INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR CHARLES FORSDICK (ON 78 - 87)

September 12, 2023

On Friday 8 September, we were honoured to welcome Professor Charles Forsdick ON, as guest speaker for Prizegiving September 2023. Professor Forsdick is Drapers Professor of French (elect) at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of the British Academy, a Member of the Academy of Europe and a former pupil at Norwich School. During his time with us, Professor Forsdick was kind enough to answer some questions we had for this inspirational ON...

When were you at Norwich School?



From 1978 to 1987. I was an exact contemporary of Jonathan Pearson, your Development Director, who remains a close friend.


What House were you in?

The legendary Coke house.

What did you study for A Level and what did you go on to study at University? French, German and Latin. Then Modern Languages at New College, Oxford


Can you tell us a bit about your career since leaving school?

Having graduated in Modern Languages from Oxford University, my PhD in French Studies at Lancaster soon followed, resulting in a lectureship post up in Scotland at the University of Glasgow. At 31 years of age, I was appointed the James Barrow Professor of French at the University of Liverpool where I have stayed for over 22 years, during which I was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and Member of the Academy of Europe.

I am hugely excited to be taking up the Drapers’ Professorship of French at the University of Cambridge next month.

I am pleased to have been associated with the school for over four decades and have also been helping with your WoLLoW initiative of late.


What was your fondest memory of being a pupil at NS?

There’s lots of competition for that. I remember I particularly used to enjoy the annual sponsored 24-hour football, which was great fun.


However, the best memories have got to be the school exchange trips to France and to Germany. We went to Wissembourg in Alsace, and we went to Linz in Germany. It was always a great privilege to stay with families, to experience everyday French and German life, and to improve the language skills alongside it.


I spend quite a lot of time now campaigning to make sure that experience is still available to pupils in the 21st century, post Brexit and post pandemic, because it’s getting increasingly difficult. Those are absolutely my fondest memories.

Are you still in touch with friends you made at the School?


I am. I’ve maintained really good friendships with a number of people I was at school with. Some of them are still in Norfolk, some located more widely around the country and the world. I think what’s interesting, 35+ years on, is that people are doing very different things, but we’ve all got those shared memories of times here. As you get older, I think they become increasingly important.


Returning as a visitor to the school today, what are the biggest changes you noticed?

Obviously, the body of pupils has changed quite radically, particularly with the admission of girls. Having been around the school a few times recently, the thing that strikes me most is the way in which pupils are now purposefully prepared with a sense of social responsibility. They’re really nurtured in ways that makes them ready to face up to a lot of the challenges of the 21st century and, ideally, to be part of the solution as well. That is part of what we did, but it was less clearly embedded, and that’s something that really impresses me now.


Looking back what nugget of advice or top tip would you give Charles F on his first day of school?

I’m just trying to picture me as that little 9-year-old from Dereham crossing the threshold for the first time….

Back then, I would not have been aware of a bit of Norfolk wisdom which I think is absolutely essential, and it’s the UEA motto, Do Different. It’s advice that I draw on regularly now. I would apply it back then and say: ‘Embrace it at every opportunity that comes to you and work really hard to ensure you play your part in a happy diverse inclusive environment. However, within all that, plough your own furrow.’ I think in retrospect I tried to do that, but whether as an 9-year-old you’re conscious of that, I don’t know.


Any tips for our existing pupils?

This is going to be really obvious but I’m going to share it anyway. I think what’s really important (both in formal education but in life-long learning as well) is to retain your curiosity and make sure that your knowledge base is as broad as possible.


Going back to something I said earlier, in terms of what impresses me about the school now, it’s clear that we need to prepare pupils, students, and all young people to face up to the major challenges in the 21st century. There’s probably no ready solution to them but we’ve got to grapple with them nevertheless. To do that I always think we need resources which are drawing from across a broad range of areas.


I am really frustrated by the overspecialisation that the UK education system tries to impose on us, particularly at A Level. One thing I would say is if somebody wants to study STEM subjects that’s very good, but never forget you can do two sciences and add a humanities subject to that. I’d obviously particularly recommend a language-based subject.


However, key to that curiosity and broad knowledge base is, I believe, being able to make choices that give you a real breadth of experience so you can work across disciplines and academic fields, deploying a whole range of knowledge and skills, no matter what life throws at you.

 

You can read Professor Forsdick’s inspirational address here:

Deputy Lord Mayor, Head, Chair of Governors, families and friends, members of the school…

Many thanks for your kind introduction – and also for the invitation to present the prizes and to speak this evening. I have many good memories of the end-of-term speech days during my own time at Norwich School. When I told my mother I was the guest of honour this evening she replied, ‘They used to invite distinguished people to do that’, listing the Governor of the Bank of England, an MEP and others – but I am so honoured to be with you, and I am pleased that my mother, who has been an indefatigable supporter of me throughout my studies and subsequent career, could be here tonight also. This seems like an appropriate point to pause to acknowledge the contribution of all your parents, family and friends accompanying you this evening. I am sure they have been equally supportive in your endeavours and are rightly proud of your achievements that we have gathered to celebrate. I also, of course, pay tribute to the work of your teachers, without whom this event simply would not take place. It is with particular pleasure that I am able to join you on an evening when my own inspirational French teacher Humphrey Bedford-Payne is receiving a long service award – he doesn’t look a day older than when I first encountered him in 1983.


As an academic, I attend numerous graduations. They are events that I always relish because I know that each person crossing the stage has their own individual story: about how they have reached this point in their studies, about what the current achievement represents in their onward journey. Some of you are just beginning your careers at Norwich School, others are preparing for Higher Education, for apprenticeships, or for the world of work. Tonight, we have gathered to celebrate all of your academic achievements and your contributions to the broader life of this place. One of the great privileges of studying at Norwich School is the opportunity it affords to grow in confidence, in knowledge and in experience in the environment of this magnificent Cathedral precinct. This is surely one of the most beautiful places in the historical built environment of our country. It was here that – like many of you – I had the privilege of studying languages, ancient and modern, I was given the opportunity –through visits and exchanges – to experience life abroad, I was able to develop friendships that continue over four decades on.


In preparation for these reflections tonight, I returned to an essay I wrote in 1986 and for which I was lucky enough to win the Friends’ Local History Prize. It was a study of the life and work of George Henry Borrow. Those of you lucky enough to live in East Dereham will already be familiar with this 19th-century traveller, novelist and translator. Borrow was also an Old Norvicensian who claimed to speak over forty languages and who is remembered in particular for his extensive engagement with the Romani communities of Britain and Ireland, as reflected in remarkable books such as Lavengro and The Romany Rye. In my youthful exuberance, I made a strong case for the school to forget Admiral Nelson and instead to celebrate Borrow. I mention him tonight – this Norfolk-born, cosmopolitan polyglot – because he encapsulated, already in the Victorian period, many of those qualities that I believe essential to our navigation of the diverse challenges we now face in the twenty-first century. These are qualities that are essential to what is increasingly termed ‘Global Citizenship’, by which we mean those social, political, environmental and economic actions and values of any globally minded individuals and communities committed to dwelling well in the world. ‘Global Citizenship’ is required more urgently than ever in a context of rising populism, with the increased intolerance, hardening of borders and dehumanization of others this so often entails. It is about recognizing how decisions in one part of our planet can affect people living in an entirely different area of it, and about how we all share a common humanity, and are of equal worth. It means being open to engaging positively with other languages, identities and cultures, including those at the heart of our own community and society. It is also about how we use and share the earth’s resources fairly and uphold the human rights of all.


You will not be surprised to learn that, in my view, language learning – with its openness to multilingualism and challenge to the limitations of monolingualism – is central to the development of such a mindset. I am not only talking, however, about linguist competence as an end in itself – although, as a professor of French, I am of course a fierce advocate of the benefits of language learning, and I join you in celebrating the WoLLoW programme about which the Head has just spoken so powerfully. It goes without saying, I hope, that languages are as essential to our economic health as a nation as they are to our individual cognitive well-being. The celebration and defence of languages are as much a key driver for collective social cohesion in the UK as they are for our cultural enlightenment. To return to George Borrow, what he represents for me is not only this glorious potential of speaking and thinking and living in multiple languages – but also the associated ability to be rooted in the local, in the here and now, while remaining open to the world. It is such an approach that forces us to challenge parochialism, to deny reductive, polarised understandings of cultural and social and political realities, and to see the world in its complex and at times deeply troubling interrelatedness.


I have many happy memories of my time at Norwich School, notably in the languages classroom where I was inspired by brilliant teachers, including Humphrey himself, but also John Grainger and John Benns. In the art studio, I learnt so much from John Walker – and am delighted to know that John’s unbounded creativity continues to be so evident in the everyday life of the school. I also often also recall time in the local history library, where I was taught so much about this city and about the wider county of Norfolk by Paul Cattermole. Too often, academic historians dismiss local history as their subject’s poor relation. What I took from that work, however, was this understanding of the ways in which the local and the global are inevitably entwined. Those outside our wonderful county often ignore the key role that Norfolk played in the Medieval European economy and culture. To give you a concrete indication of this, let’s not forget that the stones surrounding us, from which this magnificent cathedral was raised, this light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone known as the pierre de Caen, were quarried in north-western France and brought by boat up the River Wensum almost a millennium ago in a remarkable feat of engineering. Places like Wiveton and Blakeney were major European ports. And Norwich itself was a cosmopolitan, multilingual city. My contemporary Chris Joby, after whom one of tonight’s awards is named, has studied this remarkable diversity. He notes in particular the large number of Dutch and French speakers in this city in the early modern period. And with that diversity came a tradition of hospitality. Strangers’ Hall Museum reminds of the refugee communities – initially Dutch, Walloon and Flemish weavers who fled the low countries in the 16th century, but later Huguenots and many others – who came to Norwich, bringing their skills, traditions, languages and cultures to make such significant contributions to this place. You should be proud that Norwich continues that tradition as a current City of Sanctuary, part of an important national movement – building a culture of welcome for people seeking refuge, many of whom have lost their homes, fled persecution, and now find safety here.


A number of you here this evening have completed your studies at Norwich School and are preparing for significant next steps in your lives. Congratulations again on what you have achieved. Take with you the learning, the values and the friendships you have acquired in this place. Wherever you are going next, retain your sense of curiosity, especially about what is beyond your comfort zones. Take every opportunity to learn, recognizing that education is a life-long, constantly transformative process. Wherever your studies, your travels, your careers, your lives and loves may take you, I am confident you will be equipped to negotiate the inevitable challenges along the way. Remain rooted in an awareness of your immediate surroundings, in an attention to their wonderful detail, but stay open to the complexities of the wider world. As citizens of this world – through your engagement with languages, cultures, societies, sciences, politics, economics, philosophy, ethics – be willing to grapple and celebrate with those links between the local and the global that surround us – links that I hope I have managed to evoke tonight.


By Eleanor Lewis September 29, 2025
On Monday 29 September, 32 runners from the Cross-Country Club travelled to a sunny and hilly Woodbridge for the first round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup. The Junior Girls team came 3rd overall with excellent performances from Poppy Short, Iris Wells, Annabelle Hitchings, Ophee Martin and Emi Muntingh, who came 4th in the race. We also took the 4 th spot in the Junior Boys thanks to a determined run from Samuel Trickey, with Jonty Croskell, Ruan Ekkerd, Joshua Bevan and Albie Cater all in the top 25 finishers and Henry Drew and Oscar Bevington not far behind. Our Intermediate Girls team were hit by injuries, but Ruby Ivie ran very well to secure 10 th place, and Anna Clayton finished strongly for the team as well. The Intermediate Boys all finished in the top 20, with Riccardo Di Maria first home for Norwich in 12th, closely followed by Harry Kensell, Noah Buchan and Jamie Kidd. The Senior Boys were up against some of the region's very best cross-country runners. They held their own with Nicholas Conway first home for Norwich in 11 th place and Kort Tsui, Leo Pitt, George Yiasimi and Edward Lott not far behind. The performance of the day came from the Senior Girls who came 2nd in the team competition. Individually they all finished highly with Georgia Lloyd 14th, Bella Muntingh 12th, Olivia Allen 9th, Amelie Ivie 6th, Bea Green 5th and Minnie Andrews 3rd. Well done to all those who took part
By Sonja Mitchell September 26, 2025
We are very grateful to Tom Little for being our guest speaker at Prizegiving this year.
By Sonja Mitchell September 26, 2025
We were delighted to hear Professor Charles Forsdick speak about the importance of languages in society at a recent Norfolk Cambridge Society lecture at Norwich School.
By Eleanor Lewis September 26, 2025
In the penultimate week of September, Lower 3 set off on their residential trip to Leicester. To complement their curriculum learning, we visited the National Space Centre, Bradgate Park, and the Battle of Bosworth battlefield. On the Wednesday at the Space Centre, the pupils learned what it takes to be an astronaut. They enjoyed an immersive show in the UK’s largest planetarium and scaled the rocket tower to learn about space exploration and its history. On the Thursday, we travelled to Bradgate Park, where we were greeted by some magnificent fallow deer stags with impressive antlers. We ventured further to the ruins of Lady Jane Grey’s house, where we were welcomed by Frances Brandon, Lady Jane Grey’s mother. Inside the chapel, we re-enacted Jane’s tragic story and then used our history detective skills to work out the purposes of different rooms within the ruins. After a spot of lunch, we began the gentle climb up to Old John’s Tower. Along the way, we saw veteran oak trees and discovered some very old igneous rocks—among the oldest on the planet. We were fortunate enough to be allowed inside Old John’s Tower, where the pupils loved the spectacular views. On the final day, en route back to Norwich, we visited the battlefield where Henry Tudor defeated Richard III. Under the instruction of Sir John, in charge of the livery, we were trained in medieval army combat and learned how to handle a halberd. We then explored the battlefield before, of course, spending some money in the gift shop!  It was a memorable trip that allowed the pupils to work collaboratively, bond as a group, and enhance their curriculum learning.
September 24, 2025
The school's first female peer-mentoring meeting of the academic year brought together fourth form students with sixth form mentors in an initiative designed to promote sisterhood and establish a strong sense of community within our female cohorts. During the session, younger students shared their academic and personal goals for the year in small discussion groups, with sixth form mentors offering guidance and encouragement drawn from their own experiences. The collaborative atmosphere allowed students to explore practical strategies for achieving their aspirations while building meaningful cross-year relationships. The session concluded with discussions surrounding the name of the programme, with students proposing to honour an inspirational woman who holds significance for them. This programme aims to foster positive female role models within the school while empowering students to support one another's growth and success. Regular meetings throughout the year will continue and this initiative represents the school's ongoing commitment to developing confident and brave young women.
By Eleanor Lewis September 22, 2025
On Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 September, 28 pupils from the Friedrich-Leopold-Woeste-Gymnasium visited Norwich School as part of their Languages trip to Norwich. On Monday, they were treated to a tour of the school in German by our U5 GCSE class and on Tuesday, the two classes were excited to see each other again and spent the afternoon speaking German and English to each other at a Language cafe in UKS, where they ended the afternoon by playing board games together. The pupils enjoyed getting to know each other and speaking each other's languages. They will keep in contact privately now that the German group has departed. Quotes from pupils are as follows: 'We were laughing with them the whole time!' 'We made some strong connections with them and will talk with them online' 'It was very nice to meet them and make some new friends!' 'It was very enjoyable and a lovely opportunity to practise our German and make new friends.' 'It was nice to meet and talk to them while practising our German.' 'We went to the city with them and loved it!' 'We learnt so much about their home in Germany.'
By Eleanor Lewis September 19, 2025
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27) There’s a saying that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Years ago I met someone who doesn’t like that saying very much. That’s because his job is to design book covers. I watched him lead a really interesting seminar where he showed us some of his designs. He explained how his artwork was trying to sum up – on just one piece of laminated, folded paper - the message and themes of all the other pages in the book. Just occasionally, some book covers do this by choosing a key phrase from the book and putting it in large letters on the front. A famous example is Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, where some editions had a cover that read: ‘Big Brother is Watching You’. If you know the story then you’ll recognise that as the sinister propaganda message that no-one can get away from. Some copies of the Lord of the Rings had printed on the front ‘One ring to rule them all’. And The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams had just two words on the cover of some editions – ‘DON’T PANIC’. It begins to make sense when you discover that some of the characters in the story are using a space travel guide (the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) which is designed to help you through any difficult situation. And what makes the guide so successful and popular is that its first principle is on the front cover. Whatever happens – DON’T PANIC. Have a look at the cover of your hymn book for a moment. What do you think? We’ve gone for a pretty classic look. The name of our school in gold embossed lettering, and the school crest complete with a motto in Latin for a classy finish. Sometimes I wonder – entirely hypothetically – how we might redesign the cover. If you were going to put a few words on the front, one essential message that everyone in the school was going to see at the beginning of every day, what would it be? Here are a few suggestions I got from people around the school, some more serious than others: · “Show Love” · “Shine Bright!” · “Treat others as you would like to be treated” · “Do some work in your study periods” · “Wake Up!” Actually, I think the words ‘DON’T PANIC’ might work here too. I hope you’re realising, now that we’re a few weeks into term, that panicking is never worth it – and if you’re tempted to panic then sharing your problem and talking to someone almost always helps. Maybe that would be good to remember at the start of the school day. This also reminds me of one of my favourite passages from the Bible, the words of Jesus we heard just now: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? … Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  I’ve had times myself where those words from the Sermon on the Mount have given me some perspective. Perhaps part of that passage would work well on the front of our hymn books – that wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep remembering. We’re not about to reissue the school hymn books with a new cover any time soon. But there’s nothing stopping you imagining a message on the front of the hymn book – whatever you need that message to be. “Don’t panic.” “Do not worry.” “Show love.” Why not have a few helpful words in your mind’s eye every time you pick up these blue books in the morning?
By Sonja Mitchell September 19, 2025
As part of Heritage Open Days we were delighted to open the Air Raid Shelter and Norwich School Chapel to visitors this month.
By Eleanor Lewis September 18, 2025
Creative Arts are strongly supported at Norwich School, and this was very much in evidence with the return to site of the well-respected local Creative Arts group, the Norfolk Contemporary Art Society (n-cas). For many years we have hosted their ground-breaking talks in the Blake Studio, and we were delighted to welcome them back on 18 September 2025. Our talk was introduced by Lisa Newby, recently appointed Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Norfolk Museums, based at the Castle. She introduced us to Essex-based multimedia artists Daniel & Clara . Since meeting in 2010, the pair have dedicated themselves to a shared life of creative experimentation, working across moving image, photography, performance and ‘mail-art’ to explore the nature of human experience, the natural world and our perception of reality. With work recently on display at Norwich Castle Museum, this was a welcome trip to Norfolk for them and one which saw them entertain an audience of pupils, staff, alumni, n-cas members and local creatives with a visually arresting talk, including some striking images and poetic prose accompaniment. Of great interest were the selection of their short films that showcased their love of the natural world through landscapes, intriguingly crafted taxidermy imagery and appealing sound archives. In the ensuing Q&A the audience seemed very taken by their reflections on how up-and-coming creative artists, such as themselves, have to work hard to earn a living through constant innovation and multimedia versatility. Working with Norwich Castle and commissions from n-cas were undoubted highlights, readily acknowledged by Daniel & Clara. N-cas host regular talks at Norwich School. Their next talk is on 14 October – see: The Mike Toll Film Archive - three short films featuring David Jones, Michael Chapman and Oliver Creed — ncas . All those interested in the creative ats are welcome.  The next talk on site in our culturally enriching series of lectures with partner organisations sees the welcome return on 07 October of the Royal Geographical Society. Major General (Retired) Rob Thomson CBE DSO of The HALO Trust, the world’s largest mine-clearing NGO, will discuss how a changing geopolitical order marked by great power competition, increased conflict, and the retreat of multi-lateralism is affecting human development and security. See: Clearing a path through the new world disorder . All those interested in the natural world and geopolitics are very welcome.
By Eleanor Lewis September 12, 2025
Lower Twos had a wonderful Stone Age Day, immersing themselves in activities such as tool-making, fishing techniques, and learning about the hides. They built a fire, cooked fish over it, which they all then tried, and some even bravely tried the eyeballs! Using tools and instruments made from bone, the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are eager to continue exploring this era in their Topic lessons throughout the Michaelmas term.
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