N E W S L E T T E R - Radley College

Radley 

THE 

N E W S L E T T E R 

VOLUME 10 

| Music on Tour | The Redevelopment of the Sports Centre | 

| The Radley Year 2009/10 | Universities Stateside | Golf |

Music on T 

One of the joys of Radley College is the all-round nature of the school. We all passionately 

believe in offering boys the widest possible opportunities, whether they are academic, 

sporting or artistic. The spectre of boys rushing into rehearsals fresh from the cricket field 

or the river is a common one and in my view, nothing makes them into better performers. 

Indeed in one year no fewer than 6 members of the 1st VIII boat were top musicians. 

There are, however, occasions when 

total immersion can bring benefits: the 

rowers frequently spend entire days at 

regattas thinking of nothing but rowing, 

the cricketers on many a Saturday miss 

parts of morning school to leave for a 

match and are rarely seen back at college 

before 8 o’clock in the evening, having 

been living the game for an entire day. 

In the musical sphere it is the occasions 

when we take music outside Radley 

that not only reinforce the team nature 

of music but also give the opportunity 

for an uninterrupted focus on musical 

performance, whether solo or large 

ensemble. 

For the past few years we have taken large 

groups of boys to perform abroad: Venice 

was our first foray, and was followed 

in subsequent years by visits to Prague, 

Berlin, Paris and Barcelona. Currently in 

the planning stages is a tour to Tallinn 

(Estonia), a city well known for its 

beautiful venues and architecture. 

Front Cover: Note Dame, Paris, Below: St John’s Smith Sqaure, London 

In planning these trips we look at a 

number of issues, first and foremost 

being what kind of concert opportunities 

we can find. We take a broad spectrum 

of ensembles with us, everything from 

the chapel choir, big band and baroque 

ensemble through to funk bands and close 

part harmony groups. Finding venues 

that will accept such an eclectic mix of 

music in one concert is not always easy. 

We look for a very significant central 

church where we can sing: we have been 

fortunate to have sung Mass in St Mark’s, 

Venice, performed concerts in Barcelona 

Cathedral, the basilica of Montserrat and 

Notre Dame. We have found that visiting 

a local school to give a varied concert 

is an ideal opportunity for the boys to 

mix with children of their own age. 

Visiting an outlying town where entire 

communities have turned out to pack a 

small church and enjoy everything from 

Vivaldi to funk has been very rewarding 

indeed. Audiences are always amazed 

to see the same boys performing in a 

variety of different styles. This large mix 

of ensembles makes the practicalities 

challenging. Everything has to be taken 

with us, and we are becoming experts at 

negotiating Heathrow terminals with large 

keyboards, electric guitars, drum kits and 

saxophones of various types. 

Tours involve around sixty boys from all 

year groups and socials and it’s wonderful 

to see them mix and form such a tight 

team. In fact teamwork is essential on 

these occasions and, on arrival at venues, 

boys are expected to help unload, put 

together instruments, stands, move 

furniture and give out programmes; in 

short the entire team tackles the challenge 

of putting on a complicated concert in a 

short time in a building that perhaps only 

has one 30 amp outlet! 

For most of us, however, the summit of 

all these experiences has been singing 

in some of the greatest ecclesiastical 

buildings, and experiencing first-hand 

their amazing acoustics. The boys will 

tell you that listening to the echo of Notre 

Dame or St Mark’s in Venice is very 

different from making your own sound to 

fill the enormous void of these places, and 

then hearing it coming back to you. One 

of the most memorable experiences for me 

with the boys was performing a piece of 

Gabrieli in St Mark’s, in the same building 

for which it was originally composed 500 

years ago. Such pieces give no printed 

guide as to speed. As soon as we started 

rehearsing, it became clear from the 

acoustic alone, the speed at which the 

composer had intended the music to go. It 

was a wonderful moment where the voice 

of the composer was coming back to us 

echoing over the ages. 

There are lots of other nonmusical activity 

too: on our last trip to Barcelona, apart 

from enjoying the local food, the boys 

enjoyed seeing inside the amazing football 

stadium, a trip to the beach and a tour of 

the unfinished cathedral of La Sagrada 

Familia. 

2 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 

Foreign touring is by no means the only 

time when music is taken outside Radley. 

In fact it happens on a weekly basis. As 

part of the Vth form’s community service, 

we take four minibuses of musicians each 

week to four different venues around 

Oxfordshire, including schools for the 

disabled, old people’s homes and nursing

our 

homes. Boys lead the concerts by 

introducing the musical items and we 

finish with a singsong when the residents 

earn their cups of tea and cake by singing 

along to old classics while the boys 

accompany them on their instruments. 

The boys then serve tea and cake, 

remaining for a chat before returning 

to school for lessons. Some of the most 

significant of these occasions have been 

some of the hardest for the boys. Staff at 

nursing homes have often told us that the 

music has provoked responses, perhaps 

smiles, perhaps a foot tapping, from 

people who otherwise have remained 

completely unresponsive for months. 

This is indeed community service, and 

something the boys don’t forget. 

The Chapel choir here at Radley is an 

extremely busy ensemble numbering 

now around 90 boys who sing services 

on a weekly basis. Whilst we have been 

very creative in our own Chapel with 

fitting the boys in, it takes ingenuity 

doing the same at cathedrals in the 

south of England and colleges in 

Oxford. Nevertheless such occasions are 

memorable, and in addition to singing 

evensong the boys have the opportunity 

to learn something of the history and 

architecture of the buildings. This is 

followed by the customary visit to Pizza 

Express (we have found every city has at 

least two!). 

The increasingly busy diary also 

lists concerts in London, organists 

performing on the rather nice organ 

at Oxford Town Hall and the big band 

playing as a regular fixture at Radley 

Village Fete. 

Come to hear us perform at a town near 

you! 

Stephen Clarke, Precentor 

New College Chapel 

Coventry Cathedral 

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3 

THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3

The Redevelo 

Sports 

The Radley College Sports Centre has 

been transformed to provide a much 

more vibrant and energetic environment, 

following the development of a fitness 

suite and weights room, and the 

refurbishment of the swimming pool, 

changing rooms and reception areas. 

Together with the squash courts, real 

tennis court and sports hall, the centre 

boasts some first class facilities. Indeed, 

with the recent introduction of the real 

tennis court, Radley has become the only 

school to have both a real tennis and a 

rackets court. 

The new fitness suite occupies an area 

that was largely unused. Not only does 

it provide excellent facilities, it has 

also enhanced the visual aspect of the 

centre. The suite has over thirty pieces 

of traditional gym equipment such as 

treadmills, cross trainers and rowing 

machines. It also has nine ‘spin bikes’ 

and the centre runs a number of weekly 

spin classes, with spinning becoming an 

important part of many people’s training 

regime. 

The weights room is extremely popular 

amongst boys and plays a critical role in 

preparing them for their chosen sports. 

4 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

pment of the 

entre 

One of the most pleasing things has been 

the number of boys using the facility in the 

evenings. Following Prep, the gym facilities 

are open for the boys and there are usually 

at least 30 in attendance. Of course, it is 

not just Radleians who have benefitted 

from the new facilities, around 150 

members of staff use the gym which helps 

towards having a fit and healthy workforce. 

The young, enthusiastic team at the sports 

centre, together with dons in charge 

of swimming, water polo, squash and 

triathlon have worked hard to achieve 

great results in the past year. Swim training 

for the boys takes place five days a week 

and a number of boys recently took part in 

the ‘Henley Swim’ a 2k swim in the river, 

upstream! Likewise, in triathlon, a number 

of boys who had been training all year 

took part in the Henley Triathlon and all 

finished in the top ten. 

The Sports Centre now has facilities that 

boys, members of staff and an increasing 

number of external users are enjoying. 

It is hoped that next year will be just as 

successful with the centre going from 

strength to strength. 

Andrew Ashton, Bursar 



THE RADLEY 

General 

Each term this year has started with 

external difficulties to overcome: first 

‘Flu, then snow, then volcanic ash. Radley 

surmounted the challenges… 

Radley had an excellent Ofsted Welfare 

inspection in September 2009, achieving 

the highest standard ‘outstanding’. 

Old Radleians made their mark in 

various ways across the course of the year: 

Andrew Strauss captained the England 

team to victory in the Ashes series in 

late Summer 2009; Owen Paterson, MP, 

became Secretary for Northern Ireland 

in the Coalition Cabinet in May 2010; Lt. 

Rowley Gregg won the MC for his ‘courage, 

forthright leadership and determination’ 

in Helmand Province; tragically Lt. Col. 

Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior serving 

British Officer to be killed on active service 

since the Falklands, and Lt. Dougie Dalzell, 

both died in Afghanistan; Charlie Langton 

sculpted the beautiful silver trophy for 

the Epsom Derby; Simon Wolfson (Next) 

became Lord Wolfson in the Birthday 

Honours. 

Academic 

The A level results, from an historically 

weaker year group, were exceptional: 90.0% 

A*,A,B, close to last year’s record. 66 boys 

got 3A*/A or more; 66% of all A levels 

were A*/A. Will Handy (Cheltenham, 

d) got 6A*, Rory Robinson (Twyford, 

f), Jack Jervoise (Cothill, b) and Nick 

Pattinson (Aldro, c) 5A*s each, outstanding 

achievements. 

At GCSE we had a good year with 

81.93% of papers marked A*/A. 10 boys 

achieved a full house of 10A*s. There were 

extraordinary results in English Language 

where 131/138 candidates achieved A*/A. 

Radley competed in the finals of the 

Royal Society of Chemistry ‘Top of the 

Bench’ competition at Loughborough and 

were placed 6th out of 24. The team was 

made up of Freddie Scheckter (Farleigh, 

a), Freddy Rendall (Hall Grove, c), Simon 

Stalder (Caldicott, e) and Alexander Budd 

(Bedford Prep, b). 

Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy 

Five boys entered the Chemistry Olympiad 

Round 1 – a challenging written test of 

chemical knowledge. Silver certificates 

were awarded to Will Handy (Cheltenham, 

d), Nick Pattinson (Aldro, c), Jack Jervoise 

(Cothill, b) and Rory Robinson (Twyford, 

f) and a bronze certificate to Petar Dimov 

(Romain Rolland, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, 

c). 

September 2009 saw the launch of 

‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’; 28 

lectures by dons ranging from Black Music 

and Feminist Art to Marxism and Ideas 

of Death led to over 70 boys choosing to 

research and write a 6,000 word project of 

their own devising for an Edexcel Extended 

Project AS. Such an exercise is valuable, 

both in its own right and as evidence for 

universities of a boy’s willingness to work 

independently. 

‘Declamations’ was again an 

outstanding event; 570 boys learnt prose 

or poetry culminating in the finals in 

February superbly and sensitively judged 

by Cynthia Hall, Headmistress of Wycombe 

Abbey. The winners were: 6.2 Ali Maxwell 

(Cothill, a); 6.1 Ed Dillon-Robinson 

(Cumnor House, e); 5th Tommy Siman 

(Abingdon Prep, h); Remove Charlie 

Huntingford (Colet Court, a); Shell Luke 

Olver (Dragon, h). 

Once again the school has been host 

to a talented array of visiting speakers: 

Frankie Dettori, John Whittingdale, Sir 

John Rose, Professor Richard Holmes, 

Tom Bower, Charles Crawford, Dr 

Angela Gallop, Paul Watson, Lawrence 

James all came and spoke just in the 

Michaelmas Term alone. Daniel Hannay 

MEP spoke brilliantly on the eve of the 

General Election and announced the 

results of Radley’s own, hotly contested, 

School Election in which the 4 candidates 

(Johnnie Bicket (Maidwell Hall, k), Lib 

Dem; Henry Whittingdale (Orwell Park, 

j), Conservative; Angus Gubbins (Cheam, 

g), UKIP; Ed Dillon-Robinson (Cumnor 

House, e), Labour) spoke really well, 

especially in Question Time. 

The annual Radley/St Helen’s 

Conference was a great success on the 

subject of the Media, and once again it 

honed boys’ (and girls’) debating skills. 

Philip Howard (Summer Fields, h) and 

Archie Manners (Ludgrove, c) acquitted 

themselves very well in the Conference 

debate. 

One of the unexpected – and delightful 

– developments of the year was the growth 

of the Philosophy Society. David Vaccaro 

took on its leadership and has generated 

extraordinary enthusiasm for philosophical 

debate amongst the boys; lively virtual 

exchanges, weekly visiting philosophers 

from Oxford, and attendance at Oxford 

University open debates with speakers like 

Christopher Hitchens have stimulated great 

interest among 6th Formers, and comprise 

both a valuable training in itself and 

excellent practice for demanding university 

interviews. A particular success was the 

visit of veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell. 

It has been a quiet year for the 

‘Chronicle’, but creative writing has 

flourished under Christopher Ellott’s aegis. 

A succession of visiting poets and writers 

including Greg Leadbetter and the Poet 

Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, have conducted 

classes and reading to help boys, and 

other enthusiastic writers in the Radley 

community, write better. 

Debating has flourished. In the ESU 

regional competition Radley were runnersup; 

Hamish Miller (King’s Hall, a) was ‘Best 

Overall Questioner’ and Will Patterson 

(Cothill, b) was ‘Best Overall Chairman’. 

In the ESU Mace Debating Regional Final 

Philip Howard (Summer Fields, h) and 

Archie Manners (Ludgrove, c) took Radley 

into the top 6 of 72 entered schools in the 

West Region. 


YEAR 2009/10 

Activities 

CCF has had a busy year, with our very 

successful Biennial Inspection (conducted 

by Maj. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw, father of 

Freddie, a) and the usual programme of 

Field Weekends and camps. In February 

the Army section was hosted by our new 

sponsor unit, 21 Sqn. Royal Logistics Corps, 

at Dalton barracks – KAM’s old base. 

November saw the arrival of our new RSM, 

WO1 Leo Healy, fresh from a deployment to 

Afghanistan with 2 Rifles. Richard Jackson 

(husband of TSJ) has joined the RN section 

as an officer, and James Pitts (Head of IT at 

King Alfred’s, Wantage) the Army section. 

Hugh Handy (Cheltenham, d) and Charlie 

Palmer (Cottesmore, b) were awarded Army 

Scholarships. 

Radley dons, staff and boys have given 

a tremendous amount of their time and 

effort in support of many charities this year, 

through sponsored runs, cycle-rides, golf 

marathons, a ‘Krispy Kreme Donut Day’ 

and other initiatives. Perhaps the most 

challenging last year was the 24-hour ergo 

in support of Multiple Sclerosis. This year, 

with the memory of two fallen Old Radleians 

and a number of injured OR soldiers 

very close to our hearts, the fund-raising 

efforts for ‘Help for Heroes’ and the ‘Rifles 

Regimental Trust’ have been outstanding, 

raising £1,000s. Adam and Frederic Bolton 

(both Summer Fields, g) cycled from Land’s 

End to John O’Groats and raised £8,000 for 

the Ear Foundation. Four 6.1 boys, Jamie 

Chaplin-Rogers (King Edward VI School, a), 

Humphrey Kelly (Farleigh, j), Barney Muir 

(Twyford, j), Archie Nelson (Summer Fields, 

j) and Tom White (Twyford, j), rode from 

England down through France and raised 

£28,000 for Jack’s Place Hospice. 

Radleians continue to be involved in 

Community Action Projects. Concert parties 

visit residential homes across Oxfordshire, 

and 5th Form boys, as part of the Wednesday 

Afternoon Activities, teach in primary 

schools. New this year has been the link with 

the fledgling Oxford Academy (formerly 

Peers School); 5th Form Radleians have 

taught able Y8 and 9 children from the 

Academy the rudiments of Latin, and several 

dons have taught – Maths and Physics – on 

Radley’s games afternoons. 

In July a group of eleven 6.1s 

accompanied by 3 dons (MRJ, EEND and 

SPA) went to Moreni for 2 weeks where they 

taught English to 120 Romanian children. 

Despite the challenge, the boys rose to it 

and discovered that teaching was more 

demanding than they would have thought. 

A lot was achieved in the space of those two 

weeks: the children improved their English 

language skills and got an opportunity to find 

out more about English traditions, history, 

culture and daily life whereas the Radleians 

got a deeper insight into a country about 

which they knew so little. For both parties, 

it was a very enriching experience which 

enabled teenagers coming from different 

backgrounds to work closely together. 

The Radley boys were Gardie James Duff 

(Ardvreck, a), Hugh Handy (Cheltenham, 

d), Will Richardson (Edgeborough, h), 

Andrew Sweerts de Landas Wyborgh 

(Cothill, a), George Hesselgren (Trevor 

Roberts School, e), Alex McCourt (Oratory 

Prep, e), Rob Crawford (British School, 

Warsaw, h), Ed Leeming (Summer Fields, 

a), John Drummond (Belhaven Hill, h), 

George Popescu-Craiova (Colegiul National 

GH Munteanu Murgoci, Romania, k), and 

Thomas Binnie (Moulsford, c). 

Nine 6.2 Radleians, together with 

GJAH and Rachel Batley, travelled to Kerala, 

India in July for the annual Community 

Partnerships project. The task that lay ahead 

was to build a house from foundations 

upwards, together with adding a verandah 

to a house built by one of the original 

Radley projects to the area. The main 

project benefitted a local farming family 

on Mankotta Island who were forced to 

live in basic shacks, often in feet of water, 

during the summer monsoon months. 

With the recent problems of flooding in 

nearby Pakistan, the importance of assisting 

vulnerable communities such as this was 

evident. The boys, assisted by local builders 

and carpenters, set about the job with 

enthusiasm and humour. Following days of 

cement mixing, brick throwing, snake and 

spider dodging, and taking a little time out 

for Indian dancing and river swimming, 

the buildings were completed successfully. 

The teamwork between individuals from 

different walks of life was rewarding for all 

concerned. The completion of the project 

takes the total number of houses built by 

Radleians to thirteen, and the contribution to 

quality of life of the local people of Mankotta 

has been significant. The following boys 

took part: Sebastian Agace (Ludgrove, b), 

Nicholas Downs (Malsis School, b), Henry 

Church (Sussex House, e), Henry Dunn 

(Caldicott, e), George Henderson (Summer 

Fields, e), Jack Jervoise (Caldicott, b), Tom 

Over (Horris Hill, e), Tom Parker (Horris 

Hill, e) and Alexander Wright (Northcote 

Lodge, e). 

There are approx 150 boys involved in 

the DofE at Bronze or Gold level at present. 

Forty two Remove and Vth form boys have 

completed or are about to complete their 

Bronze Award. Thirty five 6.1 boys will 

shortly be completing their Gold Award – 

an ‘all-time’ record! The following 6.2 boys 

will be going to The Palace to receive their 

Gold Awards this Summer: Charlie Burton 

(Summer Fields, c), Nick Downs (Malsis 

School, b), Jack Emmett (Moulsford, h), 

Fergus Franks (Dargon, j), Freddie Hunter 

(Cheam, h), James Kane (Caldicott, g), Nick 

Pattinson (Aldro, c) and Guy Scott (Summer 

Fields, d). 


THE RADLEIAN NEWSLETTER 7

Arts 

In Drama the main College 

production, Les Misérables, included a 

company of over 100 either on stage, in 

the orchestra or backstage and was a huge 

success over six performances, including 

one to local primary and prep schools. 

The Remove Play ‘The Royal Hunt of the 

Sun’ directed by OHL and the Shell Play 

‘Dick Barton’ directed by GHSM both 

fielded large, strong casts also reflecting 

the rapid increase in boys taking GCSE 

and A level Theatre Studies. In both A2 

and AS practical exams a number of boys 

gained full marks for some very exciting 

scripting and performance. We have 

had great success with both the National 

Youth Theatre and National Youth Music 

Theatre this year. Ranulf Kinloch-Jones 

(Cheltenham, c), Piers Saich (Papplewick, 

k), Alex Poole (International School, 

Geneva, g), George Carter (Cothill, k) 

and Jon Tarcy (Shrewsbury House, g) all 

gained places with the NYT, and Tom 

Milligan (Caldicott, k) returns to the 

NYMT in a major role joined by Piers 

Saich (Papplewick, k). For the second year 

running Radley has provided the NYMT 

with their DSM, the most important 

backstage role on any production, with 

this year the place being filled by Hugh 

Stephens (Caldicott, k). 

Music has remained very strong 

despite the exodus in 2009 of such a 

talented 6.2. In fact, the Chapel Choir 

has never been better, or larger, with up 

to 80 boys, including Choristers, in its 

number. They have sung variously at 

Coventry Cathedral and New College, 

at Carol Services, Remembrance Sunday 

and Confirmations (Anglican and 

Catholic), as well as at memorial services 

for David Goldsmith and Bert Robinson. 

Orchestral musicians produced high 

quality performances in the Warden’s 

Music, Christmas Concert, Scholars’ 

Concert and the Competitions – Wharton 

piano, Hudson String, Gunn Brass and 

Woodwind. Instrumentalists were also part 

of the powerful Les Misérables band. Each 

week they performed at Coffee Concerts. 

Meanwhile another stirring Piano 

Extravaganza involved over 60 pianists in a 

host of different partnerships. 

It has been another good year in 

the Art Department even if the Head 

of Department, Ian Ellis, was away on 

sabbatical for the Michaelmas Term – his 

outstanding April exhibition of sketchbook 

paintings recording his North American 

Journey were recompense. In December 

Jordan Reeve (Pinewood, d) won a prize 

and has an illustration printed in the Espo 

calendar. Henry Whittingdale (Orwell 

Park, j) went through to the second 

round of Articulation, a History of Art 

competition run by Roche Court, talking 

about the role of commissioned artists 

within schools, illustrated by our sculpture 

here at Radley by Julian Wild which was 

completed last year. Unfortunately he was 

not successful in the final round, but he did 

meet Antony Gormley, who was judging 

the competition! However Arthur Laidlaw 

OR (Dragon, h) won the Shepherd and 

Woodward/Turrill Sculpture Competition 

with his ipod man, a sculpture made whilst 

at Radley. 

Sport 

Through illness, and the usual 

debilitating crop of injuries, the school 

continued to play its Rugby. The fixture 

list seems, by accident or design, to have 

become even tougher – the addition of 

St. Paul’s this year, for example – but 

even so Radley won over 70% of matches 

played. There were notably successful 

block fixtures where nearly all matches 

were won: Marlborough, won 17 lost 2; 

Abingdon, won 12 lost 3; Sherborne, won 

16 lost 2; St. Edward’s, won 12 lost 1). 

The Colts were especially strong (Colts 

2, 3 and 4 unbeaten) as were the Junior 

Colts whose lower teams JC 4 and 5 were 

invincible). The 1st XV enjoyed nailbiters: 

early matches, win or lose, were typical – 

36:35; 17:19; 19:20 – but they played some 

exhilarating rugby under Captain Charlie 

Goodwin (Sandroyd, k). 

Both Hockey and Soccer results have 

been strong with about 89% of Hockey 

and Soccer games won or drawn. The 

1st XI Hockey had some fine wins and 

reached the last 8 of the National interschools 

hockey competition, whilst 

Colts and Midgets sides did well in the 

Southern Division of hockey schools. In 

both Soccer and Hockey senior sides have 

done very well with 2nd and 3rd XIs very 

strong. The soccer 1st XI has, on its day, 

played attractive and skilful football. But 

the most important thing has been to see 

the involvement of lots of boys in a range 

of teams on Saturday afternoons. Sadly 

it is getting increasingly difficult to find 

opposition able to offer us 18 Hockey, or 

10 Football, fixtures and we are looking 

further afield to provide the necessary 

competition. 

The cricket season has been equally 

successful. By mid June the 1st XI had 

remained unbeaten, played 10, won 9 

drawn 1, with notable scalps of Eton 

(away), Marlborough, Harrow (away), 

Winchester, Charterhouse and Bradfield. 

Hector Freyne (Summer Fields, j) was 

proving an outstanding Captain. Alex 

Hearne (Dragon, j) (104 v Bradfield), Wilf 

Marriott (Farleigh, g) (110 v Winchester) 

Nick Gubbins (Elstree, h) (118 v Eton) 

scored centuries for the 1st XI and Andrew 


Tinsley (summer Fields, d) had taken 

7-29 v Cheltenham, 5-49 v Rugby and 5-22 

v Bradfield for the 1st XI. Other sides, 

especially 2nd XI and Colts 1st XI were 

also strong. However, Oundle rained on 

our parade to end the unbeaten run. In 

the holidays, Wilf Marriott played for 

Hampshire 2nd XI, and Alex Hearne and 

Nick Gubbins played for Essex 2nd XI and 

Middlesex U17 respectively. Alex and Nick 

played for England Schools at Lords against 

an MCC side featuring Wilf Marriott. 

It has been the most successful season 

on the river for a decade or so. At the 

National Schools Championships the 

1st VIII won silver in a magnificent row 

which discomforted eventual winners, an 

outstanding Eton crew. J16.1 won gold, 

J16.2 and J16.3 silver and bronze, J15.1 and 

J15.2 won silver, and J14.2 won silver. This 

followed a series of wins at Wallingford and 

Bedford regattas. 

Wallingford Regatta took place at Dorney 

Lake over a distance of 2,000m and was 

the first sprint race of the summer season. 

The 1st VIII won the J18 Eights division 

in a decisive manner with Shrewsbury in 

second place and Bedford Modern in third. 

The Colts 1 also won the J16 Eights division 

in fine style. They also won at Marlow 

Regatta. 

Bedford Regatta over a distance of 1,200m 

was another good day for the Radley crews 

with the 1st VIII winning the J18 Eights 

event (despite a last minute replacement 

due to injury) as well as the J18 coxed four 

event. The four from the J15.1 VIII won 

the coxed four event and J15.2 won their 

division in the Eight. The 14.2 Octuple 

were also victorious in their division. In the 

holidays Tom Stewart (Maidwell Hall, f) 

and Ed Bosson (Caldicott, d) rowed for the 

British VIII in the World Championships. 

Harry Hill (Thomas’s Clapham, h) won 

gold for Britain in the Coupe Regatta. Four 

of the J16 VIII rowed for GB J16 VIII at 

Nantes, defeating France (Ollie Wynne- 

Griffith (Aldro, j), Rufus Eadie (Maidwell 

Hall, d), Charlie Shaw (Westbourne House, 

h) and Theo Bromfield (Cothill, a)). Oscar 

Richards (St Ronan’s, h) won gold in the 

England Home Counties Regatta VIII. 

In Squash Ollie Hayes (Dragon, f) 

captained the seniors this year, Hector 

Stirling (Ludgrove, g) won the 2009-10 

Martyn-Hemphill Shells championship, 

and Jack Roddan (Caldicott, c) became 

school champion in a close fought match 

with Ollie Hayes at the end of the season in 

front of a large crowd. 

The Water Polo team has been 

developing into a great squad for future 

fixtures. Many Removes have joined in 

this year. In the Lent Term we won our 

first match defeating Cheltenham with an 

impressive performance by Tom Gearing 

(St Andrew’s SA, f) who scored 7 goals. In 

the Summer Term, F Social won the Inter- 

Social Water Polo competition. This team 

was unbeatable. 

Swimming: six members of the team 

have been training towards the Henley 

Swim which took place on Sunday 27th 

June. 

The tennis club has won 70% of our 

139 matches. A full fixture day would see 22 

Radley teams (130+ boys) representing the 

school, but sadly few others can match this. 

There has been success at the top of the 

school with the 1st team as Hamish Miller 

(King’s Hall, a) and Ed Monbiot (Sussex 

House, h) were finalists at the St George’s 

Pairs Competition, the team came 2nd 

out of 16 schools in the ISL competition 

for RHWM tournament. The 1st IV, led 

by Henrik Boris-Möller (Svaneskolan, 

Sweden, g), are in the Regional Final of 

the National Schools Competition. The 

Junior Colts also won their RHWM league 

and each JC team went unbeaten on 

afternoons against Shrewsbury, Harrow, 

Abingdon and Marlborough. Colts teams 

too won every match against Winchester, 

Wellington, Abingdon and Shrewsbury. 

Radley’s 1st IV and JC1 competed in the 

ISTA championships at Eton. At the 

National Schools’ Finals (Glanvill Cup) the 

1st IV finished in the top 10 schools in the 

country. Henrick Boris-Möller was selected 

to play for the Independent Schools’ 

Invitation VI. 

The new Real Tennis court saw 

through its second full season in 2009- 

10, with 30 College matches of which 21 

were won and 4 drawn. Seacourt Club, 

Oratory, Canford, Clifton, Eton, Rugby 

and St Edward’s provided junior or school 

opposition, while Oxford and Durham 

Universities, Holyport, Hardwick, the 

Jesters and the Dedanists the more senior. 

The highlight was arguably Tom Buckley’s 

(Moulsford, b) victory in the National U16 

singles championships at Queen’s, while 

he and Ben Boddington (Moulsford, g) 

reached the National U19 doubles semifinal. 

George Buckley (Moulsford, b) 

and Rupert Boddington (Moulsford, g) 

achieved the same in the U15 event. In the 

National Schools’ event, the 1st pair (Tom 

Buckley and Dan Brownlee (Oratory Prep, 

e)) came 4th, though the team shared the 

overall title with Canford thanks to the 

victory of Angus McAlpine (Cothill, k) 

and Rory Odam-Smith (Cothill, b) who 

triumphed in the 2nd pairs event, even 

beating Radley’s captains, Jimmy Donger 

(Dragon, h) and Ludo Roupell (Ludgrove, 

h). Ben Boddington and Ben Robinson 

(Beaudesert Park, h) gained a very worthy 

2nd place in the Colts event, while Charlie 

Grimshaw (Woodcote House, c) and 

George Buckley came 4th. In the British 

Junior Real Tennis Singles, Tom Buckley 

came 3rd in U18 event. 

The Beagles hit a golden vein at 

the South of England Show at Ardingly, 

winning 6 classes, as well as the cup for the 

pack with most prizes. 

Ed Bosson (Caldicott, d) is set to enter 

the Guinness Book of World Records after 

becoming the first person to “wakeboard” 

across the English Channel. 




Universitie

s Stateside 

One doesn’t have to dig deep to find links 

between Radley and the United States: 

former Warden Dennis Silk was born in 

California, whilst renowned civil rights 

lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith OBE (1973- 

1978, F Social) decided against a place 

at Cambridge in favour of taking up a 

Morehead Scholarship to the University 

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The 

current Warden and Sub Warden have on 

more than one occasion travelled ‘across 

the pond’ to meet up with ORs who live 

and work in the US. At any one time there 

will be several Radleians in the school with 

a US family background. Genealogical 

links aside, in what other ways is there 

a relationship between Radley and our 

former colony? 

Recent years have undoubtedly seen a 

growth of interest from Radleians in 

continuing their education at an American 

university. In truth only a trickle of 

students have ultimately enrolled on their 

degree course in the USA, but this trickle 

looks like growing. This can be explained 

only in part by the increasing difficulty of 

securing a place at a ‘top’ UK university – 

that is in a sense the negative reason for 

looking in a different direction. What are 

the positive reasons? 

George Cederquist (1992-1997, E Social) 

was always more likely than most to cross 

the Atlantic for his higher education, given 

his US family background. However, his 

recollection of “the exposure you get to so 

many different subjects” gives a big clue as 

to what attracts others to the US university 

system. Those for whom a decision on 

specialization does not come easily like the 

idea of the liberal arts approach whereby, in 

George’s words, you arrive “without a clue 

as to what you’ll major in”. As it is, George 

did pursue the sort of musical career that 

looked most likely in his Radley days, 

but he was more than happy to embrace 

the philosophy that “the knowledge of 

one subject can only be furthered by the 

knowledge of others”. A more recent Radley 

“export” is Henry Woodward-Fisher (2003- 

2008, G Social), who is currently studying 

at Harvard. Like George he appreciates the 

extraordinary range of options available 

within his studies, contrasting this with 

the specializing approach that is typical 

of UK universities. Fully immersed in 

the “can do” culture of his surroundings, 

Henry is spending this year in China as 

he moves towards his degree in East Asian 

Studies, pausing briefly from his summer’s 

internship to say how “excited and amazed” 

he continues to be by the opportunities on 

offer – and to confirm plans for a visit to 

Radley in January to spread the good news 

about Harvard. 

Taking a more holistic view of the 

applicant is undoubtedly a reflection of 

the more rounded approach to studying 

that permeates through the US higher 

education world. Scholarship programmes 

that are geared to rewarding and nurturing 

talented leaders, sportsmen and artists 

are a key feature of the selection process. 

Indeed it was just one of these programmes 

that drew Clive Stafford-Smith to North 

Carolina and so influenced his career 

path. Even a brief sojourn within the 

dynamic US system can influence a young 

student’s outlook, as evidenced by a threeweek 

summer visit to William and Mary 

College in Virginia by Jamie Crole (2004- 

2009, H Social), funded by the Malcolm 

Robinson Memorial Award. He talks of 

the “fantastic experience” of exploring a 

period of history that was new to him, 

something that two summer 2010 visitors 

to the same location (Barney Bracher, C 

Social and Alistair Shawcross, E Social) 

have also enjoyed. Barney talks of his eyes 

being opened to the exciting possibilities 

of studying outside Europe and his delight 

at gaining an “understanding of culture 

and history from an entirely different 

perspective” is palpable. It’s reassuring to 

hear from a current 6.2 student the view 

that the “structure and standard of Radley’s 

teaching” would offer every chance of 

academic excellence within the US system. 

We naturally expect that the four 2010 

leavers who are heading to US universities 

this autumn will be achieving just that. 

Quite how dramatically the growth of 

OR traffic across the Atlantic will be is a 

story still to be told, but there are signs to 

indicate that there will be many exciting 

chapters: our US universities adviser Dr 

Jon Tabbert is seeing plenty of interest 

from parents of boys lower down the 

school, whilst ten 6.1 boys are shortly to 

start a series of SAT tutorial sessions being 

provided by a specialist company. It’s clear 

that imaginations are being captured – and 

an exciting expansion of Radley’s trans- 

Atlantic links looks a near certainty. 

Paul Gamble, 

Director of University Entrance 

Petar Dimov (C Social), Christian von Celsing (G Social) and Tim Nye (G Social) 

discuss their plans to go to university in the US with Paul Gamble in the Careers Library 



Golf 

We are incredibly fortunate to have such 

a wonderful facility as our nine-hole golf 

course. Anyone who has seen the way 

that the course has developed over the 

last eight years or so will realise the debt 

we owe to Adam King and his staff, who 

do a tremendous job. Week in, week out, 

the greens are among the best in our area 

and as the holes develop more character 

– with the planting of trees, placement of 

bunkers and facilitating of different levels 

of rough – so it continues to evolve. With 

the help of generous support from the OR 

Golfing Society we have recently started 

a programme of regular coaching – using 

professionals from Huntercombe GC - 

and being able to use some of the course 

for this has been a huge benefit, especially 

in the visualisation of shots. All boys 

can benefit from the coaching, which 

generally takes place in pairs, roughly 

matched on ability; the boys are e-mailed 

the details about this a few weeks in 

advance. 

As with all sports at Radley we play on a 

competitive circuit with regular fixtures 

against Wellington, Eton, Marlborough, 

Bradfield etc. The seniors play at least 

sixteen matches per year and the juniors 

(mainly Removes and Shells) about eight. 

One of the highlights of the year is the 

West of England trophy at Burnham-and- 

Berrow which takes place at the end of 

the Lent term. We spend two nights down 

at Burnham in a quality tournament 

involving 8 strong sides – traditionally we 

have an impressive record, although we 

haven’t won the trophy since 2004. Last 

term the seniors, led by Maxi Hamilton 

(Elstree, G Social), had one of their 

best starts to a season, winning the first 

six matches. The first pair, Maxi and 

Henrik Boris-Möller (Svaneskolan, Lund, 

Sweeden, G Social), recorded a notable 

victory over the first pair from Wellington 

- both scratch players. The juniors are 

also developing into a fine squad with the 

likes of Keith Seward (Hereward House, 

B Social) and Alex Wright (Caldicott, C 

Social) pushing for a place in the top-side. 

The coaching has had a most positive 

impact on the club as a whole and, in 

order to gain selection for one of the 

teams, it is advisable for boys to have a 

few lessons and try to fix up a game with 

one of the regulars in the teams, especially 

Tom Beasley (Abingdon Prep, B Social) 

who is the Captain of Golf in his 6.1 year. 

We are always on the lookout for new 

talent and anyone who feels that they may 

have slipped through the net should give 

me a nod. 

Like other minor sports, golf has to 

compete for boys’ time and, in the course 

of a busy term, it is not always easy for 

everything to be fitted in. However, some 

of our most successful golfers have often 

played a number of other sports as well, 

such as Tom Atkinson (Elstree, G Social) 

and Tom McPhail (Dragon, H Social), the 

latter being selected for the Swift’s tour to 

America in 2005. Having said that, it is 

always useful to have a core of players for 

whom golf is their prime sport and it is 

amazing how the old adage that ‘the more 

they play the better they get’ rings true. 

There was no better example of this than 

Duncan Montgomery (Cothill, H Social) 

(no relation to Colin!) who virtually 

lived on the course and his handicap 

plummeted from over 20 to scratch. I 

hope that many others will get the ‘bug’ 

and follow his lead – it is a wonderful 

game to get to know. 

Harry Hammond, 

Master in Charge of Golf 

12 

12 

THE 

THE 

RADLEY 

RADLEY 

NEWSLETTER Website: www.radley.org.uk . Admissions enquiries: 01235 543174 . admissions@radley.org.uk 

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