THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER - Radley College

Lusimus
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
www.radley.org.uk/or/lusimus Issue 19, June 2009
The Radley Choir singing in Notre Dame, February 2009
Development – page 3 Radley Dons – page 5
Tonk – page 6 Mongol Ambulance – page 9 Sport – pages 11 & 12

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Changes in the Radleian Society
Rupert Henson
(1975) Chairman of the Radleian Society Committee
Committee
Will Bailey (1968)
Charlie Barker (1964, President)
Tom Durie (1970)
Henry Fitzgerald-O’Connor (1993, Hon. Treasurer)
Edward Furness Smith (1995)
Charlie Goldsmith (1990)
Andrew Holmes (1957)
Julia Langton (Parent)
Sam Melluish (1976)
Charlie Van der Gucht (1993)
Jock Mullard
Jock retired in 2005 but, four years later, found himself
still working as Hon. Secretary. Although Jock will
continue to work in the Foundation and Radleian
Society offices as Publications Manager, his duties as
Hon. Secretary will be shared by the whole Office team:
the Hon Secretariat.
Day to day administrative queries should be directed to
the appropriate team member.
Hamish Aird
Foundation Adviser
Tel: 01235 548574
Email: hha@radley.org.uk
Hamish plays a valuable role working closely with
Anthony and the rest of the team to ensure the
operational effectiveness of the Foundation and the
Radleian Society and the success of the Reunions.
Hamish would be happy to help with any queries
about legacies.
Sarah Hart
Events Manager
Tel: 01235 543171
Email: sarah.hart@radley.org.uk
Sarah organises all Old Radleian and Foundation
events. If you are responding to an event invitation,
have feedback on an event you have attended or a
suggestion for future events, Sarah would be happy
to hear from you.
Emma Lyon
Database Manager
Tel: 01235 543172
Email: emma.lyon@radley.org.uk
Emma manages the Radleian Society database
and website. If you have an address change, would
like to contact an Old Radleian, have news on any
“lost” Old Radleians, or have any comments about
the Radleian Society website, please contact her.
Anne Widdup
Administrator & PA to Development Director
Tel: 01235 548543
Email: anne.widdup@radley.org.uk
Anne carries out various duties for the Radleian
Society as well as the Foundation. If your query
doesn’t fall into Sarah’s or Emma’s remits then
please contact Anne.
New Procedure for booking OR Rooms at Radley
For some time now members of the Radley
community have been welcome to use the four guest
rooms (known as OR Rooms) by Mem Arch for
short stays during term time. This accommodation
is available to members of the Radleian Society free
of charge.
New procedures have been introduced to ensure
legitimate bookings are made and to assist
Housekeeping.
Old Radleians wishing to make a booking should
preferably complete the online booking request form
on the Radleian Society website at www.radley.org.uk/
or/ (accessible via the main College website). Anne
Widdup will process your request with Housekeeping.
It is no longer possible for ORs to make bookings directly
with Housekeeping.
Although we welcome guests to the College,
unfortunately the privileges of staying in the OR
Rooms do not automatically give access rights to other
areas of the College. Therefore we are unable to offer
guests meals in Hall (or Common Room) unless, of
course, individuals have made arrangements with and
are accompanied by a member of the Radley staff.
We are not resourced to provide full hotel facilities but
would like guests to have a very comfortable stay.
Tea and coffee making facilities are available within
each OR Room.
We would also ask that you:
• vacate your room by 10am on the morning of
departure
• be aware that people live nearby and so please keep
noise down, especially at night – and always keep
a note of your door access code (provided on
booking)
• please leave a note of any maintenance issues in
the suggestion book provided, so we can improve
our facilities
2

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Progress Report from Anthony Robinson
Our supporters’ loyalty to Radley and generosity to the
Foundation never cease to amaze me. The last twelve
months have been testing times for parents and ORs
alike with the economy threatened by uncertainty and
the roots of our political democracy severely shaken.
And yet, Radley is full, waiting lists are bulging, the
Foundation has raised over £1million in donations and
the pre-1947 Reunion on 21st June saw a record 286
celebrate their long association with the College.
the Foundation has raised over £1million
in donations
Radley seems to have that effect on us. As 18 year old
boys some of us can’t wait to get away from the place. As
30 somethings we discover an unexpected warmth about
our schooldays and a curiosity to see what’s changed,
and we think we might after all put little Harry down on
the list. As parents we decide to make every conceivable
sacrifice to fund Harry’s days through Radley and look
on with joy and pride as not-so-little Harry passes CE,
Even with this success and committed
support there is still a long way to go to
achieve our aims.
survives New Boys Tea and perceptibly matures during
his first four weeks. As grandparents we quietly try and
work out how to make the impossible possible for future
generations of the family.
The first words that come to mind are THANK YOU.
Thank you for your unflinching support of the College
and thank you for your extraordinary generosity to the
Foundation. A total of £1,083,000 has been donated
over the last fourteen months – a quite remarkable
achievement by all our supporters and a great team
effort. £530k has come into the Silk Fund (increasing
it from £1.1m to £1.6m), £120k into the Hugo Rutland
Memorial Fund (taking it from £241k to £361k), £104k
into the fund for the new Rowing Centre, £92k into the
Malcolm Robinson Memorial Fund, £179k into Trustees
Discretion and £58k into our other Funds.
As a direct result the College has been able to grant
7 Silk and Foundation Awards for this September,
increasing the number in the College to 25 – the
Anthony Robinson amongst the guests at the City Drinks
in June
equivalent of 16 free places. Our first ambition is to fund
the equivalent of thirty free places in the College and
then to try and increase this to ten percent (60 or so) in
Gifts vary between £10 and £100,000 but all
are given with equal love and encouragement.
line with William Sewell’s original 1847 vision. We have
also been able to grant a second Hugo Rutland Award to
a Radley family struggling with unexpected illness.
I have been deeply touched by the letters of support
we have received. Gifts vary between £10 and £100,000
The Reunion for those who came to Radley before 1947 –
over 280 ORs and their guests in Hall
but all are given with equal love and encouragement.
Many are one-off sums but others are spread out over
a number of years, usually between three and seven,
to make them more manageable for the giver; one
imaginative gift from a young OR was for £10 per month
for fifty years - £6,000 in total; another, from an elderly
pensioner, represented a major proportion of his annual
pension. An OR in his thirties described his delight at
What could be achieved if we all gave a little?
the ‘opening up’ of the College and his joyous realisation
that he might after all, with the help of the Silk Fund, be
able to send his son to Radley.
Even with this success and committed support there is
still a long way to go to achieve our aims. We have set
ourselves the challenge, via The Silken Thread, of getting
the Silk Fund up to £2.5m by the end of this year and the
Rutland Fund up to £500k by the same date. So we are
looking to raise another £1 million by December. About
97% of parents and ORs have yet to make a donation
to The Silken Thread but 3% have gifted £650k to these
important funds. If all 97% were to give, imagine what
could be achieved!
Radley continually strives, feet on the ground,
to achieve excellence in everything it does.
Radley continually strives, feet on the ground, to achieve
excellence in everything it does. The College will not
stand still even in troubled times and the Foundation is
at the heart of driving forward the future developments
and improvements identified by the Warden and
Council.
Many of the ORs at the pre-1947 Reunion, aged between
76 and 94, spoke of feeling equal pride in the Radley of
today as in the Radley they knew. It was an enormous
privilege to meet them and to hear some of their stories.
Loyalty and generosity - qualities to be admired and
nurtured. All of us, old and young, who love and respect
the place, believe the Radley of tomorrow, whatever may
befall, will still represent the values we most want to
instil in our children and grandchildren.
Anthony Robinson
Development Director, OR and Parent
Foundation Trustees
Chairman
Richard Morgan
(Former Warden of Radley)
Vice Chairman
Gerald Kaye
(Development Director – Helical Bar plc, OR
and Parent)
Andrew Fane
(Deputy Chairman – Great Ormond St Hospital
NHS Trust and OR)
The next Reunions
1947-1954
Saturday 19 September 2009
(dinner)
Guy Heald
(Investment Consultant and OR)
Rupert Henson
(Stockbroker – Collins Stewart, OR and Parent)
Andrew Holmes
(Former venture capitalist and co-founder of
Quester Ventures, Former Parent and OR)
Richard Huntingford
(Fomer CEO/Chairman – Chrysalis Group plc/Virgin
Radio, OR and Parent)
1972-1978
Saturday 5 June 2010
(dinner)
Sam Melluish
(Investment Banker – Gartmore and OR)
Thomas Seymour
(Barrister – Wilberforce Chambers and OR)
David Smellie
(Solicitor and Partner – Farrer & Co)
Rory Tapner
(CEO/Chairman – UBS Asia Pacific, OR and Parent)
1979-1985
Saturday 18 September 2010
(dinner)
If you are in one of these groups please save the date and if you do not receive an invitation
please contact Sarah Hart
Tel: 01235 543171 Email: sarah.hart@radley.org.uk
3

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
The Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund
The Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund was created in 2005 after the tragic death of Hugo
Rutland (1974, B) in a drowning accident. To date over £361,000 has been raised
to support the on-going education of Radleians whose parents find themselves in
unexpected financial difficulties.
END OF SUMMER PARTY
BACK TO
The Fund was established by Hugo’s widow, Claire, with a group of friends, family and
ORs. Claire and her supporters have arranged a succession of highly successful social
and sporting events. Last year their 280808 Party with a Chinese theme raised over
£8,000 for the Fund. Their next, Back to Cool, a party for 12s and 13s, will take place at
Marlston House on 3rd September.
For more details contact claire_rutland@hotmail.com
The Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund continues to seek support from all those in the
Radley family. For further information or if you wish to make a donation, please visit:
www.radley.org.uk/OR/Foundation/HRMF.html
In aid of The Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund
The Radleian Society presents...
an extra scoreboard which allows the Bigside score to be seen by those on distant pitches...
David Hardy seat
...and a marquee for use by parents and crews at regattas
May Day Madrigals
The seat at the river presented by the Radleian Society and the Radley Mariners
in memory of David Hardy
The Choir sings from the roof of the Mansion on May Day
4

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Richard Morgan, Chairman of the Foundation Trustees, reflects on the far-reaching influence
of three Radley Dons
I have recently finished editing a book on Jock
Burnet, Bursar of Magdalene College, Cambridge, a
member of the Radley Council for many years and
the intimate friend of three successive Wardens. One
of the contributors poses the question, “Who formed
his mind?” That set me thinking about which dons,
if any, might have formed the minds of generations
of Radleians. It would be invidious to mention the
names of those outstanding teachers who are alive, with
the exception of Peter Way because the former Poet
Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, has made his appreciation
of Peter so public. But three other names immediately
come to mind.
When I arrived at Radley in 1963, the name of Charles
Wrinch was legendary as it still is. He first came to
Radley in 1928 to teach English and Drama and after
various departures and returns, eventually left in 1954.
It is clear that he was inspirational, maybe to every
boy he taught. Malcolm Robinson was very different
in that he concentrated on the VIth form and was so
formidable teaching boys History that awarders at
Oxford and Cambridge had to take into consideration
the quality of his teaching when making their awards.
Paul Crowson had arrived in Common Room in 1945,
served in the History department under various Heads
of Department, including Malcolm, and had one of the
finest minds of any man I have known. Why he took an
interest in my mind I shall never know but I owe him a
Richard Morgan
educational establishment. No, the role was to produce
the next division of leaders who might otherwise not
have the training or confidence to contribute positively
to society. And those who had the good fortune to
attend such schools had a civic duty, in their lifetime, to
give back more than they had been given.
This concept of civic duty has been an essential part of
the Radley I admire. When I think back to the amount
of leadership, pastoral care, time and patience for others,
that was demanded from Senior Prefects, Heads of
Socials, Social Prefects, Writers, Musicians, Thespians,
Captains of Games, especially Captain of Boats, and
many other role players, I am filled with wonder. And
the extraordinary fact emerged that, within reason, the
more that was given, the better the academic results
achieved. In that Legget and McChesney era of the VIII
winning National Championships and Henley, the Boat
Club outperformed the rest of the VIth form in A Level
grades. I put that down to motivation, self discipline
and organisation. They gave more than they knew they
had in one area of their lives, and the experience was
absorbed not only into their brain but also into their
spinal column.
Fast forward fifty years and what do I find in the world
of local affairs, parishes and charities but those self same
leaders from school, running committees for hospitals,
the elderly, the vulnerable and those with learning
disabilities, organising fund- raising events, concerts and
plays, flower shows and fetes. Maybe Wiltshire is overpopulated
with those from the Independent Sector but I
doubt it. That civic duty was sealed into the thinking of
many a long time ago and after busy, sometimes frantic
careers, there is time to give back more obviously to
society, to provide cement to keep the structure in place.
So when people claim that Independent schools
divide society, it is worth pointing out that in so many
ways they help to keep it together. Their contribution
may be small in numbers but that does not prevent
a considerable influence, as one look on the War
memorials of the twentieth century will testify. The pity
is that in the last decades the experience of Radley and
similar schools has not been more widespread. Civic
duty is a concept understood in the majority of all
schools, and no doubt there are syllabuses and exams
Paul Crowson
Charles Wrinch
huge amount from his introduction to the philosopher,
R.G. Collingwood, and other authors, but, above all,
for his own distilled wisdom. Maybe Paul was not
inspirational in the dynamic manner of Charles Wrinch
or the driving force of Malcolm Robinson. Indeed I am
almost sure that as a schoolboy I would not have had the
maturity to appreciate him myself. So I was more than
fortunate to learn from him as a colleague.
One of Paul’s beliefs was that the role of the Public
Schools was not necessarily to produce the very top
leaders in the country. For, he argued, they would
emerge from any strata of society or from any
Malcolm Robinson
that can be taken in the subject. The triumph of Radley
is that such a need is understood through example and
expectation; it is part of the bricks and mortar of the
place. Why? Because certain great teachers, such as Paul
Crowson, formed our minds and showed us the way.
The Foundation is actively seeking support for
the Silk Fund, Hugo Rutland Memorial Fund
and Malcolm Robinson Memorial Fund
5

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
The story behind the Thompson Awards
J.V.P. Thompson
In a Trust Deed dated 15
October 1969, the year he
left Radley, J.V.P. Thompson
donated £25,000 to set up the
JVP Thompson Trust Fund,
“the income of which shall
be applied in establishing
and maintaining scholarships
to be called the Thompson
Scholarships to assist boys
seeking to enter the College
who are of particular merit
but who do not necessarily
attain the standard of an open
scholarship.” On his death in
1981 the residue of his estate
together with some property
were bequeathed to the Trust
Fund. The current value of the
fund is well over £1 million.
His obituary in The Radleian
of 1982:
Thompson. On 23rd
November 1981 James Vincent
Perronet Thompson (Master
1945-64, Tutor of C Social 1950-
64). David Goldsmith writes:
I first met “Tonk” in September
1950 when I came to Radley
as a new don – it was the term
that he took over as Tutor of ‘C’
Social. He had been appointed
to Radley five years earlier
after teaching at Highfield Prep
School and Merchiston Castle,
such a character, always
full of fun
Edinburgh. At a time when
the old-fashioned General
Schoolmaster was giving way
to the more specialist-minded
man and when eccentricity
was becoming less acceptable,
he stood out as a tremendous
character possessing so many
of those qualities that go to
make a successful schoolmaster.
During my early years of
schoolmastering I learnt an
enormous amount from him
which has I hope stood me in
good stead ever since.
His Social quickly became the
most sought after in College
– winning most of the Cups
and producing many Senior
His Social quickly became
the most sought after in
College
Prefects. In class he was a
formidable History teacher
and form-master and his
results bore credit to his skill
and patience as a teacher. Not
himself a games player he
was nevertheless a brilliant
coach of small boys and year
after year he produced highly
successful and enthusiastic
Midgets Rugger XVs and Junior
Cricket XIs. There were few
sides of College life in which
he did not get involved and his
annual appearances in the Dons’
Plays were eagerly awaited – I
particularly remember him
dressed up as Henry IV Part I!
He was a very knowledgeable
musician and an enthusiastic
collector of gramophone
records – in fact he wrote
regular reviews for specialist
magazines. Sadly he suffered
a full complement of the
eccentricities
from a hearing defect which
must have been a great
handicap to him not only in his
music but also in his teaching.
He had always longed to run
his own Prep School and in
1964, having served 14 of his 15
years as Tutor, he bought Akeley
Wood near Buckingham. I
think it is fair to say that this
venture was never a complete
success – possibly by then he
was too old and set in his ways
for such a move, and probably
his deafness became even more
of a handicap. At any rate after
a few years his health began to
deteriorate and latterly he had
been unable to communicate
with his friends. His death last
November was really a merciful
relief.
When he left Radley he
endowed the Thompson
Scholarship to be awarded
annually to a boy (not already
at College) of near Exhibition
standard who in the opinion of
the Selection Committee had
the most to offer outside the
classroom in the fields of sport
or culture. In his Will he also
remembered Radley generously
did anyone ever really hear
him say “eesh”?
by donating not only further
sums of money but also his vast
collection of books.
My final thoughts as I write
this must be about Tonk as
I knew him in his heyday –
such a character, always full
of fun, one could never be
bored in his company. I spent
several holidays with him at
Music Festivals – Edinburgh,
Three Choirs, and together
we attended many concerts,
theatres and sporting functions.
My repertoire of “Tonk Stories”
is vast – I often bring some of
them out (suitably disguised
and exaggerated) at parties and
after-dinner speeches – I believe
he would approve and heartily
join in the laughter. I write
“would” but Tonk was a strong
and sincere Christian and I do
not think he can be far away.
I have been privileged to have
known (and honoured to have
been asked to write about) one
of the great schoolmasters –
what a shame that so few of us
are as dedicated nowadays.
Larkin’s Years – Robin Bailey, Tonk’s last Head of Social, reflects on life at Radley in the late
50s and early 60s.
Prep. School in the fifties was a
cosy place: not many of us, quite
a little family, really, and by
the time you left you’d become
Somebody. You might not be
Head Boy, Captain of Games,
or the finest instinctive wing
since Obolenski, but you were
a prefect, in the top form, voice
on the fringe of breaking, and at
the top of the academic tree. It
was a bonsai tree, but you had
yet to learn that.
Then, after a summer holiday
in which the sun never ceased
to shine, you went off to Public
School. In my case, this was
Radley, and I fear that on the
September day in 1959 when
I looked for the first time on
Clock Tower, Covered Passage,
Middle Markets and, eventually,
Tonk, I may in my overawed
condition have failed to
appreciate just how lucky I was.
Tonk was James Vincent
Perronet Thompson, Tutor of C
Social, with a full complement
of the eccentricities accumulated
by many bachelor schoolmasters
after a few years in the job.
Later, I learned that these
mannerisms, real or imagined
(did anyone ever really hear him
say “eesh”?), were the proper
subject of ridicule and parody.
That afternoon they were to me
simply another reason to be
scared witless.
The terror subsided, of course.
There is little time at school for
such luxuries, and I was soon
swallowed up in the routine
and ethos of a Radley which at
that time, like most of Britain,
was essentially pre-war in its
instincts. The Dons included
many whose names would be
familiar to a reader of A.K.
Boyd’s history, which takes us
up to 1947. Stephen Paton,
unique at Radley in being able
to walk through his own quad;
Theo Cocks, my first formmaster;
Tonk; Guy Stewart-
Morgan, Tutor of A Social, in
his little three-wheeled invalid
car, for he was crippled with
arthritis; Ivor Gilliat, large,
slick-haired, booming: and
Tony Money was there too,
the shine scarcely off his M.C.,
back in uniform on Wednesday
afternoons when we paraded
in the C.C.F. before men who
had perhaps worn battledress in
more threatening circumstances
not that many years before.
Over all was the burnished
figure of the Warden,
W.M.M.M., Wyndham
Milligan, via the Guards and
a housemastership at Eton,
known as Gush because
that’s what he did. But he did
6
it with great style, never a
silver hair out of place, little
if any variation in his routine.
On Sunday lunch in Hall,
for example, we would time
him from the moment of his
entry to the time he sat down
at the end of the long grace
(“Oculi omnium in te sperant,
Domine…”), and over the years
he kept within a second of par.
My first sight of him was in
School on the first night of my
first term, when this shining
patrician stood in a carved
pulpit and read out our names,
each of us assuring him, in
Latin, of our presence.
Long Dormitory – maybe the longest dormitory in the world

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
He presided over an
establishment whose ethos was
determined solely by its past,
and there seemed little reason
why this should change. Our
short gowns and buttoned tweed
jackets hung above regulation
grey trousers whose turn-ups
flapped baggily round our
ankles – take away the gowns
and we could have been extras
in Brief Encounter. So dressed,
we carried under our arms
our ring-binders (“blocks”)
and books from classroom to
classroom, never stepping on
mown grass or walking through
Pups’ Court, both of these
delights being reserved for
School Prefects. Shop sold soup
and sandwiches in Short Break
to those who still had enough
credit in their jam account
to sign a pink form. Boys in
rasping grey shorts toiled up
Cheesers on damp afternoons
on the way round Junior Long.
Kenneth Brookman supervised
the expert and the inept at
Standards in the Lent Term.
R.S.M. Howe turned the air
blue at the Armoury every
Wednesday morning as we
heaved greased four-by-two
through the barrels of Mark
IV Lee-Enfields prior to the
afternoon’s parade. And every
night I slept in what was, I was
told, the longest dormitory in
the world. (Who finds out these
Our short gowns and
buttoned tweed jackets
hung above regulation
grey trousers
things? Why?) I was convinced
that, longest or not, it was
certainly the coldest outside
Soviet Russia.
Life for a small Radleian was
not all that daunting, if you
stayed within the confines it
offered. Social Hall was your
washpot, over your cubicle you
cast out your shoe, and life in
Social was limited enough to be
manageable. There was always
the danger of being within
earshot of a House Prefect when
he shouted “Faggable” in order
to demonstrate to an admiring
world that he was entitled to
have his shoes cleaned for him,
but you could avoid that by
getting a job which meant that,
though a fag, you were not
faggable. I eventually became
Hugo Tippet’s cubicle fag when
he was Head of Social, which
meant that I made his bed and
tidied his cubicle, in return for
which I enjoyed the privilege of
looking smugly on when other
fags rushed to do the bidding
of some idle H.P. and was also
paid real money at the end of
term. Hugo’s younger brother
did the same job for me a few
years later.
The Prefects, Easter 1964. Back row, l to r: R.C. Seward, H.P. Henderson, A.A.M. Pinsent, D.S. Harley,
P.D.B. White, D.J. Macfarlane, A.D. Lacey
Seated: J.R. Gorges, C.J. Carline, The Warden, W.M.M.Milligan, M.J. Barnsley, R.E.H. Bailey
The Head of Social my first
term was Ian Stevens, a tall
man who wore splendid
waistcoats, as only a Pup
could, and cultivated a
languid manner, laid back
long before the phrase entered
the language. “Truculent
boy!” he would drawl at
some miscreant, showing a
combination of panache and
verbal infelicity which the
pedant in me could never
reconcile. Other great men
come to mind: Colin Mackay
became another occupant of
Number Five, the Head of
Social’s study. A good classicist
and fine hockey player, he went
to the Bar, gained a fearsome
reputation in the field of
personal injury litigation,
and eventually became Mr.
Justice Mackay, proof that
nice guys sometimes do finish
first. Tim McDowell, another
Head of Social, was almost
certainly born in battledress
and a rugger shirt, a bastion
of the Corps and Big Side.
Gavin Pritchard-Gordon, the
last Head of Social before me,
accurately tipped Kilmore
to win the National in a
magazine I edited in my later
years at Radley. He went on
to be a trainer of some repute,
saddling many winners, one of
them ridden by Princess Anne.
I remember Nick West, for
whom the word louche was
surely invented. Funny, literate,
caustic, clever, he died some
years ago. He applied his great
intelligence to the sport of
being so subtly outrageous that
few quite saw what he was up
to. Tonk certainly didn’t, if he
noticed. I remember Graham
Nathan, a good friend with
a line in studied buffoonery
which preceded Boris Johnson
by forty years. Graham once
announced that he had
received notification from
his bank that he was slightly
overdrawn, and that he had at
once sent them a cheque for
the outstanding amount. In my
innocence, I believed him.
I remember too Simon
Sanders, always smiling, always
fun, a talented musician, a
drummer with swing, known,
at least when he was playing
We were lucky in our
teachers
his sax, as Dad. He, with the
lanky pianist James Bradbury,
Bob “Gaspers” Grange on bass,
Anthony Windle on trombone
and me behind the drums,
formed the Simon Sanders
Quintet, Radley’s answer to Joe
Loss.
I remember them all with
affection, and many others.
It must say something about
a school that it contained so
many people who were so easy
to like.
If I have so far neglected to
mention academic work, this is
not an indication of distorted
priorities but of the undoubted
truth that a man whose most
enduring memories originate
in the classroom should get
a life before it’s too late. We
worked, in fact, to some effect.
We were lucky in our teachers,
something which I, at least, did
not realise until much later.
It is a sign of immense good
fortune to have been able to
take for granted teaching of
such high quality. Peter Way,
“Tired Ed” Thornton, Geoff
Savory, Ranulph Waye, Neill
Fisher, Michael Meredith...
I could go on, but there is
only so much room available.
We, who were intellectually
unworthy to dust their shoes,
thought ourselves vastly
superior, speaking of them in
scornful and satirical terms,
as the young always have and
always will. Yet it was Peter
Way who introduced me to
Hopkins, Neill Fisher who
started my love affair with
Damon Runyon and Baroque
music, Michael Meredith who
not only knew what Eliot was
talking about, but made me
want to find out too.
“Tonk” in the 1970s
Radley did that. While you were
there, you saw doors opening
in profusion, and all you had to
do was walk through. This was
not confined to the classroom:
whatever your interest, however
obscure, it was probably catered
for. I fenced, I beagled, I wrote
poetry. I went to the Marionette
Society’s joyous performance of
Maria Marten (I can still, nearly
fifty years later, close my eyes
and hear them singing: “We
wonder what they did.. With
forty thousand quid..”). I went
to plays in the Old Gym and
saw John Hughes’s majestic and
poignant Lear. I even appeared
there myself, as Sergius Saranoff
in Shaw’s Arms and the Man,
directed by Geoff Savory. Peter
Way’s review in the following
term’s Radleian spoke of my
interpretation as “perhaps too
intelligent”, a gentle way of
saying that I had totally failed
to understand even a fraction of
Sergius’s character.
There was a group called
the Chevrons, three guitars
and a drummer (me again),
with Chris Davies, the son
of a Reverend Prep School
headmaster, giving a passable
aural and visual imitation of
Hank Marvin, whose Shadows
were just coming to the end
of the domination of their
instrumentals in pop music.
And, heaven for a show-off like
me, we had a debating society,
which we called the Union,
wearing black tie for debates
(Pretentious? Moi?). We had
a combined debate once with
St. Helen’s, on a motion in
favour of co-education. Nobody
wished to speak against it, and
I was dragooned into doing so.
I lost.
7

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
At last the inevitable happened
and I was absorbed into the
establishment which I had
publicly satirised and privately
aspired to. First of all the blue
card appeared: “R.E.H.Bailey
is appointed an [always “an”]
House Prefect”, signed by
G.A.P-G.”. Then in due course
came the summons from Tonk,
to be told I was to be his next –
and last, for he was on the point
of retiring – Head of Social.
So at the beginning of the next
term, at call-over, I join the
other new Pups and am given
my white-tasselled mortar
board by Gush – “Auctoritate
mea et totius Collegii praeficio
te alumnis Radleiensibus” –
Then in due course came
the summons from Tonk,
to be told I was to be his
next – and last, for he was
on the point of retiring –
Head of Social.
and I am now, in addition to
my duties, allowed to carry my
gown, walk on mown grass,
climb through windows, wear
coloured sweaters or waistcoats,
but not – oh, most definitely
not – to miss breakfast. For
this privilege was withdrawn,
so Christopher Carline, Senior
Prefect, did a deal with the
Warden. We’ll attend breakfast,
he said, but we want an edible
one, not the gruel you feed the
lower classes. O.K., replied the
Warden, a tough negotiator
(can’t you visualise the cigars
and green eyeshades? Perhaps
not.), you can breakfast at
High Table with the Sub-
Warden. This was the Rev.
C.E.B. (Charles) Neate, a
pleasant man and a decent and
compassionate schoolmaster,
but not one’s first choice as
interlocutor at breakfast. We
would eat with our heads down,
grabbing toast and marmalade
from the Lazy Susan in
constant fear that the poor man
would lean in our direction
and, with that characteristic
We would eat with our
heads down
clearing of the throat which was
the conversational equivalent of
the cocking of a firing squad’s
rifles, launch into gracious and
unnecessary discourse.
My last term was something
of a shake-up, albeit a pleasant
one. James Batten took over
C Social, an event which we
all greeted with some relief.
J.M.B. could be an exhaustingly
energetic man, and he
introduced a vigour into the
governance of the Social which
we found at first disturbing, but
eventually refreshing. There
was a brief initial hiccough,
for J.M.B. had toured his new
social with Gush during the
holidays and what they found
shocked our fastidious Warden
to the gleaming tips of his
elegant shoes. During the latter
years of Tonk’s reign, the moral
tone of the social had become,
perhaps, a fraction lax, and
we shared with the declining
Roman Empire and Macmillan’s
moribund Tory Government an
atmosphere of decadent laissezfaire.
I think it was probably the
ingenious collage hanging in
Number Five which was the last
straw for the Warden.
Anyway, the HPs and I were
summoned back early on the
first day of term, and James
Batten set us to clearing the
place up. Number Five did very
well that term, with cushion
covers and curtains sewn by
the delicate hands of my then
girl friend, and a lick of new
paint to go with them. That
was for later; we sanitised the
rest of the social that morning.
Pin-ups were removed, the less
desirable magazines binned,
and any other evidence of
unsuitable precocity similarly
expunged. J.M.B. then sent us
away with an exhortation not
to get drunk, and we caught the
bus into Oxford and drank beer
in the Turf, then as now one of
our new Tutor lubricated
his prefects’ meetings with
beer
the best-known pubs in the city.
With almost endearing naivety
we decided that its seclusion
down an alleyway made it less
likely to be visited by Authority.
The rest of the term was a
delight. Exeter College, Oxford
had offered me a place, and I
could concentrate my efforts
elsewhere. To my enduring
relief, J.M.B., though still
expecting his prefects to run
the social from day to day, took
an active interest in the process.
This was a marked change
from the previous term, and
was certainly more what I had
expected when elevated to my
lofty position. Furthermore,
our new Tutor lubricated his
prefects’ meetings with beer.
The sun shone all the time, of
course, and towards the end of
term we had a dance in Social
for the prefects, to which we
were actually allowed to invite
our own partners, instead of
having a visiting team bussed
in from a local girls’ school.
The hands which had sewn
the curtains for Number Five
a few months before now
clasped chicken drumsticks
and other delights (and even,
Back l to r: Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller; front l to r: Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett in ‘Beyond the
Fringe’, 1962.
briefly, me) in Ian Telfer’s
garden. On another occasion
Gush entertained the Pups
at the Warden’s House and
we ate a dinner about which
I remember nothing other
than that it was preceded by
champagne cocktails and that
after dinner, in the garden,
the talented and charming
Jeremy Holt, the art master,
played his guitar and sang. He
was the first person I had ever
heard sing “Small Hotel”, and
nobody has sung it better since
(though I later found that Ella
had made quite a good fist of it
a few years earlier). At the end
of the evening Gush took us
to the pool which had recently
been built on the site of the old
walled garden. We swam in the
I remember thinking that
this was as good as it gets
warm dark evening through
the glow of the underwater
lights, and I remember
thinking that this was as good
as it gets, and I may have been
right, at that.
In the five years since my first
glimpse of Radley, the world
had turned somersaults. The
first hint of the new age to
me was the Lady Chatterley
trial. Following the verdict,
Tonk addressed us solemnly
at the end of Social Prayers.
If, he said, we felt that our
parents would let us read it, we
could do so. Otherwise, leave
the pages unthumbed. Now,
Tonk had been a schoolmaster
for many years, and cannot
really have been as stunningly
ignorant of the mind of the boy
as that pronouncement might
suggest. I can only assume,
meanwhile Peter Cook,
O.R., was busy goading
entertainment into
irreverence
therefore, that he had decided
to take what fighter pilots called
Violent Evasive Action.
Between the Chatterley trial
and the Beatles’ first LP, said
Philip Larkin, something
else of some importance
occurred, and meanwhile
Peter Cook, OR, was busy
goading entertainment into
irreverence, bringing Lenny
Bruce to the Establishment
Club and, not entirely to his
own satisfaction, making the
world safe for David Frost,
who began his long journey
towards a knighthood by
fronting a programme which
rendered the knights of the
shires purple with outrage and
disgust. Private Eye was my
fortnightly delight; That Was
the Week That Was took the
place of our weekly worship
at the shrine of Perry Mason;
the Beatles had turned pop
on its three-chord head; the
Stones got no satisfaction
at full blast in my study in
Short Break; Jack Profumo
had fallen, his bones picked
Authority had drawn the
line at Chelsea boots
white by our prurient press;
Jack Kennedy had shone and
died; the GIs were in Vietnam;
Hugh Gaitskell, whom I had
heard on the radio in Social
Library conceding defeat in the
1959 election, was dead, and
before us stretched the world
of Wilson, Woodstock and the
technological revolution.
Radley absorbed it all – well,
almost all: in 1963 Authority
had drawn the line at Chelsea
boots and drainpipe trousers,
but I found it difficult to be
rebellious because I didn’t feel
repressed or misunderstood.
Worse, I was sometimes –
often – understood, which is
humiliating for an adolescent.
Charles Neate even failed to
object to my scripts for the endof-term
revue, and I was left
wondering whether I was after
all an Establishment lickspittle,
rather than the abrasive
iconoclast I had imagined.
That’s the trouble with Radley:
try as you might, you still end
up liking it.
Getty Images
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Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
1955-1963 Reunion Result
The 2008 Reunion was a huge success with at least one completely unexpected and
heart-warming story. Two men, each at first distinctly dubious about attending the
reunion, fell into an instant friendship which has already produced a life-changing
outcome for a group of disabled adults in north Hampshire by offering them a regular
opportunity to make and participate in music-making and singing.
1959 new boys John Lubbock (E) and Rod Chamberlain (B) met at the Reunion when
both arrived simultaneously to talk to their mutual hero, Simon Langdale. They had
never to their knowledge spoken before and, though they both represented Radley
in the Schools Rackets tournament at Queen’s c.1963, John was in the first pair while
Rod came a distant second to his opponent in the bottom-end handicap class. More
hopefully, they established in five minutes a mutual interest in the world of disability:
John has an autistic son, Rod chairs a charity providing a wide range of living, social
and employment options to disabled people in Hampshire.
Nick Hawkins – Mongol Ambulance
Nicholas Hawkins (1997) and his team are taking part in the 2009 Mongol Rally,
driving an ambulance, given by the NHS, to Mongolia where the vehicle together
with medical equipment will be donated to the local hospital in Ulaan Bataar.
They also hope to raise £30,000 for the Douglas House Hospice in Oxford.
Their journey of about 10,000 miles, starting on 18th July from Goodwood, will
take the team across 15 countries.
See their website: http://www.thedouglascar.com
John is a world-renowned conductor who specialises in concerts and music-making
with disabled, and particularly autistic, people – www.musicforautism.com. And Rod
is Chairman of Enham (founded as World War I’s equivalent of “Help for Heroes”) and
tireless in seeking out opportunities to enrich the lives of the charity’s clients living in
the village of Enham Alamein – www.enham.org.uk. Sure enough, within ten minutes,
John had volunteered to organise a fund-raising concert for Enham and to visit the
charity (which owns a village just north of Andover) to run some music-making
sessions with their clients.
The main event will take place in Winchester Cathedral on Saturday 12th February
2010: Save the date now! – when John conducts his Orchestra and Choir of St John’s,
in aid of Enham’s 90th anniversary (actually 2009 but the cathedral was fully booked).
It will be a marvellous programme, including Handel, Brahms, Wagner – and a world
premiere, the theme from The Mountain Within, composed on the slopes of Mount
Kilimanjaro as a group of Enham clients and buddies fought their way to the summit in
July 2008. Carmina Burana will provide the rousing finale.
If you have any connection with autism or other disabilities, John or Rod would love to
hear from you. In particular they would love you to support their Concert For Enham
in 2010 – or to support their charities in any other way you can, with your time, your
talents or your money.
Rod: 01635 254530 John: 01865 858210
chamb@btinternet.com
orchestra@osj.org.uk
Ruth Harrison of Douglas House, Matt Davis and Nick Hawkins (OR), two of the team
members, and Paul Cooke of the South Central Ambulance Service who donated the
Ambulance at the end of its NHS life.
London Paris Bike Ride in aid of the
Meningitis Trust
From 19th-22nd June 2009, Ed Way (1990), Chris Ross-Hurst (1990), Mike Bellhouse
(1989) and Richard Porter (1990) took part in the London to Paris Bicycle Challenge in
aid of The Meningitis Trust.
On 24th December 2008, Edward Way’s son, Harry, aged just 8 weeks, was diagnosed
with E. coli bacterial meningitis. Harry spent 3 weeks in hospital followed by numerous
home nurse visits.
The consultants through to the nurses at Wycombe General Hospital and St. George’s
Hospital, Tooting, were amazing and extremely positive. The family cannot thank
them enough for all their help. Without them and their quick, specialist thinking the
outcome would have been entirely different.
Although there are further tests to come, Harry is now hopefully on his way to a full
recovery. Others, and that is thousands of others, have not been so fortunate.
The first in-house concert was held to rapturous applause in December 2008, and the
second in April 2009. Above: Rod and John with some of the clients at the first concert.
It is not too late to support the Radley team and donate to The Meningitis Trust.
Please visit: www.justgiving.com/harryway
or make a cheque out to ‘The Meningitis Trust’ and send it to:
Edward Way at 86 Engadine Street, London SW18 5DT.
Radley Golf Team Classic
A team event for younger ORs
on Friday 18th September 2009
at The Berkshire Golf Club
Go to: www.radley.org.uk/or/events for details
9

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Calendar of Events 2009
Radleian Society & Foundation
Property Dinner
Under 30s Golf Day at The Berkshire - Friday 18 September 2009
1947-1954 Reunion - Saturday 19 September 2009
Student Dinner in Nottingham - Autumn 2009
Law Drinks - Thursday 11 February 2010
1972-1978 Reunion - Saturday 5 June 2010
Vyvyan Hope Lunch - Sunday 20 June 2010
1979-1985 Reunion - Saturday 18 September 2010
The next OR Dinner will be on Thursday 18 November 2010
For details of all Radleian Society and Foundation events
contact Sarah Hart Tel: 01235 543171 Email: sarah.hart@radley.org.uk
Rangers Cricket
For details contact Rupert Henson: ruperthenson@aol.com
Football
For details contact Tommy Hodgson: Tom_Hodgson@ajg.com
Golf
For information on all golfing events contact the Hon. Sec. Richard Palmer
Tel No: 01304 614583 Email: richardpalmer@hemscott.net
Galleons Hockey
For information contact Charlie Barker
Tel No: 01235 543089 Email: crb@radley.org.uk
The Property Dinner, organised by Gerald Kaye at Boodle’s in February was attended by
nearly 60 ORs and Parents. The Warden, Angus McPhail, Anthony Robinson and Hamish
Aird were guests.
Oxford Student Dinner
Mariners Rowing
For information contact Jock Mullard
Tel No: 01235 543103 Email: jkm@radley.org.uk
Sailing
For information on all sailing events contact Nigel Anderson:
NAnderson@savills.com
Serpents Rugby
For information contact:
Oliver Thompson: 07973173016
Charlie Spelina: 07796397555
James Macdonald: 07730468478
Max Peile: 07830254952
Old Radleian Lodge
For information contact: racarew-hunt@tiscali.co.uk
The next Reunion
1947-1954 Saturday 19 September (dinner)
21 undergraduates joined Sarah Hart, Charlie Barker, Mike Hopkins, Hamish Aird,
Jim Summerly and Anthony Robinson at an Oxford dinner in February kindly
provided by Al Murdoch (1979), then the CEO of Pizza Hut
Livery Dinner
If you do not receive an invitation please contact Sarah Hart
Tel: 01235 543171 Email: sarah.hart@radley.org.uk
Radley College Dates
Michaelmas Term 2009 Tuesday 8 September – Thursday 10 December
Michaelmas w/e Friday 2 October – Monday 5 October
Leave Away Friday 23 October – Sunday 1 November
Advent w/e Friday 20 November – Monday 23 November
Lent Term 2010
Hilary weekend
Leave Away
Summer Term 2010
Leave Away
Tuesday 5 January – Thursday 25 March
Friday 22 January – Monday 25 January
Friday 12 February – Sunday 21 February
Tuesday 20 April – Saturday 3 July
Thursday 27 May – Thursday 3 June
The Dinner at the Clothworkers’ Hall in May for Radley Liverymen, organised by Anthony
West, Master of the Clothworkers and Jonathan Haw, Master of the Armourers and Brasiers
10

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Newcastle Student Dinner
Rowing
18 OR undergraduates joined Sarah Hart, Charlie Barker and Jim Summerly for a dinner
in Newcastle in May
Tristan Wood (2001), Captain of Christ Church, rows over as Head of the River in
Summer Eights at Oxford ahead of Alex Sants (2002), President of Pembroke
City Drinks
Henry Arundel – Formula 3
If you were not with the 160 ORs and Parents for drinks at the City of London Club
in June, you missed a great party. Above: James Simpson, Sarah Hart, Charlie Barker
(President of the Radleian Society) and Viscount Younger.
Pre 1947 Reunion
Henry Arundel (2002) took second place at the Rockingham round of the 2009 British F3
Series on 31st May.
Rugby 7s
A record total of over 280 ORs and their guests attended the reunion on Sunday 21st June
for those who came to Radley before 1947. The beagles were on parade before lunch.
The Radley Serpents grapple with their Abingdon opponents at a 7s competion held at
Abingdon in March
11

Lusimus . THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Cricket
Getty Images
Getty Images
Rugby
Getty Images
Above: Graham Onions anoints Andrew Strauss (1990), the England Captain, to
celebrate victory in the second npower Test Match against the West Indies and a 2-0
series win.
Left: Andrew Strauss on his way to a half century in the third One Day International
against the West Indies at Birmingham in May. Another England 2-0 series win.
Sailing
Simon Wood (1999) will represent Cambridge in the Varsity Match against Oxford at
the Itchenor Sailing Club on the 8th, 9th and 10th of July.
Contact Details
Nick Wood (1996) played for Gloucester against Cardiff Blues in the EDF Energy Cup
Final and played for England against the Barbarians at Twickenham in May
Radley College
Abingdon
OX14 2HR
Fax: 01235 543149
Web: www.radley.org.uk
Anthony Robinson, Development Director
Tel: 01235 543151
Email: anthony.robinson@radley.org.uk
Anne Widdup, Administrator & PA to Development Director
Tel: 01235 548543
Email: anne.widdup@radley.org.uk
Emma Lyon, Database Manager
Tel: 01235 543172
Email: emma.lyon@radley.org.uk
Sarah Hart, Events Manager
Tel: 01235 543171
Email: sarah.hart@radley.org.uk
Hamish Aird, Foundation Adviser
Tel: 01235 548574
Email: hha@radley.org.uk
Jock Mullard, Publications
Tel: 01235 543103
Email: jkm@radley.org.uk
The Radley Foundation - Registered Charity No. 272671
The Radleian Society - Registered Charity No. 309243
12