churchill college newsletter 2012

ChurchillTheNEWSLETTER 2012

Here’s your Churchill Newsletter for 2012. Alwayswith a view to inform, educate and entertain I hopewe have delivered on all three in this cornucopia.

To feed your appetites we have features on Churchill College Olympians, Charles Dickens,Churchillian writers, technology, applied mathematics,entrepreneurship, a view from a Welsh man on‘entente cordiale’ and a delicious savoury puddingrecipe from Churchill Chef, Simon Crisp.

The Master has been on his travels to far flungplaces in Lent Term but we have not been idling in

his absence and have organised events for later this year – details of which are listedon the Back Page. I very much hope that we will see many of you at one, if not all, ofthese. And don’t forget your Association needs YOU! Please do come along to theChurchill Association Dinner this year – the more the merrier.

I’m delighted to announce that we have a new addition to the Alumni and DevelopmentTeam: Livia Argentesi, who joined us in October 2011 and has been responsible for bringingChurchill College social-networking to the fore with Facebook, LinkedIn and of courseTwitter. Follow us and let us know what you’re doing. Do let us know what you think of thisyear’s Newsletter and if you have ideas for future articles please send them in.

Join me in wishing Churchill’s Alex O’Connell and Stacie Powell the best of luck in theirOlympic medal attempts – we’ll be following their progress and tweeting all about it.

Happy reading!

Sharon MauriceDevelopment Director

2 THE CHURCHILL 2012

Welcome!

The ContentsPAGE 3Master for a term!

PAGE 4On the Piper trail

PAGE 5Windows on the world

PAGE 6A smaller splash

PAGE 7Foils again

PAGE 8Chariots of Fire

PAGE 9A one-time kingdom divided byMonarchs and reunited by Engineers

PAGE 10Around the World in Eighty Minutes

PAGE 11“Chinese Characteristics” at the Møller Centre

PAGE 12How to avoid insurance

PAGE 13The physics of hair and the shape of a ponytail

PAGE 14Barking with Dickens

PAGE 15Writing in Churchill

PAGE 16-17Getting spliced

PAGE 18Would you like a Chair at Cambridge?

PAGE 19Savoury Bread and Butter Pudding

Published byChurchill CollegeEditor: Tim CribbStorey’s Way Cambridge CB3 0DS. Tel. 01223 336197; Fax 01223 336177; [email protected]

Design & layout: www.cantellday.co.uk

All texts, photographs and illustrative material, except where acknowledged otherwise, are © Churchill College 2012. We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce illustrationsand photographs: Noelle Caulfield (Cover, p. 8), Kathryn Westmore (p. 2), David Wallace (p. 3), Mark Miller (pp. 4, 19), Brian Clarke (p. 5), Stacie Powell (p.6), Alex O’Connell (p.7), Graham Wiltshire(p. 10), The Møller Centre (p.11), Tom Maddox (p. 12), Simon Blackwell (p.14), Rosie Furber (p.15),Martin Beard (p.16), Jennifer Brook, Jeremy Burton (p. 17), Barry Phipps (p.18).

3THE CHURCHILL 2012

Master for a term!

Since the Vice-Master usually sits next tothe Master at College meetings, someonesuggested that I should have a cardboardcut-out of myself next to myself atmeetings, which would have the addedadvantage that if handed a hot potato Icould just pass it to the other one.Fortunately, there have not been too manyhot potatoes, and I’ve been wonderfullywell supported by the staff and theFellowship. Of course, the Master and I had a briefing session before he left, and there will be a de-briefing when hereturns, so I am sure he won’t be toohorrified by anything that has been done in his absence. There were two things I should have anticipated, but didn’t. Thefirst was just how many different thingsthere would be to keep tabs on, rangingfrom failing door-locks to one-off meetingswith overseas visitors keen to makecontact with the College as a major centrefor the interface between academia andindustry. And as term goes on those ‘tabs’increase on a rolling basis. But again, I’ve been extremely well supported by all, from the other College Officers (theSenior Tutor, Bursar and Tutor forAdvanced Students) to everyone on the

administrative, catering and conferencesides of the College. The second activity I hadn’t quite anticipated was how manyletters there would be to write, of all kinds.But that’s been good too, bringing me intocontact with a wide range of people andreminding me of the pleasures of real pen-and-paper communication.

People have asked me if I’ve beenenjoying the term, and my answer hasbeen, and still is, that, despite the serious

moments, it’s been fun. And the otherthing the term will leave me with is a newadmiration for everything that the staffdo, which I’ve now been in a position toappreciate more than ever before.

Alison Finch (F72)

Having been Vice-Master for a while (2005-06, and since 2008), it was inevitable that I should be asked to be Acting Master duringthe Master’s absence on leave from 1 January to 30 April this year.It was also agreed that at the same time I should continue to beVice-Master.

ABOVE Excelsior!

I should have a cardboardcut-out of myself next tomyself at meetings, whichwould have the addedadvantage that if handed ahot potato I could just passit to the other one.”

“


In the Chapel at Churchill College you willfind eight beautiful and distinctive stainedglass windows, The Elements, designed by John Piper (1903 – 92), fabricated by Patrick Reyntiens (1925–), the memorialto our first Master, Sir John Cockroft. To celebrate their beauty and tocommemorate twenty years since Piper’sdeath in June 1992, the College mountedan exhibition of his prints to complementthe lyrical windows. The exhibition alsoincluded archive material relating to thewindows and a documentary film, An EmptyStage, which investigates the life and workof the artist.

The exhibition was organised incollaboration with Goldmark Art Gallery,Uppingham. Goldmark specialise inoriginal prints, paintings, drawings,ceramics and sculpture.

The exhibition opened with a talk by thedistinguished art historian and biographer,

Frances Spalding CBE, author of John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: Lives in Art(OUP, 2009).

During the afternoon of Sunday 24 Junethere will be a performance by theMarlowe Society and GODS of a shortnew play, Ecumenical, by our residentFellow and poet, John Kinsella: the figuresin the play step out of the Piper windows.

Do take the opportunity to visit theCollege and see Piper’s work. You mightalso like to see his other Cambridgewindows at Robinson College and St Peter’s Church, Babraham.


On the Piper trailIn the Chapel at ChurchillCollege you will find eightbeautiful and distinctivestained glass windows,The Elements, designedby John Piper (1903 – 92),fabricated by PatrickReyntiens (1925–), thememorial to our firstMaster, Sir John Cockroft.

ABOVE Let there be light!

5THE CHURCHILL 2012

British artist, Brian Clarke is apainter and architectural stainedglass designer. He has workedin collaboration with many ofthe world’s leading architects,including Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Renzo Piano,and his work can be found inarchitectural settings and publicand private collectionsthroughout the world.

David Jenkins in The Daily Telegraphcalled him the “rock star of stained glass”and the film-maker, Mark Kidel, describedhim as “one of Britain’s hidden treasures”and accordingly made a documentary film about his work: Brian Clarke – anArtist Apart.

Brian acknowledges the influence ofJohn Piper and so it seemed entirelyappropriate to invite him to the Collegerecently to see the Piper and Reyntienswindows in the Chapel. And there isanother connection to Churchill – theWinston Churchill Memorial Trust, oursister memorial to the great man. In 1974Brian was awarded a WCMT TravellingFellowship to study art and architecturein Rome, Paris and Germany – a life-changing experience. And it didn’t stopthere: having been the Trust’s beneficiaryhe is now one of its Trustees!

Nor does the connection with the Collegestop at the windows. In addition to thenational travelling Fellowships the WCMTalso offers up to ten bursaries atChurchill College. Each is worth £2,000 ayear for the duration of an undergraduatedegree, subject to satisfactoryperformance. They are intended toensure that students are able to take upthe special opportunity afforded to themby the prospect of studying at Churchill.And on top of that they come with asingle overseas travel grant for academicor charitable purposes, just like the

travelling Fellowships. This joint initiativeunderlines the Trust’s ethos and theCollege’s commitment to wideningaccess to Cambridge University.

If you would like to learn more about the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and its work you can visit the website

www.wcmt.org.uk. See alsowww.brianclarke.co.uk.


Windows on the world

ABOVE Shopping Cathedral (Leeds)


I started diving when I was six – mygrandparents booked my sister and meonto a crash course. I liked it so much weended up staying for three weeks andjoining the club in Plymouth. This meantmy Dad had to drive from Bristol toPlymouth every weekend for me to dive.When we moved to London, my parentschose the house nearest the diving poolin the city.

I won silver and bronze medals in theEuropean Junior Championships, beforegoing on to compete in the Word JuniorChampionships, the CommonwealthGames, the European Championshipsand the World Championships. I also wona string of medals in the BritishChampionships, including four Gold andfour Silver medals in synchronised divingand platform diving. I just missed out inthe 2004 Olympics, placing third in thetrial – the top two divers were selected. I was determined not to let this happenagain and all my extra hard work paid offwhen I won the trial qualifying for Beijingin 2008, where I was placed eighth in thesynchronised dive and tenth in theplatform dive.

I now have a place in this year’sOlympics, so I’m juggling training with aPhD in Astrophysics. I often read paperswhen I have a spare minute at the pool.The internet helps a lot, so I can do mywork from anywhere, even when I amaway at competitions. I’m currentlytraining in the gym and the pool twice a day six days a week. The training isintense; you push yourself as far as youcan physically go.

Will it be different to be competing inLondon? To have the Olympics on hometurf makes it extra special. The crowd willbe cheering for you –17,000 peoplebehind you at the pool can give you that

extra edge over your competitors. London2012 will be such a great event to be apart of, with an atmosphere that will beone of a kind.

Stacie Powell (PG09)

A smaller splash

For me nothing beats the feeling from knowing I’ve jumped off a 10-metre diveboard, performed three-and-a-half somersaults on the way down, and hit the waterwithout making a splash!

ABOVE: On the way up

7THE CHURCHILL 2012

Foils again

My older brother fenced at school. I don’t recall whether I was interested or simplydragged along to watch, but I took it up when I was eight. It was something Iimmediately liked and enjoyed.

I’m not 100% a natural-born athlete, andthe mix of the mental and physical aspectsof fencing appealed to me, as indeed it stilldoes. There’s a difference between sportsthat are about how high and fast you cango, and sports where you can out-manoeuvre and outwit your opponent.

Fencing was one of the best parts of myCambridge experience. We won a lot ofmatches and the team was a very tight-knit bunch when I was there; they’re stillvery close friends of mine. My brother,who works in the City now, also fenced at Cambridge.

I don’t think there was suddenly a timewhen I thought: I’m going to fence and I want it to be my career. It’s beenrelatively organic, and I was alwaysinterested to see how far I could go. I won the Under-17 World Championshiptitle in 2005, when I was 16, which wasvery unusual as there have been fewBritish victories. I believe that made methink I could really achieve something,and I’ve just tried to go as far as I canwith it.

Training for the Olympics meansspending a lot of time away from home,

from your family and friends and whatyou’re used to. For example, I’ve justspent a week training in France andwe’re about to go away again. It will havebeen worth it whatever happens, becauseI will have put myself in the best possibleposition I can, but it will taste a bitsweeter if or when I’m there in thesummer. There was a quote in thetraining hall in France about thriving onhard work, rather than success but, whiledoing a very hard physical session doesgive you a buzz, grinding away week afterweek without knowing if you’ll besuccessful is very hard. A key piece ofequipment is my shoes – expensive,specially made and not something I canborrow from another fencer.

I’m really looking forward to having theopportunity to compete in front of myfamily and friends, and so many of thepeople who have supported me. Just ascompeting in the Beijing Olympics in 2008was a very special moment, experiencingthat again and doing it so close to home,with so many people who’ve helped mewatching, will be amazing.

Alex is supported by Allstar Uhlmann UK

Alex O’Connell (U06)

Fencing was one of thebest parts of my Cambridgeexperience. We won a lot of matches and the teamwas a very tight-knit bunchwhen I was there; they’restill very close friends of mine.”

“


Six runners each run 2.75km (about 1.7miles) on a route that takes them throughcolleges, the city centre and over theCam (twice) raising money for charity. The event takes place in September andis becoming increasingly popular, as wellas more and more competitive. Althoughsome teams still enter just for fun – therehave been teams of cops and robbers,fairies and Elvis has even been spotted –other teams are definitely ‘in it to win it’!

Churchill’s Captain, Peter Miller (CollegePayroll Manager) gamely undertakes to pulltogether a team each year and to get themall to turn up at the right place at the righttime, which is not always an easy task(particularly for the Fellowship...). It’s not thebest time of year to find students (theUndergrads are not back yet) but, fishing inthe Advanced Students pool, we have beenlucky enough to find a few young andeager candidates willing to put their bestfeet forward for the College; the Fellowshipseems to have a ready supply of still eager,but sadly no longer young, runners who areeager to show they can still cut it; the staff(aside from Peter), however, appear to bea little shy in coming forward, but thenmaybe they are mostly distancerunners…long distance runners....

Nevertheless, we have entered a mixedteam and, for the last two years, ChurchillCollege has been the fastest Collegeteam and has won the College Cup. To bean eligible team for this contest, everyonemust be a current member of College(sorry – no alumni or past membersallowed). Last year the aptly named‘Winston’s Winners’ romped, ratherbreathlessly, home in a combined time ofjust 1 hour 2 minutes and 37 seconds,

putting them almost 8 minutes ahead ofthe next College and in 14th place overall– out of over 300 teams, that was nomean feat, if we say so ourselves!

We might not quite be up to Olympicstandard, (though our pace would havebeen good enough to win the famous1908 London marathon by over 15minutes) but this race is an importantlocal institution which typically raises tensof thousands of pounds for local charitieseach year. It is rooted firmly in theOlympic tradition, where it is not thewinning but the taking part that isimportant, though of course it is still niceto win. The brave hope for September2012 is to put forward another mixedteam to go for that elusive ‘hat trick’ ofwins. No College has managed 3 back-

to-back wins. Will there be a better timeto try? Let’s hear it for Winston’sHomburg Winners. No Pressure!

Colm Caulfield (PG87/F05)

Chariots of Fire

RIGHT The Miller and his Men

Churchill College has always been considered a friendly and inclusiveCollege, so it should come as no surprise that, for the last few years, wehave turned out a team of Staff, Fellows and Students for the annual‘Chariots of Fire’ charity relay race.

9THE CHURCHILL 2012

Living in mainland Europe, one becomesaware of the many national traits andperceptions. In France, a country proud of its heritage and sufficiently large and varied to negate the need to travelelsewhere for leisure or pleasure, there is an overriding smugness that defiesridicule. It has been said that a Brit isoften arrogant but doesn’t know it, whilea Frenchman is well aware. The LittleGeneral created an infrastructure andLaw that, in great part, is still operationaltoday. Western civilization owes much toFrench artists, philosophers, scientists …and chefs, who have moulded much ofour current lifestyle.

In the field of sport, despite a globalsoccer triumph in 1998, it’s the RugbyWorld Cup that has so far eluded theFrench after appearances in three finals.There is a feeling by some that thecountry would exchange all its trophies injudo, swimming, tennis and handball forthat famous Web Ellis prize. Meanwhile,the Brits should tremble if pétanque wereever to become an Olympic sport, unlessthat magic potion, Pastis, were to beadded to the ‘banned substances’ list.

One must, of course, accept that theAnglo-Saxon mentality (an expressionused extensively in France) is a far cryfrom the Franco-French mindset. As insport, so in business, the French hate tolose. The solution for them is simple –continue to play the game and resist any

ultimate conclusion until an algorithm(and by Jove, the skills of themathematical elite from Grande Ecolealumni are second to none) has beendetermined that will nominate acumulative French victory. Compromise is unacceptable; better to continue todebate than concede on any point. And there lies the real French pleasure–intellectual discussion and socialintercourse. Samuel Johnson once said“A Frenchman must be always talking,whether he knows anything of the matteror not; an Englishman is content to saynothing, when he has nothing to say”.

And so to the French language, protectedby the venerable Académie française.While the USA prods and pokes English,adding, it seems, several new words on aweekly basis, it takes a committee ofelected sages many months to decide anofficial addition to the French tongue. Onemust admit it is a beautiful patois and mayrival Italian as the vernacular of love but,perhaps surprisingly, it lacks the versatilityof the language of Shakespeare.

Putting aside Nelson and Wellington, thetwo nations have more recently toiledtogether in battle and business. In 1905,the Entente Cordiale defined a commondesire to co-operate and this was borneout in the two World Wars. More recently,the duo of Maggie and Mitterrandlaunched the quite incredible engineeringand diplomatic Chunnel project which

provides a weather-free umbilical cordbetween the two nations … when theelectric current can be maintained!

Love it or otherwise, France is ournearest Continental neighbour andpresents a host of delights for the soul,the psyche and le corps. As Sir Winstonsaid “The farther backward you can look,the farther forward you can see.” Britsshould avail themselves more of thiswonderful country … it’s just a shameabout its indigenous Parisians.

Written, with tongue in cheek, by a WelshCelt who, with his wife, has chosen theHexagon as a retirement haven.

Bob Bell (U61)

A one-time kingdom divided by Monarchsand reunited by Engineers

Once upon a time, the land masses now known as France and England were unifiedunder Roman rule. Since then and with certain oscillations in claimed real estate,l’Hexagone has defended and defined itself well – by both bellicose and politicalmeans. With a population similar to that of the UK but with twice the territory and witha geographical and culinary diversity that many a man might die for, it is often askedwhy the veneer of mutual animosity prevails between ‘les rosbifs and ‘the Frogs’.Sometimes it seems the Hundred Year War is not yet over.


His theme, “Modernizing Multilateralism:Learning from Military History”, wasperfect for an event organized by theArchives Centre in memory of CaptainStephen Roskill, of whose life and workhe showed an impressive knowledge.Then, in eighty minutes of speech andquestions, Mr Zoellick went round theworld in a very different way from thatformer naval person, providing anoverview of the challenges andopportunities facing the World Bank inthe twenty-first century. He ended withhis hopes for a multilateral future:

What would such a world look like?

“It would provide poor countries betteraccess to world markets, while allowingthem to hedge against fluctuatingcommodity prices, spiking fuel costs, andnatural disasters.

It would facilitate foreign directinvestment, innovative financing, andtechnological transfer so that developingcountries can modernize agriculture,industry, and services.

It would support good governance,openness and transparency – to ensurethat governments pay more attention tocitizen voice and social accountability,and that private sector initiative isrewarded, basic services delivered, andprosperity broadly shared.

It would support multilateral innovation toforge progress on open trade andinvestment, access to energy, food security,competition in services, and climate change.

It would be a world in which all countriestap the energies and genius of all people– not least girls and women, an under-

realized source of growth everywhere.Much of the World Bank’s history hasbeen associated with the Third World.The Third World is now an outdatedconcept. But development is not. In fact,lessons of development – just likeprinciples of sound economics andsecurity – are increasingly applicable toall countries.

Whether histories are about militaries oreconomies, or about the internationalorders within which they operate, thestories and studies ultimately relate to

our societies and how they interact.And that is what modernizingmultilateralism should be about: learningfrom the past; adapting for the present;and creating for the future. Sometimesthe farther backward you can look, thefarther forward you are to see.”

Allen PackwoodDirector of the Archives Centre

Around the World in Eighty Minutes

ABOVE The World’s Banker in the Wolfson

Mr Robert Zoellick, the outgoing President of the World Bank, clearlytakes his global remit very seriously. On Wednesday 22 February 2012,he flew into Cambridge from the United States to deliver the fourteenthRoskill Memorial Lecture, before departing after dinner towards hisnext engagement in Singapore.


The Judge actually teaches a slightly left-field version of business, focusing more on‘management practice, governance andnot-for-profit’ angle and less on the ‘howto ruin the world economy’ angle than theaverage business school, and they take amore eclectic bunch of students to match.So I arrived in Cambridge, thanks to agenerous scholarship from the SainsburyFoundation, fresh from Indonesia, where Ihad spent eight years running tigerconservation projects for a wildlife charity.My MBA cohort included musicians,doctors, engineers and aid workers.

The course was no easy ride. Cramming atwo-year course into one year meant longdays, every day, long nights, every night,and almost no holidays, whilst studyingsubjects I’d never even heard of. To add tothe challenge I had a wife and young son,neither of whom could ride a bike or hadever experienced the delights of a British

winter, and worries of how I could focus ifthey didn’t settle were top of my list.Thankfully we were allocated a WolfsonFlat, newly refurbished, with a children’splayground at its centre. My wife foundherself at the centre of a vibrantcommunity where families from everycorner of the planet swapped children,recipes and stories. So I could turn myattention to looking up ‘net present value’on Wikipedia.

However, it didn’t take long for the feet toitch again. As spring came, with the help ofa small College sporting grant, I cycled toParis with a group of fellow businessstudents, raising several thousand poundsfor an educational charity. A few weekslater, this time with the help of a Collegetravel grant (after twelve years working forcharities I have learnt it always pays to ask)I headed with colleagues to Nepal and Indiaas a consultant for a renewable energy

charity. Amazingly this counted as credit formy course, so whilst our contemporariesspent Easter crunching premiums inLondon insurance offices we spent our timeon Nepalese hillsides working out how tobring power to some of the loveliestcustomers you could ever imagine.

A final term of exams and assignmentspassed in a flash and before we knew itwe had to leave the flat we had come tolove and which my son, to this day, calls our‘England house’. Of course the MBAcourse doesn’t allow summer holidayseither and my graduation depended on thesuccessful completion of a final two-monthinternship. Still determined not to end up ininsurance I opted for a place at the WorldBank, which turned into several months inWashington and Jakarta working onenvironmental projects in the eye-wideningworld of international development.

Now we find ourselves back in Cambridgeagain and I’m working for the university onbusiness and environment issues. Weregularly return to Churchill, sometimes onbusiness (I finally know what the MøllerCentre is for now!), sometimes to visit oldfriends, and every time I’m hit with the twinemotions of coming home mixed with anagging dread that I probably have anassignment on accounting due tomorrow.My son still misses the pink car in theWolfson playground he claimed as his own,my wife still misses the cosmopolitanbanter of the Wolfson Wives, and I miss thesupport I received from my mentor, myTutor and all the College students and staffI met – even the porters who continue toclaim they have never seen me before.

If ever I do end up working in insurance,the alumni office would be most welcometo get in touch. Until then...I don’tsuppose Churchill do any grants for ex-students do you?

Tom Maddox (PG10)

My time at Churchill was an all-too-brief year whilst studying at the Judge Business School for anMBA. Now before I go on, let me dispel the stereotype that no doubt sprang to mind.

How to avoid insurance

LEFT Flower power

3THE CHURCHILL 2012 13

In one of his most interesting drawings,Leonardo da Vinci juxtaposed a sketch ofan old man with a flowing beard alongsidedepictions of water flowing past obstaclesin a stream. He wrote “Observe the motionof the surface of the water whichresembles that of hair, and has two motions,of which one goes on with the flow of thesurface, the other forms the lines of theeddies…” That was 500 years ago. A fewyears ago I was contacted by scientists atthe Unilever R&D labs in Port Sunlightasking whether I might be interested inworking with them on problems involvingthe “statistical physics of hair.” While myfirst reaction was bemusement, I wentalong to the lab and discovered that theproblem of understanding the properties ofbundles of hair is a fascinating challenge infundamental physics as much as it is anissue of great consumer interest. While webegan with trying to understand how thetangling arose from the waviness ofindividual fibres, we decided first to tackle

the simplest problem that addresses therole of hair waviness: What is the shape of a ponytail?

We are all familiar with the “body” or“volume” of a bunch of hair, the springinesswhich arises from the intrinsic curliness orwaviness of the individual hairs. This, alongwith the stiffness of the individual hairs andtheir weight determines the shape of abundle such as a ponytail, and through afairly sophisticated mathematical analysisand laboratory imaging of individual hairsand real human ponytails we were able toincorporate these three ingredients into amathematical equation whose solutiongives the shape of the outside edge of ahair bundle. In the end, this “Ponytail ShapeEquation” is a kind of miraculous rewritingof the complicated physics probleminvolving the properties of tens ofthousands of hairs into the much simplerone of a single hair at the edge pushed outby the elasticity of the ones within.

Amazingly, the mathematics also showsprecisely the deep connection thatLeonardo intuited between fluidstreamlines and hair. These developmentsnow open up a whole range of topics forquantitative scientific investigation,including the aerodynamics of hair, and ofcourse that ubiquitous problem of tangling.More importantly, they illustrate very clearlyhow seemingly mundane phenomena weencounter in the world around us can haverich physics and mathematics underlyingtheir explanation.

For a video explaining these results, see:http://uk.reuters.com/video/2012/04/06/rapunzel-number-untangles-secret-of-pony?videoId=232972246

Ray Goldstein (F07)Schlumberger Professor of ComplexPhysical Systems in the Department of Applied Mathematics and TheoreticalPhysics

The physics of hair and the shape of a ponytail


Over time our shared assumptions and

common cultural references can and do

change drastically. ITMA, the most popular

British radio comedy of World War II, is a

striking example. Every joke relies on a

reference to the very particular collective

experience of living through the war. We

can see, structurally, why people found it

funny, but comically it has lost its meaning.

When I arrived at Churchill in 1988 I was

officially a mature student, although still

only 22. I’d been to a lousy school, left at

16, been unemployed for a long time and

then done ‘O’ and ‘A’-levels at evening

class. As a result I felt poorly read, and ill-

prepared to embark on a Cambridge

English degree. But one thing I had read,

and fallen in love with, was early Dickens.

Pickwick Papers made me laugh. And I

mean properly laugh – that uncontrolled

bark, the genuine physical reflex that

can’t be faked. This was over 150 years

after it had been written. So that’s what I

talked about, almost exclusively, at my

interview. Luckily the man opposite me,

Tim Cribb, was himself a laughing,

barking Dickensian. He let me in, and I

now had time to think about it, which is

what universities are for.

With Pickwick Dickens reinvented prose

comedy in the same way Chaplin

reinvented film comedy 80 years later.

What both added was empathy. In

Smollett’s Peregrine Pickle (1751) there’s a

duel scene in which one of the

participants is terrified. In Pickwick there’s

a similar scene, with Mr Winkle the

frightened party. With Smollett the comedy

comes from observing this terror from a

distance, from pointing and laughing. As

readers we mock the frightened man, and

feel superior. But Dickens places us firmly

with Mr Winkle and makes us realise that

were we in the same situation, his

cowardice would be ours.

The comedy of empathy and inclusion

dates better than humour that points,

mocks and excludes. What elicits our

empathy tends to be primal and

unchanging, whereas the groups of

people we choose to exclude and the

ideas we like to regard as separate and

worthy of mockery change over time.

One of the TV shows I write is the

political sitcom The Thick Of It. Many

think of it as encouraging a general

public cynicism about politics. I disagree.

It’s easy to be dismissive of politicians in

the abstract. By showing them as human

beings under unbearable pressure and

24-hour media scrutiny, we want the

viewer to think that, given the same

circumstances, he or she would probably

make the same terrible decision, broker

the same messy compromise, tell the

same lie. Their cowardice is ours.

Simon Blackwell (U88)

14

Barking with Dickens

As someone who writes comedy for a living, the idea that it can become lessfunny over time is an unwelcome one. In fact, for many years I maintained thatthis wasn’t the case: unimaginative audiences were the problem, not datedcomedy. But laughter is a spontaneous physical reaction, and while it’s possibleto force yourself to laugh as a sort of goodwill gesture towards a joke you knewwas once funny, it doesn’t feel the same.


We all have a book in us, don’t we? I’dsay we all have several books in us, sowhat stops many of those books beingwritten? The answer is often very simple:bills have to be paid and the day jobdemands our best energy. But sometimesthat unwritten book nags us, follows useven into our dreams and won’t give uspeace until we’ve written it. My characterPatrick in The Most Intimate Place(Maia/Arcadia 2009) used to wake me inthe mornings and force my feet to thefloor, saying ‘Write! Write now!’

There’s lack of confidence too. Howevereducated we are, however confident inother things, our writing sometimescomes with an imaginary critic who hopsonto our shoulders and says ‘What makesyou think you can do this? Why you?’Well, nobody else has ever lived andloved in your time and place, so why notyou? Combine that with your uniquewriting style and there you have it,something new under the sun.

I believe that the vast majority of us canwrite and write well. All we need is peaceand encouragement, the confidence tohave fun with it, and the will to finish.Then there’s no stopping us. That is whathas been happening in our writing groupin College. Between six and ten of usmeet in the Bevin Room between 2 and 4pm on the four middle Saturdays of each term. People looking in throughthe windows might think we’re having aseminar but it’s one where every now andagain all our heads drop and we scribblefor ten minutes or so, then look up andsmile and laugh together.

We divide roughly equally between fictionwriters (we have three novelists and ascreenplay writer) and writers of memoirand biography. This is our second termand already Elizabeth has completed and sent off her first short story to acompetition, Liz has had a poemanthologised, Michael has revised hisbiography of Canon Duckworth (forpublication by the College soon), Terry hasfinished a draft of his political thriller, Maryhas started a memoir of her heroic greatgrandmother, and our newest member

Gervaise has begun a fictionalisedmemoir of his Polish grandmother. All they needed was encouragement.

Last time we took a moment to writedown why we all want to write. Theanswers ranged from fame and fortune(if I had a fiver for every time somebodymentions JK Rowling, I’d be as rich asshe is) through a desire to createsomething wise, beautiful and perfect, toan addiction (mine) to the adventure of it,not knowing what strange place mywriting will take me to today, no matterhow much I have planned and think Iknow what I’ll be doing.

The adventure of it. And the friendships.We’re making friendships which could

turn out to be more important than thepublished books. With luck we will haveboth. Please feel free to come and joinus any time.

Rosie Furber (U73)www.rosemaryfurber.com

Writing in Churchill

ABOVE There’s a book in there


Appearances can be deceptive!My house was built in 1620 ata time when it had farmland ofabout 2500 acres to support it.Now it has a tenth of that, justthe surrounding park andwoodland, and has to rely onitself and nearby buildings forits income.

This makes me a shadow of the countrygentleman who must once have livedhere; I would best describe myself as aproperty manager, supposedly retired butstill very busy. I enjoy it, but if it’s peaceand quiet, independence and holidays youwant, this is not the place to find it.

The reality is that this rather lovely Gradel house has a large factory to the south,not to mention the A14 just beyond it, awater treatment works to the north, and agiant, but very ornamental, filter-bed tothe west. Fortunately, to the east, andwell screened from the rest, is a large17th century barn. It has been used formeetings since 1977 by many Suffolkorganisations and in 2003 we got alicence and it is now also a thrivingwedding venue managed by my elderdaughter. My role during the season is tomake sure everything works and looksgood. This suits me. Despite having readhistory, my leanings are more practical,having been a designer-maker of modernfurniture in London for much of my life. Ihave a small workshop here and it is ajoy to use larch, oak and chestnut fromour own woods. The gardens are themain expense, with two gardeners, anapprentice and a lot of equipment, butthey are also a major part of our appealas a venue.

After New Year we close the barn for twomonths during which we take on somekind of improvement project. The biggestwas in 2008 when we transformed thepretty Victorian farmhouse behind thebarn into self-catering accommodationfor wedding families. The year before weinstalled five striking glass sculptures bya friend of mine from furniture days,

Danny Lane, which have had anenergising effect on the gardens aroundthe barn. All going well then, but I dowish we were dependent on something abit more reliable than the current ‘bigwedding’ boom. All part of the celebrityculture, I fear.

Other concerns? Climate change isbeginning to have clear effects and thereare so many tree species under attack, itis difficult to know what to replant. Elmhas gone, Horse Chestnut, Oak and evenBeech are threatened. We recently felleda stand of about 40 mature SweetChestnuts. I took advice and havereplanted the same thing, 750 tiny whips,which in 80 years will produce about 80mature trees. The thinnings those willgenerate are relevant to another issuefacing this kind of place, and everyone,fuel costs. I think a biomass boiler will bemy next big project. It could make usself-sufficient. The upfront cost isdaunting but there are downstreamgrants related to carbon reduction.

Another long-term issue is public access.We open the gardens and woods one daya week in the summer and on two‘Bluebell Sundays’ in late April. The parkand woods are used by scouts andguides, running groups, orienteers,

trainee arboriculturalists, art groups, evenpolice search-party volunteers forpractice. I would gladly open the woodsevery day, but if you look at all the ‘whatifs’, it soon becomes clear that this wouldinvolve staff, even a visitor centre andprobably an added ‘attraction’ such as asculpture trail. Not for us yet, but tourismis growing fast in Suffolk so I try to avoiddoing anything now that would prejudicesuch possibilities in the future.

This place is a balancing act betweenvarious interests but for now it seems towork and I thoroughly enjoy looking afterit. My wife, who is German, has mixedfeelings. ‘Why can’t we live in an ordinaryhouse…’ is something I hear quite a lot. Iremember, too, my mother in tears at theprospect of living here. The image canget in the way, but you can take a look atsome here: www.haughleyparkbarn.co.uk& www.weirdandwonderfulwood.co.uk

Robert Williams (U61)

16

Getting spliced – past with future

ABOVE Robert as shadow


Graham and I celebrated our marriage witha service of blessing in the Chapel on acold but sunny winter’s day in 2009. Thetiming was dictated by other commitmentsand so we ended up getting married on theSaturday before Christmas. Fortuitously, theMøller Centre had very few visitors thatweekend and so we were able to hold thereception in the tower restaurant. As therehad been six inches of snow two daysearlier it was particularly good that we onlyhad to walk over from the Chapel.

The snow was beautiful and the Chapellooked at its best with sun floodingthrough the Piper windows. It is difficultto describe how wonderful it was to becelebrating such an important day in ourlives in such beautiful surroundings with

all our families and friends. I did notanticipate how they would react to thesetting and to the atmosphere. Manyhave told us how they were overwhelmedby the beauty and simplicity of theChapel and the joy of the occasion.

The service was taken by one of myoldest friends and one of Graham’s playedthe organ. We had met each of them inthe early days of our first degrees at ourrespective universities. Our children (eightof them, aged 17 to 24 at the time) weremassively over-excited and decided thatthey were siblings from that date, evenreporting this fact on Facebook.

For me, holding the blessing in the Chapelwas a reflection of the role that the

College as well as the chapel had playedin my life over the previous ten years.

Jennifer BrookBursar

Getting spliced in College now

17THE CHURCHILL 2011

As a one-time rowing man, I of course gotto know Canon Duckworth quite well in theearly 60s, and kept in touch thereafter.Eventually he said time was running out ifhe was expected to make an honest manof me, so Maggie and I bit the bullet in1970 and decided to get married. I couldnever prove it, but I wouldn’t have beensurprised if the Canon had popped down toLadbrokes to place a bet on the long-termviability of the project. As I said, he knewme well – but he would have lost the bet.

The service was attended by family andfriends, including two Churchillcontemporaries, Andrew Thomson andRoger Salmon, who have since kept us onthe strait and narrow through god-parenting on both sides, shared holidaysand other family occasions. It was a dry,crisp, autumn day, and since the receptionafter the service was in College, the use ofa limousine to make the trip seemed a bitover the top, so we sauntered downChurchill Road instead.

I was delighted to find when we returnedto a service in the Chapel 40 years later,almost to the day, that we could still findour signatures in the annals. Before the

service I had a word with the priest andasked him to make the congregationaware that we had been married there,which he did – almost half thecongregation then stood up to say thatthey too had been married in the Chapel.

We have been partially successful inpassing on our Christian values to our twochildren and latterly two grand-children (allfour female), partially because our youngerdaughter has chosen to live in Asia andhas gone down the Buddhist route.

Although we have now been married over41 years, I have spent a good deal of timeabroad, often separated from the family, acommon situation these days. When wecelebrated our silver wedding, I pointed outthat we had actually been together for onlyabout 16 or 17 of them so the celebrationwas a bit premature.

I feel very fortunate to have been a pioneerall those years ago, to have been part ofthe first ever contingent of undergraduatesat Churchill College, and to help lay thefoundations for some of the sports andsocial clubs and thus for the general ethosof the new kid on the college block, one

perhaps less hidebound than our moreancient fellow colleges.

As we seniors reach what Noel might wellhave called the lager, Aga, SAGA andgaga stage of our lives, I’m happy that weare increasing the membership of theWinston Churchill 1958 College Societyand setting aside something in our wills tosupport both our College, and the Chapelat a College which makes us feel at homewhenever we return.

Jeremy Burton (U62)

Getting spliced in College then – 24th October 1970

These chairs, which you have all sat on,have withstood lots of wear and tear overthe years and, as the originals havefailed, more chairs have been made orrepaired. However, the cost ofprofessional repair is now almost half thecost of buying a new chair. Moreover,they are now becoming irreparablebecause of some of the details of theoriginal design and materialsConsequently, there are now fourdifferent designs of chair in use in Halland we have to incorporate additionalchairs from meeting rooms around theCollege for some big events, such as theGraduation Dinner. In short, the time has

now come to invest in 350 new chairs forour Dining Hall, which is the largest of allthe Cambridge Colleges.

In order to maintain the strong tradition ofquality and contemporary design, theCollege has commissioned the renownedBritish furniture designer and manufacturer,Luke Hughes, (www.lukehughes.co.uk) todesign a new chair, in homage to RobinDay’s original design. We intend it tocomplement the architecture of Hall and toprovide a comfortable seat for diners overthe next fifty years. You can take your place in Hall by naminga chair. For a donation of £400, you can

help us fund the replacement of a chairand incorporate a dedication of your choiceon an engraved brass disc about 34 mmdiameter set in the back of it. Donors tothis appeal will also be invited to take aseat on the new chairs at a special thankyou dinner. Chairs will become available fordelivery from July 2012 onwards.

If you would like to participate in ourName a Chair appeal, please contactHilary at [email protected].

For those of us who were undergraduatesin Churchill College whilst the Collegebuildings were being built, the first formaldinner in the new dining hall was a specialoccasion in which the chairs played animportant part. We all stood behind ourchairs for grace, and then, in unison, pulledour chairs back to sit down. To a man –there were no women undergraduates –we instantly recognised that, since thechairs were as wide as the places, no onecould sit down. So, gentlemen to a man,every one of us simultaneously steppedback a further pace, pulling our chairsback to let our neighbour sit down. But indoing so, every one of us bumped into ourfriends behind us doing exactly the samething. The hall rang with peals of laughterand we all proceeded to sit down. Atradition – of joy as well as solemnity inChurchill College hall – had begun.

Jim Platts (U63)

For the last fifty years the iconic architecture of Churchill College’s Dining Hall has been complementedby the tables and chairs of the famous furniture designer Robin Day (1915 - 2010).

Would you like a Chair at Cambridge?



Savoury Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 6

8 slices thick cut white bread 1 green pepper

Butter 2 small bags baby spinach

1 pint milk 1 tsp dried mixed herbs

1 pint double cream 1 tsp paprika

12 whole eggs 1 pinch ground nutmeg

4 cloves garlic Salt

1 red onion Pepper

1 courgette Grated Parmesan

1 small aubergine Medium Pyrex dish

1 red pepper


Churchill College: The Guide

Cosmos out of Chaos:Introducing the ChurchillArchive Centre

£6.99 + P&P each

These companion volumes can bepurchased as a set for £12.00 + P&P.

To order your copies, please visit www.chu.cam.ac.uk and click merchandise.

CHURCHILL COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS

1: Small dice the courgette, onion,aubergine and peppers. Gently sweatoff the vegetables with a knob ofbutter until lightly softened. Add aclove of finely chopped garlic.

2: Gently wilt the spinach with a knob of butter and a clove of finely choppedgarlic, seasoning and a pinch of nutmeg in a hot pan.

3: Butter the slices of bread.

4: Mix the milk, cream, eggs, seasoningpaprika and the last two cloves offinely chopped garlic together andwhisk until smooth.

5: Finally, layer up the Pyrex dish startingwith the vegetables, then a layer ofbuttered bread followed by the wiltedspinach. Cut the remaining slices ofbuttered bread into triangles and arrangeneatly on top, then pour over the savourycustard mix top with grated parmesan.

6: Bake in a moderate oven (160 C orgas mark 4) until golden brown andthe custard is set (approx. 1hr)

Points of contactAccommodationAll Alumni and Past Fellows with internet accessare asked to request accommodation by visitingwww.churchillians.net and completing the onlineform. You will require a username and passwordfor this which can be requested from the AlumniRelations Office by clicking the link at the top ofthe homepage. Alternatively please telephone theConference Office on +44 (0)1223 336233 oremail: [email protected].

Alumni [email protected]

Alumni Relations [email protected] Adamcheski-Halson, AlumniRelations Manager: +44 (0)1223 336083Hilary Duke, Development Officer: +44 (0)1223 336240Livia Argentesi, Development & AlumniRelations Assistant: +44 (0)1223 331546

Development DirectorSharon MauriceT: +44 (0)1223 336197E: [email protected]

Churchill Review EditorProfessor Alison [email protected]

Newsletter EditorMr Tim [email protected]

High Table BookingsPlease book your place at the High Table by emailing us at [email protected]. To find out more about your privileges,please visit www.churchillians.net.

Porters’ LodgeT: +44 (0)1223 336000

Møller CentreT: +44 (0)1223 465500E: [email protected]

Alumni Events 201214-18 June 2012 Piper ExhibitionAn exhibition of art by John Piper inconjunction with Goldmark Gallery. A lecture by Frances Spalding will takeplace on 14 June.

16 June 2012Varsity Cricket Match at Lord’sPlease go to www.churchillians.net andvisit the link in the ‘What’s new’ box onthe homepage for further details and tobook your place.

7 July 2012Reunion Dinner: 1971-1975The Reunion Dinner for those who joinedthe College between 1971 and 1975.Please go to www.churchillians.net andvisit the link in the ‘What’s new’ box onthe homepage for further details and tobook your place.

16 August 2012Master’s Reception in EdinburghThe annual event hosted by the Masterand Lady Wallace in their home town.

21-23 September 2012Churchill Alumni AssociationWeekend*

21 September 2012Churchill Association WineTasting*

22 September 20126th Annual Alumni Golf Day*Come and join Alumni, Past Fellows andcurrent members of College in a friendlycompetition for the Alumni Golf Trophy atCambridge Meridian Golf Club.

22 September 2012The Association presents……Lecture* delivered by Dr John Richer.

22 September 2012Churchill Association Dinner* & AGM

17 November 201240th Anniversary Celebration of the Admission of WomenA joint Colleges event to celebrate the40th Anniversary of the admission ofwomen. Invitations will be sent out laterthis year. There will be a further event tocelebrate this in April 2013.

Events 2013Dates to be confirmed andfurther details to follow.

March 201350th AnniversaryCommonwealth Event

April 201340th Anniversary Celebration of the Admission of Women

Supporting Churchill CollegeThere are a number of ways to give to your College – a full list with further instructions canbe found at: www.chu.cam.ac.uk/alumni/development/ways_to_make_a_gift.php

• A single gift by cheque, credit/debitcard or via Virgin Giving

• A regular gift by Direct Debit

• A gift of shares

• A gift of property

• A payroll gift and matching giving viayour employer

• A legacy

* Bookings for these events should be made byfollowing the booking procedure for the AssociationWeekend, Annual Dinner & AGM accompanying this Newsletter.

Information on tax efficient giving (e.g. the Gift Aid Scheme) is also available online.

For further advice on giving to Churchill College, further details on College funds orto request a donation form, please contact the Alumni & Development Office.

Shopping at AmazonThe College is now a member of theAmazon Associates Scheme. Everytime you shop with Amazon, pleasevisit www.churchillians.net and click theanimated Amazon link at the bottom ofthe homepage and do your shopping inthe usual way. For every item that isdespatched to you, Amazon will makea donation to the College at noexpense to yourself. It’s a simple wayto support your College!

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