UNIV NEWSLETTER TRINITY 20084

ISSUE 30TRINITY TERM 2008

From the Master

Lord Butlerof Brockwell

A contentious successionUniv has acquired a painting depicting Thomas Cockman (in the centre holding the snuff box) and hissupporters, presumed to be celebrating the success in 1729 of his appeal to the Crown to be declaredMaster. This followed two disputed elections in 1722. The success of Thomas Cockman’s appealinvolved accepting that King Alfred had founded the College. This story had been concocted in thelate 1380s but by the 1720s it was widely believed. From the ruling at the court hearing it followedthat the Visitor of the College, with whom rests the responsibility for resolving such disputes, shouldbe the Crown rather than the University. The painting had remained in the family of ThomasCockman’s niece, and was spotted by Angus Haldane (1994) when it was submitted for auction atSothebys. A generous gift from the Storch family enabled the College to purchase the painting.

In preparing this, my thirtieth and last column “From the Master”, I have looked back overearlier Newsletters. I am grateful to the Editor for giving me the whole front page for my finalcontribution.

I am amused to see that my photo at the head of the column has aged with me (though notas much as it should have done). The first one had been taken when I was appointed CabinetSecretary ten years before I came to Univ and was the only photo I had at the time. It wasreplaced in response to a comment from an Old Member who was very pleased with theNewsletter but said, “Can we please have a photo of the Master as he looks today”!

The 10-plus years of my wife’s and my second period at Oxford have flown by and yet, when Ilook through the Newsletters, I am astounded by how much has happened. The 750thanniversary year, the Royal Visit, the “Builders of the Millennium” lecture series, theanniversary Balls with their cavalcade of Univ’s history – all are now distant but happymemories – as are many other VIP visits.

The burning-down of the boathouse has now been made good, after an 8-year struggle, by anew modern boathouse – which has just been awarded a RIBA prize. All but one of theMerton Street houses have been converted to student accommodation. During our last yearthe view from the Master’s Lodgings has been transformed by the construction of the newkitchen, Buttery and dining room.

The ten years have been accompanied by the distant - and sometimes closer - rumbles ofgunfire over student fees, governance, access, retaining control over our own admissions.Behind the smoke, more changes than maybe apparent, for example, Cambridge is only justcatching up with Oxford on the number of external members of Council. Yet the lastingfeatures of College life – tutorials, exams, Cuppers, the river, the Garden show, Lodgingsconcerts, reverberations of jollity from the College bar, croquet on the Goodhart lawn,eccentric Fellows – emerge unchanged from the dust and tumult.

I suspect that, when we look back on our time in the Lodgings, three memories will dominate.One is the continuing family which is the College – Fellows and Emeritus Fellows, staff andformer staff, and their families – and the happinesses and sadnesses which this littlecommunity inevitably encounters and shares.

A second is the friends we have made among the students. We feel immensely lucky in thegeneration of students during our time. They have been invariably courteous, appreciativeand kind to us and to each other. Not once has any of the guests I have invited to meet thestudents been embarrassed by an ill-mannered question.

The third is the community of Old Members, of whom we have met so many in a great varietyof different contexts – gaudies, seminars, football, cricket and golfdays, overseas visits. The loyalty, support and warmth of OldMembers has made us feel that our work for the College is bothworthwhile and appreciated.

I remember being moved by some words my predecessor asCabinet Secretary used on leaving 10 Downing Street: “It is a greathappiness as well as a privilege to work in this house; itsexperiences, its methods, its rhythms, sorrows and hopes allbecome part of the pattern of our lives. We are immensely gratefuland proud to have had even a small part in its long history”.

That is how Jill and I feel about Univ. We wish our successors, Ivor and Jill Crewe, equal happiness. May the College flourish andmay future generations continue to enjoy the benefits which haveso enriched our lives.

The Royal Visit

College Ball

The new Boathouse

The new Buttery

President Clinton’s visit

Jamie Coleman and the Master helplaunch the new Eight

Professor Stephen Hawking and the lateDr Berman and his wife

CO

NTA

CT IN

FOR

MA

TION

Master’s Secretary

(degree ceremonies) tel +44/0 1865 276600

Do

mestic B

ursary(guest room

s, College facilities) tel +44/0 1865 276625

Co

llege O

ffice(adm

issions) tel +44/0 1865 276601SC

R Stew

ard(dining in C

ollege) tel +44/0 1865 276954C

hap

lain(w

eddings, baptism

s etc) tel +44/0 1865 276663

Co

llege A

rchivist

(archival material, The Record) tel +44/0 1865 276952

Porters’ Lo

dg

e(general; sw

itchboard) tel +44/0 1865 276602

For all other information, including events, O

ld Mem

ber enquiries, new

sletters, Old M

embers’ w

ebpages and fundraising,

please contact the A

lumn

i & D

evelop

men

t Office:

tel +44/0 1865 276674; email develop

ment@

univ.ox.ac.uk; fax +44/0 1865 276670; w

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w.univalum

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In March about eighty O

ld Mem

bers togetherw

ith football enthusiasts from their fam

iliesreturned to the U

niv sports ground for the

annual football day, billed as “The Clash of the

Titans”. There were tw

o comp

etitions, one was

a round robin for the 70s matriculands w

hichresulted in a three-w

ay tie, and the other was a

generaltournam

ent,in w

hich the1980s w

eretrium

phant

againstyoungerop

position.

A num

ber of us went from

Univ to the biennial

Oxonian N

orth Am

erican Reunion in Ap

ril. For the first tim

e, in addition to our reception,

dinner and brunch in New

York, two Fellow

sgave talks on clim

ate change. There were also

dinners and meetings in W

ashington, LA and

San Francisco. Thanks to the generosity of asm

all number of O

ld Mem

bers, these eventsw

ere free to all. Grateful thanks, too, are due to

those who p

rovided hospitality. There w

as greatw

armth at all these events w

hen the Univ

comm

unity in the US cam

e together to saygoodbye to the M

aster and Lady Butler. On the

way hom

e the Master sp

oke at the Chicago Boat

Race Dinner organised by John M

orrison (1955).

On A

pril 11th, U

niv Old M

embers fielded a full

team for the annual Intercollegiate G

olf Match

at Frilford Heath G

old Club, follow

ed by dinnerin C

orpus C

hristi College. The day started in

sunshine, but the match w

as made m

orechallenging by an extraordinary hail stormw

hich briefly turned the greens white. U

nivfinished 7th out of 16.

In May Peter D

ean (1954) hosted Univ’s first

European reunion in Brussels. A

bout thirty Old

Mem

bers enjoyed an excellent dinner. TheM

aster said a few w

ords, followed by q

uestionsand a discussion. John Turner (1963) hosted the first U

niv

Liverpool dinner on M

ay 15th. About thirty O

ldM

embers exp

erienced excellent cuisine andcom

pany at the H

ope Street H

otel. John Turnersp

oke and the Master gave an up

date on news

from the C

ollege.The sp

ring USPG

A m

eeting was hosted by John

the following day at the Royal Liverp

ool Golf

Club in H

oylake – a magnificent venue. The

Berkshire Trophy w

as won by A

nthony Leak(1978) w

ith 36 Stableford points, narrow

lybeating Peter Button (1975) into second p

lace.Peter Sauerm

an (1956) took third place and, as

a resident of the Republic of South A

frica, heldout the p

ossibility that the USPG

A m

ightconsider arranging a foreign tour!

Events

Ro

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UNI 9682 NEWS.30 11/06/2008 09:55 Page 1

The Boat Club has had an excellent year andhas had wonderful support from OldMembers, especially the Coleman Family. Thepicture records that it kicked off Summer VIIIswith Jamie Coleman (1994) christening thenew Women’s First VIII Boat, Minnie Coleman.The Women’s First VIII achieved two bumpsand Women’s Second VIII (pictured) won theirthird consecutive set of Blades. The Men’s FirstVIII competing in Division One, made sterlingefforts against crews with several Olympianrowers, and only dropped one place. The newBoathouse was much enjoyed by students,Fellows and Old Members of Univ.

Professor Timothy Brook (Run Run ShawProfessor of Chinese) delivered his inaugurallecture on “Ming China and the emergenceof a common world” in the ExaminationSchools on May 13th.

Congratulations to Alastair Vettese (2006)who was awarded one of the two DeParavicini Prizes 2008 for his performance inHonour Moderations in Classics.

Congratulations to Ngaire Woods who hasbeen promoted to Professor of InternationalPolitical Economy.

This has been Univ Netball’s most successfulyear to date, with both teams beingpromoted to divisions 2 and 3. This seasonUniv won 29 matches, drew 1 and lost 6.

Congratulations to Univ’s sailing team whowon Cuppers. The team, consisting entirely offreshers, John Platts-Mills (2007), Pete Fallon(2007), Conor Cahill (2007) and FedericaNocera (2007), dominated the competitionfrom the start. John, Pete and Federica havealso represented Oxford in the 1st and 2ndBlues teams all this year.

There have been two H. L. A. Hart (CEPL)Visiting Fellows this term: Professor RaeLangton and Professor Richard Holton. Theyare husband and wife and are both Professorsof Philosophy in the Department of Linguisticsand Philosophy at MIT.

The Master’s Sunday evening speakers thisterm were Rt. Hon. Sir John Major, Rt. Hon.Ann Widdecombe and Christina Lamb (1983,and 2007 Foreign Correspondent of the Year).

Many Old Members will rememberlunchtimes spent enjoying the sunshineduring Trinity Term.

Dr Stephen Golding (University Lecturer inRadiology) has recently been made a Fellowof the Higher Education Academy. He hasbeen selected to give the 2008 AnnualGodfrey Hounsfield Lecture of the BritishInstitute of Radiology.

Professor Peter Jezzard (Herbert DunhillProfessor of Neuroimaging) has been made aFellow of the International Society ofMagnetic Resonance in Medicine. One of theprincipal participants in a successful bid to theMedical Research Council and theEngineering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil, he and his group are purchasing a 7Tesla human magnetic resonance imagingscanner for Oxford. It will be used for clinicaland basic science applications in cardio- andneuroscience research.

Braving the rain, the Univ Players put onEdward Bond’s bitterly satirical playRestoration for the annual summer show inthe Master’s Garden. It was reviewed as“charmingly intimate, roguishly caustic and alot of fun”.

Professor John Dewey FRS has been electedan Honorary Member of the Royal IrishAcademy. He is the first geologist to behonoured in this way in forty years.

University College Music Society performed aconcert in the University Church that waswell-attended. Their programme was Vivaldi’s‘Gloria’, Durufle’s ‘Motets sur des themesGregoriens’ and Finzi’s ‘My Spirit Sang AllDay’. The programme also included Mozart’s‘Symphony No. 29’ and John Williams’‘Summon the Heroes for 10 piece brass’. AnEmeritus Fellows remarked that the last piececould not have been rehearsed – had it beenwe would have heard it across the road.

Kate Burnham (2005), reading for a DPhil inPharmacology with Dr Trevor Sharp, won theGSK young investigator’s award for the mostoutstanding oral presentation at the BritishPharmacological Society’s annual wintermeeting 2007.

College News

UNIV NEWSLETTER TRINITY 20082 UNIV NEWSLETTER TRINITY 20083

The first annual Univ Mooting Competition,established by Andrew Lydiard QC (1975)and Mark Copping (1975) who won theInter-College Mooting Competition in 1977,took place in the Swire Seminar Room in May,attended by many of the College’s lawstudents. Four undergraduates competed andsecond-year Leo-Marcus Wan (2006) wasawarded the trophy and winning prize of£150. The competition is supported by acommittee of Old Members and preceded bya dinner. This year, Andrew and Mark werejoined by OMs Ian Grainger (1974), MichaelSoole QC (1972), Judge David Hodge QC(1974) and Peter Rona (1964). Leo followedup his success by being elected Librarian ofthe Oxford Union; James Langman (2007)was elected Treasurer.

Congratulations to Laura Spencer (2006) andNaomi Hopwood (2007), respectivelyPresident and Treasurer of the Bluesswimming team. Laura and Naomi arepictured celebrating at the front of the team.Since the last Newsletter they have wonVarsity and came 7th in BUSA UniversitiesSwimming Championships. They are alsopart of the swimming team racing Cambridgeacross the Channel on July 1st 2008.

This year’s H L A Hart Memorial Lecture washeld on the 6 May 2008. It was delivered byProfessor Samuel Issacharoff, Reiss Professor ofConstitutional Law, New York UniversitySchool of Law, on “Democracy in Times ofWar”. The lecture was on the role that courts,especially the U.S. Supreme Court, play in thecontested terrain between liberty and securityin times of military crisis.

We look forward to welcoming ProfessorNicholas Halmi, currently of the University ofWashington, Seattle, as the new MargaretCandfield Fellow and Tutor of English. Hespecialises in Wordsworth, Coleridge andsymbolism and recently published a book onThe Genealogy of the Romantic Symbol(OUP, 2007).

In a tough Cuppers’ final, Univ women’shockey team (pictured) beat an extremelystrong St Hilda’s team, containing three Bluesplayers, to win 4-3.

Former pupils and friends of Sir Peter Strawson(Fellow 1948-68) will be interested to hear of atribute to his life and work newly published byMagdalen College, where he was WaynfleteProfessor from 1968. The book includes twomemoirs by Sir Peter, ‘Intellectual Biography’,and ‘My Philosophy’ and two of his mostsignificant writings, ‘On Referring’ and ‘Freedomand Resentment’. It also includes a tribute by hisformer pupil, the Master. This is a fascinatingmemorial volume for one of our greatest postwarFellows.

The Martlets had three meetings this term.Ethan Kay (2006) spoke about his experienceof community development initiatives in ruralIndia; Dan Weeks (2006) spoke on the fundingof US political parties; and PireeniSundaralingam (1986) gave a performance ofthe poetry and music that she and herhusband are taking on a tour of Ireland.

The New Durham Club hosted two lecturesthis term. Dr Thomas Povey (Fellow inEngineering Science) on “Lift-off: Adventures inPropulsion”, and Professor Peter Jezzard(Herbert Dunhill Professor of Neuroimaging)on ‘Stroke Imaging: Creating a New Windowto Study the Injured Brain’.

University College’s Global EconomicGovernance Programme convened a High-Level Working Group on ‘Setting a DevelopingCountry Agenda for Global Health’.

Rajaie Batniji, Univ Junior Dean and Coordinator, High-Level Group; Dr. Mahesh Maskey, Chair of Nepal’sHealth Research Council; Hon. Prof. David Mwakyusa,

Tanzanian Minister of Health and Social Welfare; Hon. Minister Charity K. Ngilu, Kenyan Minister of Water

and Irrigation and former Minister of Health.

On 21 April the Swire Seminar Room was usedfor Univ’s Global Economic Programme to hosta special launch event for the World Bank’s“Global Monitoring Report 2008: MilleniumDevelopment Goals and the Environment”.The authors of the report, Kirk Hamilton andZia Qureshi (1976), Senior Vice President of theWorld Bank (pictured below with ProfessorWoods) stated that although much of theworld will meet some Millenium DevelopmentGoals by the target year of 2015, seriousshortfalls are likely in reducing child andmaternal mortality, primary school completion,nutrition, and sanitation.

Paul Gambaccini (1970) has been appointed2008-09 News International Visiting Professorof Broadcast Media by the University. ArmandoIannucci (1982) held this post in 2005-06.

Two JRFs have been appointed for next year:Ms Almut Fries will be the new JRF in Classics;Dr Thomas Smith of Magdalen College,Oxford, will take up the Stevenson JRF inMedical Sciences. Three stipendiary lecturerswill also be joining us: Dr Timo Idema willteach Politics; Dr Guy Geltner, MedievalEuropean History; and Dr Simon Titmuss,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry.

Development NewsThanks to all of you, Univ has come out of theBruno Schroder Benchmarking Survey very wellthis year. This is an annual survey, initiated &funded by Bruno Schroder (1955) to raisestandards across Oxford, which measures theperformance, across a number of indicators, ofall the Oxford college development offices andthe University development office.

For the 2006/07 year, Univ was voted “best inshow” for coming top in all of the followingcategories:

Having raised the most money – twice asmuch as the next college down and threetimes the total of the third collegeHolding the most eventsSeeing the highest percentage of its OldMembers at an event (no doubt linked to theabove!)Holding the highest percentage of emailaddresses of its Old MembersCommunicating most frequently with its Old MembersHaving the highest annual givingparticipation rate (28%: the average acrossOxford is 10%)Having the highest proportion of OMs whohave given at sometime

Having the highest number of pledges over£500,000

Thank you, as always, for your support acrossall these areas. We always love seeing you andare always grateful for what you give. All thesefigures are a tremendous vote of confidence atthe start of our UNIV/20/20 Campaign, whichwe will be telling you about next year.

You will probably have heard about the recentlaunch of the University’s campaign, OxfordThinking. The totals raised by the colleges aregoing to be counted as part of the Universitycampaign, so a gift to Univ is also a gift to theUniversity.

Completion of the Law FellowshipThanks to a pledge from Nicky Padfield(1965), we have met the 750th AnniversaryCampaign target for funding the Fellowship inLaw currently held by Martin Matthews. Weare very grateful indeed to all those of youwho have contributed to this Fellowship overthe past few years.

Funding for new named bursaries Thanks to the generosity of Old Members whomatriculated between 1927 and 1947, the OldMembers’ Trust was able to award the first two

World War II Diamond Bursaries in Michaelmas2007.

A bursary in memory of Roger Brazg (1986)has been awarded to a student for the firsttime this year. 2008 is the fifth anniversary ofRoger’s death. Grateful thanks to allcontributors.

Changes in the Development OfficeDeclan Rainey, our Information and ResearchManager, left us in May to become the AnnualFund Officer at the University of Sussex.Cat Collins, who was on a six month contract,also left in May. After some time off, she willbe going to Law School in September.Robert Beckinsale (1962), Alumni RelationsOfficer, will be leaving us at the end of June totake on a role in interim management.We thank them all very much for theircontributions and wish them well.

Andrew Murton has already succeeded Declanand has made a good start in his new role.We will be joined on 30 June by two new teammembers, Brett de Gaynesford and LaylaHamadi Merricks, who will share responsibilitiesfor organising our events, producing theNewsletter and running the Annual Fund.

Dr Michael Collins, Pye Fellow and Praelectorin Pure Mathematics, won a runners up prizein a pastry recipe competition for a whitepeach tarte tatin. This has since been servedto Fellows at dinner.

Every college has memorials that record lossesin war. Not every college has a Dusty Millerto turn these bleak lists of names intosomething altogether more personal andmoving.Working fromthe memorialsin the Chapel, he offers, inWe WillRememberThem,biographies ofthose killed inconflictsstretchingfrom the BoerWar toVietnam. A final sectionrecords thethree Univ men murdered by terrorists since1945. The College suffered casualties in allmajor battles from Spion Kop to theNormandy Beaches via Ypres, the Somme,Dunkirk and El Alamein. There were alsolonelier deaths at sea and in the air. For eachman Dusty has recorded parents, school andOxford career. For many he has tracked downtheir final resting place, giving references tocemeteries and grave numbers. For some heprovides details of the action in which aregiment or battery was involved at the timeof death. Please contact the DevelopmentOffice if you would like to purchase this book.

Many Old Members will have pleasant andgrateful memories of Vera Epstein who diedon April 22nd. She was College Nurse fromthe later ‘50s to the early ‘80s. On retirementVera gave her full-time devotion to the charity“Cruse” which cares for the widowed.

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