Christ's Hospital

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

As attentive readers will recall, I have to make this announcement from time to time to drive Houseyblog up the Google Blog Search rankings, where it's currently languishing at #54.

That's all. Move along please, nothing to see here…

Back in the day

SINGER-songwriter (et very cetera) Jaki Miles-Windmill (Staff 00-05) performs her own composition "Stars shine, Moon bright" at Bunjies Folk Cellar, London W1, which closed in 1999 (4½ mins):

Domestic saga

FROM Neolithic Orkney to the post-war housing projects, the ever-evolving British home cannot evade the scrutiny of Edward Denison (MdA 85-92).

Now hear this

VETERAN leftie Howard Medwell (PeB 59-66) has been given a newspaper column.

Pastures new

CONGRATULATIONS to rugbyman Andrew Higgins (ThA 92-99) - shown here in an off-duty moment - on his signing by Newcastle Falcons after a season with Sale Sharks.

"The most wonderful woman you'll probably ever meet"

A YOUNG interviewer unafraid of hyperbole introduces us to Yemisi Mokuolu (BaB 88-96), promoter of African culture events (14 mins):

Any offers?

IT seems Charlotte Mitchell (Hertford 35-42) (see below) left several unpublished novels:

…it is a mystery why they failed to find a publisher. It would prove a splendid coda if an imaginative imprint were to make good these omissions - the books would delight her admirers as well as introduce new readers to her distinctive body of work.

Screen sounds

LISTEN in for a few minutes on the website of Martin Batchelar (ThB, GrW 03-05), multi-award-winning composer of music for film.

Germs cost medals

THE chief medical officer for Team GB, Ian McCurdie (PeB 71-77), who triggered a silly media fuss by warning athletes to be careful over shaking hands, is unrepentant in The Independent.

Knees-up

FAMOUS in their day, and great friends of CH, Elsie and Doris Waters, better known as Gert and Daisy, do their bit for morale in wartime London (80 secs):

Tinie's campaign manager

ALEX EDEN-SMITH (PeA 92-99), the marketing man behind Tinie Tempah (to say nothing of Coldplay, etc), gives an interview:

Would your classmates from school be surprised at what you're doing now?

Yeah they would! I was never really musical and didn't play any instruments; it was more of a private passion for me that just built up. I spent a lot of time at school thinking "No-one gets a job in the music industry" or that it was "too hard" to get into.

One man in his time…

LIFELONG Socialist, pacifist, Labour and union activist, photographer, hospital porter, youth worker, would-be Dominican priest and, for 37 years, teacher of drama and director of Shakespeare at Salisbury College, Paul Whiteside (ThB 47-55) has died at 75.

Master of art

ONE Royal Academician called him "the most naturally talented painter I've ever met"; he is Tod Ramos (PeA 67-75), convivial extrovert, artist of worldwide reputation, and potentially your host and teacher in the South of France.

Mozart therapy

LET the Renard Ensemble, one-third of which is Katy Ayling (ColA, GrW 97-04) (seen here on the right), banish your suicidal impulses (4½ mins):

His brain makes waves

ODDLY, CH tends to ignore one of the most influential living Old Blues, the social theorist Anthony Wilden (LaB 46-53). Fortunately, Wikipedia doesn't.

Man-mountain

HE may not be a stereotype whippet-slim biking wizard, but Ian Pinder (LaB, MdA, ThB, GrW 96-03) has just succeeded in cycling from Cairo to Cape Town (blogging as he went) to raise funds to build a school in Kenya - and it's not too late to contribute.

Stop thief!

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (CH 1782-91, Senior Grecian) was a plagiarist and liar, insisted the late Norman Fruman.

Old Blue "has transparent head" shock

VOCALIST and guitarist Paul Van Oestren (MdA 89-96) leads his band The Bookhouse Boys in "Guns Like Drums" (2½ mins):

Home thoughts from Kenya

NOW teaching at the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa, Jacob Keet (LaB, GrE 99-06) writes to the West Sussex County Times. He'll soon be releasing an album for a very good cause…

From Heartbeat to The Goon Show

… via Black Beauty and Corrie: the career of actress, poet and dramatist Charlotte Mitchell (Hertford 35-42), who has died aged 85, ranged widely, as the Guardian relates.