noise, including whether we are an
extrovert or an introvert. His conclusion
was that music with lyrics is the most
distracting when we are trying to
concentrate, whereas Bach or Mozart
may be a better choice.
OA David Hunter admitted that he didn't
do well academically when he was at
King's, although he did have plenty of
stories to tell our pupils about his time at
school. Nor did he expect that he would
end up working with horses.
Nevertheless, in his lecture he explained
how, after he left school, he overcame a
horse allergy and then became successful
as a Paralympic dressage team manager.
OA Ben Thompson spoke up for a career
in the creative arts, an area which he
feels can sometimes be overlooked. Ben
has had several different jobs since
leaving school. These include writing for
magazines, designing adverts, and even
inventing a dog poo scoop. His current
business, 'Hoot Comedy', works with
companies who want to use comedy for
advertising or other campaigns. We saw
some of his video work, including an
interview with Angelos Epithemiou and a
bear puppet who impersonated Boris
Johnson.
Dominic Faulkner is a teacher at
Cheltenham College who took time out to
undertake an incredible expedition: to
cycle and climb from the lowest point on
Earth to the top of Mount Everest. With
pictures and videos Dominic told us of
the difficulty and dangers of the journey,
facing extreme weather and lifethreatening
conditions at high altitude.
His story was a humbling one, as he
explained how those who chose not to
finish the journey were just as brave as
those who, like him, were fortunate
enough to complete it.
We concluded 'Everest Month' with a visit
from Matt Dickinson. Third form pupils
and some from other year groups came
along to the lecture held at a later slot for
one week only. Matt is a very
experienced explorer who shared wisdom
gained from over 40 expeditions he has
made. One of his main messages was
the true meaning of teamwork and the
potentially fatal consequences if team
members do not look out for each other.
To complement the Michaelmas term talk
by soldiers who have served in
Afghanistan, Tristan Langlois gave a very
informative talk on the history of the
British Army in Afghanistan, a period in
history known as 'The Great Game'. He
is an employee of the National Army
Museum and his lecture was supported
by images and maps from their archives.
Adrian Gray makes a living out of
balancing large and heavy stones at
impossible angles and displaying this as
art. His work evokes intrigue and wonder
and has a unique (although subjective)
beauty. Adrian used his work to discuss
the question: 'What is the value of art?'
He demonstrated some live balances and
pupils were able to try it out themselves
on some smaller stones.
Jonathan Hare from the University of
Sussex brought the year's lectures to an
end with a talk called Hollywood Science.
His aim was to test scientifically certain
situations from movies to see if they
would actually work in real life. Pupils
learned that it would take a million
helium balloons to lift a house (as seen in
the film Up). Also, just like James Bond,
it would be possible to breathe air from a
car tyre if you found yourself trapped
underwater.
Katy Preece tries out the art
of balancing stones
Aluredian 21