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KENT 

The Magazine for The University of Kent Spring 2005 No. 44

Welcome to the second issue of KENT which is a 

special 40th anniversary edition.We hope our brief 

look at the last four decades brings back a few 

memories – and tells you a few things you didn’t 

know about the University’s history. Don’t forget, 

any reminiscences about your time here are more 

than welcome. 

At the time of going to press, the 40th celebrations 

are well under way.The Service of Celebration at 

Canterbury Cathedral marked the start of the year’s 

events and Lord Puttnam has just given the first in 

the current series of Open Lectures. Preparations 

continue for the alumni weekend in April which looks 

set to be one of the highlights of the year with standup 

comedy by Jimmy Carr, and music by Hullabaloo, 

who are well-known on the UK jazz and blues 

circuit, and there will be countless opportunities to 

catch up with former staff and friends. 

We would like to say a big thank you to those 

who contacted us with your views on the first issue 

of KENT magazine.The opinions expressed were 

incredibly diverse.There were those who loved the 

new look – saying it was ‘brilliant’,‘terrific’ and ‘much 

more contemporary’. One person said this was the 

first time she had actually picked it up and read it! 

Others weren’t so sure, and found the design 

off-putting, and one or two said they preferred 

the old one. 

There were also a few comments from people who 

found the typeface we used hard to read on some of 

the pages. Please be assured we – and our designers, 

Third Eye Design – have taken this and the other 

comments very seriously.We hope this second issue 

reflects that but we would really appreciate your 

continuing feedback. 

Cover detail: Yellow 

submarine – an icon 

of the ’60s 

This edition of KENT 

celebrates the University’s 

40th anniversary. On 4 January 

1965 Queen Elizabeth the 

Second approved ‘an humble 

Petition’ from the Interim 

Committee of the Sponsors 

of the University of Kent at 

Canterbury to ‘constitute 

and found a University within 

Our City of Canterbury in 

Our County of Kent for the 

advancement of knowledge, 

the diffusion and extension 

of arts, sciences and learning, 

and the provision of 

liberal, professional and 

technological education.’ 

The Royal Charter prescribed 

that ‘the objects of the 

University shall be to advance 

science and learning by 

teaching and research and by 

the example and influence of 

its corporate life.’ 

In 40 years the University 

has become established as 

a significant institution 

in higher education – in 

Canterbury, at Medway, at 

Tonbridge, at Brussels, in Kent, 

its Euroregion and, indeed, 

internationally – but the 

Charter and the University’s 

‘objects’ remain unchanged. 

Design 

Third Eye Design 

Tel. 0141 332 3335 

www.thirdeyedesign.co.uk 

Printers 

Broglia Press 

Tel. 01202 621621 

Special thanks 

to Chris Lancaster and Lesley 

Farr in the University Print 

Unit; David Clark(R82); Karen 

Bayfield, Hilary Saunders, Gary 

Hughes in C&DO. Photographs 

by Robert Berry, Patrick Barth, 

Karen Bayfield, Eurotunnel, 

Helen Newing, Martin 

Levenson, David Clark. 

Editors 

Killara Burn and Posie Bogan 

Communications & 

Development Office 

University of Kent 

Canterbury CT2 7NZ 

Tel: 01227 824345/823581 

Fax: 01227 827912 

Email: 

kent-the-mag@kent.ac.uk 

www.kent.ac.uk/alumni 

KENT replaces the Kent 

Bulletin and is published in 

spring and autumn every year 

for alumni, staff and friends of 

the University of Kent. It is 

sent to all alumni worldwide 

who regularly update or 

confirm their contact details 

with us. 

KENT, the magazine for 

alumni, staff and friends of 

the University of Kent – 

44 Spring 2005 

Opposite 

Incant – The orginal student 

newspaper and predecessor 

of KRED. 

We also wanted to bring you up to date on issues 

surrounding variable tuition fees which will be 

introduced next year.As we mentioned in the last 

issue, Kent will charge the full £3,000 but to ensure 

potential students from lower income families 

are not deterred from studying here, we have put 

in place a generous bursary scheme, based upon 

financial need, to complement the government’s 

own maintenance support package. In addition to 

bursaries of between £500 and £1,000 per annum, 

we have created a 40th Anniversary Fund to provide 

40 new scholarships of £1,000 each.You can find 

further details of this on page 9. 

We hope you like this second issue of KENT – your 

suggestions and comments are more than welcome, 

as are your letters and news.And don’t forget, if you 

move let us have your new contact details. 

Killara Burn 

Posie Bogan 

Editors 

2

Contents 

4 Kent life 6 News 9 Development news 

10 Kent alumni and families 12 Business links: Eddy 

Fong – linking the East and West 13 Shaping the 

world: alumni profiles 16 New frontiers 19 40 years 

on 20 Keeping up with Kent graduates – actuarial 

scientists 21 Who’s what where 24 Events 

3

1 First 500 on campus 

2 Building Eliot College 

3 Princess Marina’s 

installation as Chancellor 

4 Cornwallis collapses 

5 Led Zeppelin comes 

to Kent 

6 Catherine Welsby E82 

7 Bob Geldof receives 

his honorary degree 

8 Celebrating the 

Silver Jubilee 

9 First degree ceremony 

in Medway 

10 The Queen inaugurates 

the Universities at 

Medway initiative 

KENT 

LIFE 

Four decades has seen 

Kent grow from a 

building site on a hill 

outside Canterbury to 

one of the most exciting 

universities in the UK 

today. Here are just some 

of the highlights of the 

past 40 years, but we 

know that there are a lot 

more and we’d like to 

hear about them. 

Former students can visit www.kent.ac.uk/40th and 

fill out the student lifestyle survey or you can email 

kent-the-mag@kent.ac.uk.You can also write 

to Killara Burn and Posie Bogan, Communications 

& Development Office, University of Kent, 

Canterbury CT2 7NZ. 

1960s 

In October 1965, the University welcomed its first 

students to the Canterbury campus – almost 500 

arrived and took up residence in Eliot College, which 

had just been completed. It was also the year Kent 

was granted its Royal Charter, giving it its ‘official’ status. 

Within a year, Princess Marina had been formally 

installed as Chancellor. 

Throughout the ‘60s, the campus grew at a rapid rate 

with the opening of Rutherford and Keynes Colleges, 

the Sports Hall, the Cornwallis Building, the Chemistry 

and Electronics Laboratories, the Oaks Day Nursery 

and the Gulbenkian Theatre.The first performance at 

the Gulbenkian was regarded by some as a little too 

avant-garde, shocking at least some of the audience 

with displays of nudity. 

The development of a library from scratch was no 

mean feat, however by the time the University opened 

it had 20,000 books. Originally housed in a shop in 

Canterbury, it moved up the hill to Beverley Farm in 

1964, before relocating to Eliot College and the 

Physics Laboratory in the following year.Two years 

later, it was in the first part of what is now its 

permanent home. 

It was in the mid-60s that the University also found 

itself the owner of a second-hand computer – an Elliot 

803, which was a massive, cumbersome affair. 

1 2 3 

4 

4

But the University didn’t only develop its physical 

attributes. Incant, the first student paper, was produced 

within a few weeks of the arrival of the first students 

and UKC Radio went on air within the year. Sport and 

music quickly became an intrinsic part of life at Kent, 

and in 1967, W H Auden gave the first T S Eliot 

Lecture. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 1968 saw the first 

student ‘uprising’ at Kent in a dispute over student debt. 

1970s 

This was the decade which saw the launch of the 

Cartoon Centre, the award of an honorary degree to 

Desmond Tutu as well as to Jean Rhys and the Right 

Honourable Joseph Grimond. 

Construction work on the campus continued apace. 

New buildings included Darwin College, the Biological 

Laboratory, the Registry and the Senate building. 

Academic development was equally dynamic and 

included a new School of Mathematical Studies.The 

’70s also saw the establishment of the Health Services 

Research Unit and the Urban and Regional Studies 

Unit.This decade also saw the foundation of the 

School of Continuing Education. 

Possibly one of the most dramatic events of this time 

had to be the collapse of a section of the Cornwallis 

Building due to major subsidence in the tunnel on the 

old Canterbury to Whitstable railway which runs 

directly under the campus.The tunnel was 

subsequently filled with concrete, the structure made 

safe and the replacement for the lost section made on 

the opposite side of Cornwallis. 

The ’70s was the time of student unrest, with picketing 

and sit-ins on campus including a two-week sit-in in 

the Registry building. But student activities weren’t 

always quite so confrontational. Among the clubs and 

societies that were set up, the Winnie-the-Pooh 

Society was definitely one of the softer options. 

Kent alumni continued to make an impact in their 

respective fields. Among those whose careers took 

them into the public gaze was author and Whitbread 

prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro D74. 

1980s 

Looking back, one of the highlights of the ’80s must 

have been the opening of the Computing Laboratory 

Extension by Her Majesty the Queen. Bob Geldof was 

among who received an honorary degree from the 

University. Others included Lord Scarman, Richard 

Attenborough and Gerald Durrell. 

The University’s academic profile broadened 

considerably in this decade to include the Applied 

Statistics Research Unit; the Channel Tunnel Research 

Unit; the Centre for Continuing Legal Education; the 

Institute of Social & Applied Psychology; the Institute of 

Management and the Durrell Institute of Conservation 

& Ecology. 

The University Centre at Tonbridge opened in the 

’80s and new buildings on the campus included the 

Drama Studio and the Physics Observatory.The 

development of Park Wood gave students the option 

of self-catering accommodation on campus. 

It was a sign of the University’s growing maturity that 

former students got together for a 20th anniversary 

reunion and the inaugural meeting of the Kent Society 

for Members and Friends of the University of Kent 

was a welcome event. Among those who studied at 

Kent in the ’80s was Catherine Welsby E82 who set 

two world records and won two gold medals for the 

high jump and the long jump at the European Athletics 

Championships for the Visually Handicapped before 

going on to break her own world record at the 

International Games for the Disabled in New York. 

1990s 

At the end of the decades student social life got 

a major boost with the opening of The Venue, the 

campus-based nightclub. It was then that the Job Shop 

was launched, a joint venture between Kent Union and 

the University Careers Service set up to make it easier 

for students to find part-time work. 

In 1990, the University celebrated its Silver Jubilee with 

a range of events for staff and students. In the same 

year, the Centre for Languages and Business in Europe 

was set up.The ’90s also saw University space 

scientists involved in the early developments of the 

Cassini Huygens mission and the introduction of 

stand-up comedy as an option for drama students.The 

University established its Business School and the 

Department of Politics and International Relations 

launched its graduate school in Brussels. 

Arts on campus benefited from the opening of the 

Rutherford Panopticon, an outdoor gallery, and music 

remained a core part of campus life with the Choir 

and Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis 

in Canterbury Cathedral for the retirement of Vice- 

Chancellor Professor David Ingram. 

Student accommodation on campus continued to 

expand with the opening of Tyler and Becket Courts, 

and the completion of the second phase of Park Wood. 

Honorary degrees continued to be awarded to a wide 

range of people including Dr George Carey, the then- 

Archbishop of Canterbury, astronaut Michael Foale 

and film producer Lord Puttnam. 

2000s 

Although we haven’t even completed the first five 

years of the decade, already it looks set to be one of 

the most significant since the University’s inception. 

The start of the new millennium signalled the start of 

the £50m Universities at Medway initiative inaugurated 

by the Queen at a specially-held ceremony. Kent is 

working with the University of Greenwich and Mid- 

Kent College to open its joint campus in Medway this 

autumn. It is anticipated that there will be over 6,000 

students by 2007 and that the initiative will have a 

major impact on the Medway economy, creating more 

than 600 direct and indirect jobs. 

The first degree ceremony for the University of Kent 

at Medway was held in Rochester Cathedral in 2003 

with over 100 students taking part. Another key 

development in Medway was the launch of the new 

School of Pharmacy – another joint project with 

Greenwich.The number of new recruits was 50% 

higher than anticipated, due to unprecedented 

demand and the quality of applicants. 

The launch of the University of the Transmanche has 

received full government backing.This ground-breaking 

project was developed by Kent together with the 

three Lille universities and the University of the Littoral 

and gives students the chance to study on a range of 

interdisciplinary, bilingual, double degree programmes. 

Sports fans will remember when members of the 

Cricket Club faced top West Indian cricket player 

Brian Lara when they played against Kent village-based 

Lashings Cricket Club. Lashings batted first, with Brian 

Lara coming as No 3 to help steer them to a 115-run 

victory before being caught and bowled by Vishal 

Agarwal, an Actuarial Science student. 

5 6 7 8 9 10 

5

1 

Porton Down – human rights v national interest 

1 Cold War at Porton Down 

2 The Service of Celebration 

at Canterbury Cathedral 

3/ 4 Rolex conservation 

award for Kent student 

5 Kent students present 

Claudie Haigneré with 

Student Science News 

6 Lawal Muhammad receives 

volunteering award 

Dr Ulf Schmidt, Lecturer in Modern History, has 

been awarded £167,000 by the Wellcome Trust 

for a three-year research project titled Cold War 

at Porton Down: Medical Ethics and the Legal 

Dimension of Britain's Biological and Chemical 

Warfare Programme, 1945-1989. He will be joined 

in this work by Ryan Hills K94, a Kent graduate in 

International Conflict Analysis, who worked with 

the British Army in Iraq. 

Schmidt’s work on Porton Down will reconstruct the 

nature of government-sponsored warfare research 

in Britain, and assess the ideology, politics and ethics 

behind the Wiltshire-based laboratory’s programme 

of experiments. 

So far the debate on non-therapeutic human, 

animal and environmental experiments which were 

conducted at Porton Down, especially in the 1950s 

and 1960s, has been characterised both by a lack 

of historical focus and a medical ethics context. 

Schmidt’s project aims to examine the extent to 

which scientists from one of Britain’s most 

controversial military establishments carried out 

secret nerve gas and chemical warfare experiments 

on soldiers who were exposed to toxic agents and 

chemicals such as mustard gas, sarin and LSD. 

Central to Schmidt’s project are a number of basic 

questions: Did the subjects give voluntary consent? 

How was consent obtained? Were the risks 

explained to the subjects? What safeguards were 

taken? How, if at all, was research regulated and 

how effective were ethics guidelines in regulating 

experimental research in Britain? He will also ask 

whether ethics codes were mere instruments to 

safeguard the reputation of the profession. 

The aim of the project is to come to a better 

understanding of the relationship between medical 

science and modern warfare, and of the links 

between medical ethics and law – issues that are not 

only of importance in the current biomedical debate 

but also in view of the current fragile international 

situation. Results from Schmidt’s research will be fed 

directly to policy makers through the London 

Seminar of the Harvard-Sussex Programme on 

Chemical and Biological Warfare, of which he has 

just been made a member. Held twice a year at 

the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with key 

government officials in attendance, the seminar brings 

together military and academic experts to share 

information and brainstorm ideas. 

Ulf Schmidt became directly involved with Porton 

Down in October 2003 when he was called upon 

as an expert witness to evaluate the historical 

background with regard to the issue of informed 

consent in the case of Ronald Maddison, a 20-year 

old Leading Aircraftman who died after a nerve 

agent test there in 1953 – Maddison may have 

believed he was taking part in an experiment to find 

a cure for the common cold. In November 2004, the 

inquest into Ronald Maddison’s death ruled that 

Maddison was ‘unlawfully killed’ at the hands of the 

state and in late December 2004, the Ministry of 

Defence (MoD) finally, after more than 50 years, 

apologised to the Maddison family, admitting that 

some of Porton’s scientists had acted negligently and 

announced that it would look ‘favourably’ at any legal 

claim from the family for compensation. But at the 

same time the MoD also announced that it would 

challenge the inquest verdict of unlawfull killing by 

way of a judicial review. 

According to Schmidt, ‘This sends rather mixed 

messages, not only to the Maddison family but also 

to the large number of Porton veterans who are 

looking for the government to acknowledge that 

some of the Porton experiments may not have 

fulfiled some of the basic standards of consent and 

human rights in biomedical research.’ 

6 

NEWS

2 3 4 

Service of Celebration 

Over 600 people attended the University’s Service of 

Celebration at Canterbury Cathedral which marked 

the start of the 40th anniversary celebrations.The 

congregation included academics, principal officers, 

civic and county dignitaries, members of the public 

and current and former staff and students. Among 

those who attended were a range of alumni including 

BBC presenter Gavin Esler R71, who studied English 

and American Literature at Kent, entrepreneur Alan 

Hearne R71, Eddy Fong R66 and Abdul Bhanji E69. 

The service was officiated by the Very Reverend 

Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury, and included 

readings by Sir Crispin Tickell, Chancellor, and David 

Melville,Vice-Chancellor, as well as a special address 

by the Right Reverend Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop 

of Rochester, in celebration of universal learning. 

A specially commissioned anthem Paean was 

performed by the University Chamber Choir, 

conducted by Susan Wanless, Director of Music. 

Information about other 40th anniversary events 

taking place throughout the year are on the back 

of this issue of KENT.You can also keep up to date 

by visiting www.kent.ac.uk/40th 

Volunteering award 

Recent engineering graduate Lawal Muhammad has 

received a Higher Education Active Community Fund 

(HEACF) for his work as a volunteer while he was at 

Kent. He took part in a wide range of activities and 

was probably best known as a student ambassador 

but is also a familiar face in University publications. 

The judges said Lawal was ‘an inspirational student 

volunteer and wonderful advocate of all that 

volunteering can offer (and give back to) a volunteer. 

A passionate and enthusiastic entry from a volunteer 

who has clearly gained a great deal of reward from 

his efforts and is using this to progress his career 

path.’ Lawal is currently doing a PGCE at Canterbury 

Christ Church University College. 

Anglo-French 

ministerial visit 

Denis McShane, Minister for Europe, and his French 

counterpart Claudie Haigneré recently visited the 

University, giving students a unique opportunity to 

question them on a wide range of European issues. 

The ministers had requested the visit to the University 

as it has long been an outstanding example of 

innovative cross-Channel projects, one of the most 

recent being the University of the Transmanche, the 

first Franco-British higher education institution and an 

important contribution to economic development on 

both sides of the Channel. 

Roger Vickerman, Professor of European Economics 

and Director of the Kent Centre for Europe said: 

‘It is particularly pleasing that so early in the debate 

on the European Union Bill we were able to 

welcome the Minister, for Europe and the French 

Minister, given our close links with France in the 

form of the many French students on campus, our 

many INTERREG projects and the University of 

the Transmanche.’ 

Students from Biosciences also took the opportunity 

to present Claudie Haigneré, who not only trained 

as a doctor but was also the first Frenchwoman in 

space, with the first issue of Student Science News. 

This is a newsletter they have produced, with the 

help of Becky Parker from Physical Sciences, to 

promote science to the 15 –18 year old age group. 

Keeping time 

for conservation 

PhD student Laury Cullen Jr has won a Rolex Award 

for Enterprise.This coveted award is one of the 

top honours in field conservation. As a winner, Laury 

Cullen Jr receives US$ 35,000 towards his research 

on the ecology and conservation of jaguars in 

his native Brazil, and a personally inscribed gold 

Rolex watch. 

Cullen, a former winner of a Whitley Award for 

Conservation in 2002, is taking his PhD at the Durrell 

Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) and 

was selected from among more than 1,700 applicants 

from 116 countries by a panel of eminent scientists 

and explorers. His recent award recognises his 

pioneering work on the ecology and conservation 

of jaguars, and the restoration of fragmented 

landscapes in Brazil’s endangered Atlantic Forest. 

Cullen’s success stems from his development of an 

environmental protection plan that combines forestry 

techniques, wildlife research and farmer participation. 

He is supervised at DICE by Dr Richard Bodmer, 

Reader in Conservation and Ecology. ‘His project, 

combining agroforestry and wildlife habitat corridors, 

is at the cutting edge of conservation and will have 

lasting impact both for wildlife and for local people,’ 

says Bodmer. ‘This is exactly the type of project that 

is needed for successful conservation.’ 

5 6 

7

7 Music bursary students 

8 Michael Koleosho R94, 

one of many alumni 

at the Careers Fair 

9 Channel Tunnel study 

Manhandling Joysticks 

Liz Valentine D01, recent Multimedia Technology and 

Design graduate, was one of three winners in the 

Europrix Multimedia Top Talent Thesis Award 2004. 

The Europrix Top Talent Award is one of the most 

prestigious events for young and up-and-coming 

talent in the world of multimedia. 

Valentine’s dissertation, titled Manhandling Joysticks 

and Pushing Buttons – Gender and Computer Games, 

was completed during her final year and explores 

gender involvement with, and gender representation 

in videogames, focusing on the primary question: are 

girls put off or discouraged from video gaming by 

gender representations and expectations? She is 

now working as a software engineer and developer 

for one of the UK’s leading independent network 

management solutions companies. 

Soprano support for 

bursary scheme 

Everyone involved in music at the University has 

welcomed the news that the internationallyacclaimed 

soprano Dame Anne Evans has agreed 

to become Patron of Kent’s Music Bursary Scheme. 

Dame Anne sang with the Symphony Orchestra in 

a concert at the Marlowe Theatre in 2003, and has 

subsequently taken a keen interest in the many music 

activities on campus. 

The scheme enables students to continue their 

instrumental and vocal tuition while studying for any 

degree at the University.Thanks to a number of new 

donors, the scheme currently funds 20 bursaries each 

year. It attracts talented and motivated musicians who 

not only immerse themselves in all the music-making, 

but also invariably seem to achieve very good 

degrees at the same time! The bursary students get 

involved in all the different music groups and give 

a number of recitals, including a lunchtime concert 

each year in the Canterbury Festival. 

7 

According to Director of Music, Susan Wanless, there 

are many examples where the added attraction of 

a bursary and all the musical activities on campus 

have enticed a student to choose Kent above 

another university. Over the years, she has kept 

degree statistics about the undergraduate musicians, 

and the adage ‘good musicians make good students’ 

certainly seems to be true! 

Alumni Careers Fair 

Around 80 Kent graduates returned to the University 

to take part in the 2001 Alumni Careers Fair where 

they spoke with current students about the choices 

they made in their careers, offering an impartial, 

insider’s view. 

The graduates who came to the Fair were from 

the whole spectrum of careers, some of which, 

particularly those in the arts and media, are rarely 

represented at traditional ‘recruitment’ fairs. 

Talking about the Fair, Lucy Doherty R95, Ballet 

Central Company Manager with the Central School 

of Ballet, said: ‘I talked non-stop for three and a half 

hours to a long queue of students who were all 

keen to find out about work in arts administration 

and arts management. I could not believe how 

quickly the time went. I was impressed at their 

enthusiasm, and at the amount of research that 

some of the students had already done into their 

areas of interest.’ 

‘I found myself telling the students the same things; 

giving them advice about how to try and break into 

careers within the arts, but also about how to 

maximise their time at the University.Three years is 

such a short time, and they need to be like sponges, 

soaking up everything that is around them. It is very 

rare that a day goes by without me using some sort 

of skill that I acquired at Kent.’ 

Channel Tunnel impact 

As part of the assessment of the Channel Tunnel 

after ten years of operation, the University’s Centre 

for European, Regional and Transport Economics 

(CERTE) was commissioned by Eurotunnel and Kent 

County Council to evaluate the impact of the Tunnel 

on Kent and the likely trends for the future. 

The study examined the impact of the Tunnel on 

a wide range of sectors including construction, 

transport, tourism and retail, together with the 

impact on population and settlements. In comparison 

with estimates made before the Tunnel was 

constructed it was found that in terms of both traffic 

and direct economic impact it has had a smaller 

effect on Kent than was predicted. However, this 

simple finding hides a much more complex story 

of change in patterns of mobility and in the cross- 

Channel market. 

The report suggested that cross-Channel movement 

will be driven less by the exploitation of price 

differentials due to exchange rates and tax 

differentials and more by competition with more 

distant destinations. Much also depends on the ability 

of the European Union to implement fully the 

proposed packages on railway competition which 

would allow the Tunnel to exploit its full potential for 

through rail freight. Above all, however, the Tunnel led 

to the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link 

which is already having a major impact on Eurostar 

traffic to Paris and Brussels, but will in the future 

allow considerably improved rail services to London. 

The real impact of the Tunnel may be more likely 

to occur in its second decade than the first as 

businesses and individuals begin to adjust to the full 

potential of Kent’s unique location. 

8 9 

8

1 Pie Chart: How donors 

choose to earmark their gifts 

2 Phonathon reaches target 

3 Stage Spiders in Tanzania 

Destination of gifts 

41% Areas of greatest need 

15% Student support 

3% University facilities 

40% Unspecified 

40% 

3% 

15% 

41% 

Phonathon reaches target! 

We are delighted that the autumn 2004 phonathon 

exceeded the £40k pledge target.The target was set 

in celebration of Kent’s 40th anniversary year, 2005. 

Our pledged total at the end of the 2004 phonathon 

year was £72,392.51. In addition to this, there are a 

high number of ‘amount unspecified’ gifts and several 

alumni are considering including the University in 

their wills. Money from the Annual Fund goes to 

important facilities for students such as library 

resources, bursaries, equipment for students with 

disabilities, and the Students’ Union Jobshop. Donors 

can select, on the donation form, whether they wish 

to earmark their gift to areas of greatest need, student 

support, or University facilities, and the money is then 

distributed accordingly by the Fund’s trustees. 

The student callers were a fantastically enthusiastic 

and committed group and included students of 

physics, English literature, forensic science, German, 

law, actuarial science, drama and business, among 

other subjects.They telephoned nearly 3,000 alumni 

in the autumn campaign, raised £43,853.74 and had 

wonderful phone conversations with people who 

had once been in their shoes. Several had terrific 

individual feedback – first-year Law student Amy 

Fullagar had an open invitation for work experience, 

second-year Richard Strange was invited to do a 

radio show on the BBC, and in the office we have 

received calls and emails from alumni saying, among 

other things, how enjoyable ‘their’ phone call had 

been. In the next phonathon we plan to telephone 

parents of current students as well as alumni. We will 

write to people in advance, giving those who prefer 

not to be called the chance to ‘opt out’ of being 

rung, but we hope alumni and friends will wish to 

support the Annual Fund. 

1 2 

The 40th Anniversary Fund 

As a special mark of celebration for the 40th 

anniversary, we established a 40th Anniversary Fund, 

which will build towards the future and make a 

significant difference to Kent students today.The Fund 

is being created to provide 40 new scholarships of 

£1,000 each for talented students from nontraditional 

backgrounds, as well as to enable some of 

the same things the Annual Fund is designed for, that 

is, to improve study facilities and library resources, 

and to further enrich campus life by supporting 

welfare, sports and the arts. Nearly 1,500 alumni and 

friends have given to the University in the past and 

every gift significantly helps to maintain and enhance 

Kent’s excellence, ensuring the brightest future 

possible for Kent’s current and future students. 

One month into the 40th anniversary year, the Fund 

already totals £9,058.97 thanks to the generous 

support of alumni, parents and other University 

friends. All donors will be listed in the Annual Fund 

Report and donations of £1,000 or more will be 

noted in the University’s Annual Report. If you would 

like to find out more about the 40th anniversary 

events programme, or the 40th Anniversary Fund, 

please contact the Communications & Development 

Office, or log on to the 40th Anniversary website at 

www.kent.ac.uk/40th. 

Stage Spiders in Tanzania 

The Stage Spiders are a drama society open to Kent 

students from any subject.They work closely with 

local primary schools, conducting theatre workshops 

with the children to teach them about drama and 

build their confidence. Stage Spiders also have close 

links with the University-based charity, Seeds for 

Africa. Recently the group travelled to Tanzania to 

take part in a programme of drama workshops in 

local schools organised by Mondo Challenge, an 

organisation that helps with development 

programmes in Africa, Asia and South America. 

After a 12-hour flight, the students had an eight-hour 

drive to Longido,Tanzania, for the first workshop. It 

had been planned for 40 children, but as news of the 

project travelled, the numbers reached around 200. 

At the next destination, the Huruma Orphanage, 

near Arusha, the students were greeted by a great 

‘wave’ of children. Workshops included movement, 

music, and prop and costume making, and at the end 

of the first day, each group had masks, backdrops, and 

knew a little about acting. On the second day, the 

children gave a performance for friends, parents, staff 

and volunteers. 

Kiran Rajaratnam, BSc in Computer Science and one 

of the Stage Spiders said, ‘We all loved the whole 

experience, and have heard that the songs we taught 

are still being sung. Even though we were at each 

of the schools for only a short time, we will never 

forget those children.’ 

DEVELOPMENT 

NEWS 

9

1 Paul and Anna Maloney 

2 Davies family 

3 Antony and Peter Nyman 

4 Alison and Bart Smith 

Many alumni meet their life partner during their 

undergraduate years; and increasingly, the children 

of Kent alumni are studying here, a development the 

University considers high praise indeed. In the last 

issue of KENT, we asked for contributions from 

multi-generational Kent families.There are several 

thousand such alumni on our system, including a 

good number of current University staff.There are 

also siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and even 

grandparents of alumni who are themselves alumni. 

Four families jotted down their thoughts. Professor Phil Davies R69 studied 

Electronics and is now one of Kent’s Pro-Vice-Chancellors. He met his wife 

Jean R69 on Rutherford steps, and both their daughters Lucy K99 (BA 

Psychology) and Sarah R99 (MA Drama) studied here. Paul Maloney E65, 

studied Sociology and his daughter Anna R98, English and American Literature. 

(Two Maloney cousins also came to Kent.) Peter R70 and Linda Nyman R71 

studied History and Italian respectively and are parents to alumnus and current 

postgrad Antony D01 (Political Sociology). Alison Smith R71 studied French; 

her son Bart R01 is here doing History and Politics. 

We asked them what made them choose Kent, their first impressions, the 

changes, and the extent of the influence and concerns (if any) to both 

generations of the earlier one coming to Kent.The Davies and Nyman families 

all now work in education. Paul Maloney did a postgraduate course in personnel 

management after Kent (‘why?’ he wondered), but then went into social work; 

his daughter Anna is in the charity sector. Alison Smith is a librarian. 

Why Kent? 

The course was the reason for most, though for Sarah and Lucy Davies Kent also 

meant saving money by living at home.And the campus and city were praised. 

Phil: My first choice was actually Southampton, but my father had heard there 

was unrest there, so put Kent first on my behalf. (I was in Australia 

at the time.) 

Jean: Chaucer! 

Paul: Kent offered me a place! I did really enjoy the interview with Professor 

Colin Seymour-Ure and the late Professor Bryan Keith-Lucas. 

Linda: I failed to achieve my predicted grades, did another A level at evening class, 

reapplied and only Kent gave me an unconditional place (and I got the grade!). 

Alison: Kent was the most organised at interview and offered a student tour. 

(Bart’s standard offers came online.) 

Consensus on the early years – cold, windswept, bleak, beautiful and big. 

Friendly, then as now. 

Peter: My first impression was wet concrete gloom with the Cathedral arising out 

of the murk. Well actually it was a blur because I am very short-sighted and my 

new glasses had got lost in the University’s internal post. 

Favourite ‘big personalities’ – Professors Mike Irwin, Mark Kinkead-Weekes, 

Colin Seymour Ure and Hugh Cunningham, Fred Whitemore, the late 

Professors Ian Gregor,Alec Whitehouse,Walter Hagenbuch and Bryan 

Keith-Lucas. Ken Spencer D71, SU President 1972 – 73. 

Abiding memories 

Anna: We used to go to breakfast in our pyjamas. I think I had sausage, fried 

egg and hash browns every day in my first term. 

Linda: Eating coq au vin cooked in dustbins (clean, new metal ones!) when 

Cornwallis was occupied and Edward Thompson lecturing on the ‘Waltham Blacks’. 

Jean: Bumping into Keith Moon of The Who in Eliot. 

Alison: The boy in the room above me went nocturnal and would wake us up 

by climbing head first down the wall outside my window. 

There wasn’t much to do ‘out’ in the early years, it seems.The first generation 

spent their free time: mending my car (Phil), drinking lots of coffee with friends 

(Jean), playing cricket and going to pubs with mates (Paul), talking with friends, 

cinema club, theatre visits and eating at Quinces and Grass Roots (both now 

gone) (Linda). 

These days both city and campus offer much more, especially with the 

Students’ Union nightclub,The Venue. 

Anna: I was a first year when The Venue opened, so my social life went from 

Rutherford bar, to Woody’s, the Lighthouse and then the Venue! 

We asked about favourite clothing. 

Phil: Come on, I was an engineering student. Actually I think it was Jean’s 

miniskirt – on her! 

Jean: My red maxi coat, which I wore with a very short miniskirt. 

Paul: Donkey jacket and ‘best’ Levis. 

Linda: Long skirts, a poncho (should have kept it!), loons. 

Alison: We wore jeans, hipster trousers, long skirts, stacked sole shoes – 

similar to now! 

And music? 

Phil: Then as now: Eric Clapton. 

Jean: Simon and Garfunkel,The Who, folk music; lots of our friends played 

guitar (Phil included). Eric Clapton figured in somewhere. 

Paul: Beach Boys and Beatles. 

Peter: If, The Band, Laura Nyro – introduced to me by Pete Danson D70 

(whose family in Canada knew my mother’s cousins!). 

Linda: Carole King, Francoise Hardy, Rolling Stones. 

Second generation: 

Sarah: I hate dance and 80s music, and prefer Green Day, the Chilli Peppers. 

Lucy: Forced to listen to Eric Clapton by my father. Missy Elliot, Ms Dynamite, 

Snow Patrol, Alanis Morrisette, Beatles (60s parents!), and anything else I can sing to! 

Antony: The contents of my CD wallet: Greenday, Newfound Glory, Razorlight, 

Feeder, Groove Armada, Basement Jaxx and Snow Patrol. 

KENT ALUMNI 

& FAMILIES 

10

1 2 3 4 

The first generation spent their money on beer, food, petrol, books. 

Phil: About a third of students had cars. 

Peter: I used to turn cash into book tokens to make sure I had enough to buy them. 

Jean: Books and I remember splashing out £5 on a dress once. 

Linda: £10 from the original NatWest hole-in-the-wall at the Union kept me for a week. 

Alison: We were not allowed to work in term-time; Bart works 15 hours 

a week at Asda. 

And these days... 

Lucy: Textbooks, which I use a lot in my job now. And a fortune on photocopying. 

Anna: First, going out, and, second, food and clothes shopping. I told Dad that 

most of it went on books… 

Antony: Going out, food. 

The first generation’s concerns: 

Phil: Apart from saving the world? Having a good time, getting my degree and 

doing research – and leaving England asap. 

Jean: Those were the heady days of student unrest around the world; there was 

Vietnam; and then there was surviving on £360 a year! 

Paul: How to manage my time to do my work. 

Peter: Coping on the money I had – my parents genuinely could not afford their part. 

I could have done with a student loan, which I could have paid back very quickly. 

Linda: Keeping up with the work and the usual – environment, economy, politics. 

…and the second’s: 

Sarah: Getting my thesis finished. 

Lucy: Getting a job when I left. I worked hard to volunteer in the community 

to ‘stand out from the crowd’. 

Anna: My reading and essays, and making my student loan last! I now work 

as an advice worker for a charity that specialises in older people’s concerns. 

I really enjoy my job, but secretly I’d love to go back to studying and that fourhour 

working week! 

Antony: Mainly money, my dissertation, and getting a worthwhile job after I leave. 

The first generation were pleased when their children chose Kent. 

Jean: I suppose we may have been an influence, but the girls made up their own 

minds. Our daughters had known the University since they were little (Lucy went 

to ‘The Oaks’ nursery), so it was always ‘theirs’ as much as ‘ours’. 

Linda: I was delighted, but not going apply any pressure. 

And the second generation all felt their parents were pleased. 

Lucy: ...though I’m sure I heard them mutter ‘but we thought we’d got rid of 

you’... I didn’t think about their having been students here first – I was more 

concerned about my father working at the place where I was to have my 

wild student days! 

Anna: Dad loved his University days, and I think he always hoped one of his 

daughters would go to Kent! It seemed such a long time ago(!) that his having 

been here didn’t worry me. I did feel a bit of pressure – that he might be 

disappointed if I didn’t like it, but as I loved it, there wasn’t a problem. He did 

give me advice: just be myself and be open minded. 

Antony: My parents were very supportive of my decision to come to Kent, but 

they would have been supportive wherever I decided to go. My dad told me the 

best place for sunbathing (by the senate). Mum said: ‘Avoid loose women and 

don’t drink too much. Oh, and buy the first round in Freshers’ Week – it makes 

you popular.’ 

So how has Kent really changed? More trees, more buildings, more people... 

Phil: Today’s students are over-examined and over-worked. We had an exam at 

the end of the first year – that was a hurdle you just had to get through – and 

there were no exams in the second year.You had your finals in the third. In fact, 

there were six exams in a row – finishing on Saturday morning. We didn’t have 

to earn money during term-time. We did have jobs in vacations, but that was for 

holidays and extras. 

Peter: POLITICS – where is the challenge to authority? 

Linda: I didn’t have much money, but neither did I have to face a debt at the end. 

Mobile phones mean no more queues after dinner for the pay phones or anxious 

scanning of the message board in the Porters’ Lodge. I also think that the 

preparation and support of new students has improved. I have been impressed 

by the training Antony received for his involvement in Freshers’ Week. 

Sarah: … lack of polyester flares and dodgy beards! 

Lucy: Fewer demos, and most students work, as well as do volunteering. 

Anna: It’s more multicultural. Busier nightlife and more choice of societies and clubs. 

But Rutherford bar is still exactly the same as it was when my Dad was there. 

Antony: In my parents’ time students were actively concerned with social issues, 

issues that we kind of take for granted. We have more financial pressure so we 

tend to be more inward looking. 

Peter: I was amazed that Darwin had the same carpets that I had trodden and 

the same uneven stone staircase. And Rutherford’s awful breakfasts – that toasting 

machine must be an antique! 

Alison: 2005: 30 years since I graduated and the graduation year for my son.The 

campus looks much the same. In 1974, graduation took place in Rutherford 

Dining Hall and William Golding presented my degree.This July, Bart will graduate 

in the Cathedral. 

John Thurman E65 was one 

of the first postgraduates; his 

son Neil E89:‘I felt like the 

first in an embryonic old boy 

network.’ Yvonne (née Bailey 

E66) and Andrew Barclay’s 

E66 son James K91,‘I found 

the mix of backgrounds 

particularly attractive. I can’t 

think of a class in my three 

years where there wasn’t 

at least one student from 

a different country.’ 

Susan Giebel Suoninden R93: 

My husband Eero Sakari 

Suoninen R93 and I (both MA 

International Relations) met the 

day after we arrived; I from the 

USA, he from Finland.We’ve 

been together ever since (we 

married in 1998). My mother 

claims she sent me to Kent to 

study international relations, 

not practise it! Kent will always 

hold a special place in our 

hearts! Washington, DC. 

Claire Stone D94: My husband 

Stefan Stone (D94) and I met 

in the third term of the first 

year, in April 1995, got engaged 

in the third year and will 

celebrate our fifth wedding 

anniversary next year. Mary 

(née Picken, E66) and Paul 

Cotrill’s E66 daughter Suzi 

D92 ‘I tried my best not to be 

impressed by Kent, but my visit 

was so pleasant that, just under 

a year after it, I arrived with not 

one but two nostalgic parents.’ 

Abigail Wootton R02: My 

mum Christine Wootton K98 

graduated in the year 2000, in 

English Literature; she was a 

part-time mature student. 

Claire James E98: Ben Tanner 

E99 and I married in December 

2004 after meeting at UKC 

Radio 1350am nearly five 

years ago. 

Liz Duplock R98 is back 

studying for a PhD and her 

sister, Lisa Marie R04, is now 

studying Psychology. Hazel 

Humphreys R68, her husband 

Eric R74, and their son John R96 

all went to Kent. Peter 

and Liz Petheram’s (both E69) 

son Robert E98 just graduated 

last year, and Roger Sutcliffe’s 

(E65) daughter Elizabeth E01 

graduated last year with 

a BA in Drama and English 

and American Literature. 

In Kent Bulletin 22 (Winter 

1994), David Lepper MP 

Brighton Pavilion (E65; R66) 

wrote about being a pioneer, 

with his fellow ‘First 500’. Joe 

K90, now a journalist wrote, 

‘I never thought I’d end up in 

the land of my parents’ youth.’ 

The list goes on. 

11

BUSINESS 

LINKS 

1 Eddy Fong at KBS 

2 Eddy Fong and 

Martyn Jones 

3 Professor David Melville, 

centre back, with Hong Kong 

alumni annual dinner 

4 Professor David Melville, 

centre, and Eddy Fong, 

right, with Hong Kong alumni 

1 2 

Eddy Fong – linking the East and West 

The University’s Kent Business School (KBS) hosted 

the inaugural lecture from Eddy Fong, recently 

appointed an Honorary Visiting Professor. Fong has 

the distinction of being the first person from Hong 

Kong to have graduated from Kent, having obtained 

a degree in Accounting in 1969. Following his 

graduation, he then worked in the City of London 

before returning to Hong Kong. 

In 2003, following a 30-year professional career, Fong 

retired as a senior partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers 

in Hong Kong. He is presently Senior Adviser to the 

Tricor Services Group – the largest provider of 

integrated business, corporate and investor services 

in Hong Kong. He is also a non-executive director 

of a number of publicly listed companies and acts as 

an adviser to the international and local business 

community. He is also an advisory board member 

at KBS and a staunch supporter of its new direction 

following the relaunch in 2004. He said ‘KBS has a good 

foundation for what it wants to do. I was very excited 

and honoured when I was asked to speak there.’ 

In his lecture on Trends in Business and Finance 

in China Eddy Fong gave an update on the Chinese 

economy, the RMB, capital markets, banking reform 

and the future of Hong Kong. Steve Liu, Professor 

of Management Science and Computational 

Mathematics at KBS, said: ‘I was particularly interested 

to hear Eddy’s thoughts on the nature and structure 

of businesses in Hong Kong and China as we are 

currently engaged in developing the Applied 

Research Centre for Anglo-Sino Business.This centre, 

when developed, will promote joint research on 

Chinese businesses and management with Chinese 

partner institutes such as the Chinese Academy, 

Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies 

University.The centre will be based at Kent.’ 

Martyn Jones, KBS Director, added ‘I think everyone 

who attended Eddy’s lecture has come away with 

a unique insight into the economic powerhouse that 

is China. I would like to thank Eddy for sharing his 

knowledge and experience with us in what has been 

a truly memorable and fascinating lecture.’ 

Apart from pursuing a professional career, Fong is 

active in public and community services. His current 

and past service appointments include Director of 

the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong 

Kong, a council member of the Open University 

of Hong Kong and a Justice of Peace. 

Highlights of Eddy’s distinguished career, and 

recognition of his professional and public 

achievements, include an Honorary Doctor of Civil 

Law from Kent (1997) and a Silver Bauhinia Star 

award from the Government of the Hong Kong 

Special Administrative Region of the Peoples’ 

Republic of China (2000). 

Eddy Fong’s recent visit to Kent was his first in seven 

years. However, since his return to Hong Kong in the 

early 1970s, he has maintained strong links with the 

University, acting as an Alumini Ambassador for the 

region. He played a key role in facilitating the recent 

trip to Hong Kong by Vice-Chancellor, Professor David 

Melville, where he was hosting an alumni reception. 

‘As a proud alumnus,’ Fong said, ‘I will do what I can 

to help link the University of Kent with my part of 

the world.’ 

3 4 

12

SHAPING 

THE WORLD 

The University of Kent makes a key contribution at a regional, 

national and international level.A thriving organisation, its mission 

is to develop and maintain its reputation for teaching and 

research quality. Building work on the £50m Universities at 

Medway campus continues.A joint initiative led by Kent and the 

University of Greenwich, the first students start this autumn and 

by 2007 there will be 6,000 students on campus. It will have 

a major impact on the region’s economy, creating £10m of 

additional expenditure and more than 600 direct and indirect 

jobs. In 2004 Kent attracted the highest percentage increase 

in government funding for universities in the UK. Student 

applications to Kent have risen over the past four years. Last 

year saw a 20% rise across the whole University. Kent has one 

of the best graduate employability records of any UK university. 

The University of the Transmanche, an innovative partnership 

project developed by Kent together with the three Lille 

Universities and the University of the Littoral, is developing fast. 

The first postgraduate students have now started and 

undergraduate courses are scheduled to run from 2007. Student 

numbers at the new Pharmacy School – a shared project 

between Kent and the University of Greenwich – are expected 

to rise to over 430 by 2010.Work is currently under way to 

develop a new business and innovation centre on the Canterbury 

campus.Although in operation for only a year, the Universitybased 

Canterbury Enterprise Hub already has 30 companies 

using its services.The South East Development Agency-backed 

hubs are a network of focal points for innovation and 

entrepreneurial activity. Kent has now secured a second licence 

with BioRexis Inc to use the Department of Biosciences PDI 

technology in the production of its unique Transferrin 

technologies.This will ensure a significant fixed income for 

the department, a long-term minimum royalty income and 

a royalty on possible future sales.The Electronics Department 

has recently seen a royalty-bearing collaboration with Harada 

Europe Industries.The deal covers the development of antennae 

technology by Professor Richard Langley and Harada which is now 

being sold to Volvo and used in their top-of-the range XC90 car. 

13

1 Caroline Groves 

2 Kevin Hutchens 

3 Krishnan Nadarajan 

4 Dr Wilasinee Philpitkul 

Shaping the world. Graduates 

from the University of Kent can 

be found in all walks of life, 

making a contribution in a huge 

variety of ways. KENT magazine 

talks to a few of them. 

Caroline Groves 

D72: Qualitative Social Science.As we go to press, Caroline is going freelance 

in HE marketing and communications, having been Head of Communications 

and Marketing at Reading University (for which she now currently 

works). Buckinghamshire 

How did studying at Kent help you in your current work? 

Studying at Kent gave me a much greater understanding of the world in which 

I lived and an awareness that there is much more that I have yet to learn.The 

wide-ranging first year course gave me the opportunity to learn a little of subjects 

that I would not otherwise have been able to study and that added valuable 

depth to my main course. I think this broad approach has helped me in problem 

solving and has encouraged me to think widely about how to tackle issues in the 

work place. 

What’s your favourite memory of those undergraduate years? 

The best times at Kent were the many hours (often late at night) spent in our 

common room in Darwin, exchanging views with fellow students – learning about 

their home lives, gaining a flavour of the topics they were studying and arguing 

about the issues of the day. 

Please describe a ‘typical’ day. 

As for most people there is no such thing as a typical day! However, I like to start 

the day considering any urgent topics that may have arisen overnight, perhaps 

from an email or an item in the media.Then I am likely to attend a committee, 

such as one planning events for the thousands who will visit the University of 

Reading at our next Open Day. Back to my desk to work with our Press Officer 

on a response to the media on some aspect of corporate policy, then a sandwich 

for lunch while reviewing the department budget to check we are on target, 

followed up by preparing a paper for submission to a committee next week, and 

finally attempting to deal with the various emails that have flooded in during 

the day. 

What do you think is the best thing about the University of Kent? 

The University of Kent provides a very supportive environment in which 

everyone is encouraged to get the most out of their studies, expand their minds 

and improve their lives in the widest possible ways. My niece is studying there 

now, and is really enjoying her course. 

How do you think the University contributes to the region, the nation, and 

the world? 

The University’s contribution is the knowledge it generates and shares widely, as 

well as building understanding between individuals from many different countries 

and thereby creating a long-lasting international community. 

Kevin Hutchens 

K76: History. Social Worker and Labour Party spokesperson for Moray, and 

standing for Parliament at the next general election. Scotland 


I am currently a Community Development Officer for people with learning 

disabilities. It was while at Kent, as Chair of the Social Action Group, that I first 

explored my interest in community work. Being involved in the Social Action 

Group provided a great learning experience. One of the high points was 

organising helpers for a party for old people. I was able to persuade the Master 

of one of the Colleges to give two nights’ free bed and breakfast to students who 

stayed behind at Christmas to help make the party a success. 

What is your favourite memory of your University years? 

I guess I enjoyed everything about it. I loved history, loved the chance to be 

independent of home and loved the beautiful scenery. My favourite relaxation 

was to walk the North Downs Way from Canterbury to Dover, staying at youth 

hostels along the way and visiting Dover Castle. 

Please describe your typical day. 

Every one is different, of course! Today I got up at 7.20am, and went for a walk 

along the beach at Stonehaven. At work I started with a meeting with colleagues 

regarding an exciting local history project – the Woodview Crafts Heritage 

Project which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. I am pleased to say that 

my work has obtained over £100,000 in recent years from Lottery funding. Back 

to the office at Viewmount in Stonehaven, I checked emails and made several 

phone calls. Lunchtime was busy with phone calls to the Scottish Labour Party at 

John Smith House and to the Labour Party in Aberdeen. I also phoned the office 

of Alan Milburn MP trying to get the date of the next election. I was politely told 

it was in the hands of the Prime Minister, and wished all the best for my 

campaign. More emails and phone calls; then at 3pm I got into my Smart fortwo 

car and drove the 30 miles across beautiful countryside to Inverurie to discuss 

with colleagues from Education a big lottery fund bid for a sports/health project. 

At home again, more phone calls with colleagues in the Labour Party. 

At the end of the day I will go for another walk.The sea air on the East Coast of 

Scotland is very refreshing and the walk helps keep me healthy. 

What is the best thing about the University of Kent? 

The beautiful view across Canterbury and the North Downs. 

The worst? 

I cannot remember a bad thing about Kent; even the curried eggs with rice stays 

in my mind as excellent food. 

How does the University contribute to the region, the nation and the world? 

By providing an excellent place of learning and, in the region, as a major employer. 

I greatly value the teaching I had in the industrial history of Britain. It is a global 

university, attracting students from all four corners of the world. 

14

1 2 3 4 

Krishnan Nadarajan 

E94: Law. Senior Deputy Head (Civil Justice Division), Singapore 

How did studying at Kent help you in your current role? 

Reading law at Kent laid a unique foundation. It surpassed the usual style of law 

taught in most other universities and brought into question the very existence of 

the laws by examining their roots. In practice, this ability to take a step back has 

facilitated the crafting of legal arguments from first principles – a technique often 

overlooked by even the best advocates. 

Dr Wilasinee Philpitkul 

D97: PhD Women’s Studies. Assistant Professor and Deputy Dean in Research 

and International Affairs, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok,Thailand 


Besides giving me knowledge in my discipline, women’s studies, which I now teach 

at my university, studying at Kent gave me the courage and confidence I need in 

my work, tackling the problems of women in Thailand and neighbouring countries, 

and working from the grass roots to government levels. 

What’s your favourite memory of your time at Kent? 

The friends I made and the people I met.This is one memory I treasure. It’s like 

being in the UN. Stand on one of the footpaths leading to the Templeman Library 

and you will see people from all over the world pass you by. After a while, you 

realise that we are not all that different. 

Please describe a ‘typical’ day for you now. 

Having worked in the Judiciary for more than five years, I have now made the 

switch to private practice. Working in one of Singapore’s top litigation firms, my 

‘typical’ day fluctuates between court hearings, settlement negotiations, meetings 

with clients, and frequent travels on behalf of work in the neighbouring region. 

The truth is there is no typical day as sometimes you are stuck in the office until 

4am just to meet the various deadlines set by the courts and arbitration tribunals. 

What is the best thing about the University of Kent? 

It is a melting pot of cultures (if I can borrow a phrase from Trinidad and Tobago). 

The worst? 

The University is like a magnet that keeps you drawn back to it. I have come back 

to visit the campus every year since I graduated in 1996, the only exception being 

last year. 

How do you believe the University contributes to the region, the nation, 

the world? 

Kent grooms students to have a purpose in life, to question that purpose, and reevaluate 

it if necessary. In the practice of law for instance, the ultimate aim should 

be the desire to help people. Making money is incidental to this process. If these 

priorities become clouded, one risks developing a mindset of ‘You pay, we sway!’. 

Such a lawyer inevitably becomes disgruntled with the profession or eventually 

gets into trouble by committing some sort of ethics violation. 

What’s your favourite memory of those student years? 

There are many, for example, my supervisor, sociologist Dr Miri Song, who gave 

me knowledge and wisdom beyond academic relationships; my colleagues in 

women’s studies, especially Dr Meridy Harris, who taught me, among other things, 

the meaning of ‘good hearted’. 

Your worst? 

Being alone on those misty British-weather days. 

Please describe a ‘typical’ day for you now. 

I teach full-time at postgraduate level at Chulalongkorn University in the subjects 

of feminism and media criticism and I also have several research projects on the 

go. Last year I was appointed Deputy Dean for Research and International Affairs, 

which means I look after policy and administration. Outside the university, I work 

with many women’s networks, I chair the Friend of Women Foundation, and I 

write social criticism. I have my weekly columns in several national newspapers, 

a weekly radio programme and, on a popular website for teenagers, a weekly 

advice column on gender issues. I am described by the current government and 

male chauvinist groups as a regular opponent to the mainstream, which I regard 

as evidence of my effectiveness! 

What do you think is the best thing about the University of Kent? 

The friendly environment, complete with help from high-profile academics and 

well-equipped facilities, which encourage students to explore and learn. 

How do you think the University of Kent contributes to the region, the nation, 

and the world? 

I think the University has contributed a great deal towards helping to meet the 

socio-economic needs of Europe, but I would like to see the University extending 

its scope to the Asian region and the rest of the world. 

15

1 Romancing Royality 

2 SCARR – 

understanding risk 

3 Professor Ian Bruce 

4 Significant astronomy 

prize for Kent 

1 

Romancing Royalty 

Graham Anderson, Professor of Classics in the School of European Culture and 

Languages, has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship 

for a three-year project from this October. 

Entitled Romancing Royalty: Kingship Tales in Classical Antiquity, Anderson’s project 

aims to establish a ‘folklore of kingship’ to which all the royal legends of the 

Classical world can be related. 

Consequently, his project will include figures as varied as Cyrus the Great, who 

inspired a whole novel in Greek from the historian Xenophon, and Arkas of 

Arcadia, who acquired legends that turned him into an early King Arthur-like 

figure.The project will also examine the vast ‘Alexander-industry’ which invested 

the real Alexander the Great with gossip and legend that continued to develop 

well into the Middle Ages. 

He explained, ‘The ancient world looked back to legendary founders of civilisation 

and city-states with reverence and a good deal of fancy. 

Such figures as Theseus, Romulus or 

even Alexander the Great could be 

invested with remarkable childhoods, 

divine aid, disputed deaths, and roles 

as culture heroes. 

Often such legends seem to be laundered from one hero to the next in 

accordance with a set of flexible formulae.This project, generously funded and 

enabled by the Leverhulme Trust, sets out to study the kinds of fantastic tales 

that result.’ 

Graham Anderson’s most recent book is King Arthur in Antiquity. His previous 

publications include Ancient Fiction, Sage, Saint and Sophist and Fairytale in the 

Ancient World. A Handbook of Ancient Folklore is due for completion in June 2005. 

Understanding everyday risk 

The Social Contexts and Responses to Risk network 

(SCARR) has been launched at a conference in 

Canterbury. Funded by the Economic and Social 

Research Council (ESRC) and co-ordinated by 

Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby and Dr Jens Zinn from 

the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social 

Research, the SCARR network brings together social 

scientists from a wide range of backgrounds, including 

sociologists, psychologists, and media, law and social 

policy experts. 

The aim is to research and investigate the theoretical 

and public policy implications of the way in which 

people understand and respond to risk and 

uncertainty in their everyday lives.The network will 

contribute to public policy by focusing on risk in 

everyday life settings, rather than the hypothetical 

contexts to which social science theories often refer. 

It will also promote academic work, particularly 

through the sharing of insights and approaches across 

disciplines. Core finance is from a grant of £2.8 

million from the ESRC. 

Taylor-Gooby said 

‘Life is more uncertain. 

No one has a job for life 

– the average length of 

marriage grows shorter 

all the time, and the 

opportunities that our 

children take for granted 

were simply unknown 

a generation ago. 

‘We have made considerable progress in 

understanding risk and how people respond to it, 

but much of our knowledge is divided up between 

different academic disciplines.There is also a need to 

make sure that the latest developments are spread 

as widely as possible among researchers. 

‘Our research investigates how people understand 

and respond to risk and uncertainty in their everyday 

lives and how this relates to the broader field of 

public policy decisions.’ 

Research Focus 

NEW 

FRONTIERS 

16

Nanobiotechnology project challenges US dominance 

The University is co-ordinating an international 

project in nanobiotechnology.The primary objective 

of Novel and Improved Nanomaterials, Chemistries 

and Apparatus for Nano-Biotechnology (NACBO), 

recently launched at the Canterbury campus, is the 

establishment and maintenance of a European centre 

of excellence in the area. It is funded for five years 

in the first instance with a total of 15.6m Euro, of 

which 8m euro is granted from the European Union, 

0.5m from China and 7.1m from European industry. 

Nanotechnology is still 

being explored by 

researchers as a science 

and has been described 

as an ‘enabling technology’ 

rather than a technology 

in its own right. 

Ian Bruce, Professor of Nanobiotechnology, is one 

of many European researchers for whom it is 

essential that Europe is recognised for its scientific 

skills and excellence in this area as well as providing 

competition and a direct challenge to the US, which 

currently dominates the development of this 

emerging science. 

NACBO brings together key European industries and 

governmental agencies with world-class research 

institutes. Its objectives are broad but focused and 

include the creation of novel drug treatments using 

structured nanocomposite particles coated or loaded 

with useful substances to improve medical diagnostic 

systems, materials and methodologies for use in 

forensic science, public health and welfare. It also 

includes activities directly related to the toxicological 

and safety issues surrounding nanomaterials, the 

results of which will be available to the world 

through the project’s website. 

Kent is the only UK university involved in this project. 

The others are the University of Urbino; East China 

University of Science and Technology; Hebrew 

University at Jerusalem; Shemyakin Ovchinikov Institute 

of Bioorganic Chemistry and Bar llan University. 

Industries include Philips; Degussa; Genetix and Savyon 

together with the Health Protection Agency, 

Criminalpol and the Istituto Superiore per la Sanita. 

According to Ian Bruce, such collaboration is a 

principal strength of the project. ‘Collaboration on 

this scale is relatively unknown in America, whereas 

in Europe the benefits are widely acknowledged.’ 

4 

Top prize for Kent astronomers 

University astronomers Professor Glenn White, Dr Stephen Serjeant and Dr Toshi 

Takagi were presented with the £10,000 Daiwa Adrian Prize 2004 at a Royal 

Society ceremony in London. 

The team were awarded the prize in 

recognition of their pioneering work 

on the Japan-Anglo-Dutch ASTRO-F 

satellite, a powerful new space telescope 

which will make a map of the sky in 

far-infrared light. 

Daiwa Adrian Prizes recognise significant scientific collaboration between British 

and Japanese research teams.The prize for the ASTRO-F project was shared with 

the University of Sussex, Imperial College, London and the Universities of Tokyo 

and Nagoya, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). 

ASTRO-F will be the first all-sky far-infrared satellite survey since the Infrared 

Astronomical Satellite mission launched in 1985, and is scheduled to be launched 

in the autumn of 2005. ASTRO-F should detect ten million galaxies, trace the 

structure of the universe out to very high redshifts, detect the most luminous 

objects within the observable universe, map the structure of the Milky Way in 

our own galaxy, and detect young stars that are being born. 

Glenn White, Professor of Space Science, is Project Manager. He said ‘The 

ASTRO-F mission will be one of the most important new space telescopes in 

the coming decade, and should open up a completely new view of the universe 

around us.’ 

Stephen Serjeant added ‘It will find things that are invisible even to the Hubble 

Space Telescope. Our work with the Japanese ASTRO-F team has been 

tremendously successful.’ 

2 3 

17

5/6 Conservation 

work in Peru 

Helping the hospices 

Researchers from the University’s Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) are 

carrying out a survey of over 2,000 people attending hospices in England as both 

day cases and in-patients to find out more about their levels of satisfaction with 

the services provided. 

The study was commissioned by 

Help the Hospice, a charity set up to 

support hospices in their vital work on 

the frontline of caring for people who 

face the end of life and caring for those 

who love them. 

The support given takes many forms – training, education, information, advocacy, 

grant-aid, advice and national fundraising events and activities. 

CHSS has established a reputation for undertaking quick and efficient health and 

social surveys. It started during the late eighties when the department undertook 

‘Apple a Day’ health and lifestyle surveys throughout Great Britain.These surveys 

informed the development of health services and promotion policies. CHSS now 

has a dedicated Health and Social Survey Unit which provides a cost-effective 

solution for managers, professionals and researchers in health and social care. 

Crime and the consumer culture 

Consumer culture is one of the 

driving forces behind street crime 

according to Dr Keith Hayward, 

Lecturer in Criminology. 

In his book City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience,he 

identifies the motivation for street crime not as poverty, but a desire for style, 

luxury and excitement fuelled by marketeers, the search for personal identity 

and an increasingly ambivalent attitude towards crime. 

Drawing on a range of disciplinary frameworks – social theory, urban studies, 

architectural theory and research in the city and urban crime – he argues that 

consumption is central to understanding the city and urban crime. 

It is well known that the consumer culture provides young people with an 

identity, a sense of belonging, particularly those who find themselves outside the 

normal consumer society. Keith Hayward suggests this is exacerbated in an urban 

environment where consumer culture is hothoused whether it is in terms of 

conspicuous consumption, fashion and style. 

He also shows that crime itself is being aestheticised and stylised, repackaged 

by marketeers as a way of selling products such as cars, clothes and video 

games to the youth market. As a result the distinctions between criminal activities 

and those which generate excitement are becoming increasingly blurred, 

a situation made worse by an increase in risk-taking behaviour among young 

men in particular. 

Kent contribution to mental health policy 

Dr Rachel Forrester-Jones, Lecturer in Community Care, 

has made a key contribution to government plans to 

change people’s attitudes to mental illness. She was 

asked to present her research on mental health, social 

networks and social support to the government’s Social 

Exclusion Unit and her advice was directly fed into the 

resulting report and guide, both recently published.The 

guide, Action on Mental Health, sets out the key issues 

relating to mental health and social inclusion in 

individual fact sheets on themes like discrimination, 

housing and employment and provides practical tips 

for action. 

Forrester-Jones said ‘Adults with mental health 

problems are one of the most disadvantaged groups 

in society and I was very pleased to have been asked 

to take part in the development of this crucial piece 

of work.The package will provide much-needed 

practical advice at all service levels.’ 

Development policies, 

not local people, main 

threat to conservation 

of Peruvian rain forests 

A current backlash against community approaches to 

conservation schemes is unjustified, according to 

research into communal reserves in the Peruvian 

Amazon – a prominent example of community 

conservation that was profiled at the 2003 World 

Parks Congress. 

The study, led by Dr Helen Newing from the 

Department of Anthropology and funded by the 

Economic and Social Research Council, included an 

in-depth study of the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Communal 

Reserve, and a broader review of all other communal 

reserves. It found that the main threats to forest 

conservation were connected to road building, 

government-sponsored immigration and, most 

recently, timber exploitation, together with a lack of 

presence of state authorities on the ground. Local 

communities were in many cases struggling to 

protect their traditional territories against 

such developments – often with little or no 

government support – rather than driving forest 

destruction themselves. 

Helen Newing said: ‘We found that for five of the six 

existing communal reserves, government settlement 

schemes or road-building programmes have attracted 

immigration and this has been a major driver of 

population growth and forest degradation. In fact, in 

at least three sites, the original inhabitants have been 

lobbying desperately for the government to come 

and enforce the law to stop environmental impacts, 

but they have received a very limited response.’ 

At a time when Peru is auctioning off some 30% 

of its Amazon forests in logging concessions, the lack 

of enforcement is particularly worrying. In part it 

reflects a return to unsustainable mass forest 

exploitation similar to that of the 1980s, but in part, 

says her report, the situation arises because 

international funding for protected areas is mostly in 

the form of lavishly funded short-term projects. What 

is missing are the resources for low-level, continuous 

management activities. 

5 6 

18

1/2 Books by Sally Tagholm 

3 John Tagholm 

FORTY 

YEARS 

ON 

David Clark R82 (now a journalist with IPC Media) 

interviewed John Tagholm EH65 about his days as 

one of Kent’s first 500. 

When John Tagholm began student life (studying 

History) at Kent in 1965, he became part of 

a university that was both brand new and curiously 

anachronistic. Although Eliot College was the only 

finished building on campus, in those early days 

the fledgling university adopted rules of the 

more established collegiate universities, Oxford 

and Cambridge. 

John remembers strict 

rules about allowing 

female students in male 

students’ rooms, and 

a nightly curfew. 

He also recalls that in order for students to go away 

from college, even if they were in digs, they had to 

apply for an ‘exeat’. ‘It was completely barmy,’ John 

says. ‘Everyone thinks that the swinging sixties was 

a time of student liberation, but Kent had some 

strangely old-fashioned rules at the beginning.’ 

Nevertheless, John recalls, ‘it was terribly exciting and 

we felt, as all pioneers do, very much part of the 

place, as though it was ours.’ During his three years’ 

study he met people who have become lifelong 

friends. ‘I don’t have any bad memory of Kent’, he 

says. ‘Those three years were a very important part 

of my life. He also met Sally Fenby (E65), now a 

successful children’s author, whom he later married. 

The Tagholms had three children, now in their late 

20s and early 30s, and this year John and Sally will 

celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. 

Back in 1968, after completing his History degree, 

John worked on a building site for a few months 

before beginning a career in the media, as ‘Hawkeye, 

assistant to Big Chief I-SPY’. He wrote ten of the 

popular I-SPY books for children. He later worked 

for the Independent Broadcasting Authority (now 

OFCOM) before a 13-year stint at Thames Television, 

where he ended up as Executive Producer of 

daytime programming. In 1989 he formed his own 

company, Pineapple Productions, which merged with 

his present company, BDP Media, ten years later. He 

sold his shareholding in BDP two years ago and now 

works as a freelance producer-director. 

John’s productions have been mainly lifestyle films – 

about food, interiors, and people. He did a series 

called Local Hero for the BBC and he’s just 

completed a promotional DVD for the illustrious 

rowing club, Leander, featuring star rower Sir 

Matthew Pinsent, winner of four Olympic gold 

medals.The film he is most proud of, he finished two 

years ago. Called Galloper Jack, it is about Jack Seely, 

Minister of State for War in 1914, who went on to 

lead probably the last cavalry charge in British 

military history. 

John has maintained his connection with the 

University, and has attended around 15 of the 

annual Careers Fairs. He says it’s partly a way of 

giving something back to the University, but it has 

also provided him with quality staff; two of his most 

successful recruits had been students at Kent. He 

says the Careers Fair is a wonderful opportunity for 

today’s students, but admits that if there had been 

one in 1968, he wouldn’t have attended. In fact, he 

did ask for help from the then Careers staff, who 

told him ‘Don’t bother to apply to the BBC.’ 

‘Today, undergraduates have to be more focused 

than I was ever forced to be,’ he says. ‘I take my hat 

off to them. But I think it does cause them to make 

decisions about their future working life when 

sometimes they are not ready.’ 

He has seen his profession change beyond 

recognition since 1968, and says students taking 

up careers in the media today have a very different 

experience from people in his generation. ‘It was 

a lot more difficult to get jobs in the media then, 

but once you got in, you were in a very comfortable, 

secure environment,’ he says.‘You were protected by 

the NUJ if you were a journalist, or the ACTT if in 

television, and I was a member of both those unions. 

‘To leap forward 40 years, today there are many 

more graduates and many more jobs, but no job 

security.You have to be prepared for a peripatetic 

life, a complete lack of paternalism, and no real 

training. Kids coming into the media today just think 

of the job in front of them. 

‘I’m not saying it was better then, or that it’s better now. 

I’m just observing. A lot of people look back on their 

university days and say things were better then. I don’t 

think that at all, but I do think it’s much tougher today.’ 

Now, when John returns to Canterbury, he’s amazed 

by developments on campus and in the city.‘Today’s 

University takes my breath away. I can’t tell you how 

Canterbury’s changed. Now everybody’s embraced this 

community on the hill, which brings millions to the area.’ 

However, John is grateful that one aspect of the 

campus hasn’t altered during the past 40 years. 

‘We still have that magnificent view from the campus, 

overlooking the Cathedral and the city,’ he says. 

‘For me, it’s one of the great sights. It’s wonderful.’ 

1 2 3 

19

1/2 Actuarial Science 

1 

2 

KEEPING UP WITH 

KENT GRADUATES 

ACTUARIAL SCIENTISTS 

This issue of KENT finds 

out what some of our 

graduates in Actuarial 

Science have been up to 

since they left university. 

Gordon Beard R82 (Actuarial Science) 

I worked for Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society in 

the investments team for a number of years before 

joining Police Mutual Assurance here in Lichfield, 

Staffordshire in 1998. I am part of the team that 

manages over £1bn of investments on behalf of 

police officers and their families throughout the 

UK. I specialise in bond investments, which involves 

a broad knowledge of economics and its influence 

on the financial markets.This has led to the 

establishment of different types of financial products, 

from savings to pensions, designed to meet the 

needs of Police Mutual investors at different stages 

in their careers. My role also includes meeting and 

explaining the investment process to many police 

officers, most of whom are knowledgeable about 

the markets, and frequently ask searching questions! 

Jane Brown E87 (Actuarial Science) 

After Kent, I worked for RNPFN, a small pension 

fund in London, as a computer programmer for 

three years, then in their Investment Department 

for a further seven years. I now work as a fund 

administrator with Deutsche Asset Management 

where I have been for five years. I live in Anerley, 

South London and spend my spare time doing 

voluntary work at West Wickham Police Station 

helping members of the public, and shopping and 

gardening for the elderly. 

Bal Chauhan E88 (Actuarial Science) 

Did not go into actuarial science as too corporate 

for me. Ended up in marketing and advertising and 

currently working at Carlson Marketing Group as a 

data consultant. Have travelled a fair bit and now 

thinking of going into teaching. 

Sarah Elwine K88 (Actuarial Science) 

I started my actuarial career working in a couple 

of actuarial pensions consultancies before eventually 

qualifying as an actuary in 1998. Work mainly 

involved serving the trustees of pension schemes 

in a compliance-type role. I joined Deloitte in 1999. 

Working in a broader consultancy firm has enabled 

me to use my pensions and actuarial knowledge in 

a more rounded and business-focused way, and to 

learn from working with other disciplines and 

actuaries around the world. I have worked on a large 

number of projects from strategic reviews of pension 

schemes to high-profile court cases assessing the 

pensions losses members may have suffered. Last 

year I even got the chance to spend five weeks 

working in New York! 

Phil Simmance R96 (Actuarial Science) 

I graduated from UKC (as it was then!) with a BSc in 

1999. I secured a position at Watson Wyatt (a global 

firm of consulting actuaries) before graduating and 

started with them in October 1999. Initially I was 

working in the UK benefits practice, doing general 

pensions-related actuarial work for a number of UKbased 

clients and based in the head office in Reigate, 

Surrey. I was then seconded to spend half my time 

in the International Practice. Over five years on I am 

now full-time in that area, working with a number of 

multinationals, many of whom are household names, 

and based in our London office. Still desperately 

trying to qualify – only one exam to go! My time at 

Kent was among the best years of my life and I also 

feel that my degree gave me excellent grounding for 

the work that I am now doing. 

Jide Oyelami D97 (Actuarial Science) 

Since graduating in 2001, I’ve worked in pensions 

consultancy with Gissings Consultancy Services Ltd. 

Gissings specialises in employee benefit provision, and 

caters for a number of clients in the FTSE100. My 

role has evolved since I started from data analysis 

and pension scheme valuations into a more clientfacing 

role, which I am enjoying tremendously. It has 

been difficult combining studying for actuarial 

qualifications and full-time employment, but I am 

making progress. I hope to qualify as a Fellow of the 

Institute of Actuaries very soon. 

Natalie Alexander R00 (Actuarial Science) 

Since graduating in 2003, I have been working 

in the Building Solutions Division of Halifax General 

Insurance in the East Midlands, as a supplier liaison 

Analyst. My job entails managing builders and 

suppliers on a daily basis for household insurance 

claims. My ambition is still to become an actuary, and 

I am using both my experience in the insurance 

industry and my current study for CII qualifications 

to further this aim. 

Next issue: Did you do American Studies or British 

and American Policy Studies? If so we’d like to hear 

from you for the next issue of KENT.Where did 

your degree take you and what are you doing with 

it now? 

20

WHO’S 

WHAT 

WHERE 

1 Wedding of Robert and 

Andrea Carter 

2 Frankie Howerd: 

Stand-Up Comic by 

Graham McCann 

The complete 3W is updated 

on www.kent.ac.uk/alumni 

monthly.These are just 

a tiny selection. 

Key D Darwin, E Eliot, K Keynes, 

R Rutherford,T or M 

Information Technology 

(including Maths), N Natural 

Sciences, A Science,Technology 

and Medical Studies, H 

Humanities, S Social Sciences, 

U Foundation year or shortterm 

studies.The location at the 

end of entries is from your 

mailing address – if it’s in 

parentheses, we think you’re 

not actually living there but it’s 

the only mailing location we 

have for you.Year: we place you 

under the year you first came 

to Kent – not the year you left. 

Please let us know if any 

corrections are needed! 

1960s 

Ross, Charles 

(RH66) My interest in local 

politics was strengthened 

(if that were possible) by our 

winning the last elections. I am 

now in my eighth year as local 

party Chairman of the Christian 

Democrats. I believe this is 

a record for a foreigner. Was 

visited by Meg Post’s (Willder 

R66) daughter. It is fun to see 

familiar gestures and 

expressions in the next 

generation! 64859 

Eppertshausen, Germany. 

(5 Jan ’05) 

1970s 

Schuck,Thomas 

(KH72) Now the President 

of the National Federal Bar 

Association, which represents 

interests of judges and lawyers 

in the federal (national) legal 

system in USA. Felicity, USA. 

(1 Nov ’04) 

Williams, Sita 

(KH72) I am an Executive 

Producer in television, 

specialising in TV Drama. 

I have won both RTs, Bafta and 

Emmy’s for my productions. 

Lancashire. (10 Jan ’05) 

Dodd,Alison 

(EH76) I retired earlier this 

year with my husband Peter 

and have now moved to the 

beautiful north Dordogne 

where we are kept very busy, 

in-between guests, with many 

projects in the house and on 

the land. As jobs go, this has to 

be the best one I have had so 

far.The latest addition to the 

family are four ducks who view 

my Jack Russell as a mother 

substitute although I suspect 

her motives for getting them 

to trust her! Dordogne, France. 

(11 Oct ’04) 

Pearce, Jacqueline 

(KH76) Moved to Limousin 

in France last year and live in 

a mill, with a few acres, on 

a river.Very peaceful. France. 

(18 Oct ’04) 

Bruce, Ian 

(EN79) PhD University of 

London and post-doctoral 

position in UK and abroad. 

A lectureship at London, 

a professorship in Italy and 

a slow change from being a 

geneticist to a nanotechnologist. 

Currently I am Professor of 

Nanobiotechnology at Kent, in 

the Department of Biosciences. 

Met my wife at Kent; three 

children. I never imagined I 

would ever teach. (East Sussex.) 

(10 Jan ’05) 

1980s 

McCann, Graham 

(ES80) My book, Frankie 

Howerd: Stand-Up Comic, 

has just been published by 

Fourth Estate. Cambridgeshire. 

(29 Nov ’04) 

Love, Mark 

(RS83) Moved full-time to 

Switzerland in 2001, then 

bought French holiday home 

which has become my life’s 

work to renovate. Geneva, 

Switzerland. (10 Jan ’05) 

Richardson, Julia 

(DH83) Currently running my 

own health and fitness business 

after 13 years in magazine 

publishing.Tragically lost my 

husband in July 2004 when he 

suddenly collapsed and died at 

work. Left with a job I love 

(thankfully), a wonderful 

stepson Tom (14) and 

unbeatable memories. Avon. 

(10 Jan ’05) 

Hitchcock,Andy 

(DH85) Having joined the 

Diamond Trading Company 

straight from Kent in 1989, I am 

now in my eighth job there as 

Head of Admin at the R&D 

Centre in Maidenhead.The 

other seven have included 

everything from rough diamond 

sorting to deputy General 

Manager of De Beers’ Angolan 

office in Luanda, to Account 

Manager in the Sales 

Department. Who knows what 

the next one will be. Despite 

a sense of creeping old age, 

I still play regular league cricket 

for Princes Risborough in Bucks 

with some degree of personal, 

if not team, success in Division 

4 of the Cherwell league – 

Freddy Flintoff eat your heart 

out! Married; two children. 

Buckinghamshire. (13 Sept ’04) 

Smith, Roger 

(RH85) Seven years as an 

officer in the Gurkhas 

broadened my horizons and 

gave me the maturity that you 

can only get from operational 

deployments.Then six years as 

a City headhunter taught me 

loads about business, but 

eventually came a realisation 

that corporate life was not for 

me. Now living in Pembrokeshire 

where I have set up a heritage 

holiday camp with my wife and 

two children. Skint, happy and 

the quality of life is fantastic. If 

you are wavering, do yourself 

a favour and get out of London 

or whatever city is killing you! 

Contact me at: 

info@celticspiral.com. Sir Benfro. 

(1 Nov ’04) 

Smith, Helena 

(RH87) After eight years at 

Rough Guides, where I became 

a Managing Editor, I am about 

to go freelance as an author 

and photographer. London. 

(10 Jan ’05) 

Taylar, Robert 

(RS87) I am working as 

Operational Director for 

Universal Pictures in Stockholm. 

Looking after all film releases 

for Universal Pictures, 

Dreamworks and Columbia 

Tristar in the Nordic area 

(Sweden, Norway, Denmark 

and Finland). I am still trying 

to keep fit and competed 

in both the London and 

Stockholm marathons this 

year. Living in the centre of 

Stockholm, married; one 

daughter. Stockholm, Sweden. 

(17 Nov ’04) 

1990s 

Gorbutt, Chris 

(RS91) Joined the Army for 

a bit and now somehow 

working for Atos Consulting 

on a major procurement 

reform initiative for the MoD. 

Living in St Albans. Main passion 

in life is skydiving ... looking 

forward to the day when I can 

finally jack work in and spend 

my days punching holes in 

clouds. Feel free to get in touch 

at: chris_gorbutt@hotmail. 

Hertfordshire. (3 Nov ’04) 

Kropf,Aleisha 

(RS91) Living and working in 

Indiana where I run my own 

business as a freelance graphic 

designer. In my off-time I 

perform with a women’s show 

chorus. Partner Stephanie; one 

daughter Natalia, and expecting 

my second child. Bloomington, 

USA. (11 Oct ’04) 

Dentan, Chrissy 

(EH92) For the last seven years 

I have been living in Paris and 

working as a wardrobe 

assistant. I have been living with 

Christophe for the last three 

years and we have a little boy 

called Arnaud. I am still in touch 

with my fellow Bernards and 

would love to hear from all the 

drama people that used to 

hang around in Eliot JCR and 

also from Steve Brindle and 

Helen Broxham. 

mariedentan@yahoo.fr, Paris, 

France. (14 Sept ’04) 

Marsh, Lara 

(ES92) I am now working as 

Head of Care providing 

services for people with 

learning disabilities in the 

community. Still in touch with 

some of the Becket Court 

Posse but have lost contact 

with some people on my 

course and would love to hear 

from them – Sharon, Becky, 

Drew and Hiroko. Email me at: 

lara@ldcdover.co.uk. Kent. 

(10 Jan ’05) 

Kenyon, Zoe 

(ES93) My year at UKC reading 

anthropology was postretirement 

self-indulgence. It 

was most enjoyable and has 

enriched my awareness and 

understanding of human 

behaviour even after 40 years 

of medical practice. Kent. 

(10 Jan ’05) 

Davies, Rachel 

(DH94) Living in Crystal Palace 

with my boyfriend Dan and 

working at a recruitment 

company in the City. Also work 

at London Zoo at the 

weekends as I hope to move 

into animal work – just getting 

experience and trying different 

things at the moment! A few of 

us are coming to Canterbury 

for the day in a few weeks as it 

is 10 years since we started! 

How mad is that! East Sussex. 

(1 Nov ’04) 

Ashfield, Robert 

and Andrea Carter 

(both E95) were married 

on 31 October in Colchester. 

(11 Nov ’04) 

21

Left & opposite 

Paintings by Elizabeth Akhurst 

E69, who studied maths at 

Kent 1969 – 72, went into 

teaching, and is now a full-time 

painter. She had an exhibition 

at Kent in 2004. 

Jizba, Ursula 

(RH95) After working in sales 

and marketing for a few years, 

I recently started my own 

business training business 

people and teaching English 

lessons, using the immersion 

method of Helen Doron, for 

children aged 1-12 years. 

Married for three years and 

building my own house at the 

moment. Schwadorf, Austria. 

(17 Nov ’04) 

Perera, Sanjay 

(DH96) Left Canterbury 

to live in London with Greg 

Carter D96 and Chris Green 

D96.Taught in inner city schools 

for the next three years and 

got married. Now living in 

Belgium where I am studying 

for my Masters in Education 

Studies. Middlesex. (22 Nov ’04) 

Sheikh, Marco 

(DS96) After UKC I did a BVC 

at Bristol, worked in London 

and then went to Centre of 

Energy and Petroleum to 

specialise in petroleum law. 

Now working as an oil trader in 

New York. Please contact me at: 

unclemarco@hotmail.com. 

Lahore, Pakistan. (22 Nov ’04) 

Harper, Elizabeth 

(DH97) I lived and worked 

as a community development 

worker in rural Tanzania for 

16 months after completing my 

MA at UKC. Back working and 

living in London. Would love to 

hear from all of my old UKC 

friends.Thank you for all the 

great memories! Essex. 

(10 Jan ’05) 

Afnan-Murray,Vincent 

(ES98) I am now working as 

a computer programmer on 

Canary Wharf after serving in 

a voluntary role at the Baha’i 

World Centre in Israel for two 

and a half years. Married. Email 

me at: vincent@afnanmurray.com. 

Middlesex. 

(4 Oct ’04) 

James, Claire 

(ES98) I am currently working 

at Kent Union, supporting 

student volunteers and raising 

thousands of pounds each year 

for charity! Ben Tanner E99 

and I are getting married in 

December after meeting at 

UKCR 1.50am nearly five 

years ago! Ben now works at 

Canterbury Christ Church and 

we are both very happy to 

have stayed in this beautiful city. 

(1 Nov ’04) 

Whitby,Victoria 

(ES98) I am working in London 

for PwC and going to China 

trekking for Scope Charity next 

October. If you know me and 

would like to sponsor me 

please send me an email. Look 

forward to hearing from old 

friends. London. (17 Nov ’04) 

Irwin, Rebecca 

(KS99) LPC (York College 

of Law) and LLM in Criminal 

Justice (UKC) with thanks to 

Steve and Lisa! I am now a 

trainee solicitor with Mowll 

& Mowll in Dover, just a few 

miles from the University and 

Woody’s! I started teaching 

evidence law seminars in 

addition to my masters last year 

and thankfully my firm have let 

me continue my indulgence this 

year. Just bought my first house 

with partner James (who works 

at STA Travel on campus) and 

we are extremely happy. Kent. 

(1 Nov ’04) 

2000s 

Ebeku, Kaniye 

(ES00) Returned to Nigeria 

after completing my doctoral 

programme in late 2002. 

Resumed my work as Senior 

Lecturer in Law in the Rivers 

State University. Appointed 

Head of the Department of 

Jurisprudence & International 

Law in 2003. Also served as 

a Returning Officer during the 

2003 General Elections.This 

January I was appointed 

Assistant Professor of Law at 

Intercollege, Cyprus where I am 

presently. Rivers State, Cyprus. 

(1 Nov ’04) 

Cook, Eleanor 

(RH01) I was Station Manager 

of UKCR from 2003/2004 

which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Currently just started as a 

production assistant working 

directly with Stuart Urban, 

a two-time BAFTA winner for 

Our Friends from the North and 

An Ungentlemanly Act. Hopefully 

making two feature films next 

year. If anyone wants to get in 

touch, contact me at: 

ellie_cook@hotmail.com. 

London. (1 Nov ’04) 

DEATHS 

Since the last issue of KENT, 

and following the alumni 

questionnaire mailing to all 

former students worldwide, 

we have learned of the deaths 

of the following Kent alumni. If 

you would like to be put in 

touch with the families or 

friends of anyone listed here, 

please let us know.We may 

be able to help. 

Susan A Howden EH66, 

Stephen A Lugg KM68, 

Gillian V Hicks DH72, Richard 

Maidment RS74, Anthony E 

Hale DS75, Hazel Hodgkinson 

DS76, Charles R Blackburn 

KS78, Clare E Blomfield DH78, 

David L Trow KN78, Charles 

F Burch EH79, Kieran J Boyle 

EN79, Reuben L Milkiau RS82, 

John H Large DH83, Gerald 

E Hart DH84, Colin S Moore 

EH84, Margaret Rusbridge 

EH84, Cecil H Wren DH85, 

George T Vine-Lott EH86, Eric 

S Connolly KS87, Brian J Smith 

RS87, Andrea J Harrison KH89, 

Nancy Hazel KH89, Philip 

Newman KH90, Anthony 

J Tyack RN90, Jerily M Baker 

DH93, Alison C Kettlewell 

KH93, Marie Bowes KS94, Vera 

J Gray KH95, James M Lord 

EH95, Michael F Woodhouse 

KH95, Michael Hughes RT96, 

Kathleen J Knight KH96, 

Pamela J Moyse KH96, June 

H Wolfe-Murray KH96, Robert 

W Farmer KH97, John D 

Dunne RH98, Terrence W 

Featherstone KH98, Mark 

Lattimore DN99, Gary Wood 

ES01,William Taylor KH02. 

THE SORCERER'S ARC 

After successfully completing her degree in English 

and History at Kent, 68-year-old June English E84 

celebrated the launch of her first book, The Sorcerer’s 

Arc. Published earlier this year, this is a book of 

unique poems. Despite suffering all her life with 

a serious illness English, who lives in Kent, returned 

to education to study for a degree. Five years later, 

with a degree and MA behind her, June decided 

to write. At first, she wrote stories for magazines 

and children’s stories – poetry didn't come until 

much later. 

‘It was one November morning, I noticed seagulls 

circling over fresh ploughed fields. Winter had 

arrived. Alarm bells rang, as they always do at that 

time of year. I won’t go into the gory details, but 

winter isn’t something that people like me can take 

in their stride. I wrote a poem called Winter Sounds 

and instinctively knew it was the strongest thing that 

I’d written. From that point on, it was like taking 

the lid off a volcano. Poems, all shapes and sizes, 

poured out.’ 

Since its launch, The Sorcerer’s Arc has been well 

received. John Whitworth, an award-winning author 

and a former Kent lecturer, said, ‘June English is good, 

she's very good, assured and skilful.’ 

June English is also involved in introducing poetry 

into the community via Split the Lark, a group of 

people who are dedicated to promoting poetry 

and creative writing. She works in primary schools, 

where she helps to develop children’s creative 

and poetry skills. 

The Sorcerer's Arc is published by Hearing Eye. 

22

Left 

Sculptures by Rosamund 

de Tracey Kelly E66 will be 

exhibited as part of the 40th 

anniversary celebrations in 

Keynes Atrium in the autumn. 

23

EVENTS 

1 EDge performing at 

the Gulbenkian 

2 Sports Fun Day Events 

3 Arts festival firework finale 

The 40th anniversary celebrations continue 

throughout the year. Here are just some of the 

events planned over the forthcoming months. 

For details of these and other events visit 

www.kent.ac.uk/40th 

Ongoing until 31 December 2005 

Keynes Atrium, Canterbury campus 

HEArtworks exhibition 

Keynes Gallery, Photographic exhibition 

8 April 2005 

6.00pm Drawing blood: 

the world of the political cartoon 

Open Lecture by Professor 

Colin Seymour-Ure, Emeritus Professor 

of Government, University of Kent. 

Brabourne Lecture Theatre, Keynes College, 

Canterbury campus 

8 – 10 April 2005 

Alumni reunion weekend. Stand-up comedy, live 

music from Hullabaloo, grand dinners and more!! 


28 April 2005 

7.45 EDge – dance performance by London 

Contemporary Dance School. Premiere 

of specially commissioned work created by 

internationally renowned dance artist Jonathan 

Lunn to celebrate Kent’s 40th anniversary. 

Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury campus. 

Tickets £10, Concs £8, Box office 01227 769075 

or www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian/ 

May 2005 

6.00pm Commemorative Open Lecture 

series including Colin Renfrew and other 

honorary graduates and alumni. 

Fridays at 6pm, Brabourne Lecture Theatre, 

Keynes College, Canterbury campus 

28 May 2005 

Students Union 40th Anniversary Summer Ball 

1960s theme.Tickets will be available from the 

Campus Shop. More information will be posted on 

the Kent Union website as the event approaches. 

4 June 2005 

Arts festival across Canterbury campus 

with evening fireworks finale 


12 – 14 July 2005 

Congregation. Special ‘town and gown’ procession 

through Canterbury city centre 

September 2005 

University of the Transmanche Celebration. 

September 2005 

Freshers’ Week.This year with a 1960s focus. 


October 2005 

Launch of new Medway campus, a joint event 

with the University of Greenwich. 

Medway campus 

October 2005 

Canterbury to Medway 40 mile cycle ride/relay walk 

between Canterbury and Medway campuses in 

support of RAG. 

October 2005 

Hong Kong, 40th anniversary alumni event 

6 November 2005 

Fun Day hosted by the University Sports Centre. 

Teams of students, staff and partner colleges will take 

part in a variety of fun and challenging activities for 

the Vice-Chancellor’s 40th Anniversary Cup. Watch 

out for the Inflatable Human Table Football! 



Congregations Special ‘town and gown’ procession 

through Rochester city centre. 

Rochester city centre 


The Future of HE: a symposium. 

Venue tba 

November 2005 

Commemorative Open Lecture series including 

honorary graduates and alumni. 


9 December 

Alumni reception: House of Lords 

1 2 3 

24

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