Pembrokian 2008

7/31/2019 Pembrokian 2008

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ThePembrokian Royal Alumnus visits PembrokeAwards for Fellows and AlumniOverview of a Pembroke Year by Andrew SetonFellow’s Feature: Professor Alex Kacelnik on thetool-making crows of New Caledonia

ISSUE NO. 32, JULY 2008



Contents

News - page 4The latest news from Pembroke, including a review of the year by Andrew Seton, Strategic DevelopmentDirector

Sports News - page 10Eights Week, the Old Boys’ v Pembrokians rugby match and more

Arts at Pembroke - page 12The latest music and drama achievements within College, plus a look at published Pembrokians from the pastyear

Alumni Pro le - page 14Richard Darbourne (2000) tells us about how he and his business partner are going into schools and gettingchildren engaged with maths and classics, armed only with a props box, a couple of costume changes, and somewitty and interactive scripts

Fellow’s Feature - page 16Is it possible that certain species can fashion and use tools to achieve their aims in a way often thought peculiar

to humans? And how do you investigate that when the shy subjects of your study live in dense forest canopiesthat make it hard to observe them? Read on to nd out how Professor Alex Kacelik and his team overcame theseobstacles to come up with some fascinating conclusions - and even more questions to solve...

Events - page 18A photo gallery featuring pictures of recent Pembroke events, and some dates for your diary



A Pembroke Year by Andrew Seton, Strategic Development Director

Sel shly speaking, it’s been an extraordinary rst year for me at Pembroke. This is as easy a place as I can remember to arrive at: inclusive, supportive, welcoming and warm-hearted are some of the words which come to mind. Lessegocentrically, the College has impressed more peoplethan just me during these past 12 months. Here the mots

justes would be dynamic, diversi ed and – increasingly – distinguished (with apologies for the alliteration). Pembrokeno longer excels in just a few areas of student and academiclife: it is doing remarkably well across the board. These

pages testify to that.

Since my arrival, apart from experiencing the rich and ofteninternational encounters that are involved in doing my job,I have attended a total of ve concerts of wonderful andchallenging music performed by students, including Bach’sSt. John’s Passion; I have been bowled over by“Kiss meKate”; I have listened to two of our Fellows lecturing onground-breaking research in their different elds as part of an initiative organised by the Master for other Fellows; Ihave been mobbed by enthusiastic rugby-playing alumniseated next to me at a “young” gaudy – and watched somemore than decent rowing. As you will know from our 2006/7 Annual Report, the College continues to underpinthis growing wealth of community experience with a solid nancial performance, and real academic achievement. Thestudents seem to learn harder while several of their tutorshave won awards from the University for their teachingas well as public accolades for their books. Our Master,

News

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Giles Henderson, a keyanimator of so much of thisdiversity, has brought further distinction upon the Collegein his capacity as Chairmanof Oxford University’sConference of Colleges. Andthat’s not all. Not wishingto blow my own trumpetas Development Director,let me blow yours: you, thealumni of Pembroke, havehelped annual giving to take off this year. You havegiven over £310,000 for our Annual Fund this year, a bigleap forward from last year’s total of £260,000. This isalso due in no small part to the dedication of our studenttelethon volunteers.

It has all helped to make the past year a year of new,and justi ed, ambition. That ambition is re ected in our

plan to construct a large new complex of buildings ina location which would have been unimaginable a fewyears ago: just next door. You can read more about thisin the pages which follow, but this is a project that willseriously transform the life of the dynamic Pembrokecommunity and provide the facilities so richly deserved

by an institution that has so long endured the physicalconstraints of its main site.

Thank you, Pembroke, for such a welcome, and for providing such a positive story for your StrategicDevelopment Director to take with him on his travels.

Andrew Seton - photo byCate Field



A Fourth Quad for PembrokeCollege plans new building project in the city centre

We are extremely excited to be able to announce thenews that Pembroke has chosen a rm of architects todesign our fourth quad. Berman Guedes Stretton (BGS)are an established rm of architects based in Oxford andLondon, and have extensiveexperience of working withOxford Colleges to create

modern yet sympatheticdesigns. The illustrationson this page are taken fromtheir initial competition-winning-design

Following a detailedfeasibility study undertakenthree years ago, the Collegeis now in the remarkable

position, unique amongstOxford colleges, of being

able to build new facilitiesimmediately adjacent tothe main site in the heartof the city - in contrast toother colleges who facethe choice of converting

pre-existing buildings to a new purpose, or having toretreat to the outskirts of the city to build.

In June we exchanged contracts on the acquisition of landadjacent to Campion Hall in Brewer Street and the car

park site in Littlegate Street.Arrangements are subject tothe College gaining planning permission for these sites,and for the adjoining properties in Brewer Street which arealready owned by the College, but our plans for the newdevelopment include the provision of 90 new bedrooms,

plus 12 bedrooms in a renovated Bannister Building, aswell as the creation of a multipurpose auditorium and newmeeting rooms. Subject to permission we hope to integratethe new complex with the existing site by joining themwith a bridge across Brewer Street.

With these new buildings we aim to provide accommodationfor three years for undergraduates and two years for graduates, meaning that we will no longer lag behind other Colleges in our ability to house our students during their time here. The new auditorium will be a wonderful asset to

the active music and dramascene within the College, aswell as providing a forum for lectures and large meetings- an advantage not onlyin the College’s academiclife, but also in our effortsto further build our incomefrom conference bookings.We are currently in a periodof consultation with our architect and professionalteams, with all Collegestakeholders being asked

to contribute their ideasand needs into the design

process. Once this detailedwork has produced a schemeapproved by GoverningBody for submission for

planning approval later this year, we will be in a position toshare more precise details. The project is being led by our Bursar, John Church, whose time has been made availablefor this by the appointment of our new Home Bursar DarenBowyer. He is supported by a full team of professional

advisors.Of course this project will require a major fundraisingcampaign, and you will be sure to hear more about it in thecoming months.

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News

An overview of the chapel and new quads - drawing by permissionof BGS

A side view of the chapel and new quads, including the auditorium and linking bridge - drawing by permission of BGS



News

Pembroke WelcomesRoyal AlumnusThe Master and Fellows were delighted to welcome HisMajesty King Abdullah II of Jordan to Pembroke on 4thJune 2008. King Abdullah, an alumnus of the College,was visiting Oxford to receive an Honorary Degreeof the Doctor of Civil Law from the Chancellor of theUniversity. During this ceremony in the SheldonianTheatre the King made a speech which emphasised hisdesire for peace and stability in the Middle East region,and called on all those present, as well as the UK morewidely, to show their support for this pursuit. (A fulltranscript of His Majesty’s speech is available on theCollege’s website.)

A subsequent ceremony in the Master’s Lodgings atPembroke marked the appointment of the King to anHonorary Fellowship of the College. This momentousoccasion was then celebrated with a reception in theChapel Quad at which the King was introduced to invitedguests.

More photos of the day can be seen on the Pembrokealumni website www.pembrokecollege.org (please noteyou will need to log in to view them. If you have not yetsigned up for the site and would like assistance, pleaseemail the Development Of ce on [email protected]).

Teaching Awards for FellowsCongratulations to Pembroke’s two Governing BodyMaths Tutors, who this year both won University Teaching

Awards. Dr. Anne Henke re-designed the

rst-year linear algebra course, while Dr. Raphael Hauser has spent severalyears developing seven new courses for undergraduate andgraduate students at the University Computing Laboratory.Both awards are based on criteria which include very

positive feedback about course materials from students.

Prestigious Award for Fellow in English

Congratulations to Dr HelenSmall, Fellow in English atPembroke, who has beenawarded the 2008 TrumanCapote Award for LiteraryCriticism for her book TheLong Life.

The $30,000 award(around £15,000) is the

largest annual cash prizefor literary criticism in the

English language, and will be formally presented to Dr Small in September at a ceremony at the University of Iowa. The Truman Capote Award was launched in 1994during a breakfast at Tiffany’s in New York City, on the40th anniversary of the publication of Capote’s novellaBreakfast at Tiffany’s. It was created to re ect Capote’sconcern for the health of literary criticism in the Englishlanguage. The award rewards and encourages excellencein the eld.

The Long Life was selected for the Capote Award by aninternational panel of prominent critics and writers; itexamines old age in literature and moral philosophy, fromthe writings of Plato to recent philosophical works, andfrom Shakespeare’s King Lear through to Dickens andmodern day authors such as Philip Roth and J M Coetzee.

Dr Small is also the author of Love’s Madness: Medicine,the Novel, and Female Insanity, 1800-1865, and theeditor or co-editor of books including Literature, Science,Psychoanalysis, 1830-1970, Essays in Honour of Gillian

Beer, Public Intellectual, and editions of works by Dickens,Menie Muriel Dowie and George Eliot.

King Abdullah signs the Honorary Fellows’ Register - photo by Rob Judges

Dr Helen Small



Technos Prizegiving

This year’s Technos Prize has been awarded to SarahBrierley (2005, PPE). The prize is awarded annually, inrecognition of the College’s relationship with TechnosCollege in Japan, to a nal year student with highacademic achievement and a special commitment tothe cause of international understanding. Sarah wasnominated by her tutors, and the Master praised her outstanding contribution to Pembroke in both academicand non-academic elds. Dr Graham Simpson, Principalof Oxford English Centre and alumnus of Pembroke,attended as the representative of the Tanaka family(who direct the work of Technos) and presented Sarahwith her prize.

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College Benefactor

HonouredDr Stanley Ho, who last year made a generous donationto Pembroke to endow a Fellowship in Chinese Studies,was admitted to the University’s Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors in September. The Master and Mrs Hendersonhosted a lunch in the Lodgings for Dr Ho and his gueststo celebrate his appointment as a Foundation Fellow of Pembroke, and his admission to the Court. Membershipof the Court is a distinction bestowed on those who havemade outstandingly generous donations to the University

and its Colleges. Dr Ho was admitted to the Court by theChancellor in a ceremony in Convocation Hall, duringwhich the Pembroke choir performed - it was a real honour for the choir to be asked to be part of the occasion andlistening to them was a pleasure for all who attended.This was followed by the annual black tie dinner for theCourt (one of the most prestigious events in the Universitycalendar) which was hosted by Pembroke and attended

by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and other signi cant benefactors to the University and its Colleges.

Access Initiatives atPembroke

Pembroke College was the venue for an entertaining andsuccessful residential event in April for Year 10 studentsfrom state schools throughout the South East, held togive them a taste of university life. The teenagers’ staygot off to a dramatic start when a body was discoveredin Chapel Quad. The young sleuths were challenged tosolve the crime with the help of clues discovered on atour of Oxford, and academic sessions in Chemistry,Physiology and Languages. The ‘suspects’ were sixshady characters including the Master, his daughter andthe JCR President (played by a troupe of comedy actors).Organiser Sinead Gallagher, Access Co-ordinator atOxford University and former Pembroke student, said:‘Hopefully “Murder in the Cloisters” has helped thestudents to learn about what going to University means:study your sources carefully, learn to gather facts andquestion them, and draw your conclusion based on rmevidence.’

News

Study of Fascist ItalyWins Book Prize

Dr Guido Bonsaver has been awardedthe 2008 American Association for Italian Studies Book Prize for his book

Censorship and Literature in FascistItaly. Dr Bonsaver’s research centres on20th century Italian culture, particularlythe relationship between politicalhistory and narrative (both literatureand cinema).

Dr Stanley Ho celebrates his admission to the CCB at Pembroke with Dr Hilde De Weerdt, Fellow in Chinese

(3rd right) and the Hendersons - photo by Cate Field

Sarah Brierley and Graham Simpson - photo by Cate Field

Dr Guido Bonsaver



NewsSuccess in AnnualFund TelethonIn March Pembroke successfully completed its rstAnnual Fund Telethon, and we are pleased to announcethat it proved to be a great success. Our twelve enthusiasticstudent callers threw themselves into the challenge, and

produced wonderful results. They enjoyed the chanceto swap stories of Pembroke with alumni from acrossthe generations, and many promising career contactswere made. In addition, 45% of those alumni contactedagreed to donate to the Annual Fund – with the students

between them raising a total of £189,000. Thanks to thegenerosity of those who offered matching funding oncertain days of the campaign, the grand total was muchnearer to £245,000. This is an amazing achievement, andwill make a real difference to the lives of current andfuture Pembroke students.

We’d like to thank everyone who contributed to theAnnual Fund as part of this campaign, and of course allthe students who worked so hard for the telethon. Everygift is greatly appreciated, and helps us continue our efforts to support and build on Pembroke’s strengths and

successes.

“Oscar for Teachers”Goes to Alumnus

Congratulations to Nick Wergan (2003) who, just threeyears after taking his PGCE at Pembroke, has won a prestigious award for his teaching. The Training andDevelopment Agency for Schools Award for New Teacher of the Year (one of a set of awards known as the “Oscars for

Famous Face in the Quad

Pembroke students Ben Lundin and Jack Miller weresomewhat surprised to be stopped on Brasenose Lanethis Trinity Term by an American tourist and his wifeenquiring about Ben’s UNC t-shirt – when they looked up,the couple proved to be none other than recent Democratic

presidential hopeful Senator John Edwards and his wife.Seizing the moment with alacrity, Ben spent the next

three hours guiding the pair around Oxford – including,of course, a thorough tour of Pembroke, where the Senator was particularly interested to see an old photo of hiscolleague, Senator Lugar, in the Bannister Gallery, alongwith the Roger Bannister memorabilia.

Teachers”) was presented to him by Ed Balls, Secretaryof State for Children, Schools and Families. Nick worked in the City for fteen years before deciding to

become a teacher, and the skills he brought with him – as

well as his vibrant and personal teaching style – meanthe was rapidly promoted to subject leader for Englishafter only two years in the profession, and one of hisown pupils nominated him for the award he receivedthis month. “Mr Wergan is God,” declared one pupil tothe Guardian, whilst another contributed: “A guy in our class used to say, ‘I’ve always hated English, but there’sno one I’d rather hate it with than Mr Wergan.’ Thatsums it up really.”

Our telethon team - photo by Cate Field

Ed Balls and Nick Wergen - photo courtesy of Nick Wergan

Senator Edwards with Pembroke students - photo courtesy of Ben Lundin



Long-Service AwardsIn May the College recognized

the dedicated service of four of its staff. It has been almostimpossible to be a studentat Pembroke during the past10 years and not know LenWeekes, so those alumni whoremember him fondly will be

pleased to hear that he has beenrecognised for his years runningthe student bar. Gifts were also

presented by the Master to

Fassil Tsegaye (Hall staff - 10years), Joan Dolton (Accounts- 15 years) and Christine Buller (Scout - 25 years).

News

College wins Award for Restoration Work In October 2007, Pembroke was awarded an

environmental award from the Oxford PreservationTrust for the restoration of Pembroke Street. A rolling programme of renovation over the last few years hasresulted in the restoration of seven houses on the street.A historically sensitive approach was taken to both theinternal and external works undertaken, preservingand restoring lost and damaged features such as wood-

panelling and a Jacobean staircase, and converting the buildings into teaching rooms and en-suite studentaccommodation. The improvement to the street scenehas been dramatic and drew favourable comment fromvarious quarters including the Local Authority.

The Oxford Preservation Trust is an organisation whichencourages civic improvements of this type and offersawards for schemes which make a signi cant contributionto the public realm, and its members nominated thework in Pembroke Street for an Award. A ceremony washeld near the College on 2nd October and the project’sarchitect was happy to receive the Award on the College’s

behalf.

The Trust said: “this complex and extensive pieceof conservation work, including lime rendering,reinstatement of windows, and stonework repairs, hasmuch improved the feel of the area.”

New Women’s FirstEight Named for

AlumnaOn the nal day of Eights Week 2008 we christenedthe new Pembroke women’s First Eight. The boat wasnamed after Melanie Heath, an alumna of Pembrokefrom 1990 who sadly died at a young age in 2005.Melanie’s family and some of her friends from her Pembroke days joined the Master and both the rstEight crews at the ceremony, and Melanie’s father Colin did the honours in christening the boat. We wish

the new boat - and all the Pembroke crews! - the best of luck in their future outings. A report on Eights Week,and all the PCBC news can be found in the Sporting

News section.

Pembrokians Row for

CharityA group of current and former Pembrokians rowed toLondon at the end of Trinity to raise money for theBoat Club and the Oxford Adaptive Rowing Club. Theteam completed the 110 miles in a two day marathonand successfully raised £1200. Boat Club Vice CaptainPaul Hinds said, “This is a fun way to raise money for the club as well as putting something back into thecommunity which we are all part of.” The OxfordAdaptive Rowing Club, which is hoping to become a

UK centre of excellence, helps people with physicaland mental disabilities to participate and compete inadaptive rowing.

Christine and Len - photoby Jo Bowley

The Melanie Heath - photo by Cate Field



Sports News

Summer Eights and PCBC News by Jonathan Ross, Boat Club President

After an extremelysuccessful Torpidswith three sets of

blades, Pembrokewere lookingto continue thissuccess intoEights. Training

started early and inearnest, whether it was M1 back in the gym on the Mondayafter Torpids, W1 going on a training camp before the start of term, or M3 taking advantage of some glorious April weather to

put in some miles in Abingdon.

Early results indicated that the training was paying off. AtWallingford Regatta M1 was the dominant Oxbridge collegeand took the scalps of University of London, SouthamptonUniversity and Molesey’s Sporting Giants in the process. W1were similarly dominant, challenging an OUWBC DevelopmentSquad and thrashing Exeter College. Meanwhile M3 travelledto Bedford Regatta and held Oriel M1 to a length and a half,and then just a week before the start of Eights M1 bumpedRadley College’s 1st VIII during a training piece; con dencewithin the club was high as 5th week started. Unfortunately thiscon dence was shattered by boat malfunctions and the sheer

size of other crews. With the club’s extremely high placing, it became a victim of its own success. Wednesday saw frustrationreign supreme - be it M3 rowing over with overlap on St. Anne’sII, W2 nding that the rst boats around them contained highlyexperienced OUWBC members, or M1 having their headship

dreams shattered under Donnington Bridge as the rudder broke and the crew had no choice but to stop rowing.Therest of the week continued in a similar vein but there werehighlights that show that the club is still producing somehigh quality crews. M3 produced an extremely gutsy rowon the Thursday to hold off an extremely talented WolfsonM2 crew, setting themselves up on the Friday to bumpMagdalen M3 and retake the 3rd VIII headship. M4 rodetheir luck with klaxons and technical row overs and thenmanaged to secure a bump on Saturday. They remain thehighest 4th boat on the river.

Despite the fall down the bumps charts the mood at PCBCremains buoyant with all involved looking forward to nextyear. With a huge number of returning personnel and theelection of a new committee with some great plans theclub is looking to train hard over the summer and start the2008/9 season by sending three crews (M1, M2 and W1)to Fairbairns and show that Pembroke will be the collegeto beat.

Success on the Race Track Dick Williamson (1952)has generously chosen toallow the College to bene tfrom the successes of hisracehorse, Double Header,who ran a great race to besecond at Taunton in April atodds of 10 - 1. He followedthis with a second place at

Bangor on Dee. We are verygrateful to Mr Williamson for generously allowing the College’s Annual Fund to bene tfrom these achievements, and look forward to hearing howDouble Header continues to get on.

Women’s 3rd VIII - photo by Jo Bowley

photo by Jo Bowley

Double header in the lead - photo by Alan Wright



Old Pembrokians vPembroke RUFC

by Alex Formstone of the Old Pembrokians

When in early 2007 the annual Pembroke College vs. OldPembrokians rugby xture for the White Horse BreweryCup was arranged for October 20th 2007, World Cup Final

day, those on the organising committee expected BrianAshton’s men to have long returned home. However,England’s unlikely success in France was to have adetrimental effect on the Old Pembrokians’ numbersas many of the squad received late call ups to Paris. Astradition dictates, those OPs able to make it to Oxfordgathered in the College Bar on Friday evening to discusstactics and furiously recruit potential players. A gloriousautumn Saturday, ideal for fast owing rugby, greetedthe sides at the College Sports Grounds, where, despitemuch cajoling and in true Pembroke RFC fashion, the OPs

were only able to

eld fourteen men, including a lost and bewildered Tab. The College side requested uncontestedscrums, removing the Old Boys’ weight advantage.

The game itself proved to be the tightest yet, with theCollege side trying to exploit their man advantage outwide, whereas the OPs stuck to their strengths, using their forwards to make ground around the fringes. And it wasthis work in the tight that was to bring the OPs their rstscore of the afternoon as Pembroke rugby stalwart AlexFormstone (1999) crashed over from close range. OPs y-half Dom Hammond (2002) was unable to add theconversion. The College side battled back hard and thesides went into half-time locked at 5-5.

The College side started the second half the stronger andwere to take the lead with a simple penalty kick at goal. Indanger of being the rst OPs captain to lose the Old Boys’game, skipper Adam Hunter (2001) took it upon himself torescue the visitors’ perilous position. Receiving the ball onthe College twenty-two, Hunter showed pace, power and

poise to spin and twist his way over the line. Hammond’ssweetly struck conversion successfully dissected the

posts.

With time running out the College launched a series of attacks on the OPs’ line but the Old Boys’ defensive wallrebutted all the home side’s efforts. The College side were,however, to get within a point when, despite threateningdeep in OPs’ territory, the home side’s y-half decide toadd to his personal points tally with a well struck dropgoal. Soon after Tim Stevens (OURFC) blew the full-timewhistle meaning that the OPs had maintained their 100%winning record in the xture.As ever, many thanks to theCollege for helping with the xture, the College RugbyClub for being such excellent hosts, Tim Stevens for refereeing and Andy Wilson from the White Horse Breweryfor sponsoring the cup. The next Old Pembrokians xturehas been scheduled for 15th November 2008 to coincidewith England’s autumn international against Australia.

An Adventure SportCompany with aDifferenceRichard Fanshawe (1998) on turning his passion for sport into his profession.

Sport hasalways beenmy passion.From rowingin the ‘Headof the River’1999 Torpidcrew to skiingon the annualPembroke ski

trip, the positiveeffect of sport on

my life has always been very clear to me. On leavingPembroke I went into Investment Banking – Mergers& Acquisitions – for the best part of 3 years. Theywere the most unbearable 3 years of my life and Ithought that if that’s what City Life was all about,well you could stick it!

So I took what I’d learnt in banking and my passionfor sport, and combined it with the marketing skill

of my business partner to create Fluid Feeling Ltd. – the type of company I wish had been around whenI wanted a break from City Life.

I’ve never looked back since and have just got back from running a 3 week Snow-kite, Ski & Snowboardcourse in fabulous Norway for over 35 people. FluidFeeling offers bespoke time-out courses, career breaksand holidays; the best kite-sur ng, snow-kiting,sur ng and windsur ng instruction and coaching fromtop instructors; lessons for complete beginners andexperts alike; a choice of 18 destinations worldwide -Brazil, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Spain, Egypt,

Norway and more; and employment potential aroundthe world through our partner network. Optional add-ons include professional instructor quali cations,language courses (Spanish or Portuguese); volunteer teaching work; and career and life coaching servicesfrom one of the UK’s top Coaches – because thereare more jobs out there than Banking, Consultancy,Accounting and Law!

For anyone interested in any of the above services,I am happy to offer a discount to all Pembrokians.For more information visit www. uidfeeling.com, or contact me on rich@ uidfeeling.com / +44 (0) 207193 4258

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A Fluid Feeling training course - photo

courtesy of Richard Fanshawe



Arts at Pembroke

Pembroke Music andDrama

by Olivia Patton, JCR Music and Drama rep

Music and Drama hasgone from strength to

strength in Pembrokethis year. With the JCR role of Music and Dramarep being lled for the rst time by two people,there has been more scopeto develop the alreadyvery promising talent in

college.

The year began with the Chapel Choir tour to Tallinn duringlate September, where the choir sang at a number of churches

throughout the city under the direction of the Senior OrganScholar, Laurence Lyndon-Jones. The choir returned toOxford early to sing at the prestigious Chancellor’s Court inConvocation House at the Bodleian Library. It was the rsttime that a non-choral foundation college had been asked to

perform at the event and was a great honour for Pembroke.

On the dramatic side, the year began with a brilliant DramaCuppers entry as fresher Roland Singer-Kingsmith took on thechallenge of Pinter’s The Hothouse. The Pembroke panto wasalso, as ever, a great success, as a troop of Pembroke players

performed a slightly alternative, and very topical, adaptation

of A Christmas Carol directed by 2nd year Chloe Reid.Michaelmas also saw the fantastic performance of Langlais’Messe Sollenelle by the Pembroke Chamber Singers in 7thweek. A new non-auditioning choir was launched by the twoMusic and Drama reps, conducted by Olivia Patton, providing

an informal setting in which singers of all abilities could take part. This culminated in their performance at the ChristmasConcert at the GAB. The concert also saw the rst performanceof the newly formed Pembroke Chamber Players, conducted

by Joe Bolger.

Hilary term saw the fantastic performance of Bach’s St JohnPassion in the chapel, conducted by Music Society PresidentJoe Bolger. The performance included soloists from Pembrokeas well as the Pembroke Chamber Singers and Pembroke

Chamber Players.Arts Week provided the main opportunity for Pembrokiansto show off their dramatic side with two very successful

performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by 2ndyear Chris Thursten, which took place in a marquee on the quadat dusk. Following the new tradition of Pembroke musicals, thePCMS Productions’ rendition of Cole Porter’s masterpiece KissMe, Kate ended the week on a high as the hall was transformedinto a theatre. The production boasted an enormous number of Pembrokians, including the fully Pembroke productionteam. Two of the leads were taken by Pembrokians as well as

half the chorus and the majority of the orchestra, con rmingthat it was truly aPembroke musicaland showcasing theexceptional musicaland dramatic talent atPembroke.

The master’s recitalsended the year on ahigh with a recordnumber of attendeesand performers at the nal recital in 6th week,organised by Tania Beard. These provide an informal settingfor people to perform in the Master’s Lodgings accompanied

by wine and nibbles.

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The choir at CCB

All photos on this page courtesy of the JCR

Kiss Me Kate in Hall



Literary Pembroke Pembrokians to look out for in your local book shop...

The Aviary Gate - KatieHickman

Elizabeth Stavely sits in the Bodleian libraryholding the clue to a story that has been untold

for four hundred years… In Constantinoplein 1599 merchants from all over Europe arevying with each other to gain trading rights inthe Ottoman empire. Paul Pindar, a wealthymerchant, has been entrusted with the mission to deliver an

extraordinary musical clock to the Sultan, but he struggles to hide a private grief: the woman he

loved is lost to him, drowned in a shipwreck. But now there are rumours of a new young slave with golden hair, sighted behind the gates of the Sultan’sharem. Could this be his Celia? The Aviary Gateis a tale of ancient alliances and intrigues, of

forbidden love and dangerous secrets.

Katie’s previous works include the travel books “Dreams of the Peaceful Dragon” (an account of a journey on horseback across the forbidden Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan) and“Travels with a Circus” (an account of a year spent living andworking with a Mexican circus). Her previous novel, “TheQuetzl Summer”, a story of love and death in the Andes, wasshortlisted for the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year award when it came out in 1992. She is probably

best known, however, for her history writing. “Daughters of Britannia: the Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives” (1999)reached number two in the Sunday Times Bestseller lists, and

“Courtesans” (2003), an account of the lives of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuryBritish courtesans, was also a bestseller. Katie’s

passions for travel, history and ction writingcome together in this thoroughly entertainingnovel, which Joanna Harris hailed as “hugelyenjoyable… multi-layered, vividly depicted… lled with the colours, sights and scents of Constantinople in the 16th century. This story is...fast moving, complex and deeply satisfying.”

Cover image and author photo courtesy of Bloomsbury

Also Published...When Innocence Was Bliss - MichaelGodley

A note from the author : Our dates at Oxfordwere 1946 to 1949; it was immediately after the war and we all felt that we had beengiven a wonderful present and couldn’twait to unwrap it. My wife Heather beganthis book when she was was 77, and whenshe became ill she asked me to nish it. It

was a perfect comfort to my grief when she died; just likefalling in love all over again. But there is absolutely nothing

sad about this story; it is full of fun. It is a slice of socialhistory with some people mixed up in it that you mightremember. It is a simple world compared with today; the

problems were different, but easier to solve. I don’t supposethe book is likely to appear on a P.P.E. or History readinglist, but you may nd it illuminating, nevertheless.

Derivative Actions And CorporateGovernance - Arad ReisbergArad Reisberg provides a detailed andtheoretical explanation of the law governing

derivative actions. The book gives practicalguidance on solving current problems inmany jurisdictions based on case law, and onsubstantive legal, economic and comparativeresearch.

Oxford Encyclopedia of MaritimeHistory - ed. John Hattendorf This guide to maritime history coversthe entire history of seafaring, fromancient Egyptian shipbuilders to thenuclear submarines of today. Placingmaritime affairs in their larger historicalcontext, the encyclopedia showshow seafaring has both re ected and

in uenced the major economic, cultural, military and politicaldevelopments in world history. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History was chosen as the 2008 Dartmouth Medalrecipient:the medal is given for creating current referenceworks of outstanding quality and signi cance.

Our OxfordIn 2006 Capture the Oxford Moment, a student organizationlargely made up of Pembroke students, produced “Our Oxford” - a photographic book of real student life - to raisefunds for ve Oxford-based charities. The book was featuredat the Sunday Times Oxford Literary festival and the Radcliffe

photographic exhibition, all of which has enabled them toraise over £3,000 for the charities. The students would liketo thank all the staff at Pembroke who supported the project,especially the porters for their constant interest and much

needed help with storage. Copies are still available throughwww.oxfordmoment.com or Blackwells bookshopCover images courtesy of OUP and Bookguild



Living Learning - RichardDarbourne (2000)

‘I’m sorry Mrs Handlebury we don’t sell round pies…our

pies are squared!”

In 2006, Pembrokian Richard Darbourne (2000), resignedfrom a lucrative management trainee contract with the Asianconglomerate John Swire and Sons to realise an ambition.After three years with the company he returned to the UK,not to take up a position with another rm for more money,

but to set up a theatre company with a strong emphasis oneducation. “I’d realised that it mattered to me more than Iexpected to do something I was passionate about”, he says.“I loved my time in Asia and felt very fortunate to have had

the experience but felt I had to do this for my own good.I’d always been involved in theatre from an early age, andwas reluctant to turn a hobby into a career, but thought I’dregret not nding out if I could or not”.

And so began Temple Theatre (a theatre group thatdevises generous and playful theatre and recent winner of the Audience Prize for Best Production at Berlin’s1000 Festival) and Living Learning, a theatre educationcompany. Both companies he runs with business partner Paul O’Mahony who was at Univ. at the same time. The pair met whilst performing ‘Medea’ in the original Greek at theOxford Playhouse in 2002. Even then there was the desireto create work and write together, hence the name ‘TempleTheatre’, named after the Temple Bar in Cowley whereearly plans were laid out. However, upon graduating with

a degree in theology in 2003 Richard headed for corporateemployment whilst Paul joined the RSC. Three years of

business training meant Richard had a bit of experienceand a bit of courage to set up on his own. Coupled withPaul’s contacts amassed in the theatre world, this meant thetwo were well placed to get going upon Richard’s returnin 2006.

The young company felt it essential to build a strongeducation program to support their theatrical work.“Staging professional theatre at any level takes a greatdeal of time and money and is often unpaid. The cost of a modest London fringe production is north of £15,000and most struggle to break even. I began teaching expelledchildren from dif cult backgrounds in Deptford to supportmyself and found that a lot of ideas were easier to put acrossusing humour and drama. This led to writing some comedysketches based around school subjects, in particular mathsand classics. Theatre education in school often targets

English and Shakespeare and there’s much competition -yet every student has to study maths but it’s often con nedto its classroom dimensions, and we set about to changethat”.

This happened in the form of ‘Love is in the Air’ a comedycombining maths with drama. The story follows twokebab shop owners, Peter Aggoras and Archi Mendes, thereincarnated descendents of Pythagoras and Archimedes.Peter tries to tell Archi there is a maths genius hiding in

each of us but Archi fails to listen as he is preoccupiedtrying to win the heart of his true love, Carmela, from localthug Tommy Hardknocks. The two actors play a dozencharacters from the pommophobic, cantankerous old ladyMrs. Handlebury (the reincarnation of Sir Isaac Newton)

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Alumni Pro le

photo courtesy of Richard Darbourne



to bookies’ favourite Sammy, who has always got a top tip.The play is interactive and can only reach its conclusionthrough students helping the characters solve mathematicaltasks.

The second project was to help promote the study of Classicsin state schools. The company developed workshops aimedat different age groups. ‘Telling Tall Stories’ complementsthe Key Stage 2 study of an ancient civilisation and isaimed at Years 3-5. Many schools choose Ancient Greeceor Rome as a topic to study and the workshop brings itto life. Two Athenian brothers, Pericles and Euripides take

pupils on a guided tour of Ancient Athens or Rome. Pupilswork with the actors to visit and recreate Ancient sitesand create characters to retell the story of Theseus and theMinotaur.‘Athene Nike’ or ‘Victory to Athens’ works as ahistory/drama workshop for years 7-10 introducing themto the Ancient history of Greece including the Battles of Marathon and Themopylae.

Initially the problem was getting word around aboutthemselves. With theatre education companies widelydiffering in quality, schools were often sceptical about new

products. “Schools receive lots of yers for different playsall the time and so word of mouth was vital. We launched inlate 2006 and offered ‘pilot’ workshops to different London

boroughs. At each one we tried to get as much exposureas possible and ask everyone who saw them to spread theword at Head of Maths meetings and the like.” What wasso heartening was the consistency of feedback and retentionof schools visited in 2007. Many schools booked for morethan one workshop the following year - “which is the bestevaluation we could hope for.” Word started to spread asschools used the workshops as end-of-year events, as partof ‘maths weeks’ around the country, as an introduction toa topic or as part of Gifted and Talented initiatives. The

two brought two more actors on board and performed over 70 workshops in 2007 and are on course to move past 100in 2008. “In Jaunary we started to perform nationwide andhave travelled to Stoke, Cheltenham, Norfolk and will bevisiting Darlington, Halifax and Leeds later in the year”.

Delivering the project to schools that struggle to affordit is a concern for the company. “We want to make theworkshops available to all and are continually seekingfunding to subsidise workshops at state schools and schoolsin deprived areas, particularly with primary schools. TheOxford University Classics Outreach program and TheClasical Association generously support the company butit is not enough as demand grows. Ideally we need better government support and support from LEAs in getting theworkshops into as many schools as possible. It’s a greatand proven way of learning and stimulating pupils of allabilities and we are always interested in parties able to helpmake our business bigger”.

Recently the company have made plans to expand bycreating a Living French and Living Biology series. It ishoped that schools could invest in a larger Living Learning

program. There is an increasing demand for new mediaoptions in schools and they feel Living Learning can work to develop new media opportunities whilst maintaining theelement of live performance.

So on re ection does Richard have any regrets for embarkingon such a journey? “It’s certainly less well paid and thetheatre industry is a notoriously unstable environment. Yet

being able to see an immediate appraisal of one’s work onthe face of discerning teenagers is very rewarding. And

being self employed is so varied and challenging that I feelreally alive. It’s no dress rehearsal, after all, is it!”

Anyone who works for a company with a Corporate SocialResponsibility program or anyone in a position to supportLiving Learning is encouraged to visit the website www.living-learning.org or e-mail [email protected] for more information.

Living Learning in action (photo courtesy of Richard Darbourne)

Love is in the Air (photo courtesy of Richard Darbourne)



Artisans by Nature - byProfessor Alex Kacelnik The tool-making crows of New Caledonia

Imagine this scene: ‘E’ asks ‘A’ to taste an apple, but the juiciest one is on a high branch. ‘A’ looks at it with longing,and after some painful deliberation takes a crooked stick from the garden’s oor, uses it to attract the branch, andgets hold of the tasty apple. Many would think that thisshort story encapsulates what is special about humans. Notthe longing for juicy apples, of course, as all other animalspecies like that kind of fruit, nor the fact that one individualwas seduced by another (this is the essence of the evolutionof communication, and even owers and bees do it), but theuse of an object (a tool) to achieve one’s goals.

Be this a screwdriver, a pianoforte, or a computer, we fullydepend on tools, to the extent that it is virtually unthinkablefor us to do without intermediate objects, even if we imaginehaving to fend for ourselves in a desert island.

The question of interest to a biologist is, then, ‘if tools areso good, why do so few species use them?’ And I say few

because we know that some animals do. The list of toolusers grows roughly in proportion with research effort: themore scientists look for it, the more examples they nd. Weknow now that all great apes, several New World monkeys,elephants, dolphins, and - depending on your de nition of tool - even ants and spiders sometimes use one object toexert action on other. But however long the list gets, it iscertain that the list of those who do not is overwhelminglylonger. While some capuchin monkeys use an anvil andhammer to crack open nuts, or dig the soil for roots with

a suitably shaped stone, members of other monkey speciesthat are closer to humans from a genetic and evolutionary

point of view, and are just as keen on nuts or roots as thecapuchins, never make use of any object to get them.

It would be tempting to argue that only very intelligentcreatures can use tools, but this would beg the questionof why, if intelligence is such a good thing, it is so rare(remember I am talking about non-humans…). Even if tooluse were exclusive to intelligent species, one could arguethat perhaps it is the use of tools that drove the evolutionof intelligence, rather than the other way round. And tomake the problem more dif cult yet, what is so terriblyhard about picking up a crooked stick to reach for a fruit?Compare this to the social skills the same animals showand the hypothesis is even harder to sustain. The list of questions still begging for answers is endless.

This is particularly curious in the case of birds. It would

seem much more demanding to build a beautifullycomplicated hanging nest, or to sing the 400 odd beautifulsongs a nightingale can go through in a single night than touse a stick to remove a worm from a crack, and yet virtuallyno bird would do the latter while thousands of species doany of the former. I said ‘virtually’ advisedly, because afew do, and it is my hope that they may help us unlock themysteries of tool use.

Tool using birds include vultures (they use stones to crack ostriches’ eggs), herons (they use bait to attract sh to beak range) and the small but notable woodpecker nch, natural

of the Galapagos islands, that uses twigs to extract hiddeninsects. The top prize, however, goes to the extraordinarycrows of the islands of New Caledonia, in the South Paci c.These birds are not only the top avian tool users, theycompete by rights with the great apes for the title of topnon-human tool user. They make and use a large variety of

Fellow’s Feature

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tools, including sticks of various shapes, stretches of barbedvines cut to a suitable length, exible grass stems whichthey can use to tease lizards out of crevices and at toolsmade by cutting the edge of the leaves of a palm-like tree

called Pandanus.In the laboratory, we have found the same range of exibleresourcefulness, and one famous crow, the late Betty,stunned the biological world in 2002 when she solved the

problem of reaching a basket full of food at the bottom of a vertical tube by making a hook out of a piece of gardenwire that she later used to extract the basket. From thisauspicious beginning, Betty went on to further displays of ingenuity, including performing the opposite of the former action, namely ‘unbending’ a wire to make it longer, andsqueezing the end of a bent piece of exible metal strip so

that it could pass through a small hole and help dislodgea morsel. Other individuals, while not reaching Betty’sOlympian level of performance, performed similarlystriking feats, such as combining the action of up to threetools in a sequence to reach a goal.

One of the rst questions we asked was whether the unusualabilities shown by these animals were intrinsic to the speciesor perhaps ‘just’ the result of their experience, having grownup in places where other crows were using tools and thus

being able to emulate the observed behaviour. To examinethis we raised some crow chicks in Oxford, with or without

one-to-one tutoring by their foster parents (readers of ThePembrokian know that the value of tutoring is often stated

but rarely tested!). Chicks raised without tutoring showed aspontaneousi n c l i n a t i o nto use toolsto solve

p r o b l e m s ,a trait notseen in other crow species,

but theywere poor atselecting theright tool for each job and

clumsy to use them. Tutoringtuned in their pre-programmedmotivation and skills andenhanced their performanceto achieve excellence (soundsfamiliar?).

The combination of a genetic predisposition with receptivityto learning and teaching isnot surprising: that is theway humans learn languages,learn the social norms of their

societies and, indeed, learn to useobjects as tools. So, clearly, the NewCaledonian crow is an exceptionin the animal kingdom, but a

wonderfully instructive exception. Perhaps this speciesmay help unravel the mysteries of tool use?

There is only one way to deal with these kind of biologicalquestions, and this is to study the animals in their naturalhabitat, to examine what they do, how and when they doit, what kind of social system they live in, how importantare these tools in their everyday life, and many other issuesthat laboratory work can only suggest. Thus, my colleaguesand I had to bite the bullet and face the hard prospect of spending time in the South Paci c. In a display of truespirit of sacri ce for the sake of science, we went to NewCaledonia and used all the tricks of the eld biologist tolearn more about the crows. We started by followingtagged birds as they moved in the canopy, but soon foundthe limitations of this approach: they are shy, the canopyis thick, their behaviour is modi ed by our presence andit is impossible to establish the long term visual contactnecessary to know what they do when they are undisturbed.Something new had to be done, and two members of myteam, Christian Rutz and Lucas Bluff, came up with thegoods: we should create a video camera small enough to becarried by the free ranging birds, so that we can see whatthey are seeing and doing in real time.

The problems posed by this project were so large thanthey seemed initially insurmountable, not least of them the

problem of how to recover what the cameras would lm.Such challenges are the spice of the life of any scientist, andthe team rose to it. A year later we had the rst crowcams:diminutive devices that could be mounted on the tailfeathers of the crows, facing forwards between their legs.The cameras send a signal carrying video footage live toour observers in the ground, and conveniently are droppedonce the animals moult, so we can recover them and re-use them. The rst few hours of video showed informationthat had eluded years of direct observation: new kinds of tools, new uses for their tools, and detailed observation of their social life. We are combining the study of the birds’ecology with that of their behaviour, both in the wild and incaptivity, and, if you watch this space, we hope to add someknowledge to the big mystery of tool use.

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(r) A diagram showing a bird carrying a ‘crowcam’, a diminutive device that in-cludes a forward-facing camera and transmission equipment, and (l) A still taken

from the video stream sent by a crowcam.

photo courtesy of Alex Kacelnik



Events

Events at PembrokeWe have a lively events programme at Pembroke, and are delighted to welcome a wide range of our alumni throughoutthe year, from departing nalists on the verge of becoming our very newest alumni to some of our most venerableold members. Whether our events take place in College, in London, or elsewhere in the UK and across the globe, we

are always encouraged to see so many Pembrokians arrive to catch up with one another, and to hear the latest on theCollege. Photo galleries from College events are available on the alumni website, www.pembrokecollege.org, but asmall selection of photos from the past year follows here. We hope you enjoy the pictures, and to see many of you atPembroke events in the months and years to come.

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200819-21 September Oxford Reunion Weekend (see enclosed information)

06 November London Reception (see enclosed information)

200931 January Annual Meeting (All are invited to this review of College life and progress)

30 May Garden Party

Dates for Your Diary



Pembroke Events Photo Gallery1. Guests at the 1957 Jubilee 2. Croquet at the 1958-61 Reunion. 3. Mrs Victoria Schild with the Master and hiswife at the 1976-78 Reunion. 4. Naming the new women’s rst Eight. 5. Poppy Lamberton and Liz Folliard at the1999-2000 Gaudy. 6. Rowing at the 1976-78 Reunion. 7. The 1958-61 Reunion dinner. 8. Senator Richard Lugar and Mr Salah Saleh at the Pembroke Washington Dinner 9. Vivian and Kate Sherriffs with Kenneth Garrod beforethe Oxford Reunion Weekend dinner. 10. Selina Wickham and Kirsty Laughlin at the Leavers’ Dinner 2008. 11.

Guests at the San Francisco Drinks Reception. 12. Students perform a concert at the Tesdale Lunch. 13. Dinner withthe Chancellor in Broadgates, in honour of King Abdullah II of Jordan’s visit. 14. Children watch the entertainer atthe Garden Party. 15. The Master and Sir Peter Ricketts at the London Reception in the Foreign Of ce.

All photos on this spread by Cate Field except 1 (Geoffrey Raisman), 7 (Susan Lavine), 11 (Jeremy Sutton), 13 (Rob Judges)

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Contacting the Development Of ce

The Development Of ce

Pembroke CollegeOxfordOX1 1DW

Telephone: 01865 276501

Fax: 01865 276482

Contact details for individual members of the of ce, and details of the areas each member of staff handles, are available on the Pembroke alumni website: www.pembrokecollege.org.Alternatively, please feel free to call the general of ce number above, and our Development

Assistant will be pleased to connect you with the right person to handle your enquiry.

The PembrokianEditor: Cate FieldArticles by Cate Field, except where otherwise indicatedDesign by Theme GroupPhotos by Bi Scott, except where otherwise indicatedPrinted by May eld Press

Pembrokian 2008

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