Dear OD

What a giddy month! Return to work/work from home; take public transport/use your own (never mind the 50% congestion charge hike); send your children back to school/don't you dare. Or, as is the vogue in No 10, when in doubt, just follow your instincts. Still, I do hope all of you and your families are well, cutting through the confusion, exercising if you're able to and becoming more comfortable with working from home. Although, bar an uptick in the infection rate, just as you're corona-normalising, it's time to retro-normalise.

Staying in touch with family, friends and even classmates - indeed, especially classmates when family and friends all get a bit much - is now more important than ever. Many video-conferencing platforms, almost unheard of three months ago, are now central to our lives. And ODs have been leveraging the benefits. One such group, the Class of 1990, hold a weekly drinks get-together which brings together classmates from around the world. In various states of wakefulness, dress and sobriety, these are fantastic functions and other years, if you're not doing so already, might want to give it a go. The platform is Zoom and the picture is from two weeks ago.

It's been another month of interesting and entertaining correspondence with the UK OD community - and much appreciated. Many memories and reminiscences and one or two horror stories too; the lore of Bishops. Please keep writing, all of you, and thank you to those who have already. Some of this May's emails can be read HERE.

As we build our relationships with the Old Michaelhouse boys and Old Hiltonians in the UK, I was pleased to receive a message from Sean Lumley, chairman of the UK branch of the Old Michaelhouse alumni wishing ODs well in these difficult times.

While Bishops remains in lockdown (to be partially lifted on 1 June (see "News from Bishops")) I'm told by my staff contacts there that one of the unforeseen consequences of the online teaching is that moms and dads are now joining in the lessons, challenging the teachers and competing with their sons (and losing). Adding a new disciplinary dynamic to the average maths class.

As those of you who have been standing next to your letter boxes since October last year will know there have been delays in the mailing of editions 4&5. Last week we should all have received a letter from Matt Pearce (G, 1987) informing us that these problems are now resolved. If you still want hardcopies (October 2019 and March 2020) you are asked to read and respond to the paragraph in the section The Connected ODU below to arrange.

Many wrote to ask whether the photo of the Chapel used as the header for last month's newsletter was available to them. It is, in a very usable hi-res format. Click HERE or on the picture to open and then right click on the photo to "save image as.."  It makes a great background for your desk- or laptop or even phone.

The ODU's sincerest condolences go to Simon Arnold (F, 1952) whose wife Linda passed away at the end of last month after a very long illness.

Finally, if you find yourself needing any support, please get hold of me to see how the ODU can help.

With kind regards

Nicky Bicket

This month our congratulations go to (from left to right):


George Hutchins (W, 2009) has accepted a role as a Senior Marketing Associate for Delta Air Lines – EMEAI. Delta are one of the major US premium airline carriers globally and Sky Team Partners with Virgin Atlantic.

Matt Hacking (G, 2005) has been made a Senior Associate at the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, a full business law service to organisations around the world, employing more than 3,700 lawyers and other legal staff. 

Chris McPetrie (M, 2010) who is a quantitative analyst working in the fields of environmental sustainability, has just completed a course at Cambridge in Business Sustainability Management.

Douglas Craig (F, 1991) who has been made an associate director of Cognizant in charge of Cyber Security. Cognizant is a US multinational employing just over 290,000 employees worldwide.

Congratulations all of you.
 

The Purpose of the ODU is "To connect the worldwide community of ODs to each other and Bishops". In the "olden" days, this was done through the ODU Secretary's Rolodex which was personal, unreliable and now superseded by modern technology and social media platforms.

One of the ways we are trying to make these connections more efficient, effective and useful is via our ODU website, OD Connect. All the email addresses of ODs are housed in the database which underpins the site, but not all of those emails have much by the way of details attached to them. One of the very useful function of the website of being able to find other ODs and for ODs to be able to search by registered skills, experience and careers. A great help for the mentoring programme, among other uses.

If you've not actually registered on the site (don't assume if you receive emails from the ODU you are) we would love you to do so. Click HERE. The more registered ODs on the site with their details completed, the more valuable it is and the closer we come to fulfilling our purpose. You can choose how much detail you want to divulge, as well as control the communication (what and how often) you receive.

The other platform is LinkedIn. If you are on LinkedIn - and many of you are - it would be very helpful if you could check how you have entered the name of our school. If it is not entered as "Bishops Diocesan College" (without the quote marks) please change it to "Bishops Diocesan College" again, without the quote marks). The reason for doing this is so LinkedIn can identify and group all ODs into a single dedicated community which will greatly enhance the communication and connections.

As many of you have noticed, there has been a delay in the delivery of your October 2019 and March 2020 ODU magazines. Various reasons have contributed to this, but now, Matt Pearce (G, 1987) the ODU Committee member in charge of communication says that both editions of the magazines will be mailed from Cape Town to the UK for delivery in the second week of June. To make this happen, and to reduce the costs of non-delivery, you must, if you'd like a printed version, please confirm your postal details by clicking HERE. You will be asked to log in to the ODU website to get to the order form. If you are not yet registered on the site, you will need to do so by clicking HERE. Confirming your wish for a hardcopy of the magazine applies to all ODs, not only those who have previously registered for them. If you don't confirm your address here, you will not receive these copies through the mail, even if you have previously signed up. In the meantime, if you haven't read the March online edition, you can do so HERE.

 

As we round the (hopefully) final bend of lockdown, the need for such diversions recedes. I hope you find, in what will probably be the last of these, something of interest/amusement:

Rugby:

Francois Louw (W, 2003, right) spoke to the UK ODs at our Founder's Day celebrations earlier this year. In this 20-minute video recorded last week, he talks to the ODU about his experiences and learnings from his Bishops days, to holding up the Rugby World Cup triumphantly last year. And his plans for the future. Hear what he has to say HERE.

While scratching around for some sport to watch (sport that actually has spectators) I came across this classic 1982 5 (!) Nations rugby match, Scotland versus Wales in Wales. What a joy!  At so many levels, it's worth watching, even if just to see how small the forwards are (seem to be) and how they're able to jump in the lineout completely unassisted (how is that even possible?), how fast the game is played, the old-fashioned scrum half dive pass, proper rugby jerseys (with no advertising), a leather ball with a lace, a referee who doesn't view the game as an 80-minute chat show between him and 30 players and stoppages which don't convert into on-field drinks receptions with the rest of the bench. Watch HERE.

Arts & Crafts:

Chris Danziger (G, 1958) continues his series of quizzes. This month he tests your knowledge and sense of humour with questions based on "Food & Drink". On submission you will receive a copy of the correct answers together with a copy of yours to self-mark.Click HERE to sup at his table.

Still for the enquiring minds, try this quiz from the Royal Academy based on great women artists. Start HERE. 

Sticking with the Royal Academy, this is a wonderful 90-minute film on Manet's portraiture entitled Manet - Portraying Life

Finally from the RA this month, this fabulous interview with David Hockney . And for those pulling their hair out trying to keep locked down kids occupied, save some of the hair for this clip on "How to make a Paintbrush" or HERE for their free life drawing classes.

Music:

Music is on the minds (and ears) of ODs, too. Andy Jackson (F, 1983) sent in some of his favourite music links. Watch and listen to them to understand why: Bach's lively Piano Concerto in D min and Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. There is a common thread. See if you can spot it. It helps to know Andy!

Rudi Beekman (O, 1962) a now-retired paediatric cardiologist living in Amsterdam sent through a link to, among other pieces, the little-know but utterly beautiful Vivaldi's Laudete Pueri 

Richard Cock (O, 1966), this year's winner of the Robert Gray Prize, has written four sets of reminiscences on Bishops, published on the ODU website. The one on the Bishop Music Tradition is particularly interesting and can be read HERE.

And lastly, newly-posted, watch and listen to Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi playing the first four Schubert piano impromptus (D899, op 90) at last year's Gstaad Festival.
 

"I continue to work with Peter and the experience has been nothing short of invaluable. Whether it be advising me on how to approach job interviews or evaluating which career path to follow, he has taught me to always keep a cool head and to believe in your own ability and value. The opportunity to consult someone with such distinguished experienced is priceless to any young person beginning their career and is something I will always be grateful for. "
 
This and other testimonials give impetus and urgency to the ODU Mentoring Programme, now in its fifth year. Of course, not everyone needs a mentor, but the benefits are huge. It's a crazy world out there and ODs don't have to walk alone.

The panel of mentors is building steadily and the requests for advice and guidance increasing. More and more, this programme which is managed completely confidentially, is being seen as something of real value and it is gratifying that non-ODs are writing in to see whether they too can tap into the wealth of experience available.

The quote above, is, with permission, from one of the mentees, Michael Foxcroft (W, 2011). describes the benefits he's derived from working with Peter Arthur (W, 1965, also mentioned with permission).

So, if you would like to put yourself as a mentor or request one, please do so via this form.
 

For those who follow football, finance or both, new data released by the CIES Football Observatory shows that the era of the billion euro soccer club has well and truly arrived. Last year, Manchester City became the first soccer team to assemble a squad with a value of €1 billion or higher. Uefa subsequently banned City from the Champions League and fined the club €30 million for "serious breaches" of its Financial Fair Play regulations. City have now been displaced at the top of the squad value table by Liverpool who have an aggregated transfer value of €1.4 billion. That's primarily due to the soaring value of emerging talents like Trent Alexander Arnold while Virgil Van Dijk's value has continued to rise, despite the Dutchman's colossal transfer fee. FC Barcelona, Read Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United are the other clubs boasting squads valued at €1 billion or more