Sadly, at the end of this term, Mr Sanderson and Mr Cullen-Hewitt are leaving St Paul's, but they very kindly paused while packing up their books to answer the blog's questions.
What were you reading when you were a teenager?
Mr Sanderson: Honestly, shamefully, hardly anything for pleasure, until I left school; then Waugh, Greene, Orwell. More recently, McEwan, Roth.
Mr Cullen-Hewitt: I think I tried to be a bit edgy with my reading as a teenager. I got really into the Stephen King horror novels for a while. The Shining, Salem's Lot, Misery and Carrie were all brilliant, and The Tommyknockers was bizarre but entertaining.
Mr Cullen-Hewitt: I think I tried to be a bit edgy with my reading as a teenager. I got really into the Stephen King horror novels for a while. The Shining, Salem's Lot, Misery and Carrie were all brilliant, and The Tommyknockers was bizarre but entertaining.
However, things fell apart when I tried to read one of his newer horrors; I got about two chapters into Cell and had to stop reading it. The magic had gone and I haven’t read a Stephen King since. I also got really into dystopian novels; Riddley Walker was challenging but very rewarding, and I really enjoyed A Clockwork Orange, but it was 1984 that I loved the most. My GCSE English teacher had hinted that we might study 1984 as one of our set texts and I devoured them all over the summer holidays before starting Year 10; in the end we studied Silas Marner instead and (despite being a brilliant teacher) I’ve never quite forgiven him for it. I won’t share his name as he may or may not be a current teacher at St Paul’s…
What are you planning to read this holiday?
Mr Sanderson: I am increasingly fascinated by the Cambridge Spy ring, Philby in particular. There’s a great book by Ben Macintyre, A Spy Among Friends which I loved. I'm aiming to read next Piers Blofeld's Master of Lies. Anything I haven’t read by Robert Harris. More AJP Taylor, political diaries/memoires.
Mr Cullen-Hewitt: I’ve literally just started reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. My wife absolutely loved it and implored me to read it next; I’m a big Margaret Atwood fan and apparently she has a similar style so I’m really looking forward to it. That said, we’ll also be moving house and city, so I may not get as much time to read as I would like!
What/who is your all-time favourite book/writer?
Mr Sanderson: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Mr Cullen-Hewitt: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I didn’t read it until a few years ago and it instantly became my favourite book. It is phenomenally funny, heart-warming and gut-wrenching in turn.
Who’s your favourite fictional character?
Mr Sanderson: It's a toss up between Jim Dixon (Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis) and Paul Pennyfeather (Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh)
Jack Whitehall as Paul Pennyfeather in the BBC adaptation of Decline and Fall (2017)
Mr Cullen-Hewitt: George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life; hands down James Stewart’s best ever character. (Apologies that it’s not from a book!).
 |
Do you have a favourite word/favourite line from a book?
Mr Sanderson: It's from Decline and Fall. The scene is a prep school sports day: a pupil preparing to run a race, has accidentally been shot in the foot by a teacher with a live round from a starting pistol:
“How’s your young hopeful been doing, Lady Circumference?”
“My boy has been injured in the foot,” said Lady Circumference coldly.
“Dear me! Not badly, I hope? Did he twist his ankle in the jumping?”
“No,” said Lady Circumference, “he was shot at by one of the assistant masters. But it is kind of you to inquire.”
If you had to recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?
Mr Sanderson: 1984 by George Orwell and The Plot Against America by Philip Roth.
Mr Cullen-Hewitt: The Pleasures of Counting by Thomas William Körner (I had to mention Maths at some point!). He is a brilliant mathematician – he was actually one of my best lecturers at Cambridge – but this book is suitable for anyone wanting to know more about how we can use mathematics to understand the world around us. It would be appropriate for anyone from the 4th Form to the U8th, any of whom should have enough mathematical knowledge to access it and all of whom would have many useful things to learn from it in turn!
Massive thanks to Mr Sanderson and Mr Cullen-Hewitt for generously taking the time to answer our questions: we hope that their recommendations have given you some ideas for holiday reading, and we wish them all the best for life beyond SPS. Have a fabulous summer!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment