Summer Edition 2017

INTERVIEW
What or who inspired
you to teach?
Throughout my life I
have always got a buzz
from helping, supporting
and teaching others. It is
so rewarding.
What was your favourite
subject at school?
I was best at maths (and
became a maths teacher)
but my favourite was
always history and still is.
All-time favourite book?
Birdsong,
whose author,
Sebastian Faulks,
is coincidentally
an Old
Wellingtonian.
What is your
best-loved piece
of music?
Jean Sibelius’s
Finlandia or There She
Goes by The La’s.
Favourite Shakespeare
play and why?
I am always inspired by the
monologues in Henry V but I
also find Much Ado About
Nothing highly amusing.
What is your personal
motto for life?
Anything is possible.
Are you more of a hunter or a
gatherer?
Hunter, definitely!
If you could only bring
three things with you
to a desert island, what
would they be?
If not my children, then
a signalling mirror, a foil
HEAD space
We chat to Wellington College’s
Julian Thomas about what both
motivates and inspires him at
school and beyond
blanket and a water purifier.
What’s the hardest thing you’ve
ever done?
Physically, it has to be running
the Marathon des Sables.
Who would you most like to be
for the day?
Whoever is currently at Camp 4
on the South Col of Everest, just
one day’s climb from the peak.
What would your
last meal be?
Fish and chips
with all the
trimmings from
the Wellington
College canteen.
What would be your act
on Britain’s Got Talent?
I was once challenged
by some prep school
children to learn to hula
hoop and juggle when
I told them anything is
possible. I spent a few
weeks practising and
returned to show them.
What is your biggest
achievement?
Professionally, running
the world’s finest school;
personally, trekking to the
South Pole.
Why, in your opinion, is
your school the best?
It is, quite simply, the
most dynamic and
exciting educational
environment I have ever
encountered.
Who is your most
infamous alumni?
Christopher Lee’s
Dracula scared me as
a child just as his Saruman
scares current generations, but
James Hunt has the strongest
reputation as an enfant terrible.
But a terrific Wellingtonian by
all accounts.
What three things do you need
to be a successful headmaster?
Only two things: passion and
compassion.
What advice do you have for
school leavers?
Whatever you do, you’ll be doing
it for most of your life, so make
sure it is a passion and then you
will never feel that you have to
‘work’ a day in your life.
50 schoolnotices.co.uk ★ SUMMER 17