Connections from our 1975-1984 graduates

Laurence Wright

MA English, 1975

It's been a long time since I graduated. I did an MA by coursework way back in 1973, still the late-squelchy era of mud and white tiles! Since then, I have had a very happy and productive career as H.A. Molteno Professor of English and Director of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa at Rhodes University in South Africa, working mainly in adult literacy, rural teacher education, industrial education, textbook design, and language policy. Challenging but deeply satisfying work.

I have recently published two books which may be of interest to Africanists at Warwick. The first is an edition of Wulf Sachs's unpublished novel African Tragedy from the mid-1930s, the second a newly discovered play text written in collaboration with Sachs by the tough Hollywood scriptwriter, John Bright, copyrighted in 1949. Bright was the man largely responsible for scripting the gangster films which made James Cagney's name in the early 1930s. The play has languished in the Library of Congress unnoticed, never even looked at. The dramatists' aim was to contribute a new strand to the Black Atlantic Discourse and project cogent South African experience into the Civil Rights Movement. The play's striking climax is a courtroom drama reminiscent of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the 1990s, playing out (for Broadway) long years before that event formally took place. Sachs was a pioneer Freudian, a Lithuanian exile in South Africa who felt a strong affinity with black urban migrants in industrialising Johannesburg. He wrote a strange psychobiography of a Manyikan sangoma (diviner and healer) while living in a nearby slumyard to probe the psychic life of black Africans – the first such attempt. Graduates of Dr Elise Smith's module on "Psychologising South Africa" in the Warwick History department's "Medicine, Empire and the Body" programme will be familiar with Black Hamlet. (I must thank Dr Smith for supporting the publication of this new research: Thanks Elise!).

The new work upends much that we thought we knew about the character of Sachs's Freudian intervention, making it a much more intriguing and problematic endeavour! Here are the details of the two books: CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARS PUBLISHING: two books from Laurence Wright: African Tragedy by Wulf Sachs, and Black Hamlet, The Play by John Bright and Wulf Sachs, both edited and introduced by Laurence Wright with fond memories of my time at Warwick.

Sheena

A chance meeting at Coventry Station led Sheena Harvey (neé Taylor) to a successful 40-year career in journalism. Those early years on the University’s newsletter created incredible memories for Sheena, and paved the way for decades of writing and editing on magazines found in homes all over the UK.

"I began my career in 1977 as a trainee sub-editor with Thomson Magazines in London, working on Family Circle – a popular monthly women’s magazine in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. It took me three years to qualify as a journalist with on-the-job training and a short course at the London College of Printing."

Keith Warrender

BSc Engineering Science, 1976

Keith tells the story of how he helped to bring the Olympics to UK TV screens as the BBC's core tech team for London, Rio, and Tokyo.

"I studied Engineering Science from 1973 to 1976 and went on to have a career in broadcast engineering, which has taken me to many varied places. But I kept coming back to the UK."

David Hill

BSc Mathematics, 1978

From never running a long-distance race in his life to becoming New York’s fastest runner in his age group, David discovered a brand-new hobby that he didn't expect to excel at. This was all thanks to a catch up meeting and drink with a fellow Warwick alum and friend, Piers.

"I was 58 when I ran my first long-distance race. A drink with a friend, Piers Keenleyside, who I’d met at Warwick and who was visiting me in New York for the marathon, put the idea into my head. He told me he’d run 26 marathons in the prior year. It made me think, ‘If he could do that, how difficult could one be?’, so I signed up and ran the Central Park Half."

Piers Keenleyside

BSc Engineering Science, 1978

I just completed my 25th London Marathon and 227th lifetime marathon. My first marathon was the New York City in 1985 and my first London marathon was in 1987. This picture shows my 25 London Marathon medals.

Roger Addison

BSc Chemistry, 1982

My sister was at Warwick and met her husband there. I also attended four years later and met my wife there. Our son attended and met his wife there. My wife and I regularly meet up with at least two other couples where at least one member is a graduate of Warwick but some, like us are couples where both are Warwick graduates. Our daughter broke the routine by going to Exeter. She said there wasn't much that she could add to the Warwick story.