PheonThe magazine for alumni and friends of Sidney Sussex College    edition 27  spring/summer 2011

Art At Sidney

the CoStS of Keeping CAmbridge SpeCiAlA report on the changes in higher education funding

pheon pASt And preSent

rApid réSumé Alan Samson

From the Master

First, the good news: Sidney continues to flourish, thanks not least to the enthusiastic support of its alumni and friends. Pride of place must go to the lady on the front cover of this edition of Pheon, Lucy Harington: by the generosity of David Fyfe (Natural Sciences, 1963), we have not only acquired an exquisitely beautiful portrait for the College, but reconnected with a key element of our early origins, in the pious and cultured circles of the late Elizabethan and early Stuart court. The same origins were further illuminated by the recent Conference held at Sidney to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible in 1611. But perhaps the

musical highlight was the Visiting Fellowship during Michaelmas Term of the choral composer, Eric Whitacre, accompanied by his wife, the soprano Hila Plitmann, and their son Esh. During his stay with us, he composed new work for our Choir, including a new setting of our College Grace, Oculi omnium ad te spectant Domine, which was premiered during the 1596 Foundation Dinner in November and recently performed at the tomb of our Foundress, Lady Frances Sidney, in Westminster Abbey after the College Choir had celebrated Evensong in the Quire. The bad news, of course, is the reform of the public finance of universities: the welcome increase in the ceiling of fees the University can charge is counterbalanced by the much heavier contribution to be made by the students themselves. That public support will come in the shape of a loan, with generous deferred repayment options, should mean, of course, that candidates from the poorest backgrounds can continue to afford to come to Cambridge. Even so, it is clear to all of us that a generous scheme of bursaries and student support will be ever more important to ensure full access. In this context, the help of our alumni and alumnae will be essential, though we await several vital clues about how it will all work in practice. I shall keep our old members up to date on this.

Andrew Wallace-hadrill

3–4Sidney news

5

Pheon past and present Nicholas Rogers

6–7Art at Sidney Claire Preston

8–10the Costs of Keeping

Cambridge Special Max Beber and Kirsten

Dickers

11rapid résumé Alan Samson

12–13development news

14Alumni event reports

15forthcoming Alumni

events

2 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n from the master

pheon edition 27, Spring/Summer 2011guest editor: Sally Simmonspheon editor: James mayallFront cover: lucy harington, c1620, unknown

ContACt uSdevelopment & membership officeSidney Sussex CollegeCambridge cb2 3hutel: +44 (0)1223 338881email: alumni@sid.cam.ac.ukwww.sid.cam.ac.uk

http: //www.facebook.com/SidneySussex

http://twitter.com/SidneySussex

editorial management by Cambridge editorial www.camedit.comdesigned by paul barrett book production www.pbbp.co.ukprint management by h2 Associates, Cambridge www.h2adesign.co.uk

printed on chlorine-free 55% recycled fibre from both pre- and post-consumer sources together with 45% fSC certified virgin fibre from well-managed forests. printed with vegetable-based ink.

3sidney news n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

Sidney News

Sidney celebrates the King James bible

Sidney students have elected Liam Agate as the President of the College Student Union (SSCSU). In his campaign Liam, a second-year geographer, promised ‘Agate(way) to a brighter tomorrow’. His aim is to raise the College’s profile: ‘Some people think that Sidney is a College that couldn’t win a raffle if they had the only ticket. I’m out to change that.’

SSCSU plays a key role in organising student events and providing important student input into College decision-making. SSCSU members sit on the College Council and other committees. newly elected SSCSu president liam Agate (right), who took over in January

geoffrey hill, professor of poetry at oxford university

Sidney celebrated the 400th anniversary of the 1611 publication of the King James Bible (KJB) with a day of special lectures, readings and music in February.

The production of the KJB is closely tied to Sidney’s early history: two of our first Masters were involved in the process of translation. Professor John Morrill detailed the importance of James Montagu, Sidney’s first Master and James I’s editor, and Samuel Ward, Sidney’s third Master, who was one of the team of translators.

It was evident, both from Morrill’s talk, and from Professor David McKitterick’s presentation of the world of 16th and early 17th-century publishing, that the KJB was entering something of a competitive market, with other translations such as the Geneva Bible remaining in widespread circulation. The day also had readings from translations ranging from English and German to Czech and Swahili, designed to show the process of translation and the broader impact of the KJB.

Geoffrey Hill, Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, concluded the lectures, rigorously arguing that the various different translations should be seen as the products of their period.

The day’s proceedings ended with a Festal Evensong, featuring the music of William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes, with the Choir being joined by the viol consort Fretwork.

SSCSu elections

Two notable Sidney people were listed among the UK’s 100 most influential contemporary scientific figures in the October edition of ‘Eureka’, The Times’ monthly science magazine.

dr Simon Campbell CBE, FRS was ranked 31. He was recognised primarily for his role in the discovery of innovative new medicines such as Cardura, Norvasc and Viagra, and for his campaigning role as President of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr Campbell and his wife Jill are members of the 1596 Foundation (2001) and have endowed the Campbell Foundation bursaries at Sidney and Christ’s for state school pupils studying maths and natural sciences.

Also on the list, at number 37, was professor dame Ann dowling, Fellow in Engineering at Sidney and head of the Department of Engineering at the University.

Ann Dowling’s research is on clean combustion and quiet vehicles, and is particularly relevant to aircraft. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Foreign Associate Member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the French Academy of Sciences. Professor Dowling was appointed CBE for services to mechanical engineering in 2002 and DBE for services to science in 2007. She has recently been made a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Sidney Scientists in the uK top 100 list

4 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n sidney news

Sidney Fellow Professor Sir John E. Walker, Nobel Laureate for Chemistry in 1997, has received the Ahmed Zewail Gold Medal from Wayne State University, Detroit, USA. As part of the events marking the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, John Walker delivered the UK-Canada Ernest Rutherford Lecture in Ottawa at the Royal Society of Canada, to mark the many important contributions from British scientists.

John Walker awarded Ahmed Zewail gold medal

Virtual Success: Sidney’s Visiting fellow Creates the World’s biggest Choir

professor lindsay greer joined the Vice-Chancellor professor Sir leszek borysiewicz and others at the university’s new West Cambridge site in november to mark the start of construction of a new £41m building to house the department of materials Science and metallurgy. Work is scheduled for completion in autumn 2012.

in the 1880s, Sidney scientists Charles heycock and francis neville pioneered modern metallurgical research into the boiling and freezing points and microstructures of metal alloys. they worked from a small laboratory at the College that ran along the wall on Sidney Street in Cloister Court (where the bike shed now stands). their research led directly to the founding of the department of metallurgy.

Professor Lindsay Greer at New Department Site

professor dame Ann dowling

The American composer Eric Whitacre joined Sidney as a Visiting Fellow during the Michaelmas term 2010. During his time with us, Eric’s latest CD, Light and Gold, rose to the top of the classical music charts in both the UK and the USA. Sidney also became the focus of Whitacre’s latest Virtual Choir project – an attempt to create the world’s largest online choir in a performance of his piece Sleep. Last November, dozens of choral scholars from across Cambridge came to the College to record their parts. The Virtual Choir video of Lux Aurumque received more than 1 million hits within two months of its internet release in 2010. The recording, now complete and due to be heard for the first time this spring, includes 2,051 voices from 58 countries. The Financial Times (10 December 2010) announced that ‘in the space of a year [Eric Whitacre] has become the most commercially successful choral composer in history’. He composed new work for our Choir, including a new setting of our College Grace, Oculi omnium ad te spectant Domine, about which Eric said, ‘Conducting Sidney Sussex Choir in the first performance of my setting of Oculi omnium is something that I shall never forget – I cannot wait to return.’

5page heading n spring/summer 2011 n pheon 5pheon past and present n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

‘Pheons … being apt and ready to pierce, according to some authors, they betoken a dexterity and nimbleness of wit to penetrate and understand matters of highest consequence.’

the launch of Pheon in a new guise is an appropriate moment at which to look at the various manifestations of a College magazine of that name. The first part of volume I of The Pheon was issued in June 1894, part

of an efflorescence of college magazines in the last twenty years of the 19th century. The editorial declared its purpose to be ‘keeping past and present members of the College more in touch with one another than is possible at present, and of helping to inspire men with that enthusiasm for their College which is, above all things, to be desired’. Its publication can be seen as part of the rejuvenation of Sidney after the long mastership of Robert Phelps.

The last issue of the first series of The Pheon was vol. V, no. 36 (December 1902). It was superseded by The Sidney Sussex College Annual, a very prim collection of lists: Fellows, resi-dent members, Tripos results, degrees conferred, preferments and appointments, and addresses. The sports reports and news of College societies were kept, together with marriages and obituaries, but there was no room for literary efforts.

In Lent Term 1922 the first number of a new series of The Pheon appeared, headed by the quotation from Guillim’s Display of Heraldry which appears at the beginning of this arti-cle. As a memorandum written by Otto Smail in 1950 makes clear, it was in no way an official publication of the College, being ‘the concern solely of the Amalgamation Club, which produces, sells and reads it’. In fact, a pre-war register of non-resident subscrib-ers makes it clear that a healthy proportion of the readership consisted of old members. Popular, long-running features were ‘The New Francescans’, pen-portraits of undergraduates, with a decided bias to sportsmen, and the College Notes, which fea-tured cryptic snippets of conversations and allusive references to incidents of undergraduate life. The general tone was light-hearted, but occasionally more serious items were included, such as an essay on ‘The Problem of India’ by I. H. Qureshi, a future Minister of Education in Pakistan. At first the covers of individual parts featured the rather ill-drawn coat-of-arms that had been used for the first series; then a conventional pheon was featured; from December 1934 the cover bore a highly stylised Art Deco pheon. The Pheon was illustrated with line drawings, cartoons and photographs. It also featured advertisements for local businesses patronised by members of the College, which provide a fascinating view of Cambridge social history.

Publication of The Pheon was suspended for the dura-tion of the war. When it reappeared in December 1946, with

a heraldically improper cover, under the editorship of E. A. Brett-James, D. B. Wilson and E. D. Lowe, it had to appeal to a more varied undergraduate readership, ranging in age from 17 to 30. Thirty-two pages were provided, but newsprint restric-tions prevented its reappearance for the remainder of that year. Something of the spirit of the pre-war magazine reap-peared in the next issue, of December 1947, characterised in the editorial as proof that ‘youth can still be irreverent, irre-sponsible, ill-mannered and ignorant’. Its striped cover with a golden pheon was evidently deemed to be too much for an age of austerity, and the next issue, which came out in June 1949, had a simple pheon on a pale blue cover. By the time of the last issue of The Pheon in this form, in June 1950, the contents were entirely literary in nature: ‘articles upon ballet, sculpture, and the drama, together with some poetry and short stories’. The Pheon, having made a loss of £3, then metamorphosed into the bibliographically infuriating magazine The Bull and the Porcupine, which appeared at irregular intervals and in varying formats between 1952 and 1959.

The modern Pheon, without the definite article, was first published in January 1994 as an A3 newssheet, issued by the Development Office. Its aims were defined on the front page of the first issue as ‘reporting on occasions within the life of the College’, as well as providing information on the Quatercentenary celebrations and the progress of the Quatercentenary Appeal. From issue 7 (February 1997) the masthead was enlivened by the appearance of a porcupine, the work of Prill Barrett. And now we have a new A4 format.

G. A. Weekes’s words in 1922 still hold good: ‘My belief is that the new Pheon will be a mine of good things, well worth exploring. “Prosit”.’

nicholas rogersArchivistarchivist@sid.cam.ac.uk

Pheon Past and Presentnicholas rogers, archivist

the cover of the first series of The Pheon in 1922 and an example of a local advertisement

6 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n art at sidney

fund special redecoration and lighting of the Lodge foyer to accommodate Lucy.

Art in College is an important aspect of our fabric and our heritage; in conserving it, in celebrating it, we fulfil a duty to the future. The largest category of College paintings consists of pictures of people or places associated with Sidney. The next group, nearly as large, is a collection of pictures given to the College by members of Sidney or their families. A small but fascinating category includes pictures by members of the College – for example, an accomplished watercolour of Old Clee church from the period when the College owned most of Cleethorpes, by a talented mid-19th century Master, Robert Phelps. A final group consists of pictures specifically acquired for the College. Some recent gifts and discoveries demon-strate this variety of sources.

Lucy Harington is associated with the College (and was given to us by a College member). But the painting of Lucy is only the latest in a recent series of wonderful benefactions and gifts. Other gifts with College associations include an early copy of a portrait of the New England preacher George Moxon (1620), who fled to Massachusetts in 1637 under threat from Laudian purges of non-conforming ministers. After some years there he returned to England to participate in the Cromwellian church, only to be deprived of his living at the Restoration. Unlike many of our severe 17th-century men of the cloth, the Revd Moxon harbours the ghost of a smile in this picture, and indeed, he was known for preaching a doctrine of happiness. The paint-ing was given to us last year by Moxon’s descendant, Margaret Moxon Eastwood, and now hangs in the Muniment Room.

From the second group, an utterly charming portrait of a completely different period, ‘Lady in a Pink Bow’ by David S. Ewart (Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy), has been given to the College by the painter’s nephew, the late Charles Ewart (History, 1956) and his wife Anne. David Ewart was a well-known portraitist whose best-known work is of the Admiral of

When John Donne hailed his patroness the Countess of Bedford as ‘Lucy, brightness of our sphere’, he was probably not quite think-ing of the effect Lucy Harington now makes in

Hall Court. Evening strollers will have noticed the remarkable, more-than-life-size figure of Lucy Harington, serene and con-templative, a woman of great beauty and obvious intelligence, beaming out from the foyer of the Master’s Lodge. This por-trait, painted around 1620, shows the woman who inspired Donne, Jonson, Florio, Drayton, Daniel and other major English literary lights, and is surely one of the best Jacobean portraits in portrait-rich Cambridge. She reminds us of the lustre of the College’s foundation: her father, Sir John Harington, Baron of Exton, was one of our Foundress’s executors and himself a benefactor to the fledgling college. The Haringtons were cousins of the Sidneys, and like that illustrious family the Haringtons were unusual in providing serious education for their daughters. Lucy is a symbol not only of the early years of Sidney Sussex, but of the forward-thinking ethos of the Foundress and her milieu.

Thanks to the generosity of one of Sidney’s alumni, David Fyfe (Natural Sciences, 1963), the picture of Lucy now belongs to us (in spite of serious interest from Tate Britain). It is about to lose its unsuitable Victorian frame and be reset in one spe-cially fabricated in the Jacobean style. David Fyfe’s gift will also

Art at Sidneyclaire preston (fellow curator of pictures)

lady in a pink bow by david S. ewart (1901–1965)

left: lucy harington, Countess of bedford (1581–1627), c 1620Artist unknown (oil on board)above: david fyfe (natural Sciences, 1963)

art at sidney n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

the Fleet, Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope, which hangs in the Ministry of Defence. The anonymous Edwardian sitter in the pink bow has something of Lucy’s serenity and grace. She will soon enliven the occasionally gloomy Knox-Shaw Room.

David Purchase, Fellow-Commoner of the College (Mathematics, 1961), presented two very substantial 19th-century works: one, ‘The Lumber-Waggon’, is a rugged rural scene typical of the style of the Barkers of Bath (there were several painters in this well-known 19th-century family); the other is an atmospheric skating scene by the Dane Nils Hans Christiansen (1850–1922), who numbered Queen Victoria among his patrons when he settled in England. These two works dominate one wall of the New Parlour.

A very extraordinary tale surrounds some of our latest acquisitions, although ‘acquisition’ is not really the right word, because these works have belonged to us for the last 50 years though we didn’t know it. A few years ago the housekeep-ing staff were clearing an out-of-the-way cupboard in Sussex House. That part of the College had been rented to a law firm for many years, and was only converted into accommodation and seminar rooms in about 1990. In the cupboard were a number of dusty and completely uninviting framed pictures,

mainly works on paper. The intervention of the Domus Bursar rescued this sad lot from the skip, and when they were inspected by the Curator of Pictures it appeared that we had on our hands a small collection of works by major 20th-cen-tury artists – Braque, Procktor, Rothenstein, Dubuffet, Alistair Grant, Terry Haas. Where had they come from and why were they in an unused cupboard? Some sleuthing and the long memory of Professor Derek Beales produced the answer: an enterprising band of students and Fellows with an interest in modern art had, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, acquired modestly priced works from London galleries to use in a pic-ture loan scheme in College. The full collection had been very substantial, with nearly 50 items. It had included works by Picasso, Chagall, Miró, Mondrian, Piper, Utrillo, Tanguy and Pollock, among others – a virtual catalogue of the greatest modern artists – and was once shown as an exhibition at Mr Hilton’s Gallery, 15–17 King Street.

The mystery of this collection remains. What became of the missing 30 or so pictures? Why were they left in the cupboard, and how did they survive untouched during all the decades between 1960 and 2008, during which a business operated there and major reconstruction was carried out? We may never know the answers, but the surviving works – now about to be conserved and rehung – are part of our history, of a time when colleges could buy and lend art to its Fellows and students.

Nowadays even such modest expenditure on pictures is unthinkable, so we rely on the generosity of members and their families, who know that works they cannot themselves look after for one reason or another will be conserved and on display to be enjoyed by the College community. We also are greatly in the debt of those donors who have given money to conserve and enhance our treasures. Our existing collec-tion of about 120 items requires considerable attention and expense – everything from the cleaning of the inside of the glass and the glazing itself (art glass is often more expensive than some of the art it protects), reframing, made-to-measure lighting, expert conservation of damaged or badly restored works, even commissioning the cartouches that label each work. Recent projects have included the relighting of all the portraits in the Hall, and getting advice on certain early works from experts at the National Portrait Gallery and the National Maritime Museum. With the impetus of Richard Humphreys’ history of the College, we want to foreground the art and his-tory of Sidney Sussex for ourselves, for the wider Sidney com-munity, and for the Sidney Sussex of the next four centuries.

dr Claire prestonfellow Curator of picturescep13@cam.ac.uk

left: Clee church, lincolnshire, 1844 by robert phelps, master of Sidney

right: Skating Scene, mid-19th century by nils hans Christiansen

7

Angel, 1964 by patrick procktor rA

8 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n the costs of keeping cambridge special

The Costs of Keeping Cambridge Specialby max beber (senior tutor) and kirsten dickers (admissions director)

by speaking truth to power, academics make a crucial contribution to the quality of a society’s key deci-sions. Once public debate and the political process have delivered a strategic decision, universities must

remain true to their mission within the boundaries set to them by that choice. The collegiate University finds itself at such a crucial juncture now.

What makes Cambridge SpecialAlongside its pursuit of absolute research excellence, colle-giate Cambridge is defined by an educational mission that is as clear as it is demanding of us:• the encouragement of a questioning spirit• an extensive range of academic subjects in all major sub-

ject groups• quality and depth of provision across all subjects• the close inter-relationship between teaching, scholarship

and research• strong support for individual researchers as well as

research groups• residence in Cambridge central to most courses• education that enhances the ability of students to learn

throughout life.This mission requires us to relate to students as individuals, not just to deliver to them a standard teaching package: at its core is the collegiate provision of the supervision and pastoral systems, which complement the large group instruction deliv-ered by faculties and departments.

Therefore, our undergraduates will receive a unique experi-ence of:• intellectual engagement with research-active scholars at

various stages of their career in one of Cambridge’s world-class departments

• broader personal development within the extra-curricular life of the College.

While Cambridge must not – and does not – resist question-ing and innovation in its teaching methods, beginning with the one-on-one supervisions still prevalent in some subjects, it is also clear that economies of scale are not always the best option. We genuinely believe that to move away from the personal dimension of a Cambridge education in the name of efficiency would be to abandon one of the things that makes Cambridge special.

our Commitment to AccessWhat makes Cambridge special costs money, but the University is also adamant that those costs should not be a barrier. Access to Cambridge is framed by the University’s admissions policy ‘to offer admission to students of the highest intellec-tual potential, irrespective of social, racial, religious and finan-cial considerations’.

The collegiate University can be proud of the support it has been able to provide for poorer students. At its core is the Cambridge Bursary Scheme, whereby every undergradu-ate student who qualifies for a means-tested higher education maintenance grant will also qualify for a Cambridge Bursary of up to £3,400 p.a. This bursary is additional to any grant or loan for maintenance from the UK government. Colleges bear the lion’s share of this collective scheme through top-slicing of the College fee. Additionally, several friends of Sidney, many of them alumni of the College, have funded College access bursaries, which allow us either to provide further support to Cambridge Bursary Scheme recipients, or to address gaps in student funding.

Changes in university financingThe changes heralded in October by Lord Browne’s Review of Higher Education and the deep cuts of the government’s

SUPPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATESthe farlow funddonor: Anne farlow (engineering, 1983)bursary holder: natalie Catherwood (natural Sciences, 2009) ‘Knowing that Sidney alumni want to support me, and students like me, gives me a great sense of community, and i think it would be a shame to see this disappear. on a more practical note, the receipt of this bursary took a lot of pressure off my mother, who had vowed to pay my College bills, and being able to support myself through a combination of loans and bursaries helped me to gain financial independence.’

PROFILE

THE DIRECTOR OF STUDIESdr Andrew flewitt, fellow and director of Studies in engineering at Sidney‘Supervisions lie at the heart of a Cambridge education. they stretch students by challenging the things they take for granted and pushing them to extend their thinking to new areas. they then practise articulating their thoughts to others. it is these skills, learned in supervisions, that set Cambridge alumni apart in later life.’

PROFILE

9the costs of keeping cambridge special n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

Comprehensive Spending Review will bring about a major shift in the financing of higher education, which carries important implications for the ways in which both Cambridge’s educa-tional mission, and its admissions policy, will be accomplished in future.

Until 1998, when a £1,000 contribution to tuition fees was introduced, the cost of university education was on the whole borne by society. Government policy is now radically differ-ent, with the T-grant (supporting university teaching) being reduced by more than 60% over the next four years. From 2012, new undergraduates will bear the bulk of tuition and

maintenance costs directly, ensuring that the general taxpayer retreats substantially from the funding scene.

the true Cost of a Cambridge educationGood education is an expensive business. Cambridge is inject-ing a tremendous subsidy into undergraduate education, and furthermore this subsidy is more than we can afford. It was more than we could afford before the cuts began (five years ago, the government’s block grant, plus income from tuition fees, amounted to £6,600 per student, less than 50% of the total cost) and it is certainly more than we can afford now, with an estimated total cost of around £17,000 per student.*

Cost to the Student – implications for AccessIn terms of cash flow, the near trebling of the tuition fee to £9,000 p.a. will make no difference, as students will not be required to pay the tuition fee in advance. There will be a cor-respondingly larger tuition fee loan, repayments of which will be 9% of income, but will not be triggered until the gradu-ate’s income exceeds £21,000 p.a. (currently repayments begin when the graduate earns £15,000 p.a.). Students will, of course, graduate with far higher contingent debt.

In facing costs of the order of £16,500 per year (£9,000 tui-tion fees and around £7,500 maintenance), UK students at Cambridge will have access to publicly administered loans, and those from the lowest income families will also be eligible for means-tested government maintenance grants. For many,

SUPPORT FOR POSTGRADUATESthe Adam glinsman Awarddonor: Adam glinsman (international relations, 2002)bursary holder: thelma ohene-Agyethelma is undertaking a phd in pharmacology – her research concerns multi-drug resistance and pathogenesis in bacteria, specifically the mexAb-oprm efflux pump in pseudomonas aeruginosa. drug resistance is a major challenge to infection all over the world, and the problem assumes greater significance in developing economies because of the huge cost that comes with treating infections caused by resistant organisms.‘Without this award, it would not have been possible for me to take up this position at Cambridge – i would

PROFILE

certainly encourage other alumni to consider supporting the College to enable more people from developing countries to study and undertake research in a world-class environment.’

* Source: ‘University Matters – Fees and Finance’. Article by Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor Steve Young, CAM magazine, issue 62.** Source: Presentation titled ‘Cambridge Undergraduate Costs’ by Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor Steve Young, March 2011

‘Without this award, it would not have been possible for me to take up this position at Cambridge – I would certainly encourage other alumni to consider

supporting the College to enable more people from developing countries to study and undertake research in a world-class environment.’

thelma ohene-Agye (phd pharmacology, 2010)

Estimated total cost of delivery per student in 2010–11 = £17,000**

Income (fees and funding) per home u/g student*

KeyA Higher rate of fee introduced in 2006–07; no reductions in T-grantB Income as projected in University's 2010 Budget ReportC £9k fee introduced in 2012–13 accompanied by annual reductions in T-grant until new baseline is reached

11,000

10,000

9,000

8,000

7,000

2007–08

2008–09

2009–10

2010–11

2011–12

2012–13

2013–14

2014–15

2015–16

2016–17

ABC£

10 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n the costs of keeping cambridge special

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, said that ‘the University of Cambridge is committed to recruiting the bright-est and best students irrespective of their background. No UK students should be deterred from applying to the University of Cambridge because of financial considerations and no stu-dents should have to leave because of financial difficulties.’

At Sidney we want to ensure that all students have the financial security to be able to focus on their studies, and to benefit from the wider personal and social development that Cambridge offers. Bursaries will allow us to attract students and ensure that they are not deterred from accepting an offer of a place at Sidney. But we must also ensure that we are able to support our students once they join the College, so hard-ship funds enable us to provide short-term support to stu-dents who suddenly find themselves in financial difficulties.

However, we also need to ensure that the cuts in funding to the University do not compromise our ability to provide a world-class education. At the College level, this means main-taining the director of studies and supervision system that is the foundation of every undergraduate’s education. To this end we have to attract good teachers to the College, with the provision of College teaching fellowships.

If we want to keep Cambridge special we must do three things: • encourage access to the University so that we continue to

attract the brightest and best students• provide financial support to enable them to focus their

efforts on study and broader personal development• maintain our excellent teaching system. To continue achieving these goals, we need to encourage those who are able to support us financially to do so. This means encouraging donors to support bursaries or contribute to our hardship funds through the College’s Annual Fund. The generosity of our friends and alumni has an enormous impact on our students’ lives at Sidney and will become increasingly important as we work to maintain Cambridge’s unique educa-tional experience.

If you would like to discuss supporting a College bursary or hardship fund for Sidney students, please contact the Development Director, Bill Abraham on +44 (0)1223 338864 or bill.abraham@sid.cam.ac.uk.

however, this will still leave a shortfall to be covered from other sources (family contributions, part-time employment, bursaries and hardship grants where available) as one impor-tant aspect hasn’t changed – access to living costs during their time at university.

From 2012, the University has confirmed that ‘the present Cambridge Bursary Scheme will be continued, offering sup-port of up to £3,500 a year’. Where a student’s parental annual income is less than £25,000 p.a. he or she will receive a full Cambridge Bursary – a non-repayable grant – of £3,500 a year. Awards will be tapered down to earnings of up to £42,600 p.a. As the University points out, ‘this package will ensure that for those students from lower income households it is no more expensive to study at Cambridge than at other UK universi-ties’. In many cases, the support that the University and col-leges can offer is better than at many other universities.

the postgraduate dimensionNevertheless, we must also point out that a good proportion of Cambridge – and Sidney – students are postgraduates. Indeed, the number of graduate students at Sidney has grown by 20% in the past few years. So while the current focus is on undergraduate funding and support, we must also ensure that we provide enough support for our graduate students. In many cases, students at this level simply cannot contemplate taking up a place at Cambridge without financial support from the University or a College award.

the future: Sidney’s StrategyThere can be no doubt that Sidney faces significant challenges in the coming years.

We need to promote the unique education that Cambridge can offer, explaining both the true costs of this education, and the opportunities that it brings.

This is particularly important for students from the lowest income backgrounds, those from diverse educational and social backgrounds and those from families with little or no tradition of going on to higher education, who may be daunted by the prospect of graduating with significant debt. In this regard Sidney has a strong commitment to access. Our out-reach programme is designed to inform students about the University and College, encouraging them to apply, and sup-porting them through the application process. In the future we would like to be able to expand our programme of school visits, application and interview workshops and open days by running a week-long summer school to give pupils first-hand experience of what Cambridge has to offer.

We must also ensure that we are able to offer bursaries to our students once they have been offered a place at Sidney. The

max beber Senior tutorsenior.tutor@sid.cam.ac.uk

Kirsten dickers Admissions directoradmissions@sid.cam.ac.uk

‘The University of Cambridge is committed to recruiting the brightest and best students irrespective of their background.’Vice-Chancellor professor Sir leszek borysiewicz

11page heading n spring/summer 2011 n pheon 11rapid résumé n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

Rapid Résuméalan samson

Alan Samson (english, 1971) is publisher at Weidenfeld & nicolson. Among other things, he has published the autobiographies of some of the world’s most famous celebrities. most recently, he has signed up the memoirs of champion jump jockey tony mcCoy and The John Lennon Letters, edited by hunter davies.

i was in my first term at Sidney Sussex, standing outside the Arts Cinema, looking at the poster of that week’s film, Belle de Jour starring Catherine Deneuve. The obliging manager handed me the poster at the end of the run, and for two

years it adorned my student wall. Had Mephistopheles turned up at my door (Q5) and told me that one day Mlle Deneuve would travel in a train under the sea, have dinner with ‘Alain’, and that my last words to her at Waterloo Station would be ‘Enjoy Kazakhstan’, I would have signed any Faustian pact with him. Yet all these things came to pass five years ago when I published her film diaries, Close Up and Personal.

My publishing career had started very differently. I read English, and because no one was looking for film directors I fancied working in publishing, reading fine novels, and one day editing the next Booker Prize winner. It didn’t quite work out like that, although an early thrill was working on James Baldwin’s final novel, Just Above My Head, after studying him one-to-one with the wonderful Tony Tanner in tutorials at King’s. That really did make me feel I was using my degree.

I had had my first taste of publishing when doing ‘work experience’ during my gap year, when I had to address the management by the Dickensian formula of ‘Mr’ followed by their forename: ‘Good morning, Mr Michael’, etc. The books were typeset by letterpress, reprints took weeks not days, and the photocopier was an exotic creature with a room of its own.

When I joined another company as an editor at the age of 24, my head of department said he wanted to introduce me to a well-known historian, since I would be looking after his new book. I was keyed up at the prospect of encountering this household name, but when I met my new author he was far the more nervous. His hand shook, his palm was sweaty and his voice quavered. It was a turning point, and since that moment I have not been anxious about meeting any author.

At this time, in the mid-1980s, many more books were being published by many more publishing houses, and there were slots to fill. The cry could be heard: ‘Find me a horror novel for February – we’re one short!’, which seems inconceivable now in a world where the author’s name tends to mean more than the category. In the past 30 years there has been deregula-tion of the book industry via the decline and fall of the Net Book Agreement in 1995, the consequent rise of supermarket chains like Tesco and ASDA as major book retailers, and the

fragmentation of the media. Until Channel 4 started broadcast-ing in 1982, there were only three TV channels in the UK. Now of course there are hundreds, each needing to fill space. Looking at the list of bestselling non-fiction books in 2010, I counted about 40 celebrity autobiographies and 20 ‘misery memoirs’ and only three or four biographies. Many so-called celebrity books fall by the wayside, and we turn down at least 20 for every one we try to sign up. We need a new word for ‘celebrity’, where someone who presents a game show on a minority chan-nel or a reality TV contestant is described in the same terms as our esteemed authors Sir Sean Connery, Dame Judi Dench and Keith Richards.

Life, the memoirs of the Rolling Stone songwriter and gui-tarist, is the most successful title I have published recently. It’s a brilliant account of a uniquely eventful, unfettered and fear-less life. The book trade press commemorated the acquisition of this book by publishing a photograph of Keith and me some-where in New York. They thought it necessary to point out that Keith Richards was on the left, as if their readers might be con-fused. I never thought it would lead to this, even if I had once spent happy times with the great Tim Langley as my Director of Studies talking about mistaken identity in Shakespeare. I hasten to add that we publish many other authors in many other categories – Lady Antonia Fraser’s biographies, Michael Palin, A. A. Gill’s essays, Antony Beevor, and (as I write) the number one bestselling Jerusalem by Simon Sebag Montefiore. One of the most satisfying experiences was publishing Professor Sir Frank Kermode’s last book, Concerning E. M. Forster, in 2009, since I had revered Kermode as a student. Once more, I felt there was a direct line from my English course at Sidney to the work I was doing, and continue to do.

Of course, we also publish the books of blogger Brooke Magnanti, played by Billie Piper in the TV adaptation of Belle de Jour. So everything really does lead back to Catherine Deneuve in the end.

publishing legend Alan Samson (right) with a satisfied author

12 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n development news

Development News

Student Accommodation

Bill Abraham was appointed as Development Director on 1 October 2010, the first stage in a comprehensive rebuilding of the development programme at Sidney. Bill joined after

nearly nine years at the London School of Economics where he was Senior Development Manager. The team was also strengthened by the appointment of Matt Armstrong as Development Assistant in November, and Hannah Williamson as Development Officer in April. Continuity is provided by Wendy Hedley, the Membership and Events Officer, who is in her 21st year at Sidney.

The College said farewell to Zoe Swenson-Wright in September. The work Zoe and Wendy did to engage and support our alumni, members and friends has provided an excellent foundation for a development programme that aims not only to maintain contact with former students and friends and offer interesting events and services, but also to ensure that the College has a structured and professional fundraising programme to support its aims and objectives.

Contact any member of the Development and Membership team: alumni@sid.cam.ac.uk or +44 (0)1223 338881.

Changes to the development and membership office

left to right: matt Armstrong, Wendy hedley, hannah Williamson and bill Abraham

Visitors to the College may have noticed the demise of Galloway & Porter. We had developed a plan with them to limit the retail space to the ground floor and basement, while the College used the upper floors. This would have allowed them to reduce their operating costs and us to build six new student rooms and a new MCR. Unhappily, Galloway & Porter went into liquidation before this plan could be implemented. This is doubly unfortunate: not only had they been part of College life for 100 years but we now have to start building work before we have raised the funds. Building begins in March and we hope to complete in September. The new MCR will be particularly welcome as the graduate population has more than doubled over the last 20 years and the current room is extremely cramped.

The building at 8/9 Jesus Lane has now been vacated by the University’s

to redevelop Sidney House, the office building on the corner of Sussex Street and Sidney Street, into 28 new student rooms – but that must wait until we have raised the money to pay for it.

from the bursar, nick Allenbursar@sid.cam.ac.uk

International Office and the College will use it for seminar rooms, Fellows’ rooms and the College Office. This will release eight rooms in College that can be used as student accommodation. Moving the College Office creates the space to expand the Porters’ Lodge and combine it with the student post room. The Lodge could be described kindly as quaint, but is no longer adequate as it was built when the College had 100 members, not 600, and before CCTV and fire alarm monitors were required. In the final part of this building chain the old MCR and post room in Chapel Court will be turned into two fully equipped seminar rooms.

This is the first stage of a fairly extensive building plan. The College has to build 44 new student rooms to replace rooms in Portugal Street that must be returned to St John’s by 2017–18. The next phase of the plan is

donald green fund for engineeringThe dinner given in College in November 2010 to launch the Donald Green Fund for Engineering was a great success. Past and present Sidney engineers gathered to honour nearly five decades of service by the Fellow in Engineering and former Senior Tutor.

Sidney enjoys a reputation as one of Cambridge’s pre-eminent engineering colleges and this is in no small part due to the work of Donald Green. Donald was elected as a Fellow and Lecturer in Sidney in 1966 after serving in the Royal Engineers. One of his first tasks was to reform the College’s Stephenson Society as a place of academic discussion. Forty years later the Society is one of the chief assets of the Sidney engineering community, inviting distinguished speakers to College each term. Today the College has around 40 undergraduate engineers and eight Fellows, including the current Head of Department, Professor Dame Ann Dowling, who began her research career alongside Donald.

So far, the Donald Green Fund has received in excess of £60,000 in cash donations and pledges. The fund aims to support the best possible education for the College’s engineers through: ● the support of College-sponsored engineering activities, such as the

Stephenson Society ● bursaries and a travel award to ensure that Sidney remains accessible to

talented UK students, irrespective of their background ● support of the College’s Outreach Programme, to make potential students

aware of Sidney and of our strength in engineering. If you would like to support the Donald Green Fund for Engineering, or would like further information, please contact the Development Director, Bill Abraham (bill.abraham@sid.cam.ac.uk).

the master (left) and professor richard penty (right) admiring an antique field chronometer presented to donald green

In December 2010 the College opened its new gym, relocated from the basement of the William Mong Building to Sussex House and furnished with new equipment. The new space in Sussex House has air conditioning, an in-built television and audio system and showers. Our gym now rivals any College gym in Cambridge and more than 250 people have signed up to use it.

The £60,000 cost of refurbishment was paid for from the Sidney Sussex Annual Fund, thanks to the generosity of Sidney alumni. The basement of the Mong Hall has now been converted into badly needed rehearsal space

and a vesting area for the Chapel Choir.

Keith Willox, Domus Bursar, reports that the new gym ‘has been remarkably popular with over half of College members signing up in the first few weeks of opening. It is busy from 6 am until late into the night and the students’ commitment to their personal fitness has been impressive. The new gym is a facility that has long been needed at Sidney and it’s great to see everyone making such good use of it.’

For further information about the gym please contact Keith Willox (domusbursar@sid.cam.ac.uk).

new gym a runaway Success

new harpsichord for SidneyThe College has recently taken delivery of a magnificent new harpsichord, which Dr David Skinner, Osborn Director of Music, rates as one of the finest instruments in Cambridge. Built by Huw Saunders in the style of the great instrument maker Michael Mietke, who died in 1719, the ‘Bach’ harpsichord has now been given pride of place in Sidney Chapel and will be used for chamber recitals and special evensongs. The College would especially like to thank Brian Moody (Classics, 1962) for the generous donation that enabled us to purchase the harpsichord.

The harpsichord will be central to the formation of a College Baroque orchestra. With the proposed chamber organ, Sidney will become the ideal Cambridge venue for the performance of period music, attracting the finest musical students and international professional musicians to the College.

If you would like to find out more about the Chapel Choir, our music events and priorities, please contact the Development Director, Bill Abraham (bill.abraham@sid.cam.ac.uk) or the Director of Music, Dr David Skinner (director.music@sid.cam.ac.uk).

13development news n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

Sidney Sussex Annual fundThe College is extremely grateful for the support shown by alumni and friends for the Sidney Sussex Annual Fund, which raised £265,000 in the last financial year (ending 30 June 2010). The importance of alumni support cannot be overestimated, as it provides vital funds for projects of immediate need at Sidney.

If you would like to support Sidney through the Annual Fund or for further information please contact the Development Director, Bill Abraham (bill.abraham@sid.cam.ac.uk).

14 pheon n spring/summer 2011 n alumni event reports

To coincide with the 400th anniversary of the election of one of Sidney’s greatest Masters, the scientifically minded Samuel Ward, the Sidney Sussex Society held its Christmas Reception at the Royal Society with over 100 alumni and guests attending. Sidney has an exceptionally strong scientific tradition with over 50 Fellows of the Royal Society and five Nobel Prize winners linked with the College. Richard Humphreys (English, 1972) gave an historical overview of these links, including 18th-century figures such as the botanist Thomas Martyn and the astronomer Samuel Vince. Professor Lindsay Greer spoke on the central role of Sidney’s pioneering Victorian laboratory in the development of Physics and Metallurgy at Cambridge, and Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir John Walker gave a truly fascinating insight into the work his team is carrying out today at the Mitochondrial Biology Unit in the treatment of diseases associated with ageing.

The Choir of Sidney Sussex College celebrated Evensong in the Quire at Westminster Abbey in April. After the service Sidney alumni and guests processed to the tomb of the College’s foundress, Lady Frances Sidney, where the Choir sang the College Grace. This was followed by dinner in London organised by the Sidney Sussex Society.

Alumni Event Reports

For the first time, in September, the College held a ‘decade reunion’ lunch – for matriculands of 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960 and all earlier years. Drinks were held in Cloister Court followed by lunch in Hall. Partners and their guests were invited and over 100 attended on a beautiful September day.

the Sidney alumni reunion for matriculands of 1956–60 was also held in September. Starting with afternoon tea in the William Mong Hall before dinner in Hall, 100 guests were treated to speeches from the Master and a response from The Right Hon. Lord David Owen who spoke fondly of his time at Sidney. On the Sunday morning, there was a Chapel service followed by breakfast in Hall where they were joined by some of the other Sidney alumni who had been attending the University’s alumni weekend.

In October, over 40 alumni and guests attended the thornely Society Annual Dinner.

The seventh Annual John thornely lecture was held in March at the offices of Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP in London, with a reception following the lecture. The speaker was h. h. peter murphy, a Circuit Judge on the South Eastern Circuit and a former Principal Lecturer at the Inns of Court School of Law. He was the founding editor-in-chief of Blackstone’s Criminal Practice and is the author of Evidence Proof and Facts: A Book of Sources.

Sidney Sussex College and the Thornely Society are extremely grateful to Barlow Lyde & Gilbert for generously hosting this event.

College Alumni events:

richard humphreys at the royal Society in december

the Choir at Westminster Abbey

Sidney Sussex Society london Christmas reception

Sussex Society Spring event

Sidney Club of Geneva – Annual Reportthe Club held its annual dinner and talk at the hotel du lac, Coppet in June. guests included the master of Sidney, professor Andrew Wallace-hadrill and his wife, Jo, and professor and mrs giorgio margaritondo of the école polytechnique fédérale de lausanne (epfl). in September members of the Sidney Club of geneva and their guests visited the herculaneum and pompeii archaeological sites. the club’s fifth annual Christmas dinner was held at the buffet de la gare, Céligny. dr Ajit bhalla (1997)email: abhalla33@hotmail.com

15forthcoming alumni events n spring/summer 2011 n pheon

Forthcoming Alumni Events

8 may ■ 1596 foundation: lunch at penshurst place, Kent

14 may ■ mA graduation Ceremony and reunion dinner Pre-dinner drinks will be hosted by the Master, Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, in the Audit Room followed by a formal dinner in Hall. The cost will be £40.95 per head.

For information about the MA Graduation Ceremony please contact Suzannah Horner on +44 (0)1223 338810 or slh48@sid.cam.ac.uk.

18 June 2011 ■ the Sidney Club of geneva Annual dinner Sidney alumnus, Hunter Nottage (Law, 1999) who is a Member of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law in Geneva, will speak on the Centre’s role in advising the developing countries on trade negotiations.

Please contact Dr Ajit Bhalla. Email: abhalla33@hotmail.com

21 June ■ the bA graduands’ garden party will be hosted by the Sidney Sussex Society from 6.30 pm in Cloister Court. The garden party is an opportunity to introduce the Graduands to the Society and involve them in alumni activities after they have left College.

Sunday 4 September ■ decade reunion lunchThe Master and Fellows warmly invite you to return to College for lunch with alumni who matriculated in 2001, 1991, 1981, 1971, 1961 (and all earlier years). The event will start with drinks with the Master at 12.00 noon, followed by lunch in Hall.

Saturday 24 September ■ Sidney reunion for matriculands of 1980, 1981 and 1982.

This event coincides with the University of Cambridge Alumni Weekend, 23–25 September.

15 october ■ Sidney Sussex Society visit to duxford War museum Details to be confirmed.

Saturday 25 June ■ Sidney reunion for matriculands of 1989, 1990 and 1991. Invitation packs with full details will be sent out approximately 10 weeks before the event.

Saturday 25 June ■ Sidney Arts festivalThe 2nd Sidney Arts Festival will showcase the finest music, drama, comedy and art the College and University have to offer. It is intended that the Arts Festival should become a biennial event. The first festival was held in 2009 and celebrated the 800th anniversary of the University and Professor Dame Sandra Dawson’s mastership.

Contact Henry Scarlett, Festival Director (hcs45@cam.ac.uk)

27–28 August 2011A trip to the Grand St-Bernard region with its many tourist attractions such as a hospice for the legendary St Bernard dogs and the Bourg St Pierre.

Please contact Dr Ajit Bhalla. Email: abhalla33@hotmail.com

for all events please contact Wendy hedley on +44 (0)1223 338881 or email wah21@sid.cam.ac.uk

Sidney Sussex: A historyRichard Humphreys

Best known as Oliver Cromwell’s alma mater, Sidney has also produced fervent royalists, heretics, bishops, murderers, poets, Nobel Prize winners, code-breakers, great escapers, politicians, spies, nightclimbers, sportsmen, novelists, pop stars and eminent academics in every discipline.

Sumptuously illustrated, Sidney Sussex: A History centres on both the people and the place, comprehensively describing the College and the personalities who have passed through it in a lively and informative text.

£45.00 plus postage400 pages, full colourisbn-10: 095635940xisbn-13: 978-0956359407

Available fromDevelopment and Membership OfficeSidney Sussex CollegeCambridge cb2 3huTelephone: +44 (0)1223 338881Email: alumni@sid.cam.ac.ukwww.sid.cam.ac.uk

Could Sidney SuSSex be the perfeCt plaCe for

your next event?For more details:

+44 (0)1223 339703conference@sid.cam.ac.uk

www.sid.cam.ac.uk/conf

We are able to host a variety of events in the beautiful function rooms and grounds of Sidney Sussex College. From small meetings to large conferences for 100 we have a room to suit.

Sidney Sussex is proud of its award-winning catering team who are able to cater for all your needs – from private dining for 10 to weddings or banquets for 120.

The College can also accommodate groups overnight out of term time at special Alumni rates:Single Ensuite bedroom @ £57.30 Bed & BreakfastTwin Ensuite bedroom @ £64.00 Bed & BreakfastSingle Standard bedroom @ £36.50 Bed & Breakfast

home and Away: 2011 Sidney Sussex photographic CompetitionThe College has launched a photographic competition.

There are two categories, ‘Home’ and ‘Away’, and the competition is open to all staff, students, Fellows and alumni.

Entrants may submit up to two photographs in each category. ‘Home’ is intended to reflect life in Sidney; ‘Away’, the world beyond. There is no time limit on when the photographs were taken.

Prizes will be awarded for the best photograph by a student, former student (alumni), member of staff and Fellow of the College. The best photographs will feature in an exhibition to coincide with the College’s biennial Arts Festival in June.

Please send prints (7 x 5 or 10 x 8 in), together with a title and the date or year in which the photograph was taken, to Dr David Beckingham at the College. Do not send your only copies of prints in case they are lost in the post. Receipt will be acknowledged, so please include contact details. We hope to print the winning photographs in future issues of the College Annual or Pheon. Please indicate if you would not like your photographs to be used in this way. NB: closing date for entries 15 May.

For further information please contact the Fellow Communications Officer, Dr David Beckingham (djb79@cam.ac.uk).