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The third novel in a best-selling thriller series written by former Commander of Special Branch, Roger Pearce, has been nominated for the prestigious Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award from the British Crime Writers’ Association.

Like its well-received predecessors, Javelin, which was published in October, draws heavily on Roger’s inside knowledge of counter-terrorism and national security matters.

His second career as a successful writer took off in 2012 after Agent of the State, his first book about Special Branch officer John Kerr, was published. The next in the series, The Extremist, came out the following year. Reviewers praised not only the fast-paced plots laced with “high-octane action” (as long-established crime writer Peter Robinson put it), but also the authentic detail, with the Daily Mail describing The Extremist as “terrific…vividly written and delivering a glimpse of what counter-terrorism feels like”.

Since then, Roger (OE 1961–1969), a former School Captain, has been the subject of numerous media interviews and has appeared at literary events including Scarborough Book Festival.

The books relate the adventures of Detective Chief Inspector Kerr, a complex, independent-minded character with a strong sense of mission coupled with an ability on the one hand “to do the right thing” whatever the cost, and on the other, to use deception without hesitation in order to get at the truth.

Roger, of Underne House, was at the School during the headmastership of Tim Edwards; John Pearce (no relation) was his Housemaster. After graduating in Theology from St John’s College, Durham University in 1972, Roger married Margaret, a former pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, whom he had met when both were sixth-formers. Roger had intended to become ordained as an Anglican priest, but instead joined Durham Constabulary in 1973 and transferred to the Metropolitan Police in 1975.

Within a year Roger had applied to join Special Branch at New Scotland Yard. He also began an external LLB Honours degree from London University by private study and in 1979 qualified as a barrister-at-law at the Middle Temple.

Formed in 1883, the Branch’s mission was to gather secret intelligence against terrorists and extremists. It conducted sensitive assignments here and abroad and was also responsible for the protection of the Cabinet, of visiting heads of state and of VIPs. Roger became the head of Special Branch in 1999 and also served as the Met’s Director of Intelligence, authorising surveillance and undercover operations against serious and organised crime. He held both posts until 2003. The Met’s Special Branch was merged with the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) to form Counter Terrorism Command, or SO15, in 2006.

In his last months of service, Roger was approached by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to take up the newly formed post of Counter-Terrorism Adviser, where he worked with government and intelligence experts worldwide in the campaign against Al Qaeda. In 2005 he was hired by GE Capital in London as managing director of European security.

Roger and Margaret have two sons, both former QE pupils: Andrew, a composer, and Matthew, an airline pilot. Their daughter, Laura, is a personal assistant.

The festive season got off to an excellent start with a wonderful Christmas Concert in the Shearly Hall, featuring rich sounds from our musicians and an eclectic programme that ranged from jazz to Bach.

The concert was held in association with the Rotary Club of Barnet, with which the School has enjoyed links for many years. The printed programme opened with a note of welcome from Brian Coleman, Old Elizabethan (1972–1979) and President of the Barnet Rotary Club.

Since then, heavy snow has given the School a truly festive feel, although I am glad to say that we managed to remain open. In our final 2017 event tailored for Old Elizabethans, a capacity 60 guests gathered in Tudor Hall, the School’s historic home, for a drinks-and-canapés reception prior to a wonderful Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in the Parish Church. OE guests spanned all generations and included several who were in London from abroad (including the US and Canada). Guests enjoyed exploring the space that was the heart of the School until its relocation to Queen’s Road in 1932, with features such as the infamous ‘whipping post’ proving a talking point. At the service, the usual combination of traditional carols and biblical readings was accompanied by highly accomplished performances from the School Choir and the Chamber Choir – the Anthem, And the Glory of the Lord, from Handel’s Messiah a particular highlight. The Mayor of the Borough of Barnet, Cllr Brian Salinger, was present at both the reception and the service.

In my recent letter to parents, I emphasised that, in considering their own futures, boys can derive considerable benefit by learning from alumni who have already travelled along the pathways that they plan to take or would like to explore. As we look forward to the start of a new calendar year, this seems an appropriate juncture at which to focus on how alumni can assist our boys in enhancing their future prospects.

One of the areas we are currently working on is QE Connect. Still in its early stages, this initiative will bring new coherence to our work to establish even closer connections between the School and our old boys. QE Connect will formalise ways of matching the boys in the School to alumni who can give them access to a broad network that will help them in pursuing their academic and professional aspirations.

The range of assistance already afforded our pupils by Old Elizabethans is striking. Alumni provide mock interviews and are a source of work experience for our older boys. An increasing number visit the School to talk to boys about university and careers. This term has seen visits from OE speakers following very different paths. For example, Drew Williams (2005-2012) is building a successful career with multinational professional services firm EY, after, somewhat unusually for a QE boy, opting not to go to university, while US-based entrepreneur Sachin Duggal (1994–2001), who is featured in this e-newsletter, has studied at three of the world’s leading universities. I am very pleased that we currently have recent leavers studying at Ivy League universities in the US who are very active in our alumni network and happy to help Year 12 boys with their applications. In addition, old boys increasingly play an important role at significant events in the School calendar, whether that is the Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate, the formal Year 12 luncheon, or, this term, the Careers Convention.

Through such events, senior boys can access the wealth of knowledge, experience and contacts that exists among our burgeoning network of old boys. The common thread of those alumni who have engaged with the School in the way I have described is that all wish to give something back and support current pupils. As a meritocracy, inevitably quite a high proportion of our pupils are the first to go to university in their immediate families; the first to aim for the most competitive professions. Their family backgrounds may not, therefore, give them access to the wider network that is so often indispensable to career success. Our alumni can be the gateway to that network – and we will be intentional about encouraging boys to engage with those of you who wish to be involved.

Learning how to network effectively is an essential skill for all those with ambitious aspirations towards success in their professional lives. It is essential that our pupils cultivate the requisite skills, which are certainly among the “positive personal qualities and attitudes” valued by society that are mentioned in our Development Plan. It is especially important to develop the confidence to initiate conversations, particularly with people one does not know. This applies even – or perhaps especially – to the pupil who considers himself not naturally a confident person.

The Tigertones, Princeton’s all-male a capella group, proved to be fantastic role models in this regard when they visited us as part of their London tour: they were supremely confident, yet with conversation that was always appropriate to the situation. That is, in part, why we bring in such visitors. I am urging boys to seek out opportunities to practise the art of conversation, learning to ask appropriate questions and to listen effectively so that they can take their cue from the responses. Confidence is, after all, one-third of our mission statement as a School.

Another route through which boys can develop confidence and the ability to converse well with adults is by taking on positions of responsibility within the School. These exist in all years, culminating in the appointment of our Senior Officials in Year 12. I am grateful to our outgoing School Captain Oliver Robinson for his service and congratulate Aashish Khimasia and his team of Senior Vice- Captains and Vice-Captains on their appointment for 2018.

Part of the key to conversation is naturally the ability to use language well. The work of our poet-in-residence, Anthony Anaxagorou (1994–1999), reflects our emphasis on the development of good oracy, as does the example set by George ‘the Poet’ Mpanga (2002–2009). In the wake of the royal engagement between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the BBC turned to George for an insider’s perspective on the prince: he is an ambassador for Sentebale, one of Prince Harry’s charitable foundations, which supports the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana. Having observed the prince’s work there at first hand, George was interviewed for a primetime BBC1 documentary about the engagement, fronted by Kirsty Young.

Our recent evening of rugby at Allianz Park, the home of Saracens, was a great occasion, notwithstanding the First XV’s 18–10 defeat against Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’. It was very well supported by Old Elizabethans. Those pictured are top row, left, to bottom right: Alex Grethe, Jake Nielen, Anton Bridge, Ioannis Loupas (all 2004-2011); Anoop Raghaven and Max Hassell, (both 2002–2009; Alvin Bombo (2002–2007); Gideon Levitt (2004–2011); Aaron Levitt (2002–2009); Matteo Yoon, Adam Kuo, Alex Goring (all 2003–2010), and Francis Vu (2000–2008). I was also delighted to catch up with David Clark (1993–2000), Paul Clark (1990–1997), Liam Higgs-Howson (2000–2007), Kelvin Hughes (1999–2006), Tomas Vieira-Short (2010–2017) and Lee Wright (2001-2008), among many others.

I am pleased to be able to say that we have just secured planning permission to create new facilities for Music within the existing Mayes Building. These will include rehearsal and performance spaces and will also retain an atrium to accommodate boys during breaks in the School day. Whilst the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s are not in a position to proceed immediately, this next stage of our Estates Strategy is fully worked up and we look forward to developing this as our next big project in due course. In the meantime, we continue to make use of donations from old boys for smaller projects bringing immediate benefits for current pupils.

As this term draws to a close, I remember with considerable satisfaction the fact that it opened with the School basking in the enjoyment of our dazzling summer results: nearly 42% of A-levels taken were at A*, while our GCSE performance was our best ever, with 71% of examinations awarded A* or its equivalent. Since then, we have had further independent corroboration of our success in meeting academic challenges. First came the announcement that QE had been named in eighth place out of 2,500 secondary schools (independent and state-funded) for performance and take-up of the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Next were official league tables showing that for the second year, QE again topped the list of all boys’ grammar schools for achievement against the Government’s Progress 8 measure, which charts the improvements made by children across eight key subjects between the end of primary school and GCSE. Most recently, we have been named as the country’s leading boys’ state school – and in second place overall – in the influential Sunday Times Parent Power survey.

My best wishes to all Old Elizabethans for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Neil Enright

Adam Sprei turned his back on a burgeoning career with one of the world’s best-known companies to set up his own business – and has gone on to great success even in the most testing of times for the global energy markets.

After seven years with Shell, Adam (OE 1993-2000) was successfully climbing the corporate ladder when, in 2012, he decided to establish Alchemy Energy Partners (AEP), an executive search & human capital consultancy working across international oil, gas and energy markets.

Looking back, he recognises this as a defining moment: “We dared to take a risk and make it happen – leaving one of the globe’s largest companies with a clear career path and stability to start a business from scratch. We have built an ‘industry disrupter’ that has grown rapidly in the midst of an oil price crash which has seen many of our competitors cease trading.”

Despite the demands of AEP and of spending time with his young family, Adam manages to make a contribution in another worthwhile area. “An important subject to me is supporting dyslexia and dyspraxia initiatives – conditions which are very often invisible, yet with life-changing impacts. Aged 21, I was diagnosed as dyslexic and dyspraxic. Having made some progress mastering how to manage this for myself, I am involved with mentoring young professionals and am in the process of writing a book aimed at helping dyslexics/dyspraxics better understand themselves and thereafter realise their full potential entitled Unlock the Gift,” he explains.

At QE, Adam forged a number of enduring friendships. A few of his most cherished memories include: “Air flow football matches at lunchtime which, at the time, were to us as competitive and as important as World Cup finals” and “Seeing a ghost on the back playing field after a concert one evening”.

He also remembers with gratitude the impact that Eric Houston had on his life. Mr Houston taught at QE from 1976 until 2010, when he retired as Second Master. He is now a Governor. “He was the first person to teach me about facing my fears head-on, forcing me to read a 30-line poem standing in front of the class, which, as a bad stammerer at the time, was quite a horrendous ordeal, yet helped build resilience that has served me well.”

After reading Commerce at Birmingham, Adam took an MSc in International Management at King’s College London in 2003–2004, writing his thesis on global gas markets. He has since undertaken executive education at two of the world’s best-known business schools, Harvard Business School and INSEAD.

Adam joined Shell in 2004, initially as a Market Analyst, then an Energy Economist before becoming a Strategy Advisor and, in 2008, a General Manager, Portfolio & Business Development.

Then came the decision to start Alchemy Energy Partners. The contrast was stark: “I was working initially from a laptop and iPhone, and from an office the size of a toilet! We were riding the entrepreneurial rollercoaster from very challenging 16+ hour days to truly high highs.”

“Now, more than five years later, we have been fortunate to grow AEP into one of the globe’s most respected consultancies of its type, working with some of the biggest names in oil and gas worldwide.”

Some 95 per cent of the firm’s clients are outside Europe, so Adam spends a great deal of time on the phone and travelling to the US, Canada, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Adam lists some of the high points with the firm:

• • “Being a truly valued partner to industry captains, and working with companies who have grown from new entrants to industry leaders with our support – those you see on Bloomberg and read about in the FT;

• • “Designing new oil & gas companies, hiring in the CEOs and executive teams and then ‘building out’ the organisations;

• • “AEP managing the organisational build out (for the last four years) for the world’s largest integrated gas & LNG (liquefied natural gas) project (total circa $100 billion investment);

Adam is confident about the firm’s future: “In its first five years, AEP established its reputation and has developed a platform for growth. However, I believe we have not even ‘scratched the surface’ yet. In the next five years we will continue to grow. We will soon open an office in Houston, US, and we will grow further into key strategic markets, whilst diversifying into new sectors, principally power, renewables and ‘clean-tech.’ And this year, we are launching the world’s first oil & gas industry television network and an oil, gas & energy digital and brand consultancy.”

Adam met his wife, Ellie, at the age of 18 and they have been together ever since. “I am blessed to have an incredible wife and life partner, who has always been amazingly supportive, but especially through the early years of building a business and the extensive travelling.

“In 2013, we were blessed to welcome Sadie and Charlotte, our twin daughters, into the world. They were born ten weeks early, with one only deciding to breathe 11 minutes after being born, being kept in hospital for six weeks in incubators – a quite ‘hairy’ experience. My real motivation is to be a good example to them – they are now four, healthy, happy and thriving and can work an iPad better than I can. The reality is, nothing else but family, health and friends is important to me. Time is the only thing that cannot be bought or replaced, so it is important to make the best use of it and to live life with passion and purpose.”

With a business to run and two young daughters, Adam has little capacity to keep up with his many previous hobbies, but he does enjoy keeping fit, travelling, reading, food and wine, getting out into the country to relax and “generally all things family-related”. He lives in the Mill Hill and Totteridge area, “dangerously close to a lovely 400-year-old pub”.

He remains firm friends with most of the “close brotherhood” that he and his contemporaries developed at QE. They include Jamie Binstock; Simon Walton (“now brother-in-law, married to Ellie’s sister,”) and Daniel Travers. “We see each other regularly, share holidays, and Dan’s son is in the same class as my daughters at school.”

When Ishan Kolhatkar returned to the School this term and gave an inspiring talk to senior boys interested in pursuing a career as lawyers, he was setting out a path for them that he had fully expected to follow himself.

Yet today Ishan (OE 1989-1996) is instead Deputy Dean of Education Services at BPP University, the leading private university dedicated to Law, business and other professions.

“Having set out to be a barrister, expecting that to be a job for life, I am delighted with my decision to move into academia,” he says. “I taught advocacy, litigation and ethics on the Bar Course (including to a couple of OEs) for five years before moving into strategic management. I still have an interest in advocacy, criminal litigation (sentencing in particular) and legal education in general. All of which will hopefully turn into some published works and perhaps a PhD,” which, he says, he is “contemplating before the end of the decade”.

Ishan retains many fond memories of being in a very diverse year group at QE – one of the last before the reintroduction of academic selection at the School. Those memories include being part of the Young Enterprise team which became UK and European Champions in 1995, as well as being House Captain.

He pays tribute to “three of the most impressive individuals I’ve ever met. who were formative in different ways”. The trio includes Eamonn Harris, who was Headmaster when he was a pupil, as well as John Marincowitz (Headmaster, 1999–2011) and Eric Houston (Second Master; now retired and a QE Governor).

Ishan is still in regular contact with fellow OEs Anthony Mazen and Ajay Kurien. “I see Matthew Williamson and Manu Sivanandam from time to time and recently got back in touch with Inigo Melis.” Anthony, Manu and Inigo were all his Young Enterprise teammates.

On leaving QE, Ishan read Computer Science at Queen Mary, London, and then took the law conversion course and Bar Vocational Course “thanks to a very generous scholarship from the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple”.

Having worked for some years as a barrister and then as an in-house lawyer for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, he became a lecturer in 2011 at BPP University.

Ishan has “a wonderful wife and two lovely boys”.

Followers of his Twitter feed (@BPTC_Lecturer) will already know his hobby: “It’s cooking. I tweet more pictures of my food than anything else. I had intended to write a cookbook by the time I was 40 but that’s a few weeks away so I’ve decided that 41 is the new 40…”

Ben Swart has spent the past 12 years working for the UK’s leading children’s charity and, after several promotions, is now its Head of New Corporate Partnerships.

But successful as he has been at the NSPCC, for Ben (OE 1994–2001), his motivation is about much more than merely pursuing a career.

“I joined the NSPCC after a couple of years at Barclays,” he says. “While at the bank, I started volunteering with a small charity called Get Connected (now The Mix). I became a trustee and quickly realised just how much support was lacking for children and young people in the UK. I decided I wanted my career to focus on changing that fact.”

So, a month after becoming a volunteer, he left the bank and joined the NSPCC’s finance team on just a one-week contract. It happened to be the same week that Childline merged with the NSPCC.

“To announce the partnership, we were called to the conference room. I’ll never forget that moment. A month earlier, I had sat in Barclay’s annual reviews focused on sales targets, and yet that day I heard Esther Rantzen say this wasn’t two organisations coming together: it was us making sure every child, wherever they were, would always know they had somewhere to turn. I was desperate to turn that week’s contract into a career!”

Ben quickly moved to fundraising, talking to supporters of the charity. Them he became a proposal writer in the philanthropists team, which involved building relationships with multi-millionaires to ask for support in the form of five, six or seven-figure gifts.

“I moved again to become head of fundraising training – coaching and training the 300-plus team at the NSPCC – then again to become a leader in the corporate partnership team, where my job is to lead a department to find, build, negotiate and grow partnerships with the biggest companies in the UK.”

At the same time, over the past decade he has worked with the Institute of Fundraising and with the International Fundraising Congress, teaching charities across the globe and sharing his expertise with them.

“I am of no doubt that QE gave me fundamental skills that got me here – public speaking, writing, confidence, determination. I look back and while I may not have realised it at the time, many lessons were being learnt that would shape my future,” he says.

He recalls a host of teachers who were key to his development, mentioning Mr Clift and Mr Dourmiex in particular.

“Today I have a lovely family, a three-year-old daughter and am still very close to a couple of friends from QE. Marcus Waters was best man at my wedding, and Jon Hart was the DJ!”

• • Ben is pictured at 10 Downing Street, where he was invited to celebrate Childline’s 30th birthday, two days before the Brexit referendum. It was to be David and Samantha Cameron’s last dinner before he resigned as Prime Minister following the vote.

After one brief false start following university, Sam Colman’s career is now firmly on track with a national sales role for a European company.

Sam (OE 1998-2005), who graduated from the University of Manchester in 2008, says: “I was unsure what the best career for me would be, but was lucky to get an internship for three months at UK ad agency Engine. I hated it.”

A keen sportsman who was prominent in water-polo while at QE, he then took a year out to teach climbing and quad biking at PGL.

“I left PGL to take a position at British Sugar, working in the agricultural team, before becoming Co-Products Sales Manager (selling stuff that wasn’t sugar!) in 2012.”

In April 2017, he started work as Commercial Manager UK (Brewing) for Boortmalt, a Belgian company with ten factories across Europe, selling malted barley to both breweries and distilleries. His role, which is based in Suffolk, involves negotiating all UK brewing sales.

Sam read Geography at Manchester. He was among the first at QE to be taught the subject by the current Headmaster, who arrived at the School in September 2002. Mr Enright says he well remembers Sam for his “great wit”.

For all seven years of his Geography lessons at Queen’s Road, Sam sat next to Robert Mills. In 2016, he was best man at Robert’s wedding.

He continued playing water-polo as an undergraduate and, although out of action through injury in his first year, he then went on to considerable success with the university team. “In years 2 and 3, we reached the national finals, winning silver and bronze.” He was awarded half-colours twice.

“I continued to play regularly until 2011, when I moved to Suffolk. I now play occasionally for either Enfield or Hertford.”

Sam was among the Old Elizabethans who returned to the School in the autumn to speak to Year 11 boys and their parents at QE’s Careers Convention.

Saturday, 24th March, was significant for Queen Elizabeth’s School for two reasons. First, it marked the 445th anniversary of the founding of the School in 1573. And second, it was the date of our annual Elizabethan Union Dinner Debate, a formal occasion now in its 53rd year that brings together the School’s present with its past through the involvement of current Year 12 pupils alongside Old Elizabethans.

We will be reporting back to you in due course on the events of that evening and of this term’s QE Rugby Sevens. The continuity provided by the annual running of such events not only celebrates the School’s rich heritage, but also points to its future, as the Sixth Form debaters of today become the alumni of tomorrow and they, in turn, interact with their successors at the School.

Within our history, we have a long record of excellence. We continue our regular celebrations of commitment and achievement in School, such as our recent Senior Awards Ceremony. The excellence achieved at QE is, in its many forms, in part a result of the high standards and aspirations maintained by the School, the parents and the boys themselves. But, of course, there can be a tension between striving for excellence and falling into the trap of perfectionism. For their own wellbeing, it is most important that boys retain a sense of perspective and that they are supported at School and at home to ensure this.

We place considerable emphasis on the characteristics – specifically the skills and habits – required for successful learning. This year, staff are reviewing and fine-tuning the School’s own assessment strategies to provide a foundation for the development, assessment and rewarding of these skills and habits (as well as the identification of strategies to support those students who are not effective at developing them). I have been suggesting to parents that they can play their part by encouraging their sons to participate in our very wide range of enrichment activities – including sports, the arts and volunteering – to ensure boys at QE are well-rounded and broadly accomplished, thus reducing the risk of their becoming narrow or obsessive.

We now very regularly invite expert speakers, many of them alumni, to speak to the boys through our lecture programmes and on other occasions. Their often-sage advice is another invaluable help in combatting perfectionism. It is striking how frequently highly accomplished speakers refer to the setbacks they have suffered, or describe situations in which a failure became serendipitous for a future success. Entrepreneurs are always talking about the importance of failing as a means of learning. And one recent Old Elizabethan speaker, Jake Green (1992–1997) explained that he was rejected by a particular law firm after university, but has since become a partner there, following experience elsewhere.

Other OE visitors to the School this term have included 2017 leaver Ché Applewhaite – who took a break from his first year at Harvard to speak to Year 12 boys interested in applying to Ivy League universities – and entrepreneur Akshay Ruparelia (2009-2016), reportedly the country’s youngest self-made millionaire at 19 through the success of his online estate agency, Doorsteps.co.uk.

A new development in the Sixth Form this year has been the QE-USP enrichment option, a modular course designed to allow Year 12 pupils to enhance their skills in putting together the best possible university application – which means one in which the laudable quality of academic ambition is nonetheless tempered by realism and pitched according to each boy’s abilities. (The ‘USP’ aspect stands both for University admissions Support Programme and for Unique Selling Point.) Then there is the continuing development of QE Connect, our initiative that matches current pupils with alumni who can provide them with specific help in setting and then pursuing their university and career aspirations.

Excellence abounds at this School. I am pleased to be able to state that this year, our sixth-formers have received 28 Oxbridge offers, including 12 from Oxford, which is now closing in on Cambridge, for which there are 16 offers. The Oxford figure is a record, certainly in recent years, and a feat that was happily timed for the visit of Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, as Guest of Honour at our 2018 Senior Awards. Other examples of excellence this term include our success in the Mathematics and Physics Olympiads, our robotics teams qualifying for the World Championship in the US and those boys who delighted audiences in this term’s Music performances and in the School Play, The 39 Steps.

My warmest wishes go to all Old Elizabethans.

Neil Enright

Jamie Binstock has established a successful career in real estate with highlights that include working on the sale of London’s famous ‘Gherkin’. Now he is establishing a network of OEs interested or involved in real estate and is appealing for alumni to get in touch.

After initially publicising the nascent network through LinkedIn, he gained a list of some 40-50 names, but would like to hear from more QE old boys ahead of the network’s first meeting.

“The purpose is twofold,” says Jamie, (OE 1993–2000). “Firstly, it’s just putting people in touch with each other and doing some business. But it’s also getting people to give something back to the School by visiting and explaining to the boys what real estate is all about – for example, that it’s more about who you know than what you know.”

Jamie works for global real estate giant Savills, where he is an Associate Director – Central London & International Investment. “I buy and sell office buildings in London for clients,” he says.

After leaving QE, he graduated in Commerce from the University of Birmingham. He then took an MA in Property Valuation & Law from Cass Business School, before becoming a Qualified Chartered Surveyor with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2006.

After two posts as a real estate investment analyst, he joined Deloitte in 2009, working initially on distressed real estate for a number of banking and principal clients.

In June 2014, he became Assistant Director: Central London Investment for Deloitte and it was while in this post that he was involved in the deal to sell the ‘Gherkin’ – or 30 St Mary Axe, as it is officially known. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

He joined Savills in 2016.

Jamie, who is married with two sons, aged five and one, keeps up-to-date with events at QE, where his father, Tony Binstock, is a Governor. And he adds: “My best friends are still those I made at School and they are all very successful.” They include his contemporaries, Simon Walton, Daniel Travers and Adam Sprei.

Jamie would welcome contact from OEs interested in the new network via LinkedIn.

At our recent Dinner Debate, guest speaker and old boy Kane Evans rightly reminded us of the importance of friendship – and especially of friendships forged at this School.

With some 180 attending, including Kane (OE 2003–2010) and many other OEs from across the generations, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening at which several old friendships were rekindled – a formal occasion, yes, but one on which we don’t take ourselves too seriously. There were many laughs and the debate was certainly lively: at one point, the chairman became so excited that he dropped his gavel!

An invitation

Founder’s Day presents an even bigger opportunity than the Dinner Debate to catch up with old friends in a relaxed atmosphere. I see the Founder’s Day Fête as a chance to bring the whole QE community together to celebrate and support the School – and Old Elizabethans are a key part of that.

The afternoon begins with a buffet lunch open to all Old Elizabethans at approximately 1pm, immediately after the reading of the Chronicle. Since its re-launch a few years ago, our Founder’s Day Past XI v Present XI match (the Stanley Busby Memorial Cricket Match) on the Third Field has proved quite a draw for the many cricket fans among our alumni. And there are countless other attractions at the Fete on Stapylton Field. It will be possible to seat a small number of Old Elizabethans at the Founder’s Day service, which begins in St John the Baptist Church at 11am.

If there are any old boys who would like to make contact with particular members of staff, both current and former, at Founder’s Day, do please email my office and we will do our best to make it happen. In fact, it would be helpful to us in planning our welcome if any former pupils who expect to be at Founder’s Day could let me know by email in advance, especially if you would like to attend the service or lunch.

Dinner Debate report

This year’s event was the 52nd Elizabethan Union Annual Dinner Debate, which is attended by all Year 12 boys. Kane was the special guest, who proposed the toast to the Queen, to our Founder and to the Elizabethan Union, the School’s debating society.

Year 12 pupils Rahul Kanwar and Ravi Karia proposed the motion: ‘This house believes that experts are overrated’. Two OEs, Adam Hilsenrath and Alex Chinweze (both 2008–15), opposed the motion.

In his after-dinner address (which was not part of the debate), Kane, who now works as a Senior Commercial Analyst at Manchester United FC, acknowledged the importance of expertise: some boys present were likely to become genuine experts in their field, whether as doctors, lawyers or engineers, for example. But he spoke of its limitations, too, and highlighted the important role that friendship has to play in life: “Being an expert doesn’t make you a good friend, it doesn’t make you a loving boyfriend, husband, father. As I looked around the table at an OE’s stag-do I was on last weekend, it dawned on me that many of these friendships were now over 14 years old, forged in this very room, on Stapylton Field or the back of Mr Enright’s Geography class.

“These relationships give me as much personal fulfilment and pride as any professional or academic achievement, and are as important to me as any future objective or aspiration.”

Appropriately enough, Kane was joined on the evening by his friend and QE contemporary, Nik Ward (OE 2003–2010).

Kane urged a certain humility on the boys: “Don’t neglect or underestimate your craft and the choices that lie before you – but don’t congratulate yourself too much either if the end result is bigger and better than your neighbour’s: remember that it was only partly your doing.”

They should study what they want and not follow anyone else’s preconceived ideas, he said, adding in conclusion: “Don’t be afraid to take the road less travelled, and when you do, don’t forget to take your friends with you on the journey.”

Kane’s professional role involves looking at where Manchester United’s next deals should be. He expressed his enjoyment at working for the globally recognised club and brand – despite secretly being a Chelsea fan!

Nik will soon qualify as an architect. He is coming into the School in the summer to help with Enrichment Week.

The many other OEs in attendance included Ross Lima (1995–2002), who has worked hard over the years to provide opportunities for current pupils. Ross, who works for Shell, encouraged the School to enter a Shell competition, in which the boys were regional winners, and he also provides a Sixth Form work placement annually – several boys have drawn on their experience in shadowing him in the company’s legal department in their law applications to Oxbridge.

According to the final tally of votes, the OE team, Adam and Alex (a former School Captain and Senior Vice-Captain respectively), won the debate convincingly. They turned a slender majority against the motion in the indicative vote at the outset into an overwhelming one.

The pair were ably supported by numerous contributions from boys and guest in the floor debate, including one from my predecessor as Headmaster, Dr John Marincowitz, who reminded all of his oratorical powers with a typically wise and convincing contribution. The event was also attended by Eamonn Harris (former Headmaster) and Eric Houston (former Second Master), as well as present staff and governors.

Aspects touched upon during the debate included:

• The definition of experts and the distinction with advisers;
• Whether experts have merely been misused, including in essentially emotional arguments, such as over Brexit;
• The failures of those with past experience and success to predict future performance.

Perhaps most contentious of all was the question of whether Michael Owen should be considered an expert pundit and, if so, whether this helped the proposition or the opposition case!

I was pleased to see how readily and intelligently the current Year 12s engaged with the debate – although whether the enormous slice of chocolate cake they had for dessert or the supply of wine had anything to do with that, I could not possibly comment. The School Shop’s bottom-line certainly saw a boost – with half of Year 12 having beat a path to shop’s door on the preceding Friday afternoon to buy their bow ties.

After such a memorable evening, I look forward to meeting more OEs at other such occasions in the future. In the meantime, I welcome contact from all Old Elizabethans via my LinkedIn profile.

Neil Enright

Aaron Tan trains people in public speaking – and he traces his success squarely back to QE.

Aaron (OE 1996–2003) has followed a varied path since university and is currently enjoying a portfolio career which includes running two businesses as well as lecturing at Greenwich University.

But it is in passing on his own abilities in public speaking that he has found the greatest satisfaction. “Having worked in companies of all sizes and also been self-employed, I discovered that what I really found rewarding was helping others,” he says. “After finding out that public speaking is the number one fear amongst adults, I knew that if I could tackle this, I would be helping the highest number of people possible.”

Aaron has learned from world-class speakers who have shared the stage with the likes of Lord Alan Sugar, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson, and has himself spoken to audiences of up to 200 both in this country and abroad. And, he says: “It all started by taking public speaking classes during my time at QE, which took place after School hours.”

Aaron, who lives in Dollis Hill, went from QE to UMIST (now part of the University of Manchester), where he read Management with a Marketing Specialism.

He has since worked for diverse businesses including a company specialising in reinstating roads after work has been done, and an aerospace & defence company. In 2013, he took over management duties at his father’s restaurant in Clacton-on-Sea and has since doubled its revenue.

In his business as a speaker trainer, which he launched in October 2016 on returning from a public-speaking trip to Vietnam, he focuses on both technical and mental processes. “I help people overcome their fears and deliver presentations at the highest level, through webinars, workshops and seminars.

Public speaking is, he points out, a useful skill for “anyone who deals with people on a daily basis”, from those in the corporate world to people in education: he has already worked with clients including YouTube personalities, sales people and personal development coaches.

Since the start of 2017, Aaron has also been a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Greenwich, where he teaches both undergraduates and postgraduates from different countries. He draws on his experience of working in companies of different sizes to teach the students about business concepts, offering a practical perspective on the theories taught in textbooks.