Portsmouth Festivities 2013: The Portsmouth Military Wives Choir

by Will Sparkes

On Wednesday 26th June, the ladies of the Portsmouth Military Wives Choir assembled in St. Thomas’ Cathedral for what promised to be a rousing, yet heartfelt, concert.

The choir was conducted by the school’s very own Mr Ben Charles, and singing were Mrs Karen Sparkes, a biology teacher, and Mrs Debbie Massey, a parent. The 56-strong group sang songs from An Officer and a Gentleman, and also songs such as Sing, which was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow, but also more patriotic pieces of music, such as Jerusalem and Rule Britannia.

The audience participation was drawn from the crowd by Mr Charles, with renditions of It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, allowing the crowd to feel part of the concert as an experience rather than just a recital, and as the stewards, prefects and (confusingly) the organist rushed around handing out lyrics sheets, the excitement of the older generation in the Cathedral was palpable at the prospect of singing the Vera Lynn Medley. These pieces also allowed the men in the crowd to wipe the tears from their eyes and regain their manliness by singing the far too low bass part of Jerusalem. Still, the cannon that occurred during Tipperary was much jollier and sufficient bobbing, and other such Last Night of the Proms head movement, was used proudly and in a completely British manner.

The comprehensive array of music, from upbeat (The Rhythm of Life from Sweet Charity) to the moving (On My Own) perfectly reflected the ups and downs which the families of service men and women go through, and allowed the audience to feel touched and inspired. The donations were generous and the concert was a true spectacle, topped off with the vast Union Flag combined with the National Anthem which provided ample opportunity to flag-wave like there was no tomorrow.

A special thank you to Lyndon Ford (the organist/piano player), Mr Ben Charles, the musical director, and of course the fantastic ladies, who sang exceptionally well to remind us what music is really all about.

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Portsmouth Festivities Interview: 'Etymologicon' and 'Horologicon' Author Mark Forsyth

On June 26th, as part of Portsmouth Festivities, Mark Forsyth talked about his two best-selling books, The Etymologicon and The Horologicon, in PGS' Memorial Library. Aladdin Benali interviewed him afterwards.

What made you interested in etymology?
It was something that grew on me as a point of interest, rather than the sudden realisation that a word you are so familiar with has an interesting history. It is rather like finding out that one of your best friends has a criminal history. For example, the fact that the word "cappucino" comes from robes of Cappucin monk because they are the same colour. The fascination came from those little moments of realisation, not from a particular moment where I said, "Wow!" My interest built and built and built over time. 

I study French and Spanish and I find that there are so many links between these languages and English.
Yes, there are so many links. For example, the American "contra dance" (involving partners dance in lines facing each other) comes from the French "contredanse", which, in turn comes from the English "country dance", so that the word dives from English into French and then comes back to English again.

You mentioned pool from poulet chicken.
Since writing that entry, I have discovered that there was a similar sport in England called cocksquelling, something you played on Shrove Tuesday; it was the same basic game of throwing sticks at a chicken for money.

Perhaps they might bring that back.
There was a long campaign in the nineteenth century to get rid of it, so it would be hard to get it back I think. Bloodsports have become rather unfashionable.

Is it hard to write a book?
I love writing. It is my favourite thing researching as I go along. With The Etymologicon, I had plans and then kept finding a better connection, a way of travelling I hadn't realised. I was always running off in a different direction to that which I had intended, surprising myself in the process.

When you find where a word comes from, can it change the way you see word? Can it help you in every day life?
Is it useful? Probably not. I am not sure there is any point in it really, but I enjoy it. And that is exactly how I feel about life: I am not sure whether there is any point to it, but I continue out of curiosity to find out more. It is always good to understand what's going on under the bonnet. I don't build cars or pretend to understand how to fix them, I am not a mechanic, but I drive and I wouldn't be human if I didn't want to know how it works, how it is put together. It's that natural human curiosity to find out. As words are all around us every day, everywhere, we want to find out: where does this word come from, what is the story behind it, what is it all about? It is a dull brain that doesn't ask this once in a while.

It is quite an academic discipline. Do you think you can prove these things, these wonderful stories? Largely, I have gone with the Oxford English Dictionary as the gold standard. I research the backgrounds to the stories and expand them out. You have to find citation after citation for a word, and trace slowly through. Here, say, it may have a particular meaning, but twenty years later it may mean something else but remain recognisable as the same word. Sometimes, it can be really awkward because a word may disappear underground for a hundred years and then come back. The "F-word" first comes up in the fourteenth century and I don't think there is another reference for another hundred years. There is a possible previous reference in Anglo-Saxon English, but that is 500 years previously, so you can't prove that has anything to do with it; you have to just drop the theory and leave it as point of interest. But usually you can trace these things with some degree of certainty; between the OED and the Dictionary of National Biography, you can go an awfully long way. With the "F-word", no one knows where it comes from; there are cognate words in the other European languages, so it appears to be some old word not written down until the late fourteenth century.

I liked your explanation of your name, at the end of your talk ("Mark" from Mars, meaning war, and "forsyth" peace: war and peace). Do you know where my name, Aladdin, might have come from?
I am going to take a guess that, with the beginning, "al", it is derived from Arabic, like other anglicised words such as alcohol, algebra and algorithm. About "addin", I don't know.

My mum suggested it means "height of the religion" .
Very possibly. That's interesting.

I am interested in foreign words we don't have equivalents for. I did some research. I think, for example, that the word "gigil"is the urge to squeeze somehing that is really cute.
That's beautiful.

And there's schadenfreude, which has been adopted in English now.
Yes, it is widely used in English now, but I think it's unfair to say there is no English equivalent. We have this word "gloat", which means to take pleasure in someone suffering, so it is not a peculiarly German thing. I do have a favourite word for which there is no equivalent in another language. Unfortunately, nobody knows whether it really exists; the word apparently first appeared in Tierra del Fuego: "mamaltamatapiaaltlapi", which means two people looking at each other and wanting the same thing but neither wanting to be the first to do it. It's very dodgy as to whether the word really existed, but it should be a word.

Talking of which, have you ever made up a word yourself?
There is one I put in The Horologicon and I pretended it was real. It does say so right at the back of the book. However, unless you check every word in every dictionary that I used and check each entry in The Horologicon against them, you'll never find what it was, and I shall take the secret to my grave.

Have you ever read The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams?
It's a fantastic book, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there are points where, because I am such a boring geek, I know that there are words that they say there are no words for. For example, where they introduce "affpuddle", saying that there is no existing word for a puddle hidden beneath the pavement which when you tread on it squirts up through your shoes, actually there is an eighteenth century English word, a "boatrap", for exactly that thing. But The Meaning of Liff is great fun.

My last question is: what do you think about this idea of monogenesis, that all languages are derived ultimately from the same source?
This is an utterly theoretical one because the question is an evolutionary one: humans basically can't survive childhood without a parent there, so, if the parent is speaking language, the child must pick it up from the parent, which implies that all human languages are related. However, we don't know whether the human species split up into different groups before the evolution of the voice box, and so it depends when that split occurred. We don't know exactly when the voice box developed because it is soft tissue and doesn't show up in fossils. All we can say with confidence is that all Indo-European languages, from Ireland through northern India, derive from proto-European and proto-Indian that probably only goes back to 4,000 BC rather than to the first language. Lots of other languages don't fit in, for example Arabic, Hebrew and Basque; the latter is isolate from any other neighbouring language, but is presumably related to something somewhere, but we will never know because we can only trace language back as far as writing goes, which is why, for example, Native American languages don't appear to be related but they could be because they just were not writing them down.

Bernstein writes that the word "mother" comes from the humming sound, most common sound.
Yes, "mama" and "dada" are the easiest sounds to make for a small baby, so they tend to be universal as parental terms, but we also have "father", related to "vater" in German and this goes back to Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, but it does not carry over to Semitic or Native American languages, but "mama" and "papa" are found there. However, in contrast, the more complicated words do seem to be defnied by language families.

It has been very interesting to speak with you. Thank you.
Thank you. It has been great to visit the school.


Read articles on 'The Etymologicon' by Joanna Godfree and George Hope

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Winner of the 2013 Leonardo Prize: What Lies Beneath

On the surface all you see
are ripples of love and devotion
but if you look deeply into their eyes
you reach the abyss of darkness

Being with them is endless light
entrancing azure eyes reflecting
a sea beating slowly and gracefully while
the sun soaks through the clarity

But, without them is like reaching blackness
an empty core of destruction
the endless depths of memory and regret
hold this lonely distance

In the end you realise all
the storms must be ceased
for it is better to leave the unspoken words
as something that lies beneath

                                                    Maddy de Vere

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Bobby "Blue" Bland: A Farewell

Bobby Bland (January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013)

"Bobby Bland appears, big, shambling, sleepy-eyed, tongue licking at the edge of his lips. He plays aimlessly for a moment with the microphone, his eyes cast upwards as if for inspiration, the band kicks off and that smooth, mellow, almost horn-like voice slides in among the three trumpets, trombone and saxophone (guitar, bass, two drummers and occasionally a piano round out the band). "I pity the fool/I pity the fool that falls in love with you . . ." It is ten-thirty, and Bobby "Blue" Bland is just going to work.

The sound built around him includes sophisticated big-band arrangements, intricate instrumental voicings and brass squalls to match Bobby's gargled vocal interpolations -- dramatic orchestral flourishes in sharp contrast to the warmth, intimacy and projected vulnerability of Bobby's singing voice. It is not the blues exactly. The songs project a sense of hurt and vulnerability, and a willingness to embrace responsibility, that is far removed from the blues' unquestioning embrace of reality. It is simply a seamless body of work whose song titles and sentiments ("I'll Take Care of You", "Turn on Your Lovelight, Let It Shine on Me"), shimmering melodies and intricately arranged effects all meld together."

                                                                             From: Peter Guralnick, Lost Highway 

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Why The World Did Not Become One Communist State Last Thursday

by Nick Graham

On Thursday afternoon several PGS students attended a Model United Nations conference hosted by Springfield School at the Guildhall in Portsmouth. The majority of us submitted resolution that we wanted to debate within our councils. I was representing Norway on the security council, and proposed a resolution demanding North Korea disarm all its nuclear weapons.

Of the many resolutions that were submitted for debate at the Model United Nations conference at the Guildhall, there were bound to be some extreme and unbelievable ones. In this case the two most extreme ones were submitted to the security council by the Communist countries of China and North Korea, represented by Ross Watkins and Will Bates respectively.

China submitted a resolution recommending the creation of one-world state that would be run under a communist system in order to promote equality around the world.  His themes of worldwide equality and equal representation of for each of the former states, received mixed views. Some of the larger nations such as the USA were reluctant to give up their power, while some  of the smaller states liked the ideas. However, many states were concerned about how this equality would be ensured. The real deal-breaker for many countries was the article recommending that this world state should run on a Communist system. It was this that dissuaded the vast majority of the nations involved.

Although Ross was extremely persuasive, he had to deal with stiff opposition, especially from Tim Bustin, who was representing Germany. Ross had one loyal ally throughout - Will Bates as North Korea. Will’s way of supporting this resolution was to give passionate anti-American and anti-Western speeches. The words ‘imperialist, capitalist Westerners’ often featured in these speeches. A successful amendment removed the clause that stated it would be a Communist state, and soon afterwards the resolution itself failed, with only two countries voting for it - China and North Korea.

The other Communist resolution was even more controversial - that all countries should have the right to buy and sell nuclear weapons. It also included two anti-American clauses, which gave greater influence to North Korea’s allies,  and demanded that the USA must disarm first before it forced anyone else to. The Western nations, including the USA, violently objected at first.  The USA and its personal allies were particularly incensed. Again there were passionate speeches for the resolution by China and North Korea, and yet again firm opposition by Germany. Even though this resolution was seen by many as provocative, many states who did not have nuclear weapons voted in favour of it, and the resolution only failed by one vote!

The last event of the afternoon was the emergency debate. The news was that chemical weapons had been used on refugees leaving Syria and in refugee camps over the border. This caused a lengthy and passionate debate about who was to blame. Yet again North Korea made an anti-American speech claiming that they had orchestrated it to take the oil resources in the region. Turkey mobilised its armed forces and my resolution to mobilise UN forces to help protect the refugees and prepare for a counter-attack against Syria passed.

Although there was no-one representing Syria at the conference, they had limited support from countries including North Korea and Australia. North Korea claimed that it was the rebels who were in the wrong and that military support should be sent to the government, while countries such as Germany and Australia said that we should wait until we know who was responsible before declaring war or action against any one group. However, in the end the status was that Turkey had prepared for an invasion of Syria and UN forces were ready to help with this war. Several UN sanctions placed on Syria as well. As the debate ended, there was an attempt by Will Bates to declare war on the USA and their allies due to their preparations for war against the Syrian government. This however was swiftly refused by Will Wallace as the chair, much to everyone’s amusement.

Overall, the entire afternoon was a great success and enjoyable for everyone involved, including the Chinese and North Korean delegates (despite their defeats). We thank Springfield School for so kindly inviting us and for running the conference so hospitably; we are all looking forward to a repeat of this next year.

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House Winner of 2013 PGS in Bloom: Whitcombe

by Will Hall

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Developing Cultural Understanding: Portsmouth and Ping Xiang

by Louise Wilson

What images are evoked when you think of China?

  For me these formed a confusing kaleidoscope. I envisaged the bicycles, terrible grey poverty and paddy fields of China following the bookless (apart from works by Chairman Mao) cultural revolution of the 1970s, contrasting with the vibrant and cosmopolitan city of Hong Kong where I lived 30 years ago, when that pearl was still a British territory, secured from the Qing dynasty in China for over 150 years, as a trophy from the Opium Wars. I could still smell the rich odours of Cantonese food and see squirming live eels, chopped and dished out to shoppers on the street, great mounds of ‘thousand year old’ raw eggs preserved in soil and slimy sea cucumbers served up – all too exotic for my twelve year old taste buds.

I imagined Chinese cities of choking pollution, with masked pedestrians bustling along packed roads of every vehicle, except bicycles, rushing to work in factories, built to serve a now-ailing Western economy while the People’s Republic of China booms (for the time being) on plentiful minerals, cheap labour and limited health and safety restrictions.

I have just returned from a week in the city of Ping Xiang, in southern China, bringing home an agreement between PGS and Ping Xiang Middle School (for 15-18 year-olds) to develop a mutual understanding of British and Chinese cultures. PGS may host one or two students from Ping Xiang in our Sixth Form; we hope to have a pupil exchange programme and benefit from a teacher from Ping Xiang working at PGS for a short time.

Our ‘sister’ agreement was met with great excitement in the Middle School – hundreds of fire crackers were let off in a 15-minute explosion of sound that had me and my Chinese counterpart cowering in the security guard’s office and then emerging to a sea of red paper, smouldering and burning at the entrance to the school.

Should we feel the same degree of excitement for our side of the deal? Absolutely. Those members of PGS who are fortunate to visit Ping Xiang in future will have a life-changing experience. You will visit a thriving city of 2 million people, living in high-rise apartment blocks in family units of three generations, each conforming to the government’s one-child policy.  It is a place of rampant consumerism nestling under towering monuments to the Republic’s revered former communist leader, Chairman Mao.

Coal-fired power stations and tiny businesses produce everything the capitalist world thinks it needs, with little thought for health or safety; however, the level of air pollution feels nowhere approaching that of London. The people are relaxed and friendly – particularly to Westerners, and mine was the only Western face I saw in a week. Your hosts will do everything to make you feel welcome and enjoy your stay, and want to learn everything about your home.

In a region two thirds the size of the UK, there is much to see outside Ping Xiang. This is a lush, semi-tropical area, with lotus flower meadows, freshwater and thermal springs, paddy fields, orchards of Chinese strawberries and mangosteen fruit and steep, bamboo-covered hills and mountains.

Good use is made of the fertile land to make delicious dishes. Meals always include chilli but there are also gentle flavours from soups made with hibiscus or day lily and lots of green vegetables. My tastebuds have become much less risk-averse since my childhood in Hong Kong and I enjoyed nearly everything that was offered. I re-encountered black, preserved eggs and avoided those. I also declined duck’s tongues, served on the bone.

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