"My job is incredibly worthwhile"

OUR new Clerk and Chief Executive, Rear-Admiral David Cooke, gives an interview.

Speech Day 1932: sound & vision

THIS two-minute Pathé clip must be the earliest surviving sound film of CH. Don't miss it.

Headmaster Oswald Flecker - two years into the job, with twenty-three to go - doesn't look too appealing. (This was the man who at Marlborough gave his pupil John Betjeman a lifelong fear of critics.)

Presumably the portly white-haired gent behind the Lord Mayor is the Treasurer; he seems less keen than his successor Barnes Wallis to insist on his right to walk at the Lord Mayor's right hand.

The band is smaller and less impressive than in recent decades, the marching somewhat smarter.

Boys in the school in the summer of 1932 - perhaps among the faces we see here - included the war poet Keith Douglas, the thriller writer Francis Clifford, the poet and songwriter Sydney Carter of "Lord of the Dance" fame, the man of letters J E Morpurgo, the painter Maurice de Sausmarez, Norman Guthkelch the doctor who identified "shaken baby syndrome", Donald Hopson the courageous diplomat who endured the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and some who died gallantly in the war such as Peter McRae and Michael Rennie; not forgetting the future headmaster of CH John Hansford, the future Treasurer Angus Ross and of course many notable figures in the Old Blue world like Barclay Hankin and John Gillham.

Hat tip: Foureyes

"A wonderful school"

JONATHAN SCOTT (Col A 59-68) remembers his CH days in yesterday's Independent.

Monsieur le tambour

FOUR minutes with Sarah Mitchell and her Quartet; the drummer is Sarah's partner, Tim Brickel (PeA, PeB 87-95):

This guy's serious

WHEN his character in Spooks was killed off, Alex Lanipekun (LaA 92-99) moved on to the Royal Court Theatre and then to the Donmar Warehouse, where he played opposite Jonathan Pryce in a role first created in the UK by Ben Kingsley. One result was this shrewd and informative interview, published in March.

Mocking bird

A PLEASURE to see Holly Walsh (LHB 92-99) on BBC2's Mock The Week last night:

What is amnesia? Is it:

(a) memory loss

(b) memory loss, or

(4) the Battle of Hastings?

Munna from heaven

HOW many clergy have four hundred fans? A Facebook group for Munna Mitra (Chaplain 96-08).

Tuba Tune on Sagina

BASED on the hymn "And Can It Be", this 1½-minute organ piece was composed by Christopher Tambling (PeA 76-82):

Starting as he means to go on

ASPIRING journalist Mortimer Pockett (LaA, GrE 02-09) found time during his A level term to write at least three columns for the West Sussex County Times: on England Under-18 rugbyman Joe Launchbury (MdB, GrW 02-09) and playing in the Band at Lord's; on Speech Day; and on his own band, Innocent Faces. And in late July he penned another, about leaving CH and touring the Rhineland with the Band.

New Blunden material online

PREVIOUSLY unseen manuscripts by the war poet Edmund Blunden (Col A 1909-15, Senior Grecian) have been added to Oxford University's First World War Poetry Digital Archive. This press report gives details.

Narrow Road to the Deep North

NO sooner had the One Mile Closer crew cycled from John O' Groats to Land's End than Andrew Ormanroyd (Horsham Staff 70-73) embarked on the same journey in reverse, in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. He's 63 this year. Sponsor him here.

"Music, gently soothing power"

AN aria from William Boyce's Ode for St Cecilia's Day, sung by countertenor William Purefoy (La A 79-86) (6 minutes):

A good man at Monmouth

MONMOUTH SCHOOL, says the Tatler Schools Guide, "is becoming ever more successful under its newish head Dr Steven Connors [Deputy Head 00-05], an authority on Wordsworth who is as likely to be found coaching rugby or taking part in a charity abseiling event as abstracted in scholarly thought." Don't take their word for it: hear the man himself.

Too exciting for some

FORTY years back he was probably the most famous Old Blue in the country: John Snow (Th B 51-59) of Sussex and England, demon fast bowler, poet and rebel.

What counts is the story

SCROLL down this page for a spirited thousand-word reflection on film and TV sci-fi from the old Flash Gordon serials onwards, courtesy of Marcus Sprenkel (La A 79-86).

The Devil Wore A Crucifix

A SONG by Sydney Carter (Pe B 26-33), performed by Raymond Crooke (1 minute):

Chip in quick

ON Saturday in Hyde Park Sophie Lippiatt (LHB, GrE 99-01) and her sister Claire Lippiatt (LHB, Hertford, GrE 00-04) will be taking part in the Adidas 5km women's challenge to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation. Their dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer this year and hopes to receive a new type of treatment on a research scheme. More details and a chance to donate here.

Break, break, break

CONGRATULATIONS to Professor David Taplin (LaB 50-57), seen here (right) on his seventieth birthday last month receiving the Premier Gold Medal of the International Congress on Fracture in recognition of his research contributions to the field of creep and fatigue at high temperatures, and his vision and sustained leadership of the ICF for forty years. As he readily testifies, it all began in the Manual School at Housey…

Very ancient and fish-like

PAUL LYNCH (La B 67-74) reads The Compleat Angler by Sir Izaak Walton (1593-1683).

During July and August, 55 more people were added to my links page.