Nature bites

WILDLIFE artists Olly and Suzi (Olly Williams, Th A 79-86) persuade a shark to interact with their portrait of it (1½ minutes):

Job for a perfectionist

THE well-known plastic surgeon Judy Evans (6's 62-69, Head Girl) gives The Observer a glimpse of her world in 2007.

Better off as who?

IN an earlier posting, responding to a piece in The Times, I got my undergarments in a tangle over the identity and school career of Old Blue pop prodigy Frankmusik.

Have now stumbled upon this rather good News of the World interview (with enjoyable embedded videos) which clears up most of the confusion.

Yes, he really was expelled from three schools before reaching secondary age, "thanks to a devastating combination of hyperactivity and dyslexia."

And yes, he was indeed Vincent Turner (Ma A, Gr E 97-04), but has since changed his surname to Frank, the name his grandfather was known by.

Of CH, he says:

"You know what? It was a great experience. I was always fiercely independent so though I hated it at first, I grew to love it. It was a wicked school."

All of which means I was wildly off-target last time round. Apologies for doubting you, Vincent.

Rugby in tights

SUPPOSEDLY the weirdest instance of on-pitch intimidation:

A bitterly cold night in Roehampton. Peter Warfield [Horsham Staff 77-79], Cambridge and England centre, was playing for Rosslyn Park in the days before thermal undergarments became de rigeur for the superstars. Warfield donned a pair of black ladies' tights to keep his legs warm, and the look on the face of the flanker who slid down Warfield's nylon-encased thighs as he tried and failed to make his first tackle of the evening was priceless. No one went near Warfield after that. Rugby players in tights? Leave it out.

Action man

ONE moment he's driving a Sherman tank, the next it's the Norman Invasion: a two-minute showreel for military historian Crispin Swayne (Pe B 76-82):

A Stig is born

RICHARD AINSWORTH-SMITH (Th A 79-84) ran this year's London Marathon (his fourth) dressed as The Stig from Top Gear (with a specially modified helmet to keep him cool and give him drinks) and raised £1,200 for a children's hospice in Surrey.

Mouth monster

IN the Eighties they were ranting poets together. Now Steven "Seething" Wells, left, is dead and John "Basil" Baine (La B 68-75), better known as Attila the Stockbroker, right, says goodbye in The Independent (below the main obituary).

Cartoon capers

THE magnificent Timothy Dickinson (Col B 54-61) gives History Channel viewers the benefit of his erudition - in 60-second chunks.

Ease, speed and power

VIOLINIST Sophie Till (4's, Ba B 81-89) shows how to apply the Taubman-Golandsky approach to string playing (4½ minutes):

It's criminal

2008 saw Chris Simms (Pe A 81-88) nominated for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year award and for a Crime Writer's Association Dagger. Now he's produced his fifth book about DI Jon Spicer, The Edge, which has Spicer investigating the murder of his wild younger brother. Reviewers have enthused: "incredibly powerful"; "a must-read"; "another gripping thriller from a master of the craft."

Mile upon mile

AFTER Sam Noel-Paton (Pe B, Pe A 85-91) survived a subarachnoid brain haemorrhage in 2006, he and a group of friends and family (such as John Denison, Staff 64-01; Ian Torkington, Staff 72-07; Ross Stuart, Staff 89- ; Frank Pattison, Staff 87-05; Duncan Noel-Paton, Staff 72-99; and Kezia Noel-Paton, Medical Officer 90?-01) walked the West Highland Way to raise funds for the hospital that saved his life.

Since then the group has expanded and become Sam's Mile Clockers, and basically they just keep on walking, relentlessly, compulsively, inexorably. And long may they do so.

Film of the week

ON Thursday at 11.20pm BBC2 will be showing 10 Rillington Place, the classic 1971 movie about serial killer John Christie and Timothy Evans, the hapless upstairs tenant who was hanged for Christie's crimes. Clive Exton (Brooks, Md B 41-45) wrote the screenplay; Tenniel Evans (Th A 37-44) plays the kindly Welsh detective to whom the bewildered Evans first "confesses".

Jenny kissed me

THE well-loved poem by Leigh Hunt (CH 1791-99), in a modern setting by Joel Weiss, performed by Corey Trahan and Cathy Venable (1 minute):

Dance meets folk meets who knows what

"INFLUENCES: everyone. Sounds like: nothing else." That's how Broadcaster (Lewis Atkinson, La A 79-86) sums up his music. However you describe it, it went down well last year when his EP Primary Transmission won praise all over the place. Hear for yourself at his MySpace page.

Fruitful

DARRELL P GARDNER (La B 57-64) is an accomplished painter of fruit and flowers (his first career was in horticulture) but his range is wide, taking in marine and canal scenes, horses, political cartoons, inn signs, bespoke furniture - not to mention Harry the Pig…

Three's a phenomenon

MODELS, actors, showbiz journalists and incorrigible triplets Eliot, Julian & Ryan Gregory (all CH 95-02) interview each other in 2007.

Confusion Boy

THREE minutes of Frankmusik (Old Blue) whose first album, Complete Me, was released this month:



Three weeks ago Frankmusik was hailed as "the new prince of British pop" on the cover of The Times's Playlist section, but the interview inside added more confusion to the question of who he is and when he was at CH.

Until now this blog has assumed he was in Maine A and Grecians East from 1997 to 2004, but the interview says CH was the last of four boarding schools from which he was expelled. Unless he was kicked out of three schools before reaching secondary age, or entered CH on the Third Form after being expelled from three schools during his first secondary year and stayed on at CH later than his contemporaries after retaking a year at some stage, it's hard to see how both these assertions could be true.

Has Frankmusik borrowed the forename and date of birth of another Old Blue, out of sheer devilment? Or is he rewriting his school career, adding a dash of rock'n'roll?

Or am I a senile old fool who's missing the point?

God bless you sir

JUST want to send immense goodwill to Andrew Higgins (Th A 92-99) who this week announced his retirement from professional rugby at the age of 28.

Wings for Greyhounds

MAGGIE McCURRY (5's & 6's 60-66) went to the States to be an actress, but ended up as a pilot and the airborne saviour of hundreds of ex-racing greyhounds. This 2002 interview tells the story, and this is an archived version of her website.

Corvo's kid brother

FOR years I've nursed a vague suspicion that the infamous author / artist / would-be Catholic priest Frederick Rolfe alias Baron Corvo had a CH connection, and here he is: a headmaster in Australia no less.

Mainly humans

A SLIDESHOW of works by Switzerland-based artist Steve Brockman-More (Pe A 67-74) (1½ minutes):

Can't get any closer

HOUSEYBLOG salutes the One Mile Closer brigade, a motley crew of Old Blues and others who yesterday reached Land's End after cycling from John O'Groats to raise funds for the Rob Gauntlett Trust and the James Atkinson Bequest.

Good to see the godfather of CH cycling, Frank Pattison (Staff 87-05), among them.

Rob Gauntlett (Ma B, Gr E 98-05) and James Atkinson (Ma B, Gr E 99-06) lost their lives on Mont Blanc in January.

(Alas, they were two of four young Old Blues who died in the first five months of this year, the others being Carl Blakey (La B, Md A, Gr E 94-01) and John Ddungu (Ma A, Gr E 05-07). In forty years' involvement with CH, I can't recall so sad a time.)

Clockwork testament

YORK MEMBERY (La B 73-80) talks to inventor Trevor Baylis.

Together seventy years

FEW couples live to celebrate their platinum wedding anniversary, but Colonial Service veteran Hugh Rance (Ba B 21-30) and his wife Jane reached that milestone on 17 June this year.

Sadly, this news comes via the deaths column in Thursday's Telegraph, which said that Jane passed away on 8 August. Condolences to Hugh, their son and daughter, and all others who mourn her.

Hugh Rance seems to be an elder brother of the late Major Patrick Rance (Ba B 27-36), the splendidly eccentric cheese fiend.

We Just Wanna Know

RUMOUR has it that Taio Cruz is an Old Blue, and Wikipedia agrees - so here's what he sounds like (3½ minutes):

Doctor, it hurts whenever I break a world record

UNNOTICED by us all, Dr Ian McCurdie (Pe B 71-77) was chief medical officer for the British squad at last year's Beijing Olympics, and has been chosen as director of medical services for the London Olympics in 2012.

Well done that man

SOFTWARE developer Michael Meeks (Ma A, Ma B 88-95) is now in Wikipedia - and there's tons of background detail in this 2007 interview.

Edinburgh in August

WITH the city's various festivals in full swing once more, Guy Masterson (Mastroianni, Pe A 72-79) is making a splash on the Fringe as usual, directing three shows (Morecambe, Austen's Women and, for one performance only, Scaramouche Jones) and starring in a fourth, The Sociable Plover. Altogether his Theatre Tours International has six productions on offer.

At the Book Festival this coming Sunday Dan Atkinson (La A 72-79) and his collaborator Larry Elliott will tell "how an unregulated elite was able to run riot with our cash" and explore ways to stop it happening again.

On 22 August at the same festival, Lewis Wolpert (ex-Almoner) will reportedly examine "the very essence of human life".

Chris Grady (La A 69-76) is the man behind the Musical Theatre @ George Square series of events and is writing a Festival blog here.

Meanwhile Mark Thomas (Col B 74-81) brings his blend of comedy and investigative journalism to the Stand Comedy Club until Sunday, with a free extra show at the Pleasance on the 19th.

And if this year's like any other, Colin Somerville (La A 68-75) will be reviewing half the Fringe in The Scotsman.