KING’S Summer 2003 P ARADE

Contents Interview: Judith Mayhew 2 Editor’s letter 3 The Masters in the 21st century 3 Parade Profile: Anne McLaren 4–5 Change of direction 6 Science at King’s 7 Books by members 8–9 What is art? 10–11 New Admissions Tutor for Access and Recruitment 12–13 Foundation Lunch 14–16 Praeposita John Barber: New Development Director 17 Here and now 18–19 nova King’s treasures at V&A 19 Events & Crossword 20

“King’s is delighted to announce the Chairman of the Policy & Resources The election was virtually unanimous, election of Dame Judith Mayhew, DBE, Committee of the Corporation of and unanimity is rare in King’s. Dame as Provost. She will take up office on 1 London. Her appointment as Judith will bring wide experience and October 2003. Dame Judith will Chairman of the Royal Opera House personal charm.’ Dame Judith said: ‘It succeed Professor Patrick Bateson, was announced in February. She is is a great honour and privilege to be who will retire after 15 years as Provost. currently Chairman of the Governors elected Provost of King’s, which has a Dame Judith is the first woman to be of Birkbeck College and a Trustee of long tradition of academic excellence elected Provost, and the first non- the Natural History Museum. The in learning and research combined Kingsman for centuries. She is a Vice-Provost, Professor Keith Hopkins, with its outstanding music.’” lawyer and has until recently been said: ‘We are all absolutely delighted. Press Release, 21 February, 2003. Interview: Judith Mayhew Judith Mayhew speaks with a soft antipodean and in the City, the image we have of people lilt, forceful but warm and informal, and who run Oxbridge Colleges is that they’re relished talking about her installation, and retired permanent secretaries and diplomats. the election process. “It was a hugely moving So initially I thought it was a bit odd. My first ceremony with a tremendous sense of thought was: why are they asking me? I’m not history and occasion. The Chapel looked a retiree.” wonderful lit just with candles; Pat Bateson She had first become aware of King’s Above: Keith Hopkins, Judith Mayhew and walked me up to the Bishop and then I knelt through its music. “At home in Dunedin, we Steve Hugh-Jones at his feet while he read some blessings and listened to the Nine Lessons and Carols and mutually beneficial strategy for prayed for me and for the College …” broadcast at Christmas, so very early on I had community affairs, providing free advocacy for But this ceremony, far from being an image of King’s Chapel and associated it Children’s Tribunals and corporate, property prescribed by ancient tradition, seems to have with Cambridge University.” Then Judith did and banking lawyers as governors and trustees been an ad hoc creation. “When we looked up some research, looked at the website and in the local community. the statutes to see what had to happen (I am a became intrigued. “King’s had a more radical “I seem to have acquired a track record of constitutional lawyer, after all!) and realised image than I had expected to find; it had a taking on male bastions,” she comments that under the legislation the installation had woman chaplain, for example, and I was (and as Provost of King’s she also becomes to be done within five days of the election, intrigued by the contradictions.” She came de facto the first woman Senior Fellow at people had to swing into action rather fast. up for a series of discussions about King’s Eton). “But,” she insists, “not provocatively, The Right Reverend John Saxby, the Bishop educational approach, research, finance and or deliberately. I have a consensual style, but of Lincoln, is also newly installed and had investments. “Steve Hugh-Jones was also I’m direct and forthright. I work with people; never been to the College before. So we were hugely persuasive!” When the call came, she I delegate and empower. I was an immigrant both ‘new boys’. The ceremony just had to be was on her way home from a concert at the and an outsider when I arrived in London inserted into the normal Saturday Evensong.” Barbican. She’d already assumed the worst. with a suitcase and a box of records. But there’s a kind of liberation about being an “This is a critical moment for shaping Higher Education immigrant; you can’t be typecast and you can move up and down the social scale. My policy and determining the role of universities in our contemporaries were a radical group of women, and we felt we could conquer the economic, intellectual and cultural life. How are we world. Many of us do achieve here.” She grew up in an academic household in going to ensure that universities are properly funded? Dunedin; her mother was a radical and forceful headmistress who shaped national King’s will take a leading role in fostering this debate.” educational policy, but who also raised three children alone after losing her husband The election had been held in the Chapel She took the King’s call on her mobile when Judith, the eldest, was five. “My on the previous Thursday. Judith, her sense phone, sheltering from the rain in a doorway education at Otago Girls High School was of theatre already noted by several students, near a deserted St Paul’s Cathedral. There strict, based on the Scottish model of arrived at King’s in a sleek Daimler (her was a wistful, filmic feel to her description of discipline and hard work.” The same school husband’s) and had chosen a bright red suit the City and the way she sighed: “… my part produced Ethel Benjamin, the first woman (it would look striking against all the black of London.” solicitor in New Zealand and the first robes). “For obvious reasons I wasn’t But she’s an immigrant, and London is woman lawyer in the British Empire. Like allowed in the Chapel during the election, her adopted city. She came to the UK from Judith, Benjamin also read Law at Otago, but I spent a very enjoyable hour talking to New Zealand in 1973 and taught Law for back in the 1890s; Judith later produced a King’s students and couldn’t imagine three years at Southampton University, television programme about her life. learning I’d actually become Provost in before joining the Law Faculty at King’s As the Times City Diary put it in February, front of a more appropriate group.” College, London. During the thirteen years “Her fondness for music and impossible jobs There were no photographs of this historic she spent there, rising to the position of is widely known”. So how is Judith going to occasion in the Chapel – the informal shots Sub-Dean of the Faculty, she developed combine being Provost of King’s with her were taken later by Christopher, her (with the Sorbonne) the first genuinely joint Chairmanship of the Royal Opera, her role on husband. “After the solemn high ceremony Law degree in Europe, acquiring on the way the Board of the Natural History Museum there was a mad party in the Vice-Provost’s the managerial and administrative skills and her other significant appointments? And rooms. As an outsider, the sense of welcome needed for negotiating educational policy at how does she see the job? “I started life as an I had was overwhelming. The photo shows an international level. academic, and I’m committed to re-joining the sense of relief everyone else felt too. I Since then she’s taken on a variety of roles the academic community. And I’m think Keith Hopkins and Steve Hugh-Jones in the public and private sectors. As Chairman streamlining my portfolio! This is a critical look like two reprobates who know they’ve of the Policy and Resources Committee of the moment for shaping Higher Education policy landed me in it! I think they were terribly Corporation of London she has aimed to and determining the role of universities in relieved simply to have got a Provost.” ensure that the City acts positively to facilitate our economic, intellectual and cultural life. What had attracted her to the job? “I had a the regeneration and economic development How are we going to ensure that universities letter, out of the blue, from Steve Hugh-Jones of the poorer boroughs surrounding it. As are properly funded? King’s will take a asking me if I would consider applying. For special adviser to law firm Clifford Chance, leading role in fostering this debate.” praeposita nova praeposita Alison Carter

| people like me who work in the private sector her role has been to put together a coherent 2 inform andamuse. in ways that willstimulate, w r aswellhistory asalively King’s hasarich careers. and duringtheirsubsequent lives while at King’s members’ and toreflect thediversity of peopleandideas, about events, Bateson onScience. and from Provost Patrick onArt, the National Gallery, Director of Saumarez Smith, contributions from Charles there are In thisissue, w available ontheKing’s website, P T CB2 1ST Cambridge King’s College Development Office [email protected] Alison Carter Contact: King’s Parade W Letter Editor’s We contributions andinvolvement. y andwe welcome magazine, the andfocus of, inspiration for, non-resident –remain the King’s –resident and g sdn omnt,bothof esident community, u etr,news, our letters, nl vlto.Members of entle evolution. arade l 01223331313 el: hich we willcontinuetomine hich iscurrently beingrebuilt. elcome to the new elcome tothenew

aim tokeep you informed ; it was timefor alittle is nowalso King’s elections. Armed only withCPSnow’s Armed elections. w F inthe21stCentury The Masters R Fellowship thatmakestheelection–in Perhaps thebiggestchangeissizeof elections arenowfromthoseofSnow’sdays. to reflectonhowdifferentsuchcollege oak-panelled gossipyworld. the pictureofCambridgelockedinitsown the plotofSnow’snovel,andconfirming secrecy andport-soakeddiscussions,echoing behind theelectionliesataleofintrigue, outsider forcenturies.Itcanbeimaginedthat chosen itsfirstwomanheadand Mayhew, theProvostElect,Collegehas recent electionofaProvost.WithDameJudith sub-title. lives. ‘Parochialplots’wouldhavebeenagood conservatism, narrowambitionandbroken election –aworldofsnobberyand became abywordfortheOxbridgecollege was theclaustrophobiaofthisbookthatit fictional collegeheadshipinthe1930s.Sorich path bywhichamasterwaselectedto higher education. TheroleoftheProvostisno the Universityand thepowersthatbein students itwantstoattract,the alumni,to King’s relatestoabiggerworld –tothepoolof looking, nowtheemphasisison theway 1930s weredeeplyintrovertedand inward- was business,notextendedfamily politics. into thenightnolongerexists.Theelection smoke-filled rooms(therearenoneleft!)deep beyond King’s.Thetimetogatherinsmall and farmorebywayoflinkstotheworld there isfarlesstimeforintriguesandplots, not tomentionhomesandfamilies,sothat labs andprojects,teachingadministration, is diverse,withacademicsbusyresearch the electorateisover100.Nowfellowship Masters or many Fellows the recent election of a new Provost anew Fellowsor many therecent electionof obert Foleyobert went forth. Alas, perhaps,itwasnotso.Itisinteresting King’s hasjustemergedfromitsmost More importantly,wherethecolleges ofthe sterfrttseo h ed ol fcollege theheadyworld of as theirfirst taste of there were14fellows,inKing’snow often treacherous closed, insularand the convoluted, classic novelfollowed CP Snow”.This “Ah, and theywillsay age andeducation, anyone ofacertain Cambridge collegeto of theHeada Mention theelection The Masters The by Leverhulme Centre for HumanEvolutionary Studies. the andDirector andAnthropology Archaeology of R carefully enough. case, ormaybeIhadn’treadmy CPSnow kept informed.Atleast,Ithink thatwasthe of theprocess,withallfellows engaged and community aswellamanager. was someonewhowouldbepartofa larger, andthatwhatthecollegewasseeking community, albeitanorderofmagnitude had hestillbeenalive.Thiswasasenseof something thatSnowwouldhaverecognised efficient andpatientelectionmanager–was drove theprocessthrough–apartfromavery from thatdoneahundredyearsago.Butwhat declaring theirchoice,probablynodifferent each fellowreadinganoathbeforepublicly solemn electioninthecandle-litChapel,with Byzantine rulesofprocedure.Therewasa debates, andtheoccasionaldeviationdown entwined. Therewerepowerfulspeechesand of personalityandprincipleoftenbecame about whattheCollegeshouldbe,andpoints dismay ofsome.Therewerestrongfeelings candidates, andnamescamewent,tothe Of coursepeoplehadtheirfavourite election inthedarkenedChapelbyacclamation. consensus thatresultedinDameJudith’s seek consensus,andtoprogresstowardsthe there werenot),theprocesswasdesignedto (it wouldnothavebeenmuchofanelectionif King’s, althoughthereweredifferencesofview camps weredeeplyentrenchedanddivided,in was thatwhereintheSnownovelrival sure DameJudithholdshersimpeccably). accent andhowtoholdateacup(althoughI’m employment lawweremoreimportantthan Budget analysisandfamiliaritywith candidates fromaswideapoolpossible. the familiar,Collegeactivelysought forward. Soratherthanlooktotheknown, ability oftheProvosttotakeCollege to theelectorateoffellowsthansheer of theclosetedfellowshipwaslessimportant resources andrisingexpectations.Theluxury through thetroubledwatersofdeclining fellows andstudents,buttosteertheCollege longer tomanageintimatelythelivesof br oe 18)i elw ietro Studiesin Director of Foleyobert (1987) isaFellow, In theend,whatemergedwasopenness Were thereanyechoesofSnowtobefound? Another differencethatstruckmeatleast, The Masters ,

3 | the masters in the 21st century Parade Profile: Anne McLaren DBE, FRCOG, FRS, 1975, Honorary Fellow, 1996.

Anne McLaren’s research over five decades has ranged widely across developmental biology, reproductive biology, and genetics including molecular genetics, using the laboratory mouse as a model. Director of the Medical Research Council’s Mammalian Development Unit in London for 18 years until 1992, she worked for the previous 15 years at the Agriculture Research Council at the Institute of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh. In 1992 she moved to The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology in Cambridge, where she is still based. She was a member of the UK Government’s Warnock Committee on Human Fertilisation and Embryology, and until the end of 2001 was a member of the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority that regulates IVF and human embryo research in the UK. Anne is a diminutive bright-eyed woman with an obvious sense of fun and a spare, rational, manner. She led me to her lair through a warren of labs filled with young people chatting. Squeezing past plastic bins laden with bright syringes, and shelves stacked high with tubs of chemical compounds, we entered her cramped space and, smiling archly, she handed me a yellowing newspaper cartoon. The cartoon showed a boardroom-style gathering, of several men and one woman with the caption: ‘Yes, that’s Anne McLaren an excellent suggestion, Miss Triggs! Perhaps one of the Anne was born in 1927, the fourth of five children men here would like to make it.’ Whether ‘it’ meant the spread in age over 23 years, into a wealthy family with a suggestion that had just been made, or the coffee (if it grand house near Hyde Park, and another at Bodnant in was a suggestion about coffee), was unclear. Does she Wales, where they went for holidays, travelling up in a think women still have some way to go, or perhaps – train with “thirty-seven pieces of luggage”. Here Anne also now that King’s has appointed a woman Provost – the spent the War years – in relative isolation – studying by time of women has come …? She smiles again to make correspondence course. She was close to both her parents the point firmly. “No. It’s coming.” Anne sits on a and also to her eldest brother Charles, who used to take Natural History Museum committee with Judith her to the ballet … and Arsenal matches. As a young child Mayhew. “Very impressive; very nice.” she loved helping her businessman father – he was in She doesn’t feel, though, that being a woman, even with shipping, steel and china clay – with his correspondence three children, has made her own career any more and drove round with him when he went to meet his difficult. “There were quite a few women scientists around, farmers. “He always rehearsed what he was going to say but I don’t think we thought of ourselves as women under his breath while he was driving, which suggested he scientists. The concept of ‘women scientists’ as a sort of was a shy man and didn’t find it easy to be spontaneous.” special thing came in later I think. It came about in Her mother, “beautiful, tall, highly intelligent”, introduced America first – because there was much more Anne into her literary and artistic circle, which included discrimination against women in the USA. There was here the Sitwells and HG Wells, one of her mother’s great too, but I was fortunate I didn’t come across it.” I ask friends. Anne even had a part in an HG Wells film, Things about her ambitions as a young woman. “I don’t think I to Come, produced by Alexander Korda in 1936. In it she had ambitions. That doesn’t ring any bells. I just wanted to plays a child who is taught about scientists who have sent parade profile parade

| do something. I could have been a lawyer or a journalist.” mice round the moon. (One of her own experiments later 4 involved sending mouse embryos into space with a NASA in vitro develop normally after transfer to the uterus, flight – cancelled after the Challenger disaster.) which was a major step towards the application of assisted There are two aspects of her family history which, I reproductive techniques to clinical problems. Scientific speculate, might have pointed her towards her future papers apart she has written two books, Mammalian career. One of her great-grandfathers had three wives – two Chimaeras (1976) and Germ Cells and Soma (1981). of whom had died in childbirth. “They kept dying, because She was among the first to recognise the great potential they had so many children,” Anne had commented. And of mouse chimeras for studying embryonic development. her own mother, whose carefully spaced children were also “You make a chimera by putting together embryos from precisely of the gender she had wanted, had passed on to two different strains of mice, so you can tell the cells her much later exactly how this had been achieved; which apart. They will aggregate together and develop as a single Anne went on to explain to me, in very precise and neutral embryo. Size will adjust so they won’t be double the size tones. “It depends on the assumption that eggs in one of a normal baby mouse when they’re born, but they will ovary will produce a female, and that eggs in the other will express the genes of both components.” Her work has had produce males.” She speaks with such authority that I find a profound impact on the understanding of sex myself asking her if this is a correct assumption. “No.” determination, germ cell and gonad development. She Yet she continues. “The assumption is also that the eggs pioneered the study of mammalian primordial germ cells alternate on the two sides. You can’t determine the sex of and has made important contributions to the problem of your first child, but having had a child, genomic imprinting. And despite having ‘retired’ in 1992, if you carefully monitor your menstrual she’s still hard at work. She’s been an Honorary Fellow cycle you can work out when to have She’s been an Honorary Fellow since 1996 and clearly since 1996 and clearly feels at unprotected sex to get a child of the feels at home in King’s. “Yes, it’s wonderful. I come in home in King’s. right sort.” Only now she laughs; and on Mondays when Fellows dine. A group of us with then we both laugh. It’s her famously similar interests, Barry Keverne, Ashley Moffet, Charlie “Yes, it’s wonderful. I come in mischievous sense of humour. “Well Loke and Azim Surani, are planning a joint meeting with on Mondays when Fellows it’s one of the many myths about the Novartis Foundation on the trophoblast – the tissue dine. A group of us with reproduction, fertility and infertility which helps make the placenta – because we feel it’s a that have worked over the years. It’s neglected area of research. We hope the meeting can be similar interests, Barry like the myth that you can cure AIDS held in King’s next year.” Keverne, Ashley Moffet, by sleeping with a virgin.” She has a Anne is very excited about her current work, mainly on Charlie Loke and Azim Surani, mission to demystify. “Yes. Sex primordial germ cells. These are the cells which end up education is important … family as either sperm or eggs. “I’m interested in two aspects of are planning a joint meeting planning education is important. I have them at the moment. One is what determines whether with the Novartis Foundation worked a lot with the WHO since the they go down the sperm pathway as opposed to the egg on the trophoblast – the tissue early 1970s on family planning issues.” pathway. One of my research associates, Ian Adams, is Is she pleased with progress? “Things working on that. He’s found some new genes, which are which helps make the placenta are going in the right direction – not looking rather interesting. And the other aspect is that, if – because we feel it’s a fast enough. Since the 1960s, for those you take these primordial germ cells out of the mouse neglected area of research. We of us who are concerned about the and culture them with a cocktail of growth factors, they future, population growth seems to be become what we call “immortalised stem cells”. These hope the meeting can be held one of the most worrying things.” cells proliferate indefinitely in culture and can be induced in King’s next year.” Her clarity of thought and ability to to differentiate into different sorts of tissue and muscle demystify were evident during her and bone, like embryonic stem cells do.” time on the Warnock Committee, between 1982 and 1984. She goes on to explain more about imprinting. “The cells This committee drew up the first guidelines covering the that you make from germ cells are different, because they use of in vitro fertilized, donated human eggs. “People form the category of genes which are known as imprinted used to refer to IVF as ‘artificial reproduction’. I thought genes.” (The imprint is a methylation on the DNA, from a AMES BRABAZON J that was a horrid term, because one would then talk about chemical point of view.) Her colleague, and King’s Fellow, artificial fertilization, artificial embryos and finally artificial Azim Surani has done a lot of work on these. “Imprinted babies. So I introduced ‘assisted reproduction’ and I was genes never express both the copies, it’s either the mother’s happy that that stuck. I was the only embryologist on the or the father’s. When the germ cells go through a new Committee, so I guess I was mainly responsible for the embryonic cycle, they have to recognise which sex embryo fourteen day rule; which says that one should draw the line they’re in, and adjust their imprint accordingly. They do this in any legislation at human embryo research at fourteen by losing their existing imprint, becoming free of any days after fertilization. That is now fairly much accepted in imprint, and then re-imprinting with the correct gender.” countries that allow any human embryo research at all. “When you make stem cells out of the cells that have Certainly in the 1980s there was a popular conception that lost their imprint, they will proliferate as normal. But when one talked about embryo research, one was talking when you try to make chimeras with them, they can give about research on a creature that had arms and legs and a rise to skeletal defects; the ribs and the spine go wrong. brain, and really that was not so.” I’m interested to try and find out why. If they’ve lost their Her early work, in collaboration with Donald Michie, imprint, and they don’t make a normal skeleton, there defined important problems related to ovarian function, must be some link between those two things, which we embryo implantation and maternal-fetal interactions in don’t yet understand. It could be important if we wanted the mouse. The Daily Telegraph article “Brave New Mice” to use their human equivalents for repairing bone or announced in 1958, that she and John Biggers had cartilage, in diseases like osteoarthritis. It would be nice parade profile parade

successfully demonstrated that mouse embryos cultured to have stem cells that could do this.” Alison Carter | 5 Early “… I expected King’s to be more academic and cultural,” Charles SNOWDON impressions Saumarez Smith (1972), Director of the National Gallery, was quoted as saying in a recent issue of CAM. King’s Parade

explores his early impressions of King’s. Charles Saumarez Smith

Charles Saumarez Smith arrived back for the in Grange Road”, and happier still in his third, Provost’s Seminar through the bar, which on U staircase near the river. “I loved the walk brought back old feelings of wanting to take from the bridge to the backs and the view flight. “I’m not the bar type,” he confessed. “I across to the Gibbs’ Building.” always found it intensely uncomfortable as an He ran the King’s undergraduate picture environment – probably because of faults in library – which owned a Picasso, and the Josef myself!” His expectations and initial Albers he had on his wall – and it was through perceptions of King’s were shaped by his this that he got his first taste of buying art: a experience at Marlborough. “I was very well drawing by Allan Johnston. His choice of a career taught there – it was like an American liberal in the arts was greatly influenced by two History arts college. When I arrived I think King’s may of Art research fellows in King’s, Caroline Elam have been in its anonymous phase. It had gone (1972) who was his Director of Studies, and later over to a research culture, which may have editor of the Burlington Magazine, and Charles distanced the fellows from the students. It just Hope (1972) now Director of the Warburg didn’t seem very collegiate.” Luckily for Institute. “I was definitely aware that the college Charles, that bleakness was mitigated by “the recognised Art History as a subject.” extraordinary hospitality and generosity” of As a man currently giving house room at the King’s Fellow Peter Avery. “He kept an open National Gallery to a rather expensive Rubens, house and we met all sorts of interesting did he have particular memories of the King’s people, like the poet John Heath Stubbs.” Rubens, installed a few years before his arrival? Aspects of the aesthetics of the King’s “As a student you take things as they are. And environment affected him quite deeply. “I the Chapel, like the Provost’s Lodge, did not spent my first year in the Keynes building, feature large in my student life.” It seemed to which I found bleak and inhumane – it was a have been only when he came back for the first bit of a shock to the system.” Perhaps time (for Noel Annan’s Memorial Service) that unsurprisingly, as a student of the history of he “consciously registered what an architecture as well as art, he was happier in extraordinary thing it had been to have his second year when he lived in a “nice house removed the panelling at the East End.”

Twenty years after head office and hire twenty staff. Interviewing Change of leaving King’s I find prospective candidates was a new experience myself running a for me but the team I ultimately employed, all collection of 16 of whom with one exception still work for me, direction country house hotels. has proved a huge success both in terms of It is a world away working together and in terms of driving the from my previous job business forward. Everything that followed was Julia Hands (née as a solicitor at city a first – chairing a board, getting to grips with firm Linklaters. It sales, marketing and branding, understanding Ablethorpe, 1979) was not meant to the financials and the process of budgeting and Julia Hands work out this way. the terror of public speaking. writes about her My husband and I had bought the hotels as a The current business environment is passive investment with a condition of the extremely tough but it has proved to be a good new job. bank finance that we employ another hotel one in which to learn by one’s own mistakes. company to manage them. However, less than Two years on we are in the midst of a very two years later, a growing frustration with their substantial renovation program and are style of management of the business led us to launching the new brand of Hand Picked to terminate the contract and to a decision that I take over from the previous marketing name, would take over. I had no direct experience of Arcadian. The enthusiasm of the 1000 staff the management of hotels but I spoke to who work in the hotels and the beauty of the several people in the industry who assured me restored buildings are both a source of pride that it was not rocket science. The next few and optimism for the future. change ofchange direction months were hectic with the need to find a | www.handpicked.co.uk 6 When I became Provost, I was the first scientist to occupy the post. It was a near thing. In 1689 William III tried to impose a Provost on the College, as had been the Sovereign’s supposed right. I had thought that this was thwarted by quick action on the part of the Fellows who elected Charles Roderick, the then Headmaster of Eton. However, the story, as told by John Saltmarsh in his short history of King’s, is more complicated. The right of Fellows to elect their Provost had been guaranteed by the Founder’s statute but was widely held to vest in the Sovereign, as perpetual Science founder of a royal foundation. Yet it was unwarranted intervention by the Crown in College affairs. The Isaac Newton’s drawing of Halley’s Comet Revolution of 1688 was intended to over King’s College Chapel (1680). at King’s: bring such abuses to an end and the By permission of the President and Fellows Fellows wanted to be done with royal of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. (CCCO MS 361) Patrick Bateson nominations for good and all. When Provost Coplestone died in 1689 the reflects King nevertheless tried to maintain his right intake in the arts and humanities and only and put forward a candidate who had never 40% in the sciences. The Fellowship is, been a Fellow of the College, nor was he in however, more evenly split, with 45% of the priest’s orders, nor was he Bachelor or Doctor Fellows being natural scientists, in Divinity or Doctor in Canon Law, as the mathematicians, medical scientists, computer Founder’s Statutes required. The College’s scientists and engineers. As late as 1900 the candidate was a Fellow of King’s, though College was dominated by classicists and only neither in priest’s orders, nor holding any of just over a quarter of the Fellows were in the qualifying degrees. These defects were science, engineering or technology. However, promptly supplied. The University conferred by the middle of the twentieth century the upon Charles Roderick the degree of Doctor of proportion had risen to about its present level. Laws and the Bishop of Rochester gave him Fred Sanger had been elected a Fellow in private ordination. The King tried to impose 1954 and became one of the very few people to another candidate who was a Fellow of King’s, win two Nobel Prizes. Noel Annan, who was but he wasn’t any more popular with the Provost from 1956 to 1966 and played a major College than the first royal nomination. part shaping the modern character of King’s, Eventually the King was persuaded to give in has sometimes been characterised as anti- and the College recovered in perpetuity its science. However, as somebody who was right of free election. elected a Research Fellow under his Provostship, I don’t agree! He was responsible for bringing Sydney Brenner into the Fellowship; he and Sydney worked closely If the first plan of William III had been together on projects like the founding of the Research Centre. Sydney was for many years a successful, then the College would have dominating figure on the old Electors to Fellowships. Last year he was awarded a Nobel had Isaac Newton as Provost and I Prize for Medicine and many felt that he should have had one for Chemistry long would have been the second scientist to before. In the same year Dan McKenzie was awarded the Royal Swedish Academy of hold the post. Sciences Crafoord Prize for Geosciences, which goes to those in the natural sciences who are not eligible for the Nobel Prize. I could go on Even so, two is still a small number and point to the many other examples of the compared with the forty Provosts who were remarkable range, depth and distinction of the clerics or variably distinguished figures in the current crop of King’s Fellows who are arts and humanities. Certainly, King’s has a scientists. But suffice to say that, in this reputation for being an arts college and this is company, it gives me particular pleasure to still reflected in our undergraduate admission have been the first scientist to become Provost science at king’s science at

statistics. To this day King’s takes 60% of its of the College. | 7 Books by Nicholas Bullock members (1960) Building the Post-War World Routledge, 2002. £24.99 In the 1930s modern architecture was still the exception, not the rule. By 1955, it was the style of choice for local authorities, industry, business and private Lucy Jago (1985) clients. “For Britain,” The Northern Lights Bullock writes, “it is the Penguin, 2002. £6.99 shock of the Blitz that marks the break between For the Lapps, the Northern the world of the 1930s Lights were messengers of and the war years, that God; to Icelanders, the encourages people to look spirits of the unhappy dead. forward to the future, to Lucy Jago’s book is the story start debating the form of Kristian Birkeland, the reconstruction should obsessive, whisky-drinking, take, and to begin Norwegian physicist who imaging a new post-war conducted research into the world … After 1945, the mainstream of administration of the country at the start of Aurora Borealis more than modern architecture in Britain provided the the war.” The first part of the book offers an 100 years ago, suggesting clear opportunity to test in practice new account of the debates and the key that the phenomenon was ideas – formal, social and technical – earlier buildings; this is the domain of the produced by negatively than anywhere else in Europe.” The architectural elite. The second part examines charged particles from the Architectural Review praises the book for the engagement of modern architecture with sun reaching the earth. At offering a “full and fascinating account of post-war reconstruction and the way this the time his work was how Britain endeavoured to rebuild itself then led to new forms of modern practice. rejected by orthodox opinion. after the last war … The first half brilliantly Nick Bullock is a Fellow of King’s and teaches in “A wonderful true story. Jago describes the Topsy-like state of the Cambridge and at the Architectural Association. uses the techniques of a novelist to bring to life not just the tragic, likeable figure of Birkeland, a manic Nicholas Wollaston distinguished life. Seventy depressive genius, but also (1947) years later his son, the romance of his scientific My Father, Sandy Nicholas, has been endeavour,” wrote Vanity Fair. persuaded to write a “Jago is a taut, imaginative Short Books, 2003. £12.99 memoir. He was at first writer,” said the TLS, and the As a noted Edwardian reluctant. “Having lived Guardian described the book explorer, Alexander (Sandy) under my father’s shadow, I as “The subtle achievement Wollaston (1893) survived wanted to break away from of an empathetic writer who great danger in the jungles it, not fertilise the shadow.” truly understands the poverty of Africa and New Guinea, In this book he finally of a life distinguished merely and joined Mallory as doctor confronts his loss and goes by genius.” In 1962, NASA’s on the first expedition to in search of the father he Mariner II recorded the Everest in 1921. “Cutting hardly knew. “From now presence in space of through the New Guinea on,” writes Ann Chisholm in electrified gases (solar wind jungle, he wrote to a friend rooms in Gibbs’ by an the Sunday Telegraph, “he – thinner, hotter and faster in the college, ‘December unstable undergraduate, will also be remembered as than any earthly wind) which 6th, give my love to King’s. who also killed the a father generously and deform the earth’s magnetic It’s an odd thing, but King’s policeman who was trying to delicately celebrated by the field, stretching it out like a is where I feel more firmly arrest him before turning the son who barely knew him comet’s tail away from the rooted than anywhere else.’” gun on himself. To many but has never forgotten him. earth and then collapsing it But it was as Tutor at King’s people Sandy became better The book is a model of its back again: the Aurora that he met his death in known for his appalling kind, simply told, restrained books by members Borealis. yet full of pride and loss.” | 1930. He was shot in his death than for his 8 tnk ds “The King’s touchisthat Sybillived in adds, Stansky Peter funtoread”. acute, “gracefully written, rte, writesGeordie Greig inthe written,” “Excellently researched andelegantly and style. taste Jewishness, war, homosexuality, money, new oldversus politics, British attitudes towards power, The bookusestheirlives to offer insightsinto andrestored HoughtonHall. Cholmondeley, marriedLord lived amore private life, Sybil(1894–1989) andpolitics. society, a histime, bachelor andthegreatest hostof themosteligible the early twentieth century, glamorous andwell-known figure inBritain Sir PhilipSassoon(1888–1939)was a g this who are theintriguingsubjectsof Sybil, R Sir Edward Sassoonlater married Alinede Je established themselves amongotherrich derived from opiumtrading –theSassoons withgreat wealth –partly in1858, Bombay) Arriving inLondon(from via Baghdad Y P w tiigpoiec nteatwrd high world, ttaining prominence intheart enerously illustrated double biography. l nvriyPes 03 £25.00 2003. ale University Press, doubt that there truth isany tobe demand for truthfulness andthe Thetensionbetween a naïve). exists at all(noonewants tobe scepticism that objective truth (no onewants tobefooled) and beingdeceived suspicionof truth: “exhibits twoattitudes toward Williams, says “Modern culture,” £19.95 2002. Princeton University Press, Tr Williams(1967) Bernard tshl n ti hi hlrn Philipand othschild anditistheirchildren, hile MaxEgremont inthe eter Stansky (1953)Sassoon eter Stansky si h iceo h rneo Wales. thePrinceof ws inthecircle of uth andTruthfulness Financial Times Literary Review claiming that whether they destruction which results from self- them from thekindof orat leasttosave humanities, a an disturbing bookisinpart “Thisbrilliantand writes, P Alasdair themselves topieces.” tear may in thehumanities, particularly intellectual activities, signals adanger that our It haspoliticalconsequencesand f ound isnotanabstract paradox. ttempt toreanimate the almer in calls it The SundayTelegraph , Bernard Williams to theCambridge University Library.” the Walpole papers tobesoldbythe Cholmondeleys W SirRobert thehousebesidesitsbuilder, state of person forHoughton andwas themostimportant the History atHistory Stanford University. P eter Stansky isFranceseter Stansky andCharles FieldProfessor of loe igmn JHPlumb(1939) arranged for aKingsman. alpole, aiona Berkeley. California, and alsoteachesat theUniversity of F Professor SirBernard Williams isa King’s from 1979to1987, Provost of argument.” philosophical pleasures of humour andakeen feeling for withaslysuffused Oxonian “ in the Edward Skidelsky departments.” literature Agents of theSecret real power, world of from émigrés the café politicsof urgency which represents only the political adopt arhetoricof enhanced when thehumanities frivolity is impression of “The humanities caneasily lose. claim toseriousnessthat the truthseveryday gives sciencesa presence andrelevance of arguing that the writes Williams, natural andappliedsciences,” ascompared withthe humanities, become impatient withthe “Busy peoplecanreasonably irrelevant andunimportant.” trueactually anything is say Although densely argued …itis lo fAlSusClee Oxford, AllSoulsCollege, ellow of New Statesman , writes would berelevant.” – “Ihadnever anticipated it whilein Anthropology at King’s one) his course (albeitashort Andheis grateful for Bemba. the of theparamount chief of process involved inthefuneral before describingthe he writes, however customary,” sacrifice, look favourably onhuman colonial administration didnot the course, of twentieth century, the “Inthemiddleof colour. of hiscareer –andfull account of is apersonal andanecdotal writtenwithDavidCoe, memoir, His hisfriend.” Ithink, later, and Kenneth Kaunda, president, theformer of press putit, asthelocal first thegaoler, asIwas particularly around us, changes that were unfolding our personal lives from the is totally impossible todivorce it experiences …nevertheless, family’sown andmy lives and my intended tobeanaccountof “Thiswas by hiswife Frances. Cyril was admirably supported and theirwives; of and support help andjustthemoral comfort oftenwithnooneto themselves, square milesby hundreds of administered anarea of DCs Many Congress. Zambia AfricanNational fo detain Kenneth Kaunda exileinwhich to safe placeof deemeda the DCinKabompo, go Zambia’s post-independence Rhodesiaandlater in Northern forOfficer twenty-five years in asDistrict in 1943andserved Colonial andOverseas Service Cyril Greenall joinedthe £24.50 2003. The Radcliffe Press, K Cyril Greenall(1937) lwn h omto fthe llowing theformation of aunda’s Gaoler ve net In1959Cyrilwas rnment.

9 | books by members What is art? Charles Saumarez Smith (1972), Director of the National Gallery, gave this talk at the Provost’s Seminar in February.

I suppose it was legitimate for the Provost to And yet I am not really a assume that, as Director of the National formalist. If I had been, I Gallery, I might have views on this topic. But, guess I would have tried to in reality, I realised, that it was one of those be a critic, rather than an questions that I thought about much more art historian. An art intensively and carefully when I was an historian must necessarily undergraduate, so it has required a certain have a belief, normally amount of self-analysis for me to think what unconsciously expressed my answer to such a question might be now. and nowadays not much I think I would start with a work by Josef evident in the way that the Albers, which used to hang above the fireplace subject is studied, that the of my room on the second floor of U staircase experience of a work of art and which consisted of a series of three is in some way deepened intersecting squares of gradually deepening and enriched by a better yellow. It was a declaration of my interest in knowledge of the art of a slightly and deliberately pure form: circumstances in which it nothing but a set of geometries, given an was produced. This, I additional dimension by the inclusion of realise, is a form of precisely demarcated and equivalently contextualism: that the mathematical densities of pure colour. My work acts as a veil by which friend, Stephen White, who lived on the floor one penetrates into a better understanding of below, always described it as a fried egg. I the world from which it came; and, don’t remember ever trying to persuade him reciprocally, a knowledge and understanding that it was not a fried egg, but, if I had done of the world in which a work is produced helps so, I suppose I would have done by referring to one to appreciate the problems it solves, the the visual pleasures of abstract form, a kind of language it uses, the works it comments upon, mathematics of the eye. I didn’t know about the way in which it stretches the vocabularies Albers. I didn’t feel I needed to. It was a view it inherits. Otherwise, why would one bother of the importance to visual pleasure of purely with the writing of history? So, one might say, optical characteristics, differentiating art from entirely solipsistically, that the work of art is any issues concerned with depiction or mimesis what history has defined as a work of art. Only, or representation. this is transparently not true because so much of what one studies as art was not regarded as I realise in thinking back about this episode that, art, but, instead, as building or a form of consciously or unconsciously, I was a formalist, an worship or a tool or a pot. The definition is retrospective. It is to treat the definition of art inheritor of the tradition of G.E. Moore and Clive Bell, as a form of archaeology. although I had not then – and have not since – read And, yet, I realise that to treat art as only a form of emblem, a way of understanding Clive Bell’s book, Art.I suppose I had unconsciously something else, is profoundly inadequate and absorbed a view of art as a language answerable only to assumes that one must have knowledge to understand and appreciate a work of art – which is art? itself and not to the world; in other words, it did not is manifestly not the case. At this point, I want

what consist of a relationship between form and subject matter. to mention a word which is not much used in | 10 the definition of art and that is: skill a particular form of transcendent and – the idea of the artifex, the person transformative effect on our mind, on our who pursues a set of problems in imagination and on our emotions. It is a form of making, in representation, in deep and reflective communication, and any depiction, in the application of definition of art which omits this undertow of paint onto canvas, or clay into a transcendence is surely defective. shape, or, for that matter, plastic or I have realised in trying to describe art that, polyurethane. It is not the nature of like anyone in the art world now, I am extremely the material, what material is used, wary of too tight or restrictive a definition. It is a which matters to the art work. It is loose category defined by what it is, by what what is done with it. And surely we people want to regard as art, and it is and has have not lost this aspect of skill in always been subject to multiple redefinition. our understanding of art. We may But I realise, also, that I do have to work with talk about meanings or a notion of art in what we do every day at the communities or the politics of art. National Gallery, because although the works we But, if we look at an Antony look at are all broadly and straightforwardly Gormley sculpture or a Rachel encompassed by any definition of art, we are still Whiteread, we are still responding always negotiating with categories of art and, at some level to the use of material, indeed, not least, of excellence. The first work to the challenge of casting the which we looked at as a possible acquisition after human body, or the challenge of I arrived was a work by Vasari. We were having placing the inverse of a house in a to make a decision as to how good an artist park off the Mile End Road. These Vasari was, how deserving of a place in the are all works which convey a sense National Gallery. We use a set of shorthands to of monumentality not only in what describe issues of artistic significance: the they say, but in what they are. So, I languages of form; of cultural significance – that would like to include in my is, how far a work encapsulates and helps one to definition of art something about interpret its era; of manner, as in its original making and materials, even though meaning, maniera; and of meaning. So, the sorts this may be regarded as reactionary, of issues which I have described as lying below eradicated from the modern uses of the surface of contemporary definitions of art art at its boundaries and, even if, as still deeply influence how we view it. frequently happens, the artists do There is another area in which I realise that I not themselves make the works. routinely use a set of assumptions about the And, then, of course, I am not meaning and value of art and the way that it is really prepared to dispense with viewed and understood: that is, in the ways in issues of subject matter, the which works are hung in galleries. At the expression of meaning in a work of moment, the orthodoxy is to hang works art. Having spent the last eight and historically and to interpret them according to a half years dealing with the issue of their iconography. It is taken for granted that The Adoration of the Magi: Peter Paul Rubens portraiture and how far it can be people will enjoy the works more if they know considered an art form, I am what they are about. But, interestingly, only a prepared still to argue that there is a place in small minority of people pick up the one’s understanding of art for what it represents headphones to find out more about the works and, in fact, it seems to me that a lot of of art on display. People come to look, to contemporary art, precisely that part of meditate, and to admire. They look at works of contemporary art which some people might want art in a multiplicity of different ways. We need not to describe as art, is about experience, about to avoid a definition of art which is monolithic. memory and fiction and autobiography, which is The experience of art is open-ended. where Tracey Emin comes in: she works in a So, to conclude, I feel that my definition of medium which is a form of novel without words, art, in fact, anyone’s definition of art, would baring her life and soul and her emotions in a need to include issues of form, what a work of way which is perfectly legitimate in fiction and art looks like and how it is constructed, its style surely has its place in art, perhaps more so, now and structure; some awareness of the nature of that medium is increasingly regarded as the relationship of the art work to the world it irrelevant. It’s the message, not the medium. inhabits, the ways in which a work of art can So far, I have gone some way towards express social issues, most frequently in ways describing a set of ideas about the meaning of which are essentially sublimated; a sensitivity art, but not quite far enough, because I have said to medium and technique, how something is nothing whatsoever about emotional impact, the painted, how well it is painted, its physical sense of poetry or terribilita. The experience of properties, separate from its form; and a art is, above all, a transcendent one, one which recognition that any definition must still make

can speak to a common experience beyond that allowance for the expression of meaning, the is art? of the specialist art world. We may not know content of the work of art and what it is saying what

what art is, but we know it when we see it: it has to the viewer. | 11 New Admissions Tutor for Access and Recruitment

KP: So, why two jobs? ethnic minority applications. But members Nicky Zeeman has might be surprised to know that we’ve had NZ: The workload of an Admissions Tutor has groups of 12 year-olds here, as well as Sixth grown in recent years; there is of course the been King’s Formers. Much of my work is to do with raising complex process of assessing applications, aspirations and encouraging people to think arranging interviews, making decisions, and Admissions Tutor about University in the first place. At other sending out letters. But there’s a lot more. We times I am asked to give quite detailed advice – are constantly thinking about how we can since 2001; now, the for example a school might ring and ask me to improve our procedures. And the job of do an interview workshop for their Sixth actively encouraging good potential students to job has been split Formers. So sometimes I’m wearing a broader apply is almost infinite. Oxbridge hat – not just a King’s hat. Other roles and she shares an RO: We really do mean it when we say in our are more specific to King’s itself. For instance, prospectus that ‘we welcome talented and there is also our tradition in music to maintain, expanded role with committed students irrespective of where they and we organise visits and open days in this and come from’. And indeed the number of also in other specialist subjects. Rosanna Omitowoju. applicants to Cambridge has soared in recent NZ: Rosanna teaches and recruits in the years. King’s Parade asks Classics Faculty – in fact she won a University NZ: King’s has a long-standing and innovative prize for Excellence in Teaching last year. them why and finds tradition of positively encouraging applications Classics has risen remarkably well to the from those with the potential to make the most challenge of attracting more students to study out how King’s is of the opportunities offered here – it is a a subject that is now taught in far fewer tradition of which I hope all King’s men and schools than it once was. women are proud. And in the last few decades, meeting admissions RO: Yes, and we’ve just introduced a new the College has successfully encouraged a large four-year ab initio Classics degree for those number of applications from people who in challenges. who have never taken Greek or Latin. Of the past would not have thought of applying to course, this is also a subject in which a Oxbridge. number of state and independent schools have RO: But we still seek applications from more a prestigious academic record; so I already ‘traditional’ Oxbridge backgrounds, including have contacts with a very rich diversity of independent schools. We know how much schools. So basically I have the rather students from these schools have to gain from – expansive job of encouraging people to apply and offer to – the College. One of the thrills of and Nicky has the more hard-nosed job of an education at King’s has to be the tremendous making a selection between the mostly diversity of the people who come here. excellent candidates. KP: What’s involved in the recruitment and KP: How do you select candidates? outreach side of the job, Rosanna? NZ: Well, we are looking for highly motivated RO: I go out to visit schools all over the country students who are capable of rigorous, – both state and independent schools – and we innovative and creative thought; we are also arrange school visits to the College. As interested in the skills they already have and members of King’s know, the College was a also in their capacity to rise to new challenges. pioneer of early access-widening initiatives, We use a range of data to make an assessment, admissions

| from admitting women in 1972 to encouraging as different candidates shine in different ways. 12 We take applicants’ personal statements and teachers’ references seriously, as well as any exam results achieved so far. The interview is important, but when candidates come to King’s ALISON CARTER they may also sit a subject-related test. RO: When we abolished the entrance exam, this was because it was felt that it was discriminatory, as some schools could prepare their students for it better than others. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. Many applicants are afraid that the interview is dangerously ‘subjective’, and in Medicine, for instance, a university-wide exam has been introduced, partly because it is seen as being fairer! We still think the interview has an important part to play, and allows many candidates to show us their particular talents, but it is never the only thing we judge on. NZ: We ensure that every candidate has more than one form of contact with College assessors while they are here. My own view is that the more forms of information and the more various Left: Rosanna Omitowoju and right: Nicky Zeeman they are, the better; similarly, the more interviewers who are involved in the interview KP: Does the possibility of an ‘Access Tsar’ Contact details: process, the more all-rounded and fair it must be. appointed by the government worry you? www.kings.cam.ac.uk The King’s College website KP: What are the challenges facing you both as NZ: No, not at the moment. We work hard to carries information about admissions tutors? give applicants every chance to display their academic skills and potential, and to assess admissions and an online NZ: As more pupils get all As at A-Level, the them fairly. We welcome government interest prospectus. If you would job of choosing between them is getting in this important issue and think that open like to talk to Rosanna harder. We have to generate more of the debate can only be a good thing – as long as it Omitowoju or Nicky information on which to make our decisions is properly informed about the work we do. Zeeman about any aspect ourselves. Another big challenge is We have nothing to hide. However, we would of the admissions process maintaining both our outreach to potential be very concerned indeed if our power – or arrange a visit to your applicants who might not have considered to make decisions on educational and academic school, or for your school applying here – a policy we intend to continue grounds – and to be fair to all individuals – please contact them – and at the same time making renewed efforts – was in any way circumscribed by government or Patricia Edge on: to reassure schools in the independent sector controls. [email protected] that we are not prejudiced against their pupils. Tel: 01223 331417 RO: We know there are teachers in KP: Do you enjoy your job? independent schools who continue to tell NZ: Yes, enormously. I meet, and read the pupils and their parents that King’s application forms of, some very extraordinary discriminates against them, but this is simply people. Many of them are clearly going to go not true. It really is misinformation. We have on to live very special lives and have no quotas and treat every application on its remarkable careers. What administrative job in own individual merits. Our statistical analysis the College could be more important and is only undertaken after the selection essential to get right? The most heart-breaking procedure is completed. Getting out the aspect of the job, of course, is having to reject message that we are trying our hardest to be some of the very interesting people whom totally fair to all candidates, irrespective of their I meet who are nevertheless not yet ready background, is harder than you might think. for the gruelling demands of Cambridge The message is true – but not as headline- courses. grabbing as the distortions are. I realise that there are King’s men and NZ: In recent years, the ratio of our women who regret that we don’t give applications from state and independent school preferential treatment to applicants from their students has usually been quite similar to the families. I can only say that I hope any warm ratio of offers we make to these students: this and valued memories that King’s members year the ratio of offers to state and independent have from their own education here will school students was 77% to 23% respectively. If encourage them to respect the fact that we anything, however, statistically independent have to offer this wonderful opportunity to school applicants are slightly more likely to those whom we genuinely believe to be best equipped to make the most of it. receive an offer. admissions | 13 14 | foundation lunch The Foundation Lunch annual event: anew Launch of read through Gibbon’s my tutor,atwhich hesuggestedthatIhadbetter read History.Iremember myfirstmeetingwith twenty-five differentkindsofrope. AtKing’sI semaphore alphabetandtheproperties of various comparativelyuselessthings likethe course. Thenavalpartconsisted oflearning able tospendsixmonthshere on anavalshort King’s thanIhave.Thefactis that Iwasonly far moredistinguishedacademicrecordsat very muchsurprised,asmanyofyouherehave propose thetoastofCollegetoday.Iwasalso College. Lord Moran(1943)proposedatoasttothe in theSpring. provided theperfectexcusetovisitCambridge bulbs inflowerontheBacks,eventalso Charter. Coincidingwithawonderfuldisplayof matrix oftheCollegesealandFoundation exhibition withmatriculationphotographs,the tea. RosMoad,theArchivist,hadarrangedan Hall, wereentertainedbyKing’sVoicesandhad gathered intheCombinationRoom,dined on 2April1441.Membersandtheirguests Foundation StoneoftheCollegebyHenryVI, marking theanniversaryoflaying Lunch, on4April2003.Thisisanewevent 1933 –1946totheFirstAnnualFoundation welcomed membersandguestsfromtheyears John Barber,DirectorofDevelopment, “I wasverymuchhonouredtobeasked Decline and Fall , and to King’s. Myeducation remainedincomplete. nearly fortyyears. So,sadly,Inevercameback turned outIworked fortheForeignOffice which wasshorthanded.Idid so andasthings hand foraweekortwointheForeign Office, knew slightlyandheaskedme ifIwouldlenda hobbling aboutStJames’sPark Imetaman we hearrathertoomuchthese days.WhenIwas inappropriately, called“friendly fire”,ofwhich Highlanders –aninstanceofwhatisnow, myself shotbytheArgyllandSutherland end oftheEuropeanwarImanagedtoget looked forwardtoreturningKing’sbutatthe invariable greeting“Blessyou”. delightful man,atrueoriginalwithhis liked ProvostSheppard,awildlyeccentricbut the Deancalledonus,ratherthanwehim.I bird. Andthelecturewassuperb. panelling intheSenateHouse,likeanexquisite made awonderfulpictureagainstthedark elegant greysuitwithwhitekidglovesandhe everyone wasinwartime,butheappearedan Beerbohm. Wewereallscruffilydressedas Rede LectureonLyttonStracheygivenbyMax But Idorememberonewonderfullecture,the comedies –“TryWhite.He’squiteamusing”. he mighthavebeendiscussingmusical again. InrecommendinglecturesIshouldgoto when Ihadfinishedit,shouldreaditthrough But alltoosoonIlefttojointheNavy. I wasimpressedwhenarrivedtofindthat Merrilees andDavidMerrilees Bendall (1938) et Gerard (1937), Arnhold Left: bv:Lord andLadyMoran Above: came upProvostSheppardhadwrittentome about me,thoughIrememberedthatwhen sheep. AssuchIthoughttheCollegewouldforget continue thatwillbecomethenorm… Perhaps iftheproblemsabouttuitionfees long asmine,butwebothhadourtimecutshort. year, soherUniversityeducationwastwiceas Turkey. Shehadbeenanundergraduatefora other place,atStHilda’s,andIcarriedheroffto When Imarriedmywifeshewasstudyingatthe So, asfarKing’swasconcernedIalost how muchheappreciatedtheCollege’sacting The newDean,ChristopherRyan,spokeabout independence andacademicexcellence.” famous Choiranditsgreattraditionof institution, withitsmagnificentChapel,world unworthy, asamemberofthiswonderful what todrink. College cellar,withknowledgeableguidanceon Lastly weareevenallowedtobuywinefromthe It isagreatprivilegetobeaccepted,however

spirit.” and supportof its independent have tosignalour appreciation conventional bounds,wetoday to givepeopleachanceoutside College tobeablecontinue of Chapel.Ifwewishthe ideally qualifiedmetobeDean felt suchapersonalhistory Cambridge Collegewouldhave University ofSussex.Notevery Professor ofItalianatthe my keepforoveradecadeas mid forties,andthenearned Anglican byconvictioninmy Catholic priest,becamean “I beganmycareerasaRoman career patternsorbackgrounds. chance” topeoplewithunusual with panachein“givinga EADEN LILLEY singing ofKing’sVoices. things tohearthesplendid have beenable,amongother occasions likethis,whenwe so. Thenwehavenotable this yetbutfirmlyintendtodo guest. Ihaven’tmanagedtodo in Hallsometimes,bringinga would liketocomeanddine reading. ThenIwasaskedif which Ifoundfascinating obituary noticesofKingsmen, extraordinarily felicitous and whichcontainedthe which allofyouwillhaveseen sent theAnnualReports College didnotforget.Iwas Much tomysurprisethe us knowwhatyouaredoing”. saying: “Keepintouchandlet

15 | foundation lunch 16 | foundation lunch f isas in itsoriginallanguage, TheEnglishpoem, in 1829. until itwas soldtotheUniversity more thanthree hundred years for otherthanthechapel, site, anditsprincipal King’s College, was thefirst siteof this court f the Thelocation of ‘Clare Hall.’ thenknownas Clare College, facing is nowtheOldSchools, w Latin torecord where thestone contemporary notewrittenin margin besidethepoemisa Inthe 1441. on2April, College, f to Cambridge the tolay commemorate VI’s Henry coming apoemwrittento of a copy manuscriptwith fifteenth-century King’s archives College includea F Finding the equally unique. f the thelocation of knowledge of and Cambridge orOxford, f only suchrecord knowntoexist placing afoundation stoneisthe theFounder’s This record of reads, translated, thestonewhich, location of is theLatin noterecording the In themargin besidetheseverses ollows: oundation stonereminds usthat oundation stonefor King’s oundation stoneistherefore of theancientcolleges of or any oundation Stone as laid: in the gateway towhat inthegateway as laid: graunt mighttheHolyTrinitee. With whominheventobelaureat first foundedthisedification, Clare Hall. southern one,ofthegatefacing right-hand tower, thatis,the This stonewasplacedinthe To kneling onhisknee, The XIXyereof[his]reigne,here tyme SundayinthePassion, The secundedayofAprill,that and one, thousand fourhundredfourty The yereofOureLordea hys clergytenderlyremembryng, Here [e]stablisshedthiswerke, had leydtheanoyntedstone, After thatHisExcellenceatEton Soverein LordtheKing, borne HenrytheSextOur Seint Nicholasinwhosdaywas

the honourofSeintNicholas the lunch,andhisnewbook, Cyril Greenall(1937)broughthisdaughterto King’s Parade of sixty years ago… sixtyyears of Len Kingdom– thoughneitherofthemwas dinners, andkept upwithDavidWillcocksand years abroad,but I’vebeentomanyofthe librarian. Itwaswonderful.Ispent twenty-five extra thingslikethearchivistand meetingthe enchanted bythewholeevent, especially allthe which appearsonthebookspage. “Iwas Hugh deGlanville Right andbelow: ih:Freshmen Right: (1943) (1943) gathered afew memories Kaunda’s Gaoler , have totellpeopleabout and Isaidifyousendmedownmighthaveto that they’dbeenhavingaboys’partynight, would havetosendmedown.ButIpointedout said Ihaddonesomething and thenDadieRylandscalledameeting “Somehow, newsofitgotintothestudentpaper porters andthepartywentonuntil2.00am. his rooms.They’dbeenongoodtermswiththe Honer amongthem–hadcomeupforapartyin from Sadler’sWells–MargotFonteynandMary recalled anoccasionwhenalivelygroupofgirls giver andSecretaryoftheBalletSocietylater University atski-ing.Hehadbeenagreatparty- now livesinBrazil,alsorepresentedthe look likethemanIremembered.”Gerard,who had beeninourboat1938–thoughhedidn’t was amusing…oneonmytable,CyrilDawson, heads …nothingnice-looking!ButIenjoyedit,it photographer. “Somanybaldheadsandwhite said hebelievedIwouldhaveaverynicetime. hadn’t heardher!Donald,withallhischarm, Bond Streetand Ineversawhimagain.” living withfour inKensington.’Hegotoffat woman inChelsea.’ ‘Ha!’,Irepliedcheerily,‘I’m said, Glancing roundandthenleaning towardsme,he ‘pop’ inBondStreet.Iaskedwhere henowlived. he confided,wasasilversalver hewasoffto of abusbutAlex,carryinglarge parcelwhich, who shouldcometositdownnextmeontop I wassharingaKensingtonflatwithfourgirls, Years later,whenasamedicalstudentinLondon his raffishairandfamiliaritywiththeroyals. polio –ratherimpressedsomeofusfreshersby Duchess ofKent.“Alex–partiallydisabledby in 1939,hadbeenbefriendedbytheDukeand Alex, whosefamily,exiledfromSilesiabyStalin exotic Polishrefugeeonhisstairinfirstyear, matriculation photobroughtmemoriesofan doctor nowinvolvedinpublishing,the he presentedmewithmyMA.” or solaterweshookhandsveryamicablywhen Gerard Arnhold(1937)feltsorryforthe To HughdeGlanville(1943)aretiredtropical sotto voce , ‘Actually,I’mlivingwitha your very bad just hadtopretendI quite safehere?’I Cyril’s goingtobe Beves, ‘Isuppose saying toDonald I rememberher King’s –tookmeup brother hadbeento mother –whose and whenmy when Iwassixteen My fatherhaddied for homosexuality. King’s wasnotorious meet her.Inmyday, would havelikedto woman Provostand to hearabouta Friday. Iwasthrilled able tobethereon party! Andayear and they “If you’re asking people to support the College, you need to know what you’re talking about – and in twenty five ALISON CARTER years here I have met and taught a lot of people. This has given me a good idea of what’s special about King’s and its members. The major challenges for the Development Office are increasing available funding for teaching and research at King’s, providing financial support for our students, and maintaining and improving our buildings and facilities. John Reduced government funding is likely to continue, and this together with increased top-up fees and/or a graduate tax will Barber have serious consequences for everyone in higher education. The New Director This makes the case for colleges and universities of Development engaging the support of their alumni stronger than ever. John Barber This has three key implications. First, I think we strategies for achieving its goals. Here I see a must share more information with members potentially expanded role for King’s College about the College’s current situation, its plans Association. Until now KCA has organised an and its goals, and this includes financial annual lunch and collaborated in producing the matters. If we’re asking members to contribute Register, but it hasn’t seen itself as being to funding our activities, we need to be more involved in what goes on in the College. With visibly accountable for how we use our the creation of the new post of Director of resources. Conveying information can take KCA, I think this will change. And I look forward to greater liaison between KCA and the Development Office. Our interests, though John Barber is a musician and historian distinct, certainly overlap. Thirdly, I want to increase the number of of Russia – his new book about the occasions when the College and members can reconnect, and when members and their Siege of Leningrad will be published guests can come and enjoy what King’s has to offer. We’ve already added the Foundation here in the autumn – as well as a Lunch and the Development Summer Party to the existing, very successful, Garden Party, the marathon runner. But it’s his time as traditional Non-Resident Members’ Dinner and the Provost’s Seminar. We also hold receptions Fellow, Director of Studies and for Chapel Foundation members after concerts given by the Choir here and in London. I want Vice-Provost that he sees as the most to make it easier for members to take up their standing invitation to dine at High Table. valuable background for his new post. Numbers of non-resident members dining have fallen off in recent years; this is a great pity, because we all benefit from the exchange of news and ideas. The current arrangements various forms, and not only the printed word. are being reviewed, and I hope we’ll see an Email and the internet are excellent ways for upturn before long. the College to stay in touch with members and I’m really delighted to have been asked to do I think we could use them better. this job. I look forward to meeting more Second, I think there should be more members, discussing the issues and explaining opportunity for members of the College to our policies. With the commitment, support express their thoughts about its past, present and trust of members I am confident we can and future, and contribute to working out meet these challenges.” john barber – development director john barber – development | 17 18 | here and now – resident members members resident now – Here and [email protected] F for change. consumer awarenessandpressing exploitative industries,raising source clothingthroughnon- putting pressureoncompaniesto garment andsportswearindustryby to improveworkingconditionsinthe The CleanClothingCampaignaims Waterman, BoZhaoandKateSheen. Mansell, BonnyIndra,Claire designers/makers includedAmber peeled fornextyear’sshow.”Other feature inKing’ssokeepyoureyes fashion showbecomearegular too. Wedefinitelyhopetoseethis everyone involvedhadagreattime two veryworthycharities,but did wemanagetoraisemoneyfor night wentamazinglywell–notonly founder ofKing’sCouture,said,“The the EatingDisordersAssociation. the CleanClothingCampaignand just under£400,whichwillbenefit lighting andintotalthenightraised making theclothestoorganising levels oftheproduction,from King’s studentswereinvolvedinall is madeinappallingconditions. high streetclothing,muchofwhich time providingarealalternativeto and designclothes,whileatthesame creativity andskillneededtomake King’s setuptoencouragethe King’s Couture,anewsocietywithin booth. Theshowwasorganisedby arena, completewithcatwalkandDJ Hall transformedintoafashionshow Tuesday 4MarchsawKing’sDining In thespaceofa(veryshort)hour, statement F or more information contact Tigger MacGregor(2000),the ashion einr Tigger MacGregor Designer: oe:BoZhao Model:

SARAH DONADY s II e oiai(02,SlyBok(99,An tat(02,Jo Mason(2002), (2002), AnnaStuart SallyBrook(1999), Meg Morigami (2002), 1st VIII: to inviteanywomen women areencouraged members. AllKing’s and non-resident fellows, students,staff women atKing’s– is alwaysopentoall environments. Theevent from male-dominated empowering change a refreshingand night suchasthismakes many womenfeelthata rare inCambridge,and Female-only eventsare female relationships. possible forms!)andalso achievement (inall to celebratefemale the eveningistwofold– and ClareBurrage. Officers, AmberMansell outgoing Women’s Dinner, organisedbythe annual King’sWomen’s guests attendedthesixth Kingswomen andtheir In February,eighty side, the 1stboat happening. Onthe men’s this from prevented river carnage bump backupagain, to promising efforts of theriver. Despitevery ended upatthebottom line onthefirstdaythey r over-bump justbefore because ofanunlucky second timeever. But Lent Bumpsforthe 2nd VIIIqualifiedforthe This year, thewomen’s R W eaching thefinishing J owing The motivationbehind naFed 20) lao ol(99,Mnc u 20) Monica Stensland(2000) MonicaGuy (2001), EleanorToal (1999), enna Fields(2000), omen’s dinner event of theirown. also organising analumni September, KCBCare alumni weekend in University-organised In conjunctionwiththe ourway. trickling isdefinitely wisdom a bitofrowing so development squad, the heavyweightBlues is currently rowing with Captain ChrisBraithwaite years ofstagnation. after whatseemslike managed tobumpup with therightmental “anything ispossible” made itclearthat with fallingin.Both the ice,andevencoped survived threeweekson their firsttrip,butthey when theysetoutfor Arctic experienceatall neither ofthemhadany inspirational message– them certainlyhadan North Pole.Thetwoof team towalkthe first all-femalerelay who werepartofthe mother anddaughter Victoria Richesarea the dinner.Sueand embodied bothaimsof aunts andcousins. along to”.Oryoursisters, thing tobringmymum dinner as“theperfect described thisyear’s One undergraduate them tosharethenight. particularly specialto The speakersthisyear Saturday 27September. in thealumniregatta on enteratleastoneVIII to there isenoughinterest September, andwehope dinner onFriday26 There willbeanalumni newsletter ‘Henry’snewsletter VIII’. subscription onour ( Dave Eyers contact ouralumnisecretary F [email protected] Monica Guy F Jackson their book and signedcopiesof questions fromthefloor, ice, thespeakersinvited summary oflifeonthe down-to earth!) ways. Afteralively(and motivated inallsortsof dinner guestsfeeling attitude, andleftthe ethos oftheevent. the atmosphereand after dinner,praising Sarah Choualsospoke (and Churchillgraduate) and theirrepresentative sponsored byUnilever, are seekingsponsorship too. andwe especially welcome, more female alumniare better thanthisyear’s – and it willbeeven bigger f W contact thecurrent KCSU is beingplannedalready – Next year’s Women’s Dinner rmr eal.Hopefully or more details. [email protected] or more general information or more detailscontact: omen’s Officer The eventwaskindly ( [email protected] Frigid Women. on Sarah ) for a )

ALISON CARTER 31 January 2003 31 January all inwhite: King’s application removesthe‘wild-type’ useless. Repeatedpesticide invade, eventuallyrenderingcontrol that theresistantformisableto much ofthewild-typeiskilledoff pathogen overthelastfewyears. fungicides hasdevelopedinthis resistance tothestrobilurin wheat orbarley.Widespread fungus whichattackstheleavesof pest interactionispowderymildew,a conditions.) Anexampleofacrop- reduced survivalinadverse ability toinfectplanttissueand in reducedsporeoutput, pathogen, thisisusuallymanifested absence ofthepesticide.Forafungal than theoriginal‘wild-type’in offspring orhasashorterlifespan fungicide-resistant pestproducesless (A fitnesscostmeansthata established inthepestpopulation. the wild-typeandneverbecome means thattheyareout-competedby pesticide, thefitnesscostusually occurring, butintheabsenceof single mutation. easily inthepestpopulationviaa allows resistancetodeveloprelatively organisms. However,thisspecificity detrimental effectstonon-target chemicals, soastominimise been spentdevelopingpest-specific agriculture. Billionsofdollarshave biggest problemsfacingmodern Pesticide resistanceisoneofthe a battlewecan’t win? P Richard Hall My PhD: Once thepesticideisdeployed,so The mutationsarenaturally esticide resistance –

DAVID GOOD population. genetic diversityinthepest pesticide’s longevity,bymaintaining play akeyroleinpreserving chemical-free organicfarmingmay that theincreasedpopularityof sparingly. Itisinterestingtonote resource, andmustbedeployed However, itisafiniteandcostly especially indevelopingcountries. for controllingcropdisease, resistant mutants. type tosurviveout-compete whilst allowingenoughofthewild- sufficient controltomaintainyield optimal balancebetweenapplying relative tothewild-type. resistance oftencarryafitnesscost Fortunately, mutationsconferring emergence ofsuperbugs). observed inhospitalswiththe chemical controlappearing(as ‘super-pests’ resistanttoallformsof approach aggravatestheriskof applied inmixtures.However,this combinations ofpesticidesare In ordertoavoidpesticidefailure, invade, resultinginmajoryieldloss. pest andallowsresistantformsto ‘Modelling fungicideresistance’. HisPhDtitleis Sciences department. inthePlant (1988), CAGilligan under Prof andModellingGroup the Epidemiology Richard Hallisinhis3rd yearandworks in Pesticide technologyisessential My workfocusesonfindingthe

DAVID GOOD councils andstately companies, town schools, livery Cambridge colleges, cathedrals, Oxford and parish churches, States. Theyinclude Europe andtheUnited institutions inEngland, wide rangeof to theexhibitionfrom a The objectswillcome 1987/88. at theRoyalAcademyin Chivalry (1200–1400) acclaimed Ageof successor tothe VIII. Theexhibitionisthe IV tothereign ofHenry from thereign ofHenry of latemedievalart the firsttimeglory 9 Octobershowingfor 1400–1547, on forEngland Art exhibition, Gothic: major autumn Museum willopenits andAlbert The Victoria King’s treasuresatV&A T he King’sFoundation Charter 1443, re-cut 1449. matrix oftheCollege, here, andthesilverseal display case,illustrated in apurpose-designed dated 16March 1446, upon ActofParliament, Foundation Charter the exhibition: send twotreasures to Centre, King’s isableto last novelintheArchive re Patricia Cornwell,who American author Glover (1989)and donations from James Thanks togenerous survived. long agoperiodhave fromand artefacts this – anywhere where art international museums private ownersand homes aswell 2003 –18January 2004. At theV&Afrom 9October searched someofher

RICHARD HALL

19 | king’s treasures at V&A 20 | events & crossword kings.cam.ac.uk chapel.secretary@ by email: Secretary inwritingor A 1 Octobereachyear. basisfromserved on afirst-come-first- 2 tickets every 4years, Alumni are entitledto * www.kings.cam.ac.uk w and events seeour about Choirconcerts F or further information or further Advent Procession for pply totheChapel ebsite at vns20 Mugwump Events 2003 90;performance at 21.00. 19.00; Hall–rehearsals at Concert start will be trying toraisewill betrying £150,000. Studentcallers 1 October2003. place between 11 September and This year’s campaignwilltake T 11 September: contributions for members or withnews W Development Office. with thisvisitpleasecontactthe arrange meetingsinconnection USmembers any wishto If East CoastinDecember2004. linked totheChoirTour tothe aplanningvisit of This ispart Regale. performance byCollegium Yorkdinner inNew witha There willbea Development. Provost-Elect andDirector of Yo New toWashington, confirmed) in early September2003(tobe avisit King’s basedintheUSAof Advance noticeallmembers of King’s USAvisit Early September: donors ontheBackLawn. Invitation-only reception for Development SummerParty 12 July: Cancelled. Garden for Party 1985–1997. 28 June: 21 June: www.foundation.cam.ac.uk/ is available on Alumni weekend information Lady MitchellHall. 16.15, Saturday 27September, University Challenge, is onthecelebrityteamfor (1965) Simon Hoggart Brahms will leadascratch choirtosingthe Ben Bayl(1997) play will beperforming hisone-man Corin Redgrave (1958) 1971 –1974. have beensenttomembers Dinnerinvitations Non-Residents, Alumni Weekend 27 and28September: W 14.30, 27 September, please contacttheEditor. elephone Campaign ould any USA-basedKing’sould any lsnHl,Churchill College. olfson Hall, rk

Blunt Speaking and BostonbytheProvost, R equiem K CA Lunch at King’s Parade

the West Road on Saturday , J Antwerp andAmsterdam. inHertogenbosch, Concerts 15–17 December: (from November). Box 01223331212 Office F 6 December: Box 01619079000. Office Manchester. Bridgewater Hall, 1 December: Procession for Advent*. 30 November: Holloway. Fr Cambridge Festival Concert. 9 November: MichaelmasTerm. of First service 4 October: Credit Card bookings331212. Tickets from Porter’s Lodge 18.00. Liturgy ofStJohnChrysostom 16 July: EasterTerm. of Last services 13 July: broadcast live byBBCRadio. To be Cambridge. College, J 2 July: Choir Concerts Pa Development Summer 17 July: (1965 –1974tbc). Party Garden 19 June: (1947 –1952tbc). Foundation Lunch 24 March: Dates for 2004 by entertainment anddinnerwith Choir concert f Christmas fundraisingevent Christmas A Celebrationof 19 December: announced. Speaker andtopictobe The Provost’s Seminar 13 November: London. Y 15 October: 01223 331313. Development Office F Companies. Group of Sponsored byTheMarshall (1975 –1978). Non-Residents weekend 24/25 September: or the Chapel Foundation.or theChapel oint Evensong at StJohn’s ohn Fortune ounder’s Concert. Day or information callthe ear Representatives meetingin ench music andworks by r ty (by invitation only). invitation ty (by . J ohn Bird and ohn Bird 15 2 Down cross thepatio?(1,9,2,2,3,8,4,2,3,5) 10 9 27across 12down, 1, Across Solution innextissue 25 22 9across 20, 19 17 12 8 7 6 5 4 3 27 26 24 23 21 18 16 14 13 12 11 straight (8) by Communistadministration(9) compulsive behaviour(9) See Break anicepot–keepingitinthefamily(7) Push southtoSussextown(5) Encourage onetogetlaid(3) Stop, ariver, stop!(6) Split hitsprotests (4,7) Orange vitamincontainedinflavouringcaused Man inspotshippingroute (7) Roger’s upinastateofpanic,triestosetthings A party inchaos(3) A party Getting hitched?(5) Feminist writinginEnglishismore naive(7) Timothy hasEastEuropean backingfortones(7) setonfire,Post Office thenourfirstbankdestroyed See See Guardian losesway, stumblesuponlizard (6) (8) ofopencurtain sideeffect Unfortunate Beers around thebarwithsecret society(8) Acts ofecstasyoverspecksdust(6) Excuse apoorspecimen(7) A flashofforkonbacon(7) Bird giveskisstonag(7) W Score withKingsley’s girl?(6) A numberfound1across inaddledstate(8) ickedness, thewickednessinbeingteetotal(7) 20 down 1 1 Across Hostels producing vegetables(6,6) (6) Ah! Seedirection tostepsifyou

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