CONTENTS Review of the year . .. .. .. .. .. ...... .............. .... .. ........ 4 Message from the Master . .... .. .... .. .. .. .... .... .. .................. 7 Commemoration of Benefactors . .. .. .. .. .. ... ..... ....... 11 Robbie as an undergraduate .... ..... ............ ...... ........ ....... 15 A Void in Second Court . .. ........... ................ ... ............. 18 The Ospreys ........ ............. .............. .. .. ................ 21 The Nightmare XI .. .................... .... ... ............... .... 22 Colonel Richard Robinson .. 25 . 30 Sahara .................. Sir Harry Hinsley, a footnote ...... .. ....... ................ ... ... 31 The Organists ............................................................... 34 The Poor's Soup ....................... ............................. .... 35 The Eagle is published annually by St John's College, Cambridge, and sent free Life at St John's during the War ......... ........... ..... ......... ..... 38 of charge to members of St John's College and other interested parties. Articles to be considered for publication should be addressed to: The Editor, The Eagle, The Bursary Scheme ........ .... ........... ....... ...... ... .... ... ...... 42 St John's College, Cambridge, CB2 lTP. The Uppsala Exchange . ... ....... .... ...... .. ... ............ .... .... .... 46 St John's College Book Reviews . ........... ..... ............. .................. 50 Cambridge CB2 1TP Obituaries ..... .. 60 ·············································· 102 http: I I www.joh.cam.ac. uk I Societies' Reports Sports Reports . .... 134 General telephone enquiries: 01223 338600 General fax enquiries: 01223 337720 College Notes ... ..... 185 General email enquiries: [email protected] Fellows Appointments and Distinctions .. ............... ..... ..... 200 Admissions enquiries: [email protected] ········· ················· 203 Members' News .......... Further information about dining arrangements and contacting the College is ... ..... .... ..... ..... ... ....... .. ......... 276 given on page 201 Donations to the Library .. Project Management: Magnolia Concept (01608 664393) Published by St John's College, Cambridge 2000 REVIEW OF THE YEAR 5 REVIEW OF THE YEAR Playing Fields where we welcomed a new Groundsman, complete with new baby, and the Chaplain introduced a mixed doubles tournament. The sun is finally shining, the Bumps are a hazy memory and exams Down at the Boathouse the LMBC are preparing to share their new even more so, and soon graduation day will be upon us. Just when we improved Boathouse with members of one of the red-brick colleges. think we are free to party all day and all night, we remember that the Social interaction between St John's and Robinson is expected to Review of the Year needs writing. increase dramatically as a result, but there is some concern that if the 1st men continue to fall in the Bumps, Robinson may pose a serious threat. Our attempt to write our piece didn't begin well when it turned out that the email system had gone wrong and the meeting in the Bar (where St John's has never been a radical College and so it was that around 100 else) was only attended by one of us, who tried very hard to pretend students signed up for a rent strike in the Michaelmas Te rm - after they'd that she always sat in the Bar on her own at lunchtime. Things did paid their bills. Elsewhere around College students really did strike, but improve, but only just. What we really needed was a Committee, or a before Johnians had a chance to withhold their rent for the Lent Te rm, sub-Committee or even an ad-hoc Committee, but we had to make do the JCR, SBR and College agreed on the terms of a Bursary scheme with an informal group. which had been in the pipeline for a while. As one student remarked 'everyone loves College so much that they wouldn't really want to rock The Michaelmas Term was spent preparing for the 'Millennium Bug' the boat'. with all computer systems tried and tested and assurances received from suppliers of electrical goods. The working group meetings were If St John's is not known for its political activity, the College's graduate enjoyed by all who participated and Johnians will be relieved to hear students are even less radical in their outlook. It came as quite a surprise that the only systems that failed were the fridges - and in any case to us to hear that the SBR Committee are considering de-affiliating from nobody noticed in the Buttery. CUSU. We can take comfort, though, in the fact that the main issue facing them this year was whether to change the pictures which hang in The Domestic Bursar, Richard Robinson, was in charge of the the SBR. reconnaissance for the Millennium, as well as many other aspects of College life. We were very sad to see Richard go (only after a long round Throughout college, both junior and senior members could be seen of retirement parties), but were pleased to gain a whole new military reading about such student issues and antics in The Cambridge Student, vocabulary with the new Domestic Bursar, Commodore John Harris. the new highbrow rival to Varsity. Co-founded by a Johnian, the Commodore Harris comes to us from a life in submarines so it should newspaper managed to remind us that things sometimes do happen come as no surprise that we are 'going round the buoy' and that the new outside the cosy world within the college gates. urns outside the library were purchased as a result of the students So as we enter May Week we can look back on the year and say that 'dirtying the deck' with cigarette ends. 'Downstream' we expect the worked out OK in the end. All that remains is for the May College to be 'shipshape'. everything Ball Committee to conjure up another evening of magic this year. They Supporters of College sport will be pleased to know that Room Cricket could learn a few lessons from Jim Scott who wowed the crowds on has returned to College after an absence of many years when the Master Magdalene Bridge and the ADC with his Houdini-style magic. He invited the Eagles and Flamingoes back to the Lodge for a game after became the latest in a long line of Johnian media stars when the the first joint dinner. We have heard that the Master participated but we illustrious local radio station broadcast live from Magdalene Bridge as do not know for which team he played. Other changes took place on the Jim was bundled into the Cam in a box. The Archivist and Finance 6 REVIEW OF THE YEAR Manager wove magic of a different kind, also at the ADC, when they MESSAGE FROM THE MASTER were cast as Scrooge and Scrooge's nephew respectively in A Christmas Carol. Some kind of reversal of their normal roles, but entertaining none First Class Education the less. 0 wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us to see oursels as others see us! At the Soon we shall be looking forward to a new intake of freshers, all eagerly moment, in Cambridge Colleges, we only have to look in the morning embarking on their careers as Johnians. Who knows, perhaps one of newspapers to get one view of ourselves, albeit one that is more than them will be writing this piece next year ... difficult for those of us who work here to recognise. Other views we collect: from students on their supervisors (as well as from supervisors G-IC on their supervisees), from applicants for admission on the Tutors and MARJ other Fellows who have interviewed them, and so on. In some cases it LMBL-L is difficult to know what to make of the comments made: e.g. the CMT applicant in engineering who wrote "I became very nervous when I saw a pencil on the desk" or the aspiring economist who thought "the interviewer was friendly and it was clear to me that he was willing to learn". On the other hand, I immediately identified with the mathematician who remarked "no one told me what to do so I just walked around the town"; it was just what happened to me thirty-eight years ago. Even more perceptive observations came in a thank-you letter from young visitors from a school in Lambeth that is a participant in our EAGLE project there. Mr Nolan's talk on law and the way government works was clearly very informative and much enjoyed but even more striking was the Hall. It was "massive" and looked "really expensive" and, with "its long tables and gold cutlery", it reminded them of the "first class rooms on the Titanic". Even though the gold cutlery must have been in the imagination, these innocent and appreciative comments give cause for thought. It is no bad thing to be prompted in this way to cons�der whether we are not sitting comfortably in First Class, getting on with our reading, whilst in the gloom outside an iceberg approaches. We must keep on inspecting ourselves for any signs of malignant complacency but I think that here the bill of health remains clean. However, there is another lesson in this: even though our students are under less financial pressure and are better supported in most ways than those at other Universities, as those of us with children who have studied elsewhere know very well, we have the false image of being expensive. 8 MEsSAGE FROM THE MASTER MESSAGE FROM THE MASTER 9 When it comes to encouraging applications from as wide a field of wife and I have the privilege of entertaining freshmen to lunch on potential undergraduates as possible, external perceptions are vitally Sundays throughout the Michaelmas Term. An increasing number come important. Although costs here remain comparatively low, and rents for from overseas, and we should not be surprised if some students from accommodation remain below both national and local comparisons, this country seek to go the other way, although the proportion remains charges have been rising in real terms because of the financial pressures small at the undergraduate level. But more than half of our graduate on the universities, and on Oxford and Cambridge colleges in particular.