Radley College

Radley College
Berkshire
Type:	School
Location
Location:	51°41’35"N, 1°15’5"W
Village:	Radley
History
	Built 1847
	School
Information
Website:	http://www.radley.org.uk/

Radley College (formally St Peter's College, Radley) is a boys' Public School near Radley, Berkshire, which was founded in 1847. The school covers 800 acres including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and farmland.

It is one of four boys-only, boarding-only independent senior schools in the United Kingdom, the others being Winchester, Harrow and Eton. The five other public schools listed in the Public Schools Act 1868 have since become co-educational: Rugby (1976), Charterhouse (1971), Westminster (1973), Wellington (2005), and Shrewsbury (2014). For the academic year 2015/16, Radley charged boarders up to £11,475 per term, making it the 19th most expensive HMC (Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference) boarding school.

History

South front of Radley Hall – the "Mansion" – with part of the school's main corridor to the right

Radley was founded in 1847 by William Sewell (1804–79) and Robert Corbet Singleton (1810–81). The first pupil was Samuel Reynolds, who in 1897 wrote his reminiscences of school life.

The school was originally housed in Radley Hall, now known as the "Mansion". Radley Hall was built in the 1720s for the Stonehouse family. Later in the 18th century the estate passed to the Bowyer family, who commissioned Capability Brown to re-design the grounds. After the school was founded, extensive building work took place, beginning with the Chapel (replaced by the current building in 1895), F Social and the Octagon (the earliest living accommodation for the boys), the Clocktower (now the icon of Radley), and in 1910 the Dining Hall. Building work has continued throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, with two new Socials, a weights-room/gym, a theatre, and a Real Tennis court being completed since 2006. The grounds include a lake, a golf course and woodland.

On 31 August 2017, The Daily Telegraph reported that a whistleblower had suggested that teachers had helped their students in an art GCSE exam. Investigations by the exam board found no fault beyond a minor technical breach of exam regulations. Radley College issued a statement expressing full support for staff and procedures both within the art department and across the school.

On 6 July 2018, a plane trailing a banner reading "Make Radley Great Again" was flown over the school, in protest against Warden John Moule's campaign of modernisation. The £750 cost of the plane hire was raised by pupils at the school.

School Terms

There are three academic terms in the year,

• The Michaelmas Term, from early September to mid December.
• The Lent Term, from early January to late March.
• The Summer Term, from mid April to late June or early July.

Houses

Houses at Radley are called Socials. There are 10 Socials at Radley; all 10 Socials are all boarding houses. They are distinguished by the colours of the pupils' ties.

Social	Colours
A	Blue and Brown
B	Cerise and Black
C	Pale Blue and Dark Blue
D	Blue and Ultramarine
E	Pink and Black
F	Scarlet and Gold
G	Red and Dark Blue
H	Dark Green and Light Yellow
J	Light Blue and Coral
K	Green and White

Academic aspects

West front and spire of the College Chapel.

The school was inspected by the independent schools' Inspectorate in February 2008. The inspection report rated the school's standard of education as "outstanding", the highest rating. There was a subsequent inspection by ISI in 2013.

In 2012, the Independent review of A level results, based on government issued statistics, ranked Radley 31st in the UK, ahead of Malvern (32nd), Harrow (34th), Winchester (73rd), Tonbridge (74th), Eton (80th) and Wellington (89th) By 2019 they were still in the top 100 but had dropped to 75th place.

Sport

Radley College Boat House on the Thames

Sports played at the College are rugby football in the Michaelmas (Autumn) Term, hockey, rowing and football in the Lent Term and cricket, rowing, lawn tennis and athletics in the Summer Term.

Other sports played include: badminton, basketball, fencing, fives, lacrosse, rackets, real tennis, rugby sevens, squash and waterpolo.

Rugby is the major sport of the Michaelmas (Autumn) Term. The school fields 21 rugby teams on most Saturdays of the Michaelmas term and some Thursdays. Radley is recognised for its rowing, having won events at Henley Royal Regatta on 6 occasions. Only Eton, Shrewsbury and St Edward's School, Oxford have won more events at the Regatta. Some Old Radleians have progressed to play cricket for England or captain county level cricket teams. The cricket grounds (including Smithson Fields) have been described as 'arguably one of the best in the country' while the sporting facilities have been described as world class.

Sports such as fives, rackets, sailing, badminton and polo are represented. A real tennis court opened in July 2008, which made Radley College the only school in the world to have fives, squash, badminton, tennis, racquets and real tennis courts all on campus.

Southern Railway Schools Class

The school lent its name to the thirty-first steam locomotive (Engine 930) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40. This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Radley', as it was called, was built in 1934 and was withdrawn in 1962. A nameplate from 930, Radley, is now displayed in the stationery department of Shop (the College's shop).

Old Radleians

• Boyd Alexander, the African traveller and ornithologist.
• James Bachman, comic writer and actor.
• Merton Barker, cricketer and field hockey player
• Harry Bicket, conductor.
• C. E. Bowden, pilot and pioneer of IC engined model flight and radio control.
• Gerald Brenan, writer.
• William Burdett-Coutts, producer Assembly Festival
• James Burton, conductor and composer.
• Richard Toby Coke, UKIP politician.
• Collingwood Tinling, builder of first jet engine.
• William Collins, author and cricketer
• Peter Cook, comedian.
• Jamie Dalrymple, cricketer.
• Ted Dexter, cricketer.
• Alexander Downer, former Australian Foreign Minister and former Australian High Commissioner to the Court of St James.
• Mark Durden-Smith, television presenter.
• Marc Edwards, sports correspondent with BBC World News (formerly with CCTV International, France 24 and Eurosport).
• Ivan Ewart, British naval officer and charity worker.
• Jeremy Flint, bridge player.
• George Freeman, Conservative Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk.
• Andrew Gant, chorister and composer.
• Richard Gibson, actor, best known as Herr Flick in the BBC series 'Allo 'Allo!.
• Nicholas Hannen actor
• Robert Hall, BBC Special Correspondent.
• Noel Harrison English actor & member of the British Olympic skiing team in the 1950s.
• Simon Hart, Conservative Member of Parliament for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
• Christopher Hibbert, historian.
• Cyril Holland, son of Oscar Wilde.
• George Hollingbery, Conservative Member of Parliament for Thirsk and Malton
• Charles Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk, pioneering bomb disposal expert in the Second World War
• Alan Huggins, Hong Kong judge
• Ben Hutton, cricketer.
• Jamie Laing, Reality TV star of Made in Chelsea.
• Thomas Langford-Sainsbury, air vice marshal
• Desmond Llewelyn, actor best known for playing Q in many James Bond films.
• James Lovegrove, SF novelist.
• Dick Lucas, evangelical Anglican preacher
• Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt, air chief marshal
• James Charles Macnab of Macnab, soldier and chief of Clan Macnab.
• Sir George Mallaby, public servant, High Commissioner to New Zealand.
• Robert Marshall, cricketer
• Sir Charlie Mayfield MBA, CEO of Waitrose and John Lewis Partnership
• J.X. Merriman, South African statesman.
• Harold Monro, founder of the Poetry Bookshop.
• Andrew Motion, poet and former Poet Laureate.
• Andrew Nairne, director of Kettle's Yard.
• Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery.
• Owen Paterson, MP and former cabinet minister
• James Pearce, journalist and presenter for BBC Sport.
• Edgar Prestage, historian and Portuguese scholar.
• Dennis Price, actor.
• Michael Reeves, film director.
• S.H. Reynolds, clergyman.
• Professor Sir Mike Richards, UK National Cancer Director.
• Lord Scarman, judge.
• Brough Scott, horse racing journalist, radio and television presenter, and former jockey.
• Tom Shakespeare, sociologist and broadcaster.
• Clive Stafford Smith, campaigning lawyer.
• Andrew Strauss, cricketer.
• Jeremy Stuart-Smith, High Court judge.
• Sir Reginald Stubbs, colonial governor.
• Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, killed in action in Afghanistan on 1 July 2009
• Nigel Twiston-Davies, Cheltenham Gold Cup winning horse trainer.
• Peter Wildeblood, journalist and playwright and celebrated gay rights campaigner.
• Richard Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton, former UK Cabinet Secretary.
• Simon Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Aspley Guise, CEO of Next plc
• Sir Edward Woodgate, who died of wounds sustained during the Battle of Spion Kop.
• Charles Worsley, cricketer.
• Ivor Vincent, British diplomat

Further reading

• Hibbert, Christopher (1997). No Ordinary Place: Radley College and the Public School System 1847–1997. London: John Murray General Publishing Division. ISBN 0-7195-5176-5. 
• "William Burdett-Coutts". Rhodes University Trust. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120311123115/http://www.rhodesalumni.co.uk/alumni-accolades/#wbc. Retrieved 19 August 2012. 

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Radley College)

• Official School website
• Reviews & Ratings
• Profile at the Good Schools Guide