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Jason Breslaw (OE 1994-2001) is enjoying a high-flying career as a BP commodities trader.

Jason, who was School Captain in 2000, developed an interest in science whilst at QE and went on to read Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Graduating with a First he joined the BP Trader Development Programme in 2005.

"I hadn't really though that a career in natural science could include commodities trading until I found out at a Careers Fair and then applied to join BP's Graduate Scheme," says Jason. Initially he worked on three, one-year, rotations; firstly as a Freight Derivatives Trading Analyst, then on an upgrade project for a blending terminal in southern Turkey and finally as a jet fuel operator in NW Europe.

He then passed the BP Assessed Traders Course and was offered a role as a Distillate Trader and Component Blender covering Europe and Africa – a role he has held since 2008. Since 2012 he has run the portfolio.

His work involves buying products such as gas oil, diesel, heating oil and jet fuel from refineries, as cargo or in storage tanks.

In 2014, Jason was interviewed and photographed for a Daily Mail recruitment feature looking at the breadth of careers available in the oil and gas industries, and talked about his nine years' working on BP’s Oil Trading Floor in London.

"Information comes in to me constantly to help me make decisions about future prices, and I buy and sell accordingly. It's fast-paced, intellectually stimulating and based on reality – I've seen ships that carry the fuels I deal in, and what I do helps provide people with heat, light and mobility."

Alex Davis, who is now breaking stories at national level, took his first journalistic steps whilst still at School.

Alex (OE 2006-2013) completed internships at flagship news outlets Sky News and ITN, before working for First News (the UK's leading children's weekly newspaper) and The Tab Cambridge (an online newspaper for university students).

But it was at QE that he had his first opportunity to pursue his interest in journalism. He pulled together the content for a feature on student volunteering in the spring 2012 edition of the School's newsletter, The Elizabethan, and edited a pupil newspaper.

It was while he was reading History at Downing College, Cambridge, that Alex had his first success with national news outlets: his story on a controversial English Finals Question was picked up by national news outlets, including the BBC. The examination question included a poem comprising only punctuation, with no words at all.

He has also written for the international online news site The Huffington Post. His piece The Power of Popular History was 'Editor's Pick'.

Whilst at QE Alex received the United Jewish Israel Appeal's Young Leaders Award. The UJIA is an organisation which works to foster links between Israel and the UK. It presents an annual award to the most inspiring person delivering Jewish education in an informal setting. Alex received the prestigious award for his work in leading QE’s Jewish Society.

He went on to become President of the Cambridge University Society and was the official Team GB Blogger for the 2013 Maccabiah Games. At those same games he represented Great Britain at rugby, a sport at which he also represented his university, his college and his School.

Old Elizabethans were well represented at Captain Charles Russell’s country wedding to Rebecca Johnston.

“It was a cracking day. I was very lucky to have two of my closest friends from Underne and QE days, Devesh Parekh and Andrew Bershadski, to celebrate with us,” said Charlie, who, like Devesh and Andrew, attended QE from 1997 to 2004. “Richard Morrison, who often plays the organ at the Founder’s Day Service, also played the organ for us,” he added.

Charlie is currently on the permanent staff at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Surrey, where he is due to remain until June 2015.

The happy couple’s Guard of Honour was made up of friends and colleagues from his battalion, The First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles (1RGR).

They were married at St Mary the Virgin Church in Becky’s home village of Elmley Castle in Worcestershire.  The reception was held in the gardens, with the wedding breakfast followed by dancing in the Tithe Barn at Stanway House, just across the border in Gloucestershire.

Last year, Charlie welcomed the School’s Combined Cadet Force when they called in at the Officers’ Mess on a visit to Sandhurst.

In July 2010, Charlie was quoted in a Ministry of Defence announcement, which pointed to the rapid improvements brought about by joint patrols between 1RGR and Afghan National Army (ANA) troops in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The patrols had “seen the pernicious influence of insurgents in the village of Piand Kalay diminish and a new level of normality return for the local people”, the announcement stated.

Charlie, who was then a Second Lieutenant, explained at the time: “Four weeks ago when I used to patrol through the village on a daily basis I’d be lucky if I spoke to three or four people. It was an empty village, the locals were intimidated, they were scared to come to talk to us because they’d be seen interacting with ISAF [the International Security Assistance Force] and ANA.

“Now, when we walk through the village from checkpoint to checkpoint and push out into the Green Zone, they welcome us – they want to speak to us. They are a little intimidated but the overall impression is that they are happy with us in the village and they want to see more progress.”

Charlie was injured in Afghanistan in 2010. In summer 2011, he attended a reception for wounded servicemen and women hosted by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in the grounds of Highgrove, their Gloucestershire home. The Prince of Wales is Colonel in Chief of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.

Poet and performer Anthony Anaxagorou (OE 1994-99) this month completed an Australian tour and has just published a volume of short stories.

His antipodean tour took in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, and featured a number of sell-out workshops. He was also interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Anthony has increasingly been making a name for himself as a poet, prose writer, playwright, performer and educator.

The School welcomed him back this term to speak to a number of Year 10 classes about his work as both a writer and teacher.

Anthony started writing poetry in his teens. At 17, he won the prestigious Mayor of London’s Poetry Slam with his poem, Anthropos. He was initially inclined towards a career in music and studied Music Production at the University of Westminster. Quickly realising that this was not for him – and after a short period supporting himself with odd jobs including warehouse work – he committed himself to working full-time as a poet.

In 2009 he published his first book, Card Not Accepted – a collection of essays, short stories and poetry, all reflecting moments from his life and providing a commentary on western living. In May of that year the MOBO award-winning hip hop artist Akala chose Anthony’s short poem Himself, from the Card Not Accepted collection, to be read out on the BBC Newsnight programme by the actor Damian Lewis:

A man stands inside the noise of the world,
But all he hears is peace,

A man stands inside the stillness of a virgin field,
But all he hears is noise,

All a man ever hears is himself

“We were delighted to receive a visit from Anthony,” said Assistant Head and English teacher, David Ryan. “Much of his work has a social and political edge to it and some is far better than anything we are studying in the GCSE anthology!”

Anthony’s work frequently looks at the spiritual search for inner peace. It also encompasses themes that deal with politics, racism, history and philosophy. His work has attracted increasing admiration and attention and drawn testimonials such as this from The Sunday Times: “Look out for Anthony Anaxagorou … a near-spiritual experience.” and The Evening Standard: “One of the most powerful stage performances I’ve seen.”

Anthony runs creative-writing workshops in schools for the First Story educational trust. The organisation focuses on schools in which more than 50% of pupils are considered deprived, according to the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index. Over the course of an academic year, each writer-in-residence leads weekly after-school workshops for a group of up to 21 pupils. The pupils’ writing is then published in a professionally produced anthology for each school; the schools host book launch events at which the students read their stories to their peers, friends, families and teachers.

He now has eight collections of poetry and short story collections in print. His poetry has appeared on BBC Youth Nation, BBC Newsnight, the British Urban Film Awards, BBC 6 Music and has been performed by Cirque du Soleil. His work has been studied in universities across the USA, the UK and Australia and has been translated into Spanish, Japanese and French.

His new book, a collection of short stories, is entitled The Blink that Killed the Eye.

Success in the BBC’s Great British Bake Off has brought fame to former QE pupil Richard Burr.

Richard (OE 1987-1994), was named ‘star baker’ an unprecedented five times in the primetime television series, which will now also be shown in the US from 28th December. He had been the front-runner for much of the series and only narrowly missed out on the title, finishing as runner-up.

Speaking after the result was announced, Richard said: “I think the greatest lesson I have taken out is [that] if you want to do something, just crack on and do it: if you don’t just open the door, you will never find out.”

Despite being pipped at the post, Richard impressed the judges in the final in October, with Paul Hollywood praising the “unbelievable” flavours of his final creation – a spectacular pièce montée cake modelled on a windmill. In the end, however, first prize went to retired GP surgery manager Nancy Birtwhistle.

Since then, he has continued to enjoy the limelight, this month rubbing shoulders with well-known figures such as singer Paloma Faith at the BBC Music Awards at Earls Court.

His Twitter feed has more than 30,000 followers, while his blog posts are eagerly followed by many and feature updates on his recipe research as well as his charity work.

Richard went to St Paul’s C of E Primary School in Mill Hill before coming to QE when Eamonn Harris was Headmaster.

He traces his love of baking back to the time he spent baking with his mother as a small child. Then, as a teenager, he had a Saturday job washing up in a local bakery, which further fired his enthusiasm.

Richard is the fourth generation to work in his family’s building business and specialises in bricklaying and building. The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood said his experience as a builder could even be seen in his baking: “Whether Richard’s mixing up plaster, cement, dough or pastry, he knows about consistency. It’s like working a cement mixer. That’s why he does so well.”

Married to Sarah and with two daughters, Richard does most of the family cooking and enjoys baking with his wife. He especially enjoys bread and pastry-making, while making the girls’ birthday cakes are highlights of the family’s year.

Richard had long been a keen fan of The Great British Bake Off. “We watch it every year and really enjoy it,” he told the BBC. “After last year I had quite a few friends and family say ‘you should go on Bake Off’, so I put my money where my mouth was and here I am.”

A keen fisherman, diver and cyclist, he also grows his own vegetables and volunteers for the National Wildlife Trust. He is teaching his daughters eco-friendly ways to help animals by building homes for hedgehogs to hibernate in.

Richard told the School that he is proud of the first-class BSc degree in Biodiversity and Conservation that he gained in 2012 from Birkbeck College, London, studying part-time.