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advertisements Advertising on this page is open to University staff. The cost is £15 for a single insertion or £75 for six insertions. The deadline for the November/December issue is 8 October. Send your copy – no longer than 70 words – to the Editor at newsletter@ admin.cam.ac.uk or call 32300. We reserve the right to edit contributions Houses to rent ➔ Italy, Tuscan Apuan Alps Sixteenth-century Italian monastery available for conferences, workshops, schools and group meetings. Fully equipped lecture theatre and extensive computer facilities with accommodation onsite. Daily activities such as mountaineering, caving, canyon walking, city tours, swimming, art classes and restaurant trips can be organised on request. Contact: http://www.vallico.net/ tti/tti.html ➔ Italy, Amalfi coast Small Bed and Breakfast in peaceful, traffic-free mountain village above Positano. All rooms are ensuite with panoramic sea views of the Amalfi coast. Good base for walks in all directions. English speaking host. Double room and breakfast 50 euros per night. Easyjet flights to Naples from Stansted. Photos and further information available. Contact: Penny Marrone on 01954 210681 or email penny.marrone@btinternet.com ➔ Italy, Rome One-bedroom luxury flat available for short rentals. Cable television, fully networked, vast terrace. £400 per week all inclusive. Further information available on request. Contact: Cristiano Ristuccia on car37@cam.ac.uk ➔ North Yorkshire Moors, cottage Accommodation comprises sitting room, dining rooms, play room, kitchen, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and garden with lovely views. Sleeps seven. All mod cons. Fabulous walks in all directions. Near Rievaulx, Castle Howard, Runswick Bay. £370 per week. Contact Horace or Miranda Barlow on 01223 366 618/333 867 or email hbb10@cam.ac.uk ➔ Godmanchester, flat Ground-floor flat in Godmanchester located in a complex of 40 flats, designed for residents over 60 years. Sitting room overlooking courtyard with well-stocked garden. Kitchenette with electric cooker and fridge-freezer. Accommodation comprises entrance hall, double bedroom and bathroom. Emergency call alarm system. Shops nearby. Good public transport links to Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge (16 miles). £445pcm (negotiable). Email ap233@cam.ac.uk SERVICES ➔ Private English Lessons Cambridge Classroom offers private tuition in English with an experienced and highly qualified tutor, from preparation for tests and examinations, to simple conversation classes. We can also work on skills like pronunciation or writing. All kinds of learner are welcome: visiting scholars, graduate students or anyone wishing to brush up on their English skills. Visit www.cambridgeclassroom. co.uk or email info@ cambridgeclassroom.co.uk ➔ Orchestra The King John Orchestra is a sociable orchestra set up by and for parents and friends of schools in and around Cambridge. It rehearses fortnightly on Monday evenings in school term time in the Grange Road area and currently has vacancies for brass and string players. If you want to get back to playing your instrument in an informal and friendly atmosphere, please email kjo@kcs.cambs.sch.uk ➔ Art classes Get creative and join an art course at Cambridge Regional College. Choose from 10-week classes in ceramics, drawing and painting, jewellery, photography, printmaking or sculpture. Taught in modern, purpose-built workshops and studios, students will quickly develop research and design skills alongside art and craft techniques. All courses run in the evening and start the week commencing 21 September. Phone 01223 226315 or visit www.camre.ac.uk VOLUNTEERS NEEDED ➔ Bridge the Gap walk Volunteers are needed for Bridge the Gap charity walk on Sunday, 13 September at Jesus Green from 8am–2pm. You will help direct 2,500 people around the 4.5-mile route of the Cambridge colleges. Lunch provided. The walk raises money for the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity and Press Relief: the News Community Fund. Contact Emma Wenborn at emma. wenborn@admin.cam.ac.uk or phone 01223 339666 ➔ Scouting Adult leaders needed to help with activities for boys and girls in Scouting (aged six years and up) in many areas around Cambridge. If you have an hour or two a week to spare, please get in touch to discuss what the opportunities are to become a leader or assistant. Contact Nicola Buckley at nicola. buckley@admin.cam.ac.uk The University of Cambridge accepts no responsibility for the advertisements or their content. I N D E P E N D E N T C AT H O L I C DAY A N D B OA R D I N G SC HOOL FOR GIRL S AGED 4 -18 • ALL FAITHS WELCOME S I T UAT E D I N T H E H E A R T O F B E AU T I F U L C A M B R I D G E Rooted in tradition but forward-thinking, St Mary’s was built on the vision of a 17th-century woman who had the audacity to believe that girls could do anything. We couldn’t agree more. For more than 100 years, St Mary’s has been helping girls build the confidence they need to thrive. We focus on the whole girl – giving her the solid foundation she needs to navigate today’s rapidly changing global landscape. From academic and extra-curricular activities, to leadership building and charity work, St Mary’s celebrates the individual, challenges the mind and ignites the spirit. St Mary’s C A M B R I D G E www.stmaryscambridge.co.uk B E C A U S E T H E R E ’ S N O T H I N G G I R L S C A N ’ T D O . JUNIOR AND SENIOR SC HOOL OPEN MORNING – 10 OCTOBER 9.30 UNTIL NOON ST MARY’S JUNIOR SCHOOL ST MARY’S SENIOR SCHOOL No 2 Brookside Cambridge CB2 1JE Tel: 01223 311666 Email: juniorschool@stmaryscambridge.co.uk Bateman Street Cambridge CB2 1LY Tel: 01223 353253 Email: registrar@stmaryscambridge.co.uk 14 | september/october 2009 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter
interview Murder in the colleges As Cambridge celebrates its 800 th anniversary, we meet an author whose crime fiction is set in the emerging years of the University, complete with inter-collegiate skulduggery, academic intrigue and worse Lis Cruwys combines historical research with a cracking good story ON A FINE MORNING in 1996 Liz Cruwys, a marine biologist, cycled from the Scott Polar Research Institute to Heffers book shop on Trinity Street. There on a table in the crime fiction section lay a pile of freshly delivered copies of A Plague on Both Your Houses: the First Chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew by Susanna Gregory, an author new to the genre. Liz opened the top copy and flicked through the first few pages – a dedication to the author’s husband, a map of Cambridge and a plan of Michaelhouse circa 1348, followed by a prologue that sets the scene for the unfolding of clerical skulduggery and academic scheming. It was, she says, a “surreal feeling” because Susanna Gregory is a pseudonym – and the author of the book with the brightly coloured cover was none other than Liz herself. A Plague on Both Your Houses unravels the story of a murder against a backdrop of the savage rivalry of medieval Cambridge, as college fellows jockey for position. In the background looms the ever-present threat of approaching plague. When it arrives, the Black Death brings desperation among the local population as resources dwindle, and town and gown rivalries intensify. Descriptions of the stench from the River Cam, filthy kitchens and piles of “Cambridge is one of the most magical, magnificent and murderous places anywhere” rubbish are stark reminders of Cambridge as a miserably cold town in the Fens. The central character is Matthew Bartholomew, a physician and teacher of medicine at Michaelhouse, one of the earliest Cambridge colleges, which was eventually incorporated into Trinity College. With his pragmatism, Bartholomew is more modern in his methods than most of his peers in the book as he seeks to find a logical explanation for the spread of infection and a means of treating it – perhaps a pointer to some of the brilliant Cambridge minds to come. Liz says she became fascinated by medieval history while “living among the wonderful medieval remains of Cambridge”. After school in Bristol, she earned her first two degrees at the University of Lancaster and the University of Durham. Her subsequent career as a police officer gave her an insight into human behaviour in all its guises, subterfuge and crime-solving. In her late-20s she returned to academia, taking a PhD in Biological Anthropology at Cambridge, and later becoming a Fellow and Tutor at Wolfson College. During her time in Cambridge, she conducted extensive fieldwork in both polar regions, while pursuing her love of medieval history and architecture in her free time. In constructing her plots, she combines historical research with a cracking good story. Since the publication of A Plague on Both Your Houses, 14 further Matthew Bartholomew Chronicles have appeared. The latest, A Vein of Deceit, centres on sly dealings and murder as Michaelhouse negotiates for timber and coal with Suffolk landlords. An interest in Restoration London prompted Liz to start another series, this one based around the character Thomas Chaloner. On top of that, she is author of books on British castles and cathedrals of the world. She says: “Each time I finish a book, I quickly plunge into the next one – and soon I scarcely remember what the last one was about.” In 2006, Liz moved to Carmarthenshire in west Wales, where she has a large garden and engages in heated debate with other writers of crime fiction on matters of pithy historic detail, and works full time on her books. She still visits Cambridge, where she lived for 20 years, whenever she can. Sometimes she pops into the Michaelhouse Café, a flourishing reminder of one of Cambridge’s ‘lost’ colleges, imagining vespers being sung there by early college scholars as she sips her tea. september/october 2009 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Newsletter | 15
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