chri churchmattersundergraduates lived in amazingly different academic and social worlds. over 120...

MY APPOINTMENT came as abig surprise. The House had [forone of the few times in its

history] entrusted its treasure to a Cambridgeman (Pembroke, History MA, 1975-78)! Ihad not entirely hidden the fact that twonieces, Henrietta Hughes (née Lawrie, 1987)and Caroline Swain (née Williams, 1990), andone nephew, Duncan Williams (1992), wereHousepeople, but I was nonetheless invited tocome over to the Dark (blue) Side.

As I have quickly discovered, the role isextremely varied, though the big pictureresponsibilities are clear. First, I am in overallcharge of the income and expenditure of theCollege, Chapter and Cathedral School. Wecurrently operate at around break-even, butremorseless cost inflation will put increasingpressure on our constrained sources of income.Second, I manage the College’s endowmentfrom which we derive half of our income andwhich we are working hard to increase. Third,I oversee the repair and maintenance of ourmagnificent buildings and gardens to ensurethat they can continue to be used and enjoyedboth today and by subsequent generations.

In addition, many other sometimes smaller,but no less important, tasks fall onto my desk.These include working with the City Councilon its development plans for Oxford’s WestEnd where we are significant landowners,

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Chri� Church MattersT R I N I T Y T E R M 2 0 0 6 I S S U E 1 7

EditorialI have just been working on the nearly final text for ChristChurch, Oxford: A Portrait of the House, and so probably nowknow a good deal more than I did, but still less than I should,about Christ Church and its extraordinary history. Althoughwe now see ourselves as an equal part of the federation ofcolleges that makes up the university, we have been really ratherdifferent from other colleges, in some instances behaving morelike a city-state than an academic institution.

Charles I got in to the book surprisingly late, Burton and 19thcentury reform are still to come, and I still fear that I and myco-editors (Brian Young and Judith Curthoys, with FionaHoldsworth managing us) may have missed something reallyobvious. No doubt you will let us know of our shortcomings -publication is scheduled for November-December.

It has been particularly amusing to read through the manysubmitted memoirs for the volume, which reveal amongstmuch else that pre- and post-war Christ Church

undergraduates lived in amazingly differentacademic and social worlds. Over 120readers of Christ Church Matters sent inmaterial, hardly ever less than a 1,000words, and often over 5,000. Thirty-oddhave survived into the volume, often muchmangled and shortened by me, plus one ortwo longer memoirs, leaving lots to print here in times tocome. I hope that the result will be often funny, occasionallymoving, and stir up further memories in the book’s readers.

And of course there are going to be lots of pictures. We havefound and made far more than we can print. How manyTom towers can you have? And not from the usual angle?Which estate map? Where is the gargoyle with themoustache? Is there a photograph of Buckland with one ofthe many animals he ate? And so on. It’s not usual for aprofessor, perpetually nagged on by the threat of the RAE toproduce ‘academic’, peer-reviewed work, to make a book ofthis kind. But it has been very pleasurable for me, and I hopethat the result will be enjoyed by its readers.

CHRISTOPHER BUTLER, Tutor in English & Co-Editor

liaising with the archaeologists, who have beenbusy in Tom Quad as we install new utilities,and monitoring support to the clergy whobenefit from Dr South’s trust. The Collegehas been extremely supportive as I ascend aperpendicular learning curve. So far I haveonly found one true source of power – theissue of parking permits – and even that has tobe exercised with extreme care!

Prior to coming to Christ Church, I spent 27years in corporate finance in the UK, HongKong, Singapore and The Netherlands, whichtaught me a little of the cut and thrust ofpolitics and money, of which I am sureOxford has much more to teach me! I amalso Hon Treasurer of Voluntary ServiceOverseas (VSO) where I came to appreciatethe qualities of Hugh Richardson, myimmediate predecessor at Christ Church anda fellow VSO trustee, from whose insight andhard work I am now deriving much benefit atthe House.

With two children at the Dragon Schoolbefore my appointment and with my wife nowworking at Mansfield College, we already feelquite well ensconced in Oxford and I lookforward to the challenges that Christ Churchand Oxford have for us in the months andyears to come.

JAMES LAWRIE, Treasurer

Buried Treasurer

“I manage the College’sendowment from which we derivehalf of our income and which we

are working hard to increase.”

Christopher Butler

James Lawrie

ChCh Matters #17f web 6/12/06 13:15

Notes from the Deanery

W E EXIST HERE for thepursuit of truth. But I havebeen trawling through the

biographies of the 44 Deans while writing apiece for Christ Church, Oxford: A Portrait ofthe House. One (John Massey) had to escapeout of the Deanery drawing room windowbefore dawn on 30th November 1688.Another (Charles Hall) left debts which today,on a rough calculation, would amount to£4million and his successor spent much of histime on the racecourse.

Our lives seem more pedestrian than theirs whenI look at my diary and our concerns. The roundof teaching and research does not make manywaves, yet it is what we are here for and hardenough work to absorb us. On other fronts, wehave been digging up the past to install newutilities in Tom Quad, discovering skeletons androads from pre-Cardinal times. The Cathedralwould like to have glass doors so that it does notlook shut when it is in fact welcoming.

Much time is spent on Blue Boar’s future andwe have collectively become enthusiasts for its

renovation. It is a handsome building whichis liked by almost all who live there: a fewsteps to stop water, add a proper roof, andinsert a lecture theatre will renew a site ofgreat use to the House.

Governance has exercised the whole universityand we have now had two papers, bothcoloured green. Life has gone quiet inpreparation for a white one. There has beenextensive discussion on external and internalrepresentation on the university’s top body(short of Congregation) and on its links to anacademic board. Much work is still to bedone on the relationship between the differentparts of the federation which is Oxford, notleast with the Colleges.

Our washing is ever done in public. Admissionshave made news, created out of a report whosemost centralist possibility was assumed to beimminent. Christ Church has responded, firmlyfavouring admissions done by college tutors, yetwith some modifications of the current system,all of them already the practice in some subjects.We are alternately found guilty of attempted

social engineering on the one hand, or ofeducating an elite on the other. The best counterto either of these dangers is tutors who arethemselves selecting the people considered tohave most academic merit and potential, judgedon a wide range of criteria. A centralised systemwould be more open to manipulation.

THE VERY REVEREND CHRISTOPHER LEWIS,Dean of Christ Church

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quite inadvertent. I was not therebecause Alban Krailsheimer was therebut because an Anglo-American friend,an old member of Balliol, hadintroduced me to David Pears when Iwas wondering how to locate myself atOxford. David submitted my name tothe Governing Body and I arrivedwithout any realisation that the Housewould be such a treasure trove.

Krailsheimer graciously guided methrough Pascal’s savage critique ofJesuitical casuistry. I also was blessed bythe patronage of the two leadingAnglican casuists: Bishop Robert

ON 12th OCTOBER 1982I tremulously enteredSenior Common Room for

my first evening at High Table. I cameas a Temporary Member for theacademic year 1982-1983, visitingfrom the University of California, SanFrancisco. Dean E. W. Heaton greetedme and asked what I intended to doduring my year at Oxford. I told himI would read in the Bodleian inpreparation for a book on the historyof casuistry. He responded,“Splendid!” (in the United States, theresponse would have been a puzzled,“What?’). He then said, “Of course,you have come here because ofKrailsheimer” and turned to summon agentleman from across the room. Ashe moved toward us, I searched mymemory for that name and,fortunately, by the time he reached us,I had realized that his name was on thecover of the only book I had broughtto Oxford, a much underlined Penguincopy of Pascal’s Provincial Letters,edited by Alban Krailsheimer. In fact,my presence at Christ Church was

Sanderson, Regius Professor of Divinityand Canon of the 5th Stall in the mid-17th century, and Kenneth Kirk, RegiusProfessor in the 1930s and 40s, Bishopof Oxford and author of Conscience andIts Problems - An Introduction toCasuistry (1937). I occasionally visitedhis sepulchre in the Chancel of theCathedral when I was struggling with aknotty casuistical problem. I wasdelighted that each morning ancientCatholic and Anglican Casuisticalmanuals were delivered to my desk inthe Duke Humphrey Library. At HighTable one evening, I expressed myamazement that these rare books were soreadily available. Professor Masoncasually commented, “Jonsen, these arenot rare books. They were bought whenthey were published.” Several years laterStephen Toulmin (ex altero loco) and Ico-authored The Abuse of Casuistry - AHistory of Moral Reasoning, in which thefruits of my Oxford research weredisplayed. I suggested the title, which isa fragment of a line from Bishop Kirk:“the abuse of casuistry is properlydirected, not against all casuistry, butonly against its abuse.” That was theleast I could do to thank the House forsheltering a wandering American casuist.

ALBERT R. JONSEN, Professor Emeritus of Ethics in Medicine,University of Washington

“the abuseof casuistryis properlydirected, notagainst allcasuistry,but onlyagainst itsabuse.”

Casuistry

Dean Charles Hall


IN JULY 1642, King Charles I moved intothe Deanery. He brought with him hiscourtiers and his military advisers, as well as

his complete entourage of servants andhousehold staff. Henrietta Maria, Charles’ wife,lodged at Merton College, and new gates wereknocked through the boundary walls of CorpusChristi College to allow the King easy, andprivate, access to his wife’s quarters.

Surprisingly, though, the King and Court’spresence at Christ Church is barely recorded inthe archive. No accounts, no minutes, and littlecorrespondence. Only the Cathedral register,and those few pieces of correspondence, give anyclues at all. From these, though, we can see thatCollege, Cathedral, and Court were trying tolive and work together. Courtiers, soldiers andcanons were marrying, having families, anddying. Students, when not occupied in diggingthe military defences around the city, or drillingin the quads, were still working for degrees on,much to their dismay, reduced rations.Even though Christ Church hadopened its doors to Charles, westill lost our plate to the royalcoffers, and were expected tocontribute ‘loans’ to the wareffort.

After four long years theKing departed, alreadyaware that he had lost thewar, but determinedlybattling on. The arrivingParliamentarians soon began toclear out all those who had shownloyalty to the Crown. Even the Christ

Church almsmen who had fought for the Kingwere ousted from their places, their roomsreoccupied by soldiers and sailors of theParliamentary forces. Some students were sentoverseas on special missions for Cromwell, andtwo letters survive in the archive signed ‘OliverP’, giving leave from studies and ensuring thattheir stipends were paid in their absence.

The Chapter minutes tell of all thereplacements, including the installation of anew Dean. Samuel Fell had been imprisonedby Parliament, and died the day after theexecution of Charles I, apparently of a brokenheart. Mrs Fell, refusing to vacate her home,was evicted from the Deanery in the mostundignified of manners when two of the morePuritanical canons carried the indomitablelady out into the quadrangle in her armchair.

Apart from a change in personnel, the obviouschanges were in the Cathedral; the organ and

the ‘idolatrous’ windows portraying Biblestories were removed and destroyed.

These beautiful painted windows,by the Dutch van Linge

brothers, had only beeninstalled 30 years before.Only the ‘Jonah’ windowsurvived showing theprophet contemplatingNineveh. Perhaps thesubject matter, a sinner re-

thinking his ways, wasconsidered appropriate.

Student numbers began toincrease, and business continued as

normal, thanks to the second of the

The Oxford Crown, 1644.

Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum.

CommonwealthDeans, JohnOwen. A flamboyantman, in appearance much more Cavalier thanRoundhead, Owen saw the value of a softly,softly approach. John Fell, the son of theunfortunate Samuel, Richard Allestree (RegiusProfessor of Divinity, who left us his library forhis successors), and John Dolben, once a Majorin the Royalist army, continued to holdAnglican services just down the road in MertonStreet, right under the nose of the Dean,evidently with his tacit agreement. Thedeanery of John Owen ensured that ChristChurch did not suffer too much from theexigencies of the Commonwealth.

At the Restoration, Christ Church returned toits pre-Rebellion days almost overnight. Infact, so little really needed to be done that thefirst priority was to re-instate the canons’ tablein the dining hall. John Fell was installed asDean in 1660; ejected members, includingthe almsmen, were given back their places;records began to be kept exactly as they hadbeen before 1642; governance and educationcontinued almost as if nothing had happened.Even Wolsey’s building plan, abandoned in1529, was picked up where it left off.Unfortunately, the Cathedral windows weregone for good – or were they? Bits of glasswere found back in the nineteenth centuryand were placed, almost for safe-keeping, inthe upper windows of the north transeptclerestory, and then more were found veryrecently. Enough, perhaps, to put together awhole picture, if only we could find the space.

JUDITH CURTHOYS, Archivist

End of a Royal Dream PHILIP BROWN (1944)

Cardinal SinsNOTES FROM THE ARCHIVES

Dean John Owen

End of a Royal Dream is a wonderfulcombination of personal and national history.Philip Brown starts from his own experiences

as an undergraduate at Christ Church, andexplores from there the story of Charles I andthe English Civil War. He looks at the CivilWar from many angles including theweaponry, the battles, and the life of the Courtin Oxford. He uses the architecture of all sortsof buildings which have connections with theWar, archival material, stories, art, and his ownimagination and discoveries, to bring to life anexciting and important part of British history.

The book is wonderfully illustrated with hisown photographs, archival material, works ofart, and drawings and paintings by his talentedwife, Gounil. As an introduction to the firstCivil War, and as a ‘how to’ for historical

research, End of a Royal Dream is a great read;a unique approach to a big topic. It was aprivilege to be a very small part of the project.

JUDITH CURTHOYS, Archivist

This limited edition book was published inDecember 2005 by ICON PRESS. To order your signed and numbered copy, pleasecontact Sarah Thomas in the Development andAlumni Office on +44 1865 286598ISBN 1 873812 25 6, price £18 (plus £2 p&p).£1 from each copy sold will be donated to ChristChurch.


A most notable restoration

The restoration process has been carried outmany times in the 800-year history of the spire.Four previous restorations are documented inthe College archives commencing with worksundertaken by John Hudson in 1835.However, there are indications that many morehad been undertaken prior to this. The work byHudson included replacement of the pinnaclesat the base of the spire and the finial andweathervane at the top. He also inserted thecontinuous iron bars around the base of thetower to strengthen the masonry and restrict themovement in the structure being caused by theringing of the bells. It is these iron bars whichhave caused problems with the surroundingstonework and have required extensiverestoration as part of the present works.

The most notable restoration was carried outby Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1870 whenmajor works were undertaken both internallyand externally. Part of this work was theremoval of the bells from the Cathedral tower

and their installation in the ‘meat safe’ on thetop of the Wolsey tower. This removed thestructural problems caused by the ringing ofthe bells but retained other problems forfuture generations.

The finial stone at the top of the spire was alsoaffected by the rusting of ironwork. It wastherefore decided to remove the simple finialinstalled by Hudson in 1835 and replace itwith a carved finial designed to echo the styleof an earlier example shown in the 1862engraving by R J King.

The engraving of the section of the spire removedby Hudson and erected in a garden at ChristChurch shows a more elaborate finial withacanthus leaves wrapping up the central shaft.

Designs for the new stone were prepared usinga similar detail and the new finial was carvedand installed in December 2005.

The restoration works were completed inFebruary 2006 at a cost of £350,000.

ROBERT MONTGOMERY, Cathedral Architect

ARESTORATION PROGRAMMEfor the Cathedral Spire wasimplemented in 2005 following

recommendations put forward in the decennialsurvey report. The report highlighteddeterioration of the masonry on the faces of thespire and upper section of the tower which wascausing fragments of masonry to fall onto thenave, choir and transept roofs below. Therestoration work was carried out by Axtell PerrySymm Masonry Ltd under the direction ofRobert Montgomery, the Cathedral Architect.

The erection of the scaffolding, to the fullheight of the spire, commenced in March2005 and took six weeks to complete. Thedetailed inspection which followed identifiedfurther areas of stonework which requiredrestoration. This was due mainly to therusting of the Victorian ironwork which hadcaused cracking in the surrounding masonry.

Detailed drawings for the work were preparedby the Architect to identify the areas ofstonework to be replaced. The size, shape anddetail of each stone was then taken by themasons and replacement stones were cut andprepared in their workshops to match theexisting. The decayed stonework was cut outand the new stone built in. This process tookten months to complete and includedtreatment and weather protection for theironwork. The stone used in the restorationwas Bath Stoke Ground.

Above: The new finial stoneprior to installation.Left: Elevations of the spireshowing stone to be replaced.

The 1862 engraving by R.J. King


Skeletons in the cupboard?

Mitchell M. Gitin FundSurveys of schoolchildren in the

UK report that the only non-UKperson in the 20th Century theyknow anything about is Hitler,

notwithstanding that 50 milliondeaths have been attributed to

Joseph Stalin.

An uncommon common roomThe long-awaited refurbishment of the JCR began in early March 2006, with Annual Funddonations constituting a large part of the budget. This cosmetic overhaul of the space will resultin having separate, designated areas for television, reading, and games. The existing televisionroom will be adorned with new furniture, lighting, and equipment, while the old games area willbe redesigned as a quiet reading room, with coffee tables and armchairs. The large outer room willbe transformed at one end into a café area with furniture funded by a prior Annual Funddonation. Will Dorsey (JCR President 2005-2006) describes the JCR as the centre of anundergraduate community and, on behalf of that community, expresses his grateful thanks toAnnual Fund donors for contributing to a project that all of Christ Church can be proud of.

SARAH THOMAS, Alumni Relations & Database Assistant

The new television room

MITCH GITIN (1960) upon his retirementfrom the active practice of law after 38 yearsworking in New York, Sydney, Hong Kong,London and Moscow, has endowed theMitchell M. Gitin Fund to enable ChristChurch Library to maintain a constantlysupplemented collection of books on Russianhistory, culture and language.

Mitch commented:“After completing the BA in Modern History in1962, I spent two years as a “cold warrior”officer in the United States Army Intelligenceand Security Branch in Stuttgart, Germany, andwent through several crises which could haveculminated in the use of nuclear weapons andthe consequent end of civilization as we know it.Russia today is a huge energy power. Moreover,despite the current fixation with the rise ofChina, it can never be forgotten that Russia isestimated to still possess close to 20,000 nuclearwarheads. Left: Mitch Gitin Right: Janet McMullin

Yet, recent surveys of schoolchildren in the UKreport that the only non-UK person in the 20thCentury they know anything about is Hitler,notwithstanding that 50 million deaths havebeen attributed to Joseph Stalin. As recentlyreported in The Economist, historian JohnLewis Gaddis, author of the newly publishedand much-acclaimed The Cold War: A NewHistory, has observed that the confrontationwith the Soviets which effectively ended in 1989is [ancient] history, not at all different from thePeloponnesian War. Rather, the story of Russia– at least in the 20th century – is really part ofthe “history” of virtually everyone alive in theworld today. For all these reasons, I think itimportant that the House make available to itsmembers a good selection of written materials onRussia and I have accordingly set up a fund toprovide for this.”

MITCH GITIN (1960)

The precinct wall of the priory was locatedunder the southern terrace. To the west atleast one articulated inhumation was found,laid with the head to the east (usual practice isfor the head to be to the west). Disarticulatedhuman remains have been found further westalong the southern terrace. These may havebeen associated with the Church of St Michaelat the Southgate. Provisional dating suggesteda medieval date of perhaps 13th to early 14thcentury.

JOHN MOORE HERITAGE SERVICES

EXCAVATIONS were a familiar featurein Tom Quad during the early monthsof 2006. Digging to lay new utilities

fuelled great archaeological interest especiallyoutside the west end of the Cathedral where itwas speculated that a guest house and lodgingsassociated with the former Augustinian StFrideswide’s priory would be found.

Parts of two adult inhumations and five infantburials were recorded and lifted. These relatedto the priory, which would have been carryingout burials of local inhabitants. They probablydate to the later medieval period as earlierburials have previously been found at a greaterdepth. Other similar burials were foundduring excavations in the Cloister in 1985.

“Skeleton 287”, a probable female aged between 15 and 21years. The skull next to her left shoulder is numbered 291,and is an adult male.


Oxford Investment PartnersFormer Chancellor of the Exchequor Lord Lawsonof Blaby (PPE, 1951) has become Chairman ofOxford Investment Partners, an initiative whichputs Christ Church at the forefront of financialinnovation in UK universities. The impetusbehind the venture has been led by Karl Sternberg(PPE, 1988), former Chief Investment Officer atDeutsche Asset Management.

THE CHRIST CHURCH ENDOWMENT isessential to cover our annual expenditure, andour future ability to provide an exceptionaleducation to talented students. We do not makesignificant changes to the investment of theendowment without good reason, so the decisionto entrust management of £30 million of ourassets to Oxford Investment Partners (‘OXIP’) isan important one. It represents three differentinnovations, together aimed at improving ourlong-term financial position and keeping ChristChurch at the forefront of commercial ventureswithin the University.

Firstly, it represents a more sophisticated way ofinvesting our assets. The old approach was torely on two big bets: property and publicequities. We decided that now is the right timeto diversify the portfolio to produce smootherreturns, by adding together assets and activemanagement with low return correlations to one another. But in a world of lower returnsgenerally, this diversification would involveworking much harder to discover sources ofpremium returns. In particular, we believe that

we will find better returns by being earlyadopters of new or relatively untapped sources ofreturn and by harnessing the extra returns whichcome from hiring very talented fund managers.

This new approach is much more complex andtime-consuming than the simple property andequity portfolio we had in the past. The searchand ongoing monitoring costs are daunting. But without diversification and manager skill, weknow that we will struggle to produce goodreturns in future.

Overcoming this barrier led to the secondinnovation: a joint-venture to implement ourinvestment approach with two other colleges,Balliol and St Catherine’s. Both these colleges were having similar discussions about theirendowments. After considerable deliberation itwas agreed that the cheapest and most sensible

approach was to pool our endowment efforts. Inorder to reduce search costs we decided to engagethe services of Watson Wyatt, one of the world’slargest investment consulting firms. Unlike mostof their clients we will work with them, rather thansimply implement whatever advice we receive.The project is so important to them that theirHead of Manager Research is personally involved.

Once we had a pooled vehicle for investment, itbecame clear that we had something potentiallyvery valuable. Many charities and endowmentsface similar issues. Being able to access the sunkcosts and ongoing efforts of three sophisticatedclients, fund managers and assets consultants all inone organisation could be very attractive to them:normally they would have to seek advice fromeach separately. Hence the third innovation: thecreation of OXIP, with Christ Church a foundershareholder, alongside Balliol, St Catherine’s andthe professional management. OXIP waslaunched formally in March after the FSAregistration was received.

If the business is as successful as we hope, it willboost Christ Church income further from theflow of profits, and give us a valuable asset.

By putting ourselves at the forefront offinancial innovation OXIP is one example ofhow we are working hard to make the most ofevery penny we have received over the centuriesand to safeguard the future of Christ Church.

KARL STERNBERG (1988)

It represents three differentinnovations, together aimedat improving our long-term

financial position andkeeping Christ Church at

the forefront of commercialventures within the

University.

“Hello, I’m calling from social services. I’mresponsible for a teenager who arrived as anunaccompanied minor from Afghanistan, theCongo, Eritrea, Kosovo, Iraq...S/he is interested inthe arts, but really just needs a safe social structurein which to make a few friends. Can you help?”

This is a phone call that has become veryfamiliar to Oval House Theatre in the past fewyears and one that tells of the reality ofhundreds of young people arriving as refugeesand asylum seekers into Lambeth andSouthwark. They are looking to make friendsand be normal teenagers, but schools are ill-resourced or equipped to answer their needsand pressures.

In response, Oval House has developed athree-year project, LIVING HERE, designedto help new citizens tackle the barriers they tellus about – lack of confidence, lack of friends,

disappointment in their under-achievement atschool. We have pioneered creative techniquesthat form the basis of LIVING HERE.Through drama and related arts young peopleexpress their ideas, develop fluency inlanguage, build confidence and self-esteem,and enjoy an uplifting experience that contrastswith the complications of their daily lives.LIVING HERE involves the whole school andcreates a channel for young refugees into thewider arts activities of Oval House.

‘In my country, we don’t play drama – we don’tknow what that means. Some people in theschool, they don’t talk to no one, but when theycome in the drama lesson, they have to talk tosomeone. Everybody enjoys it because it’s nice.Drama was lovely for me. It helped me to makefriends, to be a man, to laugh with people. If youlaugh with people, people love you.’ – A participant from one of our drama workshops

LIVING HERE is funded by the Princess DianaMemorial Fund and the Baring Foundation, butwe rely on the generosity of our donors tomaintain our services for young people.

To help, or just find out more about OvalHouse, please contact Valerie Boulet on +44 207 735 2869 [email protected]

VALERIE BOULET, Oval House

Living here, learning hereOVAL HOUSE THEATRE DEVELOPS NEW WORK WITH YOUNG REFUGEES


The guest of honour was Lord Lawson ofBlaby, former Chancellor of the Exchequer,who spoke of his time at the House. He alsospoke of his delight, upon entering the Houseof Lords, to find that both the Junior Censorand Senior Censor from his time as anundergraduate were there to welcome him.The Dean spoke about the role of ChristChurch within the collegiate university and SirDavid Scholey (Chairman of the CampaignBoard) informed everyone of the need for theCampaign and fundraising progress to date. Itwas in between the roast Poulet des Landes andthe Bramley apple pie that Kate Bingham

made her pitch to the assembled diners, askingin such an enthusiastic manner that surelynone could resist. Indeed few did, and thepledge cards, discreetly placed on the table,were filled in remarkably swiftly.

To date, £318,000 has been given and pledgedtowards the East Wing of the library as aresult of that dinner. A warm vote of thanksgoes to all those who have given, andespecially to Kate and Simon for all their hardwork in making it happen.

LUKE PURSER, Major Gifts Director

ON THE EVENING of Monday 6th February,the private dining room at the Ivy in CoventGarden was the setting for a dinner of Housemenand women who had gathered to show theirsupport for Christ Church. The dinner wasorganised and hosted by two members of theCampaign Board, Kate Bingham (Biology, 1983)and Simon Warshaw (Engineering, 1983), with aview to raising the £350,000 needed to name theEast Wing of the library as part of the Campaignfor Christ Church. £3,300,000 is needed to re-roof, rewire, repair, restore and expand the libraryto improve the working space, and the servicesavailable to readers.

Ivy League

Paine Graduate Reading RoomON 19th JANUARY 2006 we

celebrated the naming of the PaineGraduate Reading Room in the

Law Library.

This redevelopment was part of the project ofrefurbishment and endowment of the BurnLaw Library, funded through the LawDevelopment Campaign (an early part of theCampaign for Christ Church). The creation ofthe new graduate reading room involved majorbuilding works, and Peter S. Paine Jr (1957,and now President of the American Friends ofChrist Church) and his son, Peter S. Paine III(1985), made a particular donation to enablethis element of the project to succeed. As theplaque in the Paine Graduate Reading Roommakes clear, both father and son were taughtby Edward Burn, and indeed, Peter S. Paine Jrhas been tireless in promoting the whole ofthe Law Development Campaign in theUnited States, in honour of Edward Burn.

Our old member lawyers who matriculatedbetween 1976 and the late 1980s willremember the room, off the Law Libraryentrance lobby, in which the Law Weekendertaught them. That teaching room was ratherdark and cold, but with an electric fan heaterit served its purpose, and it had a second(smaller and even darker and colder) roombeyond, where the Law Weekender used tohave a bed. For those who need a furthergeographical point of reference: the “No Peel”door, at the foot of the hall stairs, was the fireexit from the bedroom. During the 1980s wedecided that the two rooms of the LawWeekender’s flat should become the “BCLRooms” because, in those days, our graduateswere generally reading for the BCL. Eachroom was equipped with two desks which, atthe time, was adequate provision.

But our population of graduate lawyers hasgrown significantly over the years. Now, for

example, we have a typical group of 12graduate students reading for a variety of Lawdegrees: not only the BCL but also theMagister Juris (the equivalent of the BCL forstudents who have read a civil, rather than acommon, law first degree), the Master ofStudies in Legal Research and the Master ofPhilosophy (both one-year thesis degrees) andthe D.Phil. Four desks in two small, ratherdark and badly heated rooms were hardly verygood provision for our graduates, so as part ofthe Law Library development project wedevised a new scheme for the old BCL Rooms.The wall dividing the rooms was removed toprovide a larger, light and airy space, with newlighting and heating, and new desks wereinstalled to double the capacity to eightworking spaces, all with individual powersockets and internet connections.

This would be a significant project in itself.But the work on the graduate rooms was mademore extensive by our decision to make themaccessible for wheelchair users—as the wholeof the Burn Law Library is accessible—whichnecessitated lowering the floor by severalinches to remove the steps into the room. Thecost of the refurbishment of the graduaterooms was therefore a significant part of thewhole Burn Law Library Project, and we weredelighted that Peter S. Paine Jr and Peter S.Paine III came forward with their donation toenable it to be achieved. The new PaineGraduate Reading Room is a significantimprovement to our provision for Lawgraduates, which is confirmed by the constantuse that they make of it, and by all that ourgraduates tell us about the benefits they havefrom such a splendid working environment.

JOHN CARTWRIGHT, Tutor in Law

page 7

Left: Peter S Paine JrRight: The Very Reverend Christopher Lewis


Beryl Woolley

Futile sacrifice and Edwardian extravagance

page 8

“The College Cassandra”, so nicknamed forher perceptive insight into Christ Churchapplicants, Beryl Woolley completed 40 yearsof service to the House in January 2005. Fromher initial appointment as Assistant to theCollege Secretary, Beryl was headhunted to theAdmissions' Office in July 1965 where sheworked for the next four decades, withnumerous Admissions' Tutors, five differentDeans, and seeing Housemen such as StephenDarlington, John Cartwright and EdwinSimpson apply as undergraduates.

Many old members were among the 150 or soparticipants in the House’s 2006 SpecialInterest Weekend at the beginning of April.Food and History appear to be the two themesthat draw an enthusiastic following from yearto year. The 90th anniversary of the battles ofVerdun and the Somme were the focus of thehistory option, designed by the late RobinNeillands and led by Tristan Lovering.

Sara Paston Williams again drew together thefood experts whose focus was the extravaganceof the Edwardian table, a style of life andopulence whose lights were put out when theGreat War erupted.

Foodies immersed themselves in tea and icecream, as it were, with tutored tastings of bothdelights. Lectures included La Belle Epoquewith Raymond Notley and Great Chefs from

year (29 March - 1 April 2007). The subjectoptions will again be food and history. Forfurther information, or to reserve a place,please contact Alex Webb, Conference &Events Administrator, on +44 1865 276174 [email protected].

JOHN HARRIS, Steward

Ivan Day. Peter Brears brought a new insightinto kitchen design including that of CardinalWolsey and Phillipa Glanville explored ChristChurch’s silver.

The House’s catering team surpassedthemselves with a measured, authentic andbeautifully crafted Edwardian banquet.

Though 1916 was the peg on which thehistory option was hooked, speakers extendedtheir range across the whole conflict, from theoutbreak of war to the conclusion of theVersailles peace treaty in 1919. Corelli Barnettand Sir Alistair Horne opened the intellectualbarrage, Dr Bill Philpott (1983) spoke onVerdun and Professor Gary Sheffield theSomme. Gallipoli was Michael Hickey’s topicand Corelli Barnett concluded the programmewith a rebuttal of the futile sacrifice argumentand with trenchant views on the naïveté ofPresident Woodrow Wilson. Penny Lomax’shugely popular talk on Great War literaturewas an elegant contrast to the tactics, strategyand carnage of the muddy battlefields.

The House’s spring weekend has established anencouraging following, this programme havingbeen fully subscribed by Christmas. It hasbeen decided to offer another such event next

Left: John Cartwright Centre: Beryl Woolley, Right: Edwin Simpson

Beryl for her dedication – past and present –to the House, and wish her the very best forthe rest of her retirement.

SARAH THOMAS, Alumni Relations & DatabaseAssistant

Beryl Woolley by Jim Godfrey

Edwardian dinner display table

Peter McDonald, the last Admissions’ Tutor forwhom Beryl worked, described her memory as“the single most important piece of smarttechnology in the place”, with a legendaryknowledge of generation after generation ofcandidates, undergraduates and tutors. With aplethora of memories, anecdotes and insightinto the evolving world of Christ Church as itlaunched access schemes and opened its gatesto women, Beryl’s presiding memory of hertime at the House is one of a strong andsupportive staff community. So much didBeryl value this community that upon herretirement she made arrangements for therefurbishment of the staff dining room – nowcalled the Beryl Woolley Dining Room – as athank-you to all those with whom she worked,and as a means to foster warm links betweennew staff members.

Despite her official retirement, Beryl is now aregular volunteer in the Cathedral. Hercontinued presence in college, together withthe tangible legacy of the Dining Room, is aconstant reminder of all that Beryl achievedand contributed to the life of Christ Church.We once again extend our warmest thanks to


Chri� Church Association NewsT R I N I T Y T E R M 2 0 0 6 I S S U E 1 7

EditorialOver the past few weeks and months many of my waking moments,and indeed many sleeping ones too, have been consumed by ChristChurch, Oxford: A Portrait of the House. The response from oldmembers has been wonderful. Thank you to everyone who sent inmemoirs or memorabilia. I am only sad that we will not be able toinclude them all. Everything sent in, whether it made it into thebook or not, will be held in the college archives for futurereference. I hope the resulting book will delight, or at leastintrigue, those who turn its pages.

Turning now though to Association News, sadly just beforeproduction, we had to lose two of our features to free up space forother Christ Church Matters’ material. There was a major feature onthe year reps scheme, listing all the year reps and their contact

You probably saw the pandemonium erupt ontelevision on July 6th last year when Dr JacquesRogge, President of the International OlympicCommittee (IOC), confounded the bookies andannounced, “The Games of the XXX Olympiad in2012 are awarded to the city of… London.”

The decision, made at an Olympic CommitteeMembers’ meeting in Singapore, was greetedwith dismay by crowds in front of the Hotel deVille in Paris – and with jubilation in TrafalgarSquare. What wasn’t shown on television was thetense sequence of events that preceded theannouncement, or the role that Christ Churchplayed in bringing the Olympic Games back tothe UK for the first time in 64 years.

The day began with five cities still in the race towin the biggest prize in sport. Havana, Leipzig,Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro had already beeneliminated. Only London, Madrid, Moscow, NewYork and Paris were left. Paris was clear favouriteto win, with London, according to the pundits,destined to be runner-up. But the London team,for which I was director of marketing, wasn’t readyto give in. Each bid team had 45 minutes to maketheir case to the 105 IOC members, who wouldthen vote on which city would host the Games.

Paris was up first. Their presentation began wellwith stunning imagery of the French capital filmedfrom the air by Luc Besson. However, it thendescended into a barrage of statistics, talkingheads and computer-generated imagery, whichdidn’t give the viewer a chance to draw breath.

Some of us wondered if the French had lost sightof the audience, the average age of which was65 and included many in their eighties.

New York followed with a polished presentationthat concluded with a film by Steven Spielberg, inwhich the Olympic Torch was united with theflame held by the Statue of Liberty. MayorBloomberg, in his speech, suggested that if NewYork wasn’t awarded the Games in 2012, itwouldn’t bid again. It sounded like a threat; not agreat note to end on.

I didn’t see Moscow’s presentation. I was calmingLondon’s team in the green room, reviewing forthe final time who, after our presentation, wouldhandle the different issues we expected to beraised during Q&A. We resisted the temptationto produce a travelogue of our city, and insteadchose to focus on what London could do for theOlympic Movement: use London’s youth appeal toinspire young people across the world to take upOlympic sport. In the coffee break, we wereexcited to hear directly from members of theaudience that our pitch had been well received.

Following Madrid’s presentation, the votingbegan. One by one cities were eliminated.Moscow first. New York next. Then Madrid. Thefinal vote was between London and Paris.

Two nail-biting hours later, the delegations fromeach city were invited to return to the ballroomto hear the result of the final ballot. As weentered the room, I could see the French

carrying bottles ofchampagne. DavidBeckham, one of thepersonalitiessupporting the Londonbid, pointed out that57 of the 60journalists in the roomwere positioning themselves in front of the Parisbid team. “That’s not a good sign,” he said. Awave of disappointment flooded our team: themedia had obviously been tipped off so theycould get the best reaction shots.

Formalities extended the tension for a further 20minutes allowing London Mayor Ken Livingstoneto compose the remarks to be offered in defeatto his opposite number, Bertrand Delanoe.

When the result came, everyone was taken bysurprise. The media pack scrambled to get to theother side of the room and the British bid team.Instead of opening their champagne, the Frenchhad already started to apportion blame. We wereabsolutely euphoric.

And the part played by Christ Church? It supplied theLondon bid team with Media Strategist ElizabethKesses (1991); Head of Marketing Chris Denny(1983); Executive Assistant to the Chairman AndreaLewis (daughter of the Dean), and me. I wonder howmany medallists will the House provide in 2012?

DAVID MAGLIANO (1981), former Director ofMarketing, London 2012

One Day in Singapore

Then... ...now Then... ...nowThen... ...now

Elizabeth Kesses David MaglianoChris Denny

Andrea Lewis

THE RACE FOR THE

LONDON OLYMPICS

details, plus a number of their photographs. There was also a featureon three old members (Michael Powell (1968), Fiona Rice (1980) andStephen Fielding (1970) who have been doing some work in thecharity sector. I have been promised that Association News will begiven more pages in the Michaelmas edition of Christ Church Mattersand so both of these features will be held over until next time.

In this slimmed-down edition, we do have a feature on old memberswho have tried their hand at “exploring” and an interesting insightinto behind the scenes at the Olympics bid and the role that ChristChurch old members played. In an experiment, we have made theTriennial calendar into a tear out format. It is always helpful tohear your views and comments, so please let us know what youthink, about this or anything else.

FIONA HOLDSWORTH (1981), [email protected]


Nick Rankin(1969) onbecoming a writer

At Oxford, ambition changed sweaty horses.From boyhood, following my Kemble genes, Ihad longed to be an actor, and played smallparts with OUDS until the day I turned downthe lead role in Coriolanus. I’ve neverregretted that fork in the path. “Actors arecattle” as Hitchcock remarked. I was a readerwho wanted to write, but had no real idea ofwhat sort of writer to pretend to be.

Perhaps it was Prescott’s Conquest of Peru,borrowed in my second year from the Libraryin Peckwater, which set me wandering inSouth America and Spain for the next fiveyears. I wrote many thousands of words ofdiary there, but published nothing. I was 30before my initials appeared under an item in abeekeepers’ journal, or my byline topped apiece in the papers. The chance that I hadhappened to read Robert Louis Stevenson’sFables to the blind Argentine Jorge Luis Borgesthen helped me to hook a book contract tofollow the author of Treasure Island around theworld.

Stevenson once told a young journalist inAuckland, New Zealand that the only way tolearn to write was by reading. He also said thatin youth he had “played the sedulous ape” towriters whose prose he admired by copyingtheir style. I enjoyed waterskiing in Stevenson’swake in the UK, France, America, Hawaii andSamoa, and also trying to report clearly what Isaw in my first book. I still like one sentence inDead Man’s Chest, about a D-Day anniversary:“The ferries were full of men remembering”.

I found I had written a biography in the formof a travel book. A decade later, I visitedEthiopia, India, Madagascar, South Africa andSpain researching Telegram from Guernica, but

because this was a biography in the form of ahistory book, I had to curtail exuberant colour.Piecing together the story of the forgottenjournalist George Lowther Steer, I learned theusefulness of Q’s weary admonition to JamesBond on screen: “Pay attention, 007.” Gettingit right, as best you can, is the aim. The struggleis fitting facts and thoughts into words andsentences that go together in paragraphs, liketrains pulling box-cars of consciousness. Steersaw reporting as writing the history of everyday: both reporters and historians owe absoluteduty to the truth. I think good writing isdistilled truth, and bad writing simply isn’t true.

Nick Alexander(1973) onKilimanjaro

As I looked down on the glacier from the peakof Mount Kilimanjaro last October, ChristChurch was not in the forefront of mythoughts. These were mainly preoccupied withbreathing! However the climb caused oureditor to think of me when looking for travelrelated contributions.

Although I feel rather a fraud in this contextthinking of myself chiefly as a media man, I didsandwich Christ Church between twotransportation jobs, London Undergroundbefore coming up, and British Rail on goingdown. Both were mercifully brief as was mylater claim to a travel career as the firstMarketing Director for Virgin Atlantic Airways.

I have many stories about all three jobs butthis is a piece about Kilimanjaro. Inevitablywith only a few hundred words it is impossibleto do the experience justice but I can give youa few headlines.

It was beautiful! In seven days on themountain we had only a few hours of rain. Iclimbed with 21 people from the video game

industry, several of whom were already myfriends, now they all are. We climbed slowlythrough rain forest from 6,000ft, alpinelandscape from 9,000ft and ended in volcanicscree from 15,000ft to the top at just over19,000ft.

The last part was the only tough bit. Settingoff from Kibo camp at midnight, so that thescree is frozen and you can get up it, wereached Gilman’s Point on the near side of thevolcano around 8am. It had been a difficultnight with several casualties en route. Butmost of us made it and most of us were intears of high emotion when we went over thetop and saw the glacier beyond.

The most masochistic of us went onto Uhuru,another two hours painfully slow walkingaround the volcano and only a few hundredfeet higher. Four and a half days to the topand only a day and half back down!

I virtually skied down the scree. What hadtaken 8 hours to ascend took only 40 mins todescend. The rest of the descent passedincredibly quickly, driven on by the thought ofa shower, a proper bed and the powerful effectof increased oxygen in our lungs that made usfeel fantastic.

So why did I do this? In honesty it was not toraise my share of the £200k for children’scharities in Tanzania or the UK that we jointlyachieved, but the advent of a big birthday thatseemed to need acknowledging by more thangiving a party.

At the House my sport was pinball. I hadclimbed a few hills in England before and hadonce been at altitude in Peru, but had neverattempted anything like this and I think I cantruthfully say that nothing at Christ Churchprepared me for it either. Not even climbingthe steps to Hall for breakfast after a veryheavy night. Kilimanjaro was much easier!

page 10

This issue we hear from five old members involved in exploring asthey reflect on their time at the House and their subsequent careers.

Then... ...now

Then... ...now


Robin Garton (1965)Late developer

Robin Garton was sent to the House in 1965under high parental pressure to become thefamily’s 24th rowing blue. Instead, the torpid inwhich he rowed stroke, started head of the riverand finished fifth. Rustication followed soon after.

Garton became an art dealer and is now moreor less retired from business after 39 yearsduring which he made sales to over 150museums and public collections.

He started mountain climbing in 1999, andbecame ‘hooked’ by glaciers. He managed theMatterhorn on his second attempt in 2002 andis hoping to reach 6,000m (20,000ft) in Peruthis summer. He climbs for appeals on behalf ofNGOs and has so far raised a little short of£50,000 for different causes.

He considers that western concepts ofDevelopment and Aid can inflict horrendousdamage on the third world. His preferredmethod is to work on smaller scale projectswith locally or indigenously based NGOs, whounderstand the needs and aspirations of localcommunities, with a particular emphasis on theparticipation of women. Much of the moneyraised has gone to support One World Action, apartnership NGO based in London, whichprovides money to local NGOs. An example ofone such project involved the building of 28schools in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a smalland little known region of Bangladesh with arich ethnic and tribal diversity. Education isvital to help these remote people to understandtheir precarious land rights, to learn Bengali,English and numeracy. They may have a richfuture from tourism and spice trading, but ithas to be built from the bottom up over time.Only women are allowed to teach in theseschools and this will enhance their status, whichat present is non existent.

This year he is trying to help raise £50,000 forunrestricted funds for One World Action. Heis half way though a BSc programme atSouthampton University, still trying to obtainhis first degree!

Rupert Cox (1962)in the Sahara Arriving at Christ Church fresh from remoteSwedish Lapland, making a map for theSwedish government under the auspices of theBritish Schools Exploring Society, myattention was soon focussed on using the longvacation to ‘explore’. A fellow freshman, CarlJones, and a school friend at Oriel were soonin discussion about possibilities of finding asuitably remote mountainous area. TheTibesti mountains in the Sahara rise to11,000ft and cover an area as big as the UK inthe middle of the Sahara desert, and seemed agood challenge. It was clear that for officialsupport – essential for serious sponsorship –we needed a scientific programme. Researchshowed that the Ashmolean Museum needed asurvey of artifacts and rock engravings fortheir African Stone Age collection, and thatthe OU Medical School needed skin samplesfrom desert people for leprosy research. Manymonths were spent in research, writing toexperts in various fields and enlarging theteam which, apart from Carl and me, includedPatrick Wheeler and Robert Coate, both fromChrist Church.

As leader I was responsible for thepresentations to official bodies, including theOU Exploration Club and the RoyalGeographical Society and, as it transpired, fortyping many of the letters to companies forfunds and cadging supplies. It taught meabout objectives, planning, projectmanagement and (lack of!) delegation whichwere certainly useful experiences for businesslife. We had to raise around £3,000 (some£45,000 in today’s terms) and struggled untilwe (a group of students without an HGVlicence amongst them!) were loaned a 5-tontruck by Ford to add to our two second-handLand Rovers. The hours spent in the planningand organisation seemed somehow morerewarding in the short-term than studying for

page 11

Then... ...now

Australian Outback 1985l to r Carl Jones (ChCh), Rupert Cox (ChCh), Lyndsay Tyler(Camb), Tony Moody (Oriel), Robert Coate (ChCh), Dave Lowe (Oriel), Patrick Wheeler (ChCh)

In the Sahara 1965l to r Rupert Cox, Robert Coate, Patrick Wheeler (all ChCh)and Dave Lowe (Oriel)

final exams! Indeed my tutor, Dr MichaelGrace, discovered that I was spending rathermore of my time on desert logistics than onphysics theory and said he would have stoppedme had he known earlier. Once finals were outof the way the Head Porter provided us withstorage space for the mass of supplies whichwere rolling in and needed to be reorganisedand boxed.

After more than two years of planning the 1965Oxford University Sahara Expedition was on itsway. The two crossings of the Sahara Desert(from Tripoli to Zouar and vice versa) weresuccessfully completed, navigating by compassand sextant (no GPS!) and not without slowand arduous progress in certain sections of thedesert and several mechanical problems whichrequired some innovative repairs. The fieldworkprogramme was successfully completed and afilm made for Ford.

For us all the expedition was a maturingexperience where we rapidly learnt theimportance of working as a team and puttingaside any personal or character differences.Each benefited from the expedition indifferent ways, but common to all were somelasting friendships. For me the expedition wasalso directly responsible for landing a job atShell, despite dropping a degree class. In myShell career I was also able to continue myinterest in travel to remote areas in many partsof the world, including Borneo, Laos and theAmazon.

In October 2005 we held a 40-year reunion inthe dusty ‘outback’ of New South Wales,reliving our desert experience over a 4,500 kmtrip, albeit in a little more comfort. Ouritinerary took us on a circular route, via thedingo-proof dog fence out to Cameron Cornerat the intersection of NSW, Queensland andSouth Australia, and back via Mungo NationalPark and the wine-growing areas of NSW. Sosuccessful was the trip that we now have plansto meet up again for another reunion inCanada in 2007!


enthused. Everything really is relative. The daywe climbed up to the top of an iceberg trappedin our frozen sea was almost agoraphobic: wecould see over a kilometre away! It's cold upthere, especially when your progress is halted by a "lead" - an open water gap in the ice,sometimes big like a canal, sometimes narrowenough to step over the deep ocean under yourskis, always humid, with evaporating waterfuriously cooling itself to freeze over again, themoist air chilling you fast. Weird, moist air at -26C. Sort of feels like Scotland. Sometimes wewould ski around it, sometimes it would freezeover, and across we go, skiing on thin ice.Heaviest guy first, no point us all getting wet ifit cracks. I'd like to go back one day, and do the"full" version, skiing from the Siberian coast tothe pole, rather than starting on the ice cap forthe "quick" trip (kind of necessary - my wifewas pregnant at the time!)

The main question people ask about Everestisn't "was it hard?" (of course), "did you worryabout dying?" (of course) nor "did you nearlydie?" (maybe), not even "why?" (because Iwanted to since I was ten), but "did you useoxygen?" People are obsessed about it. Yes I did.I'm married with four kids, and one of themwas conceived after I got back. In my view not using oxygen is moronic for anyone withresponsibilities, or who wants to be capable of creating a new one when they get home.

page 12

David J. PierceJones (1983) onclimbing Everest

When you'rethere, at thesummit, youcan't helpfeeling that ifman could haveclimbed Everesta few centuriesearlier he couldhave saved a lotof argumentsabout whetherthe Earth wasflat. I don't just

mean locally; obviously it's not very flat at all inthe Himalaya, but you can feel the curvature ofthe horizon; you can see the world is a ball.

At the Pole, though, your horizons are so limitedthat it feels like you're skiing round and roundan average sized white asteroid, and it gets verymonotonous. I remember one day thinking howdull polar travel was compared to mountains andasking my expedition partner what he thought,trying not to give away my feelings. "It's somuch more interesting than the South Pole!" he David J. Pierce Jones now

It doesn't make it any easier really - theperformance gain is pretty much cancelled outby having to lug the extra kilos (though theRussian Poisk system that many use is lighter)but you feel a lot warmer, or at least less cold,and for the average climber that avoids a lot of small mistakes snowballing into big ones. You put a fire out by depriving it of oxygen, andit's the same for the heat-producing chemicalreactions in your body. The reason I realised thatmy oxygen wasn't working properly one timewasn't that I was carrying the extra weight for nogood reason (though it did feel harder) but thecreeping cold.

Everest was amazing. I don't want to tell anydramatic stories about near-death experiences.But on 30 May every year I quietly celebratebeing alive.

Working together to make a book worthy of the subject

This magnificent, richly illustrated tribute toChrist Church is being prepared in associationwith Third Millennium Publishing and is wellon schedule for publication in November2006.

Christ Church, Oxford: A Portrait of TheHouse will be neither a history of the college,nor a book solely designed to adorn a coffeetable. It is intended to be a stimulatinganthology of articles, vignettes and imagescapturing the history, habits and harmoniesof the House.We hope that as you dip intothe volume, it will not only serve to rekindlehappy memories but unmask facts and storiesabout the college you never knew.

If you have not subscribed, you will payconsiderably less if you do so now, ratherthan wait until the book is published. Inaddition you will receive your copy ahead ofpublication and have your name included in aspecial index with all those who will havemade publication possible.

• The first full-colour portrait, in words andpictures, of Christ Church in all its aspects

• The historical backbone running throughthe book together with memoirs from oldmembers ensures that most aspects ofcollege life are covered

• A rich cast of Christ Church personalities

‘We are delighted with progress on A Portraitof the House. The number of subscriptions weare continuing to receive is certainly one of thebest responses we’ve ever had’, commentsJulian Platt, Chairman of Third MillenniumPublishing.

How to Order

A Portrait of the House will retail at £45, butwe are able to offer the book (includingpostage and packing) to subscribers in theUK at only £35, £38 for Europe and £45for all other international addresses.

Subscribers will have their namelisted in the book.

To order your copy, either fill in the formattached to the inside pages of ChristChurch Matters, or order securely online atwww.tmiltd.com. Once there, please clickon Forthcoming Titles in the Books Gallerysection and follow the instructions.

GENERAL EDITOR: PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER BUTLER • 280MM X 240MM / 192PP / 80,000 WORDS

This edition of Christ Church Matters was jointly edited by Christopher Butler, Tutor in English and Sarah Thomas, Alumni Relations & Database Assistant. It is produced by the Development and Alumni Office, Christ Church, Oxford OX1 1DP. Tel: 44 (0)1865 286325, Fax: 44 (0)1865 286587,

e-mail: [email protected]. The views expressed in Christ Church Matters may on occasion be those of the author and are not necessarily held by the Governing Body. Christ Church Association News is edited by Fiona Holdsworth, Christ Church Association Committee.

David J. Pierce Jones then


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