THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL MAGAZINE // AUTUMN 2014
CREATING A LEGACY Autumn 2014
Welcome Contents Cover Features nonesuch images 3 Autumn 2014 A living legacy 7 Editors Hilary Brown From centre working Alumni stories 10, 13, 18 and 23 Catherine Lee clockwise: The Wills The Brunel connection 14 Nick Riddle Memorial Building Contributing Editors // The University of Generation gains 20 Hannah Ford Bristol hot-air balloon Lines in the sand 24 Freya Sterling // Clifton Suspension Managing Editors Bridge // Jazmin David Alder // Director of Marketing and Sawyers (LLB 2013-) Communications // Sir Winston Churchill Tracey Beck // Head of // The Matthew of 7 Supporter Engagement Foundation Bristol // The Victoria Jill Cartwright // of the future Head of Public Rooms // Banksy Relations Office // Bark at Ee // Great Tania Jane Rawlinson // George // David Director of Campaigns Walliams (BA 1992) and Alumni Relations Next summer, Professor Sir Eric Thomas (Hon LLD 4 // Isambard Kingdom Contact 2004) will step down as Vice-Chancellor after 14 years Brunel // The Penguin [email protected] of service. So it seems fitting that, in this edition of Archive // Paul Dirac +44 (0)117 394 1046 Nonesuch, we look at what it means to leave a legacy, (BSc 1923) © Institute (Campaigns and Alumni Relations Office) both as individuals and as a university. of Physics // Royal Fort +44 (0)117 928 8895 House // Graduating (Public Relations Office) Our University is continually redefining its legacy: in its scholarship, its student research and its impact on the city. And we, as Bristol alumni, are all Design pelotondesign.co.uk part of that legacy too. Find out more at News bristol.ac.uk/nonesuch Produced by I would like to thank all of you who responded to our survey about the Public Relations Office Latest from Bristol 2 Senate House qualities we should seek in our future Vice-Chancellor and President. In pictures 4 Tyndall Avenue Your insights have been very valuable, and the result of the appointment 10 14 Bristol BS8 1TH process will be shared with you as soon as possible. If you are interested Centre stage Brunel’s bridge: Bristol in the news 6 150 years and Cover illustration in representing the alumni community on one of the University’s decision- Ciara Phelan making bodies, you can find details of upcoming elections inside (p29). counting Printed by MPS Marketing Services I was delighted to see so many of you at our Best of Bristol Alumni Weekend Ltd and Precision Colour in July. Do put next year’s dates in your diary now (Friday 10 to Sunday Printing 12 July 2015) or, if you are living overseas, I hope you are able to join us Nonesuch, Autumn 2014 at one of the international events that we’ve planned for 2014/15 (p29). © University of Bristol 2014 Extracts may only be reproduced with the permission of the Public Relations Office.
If you need part or all Bill Ray (BSc 1975) of this publication in Chairman of Convocation and the Alumni Association 24 an alternative format, Ask the dust please telephone Nonesuch magazine // Autumn 2014 +44 (0)117 928 8895. Printed on Cocoon Silk 50 Keep in touch 29
/bristol.university.alumni Email Listings [email protected] @BristolUni Website Alumni in memoriam 28 bristol.ac.uk/alumni bristol.ac.uk/alumni/linkedin Events 29
Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 1 Latest from Bristol bristol.ac.uk/news
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In numbers 54 days at sea Sadly, after encountering unforeseen and treacherous weather conditions at sea, Elsa Hammond (PhD 2012-) was forced to divert from her mission to break the solo women’s record for rowing 2,400 miles across the Pacific Ocean.
1,000 8,000 nautical miles calories a day Centenary Campaign Switching off 864 3 autoimmune diseases hours of rowing broken oars passes £100 million Ready. SET. Squared. Medicine Philanthropy Enterprise In a breakthrough that could improve Thanks to support from more than 19,500 alumni, friends, staff and students, Bristol University’s Centenary Campaign A University business incubator, SETsquared, has been ranked the the lives of millions worldwide, Bristol Tough act to follow best in Europe, and second best in the world by University Business scientists have discovered how to Alumni passed its original £100 million target in July, six months Incubator Index. ‘switch off’ autoimmune diseases like ahead of schedule. multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes. Matthew Warchus (BA 1988, Hon DLitt 2010) Over the past decade, despite one of the award confirms that we can provide the is to replace Kevin Spacey as Artistic Director Donations to the Centenary Campaign support a wide variety of deepest recessions since the First World best incubation environment for local start- Autoimmune diseases trick the body into of The Old Vic, one of the oldest theatres programmes and projects within the University, as well as important War, SETsquared has accelerated the ups that will become global businesses.’ destroying healthy tissue. But now, researchers in London. outreach and widening participation work. growth of high-tech start-up companies, New products developed by from Bristol have discovered a way to retrain the Initiatives that have been made possible by campaign funds providing world-leading mentoring and SETsquared start-ups include swine flu immune system and reinstate self-tolerance, Warchus, who is currently an Artistic Associate at The include Access to Bristol and IntoUniversity, which together have networking opportunities, as well as detection kits, microchips that speed up so the body remains fully armed against Old Vic, has directed more than 70 hit shows and plays enabled thousands of disadvantaged secondary school students access to investors around the globe. internet connections, and security systems infection. By specifically targeting the cells in London and on Broadway, including Matilda and Alan to experience university. The enterprise hub, based in Bristol’s designed to protect companies against at fault, this approach removes the need for Ayckbourn’s trilogy, The Norman Conquests, which Centenary Campaign Chair and Pro-Chancellor, Roger Holmes Engine Shed, has worked with more than terrorism without impeding world trade. immunosuppressive drugs that typically incur won a Tony award in 2009. Warchus also won the Queer (BSc 1981, Hon LLD 2013), said: ‘This is a tremendous achievement both 1,000 high-tech start-ups and attracted unacceptable side effects. Palm award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for Pride, for, and by, the University. Over 19,500 donors have come together so far to over £1 billion in investment. Funded by the Wellcome Trust, the study his film about lesbian and gay activists during the support talented students, life-changing discoveries, and more. The impact Nick Sturge, Director of Engine Shed, has received worldwide media coverage, 1980s miners’ strike. of Bristol’s Centenary Campaign will be felt for generations to come.’ said: ‘We have always endeavoured to and the treatment is now undergoing clinical To read more about the campaign’s achievements, and show operate in a global context and this development through biotechnology company your support, please visit bristol.ac.uk/centenarycampaign. Apitope, a spin-out from the University of Bristol. A Royal Fellow A Bristol Beacon Science Campus Alumni and staff have been elected The former Habitat store, also to the world’s most eminent known as Beacon House, is to be scientific academy. given a new lease of life as part of Professor Michael Benton (pictured) from the University campus. the School of Earth Sciences, and alumnus The Grade II-listed building on the corner of Dr Andrew Mackenzie (PhD 1981), Chief Queen’s Avenue and Clifton Triangle will become Executive Officer at BHP Billiton Ltd, have a central study hub for students. Current plans for both been elected Fellows of the Royal the space include the provision of 350 individual Society. They join a global fellowship of 1,400 study seats, group areas, a café and a bookshop. outstanding individuals representing science, Acquiring Beacon House is the latest in a engineering and medicine, 40 of whom are series of University investments in teaching and current Bristol staff and professors. Past research facilities to improve the experience of Fellows and Foreign Members include Isaac
Bristol students. Broadcast illustration © Alberto Antoniazzi Matthew // Warchus © Jane Bown Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.
2 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 3 In pictures bristol.ac.uk/news
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1 Sliding down Park Street // Alumni 1 6 In May, British artist Luke Jerram transformed In brief Park Street into a giant water slide. Bristol’s Alumni mayor, George Ferguson (BA 1968, BArch 1971, Hon MA 1999) gave the idea his full backing as part of his Make Sundays Special initiative, just one idea that helped put him in the running for the title of the World’s Best Mayor 2014. In the same month, one of the key campaigners in the Mayor for Bristol campaign, Jaya Chakrabarti (BSc 1993), received an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. Sonardyne, a leading 2 French honour // Alumni subsea technology Annie Burnside (MA 1971), former Warden of manufacturer Clifton Hill House and teacher in the Department established by John of French, has been made Chevalier dans l’Ordre Partridge (BEng National de la Légion d’Honneur, the highest 1962) was awarded decoration in France. the Queen’s Prize for Enterprise in Innovation 3 Misting up the future // Engineering this year. Bristol’s Department of Computer Science has developed interactive computer screens made Nazir Razak (BSc from mist. MisTable projects a screen onto a 1988) has become curtain of fog and allows users to interact with CIMB Group Chairman a computer in a completely new way. and joined the board of Top Bristol’s mayor, directors for Khazanah 4 Full speed ahead // Technology George Ferguson Nasional Berhad, Above Jaya Chakrabarti Bristol researchers have developed technology the government of that can transmit data 50 times faster than Malaysia's strategic the average Wi-Fi and 4G connection. investment fund. The discovery will pave the way for 5G 7 Another Bristol and improved download speeds. alumnus, Tengku Aziz (BSc 1996), has 5 Manning the books // Alumni succeeded Razak Author David Nicholls (BA 1988) shot to fame as CIMB’s new Chief in 2009 with his bestselling novel, One Day. Executive Officer. His latest book, Us, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014, and tells of a man’s plot to win 2 3 Jane Leslie (BA 2004), back the love of his wife and repair his troubled aged 65, has become relationship with his son. a world champion triathlete after winning 6 Graduation hat trick // Alumni the 65 to 69-year-old Richard Lewis (BSc 2014) made Bristol history category at the World when he graduated wearing the same gown and Triathlon Grand Final silk hood worn by two generations of his family in Edmonton, Canada. before him, including his father, Peter Lewis (BSc Leslie completed a 1980), his grandfather, Michael Lewis (BSc 1954), 1,500m swim, 40km and his great uncle, Leslie Dobbs (BSc 1933). 4 cycle and 10km run in 2 hours 47 minutes and 5 7 Jumping for joy // Alumni 21 seconds. Current student Jazmin Sawyers (LLB 2013-) won a silver medal in the women’s long jump Nizar Ibrahim this summer at the Glasgow 2014 (BSc 2006) was Commonwealth Games. named one of National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers in 2014. Park Street © Bristol City Council Full speed // ahead © Djamal Berraki (MSc PhD 2011-) 2010,
4 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 5 Bristol in the news bristol.ac.uk/news
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Leading Bristol Vice-Chancellor Thanks to all of you who shared your thoughts on the future of the University. Following the announcement that Professor Sir Eric Thomas (Hon LLD 2004) will step down from his role as Vice-Chancellor next year, Bristol asked alumni, staff and students what they thought made the University special, what challenges and opportunities it faces, and what qualities it should seek in its future leader. Smoke signals You can now read your feedback online at Students bristol.ac.uk/alumni/vcreport. Your insights will A PhD student’s research into the impact of tobacco packaging has guide the University’s Appointment Panel during made a global impact, and is informing policy debate around the world. the shortlisting and interview processes this autumn, as it seeks to find the right person to Cigarette smoking is the biggest killer in that in the case of plain packaging, non- lead Bristol from August 2015. the UK. But to date, much of the debate smokers were more drawn to the health around tobacco packaging hasn’t been warnings than to the branding, suggesting based on objective behavioural measures. plain packaging could be an effective Olivia Maynard’s (BSc 2010, PhD 2010-) means of tobacco control. study into the behavioural impact of plain Maynard’s research won an packaging was the first of its kind to do so. Outstanding Early Career Impact award Maynard used eye-tracking technology from the Economic and Social Research to monitor the eye movements of adults and Council and has already informed policy adolescents looking at both branded and debate in the UK, Australia and other plain cigarette packs. Her findings showed countries worldwide.
Defying gravity Engineering Bristol researchers have Green light for Bristol created gravity-defying Environment A living tweezers, enabling scientists to In 2008, Bristol was named the UK’s use ultrasound waves to suspend first Cycling City. In 2015, it will be the legacy and sculpt cells in mid-air. first UK city to hold the title of European Cover feature The bioengineering of tissue and Green Capital. cartilage will no longer require a petri Many staff were involved in the city’s bid for Humans are hard-wired to care about dish, thanks to pioneering ‘tweezers’ the award, including members of the Cabot what we leave behind. We want our developed by Bristol’s Department of Institute and those involved with the University’s Mechanical Engineering. The tweezers Education for Sustainable Development lives, and our experiences, to benefit will allow scientists to levitate tissue in a programme. Planning is well under way for a future generations. But what does nutrient-rich fluid, enabling the cells to year-long programme of public events, from grow better and faster than before. city-wide challenges to educational activities. it mean to leave a legacy – as an Look out for more details soon. individual, or as a university?
6 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 7 A living legacy
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Professor Sir Eric Thomas Professor Alexander Bird By Catherine Lee (Hon LLD 2004) Professor of Philosophy Vice-Chancellor f asked to define the term ‘legacy’, We should all be conscious of and grateful for most of us instinctively start with the The 21st century will be known for the rise the generosity of our predecessors. They’ve Icommon dictionary definition: a gift and rise of the virtual world – where learning, enabled us to work and study in such a of money or property bequeathed by working and socialising can all take place in congenial environment, and one conducive will. But beyond the material, all of us will front of a computer screen. But, of course, to lively intellectual activity. Yet we must also leave a far more subtle impression on the virtual world has not yet supplanted the be aware that it is this intellectual activity that Professor our successors: the memory of who we physical world. If anything, it has reinforced is at the core of the character of our University. Jeremy O’Brien are, and of what matters to us. the vital importance of personal interaction Both staff and students inherit a legacy of Professor of Physics and Electrical and Our true legacy is the sum of and of place. thought – a spiritual environment in addition Electronic Engineering, Director of the everything we hand on to others: Across the globe, universities continue to to the physical one. Centre for Quantum Photonics and moments shared with family and friends, expand their physical estates, while online- Royal Academy of Engineering Chair our professional accomplishments and, only higher education courses have not grown Bill Ray (BSc 1975) in Emerging Technologies most of all, the things we do to better the at anything like the rate predicted. Even the Chairman of Convocation and ‘STUDENTS world around us. Every new experience trend for creating ‘satellite campuses’ overseas the Alumni Association Bristol has been making its mark on science and achievement has the potential to seems to be slowing markedly now. AND STAFF ALL for more than 100 years. The University influence and shape our legacy, as we We all crave, and delight in, personal As alumni, we’re living examples of the is recognised worldwide as the birthplace decide how we want to live in the present, interaction; and we all become fond of places. impact our University has on people, CONTRIBUTE TO of significant breakthroughs in quantum and build for the future. For Bristol alumni, the University campus on business, and on society. Many of the mechanics, and can count Nobel Laureates The idea of an ever-changing, and its buildings – along with the glorious city qualities we learn and develop as students – THE ENDURING Paul Dirac (BSc 1923), Nevill Mott and real-time legacy is particularly apt for itself – are inextricably bound up with their enquiry, challenge, leadership, risk-taking Cecil F Powell among its former staff and institutions, like universities, that have an memories of learning and discovery as students. – are exactly the traits that help organisations, CHARACTER OF alumni. In the 1930s, the School of Physics indefinite lifespan. For more than 1,000 Few of us can picture Bristol without communities and cultures thrive and adapt also offered refuge to scientists fleeing from years, the purpose of universities has the many glorious University buildings over time. OUR INSTITUTION’ Nazi occupation. Hans Bethe, Max Delbrück remained unchanged, despite having to bequeathed by the Wills family, whose University offers us a chance to explore, and Gerhard Herzberg all went on to receive operate in a variety of political, economic generosity and vision continue to shape and ask questions of, the world around us, By inheriting this legacy, we have an Nobel recognition in physics, medicine and and social climates. our institution today. The Wills Memorial unrestricted by many of the responsibilities opportunity, and a duty, to nurture and add chemistry respectively. Humans possess an innate intellectual Building (commissioned to last at least 500 that come later in life. As such, our student to it. Our University is a product of evolution That legacy is crucial in inspiring curiosity that seizes on opportunities to years), the gift of the historic Royal Fort years are often some of our most formative, – of the input of many different people, young talented minds to come to Bristol enquire, to challenge and to create; and House, the creation of the HH Wills Physics and continue to inform both our professional whether financial, spiritual, or intellectual. to learn, research and ultimately create the learning and discovery are as critical to our Laboratory, Wills Hall and Manor Hall – more and personal lives long after we graduate. Students and staff all contribute to the technologies that will shape the future. societies, our cultures and our economies than 100 years later, thousands of students For more than 100 years, Bristol alumni enduring character of our institution. When I arrived at Bristol as a Research as they’ve ever been. continue to enjoy these inspiring spaces. have been leaders, inventors, and innovators. As academics, we hope to leave a legacy Fellow in 2006, I was fortunate to work But how can we begin to evaluate the The Wills family’s legacy is powerful indeed. So many names spring to mind – among through both our research and our teaching. with two living legacies, Emeritus Professor impact of a university – on individuals, Our challenge today is to ensure all our them, Jasmine Whitbread (BA 1986, Hon We want to gain recognition for our work Bob Evans FRS (PhD 1970) and Professor on society or on places? Here, staff and historic buildings remain fit for the future, LLD 2014), CEO of Save the Children in a particular field and, collectively, shape John Rarity, one of the founding fathers of alumni share their thoughts. and that new study spaces preserve and International; Dr Joseph Muscat (PhD 2007), and build the reputation of the departments quantum information. Their support and enhance the character of our University. Prime Minister of Malta; Anne McClain we work in. But we also want to pass on our guidance helped me to build the Centre We’ve invested hundreds of millions of (MSc 2005), NASA astronaut. enthusiasm for our subjects to our students, for Quantum Photonics (CQP) into the ‘LEARNING AND pounds in capital projects in recent decades, The currency of our degrees has held fast so that they in turn will make an impact world-leading research group it is today. and will continue to do so to ensure that the too: today’s graduates are in strong demand. on others. The Engineering and Physical Sciences DISCOVERY ARE physical legacy of Bristol University endures. Leading employers continue to look to our Research Council, through the Recognising University for bright new talent, and ideas Inspirational Scientists and Engineers CRITICAL TO conceived on campus have taken shape as programme has allowed me to pass on this some of the UK’s most successful start-ups in legacy to the next generation; my rising star is OUR SOCIETIES, recent years. Steph Croft-Simon (BSc 2010) former CQP PhD student, Peter Shadbolt. set up Nom Foods after spotting a gap in the We’re developing secure communication CULTURES AND market for organic, nutritious snacks; popular networks for consumers, corporations and fashion app, SnapFashion, is the brainchild of government; precision sensors for security, ECONOMIES’ Jenny Griffiths (MEng 2009). biomedical technology and environmental The sheer variety of ways in which alumni monitoring; and quantum computers that are making an ideological, and economic, could eventually outperform even the most impact around the world is astounding. From powerful computers we have today. The the concert hall to the trading floor, we all play impact of these systems will be profound and a part in representing our University to the far-reaching, and will revolutionise the way wider world, and perpetuating the distinctive we use technology. That will be the legacy of
Main image © Image courtesy of University of Bristol Library, Special Collections (DM485) Illustrations // © Ciara Phelan qualities inherent to our Bristol education. our generation. • 8 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 9 Feature As Artistic Director of the Royal Professor Martin White Greg Doran Shakespeare Company, Greg Emeritus Professor of Theatre (BA 1980, Hon DLitt 2011) Doran still seeks the opinions Greg was a student who stood out not only for his As a country boy from Lancashire, I really fell for and advice of his former drama academic ability, but for his artistic ability too. Bristol. I enjoyed my introduction to the Drama He could design, he could act and he could direct. Department and the treasures of the Theatre tutor, Professor Martin White. He had incredible entrepreneurial spirit, and Collection, and learnt from brilliant practitioners, Here, they reflect on their even ran his own theatre company while he was like Martin, the importance of theatre as a craft. creative collaborations, at Bristol. I was honoured to give the oration for Greg’s honorary degree in 2011. Perhaps my favourite experience was designing a past and present. scaffolding structure that used the whole of the I first got to know Greg properly in his second year. Vandyke Theatre (now the Wickham Theatre) for He designed the set for my production of Steve Gooch’s Martin’s production of Female Transport, set aboard Female Transport, and acted in two productions I took to a prison ship bound for Botany Bay. I still have the the Edinburgh Festival later that year – the anonymous furious little sketches I made on a research trip to Elizabethan domestic tragedy, Arden of Faversham, and a the National Maritime Museum. The trip taught me new, full-length adaptation of Tom Stoppard’s Albert’s just how enthralling the process of research could be, Bridge, in which he played the lead role. and how theatre could transport me into so many For many years, I went to see Greg perform in various different worlds. productions. Then, when he became Chief Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 2002, we started working more closely together. On a number of ‘MARTIN IS VERY occasions, he’s invited me to act as a season advisor for the RSC and spend time with the company. GOOD AT KEEPING MY I always enjoy watching Greg in rehearsal, and am often struck by how interested he is in what everyone FEET ON THE GROUND’ has to say. He’s very easy with people, and doesn’t ever stand on ceremony. He has what all good directors have I’m delighted to have not only kept in touch with – certainty and confidence in what he wants to do, but Martin, but to have been able to ask his advice on also a great openness to what actors bring to rehearsal. many occasions. He’s deeply knowledgeable about the Alumni stories He also has a great way of making people feel relaxed, Jacobethan period. I’ve been a champion of this repertoire while still ensuring everyone is really focused on the at the RSC, and Martin’s often suggested plays I should work. His knowledge of the plays of Shakespeare and his look at. contemporaries is formidable, and his love of the plays is Last year, I asked Martin to take part in a scholars’ pitch palpable. That’s a very potent combination. with the Shakespeare Institute and the RSC. We asked four academics to suggest four plays that are rarely (if ever) Centre performed, but which deserve to be so. I drew the line at ‘I ALWAYS ENJOY Middelton’s Hengist King of Kent, but Martin’s suggestion of John Ford’s Love’s Sacrifice led us to programme WATCHING GREG the play for 2015. You’ll have to come and see if it’s a good suggestion. stage IN REHEARSAL’ Over the years, Martin has tried out some of these plays in the relatively protected context of the Wickham When he directed Ben Jonson’s Sejanus, few of the Theatre. I know Matthew Warchus (BA 1988, Hon DLitt cast were familiar with the story of Ancient Rome. Greg 2011) cut his teeth in Jonson’s Sejanus. Jonathan Munby started rehearsals by drawing on examples from the BBC (BA 1998) and Jo Davies (BA 1993) also started their TV series, I, Claudius. It was a brilliant way of bringing careers in the department; both have gone on to direct the story to life, and giving the cast a sense of shape and productions at the RSC, and still keep in touch with narrative, before starting work on the text. Martin too. I was thrilled when he was appointed as the RSC’s Martin has a wonderfully crisp, playful wit. He is very Artistic Director. As well as being a brilliant director, good at keeping my feet on the ground, and preventing Greg’s extremely well-read, and intellectually curious. me from taking life, and work, too seriously. I put on He’s always thinking about how to get the best plays; perhaps they’re called ‘plays’ for a reason. knowledge into the RSC, and looking to find something There is a common prejudice that if old plays haven’t new – a play that’s not been done before, or a season of been done for a while (400 years, say) there must be a plays with an original theme. good reason why. In fact, often as not, it’s because nobody Greg and I talk often. I certainly tend to know what has dared risk doing them. Martin taught me to challenge Greg’s doing. But I don’t always know what he’s going that prejudice and to trust my own theatrical instinct. Greg designed the set for Martin’s to do… And, often as not, he’s right. production of Steve Gooch’s Female •
Transport in the Vandyke Theatre Greg Doran © Ellie Kurttz RSC
10 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 11 Shop online at ubushop.co.uk Feature Lord Boateng, former British High Commissioner to the Republic of South 1 2 7 Africa, met Laurence Barron, CEO and Chairman of Airbus Group China, on the first day of Freshers’ Week, 1970. More than 40 years later, they share the secrets
15% of their enduring friendship. ALUMNI DISCOUNT at checkout with code ALUMNI15 until 25 January 2015 Alumni stories 3 High-flyers
4 8 Lord Paul Boateng (LLB 1973, Hon LLD 2007) on a joint ‘cut the crap’ ticket. (PB) Laurie and I met in the Wills Memorial LB Paul was my best man when I got married, Building in that frantic rush to meet new people. and has visited us in Spain and Beijing. I’ve Often you spend the rest of your student years visited Paul and his wife, Janet, twice in South avoiding the people you’re flung together with Africa. In Cape Town, a waiter assumed Janet in Freshers’ Week, but Laurie and I have stayed and I were an item and Paul was our tour guide. friends ever since. PB Janet is glamorous and black. In Cape Town, Laurence Barron (LLB 1973) tour guides tend to be mixed race. The waiter (LB) Only Paul calls me Laurie, it’s quite special put two and two together, and got five. 9 to our friendship. LB Janet and I laughed until we cried. Paul was PB We were always nervous at exam time, not amused… which we countered by bouts of intense study. PB I had the last laugh. Janet and I got into the LB Over Easter, Paul would come to stay at my Daimler; Laurie got into a Toyota. home near Dover. We went to the library every day, and were spoilt by my mum. PB We don’t give each other advice. I don’t PB There were also lengthy periods know anything about financing aircraft. Laurie’s of concerted indolence… forgotten most of his law and I’m not sure he’s LB …speak for yourself… ever voted in England… 5 10 PB …music, theatre, debating, and the LB ...or in France, even less so in China. 1 Fairtrade unisex sweatshirt 5 Crested leather wallet £25, wholesale consumption of tea and tea cakes. Whenever we get together, it’s just like old £24, available in plum or green, sizes available in black and brown times. We’re now in our 60s but revert to (male and female) XS, S, M, L, XL 6 Bristol faculty tie £25.99, silk, PB We had, and still have, a Monty Python- Goon-like humour and laughing at each 2 Bristol University Avon available in all faculty colours style sense of humour. other as if we were still ‘green around the gills’ satchel £130, 100% British leather, LB Not to mention The Goons. I still have first-year students. 7 USA hoody £24, available in ash available in a range of colours your LP of Bridge on the River Wye somewhere… PB: He gives the impression of effortless grey, navy, lipstick pink, bottle green PB The secret of our friendship is that we’ve success… 3 Bristol University Chelsea and burgundy; sizes (male and never lived in the same house – nor, since we LB …have you been drinking? satchel 11” £105, 13” £115, female) S, M, L, XL left Bristol, in the same country. We would have PB He is, in fact, a consummate, international 100% British leather, available in 6 11 8 Crested tie slide £14.99 driven each other mad. businessman and a very hard and focused a range of colours LB You were messy. I was neat, tidy and worker. We began as The Likely Lads; now it’s 9 Crested cufflinks £19.99 4 Bristol faculty scarf organised. My flatmates and I cooked real food more One Foot in the Grave. But it’s a friendship £25.99, wool and fleece, available 10 Bristol logo ballpoint pen £2.50 every night and a roast on Sunday (emulating I value hugely… in all faculty colours our mums as best we could). Our girlfriends LB …as do I, you loveable old rogue! Bristol was 11 Bristol Buster bear £14.99 called us ‘the cookers’. the best time of our lives. We had none of the PB We had lots of fun. We even managed responsibilities later life brings. We only had to get to enjoy Student Council. We were elected our degrees which, somehow, we managed while The University of Bristol Students’ Union has a fantastic range of clothing, accessories and gifts without the backing of any political grouping, also having a lot of fun together on the way! online. With VAT-free offers on international purchases, you can wear your Bristol colours with • pride wherever you are in the world. View the collection now at ubushop.co.uk
Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 13 The connectionBrunel Feature To mark the 150th anniversary of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge in November, Nonesuch pays tribute to the designer of one of Bristol’s most famous landmarks.
14 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 15 The Brunel connection
Feature
By Hilary Brown
he Clifton Suspension Bridge is as synonymous ‘BRUNEL with Bristol as the Wills Memorial Building is with WAS AN Tthe University; it’s hard to think of one without the other. Little wonder, then, that the city has claimed Isambard Kingdom Brunel as one of its own. INSPIRATION. Although the pioneering Victorian engineer and industrialist never lived in Bristol, he began his IT DEFINITELY extraordinary career in the city and left a lasting physical mark on its landscape – not only with the bridge, but also RUNS IN THE with the ss Great Britain (the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic and, at the time, in 1843, the largest ship ever FAMILY.’ built), Temple Meads Station (Brunel was chief engineer on the Great Western Railway line between Bristol and London), and improvements to the docks. The National Brunel Archive is housed in the Running the chains Brunel Institute at the Great Western Dockyard, site of The Clifton Suspension Bridge looms large in David the ss Great Britain, and comprises the University’s Brunel Carr’s (MB ChB 1961) memories of his student days Collection, along with maritime material owned by at Bristol. You wouldn’t get away with it now, but he the ss Great Britain Trust and the papers of the Clifton and fellow student Brian Hobby (BDS 1961), who Suspension Bridge Trust. Widely consulted by scholars died in 1987, made a habit of racing each other over from around the world, it provides unparalleled insights the chains from Burwalls, then a hall of residence on into Britain’s engineering heritage. the western side of the bridge. The foundations of the Brunel Collection, a treasury Starting at pavement level, one on the far side and of original diaries, letters, notebooks and sketches, one on the near side, they would run up the chain was left to the University by Lady Celia Noble, the into the first tower, turn around and come out on the granddaughter of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, in 1950. gorge section feet first, until the angle of the chain It has been added to since with the support of donors, was shallow enough to stand up on. Then it was a grant givers and other charitable trusts, and is catalogued case of ‘running like crazy’ down the length of chain, by the University of Bristol Library Special Collections. and repeating the exercise via the second tower, to The archive catalogue can be found at emerge past the tollkeeper’s booth and so to the pub. http://oac.lib.bris.ac.uk/DServe. Dr Carr (pictured above in his student days) ssgreatbritain.org/brunel-institute claims to have won the race on most occasions during the three years the pair lived in Burwalls (although we only have his word for it). ‘We only ever ran the chains in the evening,’ he adds, ‘never on the way to lectures and never, ever on the way back from the pub. We’re not daft, you know.’ Family footsteps Brunel’s engineering genius survives in his descendant Morwenna Wilson (MEng 2005), above, who has been charged with leading a team of architects and engineers renovating the area around King’s Cross Station. The task is to bring back to life In numbers The bridge thus far the old Victorian structures around the station that were built by The Clifton Suspension Bridge was the 24-year-old Brunel’s first Brunel’s contemporaries, George Turnbull and Lewis Cubitt, major commission, secured after he won a competition to design a
in 1851-52. 81 new crossing over the River Avon. Construction began in 1831 but In an interview with The Times, Wilson said of her ancestor: wrought-iron rods the project was dogged with political and financial difficulties and by ‘He was an inspiration. It definitely runs in the family. suspend the bridge deck 1843, with only the towers completed, the project was abandoned. My grandfather was also an engineer.’ Brunel died aged only 53 years in 1859 but the bridge was Since graduating from Bristol, Wilson’s career has gone from completed as his memorial and finally opened in 1864. Designed for strength to strength. In 2008, while working at Arup, she won 26m light horse-drawn traffic, it still meets the demands of 21st-century the H&V News Graduate of the Year Award organised by the height of towers commuter traffic. Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers/ASHRAE • Group, with her presentation on delivering and maintaining sustainable buildings. She now works for property developer 11,000+ Opening spread Clifton Suspension Bridge opening ceremony Opposite page The bridge Argent, a joint partner with London & Continental Railways in during construction Above Clifton Suspension Bridge Calculation Book 1, ‘Diagrams and motor vehicles cross calculations relating to the CSB chains and suspension rods. n.d.’, DM162/8/2/1/folio 5, by courtesy the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership. the bridge every day of the Brunel Institute: a collaboration of the SS Great Britain Trust and the University of Bristol //
Clifton Suspension Bridge opening ceremony and construction images © Clifton Suspension Bridge Archive Morwenna // Wilson © Elizabeth Gibson Isambard Kingdom Brunel
16 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 17 Feature
English students John-Paul John-Paul Flintoff Lusardi. I also cleaned the windows on the I had to leave and reapply the following Flintoff and Harriet Green met at (BA 1990) tallest building in Europe. year – a big gamble. My parents were In 2010, I was worried about climate distinctly unimpressed and packed me the end of their second year. They I always knew I wanted to study change, and wrote a book, Sew Your Own, off to London the next day to get a job. married eight years later, have a English, and immediately loved about trying to save the planet by making Thankfully, it paid off. Bristol when I visited. The city had my own clothes (yes, really). I then joined I vividly remember my interview in ten-year-old daughter, and are a unique charm, and the professor the faculty of The School of Life, and the Department of English on Woodland now writing a book together. who interviewed me seemed to be wrote a more general guide about making Road with Myra Stokes and Tom Mason, wearing a tea cosy as a hat. change, How to Change the World. It’s been both tutors I came to admire very much. published in 14 languages, and I gave a If they hadn’t let me in, I’ve no idea what I I felt incredibly blessed to be a student at follow-up talk at TEDxAthens. would have done. I’d certainly never have Bristol. I’d been to a rough school, where My greatest achievement by far has been met John-Paul (JP). you kept your back to the wall and looked to marry Harriet. We’d been together for a I adored the course but I wasn’t as out for missiles at all times. Suddenly, I was long time when our friends started getting conscientious as I should have been, surrounded by people who were actually married. We went out to dinner and particularly in the first year when interested in studying. decided to do the same. I drew a cartoon we were made to learn Anglo-Saxon. It was Harriet was on my course but, conveying this happy news and faxed it to as painful as studying Russian all over again. mysteriously, didn’t seem to notice me our parents. We married in December, at But I made great and lasting friends in the for two years. We only met because Jane a tea dance in a London hotel, less than a department. I also smoked too much and Lunnon (née Cullen) (BA 1990) and Fiona month before my 30th birthday. stole many cigarettes from John-Jo Moody Jantet (née Henderson) (BA 1990) invited I’m currently working on a historical (BA 1990). me to Harriet’s surprise 21st birthday party. novel, What If The Queen Should Die? Years I vaguely remember JP from the first Jane and Fiona were perfectly open ago, a friend asked me which king or queen year. I’m ashamed to admit I thought he about the fact that they really wanted John Shakespeare would have written about if looked a bit gormless. Our first date was at Yates (BA 1990). He wasn’t available. I he’d lived to hear their life story. I suggested Pizza Provencale. We split the bill, and we expect he’s still kicking himself. Queen Anne: she betrayed her father, who still have the wine bottle. After Harriet and I graduated, we cursed her, and she lost 17 children. I always wanted to be a journalist and both decided to study for an MA. Harriet Together, Harriet and I are also applied for a journalism postgraduate specialised in medieval literature; I studied writing a book about family, that’s due programme in my final year. Shakespeare and his influence. During to be published next year. It’s a creative I got in; JP didn’t. I graduated during an the year, I expressed my wish to become workbook to help people better understand awful recession and took the first job I was an academic to one of my tutors, Moira who they are, where they come from, and offered, on Media Week, a trade magazine Megaw. She told me with characteristic what they will leave behind. for the advertising industry. bluntness that I was temperamentally Harriet and I have always worked closely I moved to Campaign just as the unsuited to it. together, and often ask each other to read economy was revving up again. Campaign At the time, I felt bruised, but I’ve come things we’ve written. That doesn’t mean it’s was nicknamed ‘Champagne’ for a very to see she was right. Instead, I left university always easy: Harriet can be brutally honest. good reason; I ate at The Ivy most weeks. determined to be a poet. Believe it or not, But my toughest critic is – and has always I then worked briefly at the Daily Telegraph I was quite shocked to find it impossible to been – my greatest supporter too. before joining Harpers and Queen as make a living that way. Deputy Editor. I was part of the team that Happily, studying English had given me reinvented the magazine as a global fashion confidence in my writing skills, and I took Harriet Green brand, Harper’s Bazaar. up journalism instead. By now, Harriet had (BA 1990) Now, I’m Editor of the Family section Alumni stories already got a place on the country’s leading of The Guardian. Family is a standalone journalism course. So I taught myself My brother was at boarding school section of the Saturday paper that has a shorthand, and borrowed her course notes. in Bristol, so I spent a lot of time there passionate following among readers. I started writing for trade magazines, throughout my childhood, and always JP and I have spent more than half our and worked for a time as an investigative loved the city. lives together, so working together isn’t reporter. Then I wrote a memoir, Comp: difficult. He’s my best friend and has been A Survivor’s Tale, about my hair-raising I was originally meant to be reading since the moment we got together in education in a London state school. Soon Russian. I arrived in 1986, spent four weeks June 1989. He’s also extremely good at Date after, The Financial Times hired me as a struggling with Chekhov and Dostoevsky washing up. feature writer. in the original and knew I was in trouble. • with My favourite assignments involved I looked with envy at friends studying immersing myself in real-world jobs and English. What madness had led me to Left John-Paul and Harriet at their graduation writing about the experience. I was a choose Russian? dinner at Thornbury Castle, 1990 mini-cab driver, and an undertaker in a I assumed I’d be able to switch courses To read more stories of couples who met while ‘green’ funeral business, and I performed fairly easily. But English at Bristol was a studying at Bristol, or share your own tales of destiny in pantomime with Lionel Blair and Linda fiendishly difficult course to get onto. romance, please visit bristol.ac.uk/nonesuch.
18 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 19 Feature As many of the babies born into the University’s Memorable Children of the 90s project branch out into adulthood, moments the future looks rosy for one of the largest long-term Children of the health population studies in the world. And with 90s founder almost 26,000 participants, it’s still growing. Professor Jean Golding picks three of By Hilary Brown ALSPAC’s most life-changing ealth, development and behaviour And so ALSPAC became the first research findings. differ markedly between longitudinal study to collect biological Hindividuals, but how much of this samples from participants, including urine, Eating oily fish during pregnancy variation is down to our genes, and how hair, blood and DNA. This data was to improves children’s eyesight much is influenced by our environment? be analysed alongside detailed records and IQ. Furthermore, fish Teasing out the complex relationships of characteristics such as diet, lifestyle, accounts for only seven per between genes and environmental factors, socioeconomic status and emotional health. cent of mercury levels in the and how they interact over time to affect human body, much lower Generation The long haul health and development, is extremely difficult than previously thought. This and requires huge amounts of data, collected Golding’s team was committed to overturns the US Food and over many years, for researchers to study. maintaining the project’s momentum by Drug Administration’s advice Enter the Children of the 90s project, continually collecting information. And to pregnant women to limit gains also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study it succeeded. More than 14,000 pregnant their fish intake because of the of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). women in Bristol and the surrounding area mercury scare. signed up to the project in 1991 and 1992, Children whose mothers use First steps many of whom still participate, along with Jean Golding OBE (Hon LLD 2013), 8,000 children, 3,000 dads, 200 ‘children skin creams containing peanut Emeritus Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal of the children’ and 550 siblings. oil on their baby’s skin are more Epidemiology, founded ALSPAC in 1990. Researchers are now in the process likely to develop a peanut allergy, It was not the first long-term population of recruiting the parents of the original particularly if they already suffer study in the UK, but Golding believed that mothers and fathers. If enough grandparents from eczema. All skin creams existing studies were too narrowly defined by participate, ALSPAC will be in the unique now list their ingredients clearly. participants’ birth dates, and that many factors position of being able to provide genetic Laying babies to sleep on their influencing health and development were information for up to four generations of backs has no harmful effects. linked to mothers’ behaviour and lifestyle the same family. And as its participants This reassured governments during pregnancy, if not earlier. ALSPAC are its most valuable asset, ALSPAC is that changing the position a broke new ground by recruiting pregnant also involving some of its enthusiastic baby was put to sleep in would women so that researchers could gather contributors in decisions about how the be likely to reduce the risk of detailed information on the babies’ parents study might evolve in the future. cot death without increasing and grandparents that might affect the other problems. The resulting children’s lives even before they were born. Future investment Back to Sleep campaigns have Today ALSPAC, headed by Professor George prevented tens of thousands of Great leap forward Davey Smith, a dedicated team member for deaths in the UK, and hundreds Another distinctive feature of the study was the past ten years, and newcomer Professor of thousands worldwide. the breadth of the data collected. Genetics Paul Burton, is in rude health. Its unrivalled was in its infancy in the early ’90s (Golding bank of data and repository of biosamples Below Professor Jean Golding recalls funders’ eyes ‘glazing over’ at the very have made it a world-leading research mention of the word), but, encouraged by platform for scientists around the world. leading clinical geneticist Professor Marcus The project is maturing in a world Pembrey, the ALSPAC team was determined characterised by rapid advances in to give the study a genetic component. biotechnology. Researchers using the study ‘Received wisdom among scientists at have a key focus on the emerging field of the time was that research should focus on epigenetics – the interaction between genes a specific outcome, say, asthma, dyslexia or and the environment during development, depression,’ says Golding. ‘Our approach whereby external factors turn genes on or was more holistic; we wanted to look at how off. Scientists are beginning to use epigenetic family background, behaviours and genes information to predict disease and target work together to affect children’s overall treatment, as well as develop new medicines, development, and whether – and why – with some of the most exciting work in this
Illustrations © Denis Carrier Professor // Jean Golding © Chris Bahn, Bristol Museums and Galleries they remain healthy or become ill.’ area being carried out at the University’s
20 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 21 Generation gains
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When Maths graduate David Jessup MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, publication of the 1,000th academic paper volunteered to help with student also directed by Davey Smith. based on ALSPAC data – ‘by any standards enterprise, he hoped to share his ALSPAC is also benefitting from a prodigious rate of return on the funding professional experience and learn a increasingly sophisticated use of data. invested in it,’ he says. few new skills. That was before he met Cutting-edge information systems and He’s not the only one to think so: the final-year Engineering student Oliver anonymisation now enable researchers to project recently received almost £8 million Spragg. Now, David and Oliver are align ALSPAC data with information from from the Medical Research Council and the starting a company together. primary care records and to analyse data Wellcome Trust to continue its work until alongside that of other cohort studies. March 2019. As Golding attests: ‘No other Burton feels privileged to be involved study has anything like the same amount of Alumni stories in a project widely seen as an exemplar of detail and potential to answer questions, and the best in contemporary health and social it will get more and more valuable as time science, thanks to the work of Golding, goes on.’ ALSPAC’s ‘bank of life’ is set to Davey Smith and, of course, the participants. pay dividends for generations to come. Sum of He has arrived in the year that has seen the bristol.ac.uk/alspac two parts Living history
Bristol student Stephen Hardman (BSc 2014, Medicine 2014-) and alumna Kim Mather (LLB 2013), two of the original Children of the 90s participants, reflect on what it means to be part of the study. David Jessup (BSc 1975) Oliver Spragg (BEng 2013, MEng 2013-) At the age of 58, I wanted something totally I became inadvertently immersed in the Steve Kim different – a ‘next career’ – and to give enterprise ‘scene’ at Bristol when I met From the age of about I first became aware of something back to Bristol. My daughter, Shaun Miller (BSc 2012). Shaun and I nine I was curious about being in the study when I Kathryn (BSc 2013), introduced me to worked together on an idea to help golfers why I was going to the caught my mum taking a Adding it all up the Research and Enterprise Development accurately record their swing and get clinic for all these tests. tooth that I’d hidden for the So far, ALSPAC has asked (RED) division, and I started mentoring feedback on how to improve their game. Some people struggle tooth fairy. She confessed several undergraduate businesses. David’s a golfer, so our idea captured his with the fact that you don’t to collecting my milk teeth Over a coffee in The Hawthorns, imagination. see immediate results for the Children of the 90s 500,000 Oliver showed me an early prototype of When the golf venture came to a close, with this kind of study but researchers. questions of its participants, one of his inventions. We started spending I shared another idea with David – the studying medicine helps put it into context. It’s I used to look forward to going into the more time together, kicking ideas about technology to help make paying for collected fascinating to be part of a scientific process – clinic. The tests were fun – and I got the day and developing material. One day, we goods with a smartphone easier for both I am the data and I can see how the data is off school! There were quite a few other looked at each other, and realised we were consumers and businesses. After an epic used to advance our knowledge. participants in my year and it felt like we were 1.4 million co-founding a company. chat, we realised we had another project The work on epigenetics is particularly part of something special. Our other friends biological samples and We’ve never got bogged down in to work on together. interesting – the idea that the way our DNA is thought we were cool. defining my role as mentor. What actually David’s role soon became far more expressed could predispose us to diseases It’s a bit of a family affair now. My step-dad matters is whether we get on, whether than that of mentor, and we’re currently later in life, depending on whether, say, our and sister are taking part, and my daughter 21,000+ our conversations move things along, and both focused full-time on building and mother was a smoker when we were still Annie, who’s five, is part of the COCO90s DNA samples whether each of us is making the other’s growing the company. We have a huge in the womb. ALSPAC has helped lay the group – the Children of the Children of the business life more interesting. workload, and problems to solve at every foundations for research in this field. 90s. It’s intriguing to see her doing all these and collaborated with Bristol gave me the mindset that stage, but there’s very little as exciting or I intend to stick with the study. My brothers tests that I did at that age. It’s given me a you’re never too old to keep learning. I’ve heart-wrenching as starting a business. are joining, as siblings are now being included. better understanding of child development. 1,000+ certainly learnt a lot from Oliver – that Since the beginning, I’ve been in The sheer volume of the data means that It’s amazing that, for a small amount of effort researchers around the world it’s important to stay open-minded; that awe of David’s ability to break down a researchers can eliminate a significant by individual participants, so much has been there’s always a workaround; to have the complex idea, situation or project, and amount of bias that might invalidate results. discovered. It’s great that there are simple courage to just talk to people; and to stick clear everyone’s thinking. He’s also taught I already have a degree in Biochemistry things you can do to have a healthier baby, like to your vision. If it feels right, it probably me to always consider the end goal. That and I’m interested in developing treatments eating oily fish when you’re pregnant. is right. advice has guided many of my business for hypoxic-ischaemic brain injuries, where Taking part in the study has increased my Only the best start-ups survive, and luck and personal decisions since, and has made the brain is deprived of oxygen, for example sense of belonging to the community. Bristol always plays a role. But, whatever happens, a noticeable difference to the way I handle in strokes. Whatever I do, I know what it’s like has always had what I wanted – the right as I tell my wife Edith (née Monfries) both opportunities and problems. to be on the receiving end of a blood test or to degree at the right university, in the right city. (BA 1984), and my children, we’ll always Starting a business is incredibly risky lie in a brain scanner for several hours, though I’ve just got a teaching qualification and have count Oliver as a great friend. I know from – there are very few constants. But, in Above David as a student I’m lucky enough not to have been there started work in a local school, so it looks like my career that when you fight together, David, I believe I’ve found a friend who If you have entrepreneurial experience and would because of illness. I hope this experience I'm here to stay. and compete together, on a live project, will be a constant, through the good times like to explore ways you might be able to help current will help make me a better doctor. • you form bonds that are hard to break. and the bad. students, please contact Rhys Pearce, Relationship • Development Officer in the RED Education Team, at
Steve Hardman and Kim Mather © University of Bristol, Bhagesh Sachania [email protected].
22 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 23 Feature The dust has barely settled on the major conflicts of the last one hundred years – in some cases, it’s Lines in still swirling fiercely. In the first of two features on the legacy of the world wars, we focus on a Bristol researcher contributing to a more complete picture of the First World War with a ten-year archaeological the sand study of a region on one of its less familiar fronts: the Middle East.
By Nick Riddle
n November 2012, Professor Nicholas likely to leave behind a troublesome aftermath. Saunders and his archaeological team Saunders is one of the pioneers of an Iwere working on the border between interdisciplinary approach to the archaeology Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They were talking of modern conflict zones, an approach that to the area’s Sheikh – a crucial thing to do brings new perspectives – anthropological, in order to negotiate the security situation geographical, environmental, and heritage there – who was showing them around. – to the battlefield, and traces the long-term ‘He told us that half of his family were effects of warfare. in Saudi but he couldn’t visit them because of the boundaries,’ says Saunders. ‘Then According to GARP he turned to us and said, half-joking, “You When Saunders and his team first arrived in know, it’s all your fault”. We asked him what Jordan in 2006, it was to conduct a study of he meant, and he said, “Sykes-Picot”.’ abandoned station buildings on the Hejaz Two years later, the 1916 Sykes-Picot Railway, a line built in the 1900s to facilitate Agreement – in which Great Britain and the Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage) from France secretly arranged to divide parts of the Damascus to Mecca, although the railway Middle East into spheres of influence after stopped in Medina. But within an hour of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire – has beginning, everything changed. emerged from the history books into the ‘We found an Ottoman army camp light of media scrutiny and debate, as the that nobody knew about except the local civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS Bedouin,’ says Saunders, ‘and a whole continue to destabilise the region. militarised landscape flanking the railway, The details of Sykes-Picot and its right down to the Saudi border.’ ramifications are far too involved to explain It quickly became evident that their here – and that’s precisely the point. The project had to develop into something much legacy of a conflict can be complex and far- more complex and novel: the archaeology reaching, and modern conflict is especially of guerrilla warfare, as waged against the Ottoman Empire by the legendary TE Lawrence and his Bedouin comrades- in-arms. It was christened the Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP), a ten-year study with direct relevance to the situation in the region today. ‘The Ottoman army transformed the landscape to counteract these unpredictable attacks on the railway,’ says Saunders. ‘Lawrence and the Arab irregulars would strike all over the place, then disappear back into the desert. It was the beginning of modern guerrilla warfare.’ Fittingly for a study of unconventional warfare, GARP’s funding was organised outside the ‘normal’ channels, by using a Above A GARP metal detectorist at Batn Al-Ghul Opposite Ruins of an Ottoman-era Turkish fort in Southern volunteer model: people with relevant skills
Jordan near the route of the old Hejaz Railway and experience paid a fee to take part every Lead image © Ivor Pickett, Panos Pictures Detectorist // © Roger Ward, GARP
24 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 25 Lines in the sand
Feature
‘WE CAPTURE AS SAY YES TO MANY NUANCES AND LEGACIES WORLD-CHANGING AS POSSIBLE’ RESEARCH Support Bristol’s PhD students today
‘Without the support of the alumni community, I’d never have been able to start my research, let alone work at the pace that being part of Bristol’s research community allows. Every day, I work alongside world-class experts and have access to state-of-the-art facilities. I’ll always year, a portion of which funded the hiring arguments in France and Belgium between be grateful for having this fantastic opportunity. of professionals to the team. ‘That paid huge the government and the farmers who wanted Lost and found Thank you so much for your support.’ dividends,’ says Saunders: ‘we got to know their land back. That’s why we try to capture local people, and they would show and tell as many pieces of information, nuances and John Winterburn, a Bristol us things, whereas if you come in with a big legacies as possible.’ PhD student and GARP’s Nick Schumacker (PhD 2013-) is developing a novel surgical technique grant for a short time, they look at you as a Saunders cites a particularly resonant Landscape Archaeologist, that will help thousands of people affected by heart disease. cash cow.’ example of this kind of legacy in his study of researched the location of a Their discoveries included Ottoman army trees in Great War landscapes. In the town camp used by TE Lawrence, camps and Arab rebel campsites, landing strips of Verdun, where a particularly nasty war of described in his book Seven used by the British Royal Flying Corps, and attrition between the Germans and the French Pillars of Wisdom as ‘behind trenchworks at various points along the route involved heavy deployment of mustard gas, the toothed hill’. When another of the railway. Every year they found more, the resulting chemicals leached into the soil. researcher showed him a 1918 and each new discovery helped to fill in the ‘Over the decades, this poison seeped into photograph (above) of several picture of the Great Arab Revolt, and of the tree roots,’ says Saunders. ‘The trees were cut Rolls Royce armoured cars, it region’s wider history, including the origins down and made into wine casks, then the confirmed his theory about the of the state of Jordan. wine became tainted and people who drank camp’s whereabouts. the wine become ill. Tracing that trajectory Digging deeper as a modern, unexpected legacy of the First Winterburn and the GARP The team’s successes in Jordan illustrate World War requires much more than digging team found and excavated the the benefits of taking a multidisciplinary up a battlefield.’ site, which was littered with approach to modern conflict. ‘You could fragments of glass, pots and arguably go to Waterloo, dig it all up, and say On the horizon British rum jars, along with metal “Now we know all about what happened at GARP’s ten-year span ends in 2016, but objects such as shell cases Waterloo”,’ says Saunders. ‘But in most First Saunders and his team will follow Foreign and spark plugs. World War battle zones, there are years of and Commonwealth Office advice about The discovery made accumulated debris to make sense of.’ whether a return to Jordan is prudent. headlines as Thanks to the advent of industrialised Meanwhile, he is planning a new project ‘Lawrence’s Lost warfare, some of that debris is as deadly as it in the Isonzo Valley, an area of former Camp’, although was a century ago. ‘There are still roughly Austria-Hungary that was the setting for Winterburn 400 million unexploded First World War at least a dozen battles in the First World War. believes that it was artillery shells on what was the Western ‘It’s a well-preserved landscape,’ he explains, probably only used Front, and millions of unexploded hand ‘and a microcosm of the way that Europe for around 10 days. grenades and volatile gas canisters, still transformed after 1918, with the dissolution going off now and then, sometimes killing of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the people,’ he says. ‘To get some intellectual eventual rise of the European Union. Above left An intact Ottoman ‘throwing Find out more and give online today at: purchase on that, you have to understand There’s a lot to discover there.’ bomb’ beside a smaller bomb fragment • Above Armoured Rolls Royces at the de-mining policy after the war, and the jordan1914-18archaeology.org Tooth Hill in 1918 Grenades © Roger Ward, GARP Rum jar // © Alison Baldry, GARP Rolls // Royces © John Winterburn (source: George Pascoe) bristol.ac.uk/alumni/give-back
26 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Listings
In memoriam Events Alumni in memoriam Calendar November 2014 to July 2015 The University extends its sincere condolences to the friends and families Make sure you’re invited to relevant events in your area by of those listed below for whom we have received notification of death. updating your details at bristol.ac.uk/alumni/mydetails.
Lady Isobel Wood The Rev Dr Timothy Mark (née Stamp) (BA 1930, Hon MA 2009) (BA 1957, Cert Ed 1958, MLitt 1968, MEd The Rt Hon Mr Tony Benn (Hon LLD 2001), November April died 2014, aged 105 1971) died April 2014, aged 80 Bristol in: Reconnect politician and Bristol MP, died March 2014, Monday 10 November Wednesday 29 April Patricia Wilson Douglas Phillips with your University (née O’Brien) (BA 1937) died April 2014, (BVSc 1957) died May 2014, aged 82 aged 88 Careers event and drinks Annual student, staff and aged 97 Dr Alan Turner Honorary graduate Tony Benn was an MP Join us for one of eleven exclusive alumni receptions, reception for 2014 graduates alumni golf challenge // Bristol John Hawkes (BSc 1957, PhD 1960) died February 2014, in Bristol for more than 30 years, and had a hosted by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Eric // London (BSc 1938, MSc 1940) died May 2014, aged 78 aged 96 huge impact on students. Benn first entered Thomas (Hon LLD 2004), in cities around the world Friday 17 April John Crittall Professor Bernard Martin (BVSc 1958) died July 2014, aged 80 politics at the age of 25, winning the by- this winter (November 2014 to January 2015). Monday 25 November Beijing Alumni Reception (BSc 1940, MSc 1949) died February 2014, Destinations include Brussels, Hong Kong, Kuala Bristol Talks // Beijing Tessa Varney (née White) election as Labour candidate for Bristol South aged 93 (BA 1958) died November 2013, aged 77 in 1950 and eventually becoming Secretary of State for Industry in Lumpur, Melbourne, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Speaker Tom Morris, Artistic John James John Hichens 1974 under Harold Wilson. Benn retired from Parliament in 2001, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto and Vancouver. Director of the Bristol Old Vic Monday 20 April (BSc 1945) died April 2014, aged 88 (BA 1959) died May 2014, aged 76 famously claiming that he wanted to ‘spend more time on politics’. To find out more, please visit bristol.ac.uk/alumni/ Theatre // London Shanghai Alumni Reception Anthony Baxter James Patmore (BDS 1947) died March 2014, aged 90 events/bristol-in. // Shanghai (BSc 1959) died March 2014, aged 76 You can find a link to a moving tribute from alumnus and ITV December Lilian Harris Clifford Wheatley presenter, Alastair Stewart OBE (1970-72, Hon LLD 2008), who (BA 1947) died 2014, aged 88 July (BSc 1960) died March 2014, aged 74 was Vice-President of the Students’ Union in 1972-73, online at Thursday 11 December Doreen Melrose (née Bettany) Robert Young (BA 1948, Diploma 1949) died June 2014, bristol.ac.uk/nonesuch. Alumni Association Student Friday 10 to Sunday 12 July (BVSc 1960) died January 2014, aged 77 aged 86 Awards and Reception // Bristol Best of Bristol Alumni William Mosley Elaine Binns (née Jordan) Weekend 2015 // Bristol (LLB 1963) died March 2014, aged 73 (BA 1951, Cert Ed 1952) died February 2014, Paul Collen Philippa Lynch Monday 15 December aged 83 Susan Oliver (BA 1977) died 2014, aged 58 (LLB 2002) died 2013, aged 48 (BA 1963) died 2012, aged 70 London Branch Alumni Carol Dr Dennis Fox Hugh Excell William Nicholas (MB ChB 1951) died June 2014, aged 85 Mary Roberts (BA 1977) died July 2014, aged 70 (Hon MA 2002) died July 2014 Service // London (BA 1964, MA 1968) died April 2014, aged 71 Raymond Hillman Anthony Zausmer Rebecca Long (BA 1951) died March 2014, aged 84 Roland Ford (BSc 1977) died February 2014, aged 57 (BA 2003) died 2014, aged 32 February (BSc 1965, MSc 1967) died June 2014, Professor Bruce Hyde Dr David Robinson Sandeep Shetty aged 70 (BSc 1951, PhD 1962, DSc 1974) died (BSc 1981) died May 2014, aged 54 (BSc 2000, MB ChB 2003) died 2014, Saturday 7 February aged 35 February 2014, aged 88 Dr Ralph Barry Professor Colin Pillinger Wills Hall Association Annual (BSc 1966, MB ChB 1967) died April 2014, Brenda Carne (née Hey) (DSc 1985) died May 2014, aged 70 Peter Wherritt Reception // Bristol aged 73 (Diploma 2003) died February 2014, aged 66 (BA 1952) died March 2014, aged 82 Jayne Rhodes Colin Wraight Dr Kenneth Edmondson (BSc 1985) died June 2014, aged 51 Helen Beckwith (née McHale) (BSc 1967, PhD 1971) died July 2014, aged 68 (LLB 2005) died October 2013, aged 31 (MB ChB 1952) died 2014, aged 85 Dr Cherida Stobart (née Hopper) Paul Gardner Alexander Gillanders (BSc 1985, BVSc 1986) died 2013, aged 51 Professor Dora Akunyili (BSc 1968) died December 2013, aged 66 (Hon LLD 2006) died June 2014, aged 59 (BSc 1952) died January 2014, aged 86 Anne-Marie Drozdz Dr Margaret Goldsmith (née Pruden) June Cooling (BA 1987, Cert Ed 1996) died May 2014, Batook Pandya (PhD 1968) died April 2014, aged 93 (BA 1953, MA 1956) died 2014, aged 82 aged 49 (Hon MA 2009) died February 2014 Bristol needs you Professor Alexander Livingston Leslie Helps Desmond Gillespie Michael Verity (PhD 1968) died 2014, aged 74 (BSc 1953) died December 2013, aged 83 (MPPS 1987) died November 2013, aged 66 (LLM 2012) died July 2013, aged 69 Are you passionate about Bristol’s future? Do you have ideas Emeritus Professor John Macmillan Prince Paul Odescalchi Dr Pamela Gilbert Amanda Hansen about how to develop your alumni community, and represent (DSc 1968) died May 2014, aged 89 (BA 1953) died April 2014, aged 90 (MA 1988, PhD 1996) died February 2014, (JYA) died January 2014, aged 29 alumni views to the University? Dr Elanor Warren (née Manson) aged 87 John Harris August Atkinson (PhD 1968) died 2013 (BA 1954, Cert Ed 1957) died April 2014, Charlotte Horrex (BVSc 2009-) died April 2014, aged 22 We’re looking for enthusiastic and committed volunteers to aged 80 Emeritus Professor Richard Horsley (LLB 1989) died 2012, aged 46 represent alumni to the University’s decision-making bodies (MSc 1970) died 2012, aged 71 Thomas Winstone Alison Gunn John Dixon in a variety of roles on the Convocation and Alumni Association (BDS 1954) died December 2013, aged 86 Shirley Beavor (née Millican) (BSc 1991) died February 2014, aged 45 former staff member, died June 2014 Committee, and Court. (BA 1971) died January 2014, aged 64 Dr Frank Clarke Garry Mills Professor Jake MacMillan FRS (BSc 1955) died December 2013, aged 79 Dr Jagdish Chawla (LLM 1992) died 2014, aged 47 former staff member, died May 2014 To find out about each of these roles, and apply online, (MD 1973) died January 2013, aged 79 Dr David Watkins Lindsay Newby (née Peacock) Joan Langan please visit bristol.ac.uk/take-part. Applications close on (BSc 1955, PhD 1958) died April 2014, Kevin Elyot (BSc 1992) died April 2014, aged 44 former staff member, died 2014 Friday 27 March 2015. (BA 1973) died June 2014, aged 62 aged 80 Matthew Lewis Professor Ronald Milne Professor Brian Chalmers Richard Iwaniak (BA 1993, Cert Ed 1994) died April 2014, former staff member, died 2014 Voting will open in May 2015 and close on Friday 10 July 2015. (BSc 1956, PhD 1961) died November 2013, (BSc 1974) died June 2014, aged 62 aged 42 Joyce Ferrier For a postal ballot, please contact the Campaigns and Alumni aged 78 David Jones-Parry Michael Scott former staff member, died December 2013 Relations team on +44 (0)117 394 1051 or [email protected]. Glenys Sturgeon (née Hardman) (LLB 1975) died January 2014, aged 59 (BA 1994) died January 2014, aged 43 Dr Yon Richard Mayhew (BA 1956) died August 2013, aged 78 Anne Yates Heather Metters former staff member, died 2013 Dr Colin Hemming (BA 1976) died August 2013, aged 58 (LLB 1995) died 2014, aged 53 (MB ChB 1957) died May 2014, aged 82 Amanda Brook (née Runnacles) Julia Armitage Please email any notifications for alumni in
(BA 1977) died 2014, aged 59 (Cert 2002) died 2014, aged 58 memoriam to [email protected] Alberto Antoniazzi © Calendar illustration For more information and details of how to book, please visit bristol.ac.uk/alumni/events or call +44 (0)117 394 1049
28 nonesuch // Autumn 2014 Autumn 2014 // nonesuch 29 Everyone can leave a legacy Please consider leaving a gift to Bristol in your Will. Your gift will inspire generations of students to enquire, innovate, and bring real change to the world we live in.
Contact: Ella Searle (MA 2002), Planned Giving Manager, University of Bristol, Senate House,Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TH T: +44 (0)117 394 1045 E: [email protected]
bristol.ac.uk/leave-a-legacy Exempt charity number: X1121