Christ’s College Cambridge Editorial 1

contentseditorial 1in the news 2development news 3cutting edge 5features 6members’ page 12events and reunions 13

The editor welcomesall comments on pieces and suggestions or material for future editions. Please contact:Elizabeth Norris,Development Director,Christ’s College,Cambridge CB2 3BU Telephone: 01223 766710 Fax: 01223 766711E-mail: campaign@christs.cam.ac.uk

Front cover pictureAngle Poise, a sculpture by Professor Philip King CBE PRA

EditorialThroughout almost five centuries of existence Christ’s College hasbeen a breeding ground for inspired ideas and creative genius.Steeped in the tradition of notables such as Milton and Darwin, theCollege has nurtured and aided a variety of individuals to ‘thinkoutside the box’ and use their vast array of the talents to the full.

In this issue of pieces, the cutting edge focus (page 5) is RobertHunt. A Fellow of the College, Robert’s boundless enthusiasm anddesire to help others learn epitomises the educational idealsChrist’s College espouses.

The Master, Malcolm Bowie, shares some thoughts on his academicresearch, but also on his passion for art (pages 6-7). Huw Williams’gift is to enchant and inspire people through music. As an organistat St Paul’s Cathedral, he reveals that life is never dull (page 10).

Creative talents can lead to niche markets being filled. Laurie Aylingfounded his own business based on his ability to think laterally andfind solutions to problems with which others struggled. (Page 11)Peggy Vance’s decision to go freelance in the world of editing andprinting gave her greater freedom to involve herself in what shesaw as worthwhile projects and led to the establishment of herown printing and editorial companies.

Something of a household name for many, Colin Dexter, creator ofInspector Morse, explains the influences behind his characters. Itseems though that what he really enjoyed was not writing novels,but inspiring others through teaching classics (page 9).

As the College nears its Quincentenary it is an ideal time tocelebrate the diversity of talents of those who have passed throughits gates, and pondered awhile beneath the mulberry tree.

AcknowledgementsChrist’s College is very grateful to Sir Martin Sorrell, Group Chief Executive,WPP Group plc,for facilitating the original design of pieces; and to John Murray, President and CEO ofGlobalbrander.com, for additional advice.Thanks are also due to Ben Clare, Sam Venn, HuwWilliams, Peggy Vance, Colin Dexter and Laurie Ayling and the Exxon Mobil Photo Libraryfor permission to reproduce photographs.

2 in the news Christ’s College Cambridge

inthenewsFrom Russia, with loveSir Rodric Braithwaite (1952, Honorary Fellow)talked about his experiences as BritishAmbassodor to Moscow at the time of the SovietUnion’s collapse on BBC Radio 4’s Leading Lives(9 July 2003). Describing the endless round ofdiplomatic receptions and dinners as “very hardwork”, Sir Rodric also recalled how his wife joinedprotesters in the streets of Moscow during thecoup against Mikhail Gorbachev. He admitted thatthis wasn’t strictly allowed but confessed “Icouldn’t have stopped her”.

Higher DoctorateJohn Clarke (1961, Honorary Fellow) wasawarded the degree of Doctor of Science fromthe University of Cambridge on 13 December2003. The ScD degree is a higher doctoratewhich may be supplicated for by proving“distinction by some original contribution to theadvancement of science.” Professor Clarke, whoread Natural Sciences at Christ’s and laterreturned as a fellow, holds the Luis W AlvarezMemorial Chair for Experimental Physics at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, USA.

Great poets?Described as “one of the finest living literarycritics”, Professor Christopher Ricks (HonoraryFellow) was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s FrontRow (23 September 2003) about his controversialnew book.The ‘celebrated editor and interpreterof Milton,Tennyson, Keats and Eliot’ has nowturned his attention to... the lyrics of Bob Dylan.Ricks lauded the songwriter as “a prophet” andconfessed he would rather Dylan wrote a newsong than read the book, Dylan’s Visions of Sin.

We will remember themFormer chaplain Nigel McCulloch (Chaplain toChrist’s 1970-1973) made national television inthe presence of HM The Queen in November2003, when he officiated at the annual Festival ofRemembrance. The event, in the Royal AlbertHall, paid tribute to Britain's servicemen andwomen, and this year included footage of Britishtroops in action in Basra. Bishop McCullochbecame Bishop of Manchester in October 2002,and also holds the post of Lord High Almoner toHer Majesty The Queen

Pro-Vice ChancellorsTwo Christ’s fellows have been appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the University ofCambridge.

Professor Andrew Cliff became a fellow ofChrist’s in 1974. He gained his BA at King’sCollege, London, his MA at NorthwesternUniversity and his PhD and DSc at the Universityof Bristol. Since 1972 Dr Cliff has been a memberof the University of Cambridge’s Department ofGeography. His research focuses on spatialstatistics and, currently, on applications of spatialdiffusion models on the spread of epidemicdiseases. He holds a Chair in TheoreticalGeography.

As a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, he has specialresponsibilities for personnel issues.

Professor Ian Leslie became a fellow of Christ’s in1985. Born in Canada, he gained his first degree inEngineering Science and his Masters in ElectricalEngineering at the University of Toronto. He cameto the University of Cambridge for his PhD andstayed on at the Computer Laboratory aftercompleting it in 1983. He has founded twocompanies to exploit the work done in thedepartment: Nemesys Research Ltd and CplaneInc.. Professor Leslie is currently Head of theComputer Laboratory at Cambridge and serveson the University Council and a number of itscommittees.

As a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, his special responsibilitiescover research issues.

Christ’s College Cambridge development news 3

This edition of pieces is the first since my recent appointment asDevelopment Director and I am delighted to have this opportunity tointroduce myself and tell you about the progress of the QuincentenaryCampaign.

In the very short time that I have been here, I have been made to feel athome and have been welcomed into this wonderful community.Whetheryou matriculated many years ago or very recently, you are all part of thatcommunity and I do hope you will celebrate the 500th anniversary of LadyMargaret’s re-founding of the College with a sense of pride and belonging.My colleagues and I are already planning several exciting events for 2005and I hope that, if I have not had the chance to meet you before then, wedo meet during the Quincentenary year.

The very good news is that the Campaign has passed the half way mark interms of money raised…so a very, very big thank you to everyone whohas supported it, both financially and in other ways.

May I just remind you that we need the £15m not for new projects but toallow Christ’s to continue to offer the same high quality teaching andstudent care and support in the future as now.Your gift, however large orsmall, will be vital in enabling us to keep our place as an outstandingcollege of the University and a renowned centre of excellence world wide.Over half the money needed has been very generously donated by just10% of our members, so, if you are one who has not yet given, I’d ask youto consider a gift now please. Some can afford a great deal, some ratherless.We have addresses for nearly 7,000 alumni and a donation of just £10each would fund nearly 3 student bursaries, £100 each, if gift aided, couldraise another million. An average gift of £1,000 from each member wouldmean we exceed our target and secure the future of Christ’s! Please dowhat you can to help your College and give as generously as possible.

If you are visiting Cambridge, please do let us know.The DevelopmentTeam would love to meet you.”

The time to hit thetarget

The Development Director, Elizabeth Norris writes:

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4 Development news Christ’s College Cambridge

Contact details:

Telephone +44 (0)1223 766710

Fax +44 (0)1223 766711

Email campaign@christs.cam.ac.uk

Websitewww.christs.cam.ac.uk/quincentenary/campaign

Gift FormI would like to help future generations of students to benefit from a Christ’s College education

Name _____________________________________________________ Matriculation year __________

Address ______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I would like my gift to support ■■ Bursaries ■■ Teaching ■■ Sports, Music & Arts ■■ UnrestrictedEndowment

UK Please return this form to The Development Office, Christ’s College, Cambridge CB2 3BU■■ I enclose a cheque made payable to Christ’s College Cambridge■■ Please charge my ■■ Visa ■■ MastercardCard number _______ _______ _______ _______ Amount £ ______________________Expiry date ____________________________ Signature ____________________________________Please treat this donation as a Gift Aid donation. I have paid, or will pay, an amount of tax equal to theamount I am asking the College to reclaim (currently 28p for every £1 given under Gift Aid).Signature _____________________________________________ Date ________________________

USA Please return this form to Cambridge in America, P.O. Box 1536, Radio City Station, New York,NY 10101-1536

■■ I enclose a check made payable to Cambridge in AmericaI recommend that the Directors of Cambridge in America exercise their discretion and allocate mygift to support Christ’s College.■■ Please charge my ■■ Visa ■■ MastercardCard number _______ _______ _______ _______ Amount $ ______________________

Expiry date ____________________________ Signature ____________________________________

Canada Please return this form to The Cambridge Foundation, 10 Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1QA, United Kingdom

■■ I enclose a cheque made payable to the University of CambridgePlease send me a receipt for income tax purposes.This gift is intended for Christ’s College.

Other Please return this form to The Development Office, Christ’s College, Cambridge CB2 3BU,United Kingdom

■■ I enclose a cheque made payable to Christ’s College Cambridge■■ Please charge my ■■ Visa ■■ MastercardCard number _______ _______ _______ _______ Amount _______________________

Expiry date ____________________________ Signature ____________________________________

Thank you for your supportFor further information on any aspect of the Quincentenary Campaign please contactThe Development Office, Christ’s College, Cambridge CB2 3BU, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1223 766710, Fax: +44 (0)1223 766711, Email: campaign@christs.cam.ac.ukwww.christs.cam.ac.uk/quincentenary

£7.97m

£7.03mAmount leftto raise

Amountraised

Target £15 million

Progress of the Campaignas of 1st February 2004

If you would like to help guarantee the futureprovision of the key aspects of College life–financial help for students in need; College-based, small-group teaching; and up-to-datefacilities for extra-curricular activities – bycontributing to the Quincentenary Campaign,please use the form opposite, or contact theDevelopment Director, Elizabeth Norris, whowill be delighted to hear from you.

Christ’s College Cambridge Cutting edge 5

Dr Robert Hunt, Fellow,Tutor and Director of Studiesin Mathematics, Christ’s College Cambridge; Lecturer inthe Department of Applied Mathematics andTheoretical Physics; and Deputy Director of the IsaacNewton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Born1965. B.A., M.A. and Ph.D.,Trinity College Cambridge.“A lecture is a piece of

performance.”

Living Mathematics

Robert Hunt’s work on fluid dynamics placeshim firmly at the applied end of themathematical spectrum. “If I were working atany university on the continent, I’d beclassed as an engineer,” he says. His work ison the very theoretical side of fluiddynamics: “I haven’t touched an experimentsince A-level Physics, and I’m quite proud ofit!” In 1997, Robert took over running theUniversity’s Computer-Aided Teaching of AllMathematics (CATAM) programme. From thetime when he started his Ph.D., he has beeninvolved in teaching maths, as well asresearching it. Not only does he clearly enjoyteaching, but he considers it to be vital for aresearcher: “If you don’t do any teaching,you don’t have to keep your mind active inthe sense of really understanding in depthwhat you’re talking about. Teaching forcesyou to think about what you’re trying toachieve.”

“I reckon that to prepare a one hour lecture(and to do it properly) takes about eighthours.” Robert clearly takes great pride inmeticulous preparation for lectures, and he is at pains to ensure that his lecture isaccessible to all the students in the lecturetheatre: “sometimes, lecturers are onlyinterested in the brightest students, but in agood lecture, you really have to present thebasic material so that everyone canunderstand it while at the same time keepingthe brightest students interested andchallenged.” Robert uses his experience of

theatre (he is an avid Gilbert & Sullivanperformer and enthusiast) to great effect in alecture: “It’s not about simply reading outyour notes, you’ve got to be so enthusiasticthat your students will actually see why youfind the material fascinating.” Robert’slectures resulted in him winning a PilkingtonPrize for University teaching in 2001: he isone of only four lecturers currently in theMathematics Faculty who have won thisaward.

At Christ’s, Robert is Director of Studies inMaths, and regularly supervises all the firstand second year students. He applies mostof his ideas about lecturing to supervisionsas well: “you have to accommodate both thestrong and the weak students, so you haveto tailor each supervision very carefully. Asupervision is actually incredibly wearing ifyou do it properly – you’ve got to be fullyalert all the time, interacting with thestudents.”

“Imagine a washing machine...” When notsupervising, lecturing or running the IsaacNewton Institute, Robert researches fluiddynamics. More specifically, he looks atspatially varying fluid flows, and he says that a washing machine is perhaps the easiestanalogy to understand! “Visualize a machinethat uses hydraulics, with vibrations in onepart of the system. In some situations, thosevibrations will radiate out and spread toother parts of the system, and might end up

destroying it. In other situations, thevibrations might spread a little bit, butremain contained and not affect the wholesystem. The same ideas apply to much morecomplex machines. As a mathematician, I’minterested in being able to predict inadvance which of these two situations willprevail, so that you don’t have to build lotsof test machines: you can model it either onpaper or on a computer.

Robert also enjoys his role as DeputyDirector of the Isaac Newton Institute forMathematical Sciences, the UK’s nationalresearch institute for mathematics based atCambridge University. The Institute runsresearch programmes in six-month phases,inviting carefully selected experts fromaround the world to take part. Another ofRobert’s activities is the Executive Editorshipof Plus, a mathematics magazine on theinternet. This is part of the MillenniumMathematics Project, which was begun byPeter Landshoff (another Fellow of Christ’s)with the aim of raising the profile of maths.One of the ways this is done is by twoonline magazines, Nrich (for schoolchildren)and Plus (for the general public, andespecially sixth-form students). In July 2001,Plus won a highly prestigious Webby awardfrom the International Academy of DigitalArts and Sciences.

weblinkwww.plus.maths.org

Christ’s College Cambridge Feature 7

Malcolm Bowie, Master of Christ’s since 2002. Born 5 May 1943. MA, University of Edinburgh (1965), DPhil,University of Sussex (1970). Fellow of the BritishAcademy, and of the Royal Society of Literature.

As Master of Christ’s, Malcolm Bowie’sactivities range from running the College toresearching Freud, and his artistic interestsextend from Romanesque churches to themusic of Mozart. Within his main specialistfield, French Literature, he becomesparticularly excited by authors that are oftenseen as being difficult and demanding. Hislove of art (and of certain painters) hascaused many an art-exhibition-relateddiversion in the course of his globetrotting;and his collection of books on the History ofArt makes quite a spectacle!

“I can’t remember a time when there wasn’ta French book or two lying around thehouse.” From a very early age, Malcolm hasbeen reading French, starting with someshort children’s works brought back by hisfather, who participated in the Alliedlandings in Normandy in 1944. Frenchcontinued to be an intriguing subjectthroughout Malcolm’s schooldays, andformed an obvious basis for study atUniversity. He says that one major stumblingblock in learning a foreign language is theability to read a book in this language aseasily and as pleasurably as one can read abook in one’s own native tongue. ForMalcolm, this obstacle was overcome whilston a year abroad at Caen, in Normandy.Caen later became a holiday destination ofchoice for Malcolm, as he discovered two‘sublime’ Romanesque abbeys in this town!

Malcolm’s academic career has included agood deal of work on some very toughauthors, notably Mallarme and Proust. Ratherthan studying one aspect of a book at atime, he likes to look at how a variety ofstrands within a work interact (or indeeddon’t interact) with one another. His research

does not usually encompass sources andinfluences, but tends rather to concentrateon the impact of the text in the here andnow. With an author such as Proust, this canget very complicated. Psychoanalysis is alsoone of Malcolm’s major interests, andreading Freud (and Lacan, Freud’s principalFrench follower) as literature, rather than asa textbook, has been one of Malcolm’s morefascinating explorations. Studying Freud inthis way can help show more sides to hiswork: he can become a dramatist, a novelist,or a rhetorician rather than simply thepioneer of the ‘science of psychoanalysis’.Malcolm’s account of the work of Lacan isparticularly notable, and took him an‘exasperatingly’ long time to write! This wasmainly due to the need to get inside thetextures of the original French of Lacan inorder to understand fully his contribution topsychoanalysis. For this book, the originalsof Lacan and Freud (in French and Germanrespectively) were employed, together withthe translations in which these authors arebest known internationally.

Writing academic books is not Malcolm’sonly passion, though: art and painting formone of his major interests. “I came toGeorges Seurat by way of his bizarretechnique – here was someone who spenthours placing tiny dots of colour on a hugecanvas. Later, though, I found in his work anexquisite pictorial imagination, and aseemingly free power of invention that wasnever quite reconcilable with his dottyobsession.” Malcolm is very fond ofpaintings, and of the works of Seurat inparticular. A Seurat canvas that heparticularly likes is Les Poseuses, which isnow at the Barnes Foundation inPhiladelphia. If asked to name an earlier

Master-Piece

painter that he admires, Malcolm wouldchoose Titian – the “Prince of Painters”, andanother astonishing colourist. Malcolm hastravelled far and wide to view Titian’s works,and has now seen most of his survivingpaintings.

A particular interest of Malcolm’s is the wayin which knowledge of a given art form canlead to precise and useful observations, asdistinct from incoherent ramblings, aboutworks in other art forms. The Master hasbeen involved with a number of researchcentres and institutes that focus on dialoguebetween different disciplines and art forms.He dreams of having this kind of discourse,not just for the purposes of ‘down time’conversation, but as a ‘prime time’ criticallanguage that allows people to think outsidetheir regular subject boundaries in new andexciting ways.

I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a French book or two lying around the house.”

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8 Feature Christ’s College Cambridge

Literary LoveAffair

more work than she could handle on herown, so she started to pass it on to othertalented people. The Writing Bureau nowhas 65 writers and editors on its books andPeggy sees the business as a virtuoustriangle, ensuring quality, continuity andsecurity for all three parties: the publisher,the writer/editor and the bureau. “That’s theway I believe business should be, if itpossibly can be. I think my personalprinciples have informed my businessprinciples.”

“I try to do things that are life enhancing,genuinely informative, and not just a wasteof trees.” This approach applies as much toPeggy’s own publishing company, ApolloPublishing Ltd, as to her editorial operation.Apollo hit the headlines when it brought outThe Country Flowers of a Victorian Lady.“On a ‘spread a little happiness as you goby’ basis, I thought that this book wouldgive great pleasure to people, particularlyolder people, and we decided to sell it at avery reasonable price so that those whoweren’t well off could also enjoy it.” 40,000copies were sold in the UK, winning it aplace in The Sunday Times bestseller charts.Not one to take herself too seriously, Peggyspent a week promoting the book at theFrankfurt Book Fair, wearing Victoriancostumes borrowed from the RSC (seephoto).

“The thing of which I am most proud,” shesays, “is the book I wrote with my mum andstepfather, called Your First Grandchild. Itwas quite confessional for us as much of itis about our own experiences when mychildren were born.” Not only are thechildren, Sky (9) and Biba (7), an intrinsicpart of her life, but also of her career. Withher husband, Dharminder Kang (Christ’s ‘83-’89), she is currently writing a book onparenting, though in a few years time herinterest may shift to the problems ofadolescence!

It is typical of Peggy’s zest for life that sheperceives combining motherhood and hercareer as an entirely positive experience:“Having children has made me moresuccessful than I would have beenotherwise. Now, if I get a moment I work,there’s no prevaricating! It may have affectedmy earning power, but I definitely have amore fulfilling career.”

Peggy Vance, ManagingDirector of ApolloPublishing Ltd and theWriting Bureau. Born 3April 1964. Studied Englishand History of Art atChrist’s College, 1983-87.

One of the things I loveabout publishing is thatyou are called aprofessional but don’thave any responsibilitywhatsoever for people’shealth, wealth orhappiness. Fabulous!”

“When I graduated I had no sense ofanything except aesthetic pleasure and I haddeveloped an overdraft worthy of today’sstudents. The day before I left College I wasthinking, ‘how on earth can I sort thissituation out?’ I went into David’s Bookshopand the first book I picked up was a reallycheap but interesting monograph on WilliamBlake. I bought it, and, not knowing whatelse to do, telephoned the company whopublished it and said, ‘Would you like toemploy me? I really love art, am quite cleverand would be keen to work for you if youhave a job!’ They said, ‘Yes, that sounds fine,come down tomorrow to our offices inOxford Circus.’ So I went and was taken onas an editor at Studio Editions, an art-publishing house!”

If Peggy’s entry into the world of publishingseems to have been beginner’s luck, hersuccess since then can be ascribed to herown hard work, her keenness to be involvedin everything that is going on and hercontagious enthusiasm. “I was the onlyeditor and I had no experience of businesswhatsoever. I had an office to run, anddidn’t know what I was doing. I pretendedto be an expert, so as to stay in the job long enough to find out how publishingfunctioned. It was great, and it worked!”

After leaving Studio Editions, Peggy spentsome time as a curator in the Department ofDesign, Prints and Drawings at the V&A.During her year out at the Sorbonne in Parisshe had developed a real passion for art.Consequently she found being surroundedby boxes of sketches by Constable, Turnerand numerous other British artists, which shecould peruse at will, “absolutely out of thisworld!” As a curator she was asked to writea book about William Morris wallpapers,which she followed with one on Gauguin.Being on the other side of the editor’s desk,it must have been a surprise when a reader’sreport came through asking, ‘Is EnglishPeggy’s first language?’ Nevertheless,Gauguin: The Masterworks went on to be agreat success, and she has written severalmore books since.

Returning to publishing – as senior editor atConran Octopus then commissioning editorat Thames & Hudson – gave Peggy anetwork of contacts that were to provevitally important when she decided to set upas a freelance editor after the birth of herfirst child. “Having children kicked me up arung because I had to go out on my own. Itturned me into an MD, into anentrepreneur.” Peggy’s inability to say no toa challenge meant that she was offered far

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Christ’s College Cambridge Feature 9

you are on the left or the right in politics,whether temperamentally you are miserableor optimistic, and then you reflect themfrom yourself for the simple reason that youonly have yourself to go on. And you addsome other details perhaps because youdon’t want your hero to be too goodygoody!”

“You can go with what Aristotle said, ‘everystory needs a beginning, a middle and anend’, or with what dear old Larkin said, ‘a beginning, a muddle and an end’, but if youare writing a whodunnit your first chapter is determined by your last. It doesn’t matterwhere you go in between, as long as youexploit the mystery.” In 1987 the mysterywas transferred to the television screen. Forits success Colin says thanks should gomainly to the casting director for theselection of John Thaw and Kevin Whateley. Colin is clearly still deeply saddened by thedeath of John Thaw, but feels he wasprivileged to work with such a good man,and indeed such a supportive teamthroughout the filming of Morse, a sentimenthe feels that other crime writers may notshare.

Interestingly though, it has never been thesuccess of Morse, the accolades and awardsfrom the Crime Writers’ Association, hisinvolvement with charities and good causes,or even his achievements throughout therest of his career, that has brought ColinDexter the most pride. It is a measure of theman that it is not personal success thatbrought him happiness, but the success thathe helped others to achieve. “The mostrewarding times in my life were after theexams when the pupils would come up tome and show me their exam results. I would

“You probably don’t know this, but my onlygreat claim to fame in life is that I have beengood at crosswords and, for several years inthe late ‘60s and the ‘70s, I was a nationalcrossword champion.” It’s an odd way forthe man who created one of Britain’s bestloved television dramas, Inspector Morse, todescribe himself; and yet for Colin Dexter itis clear that his literary talents play arelatively small part in the way in which hewould choose to define himself.

Having realised one dream by coming up toChrist’s to read Classics, Colin went on tofulfil his ambition of becoming a teacher,taking the Diploma of Education inCambridge before going on to teach in theMidlands for 13 years. This was his realpassion in life. But a profound deafnesstaking hold almost overnight meant that itbecame untenable to continue teaching, sohe moved to Oxford where he wasappointed to the University ExaminationsBoard to oversee Latin and Greek up to A-level. “There was something about the Latinand the Greek languages that caught mefrom the word go, and I loved them. I stilldo.”

Despite claiming “I took most of my ideasfrom a bottle of Single-Malt Scotch orsomething like that!”, his classical educationshows through in the plots for the Morsebooks. Inspired by two mediocre crimebooks he read on a family holiday to NorthWales, Colin had a go at writing his own.Morse and Lewis (named after two fellowcrossword champions of his era) were notbased on anyone in particular. “It was onlymeant to be one book so you take thefundamental things about yourself: whetheryou believe in the Almighty or not, whether

Colin Dexter, creator andauthor of Inspector Morse.Born 29 September 1930.Studied Classics at Christ’sCollege, 1950-53.

MorseMagic

tell them that it didn’t matter and there hadprobably been a mistake that year, but theywould say, ‘No Sir, I’ve done wonderfullywell’. It brought tears to my eyes to know Ihad been a part of that success.”

“I take a tremendousamount of pride in theawards and prizes Ireceived for my writing,but teaching classics wasmy true passion in life andI would never have given itup if it hadn’t been for theonset of deafness.”

Since leaving Christ’s in 1992, Huw hascontinually been involved in CathedralMusic. His current post as sub-organist at St.Paul’s means that whenever you see aservice from St. Paul’s on the television, Huw will be at the organ console, providing themusic. However, Huw did not always have acareer as a cathedral organist in mind, evenwhen he came to Christ’s as organ scholar in1989. “I have always taken things one step ata time, and when I took four A-Levels, thefourth one was music, which I took on thebasis that if it didn’t go very well, I couldalways drop it! But I did music A Level andwent on to do the degree; then I went to theRoyal Academy to study the organ a bitmore, then I got the St. Paul’s organ scholar-ship, but thinking that if I didn’t like the waythat things were going, I could always getout of it!”

Most sub-organist posts involve a lot of play-ing the organ, and little or no conducting,but at St. Paul’s, things are a touch different.In addition to playing for about five servicesa week, Huw also conducts two or three, aswell as taking a number of rehearsals. Themost regular rehearsal in the life of the choiris the 7:50am boys’ practise, of which Huwsays: “I learned when I was in Hereford thatit doesn’t matter how early you get up in themorning, you can never combat them beingmore bright and alert than you are!” Theimportance of the daily rehearsal with thechoristers cannot be understated though, and

Huw really sees it as the ‘engine house’ ofthe choir, where the choir’s style is defined.

When Huw is in the organ loft, he has at hisdisposal one of the three largest organs inthe country. The St. Paul’s organ of today ismainly the work of ‘Father’ Willis, (datingfrom 1872), although it has been modifiedand rebuilt a fair bit since. Mainly ‘romantic’in character, yet suitably versatile to copewith music from any period, the organ is aspectacular solo instrument. Huw has justreleased his first solo organ CD “ChristmasMusic from St. Paul’s Cathedral”, though hasrecorded some six or seven other CDs withthe choir. He says of making a recording: “Itis intensive, but it seems to be a much morerelaxed form of music making; in fact I thinkit’s probably the most relaxed thing we dowith the choir, because the pressure is offfrom making it bang on right first time.”

As St. Paul’s is the Cathedral of London, itfinds itself hosting a number of services forthe nation each year. These services rangefrom the rejoicing at the Queen’s GoldenJubilee service in 2002 to the poignancy ofthe September 11th service in 2001. This wasproduced to an exceptional standard in avery short time: “In 48 hours, we produced aservice that captured the mood of the nation.Ludgate Hill was closed, and people werejust sitting there in silence listening to theloudspeakers. It was an amazingly movingexperience.” Huw finds it very exciting to be

involved in a cathedral that has the abilityand the gravitas to produce a religiousservice in response to major events in theworld. “It’s probably the post Diana age, thesearch for spirituality, and I’m not saying thatwe’re exploiting this in a vulgar way; I thinkwe are actually providing something peoplereally want.”

“Funnily enough, the routine services (dailyevensong and the Sunday services) probablygive me more buzz than the mega serviceson TV, maybe because you feel slightly moreclinical with the televised things.” Huwgreatly enjoys the daily round of services,and takes great pleasure from an evensongwell done. He particularly enjoys playing forthe Psalms each day, which is one of thelargest single chunks of music in the averageevensong. A recent innovation is that St.Paul’s now allows people with suitablecredentials to come and observe the work ofthe choir for a short period, so that they canbe more imaginative with their own choirs.“It’s a wonderful thing to be doing as a kindof musical mission and an evangelicalChristian mission as well. But it’s also a veryscary responsibility, people watching boththe choir and my organ playing, evaluatingus and then going away again!

Huw Williams’ latest organ CD “Christmas Musicfrom St. Paul’s Cathedral” is available from the St.Paul’s Cathedral Shopwww.stpaulsshop.co.uk

Huw Williams, Sub-Organist, St. Paul’s Cathedral (since 1998). Born 2 June 1971, StudiedMusic at Christ’s College 1989-1992.

Loud Organs

I think that for a cathedral organist, if

you don’t love playing the Psalms, you

don’t love doing anything properly”

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Christ’s College Cambridge Feature 11

“For years I tried to lose the image of beingan ‘engineer’, if only to avoid being asked‘please will you mend my car engine?’However, when I called myself a ‘scientist’,no-one took my business skills seriouslyand, when I was dubbed an ‘inventor’,people wanted to relegate me to the backroom!” A summary of Laurie’s career showsthat he has all the skills of an engineer,scientist, inventor and businessman. Hebelieves that Cambridge allowed him threevaluable years in which to look at lifewithout restriction, and think “out of thebox”. He habitually solves problems bytaking a step back, and then a stepsideways. “It’s all about lateral thinking. Weall have the ability within us, but weretaught to suppress it at an early stage in ourchildhood. Anyone can develop it again ifthey want to.”

From automated rail tanker filling systems,to emergency fuel handling systems for thearmed forces, to offshore diamond mining,to continuous circulation drilling, to seabedlocated drilling rigs, to saving the fisheries,Laurie has come up with solutions to anarray of problems. When he explains whathe has done and why he did it that way, hemakes every idea sound so obviously rightthat it is hard to understand why it was notalways done that way. “It’s all abouttechnology transfer,” he explains. “Indesigning a practical emergency pipeline foruse by the armed forces, you don’t need to

reinvent the wheel; Just watch a New Yorkfire fighter trying to put out a blaze in askyscraper and you realise that the ideaalready exists for a durable, high pressure,flexible pipeline. You just have to adapt it tomeet your needs.”

However, having a good idea isn’t enough.“The best inventions and innovations aresimple, but it is also a matter of having theright idea at the right time, and thewillingness of others to accept your ideas.Innovation requires change, which is seldomwelcomed in large organisations.” In Laurie’searly days at Shell, he and five others weresent to business school. They all returnedwanting to change the way in which Shellwas run. Unsurprisingly, they met withinertia and resistance and all six left! “Oilcompanies are dependant on lateral thinkers and change for their survival” explainsLaurie, “but their actual willingness tochange is limited and goes in cycles.” Hedecided to go freelance.

Working for Mobil, as the ConstructionManager for the Beryl ‘A’ Condeep OffshoreGravity Platform, provided Laurie with thehighlight of his career. “I was 34 years old,standing on top of a 150metre highsubstructure, weighing 200,000 tons, floatingin a Norwegian Fjord, at 3:30 am on a starrynight, whilst the people all around me wereslip forming concrete. In 1975, it was thefirst platform of its kind in the world, we

were three months ahead of Shell next door,spending £100million a year, and I was incharge!” Laurie decided there and then toset up his own company to provide apermanent source of expertise andinnovation for the Offshore Industry.

Maris, founded by Laurie, 27 years ago,became that source. Nowadays the companyhas extended its remit to include fisheriesand is already studying how to develop thedeep-sea resources of bio-chemicals andalternative energy. As for Laurie, he’slooking forward to “retiring, sitting back,relaxing and having more time – to invent!”

Laurie Ayling, Managing Director of Maris Companies since 1977. Born 27 July1939. Studied Mechanical Sciences at Christ’s College, 1958-61.

If man hasn’t thoughtabout it before, naturealmost certainly has.”

Ayling’sFolly

“

The illustration on above left is the Mobil CondeepOil platform, 1975, for which Laurie was theConstruction Manager.

12 Members’ page Christ’s College Cambridge

Did you know that 42% of Christ’s Alumni live in South East England? A recent survey of the databaserevealed addresses for 6975 members. 5744 of those live in the UK, and the table below shows justwhere:

If you move house, please dolet us know.You can write tothe college, emailalumni@christs.cam.ac.ukor fill in an online update formby following the links atwww.christs.cam.ac.uk/alumni

Where are younow? Nathalie Walker, the Alumni Officer, writes:

Of the 1231 members who are spread around the rest of the globe, the most popular locations arethe USA (321), Australia (110), and Canada (104).

to those of you who continue to use the MBNACredit Card and who travel with Swan Hellenic.The Data Protection Act means that the companiescannot tell us who you are, but we really appreciateyour support.

Thank you

Num

ber

of

Alu

mni

Region

Number of Alumni in the UK by region

Num

ber

of

Alu

mni

Number of Alumni outside the UK by region

USA

/Can

ada

Euro

pe

Asi

a

Aust

ralia

Afric

a

South

Am

eric

a

Mid

dle

Eas

t

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

South East South Midlands South North East North Scotland Wales Northern IslandsWest Coast East West Ireland

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0