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 12
| Football | The China Conference | The Radley Year 2010/11 |
| The Combined Cadet Force | Radleians |

Football a
To set the scene: it is a bright and blustery evening at the beginning of the Summer
Term, the 1st XI are playing in only their second ever LB (formerly Crusader) Cup Final,
gracing the hallowed turf at the hidden away and picturesque ground of Woodford
United, in the middle of rural Northamptonshire. The lads walk in dejectedly at halftime,
they are three-nil down to Spadling Grammar School and the silverware looks
further away now than it had at the beginning of the season.
But this simply is a snapshot, a flash, to
which the whole season. A season finale
the whole of Radley College Association
Football Club has been building towards.
Without reviewing the season and the
history of the club, the report of the cup
final is missing vital context and is only a
small part of a much larger success story.
This story is one that has no real
beginning, the sport that all the students
at Radley play throughout the full
academic year prepares them uniquely
for all the challenges of any sport you
should choose to review. The football
club itself has hazy beginnings. Most
know that Association Football was the
first sport played at Radley, and that it
was phased out long ago in preference for
Rugby Football. The foundations of the
club as it is now, are likewise difficult to
define. Started as a Wednesday option,
and slowly built over several years
becoming a minor sport in the Easter
Term, it began to flourish a decade ago.
Radley 1st XI
Lent Term 2011
Tonbridge (A) 0-1
Bedford (H) 3-0
Bromsgrove (A) 3-1
Rugby (A) 2-2
St.Edward’s (A) 4-0
Sherborne (H) 3-1
Oratory (H) 2-2
Haberdashers’ Aske’s (H) 4-1
Welbeck (H) 1-0
Berkhamsted (H) 3-1
Spalding Grammar School (N) 5-3
Paul Gamble was the driving force, but
sucessive Masters in Charge have fought
hard to maintain a professionalism and
desire to learn about and play good
quality football. In the past five years it
has seen more and more boys take it up
seriously, and the 1st XI has become a
“football team”, rather than a gathering of
eleven excellent sportsmen.
It makes sense to start this season’s
report in very early January, at 3am in the
morning at Gatwick Airport. Eighteen
very blurry eyed Radleans await their
coaches and a fantastic five day tour to
Villarreal CF, in southern Spain. The tour
was so much more than simply some
warm up games on foreign soil: the team
were trained by Villarreal’s professional
youth coaches at their La Liga facilities,
learning skills and concepts that were
immediately obvious on their return.
Yes, they did return with two wins from
two (beating Wellington College along
the way) but it is the experience that will
shape these eighteen players and the dons
for the rest of the season.
The watchwords for Radley AFC style of
football were on display in Spain: a joy
in playing good quality football, a team
ethic, and a professionalism such that
every man in the 1st team is prepared to
work his proverbial socks off for each
and every other of his colleagues. It is
this ideal that has spread throughout
the whole club and led to one of its most
successful seasons.
Specifics then. For the first time the
Seniors had seven full sides. The 7th XI
played its first ever game. The 6th XI
had four competitive games, winning
them all. In fact, in like-for-like games
the senior teams only lost twice all
season. At home (fortress Radley?)
the seniors dropped only four points.
The highlight was the final game of
the season away at Wellington College,
where the undefeated 2nd XI took on and
beat their 1st XI comfortably, 3-1. Goals
were plentiful, the seniors racking up
177; Albert Lindsell (Ludgrove, J Social)
finishing with the golden-boot on 13
goals for the season.
In the junior ranks, the results were not
quite as glittering. Colts 1 finishing with
two wins only from nine, and JC1 having
the ignomony of not winning a game all
season. Yet, these two stats hide a host
of really positive signs for the future of
the club. On the fixtures card, the Colts
played twenty four games in total, with
Colts 3 playing five times, and the first
ever fixture for the never defeated Colts
4. In the Junior Colts too, the fixture
card was full. JC3 played four games
(sadly losing them all) but both JC1 and
2 played a full card of eight fixtures. Both
teams played excellent football all season
and every opposition coach commented
on the skill levels on show week-in-weekout.
Not to forget the ORs too. They had a
season to remember, reaching the quarter
finals of the Arthur Dunn Cup, beating
premier league top side Harrow along
the way. They were looking good for
promotion but injuries meant that they
narrowly missed out on moving up to the
premier league.
Overall the club played a record breaking
ninety fixtures in the nine and a half
week term, winning 46, drawing 11 and
losing 33. With 249 goals scored, and
only 192 goals conceded this can be
considered very successful, especially
when one considers that the senior sides
played eleven games against nominally
higher teams.
The level of support received was
fantastic and contributed massively to
this success. As I walked the touchlines
this season I was delighted to see huge
numbers of parents out supporting
their sons and enjoying the eye pleasing
football to which Radley College AFC
subscribe. If there was any doubt, our
season should prove once and for all
that Radley can sustain both a successful
Football Club and a fantastically well
run, and hugely successful Hockey Club.
I was fortunate enough to catch some
2 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

t Radley
of the excellent hockey on show and
was delighted to hear that they too had
walked away with silverware at the end of
their season.
So to the future, what are our aims? More
of the same would seem sensible, yet the
side that rests upon its laurels is the side
that gets left behind. We aim to top one
hundred fixtures (weather permitting),
particularly focussing on getting more
fixtures for our lower sides. Every boy in
the club should be receiving an equally
high level of footballing education and
one that is suitable for his skill and
interest level. It would be brilliant to
win more games too, however, it is also
important that boys are tested against
stronger and stronger opposition, so
often these two goals are not compatible.
So, finally, back to the story of the LB
Cup. We left with Radley three-nil
down at half-time. The second half is an
entirely different game. Jack Trowbridge
(Packwood Haugh, E Social), club
captain, centre-back, comes out a man
possessed. He bags two goals, and Olly
Jacobs (Cothill, K Social) pinches a
third in the dying minutes, immediately
remembering the 2005 Champions
League Final, Trowbridge our Gerrard.
The lads play out of their skins exhibiting
all the grit and skill the whole club
showed all term. They could have won
in extra time, Jamie Chaplin-Rogers
(King Edward VI, A Social), with no
substitutions left, has to play on with
only one leg: a lung busting one hundred
minutes. Instead it falls to penalities.
Dan Brownlee (Oratory Prep, E Social)
slots home the fourth, and cements
his place as the tournament’s leading
scorer. Then the amazing happened:
goalkeeper Andrew Sweerts (Cothill,
A Social) (lucky to still be on the pitch
after a late challenge in the first half)
dives to his right and palms away their
fourth attempt! So it comes to one legged
Chaplin-Rogers to seal the cup, and he
cooly steps up and hammers home the
winning spot-kick. Radley College AFC
champions of the LB Cup for the first
time ever. Commence the celebration!
Paddy Wallace, Master i/c Football
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 3

Radley College &
China Co
“Ici repose un géant endormi, laissez le dormir, car quand il s’éveillera, il étonnera le
monde” - “here lies a sleeping giant, let him sleep, for when he wakes up, he will shock the
world” (Napoleon, speaking about China in 1803).
As part of the very successful sixth
form lecture series, one message that
has been repeated with increasing
regularity is that Western influence is
on the wane and that more attention
should be paid to the East.
The purpose of the day was to
educate the boys and girls about the
growing prominence of China in
global affairs whilst allowing them
the opportunity to explore some
unique Chinese cultural experiences.
These experiences were also shared
by the girls from Downe House
School.
With the theatre foyer adorned with
Chinese artwork created by the
Shells, and with the theatre brimming
with over 40 Chinese lanterns,
our very own Ian Yorston started
proceedings. He was followed by two
speakers with extremely different
experiences of China.
Jack Yu moved to the UK in 2004
and has worked since then for the
Law Society as Policy Advisor to
the North Asia & Pacific region. He
covered, with the benefit of firsthand
experiences, the changes China has
made politically, economically and
socially. He did not shy away from
the challenges facing China, and
handled with honesty some very
searching questions posed by the
audience on the role of women in
China, human rights, Ai Weiwei,
censorship and access to the internet.
Jack was followed by Marc Edwards,
an OR (E Social 1993-99). Marc
realised the opportunities that were
available in China and so left for
Beijing in 2003 where he enrolled
in a language school. Over the next
3 years he learnt Mandarin fluently
and this led to work for CCTV, the
Chinese State owned television
broadcaster, as a TV presenter. He
currently fronts ‘Travelogue’ and has
journeyed all over China highlighting
where to go and what to do.
The Catering department then put
on a Chinese feast for everyone. A
wide range of Chinese foods was on
offer. This was of course served with
chopsticks, which left some students
hungrier than others!
4 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

Downe House
nference
The afternoon was an opportunity
for the boys and girls to experience
a wide range of Chinese themed
activities. Blessed with beautiful
weather, Tai Chi was performed
on Bigside, which they carried out
in tandem with Calligraphy. They
also had the opportunity to have
a go at Kite Making and Martial
Arts. Meanwhile, in the Silk Hall
a Mandarin seminar and a music
group provided education and
entertainment.
Our final speaker was another OR,
Toby Kendall (A Social 1997-2003).
He explained the path he took from
the Remove year group to studying
Mandarin at Oxford University and
having received feedback from the
Removes it indicates that Toby struck
a chord with a number of them in
particular. The day finished with a
viewing of ‘Hero’, the largest grossing
Chinese film ever produced.
The purpose of the day had not been
to shock the boy’s and girls into
thinking that China is taking over
the world. Nor was it to establish
a Mandarin centre to replace
our current excellent language
department offering! Rather, it was
an opportunity for them to sample
and experience the possibilities
there are in China for those people
who may wish to pursue them. It
also underlined the major shift in
the global balance of power that is
currently occurring.
An intranet page has been created
specifically for the purpose of
developing further interest, with
details of opportunities that are
available to students as they progress
through their school careers.
Radley itself still has much to learn
about China, and has decisions to
make about the role this country
has to play in its teaching syllabus.
Presently, Chinese history is being
taught at GCSE and A Level and it is
a well-trodden path in geography, art
and music. Whether or not a more
cross-curricular approach is required
has to be decided. What is certain,
other than learning that Napoleon
was a pretty insightful chap, is that
China’s growth is unlikely to be a
short-term event and the quicker
we prepare ourselves, the more
opportunities will be presented.
How fitting it is, given the present
circumstances, that Confucius once
said, “If a man takes no thought about
what is distant, he will find sorrow
near at hand.”
Anthony Jackson
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 5
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 5

THE RADLEY
Academic
The A level results in Summer 2011 were
outstanding, a record in a year when there was
no national grade inflation. 91.92% of results
were A*/A/B. Two boys got six A*, Robert
Kinder (The Hall, a) and Edward Bosson
(Caldicott, d), the latter while coxing 1st VIII
to the semi-finals at Henley. 75/135 boys got
3A*/A or more.
Our 5th Formers, now mostly taking
IGCSEs, also achieved a record, 85.4% of
papers being A*/A. 67 boys got 10A*/A, and
6 boys – Bertie Hill (Thomas’s Battersea, h),
Charlie Huntingford (Colet Court, a), Gus
Neate (Shrewsbury House, e), Freddy Rendall
(Hall Grove, c), Tom Saunders (Woodleigh,
h), William Treadwell (Summer Fields, a) –
achieved a full house of A*.
This was to have been the year of
the perfect storm in Higher Education
admissions. Oxbridge was indeed competitive
but despite national gloom and despondency
this has been an extraordinarily successful
year for getting Radleians to Durham and
Edinburgh, and other top universities. Ben
Hatt (Lockers Park, h) won the prestigious
Robertson scholarship to Duke University,
USA, and Henry Tufnell (Dragon, j) won a
place at Brown.
Three boys – George Gundle (Dragon, h),
Adam Lambert (RGS High Wycombe) and
Will Patterson (Cothill, b) won gold medals
at the Physics Olympiad, a very considerable
achievement.
That uniquely Radley occasion
Declamations 2011, was again very strong –
judged by John James of Harrow, the classes
of the 5th Form and 6.2 were especially
impressive; any of them could have won.
The winners were: Shell Henry Tregear (The
Hall, g); Remove Christopher Baird (Cumnor
House, a); Fifth Charlie Huntingford (Colet
Court, a); 6.1 Tommy Siman (Abingdon Prep,
h); 6.2 Andrew Barrie (Horris Hill, e).
Once again there was a host of
distinguished visiting speakers to the
school, many of them to speak to 6.2; John
Whittingdale MP, Old Radleians Rory
Tapner, Charlie Mayfield and Clive Stafford
Smith; Jodi Scheckter, Sir John Holmes,
former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Chief
Constable Sara Thornton among others.
The BBC’s Any Questions was broadcast
from Radley’s theatre and many of the boys
attended.
The annual Radley/St Helen’s Conference
was, again, a great success on the subject of
‘Taking Liberties’. For the first time this year
we ran a Remove Conference on China,
combining with Downe House – boys and
girls learnt rudimentary Chinese, learnt
about Tai Chi, calligraphy, kite making and
Martial Arts, and were encouraged to read
more about, and visit, China for themselves.
Radleians have again been showing great
talent for Debating. Jack Soames (Dragon,
j), Tom Saunders (Woodleigh, h) and Hal
Bicket (Maidwell Hall, j) put in a strong
performance in the ESU Public Speaking
Regional Final, held in Birmingham in
March. Also in March, an impressive
A Social team of Gardie James Duff
(Ardvreck Prep), John Warner
(Dragon) and Hamish Miller
(King’s Hall) beat K Social in
the Final of the Sixth Form
Debating Competition.
There was an away fixture
at Wycombe Abbey School,
with the Wycombe dons
awarding Archie Manners
(Ludgrove, c), Henry
Whittingdale (Orwell
Park, j) and Henry Spencer
(Cothill, c) prizes for ‘Best
Radley Contributors’. The
final of the Shells/Removes
competition, held in June,
was contested by strong
teams from A and H Socials,
with Chris Baird (Cumnor
House, a) and Ed Whitbread
(Cothill, h) particularly
impressing in the heats.
Creative Writing under
Christopher and Cathy Ellott’s
auspices continues strongly. Among the
visitors this year was Stephen Armitage.
Boys have published their own poetry
and prose writing, among them Cern
Hoh (Garden International, e), Ed Dillon
Robinson (Cumnor House, e) and Sam
Nugee (The Hall, h). Ed has also scripted a
short film, made in collaboration with Max
Horsey’s Film Unit. OR Andrew Motion’s
superb poem dedicated to Rupert Thorneloe
appeared in the Times and was read at our
Remembrance Sunday Service.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,
the 6.1 Lecture and Project programme,
had a strong second year. Common Room
again revealed its Renaissance interests
with 32 lectures ranging from meditations
on Genius and Ethics to Global Art,
Darwinism and The Search for the Spiritual.
40 boys in 6.2 completed the arduous and
rewarding task of choosing, researching,
collating and writing a 6000 word Individual
Study under the management of
Edexcel. They learnt much
about Independent
Learning.
All Radley
departments run
Academic Societies, with
visiting speakers. The History Society
has, for example, welcomed Andrew Roberts,
William Doyle, Jeremy Black and John Guy.
Most Monday evenings see academic or year
group societies meeting to hear dons, boys or
visitors. The Philosophy Society continues to
flourish under Iain Campbell and is shortly to
welcome A C Grayling.
6 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

YEAR 2010/11
Activities
CCF has had a busy year, not least in
Adventure Training, with almost 180 boys
camping and walking on the
Ridgeway. The Naval
Section stayed on
board HMS
Belfast,
and
held
their own
Trafalgar Night
Dinner in London.
The Army section carried
out two field exercises at Bramley;
the RAF section visited RAF Brize Norton
and RAF Benson, as well as the air show
at RAF Cosford. A large number of boys
attended both Naval Section courses, and
the RAF summer camp at RAF Brampton/
Wyton. Charlie Palmer (Cottesmore, b)
was succeeded at Easter by Harry Richards
(Dragon, d) as Head of Corps. Capt
Chris San José joined the Army section
from the Oxford University OTC, and
assumes command of the Army section
from September. We say farewell to Lt
Simon Thorn, who has commanded the
Naval section for the last three years; he is
succeeded by Lt Richard Jackson, husband
of the Head of History and a former regular
Naval officer.
2010-2011 has been an exceptional year
for the Radley Duke of Edinburgh unit with
record numbers of Awards achieved by
some very special Award participants.
Thirty-six of our 6.2 leavers will shortly
be going up to the Palace to receive
their Gold Award. Their successes
have proved a real inspiration
to others, encouraging our
Fifth-form and Remove
participants, for example, to
maintain the momentum
and determination required
to meet the various DofE
challenges. We end the year
therefore with a fifty-strong
cohort of Bronze Awardees
eager to embark on the path
to Gold!
Last July Mark Jewell,
Emilie Danis and Susan
Allen led a group of eleven
6.1 boys to Moreni (a small
town in central Romania)
where the boys taught English
to schoolchildren aged 11-18
at a local secondary school.
This continued Radley’s now
well-established annual ‘summer
school’ programme in the town.
The boys planned lessons on topics
of cultural interest to deliver in pairs to
classes of around thirty children, helped by
Romanian students of their own age who
acted as interpreters. Other activities were
organised including sports, drama and
Scottish dancing. The visit was rounded off
by a Celebration event involving musical
and dramatic items performed by both sets
of students. This was a very successful and
challenging educational experience for the
boys who adapted very well to the demands
on their capacity for team-working,
planning, building personal and professional
relationships and on their creativity and
resilience. It was greatly enjoyed by all
participants and we have been warmly
welcomed back this year.
Last July Gareth Hughes led a group
of eleven 6.2 boys to Kerala (south
India) for four weeks. The first half was
spent assisting local skilled craftsmen
in the building of one new house (and
a verandah on another house) for the
poorest families in the village where
we have been working for nearly 15
years. As this is an area subject to
monsoonal flooding, the buildings make
a real difference to the lives of those
accommodated. This group of boys
worked hard and with good humour
learning a lot about team-building and
planning. The remainder of the trip
saw them travel in the region in small
groups, where they developed personal
independence and experienced much
of this culturally enriching part of the
world.
Radleians were once again involved
in Community Action Projects. Three
Concert parties visit residential
homes each Wednesday across South
Oxfordshire. Boys teach languages to
Primary School children. The link with
the Oxford Academy continues with 5th
Form boys teaching their Y8/9 children
Latin and with dons teaching Maths and
Physics on a weekly basis.
As in previous years, a great deal of
Charity work has taken place across the
year 2010/11. The Radley Foundation
launched the Armed Forces Fund in
November to memorialise Lt.Col. Rupert
Thorneloe and Lt. Dougie Dalzell by
raising money to pay for the education
– at Radley, Downe House or St Mary’s
Calne – for children whose fathers (or
mothers) were killed or wounded in
action. To date £532k has been raised.
Arts
In Drama it has been an exceptionally
busy year. The Haddon Cup in October
saw the 10 socials’ Shells in fine form
– the standard grows increasingly
professional. The dons also limbered
up with ‘Daisy Pulls it Off ’. The main
College Play was a Robert Lowe
adaptation of several Noel Coward plays,
‘L’Hôtel de Paris’. The set (Matt Barker)
and costumes (Lianne Oakley-Rowland)
allowed a superb cast of boys, and girls,
drawn from schools all over Oxfordshire,
to produce excellent performances. The
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 7

Lent Term saw ‘History Boys’ by Alan
Bennett, another Lowe production,
melding Common Room and boys.
Those boys were every bit as convincing
as their National Theatre counterparts,
and the adults – John Beasley, Liz
Murtagh, David Edwards – produced
excellent performances. The Remove
Play, ‘Billy Budd’, had an exceptional
stage set (a Nelsonic warship) and very
strong, mature acting, especially from the
officers. The Shells opened their account
with an excellent ‘Julius Caesar’, and
the Theatre Studies Exam pieces were
adjudged high marks as well as being
diverting and entertaining. The inaugural
Milligan Cup for Performance in Musical
Theatre proved great fun, Jonathan Tarcy
(Shrewsbury House, g) proving a worthy
winner. He performed with the National
Youth Music Theatre in the summer. Alex
Kelly (Ludgrove, k) has gained a place
at the National Youth Theatre, and Piers
Saich (Papplewick, k) has been offered
a place at the American Academy of
Dramatic Art in LA.
Stephen Clarke and his team have
now established high expectations of the
Music at Radley and this year did not
disappoint. The Chapel Choir numbers
c.100 strong, and there are 16 Chorister
trebles drawn from local Primary and
Prep Schools, who like it so much
they seek to come on and join Radley
thereafter. The Choir sang Evensong at
Gloucester Cathedral and New College
as well as regularly singing beautifully
in our own Chapel. It was the core of an
excellent Choral Society concert, St John
Passion, in March. It also sang the Fauré
Requeim on Remembrance Sunday. The
orchestra, wind band, Big Band, and
various ensembles, performed very well
at the Christmas Concert and in Warden’s
Music, and the versatility of the boys and
of the department was very evident in the
Music Tour to Tallinn in February. Every
week through the year musicians prepare
for public performance or for Exams
by playing in Coffee Concerts in the
Mansion. There were, in June, 7 Leavers’
Recitals, of a universally high standard.
The visual Arts continue to impress
at Radley. Visitors comment on the
quality of boys’ work installed around the
campus. The end of year exhibitions of
Exam work by GCSE and A level students
was of a very high standard. The strength
of the Art is seen by the success of our old
boys – Charlie Langton’s Derby trophy
won national plaudits; Arthur Laidlaw
took part in an exhibition in the O3
Gallery, Oxford; Oliver Cooke exhibited
in the Celia Lendis Gallery in Moretonin-Marsh.
The department is relishing the
prospect of its own new Gallery spaces in
the Old Gym redevelopment in 2012/13.
Sport
It was sad to see frost and ice put paid to our
last two rugby fixtures, but that shouldn’t colour
our view of a very good season of Rugby. For the
1st XV it was somewhat topsy-turvy; it would
have been difficult to imagine that the 1st XV
would be anything but unbeaten if it could beat
Eton, St Paul’s and Tonbridge in succession as it
did. Sadly, these notable scalps were matched by
some less convincing performances when injury
undoubtedly affected our back division. At their
best the 1st XV were exhilarating. So were the
Midgets 1st XV and Junior Colts 1st XV, where
a mixture of Corinthian attacking rugby allied
to some physical presence produced very good
seasons. Throughout the term, boys played hard
and Radley proved difficult to beat, gaining at
least parity with every school we played and
sometimes (against Marlborough, St Edward’s,
Abingdon) winning the great majority of the
matches.
The Hockey club enjoyed another
successful year. The record for the
club as a whole reads impressively,
played 157, won 100, drawn 21 lost
36 with the 2nd XI, 4th XI and
M4 enjoying unbeaten seasons.
The 1st XI lost just once and
were awarded the Charlie
Barker trophy for winning the
Independent Schools’ Hockey
League, a competition set up by
the eight schools on our circuit.
Colts 1 also lost once and were
runners-up (on goal difference)
in the U16 league. Away from
Radley, Hamish Miller (King’s
Hall, a) (capt) and Harry Over
(Pilgrims’, e) excelled for the
Oxfordshire U17 team who went
on to win the Southern counties
competition. Kieron Banerjee
(Dragon, a), Andrew Pfaff (Cheam,
e), Hugh Gordon (Winchester House,
c), James Mahon (Cothill, c), George
Peele (Sandroyd, b) and James Todd
(Cheltenham College Junior School,
g) also represented Oxfordshire at their
respective age groups.
This has been a very successful year for
Radley’s Football. From the very top to the
very bottom the boys have performed well and
had numerous victories and the teams have
played exciting and eye-catching football all
round. The 1st XI picked up RCAFCs first ever
silverware, winning the LB Cup for the first
time in ten attempts. The game was a thriller,
Radley coming back from 3-0 down at half-time
to draw 3-3 and finally win on penalties. Jack
Trowbridge (Packwood Haugh, e), club captain,
led by example scoring two of the three goals.
The club also went on an excellent pre-season
tour, to southern Spain, taking 18 boys and three
dons to train at the professional La Liga facilities
at Villarreal CF. Overall the club played more
fixtures than ever, seeing first ever games for
Colts IV (who won their maiden fixture) and
the 7th XI, who sadly did not. The 6th XI went
undefeated playing higher oposition teams, and
the senior squad particularly was extremely
successful, losing only twice in like-for-like
fixtures. The club is looking forward to more
fixtures for all boys next year, and hopefully
more of the same in terms of success.
In Real Tennis the highlight of this season
was the victory of the 1st pair - Tom
Buckley (Moulsford, b) and Ben
Boddington (Moulsford,
g) in the Schools
Doubles
Championships,
beating Clifton, with
whom we shared the overall team
title. Dan Brownlee (Oratory Prep, e) and Gus
McAlpine (Cothill, k) came a very close 3rd, as
did Max Black (Elstree, e) and Rory Codrington
(Elstree, e) in the 2nd pairs event. Ben Robinson
(Dragon, h) and George Buckley (Moulsford,
b) lost in the final of the Colts, with Rupert
Boddington (Moulsford, g) and Jack Harland
(Westbourne House, g) an honourable 5th.
8 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

Tom Buckley (Moulsford, b) and Dan Brownlee
(Oratory Prep, e) won the Schools Team Singles
event. Some thirty College matches were played
over the season, fielding over thirty different
boys, and the court remains one of the busiest in
the world, quite apart from purely College use.
In Rackets – 10 schools, including
Wellington, Tonbridge, St Paul’s, Malvern and
Clifton were beaten, and only one loss was
experienced, in an excellent season.
In Cricket, the 1st XI
led by Wilf Marriott
(Farleigh, g)
won 11
matches
out of 16
and won the
Cowdrey Cup for the
first time beating Tonbridge,
Eton, Harrow and Charterhouse.
The Cricket Club was very sucessful through
the card with strong individual performances:
centurians were Nick Gubbins (Elstree, h) twice,
Alex Hearne (Dragon, j) and Wilf Marriott
in the XI, Charles Shingles (JC2, Horris Hill,
k), Hugh Wolton (5th XI, Sussex House, g),
Perry Beckett (M4, Packwood Haugh, f), Ollie
Seaton (Colts 2, Ludgrove, e), Luke Perkins
(M2, Cheam, e), Hugo Mayes (JC4, Horris Hill,
c), Miles Arkwright (JC1, Cheam, k), Ed Pratt
(JC1, Elstree, a). There were six wicket hauls for:
Alex McCourt (4th XI, Oratory Prep, e), Alex
Hanbury (M3, Cothill, j), Alex Dingemans (5th
XI, Cumnor House, k), Ben Richards (Colts 1,
St Hugh’s, c).
In Tennis the 1st VIII enjoyed notable wins
against Cheltenham, Abingdon, Harrow,
Epsom, Dulwich, Wellington and MCS. The
3rd and 4th Senior VIs scalped Marlborough,
Wellington and Eton. Colts 1 narrowly lost
one tournament tie against Eton on a pair of
tie-breaks but they did not lose again, winning
Group 3 in the Independent Schools’ League.
They also won their RHWM league, beating
Harrow, Wellington and Marlborough by 30
games each. Colts tennis sides won almost all
of their matches. JC1 have been all-conquering
in doubles matches, losing only one set, a
testimony to TDM’s volley-at-all-costs mantra.
As well as ISL success, Colts 1 and Junior
Colts 1 also won the RHWM league in a
tense finale. We had clean sweeps against
Cheltenham, MCS and Abingdon,
and only lost one match in the school
fixture against Wellington, where we
played up a team.
Our 1st IV (Hamish Miller (King’
s Hall, a) and Ed Monbiot (Sussex
House, h) and Miles Richardson
(St Michael’s, Jersey, g) and
Andrei Ilie (Vasile Alecsandri,
f)) enjoyed an excellent
tournament in the Youll Cup.
Straight sets wins over St Paul’s,
Oakham, and Nottingham HS
saw us reach the quarter-finals
where we played defending
champions Millfield.
Our second pair lost in straight sets.
However, in one of the finest matches
of their three years playing together,
our 1st pair won 6-4, 6-3, crowning us
Youll Shield champions, essentially the
fifth placed independent school in the
country. Congratulations to DJC and his
team on retaining this title.
Ed Monbiot and Hamish Miller were also
selected to play for the Independent Schools’
Tennis Association’s Representative VI vs The
All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon.
This is the ultimate honour for those who
compete at the Youll Cup. Radleians have
represented the team three times in the past
decade (Charlie Monbiot, Alex Hackett, and
Henrik Boris-Möller ); to have two players
selected in the same year is a first, and a fitting
end to Hamish and Ed’s three years of playing
together.
The season has been a success for Radley
College Athletics Club. Though not blessed with
huge numbers of elite athletes, the boys involved
with the club have given one hundred percent
in everything that they have done this year. We
have out-performed at every event entered and
there have been some fine team performances.
There were four County Champions: Blair
McCallum (Mousford, b) (100m), Adam
Lambert (RGS High Wycombe, f) (High
Jump), Will Allen (Moulsford, a) (Javelin) and
Stéphanie Edwards (St Helen & St Katherine, h)
(High Jump).
After training through the winter months,
11 Radley boys and a Don broke the Guinness
World Record for ‘100 miles run on a treadmill
– team’. The boys ran well and supported their
team members as they completed numerous
1-mile stints. The ‘train hard – fight easy’ attitude
of the team meant that stiffness and fatigue
had negligible effects on them; unfortunately
the treadmills were not as well ‘conditioned’.
Despite losing around a quarter of an hour to
mechanical failure the team finished the 100
miles in 8 hours and 23 minutes, knocking
almost an hour off the existing record. The
successful attempt has now been ratified by
GWR and the boys have their own World
Record.
In Rowing, the 1st VIII achieved some very
good results in the Spring head race season this
year. Despite not having the crew together for
three terms, like most of the other major rowing
schools they finished 3rd in the Schools’ Head
of the River, just 8 seconds behind the winners
and 3 seconds off second place. They followed
this up with an excellent 2nd overall in the
Hammersmith Head against senior clubs and
university crews. The inclement weather meant
limited racing in the summer term, but the 1st
VIII achieved a solid 3rd place in the final of
IM1 Eights at the Wallingford Regatta before
racing was cancelled. The J16.1 VIII also came
3rd in their event. The Radley crews achieved
many successes at the Bedford Regatta with
wins in the J18 coxed four and IM2 coxed four
(1st VIII), J16 Eights, 2nd Eights, J15.2 Eights and
J15B coxed fours. The 1st VIII came second in
J18 Eights and the 2nd VIII came second in IM3
Eights. The National Schools’ Regatta was held
in rough conditions with a strong headwind
which seemed to unsettle many of the Radley
crews. However almost all the crews made it
into the finals of their events and J14.2 were in
the gold medal position before a mishap pushed
them into fourth place. The 1st VIII did well to
secure the bronze medal in the very competitive
Championship Eights’ event – they were also
the only ‘two-term’ rowing school to get into
the final. Five of the eight followed this up with
another bronze medal in the Championship
Coxed Fours’ event with just 0.6 seconds
separating the top three crews. The 1st VIII
also competed in the Metropolitan Regatta at
Dorney Lake and had a very successful day.
They won the IM1 Eights division and IM1
coxed Four division in fine style heating most
of the top British universities and clubs and
recording some very fast times over the 2000m
course.
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 9

The Combined
It is often said that the fondest
memories Old Radleians have of
their time at Radley are of Chapel.
This is no doubt true – certainly I
meet many of them there when they
visit the school, years after they
have left, many visiting in order to
put their son’s name on the list.
But I think it is fair to say that
the best stories usually come
from their time in the CCF. There
are stories of humour, stories of
shared hardship, stories of great
characters of the past; there are
reminiscences of the little petty
irritations of the military life, and
of magnificent pageantry or aweinspiring
military hardware. Above
all, though, there are anecdotes of
character-building.
Radley is perhaps unusual – though
by no means alone – in maintaining a
compulsory element to the CCF. When
the CCF’s predecessor, the Radley
College Officers’ Training Corps, was
founded in 1909, the emphasis was
on providing trained men to go into
the University OTCs and from there
to the Army. During the 1930s and
40s an RAF Section (ours was one of
the first, certainly in operation before
1938) and a Naval Section were added,
broadening the range of specialist
activities to suit a range of boys’
interests.
The CCF today is a very different
animal: the aim of the CCF is not
to recruit boys into the military, but
to educate them a little in what the
military is for and how it works, and
to develop their skills of self-reliance,
leadership and discipline. Of course,
a number of boys do go on to join the
services – sometimes many years later –
and when they do, they do so with the
background knowledge and experience
to enable them to make an informed
decision to do so.
All boys join the CCF for the last term
of the Shells, but this first term is a
gentle, non-uniform introduction to
the outdoor elements of life – camping,
cooking, mountain-biking, &c. – in
preparation for the Remove year;
boys then join the CCF proper and
begin their training according to the
military syllabus of the Royal Navy,
Army or Royal Air Force. After a brief
introduction to the differences between
the three service sections – and there
10 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
10 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER

Cadet Force
are probably more similarities than
differences – boys are given a chance
to indicate their first preference, which
the vast majority (over 90%) get.
After the Remove year, the
majority of boys move on to other
activities (Community Service in
the Fifth form, and a variety of
options thereafter). Those who
stay, though, form the backbone
of the CCF, providing leadership,
training the younger cadets, and
extending their own skills. This is
a tough, demanding task, and not
an easy one: it takes guts for a Fifth
form boy, only a few months older
than his class, to teach a lesson to
surly Removes; but the rewards in
terms of personal development are
unparalleled.
It appears on the surface that the
majority of CCF training takes
place during the regular Wednesday
afternoon parades. This is certainly
where the bread-and-butter learning
goes on, with lessons taught both
by senior cadets, and by the officers
(where safety is paramount, for
example with shooting) and a
number of volunteer dons; these
latter are essential to the Adventure
Training side of things. Training
begins and ends with the entire
Contingent on parade – an inspiring
sight, with around 200 on parade
each week.
However, although the Wednesday
sessions are where the bulk of
the syllabus is taught, it is on the
termly Field ‘Weekends’ (actually
lasting from Saturday evening, after
matches, to Monday evening) that
boys are immersed for the greatest
amount of time in military life. Field
Weekend activities are varied, and
depend to a great extent on what
section a boy is in; a Naval cadet
might spend the weekend on a ship,
an RAF cadet on an RAF station,
while an Army cadet can expect to
spend his time doing what the Army
do best: disappearing into the woods
to practise camouflage, concealment,
shelter and battle tactics. At
some point during the year each
section undertakes an Adventure
Training weekend involving
camping, navigating and walking a
considerable distance, the aim being
to teach the importance of looking
after yourself and your equipment in
the field, and how to lead and hold
together a team.
Parents, of course, rarely see any of
this, unless they are in the services
themselves (and many are – an
invaluable contact when it comes
to arranging varied and interesting
activities). Much more visible is
the annual Remembrance Sunday
parade, where the entire Contingent
attends Chapel and then parades at
Memorial Arch for prayers, laying of
wreaths and (weather permitting!) a
flypast. The increasing popularity of
this event in recent years has led to
the service itself being ticketed, with
priority given to parents of those
boys in the CCF; however, there is
plenty of room at Memorial Arch,
and more of the service will be held
outdoors this year to accommodate
those who aren’t able to get into
Chapel.
What of the future? The main project
at the moment is greater engagement
with the local community. The 70th
anniversary of the Air Training
Corps in 2011 has proved the catalyst
for a closer relationship between
our RAF Section and the local ATC
Squadron, 2121 (Abingdon) Sqn; the
latter started out as a Detached Flight
of our own ATC Squadron in 1941,
and the anniversary has prompted
us to look for ways in which the
two units can work together. And,
more revolutionary perhaps, from
September 2011, approximately thirty
pupils from The Oxford Academy
will be joining the CCF, for separate
training initially, but with joint Field
Weekends. This injection of new
blood can only benefit both sides,
and nicely complements Radley’s
other partnerships with TOA in
academic teaching. This may well
develop into a significant part of the
CCF’s role – with exciting prospects
for the future.
Sqn Ldr Tim Morris,
Contingent Commander
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 11
THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER 11

adleians
Benjamin Franklin (VI-2)
MATTHEW ARNOLD SCHOOL, K SOCIAL
I started Radley in September for Sixth Form
with little to no idea of what to expect. I’d
heard that it was a great school and that the
academic standard was high, but my only
personal experience was being at the Primary
School just across the road when I was much
younger. I knew it would be a totally different
environment, having moved into Sixth Form
here from a mixed maintained day school, with
twice the students in half the space, but I hoped
that I’d find it as welcoming as I had heard it
was.
The thing that first struck me was the way in
which boys and staff presented themselves.
Everyone was polite and welcoming; I felt less
and less like ‘the new boy’ in barely any time
at all. Boys were ready to introduce themselves
and their friends, and I was quickly learning the
names and faces of my year group. Even now,
at the end of my first year, I’m always learning
as many new things about them all as they
are about me, and it is immensely gratifying
to be in a place where people are happy to be
themselves.
The thing that perhaps I found most incredible
was the number of extra curricular activities
on offer. Since starting in September, I have
been involved backstage in the theatre on a
number of plays, taken part in Declamations
and Partsong, learned to play squash and
fives, joined the choir, started singing lessons,
entered the Milligan Cup, and even started a
scuba diving qualification. The effort that the
teachers in charge put into making the activities
accessible, even to someone like me with
relatively little experience in any of them,
was remarkable and one of the things that to
me sets Radley apart from other schools; it
is with their support and adaptability that I
managed to balance my time among all that
is on offer.
I’m particularly pleased to have been placed
in K Social. I was worried about changing
from day school to boarding so late in the
game, but my tutor and subtutors, PHM and
fantastic guys in my year group made K a
friendly place that I’ve grown fond of living
in. Being away from home has never been an
issue, because between the activities above
and the time spent in Social I’ve barely had
time to feel homesick!
After Radley I intend to study Medicine, and
the school has been immensely helpful in this
ambition. From the moment my options were
picked, a couple of months before I moved
here, the school has given me a clear idea of
the path I’ll need to take, and have provided
me with some amazing opportunities, such
as a trip to University College London in my
first term to hear a medical lecture, as well
as other lectures nearby. Wherever I go to
university, I know it’ll have to work hard to
measure up to Radley, and I am incredibly
glad to have come here.
Bertie Beor-Roberts (Fifth)
COTHILL, H SOCIAL
When I arrived at Radley two years ago, I
assumed that as an academic scholar I would
be obliged to spend most of my time working;
little did I anticipate the distraction that would
be presented by the plethora of activities on
offer. In fact, although work is still top priority
by choice, it is no longer the sole objective.
I seem to have picked up a new venture
every term, and the opportunities still come
thick and fast; I quickly became immersed
in the world of the beagles. This first activity
dominated the long cold winters of the last
two years for me, and gave a sense of liberation
and responsibility that it is difficult to find in
modern schools; after all, only three schools
retain a pack of working hounds. I am Joint
Honorary Secretary for this season, and
already the duties have compelled me to get to
grips with working with deadlines and people
totally unconnected to the college.
In the Lent term I joined the video department.
Here was an area I had wanted to discover
for a long time, and there can be no better
place to do so than here. “Radley Video” is
unrivalled at any school, both in terms of
facilities and excellence. Through the latter I
have discovered a real passion, and have been
involved in filming every production at Radley,
and others besides, to some extent this year.
Trips to events such as the BVE exposition
at Earls Court, and also the production of
the BBC six o’clock news have fuelled this
enthusiasm. Now I produce some of the DVDs
by myself, as training for the weddings I film
during my holidays.
In the summer, I was asked to join the
junior debating team for my social, and we
subsequently won the inter-social competition.
A year and many zealous debates later, I
captained that same team to a second victory,
and was awarded the “Best Speaker” prize.
Debating has enabled me to develop my
public speaking skills to a degree I had not
anticipated.
Since the start of my Remove year, I have made
a return to more academic activities, likely
stimulated by my GCSE choices. The first was
the Creative Writing Group, which enabled me
to rediscover a love of poetry with like-minded
people. This appreciation of poetry helped me
come third in the Declamations competition,
as I had a deepened understanding of the piece.
The Philosophy Society has also been very
important for me this year. We have had talks
from outside speakers on Neurology, Time
and Jurisprudence, and others besides, and
I am looking forward to meeting ‘celebrity
philosopher’ A C Grayling next term.
I have filled my final free moments this term,
with the Pipe Band, becoming a Chapel
sacristan and just about making the tennis
team. I am expecting (hoping!) the pace will
continue, and I am sure that with the help of
the school neither myself nor any Radleian will
ever find themselves short of things to do.
12 THE RADLEY NEWSLETTER
Website: www.radley.org.uk . Admissions enquiries: 01235 543174 . admissions@radley.org.uk