No.128
Outdoor classroom
The school has a wonderful new
outdoor classroom between the walls
of Meads and Logie. It is named in
honour of Cameron Bespolka (C,
11-13).
‘Shake off dull sloth’
Mid-week Chapel services have been
reformed. Rather than taking place
just before afternoon hours and
only being for JP and MP, they have
returned to their traditional early-
morning slot and welcome pupils
from each year group once a week. It
is hoped that rousing hymn choices
and pithy homilies will win over any
recalcitrant congregants to the new
arrangements.
The Trusty Servant
rabbits, a parrot named Hippolyta
and a python), the latest edition dubs
the page ‘bestiarium Wiccamicum’.
College animals have a long tradition
at Winchester. The Wykehamist
610 (1921) mourns the death of the
College dog, known officially as
Roger but popularly as William of
Wykeham. He belonged to Miss Lucy
Easton, College cook 1914-33. Stevens
in his Notions describes William of
Wykeham as ‘a gross, elongated,
mangy and sulky Aberdeen... He used
to sit outside Trusty Sweater’s Hole in
indolence all day, stirring only to bark
at people he disliked, which included
butcher’s boys and most of the men in
College, who reciprocated his feelings.
He used also to howl at Chapel
bells from some lair in the Warden’s
Lodgings. He passed on, to the relief
of all, c1920.’ His successor, another
black Aberdeen terrier also called
Roger and William of Wykeham,
was ‘young and disobedient’, and
dead by c1923. Miss Easton’s third
terrier, Donald, is immortalised in
the Thule Chamber frieze, together
with his impressively stout owner.
The position of College dog has been
vacant since 2003.
Bestiarium Wiccamicum
In recent years Pictorial Roll has
begun with a page entitled ‘cave
canem’, taking primacy even over
the grandees of Go Bo. To reflect
the more eclectic menagerie more
accurately (44 dogs, three cats, two
Old Wykehamist News
Academic
Prof AM Gazzard (A, 82-87) has
taken up a Chair as UCL Professor of
Ophthalmology (Glaucoma Studies),
awarded in part for his recent six-
year study that, after publication in
The Lancet, he hopes will change how
glaucoma is treated across the world.
RMP Hughes (K, 70-74) was recently
awarded an Hon LLD (Doctor of
Laws Honoris Causa) by Exeter
University after serving nine years
as a Pro-Chancellor within a total
of 12 years on Exeter University’s
Governing Body as an independent
member.
Dr D Tin (B, 94-99) will be assuming
the position of a Fellow in Disaster
Medicine at BIDMC/ Harvard
Medical School from July 2020
onwards. He founded AlphaZodiac, a
medical advisory company, 2016 for
which he was recently nominated for
the Sydney Entrepreneur of the year
award 2019.
Appointments
Hon JW Roskill (E, 63-69) has
been an Independent Governor
of the Conservatoire for Dance
and Drama since July 2013. The
Conservatoire is one of a number of
world-leading conservatoires and is
a charitable body of six schools in
the United Kingdom which provides
specialist vocational training in
dance, drama and circus arts within
higher education. He has now been
appointed to the new role of Senior
20
Independent Governor.
Dr KK Yu (B, 94-99) has been
appointed neurosurgical oncology
fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Hospital in New York City.
Viscount Younger of Leckie (F,
69-74) has been appointed Under
Secretary of State at the Department
of Housing, Communities and Local
Government.
Business
GH Howard (D, 70-75) featured in
a weekend Financial Times article in
August ‘So you think you could run
a vineyard’, describing the ups and
downs of wine-making at his Giffords
Hall Estate in Suffolk.
www.giffordshall.co.uk.