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Postmaster & The Merton Record 2015

Contents

Merton College Oxford OX1 4JD Telephone +44 (0)1865 276310 www.merton.ox.ac.uk Edited by Catherine Farfan, Christine Taylor, Helen Kingsley, Bethany Pedder and Philippa Logan Front cover image A characterful depiction of a hawk-like scholar overlooks Fellows’ Quad. Photograph © Merton College Additional images Pages 10, 28, 50, 93, 95, 97, 98: John Cairns (www.johncairns.co.uk) Page 18: bzd1 Page 24: Solar Dynamics Observatory / NASA Page 52: Chris Wever Page 54: Kieran Lynam Page 55: Fr Lawrence Lew, OP Page 66: Neil Palmer, CCAFS Page 70: fdecomite Page 206-7: Noel Privett (1979) You can download a digital copy of Postmaster online at http://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/alumniand-friends/publications

College News

Features

Records

Word from the Warden........................................................................4

View from the Top...............................................................................52 Postmaster talks to the Chairman of Standard Life, Sir Gerry Grimstone (1968) about privatisation, the Scottish Referendum and John Cleese

The Warden & Fellows 2014-15.......................................................86

Merton Sport.........................................................................................10 Badminton, Rowing, Cricket, Blues & Haigh Ties, Darts, Football, Squash, Go-Karting, Tennis

Mertonians in… Theology and the Church....................................56 Reflections from Merton alumni about their lives in Theology and the Church

School Results 2015.............................................................................93

Clubs & Societies................................................................................. 18 Biology Society, The Bodley Club, Halsbury Society, Music Society, Signs & Wonderings

Merton Cities: Hong Kong..................................................................64 Aditya Rana (1983) shares his best-kept secrets about the city he has made home

Graduate Degrees, Awards & Prizes................................................97

Interdisciplinary Groups.....................................................................24 Global Directions, History of the Book, Occam Lectures

Adapting to a Thirsty World............................................................. 66 Current DPhil student Jessica Thorn (2010) talks about her research on adapting to the challenges of climate change in Nepal and Ghana

Publications........................................................................................ 100

JCR News..................................................................................................6 MCR News................................................................................................8

Departments........................................................................................ 28 The Chapel, The Choir, The Library, The Archives, The Gardens, Academic Office, Schools Liaison & Access, Development Hail to New Fellows............................................................................ 48

Five Weeks in Sierra Leone: On the Ebola front line ................ 68 Professor Nicole Zitzmann, Merton Research Fellow in Biochemistry, helped in the fight against Ebola in 2015 – she tells her story here Notes from the early days of the European Community...........70 Roderick Abbott (1958) looks back over the teenage years of the European Community Europe’s Rebirth, 1945-1949...............................................................72 Professor Sir Ian Kershaw (1966) examines the rebirth of Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, based on the Raleigh Lecture given at the British Academy in 2015 Henry Savile as Warden of Merton.................................................76 JRL Highfield (Emeritus Fellow, 1948) looks at the Wardenship of Henry Savile in the late 16th and early 17th-centuries Lost, Little Known and Unbuilt Merton (12)...................................78 Alan Bott (1953) examines images of the College’s Founder, Walter de Merton Book Reviews....................................................................................... 82

Elections, Honours & Appointments.............................................. 89 New Students 2014.............................................................................90 Undergraduate Awards & Prizes.......................................................94 College Staff......................................................................................... 98

Old Members The Merton Society...........................................................................106 MC3.......................................................................................................108 Alumni group and events..................................................................110 Merton in the City, Merton Lawyers’ Association, Merton Golf Society, 2015 Oxford Town and Gown News of Old Members........................................................................ 114 In Memoriam....................................................................................... 164 Former Fellows: Brian Guy Campbell, Honorary Fellows: Sir Martin Gilbert, Sir Maurice Hodgson, Professor RJP (Bob) Williams Forthcoming Events...........................................................................198

FROM THE WARDEN

So much has happened over the last 12 months that it is difficult to look back and take it all in, although pulling together my annual Postmaster report gives a marvellous opportunity to revisit a varied and interesting year. 201415 has been a year of two parts: wrapping up the splendid 750th Anniversary Celebrations and the Sustaining Excellence Campaign; and then returning to business as usual, with an eye to the future. I have talked before about looking back and looking forward; whereas Merton is now more actively ‘looking forward’, recent work on the College strategy has been hugely informed by ‘looking back’ over 750 years of a thriving academic community.

Sustaining Excellence has proved to be a fitting name for the 750th Anniversary Campaign, as Mertonians continue to demonstrate exactly what it is that makes Merton excellent. Over the past year, Merton Fellows have won prizes in teaching and research, been honoured with lectures, titles and membership to elite institutions, and have continued to prove Merton’s standing as a college par excellence with global reach. Particularly memorable this year was learning of Professor Nicole Zitzmann’s volunteer work in Sierra Leone dealing with the Ebola outbreak. Hearing about her experience diagnosing the disease in the community was not only moving but inspirational. The College is immensely

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proud of her. I was also delighted with the success of Merton’s Law students, particularly Laura King (2013) and Tinny Chan (2013), who took part in the celebrated Jessup International Law Mooting Competition. They played a vital role in the four-person Oxford University team that went on to represent the UK, and to finish in the top four teams in the world. 2014 enabled the College to showcase some of the widereaching influences of Mertonians. The final two of the six Merton Conversations were both memorable. October’s Conversation ‘On Liberty’ was moderated by Philippa Whipple QC (1984), and I will always remember the innovative way she linked Magna Carta – 800 years old in 2015 and only 50 years older than Merton – with the College’s statutes. The final Conversation between Sir Bernard Hogan Howe (1988) and Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys (1968) on ‘The Real Science behind CSI’ was made all the more relevant by the release earlier this year of the ITV drama Code of a Killer, based on Alec’s ground-breaking work. Similarly, I was delighted to hear guest speaker Sir Gerry Grimstone (1968) give a widely varied and riveting account of his career at the latest meeting of Merton in the City. Within an hour, he covered a fascinating range of subjects, from privatisation under Margaret Thatcher’s government, to the challenges

It is with both sadness and pride that I report that Professor Tim Softley, the Courtenay Phillips Fellow in Chemistry, is leaving Merton to take up the position of Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Birmingham. We wish him well. As Professor Softley relinquishes his Chemistry Fellowship, we now look with trepidation for his replacement, a difficult task that has been made easier thanks to the funds raised for Chemistry during the Sustaining Excellence Campaign, which have underwritten this Tutorial Fellowship. I am humbled by the commitment, innovation and generosity of Mertonians, especially in the wake of this outstanding seven-year Campaign. We are a small college and it is hugely impressive to have raised £30 million. Your largesse will continue to make a profound and lasting effect on the lives of current and future Mertonians: thank you. No thanks are complete without mentioning joint chairmen John Booth (1976) and Charles Manby (1976) and the other members of the Campaign Boards in the UK, as well as MC3 in the Americas. We are saddened to say farewell to several others of our number this year, including five Junior Research Fellows – Abigail Adams, Aisling Byrne, Emily Guerry, Patrick Lantschner and Matthias Lenz – all of whom are moving on to teaching posts outside Merton, demonstrating just how vital the JRF scheme is to outstanding young academics at the beginning of their careers. In Hilary Term, our Senior Tutor Dr Catherine Paxton moved to take up the position of Director of Student Welfare and Support Services for the University. Catherine was a fount of considerable knowledge and wisdom, and has been sorely missed. Nevertheless, we were delighted to welcome back Dr Rachel Buxton for her second term as Senior Tutor. I would also like to thank Dr Trudy Watt for, once again, taking on the position between these appointments. It is with regret that I also inform you that Douglas Bamber, who has been the College’s Domestic Bursar for the last eight years, is retiring in spring 2016. Replacing him is going to be a challenge, as he has excelled

in managing the many and varied demands of the role. His counsel will be greatly missed. Looking forward, and after taking a break to focus on the 750th Anniversary Year, the Governing Body has restarted to shape future plans and goals for the College. Although the details are still being agreed, we are certain that the major focus will be improving our graduate student experience while maintaining the high quality of our current undergraduate provision. We already know the more obvious aspects: many more graduate scholarships are essential, as is the clever and careful regeneration of some of the College site to permit some very necessary 21st-century facilities. There are many details to be worked through, but these exciting plans will build on the legacy of the 750th Campaign with aplomb.

COLLEGE NEWS | FROM THE WARDEN

of chairing Standard Life and the global role of Russia and China. The evening was well attended by Mertonians of all ages, including current students. My thanks go to Richard Baxter (1983), Director at FTI Consulting in Aldersgate, London for hosting the event.

As with every year, however, it is with sorrow that I report the loss of Merton stalwarts: sadly, four this year. Sir Martin Gilbert (Magdalen, 1957), Honorary Fellow and two-times JRF at Merton, died in February. A revolutionary modern historian, his ground-breaking biography of Sir Winston Churchill was the crowning achievement of a truly great career. Sir Maurice Hodgson (1938), Honorary Fellow, died in October 2014: his corneal dystrophy never stood in the way of work for ICI, first on the Manhattan Project and later as Chairman through the tumultuous 1970s. Professor Bob Williams MBE (1948), Honorary Fellow, who died in March, was a pioneering chemist, founding member of the Oxford Enzyme Group and recipient of the Royal Society’s Royal Medal. Finally, Brian Campbell, who was a Fellow of Merton from 1961 to 1972 and later Fellow and Bursar of Corpus Christi College, and Chairman and then Vice President of the Governors of the Royal National College for the Blind, died in March. They will all be sadly missed. Sir Martin Taylor FRS

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COLLEGE NEWS | JCR NEWS

JCR NEWS

In an academic year that began with the matriculation of the 750th year of students, the Junior Common Room has continued on a high trajectory. Although academic work takes up large amounts of a student’s time at Merton, we are looking back on a year full of festivities and a wide range of activities, making the JCR an immensely vibrant, friendly and inclusive environment. The past year has seen society and sports successes; we have also made further progress in the JCR’s equality and access work, and achieved significant improvements in both JCR facilities and constitutional matters.

out on blades on a technicality in Torpids, our men’s first boat held its position in Summer Eights, while the women’s first boat took spoons in Eights after a more solid performance in Hilary. As previously, several rowers are joining the Blues squads for future academic years, promising bright prospects for 2015-16. Apart from a catastrophic defeat of one of the football squads against Teddy Hall in Hilary, the other sports teams displayed commendable performances: in particular, the squash team came second in Cuppers and the men’s tennis squad reached the semi-finals of their Cuppers competition.

As in previous years, tribute goes to the societies and sports clubs for making ours a varied and stimulating common room. The Music Society has continued in strength, with concerts from the Fidelio Orchestra and the Kodaly Choir as well as numerous lunchtime recitals. After last year’s revival of the Bodley Club – a speaker society dating back to 1894 – the Club successfully ran alongside the Neave Society, hosting speakers such as eminent Shakespeare scholars Professor Stanley Wells and the Revd Dr Paul Edmondson, the famous gender historian Professor Lyndal Roper, and the Chancellor of the University, Lord Patten of Barnes.

On the social side, a specially elected committee organised and executed a fantastic Arts Week, a tradition that had been intermitted among all the festivities of the 750th Anniversary. The week was crowned by Mertonbury, Merton’s own music festival, spirited on by liberal amounts of Pimms, lemonade, strawberries and cream – a fortuitously sunny and thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The annual Time Ceremony in Michaelmas was again very well attended, and the repeated attempts of students from other colleges to climb the perilously high walls of Merton to partake in the ceremony (all but one were caught) demonstrated once more the special privilege of being a Mertonian.

Our numerous sports teams, many of which are assembled with Mansfield College, have continued to provide regular recreation, some with more success than others. After missing

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Internally, we have been pushing forward on several fronts. We received a new batch of sofas and a coffee machine,

Merton matriculands 2014. This photograph has been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame photographers and can be ordered by visiting www.gsimagebank.co.uk/merton and using the token id: merton2015

which draws more members into the JCR every day. For the first time in the history of the College, and on the initiative of the JCR, the Rainbow Flag was flown on 28 February in solidarity with those who have suffered as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The attendance at our biweekly General Meetings was noticeably higher than in previous years, and the great number of motions discussed testifies to a widespread willingness to engage with the JCR and make a difference at the College level. One small but important change was the clarification of the right of suspended students to vote in JCR elections. The JCR also renewed its commitment to the Reach Scholarship, which fully funds an undergraduate student from a developing country or crisis region who demonstrably could not otherwise afford to study at Oxford. The scholarship is jointly funded by the College, the University and the JCR. After the JCR had raised more than half of its contribution through voluntary termly levies on all members, I had the honour of participating in the selection process for Merton’s first Reach Scholar arriving next Michaelmas 2016. A particular project has been to clarify the relationship between the JCR and the MCR, and I would like to thank both the previous MCR President, Alex Denhez, and the incumbent, Alexander Karlberg, for their tireless and patient cooperation on this issue. Currently, all MCR members are

also JCR members – an arrangement that harkens back to a time when the MCR was too small to govern itself. A clear political separation, while upholding the strong social bond that currently links the two common rooms, might enable closer and more representative cooperation between undergraduate and graduate members of the College. Several drafts for the amendment of the JCR’s Constitution (last fully revised in 1998) detailing such a new arrangement have been debated in General Meetings over the last two terms – further evidence of the remarkable persistence and goodwill of the JCR to engage with rather dry but important institutional changes – and I am confident that we have laid the foundations for a new era of cooperation and integration among all junior members of the College. Evidently, we are looking back on a year of success and advances, and I would like to thank all members of the JCR Committee for their hard work that made this possible. I am convinced that next year’s President, William Tilston, and his committee will continue to make undergraduate life at Merton a unique experience. Finally, I would like to offer my fondest farewell to this year’s group of leavers; I wish them the best of luck for the future. Daniel Schwennicke (2012) JCR President 2014-15

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COLLEGE NEWS | MCR NEWS

MCR NEWS

Last year’s 750th anniversary celebrations set a high standard for events run at Merton College. The MCR, one of Oxford’s largest and most active, rode on the tail winds of the year’s success, keeping postgraduate spirits high by organising myriad social, academic and welfare events, leaving students with little reason to look elsewhere for stimulation. It is therefore appropriate to extend our thanks to the outgoing committee – you will be missed!

By far the single most significant event in the MCR this year was the purchase of a new coffee machine. No longer will postgraduates be bound to the temperamental demands of the old machine. Our shiny new gadget is far more cooperative and, suffice to say, overflowing with delicious coffee beans, some of which have been directly imported from Ethiopia by our Admiral of the Fleet. The machine has become a centrepiece in the MCR, where it has been very well received, and has already produced thousands of cups of coffee since its purchase in February: 3,523, to be exact. We hope that it will continue to serve the MCR well for many years. Lest you get the impression that students spend their days primarily guzzling coffee, be reassured that they’re an active lot and a generous one too. Following the earthquake in Nepal in April, a very successful yoga fundraiser was organised in the MCR by two of its members, Jessica Thorn and Fay

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Suwanwattana. Students with their hearts in the right places had arms and legs in all the wrong ones, led in their charitable contortions by the Ashtanga Yoga Master Manu Rossi. While Oxford has much to offer, the MCR ventured beyond the city limits this year and was pleasantly surprised at what it found there. Students suffering from cabin fever – or perhaps better described as library and laboratory fever – eagerly leapt at the opportunity to explore the Cotswolds by foot. One needn’t look far for natural splendours in Oxfordshire. The Harcourt Arboretum south of the city provided a beautiful venue for a long walk and an equally long picnic last autumn. Not all excursions were so tranquil, however: notably the laser tag events that were held in both Freshers’ Week and Hilary Term. It appears that shooting lasers has therapeutic benefits, as students let a lot of pentup aggression loose in a thankfully non-violent way. This Trinity Term, the MCR has been proactive in fraternising with colleges from within and without Oxford. Three Exchange Dinners were organised with St Catz, Exeter, and our sister college, Peterhouse, in Cambridge. We also participated in a combined Garden Party and Cocktail Party with New College and Jesus College. These joint events were very successful and we expect to host more of them over the next few terms. This term also saw the return of our

Members of Merton MCR at matriculation, 2014. Photograph: Marion Muller

annual Garden Party, which was supplanted by the 750th Quad Party last year. Although the weather gods were not on our side, attendance was high and the Common Room resilient. Champagne and Pimms flowed and enough sun peeked through the clouds later in the afternoon to keep guests out until well past suppertime. Merton College has a long-standing reputation for having some of the best food in Oxford, and it is a well-known fact that ours is the best-value lunch in Oxbridge. To ensure this continues, we have been liaising with College about maintaining the standard of food in Hall. Students now have a say in the menu for Guest Nights and Exchange Dinners, such that the best the kitchen has to offer is always showcased at these events. Several important changes were made this Trinity to the termly President’s Black Tie Dinner. Once a rather expensive and consequently exclusive event, the dinner was made much more affordable at no expense to quality (I hope!). As a result of the reduction in price, nearly all seats in Hall were filled for the dinner and the Savile Room was packed for Second Desserts. The success of the dinner manifested itself in the number of people who decided to stay in the MCR well past the official end of the event.

Over the past few terms the MCR has run many academic events, including the novel Passions Forum, which gave students the opportunity to speak about interests unconnected to their research. In the autumn, the MCR plans to organise a ‘3-Minute Thesis Challenge’, which encourages members of the Common Room to convince their peers of the value of their research in a highly condensed way. We are also trying to strengthen our ties with the SCR by running joint academic events with Fellows and lecturers in College. Ideas on how we might achieve this kind of collaboration were presented to the SCR by the MCR this Trinity Term and we are already planning a series of lunchtime talks for the summer period when members of both Common Rooms dine together. The Merton College MCR is one of the strongest graduate communities in Oxford. I would like to thank the College and its staff for supporting us both financially and practically, the MCR committee for all its hard work, and, most of all, the members of the Middle Common Room for their unstinting enthusiasm, patience and good humour. Alexander Karlberg (2012) MCR President 2015-16

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COLLEGE NEWS | BADMINTON

Merton Sport Badminton

Last year we set out to play badminton at a collegiate level but realised the College no longer had a recognised club and so lacked the facilities to play the sport. Trial runs in Trinity Term 2014 proved there was sufficient interest amongst members of the JCR – regularly attracting 16 players a week. Setting up a society proved far more difficult than initially thought. It soon became clear that Oxford has, to put it mildly, a rather poor provision of badminton courts! However, after numerous phone calls and emails, we managed to find some courts at Magdalen College School – a weekly hourlong session at 9pm on Sunday evenings. The society was set up with the intention of giving Mertonians a clear opportunity not only to play competitive badminton, but also to form a team to represent their College at the sport for the first time in many years. To our delight, the format of competitive matches appealed to both the more serious badminton players within the College and the more recreational players – giving the practice sessions a genuine social quality that has inspired many to carry on playing the sport after they leave. Though appealing to many different years within the undergraduate population, there was a definite gender bias towards the male members of the College, so it was only feasible to enter a Men’s team into the League. As we were a new team we had to enter the lowest division, in our case Men’s Division

From left: Harry Fagan, Joseph Sheridan, Keishi Kohara, Ose Ikhena, Amy Davis, Jessica Ellis, Stephen Thatcher, Thomas White

4. Alexander Ho (2013) and Andrew Turner (2013) deserve special mention for their incredible performances throughout the year, and commendations must go to all other competitive players – including Gordon Scott (2013), Harry Fagan (2013), Ewan McCulloch (2014) and Olivia Whittaker (2014), who was able to play in Men’s competitive matches thanks to careful studying of the rulebook! We are delighted to be able to report that Merton finished second in Division 4, beating Magdalen MB and St John’s/Mansfield MB, drawing to Wadham MB and very narrowly losing to St Hilda’s (who ended up in first place). This result means that we have achieved promotion to Division 3 at the earliest opportunity and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team throughout this first year of coordinated badminton at Merton. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped this society get off the ground and played a part in this successful first year. The Merton College Badminton Society will continue into its second year with a new president, Olivia Whittaker (2014), and a re-elected captain, Matthew Raybould (2012). Our intention is to enter teams for the Cuppers tournament in addition to the League, while pushing for more women to join the society so that we can field a Ladies’ team. Thomas White and Matthew Raybould (both 2012) Merton College Badminton Society Presidents 2014-15

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COLLEGE NEWS | ROWING

Men’s Rowing

Michaelmas began with a strong push to recruit novices, with rowing drinks and taster sessions. Both were a success, and the year began with almost as many novices as senior rowers. At the end of the year, half of each of the men’s first and second boats were made up of students in their first year of training. Our new coach, Ian Smith, came with high recommendations and proved to be an excellent asset.

Women’s Rowing

This year’s women’s boat has been made up of a great group of girls and I do not think anyone can deny the sheer amount of hard work, commitment and good humour that has been put in! We started well in Michaelmas Term with our freshers’ boat successfully winning both their first and second races. Our most enthusiastic freshers then continued into Hilary Term and joined W1 in training for Torpids. Some icy cold stints on the water, as well as gruelling gym and erg sessions, were rewarded with great improvement. We must also thank Ian Smith, our wonderful coach, for his dedication and neverending patience. All of this combined meant that on the day itself we achieved a bump – something we were all very proud of, as for many of us, this was the first time.

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Merton W1. Photograph: Cesar Manivet

Trinity Term provided more time on the water and arguably more enjoyable sessions, given that it was even occasionally sunny. This training led into a great Summer Eights’ Week, when fun was had by all. As I said in my speech at the dinner that finished the week: ‘Yes, we got spoons, but we got spoons in style!’ I think the girls this year should be very proud of everything they have achieved; the crew was mostly very inexperienced and they performed well under pressure. I expect great things next year when, with more experience, I am sure the boat will go from strength to strength. Sally Bolton (2013) Women’s Rowing Captain 2014-15

We also retained an impressive roster of oarsmen from the previous year, with 20 senior rowers – including two who trialled with OULRC in Michaelmas. The term mainly consisted of extensive technical outings geared specifically towards racing in Autumn Fours, which was the first chance for us to witness the progress of our returning senior rowers. Our men’s Four beat LMH in the first round of Autumn Fours. Unfortunately they lost in the second round to a strong Balliol crew. The other half were back in a double for more racing, sweeping aside a strong boat from Brasenose to storm into the final by three boat lengths. Sadly, they were defeated in the final by a pair of lightweight blues rowers. In Hilary, crews were sent to the Isis Winter League D in an Eight and a coxed Four, with the Eight coming 17th of 39 in their class and the Four coming third of four in their class. Torpids brought great results for the men’s first boat. An unsatisfying first day, with a technical row over, was followed by four bumps in the other three days, bringing M1 firmly into Division II. The men’s second boat had less success, dropping from Division V into Division VI.

Merton M1 before the 2015 Boat Club Dinner

Trinity left us with just enough numbers for two permanent men’s boats, but sadly two rowers suffered unrelated injuries and couldn’t make the racing. M1 recovered well, bringing up an M2 rower who responded quickly to the challenge. This left M2 training up two fairly inexperienced rowers in the fortnight before Eights racing. Errors in racing technique surprisingly caused M1 to row over on the first day and be bumped on the second day. The crew battled off a strong Linacre crew on Friday and then bumped Somerville on Saturday past Boat Club Island. The final result was no change in position; the first time Merton’s M1 has not dropped since 2010. M2 did better than expected given the last-minute changes in crew, managing to avoid spoons. Unfortunately they still dropped from the bottom of Division IV to the top of Division V. Overall, the crews were fairly happy with their training and results this year, with the Men’s first crew moving up four places in Torpids and holding their position in Summer Eights. Our coach Ian Smith has been key to this success. Ongoing training and recruitment should help us build on the base that has been built in the Boat Club. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve over the coming years. Jaime Valdemoros Gomez (2013) Men’s Rowing Captain, 2014-15

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The 2015 vintage of Merton cricket proved a fine one. The team reached the end of the season having at last discovered the perfect combination of match tea sandwiches, after weeks of debate. It turns out that jam, ham and mustard, and cheese and pickle sandwiches offer the perfect combination of sweet and savoury to recharge an athlete after a hard session in the field. Away from the Pavilion and out on the pitch, our endeavours were equally successful as we racked up four league wins from our nine matches and ended comfortably in the top half of the 2nd Division. The portents at the start of the season were ominous as we set out on what we presumed would be (as usual) a bid to avoid relegation; after being bowled out for 69 and 65 in our opening two matches, our fear of the drop seemed to have been well-founded. However, a closely fought contest against Trinity in which we posted a more competitive 129-5 was a sign of things to come, and the mid-season saw three wins on the trot against Wadham (Merton 145-5, Wadham 125-6 in reply), Magdalen (win by forfeit) and Oriel (Oriel 138-4, Merton 139-3 in reply). Our earlier games had shown we were capable with the ball – indeed, St Anne’s only chased the 65 we posted after losing 7 wickets – but now we had begun to back this up with uncharacteristically steady efforts with the bat. Admittedly this rich vein of form tailed off later in the term due to a mix of Finals and strong opposition sides. However, with a great sense of occasion we closed the season with our most emphatic victory; after posting 155-3 off 20 overs, we reduced Jesus to 90 all out. Rather appropriately, John Dean (2011), a loyal servant of the team for the last four years and captain in 2013, hit an unbeaten 62 in his last ever outing for Merton in what proved to be a match-winning knock. It was a well-timed innings, as it spared him the ire of his captain whom he ran out on the course to that score. There were notable contributions by several members of the squad this year: Joe Manktelow (Mansfield, 2012) constantly beguiled opening batsmen with his raking inswingers and hit a memorable 76 against Oriel; Ty Joplin (Mansfield) and Sonish Pant (Mansfield) were both stalwarts of our bowling

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COLLEGE NEWS | CRICKET, BLUES & HAIGH TIES & DARTS

Men’s Cricket

attack during their year in Oxford while on an exchange from the US; Dev Gahlot was equally able as a middle order batsman and first change bowler, and Sarab Sethi (Mansfield, 2012) more than capably took the gloves though he had little prior experience of keeping. Though we may not be hitting the heights that Merton occupied a few years ago in college cricket, this season proved that, at least in the near future, there is plenty of appetite for the game left in the College and, win or lose, we will have had a great time playing. William Tilston (2013) Merton-Mansfield Men’s Cricket Captain 2014-15

Blues and Half Blues Martin Lester (2009) Eric Topham (2011) Andrew Brooker (2012) Alistair Macaulay (2012) Sophie Smith (2012) Charley Turton (2012) Melanie Wood (2012) Charles Hardstaff (2013) Richard O’Grady (2013) Tito Bastianello (2014) Tamara Davenne (2014) Alexander Roberts (2014) James Walker (2014)

Haigh Ties

Kasra Amini (2012) Ose Ikhena (2012) Alistair Macaulay (2012) Stephen McLoughlin (2012) Matthew Raybould (2012) Stephen Thatcher (2012) Thomas Oldfield (2014)

Croquet Sailing Shooting Sailing Football Football Hockey Boxing Cricket Golf Cycling Squash Triathlon

Dominik Fischer (2012) Sondre Lunde (2012) Philip Madgwick (2012) Alexander Moore (2012) Sophie Smith (2012) Tom White (2012) James Walker (2014)

Darts

Darts ought to be Merton’s specialist sport: after all, it requires minimal physical exertion, and can be (and frequently is) played with a pint in one’s hand. Indeed, we gained promotion for four years in a row before 2009, and Mertonians featured in the Varsity match. Alas, Merton is no longer at those heady heights, though this season was certainly an improvement on the previous one, which featured just one victory. Competing in the league of fours, Merton finished third, ahead of Keble (who withdrew), Lady Margaret Hall and University College (both of whom failed to complete their fixtures). There were certainly some highlights, notably home and away victories against LMH. A gritty, surprise draw against Mansfield was another proud moment – coming from 5-2 down to draw with three consecutive double-one finishes from Captain Alex ‘Chaff’ Weate (2012). We suffered no complete humiliations (surely a sign of Mertonian sporting success), even when we faced the might of the University Library Service!

From left: Stefan Marjanovic, Ben Holden, Alex Weate, Alistair Macaulay, Bertie Beor-Roberts, Harry George

The less said about Cuppers, however, the better. Out of three entries, only Stephen ‘The Power’ Thatcher (2012) managed to win a single leg; in fact, but for a missed double-10, he could have reached the second round. Yet even in defeat, we played with traditional Merton style: plenty of heart, effort and good humour, despite little to show on the scoreboard. Given that the year started with a captain reluctantly appointed over breakfast, a squad comprising exclusively finalists, and star player Alex ‘The Master’ Moore (2012) making the bold choice to prioritise University rowing over college darts, the season can definitely be considered a success. The emergence of an enthusiastic batch of freshers, led by next year’s captain Bertie ‘Grizzly’ Beor-Roberts (2014), ensures that the future looks bright for Merton darts! Alex Weate (2012) Darts Captain 2014-15

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Merton-Mansfield Men’s Football team

Men’s Football

Men’s Squash

Continuing our successful partnership with Mansfield, we made it to the quarter final of Cuppers, only to be beaten by a strong New College side containing many University players. Our league position left a little to be desired, but we are confident of regaining our Division 1 status next year! We also took two teams to the late knockout stages of five-a-side Cuppers to round off a season of mixed fortunes.

In the Michaelmas league we were victorious over Wolfson (not dropping a single game), Lady Margaret Hall, Keble, Trinity and New College, earning us a promotion to the Premiership Division for Hilary Term. We continued our winning streak in Hilary, again not dropping a match, which puts us in a strong position for next year’s league.

2014 saw many of our key players leave, while the remaining players crossed their fingers for some talented freshers. We gained some exciting international transfers from the likes of Poland, Ecuador and Australia who have integrated quickly into the team, on and off the pitch.

Our finest game this season was a glorious 5-1 victory over Lady Margaret Hall, after a courageous switch to a 4-2-3-1, meticulously planned in the captain’s lectures preceding the game. At the start of Trinity, we had our annual Old Boys’ game. This saw 12 former players come back, don the gold Benfica kit kept for this occasion, and take on the current side. It was a close game in pouring rain, which saw the current team come out 4-2 winners. Tough tackles and dodgy decisions were forgotten in a post-match curry, allowing the current squad to meet or reunite with the former players. Mark Hattersley (Mansfield, 2013) Merton-Mansfield Men’s Football Captain 2014-15

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Andrew Turner (2013) playing in the University 2nds Varsity Squash Match against Cambridge. Photograph: Cavin Wilson

Merton squash has had a really strong year. Alexander Roberts, the Blues third seed, joined us, Andrew Turner (2013) got on to the University’s 2nd team and with two squash-playing freshers joining, we were able to put out a strong team with good depth.

In Cuppers we triumphed over Queen’s (not dropping a single game), Magdalen, Green Templeton and Brasenose to play Oriel in the final at Iffley Road. Unfortunately after a long evening of squash we lost 1-4 (well done to Felix Andrews (2014) for winning his match!). I’m confident that next year we’ll have a good shot at getting through to the final and hopefully taking the win. John Townhill (2013) Men’s Squash Captain 2014-15

The establishment of a College go-karting society has allowed several Mertonians to, enthusiastically if not always successfully, attempt the physically and mentally demanding pastime of amateur motorsport. Christened the #MertonMavericks, the society took part in the annual Cuppers competition, held at Whilton Mill go-karting track. Merton entered two teams of four racers, to compete in the two-hour endurance race and hopes rode high. Unfortunately, the event did not quite unfold as we had hoped… A promising start was promptly followed by a member of the A team, Becky Davies (2011), being involved in a horrific accident that caused her helmet to fly off. Although physically uninjured, Becky was advised to retire. Down a teammate, it was up to the others in the A team – Andrew Macarthur (2012), Christian Ruckteschler (2012) and Ravin Jain (2012) – to take up the slack. Whilst racing hard, Ravin was involved in a controversial incident when a marshal deemed that he did not slow sufficiently in a yellow flag section of the track, where drivers are required to slow down for safety reasons. In a fit of rage, interspersed with plenty of colourful language, the marshal disqualified Ravin and two members of other teams who were allegedly guilty of the same transgression. With the A team now down to only two members, Sondre Lunde (2012) was parachuted in from the B team and he acquitted himself extremely well indeed. Moreover, a special mention goes to Christian, who clocked the fastest lap of any Mertonian at a blistering 48.777 seconds. Our final results of 8th for the A team and 12th for the B team - consisting of Michael Fox (2008), Laura Clark (2013) and Tom White (2012) - may have been disappointing, but every member can be proud of their efforts having put their bodies on the line, with several sporting painful bruises!

Photograph: John Cairns

Men’s Tennis

Following a traditionally quiet start as poor weather limited tennis in the first two terms, this year has been successful for the Merton tennis team in the Trinity Term competitions. There was mixed success in the league finishing, retaining our Division One status, but our impressive Cuppers run to the semi-finals did Merton proud. On the way to the semi-final, Merton ousted St Benet’s Hall, St Catherine’s College and Christ Church College but were finally beaten by first seeds Worcester College. The Cuppers team, consisting of Mark van Loon (2011), Alessandro Geraldini (2010), Alexander Ho (2013), Kwok-Ho Cheung (2012), Felix Andrews (2014), Thomas Fordwoh (2014), Andrew Turner (2013), Tito Bastianello (2014) and myself (Ose Ikhena, 2012), can hopefully go one further and reach the final. The star players of the team, Mark van Loon and Alexander Ho, deserve extra praise not only for playing in almost every round but also for not dropping a set until the semi-final, displaying valiant effort and consistency for the College.

Whilst licking our wounds back at Merton, it was discovered after some thorough data analysis that Ravin did not in fact speed under yellow flags. Our protests, alas, came to nothing…

Outside of competitions, interest in tennis was high at the start of the year, enabling weekly hitting sessions on a Saturday morning throughout the year. Special mention here goes to some second-year medics who consistently attended the sessions both this year and last. Despite the departure of some finalists from the team, I perceive the future of Merton tennis to be bright and, with sufficient interest, a women’s team to be founded with equal amounts of success.

Ravin Jain (2012) Go-Karting Captain 2014-15

Ose Ikhena (2012) Men’s Tennis Captain 2014-15

COLLEGE NEWS | FOOTBALL, SQUASH, GO-KARTING & TENNIS

Go-Karting

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Biology Society

For yet another year, the Merton Biology Society’s aim of uniting undergraduates over a shared love of their subject was met. Beginning with an introductory ‘welcome tea’ for the first-year biologists, the year’s activities quickly blossomed into regular pub outings, meals and socials. As always, our biggest and most successful event was the annual black tie dinner, attended by biologists of the JCR and MCR along with its Fellows and tutors. Our guest speaker Alex Thornton (2000) preceded the meal with a fantastic talk on his research into animal cognition, with a particular focus on the ever-popular meerkats. Alex was a witty and engaging speaker; I hope he enjoyed his trip down memory lane as much as we enjoyed hosting him. Following a threecourse meal of some of the best food Merton has to offer, the group moved to the SCR, where wine was paired with

COLLEGE NEWS | BIOLOGY SOCIETY

Clubs & Societies

Observing guillemots on the Orielton field course in 2014. Photograph: Natasha Gillies

lively debate and plenty of discussion of Alex’s research. This year, three terms of biweekly socials culminated in a separate undergraduate meal, with the aim of celebrating the finishing of exams for second years, wishing the best of luck to first years and saying some sad farewells to third years. It was a lot of fun, and an excellent way to celebrate the end of a very successful year for Merton’s biologists. Though much of the strength of the society comes from the integration of its members, it will no doubt be aided by the presidency of Gerda Kildisiute (2014), who I am sure will do an excellent job in the coming year. Suzie and I wish her the very best of luck! Natasha Gillies and Suzie Marshall (both 2013) Biology Society Presidents 2014-15

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This has been a year of consolidation and expansion, emerging as three great movements. As with astrological patterns, however, these may have had more to do with fortuitousness than anything else. In Michaelmas we were clearly in a thespian mood, enjoying the company firstly of Catherine Moorehead (on Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra) and secondly of Professor Stanley Wells and the Revd Dr Paul Edmondson (admirably defending Shakespeare’s historical identity). The term concluded with Professor Denis Noble, the pioneering systems biologist, on The Music of Life (2006), in a talk featuring suitable musical performance! Then in Hilary, self-reflection set in. Dr Allan Chapman talked of Warden Savile and astronomy in 17th-century Oxford, before the Chancellor of the University, Lord Patten of Barnes, valiantly attempted to cast our minds to the world beyond the town walls, speaking of the importance of international alliances, particularly within Europe. The committee was not slow to pick up on this cue to look outwards. We chose to look backwards as well. Professor Nicholas Boyle made the journey from Cambridge to discuss the 19th-century (particularly German) developments of the use of the term ‘culture’, and a joint meeting with the Signs & Wonderings discussion group hosted the Revd Dr Christopher Lewis (formerly Dean of Christ Church) on his recent book Sensible Religion. Trinity brought Professor Garth Fowden (1971; also from Cambridge – the Treasurer must have arranged sponsorship from the X5 bus route) to speak on the reception of Aristotle in Syria, and the influence this had on the reception of Darwin many years later. Professor Lyndal Roper set a fitting end to the year, juxtaposing questions of gender in Oxford (and Merton specifically) and in early Lutheranism. My thanks are due to the committee who have helped over the past year: Secretary Joseph Hutchinson (2011), Treasurer Frederick Money (2013), and Cellarer Naomi Gardom (2014). They have greatly eased the burden of running the club, and it is due to their work that we have enjoyed a year of speakers varied in approach but not in quality.

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Students at a Bodley Club talk in Michaelmas 2014. Photograph: Helen Morley

It was also thanks to their help that the club was able to organise a dinner in the SCR in Hilary Term, to which we were pleased to invite former speakers, past officers and regular attendees at talks. Unfortunately our planned speakers for the evening fell ill the day before, but this gave me ample opportunity to bore the assembled company with an account of the first meeting of the club on 19 May 1894. Thus concluded the 120th anniversary year. As I pass the reins to the admirable Naomi Gardom, I am confident that the Bodley Club will continue to broaden its horizons, ensuring that it is not seized upon by the many heads of dry academe nor dragged down to the eddying depths of wine-sodden leisure. It is a narrow course to tread, but I believe the committee remains firmly attached to our stated purpose: to invite ‘fabulously interesting’ speakers from all walks of life to spend a moment among the members of the College. Timothy Foot (2011) Bodley Club President 2013-15

Halsbury Society

The Halsbury Society calendar has always played host to exciting events throughout the year and this year was no different. In Trinity Term 2014 (our first term as a committee), the annual garden party unfortunately could not take place in the College gardens due to uncooperative weather. However, it did not detract from the atmosphere, allowing all the law students and their tutors to get together for a final time before the finalists went their separate ways. Trinity Term also saw the annual Clyde & Co moot take place for second years. This was won by Jih Lim (2012) and provided a great example for the spectating first years in anticipation of their first moot, the FE Smith Memorial Moot. After a mooting workshop hosted by BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law) students Joshua Folkard (2013) and Daniel Cashman (2013), the first-year students performed very well for their first moot, with Laura King (2013) awarded first prize. Merton students have excelled in mooting this year with many impressive results. Owen Lloyd (2010) was a member of the team that won the 7KBW Commercial Law Moot and a finalist in the Oxford Legal Assistance Immigration Law Moot.

The Halsbury Society Committee at the annual Garden Party

COLLEGE NEWS | THE BODLEY CLUB & HALSBURY SOCIETY

The Bodley Club

Laura King and Tinny Chan (2013) were selected in Trinity Term 2014 as members of the Oxford Jessup Moot team, an international competition. In March 2015 they qualified for the World Finals in Washington DC, where the team came third, Oxford’s best result yet. Even more impressive was Tinny Chan’s individual result in the preliminary rounds, finishing in fourth position out of over 400 speakers. The most exciting event of the year was, without doubt, the annual lecture, sponsored by Slaughter and May. This year we were very fortunate to have Lord Judge present a very topical subject with the title, ‘Magna Carta; Reflections’ in its 800th anniversary year. This drew a very large crowd from within College and the University, and was incredibly well received. Looking to the summer, many of the students will be partaking in mini-pupillages and vacation schemes, some even gaining places on international schemes. Katie Ratcliffe (2014) is the President of the Society next year and, with her excellent committee, will be sure to host many more exciting events. Laura King (2013) Halsbury Society President 2014-15

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This year has been particularly exciting for the Merton College Music Society (MCMS). The tradition of a termly concert with the Kodaly Choir and Fidelio Orchestra has continued (our un-auditioned ensembles including players from both Merton and University College), and these concerts have been of a very high standard. Moreover, the number of solo and chamber recitals held in College has increased significantly, totalling 16 over the course of the year – nearly double the previous year. We have had recitals by many talented instrumentalists and singers studying at Merton, and have also welcomed students from around the University to play in the excellent performance spaces available: the Chapel and the TS Eliot Theatre. Michaelmas Term kicked off with the Freshers’ Concert, which included performances from eight first-year students, all at a very high standard. The termly joint concert with University College was characterised by much celebratory music to commemorate Merton’s 750th birthday. The Fidelio Orchestra performed Rossini’s Barber of Seville overture, movements from Beethoven’s First Symphony, Schubert’s Sixth, and a world premiere of Fiesta Fragments composed by music student Alex Ho (2013). Arguably the highlight of the Hilary Term concert was a performance of Vivaldi’s double cello concerto with the Fidelio Orchestra accompanying soloists Rebecca McNaught (2014) and Izzy Rose (Univ, 2014). The Kodaly Choir also gave an excellent performance in a premiere of Benjamin Green’s There is a Green Hill Far Away and performing Haydn’s Insanae et Vanae Curae. In Trinity Term, the pressures of exams meant that the College ensembles struggled with finding rehearsal times but on the day raised their game and managed to perform some challenging music excellently, including the last

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COLLEGE NEWS | MUSIC SOCIETY & SIGNS & WONDERINGS

Music Society

Seung-Eon Yoo (Univ, 2013) conducts the Fidelio Orchestra in a rehearsal

two movements of Haydn’s Farewell symphony. Aside from ensuring participation in music from as many members of College as possible, one of the great things about the Kodaly Choir and Fidelio Orchestra is that they enable students to have an introduction to conducting. The conductors change every term and some are highly experienced, while some have never conducted any ensemble before. This year, new conductors included first years Peter Thickett (2014), who conducted Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite in Hilary Term, and Isla Ratcliff (Univ, 2014), who conducted Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia in Trinity. Some highlights of the 2014-15 MCMS recital series include a concert of solos and duets from members of the College Choir, Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy for solo piano performed by Alex Ho, and a leaving concert for the music finalists. Although most MCMS concerts are of classical music, we are by no means limited to this, and some of the most well attended and enjoyed recitals of the year were singer Olivia Williams (2014) performing jazz standards with pianist Aled Walker (Magdalen, 2014) and an evening concert by singer-songwriter Andy Brooker (2012). Next year, MCMS hopes to continue promoting music in the College, aiming to increase participation in our ensembles and once more increase the number of recitals, which will ensure that Merton remains one of the most musically active colleges in the University. Lila Chrisp (2014) President of the Merton College Music Society 2015-16

Signs & Wonderings

Signs & Wonderings is the Chapel’s discussion group, open to people of all faiths or none. On Friday afternoons during full term this year, the group met for tea, cake, discussion and periodic prosecco. Discussions were chaired by the Junior Chaplain Luke Hopkins, and former Junior Chaplain Mark Stafford (Ripon, 2009), and notwithstanding the occasional digression into YouTube or The Simpsons, we managed on the whole to keep to the specified topics each week. In Hilary Term, we collaborated with the Bodley Club to host the Revd Dr Christopher Lewis, who spoke about his book Sensible Religion and the threat of extremism. Speaking about a broad range of faiths, Dr Lewis defended religion as a stance that can be both countercultural and rational, in the face of a narrative of religious belief that depicts it as inherently extremist or irrational. One of the most animated discussions of the year was sparked by a quotation of John Maynard Keynes: ‘Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.’ The topic

Photograph: Helen Morley

for discussion was the relevance of Christianity in the world of large-scale finance and economics; the room was divided between those who felt that the moral teachings of Christianity are practically bankrupt if they cannot be universally applied, and those who argued that the injunction to sell all we have and give the money to the poor, a relatively straightforward instruction to follow individually, is more complicated on a national or global scale. As our discussions are conducted with the minimum of formality, questions are frequently left unresolved, the purpose of the exercise being to stimulate thoughtful engagement rather than to reach a conclusion. Other topics for discussion over the course of the year included the moral accountability of celebrities, the unifying and divisive qualities of Christian ritual, and the purpose and importance of evangelism, to name just a few. The year ended, appropriately enough, with a debate on the place of endings in a religion of Resurrection, followed by our customary end of term fizz. Naomi Gardom (2014)

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Global Directions

The 2014-15 academic year brought a number of interesting speakers to Global Directions. We began the year with the screening of The Strangest Dream, a film about the life of Joseph Rotblat – the only nuclear scientist to leave the Manhattan Project and a founder of the Pugwash Foundation. After the screening, Dr Kit Hill, a biographer of Rotblat, led a discussion and answered questions. Dr Nicole Zitzmann, DPhil candidates Luisa Enria (Wadham, 2006) and Kerrie Thornhill (Univ, 2008), and our Convening Fellow, Dr Julia Amos, led the next event about social and scientific perspectives on the outbreak of Ebola. We continued the discussion on this deadly virus in our following meeting, focusing on the political dimensions of the epidemic. In addition to the panel consisting of Dr Amos and two DPhil candidates, Simukai Chigudu (St Anne’s, 2013) and Luisa Enria, we were fortunate to be joined by Andrew Keili of the Sierra Leone People’s Party. With his wide-ranging experience in both government and business in Sierra Leone, Mr Keili provided an illuminating perspective on how well national governments have responded to the Ebola crisis. On 1 December, Dr Hugo Slim (Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict) and two Merton graduates, James Darcy (1980) and Chelsea Purvis (2006), joined us for a discussion evening about humanitarian aid. We were privileged to be joined by two alumni who, in addition to providing insight into the complexities of humanitarian aid, discussed what it is like to have a career in humanitarian action. We started the New Year with a panel discussion of the new book by Emeritus Fellow Professor Henry Shue: Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection. We were joined by Professor Myles Allen and Professor Simon Caney (1985), both of Oxford University. In February we were immensely privileged to host His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia and Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States. Prince Turki eloquently articulated Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy in the Middle East and Iran, and he openly answered probing questions about human

From left: Kerrie Thornhill (Univ, 2008), Luisa Enria (Wadham, 2006) and Dr Julia Amos discuss Ebola

COLLEGE NEWS | GLOBAL DIRECTIONS

Interdisciplinary Groups

rights in Saudi Arabia. Speaking just weeks after the death of King Abdullah and his succession by King Salman, Prince Turki outlined his hopes for the future of his country. The discussion was enlivened by perceptive contributions made by Professor Eugene Rogan and Professor Avi Shlaim, both of Oxford’s Middle East Centre. As the British general election approached, we held a debate with local parliamentary candidates on the future of Britain’s relationship with the European Union. Audience members submitted their questions beforehand and the debate coalesced around four themes: immigration from the EU; the democratic deficit; the European economy; and Britain, the EU and the world. For our last event of the term, we returned to the topic of climate change. Global Directions was joined by experts from the Fondation de l’Ecologie Politique (FEP), a Parisbased think tank. Topics under discussion included ecology and democracy, transitional processes, and environmental justice and the ‘Anthropocene’. It was therefore a packed and successful year for Global Directions. More details of the past year’s activities and podcasts can be found on the Global Directions page on Merton’s website. To learn about upcoming events, you can ‘like’ us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/globaldirections). Most events are open to the public and all can be attended by interested Mertonians, although some require prior booking. Marshall Palmer (2013) Global Directions President 2014-15

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The History of the Book Group meetings this year reflected Merton’s own collections relating to the history of libraries, the book trade, and early printing. Sessions were enjoyed by Emeritus Fellows, Fellows, and members of the MCR and JCR representing the disciplines of History, Classics, History of Art, English, Physics, and Modern Languages. More information about the events can be found online at: www. merton.ox.ac.uk/research/history-of-the-book In Michaelmas Term, on 24 October, Laure Miolo continued our 750th Anniversary series relating to the history of the College. Ms Miolo, a visiting scholar from the University of Lyon and 2014-15 Humfrey Wanley Fellow at the Bodleian Library, delivered a paper entitled: ‘Ad usum communem: The medieval libraries of Merton College and Sorbonne College through their scientific collections’. The Latin phrase ‘ad usum communem’ references the original intention that libraries in early academic institutions should be a shared resource for their members. In contrast to Merton’s fortunate position of having preserved a large part of its medieval book collections in the Mob Quad Library, the surviving manuscript books from the Sorbonne (founded in 1257) are now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Ms Miolo studied ownership and donation inscriptions in surviving manuscripts, medieval lists of books and electiones (borrowing lists) from both colleges to gain a sense of the scientific, medical and mathematical books available to scholars at Merton and the Sorbonne in the 13th and 14th centuries. Her research reveals that the collections at both libraries went beyond the curriculum requirements at their respective universities. At Merton, for example, Fellows had access to texts on optics well before this entered the curriculum. Ms Miolo’s research also demonstrates how rapidly the mathematical and logical work of 14th-century Mertonians (the ‘Oxford Calculators’) reached scholars in Paris. The Hilary Term meeting on 12 March was an informal sandwich lunch at which Archivist Julian Reid spoke about the 18th-century Oxford bookselling records preserved in the Merton Blackwell Collection. Attendees could study entries in one of the shop ledgers from Fletcher’s/Parker’s

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Taking a closer look at Merton records and holdings at the History of the Book meeting in October 2014.

of the Broad Street, in which sales to students, Fellows, and college libraries are recorded with book titles and prices. (See the Archives report on page 34 for more on the Library’s exhibition on the book trade in Georgian Oxford.) We marked the end of the academic year on 12 June with a meeting focusing on books produced in the first 50 years of printing in the West (incunabula), followed by the chance to examine and turn the pages of seven examples from the Library. The guest speaker, Dr Geri della Rocca de Candal (Lincoln College, 15th-century Booktrade Project) explained different features of 15th-century printed books using these volumes and fragments. He demonstrated how marginal annotations, ownership inscriptions and bindings can reveal a great deal about each book’s journey from printing to its current location. One example is the Biblical Commentary reacquired by Merton two years ago (see Postmaster 2013, p. 29-30): by 2013 it had travelled from Basel to Oxford in the 1490s, to Quebec (mid-20th century) and back to Oxford. On the other hand, the only recorded copies of one particular example of early printing – an indulgence printed in Louvain in 1481 – ‘survived’ as the strengthening in a bookbinding until they were discovered by a visiting scholar in 1916. Dr Julia Walworth Fellow Librarian

Occam Lectures

Having started in 2009, the Occam Lectures are an opportunity to bring together Merton’s physicists. Undergraduates, graduates, Tutors and non-physicists alike come together once each term for a current up-todate physics lecture as well as (of course) a meal in Hall. Proceedings start with a world-expert physicist presenting their research for an hour, before the attendees can ask them those burning questions that they have developed over the course of the talk. The evening ends with students and professors joining together for a dinner in Hall, with the conversation flowing and all present debating the topics of the evening. This year, we have made it to the 18th Occam Lecture. Since its beginning we have heard from great physicists on topics including ‘Why can’t time run backwards?’, ‘Science and technological challenges of fusion power’, ‘Black holes and spin offs’ and a debate on ‘The problem of quantum measurement’. The lecturers are always experts in their fields and we have been so fortunate to have speakers including Nobel Prize-winning physicist Sir Anthony Leggett (1959) and former President of the Royal Society Lord May of Oxford (Emeritus Fellow). These lectures give students an amazing opportunity to hear from great physicists and to probe them with questions about their research.

The 18th Occam Lecture, ‘Magnetised universe in a plasma lab’

This year we have had three very interesting talks. The first, in Michaelmas, was by Dr Aldo Faisal from Imperial College London, on ‘Breaking into your brain’. Dr Faisal talked about the variability of biological systems and how machine learning can help predict how systems will behave. Then, in Hilary, Professor Yuri Manin from the Max Planck Institute in Bonn explored ‘Physics in the world of ideas: complexity as energy’, where he looked at complexity in physics and how to correct for it in codes. Finally, in Trinity, Professor Cary Forest presented the 18th Occam Lecture. He discussed the ‘Magnetised universe in a plasma lab’, where we learnt about magnetic fields in huge astrophysical systems and how he tries to recreate these in his lab in the University of Wisconsin.

COLLEGE NEWS | HISTORY OF THE BOOK & OCCAM LECTURES

History of the Book

If you want to keep in touch with what is going on at the Occam Lectures, visit our website (merton.physics.ox.ac.uk/occam_ lecture.html). The most recent talks have been recorded: links can be found on the website so have a look and enjoy! The Merton Physics Twitter account (@MertonPhysics) often live tweets through the talks and can keep you up to date with what is happening in the Merton Physics community and the day-to-day life of an undergraduate physicist. Catherine Hale (2011) Roger Bacon (Physics) Society President 2014-15

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The Chapel

I am writing this report much later than usual, having just returned from a term’s sabbatical, a month of which was spent living with the brothers of the Society of St John the Evangelist (the Cowley Fathers) at their monastery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The daily round of monastic life was conducive to study as well as reflection and, along with the library resources at Harvard, enabled me to complete some writing on initiation services. I am very grateful to colleagues who covered different aspects of my role during my absence, particularly Dr Julia Walworth, who acted as Fellow for Welfare; Dr Rachel Buxton and Lynn Featherstone, who oversaw applications for financial support; Dr Steve Gunn, who took responsibility for the College’s livings; and, not least, the Acting Chaplain, the Revd Canon Dr Paul Bradshaw, who looked after the life of the Chapel. The academic year got off to an early start with the 750th Birthday Weekend on 12-14 September 2014, which included the Foundation Service on the Saturday evening and a Sung Eucharist for Holy Cross Day (the feast on which the College was founded) the following morning. It was wonderful to see the Chapel so full on both occasions, and to welcome the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, as the preacher on the Saturday evening. The weekend set the tone for the new term, which included a Roman Catholic Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Birmingham and sung by the College Choir on 14 October; the ordination to the priesthood of our former Junior Chaplain, the Revd Eric Lobsinger, by the Bishop of Missouri on 18 October; and a Tolkien-themed live broadcast of Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4, at which the preacher was the Revd Prof Alister McGrath (1976). A live broadcast at eight o’clock in the morning after Merton’s Time Ceremony presents certain challenges, and I’m very grateful to the College Choir, readers and a surprisingly large congregation for rising to the occasion, and to the Domestic Bursar, kitchen and Hall staff for rewarding us with a cooked breakfast afterwards! Our next live broadcast will be Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3 at the more civilised time of 3.30pm on Wednesday 14 October 2015.

The College Choir continues to enhance our worship, and its latest recording, The Marian Collection, has received excellent reviews. I remain enormously grateful to Benjamin Nicholas for overseeing the musical life of the Chapel with skill and enthusiasm, and to the other members of the music team, particularly Charlie Warren (2012), the Senior Organ Scholar, who leaves us this year to begin graduate work in London and to take up a new appointment at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge. St Paul’s hosted our first Merton London Carol Service last December. The support of alumni and friends has encouraged us to do the same again this year, this time at 7pm on Friday 11 December 2015 at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea. Do join us if you’re able.

COLLEGE NEWS | THE CHAPEL

Departments

I’m pleased to report good attendances at Sunday and weekday services, and that the congregation has been joined by a number of freshers who have very quickly become part of the Chapel community. None of what we do would be possible without the team of student Chapel officers who, together with our Verger, Leah Stead, and pastoral assistants, welcome people and contribute to the life of the Chapel in many different ways. This year’s team has included three finalists who deserve special mention: Tim Foot (2011), Liz Milne (2012) and Alex Weate (2012). I would also like to pay tribute to this year’s Junior Chaplain, the Revd Luke Hopkins, who has now returned to his studies in Australia. Luke will be succeeded by the Revd Dr Jarred Mercer, whose duties at Merton will be part of his curacy in the city-centre parish of St Mary Magdalen. Timothy Coleman (2009) will be leaving the College in September having served for a year as Chapel Administrator. Managing the day-to-day life of the Chapel and College Choir (not to mention the Chaplain!) is no simple task, and I’m grateful for the calm and careful way in which Timothy has done this.

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• Willow Bamber, granddaughter of Douglas Bamber (Domestic Bursar), was baptised on 4 October 2014 • Kaylah Kavanagh, granddaughter of Royston Maxwell (Health & Safety and Fire Officer), was baptised on 4 October 2014 • Dr Henry Hope (2010) and Elizabeth Sandis (2011) were baptised and confirmed by the Rt Revd Michael Marshall on 18 November 2014 • Emily Murphy, daughter of Jaron Murphy (2010), was baptised on 20 December 2014 • Sally Bolton (2013) was confirmed by the Rt Revd Dr Stephen Platten on 1 February 2015

Weddings

• Fiona Tansey (2002) to Greg Murphy on 12 December 2014 • The convalidation of the marriage of James Taylor (son of the Warden and Lady Taylor) to Alexandra CastilloRuiz on 31 January 2015 Chapel photographs: John Cairns

Our Sunday evening preachers contribute much to the liturgical life of the Chapel. In 2014 nearly all of our preachers were members of the College. To conclude the great succession, in Michaelmas we were very pleased to welcome the Revd Dr Nicholas Cranfield (1974) and the Revd Mark Eminson (1998), and I was delighted that the Warden and Dr Steve Gunn (Fellow and Tutor in History; 1979) also accepted invitations to give an address. In Hilary our preachers included the Archdeacon of Berkshire, the Ven Olivia Graham; the Rt Revd Dr Stephen Platten (Trinity, 1974), Rector of St Michael’s, Cornhill; the Revd Dr Sam Wells (1984), Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields; the Revd Hayley Matthews, Rector of Holy Innocents’, Fallowfield; and the Revd Kate Tuckett, curate in South Wimbledon. In Trinity, the Acting Chaplain played host to the Revd Gary Waddington (St Stephen’s, 1993), Team Rector of St Wilfrid’s, Harrogate; Dr Juliette Day, from the University of Helsinki; Canon Jeremy Haselock (St Stephen’s, 1979) from Norwich Cathedral; and our former Junior Chaplain, the Revd Mark Stafford (Ripon, 2009). An initiative of some members of the congregation, a 24-hour Vigil of Prayer for Peace took place in the Chapel in November.

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Blankets and hot drinks were provided for those who remained in the Chapel throughout the night. I’m very grateful to those who organised this event and all who took part. Worship led by Christians from different traditions punctuated the 24hour period, which concluded with a Requiem for Armistice Day, at which we commemorated the College’s war dead, and the College Choir sang the Duruflé Requiem.

Patronage

The Revd Charles Draper, Vicar of Faringdon with Little Coxwell (Diocese of Oxford), has been appointed Vicar of Wolvercote and Wytham (Diocese of Oxford).

Welfare and Student Support

At the end of Hilary Term, a group of 11 members of the Chapel community went on retreat to Lincoln, staying for three nights in the Old Bishop’s Palace. The daily round of cathedral worship provided the framework for our visit, which also included a ‘Heineken tour’ (not of a brewery, but to parts of the cathedral other tours cannot reach…), a discussion on cathedral ministry led by the Revd Philippa White, wife of Edmund White (2008), as well as an opportunity for relaxation at the end of a hectic term.

The College’s welfare team continues to offer support to all members of College in a number of different ways. I’m very grateful to the College Nurse, Catherine Haines, for extending her hours and taking on additional responsibilities during my sabbatical. Catherine, Julia Walworth and I have benefited from working with two outstanding Junior Deans for Welfare, Liz Perry (St Stephen’s, 2013) and Dustin Stuart (2010). Both leave us this summer, and will be replaced by Jennifer Barrett (St Catherine’s, 2012) and Benedict Halbroth (Wolfson, 2013).

Among those ordained this Petertide, the Revd Katherine Price (2001) was ordained priest by the Bishop of Lincoln on 4 July. Katy is serving her title in the Benefice of Great Grimsby.

This year has seen a considerable increase in the amount of money awarded by the Student Support Committee in grants to junior members. In addition to hardship grants,

• The convalidation of the marriage of Cressida Ryan (Schools Liaison and Access Officer) to Martin Lester (2009) on 21 February 2015 • Richard Rabone (2006) to Katie Clifton (2006) on 15 August 2015 • George Zachariah (1991) to Susanna Mullard on 21 August 2015 • Jennifer Harcourt (2002) to James Lyon on 22 August 2015 • William Gunson (former member of the College Choir) to Elizabeth Cook on 23 August 2015 • Dustin Stuart (2010, Junior Dean), to Sarah Wilson (2007) on 30 August 2015 • Oliver Dixon (2003) to Victoria Barns-Graham (2005) on 5 September 2015 • Timothy Williams (2006) to Caroline Roney (2006) on 12 September 2015

COLLEGE NEWS | THE CHAPEL

Baptisms and Confirmations

Funerals

• Anthony Verdin (1953) on 3 October 2014

these have included research grants to enable graduates to attend academic conferences to present their research; travel, sports and music grants; funds to support modern linguists on their year abroad; and grants (including Simms Bursaries) to help graduates complete their research degrees when no other source of funding is available. The College places great importance on supporting undergraduate and graduate students to achieve their academic potential whatever their financial background. Total funds awarded in 2014-15 amounted to just over £120,000. We greatly appreciate the generosity of Mertonians who made this possible. The Revd Canon Dr Simon Jones Chaplain

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Photographs: John Cairns

The first major event for the Choir this academic year was the Foundation Service on 13 September 2014. One of the readings at the service was a section from Mertonian TS Eliot’s Little Gidding, which began: ‘What we call the beginning is often the end/ And to make an end is to make a beginning’. Beginnings, in the form of commissions for the Choir and organ, have been a major part of this year’s choir activities. The Foundation Service included two new pieces, a setting of Vexilla Regis by Robert Saxton and Jonathan Dove’s Te Deum. The latter, despite some stratospherically high writing for the tenors, has become a firm favourite, and made a number of appearances in concerts throughout the year. November saw not only the release of the choir’s latest disc, The Marian Collection, a selection of works devoted to the Virgin Mary (and including Marian antiphons written for the choir by female composers, not least Judith Weir, Master of The Queen’s Music), but also a concert featuring perhaps the choir’s most significant and difficult commission to date: Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Chorale-Prelude. Paired with Stravinksy’s Mass, the concert on 22 November was well received, and we enjoyed hosting Birtwistle at the College for the weekend. The first London Carol Service was held on 12 December at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge and we look forward to repeating the venture this year at St Luke’s Church, Chelsea on 11 December 2015. All alumni and friends are very welcome! A special concert on 7 February 2015 saw the premiere of two substantial new works by John Joubert and Francis Pott, commissioned for the Merton Choirbook by the Revd Dr Nicholas Fisher. New music was also a feature of the 2015 Passiontide at Merton festival when the College Choir joined forces with the young voices of the Oxford Youth

Trinity Term began with our annual concert for Music at Oxford, which included Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and ended with recording sessions for a CD entitled Favourite Anthems (due for release on Delphian in late autumn 2015), and a quick jaunt to Paris for three concerts. We were blessed not only to sing some wonderful concerts in Saint Louis en L’Isle and in the Cathédrale de Notre Dame, but also to be shown round the city by my colleague and sometime Paris resident, Peter Phillips, Reed Rubin Director of Music.

COLLEGE NEWS | THE CHOIR

The Choir

Choir and The Marian Consort for the first performance of Emily Levy’s In Paradisum. Described by the Church Times as ‘wondrously conceived’ and the ‘revelation of the evening’, it was the centrepiece in a remarkable concert that included a rare performance of Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater (for which the Carducci String Quartet joined The Marian Consort). Mertonian Meghan Quinlan (2011) conducted her choir in the service of Compline (including more Pärt, his ravishing Nunc Dimittis), and the weekend culminated in a performance on the Sunday afternoon of Bach’s Mass in B minor.

The Dobson organ has been put through its paces this year too. A key part has been the Merton Organ Festival, featuring concerts from a series of outstanding soloists including Martin Baker, David Briggs, playing his arrangement of Mahler’s mammoth Resurrection Symphony, and American virtuoso Paul Jacobs. Our thanks to the Morris-Venables Charitable Foundation for supporting David Briggs’s concert, and to The Reed Foundation for making Paul Jacobs’ visit possible. Daniel Hyde, organist at Magdalen College, has brought huge pleasure to the College with his project to perform, in a single year, all of Bach’s organ music, in a series of Thursday lunchtime concerts. Terrific numbers have supported the weekly concerts, and the standing ovation following the final concert on 18 June was richly deserved. This is without mentioning the All Souls’ Requiem, the Advent and Christmas services, the regular Evensongs and Eucharists, the Monday evening rehearsals, and everything else that keeps the Choir singing week to week. We are enormously grateful to all our donors, friends and benefactors who make this possible. Benjamin Nicholas Reed Rubin Organist and Director of Music

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The Library

Merton Treasures in the Bodleian

The 750th Anniversary Year was celebrated with a series of exhibitions and displays in the Library, giving Mertonians and visitors alike the chance to see major items like the Foundation charter of 1264 and less-well-known artefacts such as the gold coins that had been on loan to the Ashmolean since 1951. These exhibitions were described in last year’s Postmaster. Not all Mertonian treasures are housed in the College, however, and it was therefore an exciting prospect to prepare an exhibition of books and manuscripts relating to Mertonians for display in the entrance hall of the old Bodleian Library for the last part of our Anniversary Year1. The first and perhaps hardest part of the work on the exhibition was selecting items. The links between Merton and the Bodleian date from the Library’s re-foundation in 1602 by former Merton Fellow, Sir Thomas Bodley, with the support of his friend and Warden of Merton, Sir Henry Savile. At the outset, the College presented the new University Library with a number of major law texts and commentaries; clearly these folio volumes were intended to be useful and to impress. Their sheer size, however, would have severely limited what

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Merton Treasures in the Bodleian. Display layout by Sallyanne Gilchrist. Photograph: Bodleian Libraries

else could be included in the display case. I wanted to show as many items as possible to draw attention to the wide variety of material associated with Merton and with Mertonians that is now in the Bodleian. The final selection comprised 12 fascinating items from the 14th to the 20th centuries that might not otherwise have been displayed together, among which the themes of science and language stand out. There is not space here to describe each of the items, so I will choose four. The oldest of the manuscripts was a Treatise on Armory by Mardi al-Tarsusi (MS Huntington 264). This richly illuminated Arabic work on military technology and tactics was commissioned by the Islamic leader Saladin, First Sultan of Egypt and Syria (1137-93). It includes striking illustrations in gold of siege engines such as trebuchets and giant crossbows. The book was brought to Oxford by Robert Huntington (1637-1701), a Fellow of Merton, who served 11 years as chaplain to the Levant Company in Aleppo, Syria. Travelling widely, he collected more than 600 manuscripts in Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Coptic, Syriac, Samaritan and Persian. They were purchased by Oxford University in 1692 for what was at the time a record sum of almost £1,100.

1. ‘Uncommon Interests: Mertonian Treasures in the Bodleian’, Proscholium exhibition, Bodleian Library, 9 September - 2 November 2014

Much less visually prepossessing but of equal interest were the earliest systematic records of Oxford weather (MS Digby 176). In January 1337 William Merle, an Oxford student, began keeping records of the local weather. His account for September 1341 for instance, indicates that it was a wet month, starting with several days of strong winds and ending with very light rain and ‘a kind of fog’. This unique copy of his weather records is found in a book containing many scientific texts collected by his friend William Reed and bequeathed by him to Merton College. At some point in the 16th century the manuscript left Merton but fortunately ended up in the Bodleian. Any display of Merton-related treasures in the Bodleian would have to include something from the vast archive of JRR Tolkien. I am very grateful to the Tolkien Trust and to the Tolkien Archivist, Catherine Parker, for making this possible. Tolkien’s drawings are understandably some of the most famous items in the Bodleian, but for this particular exhibition I was drawn to a mimeographed Agenda paper from the Merton Governing Body meeting of 26 November 1957 (issued by Sub-Warden Courtenay Phillips). Both sides of the sheet contain geometric designs and phrases in Elvish added by Tolkien, probably reusing the paper at some later date (although it is tempting to think of Tolkien sketching designs during a College meeting). If asked which of the exhibition items was my favourite, however, it would not be the early scientific manuscripts, the Tolkien drawings or the golden princely illuminations, but the smallest item in the exhibition – a tiny pocket notebook kept by John Greaves during his travels in the Middle East in 1637-40 (Ms Savile 49(4)). Greaves (1602-52) studied at Balliol before being elected a Fellow of Merton in 1624. A gifted astronomer and keen linguist, he mastered Greek, Arabic and Persian, and in 1637 he set out for the Middle East

Detail of John Greaves’ notebook from his Middle Eastern travels, 1637-40. Photograph: Bodleian Libraries (MS Savile 49, fol 11v)

to acquire manuscripts for Archbishop Laud and to pursue his own research. His sketches of Egyptian hieroglyphics, notes on astronomical phenomena, and Arabic vocabulary have a compelling immediacy. It would be easy to imagine him talking enthusiastically about his discoveries, just as members of Merton do more than 470 years later.

COLLEGE NEWS | THE LIBRARY

Woodcut initial depicting the ancient astronomer Ptolemy from the Cosmographia, printed in Ulm by Johann Reger in 1486. (MER 105.F.4)

Edward Bawden

The quirky and colourful preliminary studies for Edward Bawden’s 1973 mural in Blackwell’s bookshop were loaned from the Merton Blackwell Collection to the Morley Gallery in London as part of an exhibition organised by Nick Rampley (1978), Vice-Principal of Morley College, to celebrate Morley’s 125th anniversary.

Further notes

In spring 2015, Assistant Librarian Petra Hofmann curated the Upper Library exhibition of early printed books donated by Basil Blackwell (1907); see the Archives report. She included some works printed by the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius whose 500th anniversary was celebrated this year. Cathy Lewis continues work on the cataloguing of the Ritchie Collection. Gabrielle Matthews joined the Library and Archives staff as part-time Library Assistant in Michaelmas Term 2014 and Will Beharrell (2006) returned to Merton as Temporary Library Assistant in summer 2015. They and other Library staff spent part of the summer preparing Room 5A in the Old Warden’s Lodgings for use as an additional reading room from Michaelmas Term 2015. Dr Julia Walworth Fellow Librarian

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It is a pleasure to record the following particularly noteworthy donations to the library and archive collections: • Portrait of John Coleridge Patteson by George Richmond RA (1854) (John Booth, 1976, with thanks also to assistance from Susan Braithwaite, née Skedd, 1988 and Miles Barton) • Two prints from Oxford Almanacks (Dana Scott, Honorary Fellow) • An extensive album including letters, invitations, term cards, photographs, etc., Merton 1962-67; printed items relating to Max Beerbohm and Andrew Lang, and items associated with Mertonians (Peter Hay, 1963) • Oxford & Cambridge Mountaineering 1924 and The Geographical Journal December 1924, additions to the Sandy Irvine Archive (Julie Summers) • Correspondence from Cicely Howell, relating to Kibworth Harcourt and a copy of her doctoral thesis on the same (1974) (Susan Bussell) • A selection of printed Saintsbury Orations (various years 1944-92) (The Saintsbury Club) • Further records of B H Blackwell (Julian Blackwell, Trinity, 1950) • Recollections of life at Merton in the late 1950s (Anthony Wynn-Evans, 1956) • ‘Reminiscences from the 1950s’ (Richard Lloyd, 1954) • Copy of photograph of Arthur Sockett (1932) and fellow ‘Greats’ men in Merton College garden, 1936 (Michael Sockett) • Two photographs of Alan Smithson outside the Exam Schools, 1980 (Alan Smithson, 1979) • Two posters for the Commemoration Ball, 1965 (Lester Pritchard, 1964) • Anniversary ball programme and exhibition catalogue, 700 Years of Merton College, 1964 (Olga Blakeley) • Records of the College garden including notes, designs and photos (Lucille Savin, Head Gardener)

• Offprint from his autobiography, A Seventh Child and the Law, relating to his time at Merton (Patrick Yu, 1946) • Photograph of Merton College First Eight in action, May 1978 (Chris Madell, 1974) • Photographs of watercolour of Merton College Hall and Chapel, Lilian Clark Goodchild, 1947 (William Goodchild, 1943) • Sixth Form and undergraduate notes and essays on English and History, 1975-79 (Peter Truesdale, 1976) • Recollections of life at Merton in the 1930s (Alan Coburn, 1934) • Recollections of life at Merton during the Second World War (Peter Gravenall, 1943) • Photographs and ephemera relating to Merton 1958-60 (Michael Ellman, 1956) • A Merton College blazer badge, Merton College Boat Club vest and OUBC vest, c.1960 (Marjorie Bowden) • Copies of two photographs of Elizabeth Taylor with Professor Neville Coghill, Merton 1966 (Mark Price, 1964) • Notes on the origin of the dawn redwood tree on the Chestnut Lawn (Courtenay Phillips, 1942) • Recollections of life at Merton during the Second World War (George Mann, 1942) • ‘Reflections on VE Day’ in Oxford (Philip Holden, 1943) • Copies of photograph and records relating to when his father, David Calder, was at Merton, 1885-89 (David Calder, 1947) More than 80 people also responded to our appeal for contributions to the Merton@750 digital archive, with material and recollections being contributed by or on behalf of students, present and past, Fellows and members of staff. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us and your fellow Mertonians.

Grateful thanks for gifts and support are extended to:

Mayumi Azuma; Michael Baker (Emeritus Fellow); the Bodleian Libraries; John Booth (1976); Cambridge University Press; Carcanet Press Limited; John Casson; Yashwina Canter (2014); Mindy Chen-Wishart (Fellow); Stephen Farthing; the Rt Revd Dr Peter Forster (1969); Philippe de Gentile-Williams (1984); Emily Guerry (JRF); Steven Gunn (Fellow); David Hamer (1974); David Harvey (1957, Bodley Fellow); Roger Highfield (Emeritus Fellow); Michael Hind (1960); Merlin Holland; The Kibworth Charitable Trust; P S Manix; Chris Miller (1973); David Mitchell (1975); Bernard O’Connor; Richard Oldfield; Oxford University Press; Susan Payne; Robyn Phillips (2012); Jonathan Prag (Fellow); John and Rose Randle; Sir Rex Richards (Emeritus Fellow, Warden 1969-84); Rita Ricketts; Paul Saenger; Matthew Cheung Salisbury; David Sherlock; Henry Shue (Emeritus Fellow; 1948); Julie Summers; Sir Martin Taylor (Warden); Yuriko Terzaki, artist; Wadham College Library; Elia Weinbach (1967); Guy Westwood (Leventis Research Fellow); Simon Wren-Lewis (Fellow)

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We also thank Mertonians who have given copies of their publications to the College: Allen, PRH (1967), Along the Watchtower (London, 2015) ____Bankers’ Draught (London: PublishNation, 2014) ____Murder at the Baltic Coast Hotel (London, 2015) ____Through Fire 2: Kardakan (London, 2014) ____Through Fire 3: Magdarg (London, 2014) ____Through Fire 4: Magdarg (London, 2014) ____Through Fire 5: Thlaxaca (London, 2014) ____Through Fire 6: Thlaxaca: Blood of the Blood Sun (London, 2015) ____Through Fire 7: Background Papers (London, 2015) Ash, R (Fellow), and J Mossman, FB Titchener (eds), Fame & Infamy: Essays for Christopher Pelling on Characterization in Greek and Roman Biography and Historiography (Oxford, 2015) Carey, J (Emeritus Fellow), The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books (London, 2014) Clark, S (JRF 1996, Fellow 2000-08), Analyzing Schubert (Cambridge, 2011) Crago, H (1969), Couple, Family and Group Work: First Steps in Interpersonal Intervention (Maidenhead, 2006) ____ Entranced by Story: Brain, Tale and Teller, from Infancy to Old Age (Abingdon, 2014) ____ and P Gardner, A Safe Place for Change: Skills and Capacities for Counselling and Therapy (Melbourne, 2012) Day, HJM (1999), Lucan and the Sublime: Power, Representation and Aesthetic Experience (Cambridge, 2013) Dickey, E (JRF 1992, VRF 2006) (ed.),

The Colloquia of the Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana, ii: Colloquium Harleianum, Colloquium Montepessulanum, Colloquium Celtis, and Fragments Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries 35 (Cambridge, 2015)

Beyond, 1938-1950 (Cambridge, 2015)

Fiddes, M (1979), The Chelsea Flower Show Massacre (Matlock, 2015)

Rampley, N (1978), ‘Introduction’ in Edward Bawden: Storyteller (London, 2014)

Forsyth, KD (1959), Time and the Universe from Beginning to End (2013)

Richards, D (1948) (ed.), Wyndham’s War: Being the Diaries of Thomas Wyndham Richards, a Cardiff Schoolmaster Interned in Ruhleben and Havelberg 1914-1918 (Newport 2014)

Guerry, E (JRF) (contributor), Saint Louis (Exhibition Catalogue) (Paris, 2014) Hekster, O (Fellow 2002-4), Emperors and Ancestors: Roman Rulers and the Constraints of Tradition (Oxford, 2015) Holden, A (1966) and B Holden (1998) (eds), Poems that Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words that Move Them (London, 2014) Lantschner, P (JRF 2011), The Logic of Political Conflict in Medieval Cities: Italy and the Southern Low Countries 1370-1440, Oxford Historical Monographs (Oxford, 2015) Latham, AJH (1959) and H Kawakatsu (eds), Intra-Asian Trade and Industrialization: Essays in Memory of Yasukichi Yasuba (London, 2009) Lemos, I (Fellow) and M Kerschner (eds), Archaeometric Analyses of Euboean and Euboean Related Pottery: New Results and their Interpretations: Proceedings of the Round Table Conference held at the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Athens, 15 and 16 April 2011 (Vienna, 2014) Morris, M (1998), King John: Treachery, Tyranny and the Road to Magna Carta (London, 2015) Muscolino, MS (Fellow), The Ecology of War in China: Henan Province, the Yellow River, and

McElliott, J (Lyell Fellow in the History of the Book, 2005-8) and E Patten (eds), The Perils of Print Culture: Book, Print and Publishing History in Theory and Practice (Basingstoke, 2014)

COLLEGE NEWS | THE LIBRARY – DONATIONS

Donations to the Library and Archives 2014-15

Sciuto, R (2012) (contributor), Nel nome di Lazzaro: Saggi di storia della scienza e delle istituzioni scientifiche tra il XVII e il XVIII secolo (Bologna, 2014) Shue, H (Emeritus Fellow) and M Evangelista (eds), The American Way of Bombing: Changing Ethical and Legal Norms, from Flying Fortresses to Drones (New York, 2014) Welsh, D (Emeritus Fellow) and G Grimmett, two copies of Probability: An Introduction (Oxford, 2014) Whatley, EG (1963) (contributor), Le Légendier de Turin (Florence, 2014) Whitworth, M (Fellow) (ed.), Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (Oxford, 2015) Winston, B (1960), The Rushdie Fatwa and After: A Lesson to the Circumspect (Basingstoke, 2014) ____ (ed.), The Documentary Film Book (Basingstoke, 2013) We would also like to thank the person who returned two missing books to the library anonymously – we always welcome such returns!

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The Archives

The past 12 months have felt like a transition from war to peace time, as we moved away from the final events of the Anniversary Year and back to the activities of ‘normal’ life. August and early September 2014 were weeks of preparation towards the Birthday Weekend, where many Mertonians sought out the reminiscence station in the JCR, masterminded by Catherine Farfan, our Merton@750 Project Officer, and assisted by Sarah Green (2013), Alexandra Leigh (2012) and a team of student volunteers. In the breaks in the event-filled programme, old members from numerous generations brought in memorabilia – photographs, invitations, posters, ball programmes and much more besides – to be photographed by the volunteers and added to our electronic archive. Others were happy to be interviewed and contributed their stories and reminiscences. Much of the material can be accessed online at the Merton@750 website (share.merton.ox.ac.uk). Other material was contributed on the understanding that it would not be published, but all is being preserved and will eventually be available to future historians of the College. We are enormously grateful to all members of the team who worked over the weekend to welcome old members and make the event a success, and especially to the many Mertonians who responded so warmly to our appeal. Your personal records and reminiscences have enriched the historic record of Merton in the second half of the 20th century. November struck a more sombre note in contrast with the celebrations of September, as the Library and Archives prepared

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Meanwhile, the Beerbohm Room hosted a small exhibition on ‘Bookselling in Georgian Oxford’, drawing on examples of books purchased from Oxford booksellers in the second half of the 18th century, complemented by one of the day books of the Georgian booksellers Fletcher, Hanwell & Parker, part of the Blackwell archive given to the College in 2003 by Mr Julian Blackwell. The exhibitions were mounted to complement the opening of the Blackwell Hall in the Weston Library and to celebrate Mr Blackwell’s endowment of a Classics Fellowship in memory of his mother, Christine.

Collecting stories for Merton@750 at the Birthday Weekend. Photograph: John Cairns

to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. To coincide with Professor Anthony Fletcher’s (1959) lecture on the experiences of his grandfather ‘Reggie’ Chenevix-Trench (1906) and his contemporaries, first at Merton and later on the Western Front, the autumn exhibition in the Upper Library and Beerbohm Room was dedicated to Mertonians who served in the Great War. The case in the Upper Library was dedicated to Reggie, whose letters home to his mother and his wife, together with other records of life in the trenches, have been generously donated to the College by Professor Fletcher. A hand-written menu for a Brigade dinner attested the efforts by officers to maintain an appearance of normality, while a diet sheet compiled by Reggie for his men recorded the diet of an average ‘Tommy’. A Christmas card sent by Reggie to his two-year-old daughter, and his final leave pass for a few days at home for Christmas 1917, underpinned the tragedy of his death in March 1918, aged 30. The exhibition cases in the Beerbohm Room commemorated other Mertonians who had fought in the war, both students and staff. In a letter dated Boxing Day 1914, John Bulmer (1913) recorded the changes that had come over Oxford since the outbreak of war. He was subsequently posted to France with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and was reported missing in May 1917. Writing to his parents in 1915, Walter Harrison (1914) reported on a tea party in the College gardens organised by the Red Cross for wounded soldiers, which descended to ‘ribald songs – & ribald laughter’. He too served in France, and was killed in

The Christmas card sent by Reggie Chevenix-Trench to his daughter from the trenches in 1917.

action on 20 July 1916. Photographs of Norman Busby of the Royal Garrison Artillery and Frank Jeffreys of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, both aged just 23, represented the six members of College staff killed in action. Our spring exhibition sounded a happier note, celebrating gifts to the Library and Archives by two College benefactors, Sir Basil Blackwell (1907) and his son Mr Julian Blackwell (Trinity, 1950). Sir Basil came up to read Greats at Merton in 1907 and was elected an Honorary Fellow in 1959. Between 1951 and 1982, Sir Basil made 28 gifts to the Library of rare and early printed books, including important early editions of classical authors such as Aristotle, Plato, Cicero and Ovid. Others had Merton associations, such as Thomas James’ 1599

COLLEGE NEWS | THE ARCHIVES

edition of Richard of Bury’s Philobiblon, dedicated to Thomas Bodley, and Dufour and Colmenero de Ledesma’s The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea and Chocolate, also dedicated to a Mertonian: Sir Thomas Clayton (Warden 1661-93). A selection of these volumes was exhibited in the Upper Library.

The generosity of Julian Blackwell in giving the archive to Merton is matched by the enthusiasm and energy of Rita Ricketts, historian of the Blackwell family and businesses. Rita was Visiting Scholar at the Bodleian Library Centre for the Study of the Book in 2010 and a member of the SCR in 2009-11, researching the lives of people associated with Blackwell’s to produce a study of reading, self-improvement and lives led among books in the later 19th and 20th centuries. The results of her extensive research appeared in May as Scholars, Poets and Radicals: Discovering Forgotten Lives in the Blackwell Collections, illustrated with photographs, extracts from letters and diaries, examples of publicity, and typography drawn from the archives. I began my report by referring to the reminiscence station at the Birthday Weekend, part of the Merton@750 project. The project grew out of the realisation that the archives had little to show from the 700th anniversary in 1964, and we were very fortunate in entrusting the project to Catherine Farfan. Many Mertonians past and present generously responded to her appeals (in person, by email or telephone) for photos, reminiscences and interviews, and we took our leave of 2014 with a much better picture of College life over the past half century and more. I am enormously grateful for all that Catherine achieved. Julian Reid Archivist

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Asters are a well-known garden plant and deservedly so; they merit a place in any herbaceous border. Not only are they floriferous but more usefully they wait until autumn to flower when most other perennials have gone over but the College needs to look inviting. These colourful flowers hail from Northern America, Eastern Europe, the Himalayas, Siberia and Japan. The very qualities that make it a reliable growing plant that is easy to propagate by division and seeds, also mean it is invasive and can be tricky to control. We grow cultivars that are resistant to mildew, such as Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’ and Aster divarcatus. There is pretty much nothing to stop it so long as it gets enough water. It is this attribute that makes it so popular with amateur and professional gardeners alike, but also means its bullish personality will make it want to take over a border if left unchecked. We regularly restrict the size of clumps, and curse when it strays from its designated areas. Our most unostentatious of plants, the aroids, have no need for showy flowers as they are designed to attract flies for pollination by mimicking both the appearance and scent of dung, fungus or carrion. One of these, Aristolochia gigantea (Pipe Vine), which is native to Panama and can be found growing in the Warden’s Garden, has poisonous foliage, often a defence to being eaten. Some of the Aristolochia species have been capitalised upon by Swallowtail and Birdwing butterflies, which build up toxins in the larvae to protect them from being eaten too. We grow a native plant Arum maculatum where the flowers are made up of a spath (modified bract) and spadix. This is commonly called Cuckoo Pint as it flowers when the cuckoo starts to call. Like the Pipe Vine, these are designed to attract flies for pollination. Another cute if introverted aroid example is the mouseplant, Arisarum proboscideum, so called because the spath is brown and rounded followed by a long white tail-like section at the end. If a gardener never thought to part the leaves, the flowers may well come and go and never be seen. The ‘tail’ has a mushroom odour known to attract female fungus gnats as its pollinator, blooming just ahead of the actual

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mushrooms that will soon be attracting the same gnats in its native habitat in Spain and Italy. Citrus are horticulturally speaking our most demanding divas. This spring we acquired two lemon trees, which are now growing in the Versaille boxes in Postmasters’ Yard and – luckily for us – grey squirrels don’t appear to have a penchant for them as the blossom has smelt heavenly. It is essential they have an acid soil of between 6 and 6.5pH; anything above or below gives them great difficulty in absorbing trace elements such as iron and magnesium. Unlike all the other plants we grow, feeding for flowers and fruits is undertaken in winter to keep them ripening and developing before and after Christmas: the main problem of fruit drop is caused by lack of winter feeding. In the wild, a lemon tree would produce a dense canopy of leaves shading the fruit and trunk from sun damage. When the lemon tree is pruned as a standard, as are ours and all in commercial orchards, the trunk must be protected from sunburn with either a white latex mixture or lime wash.

COLLEGE NEWS | THE GARDENS

The Gardens

In light of a recent book by Rita Ricketts, Scholars, Poets and Radicals (see the Archives report and Book Reviews on page 83), we have chosen this year to look to the personalities that some of Merton’s plants radiate to us gardeners.

Our enduring Ginkgo biloba had previously been widespread throughout the world until two million years ago when it was restricted to a small area of China. Thought to be extinct for centuries it is now infrequently found in the wild in deciduous forests and valleys. Ginkgo’s large seeds and a habit of growing to a height of 10 metres before elongating its side branches may be adaptations to life when ferns and cycads dominated. At the time when flowering plants were on the rise, Ginkgos were being displaced. At Easter we were delighted to gain a new member of the Merton plant collection, an English Oak. Planted on Chestnut Lawn in memory of Nigel Veitch (1984) and very kindly donated by his friends and family, we hope over the next 800 years it will grow into the most eminent of trees and take us into many more centenaries to come. Lucille Savin Head Gardener

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Academic Office

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One of the advantages of returning to a role that one has held before is that it is possible to ascertain quickly what is working well, and what needs some remedying. It was immediately apparent that central aspects of the work that the Academic Office undertakes have expanded considerably in the five years since I was last in post. Some of this is courtesy of new legislation, such as the need to undertake right-to-work checks for all tutors and lecturers; some is due to growth in the size and knottiness of operations over which we have minimal control, such as undergraduate and graduate admissions; and some is due to the marked increase both in the number of welfare and disability cases that Merton deals with, and in the complexity of those cases – increases that are not peculiar to Merton, but that have been reported across Oxford colleges and indeed across higher education in the UK and the US more generally.

It has been a year of considerable change in the Academic Office: I write this as the third Senior Tutor to have held the post at Merton since the start of Michaelmas 2014. Although losing two Senior Tutors in such a short space of time could perhaps be regarded as carelessness, the College has not been as neglectful of its Officers as this might suggest.

Watt who stepped in as Senior Tutor on an interim basis for Hilary Term, and in so doing reprised the role she played here in 2010-11. Given her extensive experience of College and University systems, Trudy’s term back at Merton was far more than a holding operation, and the Office was in fine shape when the baton was handed on to me.

Dr Catherine Paxton, who had been in post from 2011 (in addition to an earlier stint as the College’s first ‘professional’ Senior Tutor from 2003 to 2008), stepped down in December 2014 to take up the role of Director of Student Welfare and Support Services for the University. Catherine’s perspicacity, intellectual rigour and strategic leadership have, without doubt, set the standard for what a Senior Tutor should be. This is recognised not only by colleagues here at Merton, but also by those with whom she has worked across the University, and her tenure is one of the reasons why Merton is so frequently looked to by other colleges as a model for how things ought to be done.

I commenced in post at the beginning of Trinity Term 2015, taking over for the home straight of the academic year – or, more accurately, I re-commenced in post because, like both Catherine and Trudy before me, I had also undertaken an earlier stint as Senior Tutor at Merton, in my case as maternity cover in 2009-10. The joke among the students is that, Doctor-Who-like, we are simply the same Senior Tutor, endlessly regenerating.

Catherine’s was far from being an easy act to follow, but Merton was fortunate in being able to turn to Dr Trudy

COLLEGE NEWS | ACADEMIC OFFICE

Officer), and Susannah Perkins (Academic Office Assistant), as well as by Cressida Ryan, the Schools Liaison and Access Officer, whose many and varied activities are detailed on page 44.

That academic operations continued to run smoothly, with minimal disruption, over the course of the year is testament to the excellent team that we have in the Academic Office, and to the sterling leadership of Lynn Featherstone, the Academic Registrar. Lynn was ably assisted by her colleagues Julie Gerhardi (Admissions Officer), Jane Ashford (Academic

One of my tasks in the time that I have been back in post has therefore been to consider how best we can reconfigure the Academic Office so that we can continue to meet the demands that are placed upon us. The outcome of this exercise is that we are restructuring the roles in the team. Julie Gerhardi will no longer be responsible for both undergraduate and graduate Admissions, but will move to the new post of Graduate Officer. As such, she will manage the needs of graduate students from initial enquiry, through application and arrival, and on to the end of their course – a focus that affirms Merton’s resolution to strengthen its position as the destination of choice for the strongest graduate applicants to Oxford. This gives us the opportunity to rethink the role not only of Admissions Officer, but also of the other posts in the Academic Office. The changes that we are introducing will increase the robustness of processes such as Admissions, and enhance support for Fellows and for our undergraduates, graduates and access work. This past year we also bade farewell to Jane Ashford. Jane has given eight years of service to the College: we thank her for her contribution, and wish her well.

Merton College Open Days

So – there will be some different faces in the team next year, but the new set-up will enable us better to provide the high standards of service that the College requires and expects of us. Rachel Buxton Senior Tutor

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Schools Liaison and Access

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A snowman built by the Merton JCR greets Y7 students visiting for an outreach trip in Front Quad

Another busy year draws to a close in the Outreach office. Highlights mentioned here include our Pathways involvement, student ambassador roadshow and subject study days. As ever we want to support students from our link areas in their educational journeys, but also attract the best students to Merton, regardless of their backgrounds. Our outreach, access and recruitment work continues to address both sides of this coin.

seconded 20% of my time to the programme. The large scale of the project has benefited Merton’s outreach work: we are learning more about schools beyond our regions, which helps inform the work we do with our link schools. I’ve improved my skills in statistical analysis, which has allowed me to assess our impact more thoroughly, and getting to know outreach colleagues across the University has helped our own outreach work.

This year has been one of significant change. I agreed to coordinate the Oxford Pathways Programme Y13 Application Information Day in September 2014, a major event supporting 150 students from low-participation backgrounds through their Oxford application. The event went extremely well, with successful applications resulting, including to Merton. I also took on the overall coordinator role, a position that

The reduction in Merton-specific time has had some impact on my College work. The College has still run more than 140 outreach events, in addition to those it takes part in for Pathways, Target Schools and other initiatives, which are supported by tutors and students alike. These events have been more tightly linked, with more multi-school hub events, and more schools visited in a single trip, making the most

The JCR access team have again been excellent. Natasha Gillies (2013) stood for Access Rep on the grounds that she would increase participation by JCR members; we now have an established team of more than 20 student ambassadors. They run subject workshops, student life sessions and countless tours of Merton. The highlight of the year came when student ambassadors Liz Milne (2012), Bridget McNulty (2014) and Dan Whittle (2014) joined me for a tour of seven Wiltshire schools. They developed their own activities and teaching style over the three days. Teachers praised their professionalism and refreshing enthusiasm. Students were impressed by their energy, normality and stories. They finished the tour with a better understanding of schools, even better presentation skills, and a renewed interest in supporting outreach. Plans for a similar trip to Dorset next year are already in progress. The Y10 course was again popular, with all eight schools again participating. The winner this year was Lytchett Minster, which planned a course on Bioengineering. Now that the schools are all well-linked to Oxford, it is time to develop our way of working with them. We are planning a range of activities, such as a book group and a lecture series. In Swindon we can also collaborate with the new local Network for Collaborative Outreach, ‘Study Higher’. The football-themed study day mentioned last year was a great success. 28 students attended, boys and girls, from a

wide range of schools, for talks on medicine, robot football, betting stats and football in Medieval England. The thematic approach could have led to disengagement with some talks, but all were popular. We now need a theme for next year; suggestions are welcome.

COLLEGE NEWS | SCHOOLS LIAISON AND ACCESS

of our resources. The increasingly strong relationships built through regionalisation mean we can target events more effectively, and we have worked with a number of schools for the first time, which is particularly exciting.

In June 2015, 45 students attended a PPE study day, with lectures by Merton tutors in each discipline followed up by a seminar session. A week later, 28 scientists came for a Biology/ Chemistry day. Talks on low-temperature Chemistry and malaria were followed by a visit to a forensic science lab where students had to separate and identify two unknown compounds. Given the reduction of laboratory time in the revised A-Levels, we were particularly glad to see participants revel in this session. These study days provide an excellent opportunity for students to get a feel for the University in action, beyond the glamour of open days. With the advent of the new linear A-Levels, there may be more time in the Y12 schedule for offering this valuable curriculum enrichment, moving students away from the monotonous pressures of exams. In summary, 2014-15 has been a busy year building on our existing work, but also laying the foundations for new approaches. Merton remains one of the most active colleges in terms of outreach, and as the new government continues to raise the profile of student funding and the need for university access schemes, we will continue to adapt to meet the needs of schools and students. Cressida Ryan Schools Liaison and Access Officer

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Development

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Enjoying the final Merton Conversations. Photograph: John Cairns

2014-15 has been a transitional year for the Development Office, as indeed for the whole College, moving from 750th Anniversary Celebrations and the successful Sustaining Excellence Campaign to strategic planning for the College’s future. As the Co-Campaign Chairmen Charles Manby (1976) and John Booth (1976) so wisely commented in the final days of the Anniversary: the challenge in 2015 and beyond will be to maintain the incredible momentum that has been built up.

responsible for pulling together the tremendously successful programme, which we rounded off in autumn 2014 with two final Merton Conversations – ‘On Liberty’ in October and ‘The Real Science behind CSI’ in November – and a fantastic final 750th Anniversary and Campaign Dinner in Middle Temple Hall in December. We continue to receive grateful messages from Mertonians who attended the Anniversary programme – testament to the hard work of all involved.

2014 was memorable in every possible way. More than 4,000 guests of all ages attended the Anniversary Celebrations, which ranged from the Merton Conversations to the Anniversary Ball and the Birthday Weekend. We were also delighted to welcome back, either to College, or to a Merton event elsewhere in the world, some 350 Mertonians who had not attended a Merton event since 1994. Heartfelt thanks are due to the Celebrations Committee, who were

In 2015 we resumed our regular annual events, picking up with Gaudies, Merton in the City, and the successful MC3 Weekend in the US, but not without learning from the Anniversary Year. Building on the experience of 2014, we plan to run a Merton Conversation every three years (with the first in 2017), as well as a special Family Day every three to five years. In June the Merton Society rebranded its annual weekend under a new name: Merton@Home.

Although we are still finishing some outstanding fundraising projects, and are already working on the new ones emerging from the College’s recent strategic planning (see ‘From the Warden’ on page 4), we cannot let this report go by without mentioning in more detail the successful 750th Anniversary Campaign, Sustaining Excellence. It is clear that the College would be in a much more difficult financial position to continue its core teaching and research without this Campaign. Thank you to all 2,891 of you who gave a total of £30,419,635 over the course of the Campaign, 21% of which came from smaller gifts. Together, you have strengthened the Tutorial System, securing eight existing tutorial fellowships in Chemistry, Classics, Economics, English, Music, Philosophy and two positions in History. The £30 million total also goes towards supporting undergraduates through the Merton-Oxford bursaries and Merton’s Student Support Fund, graduate scholarships in a range of subjects, and the building of the new TS Eliot Theatre. This generosity has enabled the College to work on a vision for the future with a clear head. In short, Merton College and its students are already reaping the benefits of the Campaign. None of this would have been possible without the 750th Anniversary Campaign board, who have given so generously financially – £6.9 million between them – and with their time, energy and commitment. We are, as always, indebted to the help of MC3, our fundraising and alumni relations organisation in the Americas: some 25% of gifts came via MC3. We are using the end of the Campaign to rationalise and further strengthen the College’s Development Boards around the world. They will be well placed to help finish the Campaign projects, while also commencing future development work in line with the College’s new strategic goals. As for our ongoing projects, we have been progressing with the endowment of one of the College’s existing Law

Fellowships and are almost halfway to securing the money needed to renovate and extend the College’s dilapidated Boathouse. Work also continues on endowing Merton’s share of undergraduate bursaries for students from lowincome backgrounds. As these projects come to a close in the coming months, the College’s strategy for the next years will be brought before a wide range of Mertonians (including Fellows and students) at Ditchley Park in January 2016, to ensure that we are on the right path. We already know that one focus for the College will be continuing provision for graduate students, a prospect with exciting potential.

COLLEGE NEWS | DEVELOPMENT

Based on the Birthday Weekend, the new weekend offered a wider range of events to appeal to a broader range of Mertonians, including punting on the Cherwell, climbing the Chapel tower, and listening to Professor Daniel Grimley’s riveting talk on the Finnish composer Sibelius, in advance of this year’s pre-Prom talks. We were also delighted to hear a scratch choir perform the joyful Zimbe!, composed and directed by Alexander L’Estrange (1991).

The Development team has also been undergoing a period of transition. We were sad to say goodbye in February to Helen Morley, our Communications Officer, who left to travel in East Asia. This was followed by the departure of Lauren Kendall to work as Senior Development Executive in the University’s Humanities Division, and not long after by Leah MacLaren, our invaluable Development Assistant, who left to pursue a career in International Development. As a result, we have welcomed some new faces: Catherine Farfan joined us from the Merton@750 project, moving from collecting Merton stories for the College’s Archives to telling Merton stories in our publications; and Bethany Pedder has joined us from The Queen’s College, where she read Classics, to be our Development Assistant. We are also recruiting for a Development Officer, as this goes to press, who will take over Peter O’Connor’s Annual Fund work while he steps into the new role of Senior Development Executive to assist with strategy and major gifts. Meanwhile Helen Kingsley, Alumni Relations Manager, and Elina Harjula, Information & Research Officer, continue to hold the fort. As usual, a fuller account of the Development Office’s fundraising activity will appear in the annual Donor Report in the New Year, but we must reiterate our thanks to all Mertonians for their exceptional support over the past eight years. We have come an incredibly long way and still have an exciting journey ahead of us, for which your continued support will be invaluable. Christine Taylor Fellow and Director of Development

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Dr Richard Blakemore

Dr Michael Booth

Professor Radek Erban

I was elected Junior Research Fellow in History in October 2014. Before that, I studied as an undergraduate at Aberystwyth University, took my MPhil and PhD at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and worked as an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

I joined Merton as Junior Research Fellow in Chemistry in October 2014. I studied for an MChem at the University of Southampton, including a placement at the University of Montreal, Canada. Following this, I moved to the University of Cambridge for my PhD under the supervision of Professor Shankar Balasubramanian, where I used chemistry to develop sequencing technologies to accurately detect modified DNA bases, which had only recently been discovered in human DNA. I helped spin these technologies out into a new company and they are now commercially available. I moved to Oxford in 2013 to carry out postdoctoral research with Professor Hagan Bayley.

I joined Merton in September 2014 as a Tutorial Fellow in Mathematics. I am also Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute and a Royal Society University Research Fellow.

My Fellowship at Merton College has allowed me to expand the research I was carrying out in the Bayley Lab, involving the construction of light-activated synthetic cells, which mimic natural cellular functions on light illumination. I am using a 3D printer for aqueous droplets that was developed in the Bayley Lab, which can print tens of thousands of picolitre droplets into a large predefined network. I am developing these droplet networks into synthetic cell networks or tissues. Using photocaging chemistry, these synthetic cells/tissues will show no function until they are illuminated with light. These light-activated tissues will allow the mimicking of cell-to-cell communication through living tissue, but in a minimal synthetic system.

Applications often come from biology, where I am interested in understanding the behaviour of complex systems consisting of many interacting components – for example, modelling interactions between individual genes and proteins inside cells that lead to a specific behaviour of the whole cell. These models can be formulated according to the behaviour of individual macromolecules, which is then simulated on a computer. However, it is often challenging to efficiently simulate large collections of macromolecules over system-level timescales. I am working on developing algorithms that enable this.

Junior Research Fellow in History

My research focuses on the history of seafarers, particularly British sailors during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. I have published articles on sailors in the British civil wars, navigational instruments and Atlantic piracy, and I am currently writing a book about the interconnected development of maritime trade, state structures and imperial authority. As British sailors travelled further and more frequently during the early modern period, building and maintaining commercial networks across cultures, they brought home new wealth, objects and ideas. They also contributed to newly emerging political and legal situations in Britain, Europe and around the globe. These centuries witnessed the separate kingdoms of the British Isles and Ireland become united under first a single sovereign, then a single government, at the same time as British traders and colonists established themselves across the Americas, Africa and Asia. These were messy, uncertain and very often bloody events, but they had a profound and cumulative impact, forging the first stage of globalisation. In my work l seek to understand these events from the perspective of the workers who made globalisation possible. I am delighted to have joined Merton (not least because I’m a big Tolkien fan). It’s a great privilege to be part of such an engaging and supportive community of scholars and students.

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Junior Research Fellow in Chemistry

During my first year at Merton, I have thoroughly enjoyed the contact with Fellows from all different disciplines. I look forward to spending more time with them and hopefully the opportunity to teach and mentor Merton students.

Tutor in Mathematics

COLLEGE NEWS | HAIL TO NEW FELLOWS

Hail to New Fellows

I work on the development, analysis and application of mathematical and computational methods to real-world systems, focusing on problems that require modelling over different spatial and temporal scales. These problems are often challenging to analyse, even using state-of-the art mathematical methods, and present many opportunities to develop new mathematics.

My work greatly benefits from the college environment. I moved to Oxford in 2005 and was previously affiliated with Brasenose College (Nicholas Kurti Junior Research Fellow, 2011-14), Somerville College (Fulford Junior Research Fellow, 2008-11) and Linacre College (Junior Research Fellow, 2005-08). Opportunities to discuss my mathematical work with researchers from other disciplines have led to both identifying new research directions in mathematics, and using mathematics to answer questions in other disciplines.

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Ms Carina Venter

Dr Miguel Walsh

I grew up in northern California and attended UC Berkeley before getting my PhD from Harvard. Before coming to Merton, I was Associate Professor of History at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where I offered a variety of classes on late imperial and modern Chinese history, East Asian environmental history, and world history. I was also a member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ in 2010-11, thanks to a Mellon Fellowship for Assistant Professors and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and taught as a visiting professor at Harvard in 2012-13.

I was born in Bethlehem, an odd choice of name for a small South African town in the heart of the (equally peculiarsounding) Free State, one of South Africa’s nine provinces. Upon completing a BMus degree at the University of Pretoria and a Master’s in Musicology at the University of Stellenbosch, I moved to Oxford where I read for a Master of Studies in Musicology at Christ Church. At the time of writing this short piece, my doctoral dissertation entitled ‘Experiments in postcolonial reading: music, violence, response’ is about to be submitted for examination, and includes chapters on Steve Reich, Philip Glass, music and reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa, and responsible aesthetics in post-Marikana South Africa.

I joined Merton College as a Special Fellow in Mathematics in September 2014. I also hold a Research Fellowship from the Clay Mathematics Institute. Before coming to Oxford I obtained my undergraduate and PhD degrees at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Tutor in History

My research is driven by the belief that fully comprehending China’s contemporary environmental challenges requires recognition that they result from a complex interplay between recent developments and deeper-rooted patterns in China’s history. Coming to grips with ecological problems – as my research seeks to convey – depends on understanding how people have historically generated, perceived and responded to environmental change in times past. These historical legacies shape the options available to China and the rest of the world as we grapple mounting environmental crises on the global scale. I have published books and articles on the environmental history of war in China, China’s marine fisheries, China’s role in global environmental history, maritime connections between mainland China and Taiwan, international conflicts over hydrocarbon resources in the South China Sea, and other topics. Currently, I am conducting research on the history of soil conservation in China, as well as writing a book that surveys modern China’s environmental history from a transnational perspective.

Junior Research Fellow in Music

I am interested in music as a mode of approaching problems and possibilities that are endemic to late capitalism and the so-called postcolonial, work I pursue within a broader frame of French and postcolonial theory. Eventually I hope to work towards a modality of musical thought and practice able to engage meaningfully with the aporias of the postcolonial world. This quality of engagement, I believe, requires delinking from Eurocentric analytical instruments that remain putative in musicology, and the deliberate decolonisation of institutionalised knowledge systems. I have published in the South African Journal of Musicology, Muziki, and am currently finalising work for a special issue on music and landscape that I am co-editing for the Journal of Musicology.

Special Fellow (Mathematics)

COLLEGE NEWS | HAIL TO NEW FELLOWS

Dr Micah Muscolino

My research so far has focused on two areas of mathematics: ergodic theory and number theory. Ergodic theory is a part of mathematics devoted to the study of how measurable systems that change under fixed sets of rules evolve over time. In particular, I am interested in understanding the behaviour of the so-called ergodic averages, which are functions that give us information about the average behaviour of these systems. A well-known result of John von Neumann shows that these averages always converge for any fixed rule, and in my research I was able to generalise this result for systems with an arbitrary number of simultaneous rules. Part of my research in number theory has been related to an arithmetic operation one can apply to sets of numbers called modular reduction. Due to the fundamental importance of this operation, I have been interested in characterising those sets that behave in an abnormal manner when this operation is applied to them. I was able to use my results on this topic to give a uniform estimate on the number of rational solutions that equations defined by polynomials can have.

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Features

We’re not yet out of the banking crisis; what would you say we still need to tackle? Well, I don’t think we are still in the middle of a banking crisis, not least because of the progress we have made in the last five years. The government being able to begin the process of selling its shares in RBS is part evidence of this. But the deleveraging that has been required, and that is still going on, has been painful and difficult and required extraordinary amounts of liquidity to be provided to monetary systems throughout the world. Patients on complex medication regimes can look remarkably healthy but it’s how they are once they stop taking the tablets that is the real test. I do think some cultural patterns have been shifted, not least because of the signalling effect of some people, rightly, being put in gaol, but we can’t rest easy until we make sure every single market practitioner understands the difference between what is acceptable behaviour and what is not.

FEATURES | VIEW FROM THE TOP: SIR GERRY GRIMSTONE

sectors of the economy combined, and generate substantial tax revenue, economic activity and jobs. We need all three.

Recently you have been campaigning on the subject of Europe. What would it mean for Britain’s financial sector if we were to leave the EU? Our series of interviews with Mertonians at the top of their profession continues with Sir Gerry Grimstone (1968). Sir Gerry has had a long and illustrious career in the City and financial sector, from serving as a civil servant in Margaret Thatcher’s government to chairing Standard Life since 2007. He tells us about privatisation, the Scottish Referendum and John Cleese. The City and financial services sector has come under considerable scrutiny since 2008. How would you respond to its critics?

View from the Top: Sir Gerry Grimstone

It’s undeniable that financial services can bring great benefits to an economy but also, if uncontrolled and unregulated, that they can cause enormous harm. A lack of understanding of the risks being run, coupled with greed and insufficient regulation, produced a toxic mixture. Tremendous lessons have been learnt but structural changes have been required and constant vigilance is needed to ensure this never happens again. Financial services in the UK export more than all other

Frankly, it would be disastrous if we were not in the Single Market. London is one of the world’s very few global financial centres and it owes this position in part to the fact that is Europe’s financial capital. The UK’s economy alone cannot support a financial sector, for good or ill, the size of ours. This doesn’t mean of course that we need to be part of an integrated European political union – we can leave that to the Eurozone and wish them well as they seek to achieve this; for the stability of the Eurozone is very important to us. As a civil servant in the 1980s, you were a key player in the early privatisation deals under Margaret Thatcher, such as Jaguar and British Airways. How have these early days shaped your later work in the City and elsewhere? I oversaw more than 20 major privatisations and I learnt so much about the complexity of political and market interactions. The golden rule of privatisation is that a government may want to sell something but someone else doesn’t necessarily want to buy it. We were radically

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Companies can only safely operate if the board is at the centre of the business. That may sound simple but it’s not easy to achieve in practice, particularly in complex, international organisations. Critically, boards must be safe places for the executives to report exactly what is going on within the business otherwise problems don’t surface until too late, but at the same time strong accountabilities must be preserved. It’s the chairman’s job to get the right people around the table so that the appropriate balance can be maintained and I pay enormous attention to that. You have successfully seen Standard Life through a period of tumultuous change. What kept you going through such a long and difficult period?

reshaping major sectors of the UK economy as well as simultaneously changing ownership patterns on an extraordinary scale and it brought out my most radical instincts. Working in HM Treasury for Nigel Lawson as Chancellor was the best job in the world and it gave me an enduring interest in the complex boundary that exists between the public and the private sectors, not just in the UK but around the world. Both when you were working for the Civil Service and since – in the City and in your current involvement with the MOD – you have operated in very politicised fields. What if any, in your view, is the role of politics in economics and the banking sector? We are all part of a civilised civil society with the mutual responsibilities and risk-sharing that comes with that. Politics in a democracy such as ours is a mechanism of transmitting societal norms and accepted methods of behaviour, and economics and banking cannot somehow be divorced from this. Because I fervently believe this, I’ve never had problems

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in working closely with talented ministers of many different political persuasions. You spend two days a week in Edinburgh, Standard Life is based in Scotland, and you have Scottish roots. What was your view on the Scottish referendum last year? That’s a question I’ve never felt right to answer because of my public position. I’ve also never thought it right for businessmen to suggest to people how they should vote. But Standard Life is the largest company headquartered and based in Scotland and, because of our history, we are deeply immersed in the country and particularly in Edinburgh. We thought long and hard about the referendum, analysed all the available information very carefully, and we were left with some deep and difficult unanswered questions that caused us to say that we would have to move parts of our operations to England if Scotland chose to vote for independence. We were the first major company to make our views known and, rightly, they attracted a lot of attention.

Well, it’s been a long period that is still continuing but I think corporate change of the type my colleagues and I have been carrying out is stimulating rather than long and difficult. The board I joined back in 2003 was overseeing Europe’s largest mutual life assurer. But it became clear to some of us that the company was effectively out of control. It had to be stabilised, demutualised, turned into a company quoted on the Stock Exchange, and then its orientation massively changed to make it the successful global investment and savings business it is today. A lot of clever and committed people have contributed to the process and it has been a satisfying journey. Many millions of people worldwide trust us with their savings and a lot of responsibility goes with this, which we all feel. Going back to the beginning, did you always know you were destined to work in the City and banking sectors? I don’t really see myself as a City person although you might find that a surprising statement given how much time I seem to devote to it. I like unravelling complicated things and making them simple for other people to decide. I realise now that at heart I’m an intermediary and I think that’s the common thread that holds my career together whether as a

civil servant, a banker or a company chairman. I don’t think I would have been a successful principal and that’s quite an insight that I’ve gained into myself. You were quoted as saying the worst piece of advice you ever received was to ‘address a task with energy but never enthusiasm’. What would you say is the best piece of advice you ever received? Try and finish the day’s work on the day – I don’t like going to bed without everything finished and ready for the next day. I also like sticking printed labels on things but I’m not sure where that bit of advice came from.

FEATURES | VIEW FROM THE TOP: SIR GERRY GRIMSTONE

You have experience as chairman of several important boards, including TheCityUK and in China, and you are now advising boards in the Middle East. What are the biggest challenges running these, and what has worked for you?

… and what would be your best piece of advice for young Mertonians starting out on their careers? Work out what kind of person you really are, always have a ten-year plan, and try and see life as a set of chapters in a rather intricate novel where it all makes sense in the end, rather than a series of short stories. On a related note, what do you think has been the secret of your success? I’m clever and I work extremely hard. How did Merton prepare you for your successes? It gave me confidence in myself and taught me I wasn’t destined to be a chemist. I always think charm and modesty are the hallmarks of a successful Mertonian. And finally, your favourite memory of Merton? I think the evening that John Cleese, much to our surprise, accepted an invitation to a Myrmidons dinner and then did a Silly Walk around Fellows Quad. I won’t mention the fire extinguisher.

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Prudence Dailey is Chairman of the Prayer Book Society and was first elected to the General Synod of the Church of England in 2000. I’m a ‘cradle Anglican’, and was brought up going to church with a mixture of different styles of service, both ancient and modern. From an early age I was inspired by the beauty of the language of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (BCP, also referred to as the Prayer Book), which to a child had a magical quality to it, and by the sense of the words resounding down the ages. The modern alternatives appeared a poor substitute, and yet for some reason most of the clergy at that time seemed to prefer them: I was having debates with the vicar from an alarmingly young age!

Mertonians in… Theology and the Church

If I’m honest, my initial attraction to the Church of England and to the Prayer Book was largely cultural; but Christianity has an internal logic to it that demands to be taken seriously, to be at the very centre of life rather than a weekend pursuit. I became aware, too, that the distinctiveness of the Book of Common Prayer is not only in its cadences, but more importantly in its theology: the Prayer Book is unequivocally direct about Man’s fallen, sinful nature, and our need for grace. Someone said recently that the BCP ought to have a warning on the cover: ‘Contains strong language’. Merton Chapel ceiling. Photograph: Colin Dunn (Scriptura Ltd)

Since its Foundation in 1264 ‘to the honour and glory of the most high’, and with the Archbishop of Canterbury as its Visitor from the 1270s, Merton and the Church have been intertwined. Theology formed the backbone of the College’s early syllabus, and sections of the King James Bible were translated in the Breakfast Room. Merton College has always had a thriving religious life, and many Mertonians have entered into a career in or connected with the Church. Postmaster invited a handful of them to share their thoughts and views on a life working in the Church and theology…

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I became a member of the Prayer Book Society (PBS) while at Merton, in the mid-1980s. I followed a career path spanning NHS administration and working in IT for a large retail corporation, with the aim of gaining some life experience before pursuing my ultimate ambition, which was to go into politics. I was an Oxford City Councillor and stood as a Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in an unwinnable seat in 2001, but by then I was already beginning to be disillusioned by secular politics, and decided to focus my attention on the Church instead: I was first elected to the General Synod in 2000.

The PBS is, in essence, a campaigning organisation within the Church of England, which exists to promote the use and understanding of the BCP. It was formed in the early 1970s, when the Prayer Book was in danger of being swept away altogether in the tide of liturgical reform; the landscape has changed considerably over the decades, and overt hostility to the BCP within the hierarchy of the Church has all but evaporated. Most of the time we are working in cooperation with the Church authorities rather than against them, and the Liturgical Commission named us as a ‘partner organisation’. The greatest challenge nowadays is straightforward lack of knowledge of the BCP, and the role of the Society is in large part one of education. At this moment, I’m in the process of trying to rustle up some volunteers to participate in a series of professionally-produced ‘how-to’ videos, to be streamed on YouTube, to help the clergy in conducting Prayer Book services.

FEATURES | MERTONIANS IN… THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH

Prudence Dailey (1984)

One of the most rewarding aspects of running the PBS is coming into contact with young clergy and ordinands (i.e. trainee clergy) with a real enthusiasm for the BCP, and being able to contribute to providing a framework for encouraging them. When I first became involved in the Society, we rarely saw ordinands or young clergy, and it is exciting to witness the change. In many ways, it feels as though the PBS is really ‘taking off’: what was once written off by many as a lost cause, is helping to shape the future of worship in the Church of England.

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The Rt Revd Michael Lewis is Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.

London. It was then episcopally inspired and terrified by Mervyn Stockwood.

Interviewed originally to read Greats, I arrived at Merton in Michaelmas 1972 as a lone Orientalist. For the next three years I trekked north across the city to the Oriental Institute as well as the scattered eyries of Hebraists, Aramaicists and Syriacists of many hues. Among them were anti-Christians and Christians, Jews and agnostics, a gruff Scot, a tall Dane, a languid Wycliffe evangelical, and a Lithuanian with a taste for setting Swinburne to be rendered semitically.

Southwark made me. At that time clergy and laity with wildly differing views about almost anything – party politics, sex, theories of the Atonement – had the common sense to make life richer by talking to one another, not hurling slogans from behind barricades. After two years’ curacy with an incumbent who cultivated the look of Laurence Olivier as Richard III, I spent three and a half years as the pretty inadequate Chaplain of Thames Polytechnic (remember them?) before my first, suburban, living. Then I migrated to Worcester as team rector of four churches, where I also became rural dean and canon of the cathedral. There were many Muslims on my patch and from then on the encounter between major faiths has never been absent from what I’ve been led to do.

Being one of a kind at Merton, I mixed across disciplines: with chemists like George Ratcliffe (1971), mathematicians like Andrew Wiles (1971), and classicists like Paul Le Druillenec (1971), with whom I’d been at school. Ordination had been in my mind before I came up. For me, it’s always been the example of other people that has moved me for good or ill, and so it was with a gradually emerging vocation. First it had been a central-casting 1960s curate back in my home parish in Hampshire, all motorcycle leathers and radical social concern; then a flawed, holy parish priest; then Mark Everitt, Chaplain of Merton apparently in saecula saeculorum. Chapel and the Church Society nurtured me, though I made forays to some of the outliers of Oxford religion (to be recommended: with luck you start to tell the benignly odd from the dangerous manipulator). Mark taught me that if you can’t say something interesting in a sermon, then read out one of John Chrysostom’s instead. Merton let me stay a fourth year for the first part of Theology as a second first degree and I completed it, after selection conference, at Cuddesdon, the Holy Hill beyond Wheatley. In 1978 after six full years in and close to Oxford I was ordained for Southwark, the more interesting 50% of

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In 1999 I was consecrated as Bishop of Middleton, a deliberately anodyne title (unless you proudly come from Middleton, Lancs) to allow the postholder to cover old rivals: Oldham, Rochdale, Ashton under Lyne. I got close to and was often puzzled by Islam, Judaism, and varieties of Christianity beyond my comfort zone. Finally eight years ago I was translated, as they quaintly say, to be Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. It covers ten political jurisdictions: the whole Arabian peninsula, Iraq, and both parts of divided Cyprus. We live in Nicosia but have piedsà-terre in, among others, Bahrain, Baghdad and Aden. Our eye clinic in the Yemen is battered by war but we’re determined to reopen. In Baghdad we’ve developed a primary school for Muslims and Christians. In some locations we’re just a few worshippers; in others, multiples of thousands. The British are a minority. On occasion I’ve had coffee with a king; more often I’ll be entangled in the problems of visas. It’s a diocese and a ministry like no other and I’m humbled to be in it.

The Revd Professor Alister McGrath, MA DPhil DD DLitt FRSA, was Senior Scholar at Merton (1976-78), and is presently Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University, and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion. I came to Merton as a Senior Scholar in 1976. I was part of Professor Sir George Radda’s research group in the Department of Biochemistry. My research was going well, and papers were in production. But deep down, I knew I didn’t want to stay in the sciences. I wanted to become a theologian. But how was I to do this? A reading of the small print informed me that my Senior Scholarship allowed me to work towards a DPhil, or to study for a second BA. I know it was terribly cheeky, but I asked the Governing Body if I could do both – continuing my scientific research, while simultaneously reading for the Final Honour School of Theology. They generously agreed. Two years later, I received my DPhil in molecular biophysics, and First Class Honours in theology. It was a remarkable time for me, and I recall those Merton days with great affection. I was never sure whether I wanted to be an academic theologian or a priest. In the end, I decided to do both. I left Merton for Cambridge, studying for ministry in the Church of England at Westcott House, and taking up the Naden Research Studentship in Divinity at St John’s College. After working in a parish in Nottingham, I returned with my family to Oxford to take up a lectureship at one of Oxford’s theological colleges – Wycliffe Hall. I think I expected to stay there for about five years. In the event, I stayed for 25, ending up as Principal of Wycliffe Hall, and with an Oxford personal chair in theology. It was a wonderful experience, allowing me to be involved in both ministry and theological research, particularly in trying to build bridges between theology and the natural sciences.

In 2008, I decided the time had finally come to leave Oxford. I had been there for too long, and I needed a fresh challenge. I took up a chair in theology at King’s College London, and persuaded my local bishop to allow me to be attached to a group of village parishes in the Cotswolds. It worked well, allowing me to be both a priest and an academic theologian, and get involved in the rich academic and cultural world of the metropolis. Maybe it was inevitable, but in 2014 I returned to Oxford as the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, based in the Faculty of Theology, while continuing my ministry in the Cotswolds. It was my privilege to preach at the College chapel service, broadcast live on BBC Radio 4, marking Merton’s 750th Anniversary.

FEATURES | MERTONIANS IN… THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH

The Revd Professor Alister McGrath (1976)

The Rt Revd Michael Lewis (1972)

Looking back, I can see how my two years as a Senior Scholar at Merton were formative. I shall never forget the encouragement I received from senior members such as Michael Dunnill, or their wise advice about the joys and frustrations of the academic life. Merton was indeed an alma mater to me – as it has been to so many others down the ages. I’m sure I’ll find a way of repaying that generosity.

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The Revd Katherine Price was ordained a priest in the Church of England in July 2015. She has recently published her memoirs of her call to ordained ministry in I Think it’s God Calling (see page 84). When I left Merton in 2005 with a BA and MSt in Modern History, I was prepared to consider almost any line of work – but I never expected this! My knowledge of theology stopped in the 15th century, and more to the point I was an atheist. One year of a research degree was enough to know academia wasn’t for me, and I spent the next five years in an office job, meanwhile thinking through some thorny questions to which the answer turned out to be God. When people ask why I ‘wanted to be a vicar’, my response is usually hollow laughter. It’s a life more than a job; I don’t think anybody chooses this unless they feel completely called to it. I went through a long selection process and then spent three years at the College of the Resurrection in Yorkshire, living alongside an Anglican monastic community and studying for a theology degree at Sheffield. It was a very different experience from Merton, studying with people of all ages and educational and work backgrounds. I also took the opportunity to pursue my interest in the Orthodox Church and the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, making extended trips to Russia and Romania. My life now is nothing I could have predicted. I’m living in Grimsby, whilst most of my Merton friends work in London. This is my fifth address in five years – filling in criminal records checks is a nightmare! I’m also (temporarily) living apart from my husband during the week, sadly not uncommon for clergy. All clergy will tell you it’s an enormous privilege. An ‘ordinary’ old lady becomes extraordinary as I hear her described by her bereaved children. A stranger on the train opens up

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to me about his painful divorce. News stories about debt, benefit sanctions or mental illness give way to faces and names, the people I work with and learn from. That’s a perspective the other careers I’d considered would never have given me. Stories of Galilee intersect with stories of Grimsby, Word becoming flesh. At the same time, the Church is an incredibly frustrating institution. Oxford proves it’s possible to be an ancient and traditional institution with top-class modern standards, but the Church has too often failed to equip and support its people. My Merton background helps me to think in centuries not years; I don’t get alarmed by predictions of the Church of England’s imminent demise. My fear, though, is that decisions may be taken based on anxiety rather than theological rigour. ‘Going into the Church’ couldn’t be a more traditional path for a Mertonian – my undergraduate dissertation was on the careers of late medieval Mertonians, of whom a number became bishops – although Merton no longer offers theology. However, it’s possible that I’m the first Mertonian woman to be ordained (I would love to hear if there are any others). So far, life with God has been one surprise after another, so I expect it will continue to be unpredictable! In one sense, though, I may be coming full circle. My MSt thesis related to 15th-century ecclesiology (the theory and structure of the church) and relations between the Eastern and Western church. I’ve recently put together a doctoral proposal looking at the same issues in the 21st century, with rather more practical ramifications. So I was almost where I needed to be – it just took me ten years to get here!

Brother Jean-Marc of Taizé (Mark Prior, 1984) Brother Jean-Marc, who will be familiar to his contemporary Mertonians as Mark Prior, has been a member of the Taizé community since 1996. What I am doing – and have been doing for 20 years or so – is really something of a non-career. I’m a brother in the Taizé Community, near Lyon in France. Founded by the somewhat prophetic figure of Brother Roger, it is in all essentials a monastery, but with brothers belonging to many different Christian churches. We are involved in welcoming very large numbers of young adults from all over the world who come to experience a few days of a simple lifestyle, reflection together, and prayer. I first visited Taizé myself as an undergraduate at Merton, and was immediately captivated by the intensity of the sung community prayers shared with an international assembly of thousands, as well as by the clarity of vision and understanding that the Community seemed to possess. At the time, I was studying old languages (Classics, Old English, then Celtic), but also enjoying the opportunities Merton provided for friendships and discussion with students of all sorts of different disciplines. And I was exploring the different forms of the Christian faith present in Oxford: ‘home’ was the College Chapel and the Christian Union, with the kindly and wise presence of Chaplain Mark Everitt, but there were also the charismatic movement, the more elaborate forms of Anglo-Catholicism, Russian Orthodoxy… In the midst of this diversity, not to say complexity, I was intrigued and challenged by Taizé’s wide ecumenism and its emphasis on simplicity of life and of heart. ‘Simplicity of heart’ – not of mind, not necessarily of feeling, but of heart in the biblical sense as the seat of one’s basic attitudes, the place where fundamental decisions are made.

I was in China I came to realise that I ought to come back to Taizé to consider seriously whether the life of a brother might be for me. So I came as a volunteer helper, and the decision gradually matured, coming to clarity with making the definitive commitment in the Community at Easter 2000. So what do I actually do? The monastic life is more about being there than doing things. But being there means being available for whatever is needed. We work to earn our living: all our goods are held in common, and we don’t accept donations. My contribution to this is in the Community’s small publishing house, something that I’ve learned on the job. (Other brothers produce pottery and other craftwork, while some are involved full time in organising the meetings of young adults.) Besides this, I help with looking after new brothers in the community; with the music (I have learned, more or less, to play the organ); and with some of the sessions for the visitors, particularly on the ‘faith and science’ theme. There is also the work of accompanying those who come for a week of silent retreat. Consisting above all in listening and in supporting people as they try to discern what their real priorities are, this is a privilege and often a great joy.

FEATURES | MERTONIANS IN… THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH

The Revd Katherine Price (2001)

Life here, as everywhere, is sometimes humdrum and repetitive; but there is also often a feeling of being caught up in a story that is bigger than we are. There is intense activity, endless coming and going, surrounding the simplicity of community life and the space given to silence and prayer. This year, in response to so many situations of violence and dislocation, human solidarity on all scales is the major theme of reflection. As for the future, we will see where we are led, but we certainly intend to continue.

After Merton came a PGCE and then a mind-broadening stint as an English teacher with VSO in the north of China. While

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The Revd Dr James Walker was ordained into the Church of Scotland in 1975, and was Chaplain of the University of St Andrews from 1993 to his retirement in 2011. I intended to become a doctor, but while filling in the university application form, felt the call of God to the ministry. I headed for Edinburgh University for a degree in mental philosophy, thoroughly enjoying student life and meeting people entering different walks of life. A degree in theology, also first class honours, followed with the specialism of systematic theology. Among outstanding teachers were Tom Torrance, John Zizioulas, Roland Walls and James Torrance, and they opened up the invigorating world of theology, integrating faithfulness to the gospel, rigorous academic study, and pastoral issues. I also courted my future wife, having met her at Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in the Usher Hall.

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The Revd Dr Sam Wells (1984) 1987 I became Principal of Queen’s College in Birmingham, a college recognised by the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reform Church for the training of candidates for the ministry. A tough six years followed as Principal, including the tasks of determining with colleagues the best training for future ministers and having the heaviest teaching load of the staff. Integrating theology and practice was deeply etched into my approach. My horizons opened as I encountered Black-led and other churches, and various faiths.

My DPhil at Merton College centred on three early church theologians who faced massive challenges: Irenaeus against the Gnostics, Origen against the Platonists, Athanasius against the Arians. I was exploring their ‘God, Christ and the world’ views through their epistemology. Integral to study was sport (I represented the College in several sports) and Chapel.

Keen to return to Scotland, I was appointed Chaplain to St Andrews University from 1993 until retirement in 2011, an immensely fulfilling position with many excellent colleagues, ground-breaking researchers and lively students. The Chapel was well attended, with a splendid musical tradition and visiting preachers most Sundays. Pastoral work took the major amount of time, and I was so humbled by the courage of many students and staff to face up to and tackle real difficulties in their lives. Particularly tough times arose when a student death occurred. I found that the cross of Christ, centred in the love of God, enabled me to enter more deeply into people’s suffering, and also vice versa. I was very much part of the University Student Support and Out of Hours.

I was ordained in 1975 as a minister in the Church of Scotland in a Dundee parish, a very challenging, run-down housing scheme, where I interacted with wonderful Christian people, hardly any of whom had had tertiary education. In Dundee my love of the mountains took off. A Galashiels parish in the Borders followed in 1978. Here again were a splendid team of people, a lively Church with a good outreach. They nurtured a young minister and I owe them a great deal. Life was a demanding mix of family (three boys had arrived), church services, pastoral visiting, activities with people, outreach. During this period I finally made time to complete and submit my doctorate. In

Through these years I had the pleasure of celebrating 600 or so weddings, and entertaining at our home. I chaired the University’s Teaching and Research Ethics Committee for many years, establishing it from scratch – some real conundrums emerged as boundaries were pushed in research. As to hillwalking, the round of the Munros, mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet, was finally completed with champagne on the final hill. After retirement, I chaired a housing commission for St Andrews that produced a well-received report. I was a locum at a Dundee church for nearly three years. I since retired a second time, and await to see what next!

The Revd Dr Sam Wells is Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields. He is Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College, London and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4. He has published 22 books on Christian ethics, faith, ministry and poverty.

as together we formed the first development trust in the Eastern Region. I was overwhelmed with questions (such as what might regeneration for this neighbourhood actually mean?) that deepened my theological and ethical quest.

I could describe my life as a square. The first side of the square is the church, more specifically the Church of England, in which my father, grandfather and great-grandfather served as priests before me. The second side is a deep-seated perception of poverty as a pervading social crisis locally and globally, along with an assumption that Christ is most habitually to be encountered among the poor. The third side is an impulse to dwell on configurations of ideas and arguments, particularly as they arise out of and reflect back on contexts of commitment and practice, and specifically to write and to speak in ways that feed on and explore those arguments. The fourth side is my mother’s ambition – her restless and impatient desire to make the most of gifts given and opportunities granted. On a good day, this square feels more like a circle.

Exhausted from six years of intense community engagement, I took a half-time appointment in a Cambridge parish, and there set in motion the cascade of publications that finally integrated my writing and my ministry. I got a call from Duke University in North Carolina to become Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Ethics. It was a wonderful blend of academy and church. More than anything, I was a preacher – the Sunday service drew 900 each week – in a community that took ideas, implementation, rhetoric and faith seriously. I used to say Duke was on the longitude of the Ivy League and the latitude of the Bible Belt. I stayed seven years and had the time of my life.

I was unsettled at Merton because I couldn’t square the circle – at all. Gratitude for gifts shrunk into guilt for privileges; passion around poverty turned into anger at inequality; and my practical Christianity and energy for writing seemed in irreconcilable tension with one another. A clarity of call to ordination, in the summer of my first year, brought much-needed peace and uncharacteristic patience. Working as a curate in a deprived area while pursuing a PhD in Christian ethics squared the circle for the first time. The church is still pervaded by anti-intellectualism, much of it based on profound feelings of personal inadequacy; so for a long time I kept my academic habit in the shadows. Meanwhile I found myself, six years after ordination, in Norwich, at the heart of New Labour’s New Deal for Communities initiative; suddenly I was a community organiser, an institution builder,

FEATURES | MERTONIANS IN… THEOLOGY AND THE CHURCH

The Revd Dr James Walker (1971)

Now I serve St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London, an institution that has its own square of converging and sometimes competing cultures: congregational, commercial, cultural and charitable. I call it an experiment in hope. I’m like an executive chair, trying to make the 400 concerts a year sit alongside the busiest homeless day centre in the country; employing 120 people and reassuring the congregation that this is still recognisably a church. I do a lot of broadcasting and enjoy meeting a wide social range from the destitute and desperate to royalty and the Cabinet. I’m a visiting professor at King’s College London so I keep my academic habit active. Merton taught me about language, argument, the notion of history as philosophy teaching by examples, and writing essays in short timeframes to a high standard. I draw on this training every day. But it also gave me a largely unstructured timetable and the invitation to sample and savour all that the world offers. That’s harder, but it’s more significant: for ministry – and for life.

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What is the one place you must visit?

Merton Cities: Hong Kong

Mertonians have made many of the finest cities in the world their home. To tap into this mine of information, Postmaster talked to Aditya Rana (1983) to find out some of Hong Kong’s best-kept secrets.

Where is the best place to eat and drink?

I would suggest the Hutong restaurant, which offers delicious northern Chinese cuisine with stunning views of Hong Kong harbour through its floor-to-ceiling windows. Hutongs are narrow streets found in the old sections of Beijing, and the restaurant mimics that atmosphere with wooden doorways, birdcages and red lanterns. Order the theatrical Red Lantern dish, which provides delicacies encased in an array of decorated bamboo baskets.

What is the best way to spend a morning?

A trip to Stanley Market, previously a fishing village on the outer reaches of Hong Kong Island, to engage in an old Hong Kong tradition – bargain shopping. Shops sell Hong Kong

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The Big Buddha on Lantau Island! Situated on a hill above the Po Lin monastery, this bronze Buddha weighs 202 tonnes and is 23m high and is the largest outdoor seated representation of the Buddha. Climb the 268 steps for a closer look, and enjoy the sweeping mountain and sea views that can be seen from its base. You can also access the Buddha by a 5.7km cable car ride from the airport with breathtaking views of the outlying islands in Hong Kong.

What is the best view in Hong Kong?

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. Photograph: Nathan O’Nions

souvenirs: silk garments, traditional Chinese dresses, and Chinese arts and crafts. Afterwards, you can take a stroll along one of the three beaches and build up an appetite for lunch at Murray House. A Victorian building previously located in Central, it was dismantled to make space for the Bank of China tower in 1982, moved to Stanley and rebuilt.

… an afternoon?

A visit to Hong Kong will not be complete without taking the Star Ferry – a memorable and scenic boat trip across one of the world’s most-photographed harbours. The ferry service was founded in 1888, and was the principal route carrying passengers across Victoria Harbour. The ferry appeared in the 1961 film The World of Suzie Wong. Another essential Hong Kong afternoon is to take high tea at the historic Peninsula Hotel, arguably the world’s finest hotel. Built in 1928, it was the final stop on the trans-Siberian railway, and has played host to sundry European potentates, dignitaries and writers. Adding more historical colour, it was briefly the headquarters of the Japanese army during the Second World War.

FEATURES | MERTON CITIES: HONG KONG

disciples freed from the cycle of reincarnation) and chanting behind carved screens. The design – intricately interlocking sections of wood joined without a single nail – is intended to demonstrate the harmony of humans with nature. After a peaceful walk around the gardens, you can enjoy a delicious lunch at the vegetarian restaurant hidden behind a waterfall.

… an evening?

A visit to the lively Temple Street night market is another must-do. You can shop for anything from cheap clothes and watches to pirated CDs or fake labels. Throw in a host of fortune-tellers, herbalists and the occasional open-air Cantonese opera alongside an old temple, and you could be at an ancient Chinese market. For dinner, check out the smells and tastes on offer from the dai pai dong (open-air street food stalls), where you can get whatever takes your fancy from a simple noodle bowl to a full meal.

What is Hong Kong’s best-kept secret?

Although Hong Kong is well known for its skyscrapers, it also has some tranquil spots where you can get a brief (and welcome) respite from the city’s hustle and bustle. One of the most beautiful is the Chi Lin Nunnery, a large Buddhist complex originally dating from the 1930s and rebuilt completely in the style of the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) in 1998. It is serene, with lotus ponds, immaculate bonsai tea plants and bougainvillea, silent nuns delivering offerings of fruit and rice to Buddha and arhats (Buddhist

Without question, from Victoria Peak. Standing at 552m, it is the highest point on Hong Kong Island. Sweeping views of the metropolis, verdant woods, spectacular walks – all reached in just eight minutes from Central by the 125-yearold gravity-defying Peak Tram, Hong Kong’s earliest form of transport and Asia’s oldest funicular. While there, you can also take a short climb up Mount Austin Road to the site of the old governor’s summer lodge, which was burned to the ground by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War; the gardens still remain.

What do you love most about living in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong bridges not only the old and new, but also Western ideas on markets and economic efficiency with an Eastern emphasis on family values and cultural and social harmony. It has long been the gateway to China, and remains a useful watching post on its economic and social trends. It also has some of the most hard-working and resilient people in the world, withstanding and rebounding from tumultuous events from the Opium Wars and bubonic plague to the Second World War, the 1967 riots, the Asian financial crisis and the SARS epidemic.

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Adapting to a Thirsty World

More than one billion smallholder farmers, many of whom are women, depend on rain-fed agriculture for their food and income. They produce much of the world’s agricultural output – 80% in sub-Saharan Africa alone – and play an important role maintaining functioning ecosystems by, for example, cultivating crops that house pollinators. However, smallholder livelihoods are under direct threat from climate change. With a lack of alternative rural employment, increased seasonal labour migration to urban centres is leading to overstretched and deteriorating infrastructure and services, and the associated crime and social unrest. These trends are increasing as agriculture expands and intensifies. As such, there is growing interest in how to provide enough food for a growing population, while maintaining healthy ecosystems and habitats. My DPhil research assesses the impact of smallholder agricultural land management on biodiversity, ecosystem services and human livelihoods in a changing climate. The study is located in the Terai Plains of Nepal, which produce 67% of Nepal’s agricultural output, and in the Guinea Savannah

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Reports collected from 80 communities over nine months consistently showed that temperature is rising and rainfall is becoming more unpredictable in these areas, which has a major impact on the success of farmers’ crops. The late arrival of rains means the failure of local crop varieties that are not adapted to fewer growing days, and more intense, erratic rainfall causes runoff of fertile topsoil and sedimentation of watercourses. Changing temperature, humidity and wind patterns are also associated with new disease occurrences (such as groundnut rosette disease or potato blight) and pest infestations (such as cotton stainers, white flies or locusts), and young saplings are unable to tolerate heat stress. Meanwhile, soil compaction and vegetative cover loss during droughts exacerbate flooding. While many argue that this change has been taking place for a long time, its speed and intensity mean that farmers can no longer rely on traditional planning and management to maintain their livelihoods. For example, Laksmi Chaudhury, who lives in Amelia in the Madi Valley, Chitwan, Nepal, described the impacts of flooding: ‘We have to live with the fear every day that our family will be swept away by the river. One day, the flood water levels rose very fast. Children crossing to go to school died. Roads were washed away and emergency vehicles could not access our village. The only place for us to go was onto the roofs of our homes. We sat and waited for the waters to subside.’ His story illustrates how smallholders are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climatic change because they lack fundamental riskmitigation tools, such as access to basic infrastructure, early warnings and communication networks, regulated longterm credit, cash reserves or storage. As part of my research, I was involved in an interdisciplinary programme called Systemic Integrated Adaptation (SIA), supported by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). SIA developed and tested climate adaptation planning methods at local and national levels, methods that had to take into account multiple

independent agents and perspectives and therefore were, by necessity, multi-scalar and cross-sectoral. The first project, ‘Farms of the Future’, piloted community-level planning in Nepal in 2012. In partnership with Friends Service Council Nepal and the Nepal Agricultural Research Council, farmers of the Tharu ethnic group indigenous to the Terai from the village of Beora, went on exchanges to three different sites – in Rupandehi, Dang and Chitwan – each representing alternative climate scenarios. The sites were chosen along an east-west transect of Nepal using the Climate Analogues Tool (24 ensembled, downscaled climate models), 20 years’ historical temperature and precipitation records, consultation with local experts and ground-truthing. Three groups of six farmers were selected to explore different management techniques in these climatically diverse environments. At the end of the programme, the farmers disseminated their new knowledge to the community, and established the Garima Women’s Vegetable Cooperative. A similar programme was held in Lawra, Upper West Ghana, where farmers chose to grow new crops, train volunteer agriculture extension agents and build an early childhood development centre. ‘Farms of the Future’ showed us that farmers are autonomously adapting to climate variability and change by adopting practices of conservation land management that require minimal technical and financial input. For example, farmers conserve water by building raised beds, tied ridges and ditches and growing grass filter strips to control erosion. Some farmers grow leguminous cover crops to fix nitrogen, retain moisture, and stimulate root-growth. Others minimise tillage and rotate crops to influence the soil’s organic carbon content. The second project in 2014, ‘Multi-Level Integrated Adaptation Governance’, piloted national planning in Ghana. Together with the Council for Scientific Industrial Research, it brought together diverse stakeholders to identify disconnects in Ghana’s climate adaptation regime, and test planning approaches against different regional socioeconomic and climate scenarios. Decision-makers, researchers and implementers from the private and public sectors considered the bottlenecks to coordination at village, district, regional and national levels. The project’s findings were then incorporated in the West Africa climate adaptation steering platform, and contributed to Ghana’s climate-smart agricultural policy.

Our research allows us to identify a few common factors hindering successful adaptation planning. Firstly, agricultural extension services experience major budget, transportation and human resource deficits. Historically, governments provided farmer training, market information, monitoring, and subsidies for fertilisers or seeds through extension agents. Yet in Ghana, where according to the Agricultural Extension Policy the target for the farmer to extension agent ratio is 1: 3,000, it is in reality closer to 1: 10,000. Additionally, the few national weather stations, equipment and technical expertise that do exist, generally do not produce localised, accurate forecasts. Early warnings broadcast on the radio in local dialects are limited, as is the dissemination of shortmaturing and water-efficient varieties of crops. Production is also encumbered by land scarcity, declining livestock numbers and shortages in good quality fertiliser.

FEATURES | ADAPTING TO A THIRSTY WORLD

zone of Northern Ghana, where 83% of the population are rural agro-pastoralists. The majority of farmers in both areas depend on rain-fed irrigation, spending, on average, between 3.7 and 6 hours a day collecting water in the dry season.

Addressing these challenges requires pluralistic models, including community-based workers, new technology demonstration centres, online training and field schools. SMS services can be used for remote consultation and surveys, or to provide early warning of rainfall patterns and seasonal forecasts. The private sector, including banks and the retail industry, plays an important role, providing loans to smallholders, developing transport infrastructure and access to international markets, and establishing collection centres and cooperatives. Further research is also needed into low-maintenance water storage technologies, and a long-term plan to deal with unprecedented rates of urbanisation and migration to ensure the viability and diversity of rural livelihoods. While these are just a few of many emerging planning methods for climate-smart agriculture, and although we will have to wait some years to evaluate the impacts of such approaches on decision-making, what is evident is that climate change is not an issue of the future. It is being felt today and solutions are needed at both local and global levels. Jessica Thorn (2010) Jessica’s work features in the film Art, Science & the Thirsty World with Cayenna Ponchione (2011) and Benedict Morrison (1999), shown in Venice as part of AQUAE Venezia 2015. Cayenna, a Music DPhil student, co-directed the film and Benedict, studying for a DPhil in English, is the film’s narrator.

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Five weeks in Sierra Leone: on the Ebola front line

Merton Research Fellow in Biochemistry, Professor Nicole Zitzmann works on antiviral therapies, and volunteered to help in Sierra Leone during the recent Ebola outbreak. Here she tells us about her experience working in a diagnostic lab in Makeni. So far, 11,284 people have died from Ebola in the three countries most affected by the 2014-15 outbreak; Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Although recently cases have dwindled in numbers, there is no end yet in sight on the long road to zero. I had the privilege of travelling along that road for five weeks in March and April 2015, alongside a team of volunteers who had various levels of experience working with viruses and knowledge of basic biochemical techniques, as well as the wish to help. Our job was to diagnose Ebola quickly, as fast diagnosis was a bottleneck in fighting the outbreak. Volunteers were selected by the expert and dedicated Novel and Dangerous Pathogens Training Team from Public Health England (PHE), at Porton Down. At the height of the crisis PHE had established three Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs) in Sierra Leone with the help of the British Army. The PHE diagnostic labs were based in the ETCs in Kerrytown, Port Loko and Makeni, and

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The lab officially stayed open from 6am till 10pm, though often we stayed until after midnight. To me those African nights were full of magic; everything seemed magnified in a dense air full of sounds and smells, while the blue flashing lights of the ambulances reminded me of the task at hand. We were working in shifts: two or three people on each morning, day and evening shift. Almost every day brought a new situation to handle. Teams were phased in and out gradually, so there was always someone present with a few weeks’ experience. A funeral team on their way to work. Photograph: Bill Boyes / International Medical Corps. For more information please visit www.internationalmedicalcorps.org.uk/ebola

run by one of three charities: Save the Children, GOAL and the International Medical Corps. It was to these centres that teams of PHE trained volunteers were dispatched; before leaving the UK, all volunteers were trained in the techniques needed for working with the Ebola virus. Our preparation did not end there; we learned some sentences in the local language Krio, as well as some local culture. We received plenty of jabs, medical instructions and advice on how to deal with the press, and passed safety and security courses, psychological resilience tests and medicals along the way. Shortly after training was complete I found myself on a flight from Heathrow to Casablanca, meeting up with two other volunteers. From Casablanca we travelled to Lungi Airport in Freetown, arriving at 4.10 in the morning. Getting to our final destination, the small mining town of Makeni in the country’s interior, was a complex undertaking. Communication between local drivers and our organising charity was not a strong point, as we found out in the weeks to come. But the determination to support the fight against Ebola was. I led a team of 12, charged with completing sample diagnosis in less than six hours for blood samples coming from our own ETC, and in less than 12 hours for community samples arriving

There are a lot of strong feelings around Ebola. The name alone strikes fear into people’s hearts, as does the way the virus kills the majority of people it infects, exposing our helplessness in the face of it. Ebola is very infectious; it is possible that even a single copy of its RNA reaching the bloodstream can lead to disease ending in death. It is, however, not that contagious: on average one patient passes the virus to only two further people. As long as we adhered to all the safety training and protective measures we knew, we should be safe. In over 40 degrees heat and with humidity increasing the closer we got to the rainy season, however, we needed to stay focused. In the Makeni ETC, the survival rate of Ebola victims was about 30%; babies, children and those aged over 45 rarely survived. We would see the patients next to our lab in the red zone; with time, their (for us unfamiliar) names became easier to decipher on the blood tubes that went through our hands every second day. We waited for their viral load curves to appear on the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction machines, indicating whether their chances of survival were increasing or, more often, decreasing. There were joyful times when a survivor was released. After having had a last shower in diluted bleach, they would come out into the green zone dressed in donated clothes where we would all be waiting. Medics and nurses (for once without their personal protection suits), lab members, psycho-social staff, the kitchen staff and wash teams would all gather and the now ex-patient would place a coloured hand-print against

the survivors’ wall facing the red zone, a sign of hope. To drumbeats and singing we would dance the survivor out of the camp. They got a certificate that showed they were virusfree, a new mattress (as everything in their home would have been burnt) and a mobile phone. Survivors were not always welcome in their villages, though the psycho-social teams did their best to re-integrate them into the communities. In the St Joseph’s School for the Hearing Impaired we met Sister Mary from Ireland. She had lived through many disasters in her over 40 years in Sierra Leone including several evacuations, one during the blood-diamond war 13 years ago. She said the battle against Ebola, with no visible front line, has been the worst. It created a fear she had never seen before. But the few older boys who had already been allowed back into the school by April were typical teenagers full of energy and hope for the future.

FEATURES | FIVE WEEKS IN SIERRA LEONE

from the Bombali and Koinadugu districts via local couriers on motorbikes (donated by the Catholic Relief Service). Community samples were mostly swabs from deceased people; the families needed to know whether their loved one had died of Ebola in which case an ‘Ebola-safe’ funeral was arranged.

My team and I were very small cogs in a huge machine. In daily meetings with the District or National Ebola Response Committee, I met members of the WHO, CDC, UNICEF, Oxfam, the British Army, the Sierra Leonean Army, local police, and the community pillars, local groups responsible for child protection, case management, safe burials, surveillance, social mobilisation and food security. President Koroma, who comes from Makeni, sometimes dropped by. All these groups were working towards the same end, though sadly even today that end is not reached. Sierra Leone and her people left a big impression on me, and my heart sinks at the challenges they are facing; the orphanages are full of the victims’ children, while education and an economy that was on the rise before the virus exploded in their midst have been disastrously interrupted. Whatever little healthcare system there was before the outbreak is in dire need of resurrection and expansion. They say Ebola kills twice: many people sick with unrelated conditions avoid the overburdened and under-resourced medical centres in fear of the virus. This increases the effect of conditions such as malaria, malnutrition, HIV, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, birth complications and respiratory infections that routinely claim many more victims than Ebola ever has or ever will. Professor Nicole Zitzmann Research Fellow in Biochemistry

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Association agreements would be signed with Mediterranean countries (neighbours to the south) and within ten years there would be three more EC members (Greece, then Spain and Portugal); and major adjustments in east-west political and economic relationships (the Helsinki Process) were also launched. This was at the height of the Cold War and Germany was still divided in two.

I soon found, however, that I had jumped in at the deep end: within days I was back in Geneva for consultations with major trading countries, and we were preparing a new multilateral trade negotiation (the Tokyo Round). This was officially launched by a ministerial conference in Japan in September 1973. This was to be the activity that consumed most of the next six years of my life, during which time I was stationed in Geneva.

In the trade world a new EC-EFTA trade relationship had been agreed in 1972, in the shape of a series of free trade areas, and one of my early tasks was to defend them in Geneva. We were also occupied with bilateral trade problems with both the USA, relating essentially to preferential trade, and with Japan where protectionist measures were still in existence on both sides. A new international textiles agreement was negotiated by the Commission on behalf of the EC, and agreements were reached with several countries to regulate imports of steel, which had been disrupting the EC market. As the Tokyo Round came slowly into action, it became increasingly clear that the centre of gravity for European trade policy had shifted from national capitals to the Commission. We adopted the slogan: ‘the Commission is the only spokesman at GATT and the only negotiator on trade’.

May 1973: my European adventure in an unfamiliar world was about to begin. Arriving for work on my first day I found that I had the day off – the Commission offices were closed on 1 May for a major Europe-wide public holiday, known as Labour Day. This had never been a public holiday in the UK, and is not one even today: I was totally unprepared for my new environment.

Notes from the early days of the European Community

At a time of uncertainty across Europe, Roderick Abbott (1958) looks back over the teenage years of the European Community. I have sometimes been asked: how did it happen that an Old Mertonian, who graduated in 1962 some years before the UK joined the European Community (EC), became a senior official working in Brussels? A good question! In these days, when the media are full of speculations about the possible exit of Greece from the Eurozone, and when a referendum is planned to decide whether the UK should remain in the European Union, it has perhaps an added topicality. The short answer is that, as with most things in life, there is a mixture of some planning (scanning the horizon) and mostly luck (being in the right place at the right time, with the right profile). When I started work in Whitehall in 1962, neither I nor anyone in my family circle nor my Merton friends would have guessed what my future would be. In the early 1960s the College had begun to organise some career advice for students and I attended a talk on the Civil Service. I am not sure why: curiosity perhaps. In due course I joined the then Board of Trade (now the Department of Business Innovation & Skills) and over the next ten years learned about the mysteries of the trade world. I worked mostly in areas of external trade, such as bilateral relations with European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries,

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negotiations with major textile suppliers and international issues at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT was the principal international treaty governing trade until 1995, when the WTO (World Trade Organisation) was established as an international organisation on a par formally with the IMF and World Bank. For two years I had also worked on regional economic development, but in those days there were trade commissioner posts in embassies around the world, open to trade officials, and in due course I was sent to Geneva for three years as a junior representing the UK in meetings at the GATT. I was not at all involved in the 1972 negotiations for the UK accession to the EC, and when the time came to seek the first British recruits to join the Commission in Brussels I did not apply; but Geneva had established my trade profile and I had made contacts with some key Commission officials there. Although I had little direct knowledge of the Treaty of Rome, other than in the trade area, I found myself more or less headhunted in 1973 to take up a junior management job on international trade affairs, in the Directorate General for External Relations. My economics training had convinced me that if Britain could not compete on level terms with others in Europe, its trading future was in trouble. (And perhaps the fact that I come from a family with several generations of public service in India subconsciously had something to do with it.)

At this point I need to mention that the EC had itself changed: in its early years, it was largely implementing principles agreed in 1957 in the Treaty of Rome, but it now began to develop its own personality, initially on the international stage and through participation in trade negotiations. It had built a first position in the field of external economic activities, where the concept of ‘common policies’ – to be managed by the Commission in Brussels rather than in national capitals – had become well established. The Customs Union (and common external tariff), together with a supporting common commercial policy, were among the first common policies to be in effect in the 1960s. Trade was central to this evolution. Another common policy area was cooperation and development with Africa. Other policies followed: agriculture, fisheries, competition and so on. Common policies were at the heart of the Commission’s executive role. Within existing policies, all officials proposed new legislation; but only those in common policy areas both proposed new policies and, once agreed, were responsible for their direct execution and, in my case, negotiation. International trade work carried a prestigious label. In later years, following the Lisbon Treaty, this was codified into exclusive competences, where only the Commission could act, and shared competences where action was first agreed and then implemented nationally. As for the new environment more generally, major new developments affecting the Community were under way.

The end game

Historians now think that these years, 1973-80, after the first EC enlargement, marked a period of resurgence for the Commission; its standing had grown, based mainly on its international activities and responsibility for international trade. This was central, but new measures to promote industrial policy and revive economic growth were also key elements. Ahead lay monetary cooperation and the Single Market, established in 1992.

FEATURES | NOTES FROM THE EARLY DAYS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

A new world in Europe

At this time, what was good for the Commission was good for the trade policy official. My personal experience built on opportunities for executive policy-making and negotiation in common policy, and working with other nationalities for a common cause, not in any national interest, was attractive. The centre of gravity in the world I had chosen – international trade – had shifted from national capitals to Brussels – and I moved with it. Roderick Abbott (1958)

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Europe’s Rebirth, 1945-1949

On the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the celebrated Second World War historian Professor Sir Ian Kershaw (1966) examines the rebirth of Europe in the aftermath of this tumultuous period of history.

essentially positive, outcome, even if at the high cost of lasting division and lack of personal liberties for the peoples of Eastern Europe? It is one of the most important questions in understanding the history of 20th-century Europe.

This piece is based on the Raleigh Lecture given by Sir Ian at the British Academy on 2 July 2015 and is available to view online at www.britac.ac.uk

An answer has to be multi-causal and requires first of all an assessment of the baleful legacy left in Europe by the First World War. Four elements can be singled out from this legacy that, together, blended into a framework for comprehensive crisis in Europe following the First World War. First, there was an explosion of ethnic-racist nationalism (almost invariably including, though usually not confined to, a core hatred of Jews). Secondly, there were new, widespread, bitter and irreconcilable demands for territorial revisionism. Thirdly, class conflict became more acute than ever and with a new focus since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. And fourthly, there was a fundamental crisis of capitalism, first of hyperinflation then of unprecedented deflation, which spanned the interwar years with only a brief interruption in the later 1920s.

Death and devastation were the hallmarks of Europe in 1945. But that year, arguably the lowest ebb in Europe’s long and violent history, proved to be an epochal turning-point. Why did such a colossally destructive war lead to decades of peace and prosperity in Europe? How did Europe’s remarkable rebirth come about? After all, the first great conflagration between 1914 and 1918 had produced violent upheaval that had sown the seeds of an even more terrible war a generation later. Why did the Second World War, with a death toll in Europe alone four times or so higher than the First and leaving immensely greater swathes of destruction, have such a contrasting,

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VE Day in Trondheim. Photograph: Municipal Archives of Trondheim

VE celebrations in Trafalgar Square, London, 8 May 1945. Photograph: Library and Archives Canada

FEATURES | EUROPE’S REBIRTH, 1945-1949

Nationalist, ethnic and territorial conflict were of course nothing new to Europe. They had been particularly extreme in the Balkans long before the First World War. The violence and brutality that they spawned now reached, however, unprecedented levels of intensity and over much wider areas. The existence of an alternative model of state and society under Bolshevism gave class conflict a new, dangerous dimension. And, though cyclical ups and downs were immanent to industrial capitalism, the lasting depth and severity of what many thought a terminal capitalist crisis was also novel. Decisive was that these strands now combined to form a matrix of disaster. The intermeshing of the four elements engendered the comprehensive political, socioeconomic and ideological-cultural crisis that led Europe to the verge of self-destruction. In one country, the four elements interacted in their most extreme and lethal form, explosively reinforcing each other. This was Germany, where the comprehensive crisis paved the way for Hitler to exploit the conditions in masterly fashion, embroiling Europe in a new world war and undermining the very basis of civilisation. The Second World War plumbed new depths of inhumanity, whose effects are felt even today. But it broke the crisis matrix that had taken Europe to the brink of self-destruction. This was crucial. In so doing it opened the path to Europe’s rebirth in the second half of the century. Whereas the First World War had produced a negative matrix that guaranteed instability, tension and conflict, leading eventually to a new and even more terrible conflagration, the Second World War established a contrasting matrix of self-reinforcing component parts that by 1949, though impossible to discern four years earlier, paved the way for stability, peace and economic growth. The interaction of five crucial elements provided the foundation for the unpredictable transformation. The premise of all else that followed was the ending of German great-power ambitions, smashed once and for all in the cataclysmic defeat of 1945. These ambitions had plagued Europe since 1890 or so and formed part of the background to the First World War, subsiding though not disappearing in its aftermath to return with unprecedented ferocity in the Second World War. The removal of this scourge gave Europe a new chance.

Germany now became the epicentre of the emerging Cold War. Even after Germany had itself split into two countries, the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic, in 1949 the future of the country remained unsettled until Konrad Adenauer, the West German Chancellor, rejected out of hand Stalin’s ‘offer’ in 1952 of a reunified but neutral country, and committed West Germany irredeemably to the western Alliance. Even then, tension quite specifically over the status of Berlin did not fully subside until the building of the Wall in 1961. A second basis for the new start was the demolition of fascism and purging of the worst exponents and collaborators in the first post-war years. However imperfect the process was in Western Europe especially, and rightly though its crass inadequacies can be criticised on moral grounds, this meant that the extreme Right no longer had any platform to poison

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Cadets enrolled at Merton in 1945

societies as it had done between the wars. The post-war politics of revenge went hand in hand with the ethnic cleansing of much of central and Eastern Europe. Centuries-old German population settlements were swept away overnight. The Soviet advance through Eastern Europe and into Germany itself also led to a major reordering of borders, principally affecting eastern Germany, Poland and Ukraine, which was also accompanied by drastic and forcible population resettlements involving millions of people. All this was undertaken with great brutality and accompanied by huge suffering and extensive loss of life. In human terms it was absolutely repulsive. But in political terms it left more homogenised societies in central and Eastern Europe, less subject to the endemic conflicts engendered by the ethnic mix of the pre-war era. Europe’s new chance rested on a further basic and highly unappealing premise: a Europe split into two by the Cold War. On either side of the emerging great split through the middle of Europe, national interests became gradually but inexorably subordinated to the interests of either the USA or the USSR.

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In a perverse way the path to Europe’s recovery ran through the continent’s division. The Iron Curtain was its precondition. It came at a high price. Disturbing though it is to have to accept it, the stability of Europe was largely achieved on the backs of the peoples of the countries of Eastern Europe, left for 40 years under Soviet subjugation. Could this have been avoided? It is hard to see how. The western participants at the Yalta Conference and then the later Potsdam Conference in 1945 accepted a grim reality: the Red Army had won the war in the east and in so doing had established complete Soviet dominance as far as the Elbe and Spree. Short of a ‘hot’ rather than ‘cold’ war, impossible anyway on psychological as well as material grounds, there was nothing the western Allies could do about that. But although the price for Eastern Europe was an extremely high one, the Iron Curtain itself provided Europe, east and west, with a new basis of stability. The more determinedly the Soviet Union imposed its control over Eastern Europe, the more resolutely the Americans confronted it by exerting their own increasingly strong

What consolidated that stability was a fourth element: the economic growth that was starting to take off stratospherically from 1948 onwards. The post-war growth was worldwide. But the nature of political systems determined its impact. For the West, as the Bretton Woods conference in 1944 had already indicated, learning lessons from the interwar failures and the rebuilding of the international economy based on a reformed capitalism were priorities. Instead of the reparations that had played such a baleful role after the First World War there was the stimulus for Western Europe of Marshall Aid which, as a report in 1951 put it, gave European economies the ‘strength to work their own recovery’. State intervention on Keynesian lines, not reliance on budget orthodoxy and market forces, was generally accepted as indispensable to stimulate growth. The Marshall Plan, though important, was not the actual cause of the economic growth, which in fact stretched back to the darkest days of the last war year. Release of storedup demand, huge reservoirs of available cheap labour and massive technological advances that could now be put to civilian use all contributed to the explosive growth. From 1948 economic recovery practically everywhere started to take off spectacularly. Gross national product increased sharply across Western Europe between 1948 and 1950 – especially strongly in West Germany, Austria and Italy, which had earlier lagged behind. This fostered a virtuous circle of rising exports – allowing more imports: revival of capital markets, investment in transport and infrastructure and increasing consumer demand. Not least, the high rates of economic growth allowed expanded welfare spending that in turn helped to consolidate support for democracy and stabilise politics.

Stalin rejected Marshall Aid for the Soviet bloc, which meant that the closed systems of Eastern Europe went their own way. But also in Eastern Europe, though lagging far behind the West, extremely high growth rates permitted much impressive progress towards removing the running sores of deepseated poverty and crass inequalities that had promoted the nationalist, ethnic and class conflicts of the interwar years. Finally, but not least, there was now the presence of nuclear weapons on each side of the Iron Curtain. In August 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb – a shock to the West since the Americans had reckoned that they would remain the sole nuclear power for far longer. The nuclear arsenal on both sides swiftly expanded, and the Cold War froze into two great antagonistic power-blocs, each by 1953 possessing the barely imaginable destructive capacity of hydrogen bombs. ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’, though the term was only coined several years later, had arrived. This concentrated minds. Fear of the consequences of using such horrific weapons of mass destruction helped to establish a stable equilibrium in the divided Europe after 1945 that had never been possible following the end of the first great conflagration in 1918. That is how it would remain for 40 years.

FEATURES | EUROPE’S REBIRTH, 1945-1949

grip on Western Europe. We know now that there were no Soviet plans to take over Western Europe. But that was not so obvious at the time. There was, of course, plenty of antiAmericanism in the west, most notably in France, and not just on the political Left, which ran counter to the strong pro-American feeling among the West German, Italian and British political elites. But without the lasting US presence, a direct product of the emerging Cold War, helping to rebuild western economies and bolster fragile political systems, it is difficult to imagine the extent of stability in the West that the ideological cement of anti-communism helped to create.

Each of the five components of Europe’s post-war rebirth singled out here had an unmistakably negative side: a divided Germany, wide-scale ethnic cleansing, Cold War division and confrontation, the exclusion of millions in Eastern Europe from the freedoms and economic advantages enjoyed by those in the West, and, most obviously of all, the shadow of the Bomb. But, taken together, they ensured that Europe’s future after 1945 was infinitely brighter than it had been after 1918. The odds against that in the dead and devastated continent of 1945 were high. Yet within four years a new Europe was with remarkable speed taking visible shape. It was a divided continent, though each half rested on more solid foundations than had ever seemed likely at the end of the war. The very division was in this way essential to Europe’s rebirth. Out of the ashes, after the most horrific war of all time, possibilities had emerged of the beginnings of a more stable, prosperous and not least peaceful Europe than anyone in the devastated continent of 1945 could possibly have imagined. Professor Sir Ian Kershaw (1966)

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Henry Savile as Warden of Merton

To the outsider, Savile’s greatest contribution to Merton is Fellows’ Quadrangle. Under his predecessors, the College had been woefully short of rooms in Mob and Front Quadrangles. Savile - with a strong interest in architecture – took a personal interest in selecting his craftsmen, such as the carpenter Thomas Holt. In the quadrangle of 1608-10 he incorporated the old kitchen in its west wing and in the second floor of the east wing a long gallery was added to the Warden’s house. The wings were set off by a centrepiece – the Tower of Orders, imitated from Vitruvius’ writings and the latest Renaissance examples in France. It provided an example that was copied subsequently at Wadham and in Schools Quadrangle at the Bodleian. The whole made a ‘pleasing thing’ and ‘a graceful work’ in the eyes of a visitor, John Chamberlain.1 Savile also rebuilt the north front of Front Quad, facing onto Merton Street, and made a revolutionary contribution to the library in Mob Quad. From 1589 he began to fit stalls into the west wing, an innovation that was soon imitated in other libraries in Oxford and elsewhere. Savile not only

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If Savile by his foundation of two new chairs brought astronomy and geometry to the University, he also brought his mathematical interests to his College. He lectured on mechanics, optics, the history of Greek mathematics and trigonometry,3 and introduced to the College fellow mathematician John Chamber, who left Merton a legacy of £1,000 and founded two additional Postmasterships for Etonians. The link with Eton has been fitful over the years, but in the 20th century produced GRG Mure, who later became Philosophy Tutor and Warden, and Conrad Russell. Warden Savile, after a portrait by Marcus Gheerearts. Photograph: The Public Catalogue Foundation

revolutionised the library’s furniture, but he added to its contents by purchases such as those from the libraries of Robert Barnes, Roger Gifford and James Leech. He purchased the law books of John Betts of Cambridge, greatly increasing the Law section of the library and making it comparable with that of New College. The Fellows to fill the rooms in Fellows’ Quad began to be twice as many as under his predecessors, and of high calibre, such as John Hales, recruited from Corpus Christi College in 1588. Appointed lecturer in Greek, he was not only a firstclass classicist but a suitable recruit when the time came for Savile’s great edition on the works of St John Chrysostom. Isaac Wake, who came from Christ Church, was another high-flyer and subsequently ambassador to Turin and Paris. John Earle, author and a future Bishop of Salisbury, and Edward Reynolds, a future Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, Dean of Christ Church, Warden of Merton (1660-61) and Bishop of Norwich, were both outstanding; and if their elections after their Fellowships were doubtless political, they were well able to undertake their new responsibilities.

By 1598, the Fellows had become dissatisfied with Savile’s long stays at Court and accused him of absenteeism and pluralism. They decided to make their decision clear by not electing his nominee, Mr Trafford, as Sub-Warden, and replacing him with their own, Jasper Colmer.4 Savile stepped in to crush this opposition, marshalling against his opponents the Visitor, Archbishop Whitgift, and the Queen – a formidable foe. Colmer was dismissed and died, and Savile’s nominee Thomas Master became Sub-Warden. This opposition led Savile to defend himself: he stated, whereas his predecessor Thomas Bickley stayed in College for only a month in a year, he stayed two months, and in that time could complete the Warden’s business. He admitted pluralism between Merton and Eton, which insisted on residence, as Merton did not, and clearly his presence at Eton was essential for the publication of Chrysostom: it was to be depicted on Savile’s monument.5 As to ‘progress’, he did ‘progress’ in 1606. Savile came under the influence of the second Earl of Essex and was thus drawn into the rebellion of 1602. He stayed at the Earl’s house at Barn Elms, and provided him with a secretary: Merton Fellow Henry Cuffe. Subsequently Cuffe was hanged as a traitor at Tyburn, and Savile’s rooms were searched, but the Warden was not arrested. He was lucky. Other Fellows than Cuffe were less fortunate – Henry Neville was fined £5,000.

The Earl’s son and future parliamentarian general, when he came up, was found rooms in the Warden’s home.6 During his Wardenship, Savile added two manors to the College’s endowment: Bielby, in Yorkshire, and a second manor at Gamlingay (Gamlingay Avenells), Cambridgeshire, where the College had already had one since the 13th century. Savile also took the first step in breaking the outrageous 5,000-year lease to the Earl of Arundel of one of the College’s richest manors in Malden, Surrey. He interested the Visitor, Archbishop Abbot, in the problem. He thought that the Fellows were not sufficiently appreciative of the archbishop’s efforts in the House of Lords; it was to take until the 18th century to cancel this alienation. Ahead of his time, Savile also presided over an experiment in 1607: the introduction of well-born undergraduates. In the 18th century they would have been gentlemen commoners, but in 1616 this experiment was judged a failure and cancelled.7 During the Wardenship of Geoffrey Mure it became obvious that the College needed a larger room than the Old Common Room for meetings of the Governing Body. After rejecting the sacristy as a possibility, the Estates Bursar, Robert Hodgson, used his discerning eye and demonstrated that a larger room could be constructed on top of the old 17thcentury kitchen. A London firm, John and Sylvia Reid, was employed and devised one. But what was it to be called? For once the Governing Body was unanimous: the Savile Room.8

FEATURES | HENRY SAVILE AS WARDEN OF MERTON

As to undergraduates, their quality seems to have been well maintained, judging from Edward Reynolds, recruited from the grammar school at Southampton, and Thomas Farnaby, who, later a schoolmaster at Martock, Somerset, made at least eight texts from Classical authors. The Warden’s links with Yorkshire brought no fewer than 24 Yorkshire men to Merton. The social composition of the College was comparable with that of eight colleges examined by Professor McConica.2

JRL Highfield (1948) Emeritus Fellow

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

GH Martin and JRL Highfield, A History of Merton College, Oxford, 1997, p192 (HMC) J McConica, ‘Scholars and Commoners in Renaissance Oxford’, in L Stone (ed.), The University in Society, 2 vols (Princeton, NJ 1974), vol 1, pp158-71 Ibid., pp164-5 HW Garrod, ‘Sir Henry Savile, 1549-1949’, in idem (ed. J Jones), The Study of Good Letters (Oxford 1963), p106 HMC, p177, 197; Garrod, ‘Sir Henry Savile’, p108 HMC Ibid., p193 I am most thankful to Victoria Bailey Cox and Robert Peberdy.

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Plate 1: Walter de Merton’s Seal as Bishop of Rochester, 1274

Walter died on 25 October 1277. He was buried, as his will directed, in Rochester Cathedral (in ecclesia sancti Andree Roff.). The executors’ accounts survive for the construction of the magnificent, life-size, Limoges enamel figure of the bishop, made of gilded copper-alloy, and resting on six small columns, together with the elaborate stone canopy surrounding it (mazoneria circa dictam tumba). The total cost of the project was £70.7s.2d, more than half of which was expended on the effigy. Although the effigy was destroyed at the Reformation, the Purbeck marble tomb slab, with its tell-tale incised features, indicating the fixing points for the effigy above, survives and is now placed to the west of the tomb, in the north-east transept of the cathedral.1 The vaulted double canopy above also survives, resting on clustered marble shafts. The stonework is finely adorned with naturalistic oak leaves in the panels and crockets of the gables (Plate 3). It may be interestingly compared with the slightly later, similar work, at the east end of the Choir in the south transept of Merton College Chapel. Within the College, there are several later medieval images of the Founder. These include carvings in the north transept (c.1420), over the Gate (1465) (Plate 4) and on the great brass of Warden Henry Sever (1471), himself of Founder’s kin.

Lost, Little Known and Unbuilt Merton (12) Images of Walter de Merton

Plate 4: Walter de Merton on the Merton Gatehouse, 1465. Photograph: Alan Bott

Since the destruction of the Limoges enamel effigy c.1550, the Rochester tomb of Walter de Merton has been restored on at least five occasions. The progress of these can be followed in the Register, in the Sketch for the Life of Walter de Merton (published in 1859 by Edmund Hobhouse, Fellow 1841-58), and in the reports by Dr Edward Hawkins of 1849 and 1877. The first restoration was in 1598, during the Wardenship of Henry Savile, when ‘it was desired to replace the graven effigies of the Founder and his simple inscription with sculptured effigies of alabaster and with a lengthier inscription followed by a tetrasich’ (Sketch, 41-2). The new inscription, composed apparently by Warden Savile himself, was, in the opinion

FEATURES | LOST, LITTLE KNOWN AND UNBUILT MERTON

With the exception of his seals (Plate 1), there are no contemporary likenesses of the Founder of Merton (ob.1277). The carved label stops, serving as decorative corbels on either side of the east window of the Chapel (c.1290) have, on the south side, the crowned head of a king (Henry III or Edward I), and on the north side a mitred head of a bishop for Walter de Merton (Plate 2).

of Bishop Hobhouse, poor but for ‘One terse and very true expression! re unius, exemplo omnium, quotquot extant collegiorum, fundatori maximorum Europae totius ingeniorum foelicissmo parenti’ (By the wealth of one man, and by example, of all colleges that exist whatever the founder, of the greatest talents of all Europe, the happiest parent).2 The Tractarian Movement in Oxford inspired a wave of pietas in Merton College. In July 1838, James Hope-Scott, Fellow, kept a vigil at the tomb in Rochester Cathedral. On reporting back to the College in October, the Register recorded that ‘Some repairs and alterations were necessary to be made to the monument’ and that Mr Hope was to obtain an

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work. The sculptured effigies were then removed and the honoured remains were again laid bare . . . the fragments of the staff and of the cloth of gold were still discernible but no other relic, not even a ring. A new slab was immediately laid over the remains. A brass, inlaid with colour and cut with a single legend of name, titles and date was fixed in the slab. The windows were re-opened and filled with stained glass and a protective iron railing of suitable character erected in front.’ Writing further, in 1877, Dr Hawkins noted that, at his

Plate 5: Effigy of 1598 in Rochester Cathedral. Photograph: Michael Franks The Clerk of Basingstoke 2003

Plate 3: Engraving of Walter de Merton’s tomb, 1788. Photograph: John Thorpe Custumale Roffensis

‘estimate of the expense’. In 1841 and 1842 respectively, Edmund Hobhouse and J Hungerford Pollen were elected Fellows, thereby much enhancing the Tractarian persuasion of the Governing Body. In 1845, a further delegation of the Fellows, consisting of Hope-Scott and George Hammond, visited Rochester and in May 1847 the College agreed that ‘the Founder’s tomb be restored’. A private report, now in the College archives, dated 31 July 1849, was sent to Warden Bullock Marsham by Dr Edward Hawkins, Provost of Oriel College and Canon of Rochester, who was present at the opening of the tomb. It noted that: ‘The skeleton as it lay in the coffin measured exactly six feet in length but as it did not lie perfectly straight, it is probable that the true stature of the body somewhat exceeded that height’. In a subsequent article in 1877, Edward Hawkins added that Walter de Merton ‘had been tall, more than six feet in height but his forehead was low and his eyes were very close together’. In 1852, according to Bishop Hobhouse, ‘the College was strongly urged by the decayed condition of the tomb to undertake a complete renewal. It was resolved not to replace the inscription or the sculpture, but to follow the original

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suggestion, ‘the alabaster effigy was [in 1852] laid in a recess of the wall adjoining the Bishop’s tomb and protected by the original railing’. G H Palmer, writing in 1897, noted that the ‘new [1852] ornamental railing, coloured and gilt of a tawdry character’, which had been placed in front of the tomb, was still in position and that the alabaster effigy and original railing were still located in the recess to the west.3 In the early years of the 20th century, it was decided to reinstate the 1598 effigy over the grave and the surrounding setting of the tomb. In 1910, the College commissioned Sir Ninian Comper to design ‘new glass over the Founder’s tomb, not exceeding £50’. In the event, by 1911, the cost had risen to £60. These works remain the present state of the memorial to Walter de Merton.4 In 1992, in a venerable tradition, the College contributed to the cleaning and new lighting of the monument.

FEATURES | LOST, LITTLE KNOWN AND UNBUILT MERTON

Plate 2: Corbel on east wall of Merton Chapel, c.1290. Photograph: Tim Ayers

Alan Bott (1953) Bodley Fellow This article forms part of a forthcoming book entitled Merton College, A Longer History of the Buildings and Furnishings.

1 See Prof John Blair, Postmaster (1994) 2 The possibility of the discovery of the Founder’s ring at this time and its putative later history is discussed in Michael Franks, The Clerk of Basingstoke (2003) and Postmaster (2005) 3 GH Palmer, Cathedral church of Rochester (1897), 97 4 It has recently been claimed that ‘the alabaster effigy is wholly new, designed in 1852 by RC Hussey (Kelly)’ (John Newman, The Buildings of England; Kent, West and the Weald, 2012, 486). This is evidently not correct.

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Rita Ricketts (Bodleian Library, 2015)

For those who ever wondered about the content of the archive collections held at Merton, Rita Rickett’s new volume is a must-read. Drawing heavily on the Blackwell Collections held both at Merton and at the Bodleian, her account touches both the famous – JRR Tolkien, John Buchan, Vera Brittain – and the more obscure characters who drifted in and out of the famous Oxford bookseller between its opening in 1879 and 1940. Quite aside from the Betjemans, Brittains and Buchans, this insightful volume also brings together unknown characters scattered through the Collection, all pursuing a uniquely Oxford education within the walls of Blackwell’s on Broad Street. From the stories contained within its pages shines out that of Rex King. An apprentice at Blackwell’s, Rex was a latterday Jude the Obscure. Plucked from poverty to work in the Secondhand and Antiquarian Department by the shop’s founder Benjamin Henry Blackwell himself, he ‘proved to be more scholarly than the shop’s customers’. His remarkable literary commentaries and extensive reading lists are brought into the limelight by Rita’s vivid storytelling and detailed knowledge of the Blackwell collections. As Rita told The Oxford Times in 2008, ‘Blackwell’s is more than a bookshop; it is an Oxford institution’, and there is no better person to explore this institution. Rita knows the Collections inside out, having studied them extensively while a member of the Merton SCR between 2009 and 2011, during which time she was a Visiting Scholar at the Bodleian Library Centre for the Study of the Book (2010). With a Prologue from the Merton Archivist Julian Reid and a ‘Vertex’ by the Warden Sir Martin Taylor, Scholars, Poets and Radicals not only lends a wonderful insight into intellectual pursuit in Oxford (and beyond) in the 19th and 20th centuries, but also illuminates one of Merton’s outstanding archival collections.

Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them

Anthony Holden (1966) and Ben Holden (1998) (Simon & Schuster, 2014)

Encouraged by Professor John Carey (1957) to ‘bring some good poems to public notice and stimulate debate about the emotional power of art’, Anthony and Ben Holden embark on a joint odyssey through poetry, guided by 100 men of public and literary standing. From the well-known – Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and John Donne’s ‘On my First Sonne’ both make appearances – to the lesser known, such as John N Morris’s ‘For Julia, in the Deep Water’, there is a poem to touch every heartstring. All the inducements to tears are covered, from grief and loss, abandonment and loneliness, to witnessing a child grow up and take on the world. Apparently WH Auden, appearing five times, is the most tearjerking poet, but there are stand-out one-off appearances such as Constantine P Cavafy’s ‘Ithaka’ (nominated by Walter Salles) and ‘Long Distance I and II’ by Tony Harrison (actor Daniel Radcliffe’s choice). It may be more fitting to call this anthology ‘Poems That Make Everyone Cry’.

FEATURES | BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviews

Scholars, Poets and Radicals: Discovering Forgotten Lives in the Blackwell Collections

Nevertheless, father and son, Anthony and Ben choose to explore and challenge the gendered assumption that ‘grown men don’t cry’. Each poem is introduced by the well-known man (or in a few cases, men) who is moved to tears by it. These short expositions are insightful and emotional in their own right. Poet Benjamin Zephaniah poignantly confesses in his introduction to Dylan Thomas’s ‘Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night’ that the poem moves him not because of a connection but a disconnection: Thomas has ‘a love for his father that I never had for mine’. Others, such as Colin Firth, let the poems do the talking (‘I’m reluctant to talk across this poem: I think it says itself perfectly’). These insights make influential and well-known figures feel real and close, and as such Poems That Make Grown Men Cry is not only an anthology of great poetry, but an exercise tapping into shared human emotion through the lens of the 100 contributors.

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Malte Herwig (1996) (Scribe, 2014)

Katherine Price (2001) (The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2015)

Post-War Lies – the English translation of the German bestseller Die Flakhelfer (Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 2013) – examines the post-war lives of Germany’s youngest generation of Nazis, born between 1919 and 1927 and indoctrinated as children and teenagers into the Nazi ideology. Malte Herwig examines the unspoken decision to cover-up the Nazi party membership of a wide range of German public figures. It is the story of a complex journey from fascism to democracy. His detailed research uncovers a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in post-war Germany, from individual denial to political stalling tactics by a German government faced with American attempts to return revealing files on Nazi party membership. More a search for truth than an exposé, Post-War Lies explores the very human struggle between memory and pride, and the challenges of honesty.

When Katherine Magdalene Price left Merton, she was, in her own words, ‘a devout atheist’. By July 2015, she was an ordained priest in the Church of England. I Think It’s God Calling tells the story of her unusual journey. Settled into married life in North Cheshire, Katherine started to experiment with Church-going, testing the boundaries of her atheism, until she realised she was being called to a higher purpose.

King John: Treachery, Tyranny and the Road to Magna Carta

Katherine’s memoirs are funny, heartfelt, honest and intensely personal. She describes her vocation as like ‘meet[ing] someone on the train and fall[ing] in love. You know nothing about them; you have no reason to think it would work’. She admits to having known nothing about the priesthood apart from that ‘priests wore dog collars and preached sermons’, and her journey is filled with profound lessons about herself, about the Church and most of all about God.

Marc Morris (1998) (Penguin, 2015)

Who is the real King John? Is he the famous villain from the legends of Robin Hood, or a capable yet unlucky monarch? This is the question Marc Morris addresses in his biography, published to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. Using contemporary chronicles and the king’s personal correspondence, King John paints a picture of a complex character. From his unexpected ascent to the English throne, to his campaign in France and the barons’ rebellion, the king is painted colourfully. Is he a tyrant? For Marc Morris, contrary to the accounts of revisionists such as JC Holt, the answer is yes, but most important is the legacy of his rule: Magna Carta.

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I Think It’s God Calling: A Vocation Diary

Based on Katherine’s diaries covering the period of her call to ministry and her preparation for ordination, as well as her blog (katymagdalene.wordpress.com), this is at first glance the chronicle of a stranger in a strange land. Katherine has an outsider’s view of the Church – at times alien, she often confuses it as much as it confuses her, yet she persists through the hiccups and misunderstandings, driven by her new-found conviction and faith in God.

Three Glorious Years Dick Lloyd (1954) (Farthings Publishing, 2015)

Dick Lloyd, alongside whom I read Law at Merton, is the most gregarious person I have ever known. and his account of life in College will come as a surprise to Mertonians of more recent years who have had to take life more seriously. I am sure that they cannot have downed the quantities of beer or indulged in the range of extracurricular activities recorded in these pages: drunken jousting in punts on the Cherwell; bucolic cricket with the light-hearted Merton Mayflies; comic debates with the Fanatics (the joint Merton and St Hilda’s debating society); rugby matches against other colleges when it was not uncommon to find oneself up against international players; climbing in and out of College because the Lodge gate opening hours were so restricted. Also, do today’s undergraduates take vacation jobs as petrol pump attendants, drive farm tractors and pitch peas into processing machines while camping in tents in farmyards? When he was at Merton, Dick and his closest friend, David Gilchrist (1954), attracted a close-knit circle around them at dinner, which, if one was lucky, was followed by coffee made in a brass paraffin-fired device in Dick’s room. Over the years since 1954, he has held this group together by arranging lunches, visits to Twickenham to see the Varsity Match and by collating the yearly report for Postmaster. One of the joys of this memoir is Dick’s affectionate vignette portraits of so many old friends, not least of whom was his scout, Bert Gardiner, and our tutor, the wildly eccentric, snuff-snorting, churchwarden-pipe-smoking John Barton. We certainly had some less inspiring tutors and lecturers, and Dick generously attributes getting a Second to the help given to him by our New Zealand friend, John Wallace (1954), whom Dick took home during a number of vacations.

went he made friends. I have lost count of the free lifts, the free meals and the free accommodation he and his travelling companions charmed people into giving him and them. What is equally remarkable is the number of times on these overseas journeys he bumped into other Mertonians and contemporaries from other colleges. It is as though there was some kind of supernatural magnetism that drew them together in far-flung places. At a time before overseas travel had become common, Dick and his friends did what amounted to a series of adventurous grand tours of the greatest European cities, seeing the finest art and architecture. Dick’s ability to recount elements of these trips is based not only on his amazingly accurate and detailed recollections but also on diaries he kept at the time, so that he is able to recount down to an old franc what he spent and the timings of the stages of his journeys. As a result, this memoir has a truly authentic ring, and Dick did fill that unforgiving minute.

FEATURES | BOOK REVIEWS

Post-War Lies: Germany and Hitler’s Long Shadow

Mike Rines (1954) Signed copies of Three Glorious Years, with a Foreword by the Oxford University Professor of Modern History, Robert Gildea (1971), are available from the author for £9.95 (including UK p&p; overseas p&p £3.50 extra). Please contact him over the phone at 01548 531 068 or by emailing [email protected]. For every copy sold to an old Mertonian, Dick will donate £1.50 to Merton College.

I had not realised until I read his memoir just how very gregarious Dick has been. Much of the memoir is devoted to his European adventures with fellow Mertonians, undertaken on a shoe-string, often in ancient, grossly overladen and perilously unreliable cars. But everywhere he

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The Visitor

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury

Warden

Sir Martin Taylor, MA, (PhD Lond) FRS

Fellows

James Jeffrey Binney, MA, DPhil, (MA Camb) FRS Professor of Physics Steven John Gunn, MA, DPhil, FRHistS Associate Professor of Modern History & Courtenay Phillips Tutor in History Timothy Peter Softley, MA, (PhD S’ton) Professor of Chemical Physics & Tutor in Physical Chemistry Ulrike Luise Tillmann, MA, (BA Brandeis, PhD Stanford, Habil Bonn) FRS Professor of Mathematics Richard Anthony McCabe, MA, FBA, (MA Dublin; MA, PhD Camb) Professor of English Language & Literature & Tutor in English Chih-Hao Luke Ong, MA, (MA Camb; PhD Lond) Professor of Computer Science & Tutor in Computer Science David James Paterson, MA, DPhil, (MSc, DSc Western Australia), FSB, Hon FRSNZ Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology & Tutor in Pre-clinical Medicine, Sub-Warden Mindy Chen-Wishart, MA, (BA (Hons), LLB, LLM, Otago) Reader of Contract Law & Tutor in Law Timothy Charles Guilford, MA, DPhil Professor of Animal Behaviour & Tutor in Zoology, Garden Master Judith Patricia Armitage, MA, (BSc, PhD Lond), FRS Professor of Biochemistry Véronique Gouverneur, MA, (Licence en Sciences Chimiques, PhD Louvain)

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Merton College 2014-15

Professor of Chemistry & Tutor in Organic Chemistry Jennifer Payne, MA, (MA Camb) Professor of Corporate Finance Law & Tutor in Law Boris Zilber, MA, (MSc, CandSc Novosibirsk; DSc Leningrad) Professor of Mathematical Logic Artur Konrad Ekert, MA, DPhil (MSc Cracow) Professor of Physics Alan David Morrison, MA, DPhil (MSc Lond) Professor of Law & Finance John Stuart Gjers Gloag, MA, MRICS Land Agent & Estates Bursar Julia Caroline Walworth, MA, (BA Swarthmore; MA, PhD Yale) Fellow Librarian, Secretary of the Harmsworth Trust Jonathan William Thacker, MA, (BA Lond; PhD Camb) Professor of Spanish & Tutor in Spanish, Principal of the Postmasters The Revd Canon Simon Matthew Jones, MA, DPhil, (BA, MA Durh; PhD Camb) Chaplain Peter William Harold Holland, MA, (PhD Lond; DSc Rdg) FRS Linacre Professor of Zoology Kathryn Lee Blackmon, MA, (BS Clemson; MBA, PhD North Carolina) Associate Professor of Operations Management & Tutor in Management Studies Simon Martin Hooker, MA, DPhil Professor of Atomic & Laser Physics & Tutor in Physics, Senior Treasurer of the JCR Irene Stavros Lemos, MA, DPhil, FSA Professor of Classical Archaeology Alexander David Scott, (BA, PhD Camb) Professor of Mathematics & Tutor in Mathematics Jonathan Ralph Warburg Prag, MA, (PhD Lond) Associate Professor of Ancient History & Tutor in Ancient History, Senior Treasurer of the Amalgamated Clubs

Michael Hilton Whitworth, MA, DPhil Tutor in English James Peter Neary, DPhil, (MA NUI) FBA Professor of Economics Ian Maclachlan, MA, DPhil Tutor in French Jane Christine Holmes Taylor, MA (BA Hons Bris) Development Director Douglas John Bamber, MA, MIH Domestic Bursar Béla Novák, MA (MSc, PhD, Dr Habil, TU Budapest; CSc DSc Hungarian Academy of Science) Professor of Integrative Systems Biology Alan James Barr, (BA, MSci, PhD Camb) Professor of Particle Physics & Tutor in Physics Jonathan Flint, BA, BM, BCh, MRCPsych, CCST Michael Davys Professor of Neuroscience Rhiannon Ash, MA, DPhil, (MA Toronto) Associate Professor of Classical Languages & Literature & Tutor in Classics Gail Fine, MA, (BA Michigan; MA, PhD Harvard) Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy Patricia Thornton, (BA Swarthmore; MA Washington; PhD Berkeley) Associate Professor of Chinese Politics & Tutor in Politics Matthew Grimley, MA, DPhil Associate Professor of Modern History, Mark Reynolds Fellow & Tutor in History, Dean of Graduates Rachel Buxton, MSt, DPhil (BA Hons Adelaide; MBA Oxford Brookes) Senior Tutor/Senior Academic Registrar Alexander Schekochihin, (BSci MIPT; MA, PhD Princeton) Professor of Theoretical Physics & Tutor in Physics Daniel Grimley, (BA, MPhil, PhD Camb) Professor of Music & Tutor in Music

Sir Andrew Wiles, MA, DSc (PhD Camb) FRS Royal Society Research Professor of Mathematics Minhyong Kim, (BS Seoul; PhD Yale) Professor of Number Theory & Tutor in Mathematics Aisling Byrne, (BA Dub; MPhil, PhD Camb) Fitzjames Research Fellow in Old & Middle English Julia Amos, MPhil, DPhil Peter J Braam Junior Research Fellow in Global Wellbeing Patrick Lantschner, BA, MSt, DPhil Junior Research Fellow in History Charles Alan Heathcote Alexander, BA (MBA Harvard) Finance Bursar, Computer Officer, Wine Steward Ralf Bader, BA Hons (MLitt, PhD St And) Tutor in Philosophy, Steward of Common Room Nicole Zitzmann, (MSc, PhD Dundee) FSB Research Fellow in Biochemistry Matthias Lenz (Diplom FU Berlin; Master UPMC Paris; Dr rer nat TU Berlin) Junior Research Fellow in Mathematics Emily Guerry, MA (BA North Carolina; MPhil PhD Camb) Junior Research Fellow in History of Art Andrew Mackie, MA Official Fellow, Director of Legal Services & General Counsel, University of Oxford Simon Saunders, BA (M Math Camb; PhD Lond) Professor of the Philosophy of Science & Tutor in Philosophy Sergi Pardos-Prado, (PhD EUI) Tutor in Politics Bassel Tarbush, MPhil, DPhil Tutor in Economics Guy Westwood, MA, MSt, DPhil Leventis Research Fellow in Ancient Greek

Thomas Phillips, BA, MSt, DPhil Junior Research Fellow in Classics Nicholas Ryder, DPhil (MSc Bris) Junior Research Fellow in Physics Abigail Adams, BA, MPhil, DPhil Junior Research Fellow in Economics Craig MacLean, (BSc, PhD McGill) Research Fellow in Biology Erban Radek, MA (Mgr RNDr Prague, PhD Minnesota) Professor of Mathematics & Tutor in Mathematics Miguel Walsh, (DPhil Buenos Aires) Special Fellow in Mathematics Micah Muscolino, (AM PhD Harvard) Associate Professor of Modern Chinese History & Tutor in History Carina Venter, (BMus Pretoria; MA Stellenbosch) Junior Research Fellow in Music Michael Booth, (MChem S’ton; PhD Camb) Junior Research Fellow in Chemistry Richard Blakemore (BA Aberystwyth; MPhil PhD Camb) Junior Research Fellow in History

The following Fellows resigned

With effect from 31 December 2014 Suzanne Romaine, MA, (AB Bryn Mawr, MLitt Edin; PhD Birm) Merton Professor of English Language Catherine Paxton, MA, DPhil Senior Tutor

Emeritus Fellows

John Roger Loxdale Highfield, MA, DPhil, FSA Henry John Franklin Jones, MA Courtenay Stanley Goss Phillips, MA, DSc Robert Basil Champneys Hodgson, MA

Michael Simpson Dunnill, MA, (MD Bris), FRCP, FRCPath John Randolph Lucas, MA, FBA Michael Graham Gelder, MA, DM, FRCP, FRCPsych, FMedSci John Michael Baker, MA, DPhil David Charles Witt, MA Christopher John Hamilton Watson, MA, DPhil John Carey, MA, DPhil, FBA, FRSL Sir Robert McCredie May, Lord May of Oxford, OM, AC, MA, (BSc, PhD Sydney), FRS The Revd Mark Everitt, MA Sir Gyorgy Karoly Radda, CBE, MA, DPhil, FRS Dame Olwen Hufton, DBE, MA, (BA, MA Harvard; PhD Lond), DLitt, FRHistS, FBA David Bostock, BPhil, MA Nicholas James Richardson, BPhil, MA, DPhil, FSA John James Coulton, MA, (MA, PhD Camb) James Anthony Dominic Welsh, MA, DPhil Michael George Bowler, MA, (BSc, PhD Bris) Henry Shue, (AB Davidson College; MA, PhD Princeton) Vijay Ramchandra Joshi, MA Philip John Waller, MA Paul Francis John Chamberlain, MA, (BA, MD Dublin) FRCS(C), FACOG Guy Manning Goodwin, BM, BCh, MA, DPhil, FRCPsych, FMedSci David Gordon Ellis Norbrook, MA, DPhil, (MA Aberd) Simon Wren-Lewis, (MA Camb; MSc Lond)

RECORDS | MERTON COLLEGE 2014-15

Records

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Sir John Boardman, MA, (MA Camb) FBA, Hon RA, FSA Sir Rex Edward Richards, MA, DPhil, DSc, FRS, FBA, FRSC, FRIC Sir Christopher John Ball, MA, Hon DLitt, (CNAA) Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, CBE, MA, MSc, DM, FRCP Lord Wright of Richmond, Patrick Richard Henry Wright, GCMG, MA Sir Peter Hannay Bailey Tapsell, MA, MP HIH Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan, Hon DCL Sir Alec John Jeffreys, MA, DPhil, (DUniv Open), FRC Path, FLS, FRS Vassos Karageorghis, DLitt, (PhD Lond), FSA, FBA The Rt Hon Sir Jack Beatson, DCL, (LLD Camb), FBA Richard Charles Levin, LittB, Hon DCL, (BA Stanford; PhD Yale) William Peter Cooke, CBE, MA Laszlo Istvan Heltay, MLitt, (MA Budapest) David Robert Holmes, BA Hons, MA, Hon DCL Robert Owen Paxton, MA, (PhD Harvard) Sir Howard Stringer, MA David Francis Kerr Finlay, OBE, CFA, CMG Jonathan Alan Hodgkin, MA, (MA, PhD Camb), FRS The Hon Sir Brian Henry Leveson, MA, (LLD Liv) Sir Howard John Davies, MA (MS Stanford) Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare, MA, FRS Sir Anthony James Leggett, MA, DPhil, FRS Sir Richard Hughes Trainor, MA, DPhil, FRHistS The Rt Revd Nicholas Thomas Wright, MA, DPhil, DD Sir Robert Andrew, MA, FRSA Sir Jeremy Isaacs, MA, FRSA

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Sir Ian Kershaw, DPhil, Hon DLitt, FRHistS, FBA Martin Peter Read, CBE, DPhil Mark John Thompson, BA, FRTS, FRSA Adam John Hart-Davis, BA, (DPhil York), FRSA James Wyndham John Hughes-Hallett, BA, FCA Sir Callum McCarthy, BA, (PhD Stir; MS Stanford) Guy Howard Weston, BA Peter Warry, MA, (LLB Lond; PhD Rdg) FREng, FSA Martha Piper, (BSc Michigan; MA Connecticut; PhD McGill) DSc (Hons), LLD (Hons) Timothy Dewe Phillips, CBE, MA, (AMP Harvard) Christopher Martin Dobson, MA, DPhil, ScD, Hon DSc, FRS, FRSC, FMedSci Julian Blackwell Anastasios Leventis, CBE, OFR Dame Jessica Mary Rawson, DBE, MA, DLitt, (MA, LittD, Camb) FBA Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, QPM Lyndal Roper, (PhD Lond), FBA Dana Scott, (PhD Princeton) FBA Lord Williams of Oystermouth, PC, FBA, FRSL, FLSW Erich Gruen, (BA Columbia; PhD Harvard)

Bodley Fellows

Richard Bellerby Allan, MA, FCA Alan John Bott, OBE, MA, FSA Prosser Gifford, MA, (BA, PhD Yale; LLB Harvard) Robert Gould McKelvey, MA, (BA Wesleyan) David William Swarbrick, MA John Samuel Christopher Eidinow, MA, (Dip Law City Univ; Barrister Middle Temple) Dean, Keeper of the Statutes & Bylaws David Harvey, MA, DPhil

Reed Rubin, BA Robert MacLaren, MB, ChB, DPhil, DipLATHE, FRCOphth, FRCS Adrian Vickers, MA Peter Phillips, Reed Rubin Director of Music Christopher Bronk Ramsey, MA, DPhil, FSA, FGS

Supernumerary Fellows

Vincenzo Cerundolo, MA, MD, PhD, FRCPath, FMedSci Andrew John King, MA Status, (BSc, PhD Lond), FMedSci Julian Knight, MA, MBChB, DPhil, FRCP Francis Platt, MA Status, (BSc Lond; PhD Bath), FMedSci Andrea Cavalleri, (Laurea, PhD Pisa) Simon John Draper, MBiochem, DPhil Kieran Clarke, MA, (BSc Flinders, PhD Queensland) Christopher Thomas Rodgers, MChem, DPhil Katherine Willis, MA (BSc S’ton; PhD Camb) Michael Keith, BA, DPhil Bridget Penman, BA, DPhil

Wyliot Fellows

Charles Manby, MA, (MBA Insead) John Booth, MA Peter Braam, MA, DPhil (BSc, MSc Utrecht) Sir Peter Moores, CBE, DL

Visiting Research Fellows Daniel Neumark, UCLA, Michaelmas Term 2014 Jewel Brooker, Eckerd College, Michaelmas Term 2014 Chad Carmichael, IUPUI, Hilary Term 2015 Bruce Harris, University of Auckland, Trinity Term 2015 Cary Forest, University of Wisconsin, Trinity Term 2015

Elections

To the Tasso Leventis Professorship of Biodiversity with effect from 1 October 2015 Professor Eleanor Jane Milner-Gulland, BA (PhD ICL) To a Fitzjames Research Fellowship in Medieval English with effect from 1 October 2015 Dr Joanna Ruth Bellis, (BA (Hons), MPhil, PhD Camb) To a Peter J Braam Junior Research Fellowship in Global Wellbeing with effect from 1 October 2015 Dr Kate Orkin, MPhil, DPhil, (BSocSc Cape Town) To Junior Research Fellowships with effect from 1 October 2015 Ms Helen Barron, (MA Camb) Dr William Bowers, MSt, (BA, PhD UCL) Mr Jonathan Lee, (BA, MMath Camb) Mr Richard Rabone, BA, MSt To a Visiting Research Fellowship 2015-16 Professor Kai Behrend, University of British Columbia To Visiting Research Fellowships 2016-17 Professor Steven Ellis, NUI Galway Professor Graham Bell, McGill University Professor Junhyong Kim, University of Pennsylvania Professor John Tyson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Professor Francisco Pina Polo, Universidad de Zaragoza

Fellows’ Honours and Appointments

Professor Judith Armitage gave the plenary lectures at meetings in Dartmouth College, USA, Barcelona, Netherlands Systems Biology in Maastricht, the Society for General Microbiology in Birmingham, BacNet in Spain and FEMS Microbiology Congress in Maastricht. Professor Armitage was also a contributor to ‘Biosense’, the first exhibition at the Oxford University Natural History Museum to highlight current research in the University, held between May and August 2015.

Professor Alan James Barr was appointed a Visiting Fellow of Peterhouse College, Cambridge in Michaelmas Term 2014, as well as Public Engagement Fellow at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, and UK Senior Experimental Fellow at the Institute of Particle Physics Phenomenology in Durham. Sir Howard Davies was appointed Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland from September 2015 and Chairman of The London Library from November 2015. Dr Simon J Draper was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science by the Wellcome Trust and appointed as Associate Professor in the Nuffield Department of Medicine. Frater John Eidinow was appointed a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana (Center for Ethics and Culture) and a Visiting Scholar at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands (Faculty of Letters). In autumn 2015, Professor Gail Fine was a Townsend lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley. While there, she gave three seminars based on her recent book The Possibility of Inquiry. In April 2015, Professor Fine gave a plenary talk on the epistemology of Plato’s Phaedo at the annual meeting of the British Society for the History of Philosophy, held at the University of York. In December 2015, Professor Fine will give an invited talk at Princeton University, and in April 2016 she will give an invited talk at the University of St Andrews. Dr Steven Gunn delivered the James Ford Lectures in British History in Hilary Term 2015. Professor Véronique Gouverneur received the 2013-18 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (UK), as well as the 2015 ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry (USA). Professor Gouverneur was also awarded the 2012-14 Chaire Internationale de Recherche Blaise Pascal (ENS/CEA Saclay).

Professor Peter Holland was elected to a Fellowship of the Marine Biological Association of the UK. The Revd Canon Dr Simon Jones was made an Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral and appointed a member of the Council of Dean Close School, Cheltenham. Professor Robert MacLaren received the Scientist of the Year Award from the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society (RP Fighting Blindness). Professor MacLaren gave the EURETINA Lecture, at the Congress of the European Society of Retina Specialists, and the Hope for Vision Arsht Lidsky Lecture at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute University of Miami. He also received the Jessie Mole Lecture and Medal (RP Fighting Blindness), the Euretina Innovation Award for design of a gene therapy vector and the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation (i4i) Award, jointly with Retina Implant AG for clinical trials of the electronic retina. Dr Craig MacLean was promoted to Associate Professor as a recognition of distinction, and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship. Professor Richard McCabe was appointed a Member of the Council of the British Academy. Professor Béla Novák was awarded a grant of more than £3 million to work on ‘Systems-level characterization of mammalian cell cycle transitions’ through a BBSRC Strategic LoLa award (2014-19). Professor David Paterson was elected an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society of New Zealand (Hon FRSNZ) and awarded the 2016 Brookhart Lecture at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr Jonathan Prag received the Teaching Project Award for the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford to fund a project to develop and embed the teaching of two essential digital technology-based skills into Masterslevel training in epigraphy.

RECORDS | MERTON COLLEGE 2014-15

Honorary Fellows

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RECORDS | NEW STUDENTS 2014

New Students 2014 Professor Jessica Rawson was appointed consultant to the Research Department of the Palace Museum in Beijing and ambassador for the Institute of Archaeology in Shaanxi Province in 2014. Professor Rawson also gave the William Cohn Lecture at the Ashmolean Museum on 20 May 2014 on ‘The Terracotta Warriors in the context of Eurasia: origins and inspiration’, and the Leon Levy Lecture on 6 November 2014 for the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University on ‘The lure of gold and iron: China’s relations with the steppe in the first millennium BC’. Professor Alexander Schekochihin was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics in July 2014 as a result of the 2013-14 Recognition of Distinction Exercise. Professor Henry Shue gave the Kapuscinski Development Lecture at Trinity College, Dublin on 4 December 2014, and was the keynote speaker for the European Science Foundation Research Networking Programme, talking on ‘Rights to a green future’ at Soesterberg in the Netherlands on 28 October 2014. Professor Shue was also a lecturer on ‘Development ethics and global justice: gender, economics, and environment’ for the National Endowment for the Humanities [US], Summer Institute for Faculty at Michigan State University on 9-14 July 2015. Professor Boris Zilber was awarded the Polya Prize by the London Mathematical Society. Professor Nicole Zitzmann was appointed Visiting Professor and International Advisor at the Center for Dengue Research at University of Sri Jayawardanapura in Sri Lanka in 2014.

Undergraduates

Ancient and Modern History Mr E B R Thomas, King’s School, Canterbury

Biological Sciences

Mr A Adamoulas, St Olave’s and St Saviour’s Grammar School, London, Miss G Kildisuite, Newham Sixth Form College, Miss E R Scopes, Tonbridge Grammar School, Mr E T S Wrigley, St Albans School

Chemistry

Miss E Atkinson, Walton High School, Milton Keynes, Mr N Chekshin, Tonbridge School, Mr L Holmes, Alleyn’s School, Dulwich, Miss K Hopgood, Wallington High School for Girls, Mr W X A Liew, Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore, Mr G W Prescott, Colyton Grammar School

English and Modern Languages Miss B E McNulty, Trinity Catholic School, Aspley, Miss K Wingate, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington

European and Middle Eastern Languages Mr N W B Trapp, Winchester College

History

Mr A T Abbot Parker, Warwick School, Mr F Andrews, Eton College, Ms A Elwin, Ardingly College, Haywards Heath

Mr I T Dawes, The Gryphon School, Sherborne, Miss N T A Gardom, The Stephen Perse Foundation, Cambridge, Mr H K E George, Tonbridge School, Mr D A M Jackson, Eton College, Miss A R Love Twelves, Carlton le Willows Academy, Nottingham, Mr E W O’Keefe, Upper Canada College, Toronto, Miss A Oxley, Princeton, Mr H Spillane, Westminster School, Mr T M Thorne, Harvard – Westlake School, California, Mr G Walker, The King’s School, Macclesfield, Miss G Woodbridge, Redruth School

Computer Science

History and Modern Languages

Mr S W Banks, King Henry VIII School, Coventry, Miss E Flicos, Saffron Walden County High School, Miss M Gupta, Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston upon Thames, Mr E Y He, Trinity School, Teignmouth, Miss F A Lovell-Read, Abbey School, Reading, Miss A Xu, National Junior College, Singapore

History and Politics

Mathematics and Computer Science

Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

Miss J M Ellis, Colchester Royal Grammar School, Mr O J Pateman, Worth School, Turners Hill

Classics

Mr H Hristov, Mathematical High School “Baba Tonka”, Ruse, Bulgaria

Economics and Management

Mr A A Ali, Raffles Junior College, Singapore, Mr P De Souza, Reading School, Miss A C C Schnupp, Matthew Arnold School, Oxford, Mr A Way, Langley Grammar School

English

Miss E Baron, North London Collegiate School, Mr B Beor-Roberts, Radley College,

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Abingdon, Miss Y Canter, University School of Nashville, Miss A L Chard, Chew Valley School, Bristol, Miss M A Clark, The Grey Coat Hospital School, London, Miss I R O Morris, Bromsgrove School, Mr D A Whittle, Poole Grammar School

Miss S Vaz Pinto Simoes Coelho, Lycée français Lepierre, Lisbon

Miss S Bosworth, Colyton Grammar School

Law (Jurisprudence)

Miss M J Delahunty-Light, Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School, Mr M R Gordon, Harrow School, Miss N Hart, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham, Miss K Ratcliffe, St Catherine’s School, Bramley

Mr M A Withers, Silverdale School, Sheffield

School, Framlingham, Mr T I Fordwoh, Fortismere School, London, Mr A D C Mafi, Westminster School, Mr E D McNelis, Cardinal Vaughan Memorial RC School, London, Mr T J Whitehead, Merchant Taylors’ School, Liverpool

Mathematics

Modern Languages

Law with German Law

Miss A J Williams, The Blue School, Wells

Law with Spanish Law

Miss A Iorga, International Computer Science High School of Bucharest, Mr K J Nizinski, Liceum Ogólnokształcące 14, Wrocław, Mr D Teiml, The English College in Prague

Medicine

Miss N Gibbs, Parkstone Grammar School, Poole, Miss R A McCallion, Greenhead College, Huddersfield, Miss J Paek, North London Collegiate School, Miss E Ratcliffe, Withington Girls’ School, Manchester, Miss O Williams, King Alfred School, London

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Miss O C Whittaker, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls

Music

Miss L M Chrisp, Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston upon Thames, Miss R J McNaught, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham, Mr P Thickett, Latymer Upper School, London

Physics

Mr T G Adkins, Sydney Grammar School, Mr D N Hosking, Helston Community College, Cornwall, Mr I Lapan, Shrewsbury School, Mr E McCulloch, Charters School, Sunningdale, Mr C Rich, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College, London, Mr R Stemmons, Winchester College, Mr J A White, King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford

PPE

Mr H J Gosling, Reading School, Mr M Hajnal, British International School, Budapest, Miss R Hardy, St Paul’s Girls’ School, London, Mr B Holden, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham, Mr S Marjanovic, Westminster School, Mr J G Parikh, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, Elstree

PPE and Modern Languages

Mr H R Boshnakov, Sciences Po, Paris

Mr R Bendix-Hickman, Thomas Mills High

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BCL

Mr G C A Hogan, Merton College, Oxford, Mr O E Lloyd, Leiden University/Merton College, Oxford, Miss J Moreau, Paris West University Nanterre La Défense /University of Essex, Mr P A Walker, University of Western Australia

2nd BM

Mr T Buckley, Merton College, Oxford, Mr J Hutchinson, Merton College, Oxford, Miss H-Y Tang, Merton College, Oxford

BPhil

Miss T Goodchild, Merton College, Oxford, Mr J A M Read, Oriel College, Oxford/ Trinity College, Cambridge

DPhil

Mr T S Allendorf, Heidelberg University, Miss H Ashmawi, St Antony’s College, Oxford, Miss E N Bardsley, King’s College London, Mr L A Betts, Trinity College, Cambridge, Mr J T P Burr, Merton College, Oxford, Mr T J Cahill, Queens College, Cambridge/University College London, Mr O D Coleman, University of Warwick, Miss T Davenne, Haute Ecole Provinciale de Hainaut – Condorcet/ Université libre de Bruxelles , Mr L J Davies, University of Toronto/Brasenose College, Oxford, Mr P Dittmann, Tenische Universität Darmstadt/Christ’s College, Cambridge, Miss H Downey, Oxford Brookes University, Mr H T G Drummond, Trinity College, Oxford, Miss K F Faldetta, McGill University, Montreal/Pennsylvania State University, Mr R D Fern, Merton College, Oxford, Miss E O Gallimore, Durham University, Miss K Gedgaudaite, University College London/Merton College, Oxford, Mr A Geraldini, Merton College, Oxford, Mr J B Gewirtz, Harvard University/St Edmund Hall, Oxford, Mr A Hadjinicolaou, Girton College, Cambridge, Mr D P J Harper, Merton College, Oxford, Mr M M Hassall, University of Adelaide, Mr M L

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Hopkins, Lincoln College, Oxford, Mr M A Hossain, Aligarh Muslim University/ Goldsmiths, University of London, Mr S I Kruk, University College London, Mr J Laverick, Merton College, Oxford, Mr A W Learoyd, Merton College, Oxford, Mr K C F Loi, National University of Singapore/ University College London, Mr A Menssen, Goethe University Frankfurt, Mr D P B Orton, Durham University/Lincoln College, Oxford, Mr A P Roberts, St John’s College, Oxford, Mr D J Rogers, University of Bath, Mr R M Sciuto, University of Pisa/Merton College, Oxford, Mrs R S Springer (née Smith), Yale University/Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Miss W Suwanwattana, Paris-Sorbonne University, Miss J Toscano, University College London, Mr J A Walker, Jesus College, Oxford, Mr S D Wilkins, University of Melbourne/Wolfson College, Oxford, Miss A I M Wilkinson, University of Bristol/University of Leeds, Mr A R J Wilson, Victoria University of Wellington, Miss Q Xia, Renmin University of China/ London School of Economics, Mr W J Yang, Nankai University/University of Cambridge, Miss P A Zhao, Corpus Christi College, Oxford

EMBA

Miss D Luvsandorj, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

MBA

Miss C S Andersen, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Mr C J Kruger-Arnaut, Goethe University Frankfurt/ Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mr H-J Lothe, Norwegian School of Economics/ University of California, Santa Barbara, Miss A Sinha, University of Delhi/ University of Warwick

MPhil

Miss C P Baerenfaenger, University of East Anglia, Mr T F Bastianello, Imperial College, London, Miss A R Blackwood,

University of Chicago, Mr J Constable, University of Melbourne, Mr S G L Dickinson, Merton College, Oxford, Miss Q Geng, University of Bristol, Miss M Oikonomou, Athens University of Economics and Business, Mr T H J Oldfield, Loughborough University, Mr J K Pedde, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, Miss R E Thomas, Ohio University, Miss S Wang, Peking University

MSc

Mr A B Baram, IL Hebrew University, Mr A Cannell, Somerville College, Oxford, Mr K M Corroon, Oklahoma State University/ Harvard University/University of Chicago, Mr L H Dunn, Florida State University, Mr B J Guo, University of California, Berkeley, Miss S D Heaven, University of Winchester, Miss M Muller, McGill University, Montreal, Miss A C Pike, New College, Oxford, Mr B M Schneider, Cornell University, Miss S J Scott, University of Queensland, Mr R Tong, Ruprecht-KarlsUniversität Heidelberg, Miss A P F Van Ham-Meert, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Schools Results 2015

MSt

Mr M J Clarke, University of Sydney, Miss M de Wit, Université libre de Bruxelles, Mr W J Drummond, Durham University, Mr S J Gormley, St Hugh’s College, Oxford, Miss M M Lu, University of Sydney, Mr D A Mason, Oriel College, Oxford, Mr J M Richardson, Merton College, Oxford, Mr J J Stawiski, Jesus College, Oxford, Miss S C V Witherden, Merton College, Oxford

PGCE

Miss R J Gough, University of Exeter

Visiting Students

Mr M Brugger, Technische Universität München (Maximillianeum), Mr M R Doudin, École Normale Supérieure, Paris

Ancient & Modern History Class II: Ms E Moyse (ii)

History & Modern Languages Class II: Ms N Davies (i) (Spanish)

Biological Sciences Class I: Mr P Madgwick, Mr T White

History & Politics Class II: Ms E Milne (i), Mr D Shaw (i)

Chemistry Class I: Mr D Ascough, Ms K Fisher, Mr K Kohara, Mr W Paritmongkol Class II: Ms M Isobe (i), Ms M Maciejewska (ii)

Law Class I: Mr T Cummings Class II: Dr J Boue (i), Mr D Browne (i), Mr J-S Lim (i), Ms L Meredith (i), Ms F O’Malley (i), Ms S Woolf (i)

Economics & Management Class I: Mr A Macaulay Class II: Ms Y L Fung (i), Mr A Weate (i), Ms M Wood (i)

Law with Law Studies in Europe Class I: Mr G Rouillon (French) Class II: Ms R Davies (i) (European), Mr P Herbst (i) (German)

English Class II: Mr A Beecham (i), Ms A Davis (i), Ms A Leigh (i), Mr J Oakman (ii), Mr J Ojo (i), Ms C Turton (i)

Literae Humaniores I Class I: Mr T Foot, Mr O Koo Class II: Mr J Dean (i)

English & Modern Languages Class II: Ms K Tamblyn (ii) (German) History Class I: Mr J Hackett Class II: Mr H Gafsen (i), Ms L Kaymer (i), Ms J Khamisa (i), Mr S McLoughlin (i), Ms A Tallon (i), Ms R von Carlshausen (i) History & English Class II: Mr A Diaper (i), Ms S Terrett (i)

Literae Humaniores II Class II: Ms J Chan (ii) Mathematics (3) Class II: Ms J Spencer (ii) Mathematics (4) Class I: Mr M Booth, Mr R Mathers, Mr M van Loon Class II: Mr J Flannery (ii) Mathematics & Computer Science (4) Class I: Mr M Balog

Class II: Mr R Gossiaux (ii) Mathematics & Philosophy (3) Class III: Ms A Miller Mathematics & Philosophy (4) Class II: Mr D Bregman (i) Medical Sciences Class I: Ms N Cockrill, Ms T Shepherd Class II: Mr I Ikhena (i), Ms O RoseniorPatten (i), Mr D Somervell (i)

RECORDS | NEW STUDENTS 2014 & SCHOOLS RESULTS 2015

Graduates

Modern Languages Class II: Mr L Ellmers (i) (French & Spanish), Ms F Kisiel (i) (French & Spanish), Mr N Lyons (i) (French & German), Ms J Smith (i) (French & German), Ms H Tindall (i) (French) Music Class II: Ms E Leather (i), Ms C Robinson (i), Mr J Swindells (i), Mr C Warren (i) PPE Class II: Mr M Harukawa (i), Ms K Jackson (i), Mr S Lunde (ii) Physics (3) Class I: Mr J Matthew Physics (4) Class I: Mr M Adamer, Mr G Farquhar, Ms C Hale, Mr T Smith

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Awards and Promotions

The following award-holders had their awards renewed at the beginning of the academic year: Postmaster for a second year: Mr D Ascough (Chemistry) Mr M Booth (Mathematics) Ms N Cockrill (Medicine) Mr G Farquhar (Physics) Ms C Hale (Physics) Mr K Kohara (Chemistry) Mr R Mathers (Mathematics) Mr W Paritmongkol (Chemistry) Mr C Staines (Physics) Mr M van Loon (Mathematics) Exhibitioner for a fourth year: Ms R Davies (Law with European Law) Mr P Herbst (Law with German Law) Exhibitioner for a third year: Mr D Browne (Law) Mr J Flannery (Mathematics) Ms M Isobe (Chemistry) Mr O Koo (Classics) Exhibitioner for a second year: Mr S Adam-Day (Mathematics) Ms B Begum (Law) Ms E Bucknall (English) Ms R Dodson (Mathematics) Mr T Dyer (Classics & Modern Languages) Mr T Foot (Classics) Mr M Harukawa (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) Mr D Schwennicke (Classics) Mr I Simester (Law) Mr J Swindells (Music) Mr A Thompson (Classics) Mr X Zhang (Chemistry)

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The following promotions were approved during the year:

To Exhibitioner: Mr M Abazorius (Physics) Mr M Adamer (Physics) Mr C Atkins (History & Modern Languages) Ms S Bolton (Modern Languages) Mr H Bush (Chemistry) Mr T Cathcart Burn (Mathematics & Computer Science) Ms Z Chen (Chemistry) Ms L Clark (Biological Sciences) Mr T Cummings (Law) (for MT14 and HT15) Mr J Dai (Computer Science) Ms A Ellis (Classical Archaeology & Ancient History) Mr D Felce (Physics) Ms K Gardner (History) Mr C Hamilton (Physics) Mr A Ho (Music) Mr T Hornigold (Physics) Mr X Hussain (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) Mr O Johnson (History) Mr B Kjellberg-Motton (Modern Languages) Mr L Koch (Mathematics) Mr T Kwek (History & Politics) Mr S Lalanne (History & Economics) Mr S Lukanihins (Physics) Mr F Money (History) Mr A Peplow (History & English) Ms R Phillips (Biological Sciences) Ms K Ratcliffe (Law) Ms B Roberts (Modern Languages) Mr G Rouillon (Law LSE) Mr J Russell (Physics) Mr G Scott (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) Mr T Smith (Physics) Mr N Tew (Biological Sciences) Mr W Tilston (Classics)

Mr A Turner (Mathematics) Mr J Valdemoros Gomez (Mathematics & Computer Science) Mr G Wagner (Physics) Ms L Valsamidis (Classics) Ms H Wilson (Chemistry) Ms Y Yang (Chemistry) To Postmaster: Mr M Balog (Mathematics & Computer Science) Mr A Caflisch (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) Ms H Craske (Modern Languages) Mr T Cummings (Law) (for TT15) Ms K Fisher (Chemistry) Mr H Gafsen (History) Mr R Gossiaux (Mathematics & Computer Science) Mr J Hackett (History) Ms S Harris (Modern Languages) Mr R Jain (Physics) Ms L Kaymer (History) Mr J-S Lim (Law) Mr A Macaulay (Economics & Management) Mr J Matthew (Physics) Mr A Moore (Physics) Mr M Raybould (Chemistry) Mr C Ruckteschler (Philosophy, Politics & Economics) Ms A Thomas (Modern Languages) Mr T White (Biological Sciences) There were in all 29 Postmasters and 57 Exhibitioners at the end of the year.

College Prizes

Members of the College who had achieved First Class in Schools or Mods, or Distinctions in Prelims, Law Moderations or the First BM, were given College book prizes in accordance with College Bylaw 87; members of the College who had been awarded University prizes were given College book prizes in accordance with the same Bylaw.

RECORDS | UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS & PRIZES

Undergraduate Awards and Prizes

Fowler Prizes for good work in Collections were awarded to: Mantas Abazorius (2) Toby Adkins (2) Asim Ali (1) Felix Andrews (1) Caitlin Armstrong (1) Eleanor Atkinson (2) Samuel Banks (1) Bushra Begum (1) Bertram Beor-Roberts (1) Juan Carlos Boue (1) Harry Bush (2) Toby Cathcart Burn (1) Nikita Chekshin (2) Maira Chowdhury (2) Lila Chrisp (2) Laura Clark (1) Mary Anne Clark (1) Emily Cowan (1) Tristan Cummings (3) Iona Davidson (2) Philip De Souza (1) Alexander Eperon (1) Harry Fagan (2)

David Felce (1) Emily Flicos (1) Hamish Forbes (2) Yu Ling Fung (1) Naomi Gardom (2) Natasha Gibbs (1) Henry Gosling (2) Charles Graham (1) Natalie Gunner (1) Monica Gupta (2) Joseph Hackett (1) Chris Hamilton (2) Rebecca Hardy (1) Philip Herbst (3) Alexander Ho (2) Benedict Holden (1) Lawrence Holmes (2) Jasmine Hopkinson (1) Thomas Hornigold (2) David Hosking (2) Hristian Hristov (2) Xavier Hussain (1) Andreea Iorga (1) Ravin Jain (1) Oliver Johnson (1)

Gerda Kildisiute (2) Laura King (2) Francesca Kisiel (1) Brendan Kjellberg-Motton (1) Lukas Koch (1) Oliver Koo (1) Theophilus Kwek (1) Stanislas Lalanne (2) Alvin Liew (2) Sergejs Lukanihins (2) Alistair Macaulay (4) Philip Madgwick (1) Alexander Mafi (1) James Matthew (2) Ewan McCulloch (2) Rebecca McNaught (2) Bridget McNulty (1) Lucy Meredith (1) Alexander Moore (1) India Morris (1) Kamil Nizinski (1) Eamonn O’Keeffe (2) Fiona O’Malley (1) Joshua Parikh (1) Oliver Pateman (1)

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The following graduates completed during the year 2014-15:

George Prescott (2) Taco Prins (1) Matthew Raybould (4) Caleb Rich (1) Georges Rouillon (1) Christian Ruckteschler (4) Jasper Russell (1) Daniel Schwennicke (3) Eleanor Scopes (2) Gordon Scott (2) Dashiell Shaw (2) Ian Simester (2) Harry Spillane (1) Natasha Stotesbury (1) Jacob Swindells (2) Nicholas Tew (1) Peter Thickett (2) Angus Thompson (3) William Tilston (2) John Townhill (1) Nicholas Trapp (1) Andrew Turner (1) Lucy Valsamidis (3) Glenn Wagner (2) George Walker (1) Charles Warren (1) Adam Way (2) Alexander Weate (1) Thomas White (1) Thomas Whitehead (2) Anna Williams (1) Hannah Wilson (2)

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Ao Xu (1) Yining Yang (2) Other College Prizes were awarded as follows: Ms N Cockrill, Harvey Prize for Clinical Anatomy (joint winner) Ms N Cockrill, Wilder Penfield Prize in Medicine and Biology Mr T Foot, Professor W.M. Edwards Prize in Classics (joint winner) Ms N Hart, FE Smith Memorial Mooting Prize, 1st Prize Ms J Khamisa, Conrad Russell Prize in History Mr O Koo, Professor W.M. Edwards Prize in Classics (joint winner) Mr A Liew, Phillips Prize for best performance in Chemistry Prelims at Merton Mr T Prins, Sam McNaughton Prize in Philosophy in PPE Prelims Ms K Ratcliffe, Norton Rose Prize for best moderations marks of a Merton law student Mr M Raybould, Phillips Prize for best performance in Chemistry Part IB at Merton Ms T Shepherd, Harvey Prize for Clinical Anatomy (joint winner) Mr D Somervell, Harvey Prize for Clinical Anatomy (joint winner) Ms A Williams, FE Smith Memorial Mooting Prize, 2nd Prize

University Prizes were awarded as follows: Mr T Adkins, Commendation for Practical Work for Physics Prelims Mr D Ascough, GlaxoSmithKline Award in Organic Chemistry Part II Mr M Balog, Hoare Prize for best overall performance in Mathematics and Computer Science Mr T Cathcart Burn, Ensoft Prize (member of the winning team) Mr C Hamilton, The Head of Department Prize for the best performance in the Physics Department Speaking Competition Mr K Kohara, Organic Chemistry Part II Thesis Prize Mr A Liew, Bruker UK Prize for Chemistry Prelims Mr P Patel, Junior Mathematics Prize for Mathematics and Computer Science Ms K Ratcliffe, Best performance in Criminal Law Mr D Schwennicke, Classics Declamation Prize for Greek Recitation Mr N Trapp, James Mew Junior Prize for outstanding performance in Arabic Prelims Mr N Trapp, Andrew Colin Prize for best performance in Russian Prelims Ms Y Yang, SAB Miller PLC Prize for best performance in Chemistry Part IA Ms Y Yang, Turbutt Prize for 2nd year practical organic chemistry

DPhil Mr J Allen (Medieval & Modern Languages), Mr C Chen (Zoology), Ms Y Chen (Archaeology), Mr F Chow (Economics), Mr N de Silva (Computer Science), Ms Z Dedeic (Clinical Medicine), Ms K Dulitz (Physical & Theoretical Chemistry), Ms B Elbert (Organic Chemistry), Mr P Entwistle (Politics), Mr P Fineran (Pharmacology), Ms B Gaal (Systems Biology), Ms M Ghoul (Zoology), Mr A Ginalis (Archaeology), Mr E Hardy (Theoretical Physics), Ms E Hartrich (History), Mr T Hudson (Mathematics), Ms K Johnson (Organic Chemistry), Ms S Jones (Clinical Medicine), Mr C Li (Archaeology), Mr L Liu (Atomic & Laser Physics), Ms Y Liu (Archaeology), Mr M Lloyd (Archaeology), Mr C-J Lu (Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics), Mr R Machinek (Condensed Matter Physics), Mr A Marques Smith (Neuroscience), Mr C Matek (Theoretical Physics), Mr E Moeller (Philosophy), Mr J Murphy (English), Mr M Nguyen (Biochemistry), Mr Z Padamsey (Pharmacology), Mr P Phelps (English), Mr W Rittershofer (Atomic & Laser Physics), Ms A Rydzik (Organic Chemistry), Mr A Salam (Philosophy), Mr J Sanders (Astrophysics), Ms N Silove (International Relations), Mr C Snoeck (Archaeological Science), Mr B Stevens (Mathematics), Ms K Wang (Systems Biology), Ms A Zimmermann-Rohlff (Zoology) BPhil Mr A Lovett (Distinction), Mr Y Mol, Mr S Yellin MBA Ms J Boutilier, Mr D Drucker, Mr C Newitt (Distinction), Mr J van Eeden (Distinction)

EMBA Mr A Chin MPhil Mr J Brown (International Relations – Merit), Mr C Denhez (Politics: Comparative Government), Mr K Heimann (International Relations – Distinction), Mr M Mueller (Economics), Mr J Palmer (International Relations – Merit), Mr A Piccolo (Economics), Ms L Song (Economics - Distinction) MPhil Qualifying Examination Ms C Baerenfaenger (Development Studies), Mr T Bastianello (Economics), Ms A Blackwood (Modern British & European History), Mr J Constable (Greek &/or Roman History), Ms Q Geng (Economics), Ms M Oikonomou (Economics), Mr T Oldfield (Modern British & European History), Mr J Pedde (Economics), Ms R Thomas (Greek &/or Latin Language & Literature), Ms S Wang (Archaeology) MSc(Res) Mr S Thomas (Biochemistry) MSc Ms A-I Bidegaray (Archaeological Science), Mr S Dhillon (Criminology – Distinction), Mr Q Fiard (Computer Science), Mr B Hawkey (Major Programme Management), Ms H W Mak (Sociology), Ms T Peterson (Major Programme Management – Distinction), Ms J Stacey (Neuroscience), Ms E Uduehi (Nature, Society & Environmental Policy) MSt Mr M Clarke (English 1900-present), Ms M de Wit (Classical Archaeology), Mr W Drummond (Musicology – Distinction), Mr S Gormley (Modern Languages – Distinction), Ms M Lu (English 1830-1914), Mr J Richardson (Modern British & European History), Mr J Stawiski (English 1550-1700), Ms L Suleiman (English 1700-1830), Ms S Witherden (Medieval Studies – Distinction)

2nd BM Mr D Casey, Ms H-P Chi, Ms J Johnson, Mr A Malik BCL Mr G Hogan (Distinction), Mr O Lloyd (Distinction), Ms J Moreau PGCE Ms R Gough College Prizes were awarded as follows: Ms V Arthi, Dacre Trust award for graduate research in History Mr H Omar, Rajiv Kapur prize for graduate research in History Mrs R Springer, Dacre Trust award for graduate research in History University Prizes were awarded as follows: Mr N Black, Matilda Tambyraja Prize for best performance in Obstetrics & Gynaecology Mr N Black, IOWA Elective Scholarship Mr N Black, Hobson Mann Lovell Scholarship for outstanding progress in the clinical course Mr C Cheng, Thesis Commendation from the MPLS Divisional Board Mr E. Hardy, Thesis Commendation from the MPLS Divisional Board Mr A Learoyd, Deirdre and Paul Malone Thesis Prize in International Relations Mr O Lloyd, Vinerian Scholarship for the BCL Mr O Lloyd, John Morris Prize in the Conflict of Laws Mr P Walker, Allen and Overy Prize in Corporate Insolvency Law

RECORDS | GRADUATE DEGREES, AWARDS & PRIZES

Graduate Degrees, Awards and Prizes

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Name Appointment Mr MD Jeffs Surveyor Mrs RM Butler Chef de Partie Miss JM Durkin Housekeeper Mr RJ Wiggins Decorator Mr DA Hedges Bar Manager Mrs LS Walsh Sub Warden’s Secretary Mr CR Hedges Maintenance Assistant Mr JS Lisle Groundsman Mr PJ Goodhall Scout Mr JP McVeigh Hallman/Storeman Mrs J Gerhardi Admissions Officer Mrs C Hume Chef de Partie Mrs NK Lisle Pavilion Catering Assistant Mr JE Tomkins Assistant Groundsman Mrs SA Allen Hall Assistant Mrs LJ Pullen Scout Mr M Wender Head Chef Mrs CL Turner Cleaner Mr S Williams IT Manager Mrs L Rankin Assistant Warden’s Secretary Mr DS Brundell Chef de Partie Mrs N S Mahmood Cleaner Mrs MN Harris Bursary Clerk Mr DN Haines Kitchen Porter Miss SL Bird Chef de Partie Miss L Reveley Fees and Bursary Clerk Mrs A S Mahmood Cleaner Mrs C Lewis Project Librarian Mr CD Joyce Kitchen Porter Mrs HJ Kingsley Alumni Relations Manager Miss L Savin Head Gardener

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First appointed 12/02/1979 08/05/1981 02/06/1986 16/03/1987 12/10/1987 16/11/1987 11/04/1988 17/10/1988 24/11/1988 15/10/1990 02/01/1991 01/08/1996 01/10/1996 11/08/1997 07/07/1998 19/10/1998 20/09/1999 27/03/2000 17/07/2000 03/10/2000 13/11/2000 23/04/2001 16/05/2001 20/08/2001 08/10/2001 11/02/2002 30/04/2002 07/05/2002 29/07/2002 09/09/2002 07/10/2002

Name Appointment First appointed Mr J A Reid Archivist 02/12/2002 Mr CE Shackell Accountant 20/01/2003 Mrs HL Young Bursary Clerk 02/06/2003 Miss L Lawrence Warden’s Secretary 01/09/2003 Mr C Bridgman Third Chef 29/09/2003 Mr G M Krispijn Library Assistant 22/10/2003 Miss J Baker Cleaner 02/01/2004 Mrs H D’Arcy Cleaner 13/04/2004 Mrs M Skalik Steward 10/08/2005 Mr J Pawlowski Caretaker (Holywell Lodge) 24/10/2005 Mr E Hamdi Hall Supervisor 27/01/2006 Mr D Brown Second Chef 02/01/2007 Mr M Furse Senior Gardener 02/01/2007 Miss A Miech Housekeeping Supervisor 01/02/2007 Mrs G Norridge Payroll/Personnel Administrator 25/06/2007 Miss N Harrison Estates Administrator 23/07/2007 Mr A Kessler Catering Assistant 15/10/2007 Mr P Macallister Demi Chef de Partie 22/10/2007 Mrs M Ponting Catering Assistant 29/10/2007 Mrs K Adamczyk Housekeeping Supervisor 01/11/2007 Mr R Williams Lodge Porter 31/03/2008 Miss MK Panasewicz SCR Assistant 15/09/2008 Ms C Massey Conference Manager 05/01/2009 Ms ST Hague Accommodation Manager 02/02/2009 Mr I Knight Accommodation 13/07/2009 & Conference Porter Mrs I Ochylska Cleaner 01/12/2009 Mr D W Tyrrell Gardener 01/02/2010 Mr I R Walker Lodge Porter 19/07/2010 Mrs C Haines College Nurse 27/09/2010 Miss H Bednarczyk Team Lead Lodge Porter 04/01/2011

Name Appointment First appointed Mr M dos Scout 05/01/2011 Santos de Oliveira Mrs R da Silva Cleaner 11/01/2011 Dr P Hoffman Library Assistant 14/01/2011 Miss G Hanson Gardener 28/03/2011 Mr S Bowdery Deputy IT Manager 01/04/2011 Mr J Parkinson Lodge Porter 18/04/2011 Mr M Weavers Lodge Porter 09/08/2011 Ms L Featherstone Academic Administrator 01/10/2011 Mr T Cortes Cleaner 31/10/2011 Rodrigues Mrs S Rai Cleaner 31/10/2011 Mrs E Westphal Cleaner 31/10/2011 Ms H Moore Housekeeper to the Warden 14/11/2011 Schools Liaison & Access Officer 01/12/2011 Dr C Ryan Mrs J Rusaitiene Cleaner 16/01/2012 Miss M Kowalska Cleaner 30/01/2012 Mr D Sadzewicz Commis Chef 20/02/2012 Miss E Lecture Theatre Assistant 28/05/2012 Torrequebrada Gago Mr J Weller Lodge Porter 02/07/2012 Mr R Maxwell Assistant Fire & H&S Officer 23/07/2012 Mr J Goble Apprentice Chef 03/09/2012 Mr P O’Connor Senior Development Executive 03/09/2012 Mr G Staudinger Senior SCR & Hall Supervisor 03/09/2012 Mr Simon Cope Web & Media Officer 03/12/2012 Mrs C Gerum SCR & Hall Assistant 20/04/2013 Elkadhi Mr J Constable Head Porter 03/06/2013 Ms A Lloyd Bursar’s PA 01/08/2013 Mr D Spencer Maintenance Assistant 05/08/2013

Name Appointment First appointed Mr B J Holywell Lodge Porter 23/09/2013 Wolstenholme Ms L E Stead Verger 23/09/2013 Alumni Communications Officer 01/12/2013 Ms C P Farfan de los Godos Miss J I Dziadosz SCR & Hall Assistant 27/01/2014 Mrs S Simmons Cleaner 10/03/2014 Miss LF Smith Cleaner 10/03/2014 Miss M Cleaner 10/03/2014 Zakuszewska Mr S P Henry Team Lead Lodge Porter 11/03/2014 Miss F Tamburini Cleaner 24/03/2014 Miss C L Hanney Estates Secretary 22/04/2014 Mr W Wahid Accounts Assistant 22/04/2014 Ms E Harjula Information & Research Officer 24/06/2014 Mr T Coleman Chapel Administrator 19/08/2014 Ms S Perkins Academic Office Assistant 15/09/2014 Miss M Lasota SCR & Hall Assistant 01/10/2014 Ms G Matthews Library Assistant 15/10/2014 Miss E Bunce Cleaner 03/11/2014 Miss N Da Cleaner 03/11/2014 Conceicao Dias Ximenes Mrs G Pal Cleaner 03/11/2014 Ms B Vilimova Cleaner 03/11/2014 Mrs F Lawrence HR Manager 02/12/2014 Mr G Da SCR & Hall Assistant 04/05/2015 Assumpcao Mr F Tajuelo SCR & Hall Assistant 04/05/2015 Santiago Mr D Davies Chef de Partie 11/05/2015 Mrs S Hoverd Chef de Partie 23/05/2015 Ms M Brazda Lodge Porter 01/06/2015 Ms B Pedder Development Assistant 08/06/2015

RECORDS | COLLEGE STAFF

College Staff

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Fellows’ Publications 2014-15 Delalez, NJ, RM Berry and JP Armitage (2014) ‘Stoichiometry and Turnover of the Bacterial Flagellar Switch Protein FliN’, mBio 5(4): doi: 10.1128/mBio.01216-14 Diepold, A, et al. and JP Armitage (2015) ‘Composition, Formation, and Regulation of the Cytosolic C-Ring; a Dynamic Component of the Type III Secretion Injectisome’, PLoS Biol 13(1): e1002039 Jones, CW, and JP Armitage (2015) ‘Positioning of Bacterial Chemoreceptors’, Trends Microbiol 23: 247-56 Popp, F, JP Armitage and D Schuler (2014) ‘Polarity of Bacterial Magnetotaxis Is Controlled by Aerotaxis through a Common Sensory Pathway’, Nat Commun 5: 5398 Briegel, A, et al. and JP Armitage (2014) ‘Structure of Bacterial Cytoplasmic Chemoreceptor Arrays and Implications for Chemotactic Signaling’, eLife 2014(3):e02151 Barr, AJ, et al. (2015) ‘Higgs Self-Coupling Measurements at a 100 TeV Hadron Collider’, J High Energy Phys 02 (2015): 016 Barr, AJ, and J Scoville (2015) ‘A Boost for the Electroweak Supersymmetry Hunt: Monojet-like Search for Compressed Sleptons at LHC14 with 100 fb^-1’, J High Energy Phys 04 (2015): 147 ATLAS Collaboration, ed. AJ Barr (2015) ‘Search for Scalar-charm Pair Production in pp Collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector’, Phys Rev Lett 114(16): 161801 Fusaro, M, B Allaire, RJ Blakemore and T Vanneste (eds) (2015) Law, Labour, and Empire: Comparative Perspectives on Seafarers, c. 1500-1800 (Palgrave MacMillan: London)

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Boardman, J (2014) The Triumph of Dionysus: Convivial Processions, from Antiquity to the Present Day (Archaeo Press: Oxford) --- (2015) The Greeks in Asia (Thames & Hudson: New York) Bronk Ramsey, C (2015) ‘Bayesian Approaches to the Building of Archaeological Chronologies’, in JA Barcelo and I Bogdanovic (eds), Mathematics and Archaeology (CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL), 272-92 --- et al. (2014) ‘Integrating Timescales with Time-Transfer Functions: A Practical Approach for an INTIMATE Database’, Quat Sci Rev 106: 67-80 --- et al. (2014) ‘Improved Age Estimates for Key Late Quaternary European Tephra Horizons in the RESET Lattice’, Quat Sci Rev 118: 18-32 Higham, T, et al. and C Bronk Ramsey (2014) ‘The Timing and Spatiotemporal Patterning of Neanderthal Disappearance’ in Nature, 512(7514): 306-9 Codreanu, I, et al. and K Clarke (2015) ‘Comprehensive Assessment of Left Ventricular Wall Motion Abnormalities in Coronary Artery Disease using Cardiac Magnetic Resonance’, J Cardiol Neuro Cardiovasc Dis 2(1): 006 Cox, PJ, and K Clarke (2015) ‘Ketone Bodies’, in LM Castell, SJ Stear and LM Burke (eds), Nutritional Supplements in Sport, Exercise and Health: An A-Z Guide, (Routledge: London), 166-70 Dodd, MS, et al. and K Clarke (2014) ‘Impaired in vivo Mitochondrial Krebs Cycle Activity after Myocardial Infarction Assessed Using Hyperpolarized Magnetic

Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy’, Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 7(6): 895-904 Le Page, LM, et al. and K Clarke (2015) ‘Increasing Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Flux as a Treatment for Diabetic Cardiomyopathy: A Combined 13C Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance and Echocardiography Study’, Diabetes 2015 Mar 20. doi: 10.2337/db14-1560 Notari, M, et al. and K Clarke (2015) ‘iASPP, a Previously Unidentified Regulator of Desmosomes, Prevents Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC)-induced Sudden Death’, PNAS 112(9) doi: 10.1073/pnas. 1408111112 Davies, H (2015) Can Financial Markets be Controlled? (Polity Books: Cambridge) Douglas, AD, et al. and SJ Draper (2015) ‘A PfRH5-based Vaccine Is Efficacious against Heterologous Strain Blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum Infection in Aotus Monkeys’, Cell Host Microbe 17(1): 130-9 Halbroth, BR, and SJ Draper (2015) ‘Recent Developments in Malaria Vaccinology’, Adv Parasitol 88:1-49. Hodgson, SH, et al. and SJ Draper (2014) ‘Combining Viral Vectored and Protein-inAdjuvant Vaccines against the Blood-stage Malaria Antigen AMA1: Report on a Phase 1a Clinical Trial’, Mol Ther 22(12): 2142-54 Rampling, T et al. and SJ Draper (2015) ‘A Monovalent Chimpanzee Adenovirus Ebola Vaccine - Preliminary Report’, N Engl J Med doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1411627 Wright, KE et al. and SJ Draper (2014) ‘Structure of Malaria Invasion Protein RH5 with Erythrocyte Basigin and Blocking Antibodies’, Nature 515(7527): 427-30

Shoji, A, et al. and T Guilford (2015) ‘Diving Behaviour of Benthic Feeding Black Guillemots’, Bird Study 62(2): 217-22 Shoji, A, et al. and T Guilford (2015) ‘Foraging Behaviour of Sympatric Razorbills and Puffins’, Mar Ecol Prog Ser 520: 257-67 Shoji, A, et al. and T Guilford (2014) ‘Flexible Foraging Strategies in a Diving Seabird with High Flight Cost’, Mar Biol 161(9): 2121-9 Gunn, S, and A Jamme (2015) ‘Kings, Nobles and Military Networks’ in C Fletcher, J-P Genet and J Watts (eds), Government and Political Life in England and France, 1300-1500 (Cambridge University Press), 41-77 Anthony, DC, et al. and V Gouverneur (2014) ‘Anti-CD20 Inhibits T Cellmediated Pathology and Microgliosis in the Rat Brain’, Ann Clin Transl Neurol 1(9): 659-69 Emer, E, et al. and V Gouverneur (2014) ‘Diversity-oriented Approach to CF3CHF-, CF3CFBr-, CF3CF2-, (CF3)2CH- and CF3(SCF3)CH-substituted Arenes from 1-(diazo-2,2,2-trifluoroethyl) Arenes’, Org Lett 16(22): 6004-7 Tredwell, M, et al. and V Gouverneur (2014) ‘A General Copper-mediated Nucleophilic 18F Fluorination of Arenes’, Angew Chem Int Ed 53(30): 7751-5 Walkowiak, J, et al. and V Gouverneur (2014) ‘Iodine Transfer Copolymerization of Fluorinated α-methylstyrenes with Styrene using 1-iodoperfluorohexane as the Chain Transfer Agent’, Macromolecules 47(24): 8634–44 Wolstenhulme, J, and V Gouverneur (2014) ‘Asymmetric Fluorocyclizations of Alkenes’, Acc Chem Res 47(12): 3560-70 Holland, PWH (2015) ‘Did Homeobox Gene Duplications Contribute to the Cambrian Explosion?’, Zool Lett 2015(1): 1 Ferguson, L, et al. and PWH Holland (2014) ‘Ancient Expansion of the Hox Cluster in Lepidoptera Generated Four Homeobox Genes Implicated in Extraembryonic Tissue Formation’, PLoS Genet 10(10): e1004698

Holland, ND, LZ Holland and PWH Holland (2015) ‘Scenarios for the Making of Vertebrates’, Nature 520(7548): 450-5 Paps, J, F Xu, G Zhang and PWH Holland (2015) ‘Reinforcing the Egg-timer: Recruitment of Novel Lophotrochozoa Homeobox Genes to Early and Late Development in the Pacific Oyster’, Genome Biol Evol 7(3): 677-88 Quah, S, J Hui and PWH Holland (2015) ‘A Burst of miRNA Innovation in the Early Evolution of Butterflies and Moths’, Mol Biol Evol 32(5): 1161-74 Hooker, SM, et al. (2014) ‘Multi-pulse Laser Wakefield Acceleration: A New Route to Efficient, High-repetitionrate Plasma Accelerators and High Flux Radiation Sources’, J Phys B 47(23): 234003 Joshi, V, and D Kapur (2014) ‘India and the World Economy’ in D Davin and B Harriss-White (eds), China-India: Pathways of Development (OUP) Bliss, C, and V Joshi (2014) ‘Ian Malcolm David Little’, in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy, XIII (OUP/ The British Academy) Kershaw, I (2015) To Hell and Back. Europe, 1914-1949 (Allen Lane, Penguin: London) Fairfax, BP, et al. and JC Knight (2014) ‘Innate Immune Activity Conditions the Effect of Regulatory Variants upon Monocyte Gene Expression’, Science 343(6175): 1246949 Plant, K, et al. and JC Knight (2014) ‘Fine Mapping Genetic Determinants of the Highly Variably Expressed MHC Gene ZFP57’, Eur J Hum Genet 22(4): 568-71 Wong, D, et al. and JC Knight (2014) ‘Genomic Profiling of the MHC Transactivator CIITA Using an Integrated ChIP-seq and Genetical Genomics Approach’, Genome Biol 15: 494 Lemos, IS (2014) ‘The Censola Painter, Again’, in P Valavanis and E Manakidou (eds) Eγραφσεν και εποιεσεν, Essays on Greek Pottery and Iconography in Honour of Professor Michalis Tiverios (Thessaloniki), 47-53

RECORDS | FELLOWS’ PUBLICATIONS 2014-15

Publications

Flegg, M, S Hellander and R Erban (2015) ‘Convergence of Methods for Coupling of Microscopic and Mesoscopic ReactionDiffusion Simulations’, J Comput Phys 289: 1-17 Liao, S, T Vejchodsky and R Erban (2015) ‘Tensor Methods for Parameter Estimation and Bifurcation Analysis of Stochastic Reaction Networks’, J R Soc Interface 12(108): 20150233 Robinson, M, S Andrews and R Erban (2015) ‘Multiscale Reaction-Diffusion Simulations with Smoldyn’, Bioinformatics doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btv149 Sun, Y, W Lin and R Erban (2014) ‘Time Delay Can Facilitate Coherence in Selfdriven Interacting Particle Systems’, Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 90(6): 062708 Taylor-King, J, B Franz, C Yates and R Erban (2015) ‘Mathematical Modelling of Turning Delays in Swarm Robotics’, IMA J Appl Math doi: 10.1093/imamat/hxv001 Guilford, T, and D Biro (2014) ‘Route Following and the Pigeon’s Familiar Area Map’, J Exp Biol 217(2): 169-79 Guilford, T, and G Taylor (2014) ‘The Sun Compass Revisited’, Anim Behav 97: 135-43 Burt de Perera, T, and T Guilford (2015) ‘Found: The Missing Part of the Brain’s “Internal Compass”’, The Conversation 5 Jan 2015 Davis, VA, et al. and T Guilford (2014) ‘Three-dimensional Spatial Cognition in a Benthic Fish, Corydoras aeneus’, Behav Process 109(B): 151-6 Flack, A, T Guilford and D Biro (2014) ‘Learning Multiple Routes in Homing Pigeons’, Biol Lett 10(4): 20140119 Mann, RP, et al. and T Guilford (2014) ‘Landscape Complexity Influences Route-memory Formation in Navigating Pigeons’, Biol Lett 10(1): 20130885 Meier, RE, et al. and T Guilford (2015) ‘Consistent Foraging Areas and Commuting Corridors of the Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus Mauretanicus in the Northwestern Mediterranean’, Biol Cons 190: 87-97

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Ecological Communities Predictable?’, BMC Biol 12(4):22 Hamilton, AJ, RM May and EK Waters (2015) ‘Zoology: Here be Dragons’, Nature 520: 42-43 Tsonis, AA, et al. and RM May (2015) ‘Dynamical Evidence for Causality between Galactic Cosmic Rays and Interannual Variation in Global Temperature’, PNAS 112(11): 3253-6 McCabe, R (2014) ‘The Poetics of Succession 1587-1605: The Stuart Claim’, in S Doran and P Kewes (eds) Doubtful and Dangerous: The Question of Succession in Late Elizabethan England (Manchester University Press), 192-211 --- (2014) ‘Ireland’s Eliza: Queen or Cailleach?’, in B Kane and V McGowanDoyle (eds), Elizabeth I and Ireland (CUP), 15-39 Muscolino, M (2014) The Ecology of War in China: Henan Province, the Yellow River, and Beyond, 1938-1950 (CUP) Hellmuth, S, et al. and B Novák (2015) ‘Human Chromosome Segregation Involves Multi-layered Regulation of Separase by the Peptidyl-prolylisomerase pin1’, Mol Cell 58(3): 495-506 Kalantzaki, M, et al. and B Novák (2015) ‘Kinetochore-microtubule Error Correction Is Driven by Differentially Regulated Interaction Modes’, Nat Cell Biol 17(4): 421-33 Rattani, A, et al. and B Novák (2014) ‘Dependency of the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint on Cdk1 Renders the Anaphase Transition Irreversible’, Curr Biol 24(6): 630-7 Tyson, JJ, and B Novák (2014) ‘Control of Cell Growth, Division and Death: Information Processing in Living Cells’, Interface Focus 4(2): 20130070 Vinod, PK, and B Novák (2015) ‘Model Scenarios for Switch-like Mitotic Transitions’, FEBS Lett 589(6): 667-71 Paterson, DJ (2014) ‘Defining the Neurocircuitry of Exercise Hyperpnoea’, J Physiol 592(3): 433-44

Kazbanov, IV, et al. and DJ Paterson (2014) ‘Effect of Global Cardiac Ischemia on Human Ventricular Fibrillation: Insights from a Multi-scale Mechanistic Model of the Human Heart’, PLoS Comput Biol 10(11): e1003891 Li, D, et al. and DJ Paterson (2015) ‘Efficacy of B-type Natriuretic Peptide Is Coupled to Phosphodiesterase 2A in Cardiac Sympathetic Neurons’, Hypertension 66(1): 190-8 Sverrisdóttir, YB, et al. and DJ Paterson (2014) ‘Differentiated Baroreflex Modulation of Sympathetic Nerve Activity during Deep Brain Stimulation in Humans’, Hypertension 63(5): 1000-10 Payne, J (2015) ‘Schemes of Arrangement and Debt Restructuring in English Law’, Spanish Insolvency J 315 --- (2014) Schemes of Arrangement: Theory Structure and Operation (CUP) --- and E Howell (2015) ‘The Creation of a European Capital Market’, in P Koutrakos and J Snell (eds), Research Handbook on the Law of the EU’s Internal Market (Edward Elgar: Cheltenham) Gullifer, L, and J Payne (2015) Corporate Finance Law: Principles and Policy, 2nd edn (Hart Publishing: Oxford) Moloney, N, E Ferran and J Payne (eds) (2015) The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation (OUP) Phillips, T (2014) ‘A New Sapphic Intertext in Horace’, APF 60(2): 283-8 --- (2015) ‘Echo in Euripides’ Andromeda’, GRMS 3: 53-66 Prag, JRW (2014) ‘The Quaestorship in the Third and Second Centuries BC’, in J Dubouloz, S Pittia and G Sabatini (eds), L’imperium Romanum en Perspective. Les Savoirs d’Empire dans la République Romaine et leur Héritage dans l’Europe Médiévale et Moderne (Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté (collection de l’ISTA): Besançon), 193-209 --- (2014) ‘Phoinix and Poenus: Usage in Antiquity’, in JC Quinn and N Vella (eds), The Punic Mediterranean: Identities and

Identification from Phoenician Settlement to Roman Rule (CUP), 11-23 --- (2014) ‘Bronze Rostra from the Egadi Islands off NW Sicily: The Latin Inscriptions’, J Roman Archaeol 27: 33-59 --- and JC Quinn (eds) (2013) The Hellenistic West: Rethinking the Ancient Mediterranean (CUP) Rawson, J (2015) ‘China and the Steppe: Arms, Armour and Ornaments’, Orientations 46(5): 2-9 Kanekar, A, AA Schekochihin, W Dorland and NF Loureiro (2015) ‘Fluctuationdissipation Relations for a Plasma-kinetic Langevin Equation’, J Plasma Phys 81(1): 305810104 Mallet, A, AA Schekochihin and BDG Chandran (2015) ‘Refined Critical Balance in Strong Alfvenic Turbulence’, Mon Not R Astron Soc 449: L77-81 Meinecke, J, et al. and AA Schekochihin (2014) ‘Turbulent Amplification of Magnetic Fields in Laboratory Laserproduced Shock Waves’, Nature Phys 10(7): 520-4 Rincon, F, AA Schekochihin and SC Cowley (2015) ‘Nonlinear Mirror Instability’, Mon Not R Astron Soc 447: L45-9 Zhuravleva, I, et al. and AA Schekochihin (2014) ‘Turbulent Heating in Galaxy Clusters Brightest in X-rays’, Nature 515(7525): 85-7 Scott, AD, and C McDiarmid (forthcoming) ‘Random Graphs from a Block Class’, Eur J Combin ---, N Morrison and J Noel (forthcoming) ‘Saturation in the Hypercube and Bootstrap Percolation’, Combin Probab Comput --- and AD Sokal (2014) ‘Complete Monotonicity for Inverse Powers of Some Combinatorially Defined Polynomials’, Acta Mathematica 213(2): 323-92 Bollobás, B, and AD Scott (2015) ‘Intersections of Hypergraphs’, J Comb Theory B 110: 180-208

Chudnovsky, M, AD Scott and P Seymour (2015) ‘Disjoint Paths in Tournaments’, Adv Math 270: 582-97 Shue, H (2015) ‘Torture’, in D Moellendorf and H Widdows (eds), Routledge Handbook of Global Ethics (Routledge: London), 113-26 --- (2015) ‘Historical Responsibility, Harm Prohibition, and Preservation Requirement: Core Practical Convergence on Climate Change’, Moral Philosophy and Policy 2(1): 7-31 --- (2015) ‘Transboundary Damage in Climate Change: Criteria for Allocating Responsibility’, in A Nollkaemper and D Jacobs (eds), Distribution of Responsibilities in International Law (CUP), 321-40 Cassou-Noguès, Ph, T Chinburg, B Morin and M Taylor (2014) ‘The Classifying Topos of a Group Scheme and Invariants of Symmetric Bundles’, Proc Lond Math Soc 109(5): 1093-136 Chinburg, T, G Pappas and M Taylor (2015) ‘K_1 of a p-adic Group Ring II: The Determinantal Kernel SK1’, J Pure Appl Algebra 219(7): 2581-623. Thacker, J (2014) ‘Staging and Performance’ in R Henke and MA Katritzky (eds) European Theatre Performance Practice, 1580-1750 (Ashgate: Farnham), 55-76 --- (2014) ‘La Puesta en Escena del Teatro Clásico Español en Gran Bretaña: Estado de la Cuestión y Ultimas Tendencias’, in M Bastianes, E Fernández and P Mascarell (eds) Diálogos en las Tablas: Ultimas Tendencias de la Puesta en Escena del Teatro Clásico Español (Reichenberger: Kassel), 247-68 --- (2014) ‘Play Rehearsals on the Golden Age Stage’, in S Boyd and T O’Reilly (eds) Artifice and Invention in the Spanish Golden Age (Legenda: Oxford), 126-35 --- (2015) ‘Adapting Lope de Vega for the English-speaking Stage’, in H Erdman and S Paun de García (eds) Remaking the Comedia: Spanish Classical Theater in Adaptation (Tamesis: Woodbridge), 93-101

Grimmett, G, and D Welsh (2014) Probability: An Introduction, 2nd edn (OUP) Whitworth, MH (ed) (2015) Orlando, by Virginia Woolf (OUP) Dalziel, M, et al. and N Zitzmann (2014) ’Emerging Principles for the Therapeutic Exploitation of Glycosylation’, Science 343(6166): 1235681 Dixon, EV, et al. and N Zitzmann (2014) ‘Fragments of Bacterial Endoglycosidase S and Immunoglobulin G Reveal Subdomains of Each that Contribute to Deglycosylation’, J Biol Chem 289(20): 13876-89 Hussain, S, et al. and N Zitzmann (2015) ‘Strain-specific Antiviral Activity of Iminosugars against Human Influenza A Viruses’, J Antimicrob Chemother 70(1): 136-52 Kato, A, et al. and N Zitzmann (2015) ‘Isolation and SAR Studies of Bicyclic Iminosugars from Castanospermum australe as Glycosidase Inhibitors’, Phytochemistry 111: 124-31

RECORDS | FELLOWS’ PUBLICATIONS 2014-15

--- (2014) ‘Communities in Transformation: An Archaeological Survey from the 12th to the 9th Century BC’, Pharos 20(1): 161-91 --- (2015) ‘The Missing Dead: Late Geometric Burials at Lefkandi’, Mediterr Archaeol 25(2012): 159-72 Leveson, B (2015) A Review of Efficiency in Criminal Proceedings (Judiciary of England and Wales) Maclachlan, I (2014) ‘Derrida and Narrative: Telling Stories, Saving Memories’, Oxford Literary Rev 36(2): 248-51 San Millan, A, M Toll-Riera, Q Qin and RC MacLean (2015) ‘Interactions between Horizontally Acquired Genes Create a Fitness Cost in Pseudomonas aeruginosa’, Nat Commun 6: 6845 San Millan, A, et al. and RC MacLean (2014) ‘Positive Selection and Compensatory Adaptation Interact to Stabilize Non-transmissible Plasmids’, Nat Commun 5: 5208 Qin, Q, G Preston and RC MacLean (2014) ‘Linking System-wide Impacts of RNA Polymerase Mutations to the Fitness Cost of Rifampicin Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa’, mBio 5(6): e01562-14 Vogwill, T, M Kojadinovic, V Furió and RC MacLean (2014) ‘Testing the Role of Genetic Background in Parallel Evolution Using the Comparative Experimental Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance’, Mol Biol Evol 31(12): 3314-23 May, RM (2015) ‘Loss of Biodiversity: Concerns and Threats’, in R Sivanpillai and JF Shroder (eds), Biological and Environmental Hazards, Risks, and Disasters (Elsevier: Amsterdam) Battiston, S, et al. and RM May (2015) ‘The Price of Complexity in Financial Markets’, Columbia Business School Research Paper Series 15-49 Courchamp, F, et al. and RM May (2015) ‘Fundamental Ecology is Fundamental’, TREE 30(1): 9-16 Godfray, CH, and RM May (2014) ‘Open Questions: Are the Dynamics of

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Boue, JC (2014) ‘Enforcing Pacta Sunt Servanda? Conoco-Phillips and ExxonMobil versus the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’, J Intl Disp Settlement 5(3): 438-74 Boyle, M (2015) ‘Converting Corpses: The Religious Other in the Munich Oswald and St Erkenwald’, Oxf Ger Stud 44(2): 113-35 Burke, RJ, and SM Lehman (2014) ‘Edge Effects on Morphometrics and Body Mass in Two Sympatric Species of Mouse Lemurs in Madagascar’, Folia Primatologica 85(5): 277-91 Chen, C, et al. (2015) ‘How the Mollusc Got its Scales: Convergent Evolution of the Molluscan Scleritome’, Biol J Linnean Soc 114: 949-54 --- et al. (2015) ‘The Heart of a Dragon: 3D Anatomical Reconstruction of the ‘Scaly-Foot Gastropod’ (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Neomphalina) Reveals its Extraordinary Circulatory System,’ Front Zool 12(6): 13 ---, K Linse, JT Copley and AD Rogers (2015) ‘The ‘Scaly-Foot Gastropod’: A New Genus and Species of Hydrothermal Vent-Endemic Gastropod (Neomphalina: Peltospiridae) from the Indian Ocean’, J Mollus Stud doi:10.1093/mollus/eyv013 ---, JT Copley, K Linse and AD Rogers (2015) ‘Low Connectivity between ‘ScalyFoot Gastropod’ (Mollusca: Peltospiridae) Populations at Hydrothermal Vents on the Southwest Indian Ridge and the Central Indian Ridge’, Org Divers Evol 2015: 224 Nakajima, R, et al. and C Chen (2015) ‘Post-drilling Changes in Seabed Landscape and Megabenthos in a DeepSea Hydrothermal System, the Iheya North field, Okinawa Trough’, PLoS ONE 10(4): e0123095 Geldof, MR (2015) ‘“And Describe the Shapes of the Dead...:” Making Sense

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of the Archaeology of Armed Violence’, in K DeVries and L Tracy (eds), His Brest Tobrosten: Wounds and Wound Repair (Brill: Leiden) Gill, A-K (2015) ‘The Spells against Enemies in the Papyrus of Pawerem (P. BM EA 10252): A Preliminary Report’, in B Backes and J Dieleman (eds) Liturgical Texts for Osiris and the Deceased in Late Period and Greco-Roman Egypt (Harrassowitz Verlag: Wiesbaden), 133-44 Gold, JR et al. (2015) ‘Auditory Gap-inNoise Detection Behavior in Ferrets and Humans’, Behav Neurosci doi: 10.1037/ bne0000065 --- and VM Bajo (2014) ‘Insult-induced Adaptive Plasticity of the Auditory System’, Front Neurosci 8: 110 Karlberg A, E Re and G Zanderighi (2014) ‘NNLOPS Accurate Drell-Yan Production’, J High Energy Phys 1409: 134 Cacciari, M, et al. and A Karlberg (forthcoming 2015) ‘Fully Differential Vector-Boson-Fusion Higgs Production at NNLO’, Phys Rev Lett Keränen, V, and P Kleinert (2015) ‘Nonequilibrium Scalar Two Point Functions in AdS/CFT’, J High Energy Phys 2015: 119 Lang, F, and SJ Blundell (2014) ‘The Effect of the Demagnetizing Field in Cylindrical Samples in High Transverse Field μ+ SR Experiments’, J Phys Conf Ser 551(1): 012056 Foronda, FR, et al. and F Lang (2015) ‘Anisotropic Local Modification of Crystal Field Levels in Pr-based Pyrochlores: A Muon-Induced Effect Modeled Using Density Functional Theory’, Phys Rev Lett 114(1): 017602 Lester, M (2015) ‘Control Flow Analysis for SF Combinator Calculus’, in Proceedings of the Third International

Rajpaul V, et al. (forthcoming 2015) ‘A Gaussian Process Framework for Modelling Stellar Activity Signals in Radial Velocity Data’, Mon Not R Astron Soc Rajpaul, V, S Allie and S-L Blyth (2014) ‘Introductory Astronomy Course at the University of Cape Town: Probing Student Perspectives’, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 10(2): 020126 Herrero-Illana, R, et al. and V Rajpaul (2014) ‘Star Formation in the Central kpc Region of NGC1614’, PoS (EVN 2014): 084 Herrero-Illana, R, et al. and V Rajpaul (2014) ‘A Multi-Wavelength View of the Central Kiloparsec Region in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy NGC 1614’, ApJ 786(2): 156 Sandis, E (2015) ‘Palimpsestuous Phaedra: William Gager’s Additions to Seneca’s Tragedy for his 1592 Production at Christ Church, Oxford’, in TF Earle and C Fouto (eds), The Reinvention of Theatre in Sixteenth-Century Europe (Legenda: Oxford) Scaffidi, T and SH Simon (2014) ‘Exact Solutions of Fractional Chern Insulators: Interacting Particles in the Hofstadter Model at Finite Size’, Phys Rev B 90(11): 115132 Sciuto R (2014) ‘L’Imbarazzo del ‘Naturalista’ e del ‘Metafisico’: Voltaire e le Implicazioni Filosofiche di un Esperimento Condotto da Lazzaro Spallanzani Sulla Rigenerazione della Testa delle Lumache Terrestri’, in Centro di Studi Lazzaro Spallanzani (ed), Nel Nome di Lazzaro. Saggi di Storia della Scienza e del Pensiero Scientifico tra il XVII e il XVIII secolo (Pendragon: Bologna) Scott, S, J W Lynch, and A Keramidas (2015) ‘Correlating Structural and Energetic Changes in Glycine Receptor Activaton’, J Biol Chem 290(9): 5621-34 Rampling, T, et al. and K Sierra-Davidson (forthcoming 2015) ‘A Monovalent Chimpanzee Adenovirus Ebola Vaccine Preliminary Report’, N Engl J Med Thorn, J, et al. (2015) ‘How Effective Are On-Farm Conservation Land Management Strategies for Preserving Ecosystem Services in Developing

Countries? A Systematic Map Protocol’, J Environ Evidence 4(11): 1-12 Thorn, J, TF Thornton and A Helfgott (2015) ‘Autonomous Adaptation to Global Environmental Change in Peri-Urban Settlements: Evidence of a Growing Culture of Innovation and Revitalisation in Mathare Valley Slums, Nairobi’, Global Environ Change 31: 121-31 Veggiani, G, B Zakeri and M Howarth (2014) ‘Superglue from Bacteria: Unbreakable Bridges for Protein Nanotechnology’, Trends in Biotechnology 32(10): 506-12 Fairhead, M, et al. and G Veggiani (2014) ‘SpyAvidin Hubs Enable Precise and Ultrastable Orthogonal Nanoassembly’, JACS 136(35): 12355-63 Fierer, JO, G Veggiani and M Howarth (2014) ‘SpyLigase Peptide-Peptide Ligation Polymerizes Affibodies to Enhance Magnetic Cancer Cell Capture’, PNAS 111(13): e1176-81 Vukovic, K (2014) ‘Review of R. D. Woodard (2013) ‘Myth, Ritual and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity’’, Kratylos 59: 145-54 Vukovic, K (2014) ‘Review of J. Haudry (2009) ‘Triade Pensée, Parole, Action dans la Tradition Indo-europenne’’, Kratylos 59: 138-45 Vukovic, K, and D Necas Hraste (2015) ‘Virgins and Prostitutes in Roman Mythology’ LATOMUS: Revue d’études latines 74(2): 313-39 Watkins, ER, YH Grad, S Gupta and CO Buckee (2014) ‘Contrasting within- and between-host Immune Selection Shapes Neisseria Opa Repertoires’, Sci Rep 4: 6554 Wilkinson, A (2014) ‘Natural Law in Dryden’s Translations of Chaucer and Boccaccio’, The Seventeenth Century 29(4): 381-402

RECORDS | GRADUATE PUBLICATIONS 2014-15

Graduate Publications 2014-15

Workshop on Verification and Program Transformation (VPT: London) Lomas, O, et al. (2015) ‘Adenoviral Transduction of FRET-based Biosensors for cAMP in Primary Adult Mouse Cardiomyocytes’, Method Mol Biol 1294: 103-15 Lu, C-J, et al. (2015) ‘CAPON Modulates Neuronal Calcium Handling and Cardiac Sympathetic Neurotransmission during Dysautonomia in Hypertension’, Hypertension 65(6): 1288-97 Lu, C-J (2015), ‘Efficacy of B-type Natriuretic Peptide Is Coupled to Phosphodiesterase 2A in Cardiac Sympathetic Neurons’, Hypertension 66(1): 190-8 Machinek, RRF, et al. (2014) ‘Programmable Energy Landscapes for Kinetic Control of DNA Strand Displacement’, Nat Commun 5: 5324 Kiefer, S, I Marušić and J Worrell (2015) ‘Minimisation of Multiplicity Tree Automata’ in A Pitts (ed.) Proceedings of the 18th International Conference, FoSSaCS 2015 (Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg) Mason, H (2014) ‘Arktos and Akrios. The Shield of Herakles and the François Vase’, ZPE 192: 29-30 Morrison, N, J Noel and A Scott (2014) ‘On Saturated k-Sperner Systems, Electron J Comb 21(3): P3.22 Omar, HAH (2014) ‘The State of the Archive: Manipulating Memory in Modern Egypt’, in W Carruthers (ed.) Histories of Egyptology: Interdisciplinary Measures (Routledge: London) --- (2014) ‘“And I saw no reason to chronicle my life”: Tensions of Nationalist Modernity in the Memoirs of Fathalla Pasha Barakat’, in M Booth and A Gorman (eds) The Long 1890s in Egypt (Edinburgh University Press) Puntis, S, et al. (2015) ‘Associations between Continuity of Care and Patient Outcomes in Mental Health Care: A Systematic Review’, Psych Serv 66(4): 354-63

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Mertonians

At the AGM, we elected Sir Howard Stringer (1961) as our next President, to take over from Sir Brian Leveson (1967) in June 2016. We’re really pleased that Sir Howard has agreed to get involved with the Society and we look forward to welcoming him next year. I’m tremendously grateful to Sir Brian for all his support and promotion of the Society and I’m pleased that he has agreed to stay on for a final year to help the transition. Through the year, the Society has held drinks in London in October, the London Dinner (joint with the College as the finale of the 750th celebrations) and the London Lecture. This was given by Dr Emily Guerry, Junior Research Fellow in History of Art, who talked about discoveries of her latest project on previously unknown Gothic wall paintings found in Angers Cathedral in 1980. Later in 2015, we have drinks planned in London in October, and on 27 November, Martin Glenn (1978; newly appointed CEO of the Football Association) will be the guest speaker at the London Dinner. Details are available from the Development Office.

The Merton Society

As I write this, with rain teeming down the windows, the warm summer days of Merton@Home seem a long time ago. This was the first weekend event since the 750th celebrations and we tried to follow lessons from them in planning a greater range of activities than for previous alumni weekends. An organ recital from Ben Nicholas started the weekend in style and the musical theme continued with a choir workshop led by Alexander L’Estrange (1991). Those of us who participated had a fabulous couple of hours learning parts of Alex’s Zimbe! and were fully supported by the Choir (who were very patient with us). This must be the first time that the

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The final 750th Anniversary dinner. Photograph: John Cairns

children’s chorus parts have been sung by grandparents. For those of a less musical inclination, punting, garden tours, College tours and a tour of the Botanical Gardens filled the afternoon before we all came together for strawberries in the garden. Before dinner, the scratch choir performed and I think this was enjoyed by all (or at least the Warden and the Merton Society President were very kind). Sir Howard Davies (1969) was our guest speaker and, although he declined to give us a preview of his report on London airport provision, he gave an entertaining and stimulating talk.

We are constantly looking to introduce new events or to adapt existing events so that we deliver activities that you are keen to take part in. This year, we wanted to add an informal bop and hog roast at the Pavilion to the Merton@ Home weekend. Unfortunately, this seems not to have hit the mark and we had to cancel due to lack of interest. It would be really helpful to have your thoughts as to why this might be and what we can do to create events that bring people together. Please contact the Development Office via email or use the Merton Alumni LinkedIn and Facebook groups to give us feedback. We could not run the Society’s events without the support and encouragement of the College, and I would like to thank particularly Christine Taylor, Helen Kingsley and all those in the Development Office. I’m very grateful to the Warden, Governing Body and all the College staff who welcome us into the College, make the facilities available to us and look after

us so well whenever we have an event. My thanks also to Sir Brian Leveson, our President and all the Council members. I would like to remind everyone of the Society’s Compassionate Fund, which exists to offer support to Mertonians or close relatives who find themselves in difficult or changing circumstances. This may also include bursaries to support studies in difficult times. Please do contact the Development Office if you would like further information. I look forward to hearing your feedback and to meeting you at future events. Jo Woods (1985)

MERTONIANS | THE MERTON SOCIETY

Sunday morning followed a more traditional pattern, although we did move the AGM to later in the morning to give the opportunity for a more leisurely breakfast. Professor Daniel Grimley, Tutor in Music, gave a fascinating lecture on Sibelius, which provided insight into the man, his music and the development of Finland as a nation.

Merton Society Council 2014-15 President Sir Brian Leveson (1967)

Vice President RB Allan (1959), Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, J Roberts, AM Vickers (1958) Chairman HJ Woods (1985) Secretary GG Backler (1973) Past Presidents Sir Michael Jenkins OBE (1953), Sir Jeremy Isaacs (1951), Sir Robert Scott (1963), Lord Wright of Richmond GCMG (1951), WP Cooke CBE (1952), DW Swarbrick (1945), Sir Maurice Hodgson (1938) Elected Council Members NW Allard (1974), JDS Booth (1976), AJ Bott (1953), LA Davis (2003), MPH Davison (1978), AJ Haggerty (2007), The Revd Dr S Jones, GBS Lim (2006), RG McKelvey (1959), RO Miles (1956), Ria Miller (2008), Dr S PardosPrado (Fellow), PJ Parsons (1958), M Pretzler (1996), AL Smith (1991), SAL Tross Youle (1974), NJD Weller (1982), PJ Whipple (1984), Prof BN Winston (1960)

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Following the meeting, we were bussed from the law school to Manhattan to visit the new 9/11 Memorial and Museum. After a guided tour, many made their way back to Brooklyn on foot across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, taking in views of the Manhattan skyline and past the heart of the downtown Brooklyn legal center to Brooklyn Borough Hall. Back at the law school, the highlights continued. John Bowers (1973), Professor of English at the University of Las Vegas, offered an entertaining and informative illustrated talk: ‘Tolkien at Merton’. In the evening the entire group enjoyed cocktails at sunset, taking in the views of Manhattan and Brooklyn from the 22nd floor veranda of the BLS Conference Center. The Warden said some words after dinner. A band of young Mertonians rallied for a late nightcap at a local pub and some have not been seen or heard from since.

MC3: Merton College Charitable Corporation

MC3 schedules its meetings so that every other year we convene in New York to coincide with the Oxford biennial alumni event. In the alternate years we have journeyed widely across North America, from Washington DC to Los Angeles, Philadelphia to Toronto. After celebrating Merton’s 750th birthday in New York with much fanfare, we were due to move west in 2015. Our Vice President Dean Nick Allard (1974) intervened to propose an eastward move to Brooklyn. A few wags noted that Brooklyn was one of New York City’s five boroughs. Allard countered with historical arguments about Brooklyn’s separate existence in the 1800s, its unique architecture, its museums and theaters, its food scene, its rich history and, of course, its status as the home of Brooklyn Law School. The MC3 Board was overwhelmed by the sheer force of his delivery. By unanimous vote, Brooklyn was chosen as the 2015 venue and Nick and Marla Allard as hosts.

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Photograph: Jon Herbert

By the conclusion of our gathering over the weekend of 10-12 April 2015, 80 Mertonians could empathize with Brooklynites who regard the city as the center of the universe. The weekend opened to the strains of country western line dancing at a barbecue restaurant. Then the gathering split: one group witnessed the Brooklyn Nets defeat the Washington Wizards in a pro basketball game viewed from the owner’s suite of the cutting-edge, top-notch Barclay’s Center; the other attended Ibsen’s Ghosts at the gorgeous Beaux Arts Brooklyn Academy of Music featuring an Olivier Award-winning performance by Lesley Manville. Post-game and après-theatre, many – especially younger – guests explored Brooklyn night-life. Saturday morning began with the MC3 annual meeting at the Brooklyn Law School. The 2014 Development Report, presented by Bob McKelvey, noted $2.3 million contributed by MC3 members for the benefit of the College. Approximately

Charles Scudder (1971) with his wife Marigrace, who will be sadly missed.

$200,000 of this amount was dedicated to the endowments for MC3’s Permanent Programs. The largest amount went to the John Roberts MC3 Graduate Scholarship, which is approaching its current endowment objective of $1 million. The balance of $2 million in 2014 contributions was sent to the College for a variety of projects for the Sustaining Excellence Campaign. David Harvey reported on the Campaign’s conclusion from the MC3 perspective: MC3 had originally committed to try to raise $9 million towards the goal of $48 million (£30 million). MC3 raised its objective to $10 million in 2012 and to $11 million in 2013. MC3 raised a total of $11.3 million (£7.25 million) by the Campaign’s end. David noted that this represented 25% of the total raised for the Campaign, and that it came from the 12% of the Mertonians who are part of MC3. As he put it, ‘MC3 continues to punch above its weight.’ McKelvey’s finance report and presentations by the Warden Sir Martin

Sunday morning brunch was held in the dining hall of the law school. The special bacon-infused ‘Brooklyn Bloody Marys’ were a popular offering. Following brunch, guests split into groups and took walking tours of historic Brooklyn Heights, a thriving community since 1834, and the restored waterfront for the ‘Smorgasburg’ extravaganza of a hundred open-air food booths.

MERTONIANS | MC3: MERTON COLLEGE CHARITABLE CORPORATION

Taylor and Fellow and Director of Development Christine Taylor were enlightening and most welcome.

A poignant element of the weekend was that it was the last time many of us saw Marigrace (MG) Scudder, wife of Charles (1971) and faithful attendee of MC3 events. We were sad to hear of her death on 12 July 2015. Charles and MG had celebrated their marriage in Oxford four years ago, following a private ceremony in Italy just after receiving diagnosis of her terminal cancer. MG had come to share Charles’ love of Merton, and both have been MC3 regulars. Heroically, MG did not allow her terrible, long illness to keep her away. In 2016, the Oxford biennial will move to Washington DC. MC3 will follow suit and integrate its meeting and special program into the Oxford schedule. A certain highlight of the weekend will be MC3’s alone: Nick and Marla who maintain their DC residence have agreed to host the get-away Sunday brunch at their Georgetown home. Until next year… John J Kirby (1962)

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Our guest for Merton in the City this year was Sir Gerry Grimstone (1968), the longstanding chairman of Standard Life, and, earlier in his career, Mrs Thatcher’s privatisation supremo. Sir Gerry studied chemistry at Merton and has since held a variety of high-ranking roles in both the public and private sectors. The venue and hospitality were provided by FTI Consulting at its City of London offices. We had a great turnout from Mertonians across a wide expanse of generations and a very lively Q&A. Sir Gerry’s chosen theme was ‘Chairing the City’. Any board, in Sir Gerry’s view, has to be at the centre of the life of the business or organisation over which it is presiding. It is the chairman’s role to constantly bring the board back to its core responsibilities, and ensure that it is having the right impact and that it knows and acts as the ethical guardian of the organisation. The board’s composition is therefore key to its success, and needs to be filled with qualified people and be a ‘safe’ place where executives can report exactly what is going on, air opinions and seek feedback. The chairman has a responsibility to develop the board members and help their skill sets to grow over time. These are not only technical skills, as individual board members need to be accountable and know they will be held to account, with the chairman leading by example. Sir Gerry pointed out that well-run companies turn out to be better investments for shareholders. Good governance involves the non-executives who, although often derided, can be crucial to sound management and supervision. Sir Gerry, for example, gives his non-execs a lot of freedom, but they have to be able to tell him where they have been and what

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MERTONIANS | MERTON IN THE CITY & MERTON LAWYERS’ ASSOCIATION

Merton in the City

Photograph: Stewart Morris

they have been doing. He pointed out that, where they have freedom to engage with the business, the non-execs’ feedback and achievements can be hugely valuable. They can help the business communicate directly with the board in a relatively uninhibited fashion: within the Defence Board, for example, the non-execs’ opinions are highly-regarded and often sought. Touching on financial services, Sir Gerry felt that it was both wrong and unfortunate that the financial services industry was too often solely viewed through the lens of banking. Reflecting on the darker side of recent events, he was firmly of the view that those who misbehave should face appropriate custodial sentences. With regard to his public sector roles, Sir Gerry also felt that boards within the public sector had hugely developed in quality, and in particular the Defence Board (on which he is the Lead Non-Executive) is equal to the best FTSE 100 boards. Sir Gerry also spoke on some key national and international developments. The UK will, in his view, vote to remain part of the EU and he thought that substantial additional investment would come from a reaffirmation of its European status. We learnt that expenditure cuts managed by inexperienced civil servants can be counterproductive and cost more to put right, and Sir Gerry illuminated some of the serious developing conflicts in Eastern Ukraine and in the Middle East. Bringing all these themes together, it is clear that in a more tumultuous world it is especially relevant to focus on good governance, integrity and executive efficiency in the upper echelons of industry and government. Richard Baxter (1983)

Merton Lawyers’ Association

Open to all Mertonians who have entered the field of law, past and present, the Merton Lawyers’ Association normally meets once a year, usually in London, to enjoy a drinks reception and a talk from a respected figure in the legal profession. Current students are given the opportunity to meet those already in practice, and all enjoy the opportunity to catch up with friends and tutors. Due to the 750th Anniversary Celebrations, the Association did not meet in 2014. Instead, Merton’s lawyers enjoyed the panoply of events put on by the College, including an excellent Merton Conversation ‘On Liberty’ between Shami Chakrabarti CBE and the Rt Hon Sir Brian Leveson (1967) at the BAFTA Headquarters in London, moderated by the

The fifth Merton Conversation in 2014 ‘On Liberty’ with (top right; from left) the Warden; Philippa Whipple QC (1984), moderator; Rt Hon Sir Brian Leveson (1967); and Shami Chakrabarti CBE. Photograph: John Cairns

Association’s Chairman, Philippa Whipple QC (1984). The Lawyers’ Association will resume ‘business as usual’ this year with its ninth meeting, to be held on Thursday 12 November 2015 at White & Case LLP, kindly hosted by Caroline Miller Smith (1981), Partner. The guest speaker will be the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP (Magdalen, 1975), who will talk about being an attorney general. More details are available on the Merton College website at www.merton.ox.ac.uk/events.

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Fourteen members and one guest played in the autumn meeting of the Merton Golf Society, which was once again held on the Red course at Frilford Heath Golf Club near Abingdon. Frilford Heath has undergone extensive renovation in the past few years with the removal of many trees and much gorse to restore the course to how it was originally designed. Although visually more attractive, it nevertheless remains a challenge, particularly the 12th hole now played as a 474 yard par 4. The morning individual Stableford round was won by Simon Constantine (1977) with 37 points who beat his playing partner Bill Ford (1975) after a countback over the last nine holes as their total scores were tied. Michael Edwards (1956) had a good round with 34 points and finished third but only three others scored 30 points or more. We were joined by Helen Kingsley from the Development Office for lunch, at which the winner’s glass jug was presented. After nine holes of informal golf in the afternoon the day was concluded by a fine dinner in College, which was kindly hosted by Paul Chamberlain. Several players were joined by their partners and during the evening Helen was presented with an engraved glass jug provided by the members in recognition and thanks for her support for the Golf Society over more than ten years. The spring meeting at Newbury & Crookham Golf Club was held on 8 April in the week immediately preceding the InterCollegiate competition. Fifteen people played and we welcomed a new member – Patrick Francis (1972). We were later joined for tea by Adrian Vickers (1958) and Peter Parsons (1958). The course was in good condition for early in the year and Nick Silk (1960) demonstrated his mastery of the greens by returning 42 points, which is one of the best cards seen at an event in recent years. Michael Edwards was the runner-up with 36 points and John Heaton (1972) carrying a one shot handicap adjustment as runner-up in 2014 was third with 35 points. Mention should also be made of a fine 34 points achieved by Michael Jenkins (1953) who had probably travelled furthest for the day and who was rewarded by winning a bottle of fine red for his ‘nearest the pin’ shot on the third hole. Tankards large and small, engraved for the first time with the College crest,

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MERTONIANS | MERTON GOLF SOCIETY & 2015 OXFORD TOWN AND GOWN

Merton Golf Society

were presented to the winner and runner-up at tea. The final event of the year, the Inter-Collegiate competition, was held over the Blue and Red courses at Frilford Heath on 17 April. Merton was again able to field a full team of ten with a reserve. Thanks go to those who supported the event, particularly to the six members who returned scores for the team: Simon Constantine, Allan Wright (1978), Nick Silk, Paul Chamberlain, John Mitchell (1955), and Patrick Wolridge Gordon (1985). Simon with 34 points was eighth overall on the Red and Allan seventh overall on the Blue with 33 points. Merton fought well but for the first year since 2010 was out of the top three, finishing fourth behind St Peter’s who won the Hennessey Cup for the first time. Wadham, which has scored consistently well in the past few years since winning in 2013, was second and Oriel third. The winning individual scores were 40 points on the Red course and 38 on the Blue but the overall scoring was low and the winning team scored only 194 points – the lowest score since 2005 and lower even than the year of cold, wind and hailstones a few years ago. Conditions were not easy, and although it was a fine day there was some wind (sometimes worth one or two clubs) and the greens were quite variable in pace having been hollow tined earlier in April and not yet fully recovered. The Merton score of 184 points was our lowest since 2010 and any of our scores from the last four years would have seen us lift the cup. As so often with golf, ‘if only’. The day was followed by an excellent and convivial dinner and prizegiving in St Edmund Hall, with the bar remaining open until late in the evening. We will endeavour to get back on the podium next year when the event will be played on 15 April. Anyone who is not on our email list and who is interested in this or our other meetings is encouraged to make contact with Helen Kingsley in the Development Office. New members are most warmly welcomed. Bill Ford (1975)

2015 Oxford Town and Gown

36 runners – undergraduates, postgraduates, alumni, staff, Fellows and a few assorted friends – joined the Merton team to run in the Oxford Town and Gown in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign on Sunday 10 May. We were especially delighted when it was announced before the race that Merton had entered the largest college team. Congratulations are due to current student Christian Ruckteschler (2012), who once again finished with the fastest Merton time in 40 minutes and one second – a minute and eight seconds faster than his winning time in 2014.

Members of Merton’s 2015 Town & Gown team at the Sports Pavilion

enjoyable for runners of all levels, from absolute beginners to more experienced runners. Members of the Merton team are kitted out with a Merton bib and signed up for a complimentary brunch in Hall following the race. If you would like to take part in May 2016, please contact Helen Kingsley, Alumni Relations Manager (helen.kingsley@merton. ox.ac.uk) who will put your name down for the race and advise you how to enrol when booking opens. More information on the Town and Gown race can be found online at www.townandgown10k.com

The scenic 10k route through the centre of Oxford is flat and

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Up to 1948

Year Representative: Michael Millard 35 Armorial Road, Coventry, Warwickshire, CV3 6GH Tel: 02476 414776 Email: [email protected] Last year, of course, Mertonians had cause to look back in time: so some of my letters this year recount not only recent events but also past experiences, which I found most interesting. Many of us have no new experiences to report: nevertheless the mention of a name often revives happy memories in the mind of a reader. For example, John Byrt (1947) says he has nothing to report. Likewise, Hubert Gale (1945) lives quietly in a retirement home, but his son keeps an eye on him (and does his washing). Lionel Lewis (1946) has been in touch with Geoffrey Kidson (1946), John Rhodes (1946) and Ken Poole (1948), though his movements have been limited due to his wife’s being ill. Frank Palmer (1948) tells us little about himself but his ninth and tenth great-grandchildren have now arrived. Michael Hinton (1945) remarks that anno Domini is taking its toll and adds that the wife of Leonard Allinson (1944) is in poor health. The wife of Gerald Dearden (1941) is also unwell, and he is recovering from knee surgery. Three of his grandchildren are facing the problem of employment after university. Ian Bucklow (1942) writes that his life is uneventful though he has reduced his teaching load in the Cambridge University Engineering Department. He has revived an old interest in weather, dating from his wartime experiences, which he describes as very humdrum (no gung ho stuff at all). David Morris-Marsham (1948) has nothing to report but expresses his sorrow at the death of Hal Miller (1949).

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Claver Toalster (1948) has recovered from a broken ankle and in a recent trip to England paid a visit to Duncan Cloud (1948). He is still playing bridge by computer. John Rhodes (1946) reports failing eyesight but can still read. He has joined a writing group in Kibworth (by now we all know about Kibworth) and enjoys writing short stories and poems. Roger Highfield (1948) has recently delivered a lecture on Henry Savile and comments favourably on the TS Eliot lecture room. James Midwood (1947) writes with the sad news that Jim Greene (1949) died in November. James and his wife have both slowed up but are well supported by their four children who live close by and there is a good community at their local church. Derek Richards (1948) has had lunch with Michael Yates (1948). Later in the year he is going to Poperinge where he and his wife are currently wardens of Talbot House. They clearly enjoyed the Commem Ball; for more of his recollections, see this year’s College Newsletter. News of a rather unusual result of what is written in this section of Postmaster is given by Robert Figures (1947). John Crossley (1947) and he had made contact with each other after reading Postmaster and agreed to meet in a certain car park. Finally, after each had gone to different wrong car parks, they met after a gap of 62 years. Last year Elizabeth and I attended the diamond wedding celebrations of Mary and Guy Harris (1948). Not every privilege is a pleasure, but this was. Since then Guy has

written to say that he has had contact with David Tristram (1947) and Rosemary. He comments that life is punctuated by funerals, lecturing on medical history and trying to limit the number of medical consultants in his life to less than two. I have received a number of letters recounting wartime memories. George Mann (1942) has written with detailed memories of Merton during the war, which I shall pass on to the archivist in due course. David Hopkinson (1944) remembers baths with cold water and says the food was awful. Michael Keating-Hill (1940) recalls crossing the Rhine and later a chance meeting with the late Michael Palliser (1940), during which they had lunch together in his tank. Philip Holden (1943) writes with memories of VE Day; he was crossing Fellows Quad when he heard of the surrender and felt a cloud had lifted after six years of lost youth, though so many had lost so much more. He was also relieved that there were to be no more sleepless nights in the Lodge, no more practice with fire hoses, urged on by Courtenay Phillips (1942), and no more Saturday mornings in khaki. Instead, 27 peaceful years in the RN. Trevor Fletcher (1940) remembers fire-fighting arrangements in College and being taken round by Edmund Blunden (Fellow). He still remembers his tutor Harry Newboult (1925) any time he writes his postcode: 3HN. Peter Gravenall (1943) has fond memories of Deane Jones (1921); in particular that the latter’s letter telling him of his release from the Intelligence Corps was not completed because of the death of the writer. Michael Carpenter (1943) tells of the death of his wife and goes on to write about his memory of Deane Jones. He also had tea with Professor Garrod (1901): apparently when, during an air raid warning, a scout suggested that Garrod should take cover, the reply was that he would only take cover when he could hear the musketry of troops across the meadow. Martin Reynolds (1948) has passed through the ordeal of downsizing and is reminded of the saying by JR Lucas (Fellow) that retirement is an occupation for the younger man. He has interesting comments from Portugal including the fact of hardship for many Portuguese. He is pleased to report that one grandchild has been awarded a DSc by Cambridge. Ron Charlwood (1944) has memories of the planting of a small wood that was started on his retirement. After 23 years it has grown beyond expectation: how much

larger will it get? Retirers are warned to realise that there may be more to the future than you think.

1949

Year Representative: Alastair Porter 4 Savill Road, Lindfield, West Sussex, RH16 2NX Tel: 01444 482001 Email: [email protected] In last year’s Postmaster, too late for comment in our year’s report, there appeared an obituary for Feyzullah MuhtarKatirclogu, better known to all his contemporaries simply as Feyzi. It was on the opening day of the College football season in 1949 that we first met. Three of us turned up to contest the position of goalkeeper: Feyzi, the late Roger Titheridge and I. In the event, Roger’s other interests took him away from soccer and Feyzi transferred his affections to hockey, but we remained firm friends. At the time of the ‘forty-niners’ 60th anniversary lunch, Feyzi wrote nostalgically from Turkey to contribute his copy of the programme of the 1950 Commemoration Ball at which he was partnered by his wife-to-be, Julia.

MERTONIANS | UP TO 1948 & 1949

News of Old Members

Lionel Stephens (1948) attempted to arrange a meeting of several Mertonians but it did not happen: one had been Hal Miller; David Swarbrick (1945) though healthy at present had been unable to attend. I have had a sad letter from Gillian explaining that Mark Lowth (1944) was keen to respond to my letter but, because of a severe stroke, was unable to do so. Rudolf Klein (1948) has received a Special Recognition Award from the Social Policy Association and adds that his reporting this shows how little is happening in his life. The life of Manek Kirpalani (1947) must be full of events since he holds various professorial positions: at Concordia (Montreal) University, Warsaw University and the University of the West Indies. In addition he has a book coming out in November on international entrepreneurial strategy. He now lives in Mansfield, PA.

Another good friend whom we have lost this year is Jim Greene, whose obituary appears on page 172. That does justice to a formidable legal and political career once Jim returned home to Newfoundland, but I remember him as a tutorial partner, a friend who spent vacations with my family and as the unofficial manager of the University ice hockey team, captained by Al Kendall. Further sad news surfaced in March with the announcement of the death of Hal Miller. Hal’s distinguished career in politics produced many tributes in the national press – emphasising how he never let party considerations take precedence over his principled stand on ethical issues. It is, however, as a notable Merton and University sportsman of his day that we remember him. He was both a Greyhound and an Authentic, and for many years I used to look forward to our annual meeting on the first day of the Lord’s Test. Dan McNicol recalls hosting Hal in Glasgow when he was on a cricketing tour of Scotland. Ian Skeet was another to remember happy days with Hal on the Merton cricket field: Ian takes pleasure in still being fit enough to continue travelling annually to visit family in the USA.

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Hugh Podger continues to be busy with church affairs as a member of the Winchester Bishop’s Council and his services have been recognised by a Mayor of Winchester’s award for services to the church. He attended the Merton London Dinner as usual and has taken to hill walking with the boost of a new aortic valve. The medical news of Julian Lipton, however, is far from good. He has had to take permanent refuge in a nursing home where his severe disabilities can be cared for. John Lowis attended the inaugural organ concert in Merton Chapel and went to Twickenham for the Varsity Match in December. He is looking forward to his diamond wedding anniversary in August. My wife and I have beaten him to it by a year, having reached that milestone in 2014. We did not make it to the London dinner this year but were delighted to meet up with Robert Andrew and his wife at the Merton Conversation at the BAFTA premises in London, when Brian Leveson (1967) and Shami Chakrabarti had their most interesting discussion on the general topic of Liberty. Much of my own time is devoted to the University of the Third Age where I am involved in helping to run the local Heritage Group. I much enjoyed the research which, allied to 25 years’ involvement with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the animal charity Blue Cross, led to a presentation entitled ‘Animals in War’.

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The Merton College AFC, 1950-51. From left: (back row) H Davies; N Simpson; R Larkinson; S Wright; G Gruchy; R James; D Dodwell; (front row) A Rogers (Centaur); A Porter (Centaur); A Norgrove (Centaur); E Pepper (Blue); J Price (Centaur)

1950 & 1951

There are currently no Year Representatives for 1950 or 1951. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in becoming Year Rep for either of these years.

1952, 1953 & 1954

Year Representative: Dick Lloyd 2 Brook Cottages, Sherford, Kingsbridge, Devon, TQ7 2AX Tel: 01548 531068 Email: [email protected] Having taken on the additional responsibility as Year Rep for the years 1952 and 1953, following the decision of Roger Medill to prefer not to do it any more, I would like to thank everyone who has reacted so positively, and to thank Roger for having done such an excellent job up to now. I am not going to pretend that I remember all of you who responded very clearly, but many old familiar faces did come into my mind. I will begin by recording the meetings that I have had with some of you personally. On 18 January I attended a fascinating talk by Henry MayrHarting (1954) at Dillington House in Somerset on Magna Carta. Audrey and I are on the mailing list and it was a lastminute decision that completely surprised Henry, who spoke most informatively for an hour to a packed audience. He made the point that King John was far from being the Bad King

depicted in so many history books. He travelled around his realm assiduously to meet his subjects, in complete contrast to the renowned Richard the Lionheart who spent only a few months of his entire kingship in England. Henry conceded that John’s main objective was to raise taxes, but that that was the custom of all mediaeval monarchs. Gerard Green also heard Henry speak at the University of East Anglia in Norwich in April on a very different subject: ‘Confession: Yesterday and today’. Gerard described it as ‘magisterial performance, relaxed, erudite, witty and clearly much appreciated by the audience, and not without a few Henryesque idiosyncracies of voice and gesture remembered from long ago’. During questions afterwards Gerard heard him say: ‘There is an elderly gentleman at the back whom I think wants to ask a question, unless he is just scratching his ear’, and realised that it was himself, so he quickly removed his hand from that appendage! I have since learnt from Henry that the Catholic Bishop of Norwich graced the occasion with his presence. On 5 March, I hosted a luncheon in London in memory of the late Tony Hammond (1954), who died suddenly in Hong Kong just before Christmas last year. Tony was the inspirational Captain of the Merton Rugby XV who came top of Second Division in 1956-57, so much of the conversation revolved around that splendid sport, and how professionalism has changed it since those days. Gerard Green (1954), Mike Jordan (1954), Tony Marland (1952), Ray Quinlan (1952), George Tusa (1953) and Mike Rines (1954) all agreed that it had been a splendid occasion and that we should do it again. The venue was the same Italian restaurant in Paddington where Tony himself had participated in a similar lunch to mark the 50th anniversary of our great Rugby Year in 2007. Finally, on 4 May, I was the guest of John Garrard and his American wife, Carol, both visitors to St Antony’s College, for a Russian and Eurasian Studies seminar session being conducted by these two experts on Russian Modern History, entitled ‘Faith & Fatherland: Russia’s Christian Warriors’. It was a most interesting experience for me, due to my frequent trips to Communist Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 1980s. At that time the Tsarist Army was well stocked with chaplains. They were all either dismissed or executed. Nearly a century later, the military authorities have been obliged to re-instate the chaplains to stem the flow of desertions.

Ordinary Russian soldiers of today refuse to accept atheism! Furthermore, President Putin used the 1,000-year existence of the Orthodox Church to justify his incursion into Crimea, rather than any political motive. It remains to be seen what effect this may have on the Ukraine. Now to the news items from Old Mertonians. David Barber met with Peter Husband, Chris Paine and Gordon Sladen (all 1954) at the Boathouse in Oxford in October 2014, 60 years to the day when they had first met at Merton, and then with John Garrard, Reg Hall and Bob Paxton (all 1954) in New York. Alan Bott (1953) celebrated his 80th birthday visiting Easter Island and circling Cape Horn with his wife, Caroline, followed by Buenos Aires and the Iguazu Falls on the Argentine/ Brazilian border. This included climbing 200 steps to a lighthouse in a great gale, hail and snow. It sounds like an intrepid adventure for an octogenarian! Alan also continues to involve himself in the history of the College, and his latest book, Merton College Buildings and Furnishings, is due to be published in the autumn, as his contribution to the 750th Anniversary Appeal. It includes two cartoons by the late Tony Stearnes, my predecessor as ’54 Year Rep.

MERTONIANS | 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 & 1954

The USA unfailingly produces news from Hugh Sackett who continues to teach archaeology at Groton, Massachusetts combined with field work in Crete, but regrets his inability to fulfil his original intention of making it to the 750th anniversary celebrations. The other news from that side of the Atlantic comes from Jack Dixon in Canada who has been experiencing health problems and is planning to move into a retirement home with his wife Rika. Nevertheless, Jack has found the time and inspiration to write another book, entitled The Barn. This is a memoir describing the experiences and ordeals of a family in the Netherlands during the Second World War – post Arnhem, through what was known as the Hongerwinter, to the liberation in May 1945. Rika was the youngest daughter of the family.

Geoffery Cox (1953) is still taking services. He comments that Merton had no Modern Languages tutor in our day and he had to go to Jesus for tuition. So did I! Charles Dodd (1953) continues to make his home in Cyprus with his wife Jenny of more than 50 years, and I remember her very well as his steady girlfriend at Merton; my future wife, Audrey, and I attended their wedding in August 1958. Charles was churchwarden of Limassol Anglican Church for a few years, and is also Chairman of the Oxford Society in Cyprus, which does not have a high membership, but does include two Mertonians. Douglas Gray (1954) writes: ‘Since retiring as JRR Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language at Oxford, I have continued to write books on mediaeval English literature.’ David Jarman (1954) looks back and regrets that he did not follow my example and change from Modern Languages to Law, but, unlike myself, he did become a lawyer, being finally called to the Bar in 1969. He continued as a barrister until 1981 and then became HQ Legal Adviser at British Aerospace

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several more days before being allowed to fly home. He had caused his family some consternation and they had to sort out the disposal of the hire car, but now he is fully restored to health, although medication and periodic check-ups are necessary. There may well be others who have had similar experiences, but it could happen to any of us!

Reg Hall has been involved in fundraising as Co-Chairman of the Charity Appeal, which was successful in providing funds for the Fellowship named in honour of Emeritus Professor Courtenay Phillips. He comments that he does not really enjoy asking people for money, unlike his American neighbours, and, in his opinion, Oxford has a problem competing with the US universities, which ‘have money coming out of their ears’.

David Law (1952) writes from the Far North that he still keeps in touch with George Tusa and Keith Buxton. He also managed to spend some time with a very cheerful Tony Verdin before his death last year. I last saw Tony at the retirement party for Dame Jessica Rawson and I know that he put up with his latter-year disabilities with enormous courage and good humour. I think that Tony established the record for the length of time during which he continued to play rugby.

Tony Hoare (1952) has completed 15 years in his retirement job at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, which was crowned with a European lecture tour, but he is still, at age 80, working part-time. Tony specialises in Logic. He claims that Euclid was the designer of the world’s first programming language. His first paper as a professor in 1969 was entitled ‘An axiomatic approach to computer programming’. It applied Euclid’s methods to a more modern programming language and held out a long-term prospect that errors in computer programs could be eliminated by mathematical proof; since then, all his research efforts have been in this area. As one who left the study of mathematics behind after School Certificate, and can only use a computer to type and send emails, I find this fascinating!

Henry Mayr-Harting has given several lectures on various subjects in addition to those already mentioned, but he also showed himself to be a man of many talents by playing Secundo in one of the great Mozart piano duets at the St Cecilia’s Day Members’ Entertainment of the Athenaeum in November last year.

Mike Jordan, who normally still enjoys excellent health, makes regular visits to his family in Australia. His latest was in January of this year. After driving with his daughter and two grandsons along the spectacular coast road between Melbourne and Adelaide, his family flew home and he hired a car to drive up to the vineyards of the Barbarossa Valley. En route, the police pulled him over for driving erratically, clearly suspecting that he had been drinking (it was 11 o’clock in the morning), but he easily passed a breathalyser test. However the copper insisted on his leaving his hire car by the roadside and took him to the local hospital, from where he was sent back to the large hospital in Adelaide in an ambulance. It turned out that he was suffering from TIA (transient ischaemic attack), a kind of mini-stroke, and he was kept in hospital for

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Ted Mullins (1954) has defied his macular eyesight deterioration by producing yet another book, Van Gogh, the Asylum Year, a detailed and fascinating account of the year that the artist spent in a mental hospital at St Remy-deProvence in 1889-90, after cutting off part of his own ear following a row with his friend and fellow artist, Paul Gaugin. In this beautifully illustrated book Ted charts the artist’s life almost daily, as he veers between bouts of suicidal depression and intense activity. The book is priced at £20 and is published by Unicorn Press Ltd, 66 Charlotte Street London W1T 4QE. I can thoroughly recommend it. Carter Revard (1952) has published a book of poems entitled From the Extinct Volcano, A Bird of Paradise. The first poem remembers Warden John Roberts, and I would like to include an extract here: ‘I think of John Roberts, historian and Warden of Merton College, writing a History of Europe, walking in late September maybe, down the broad caramel-gravelled walk between Christ Church Cathedral and Merton Meadows.’ The second is entitled ‘Dreaming in Oxford’ and begins ‘Four am in Oxford, I waked remembering part of the dream...’ I regret that space does not permit me a fuller account, but I enjoyed

them both. Carter has spent many summers in Oxford with his wife, sometimes in Postmasters Hall, arranged by the College, but sadly he lost his wife last year and is uncertain when he may come over again from the USA. Mike Rines: I am still closely in touch with this old friend. Mike kindly agreed to review my forthcoming Memoir (see page 85). John Ryan (1954), so long involved in the fields of English language and literature, belatedly became a Professor of Folklore and Heritage (now Emeritus). His numerous works on Tolkien (1969, 1992, 2009, 2012 and 2013), which include being one of the first to shed light on his involvement with the archaeology of Roman Britain, have proved to be very popular reading in Eastern Europe and Asia. Having spent his entire adult life in New Zealand and Australia, he has been very well placed to study the links between Merton and the universities of these two countries, and hopefully he will be able to contribute something of a perspective on some of these areas. John Shore (1953) is still very much involved in his church at Abingdon, and participates in a local choir and the Abingdon Passion Play, alongside other choral and theatrical activities. David Watson (1954) and his wife, Pam, who both have suffered health problems but are now much better, still involved with voluntary work in mental health and prison systems, and find it even more frustrating with governmental cuts. Peter Westwood (1954), who has made many most interesting contributions to this report in the past, is sadly now suffering very badly from severe macular deterioration and is therefore unable to venture out anywhere any more. I would like to thank him publicly for his great support in the past. He remains a most dedicated Mertonian. Finally the most important bit about myself, Dick Lloyd, is that I have completed the writing of my Memoir about my own time at Merton to be entitled Three Glorious Years. I would like to say that I have tried to avoid mentioning too many names. This led to a decision to pen portraits of my circle of very close friends at the beginning, and to avoid bringing many others whom I knew and am still in touch with, since I felt that this would detract from the flow of the narrative. It is clear that one of my closest friends was David Gilchrist, and

I made a special pilgrimage to see him in his Somerset hideout to obtain his permission for what I have written, which he most freely gave. I aim to get it into the hands of my publisher before I go off on holiday to northern Spain at the end of May, so that, by the time that Postmaster comes out, signed copies will be available from me for any interested. Robert Gildea (1971, who spent 25 years as a Tutor, then Senior Tutor and finally Sub Warden at Merton up to 2006) has kindly written a Foreword that describes my work as a ‘fast-paced, energetic and witty account of undergraduate life in the 1950s’. That apart, I continue to struggle with learning the piano, restricted by my arthritic fingers, but, so long as I don’t have any audience, I enjoy it, and I still participate in the village Christmas show with polymonologues. I am looking forward to practising my Spanish again, having been preparing for this by attending a very lively conversation group over the past months. And so I will end with the words: Adios amigos.

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until retirement in 1992. He also became a JP for Surrey and Sussex until 2000. A lifelong lover of the River Thames, the Middle Thames Yacht Club honoured him with the position of Life Vice-President. He keeps closely in touch with his old friend John Richard Edwards, with whom he shared rooms in St Alban’s Club, and whose best man he was.

1955

Year Representative: John Mitchell OBE The Hedges, Church Road, Fernhurst, Surrey, GU27 3HZ Tel: 01428 652113 Email: [email protected] Most of my few respondents, to whom I am very grateful, expressed surprise, one way or another, that they had celebrated their 80th birthday, although some, including those who did their National Service after Merton, have that milestone still to enjoy. One of the octogenarians, Bob Lowrie, survived his travails following a broken hip in December, which slowed him down a bit. But, before that he had sung in St Peter’s in the Vatican and made a CD of his solos from the ‘70s through the ‘90s. It’s available from Bob (01865 974968), the proceeds going to the Academy of St Giles’ Church Choir in Oxford. It was good to hear from Rex Jamison, who is well and enjoys life as Professor of Medicine Emeritus and Academic Secretary Emeritus at the University of Stanford. And also from Nicholas Davy-Thornhill who is as well and active as ever, and who expressly shares in the rejoicing at Merton’s continued flourishing and sends best wishes to all.

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Dermot Killingley, who writes that he remembers the late Don Bruckner and Rex Jamison with fondness, is still very active, mainly with the Sylvia Killingley Memorial Trust, which gives grants to ‘interesting people taking various kinds of part-time education’. He continues as editor of Religions of South Asia, now in its ninth year, and finds time for more research into Indian religions. Lionel Jebb saw Reed Rubin (1957) at a Vincent’s Club ‘do’. Reed took him over to Merton Chapel to see the new organ: ‘very large compared with the one we knew in our day; the pipes cover much of the west wall’. Lionel does quite a bit of desk work for his son’s farm and also shoots, though he is less keen on the hilly shoots than of yore. We exchange annual Christmas cards with John Adams, but I have not seen him for a year or two now. My wife and I travel quite a lot – to the Aegean, Athens, Istanbul, France, Belgium, Portugal and Scotland – but the hop to Australia seems to have lengthened….. Life moves faster, as I am reminded by my grandson who will hopefully graduate from Christ Church in 2015. My very best wishes to you all.

1956

Year Representative: Richard Kenyon Oakwood House, 65 Randall Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 1JX Tel: 01926 859620 Email: [email protected]

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Short History of Liskeard, it will be in colour. Otherwise, local interests, grandchildren and gardening occupy him as, he suspects, they do many other contemporaries.

This year’s story starts in late summer 2014 when Tony Wynn-Evans and his wife Margaret celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They thought it perhaps unusual that four Mertonians were among the company. Besides Tony and myself, there were his elder son Charles Wynn-Evans (1989) and Nemone (neé Bridges, 1992) married to Tony’s younger son. Tony and I were the longest acquainted celebrants, having walked back to College together from the scholarship examinations in Christ Church Hall in December 1955. From the USA, Jay Keyser tells us he has written the first 25,000 words of a book about what happened to him following a serious spinal cord injury. ‘In a nutshell it’s a story about how someone who was told he would never walk again is indeed walking.’ In the course of our correspondence, Ian Mugridge and I discovered to our mutual irritation that on a return journey from New Zealand I had spent a long half day in Vancouver airport when we could have enjoyed each other’s company on his balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Ian Hodson reported the death of John Enticott and recalled him as ‘A good man and a good friend. At Merton he worked quietly but hard and was successful in his work.’ We have also lost Friedl Posch. I remember him as a good friend who never complained when he found the conservatory double booked, and he played duets quite happily with a far less accomplished musician. His daughter Dietlinde tells us that his death was very sudden at the top of the steps of Hameln church tower. Further details of their lives are to be found in In Memoriam. Your correspondent has emerged from four years of severe stress imposed by the High Speed Rail (HS2) Project. There was some compensation last December when we were able to move just two miles into town and where we had found the almost perfect house. It serves the Government right that they had to pay all the considerable expenses! Eightieth birthdays are upon us. In April the Daily Telegraph carried notice of Christopher Ball’s. And, to match the start of the year, Mike Renton, Richard Price (1955) and Richard Kenyon celebrated Michael Edwards’ birthday.

Mike Renton, Richard Price (1955) and Richard Kenyon celebrate Michael Edwards’ 80th birthday

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Year Representative: Graham Byrne Hill 26 Lawn Crescent, Kew Gardens, Richmond, Surrey, TZ9 3NS Tel: 020 8940 1281 Email: [email protected] This has been an active year for many contemporaries. Graham Cansdale, in spite of Parkinson’s, has completed a second CD in aid of the Street Kids project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Celtic-style, it is called Whispers of HOPE, a mixture of solos, duets and quartets (available from Graham at [email protected], for £8.50, including p&p). Terry Saunders, now retired as a tribunal judge, worked for the hard-fought re-election of Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam. Twice a week, come rain or shine (or election), he plays a ‘reasonable’ game of tennis. He contributes to a thriving local book club. Another political contemporary was also celebrating on 8 May. Michael Leach manages the 16,000 entry Welwyn Hatfield constituency database for Grant Shapps, until recently Co-Chairman of the Conservative party, and one of the key people responsible for its electoral success, in no small measure due to focused mail drops that rely on high-quality data management. Michael is also busy with the rearing and management of chickens in his garden. Tony Wood has published a history of Stuart House in Liskeard, a late mediaeval three-storey town house, where Charles I stayed in 1644 during the Civil War. He is also bringing out a reprint of A Concise History of Liskeard (1999). Titled A

Erich Gruen, who retired eight years ago from his Professorship of Ancient History at Berkeley, keeps his hand in through lectures and conferences around the world, and by helping to supervise PhD dissertations. He was delighted to visit Merton last September to join in the celebration of the 750th, and to reconnect with a number of old friends. He now has a grandson at St Edward’s School in North Oxford. Two months ago the Fellows of Merton elected him to an Honorary Fellowship of the College. As a result he will be visiting Merton more often, and so able to treat roving contemporaries to an hospitable sconce, before proceeding to High Table.

MERTONIANS | 1956, 1957 & 1958

Jean Holder still chairs the regional airline, LIAT, having served, inter alia, as permanent secretary in the Barbados public service and Secretary-General to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation. For these services he has received many honours, including an MVO, a CBH (Companion of Honour of Barbados, which carries the title of ‘The Honourable’) and honorary Doctorate of Laws and a Senior Research Fellowship at the University of the West Indies. He has written many articles and a few books, mainly on tourism in the wider sense, but also a biography of Errol Walton Barrow, the first Prime Minister of Barbados. He is currently working on his fourth book; next year, we hope, he will tell us the subject.

Best wishes to contemporaries were received from Keith Lloyd and Ian McMillan. Geoffrey Herbert meets up periodically, most recently last March, with Bernard Robinson, Richard Wallace and Toni Nieduszynski. They enjoy a convivial gathering and a visit to a local place of interest. In a recent email Geoffrey comments that his dementia, movingly reported in Postmaster 2014, ‘rambles on’. So, perhaps, in reality might say many of us. And beyond that, with Yeats, we let ‘soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing – for every tatter in its mortal dress’.

1958

Year Representatives: Bryan Lewis 2 Bell Close, Ratby, Leicestershire, LE6 0NU Tel: 0116 239 5319 Email: [email protected] and Peter Parsons Ashton House, Downside Road, Winchester, Hampshire, SO22 5LT Tel: 01962 865069 Email: [email protected] In my letter to 1958ers I remarked that at the annual meeting of Year Representatives in March the question of nomenclature was raised. Some thought former members should be called ‘Old Mertonians’ because they are no longer in residence; others argued that once a Mertonian, always a ‘Mertonian’. Keith Pickering (1960) said he detested the

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Richard’s sailing adventures recounted in the 2014 Postmaster continued. ‘Another good summer on the water. We explored the islands near Belle-Ile. Then we cruised down the west coast of France including a visit to the Cockleshell Heroes memorial at the mouth of the Gironde and the nail-biting entrance into Arcachon between the breakers to port and Pyla to starboard, Europe’s highest sand dune at 114m. On the north Spanish coast we did some tours inland which included the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao... After laying up the boat near La Coruna, in October I walked the El Camino (St James’ Way) again but this time along the coast from the French border to Santiago de Compostela and continued to the ocean at Finisterre... about 900km in all. Very few nonSpanish pilgrims were on this route and my Spanish is minimal so future treks, if any, will probably be in the Lake District.’ The news of the death of Tony Reeve after a short illness (see In Memoriam) was all the more poignant given what he wrote for last year’s Postmaster. Nicholas Menon wrote: ‘I was very saddened to read of Tony’s death. We were good friends, sharing tutorials with the formidable Geoffrey Smithers in our first term. His first marriage (to Pamela) was the very first wedding I conducted.’ At the RSC in Stratford, Nicholas saw a brilliant portrayal by Oliver Ford Davies of Justice Shallow in Henry IV Pt 2 and noted that the seemingly indefatigable Oliver is billed to appear in Henry V next season. Richard Hawkes says he has retired from his last paid post, a trustee of a private sector fund. ‘Full retirement means more time for travel, bird watching, walking, skiing (oldest competitor in the Inter-Livery Ski Championships), bridge and listening to plays and music; plus a clutch of committee posts, including Hon Treasurer of the OU Society, Hampshire Branch’ where Peter Parsons is the Chairman. Peter says they used to acknowledge one another on the train to London but it’s only since they’ve been in the same walking group they realised that at College ‘our studies and interests were poles apart’.

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As ever, Jim Gunton (Joseph A Waldschmitt Professor of Physics at Le High University, Pennsylvania) sent an update saying how much he enjoyed catching up through Postmaster. He continues to teach and do research but will ‘certainly retire in May 2016’ once he has seen his latest batch of PhD students through to their theses’ conclusion. He reflects ruefully that ‘we are encouraged to put our lectures on Powerpoint slides that get posted; I do this and find it takes an enormous amount of time for relatively little output. Students seem to rely on this, though, when they study for exams.’ Bryan Lewis, after Hadrian’s Wall exertions with others in 2013, studied history in a more leisured way in 2014 with a river cruise upstream on the Danube from Budapest, taking in Bratislava, Vienna, Passau, Regensburg and then, via the RheinDonau Kanal, Nurnberg, thus ‘taking in’ in the former AustroHungarian Empire, let alone the Holy Roman. Not without exaggeration is such a cruise nicknamed ‘Float and Bloat’.

1959

Year Representatives: Roger Gould 4 The Park, Grasscroft, Oldham, OL4 4ES Tel: 01457 876422 Email: [email protected] and David Shipp Higher Dale Cottage, 6 Dale Lane, Delph, Oldham, OL3 5HY Tel: 01457 875171 Email: [email protected] It was good to hear from colleagues, even if they felt that they had nothing new to report. Antony Ellman has been as busy as ever, reporting: ‘In September 2014 I took part in a WHO conference in Guangzhou China on Artemisia annua, the antimalarial plant that I’ve worked on for the last 20 years. This is probably the last ‘official’ overseas trip that I intend to make. Over Christmas and New Year Constance and I spent three weeks in Cuba, a country I’ve long wanted to see but never managed to persuade anyone to send me to officially. Highlights were a trek to La Commandancia de la Plata (the camp in the Sierra Maestra where Fidel Castro and Che Guevara hid out from Batista’s troops while planning the 1959 revolution), and the fantastic bands in every bar where people sing and dance to

Son, Trova, Salsa and Cuban Rock and Jazz. In May 2015 I’m going with the band I play in (St Margaret’s Elastic Band) to a music festival in Fontainebleau, which is twinned with Richmond where my band is based. We’re not a patch on the Cuban bands but we still have lots of fun.’

Anthony Ellman with his band

Hume Hargreave is about to see big changes in his life: ‘After 43 years in the North East we are moving back to Lancashire. Come the autumn, we should be installed in an old house in Arkholme, a village in the Lune Valley between Kirkby Lonsdale and Lancaster. We shall not be losing touch with the North East as we will keep a small flat in Ponteland, close to Newcastle. Mary Ann has commitments as a Governor of the Newcastle Hospitals Trust and a trustee of the Newcastle Healthcare Charity, which she is to continue with, and I will go on attempting to justify my subscription to the Northumberland Golf Club. ‘The catalyst for the change is my second retirement. Having retired from practice as a solicitor some 12 years ago, I have kept, or taken on, various trusteeships for families and charities. Believing that it is best to go before you become a nuisance and are pushed, I have told them all that my 75th birthday, in September, is a watershed and, whether they like it or not, I am giving up my trusteeships. ‘Mary Ann and I have kept many friends in the North West whom we look forward to seeing more of without losing those in the North East. We also have family in the North East: Nicholas and his wife, Kirstie, and their two children, farm at Whittingham near Alnwick, from where she runs a commercial catering business and he works as the Horse Racing Authority’s senior judge in the North East and Scotland. Our other son, Thomas, lives in Suffolk, with his

wife, Sheelagh, who is a vet, and their two children. After 18 years in the Army Air Corps, which culminated in his commanding the Apache Attack Helicopter Squadron in Afghanistan, Thomas now works for a Canadian company organising the installation of a pipeline for BP in Azerbaijan, which he does from an office in Paddington.’ John Howe wrote his customary long letter, eschewing the modern age of email and computers. Usually written in green ink, this year it was on green paper instead. During this last year John has been coping with his own and his wife’s illnesses. His wife sadly died on 1 June 2015. They nevertheless enjoyed the good things of life to the end of their time together. They holidayed no less than four times on a canal hotel boat that cruises the River Severn and their own local canal. In June they had a narrow boat cruise on the Stratford canal: a gift from their grandchildren. They enjoyed jazz weekends in Stratford and Weston. But the triumph (as he puts it) was a visit to the Scillies at Christmas, staying in a Tudor fort on St Mary’s. He keeps busy in the village, having been co-opted back onto the parish council, and as a trustee of their community centre. As a lifelong Liberal Democrat, he can remember worse results than 2015 for his party, harking back to 1950 and 1959. He has received an honorary fellowship from the Historical Association for his contributions to local history.

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word ‘alumnus’. In his reply to my letter, Richard Salkeld said: ‘I looked up ‘alumnus’ in the Shorter OED which is based on the full OED compiled by my great uncle Professor Sir James Murray (sic). Alumnus = a foster child, the nurseling or pupil of any school, etc., so its modern use for those who have gone down does not seem quite correct, but as Sir James said, the OED is descriptive and not proscriptive.’

John Latham reflects: ‘After all the excitement of last year, when, as well as the Merton celebrations, I took the family to Japan, I’m having a quiet year. I’m 75 this October! Perhaps the only thing of note is that two of my books of nearly 40 years ago have just reappeared in paperback, much to my surprise!’ In his life-enhancing contribution, Joe McDonald writes: ‘I’m still thrilled by the arrival of each new day. I’m teaching two U3A Latin groups, learning German and Modern Greek, helping market the town’s music societies, cooking, and rambling around the beautiful South Downs. We watched with delight the arrival of more grandchildren: a boy to Mark (1999) and a second girl to John (1992). It’s 50 years (scary) since I first met the lovely Anne Myers, who became Anne McDonald, but it will be two more till we reach the Golden Wedding anniversary.’ Michael Raeburn continues his literary endeavours, reporting that: ‘My book, Joseph Glasco: The Fifteenth American, on the ‘lost’ American painter Glasco, a friend of both Jackson

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Bill Woods in the meantime faces stoically the practicalities of life, writing: ‘Little has happened over the last year that was not connected with planning the extension and modernisation of the house and then in getting the works carried out. Jane has kept the various groups of tradesmen up to the mark, while performing an impressive reprise of how my mother’s generation coped with the Blitz, but for some months life has seemed like a cross between Steptoe and Son and Nightmare on Elm Street. Mercifully the end is in sight. But we did have a most enjoyable break in Burford with David and Phillida Shipp.’ We have also had brief messages from Richard Allan and Alan Drinkwater who are both well. Alan is involved in the setting up of a small museum in the local railway station in his village. Finally, your faithful correspondents. David Shipp writes: ‘In August seven of us, including five Oxford alumni, continued our journey on the Thames Path from Newbridge to Wallingford. We spent two nights in Oxford, staying in Wolfson. We visited Merton (for the gardens), Exeter (for music in the Chapel), plus the Ashmolean and the Lamb and Flag (for cultural balance). In September Phillida and I had a busy holiday in Andalucia, taking in Granada, Cordoba and Seville, and some walking in the sierra. We also enjoyed an autumn holiday in the Isle of Man with our walking club. Otherwise we keep busy in our local community with choirs, orchestra, the arts centre and the library, which is sustained by volunteers. Roger Gould writes: ‘Unlike Hume, I haven’t managed to retire from my pension trustee and school and university governor roles by my 75th birthday, but timescales have been set for them to conclude within the next two years, not by me, but by the rotation rules of the organisations concerned. Meanwhile, they continue to provide interesting challenges. As I write, Cathy and I are considering a house move but, again unlike Hume, not to a different area, but to a bungalow in the largest village in Saddleworth, where all the local facilities are, just a mile and a half away from our much-loved home of 41 years. We’ve found it hard to decide whether to go ahead as it would be a wrench, but it might prove beneficial in the long run! Watch this space.’

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1960

Year Representative: Keith Pickering 24 Woodfield Road, Ealing, London, W5 1SH Tel: 020 8998 2614 Email: [email protected] George Darroch, John Hartnett, Arthur Hepher, Paul Jennings, Alan Keat, Chuck Lister, Richard Mulgan, David Price, Tim Phillips, Nigel Stenhouse, Jim Trefil, Mike Williams and Nick Woodward all say that they are alive and well but with nothing to report. Keith Aspinall works two and a half days a week as a Pension Wise guider, covering pension pot options and their subsequent effect on income tax. He is still playing fortnightly squash with his regular opponent, the two of them having a combined age of 145, but is planning on taking a cruise to ease the strain of competition. Brian Astle maintains his interest in mathematics, having recently solved a geometric puzzle that he posed 30 years ago, a follow-up article on the same possibly being shelved as it might lack the interest of his earlier published work regarding pantactic squares. He muses on how computers, political systems and the human body could all be better designed. Stuart Blume is continuing his academic work in Ecuador and the Galapagos and as he gets older sees increasingly the wisdom of ‘no news is good news’. Gerald Cadogan reports that 2013 and 2014 were taken up with downsizing and the concomitant adjusting to his new home. However, he is now settled comfortably in a converted barn looking out across a valley to the old priory church at Canons Ashby, which was the house of the Dryden family and is now a National Trust property. Back in 2012 there was a surprise event in the TS Eliot Theatre for his 70th, for which colleagues and former students came from around the world, and which led to his being presented with a Festschrift called The Great Islands (being Crete and Cyprus) which was given to him at an event in Athens, this being a beautiful book published by Kapon of Athens, renowned for the quality of their work. He is engaged in putting together excavation reports from Crete and Cyprus and still goes out a few times a year, usually to Knossos. Otherwise, he is still involved in

the British School at Athens, and has just become Chairman of the Anglo-Hellenic League, which has been going since 1913 to promote relations between Britain and Greece. Geoffrey Copland continues to be heavily engaged in trusts, boards of governors and other odds and ends that come his way. KWP has a photo of the 1964 Bump Supper and on spotting Geoffrey and his cronies right at the front sent a copy to him, to which Geoffrey replied: ‘Many thanks for the photo of the Bump Supper. I had completely forgotten that event and the picture jogged my memory. I also spotted John Prichard sitting next to me and opposite him I think Paul Jennings. We used to colonise that end of the middle table so it was no surprise that we were together there that night. The key advantage of that position was that we were usually served earlier than those further into Hall so the food was warmer and we could get out as soon as the post-dinner Grace had been said.’ Who said scientists were never Machiavellian? John Crossley assures us that he is soldiering on and recently attended a wonderful lunch with 11 of his contemporaries from his St John’s undergraduate days. A publisher is looking at another of his books and he has just published what he thinks might well be his last paper on logic, with his last PhD student. He is hoping to publish on two different subjects during the coming year. Otherwise, travel continues to be a lure: he and his wife went to Istanbul and Jordan for the first time, and he recently attended a conference in the USA. John Davies continues to be academically active, with trips in 2014 to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in April (mostly as a tourist, but also giving two impromptu lectures to the tour party), Dublin and Athens in May (both for papers to conferences), a DPhil examination in Oxford in June as external examiner, and then trips to Koeln and Athens, both for papers to workshops. This, plus a great deal of other assessment work at all levels, together with creative academic work on papers at various pre-publication stages, keeps him busy. Ian Donaldson received an honorary DLitt from the University of Melbourne late last year, and is currently at work on another book, about Shakespeare and his circle. Leslie Epstein has left his position as director of the Creative Writing Program but remains a member of the faculty,

currently engaged along with his colleagues in fighting a rearguard action to protect the endangered integrity of the program. Otherwise he is trying to finish a novel about Hollywood and World War II, particularly in North Africa, while simultaneously attempting to set up his television in such a way that he can get all the Cubs games. Peter Fattorini spent seven weeks in Australia visiting his son and family and managed to succeed in riding up Mount Wellington (Tasmania), 1200m, and Mount Buffalo (Victoria), 1700m, on fairly cranky hire bikes. He and David Fletcher were particularly friendly with Alan Hopkinson and he contributed to David’s In Memoriam of Alan, which appears on page 187.

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Pollock and Julian Schnabel, and an artist of extraordinary originality, will be published this autumn by Cacklegoose Press in association with the University Press of New England.’

David Fletcher notes that oil sands have now taken centre stage in his life, belching out CO2 as they do, turning Canada into an environmental pariah. He is peddling his theory that solid carbon removed from natural gas can be transformed into a new type of fertiliser to restore degraded agricultural land (preventing CO2 emissions), while the maligned oil sands can be clean as a whistle. Bruce Gilbert is having a busy few months helping York University celebrate its 50th anniversary, being particularly involved in the Music and Chemistry departments. The celebrations have provided an opportunity for him and others to remember with gratitude the skill and commitment of a line of Mertonians to the Chemistry department, including Dick Norman (1956), the founder, Michael Green (1958) and Tony Semlyen, and to recognise now the highly distinctive contribution being made by David Smith (1957) as Chairman of the Board and Higher Education Prize winner. All, he avows, being a tribute to the influence of Courtenay Phillips (1942). Francis Glassborow continues to play and teach bridge and to engage in role playing games over the Internet. He maintains his allotment and contributes his regular two cents’ worth on computer language standards. In April this year, at the Annual Conference of the Advisory Committee on Computer Usage, he gave a 90-minute presentation entitled ‘From Cluster Zero to a quantum universe: an exploration of pseudo-random number generators to create deterministic worlds,’ the last sentence of which was ‘Look at your neighbours and ask yourself if they are real people or just computer-generated avatars’.

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‘Stephen Hazell berates himself for allowing 52 years to pass between his two visits to Greece, both of them valued above all for so much time spent with close Merton friends. In 1962 with Jasper Holmes he swam in the Homeric wine-dark seas for the first time, off the beaches of Lesbos, and both Mertonians walked around the north of the island enjoying the friendship of the islanders on the way. Memories of that shared time are indelible. October 2014 was the occasion for a visit to fellow 1960 English Literature Mertonians: Bruce Walter in his fine flat with a bird’s eye view of Athens and Roger Green (1959) living high up on the island of Hydra, and with the additional companionship of Michael Hind, also visiting our old friends. ‘Old’ is a literal description of the state of the foursome as well as of their having been close friends since Merton 1960. We ate, drank and made merry and thought of Oxford times together, and we send warm greetings to all the year group.’ Alan Heppenstall is keeping busy working freelance with incoming visitors to Cumbria, being immediate past chairman of Cumbria Tourist Guides, and sitting on the Institute of Tourist Guides’ Language Committee. Mike Hind would add to the above from Stephen Hazell how memorable he too found the reunion of the class of 1960 English undergraduates. Since Bruce and Roger live permanently or semi-permanently in Greece, the foursome had balmy October days together (with one wife in the company) in Athens, Hydra, Epidavros, Nafplion and Marathon. A great catching up to do and the first time all had assembled together in one place for several decades. It proved to be a wonderfully rewarding choice of location. Those travels apart, he taught incoming international postgraduates in intensive English courses at the University of Reading in summer 2014. This added some zest and energy to an otherwise quiet retirement but it may be that 2015 will finally see him hang up his hat and forgo summer work in favour of reading and the garden.

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Jasper Holmes spent time in Dubai with his son, wife and baby granddaughter, is otherwise still living in Milton Lilbourne: 17 years in a beautiful Wiltshire village and still happy and married 40 years as of last December. Roger Laughton walked the Ridgeway from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon in 2014, so a day each month was usefully employed. He continues as Chair of the Arts University Bournemouth and otherwise spends as much time as he can watching cricket at Lord’s. Joyanta Mitra and his wife Aloka meet Scott FurssedonnWood (né Furssedonn, 1997) and his wife Elizabeth (née Wood, 1997) in Calcutta from time to time. Scott met Elizabeth when they were both up at Merton and they married in Merton Chapel. Currently Scott is British Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta. Keith Pickering would like to thank all those 1960 Mertonians who responded to his annual email and Adam Hart-Davis (1962) who so aptly recalled during his talk given at the Merton Birthday Weekend last September his (KWP’s) persistence on the squash court. Good on you, Adam. He is concerned that he has not heard back for the last two years from John Cotton, Philip Hawkes, Julian Perry-Robinson, Christopher Taylor and Thomas Vargish, and would be very grateful if any 1960 Mertonians could advise him direct as to the wellbeing of any of them. Martin Roberts and Jonathan Wright had lunch with their former tutor Dr Roger Highfield who lives nearby and talked happily as historians are wont to do about Merton old (13th century) and new. Apart from five grandchildren who keep him entertained, he has co-authored a book on the school curriculum, Knowledge and the Future School (Bloomsbury), and is presently co-editing an analysis of the striking changes that have occurred in English education since the 1970s, due to be published shortly by Routledge. Nick Silk continues to bumble along playing golf and bridge and was in attendance at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in February 2015 for the Wales v England Six Nations match organised by the wife of Howard Stringer (1961) as a surprise birthday treat for him and some friends from both Merton and Oundle. Tim Phillips, Roger Laughton, Rob

Spray (1961), Martyn Hurst (1962), Tim Archer (1962) and Richard Dawkins were in the party – 50 years after Nick won his first England cap v Wales in Cardiff!

John Wood had a small brush with the medicos early in the year but is now in fine form and viewing with considerable trepidation a visit from Keith Pickering later in the year.

Glynne Stackhouse has handed over to a successor all the organisational work involved in running the local chamber music concert series in Wallingford, and though he remains as Chairman he is working towards making this a honorary position. He has been elected a Board Member of Making Music, the National Federation of Music Societies, for three years from May 2014, where the main challenge is to keep going following the removal of its funding by the Arts Council.

Jonathan Wright says that a third and final volume of his co-edited series with Steven Casey on political leaders in the 20th century entitled Mental Maps in the Eras of Détente and the End of the Cold War is due to be published in October by Palgrave/Macmillan, completing the trilogy after Mental Maps in the Era of Two World Wars (2008) and Mental Maps in the Era of the Early Cold War (2011).

Richard Thompson has moved from the Midlands to Hampshire, just managing to stay sane in the process. He continues his love affair with all things Italian and has also visited New York for the first time – altogether a good year.

1961

Michael Thorn is still teaching his university course on the Holocaust, which gave him the chance to spend an afternoon with Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss. In a fit of madness he and his wife have bought a small vacation house on a lake in the Rockies in British Columbia and since the area is fast becoming a skiing favourite he thinks he might have to develop that skill in addition to learning how to take care of two houses 1,800 miles apart. Bruce Walter, though suffering occasionally from Athensexacerbated COPD, is still doing translation work, but strictly limited to archaeology and literature (mostly children’s). Philip Webb survived the most brutal February in Toronto records, but is pleased that the first of a new generation of street cars has now entered revenue service. Earlier, he finished scanning 2,419 pages of his notes on Plato, Aristotle and other philosophical matters. He still debates 20th-century history with his schoolfriend Antony Lentin in Cambridge. Brian Winston has undergone another year of ‘scribble, scribble, scribble’ and generally rushing about. He published The Rushdie Fatwa and after: A Lesson to the Circumspect but cannot pretend not to be proud that A Right to Offend (2012) was recognised as ‘increasing understanding of human rights’ by the International Book Award on Human Rights, International Press Institute, Vienna.

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Stephen Hazell continues his examination work, this happily taking him from Kolkata to Colombo to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. He has given up some administrative work and this enables him to pretend he is a scholar and to go to the University Library on some days. There was a get-together of the 1960 English Literature quartet and he reports as follows.

Year Representative: Bob Machin 125 West Bay Road, Bridport, Dorset, DT6 4EQ Tel: 01308 423475 Email: [email protected] I prefer to solicit news by email (‘cut, paste and edit’ makes the job so much easier.) However, I do not have email addresses for several of you. If you would like to be included on my mailing list, please send me your email address, and let me know if you change it. If you don’t ‘do’ computers, please tell me by post and you will be added to the ‘postal communication only’ list. On 22 September 2014, ten of us plus three partners held our own 750th anniversary celebration lunch at The Turf followed by a tour of the College and tea at St Mary the Virgin. Many of us had not seen the remarkable new organ in the Chapel, the TS Eliot Lecture Theatre, Beerbohm Room or the mid-13th-century roof of the MCR. But our real purpose was to catch up on personal news, recall anecdotes from the early ‘60s and pose questions of the ‘whatever happened to him?’ variety. It was so enjoyable that another reunion is planned a year or so after the Gaudy in 2016. The participants are identified in the caption to the photograph, except Frank Kelsall who took the photo, Alan Slomson and the elusive (camera-shy?) Mary (see entry for Mike Dearden below.) After being a widower for 13 years, Mike Dearden and Mary are to marry in June. Those who came to the 2014 reunion will remember meeting Mary and I am sure that all of us wish them a happy life together. If he can be persuaded, the best man will be Mike’s son Jonathan (1984). In future I will

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Foreground, in profile, is Mike Dearden. Clockwise round the table: Bob Machin and Howard Stringer imbibe in unison; Derek Fry engages Melia Cope in conversation, while her husband Peter Cope stands behind with Alan Johnston, setting the world to rights; seated right beyond Melia Cope, Maxine and Peter Richmond are making a point to Ian Packington

Retirement from the Department of English at the University of Auckland enables MacDonald (Mac) Jackson to get on with what really matters: Shakespearean scholarship. In 2014 he gave a paper at the International Shakespeare 450 Conference in Paris and OUP published his Determining the Shakespeare Canon: Arden of Faversham and a Lover’s Complaint. He has also contributed two essays to the forthcoming OUP third edition of The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Richard Emeny writes that his literary interests have involved him in many Great War memorial events. ‘I am already suffering from WW1 fatigue – and it’s only 2015.’ Richard England writes: ‘I’m still actively engaged in athletics, officiating field events through the summer, cross-country in the winter. One notable engagement in 2014 was the Varsity Match at the Iffley Road track, the 150th anniversary of the first match, which makes it the oldest athletics fixture in the world. It was followed by a dinner in the Town Hall, so Merton’s wasn’t the only anniversary that I celebrated in Oxford in 2014. Crosswords and brainteasers still occupy a good deal of my time, just as they did 50 years ago. I’m not now setting brainteasers as regularly as I used to because my chief outlet, New Scientist, has dropped its weekly Enigma puzzle. I’d contributed 250 puzzles, not a bad effort for a classicist. It amused me that I contributed regularly for

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so long to the New Scientist since my science education at school was similar to that of Sir Humphrey Appleby: “I didn’t do science, minister; I was in the scholarship form”.’

publish this, alongside his e-book In the Shade of the Sausage Tree (a memoir of his days in Africa) available online from Smashwords.com for $3.50.

Peter Cope continues playing in a local jazz band, singing in a choir and walking 7 to 8 miles weekly with the East Radnor Ramblers. But helping Melia serve five congregations is taking up ever more time and energy. There seems to be a funeral every week, and some are mega occasions with up to 300 mourners, which requires a great deal of preparation. Then there are some cunningly awkward churchwardens… they are both looking forward to retirement!

In 2014 they reached Wallingford after spending a couple of nostalgic days in Oxford. Tony was amazed to see an almost traffic-free High (must have been early Sunday morning) and was impressed by the way that new accommodation has been squeezed into many colleges, enhancing rather than spoiling the historic ambience. Not so good was the fact that so many colleges seem to be permanently closed to the public and charge for admission when they are open: frustrating and expensive for tourists (like Tony Ridge).

Peter Lee has at last decided to turn down all invitations to write papers and attend conferences. This was partly driven by the demands of acting (with Ros) as carers for a couple of relatives. They are now free agents and propose to spend some time ‘going round the country visiting people who claim to want to see us but probably never expected us to take them at their word’. I wish there was room to print all of the email from Tony Ridge. He and his stalwart companions (including Peter Richmond and David Shipp (1959) and their partners) are slowly walking down the Thames Path and having a great deal of fun. In 2013 they only got as far as Newbridge near Kingston Bagpuize; who else remembers the ‘Lamb & Flag’, one of the cheapest out-of-town eateries in the early ‘60s run by a rotund fellow known as ‘Dirty Dudley’? They were delayed by the rival claims of Thameshead and Seven Springs as the source of the river. Just to be on the safe side, they walked both paths. At Seven Springs they found a stone with the inscription ‘Hic tuus O Tamesine Pater septemgeminus Fons’, reputedly written by TS Eliot (1914). This therefore must be the real source. The upper reaches here are known as the River Churn and Tony was moved to write a long poem entitled ‘The Rape of the Churn’ that employs some ingenious rhyming couplets. The opening couplet is fine: ‘From seven rocky throats/The crystal water floats.’ But this is a challenging format and we soon read that ‘Thus from Earth’s womb is born/The small but noble Churn.’ In contrast the Thameshead branch was dry: ‘And even at distant Crickl-/Ade there’s barely a trickle.’ By this point I was reduced to hysterical laughter – and there is more. Surely Tony should be encouraged to

Abdool Mamoojee continues to divide his time between Florida, South Africa and his principal residence at Thunder Bay (Ontario) in the summer. Here he volunteers at the Lakehead University Retirees’ Association and contributes articles to its newsletter. He was about to depart as their delegate at the National Conference of University Retirees when he wrote. Alan Johnston replied from a taverna on Rhodes, which brings the total of Greek islands that he has visited to 70. He claims to be studying ancient inscriptions and ceramics – though I suspect that he is also ranking the drinking holes on all of them. If you visit the British Museum during the winter, spare a thought for him beavering away in the basement store beneath the entrance steps. Who would have thought that a sherd found by Flinders Petrie at Naukratis fits together with one in the Brighton Pavilion, or another with bits in Kyoto and the Louvre? He emerges at weekends to plant vegetables that nourish all forms of wildlife in his corner of Baldock. You may remember that Ian Harrold now lives happily in one of the 31 villages and housing schemes run by the ExtraCare Charitable Trust. From the start he was always available whenever anyone needed a pianist and he formed a village choir. This has led to the receipt of a Liz Taylor Memorial Award (not that Liz Taylor but one of the founders of the ExtraCare Trust) for arranging the music and accompanying the 20 ExtraCare choirs that meet annually for their Festival of Choirs. In addition he is still composing and arranging music. The burgeoning sales of his folk song arrangements for wind quintet suggests that there can’t be many in the country that have not played some of them.

John Sandercock still goes into his ‘Scientific Instruments’ business in Switzerland daily. Orders and administration are left to others. He just wants to be involved with problem solving. When not at work, his relaxations are less strenuous than previously. In May, John and Jenny travelled on a boat along the Saône and Rhône with daily bicycle excursions. Then in September they spent two weeks touring the Pyrenees in their Jaguar XK 120. They were very impressed by their first visit to this region – the locals were probably equally impressed by their means of transport.

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turn to the news of those who matriculated in 1984, after I have read 1961, to see if anything has been censored.

Wallace Kaufman has completed the final draft of a sci-fi novel that he is co-authoring with David Deamer, so he can now get back to work on a biography of Georg Wilhelm Stellar, an 18th-century German naturalist who sailed with Bering to discover Alaska in 1741 (check GW Stellar on Google: it’s an epic tale.) As time permits he is preparing an illustrated journal to accompany his 2001 memoir Coming out of the Woods. There should be more time for these projects when he has put the finishing touches to his house in the wilderness beside Poole Slough in coastal Oregon. An aerial photo attached to his email that outlines his estate there is awesome: he really does live in a wilderness. Mertonians of any vintage are welcome to visit – to trek through the forests and/or try their hand at kayaking. Having spent his working years teaching mathematics to undergraduates at Leeds University, Alan Slomson is busy helping to provide ‘mathematical enrichment’ to school pupils through the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust. He is chairman of his local Neighbourhood Association and has just become president of the Yorkshire Branch of the Mathematical Association. Peter Steele has been out of touch for a couple of years because he forgot to tell me that he had changed his email address (please note and act upon this omission everyone). Treatment of his hernia seems to have been successful and if the third annual check-up for his prostate cancer treatment proves positive, he can once again get travel insurance at a reasonable rate and at last visit the Greek cities in Turkish Anatalya. His principal recreation is still late-Roman military history. He has written several articles for Wikipedia and is now preparing a longer monograph on Volusianus, the praetorian prefect of the Emperor Gallienus. Whether or not

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Richard Woodhams and Jacqui are now firmly ensconced in their retirement home near Petersfield in West Sussex. After eight years on the parish council, Richard has decided that local politics is not a satisfactory pastime so he resigned this year to have more time for singing and walking. He says that anyone who offers to sing a tenor line is acceptable anywhere with few questions asked. He is currently in two local choirs, one of which has just performed Haydn’s Nelson Mass, bringing back memories of the Kodaly Choir’s rendition in 1962. He is also much involved in the Petersfield Musical Festival Week, initially as the fundraiser and now (for the past two years) as general manager. For the last three years he has acted as the outings organiser for a local National Trust group. Arranging 15 trips per annum is time consuming but he has met some fascinating people and visited some unusual places. As an offshoot from this, the newly established South Downs National Park Authority has published Richard’s booklet on local walks. He was disconcerted when the Country Walking magazine recently suggested that subscribers ought to walk 1,000 miles pa. With half of 2015 gone, he reckons that his tally so far is only 120 miles. He feels a need to change up a gear. A dog would help but ‘she who must be obeyed’ is against it. He is in regular contact with Peter Steele who last year took him scrambling and stumbling around Upper Dovedale. This summer, Peter is coming to the less challenging countryside of West Sussex. Perhaps Richard can clock up a respectable mileage towards his goal of 1,000 miles pa? Your correspondent has decided that it is about time he wrote up 40 years of research on traditional Dorset farmhouses before he loses his marbles. Nearly 400 pages so far, packed with tortuous arguments that do not make for easy reading, conveying a spurious sense of scholarship.

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1962

Year Representative: Tim Archer High Chimneys, Petches Bridge, Braintree, Essex CM7 4QN Tel: 01371 810473 Email: [email protected]

1963

There is currently no Year Representative for 1963. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in becoming Year Rep for this year.

1964

Year Representative: Richard Burns 31 Saxe Coburg Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5BP Tel: 0113 266 5966 Email: [email protected]

1965

Year Representative: Peter Robinson Vallecito, 5 Fir Tree Close, Coppenhall, Staffordshire, ST18 9BZ Tel: 01785 254273 Email: [email protected] At the time of going of press we have some 30 acceptances for the Golden Jubilee Lunch on 10 October. The lower than usual number of Postmaster entries this year can be accounted for by several messages of acceptance for the lunch, from those no doubt looking forward to giving faceto-face reports in October. Meanwhile I’m pleased to have heard from Tony Cox who reports that a few years ago he took early retirement from his post as University Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry and Chemistry Tutor at New College, Oxford. Since then he has been, among other things, travelling, painting, growing vegetables and fruit on his allotment, learning Spanish and helping the Green Party in its campaign in the General Election. David Mumford reports that he came up to retirement in June: he shall have been Rector of Brechin and Tarfside with the Scottish Episcopal Church since 2007 and Dean of the

Diocese of Brechin for most of that time. He has appreciated not being in an established church. He has also been impressed with the eirenic way in which the SEC has dealt with same-sex relationships. He will be moving with Elisabeth to Dunbar and retiring to a house midway between a cement works and a nuclear power station. He stood as a candidate for the Scottish Green Party for the Angus constituency in the recent Westminster elections. Although he more than doubled the vote, the total number of votes received was only 965. At this rate of increase, the Greens should win Angus in 2035. Peter Robinson reports that, on Roxana’s retiring, they are able to spend more time in St Albans, to where son Chris has just moved closer to his sister and to the grandchildren. He has started a Stafford U3A group for learning to read biblical Hebrew, and continues to entertain and bemuse his piano teacher in equal measure. A visit to Roxana’s family in Arequipa, Peru in the autumn is much anticipated. He still acts as HR consultant to an IT infrastructure support company based in Birmingham. Bob Wilson wrote to say that he came upon the 750th anniversary online edition of Postmaster & The Merton Record serendipitously, and what a pleasure it was. ‘But first – mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa’, he says. Merton and he lost track of each other many years ago; after all, it is many years since graduation, plenty of time for a needle to bury itself in a haystack, which excuses Merton. So he really feels he should have relied less on serendipity but have made an effort to keep in touch. He says how much he enjoyed reading Jonathan Zamet’s and Jonathan Wrout’s news! Particularly in the case of JZ, he could hear his voice and see his smile. Fancy, SEVEN Merton 1965 historians in one place, 50 years on. Summarising 50 years in a hundred words, Bob says that he left Merton to work for Cadbury’s in Bournville in 1968. Cadbury merged with Schweppes, so he was sent to their offices in Marble Arch, and thence to Spain, back to England, back to Spain, then Florida, then Mexico where Cadbury Schweppes and Wilson parted company. He moved the family back to Florida and started his own company, which he still runs. Its principal focus is product development for Latin American and Caribbean beverage companies. In 1975 he married Elisa in Madrid; they have four children, and eight grandchildren and counting. They live in Coral Springs, a

suburb of Fort Lauderdale, and have no intention of suffering winter again. Jonathan Zamet reports that his wife, Patricia, and he joined the 750th celebrations in New York – at least as far as taking a Friday evening dinner cruise around Manhattan. It was very enjoyable, although there was no one there of their era, and included a nice performance by the Merton Choir. They were contemplating joining the other events that weekend but awoke on Saturday morning in the Waldorf Astoria rather the worse for wear and left it at that. They had the pleasure of having dinner last year in New York with Paul Woodruff and his wife. He had not seen Paul since he visited him in Princeton in about 1972. Jonathan concludes by saying that ‘We followed up with an exchange of gifts: Paul sent me two of his excellent books and I sent him one of my stoneware bowls.’

MERTONIANS | 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 & 1966

this proves of interest to the learned journal he has his eye on, it keeps him out of mischief and has certainly improved his Latin. Otherwise he walks the hills of Derbyshire and south Yorkshire with occasional forays to Scotland and Italy once a year (also see next entry). A few years ago he bowed to polite pressure and ‘volunteered’ to be treasurer of his local PCC. This takes up more time than he envisaged so other pastimes are on hold.

1966

Year Representative: David Holmes 20, Goodby Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8NJ Tel: 0121 249 9714 Email: [email protected] Rick Gekoski – described by Tatler as ‘think Bill Bryson, only on books’ – is a rare book dealer, writer, and broadcaster. An American who came to England in 1966 (and now a dual citizen, feeling ‘equally ill at ease in both cultures’), he took a BPhil and DPhil in English at Oxford. From 1971 to 1987 he was a member of the English department of the University of Warwick, and sometime Chairman of the Faculty of Arts. He has published a critical book on Joseph Conrad, William Golding: A Bibliography, Staying Up (a book on Premiership Football), a collection of essays entitled Tolkien’s Gown and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books (based on his BBC Radio 4 Series Rare Books, Rare People), Outside of a Dog: A Bibliomemoir, and Lost, Stolen, or Shredded: Stories of Missing Works of Art. (Lost, Stolen, or Shredded was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September-October 2009). He has founded two private presses, The Sixth Chamber Press and The Bridgewater Press, which issue finely printed editions of leading contemporary novelists and poets. In 2005, Rick was one of the judges for the Man Booker Prize, and was then Chair of the judges for the Man Booker

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Christoph Harbsmeier was the Vigeland Professor (of Chinese) in the University of Chicago, retiring on 13 June 2015, and has just retired from his chair in Oxford. His Thesaurus Linguae Sericae has effectively moved to Princeton, where it is being revamped.

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an undergraduate degree at the newly-founded University of York and after his time there went into schoolmastering (Merchant Taylors and Sedbergh) before taking up his writing career. Contemporaries of Lawrence with whom contact has been maintained include Michael Tolkien, who went on to teach classics at Uppingham, Ian Kershaw and Christopher Rathbone (1967), who lives in Fife and has lived what might be described as the life of a gentleman scholar following a stint as lecturer in Russian at the University of St Andrews. Ian Kershaw’s latest book, To Hell and Back. Europe, 19141949, will be published by Penguin in September. (It is Volume 1 of two volumes Ian is writing on the history of 20thcentury Europe for The Penguin History of Europe series.)

Anthony Holden’s anthology, Poems That Make Grown Men Cry, co-edited with his Mertonian son Ben Holden (1998), won poetry a rare place in the bestseller lists. Merton College Library now possesses a signed copy of the anthology, which spent six weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller list and was voted No 1 Poetry Book of 2015 by the UK trade magazine The Bookseller. Biographer of Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky, Laurence Olivier, Leigh Hunt, Lorenzo Da Ponte and many others, Anthony was invited to give the AE Housman Lecture on the Name and Nature of Poetry at the 2015 Hay-on-Wye Festival and is currently working on a volume of memoirs. He attended Merton’s 2015 Bodley Dinner as the guest of his sympatheros (i.e. fellow-grandfather, or Ben’s father-inlaw), and Honorary Fellow of Merton, AP Leventis.

Andrew Parrott, conductor, perhaps in expiation of having written so little as an undergraduate, has published a volume of essays, Composers’ Intentions?: Lost Traditions of Musical Performance (Boydell Press).

Lawrence James updates that he has been a freelance writer and reviewer since the late 1980s, achieving particular notice for his biography of Lawrence of Arabia (Golden Warrior; he also wrote the DNB entry) and Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India followed, as did biographies of Allenby and Wellington, together with Warrior Race, a History of the British at War. Two books on class, The Middle Class and Aristocrats were published in the noughties but he has returned to imperial subjects most recently. Churchill and Empire was published in 2013 by Weidenfeld, and Lawrence is at the moment completing a book on the European powers in Africa from the 19th century to 1980 to be published by Weidenfeld in 2016. Lawrence has been described as ‘the doyen of Empire’ and ‘one of our foremost narrative historians’. He relished his time at Merton following

Roger Tomlin has retired from lecturing in late-Roman History at Oxford, but keeps his connection with the University by being an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson. He lives in Oxford and still edits Roman Inscriptions of Britain.

Clifton Potter is still Professor of History at Lynchburg College: 50 years of service to be exact. He quotes Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum of 1900: ‘I would a great deal rather be anything, say a history professor, than Vice-President’. Stuart Sleeman retired as a full-time circuit judge on 9 May 2012, and continued as a deputy circuit judge until 1 August 2014. He was appointed Chair of The Bar Tribunals and Arbitration Service from 1 April for an initial four years.

Robert Venables reports that he now has a country home near Oxford, which enables him to get into Merton more frequently than in the past. He describes the music, especially the new organ in the chapel, as just brilliant.

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Year Representative: Rory Khilkoff-Boulding Beggars Well, Bakers Lane, Dallington, East Sussex, TN21 9JU Tel: 01435 830 859 Email: [email protected]

1968

Year Representative: Ian McBrayne 44 Parkland Road, Woodford Green, Essex, IG8 9AP Tel: 020 8504 2491 Email: [email protected] This report must start with congratulations to Gerry Grimstone on his knighthood. As the citation noted, he is currently Chair of Standard Life and The City UK. He has served as a special adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a member of the Financial Services Trade and Investment Board in HM Treasury and of the Shareholder Executive, and as the lead non-executive director in the Ministry of Defence. He also runs the Grimstone Foundation, which among other things has helped tsunami victims. Gerry says he is wonderfully busy with things that rightly absorb a lot of time and energy. James Hughes-Hallett has retired as Chairman of the Swire Group after an unfashionable 39 years of service, but remains a non-executive director. He plans to divide his time between travel and three remaining chairmanships, of the Courtauld Institute, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and leading shipbrokers Clarksons. As his partner Katrina is a Canadian yoga teacher, he finds himself in better shape than expected. Simon Orebi Gann also remains heavily engaged in the world of work, having expanded his portfolio with non-executive directorships at the Low Carbon Contracts Company and the Electricity Settlements Company, bodies recently established to help ensure adequate electricity generation capacity and incentivise the move to a low carbon economy. He tells me that for the first time Merton’s 1968 physicists are about to get together for lunch. News of another very busy man comes from New Zealand, where Chris Laidlaw, whom contemporaries will recall as a very successful All Black while at Merton, now divides his time between his role as a Wellington regional councillor and a member of the Capital and Coast District Health Board, chairing resource consent hearings and public meetings on issues of concern, writing columns and books and contributing to the governance of several charities. The CV that Chris kindly sent me shows that in a very distinguished earlier career he lived extensively abroad with New Zealand’s Foreign Service. He says that he will be eternally grateful to the College for supporting

his research. Work commitments kept him away from the 750th anniversary celebrations, but he promises to make it to the 1,000th. Hong Kong continues to be home for Alan Taylor, although work has recently taken him to Myanmar and Thailand. He is involved with a number of start-up companies and President of the Hong Kong Entrepreneurs’ Network. One can only marvel at his first serious mountaineering expedition for four years, during which he narrowly failed to get to the 5,600-metre summit of Russia’s Mount Elbrus from the north side. He plans another go next year. Alan’s seven-year-old son is crazy about Chinese opera and has been performing in mainland China.

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International Prize 2011, which was awarded to Philip Roth. He teaches creative non-fiction for the Arvon Foundation, and sits on their Development Board. In 2010 he was elected a trustee of English PEN, and sits on their Board. He lives in London, the New Forest and New Zealand, is married to Belinda Kitchin and has two children: Anna (a forensic psychologist) and Aaron (family name Bertie, who is an underwater videographer) who appear in both Staying Up and Outside of a Dog.

Our world tour brings us next to Danny Lawrence, continuing to teach full-time for a bit and to live just north of Manhattan, where he recently had a drink with David Bell and his wife Stacey. David, still working at Harvard Business School, adds that he and Danny would be happy to meet others in need of refreshment. A recent visit to the UK enabled Danny to meet Lol Briggs and his wife Marg after a 17-year gap. Also from the States, it was good to hear from Peter Palmer, though he had no news to offer. In Washington DC, Gary Stevens and Rebecca were due to meet Rick Harris (1967) and Lillian to re-enact the British burning of the White House or the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown, according to taste. Their son Jonathan is now a political consultant, writing speeches and planning campaign strategy for Democratic candidates, so Gary thinks a little of his PPE may have been passed on in the genes. Alan Harland is enjoying his recent retirement and emeritus professor status at Temple University, finding lots of time to play music, mostly guitar with a little banjo and ukulele; read, especially about world religions; play golf and cricket; and travel. To prove the last point, Alan was writing from a biking, hiking and alligator-dodging trip to Florida. He and Judith had recently been in the UK, catching up with several Merton friends. They enjoyed dinner and the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow with Lou Henderson and Chris, a visit to Petworth House while staying in a log cabin at John Reynolds and Juliet’s country home in Surrey, a couple of days with Tom Head in the Cotswolds, and dinner with Neil Loden and Susan in Notting Hill. Alan says it was wonderful to see all

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There are clear links here to Tom Head’s contribution, in which he talks of catching up with Alan and Judith after nearly 20 years, meeting other Mertonians more regularly and seeing the unusual paths his children’s lives take. His most frequent contacts are Brian Leveson (1967) and Lynne, Adrian Vickers (1958) and Emma, and his brother Philip Head (1971) and his wife. Brian, says Tom, continues to keep his feet on the ground despite a position of some dignity and eminence and patiently participates with Lynne and Tom, without perhaps quite sharing the enthusiasm, in hunting down rare wild flowers in the Cotswolds. Adrian and Emma are near neighbours; she is creating a wonderful garden. Tom himself retired ten years ago from his partnership in Freshfields, and five years ago from a consultancy helping them with graduate recruitment. He lives happily among woodland and wildflower meadows an hour west of Oxford, intermittently helps as a McKenzie friend with others’ legal muddles, more intermittently writes light verse to poke fun at life and reads a lot of mediaeval history, as he was supposed to do at Oxford. He has also discovered that sloth has its attractions. George Daly and his wife are hugely enjoying life in Brittany, and being stretched by the challenges of working with the African Prisons Project. Last year George reported being the victim of an armed robbery in Tanzania; the police have killed one of the attackers and the others have been sentenced to 30 years in prison. In November, he will be going out to see what can be done in the circumstances for the community in Sikonge. He would like to hear from anyone interested in either education or access to justice in Africa. George was expecting a visit from Peter Bibby who, having like so many passed his 65th birthday, happily reports that the government is once again giving him money for doing nothing. He is a devoted fan of Merton’s alumni events and says that he has become well informed by the London lectures on many subjects, in addition to his studies of science at Merton, arts at the London College of Furniture, and law for being a barrister at what is now the University of Westminster. Tim Cole, still in harness as a medical statistician, has persuaded the Medical Research Council to pay him half-time

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for another three years. Much of the rest of his and Angie’s time goes on their ten grandchildren, particularly Simone (10) whom they are bringing up. He says it is a good way to stay young. An item from Barry Press among the Merton@750 memorabilia (share.merton.ox.ac.uk) prompted Tim to recall his contribution to the Schools VIII that won its oars. David Pelteret does not foresee giving up work until he starts to lose his marbles. When he wrote, he had just finished proofreading a 550-page text on ancient Cretan laws for the University Press, had written a book review, and was about to return to copy-editing another 500-page manuscript. No time for senility yet! Nick Bicât too is still hard at work, writing music. Two of his compositions received London premières in 2014: Beslan at St George the Martyr, Southwark conducted by Andrew Parrott (1967) and Perpetua at Southwark Cathedral. An album Songs from Grimm is now available and another new work, Red Dragon, White Dragon, will have been performed by the time you read this. Amid this industry, Nick and his wife Natalie found six weeks to walk 800 kilometres of the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago, an extraordinary experience with highs and lows in every way and breathtaking scenery, after which it was difficult to readjust to normal life. For David Allen at 65, retirement is an option, but he still enjoys work and hopes to continue for a while yet. He wrote after returning from watching the US Masters at Augusta, which he describes as even more beautiful and fiendishly difficult than it appears on television. David admits to a marked difference between the quality of the golf there and his own in South Carolina in the preceding days, though the latter gave him a marvellous time and, like Alan Harland, he avoided the alligators. He was in Merton at Passiontide to hear the College Choir sing the Bach Mass in B, and found the choir extraordinarily good. Scirard Lancelyn Green also heard the choir, when they visited Neston Church on the Wirral. He has finished building of the mains-free, solar-powered lodge in North Wales mentioned last year, and is now taking a back seat in Lancelyn Theatre Supplies, having been at the helm for 45 years. He admits that this means he started the business before finals. Kit Heasman reports that he is taking French and Italian classes and continuing to walk and climb in the UK and abroad.

Amongst other trips, he and a friend did a tour of the Italian Maritime Alps, taking in a few summits and some unroped routes (‘all good fun but the exposure can get a bit serious at times’), and a long trek along the south side of the Aosta valley, across the Gran Paradiso national park, again including some summits. His French and Italian studies meant he could enjoy meeting fellow climbers and trekkers in the huts and was able to have some sort of conversation. Kit suggests that others may well be climbing at a far higher standard, but the photographs he sent certainly impressed me. Another man who continues to enjoy the outdoors is Steve Drinkwater. In 2014, he led ten week-long walking holidays, including the South West Coast Path, the Llyn Peninsula Coast Path, the Ardudwy Way, the Shropshire Hills, Brecon, the Lake District and Exmoor. At the time of writing he was having a break from leading but still doing loads of walks himself in beautiful Pembrokeshire, as well as continuing to help with Duke of Edinburgh expedition assessments and continuing to find lots of fun in attending creative writing classes. Stewart Morgan reports continued enjoyment from retirement travelling, with trips to Tibet and Thailand. A group of Oxbridge alumni, aided by the expertise of Ulrike Roesler, associate professor at the Oriental Institute, spent time acclimatising in Laos and China before a remarkable week in and around Lhasa. Stewart was delighted to see the Tibetans still striving to sustain their traditional, intensely spiritual culture, but saddened to see it eroded by the resettlement of many Chinese and the increasing dominance of the Chinese language and mindset. The adventure culminated with an amazing two-day, 4,000-kilometre train ride from Lhasa to Beijing on the highest railway in the world. The trip to Thailand was to visit daughter Emily, living temporarily on Koh Tao and teaching flying trapeze skills. Stewart reflects on the amazing career choices some of her generation make after securing good degrees. What he calls a hopefully significant turning point for himself this year has been ‘taking refuge’, a ceremony formally marking his decision to become a lay Buddhist; he realises he has been pondering this on and off for more than 40 years. A final highlight of the year was riding the dodgems in Front Quad in white tie and tails at the Anniversary Ball, rekindling many happy memories, although a recapture of lost youth proved sadly elusive.

Stephen Powell was very encouraged to receive a letter from Julian Leslie’s son Edward, for whom he once provided work experience at his firm of patent and trademark attorneys. Edward clearly found his niche, as he is now working for a similar firm in Nottingham and about to sit his final exams. I hear that Stephen has recently become engaged, so congratulations and best wishes to him and Jill.

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these people with whom, despite quite different career paths, he still shares a strong bond of friendship begun at Merton, as well as a diverse and remarkably gifted group of children.

Finally, thanks to Nicholas Richardson for ensuring that 1968’s Fellows do not go unrepresented in these pages. He is enjoying reflected glory from 19-month-old granddaughter Ursula’s early forays into the media limelight: she has had a write-up in The Times as a member of a new playgroup, Hatching Dragons, where the children are spoken to in Mandarin as well as English, and appeared in the Daily Telegraph advertising a child-friendly café in Highbury. Although almost everyone in the year has now caught up the frontrunners in reaching UK state pension age, the evidence is that, retired or not, we remain remarkably active and enthusiastic about life. Long may it last!

1969

Year Representative: Charles Griffith La Commanderie, Malmort, 37150, Bléré, France Tel: 0033 2 4723 5443 Email: [email protected] Jeremy Cook is about to retire fully from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at UCL. When he started the disengagement process four years ago, he and Rosemary decided that music would be a high priority. So he bought a new violin in 2012. The tally since then is 57 orchestral concerts plus a good deal of chamber music. Cardiac surgery in early 2015 does not seem to have slowed him down, still less the discovery that he has been living successfully for 64 years with a congenital heart-valve malformation. John Newsome retired from full-time ministry in Bonn/ Cologne, Hamburg and Zurich in 2014. He now lives in Seligenstadt, a beautiful town on the river Main near Frankfurt, and helps as a locum in several German parishes. He has recently been invited to take on the rôle of Spirituality Advisor for the Diocese in Europe. He also works with the

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Howard Davies is taking on the challenging post of Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and continues to enjoy lecturing at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (‘Sciences-Po’) in Paris. Richard Underwood is a non-invasive cardiologist and chair of cardiac imaging at Imperial College, based at Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals. He also serves on the board of a new private hospital in Kent. He lives in Battersea with his partner, Kate, and the children: Lucy May (14) and Leo (3). He has kept up his interest in flying. Charles Griffith lives with Marie-Helene and a now-veryold cat near the Cher river in Touraine. He is signed up to the cat’s programme of living forever, but health problems in the family have limited travel. He extended the geographical range of his fraud and corruption desk-work, taking on cases in Iran and Azerbaidjan, for which the Russian course at Merton was useful. Asked about possible retirement, he echoes the late Mr JG Reeder: ‘It is a terrible thing, you see, I have the mind of a criminal’.

1970

Year Representative: Nick Skinner Copthorne, The Close, Lancing, West Sussex, BN15 8EE Tel: 01903 767072 Email: [email protected] Many thanks to all those who got in touch this year, whether with news or just to send greetings; it is always a pleasure to hear from you. John Crabtree continues to teach on the politics of the Andean countries at Oxford’s Latin America Centre where he is a research associate. Currently he is working on a book looking at the role of business elites on policy making in Peru, which should be published in 2016. He is also a visiting academic in the Department of Humanities and Social Studies at Oxford Brookes University. Mick Polley writes that he is now established as a crossword compiler for the New Statesman, under the pseudonym Atlas, with puzzles appearing every other week, and enjoys

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a bit more free time since his stint as churchwarden ended. Their daughter teaches English in Verona, so Di and Mick have a good excuse to visit Italy as often as possible.

Fred Yalouris is director of design at the Atlanta BeltLine, an ambitious urban renewal project.

A very welcome newsy letter from John Saunders who reports that he is still teaching ESOL but now just one day a week at the local adult education college; John’s principal employment is examining work for Cambridge Assessment (written and oral exams), which keeps him busy most of the year, and he is not considering retirement just yet. John, along with many of us, attended several events related to the 750th Anniversary last year (including the Ball and the Birthday Weekend), ‘all greatly enjoyed and caught up with news of fellow Mertonians of the 1970-ish era’. John now has two grandsons, and a son and daughter both enjoying their careers (son Chris as a plumber/heating engineer/DJ and daughter Jenny as a PA and Events Organiser at PwC, London). His wife Laura still works at Thurrock Council.

1972

Your correspondent Nick Skinner continues to enjoy retired life on the South Coast and seems busier than ever (how did I find time for employment?). He has recently returned to competitive chess after a 15-year absence, hopefully helping to maintain some mental acuity.

1971

Year Representative: Allin Cottrell Department of Economics, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA Tel: 001 336 758 5762 Email: [email protected] Thanks to Michael Duchen, Garth Fowden and Fred Yalouris for getting in touch. Michael is now at UCL, where he teaches medical and life sciences and runs a research lab with a focus on mitochondrial biology. He says: ‘My main memories of Merton lie in the Kodaly choir with Edward Lambert (1970). I used to play my heart out with my violin in wonderful evening concerts at Merton chapel.’ Garth Fowden is Sultan Qaboos Professor of Abrahamic Faiths in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge.

Year Representative: Mark Signy Yew Tree House, West Street, Sompting, Lancing, West Sussex, BN15 0BE Tel: 07710 349 949 Email: [email protected] We have not had a year rep for many years, so unsurprisingly there was a slightly limited response to the circular letter, but still plenty of interest: lots more next year I’m sure. I think I’ve put in a bit from all the letters I’ve had. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone. Stephen Cole, the previous Year Rep (from about 1975 to about 1976 anyway…) retired last summer after 21 years as headmaster of Woodbridge School, and now is a lead inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate. He has reported on schools in Beijing, the Cayman Islands, Brunei. And Battersea. He has run an astonishing 22 London marathons! John Millard writes: ‘Having received an ‘education’ at Merton I decided to get ‘trained’ in something. Accountancy was my choice – I remember thinking I’d start with that and then find something interesting to do. I’m still an accountant! I’ve always found it stimulating and challenging. I much prefer working out the messages that numbers convey rather than the figures themselves – I often tell people I enjoy painting with numbers!’ Duncan Sutherland says: ‘I have just celebrated my 31st year working in the legal department at Textron Inc in Providence, Rhode Island. Most of my contemporaries (not to mention my wife) would have been amazed that I could hold a job for a fraction of that amount of time.’ Certainly rings true… Michael Lewis is in his eighth year as Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. He points out that: ‘Life gets no less eventful, even hair-raising. Iraq is in my patch and so is the Yemen. In both places people have been remarkably, humblingly resilient but politics and (in)security always threaten to wear them down. Saudi Arabia presents a different set of problems; not for nothing is it called the Magic Kingdom. In fact each of the ten or so jurisdictions that I cover has its own peculiar

features and I’m the opposite of bored, though I see enough airport lounges to last a lifetime. And it’s slightly warmer than when my beat was Rochdale, Oldham and Saddleworth.’ And we all thought it was dull being a bishop... Stephen Pickett says he has spent the last 20+ years waiting for the best (possibly only) idea he ever had mature into a full-blown lawsuit against Microsoft and half the computer industry. On Australia Day (26 January) 2015, Paul Martin was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. The citation is ‘For service to medicine in the field of psychology’. The Investiture Ceremony took place at Government House on 8 May.

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Friends of the Holy Land, supporting Christian communities in the Middle East: vital work in this tragic time of disintegration.

Allan Clark is living and working in Oxford and is in regular contact with Chris Martin, who he tells us is now retired from medical practice. Herve Gouraige is practising Law in New Jersey, but is planning to visit the UK and Oxford with his wife Carla in the near future. Azim Lakhani was a consultant in Public Health at Guys and St Thomas’ until he retired recently, having been on secondments to the Department of Health, London School of Hygiene and Oxford University. He is now working for a charity and is involved with a World Bank project aimed at alleviating/ eliminating extreme poverty. Mark Signy is still practising as an interventional cardiologist (‘stent doctor’) in Sussex but, on reading the above, thinks he should have been a bishop (is it too late?). He and Steve Cole are in contact with John Davidson who is retired from Deloitte, and spends his time walking in the rural Lake District (he is also a part-owner of a gin distillery). Looking forward to lots of news for next year’s edition. Warmest wishes to everyone.

1973

Year Representative: Gary Backler Tel: 07939 074 462 Email: [email protected] Graham Andrews reports that the 1973 maths and medics

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John Bowers was invited by Nick Allard (1974) to deliver the keynote talk for the annual meeting of the MC3, which he was hosting at the Brooklyn Law School where he is Dean. The trip allowed for a visit to Merton classmate Lyle Rexer and his wife Rachel at their gracious 1870s brownstone in Park Slope. The illustrated talk ‘Tolkien at Merton College’ was attended by dignitaries including the Warden, who seemed enthusiastic about the suggestion that the College should honour the author with a blue plaque on the modest brick house at 3 Manor Road, where the Merton Professor of Language and Literature completed two of the bestselling books of all times, with his old Hammond typewriter on the mattress in a topfloor bedroom too small for a desk. Peter Ghosh, Tutor and Jean Duffield Fellow in Modern History at St Anne’s, published Max Weber and ‘The Protestant Ethic’ and explains that ‘intellectuals might like to read it, while plutocrats will need a copy as a coffee-table accessory’. He traces the origins of the book to History Prelims, since Weber is an author on the historiography paper that is descended from Gibbon and Macaulay. Ned Holt and his wife Heather (née Mackenzie; St Hilda’s) held a joint birthday celebration in a marquee in the grounds of their son’s home beside the Grand Union Canal at Denham in the summer. Ted Powell and Gary Backler helped celebrate in glorious sunshine, and apologies were received from Richard Grisdale, David Griffiths and Harry Bush (1971).

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Having specialised as a lawyer on pharmaceutical and medtech sector deals for 35 years in global law firms, in 2012 Julian Thurston decided to release the entrepreneurial spirit that he says he should perhaps have released in his 20s! He moved to Switzerland and started his own business in May 2012, called Crescendo Enterprises. This is a boutique advisory firm focused on putting deals together in the pharmaceutical and medtech sectors covering the emerging markets, especially China, the ASEAN countries (2015 is the year of ASEAN integration) and Latin America, especially Brazil and Colombia. This covers not only deals between European players and pharmaceutical companies in these places, but also emerging market to emerging market deals. These deals can also cover young technologies, like those being developed in the University now. Richard Veryard finally married June, his long-term girlfriend and mother of his two nearly-grown-up sons (20 and 16). They took part in the first Big Wedding Weekend at the Royal Festival Hall in August 2014, together with dozens of other couples of various orientations. Like many in this cohort, Steve Williams entered his seventh decade in this academic year. That prompted the opportunity to organise a one-day scientific symposium in London together with another colleague at the same stage of life. David Gadian (1968) was kind enough to host this event in UCL, as he and Steve worked together for 16 years. David gave a talk that included memories of Merton Association Football Club, for which they played together in 1973, allowing him to show a slide of the football team from 1975 (which also included Ned Holt and the 1973 Year Rep). They decided that either the club secretaries in 1973 (Andy Trotter, 1972) and 1974 (Dave Adamson, 1973) didn’t organise a photo, or that Steve and David were too poor to buy one from Gillman & Soame! To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Economic History Further Subject essay that set him on his career, Gary Backler spent a week cycling the 200 miles of canal towpaths from Cromford (Derbyshire), near his former home, to Brentford, near his current home. He found that the penalties for momentary loss of concentration can be severe. In addition to occasional rail industry consultancy, he has spent much of the year working to open up public access to the River Crane, helping to create a new urban park for visitors to

Twickenham. He enjoyed the fifth successive Dark Blues’ rugby victory in the company of friend John Lowis (1949).

1974

Year Representative: Mike Hawkins 909, Corn Tassel Trail, Martinsville VA 24112, USA Tel: +1 276 252 4318 Email: [email protected] Nick Allard has again provided a wealth of news and stories about himself, his wife Marla and family and other US contemporaries. While his collected works on the subject most likely run to several large volumes, shortage of editorial space necessitates severe editing. Apologies Nick, but here is a taster. He writes: ‘We enjoyed every morsel of Merton’s anniversary. Even, or especially, Marla’s sharp, funny response at the Gala ball last summer when her killer, above-the-knees, shiny, clingy, geometrically-stunning dress and towering heels drew the question: “Don’t you know we were supposed to wear long?” “I am, for me,” she replied. I’ve had 47 years of that. For example, when asked how she put up with me for so long, she explained: “Simple, we are both passionately in love with the same man.” ‘Well, it has been a busy, marvellous year graduating the class of students who began three years ago, as I did, at Brooklyn Law School and welcoming our first granddaughter, Zoe, who joins her two-year-old twin brothers Ben and Nick, and three-year-old cousin Teddy, a.k.a. ‘Theodorable’. It was a year of many highlights including adding the title of Law School President to my jobs as Senior Partner at the newly merged Squire Patton Boggs and Law Dean in Brooklyn. And in April we especially enjoyed hosting the Warden, Lady Taylor and over 80 alumni and guests at the annual Merton College Charitable Corporation weekend in the biggest, most vibrant and historic borough of the Big Apple City, in the Empire State, of the USA: Brooklyn, New York.’ John Davies writes: ‘2014 saw the 40th anniversary of the arrival at Merton of the first group of undergraduate lawyers chosen by a young law don called Jack Beatson (Brasenose, 1967). To mark this anniversary a dinner took place late in 2014 with the now Rt Hon Sir Jack Beatson QC FBA Lord Justice of Appeal, sometime Law Commissioner and

professor of law at the University of Cambridge and his wife Charlotte as guests of honour. It did seem to me that a good time was had by all. Among toasts drunk were toasts to Bernard Lofthouse and Richard Thomas, the two members of the year group whose whereabouts are unknown. We wish them well. We also took the opportunity to thank Jack for all he has done for the College.’

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group continue in good form. Bill Souster has been the host twice this year; well, to be fair, his wife Janet has been the organising force, with his 60th birthday celebrations in London in December and a weekend at their farm in Wales in May. The rest of the group continue as before: Rob Lewis, with his renewed interest in mathematics, is working towards a PhD and publishing papers; John Myatt is still gassing people for a living as a consultant in anaesthetics at Royal Bournemouth General; Bill Souster, as well as hosting parties, is syndicate actuary at Hardy, the Lloyds underwriter; Roger Urwin is Global Head of Investment Content at Towers Watson; David Melville continues to stick the knife in as consultant surgeon at St George’s Hospital, London; and Graham himself is working internationally on various oil, gas and mining projects, although he is also spending a great deal of time as a director of a multi-academy trust that runs schools in Devon.

Another regular to Postmaster is Neil Downie. ‘My wife Diane and I came along to present some practical demonstrations of science from Merton, at the 750th Anniversary last year. We presented to a large group of Mertonians and some of their children and enjoyed ourselves enormously. Some of the kids could definitely have done the show themselves! We had a model of the human circulation system discovered by William Harvey (1642, Warden 1645-6), a set of dominoes varying from two grams to 20 kilograms to illustrate the exponential growth uncovered by the Merton Calculators, while other demonstrations covered Merton heroes Roger Bannister (1946), Frederick Soddy (1919) and Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine (1921). I am still with Air Products Industrial Gases working on applications for sensors like molecular weight meters, which I think we should use in teaching chemistry, and I am still trying to push along the idea that all children should have exposure to practical science and engineering, should try taking something apart, try making something and try inventing something.’ Philip Endean, after 12 happy years back in Oxford at Campion Hall, moved on in 2013 to the Centre Sèvres, the Jesuit theological seminary in Paris. He finds it refreshing to be discovering a quite new academic culture. He would always be pleased to see contemporaries passing through Paris. Although distance from Oxford restricts his visits, Guy Johnson ‘did at last manage to bump into a fellow Mertonian, living nearby in the Grange district of Edinburgh. This was thanks to his wearing the College scarf to keep out the cold on a breezy Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, while he was on reception duty at the newly instituted Grange Fair. He was Dr Neil Davidson (1958), a retired physician and hospital consultant who matriculated in the early sixties, I think, and on whose ward I’d worked as an Edinburgh medical student in the early eighties, without having made the Merton connection. I myself have now retired and am

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Graham Kemp writes with news of his appointment to inaugural Director of the Liverpool Doctoral College, newly established to lead and coordinate doctoral training across the University of Liverpool.

Year Representative: Robert Peberdy 38 Randolph Street, Oxford, OX4 1XZ Tel: 01865 798107 Email: [email protected]

From the same source is news of Rob Mitchell, who writes: ‘Grayce and I are doing well, overall. A highlight of the past year was our time in Africa in April, a trip that included a week in Zambia and Zimbabwe as we visited the spectacular Victoria Falls. At the end of this month I conclude my term (eight years, all told) on the Management Committee of K&L Gates. Although Grayce and I are both enjoying our jobs, I doubt that we will be in them as long as my old boss, Judge Myron Bright. I just received a copy of his memoirs, written at age 95. He is the longest-serving federal judge in the country at this point, and he holds the all-time longevity record on the Eighth Circuit. The Seattle Rep put on All the Way and Great Society, both of which the Rep had co-sponsored with the Oregon Shakespeare Society. Those shows captured both the triumph and tragedy of LBJ. Then came Selma, unfairly passed over in the Oscars. I believe that our culture’s fascination with all things new threatens to blind us to the legacy of the past, or at least fosters the illusion that this legacy does not shape who we are and how we view the world today.’

Astonishingly, 40 years have now evaporated since our cohort (65 undergraduates, 15 graduates) started at Merton. Since college days, both Merton and the world have changed in predictable and unexpected ways, often from the 1980s onwards. The powerful female presence in 21st-century Merton was doubtless implicit in the decision to admit women taken in February 1978. But the changed nature of education itself, from a guided progression that ultimately winnowed out a few potential dons to something resembling a consumer commodity, could not perhaps have been anticipated. The decline of British manufacturing industry was all too evident in the 1970s in the relentless strikes, but not the future prominence of financial services. And did anyone in 1970s Britain foresee the coming pervasiveness of electronic technology: the computers, mobile phones, internet, emails and text messages that now absorb so much human attention? No one would have imagined that footballers would be paid sums that mock most honest toil. Most startling of all has been the rise of China, though perhaps this was signalled on 2 November 1979 by the visit to Merton of Chairman Hua Guo Feng. As for 1975 Mertonians, their lives have perhaps been less predictable and more varied than those of earlier and later generations because the world has changed so markedly. But they have predictably produced another generation of undergraduates (though apparently no Mertonians); and while only two have so far died, others are now passing away into the blissful state of retirement.

Pete Ratoff tells us that he ‘greatly enjoyed attending the 750th anniversary ball with my wife, Edwina. Since March of this year I have been Director of the Cockcroft Institute at the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire. The institute is the UK’s national centre for particle accelerator science and technology. I am still finding my feet in the new role but very much looking forward to the challenges ahead. Curiously, John Dainton (1966) was the first director of the Institute and Andy Wolski (1986), also an Old Mertonian, is a senior member.’

Cardiac surgeon Arif Ahsan continues to work long shifts at the Trent Cardiac Centre, Nottingham, and reports that his unit has been involved in testing a new anti-cholesterol antibody that is soon due for release. He is increasingly able to treat people in their 80s and 90s, though also has to deal with young adults whose conditions result from obesity. Simon Babbs retired from banking at the end of 2013 and is now an MA student in Philosophy at Loyola University of Chicago. On Sunday 16 November 2014 John Claughton, Chief Master

From the pen of Nick Allard comes news that Pete Kyle and Katherine have been sighted at a number of Rhodes and Oxford events around Washington, DC, including the annual Bon Voyage Weekend reception and luncheon. They are busy and thriving.

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of King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and his wife Alexandra dined in Hall with the Warden and Lady Taylor. John reports that: ‘the Warden could not have been more welcoming and charming’. One of his sons is reading Modern Languages at Magdalen College, and has emulated his father by winning a cricket blue. In early 2015 Alan Dolton was released into early retirement by LexisNexis. He has since undertaken more sports therapy work for his local running club in south London, and has been tidying his garden and ‘decluttering’ his house. As usual he has excelled in athletics championships, notably winning the South of England over-55 indoor 1,500-metre championship. Stephen Gardiner continues to help refugees from Syria who have made their way to various parts of Europe. On the musical front, he has given another concert in Brighton, and has been transcribing lots of music into braille for two students, often at short notice. The ‘retired’ gentleman-scholar of Putney, Dorian Gerhold has published an article about stage coaches in the august Economic History Review, and has completed a book about historical plans of London properties. He continues to be covertly dispatched on missions to foreign parts: in 2015 he participated in a workshop for newly elected MPs in Tunisia and visited Bahrain. The highlight of the latter trip was attendance at the majlis (weekly court) of the Crown Prince, which was ‘straight out of The Arabian Nights’. Yorkshireman and physicist Professor Nick Hitchon, famous for his appearances in the British Up television series, has been based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1982, and has three books and more than 100 scholarly articles to his name. He has also supervised ‘quite a few’ doctoral students who now hold posts across the USA and Europe. His distant location has made it hard to keep in touch with British friends and events, though he managed to watch the 2015 boat race in a British pub in Minneapolis. The Revd Dr Gordon Jeanes continues his busy ministry to parishioners in Wandsworth, including provision of support for traumatised people. He has confessed that he may well be related to the eminent Mertonian Bishop John Jewel (Merton, 1535-9). Chris Lewis, who is one of England’s foremost scholars on the Domesday Book, has been employed for a three-year research project, based at King’s College London, which is investigating the related ‘Exon Domesday’, a compendium of detailed information about estates in several

West Country shires. He was saddened by the death of his former Mertonian teacher at Burnley Grammar School David Clayton (1955); see In Memoriam. Mathematician Chris Mann’s recent thespian activities have included the role of Widow Twankey in Congleton Pantomime’s 2015 production of Aladdin. His bravura puzzled a reviewer: ‘how this guy bluffed [and] adlibbed his way through the show I don’t know … especially in the laundry scene which I have to say was absolutely hilarious.’ Veterans of Merton tutorials will no doubt understand the widow’s triumph.

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working more on environmental issues, especially climate change, particularly in these months leading up to the crucial Paris Conference in September.’

Professor Nicholas Mays of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine continues his important research into health policies. His 2014 report comparing the different systems in the UK received coverage during the Scottish Referendum and General Election campaigns. His latest publications include assessments of the Public Health Responsibility Deal, which Secretary of State Andrew Lansley developed mostly with businesses to improve health by taking action in the areas of food, alcohol, physical activity and health at work. Over in Baltimore, Professor Stephen Oppenheimer, also allegedly retired, is preparing his substantial new chapter on the insula for the Handbook of Physiology, including sections on emotion, learning and introspection ‘as recent data seem to implicate the insula and possibly its autonomic characteristics in these processes’. He and his wife Susan have also been travelling to exotic places, such as New Orleans where Stephen enjoyed the jellyfish exhibit in the aquarium. Other destinations have included St Andrews University, which, as the home of the eminent professors Tom Wright and Andrew Pettegree (1976), must seem like a Merton outstation. Crispin Poyser, who manages the Overseas Office of the House of Commons, has been joined in his work, as his ‘opposite number’ for the House of Lords, by none other than Mertonian Simon Burton (1983). Joint expeditions scheduled for 2015 included visits to Yellowknife (Canada) and Islamabad (Pakistan). Sharp-eyed viewers of the Commons on TV may have noticed Crispin, bewigged and begowned, administering oaths to new MPs in May and helping to run the chamber at other times. David Salter remains in touch with friends in Egypt, and plans to visit a very poor (because mainly Christian) village in Middle Egypt in January 2016. Christians in nearby villages have been killed

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In 2014 Professor Chris Wickham (Lecturer in Medieval History 1975-6) was awarded the British Academy’s Serena Medal for ‘eminent services towards the furtherance of the study of Italian history, literature, art or economics’. Oxford University Press has published his new book Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150, which seeks to unravel ‘the complexities of Roman cultural identity’. Peter Wickstead continues to lead an active and varied life following retirement from the Metropolitan Police Service. Finally, a bard of ‘75, Stephen Wilson, reports that he served as a trustee of The Poetry Society from 2011 to 2014. Now he is free of office, perhaps he might compose a heroic saga for a future 1975 article – or, perhaps more appropriately for 1975 Mertonians, some limericks.

1976

Year Representative: John Gardner The Orchard House, Witherslack, Cumbria, LA11 6RS Tel: 01539 552 232 Email: [email protected] Thanks again to everyone who sent an update this year. Many are happily continuing what they’ve been doing for some time, including David Pitman litigating in LA; Ioannis Karampasis weathering the storm at his Athens-based environmental services company; Tim Matthews QC in Nova Scotia, now a member of the International Academy of Estate & Trust Lawyers and the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners; Adrian Schweitzer, classics and maths teacher at Tonbridge School, who was one of the England over-55 hockey team that won the home internationals in Belfast this year; and Peter Bernie, still prospering at specialist marine and war insurer Charles Taylor plc (although wondering whether a brand name consultant might be worth a call). Robin Barraclough, a district judge in Huddersfield, content

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that his football team is in the Championship and with grandchildren keeping him alternately young and exhausted, is now sanguine about what Michael Gove has in store for him. Also in Huddersfield, Bob Holbrey has left fleet services business FMG after 17 years there. As with John Gardner, who waved a similar happy goodbye to his employer this summer, retirement is tempting but he suspects that family members may have a different view. Expect the next update to include re-launched careers. Retirement, the reality or the prospect, is a definite theme this year. Jonathan Stephenson already has a list of where to visit when he decides to stop being an IT consultant and wife Rowan retires from teaching Classical Civilisation and Latin. Daughter Bethany has followed the family tradition (Jonathan also used to teach) by teaching English to southern Italians, and daughter Hannah Silva is a performance poet and playwright. Master brewer Jeremy Horton has hung up his hops, relocated to rural Staffordshire, spent months in Jordan, trekked the Corsica Ridge and was last seen progressing through France and Spain in a camper van. Geoff Lee lives in Macclesfield and Aveyron, where he and Jane recently celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Recently retired from the biomedical industry, his main occupation now is chauffeuring an old grey dog through France in an older grey Volvo. Son Alex is a medic in Southampton and daughter Joanne works in London in fine art and law. John Prior also writes from France, where the interweb allows him to run his business from home in the Loire valley. Having swapped trading for technology 20 years ago, he is still involved with the City, but now develops software that helps firms to manage changes in regulations. Litigator Simon Congdon, long-time partner at Holman Fenwick Willan, has retired from the law. But he still spends a lot of time in the City, running groups at St Helen’s Church in Bishopsgate. And after a career managing social services departments, Ralph Ashton left Derbyshire County Council last year. He now has time to keep up with the publications of his contemporaries, including Andrew Pettegree, Professor of Modern History at St Andrews, whose The Invention of News was a big hit in 2014. Having spent the last few years writing on the history of printing, Andrew has now turned his attention back to the Reformation (he has form here) in time to catch the wave building for the 500th anniversary in

2017. As for more recent history, his eldest daughter has just started at university and he is recovering from the trauma of teaching in Scotland during the referendum there. He’s not the only one. Paleontologist Mike Taylor, now semi-retired and back home near Edinburgh but keeping his hand in with research roles at the University of Leicester and National Museums Scotland, found himself writing more pieces about the referendum last year than about plesiosaurs. Having enjoyed the experience, look out for more citizen journalism from him. News now from two regulators. Jeremy Richardson writes from Wellington, where he lives with wife Tamar and two teenage children. A New Zealand citizen these days, he works at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on banking regulation and compliance, following similar roles at the Financial Services Authority and Bank of England. Antony Townsend, having relinquished his job as Chief Executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority last year, has gone plural with non-executive roles. These include Complaints Commissioner for Financial Services, where he regulates the regulators, chairing regulatory boards for accountants and surveyors and sitting on the board of the uber-regulator for health and social care. Executive management skills are confined to his six children and four chickens. Another multi-tasker is Anthony Levy who, along with many other things, is now Chairman of Self Management UK. Previously known as the Expert Patients Programme, this big charity is the NHS’s go-to place for anyone with a longterm health condition. After Merton and Harvard, Rob Forage worked first in the Australian biotech industry, then wider in the commercialisation of technology, including research management and private equity. A bushwalker, he and Annie live in the Blue Mountains behind Sydney. Since 2009 he has run UNSW Global, a subsidiary of the University of New South Wales, which delivers education consulting, pre-university education and language training across the Asia-Pacific region. You don’t often see ‘grandfather’, ‘100-mile bike ride’ and ‘videolog’ in the same sentence but Dan Rickman, data architect at BAE Systems, has managed it. His latest ride for

World Jewish Relief is in August and his blog (‘Lone Voice of Reason’) is now a ‘vlog’. Nigel Metcalfe, astrophysicist at Durham University, has been appointed a trustee of the Kielder Public Observatory following the award of ‘dark-sky’ status to that patch of Northumberland. His outreach activities were further boosted when Paul Merton on Have I Got News For You cited his paper ‘Supervoid May Explain Gargantuan Cold Spot – The Biggest Thing in the Universe is a Cosmic Hole’. Another TV celeb watching the night skies is Robert Hannah, Dean of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Waikato, who recently appeared on the History Channel to explain how the Romans used astronomy. Married to Pat, and with two children and two grandsons, his research remains centred on time in antiquity but has now been added to by Maori astronomy.

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recently by Islamic extremists. As a Plymouth city councillor, David is now dealing with community cohesion as well as adult social care, working with Muslim residents and asylum seekers to improve understanding. Neil Smith lately enjoyed a Theoretical Physics Day at Oxford. His recent work has included experiments involving a 200-ton crane.

Parker Shipton is Professor of Anthropology and Research Fellow in African Studies at Boston University, having done a PhD at Cambridge and taught at Harvard after leaving Merton. He writes on the history of ideas and intercultural relations, and was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences at Stanford and visiting fellow at All Souls more recently. Ian McVeigh has stepped back from the full-on running of funds at Jupiter Asset Management to become Head of Governance there instead, giving him a little time to do some charity work also. His role means he isn’t supposed to say where in the world he invests his own £, but a clue could be that he’s busy learning Sinhalese. Or that might have something to do with his appointment as a trustee of the Commonwealth Education Trust. After 20 years on Lambeth Council, including four years as its leader, Liberal Democrat Peter Truesdale lost his seat in the 2014 local elections. He was awarded the OBE for community and political services in the 2015 New Year Honours and continues as a director at consultancy business Corporate Citizenship. One of his specialisms there is tax as a corporate responsibility issue, a topic that will likely have been dealt with over the years by Chris Coombe, who returned to England in 2012 after four years running investment companies in Abu Dhabi, resuming a City career as Chief Financial Officer at fund manager City Financial. Now busy planning the launch

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Someone else taking work-life balance seriously is John Bland, as befits a director of an HR consultancy, Global Integration Ltd. Recent activities include playing cello for the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra, rowing the length of the Thames in a camping skiff and obtaining a certificate in sheep shearing. By contrast, Charles Wookey is just hitting his stride as a corporate player. Still assistant general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, he is now also majorly busy as CEO of Blueprint for Better Business, a faith-based charity that nudges large companies to take people as seriously as profit. Final update this year from the business world is from Neil Craggs whose Tamworth bodybuilding company (trucks, not torsos) has diversified from specialising in fire engine bodies to also making portable shower blocks for the event hire industry. Fastidious 50-something glampers at Glastonbury (you know who you are) are thankful. Having now built a sizeable team he looks forward to being a seagull manager (yes, I had to look it up too). Carlos Picon writes from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he celebrates 25 years as Head of the Department of Greek and Roman Art. His next big exhibition will be Pergamon and the Art of the Hellenistic Kingdoms in April. Bob Cotton (day job: Rector of Guildford Holy Trinity & St Mary’s) is moonlighting as a tour guide. Latest assignments include taking a dozen teenagers to work in townships near Johannesburg, showing 25 pilgrims around Istanbul and the ‘Seven Churches of Asia’ and guiding 80 on a choir tour to Norwich. A long-time member of the General Synod, he was recently elected to the Archbishops’ Council.

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Professor of Neuroscience, is due to leave Oxford for Los Angeles to help run UCLA’s ‘Depression Grand Challenge’, a research initiative to discover the biological causes of misery. He hopes the sunshine and margaritas don’t get in the way.

appealed to my patriotic side and the desire for a change. I have had some football experience; I got my Level 1 (basic) coaching badge and was on the Board of Leicester City for a few years but they were looking for someone with some fresh perspective and I got the job.

1977

‘Never during the interview process with the FA, however, did I disclose the terrible fact of my having being the first Mertonian to be sent off playing for the College (two yellow cards for two late challenges. My defence to the ref that fateful day that I got to each tackle as fast as I could didn’t appeal to his sense of humour).’

Year Representative: Edmund Wright Herries, Winter Hill Road, Cookham Dean, Berkshire, SL6 6PJ Tel: 01628 488065 Email: [email protected] We have one major update this year, from George Hudson. George is currently a non-stipendiary fellow at Harris Manchester College and has been involved with the college for 25 years. He retired from banking in 1995, being at that time a managing director of Barclay’s Investment Bank. In the 1980s he was a director on the international side of the former merchant bank Morgan Grenfell, which he joined shortly after leaving Merton. George has been married for 28 years to Heather Kerungi Mukombe Mpambara of Kigezi, Uganda. They have two children, Hal and Eleanor; Eleanor and her husband, Ben, have a two-year-old son, George Hudson Page. George and Heather live at Wick-juxta-Pershore, near to their daughter and many paternal relatives. In January 2015 Paul Smith became President and CEO of the CFA Institute. He still lives in Hong Kong but spends 40% of his time in the USA and 20% in Europe. Matthew Lonsdale, not content with balancing a triangular life of work, home and the courts as a JP, has applied for membership of the Independent Monitoring Board for Brixton prison and is currently awaiting approval from the Secretary of State.

Alister McGrath, erstwhile Oxford University Professor of Historical Theology and more recently Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education at King’s College London, is back in Oxford as Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion and Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion.

1978

Also returning to Oxford is Christopher Duggan, Professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Reading. Having recently set up the Centre for Italian History at Reading, he takes up a two-year fellowship at All Souls in October. Which is when Jonathan Flint, Merton Fellow and Michael Davys

Your rep starts his report this year with an exclusive piece of sporting news. ‘Some career news,’ writes Martin Glenn. ‘I joined the Football Association in May as Chief Executive. It’s a big change from the world of packaged goods but it

Year Representative: Mark Davison 37 Connaught Square, London, W2 2HL Tel: 020 3216 9688 Email: [email protected]

Many of you have been on the move this year. Ivor Alex writes: ‘I moved to Miami with my family at the beginning of the year to develop an office for my group over here. The Miami office will cover the domestic US market and Latin America for executive search in the financial services, technology, legal and accounting sectors. I will continue to manage my European operations in London, Geneva, Monaco and Paris from my Miami base. We’re finding it more difficult than expected to settle in to the US but we’re gradually getting there!’ Stuart Earl has also moved. ‘Last summer Claire and I moved after 13 years in the North Shields and Whitley Bay Methodist Circuit for me to become Superintendent Minister of the North West Durham Circuit. It includes the towns of Consett and Stanley but we are living in the delightful village of Lanchester. Our two daughters have now finished university and have found jobs they enjoy: Ami is a paediatric nurse at Great Ormond Street and pays her entire wage to live in a little flat in Highbury (good job her partner has a job to help pay the other bills); Naomi lives in Swindon with her husband Ben, and she works for the Bible Society HQ there but goes all over the world for them.’ Paul Curtis Hayward has been doing some serious sailing. ‘I rather foolishly agreed to sail across the Atlantic with a couple of Lincoln chaps. We completed a fairly uneventful voyage from Gran Canaria to St Lucia in 21 days, arriving just before Christmas. Apart from having to divert 500 miles to the Cape Verde islands to fix our steering, all went well. 3,300 nautical miles at six to eight knots meant a lot of staring at the horizon. We caught a couple of fish, had a laugh and got drunk on rum punches on arrival (dry voyage).’

Martin Jones writes in. ‘The highlight of the year so far must be spending February in Cuba. We stayed in private houses and learnt a lot about the country, the people and history. The music was great but our salsa less successful, which provides a good excuse to go back! A close second was a recent visit to Tehran to give a talk to a group in industry (with the help of an interpreter). My delegates were both insightful and illuminating to speak with, as well as being excellent hosts, and I hope further visits will follow. ‘My other main theme this year is increasing my fitness levels in an attempt at the Majorca Ironman. I am now fully realising the scale of this challenge and wonder if I should have tried it many years ago, but some comfort is that at least it should be warm when I do it. My two sons are getting on well, one an economist working in analytics (I am meant to understand this!) and the other training to become a screenwriter. So creativity with both numbers and words, perhaps.’

MERTONIANS | 1977 & 1978

of his own accountancy and consulting practice, the business plan appears to include more tennis and golf.

Paul Mills writes: ‘Well done to all for the Merton 750th anniversary celebrations. The Mexican (Dr Fernando Cervantes PhD etc.) and myself enjoyed a wine lunch in Oxford to celebrate. We drank a toast to all our Merton friends. For the last 11 years I have been in the finance industry as a consultant, teleworking with clients from my home in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. I enjoy mathematics and chess, especially on www.chess.com which I thoroughly recommend. I have an FIDE International Chess rating. You can see some of my chess games as the chess.com player ‘firstsystem’.’ Nick Sandford (Biochemistry) contacts me for the first time: ‘I am currently working as a Government Affairs Officer for the Woodland Trust in Grantham. I live in Peterborough and have done so since 1984. I have been a Lib Dem councillor on Peterborough City Council since 1996 and am currently leader of the Lib Dem group and chair of the Sustainable Growth and Environment Capital Scrutiny Committee. I am also a board member of the Peterborough Environment City Trust and a member of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club.’ Here at the Davisons’ the hectic schedule continues with no signs of letting up. Our three children are growing up fast with the eldest having already finished her first year at Cornell in the States and she returns home for the long summer break with a strange pronunciation of common words like basil. I’ve

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If you’re in London, do drop by to say hello.

1979

Year Representative: Noel Privett Email: [email protected] 1979, in which we hear Dave is on the road again, a term like Alice, what have I done to deserve this? Greece is the word, Merton always shines on TV, I want to ride my bicycle, and ding dong! the bells are gonna chime. You know you’re in trouble when Frank Dean’s response to a request for his year’s news is: ‘Sorry had nothing,’ but you can always rely on Dave King to keep the excitement levels up. Indeed, he reports that he has passed his driving test (as he promised in last year’s Postmaster), so we do have something exhilarating to contemplate. He tells me he still hasn’t graduated to motorways, so I can’t wait for next year’s Postmaster when I can update you on that. Meanwhile, at the time of writing, Dave’s daughter, Alice, had just finished her first year at Mansfield College reading English. ‘It’s been very enjoyable watching her go through the Oxford experience, 35 years after we started at Merton,’ says Dave. (And when most of us could already drive, Dave.) Mark Fiddes’ son Alec has completed his second year at Bristol doing Philosophy while playing semi-pro football for Weymouth FC. His other son Sergi is still at Dulwich College, and is intending to follow Philosophy too. ‘Where did I go wrong?’ asks Mark. He left the world of big advertising networks to set up IdeaMotel, creating campaigns for The Week, Hearst magazines and McVitie’s. He adds: ‘Surprisingly, as a result

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of winning their annual award, Templar Poetry launched my first collection The Chelsea Flower Show Massacre this March at Keats’ House in Hampstead.’

1980

Armand D’Angour has been on leave from Jesus College, where he is Tutor in Classics, conducting a research project into the sounds of ancient Greek music. His investigations have taken him to Greece and Sardinia, where musicians still play on instruments similar to ancient Greek counterparts such as the aulos (double-pipe). He has also presented the fruits of his research in lectures across the UK, USA, and Europe, and on his website www.armand-dangour.com.

1981

In May he featured in a BBC TV 4 film on Sappho, presented by Margaret Mountford (formerly of The Apprentice), describing how Sappho’s singing would have sounded. Having benefited from sight-correction laser surgery by top surgeon Julian Stevens (1977), Armand was pleased to make his first TV appearance without glasses. He has also joined the Development Committee of Classics for All, a charity dedicated to fostering the teaching of Classics in state schools that has to date given funding to teachers in more than 200 schools. Roger Hillas is still working as a web developer on the central tracking database for post-secondary student aid in the United States. His recent accomplishments include creating a data feed that allows students to view their student loan debt on their mobile devices. By the time you read this, he hopes not only to have completed his fourth Paris-Brest-Paris long-distance bike ride in August but also to have met ‘any old Mertonians taking part in this great event’. In a way, though, I hope he didn’t run into Dave. Last year, I – Noel Privett – reported that our elder daughter, Florence, was marrying her chap, Rick Lupton. I can now tell you that by the time you read this our other daughter, Esther, will have married her chap, Sean Main. Thank you for listening. Next year, I hope to bring you “Wir fahr’n, fahr’n, fahr’n auf der Autobahn”. Ah, they don’t write them like that anymore. ‘…Before us is a wide valley/The sun shines with glittering rays/The road is a grey band/White stripes, green edge.’ Thankfully.

Year Representative: Natalie Miller Email: [email protected]

Year Representative: Graham Dwyer c/o Asian Development Bank, 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, Manila, 1550 Philippines Tel: 0063 999 999 4961 Email: [email protected] I say this every year, but I can’t believe another 12 months have flown by since the last round of updates from the 1981 matriculands at Merton. The 750th anniversary year has come and gone and am sorry that, from my distant perch more than 6,000 miles away, I missed out on the excitement. As always, it was a pleasure to get updates from my contemporaries during the year.

Meanwhile, Ken Regan gave a computer science seminar in Oxford about quantum computation in June and later came by Merton to visit Steve Gunn (1979). Ken was en route to Sardinia for a meeting of the World Chess Federation’s commission to combat cheating with computers at chess. Great also to hear from Ben Summerskill, who was appointed Director of the Criminal Justice Alliance in January 2015, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British LGBT Awards in April 2015. The Grenoble-based Valentina Dufau-Joel (née Hopewell) updated me about her recent trip to Cuba. ‘Hubby Fred and I joined a Salsa dancing course for a week in Santiago, followed by a week in Baracoa (a sleepy town on the extreme eastern tip of the island, past Guantanamo), and finishing by crossing practically the whole of Cuba on a bus,’ she writes. As shown in the photo, she found herself a set of suitably hot retro wheels there too.

MERTONIANS | 1979, 1980 & 1981

continued to be active on the road bike, slowed up for a month or two by breaking my collarbone in a race last July. I am currently training for the Pru London 100-mile ride in August, and was lucky enough to spend eight days in May cycling the 1,200 km from Catania in Sicily to Rome. I can confirm that Italy is seriously mountainous (17,000m of elevation on our route) although the delicious food and wine, and amazing scenery, did make all the effort on the bike worthwhile.

David Clapp is still teaching in Rome and facing up to life as his children start to leave the nest for university. Congratulations to Jeffrey Greenman who was appointed President of Regent College, University of British Columbia, Canada. Stage versions of Mark Haddon’s best-seller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time are spreading around the globe. There is a National Theatre production in London, one on a UK tour, and one on Broadway, as well as more than 30 foreign language productions. And talking of a literary connection, Jesse Norman was re-elected as MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, increasing his majority from 2,481 to 16,890, with 53% of the vote! Meanwhile, the US and UK paperback editions of his biography of Burke were published. Always happy to hear from my old tutorial partner Nicki Paxman who is still at the BBC, ‘attempting to coax interesting stories out of international artists for the World Service,’ she writes. ‘Apart from that, there is family life, mild property obsession and vaguely wondering if I will get around to scuba diving again any time soon!’

Valentina Dufau-Joel finds some hot wheels in Cuba

Meanwhile, for Catherine Rendon, a visit to her mother’s rekindled some memories when she found an old photograph with Dr Roger Highfield taken during Eights Week about 30 years ago. ‘It was a gloriously sunny day and I had just broken up with some fool and soon forgot about all that. The hat was a cheap hat from Portugal and the dress a thrift shop find from Summertown,’ she writes. She reports that she still has a longstanding correspondence with Dr Highfield. ‘Upon my return to Savannah I found a cache of his letters and just yesterday I sent him a letter. I’m hoping to visit Dr Highfield this summer should I get to the UK.’ Which tutors do you still keep in contact with? Perhaps let me know for the next issue.

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Year Representative: Nick Weller Flat 12 North Ash, Hawthorn Close, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 2BW Tel: 01403 269883 Email: [email protected] Looking forward to meeting up at the Gaudy in 2016. A vintage photo of Catherine Rendon with Dr Roger Highfield

Being based in Manila, Catherine has my sympathy, as it is easy to lose touch. But am glad to say I was able to visit the College and Music Faculty in April 2015 along with my old college mate Paul Duggan, who this year ‘re-entered the fray of parttime study at Brookes University and found a new intellectual passion, for econometrics. Meanwhile, as a piano tuner, I am further developing my Equal Beating Equal Temperament, to be recorded in performance over the summer,’ he says. As for myself, I am more normally in Manila on the second year of special leave from the IMF. Am glad to say during my first 12 months in the Philippines, I have rekindled my music career, making appearances on harpsichord continuo with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, as soloist with the Manila Symphony Orchestra, in a live radio performance, and in numerous small chamber concerts.

Tony Halse is working at Citi Australia as Head of Markets and Securities Services Technology for Australia and New Zealand. Tony manages all the systems that are used on the institutional side of the business, covering various types of trading (equities, foreign exchange). Tony’s wife, Desiree, works for a local financial planning firm and his two children attend the local primary school in Sydney. John Holland is working on IT innovations at the Home Office and has completed the first year of his MSc. His twins have just started school. Bridget Jager and Michael (1983) moved to California almost two years ago. Initially they lived in Newport Beach, but are now living in San Diego, where Michael is working for Qualcomm. Bridget and Michael have been able to do some travelling as well. They’ve been to Seattle, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, and driven the California coast road from San Francisco to Orange County. They enjoyed the MC3 reunion in New York. Congratulations to Peter Kessler on being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for ‘services to education’. Peter has been involved in founding a primary school in north London and is currently involved in trying to set up a professorship in sequential art at Oxford. Randall Martin’s book, Shakespeare and Ecology, is due to come out with OUP in September 2015.

Graham Dwyer makes his first appearance on harpsichord in a gala concert with the Manila Symphony Orchestra

I welcome hearing from everybody, so please do keep me updated on your lives – work, family and leisure – for inclusion in next year’s Postmaster.

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Peter Moger preached at the dedication of the new organ in Merton Chapel in 2014 and contributed some psalm settings for the chapel to the Merton Choir Book. In 2014 Jatindra Nayak organised a national seminar on publishing and editing at the Department of English, Utkal University. He presented a paper on Gopinath Mohanty at a seminar in Delhi organised by Sahitya Akademi, the Indian

National Academy of Letters. Jatindra has published excerpts from his English translation of the 15th-century Odia epic Sarala Mahabharata and is currently editing an issue of margASIA, the journal of the Centre of Asian Studies, which focuses on Israel. James Thickett’s son, Peter, came up to Merton in October 2014 to study Music. Laura Thompson’s book, A Different Class of Murder, about the Lord Lucan case, was published in November 2014. Laura’s new book, Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters, is due to be published in October 2015. Condolences to Richard Dawson on Charlotte’s death. Charlotte is well remembered by members of our year. Sorry also to hear, just before going to print, the sad news of the death of Merrell Noden (see In Memoriam, page 192).

1983

Year Representative: Meriel Cowan 40 Ash Grove, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9JL Tel: 01865 762458 Email: [email protected] Philippa (née Ghaut) and Andrew Baker are still based in Godalming. Philippa continues to work in primary education: ‘I have taken on a year’s contract as a reception class teacher three days a week which is taking a lot of my time up but it is lovely to have a bigger role in a classroom’. Andrew continues to practise at 20 Essex Street, but travels a lot in the UK and abroad. They both enjoyed the Merton events, particularly the Conversations with Brian Cox and Stephen Fry. Fraser Dillingham writes that he is retiring from Accenture after 28 and a half years’ service since soon after coming down from Merton. He says he will be playing more golf and watching more cricket, as well as spending more time in the Lakes. ‘I know that I don’t want another full-time role but it will be interesting to see how much I yearn to get back into things and get some form of part-time job.’ In the meantime he is planning a lengthy holiday without worrying too much what comes next, and at some point a trip to New Zealand is on the cards – ideally in conjunction with an England cricket tour. I think you will make a lot of people jealous,

Fraser! Fraser still sees quite a lot of Richard Weaver, David Carwardine (1982) and Toby Thurston (1981). Gordon Harris is still living in Canada. ‘This year’s main event has been the birth of my first grandchild Evren Leo, to my wonderful daughter Sarah and husband Gürkan.’ Gordon and Heather are planning a trip to England later this year: ‘I look forward to taking in a few football and cricket matches and visiting old friends.’ I was so pleased to hear from Michael Jager. He reports that he and Bridget (née Mills, 1982) moved to Newport Beach, California, in October 2013. ‘I was working for Broadcom at the time but have since moved to San Diego as I changed jobs last summer and I’m now working for Qualcomm who are based there.’ Bridget does not have a work visa so he comments that she is forced to spend her time going to the beach and playing tennis. Their daughter Evie works in London and their son Martin is studying at Manchester University, although he will have a year at the University of North Carolina as a foreign exchange student starting in August 2015. Bridget and Michael attended the MC3 weekend in New York in April and hope to join next year’s one in Washington.

MERTONIANS | 1982 & 1983

1982

Dan Seymour has been pursuing his passion for fishing further afield. Based in Connecticut, he works in New York but recently he got back from a week of fishing for Peacock Bass at the Ecolodge de Barre in the Amazon, Brazil. The lodge is about 350 miles south of Manaus and the flight down crosses nothing but jungle and rivers. ‘It’s a truly remote place and the wildlife and scenery are incredible. The fantastic fishing was an additional bonus.’ Richard Weaver reports that he is ‘still a humble wageslave’ but he does have a wonderful view from the office as he looks ‘across the river as the sun descends over the London Eye’. Family is as ever hugely fulfilling as well as occasionally stressful. ‘Freddie (11) and Verity (8 going on 18) are extremely bright but hardly conventional children so they keep Hannah and me on our toes.’ Simon Cowan and I celebrated our silver wedding last year and were delighted to see Paul Chavasse, Susan (née Harris) and Michael Roller, Michael Everett and Sarah Crofts (who now live in Oxford), Ian Andrews and Andrew Baker, as well as

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Moving to higher education, Diane Purkiss writes that she was granted the title Professor of English Literature at Oxford in the 2015 Recognition of Distinction exercise. She continues as Director of Studies in English at Keble College, where she is a Fellow and Tutor.

From left: Michael Tappin (1982), Sarah Crofts, Michael Everett, Meriel Cowan, Simon Cowan, Kate Bennett (1984) and Lucy Binney (1985)

Robert Wilkinson wrote to note that four of the 1984 matriculants in Physiological Sciences (Medicine) who came up to Merton from either Cambridge or London are now Professors, these being: (1) Anthony Scott, Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; (2) Gavin Screaton, until recently Professor of Medicine at Imperial College London, now Dean of the Faculty of Medicine; (3) Bassim Hassan, Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Oxford; and (4) Robert Wilkinson, Professor in Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London and Honorary Professor in Medicine, University of Cape Town. Robert remarks that this constitutes quite a good hit rate for Merton!

1984

Year Representative: David Clark 19 Willowdene Court, Brentwood, Essex, CM14 5ET Email: [email protected] History has a funny way of repeating itself. Ten years ago, I emailed John Newton to congratulate him on his 40th birthday, and he surprised me with the news of his appointment to the headship of Taunton School. This year, the message in response to my 50th birthday greeting told me that he was on the move again, this time to run Scotch College in Adelaide, Australia! John took up his new position in January 2015. Another of our year in the education business is David Turner. On leaving Merton in 1987, he was appointed to a one-year temporary post teaching Music at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. He’s still there 28 years later, although his job has evolved. He is still school organist, and teaches some Music, but for the last decade or so he’s been very involved with ICT, teaching Computing, running the School’s Information Management System and acting as Webmaster. Four years ago, Rachel Fawthrop (née Ker) also joined the Merchiston staff.

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Continuing on the education theme, one of my fellow chemists, Stephen Ashworth, emailed to say that he is now a Reader at UEA and Head of the Natural Science programme there. He spent January to April 2013 in South Africa during which time he drove 11,000 km and spoke to about 10,000 people on the ‘Kitchen Chemistry’ Outreach Project in association with Scifest Africa. Outside work, Stephen still plays the trombone and helped a local band last year at the National Brass Band Championships in Cheltenham, where they managed to come third in the Third Section. Late last year, he helped form a new band that has already won the regional competition for the Fourth Section and will be going to Cheltenham again for the National Championships in September. One of his daughters is at the stage of starting to consider universities so it looks as if the summer will involve a number of visits to open days. (Given that many of us will be in this position, perhaps some of us will bump into each other at such events!) Finally in the education section, David Smith got in touch to say that he is to be the Editor-in-Chief of a new journal whose focus is the relationship between Christianity and educational theory and practice and will be housed at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan). The International Journal of Christianity & Education (IJCE) is sponsored by the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and Graduate Studies in Education at Calvin (David is the director of the

Kuyers Institute and director of Graduate Studies in Education). IJCE will be published three times a year by SAGE Publications.

David Smith standing on the Commons Lawn with the Hekman Library of Calvin College in the background

Away from education, Andrew Phillips writes that he continues to work as Rural Director of Finance at the Duchy of Cornwall. This year, he has returned to studying, having enrolled on the Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Fitting this in with a full-time job is a challenge, but stimulating. It also meant he could watch the Boat Race confident of his team winning! Amanda (née Braddock, 1985) and Andrew still live in Wells, Somerset. Their two eldest daughters are now at university. Andrew and Amanda enjoyed catching up with Mertonians at the Birthday Weekend celebrations last September, and have seen Ruth Madden (née Taylor) with her children recently. Like many from the 1984 matriculation, Andrew turned 50 recently and wonders where the years have gone.

The Gardens team at Merton with the new oak tree planted on Chestnut Lawn in memory of Nigel Veitch

Finally, the news of the tragic death of my friend Nigel Veitch broke as last year’s Postmaster was going to press (see In Memoriam). My wife and I were joined at Nigel’s funeral in September 2014 by Michael Chapman and his wife, Carolyn

(née Fenwick, 1986) and Father Andrew Pinsent. It was a solemn honour for me to give the eulogy for my friend of nearly 30 years. I’m grateful to those who have contributed towards a fund set up in memory of Nigel, which has raised nearly £750. One of the results of this is a sturdy oak sapling that has been planted on Chestnut Lawn to replace the tree that stood there for many years. I was able to see the new tree on a recent visit to College. The Head Gardener, Lucille Savin, writes more about this elsewhere in this issue of Postmaster (see ‘The Gardens’). Thanks are also due to the staff of the Development Office, particularly Lauren Kendall and Peter O’Connor, for helping with arrangements for the collection and disbursement of this fund.

MERTONIANS | 1984 & 1985

Jason Rawkins (1984) and Kath McQuail (1984). I celebrated my 50th birthday a few weeks ago and had a very low-key drinks party with good friends who live locally. Mertonians often don’t move very far away: I realised that there were seven of us standing in my garden, by coincidence.

As ever, I’m grateful to all those who’ve been in contact this year with news. Please feel free to get in touch at any time via the email address above.

1985

Year Representative: Ben Prynn Email: [email protected] Chris Hehir is now the father of three children. Phoebe Maureen Monica Hehir was born on 8 May at UCL Hospital in London: a sister for Lily (4) and Austin (2). Proving once again that it is a small world, my second daughter, Isobel, was born two days later in the same hospital. This follows my marriage last year to Dr Victoria Johnston of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. To accommodate the expanded family we have moved to Queen’s Park in north-west London. After 25 years at major international law firms including 13 years as a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, Elizabeth Uwaifo has set up a legal and consultancy firm: Radix Legal and Consulting Ltd. Jo Woods became the Chief Financial Officer of the Francis Crick Institute in February and is desperately trying to remember the biochemistry she first learnt 30 years ago. Meanwhile in Washington DC, Mark Medish is Chief Executive Officer of the Messina Group International. Rachel Quantrill (née Gillain) is currently working in alternative education, teaching history and English to

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Adam Broun has joined a start-up technology company called Kensho as the Chief Operating Officer. It’s now two years old and Adam says he is having a lot of fun working for a small company after so many years of big firms. Pete Kettlewell is senior partner of Chipping Norton Veterinary Hospital which treats all types of animals from dogs and cats to wolves, crocodiles, giraffes, snowy owls and penguins etc. His daughter Poppy (17) is about to leave St Edward’s School, Oxford, and his son Fin (19) is in his first year of reading International Politics at university. His wife Kate is head of science at the Dragon School, Oxford. Finally I am afraid I have to report the very sad news that Bill Leitch, who studied physics, died on Sunday 28 June. His funeral took place at St Marylebone Crematorium in London on Tuesday 7 July. He leaves behind his wife, Jenny, and two children, Henry and Charlotte. His In Memoriam will appear in next year’s edition of Postmaster.

1986

Year Representatives: Julee Kaye Tel: 001 605 224 8852 Email: [email protected] and Simon Male Tel: 001 845 548 7825 Email: [email protected] Alex Williams has launched Animation Apprentice (www. animationapprentice.org), an online animation school teaching the art of 3D character and creature animation. Eddie Vaizey was re-elected MP for Wantage, and reappointed as UK Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy. Matthew Rycroft is now the British Ambassador to the UN in New York. Adrian Judge is running Tolvik Consulting, a consultancy for investors in the waste sector, and doing his best to support

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his local community centre, the Chantry Centre in Dursley, Gloucestershire. Fiona Murray is Associate Dean for Innovation at MIT, and was awarded the CBE this year for her work advising on innovation and entrepreneurship policy as part of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. This also gives her the opportunity to visit the UK on a regular basis. Jeremy Cooper left his position as Commercial Director for Stagecoach after 14 years, and is now Managing Director of Ipswich Buses. His family is remaining in Kent for the time being, where they are actively involved with their Methodist Church, and the Invicta Wind Orchestra, which Jeremy has run since 1989. Simon Male is Head of Asian Equity Sales at Auerbach Grayson, and has made regular television appearances on CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg Television discussing China’s economy and stock market. Though widely dispersed, members of the 1986 MCR express a common interest in unusual weather patterns. Ricardo Bianconi is a professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where he works on mathematical logic and mathematical education. Ricardo married Suely Midori Hatakeyama in 1992 and they are currently enjoying a summer-like winter. Lionel Hogg is a partner in a corporate law firm in Brisbane, and is currently adapting an award-winning book for the screen. Lionel and Kristin have three great kids aged 7-17. Eric Olson is celebrating ten years at Business for Social Responsibility this year. In preparation for the UN summit in Paris in December, Eric is very busy working with multinational companies, NGO partners and government on the development programmes and policies needed to address global climate change. In his free time, he is praying for rain in California and wondering whether the coming entry of his children to college and high school means that he himself must somehow have ‘grown up’ by now. Daniel Schaffer thanks (now Lord Justice) Jack Beatson (Brasenose, 1962) for the part-time trusts teaching that he enjoyed at Merton, Balliol and St Hilda’s while starting his legal career in London. He became a partner specialising

in pension trusts at Freshfields before heading the pension trusts team at Herbert Smith Freehills since 2010. Daniel is married with three teenage boys. His Merton nostalgia was recently fuelled by a Benefactors’ Day lunch in College and he now hopes to support second-year mooting and cameo trusts teaching at Merton. Pippa Vanderstar (New College, 1986; Merton, 1991) pursued archaeology overseas for several years before settling happily in a Philadelphia suburb. Inspired by the excellent supervision of Dr JJ Coulton (1979) at Merton, Pippa became a tutor and now tutors most subjects in high school while also helping students with those dreaded standardised tests, the SAT and ACT. She still finds that one-on-one engagement with students is the best way to encourage young minds and help broaden their world view. She too is wishing for rain for California. Andy Williamson is enjoying better health since his second living donor kidney transplant in November 2012, giving him more time and energy to sing and play the saxophone. In the May General Election, he stood for Central Devon MP and won the Green Party’s 25th highest vote percentage in the country. Andy is currently putting together what will be the 4th Choral Jazz Extravaganza for the Bristol Jazz Festival in 2016, following a great Cartoon Jazz with a choir of 350 there last March. He and his wife Suzy and their five-yearold daughter are based in Ashburton, South Devon. Julee Kaye (née Greenough) worked briefly for the government of British Columbia on protected area planning, and then longer in the forestry group of an environmental consulting company before happily settling into a long break raising her two now-adolescent boys with husband Jerry Kaye. After some wilderness adventures during a disconcertingly dry Vancouver summer, Julee will be embarking on a longheld dream of starting a radically nutritious prepared food company with exactly zero business experience.

1987

Year Representative: Richard Bishop Email: [email protected]

1988

Year Representative: Tim Gardener 7 Carlyn Drive, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, SO53 2DJ Tel: 02380 275831 Email: [email protected] Daphne Fisher and her husband Simon Beard (2003) are proud to announce the birth of their second daughter, June Elizabeth Fisher, on 2 July 2014. Childcare is offering plenty of opportunities for being philosophical!

1989

Year Representatives: Matthew Grimley Merton College, Merton Street, Oxford, OX1 4JD Tel: 01865 276 343 Email: [email protected]

MERTONIANS | 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 & 1990

secondary school students. She reports that it is surprisingly enjoyable. She also does a bit of paid gardening and her daughters, Frances (15) and Lorna (12), play clarinet and oboe in a local band in Whitby.

and Tom Pedrick Email: [email protected]

1990

Year Representatives: Christine Barrie 15 Badminton Close, Cambridge, CB4 3NW Email: [email protected] and Claire Webster 9 Kingsgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9PD Email: [email protected] Heidi Chik married Ken Wiseman in Hong Kong. They moved back to the UK earlier this year and now live in London. Zaid Al-Qassab has started a new job as Chief Brand Officer of BT Group (no, I can’t fix your broadband, try turning it off and then turning it on again). His wife Claudia Drake (1991) is now the Development Officer of Guildford County School. They are still in touch with plenty of Mertonians such as Piers Allison and Mark Corben, who is now an expert on sewerage. Philip Wilson continues to be busy with various theatre (and recently television) projects. He adapted and directed Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales for an immersive production

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1991

Year Representative: Anna Smith (Chairman of the Year Representatives) c/o The Development Office, Merton College, Merton Street, Oxford, OX1 4JD Email: [email protected] As a result of the sad death of Matt Veasey this year, we would like to dedicate this year’s entry to him. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that our thoughts and love are with Louise at this terrible time. His obituary can be found in the In Memoriam section of this edition, on page 194. RIP Matt.

1992

Year Representatives: Steve Maxwell 654 Creek Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA Tel: 001 510 520 4425 Email: [email protected] and Andrew Davison Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, CB2 1RH Tel: 07971 597 998 Email: [email protected] Justin Pavry is back in London, living in Putney with three kids, still married to Dorcas, working at UK development bank CDC. Re-learning to sail. Great to see so many at the Ball last year. Gaudeamus in September! James Handscombe has no new news for Postmaster, but is still doing his best at the headmastering business. Rebecca Eastmond (née Shaw) is still helping JP Morgan’s clients with their philanthropy: it’s been seven years now

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and still super-interesting. Her husband Matthew continues to teach maths and spends the rest of his time building software to support teaching – and beta testing it on his pupils. Arthur and Isabel are 8 and 5 now and fab. Paul Whitney is now settled into life in West Sussex and his new(ish) job as a consultant neuroanaesthetist. Family life is all good. Matthew Hodgson is now living and working in Gibraltar as a non-life insurance actuary at Advantage, the insurance company behind Hastings Direct. Kelyn Bacon Darwin (née Bacon) is still barristering at Brick Court and taking turns with her husband Pete at ferrying their hyperactive kids around north London. In her vast amounts of spare time she is working on the third edition of her book on State Aid and has just started learning to play the cello. Hector Macdonald has published a new spy thriller, Rogue Elements (Advance Editions), and has recently moved to Muswell Hill in north London. Mark Freeman lives in St Albans and works at University College London. In the summer months he is regularly to be found at Lord’s, following the fortunes of Middlesex County Cricket Club. Rachael Maunder (née Ball) and Matthew celebrated the arrival of their second child, Harriet, on 6 July 2014. They are leaving Dubai shortly having enjoyed seven years of living in the UAE and they will be starting the next phase of their adventure in Miami. Steve Maxwell moved house (hopefully for the last time) to Menlo Park, California and is still working for Google in Learning and Development. Hazel (2) enjoys putting peanuts up her nose and Felix (5) is the landlord of a wine/beer shop. Cheers! Andrew Davison was installed as honorary canon of St Albans Cathedral as their first ‘canon philosopher’.

1993

Year Representative: Joanna Cooke Email: [email protected]

Another year, another set of great updates. Getting news from people felt slightly less like pulling teeth this year, so thank you all for that.

while in the Hebrides: ‘We have one boy, Hamish, just finished GCSEs and the other, Joe, just finishing reception.’ The upside is clear: Hamish is now old enough to babysit for Joe.

Laura Davies (née Williams) has submitted her news from Sri Lanka. She is ‘still in Colombo, still spending too much time in the seamy side of the Maldives’.

Pauline Sinclair continues to work hard as a business analyst and digital preservation consultant and is looking forward to seeing everyone at our Gaudy in September.

Emma Cayley is still Head of Modern Languages at the University of Exeter and still has two children: Oliver (7) and Sophie (5). Apparently Sophie is especially feisty, which I am assuming she gets from her mum. Emma has had a couple of recent co-edited books and she is enjoying travelling for work. This year she has been to China, the US and Switzerland.

Catherine Witt is still living with her family (Thomas and Talu) in Portland (Oregon); she is still an associate professor in the French Department at Reed College; and is still working hard to ‘Keep Portland Weird’.

Five Benthams – Jamie and Suzanne (née Shillaker) being the ex-Mertonians and their three children, Zoe, Sam and Joseph – have now landed in Yorkshire and Jamie is working in Leeds. They are enjoying the green green grass having been in Boston the previous year for a gruelling fellowship for Jamie at Boston Children’s Hospital and a rather more fun year for Suzanne and the smaller Benthams. Melanie Morris has lovely news: she got married this year and is ‘very happy’. Andrew Lewis also got married this year – to Andrew Ahlquist in New York City on 2 December.

Sarah Boon is enjoying life as a pensions lawyer at Travers Smith and an equine sports massage therapist in her spare time. She has just celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary with Richard Smith (Mansfield, 1993). They have two horses and a whippet, and have just moved into a Tudor farmhouse in the South West. Her summary: ‘Life is good!’ Jonathan Young reports that his wife Debbie had their first baby, Martha, in March 2015. Charley Smith (née Haines) is still Director of Studies at a school where she has a frightening amount of responsibility, yet only last Saturday the sixth form taught her how to take a selfie. This year she taught drama for the first time and admits that her sole qualification for this is Cuppers in 1993.

Ravindra Sapkota finished his PhD, and having lived in Switzerland and Germany, returned to Nepal to focus on the biotech company he had co-founded with Nicholas Hutchings (1994) in 2000. Ravindra, his wife and two children were ‘shaken but not stirred’ by the major earthquakes and aftershocks that hit Kathmandu earlier this year. He plans to return for a nostalgic gathering with Jeremy Stammers, Kabir Miah (1994) and Nicholas Hutchings (1994) that has become a regular feature.

Sam Grimstone (née Bowser) ran the London marathon in an amazing 4 hours 20; and survived turning 40. As have most of us.

Matt Nelson and his wife SJ have made it back to the UK after nine years bouncing around the Middle East and are reintegrating themselves back into London. Matt says (possibly happily, possibly remorsefully): ‘Life in the city is a little different with two children in tow.’

Year Representative: Stephen Davies 1 Whitebridge Court, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE3 2DL Email: [email protected]

Jim Freeman was so excited to send in his news, he wrote it up

MERTONIANS | 1991, 1992, 1993 & 1994

first at Shoreditch Town Hall and then at Bargehouse on the South Bank. He also directed The Three Lions at St James Theatre London – a satire on FIFA corruption that turned out to be very timely! His book Dramatic Adventures in Rhetoric was published by Oberon this summer. Plus he was awarded the Andrea Wonfor Bursary to train as a multicamera television director.

I found out that my next-door neighbour is an ex-Mertonian, Rudolf Klein (1948). He very kindly tolerates our noisy children and goes to the gym more often than my husband.

1994

The 2015 Postmaster is relatively light on news of the Class of 1994 as we save our tales of travails and travels for the

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The first is news from Catherine (née Raffle) and Martin Kimber. Catherine has returned to the library and information world as an assistant information specialist for NHS Blood and Transplant, a role she is combining with leading music classes and storytelling with very young children. The second is from Anthony Costella, who writes from Amsterdam that, after a decade in Brussels, he has moved back to consumer goods working for RB in the Dutch capital. His wife and two daughters will be catching up with him at the end of the school year, until which time, he reports, they are ‘bravely leaving me to bachelor life in the “dam”’.

1995

Year Representative: Tamzen Isacsson SMMT, 71 Great Peter Street, London Email [email protected] Tamzen would like to retire from being 1995 Year Representative from now on. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in becoming Year Rep for this year. Julia Kenny writes: ‘I was delighted to see lots of friends (Will Fenton from our year) at the 20th anniversary of the Harvey Society (Merton Medics) reunion last September – an amazing dinner in Hall and trip back to the bar (some pictures attached). Life otherwise is a juggle of work and children, hopefully the PhD thesis will be written before the Gaudy in September and I will have to give up my NUS card. Looking forward to catching up with everyone in September.’

Merton medics return to College for the 20th anniversary of the Harvey Society

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1996

Year Representative: Maria Pretzler 78 Sketty Road, Swansea, SA2 0JZ Email: [email protected] Quite a few 1996 Mertonians are meeting up regularly or are in touch via Facebook. Anna (née Price) and James Hatt report that they have been in touch with old Mertonian friends in London recently. The College birthday events also proved a good opportunity for some of us to meet, with another Gaudy this autumn, just a year before we hit 20 years since we all came to Merton. Ross Moore and Sarah are still living in Hong Kong seven years after leaving the UK. Ross works for Deloitte Consulting now after ten years with HSBC, and Sarah is an educational assistant at a primary school. Their five-year old twins Joshua and Felix started primary school in August 2015. Lucy Allais just spent a term in San Diego, where she has taken up a position as the inaugural holder of the recently endowed Henry E Allison Chair in the History of Philosophy. She is only going to do this part time, since she wants to live and work in Johannesburg as well, where she is Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her book on Kant’s metaphysics, Manifest Reality: Kant’s Idealism and his Realism, has been published this summer by OUP. She is still doing lots of rock climbing. After writing up his thesis at Merton, Otakar Fojt did a postdoc at the Maths department at York from 1997 to 2001, and then managed a small technology company back in Brno in the Czech Republic in 2001 to 2003. Since then, he has been Senior Science and Innovation Adviser at the British Embassy in Prague, as a member of the UK Government’s Science and Innovation Network. He reports that this is a very interesting job, where he mostly focuses on science diplomacy and covers various scientific areas for UK-Czech collaborations. He got married in 2003; his wife Andrea studied medicine and law, had four years’ work as an obstetrician and now has moved to law and is a judge at the local county court in Olomouc. They have two children: Kate (Katerina) (11) and Andrew (Ondrej) (18 months). Otakar does

not have much time for hobbies, but still enjoys numismatics with a focus on Roman coins of the third century AD.

Susannah). Matthew is working for the Department for Business Innovation & Skills, and Claire is a paediatric doctor specialising in neurodisability.

1997

Rowan Cope has been editorial director at Simon & Schuster UK since October 2014, where she has launched a literary imprint, Scribner. She continues to live in south London.

Year Representatives: Catherine Sangster Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP Email: [email protected] and Jill Davies Email: [email protected] Last year, Amna Naseer joined Aquiline Capital, a private equity firm specialising in middle-market financial services companies, while Matt Vickers launched a small-scale charity project sourcing tea from Africa to help build a well in Malawi (see www.builderstea.org to find out more and support his project). Ben Hoffman and Eva are moving with their sons Viktor and Oskar to Copenhagen. Eva is taking up a position as deputy director of a new research institute at the University of Copenhagen, and Ben is joining a local law firm as a patent attorney.

Felix Dare returned to London after the end of his secondment in Hong Kong with Hogan Lovells. Alex Edmans gave a TEDx talk entitled ‘The social responsibility of business’ in April 2015 (http://bit.ly/csrtedx). Cristian Gazdac defended his Habilitation postdoctoral thesis. He became Professor PhD Supervisor at the Doctoral School of European Security in Cluj-Napoca. His son, Mark-Anthony (11) has switched from football to water polo and his daughter, Flora-Antonia (5), is a keen swimmer. In November his family (see photo) will open a new bed and breakfast, intended to be an oasis of relaxation in the middle of the Transylvanian landscape.

MERTONIANS | 1995, 1996, 1997 & 1998

Gaudy in September. The following two communications must suffice to whet the appetite in advance of that reunion.

Bea Friend (née Van Hoorn Alkema), who now lives in Henley-on-Thames and works from home as a freelance French translator, had a daughter, Matilda. She enjoyed catching up with Freya Apps (née Koepping), who reports an imminent younger sibling for her son, when they were both on maternity leave.

1998

Year Representative: Alex Edmans 23 Inver Court, Inverness Terrace, London, W2 6JB Email: [email protected] Adrian Barnes and Zoe (née Moore) welcomed their second daughter Jessica on 3 April 2015. They are still enjoying living in Scotland. Claire Wicks (née Broad) and her husband Matthew (1997) live in Woking with their three children (Alex, Emma and

Cristian Gazdac and family

Rebekah Gee and her husband Andre van Heerden welcomed their second child on 21 June 2015, a son named Jake Benjamin, brother to Chloe (21 months). They will be returning with them both to their home in Zambia. Blaine Greteman and family are moving to Palo Alto for a year, where he will be on fellowship at the Stanford Humanities Center and completing a book, Shakespeare’s Social Network.

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1999

Year Representatives: Andrew Tustian 15 Crest Drive, Tarrytown, NY 10591, USA Email: [email protected] and John Corcoran 57 Charles Street, Oxford, OX4 3AU Email: [email protected] On 2 August, 2014, Justin Weare married Kate Wratten in a sleepy Kent village. Many North Lodgers and other Mertonians were in attendance, including ushers Kieran Fenby-Hulse (née Hulse) and Robert Crewdson. Career wise, Justin is currently working as a solicitor at Jones Day in London. Leonie Sadler (née Hough) and her husband James welcomed their first child, Peter James Leonard Sadler, into the world on 5 May 2015. An unfortunate incident involving a new home in Hampshire, a burst pipe, and Christmas has resulted in temporary housing in Surrey and a mixture of parenthood with the project management of fixing up the house.

career news from Rachel Cocker and Nathaniel Coleman. Rachel joined The Telegraph newspaper, commissioning and editing as Deputy Features Editor. Nathaniel is back at Oxford this year, as he will be at Wadham for a one-term stipendiary lectureship in Philosophy. Meanwhile his work in London has resulted in him being awarded, by UCL, the prize of ‘Online Communicator of the Year 2015’.

2000

Year Representative: Alex Perry c/o 9 Pagoda Grove, Elmcourt Road, London, SE27 9BA Email: [email protected] Duncan Butler-Wheelhouse and wife Helen were delighted by the arrival of their first child Calvin in October 2014. Duncan works as a History teacher at St David’s Marist Inanda in Johannesburg. He coaches basketball, and referees rugby. Any Mertonians finding themselves in South Africa should feel free to get in touch!

Sophie Law and her husband James had a daughter, Henrietta Ann Towry, on 21 September 2014. Henrietta was born in Oxford, at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington. Mark McDonald has become a father to a boy named Magnus; Kathryn Hodgson (née Ford) gave birth to Elijah Blake Hodgson on 28 May; and Thomas Studd and his wife Astrid had their first child, Luke Eric Studd, weighing 8lb 9oz in November. Kate Garcia (née Marten) gave birth to her second son, Rafael Paul, on 7 July. Kate has founded an informal monthly concert series for babies, toddlers, grown-ups and even Mertonians (possibly) in Southampton (www.babyproms.net). Thomas and Helen Ableman (née Chandler) have had a busy year. Helen’s second novel, To Have and to Hold, was published in her maiden name in June, and six months later in December the couple had their second daughter, Sophia Rose. Finally, to prove we are up to more than procreating, some

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Duncan Butler-Wheelhouse with Helen and Calvin

Oliver Clark married Jennifer at College in August 2014, the latest of many of our year group to avail themselves of the ecclesiastical facilities at Merton in this way. By July 2015, Oli and Jenn had just welcomed baby Felicity and were adjusting admirably to parental life. Peter Cousins has returned to Bogotá after three years in the UK. He has been teaching English at a national education network for poor or remote communities, and is about to

start a research project on human rights defenders with the University of York. He continues to work with civil society group Rodeemos el Diálogo promoting a negotiated solution to the armed conflict in Colombia. Sarah Doberska and Matt Warren (1999) were delighted to welcome Holly Victoria Doberska-Warren to the world in February this year – a little sister for Sophie (3). Adam and Roz Gamsa (née Gill) are living in Kent. Adam is one of a growing contingent of Merton scientists turned intellectual property lawyers, and has been called to the Bar, where he will shortly join 11 South Square in Gray’s Inn. Roz continues to work for PwC in London, as a director in the Capital Markets group. Joanna Kenner gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Alessandra Ingrid Burman-Kenner, on 13 March 2015. Joanna, John and Alessandra are living happily together in Eze-sur-Mer, France. Donna Peel is engaged to Michael (also an NHS medic), with the marriage due to take place in September 2015 in the Lake District. Neither bride nor groom know their rota yet, but both hope to be able to attend. Donna has been carving out a niche in expedition medicine this year, having so far been to Cuba, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Indian Himalayas. Normal service will resume from August as an ST4 A&E Registrar in London. Ben Sparks has re-entered the real world after teaching at a boarding school in Dorset for five years. He is now living in Bath, working for the Further Maths Support Programme and the University of Bath, working on public engagement in maths, and occasionally has time for music. He is usually available for a pint/coffee if anyone is passing through. Laura Crawforth (née Thomas) and James welcomed their first child William Thomas Crawforth in May 2015, and report a full night’s sleep as a distant memory. Rebecca Ansell (née Thomas) married Richard earlier this year; they met at Leeds Rowing Club, where Rebecca coxes and Richard rows and coaches. Rowers of all ages in the vicinity are encouraged to get in touch if they fancy getting back in a boat. When not on the water, Rebecca is entering the last 15 months of rheumatology training in Yorkshire,

trying to complete an MD in axial spondyloarthropathy, and volunteering at a (sadly very busy) food bank in Leeds. Chris Williams long since abandoned the law and is now a doctor working in the NHS in Bristol. He is married to Hannah with two-year old twin boys, Ben and Freddy. As for me, the details of my life remain quite inconsequential. Rachael and I relocated to São Paulo in late 2014 to scratch a long-standing Latin-American itch (so to speak). Any visitors would be bem-vindos, and please do continue to send any news to [email protected] no matter how trivial it may feel to you.

2001

MERTONIANS | 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2002

Edwin Northover and his wife Kitty Hung (Hertford, 1998) welcomed a baby boy – Hector Lucius Arthur – in July this year.

Year Representative: Rhiannon Hollis Email: [email protected]

2002

Year Representative: Ben Zurawel Chambers of Andrew Ritchie QC, 9 Gough Square, London, EC4A 3DG Email: [email protected] Alarmingly, it is now a decade since many of those who matriculated in 2002 left Merton. In that time, four of us have married each other: Daniel Rees lives with Rachel (née King) in south-east London, while Katie (née Atkinson) and Joseph de la Haye are settling in well to island life in Jersey and on 22 April 2015 welcomed Philip Sam Robert de la Haye into their family. They will be joined by Zameer Meghji and Lucy Liu who will be tying the knot next year, making them, to the writer’s knowledge, the third all-2002 couple. Zameer now works at Odey Asset Management. In other all-Mertonian couple news, David Bird and Emma Carriban (2001) now have a little boy, Thomas, born in January 2015, and Melanie Orchard and David McCabe (2001) had a baby girl, Lydia, in February 2015. She is happy, healthy and ‘reassuringly ginger’. In the last decade, 2002 Mertonians have lived and worked on every continent except Antarctica. As we reach our 30s,

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Also an academic, but rather closer to home, Madeline Brook has come to the end of her second year as Departmental Lecturer for Early Modern German at Oxford. She is the coordinator of the Oxford German Network (www.ogn. ox.ac.uk) and has recently finished corralling its third, very successful, national Oxford German Olympiad, a competition for German learners from primary school upwards. Antonia Richards (née Farmer) reports that having married Thierry in 2009 they continue to live in Tokyo with their children Isabella (4) and Caleb (9 months). According to Antonia her spare time is spent eating sushi, drinking sake, watching sumo, and reading books on British history. She and Thierry work at a Japanese church. Also working for the church is the ‘Nearly Reverend’ Sam Carter who is part-way through training for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Together with Frances Clemson and Fr Daniel Lloyd, by the author’s reckoning that makes four 2002 historians who have gone into careers in theology and the church: Professor Robert Gildea must be so proud! Angela and Sam’s third child, Lucy Abigail Sarah, was born on 2 November 2014. Maria Grew (née Hussey) married Stephen in 2011 at Leez Priory in Essex: Stephanie Niven was a witness and Laura Burns read a speech. Maria trained as a chartered accountant and tax advisor and now works at Russell Investments in the West End as a senior financial accountant. She is now the proud mother of Oliver Grew, born on 13 September 2014. Stephanie Niven represented Great Britain last year in the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Sweden but still found time to get married to Robert in Yorkshire in December 2014. They are expecting their first baby in September. Having obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School and then worked for McKinsey in Shanghai and Beijing, Krizia Li

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now works in Hong Kong in Global Marketing & Strategy for DFS, a subsidiary of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, one of the largest luxury travel retailers worldwide. At the time of writing (July 2015), I am about to attend three 2002 Mertonian weddings in four weeks: Mark Brighouse will be marrying Lucy Brackley in Haddenham on 11 July 2015; Carlos Lastra-Anadon, part-way through a doctorate at Harvard, has married Dora Shalts and they will be celebrating their union in Carlos’ home province of Asturias on 25 July 2015; and John Jenkins will be marrying Catriona Davies (St Peter’s, 2002) on 1 August in Bishop’s Castle. Finally, Christian Johnson will be marrying Valeria D’Adamo on 5 September 2015 in Wandsworth and then, for good measure, again in the New Year in Argentina. I continue to practise civil and family law as a barrister at 9 Gough Square.

2003

Year Representative: Nik Alatortsev 52 Tregolls Road, Truro, Cornwall, TR1 1LA Tel: 07796 877251 Email: [email protected]

musician, playing violin and viola and working on string arrangements and transcriptions. James Biggin-Lamming (né Lamming) is now an engagement manager at McKinsey. He moved to South Florida for a work project earlier this year with wife Eleanor and daughter Olive (almost 2). Nicola Davis is beavering away on Fleet Street. After working for The Times she is now at The Observer where she is commissioning editor of the science and technology supplement, Tech Monthly. As well as writing for many sections of the newspaper, she has also written for the TLS, BBC Focus magazine and can often be heard on the Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast.

Tash Zitcer is still last on the alphabetical list of our year (and indeed, most years). After completing the Civil Service Fast Stream programme and contributing to saving the Union (for now!), she is currently working at the Department for Education on the forthcoming Spending Review.

Gavin Freeguard is turning government data into something useful as a senior researcher at the Institute for Government. The last eight years have taken him from running the Orwell Prize, to being hated by the Daily Mail for being an enemy of the free press (as political adviser to Harriet Harman), and losing out on being selected as a Labour MP to some chap named Kinnock.

Having spent eight months as a fellow at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, Dr Mikhail Kizilov came back to his homeland, the Republic of Crimea, to continue his academic career there.

Teresa King (née Marsay) and her husband Bill welcomed their son, Harry Felix King, on 23 November 2014.

2004

Year Representatives: Nicola Davis, Gavin Freeguard and Natasha Zitcer Email: [email protected]

Stewart Pringle has been the Artistic Director of the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington since April 2014, and is also working as a freelance theatre and arts journalist for Time Out, The Stage and Exeunt magazine. His latest play for young people, You Look Tasty!, premiered at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe.

It has been a momentous couple of years for Merton College. First, we celebrated our 750th Anniversary. But even more importantly, 2004 matriculants finally have not one but three year reps (cue jokes about quantity, not quality). If you would like to feature in next year’s update, please do get in touch.

Leo Shtutin is working as a freelance translator from Russian (and occasionally French) for online publications such as OpenDemocracy and The Calvert Journal. His DPhil thesis is currently under review at OUP (it’s not clear whether by Martin Ash, above).

Among the news from 2004 undergraduates:

Amy Taylor is living and working in Oxford, as manager of the picture library at the Ashmolean Museum. She is engaged to Nick…

Martin Ash moved back to Oxford in 2010, after a spell travelling in Asia and Africa and a while in Newcastle. He is now working part-time at Oxford University Press (having passed through the ranks of Oxfam GB and a couple of smaller organisations), and part-time as a freelance

Norrish. Gaby wasn’t one of those fighting for the bouquet at the end of the ceremony (although said bouquet did manage to find its way to her anyway!) as she celebrated her engagement to Nathan Hulme at the Gaudy in March. Meanwhile Steph is living in Norwich. Her job teaching at Norwich School also involves supporting the teaching of physics across Norfolk.

… and on the subject of engagement, Stephanie Grant (née Taylor) married Alex in July 2015 with many Mertonians in attendance. Her bridesmaids were Tash Zitcer and Gaby

MERTONIANS | 2003 & 2004

some are returning home: Naomi Pendle returned to England in February 2015 after five years teaching, researching and working for USAID in South Sudan. She welcomed her first child, Jonathan James Nihal, into the world on 11 April 2015. Likewise, following seven years postdoctoral work in Switzerland, Simon Townsend is returning to the UK to take up a post in October as Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Warwick. His research will focus on animal communication and the evolution of language.

Our 2004 postgrads have also been busy:

After completing his DPhil in Organic Chemistry working for Véronique, Franck Silva made the UK his home. He moved to Southampton, then Reading, working for Karus Therapeutics, a drug discovery spin-out company now based in Oxford. As a principal scientist, he leads a small team of chemists researching new anti-cancer/inflammatory drugs. Chris Warren is an Assistant Professor of English, Literary and Cultural Studies at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, USA) and is pleased to report publication of his book Literature and the Law of Nations, 1580-1680 (Oxford University Press, 2015). But while our list contains many tidings of happiness, we have also experienced loss. It was with great shock and sadness that, in January, we received the news that Emily Coates had passed away suddenly while in Italy. Many Mertonians gathered with Emily’s family, colleagues and friends at All Souls, Langham Place, in February to celebrate her life, her tremendous energy and enthusiasm and remember how she touched the lives of so many across the world, including the children she spent such happy times with in Peru. She is deeply missed, and our thoughts remain with her family.

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Year Representative: Krishna Omkar Email: [email protected]

2006

Year Representatives: Gregory Lim (graduates) Email: [email protected] and James Dobias (undergraduates) Email: [email protected] No fewer than three members of the 2006 intake of undergraduate historians have obtained Junior Research Fellowships or equivalents at Oxford colleges in the past year. Dr Eliza Hartrich is Fellow by Examination (JRF) at Magdalen College. Dr Robin Whelan is Hulme University Fund and John Fell OUP Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities, a post shared between The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) and Brasenose College; and Dr Ingrid Rembold has been awarded the JRF in History at Hertford College. Robin and Ingrid were married in Merton Chapel by Simon Jones in May 2014. Further afield, Ranjit Lall is nearing completion of a PhD in International Political Economy at Harvard.

Paul Renteurs has recently been taken on as a tenant at 2 Hare Court Chambers, following his successful completion of a 12-month pupillage. During this time he has been fortunate enough to be directly involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the Lee Rigby murder trial and the prosecution of Constance Briscoe for perverting the course of justice. As well as building up his own practice, focusing mainly on criminal and inquest work, Paul is also the independent legal adviser to ITV on the new daytime television show Judge Rinder. And from me, James Dobias, in December 2014 I chose to leave my job as a solicitor at Slaughter and May (where I had been since Merton) in order to explore options outside of the law in London’s tech start-up scene. I currently run Operations for Lexoo.co.uk, a start-up allowing businesses to get a selection of fixed-price quotes for their commercial legal issues; however, I will shortly be taking on the role of Head of Supply Chain at SAM Labs, a company providing an Internet of Things development kit for students, hobbyists and inventors (billed as the ‘Lego of the Internet’).

Rafaelle Nicholson is about to finish a PhD in History at Queen Mary University of London. The PhD examines the history of women’s cricket in Britain since 1945 and takes her back fondly to her days playing for the Merton Mayflowers! Raf is also writing for several cricket websites and was ESPN cricinfo’s official Women’s Ashes Correspondent in January 2014. Most recently, Raf has started her own women’s cricket website, with the latest news and views about the sport: www.crickether.com.

Gregory Lim has just been appointed the Chief Editor of Nature Reviews Cardiology.

Dr Harriet Keane recently finished her DPhil (Neuroscience) and has begun working for McKinsey.

Thank you to all who responded to my request for updates; it was fantastic to hear from you. Even if you did not have any publishable news, it was really good to catch up and find out a little about what you have been doing over the last few years since leaving Merton.

Jo Shirley is Internal Audit Lead at Virgin Atlantic Airways. Leonid Romanenko is taking a leave of absence from working in management consulting at Accenture to

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participate in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. He will be setting off from St Katherine’s Dock on Sunday 30 August and sailing three legs of the race, from London to Rio de Janeiro, then on to Cape Town, before finishing in Albany, Western Australia, three months later. He would especially welcome words of advice and support from people who have done this kind of race before!

2007

Year Representative: Alistair Haggerty Flat 8, Belgrave House, Pembroke Grove, Bristol, BS8 3DB Tel: 07809 357 351 Email: [email protected]

Sarah Wilson has remained in Oxford, where she is working

for the NHS in mental health services. In August, she will be returning to the appropriately magnificent setting of Merton College for her wedding. Congratulations to Sarah and her husband-to-be! Last year, Ellen Feingold became the curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Since then she has curated a new exhibition called The Value of Money, which opened in the Gallery of Numismatics at the National Museum of American History on 1 July. Ellen has also written a book to complement the exhibition with the same title (www.penguinrandomhouse. com/books/531537). Though it has been some time since matriculation, and though she currently resides across the Atlantic, Ellen still thinks of her years at Merton often and very, very fondly. Also presently living in the States is Angel Sarmiento, who is studying development economics at Harvard. He has remarked that, as a true E&Mist, he has combined this with an MBA at Stanford. He has told me that Mertonians are welcome to stay at his place in Palo Alto, California from September. Angel will be spending the summer in Brazil, helping to develop a concession scheme for the city bus network. He also misses us all!

Jason Williamson is based in London, where he works as an associate at Eversheds, specialising in regulatory investigations and enforcement/fraud/financial and white collar crime. As for me, I have also taken the well-trodden route from History graduate to lawyer. I am approaching the end of my second year as a barrister in Bristol, where I specialise in crime, regulatory and disciplinary work. Prior to arriving in Bristol, I had been working for six months in Mississippi, at the State Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel. In my spare time, I can still be found playing the occasional gig with my band.

2008

Year Representative: James Nation Email: [email protected]

MERTONIANS | 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008

2005

Merton sweethearts Richard Miller and Sarah McAvoy got married in July near Belfast. Living and working in London, Richard is now a tax associate at King & Wood Mallesons solicitors and Sarah is a pensions associate at Nabarro solicitors.

Completing a hat-trick of Mertonians in America, Kambez Benam arrived in Boston immediately after finishing his DPhil in 2011. He joined Professor Don Ingber’s lab at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, where he is currently a senior research fellow leading projects on ‘Human lung airway on-a-chip’ (for modelling diseases such as COPD and respiratory infections). Kambez lives with his wife, Cigdem, who teaches Modern Turkish Politics at Boston College, Massachusetts. They had their first child, a boy called Arman, in late 2013. He is the light of their lives and keeps them happy and on-track in the fast-paced and dynamic environment of Boston. Closer to home, Vicki Ormerod has continued her career in medicine in Bristol, where she will be undertaking a training post in anaesthetics, with a view to working in intensive care/ anaesthetics in the future. It will come as no surprise to hear that Vicki is still doing a lot of sport. She completed her first half-Ironman event last September, and a second one in May.

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Former Fellows

Brian Guy Campbell died on 17 March 2015, aged 87. Brian was born in 1928 in South Norwood, London. He went to Dulwich College and it was there that he was introduced to something that became one of his great loves: the trumpet. He always said he only started playing in order to get out of games, which he hated with a passion and, when offered the choice – games or music – at the age of 14, he chose the trumpet almost at random. He was still playing regularly for the Bicester and Abingdon bands and the Cowley Orchestra until a few months before he died, although he used to complain terribly about his inability to play the long and top notes that he used to do with such skill. The other big love in his life – and his main love – was, of course, his wife Mary. After he had spent a year at Dulwich as school captain, he came to Merton College in 1947 to study Classics before changing to law. At the same time, Mary was at the Radcliffe Infirmary starting nursing, and they soon became virtually inseparable. They were married in 1953 at Sanderstead and then settled in a houseboat on the Isis. Brian worked at Barclays for a time, before moving to work at the University, first in the University Registry where he became Deputy Registrar, and then at Corpus Christi College from 1972 where he was Estates & Finance Bursar for 17 years. Brian retired in 1989 due to poor health and settled down to blissful retirement with Mary in Wolvercote, although things didn’t get any quieter. He continued his trumpet-playing and could at last devote more time to another incredibly important part of his life, the Royal National College for the Blind. Cofounded in 1871 by his grandfather, Sir Francis Guy Campbell,

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Brian was a great organiser with a keen financial mind. He loved order and lists, with his diary always by his side and a weird collection of oddments in various coat pockets. He was kind and considerate to those he worked with and those who worked for him, and as a result inspired a strong following from them. He taught me that the most important things in life are to love those who are close to you, treat them with respect and never, ever argue with your wife. His health deteriorated quite badly in the last few years, but for those who knew him well, he never wanted to make a fuss or be a bother. He was one of the ‘good ’uns’ and we’ll all miss him dreadfully. Brian is survived by his wife Mary and three of his four children. William Campbell (son)

Honorary Fellows

Fellow of Merton for over 50 years, the authoritative biographer of Winston Churchill Sir Martin Gilbert died on 3 February 2015. His distinguished reputation was merited also by a dozen historical atlases (he told Who’s Who that his recreation was ‘drawing maps’) and by outstanding accounts of Jewish history and the Holocaust, combined with tireless work on behalf of Soviet and post-Soviet ‘refuseniks’ and political prisoners. The sense of mission driving him was in part familial piety: his grandparents were Jews who fled Tsarist Russia. Martin Gilbert was born in London on 25 October 1936, the son of a jeweller. Martin himself soon became a bit player in a real-life drama when, along with thousands of other children, he was evacuated to Canada in 1940. He returned in July 1944, on a ship carrying American troops to Europe. It sparked a lifelong fascination with the Second World War. His secondary schooling at Highgate was followed by two years of National Service in the intelligence corps. In 1957 he proceeded to Magdalen, whose history tutors were the galaxy of KB McFarlane, Karl Leyser, John Stoye, and AJP Taylor. Already a 20th-century historian by inclination, Martin was drawn into Taylor’s orbit, but he frequently dissented from Taylor’s line both then and later, while loyally editing a Festschrift A Century of Conflict, 1850-1950 for Taylor’s 60th birthday in 1966. A First in 1960 led to a Senior Scholarship at St Antony’s; then, in 1962, his long association with Merton began, when he won a Junior Research Fellowship. Unusually, Martin was granted more than a single threeyear term as JRF, being re-elected until 1969. One reason was the leave of absence he took as Visiting Professor at South Carolina in 1965. There he came across a cache of papers

relating to Clifford Allen, the pacifist, educationalist and Labour politician, whose biography Plough my Own Furrow: The Life of Lord Allen of Hurtwood he wrote in the same year. This was not his only publication in 1965; he issued a textbook The European Powers 1900-45 and, co-authored with Richard Gott, The Appeasers. This was the beginning of an extraordinarily prolific set of publications, amounting to over 80 books, many translated into multiple languages. The next year, 1966, brought forth four: The Roots of Appeasement; a perspective of the Edwardian Raj, seen through the correspondence and diaries of Sir James Dunlop Smith, entitled Servant of India; an atlas of recent history, 1860-1960; and a short biography of Churchill, specially for schools. The last was the first fruit of his participation in a team of research assistants whom Randolph Churchill picked to embark on the biography of his father. It was this new venture that principally persuaded Merton both to re-elect him as a JRF and subsequently to continue him as a nonstipendiary Fellow, until he was made Honorary Fellow in 1994. When Randolph Churchill died in 1968, Martin was appointed by the Churchill trustees as official biographer, and it was he who over the next two decades completed the eight-volume Life, accompanied by 11 volumes of documents. Some 15 additional works on Churchill, popular summaries or thematic in character, would also ensue.

IN MEMORIAM | FORMER FELLOWS & HONORARY FELLOWS

In Memoriam

the College gives blind and partially-sighted people equal opportunity to enter the working world. Brian first got involved in 1972, serving on the board, then becoming Chairman of the Governors in 1984 until 1999. He retired as governor in 2008 and was re-elected as Vice President. He worked tirelessly for the College, being instrumental in re-establishing it as a vital place of learning for blind and visually impaired people. Like everything he did, he threw himself into his work there, learning braille and forming great relationships with staff and pupils alike. He was one of the key drivers behind the College’s move in 1972 to its city site in Hereford, considerably increasing both the commerciality and attractiveness of the College as a learning institution. He was also an active governor and chairman at the Worcester College for the Blind, now called New College Worcester, for many years.

It is impossible to do justice to this magnum opus in a sentence or two. There were awards, notably the Wolfson Prize for Volume Six: Finest Hour, 1939-1941 (1983); equally, there were detractors, who contended that by depicting Churchill year by year, day by day, almost hour by hour, the weight of detail became so overwhelming that the biographer ended up burying the hero he came to praise. These thrusts reflect divergent approaches to the study and writing of history, which will always divide the profession. Martin nailed his colours to the mast early on, asserting in Volume Three: The Challenge of War, 1914-1916 (1971: the first volume for which he had sole responsibility) his conviction that the recent study of history should be founded upon scrutiny of the contemporary records. This may seem, to the non-historian, to enjoy the status of a truism; but it should be remembered that 20th-century history was, when Martin started out, essentially in its infancy. A profusion of self-serving memoirs,

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It was Harold Wilson’s government that transformed operations by facilitating public access to official papers; previously closed for 50 years from origin, henceforward these were subject to a 30-year rule. This liberalisation took time to work itself through and be felt in history books, because civil servants procrastinated or held back sensitive material under the guise of Official Secrets, and because the Public Records Office (later National Archives) was bowed down by the task of cataloguing. Cumulatively, it revolutionised 20th-century history, and Martin Gilbert was in the vanguard. There was also an unknown empire of private papers, still in the hands of individuals or their descendants, which remained to be traced. Martin was a pioneer explorer; indeed, it is quite possible that he brought to light more new documentation about the 20th century than any other historian. This included oral evidence: there was a touch of the bloodhound about the way he tracked down countless individuals who had encountered Churchill in every kind of capacity. There were generals and mandarins, of course, but also typists, gardeners, drivers and the like. This encyclopaedic embrace was characteristic Martin. It was not just thoroughness magnified but informed by a determination to involve the public in the Churchill story. Much of what he unearthed was revelatory. Moreover, Martin was always conscious of the potential importance of ephemera. Something trivial on its own, when set in context might suddenly alchemise into great significance. Numerous researchers have reason to applaud his generosity in making documents available to them. The Churchill volumes have permanent value, therefore, because of their author’s immense labours. They incorporate a storehouse of information that no historian of the period can afford to ignore. Yet Martin was more than an engine of research, however formidable; historians do not esteem Stakhanov over Gibbon. What placed Martin in the front rank were his skills of construction, mastery of arrangement, and ability to unravel some of history’s tightest knots. It is not just the comprehensiveness of the

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biography and its absorbing readability that impress; it is the scrupulous exposition of umpteen controversial episodes about which historians often displayed more passion than precision. Martin Gilbert has been a demythologiser, not a myth-maker. His portrait of Churchill is sympathetic, not sycophantic; Churchill’s shortcomings are exposed as well as the achievements recognised; and in the course of illuminating that paladin’s long career, Martin produced many a classic miniature, on the fall of Asquith’s government, on the intervention in post-revolutionary Russia, and so forth. The chronicler, then, was not the enemy of the interpreter in Martin Gilbert’s work as historian. Honours rightly came to him: a CBE in 1990, a knighthood in 1995. His advice was sought by several prime ministers, particularly Harold Wilson, John Major and Gordon Brown. The last appointed him a Privy Counsellor and member of the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War in 2009, whereupon he seized the opportunity to investigate government archives on that conflict with all the vigour and acumen he had applied to the study of Churchill, until an arrhythmia of the heart first diagnosed in 2012 stealthily drained his stamina. Supremely well-organised, Martin was also champion at relaxing. Aside from cartography, the opera enthralled him most. He was a long-standing friend of Placido Domingo and wrote about him in 1989. With Merton itself his relationship was an enduringly warm one, albeit increasingly from afar. John Roberts he especially appreciated for his world historical sweep and wit; Martin, naturally effervescent, made ideal company. John was grateful in turn for Martin’s support and contacts in launching the College Appeal. Michael Dunnill was another friend among the Fellows, and Martin regularly tapped his pathologist’s expertise to decode this or that medical mystery afflicting Churchill or some other historical actor. His thanks would be diligently registered in his prefaces, which were invariably addressed as from Merton. The College has gained great credit by that association. Martin liked to own to two guiding philosophies that motivated him as a historian. The first was to uphold the human perspective and never neglect ordinary people. In this, inevitably, he took his cue from Churchill whose answer to the question of why the 20th century should be called the century of the common man, Martin often recited: ‘because

in it the common man has suffered most’. His second source was equally appropriate: Mandell Creighton, Fellow of Merton, founding editor of the English Historical Review, and author of another monumental work, the five-volume History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation (1882-94). Inscribed on Creighton’s memorial in St Paul’s was this: ‘He tried to write true history.’ Martin Gilbert did so. Philip Waller, Emeritus Fellow

Sir Maurice Hodgson died on 1 October 2014, aged 94. It’s difficult to summarise my father’s life succinctly as his achievements were many. He was born in 1919 just after the end of the First World War in Bradford and was always very proud of being a Yorkshireman. He went to Bradford Grammar School, which had a great influence on him, and from there he won a scholarship to Merton College, Oxford. Merton had a profound bearing on him. His first year there was 1938, the last year before the Second World War, and he always talked about what a magical year it was before wartime rationing and other privations set in. As well as his academic studies he was actively involved in a whole range of activities. He was an enthusiastic rugby player, and played in the final Oxford trial for the Varsity Match. He was secretary of the College rugby club, captain of squash and foundertreasurer of the University jazz club. He also developed a lifelong passion for horse racing. After graduating with a First in Chemistry he was drafted under wartime regulations to work for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) on Teesside on what, in the UK, was called the Tube Alloys Project, but which the Americans called the Manhattan Project. It was the project to develop the atomic bomb and my father worked on the separation of radioactive

uranium isotopes as part of the project team throughout the war. It was around this time he met my mother through their respective mothers who were both schoolteachers and knew each other from teacher training college; they were married just before the end of the Second World War. In the 1970s my father developed serious eye illness, suffering from corneal dystrophy. He was at times in great pain and suffered the loss of one eye and only recovered the sight in his other eye through a corneal transplant. He said afterwards that he forced himself to cope and the effort distracted him from feeling sorry for himself. He was enormously grateful to those who helped him through this difficult period. Overcoming the handicap of his eyesight and going on to become Chairman of ICI, which he did in 1978, was a huge personal achievement. He was Chairman from 1978 to 1982, which was about the most difficult time anyone could possibly have been Chairman of what was then the UK’s largest industrial company.

IN MEMORIAM | HONORARY FELLOWS

by politicians, soldiers, civil servants and the rest, existed to seduce the lazy or unwary; likewise an abundance of partisan newspapers and periodicals, and a plethora of published inquiries of varying degrees of independence.

Many will recall the so-called ‘Winter of Discontent’ of 1978-79. Mrs Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in 1979 but there followed a sharp economic recession and continued industrial strife. During this period, ICI’s financial results inevitably suffered but my father managed the company through this time, putting in place a restructuring plan and reducing the workforce by a third without a single day lost in strikes, a remarkable achievement for that era. My father decided to retire at the end of his four-year term of office, despite being asked by the Board to stay on. He did so because he was concerned that remaining for another four years would lead to the departure of several key members of ICI’s senior management team as a result of him blocking their promotion prospects. It was typical of him that he took his decision based on what he thought was in the best interests of the company rather than himself. After ICI his achievements were many, including Chairman of British Home Stores, Chairman of Dunlop, Member of the Council of Lloyd’s of London, Member of the Council of the Confederation of British Industry, Member of the International Council of the Salk Institute, Member of the Advisory Committee of the Chase Manhattan Bank, Member of the Hunt Inquiry into Broadcasting Policy, and notably, Chairman of the Civil Justice Review Advisory Committee.

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He loved to go to the England Rugby Internationals at Twickenham and he was never happier than when in the bar at Sandown Park and Ascot, chatting with friends and counting his winnings. He was also a keen swimmer. In later years his health deteriorated and his eyesight gave up altogether, but he was grateful to all who helped him and he bore his lot with great dignity and courage. He never once said ‘Why me?’ or ‘I don’t deserve this’ and he was cheerful and in good spirits to the end. We love him very much and will miss him enormously. Howard Hodgson Obituaries for Sir Maurice also appeared in The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent and The Guardian and are available to read on the websites of those publications.

Professor RJP (Bob) Williams was a pioneer of the field of bioinorganic chemistry, especially concerned with the role of metal ions as biological messengers, in electrolyte control and in enzyme catalysis, and contributed substantially to our understanding of the evolution of life. He studied at Merton for both his BA and DPhil (1944-50). He then spent a postdoctoral year with Prof A Tiselius in the Biochemistry Laboratory at Uppsala, Sweden, where he met Jelly Büchli, whom he married in 1952. He returned to Merton as a Junior Research Fellow (1951-55) and subsequently joined Wadham College as a Tutor in Chemistry (1955-72), a post he held in conjunction with that of University Lecturer and then Reader in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory (1955-74). He took sabbatical leave at Harvard Medical School in 1966 and soon after that became Tutor in Biochemistry (1972-74). In

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1974 he became the Napier Royal Society Research Professor, whilst retaining his Fellowship of Wadham, where he was then elected to a Senior Research Fellowship for four years after 1991. He retired in 1995 to an Emeritus Fellowship at Wadham and Emeritus Professorship in the University. He was made an Honorary Fellow of Merton in 1987. During the course of his undergraduate work, he discovered the Irving-Williams series of the stabilities of complex ions, which is of paramount importance in both non-living and living systems, and immediately adopted by textbooks in inorganic chemistry. Williams was one of the founding members of the Oxford Enzyme Group in 1972, where he and his colleagues devised many new methods for the study of biological systems in vitro and in vivo, especially using NMR spectroscopy. He published over 700 articles, reviews and books during his extraordinary and extended career, being professionally active right until his final short illness. Several of his books were directed to a general audience, and concerned with his major interest in the interplay between inorganic chemistry and the living world. His professional honours included election to the Royal Society (1972) and four foreign memberships of the national academies of Sweden, Portugal, Czechoslovakia and Belgium. He was awarded medals by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Biochemical Society, and the Royal Society (including the Royal Medal), and the International Biochemical Society. He held honorary degrees from the Universities of East Anglia, Keele, Leicester, Liège, and Lisbon. No fewer than six of his former co-workers have been elected to the Royal Society. He gave numerous titled and plenary lectures all over the world. He has been recognised at Wadham through the creation of the RJP Williams Junior Research Fellowship in Chemistry, the RJP Williams Lectureship, and the KnowlesWilliams Tutorial Fellowship. Bob Williams was passionate about his science and a committed member of his local community at the same time. In 2010 he was awarded an MBE in recognition of this work. Professor Williams died on 21 March 2015, age 89. Dr John Brown, Emeritus Fellow at Wadham College

1937

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of Hart Duncan Clark on 17 August 2014. A full obituary will be published in next year’s edition.

1941

Desmond Vowles, who has died in Oxford aged 91, came up to Merton in January 1941 to read English Literature. He was one of the cohort of students whose education was severely disrupted by war, being evacuated with his school, Wycliffe College, at the start of his sixth form studies. After a year at Merton he joined the Royal Corps of Signals and went with Force 136 to India and Ceylon. There, as part of Special Operations Executive in the Far East, he trained personnel who were dropped behind the enemy lines in Burma and Malaya. When the war ended in the Far East in 1945 he was drafted to Singapore, and there spent many frustrating months before managing to get back to Oxford in time for the Hilary Term in 1946. Following his degree he took a Postgraduate Certificate in Education in the Oxford Department for Education, obtaining a distinction. His schoolteaching path led him through Monmouth School and Canford School to a lectureship in education at Reading University. He developed many interests there, with several assignments for the British Council in teacher training in Nigeria, Pakistan and Malta, and an extensive connection with several North American universities including the University of Missouri, and teaching on the overseas programme for Stanford University in Britain. He played a significant role in the development of the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) and in the group formed by those teaching English method

in the Departments of Education (ETUDE). He was an examiner and moderator for several A-Level boards. Though he contributed to a number of learned journals, his focus was always on the training of English teachers, and many have testified to the influence he had on them. A lifelong reader of The Guardian, he was strongly committed to state education, and served as the chairman of governors of his local comprehensive school for several years. Desmond combined a dry wit with a strong sense of humour and these attributes contributed much to his skills as a teacher. The friendships forged during the challenging years of the war, often sustained by lengthy correspondence, and in post-war Oxford, with its strange mix of returning servicemen and younger undergraduates, were long-lasting ones that enriched his life. His long and happy retirement enabled him to develop his love of the theatre, crosswords and reading; his marriage to Barbara lasted for 61 years. He delighted in his family of three daughters, Caroline, Sarah, and Harriet (who predeceased him), and his nine grandchildren. Barbara Vowles

IN MEMORIAM | HONORARY FELLOWS, 1937, 1941 & 1942

Aside from his business achievements, he was a very loving husband, father and grandfather. He was very supportive of the whole family and he was always there to help and encourage all of us. He was always courteous, polite, grateful to others for their efforts, and he engendered strong loyalty in all who worked with him. I can honestly say that I have never met anyone who had a bad word to say about him and he loved to meet with friends and chat about his experiences and always had a great sense of humour. He was unfailingly modest about himself and his achievements.

1942

Alan David Victor Elliott was born on 1 May 1924, and died at the age of 90 on 17 October 2014. Alan came up to Merton in 1942 from Mill Hill School (where his father was on the teaching staff) to read mathematics. On graduating, he was attached to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough where he translated technical documents from German into English. He had always intended to become a teacher and his first civilian job was teaching German and mathematics at Cheltenham. In 1954 he moved to Perthshire to start a memorable 22 years at Glenalmond College, adding various other subjects to his teaching curriculum. He soon became a notably successful housemaster, well remembered for his cheerful encouragement: he ran the house exactly as he wanted but always with a broad smile. He was the school’s Stage Manager and directed numerous memorable Gilbert & Sullivan productions. He was a fine all-round sportsman – and at different times coached both the 1st rugby and 1st

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In 1976 he was appointed Headmaster of New Park, a preparatory school in St Andrews, whose fortunes he improved considerably. He became much involved in the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, where he was chief marshal of many major competitions (including two Opens) and the organiser of numerous Club and local events: for his long contribution, he received the rare accolade of honorary life membership. He and his wife, Heather, retired to the Fife coast, with a fine golf course almost at the front door and with St Andrews less than 30 minutes’ drive away.

1943

Tom Shiner died on 16 April 2015, aged 89. Tom was born in Grays, Essex on 6 May 1925. He was the fifth of eight children to his father, Lawrence, the District Surveyor of Westminster, and mother, Ada. He attended St John’s School in Billericay and then from 1936 to 1943 Clayesmore School in Dorset. Very keen at sport, he was described by his headmaster at Clayesmore as ‘one of the most successful fly halves the school ever had’ and that ‘a touch of originality surrounded all his activities’. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1943 and when no longer required in August 1944 entered the Royal Navy as a coder on HMS Carron. At the end of the war he was sent by the Army to Iran and then India for further training. He would, to the mystification of his children, receive from the Sikh Light Infantry a Christmas card each year addressed to Captain TC Shiner. In 1947 he returned to the Dorsetshire Regiment as an Education Officer and

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was stationed at Aldershot barracks. Lieutenant Shiner was released from military duty in December 1948. While at Aldershot he represented Southern Command at Rugby. In 1949 he signed Articles of Clerkship with his uncle, Rowland Hall, and stayed with the firm of accountants Rowland Hall & Co as a Partner, retiring in 1985. He married Jean in Leigh-on-Sea in 1956 and they had four children. Jean passed away in 2000 after a long illness and by this time Tom was fully self-sufficient. Not once did he call upon his family for any assistance nor complain about his health. He had seven grandchildren whose ages range from five to 26. Tom enjoyed sailing with his elder brothers when he was younger and competed in sailing regattas at his local yacht club. In his early seventies he thought little of sailing his own yacht to France with his older brother Norman. For a number of years he played golf at Orsett Golf Club. He used right-handed clubs but he played each shot with his left hand below his right, and in 1988 remarkably achieved a hole in one on the eighth. This event virtually coincided with the birth of his first grandchild and there is apparently some debate as to which caused most excitement. He was a past president of Grays Rotary Club and we believe – for some family secrets cannot be revealed – provincial grand treasurer of the Masonic Lodge. Steve Shiner

1944

David John White died peacefully at home on 1 May 2015, aged 87. David was born in Bramhall, Cheshire on 7 July 1927, son of W White, and came up to Merton in Trinity Term 1945 as a naval cadet, before reading History. While at Merton, he was a member of the College rugby XV. He loved living in Pembrokeshire and is survived by his wife, Sandra.

1945

Charles Derek ‘CD’ Williams was the son of a coal merchant and one of the most talented sportsmen to come from South Wales. While at Oxford, he gained Blues at boxing and rugby as well as excelling at cricket, athletics and golf. Derek was born on 24 November 1924 and went to Canton High School, Cardiff. After gaining a first class honours degree in chemistry from the University of London (external) he went up to Merton to study for his DPhil on a research scholarship. His supervisor was Sir Cyril Hinshelwood OM PRS, who later was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Whilst boxing at Oxford, Derek was reunited with his boxing coach from Cardiff, Alf Gallie. Alf had become the coach to the Oxford University Amateur Boxing Club in 1943, spending the next 45 years as coach to OUABC and coaching the British Olympic boxing team to Helsinki in 1952. Derek won his rugby Blue as an open-side wing forward in the 1945 Varsity Match and also appeared against the New Zealand Kiwis. In addition to his double Blue, he played cricket for the University. The triple Blue eluded him though, as he always said that he had to do some work for his degree! After obtaining his DPhil he worked as a research chemist at Huntley & Palmers. He lived in Reading and continued his sporting activity, playing rugby for London Welsh and county rugby for Berkshire and Southern Counties. In the summer months he played cricket for South Oxfordshire and Minor Counties as well as competing in athletics events. He became the Berkshire 440 yards and 880 yards champion, which led him to be selected to carry the Olympic Torch in 1948 on part of its route through Berkshire.

In 1951 Derek was the automatic first choice in the Cardiff team. At that stage he had been nicknamed ‘CD’ by the Cardiff front row. He played for the Cardiff team against both the British Lions in the 75th anniversary match (the first time the Lions played in the UK) and also the touring Springboks in a game that Cardiff narrowly lost due to a controversial try awarded to the Springboks. Greater days lay ahead with CD playing in the Cardiff team that beat the All Blacks in 1953, having already played against them in the tour opener for Southern Counties. He won his first cap for Wales in 1955 and another followed in 1956 when he scored the winning try against France. Further success followed playing for the Barbarians and in the 1957-58 season when Cardiff defeated the Australian Wallabies 14-11. At the age of 34, CD captained Cardiff RFC in the season 1958-59, and before finally retiring, he moved back to Berkshire having secured a job with the Powell Duffryn conglomerate where he was operations director for its waste disposal company. He started to play golf seriously at East Berks Golf Club and won the championship there and was playing off a handicap of 2. He could regularly be found partnering the great Bobby Locke (the four-times Open winner). He captained the club in 1967.

IN MEMORIAM | 1943, 1944 & 1945

cricket teams. He was particularly associated with golf and he greatly enjoyed the College’s own course, doing much to promote its improvement.

With Ruth recovering from serious cancer in the early 1970s, Derek moved back to Cardiff, decided on a career change and became a publican. He ran a number of well-known pubs in and around Cardiff. He captained Radyr Golf Club and won the club championship at the age of 57. He continued to play golf into retirement, regularly scoring rounds under his age. He coped bravely with throat cancer which was diagnosed in 2003, undergoing major surgery. He battled back once more and only gave up playing golf in his mid-eighties. Derek passed away peacefully after a long illness in September 2014. He led a very full life and was always quick to recount his time at Merton as being one of the cornerstones that enabled him to achieve so much. He is survived by his wife Ruth and four children. Chris Williams

Derek married Ruth Salmon in 1951 and moved back to Cardiff where he took a job as the technical evaluation assessor for the National Coal Board for the South Wales coalfields.

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Alan Longmore died on 11 December 2014. Alan spent his childhood and youth in Norton on Tees. He attended Pocklington School near York for his secondary education. With the help of Pocklington’s staff and in particular the Classics master, Mr Eggleshaw, Alan gained a scholarship to Merton. Alan’s father died tragically in a bicycling accident in 1947, just before he went up to College. Alan enjoyed his time at Merton, both his studies and his life as a student. His main friends then and for life were Desmond Ferrett and Peter Croft (both 1947). After Merton, Alan had to do his military service. Alan met his wife, Kathleen, in 1948, while on holiday with his family in Torquay. They were married in May 1952. They lived first in Bridlington, Yorkshire, where Alan taught Classics, then they moved to New Malden in Surrey and Alan commuted to central London to teach Classics at Marylebone Grammar School. One of the Marylebone staff suggested Alan might like to consider working as an education administrator. He applied for a post as assistant director of education in Halifax and moved his family to Stainland in Yorkshire. Alan became the education officer for Keighley, Yorkshire until local government changes caused Bradford to take over Keighley’s administration. Then Alan secured the post of assistant director of education under Dennis Grayson and later Peter Harris in Wolverhampton. There he demonstrated his many talents as an able administrator and reliable colleague. Alan loved reading, history in particular – one of his favourite authors was Patrick Leigh Fermor – and French novels. He and his wife loved to visit friends in France. Their last visit was to Perros Guirec in Brittany. Alan’s parents were both local Methodist preachers. Alan became a member of the Methodist church, then he and Kathleen were confirmed as members of the Anglican church in Bridlington Priory. They worshipped there, then at St James New Malden; in the parish church of Stainland, Yorkshire; at St Nicholas, Codsall; and finally at St Nicholas, Guisborough, Cleveland. Alan loved church music and was a keen member of church choirs. He was particularly happy

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in the choir of St Nicholas, Guisborough, where his godson Richard was, and is, organist and choirmaster. His favourite composers were Monteverdi, Mozart and Beethoven. Alan was devoted to his family: he and Kathleen had three children, Elizabeth, Mary and Richard, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Kathleen Longmore

1948

Shortly before going to press, Postmaster learnt that the Revd David K Jameson died on 22 May 2015. An obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

1949

James Joseph Louis Greene QC was born on 15 June 1928. He died peacefully on 4 November 2014 in St John’s, Newfoundland at the age of 86. Jim is survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Cherry Anne (née Midwood), along with eight children and 12 grandchildren. Jim was born in St John’s and graduated from St Bonaventure’s College in 1945. After earning degrees in English at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, he was elected the Rhodes Scholar for Newfoundland in 1949 and studied law at Merton. He and I became good friends. I remember him telling me, with a tinge of regret, that he was one of the last people to hold a Dominion of Newfoundland passport; there had been a referendum in 1948 and a narrow majority of Newfoundlanders had voted for Confederation, i.e. to become part of Canada. Needless to say, Jim was a staunch and proud Canadian and this was reflected in his later career in politics. He spent a Christmas with my family where he

met and fell in love with my sister Cherry; they were married in Hampstead in 1953 and moved to St John’s.

table, impacted the lives of thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for the better, and set an example for all of us.

Jim practised law over a 47-year career, for many years in partnership with the late Hon Fabian O’Dea QC and the late Edward A Neary QC, and retired in April 2000. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation, Fisheries Products International Ltd and other corporations. He entered Newfoundland politics and served as the MHA (Member of the House of Assembly) for St John’s East and was Leader of the Opposition for the Progressive Conservative Party (1959-66). Jim was active in community affairs and held positions with various organisations including the Catholic Education Committee, the Catholic Education Council, the Memorial University Board of Regents, the Red Cross Blood Procurement Committee, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Canada, the Kiwanis Music Festival, the Kiwanis Club of St John’s and the Newfoundland Board of Trade.

‘On behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, I extend my heartfelt condolences to Mr Greene’s family and friends. May they be comforted to know that they are in our thoughts and our prayers.’ James Midwood (1947)

He spent many enjoyable summers with family and friends at ‘Sunny Slope’ on Topsail Pond, a small lake some 10 miles out of St John’s. This was where my wife and I used to stay on our visits; lots of family were there at weekends to enjoy the swimming, boating and water-skiing. Jim had a fund of amusing jokes and stories that he was always ready to share. In his retirement he might be phoned by anyone from the Lieutenant-Governor down who would explain that they were about to make a speech to a particular audience; could he give them some suitable jokes. With his usual humour, some of his final words were: ‘Thanks to God’s grace, as they say in cricket, “I’ve had a good long innings”.’ The Hon Paul Davis, the present Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, paid Jim the following tribute: ‘As a young man at the dawn of Confederation, Mr Greene captured the attention of the adjudicators of the Rhodes Scholarship, who saw in him the spark of extraordinary potential. Mr Greene rose to the challenge, meeting and exceeding those expectations through a life of exemplary public service. Whether in elected public office, community service, education, business or law, he brought his very best to the

Sir Hilary ‘Hal’ Miller – MP, vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and campaigner for the British motor industry – died on 21 March 2015 at the age of 86.

IN MEMORIAM | 1947, 1948 & 1949

1947

Born in 1929, Sir Hal came to Merton from Eton College in 1949 as the Chambers Postmaster in Greats, after serving two years’ National Service with the Royal Navy. During his time at Oxford, he was very involved in the OURFC and the University Cricket Club, playing for the Greyhounds and the Authentics respectively. He changed from Greats to French and Russian at the end of his first year, an event which he fondly described in September 2014 for the Merton@750 Anniversary Collection (available at share.merton.ox.ac. uk/items/show/347). He later studied at the University of London before entering into colonial service in Hong Kong in 1955 where he became deputy director for commerce and industry, returning to Britain in 1968. Sir Hal was best known as the MP for Bromsgrove and Redditch, then Bromsgrove from 1983, a seat he won in February 1974 and held until his retirement in 1992. Described by The Independent as ‘just the sort of backbencher a minister should be wary of pushing around’, during this time he championed the British motor industry, campaigning to restrict car imports from Japan and chairing Parliament’s all-party Motor Industry Group from 1978. In 1981, he resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Francis Pym in protest against the subsidies granted to British Steel that were having a knock-on effect on small steel companies in his constituency. He was also involved in embarrassing the Thatcher administration over the Iraq ‘Supergun affair’ in the early 1990s, later testifying at the Scott Inquiry into the MatrixChurchill affair. He famously told The Independent that ‘Going

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Sir Hal continued his interest in rugby beyond his time at Merton, playing and refereeing in his spare for Bromsgrove Rugby Club, and at a national level as a member of the Council of the Rugby Football Union. He was a Fellow of the World Bank’s Economic Development Institute and was knighted in 1998. He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Worcestershire in 2000, before in 2005 becoming a key supporter of Project Kimber, working up a business plan to keep MG sports cars British after the collapse of MG Rover and the sale of its assets to Nanjing Automotive Corporation. Sir Hal married Fiona McDiarmuid in 1956; they had two sons and two daughters together. He married Jacqueline Roe in 1976, and leaves a son and a daughter from their marriage. As Sir Peter Tapsell (1950) – Sir Hal’s contemporary at Merton and colleague throughout his Parliamentary career – remembers, he was a man of ‘absolute integrity, always regarded with affection and respect’, and he will be sadly missed. Obituaries for Sir Hal also appeared in The Telegraph and The Times and are available to read on the websites of those publications. His memories of Merton appear on the Merton@750 Anniversary Collection at share.merton.ox.ac. uk/items/show/347 and /348

1950

David Waddington died on 6 June 2015, aged 85.

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David was born in Mombasa, Kenya, and even though his parents lived just 500 yards from the hospital, he arrived early and was born at home. Growing up in East Africa and then later Northern Rhodesia, David and his brother John, as young boys, travelled thousands of miles to their school in South Africa. He finished his schooling at Rugby and then went to Merton College, Oxford. David never forgot his roots in Africa, and delighted in reliving his early years through the work of his daughter, Joanna, in Kenya and Tanzania (see www.ace-africa.org). After National Service in the Royal Green Jackets, David worked for Barclays Bank for over 30 years, latterly as senior local director in Brighton. He dedicated much of his time to supporting education: he was chairman of governors at St Mary’s Hall School Brighton and Stoke Brunswick prep school, as well as being a governor of Lancing College. He was admired for his calmness, objectivity and wise counsel. David was a great supporter of the church and local community. A long-time trustee of Chichester Cathedral, he was treasurer of St Mark’s Church, Hadlow Down and also gave many years’ support to the Sussex Association for the Rehabilitation of Offenders. He was a deputy lieutenant of East Sussex, and chaired the Lewes Flood Appeal. Music was a huge part of his life. He loved the cello, singing in choirs and going to the opera at Glyndebourne, and he instilled a love of music in his children. Many a Sunday morning lie-in was disturbed by the sounds of Beethoven and Brahms. He initiated the annual concert in St Margaret’s Church, Buxted; his dedication and tenacity initially raised awareness among local choirs which led to a 19-year tradition of concerts, raising more than £50,000 for St Peter and St James’ Hospice. David was always interested in the achievements of others, from grandchildren to neighbours to complete strangers. A keen player and watcher of sport (a member of MCC, Sussex CCC and Royal Ashdown Forest GC), he spent many happy hours supporting his children and grandchildren from the touchline. He was kind, charming and trusted, with a laid-back sense of humour and an ever-present twinkle in his eye. He was

the most loyal and steadfast of friends – many of his closest friends he had known for over 60 years. He was also a beloved father, grandfather and uncle – and, of course, an adored husband: one half of an amazing double-act with Lindsey, to whom he was married for 55 years. As one of his dear friends said: ‘He touched the lives of so many people and was interested in so many things. He had great kindness and humour, and a lovely smile. He was one of nature’s true gentlemen.’ Alastair Waddington

1951

On leaving the army he worked in ICI Dyestuffs Division in Huddersfield as a maintenance, design and project engineer. In middle age he moved into career counselling with ICI and later into the private sector. Mike married Mavis in 1958 just after joining ICI. They had two sons and a daughter, all of whom were soon an involuntary part of the active political life that interested and engaged Mike all his life, working for the Liberal Party as an agent for candidates for the council and at parliamentary elections in Huddersfield and the Colne Valley. At 32 he was on the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Panel, where he served for 14 years, selecting magistrates for the Huddersfield courts and in 1968 became a magistrate himself, retiring when he was 70.

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of David B Gray on 9 January 2015, aged 83. A full obituary will be published in next year’s edition.

A cultured man, Mike was knowledgeable and widely read with intellectual tastes, relishing the theatre, classical music, art, opera, history, industrial archaeology and architecture. Along with walking, all these interests provided the basis for much travelling, mainly in Britain and Europe. He worked hard to preserve the best of Huddersfield, being one of the leading activists in the successful fight against numerous attempted despoliations of the town: he had the Transport Offices spotlisted on the day they were to be auctioned, thus preventing the vandalising of St George’s Square. The memory of the outraged and bewildered councillors’ reactions always brought a smile.

Mike Green, who died on 4 January 2015, was born on Christmas Eve 1933. A gifted child, he won a scholarship to William Hulme’s School in Manchester at the age of 9 and then an Open Exhibition in Mathematics to Merton, where he read maths and engineering. After graduating, he did two years’ National Service in the Royal Engineers, much of it in Cyprus during the troubles where he was clerk of works at Dhekelia, a large base being built for the army.

Chairman of the Civic Society, President of the Huddersfield Singers and a member of the Victorian Society’s Northern Buildings Committee, he was valued and respected for his wise counsel, his great knowledge of any subject he was involved with, and his amiable and modest character. He had a vast knowledge of railways and trams and greatly enjoyed holidays linked with railway and tram transport. His liberal values were a core part of his character and were exemplified by his extreme tolerance of other points of view and ways of life, a complete lack of prejudice and an ability to empathise. He made many friends in all spheres and truly valued the good and caring friends who brought him much happiness throughout his life. He was a true gentleman and a wise, caring and loving husband, father and grandfather, always putting his family’s perceived needs before his own and getting great fun out of the activities and zest for life of his wife and children, encouraging them in spite of his naturally cautious character.

Shortly before going to press, Postmaster learnt of the death of PJG Kavanagh on 26 August 2015, aged 83. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

1952

IN MEMORIAM | 1950, 1951 & 1952

into politics was my biggest mistake … I mistakenly assumed there would be a system for promotion based on merit and experience’. Following his retirement, he joined the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders as its chief executive, where he transformed the society, introducing a commercialising strategy. After his resignation from SMMT, he became managing director and chairman of Cosmopolitan Textiles Ltd.

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Bernard Stonehouse died on 12 November 2014, aged 88. Born in Hull, East Yorkshire, on 1 May 1926, Bernard was a renowned polar scientist, environmental biologist, and author of many academic and popular books. After serving in the Fleet Air Arm, he joined the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (now British Antarctic Survey) in late 1946 as meteorologist and deputy pilot at Base E, Stonington Island. After the loss of the plane, he became an enthusiastic and expert dog driver, participating in some long sledge journeys and finding on the small Dion Islands a colony of Emperor penguins. Stuck for a third year at base by impenetrable ice conditions, he camped with two companions alongside the ‘rookery’, then only the third one recognised, pioneering observation of the Emperors’ unique breeding behaviour through the winter.

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On return to England, Bernard took his degree in Zoology and Geology at University College, London. He came to Merton in Trinity Term, 1953, studying for his DPhil under Professor Sir Alister Hardy in conjunction with Dr David Lack at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology. Granted a special dispensation to undertake field work away, he spent 18 months on South Georgia unravelling the unusual breeding cycle of the King penguin, and completed his DPhil in 1957. Back in Oxford, he received the Polar Medal; and married Sally, whom he had met in the University of London Air Squadron. Asked to lead the British Ornithologists’ Union Centenary Expedition to Ascension Island, he and Sally with a small team worked there and on off-lying Boatswain Bird Island for 18 months studying the breeding patterns of 11 species of seabirds, described in Wideawake Island: The Story of the B.O.U. Centenary Expedition to Ascension (1960). In 2007 the expedition was honoured by a commemorative set of postage stamps. Appointed senior lecturer (later reader) at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand in 1960, he took students down to the Antarctic for five seasons through American cooperation. He discovered new colonies of Adelie and Emperor penguins with aerial surveys and began his involvement in Antarctic tourism. After a brief refreshing spell at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in 1968 and six months at Yale as Associate Professor of Biology, a year as a Canadian Commonwealth research fellow at the University of British Columbia gave him opportunities for research in the Yukon. Returning to Britain, he taught biology at Strathallan School, Perthshire and began development of his writing career: Animals of the Antarctic (1972), Britain from the Air (1982), Sea Mammals of the World (1985), and Polar Ecology (1989). In 1972 he moved to the University of Bradford, setting up the successful School of Environmental Sciences. Appointed editor of the Polar Record, the journal of SPRI, in 1982, he also joined short French and German Antarctic expeditions. Retiring in 1992, he formed the Polar Ecology and Management Group at SPRI, heading a long-term study on the effects of polar tourism, taking advanced students to Cuverville Island and Hannah Point on summer expeditions. A popular lecturer on polar cruise ships both small and large for 20 years, Bernard studied tourism directly and influenced guidelines for its

development. His book Antarctica, The Traveller’s Guide (1996), was a first. Before his death, he was undertaking a widespread study of Arctic whaling 1790-1850 from British shores.

snowfall, playing the bagpipes from the roof of Richards House at 6am, bolting his meals and grabbing an apple as he rushed off to his next engagement, rollerskating into the bank.

His name is commemorated by Stonehouse Bay, Adelaide Island, and Mount Stonehouse in the Transantarctic range.

After retiring in 1992 he shifted to a small cottage at North Beach, and suffered a stroke in 1995. He established the David Ellison Charitable Trust, which accepts funding applications for projects within and outside New Zealand. He was passionate about the trust and ran it personally as long as he could. He was patron of the Christchurch Cathedral Choir Society and a canon almoner (fundraising adviser to the dean). He funded a scholarship for a chorister to attend The Cathedral Grammar School.

Bernard Stonehouse is survived by his wife Sally and their son and two daughters. Sally Stonehouse An obituary for Bernard also appeared in The Telegraph and is available to read on the paper’s website.

IN MEMORIAM | 1952 & 1953

He and Mavis had two memorable visits to Merton. One was in 1964 to celebrate the Septencentenary of the founding of Merton, a fantastic party that went on for days. There were several marquees all with different top bands of the day and at about two in the morning we sat down for a rest and were joined by an old man and lady. The old man said with great enthusiasm: ‘Wonderful party this – but not a patch on Mafeking Night!’ He then went on to describe some of the things they got up to, such as hurling pianos from upstairs rooms to be burnt in the quad. That was in 1900. In summer 2004 we came to see Mike’s old rooms in College, lovely rooms provided for scholarship winners. A young woman came out of Mike’s rooms and we explained what we were doing there. She was delighted and summoned all her neighbours to come and look at this marvellous old man who had been at Oxford in 1952, and there was great excitement and shrieking and clapping of hands. Mavis Green

David has no surviving relatives. Andrew K Woolnough died peacefully on 10 April 2015. Andrew was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, only son of KV Woolnough (1919). Andrew came up to Merton in 1952 to read for his BA.

1953

David Ellison died on New Year’s Day 2015, aged 81. David was educated at Aldenham School in Hertfordshire. He did National Service in the British Army. He was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Artillery and served in the Korean War. He then took a degree in mathematics at Merton and started teaching at Cheltenham College, before moving to New Zealand in 1964. He took a maths teaching position at Wanganui Collegiate and became director of music. He was an accomplished violinist, a bagpiper and had a resounding baritone voice. He moved to Christchurch after a climbing trip in 1969. As well as teaching maths, Ellison was a live-in house tutor, master in charge of hockey, rowing and the cadet corps, acting director of music, and lay reader and preacher at chapel. He took skating and skiing trips for boarders, ran the mountaineering society and ski club, was in charge of the press (printing) club and played violin in the college orchestra. He was an eccentric schoolmaster: wearing shorts every day of the year, insisting classroom windows remained open in all weathers, skiing across the quad to the dining hall after

Mike Crean Used with permission of Fairfax NZ/ The Press (stuff.co.nz/ Fairfax NZ, January 2015)

Postmaster learnt this year that Gerald McLoughlin died on 4 January 2014. Gerald was born in Ilford, Essex, and served his National Service with the RAF from 1951 until he came up to Merton in 1953 to read Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy. While at Merton he played for the College rugby XV and hockey 2nd XI. After graduation, he became a prison psychologist for HM Prison Wandsworth, before moving on to work for HM Prisons Liverpool and Wakefield and HM Remand Centre, Thorp Arch. He married Pauline Curtis in 1959 and was survived by her until her recent death.

Tony Verdin came up to Merton in September 1953 to read Chemistry under Courtenay Phillips. With John Shore, Barry Palmer (who died in 1998) and myself, (all 1953) we formed

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Tony was educated at Christ’s Hospital, as was Barry Palmer, and they shared a quirky sense of humour that one sensed was typical of their school background and that lightened many occasions where ultra-seriousness threatened to prevail. National Service was spent in the Suez Canal Zone with REME. It was not a stimulating time and the only comment Tony ever made about it was that he was kept in beer money playing pontoon, as he had a better appreciation of cards and probability than his fellow National Servicemen. He was a very good bridge player but played little while he was up. I think it took time to settle in Oxford, particularly after the two years of National Service. However, Tony quickly showed his especially curious nature and his readiness to try anything new. Thus, he joined the rugby club and became one of its most ardent members. He had played at school and had been told by a schoolfriend not to join the rugby club when he got to Oxford. However, when he saw me playing at Mansfield Road he signed up as well. A highlight was a tour to southwest France and the amazing food, in contrast with a still rationed England. His passion and enthusiasm for the game lasted all his life. Part of his entry in the Christ’s Hospital register reads ‘Interests – half of oldest 2nd row (131 years) in international rugby – Henley V v. Stavanger April 1997’, which means that he was still playing at 65: in fact he played club rugby until he was over 70! His interest in games did not stop with rugby. He played tennis for the College, cricket for the Mayflies, which he captained, and became involved with Varsity basketball. Later on he took up real tennis and was a regular player at the Merton Street court. Academically he excelled, with a clear and logical understanding of the complexities and connections of chemistry. Sadly, he did not achieve the First that we all expected of him. We attributed this to his courtship of Greta Kennett who was reading English at St Hilda’s. Looking back at all his later achievements it is as if this lapse only acted as a goad and urged him to succeed and thrive in the various

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projects in which he was involved. He started work at the engineering firm of Humphreys & Glasgow and progressed through a number of related companies. He decided to retire at the age of 35 rather than accept relocation. He bought the Cherwell Boathouse, wrote a chemistry textbook, Gas Analysis Instrumentation (1973), and founded his own company, Analysis Automation. This company specialised in the design and manufacture of instruments for the analysis of exhaust gases from car engines, based on gas chromatography techniques he had studied at Oxford. He extended the application of these methods to other areas such as the monitoring of water purity. The business flourished both in the United Kingdom and internationally and eventually was sold to Rotork Ltd. Tony was not only a successful businessman. He will be remembered for his enthusiasm for any project that aroused his curiosity and interest. While at Merton he became an ardent member of the Myrmidons, a dining club where the emphasis was on good wine, food and company. Perhaps it was this early experience, together with membership of the Wine Circle in Oxford and a later meeting with Jasper Morris (Christ Church, 1976) that led to the founding of the wine company Morris & Verdin which specialised in fine burgundy. It was eventually sold to Berry Bros & Rudd, but his name has been retained in their trade subsidiary Fields, Morris & Verdin. He was also instrumental in the revival of the Chelsea Arts Club and its continuing success. The Cherwell Boathouse, one of Oxford’s premier restaurants, is mostly if not entirely the product of Tony’s hard work. It started with the purchase of the lease on the Bardwell Road Punt Station, where he rented punts, and ran the café associated with it, even doing all the cooking. The punt side of the business necessitated learning how to repair the tattered fleet, and expanded into building punts from scratch. He was particularly proud to have sold punts to Cambridge! The café became a bistro and is now a popular and well-loved restaurant. In 1958, Tony married Greta Kennett. They moved to the house behind the Cherwell Boathouse in 1968 and brought up their three children there. However, Tony’s expanding business took up more and more of his time while Greta was

becoming deeply involved with teaching English and drama at the Oxford High School for Girls. They drifted apart, leading to a divorce. In 1986 Tony married Araminta Morris with whom he also had three children. They lived in Frilford where Tony masterminded his business interests and led a very active social life, which was sadly interrupted by a stroke in December 2008. Though he never fully recovered, his activities were hardly diminished. He was still able to solve The Spectator crossword though Araminta had to fill in the answers for him. His struggle for a full return to fitness was frustrated by cancer. Throughout all these troubles, he remained cheerful, full of hope and determined to live life to the full. He went to a Gaudy, to Henley every year and to London regularly. Increasingly feeling the cold and disliking the winter greyness of England, they spent part of each winter in South Africa. Throughout their marriage but especially during these last years, Araminta provided the most devoted and loving support, ensuring that Tony was able to follow all his interests. They invited me to spend a few days in South Africa last year, a stay that provided many happy memories of a very special couple. Tony died at home, in Frilford, last September. He was, indeed, a very special person. We will all cherish memories of his friendship, generosity and kindness. He is greatly missed by all his friends and family. George Tusa (1953)

twins, and what fun we had as boys together. Garden tennis on their grass court was hilarious: the surface was scarcely Wimbledon standard, and much time was spent retrieving balls that had escaped the dilapidated netting into the flower beds and the cabbages. As autumn drew on, the hazards increased as, being close to a great oak tree, one also had to navigate the acorns littering the ground.

IN MEMORIAM | 1953

a close group throughout our four years at Oxford. It was the beginning of a friendship that lasted until Tony died last year.

Peter owed much to his parents. His father Jack was always both jovial and serene; Kathleen, his mother, overflowed with hospitality and kindness, combined with a gritty determination to get things done in the best way possible. Peter had much of his parents in him. Peter and I used to bicycle together the four miles to King’s College School, Wimbledon, and back each day. We were not, latterly, in the same form at school because he was to be a scientist and I was better with the arts. When Peter got a scholarship to Merton to read Medicine, I only got an entrance to Wadham to read History. This I must admit, was to my chagrin. However, coincidentally, a little later, I too gained a scholarship to Merton. The College takes about 100 undergraduates a year and, as luck would have it, Peter and I were allocated rooms on adjacent staircases in St Alban’s Quad, each at the top of some five stories. We could communicate by tapping on the shared wall. This was important when we were due to play squash or tennis, as we were both in the College teams. The influence of both the College and the University was overwhelming for both of us.

Peter Richard Wilson died on 24 December 2014, aged 79.

Peter proceeded to St Thomas’ Hospital and I to P&O, the shipping company. We organised squash matches between the two institutions in London. For us in P&O the fixtures were always a little disappointing, partly because the medical students were so fit, and partly because the budding doctors could not proceed after the matches to beer and bangers and mash, as they were often recalled to their duties by the ‘bleepers’. Our close friendship continued during our twenties. He would drive me in that fabulous old red BSA car, with its rather grand silver gears and its battery secured firmly to the running board, to photograph architecture.

Peter and I first got to know each other 66 years ago. In 1949 my family moved to Pine Walk, Surbiton, to a house next door but one to the Wilsons. Peter and I were almost

In 1960, Peter having left St Thomas’, was doing a houseman’s job at Chelmsford. There he met a beautiful Irish girl doing midwifery. On 13 July 1963 Peter and Bette were married and

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Peter had dynamic energy for both medical and social matters. We remember his love of his garden, visiting him and Bette at Layer de la Haye one summer. He was not only picking the raspberries, but was also going to turn them into jam himself. He was always busy, throwing his energies into Rotary, the local church and golf. If you wanted help in any way, Peter was always ready to assist. He had an opinion about almost everything and would speak with authority about historical subjects say, although his statements were not always quite accurate. He was essentially a caring man of medicine and it was a painful irony that he himself should have succumbed to an illness that he had spent a career treating in others. Above all, he cared for his beloved wife Bette, his three children – Stuart, Alastair and Emily, born between 1965 and 1967 – and his granddaughter, Megan. Alan Bott (1953)

1954

Joseph ‘Tony’ Hammond died on 23 December 2014, aged 80. Tony Hammond was a good friend and close colleague of mine during our Merton years, 1954-57. I got to know him well because he occupied rooms on the same staircase as I in The Grove for our first two years, and we were almost the same age. He got a scholarship to Merton from Denstone College in his native Burton-on-Trent and, prior to going up to Oxford, like me, he served his two years of National Service in Malaysia

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in the dying days of the British Empire. At Merton, Tony was a universally popular figure, and a renowned sportsman. Rugby and cricket were his passions and he was elected captain of the College rugby XV for the 1956-57 season. He led the side to a glorious season in which we lost only one game, and that to our great sporting friends and rivals, Keble. The result of that match, lost by a single point, was disputed, and my journal recalls that even our opponents agreed with us that a penalty goal kicked by Keble went wide of the posts, but was still awarded by the ref! I recall Tony as an inspirational leader. He was also a very valued member of the College cricket XI, as a bowler in particular. Tony was also much involved in the Joint Debating Society with St Hilda’s, The Fanatics, and participated regularly in the comic debates on which the Society was based. Like all of us ex-National Servicemen, he was a good beer drinker and convivial character ready to join in the light-hearted pranks in which we indulged. His decision to join the Civil Service and opt for life as a colonial officer definitely influenced me to opt for a job involving foreign travel. After a year of training at Cambridge, he was posted to Malawi, where he met his wife, Anne, whom he married in June 1961; their son Peter was born there in 1962. In November 1964 he was re-located to Hong Kong, where his daughter Caroline was born in 1965. He remained there until his retirement in 1991, and during that time he undertook a variety of jobs in the Hong Kong Government, including working in the Education Department, being Clerk of Councils, Justice of the Peace, and he held a number of senior positions including the Director of Councils and Administration Branch, Director of Regional Services and finally Commissioner for Labour. As a result of his hard work, professionalism and commitment to the Civil Service, Tony was awarded the Imperial Service Order by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace in July 1989. Tony was visiting his daughter Caroline and her family in Hong Kong for Christmas 2014, when he was suddenly taken ill and died of a heart attack, a very sad and totally unexpected end to a long and busy life in which he had made many friends. One of his close friends and colleagues, Keith Broadbridge, whose boss Tony was for many years, wrote that he had one of the sharpest minds in government and

was a natural leader. ‘All who worked with him felt the same. One of life’s gentlemen, a brilliant colleague and the best possible friend.’ I do not think that I can add anything to these words. It is also clear that his passion for rugby and cricket continued throughout his working life in Hong Kong. On 5 March 2015, a number of his old friends and colleagues from Merton met in London for a special memorial lunch in his honour, which is included in my Year Rep report (see page 117). The lunch was held in the same restaurant as in February 2007, where Tony had joined us for the 50th anniversary of our glorious rugby year under his captaincy. Dick Lloyd (1954)

Jack Kent died peacefully on 25 October 2014 in Melbourne, Australia, after 90 full-lived years. Born in Surrey in 1924, Jack read Chemistry at Merton between 1954 and 1958, receiving a BSc in 1958. Among his friends at Merton were David Barber and Reg Hall (both 1954) who also studied Chemistry, with Courtenay Phillips being his weekly tutor. Upon completion at Merton, Jack was appointed Assistant Chemistry Master at Oundle School where he enjoyed ‘an inspirational eight years’. He took a year’s leave in this time to teach at a school in Tanzania and was then supported to sponsor an African child to study at Oundle for two years, an enriching experience for all involved. The Department of Education at Oxford University then invited Jack to study Chemistry at Nuffield College and he became a member of the Oxford Institute of Education, which led to his next post back in Tanzania training science teachers. By 1972, Jack had completed a thesis in ‘Innovation in Education’ which gave him an MEd, and UNESCO offered him a post in Iran to train teachers. He was in Iran for five years with his new

family: Joan, his wife, whom he met while in Dar es Salaam where she was a university lecturer and married in 1971; and daughter Nicola born in 1972. They left just before the Islamic Revolution to go and live permanently in Australia. There he was Head of Science at the secondary school Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Melbourne until he retired in 1986. He built his own house in the country, had a self-sufficient vegetable plot, became a wood turner, taught at the University of the Third Age in Philosophy and Theory of Knowledge, was generous with his time and knowledge in helping others – in Australia and overseas – and was a wonderful husband, father and friend. On a personal note, I called my father ‘The Renaissance Man’ because he was an outstandingly versatile, well-rounded person who performed brilliantly in many different fields. There wasn’t much he couldn’t turn his hand to. And he was the most wonderful loving father, teacher, mentor and friend that anyone could ask for. Nicola Chapman (daughter)

IN MEMORIAM | 1954 & 1955

I was honoured to be best man. Bette’s care of Peter over 51 years, with her nursing instinct and experience, has been little short of miraculous.

Shortly before going to press, Postmaster learnt of the death of Professor Ian S Ross in 21 May 2015. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

1955

(Gerald) David Clayton was born in Horwich, Lancashire, and attended Bolton School, from where he won a Postmastership at Merton to read History. Merton had a profound effect on him, both as a historian, and socially. Indeed, his time at Oxford formed the basis for his future life and career. He left Merton to teach History, and become a housemaster at Hayward Grammar School, Bolton, a brand new school, in which the Head, Noel Stokes (Jesus, 1934),

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In 1965 David followed Stokes to Burnley Grammar School, as Head of History. Here he found a backward-looking department, which he quickly revitalised, and changed to one in which the emphasis was on ‘why’ rather than on what, who or where (though his ability to draw historical maps with accuracy and detail on the board was legendary). This approach soon bore fruit: examination results improved dramatically, and the school began to send students to Oxbridge, often to Merton. David was promoted to Deputy Head, and then, after a reorganisation of schools in the town, became Headmaster of Habergham High School, Burnley in 1984. As Head he worked tirelessly and with considerable success, to raise student expectations, often low in this corner of the northwest, and aspired to match the exam results of the local grammar and independent schools. He was impatient with bureaucratic interference and once, when he received a letter thanking the school for supporting the LEA, wrote back and pointed out that they should be supporting the school. OFSTED, in an excellent report, described the school management style as idiosyncratic, which he regarded as a compliment. His democratic and friendly style of leadership brought out the best in the staff and he was good to work for (I speak from experience). Staff knew what was expected and achieved it. His resignation letter sums up his approach. ‘I have been determined to preserve all that is best in the so-called “grammar school tradition” – academic rigour, high expectations and a vigorous social and extracurricular experience – while at the same time adjusting to and stimulating those many pupils who might otherwise have been deprived of that type of experience.’ David retired in 2001 and took up some of his many earlier interests. Music was an important part of his life. He had his car radio always tuned to BBC Radio 3, and he joined a high-quality local choir, the Brixi Singers. He had a rich baritone voice and frequently sang tenor and bass solos. He had climbed all 214 Wainwrights over 40 years, often independently, but after retirement he took up walking long-distance footpaths with a group of friends, something

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new that he discovered he enjoyed. David had a talent for sketching, and for several years designed and sent his own Christmas cards, fronted by a sketch (one of them of Merton). For many years he was chair of Bolton Historical Society, and used his contacts to arrange speakers. He had written a much-used textbook on the Eastern Question many years ago, and in retirement wrote a history of Hayward Grammar School and a very popular book Lost Farms of Brinscall Moors, which he backed up by taking enthusiastic groups of readers on walks around the moors. He maintained close contact with Merton throughout his life, especially with the Choir, and was generous with his time as well as financially. Sadly he became ill in 2013, and though visited and supported by many friends and neighbours, never recovered and died aged 77 in 2014. Paul Jennings (1960) Alan Hill was educated at Dulwich College and St Andrews University, and was admitted to Merton in Hilary Term, 1955 as a postgraduate, to research for the old BLitt degree by thesis (a DPhil in all but name), on the literary background of the Oxford Movement and the Catholic revival, for which he was awarded the BLitt in 1957. He naturally gravitated to the postgraduates and enjoyed much time in College when not working in the Bodleian. He was elected as President of the Bodley Club in 1957. Subsequently he taught in universities in England and Scotland (with a year in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan as a visiting professor) before being appointed to the Chair of English at Royal Holloway, London University in 1980. He married Margaret in 1960, and they had three daughters while living in Scotland. The ambience of Royal Holloway, like a Victorian château beside the Thames, suited him well and he delighted in its Picture Gallery, while deploring that more use was not made of it at that time. It was at this period that his principal publications began to take shape, most of all his numerous forays into Romantic and Victorian literature, which depended so much on his work as a trustee of the Dove Cottage Library in Grasmere over some 30 years. He felt particularly honoured by his election as Fellow of the British

Academy in 1992. It indeed set the seal on his contribution to Wordsworth and Romantic studies over nearly 50 years. After retirement, Alan had a new lease of life at the University of Birmingham in a Senior Research Fellowship with an array of congenial friends and academic contacts, which underpinned his studies of John Henry Newman in Newman after a Hundred Years (1990), the anniversary volume that he edited with Ian Kerr, and his editions of Newman’s two novels. Alan and Margaret settled in Malvern, and were looking forward to an active retirement, perhaps extending the Swan Hellenic cruising they had enjoyed every summer over the years. But in 2000 he was diagnosed with myeloma and early prostate cancer, which needed intermittent chemotherapy treatment over the next 15 years. This put paid to his final book on Wordsworth and the Church Tradition, though parts of it can be reconstructed from the articles he continued to write when the overwhelming demands of the illness briefly allowed it. He died aged 83 on 14 April 2015, and his funeral took place in Tewkesbury Abbey, to which he and his wife had become attached over the years.

1956

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of John Enticott on 17 September 2014. A full obituary will be published in next year’s edition.

the Easter vacation. We set off together soon after the end of term, and had a wonderful ten days travelling round the Highlands together in unusually sunny and warm weather – with two girls from Norway and Cyprus, which made it even better! I introduced them all to Gilbert and Sullivan with a performance of Iolanthe in Edinburgh, which delighted them. Friedl was interested in more serious music, and was an accomplished player of the recorder and the piano. We continued as friends during the rest of his stay in Oxford, and kept in touch for a few years after that. He married Barbara, a charming Englishwoman, and I visited them in The Hague, where he was posted to the Austrian Embassy, at the beginning of what was to be a distinguished diplomatic career, and we enjoyed a few days together. His first overseas post had been at the Austrian Embassy in New Delhi, and after The Hague and a period in Vienna he was posted to the Embassy in Pretoria, and then to Brussels for four years. After another period in Vienna he was appointed Ambassador in Manila, Philippines, and then to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and finally Ambassador to Pakistan before his retirement.

IN MEMORIAM | 1955 & 1956

had determinedly set about appointing young, enthusiastic and dedicated staff.

I lost touch for a few years, but when Merton appealed for news of several alumni, including Friedl, I wrote to him c/o the Foreign Ministry in Vienna, and received a speedy reply. He had recently retired, but would be coming on a visit to London soon. We met again in London, and later he came to stay for a few days at our holiday house in Italy, where we took him to a wonderful orchestral concerto nei boschi (concert in the woods), which we all enjoyed enormously. He was always tremendously active – and it is perhaps typical (and no doubt as he would have wished) that he died while climbing a church tower in Germany. Barbara was by then seriously ill, and unable to come, but he had made all arrangements for her care. Barbara survived him by a few months. They have left a son and two daughters.

Dr Friedrich ‘Friedl’ Posch died on 20 August 2014, aged 81. I got to know Friedl in April 1957. We were both in our first year at Merton: he was an Austrian postgraduate student on a two-year course, and I was an undergraduate reading law. We agreed to go hitchhiking to and around Scotland in

Friedl was a lovely person, full of life and energy. He was active in social matters, supporting a Catholic education project for poor schoolchildren in Pakistan, among other projects. He received a silver medal in Austria for his work, and various other awards from other countries where he served. He was much appreciated and will be greatly missed. Michael Ellman (1956)

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1957

Shortly before going to press, Postmaster learnt of the death of Geoffrey Gilbert in August 2015, aged 75. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

Professor Donald McLean Lamberton died on 28 November 2014, aged 87. Donald came to Merton from Sydney University, and was later elected a student of Nuffield College in 1958, receiving his DPhil in 1963. He became a Professor of Economics in 1966 and enjoyed a long career of teaching and research. Don enjoyed receiving news from Merton over the years. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Clare, his children Hugh and Anna, and his granddaughter Meg.

David A Smith QC died on 29 March 2015, aged 76. David came up to Merton in 1957 to read Law. The only son of Arthur and Marjorie Smith of Chatham, he had won a scholarship to Lancing College where he flourished and became Captain of School. At Merton he was a quiet but popular character who took his work seriously, got a good Second in Law and was President of the Oxford University Law Society. Those reading Law at Merton at that time were a close-knit group that included the late Mark Shivas, David Summerfield and Terry Saunders (all 1957). David joined the Chambers at 3 Pump Court in Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1962. He took Silk, becoming a Queen’s Council in 1982.

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Apart from the law, David’s chief interest and hobby was beekeeping and he became a well-known authority on the subject, becoming the Secretary of the Bee Research Association from 1963 to 2004. (This became the International Bee Research Association in 1976.) His publications include John Evelyn’s Manuscript on Bees from Elysium Britannicum (1996), a Bibliography of British Bee Books 1500-1976 (1979) and, neatly combining his two interests, Bees and the Law (1993), with David Frimston. Unfortunately David’s heart caused serious health problems for him and he underwent numerous valve replacements and other surgery over a number of years until there was nothing more the doctors could do. Clementine was able to nurse him at home where he died peacefully in early April. I spoke to him on the telephone only a few weeks before he died and found him his usual cheery self, fully aware of his condition but facing it all with calm acceptance. Tony Wood (1957)

1958

David Abbott died on 17 May 2014, aged 75. David went to Southall Grammar School and from there won a scholarship to read History at Merton. He and I were contemporaries and soon became firm friends. We played in the College football team together (he was the goalkeeper – we called him The Cat). We spent many happy

hours together in the La Roma coffee bar in the High Street, fantasising about how our future lives would turn out, little knowing that our paths would merge in a more permanent way 20 years later. Sadly, David’s father died aged 52 from lung cancer during our first year, and David had to leave Merton to take care of the family business, consisting of two struggling general merchandise shops in the London neighbourhood of Shepherd’s Bush. After two years he closed the business and found employment in the advertising department of Kodak. That led to a job as a copywriter at the London advertising agency Mather & Crowther. It was the beginning of a remarkable career. He moved to the widely admired Doyle Dane Bernbach agency in New York and came back to England in 1969 to be managing director of its London office. In 1971 he set up his own agency French Gold Abbott. Five years later Peter Mead, an old friend of David’s and mine, and I set up an agency and we persuaded David to join us as our chairman and creative director. The world of British advertising was slightly surprised by this turn of events as David was by then regarded as a superstar, a status that had stubbornly eluded Mead and myself. ‘Abbott joins who?’ ran the headline on the front page of Campaign, our trade magazine. Peter Mead said later: ‘When he joined Adrian Vickers and me in our little agency, it was like Lionel Messi joining Millwall. His talent catapulted AMV into the advertising stratosphere.’ After David joined, the agency flourished, went public on the UK stock market in 1985, and went into partnership with the American agency BBDO in 1991. Thanks much more to David than anyone else AMV.BBDO became the biggest agency in the UK in 1996 and still is today. David became well known for his own work on clients like Volvo, Sainsbury’s, IKEA, Chivas Regal, The Economist, British Telecom and Yellow Pages and by the time he retired some 15 years ago he was widely considered the greatest copywriter of his generation. A former colleague of David’s said: ‘The business will remember him for his creativity but his friends will remember him for his humanity.’ In our many years in business together, I never saw David make or support any decision about anybody that was cruel or malicious. He once brought to an end a small tiff with me (the cause of which I have long

forgotten) by sending me a bunch of flowers. No other man has done that for me. He was endlessly impish, funny and mischievous. To know David as a friend and business partner for so many years was a glorious gift from life’s lottery. In his retirement, David wrote a well-received novel The Upright Piano Player, and was working on a second one when he died suddenly from a heart attack. He and his wife Eve were a treasured part of my life, and of my wife Emma’s. His advertising legacy is indisputable, but what will survive of him even more strongly is his love of Eve, of his four children and eight grandchildren, his love of life and his laughter. I will remain ever grateful for his enduring friendship and will miss him incurably for the remainder of my days.

IN MEMORIAM | 1957 & 1958

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of Peter G Toulman. Peter was born in East Hampshire, son of GW Toulman. After receiving his BA at Peterhouse College, Cambridge in 1954, he came to Merton to take his Diploma in Education. While at Merton, he was part of the Long Distance VIII and stroked for the 2nd VIII in 1957.

David married Clementine Urquhart in August 1967 and they had two sons, Rupert and Julian. For many years they lived in Richmond; when he was appointed as a Circuit Judge sitting in Bristol, they moved to a lovely house at Beach a few miles outside the city. He was the President of the Council of Circuit Judges from 2000 to 2004.

Adrian Vickers (1958) Shortly before going to press, Postmaster learnt of the death of Malcolm Leflaive on 23 June 2015, aged 76. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

Sir Anthony Reeve KC MG KCVO died on 6 November 2014, aged 76. Tony had somehow always counted on living long into his nineties. After all, both his parents had. Only last year he wrote to Postmaster about his plans to embark on a PhD with the Open University. But after being diagnosed last October with blood cancer he died within weeks. He faced his death with unimaginable and unforgettable fortitude and focus. This included his being able to lay down in considerable detail his plans and desires for a memorial service to be held at the Oxford and Cambridge Club, which it indeed was in March this year. I have never witnessed such courage.

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After three happy years at Merton reading English and developing a love of literature and language that would sustain him all his life, Tony had a brief stint as a marketing man with Unilever but decided this was not a career for him. In 1964 he married Pamela Angus, mother of his three children James, Emily and Anna, and in 1965 joined the Foreign Office where he trained as an Arabist. So began what was to be an accomplished career as one of his generation’s most eminent emissaries. The Times obituary described him as ‘a consummate diplomat’. After postings in Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Washington he served as head of the Southern African department and under-secretary for Africa. He was ambassador to Amman (1989-91) during the First Gulf War when Jordan’s support for removing Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait was crucial to the coalition. From 1991 to 1996 he was British Ambassador and later High Commissioner to South Africa. Yet again Tony found himself involved in a country at a critical moment of its history. It was a difficult period of multi-party negotiations for the transfer of power from the white nationalist party to majority rule. Nelson Mandela had been released from prison, but a future free from racial conflict was far from assured. I quote again from The Times: ‘Over the following knife-edge years he did much to help to build a new democratic South Africa and to ensure that Britain developed strong ties with the country. He became a good friend of Mandela who at their first meeting gave him his private telephone number… He also forged strong relationships with De Klerk the president, with Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the Zulu chief and head of the Inkatha Freedom Party and with what Reeve described in a confidential dispatch to the foreign secretary Douglas Hurd as “rightwing fanatics and left-wing lunatics”. He is widely considered to have played an important role in the multi-party negotiations that led to South Africa’s political settlement and the first multi-racial election in 1994. Before he left, Mandela honoured him by hosting a private farewell lunch.’

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At his memorial service, his fellow diplomats and FCO colleagues spoke unanimously of the powerful combination of the understated power of his mind, his judgement, modesty, humanity and humour. Despite such achievements, Tony did indeed remain a modest man, and once retired it was not easy to get him to speak of his FCO experiences, though one always knew he had great political wisdom to impart, and many stories to tell. He had over his lifetime become a deeply serious man, concerned with deeply serious issues. While in South Africa he had the great good fortune to meet Susan Doull whom he married in 1997. Divorced from Pamela in 1988, he had endured lonely moments during his postings in Jordan and initially in South Africa, and we who knew and loved Tony feared that he would face a desolate old age alone in his beloved Box Tree Cottage in Gloucestershire. As it was, he and Sue worked out a life together spent between England and South Africa. They were passionate golfers, travellers and gardeners. A consummate Englishman (as well as diplomat), Tony adored living in the heart of the English countryside, walking, observing, noting, husbanding the woodland and fields around his home. He was a deeply romantic man and a man of great heart. He loved history and roots and civilisation. He continued all his life after working there to care about what happened in the Middle East and South Africa. He was also until his last moments concerned with the life of the mind, his rigorous intellect always propelling him to new challenges. During his retirement he took two Open University degrees: a BA in humanities with classical studies and an MA with Distinction in classical studies. Even as he faced his death he was busy writing, dictating to Sue his thoughts on religion and God. A declared atheist, it was as if he was determined to have the last word, and so it was that his final message to the friends and family assembled at his memorial in March was a defiant challenge to God’s existence. I shall remember my dear friend as a wise and witty man, a loyal and constant companion. We played golf every week together, went walking together, holidayed together and of course shared a lifetime of memories. We talked and talked and laughed an awful lot. We thought we would always be those 20-year old men who were lucky enough to get to Merton. We were rather shocked when we noticed we were getting older and of course the greatest shock was Tony’s illness and death.

Tony is survived by Sue, by his three children from his marriage to Pamela, and by four grandchildren. Adrian Vickers (1958)

1960

‘(Geoffrey) David Harrison sadly passed away on Wednesday June 13th 2012, aged 71 years. David worked for many years at Northampton Grammar School. He will be missed by all who knew him.’ This sad announcement was recently discovered by Howard Stringer on the Northampton School website. Dave had long been missing from the Merton records, but not forgotten. Dave came up to Merton from Keighley Grammar School to read history in Michaelmas 1960. In Yorkshire he had played both rugby league and rugby union and fitted immediately into the Merton 1st XV. Raw-boned, genial and gentle (except when playing), he was an ideal number 8. He was the only representative from Keighley at Merton (and, I think, at the University) so probably felt initially isolated, both bemused and amused at College life and its denizens. But he settled down quickly and his forceful play soon made him an integral member of the rugby team and, in his second year, its captain. It was not just at rugby where he made his mark. At the beginning of his second year, he was elected President of the JCR. I became JCR Steward in the same election so had much to do with him during 1961-62. The 1960s were an era of social, political and cultural change. Our year had just one member who had done National Service. On Saturdays there was standing room only in the JCR for Yogi Bear and, later in the evening, That Was the Week That Was. In those days, the College gates closed at midnight, leaving stop-outs to scale the ramparts that had been built to

maintain the scholarly monastic life. Initially Dave found an easy way (with penknife) to unlock the small gate by the JCR into the gardens. When we became JCR officials, we asked Dick Norman, Principal of the Postmasters, if gate hours could be extended. The problem, he suggested, could be resolved by those out after midnight paying porters’ overtime. So, with JCR approval, we arranged for the gate to be manned and guaranteed the porters their overtime pay. In short, our year embodied a wider cultural and social revolution, although many ancient customs survived. David’s career in some ways symbolised this. That said, for all his popularity and sociability, he remained private, even to close friends. This might explain his reluctance to maintain his College links, as if embarrassed by the high esteem in which he was held. As at Northampton, he was and will be missed by all who knew him. Nick Woodward (1960)

IN MEMORIAM | 1958 & 1960

Tony and I met in 1958 on our first day as undergraduates. Carefree and uninhibited, we started a conversation that continued for the next 56 years of his life. He was my oldest and closest friend and we never lost contact despite his working all over the world.

Alan Hopkinson died on 1 January 2015, aged 72. I first met Alan aged 18 coming out of Merton’s entry exams when, unlike the rest of us, he was dressed in a well-cut suit, blue polka-dot bow tie and handmade shoes. We retired to a café, smoked his Balkan Sobranie cigarettes and I became aware of his prodigious memory and his like of the excess. In the summer before going up to Merton he came to the Isle of Man, my homeland, to work with me at a holiday camp. Alan marched into the staff kitchen wearing Hebridean tweeds, offering around his Woodbines Passing Clouds, oval cigarettes new to everyone there, which led to his being regarded from then on as the eccentric English gentleman. Afterwards we hitchhiked around Europe together and became the closest

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We signed up for rugby in our first term at Merton, where he made a name for himself on our first outing by some rather outrageous bellowing encouraged at his school. He then volunteered for the Officers Training Corp, which saw the start of his love affair with the military – one of his email addresses many years later being theGunner@. Later in our first year I happened to be present when he was introduced to Jenny Reynolds and as we walked away he said: ‘That’s the girl I’m going to marry.’ True to his word he married Jenny immediately after leaving Oxford and they went on to have three children, Peter, Belinda and Miranda. After Merton, Alan qualified as a chartered accountant, took an MBA at Cranfield and then moved to Stanford to start a PhD in business. He was headhunted by Shell who persuaded him to relinquish his studies, whereupon he joined his new company by travelling 6,000 miles out of his way to visit us living in Brazil and persuaded me to follow him with a Cranfield MBA, a decision for which I will be forever indebted to him. Alan left Shell to set up his own company, a furniture business, but this hit hard times so the decision was taken to move back to California, happily just as the electronics industry was beginning to boom and Alan was able to settle into a career in accounting and business. Sadly, Alan and Jenny divorced, but with his usual serendipity Alan met Anne when the sprinklers awakened and dampened him as he lay sleeping peacefully in her garden. They fell in love, married, and remained happily together for the rest of his life. He enrolled in medical school, memorised anatomy with the same ease as everything else, decided however that it was not for him and in the 90s made his last career stop – the law; to which he was perfectly suited, enabling him as it did to bring to bear his extraordinary analytical ability. Later he started a forensic accounting business, something he greatly enjoyed, and that saw him determinedly doing battle on behalf of the less fortunate against the heavy odds stacked against them. Alan and Anne made the long trip from California to be present when Dan, our son and his godson, married Fiona in

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London. He was truly a member of our family, and he played that role in the lives of others. His larger than life presence will be enormously missed by his many, many friends. David Fletcher (1960)

1965

Postmaster was sad to hear of the death of Derek A Roe on 24 September 2014. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition, and a tribute appears in Antiquity, which can be found at www.antiquity.ac.uk

memorably taking the part of Noah. He was a regular hockey and squash player and a connoisseur of Russian and Eastern European art films, and a keen Manchester City fan. Perhaps his consuming hobby was chess. He co-founded the international quarterly chess magazine EG in 1965, which still flourishes as a niche publication on chess composition, problems and endgame studies. Dr Stella Butler, University Librarian and Keeper of the Brotherton Collection

what his readership needed and to his unwavering integrity over editorial policy.

1966

1967

The College was sad to learn of the death of Paul Steadman Valois on 15 May 2014, aged 68, who read French and Russian as a Postmaster at Merton from 1965. Born in 1946, Paul read French and Russian at Oxford and obtained a postgraduate library qualification at the University of Sheffield, before being appointed to his first library post at the School of Slavonic and Eastern Studies (SSES) in the University of London. Highly efficient, courteous and reliable, Paul won golden opinions from all his colleagues. He joined the staff of the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds in 1973 and worked as Head of the Accessions Department until taking early retirement in 1999. Over the years, he introduced a range of systems that combined to make his department a model of effectiveness. He also recognised the efforts of others; Austick’s, the Library’s main local supplier, would receive a Christmas cake from Paul every year as a mark of his appreciation. Paul had a family connection with the early 20th-century Tolstoyan community at Tuckton House in Christchurch, Dorset, and he donated interesting items to the rich Tolstoyan holdings of the Brotherton Library’s Special Collections. Indicative of Paul’s qualities as a colleague were his weekly trips to Leeds market, resulting in a huge and colourful bunch of flowers for the office. Paul was an enthusiastic participant in the mystery plays produced in the 1980s by a library colleague, most

Howard Griffiths died in June 2015 after a lengthy battle with multiple sclerosis, which had been with him for more than 20 years and against which he had fought with fortitude and characteristic stubbornness. Howard’s immediate life after graduation was spent working for big pharmaceutical companies as a medical rep. Those who remember him from College days will not be surprised that he regarded with typically wry detachment efforts to mould him as a company man. However, the many contacts that he established with doctors during this period helped him understand what made GPs tick. So, in 1973 he changed direction and became a features writer for the GP publication Pulse, progressing to editor and subsequently editor-in-chief. He continued in post for some time after the onset of his disease until, in 2005, his condition had deteriorated to the extent that retirement was inevitable. He kept his illness to himself for as long as possible and refused to allow his increasing infirmities to be used to seek sympathy or leniency in his personal standards of performance. Colleagues of the time have spoken of his success in consolidating Pulse as the consistent leader over many years in a crowded and highly competitive market, attributing this to his sure instinct for

Throughout his long illness Howard was supported by the devotion of his wife Lynda who became his dedicated carer, a constant and always loving presence. He also leaves three daughters, of whom he was fiercely proud, and three young grandchildren whose early years he enjoyed so much. Ian Yates (1966)

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of Paul S Gregory on 5 March 2015. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

IN MEMORIAM | 1965, 1966, 1967 & 1970

of friends. Throughout our travels I came to know him as the unfailingly positive, humorous and optimistic man that he remained throughout the rest of his life.

Shortly before going to press, Postmaster learnt of the death of David Hugh Prysor-Jones on 5 August 2015, aged 66. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

1970

Professor David Broomhead died on 24 July 2014. Dave was born in Leeds. He attended a local grammar school and won a West Riding scholarship, which enabled him to enter Merton College in 1970 to read Chemistry, having spent a year teaching in a school in Uganda. Early on in his course, however, Dave realised that he should have read mathematics and he began to make the transition when he did theoretical research on quantum mechanics for his Part II and his DPhil Thesis. Dave married Eleanor, a fellow chemist, while they were both doing research in the Physical Chemistry Laboratory. After a year as a postdoctorate in Harwell, Dave took up an SERC/ NATO fellowship in Kyoto University’s physics department. It was here that he began to work seriously on applied nonlinear dynamics and chaos, which underpinned his research for the rest of his career. Dave immersed himself in Japanese culture – he loved the pottery and ink paintings of the country. He studied sumie and the tea ceremony, and his

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On his return to the UK, Dave took up a postdoctoral position in Warwick University’s physics department. It was in Warwick that Nathan, now a research mathematician in his own right, was born. In 1983, Dave went to work at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, Malvern. As an Individual Merit scientist, he had the freedom to pursue long-term research and two of his most influential papers on delay embedding and neural networks were published during this time. Twelve years later, dismayed by the deteriorating intellectual environment in the soon-to-be-privatised government research establishment, Dave joined the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology as Professor of Applied Mathematics. Working in a university again allowed him to interact with students, which he enjoyed immensely and he proved to be an inspiring mentor and lecturer. Dave became increasingly interested in interdisciplinary research. The unification of the two universities in Manchester in 2004 presented new opportunities and he was key to developing Manchester’s expertise in industrial mathematics. He fostered the links with computer science and engineering that led to the CICADA grant for research on hybrid systems, which was the largest grant awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council mathematics panel at the time. Dave had a remarkable talent for bringing together disparate areas of science and mathematics. As well as work on eye movement, he found time to work on large-scale models of metabolism and on the dynamics of intracellular signalling. His recent research involved using Max-plus algebras to study timing of processes in biological systems and computer processes. Dave took an active role in mathematics nationally. He was editor of Mathematics Today, and for this and his other contributions to the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2013. Dave was also an elected member of the London Mathematical Society and was an advisor to the research councils. What cannot be described adequately, however, is what a kind and generous human being Dave was. In everything he did, he was enthusiastic, inspiring, patient and loyal: he was a man of

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integrity. In the final years of his life, Dave had a rare form of lymphoma that caused severe nerve damage. With Eleanor’s support, he was able to continue his research, managing to write on an iPad using his arm to move a stylus taped to his finger. He was remarkable and is sorely missed by so many. Eleanor Broomhead The Institute of Mathematics and its Application published a ‘David Broomhead Memorial Issue’ of Mathematics Today in June 2015, recognising David’s important work in the field and as editor of the magazine.

1972

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of John A Whitehead. John was born in Sale, Cheshire, son of J Whitehead. After attending King’s College, London, he came to Merton to take a BLitt in English.

1978

In 2011 Les was promoted to group leader of the Physiological Modelling of Metabolic Risk Group and in the following year he was appointed consultant metabolic physiologist at Addenbrooke Hospital’s National Institute for Health Research/ Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility in Cambridge. Les was highly regarded in both the stable isotope community for his outstanding technical contributions to mass spectronomy and tracer methodologies, and the nutrition research community for developing measurement techniques for total energy expenditure and breast milk intake, which have become worldwide standards. Other principal research contributions were in areas of mathematical modelling, including Bayesian methods and the study of integrated physiology such as glucose and lipid metabolism. In his spare time, Les loved spending time with his family, enjoying visiting places of interest – especially steam railways and wildlife parks. He enjoyed comedy – particularly shows like The Goon Show, The Navy Lark and Dad’s Army – and latterly loved listening to Dennis of Grunty Fen on Radio Cambridgeshire. Les is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Sarah and Stella, and his mother, Violet. Susan Bluck

1980 Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of Dr Leslie Bluck on 14 May 2014. In 1984 Les received a doctorate from Merton College following a BSc in Chemistry from Durham University. This was followed by eight years of employment in industry in Cheshire, firstly as project manager with VG Gas Analysis Systems, then as development manager with Dennis Leigh Technology and latterly as software manager at Anglo Scientific Instruments. In 1993 Les joined the Medical Research Council in Cambridge firstly as Bristol-Myers Research Fellow at the Dunn Nutrition Unit and then as senior investigator, in which role he continued when the unit became the new MRC Elsie Widdowson Laboratory.

one is headed that matters as much as where one starts. He achieved his MBA from Henley Management College in 1988. Paul’s sporting ability was well known in his home town tennis club where he was affectionately known as the ‘Green Flash’, not for a particular interest in science fiction, but rather his devotion to a particular brand of sports shoe that was then de rigueur. Upon graduating Paul joined the Barclays banking enterprise but was soon headhunted to work for Ernst & Young’s consulting operation. At heart, Paul was always a ‘people person’ in that he understood what motivated people and, more importantly, how to tap into that, both for the benefit of the individual and of their employer.

IN MEMORIAM | 1972, 1978 & 1980

poetry became influenced by the style of the haiku writers. This love remained with him throughout his life.

Paul made a decision to leave corporate life and set up in business on his own, starting the company Learning Dimensions, which specialised in management and motivational training, and attracted a number of prestigious clients including many large multinational companies. His work took him to every continent but he was never more content than when back home in his precious mid-Sussex and in the company of his family and two very active Labrador dogs. His house was situated in the Ashdown Forest and he was apt to quote AA Milne, one of his favourite quotes being: ‘If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.’ When he was in a more adventurous frame of mind he would also take any unsuspecting visitor on a route march through Pooh’s haunts. Paul’s other great leisure interest was contemporary music, especially Bruce Springsteen’s early driving rock music and latterly folk-rock. He literally had the T-shirt for Springsteen’s many tours, seeing in him a powerful reminder of American blue-collar values and the way they underpin US culture.

Paul Andrew Stockton died on 4 March 2015, aged 53. Born on 29 January 1962, he came up to Merton in 1980 to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Paul was the first of his family to graduate from university and his parents, Ray and June, were delighted at his achievement. Paul was the model for many current Mertonians: intelligent and earnest, yet from a relatively modest beginning, so proving that it’s where

As is so tragically common, Paul was struck by cancer in his early 30s and was treated successfully for the immediate disease, only for it to return in his early 50s with devastating consequences. Despite massive secondary tumours, he carried on working in his business which by then had been re-born as Embedding Performance with a co-owner, Andrew Needham, taking on much of the load.

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1982

Merrell Noden died of cancer on 31 May 2015 at the age of 59. A writer on diverse topics from sports to academia to popular culture and social issues, Merrell was educated at the Lawrenceville School and Princeton University before coming to Merton for an MPhil in English Literature. Born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1955, Merrell felt connected to England through his English mother and grandmother who introduced him to Shakespeare and Dickens from his earliest days. Merrell had a deep fascination with language from serious poetry to stand-up comedy and was able to absorb and recite just about anything from Whitman to Woody Allen, from Lord Byron to The Big Lebowski. Merrell approached life as a fan. He was a fan of his friends and family and loved to recount their many accomplishments. He was a fan of music and loved to sing, and to play guitar and piano. He played in several bar bands with friends over the years, including US and Them while at Merton, which also included Simon Crutchley (1982), Chris Johnson (1982) and Rhys Wilson. Other bands included The High Plains Drifters in Princeton, New Jersey and The Tiny Studs in New York City. He interviewed many notable musicians over the years, bringing a decidedly literary slant to his musical fandom. While writing for Grooves magazine, he was delighted to get the quote from Richard Thompson: ‘None of the things I enjoy doing look good on a rock ’n’ roll résumé: hiking, bird watching, botany, architecture.’

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He was a fan of sports, and competed in cross-country and track for most of his life. He set an Eastern high school record in the 880 with a time of 1:54.0 and ran a 4:11.9 mile on a distance medley relay for an indoor US high school record. While at Merton he competed in the decathlon and earned a Blue, and ran for several seasons with the North London Running Club, enjoying club runs in Hampstead Heath. He loved the history of the Iffley Road Stadium and in later years interviewed Sir Roger Bannister for Sports Illustrated Magazine, where he was a reporter and writer from 1986 to 1999. ‘I suppose people will remember me for (the fourminute mile),’ Bannister said. ‘But my life has other strands.’ In London he once had a chance to race against the great Sebastian Coe in the Brigg Mile in North London. And though he covered several Olympics and World Championships, he never lost the awe he felt for his sister Hilary, who as a 17-year-old had run 4:23.4 for 1,500 meters (approximately a 4:43 mile). Merrell would say about their training runs: ‘I’ve never seen anyone charge up a hill more fiercely than Hilary.’ And then Merrell would say it was actually their brother Geoffrey who had the greatest running talent in the family, but according to Geoffrey unfortunately no one had ever bothered to share that thought with him until recently. Innumerable articles remain attesting to Merrell’s sense of restless curiosity. Having written his Master’s thesis on Charles Dickens and Mental Illness, his first piece for Sports Illustrated was Frisky as the Dickens and chronicled Dickens’ mania for walking. In Lord of the Waterways, yes, Lord Byron was ‘poetry in motion’ as he swam the Dee and Don Rivers, the Grand Canal in Venice and most notably, the Hellespont. Merrell also wrote about athletes’ rights and health, contributing sober articles about anorexia and steroid abuse. The son of Judge J Wilson Noden, Merrell was also always keenly interested in social justice, volunteering over the course of many years to teach reading and writing and whenever possible to bring Shakespeare plays to Trenton State Prison. He had a strong sense that others should have access to the same kinds of opportunities he had had. Merrell and Eva Mantell met at Oxford in 1983 when she was studying at Somerville College. They celebrated their 25th

anniversary the week he died. Their children are Miranda, age 19, who has a special affinity for Fawlty Towers, and Samuel, age 16, who now runs the mile for the Lawrenceville School. Eva Mantell

1984

1983

Rupert Sheard died on 26 August 2014, aged 50. Rupert entered Merton as an Exhibitioner from Sherborne School, reading biochemistry and later taking a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology (PPP). He was elected to Postmaster in 1986. He loved his time at Merton, which included playing sport as hooker in the rugby XV and serving on the Ball Committee. He was an accomplished pianist and flautist, and performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto from memory with The Queen’s College orchestra, and accompanied fellow Merton student, the Prince of Japan, on his violin in recital. He was also an excellent skier and went to Austria with the OU skiing team. After leaving College he commenced a career as a music therapist but sadly developed depression, an illness that became a serious handicap for the rest of his life. He travelled to India and Nepal where he enjoyed mountain trekking before moving to Japan to teach English for a year. A recurrence of his illness necessitated a return to the UK and after a period of recovery, he attended The Isle of Wight College to qualify in accountancy and started his own business as a selfassessment tax advisor. He became a popular classical music reviewer for the Isle of Wight County Press and was assistant organist in his local churches as well as singing in island choirs. He was a keen warden at a National Trust bird sanctuary and loved driving his classic car until his untimely death. Julian Drinkall and Sam Whipple (both 1983) organised a Rupert Sheard Curry Night at The Gaylord in London W1 on 5 December 2014. A number of 1983 Mertonians, as well as Rupert’s friends and family, attended and celebrated his life and his passion for an excellent curry.

Dr Nigel C Veitch died on 1 September 2014, aged 49. I first met Nigel very early on in our time at Merton, where we studied chemistry together. My diary of that time, dated Saturday 13 October 1984, recalls:

IN MEMORIAM | 1982, 1983 & 1984

Paul is survived by his wife Ceri, a Cambridge alumna and notable oarswoman, and by his three children, William, George and Milly, of whom he was immensely proud. Paul will be remembered by all for his warmth, generosity and humility. He was a wonderful friend.

‘I ate with a fellow chemist who is quiet but amiable and I think we’ll get along well.’ Those words proved prescient, for that ‘quiet but amiable’ chemist was to become a close friend for almost 30 years. Nigel had arrived at Merton from Queen Mary’s College in Basingstoke and was earmarked for academic success. Merton had awarded him a Postmastership and he did not disappoint, ultimately gaining a first class degree in 1988 and being ranked fifth in the University for chemistry that year. He stayed on at Merton until 1992, while he studied for his doctorate with the eminent biochemist Professor RJP Williams. As well as being a talented chemist, Nigel was an accomplished flautist and pianist. He played the flute during the signing of the register when my wife, Barbara, and I were married in 1993. Thereafter, he would often accompany Barbara’s flute-playing when visiting us for a weekend. He was a frequent visitor to our home, his name being the first-ever entry in our visitors’ book. He was to make 62 more visits over the ensuing 21 years. Nigel was also a key member of the music group at Christ Church, Virginia Water, where he worshipped for many years. His musical talents were employed at work too, where he rehearsed and conducted the Kew Gardens’ choir at the annual staff Christmas carol service for several years. Nigel worked at Kew for his whole career, joining the organisation in 1992 and rising to the level of senior

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It was fitting that Nigel should spend his scientific career working on plants, for he loved gardening and took great joy in his carefully designed and beautifully maintained garden at his home in Sunningdale. He also took a keen interest in his family history and enjoyed tracing his antecedents back through several hundred years. He was part of a close-knit Christian family who loved each other very much and he was deeply affected by the sudden loss of his mother in 2010. He remained close to his father and sister, and to his aunt in Cornwall and her family. Cornwall was another theme that ran through Nigel’s life. He invariably took his holidays in the county across the Tamar that he loved so dearly. He often stayed in St Ives and it is a tragic irony that it should be there that his body was brought to land after its discovery at sea on 1 September 2014. The media coverage surrounding the death of Nigel, who was a deeply private person at heart, only served to heighten the unreality of his passing. His friends will remember him as a sympathetic, gentle, and kind person. In his memory, an oak tree has been planted on Chestnut Lawn, in front of Grove, where he lived in his first year in College. David Clark (1984)

1985

Postmaster was sad to learn of the death of Bill Leitch on 28 June 2015. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

1991

Matthew (Matt) Veasey very sadly died at the end of December 2014 after a two-year battle with cancer. It was too early a death for a man who so enjoyed life and was so happy living in beautiful Little Leigh with his wife Louise, whom he met at Oxford, and English Setter Maxwell. His Merton friends will remember him for the enthusiasm with which he pursued so many charitable, social and, on occasion, academic pursuits. He was College RAG Rep and a leading light in the University RAG. Few of us will forget the unexpected sight of Matt dressed as a member of the Spanish Inquisition balancing on a milk float. He was a mean punter and host of high-spirited summer barbeques – as well the creator of the Rose Lane 5 Yearbook, which told the story of many of our first years at Merton. Matt was also a highly talented musician with an amazing ability to play any song from scratch and an eclectic range of musical interests. Many people watching the Eurovision Song Contest this year pointed out on social media that it was not the same without his unofficial commentary. Attending the very moving memorial service held for him at Little Leigh Church, we were struck by the huge impact he had on so many people after leaving Merton and moving to the North West. He made his mark wherever he went: former colleagues who had worked with him in blue-chip companies and on internet start-ups remembered his analytical rigour, strategic insight and determination. His entrepreneurial nature – and love of cider – also underpinned the highly successful private cider-making business he set up, and his contribution to the cider community was shown not just by the prizes he won for his cider but his work in lobbying Westminster for appropriate support to the UK cider industry. Alongside his cider-making, ongoing musical activity and a full-time job as a university lecturer, he threw himself into the Little Leigh community and was parish council chairman, channelling his passion into protecting the village and supporting neighbours. Matt handled his illness and the accompanying debilitating treatment with good humour and grace at all times. He was keen to downplay what he was going through and instead to focus on what was going on in other people’s lives. He kept his Facebook community entertained by another campaign

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– this time to improve the dubious quality of hospital food in the North West. His death leaves a huge hole in a great many people’s lives, none more so than Louise’s. We hope that knowing that Matt had such an impact in so many areas is of some comfort to her. Rachael (née Brookman) and Simon Hepburn (both 1991)

1993

We are sad to announce the death of Malcolm Smith, who obtained his BA (Jurisprudence) in 1993 and went on to study for his DPhil at Merton. Malcolm came to his academic study of the law after more than 20 years of practising as a solicitor with his own firm in Hartlepool. He found his Oxford studies a stimulating and rewarding complement to his ongoing professional practice. Unfortunately his studies were interrupted by ill-health, but he obtained his MA and continued to work in his own practice until his last admission to hospital. Malcolm died on 27 March 2015, and is survived by his wife, Marilyn, three children and 11 grandchildren.

2004

and with passion. Merton attracted her because it was one of the oldest colleges. On her initial visit she was captured by the setting, buildings and overall ambience. As a student she entered into the spirit and ethos of Merton life, embracing the history, culture and principles of excellence and hard work. Emily enjoyed Oxford immensely. From Rose Lane to Holywell Street to Madrid and back to Rose Lane, she threw herself wholeheartedly into her language studies, her contemporaries and all the opportunities that presented themselves to deepen and widen her understanding. After Merton she worked as a graduate trainee in human resources at Tesco Head Office for two years, and continued developing her strengths, particularly her people skills. August 2010 was a pivotal point in her short life when she took a month out between jobs to visit and help out at a children’s home in Arequipa, Peru. Here she fell in love with that country, its people and culture – but especially the children. And more especially the abused, abandoned and marginalised children, who had suffered so much and needed so much love and healing. Emily had a surfeit of love in her heart. She was a committed Christian and knew that to love God meant to love her neighbours, by doing what she could to make their lives better. So began a passion that demonstrated itself in regular visits, in spite of demanding HR consultancy jobs with Deloitte and later Ernst & Young. She made weekly phone calls to the children and staff at the Arequipa home. When possible, she enthusiastically shared stories and spoke of personalities so others caught the passion, saw the need, and were encouraged and enabled to share in helping these children.

Many who knew our daughter Emily Coates when she studied at Merton have written to us to express their sadness and shock at her unexpected death, just turned 29, in Rome, in January this year. We very much appreciate those thoughts and your sympathy.

Her motivation for many of her activities in the UK came from her passion for Peru. She began a monthly prayer group for South America in All Souls Church in London, where she lived after leaving Oxford. She eventually bought a flat, not just as somewhere to live but intended long-term as an investment, hoping that one day its rental would fund her to be in Peru on a more permanent basis. She had a dream to open a school for street children, to give them an opportunity to learn and acquire skills in order to fulfil their potential. She considered her own education to have been a massive privilege.

Emily researched her choice of college in Oxford the way she did everything – meticulously, methodically, comprehensively

Sadly, it was not to be Emily who would personally facilitate this venture, despite having all the language skills, cultural

IN MEMORIAM | 1985, 1991, 1993 & 2004

phytochemist in the Jodrell Laboratory. He published widely and was an internationally recognised expert in his field. In its official statement on 10 September 2014, Kew noted that Nigel was ‘a valued colleague and friend to many at the Royal Botanic Gardens and an outstanding scientist’.

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These are some of our memories. We know Emily made many good friends in Oxford (actually, she managed that all over the world). We are so grateful for all of you who wrote to us after her death. In the flurry of circumstances we were not always able to take details and reply to each personally. We would love to continue that contact and hear from you, and welcome any memories – happy, sad, smart or ridiculous – you may have of Emily. If anyone wishes to hear more about how our efforts in memory of Emily are proceeding in Peru, we will be happy to keep you informed about developments. We would particularly value good, positive advice if you feel able to contribute to help us make progress. Jack and Linda Coates Jonathan Thacker, Emily’s Tutor in Spanish from her time at Merton, writes: ‘I first met Emily when she came to Oxford as an admissions candidate in December 2003 and I remember one part of that experience particularly clearly. In those days the language examination that forms part of the admissions process was sat in the College and tutors acted as invigilators. Emily sat a Spanish test and a German test, one after the other, and I collected up her Spanish script when it was done as she and the other candidates continued to work. I began to glance at her answers to the first couple of questions and, when I realised that they were completely correct, I found myself reading on, trying to locate any mistake she had made at all. It dawned on me very quickly that we were going to accept Emily to read Spanish and – then and subsequently – that she was one of the most gifted linguists we had had the good fortune to attract to Merton. ‘However, I don’t remember Emily primarily for her exceptional academic ability. I remember her for her personal qualities. In

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tutorials, in language classes, in chance meetings in the quad or at dinners in the Hall, and within the College community in general, Emily unfailingly had a smile on her face. She was known as, and proved herself subsequently to be, in so many ways, an empathetic individual, more concerned about others than herself. I suppose she suffered from the self-doubt and essay crises that afflict most students from time to time but you wouldn’t have guessed it. She was one of the most delightful individuals that it will ever be my privilege to have taught. ‘Emily stayed in touch after graduating, telling me about her work and her travels to Romania and then Peru where she “fell in love with the kids and with the country and would love to be there long-term”, but also asking me about Oxford, College and what I was doing, and my children. That was, as all who knew her will recognise, entirely characteristic of her. She is hugely missed.’

IN MEMORIAM | 2010 & FORMER STAFF

knowledge and passion to help. Nevertheless, we as her parents now have some resources to do something tangible as a memorial to Emily in Peru. We are starting, effectively, from scratch. We are currently proceeding step by step but are very conscious of our own lack of knowledge and language – making us even more aware of how Emily would have been the perfect person to lead such a project. We hope to start something on solid foundations and with the right willing partners to perpetuate the essence of her vision.

2010

Postmaster was sad to hear of the death of Ying Tao on 22 June 2015. Anthony Brassil (2010) remembers studying with her: ‘Ying, Josh Monahan (2007) and I all started the MPhil Economics together in 2010. We were all friends, and I can remember several times when the three of us would spend all afternoon chatting in the MCR. Ying was a lovely person with a bubbly personality. She was almost unwaveringly upbeat.’ A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition, and memories from those who knew her will be welcomed. Please contact the Development Office at development@ merton.ox.ac.uk.

Former Staff

Shortly before going to print, Postmaster learnt that Mrs Elizabeth Collett died on 30 July 2015, aged 86. Mrs Collett worked at Merton for 33 years as a kitchen cleaner from 4 January 1965 until her retirement on 29 March 1998. A full obituary will appear in next year’s edition.

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MERTONIANS | FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Forthcoming Events

Further details of forthcoming events are available from Helen Kingsley, Alumni Relations Manager in the Development Office. We add events to the schedule throughout the year and regularly update the Merton website with information as it becomes available.

2015

October 10

1965 Golden Anniversary Lunch

10

Organ Concert by Robert Quinney Venue: Merton College Chapel

22

MC3 Merton in Manhattan Association Meeting Speaker: Mark Thompson (1976), Honorary Fellow, current CEO of the New York Times Company and former Director-General of the BBC. Venue: The residence of the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Manhattan

27

Merton Society London Drinks Party Venue: Davy’s Wine Bar, Holborn, London

31

All Saints’ Concert Venue: Merton College Chapel

November 1

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All Souls’ Requiem Venue: Merton College Chapel

November cont… 12

14

Merton Lawyers’ Association Annual Meeting Speaker: The Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP (Magdalen, 1975) Venue: White & Case LLP, London Organ Concert by Matthew Martin Venue: Merton College Chapel

19-12 December 27

28-29

Development Director’s trip to Asia

Merton Society London Dinner Speaker: Martin Glenn (1978), Chief Executive of the Football Association Venue: Royal Thames Yacht Club, Knightsbridge, London Advent Carol Services Venue: Merton College Chapel

December 11

Christmas Carol Service Venue: St Luke’s Church, Chelsea

16

Christmas Concert: Hodie Christus natus est Venue: St John’s Church, Smith Square, London

2016

February tbc

Merton in the City Association Meeting (moved from June)

23

Merton Chapel Choir Concert Venue: Temple Church, London EC4 Tickets available from www.templemusic.org

March 18-20

Passiontide at Merton

tbc

Merton Golfing Society Spring Meeting

April 8-10

MC3 AGM and Weekend in Washington DC coinciding with the Oxford University Reunion, which has moved location from New York

15

Inter-Collegiate Alumni Golf Tournament Followed by Prize-giving and Dinner at St Peter’s College

16

Gaudy for the years 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986

May tbc

Merton Team at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Town and Gown 10K Run Followed by brunch at Merton College

tbc

Merton Society London Lecture

14

Choir Concert: Striggio’s Ecce beatam lucem Venue: Merton College Chapel

28

Merton College Boat Club Dinner

June

25-26

Merton@Home at Merton College

September tbc

Oxford University Reunion Weekend in Oxford

23

Autumn Golf Meeting Followed by dinner in College Venue: Frilford Heath Golf Club

24

Gaudy for the years up to and including 1961

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