King’s College, Cambridge Annual Report 2011 Annual Report 2011 Contents The Provost 2 The Fellowship 7 Undergraduates at King’s 17 Graduates at King’s 24 Tutorial 27 Research 34 Library 38 Chapel 42 Choir 46 Bursary 49 Staff 53 Development 55 Appointments & Honours 60 Obituaries 65 Information for Non Resident Members 239 candidates at too late a stage to announce its formal cancellation. But, The Provost unsurprisingly, with no candidates there was no election. That was in June 2011. In July the Fellows found an alternative way of filling the hole created by my departure in December. Instead of electing 2 This is my sixth Introduction to the someone to succeed me, they made the best of a bad job by re-electing me 3 THE PROVOST Annual Report. I hadn’t planned to do it. for a further two years until July 2013. It turns out that I have succeeded I wrote my first before starting as Provost myself and so, in that sense, I have indeed managed to dump the writing and I had hoped to land this one on my of this Introduction on my successor. It gives me great pleasure that [etc]. successor on the same basis. (“They want THE PROVOST to hear from the rising rather than the There will accordingly be another election some time in 2012. If you have falling star and in any case you’ll be in any good ideas about who should be chosen, I am sure that the College post by the time people read it.”) It’s not would be grateful to know. It could be yourself or someone else from that I failed to persuade my successor to King’s that you know, or you could get someone else you know to suggest take it on. It’s that the College failed to yourself. A Fellow will in due course be appointed to run the election but find a successor for me to persuade. in the interim you may address all good ideas to the Vice Provost. It’s important for the College to get it right. I’m informed that we had several The College failed to find my successor. I good candidates last time. We certainly need them again and it’s worth Professor Ross Harrison am irreplaceable. Whatever consolation your care in creating good suggestions. that might give, it still means I have to write this Introduction. It gives me great pleasure that... No, wait, let’s first go It gives me great pleasure… Yes, this is for real. Having done the McGuffin, back to the failure to find a successor bit. For this is highly unusual; a introducing the Introduction at excessive length, here beginneth the real lightning strike. In the 570 years that the College has existed, I don’t think that McCoy. I start with an update on two matters about which I wrote in it’s ever happened before. A date of election in the chapel was fixed and previous years. Two years ago I described how Market Hostel (Market Hill announced; everything was ready to go. Then, just before the off, no one to Hostel to those of a certain vintage) was completely sheathed in polythene elect. There may, with hindsight, have been some occasions when the Fellows like a Christmas present waiting to be opened. Well, we unwrapped the would have been better advised not to have gone to chapel and made that present and found a lovely building inside. Just what we’ve always wanted. particular election. But they always did; this is the first time that they have in Excellent views in all directions, of the market, Great St Mary’s and the advance resisted the pleasure of participating in the competitive ceremony. Chapel. Superb communal kitchens for mixing. And we now as planned have Market Hostel connected to the podium behind Kings Parade to form a I’m not allowed to take any part in the election of my successor. (I have to complete elevated court across the road. This involved reconstruction of the avoid the thought, and I didn’t tell you, that naturally without me they roof of David’s Bookshop, with a better naturally lit shop in consequence. made a mess of it.) But I did feel like turning up in chapel at the appointed time, merely as a tourist or chapel visitor, to see if any of the Fellows The other part of the wrapping on which I’d commented was the works came and attempted to hold an election. After all, the College ran out of proceeding down the court side of the chapel. This is also all now completed. Thanks to the generosity of Robin Boyle, this entire side of the chapel is not Government on the universities, as they saw the massive prospective hike only cleaned but the glazing bars have been treated so that they stop in fees. They flung themselves into resistance and some of the most active expanding and chipping off the stonework. The college of the king is now fit political performers descended in their results as compared with last year. for a queen; although when the Queen observed it across the front court, it was still in process. We have elected Robin a Fellow Benefactor of the College The effigies of Cameron and Clegg that were burned in the protest in 4 in grateful recognition. London against the increase in fees were made in the King’s Art Room. We 5 THE PROVOST have always been a prominent supporter of the arts and it transpires that In my Introduction last year I shifted my attention to our examination this is an additional function of an art room in a political college. There performance, on the hopeful assumption that we had turned the corner and were more King’s students than any other college on the buses down to the THE PROVOST were marching back to our rightful place at the top of the table. This is a less demonstrations. King’s was significantly represented at the occupation of happy story. At least temporarily, the forward march of King’s has halted. the University’s Old Schools in an attempt to make the University take a There has been weeping and wailing and we have tried to find someone’s harder line against the Government. A lot of activity, as one would expect teeth to gnash. We haven’t as yet come up with much better explanations than and more than there has been for a generation. But, as with a generation the tired old teacher’s prescriptions of ‘could do better’ and ‘must try harder’. ago, without result: the Government and University together have decided that fees for students entering in 2012 will be £9,000 a year. One possible explanation which probably doesn’t go far but occurred among the weeping and wailing connects the relatively poor results back with our The prospective increase in fees has also been of deep concern to the new Market Hostel. Right in the middle of the exams, a student (not from Fellowship. We need to continue to keep King’s open to people from all King’s or indeed the University) broke in and set off all the fire alarms in the backgrounds. We need to continue running a needs-blind admissions process middle of the night. Everyone was woken up and had to evacuate into St that provides support to all students who need help. We have through this Edward’s Passage. Then someone (again not from King’s or indeed the year developed a detailed and lengthy strategic plan for the next ten years, an University) who was a guest in one of the adjacent College flats, fed up with important part of which is the need to raise additional money to fund the the noise, cut the wire to the ringing alarm. This meant that when the fire increased scholarship and student bursary provision that tripling the fees will brigade arrived no one was allowed back in the hostel. They had to stay out all require. This strategic review (with its calculation that we’ll need an night in the bar area, with some eventually being found beds in Keynes. This additional half million per year in five years time and an additional million can’t have helped their next day’s exams and at Cambridge no adjustment of per year in ten years’ time) was agreed by the College Governing Body in June. class boundaries takes account of disruption except at the pass/fail level. (Having externally examined in universities where they do, I’m rather glad we The SEF has always worked extremely well as a way of cascading money don’t as it’s almost impossible to make the appropriate allowances.) down through the generations. Students while here are helped by the donations of previous students, many of whom in turn were helped in their Just a very small number of two ones rather than firsts make a difference to time. We now need to expand this to pick up the increased financial the ranking tables, where all the colleges are closely clumped in the middle. demands that there will be on students under the new fee regime. A better explanation than fire alarms is probably politics. So if there’s anyone to gnash it’s the Government. King’s is a particularly political I thought that instead of writing this, I would today be dreaming of my college and the students felt a special duty to resist the assault of the release and that by the time you read it I would be happily into my afterlife.