the river, a mile and an age away: When I look back to the men I reared, and back to the times I had, Well, if she does only half as well, she won't have done too bad. Anthony Jay (1941-48)

Floreat Schola Paulina!

Alfred Waterhouse Architect Alfred Waterhouse RA, 1830-1905, employed his trademark terracotta neo gothic style for St Paul’s School on the Hammersmith Road, West Kensington. Born in Aigburth, Liverpool, the eldest of the large family of a cotton broker and his wife, both Quakers, Waterhouse was educated at a Quaker boarding school in Tottenham. His Quaker connections were to be important in launching his career. Waterhouse had only been in practice for four years when he won the competition for the Manchester Courts. He would go on to become the most widely employed British architect between the years 1865-85. He also painted throughout his career, producing many fine architectural and landscape watercolours. Waterhouse’s many stand-out commissions included the Natural History Museum, London; Manchester City Hall and the National Liberal Club in Whitehall. He later became the ‘brand’ architect for a string of Prudential buildings throughout the UK.

As a second part of this ‘Fly-Thru’ Project, it is hoped to be able to open each classroom door to see a portrait photo of the appropriate Form Master, i.e.: Room 1 = Freddie Page, 2 = Jonny Usborne, 3 = Willie Gawne and MH Law, 4 = ‘Bogo’ Bennett, 5 = Phil McGuinness, etc. It would be a bonus to be able to add a wee CV anecdote to each Master’s photo to give greater vitality to this historic ‘legacy’ project. I would hope that any reader of this article who has photos, artefacts or succinct memories of their time in this remarkable building will send them to us (after prior contact because of limited space and archive

Basement, where covered playgrounds became the Fencing Salle (under the Great Hall), Armoury (under Rooms 4 & 5), the Tuck Shop (under Rooms 6 to 9) and Prefects Room (in lieu of Workshops under Rooms 12). The rooms under the Boardroom became the School Shop and CCF and Scouts’ storage rooms.

capacity) in order to add to the historic knowledge and legacy of St Paul’s and its staff and pupils in West Kensington. Please remember that today’s ephemera could be tomorrow’s valuable archive record. Don’t ditch it! If any OP or parent reading this has any Fly-Thru software knowledge or expertise which they are prepared to offer to assist this Project, we would love to hear from you. Likewise, we hope to fund these SPS pupils’ projects with OP Prizes, to be awarded after completion of each segment. If anyone is prepared to make a contribution to these Awards, it will be

much appreciated. Tribute has been paid previously to Tony Richards’s small red hardbacked 1968 book St Paul’s School in West Kensington. A few copies are still available for a nominal p&p charge. Please write to the OPC office at opcadmin@stpaulsschool.org.uk if you would like one. This book contains a thoughtful ‘Valete’ (as above) by the writer, broadcaster and director Sir Antony Jay CVO, CBE (1941/48) who co-wrote the brilliant (and currently apposite!) two British political comedy series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister in the 1980s.

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 21

Images Courtesy of the RIBA Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum

VALETE So this is the end. I've sheltered them all since eighteen-eighty-four; But now they've gone, and not one of them will ever come back any more. I suppose I had better say good bye; what else is there to say? The laughter has died, the bells are dumb, the spirit has passed away.

Interview

The Man Charged with Brexit Member of Parliament for Worcester since 2011, Robin Walker (199196) is also currently the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Exiting the European Union. You kindly gave the Old Pauline News an interview back in 2011, shortly after you had become MP for Worcester. In that article you mentioned that you and your father Peter, Lord Walker, were at odds with your opinions on Europe. It was always a complicated debate. My father started off, in the 1960s, opposing Britain’s entry into the Common Market, but became an enthusiastic supporter in the 1970s. I started off very Eurosceptic, but I joined the referendum campaign for Remain taking the view that my constituency had an EU path to travel, and that we could press for changes if we stayed in. I always accepted, though, that if the consent needed from the British people was not forthcoming we would need to find a way to leave and forge a new relationship which we are now in the process of doing. There have been lively debates around the dining room table! Could you say something about how you gained your ministerial post? In the aftermath of the referendum itself and then the leadership of the Conservative Party for which I had supported the election of Theresa May, I had at that stage been serving as a Parliamentary Permanent Secretary, effectively an aide-de-camp for a minister, over the previous three years and had hopes of being asked to join the government in some form at some point in the future. It might be assumed that having been on a Business Innovation and Skills Select Committee for a long period of time and having run various campaigns in education, I might have been asked to participate in one of those spaces. I got the call from Downing Street when I was going out to buy some lunch in Worcester on a Saturday morning asking me to join the Department for Exiting the EU working with David Davis. It came as something of a surprise! But it was such an important thing to get right and I believed that it was

important to have people from both sides of the referendum debate. I joined the department with Lord Bridges and myself on the Remain side with David Davis and David Jones on the Leave side. In my new ministerial role I immediately began meeting with a wide range of industries to understand their key requirements – what they wanted to see from a deal – doing a lot of work in my old stomping ground in the City, but also more widely with industries, automotive and aerospace for instance, that informed the summer papers that were produced in 2016, in which we

I got the call from Downing Street when I was going out to buy some lunch in Worcester on a Saturday morning published a number of suggestions on science, customs arrangements, incorporating aspects of what we wanted to see from the negotiations. Separately, we had the whole debate in Parliament about the Article 50 process – when to start, what role Parliament had to have in it etc. That was all going on at the same time, but my focus, really from the beginning, was getting the best deal for business, what is most needed. That is reflected in the recent (Chequers) White Paper. Are the messages from industry moreor-less the same now as when you first set out to listen to initial opinions? Is there greater concern now? Businesses fundamentally want certainty. They don’t like talk of ‘no deal’. But in fact, when we agreed in December, then in March the framework for the

22 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

implementation period, that was one of the key asks that businesses had been making. Initially, just a few sectors, including services, had been beating that drum, but by the time we came to the March European Council, it was pretty much a universal ask from businesses to have that settled, including businesses on the continent. It was good to get agreement on that. Of course, what we also have to do, the other area I have been involved with, is the agreement on the Irish border. I had some personal interest in that I served the PPS in Northern Ireland for a period of time. I have been quite involved in policy work around that from the start. One of the advantages of the Chequers agreement is that it allows for free movement of goods as well as people. We agreed very early on with the EU and the Irish that the common travel area would be able to continue, which deals with the movement of people on the island of Ireland. But of course to avoid any infrastructure at the border you also have to deal with the movement of goods and that’s where the suggestions within the White Paper are very important. Where would you say we are at the moment? It seems that every time the government presents a new formula it is rejected by Brussels. The negotiations were always going to be tough. We are, after all, trying to change an established system. But there are many things where we have already reached agreement – on some of the difficult issues such as ‘the money’ and protecting citizens’ rights and some of the detail of how a transition or implementation period would work. A lot of arrangements for Northern Ireland, such as the common travel area itself and the single electricity market we have also thrashed out and reached agreement. There are, of course, areas still outstanding, where we need to get things agreed over the coming months. But I would say that, hidden behind the headlines, there has actually been a great deal of progress on much of the detail. About 80 percent of the legal text of the withdrawal agreement

Interview Robin Walker MP (1991-96) is now fully agreed between the parties. We obviously have to work that up to 100 percent by the end of the year. There will be noises off throughout of course – lots of headlines. In this country the press is polarised very much on one side of the debate or the other. There are very few people who are neutral. What we have to try and do in government is not get distracted by that but focus on how you get a deal. The agreement that was reached at Chequers was helpful in that respect in that it made very clear priorities of the free flow of goods at the border avoiding any disruption for the automotive and aerospace industries for example, and for the flow of medicine in both directions. One of the points we have been making to our European counterparts is that the UK has a huge amount of expertise in pharmaceuticals and medicines and it is in no one’s interest to disrupt those supply chains. If it looks likely that a ‘no deal’ Brexit is on the cards, would the government consider extending the Article 50 negotiations beyond March next year to avoid that eventuality? I don’t think so. The focus is actually on getting the withdrawal agreement completed by this autumn in order to get ratification from the European and UK parliaments by March next year. Given that the vast majority of the legal text is already agreed, I think that there is no reason to believe that the process will overrun. What we all want to see is further detail on the future framework. That’s really what the White Paper is

Given that the vast majority of the legal text is already agreed, I think that there is no reason to believe that the process will overrun aimed at. I’m confident that both those things can be achieved before March. What we will not have is a final treaty for the future relationship with all the ‘i’s dotted etc. because that is something that the EU have said to us they can only do once we have left. So, the aim is to have a political agreement and a declaration that would set out a framework for the future relationship alongside the withdrawal agreement. It will be those that will be brought back to parliament for a meaningful vote. I don’t think there

We need to work in a way that brings people back together is any reason to extend Article 50. From a business perspective that would only add to uncertainty. Ideally, business would only want to see one set of changes and so that’s where the implementation period is very important because that gives you a two-year standstill. At the end of that you move to a new system. That makes sense from a business and investment perspective. This is something that in principle we have agreed with the EU, but in order to secure it we need to thrash out the final details of the withdrawal. Was the idea of a cross-party negotiating team ever considered? Funnily enough I don’t think it would have made a vast amount of difference. One of the things I say to my continental counterparts is that they should look at what was in the respective manifestos of the two major parties in Westminster. What they’d see is that the objectives of both are largely the same – to respect the result of the referendum, take control of immigration policy and have an independent trade policy. Of course there is going to be lively debate and it is the job of the opposition to oppose, but if you look carefully at what Keir Starmer and his team say from the Labour benches, it is very similar to what the government is saying. I don’t think we necessarily need a crossparty committee to see that there is a degree of consensus about what we need to do. I’m all in favour of working in cross-party ways and we have actually had a good relationship between our

24 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

front bench team and Labour’s which has been visible at many stages of the process. The passage of what is now the Withdrawal Act is a good example of that. We had 1,300 government amendments on that particular piece of legislation. Eventually through a process of debate and compromise, only one of them ended with a vote against the government in the Commons. We had 15 defeats in the Lords, all of which were either overturned or responded to with a compromise which allowed us to get that legislation through. That did involve a deal of consensus with the opposition. It’s right that that is how the parliamentary process works. How do you balance being a constituency MP and your role as a minister? Both jobs are all consuming. But I try to make sure that all my Fridays are spent in Worcester and getting around and doing things in the constituency. On Saturday I either go door knocking or hold a surgery. And I have a good team in Westminster who help me. In my current role I have to travel a lot. The week before last I was in Germany for two days, and Portugal and Italy for a day – trying to ensure that we land some of the messages from the White Paper and that we get a response from our European counterparts. There are also regular trips to Brussels to meet MEPs. Did David Davis’s resignation come as a shock? No, if I’m honest, it was some time in

the coming. He did have the decency to phone me to tell me he was going and that he hoped I wouldn’t as we needed people who had been in at the start to continue working on the process. We got on well, better than I might have expected before joining the department. It was something very much about his personal position on the White Paper. I respect the fact that we disagreed on the approach to that. While we need to take account of the decision to leave, we also need to remember that 48 percent of people voted to remain. We need to work in a way that brings people back together. I am therefore very comfortable with the approach as set out in the White Paper which says that yes, we are leaving, but we will have a close relationship that preserves many of the benefits of existing cooperation that has been built up over time. A people’s vote? We had one! I don’t think the result would be any different. The interesting thing to me is that when I’m in London I hear lots of people say, “Oh yes! People would now vote to stay in.” But a large majority of Londoners voted to remain in the first place. When I’m in my constituency the word, including from people who voted for remain, is actually, “Get on with it!” That’s why it is so complicated. I don’t think it will happen, technically it would make a nonsense of the negotiation process. It would just say to the EU ‘Don’t give anything because they might change their minds’. I think too, that it would just have the effect of reopening all the divides in the debates over the referendum and would most likely disappoint those who believe they could achieve a different result. So I think it is better to focus on saying this was a once in a lifetime decision, the decision was made – let’s make a success of it and deliver on that in an effective way for everybody. Robin and his wife Charlotte had a daughter, Hermione, earlier this year. His brother Jonathan (1983-88), based in London, now has a one-year child and has been making up for Robin’s lack of cricket-watching opportunities this year, while his other brother, Timothy (198893), is enjoying a new life in Devon. For more information: www.gov.uk/government/publications/ the-future-relationship-between-theunited-kingdom-and-the-europeanunion

Et Cetera

Is self-esteem Inestimable? Peter Cromarty (1966-71)

I had a privileged upbringing. I went to one of the best private schools in the UK – St Paul’s. When I left School I didn’t think I was stupid, slow and dull. I knew I was.

struggled all through School and had a very low opinion of my abilities as a person both intellectually and academically. I was reserved and shy. I had low self-confidence and very poor self-image. Please don’t misunderstand – I wasn’t bullied, I didn’t self-harm and I wasn’t suicidal. I just didn’t think much of myself. Other kids did much better than me academically and seemed naturally more confident and able. In those days there were no support services or mental health programmes except, perhaps, to be told to “be a man!” That was life and I accepted my lot. I worked really hard all day to keep up, I worked in the evenings doing my homework for two, three or four hours. I would spend several hours at the weekend on schoolwork. I did project work during the school holidays and revised hard for examinations. But in every subject I was always in the lowest third of the class and, frequently, I was dead last. Suffice it to say, I left school with very low self-esteem. Roll forward to 1994. I was happily married and had two marvellous children. I had worked in the UK and Bahrain as a controller and safety regulator, had faced various challenges and was quietly quite proud of my achievements. However, my career had not really progressed, Then, quite unexpectedly, my wife left me and we were divorced. I had a very bad time for about four or five years. Looking back, I was probably suffering with depression, but it wasn’t diagnosed. However… a big ‘however’, I came out of the lowest point of my life and started up the other side. I recognised in myself that I had done some pretty amazing things in my life. I was physically fit and healthy, I was not as sad as I recently had been, I had been promoted at work a couple of times and was feeling much better about myself. And that was when it first occurred to

me that, perhaps, I was not as thick and stupid and slow as I had always thought! I was 47 years old. This wasn’t a blinding flash type of realisation. It was a gradual change in my outlook and my feeling about myself. It had taken me 29 years from leaving school but I was becoming more selfconfident. My self-esteem was growing. At work, I was given some plum jobs and was sought out for more when other similar tasks came along. I went to Ghana, Mauritius, Finland, the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands on business. I was asked to take over underperforming sections to bring them up-tospeed and given under-performing staff to manage and look after. My seniors must have seen something in me that I was still only just beginning to realise about myself! I won a management post in a new area against stiff competition. In 2006, I received an email from a recruitment company in Melbourne saying there was a job being created in the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in Australia and would I be interested? I thought it was some sort of scam and that they would be asking for my bank details next. (Evidently my old self-doubt hadn’t disappeared completely!) Six months later I was in Australia working for CASA as an Executive Manager. I’ve just turned 65 and I am happier than I have ever been in my life. I firmly believe that my low self-esteem stemmed originally from being among such high-achievers when I was a boy at School. I was always at the bottom of the class and this fact was a continual humiliation to me. If one has self-esteem, the potential for success is more likely to be fulfilled and academic success is more likely to follow. If one lacks self-esteem, no matter how good the school, academic success is unlikely to follow and that same lack of self-esteem will inhibit professional success – potentially for one’s entire working life. The importance of self-esteem cannot be overstated or underestimated. l See the full article at www.thecrom.com/blog

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 25

The Old Pauline Club Message from the President Building a Club for OPs of all ages Last year, making sure we were compliant with GDPR took up a sizeable proportion of the Club’s time and I am very grateful to those who made it their priority to make sure we understood the complexities of the new rules. The Old Pauline Club also funded, for the first time, a student’s complete education at the School with

a new OPC Bursary award. I am very proud that we managed to achieve this, reflecting the School’s ultimate ambition to become ‘needs blind’. Going forward, we need to take a long look at how we’d like the Club to develop. Times have changed so much since I was at School – what might have worked then bears no resemblance to what might appeal today. In order for us to build a picture of where the Club is heading and what we would all like to see it become, we will need some empirical evidence to guide us. We especially need to ensure the Club is relevant to younger generations of OPs who will instantly recognise its value, be it social, cultural or commercial. We are now beginning to see an increase in the numbers of engaged

Events

Researchers Network Evening

ld Pauline and Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist, Prof Duncan Haldane, was visiting from the States to be this year’s Apposer at Apposition. The Researchers Network Evening sought to make the most of his visit by bringing together pupils, parents, OPs, staff and former staff with an interest in scientific research. During a lively and energetic evening, staff and pupils presented research projects and experiments that attendees could engage with. The High Master and Prof Duncan Haldane both commented on the work and on the importance of science.

Main photo: the Augmented Reality Sandbox at St Paul's, bringing physical geography to life – modelling water flows across any shape of topography. (inset) Prof Duncan Haldane

26 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

OPs thanks to the superb efforts and professionalism of Ellie Sleeman and her incredible External Relations team. But we can do more. My ambition for the Club is for it to become a vibrant and inspirational hub for OPs of all ages. I particularly look forward to reading your responses to the survey I recently asked you to complete. These will help us to prioritise those aspects of your membership you would like us to improve on or develop. The word ‘old’ can be misleading when applied to ‘Old Paulines’. Certainly some of us enjoy some advancing years, but as a community of former Paulines, young, middle-aged or indeed old, we are all extremely fortunate to be part of an extraordinarily dynamic pool of people drawn together by the shared experience of attending a great school. The Club seeks Rob Smith (1981-86) to reflect this.

opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk l 020 8746 5390

Old Pauline Club Committee List 2018/19 President R J Smith Deputy President B M Jones Past Presidents D J Cakebread, B D Moss, C D L Hogbin, C J W Madge, F W Neate, Sir Alexander Graham GBE DCL, R C Cunis, Professor the Rt Hon Lord McColl of Dulwich, The Rt Hon the Lord Baker of Dorking CH, N J Carr, J M Dennis, J H M East, Sir Nigel Thompson KCMG CBE Vice Presidents P R A Baker, R S Baldock, J S Beastall CB, S C H Bishop, J R Blair CBE, Sir David Brewer CMG, CVO, N E Britnor, N St J Brooks, R D Burton, W M A Carroll, Professor P A Cartledge, M A Colato, R K Compton, T J D Cunis, S J Dennis MBE, L M Dorfman CBE, C R Dring, C G Duckworth, A R Duncan, J A H Ellis, R A Engel, D H P Etherton, The Rt Hon Sir Terence Etherton, Sir Brian Fall GCVO KCMG, T J R Goode, D J Gordon-Smith, Lt Gen Sir Peter Graham KCB CBE, S R Harding, R J G Holman, J A Howard, B M Jones, S D Kerrigan, P J King, T G Knight, P A Leppard, B Lowe, J W S Lyons, I C MacDougall, Professor C P Mayer, R R G McIntosh, A R M McLean CLH, I C McNicol, A K Nigam, The Rt Hon George Osborne MP, T B Peters, D M Porteus, The Rt Hon the Lord Razzall CBE, The Rt Hon the Lord Renwick of Clifton KCMG, B M Roberts, J E Rolfe, Sir David Rowland, M K Seigel, J C F Simpson, R J Smith, D R Snow, S S Strauss, A G Summers, R Summers, J L Thorn, R Ticciati, Sir Mark Walport FRS, Professor the Lord Winston of Hammersmith

OPClub Annual Dinner

his year’s Annual Dinner returned to School and to the new Dining Hall. This was another wonderful opportunity to formally bring together Old Paulines to reconnect, to see new School developments and to bid farewell to retiring staff - Richard Barker and Philip Berg. This year’s guest speaker was Jonathan Foreman (1979-83), who shared entertaining tales of adventure and moral dilemmas from his career so far as a war correspondent. The High Master, Prof Mark Bailey then related amusing stories from the year at St Paul’s and provided insight into the School’s future. President of the Club, Rob Smith, presiding over the evening, explained his thoughts and ideas about the future of the Club and the challenges it faces.

Engineering Network

he Engineering Network, part of the St Paul’s Professional Networks Programme, launched in Summer Term 2018, with a exciting panel filled with Engineers from across the Network. Nearly 150 guests attended and quizzed the panel on the future of Engineering. Guests then moved to the Dining Hall for a thought provoking dinner where each table was chaired by an expert in the sector. St Paul’s own Formula 24 team showcased their car and their work to guests, and the Engineering Department displayed some of their pupils' incredible work, highlighting the developments in the curriculum over the past few years.

Honorary Secretary A C Day Honorary Treasurer N St J Brooks FCA

John Foreman

The Millennium Sundial: 18 Years On

n the late 1990s, 400 OPs, parents and pupils donated towards the Millennium Sundial. During the recent building work, the sundial was put into storage. This summer it was reunveiled on 16 June in its new position outside the Wathen Hall by the river. All donors were invited to a drinks reception for the unveiling.

Main Committee Composed of all the above and P R A Baker OP Lodge, A Riley Rugby Football Club, S C H Bishop Editor OP News; T J D Cunis (Archivist & AROPS representative), N P Troen Association Football Club, J P King Colet Boat Club, P J King Fives (OPRFC) & Membership Secretary, N H Norgren Elected; T B Peters Cricket Club, J Withers-Green Social Engagement Officer, J Morgan Golfing Society, D C Tristao Tennis Club Executive Committee R J Smith President (& Chairman of the Committee), A C Day Hon Secretary, N St J Brooks Hon Treasurer, S C H Bishop Editor, OP News, R D Burton Secretary for Affiliated Clubs & Associations;, N J Carr TDSSC Ltd Representative, J H M East (Elected), J A Howard Liaison Committee Chairman; B M Jones Deputy President, P J King Membership Secretary, J Withers-Green Social Engagement Officer Liaison Committee J A Howard Chairman, T B Bain, I M Benjamin, N J Carr, R J G Holman Ground Committee J M Dennis Chairman, R K Compton, G Godfrey (Groundsman), M P Kiernan, J Sherjan Accountants Kreston Reeves LLP Trustees C D L Hogbin Chairman, J S Beastall CB, C R Dring R C Cunis

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 27

Old Pauline Club reunions

10-year

Welcome back! The reunion programme is now established at St Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with five year groups returning to the School each year to reconnect. Each year reunion is led by a dedicated group of volunteers who reach out to former classmates and direct the format of the evening. Judging by these pictures, looks like a good time was had by all!

Shop for your OPC Merchandise Online

Order your Summer (top) or regular OP blazers

Choose, order and pay for your items online. Try it now! opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk/ shop/merchandise

Merchandise

28 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk l 020 8746 5390

20-year

25-year

30-year

40-year OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 29

Obituaries Name

(at SPS)

Michael J Brown Christopher M Crichton Paul A Dare Hugh L Davy Martin R Farr Prof Robert D Fine John R D (Denis) Gildea Prof David W Goodall William D (David) Harper Robert Hutchison Roger I W Kemp Rev Ian A Lambert Michael (Mike) J Long Basil E Lord Robin G Macdonald Julian Mandiwall Philip G F Manning Philip H S Martin Graham R Perry Robert A Pollock Colin R Rosenstiel Harvey B Ross John E P (Peter) Simpson Sir David C Smith Geoffrey P Stevens Marcus (Mark) R J Symons Geoffrey S G Toms Admiral Sir John D Treacher KCB Keith L Watson Prof Richard (Dick) Wilson Peter S Wisher Edward S (Steve) Woodward

1955-58 1946-51 1959-62 1947-52 1965-69 1959-63 1938-42 1927-32 1946-52 1954-60 1959-64 1956-59 1948-53 1938-42 1943-48 1957-60 1968-73 1963-67 1957-61 1954-59 1963-67 1942-46 1955-59 1945-48 1945-49 1965-70 1947-53 1938-42 1943-46 1939-43 1965-70 1953-58

1941-2018 1933-2017 1946-2017 1933-2018 1952-2018 1945-2018 1923-2018 1914-2018 1933-2017 1941-2017 1945-2018 1943-2017 1935-2018 1924-2018 1929-2018 1944-2018 1955-2017 1949-2017 1944-2018 1941-2018 1949-2018 1928-2018 1942-2018 1930-2018 1932-2017 1951-2018 1934-2018 1924-2018 1929-2017 1926-2018 1952-2017 1940-2017

Viera Ghods Section editor vg@stpaulsschool.org.uk Because of space constraints we ask that when submitting an obituary for publication, it be no more than 325 words. Longer obituaries will be edited to fit with author’s permission. * Indicates obituaries also appeared in the national broadsheet newspapers. ** Indicates longer obituaries also appearing on the OPC website: opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk/pages/obituaries

30 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

Paul A Dare (1959-62)**

Hugh L Davy (1947-52)

Paul was born on 5 January 1946. He died on 10 October 2017 at home surrounded by his family after a two-and-ahalf-year battle with cancer. Paul grew up in West London and the Isle of Wight and was a boarder at Colet Court and St Paul’s until 1962. Leaving school at 16, Paul began a lifelong career in finance when he joined Vickers Da Costa as an articled clerk. He completed his A-Levels at evening classes and read Accounting and Finance at the LSE. Paul’s financial career took him to work in oil, computer technology, pharmaceuticals and banking. Paul was keenly interested in politics, coming close to running as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in 1983. He campaigned for the Liberal Democrats, before joining the Conservatives, chairing the local party. Paul’s eye for detail and knack at Pauline-schooled argumentation led to many letters of his to The Times and The Financial Times being published. Regardless of his political affiliation, he worked tirelessly for his community and we were touched by the many who approached us following his death with stories of how he had helped them with personal issues over the years. Paul was an excellent sportsman, captaining the Junior Colts and Colts A XV. He carried on this love of sport, playing occasionally for the OPs, but also acquiring a lifelong love of rowing. The blazers of his fellow rowers from Kingston Rowing Club provided a welcome splash of colours at his funeral. He rowed in red, but for football blue was the colour, a tradition now followed by his Chelsea-supporting sons and grandsons. Paul is survived by his wife, two sons, four grandchildren all of whom miss him terribly. We remember him most poignantly when we holiday in Scotland, speak French poorly, see a sculler on the river, or find there is no-one to interrupt during family meals.

Born in Chiswick, Hugh was the first son of Ronald and Vera Davy. His birth was remarkable as he was born still inside the ‘caul’. Legend says that people born this way will never drown; a fact which was to be tested years later in Hugh’s rowing career! During the war Hugh was sent away to boarding school in Loughborough where, as he was only 7, he boarded with the girls. At 13 he returned to London to begin his schooling at St Paul’s. There Hugh developed his lifelong love of rowing. He rowed for the school and, until the veteran age of 84, was a devoted member of Quintin boat club. Hugh completed his National Service in the RAF in Nairobi, leaving behind his girlfriend, Shirley, whom he later married in May 1959. Whilst in Kenya he learnt Swahili, a language he enjoyed using at any opportunity throughout his life. In 1954, like his father before him, Hugh began a career in shipbroking, later to be followed by his younger brother John. A member of the Baltic exchange from 1958, he spent the majority of his career, working for Tradax, later Cargill PLC. Hugh had many and varied interests; driving and tinkering with his Morris Minors and his pride and joy “Hektor”, the MGA. A lifelong learner, Hugh took his Italian A level in his seventies. He loved travelling particularly in France and Italy and had a fondness for the Lake District which he visited every year. A kind and loving man, Hugh leaves a wife, Shirley, and daughters Alison and Katie. He was a wonderful “papa” to grandchildren, Matthew, Christopher, Jessica, Charlie and Harry; Hugh was thrilled to welcome a new great granddaughter, Emily, shortly before he died. He will be greatly missed by his friends and family.

Tom (1989-94) and Felix Dare, sons

Shirley Davy, widow

opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk l 020 8746 5390

Prof David W Goodall (1927-32)*

William D (David) Harper (1946-52)**

The Revd Ian A Lambert (1956-59)

A renowned botanist and ecologist, David William Goodall was of the first scientists to consider the ‘greenhouse effect’. Goodall’s work, using statistics and mathematics to substantiate his theories was ground-breaking. He was an early adopter of computer programmes for classifying vegetation and for modelling ecosystems. But his crowning achievement was his editorship of the 36-volume work Ecosystems of the World completed in 2005. Born in April 1914, Goodall attended the Stationers’ Company School before joining St Paul’s. Here he took to biology rather than his early interest in chemistry before going on to study botany at Imperial College London. His PhD focused on maximising food production with fertilisers, work considered so important he was prevented from joining up during WWII. His thesis, Studies in the Assimilation of the Tomato Plant, was published in 1941, a year after his marriage to Veronica Kirwin. They had a son, Patrick, but the marriage wasn’t to last. After the war, Goodall was employed by the African Cacao Research Institute as a plant physiologist in Tafo, Ghana. He later moved to Australia in 1948 where he married Muriel King. They had two sons, Glyn and Peter and a daughter Karen. His second marriage also dissolved and David married a third time, to Ivy Nelms. Goodall began a long academic career at the University of Melbourne, then the Tobacco Research Institute in Queensland, as Professor of Agricultural Botany at the University of Reading and later in the US as Professor of Systems Ecology at Utah State University. He was a research scientist at various Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) divisions in Australia. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia. Goodall enjoyed acting in amateur theatre. He was also a poet, an adventurous traveller and a keen tennis player. Never one to seek publicity, Goodall became notorious in a well-publicised journey to Switzerland where he elected to end his life by voluntary euthanasia aged 104.

David was born in Liverpool and spent the war in North Wales. He then attended St Paul’s where he preferred to box rather than join the CCF because of his pacifist views. He also played rugby and was later selected to play for Surrey County. David always spoke very fondly of his time at School. As a committed Quaker and Pacifist David became a hospital porter rather than do his National Service. This led him to study Medicine at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Whilst a student, David ventured to Moscow, with other Quakers, to establish links with young Russians. After graduating, he worked at the Middlesex Hospital, where he met nurse, Eleanor Woolley, daughter of the President of the NFU, Lord Woolley. They married in 1961 and worked at Clatterbridge Hospital on the Wirral. Then David took up General Practice in West Kirby. They had three children. A much-loved GP, David was involved in research into epilepsy and ran a pioneering clinic for drug addicts. He also spearheaded the campaign to save Hoylake Cottage Hospital and to open St John’s Hospice. In 1990 he and Eleanor bought an eleven-hundred-acre farm on the slopes of Snowdon. This was the happiest time of their lives as they farmed a thousand sheep and thirty cattle. David sang in Welsh in a local choir and attended Bangor Quaker Meeting. After Eleanor’s death in 1999, David sold the farm and moved to Cambridge to be near his son, James, then later to the Isle of Mull to be near his daughter. There he joined the Gaelic Choir and with his daughter set up Mull and Iona Quaker Meeting. He made many friends and was much loved by the local community who cared for him as his dementia developed. David died a peaceful death in the local cottage hospital on the Isle of Mull in August 2017. He leaves behind him his children: Andrew, Katharine and James and grandchildren: Grace, Hamish, Ben, Robert, Lauren, William and Daisy.

Ian was ordained as a deacon in 1967 and as a priest in 1968. He was Curate at Bermondsey, St Mary Magdalen with St Olave, St John & St Luke in the Southwark Diocese from 1967-70. Ian was Rector in Lluidas Vale, Jamaica from 1971-75, and was Chaplain to the RAF from 1975-98. After many happy postings with his family in the UK and Germany, Ian retired from the RAF as a Wing Commander in 1998. Ian then chose to relocate to Nottinghamshire and became honorary Priest-in-Charge at Averham, St Michael & All Angels with Kelham and at North & South Muskham in the Southwell & Nottingham Diocese from 2001-03. Ian also became a fully qualified marriage guidance counsellor for Relate and he served in the Nottingham & Mansfield district. This also led him to becoming a counsellor trainer, working with and training other Relate counsellors in his chosen field. Ian served as Bishop’s Advisor for Pastoral Care and Counselling from 2004, and then served with Permission to Officiate from 2014. Ian died peacefully at the John Eastwood hospice, Mansfield on 9 September 2017, aged 74, after a twoyear fight with cancer. He is survived by his son Stuart and daughter Claire. A plaque to mark Ian’s life can be found at St Wilfrid’s Church, North Muskham, the final church Ian served as vicar.

Stuart Lambert, son

Katharine Elwis, daughter

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 31

Obituaries Michael (Mike) J Long (1948-53)

Robin G Macdonald (1943-48)**

Mike was born in Kew on the 21 May 1935. He attended Colet Court then St Paul’s, spending most of his time at West Kensington with a brief period at Crowthorne. Despite not being particularly academic, he loved the School, making many friends there with whom he kept in contact with throughout his life, including the brother of his wife to be. Whilst at St Paul’s he loved rowing, a failing of the Long family, and made his way up the Boat Club. Mike was 17 when his father tragically died. The School supported him through his final year – rowing coach Freddie Page becoming something of a father figure. In 1953, he stroked the first VIII to victory in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley. After leaving School, he decided on a career in the army and did his National Service at Sandhurst, training to be an officer. Shortly before finishing his training, Mike was involved in a terrible car crash which left him badly injured. He was invalided out of the army and had to consider another career. He briefly worked for Watneys before joining the City as a Blue Button. He was to remain working in the City for the rest of his professional career, specialising in the mining market. He continued rowing at Thames RC, reaching the final at Henley in 1958 and 1962; and he always attended the regatta throughout his life, the Bridge Bar being a favourite haunt. He was also active in politics, whether on the Parish Council in West Hoathly or, later, as Chairman of the West Berkshire Conservatives. He loved walking his dog, Alf, and was well known around the village of Shalbourne for his habit of wearing shorts in all weathers and the friendly way he would greet fellow dog walkers. Mike died in May 2018. He is survived by his wife Susan, his daughter Katie, his sons Chris and Ben and seven grandchildren.

Robin Garfield Macdonald, known inevitably as Mac, died in April 2018 aged 88. He was at St Paul’s during the School’s ‘Crowthorne’ years. He recalled how, cycling for lessons along the Berkshire lanes, boys would find small, corrugated iron huts stuffed with ammunition lying ready for local defence. Obviously, it was also there so that boys could take the powder from shells to make rockets. However, less unauthorised activities included boxing, tutored by coach Begley and chemistry master, Bo Langham. St Paul’s had such a reputation that the army declined boxing matches, saying it was not good for military morale to be always beaten by schoolboys! Unluckily, Mac had ‘a glass jaw’ which meant he was too easily knocked out. Joining the CCF and shooting for the School at Bisley, Mac’s foremost skill became clear. His father gave him his WW1 Luger pistol. It was faulty, though, which saved the day when Mac was hauled before the High Man for shooting through the cricket pavilion! Oakshott knew a bit about firearms, decided the Luger was ‘inert’, and handed it back. Mac thus went unpunished but was admonished: “Don’t go showing it about”. At Crowthorne, Mac’s house was Barracane, ruled benignly by ‘Boss’ A B Cook. Friendships among Cook’s students have lasted for life, with their wives and families staying in touch. Mac was in the Royal Military Police during National Service. He once came across three OP soldiers out of bounds but let them escape before his fellow RMPs discovered them. One of them was Patrick Bashford who 30 years later was teaching guitar at the School. He laughed when recalling the incident at a reunion lunch. The family heating engineering firm provided a job, but Mac’s greatest achievements were in pistol shooting. He represented Scotland in the Commonwealth Games and World Championships and helped establish shooting as a Paralympic sport. Finally, he took up safe, bullet-free ‘laser’ shooting for corporate entertainment and charity events, until he was almost eighty.

Chris Long (1976-80), son

Seamus Flannery (1942-47), friend & Madeline Macdonald, widow

32 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

Philip G F Manning (1968-73) Phil was educated at St Paul’s, following the Manning family tradition, and in 1973 won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford, to read Classics.

After a law conversion course, Phil joined a West London firm of solicitors, although he considered himself first and foremost a musician. It was through playing music at Holy Trinity Brompton that he met his wife, Cas, marrying her there in 1987. Passionate about percussion, rhythm and drumming, he became particularly interested in their therapeutic properties. In 1995 he founded BeatsTHINKING, and with a colleague began delivering corporate, team-building percussion workshops, both in the UK and Europe; they also worked in schools and with healthcare professionals. Phil was interviewed by both the BBC World Service and the Evening Standard. With strong interests in history, current affairs, language and philosophy, Phil was an avid reader and loved indepth discussions. He was also, in more recent years, a keen photographer. Phil’s Christian faith was very important to him and in 2006 he left the legal profession, becoming Church Manager of two historic churches in the City of London, St Olave Hart Street and St Katharine Cree, where he was also Church Warden. He oversaw several restoration projects and collaborated to provide engaging educational experiences at St Olave’s, Samuel Pepys’s ‘own church’. Kind, thoughtful and often giving generously of his time to help others, Phil became a Trustee of Cruse Bereavement Care. Diagnosed with a rare lymphoma (Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinaemia) in 2010, he and a fellow patient turned a basic patient support group into the charity, WMUK. Phil also sat on the board of the European WM Network. Very sadly, he succumbed to the lymphoma in October 2017, leaving behind his wife and two children, Greg and Nicola. One of many tributes read: ‘The world has lost a fine, fine man.’

Cas Manning, widow

opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk l 020 8746 5390

Philip H S Martin (1963-67)

Robert A Pollock (1954-59)

Geoffrey P Stevens (1945-49)

Philip Howard Spencer Martin was born on the 8 September 1949 to Reginald and Mary Martin. As a young boy he attended Durston House Preparatory School and was ‘Victor Ludorum’ in his final year. He won a scholarship to St Paul’s, enjoying all its delights, especially rugby. Philip went on to study medicine at Charing Cross Hospital but an aversion to blood steered him towards a career in banking! Philip joined Morgan Grenfell in 1969 where gentleman’s hours were honoured - 9.30 am to 5 pm - which rather suited him as he could often be seen heading out of the door at 5 pm on the dot in frilly shirt and flares to run a mobile discotheque ‘Get on the Right Track’ with John Freestone and Tony Lewis (both former St Paul’s students). Philip moved to Udisco Brokers in 1972 and then on to First Boston in New York. The majority of Philip’s working life was spent at the Deutsche Bank trading Deutschmarks before moving to ABN Amro and finally looking after the computer systems in a local secondary school. Philip married Joy in 1982 taking on two young boys (Robin and Jonathan) and having two more children (Kathryn and Adam). The family home was in Little Bentley where Saturdays would usually be spent renovating the property and Sundays mowing the grass. Family holidays were spent investigating the wine areas around France – a passion close to his heart. Unfortunately that enormous heart that embraced family and the many friends he made throughout his lifetime began to let him down and he took great comfort in ‘thinking about’ making model trains and listening to Bob Dylan. His dignity and respect for others never left him and he will be remembered as a greatly loved son, husband and father who was a larger than life character with a passion for fun and life, which sadly he lost on 15 August 2017.

Robert Alexander Pollock, the second son of Lt Col CBR Pollock RAMC and Eileen Pollock, was born on 18 September 1941, younger brother to Nicholas Pollock (195257) and brother to Laura. At St Paul’s, Robert joined Mr Harbord at High House. Robert later graduated from Geneva University. On return to London he joined Hambros Bank. He then joined Lombank, a subsidiary of NatWest Bank. He then moved to Bexford, a subsidiary of ICI producing specialised film bases used extensively in the photographic film and X Ray industries. While at Bexford, Robert was sales manager responsible mainly for sales to communist eastern bloc countries – the Soviet Union, Poland and Hungary – during the later stages of the Cold War, plus South America. After three years with Bexford, he followed his uncle and aunts into the Foreign Office. Amongst his postings were as First Secretary in Calcutta, Bombay then Kuala Lumpur. After a career in the Foreign Office Robert joined Photo Me as International Business Development Manager, again travelling extensively, this time in a much freer Europe but also to Asia, the Middle East and New Zealand. His last position was as Export Advisor with Business Link supporting SME’s to export overseas. Robert retired to Mandelieu, near Cannes in the South of France, where he spent many happy years with his lovely French wife Helene. They had two children, a son Jack and a daughter Danièle. Sadly Danièle died at the very young age of 21 from a severe cerebral haemorrhage – a blow which he found very difficult to accept. Robert was always a generous host and wonderful company. He will be greatly missed by his Old Pauline cousins Bowen and Simon Wells. He is survived by his brother Nicholas, his sister Laura and his son Jack and daughter in law Jacqui who live in Sydney, Australia with their two adult children Zoe and Fred. He was predeceased by his wife Helene some three years before his death in March 2018.

Geoff passed away suddenly at home in April 2017 just a few days after his 85th birthday. He was the youngest of my mother’s four cousins, and I did not really know him until about 10 years ago. We had met on a few occasions prior to that, but sadly always at family funerals. On one such occasion he was driving from the crematorium between the cars of my two brothers in law. However, they returned from the Service without him. Somehow he lost them and never arrived at the wake! So typical of Geoff. After he left school, Geoff started work in the parks department of a local London authority. He joined the Territorial Army and met his future wife (not that he knew it at the time). Geoff enjoyed adventure. In the late 1950s he took up employment in the City Parks Department in Nairobi but feeling constrained joined the Forest Department and enjoyed being in charge of huge areas of forest or semi-desert. He enjoyed an active social life, joining the Mountain Club of Kenya. Stories shared indicated he was an interesting person to go exploring with! Whilst on home leave five years later he met up with Avis and they married in 1963. She followed him out to Kenya where they lived in remote forests in the hills, eventually moving nearer towns after Kenya gained independence. Avis was able to return to her teaching career working with Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi. They came back to England in the mid 80s and settled in Banstead: Geoff returning to work in the parks department of a London authority and Avis, her teaching. Life was very different and to settle they took an active role in the local church and local societies – involvement Geoff maintained until his death. He enjoyed community involvement, music, the arts, history and spent a lot of time travelling. In their camper van they extensively toured the UK. Avis predeceased him. We miss him and his kindly nature.

Adam Martin, son and Family

Nicholas Pollock (1952-57), brother

Shelley Carson, cousin

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 33

Obituaries Marcus (Mark) R J Symons (1965-70)

Geoffrey S G Toms (1947-53) **

Admiral Sir John D Treacher KCB (1938-42) *

Born in 1951, the son of author and poet, Julian Symons, Mark went to Colet Court as a boarder at the tender age of seven. Later, at St Paul’s, his interest in literature and history blossomed, and he represented both the Rugby XV, as a stylish centre, and Cricket XI (elegant batsman and brilliant close fielder) with considerable success. From here he went to London University, where he studied History, became Entertainments Secretary and met his future wife, Christine. On leaving university, Mark joined Lonsdales Advertising agency where he worked on the EMI records account. During this time he played both rugby and cricket for the OPs until his knees gave him an excuse to give up the former, while continuing to play cricket for Blackheath and then Bromley. Some years later, Mark went on to work with fellow OP, Mike Paul, before eventually setting up his own company, QRBT. After living in London for many years, Mark and Christine moved down to the Kent coast in 2007, where Mark enjoyed country living and the seaside. Mark was a superbly talented individual - not only at sport, but across a broad range of interests, including bridge, music and literature - as well as being a member of the MCC, regular visitor to Lords, and long suffering supporter of Charlton Athletic. He was also an excellent cook, superb host and had a tremendous sense of humour. Above all, Mark was a wonderful family man, with one son and two daughters. He was a proud and hands-on grandfather for the last three years of his life. I have had the pleasure of enjoying an annual pre-Christmas lunch with him and a few old school friends, in particular Peter Kaufmann (1965 - 1970) and Julian English (1964 - 1969) for over 40 years. He was a dear friend to all of us. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2017, Mark died at home in March 2018. He will be sadly missed by friends and family alike.

Born in Twickenham in February 1934, Geoffrey Toms, who died on 12 May 2018, aged 84 years, was educated at the Mall prep school before winning a scholarship to St Paul’s. During his five years there, Geoffrey became a prefect and captain of his house, and participated in cricket and boxing, winning his second colours. In 1953, Geoffrey went up to Downing College, Cambridge, with an exhibition to read classics with classical archaeology. After gaining his degree (Part I: first; Part II, upper second), and completing his two years of National Service as a lieutenant in the Royal Signals, Geoffrey undertook a Diploma in Education at Oxford University. Geoffrey taught classics first at Birkenhead Grammar School and later at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, where he began running excavations of RomanoBritish sites in Dorset, with boys from Blundell’s and Birkenhead to help with the digging. One of their most important finds was the skeleton of a late Iron Age warrior with all his weapons, which was displayed for many years in the Dorchester Museum. In 1968, Geoffrey moved from schoolteaching into adult education, taking on the role of deputy warden, and later warden, at Attingham Hall, an adult education college in Shropshire, and simultaneously holding the post of staff lecturer in the Department of Extramural Studies at Birmingham University, while continuing to participate in archaeological digs. In 1977, Geoffrey moved back to London to take up the role of Education Officer at the Museum of London, later becoming Director of the Education Department, a post he remained in until his retirement in 1994. Geoffrey then launched a very successful second career as a freelance lecturer on the history and archaeology of London and the eastern Mediterranean, giving one-off lectures and weekend courses, lecturing on cruise ships, and conducting his own study tours to all the most important historical sites in his field.

John Devereux Treacher was born in 1924 in Concepcion, Chile. His family moved back to England when the Chilean currency collapsed during the Wall Street Crash. On his return he shared a governess with the daughters of a Royal Navy captain who gave him a life-changing first glimpse of the service on a visit to Chatham Dockyard. Treacher would go on to serve as Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 1975-77, completing 35 years-service that began when he left Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth as a midshipman. At St Paul’s, Treacher was a prefect and played for the cricket 1st XI and rugby 1st XV. With his interest in the Royal Navy he became an enthusiastic member of the Sea Cadet Corps. Treacher went to sea immediately after graduating from Dartmouth, serving two years aboard the battleship HMS Nelson, which provided gunfire support for the Sicily landings in 1943. During D-Day, he was on board light cruiser HMS Glasgow, which bombarded Omaha Beach. He then joined the U-boat hunter HMS Keppel guarding Arctic convoys, a task he described as “the greatest test of all.” He later joined HMS Mermaid as sublieutenant. After WWII he joined the Fleet Air Arm ‘s 800 Squadron, flying a Supermarine Seafire Mk 47 from HMS Triumph at the start of the Korean War. After Korea, Treacher learnt about airborne early warning in the US, where he met his first wife, Patcie McGrath with whom he had two children. Returning to Britain, he set up 778 Squadron, introducing the capability into the Fleet Air Arm. After his first marriage dissolved he married Kirstie Landale with whom he had two children. Retiring from the navy in 1977, Treacher embarked on a civilian career, first as CE of National Car Parks before a surprise appointment as Chairman of London’s Playboy Club. But he returned full-time to defence as deputy chairman of Westland Group during its financial crisis in the late 1980s. He is survived by his wife Kirstie and children Jonathan, Alison, Toby and Mhairi.

Howard Masters (1964-70), friend

Fiona Weston, daughter-in-law

34 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk l 020 8746 5390

Keith L Watson (1943-46)

Prof Richard (Dick) Wilson (1939-43)* **

Peter S Wisher (1965-70)

Keith was a man of many talents – teacher, historian, author, artist and illustrator to name but a few. He was born into a family with classical music professions. His mother was a pianist, and his father was a founder member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in which he was the principal contra bass player, the same role taken eventually by Keith’s brother Roy. 1940: Keith and his parents relocated from London to Bristol during WWII. The Government and the BBC in its wisdom selected the City from which the LPO would broadcast to boost the country’s morale with classical music. It was in Bristol that Keith found his first teaching role at the mature age of eleven, introducing the members of the ARP to aircraft recognition for two years, after which he was presented with a service medal of which he was very proud. 1940-46: Keith chose art as his future life’s profession and vocation with some of his most formative years spent at St Paul’s. He told me his time there was the finest of his young life. Many of his teachers and boyhood friends were to figure throughout his life. 1946-51: Keith entered St Martin’s School of Art and gained The National Diploma in Design, specialising in illustration. He went on to achieve many more diplomas in various colleges and institutes. 1955: After a brief time in advertising studios Keith turned to teaching. 1965-82: After realising many of his ambitions, Keith finally attained the post of Director of MA Studies in Art and Design at the University of Kent, before retiring to ‘Martlets’ his splendid house with spectacular gardens in Stelling Minnis, Canterbury where he and I spent many evening discussing every subject one could imagine. 2017: Keith passed away in Canterbury General Hospital in the early hours of the 7th May 2017. The world lost a great mind, a lovely being, a talented and gifted man, but most importantly to me he was my best friend and will be sadly missed forever more.

Richard Wilson died in Needham, Massachusetts, on May 19, 2018. He was born in Putney, London, on 29 April 1926, the youngest of four brothers who went to Colet Court and became Foundation Scholars at St Paul’s. They all joined Scout Troop I (13th Hammersmith), of which Chris Heath was Scoutmaster. He went with a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, initially reading Mathematics under Theodore Chaundy and then switching to Physics. He earned his BA in 1946 and a DPhil in 1949. He received a Fulbright award for a year at Rochester, New York, and a second year at Stanford University, California. There he met Andrée DuMond, marrying after a whirlwind courtship in 1952. There was a brief spell back in the UK as a research lecturer at Christ Church, and in 1955 Dick joined Harvard, where he remained until his retirement in 1999. Andrée died in 2016. In all, Dick authored more than 900 scholarly articles and eight books, including, finally, a memoir Physics Is Fun: Memoirs of a Life in Physics (2011). As a professor of physics at Harvard University his work focused on the structure of the nucleon using Harvard’s Cyclotron and other accelerators elsewhere. When the university’s cyclotron became obsolete, he helped adapt it for the treatment of cancerous tumors. Dick was an early supporter of Andrei Sakharov, the dissident Soviet physicist, believing that direct cultural and scientific contact was essential to prevent war. His work in risk-benefit analysis led him to study risks of environmental carcinogens such as asbestos and nuclear power reactors, testifying at many hearings about safety concerns. He was one of the first foreign scientists to visit Chernobyl, in 1987, shortly after the nuclear accident. A TV film crew went with him, and they made Back to Chernobyl (1989), aired on PBS’s Nova program. He did extensive studies into the presence of arsenic in drinking water in Bangladesh, and raised funds to provide safe drinking water in several villages.

At St Paul’s, Peter developed as a caring determined man and leader. A great swimmer, he also captained the first XV and was a leading light in the Christian Union. At the age of 15 his parents died suddenly, and his remarkable courage and resilience emerged. From then he lived with the family of Bruce Junkin, who writes, “I met Peter on my first day at St Paul’s. We happened to be sitting next to each other and I asked him if I could borrow a pen. That was the beginning of the longest and deepest friendship of my entire life. We shared so much during our time at St Paul’s. We played rugby together, we competed on the swimming team together, we studied together, and when Peter lost his parents, we lived together.” At Exeter University he thrived attaining a law degree while being a University Cadet with the Queens Dragoon Guards (QDG) until 1979, becoming an Officer after Exeter and Sandhurst. The lifelong friendships forged at the QDG formed the backbone of his life. He served in Northern Ireland twice, and was mentioned in despatches. In his diverse working life, Peter was a successful investment banker at Charterhouse Bank; then a finance director and trainer of bankers with Baines Gwinner and latterly his own business; and an investor, adviser and director for numerous companies, always making good friends. From his first marriage Peter gained stepdaughter Alexi and had a son, Christopher. In 2000, he married Sarah and they had a daughter, Lucy. He was devoted to them all and they to him. Peter was instantly likeable, a selfdeprecating, totally trustworthy and good man with a wicked sense of humour. He faced the cancer to which he finally succumbed aged 65 with his customary no-fuss resilience. He is greatly loved and missed by Sarah and his family and everyone lucky enough to have known him.

Roy Sands, friend

Geoffrey Wilson (1938-42), brother & Elaine Wilson, daughter

Alan Paul (1967-72), friend

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 35

Old Pauline Sports OPFC

2018/19 season kicks off with inaugural Rugby Festival

he OPFC kicked off the 2018/19 season in style with the inaugural OPFC Rugby Festival, which was held at the OPC Sports Ground at Colets Thames Ditton on 8 September. Ably led by club administrators Jo Jackson and Nadja James the OPFC laid on activities for all of the clubs members and their families to enjoy. There was a fantastic atmosphere at the club and over 150 people attended. Highlights included: mini-rugby tag and touch tournaments with the rugby side of the day culminating in a 15-a-side internal trial game between a Club Captain’s XV versus a President’s XV; an excellent array of food and beverage options for all attendees including a BBQ, ice cream van as well as coffee and cakes; a special Old Pauline Ale which had been produced for the occasion by OP Toby Ejsmond-Frey (it was so popular it will now be a permanent fixture behind the bar at Colets); a range of activities for kids including face painting, t-shirt

decoration, bouncy castles and Disney movies. The club’s attention then turned to the formal start of the season for the 1st, 2nd and Vets XVs at the end of September when the first league fixtures took place. Pre-season training under Coach Shane Rutherford has gone well and all the captains are optimistic about the season ahead. The Executive and General Committees continue to focus almost all of their time on need to increase the recruitment of new players. This remains the most pressing issue facing the OPFC and other clubs at the same level. To that end we would encourage any OPs and their friends keen to play, whether regularly or just once or twice a season, to get in touch to find out more about what the club can offer. All you need to do is email club secretary Rob Rayner for further information on how to get involved (robertrayner@hotmail.com).

36 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

a special Old Pauline Ale was so popular it will now be a permanent fixture behind the bar.

opclub.stpaulsschool.org.uk l 020 8746 5390

OP CRICKET CLUB

Double Promotion

018 will have to go down as arguably the most successful season in OPCC history, with both teams earning promotion from their respective leagues. The 2nd XI not only sealed promotion, but 1st place, in the penultimate game of the season, while the 1st XI left it to the last match to leapfrog into 2nd position to claim promotion into Surrey Championship Division 4 - uncharted territory in the club’s history. The season started in unfamiliar

OP Vs

7 of the top 10

ld Paulines continued to dominate at open tournaments throughout 2017/18, ending the season with seven of the top 10 ranked players in both singles and doubles, and with two OPs practically sweeping the singles board. Dan Tristao won six of the nine open tournaments, including his third National Singles title, with Ed Kay winning in London and Yorkshire. Ed also picked up his third successive singles victory in the student championships, partnering Matt Shaw to success in the doubles, and both feats were repeated at the U25s. In doubles, six of the seven open tournaments featured at least one OP winner, and further success came

parts, as Richard Hay resurrected the Old Pauline preseason tour with an incredible 10-day trip to Cape Town, South Africa. Playing four games interspersed with trips up Table Mountain and to the vineyards, it was not only a fun but successful trip, and paved the way for the 1st XI winning each of their first 7 matches. Back in England, the 1st XI were buoyed by the return to the club of OP Sam Cato, who had a fantastic season, while stalwart OP and ex-captain Alex Duncan had a remarkable season, top in the President’s Cup, in which James Tilston won his second title in as many attempts. We’ve had more of the same at the start of the 2018/19 season, with Dan winning the South East singles, James adding to his handicap doubles trophy cabinet, and Ed doing the double at London. From a club competition perspective the 2017/18 season was a disappointment. We failed to produce a single OP team for the Owers Trophy, bringing to an end a 7-year stretch holding the title, and we fell just short in the Wood Cup final to Wessex. In addition, our internal handicap singles tournament, the Cunis Cup, did not take place. But despite these setbacks we managed to cap off the club’s season with an excellent OP handicap doubles tournament, in which then-current Pauline Harry Jackson and self-proclaimed next-gen star Sam Russell emerged victorious.

scoring in the league. 2nd XI Captain George Waugh had a season to remember, scoring over 500 runs and taking 28 wickets! The season brought dual reward for a group of players who’ve brought fantastic commitment and energy to the club, and hopefully we can continue to take the club where it’s never been before over the coming years! Thank you to all for your hard work this year. As always, we are very keen to keep a strong tie with SPS. So, if anyone is looking to play good quality, competitive but fun cricket on a Saturday, either in the summer holidays or after leaving school, drop Chris Berkett an e-mail at berkettc@gmail.com

Chris Berkett

Jackson & Russell win the OP President’s Cup

We continue to hold our regular sessions on Thursday evenings, and we encourage players of all standards to get involved. Contact: julian.aquilina@gmail.com

OPAFC

50 OPs in 8-a-side tournament

he unexpected success of the Three Lions at the 2018 World Cup inspired no less than fifty OPs to return to the school site over the summer for the inaugural pre-season 8-a-side tournament on the School’s fantastic new 3G pitch over by the Swedish School. For some of the older members the School was almost unrecognisable but all were pleased to see that most of the old buildings have been demolished. With so many in attendance the games

took on an additional level of competition, starting at a ferocious pace. Soon however the reality of pre-season kicked in, with captains begging for a rest between matches. The standard was good with no easy games, at least until the decider, in which Jasper Harlington’s team was clinically dispatched by his brother Alex’s. There was also a strong showing by the Class of ‘18, hopefully they’ll be representing the club in years to come.

If this kind of attendance can be maintained throughout the year it should make for an excellent season of OP Football. If you have recently graduated, just left school, or want to rekindle former glories, please contact Luke Warriner or Jehan Sherjan if you would like to get involved in Saturday league football for OPAFC. We run teams to cater for all standards, playing at some the best facilities in amateur football.

Contact: jehansherjan@hotmail.com LDW@stpaulsschool.org.uk

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 37

Sport Old Pauline Golfing Society

A bright and breezy day for the Autumn Meeting

OPGS Cyril Gray team l to r: Nick Downing, Hugh Roberts, David Charman, Robin Young, Chris Vallender & Charles Mathias.

t the Spring Meeting at Betchworth Park Golf Club, Jeremy Williams won both the Just Cup with 34 points and the Haswell Bowl with a gross 79. John Cooper won the Goldman Salver for 15 & over handicaps with 33 points. In the afternoon foursomes, Toby Bain & Dick Vollmer teamed up to win the Eastman Salvers. In the Grafton Morrish qualifier played at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, our team of Messrs Downing, Prior, Bastinello(T), Bastinello(A), J Williams & Clark came 11th out of 13 and did therefore not qualify for the finals in Norfolk. In Society matches we have had wins against Old Uppinghamians, KCS OBs, The Mercers, Old Westminsters, Fulwell GC, Old Haileyburians & OMTs, but

Players after lunch at Royal Wimbledon GC at our Autumn Meeting and Captain’s Day

At the Summer Meeting at Hayling Golf Club with the ‘usual’ sea breeze, Ben Rowan won everything! lost to The School, Old Amplefordians & Old Lawrentians. In the Alba Trophy at Woking Golf Club, Jamie Mac Farlane & Chris Cullen came = 21st of 28. In the Putting Competition at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club, Chris Vallender, Jamie MacFarlane, Robin Young & Nick Cardoza came 3rd out of their group of 8, thus not qualifying for the finals, but successfully avoided relegation! In the Cyril Gray at Worplesdon Golf Club, our team of Chris Vallender, Hugh Roberts, Robin Young, Charles Mathias, David Charman & Nick Downing lost in the 1st round to Taunton. At the Summer Meeting at Hayling Golf Club with the ‘usual’ sea breeze, Ben Rowan won everything! He won the Mercers Cup with 37 points, The Sayers Cup with a gross 80 and in the afternoon, teamed up with Our Captain

Hugh Garnham to win the Summer Meeting Tankards. At our Autumn Meeting & Captain’s Day at Royal Wimbledon, we had bright and breezy conditions and fast greens! David Pincott and John Woodcock had the best score of the day with David winning the Walker Cup on a last 6 hole countback. David also won the Courlander Cup for those with a handicap of 15 and over. Chris Vallender had the best gross score of the day to win the North Cup. In the afternoon, David Charman and Dick Vollmer won the foursomes for the Edgar & Williams Cups. Our thanks go to Hugh Garnham

38 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

our Captain for his generous hospitality and extra prizes! It is with much regret that I have to report that Dr J E Peter Simpson has died. Peter was our Society Captain in 2001 and was always a very keen supporter of the Society. He will be greatly missed. In November, our Winter Meeting is at West Hill on the 8th and our AGM/ Annual Dinner will be at Royal Mid Surrey on the 29th. Golfers wishing to join the Society should contact Neil Fitch, n.fitch@ntlworld.com Neil Fitch (1955-60)

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Past Times 10 years ago (2008)

Science Olympiad In the British Physics Competition, St Paul's was the joint top school with an incredible four Gold Medals for William Kalderon, Sasha Kasas, Nilpesh Patel and Dominic Yeo. William Kalderon and Dominic Yeo were invited to the selection camp at Abingdon School for the International Competition. Four intensive days included a wide range of activities consisting of tuition in areas such as self- induction and relativity, together with experimental work on water powered rockets and measuring the hot spots on a bar of chocolate heated in a microwave. The results of a three hour practical exam and a fiendishly difficult theory paper produced offers of places for Will and Dominic in the UK team for the International Competition in Hanoi.

20 years ago (1998)

Jazz Café Never had I seen the atrium used so inventively (until, a few weeks later, Kian O'Grady and Tom LeFanu staged their adaptation of the wonderfully surreal Third Policeman within the space). Certainly, though, Jazz Café had the monopoly on ambience: early evening sunlight of a fine spring day drifting down through the glassy panels; cold drinks shared at circular tables; the white noise of nearly one hundred friends, family, and staff

Crossword

rising up to fill the space with a pleasant buzz of anticipation. After a final sound check, members of the band loped casually onto the elevated stage. Drummer Johnny Coutts, baseball cap pulled firmly over his brow, intently tapped out the initial syncopations of the first tune, a latin number entitled 'Nina' by teacher and producer George Adie. As Coutts' powerful drumming gained momentum, the solid rhythm section of Phil Bonavero (piano), Max Golden (bass), and Simon Taylor Foster (guitar) slowly drew round, filling the pockets in Coutts' percussion. The remaining three instrumentalists — Will Hammond (trumpet), Gavin Robb (soprano and alto sax), and Harry Vann (tenor sax) — joined the fray in unison with the melody to the tune.

50 years ago (1968)

Eurosoc The expansion of the German Society into Eurosoc has brought with it the opportunity for a wider field of international topics, which has led to a larger membership. The first talk was given by Mr Ward

By Lorie Church (1992-97)

Lorie studied Classics at Exeter. He has had various articles and puzzles published in The Times and elsewhere. Contact: lorie@journalist.com 1

4 7

10 11

20 21

40 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

on Goethe. In this comprehensive lecture he explained the philosophy of the "Sturm and Drang" movement in Germany in the middle of the eighteenth century. This was followed by J Bolton on the culture and history of Les Basques. T Whiffen then delivered a talk on French imperialism in South-East Asia, which followed the true Marxist tradition. The Anti-Common Market view was then proposed by Mr Maddison in a clear, rational manner, and this developed into a very worthwhile discussion.

100 years ago (1918)

Eric Kennington (1900-04) "The British Soldier" (see above)– Under this title an exceptionally vivid head in a "tin hat" has been for some time informing the metropolis that Eric H Kennington's war pictures are on view at the Leicester Galleries. Good authorities speak very well of them, and the Daily Mail writes: " He is a draughtsman of very exceptional power, with a Pre-Raphaelite passion for detail. At times he can command an effect almost mystical in its intensity."

Be thou my * Clues Across

Down

6 Peace found within generic reflection (5) 7 Excalibur undisturbed somewhere in Central African Republic (7) 9 Sad red fate for American forced into service (7) 10 Dishy Indian orders hijab (5) 11 Islamic name for Clay was “the greatest” (3) 12 Nameless stuntman crashes into genetic freaks (7) 13 Stocking material for New York and London (5) 15 Storyteller waves back to Old Pauline (5) 17 Wolves on cricket side? Send one to university (4-3) 20 Oddly, evenly it may be electric (3) 21 Second tea with chocolatecoffee (5) 23 Fiancée’s accent stumped the most severe (7) 24 Euchre lay Lee pronounced what George Formby picked (7) 25 Paper pancake (5)

1 * If ignorance is bliss, this must be misery (6) 2 Loads of people having a row, more than once, about Stargate (8) 3 (& 16d) Adieu, Thanks for the memories (4-2-5) 4 Ancient civilisation’s skincare extract (4) 5 * Sight and noise I’ve recalled without echoes (6) 7 * Heart-protection bent battle spear (11) 8 Dick Grayson’s alter ego is often seen on Christmas cards (5) 14 Bowler’s first ball, it spins off anti-clockwise (8) 15 * Secret lover smuggled right inside mail for knight (6) 16 (See 3d) 18 Latch urchin abandons Latin Place of worship (6) 19 * Man with issue pops (6) 22 This sandwich is tops: Chicken lettuce under bacon (4)

W T O S R A D L BLOCKCHAIN

The Breakthrough technology Dominic Frisby (1982-87)

’ve just got back from a technology conference in London, where I saw some breathtaking new applications demonstrated. One company was pitching itself as “AirBnB for hard drives”. The CEO estimated that about 30% of computer capacity around the world, whether it’s in the vast data centres belonging to the likes of Google and Amazon, or, simply, your laptop at home, goes unused. Soon you’ll be able to rent out your spare hard drive space, so that it’s put to productive and profitable use, instead of sitting there doing nothing. Another was designing a digital identity system specifically for refugees, NGOs and others in war-torn situations. The CEO, a refugee himself from Syria, described how he had to carry 14 kilograms of paperwork as he moved from camp to camp. Proving who you are, where you have come from and so on is one of the greatest problems in the nightmare existence of the refugee. His new application digitizes the bureaucratic hell in a way that is compliant with international security systems. In addition it enables aid and other workers to prove who they are and what jobs they have done. Finally, it enables charities and so on to track exactly where aid money has gone and how it is being spent. A third created and issued a fully compliant security token with all sorts of complicated contractual restrictions and conditions live on stage in under three minutes. His partner, a film producer, then described how he raises money for films by issuing such security tokens, representing a share in the film and its profits. All the conditions of the contract are programmed into the token, so that they execute automatically as the venture progresses. His experience is that those who fund his films become its most vocal champions, and so he is able to dramatically reduce his advertising spend. Thus do his films become more profitable more quickly. Everyone’s a winner, as they say.

the greatest moneymaking opportunity any of us will ever see in our lifetime, possibly ever The scope of these three ventures could not be more different, and yet all of them have one thing in common. They rely on blockchain technology. Blockchain is the breakthrough technology behind the internet cash system bitcoin. Devised almost ten years ago now, in reaction to the bailing out of the banks, the money printing and the suppression of interest rates which followed the financial crisis, bitcoin went from a market value of less than a tenth of a cent to $20,000 at its peak at the end of 2017. It was the greatest moneymaking opportunity any of us will ever see in our lifetime, possibly ever. It was so successful because it caught a zeitgeist. First it captured the imagination of computer scientists, because it solved a problem that had confounded them for over 20 years, known as the problem of double-spending. Any computer scientist familiar with the problem could see just

what a breakthrough bitcoin was. Bitcoin was an open-source project, totally transparent at every stage of its evolution. Rather like the those who funded our film producer's films, anyone who contributed became the project's most powerful advertisers. Coders wrote and re-wrote the code, fine-tuning and developing it. The more they contributed, the better the project got and the more they fell in love with it. As it grew, many of those who were philosophically opposed to the reaction of the authorities to the financial crisis, also got involved. They too invested in the project and started buying coins. Economists were fascinated by this new system of opensource money with no government control. Speculators were excited by this new volatile, asset-class. Markets suddenly opened up, many of them illegal, as here was a way to buy and sell goods over the internet without fear of being traced. Entrepreneurs jumped on board as a myriad of different business opportunities were suddenly created. There are thousands of alternative coins to bitcoin – alt coins, each with their own unique properties: some are more private, some have faster transaction times, some are better for micro payments, some enable apps to be launched on top of them. But now the technology has gone way further than an alternative system of cash for the internet. The way we transact, the way we message each other, our social media, our accounting, legal processes, contract law and notarization, the way we keep record, prove our identity, even the way we vote – these are all going to change in the years ahead, because of this breakthrough distributer-ledger technology that is the blockchain, the accidental consequence of solving a simple computer problem: the problem of double-spending. It is very exciting. l Dominic Frisby (1982-87) is the author of Bitcoin: the Future of Money?, published by Unbound.

OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018 41

Diary Dates 2018/19

Old Pauline Club and School Events Friday 26th October 19:00 Cambridge Dinner Cambridge University, Emmanuel College Saturday 27th October 12:15 Wessex Branch Meeting : Guest speaker Maxine Shaw Langton Arms, Tarrant Monkton The Wessex branch of the Old Pauline Club is pleased to host Head of St Paul’s Juniors, Maxine Shaw, for the Autumn meeting. Sunday 28th October 13:30 Strings Afternoon St Paul's School An enjoyable and challenging day of ensemble playing. Attendees will work towards a performance at the end of the day. Thursday 1st November 18:00 Parents and Staff Book Club Kayton Library, St Paul's School Come and join us at our first Book Club to chat about the winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize, Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. Thursday 1st November 19:00 SPARTA Lecture: On Being an Artist, Wathen Hall - St Paul's School Sir Michael Craig-Martin CBE RA Saturday 3rd November 14:15 Rugby: 1st XV v Radley St Paul's School Monday 5th November 18:45 RAF 100 : 100 Years of People Pushing Technology Samuel Pepys Theatre, St Paul's School In this talk, Paula Kitching and Dr Taj Bhutta will explore some of the key events that have been shaped by RAF technology and how that has a affected the world in which we live today. Tuesday 6th November 18:30 Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Form Parents' Seminar: ICT Montgomery Room - St Paul's School Wednesday 7th November 18:00 Art Exhibition : Translation Milton Gallery - St Paul's School Wednesday 7th November 18:30 WWI with Michael Grant and Graham Seel Kayton Library - St Paul's School In what promises to be an illuminating occasion, Michael Grant (Head of Art) and Graham Seel (Head of Faculty Humanities) host an evening of thought-provoking reflection upon the centenary of the end of the First World War. Thursday 8th November 08:30 Old Pauline Golf Society Winter Meeting West Hill Golf Club Thursday 8th November 18:30 Paulines in the First World War St Paul's School Join the Junior History Society to explore the part Old Paulines had to play in the First World War. Friday 9th November 09:30 Lower Eighth Parents' Coffee Morning Whole Foods, South Kensington Friday 9th November 11:00 Act of Remembrance St Paul's School Tuesday 13th November 19:00 How did the First World War end? St Paul's School A talk by Professor Sir Hew Strachan Wednesday 14th November 18:30 St Paul's Juniors Play: The Terrible Infants School Hall, St Paul's School Wednesday 14th November 19:00 Ensembles Concert Wathen Hall, St Paul's School Thursday 15th November 18:30 OP Third Thursday Drinks The Rutland Arms, Hammersmith Back by popular demand, this is a restoration of an OPC event that used to take place in previous years. Thursday 15th November 18:30 St Paul's Juniors Play: The Terrible Infants School Hall, St Paul's School Friday 16th November 18:00 Wine Tasting at 67 Pall Mall 67 Pall Mall Back by popular demand, we return to 67 Pall Mall for another evening of fine wine and socialising. Friday 16th November 18:30 St Paul's Juniors Play: The Terrible Infants St Paul's School Saturday 17th November 18:30 St Paul's Juniors Play: The Terrible Infants St Paul's School Tuesday 20th November 18:30 Launch of the St Paul's Medical Professional Network St Paul's School The St Paul’s Professional Groups were first launched in 2016 in collaboration with the Old Pauline Club and Parents’ Group. Their aim is to connect those working in specific professional fields and to support current pupils on their career journey. Tuesday 20th November 18:30 New York Wine Tasting Cornelia Street Cafe Robin Hirsch, Old Pauline and restaurant owner, will host a monthly wine tasting on the third Tuesday of each month at Cornelia Street Cafe. Wednesday 21st November 19:00 Music: Autumn Concert Wathen Hall, St Paul's School In the term’s flagship concert, we will enjoy music from groups including the Chapel Choir, Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. Sunday 25th November 11:00 SPJ Christmas Fayre St Paul's School, Sports Hall, Dining Hall - St Paul's Juniors The annual Christmas Fayre, organised by the SPJ Parents’ Group, is a chance for all SPJ staff and families to get into the Christmas spirit. Tuesday 27th November 18:30 Fourth and Fifth Form Parents' Seminar: 'The party scene' Montgomery Room, St Paul's School Wednesday 28th November 19:30 My Fair Lady Samuel Pepys Theatre, St Paul's School Thursday 29th November 18:30 Old Pauline Golf Society AGM and Annual Dinner Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Course Thursday 29th November 18:30 Launch of St Paul's Entrepreneurs Network Huckletree West The St Paul’s Professional Groups were first launched in 2016 in collaboration with the Old Pauline Club and Parents’Group. Their aim is to connect those working in specific professional fields and to support current pupils on their career journey. Thursday 29th November 19:30 My Fair Lady Samuel Pepys Theatre, St Paul's School Friday 30th November 10:00 Parents' Group: Upper Eighth Parents' Christmas Coffee Saatchi Gallery Upper Eighth parents are invited to pre-Christmas coffee in Chelsea at the Saatchi Gallery. Friday 30th November 18:30 Autumn Concert Wathen Hall, St Paul's School Friday 30th November 19:30 My Fair Lady Samuel Pepys Theatre, St Paul's School Saturday 1st December 19:30 My Fair Lady Samuel Pepys Theatre, St Paul's School Sunday 2nd December 14:30 Music: Jazz at the Bull's Head, Barnes St Paul's School Tuesday 4th December 18:00 Wreath Making with Bloom & Wild Samuel Pepys Foyer, St Paul's School Bloom & Wild, co-founded in 2013 by Old Pauline Aron Gelbard (1995-2000), is now the UK’s top rated online flower delivery company. Thursday 6th December 18:00 Christmas Festival St Paul's School Warm yourself up with mulled wine and enjoy some mince pies as we gather to celebrate the annual switch on of the St Paul’s Christmas tree lights, accompanied by the St Paul’s Choir. Friday 7th December 19:00 Carol Service (SPS) St Mary Abbots Church Friday 7th December 19:00 Supper Evening Colets Health and Fitness, Thames Ditton All Old Paulines are invited to this traditional Christmas Dinner at Colets to celebrate the festive season. Saturday 8th December All Day SPS Boat Club Plum Pudding Races The Boat House, St Paul's School Sunday 9th December 18:30 Colet Choral Society and St Paul's Camerata: Wathen Hall, St Paul's School Handel's Israel in Egypt Monday 10th December 18:30 St Paul's School Carol Service Holy Trinity Barnes You are invited to join us to celebrate Christmas at the St Paul’s Carol Service at Holy Trinity, Barnes. Monday 28th January 2019 17.30 Feast Service at St Paul's Cathedral followed by a buffet dinner at Mercers' Hall

42 OLD PAULINE NEWS AUTUMN/WINTER 2018

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