the wellington college year book 2010/2011
the benson
This year will be remembered
for the whole house performance of Bugsy Malone in the
Lent term, in a year in which The Benson
staked a claim to be the leading house for
culture. ‘Bugsy’—directed by Nick Harris
and new tutor Dan Townley?? ?allowed many
boys the chance to get on stage, sing and be
‘splurged’ for the first time at Wellington and
was enjoyed over two nights by pupils and
parents alike. Congratulations particularly to
Karl-Ilias Auersperg-Breunner who played the
lead role and all the actors as well as thanks
to the two Orange girls who helped add some
style and glamour to proceedings
Many of this year’s leavers have had hugely
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Bugsy Malone
placing in the official top three, despite
a remarkably well choreographed and
produced performance.
House dance proved popular and it was
great to see a mixture of year groups putting
together a combination of street dance and
physical theatre, with Felix Fowler coming in
second place in the individual competition.
Felix deserves a special mention as he leaves
with his family for China: he won his cross
country colours as a Fifth Former and also set
a new record for the Pink Pavilion dash (albeit
for only ten minutes? His legacy in running
!).
and physical theatre will live on. Many of the
boys have followed Felix and Richard Bishop’s
lead and Third Former Harry Mackenzie was
centre stage on Speech Day.
successful careers in the Arts: Henry Counsell,
the Head of House, won the prize for drama
and signed off with the role of Sky Masterson
in Guys and Dolls. He was supported by
Gudjon Bodvarsson as Nicely Nicely Johnson,
who won the singing prize and has dominated
the college stage during his time here. Nick
Harris also won Arts colours as well as a place
at Cambridge—he played the lead role in
Henry V and was supported by Tom Smithdale,
who also had a part in Gut Girls.
It is not just on the stage that the boys
in The Benson have been excelling. The
now standard controversy at the Interhouse
Singing Competition returned with the
disappointment of Sweet Dreams not even
With some talented film makers (led
by James Tudhope) the Interhouse Art
Competition offered the chance for more
boys to display their talents and to showcase
the breadth of ability across all year groups.
These can be seen on the YouTube site James
set up, which we hope will be added to over
the years.
Although the sporting trophy cabinet is
looking a little bare, there have been some
fine performances over the year. Many
congratulations go to George Hutchinson
who gained his rugby colours for representing
the 1st xv, Jonny Burgin for squash and hockey,
Will Avrili for football and Henry and Gudjon
for basketball. A number of Bensonians are