Page 16 - Abingdon News
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Griffen Boat Club win Thames Challenge Cup
Supported by the School and with sponsorship from the OA Club, the Griffen Boat Club, Joe
Calnan (2003), Andrew Halls (2012), Alex Fisher (2013), Jakob Schleu (2010), John Carter
(2011), Tom Pagel (2012), Felix Newman (2012), Vas Ragoussis (2011) and Neil Mckenzie
(2012), achieved a magnificent win over the Upper Thames Rowing Club at Henley Royal
Regatta on 7 July, making it two championship wins in one day for the School
.
n
old abingdonians
16
Abingdon News is the newsletter of the Abingdon Foundation, Park Road, Abingdon, Oxford OX14 1DE Tel: 01235 521563
Edited by Sarah Wearne Tel: 01235 849108 email:
Design by Boo
Tel: 01865 407610
Abingdon School: A company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Company No. 3625063
Registered Office: Stratton House, Bath Street, Abingdon OX14 3LA Registered Charity No. 1071298
‘Leach of Arabia’
In 1963, Hugh Leach (OA 1953) featured as a recent
leaver in the 400th anniversary edition of The Griffen, 50
years later we catch up with him again.
Commissioned into the 6th Royal Tank Regiment, Hugh
Leach saw service in Egypt during the Suez operation
(1956) when his was the first tank ashore at Port Said.
He studied Arabic at MECAS, the Middle East Centre for
Arab Studies in the Lebanon, and in 1959 was appointed
Desert Intelligence Officer in Oman. The job entailed
extensive travel in company with the Bedouin, whom he greatly admired. He came to
love the vast desert and its night skies and remained working in the Arab world, first
with the Army and then with the Foreign Office until his retirement in 1989. His last four
years were spent on an extended ‘travelling sabbatical’ engaged in a seminal study of
Islamic fundamentalism on which he writes and lectures. During long furloughs he made
expeditions into the northern Indian sub-continent including Afghanistan and Iran, and
after his retirement he led expeditions in the area.
Hugh was awarded the MBE (Military) in 1961 and the OBE in 1976 but his proudest
award is that of the Royal Society of Asian Affairs Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal,
which he received in 1998 for his outstanding work in that part of the world.
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Atoms for
Peace
Thom Yorke, OA 1982, appeared
to be having a great time with
his new band, Atoms for Peace,
when he appeared with them at
the Roundhouse at the end of
July. The ‘superband’: Flea from
Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Joey
Waronker of Beck and REM, Mauro
Refosco from Forro in the Dark, and
Radiohead’s long-term producer
Nigel Godrich on keyboard and
synthesisers, released their debut
album
Amok
in February and are
currently touring the USA, Mexico
and Japan.
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Magnus Macintyre
Former journalist, film producer and
wind-farm owner Magnus Macintyre,
OA 1989, has just published his first
novel, Whirligig, a comedy about wind-
farm war in Scotland.
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New Blue Peter
Presenter
Lindsey Russell, who left St Helen’s
in 2009, is the new Blue Peter
presenter. She is seen here with
(clockwise) Abingdonians Andrew
Partridge, Jack Trotman, fellow
Hellcat Jo Hall, Mark Heffernan and
Steve Hodgetts in 2009 the year
they took
Sketch, Drugs and Rock
and Roll
to the Edinburgh Festival.
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Baritone Johnny Herford,
OA 2003, winner of this year’s
Song Prize at the Kathleen
Ferrier Awards at the
Wigmore Hall on 26 April.
© Robert Piwko, produced by kind
permission of Ferrier Awards
Johnny Herford
Photograph –
Robin Middleton
