MEET THE MEDICS

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: VIRGIN MARY HOSPITAL | CARL FIRTH | COUGH BOY! | MAKEEN BAROUDI ISSUE 108/AUTUMN 2020 ONA MAGAZINE ISSUE 108 AUTUMN 2020

ONA is the magazine for the Old Novocastrians’ Association

All correspondence should be addressed to: The Development Office, Royal Grammar School, Eskdale Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4DX

Telephone Development Office: 0191 212 8909 email: [email protected]

Guest Editor: Dr Simon Barker Congratulations to current Y13 students Theo Hoult and Dominique Hewitson Editor: David F Goldwater (51-62) who have been appointed into the new roles of Old Novocastrians’ Association Sixth Form Ambassadors. Theo and Dominique will be responsible for The Editor reserves the right to edit, representing current students at a range of external events, including ONA alter or omit all submissions to the magazine. Copy may be carried over meetings, activities and dinners, and crucially, identifying and approaching Old to the next edition. The Editor’s Novos who could support current students, through talks and/or careers decision is final. advice. The Ambassadors will also be responsible for helping to shape ONA activities, so that they are interesting, relevant and of value to the Class of 2021 Contribute! We are always looking for and beyond. ONs can look forward to hearing more from the new ONA Sixth articles and news from Old Novos to Form Ambassadors in the next ONA Magazine. include in the magazine, so send your contributions, via email (if possible) to: [email protected] or by posting to the Development Office at the school. IN THIS ISSUE

Please include relevant pictures if 1 HEAD’S WELCOME GEOFFREY STANFORD possible. They will be returned as soon 2 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR SIMON BARKER as the magazine has been printed. 3 MEDICS IN THE ARCHIVES GENNY SILVANUS The deadline for acceptance of copy 4 BEDESMEN, BRETHREN & BURSARIES HAZEL JONES-LEE for the Spring 2021 issue is Friday 8 6 FROM RGS TO RADIOLOGY ALEX SELF January. Copy may be carried over to 8 MY MEDICAL JOURNEY HAZEL WATCHORN a future issue. 10 PSYCHIATRY AT ITS CORE… KALUM AMARASURIYA The ONA Magazine is available online 12 THE PUS PUDDLE ROBYN DICKINSON Please note that the magazine is 13 GILLIAN MATHER, SCHOOL NURSE JOHN ARMSTRONG circulated in hard copy and is available 14 OLD NOVOS ON A HELICOPTER ABHINAV SINGH on the ONA website shortly after circulation. By submitting an article or 15 THE RGS MOCK MMI BROOKE MILBURN news for inclusion, the contributor is 16 FROM J1Y TO CLINICIAN SCIENTIST OMAR MAHROO accepting that it will be available 18 WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR FINN GAVIN through both formats and will also be 20 IVORY TOWERS THOMAS COPE accessible beyond the Association membership through internet search 22 CARL FIRTH SIMON BARKER, SUSAN BECK, FINN GAVIN, PHILIPPA SANDERS engines or any member of the public 25 UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS DAVID GOLDWATER viewing the RGS website. 26 A HISTORY OF THE RGS IN ITS PEOPLE DAVID GOLDWATER www.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk/ 28 MEET (SOME OF) THE MEDICS rgs-family/ON 30 MEDSOC REPORT PHILIPPA SANDERS Please note that the ONA Magazine 32 COUGH BOY! DAVID GOLDWATER content does not necessarily reflect 34 MY BURSARY STORY M MAKEEN BAROUDI the views of the school or the 36 RGS SIXTH FORM MEDICALS STANLEY ASHMAN ONA and is based on personal experiences, recollections and 38 NEWS & CONGRATULATIONS memories of its contributors. 40 OBITUARIES www.infinitedesign.com WELCOME

BY GEOFFREY STANFORD HEAD

remains!), and then the gradual reopening of the school at first to Year 6, Year 10, Year 12, and then Years 3-5, has required a similar level of military precision. Immediately after closing the school gates, we moved to remote learning, with live online lessons, following the normal timetable. We held our first virtual RGS Day; our Class of 2020 celebrated joining the ONA with a digital leavers’ ceremony; and our teachers have risen to the challenge to ensure our students have maintained an amazing breadth and depth of education. This experience has helped our pupils develop the ability to learn independently as well as acting as a catalyst for the school to engage with education technology. I am incredibly proud of the positivity, the proactivity and the collaborative approach taken by our students, parents and staff; we really are a family at RGS. The last Term has also brought into stark relief the specific needs of our small community of Bursary students and their families, who are critical to the ethos of the school. As at the end of Summer Term 2020, we had 76 Bursary Students in the school, t gives me great pleasure to introduce the latest each one having won their place based on their thematic ONA Magazine, Meet the Medics. ability and potential. Our pastoral team has been IWe selected this theme long before we had even extra vigilant in monitoring the welfare of our Bursary heard of COVID-19, never mind uttered the word students and I am so grateful that Old Novos and ‘unprecedented’ in every other sentence. Perhaps current parents have collectively donated over now more than ever it is important to celebrate £40,000 in Hardship Funds. This has been used to Old Novocastrians leading the way in medicine and provide essentials such as food parcels and, where supporting countless lives around the globe. Simon necessary, assistance with Wi-Fi and access to IT. Barker (Head of English) and David Goldwater have Your support has been invaluable in enabling these done an outstanding job in these pages, paying young people to continue engaging in education and tribute to just a few of the overwhelming number for this I give my personal heartfelt thanks. As with of medics the RGS has been privileged to teach. many charities, our fundraising income has been I am regularly asked to describe school-life in badly affected by the pandemic, yet we remain lockdown, and I encourage those who are intrigued committed to supporting the existing Bursary to follow our Facebook and LinkedIn pages. We have students through their school years and to our also posted a large number of communications and long term ambition—to grow the community of virtual assemblies on a dedicated COVID-19 page of brilliant Bursary students. Without the help of our website. It will have been one of the most a benefactor they simply would not have such challenging times in the school’s history: the last time an extraordinary opportunity. the school was mandated to close was in 1939, when I hope that you enjoy leafing through these the then only male RGS students were evacuated to pages as much as I did and, like me, perhaps you Penrith, and Eskdale Terrace became a regional war will wonder about the incalculable number of lives room. The closure of the school to all but across the world that have been touched by Old keyworkers’ children (the long tradition of RGS Novos involved in medicine. What a privilege it is

Photograph by Susanna Stanford educating children of many of the RVI’s Consultants to be a member of this community.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 1 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR

BY SIMON BARKER HEAD OF ENGLISH

I did remark to one of the contributors in the following pages that it was odd for the Head of English to be invited to guest edit a magazine on Meet the Medics; the reply came back that it was not remotely odd. It is indeed true that I have taught very many medics over the years, and written many of their university references.

he RGS has sent more people into the medical professions T than into any other. So we faced a colossal problem: the enormous embarrassment of riches on which to draw.

It is a good, but challenging, problem to have! The Chorus to Shakespeare’s Henry V apologises at the outset for the ‘wooden O’ that is the Globe theatre, in being unable to do justice to the immense story that is to follow: for each character on stage ‘On your imaginary forces work’, ‘Into a thousand parts divide one man’ who appears there. And we have to make the same appeal: do not be offended, gentles all, if you are not here. The pages that follow can only be a tiny, representative snapshot. at school that its ONs fondly recall (and of the roll call of teachers who But what a snapshot it is! ‘Medics’ we emerge, old and new, who helped to are taking in an inclusive way (including facilitate them). But the other striking dentists, vets, nurses, doctors and other thing is the interconnectedness of the medical professionals). All of that is stories: how a thread or a name here is honoured somewhere in these pages, picked up somewhere else, which also even if it could not be by an article. The On your imaginary manages to reflect the team nature of first thing that is especially pleasing is the what many of the medics here celebrate diversity of story (the only brief was to tell forces work” in their profession. that story from any angle of the writer’s choice), reflected in the diversity of age, It has been a delight to work with the gender, ethnicity, specialism, experience. team at school on this issue and with the It endorses what Kalum calls ‘the broad team of contributors, all of whom willingly church’ of Medicine and Thomas its gave up precious time. Here is our ‘unrivalled range of opportunity’. It is also ‘wooden O’ and, on its stage (as a moving to read about the varied range in Shakespeare contemporary puts it),

qualities of opportunities and experiences ‘infinite riches in a little room’. Photograph by Jatin Naru

2 eorge Pallister (26-66) taught Biology and MEDICS IN was the teacher in charge of the Sixth Form GMedicals for many years. In the archive, we hold a series of named ‘Upper Sixth THE ARCHIVES Medicals’ group photographs from 1949 until 1964 which he collected and deposited. From the mid nineteenth century the school began to actively improve and diversify its library, and BY GENNY SILVANUS several scientific and natural world texts have survived. Possibly the RGS SCHOOL ARCHIVIST prettiest of these is Dr Arnold Brass’ 1897 book Atlas of Human Histology with detailed colour plates. Stamped with ‘Plender Library’, which officially opened in 1931, RGS has a long tradition of ONs studying it was clearly kept readily accessible for some time. medicine and its branches. Indeed, between 1870 and 1890, nearly a third of all our pupils who continued their studies at university From the mid nineteenth century went to study medicine at the nearby College the school began to actively of Medicine, then part of Durham University. improve and diversify its library, In this edition we are going to showcase some and several scientific and natural of the medical related items in the archive. world texts have survived.”

Brass, Atlas of Human Histology, translated by R A Young (1897). Plate B4: The Skin: Nerves and Sensory End Organs Our Novo magazine ran a series of articles entitled ‘What to do after leaving school’ between February 1891 and December 1892 (we ran to five issues a year at this time) with detailed advice. The careers suggested included a special focus on the newly regulated profession of dentistry (after the Dentists’ Act of 1878) and electrical engineering, which both ran to two parts. Medicine, veterinary surgeon, civil service, accountant and architect were also featured, along with the more established professions of law, church and teaching. We also hold a VHS In Conversation with Dr C N Armstrong on his 100th Birthday, made in 1997. Charles Nathaniel or ‘Natty’ Armstrong (09-14) was a physician and endocrinologist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary between 1928 and 1962, when he was appointed regional director of postgraduate education until 1970. Aside from photographs and plans of past science rooms in the archive, we have a newly enhanced frieze in the corridor just outside the archive. Dating from the original building in 1906, it has been re-contextualised by the latest building works. Interestingly, it isn’t included in our book of ‘Estimates’ which includes the costs (and sketches) of every cornice and lintel, but it lists four pioneering scientists (Newton, Kelvin, Curie, Spencer—three of them highly contemporary with the opening of the Eskdale Terrace site). Lastly, we keep a file of Old Novos, with details of their careers after they left school. If you would like to add your own career, medical or otherwise, then please get in touch!

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 3 BEDESMEN, BRETHREN & BURSARIES

THE HOSPITAL OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN

BY HAZEL JONES-LEE (84-09)

4 What on earth has an arcane-sounding, religious medieval institution to do with the RGS? Actually, quite a lot: a shared site for most of 300 years, interconnected administration and finances at various periods in between and significant bursary support today.

‘Hospital’ in the Middle Ages The School moved to Eskdale Terrace in was a charity giving ‘refuge, 1906 and later when the church and School A hospitality, maintenance and buildings were pulled down in 1961 to make education to the needy’. In Newcastle A Grammar School was way for Newcastle College, the city could it comprised a community of located originally in the not afford to buy the Almshouse as well Augustinian canons, presided over by and so the 19th Gothic Hospital remains a Master and housing poor, elderly men grounds of St Nicholas’s there, almost surrounded by the College or bedesmen, and sheltering poor and Church, temporarily and accommodating 18 older men, until destitute travellers, whilst distributing relocated to the Hospital recently known as Brethren, in small flats. charitable funds amongst the sick and More recently Thomas Horsley House was needy in the town. in the late sixteenth century opened in 1982 in Benwell to house a We know that the Hospital of St Mary and then permanently further forty men in studio flats. the Virgin was in existence from at least In 1979 and following changes in 1183-4, built on land given around 1155 by in 1607.” Local Government Acts in 1972, the former Aselack de Killinghow ‘in his own grounds, Hospital Charity was divided into two: in the West Gate, within the old town of the almshouses became the Hospital of Newcastle’. Its original site is marked by a St Mary the Virgin (Rye Hill and Benwell) or pillar opposite the Stephenson Monument the ‘Almshouse Charity’. The other charity, near the Central Station. With subsequent Church, temporarily relocated to the ‘St Mary the Virgin Estate Management benefactions of land and property, the Hospital in the late sixteenth century and Charity’, known as the ‘Estate Management Hospital of St Mary the Virgin became the then permanently in 1607. The Chapel Charity’, has responsibility for the wealthiest ecclesiastical institution in the [more like a hall] was used as a school investments and properties. town, used to discharge the town house and the dormitories became And today? The Hospital still gives authorities’ obligations to the poor and housing for the Master and staff, whilst the ‘maintenance and education’ to the needy with a right to hold land confirmed by Brethren moved first to an almshouse next through its annual income, the greater Edward III in Letters Patent of 1368. to the school gateway and later to Pudding part of which is divided between the From very early on, the affairs of town, Chare. As the Master of the School was also Almshouse Charity and the RGS, which Hospital and later School were sometimes the Master of the Hospital, the for the past twenty years has used it to interconnected. The town’s Guild met finances were further connected. finance bursaries. there in the fourteenth century, the In 1834 the Master & Brethren were election of the Mayor and Council took sanctioned to sell land to the Newcastle Dr Hazel Jones-Lee taught English at the place in the Hospital Chapel House and the and Carlisle Railway Company, providing RGS from 1984-2009. She was Senior town treasury, or ‘hutch’ which stored the funds for the transfer of both Hospital and Mistress from 2001, overseeing the school Hospital’s archives, was also located there. School to Rye Hill, where they opened on becoming fully co-educational. She is Finally, in the early sixteenth century, the adjoining sites in 1858 along with a new Chair of trustees of the HSMVT Mayor and burgesses, rather than the church of St Mary. Almshouse Trust (Rye Hill and Benwell). canons, gained the right to appoint the Master, thus gaining indirect control of Almshouses in Rye Hill the Hospital’s substantial wealth. Whilst this association undoubtedly benefited the burgesses, it also probably contributed to saving those lands and funds from being sequestered by the King during the Reformation. The third link in the interconnection came into focus with the will of Thomas Horsley, successful corn merchant, prominent citizen, Sheriff and five times Mayor between 1513 and 1533 and widely regarded as the founder of RGS. He made provision in his will for the income from a trust to be paid to the city for part of the stipend of a grammar school master. A Grammar School was located originally in the grounds of St Nicholas’s

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 5 FROM RGS TO RADIOLOGY

A REPORT IN BLACK AND WHITE

BY ALEX SELF (93-00)

6 The timing of this article seems particularly pertinent for two reasons. The first is that as we negotiate the first global pandemic for 100 years there has never been a greater focus on the health and fragility of the human race and what role each of us play in it. The second, albeit less important reason, is that it is 20 years since I left the RGS to begin a career in medicine.

y own journey in life so far, like 20 years ago. It is certainly the case that if it hadn’t everyone’s, has been very much been for the positive atmosphere and support Minfluenced by my childhood experiences created within the school by people such as the and consequently the RGS played a very large inspirational Neil Goldie (89-03) (and many part in that. others!) I very much doubt that I or many of my I remember wanting to pursue a career in classmates would have gone on to become the medicine from an early age, in no small part people we are today. spurred on by the diverse and stimulating career It can also be no small coincidence that my own my own father was interest in medical education started at a very early having at the time. stage of my career. I have been lucky enough to However, like all plans, have been involved in a number of educational the environment in projects ranging from setting up a Teddy Bear which it was conceived Hospital at UCL, focused on helping small children and then developed overcome their fears of coming into hospital, to There is no doubt that was to prove now running the specialist training delivered at the instrumental. When Northern Radiology Academy in the North East and going to a school that aspiring to a career in Cumbria, in my role as a Training Program Director is as academically medicine, it is normal in Health Education England (North East and for people to focus on Yorkshire). I’m currently fortunate to be part of a outstanding as the the academic abilities fantastic team of medical educators and leaders. RGS certainly helped of the applicant at an Every day they strive to continually improve and prepare me and my early stage. There is deliver training that has made the North East and no doubt that going Cumbria officially the best place to receive a post classmates well in to a school that is as graduate medical education, as voted for in this regard.” academically consecutive GMC surveys. It has never been the outstanding as the individual achievements within these endeavours RGS certainly helped that are most worthy of note but the bringing prepare me and my together of a talented team from a cross section, classmates well in this representative of the populations that they serve, regard. However, looking back at my time in the that has always brought the most success. It is school it has become clear to me that this was only always therefore heartening to see this reflected one piece of the puzzle. in the ethos of the school and in the continued When I look back at my career to date it is clear strength of the bursary scheme. As my own son that whether it be time spent helping set up a finishes his first year in the Junior School, I am surgical society at UCL or helping to manage and struck by how this message still resonates, for deliver diagnostic imaging in my current role as example with the new Junior School mantra ‘I am Head of Radiology at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, strong, I am able, I am calm and I am kind’. I have always been driven by a desire to improve The future holds a great deal of uncertainty the situation I find myself working in. This in itself for us all at the moment and therefore all we can has only been made possible by being part of do is to continually strive to ensure that we and strong, diverse and talented teams. It is interesting those around us are as best prepared to face the to reflect and appreciate the teams I was part of at challenges facing us. This is something the RGS school. Some obvious: the Combined Cadet Force, has always had at its heart and as a result it is an for example; some less so, the small group of us ethos that echoes through the communities we that first set up the Medical Society at the school are all a part of.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 7 MY MEDICAL JOURNEY

BY HAZEL WATCHORN (07-09)

I came to study at RGS for Sixth Form because I wanted to be a doctor. I was concerned about achieving the A Level grades required at the comprehensive school I was currently at and where the girls’ sport had fizzled out several years prior due to a lack of participation.

8 had labelled myself as too geeky, bookish and quiet and found that Ieverything was much easier at school if I kept to myself. It may have been RGS’s reputation for the sciences which drew me to apply but what I found was so much more than I expected. I found I wasn’t the silent student in the back any more but free to debate with teachers in history lessons and join every sport team and extra-curricular activity I could. In short, I was able to reinvent myself. I was surprised to be chosen as Head Girl for my Upper Sixth year. Fulfilling this role taught me a lot about projecting confidence and how to stand up for myself during public speaking or trying to keep some of the younger students approximately in line. Having belief that my opinion counts and the courage to try new things (helping direct a house play taught me how to herd cats…) has stayed with me since I have left school. This has helped me rise to the challenge of being President of my university mountaineering club and act as liaison between junior doctors and senior management during the COVID-19 crisis. Medicine has been an interesting journey for me: after completing my A Levels at RGS I went to medical school at Cardiff University for five years before moving back up to Sheffield to complete Top: Raleigh Trekking Group. Below: Trekking in the Himalayas. Opposite page: foundation training. I have not taken a Gokyo Rescue Post. Front cover: Trekking traditional route through training and I have not taken a in the Monsoon in Nepal have changed my mind about my career traditional route through goals and specialties several times. I used to be worried about this, thinking training and have changed staffing high altitude rescue posts with that I should be more driven and focused, my mind about my career the International Porter Protection Group. but I have come to discover that all Working in such a remote environment experience in medicine is useful and it goals and specialties several posed significant challenges, from really is the journey that is enjoyable times. I used to be worried untangling bureaucratic nightmares in rather than the destination. about this, thinking that I Kathmandu to evacuating porters with During my foundation years life threatening altitude related illnesses I completed my post graduate diploma should be more driven and on foot. of mountain medicine which opened my focused, but I have come to After completing the MRCP exams eyes to some of the non-traditional and coming to the end of my core careers available to medics and allowed discover that all experience medical training in Yorkshire I have me to meet like-minded healthcare in medicine is useful and it decided to pursue a career in respiratory professionals from all over the world. really is the journey that is medicine. For now however, I am In the two years out between returning to university part time to gain foundation and specialty training I was enjoyable rather than qualifications in medical education. fortunate to put theory into practice, the destination.” My post from August this year will be split working as a GP trainee in rural New 50/50 as a clinical fellow in respiratory Zealand before volunteering as an medicine and a teaching fellow for Hull expedition medic leader for Raleigh York Medical School based in York International. This involved rebuilding Foundation Trust. water pipes in Nepal post the 2015 The belief and self confidence earthquake and trekking with volunteers fostered during my time at RGS has through the foothills of the Himalayas. helped me tremendously on my journey I returned to the Everest region of Nepal so far and I am excited to see what in 2018 as part of a team of four doctors adventures come next.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 9 PSYCHIATRY AT ITS CORE IS ABOUT LISTENING TO STORIES. AND WHO DOESN’T LIKE A GOOD STORY?

BY KALUM AMARASURIYA (90-97)

Kalum Amarasuriya studied Medicine at Newcastle University and works as a consultant psychiatrist in Teesside. His team was awarded Intellectual Disabilities Team of the Year in 2019 by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which praised their ‘single focus to do what is right for an individual as straightforwardly as possible’. He is most happy when cooking, reading, teaching his kids to play cricket and playing the guitar, although generally not all at the same time.

10 hen I left RGS in 1997 to study to assess and analyse clinical Medicine at Newcastle, I had information from patients and tests, my W soft focus visions of debonair ability to comprehend the more oblique righteousness and being deeply arena of people’s underlying motives, admired purely by virtue of being agendas and beliefs emanated from a doctor. Although such delusions my study of literature and rooted in the of grandeur have long since been discussions we had in the Plender expunged, I would still say being Library. The approaches I use for a psychiatrist is a great job and my constructing arguments and writing experiences at the RGS played a pivotal reports stem from what I practiced in role in how I ended up becoming one. the countless essays I wrote and I always enjoyed Biology, and lessons recalling the spidery red inked with the effervescent Mr Williams comments pointing out what I needed (91-96) fuelled my interest. I think I had to improve. So not only did my English a vague sense I should do something The most satisfying thing studies help me grasp these matters, ‘useful’, so possibly through a lack of it allowed me to develop the skills I use imagination rather than anything else, about my job is being in a on a daily basis as a psychiatrist. I can thought medicine seemed like the right position to meaningfully also now reflect that the more time career choice. help improve someone’s I have spent reading about human Although every doctor’s training experience in the broadest sense experiences are different, my reflections quality of life, especially (fiction, non-fiction, commentaries) after meandering through various junior when they are often the better I am able to resonate and doctor jobs was that: kindness was rare empathise with the often very different, and precious; camaraderie a saviour; but already marginalised powerful and difficult experiences that dispiritingly, lack of time and the feeling of and misunderstood.” my patients have, even if I struggle to pressure was eroding my compassion and understand those experiences myself. curiosity. I felt I needed seriously to think I truly feel I would not be the doctor about what specialty I should pursue in I am today, nor gain the fulfilment from the long term that would not drive me to realise this decision was one of the my work that I do, were it not for these insane or inhuman. I turned to psychiatry. most useful ways to prepare for a career foundational experiences in studying After a while in psychiatry I noticed a in medicine, and in particular psychiatry. English with Dr Barker, who to this day real difference in how I was able to work All fields of medicine involve remains a truly inspirational influence compared to my time in other specialities. synthesising complex information from and someone to whom I remain It felt like I was working with other disparate and often conflicting sources incredibly grateful. members of the team, not in parallel into a coherent narrative from which you I hope some of you reading this may to them. The nature of the work and devise strategies to solve a problem in be pleasantly surprised at the notion treatment allowed for creativity as well as conjunction with others, most that medicine is not purely the territory the practical application of neuroscience importantly the patient. And although of hard science alone; it is a broad and pharmacology, while not losing sight medical school equipped me with skills church and all the better for it. of the patient as a whole and unique individual. I later specialised in the Psychiatry of Intellectual Disabilities as I felt it was the most fascinating and rewarding branch of psychiatry. I continue to encounter a huge variety of diverse clinical and medico-legal situations and am fortunate to work in a range of settings with many different people. I don’t have many typical days and there are always new and unexpected challenges. The most satisfying thing about my job is being in a position to meaningfully help improve someone’s quality of life, especially when they are often already marginalised and misunderstood. At the time I applied to study medicine there was an assumption that you should do a full set of science A Levels. However, with encouragement from Dr Barker, I selected English. Not only did I enjoy the work at the time I also appreciated the contrast it provided to the sciences I was studying. I later came

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 11 a 12 month advanced course in fixing smiles and making teeth pretty, which is a nice change from NHS dentistry. Like all areas in the NHS, funding and quality are huge problems. The whole system is under-funded (without getting too political: probably intentionally so) and the result is that it makes it very hard to deliver quality NHS dentistry at times.

Around the same time, I started to pick up a bit of emergency work in Teesside, this area has some of the worst dental health in the whole of the UK. It did leave me feeling like I could extract teeth day in day out for my entire career and not even THE PUS PUDDLE make a dent, such is the scale of the issue there. We provide a service for people who only access dentistry when they have issues, and this can be fairly eye opening.

BY ROBYN DICKINSON (07-09) On the personal side of things, the last 12 months have brought more variety in the form of our little boy Mitch who arrived in June 2019, so I had a short break from dentistry My weekend involved digging for the root of a tooth until this February. I headed back to that was completely submerged in a puddle of work (very) part time at Sunderland blood saliva and pus. I couldn’t see what I was (although we haven’t been able to provide much due to COVID-19), doing, but could vaguely feel what I was searching as well as Newcastle and for. The lady I was treating was a lovely ex-midwife, Northumberland’s emergency who had a not so lovely facial swelling (orange sized) dental service and a half day a week supervising the dental students due to quite a nasty abscess. By most people’s over at the Dental Hospital. They standards, it was pretty disgusting. And I suppose seem much more competent than I have RGS to thank for getting me into that situation. I remember being!

Plate G2: Development of Tooth, in Brass, Atlas of Human Histology (1897) joined RGS in 2007 for the Sixth seeing the pass list at the end. Form. The link to RGS is a family After graduating, my first job was at I one, with my dad having worked the Dental Hospital here in Newcastle at the school for many years as one (spreading my wings as always!). of the North East’s leading PE Basically, two years of doing a bit of teachers (!). Prior to this I went to all sorts of dentistry, alongside some my local school and always did OK General Practice. They say variety is but was not, by any measures, a the spice of life, and I really did love genius. As UCAS time came around, this way of working. dentistry didn’t seem like a bad plan: I probably chose it for the I then moved into General Practice, wrong reasons, but I ticked their which is day to day dentistry that boxes, and to be completely honest, most people would recognise from never had any better ideas before their own dental visits. This was deadline time. pretty steady, although one practice was on the edge of the Meadow Well, I got my grades and went to Newcastle so the work wasn’t always glamorous. University in September 2009. It was I worked there for about 18 months, five years of deadlines and graft, which and then made the switch to a after sequential exams from age 16, practice in Seaham. I have trained up gets pretty tedious. The best part was a bit, doing some braces courses, and

12 I plan to work a little more as Mitch gets a bit older, but it’s a bit of a funny time to be choosing a new place to GILLIAN MATHER work, as it’s looking like a lot about the way we work will be changing. This change is well overdue, but unless SCHOOL NURSE (91-08) Boris has a pot of gold under his pillow, it’s unlikely to be for the better in terms of NHS provisions for teeth.

BY JOHN ARMSTRONG (72-03)

Dentistry just would not have happened for me without the RGS: the grades, support with UCAS and just being surrounded by kids who work hard and aim high.”

I am grateful that the path I have (L-R) Gillian Mather, Headmaster James Miller (94-08), Dr Michael Borthwick chosen leaves me in a position to choose to work with such variety. I won’t miss out, or fall behind my Gillian Mather was the school’s first School Nurse colleagues for having taken time out when she joined the RGS nearly 30 years ago, in 1991. for my son. Pandemic or no pandemic, people will always have teeth so I hope I’ll always be alright work-wise. ooking back today on her As the first School Nurse at RGS Gillian Dentistry just would not have 17 years in the post (she retired was a pioneer. She developed the role; happened for me without the RGS: L in 2008) she says ‘I enjoyed it she enjoyed meetings with her the grades, support with UCAS and all very very much. I liked the people, counterparts at Central High, Church just being surrounded by kids who the pupils, the staff; I liked the High, Dame Allan’s, and other schools work hard and aim high. I don’t really atmosphere’. With her warmth and to discuss ideas and ways of doing remember where the idea to be a empathy Gillian made a most things. When she retired in 2008, dentist came from, but there is a good important contribution to that Gillian Mather didn’t lose touch with chance I copied it from someone else. atmosphere. Pupils (and staff) found her friends at RGS. Peter Wilson (87- her approachable and supportive. 20), Head of Exams, asked Gillian if she Circling back now to the pus puddle To quote Mike Borthwick (60-67), would be interested in joining the team that was last weekend, I did manage then School Doctor, ‘it was very sensible of invigilators, and she’s been an RGS to fish the root out for the lady with to have a school nurse in place, invigilator ever since. the orange, I hope she is feeling much essential’. The essential routines of better, and her face has gone back to her post included: assisting Mike with John Armstrong arrived at the RGS its usual shape. As revolting as it medicals and BCG injections; the visits in 1972, retiring in 2003 as Second sounds, it’s actually quite an enjoyable from the health authorities; keeping the Master. He was teacher (and one time thing to sort out for someone. Days medical records; dealing with injuries Head) of English, for 30 years in like that, as well as feeling happy when and illnesses, sometimes taking pupils charge of the Rugby 2nd XV, theatre little Mitch brushes his teeth before with injuries to hospital and contacting director of 23 (largely) Shakespearian bed, make me think that dentistry is their parents. An administrative part of productions. Since retirement he has alright really. I’m still yet to have any her post was keeping the attendance retained a core role in the Bursary better ideas! registers, with their notes of sickness Campaign, ever offering wise counsel. absence; the end result was a laborious This is too brief a summary of his annual return for the Department of huge contribution to the RGS, which Education and Science. could fill an entire ONA Magazine.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 13 During the flight, we plan how to approach the situation with the very limited information we OLD NOVOS ON receive. Is it a car crash, with a difficult extrication and multiple casualties, or is it a convulsing child A HELICOPTER that requires emergency anaesthesia? Once on scene, we assess the patient and work out how to get them to hospital as quickly as possible. As part of this process, we plan which procedures the patient requires before transport, and which ones can possibly wait until the final destination. BY ABHINAV SINGH (95-04) One minute, your fingers can freeze whilst treating a patient outside and the next you’re having to strip down because the ambulance is getting too hot inside. You are expected to react in the moment and can never plan too far ahead Stop me if this sounds familiar. You turn up to work because the scenes (and patients) can change in an instant. You are exposed to sights, sounds and in Cambridge (or wherever else you’ve migrated to) smells that linger long after the shift has finished. and start chatting to one of your colleagues. You And yet, we all love it. You see patients in hear a Geordie twang in their accent. Maybe it was their home environments and get an insight into their lives that is just not possible in the way they said ‘university’. You ask tentatively hospital. Treating the most critically unwell where they’re from, and smile when they confirm people encourages you to utilise all of your that they’re a Northerner. Not only that, but they knowledge and ingenuity. You work with incredibly dedicated teammates, who can went to RGS. Great! This’ll keep the conversation make you laugh, and then help you debrief going a couple more minutes! a particularly difficult job. Hal, Ed and I all left RGS at different times, and took very different routes to end up where we are now, but the nostalgic feeling is ven more impressively, you’re informed no less enjoyable. When the job is at its most that another colleague on the same shift challenging, it’s great to know that sometimes E with you is also from the RGS! You all sit you’ve got a couple of RGS lads backing you up! down and start discussing important things like which House everyone was in and whether anyone can still remember what Discendo Treating the most critically unwell people duces means. And then suddenly the phone rings. You all encourages you to utilise all of your knowledge strap on your helmets, get into the helicopter, and ingenuity. You work with incredibly dedicated and fly out to a patient that needs you. teammates, who can make you laugh, and then This all happened at work a few months ago. I was on shift with senior doctor Ed Gold (84-95) help you debrief a particularly difficult job.” and pilot Hal Eriksen (88-93). All three of us have ended up working for East Anglian Air (L-R): Ed, Hal and Abs, East Anglian Air Ambulance 2019 Ambulance (EAAA), a helicopter emergency medical service that covers the east of England region, bringing critical care to the sickest patients that need transporting to hospital. It’s the air ambulance service that Prince William was a pilot for until 2017! A typical shift involves arriving around 06:45 and first performing all the safety checks, ensuring we have all the necessary equipment to provide immediate care to our patients. We then wait for the phone to ring. Sometimes this takes several hours, sometimes it happens immediately. What happens next, however, only takes 2-4 minutes. We don our helmets and collect up any additional pieces of equipment we might require. Meanwhile, the pilots are planning the flight as best they can and doing final checks on the helicopter so that we are safe to fly. And then: take-off.

14 THE RGS MOCK MMI

BY BROOKE MILBURN TEACHER OF PHYSICS AND MEDICAL COORDINATOR (RGS CAREERS)

Medicine is one of the any people will be familiar with with a short briefing and students are the traditional interview where directed towards the Lilburn Hall to find most competitive courses Ma candidate is asked a series of their first station. Over the course of the to gain entry to in the UK questions by a panel of interviewers. day, interviewers give them a thorough grilling on their understanding of medical with some 23,710 students Over the last ten years, most medical ethics, insight into the profession, applying for just over schools in the UK have adopted a new knowledge of recent developments in 7,000 places last academic style of interview known as multiple mini medicine among many other things. interviews (commonly referred to as Candidates are also expected to write year. Expectations on MMIs). The MMI concept was first essays, complete data analysis tasks and students are high with developed by McMaster University use small talk to gather information from Medical School in Canada between 2001 a patient in a role play. Transition from one many universities requiring and 2004 and involves a series of six to task to another is seamless with very little students to have ten short interviews each lasting around preparation time. undertaken voluntary seven minutes with only a minute or two in between to give students a chance to It is a gruelling process which typically service, work experience, catch their breath and prepare for their takes 2-3 hours. By the end of the session, achieved an excellent set next ‘station’. Each interview is designed most students feel at least one of their of GCSE grades and a top to assess a different skill, knowledge, or stations was a disaster and feedback is competency such as communication given on their individual performance by score in the relevant skills, critical thinking skills or knowledge each interviewer. A big advantage of the admissions exam just to get of recent medical research and issues MMI style interview is that the next station in the NHS. is always an opportunity for a fresh start. to interview stage. This is Knowing the interviewers can make the where the fun starts! In order to help students to prepare for mock MMI even more nerve-racking than this, the RGS runs its own annual mock the real thing. However, the event provides MMI. We typically have around 25 a valuable insight into the format of MMI prospective medical, dental, and style of interviews meaning that veterinary science applicants who candidates come away feeling more participate in the event and around 16 confident that they are able to successfully members of staff volunteer their time to make their first step on the journey to stand in as interviewers. The session starts becoming a doctor.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 15 FROM J1Y TO CLINICIAN SCIENTIST

BY OMAR MAHROO (86-96)

The morning after Prize Day was the y final morning class finished late, making me late for detention. deadline for the notorious Geography M ‘Seen the time, Mahroo?’ he inquired. Project. I’d worked on it for months I misunderstood: thinking he wanted to know the time, I told him what it was. He misunderstood: and had stayed up all night finishing it. interpreting my answer as insolence, he put his I explained, bleary-eyed, to my History face very close to mine: ‘You think you can take teacher that I hadn’t been able to complete me on? You won’t win, Mahroo, you won’t WIN!’. The happy ending is that he decided against his homework, but would do so as soon asking docking marks as ‘that would be below as possible. He was furious, put me in the belt’ and I’d learned my lesson! lunchtime detention, and said that marks Perhaps not the healthiest example (albeit would be docked from my Geography colourful), it illustrates the work ethic which RGS Project (that bit hurt the most!). instilled in me, and which I think has stood me in good stead. Dr Mains (76-05), the teacher above, was immensely engaging, filling me with such passion for the subject that I remember, after my exam, reading all of the parts of Mastering Modern British History that weren’t on the course. The teaching standard was high across the board.

I am now a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital, and Associate Professor at UCL. I investigate mechanisms of retinal diseases, which are a major cause of blindness. I was awarded a competitive £1.1 million Wellcome Trust grant to fund my research programme, and I received a ‘Rising Star’ award from the Macular Society last year. My time at the RGS, from 1986 (J1Y – ‘Ys are wise, and better than Xs’, and other ingenious adages I still recall … and very much live by) to 1996, was a formative decade which undoubtedly shaped the subsequent two (and a half). Space permits only a few reflections.

I was the only RGS boy in my year to be accepted at Cambridge to read Medicine. The College I entered, Caius, had already been impressed by Nadeem Ali (84-94), who had topped the Part IA Cambridge exams.

16 Thankfully, I didn’t drop the standard too far, and achieved a First Class every year. Our exams were largely essay-based, and I was retrospectively grateful for the many essays Tim Bolton-Maggs (74-04) had set us in A Level Biology. Moreover, my writing style had already undergone years of cultivation by RGS English teachers. Dr Jones-Lee (84-09) cautioned us against the word ‘nice’ (I now use ‘great’ – problem solved!). Mr Marriott (85-94) taught me how to structure an argument, though he might be horrified that I employ these skills in scientific papers, rather than erudite expositions of the themes of Hardy’s novels. In medicine and science (in life), communication is central – with patients, colleagues, the scientific community (history teachers). Potentially transformative discoveries go unnoticed if not communicated appropriately. My publications owe much to my English teachers. The other sciences—Physics, Burchell (66-99); Chemistry, Goldie (89-03); Lawson (83-09)—were During my medical degree, I completed a PhD also excellently taught, as were non-science in retinal physiology. As my brain throbbed, subjects. The latter rounded my education and deriving equations for simultaneous bleaching it pained me to drop them at A Level. French (the and regeneration of the retina’s light-sensitive phenomenal Mrs Sainsbury (80-05)) comes in pigment, I recall suddenly realising that the useful when attending conferences in France (the abstract techniques (differential equations, talks are in English, but the French helps in getting imaginary numbers) whose usefulness I had around). Learning Latin (inspirational Mr Keating questioned at school were now enabling truly (72-04)), I have discovered, did have a purpose: novel discoveries (which we later published in I can help my children with their Latin! (Actually, the Journal of Physiology). I am indebted to my it made learning Arabic simpler, made medical Maths teachers (Perella (82-03), Douglas (56-94), terms more familiar, and might prove invaluable Watkins (88-18)) for the Maths, and love of Maths, if I ever need to attend a scientific meeting in 1st they imparted (and to another member of said century Pompeii.) department who forgot to enter me for my A Level in time, meaning I had to unnecessarily revise for Beyond the academic, I found the extra-curricular and repeat an exam in which I had already RGS environment rich (admittedly I was rubbish at achieved 97%). sports other than badminton). In Junior School, some of us got to star in a video recorded by Paul McCartney. (Strange that Paul and I never recorded any songs together after that!) I was active in Voluntary Service and the CCF, and enjoyed all of the trips. I formed strong friendships I currently see patients with rare genetic – the healthy peer environment was in some ways retinal diseases. When interpreting genetic as important as the teaching (plus there was a kid reports, I still visualise the lesson in which Mr who’d get you any Amiga game you’d like if you gave him a floppy disk in break time). RGS banter Bolton-Maggs taught us the Central Dogma.” shaped my wit (though I realised, I don’t know how long later, that some things we dismissed as schoolboy banter could cause hurt). I value hugely I currently see patients with rare genetic retinal the pastoral guidance I received from Dr Barker, diseases. When interpreting genetic reports, I still and the thought-provoking discussions we had. visualise the lesson in which Mr Bolton-Maggs taught us the Central Dogma. By curious In one of my first termly reports at Cambridge, coincidence, I remember simultaneously learning, my Physiology Supervisor (the late Roger in Biology, that the language of life was based on Carpenter) started with the phrase, ‘A powerful three-letter-codons (sometimes one letter could intelligence’, which made me blush. I’m grateful to interchange with another with the same meaning), the RGS (including those teachers not mentioned whilst, in General Studies, Mr Squires (72-17) was above) for nurturing that ‘intelligence’, and hope teaching me that all Arabic words were based on that I can deliver on their investment. As teaching three-letter roots (sometimes one letter could is part of my role, I also hope I can enthuse others interchange with another with the same meaning). to learn as they did me.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 17 WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

A REVIEW OF A BOOK BY PAUL KALANITHI

BY FINN GAVIN (09-20)

he good news is that I’ve already outlived two Brontës, ‘T Keats and Stephen Crane,’ wrote the 37 year old Paul Kalanithi shortly after learning of his terminal cancer diagnosis in an email to his closest friend. ‘The bad news is that I haven’t written anything.’ As one final act of striving, Dr Kalanithi set about writing his memoirs, drawing on his experiences as a student, doctor and patient in a noble, insightful bid to answer the question he had pursued for his whole life: what makes life meaningful? Heartbreakingly poignant, the moving result of a tragically short lifetime is simply stunning. Dr Kalanithi’s background in English Literature is central to the vital spirit of the book, a reflection of the importance of the written word in the author’s identity. From an early age, his life was infused with literature and medicine — his father a cardiologist, his mother a ferocious advocate of literature in the young Paul’s education.

18 Originally turned off by medicine, blaming Ultimately what makes this such a special the profession for his father’s absence in book is its frank depiction of suffering. the family home, Kalanithi said, ‘Books Kalanithi opens the book with his became my closest confidants, finely diagnosis, putting himself in an ground lenses providing new views of the immediately vulnerable position. He feels, world’. At Stanford (his alma mater), as ‘Tethered to an IV pole’ and laments that well as attaining a BA and MA in English he was ‘So authoritative in a surgeon’s Literature, the future neurosurgeon took coat but so meek in a patient’s gown’. a keen interest in biological science (he There is a sense of loss: despite having also had a BA in Human Biology). I find spent his career surrounded by suffering the refusal by Kalanithi to accept the and guiding patients to a better boundaries between academic disciplines understanding of what it means for them compelling, and inspiring. He recognised he felt totally unprepared for what he had that the complexity of the meaning to go through. Kalanithi’s story gives an human life and the suffering of his insight into the patient from the patients could never be understood if he perspective of the doctor, it is the reverse limited himself purely to the sciences or side of the coin, the backstage drama. the arts (as so many felt they must) and It’s the immeasurable tragedy of the so it was he ‘studied literature and individual in the face of mortality. It’s life, philosophy to understand what makes life death, nihilism and ambition. Kalanithi’s meaningful, studied neuroscience and words are vulnerable, touching, wise and worked in an fMRI lab to understand how hauntingly beautiful. His message is the brain could give rise to an organism wholly unforgettable. capable of finding meaning in the world’. I have to admit, this review is Dr Kalanithi spends a good portion I have to admit, this review somewhat biased: When Breath Becomes of the book meditating on his time as Air is my favourite book. But I think that’s a medical student and neurosurgical is somewhat biased: When okay. Kalanithi’s writing, his experiences, resident. For me, about to embark on Breath Becomes Air is my his observations speak to me in a way my own journey through medical school, no other book has. His poetic command these passages were enlightening, his favourite book. But I think of English captivates me every time words serving a warning of what to that’s okay. Kalanithi’s I encounter it. As he begins to deconstruct expect, and what I could become. For writing, his experiences, the doctor-patient relationship I can’t help Kalanithi, his greatest fear was losing sight but feel inspired to pursue medicine, to of his search for meaning which drove him his observations speak to pursue meaning. When one ‘of the many to his scrubs in the first place. He writes, me in a way no other moments in life where you must give an ‘I had started in this career, in part, to account of yourself, provide a ledger pursue death: to grasp it, uncloak it, book has.” of what you have been, and done, and and see it eye-to-eye, unblinking. meant to the world’ comes along, Neurosurgery attracted me as much Kalanithi urges us to have something more its intertwining of brain and to offer. For Paul lying on his deathbed consciousness as for its intertwining of looking at his infant child, Cady, and his life and death’. After feeling ill at ease in Junior Acrobatics European wife, Lucy, it was this book. The climax of academia following his MA — his focus Championships 2013. Finn on top; his contributions to society, to his family, on the Spiritual-Physiological man in Michael Gill (09-16) right came in his final moments — and it was Whitman’s poetry deemed too biological painful! It’s a book about growing, and for mainstream English literature — clinical decaying, and dying. It’s a book about the practice was attractive to him for its raw second law of thermodynamics. It’s a view of human nature which is only book about a man who will never reach revealed in the crises which define our his full potential as he perceived it. live — sickness. ‘I feared I was becoming ‘Everyone succumbs to finitude,’ he Tolstoy’s stereotype of a doctor,’ he writes towards the end. This book is writes, ‘preoccupied with empty a tragedy. Every heartbreaking word of formalism, focused on the rote treatment it makes me want to be the best version of disease — and utterly missing the larger of myself I can possibly strive to human significance.’ Becoming inured to become. Practicing medicine is his patient’s pain was intolerable for simultaneously the art and the science Kalanithi, his introspection on his own of caring for the infirm. Paul Kalanithi failings in pursuit of his goal of a mastered both — that is something to comprehensive understanding of which we can all aspire. meaning in life is both a welcome breath of humility but also a reminder to us all Finn is aiming to study Medicine at that it is okay to take a misstep when New College, Oxford from October striving towards the greatest good if we 2020. He was twice World Gymnastics can recognise it and be willing to adapt. Champion, in 2014 and 2017.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 19 IVORY TOWERS

BY THOMAS COPE (93-03)

I joined RGS Junior School at age eight from a state primary school, and was immediately propelled from top of the class to the bottom. I caught up within a year, but I always remember this experience when I greet new students to Cambridge.

20 mposter syndrome hits almost that camp I first met the spectacular everyone when they come up, woman who was to become my Ibut as an 18 year old I was wife. We read medicine together convinced that I had been at Cambridge, and she is now allowed in to read medicine at a histopathologist researching Gonville and Caius by the most breast cancer. colossal of administrative errors, Although I had a brief and that I would be found out at dalliance with the idea of any moment. reading economics, thanks to the Not having studied biology truly inspirational teaching of Geoff A Level, I was playing catch-up to my Riley (88-00) and Johnny Neil, I was peers for the first term. I remember one always destined to read medicine. small-group teaching session in which my Medicine provides a vocation for the supervisor, a professor of physiology, incredulously scientist, but it also opens up an unrivalled range disabused me of the notion that the pulse represented of opportunity. For the practically minded, it offers a direct active contraction of the arteries to aid the circulation. opportunity to make a difference on a daily basis. For the However, just as RGS had done for me before, Cambridge socially minded, it affords a unique and intimate insight expanded my horizons and offered me opportunity into the lives of others as they experience or endure I couldn’t have imagined. moments of unmatched joy and sorrow. For the Imposter syndrome usually lifts after a term or so, academically minded, it provides both confidence and by second year it’s clear – if we chose you and you of purpose and clarity of vision. work hard, you’re good enough for Cambridge. As a schoolboy, I most looked forward to science lessons. I remember the opening of the Science and Technology Centre (STC) in 1997, when I was in Year 8, and what a marvel it seemed in contrast to the wood-panelled Victorian building it replaced. I was offered my first RGS afforded me opportunities teaching opportunities in that building as part of the to stretch myself far beyond the Newcastle Science Enrichment Programme, where on a Saturday we would open the STC to students from local curriculum, and encouraged schools without such world-class facilities. This sowed the me to indulge my academically seeds for the widening participation work I would do as competitive spirit.” a medical student, and eventually my current role in a Cambridge college. RGS afforded me opportunities to stretch myself far beyond the curriculum, and encouraged me to indulge my I have been lucky to be able to combine the practical academically competitive spirit. In Year 10, I was part of the with the theoretical. I write this as I near the end of a school chemistry team that won the regional competition redeployment to the front lines as part of the coronavirus and came second in the national RSC challenge. The team response. However, from August I will retreat back to my captain Angus McKnight (91-01) (then Year 11, now an ivory tower, where I use advanced forms of neuroimaging anaesthetist) went on to read medicine at the same (especially magnetoencephalography, positron emission Cambridge college as I did. In Year 11 I was encouraged tomography and ultra-high field (7T) functional MRI) to through the rounds of the intermediate maths challenge, study how the brain and mind go wrong in patients with and spent an inspirational week at maths camp in neurological pathology. Alongside this I teach Birmingham. But the most life-changing of these neuroscience and human behaviour to medical students opportunities came in Upper Sixth thanks to Ned Rispin, and direct studies for psychology and neuroscience at who is still at RGS after all of these years. I did well in the Murray Edwards College, where I am a Fellow. One of the first round of the British Physics Olympiad, which was things I find most rewarding is nurturing the next taken by all of the Sixth Form studying physics, and five generation of medical students from imposter to leader, of us were invited to enter the second round. I remember as RGS did for me. Mr Rispin’s increasing amusement as I continued to do well and was rewarded with: another physics test, and another, Thomas Cope (93-03) – Clinical Lecturer in Neurology, and another. Eventually I was invited to a training camp in University of Cambridge; Official Fellow and Director of Oxford to choose the British team for the international Studies in Psychology and Neuroscience, Murray physics Olympiad. I say that this was life-changing, not Edwards College, Cambridge. In 2019 he received a because I made the team – I did not, on this occasion my Rising Star Award from Alzheimer’s Research UK imposter syndrome was justified – but because it was on (pictured above).

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 21 IN CONVERSATION CARL FIRTH

WITH SIMON BARKER, SUSAN BECK, FINN GAVIN (09-20), PHILIPPA SANDERS (15-20)

22 It is 31 years since I last spoke to Carl Firth (84-91), then an English student of the new GCSEs in my class of 5B in the Plender Library. It was an immense joy to bring the five of us together, in a Zoom meeting with him in Singapore. His career trajectory has been phenomenal, and phenomenally varied, and it was therefore also a delight to bring two of our top Upper Sixth scientists (as Carl was when he left the RGS in 1991) into this conversation.

e began with a word your life. I look back on it and I feel—it association test. What really didn’t. It really didn’t. You can make W first comes to mind when these switches and turns as and when you you think of Newcastle Royal I realised at the last minute want to. Not always easy. I’m a big believer Grammar School? I hated working in a lab, that these early steps don’t necessarily dictate your future’. Not surprisingly, our iconic space: the I hated following recipes. school hall. But other reflections emerged I am a pretty lousy cook His own life experience is a magnificent during our discussion: ‘When I started out and following a lab testimony to that. From RGS he went on at the RGS at the age of 11, I was literally to achieve a first class degree in Natural coasting. I felt: I don’t have to work this protocol is pretty much Science (Molecular Biology) from Trinity hard. I remember one day thinking: what like following a recipe.” College, Cambridge. The obvious next if I actually tried? English was one of the step was a PhD but ‘I realised at the last first areas I tried. I remember the minute I hated working in a lab, I hated encouragement I got from my English following recipes. I am a pretty lousy teachers, like Jeremy Thomas (77-06) cook and following a lab protocol is [former Head of English], who taught me pretty much like following a recipe’. in the first year: now that I was actually So a year in management consultancy trying, I was getting some really positive with Price Waterhouse followed, half-way support and energy. And from that point through which ‘I really started to miss onwards I just carried on trying’. Half- the science’. So it was back to Trinity to Indian, in his previous school he was achieve his PhD, during which time he labelled the ‘Paki in the school’. The also realised ‘I am not an academic’. racial bullying stopped on joining RGS. That triggered the transition into the pharmaceutical industry. Looking back on formative school days, and the agonising decisions generations Asked whether he considered himself before and since have to make: a research scientist, a businessman, ‘I remember when I was taking a lot of a healthcare professional— it is clearly the choices I did, and maybe the first one a wholly artificial distinction, going back was when you were at RGS and they start to his remarks about choices at school. talking to you about what GCSEs and A powerful insight into his motivation is A Levels you are going to take: this feels provided in his own eloquent words: like this really is going to dictate the rest of there is a ‘broader perspective that you

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 23 in the UK in 2013: they have two young boys, ages three and one, so when asked what he did to unwind it provoked some hilarious laughter! Though he did confess to being a big fan of electronic dance music and his disappointment at the Tomorrowland festival cancellation due to coronavirus. And he has gone back to rediscovering some of the fantasy/horror fiction of his school days (his former English teacher is saying nothing!). And the end went back to our beginning: ‘I have to say the impact that teachers have on you during your upbringing at school—I don’t know if teachers realise just how much they are—and I have to say that when I was 18/19 I didn’t appreciate it. It was only much later when I look back and I remembered all of my teachers so get working in a company: I also see the vividly and what they contributed, and business of medicine. I was always It was only much later my interactions with them. I am very passionate about what can we do to help when I look back and I grateful for that’. people, and doctors also have that same drive on how they can help patients. But it remembered all of my Asked what motivates him: ‘How can I was also a driver: how do we understand teachers so vividly and use what I have been given, this unique the whole picture? It’s not just about what they contributed, set of skills—there is some stuff that I am discovering a really good drug that can really good at, some stuff I am pretty bad cure a disease. But how can we effectively and my interactions at—how can I use that combination of get that to a patient? How can we help a with them. I am very skills to contribute something to the doctor understand when to use a drug world I am living in?’ Carl Firth is clearly and the benefits it provides and how can grateful for that.” being an enormously inspirational benefit we ensure that the systems can actually to the world. Driven, holistic, emotive, pay for the drug and afford to provide the chasing a dream: the four of us at the RGS right medical attention to that individual. felt it an enormous privilege to share in And that’s a much more holistic picture this conversation. than you will often get working at the coalface. So that industry view I really enjoy. It gives you questions that are just so emotive’.

That career path took him to AstraZeneca in the UK, China and Singapore (‘Asia has just grown up around me over the last 16/17 years’). And from big pharma (‘The one interesting thing about big pharma is they do tend to silo you into various functions: research; this is clinical development; this is commercial sales marketing. Very few people jump between them. I had a hell of a job doing it’) to founding his own ASLAN Pharmaceuticals in 2010, of which he is CEO (‘we’re working on drugs for cancer, we’re working on drugs for atopic dermatitis—a disease which affects 3-4% of the population. Those are the things that really excite me’). Lockdown (‘normally I travel like crazy, 250,000 air miles in a year’) has given the opportunity to consider what he calls his ‘next gig’. ‘I continue to chase a dream’: the intersection of AI machine learning and health care, transforming the way we discover and develop drugs. Carl married his Taiwanese husband back

24 UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS

SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF THE SCHOOL STAFF OF THE 1950S

DAVID GOLDWATER (51-62) IN CONVERSATION WITH BILL ELLIOTT (STAFF 1952-88)

George Pallister and Bill Elliott

When Bill arrived in 1952, he was ‘assisted’ by his predecessor, William (Willy Piff) Featherstone (taught from 1920), who had suffered a bad WW1 head injury and was rather fearsome, but few appreciated he was a seriously damaged man. Bill recalls him sailing his model boat at Paddy Freeman’s lake. Donald (Spittie) Meakin, who oversaw Cricket, jealously guarded the entire school field and red flags would appear if his heel sunk beyond a certain depth into the surface. The eternal Bill is seated in his Sutherland gift to the School and the problem was that Bill’s elliptical running domain of the RSM Tim O’Brian (51-66 ). track overlapped with Spittie’s boundary, sumptuous leather chair Students of many decades were used to so there were times when running was talking to me via Viber. This traipsing across the field, often in very strictly ‘out’! Bill was a useful colleague to bad weather, including snow, to reach fellow staff from time to time and Donald is how he keeps in touch this outpost of the School, situated where invited him over to his home to repair with his family in Australia the Sports Hall now stands. Mingling with some antique furniture. With the aid of on a daily basis and was the smell of wood of different types and a battery of lights set up to assist, he was glue was a powerful smell of able to carry out a successful job. able to see his new great- formaldehyde, used for preserving the Similarly, he recalls Jack Wolstenholme granddaughter shortly small creatures and their parts necessary (48-75) requesting a full set of new music for the teaching of biology. A ‘pungent stands shortly after Bill’s arrival at school! after her recent arrival. memory’ remains in Bill’s mind of a Quite some building, with many delivery of live rats for dissection by disciplines contained within, remembered ill and George Pallister (26-66) biology students. This was stored over by many, gone, but certainly not taught in the same building, used a weekend in the main school toilets (at forgotten. Returning to George Pallister, B during the Second World War to that time there were none in the building). he was most certainly the key person in store coffins for the City Council, No-one had told the cleaners and the incredible story which forms the expecting devastating Air Raids, which mayhem followed after their shock theme of this ONA Magazine – the early never came. discovery of the poor wild creatures. teaching of Biology leading to the Donald Meakin (31-74) shared the There was a similar mishap when 10 adoption of Medicine as a career for so floor above for Geography and he was crates of dogfish arrived instead of 10 many RGS students and the enduring succeeded by Colin Nichols (53-86). fish! They were all placed elsewhere strong relationship with the Newcastle George upstairs and Bill downstairs. after some frantic phone calls to Medical School. This is covered more fully Next door was the Rifle Range, another neighbouring schools. in another article within these pages.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 25 A HISTORY OF THE RGS IN ITS PEOPLE THE SCHOOL ROUTE TO A MEDICAL CAREER

BY DAVID GOLDWATER (51-62)

rabbit—nowadays regarded by some as rather old-fashioned Biology—seemed to us, under the skilful, kindly guidance of G.P., pure delight’. George taught Botany and Zoology leading up to the Higher School Certificate and encouraged many of the boys to carry out field work in the Summer Term and visits to Plessey Woods and the Marine Laboratory at Cullercoats were regular destinations. Again, in George’s own words: ‘We were equipped with vascula and small glass corked specimen tubes for insects and other small animals. We took the R J Scothorne electric train from Jesmond Station … and Henry Harvey Evers alighted at Cullercoats. We went straight to he man who must be credited the beach and made for the rock pools, molluscs etc., I attended several courses with guiding so many RGS turning over innumerable stones and noted run by Armstrong—later King’s—College T students to their medical “zonation” in seaweeds and molluscs. (now Newcastle University), often on careers is undoubtedly George Pallister, Other expeditions included the roadside Saturdays or in the holidays, finding them whose name shines brightly throughout verges around Wylam near the Tyne, Seaton most interesting and useful’. these pages. Sluice sand dunes and Finchale Abbey Thus began the medical careers of When he first came to the RGS in 1926, woods. As I had not had any training in numerous RGS students during George’s in his own words, ‘I had a single pupil in the identifying animals, insects, crustacea, 40 years at the School. With R F I Bunn (25- Upper Sixth and three in the Lower Sixth’. 33), Michael Roberts (25-31 & 34-41) and All four pupils were taught together, Charles Nathaniel ‘Nattie’ Armstrong T T Anderson (24-60), George was one of something which continued for more then the pioneers of School camping, fifteen years until the early 1940s. R J characteristically content with the role of Scothorne (30-37), Professor of Anatomy assistant until he was prevailed upon to at the Newcastle Medical School, visited the take charge of the Whitsuntide Camp at School after 23 years: ‘I asked him how he Rothbury in 1934. On the outbreak of war, was and how things were going in the the School was evacuated to Penrith and it Medical Sixth: a brief clearing of the throat, was largely the camping staff who manned a tentative raising of the eyebrows, a pause: the School hostels that came into being. “Oh! much as usual, much as usual!”’ As with so many dedicated RGS teachers, To misquote Churchill on Attlee, George George Pallister could fill an entire issue. Pallister was a modest man, who had Some may find it surprising that a nothing to be modest about. R J Scothorne ‘Cambridge First’ should spend the whole again: ‘We were hungry to learn, and the of his teaching life at the School (1926-66). traditional sequence of frog, dogfish and George died aged 88 in 1991.

26 RVI Newcastle opening day 11 July 1906 Keir Shiels

In 1751, a public subscription was raised to a rapidly developing science, and was to the establishment of the specialty in fund an Infirmary in Newcastle. As an appointed President of that section of the Newcastle. He quickly built up his interim measure, a house was let in Royal Society of Medicine. He was Clinical reputation as an outstanding clinician Gallowgate that year for the reception of Sub Dean and latterly Post Graduate Dean in both obstetrics and gynaecology. patients. This contained 23 beds which at the Medical School. Retiring in 1963, he A foundation Member of the Royal College were soon filled and rooms in adjoining retained a life-long interest in medicine of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, houses had to be hired to meet the urgent attending lectures and conferences into he was made a Fellow in 1937. Evers was demand for admission. The Infirmary in his late nineties. A remarkable man who appointed to the Chair of the College Forth Banks was ready by 1753 but was for enjoyed absolute clarity of thought and of Medicine in 1951 and held this until his ever overcrowded and conditions must attention to detail. A high point of the 1995 retirement in 1958. He was an examiner have remained grim for decades. By the ONA Annual Dinner was his attendance as for the Royal College of Obstetricians and end of the 19th century it was decided that the oldest ON at 98 and he received a Gynaecologists for many years and advised a new hospital should be built to standing ovation as he spoke of his in his specialty to the Regional Hospital commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of memories of school. Board, continuing as pastoral visitor on Queen Victoria in 1897. John Hall, at the Henry Harvey Evers was born in 1893 in vacating his chair. He established a School around 1834, who died in 1899, one of the mining towns in maternity hospital in Fernwood House, bequeathed £100,000 (equivalent to c£13 Northumberland, where his father was a Clayton Road, regarded as one of the million today) on the understanding that general practitioner. He was at the RGS oldest and most notable buildings still public subscription should raise the same from 1905-10 and studied at the College of standing in Jesmond. Many ONs were born amount, which was successful. In 1901, the Medicine in Newcastle. He graduated with in this house, including your Editor (DFG). family of the late Lord Armstrong donated first-class honours in 1916 and proceeded Harvey Evers died in 1979 aged 86. a further £100,000. The foundation stone to MS (Honours) in 1921, gaining the Keir Shiels (93-00) wrote about his was laid by King Edward Vll in June 1900, Fellowship in 1921. He served as a Surgeon career in the Autumn 2013 edition of this who opened the Royal Victoria Infirmary Probationer, RNVR, for one year at the Magazine. His words form a suitable end- in July 1906. outbreak of the First World War, and then piece, where, regrettably, hundreds of Charles Nathaniel ‘Nattie’ Armstrong from 1916 to 1920 as Captain in the RAMC. In distinguished Medical ONs will have to wait (at school 09-14) was born in 1897 at the newly established chair of midwifery for recognition until a future issue. Asked: Prospect Cottage, Bentinck Road, and gynaecology, he contributed notably ‘Why do you think so many RGS students Newcastle. He went on to the Newcastle apply for medicine?’ He replied: ‘Medicine Medical School, but his studies were Harvey Ever’s maternity clinic at Fernwood is rife with Old Novos. My first consultant interrupted during the First World War House, Clayton Road, Jesmond, where at the Freeman was an Old Novo. The first when he was appointed Surgeon many ONs were born radiology registrar I referred a patient to Probationer in the Royal Navy. He was first was an Old Novo. My first Senior House sent to a four-week course in surgery at the Officer was an Old Novo. And I shared on- Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, in Gosport. calls with an Old Novo who was the son of Then followed a period as ship’s surgeon an RGS teacher. I’m sure it’s something to on HMS Nerissa. In 1918 he was able to do with medicine attracting high-achieving resume his studies at the Medical School. polymaths with good communication After qualification he became a Registrar skills and an ability to fit social activities in Neurology at Queen’s Square, London. in between a full schedule. I have once or Returning to the RVI in Newcastle, he rose twice been in the position of treating to become an Honorary Consultant former RGS teachers. RGS may send lots of Physician. In 1925 he married Barbara students to medical school as a sort of Bookey, daughter of the Head of Maths health insurance for their staff. They at the RGS. Over the years, he became certainly get first class treatment if they increasingly interested in Endocrinology, used to be your form teacher’.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 27 MEET (SOME OF) THE MEDICS

David Cottrell (60-70) Eye Surgeon, First Class Hons at Oxford, Physiological Sciences, Medicine at Newcastle, Vitreo-retinal surgeon

Thomas Addison (1805-1812) Charles Nathaniel ‘Nattie’ Henry G ‘Bingie’ Barnes Noted Physician & Armstrong (1909-14) (32-39) Scientist (b.1793-1860) Neurologist and Endocrinologist, School Medical Officer also Muscular Dystrophy. from 1969 to 1986 Mark Akenside (c1732) Lecture Theatre at RVI named Physician & Poet (b.1721-1770) after him Will Breakey (98-03) Plastic Surgeon, UCL PhD in Anthony Askew Craniofacial Surgery. Food Peter Enevoldson (65-75) Censor at Royal College Industry Entrepreneur Consultant Neurologist and Physicians and Registrar. (Dr Will’s health foods) former Medical Director, Possessed notable library. Walton, Liverpool. Rugby (b.1722-74) Ernest G Brewis (1920-26) player with London Irish; Child Welfare Medical Officer captain when Oxford beat in Newcastle, active in WW2 Cambridge 9-3 (1973) Professor Sir K G ‘George’ and after in RNVR M M Alberti (46-55) (b.1908-1975) Harvey Evers (1905-10) Physician (spec. diabetes), Founder member of Royal Pres. Royal Coll. Physicians Sir John Alexander Charles College of Obs and Gyn. Clinic KCB (1907-10) in Clayton Road (b.1893-1979) Peter W R M Alberti (45-52) Various posts at RVI, then First Otolaryngologist (Canada), Bibek ‘Ben’ Banerjee (78-85) Chief Medical Officer of Health George Young Feggetter FRCS brother of above Vascular Surgeon at Sunderland (b.1893-1971) (1917-21) Gen. Hosp. Army Res. Colonel, Surgeon, Urologist, Newcastle Nadeem Ali (84-94) Hon. Surgeon to HM Queen RVI, 1905-20 Consultant Adult Squint Surgeon, Moorfields, London. Commemorated on the school organ Stewart Young Feggetter FRCS Honorary Senior Lecturer at (1920-27) St George’s Medical School, William Bell (1903-07) Howard Tomlin Hunter Paediatrics, Consultant London University Surgeon RN, Served in (1896-) Surgeon, Newcastle General Dardanelles, joined HMS MB, BS Medicine at Newcastle, Hospital (b.1908-90) Thunderer in Grand Fleet, then St Barts’ London, Vienna. died of pneumonia 1922 Captain Northumb. Fusiliers. John ‘Jack’ Barnes Forster effects of war wounds Killed at 2nd Battle Ypres, 1915 (38-48) Consultant Neurologist at Arthur Gibson Dunn Francis ‘Frank’ Metcalfe Newcastle General Hospital (1895-98) (1901-09) MD,BS, Newcastle Medical MB, BS Captain 1st Leonard Maurice ‘Sammy’ Professor John Anderson School, Reserve MO at Northumberland Field Franks (32-38) (46-53) Newcastle Dispensary, Lieut. Ambulance, 1915, Wounded Leading histopathologist at Academic Dean of Newcastle RAMC 1917, killed 3rd Battle at Flanders, invalided home, Imperial Cancer Research Fund Medical School – ONA Dinner Ypres September 1917 retired to France 1917, (ICRF) Founder member of the Speaker wounded again, died July 1918 Royal College of Pathologists

28 Alistair Laidlaw (74-80) David Steel (79-84) Eye Surgeon, Medicine at Eye Surgeon, Medicine at Newcastle, working with D Newcastle, Opthamology Cottrell, later Moorfields, then (Newcastle, Sunderland, St Thomas’London; involved Bristol, Melbourne). with medical politics Consultant Vitreo-retinal Surgeon at Sunderland Sir Ian Gilmore (2006-10) Professor Stephen Robson Herpetologist, President, Royal (1985-95) Sir Arthur Munro Sutherland College Physicians (b.1947) Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics at (1867-1953) Newcastle Uni 1993, Prof. Fetal Donated equivalent of £6 Craig Goldsmith (84-92) Medicine 1994. Previously Head million to establish Newcastle Eye Surgeon, Medicine at of Antenatal Services at NUTH. Medical School, also the Cambridge, Junior Doctor E. Academic Committee Sutherland Dental School, Lord Anglia, VR surgeon in Norfolk Lee Longstaff (85-90) Mayor, Chair of Governors, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Surgical Eric Saint (27-36) Great benefactor to the School John Hall (1830s) training in Cambridge & (1918–1989), Physician and Shipowner. Bequeathed £100K Newcastle, then Fellowship Professor of Medicine in 1899 equiv. to £13 million Training Melbourne/Perth today to rebuild Infirmary as Australia. Practice specialising David Salkeld (30-38) RVI (equally matched by in hip and knee arthritis Wartime Orthopaedic/Trauma Armstrong family) Doctor. Popular local GP for over 50 years William Hardcastle Medical Officer for many years Tony Sarma (85-95) Arthur Taylor CBE (33-41) at H M Prison in Newcastle Veterinary training at Governor, a founder of St Edinburgh and Cambridge. Oswald’s Hospice, GMC Thomas Emerson Headlam Specialised in complex member and Chair Newcastle Physician to Newcastle and surgeries on small animals AHA 1982-92 Gateshead Infirmaries, Politician, Sir John McNee DSO (b.1977-2013) Reformist (b.1777-1864) (1897-1904) Rodney Turner (36-46) Physician and Pathologist, Ray J Scothorne (30-37) RAMC, taught at Guys Hospital, became President of BMA, Professor of Anatomy at GP, President London ONA Physician to King George Vl Newcastle University (1960-73) 1937-52. Donor of McNee Prize Peter Walker (52-60) (b.1887-1984) Samuel Baron Segal (1913-18) Professor of Orthopaedic Physician, Labour Party Surgery, New York University Harold H Nixon (1927) Politician and Deputy Speaker Hospital for Joint Diseases, Paediatrics, Gt Ormond St, of House of Lords (b.1902-85) former Professor of Biomedical Zamin Hussain (01-11) Hon. Fellow of US, Irish & Engineering, University College Made BBC documentary on Australian College of Surgeons London and Fellow of the RGS making improvised prosthetic (b.1918-90) limbs during elective in Matthew Walton (01-11) Bangladesh Sir George Pickering (1913-20) Made BBC documentary on Regius Professor of Medicine, making improvised prosthetic Oxford (b.1904-80) limbs during elective in Bangladesh George Pallister (26-66) Keir Shiels (93-00) Teacher of Biology who set Read Natural Science at Eric Wilkes (30-37) scores of RGS students on their Cambridge changed to National expert in palliative path to a medical career Paediatrics, featured in BBC care; frequent broadcaster. Young Doctors, Your Life in (b.1920-2009). See ONA James Jurin Mary Forster Richardson Their Hands, 2013 Magazine Sp 2010 (Headmaster from 1710-15) Wife of Headmaster Ebenezer Retired to Cambridge to take Thomas (20-48). Doctor in Sir James Calvert Spence, Nicholas Wright (42-50) Degree in Medicine FRCS, FRS Penrith during evacuation and FRCP MC & Bar (1892 – 1954) First visiting Psychiatrist to H M looked after boys’ medical Founding member of Prison, Winchester. Real Tennis Graham ‘Reg’ Kirkby (60-70) problems the British Paediatric Assoc. Champion. (b.1932-2016) Eye Surgeon, qualified in Won Military Cross and Bar for Medicine Newcastle 1975, MO heroic actions at end of WW1. in RAF (Germany), Consultant Founding member of at the Birmingham and the British Paediatric Assoc. Midland Eye Hospital

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 29 MEDSOC

REPORT

BY PHILIPPA SANDERS (15-20)

30 Created in the autumn of psychiatry, talks by professionals at I enjoyed organising the talks, working MedSoc have encouraged me to broaden with a fabulous team and building 1999 by Alex Self (93-00), my medical horizons. relationships with the younger years’. Manu Rangar (95-00) This year, two talks in particular have As Unna mentions, MedSoc teaches galvanised me into exploring my options invaluable lessons about how best to and Sean Sarma (90-00), further. The first was by Fiona lead others and about how to work MedSoc initially only Holdsworth, an oncology nurse advance effectively as a team. included members of the practitioner and postgraduate lecturer The last task of the 2019-20 MedSoc in oncology and palliative care. Mrs Committee was to conduct interviews Upper Sixth and was a Holdsworth not only explained how and select the members of the 2020-21 relatively small group of various cancer treatments work, but she Committee. The novel ideas introduced also expressed the importance of by our successors leave me eager to 10 to 15 students. Like empathy and mental fortitude to a return to MedSoc in the future. Some the MedSoc of 2020, the medical career; her advice will persist of the most exciting changes proposed society invited doctors to with me throughout my medical journey. include the creation of a MedSoc website The second talk was by Dr Arul Immanuel, and Instagram page to expand MedSoc’s talk to students about what a consultant upper GI and laparoscopic accessibility; the prospect of ethical to expect from medical surgeon at the RVI. Dr Immanuel’s videos debates; more student-led presentations school and beyond. of laparoscopic surgery taking place, to encourage members to engage in their including videos of the state-of-the-art own medical research and increased DaVinci surgical robot at work, opened interactivity at MedSoc meetings. my eyes to surgery for the first time; I am Content that MedSoc is being left in now excited to explore the possibilities of safe hands, therefore, I can only hope that

owever, the similarities end there: today, MedSoc welcomes Hstudents from Year 10 to 13 and is comprised of approximately 30 regular members. Dr Self, now Head of the Radiology Department at the RVI, remarked that ‘It was a real pleasure to come back almost exactly 20 years later to see how well the society has flourished over the years’. Every Thursday for three years I have scurried to Dr Barker’s classroom to learn about the medical profession at MedSoc. Every week, topics ranging from oncology to obstetrics would be advertised on MedSoc posters scattered around school, and I would find myself reeled in yet again to listen to medical professionals talk passionately about their speciality. Not only did MedSoc entice me back week after week with the promise of inspiration for my future career, but it also welcomed me with the promise of MedSoc Committee 2019-2020 (L-R): Keshav Krishnan, Kraig Coutinho, Adelynn real community spirit. Immanuel, Philippa Sanders, Finn Gavin, Unna Palaniappan. [Not present: Katharine Last year, I applied to become a Loughney.] part of the MedSoc Committee. I remain thankful that I was selected for my a surgical career during my studies at I am invited back to the Society not as preferred position as newsletter writer, Newcastle University. a member of the Committee, but as a because it has enabled me to learn more MedSoc is not only important due medical student, foundation doctor or about the complete gamut of medical to the insight it provides into medicine. even a consultant. I have no doubt that specialities. The talks offered were, The experience in teamwork it lends to MedSoc will progress and grow into an however, much more valuable than its Committee members is unparalleled. even more formidable force at the RGS my research. Being told what a doctor’s One of our two Chairpersons, Unna in the years to come, and I look forward favourite part of their job is and how they Palaniappan, remarks that ‘I first joined to returning to RGS to share any deal with the challenges their vocation MedSoc in Year 10, like most of our experience I may have gained during presents is indispensable—not only did it members, when I started to think about my own medical journey. help my fellow medics and me at medical what I wanted to do in the future. It was interviews, but it also affirmed my choice something I looked forward to every Philippa Sanders is an offer holder for to pursue medicine. Having initially been Thursday and it taught me a lot, so being Medicine at Newcastle University from drawn to medicine by an interest in Chairwoman this year was very rewarding. October 2020.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 31 my contemporaries will have met Dr Ellis. COUGH BOY! The painless jab left us all with a small circular scar for life, as well as an immunity against the killer disease tuberculosis. But there was another short health test administered which included the use of a FOUR EARLY SCHOOL cold spoon and the order to cough, hence the title of this piece! Need I elaborate? MEDICAL OFFICERS Dr Ellis died in July 2006, aged 84. In the tributes to him, he was described as a kind and gentle man, filled with humility, who effortlessly commanded respect. He was immensely proud of the fact that he BY DAVID GOLDWATER (51-62) never saw a private patient. WITH ALISTER COX (HEADMASTER 72-94) He was succeeded in the role in 1969 by an Old Novo, Dr Andrew Smith (33-39), son of another ON, Dr Andrew Smith (1890-94), who had established a thriving It was the appointment of e had lost an elder brother to practice at Whickham. At a Debating meningitis which influenced his Society Toast List Dinner in May 1983, Sir James Spence, Professor Hchoice of Medicine as a career. he gave a most informed and informative of Child Health and a After working in London, Dr Ellis moved speech about the changing fashion in to a new Child Health Department at medicine through ‘direct action’ to paediatrician, as a School the Newcastle RVI. There he assessed ‘preventative medicine’, concluding that Governor which resulted children with cerebral palsy, a regional the patient had a great deal to put up in 1954 in the appointment survey of 300 such children forming his with, but generally survived and was MD thesis. worthy of receiving a toast in reply! of Dr Errington Ellis as the Dr Smith, MB, BS, ON, OBE (awarded School’s first Medical Officer. He became medical director of the 1970), was peculiarly fitted for his job at what was then called the Percy Hedley the RGS; as a Fellow of the Royal College School for Spastics and, to this day, the of General Practitioners he combined high Percy Hedley Foundation is a lasting professional skill with wide knowledge Henry ‘Bingy’ Barnes (right) with tribute to him. The BCG vaccination of people. He was described as Simon Wood (72-77), ONA President programme introduced into the UK in completely unflappable, honed by his (1998-2000) at an ONA Dinner 1953 will have been how I and most of RAMC and Parachute Regiment background. As clinical Tutor in family medicine at Newcastle University he had the background in which to employ his brusque, cheerful and down to earth approach. He used it at School in his chats with individual boys and in form talks, with nothing barred! After 17 years at RGS, he became a Lecturer in General Practice at Newcastle University, obliging him to relinquish the post of School Medical Officer which he had filled so successfully. Novo, in Autumn 1986, bade farewell with great reluctance to a man who was ‘always ready, in the friendliest way, to tell you “to walk more, eat less and smoke not at all”. He could be discovered in the smoky Common Room munching his austere apple’. Andrew Smith died in May 1996.

Dr Henry Greenfield Barnes ON (32-39), affectionately known as Bingy by friends and colleagues, succeeded Dr Smith in 1969 and served for 17 years in the post. As another Old Novo and a GP in Tynemouth and North Shields from 1948- 85, he was well suited to take on the rather nebulous job of School Medical

32 Officer, noted Colin Nichols (53-86), Second Master, on his retirement. One of the most observant and warm-hearted accounts of life at the RGS is to be found tucked away in the February 1981 issue of the British Medical Journal. Commissioned to give an account of his role as SMO in a day school, Dr Barnes covered all the routine items: his initial examination of new boys; his help in the occasional case of ‘anxiety-related abdominal colic’; his talks to year-groups of youngsters as a contribution to their sex education; his admonitions against smoking, with the visual aid of ‘a pathological specimen of carcinoma of the lung borrowed from a friendly pathologist’. There was also a role as informal consultant to staff who would tell him that ‘Smith cannot read the board, Jones has awful headaches, and Brown is covered with spots’—and often slip in a reference to their own medical problems for a quick professional judgement in a busy life. His account continued: ‘Those who pass from the RGS to read Medicine today may scarcely ever realise that General Practice used until recently to be the poor relation in Medical Andrew Smith, Michael Borthwick, Henry ‘Bingy’ Barnes, Errington Ellis education, often quite low in the priorities of aspiring student’. This began to change with the creation in 1967 of the Royal College of General Practitioners of which [In 1986, Michael Borthwick ON (60-67) gave them for youngsters who were Dr Barnes was a founder member. A continued in the post for 22 years until largely happy and healthy, which made central element of his philosophy was the Spring 2008 when he retired, together a pleasant break from their regular treatment not of a disease in isolation but with the first School Nurse, Gillian Mather routines with the unwell. Of the many of the whole person and of the person who spent 17 years tending to sick RGS debts I owe to Bingy one was certainly against the background of his family and pupils. Alister Cox (Headmaster 72-94) his recommendation of Michael as social context: the broad perspective, a recalls their friendship:] his successor. broad vision of the pulsating life of a busy School in which health care plays its It’s not often in the 26 years since I left the Michael had all the hallmarks of what pervasive part. RGS that I have received a ‘summons’ from a good school doctor should be. the RGS, and nowadays I would hesitate in A reassuring figure for the young at all ‘Bingy’ Barnes was captain of School case my memory had begun to fail me. But their stages and with all their foibles. swimming in his time at the RGS in the when David Goldwater asked if I would An unthreatening occasional visitor to 1930s, and his 100 yards free-style record contribute my recollections of Michael the staff common room, known to be was to stand unchallenged for 20 years. Borthwick to his dossier on the RGS ‘school available and discreet for a confidential He returned as guest of honour at doctors’, I not only had to say yes but really word about this or that, but known also ‘Newts Night’ in 1962, and at all times wanted to. It says something about my for a whimsical humour which could enthusiastically followed the whole range relations with him and his wife Margaret brighten the day. A source equally for of School sport in which he had excelled; that we have kept in touch more than once emergency support for the HM himself. after all, mens sana in corpore sano would in those 26 years. They even visited us in Without waiting for such needs I did enjoy be no bad motto for a School Medical our retirement niche in France (a rare feat this regular contact with a friendly face Officer. Although born in the Isle of Man for an Old Novocastrian!) and in this very from outside the cloistered world of the he was a true Northumbrian. He loved his last year we enjoyed a chat with them over RGS. Thanks, Michael, for that, and here’s cottage in the north of the county, lunch with mutual friends in Newcastle. wishing you well in all your promotion of enjoyed fell walking with family and great music-making in these impossibly friends, climbed in the Lake District, Skye, That friendship began over our lunches difficult times. the Pyrenees, and the Alps, and in 1954 together during his weekly visit to the RGS reached the summit of the Matterhorn. as School Doctor, and were in that respect [Guest Editor’s note: Michael organised He loved the theatre, music, particularly a natural follow-on from my happy Alister’s farewell concert on 21 May 1994, opera, played the piano occasionally relaxed relations with his predecessor in which included the incredibly ambitious to his own satisfaction and was an the job, Bingy Barnes. It was clear that they and sensationally successful performance accomplished artist in water colour. both enjoyed this continued link with their of Tallis’ ‘Spem in Alium’: ‘my biggest debt He died in October 2004. old school, and also the responsibility it to Michael,’ as Alister puts it.]

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 33 MY BURSARY STORY

BY M MAKEEN BAROUDI (17-19)

34 I was born and raised in Syria where I lived for more In addition to the excellent academic teaching, there is the than 14 years. I had a relatively peaceful childhood, outstanding career advice from the spending my time between books, friends and family. careers department. I was enlightened at RGS by having Entering my second decade, the peaceful childhood the opportunity to be more involved shattered: life became catastrophe, devastation and in literature and to enrich my cultural fear. Until peace eventually came back into my life. integration into my new life by exploring work by national icons such as Shakespeare, Beckett and Stoppard. I was also able to visit theatres in London, including Shakespeare’s Globe, during a school trip. Thanks to the Bursary Campaign I was able to get involved in this, which is one of my best experiences at RGS. Being a student of science, I vitally needed this exposure to literature and humanities. aving witnessed four years The necessity of the humanities and of the worst civil war in literature to everyone is a strong Hhistory I really thought I had belief that I hold right now, and this no future left; until I decided to need is something I am an advocate leave the country in 2015. Luckily, for at university. I managed to arrive in the UK I was delighted to be made an successfully with my dad after a lot offer to study medicine at Leeds. of effort and hard work. Then I could I thrived during my first two terms, see that maybe I have a future again, spending my time between studying, something to work for. swimming and hanging out with With no ability to speak English, friends on the weekends. The early starting at a community school in clinical exposure to hospitals and GP North Shields was highly challenging. clinics allows me to consolidate my I would stay behind school for an hour scientific learning at lectures. The or two every single day just to ask weekly anatomy classes and clinical questions or to have something work sessions on campus expands clarified. I am very grateful for my my knowledge of the human body. I was enlightened at RGS by teachers who were always keen to I particularly enjoy anatomy and find having the opportunity to help. Within two months I was able it the most interesting aspect of the to speak English well enough to sit course. One of our modules (IDEALS: be more involved in my first public GCSE exam and achieve Innovation, Development, Enterprise literature and to enrich my an A grade. I made new friends and and Leadership, Safety) encourages cultural integration into enjoyed doing so. A teacher at this us to be more reflective of our daily school noticed me, and she saw in my experiences and events that make us my new life by exploring hard work the potential to be at RGS. feel happy, sad and other emotions. work by national icons She advised me to apply and told me As a result, I have become more self- about the bursary scheme. I could not aware of my feelings. In addition, the such as Shakespeare, be more grateful to her for this advice. rich cultural diversity at university Beckett and Stoppard.” RGS allowed me to explore many strengthens my connection with many things I cannot imagine being able to parts of my identity. For example, explore elsewhere, at that stage of students from all over the world are my education. For example, the Plus proud of who they are, at the same Programme on Tuesday afternoon time accepting each other’s where we had a lecture about life- differences. Personally, I find it more related advice: financing, cooking, comforting when I go to the prayer inspirational talks and much more. room with my fellow Muslim students This kickstarted the journey to learn instead of going on my own. many skills that I found essential later Growing up in a war zone, and on. I realised the importance of having experienced medical extracurricular activities at RGS where emergency at first hand, I have realised everyone has many! Not only did the and understood the vital role of a extracurricular activities made doctor to society. This is why I love available by RGS strengthen my studying medicine at university right university application, they were also a now. An experience that RGS is a main great way to look after myself and take contributor to. some time off the hard work. The RGS has enabled me to fly!

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 35 RGS SIXTH FORM MEDICALS THE EARLY DAYS

BY STANLEY ASHMAN (41-52)

Having successfully negotiated the O Level examinations, or School Certificate, as they were he course of six terms duration called in my days, the choices for those continuing consisted of Chemistry, Physics, T Botany and Zoology. After the first at School were to enter the Arts, Science or Medical three terms, the Subsidiary School Sixth forms. Those opting for the Medical Sixth Certificate (now A Level) was taken in were the boys (RGS in that era being an exclusively Physics and if successful, the subject was discontinued. The latter three terms were boys’ school) who wished to follow a career in devoted to those remaining three Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary surgery. In subjects alone. There was also a weekly lesson conducted by the Headmaster, addition to RGS boys, I recall, the class was Mr Mitchell after 1948 until I left school, occasionally joined by pupils from other schools, when all manner of subjects from politics which did not offer courses leading to medicine. to philosophical matters and what might be described as ‘lifesmanship’ was discussed in groups. In addition, it was expected that the Medicals should take part in other school activities such as sport, intellectual games like Chess, the Debating Society, the Combined Cadet The 2015 Penrith Reunion. Stanley in the front row, fourth from right Force and others.

From the 1940s to 1950s the Chemistry masters (their title in those days!) were Charles George and David Layton (49-60); Physics was taught by George Dean (24-67); Botany and Geology by George Pallister (26-66). These men were all talented teachers and when examinations came along, success was assured if you had a perfect knowledge of Mr Pallister’s notes. Botany and Zoology took up a large part of our time and was taught in the building on the south side of the school field, also housing the Woodwork and Metalwork classrooms, as well as Donald Meakin’s (24-65) Geography classroom. Next to this large block was the Rifle Range, the base of the CCF. These buildings were swept away to allow for construction of the City Centre by-pass.

36 The Zoology course consisted of a study of all forms of animal life from the lowly amoeba, via vertibrates and invertibrates to mammals and it was then that we learnt how to dissect everything from cockroaches to fish and finally mammals in the form of rabbits and cats. Botany involved the study of plant life and preparing microscope slides. At the end of our course, we were entered for the Higher School Certificate. This consisted of written and practical examinations in all three subjects. Mr Pallister always assured us that it was impossible to score nothing in his subjects as you could always draw whatever you saw down the microscope and for which you would be awarded some marks!

Early in the final year, applications for entry to medical, dental or veterinary colleges were made. We were free to apply to any of the universities, but most of the RGS pupils applied for the local Medical School, the University of Durham (at Newcastle) and now integrated into the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Interviews followed at the college when We who followed this route to a career [medicine] the usual questions were posed: ‘why do you want to become a Doctor?’, had the impression that we were taught by ‘what are your hobbies and why?’ and dedicated men who had our interests at heart other such conundrums, inviting one to invent ingenious answers which would and I myself have felt a lifelong gratitude for mark one out as a potential asset to your my introduction to what I have always chosen profession. found a most rewarding profession.” If you were able to impress the Interview Board that you were suitable material for the Medical School, you would be offered a place, depending on your examination I have often heard the RGS referred to as results, for entry into the second-year a ‘doctor producing factory’ and certainly course there. There was a first-year there always seemed to be a goodly course where students took an number in our class, as I recall around examination equivalent to Higher School 20-25. We who followed this route to a Certificate. These students were drawn career had the impression that we were from institutions where no basic science taught by dedicated men who had our course was available. This test was called interests at heart and I myself have felt ‘First examination for the degrees of a lifelong gratitude for my introduction Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of to what I have always found a most Surgery’ (MBBS). This exercise was also rewarding profession. available as an external examination to pupils (like us) who were taking the Higher Dr Stanley Ashman (41-52), former SC. Mr Pallister always recommended we President of the ONA from 1971-75, sit this test to give us experience and just practiced as a GP in Tyneside’s Harley in case anything did go wrong with the Street, Heaton Road for 35 years. He is HCC! These examinations were taken in one of the ONA’s most committed June, with the results published in August members, attending countless reunions, and the successful candidates would go dinners and special events and a to the second year of their chosen course longstanding member of the RGS in October. Masonic Lodge since 1968.

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 37 NEWS & CONGRATULATIONS

ongratulations to Joseph LEAVERS’ EVENT, C Fisher (30-36) who celebrated his 98th Birthday 26 JUNE on 29 June.

he wedding took place n June, the Class of 2020 Tat St Nicholas Church in Iwere invited to attend a Gosforth on July 11 between virtual leavers’ celebration Becky Pearey and Jamie to signal the end of their RGS MYSTERY IN ARCHIVES Hansell (92-02) (pictured journey and to wish them (IN LAST ISSUE) SOLUTION! below). Becky’s parents set off a warm welcome to the Old early from their home in Paris Novocastrians’ Association. e asked whether anybody could identify the and quarantined for 14 days As they get set to embark on W mysterious character on a painting in the before dad walked her down the next stage of their lives, Archives. Bryan Stevens (44-49) suggested to the the aisle – at a social distance. RGS staff wanted to share Editor that it might be John Talbot, Headmaster 1912- Only 30 people were allowed some salient pieces of advice 22 and a Major in the OTC (Officers’ Training Corps). to attend the wedding which with them, please do visit the A glance at some 1914-17 Cricket Team photos in meant the ceremony was Facebook ONA page to see Bryan’s 1980 book on the RGS Cricket Club confirmed watched on 97 screens Zoom the full video. Class of 2020, this. John Armstrong ‘was convinced…John Talbot as by family and friends including we’ll meet again…!!! an older man than in the photo; his cap badge the some in Spain and America, all RGS CCF cap badge of today i.e. Horsley’. able to join in the celebrations.

RGS BUILDINGS TURN BLUE

n late May the main block of the School was lit up in Ielectric blue to honour NHS workers. The Gateshead lighting design company Hi-Lights donated its services to honour RGS’s parents and former pupils, many of whom are key workers. Headmaster Geoffrey Stanford, said: ‘A significant proportion of RGS parents are classed as key workers, with many working on the frontline for the NHS, as well as representing professions in education, the justice system, emergency services, food retail and transportation, among others. Around 25% of our students also go on to work in frontline medical professions. We are very grateful for all that they do and are delighted to be able to support them.’

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38 JANE MEDCALF (07-20) RETIRING STAFF SUMMER 2020 usan Beck writes: Many Old hopes to keep in touch with the SNovos will wish to know that many friends she has made. • Trevor Walters retires after 11 years in the Drama Jane Medcalf has chosen to leave department, in which role he has directed, her role at RGS as Development David Goldwater adds: Jane arrived produced and been involved in an extraordinary Manager. We wish Jane a heartfelt at the RGS in 2007, appointed by number of impressive school productions. thanks for her years of service to the James Miller (94-08) in the last year • Roly Craig retires after 21 years as Head of the school, the Old Novocastrians’ of his Headship. During her 12+ years Junior School, a very visible figurehead for so Association and the Bursary at RGS, working initially with Tove many pupils in their early years at the RGS. Campaign Committee. Jane has Elander (00-12), Jane took over • Simon Tillbrook retires after 25 years, including asked us to let everyone know how responsibility for the day-to-day until recently serving for many years as Head of much she enjoyed working with running of the Bursary Campaign, History and a long-standing rugby coach. them, together with their various helping to raise several million • Dave Merritt has finally stepped down after Presidents and Chairs. She is well pounds, as well as Editorship of serving as a school counsellor since 1998, having and looking forward to pursuing this Magazine. During this time, also taught here between 1978 and 2014 and various interests, especially her she has befriended countless ONs, been a pupil here too. This represents over continued passion as a Slimming especially at the ONA Annual 50 years of his connection with the school. World Consultant, helping people Dinners, hosted visits to the • Tony Bird retires after 30 years at the RGS, to change their lives. As former school, organised many ONA serving as Head of Music, Deputy Head and Secretary, she also looks forward events and generally immersed most recently as Director of Partnerships. to singing in the RGS Community herself in the day-to-day life of a • Pete Wilson retires after 33 years as a physics Choir. Jane specifically asked us vibrant and bustling community. teacher, football coach, Exams Officer and to pass on that she will leave the I’ve enjoyed helping her from time much more. school with a sense of pride for the to time. We wish Jane the very best work she has done and that she of luck and happiness. All of those who are leaving go with our very best wishes and with thanks on behalf of the many Jane Medcalf (07-20) pictured with David Goldwater (51-62) generations of students that these members of staff have taught at the RGS.

ONA ELECTIONS AND AGM

Nominations are invited for election to the posts of President, Treasurer and members of the Committee of the Old Novocastrians’ Association. All nominations should be in writing (post or e-mail) to [email protected] and with the express agreement of the person nominated, to be received no later than 30 September 2020. An Annual General Meeting of the Association will take place either in school or online on 21 October 2020.

CORRECTIONS STAY CONNECTED

rofound apologies to Frazer Also to Howard Burchell who There are plenty of Old Novos P Thompson (67-77), CEO of pointed out that in Tony Bird’s social media groups around, but we The Chapel Down Winery in article on Music at the RGS his years have our own groups. Please join us by becoming Tenterden, Kent and speaker at the were stated as 1967-99. In fact, a fan of the Old Novocastrians Association ONA London Dinner on 6 March. In Howard’s years were 1966-99 (99 Facebook page and LinkedIn Group – Old the last edition of the Magazine, we terms!) as from 1966 he covered for Novocastrians’ Association (RGS Newcastle) inadvertently gave Frazer the wrong Bill Brydon who was a sick man and surname. The oncoming lockdown whom he succeeded as Head of RGS TWITTER HANDLES was looming, there was pressure to Physics a year later. @RGSNewcastle @RGSEnglishNews finalise this issue and the usual @RgsArchives @RGS_Library disciplines became strained. @RGSpac @NRGS_History We trust Frazer will understand. @RGSNewMusic

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 39 OBITUARIES

DEREK LESLIE GRANT (40-49) GRAHAM BRAGG (86-93) RICHARD H ROBSON (38-41) BORN 1932, DIED 13 JUNE 2020, AGED 88 BORN 1975, DIED 2 MAY, AGED 45 BORN 1929, DIED 27 JUNE 2020, AGED 91

erek was one of the dwindling D band of RGS evacuees at Penrith during the Second World War. An accomplished sportsman with success in running, boxing, cricket and rugby, playing in the 1st XV in his final years at school, Derek retained with pride some of the Athletics Certificates presented to him by Headmaster, E R Thomas, one of which records him as Dunford Bowl runner-up. He also played rugby and cricket during his RAF National Service in Egypt. He was also both an enthusiastic t is with great sadness that I write in ichard, known to friends as spectator and player of golf at Arcot Hall I regard to Graham’s passing after a R ‘Robbie’ spent his first RAF tour and Bamburgh clubs for many years. long battle with cancer. Graham won flying Meteors in the day fighter Derek was also a long suffering but a full scholarship to RGS after attending role. He had a narrow escape when a loyal fan of Newcastle United and always Windy Nook primary school. He was an towed glider target lost a wing which hit remembered seeing the FA Cup lifted by irrepressible and enthusiastic member the nose of his aircraft and smashed the the Toon in 1952 at Wembley and was at of school, hugely amenable to all who cockpit canopy and Robbie’s goggles. St James’ Park on a regular basis with his knew him and greatly popular with his At the end of his tour, he became a flying season ticket until ill health intervened. Collingwood classmates (J Ponton (83- instructor on Meteors and Vampires In his later years, he also enjoyed playing 93), F Cook (86-93), T Healer (83-93)). before moving to a Canberra squadron. crown bowls. After graduating from Salford On leaving the RAF at 38, Robbie For many years, the MD of a University in 1996 he went on to forge studied Geography at Dundee University, prominent garment manufacturing a successful career with Virgin Media, becoming a teacher, first at a Scottish business in Newcastle, Derek loved life Vodafone and latterly Oracle. comprehensive school, later on in and even when severe illness overtook Graham was a lover of all sport, but England. Returning to his love of flying, him, he bravely and without complaint it was football which held his most he took up a Retired Officer’s post at HQ retained his reputation for story-telling fervent passion. He played the game Air Cadets, responsible for gliding schools. and bonhomie. For many years he was semi-professionally and was an ardent He retired to Spain, but returned to a regular attender at the RGS Masonic supporter of Newcastle United. Upon Houghton-le-Spring with his wife and Lodge, as well as being a member of other falling ill two years ago, Graham family. Here, he continued his studies and lodges and orders. He retained a great typically adopted a positive and stoical took a degree in medieval Scottish history. love for his school and was hugely proud approach throughout and displayed It was appropriate for a man with an to see his grandson, David Fagleman huge strength of character in the face impressive memory and an analytical (99-06) become Deputy Head Boy and of such a grave illness. mind. He wrote an autobiography An captain of the 1st XV, as well as his Graham is survived by his mother Airman of the Queen and despite granddaughter Kate Fagleman (06-08) Anne, partner Rowen, and son Jake, 7. increasing ill health enjoyed his phone enter the RGS Sixth Form in 2006. Whilst composing this brief eulogy to chats with friends of over 70 years from Graham I have been continually struck by RAF Cranwell, which had meant so much By David Goldwater (51-62) the tragedy of his passing at such a young to him. Richard passed away with his with Richard Grant (72-82) age and of the final narrative from the film family around him. Stand by Me: ‘I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12…Jesus does anyone..?’

By Tony Healer (83-93)

40 MICHAEL JOHN STEPHENSON (53-62) BORN 8 JULY 1943, DIED 7 JULY 2020, AGED 76

DR RONALD ALBERT PEARSON (54-62) BORN 11 AUGUST 1943, DIED 29 JUNE 2020, AGED 76

was a constant pulse of specialist interest throughout. In 1985, he joined the Civil Aviation Authority as Senior Medical Officer, then Head of Medical Research and Human Factors, and chaired many of the Joint Aviation Authority committees which set and harmonised aviation standards across Europe. After converting his Canadian fter leaving school, Mike’s first private pilot’s licence and instrument A job was as an actuary, but he rating, he qualified for his UK commercial moved in the early days into licence in 1985 on a Jetstream 31 and in computing, working for IBM in 2000 on an Airbus 320. He went on to fly Newcastle, then ICT (later ICL). Per Ardua Ad Astra. the Bae HS125 as well as his home-built He met Jenny in Berkshire at a and much-loved Rutan Long-Ez. computer course, he in Systems Analysis on ‘slipped the surly bonds Following his time at the CAA, he and she in Programming and they married R of Earth’ on June 29 2020, returned to occupational health with in 1967. Mike moved to Honeywell in Leeds accompanied to the gate by Capita and set up ASM Consulting at in 1968 and they lived locally until 1971, his loving wife and children. Initial Birmingham International, certifying when the company moved him to turbulence but calm conditions for aircrew and pilots. In later years, he Brentford. The rest of his career up to lift off. celebrated his 70th birthday in his retirement in the early 2000s was spent in He wanted to be a fighter pilot and adopted island of Samos and our 50th the computer industry. won a prized scholarship to Cranwell but wedding anniversary in his hometown A lover of sport, especially Cricket and his flight path was diverted by a lorry in of Tynemouth. He loved to tinker with Tennis, he and Jenny enjoyed Test Matches a motorcycle accident at 17. After enduring his plane and his automobiles, but cared at Lords and Wimbledon Tennis including six months in hospital, he decided to be more deeply for fixing people – always Boris Becker winning the 1985 Singles. As an a doctor instead, graduating from making time to talk and guide, then exiled North-Easterner, he continued Newcastle University Medical School. If he allowing them space to reach their supporting both Newcastle and had gone to Cranwell, he wouldn’t have own decisions. Sunderland, despite their traditional rivalry. met his French-Greek wife Helene, leading He loved life; he never stopped As for holidays, cruising became a passion him to new horizons and other cultures. making plans for the future and he never and he and Jenny travelled to most parts of He still joined the RAF as a medical officer gave up. We’ll look for him in the skies. the world, by sea and by air including the and tested pilots, delivered babies and Ron lives on through his wife, Hélène; Galapagos Islands. Other destinations saved lives in Cyprus and beyond. Leaving daughter, Claudine and son, Lindsay; included the battlefields of Gallipoli and the forces opened up the New World of grandchildren, Torin, George, Aimée, annually, the island of Sark. Canada where he and Helene built not Hugo, Edward & Erin. Mike became ill in 2018 and bravely just a house but friendships, raced karts fought his cancer for the past two years and flew planes, always taking their kids with great fortitude and without along for the ride. Returning to the UK complaint. He passed away at home in after ten years, they reconnected with Stoke Poges on 7 July, one day before his childhood friends and extended family, 77th birthday. He leaves Jenny, his wife from Solihull, the ‘Heart of England’. of 53 years, daughters Joanne and Nina Ron wasn’t an easy man. He was a and grandchildren George and Isabel. remarkably determined and He was the elder brother of Bryan Peter knowledgeable one, turning his hand to Stephenson (56-66), who passed away anything. His professional career spanned in May 2016. general practice, aviation medicine, occupational health; human factors – the (A fuller version of this obituary by Jenny understanding of interactions between Stephenson will appear in the online version humans, machines and other systems – of ONA Magazine 108)

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 41 OBITUARIES

JAMIE WANLESS (57-67) BORN 20 AUGUST 1948, DIED 9 SEPTEMBER 2019, AGED 71

years before retiring to his beloved The Institute of Education, London to do Northumberland coast at Longhoughton. a Postgraduate Certificate in Education There he resumed activities with the local with the aim of teaching English abroad, church and in particular the Alnwick choir, This led to posts in the Turkish Lycée in where was Chairperson. Famagusta, Cyprus which was cut short At his funeral he had prearranged by the troubles between the Greek and for the same 30-strong Bailiffgate Alnwick Turkish populations. There followed three choir to sing in the moving service in years teaching at the University of Longhoughton Church. Baghdad, Iraq, also curtailed by the He leaves Susie (still in Arab-Israeli war which led to a hurried Longhoughton), two daughters and and dramatic exit of the country. three grandchildren. Alan then took up an offer to do an MA in Linguistics at the University of amie was one of several pupils who By Roger Smith (57-67) and Manchester where he stayed until his Jwalked to school every morning, Nicholas Grant (60-67) retirement. He became well-known in in his case from Woodlands in the field of Lexical Semantics; He also Gosforth at a time when walking influenced generations of linguistics two miles to school was not unusual. ALAN DAVID CRUSE (45-53) students through his introductory He met up on the way with David BORN 1934, DIED 13 JUNE 2020, AGED 86 textbook on semantics Meaning in Morrison (60-67), Roger Smith (57-67), Language, later co-authoring Cognitive Nicholas Grant (60-67) and David Linguistics, another widely-used Lauckner (65-67), running the gauntlet textbook with William Croft. in Tankerville Terrace past the Church He was a frequent speaker at High School anticipating hopeful, but international conferences which, together usually absent interaction. with his life in various areas of the world, His father had been a Major in the satisfied his love of travel and his innate army during the war and Jamie was a keen curiosity; he took these wanderings as an member of the CCF, becoming the CSM, opportunity to learn languages, becoming Prefect and Collingwood House Captain proficient in French, Spanish, German, in his final year at RGS. We can all Italian, Greek, Arabic and Welsh. remember the shrill high noted voiced Alan remained an accomplished commands being shouted on parade days musician, adding the guitar to his piano outside the school frontage. He was also and violin skills. an enthusiastic rugby player in the John lan grew up in High Heaton, He was, as all who knew him have said, Elders era. A attending Chillingham Road discreet, thoughtful, witty and kind (he He studied Agriculture at Nottingham Primary, entering the RGS was a well-loved tutor to his students and University, then Accountancy, achieving through the Direct Grant scheme. There a wonderful father). He was uninterested the valued ACA qualification, enabling him his curiosity for all things intellectual in career advancement, but determined to to work at Arthur Young Accountants was satisfied. He was gifted at piano achieve his personal goals. He was a (now part of Ernst and Young), for several and violin and was a member of various Renaissance Man. years, before gaining the post of Finance school orchestras throughout his time He is survived by his wife Paule, his son Director for a commercial company. at school. Pierre and his daughter Elizabeth (Lisette). Jamie married Susie, who, as an Offered a place at Cambridge to read accomplished professional Chef, had Chemistry, he chose instead Imperial By Paule Cruse worked for celebrities including Michael College London to study Botany. He taught Caine. During his time before university, Biology at Wellington Grammar School, (A fuller version of this tribute will appear Jamie was an active member of the United Shropshire, where he met his future wife, online on the RGS Alumni ONA website) Nations Organisation and his local church Paule, His interest in languages was revived in Gosforth. He continued his activities in with French as well as Spanish. The Nottingham, where he lived for many following year he applied for a place at

42 THOMAS HEDLEY NICHOLSON (36-43) ERIC BRIAN PHILLIPS (37-47) BORN 11 AUGUST 1925, DIED 9 MAY 2020, AGED 94 BORN 1929, DIED JUNE 2020, AGED 91

Tom had a long and successful career at ICI, building pharmaceutical laboratories and manufacturing plant in Cheshire, as well as overseas in South Africa, Italy and Pakistan. By the time he retired, he was ICI Pharmaceuticals’ Chief Engineer. After retirement from ICI, Tom was instrumental in developing the ‘New Engineering Contract’, which transformed the delivery of engineering projects, ultimately saving the industry many millions of pounds: the NEC is now the standard form of contract for civil engineering work in the UK and om died peacefully at home on used in many other countries. am sad to inform that my eldest T Saturday 9 May 2020, with his In 1964, the family enjoyed their first I brother Eric Brian Phillips ON passed daughter Beth and son Mark Devon cottage holiday in West Buckland. away in June as a result of a stroke there. He was also Grandfather to Oliver, This became an annual event until Tom on the Isle of Man, at the age of 91. Ben, Harry, Alex and Daniel, and Great and Gill moved permanently to Brian was born in 1929 and attended Grandfather to Owen. Thurlestone in 1994. Tom and Gill loved RGS, mainly in Penrith as an evacuee. Tom was born in Gosforth, Newcastle the beaches at Bantham and below the He excelled in Geography, his tutor being upon Tyne, in 1925 to Blanche and John Thurlestone golf course. They sailed and Don Meaken. He left school in 1947 to Hedley Nicholson, as younger brother to enjoyed the concerts and events at fulfil his National Service in Intelligence in Jack. His father, the sixth generation of Dartington and made many friendships in RAF Habbaniya, Iraq. He then went on to Nicholson civil engineers, died when Tom the South Hams where they lived happily study Economic Geography at St was just five years old. for 22 years until Gill passed away in 2016. Catherine’s College, Cambridge attaining a Tom went to RGS and, when war broke Tom moved one more time, to Beth’s farm MA. Brian then worked for most of his life out in 1939, the school was evacuated to at Ugborough in July 2019, spending the last in the Philippines running the Insurance Penrith, Cumberland. He was an ten months of his life happily surrounded arm of the trading company Ker. He outstanding rugby player at school, playing by both family and the warmth of the retired to the Isle of Man at age 65. Along in the 1st XV for two years, and captained farm’s community. with twenty of his contemporaries, he the team. After the war, he played for attended the 75th anniversary Penrith Old Novocastrians until 1957. There were By Mark Nicholson and Beth Gompertz reunion in September 2014. He leaves two several trials for Northumberland, but sons, ONs, Michael Edward Phillips (41- work weakened his chances of 1st Footnote: Tom was the seventh successive 51) and Ernest Keith Phillips (53-62). team selection. generation of Nicholsons in Civil Engineering After school Tom joined the Royal and Mark the eighth. Engineers and was posted to Kenya. After the War, he resumed his studies in civil engineering at Durham University and, after graduation, he worked for consulting engineers Mouchel and Partners and P S BENNEWORTH (84-91) I J HALL (47-52) contractors Brims and was admitted to full BORN 24 FEBRUARY 1974, BORN 1936, DIED 20 JUNE 2020, membership of the Institution of Civil DIED 13 MAY 2020, AGED 46 AGED 75 Engineers, later becoming a Fellow. Tom married Gill in 1956. Mark and Beth D F DARRAH (53-61) NICHOLAS JOHN ‘NICK’ HARRIS were born in Northumberland and the BORN 1944, DIED 22 JUNE 2020, (54-61) family moved to Alderley Edge in Cheshire AGED 75 BORN 1947, DIED 16 FEBRUARY 2020, in 1961, when Tom won a new job there AGED 73 with ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca).

ONA | OLD NOVOCASTRIANS’ ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE | ISSUE 108 | AUTUMN 2020 43 ONA SHOP To order from our range of merchandise, please send a cheque payable to ONA, confirming your delivery address and contact details. For further details and postage costs, please email: [email protected].

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1. CUFFLINKS 3. TEDDY BEAR 5. NOTEBOOKS 7. SCARF T Bar, enamelled nickel £20 A5 £5 100% double plated, school crest Collection only A4 £8 thickness wool £22 £35 4.TIE 6.SOCKS 2. LIMITED EDITION PRINTS 100% pure silk, slip-stitched, 100% cotton 8.BOW TIE 480x330mm fully lined. Polyester ties are £9 100% pure silk, ready made £10 OR 2 FOR £15 also available SILK: £20 £50 EACH (FRAMED) SILK: £20 POLYESTER: £10 POLYESTER: £10