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OM success in beauty competition

Congratulations to Chutima Durongdei (Abbey 2002-2004) who was named Miss Photogenic and placed third in the national dress category of the Miss Universe Pageant held in the Bahamas recently.

Telecoms/Technology – Britain’s Top Ten Business People

In April 2008, The Daily Telegraph published its list, with Tom Alexander (1971-75; Day) in eighth place. The year before, Tom had become Chief Executive of Orange UK, his profile explaining that, having quit Virgin Mobile in May 2006 “after scooping more than £20m from the business he led to the stock market in 2004”, many expected him to return to his other passion, car racing. However, with 15 million mobile customers and 2 million internet customers in the UK, Tom had the opportunity to turn around a much bigger business than Virgin Mobile. “Much is expected of them at Orange”.

 “Superwoman is Alive and Well …”

 … and working from a base in Leckhampton at the multi-million pound office-supply business The Commercial Group. In 17 years, Simone Mann (1981-84; Johnson’s), with her brother and his friend, have brought the business from nothing to one of the largest of its kind in the country, also turning the firm into a carbon neutral business, with a 3-year strategy to reduce its emissions by an impressive 80%. The Gloucester Citizen explained that that was just part of Simone’s remarkable life, but illustrated well why she was so driven and committed to succeeding. At Millfield she was a member of the Swimming Squad, competing in the 1986 Commonwealth World Student Games where she won the gold medal in the medley relay event and, at one point during her swimming career, she was ranked 7^th in the world for the 100m backstroke. She now looks actively towards the future, not only with the green push, but with operations in hand to rebrand the company aiming to top the turnover of £40 million in the next few years.

Andy Leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Andy Ashcroft (1977-79; Day) completed nearly 3 decades of British government service as a front-line diplomat.   After initially learning the diplomatic ropes in London in the early eighties, he subsequently served as commercial attaché in the British Embassy in Muscat, Oman; as political attaché in the Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel; as Head of UK Trade Development in the British High Commission in Harare, Zimbabwe; and latterly as Britain’s Ambassador to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In between these assignments, Andy performed several roles in Whitehall, including that of Private Secretary to the Minister of State during the early nineties. Andy left the FCO at the end of 2007 in order to establish his own international consultancy and public speaking business, “Ambassador Communications”.

The Man who Calls the Odds

This was the title of an article in the Business News section of the Daily Telegraph in May 2008. The lengthy profile on Victor Chandler (1966-69; Hollies) described how his Victor Chandler International Bookmaking company pioneered the transfer of gambling groups offshore, in Victor’s case Gibraltar. His company has been valued by observers at around £300m, Victor continuing to expand his business by attempting to partner with local companies in other countries such as Spain. At Millfield, he enjoyed an unusual relationship with his Headmaster, Boss Meyer, sometimes placing bets for RJOM at the local bookmakers in Street.

New Year’s Honours

Selfridges Takes on Sophie’s Womenswear Collection

Sophie Hulme (2000-02; Warner) graduated from Kingston Fashion School in 2007, winning best designer for her womenswear collection, now on sale at Selfridges. You can see her designs on www.refinery29.com and her website is www.sophiehulme.com.

Damien Returns Gorillas to Africa

Damien Aspinall (1972-77; Shapwick) who runs Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury, with three young gorillas, bred by him (prior to their release in a protected reserve in Gabon). After a year, they should be able to fend for themselves so that they can join the six other gorillas already freed by Damien’s Aspinall Foundation in 2003. Each gorilla is likely to grow to almost 6 feet and weigh as much as 500lbs. Damien explained: “Gorillas face many hazards from poachers, who butcher them for their meat, from predators such as leopards and from disease. The project is not without risk but we are very proud of our survival rate of 85 per cent.”

 

LIFE AT bbc tELEVISION SPORT

 

 “Marco’s Great British Feast” Visits Charlie

 In 2008, Marco Pierre White fronted a series of programmes on ITV1 scouring Britain to source ingredients for an all-British meal and, at the same time, attempting to strike a rather enjoyable blend of entertainment in the process. In July, he visited Charlie Burrell (1975-79; Holmcroft) at his Knepp Castle, 3,500 acre estate in West Sussex, which has been owned by the Burrells for over 200 years with the castle, overlooking Knepp lake, having been built by the architect John Nash. Do have a look at www.knepp.co.uk . Charlie is married to award winning travel journalist Isabella Tree (1980-81; Great House).

 

Cameron’s “Bottletop” Charity A Great Success

Using bottletops, Cameron Saul (1995-2000; Day) started making bags and, in 2002, he raised £150,000 for projects in Africa selling bags, plus T-shirts and key-rings. He appeared on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in support of his charity and its Aids programme. Bottletop has now evolved to produce small ipod cases, limited-edition radios, trendy badges and other items also producing a CD of African music, all to raise money to help disadvantaged young people in Southern Africa. Do have a look at www.bottletop.org.uk .

 

You Have to Deserve Inheritance

On the theme of super-dash rich families increasingly cracking down on their feckless children by insisting they get a university degree or hold down a proper job before they inherit, Jonathan Warburton (1971-1976; Millfield), the fifth generation to lead his family bakery business, which sells more than £200 million of bread every year, was quoted as saying “my kids have been told they aren’t going to get anywhere by sitting on their arse”. He and his two cousins transformed the company from a mid-sized Lancashire business into the country’s biggest baker. He took over running the company in his early 30s after spending years on the road as a Unilever salesman. He had three teenage children and says none of them will inherit a single share unless they can prove they deserve it.

 

 Celebrity Hairdresser in “Hello”

In November 2007, a glamorously illustrated article described Daniel Galvin’s (1983-84; Holmcroft) post-Millfield life, via drug addiction to rehabilitation and working with young people, some of whom now have the opportunity to train as stylists in his successful Mayfair salon.

 

A Tropical Paradise for Old Millfieldians

Within the last few years, three young ladies have built three exclusive villas on a marvellous, deserted stretch of beach in Sri Lanka. Two of them are Old Millfieldians, Eliane Sterchi (1980-83; Johnson’s) and Maeve O’Rorke (1980-82; Warner). Please do have a look at their advertisement in this issue and see www.srivillas.com . They are offering a 20% discount to Old Millfieldians.

 

Port Eliot Opens its Doors to the Public

 Last March, Peregrine St Germans (1959) opened his 1,000 year old house in Port Eliot, in St Germans, Cornwall, to the public for the first time. The house has 13 staircases, 82 chimneys and a kitchen 100 metres from the nearest dining room, the roof covering half an acre. Peregrine, the 10^th Earl of St Germans, inherited the house at the age of 21 in 1964 from his father.

 

Paul Lister’s Wilderness Park in Scotland

In April 2008, the BBC’s one hour “Changing Places” programme was entitled “Wilderness Park”, telling the story of Paul (1972-77; Keinton) owner of Alladale Estate, and with a dream to bring back the wolves and bears that once roamed the area. On his 23,000 acre estate, Paul hopes to abandon deerstalking as a method of managing deer numbers and reintroduce self-sustaining populations of predators. He hopes to have wolves, lynx, bear and other wild animals on the land and turn it into a “wilderness reserve”. His ambitions are to restore both the landscape of the highlands and the native wildlife that would have once lived there. The programme covered extensively his plans and the tremendous difficulties associated with these. 

 

 Conservative Candidate for Bristol North West

In April 2008, the Telegraph Magazine carried a major article on a series of Tory candidates unlikely to have been selected for this role in previous years. Charlotte Leslie (1995-96; Acacia) was one of these. Charlotte is candidate for a difficult area of Bristol but is emerging as a formidable candidate. Described as being very sporty, good fun and not standing for any nonsense, Leslie swum for England, boxes regularly and also jogs. She is in a marginal seat and faces a considerable challenge.

 

 Rag Trade to Restaurants Entrepreneur

In the past four years Richard Caring (1962-66; Millfield) has “embarked on a startling rag-trade to restaurants conversion”, as reported in the Daily Telegraph business section in April 2008. For more than 20 years, Richard has been a major clothing supplier to the British high street. However, within the last 4 years he has purchased several high profile organisations, starting in 2004 when he bought a share in the Camden Market complex for £40m. He then went on to buy Wentworth Golf Club for £130m, several top restaurants in London (including The Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey) for £31.5m, signature restaurants (Strada and Belgo) for £57m in 2005 and spent £95m acquiring Mark Birley’s up-market private clubs, including Annabel’s, George and Harry’s Bar. In February, he bought out 28 minority investors to take a majority stake in Soho House, currently with branches in London and New York and including Babington House in Somerset. For most of his acquisitions, he has invested enormous amounts of money in developing them, and, for Soho House, sites in Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago are planned to open in late 2008, with a possibility of others in Berlin, Istanbul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Cairo and Sydney. Richard has done remarkably well and it is through his generosity that the Old Millfieldian Society was able to organise its “Boss Meyer Shotgun Golf Day” on the West Course at Wentworth toward the end of last year.

 Recently, Richard again went shopping and pledged several million pounds from his personal fortune to back the expansion of Bill’s Produce Store, an upmarket grocer based in Brighton and Lewes.