King Edward's School Home Old Edwardians Website

1990 - 1999

Andrew Brown (1990)

Following an MBA from New York, I started a company that genetically modifies chicken and turkey to give the texture of pork products such as prosciutto and bacon, which I then export to Israel. Such is the success of the products that I will soon be exporting also to the whole of the Middle East and North Africa. Married my childhood sweetheart, Sharon Gaywood, and have four children - Elliott, Brooke, Nicholas and Jacob - we live in Tel Aviv, where the business is based now. Any Old Eds are welcome to come and stay anytime, especially Barny Miller and anyone from Jewish society. (25/7/14)

Jonathan Frank (1990)

A quick catch up on the last 20 years (having only just joined the OEs now that they're not charging through the nose!). Having read maths at Oxford I worked for IBM, CPAS (an Anglican church charity), Caret (strategy and leadership consultancy), and the NHS, before in 2009 moving to Worthing to become Chief Executive of a Christian charity called Feba Radio, which uses media to bring life-changing hope to hard-to-reach communities, including places through the Middle East, Africa and central and south Asia. Married to Liz in May 1999. Three daughters now, who in the first few months of 2012 will turn 10, 7 and 4. (28/1/12)

Oliver Heslop (1990)

Along with Rowit Kushwaha (1990) and Miles Parker (1990), I took part in the fastest ever tricycle expedition across the Atacama Desert. Miles was in charge of steering whilst I had Rowit to my rear, as in the old school days. We raised well over £300 for charity in total and once Miles has recovered from a significant bout of Fibromyalgia, we intend to attempt to row a 6ft dinghy in early 2012 from Sri Lanka to East Timor, blindfolded, within the record time of 41 weeks and 1 day. This time we hope to raise over £500 for AIDS and hope any Old Edwardian friends of ours would contribute. (4/11/11)

I am delighted to announce my marriage to childhood sweetheart Jamie Hope on 19 January 2013 after 25 years of courting! (24/1/13)

In June 2015, Jamie Hope (1990) and I climbed Ben Nevis, then cycled 40km, then paddled rafts for charity. I was far quicker than Jamie because he is so out of shape! Kidding. In truth, he was waiting ahead for me politely at the rest stations. The bike ride after the climb was a serious challenge. A great day was had and we raised £4,000 for our chosen charity. (3/8/15)

Alex Hurley (1990)

I have recently retrained as a primary school teacher – after 20 years of interminably tedious corporate life – and am thoroughly enjoying the fact that I can make a real difference to people’s lives. I’m currently working across a host of schools, predominantly in inner-city Birmingham, and am delighted to report that despite perceptions to the contrary, there is a massive amount of ambition and talent out there on our doorsteps. I also only work four days a week which makes it even better. (5/2/16)

Muhammed Idrees Kayani (1990)

I have got a new post with Birmingham Mind and we are moving home to Shirley, Solihull. My fourth child, Ibrahim, was born last August. (1/8/13)

Thomas Pritchard (1990)

I will be marrying Helen Bauldry at Sundridge Park in Kent on 12 September 2013. (31/7/13)

John Evans (1991)

Birth of fourth child, Henry Geraint, on 22 November 2013. Brother to Rhiannon, Samuel and Rhys. (24/1/14)

Ashley Goodall (1991)

I've changed jobs, moving from Deloitte to Cisco, where I've taken up a newly-created role as SVP, Leadership and Team Intelligence. (31/7/15)

Alexander Rennie (1991)

I have got married, moved to Epsom and taken on a new role as Gateway Technical Team Leader at the AI Corporation based in Guildford. I very much enjoyed attending both the Biennial Dinner and the annual London Dinner.

I also married Amy Marie Greir at the Barn Church, Kew on 20 August 2016 (20/3/17)

Simon Thomas (1991)

Corinne and Simon are happy to announce the birth of Ilona Thomas born on 23 April 2011. She has two older brothers, Zachary (6) and Adrien (3). (30/8/11)

Mark Venables (1991)

Until fairly recently I was the Physics Head of Department in an independent school in Norfolk. I’ve stepped down to concentrate more on innovative ICT strategies in the classroom. I’ve also been appointed as a Principal Examiner for IGCSE Edexcel Physics and OCR A2 Physics.

Always happy to hear from my contemporaries or anyone thinking of a career in teaching. (28/7/17)

Sanjay Verma (1991)

I have been recently appointed to the ENT UK Committee for Humanitarian Activity. I am also presently Royal College of Surgeons Surgical Tutor for the Leeds General Infirmary, where I am a Consultant ENT Surgeon. My subspecialist interest is hearing implantation and I was recently featured in the Yorkshire Evening Post for implanting the first Cochlear BAHA Attract hearing implant in Leeds: www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/your-leeds/health-technology-helping-to-tackle-hearing-loss-stigma-1-7410647 (5/2/16)

Jez Williams (1991)

My 3rd child, Eleanor Rose Williams was born on 25 July 2012. (21/9/12)

Mohammed Belal (1992)

Having left Birmingham for London and Australia, I have returned to be appointed as a Consultant Urological Surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. (23/10/11)

Anil Budh-Raja (1992)

I am a GP and Cosmetic Dermatologist and now have three clinics in London: in Chiswick, Harley St and Knightsbridge and now most recently in Birmingham. We offer anti-ageing treatments, particularly focusing on skin and brain anti-ageing. I’ve recently been one of the doctor team on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies Live show and been featured in The Times and The Guardian. I’m offering a one year 15% discount to all OEs and their spouses: www.dranil.co.uk(5/2/16)

Gwyn Evans (1992)

As a barrister specialising in family law at Tanfield Chambers, I continue to represent husbands, wives, mothers and fathers in the High Court and County Courts around London, and I lecture solicitors on trusts of land and financial remedies. In May I also acted in the Gray's Inn production of The Tyrannicide Brief by Geoffrey Robertson QC (a play about the man who sent Charles I to the gallows). I shall be performing again in the Gray's Inn Christmas Miscellany this year in London. In my spare time I cycle, climb mountains and kayak, and I write and record pop songs. (25/9/12)

Steve Hoey (1992)

The organisation that I lead, Canopy Housing, was awarded the Duke of York Community Initiative Award. (25/11/13)

The organisation that I run (Canopy), in partnership with an organisation in Hull, has just won the World Habitat Award, which is for innovation, sustainability and transfer in housing. You can find out more here: https://www.bshf.org/world-habitat-awards/winners-and-finalists/self-help-housing-in-the-north-of-england/. I’ll be off to the UN conference ‘Habitat III’ in October in Quito, Ecuador, to collect the award.

I also had an article published in the Guardian online recently: http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/mar/09/homeless-people-renovating-empty-homes-yorkshire (19/9/16)

Christian Holloway (1992)

As well as running my own Safepad business and delivering a range of IT training courses through Worcestershire County Council, I am now working as a contractor for Capita/Service Birmingham and looking forward to spending some time back in Birmingham. Interested in meeting up with any other OEs from the 1992 year group; if you are around please do get in touch. (19/9/16) 

Oliver Johnson (1992)

I have become Professor of Information Theory in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol. (28/7/17)

Dave Mayer (1992)

I’ve recently taken up a new position as President of Chase Design, a specialist in Shopper Based Design based in Skaneateles in upstate New York: www.chasedesign.net (20/3/17)

Ed Pitt (1992)

I Co-Founded and created Tokn, a mobile app for outdoor sports enthusiasts, lone workers, nurses, health visitors, social workers, real estate agents, teachers, mental health workers, teenagers, online daters, anyone walking home alone late at night, and pretty much anyone who is doing something risky or is vulnerable. See www.toknapps.com (24/1/14)

Julian White (1992)

Recently left private practice (having been a founding partner of the boutique City of London law firm Arbis LLP) to join RWE Supply & Trading GmbH (in the same group of companies as npower) as in-house counsel advising particularly in the field of coal trading. (12/4/12)

Conor Woodman (1992)

My film, The Secret Horse: Quest for the True Appaloosa was aired on the BBC. (23/1/15)

Mark Adderley (1993)

Qualified as Chartered Director (CDiR) Became Fellow of the CIPD. Started new job as HR Director for Heriot-Watt University - Scottish University of the Year. (30/10/11)

Spencer Ashley (1993)

An exciting year here. One of my research projects was selected for the BBC Royal Institute Christmas lectures. After a very pleasant day riding my hydrogen fuel cell powered scooter around the library of the RI we headed back home.

Whilst in Edgbaston unloading some parts at one of my colleagues houses we became surrounded by blacked out Range Rovers and men in black took our van and the bike! A very shocking and disturbing ordeal.

After 5 months we received a call from the police to advise we were to collect the bike from their storage depot after it had been found dumped by my house in Great Barr.

The bike was in full working order with buff on the tyres and the keys in the ignition. To celebrate we immediately entered the bike in some Moto Gymkhana races coming 10th out of 50 riders.

We have since had some great adventures on the bike before it goes to its final resting place in the entrance to the science museum at Millennium Point in September

This bike is maybe the first of its kind actually registered for road use in the UK. It runs on a Hydrogen supply that we convert from water in our electrolyser plant at the factory.

You can find further pictures and video on my company Facebook page Spencer Ashley Ltd. (01/8/13)

Mark Astbury (1993)

We travelled over to Kampala, Uganda from Manchester in October 2013 for 2 weeks on behalf of a fantastic local charity called Retrak who are based in Stockport, Manchester. The charity do amazing work helping street children in Kampala by taking them off the streets, giving them food and shelter, and ultimately rehousing them with new families. We travelled over to help build and renovate new houses for the kids, taking part in lessons teaching them new skills and we also took over new clothes and football kits for the kids. It was a fantastic experience and really makes you appreciate how lucky we are here in England. (26/1/14)

Stuart Estell (1993)

My experimental tuba duo ORE released a collaborative 7 single towards the end of 2013 with Japanese noise artist KK Null on Endtyme Records as well as appearing on stage with cellist and current South Bank Centre artist-in-residence Oliver Coates and the composer and regular National Youth Orchestra tutor Anna Meredith. (24/1/14)

Nick Hockley (1993)

Head of Commercial Negotiations at the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Married to Lauren (Nee Sandler) in Sydney, Australia on 17 October 2010. (6/1/11)

Having completed six years at the Organising Committee for London 2012 (LOCOG), I have spent the past 18 months based in Melbourne, Australia, working as General Manager Commercial and Marketing for the ICC Cricket World Cup, taking place in Australia and New Zealand in February and March 2015. If any OEs are planning to make it out for the Tournament, please feel free to get in touch. (24/8/14)

David Newman (1993)

Became the very proud father to Jessica Grace Newman on 15 July 2010. Married Kirsten Thursfield on 13 December 2008. We started dating when I was doing A-levels at KE! (26/11/10)

Kirsten and I have a new daughter, Chloe Georgia Newman, who was born in February and is enchanting us everyday! She's a beautiful little sister to Jessica who turned 4 in July. I recently won an industry award and am very proud. I won the 'Most Popular DJ in Birmingham and the West Midlands' from the Wedding Industry Expert Awards. I also was a national finalist 'Most Popular DJ' coming 4th in England and 12th in the world! My wedding entertainment services are available for all OEs and their families! (26/8/14)

Ed Pugh (1993)

I'm now back in Birmingham after a 20 year absence, running AXA's office in the centre of town, living in Newport, Shropshire. Married with two kids and absolutely no plans for any more! (10/1/14)

Julian Roberts (1993)

I have been enjoying working as a Toxicologist and expert on chemical exposure at the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki for 3.5 years. More importantly we welcomed our baby daughter, Olivia, into the world last August. Our son, Tobias is very pleased with being a big brother. (5/2/16)

Ben Banyard (1994)

I've always enjoyed creative writing (with a special interest in poetry, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Dr Hosty, Mr Burns, Miss Bond and others at KES!) but last year I decided to start taking it more seriously. The result was that several of my poems and short stories have found their way into various print and online journals, including Shortlist Magazine, Sarasvati, Ink Sweat & Tears and The Stare's Nest.

On top of that on 5 January this year I launched my own blog, Clear Poetry, which aims to publish the best in accessible contemporary poetry via weekly updates. To follow the blog head to http://clearpoetry.wordpress.com. I'd welcome submissions of writing by Old Eds! (25/1/15)

Dan Crossley (1994)

In December 2012, I moved to a new role as Executive Director at the Food Ethics Council, an independent think tank working to put ethical concerns at the heart of decision-making around food and farming. After too long spent doing only armchair TV-watching sport, am currently in training for a 100km walk in 24 hours later in 2013 in aid of the Duchenne Children's Trust (http://www.dc-trust.org/) - a charity very close to my heart as my nephew Eli was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy a couple of years ago. My wife and I now have two boys - Isaac (2.5) and new arrival Samuel (born at the end of June 2013) - family all doing great (31/7/13)

Hugh Houghton (1994)

I have been awarded a European Research Council Starting Grant of 1.5 million to lead a team of researchers investigating the biblical text of the earliest commentaries on the Pauline Epistles in Greek and Latin. I am also principal investigator of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Workspace for Collaborative Editing project. Both of these are based in the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham: www.birmingham.ac.uk/itsee. The initial fascicle of the Vetus Latina Iohannes, the first critical edition of the earliest Latin versions of the Gospel according to John for over 250 years, was published in July 2011; I was a member of the team working on this since 2002. Polly Margaret Mayer Houghton was born on 1 January 2011.

Also, in May I was appointed secretary of the Birmingham Cathedral Old Choristers' Association. Any OEs who used to sing in the Cathedral Choir and would like to be kept in touch with news of the Cathedral (St Philip's) and former colleagues are invited to contact me at: bcoca.mail@gmail.com (1/11/11)

Promotion to Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. (02/8/13)

I have been appointed Reader in New Testament Textual Scholarship at the University of Birmingham. This autumn, I am giving invited papers at the 17th International Patristics Conference in Oxford and a colloquium on the rediscovered Commentary on the Gospels by Fortunatianus of Aquileia in Salzburg. I continue to sing with the CBSO Chorus, and am the Burghley Preacher 2014-15 for St John's College, Cambridge.(3/8/15)

Tarique Hussain (1994)

My pioneering work in heart imaging was showcased on BBC news. Subsequently, I was offered a post as Associate Professor at University of Texas Southwestern, where I am working as a Paediatric Cardiologist and setting up a research programme looking at improving outcomes in congenital heart disease by improved imaging diagnostic methods. I have moved to Texas with my wife (Sue) of 19 years and my children (Maysoon, Hamza and Jenna). My daughter completed her GCSEs at KEHS and my son had passed the entrance exam for KES and was going to start there but we moved in the summer before he started – he was upset but is loving his new life too. (20/3/17)

Mankash Jain (1994)

As of early 2014, I founded and am CEO of a Hedge Fund based out in Dubai named Ten Rings. We specialise in Foreign Exchange and other financial trading, but also invest heavily in trying to help the poor in developing countries and the underprivileged globally. I have opened schools in India and Africa where there are opportunities for current KES students to help during a year out or even over a summer holiday. There is also the potential for school leavers to get in touch and possible work experience opportunites in various geographies in finance and infrastructure. Visit: www.ten-rings.com. (30/1/15)

Ishtiaq Rahman (1994)

Currently on a Cardiothoracic Surgical training programme in the South West of England. (6/2/16) 

Tim Robinson (1994)

Tim and Emma Robinson are delighted to announce the birth of their first child; Thomas William. Born 15th April 2013, 7lb 11oz. (31/7/13)

Burak Alpar (1995)

I graduated from an MSc in Sustainable Energy at Imperial College in September 2014 and have just taken up a role as a Strategy Project Manager at npower. (28/1/15)

William Cadbury (1995)

Oliver Joshua James Cadbury was born on 11 December 2010, a brother for Benjamin. (21/10/11)

Rishi Das-Gupta (1995)

A lot has happened in the last year. I've moved to the USA (Boston), married Zofia (nee Prokopowicz) and we're expecting our first baby before 2011 is out. (21/10/11)

Alistair French (1995)

I am a partner in an employment law firm in the City, Brahams Dutt Badrick French LLP, helping secure justice for employees, from all walks of life, who get treated badly by businesses. Married to Evonne and have two sons locked in perpetual and mortal combat. My wife has bought a dog, which has added to the domestic drama. (23/1/15)

Tom Armitage (1996)

Spent eight months in Kabul working in the Influence and Outreach Branch of Headquarters International Security Assistance Force- Afghanistan. (21/10/11)

James Barraclough (1996)

3 years to go until finish Training as an ENT surgeon. Got married to Danielle Shennan. (21/10/11)

Had baby boy Elliott!! (27/9/12)

I became a Consultant Rhinologist, Facial Plastics and ENT Surgeon last year having spent a year in New Zealand completing my specialist training. I work in Wolverhampton and Dudley Hospitals and live with my wife and two boys in a village near Bridgnorth. Enjoyed the 20th year reunion a few months ago! (19/9/16)

Debasis Das (1996)

Has been appointed as Consultant Radiologist at Lister Hospital, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and been blessed with a baby boy, Ishaan, born 21 May 2013. (31/7/13)

David Hingley (1996)

I've just returned to England from three years in New York, where I managed to visit 40 states on various road trips, but more importantly wrote my first novel Birthright. Set in the Restoration era and linking London and New York, Birthright came out in hardback and ebook in July. The first in a historical crime series, the second book will be published in January alongside the paperback. Birthright was July Book of the Month at Goldsboro Books in London and is so far receiving good reviews. (19/9/16)

John McDermott (1996)

Over 15 Old Edwardians attended John’s marriage to Lucy Webb at St Alphege, Solihull in May 2016. Not even the revelation that the father-in-law was an Old Bromsgrovian managed to spoil the festivities. I was very pleased to receive a personal video message of congratulations from England Rugby player Mike Brown - one of my sporting heroes. (19/9/16)

Matthew Nicholls (1996)

I am pleased to let you know that my first child, our daughter Sophia, was born to me and my wife Eleanor in October (and that, come to think of it, her name is the Greek equivalent of Sapientia!) (31/7/13)

Our son Charles was born on 6/6/15, joining his older sister Sophia. My book 30-Second Guide to Ancient Rome is out, and its successor volume on Ancient Greece will follow later this year, as will a free online course (‘MOOC’) on ancient Rome that I am making with the University of Reading, and illustrating with my digital model of the city. (5/2/16)

In family news, myself, Eleanor and Sophia welcomed baby brother Charles Nicholls in June 2015. 

In regards to book news, my introduction to the culture, art, and society of Ancient Greece, 30-Second Ancient Greece has just come out (Ivy Press), following 30-Second Ancient Rome, which is now in half a dozen languages worldwide (I sent a copy in the school library!). I am also about to release a free online course (MOOC) on ancient Rome, using my digital model of the city, with Reading University. (19/9/16)

OEs – and indeed current pupils – might like to know that we (the University of Reading) are about to launch a free online course on ancient Rome, which I present and illustrate from my digital model of the city. KES was instrumental in getting me interested in the Romans and pursuing my studies at school and then at university. I’d be delighted if any OEs felt like signing up: www.futurelearn.com/courses/rome (20/3/17) 

Andy Owen (1996)

My second novel, East of Coker, was published this year by the War Writers’ Campaign, a US independent publisher. I have been invited to the York Literature Festival in March to do a reading of the book and a Q&A on 23 March. I am currently working on my third book which is a biography of a Second World War deserter. All of my royalties go to a PTSD charity. (20/3/17)

Ben Sheriff (1996)

My wife, Corinne, and I were delighted by the arrival of our first child, Amy Rosamund Sheriff, on 15 February 2013. (24/1/14)

We are very pleased to announce the arrival of our second daughter, Sadie Eleanor, on 24 September 2014. (23/1/15)

James Woodroffe (1996)

I work as a television executive producer and have the great privilege of looking after the Guy Martin programmes for Channel 4. Guy is the full-time lorry mechanic from Grimsby and part-time Isle of Man TT motorcycle racer who has become something of a cult television phenomenon. His shows attract some of Channel 4's biggest audiences and are renowned for blending science and history with daredevil escapades. Amongst other things, the last 12 months has seen us make a documentary about the restoration of a Mk 1 Spitfire fighter plane; travel to Pikes Peak, Colorado to tackle the hardest motorcycle hillclimb in the world and spend three weeks in India touring the country's lesser-known attractions. Next on the agenda is a trip to Bonneville, Utah for an assault on the motorcycle land speed record - we're hoping 400mph will make Guy the fastest man on two wheels.

Genuinely not a day goes by in this job where a bit of KES schooling doesn't come in handy - particularly the basic skills of story-telling and I often have to try and convert a complicated piece of history or scientific principle into a populist bit of script and the story-telling skills of putting things in a logical order which we were encouraged to use in our studies prove just as vital today. My English teacher Julian Burns once set us as an assignment all about re-writing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a television screenplay. Mine turned out pretty well and Mr B suggested I should do it as a career. Lo and behold... (3/8/15)

Asghar Ali (1997)

My latest role is Interest Rates Regulatory Reform SME at Goldman Sachs International, London. (31/7/15)

I am working at Goldman Sachs London in the Regulatory Reform team. (20/3/17)

Vikas Bhalla (1997)

This month, I have become a Consultant Physician in General Medicine in Suffolk. I am also about to get married to Rebecca Smith, Veterinary Surgeon, again in Suffolk. (31/7/13)

Aidan Burley (1997)

Married Jodie Jones in The Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, The Palace of Westminster on 2 August 2014. (14/1/15)

Clement Hubert (1997)

Having graduated as a Doctor in Summer 2010 (MBChB), my second year of Foundation Training will soon be complete. My rotations have included Respiratory Medicine, Cardiology, Urology, Rheumatology, Emergency Medicine, and General Surgery. Next year I aim to work as a Clinical Fellow in Accident and Emergency, and will be applying for the General Practice Specialist Training Programme for August 2013. (4/6/12)

Alistair Malins (1997)

After 10+ years in the City of London, I left my job in investment banking last year to become a tech entrepreneur and founded a business called Holiday Crowd, a crowdfunding platform for investing in holiday properties across Europe. Our investors receive a share of the rental income generated from the holiday property (via an annual dividend) and their share of the proceeds when the property is sold, usually after a five year investment period. We’ll be launching our first property in March 2016.

Andy Muinonen-Martin (1997)

Awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship. PLoS One. 2010 Dec 14;5(12):e15309. An improved chamber for direct visualisation of chemotaxis. Muinonen-Martin AJ, Veltman DM, Kalna G, Insall RH. Source CRUK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, United Kingdom. a.muinonen-martin@beatson.gla.ac.uk (28/10/11)

David Saunders (1997)

Promoted to Associate Curator, Department of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. (24/8/14)

Anurag Sharma (1997)

I am currently a Partner at the global investment banking and asset management firm, William Blair & Company, where I head-up our San Francisco Office. I started with William Blair in London 12 years ago, before moving to our San Francisco office in 2009. In December of last year my wife Lindsay and I welcomed our baby girl, Arya. (19/9/16)

Greg Sugden (1997)

I now have the position of Senior First Officer at British Airways flying the Boeing 777 on longhaul routes to South America, USA, Africa, Far East and Australia. (31/7/13)

Milan Thomas (1997)

Married Rebecca Morgan on 18 March 2011. (25/10/11)

In final years of surgical training in Urology in Manchester. Birth of daughter, Amelie, 6 September 2012. (12/9/12)

I have been appointed as Consultant Urological Surgeon at East Kent University NHS Trust specialising in kidney and bladder cancers. Having qualified from UCL Medical School in 2004, I spent the last five years in higher surgical training in Manchester. This included work at The Christie Hospital in Withington, Manchester - the largest cancer hospital in Europe. I am now moving with my wife and two-year-old daughter to Canterbury. (23/1/15)

Peter Ellison (1998)

Royal Navy Officer. During the last 12 months I completed my tour as the RN exchange officer with the Italian Navy, I attended ICSC (Intermediate Command and Staff Course) and a navigation course. I also served as the Operations Officer on board HMS CLYDE the Falkland Islands Guard Ship. I am presently enjoying a bit of late summer leave. (19/9/11)

I had a busy 2012-2013 with work, serving in the Royal Navy as the Navigating Officer in two of the Royal Navy's new Type 45 Destroyers. I completed a deployment to West Africa, the Falklands and the Caribbean in HMS Dauntless and then the first half of HMS Daring's currently ongoing global deployment. Highlights were having the privilege to be the first navigator of a T45 through the Panama Canal, and working with the US Navy in Pearl Harbor Hawaii! I am now undertaking further training back in the UK before rejoining another ship towards the end of 2014.

I am delighted to announce my engagement to Amy Sadler of Lindfield, Sussex. We plan to marry in the summer. (24/1/14)

I was delighted to be promoted last year to Lieutenant Commander. I have been serving as the Operations Officer of HMS St Albans for the last six months, while the ship completed its final trials and training before deploying in November 2015 to the Gulf. We have been working with various task forces conducting maritime security operations and countering the narcotics trade, but particularly this last month, we have been escorting both the US aircraft carrier Harry S Truman and the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle while they have been conducting strike operations against Daesh in Syria and Iraq.

I am due to leave the ship for a staff job later this year and will enjoy spending time in my new home in Chichester. (17/2/16)

Richard Flynn (1998)

Delighted to announce the birth of my beautiful daughter Alexandra on 4 July 2014. (11/7/14)

Doug Heard (1998)

Very late news...in fact it's hardly even news now but I got married in April 2012 to Suzanne Heard ne Price. Other than that, no news. Just work and housing renovations. Endless housing renovations! (31/7/13)

Chris Mountford (1998)

Having been in the North East since leaving KES, I was recently appointed as Consultant Gastroenterologist in Newcastle upon Tyne, working in the city's teaching hospitals - The Freeman and Royal Victoria Infirmary. This role will build on my interests in clinical nutrition, taking a lead role in the North East regional intestinal failure service. Away from work, in March 2013 I got married to Charlotte in the snow covered Lake District and in July we welcomed our third child - Daniel, brother to Lois (4) and Phoebe (2). (26/1/14)

Oliver Mytton (1998)

Married Lauren Green at Kew Gardens, Surrey on 21 September 2014. (18/1/15)

Philip Wheatley (1998)

Recently moved to the North East to take up post as an assistant head teacher in charge of the sixth form at Whickham School and Sports College, Gateshead. (21/10/11)

I have recently been appointed to the post of Deputy Headteacher at Whickham School and Sports College in Gateshead. (12/2/16)

Humayun Ayub (1999)

Created and managed the International Journal of Clinical Skills (IJOCS) - in 2011 this successful and innovative international medical journal reached its 5th year in publication. With international reach, having been accessed in over 130 countries, the success of the IJOCS has been evident from its reach in all major health disciplines, including medicine, dentistry and nursing. The IJOCS has been supported by eminent health professionals such as Sir Liam Donaldson and Lord McColl. (28/10/11)

Here at the International Journal of Clinical Skills we have expanded our publishing endeavors and decided to start publishing children's books. We believe in the importance of an excellent education from a young age. We launched a competition for authors and artists, and as a result are pleased to be publishing 35 books in September 2013. (31/7/13)

Peter Eckley (1999)

I recently joined the Bank of England as a Senior Economist in Prudential Policy. (31/7/15)

Alex Howell (1999)

I'm about to complete six months' paternity leave with my daughter, Phoebe. This is the second time I've done it and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone else who has the chance. We've had a great time going to baby classes and coffee mornings, as well as having the fun of weaning, but now I'm ready to go back to work for a rest! I'm a software engineer at IBM, where I've been for 11 years. We're enjoying life in Winchester, where my wife Helen (ex-KEHS) works as an actuary. Our son Thomas is due to start primary school in September, which I'm sure will bring a whole new set of challenges for us all! (29/1/15)

Alastair Natkiel (1999)

Having finished a thirteen month contract in Shrek the Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in February 2013 I then went into another West End production, Strangers on a Train at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftsbury Avenue which has enjoyed a sell-out run. (25/1/14)

Nathaniel Adam Tobias (1999)

Was recently awarded, by the University of Michigan, a doctorate in philosophy, for his dissertation 'The duty to miscegenate'. In October 2013, Nathaniel will begin work as University College London's first Research Associate in the Philosophy of 'Race'. (19/8/13)

In light of our Vision for Black Lives: Policies for Black Power, Freedom, and Justice and in light of the United Nations' International Decade for People of African Descent, I am rebuilding my life in Birmingham and contributing to building Britain's Black Studies at Birmingham City University. Birmingham is now the location of Europe's first undergraduate degree in Black Studies, supported by the Black Studies Research Cluster, the Organisation of Black Unity, and the Black Studies Association— which has convened conferences on Why Black Studies Matters & The Black Special Relationship. Building on its ground-breaking book with Routledge, the Black Studies Research Cluster has negotiated with Rowman & Littlefield an exciting series of books on Blackness in Britain. At a launch for our degree, I took a Black Perspective on the so-called 'Golden Boys'.

In making my contribution to building Black Studies in Britain, I have been guided by Professor Audre Lorde's London Lessons, which heralded our social movement of Dismantling the Master's House. I am currently working, with my colleague Isabelle Cox, to democratise the decolonial critique of Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford (and of similar social movements, such as #LeopoldMustFall at QMUL and #CottonMustFall in Manchester and other northern universities) as the much more far-reaching social movement of Dismantling the Master's Museum, which we launched, in spring, on the first anniversary of Rhodes' falling in Cape Town, and in Manchester, host of the fifth Pan-African Congress. By 'democratise', we mean that you don't have to go to Oxford, QMUL, or any other university, for that matter, to participate in decolonising our minds. In this way, we begin to ground what might otherwise seem like a past-time of the privileged in the life-threatening imperatives confronting our colonised communities. Artwork by Princess Ashilokun and A. Maluka explains the decolonial critique, Isabelle's original summary of Decolonising Museums explains the social movement, and Prof Stephen Small's essay on Contextualising the Black presence in British museums grounds our current collective work in the foundational scholar-activism of our Afrikan ancestors.

Colonial curation of museums is a key way in which I am publicly explaining colonial curation of curriculum—i.e. why the curriculum is whitewashed—especially in philosophy (the "discipline" into which I have been schooled). Thus, the book I am writing is a history of philosophy that identifies Birmingham as a crucible of philosophical arguments: both to construct white tyranny and to resist it, in the form of anti-slavery, counter-colonial, and anti-racist collective organising. I am writing this book both semi-auto-bio-graphically, or, rather, semi-auto-geo-graphically, situating myself as a Brummie in a long line of Brummie scholar-activists who have made philosophical arguments to explain the wrongness of 'slavery', and also co-productively, shoulder to shoulder in undercommoning conversations with grass-roots knowledge producers marginalised from mainstream institutions of knowledge production. This, then, is my contribution to decolonising the curriculum. (19/9/16) 

Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Black Studies Research Cluster and Beatfreeks will be working with young people in Birmingham and the Black Country to decolonise heritage! A good deal of both oppressive and liberatory social philosophy has long been (and is still being) done from a base in Birmingham and the broader English Midlands. Over the next few months and, hopefully, years, we’ll be harnessing this collaboration between Beatfreeks and the Black Studies Research Cluster to convene co-productive conversations that expose the erasure of those contributions to philosophy and that harness those recovered contributions to enrich public discourse. (31/7/17)

Maj Wheeldon (1999)

Read History at Exeter and then joined the Royal Navy, spending 6 months in the Falklands and Antarctica with HMS Endurance, resupplying BAS bases and counting penguins. I also spent a fair amount of time in a destroyer escorting convoys through the Suez Canal in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion. Left the RN in 2006 and read for a Masters in History at Pembroke College Oxford, before moving into consultancy. Currently living in Oxford, working as a brand consultant, whipping-in to the local pack of hounds on Saturdays, and biting my nails at London Welsh matches on Sundays! (2/10/12)