Roll up, roll up

MATTHEW KIMBERLEY (PeB 91-98) urges us all to buy his take-no-prisoners self-help book How To Get A Grip (3 mins):



Click on the book's title to see most of the links he mentions. Hat tip: Great Plum

Welcome, plus…

RED PEPPER magazine examines the City of Sanctuary refugee-support movement, and speaks to Sarah Eldridge (8's 66-71) who co-ordinates it in Sheffield, where it began.

Situation desperate

REPEATED thefts of lead from the roof of his church may cause the loss of insurance cover, laments Fr Peter Homewood (LaB 70-76). More here.

In Blunden's footsteps

BELATEDLY we hear that Pascal Porcheron (MdB, GrW 99-06) toured Japan last year as the male lead in a Cambridge production of Much Ado About Nothing. Here's a glamorous photo of him with the leading lady; scroll down for his disarming self-portrait.

Prelude to murder

TEN minutes from Verdi's Otello, with the Frankfurt Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Rhodri Britton (ColA 71-78):

A lifetime of listening

CONGRATULATIONS to Elisabeth Salisbury (Jones, 5's, 6's 48-56) on receiving a Certificate of Honour from the City of Oxford for her dedication as a Samaritan volunteer for nearly fifty years (as well as making and delivering food to Asylum Welcome and the Gatehouse, a drop-in centre for the homeless).

And all the trumpets sounded for him

SAD to hear of the death at 85 of much-loved trumpeter David Mason (BaA 36-42, Governor), who talked about his Beatles connection in this video I embedded two years ago. (Above: an illustration by Alan Gregory (MaB 17-23) from Philharmonic (1942) by Thomas Russell.)

Our first TV personality

OLIVE STEPHENS (Voysey-Martin, 1's 30-35) enjoyed modest celebrity in the Fifties and Sixties.

Vivid past

MODELLING in Florence, facing civil unrest in South Korea, riding the Trans-Siberian Express, lecturing in philosophy, acting on Italian radio, running exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, curating the Turner Prize… When he became director of modern and contemporary art at the National Galleries of Scotland, Simon Groom (LaA 77-84) had an exotic backstory.

The value of Stirling

CONTROVERSIAL architect James Stirling is showcased this summer at Tate Britain. Andrew Saint (LaA 58-64) weighs up the achievement of this "charismatic monster".

At the Millennium

THIRTY-SEVEN years after leaving CH, Peter Hiner (ColA 55-63) explores the transformed school (12 mins):



In this video (15 mins, but worth it) he looks back on his schooldays.

Nothing to declare except my frostbite

IN 1937, Richmond Temple (PeB 1903-09) went to the Arctic with the son of Oscar Wilde.

Gollum (MaA 81-83, LaA 83-86)

BEEN lent a copy of a recent Private Eye, in which "The New Coalition Academy" contains this item:


And Steve's not the sole Old Blue in the pillory, as "Pseuds Corner" includes this from Nick Foulkes (ThB 76-83):

And while it may be pushing it a little to suggest that one of the finest achievements of democracy is the freedom to buy a Hermes headscarf or even a Louis Vuitton suitcase, I can't help but think that if more people had the means and opportunity to tell the time on a Cartier watch or sign their name using a Montegrappa pen, then the world would be just that little bit less unstable.

Time travel time

A NEW series of Doctor Who is imminent, and rumour has it that Emma Campbell-Jones (ColB 86-93) will be in it.

Big bad Wolf

WRESTLER Wolf Alexander (better known to us as Sacha Wolstenholme, MdB 93-00) in a 26-minute confrontation with David Deville, presented in two parts (15 mins, 11 mins; Wolf's the first fighter we see):




Hat tip: Great Plum | Wolf's YouTube channel

Bitter experience

"MY husband died as a result of the insurance industry," declares Rosh Wright (Debbie Stone, 1's 57-66).

Unforgotten

LAUNCHED last week on Old Blues' Day, this new book by the distinguished military historian David Miller (LaB 48-55) covers every known Old Blue who died in World War Two, with descriptions of how, when, and where each one died. The result of many years of research, it covers the extraordinary stories of 212 remarkable people – not only members of the armed forces but also civilians killed by enemy action. (David gives brief notes on twelve of them here.) The book is 160 pages long, on high quality paper, hard bound and profusely illustrated. Cost is £15, with £4.50 p&p for UK. All proceeds (when production costs are recouped) will go to the Museum Fund. Orders should be placed with Margaret Wadman at the CHOBA office, by email or by phoning 01403-2476645; she can also advise on methods of payment and costs of overseas postage.

Where Matisse left off

SURELY there's only one woman in the world named Su Bonfanti - which means the creator of these two delicate images (click on each to enlarge) was in Ward 5 from 1967 to 1973.

This is getting ridiculous

HERE'S the lead single from the animated movie RIO, "Telling The World", written and performed by Taio Cruz (3½ mins):



If this guy is an Old Blue (see sidebar for details), he's probably now the best-known Old Blue in the world - perhaps of all time. Yet as far as I'm aware - and apologies if I've missed it - CH has yet to make any statement about him, one way or the other. Come on, chaps…

Facebook versus petrodollars

REUTERS' man in the Middle East Jason Benham (Brown, MaB, MaA 87-94) assesses the prospects for reform in Saudi Arabia.

Red-blooded

THIS new novel by veteran film and TV assistant director Robert Fabbri (MdB, PeA 72-79) is planned as the first of a series charting Vespasian's rise from rural obscurity to the Roman imperial throne.

Don't break my brain

FROM recent experience as an employer, Tim Mukasa (MdA 91-98) outlines how not to write a covering letter.

"Ordinariness is great"

YOUTH worker, teacher, psychotherapist and author Nick Luxmoore (ThB 67-74) chats about his latest book, Young People And The Curse Of Ordinariness (7 mins):



For more on Nick, see this 2006 Times interview:

At 15, he was almost expelled from his South Coast boarding school after a fight that got out of hand. He recalls his anger "at not being listened to, at the bullying and people being shut up and put in their places".

Trailblazer

FORMER staff and pupils of Springer Memorial School, Barbados, gather to celebrate the memory of Pamela Tudor (Stanford, 8's 38-45), the school's first Principal.

View from the audience

NOW based in Oxford, Talisker Macleod (Stuart-Gordon, Staff 04-08) reviews two shows she's seen there, Jack and the Beanstalk and the Kenneth Williams extravaganza Stop Messing About (above).

Still on the case

JUST following up a number of earlier stories…

FIRST EQUAL: Piers Maxim (PeA 81-87) shared the cantata prize at the Longfellow Festival. Congratulations to him.

GETTING ON WITH PEOPLE: the Telegraph gave Sir Michael Gray (MaB 42-50) an appreciative obituary.

BEAUTIFUL SON: Matthew Leonard's family paid this short but moving tribute to him.

STILL GOING STRONG: the Ley Community, co-founded by Peter Agulnik (BaA 48-55), is forty years old.

Thwarted by YouTube

NOT allowed to embed this video, but do please watch it: a 4½ minute film about the marvellous painter Dion Salvador Lloyd (MdA 79-84).

Why are we the way we are?

ROUGH GUIDES were wise enough to ask Dr Christian Jarrett (LaB, MdB 89-96).

Dream come true

BILL TURNER (CH early 80s?) tries his hand at Desert Island Discs:

I was fortunate enough to go to school at Christ's Hospital in Horsham. Music was everywhere and I learned (but didn't stick with) the cornet, clarinet and drums. It was here in the biggest chapel in Europe with seats that face each other on either side that I formed my love of organ music.

The grapevine fails again

ONLY just learned of the death in November 2009 of Sir Christopher Leeds (Horsham Staff 72-75), author and university teacher - the man who introduced me to Marx, Burke and Rousseau.

"Hell and High Water"

ED MAYHEW (MaA, GrE 02-06) performs his own composition at Wilton's Music Hall in 2009 (3½ mins, but the last 30 secs are blank):

Is hemlock the answer?

CLASSICAL scholar Alec Muir (LaB 19-28) made a strikingly forthright Chief Constable.

Hey nonny no

THE St Andrews University Madrigal Group is clearly in good hands, with Tristan Franklinos (CH 03-07) as president and Jacob Keet (CH 99-06) as tour manager.

Christ's Hospital

THIS is a blog about the former pupils and staff of Christ's Hospital.

Why, you ask, do I feel the need to proclaim this, when the subtitle at the top of the page already covers the ground quite adequately?

Because the subtitle doesn't show up on Google Blog Search.

If you do a blog search on "christ's hospital" you get page after page of hits on blogs that have far less to do with CH than this one.

Being a stern, masterful, nemo me impune lacessit sort of person, this is not a situation I'm prepared to see continue.

With any luck this posting will hit the spot and boost Houseyblog up the Google rankings.

If not, that sound you'll hear will be me sobbing pathetically inside a cardboard box.

Thank you. Normal service will now resume…

Blue Groove

BELTING out "Love Lifts Us Up" with the Blue Groove Symphonic Orchestra are Pete Moore and Jessica Greenfield (LHB 94-01) (5 mins):



Hat tip: Great Plum. More from Jess here.

Three wheels across the Alps

BEING paralysed from the waist down didn't stop Denny Denly (ThB 35-42) from crossing the Alps in his invalid carriage in 1947. The disabled people's organisation he helped to found is planning to re-enact his epic journey.

Lost society

IN 1290, England became the first country to expel its Jewish minority. How wrong it was, writes Dr Robin Mundill (Staff 87-97).

Both barrels

BARONESS DEECH (Ruth Fraenkel, 7's 53-61) repudiates David Cameron's attack on Oxford University.

Our dragon

TOM BRAITHWAITE (LHA, LHB, MdB 85-93) is so expert at kung fu, he was invited to China to judge a major contest there (3 mins):



More from Tom here

Doughty pugilist

CONGRATULATIONS to Oxford student and light-middleweight boxer Andy Ormerod-Cloke (MdA 00-05) on gaining a Blue in the Varsity Match last month. (Is he our first boxing Blue since Simon McKie, ThB 67-74?) When not bashing Tabs, Andy is vice-president of Oxford Students for Liberty.

Asylum seekers beware

SHOTS magazine interrogates Chris Simms (PeA 81-88) about his latest DI Jon Spicer novel.

Ouch

THE editor of Third Sector magazine for charities and voluntary organisations, Stephen Cook (MaB, LaA 61-66), is less than happy with the coalition's decisions on the strategic partners programme.

Bluze Dubstep Remix

BROADCASTER, alias Lewis Atkinson (LaA 79-86), turns Peggy Seeger's "Bad Bad Girl" upside down and inside out (5½ mins):

Scouting in her seventies

WHEN she stepped down last year as a Cub Scout leader, Philippa Harpin (Barr, 3's 50-56, Governor) was rumoured to be the oldest in the country, and was recognised with an invitation to a Buckingham Palace garden party. (Her multimillionaire son invented and funded the Scouts' new Entrepreneur Badge.)

Misjudgements under the duvet

SOME of the hazards of acting in a Channel 4 sitcom are spelt out by Susannah Fielding (Glanville-Hearson, ColB, GrW 01-03) for the unprudish readers of FHM magazine. (She's no stranger to the National Theatre, where Howard Davies (MaA 56-63) directed her in Gorky's Philistines, and she'll play opposite Patrick Stewart in The Merchant of Venice in Stratford this summer.)

Irrepressible, indefatigable, indomitable

SCROLL down this page for a frank and affectionate obituary of Phyllis Riddiford (Hertford Staff 70-85), who died in October aged 91. The ladies of the Unofficial Forum add their memories.

Waste not

ENVIRONMENTAL lawyer Amanda Stubbs (Atkinson, 7's 78-85) explains a 2007 Appeal Court judgment regarding the re-use of lubricating oil as fuel oil (1 min):

Airborne again

EVIDENTLY making a good recovery from her nasty accident at the Worthing International Birdman Festival, comedian Holly Walsh (LHB 92-99) now has a modest website and seems to be gigging away unstoppably. "She's gifted with snappy wit and crackling talent and has polished a standup routine that is as feelgood and funny as the best bubblegum pop" ~ The Guardian

Libertarian anarchist

MARK THOMAS (ColB 74-81) talks to Colin Somerville (LaA 68-75):

Educated at primary school in Clapham, he won a scholarship to Christ's Hospital boarding school, Horsham, Sussex, in 1974, which technically makes him a "means-tested public schoolboy". Pupils still wear uniforms from the Tudor period, an eccentricity which causes him to refer to it as the "Mediaeval Centre for Transvestism".

Larger than life

SORRY to report the death at 78 of Lt-Gen Sir Michael Gray (MaB 42-50), former Colonel Commandant of the Parachute Regiment.

Summer night on the water

TWO Delius songs, tenderly handled by the BBC Singers under conductor Simon Joly (ColA, MdB 62-71) (4 mins):

Hols cut to fit

SALLYANDALICE.COM - half of which is Sally Kirby (LHB 89-96) - offers bespoke holidays to beautiful and exotic places, especially in Africa and the Middle East.