NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford

Page created by Lillian Fletcher
 
CONTINUE READING
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES
 Updates from Balliol alumni around the world
             A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES

                 Stuart Bebb
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
News and Notes

                                                                                                                                     NEWS AND NOTES
            We are delighted to share news from the Balliol community

                                            Thomas Huxley (1949)                         provided limited scope for activities of
1940s                                       No news. Just keeping my head down
                                            in our wee Perthshire village and
                                                                                         note. In fact, the most significant event
                                                                                         impacting my life was the closure of
Edward Gelles                               considering myself to be exceedingly         our indoor ice arenas, which resulted
(1944)                                      lucky still to be walking the dog, have      in the likely end of my 80-year ice
My study of                                 an amazingly kind wife and be able to        hockey career with both ‘a bang and
European Jewry                              keep on with various projects. We have       a whimper’. This had been the one
began 20 years                              our Covid jabs tomorrow. Best wishes         consistent chapter in my life story
ago with a search                           to Balliol and all who sail in that ship.    – through membership on school
for my family                                                                            teams, in competitive organisations,
antecedents. It                                                                          at the University of Toronto for four
has developed                                                                            years, with the OUIHC for three years
into the much wider tracing of Jewish
migrations in the context of our
                                            1950s                                        (including the legendary 29–0 win
                                                                                         over Cambridge in 1955), and with
continent’s history. I embarked on          Roger Corman (1950)                          Oldtimer teams over the past 65 years,
this interdisciplinary study of history,    On 14 November 2009 Roger Corman             culminating in my induction into the
genealogy, genetics, and onomastics,        was given an Oscar by the Academy            Canadian Oldtimer Hockey Hall of
drawing on birth, marriage, death, and      of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences          Fame. Of my many memories, nothing
other community records, marriage           for his ‘rich engendering of films and       can match being invited to perform
contracts and property transactions,        filmmakers’. On 13 July 2017 Roger was       the ceremonial face-off at the 100th
tombstone inscriptions, and all manner      given the Commandeur des Arts et des         Oxford–Cambridge Match on 24 March
of ephemera, supported at times by          Lettres, the highest honour the French       2018 in St Moritz, Switzerland, and to
DNA tests, linguistic considerations,       government bestows in the arts.              be the Honorary Coach of the Oxford
and much else. My first published                                                        team. As for the future, I have now
book on the subject, An Ancient Lineage     John Mallet (1950)                           resolved to write and publish more.
(Vallentine Mitchell, 2006), presented      My news is that some kind friends in
a large amount of research material         the London-based French Porcelain            Colin Simpson (1952)
on my ancestral descent from many           Society put on a Zoom symposium              My first great-grandson, Alwyn Charles
of the leading European rabbis and          on the evenings of 7 and 8 November          Simpson, was born on 10 September
their families over the past five           2020, in recognition of my 90th              2020.
centuries. The study expanded to take       birthday. My own contribution to the
in the inter-marriages of more than a       occasion was a talk on ‘Collecting for       Alan Spencer (1952)
hundred families. My sixth book, The        the Victoria and Albert Museum’.             After such a year with many sad losses
Jewish Journey (Bloomsbury Publishing,                                                   of friends along the way, it feels almost
2016), outlined some of the religious,      Professor Hugh Burkhardt (1952)              embarrassing to report that one is still
social, economic and other changes          My main project currently is working         here and feeling just the same as ever.
leading to periods of tolerance or          to convince the government,                  There was a Jerome K. Jerome reference
persecution, with voluntary or enforced     mainly through the Royal Society,            to someone whose only achievement
religious conversions in the course of      that improving education needs an            was displayed in his (presumably
millennial movements across Europe.         ‘engineering’ approach, like that            smallpox) vaccination certificate hung
My continuing work on this history          in medicine, which uses research             on the bedroom wall. That about sums
has included the study of genetic           methods to develop effective tools for       up my lockdown year, although I was
admixtures and is recorded on the           practitioners to use – see e.g. Burkhardt,   warned by a friend not to boast about
Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts      H. (2019), ‘Improving Policy and             it since it only shows how ancient and
website – Papers of Edward Gelles.          Practice. Educational Designer, 3(12)’.      decrepit you are. Hoping fervently to
In the past year I have put together        Retrieved from: educationaldesigner.         stay much the same until the next issue.
a book of Photographs Relating to My        org/ed/volume3/issue12/article46.
Family and Ancestral Background (CEWE,                                                   Derek Clements (1953)
2020) and I am preparing my eighth          Professor Ian Macdonald (1952)               I have now reached the stage where
book, Facets of My Family History,          As with most people my age, lockdown         my bodily integrity has been severely
which can be read on the website.           at home since mid-March of 2020              compromised by the insertion of an

Front cover photo: Julian Mylchreest (1987) at the South Pole                                              NEWS AND NOTES        2
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES

                 assemblage of spare parts. As a result I      lately been limited to ‘Thought for Day’   Brian Doman (1955)
                 am now a fine example of the miracle          on BBC Radio Scotland. But at least I      I don’t remember whether I reported
                 of modern medical engineering no              got well past 500 pieces there, plus a     the death of my second daughter
                 less. However, writer’s osteocramps           handful on BBC Radio 4’s version.          Juliette on 12 March 2019 from a
                 have not yet overtaken me and I                                                          sudden brain haemorrhage. She was a
                 have used the lull in my proposed             Donald Rickerd (1953)                      fervent campaigner for human rights
                 excursions into foreign territory             I’m presently a Senior Fellow of Massey    and animal welfare. She had spent five
                 (mainly Cornwall and Australia) to            College, the University of Toronto’s       years administering a small Spanish
                 start writing my life history. Mostly         graduate college, and a Senior Research    language school up in the mountains
                 for my grandchildren, I admit, but            Associate at the University’s Trinity      of Guatemala. She attended the trial of
                 they are the ones more likely to be           College. After practising law and          two generals accused of human rights
                 interested in stories of rushing out          then teaching at York University, I        violations during the Guatemalan civil
                 to shovel up horse droppings for the          became the President of the Donner         war. With the help of an interpreter
                 garden after the delivery of various          Canadian and Max Bell Foundations          she interviewed Guatemalan women
                 household comestibles. Apart from             of Toronto, and the William H.             who had suffered gross human rights
                 that, I have been self-isolating for          Donner Foundation of New York.             abuses. On her return to England she
                 what seems like an eternity, thereby          I also sat on the boards of German,        was documenting all of this in a PhD
                 making a mockery of a large painted           Swiss and Jamaican Foundations. I          thesis entitled ‘Transitional Justice’.
                 sign in my home town that for many            was volunteer chair of the boards of       Her supervisors and contemporaries
                 years graced the wall of a building           Central Hospital and the Ontario           were so impressed with the material
                 with the words ‘Where will you spend          College of Art, now the Ontario College    that they determined to complete the
                 eternity?’ I have also spent some of my       of Art and Design University, both         writing up. A Google search on ‘Juliette
                 time wondering how I came to miss             of Toronto. I served four difficult but    Doman’ gives more detail of the work
                 Covid Nos. 1 to 18. Perhaps I was just        very stimulating years in Ottawa on        she was doing.
                 too young to remember them. Finally,          the Royal Commission on Certain
                 as my world has been turned upside            Activities of the Royal Canadian           Alexander Hopkinson-Woolley (1955)
                 down this year due to the wretched            Mounted Police, acting as one of three     My book is now awaiting the
                 virus, I have decided to do the same          Commissioners. Its reports, based on       preliminary print version which
                 with my age and have determined to            investigations and hearings across         should be sent to me in early January.
                 be only 68 next year (work it out).           Canada, led to a major reorganisation      I am very keen that the book should
                                                               of Canada’s security and intelligence      appear and be paid for before I die! The
                 Barry Day (1953)                              operations and the establishment of        first photograph, of a painting by my
                 For some years                                a separate Security and Intelligence       mother of Ezekiel’s vision in the first
                 I have been                                   Service, better known to Canadians         chapter, is to be the front cover of the
                 literary advisor                              as CSIS. In addition to having taught      book, while the second photograph is
                 to the Noël                                   for a time in Chengdu, PRC, I am now       of Margaret, my wife, and me.
                 Coward Estate.                                pursuing my interests in Asia. I have
                 I am also chair                               developed a special interest in the
                 of the Coward                                 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
                 Archive Trust. I                              which I have visited on a number of
                 have written and                              occasions, beginning in 1996. For the
                 performed in                                  last several years, I have organised
                 several cabaret revues based on Coward        one-week visits to Toronto for groups
                 material in the US and UK and written         of North Korean professors studying
                 or edited books such as Complete Lyrics,      at the University of British Columbia.
                 Theatrical Companion, Letters, Complete
                 Verse, Coward Reader, Coward Screenplays,     Vivian Rivlin (1953)
                 Coward on Film, Star Quality: The Treasures   We have been back in our Somerset
                 of Noël Coward, Coward in his Own Words.      home for quite a long time. Our usual
                 In 2021 Alfred Knopf will publish             routine, alternating between the UK
                 Coward on Theatre.                            and Chile, has been interrupted and
                                                               it looks as if we shall be here for the
                 Robert Kernohan (1953)                        foreseeable future. It means the family
                 Lockdowns have been knockdowns,               is split up. Our son and his family are
                 though they have probably only brought        settled in Santiago. He appears to be
                 some things sooner rather than later. I       doing very well in academic admin.
                 gave up driving and broadcasting and
                 lost the notion to pontificate in print       Professor Paul Sheats (1954)
                 amid so many pandemical uncertainties.        I was saddened to read that Christopher
                 I miss the broadcasting, even if a career     Gardner (1954) has passed away. I’d
                 sideline, which had ranged from Round         appreciate hearing from anyone who
                 Britain Quiz to BBC Radio 3 talks, had        can tell me more.

                 3   FLOREAT DOMUS JUNE 2021
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES
Professor Paul Braterman (1956)              People’s Chancellor, the Skwawkbox          Gabriel, our 16-year-old, and I have
Paul Braterman continues to write            and Jewish Voice for Labour. The            now completed our second 1,000-piece
occasional pieces about science (and         pandemic has caught the government          jigsaw: first Manhattan, second
its enemies), and his work this past         out badly and the December 2019             Japanese temple. I have now also
year has appeared in The Panda’s Thumb,      General Election showed the dire            finished ‘Learning’, the story of my life
3 Quarks Daily, and his own blog at          effect of Establishment power and its       aged 0–21, with a book-length account
paulbraterman.wordpress.com, as well         failure to work for the common good.        of my time at Balliol 1958–1961. If
as The Conversation, where his articles      My protests against the cruelty towards     you would like a copy, please contact
have now attracted over a million reads.     the people of Palestine led to me being     me at geoffreycannon1@gmail.com.
                                             ‘administratively suspended’ from
John Stabler (1956)                          the Labour Party and I have observed        Philip Daubeney (1958)
In 2006 I published a Dictionary of          with horror as it moves further away        Spending lockdown in more garden
Norfolk Furniture Makers 1700–1840. I’m      from being democratic or representing       planting of shrubs and trees to
now working through the 1,500-odd            the people of this country. All this is     Gertrude Jekyll’s plans from 1905.
entries, reconfiguring them for an           a long way from when I witnessed,           Now proficient in chairing meetings of
online compendium called British and         with some wonderment, Harold                Parish Council using Zoom, although
Irish Furniture Makers Online. I hope        Macmillan (1912) emerge from the            one misses the real human eye contact!
to finish before catching Covid.             Master’s Lodgings, in his robes, about
                                             to be installed as Chancellor of the        Sir Richard Heygate Bt (1958)
Harry Johnstone (1957)                       University. The lady from Somerville        I am still working for China’s largest
My history of the 18th-century London        College and her friend, Ron, have a lot     state-owned company, CREC, as
Academy of Ancient Music, some 50            to answer for, because their actions        international consultant. Our problems
years in the making, has been published      set the path not just to the storming       in implementing President Xi’s ‘Belt
as a long article (136 pages) in the Royal   of the Capitol in early January 2021,       Road’ strategy have been ones of
Musical Association Research Chronicle,      but also the fiasco of Brexit that          culture and capability in setting up
vol. 51. I also have an edition of the       followed the market fundamentalism          overseas offices and projects. Luckily
complete harpsichord music of Maurice        adopted by the European Union,              help is at hand. The UK’s international
Greene (1696–1755) in press, to be           and more so in Britain. How long it         engineering consultancy companies
published as vol. 106 in the series Musica   will take for the world as we know          Gleeds, Arup and Mace all have the
Britannica (of which I am now General        it to end in a ball of fire remains to      capability we need and offices all
Editor Emeritus). At age 85, I am still      be seen. I keep in touch with my            over the world. Unlike so many UK
active as a musicological researcher.        contacts on the Continent because           companies they have well established
                                             some of them do have influence in           presence in China itself. A partnership
Brian Richardson (1957)                      the way things could move forward.          could well be a first for the UK in
I had the great pleasure of completing                                                   relations with China. We certainly
50 years as a church organist and            HE Kamal Uddin Azfar (1958)                 need one, with the EU establishing
choir director in Canada, mostly for         I have published a collection of essays     such a link whilst the UK was sucking
the Anglican church, in the year 2020.       on the Orientalist Dr Leitner, the first    up to Mr Trump through grossly
In addition to this, I have played for       Principal of the first undergraduate        unfair treatment to Huawei (the only
countless funerals and weddings, and         college where I was a student in the        foreign investor who put £1 billion
am now organist on call for all the          Indus Valley, Government College            into our country during the Brexit
funeral homes in the city of Victoria,       University, Lahore, established in 1864     announcement slide). When will we
capital city of British Columbia.            by the British Raj after the liberation     wake up to realise that the future is in
                                             from the Muslim majority province           the East (China GDP up 8.5% in 2021)
Professor Aaron Sloman (1957)                of the Punjab in 1864. The Judaic Dr        and we are shutting ourselves into the
In May I was awarded the American            Lietner chose ‘Courage to Know’, Kant’s     past, with a soon plunging dollar and
Philosophical Association (APA) Barwise      definition of the Enlightenment, as the     a failure to join the new developing
Prize 2020 (for research on philosophy       motto of the university.                    country trade groups like RCEP? Even
and computing): blog.apaonline.                                                          the big US investment banks have
org/2020/05/26/aaron-sloman-awarded-         Geoffrey Cannon (1958)                      got the message and are investing
the-2020-barwise-prize/. The award           Thanks to wife Raquel, the family           eastwards in a way they once did with
lecture was presented at the APA 2021        here is well and safe, living above         the City. In the words of Oliver Hardy,
Eastern Division Meeting.                    Juiz de Fora, a big provincial city,        ‘Who will get us out of this fine mess
                                             surrounded by Mata Atlántica forest.        we have got ourselves into?’
Anthony Sperryn (1957)                       Don’t believe sweeping generalisations
I have been writing and networking           about Brazil: its regions vary culturally   Graham Nesbitt (1958)
a lot, trying to make a contribution         and politically. All human life is here!    Graham Nesbitt retired from the
to straight thinking, much via the           I have become one of 19 scholars            practice of law in Montreal several
medium most readily open to me,              based in Brazil to be among the Web         years ago, remarried in 2000, and now
namely Facebook. This has been               of Science most cited researchers           has two sons of 18 and 19: his first
political, with me being at times a          in the world 2020: publons.com/             children … Everyone well in these
‘top fan’ of John McDonnell – the            researcher/4130735/geoffrey-cannon.         difficult times.

                                                                                                            NEWS AND NOTES       4
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES

                 Malyn Newitt (1958)                         Professor Richard Rubenstein (1959)

                                                                                                           Cristina Macía
                 Malyn Newitt, ed. and trans, Journey        I have edited a book (with my
                 Which Father António Gomes Made to the      colleague Solon Simmons) entitled
                 Empire of Manomotapa, (OUP for the          Conflict Resolution after the Pandemic:
                 British Academy, 2020).                     Building Peace, Pursuing Justice, published
                                                             by Routledge Press in February. My
                 Stephen Winkworth (1958)                    school at George Mason University
                 At the request of the eminent Italian       has been renamed the Jimmy and
                 publisher Roberto Calasso of Adelphi        Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and
                 editions, I am compiling a collection of    Conflict Resolution. See carterschool.
                 the writings of my father, the sinologist   gmu.edu for a description of its
                 William Wilberforce Winkworth, who          personnel and activities.
                 was a Balliol scholar in 1919. From
                 there he took up employment in the          Colin Wyman (1959)
                 British Museum. When he left this           Gave a Zoom lecture, ‘Wedgwood and
                 position his friend Lytton Strachey         Beyond’, for the Oxford Ceramics
                 asked him why. ‘Was it because you          Group; available (not encouraged) on
                 weren’t clever enough? or was it,           the group’s website.
                 perhaps, because you were too clever?’
                 He went on to write for the Burlington
                 Magazine, and for other journals in the                                                   Ian Watson (1960)
                 field of connoisseurship and the arts. I
                 am making a selection of his writings
                                                             1960s                                         In July 2020 the University of Pisa
                                                                                                           celebrated the 850th birthday of
                 and adding a biographical essay.            Timothy Ades (1960)                           mathematician Fibonacci with a
                                                             As a rhyming translator-poet I’ve             specially commissioned anthology of
                 Peter Buckman (1959)                        produced eight books: most are                science fiction stories in Italian, Ipotesi
                 Peter Buckman continues chairing the        bilingual, with my English text facing        per Fibonacci, including my own ‘The
                 Ampersand Agency, though handing            the French or Spanish original.               Kidnap of Fibonacci’. Since Fibonacci’s
                 over day-to-day management to younger       I’ve won some awards. I also tackle           famous number sequence isn’t exactly
                 colleagues has given him time to return     German and, rarely, Greek, and appear         his, since his name only survived
                 to writing. He has self-published           in the best journals, such as Agenda          by sheer chance and wasn’t in any
                 his latest novel, Breaking Cover, partly    where I’m a trustee, and Long Poem            case his real name, and since nobody
                 to avoid upstaging the authors he           Magazine which recently published my          knows what he looked like, maybe only
                 represents, and partly because he lacks     ‘Calypso’s Song’, a wonderful Greek           science fiction can pin down the truth!
                 the patience to wait around for editors     poem by Sikelianós. In 2020 the               My story starts in Oxford in the year
                 to make up their minds.                     Victor Hugo in Guernsey Society (he           2050 CE then visits medieval Algeria,
                                                             lived there) put a single long poem           just as it should. www.ianwatson.info.
                 Professor Charles Leedham-Green             into the schools – Covid stopped
                 (1959)                                      me visiting – and ran a competition           The Rt Hon the Lord Alan Beith PC
                 My translation of Newton’s Principia is     which I co-judged. My bookstall of            MP (1961)
                 about to be published by Cambridge          translated poetry hasn’t been out for a       I am sad to report that my wife
                 University Press.                           year. I am on Facebook and YouTube.           Baroness Maddock, former MP for
                                                             Married to Dawn for 54 years with             Christchurch and former President
                                                             two grandchildren in London and               of the Liberal Democrats, died from
                                                             three in Denmark; the composer                cancer on 26 June 2020.
                                                             Timothy Ades is one of our sons.
                                                                                                           Professor Richard Hyman (1961)
                                                             Matthew Nimetz (1960)                         In 2020 I was elected a Fellow of the
                                                             Matthew Nimetz completed his 20-year          British Academy (why?, and why now?,
                                                             service as Personal Representative of         I ask myself ). So I fear that I have
                                                             the UN Secretary-General, successfully        broken the Groucho Marx rule.
                                                             mediating the ‘name’ dispute between
                                                             Greece and (now) North Macedonia, in          Stephen Jessel (1961)
                                                             2019. He recently published an article        In mid-November I received
                                                             about the dispute and its resolution,         notification that my application for
                                                             ‘The Macedonian ‘Name’ Dispute:               French citizenship had been approved.
                                                             The Macedonian Question Resolved?’,           Logical enough request: I have lived
                                                             in Nationalities Papers, Cambridge            outside the UK for 42 of the last 43
                                                             University Press, 2020: tinyurl.              years, 35 of them in France. It is also
                                                             com/6mztw8uz.                                 the case that I no longer recognise or
                                                                                                           relate to the Britain, or perhaps the
                                                                                                           England, of my treasured Balliol days.

                 5   FLOREAT DOMUS JUNE 2021
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES
Doug Rosenthal (1961)                       people forced to change direction or        her children. Chairing Curdridge
As the pandemic was isolating us in         worse still those just starting or at a     Parish Council provides a welcome
March, I requested some information         key educational stage. We have kept         distraction, especially as we are
from a high school classmate I had not      well but miss the delight of a young        working with Action Hampshire to
seen in 63 years. We started to talk by     grandchild, which is the main sadness       develop a small ‘Rural Exception Site’
phone each evening, as I found her          along with not seeing good friends.         to build some affordable housing in
engaging. We talked each night for 100      Last year we managed to book and            the village. The government’s planning
straight days. She lives in New York        enjoy three country retreats with our       proposals are causing consternation
City, in an apartment overlooking           young family, which was a joy with an       throughout Winchester district, as they
Central Park, and I live in Washington,     active two-year-old. This year looks        are based on an erroneous metric for
DC, close to the Maryland border. She       even more unpredictable and difficult       affordability – instead of comparing
has led a fascinating life in theatre,      to plan anything. More treading water.      house prices with the earnings of those
music, art, publishing and commercial                                                   who live in the district, they compare
design in NY City, has travelled widely     Richard Bevan (1962)                        with the earnings of those working
with her musician husband of 55 years,      After retiring from consulting and          in the district, ignoring commuters
and has two accomplished children. We       teaching about ten years ago I found        into local town and cities. The result is
finally arranged to meet in September       myself newly occupied with writing          to elevate the number of new houses
– and declared our love shortly             and publishing through my own               ‘required’ by around 50%. Curdridge is
thereafter. Neither of us was looking for   imprint ChangeStart Press. So far I’ve      doing its bit to provide housing, and
a relationship, but this chance phone       produced four books of my own and           has supported a planned development
call, and the isolation of the pandemic,    helped three other writers publish          near Botley station. The pandemic has
brought us together. We have been           their work. My books are Changemaking       meant no trips since March for the
together since, in Washington, but          (2011) and The Changemaking Checklists      IBM Hursley Retirees’ Club, which I
hope, eventually, to divide our time        (2015), both dealing with the               also chair. We are organising lectures
between our two cities, and enjoy our       management of change; The Galley Slave’s    and other events on Zoom, but are
four children and four grandchildren,       Handbook (2010, revised edition 2020)       holding off from physically meeting, as
and friends, and travel, when feasible.     on provisioning and cooking for an          many of our members are in high-risk
                                            ocean voyage; and The Hidden Triceratops,   groups, and would be unwilling even to
David Wickham (1961)                        a story for children in the 4-to-8 age      attend with social distancing. Perhaps
I was fascinated to read in the 2020        range. The latter, a Covid lockdown         we’ll all be vaccinated by the time
News and Notes what Malcolm Forrest         project, is illustrated beautifully by      you read this, and enjoying the wide
(1959) had to say about the worst           12-year-old Io Shepard. Assuming that       variety of trips previously arranged.
Oxford sin of being a ‘Grey Man’.           a little shameless self-promotion is
I had heard that phrase only once           permitted in these pages, I will add that   John Dalton (1962)
before. In the 1960s I was instantly        all these are available at Amazon or can    John Dalton has welcomed a
recognisable in Balliol as a member         be ordered from your local bookshop.        granddaughter, Sophia Grace Dalton,
of the first and ultimately finalist                                                    born 10 August, 2020.
College team for University Challenge.
I was also much given to wearing                                                        Professor Richard Portes (1962)
a heavy but natty brown corduroy                                                        Still working full-time for London
jacket which survives in a dark corner                                                  Business School. We often strain
of my wardrobe and, though never                                                        broadband capacity with our daughter
worn, can just about accommodate                                                        in school and my wife and I teaching,
my fuller figure. Around that time a                                                    speaking, or in meetings. One daily
College contemporary, I think Stephen                                                   walk in Regent’s Park over the road.
Jessel (1961), accosted or described                                                    The real news is my other job. The
me loudly, in public and perfectly                                                      macroprudential authority (responsible
amicably, as ‘the most colourful of                                                     for financial stability) of the EU is the
the grey men’. I had not heard the                                                      European Systemic Risk Board. I chair
phrase before but took it as a huge                                                     its Advisory Scientific Committee,
compliment, as I still do nearly sixty                                                  co-chair its committee on ‘shadow
years later. Someone in a position to                                                   banking’, and sit as a voting member on
know had recognised my ‘specialness’,                                                   the General Board. When we realised
my uniqueness even. Floreat Jessel!         Eric Bodger (1962)                          in mid-March that the economic and
                                            Slowly coming to terms with the death       financial impact of the pandemic
Hugh Beevor (1962)                          of my wife Pamela on 26 October 2020.       would be dramatic, ESRB went into
Covid lockdown feels like treading          She was an enthusiastic and skilful         ‘crisis mode’. We chose five priority
water but for those of us retired with      gardener, so my family and friends          topics to develop policy responses.
an adequate pension and close to green      rightly expect a deterioration from         Along with the Governor of the Bank
spaces as in Putney, it is a comfortable    her high standards. My children have        of Spain, I supervised all five working
if frustrating experience. Nothing          been a big help, and I’m in a support       groups and chaired one. Each drew
like the challenge of mid-career            bubble with my daughter Laura and           up recommendations, addressed

                                                                                                          NEWS AND NOTES        6
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES

                 to regulatory authorities. Endless        Professor Brian Cosgrove (1963)               wrote much of the material contained
                 meetings in April and May, chaired        My wife and I became grandparents             therein. I had thought my days of
                 by Christine Lagarde, in which we         for the first time on 2 November last;        publishing were over when I retired
                 had to convince national central bank     we are both in our late seventies. My         in 2010, but during the past year I
                 governors and other officials to adopt    youngest daughter and her husband             have become a regular contributor to
                 our proposals. There followed a series    called her Sadhbh, a traditional Irish        a physical fitness blog under the aegis
                 of measures and reports (see ESRB         name, pronounced ‘Sive’. It is apparently     of a company called Set For Set whose
                 website). These and our subsequent        derived from Proto-Celtic and means           primary product is exercise maces (or
                 actions have, I believe, contributed      ‘sweet and lovely [lady]’. It is said to be   macebells, as they are more properly
                 significantly to avoiding a financial     related to the Latin word suavis.             called). Well, it has been a colourful
                 meltdown like that of 2008–2009.                                                        writing career from ancient battles to
                 I now co-chair a task force charged       Derek Davis (1963)                            firearms (lots and lots on firearms)
                 with producing a report and policy        I visited Russia last January for the         to fighting dogs and now maces! As I
                 measures to deal with undesirable         first time since 1962, attending the          close in on my ninth decade, I have to
                 effects of the prevailing low interest    225th Griboyedov Jubilee Conference           wonder what’s ahead for me …
                 rate environment. For me, all this        at Khmelita, where I gave a paper on
                 beats retirement and other less           Pushkin’s Journey to Arzrum and even          Richard Mills (1963)
                 desirable alternatives. But frustrating   appeared briefly on TV (Rossiya-K). My        In 2020 I finally retired as Director
                 to live in London with no opera, live     wife Diana and Carolyn McMillan then          of the International Union of Air
                 music, theatre, restaurants, museums      joined me for a quick tour of Moscow          Pollution Prevention Associations, a
                 … Still, I’ve had my first jab.           and Petersburg. The Royal Asiatic             post I had held since retirement from
                                                           Society are publishing my translation         the Civil Service, only to find that
                 Professor the                             with commentary of the Pushkin –              the time this liberated was soon lost
                 Hon Robin                                 begun in 1963 on Staircase XV and             to increasing commitments as the
                 Wilson (1962)                             well underway by the time Chris Bayly         non-governmental representative on
                 Last summer                               (1963) and I passed through Erzurum           the board of the Climate and Clean
                 Oxford                                    in 1965 en route to India, just ahead of      Air Coalition, which now includes
                 University Press                          fellow Cliftonian Chris Trease (1964)         more than sixty national governments
                 published Number                          who, sadly, died climbing Ararat that         and inter-governmental agencies. So
                 Theory: A Very                            year. Diana’s groundbreaking book The         perennial neglect of the garden (and
                 Short Introduction.                       Tastemakers: British Dealers and the Anglo-   much else) goes on.
                 This was my 50th                          Gallic Interior, 1785–1865 (Getty, 2020),
                 book, and has                             tracing the emergence of the modern           Paul Williams (1963)
                 been presented                            ‘antique’, has been well received in          I have used lockdown to write
                 to the Balliol College Library.           specialist circles and even made a            a biography of my life. Nothing
                                                           Christmas booklist.                           spectacular, just the story of an
                 Professor Russell Bryant (1963)                                                         ordinary person who happened to go
                 I feel guilty reporting that 2020 has     Jan Libourel (1963)                           to Balliol and has led an interesting
                 been a good year for me. Why? My          Over the years my writing and                 life. It’s not too long; it takes about an
                 former student and the MSNBC              publishing career has taken some              hour to read. If anyone is interested I’d
                 anchor, Joe Scarborough, has endowed      strange turns: I had anticipated              be pleased to email it. Please contact
                 a scholarship in my name at the           having a career in higher education,          me at paulgwilliams@btinternet.com.
                 University of Alabama, where I taught     and during my few years teaching
                 for 30 years. For the second time a       I did publish some few articles on            Professor Alexander Broadie (1964)
                 former student has named a son after      Greek and Roman history. After my             Alexander Broadie (ed.), The Cambridge
                 me. Moreover, I finally finished the      enforced exile from the groves of             Companion to the Scottish Enlightenment,
                 first draft of my biography of the        academe, I was reduced to writing             2nd edition (co-editor, Craig Smith)
                 British financier and diplomat Lord       nothing more than the fine print of           (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
                 D’Abernon. In December I celebrated       insurance contracts – a dreary time           Alexander Broadie (ed.), Scottish
                 my 80th birthday in good health.          that! From 1979 to 2010, I was in the         Philosophy in the Seventeenth Century
                 Finally, I have made it to the end of     field of firearms journalism, including       (Oxford University Press, 2020). Recent
                 this horrendous year without catching     13 years as editor of Handguns and            appointment: Honorary Vice President,
                 the coronavirus. I am looking forward     11½ years editing Gun World. During           The Saltire Society, since July 2020.
                 to 2021 being an even better year.        that time I generated a positively
                 I remain grateful that I was lucky        enormous quantity of verbiage on              Professor Stephen Clark (1964)
                 enough to attend Balliol. So many of      firearms in the form of product               Books published in 2020: Can We
                 its graduates I subsequently lectured     reviews, editorials and miscellaneous         Believe in People: Human Significance in an
                 on and many formed part of Lord           articles. For four years around the           Interconnected Cosmos (Angelico Press,
                 D’Abernon’s story.                        turn of the century I also edited the         2020); Plotinus: Ennead VI.9, on the Good
                                                           periodical of a breed club for Japanese       or the One: Translation and Commentary
                                                           Tosa fighting dogs (banned in the UK          (Parmenides Press, 2020).
                                                           under the Dangerous Dogs Act) and

                 7   FLOREAT DOMUS JUNE 2021
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES
Sandy Gray (1964)                          Daljit Singh (1964)                           1990s. I had a hip replacement operation
Positive Covid consequences! An            I have not kept in touch since                towards the end of November 2020. It
initiative taken up by George Russell,     graduating in 1966 in PPE. I worked           was a major bit of carpentry, but already
Howard Shaw, and myself (all 1964,         in the Singapore Ministry of Defence          I am a new man and I look forward to
Chemistry) in May 2020 has resulted        (1966–1979) as an analyst of politics         resuming golf and cycling in the spring.
in a 4–6-weekly Zoom gathering of          and international relations of Southeast
chemists moderated by other Balliol        Asia and then Head of Research in             Robert Yates (1964)
men of the same vintage but various        the organisation. During this period I        In 2020 I marked two anniversaries,
other disciplines. At each session, 2–3    spent an academic year (1970–1971) at         both at the end of the year. It is now 40
hours are spent in animated sharing of     the Center for International Studies,         years since I nearly died from chronic
views and knowledge of various topics      Massachusetts Institute of Technology,        kidney failure; and ten years since I
of current or future significance. We      USA, working on the policies of the           received my third transplant, which
are normally guided by a loose agenda      Soviet Union in Asia. There was a             is still going strong. In 1980 my wife
which is never completed. Inevitably,      good deal of travel in Southeast Asian        was pregnant but we were assured that
Covid and US politics have been key        countries for seminars/discussions            kidney failure was not hereditary; but
topics each time so far (as of January     with the various defence ministries,          medical opinion has changed now. My
2021), but other learned topics will       including a couple of familiarisation         son Gilbert is now 40, but in 2009 he
now be debated more frequently and         tours of South Vietnam during the             too was diagnosed with chronic renal
extensively. Participants, all but one     Vietnam war. In 1979 I was posted to          failure; and it is the tenth anniversary
of 1964 matriculation, are George          the Ministry of Culture (later re-named       of his transplant as well. We have both
Barisas (1965, Chem., Rhodes Scholar),     Ministry of Information and the Arts) as      contributed to ongoing research into
Philip Burns (Chem.), Jonathon             Director of Information in charge of the      the genetic causes of kidney failure.
Davies (Eng.), ‘Sandy’ Gray (Chem.),       government’s publicity work and had           For 40 years I have received wonderful
Anthony Hall (Chem.), David Long           frequent interactions with the media,         care from a wide variety of people
(Hist.), Robert Munford (Medicine,         including the foreign correspondents          – family, friends and many aspects
Rhodes Scholar), Kenneth Picton            based in Singapore. I retired from            of the medical profession. During
(Chem.), George Russell (Chem.),           the Civil Service in 1991 and joined          periods of all the sorts of dialysis, and
Howard Shaw (Chem.) and Richard            a research institute in Singapore, the        of transplantation, I have managed to
Weyman (Eng.). An early discussion         Institute of Southeast Asian Studies          pursue a career in the second-hand
topic was ‘Governments today are           (now called ISEAS-the Yusof Ishak             and antiquarian book trade, mostly
being led by science: why aren’t there     Institute), as a scholar/researcher, where    working for myself. This has been a lot
more science trained members of            I still am as a Senior Fellow and where       of fun, and I have seen the trade change
governments?’ Good question!               from 2012 to 2019 I headed the Strategic      dramatically, from crusty characters
                                           and Political Studies department. In          presiding over dusty shops to the global
Professor Edwin Hartman (1964)             2019 I spent five weeks as a visiting         internet-enabled system of today. Less
Springer has published my Arriving         scholar at the Sigur Center, Elliott          fun now, but certainly more efficient!
Where We Started: Aristotle and Business   School of International Affairs, George
Ethics in its Eminent Voices in Business   Washington University, Washington,            Sir Michael Burton (1965)
Ethics series (2020). It traces my work    DC, working on US foreign policy to           In this otherwise miserable year I
from Aristotle to management theory        Southeast Asia. I have published papers,      have still continued to try cases in the
to business ethics to an Aristotelian      book chapters, op-eds over the years          Commercial Court, the Abu Dhabi
approach to business ethics.               and also edited or co-edited books,           Commercial Court and the RICS
                                           including, since 1991, Southeast Asian        Appeal Tribunal, all virtually, with very
Christopher Moxon (1964)                   Affairs, the annual review of the politics,   little if any loss of effectiveness.
During the first Covid lockdown I          economics and foreign relations of
used the time to write and publish a       Southeast Asia and its constituent            Phillip Gordon (1965)
memoir of my 40-year career in theatre     member states. My wife and I love             I continue to practise law although at a
administration. Entitled Teamwork          travelling to enjoy different natural         far less hectic pace than in the past. My
it is available from Amazon or from        landscapes, cultures and histories.           wife and I celebrated our 50th wedding
www.lulu.com. This is the sixth book                                                     anniversary in January, regrettably in
that I have written or edited since        David Willington (1964)                       isolation from our children and ten
my retirement in 2011. Most of these       These are strange times, indeed. As we        grandchildren, due to the pandemic.
have been genealogical books about         have not been anywhere, I have had            Nevertheless, we are happy to have
family history, but the first, published   more time to write without distraction.       been able to celebrate this milestone in
in 2013, was the fulfilment of a           My fourth novel, A Polish Adventure, will     good health.
promise I made in 1972 to write up the     be out in 2021. It is a Cold War story, but
doctoral thesis that I wrote at Balliol,   not in the le Carré mould. Researching        Michael Levene (1965)
on the social and economic history         the period has been as enjoyable as the       Michael Levene celebrated his Bar
of a small market town – Ashby-de-         actual writing. I am currently engaged        Mitzvah in late November 2020 under
la-Zouch – in the 17th century.            on a story set in Kenya during the Mau        Tier 3 restrictions at the Orthodox
                                           Mau period, the impetus being the             Synagogue, Park Row, Bristol. Only 60
                                           three visits I made to the country in the     years late!

                                                                                                            NEWS AND NOTES       8
NEWS AND NOTES Updates from Balliol alumni around the world - A supplement to Floreat Domus 2021 - University of Oxford
NEWS AND NOTES

                 Hubert Murray (1965)                       Ian Prattis                                 Emeritus of the Economist) the Global
                 A short piece written in May appearing     (1965)                                      Commission for Post-Pandemic
                 in Oxford Magazine on the effects of       Past, Present and                           Policy, to enable informed discourse
                 the coronavirus on higher education        Future: Stories                             and decision-making regarding the
                 seems to stand up to scrutiny seven        that Haunt by                               pandemic and interconnected crises:
                 or eight months later. Delayed but         Dr Ian Prattis                              globalcommissionforpostpandemic
                 unbowed, colleagues and I are nearing      (2021). Intention:                          policy.org. Have been confined to
                 completion on a kindergarten in Aida       this collection                             quarters with Alti in Ottawa since
                 camp in Bethlehem and building a           contains stories,                           March; looking forward to again
                 teaching team. Very happy to be in         personal essays                             communing other than Zooming
                 touch with Charles Burroughs (1964),       and futuristic                              with our six children and eleven
                 Mark Glouberman (1966) and Ben             writings. They                              grandchildren on three continents.
                 White (1965). Deeply sorry to lose Mike    illuminate facets
                 Prescod (1964).                            of humanity that are both wholesome         Professor Graham Anderson (1966)
                                                            and deadly. There is a subtle tapestry      I have published Fantasy in Greek and
                 Professor Stephen Oppenheimer              from Indigenous Wisdom throughout           Roman Literature and Ancient Fairy and
                 (1965)                                     the three phases that must apply to         Folk Tales: An Anthology (both Routledge,
                 Please find my Google scholar page at:     our damaged planet if Homo sapiens is       2020).
                 tinyurl.com/jw76787c and follow the        to have a home. The past dwells on
                 links there to my homepage and my          the significance of indigenous history      Professor Charles Baden-Fuller
                 research interests. I cannot vouch for     and beliefs, a spirituality that crosses    (1966)
                 my Wiki page, which has numerous           centuries to realise redemption and         I was elected a Fellow of the British
                 errors, e.g. ‘He is a graduate of Green    connection. These stories stand in          Academy. I am also a Fellow of some
                 Templeton College, Oxford and an           contrast to the ethnocentric illusions      long standing of Strategic Management
                 honorary fellow of the Liverpool           of the wider society where violence,        Society (only active UK Fellow among
                 School of Tropical Medicine.’              fear and betrayal are rampant. Present      the 88 Fellows in a society with
                                                            includes flash fictions to highlight the    membership of many thousands), AsSS
                 Michael Paling (1965)                      destructive illusions and the gentle        and BAM.
                 Early last year I was in the third month   memories of modern society. The
                 of work at my volunteer post at the        remaining chapters seek to mentor           Stuart Baldock (1966)
                 Hospitalito Atitlan in the Guatemala       and inspire children to save the world.     I moved to Athens (Greece) last
                 highlands, when the imminent closure       ‘Respecting Indigenous Wisdom’              year with my wife and our youngest
                 of the national airport was announced.     provides a pause through poetry to          daughter, who is enrolled here at the
                 I was fortunate, the next day, to get      outline a different foundation for          Lycée français in her penultimate year.
                 the last seat on the penultimate flight    humanity. Future is not kind to Homo        Covid has prevented me from being
                 out of the country, which being in         sapiens and their habitation of Mother      able to commute regularly to France,
                 first class was a novel experience for     Earth. Scientists scramble to provide       so business is conducted online as far
                 me, but quite disappointing in value.      an exit from the Earth, seeding faraway     as is practical.
                 Back home in the USA life soon             planets. A single person remains in the
                 became subject to the restrictions         High Arctic’s last outpost while pioneers   Christopher Currie (1966)
                 that we all have experienced. Regular      who occupy a new planet must fight to       No real news this year. I remain a Senior
                 meditation, which I began years ago        prevent terrorists from taking it over.     Fellow of the Institute of Historical
                 when working in Cambodia, is helpful       Very little has changed. Humanity owes      Research and have been busy with that,
                 in understanding that adversity is         an apology to the children of the world.    as well as attending seminars, including
                 simply a part of the ‘suchness of life’.                                               a few of the Balliol online lectures.
                 Thus the unexpected time available         Berel Rodal (1965)
                 due to the pandemic proved valuable        Co-founded and codirecting (with            Aidan Foster-Carter (1966)
                 for self-improvement. I read more,         Bill Emmott, Editor-in-Chief                My life now, I dare say, is rather
                 including cover to cover James Joyce’s                                                 different from most of my
                 magnum opus Ulysses. Hard work                                                         contemporaries’. After half a lifetime
                 but interesting, to say the least! My                                                  in Yorkshire – briefly Hull, mostly
                 Spanish is improved, and my chess                                                      Leeds and Bradford – in 2006
                 game is stronger, both courtesy of                                                     everything changed when love drew
                 the internet. The bizarre political                                                    me to Exeter. Kate Hext and I were
                 antics that have transpired here have                                                  married in 2011; Rufus was born that
                 given rise to much outstanding dark                                                    year, and Laurence followed in 2016.
                 comedy, as we adjusted our common                                                      Raising children again in one’s 70s
                 mindset to that of life in a ‘banana                                                   is a wonderful tonic – and fitness
                 republic’. Gun sales have set records,                                                 programme. Devon is a lovely place to
                 even for a nation that already had                                                     dwell, even (or especially) as the times
                 more firearms than people. We                                                          darken. Workwise, having long ago left
                 indeed live in interesting times.                                                      academe – in the previous century,

                 9   FLOREAT DOMUS JUNE 2021
NEWS AND NOTES
already! – I still write about Korea;      Richard Heller (1966)                        Michael Venning (1966)
including for Oxford Analytica, ever       I have just published a new book,            Back to work in the NHS in January
since the 1980s. Never a dull moment       The Prisoner of Rubato Towers (Xerus         2021 as vaccinator at the Etihad Stadium,
there: the North just gets worse; the      Publishing, 2020). It is an increasingly     Manchester (employed as healthcare
South could teach us how to handle         crazed account of my life in London          assistant until they needed me to
Covid competently. And since Kate is       lockdown, shared with a literary mouse,      draw up the Oxford vaccine – then
now head of her department – English       a poetic cockroach and a bridge-playing      promoted to senior staff nurse grade).
and History, at Exeter University’s        goldfish, and blighted by two sex-crazed     Great teamwork, happy patients and
Cornish campus: a challenging role         urban foxes. It contains songs and satire    we are contributing to herd immunity
these days – I’m also becoming more of     and many new ways to insult Donald           – albeit Boris Johnson (1983) and his
a house husband, very contentedly. The     Trump and the Balliol man ruling             delays in taking precautions in the face
wider world is a worry, especially the     the country in my place. It reveals          of Covid-19 have contributed greatly to
retreat from liberal internationalism.     fascinating details of the secret lives of   herd immunity already by allowing the
Imperfect though that was, the             famous people who know me. ‘Raises           virus to spread while the government
alternatives – Trump, Brexit, and I’m      English comic prose to heights never         were wondering when to act.
afraid the Balliol chancer in Number       before attempted, let alone achieved,’
Ten – are all palpably worse. Never        said one of them, when I asked.              Martin Walker (1966)
have the ideals of 1968 seemed so                                                       Although the Covid lockdowns
remote. I hope my children will            Martin Kaufman (1966)                        prevented my usual US and European
see, and make, a better planet.            As Martin Kaufman Philanthropy, I am         book tours, my new Bruno novel
                                           still providing strategic and practical      Connaisseur simultaneously topped the
Professor Mark Glouberman (1966)           fundraising advice to charities, mainly      bestseller lists in Germany, Austria
Building on The Raven, the Dove, and       in the educational and cultural sectors.     and Switzerland. The lockdown also
the Owl of Minerva (2012), and on ‘I AM’   Although I only went down to watch           prevented my debut at the German
(2019), Persons and Other Things (2021),   the Balliol Eight perhaps six times          National Opera House in Berlin,
concludes the case for the Torah’s         (max.) in my Balliol career, I have been     singing on stage during their jazz week.
being a work of philosophy. (Search        advising on a fundraising campaign           It is now rescheduled for 28 March
‘Glouberman’ at utorontopress.com.) It     for rowing for an East London group          2021. Bruno’s Garden Cookbook won the
isn’t a sheer fortuity that such a word    of academies which want to break the         Gourmand International prize for
about the Hebrew Bible should come         barriers facing state school rowing! I       World’s Best French Cookbook of the
forth from Balliol. ‘I never knew any      don’t have to get into the water for         Year. And in association with Coda
Trinity men,’ remonstrates the Balliol     that one, I’m glad to say … Facing this      Media in New York, we launched the
man Lord Peter Wimsey. ‘The Jews           pandemic, and staying well and safe,         Bruno Fellowship, to support five
have no dealings with the Samaritans.’     I have helped organise – in my role          young journalists over five years to
In the JCR’s Book of Wagers, a bold        as chair of the Chartered Institute          cover stories that might otherwise
undergraduate of my day put his soul       of Fundraising’s RAISE: Arts Culture         never be told. My monthly wine
at hazard on the proposition of God’s      Heritage Steering Committee – a              columns in The Bugle, the anglophone
existence. (A brown-edged hole which       survey of cultural fundraisers during        paper in France, are now also published
only the terminally literal would          the pandemic, in partnership with the        in the German wine magazine
attribute to the business end of a lit     University of Sheffield Management           Weinseller. My own wine, Cuvée Bruno,
cigarette signalled the other party’s      School. This was followed up by              went on sale this year in Germany and
acceptance.) If a coin decides, the        Zoom interviews, and we should be            the USA as well as in France. The New
soul’s survival requires an edge-on        publishing the results around March. In      York Times suggested ‘It’s impossible
landing. Or so I argue in the Bible’s      a nutshell, it’s no change and all change    to read a Bruno novel without getting
name. And me? ‘No change,’ replied         – fundraising has to go on if arts and       hungry and thirsty,’ and the Minneapolis
poker star ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott to the      cultural organisations are to survive, but   Star-Tribune reckoned I had created
panhandler. ‘Still living in the big       there has been a great deal of creativity    ‘France’s answer to James Bond’.
house; still driving the big car.’ The     and resilience to try to create a hybrid
spoils apart, I echo the punter as I       model in these challenging times,            Oliver Franklin (1967)
enter my 50th year of teaching.            which almost certainly we will have          On 13 November 2019, I attended a
                                           to further adapt in the post-pandemic        Consilium dinner in honour of my
Alan Heeks (1966)                          world. Very happy to hear from any           election as an Honorary Fellow of the
Amid the mesh of restrictions we’re all    alumni who want to quiz me further!          College. It is a great honour to have
in, I’ve found gaps where I can make a                                                  received the Fellowship. I expected to
contribution. One is online resilience     Philip Kendall (1966)                        return in May 2020 to work with the
workshops, the other is increasing         Covid provided the perfect opportunity       College on the ‘Balliol and Slavery’
local communities’ food security –         to return to the English countryside.        exhibition scheduled to open this
something we can all help in. See more     C12th churches, the stunning Welland         coming Michaelmas Term in the
at www.seedingourfuture.org.uk. I          Valley in Rutland, historic Dam              Library. Naturally, we’ve working
can also highly recommend growing          Busters’ 1942 practice bombing runs          digitally and it’s a real pleasure to be
your own vegetables as an antidote to      over the Eyebrook outside Uppingham.         involved intensely with the College
lockdown!                                  Unbeatable!                                  again. In addition to the exhibition,

                                                                                                          NEWS AND NOTES       10
NEWS AND NOTES

                 we’re planning an Oxford/Philadelphia          on the history of her native American           countryside and charming villages. We
                 teacher seminar, as teaching the               family – she is part Creek, part                are looking forward to exploring further
                 transatlantic slave trade to secondary         Cherokee, part black. It is a study of how      and enjoying more family time together
                 school students can be a daunting              different categories of people with tribal      as soon as that becomes possible.
                 task. Two highlights for this year: our        affiliations (citizens and freedmen)
                 first grandchild arrived, and I had            were deprived of their rights, property         David Gartside (1968)
                 a dynamic discussion with Sudhir               and human alike, during and since the           In a year that has been so difficult for
                 Hazareesingh (1981 and CUF Lecturer            Allotment period, and both within the           so many people I can report a modest
                 in Politics and Tutorial Fellow in             tribe and more broadly in the country           advance. My fledgling journalistic
                 Politics) on his extraordinary epic            as a whole. The book – Untangling a Red,        career saw a doubling of printed output
                 biography of Toussaint Louverture              White, and Black Heritage: A Personal History   compared with 2019. I had an article
                 (check it out on Zoom: tinyurl.com/            of the Allotment Era – is now available in      published in Swiss Express, the quarterly
                 j3vsxkrd). Still in isolation and working      paperback and on Kindle. The internet           journal of the Swiss Railways Society,
                 as a senior advisor, board director and        webinars offered by the College have            and another in Signpost, the quarterly
                 British Honorary Consul. Cannot wait           been a lovely way to keep in touch, and         journal of the Peak & Northern
                 to walk through the Balliol gates again.       broaden knowledge. Keep them up.                Footpath Society. It’s hard to avoid the
                 See you at the exhibition!                                                                     conclusion that they were desperate
                                                                Anthony Klouda (1967)                           for copy.
                 Professor Francis Green (1967)                 I have finally given up on the world of
                 I am still working at UCL Institute of         international aid; rather sickened by it,       Professor David Gowland (1968)
                 Education for four days a week. With           it must be said, and its development into       Recently my life has been dominated
                 my historian friend David Kynaston             a rather corrupt industry over the last         by the diagnosis of bowel cancer and
                 we published Engines of Privilege: Britain’s   decade or so. In retirement I’ve taken          a major operation on 30 December
                 Private School Problem in 2019, with           up translation of French monographs             2020 to remove it. By an unfortunate
                 Bloomsbury Publishing. This was my             of 18th- and 19th-century ships into            coincidence it was diagnosed on the
                 first attempt at a non-academic book.          English. That, and using the plans              anniversary of the diagnosis of my son
                 I am now a co-founder of Private               to model in wood those very ships,              Edward with sarcoma (he eventually
                 Education Policy Forum. Other than             certainly occupies me intellectually            died aged 22) in 2017.
                 researching private schools, I continue        and manually in this time of lockdown.
                 to contribute to the multidisciplinary         I also now have a rare blood cancer             William Outhwaite (1968)
                 field of work and job quality studies. I       recently diagnosed, but since I may             In October 2019 my co-editors (Luca
                 have at last given up cricket, and last        live up to ten more years with it, as           Corchia and Stefan Müller-Doohm)
                 year played instead my first competitive       long as the treatment continues its             and I presented Jürgen Habermas with
                 tennis match since representing                good work, I’ll be delighted if I can           Habermas global – Wirkungsgeschichte
                 Balliol nearly half a century ago. Alison      get to 80. My website documenting               eines Werks (Suhrkamp) at a conference
                 and my first grandchild, Sophie, was           some of my experience is at www.                in the delightful town of Cortona
                 born on 15 April 2020 and joins the            klouda.co.uk and I have a Facebook              in central Italy. In February 2020 I
                 pandemic generation.                           page called ‘The Poor-Poor Divide’.             published Transregional Europe (Emerald).

                 Brendan Horton (1967)                          Professor Terrell Carver (1968)                 David Satter (1968)
                 Now in my 15th year of retirement,             Busy year with the bicentenary of the           I have been named to the academic
                 wondering where the time has gone.             birth of Friedrich Engels, though after         advisory board of the Victims of
                 The last year has been a mixture of            a celebratory conference in February in         Communism Memorial Foundation in
                 the usual and abnormal due to Covid,           his hometown Wuppertal, Germany, all            Washington, DC.
                 which has kept us pretty housebound            else has been online. I published two
                 here in Washington. I have been kept           books marking the event: Engels Before          Professor Richard Healey (1969)
                 busy by continuing to work on a book           Marx (Palgrave, 2020) and The Life and          Julie and I are now living on our fruit
                 on the economic history of Morocco,            Thought of Friedrich Engels: 30th Anniversary   farm in the hills ten minutes from the
                 specifically a retrospective on the            Edition (Palgrave, 2020), the latter with       Mediterranean coast of Spain, where
                 country’s experience with stabilisation        a somewhat autobiographical new                 I will retire to from my professorship
                 and structural adjustment since the            introduction.                                   at the University of Arizona in May.
                 1980s, when they ran into a debt                                                               Meanwhile we wait out the pandemic
                 crisis. Interesting and intellectually         Paul Frith (1968)                               in seclusion as I prepare a volume of
                 challenging task, trying to present a          Finally left the North East and moved to        papers for publication and participate
                 view other than that of the IMF and            East Sussex to be nearer our daughters          in worldwide Zoom virtual seminars.
                 the World Bank. Two main conclusions:          and grandson. We loved being there,
                 stabilisation is difficult but can be          enjoying all the Dales, the Lake District       Sir John Holmes (1969)
                 achieved in a relatively short period.         and the North York Moors, but it’s time         Just completed terms as chair of the
                 Adjustment and economic are, however,          to look to the future as we get older and       Electoral Commission and of the
                 much more difficult and take much              travelling long distances becomes harder        International Rescue Committee –
                 longer. I hope to finish this year. My         for everyone. We are in the High Weald          UK, the former not voluntarily. Now
                 wife, Darnella Davis, has written a book       AONB which has delightful rolling               looking for new challenges.

                 11   FLOREAT DOMUS JUNE 2021
You can also read