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Queen Elizabeth’s School this term celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the official opening of its main building on the present site.

On 3rd November 1932, Prince George, fourth son of King George V, was the Royal Guest of Honour at the opening ceremony and symbolically unlocked the School’s front door.

The School has been digging through the archives to discover how it was reported at the time.

QE had made its home on Wood Street in Barnet from 1573, but by 1929 “it was decided that the accommodation of the old school was inadequate for modern needs …The Hertfordshire County Council therefore decided to erect entirely new school buildings worthy of the traditions of the old” (from the official Opening Ceremony Programme). The former School building on Wood Street, Tudor Hall, remains the oldest building in Barnet.

There was much excitement generally in Barnet on the day of the Royal visit. The Barnet Press of 5th November 1932 reported: “This was the first ceremonial visit of Royalty to Barnet, and the Prince had a most enthusiastic reception. Flags floated gaily from the principal buildings in the town, and the main streets formed a perfect panorama of decorative designs, all signifying a warm welcome to the Royal visitor….’Here comes the Prince!’ was the joyful message passed along the large concourse of people assembled in the grounds of the new Grammar School…” Once at the School, the official Programme provides that “The Prince George will unlock the door of the School with a key to be presented by the architect, and proceed to the main Hall.” There followed speeches and a hymn: “Prince George was received with prolonged applause when he rose to make his speech.

He said: “I am very pleased to be here today to open the new buildings of this historical school… here you have a fine range of classrooms, laboratories, hall, and gymnasium; also a large playing field… the modern school system… offers an opportunity for all those attending public elementary schools to obtain, by competition, a free place at a grammar school. Then it offers access to the universities, and is a stepping stone from elementary schools to these seats of learning. The excellent results… bear out the success of this system… I now, therefore, have great pleasure in declaring these buildings to be open, in the hope that within their walls new generations will carry on the fine traditions of the last three hundred and fifty years.” (from the local News Chronicle, 4th November 1932)

Prince George, accompanied by the Headmaster E.H. Jenkins and various dignitaries, “then made a tour of inspection of the new building. The Prince displayed a keen interest in the various departments, and a great admiration for the general planning and equipment of the school”. The company were then “provided with refreshments from buffets installed in the dining hall and gymnasium. From 5 p.m. onwards the school was opened to the public for inspection, and large numbers of people took the opportunity.” (News Chronicle).

Since 1932, many additions have been made to the School site, including the Fern and Heard buildings, the Friends’ Music Room, the Clark Laboratories, the Martin Swimming Pool and the Shearly Hall. The new Food Technology suite has recently been completed, and work is underway to create a new Library and Dining Hall.

The 117th Old Elizabethans’ Association Annual Dinner saw a group who joined QE in 1962 celebrate together 50 years on, with many reunited for the first time since they left the School. Attendance at the formal dinner reached 100 – a significant increase on last year.

Twelve former pupils celebrated the golden anniversary of their joining the School at the dinner in the main School Hall.

The 12 were brought together following extensive research by one of their number, OE Rob Walsh, with assistance from Martyn Bradish, the Chairman of the Association. Rob said: “Of the 90 joiners in that year, I was able to track down 64, using various websites. Of these 64, four had sadly died and seven lived overseas. I sent e-mails and letters to all others, inviting them to the Anniversary Dinner, and had many replies apologising that they were unable to attend the evening.

“For most of us who did attend, it was the first time we had met since leaving School, and the evening was filled with endless chat, reminiscing and swapping pictures. I only wish we had got together 20 years ago.”

In addition to the 12, as is usual all who left the School ten years ago were sent invitations. Of course, all OEs were welcome and there was a good spread of old boys from across the generations.

The evening began with a sherry reception at 7.15pm and was followed by dinner at 8pm at which salmon mousse, braised lamb shank and crème brûlée were served. The dress code was black tie or lounge suit.

The MC for the evening was the President of the Association, David Farrer.  Nigethan Sathiyalingam, the School Captain, proposed a toast to the Association and Martyn Bradish replied with a speech. John Keeley, who was part of the historic QE trip to Russia in 1962 – and therefore was celebrating another golden anniversary – also made a speech and proposed a toast to the School. The Headmaster, Neil Enright, responded.

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening,” said Mr Enright. “It was particularly pleasing to note the increase in attendance and to witness how much enjoyment the Old Elizabethans gained from meeting once again, often after a break of nearly half a century.”

Alistair Bell (OE 1996-2003) was joined by a number of QE old boys when he got married this summer at his university alma mater, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

QE alumni at the wedding included not only Alistair’s father, Raymond Bell, but also his twin brother and best man, Stewart Bell, and the ushers, Ravi Lakhani, Deren Olgun and Veli Aghdiran (son of one of the School’s Assistant Heads, Emi Aghdiran).

He met his bride, Lizzy, while they were both at Sidney Sussex: she was reading Theology and Philosophy and he Engineering.

“We were married on 18th August, which amazingly turned out to be the hottest day of the year, with perfect three-piece morning suit temperatures of over 30 degrees!” says Alistair.

After a honeymoon in Thailand, the couple are in the process of settling down in London. Alistair is now working for Stage Technologies – a global entertainment automation company with offices in London, Las Vegas, Macau, Hong Kong and Australia – while Lizzy is employed by management consultancy firm MWM in Piccadilly.

George (OE 2002–2009) has appeared at major festivals, held a sell-out national tour, featured on a number of TV and radio programmes and had his first poetry collection, Search Party, published. He even enjoyed a truly global audience when he performed at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

After gaining A grades in English Literature, Sociology and Politics A-levels, George won a place at King’s College, Cambridge, to read Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS), where he went on to become Chair of the college’s student union.

While still an undergraduate, he built a strong reputation as a politically and socially engaged poet, performing at venues across London. His performances of his rap-influenced poems have also gained a significant following on youtube.

In 2012, he spoke to the Harrow Observer about his time at QE, his upbringing on the St Raphael’s housing estate and the inspiration for his poetry: “I always had the aim of academic success and my school was supportive in this way. My main motivation was my parents as we were all brought up in a culture which celebrated academic achievement – and all the negative stuff about the area only encouraged us more. I wanted to move away from all of that, but as I have matured I have realised I don’t want to run away from it, but help to change it – that’s a lifelong battle.”

Widely known as George the Poet, George previously performed as MC Shawalin, before deciding to focus on performance poetry.

Early highlights of his career to date included winning a £16,000 prize from The Stake competition, sponsored by Barclays and Channel Four. The prize was to fund a series of poetry workshops called The Jubilee Line (TJL), to be aimed, he says, “at empowering underprivileged young people with the thinking tools they need to transcend their environment”. In his application to the competition, George set out how the workshops would draw on his own experiences “as a …Cambridge University student of African descent, hailing from a council estate in North-West London”.

He performed before The Prince of Wales at the Awards for Excellence, run by the Prince’s charity, Business in the Community. In 2012, he was also named one of the UK’s Top Ten Black Students in Rare Recruitment’s Rising Stars awards.

2015 saw him rise to national prominence. He took a runner-up place in the Brits Critics’ Choice Award, fifth place in the prestigious BBC Sound of 2015 Award and tenth place in MTV’s Brand New for 2015 competition – in each case competing as a poet against a field that comprised largely musicians.

His media appearances have ranged from being a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme to discuss the day’s news to headlining an episode of BBC Two’s Artsnight programme, in which he explored the meaning of black culture in four spoken-word chapters. He was also the subject of a BBC Radio 1 documentary and of several national newspaper features.

At the 2015 Cheltenham Literature Festival, George headed the poetry strand as a Guest Director and spearheaded the festival’s schools’ poetry competition. In the same year, he also appeared at Glastonbury Festival and at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

Roger, who writes based on his first-hand experience, secured a publishing deal with Coronet, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, and the first book, Agent of the State, was published in 2012.

Roger, of Underne House, was at the School when Tim Edwards was Headmaster and John Pearce (no relation) his Housemaster. After graduating with a BA Honours in Theology from St John’s College, Durham University in 1972, Roger married Margaret, a former pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s Girls’ School, whom he had met when both were Sixth-Formers. Roger had intended to become ordained as an Anglican priest, but instead joined Durham Constabulary in 1973 and transferred to the Metropolitan Police in 1975.

Within a year Roger had applied to join Special Branch at New Scotland Yard. (He also began an external LLB Honours degree from London University by private study and in 1979 qualified as a barrister-at-law at the Middle Temple.) The mission of the Special Branch, which was formed in 1883, was to gather secret intelligence against terrorists and extremists. It conducted sensitive assignments here and abroad and was also responsible for the protection of the Cabinet, of visiting heads of state and of VIPs. Roger became the head of Special Branch in 1999 and also served as the Met’s Director of Intelligence, authorising surveillance and undercover operations against serious and organised crime. He held both posts until 2003. The Met’s Special Branch was merged with the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch (SO13) to form Counter Terrorism Command, or SO15, in 2006.

In his last months of service, Roger was approached by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to take up the newly formed post of Counter-Terrorism Adviser, where he worked with government and intelligence experts worldwide in the campaign against Al Qaeda. In 2005 he was hired by GE Capital in London as managing director of European security.

Roger and Margaret celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2012. They have two sons, both former QE pupils: Andrew, a composer, and Matthew, an airline pilot. Their daughter, Laura, is a personal assistant.

Roger had been writing for several years and was delighted when a top London literary agent agreed to represent him and eventually brought him together with the team from Hodder.

Economist Professor Richard Brealey made the most of his opportunities and has consequently enjoyed a glittering career.

"Some people have a clear goal in life; others go where the wind takes them. I fall in the latter camp," he explains. It is an approach that has served him well: he is one of the most respected academics in the field of financial economics and has worked as a special adviser to the Governor of the Bank of England.

Professor Brealey (OE 1946 – 1954), who is known as Dick, went to Exeter College, Oxford. "On leaving college I joined the investment department of a Canadian insurance company, partly because they offered immediate responsibilities and partly because they promised me a year working in Canada. Visiting companies as an investment analyst and later managing the UK equity portfolio was great fun, but towards the end of my time there I became interested in some of the exciting new theories about portfolio management."

To pursue this interest and try to apply these theories, Dick got a job in the United States. "My three years in the States involved getting to know many of the academics working in the area and, when I got an offer from the newly established London Business School (LBS) to join their finance faculty, I became an academic myself." Apart from his secondment as a special adviser to the Governor of the Bank of England, he has stayed at LBS ever since. He believes he has been lucky throughout his adult life: "I was lucky to join LBS during the golden age of financial economics. I was lucky to help build a classy finance faculty and to team up with a friend from MIT to write a textbook that 30 years later is still the most widely used finance text [Principles of Corporate Finance, with S C Myers and F Allen, 10th ed, 2010]. During my time at LBS I have had plenty of opportunities to travel, and to consult and provide expert testimony in many countries. And outside work I have been fortunate enough to enjoy rowing, climbing, skiing and riding my horse."

Now Emeritus Professor of Finance at LBS, he holds positions including: Director of the Swiss Helvetia Fund and deputy chairman of the Balancing and Settlement Code Panel; Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance; Advisory Editor, Economic Notes and member of the Advisory Board of International Finance. His career has included visiting appointments at the University of California (Berkeley), University of British Columbia, University of Hawaii and Australian Graduate School of Management.

"My wife, who would probably once have been horrified at the thought of marrying a professor, is now reconciled and grateful that, although I may be forgetful, at least I do not have a wispy beard," he concludes.