Favourite Album: 'Dark Side of the Moon' by Pink Floyd

The fourth of a series of articles (originally published in the ‘Fight Club’ issue of Portsmouth Point magazine) exploring favourite music albums. Today, Mark Richardson explains why Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' is his favourite album.“By the way, which one’s Pink?”The title comes from ‘Have a Cigar’, a song that appeared on the 1975 album Wish You Were Here, the long-awaited follow-up to this issue’s piece on music, namely Pink Floyd’s...

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Favourite Album: 'Quadrophenia' by The Who

Third of a series of articles (originally published in the ‘Fight Club’ issue of Portsmouth Point magazine) exploring favourite music albums. Today, Tim Bustin explains why The Who's 'Quadrophenia' is his favourite album.Often dubbed as the last great Who album, Quadrophenia is overly ambitious, incredibly complex yet utterly brilliant – a summarisation for the music of rock heavyweights The Who.    In 1973, after creating such...

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Favourite Album: Sounds of a Playground Fading by In Flames

Second in a series of articles (originally published in the ‘Fight Club’ issue of Portsmouth Point magazine) exploring favourite music albums. Today, Fraser McKenzie explains why In Flames' 'Sounds of a Playground Fading' is his favourite album.There is a reason why these Swedish pioneers of melodic death metal have continued to captivate, delight and infuriate for nearly two decades while entire battalions of copycat bands have come and...

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'Blackberry-Picking' by Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney, poet (13 April, 1939 to 30 August, 2013)Blackberry-PickingLate August, given heavy rain and sunFor a full week, the blackberries would ripen.At first, just one, a glossy purple clotAmong others, red, green, hard as a knot.You ate that first one and its flesh was sweetLike thickened wine: summer's blood was in itLeaving stains upon the tongue and lust forPicking. Then red ones inked up and that hungerSent us out with milk cans, pea...

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Photograph: On Milton Common II

by Laura BurdenA cinnabar moth caterpillar exploring ragwort on Milton Common, August 2013.&nb...

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50th Anniversary of The March On Washington

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Favourite Album: The Place We Ran From by Tired Pony

The first of a series of articles (originally published in the ‘Fight Club’ issue of Portsmouth Point magazine) exploring favourite music albums. Today, George Neame explains why Tired Pony’s ‘The Place We Ran From’ is his favourite album.  Tired Pony is the brainchild of Gary Lightbody, frontman of the more well-known alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The idea of a ‘country-tinged supergroup’ came to him in a bar in Ireland many years ago,...

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Simultaneous Chess: Mr Puchades v. Five Pupils

Richard Puchades On the Tuesday on the last week of the Summer term I played the 5 best PGS chess players in a simultaneous match organised by Luke Ronaldson. All of the games were hard fought but, in the end, experience triumphed over youth and I won 5...

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Photography: On Milton Common

by Laura BurdenAn ant eyeing a ladybird inquisitively on some ragwort. Photograph taken on Milton Common.&nb...

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The Fourth Test: Analysis

by Tim MacBain Wow. Wasn’t expecting that.What a Test! It had everything, controversy, sublime batting, insane bowling, and probably one of the most wonderful moments for one man, so richly deserved. How can the Oval live up to this?I’ll start with him. Chris Rogers. The poor bloke had about five years between his debut in 2008 and next Test, the first of this series. Eternally behind Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden until their retirements, and...

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Sixth Form Centre: Ground Level

by Tony HicksFinal images of the demolition of the Sixth Form Centre, which is now at ground level.Images from the final we...

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'Porphyria's Lover': An Aestheticist Reading

Ben Schofield offers an Aestheticist reading of Robert Browning's poem 'Porphyria's Lover'. This article was originally published in the 'Fight Club' issue of Portsmouth Point magazine in July 2013.‘Porphyria’s Lover’ tells a tale out of the ordinary, the story of a murder and an exploration of insanity. As an earlier title of the piece, ‘Madhouse Cells’, indicates, the narrator is insane, yet in the narrative of the poem he goes undescribed, in fact we can only assume the narrator’s gender as Browning leaves us not even a stray pronoun...

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'Porphyria's Lover': A Structuralist Reading

Gregory Walton-Green offers a Structuralist reading of Robert Browning's poem 'Porphyria's Lover'. This article was originally published in the 'Fight Club' issue of Portsmouth Point magazine in July 2013.The key element to appreciating Porphyria’s lover is in understanding how Browning repeatedly subverts our expectations. In the first nine lines, we are offered a scene that could come just as easily from the Romantic poetry of the earlier 19th Century; the immensely impressive might of nature at its most ferocious is juxtaposed with...

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'Porphyria's Lover': A Historicist Reading

Tom Harper offers a Historicist reading of Robert Browning's poem 'Porphyria's Lover'. This article was originally published in the 'Fight Club' issue of Portsmouth Point magazine in July 2013.Browning’s work with the dramatic monologue form stems from numerous accusations of ‘perversity’ from contemporaries on account of the disturbing characters he invents in his poetry, and hence the form was utilised as a means of distancing himself from his more sinister speakers. However, where the historical reading in this piece lies is in the...

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Ashes: Third Test

by Sampad SenguptaRain dampens Australia's hopesEnglandretained the Ashes as the third Test ended in a draw with the home side now having an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.  The third Test at a new look Old Trafford stadium was cut short by some typical British weather as it poured down on the final day causing the match to end in a draw.  After having won the first two games, the momentum was with England who were looking forward...

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'Porphyria's Lover': A Feminist Reading

Josh Rampton offers a Feminist reading of Robert Browning's poem 'Porphyria's Lover'. This article was originally published in the 'Fight Club' issue of Portsmouth Point magazine in July 2013.This poem is clearly a controversial one, in the eyes of contemporary Victorian audiences and even more so in the eyes of an audience of today, accustomed to relative equality. To be shocking and controversial may have been the aim of Robert Browning, who with his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning campaigned for liberal causes such as the rights of women....

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Sixth Form Demolition: Fourth Day

by Tony HicksPhotographs taken on the fourth day of the demolition of the PGS Sixth Form Cent...

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Different Interpretations of 'Porphyria's Lover': Introduction

Fay Davies introduces a series of articles responding to Robert Browning's poem 'Porphyria's Lover'. This series of articles was originally published in the 'Fight Club' issue of Portsmouth Point magazine in July 2013.When we think of the term ‘fight’, poetry interpretation might not immediately spring to mind. But I would like to propose that ‘Fight Club’ is not such a far cry from ‘Poetry Club’. An interpretation (or reading) of a text is, in some ways, an argument. You are telling people what you believe this text to mean. You are bringing your...

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Last Sunrise Over The Sixth Form Centre

by Tony Hi...

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Battle of the Sciences: Physics

Third in a series of articles discussing which scientific discipline was responsible for the most significant scientific discovery. Today, Sampad Sengupta argues for Physics. When speaking of experiments in physics, most people nowadays would think of dark matter research and space exploration. However, I believe some of the most influential experiments in physics have been conducted over 300 years ago when all this technology was not available...

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