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2015 is fast becoming an annus mirabilis for George Mpanga, or George the Poet, as he is now better known. Already a favourite on youtube, George has soared to new heights in his career in the past three months.

His politically and socially motivated work earned him a runner-up spot in the 2015 Brits Critics’ Choice Award. Soon after, George (OE 2002-2009) came fifth in the prestigious and influential BBC Sound of 2015 competition and tenth in MTV’s Brand New for 2015 competition. In each competition, he was competing as a poet against a field that comprised largely musicians: previous winners of the Brits Critics and the BBC awards include Adele and Sam Smith.

His first poetry collection, Search Party, was published in February. George appeared at the Penguin Random House 2015 conference and discussed the book on BBC Radio 2.

His first headline tour, to venues from Glasgow to Brighton, completely sold out, so he has added an extra date, at the London Scala venue at King’s Cross on 14th April.

He was invited on to BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme to discuss the day’s news and has also featured in several broadsheet newspapers since the start of the year.

George’s video for the Prince’s Trust highlighting the emotional problems faced by young people has been published. The video features his poem, Only One You, which was written in response to the Prince’s Trust 2015 Youth Index, which found that one in every ten youths felt so anxious that they were unable to leave the house and more than half worried about everyday situations.

And in February he featured in a BBC Radio 1 documentary. He hit the headlines after calling people who joke about autism “ignorant” in the radio programme. George’s own brother, Kenny, was diagnosed with autism at the age of seven. “It’s not something that should be cured or fixed. It’s a point of difference which should be appreciated and understood. The rest of my brothers and I had to realise that the way we tease each other might not be fair for Kenny,” he added.

After gaining A grades in English Literature, Sociology and Politics A-levels, George won a place at King’s College, Cambridge, to read Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS). He was elected Chair of King’s College Student Union.

His early career high spots included winning a £16,000 prize from The Stake competition, sponsored by Barclays and Channel Four. The prize funded a series of poetry workshops called The Jubilee Line (TJL) aimed at empowering underprivileged young people.

George’s work is forceful and uncompromising, turning a spotlight unflinchingly on a society which he sees as intrinsically unjust and tackling issues including marginalisation and dysfunctional family life.

MTV’s head of music, Anna Karatziva, who voted for George in the Sound Of 2015, called him “engaging and mesmerising”.

“No matter what he is talking about, you find yourself clinging to his every word and the venue always erupts when he breaks into song.”

George previously performed as MC Shawalin, before deciding to focus on the spoken word.

Only four years after graduating from Oxford, Andrew Kramer has already put his desire to help young people develop their skills into practice in three different countries.

He has developed an e-learning app, taught in China and, in his current role with global business consultancy McKinsey & Company, has worked with clients focusing on education and young people.

Andrew (OE 2001-2008) got in touch with QE after being impressed at the calibre of current QE Year 13 pupil Bilal Hussain, whom he met at the McKinsey Leadership Academy.

He wrote to the Headmaster: “I was thrilled not only to hear about how QE continues to thrive, but also because of a wonderful conversation I had with Bilal about what leadership means.” He and Bilal compared notes on their respective ambitions for the future. The academy involves a two-day residential workshop for sixth-formers, followed by another residential the following year and the opportunity to enter a competition for a leadership award.

After leaving QE, Andrew read History at Jesus College, Oxford, from 2008 to 2011. He then spent ten months teaching and lecturing English Language and British and American literature at Hengshui University, Hebei, northern China.

In 2013, he worked at a technology start-up in Berlin to develop Unlock Your Brain, an e-learning app for Android phones.

Later that year, he joined McKinsey in London as a consultant. “I have served a real mix of private, public and social sector clients. I have tended to focus on clients in the City, in Whitehall, or those with a focus on education and young people, reflecting my interest in building young people’s skills.”

Andrew, who has offered to visit the School to speak to current pupils, is currently on an assignment in Trinidad & Tobago, working with a client in oil and gas, and “exploring the beauty of the Caribbean”.

QE contemporaries Joseph Masters and Priyank Patel have amassed a remarkable collection of accolades during their medical studies.

The pair, who were both at the School from 2004 until 2011, have won no fewer than eight awards and scholarships between them, with a record of success that began as early as their very first term.

Joseph and Priyank are at ‘Barts and The London’ (The London School of Medicine and Dentistry), which is the medical school faculty at Queen Mary University of London.

Priyank has passed all three years of his medicine course so far with distinction, which means he is in the top 10% of students in the year. He is intercalating this year in Medical Education, having completed the third year of the medicine course last year, which was his first clinical year. (UK medical students are permitted to intercalate, that is take a break from studying from their main medical degree, in order to pursue a separate but related research degree, normally for one year).

“This year, as part of my Medical Education BSc, I am undertaking a research project evaluating the current patterns and practices of educational supervision in postgraduate medical education in England,” he says.

Joseph intercalated in Neuroscience last year, gaining his BSc, and has now started his first year of clinical medicine. “I am thoroughly enjoying the clinical placements and the more practical side of things, which gives me the opportunity to apply the knowledge built in the first two years of the course,” he said. “I’m looking to pursue a career in academic neurology, combining research with clinical practice.”

After their first-term examinations, both OEs secured recently established scholarships that are awarded according to a combination of merit and financial need – specifically, for the top two medical students whose household income was less than a certain level. They are worth £3,500 for each of the five years of the course, subject to the holders’ satisfactory progress each year.

Joseph won The John Abernethy Scholarship, which commemorates the founder of the Barts Medical College, who lived between 1764 and 1831. Priyank gained The Dean Rees Scholarship, which is named after Dame Lesley Rees, the emeritus Professor of Chemical Endocrinology and Consultant Physician and the first female Dean of the Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, who led the College to its merger as part of Queen Mary University of London in 1995.

The pair also won merit-based awards from a City of London livery company, The Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers, to support their year intercalating.

In addition, Priyank has gained these awards, based on his academic performance over the past three years:

• James Knott Family Trust, Intercalated Award.
• Barts and The London Alumni Association Intercalated Award.

And Joseph has won the following:

• Association of British Neurologists’ Intercalated Degree Award – which is awarded to just two medical students nationally.
• A merit-based award from the Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust, again for his year intercalating.

Antony Pink has realised a long-standing ambition to become an entrepreneur with the launch of his own mobile start-up company, Laundrapp.

Antony (OE 2000–2007) was a keen rugby-player at School and was then known as Kishan, having subsequently begun using his middle name, Antony, instead.

Since leaving QE to study Business Management at Nottingham University, a fascination with business has been a constant theme of his life. While at Nottingham, he was involved in business start-up societies and says it was already in his mind that he would one day like to launch a business of his own.

After university, Antony joined multinational management consultancy Accenture as a strategy consultant, where he worked in financial services.

Nearly four years later, he took the decision to leave a secure job and instead start Laundrapp with two business partners. They have raised £1.5million of seed funding from well-known investors Rupert Hambro (former Chairman of Hambros Bank) and Dominic Perks.

Laundrapp offers customers a door-to-door laundry and dry-cleaning collection and delivery service. It is currently operating in London and moving into five other UK cities.

“The business has only been trading for five months, but is already doing well and is the market leader in its field,” says Antony, who is Laundrapp’s Chief Operating Officer. One of Laundrapp’s strategies has been to advertise heavily and to invest in PR. A six-figure marketing investment has resulted in TV and radio commercials, online and outdoor advertising, posters on the Underground (in stations and in trains). Features in the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail, as well as articles in the specialist business and technology press, have also formed part of the marketing mix.

Laundrapp is available on iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android.

Matteo Yoon (OE 2003-10) sent Alumni News this photo of a recent meal which brought together a number of Old Elizabethans all studying at Cambridge.

Organised by Yemi Ogunyemi and Bilal Khan, the meal was held at Bilal’s college, Sidney Sussex. All of those pictured were at QE in broadly the same period as Matteo.

Since the meal a few months ago, Matteo, School Captain in 2009-10, has spent time travelling in Australia. Having graduated in Law from Pembroke, he has now started the post-graduate Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School, through which he will qualify as a solicitor. Matteo is due to return to QE in July this year to be the guest speaker at the Junior Awards Ceremony.

Also among those pictured are:

• Adam Kuo, the son of current QE Chemistry teacher Dr Elizabeth Kuo, who, Matteo reports, is completing his Master’s degree at Christ’s College
• Pawan Katta, who is on the Assurance Graduate Scheme at professional services firm PwC and is working towards becoming a chartered accountant
• Nicholas Niem, who is currently Publicity Officer for the Association of British and Chinese University Students (ABACUS).

From left to right, the diners are: Adam Kuo (Christ’s – Natural Sciences); Sagar Thanki (Selwyn – Economics); Pawan Katta (Trinity – Economics); Alastair Macfarlane (Fitzwilliam –Natural Sciences);  Charlie Scutt (Girton – Geography); Rowan de Souza (Clare – Medicine); Nicholas Niem (Homerton – Engineering); Eigo Takeda (St John’s – Mathematics); Yemi Ogunyemi (Pembroke – Engineering ); Bilal Khan (Sidney Sussex – Theology and Religious Studies) and Matteo Yoon (Pembroke – Law).

Daniel Isenberg (OE 1999-2006), who has won a string of law prizes and academic scholarships, is now working towards becoming a barrister after a brief spell as a civil servant.

These include first place in a competition run jointly by the Guardian and the influential UK Supreme Court Blog for his essay entitled Do we need more or fewer dissenting voices in the UK Supreme Court?

“So far, so good with the career change (perhaps chiefly because I’m yet to start properly!) – and it’s always reassuring bumping into another OE around the Inns of Court,” he says. These legal alumni include Daniel’s QE contemporary, Peter Morcos, as well as barrister Tom Cleaver.

While at QE, Daniel achieved 12 straight A* grades at GCSE (including being in the top five in the country for German and in the top ten for History and Mathematics) and then earned a distinction in his English Advanced Extension Award before going on to gain straight As in his A-levels.

Daniel’s legal interest was stimulated during his 2006-2007 gap year, when he studied Jewish Law at the Yeshivat Har Etzion, a seminary in Israel.

He went up to Pembroke College in 2007, where he took a double first in History, focusing on the history of political thought. He gained a number of accolades at Cambridge, including being elected as a Scholar. (He was twice awarded a Foundation Scholarship.)

Daniel then spent two years as a fast-stream graduate Civil Servant at the Ministry of Defence, before deciding to switch careers to go into Law.

He excelled at City University London, coming first in his year studying for the Graduate Diploma in Law, then going on to the Bar Professional Training Course, also at City. During this period, he has again stood out among his peers: his prizes and awards include the City Law School Prize for Excellence (Highest Mark for an Intending Barrister) and the City GDL Mooting Competition, in which he beat 100 other entrants in the mock judicial proceedings, with the final judged by Lord Mance, a justice of the Supreme Court.

Currently a member and scholar of Middle Temple (Inn of Court), after some further post-graduate academic legal studies, he will be starting his pupillage in September 2015 at Brick Court Chambers, which specialises in commercial, EU/competition and public/human rights law.