Viewing archives for Alumni Newsletter

Architecture student Nabil Haque has enjoyed stellar academic success in his final year at Jesus College, Cambridge, winning a string of prizes and accolades.

Nabil (OE 2010–2017) graduates with the highest-possible class of degree – Double First with Distinction – and an overall score of 80 out of 100, which is the top mark recorded by the university’s Architecture department in five years.

He thus won the award for the best Architecture student of his year, having also secured several other college prizes for academic performance, including the Sir Leslie Martin Prize for Architecture.

“The grade I received this year makes me eligible for the BASS Fellowship, a fully-funded, expenses-covered two-year scholarship to Yale University, where I wish to pursue my Part II Architecture Master’s. I am currently completing my year in industry at Caruso St John Architects, winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2016.”

He has been nominated by Cambridge for the: Architects’ Journal National Student Awards; Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Medal Bronze Award for Undergraduate Portfolio, and RIBA President’s Medal Dissertation Award. “The RIBA President’s Medals in particular are the most prestigious architectural awards in the world, and it has been an honour to be nominated by the university for them.”

Yet, says Nabil, his final year at Cambridge “has been by no means an easy one, with strikes for eight weeks during the first term and coronavirus relegating my final term to home-based learning”.

Nabil says QE has remained at the forefront of his mind throughout his time at Cambridge, where, he found, the School’s reputation preceded him: “It is no exaggeration to say that professors, tutors and even my peers always recognise a ‘QE boy’.”

He was involved in many areas of School life, for example, captaining the First XV and winning a place on the Royal Academy of Arts’ attRAct programme in the Sixth Form.

He pays particular tribute to Head of Art Stephen Buckeridge for the instrumental role he played in the formative stages of his education, pointing out that he was one of no fewer than three QE boys in his year on Cambridge’s extremely competitive Architecture degree course (together with Danny Martin and Tochi Onuora). It was, he said, the “freedom, confidence and individuality” that Mr Buckeridge fostered during their Sixth Form years which enabled them to navigate their design projects so successfully. “QE is the most represented school across all three years of Architecture undergraduates at Cambridge,” Nabil says.

He also maintains strong links with other QE alumni in his year at Cambridge, counting Christopher Deane, Viral Gudiwala and Tomas Viera-Short among his close friends.

“My time at Cambridge was by and large a direct extension of my time at QE. I represented the university for rugby (Second XV) and athletics, I held positions on the Jesus College Student Union (including Black and Minority Ethnic Officer), was a student representative for the Jesus College Legacies of Slavery Committee and was, in 2019, responsible for the first-ever art exhibition exclusively for BME exhibitors.

“The confidence to take up such positions, pursue my interests and further myself physically, mentally and academically all stem from the foundations I laid down at QE.”

Fitness trainer, author and podcaster Akash Vaghela has no regrets about his decision to switch his university application from Law to Sport Science.

A decade later, he is running an innovative, personalised coaching service that has helped more than 2,000 people around the world, disrupting an online industry where, he says, poor performance is rife.

Akash (OE 2003–2010), whose new book, Transform your body, transform your life, was published on 24th May, says: “I remember when I walked into my Head of Year’s office and said I’d like to switch my university application from Law to Sport Science. It certainly raised a few eyebrows, both in School and at home. I was one of the very few taking a non-traditional path, and to this day, it marks one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Across the world, 14 people now work for his business, RNT Fitness, which has as its mission ‘to use the physical to transform your life’.

While at Birmingham University, Akash was as a personal trainer (PT) and he continued working in the industry after he graduated with a first-class degree.

While he loved helping his clients, there were elements of the job he greatly disliked, he explains. “I had no control of my diary; it was dictated by the client, which due to work hours, often meant unsociable timings, meaning I’d leave my house at 5.45am and return at 10pm. There are only so many hours in the day, and I was limited by this. I saw fellow PTs around me start families and struggle. They’d never see their children due to the hours, nor have the flexibility to do so: if you don’t work you don’t get paid!

When he had almost five years’ experience under his belt, he realised the time had come to listen to his entrepreneurial spirit – “I was always dabbling in small ventures as a PT” – and start his own, 100% online, business.

There was certainly room for improvement over what others were doing: “The issues I saw in the online space were an abundance of cookie-cutter plans, lack of results, and poor customer service.”

He set up RNT Fitness along with a business partner in May 2017 to “create the go-to online platform for regular, busy people to transform their bodies and change their lives – we set out to create the best one-to-one online platform available worldwide”.

Since buying out his partner 16 months later, he has built a team to help ‘scale’ his efforts. His global group of coaches have now helped customers in more than 20 countries, working according to the company values of ‘impact, service, self-master, community and lifestyle’.

As well as assembling that team, the highlights have included:

• “Building a community tribe between coaches and clients, where we’ve regularly packed out London clubs with hundreds of fellow RNT’ers!”
• Writing his book
• Growing the podcast, RNT Fitness Radio, which has now been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times in more than 90 countries.

There were also a few lows, especially “starting the company in the red after a web development deal went sour”.

While the rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship inevitably brings “the doubts, worries and anxiety that come with the responsibility of building a business, I don’t know if this is a low; it’s the life I love to lead – there’s a certain buzz that comes with it that you can’t replicate!”

For fellow aspiring entrepreneurs his message is: “Be mission-driven and build a business that transcends your day-to-day and your industry”. RNT, for example, is not only about physical transformation, but instead uses the physical to help people transform their lives for the the greater good. “Be prepared to work harder than you ever imagined with ruthless consistency for the opportunity to live a life by your own design,” he adds.

Last academic year, Akash came to QE to deliver a talk. The advice he gave to the Year 11 boys on that occasion has not changed: “Follow your passion and don’t be afraid to take the road less travelled: it’s harder, more rocky, but far more rewarding. I’d encourage all students to go against the grain like I did, and not conform to the normality of being a lawyer, banker or doctor!”

Akash’s fond memories of his own time at the School are rooted in the friendships he enjoyed there and continues to enjoy now. “I’ve been lucky enough to have an amazing peer group around me, many of whom I’ve known since my time at QE (even earlier in some cases!). You are who you surround yourself, and I’m lucky to call the following fellow OEs some of my best friends: Shyam Kotecha, Jai Doshi, Amar Amlani, Sindujen Sriharan, Bilal Harry Khan and Minil Patel.

“They’re all doing fantastically in their own endeavours, and continuously pushing themselves to greater heights. I couldn’t be prouder, nor could I be where I am without their support, belief and guidance. I’ll always be grateful for QE for bringing this group together.”

After starting his professional life at one of London’s élite Magic Circle legal firms, Oliver Harland has since single-mindedly forged a career that combines Law at the highest level with his passion for sport.

While he relished the occasional opportunities he had to work on sports cases during his years at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and even embarked on a somewhat gruelling distance-learning Master’s degree in Sports Law in his spare time to pursue his interest, it was not enough.

He had, he says, “a burning desire to be involved in professional sport – even if I finally accepted that I would never run out at Twickenham wearing the famous red rose”.

So, when the opportunity arose in 2017 to work at Northridge, a newly established firm specialising in complex sport and entertainment cases, Ollie (OE 1999-2005) jumped at the chance.

The risk has paid off. Not only has Northridge quickly become the largest sport-specific law firm in Europe and one of only two firms top-ranked for Sports Law in the most important UK legal directories (Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners), but Ollie has also thrived there and has recently been promoted to Managing Associate.

“My ambition over the next few years is to continue helping the firm to grow and to solidify its position as the firm the sports sector turns to when the stakes are highest,” he says.

He traces his love for sport back to his schooldays. “Rugby played a huge part in my upbringing. I played on Saturdays for QE and on Sundays for Saracens Amateur RFC. Many of my fondest QE memories are those from the rugby pitch, especially from my final year. Our First XV that year was not the most talented team that the School had produced – a few of us played for Hertfordshire county, but none were age-group internationals. However, we had an incredibly strong bond and played with a never-say-die attitude. That year we beat all our biggest rivals and avenged a number of painful defeats from previous years. The most satisfying was a 32-0 win against Haberdashers on their own pitch. After each game we would blast out The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army in the changing room, long before it became an anthem in professional sports grounds across the country.

“I feel immensely proud of what the rugby squad achieved that year both on and off the pitch. Much credit goes to Mr [Tim] Bennett for getting us to invest in the philosophy that, as a whole we were much greater than the sum of our parts – which I think applies to most things in life.” [Mr Bennett is pictured giving a final speech to the First and Second XV after Ollie’s last game – a victory against Berkhamsted. The second picture, below, shows the 2004-2005 First XV].

Inter-House rugby, together with cricket, also formed some significant memories for Ollie, who was Underne House Captain. “We were always a competitive house, particularly in sport. We had some epic, and often quite heated, battles with Stapylton. I still feel robbed after one match where James Tookman’s conversion was (erroneously) ruled to have missed the posts, which cost us the inter-house rugby competition!

“I no longer play rugby, but remain a fan. It has been difficult for me to watch the unfolding of the Saracens salary-cap scandal.” (His colleagues at Northridge acted for Premier Rugby Limited in its dispute with the club.)

He arrived at QE the year before Headmaster Eamonn Harris retired. “My overriding memory of [him] was his address at my first Headmaster’s assembly. He told us that, whilst we might have passed an entrance exam to get into the School, we had not yet earned the right to call ourselves ‘QE Boys’. He made clear the standards of behaviour that were expected of us (including the length of our tie) and that to succeed at the School, and in life, we would need to be hard-working and dedicated. It was equal parts inspirational and fear-inducing; it was what I needed to be told.”

Equally, Ollie clearly remembers current Headmaster Neil Enright joining the School. “He and Miss Flook (now Mrs Anne MacDonald) were my A-level Geography teachers. It was clear early on that Mr Enright would end up as Headmaster. He was incredibly enthusiastic about the subject, and about his students challenging themselves to learn more than just the syllabus. I hope they have both forgiven me for not studying Geography at university.”

After QE, he went to the University of East Anglia (UEA) to read Law with American Legal Studies – a four-year course, of which he spent the third year as an International Visiting Scholar on the Juris Doctor programme at the Brandeis Law School, University of Louisville, Kentucky, studying US Constitutional Law and trial practice (amongst other subjects).

Characteristically, he also became a fan of US collegiate sport – “Louisville has one of the best college basketball teams in the country” – and enjoyed the opportunity to attend the famous Kentucky Derby in 2008.

In 2009-10, he completed the Legal Practitioners Course (LPC) at BPP University and then, after working at a call centre, went travelling in Central and South America.

In 2011, he started at Freshfields. “I initially thought I would become a transactional lawyer; I liked the idea of being a ‘dealmaker’, without really knowing what that would entail – ‘all-nighters’ and reading through endless contracts. I quickly found that I preferred, and had greater aptitude for, litigation and dispute resolution. I enjoy the fact that, no matter who the client or what the subject matter, every case involves a human story that needs to be told.

“The highlight of my training contract was a six-month secondment to the firm’s office in New York City. I was put up in a studio apartment a few blocks away from Central Park and my office was based on the 58th floor of the Citibank Center, with spectacular views of the Chrysler Building and downtown Manhattan. I loved everything about New York City and its work hard, play hard culture. I was there during Hurricane Sandy, which made the office building sway. My apartment was only a few blocks away from a high-rise building crane that was left twisted by the wind and dangling precariously over the sidewalk below.”

Sport again played a big part in his experience. “I went to watch the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. I was also lucky enough to play ‘flag-football’ (a non-contact version of American football) and throw a touchdown pass in a charity event at the MetLife Stadium, which is home to both the New York Giants and Jets.”

In 2013, he qualified into the Financial Institutions Disputes Group (FIDG) in Freshfields’ London office. “Over the next three years I worked on a number of large and complex commercial disputes in the English High Court and two of the largest-ever regulatory investigations into the global financial services sector. These were the LIBOR and forex scandals, which centred around allegations that employees at major international banks and brokerages had colluded in the setting of inter-bank interest rates and foreign exchange rates.

“During that time, I also spent nine months on client secondment to Deutsche Bank to assist its in-house legal team respond to regulatory enquiries. I believe that client secondments are a valuable experience for any private practice solicitor, as they help to better understand a client’s business and its methods of operation.

“My time at Freshfields was excellent training. Like my time at QE, I worked with some incredibly bright and hard-working people, and the firm set very high standards. I carry those standards with me and will do so for the rest of my career.

“I worked on a couple of interesting sports matters at Freshfields, including a piece of advice on whether the FIFA World Cup could be moved from summer to winter and a review of compliance systems and control at the IAAF (now World Athletics) following allegations of corruption involving former IAAF executive officers. Those matters piqued my interest in becoming a sports lawyer on a permanent basis. Although Freshfields did some sports work, it was not a key practice area and so I began to look for practical ways to re-focus my career.”

First, in 2015, Ollie began the distance-learning Master’s (LLM) in Sports Law from De Montfort University. Continuing to work full-time, he studied during evenings and weekends.
“I recently completed the final stage, which was a 15,000-word dissertation on… match-fixing and other manipulative behaviours connected to sports betting, [looking at] whether sports’ governing bodies can effectively self-regulate against those behaviours. I hope to have some of that work published but, in short, my view is that match-fixing needs to be more widely understood as a form of financial services fraud that facilitates organised crime. It has a deep impact on society and should not be dismissed as merely a sporting issue.”

Second, in 2016, he left Freshfields and joined the sports litigation team at Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS). He had, in fact, done his work experience with CRS while at QE, spending a week working in the property litigation team. “That contact helped when making the transition from Freshfields to CRS, as I had kept in touch over the years – showing the potential value of early work experience.”

It was, he says, an exciting to join CRS, as the firm had recently won two significant instructions, namely:

• Acting as legal advisers and secretariat to the Independent Review of Integrity in Tennis, which had been commissioned after a report by the BBC and Buzzfeed News alleged ‘widespread match-fixing at the upper level of world tennis’ and accused the governing bodies of tennis of failing to take action against allegedly corrupt players. The review ultimately concluded that professional tennis had a ‘serious integrity problem’, characterised as a ‘tsunami of low-level betting and other integrity breaches’.
• Acting for the IAAF in appeal proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The appellants, including the son of the former IAAF President, were seeking to overturn the IAAF’s lifetime bans from athletics that were imposed after they were found to have run a scheme of extortion to cover up failed doping tests by Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova. CAS dismissed the appeals and upheld the bans.

“These were fascinating pieces of work that vindicated my decision to re-focus my career. However, I admit that I was naïve as to how hard it would be to work and study at the same time, and the impact it would have on my personal life. The support of my family and friends during the last five years has been invaluable and, for their benefit, I would like to declare that I have absolutely no intention of studying for a PhD.”

It was during this period that he worked on the case that he regards as the highlight of his career to date. “I was contacted by a former colleague who put me in touch with a young English footballer. The player wanted to move clubs to secure regular first-team football, and his club was resisting his request to leave. With our assistance, and knowledge of The FA’s Youth Development Rules, the player was permitted to move overseas. The player was not then a household name but is now recognised as one of the brightest young prospects in English football – Jadon Sancho.”

Sancho, who now plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, was part of the England youth team that won the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup and made his debut for the England senior team in 2018. “It has been incredible to watch his trajectory since joining Dortmund and to have played a small part in his story.

Ollie was not at CRS for long before the opportunity came to join Northridge, founded by four partners from CRS in October 2017. A significant number of CRS’ sports lawyers and their clients went with them. Northridge regularly acts for governing bodies, sports leagues and clubs, athletes, technology businesses, leisurewear brands and high-growth and investor-backed businesses.

“Joining a brand-new firm felt risky at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight was entirely the right decision. I enjoy being part of a smaller, close-knit, firm that has serious ambitions but also wants to operate differently from other law firms.”

As examples of these ambitions, he cites: the firm’s innovative profit-sharing pool that ensures all staff (and not just partners) are invested in the firm’s success, and Northridge TRACK, which is “effectively a club to support and connect high-growth businesses in the sports technology sectors”.

In his own work for the firm, Ollie has spent considerable time working for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). He was part of a team that re-wrote and modernised the Rules of Racing – a project begun in late 2016 (through CRS) and completed last year that involved condensing more than 1,000 pages into just 228 pages of new rules. “I had to quickly become an expert in the regulation of a sport that I previously knew very little about, except for having the occasional flutter on the Grand National – a challenging but rewarding project.”

He was also seconded to the BHA’s Compliance and Regulatory team to help review and prosecute alleged breaches of the Rules of Racing before the authority’s independent judicial panel. This mainly involved bringing charges against jockeys, trainers and other regulated persons suspected of offences such as doping and placing bets in contravention of the rules.

“My secondment to the BHA has now come to an end, but I hope to continue working on these types of cases as solicitor-advocate for both the BHA and other clients in front of sporting regulatory panels.”

Northridge adjusted well to life in lockdown when the pandemic crisis erupted, Ollie reports. “It is fairly straightforward for solicitors to work from home, subject to having a laptop and stable internet connection.

“However, it is a challenging time for many of the firm’s clients, with professional sports suspended across the world and large numbers of people in the sector on furlough.

“From a social perspective, there is the question of when it is safe for professional sport to resume and, what impact it might have on the global recovery from COVID-19. Governing bodies, leagues and clubs risk liability if they come back too soon and/or are found not to have put in place adequate health protections for staff and spectators.”

From a sporting and commercial perspective, there are other issues, including the question of what to do about the fixtures remaining in a suspended season, about promotions and relegations, and about the season itself – as well as whether sponsors and broadcasters are owed refunds, whether prize money should be paid and about what happens to athletes and staff who are now out of contract before the season has ended. “There are no easy answers to these questions and, whatever the outcome, it is likely that at least some of sports’ stakeholders will suffer significant losses owing to lost revenue and potential future earnings.”

While he no longer plays rugby, Ollie has by no means given up participating in sport himself. Besides being a keen skier (“I first learnt to ski on the QE ski trip to Lake Tahoe, USA”), he has discovered a great passion for running.

It is, he acknowledges, a remarkable turn of events, given his debut in competitive cross-country running in a Games lesson – one of his earliest memories from QE. “I hated every second of that race and fell over face first about 50 metres from the finish, much to the amusement of the 20 or so others who had already finished. I remember crossing the finishing line – red-faced and wheezing – and my former Games teacher, Mr [Richard] Sleight, saying: ‘Don’t worry, you won’t have to do many more of those’. It makes me laugh thinking about how little each of us knew about the role that running would later play in my life, and the many hundreds of miles I would voluntarily choose to run.”

Having initially taken up running at university merely as a way to get fit for rugby, he has, over time, come to cherish it as a sport. “I enjoy the journey of self-discovery that comes with dedicated training and pushing oneself beyond self-imposed physical and mental limits. I also find running to be calming and meditative; I lace up my trainers whenever I need to clear my head or think through a difficult problem.

“A few years ago, I set myself the goal of completing the six Abbott World Marathon Majors (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York). So far, I have completed four of the six races, with Tokyo and Boston still to go. Both the 2020 Tokyo and Boston marathons were disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I remain hopeful that one I day will run those races but it is unlikely to happen in the near future.

“Boston is the hardest to get into as there is no public ballot, and entry is gained by running a qualifying time. For my age group (18-34), the current qualifying time is 3hrs 00mins 00secs but there is also a field limit on the number of runners each year. This means that running the qualifying time does not guarantee an accepted entry.

“At the 2019 London marathon, I finally ran a qualifying time (2hrs 59min 59sec) but missed the cut-off (2hr 58min 21sec) for accepted entry. I was initially disappointed to miss out by such a small margin but, on reflection, am proud to have achieved something that I would have never dreamed possible only a few years ago.”

Ollie currently lives in Brockley, south-east London with his girlfriend, Victoria. His mum, Sue, and stepfather, Gavin, will, he says, be familiar figures for some OEs. “Mum used to help on weekends with rugby first-aid and cricket teas (she still has a QE polo shirt to prove it). Gavin was a police officer at High Barnet police station and used to enjoy checking up on the rugby team when he was out on the beat. Mum and Gav [pictured above with Ollie and Victoria] moved to a village near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, shortly after I left QE. They are both happily retired and live with their two golden retrievers.”

Ollie himself remains close friends with Michael Ajayi  (OE 1998–2005) and often bumps into OEs at legal sector events.

After two life-changing years in Shanghai, Anand Dattani is back in London, with a new job, a fresh perspective on his career and his own reflections on what a post-pandemic world will mean for business.

His current professional life as a Business Development Specialist with start-up PowerPay – a company offering Chinese e-payment services to European shops so they can attract high-spending Chinese tourists – is very different from the six years he spent with Deutsche Bank.

“Having worked at a global investment bank, and for small/medium-sized start-ups, I’ve realised that for me, it is not about the company size anymore, or the ‘thrill’ of the start-up, but about finding a role where, firstly, my particular contribution is making a genuine difference to the company’s success, and secondly I can see where it is taking me in 3-5 years. (I learned from my first manager never to fixate on something beyond five years because a lot can change in that time.)”

In fact, neither his time with Deutsche Bank nor his current role bear much resemblance to the career path he originally embarked upon. Anand left QE in 2006 and was, he believes, the only leaver at that time who chose to study Optometry at university. “This was something I’d looked at doing since I was 15 and did the two-week voluntary work experience at an optician’s. But when doing the UCAS applications, I was torn between Optometry and a business-based degree, largely down to being good at, and enjoying, A-level Economics.”

In the end, although he enjoyed the course at Cardiff and made friends there, after a year, he switched to Cass Business School, where he gained a first-class degree in Investment and Financial Risk Management.

This led to a summer internship and, eventually, a graduate offer at Deutsche Bank. At this point, still not knowing exactly what he wanted to do, he, like many other graduates at Deutsche Bank, followed the well-worn path of undertaking graduate programmes in banking, accounting and consultancy.

“Only after rotating at different desks did I realise what areas and which job role suited me most: I chose the Strategy & Business Management division. My reasons at the time were that I enjoyed building relationships, especially with senior management, and wanted to become comfortable at giving professional presentations that could impact strategic decisions – plus, the numerical skills that QE’s excellent teaching gave me proved very handy in this role.

“After six or so years, I’d experienced periods of loving my role and career progression, and also periods of being stagnant and feeling this wasn’t my long-term vision. And while I could have comfortably stayed at Deutsche Bank and been part of a team that valued me, I had a strong desire to work abroad and also understand the growing start-up space. So I was going to networking events just to connect with some of the bright minds behind upcoming start-ups.

“Eventually I took a big risk and chose international exposure over job security and moved to Shanghai.”

For Anand, having to “start again”, both professionally and socially, involved frequent attendance at networking events, volunteering to help where possible, as well as joining sports teams. In fact, Anand has this advice for anyone interested in working abroad: “You have to be prepared to put in the time to proactively and independently get your name and face ‘out there’ (especially if there is any sales element involved).

“The biggest thing I noticed was how quickly I was able to build a strong network there – even my close friends would say that in six months I had got to know more people than they had in three years. One of the reasons is that in such a global city with a large expat community, people are much more open to broadening their network and making new connections.”

And it was through growing this network that I found a job at the China-based tech startups. His work while based in China’s biggest city included a post as a private wealth consultant for the deVere Group, as well as roles with blockchain platform Younus and with No NDA (nonda), a leader in app-enabled automotive accessories.

There were also a number of ‘side projects’. “One of my friends had recommended me to fill her place on a panel to judge a Dragons Den-style two-day workshop for 400 Chinese students to present their ‘air pollution improvement’ solutions. Following this, other opportunities came, including one to present on cross-cultural communication differences to 50 local teachers. While I only ever reached intermediate level in speaking Mandarin, it certainly served as a bonus. (But the power of being fluent in the language opens up a lot of doors.)”

In the end, Anand concludes, the move to the other side of the world was well worth the risk. “The experiences I have gained professionally and personally in two years were far more than I had gained in the six years at Deutsche Bank.”

Anand returned to London a few months before the pandemic was declared. “The crisis has been a great time of reflection. Working in a business development role for a payments start-up meant that the lockdown has closed out any new business. So life has become very different to if I had still been at Deutsche Bank.

“But it’s also meant I’ve been forced into this huge chunk of free time that you never expect to get once you leave university. It has allowed me to look into some of the long-list of ‘to-do’s’ that build up over the years that you never seem to be able to find time to do, including online courses on programming, fitness goals and looking into a side business that I’d thought of over two years back.

“My realisation is that it’s very easy to become dependent on the job you have – it takes up the largest part of your time, leaving you normally with evenings and weekends to pursue your non-work objectives.. during which time most are tired from working all day.

“The pandemic has greatly sped up a change that was slowly happening, where certain jobs were no longer as safe and dependable (and well paid) as they once were, and people need to be able to know what else they want to explore and achieve in case things don’t go as planned for them. It’s important that people are always working in some capacity towards their goal – and if that is already happening through their job and free time, then they are in a good place.

“My educational and career path certainly hasn’t been one straight line, which may give some of the current and former Elizabethans some comfort that it is ok to explore options, and understand what it is you really want to do and are good at along the way.”

In his spare time, Anand has completed a number of solo trips across Central and South America – “a huge eye opener and character-builder, which definitely helped me with my move to Shanghai” –and is keen to visit more countries once the pandemic has subsided, including South Africa and Australia.

As for memories of School, Geography classes with current Headmaster Neil Enright “never disappointed”, says Anand (OE 1999–2006). “I would be interested to know if he’s ever had a class like ours.* A fond memory is the day he told us ‘I have some good news for you all: instead of you having the free period shown on Wednesday afternoon (which would have meant us going home early), I’ll teach you for the extra half-hour.’ It looked like he genuinely thought the class would be pleased to hear this.”

He is still in touch with several Old Elizabethans, including his contemporaries Jamie Wolfson, Dominic St George and Fabio Castagno, as well as Jay Shetty.

*  The Headmaster replies: “Anand’s class was certainly a memorable one. It was a large group full of lively minds. Teaching them was great fun and I recall lots of laughter. They were outstanding geographers who did really well and I am not surprised that they have gone on to secure stellar careers.”

At this unprecedented time for schools and for society, our primary concern at the School is the wellbeing of all those in the Elizabethan community.

I am very conscious of the dedication and sacrifice of the many Old Elizabethans working so hard in the NHS and in other front-line professions. We are proud of the contribution they are making to the national effort.

We are doing what we can, too. Our Head of Technology, Michael Noonan, is currently using our 3D printers to manufacture face shields (a vital part of medics’ Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE) for the NHS. We have also worked with Dr Ahmer Farooqi, Director of the Barnet GP Federation (and a QE dad), to donate our supply of 228 pairs of eye protection glasses for use by local GPs in Barnet.

We are rapidly adapting to a new way of working and have instituted remote learning for all of the boys. Of course, eQE is already well established as a platform for complementary independent learning, but in the current situation it has now become our primary method for delivering education to the boys. We are challenging ourselves as a staff body to make lessons and activities as interactive and exciting as possible, and we are taking the opportunity to advance the School’s digital development, not just in terms of delivering the core curriculum, but also by thinking about what outstanding extra-curricular and pastoral provision looks like in this context. I am currently holding all staff meetings via Zoom’s video-conferencing software, for example, and we are looking at trialling this for learning activities, too. As we grapple with how we can ensure that the boys not only remain on track with their studies, but access as many opportunities to enrich themselves as possible, we are at the same time trying to maintain QE’s sense of community.

The strength of that community across the generations was evident in the numbers who contacted me to say that they wished to attend the memorial service that we had planned for Eamonn Harris. Unfortunately, the service had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I am pleased to say, however, that we have been able to include three profiles of School Captains from Eamonn’s time as Headmaster in this edition of Alumni News.

We have had to cancel all in-person alumni events, but I would emphasise that we want to be there for alumni, just as we are for current pupils and their families. In addition to this newsletter, we are continuing to publish content about old boys in the Alumni section of the School website. I also remind all Old Elizabethans that you can make useful connections through QE Connect, whether those are with current boys or with other OEs. At this difficult time, let us help each other.

Another cancellation arising from the current crisis has been of this summer’s public examinations. While I well understand the disappointment that many of our boys are feeling at being thus deprived of the opportunity to show their prowess, they are still to receive grades, so the transition to university should continue in a similar way to normal.

One undoubted highlight of this term was the news that 40 boys have been offered Oxbridge places. This is a new record for QE and represents a very considerable achievement, for the boys individually and for the School. Twenty-seven places are for Cambridge, the remaining 13 for Oxford.

For any school in pursuit of academic excellence, Oxbridge places constitute a useful metric. It is evidence that, as a state school and a meritocracy, QE is effectively providing pathways to world-leading universities for bright students, regardless of their social, racial or religious background.

As the speaker at our Year 12 luncheon, Sonita Alleyne OBE told our sixth-formers: “If you get the grades, you belong.” Since she is the first-ever black Master of any Oxbridge college and the first female Master at Jesus College, Cambridge, this message carries special resonance. During her visit, she also met the three final-year boys – Drew Sellis, Reza Sair and Bhiramah Rammanohar – who hold offers from Jesus College for the autumn.

Oxbridge offers should certainly be celebrated, and there has been great news for others, too, with many boys holding offers for courses such as Medicine and Dentistry, for example. There are interesting opportunities overseas, with 12 boys applying to US universities and one to Japan; one pupil has been awarded a $180,000 scholarship to study at the University of Toronto, based on academic merit – our first-ever offer from a Canadian university, as far as I am aware. Applications have been made across disciplines including Arabic, Classics, Criminology, Music, and Optometry, alongside subjects more commonly chosen by our boys.

Nottingham remains a popular choice of university here, with some 50 Elizabethan undergraduates currently studying there, not to mention post-graduate students. I was therefore pleased to welcome as our Senior Awards guest speaker, Professor Shearer West, Vice-Chancellor at Nottingham. At the ceremony, we recognised the scholarship and endeavours of boys from Years 10–12. In a new departure, we had planned a special valediction later in the year for Year 13; we hope this will still be able to take place.

Old Elizabethan help made a significant contribution to this year’s Oxbridge successes. Indeed, alumni now consistently play an important role in our senior boys achieving the best outcomes, lending their support through initiatives such as our USP (Universities Support Programme) and the inaugural Mock Interview Evening. Lectures and talks given by our alumni are also important in this regard: this term has seen Google manager Nikolai Donko (OE 2000-2007) enthusiastically championing ‘tech’ careers to the Upper School,  McKinsey Business Analyst Kiran Modi (OE 2007-2014) speaking to our aspiring economists, and Jordan Wan (OE 2004–2011) sharing with Year 9 boys insights into his work as an NHS Clinical Scientist Trainee. And when, during the winter, QE teams won two of the four main prizes (including the overall first prize) in the Institution of Civil Engineers’ #ICanEngineer competition in our first year of entry, another old boy, Karan Dewnani (OE 2006-2013) was on hand to greet them in the offices of engineering firm, Jacobs. Karan works for Jacobs as a Civil Engineer in the rail industry and, as a STEM Ambassador, was supporting the competition organisers on the day.

Very importantly, as I made clear in my speech at Senior Awards, the successes achieved by our senior boys are also the result of our emphasis on free-thinking scholarship throughout the entire School. Our focus is on the fundamental attributes that underpin scholarship, which include the nurturing of intellectual exploration beyond the bounds of the examination syllabus. We are open to expressions of scholarship which come in different guises and are inspired by different sources, such as the award-winning podcasts of George the Poet (George Mpanga, OE 2002–2009), or the work of another Old Elizabethan poet, Anthony Anaxagorou (1994–1999). We recognise that scholarship involves creativity (in the sciences as well as the arts), and that it can be emotional as well as empirical.

We are highly committed to excellence and to ensuring that it is evident in all the different facets of the School’s life. Our new Music School will be important as a venue for the creative arts and we recognise that the physical environment is a factor in the encouragement of scholarship. Alongside all the other ongoing improvement works taking place here, we are now out to tender for the build phase. We have ‘specced out’ the building, which will include a valuable social space (the atrium), and a recital hall.

While the operation of the School is inevitably disrupted at this time, as we look to the future, we are fortunate that the Elizabethan community is so strong. That strength will certainly see us through the present crisis, just as it has helped Queen Elizabeth’s School withstand other grave challenges in our 447-year history.

My very best wishes to you and your families. Thank you for your understanding and support, please stay in touch and, to repeat a widely used but nonetheless appropriate sentiment: stay safe.

Neil Enright
Headmaster

Having worked for one of the UK’s best-known companies for 18 years, Neil Trinnaman is quick to extol the advantages of staying with one employer.

A former School Captain under Eamonn Harris, he cherishes happy memories of his days at QE and highlights the impact his Headmaster had on the School and on him – including giving him a lifelong love of drinking tea!

Neil (OE 1991–1997) is a Senior Pharmacy Manager in Boots’ Digital Healthcare Programme and lives in Nottingham, where the health, beauty and pharmacy chain’s headquarters is based. He has worked for the company throughout his entire career to date.

“So why Boots for 18 years? Whilst it is popular to move companies frequently, with many believing that ‘the grass is greener’, working for a large company like Boots has given me great opportunity, with a great variation of roles, without the need to do this. I have been able to move to several different areas of the business, gaining experience of all its aspects, and along the way I have visited all corners of the UK, meeting with many great suppliers and discussing ways to partner with the NHS.

“What gets me out of bed every day and keeps me working for Boots is that whilst it is a commercial organisation, there is a real purpose beyond profit that unites the team, helping people feel better each day.”

Eamonn Harris was Neil’s Headmaster throughout his time at QE, while Mr Harris’s successor as Head, Dr John Marincowitz, was his Head of Sixth Form.

“I was part of Broughton and took part in all the activities that School had to offer, including music (trumpet – unfortunately I don’t play anymore!) and sport, where I loved athletics and playing rugby; I have enjoyed the game ever since. Two sports teachers stand out: Mr [Robert] Relton (who co-incidentally was the Headteacher two years ago for a school my sister taught at in Abu Dhabi!) and Mr [David] Maughan. They were both great teachers in their inimitable way. I always remember the warm-ups – having to do 20 press ups and sit-ups at each corner of the pitch, and if you were too slow running around the pitch, Mr Maughan often repeating: ‘What are you waiting for – a stab in the back?’. That, and of course the infamous cross-country runs and the classic elephant dip that every QE boy will remember!”

He also remembers Mr Chandler – “a great inspiration for Design, and I remember taking part in a national competition with his support, coming in the top ten in the country”. He also recalls Mr [Colin] Price, praising his “great calmness and simple way of explaining maths which I benefitted from”.

Then, he says, there was Mr Harris: “Undoubtedly a great headteacher. The one thing that really sticks in my mind was his presence around the School. He didn’t have to say a lot for pupils to know he was there and for them to behave, as he was clear about what was expected of them – impeccable behaviour and demonstrating clear and adult responsibility as being part of the School.

“One of his trademarks was in assembly each morning. With the usual buzz of everyone talking, the prefects would try to hush the crowd, usually unsuccessfully. Mr Harris would never have to come in and shout or usher silence. Instead, he would walk in and sit at the table at the front and then wait and watch. Inevitably, it never took long for silence to follow, as no one dared to continue with their conversation knowing that he was watching.

“I don’t think I have ever since seen anyone hold an audience in the way that he did. And when he did speak, he spoke with real passion about the ethics of how a school should be run, which was jointly admired by parents – certainly one of the clinching reasons for my parents choosing to send me to QE.”

A particularly strong personal memory is of the day he was invited by Eamonn Harris to be the 1996 School Captain. “I remember it for a few reasons. I was nervous, having been summoned to his office unaware of the appointment, and then of course being immensely proud when he asked me to take up the position. But I also remember that he asked me what I wanted to drink when I entered the office, the choice being ‘tea or coffee’. I didn’t drink either, but being too nervous to refuse, or to ask for anything different, I went for what I thought was the lesser of the two dislikes and had tea. From that day, I have drunk it and it has continued to be a favourite ever since! “

Following QE, Neil went to Bath University for four years, successfully obtaining a Business Management degree. He undertook two work placements during the course. One of them was for Boots in Nottingham, where he was offered a permanent role. It was also there that he met his wife-to-be, Toni. “Two good reasons to return to Nottingham!”

He spent the first part of his time with Boots within the company’s extensive supply chain, working in a number of different roles in warehouse management, category management and in “significant supply-chain change programmes.

“During the second half, I have worked within Pharmacy, from store operations, to leading the running of our hospital pharmacies, to leading our electronic prescriptions growth agenda and now, as a senior business lead for Boots, leading our digital transformation at a really exciting and pivotal time for Pharmacy. Last year the programme that I am leading won Cross Functional Team of the Year, which was a really proud moment.

“In an industry that has seen relatively small changes in the last few decades and with the NHS consistently under pressure from an ageing population, Boots are perfectly placed to shape and create a new healthcare model, particularly with digital developments. This should fundamentally mean that customers and patients will receive better care in the future, whether this is preventative or curative, in a more cost-effective and convenient way.

“Outside of work, I have lived in Nottingham since I left university and have been married to Toni, my amazing wife, for nearly 15 years and have two incredible kids, Ralf, 11, and Lois who is nearly nine. We are a tight-knit and loving family and have spent many happy years together, recently extending our house to create a lovely family home. We all love music and holidays, travelling to as many different places as possible. Our favourite has been Italy, although fortunately we haven’t booked a holiday this year, given all that is going on.

“I still love sport and this has always been a big part in my life. I played rugby and football for many years, until recently where my knee has decided enough is enough! Recently, it has largely been watching and following the kids, getting involved in their activities. However I do still like to keep fit and have continued to run (not because of the cross-country at school!) and have run two London marathons in the last few years and a number of half-marathons, as well as completing a London-to-Paris bike ride.”

Neil also manages to keep up with a group of School friends a couple of times a year: “As Alex Gilbert has suggested, this is the group named the ‘QE exiles’ and has been going for many years! It is great to catch up over a drink when I am down in London and to see the variety of jobs that everyone is doing. It’s good that we live close enough to be able to do this on a regular basis, although not as regular as I would like.”

James Slessor is a world expert in public safety who leads teams that help police, law enforcement, justice and national security departments become more efficient and respond effectively to ever-more complex challenges.

James was at QE from 1988 to 1995 and says his time as a pupil – and especially 1994, when he was School Captain – proved to be a good foundation, giving him leadership, organisational and public-speaking skills that he still uses in his job today.

He went from QE to read Geography at Bristol, from where he graduated with a First in 1998. After spending some time travelling through Africa, he went on to join Accenture (then still known as Andersen Consulting), where he has built a career in the firm’s Government practice. He has now been with Accenture for more than 20 years.

He has worked extensively across the UK criminal justice system with organisations including the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, the Home Office and Ministry of Justice. Today, he supports a number of Accenture’s public safety engagements across the US, Europe, South Africa and Asia Pacific.

He continues to be based in London and now as a Managing Director, James leads Accenture’s Global Public Safety practice. This covers Accenture’s work in policing, law enforcement, justice and national security, and draws together the latest international insight to build new strategies, operating models, processes and technology solutions, and helps to drive innovation for public safety agencies.

“Overall, I help these organisations enhance operational performance, increase efficiency and deliver improved outcomes to the public. I have worked across strategic consulting engagements such as efficiency and effectiveness reviews, workforce transformations and system requirements analysis, through to stakeholder and programme management on large-scale transformational programmes.

“This is a unique and fascinating role – where I get to both look at the common challenges public safety agencies face (pace of change, new types of threat risk and harm, increasing citizen expectations and increased levels of digitisation), but also have an understanding of local and cultural differences.”

He helps local teams develop solutions which take both these common challenges and differences into account. Increasingly, the threats which public safety agencies have to deal with are global in nature, and almost all crime now has a digital component, he says, so Accenture’s clients are having to evolve to meet this and to become increasingly proactive.

“For example, at the moment I am very focused on balancing the need to help public safety agencies make the most of new technologies and innovations to keep up with, and ideally stay ahead of, the threat, but at the same time making sure that public privacy is respected and public trust and confidence in public safety remains high. I find that when you operate in a global role, it generally requires considerable levels of empathy and understanding so that these commonalities and differences are understood.

“I also think this is a skill I started to develop at QE in general – and especially during my time a School Captain – where the art of understanding others and developing the power of persuasion were critical.”

James adds that his schooldays have brought him benefits in other ways, too. One example is that those years equipped him for his work leading teams made up of a diverse range of people tackling an equally diverse range of objectives.

“The opportunities which I was lucky to have at QE, for example being in the CCF, have all helped  and allowed me to develop these skills.”

“I am often asked to speak at conferences and industry meetings – and continue to feel that the many opportunities QE afforded me to develop my public-speaking and debating skills have assisted me with this – and I still use many of the tricks and techniques I learnt back at school.”

James has written extensively in leading industry publications on a range of policing topics, including the use of social media, police information management, analytics and digital disruption. “The development of thought leadership, looking to the future and what this might mean for public safety is a large part of my role,” he adds.

“I am married to Nikki, and whilst I am lucky to travel quite lot with work, I also enjoy travelling in general and have driven across India in a Tuk-Tuk and climbed a volcano in Sumatra. However, that has reduced in the last couple of years as I now have a young daughter – which I think, as every parent will know, means quite literally every day is a learning day and generally you don’t get it right first time round!”

Visesh Gosrani’s career has taken him from the City of London to the tech hubs of Shoreditch, then across the Atlantic to Silicon Valley, before bringing him back full-circle to the City.

Through all these changes of location, there is one common thread around which he has built his career: insurance. “Whilst most people regard this facet of life as nothing more than an administrative pain, insurance has provided me with a passion where I continuously find a new challenge to keep me on my toes,” he says.

Having started out in mainstream insurance, Visesh (OE 1995-1997), who lives in north London, is now focused on the more rarefied area of cyber risk.

Visesh’s family were moving to London as he started his Sixth Form years, and his previous headmaster recommended he apply to QE. Having been accepted, he set about his School career in Barnet with vigour.

In fact, with rather too much vigour, on occasion. He recalls Mr Davis, Head of Chemistry at the time, being unimpressed with the “high jinks” of him and his classmates in creating some explosive mixtures during lessons – “he seemed to think that was distinctly passé”. They had to redo that section of their coursework over the half-term holiday.

Another initiative Visesh was involved in was the creation of a Sixth Form tuck shop. He and a small band of others were entrusted with taking a disused space and hawking wares that, he says, might be frowned upon in today’s society – “not a piece of fruit to be seen and constantly reordering pickled onion Monster Munch”.

The team raised in excess of £1,000 for School funds in the first term, securing the future for this Sixth Form perk. In fact, term after term they managed to increase their fundraising successes, with Visesh enjoying playing suppliers off against each other, as he drove costs down. He even managed to bring some product promotions to the tuckshop.

After A-levels, Visesh studied Business Mathematics and Statistics at the London School of Economics and then pursued a career as an actuary, starting with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2000.

While it was his love of Mathematics that pushed him in the general direction of actuarial science, it was the Old Elizabethan network which provided him with his first actual taste of such a career, when he spent a week shadowing an OE who had qualified as a Life Actuary and was working for Canada Life. As Visesh saw the importance of the actuary’s role in meetings – from those focused on marketing to those that examined the company’s financial strength or dealt with a complex fraudulent claim – he quickly came to appreciate the impact that an actuary could have across an entire organisation.

After ten years in consulting, he was offered the opportunity to be part of the turn-around of a mortgage insurer, Genworth Financial, at the height of the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

It was, says Visesh, a huge growth experience for him, as the deeper his team dug into the issues the organisation had, the more he found: he realised ignorance can sometimes be bliss. However, the additional intelligence his team found cleared the way for the organisation to be able to negotiate commercial deals to settle its liabilities.

The firm was continually restructuring during this period and, in what was an unsettling environment for most of the staff, Visesh found fresh opportunity as he was seen as a safe pair of hands to take on responsibilities in areas where restructuring had left no leader. Through this, he realised that he was more inclined to a wider risk-management career, and when there was no further opportunity to grow within Genworth, he took the role of Deputy Chief Risk Officer at a Lloyds of London managing agency, being promoted to Chief Risk Officer a year later.

It was then that he seized the opportunity to set up independently. A chance conversation with an old university friend prompted them to join forces and set up an ‘insurtech’ – industry slang for an entity that uses insurance and technology to solve an insurance problem. The insurtech attempted to find a solution to an issue with which insurers had been wrestling – the difficulty in finding good insurance risks for home insurance.

“In a nutshell, we developed a method to identify people’s true potential for risk. In plain English, what this meant was that the method could differentiate between two similar people, one of whom might just pull the door shut behind them when they leave the house, while the other would deadlock the door and double-check it.”

Early on, this development interested a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to whom Visesh was introduced by a friend. He mentored Visesh and his fellow co-founder and then offered them the opportunity to apply their method to the growing corporate cyber risk insurance market.

This turn in Visesh’s career also led to one of his career highlights. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development were recognising the huge potential impact of cyber risk, and Visesh was asked to be a speaker on the challenges impeding the development of the cyber insurance market at a specially convened OECD conference in 2018. The event gave him greater insight into the governmental mindset around this risk.

Another highlight has been his election as Chair of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Cyber Risk Working Party –  “a research effort focused on understanding the impact of cyber risk on insurance and on the other industries actuaries are involved in.”

Recently, he says, “it has become clearer that the culture and competence elements that are so important to cyber risk are also important to other facets of insurance and that it is possible to utilise these. I have refocused my specialist area to be more about culture, competence and its impact on insurance.” A three-year-old cyber risk-modelling start-up firm has just appointed him to its advisory board.

When Visesh reflects on his career to date, he credits QE with laying two significant foundations: “Firstly, you are the average of those people you spend your time with. Needless to say, the calibre of the boys at QE is exceptional and that naturally spurred many to a higher level than they might otherwise have aimed for. Secondly, there is the wealth of opportunities – QE offered an incredibly varied range of ways in which to participate in School life. This participation was not limited to the few, either: almost everyone took part in some form.”

“When thinking of the advice I would give my younger self or any other QE boy setting out on his career, it is to find a subject and a vocation that you are passionate about. When you enjoy your area, it comes through in your willingness to work hard at it and speak about it to others. Given you spend more of your waking life on your career than anything else, it is important that you love what you do and, even if it feels like a U-turn or change might mean you’ve wasted some of your history, it is better than setting sail for a lifetime of drudgery!”

The OE whom he shadowed at Canada Life is not the only way in which the QE experience has had an impact on the rest of his life: he met, Nishma, the girl who would later become his wife, through QE friends.

Visesh and his wife have been listed in the Asian Power 100 List for the last three years. She juggles her demanding consulting career with her drive to ensure equitable treatment for all. This has entailed opening doors for minorities in financial services, the performing arts and other sectors, and also improving transparency through her efforts to realise gender pay gap reporting. Nishma Gosrani was awarded an OBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list.

“I also credit my three-year-old son with keeping me grounded with his typical black-and-white views on the actions of his daddy – and for demonstrating how some of the simplest things in life can bring such great pleasure.”

Daniel Cobban, an aficionado of the gothic genre, has had a horror novel published, based on a ghostly tale from Lancashire folklore.

The 251-page book, The Curse of Peg O’Nell: or The Demon of the Well, has already been attracting five-star reviews online.

According to the local legends, Peg O’Nell was a servant who worked at Waddow Hall, home of the prominent Starkie family, in the 1800s. A spirited girl, she often argued with her mistress. On one occasion, her mistress sent her to fetch water and added that she hoped Peg broke her neck. Some time later, on an icy night, this wish came true, with Peg falling into the nearby Ribble.

After that, not only did the Starkies suffer hard times, with many believing it was Peg’s curse on the family, but other ghostly stories also entered local folklore.

Daniel (OE 1994–2001), who currently lives in Clitheroe, Lancashire, said: “Peg O’Nell is perhaps the most talked-about and iconic piece of folklore in the county. She is a mysterious water spirit who dwells in the River Ribble and, although usually dormant, is said to return every seven years, demanding her septennial sacrifice – animal or human, she doesn’t mind – but either way, no one is guaranteed any safety on Peg’s night.”

“I’m a big fan of the Victoriana and gothic genres of literature, and I couldn’t resist fleshing out a full gothic/folk story about Peg O’Nell,” said Daniel, who wrote under the pen name, Daniel Nicholas Cobban and was published by Scottish house, Beul Athris Publishing, who specialise in folklore, among other genres. “It took a lot of research and patience!”

Looking back at his school days, Daniel especially remembers his A-level English classes with great fondness. “Mr [Eric] Houston and Miss [Victoria] Maule were both amazing at helping us get to grips with challenging texts such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience and Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

“Also, as a writer, I deeply appreciated the fact that the School encouraged creative writing: I remember participating in a creative writing competition in Year 8 (or the second year, we called it back then!) and I achieved the runner-up position.”

After QE, Daniel studied English and film at Glasgow University. He qualified as a TEFL teacher and spent some time teaching English to elementary school children in Mexico a few years ago.

“I’m currently a supervisor at a restaurant in my home town Clitheroe, and the flexibility of the hours helps me to continue embracing my passion for writing.”

Having experienced the highs and lows of life as an élite rower, paralympian Tom Aggar is now revelling in his new career as a teacher.

Tom (OE 1995-2002), who until he retired was the longest-serving member of the GB Para-rowing squad, won the gold medal in the Arms-Shoulders Men’s Single Scull at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008, and was crowned World Champion in the same discipline in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011. He bowed out of rowing while still competing at the highest level, having taken bronze at the Paralympics in Rio in 2016.

He is now teaching full-time at Claires Court Senior Boys, an independent day school in Maidenhead, and has heard during lockdown that, following his successful final submissions under the teacher-training process, he is now fully qualified as a teacher.

“After retiring from competitive rowing, I worked for a pharmaceutical firm for a short time, before taking the plunge and training as a teacher,” he says. “I had always thought about teaching, but for one reason or another had talked myself out of it. I should have trusted my instincts as I have thoroughly enjoyed my time teaching so far.”

Tom who read Bio Sciences at Warwick University, teaches Chemistry and Biology.

“It’s a fairly small school (by QE standards) of around 450 boys, but very sporty and a really great environment to work in. It’s funny now, as a teacher, how many of the QE standards I find myself holding the boys to here!”

Tom was an accomplished sportsman at QE and has fond memories of his time as a pupil. “I played rugby for so many years with a great group of friends; I really enjoyed my studies, particularly into the Sixth Form. I also had the opportunity to represent the School at so many sports throughout my time there.”

Tom was injured in a non-sports related accident in 2005 and took up rowing as part of his rehabilitation programme. “[Former Headmaster] John Marincowitz and the whole School were so very supportive of me after my injury and it has been great to still keep in touch with QE,” he says.

When Tom stepped down from competitive rowing, he took a break from sport and all the training for a while. But now he tries to keep fit and trains before work most mornings. “I guess old habits are hard to break, and although I don’t miss the pressure that came with being on the team and competing, I still enjoy keeping active.”

Tom is married to Vicki and they have three children, two boys and a girl. He enjoys spending his spare time with them, going for walks and swimming.

“Both the boys have started playing rugby now at Maidenhead in the U7 and U6s, so most of my Sunday mornings are spent on the side of a rugby pitch now!”