18 Spring ‘10 Issue 14

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Spring ‘10 Issue 14 19

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Literary events

EXPLOSIVE ENTHUSIASM

Jason Bradbury, presenter of the The Gadget Show wows Karen Alexander

Learning from a Laureate

Ben Whitehead shares his pupils’ excitement in meeting

Anthony Browne

A

As we waited in the wings with fingers crossed, hoping that Jason Bradbury would arrive on time, the audience swelled … and swelled.

Already completely sold out, ticket limits went out of the window as Jason Bradbury’s Twitter invitations produced several additional fans as desperate as we were to see the zany man behind the Clark Kent spectacles. Having just seen Channel Five’s The Gadget Show the night before, where Jason and Suzi were racing in the Liwa desert in Abu Dhabi in a death-defying, adrenaline-fuelled test between an innovative buggy, the Sinister Sand Sports SR2 (Jason) and a caterpillar track quad bike, the Sand X (Suzi), we were anticipating a whirlwind ride in Jason’s presentation.

Then, Bang! Zap! Whoomp! Jason

exploded on to the JCR stage to talk about his latest novel in the Dot Robot series, quickly engaging us with stories of the robots and gadgets that pack the pages of Atomic Swarm. Invisible suits and flying automatons

were just the beginning of a romp that raced through the latest spy-ware to robots that could fool you into thinking they were human. At each revelation, Jason assured us that everything he had written in his novels was entirely

possible in today’s world. Not science fiction but science faction! In a talk peppered with anecdotes about his working life on The Gadget Show and his early life in Bristol, Jason surged through slide presentations, robot demonstrations and readings from his novel, keeping the audience breathless with his perpetual motion. And, within all this, he launched a knock-out competition of combative robot-racing around the stage, the first prize a remote-controlled micro helicopter. He was a supreme master at keeping tensions high among spectators and competitors. There could be no ‘nodding off’ on the back row for any unsuspecting parent who had accompanied their offspring: they would just as likely be spotted and zapped by a spiky robot. At the end of the evening it was not surprising to see one long queue waiting to purchase techno-thrillers Dot

Matrix and Atomic Swarm, and then

another to collect the autograph of the still-going-strong Jason Bradbury. What a legend!

uthor and illustrator Anthony Browne was the inspirational guest of BGS Juniors and

Infants in March, an exceptional treat, and the first time a current Children’s Laureate has visited our School. After lunch with a small and fortunate group of staff, Anthony shared his passion for creativity in writing and drawing in ways that captivated the children. They were quickly able to tap into their vivid imaginations using his ‘Shape Game’, something that inspired him as a child to evolve ideas for stories, and still does to this day. His young audience was full of anticipation, having had fun in the lead- up to his visit looking at his fantastic stories, and drawing pictures inspired by his work. It was very special for all of them to hear Anthony share one of his beautifully illustrated works. The children were enthralled

throughout the hour’s presentation that followed, their creative minds shining through with amazing questions and ideas about his work. They were quickly able to spot the meaning behind so many of his illustrations and conveyed their understanding in a way that only children can. Parents and teachers were able to enjoy tea and time with Anthony in the JCR, sharing his inspirations and motivations, as well as being open to a range of interesting questions. What a fantastic event and opportunity for

everyone. Thank you so much Anthony Browne for visiting our School.

Old Bristolians

HONOUR

FOR HEINTZ

WWII resistance worker André Heintz (OB) is to be invested

as a Chevalier of the Legion

of Honour in Caen in July, on the anniversary of the British capture of the city in 1944.

André who joined the School in the 1930s to improve his English, was born in Caen and was a member of the French Resistance in the city from 1940 to 1944, when it was liberated. He gathered information to give to the Allied forces about German positions and scuppered German defences using basic equipment but considerable ingenuity. André returned to the School on a

teaching exchange with Eric Dehn in 1956 and has been an active supporter of the OB Society for many years, most recently helping to organise the Normandy Battlefields tours.

spotlight

in the

AFTER EDINBURGH SUCCESS AND A SELL-OUT TOUR IN 2009, FIONN GILL (OB 2003) BRINGS A NEW PRODUCTION, KEEPERS TO BRISTOL IN MAY THIS YEAR.

F

ionn’s first professional production evolved in partnership with fellow

students while studying acting at Leeds University’s Bretton Hall.

“It’s an interesting place to study,”

Farewell to Fred

Farewell to Fred Wedlock (OB), singer, songwriter and broadcaster who will also be fondly remembered among his cohort in the 50s for taking his guitar to summer camp, and for his spirited performance in the Hockey First XI. He will be sadly missed by his many friends among our Old Bristolians.

explains Fionn. “The focus is creative, encouraging you to collaborate and devise your own work. The result was ‘Lost in the Wind’. We had a good feeling about the show but weren’t quite expecting it to take us where it did.”

Selected to represent Leeds University in the National Student Drama Festival, the show was an instant success, moving on to Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre, MayFest. A nerve-wracking debut at the Edinburgh Festival proved a sell out, followed by a sell-out three month tour, including an exclusive performance at BGS in April 2009. Now living in London, Fionn is working

in a new group The Plasticine Men on a new project, Keepers, a production based on the disturbing and true story of two lighthouse keepers who, despite their lack of empathy, were forced to share a wooden lighthouse, centuries back, with unexpected results. Explains Fionn, Keepers is much more

dramatic than previous projects, but

anyone who enjoyed Lost in the Wind

will see some similarities. There is still comedy in the situation of two people

who don’t like each other, confined in a small space. It’s also a very visual performance. With props limited to just two chairs and a ladder, it’s still all that’s needed to recreate a seventy-foot lighthouse and a raging storm.

“This sort of project evolves around you

and inevitably, at every step along the way, I’m questioning what I’m doing and why I’m doing it, but I do know I’m lucky. There’s no question in my mind that there’s anything else I would rather do. “It’s something that hit me back

in 2002, starting ‘A’ level drama at BGS. Before that point, I felt in some way stagnant. The course was very significant; it awoke my latent passion for theatre. I just thought, ‘this is my thing…’ and I’ve never looked back.”

On tour for three weeks in May, Fionn and The Plasticine Men come to Bristol’s Tobacco Factory with Keepers as part of MayFest. www.mayfestbristol.co.uk. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11