The Mary Rose Sails Again

A new museum housing Henry VIII's flagship, The Mary Rose, was officially opened to the public today at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard. Built in 1510, the ship sank in the Solent during a battle against a French invasion fleet in 1545, as Henry VIII watched from Southsea Castle; of the 500 crew members only 35 survived. The Mary Rose was raised from the seabed in 1982, along with thousands of artefacts many of which (from...

Read More

Photography: Gold

by William HallPhotograph taken by William Hall in The Vault, at the Natural History Museum, Lon...

Read More

Festivals- Frightful or Delightful?

Hattie Gould and Annie Materna delightful . . .(source: phestival) We all know that as summer is (slowly) coming back; so is the festival season. The panic of which festival to go to sets in and soon enough almost everyone has bought a ticket. Whether it be Reading, Bestival, Isle of White or V, people are beginning to experience that exciting festival 'buzz'. However, is the idea of a festival better than the reality?Festivals are the ultimate...

Read More

"The Twentieth Century Incarnate": Rite of Spring

On May 29, 1913, the premiere of 'Le Sacre du Printemps' (The Rite of Spring), by a young Russian composer, Igor Stravinsky, caused a riot in Paris among many audience members who saw this revolutionary new work as "a blasphemous attempt to destroy music". However, 'Le Sacre du Printemps' became extraordinarily influential almost from the beginning and, one hundred years after its first controversial performance, remains...

Read More

Review: The Great Gatsby

Maddy Shandand Fay Davies review Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’  Leonardo diCaprio as Gatsby(source: New York Times)“I was both within and without”. These are the words that define Nick Carraway as narrator of Fitzgerald’s classic American novel – and they apply perfectly to our critique. We watched the film together: one of us intimately familiar with the novel having studied it for AS English Literature, and the other having never touched...

Read More

Recipe: Sweet Potato Breakfast

by Melissa SmithRecently I have been a little obsessed with breakfast. Combined with my next best thing, sweet potato, this recipe is all I want on a Sunday morning. After a fair amount of trial and error, I have come up with a recipe that never fails to please (well me, at least). Hopefully it will have the same effect on others! It’s a great one to try out on a leisurely half term morning. Recipe:(Serves 1 person)Ingredients:1 medium sweet potato,...

Read More

PGS Leavers' Day, Friday, 24 May

...

Read More

Poem: El Grito de la Noche

by Liliana Nogueira-PacheSi tienes que decir algoNo lo hagas en la oscuridad.Sal a la luz,que el sol ilumine tus palabras.Grítalas al rojo resplandor,rasga el azul con tu lengua,que el relámpago de tu gritono muera solo en la noche.English translation below:THE SCREAM OF THE NIGHTIf you’ve got something to saydon’t do it in the darkness.Go into the light,let the sun illuminate your words.Shout them to the shining brilliance,sear the blue with your tongue,so the lightening of your crydoesn’t cry alone in the night.     ...

Read More

Portmuthian/Portsmouth Point Garden Party, Thursday, 23rd May

Earlier today, editors and contributors enjoyed the Portmuthian/Portsmouth Point Garden Party (which took place in Ms Hart's classroom, due to the rather inclement weather), held to celebrate their outstanding work for both magazines and blog over the past twelve months. We wish our Year 13 editors, who will be leaving school tomorrow, every success in the future: George Chapman, Lucy Cole, Fay Davies, Billie Downer,...

Read More

Adventure Training: Easter Holidays

by Zach ChoppenThis year's adventure training was incredible. Getting up early on the Saturday morning create a few tired faces that slowly wore off during the day. After an exhausting journey (and a Maccy D’s,) we arrived at our destination. After unpacking and settling in to our rooms, we had a brief talk and went of to our first meal at RAF St Mawgans (which was very good,) after the meal we start to plan our route cards for the next day walk this took sometime as most of us were trying to learn the basics. The next day was day of lovely weather,...

Read More

Hackers: Rhyme

by Nicholas GrahamDoes a poem have to rhyme?To make it worth the reading time?A rhyme is just a pattern of soundTo which a poem is often bound.Why should it matter if it is used,When often it is just abused?Metre I can understand,A poem without it is often bland.But rhyming is just a test of skill,Of finding words that fit the bill.If it matters, then I'll give up now,Because to rhyme I'm not sure h...

Read More

What Do English Teachers Read? Part 3

Henry Ling and Kelvin ShiuContinuing our series "What Do English Teachers Read?", Ms Hart and Mrs Bell discuss their favourite books and writers. Here is Ms Hart's response:1. What book are you currently reading? This is Where I am by Karen Campbell. It is chilling. It is all about refugees from Somali living in Glasgow. I have to admit having to put it down at times because it is so terrifying. 2. Who is your favourite author? Why? Tough question. Can I answer this by period?! Shakespeare has to be up there, with King Lear. Such a tragic tale...

Read More

Why Are We Still So Fascinated by the Samurai?

by Ross WatkinsScene from Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai(on which The Magnificent Seven and (strangely) Bug's Life were based).Plunging his sword into his abdomen he makes cuts from right to left tearing his inner intestines, all this done while in extreme pain. Then once he has endured enough, the second will behead the man leaving a small stand of skin so the head does not hit the ground and cause dishonour. All this done to uphold the...

Read More

Growing Up With Wagner

Nicolas Robertson, singer, music writer (and Ms Godfree's brother) marks the bicentennial of the birth of the great German composer Richard Wagner.My grandfather took me to the opera in London twice in the same season, in about 1968 (when I was fourteen) - perhaps around the time he took me and my sister to see 'The Sound of Music' on stage (with Millicent Martin), and immediately demanded, as we came out, "Right - verdict?"The operas were Wagner's 'The Mastersingers of Nuremberg' and Puccini's 'Bohème'. Probably he expected, as I did myself, that...

Read More

What Do Librarians Read?

by Henry Ling and Kelvin Shiu Our school librarian, Ms Godfree, and School Archivist, Mr Sadden, are both tireless advocates for books and reading. Here, they share their own favourite reading, past and present. This is Ms Godfree's response:1. What books are you currently reading? An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, The Gutenberg Elegies by Sven Birkerts (a reflection on e-books and printed books and why/how we read) and The Red House by Mark Haddon (who wrote Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time). 2. Who is your favourite author?...

Read More

Open Source Murder

by Daniel RollinsAmerica is a bizarre and scary place from this side of the Atlantic. Although claiming to be the “land of the free” the country seems to be enslaved to a 222 year old law which has created a culture where many people in America worship guns before God. After the tragic shooting in Newton I was quite shocked to hear the American gun lobby advocating armed guards in every school rather than gun controls but more shocked at the widespread...

Read More