The Fountain Issue 32 Summer 2023

Design: H2 Associates, (Cambridge) Limited

Editor: alumni-comms@trin.cam.ac.uk www.trin.cam.ac.uk/alumni

WELCOME

from a Fellow

It is my pleasure to welcome you to The Fountain 2023. This edition of the magazine has an overarching theme of time, so it is fitting that I am introducing it — in addition to being Trinity Fellow in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration, I am also Praelector (Presenter for Degrees) and Keeper of the College Clock.

Graduation is a special time for our students, and for me too. It is a real pleasure to lead graduands to their degrees with my fingers – literally – and even though I might not get the Latin quite right, it is wonderful to see close-up the smiles on everyone’s faces on this momentous day.

The clock too is special. Ever since 1610, my guess is that curious and enthusiastic students and Fellows have made their way up the Clock Tower for the weekly winding. It is arguably the most accurate tower clock in the world, thanks largely to the dozens of MEng students who have worked on monitoring and regulation projects. You can take a look for yourself on the clock monitoring website clock.trin.cam.ac.uk, and watch me give a behind-the-scenes tour of King Edward’s Gate and the College clock on YouTube youtube.com/watch?v=VNK4O87D62E

On a more serious note, I am Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Repair, and we are looking at ways to refreeze the Arctic. It’s a real challenge but looking more and more likely as every year passes of relative inaction on climate. Our time to act is running out. If you want to find out more then go to climaterepair.cam.ac.uk/refreeze

In this edition, we interview three Trinity alumni who explore the past – palaeontologist Professor Paul Barrett (1990), film curator Fiona Kelly (1984), and archaeologist and writer Professor Francis Pryor (1964). You can read about the new student mentoring scheme that has been made possible thanks to alumni volunteers sharing their time and expertise, and Rod Davis (1960) shares his Trinity and musical memories, from playing the banjo in John Lennon’s schoolboy skiffle group The Quarrymen in the 1950s, to reforming and touring overseas forty years later.

In the 300th year since the death of Sir Christopher Wren, Library Graduate Trainee Madeline Birnbaum takes us back to the beginnings of the Wren Library. We also spend a day in the life of Milly Yelf, Trinity’s first Student Experience Officer, who is helping students to maximize their time at Cambridge and celebrating their voluntary work in the local community and beyond. To get your cogs whirring, crossword compiler Encota (Tim King, 1980) has created another challenging puzzle.

I hope you enjoy the magazine and please share your thoughts with us. Do follow me on Twitter @clockkeeper and take the time to keep in touch with the alumni team too – share any news via alumni@trin.cam.ac.uk

Professor Hugh Hunt (e1990) Fellow in Engineering and Keeper of the Clock

Graduation is a special time for our students, and for me too. It is a real pleasure to lead graduands to their degrees … it is wonderful to see close-up the smiles on everyone’s faces on this momentous day.

© JAMES APPLETON

GLOBAL Alumni news

Canada

Congratulations to Dr Emily Osborne (2007) whose debut poetry collection, Safety Razor, was published on 14 April 2023 by Gordon Hill Press. Featured on CBC Books, Safety Razor combines personal lyrics with translations of Old Norse poetry, which Osborne studied during her doctorate at Cambridge.

Ireland

Poet and writer James Harpur (1976) has been appointed 2023 Writer Fellow at the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College Dublin. He is teaching an undergraduate workshop and also teaching students on the MPhil in Creative Writing.

USA

Alex Amouyel (2000) joined Newman’s Own Foundation as President and Chief Executive Officer in April 2023. The Foundation was established by the late actor, race car driver, and philanthropist Paul Newman to continue his legacy of giving away 100% of profits from Newman’s Own food and beverages. Alex is the author of The Answer is You: A Guidebook to Creating a Life Full of Impact, published by Mango, 2022.

USA

Congratulations to Linda Kinstler (2015), contributing writer for Jewish Currents and The Economist’s 1843 Magazine, and the deputy editor of The Dial, on her 2023 Whiting Award in the non-fiction category for her first book, Come to This Court and Cry: How the Holocaust Ends, published by Bloomsbury, 2022. The awards celebrate ten exceptional emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama each year.

England

Congratulations to Helen Beedham (1991) on her 2023 UK Business Book Award in the People, Culture and Management category for The Future of Time, published by Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2022.

Germany

Nigel Rackham (1980) broke the UK over-60s marathon record in Berlin last September, completing the course in just 2 hours, 41 minutes, and 23 seconds.

Switzerland

Dr Carine Durand (2005) was appointed Director of the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève in July 2022.

South Africa

Professor Yin-Zhe Ma (2008) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal was elected to the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in October 2022. He uses cosmic microwave background radiation and large-scale structure data to study the evolution of the Universe at different epochs and to understand the physical nature of dark energy and dark matter.

Australia

Dr Michael Mitchelmore (1958) was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for service to mathematics education and to the community.

India

Professor Mahesh Kakde (2004) received the Infosys Prize for Mathematics in 2022, for his outstanding contributions to algebraic number theory.

Singapore

Professor Luke Ong (1981) was appointed Distinguished University Professor and VicePresident of Research at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2022.

CELEBRATING THE CORONATION OF KING CHARLES III (1967), 6 MAY 2023

THE COLLEGE JOINED THE NATION IN CELEBRATING THE CORONATION OF ALUMNUS KING CHARLES III, WITH A WEEK OF TRINITY INITIATIVES AND SPECIAL EVENTS TO MARK THE HISTORIC OCCASION.

The College announced the King Charles III Professorship, a new role at the University funded by Trinity that will provide a focus for leadership in the field of sustainability, in recognition of His Majesty’s lifelong interest in the environment. ViceMaster, Professor Louise Merrett (e2003), said: ‘The Coronation of King Charles III is an opportunity not only to reflect on Trinity’s past but importantly also to look to the future. Trinity is delighted to support this new University professorial role, the holder of which will investigate some of the most pressing environmental issues we face today.’

In honour of the monarch, Trinity Puntman Paul Joyce crafted a new punt named Charles, and in keeping with the College tradition, drawing on its own name, of playing on the number three. Following the launch of the new addition to the fleet by the Master, the Fellow in Charge of Punts Dr Rupert Gatti (e1998), and the puntsmen, Trinity Maths student Charles Li (2019) and Queens’ third-year Law student Camilla Esnou climbed aboard to enjoy Charles’ inaugural voyage on the Cam.

Left: The unveiling of the Wild Crown. Main image: Great Gate lit up with the matriculation photo of the 18-year-old Prince of Wales and the Royal Standard.

© DAVID ROSE

The College also unveiled a Wild Crown (pictured below left) on the lawn in front of Newton’s apple tree, hand woven from English willow by Trinity’s gardeners, and wildlife friendly, sustainable, and recyclable. Studded with succulent-plant ‘jewels’, topped with handwoven ball ‘finials’, and wrapped in ‘ermine’ wool, the work of art was designed to be rewilded in Trinity’s gardens after the Coronation weekend.

Celebrations culminated with a College event in Nevile’s Court on Saturday 6 May, attended by over 800 students, staff, Fellows, and their guests. Trinity’s chefs created a special apple pie for the occasion (see below), cheese straws and burnt (ice) cream were served, and the Choir sang songs including ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ before Dame Sally Davies, who had just returned from the Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, read the College’s Loyal Address. As darkness fell, Great Gate was illuminated with a unique image of the Prince of Wales, taken soon after his arrival at Trinity in 1967.

Read more about the College celebrations:

• trin.cam.ac.uk/news/crowningglory-for-new-king-charles-iiiprofessorship/

• trin.cam.ac.uk/news/how-toweave-a-willow-crown/

• trin.cam.ac.uk/news/trinitysgreat-gate-emblazoned-for-thecoronation/

• trin.cam.ac.uk/news/you-cancall-him-charles-alumni-recallprince-charles-time-at-trinity/

© GRAHAM COPEKOGA

TRINITY AT 500 a vision from now to 2046

THE COLLEGE HAS APPOINTED ARCHITECTS ALLIES AND MORRISON TO PREPARE A MASTERPLAN AS PART OF A VISION FOR TRINITY IN 2046, 500 YEARS AFTER ITS FOUNDING.

The aim of the masterplan is to crowdsource ideas and build consensus about the future use of the College’s buildings, facilities, and green spaces.

Fellows, students, staff, and alumni have been surveyed over recent months and everyone’s ideas have now been shared with the architects, who created a presentation and temporary display in Nevile’s Court to show the key themes emerging from the consultation. Some of the ideas have been explored in workshops over recent weeks, to provide the masterplanners with as much information as possible.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their ideas to help shape the future of Trinity. We will keep you up-to-date with developments, and you can view the display of emerging themes and ideas on Issuu.

issuu.com/trinityalumni/ docs/22044_trinity_college_ masterplan_update_display_as

TRINITY TO INVESTIGATE LEGACIES OF SLAVERY: £1M WILL SUPPORT A CARIBBEAN SCHOLARSHIP PLUS A NEW ACADEMIC POST

The College will examine the ways in which it was linked to, benefited from, or challenged the slave trade and other forms of coerced labour during the colonial era through the appointment of a new fouryear research and teaching academic. The Legacies of Slavery Research and Teaching Fellow will consider the ways in which Trinity might have gained from slavery, whether through fees and bequests from students and alumni, or from investments by the College. The Fellow will also explore any contributions by Trinity members who opposed the practice of enslavement.

Trinity will also donate £1 million over five years to Cambridge Caribbean Scholarships, enabling up to three Master’s students per year from the Caribbean to study at Cambridge. Two PhD studentships will also be available during the five-year initiative, which begins in October 2023.

trin.cam.ac.uk/news/trinity-college-cambridge-toinvestigate-legacies-of-slavery-1-million-to-supportcaribbean-scholarships-plus-new-academic-post/

CLASS OF 1984: £200k to support students

In autumn 2022, Harry Hampson and Su-Mei Thompson set plans in motion to galvanise their year group to establish a new bursary fund for Trinity students. Inspired by the collective generosity of supporters of the Tim McDowell Bursary, in memory of one of their classmates, Harry and Su-Mei convened a steering group that included Henrietta Fraser, Julian Robson and Andy Rubin. Together, they rallied their classmates behind the Class of 1984 Bursary Fund, with a target of raising £100,000 to support UK undergraduates in need of financial assistance, with the initial focus being on supporting medics.

We are delighted to share the news that they have now reached their goal, which will be matched by a further £100K from Trinity. Harry and Su-Mei said: ‘Thank you

so much to everyone who has donated. The impact we can have collectively is far greater than the impact any of us can have individually – and doing this together is also more fun! We are thrilled that the Class of 1984 was able to lead the way on this ground-breaking initiative and we hope other year groups will follow suit.’

Thank you to the Class of 1984 for their generosity and commitment. If you would like to discover more about class giving opportunities, please contact us at alumni@trin.cam.ac.uk

Trinity supports new Great Yarmouth EDUCATION CENTRE

A new education centre in Great Yarmouth supported by Trinity is enhancing educational opportunities for less-advantaged young people. Local primary school students can attend the centre, based in the Market Gates Shopping Centre, where after-school study and mentoring sessions are provided. The initiative is a partnership between the College, the University of East Anglia (UEA), and IntoUniversity, the charity working to broaden access to university.

Trinity’s Outreach Programme comprises residential and school visits to the College, mentoring programmes and partnerships with organisations around the country working with young people. A new strand involves working with coastal communities in the East of England. Trinity’s Admissions Director Professor Glen Rangwala said the partnership was an exciting step for the College, which was committed to helping young people in the region realise their potential.

IntoUniversity is working with seven local schools in Great Yarmouth, which is one of 39 centres run by the charity in 22 locations across England and Scotland, supporting more than 46,000 young people. Of students attending their centres, 66% go on to university, compared with 26.6% of students from similar backgrounds nationally.

trin.cam.ac.uk/news/trinity-supports-new-greatyarmouth-education-centre/

Senior Tutor Professor Catherine Barnard (second from left) was one of the Trinity representatives who joined the centre’s grand opening on 2 March 2023.

Pupils discover together what the new IntoUniversity centre has to offer.

THE TRINITY CHALLENGE Our Journey Continues

THE 2021 INAUGURAL TRINITY CHALLENGE EMBARKED ON A JOURNEY TO PROTECT THE WORLD AGAINST HEALTH EMERGENCIES, USING DATA-DRIVEN RESEARCH AND ANALYTICS; AND WHAT A SUCCESS IT WAS!

Over 340 multidisciplinary teams applied from 61 countries, with 8 winners1 who were awarded a total of £5.7 million. Our grand prize winner, Participatory One Health Disease Detection (PODD) from Thailand, received £1.3 million from the prize fund and have trained over 34,000 farmers in Thailand to protect their livelihoods from outbreaks of infection in livestock, and to reduce the likelihood of pathogens spilling over to humans. We are grateful to the alumni community for their support of the inaugural Trinity Challenge.

With thanks to the Wellcome Trust, we turn the focus of The Trinity Challenge onto the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pandemic, a quintessential One Health problem, threatening health, food, and environmental security, and a potentially potent, global, political and social destabiliser. A systematic analysis of the global burden of bacterial AMR2 in 2019 concluded that almost 5 million deaths could have been prevented, had patients not had an AMR infection, and that 1.27 million of those lives were lost as a direct result of resistance to antimicrobials. Moreover, the loss of working antimicrobials increases your risk from common everyday infections, surgery, and cancer care. Similarly, the health of food production and companion animals is compromised by AMR.

The Trinity Challenge on AMR is led by Trinity College’s Master, Dame Sally Davies, in her role as the UK Government’s Special Envoy for Antimicrobial

Resistance, with Professor Marc Mendelson and Louise Gough, and a growing team of expertise. We aim to raise a prize fund of over £5 million and are again partnering with a coalition3 of major companies and academic groups with a breadth of expertise to support applicants to realise their visions.

Please contact coo@thetrinitychallenge.org for further information about how you could get involved.

1. thetrinitychallenge.org/awards/winners

2. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35065702/

3. thetrinitychallenge.org/about-us/our-members/

YOU DON’T STOP PLAYING BECAUSE YOU GET OLD, YOU GET OLD BECAUSE YOU STOP PLAYING

by Rod Davis (1960, Modern & Medieval Languages)

Music has always been in my blood. I was six when I started playing the piano, but it never really inspired me, and I gave up lessons when I sat my 11-plus exam. We were a musical family – my mother and father played the violin, my uncle played the fiddle and saw, and my grandfather played the concertina. When skiffle took off, I knew I needed to find my instrument. So, in 1956, I bought a banjo for £5, which was a lot of money in those days. Little did I know then where that banjo would take me over the years, from joining John Lennon’s schoolboy skiffle group The Quarrymen, to accompanying me on my Cambridge escapades, to touring with the reformed Quarrymen in the 1990s and beyond.

The road to Trinity began for me at my secondary school, Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. Our headmaster, Ernest Taylor (1928), was a history graduate from Trinity and several boys had become students there over the years. In 1957, we acquired a new Head, Bill Pobjoy, who was a Caius man, and our Spanish teacher, Keith Kerr (1954), was also from Trinity. Consequently, a trickle of Quarry Bank boys was divided between these two Colleges.

I took the scholarship exams twice, and the second time I managed to nail a minor scholarship to study Modern & Medieval Languages, my subjects being principally French and Spanish. Staying in Trinity for

The Quarrymen join the procession for the Village Fete at Woolton, Liverpool, 6 July 1957. I’m on the right, with John Lennon, third from right.

a whole week for the exams was an experience. In those days, in Hall there were benches affixed to the walls on each side, which meant that the only way to get out from behind the long tables was to climb on to the tabletop and walk across, taking care to avoid other students who were still finishing their meal.

At the Societies’ Fair in October 1960, I threw myself into undergraduate life, joining a whole rash, including the St Lawrence Folk Song Society, the University Bowmen, and the Classical Guitar Society. I quickly acquired a wide circle of friends, particularly from the St Lawrence, and five of us still meet to make music more than 60 years later.

I shared rooms in New Court with John Raiswell (1960), a friend from school. Learning to punt was one of our principal ambitions and much time was spent falling into the Cam, leaving a trail of personal belongings on the riverbed before the knack was properly mastered.

The river being a major feature of life in the College, regular amusement was afforded by standing on Trinity Bridge criticising the inept attempts at punting by tourists, and especially by members of the U.S. Air Force. Some of us were not above grabbing the end of a punt pole from an unfortunate who was trying to shoot the bridge, resulting in his making an undignified slide down the pole into the water and causing general hilarity along the riverbank.

Essential accoutrements for a new undergrad were a College gown and a bicycle. Undergrad gowns, known as ‘bumfreezers’, were worn for lectures and for dinner in Hall, where they came in useful to protect you from being splattered with Soupe Julienne, one of the staple delicacies on the College menu, as the sense of balance of some of the waiters was somewhat suspect. When riding to lectures on your bike, the gown would be rolled and slung over the shoulder. It was essential that the bike was as decrepit as possible, consistent with safety, as a precaution against theft.

Rod (middle) with Pete Clarke (1960, left) and Dick Quinnell (1960, right) at our Annual Gathering on 29 March 2023, recreating our treasured Graduation photo from 60 years ago.

©

DAVID JOHNSON

Summertime jazz band on a punt, including Dick on his sousaphone, entertaining the sunbathers outside the Wren Library.

Despite this, every month Cambridge City Police would hold an auction of bikes that had been abandoned on the streets, to make up for the ones which had actually been stolen but never recovered.

Poppy Day was also Rag Day in Cambridge, and for our contribution to Trinity’s efforts, my friend, Dick Quinnell (1960), an exponent of the sousaphone, put together a scratch jazz band which rejoiced under the name of Earthquake McGoon and his Dogpatch Seven. Spectators would throw money – and the occasional apple core – into the bell of sousaphone as we played. From time to time Dick would have to stop to empty his instrument as it would begin to play sharp. I took part on banjo, my musical career having started in earnest in 1956, when, inspired by Lonnie Donegan’s ‘Rock Island Line’, I became a member of John Lennon’s skiffle group, The Quarrymen, in which I was eventually replaced by a lad called Paul Mc something.

For Poppy Day in 1962, I found myself playing the banjo in yet another jazz band, with the intention of making a record starring the Australian miler, Herb

Elliott, Gold Medallist at the Rome Olympics, who was a student at Jesus. Some of his fellow students decided to capitalise on his fame and had written a song called ‘Running Shoes’ for him to sing –with some help, let it be said. Other Colleges were canvassed to find appropriate musicians. Trinity supplied the drummer, Syd Burnand (1959); the trumpeter, Charlie Higgins (1958 d), and me. With the rest of the band, we made a 45rpm disc at Decca Studios in London and appeared on television on the ‘Tonight’ programme.

Many years later, in 1997, my Quarrymen career took off once more as we reformed the group with the surviving original musicians from 1956. Since then, we have played over half the globe, from Cuba to Japan and most places in between. I must say that my languages have proved extremely useful during our various tours, especially for ordering the beer. In June this year we will be performing in Germany in the town of Cottbus in Brandenburg, where one of the attractions is punting on the lakes and canals of the Spreewald, so maybe my three years at Trinity were not entirely frittered away.

I quickly acquired a wide circle of friends...and five of us still meet to make music more than 60 years later.

Above: The Quarrymen reformed. Left to right Colin Hanton, Len Garry, Rod Davis and Eric Griffiths.

Left: Starring on the cover of the Runnin’ Shoes sheet music, snapped at the entrance to Jesus College, with Herb Elliott (standing third from right).

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF Milly Yelf (2019) Trinity Student Experience Officer

The job title of Student Experience Officer is an intimidatingly broad one. What does it mean to be concerned with the student experience? And why does Trinity need an officer now? Being the first person to occupy this role in the College, I have spent a lot of my time reflecting on these questions as a way of determining how my role fits into the daily fabric of Trinity.

I came up to read English in 2019, and when I matriculated, I assumed my student experience would mimic those of my predecessors. Instead, during the pandemic, in-person social activities ceased, students went home, and supervisions took place online. Many of the quintessentially ‘Trinity’ experiences were no longer possible. Instead, student activities were adapted to a new online format. I remember quiz nights run by the Chaplain via Zoom and newsletters from the Tutorial team each week. My friendship group even made our own faux Halfway Hall on a Facebook video call one

evening, with each of us in our childhood bedrooms in our own corners of our country. It goes without saying that upon returning to College in my final year, every marker of normalcy felt precious.

I spend one day a week working with the Alumni Office, collaborating on initiatives to connect students with alumni, for the benefit of both. When I speak to alumni at Annual Gatherings, I am struck by the commonality of the student experience over the years: picnics by the Cam, summer walks to Grantchester, societies, formals, and May Balls. There is something wonderful in pointing at a window in New Court and recalling your second-year room, knowing that Tennyson could have done the same. It is these memories that transform a College into a community, and, for many alumni, these student experiences are as inherent to the College as the crocuses that bloom on the Backs every spring.

Students working and relaxing together in the comfy College Bar.

© DAVID JOHNSON

I began my job only a couple of months after Graduation and, in many ways, I feel that it has given me a chance to reclaim some of the experiences I might have missed during my time of remote learning. My first project was a programme of ReFresh Weeks – a packed timetable of activities taking place during week five of every term, which is a notoriously stressful work week for students. During these weeks I host a wide variety of events including guide dog fundraisers, ceramic classes, cocktail making workshops, jazz concerts in the Chapel, photography walks, watercolour and wine evenings, movie nights and ice-skating outings.

My priority is presenting a wide variety of activities so that there’s something fun for every student (often forgetting that l must also participate in every session…). For me, ReFresh Week is a great chance to meet and chat with lots of students about how they’re getting on. I meet hundreds of people in a very short space of time and these informal chats guide my next project.

One of these projects we’re really excited about is an initiative in collaboration with one of Trinity’s Chaplains, Anne Strauss, called Trinity Engage. This is a project that we hope will encourage students to volunteer with the local community by helping them to find volunteering opportunities which will fit with their passions and work within their busy schedules. It has been enlightening to speak with charities such as Reengage and Cambridge Student Community Action about the ways in which we can best support their work within the College, and I feel very fortunate to be able to dedicate time promoting these causes.

This is not to imply that volunteering isn’t already a key part of life at Trinity. When we began to develop Trinity Engage, Anne and I asked students to let us know about any volunteering they already participate in. It has been lovely to hear about the wide range of voluntary work that is already quietly taking place within the Trinity community from singing in prisons to working in soup kitchens. On 26 April, we held our first event with student volunteers (see photo) to promote and celebrate their voluntary work and in the hope that others might be inspired to incorporate volunteeing into their own life at Cambridge.

I’m glad that the post is being continued into next year. When looking back on my time at university, a large portion of it was spent wishing for a normal Trinity experience, one which was as untouched by the pandemic as possible. However, I am now very grateful for that uncertain time because it highlighted to me, and to many others, that values such as community and belonging can’t be taken for granted. While Trinity is undoubtably very beautiful, the student experience shouldn’t simply rely on the traditions that come hand in hand with the place. Instead, creating a positive experience means working with current students to make their time at College as enriching as possible. I am incredibly lucky that my first job has given me the opportunity to pursue exciting and creative work that I believe is truly important.

Trinity Engage. Celebrating our amazing student volunteers who are working with organisations including Cambridge Community Kitchen; St John’s Ambulance and Amnesty International.

“

Reading with children at a local primary school has been such a rewarding experience. It has been wonderful to see the children gain in confidence throughout the year and share in the intergenerational pleasure of a good book.

Elizabeth Beevers (2019)

I enjoy volunteering because it gives me a chance to get out of my research bubble and share my love of museums with visitors.

Daisy Bonsall (2021) PhD student, and volunteer at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and the Whipple Museum

Into the past

Three Trinitarians who explore the past discuss their careers, favourite finds, and inspiring others to share their enthusiasms.

Professor Paul Barrett (1990), dinosaur expert

Q Describe your path since leaving Trinity. I left Trinity in 1999, to take up a post at the Department of Zoology in the University of Oxford, where I was responsible for teaching general animal biology to firstyear undergraduates. As it was a fixed-term position, I was rather relieved to be offered a permanent post as a dinosaur researcher at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in 2002. This is in many ways a dream job –working with one of the largest dinosaur collections in the world alongside many other talented scientists and curators. I’ve remained there ever since, and my job involves a mixture of research and public engagement, although I have honorary links with UCL and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and I still give guest lectures in Cambridge Part II Zoology from time-to-time.

Q What were your early scientific experiences? Did anyone or anything in particular inspire you? I got my first taste of research when I was an undergrad, having been awarded a summer internship at the NHM. The work I did that summer formed the basis for my Part II dissertation and introduced me to the wider world of research and the people carrying it out. It’s also where I met one of my most important mentors, Dr Angela Milner, who was a major influence during my early career (and eventually became my boss at the Museum). Perhaps the biggest break, however, was getting a Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity. This allowed me to establish myself as an independent researcher and I began many of the longer-term research projects that formed the core of my career at this time. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a great group of other palaeontologists, many of whom have remained close friends and colleagues.

Q Tell us about your research at the Natural History Museum.

I’m a dinosaur specialist. In addition to detailed studies on their taxonomy and biology, I’m also

interested in what dinosaurs tell us about general evolutionary processes and Earth history. I began my career working on feeding in herbivorous dinosaurs, but have since branched out into describing new species, building evolutionary trees, and looking at broader questions of how they interacted with other organisms, and how their diversity waxed and waned through time. I’ve worked on dinosaurs from all over the world, with emphasis on those from the UK, southern Africa and east Asia. Currently, I’m spending a lot of time on the roots of the dinosaur evolutionary tree, trying to work out how they started to take over the Mesozoic world.

Q What has been your most exciting discovery or field experience so far?

I’ve been involved in naming more than 20 ‘new’ extinct species so far, but probably the most exciting experience was my first field trip to Zimbabwe, back in 2017. Together with colleagues from Zimbabwe and South Africa we did two weeks of remote fieldwork in Matusadona National Park, on the shores of Lake Kariba. We found a lot of exciting new early dinosaur material, which we’re currently describing, and did all of this with elephants, hippos and crocs wandering about in the background.

Q What is your favourite find in the Museum’s collection and why?

The thing I’m probably proudest of is ‘Sophie’, our beautiful Stegosaurus specimen, which is the first thing you see as you come in via the Museum’s Exhibition Road entrance. Working with many different colleagues at the NHM, we were able to purchase this amazing skeleton from a private owner, put it on public display, and we’ve published four scientific papers describing the skeleton and its implications for Stegosaurus biology (with more to come). It was a really fun project, definitely the highlight of my career so far, and it’s great to see literally thousands of visitors coming face-to-face with ‘Sophie’ on a daily basis.

Q How is new technology changing the work of the palaeontologist and advancing our understanding of ancient animals? How is it transforming the visitor experience at the Natural History Museum?

CT-scanning and 3D-imaging techniques have revolutionised palaeontology. CT allows us to peer inside fossils (and living relatives) at greater levels of detail than ever before. 3D models combined with various computer modelling packages also enable us to simulate the feeding, walking and senses of these extinct animals in ways that were unthinkable when I was doing my PhD. Sophisticated statistical analyses of the fossil record and evolutionary processes are now firmly established also, giving the subject new analytical rigour.

Q What advice would you give to those aspiring to follow in your footsteps?

Stick with it and be flexible. A broad knowledge of the earth and life sciences is really beneficial as the subject is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, and a solid knowledge of statistics or programming is also useful. It’s not all about jobs, however: palaeontology is still one of the subjects where non-professionals continue to make new discoveries all the time, as the key skill is a keen eye for detail.

Fieldwork in Zimbabwe.

Sophie the Stegosaurus in the Earth Hall of the Natural History Museum.

Fiona Kelly (1984), film curator

Q Describe your path since leaving Trinity. I read History and then did a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course and taught in Madrid. After returning to London, I looked for an opportunity to use my degree and got a job in the archives of Thomas Cook (the travel agents), which was celebrating its 150th anniversary. Alongside diaries, posters, and a wealth of other material dating back to the 1850s, it also held film made in the 1950s and 60s to promote package holidays. This kindled an interest as I hadn’t previously considered film as a historical document.

I later worked in other archives but kept returning to the idea of working with historical film. I’d always been interested in social history documentaries (as well as classic feature films) and began scouring the television credits for the archive footage sources.

Q Did anyone or anything in particular inspire you to enter your field?

When my sons were young, I worked at a local university alongside film academics and learned more about film archives. One colleague suggested I contact the Imperial War Museum (IWM), whose collections contain the oldest film archive in the UK. I started there as a volunteer, cataloguing a series of Second World War films shot by the British Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU). This experience inspired me to seek a professional role in the field.

Q Tell us about your curatorial work at the Imperial War Museums. What projects are you working on now?

As with many curator roles, my work is both curatorial and related to access. The curatorial aspect includes researching and cataloguing films and speaking at conferences (my research interests are the work of the AFPU and also the role of women in our film collection, both behind the camera and in terms of representation), as well as co-supervising a PhD on the work of the AFPU cameramen and their caption sheets (‘dope sheets’), part of the original documentation we hold which provides vital context to these films (see the photo of Sergeant Mike Lewis on assignment). I also deal with the access, supply, and licensing of film clips for documentaries and feature films worldwide. This requires a thorough knowledge of the film collection and an understanding of the development of film as well as legal and ethical considerations related to use, such as copyright, appropriate use, and image manipulation.

Q The amount of material related to twenty-first century conflicts is vast in comparison to earlier wars. How has this altered your work, and how do you decide what to include in the collection?

Contemporary material is of course digital borne, which requires different storage and different methods of access and viewing. Material relating to more recent conflicts, such as Northern Ireland or Iraq, also presents different issues of sensitivity and adherence to GDPR guidelines. Film formats have constantly evolved, from 35mm to 16mm and smaller gauges such as 8mm, then tape, then digital. These developments present challenges for film archives.

The IWM was founded in 1917 and its remit is material relating to any conflict involving British and former Empire and Commonwealth troops. Under the Public Records Act we are a Place of Deposit for film and photographic records produced by the Ministry of Defence.

Q How is technology changing the ways in which you tell the stories that give visitors an insight into people’s experiences of war?

Technology has transformed access. We are gradually digitising our films and tapes for preservation and access, whilst retaining the original analogue archive masters. Whereas previously researchers needed to visit IWM in London to view films, now digitised films are available online worldwide at film.iwmcollections.org.uk

youtube.com/ImperialWarMuseums iwm.org.uk/collections

Watch ‘ We Serve’ directed by Carol Reed film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/2123

Technology has also transformed the IWM visitor experience, both when visiting IWM sites and also via our website and YouTube channel: iwm.org.uk/ collections and youtube.com/@imperialwarmuseums

Q What is your favourite item in the IWM’s film archive and why?

One of my favourite films was a discovery prompted by a film producer who was convinced that we held a short wartime film made by the renowned director Carol Reed. I did identify the film, which was accessioned but not viewed or catalogued and doesn’t appear in any of Reed’s filmographies because it’s an Army training film. It was made in 1942 and features several famous actors (including Celia Johnson, Googie Withers, Peggy Ashcroft, and Ann Todd) playing members of the ATS (the women’s army, the Auxiliary Training Service). Being a curator does involve detective work and this was a real find.

Q What advice would you give to those aspiring to follow in your footsteps?

My role is fairly unique – working with the film collection of a national museum and combining curatorial work with commercial access work, which is a perfect fit for my interests. I would advise others to try and identify what interests and inspires them and to look for roles that suit this. There are many degree courses available in Museum Studies, Conservation, Archiving and related subjects to help you forge your path.

© IWM MGH 5074 (film still) VE Day in London.

© IWM BU 8352 Sergeant Mike Lewis, AFPU.

Professor Francis Pryor MBE (1964), archaeologist and author

Q Describe your path since leaving Trinity. I started running digs ahead of factory construction on the edge of the Fens at Peterborough in 1971. For the next three decades I continued to work in the region, where my team revealed many superbly preserved pre-Roman sites. In the early ‘90s I began writing books aimed at bringing archaeology to a wider audience. At the same time, I began making radio and TV programmes.

Q Did anyone or anything inspire you to begin unearthing the past?

I emigrated to Canada and worked closely with Dr Doug Tushingham, from 1969–78. Doug was Chief Archaeologist at The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. He taught me by example that archaeology is about understanding the roots of our humanity.

Q What projects are you currently working on?

I have stepped aside from full-time fieldwork and am now writing books that I hope will bring British archaeology, and most particularly pre-Roman prehistory, to a wider audience. Some of my recent books include The Fens: Discovering England’s Ancient

Depths; Scenes from Prehistoric Life: From the Ice Age to the Coming of the Romans; and Paths to the Past: Encounters with Britain’s Hidden Landscapes

Q What has been your most exciting discovery so far and why?

In November 1982, while conducting a survey of drainage dykes (ditches) in the Fens near Peterborough, I caught my foot on a piece of wood concealed within the soft mud that had been dumped from the drain when it was dredged a few days earlier. There were no trees in the area. So, I was suspicious: I reached into the mud and pulled out a long split oak stake, whose sharpened tip bore the characteristic cut-marks of a narrow-bladed Bronze Age axe, dating to around 1000 BCE. Later we discovered that it had once been part of timber platform and causeway, now known as Flag Fen.

Q How is technology changing the practice of archaeology?

Archaeology isn’t just about digging for objects. Archaeologists must also understand the potential of their finds for the study of DNA and bone composition which can reveal so much about migration and the way past populations led their lives. Every archaeologist must have a broad grasp of the potential of science.

Q You were one of the key members of Channel 4’s Time Team, which made British archaeology more accessible to people of all ages. In its absence, what should we be doing to promote archaeology, conservation, and sustainability to the public? Time Team started back in 1993. Since then, the media have evolved: books (both e- and printed) are now more important and are reaching a wider audience and bookshops have become local community centres. Social media and the internet play a huge role, too. So, I try to maintain a presence on Twitter, I have a blog, too, but I spend most of my time writing books that are aimed at a general audience. As archaeologists we should try to inspire others to share our enthusiasm for the past – I love it when students tell me they were inspired to study archaeology after reading my books.

Q What advice would you give to those aspiring to follow in your footsteps?

I have always believed that archaeology is too important to be taken too seriously. So, I would strongly advise anyone thinking of becoming an archaeologist to get their hands dirty on a dig. That’s also how you will get to meet and know people who share your interest in the past. You will discover their enthusiasm, even passion, for the subject while at

the same time enjoying a great social life. I went on two or three digs before I began at university, and they gave me a great sense of proportion. Academic archaeology is inevitably based on rules and theory, both of which are essential, but they should not detract from the subject’s core humanity.

Francis’ next book, A Fenland Garden: Creating a haven for people, plants and wildlife, will be available in all good bookshops from 6 July 2023.

Some of the timbers of the Bronze Age (1000 BCE) causeway at Flag Fen, Peterborough, taken in 1988.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE WREN LIBRARY

By Madeline Birnbaum, Library Graduate Trainee

In 1676, Isaac Barrow, the Master of Trinity, published an appeal for funds to enable the creation of a new library for the College, citing that the existing space had neither ‘Strength [nor] Capacity’ for new books.1 A fire in the old library in Great Court ten years previously had prompted the consideration of substantial change to the building, and a final financial impetus propelled the College into action when James Duport, a former Fellow of Trinity, left one hundred pounds for the building of a new library and his collection of 2,144 volumes to the College in 1675. 2 The vision for the new library was a lofty one: Barrow’s appeal promised that it would ‘yield much Ornament to the University, and some honour to the Nation.’ Christopher Wren, who was at the height of his career and in the midst of designing the new St Paul’s Cathedral, was a natural choice for the architect.

Christopher Wren’s first proposal for Trinity’s new library was a round building, similar to the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford; when this design was rejected, Wren opted for the floorplan of a more traditional European collegiate library. Fortunately for Trinity today, the Library was built with the capacity for 50,000 books, despite the College only owning around 3,500 when planning began in 1675.3 The foresight to change the location of the Library and to plan for an exponential increase in its collection size anticipated the changing needs of the College and has kept the Wren functional for over three hundred years.

Trinity is fortunate to have two surviving account books relating to the Library’s construction: one details the donations given to the College for the new library and the other, kept by Robert Grumbold, the Library’s contracting mason, records the daily labour of raising the building.4

O.4.46A: Isaac Newton’s contribution is listed seventh from the bottom of the page.

Fellows of Trinity feature prominently in the list of benefactors; Fellows from other Colleges, alumni, and local clergy also contributed in significant numbers, and donations ranged from around five to one hundred pounds. Isaac Newton, only just established as a Fellow at this date, is listed as having given forty pounds. One of the only non-monetary donations recorded in the account book was from a London goldsmith, Samuel Price, who ‘gave the King’s Arms in painted glasse’.

Grumbold’s account book, more so than the donors’ book, allows us to piece together the day-to-day work of constructing the Library. The names of individual labourers, their professions, the number of days they contributed to the project of building the Wren, and the wages they were paid survive through this document. When reading through Grumbold’s careful notes, the sheer amount of physical effort required to construct such a monumental structure is clear: the bricklayers who laid the foundations, quarriers who dug stone, masons, carpenters, ironsmiths, plasterers, painters; lime and timber merchants; and those paid to move sand, stone, and wood down the Cam are all mentioned. Detailed accounts of their work connect the Wren that we experience today as a flourishing research library back to fleeting moments from its creation. Many of the men employed appear to have worked on the Wren for years, and it is fitting that the record of their names and daily labour continues to be preserved in the library they brought into being.

1. Trinity College Library, Cambridge, O.11a.4[9].

2. Philip Gaskell, Trinity College Library: The First 150Years (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 139.

3. Ibid.

4. Trinity College Library, Cambridge, O.4.46a; Trinity College Library, Cambridge, O.4.47.

TRINITY AT 500

A new or a better student library?

Wren had the foresight to allow for the Library’s growing collections. However, the College Library for students has almost reached storage capacity and lacks specialist spaces. Desks are also already in high demand, and, over the coming years, the library will need to continue to support an expanding student community while providing a comfortable and inspiring environment in which to study and research together.

This is one of the key challenges that architects Allies and Morrison are exploring for the College, in consultation with Fellows, students, staff and alumni, as part of the master planning process for Trinity at 500: A vision from now to 2046. View their presentation on ISSUU issuu.com/trinityalumni/ docs/22044_trinity_college_ masterplan_update_display_as

To discover how you can support Trinity’s evolution, please contact us at alumni@trin.cam.ac.uk

© JAMES APPLETON

O.4.47: Wages paid to carpenters in 1676.

Looking to the future TRINITY’S NEW STUDENT MENTORING SCHEME

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing effects left many students feeling a little adrift and uncertain about their futures.

For many months, our undergraduates had limited opportunities to interact with alumni and benefit from their friendship and guidance via the usual route of Alumni Association events and other activities.

To address this gap and provide support, the Alumni Relations and Development Office (ARDO), in collaboration with the Trinity Women’s Network and the Trinity Business and City Association, launched

How Mentoring Month works

Alumni invited to volunteer their time and provide a mentor profile on the Trinity Connect networking platform

Students invited to register their interest and share their aims

ARDO and Tutorial Office collaborate on pairing mentees with mentors

the College’s first Mentoring Month in March 2023, designed to connect students with the alumni community and create a safe space where they could explore the areas students wanted help with, whether career related or general life skills. We were delighted to match 28 secondyear undergraduates with 28 alumni volunteer mentors and are grateful to all participants for their commitment to this project.

Matches announced, mentees set their goals

Launch event –matches meet online, and receive training on making the most of the programme

Pairings meet via Zoom, telephone, or email for a minimum of 3 times during Mentoring Month

Mentees and mentors surveyed to improve future programmes

“ Our alumni have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share to help students set their future paths. Our hope is that having benefited from this expertise, our current mentees will be helping mentor generations of Trinity students in the years to come.”

Professor Catherine Barnard, Senior Tutor

MEET THE MENTEE

We asked one of our pairings to share their experience of Mentoring Month and what they gained from their collaboration.

Olivia Bouton (2021)

Second year English student and tutor

Q Why did you want to participate in the scheme and what did you hope to gain from the experience?

I am (and always have been) at a loss as to how to spend my career – as a child I had fresh schemes every week, spanning from dentist to cheese expert. It was all very well to thoroughly like my subject at school and university, but things beyond the cliff-edge of graduation felt very murky.

Q How did you both decide to structure your sessions?

Victoria was fantastic, and reached out soon after the programme was established on the Trinity Connect platform. We set up an initial meeting over Zoom after a few quick emails in which I vaguely detailed where I stood in relation to my plans and prospects. She was completely unfazed by my ambivalence, and fired back a comprehensive email with resources for a broad assortment of things I might like to do, from literary festivals, to publishing sites, to internships managing social media, to competitions.

On the call, she discussed her personal experience of writing, the publishing industry, acquisitions, and positions of the likes of literary agents. Writing was a part of her life that occurred after an industrious legal career; her words were comforting as she affirmed the normality of career changeability. She checked in with me a few times during the month, and since then has warmly offered an open door, should I wish to get in touch

again. Following this, she connected me to her friend and colleague on the Board of the Crime Writers’ Association for summer work opportunities. Vanessa has been exceptional, offering me several avenues, including writing and editing work on her award-winning writing resources website (Writing.ie), and assisting her in June at Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival. I am unbelievably grateful to both of them for their assistance and initiative.

Q What did you most enjoy about mentoring month and what was the best piece of advice Victoria gave you?

Victoria and Vanessa acted as real-life heralders of the life I’d like to lead, with several projects occurring at one time – perfect for my limited attention span. They both undercut the unsubstantiated (and frankly, old-fashioned) idea that your initial line of work or position is where you will remain for the rest of your dull days!

Q What would you say to students wondering whether to take up the opportunity?

There’s literally nothing to lose – if it so happens that your mentor isn’t a perfect match, or you find yourself unengaged with their particular line of work, it’s extremely likely that they’ll be able to connect you with someone they know who might be better able to assist you.

MEET THE MENTOR

Victoria Dowd (1990)

Victoria is the award-winning author of the bestselling Smart Woman’s Mystery series. Her debut novel, The Smart Woman’s Guide to Murder, won The People’s Book Prize for Fiction 2021. She is the author of the Adapting Agatha series, and with her co-author and daughter, Delilah Dowd, she has been shortlisted for the 2023 Crime Writers’ Association Short Story Dagger for the story The Tears of Venus. Originally from Yorkshire, Victoria was a criminal defence barrister for many years and is now head of the London Crime Writers’ Association.

Q Why did you want to participate in the scheme?

Over the years, I have had help and advice from so many different people, and it has been invaluable. I always promised myself that I would do the same for others if I was ever in the position to do so.

Q How did you prepare for each of your sessions and decide what to focus on?

I wanted to give Liv a real breadth of opportunities to consider using a wide range of resources that I’ve found useful over the years. I was keen to ensure she came away feeling that there’s a wealth of options out there for her. I started with books and publications I’d recommend and websites I found invaluable. I also gathered a range of possible places to consider as areas she might like to work in. I began with a blanket approach. We then focused in on what would be useful in terms of internships, giving Liv the chance to gain real life experience and

Trinty Connect – Volunteering to mentor

The Trinity Law Association has run a successful student mentoring scheme for a number of years. Our new scheme builds on their success, and has been managed through Trinity Connect, our bespoke online platform that enables you to network with alumni of all ages around the world. Join the 2000+ members who have already signed up, set up your own profile and sign up to receive news on upcoming mentoring opportunities.

see an area of the publishing and writing world in action.

Q What did you gain from the experience and what did Liv teach you?

A huge amount. It was incredibly valuable to see someone so keen and vibrant at the point where they are thinking about future careers. She was a wonderful person to mentor as she was completely open-minded at the same time as being very focused on maintaining her creativity. It was fantastic to see that she had embraced the idea that there are many avenues open to her and she won’t need to sacrifice her passions and inventiveness when she enters the world of work.

Q What would you say to fellow alumni wondering if they could be a mentor? Go for it! There are so many ways you can help, even if it’s just giving someone the opportunity to explore different ideas. I found it very inspiring to see someone at the beginning of their career and the positivity and enthusiasm they exude.

You can also search the members’ directory to get in touch with other alumni and ask for advice, offer others your help and expertise, and join our interest and regional groups – visit trincam.aluminate.net

Want to know more?

To discover more about mentoring and how you could be involved, contact us at alumni@trin.cam.ac.uk

Lam in the Wren

Professor Jean Khalfa (e1994) on the extraordinary livre d’artiste collaborations of Cuban-born artist Wifredo Lam in the Wren Library’s Kessler Collection.

Trinity College’s Wren Library holds a unique collection of modern illustrated books and livres d’artistes. At its heart is the Kessler Collection,1 and among the last books the late Nicholas Kessler acquired for the Wren is an astonishing volume entitled Apostroph’Apocalypse. It consists of a suite of 20 bifolios (550 x 450 mm) with 14 etchings by the Cuban painter of Chinese, African and Spanish origins Wifredo Lam (1902–82), 2 and texts in French by the Romanian poet, artist and performer Ghérasim Luca (1913–94), whose Dadaist word-play is emphasised here by the complex typography and the irregular folding of some of the pages, which sometimes covers certain words in order to reveal others.

The first poem (or ontophonie, as Luca called his texts intended for performance) directly refers to a nuclear destruction of the world. The visual trajectory of an apostrophe through the words in the printed text initiates an ‘apocalypse’ in both senses, of a decomposition of language and of an unveiling or revelation of a multiplicity of unseen meanings. The subsequent texts, ‘Comment s’en sortir sans sortir’, ‘Paralipomènes’, and ‘Ellipse d’ellipse’, explore in turn different processes of word

1. For a description of the collection see my article in Parenthesis Spring 2018 / Number 34: https://fpba.com/parenthesis/issue/ parenthesis-34/

2. https://www.wifredolam.net/en/biography.html

Ghérasim Luca, Apostroph’Apocalypse. Giorgio Upiglio, Grafica Uno, Milan, 1967. 20 bifolios in a watermarked Velin Filicarta cover in a grey-brown laid paper clamshell box. 14 etchings by Lam, Catalogue Raisonné 181. Trinity College Library, Kessler.bb.33.

STEPHEN BOND

decompositions. The reader will also feel apostrophé (arrested, interpellated) by Lam’s etchings, which seem to perform, like the text, a series of explosions, decompositions and surrealist assemblage of jagged forms, combining human bodies, or sexual body parts, with African looking masks and animal shapes (birds and horse-heads) equipped with a variety of sharp protuberances, beaks, horns, spikes and elongated feet or hands. All of this happens under the absent gaze of small semi-ovoid horned figures, representing Legba, an orisha or god from santería, a polytheistic religion of African origin which developed in Cuba. This mysterious world is in movement, either in flight or in seemingly urgent spinning, a dynamic which is suggested in the graphic work by directional traces on the background or intensifying ink densities in the figures, in the direction of flight. Sometimes the figures seem paused in ill-balanced poses, as if in moments of puzzlement, though eyes are inscrutable. Legba is a guardian of crossroads and the god of passages, between the natural and the supernatural, the human and the animal, and between the genders.

Reviewing the Wifredo Lam retrospective exhibition which took place at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2015 and went to Tate Modern the following year, Le Monde’s art critic Philippe Dagen called this publication ‘one of the most beautiful books of the century, if one can call this immense album traversed by sharp sentences and piercing lines a book’.

This book was typeset by Luigi Maestri in a selection of upper-case founts, and the etchings were printed by Giancarlo Pozzi, both working in Giorgio Upiglio’s Grafica Uno workshop in Milan, one of the greatest of the period, where Duchamp and De Chirico had had their works printed. Design and printing took three years, and the book was eventually published in March 1967 in a print run of 135 copies, including a tirage de tête of 25 copies that included the suite on japon nacré It is perhaps the greatest of Lam’s books and certainly one of the highlights in exhibitions of the Kessler collection. But Lam contributed to many other artists’ books, in a great variety of formats, of which most are also in the Wren, making it, with the Musée du Dessin et de l’Estampe originale, in Gravelines, the greatest collection of books with illustrations engraved by Lam.

Lam came to printmaking comparatively late. By that time, he was already a well-established artist, whose famous La Jungle of 1943 had been acquired by New York’s MOMA in 1945, and was displayed next to Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. As a painter he was astonishingly prolific, with works held and displayed in public and private collections worldwide, and he was represented by the major international galleries.

Another great work is his collaboration with René Char, whom he had met in 1947 during the first post-war exhibition of his work in Paris, and who is generally

Ghérasim Luca, Apostroph’Apocalypse. Giorgio Upiglio, Grafica Uno, Milan, 1967. 20 bifolios in a watermarked Velin Filicarta cover in a grey-brown laid paper clamshell box. 14 etchings by Lam, CR 189. Trinity College Library, Kessler.bb.30.

René Char, Contre une maison sèche, Jean Hugues, Paris, 1976. 11 bifolios in a marbled sand coloured Richard de Bas paper cover in an off-white raw silk covered folder with an off-white raw silk covered slipcase. 9 etchings by Lam. CR 322. Trinity College Library, Kessler.bb.24.

considered the most significant poet of the period in France. The Wren holds not just a beautiful copy of Contre une maison sèche as part of the Kessler collection, but also the only copy in public collections of a posthumous volume derived from illustrations made for it. When Lam and Char started to work on their book, Lam first planned his etchings to be printed in a portrait format, but it was later decided to publish the book in a large landscape format, proportions better suited to the structure of Char’s aphoristic poetry. Lam therefore created a new set of plates for the book but the original plates were kept. When Jacques Dupin (1927–2012), one of the most significant poets and art critics of the generation that followed Char, and who had already published on Lam’s work, saw the prints made from these earlier plates, he decided to write a series of texts which in effect served to illustrate these images. The resulting book was eventually printed in 2011, almost 30 years after Lam’s death, again by Grafica Uno, two years before Upiglio’s death. The limited edition of only 35 copies plus five hors commerce remained unpublished following Dupin’s death in 2012. In 2019, the estates of Jacques Dupin and Wifredo Lam jointly presented the Wren Library with the first copy to be released of this hitherto unknown artist’s book by Dupin and Lam, La Nuit se découvre (‘Night unveils’). Dupin’s poems are astonishing reflections on the materiality of the printing process in the hands of Lam: ‘le trait qui se grave m’entame’ (‘etching itself, the line cuts into me’).

Another rarely seen volume worth mentioning is the last one Lam produced during his lifetime, a collaboration with the poet, art critic and writer Jean-Dominique Rey (1926–2016). This publication was Rey’s first collection of short stories, a genre in which he was to become well known. It was published only weeks before Lam’s death. The title of the collection, L’Herbe sous les pavés, refers to a saying from the revolutionary events of May ’68, ‘there is grass growing under the cobbles’, but it refers also to the structure of the stories where a surreal reality is revealed under the appearances. Since becoming confined to a wheelchair, following a stroke, Lam drew a lot in notebooks, and the drawings were often covered in hatched patterns, out of which figures emerged beautifully, as in some his very early work. For this book Lam drew on small copper plates in his apartment in Paris. The plates were heated in his kitchen oven by Upiglio and then etched at the studio of George Goetz. The text was printed in Paris and the plates in Milan, by Upiglio. Lam signed the colophon of all the copies in July 1982, and a notice of his death on 11 September was added in a second colophon. Each of the five short stories in the book is accompanied by an etching. The penultimate plate is an astonishing mise en abyme, the self-mirroring of the artist as one of his own creatures, a hybrid of human and animal, male and female, holding on his hand his own deity, the god of passages, and contemplating a neoclassical representation of his own models, a mother and a child, as if to stress, for us, a last time, on which side reality truly is.

This is the paradox that attracted all these writers whose main purpose was to reinvent a language sullied by dominant stupidity: Lam shared with astonishing strength a vision grounded in an experience that was foreign to most of those whom his work touched. In doing so, he managed to reverse our position, from viewers to viewed. The world he invents is the staging of experiences of possession and at the same time a lucid, detached observation by the figures represented, which seem to interrogate us with puzzlement, destabilising the gaze of the spectator who can no longer observe through the frame of the classical canvas a world to be owned.

No systematic scholarly work has been produced on these extraordinary books. I am currently finishing editing a collective volume on them which considers all of their aspects, the evolution of Lam’s aesthetics, the interactions of text and image, their spiritual dimension, the cultural history of the period, and the history of printmaking. It will be published in a fully illustrated, bilingual edition by Éditions du Tout Monde in Paris, a publishing house created by Édouard Glissant, a poet and critique who was close to Lam.

The Kessler collection started with the dream and passion of an alumnus, Nicholas Kessler (1937–2018, matric. 1955). This project is also made possible with alumni support, for which we are deeply grateful.

If you are interested in discovering more about supporting projects such as these, please contact the Alumni Relations and Development Office alumni@trin.cam.ac.uk

Jean-Dominique Rey, L’Herbe sous les pavés. 16 bifolios in a sand coloured cover in a blue paper covered card folder with a blue paper covered card slipcase. 6 etchings by Lam. CR 401. Trinity College Library, Kessler.a.68.

Further reading:

trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress. com/2018/05/29/wifredo-lam-livres-dartiste-1/

trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress. com/2018/06/04/wifredo-lam-livres-dartiste-2/

Jacques Dupin, La Nuit se découvre. Impressioni originali di Giorgio Upiglio, Milan, 2011. 7 bifolios in a dark green laid paper cover with a green laid paper covered slipcase. 4 etchings by Lam. CR 254. Trinity College Library, 214.a.01.10.

TRINITY CRYPTIC CROSSWORD NO. 9

ACROSS

1 Following “Starters from all menus inedible”, surely he’ll starve (6)

4 River returns poor killer of Shakespeare (7)

8 Beloved Welshman’s capital needed after 500 (3)

9 Famous English physician sees a King in queue (7)

10 Teaching of perception twice cancelled from the start (7)

11 Cryptically examine an unspecified number of fair crossword-setting rules (8)

12 Region of Kazakhstan also known as home for 7, symbolically (6)

14 Metre or centimetre essentially (4)

16 Intense dislike regarding dog with grandmother nowadays (10)

18 Wished to go out to get fridge/freezer etc (5,5)

21 King left terms of reference for produce (4)

24 Tug swallowed by river flood (6)

25 Irishman briefly to the East of Paris – well, every two years (8)

27 Berry’s up-to-the-minute broadcast (7)

28 Straw hat on South American cape (7)

29 Look to left and right (3)

30 Celebrity Rod’s playing absorbed by endless beat (7)

31 It’s fashionable to follow coronation that’s been on TV for ages! (6)

DOWN

1 Suffolk town cuts off a Trinity source of income (10,5)

2 Short dress mother has on, showing bottom (7)

3 Back in 7 (6)

4 Small child’s film I’m reviewing (4)

5 Timid bird (7)

6 Valuable tech start-up company engaged in complicated run-in (7)

7 Maybe 3 doctors untainted with man-flu (11,4)

8 Delaware director making Boccaccio’s book of a hundred tales (9)

13 Both naked squads drilled in dance (9)

15 Take in repast regularly (3)

17 Live over age (3)

19 Twelfth Night’s location not rightly cheerful when upset (7)

20 Travelling stoic departs from long-distance supply nation (7)

22 Encota’s cook halving more stale Portuguese bread (7)

23 Evening in conversation evokes Sir Christopher Wren perhaps (6)

26 Couple has sex with them informally (4)

Visit The Fountain web page for a Word version of the crossword: trin.cam.ac.uk/ alumni/publications/the-fountain

Please email your entry to alumni-comms@trin.cam. ac.uk or send it to us:

The Editor, Alumni Relations & Development Office Trinity College, Cambridge CB2 1TQ

Entries are due by 30 September 2023.

WINNING ENTRIES

Alumni competition

The first correct entry drawn will win a copy of Trinity Poets, and the winner will be announced in the next issue of The Fountain

For the solution to Cryptic Crossword No.8 visit The Fountain web page listed below’, or email us at alumnicomms@trin.cam.ac.uk

Congratulations to Hugh Everett (1982) who successfully completed Trinity Cryptic Crossword No.8, winning a copy of Trinity Poets.

Student competition

Congratulations to John Crump (2020) and Maraia Pickering (2019), winners of the fifth student crossword competition in memory of avid crossword fan John Grenfell-Shaw (2011). The prize of a generous Trinity catering credit is kindly supported by John’s parents, Jenny and Mark.

Tim King (1980) is the Ipswich-based professional crossword compiler Encota. Tim also sets personalised puzzles as unique and thoughtful gifts. If you’d like to know more, contact him at: specialisedcrosswords@gmail.com and visit his website: www.specialisedcrosswords.co.uk

The future of global food security

Boosting crop production in response to escalating human demand is one of the greatest challenges the world faces.

Our capacity to solve this global problem, and to tackle future threats, depends on investing in the most promising researchers whose work will advance our understanding and help to protect the future of the planet. In 2017, alumnus Robert Cawthorn (1956)

made a gift to support a postdoctoral research post in Crop Sciences, a joint initiative of benefit to both Trinity and the University’s Crop Science Centre. Dr Natasha Yelina was appointed to the post in 2021. Here she presents her research.

Dr

Natasha Yelina, Cawthorn Trinity Senior Postdoctoral Researcher

Thanks to alumni support, I have established my first research group at the University of Cambridge Crop Science Centre, and I am leading a team of four researchers, pictured, who work on trait reassortment control in legume crops and model plants (a widely studied species of plant chosen for the ease of investigating particular biological phenomena). I am building my research programme with the overarching aim of developing technologies that can speed up conventional crop breeding by overcoming intrinsic limitations of trait reassortment, which is reshuffling of the genetic material of two parents resulting in new combinations in offspring.

I work on meiosis, a specialised cell division that produces gametes, eggs, and sperm. Unlike other cells in the organism, gametes are not genetically identical to parental cells. This is because during meiosis, chromosomes from Mum and Dad physically exchange parts, or recombine. Recombination is essential to ensure that gametes receive the correct DNA content from their parents. It is also important for evolution because parental trait reshuffling, or reassortment, that occurs during meiosis, brings together novel trait combinations, and breaks apart existing ones, driving genetic diversity.

Recombination is, therefore, of great importance for crop breeding where development of improved crop varieties relies on selecting novel, agronomically favourable trait combinations.

Despite its importance for crop breeding, trait reassortment is limiting because recombination events are infrequent and uneven. As a result, the current pace of crop breeding is insufficient to meet food security demands of the world’s growing population. A loss of genetic variation during crop domestication has reduced the pool of available agronomically valuable traits. Wild crop relatives, however, have an untapped reservoir of traits

The Crop Breeding Technologies Group research team, based at the Crop Science Centre. Left to right: Elena Bidash (PhD Student), Dr Natasha Yelina (Group Leader), Dr Chiara Di Dio (Postdoc) and Denitsa Hristova (Research Assistant).

providing adaptations to environmental stresses which include extreme temperatures, drought, pests, and pathogens. Due to intrinsic limitations of recombination, the introgression (the transfer of genetic information from one species to another as a result of hybridization and repeated backcrossing) of agronomically valuable traits from wild crop relatives into elite varieties is slow, while a large proportion of traits do not undergo reassortment and remain ‘locked’ for breeding. Therefore, there is a need to overcome the limitations of trait reassortment to expedite the breeding of new improved crop varieties.

Fundamental advances in a model plant Arabidopsis, which is a member of the mustard [Brassicaceae] family, including my own post-doctoral research, have led to our improved understanding of the mechanisms of meiotic trait reassortment control in plants. We now know that chromosome-wide recombination ‘landscapes’ are influenced by a combined action of pro- and anti-recombination proteins (which promote or suppress recombination, respectively) and chromatin (chemical modifications to the chromosomal DNA and its associated proteins, histones). So, our research is already making a valuable contribution to expediting crop breeding programmes. Thanks to the advances in genetics, genomics, and gene editing, we can now enhance trait reassortment by mutating genes encoding anti-crossover factors, upregulating genes encoding pro-crossover factors and altering chromatin.

I am very grateful for the philanthropic support which is funding my Fellowship at the new Cambridge Crop Science Centre, a flagship initiative with a focus on translating fundamental plant molecular biology achievements into solutions for sustainable agriculture. The Fellowship has allowed me to achieve an otherwise very difficult transition from a post-doc to a first independent research position, an essential stepping-stone to a career in academia, and it has provided me with a unique opportunity to be at the centre of both fundamental and translational research (the latter aims to develop basic research findings into practical solutions that directly benefit humankind).

I am now part of a wider and highly intellectually stimulating network of fundamental research excellence in plant science in Cambridge, which includes the Department of Plant Sciences, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and the Sainsbury Laboratory (SLCU). My translational research interests are strongly supported by the Crop Science Centre and its alliance with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), a world-leading crop research institute who put fundamental science into practice. I hope that my research will also help translate cutting-edge fundamental science into new crop breeding solutions to ensure that we can continue to feed the world, and that we can do so sustainably.

If you want to discover more about supporting Trinity research, please contact the Alumni Relations and Development Office alumni@trin.cam.ac.uk cropsciencecentre.org/staff/natasha-yelina

Arabidopsis thaliana, the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small plant from the mustard family, native to Eurasia and Africa.

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