Boat Race Dinner, 1 June 2013

We are pleased to welcome back Simon Winchester OBE as our speaker.

Simon Winchester is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster. He was born in north London and, though not Catholic, was educated first at a boarding convent in Bridport, Dorset and later at Hardye’s School, Dorchester, Dorset – where he achieved the dubious dual distinction of being appointed Head of House and of soon thereafter being expelled for conducting a spectacularly destructive chemical experiment in the newly-opened science laboratories. He went up to Oxford in 1963, to read geology at St. Catherine’s College.

After graduation from Oxford in 1966 he joined a Canadian mining company, Falconbridge of Africa, and worked as field geologist in Uganda, looking for copper deposits in the foothills of the Ruwenzori Mountains, close to the border with Congo.

He made a sudden and unexpected switch to journalism in 1967, a short while after reading, while in a jungle camp in Uganda, a copy of Coronation Everest by James (now Jan) Morris. This account by the then correspondent of the London Times triggered in Winchester what he later described as a ‘Pauline conversion’ – and though he was to refer to geology in many of his subsequent writings, he turned to a new career in newspaper reporting, and has remained a full-time writer ever since.

The cost of this event is $100 per person ($85 for student members) and includes a reception with a full bar and a formal meal with wine. Dress code will be black tie/college blazer/business. A full timetable of events is shown below.

For more information contact Dr. Belinda Wilkes at: president@oxcamne.org

If you would like to row in our Oxford vs Cambridge race, please contact Nick Copley at: ncopley@gmail.com

Reception: 6:15pm Sincerely,

Our own Boat Race: 6:30pm Belinda J. Wilkes

THE Boat Race video: 7:00pm Belinda J. Wilkes, Jesus (Cantab)

Dinner: 7:15pm President of the Society

Talk: 9:00pm

(Books available for purchase)

Location: Cambridge Boat Club, Cambridge, MA (Directions)