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It is with regret that the Association announces the death of Paul Hart (1949-57) on 7 October 2017.

On his first visit back to QE since leaving the School 23 years ago, successful barrister and TV celebrity Robert Rinder had some serious advice for the boys – but gave a talk that was characteristically entertaining, too.

Robert, who was a pupil at QE from 1989 to 1994, proved a popular guest, receiving a raucous welcome from his audience, which comprised Year 10, as well as a number of other boys from the Upper School.

In his talk in the Main School Hall, he reflected on his time at the School – which he left after GCSEs to take his A-levels elsewhere – and shared insights on how to get into the best positions in Law.

Afterwards, he met Headmaster Neil Enright, who showed him around the School. Mr Enright said: “It was very good to be able to welcome Robert back to Queen Elizabeth’s School and I am most grateful to him for coming.

“The boys were ver y excited to meet him and he reciprocated with a talk that was both engaging and fun, while simultaneously informative and packed with the benefit of his experience. Robert seemed to enjoy the afternoon and to be impressed at how the School has changed in the years since he left.”

Whilst not always having had the easiest time at QE as a pupil, Robert explained in his talk that he has subsequently come to realise what the School gave him, namely “self-discipline”. This, he said, is a crucial ingredient if one wishes to do well at anything: “There is only one person responsible for your career – you,” he told the boys, who listened attentively.

He learned never to do anything for reasons of fear – “Do things because you love them or hold an interest in them,” he advised. This should apply when it comes to choosing university degrees, he counselled. “Pick something you are really interested in, particularly if you are wanting to become a lawyer.” Robert advised against studying Law at undergraduate level (although he recognised that many follow this route for financial reasons), suggesting instead that they obtain a “First” in another discipline and then go on to take a conversion course, which are often funded by law firms.

Among further practical advice for those aspiring to the Bar was that, in addition to “jumping through the hoops”, they should do other things that would make them stand out. These included:

• “Debate, debate, debate!” He noted the success of those engaged in university-l evel debating at the top institutions in gaining highly competitive pupillages. In this regard, he cited his own Chambers’ experience in deciding between the 712 applicants for the one pupillage on offer there (and drew comparisons with the intense competition for QE’s coveted Year 7 places, which see 2,500 boys sit the QE entrance examination annually).
• “Be nice and be normal.” This had, in fact, been the key for that one successful applicant to his Chambers. “Something that unites the people from this School is that they are all nice people,” he said, advising the boys that they could perhaps develop such social ease by  working with charities, or in a supermarket or bar.
• “Do as much work experience as possible.” He stressed that the Old Elizabethan network is a great resource for this and that the alumni – including himself – would do all they could to help the boys.

He spoke about the role of a barrister – “I am an advocate for my client”. His job was to present the evidence and to challenge the other side, not to take a view on the accused’s guilt or innocence, but to present the case.  In his defence work, it involved battling the state and making the state prove something beyond reasonable doubt. This was, he said, a huge responsibility – and here he drew on Spiderman: “With great power comes awesome responsibility.”

QE boys, bein g so bright and able, will go on to positions where they have to take responsibility for explaining complex issues to people who do not understand them: “People will be relying on you to do a good job for them,” he told the boys.

At base, his work as a barrister is about the rule of law “on which everything else is built”. It was, he said “better to let 11 guilty men go free than for one innocent man to be wrongly convicted”.

He recounted some cases from his professional career – including his role as counsel to the Turks and Caicos Islands’ Special Investigations and Prosecutions Team. (After two weeks, the novelty of being in the Caribbean wore off – “There are only so many times you can go to the beach before it’s boring.”)

Robert also explained how he acquired a second successful career by becoming involved in television. “Never think of yourself as only one thing,” he urged the boys. “Remember to keep up all the other talents and interests you have.”

He talked about cases from the Judge Rinder TV show, including a memorable episode which involved an 80-year-old man, a green mankini, a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ and a Battle of the Bands-competition in Manchester! He set the boys a legal problem based on this – what were the grounds for action of the manager of the band (who was suing)?

At the end of the session, he ca me back to this question. One of the Year 10 boys correctly identified that the grounds were “loss of opportunity” [to win the competition and the £5,000 prize]. Robert said he had given this same problem to about 17 different groups, including university Law students, and nobody had pinpointed the grounds so exactly before.

The boys then asked several questions:

• One concerned the apparent moral dilemma of the barrister thinking the person he is defending is guilty (“It is for the jury to decide their guilt, not their barrister,” was Robert’s response.)
• Conversely, one boy asked what a barrister should do if the defendant tells you he is guilty (“Advise them that they should plead guilty, and if they don’t you must drop the case, as counsel can never mislead the court.”)
• What was the hardest case Robert had done? (Emotionally, Robert said, it was defending a British serviceman against a charge of the manslaughter of a detainee in Iraq – “one of the only cases where for the two-month duration I hardly slept”.)
• What was the hardest dance he had to learn when he appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016? (“They were all hard, but the quickstep was the most difficult due to it being ‘quick!’ and because the music was hard to follow.”)

Old Elizabethan Farshad Dabeshkoy is now the Commercial Director for one of the world’s largest advertising exchanges – second only to Google – with a role that sees him regularly travelling across the Middle East.

He meets with clients which include some of the biggest companies in their sectors, consulting on their business objectives and, in some cases, on progressing to IPO (Initial Public Offering, or stock market flotation).

And Farshad (OE 1997–2005) has a Master’s in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University London as well as a degree in Business Management – Marketing from the University of Westminster.

Yet he was by no means always considered a high-flyer. In fact, asked to characterise the message arising from his life and career so far, he says: “I feel the ‘theme’ would be that you may not be the most academic person in the class – but with the right attitude, commitment and values, success is a guaranteed outcome.

“One of the key points during my time at QE was a very honest and uncomfortable meeting with my then-Head of Year, Mr [Liam] Hargadon.” Dissatisfied with his academic performance, Mr Hargadon said he planned to call Farshad’s parents in to the School.

It was, as Farshad recalls, an inauspicious thing to hear on a Monday morning, but it gave him the chance to show his mettle. “Whilst in this meeting, I pitched various ways I could get him to change his (already made-up) mind – and after 30 minutes we had agreed on a contract to be drawn up between the two of us whereby I would guarantee an improvement in grades… in return for Mr Hargadon not contacting my parents.

“I believe this was my first proper pitch and first official ‘close’ of a deal. To put it simply, this is a foundation in the role I fulfil today – but ‘Mr Hargadon’ has been replaced with global airlines, retailers and the biggest brands in the world!”

Another thing that Farshad acquired during his time at QE – in addition to his enduring nickname, Fash – was financial acumen. “I remember getting a detention for buying ‘penny sweets’ from the newsagent on the way to school, and trying to sell them for 2p. Simple case of supply versus demand: you can tell I was always thinking about profits!”

Like many schoolboys, he did not always appreciate the reasons for the rules that were in place. “It’s only now, as the father of a nearly four-year-old, that I understand and fully appreciate the value in being prompt (I had endless ‘bad notes’ for being late), or finishing homework on time, or not having your tie undone, or shirt untucked. One big lesson I learnt was not wearing too much hair-gel: as you’ll see from my picture it didn’t work out too well for me (!)”

Farshad says his current career owes much to the “creative tendencies” he demonstrated when growing up . “I was always more interested in Art, Music and Design. A major hobby of mine was always music production – I was working in recording studies and, from a young age, signing licensing deals with record labels both in Europe and in the Middle East.

“As a risk-averse individual, as time went on I felt more and more uncomfortable with the irregular income from music, and whilst studying Marketing at university, I decided that marketing and advertising were a much safer bet. I decided to give 100% to it, which led me to doing an internship at an online advertising network. It was one of the first of its kind: digital advertising wasn’t taken very seriously then, and more traditional mediums were holding by far the lion’s share of the market.”

After a year, the company offered him a permanent position, which involved his studying and working at the same time. “A lot of late evenings, but with the support of my wife (who I’ve known since I was at QE) raising our son, a one-year old at the time, I went on to also complete a Master’s degree, again by working all day – with university study all night!

After progressing through a couple of advertising and media-sector jobs, 2017 finds Farshad based in Dubai, employed by the Nasdaq-listed Criteo. He works with some of the largest retailers, airlines, online travel agencies and e-commerce platforms in the world, which gives him the opportunity to experience cities not only in the Middle East and Turkey, but as far afield as South Africa and Russia.

“I still feel there is a lot more to achieve and my commitment and motivation for further success is only stronger than before,” Farshad concludes. “Integrity and striving for greatness” have been key pillars not only in his own accomplishments, he says, but also in the success “that many of my friends from QE have gone on to experience”.

So while his own time at School was not without its hiccoughs, he says: “I have since been forever grateful for my parents’ decision to support and push me to attend and study at QE Boys – and here I have given just a few of the reasons that I would choose QE for my own son, too.”

Actors and crew preparing for their forthcoming performance of Henry V enjoyed an exclusive workshop with experts from the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

Usually two schools would take part in the workshop, but because the other school due to attend was unable to be there, the 26 QE pupils from Years 10-13 had the undivided attention of the SSF facilitators.

Mark Thomas, of Year 13, who is the student director, had prepared one scene from Henry V with the ensemble to present and work on with the SSF staff. Members of the crew enjoyed the opportunity to meet with the theatre technicians at the Arts Depot in North Finchley. And boys working towards their Trinity College Silver Arts Award also benefited from discussions with SSF professionals to discuss their own route into the arts. In addition, the boys worked on percussive sound and on battle cries to enhance the tension and passion of the scene.

“During the workshop, the facilitators looked at different aspects, including vocal delivery and physicality,” said Elaine White, the drama co-ordinator at QE. “They spent time developing the performance until it was really powerful and almost threatening. It was quite a thrill to watch the older boys working alongside the younger ones, sharing their knowledge and coaching them in performance.”

The Shakespeare Schools Foundation, which runs the annual festival, was set up to enable young people to perform in professional theatres. The foundation provides curriculum resources and workshops to help school children improve their literacy and develop their confidence and teamwork. In their mission statement, the foundation says it wants to show children that “Shakespeare is not just fun, it can also be terrifying, hilarious and deeply moving”. Its patrons include Jenny Agutter, Hugh Dennis and Ralph Fiennes.

QE’s final 30-minute, abridged performance of Henry V will take place as part of the festival at the Arts Depot in North Finchley on 20th November, at 7pm. Three other schools will also perform their own abridged versions of Shakespeare plays. Tickets are available from the Arts Depot.

International oilman and Old Elizabethan Jason Breslaw is continuing to forge his business reputation after moving to Chicago.

Former School Captain Jason (OE 1994–2001), who now leads BP’s distillate trading origination business across the Americas, was a headline attraction at a major industry event in October – the 37th Argus Fuel Oil and Feedstock Summit – in Miami, Florida. Oil pricing analyst Stefka Wechsler identified him as one of the event’s “high-powered speakers”.

A year after graduating from Cambridge with a degree in Natural Sciences in 2004, Jason began working for BP as a Freight Trading Analyst and has successfully worked his way up in the multinational company ever since. For the first 12 years, he was based in London, although his responsibilities ranged far and wide, from involvement with BP’s terminal in the southern Turkish port of Mersin to leading the development of new distillate trading business across Europe, Africa and Russia.

Jason got married in Mill Hill in July 2015 and he and his spouse moved to the US in May 2016. As to the future, he hopes to start a family when he returns from Chicago. “I intend to keep working at my career within BP and to continue travelling both for business and pleasure. I’ll be prioritising time with my friends and family whenever I get the opportunity, and staying true to my north London roots .

“I have so many fond memories from my days at QE! The dreaded cross-country runs through the ‘elephant dip’, as we used to refer to it (the typically very muddy section behind Third Field, where more than a few Green Flash trainers have no doubt been lost) – I never imagined I’d take up running as a hobby in later life: it’s mainly to keep the extra pounds off that living in America can so easily see gained.

“One of my proudest achievements was breaking the fundraising record for the FQE summer fete when I was School Captain back in 2000, between the raffle ticket sales and the fete itself. Boy, we worked hard for that, but of course none of us as hard as Diane Mason [Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s stalwart] – what a trooper!

“It was also a pleasure seeing the School evolve, from having some first-year classes in Portakabins (to the right of where the Sixth Form block now stands), to the addition of the new Science labs in the late 1990s, to the building of the Sixth Form block and the covering of the area between the English classrooms (what was the rose garden) – and since then of course, the upgrading of the pool and many more upgrades. The BBC computers from 1994/5 are well and truly gone!”

Jason was joint best man at Arash Aframian’s (also OE 1994-2001) wedding this summer. “Arash was, and remains, one of my closest friends and is now a successful orthopaedic surgeon in the UK.”

Another friend from School, Gavin Levy, re-entered Jason’s life when he bought the house next door to him in Mill Hill. “It was great re-kindling that friendship and getting to know his wife before we moved to the US.”

Pictured here is Jason:

• • In Kuwait City at a refinery deep dive with the country’s national oil company.

• • In Sydney attending ABCANZ (a military fuels conference between the American, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealander navies) at the request of the UK MOD, where he represented the industry as a marine fuels quality and market expert.

• • In a recent picture taken at his downtown Chicago apartment balcony, as used in the Miami conference marketing materials.