ChurchillTheNEWSLETTER 2009

Teddies in space

Welcome to the new edition of TheChurchill Newsletter. I hope that youlike the revamped design and I’mdelighted to introduce our newEditor – a name that actually needsno introduction to so many of you –Tim Cribb. Tim has done a sterlingjob in putting this edition together. I very much hope that you enjoy thecontents and as always we’d bepleased to have your comments.

Another year has flown by and I’m very pleased to say that in 2008 we’ve been in touchwith even more Churchill alumni than ever. The Master and I visited New York twice in2008, with a flying visit to both San Francisco and Washington in the mix. In February the Master and Lady Wallace visited alumni and friends in the Far East:Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing. Whether it’s online, on the telephone or in personit’s great for all of us studying, living and working at Churchill today to be in regularcontact with alumni and we want even more of you to get in touch with us and keep usupdated on news of what you’ve been doing since leaving Churchill. Please come backto visit your College and participate in our alumni events – the more the merrier!

As you know, 2010 is our 50th Anniversary year. We have a series of celebratory eventsplanned and the full programme will be published in the 2009 edition of theChurchill Review. I hope as many of you will take part in these as possible anddetails of how to book your place at these events will also be published in the Review.College and alumni events are wonderful forums for you to not only stay in touch withyour College but to stay in touch with each other.

I cannot close without saying a big “thank you” to all our supporters. In spite of thedifficult economic climate, Churchill alumni have continued to offer generous and muchneeded support to benefit those studying at Churchill today. Churchill is not just anotherCambridge College; it’s a special place and you all help to make it so.

Sharon MauriceDevelopment Director

2 THE CHURCHILL 2009

Hello!

The ContentsPAGE 3From the Master

PAGE 4Teddies in Space

PAGE 6How to win a Nobel

PAGE 7The 2008 Olympics – my view

PAGE 8Building the Transatlantic Bridge

PAGE 9News from the Archives – the otherspecial relationship

PAGE 10Churchill in Kenya: students breakingthe boundaries of privilege

PAGE 11Lessons from the financial crisis

PAGE 12Grounds and gardens

PAGE 13From Belfast to the Beeb and backagain, via Churchill

PAGE 14–15Building for the Future

PAGE 16On location in holy places

PAGE 17Turning 50

PAGE 18 – 19Churchill JCR across the decades –The exciting Sixties

PAGE 20Alumni EventsContact

Published byChurchill CollegeEditor: Tim CribbStorey’s Way Cambridge CB3 0DS. Tel. 01223 336197; Fax 01223 336177; Newsletter.Editor@chu.cam.ac.uk

Design & layout: www.cantellday.co.uk Print: Norwich Colour Print

All texts, photographs and illustrative material, except where acknowledged otherwise, are © Churchill College 2009. We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce illustrations:CU Spaceflight (1, 4, 5), Alex O’Connell (6), Mr Graham Wiltshire (8), Luke Picknett (9), Sir JohnStuttard (10, 11), Anne Morrison (13), Oliver Godow (14, 15), Diarmaid MacCulloch (16), JulianFilochowski (18), Aidan Clegg (19). & Page 18 – Churchill College Archive, CCPH/6/1/1.

3THE CHURCHILL 2009

Message from the Master

… the highest number of Firsts ever; ourfirst graduate Nobel laureate, Prof RogerTsien (G72), following in the footsteps ofour Founder and our first Master, andbringing the total laureates who havebeen members of the College to morethan 20; second year fencing OlympianAlex O’Connell; a successful spacelaunch of Teddy Bears from a localschool by engineering student Ed Moore– the stunning photograph against thebackground of the curvature of the earthgained worldwide coverage. I hope youenjoy reading about these, and more, inthis Newsletter.

All of this leaves us in very good heart aswe move towards our 50th anniversarycelebration, which we will launch this yearon 30 November, Sir Winston’s birthday.Lots of events are planned through 2010,and I hope that you will participate. For example, I will be attending with the Vice-Chancellor the Cambridge in America dinner in New York on 5 December – places are limited, soplease book now if you haven’t already!

In fact I write this en route to Singapore,Hong Kong andBeijing. A researchevaluation sends meto Singapore, soElizabeth, Rosemaryand I are takingadvantage of this tomeet Alumni andfriends of the College.I will also be givingfive presentations on behalf of theNewton Institute.

We will be joined in Hong Kong by GillianHoldom, Director, and Jeffy Li, of theMøller Centre. Despite the challengingeconomic times, the Møller Centrecontinues to attract academic andbusiness leaders from around the worldto its wonderful facilities, and I amlooking forward to visits to ChinaMerchants Bank in Shenzhen, and to theChina Banking Regulatory Commissionand the Bank of China in Beijing, whoare among our international clients.

But of course your own local alumnicelebrations can be experienced globally. Indeed this very weekend theWorld-wide Churchill Pub Nightorganised by Helen Czerski (U97) andAlasdair Gill (U89) (from the AssociationCommittee) is taking place, and it will begreat fun to help judge the onlinephotograph competition.

For both of us, being at the College aswe approach the special occasion of the50th is that heady mix of privilege andresponsibility: privilege to participate, andresponsibility to help lay the foundationfor the next 50 years of success. I hopethat you anticipate it as keenly as we do,and will enjoy it as much as we will.

David Wallace7 February 2009

There is so much to report …

ABOVE The Master welcomes you

4 THE CHURCHILL 2009

It was a bleakDecember morning.Four teddies satpatiently on a coffeetable. Forty schoolpupils were on theirway to Churchill. A bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived group ofundergraduates,myself among them,sat around wonderingwhy the spaceship wepromised thesewould-be rocketscientists wasn'tworking, and how wewere going to break itto them.

A few months earlier, CambridgeUniversity Spaceflight, a student societylooking to lower the cost of access tospace, the group to which I belong,approached Dr. Steven Hinshelwood,science teacher at Parkside andColeridge Community schools. Wewondered if he and his pupils would liketo work with us to design an experimentto take into space. ‘Yes’, came the answer,and so began one of the most rewardingthings we’ve worked on this year.

At the beginning of Michaelmas term, wewent to Dr. Hinshelwood’s popular‘science club’, to talk to the pupils, aged12–13, about the science of space, andthe technology to get there. Conceptslike conduction, convection and radiation,buoyancy, pressure and other forces.Technologies like radio communications,batteries, global positioning systems andcomputers. We then set them achallenge: the lives of four teddy-bearswould be placed in their hands, and, insmall teams, they had to use what they’dlearned to design and build space suitsfor the ‘TeddyNauts’, to protect them fromthe harsh cold of space. We would thenfit each of the teddies with temperatureprobes, and take them on a trip to theedge of the atmosphere, logging theperformance of each of their suits. The pupils excelled themselves, and by the end of the day’s construction the teddies looked ready to take theirgiant leap.

Back to that December morning. Despitean all-nighter rewriting flight softwareand resoldering flight electronics, theTeddyNaut’s space craft was refusing tofunction as we needed it to. NASA wouldhave scrubbed the launch andrescheduled, but the stakes were higherfor this mission – this was our last goodweather window before the schoolholidays, and the cover teachers hadalready been booked at the schools.There was no going back.

Churchill is unique among CambridgeColleges in being a registered launch sitefor our experiments. The combination oflarge open spaces, being slightly out oftown, and having a bar, make it an idealplace to host the bleeding edge of Britishspaceflight. In the end, it was the bar thatsaved us – some fresh coffees gave us themental acuity we needed to patch up theflight computer. We were go for launch.

From then on, with the help of the now-arrived pupils, everything ran smoothly. Werelocated from the bar to ‘mission control’,next to the rugby pitch. The giant heliumballoon was filled, the parachute wasattached, the telemetry stream wasactivated, and the countdown was started.The pupils eased the balloon and itsprecious cargo up to the vertical position,and then let go. A graceful climb up to thetop of the atmosphere began – from nowon we were in mother nature’s hands.Whilst we’d checked the forecasts and

Teddies in space

ABOVE Future Laureates from Parksideshow our Engineers how to blow up a balloon

TOP RIGHT The teddies up there

BOTTOM RIGHT Roger Tsien as a newlyarrived postgrad at Churchill

5THE CHURCHILL 2009

How to win a NobelFirst get a Marshall. (These areScholarships for Americans, funded bythe British government as a thank youafter the War and administered by theAssociation of CommonwealthUniversities). Second, make sure you getRichard Adrian or equivalent as yourSupervisor (the late Lord Adrian of thePhysiological Labs in Downing Streetwas a Fellow here until becoming Masterof Pembroke). Third, use your Marshall tocome to Churchill as a postgrad (noexplanation needed). Fourth, be RogerTsien. As one of his Harvard refereessaid when Roger applied to Cambridge:

‘There are bright students, and then thereis Roger’.

His talent showed early. He had won anational prize in Chemistry when still inhigh school, but turned towards Physicsas an undergraduate at Harvard, forwhich he also won a prize, thus gettinginto the habit. However, because he felt itunlikely that he could make a realcontribution in that field he turned foradvice to his brother, Robert, who hadbeen a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and itwas he who suggested the move toneurophysiology. Roger’s independenceof mind was one of his more strikingcharacteristics (along with musical abilityand an interest in Chinese painting), sohis Harvard advisors steered him towardsthe other Cambridge, where he would begiven both the freedom that suited himand the necessary guidance.

So it proved. The files show that RichardAdrian enabled him to access areas ofBiology relevant for what he wanted to do,arranged bench space for him inChemistry when his research took him

back in that direction, and secured time atPlymouth for him to work on the nervoussystems of giant squids. From thebeginning, Richard was clear that theproblem Roger was tackling was of adifficulty commensurate with itsimportance and that there would be littleto show during the first three years ofgroundwork. However, he could also seethat Roger had not only the talent but thedetermination and staying power, so afterthe Marshall Scholarship came to an endhe collaborated with another Fellow ofChurchill, Richard Keynes, who ran thePhysiology Labs at Babraham, to secure afourth year of funding. Richard Adrian’slast task was to persuade the never easilysatisfied Roger that his dissertation wasadequate for submission in May of 1976.

For a description of the nature andsignificance of Roger Tsien’s research,see the article by Dudley Williams in theforthcoming Churchill Review. Roger isthe first Churchill postgrad to win aNobel. We look forward to the next.

Ed.

were fairly sure it would come down on dryland, forecasts can sometimes be wrong,as we’d learnt the hard way in the past.

We set out in my car to keep up with theballoon, which was far far above us. Theballoon’s flight computer used a GPSreceiver to locate itself, and transmittedthe position down via radio. In the car,laptops displayed the position on a map.The balloon burst at just over 30kmaltitude, and the TeddyNauts, and theirspacecraft, began their gentle descentunder parachute to the ground. Theirlanding site was a muddy field next to abattery-chicken shed, just north ofIpswich. Not glamorous, but soft andremote. We arrived a few minutes laterand picked up the teddies, downloadedall the data from the flight computer,went for lunch in Ipswich, then returnedto Cambridge. After a decent night’s

sleep, we went back the following day tothe science club to hand over all the dataand pictures to the pupils, so that theycould see how their teddies fared.

All of the suits worked, though somesuits worked better than others. Moreimportant than the suits, though, is thatthis experience might have given them ataste of how enjoyable and rewarding thedisciplines of science and engineeringcan be. Winston Churchill’s concern,which led to this college’s foundation,was the lack of scientists and engineersbeing produced by our education system.It was therefore reassuring, and indeedrewarding, to work with such a bright,receptive, and enthusiastic bunch ofpupils, and they are a credit to theirteacher, Dr. Hinshelwood. The potentialNobel prize winners are out there, we justneed to get them to stick with science

throughout their secondary education. I hope that, for the team of pupils atParkside and Coleridge at least, thisexperience will be ‘one small step’ in theright direction.

Ed Moore

3rd Year, Engineering, CU spaceflight

www.sref.ucam.org/~cuspaceflight/

index.org

6 THE CHURCHILL 2009

One thing sticks in my mind from thatevening: not the first view of thebreathtaking Bird’s Nest Stadium, nothearing 90,000 people cheer every timea country went in, not the deafeningroars when China arrived last of all, butthe feeling and the view looking downthe tunnel going into the stadium andseeing the light at the end – the inside ofthe stadium, where my Olympic careerwould begin. I was not prepared for thefeeling I had walking into the stadium,one of excitement, intense pride, and alsoof gratitude, to everyone who had got methis far. I found it difficult at timespreparing for an individual event in thebuild-up to the Games, and without anamazing team of friends around me Iwould never have made it onto the piste,so to them I am eternally grateful,especially those at Churchill who helpedme try and balance training and workingwith some success throughout exam termwithout ever losing my way.

The actual day of the event is now a blur,but my clearest memory and one that willstay with me forever is walking out to thepiste where I would compete, seeing myfamily and friends in the stands andknowing that this was it, the biggestmoment of my career so far. I rememberenjoying it for a split second – just longenough to savour before getting back tothe job in hand. In many ways I had beentrying to tell myself that this would be justanother competition, and in some ways itwas, but just for a second, as I saw thefive rings emblazoned on the floor, I reallyfelt the magic that sets the Olympicsapart from anything else on the planet.

I fenced well, and although I lost I amproud of my performance; I gave iteverything I had, never gave up, andfinally lost to someone who is a greatfencer. One of my goals was to comeback with no regrets, and although Iobviously regret losing, I know there was

nothing else I could have done in thebuild-up to the event, and that is thething that helped me to pick myself upafter the Games.

The rest of my time in Beijing is alsosomething of a blur, but I rememberthinking the day after the event that fouryears is a very long time and I have agreat chance to do something special inthat period. I am now more determinedthan ever to take that opportunity andhave a much better chance in London.

Alex O’Connell3rd Year, Classics

I arrived at theOlympic Village onAugust 7th and was lucky enough to attend theOpening Ceremony.

The 2008 Olympics – my view

ABOVE Alex – the only representative offencing in team GB

7THE CHURCHILL 2009

We have twoespecially strongreasons for doing so:first, many Churchillalumni live inAmerica; secondly,scores of ChurchillScholars have beensponsored by theChurchill Foundationin the fifty years sinceit was established. We keep in touch withboth constituencies.

So in November 2008 the Master, Sharon Maurice and I, as a Fellow of theCollege, flew to New York. While mycolleagues made contact withChurchillians and others (including awhistle-stop trip to Washington to meet anexisting benefactor to the College), I hadthe task of delivering a couple of talks.

The first was given to a small group ofChurchill alumni and influential allies ofthe College in the magnificent library ofthe Metropolitan Club. Arranged bySharon, assisted by Eliza White ofCambridge in America, we had dinnerthere thanks to the generosity of amember and good friend of the College,Karl Albert Senn. Thus we inauguratedwhat is envisaged as an annual series ofChurchill reunions in the USA. They willbe addressed by different Fellows, whowill keep alumni in touch with theintellectual and social life of the College. I gave the first talk because I have justhad a book published by Knopf on asubject which we hoped would interestour audience, relating as it does to thepresent state of America – The Declineand Fall of the British Empire. It seemedto do so and the evening was one of rare conviviality.

So was the second dinner, this one at theHarvard Club. It was presided over byPatrick Gerschel, President of theChurchill Foundation, and attended bysome thirty Churchill Scholars as well asby John Loeb Jr (Chairman) and PeterPatrikis (Executive Director). One of theScholars, Eugene Katz, who as a youngman wrote a paper with Francis Crick,

told me what a life-changing and career-making experience coming to Churchillhad been for him – he often returns toCambridge. Plainly Churchill Scholarshave achieved in science the samedegree of academic distinction asRhodes Scholars have in the field ofliberal arts.

My talk was entitled “The Wit andWisdom of Winston Churchill” and I triedto sort out the authentic from theapocryphal. I finished with an entirelygenuine vignette, discovered in theChurchill Archives Centre. Sir Winstonpreached that in science, as in much else,Anglo-American collaboration was thekey – as Watson and Crick wouldclassically demonstrate. Churchillsummed up his gospel in a simple,familiar slogan penned on a signedphotograph of himself sent to LewDouglas, US ambassador to the UK andone of those responsible for theFoundation. It’s a motto not only for its50th anniversary and for our bridge-building exercise, but for the ages:“United we stand. Divided we fall.”

Piers BrendonFellow and Former Keeper of the Archives

Building the Transatlantic BridgeA man that hath friends must show himself friendly and the same goes for institutions. Sir Winston

Churchill, himself an Anglo-American, was the embodiment of the special relationship with the

United States. And the College he founded has always built bridges across the Atlantic.

LEFT Piers outside the Archives he used to Keep

8 THE CHURCHILL 2009

A range of speakers examined manydifferent facets of Britain’s other trans-Atlantic relationship: Professor David Dilksemphasised Canada’s contribution duringthe Second World War, Dr JackGranatstein challenged the notion of aspecial military relationship post 1945, andformer Churchill Fellow, Dr Maria Tippett,told the story of the famous Karsh portraitof Sir Winston. The day reunited LordHowe, British Foreign Secretary underMargaret Thatcher, with former CanadianPremier and Minister for ExternalRelations, Joe Clark, while prominentCanadian politician, Bill Graham, andBritish statesman, Lord Carrington,contributed much to the panel discussions.The day finished with a wide ranging

discussion between our man in Ottawa,British High Commissioner Anthony Cary,and Canada’s man in London, HighCommissioner James Wright.

The day was staged in association withthe Canadian High Commission, andcould not have taken place without thesupport of James Wright and hiscolleagues, especially the unflappableJennifer Barbarie. There was support fromthe Canadian Government, the AireyNeave Trust, and the three Canadianprovinces of Alberta, Ontario and Quebec,including some wonderful ice wine fromthe High Commission, and some maplesyrup from Ontario to help sweetenproceedings. Such patronage enabled usto follow the conference with a dinner inthe College’s main dining hall, against thebackdrop of the Canadian white birchflooring and the red cedar panelling.

This event allowed the Archives Centre toshowcase some of the Canadian materialin its holdings, and to further develop its

role as a forum for debate, discussionand analysis. It is often forgotten that theCollege is also the CommonwealthMemorial to Sir Winston, making it mostappropriate that it should host aconference that often returned to thetheme of the changing nature ofCommonwealth relationships.

In early December the Centre also co-hosted a one-day conference at theGrocers’ Hall in London on “TheMonetary Merry-Go-Round”, a study ofinternational monetary instability since1968. Our partners, the City firm,Lombard Street Research, secured PaulVolcker, former Chairman of the USFederal Reserve under President Reagan.The highlight of the day was a dialoguebetween Volcker and Peter Jay placingthe current “credit- crunch” in the contextof other recent economic tremors.

We were tremendously encouraged when the Governing Body of the Collegerecently elected Sir Martin Gilbert to an Honorary Fellowship. No one hasdone more to promote the Archives, aswill be explained in a special article for

The Churchill Review.

Details of future Archives Centre events, including a conference on theCold War planned for 18–19 November2009, will be available from the Centre’s web pages at:http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/.

Allen PackwoodDirector of the Archives

News from the Archives

the other specialrelationshipOn the 21st of October 2008,

the Archives Centre hosted a

special one-day conference

looking at Anglo-Canadian

relations in the modern era.

LEFT Professor Margaret MacMillan closesthe Canadian Conference

9THE CHURCHILL 2009

As a first year historian and first yeargeographer, before matriculating atCambridge last October, we were quitesurprised to hear that the vice of insularitywas a criticism often levelled againststudents of the University. Nonetheless,references to “the Cambridge bubble”became commonplace within days of ourFreshers’ week, and with the jam-packedeight-week terms, the homely comforts ofa small university town, and a drivingfocus on work, it became quite easy tocomprehend on what basis this criticismwas founded. Digging a little deeper,however, we realised that there’s a wholenetwork of hugely active studentinvolvement and engagement with thepressing issues of our world, and it didn’ttake us long to jump straight in.

That’s how we discovered and began ourvolunteer work with Kenya EducationPartnerships (KEP). It’s a charity that isentirely student-run, and was set up bygraduates from the University back in the1990s. Each year it recruits 10 volunteerproject workers from Cambridge, and 10from Oxford, in order to continue meetingthe charity’s mission – giving the gift ofeducation to some of the mostunderprivileged schools in Kisii, an area inthe rural highlands of Kenya.

With the Kenyan government providingvery little for the schools, the studentsthere suffer from an under-resourcededucation, with barely enough teachers,let alone books or equipment.

From the very fact of studying atCambridge, we are in a position both tounderstand the meaning of a privileged

education, and, having studied thedeveloping world and the challenges itfaces, to push against the boundaries ofthe privileges we enjoy; this is somethingwe really feel connected to.

Next summer, then, we’ll be going out toKenya, with £750 each that we will havefundraised, to work in partnership with aKenyan school. Our ten-week stay, with amember of the local community, will bespent determining the resources in whichwe will invest the money, and thenensuring that this gets done in themanner which will most benefit theschool. That means investing in books, inorder to create a library for the school,science equipment, so that practicallessons can be taught, and sports andmusic equipment. We hope to set up anumber of clubs to engage the studentsthere with their education, both sportingand academic, as well as setting up anumber of awareness programmes todeal with the endemic AIDS problem that afflicts the area. The idea of a future,whilst it’s something we take for grantedand are very well informed about, oftenfeels way out of reach for Kenyanstudents. As such, we’d like to establishsome post-school careers seminars as well.

It certainly looks set to be a very busysummer then! We’re both hugely excitedby the challenge and also really inspiredby the fact that we can offer the gift ofimproved education to this community,hopefully sharing some of what we’velearnt from our very privileged “Cambridgebubble”, and certainly bringing many ofour experiences back to Churchill!

Jenny Jones and Helen Makreath1st Year, History and 1st Year, Geography

If you’d like to find out more about thisproject, please contact Jenny and Helenon jlj36@cam.ac.uk, they’d love to hearfrom you. If you’d like to check out theirfundraising page, it can be found atwww.justgiving.com/jennyjonesKEP

Churchill in Kenya: studentsbreaking theboundaries of privilege

ABOVE The assembled school

ABOVE LEFT Pupils get on top of the newtext books

ABOVE RIGHT A daisy wheel

10 THE CHURCHILL 2009

When something goesbadly wrong all toorarely do the socialtribe admit collectiveguilt; instead theyhunt the scapegoat.

There have been several candidates sofar. The first attacked were the creditrating agencies, such as Moody’s andStandard & Poors. In September 2007EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevyblamed them for their conflicts of interestand poor methodologies; ECB PresidentJean-Claude Trichet joined in. Then thehunt switched to the regulators,particularly after Northern Rock had to bebailed out by the Government. It wasunusual and refreshing, therefore, towitness the Financial Services Authoritypublish two internal reports criticisingitself for frequent changes in senior staff,inadequate review and discussion offindings, and failure to engage properlywith Northern Rock. Now it’s bankexecutives, with their large bonuses, andthe non-executive directors, alleged tohave failed in corporate governance.

Who actually is to blame forwhat happened and what needsto be done to limit the possibilityof it happening again?The truth is, we should all have seen itcoming. Large trade surpluses in Chinaand the Gulf generated huge foreign

exchange reserves, typically invested in USTreasury bonds and Eurobonds, leading toinflated credit in the global financialsystem and lowering of real interest rates.Hence an extension of credit around theworld. Simultaneously, investors soughthigher yields and financial institutionscreated ever more imaginative“instruments”. Financial activity exploded.Examples: the value of outstanding creditdefault swaps increased from almostnothing in 2000 to over US$60 trillion in2007; gearing by financial companiesincreased tenfold between 1987 and2007; household debt doubled.

Our global institutions, governments andmany economists seemed content toallow these agreeably high levels ofeconomic growth to continue. And themedia, usually so quick to criticise, didn’tblow the whistle either. In Greek tragedythis is called hubris.

What of the regulators? A major problem is that our financialcompanies have become global, whereasfinancial regulators are predominantlynational, each with its own structures,methodologies and philosophy. In the US,different parts of the financial sectorhave different regulators and there is aninsurance regulator in each State. In theUK, there is just one, the FSA, and inmany other countries, such as China,there are three. French, Germans andChinese are prescriptive, their regulationis rules-based, whereas the US is liberaland flexible. In The Age of Turbulence,before the crisis was fully recognised,Alan Greenspan wrote “Public sectorsurveillance is no longer up to the task”and “We have no sensible choice otherthan to let markets work”.

I was concerned to read this. Because ofthe complexity of financial markets, thecapabilities of financial regulators toprovide oversight have indeed diminished

Lessons from the financial crisis

Who’s to blame?

BELOW The well known pop group WillShake on the road in South Africa 1964

FAR RIGHT On the road in London 2006

11THE CHURCHILL 2009

in recent years, but regulators areappointed by governments to protectpeople and to protect economies fromsystemic failure, as well as fraud.

So what needs to be done by regulators?The priority must be to prevent hardship,yet not driven by short term politicalexpedience or at the expense of longterm remedies. At the time of writing, theG20 London Summit in April 2009 willprovide an opportunity to advance somebasic propositions. Anything toocomplicated or prescriptive will not work.There are as many views globally aboutthe form and manner of regulation asthere are faiths and when do you thinkthere will ever be one world religion?

So:• Give encouragement to a world body

to monitor trends and influence national governments

• Establish a global College of Regulatorsto share best practice, clarifyresponsibilities and ensure bettercommunication between regulators

• Develop a set of principles (not rules)for best practice, based on improvedrisk assessment and management,closer relations between regulators andthose regulated, and recruitment ofhigher calibre staff

• Reject the laissez-faire approachrepresented by “We have no sensiblechoice other than to let markets work”

• Encourage regulators to be moreinterventionist by requesting directors offinancial institutions to stop excessivelyrisky activities. Regulators need tocontrol the shadow banking system (butnot by mere box ticking)

• Review accounting rules to ensure thatarrangements to remove potential risksfrom balance sheets are properlycommunicated, but don’t turn the clockback on “mark to market”, since thatwould hide the truth and delude thosewho rely on corporate reports.

• Most countries, China and Gulf Statesexcepted, need to reduce debt andencourage savings.

What needs to be done bycompanies and their directors?Over the last decade, retail banks havemerged with investment banks andbecome hugely innovative, partly drivenby high remuneration and bonuses.“Instruments” have become exceedinglycomplex. In 2002 Warren Buffet warnedthat “derivatives are financial weapons ofmass destruction, carrying dangers that,while now latent, are potentiallydangerous”. So it has proved.

So:• Change remuneration systems to

emphasise risk assessment andmanagement, but preserving innovation

• Better support non-executive directors,so they perform their job better. Theyneed comprehensive information aboutnew business areas, acquisitions,potential risks and plans to innovate.Experience teaches that things can gowrong when an enthusiastic ChiefExecutive is not subject to challengefrom a strong Chairman and aninformed Board. In the US, they need toseparate the roles of Chief Executiveand independent Chairman. The ChiefFinancial Officer should be moreindependent of the Chief Executive, forexample by reporting jointly to theindependent Chairman, who should beinvolved in selection and in jointlyassessing performance. Non-executivesshould have dedicated corporatesupport to advise on particular issuesand to provide independent valuationsof major proposals

• Non-executives should not take on somany directorships that they cannotdevote adequate time to the boards theysit on, and they need paying properly.

• Credit rating agencies must ensure thatconflicts of interest are managed andthat they are seen to be independent.(Attacks on these agencies arereminiscent of the attacks on auditorssome 10 years ago – and remedieswere devised in my profession thatgovernment, investors andcommentators have found satisfactory.)

A final thought.From the days when “my word is mybond” was common parlance, in Londonwe have prided ourselves on our integrity.As in medicine, a high standard of ethicsis the bedrock of professionalism inbanking, share dealing and trading. Oneoutcome of the crisis may be greaterawareness of such values in the globalfinancial system. We need to re-discoverAdam Smith’s concept of sociallyresponsible capitalism. This is a debate inwhich we should all be engaged – nothunting for scapegoats.

Sir John StuttardU63, Economics

[Sir John Stuttard is a Vice Chairman ofPricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Board,former Lord Mayor and author ofWhittington to World Financial Centre –The City of London and its Lord Mayor.The views expressed in this article are hisown and not necessarily those of PwC].

As most people reading this article will beaware, we enjoy one of the biggestcollegiate sites in Cambridge, if not thebiggest, at forty-two acres. We have asmall but friendly and dedicated team ofmyself, four gardeners, two groundsmenand one part-timer.

The gardens were originally laid out forfoliage and form and definitely not for theannual bedding plants that feature inmany other colleges. The choice of plantsin the 1960’s was a lot more limited thantoday and the landscape architects at thetime chose only a handful of plant speciesand repeated them regularly around thesite. After over forty years the plants havepassed their best and become over-mature, so we have been carrying out alot of re-design and planting, embracingthe original ethos but bringing it up todate. It is important that all gardenscontinue to change and develop; they areliving things and any living thing that stopsdeveloping will eventually die.

One of the tasks that we undertookrecently was to complete a tree inventory

to see what trees we had on site, theircondition and whether they weredonated. We are fortunate in having avery tree-rich site with almost 600 treesof varying age, so we won’t end up withthem all maturing at the same time. Ofthe 600, thirty-three donors have givenone or more. In October 2009 it will befifty years since Sir Winston Churchillplanted the famous oak and mulberrytrees, and we are hoping that hisdaughter, Lady Soames, DBE, will plant atree on the same day to mark theoccasion. We have a couple of locationsin mind and I’m consulting the HeadGardener at Chartwell to ascertainwhether Sir Winston had a particularlyfavourite tree there that we could plant.

Last summer I was asked by BBC RadioCambridgeshire if I could give a fifteen-minute interview about the Collegegardens for their Sunday morninggardening programme. I did this and therecording has now been deposited in theCollege Archives. Since then I’ve beenback as a panellist on the two-hourgardening show on Sunday mornings;

anyone can phone in or e-mail questionson any gardening topic. There is nowarning of the questions, and whenyou’re live on air you have to think veryquickly! I thoroughly enjoyed theexperience, though, and have agreed tocontinue on a regular basis.

Earlier this year we applied to theNational Garden Scheme to see if wecould open our grounds and gardensunder their umbrella. We had to undergoan inspection by the person responsiblefor the Cambridge area to ensure thatours were kept at a high enoughstandard of maintenance and that therewould be sufficient interest for those whovisited. During the inspection I was askedmany questions and a lot of forms had tobe completed. It was therefore extremelyheartening to be told that they would loveto include us in their famous “YellowBook”. We will be opening twice a year,on 19th April and 19th July 2009, and byappointment outside those dates,excluding 20th April – 20th June. All themoney we raise from gate fees will go tothe various National Garden Schemecharities, including the profits from teas,which will go to Help the Hospice.

No article about the College groundswould be complete without mentioningGraham Pledger, the Deputy Head ofGrounds & Gardens. Graham is thelongest serving member of staff in theCollege. He started in March 1964 as agroundsman and is aiming to complete 50years’ service. Not many people will knowthat Graham worked on the site before theCollege was built, when it was a cornfield.He used to drive a tractor up and downthe field during his school holidays.

If you haven’t been for a walk around thegardens in recent years, it is well worthwhile (even if I am likely to be biased!).So why not come on one of our opendays and support the charity?

John Moore(Head of Grounds & Gardens)

12 THE CHURCHILL 2009

Grounds and GardensThe grounds and gardens at Churchill College are an extremely

important feature of the College: they set the buildings off and

give plenty of green space for people to relax in or play sport.

LEFT The team minus Graham (probablybehind the tractor)

13THE CHURCHILL 2009

On any A-list of institutions

playing for Britain, the Beeb

must be up there with Oxbridge

and Rolls-Royce aeroengines.

Anne Morrison (U78) is one of

the pilots flying that huge

jumbo which is the Beeb.

Ed.: Anne, how did you get there?

Anne: By starting early. Before I came upto Churchill to read English I had a GapYear, so I listed the places I’d like to workfor in my home town, Belfast, and wrote toall of them. This led to more than I’dexpected. The first acceptance was froman independent arts and politics magazine,Fortnight. What I hadn’t expected was thatthere I met my future husband, the poetRobert Johnstone. So poetry rushed intomy Gap Year even before I started onEnglish. Then I went to a work placementat BBC Belfast. This involved gettinginside a Dalek and frightening children atthe local Ideal Home Exhibition, with noinkling that I was enjoying an unusuallyintimate anticipation of what it wouldeventually be like to have an indirectresponsibility for Doctor Who.

Ed.: Fun and games! And in the midst ofthe Troubles.

Anne: Yes. They started when I was about8 and I first became aware of themthrough TV. I remember thinking Belfastmust be an important place, because forthe first time, there we were on the box.When I walked down the office corridorsduring my placement I felt a thrill to beclose to the heart of the news operation.Belfast was so isolated through the 70sand 80s. Few bands or theatre groupsvisited from England. Even the high streetbrands avoided us. The BBC was awindow on the world.

Ed.: When the Gods toured Ireland with acouple of plays in 1973, starting inBelfast, that’s exactly what people said.They thanked us simply for coming.

Anne: That’s why I’m so committed towhat I’m doing now. I’m in charge of ourstrategy to break out of London and buildup centres of production in NorthernIreland, Wales and Scotland. We’re movingsome of our long-running programmessuch as Casualty, Crimewatch andWeakest Link to those centres to makethem creatively sustainable. This willenrich our programming, as well asliterally enriching the places where theprogrammes are made. Only the BBC hasthe scale needed to achieve this.

Ed.: A pity our national newspapers don’tdo the same. How did Cambridge strikeyou after your Gap Year?

Anne: It was magic, and not like thestereotype – at least not at Churchill. Youdid meet the English upper classes, butChurchill was so mixed. One of my bestfriends came from what might nowinsultingly be called a bog standard compin Billericay, another was engaged to aPolish political refugee, and we gotinvolved with everything. The founders ofMull Little Theatre, the Heskeths, wereFellow Commoners then and I was in their

production of The Insect Play, I touredprimary schools with a Gods production inMay Week, directed Twelfth Night, and soon. Churchill was pioneering CambridgeUniversity Radio from a cellar in StoreysWay and I got involved with that too. WhenI again listed the places I’d like to work in,it’s not surprising the BBC came top.

Ed.: So a great Gap Year carried on at Cambridge.

Anne: You could say that, and still does. I first became a series producer withCrime Watch, helping to catch villains andput them inside, and the police loved theBeeb for that; then I did Rough Justice,helping to get people out who had beenput inside wrongly, and they weren’t soenthusiastic. But both series were aboutjustice. You have to make programmesthat are entertaining and have a purposeand, across the schedule as a whole, foreveryone, from Yours Indignant ofTunbridge Wells to, well, Billericay andBelfast. I think Churchill was doingsomething like that in university educationwhen I was here.

Anne MorrisonU78, EnglishController, Network Production, BBC

From Belfast to the Beeb and back again

via Churchill

ABOVE Anne prepares to frighten the children

LEFT Anne listens to a listener c. 1980

14 THE CHURCHILL 2009

During October 2007,the exhibition,‘Thinking throughArchitecture: theChurchill CollegeCompetition’, exploredthe architecturalbeginnings of the College.

The exhibition highlighted the specialplace the competition holds in architecturalhistory by heralding the beginning of adecade of new concepts in academicarchitecture. And as Mark Goldie noted inhis booklet that accompanied theexhibition, although the design was notquite the first Modernist breakthrough, “it was much the most significant”.

In keeping with this remarkablearchitectural legacy, another equallychallenging competition has been held to build on this heritage, both literally and metaphorically.

A new 60-unit student accommodationproject is planned that will serve theaccommodation needs of the College forthe next 20 years for Advanced Students,Undergraduates and Fellows. The buildingwill be situated near the West Court,allowing for a new relationship betweenthe existing architecture, Møller Centre

and sports fields. The original Collegebuildings reflected the values andaspirations of education in the post-Warperiod; the new project intends to do thesame but with respect to theenvironmental imperatives of our time.

An eight-strong list of carefully chosenfirms were invited to submit designs. A short-list of the most interesting wasthen selected to develop their schemes.Amongst these were the well establishedDutch practice MVRDV and the StirlingPrize winners Feilden Clegg BradleyStudios. But it was an up-and-comingpractice, 6a Architects, who saw off thecompetition to secure the project.

6a Architects was founded by TomEmerson and Stephanie Macdonald in2001, after they met as students at theRoyal College of Art, London. Since thenthe practice has produced work on avariety of scales, from product and

Building for the FutureThe 50th anniversary of the foundation of Churchill College is an opportunity to lookforward as well as back.

15THE CHURCHILL 2009

exhibition design to large-scale housingdevelopments. Their previous work onSavile Row has been recognised as asignificant and innovative development inretail design. More recent projects includea mixed-use development in Croatia, theconversion and extension of a formermilitary building into eight contemporaryhouses in Fife, a summer pavilion for theArchitecture Foundation in London and acontemporary art gallery, in Spitalfields,East London.

On winning the competition, Tomexpressed his excitement at the prospectof working with the College: “This is areally important commission for us. It willbe our first UK new build and the Collegeis steeped in architectural heritage.”

It is this engagement with the inheriteddesign that makes the project soappealing to the firm. As Stephaniesuggests, “The existing architecture issuch a strong starting point, a series oflow, mineral, closely connected courtyardbuildings with an emphasis on the studentrelationships it fosters; with their large baywindows and rooms grouped around astaircase”. Yet, rather than proposing apastiche of the existing design, andalthough the practice have stayed close inscale and form to the original, in those

respects deciding on a doppelganger, thiswill be a double that, as they are clear topoint out, “inverts the qualities of theoriginal by bringing a new lightness to thecollege typology”. Stephanie continues,“Externally the new timber building willappear pale and floating slightly above theground – a response to the open flatnessand soft light of the Cambridgelandscape, and the new courtyard is filledwith a birch forest which works seasonallyas shading.”

The firm will follow the inheritedCambridge model by keeping thecirculation vertical, with no corridors. Theypropose having a staircase and lift in eachcorner, with large, irregular landings whichwill extend the circulation into informalmeeting places; these will look into thecourtyard. The four staircases will benearly identical, but each differentiated bya unique material in the handrail,ironmongery and signage: either ceramic,dark bronze, brushed or polished stainlesssteel. The distinction between staircaseswill be subtle and tactile.

It is this sensitivity to materials and designat the level of the individual user whichinforms the overall plan of the scheme byreferring to the landscape and contextaround it. And in so doing it will be an

environmentally sustainable building whichsubtly retains continuity with the College’sarchitectural history.

Barry Phipps

Fellow & Interdisciplinary Fellow

at Kettle’s Yard

Corbusier comes to Cambridge: post-wararchitecture and the competition to buildChurchill College by Mark Goldie, price£6.95 plus p&p from the DevelopmentOffice at Development@chu.cam.ac.uk

FAR LEFT A future academic grove

ABOVE Steph and Tom, architectural foresters

BELOW Social landing 2nd Floor

16 THE CHURCHILL 2009

My appetite for churches was insatiable;no ecclesiastical building was safe frommy probings. Eventually I went intotherapy for the mania by becomingProfessor of the History of the Church inthe University of Oxford. Now the BBCare contributing further to rehab by givingme my own TV series on the history ofChristianity, having got wind of the factthat Penguin had commissioned a bookfrom me on that very theme. Six episodes,each an hour long: it will have takenaround two years to get these to yourlaptops, at the rate of around five minuteson screen for each twelve hours oflocation shooting.

And it has been the most glorious fun: thebiggest road movie ever (in the admittedlylimited horizons of ecclesiasticalhistorians): crawling the churches of theworld at your expense, dear license-payers.The drawback is that we get up early, butas a result, we have some of the mostmemorable places in the world entirely toourselves. Think of the Grand Mosque ofDamascus, the Church of the HolySepulchre in Jerusalem or the Forest ofStelae in Xi’an entirely free of tourists.

The Holy Sepulchre, occupied by half adozen different Christian Churches andtherefore a menagerie of Christianpettiness, offered particular entertainmentat six in the morning, when two rivalEucharists started up on opposite faces ofthe shrine of the Empty Tomb. One wasRoman Catholic, with sixty devout youngMexicans and full organ, the other wasCoptic Egyptian, with six of the faithful. Ihave to say that the Copts put up themore spirited performance, chanting withancient vigour, particularly at anyparticularly solemn and hushed momentsin the Catholic Mass. And the Copts’ finesthour was when their censer-bearer sweptround the shrine, vigorously shaking histhurible (as you do) and sent a densecloud of Miaphysite incense straight intothe middle of the heretical Catholics.

But we were not always mere witnesses oftrouble. We provoked a riot in rural centralChina as we attempted to film someputative eighth-century Christian sculpturesin the inaccessible upper storeys of amagnificent pagoda. The Chinesegovernment were very excited by ourpresence (they are very keen on religion

these days, with the exception of the FalunGong) and had erected scaffolding so wecould climb up and film the rarities. Butthey had not reckoned with the localBuddhist villagers, who have used the siteas a Buddhist temple for centuries, and arelocked in a bitter dispute about it with theauthorities. The day before our arrival, localold ladies got up a working-party and spenta happy afternoon sabotaging thescaffolding with wire-cutters. As we drovein, we met a large stroppy crowd, completewith Buddhist temple hastily constructedout of a tent, broadcasting aggressiveBuddhist music over loudspeakers todisrupt our work. Undaunted, we retreatedto film on the hillside above, but our effortsto climb the pagoda were scotched by thefearsome old grannies of the village. Theythreatened our expedition with tent-polesand vile Buddhist abuse. Fascinatingly, theParty officials appeared helpless anddeeply embarrassed: we were witnessingone of those extraordinary moments inhistory when a great autocracy falters in itscontrol of its people. So we sped on ourway, along with the Party – and we had thewhole kerfuffle on film, so bugger thesculptures. Ranting old persons of theworld, unite!

Actually, foul-mouthed elderly femaleagriculturalists of the Middle Kingdomexcepted, the names of both the BBC andOxford University repeatedly won localgoodwill and smiles of recognition. It is clearthat Inspector Morse and the chimes of BigBen are staple fare among the remotesttribespeople. And the camerawork of theseries is quite stunning; so look out for it,autumn 2009, BBC4 then BBC2. On DVDat any good bookshop.

Diarmaid MacCullochU69, History

Diarmaid MacCulloch

On location in holy places

When I was a little boy, my parents took me out looking at old

churches – but soon they realised that they had bred a monster.

ABOVE The Professor of Church History asagent of insurrection

17THE CHURCHILL 2009

I came here in 1990 asFellow in German. Irecall the day of myinterview for the job,sitting under a treeup on the playingfield to gather mythoughts, and havingsuch a good sense ofthe open space of theCollege. This issomething that hasstayed with me overthe years since.Churchill has room tomove and breathe,also in its academicand social culture.

Turning 50Having turned 50 just ahead of Churchill, it seems an apt time

for me to take stock of the years that the College and I have

spent together.

ABOVE Andrew Webber shares a birthdaywith a national memorial

I am pleased to say that the same cangenerally be said of my subject area, andcertainly at Churchill. The last twentyyears have seen considerable changes inthe disciplinary landscape of ModernLanguages, as indeed of all Humanitiessubjects. We have had to respond tochanges in school-level teaching, butmany of the innovations are not reactive,but have grown out of a desire on thepart of University teachers to explore newterritories and techniques in research and teaching.

A key development, and one close to myheart, is the extending of dialoguesbetween disciplines. Modern Languageshas always fostered conversations acrossborders, and in recent years its opennessto a variety of interests has increased. Amain area of growth, and one with whichI have been closely involved, is the studyof film. Mistaken by some as an ‘easyoption’, it has the potential to be as richand intellectually stretching as any more established field of human inquiry.In my own writing, such as my new bookon Berlin, I like to explore interactionsbetween literature, film, and other media,and to do so in ways that draw uponother systems of thought, withpsychoanalysis as a particular interest. Of course, interdisciplinary work can have its cherry-picking dangers, but thefruit of thinking that is closed within asingle disciplinary framework can riskbeing stunted.

The University has recognised theimportance of cross-disciplinary thinkingin spearheading work in the Humanitiesby establishing the Centre for Researchin Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities.Its acronym, CRASSH, may suggest adisaster scenario, but in fact it is a centreof cultural vitality and growth for theHumanities in Cambridge and beyond. In2009-10 I look forward to acting asDirector of the Centre, standing in for thecurrent Director, and Fellow of Churchill,Professor Mary Jacobus. It seemssuitable that CRASSH and Churchill, withits open and enquiring culture, should beinvolved in this way. In the time that Ihave taught at Churchill, I have had bothfirst-rate colleagues, who share myaspirations for the fields of study thatcome together in Modern Languages,and excellent, intellectually adventurousstudents. Several of these have gone onto postgraduate work, and indeedbecome avid users of CRASSH. It hasbeen a great pleasure to see the subjectflourishing close to home in this way.

Andrew WebberFellow

Andrew Webber author of Berlin in the Twentieth Century: A CulturalTopography. published by CambridgeUniversity Press.

18 THE CHURCHILL 2009

It was the best oftimes; it was theworst of times. The era of women’sliberation, sexualfreedom, socialreform, the Beatlesand the ‘white hottechnologicalrevolution’ producedboth an extraordinaryvitality and thehubris of the 1960s.

John Kennedy, Che Guevara and PopeJohn XXIII were amongst the iconicfigures of those progressive times. Yet, in1968, the Vietnam War was dailysplattered across our screens, the PragueSpring of communist liberalisation wascrushed by Soviet tanks, whilst riots,strikes and general turmoil envelopedFrance and brought down General DeGaulle. But we were not simplyspectators at an historical drama; manyof us felt we were, in our own Churchillway, amongst the actors or evenprotagonists in this age of reform.

We were the post-war baby-boomers atUniversity, breathing the oxygen of radicalchange; and Churchill College, then themost modern of modern Colleges in the

ancient university, was emblematic of thedecade. We held to a fervent belief thatthe College was different – theunremitting pursuit of academicexcellence, yes, especially in the sciencesubjects, but with a quite distinctive ethosand style. As I remember it, possiblyromanticised with the passage of time,we continually sought to be the antithesisof stuffy tradition in a pompous andarrogant collegiate culture. The aspirationwas for an adult, self-disciplinedenvironment gradually rid of all thehistoric petty restraints like gate hours,gowns, and exeats. In fact Churchill wasalready an establishment without theregular walls or gates and there was anoverwhelming feeling that rules ought notto apply here and consequently all rulesand all traditions were to be tested.Everything was ‘why?’

On a ticket with Edward Libbey asSecretary, I was elected JCR President inMarch 1968 with a manifesto goal, thatwas shared by the Senior Tutor, DickTizard, and many of the Fellows, to fostera greater sense of community in theCollege, to break down the barriersbetween senior and junior members andto tackle the dangerous isolation of themore reticent newcomers. Whilst wepushed for and secured a final decisionfrom the Governing Body in favour of theadmission of women to the College, ourkey objective was to bring studentparticipation in the governance of theCollege through representation by righton the College Council and itssubordinate committees. The voluble andpatronising opposition to this modestproposal (in the revolutionary context ofthe university world) on the part of thethen Vice-Master provoked anunprecedented JCR referendum, whichproduced an unequivocal demand fromover 90% of Churchill undergraduates forstudent representation. And so it came to

Churchill JCR across the decades

The exciting Sixties

19THE CHURCHILL 2009

pass – and the objective was achieved ina single year.

There was a real sense that as studentsat Churchill we were pioneers in apioneering college. Put simply, webelieved in the College and in itsdistinctive approach that was so

manifestly in tune with the progressivedecade in which we lived.

Nevertheless, despite this extraordinarysense of being part of a very specialeducational institution, I have to admit thebanal truth that a substantial part of JCRCommittee time was taken up in aperpetual war with the Domestic Bursarover issues like the state of the Butteryand the broken glasses on the morningafter the night before, the use andmisuse of the Pavilion, the condition ofthe bicycle shed, and the dire quality ofCollege food. Indeed one complete wallof my room was papered with dozens ofofficious missives I had received from thesaid Domestic Bursar, usually beginning“Dear Filochowski, It has been brought tomy attention that….”

But 40 years on, perhaps othersremember differently? I imagine that Churchill JCR today in the‘noughties’ is very different from andmuch more professional than our bestefforts in the sixties. But I do wonder ifthere is the same pride and the sameexcitement that we felt.

Julian Filochowski U66, Mathematics/Economics and JCR President 1968–69

1986: the year Spain and Portugalentered the EU, the Today newspaperwas launched (remember that?), whenthe “Hand of Maradona” won Argentinathe World Cup for the second time, whenAndrew and Fergie got married,Desmond Tutu was elected the first blackbishop in South Africa, Big Banghappened in the City of London, MikeTyson won his first world title – and Ibecome JCR President at ChurchillCollege. It was a hotly contested election,including campaigning, canvassing and amemorable hustings in the bar, althoughnow I’m afraid I cannot exactly remembermy manifesto pledges.

But now I had the job, with all thetrappings of high office, namely, er, atelephone in my room.

What were the big issues of theday? Were there rent strikes (asthere had been in the ‘70s I believe)and did we make a difference?Well, life at Churchill in the ‘80s wasreally not too hard. We still had studentgrants (albeit small ones) and theGovernment still paid our fees (under

pressure). Everyone lived in College and(if we were being honest) the rents werenot that high and the bills not ruinous.

Of course there were issues to grapplewith – whether to give all the CCRbudget to the Boat Club (as they wouldhave liked) or let some of the other clubshave a little bit, how to improve food inCollege Hall (although we were all reallyquite fond of the amazingly unhealthy butundeniably cheap “B” meals), how toensure Pleasure Machine was allowed tocontinue the Thursday night “Pav” disco,how to make sure “Winston” had enoughsalacious gossip (yes it was us) andmany others.

For the Prez, there was also the dubiouspleasure of going to CUSU councilmeetings and listening to the pro-Israeliand pro-Palestinian members debatingpassionately for hours, the modifiedrapture of attending College Council,where our views were politely heard,considered and even, on occasion,adopted, and the great pleasure ofrallying the College against StudentLoans or, most importantly, providing the

team to make sure Churchill won the bedrace (again).

Seriously, I think the most important andenjoyable part of the job was trying tobring the College together through,amongst many other things, the parentingscheme for Freshers, joint JCR/MCRparties – and simply parties.

Happy days indeed.

Aidan CleggU85, Law and JCR President 1986–87

The affluent Eighties

FAR LEFT Insurrectionary students in the 60s

LEFT Julian: Bane of Bursars

ABOVE Aidan still looking happy

Points of contactAll phone numbers are area code 01223 (Overseas: +44 1223)

AccommodationT: +44 (0)1223 336083E: Alumni@chu.cam.ac.uk

(All Alumni and Past Fellows with internet access, are asked to request accommodation by visitingChurchillians.net at: http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/alumni and completing the online form. You will require ausername and password for this which can berequested from the Alumni Relations Office).

Alumni AssociationT: +44 (0)1223 336083E: Churchill.Association@chu.cam.ac.uk

Alumni Relations OfficerT: +44 (0)1223 336083E: Alumni@chu.cam.ac.uk

Archives CentreT: +44 (0)1223 336166E: Archives@chu.cam.ac.uk

Conference OfficeT: +44 (0)1223 336233E: Conferences@chu.cam.ac.uk

Development DirectorT: +44 (0)1223 336197E: Development@chu.cam.ac.uk

Development OfficerT: +44 (0)1223 331546E: Development@chu.cam.ac.uk

Churchill Review EditorT: +44 (0)1223 336083E: Review.Editor@chu.cam.ac.uk

Newsletter EditorT: +44 (0)1223 336083E: Newsletter.Editor@chu.cam.ac.uk

High Table BookingsT: +44 (0)1223 336083E: Alumni@chu.cam.ac.uk

(All Alumni with internet access, are asked to book their High Table by visiting Churchillians.net at http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/alumni and completing the online form. You will require a username andpassword for this which can be requested from the Alumni Relations Office).

Møller CentreT: +44 (0)1223 465500E: Reception.Moller@chu.cam.ac.uk

Porters’ LodgeT: +44 (0)1223 336000E: Head.Porter@chu.cam.ac.uk

Senior Tutor & Admissions TutorT: +44 (0)1223 336202E: Admissions@chu.cam.ac.uk

Tutor for Advanced StudentsT: +44 (0)1223 336157E: TAS@chu.cam.ac.uk

Alumni Events 2009NOW AVAILABLEThe new Email for Life forwarding service for all alumni & past Fellows. Visit www.churchillians.net to get your free email address now.

Every two monthsAlumni Association Pub Night: London.Old Bank of England at 194 Fleet Street,EC4 2LT. (Join the College E-Bulletin andAssociation mailing list by contactingalumni@chu.cam.ac.uk)

June 2009Alumni Cricket match.

4 July 2009Reunion Dinner for years 1995–1998inclusive.

5 July 2009Reunion Lunch for years 1964, 1974,1984, 1994, 2004.

16 August 2009 (TBC)Edinburgh Alumni Reception.

25 September 2009Association Wine Tasting*.

25 – 27 September 2009Churchill Association Weekend andUniversity Alumni Weekend.

26 September 2009 (TBC)The 3rd Annual Alumni Golf Day*.

26 September 2009The Association presents: Lectures*. Sir John Gurdon & Professor GeorgeSteiner.

26 September 2009Churchill Alumni Association Annual Dinner* and AGM.

20 November 2009Alumnae Reception for Churchill Womenwho matriculated in 82–87 inclusive.Invitations will be sent out in theMichaelmas Term.

30 November 2009Churchill College 50th AnniversaryLaunch Party.

5 December 2009Gala Dinner for all University Alumni800th anniversary, New York. ContactCambridge in America (www.cantab.org).

10 December 2009Reception for all University Alumni incelebration of the University’s 800thAnniversary, St Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco.

12 February 2010Churchill Springball.

21 April 2010Alumni Dinner at Trinity College, Oxford.

10 July 201050th Anniversary Summer Ball.

July 2010Reunion Dinner for years 1978, 1979,1980, 1981 & 1982.

19 June 201050th Anniversary Garden Party: furtherdetails to follow.

How to give to ChurchillThere are a number of ways to give to your College – a full list with further instructionscan be found at www.chu.cam.ac.uk/supporting/how_you_can_help.php.

• A single gift by cheque orcredit/debit card or via the CharitiesAid Foundation (CAF).

• A regular gift by Direct Debit orStanding Order.

• A gift of shares.• A gift of property.• A payroll gift and matching giving

via your employer.• A legacy.

*Bookings for these events should be made by following the booking procedure for the Association Weekend,Annual Dinner and AGM, accompanying this Newsletter.

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

For advice on giving to Churchill College, further details on College funds or to receivea donation form, please contact the Development Office.