Page 20 - Abingdon News
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OLD ABINGDONIANS
20
Abingdon News is the newsletter of the Abingdon Foundation, Park Road, Abingdon, Oxford OX14 1DE Tel: 01235 521563
Edited by Sarah Wearne Tel: 01235 849108 email:
Design by Boo
Tel: 01865 407610
Abingdon School: A company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales Company No. 3625063
Registered Office: Stratton House, Bath Street, Abingdon OX14 3LA Registered Charity No. 1071298
Two OAs in the
Boat Race
Squads
Last year’s 1st
VIII cox, Ian
Middleton, in
his first year
at Cambridge,
coxed the Light
Blue Boat who
lost to Oxford
following the
unseating of
one of their
oarsmen.
Felix Newman,
OA 2009,
rowed at
number 7 in
the Cambridge
reserve boat,
Goldie, who
unfortunately
also lost.
n
Ben Macintyre’s
latest book
A Spy Among Friends
, the latest book
by Ben Macintyre, OA 1982, reads like
a post-war thriller but tells the true story
of how Kim Philby not only spectacularly
betrayed his
country but
also his friends.
In a two-part
documentary
on BBC2 at the
beginning of April,
Macintyre vividly
brought the story
to life, as he does
in the book too.
n
Hugh Lunghi, OA 1939, who died on 14 March, was one of the School’s most
distinguished twentieth-century Abingdonians. A fluent Russian speaker he found
himself at the centre of some of the century’s most significant events, translating
for the British Government at the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam conferences. This
made him one of the few men alive to have been present as Stalin, Roosevelt and
Churchill – later Truman and Attlee – decided the future of the post-war world.
Appointed interpreter to the Head of the Moscow Military Mission in 1942, Lunghi
remained in Russia after the war as Second Secretary at the Moscow Embassy.
In 1954 he joined the BBC as head of the Central European Department. On
retirement in 1980 he continued his work for freedom of expression as director of
the Writers and Scholars Educational Trust.
Lunghi was head boy of Abingdon and was captain of the 1st XV for a record three
consecutive years.
n
An OA in the News
Adrian Champion, OA 2003, has
been in demand from television
interviewers more than once this
year for his expertise in extreme
weather conditions. Adrian is a
meteorologist currently working at
the University of Reading where he
did his PhD on improving rainfall
estimations from storms passing
over the UK in a warmer climate.
Currently a member of a team
looking into the dynamics of extreme
weather events affecting the UK,
Adrian warns that extensive flooding
and extreme windstorms will become
more frequent.
n
Hugh Lunghi 1920-2014
Captain of the 1st XV in 1936
Major Hugh Lunghi, Royal Artillery
Chris Vernon
Chris Vernon, OA 1974, a Planning Manager
for huge construction projects, left school
following, as he describes it, an “un-stellar
academic career” and gained an HND
Building. After working in the UK and Saudi
Arabia, he went to post-war Kuwait in 1992
to work on oil and gas projects.
1997 brought his first step into mega
projects, which over the years have
included Hong Kong airport, the “Gherkin”,
the Dubai metro, the Abu Dhabi F1 circuit
and the Olympic Park and Village in
Stratford. At the moment he is working
on the massive Panama Canal Expansion
Project, which is intended to double the
Canal’s capacity by 2015.
n
Miraflores Lake,
Panama Canal
