New college record 2018 160pp

Cover photograph:
Old Testament figures: Adam, Eve, Seth, and Enoch, painted to the design of Biagio
Rebecca (1731-1808) [detail].
Below left: Biagio Rebecca, Ideas for Adam and Eve ‘after Raphael’, August 1772.
NCA: 1159/3/17.
Below right: Biagio Rebecca, Old Testament figures for the windows in New College,
before January 1774. NCI: 605, gift of Charles Bell, 1924.
Biagio Rebecca was an Italian decorative painter who in 1769 became one of the first
students to enter London’s Royal Academy Schools; he spent the remainder of his career
in England. The New College glass for which he provided the cartoons - as well as a set of
scaled-up watercolours in the City Art Gallery in York – was installed by William Peckitt
in 1774.
Rebecca first proposed that Adam and Eve be done after Raphael (Below left), but criticism
by Jeremiah Milles, Dean of Exeter, was decisive: ‘Adam & Eve should be represented in
these windows as the common parents of the other figures, not as the authors of their misery.’
This comment resulted in the poses seen in Rebecca’s watercolour for the whole range of
windows (Below right). After the window was completed, further changes appear to have
been introduced; it has always been rumoured that Adam and Eve were considered to be
inappropriately au naturel by 19th
-century tastes, and that the College intervened with the
cover-up cloaks, spade, and serpent.
© Courtesy of the Warden & Scholars of New College

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NEW COLLEGE RECORD | CONTENTS
Contents
Editorial Note 2
Fellowship 4
From the Warden 13
New College Notes 18
Bursar 19
Home Bursar 21
Chapel 24
Organist 26
Librarian 29
New Chamber Opera 34
New College School 36
New College Society 42
Development Office 46
SCR News 49
MCR Report 57
JCR News 58
Features 70
The Gradel Quadrangles 71
Outreach at New College 76
President of Ghana Visit 79
Hastings Rashdall 80
An Exciting Night at New College 83
Gaude poem by G Bantock 86
Obituaries 88
Donors 110
Appointments, Honours and Awards 124
Books, Recordings and Films 126
Retirements 128
Marriages and Civil Partnerships 128
Wedding Anniversaries 129
Births 130
Scholarships and Awards 133
Final Awards School Results 140
Blues 145
To dine in College 147
To Order
- College Cards and Prints 149
- New College Choir CDs 151
- New College Bags 153
- New College Library
Through Time 155

92142 New College Record 2018 TEXT v2.indd 1 26/03/2019 16:16

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EDITORIAL NOTE |NEW COLLEGE RECORD
Editorial Note
In 2019, New College is 640 years old. This constitutes an immensity of time, witness to
comprehensive change even where masked, in stubborn venerable institutions such as ours,
by apparent continuities. Some features may abide - the Founder’s physical groundplan
or his concern for members’ academic and moral integrity - but in settings inconceivable
to most of the intervening twenty-five generations. The historians’ cliché of change and
continuity conceals the permanent uncertainty in understanding the present and anxiety
in contemplating an unknowable future. Over more than half a millennium, the college’s
responses have been humanely inconsistent, from optimism to trepidation, myopia to
planning. Each century has thrown up its own crises of internal confidence or external
threat. So it will continue. What follows suggests a varied but rounded collegial recognition
of past place, present value and future need to develop. People make a college, as they
do this Record. To all those members who have so generously helped contribute to this
year’s edition, the editor expresses his warmest thanks, but most of all to my indefatigable
Assistant Editor, Nathalie Wilks, the real sine qua non of the whole production.
Editor
Christopher Tyerman
Assistant to the Editor
Nathalie Wilks
To give us your news for the next edition, please contact:
The Editor, New College Record, New College, Oxford OX1 3BN
Email: oldmembers@new.ox.ac.uk Telephone: 01865 279509
You can also update our records and give information for the Record using the
email address above.
New College is registered with the Charity Commissioner (Registration No. 1142701)
‘New College Oxford’ is a registered trade mark - ® No 2588652

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4
Fellowship
VISITOR
The Bishop of Winchester
WARDEN
Miles Young, MA
FELLOWS
R George Ratcliffe, MA, DPhil, Tutor in Biochemistry, Tutor for Graduates and Graduate
Admissions; Professor of Plant Sciences
David Palfreyman, OBE, MA, FRSA (MBAAston, LLB Oxford Brookes), Bursar
Martin S Williams, MA (BSc, PhD Brist), David Clarke Fellow; Professor of Structural
Engineering; Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)
Elizabeth J Frazer, MA, DPhil, Tutor in Politics; Associate Professor of Politics
Dieter Helm, CBE, MA, DPhil, Tutor in Economics; Professor of Energy Policy
David A Parrott, MA, DPhil, Tutor in History, Precentor, Steward of the SCR; Professor
of Early Modern History
Karen J Leeder, MA, DPhil, Tutor in German, Professor of Modern German Literature
Mark S Griffith, MA, DPhil, Richard Ellmann Fellow, Tutor in English, Senior Tutor
Michael J Burden, MA (BA, MAAdelaide, PhD Edinburgh), Tutor in Music, Dean,
Chattels & Pictures Fellow; Professor of Opera Studies
Andrew J Wathen, MA (PhD Reading), Tutor in Mathematics; Professor of
Computational Mathematics
Catriona H M Kelly, MA, DPhil, FBA, Tutor in Russian; Professor of Russian
Richard Whittington, MA (MBAAston, PhD Manchester), Millman Tutorial Fellow
in Business Studies, Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions; Professor of Strategic
Management
Stephen J Mulhall, MA, DPhil (MA Toronto), Tutor in Philosophy; Professor of
Philosophy
Timothy Williamson, MA, DPhil, FBA, FRSE, HonAAAS, MAE, HonMRIA,
Professorial Fellow; Sub-Warden and Wykeham Professor of Logic
Richard T B Mash, MPhil, DPhil (BA Camb), Tutor in Economics
Miles Hewstone, MA, DPhil, DSc (BSc Bristol, Habilitation Tübingen), FBA, Tutor in
Psychology; Professor of Social Psychology, Outrider
Dori Kimel, MA, DPhil, Tutor in Law; Reader in Legal Philosophy
David J Gavaghan, MA, MSc, DPhil (BSc Durham), Supernumerary Fellow; Professor
of Computational Biology
Jane L Lightfoot, MA, DPhil, FBA, Charlton Fellow and Tutor in Classics; Professor of
Greek Literature
THE FELLOWSHIP |NEW COLLEGE RECORD

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NEW COLLEGE RECORD| THE FELLOWSHIP
Rene Bañares-Alcántara, MA (BSc UNAM, MS, PhD Carnegie Mellon), Tutor in
Engineering; Reader in Engineering Science
Susan J Bright, MA, BCL, Harvey McGregor Fellow, Tang Lecturer & Tutor in Law;
Professor of Land Law
Volker Halbach, (MA, PhD Munich), Tutor in Philosophy; Professor of Philosophy
William E Poole, MA, DPhil, John Galsworthy Fellow & Tutor in English, Fellow
Librarian
Andrei Zorin, MA (PhD Moscow), Professorial Fellow; Professor of Russian
E Victor Flynn, MA (BA Otago, PhD Camb), Tutor in Mathematics; Professor of
Mathematics
Oliver G Pybus, MA, DPhil (BSc Nott, MSc York), Professorial Fellow; Professor of
Evolution and Infectious Diseases
Christiane R Timmel, MA, DPhil (Dip Chem TU Dresden), Tutor in Chemistry;
Professor of Chemistry
Adrianne Slyz, MA (BS Harvard, MA, PhD Columbia), Tutor in Physics; Associate
Professor of Physics
Anthony J Venables, CBE, MA, BPhil, DPhil (BA Camb), Professorial Fellow; BP
Professor of Economics
Rosalind A M Temple, MA, MPhil (PhD Wales), Supernumerary Fellow; Associate
Professor of French Linguistics
Mari Sako, MA (MA Johns Hopkins, MSc, PhD Lond), Professorial Fellow; Professor in
Management Studies
Jonathan Black, MA, Professorial Fellow; Director of the Careers Service
Marcus du Sautoy, OBE, MA, DPhil, Professorial Fellow; Charles Simonyi Professor for
the Public Understanding of Science, Professor of Mathematics
John E McGrady, (MA, PhD Australian National Univ), Tutor in Chemistry; Professor of
Computational Inorganic Chemistry
Laura Marcus, (BA Warwick, MA, PhD Kent) FBA, Professorial Fellow; Goldsmiths’
Professor of English Literature
Mark E Curtis, MA, Fellow and Director of Development
Erica Longfellow, MSt, DPhil (AB Duke, DipTheol Kent), Chaplain, Dean of Divinity
Hannah Sullivan, (BA Camb, MRes London, PhD Harvard), Tutor in English; Associate
Professor of English
Joseph P Conlon, (MA, PhD Camb, BSc Reading), Tutor in Physics; Royal Society
University Research Fellow
Steven A Balbus, MA (BS MIT, PhD Berkeley), FRS, Professorial Fellow; Savilian
Professor of Astronomy
Paolo Fait, (BA, PhD Florence) Anthony Quinton Fellow, Tutor in Classical Philosophy
Masud Husain, MA, DPhil, BM, BCh, FRCP, FMedSci, Professorial Fellow; Professor of
Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience; Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow

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Andrea L P Vedaldi, (MSc Padua, MSc, PhD Los Angeles), Tutor in Engineering;
Associate Professor of Engineering
Grant Churchill, MA (BSc, MSc Saskatchewan, PhD Minnesota), Tutor in Medicine;
Associate Professor of Chemical Pharmacology
Ashleigh S Griffin, (BSc, PhD Edinburgh), Tutor in Biological Sciences; Professor of
Evolutionary Biology
Andrew R Meadows, MA, DPhil (MA Michigan), Tutor in Ancient History; Professor of
Ancient History
Robert J H Quinney, (MA, MPhil Camb), Tutor in Music, Organist; Associate Professor
of Music
Giles R L Spackman, MA (MBA Harvard), Professorial Fellow; Group Finance Director,
Oxford University Press
Andrew J Counter, (BA, MPhil, PhD Camb), Tutor in French; Associate Professor in
French
Mark Stokes, (BA, BSc Melbourne; PhD Camb), Tutor in Psychology; Associate
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience
Abigail Adams, MA, DPhil, Tutor in Economics, Associate Professor in Economics
Emma Claussen, BA (MA London), Career Development Fellow in French
Stephen J Dimelow, (LLB Glamorgan, LLM Camb) DPhil, Career Development Fellow
in Law
Robert J C Easton, (BSc Lon) ARCS, DPhil, FCGI, Professorial Fellow; Pro-Vice-
Chancellor for Development and External Affairs
Alexander Morrison, MA, DPhil, Tutor in History, Associate Professor of History
Frances Kirwan, (BA Cantab), DPhil, FRS, DBE, Professorial Fellow; Savilian Professor
of Geometry
Gez Wells, (BA Open), Home Bursar
Nino Luraghi, (MLitt Venice, PhD Rome), Wykeham Professor of Ancient History,
Classics
SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS
Samuel Cohen, (BSc DPhil Adelaide), Mathematics
John March-Russell, MA (BSc Imperial, MA, PhD Harvard) Physics; Professor of
Physics
Rick van der Ploeg, (BSc Sussex, PhD Camb), Deputy Director OxCarre; Professor of
Economics
Cameron Hepburn, MPhil, DPhil (Economics); Professor of Environmental Economics
Peggy A Frith, MA (MD Camb), FRCP, Medicine
THE FELLOWSHIP| NEW COLLEGE RECORD

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Chris J Lintott, (BA Camb, PhD UCL), FRAS, Research Fellow, Physics
James Willoughby, (MA Camb) MA, DPhil, FSA, Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow,
History
JUNIOR RESEARCH FELLOWS
Anna Blomley, (BA Heidelberg) MPhil, Esmée Fairbairn Junior Research Fellow,
Classics
Rebecca Bowler, (BA MSc Camb) PhD Edin, Non-Stipendiary Glasstone Junior Research
Fellow, Physics
Charlotte Brierley, BM BCh (MA Camb, MRCP) Todd-Bird Non-Stipendiary Junior
Research Fellow, Clinical Medicine
Michael Crabtree, (BMedSc Birm, MSc KCL) Todd-Bird Junior Research Fellow,
Medicine
Michaela Collord, (BA MPhil Camb), Herbert Nicholas Junior Research Fellow in
Politics
Felix Flicker, MPhys (MSc Waterloo, PhD Bristol), Astor Junior Research Fellow,
Physics
Jonathan Green, (BSc Bristol, DPhil Sussex), Junior Research Fellow in Biological
Sciences
Daniel Harkin, BA MSt (MPhil. Birbeck), Salvesen Junior Fellow, Philosophy
Timothy Hinks, (MA Camb, MB MCh PhD Ston), MRCP Todd -Bird Non-Stipendiary
Junior Research Fellow, Clinical Medicine
Raphaël Lefèvre (BA Cant, BA Lille) MPhil (PhD Camb), Non-Stipendiary Junior
Research Fellow in Politics
Beau Mount, (BA Duke, MA Princeton, DEA (Paris-IV)) BPhil, Weston Junior Research
Fellow in Philosophy
Hannah Maslen, BA MSc DPhil, Non-Stipendiary Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy
Katie McKeogh, (BA Durham), MSt DPhil, Sir Christopher Cox Junior Research Fellow,
History
Timothy Nott, (BSc Warw; PhD NIMR), Todd-Bird Junior Research Fellow, Biochemistry
Ellis O’Neill, (MA Camb, PhD UEA), Non-Stipendiary Junior Research Fellow, Plant
Sciences
Chiara Ravetti, (BSc Lond, MSc PhD Geneva), OxCarre Non-Stipendiary Junior
Research Fellow Economics
Anouk Rigterink, (BA Gronigen, MSc PhD LSE), Non-Stipendiary OxCarre Junior
Research Fellow
Patrick Salter, MPhys, DPhil, Non-Stipendiary Junior Research Fellow, Engineering
Eelke Spaak, BSc, BA, MSc (PhD Radboud, MSc Edin), Non-Stipendiary Junior
Research Fellow, Neuroscience
NEW COLLEGE RECORD | THE FELLOWSHIP

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Gerhard Toews, (MSc Edin, DPhil, Dipl I Kassel), OxCarre Non-stipendiary Junior
Research Fellow in Economics
Tetyana Vasylyeva (BSc MSc Kiev, MSc Albany) DPhil, Matthews Junior Research
Fellow, Biological Sciences
STIPENDIARY LECTURERS
Geraint Jones, MA, DPhil, Computation
Laura Lauro-Taroni, (Dr Phys Genoa), Physics
Giuseppe A L Stellardi, MA (Laurea Pavia, DEA, PhD Sorbonne), Italian
Christopher J Tyerman, MA, DPhil, FRHistS - History; Professor of the History of the
Crusades
Stephen G Davies, MA, DPhil, Extraordinary Lecturer in Chemistry; Professor of
Chemistry
Antony Galione, MA, (PhD Camb), FRS, FMedSci, Extraordinary Lecturer in
Biochemical Pharmacology; Professor of Pharmacology
Holly Bridge, MA, DPhil, Physiological Sciences
Gideon Elford, BA, MPhil, DPhil, Politics
Stephen Anderson, (MA Dubl, MA Camb) MA, Rodewald Lector in Classical Languages
Robert Jacobs, MA, DPhil, Chemistry
Jonathan Leader Maynard, MPhil, DPhil (BA King’s London), Politics
Renée Williams, (MA L ès L Paris), French
Mike Laidlaw, (MA Camb), DPhil, (CChem MRSC), Chemistry
Jim Thomson, MChem DPhil, Chemistry
Richard Nayak-Luke, MEng, Engineering
Gareth Pease, MEng, Engineering
Stefanie Burkert-Burrows, MSt, (Staatsexamen Eichstätt, PGCE MMU), German
Roy Norton, MA, DPhil, Spanish
Joseph Mason, MA, DPhil (MMus Lond), Music
Beth Cykowski, (BA Exeter; MA Warwick), DPhil, Philosophy
Maria Balgova, MPhil, Economics
Kieran Calvert, MMath, Mathematics
Lucy Dunlop, MSt, MPhil, Russian
Joshua Lanier, MPhil, DPhil, Economics
Dean Sheppard, MChem, DPhil, Chemistry
Ondrej Cerny, BA, BPhil, Philosophy
Paul Muhle-Karbe, (PhD Ghent), Psychology
Fleur Stolker, MSt, DLS (LLB Leiden), Law

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HONORARY FELLOWS
Neil L Rudenstine, MA (BA Princeton, PhD Harvard), DCL
Neil MacGregor, OM, MA, Hon DLitt, Hon FBA, FSA
Sir David J Lumsden, Kt, MA, DPhil
Sir William B Utting, Kt, CB, MA
Christopher J Hampton, CBE, MA, FRSL
Sir Brian Unwin, KCB, MA (MAYale)
James T Bowman, CBE, MA
Professor Peter R L Brown, MA, FBA, FRHistS
Professor Ioan M James, MA, DPhil, FRS
Charles J Perrin, CBE, MA, Hon FRCP
Professor John G Ledingham, MA, DM, FRCP
Sir David E Butler, Kt, CBE, MA, DPhil, FBA
The Lord Hannay of Chiswick (David Hugh Alexander Hannay), GCMG, CH, DLitt, MA
Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, Kt, MA, DPhil, FRS
Sir Suma Chakrabarti, KCB, MA (MA Sussex)
Sir John Gieve, KCB, MA, BPhil
Professor Beresford N Parlett, MA (PhD Stanford)
Professor Nicola M Lacey, CBE, BCL (LLB Lond), FBA
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Bernard Rix, Kt, PC, MA (LLM Harvard)
Professor Anthony M Honoré, QC, BCL, MA, DCL, FBA
Professor Dame Hermione Lee, DBE, MA, MPhil, FRSL, FBA
Tom P Campbell, BA (MA, PhD London)
Professor Alan Ryan, MA, DLitt, FBA
Nicolas J Barker, OBE, MA (DUniv York), FBA
Professor Marc T Tessier-Lavigne, BA (BSc McGill, PhD London), FRS, FRSC, FMedSci
Hugh J M Grant, BA
Sir Peter Westmacott, MA, CGMG, LVO
Professor Michael J Hopkins, DPhil (BA, PhD Northwestern)
Andrew D Garrad, CBE, BA (PhD Exeter, DEng Bristol), FIMechE, FRAeS, FREng
Shona L Brown, MA (MSc, PhD Stanford, BEng Carleton)
Susan E Rice, MPhil, DPhil (BA Stanford)
Sir David Davies, Kt, MA
The Rt Hon Nicholas E Underhill, BA
Professor Anna C Nobre, PhD Yale
Sir Curtis A Price, KBE (BA Southern Illinois, AM PhD Harvard)

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EMERITUS FELLOWS
Peter G Dickens, MA, DPhil
Derek B Hope, MA, DPhil
Jean A Lodge, MA
David F Mayers, MA (BA, PhD Camb)
Michel Treisman, MA, DPhil (MB, BCh Rand)
Tom Snow, MA
Jonathan C B Glover, MA, BPhil
David Wiggins, MA, FBA, AAAS, (Hon. DPhil Univ York)
Gerald S Smith, MA, DLitt (BA, PhD Lond), FBA
Robin B Stinchcombe, MA (BSc, PhD Birm)
Wilson A Sutherland, MA, DPhil (MA St And)
Joy M Boyce, MA, DPhil (BA Open Univ)
P Tony Cox, MA, DPhil
Christopher J Allsopp, CBE, BPhil, MA
David W Clarke, MA, DPhil, FREng, FRS
Richard Dawkins, MA, DPhil, DSc, FRSL, FRS
Trevor Powell, MA, DSc (BSc, PhD Lond, PhD Texas)
David Sherrington, MA (BSc, PhD Manchester), FRS
Craig A Raine, MA, BPhil
Alastair I White, MA (BSc, PhD London, ACA)
Klim McPherson, MA (BA Camb, PhD London), FMedSci, HonFRCP
Joseph I Silk, MA (BA Camb, PhD Harvard), FRS, AAAS
Robin Lane Fox, MA, Garden Fellow
Derek A Terrar, MA (BSc, PhD London)
Edward Higginbottom, MA, DPhil (MusB, PhD Camb), FRCO
Jeremy A Thomas, OBE, MA (BA Camb, PhD Leic)
Martin E Ceadel, MA, DPhil
Ann M Jefferson, MA, DPhil, FBA
Jeremy M Harris, (MA Camb)
Nigel J Hitchin, MA, DPhil, FRS
Robert C Parker, MA, DPhil, FBA
Ruth Harris, MA, DPhil (BA, MA Pennsylvania), FBA
Alain R M Townsend, MA, MBBS (PhD London), FRCP, FRS
Caroline M A Thomas, MA, MLitt (BA Wales, MBAAston)
David N J Limebeer, (BSc Witwatersrand, MSc PhD Natal, DSc Lond)

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WYKEHAM FELLOWS
William D Eason, MA (MSI Dip)
Anne Kriken Mann, (BA Berkeley) HonFRIBA
Richard Oldfield, MA, DL
Christopher M Gradel, MEng
Dame Vivien Duffield, MA, DBE
Eugene Ludwig, MA (MA Haverford, JD Yale)
COLLEGE OFFICERS
Alan Blowers, (CPFA) Accountant (alan.blowers@new.ox.ac.uk)
Charles Campion, (MRICS) Land Agent (charles.campion@new.ox.ac.uk)
Christopher Thompson, Director of IT Services (christopher.thompson@new.ox.ac.uk)
Jennifer Thorp, MA Archivist (jennifer.thorp@new.ox.ac.uk)
Christopher Skelton-Foord, (MA Cantab, MBA Dunelm, MA LIS) Librarian
(christopher.skelton-foord@new.ox.ac.uk)
STAFF CONTACTS
Ellen Baker, Domestic Manager (ellen.baker@new.ox.ac.uk)
Mark Barrett, Account Assistant (mark.barrett@new.ox.ac.uk)
Suzannah Bridge, Deputy Librarian (suzannah.bridge@new.ox.ac.uk)
Adrian Bosher, Accounts/Payroll (adrian.bosher@new.ox.ac.uk)
Misha Brazier Tope, Outreach and Communications Officer
(misha.braziertope@new.ox.ac.uk)
Sam Brown, Project and Systems Analyst, Website Developer (sam.brown@new.ox.ac.uk)
Brian Cole, Catering Manager (brian.cole@new.ox.ac.uk)
Michael Collett, Clerk of Works (michael.collett@new.ox.ac.uk)
Samuel Cruickshank, Head Chef (sam.cruickshank@new.ox.ac.uk)
Tracy Curtis, PA to the Bursar (tracy.curtis@new.ox.ac.uk)
Harriet Dawson, Fundraising and Communications Officer (harriet.dawson@new.ox.ac.uk)
Rowena Dobson, Warden’s Office Assistant (wardens.office@new.ox.ac.uk)
James Dore, ICT Officer (james.dore@new.ox.ac.uk)
Sue Fisher, Accommodation Manager (sue.fisher@new.ox.ac.uk)
Camilla Gray, Welfare Administrator (camilla.gray@new.ox.ac.uk)
Yvonne Goodgame, HR/Payroll Manager (yvonne.goodgame@new.ox.ac.uk)
Linda Goodsell, Accounts Student Finance (linda.goodsell@new.ox.ac.uk)

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Hassan Hamed, SCR Butler (hassan.hamed@new.ox.ac.uk)
Paula Hart, Conference, Events and Tourism Manager (paula.hart@new.ox.ac.uk)
Sheena Hinton, Catering Secretary (sheena.hinton@new.ox.ac.uk)
Jacqui Julier, Deans’and College Officers’Secretary (jacqui.julier@new.ox.ac.uk)
Mark Lambourne, ICT Support Technician (mark.lambourne@new.ox.ac.uk)
Freyja Madsen, Academic Registrar (tuition@new.ox.ac.uk)
Emily Meeson, Personal Assistant to the Domestic Bursar (emily.meeson@new.ox.ac.uk)
Jason Morgan, Assistant Librarian (jason.morgan@new.ox.ac.uk)
Barnaby Norman, Senior Development Officer, 1379 Circle (barnaby.norman@new.ox.ac.uk)
Egle Norvile, Trainee Accountant (egle.norvile@new.ox.ac.uk)
Monika Pietruszewska, Food Services Manager (monika.pietruszewska@new.ox.ac.uk)
Michele Pitson, Deputy Clerk of Works (michele.pitson@new.ox.ac.uk)
Katie Poulter, Admissions Administrator (katherine.poulter@new.ox.ac.uk)
Daniel Powell, Head of Outreach (daniel.powell@new.ox.ac.uk)
Felicity Reeves, Student Services Officer (student.services@new.ox.ac.uk)
Jonathan Rubery, Communications and Events Manager (jonathan.rubery@new.ox.ac.uk)
Nancy-Jane Rucker, Chapel Administrator (nancy-jane.rucker@new.ox.ac.uk)
Kate Sanders, Executive Assistant, Warden (kate.sanders@new.ox.ac.uk)
Daniel Weller, Deputy Accountant (daniel.weller@new.ox.ac.uk)
Nathalie Wilks, Database and Information Officer (nathalie.wilks@new.ox.ac.uk)
Chris Wyatt, Head Porter (chris.wyatt@new.ox.ac.uk)

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In 2018 we commemorated the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice of 1918. Sunday, 11
November in Chapel was as sober and moving as one would expect: the Choir sang Parry’s
There is an old belief just as their predecessors had when the memorial in the Ante-Chapel
was inaugurated in 1921. Designed by Lesley Holden, cut by Eric Gill and coloured by
David Jones, the names etched in it record a fact which our own collective memory has
forgotten, which is that New College lost more dead than any other Oxford college. This is
The Warden with Réglisse and Coluche (2002-2019), the first canine inhabitants of the Lodgings since
Warden Smith’s dog, Peter.
From the Warden
NEW COLLEGE RECORD| FROM THE WARDEN

14
not, however, a point about macabre league tables, but about the enormous impact and shock
on the college as an institution. By 1918 we were down to just 22 students. The public rituals
of remembrance formalise official memory, but their carefully encoded injunction ‘Lest We
Forget’ becomes more and more difficult to heed. For our current generation of students,
this is ancient history, not even modern, in a way which it was not for my generation in the
1970s, where a combination of the Vietnam War and Oh what a lovely war! did at least keep
the memory alive as part of a debate.
Of course, forgetfulness is easy. At the simplest level, it is difficult to remember
last year that our official War Memorial is in fact the college Library, a grandiose project,
the result of much consideration and care by our predecessors, but which was not even
completed by the time a Second World War drew us into the vortex once more. We
choose to remember the humanity of Warden Spooner, trudging across to the Chapel
door to pin on it a notice of each dead member’s name as soon as it arrived in college,
including, controversially, and wonderfully, our German members. But we choose not to
remember the bellicose speeches of Warden Fisher in 1914 as Vice Chancellor of Sheffield
University, enlisted by the Liberal Imperialists in the Cabinet to whip up war fever.
For a few days, we were able to focus on very human memories: that haunting
last letter of our young Classics Fellow, Leslie Hunter, to the Warden, for instance, where he
writes:
“My feelings about this College are so strong and deep that I can’t express them; and
since the War began my gratitude and love for it have grown still greater as I see what
a part its members have played, and what a price has been exacted for their service.
I should like you and the older Fellows to know especially how grateful I feel for all
your kindness and unwearying encouragement to me: I think that during my time here
as Fellow we have indeed been a real household of good Fellowship, and have found
how good and joyful a thing it is to dwell together in unity”
And of the Gillespie brothers, Tom and Douglas. Tom was one of the famous New
College Eight at the Stockholm Olympics, killed in 1914; and his brother, Douglas was the
originator of the idea of a Via Sacra, a line of planted trees between the fronts which would
be an object of future pilgrimage in peacetime. Douglas’ Letters from the Front, an utterly
forgotten bestseller of the time, records how he somehow managed to find the château where
Tom had spent one of his last nights. Douglas was killed shortly afterwards in the Battle
of Loos. But his thoughts, sometimes naïve or even inappropriate to contemporary ears,
do remind us of something which all the post-narratives, from bellicose to pacifist, tend to
forget: which is that this was a war which people – our students – at the time felt was worth
fighting:
“It’s a grand opportunity and we must spare no effort to use it, for if we fail we shall
curse ourselves in bitterness every year that we live, and our children will despise
our memory”.
Warden Spooner himself dreaded an enemy victory, and a Europe dominated by
‘Prussian’ values.
Here lies the sobering importance of separating reality as much as it can be from
the post-narratives. It is beyond the scope or purpose of this column to extend the argument
FROM THE WARDEN| NEW COLLEGE RECORD

15
NEW COLLEGE RECORD | FROM THE WARDEN
further, other than simply to suggest that there is a strong case for seeing this war not as a
particularly deviant one, randomly sleepwalked into, but one undertaken consciously in a
spirit of righteous anger against a demonised enemy, fanned by a reckless press, encouraged
by arms races and underpinned by real strategic issues – in other words, alarmingly like all
the preconditions we see today. Then the consequences flowed; and, of course, they were
completely unintended. The scale and shape of the war emerged like nothing that had ever
been encountered or envisaged. But if the New College evidence is anything to go by, it is
the normality, not the exceptionalism of the First World War, from which we can draw the
lessons as we seek to avoid similar, horrible unintended consequences in the future.
Such reflections on memory and forgetfulness may seem unduly abstract, but they
could relate rather concretely to one of the more pressing challenges we are about to face,
as college and as University – namely, the impending publication of the Augar Report. Sir
Philip Augar, a thoughtful and distinguished former banker, is charged by the Government
to undertake a review of post-18 education. His findings are not yet public, but their thrust
has been made clear to us both privately and in leaks. They will involve a reduction in tuition
fees, but probably differentially applied, with lower fees for the ‘cheaper’ subjects of the
Humanities, and higher for STEM. This would be very bad news indeed for the Humanities,
essentially starving them from funding in order to remove oxygen from an unhealthy part
of the sector. Here is a fine example of unintended consequences. Augar’s target is the
inefficient long tail of oversupply in the HE sector: he is not attacking Oxford, New College
or the Humanities per se, and he is, after all, an historian by training. But the irony is that just
as the deficit operating Humanities division in Oxford, under pressure for not contributing
enough financially, hopes to receive a major university commitment to support a new
physical centre in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, so, nonetheless, it will face severe
financial challenge. To understand the context a little more, it is necessary to remember
(which is very often forgotten) that the recent growth in revenue and rankings of Oxford has
been driven by one thing: medicine. If medicine was extracted from the University I believe
it would be the UK’s fifth largest university by itself. This has been all to the good. But now,
within the University, there will have to be a massive exercise in willpower to keep our
collective nerve that the Humanities are still very important, granted that they are relatively
much smaller than ever before.
In the college, that is, I believe, a no-brainer. One of the joys of returning to Oxford
has been to a college where the ghost of C P Snow, if ever it did walk here (and I think it
might have done on a couple of occasions), is well and truly exorcised. Our scientists are
strongly supportive of the Humanities, and see congruence and cross-fertilisation as being
of a great benefit. As our Fellow, Marcus du Sautoy, puts it,
“I try to ....fuse and integrate science as part of culture and society. Especially with
the things that we cannot know, that’s the place where the humanities can really help
us in dreaming about what …. answers might look like.”
Our Humanities, both in research and teaching, are vibrant; the demand for them
remains strong; they are buoyed up by the ability of the Ludwig Fund, a generous donation
of an Old Member, to support specific projects; and the students I counsel as they move into

16
after life have a very clear view of the benefit that they offer them in their careers. From the
other side of the fence, as a past employer of many graduates, this is also something of which
I am very conscious.
I am much less confident, however, that the Humanities as a whole, nationally, are
mobilised to defend themselves, to articulate their benefits, or even to engage with some of
the reasons why they are useful both to society and to the economy which helps fund them.
But, if they do not, I foresee a massacre of the ostriches. Worse, the ‘idea of a university’
will suffer a huge setback. Warden Fisher, who deserves a little rehabilitation following my
earlier reference to him, was horrified when no less an advocate of STEM than King George
V argued for getting rid of everything else from the syllabus. But that idea of a university,
with its roots in our mediaeval prototypes, chronicled by our sometime fellow Hastings
Rashdall (featured later in this Record), relied on a holistic combination of specialisms.
History, languages, literature, politics, philosophy: they are the intellectual disciplines
which help society shape and understand its culture, and decode both its collective memory
and its collective forgetfulness. Sadly, these are issues which are beyond the Government’s
ability to grasp or to be prepared to deal with, so this promises to be a coming attraction for
years ahead. If the idea of a university needs defending then it surely needs defending as not
just a supermarket, where the value of subjects is measured by individual shelf efficiency,
but as a whole.
Finally on the subject of memory, we have appropriated one memory – by taking
the name of Cecil Kimber onto a college building. Kimber is a STEM icon, the brilliant
engineer who worked for William Morris, and created the MG marque in the garages where
Morris assembled the first Morris Oxford, and which now belong to us. The student rooms in
the Morris Garages have been refurbished recently, along with 18 Longwall; to complete the
‘Quadrangle’, we have just finished to a very high specification two fully accessible rooms
for disabled students, along with a carer’s room. This is now known as the Kimber Wing,
and our first student, Harry Gable, is now in residence.
I have just read a fascinating memoire of the late Alick Barratt. A polio sufferer, he
must have been one of the very first students whose disability was catered for by a college
– in the late 1940s. Housed in 3OB1, he was allowed to keep his petrol-driven ‘Invacar’
wheelchair under the gatehouse. In the last few years there has been a dramatic increase in
the number of students declaring a disability. Anticipating their needs is a vital platform of
any outreach policy; and our own college strategy for offering barrier-free access to students
with all types of disability is currently the object of a thorough-going set of improvements,
from the Lodge to High Table; and the specification for the new Gradel Quadrangles is based
on best-in-class thinking in the area.
More generally, it is a particular pleasure to record that this year we have been
joined by the new Savilian Professor of Geometry, Frances Kirwan. In a nice counterpoint of
memory and relevance, she is the first woman in the 400 years of the Savilian Professorships
(we will remember that anniversary later in 2019), and a wonderful role model for our college
women in STEM. An important change in college officers took place last year. Caroline
Thomas (so much responsible for the Kimber Wing) retired after 24 years as Home Bursar.
FROM THE WARDEN| NEW COLLEGE RECORD

17
My own memories of domestic Bursars in the past in no way conform to the extraordinarily
diverse, humane, yet firm and humorous ways in which Caroline performed her role. Her
successor, Gez Wells, was extricated, with no little sense of guilt on my part, and with
the gentle forbearance of the Rector, from Exeter College. He has made an excellent start.
This last year was the Sub-Wardenship of Professor Richard Whittington. Richard was an
assiduous Sub-Warden, whose sensible advice, always clear and always grounded, I relied
on very much during the year, and for which I owe him much gratitude.
Miles Young
NEW COLLEGE RECORD | FROM THE WARDEN

18
NEW COLLEGE NOTES

19
As last year, first a very brief comment on progress
with the New Quad Project. There is indeed steady and
sustained progress: planning permission was granted
(with rare praise from English Heritage for the scheme’s
exciting design); a powerful team has been assembled to
ensure delivery (a Project Director, a Project Manager,
QS firms, VAT consultant, construction law specialists,
etc. etc. - all with extensive experience of procuring major
buildings); and there has been much ‘value-engineering’
on the ‘buildability’of the exciting but complex design.A
new trading company, Longwall 2 Ltd, has been created
to procure the building on behalf of the college (Longwall
Ltd dates from 1989 when I established it to handle the
covenants linked to the prolonged sales of houses built
on college land near Buckingham and so protect college from corporation tax if trading). At
the time of writing (end-November) it looks like we can reasonably hope to get the Project
done by mid-2022 for c£67.5m.
But - and it is a Very Big But - when we go out to tender we may find pricing
and inflation in the contractors moving harshly against us, perhaps also if we are by then
in a post-Brexit world or even more contractors have gone bust. We will be at the limit of
the bank debt I as Bursar would be comfortable leaving as a burden for my successor (see
below re financing the project) and so in extremis we would have to delay the final part of
the building process - the construction of the dozen or so bedrooms and the Tower as the new
free-standing ‘Warham House’.
The hoped-for cost of £67.5m - with good luck a tad lower and with bad luck
unaffordably higher - will be funded from: the Gradel donation of £15m, the Tower donation
of £2.5m, the Performance Space donation(s) of c£3.5m, the draining of Reserves to release
£5m, c£22.5m borrowed from Endowment, and c£22.5m of 5-7-10 year bank debt. The
Endowment is throwing off enough cash as we develop land (for example, the recent £3m
sale of a site at Buckingham for a retirement village) and hence we are not at risk of having
to sell from the equities portfolio into a falling market; but we are unavoidably at risk of any
sudden surge in interest rates before we finalise our bank loans during 19/20. We think the
interest in the bank debt can be covered from the income flow attached to the new bedrooms
- student rents and conference trade earnings - and with a c£75k top-up from NCS annual
revenues as its contribution towards getting vastly improved infrastructure.
Turning from the New College parish pump and contemplating the wider landscape
of English HE funding - and noting that what goes on out there may well adversely impact
upon New College. The Augar Review of the £9250 university tuition fees could see fees
reduced to c£6500 - but probably with some hefty taxpayer top-ups for the higher cost of
teaching the STEM degree subjects. If that happened, we might see some £500k pa removed
from the c£3m transferred to us via Oxford’s complicated resource allocation model. The
poorer and less well-endowed colleges would be hit in the same way, and just as they will
be coping (like us) with the hike in employer contributions to cover the chunky deficit in
The Bursar writes...
NEW COLLEGE RECORD | NEW COLLEGE NOTES

20
the asset base of our collective pension scheme (USS) - that would surely put huge political
pressure on the ‘rich’ colleges to contribute more to the inter-colleges taxation scheme.
For us c£200k pa tax payment could double or more. Add in any wobbles on Endowment
valuations and hence for the ‘take’ from Endowment, and the college could see the current
‘buffer’ figure of c£1.5m transferred to Reserves (and for the next decade dedicated to
paying off the bank debt referred to above) heavily eaten into - thereby slowing down our
ability to pay down the bank loans and having to cover the annual interest payments for
longer (on into the mid-2030s rather than clearing the bank debt by 2031/32).
That said, elsewhere in the wider landscape, the potentially reduced fee income
combined with hikes in not only USS but also, for other universities, the TPS, together with
the scarcity of new students some institutions are facing and also the debt serving costs
some universities have taken on by borrowing £XXXm in the bond market, may well mean
insolvencies. (NB in saying that I do not speak as a Member of the Board of the Office for
Students as the new market regulator for English HE ‘providers’ aka universities). So, we
live in interesting times - even for the Oxford Bubble.
David Palfreyman - Bursar
NEW COLLEGE NOTES | NEW COLLEGE RECORD

21
It is with great enthusiasm that I write my first contribution
to the New College Record. Since joining in March 2018
I have been overwhelmed by the support offered to me
by colleagues and the feeling of family that this has
generated. After fourteen years down the road at Exeter
College, I am fortunate enough to have a solid grounding
in the workings of the collegiate university, but it is true
to say that every college is unique. Colleagues have
helped enormously with filling in the blanks and ensuring
I do not fall foul of any mysterious New College custom.
I am enormously grateful to Caroline Thomas who has
passed me the Home Bursar’s baton after running with
it for 23 years, and a very successful 23 years of running
they were. I wish her well in her deserved retirement. An
extra note of thanks is extended to Joan Fraser who supported Caroline for 15 years and
me for the first six months of my time here. Without her the baton may have already been
dropped.
In 2018, we have benefitted from the completion of two notable building projects.
Firstly the Morris Garage accommodation refurbishment, which has provided us with
twenty-five en-suite bedrooms in 18-21 Longwall. As part of this development, we have
also begun to use the Kimber Wing. The Kimber Wing comprises two fully accessible suites
and one suite designed for residential assistants; this includes the latest accessibility aids to
help any member of the college with disability needs. The facility truly is first in its class.
The Clore Music Studios have also been handed over to the college. The Studios include
The Home Bursar writes...
The accessible Kimber Wing and refurbished Morris Garages

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Inside one of our new fully accessible Kimber Wing suites
six practice rooms and a large rehearsal space. Under the watchful eye of Professor Burden
this project has been meticulously detailed to provide an architecturally stimulating and
acoustically separated set of spaces and is a very welcome addition to the Savile Road site.
The Savile Road project gained planning permission in July this year and since
then I have been working hard with colleagues and the design team to get into the detail,
ensuring this once in a lifetime development provides the very best value for money. New
College School have taken receipt of their temporary home, which facilitates the demolition
of the 1950s school block. This is quickly followed by Warham House and the return wing
of Savile House. This demolition makes space for the Gradel Quadrangles that will start to
rise from the ground in early 2020.
New College remains as popular as ever to tourists, with the number of people
coming through the doors expected to increase in 2019 thanks to the filming of Mamma Mia
2 and Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights. This, alongside the usual staples of Harry Potter
and Endeavour, means you are never too far away from seeing a piece of New College on
your television sets.
During the year we said goodbye to some long serving members of the college, as
well as Caroline Thomas and Joan Fraser. Carolina Ventriglia left us after working amiably
as a scout for 26 years. Nigel Ewers was granted a request for early retirement after providing

23
an immeasurable and incomparable service as the Assistant Hall Manager for over 12 years.
Finally, two members of the college maintenance team left in 2018, Philip Millward and
Colin Knapton both served for 10 years and more. We wish all of those that have left us this
year a very healthy and prosperous next phase in their careers and lives.
2019 is looking positive from this side of the desk, the sense of family that I have
inherited will be built upon and an extra effort will be made to ensure that all members of
the college are included in the journey through the year. We are a fortunate college thanks
to the work of our predecessors, but that does not mean that we do not need to be mindful
of the uncertain world we still face. A collective push to break down boundaries, develop
smarter working practices and refine our service delivery will ensure the baton remains
firmly grasped and we are first past the post in the races that we run.
Gez Wells – Home Bursar

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The role of the chapel has changed dramatically since
14 April 1386, when the first fellows came in solemn
procession, following the cross and singing a Te Deum,
to take possession of this ‘new’ college of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. Much of the college was still a building
site, but seven services a day were sung in the chapel,
and everyone was required to go to mass daily. Today our
students come from many religious traditions, and most
of them would regard themselves of no religion at all.
And yet the chapel remains an important gathering place
for the college, where we can mark important moments
in our community, whether that is a quiet vigil after a
terrorist attack, or the solemn joy of the carol services. Many students may only come a few
times a year for special services, or even just once or twice when mum and dad are visiting,
but we aim to make the chapel a home that is always there for them when they need it.
2018 began quietly, with the new tradition of Epiphany carols and the second
annual residency of the girl choristers of Frideswide Voices. Icy weather and short days
usually mean that January services are not our most well attended, although the termly
Lutheran Vespers service, with the chance to hear one of Bach’s cantatas, was an early high
point. But when the peace of Hilary term was shattered by the sudden death from natural
causes of first year medic Isobel Mogg, the chapel became the natural place for students to
gather, to think and pray and meet one another in their grief. The annual Candlemas service,
usually a bright moment in a dark season, became a chance to mark our loss. Those who had
not known Issie came to support her friends, and the seemingly endless stream of students
with candles circling the main quad at the end of the service was a searing reminder of the
strength of our college community. The service traditionally ends with the choir singing
Eccard’s plangent When to the temple Mary went, and the final refrain of ‘may gently fall
asleep’ echoing around the ancient buildings will linger with many of us for a long time.
Over the following weeks, the sense of the students coming together to support one another
was tangible and encouraging. More students found their way into services but also social
events; the annual Shrove Tuesday pancakes and Ice Cream in the Archway saw students
queuing into the street.
There is comfort as well as challenge in the way that the rhythm of college life
continues in the wake of such a tragic loss. We were blessed to be asked to host Radio 3
evensong on Ash Wednesday this year, when we included, unusually, the Litany from the
Book of Common Prayer, and the choir sang an authentic version of Allegri’s Miserere. The
St John Passion at the end of term was particularly solemn and poignant. Our relationship
with Oxford Bach Soloists continued, with regular Sunday afternoon concerts in the chapel
and special concerts for Good Friday, Easter and Christmas. We heard many memorable
sermons in 2018, including the Revd Canon Dr William Taylor, Vicar of St John’s, Notting
Hill, who spoke movingly of his work in Syria and other minority Christian countries as
Chair of the Anglican and Easter Churches Association. The Revd Canon Angela Tilby
returned to preach a second time for Lutheran Vespers, weaving together another thought-
The Chaplain writes…

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provoking appreciation of Bach’s Lutheran theology and his music, and in Michaelmas
Term, Rev DrAlan McCormack of Goodenough College and St George’s, Hannover Square,
achieved the remarkable feat of engaging the men of the choir, our most discerning listeners.
One new tradition was an exhibition of sculpture in the cloisters for the whole of Trinity
Term; Emily Young is one of Britain’s most respected sculptors, and her rugged heads and
smooth discs of stone seemed in dialogue with the traditional monuments of the cloisters.
The traditions of chapel enable us to mark anniversaries of national and
international events when they fall. In Michaelmas 2018 there was a series of services and
concerts to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War. The
Warden spoke movingly at the College Commemoration Service of the dedication and
sacrifice of students and fellows in the years 1914-18. New College lost more men than
any other Oxford college, and Warden Spooner’s insistence on honouring students who had
died fighting for Germany among the British dead remains an example of humanism and
collegiality that still inspires many around the world today. Leslie Hunter, a young classicist,
wrote to Warden Spooner shortly before he left for the front in 1916 `I think that during my
time here as Fellow we have indeed been a real household of good fellowship.’ May that
good fellowship continue to lift us up in times of darkness and strengthen us in lives of
joyful service.
Rev Dr Erica Longfellow - Dean of Divinity, Chaplain and Fellow

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The chapel is so often filled with music that one
sometimes takes for granted the enormous variety
on offer. In the space of a few weeks in Hilary
2018 an habitué might have heard choral music
ranging from plainchant to works composed in the
last decade, Messiaen’s organ cycle La Nativité du
Seigneur (played by Assistant Organist, Timothy
Wakerell), a reconstructed Vespers liturgy with
Bach’s Cantata Alles nur nach Gottes Willen and
congregationally-sung chorales, a Mozart mass
performed with the student period instrument
ensemble, The Bate Players, and a live broadcast of
Choral Evensong for Ash Wednesday. The choir,
of course, is at the centre of all these activities—it
is a great privilege for me to work with a group
of musicians who can manifest themselves on successive days as ensemble singers and
soloists, assimilating a broad range of music with great professionalism.
Hilary term ended with a fourth successive annual performance of Bach’s
Johannes-Passion, this year featuring former chorister and clerk Guy Cutting as a superb
Evangelist; all other solo ‘roles’ and arias were taken by members of the choir. Unusually,
there were no major tours this year: a reflection, I think, of the challenging economic
environment (essentially comprising rising costs and stagnant income) facing any group
undertaking concert tours abroad. Happily, the support of a growing number of Friends of
New College Choir helps us with ‘external’ projects such as tours and recordings—more
on the latter below. Old Members are warmly invited to join at one of the very reasonable
subscription rates: see website for details www.newcollegechoir.com
Among the most enjoyable of our Trinity term activities were another Bach
Vespers, this time on Trinity Sunday with Cantata 165, O heilges Geist und Wasserbad, and
an Evensong at the Cathedral, sung with the choirs of our younger neighbours Magdalen
and Christ Church. This latter occasion marked the retirement of Stephen Darlington after
33 years as Organist of Christ Church. Professor Darlington was succeeded by Steven
Grahl, former Assistant Organist of New College and my successor as Director of Music at
Peterborough Cathedral (and, as a former Organ Scholar of Magdalen, a rare holder of the
Oxford choral foundation triple crown). We all look forward to further collaboration in the
future. In July the choir made a number of short video recordings - generously supported by
an alumnus - which may now be viewed, or will shortly be released, on our YouTube channel
and Facebook page. An immediate hit in the weeks before Christmas was the beautiful
candlelit performance of Away in a manger. Finally, the choristers gave two lunchtime
recitals of sacred and secular music, both to a packed antechapel. We plan to offer more of
these popular programmes in future, outside university term but while New College School
is still ‘up’.
Michaelmas 2018 was the busiest and most challenging start to the academic
year of the five I have known. Before term had even begun the choir had sung at two
Gaudes and as part of the Martin Randall Travel Group’s Oxford extravaganza The Divine
The Organist writes…

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©Nick Rutter

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Office; and the choristers had participated in a grand Evensong at Winchester Cathedral to
mark the Founder’s Obit, together with the Cathedral choir and our Wykehamical cousins
in Winchester College Chapel Choir. Then, not long after the start of term (but not before
another Bach Vespers—this time featuring the ethereal Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele), we
performed the Songs of Farewell by Parry in an unusual concert, as part of the Oxford Lieder
Festival. We shared the programme, but not the venue, with tenor (and former NC chorister)
James Gilchrist and pianist Anna Tilbrook: they performed to one half of the audience in
the Holywell Music Room while we sang the Songs of Farewell to the other half in chapel;
during the interval the audience swapped places and the performers girded their vocal cords
for a repeat. A tiring but very rewarding experience for us, timed to coincide with both the
centenary of Parry’s death in October 1918, and the release of our new CD of the Songs of
Farewell and other works by Parry and Mendelssohn. This recording, generously supported
by the Ludwig Fund, has attracted warm approbation in the musical press: Gramophone
described it as ‘a piercingly expressive, deeply humane display [that] will surely delight
all Parry fans’. Demand has recently necessitated a rare second pressing of the disc: order
yours while stocks last.
The year careered toward its close with a series of December performances. Hot
on the heels of the carol services, the choir sang as part of The Story of Christmas, a star-
studded charity event held annually at St George’s Church, Hanover Square. Later in the
same week the choristers sang live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, promoting the concert we
gave a few days later at St John’s, Smith Square, as part of their Christmas Festival. Finally,
on 22 December, a full chapel was entranced by the choristers’ performance of Britten’s
evergreen Ceremony of Carols—a perfect way to close another busy choral year.
Robert Quinney – the Organist
SALVETE (Michaelmas 2017):
Isaac Conway, Patrick Cryan, Adam Ellis, Theo Knight, Edmund Visintin (choristers);
Lewis Hammond, Filippo Turkheimer (academical clerks); Daniel Gethin, Alexander
Turner (lay clerks).
VALETE (Trinity 2018):
Tom Barry, Christopher Brain, Thomas Simpson (choristers); Peter Leigh, Harrison Short,
David Winter (academical clerks); Josef Laming (organ scholar).

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It has been a privilege and a pleasure for me to take up the role of Librarian in April 2018,
working with the talented Library and Archives team at New College. I have joined the
college from Durham University, but I am not new to Oxford, having previously worked
as History Librarian in the Bodleian, prior to which I held posts at the British Library in
London. As the library of one of the largest and highest-achieving colleges in Oxford, New
College Library serves a vital role in the life and work of its student body and Fellowship,
with significant and extensive rare book, manuscript and archival collections attracting
researchers from the scholarly community worldwide. It is wonderful to have returned
to Oxford. My professional background includes bibliographical and publishing history
research, and, as a keen musician, I am very pleased to have joined a truly outstanding
academic community with a world-famous choir and rich musical life. My predecessor,
Naomi van Loo headed up our library and archives service for 17 years, passing on to
my care one of the undisputed jewels in the crown of library and archives collections in
Oxford – one of the University’s great collections. That the Library is so well-regarded both
within and beyond Oxford owes very much to her dedication and skilful management over
many years. Therefore, it was extremely fitting when a beautifully produced colour booklet,
New College Library Through Time, was published at the beginning of 2018, marking her
librarianship of New College (a form to purchase copies can be found at the end of this issue
of the Record). Illustrated with photographs of unique and distinctive items from our rich
and varied Library and Archives collections, it provides a fascinating account of the Library,
from the first donation of books in 1377 by the college’s Founder up to the present day.
The Library is enormously grateful to those Old Members and friends who have
made financial donations to the Library over the course of 2018. Throughout its history, New
College Library has benefited from the generosity of its donors, both in the form of regular
gifts and one-off sums of money received. Many of the great treasures of the Library’s
manuscripts and early printed books holdings, too, are now part of our collections thanks to
the munificence and foresight of our donors. I am grateful to more than forty donors who
have each kindly given books to the Library this year, often quite a number of volumes.
Financial donations this year, also, have helped fund the acquisition of important modern
antiquarian items, contributed to the Library’s conservation and preservation activities,
which only increase as time goes by, and helped fund our ongoing digitisation programme.
Stewardship of assets of enduring significance is an essential part of our
responsibilities in the Library, as we seek to fulfil our commitments both to the wider scholarly
community and also to our Old Members themselves whose Library this will always be. Two
sizeable donations, in particular, are funding the purchase of two state-of-the-art exhibition
cases, which will become available during 2019. These will enable the Library and Archives
to better showcase some of our wonderful collections via a proper exhibitions programme
to take place within the Library. In addition to ‘show and tell’ displays for the boys of New
College School and for Dr Will Poole’s bibliography class, exhibition displays throughout
2018 have included: two Library Treasures displays for the Oxford Bibliophiles (spring and
winter), another for the JCR and MCR, a Library, Archives and Chattels display for the boys
of New College School, an LGBTQ+-themed display to accompany the launch of the New
College Society LGBTQ+ Old Members Group, an illuminated manuscripts display for
the Oxford Preservation Trust, a centenary display for the Wykeham and 1379 Societies of
The Librarian writes…

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The Library Benefaction Book (1617), p. 10 [detail]
New College Library, Oxford
© Courtesy of the Warden and Scholars of New College, Oxford
Photograph by Colin Dunn

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World War One materials, with Archives, commemorating the anniversary of the Armistice,
and a Modern Languages-themed display of rare and unique materials in the SCR. The latter
is the first in a series of subject displays intended in time to cover all subjects taught in New
College and for which online exhibitions will also be created.
During 2018 the Library increased publication of its e-journal, New College Notes
www.new.ox.ac.uk/new-college-notes to two issues per year, publishing issues 9 and 10 and
assigning an ISSN to the journal to ensure its wider dissemination via Oxford and worldwide
library catalogues. The journal was the inspiration of the Fellow Librarian, Dr Poole, back
in 2012 and it has been carefully nurtured by him since. September saw the launch of two
new social media channels for the Library: Twitter (@NewCollegeLib) and Facebook
Facebook.com/NewCollegeLib/. These new channels provide students, academics, alumni
and friends of the Library and Archives with information updates and serve a welcome
opportunity to promote the visual beauty, quality and international significance of our
outstanding special collections. It is early days, but within less than four months of 2018,
our tweets had attracted more than 750 ‘likes’ and been retweeted over 250 times. Issue 10
of New College Notes, published late December, saw the inclusion of the journal’s first video
link from one of its articles, published via the new Twitter account. This led to its being
picked up by the outreach Twitter account of the Folger Shakespeare Library, home to the
largest number of Shakespeare first folios in existence and to the world’s largest collection
of materials relating to Shakespeare and his works. Within just five days, our little video,
which revealed sparkling handwritten corrections (with pin-dust or ‘Calais sand’) in one of
our seventeenth-century books, had been viewed over 7,500 times.
There are ever-growing expectations in a highly competitive, student-fees HE
environment of what the library will provide, with students demanding that the library come
to them as well as they to the library. We have developed our website www.new.ox.ac.uk/
library-and-archives over the course of the year to promote and facilitate usage of various
collections, including our Biography, Film, Student Welfare and Study Skills, and Colleges
of St Mary Winton collections. But our web and social media presence will be increasingly
important not only for our students and academics, but for our alumni too, who make up
an important part of the New College family. Our special collections have been consulted
more frequently this year than in previous years, with 112 appointments made by external
readers to consult almost 250 items from our manuscript, early printed and other library
collections. Students continue to use the Library heavily, with 11,725 items (more than
15% of the borrowable collection) loaned during the course of 2018. Ensuring the Library
is well-stocked with up-to-date, required books is a cornerstone of our service offering,
and we acquired 1,969 books over the 2017/18 academic year. Extensive use of a physical
library might seem counterintuitive in the ‘digital age’, but the number of reader visits to the
Library has continued to rise. Termly reader visits topped 20,000, probably for the first time
ever, during Trinity 2018. There were 60,104 visits over 2018 (2017: 57,405, 2016: 53,577),
with our busiest week recording 2,727 visits (4th week of Trinity). This is the first full year
we have run our extended term-time opening hours of 8.30am till 2am and the Library’s
physical spaces are being used more intensively than ever. Students require a welcoming
space – a flexible, academic and social learning area – suitable for both quiet, independent
work and small-group collaborative learning, where students can interact with information

32
sources and each other and researchers, beyond and quite separate from their living and
departmental accommodation. The library as place seems more important to students than
it has ever been. Improvements to the physical library and our reader services in 2018 also
included establishing on the Lower Floor a Group Study Room with an online booking
facility, fully re-signing the Library and its public areas to provide improved guidance to the
building and the location of our collections, and implementing an eye-catching new books
display in the entrance hall. We have thereby brought a fresh, consistent appearance and
branding for all our signage, notices and communications. We finalised plans to refurbish
most of the reader spaces on the Lower Floor, commissioning beautiful, bespoke wooden
tables and leather chairs, in keeping with the ambience of the Library, for the Classics,
Law, and Group Study rooms. This refurbishment will be fully operational at the beginning
of 2019 and it will increase significantly the overall number of IT-enabled study spaces in
the Library, providing students with more seating and study options, reducing pressure on
reading spaces especially during Trinity Term and the Library’s busiest periods, going some
way to improving WiFi coverage in the Library, and thereby addressing constructively issues
students have been raising both through the JCR and MCR. We also initiated what will be
long-term planning to improve the Library for readers with disabilities, and we developed
plans for the implementation of a new circulation management system, to take effect during
the course of 2019. Next year promises to be a busy and exciting one.
Christopher Skelton-Foord – Librarian

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34
For many years, New Chamber Opera Studio has
had Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress on a list of
possible projects. With a libretto by W. H. Auden
and Chester Kallman, it was inspired by William
Hogarth’s paintings. Our stumbling block has always
been getting a complete cast, but in Michaelmas
Term it finally came together with Emily Gibson,
Maximilian Laurie, Patrick Keefe, Tom Lowen,
Carrie Thompson, Will Anderson, Helena Gavrilov,
and Josh Newman. Under the baton of Chloe Rooke,
the cast shone in the rarefied surroundings of the
Sheldonian Theatre.
The Summer Opera, Haydn’s Il mondo
della luna, was first performed at Eszterhaza
sometime in August 1777 during the wedding of
Count Nikolaus Esterházy. The decision to stage
the opera was taken at a late stage, and the whole opera had to be copied at break-neck
speed. The central character is Ecclitico, a swindler pretending to be an astrologer. He has
a telescope; those who wish to look at the moon must pay. But it is all a fraud; his servant
shows the pictures at the other end of the telescope, and the jokes naturally follow, as they
did in Simon Rees’ new translation. Steven Devine conducted, as always dynamically in
control.
The Studio show in Michaelmas Term was Haydn’s Lo speziale, The Apothecary,
described as ‘a comedy of great warmth and ebullience’. The story is a love tangle, in
which the Apothecary is in love with his ward Grilletta – but as also is the poor apprentice
Mengone, and the rich and assured dandy Volpino. The action twists and turns encompassing
a marriage contract, a map of Turkey, and the appearance of Volpino disguised as a Pasha;
John Warrack’s translation features an aria about making a laxative.
In the course of the year, we had three distinguished visitors: the counter tenor
Andreas Scholl, the conductor William Christie, and the musical director, Jonathon Swinard.
Andreas Scholl was able to spend almost a week with us, proving to be both genial and
generous in a series of working masterclasses. William Christie engaged in a number of
events on the history of Les arts florissants, the last of which was a classically stylish
conversation with Edward Higginbottom structured in the five acts of a tragédie lyrique.
And last, Jonathon Swinard, formerly one of the NCO répétiteurs, and now Head of Music at
Garsington Opera, gave an afternoon’s coaching on the (often overlooked) detail of Mozart
arias.
Michael Burden - Tutor in Music; Dean; Pictures and Chattels Fellow;
Professor of Opera Studies
New Chamber Opera

35

36
The National Portrait Gallery is an outing
I often recommend to pupils and parents if
they are in London. It is one of my favourite
galleries. On a recent visit, I chanced upon
Sydney Smith’s portrait. Perhaps most
famous for saying that his friend Henry
Luttrell’s idea of heaven was eating pâté
de foie gras to the sound of trumpets, Sydney
Smith was a fellow of New College in the
late 18th
century and, as his picture clearly
shows, a genial, alert and witty observer of
life around him. Seeing his picture again
sent me back to some of his writings where
I came across this characteristic bit of
Smithian wisdom.
`It is a very wise rule in the conduct of
the understanding, to acquire early a correct
notion of your own peculiar constitution of
mind, and to become well acquainted, as a
physician would say, with your idiosyncrasy.
Does your mind turn its ideas into wit? Or are you apt to take a common-sense view of the
objects presented to you? Have you an exuberant imagination, or a correct judgment? Are
you quick, or slow? Accurate, or hasty? A great reader, or a great thinker? It is a prodigious
point gained if any man can find out where his powers lie, and what are his deficiencies.
(Sydney Smith, Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy, 1849)’
The notion that we should be honest enough to recognise our own particular
strengths and deficiencies has been an important emphasis in our approach to learning this
year. In the continuing development of the principles Pre-Senior Baccalaureate (PSB),
which we adopted a couple of years ago as our curricular framework, we now award house
points for different aspects of learning (leading to our own version of Top Trumps cards)
and encourage pupils to review their work through Notes to self at the end of each piece of
written work. As Smith’s writing shows, it is hardly a novel approach, but there is no doubt
it needs re-affirming from time to time, especially when there is much concern about the
mental health and wellbeing of young people. Because not only have pupils, of course,
found they learn more effectively, but most importantly that contentment and wellbeing, as
Sydney Smith implies, lie in understanding ourselves and playing to our strengths.
On a wider canvas, part of understanding ourselves is surely to understand
something of our collective history. 2018 was an opportunity to reflect in school on two
important events which ultimately have shaped contemporary society. We joined in the
college’s commemoration of the centenary of the end of the First World War, receiving
the silhouette of a ‘Tommy’ (‘there but not there’) into the school playground for a week
before it completed its journey into the Antechapel in time for Remembrance Day. And in
recalling the centenary the Representation of the People Act of 1918, the beginnings of
New College School

37
women obtaining the right to vote, we
had a memorable talk from a trustee of
the Fawcett Society and took to heart
the words inscribed on the banner on
the recently-erected statue of Millicent
Fawcett in Parliament Square: Courage
Calls To Courage Everywhere.
I trust, therefore, that
personal and collective self-awareness
are central to all we do here. The
rewards in terms of achievements and
fulfilment in and outside the classroom
are plain to see. As ever, all of the Year
8 leavers secured places to some of
the country’s most demanding schools
and some 50% gained academic, music
or drama awards too. These awards
are, of course, the pinnacle of a real
desire to capitalise on individual talents throughout the School, often manifest in the many
activities undertaken voluntarily (or perhaps with parental encouragement) which support
work in the classroom. From the Maths Challenge, to the National Short Story Competition,
to CREST awards, to national chess tournaments, to Young Art Oxford, to Reading in
Interesting Places, LAMDA awards (all at distinction or merit this year) or ABRSM music
exams (over 75% at distinction of merit), NCS pupils are aware of what they really enjoy
and yet also have enough self-awareness enough not to laud talents over others: everyone
has their strengths and relative weaknesses.
It is probably fair to say that it is in music, sport,
drama and our wider activities programme that the
most distinctive talent emerges. The professionalism
of the choristers is truly inspiring for all: they are
‘on-show’ almost daily in term-time in Chapel and
this year also fitted in a Radio 3 broadcast, a tour
to Brittany and a demanding round of concerts in
London and Oxford at Christmas. Nor are we short
of concerts and musical occasions in School: our
termly junior and senior instrumental concerts
remain popular, while our Chamber, Senior, Junior
and Pre-Prep choirs give opportunities for all to
sing. And parents can get involved too in the Choral
Society which has combined with the Chamber
Choir for several concerts this year. How fortunate
we are to be able to use not only the college
Chapel, but also the Holywell Music Room and the
University Church as inspiring concert venues.

38
Idiosyncrasy may not always be intentional in the Pre-Prep’s summer pantomime
(this year Little Red Riding Hood with suitably witty ‘politically-correct’ amendments) or
in their nativity play, but our youngest pupils can always be relied upon to steal the show in
one way or another. They certainly know their own minds. Years 3 & 4 clearly enjoyed their
production of The Pirates of Penzance, with some talented singing and acting from both
the starring roles and the chorus, while the Year 5 & 6 French play Le Petit Nicolas, took
an amusing look at the perennial foibles and quirks of school children and their teachers,
familiar the world over I suspect. Year 7 & 8’s production of Julius Caesar took us into
more demanding costume territory as we swapped the traditional quasi-Tudor costumes for
togas. Fortunately, through a parental contact, we were able to get 40 togas ethically made in
India and the boys were able to talk to the manufacturers on Skype as the togas were being
manufactured. Though most of them got quite adept at toga-wearing, they were undoubtedly
more at home wearing RSC T-shirts for their summer play reading of A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.
Using iPads to track key fitness skills, the sports department has enabled pupils
to focus very effectively on building upon their strengths and addressing weaknesses. This
has brought continuing good rewards in terms of personal fitness and in the outcomes of
matches in all our major sports. And not only have we been competing locally, but we have

39

40
also held our own nationally against bigger schools. We took fifth place in the IAPS football
regional finals, reached the IAPS national finals for hockey and two boys won bronze
medals at the IAPS judo competition, while another represented the School in the IAPS
squash championships and finished up as one of the best sixteen players of his age group in
the country. In athletics, seven school records were broken on this summer’s sports day.
It is fair to say that one of the hallmarks of NCS is the way in which teachers share
their interests and enthusiasms with pupils through our activities programme and the many
special events they organise with such dedication. We have once again enjoyed the dressing-
up of World Book Day and, this year, added a Victorian day in the Pre-Prep, a celebration
of Chinese New Year, complete
with a superb dancing Chinese
dragon, an International Day, a
most informative Science Week
which brought in several scientist
parents from our neighbouring
university laboratories and, as the
fruition of their special subject
study, Year 8 pupils gave a series
of impressive ‘TED talks’. And
undoubtedly the activities’ week
trips to the Malvern Hills, the Isle
of Wight, Normandy and Sicily

41
are wonderful voyages of self-discovery as pupils not only take in new places but also the
whole business of personal organisation away from home.
As ever, I am very grateful for the support of the college and the school governing
committee who have had a particularly busy year keeping abreast of the detail of the plans
for the redevelopment of the Savile Road site and making a number of senior appointments,
following retirements and career progressions. Mr James Horton (Deputy Head) retired in
Trinity 2018 and Mr Richard Poyser (Director of Music) took up the post of Director of
Music at D’Overbroeck’s in Trinity 2018. I shall be stepping back from the Headship at
the end of Trinity 2019 after eleven very fulfilling years to take up a new role within the
Foundation. Dr Matthew Jenkinson (currently Deputy Head Academic) will succeed me and
will head up a strong SLT team of the next generation, all of whom are bringing lively talents
and distinctive qualities to their roles.
But, ultimately, the success of a school depends upon the positive nexus of
relationships across the whole school community. I am immensely proud of the mature and
thoughtful contributions of the School Council and the Eco Committee, whose suggestions
have a tangible impact on school life. Similarly, the Parents’ Association continues to be
a source of wise advice, excellent social events and fundraising for those ‘little extras’ we
would not otherwise afford: for example recently, three table football machines which are in
constant use at breaktimes. And Wykeham Day in late June was an occasion for old boys and
former parents to join current pupils and parents for joint displays of talent in an informal
concert in School and then a pupils vs old boys cricket match, with the backdrop of the
annual School Fête, this year held innovatively on Field.
I hope, too, we have continued to be mindful of our responsibilities to the wider
community. We have launched a bursary fund to give support to those who might not
otherwise be able to benefit from an NCS education. In collaboration with the college’s
outreach staff, we are beginning to develop educational partnerships with local maintained
schools and started with a spirited debating competition, hosted by the college. As ever, our
charity weeks are generously supported by the boys’ thoughtful efforts. This year we have
raised money and, I trust, awareness for the Oxford Food Bank and The Gatehouse, the
Alexandra House of Joy, an Oxfordshire day and respite centre for adults with severe and
profound learning disabilities, Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Royal British Legion.
In all, there has been much to celebrate this year in the collective talents of our
community and as the school moves forward into another exciting phase of its development
and history. But at the heart of everything we do, I trust, lies a healthy self-awareness:
what Sydney Smith called ‘a correct notion of your own peculiar constitution of mind’. I
am convinced this, above all, will enable all our pupils to face with equanimity whatever
challenges come their way.
Robert Gullifer - Headmaster

42
We are living through a period when the Higher Education
sector in the UK is facing significant change on a number of
fronts. We cannot fully know yet what all these alterations will
bring, but at the very least there are some important questions
about future priorities for research, about support for students
interested in studying for higher degrees, and the funding of
some undergraduate subjects. At such times, it is important
for a place like New College, which embodies a tradition of
excellence in university education, to stay in touch with those
who understand the benefits that such an education can bring. Whether or not we feel able
to contribute financially to the college, we may all want to reflect on whether we have other
opportunities to speak up for what Oxford can bring its students, and for what we expect of
the University, and of our old college, as they endeavour to fulfil their educational purpose.
In this context, the New College Society is an increasingly important link, designed as it
is to nurture the connection between the college and its Old Members. In the light of the
pressures outlined above, you will be pleased to know it is making greater efforts to fulfil
this role than ever before in its history, and with a corresponding level of support from the
college to help it do so.
As most of you will be aware, all those who matriculated at New College are
automatically enrolled as members of the society, and we have three main ways of staying
in touch: through our programme of social events; through the support we provide each year
to the New College Careers Forum and through our professional networks. On the social
front, we held a number of events this year, some regular favourites, and others relatively
new. The first was a repeat of the New College Society Garden Party, held on 23rd June
in college, where around 130 alumni, friends and family attended, with the ever-popular
Giffords Circus providing entertainment. Shortly afterwards on 28 June, the Warden kindly
hosted the second New College Society drinks party for the under-30s in London, which was
again a great success, and now looks set to become an annual event. The biennial London
dinner took place on 19 November in Lincoln’s Inn Old Hall. A magnificent venue kindly
enabled by Poppy Rimington-Pounder which the Society filled to capacity, thanks to the
organisation and hard work of Helen Sherborne from the Society and Jonathan Rubery from
the Development Office.
Meanwhile, for 2019, we have a number of exciting events. For the first time the
Society will host an LGBTQ+ drinks party in London in April, kindly organised by Adrien
Mallevays. Equally a BAME dinner was held at the college, with the New College alumnus
journalist and broadcaster Rageh Omaar (1987) in attendance. We are also finalising the
details of another dinner and operetta at the British Embassy in Paris in the autumn, kindly
hosted by the ambassador, Lord Llewellyn (1984), also an alumnus.
Following the success of last year’s London lecture given by Professor Cameron
Hepburn on ‘Towards a Green Economy’, we will be hosting another lecture to be given by
New College Research Fellow and Astrophysicist Professor Chris Lintott entitled ‘I want
to believe: An astronomer’s thoughts on Aliens’ on 14 May, again at the London School of
Economics.
The New College Society

43
The Careers Forum on Saturday 3 November 2018

44
The Careers Forum took place, as always, early in Michaelmas term, on the afternoon of 3
November in Hall, with about thirty alumni in attendance, covering a mix of different sectors
and professions, and a range of different ages. Just short of a hundred students participated,
during what was a very lively afternoon. As usual this event attracted a diverse mix of both
undergraduates and graduates. Some were clear about their future career choice, but wanted
to explore aspects of how best to approach their interviews or to choose between companies
and firms; others had little or no idea where they might want to go next, and used the forum
as an opportunity to explore and ask basic questions about what was involved and why.
Every year we are told by the students how helpful it is to have advice from experienced
individuals in a friendly context, completely outside the pressures of an interview. Wrapping
up the afternoon with tea and cake kindly hosted by the Warden in his lodgings, the energy
from the alumni involved was palpable. This is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the
Society’s year. We are very grateful to each of the Old Members who give their time so
generously at a weekend to help New College students.
Meanwhile the work of the Society’s alumni networks continues to grow, covering
a significant number of different sectors and professions:
• City and Professional – focusing on those working in the City, and led by Isabel Mahony,
who organised a drinks party in mid-January, where Stephen King, Senior Economic
Adviser to HSBC, was speaker. This format was particularly successful, and the room
was filled to capacity, suggesting that in future larger venues will need to be found. The
next event is due to take place in May 2019.
• Government and Public Service - led byAnna Crispe, with help from Tony Evans.As in
previous years, an event was held in Portcullis House, next to the Houses of Parliament,
where several Old Members formed a panel with whom a group of undergraduates, who
had travelled up from College, could discuss potential careers. On this occasion the MP
Gordon Marsden (1973) gave a personal talk on entering politics at the beginning of the
session, which made the occasion particularly special, many participants commenting on
it enthusiastically afterwards.
• Life Sciences – led by Gavin Outteridge. This year, the life sciences network had a
particularly special event, a dialogue with Richard Dawkins, held in Trinity term in the
Warden’s Lodgings to a capacity audience. This was a truly remarkable opportunity to
hear Richard in conversation with theWarden and other participants, providing fascinating
insights, preceded by drinks in the Warden’s garden and followed by a delicious meal in
the Lodgings.
• Media – led by Rod Henwood, and covering traditional media, as well as data/digital
and IT. In mid-January, Rod organised an evening with Nick Robinson, the BBC political
editor, in London, where Nick took as his theme, `The fight for facts in the age of fake
news’. Needless to say this was very well attended and gave participants a chance
to reflect and discuss this important contemporary theme with one of the UK’s most
distinguished political commentators. All those attending were particularly in debt to
Nick Robinson, given he is not actually a New College alumnus, albeit a close friend of
Rod’s.

45
• New College Law Society – led by Kate Hallett. Although this society predates the
creation of the alumni networks over the past decade, and continues to organise a dinner
(this year in February) it now coordinates its work with the Society, providing a useful
source of ideas for other networks and participating in the Society’s broader career
support if and as relevant.
• Entrepreneurs – led by Alex Hearn. This network was inaugurated in 2017, and held its
second event, a drinks party in late September, at the Hoxton hotel in Shoreditch. About
40 participants from a wide range of ages and backgrounds attended. Already quite
active, by its nature this network is one whose potential members are largely identified
by word-of-mouth, and is likely to grow over time as people get to know of its existence.
In addition to the drinks party, the network also supported a special session prior to
the careers forum in college in November, designed to help those undergraduates and
graduates thinking about setting up a business by giving them access to experienced
alumni ready to answer all and any questions.
Details of the Society’s events, and how to apply to attend, will be posted as they become
available on the relevant Old Members’ and Friends’ area.
As you have seen above, a number of alumni and non-alumni have volunteered
through the year to speak on various occasions to different networks, and I would like to take
this occasion to thank each and every one of them on behalf of the Society for their time. It
is very valuable to all those involved and hugely appreciated.
Another very important note of gratitude goes to our outgoing President, Jamie
Dundas. During Jamie’s time as President we have made great strides in terms of our
organisation and our relationship with the college, and despite bouts of ill health, he has
been instrumental in making these happen, building on the wealth of experience he has from
so many other roles through the years. We are hugely appreciative of all he has done for
the Society through many years. We warmly welcome our new President, Charles Williams
(1981), who has been a very active member of the committee for some time, and has been
instrumental in building up the alumni networks, amongst much else.
The significant level of activity currently undertaken by the Society is only really
possible due to the active support of the college, and in particular of Mark Curtis and his
team in the Development Office, and of our Warden, Miles, who attends all of our events,
and personally hosts a number of them. This is a very significant commitment, especially
on Miles’ part, a commitment for which we are very grateful, and which has resulted in
New College having what many argue is one of the most active alumni organisations in the
University. We look forward to the year ahead, and as always welcome any questions or
ideas you may have about present or future plans.
Mark Byford – Secretary
marksbyford@blueyonder.co.uk

46
As I write this report, preparations are being
made to announce publicly the successful
completion of the Oxford Thinking Campaign.
For those of you with long memories, you may
recall that this fundraising appeal was launched
in 2008 with the aim of raising £1.25 billion
(nudging beyond the paltry £1 billion campaign
that Cambridge had previously announced).
Some four years later, the target having
been reached, the campaign was extended
with a new goal of £3 billion. By the end of
December 2018, this too had been achieved.
Oxford Thinking is not the first fundraising
campaign in Oxford, but where it was different
was both in its scale, the most ambitious goal
ever in Europe and one of the largest globally, and in celebrating philanthropy not just at the
university level but across the collegiate university: a gift to every constituent element of the
university, whether college, department or library, counted towards the campaign.
So what was the significance of Oxford Thinking to New College? Well, firstly,
Old Members and other supporters of New College have since 2008 committed just over
£43 million, one of the largest contributions of any college’s community to the campaign.
Secondly, in efforts to join up college and university priorities for funding, the campaign
introduced two matched funding schemes from which the college has been able to benefit:
the Teaching Fund offered a 2:3 match for funds raised to endow tutorial fellowships
and the college’s fellowships in French and Ancient History have both been secured
in perpetuity through the scheme; the college was also able to make use of the Oxford
Graduate Scholarship Matching Fund, to fund a series of scholarships for graduate students.
But perhaps more profoundly, if less tangibly, I believe that Oxford Thinking has helped the
college to raise its sights in terms of the potential of philanthropy, encouraging it better to
assess the opportunities that such financial support can bring and the impact on college life
that it delivers.
Looking back over the past ten years, philanthropy has deeply affected the college
and its members. From the physical environment, such as the Clore Music Studios, the new
fully accessible student rooms in the Kimber Wing or the preparations on Savile Road for
the Gradel Quadrangles, to the one hundred and twenty five undergraduates and graduates
supported by a bursary or scholarship; from the eight hundred students who have received
grants from the Sporting & Cultural Awards Fund to help with extra-curricular activities
to the nine tutorial fellowships whose future have been secured through endowment and
the thirty five junior research fellows who have passed through the college in that time; all
have been made possible through philanthropic support. The college owes a huge debt of
gratitude to the 3,274 Old Members and friends who, through their contributions to New
College and Oxford Thinking over the last decade, have made their mark on the college.
Others will have supported different parts of the university and some will have given to both.
Development Office

47
To all, we say thank you. A small number of those gifts have been transformational in terms
of their individual impact and some £10 million has come in from charitable bequests to the
college from Old Members and their family, but over £5 million has been generated from
those making regular contributions, proving that many a mickle really does make a muckle.
The end of Oxford Thinking offers a moment of reflection, but philanthropy has
the potential to make an ever greater difference as we move forward. At New College, such
support will play a vital role as we embark on the largest building project since the New
Buildings and as we look to extend our flagship Step-Up outreach programme. A broader
range of scholarships will allow students hoping to continue their studies to overcome fears
about the debt that their undergraduate degree has left them with and an expansion of the
Student Support Fund will ensure that more students can be offered financial support when
needed. Not to mention the endowing of other tutorial fellowships, especially in PPE as it
approaches its centenary at Oxford in 2020, the comprehensive redevelopment of the library,
the transformation of Chapel Yard or the renovation of the Longwall cottages.
Mark Curtis – Director of Development

49
SCR News
We report with sadness the death of four Honorary Fellows, Sir Gerard Elliot MA FRSE
on 28 January 2018, Professor Sir Roger Elliott Kt, MA, DPhil, FRS on 16 April 2018,
John Julius Viscount Norwich, BA, CVO, FRSL, FRGS, FSA on 1 June 2018, Sir Michael
Atiyah, OM, Kt, MA(PhD Camb), FRS, FRSE on 11 January 2019, and Wykeham Fellows,
Lady Smith, BA on 27 October 2018 and Mary Weston, CBE on 28 October 2018.
Caroline Thomas, MA, MLitt (BA Wales, MBA Aston) and Dr David Limebeer, BSc
Witwatersrand, MSc PhD Natal, DSc Lond have been elected Emeritus Fellows.
Professor Steven Balbus has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
Twenty-three new members have joined the SCR.
Maria Balgova joined the college for the academic year 2018/19 as a Stipendiary
Lecturer in Economics, to cover Dr Richard Mash’ sabbatical leave. Alongside teaching
macroeconomics to undergraduates, she is in her final year of DPhil in Economics at Corpus
Christi College. Her research is about search and matching, local labour markets, and
internal migration. Prior to coming to Oxford, she read Economics at Gonville & Caius
College, Cambridge, and completed a fellowship as a leader writer at the Financial Times.
Anna Magdalena Blomley joined New College in October 2018 as the Esmée
Fairbairn Junior Research Fellow in Classics. Her research lies at the intersection of
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, exploring political, social and economic
structures through the study of ancient landscapes. In her DPhil thesis, she investigated
the role of Late Classical and Hellenistic fortifications in the Argolid (Greece), while
her current project focuses on the interaction between human activity and the natural
environment in ancient Thessaly (Greece). Anna received her education in Classical
Archaeology and Classical Greek Philology at the Universities of Oxford and
Heidelberg, and has worked on various excavations in Switzerland, Germany and Greece.
Rebecca Bowler joined New College in October 2018 as a Glasstone Fellow. She obtained
her undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Cambridge before moving to the
Institute for Astronomy in Edinburgh for her PhD. In 2015 she moved to Oxford as a Hintze
Fellow. Her research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early universe.
Ondrej Cerny is joining New College for Hilary Term 2019 as a Stipendiary Lecturer
in Philosophy to cover for Dr Paolo Fait. Ondrej specializes in Aristotle’s metaphysics
and philosophy of nature, including their background in Plato and earlier thinkers. He
read Literae Humaniores at St Hugh’s, continued with the BPhil in Philosophy at Univ,
and is currently working towards a DPhil at St Anne’s. His doctoral thesis, supervised
by Professor Ursula Coope, develops a new interpretation of Aristotle’s theory of the
infinite and explores its connections with ancient views on metaphysical indeterminacy.

50
Kieran Calvert joined New College in Michaelmas 2018 as a Stipendiary Lecturer
in Mathematics covering for Prof Victor Flynn. He is currently finishing his PhD
in Dirac cohomology of algebraic structures. He is working on unifying the Dirac
theories of reductive groups and associative algebras. He teaches undergraduate
mathematicians prelims algebra and analysis and part A analysis and rings.
Michael Crabtree joined New College in October 2018 as the Todd-Bird Junior
Research Fellow in Biochemistry. He completed a degree in Medical Science at the
University of Birmingham, before moving to King’s College London for an MSc in
Drug Discovery, and the University of Cambridge for his PhD. His research addresses
the biophysical consequences of protein structure. Specifically, he is interested in
the influence of protein disorder on liquid-liquid phase separation, a process that is
thought to be important in the formation of subcellular membraneless organelles.
Jennifer Crane joined New College as a Non-Stipendiary Lecturer in History, and joined the
History Faculty as a ResearchAssociate. She was previously a Research Fellow at the Centre
for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick, where she also taught the history of
medicine.Herresearchinterestsare–broadly–intracingapoliticsofexpertiseandexperience
in post-war Britain, and she recently published her first monograph, Child Protection in
England: Expertise, Experience, and Emotion. Her latest project is a history of gifted
children,andtheirroleasproxiesfornationalandpsychologicalinterestsduringtheColdWar.
Lucy Dunlop is Stipendiary Lecturer in Russian during 2018-2019, having completed
her DPhil at New College in 2017. Her focuses on the society and culture of the USSR
under Leonid Brezhnev, with particular attention to constructions of heroism in
propaganda for Soviet youth, voluntary participation in ‘official’ initiatives, and the
emergence of celebrity and consumer culture. She also takes a keen interest in education
in 21st
-century Britain, and is a governor of a Northamptonshire primary school.
Timothy Hinks was appointed as the Todd-Bird Non-Stipendiary Junior Research
Fellow in Clinical Medicine in October 2018. He studied medicine at Pembroke College,
Cambridge, and Wadham College, Oxford, completing a PhD at the University of
Southampton in the role of T cells in the immunology of asthma. He undertook postgraduate
training in Oxford, Southampton and Dorset and has recently returned from 2 years
of postdoctoral research at the University of Melbourne. As a clinician he co-leads the
Oxford Specialist Asthma Service. As a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow his
current research interests are into the immunology of lung infections and severe asthma.
Nick Hughes is joining New College in May 2019 as a Non-Stipendiary Junior Research
Fellow. He is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Faculty of Philosophy. His research
explores normativity in thought and action. He is currently working on a project about
epistemic dilemmas. He obtained a Ph.D. at the University of St Andrews and the University
of Oslo in 2015. Before coming to Oxford, he held position at Durham University and
University College Dublin.

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