THE FRIENDS PAGE 2

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2001

    On the far right is my mum's friend from art school, Rie Hagerdäl. Who lives in Lund in Sweden. On the far left is Ellen Hagerdäl, her daughter. The other two women, apart from my mum, are both called Emma, and are Swedish.

    Ellen moved to London in 2001 to study Art and Design. She now works at the Conran shop in London.

    On the right here is the father, Ake Hagerdäl, who sadly passed away in December 2008.

   He was a very knowledgeable and respected gentleman, and a personal friend Bjorn Ulvaeus from the band ABBA.

2001

2001

    On the left here is another Swede, Anna Grevelius.

    Anna is a mezzo-soprano, she has studied at the Guildhall School of Music, Royal College of Music in London.  She has played roles at the Sadler's Wells Theatre and at the Coliseum (one highlight role being Rosina in Barber of Seville in the autumn of 2008).

    Here's Anna again with her sister Sofie looking as though they've just won a croquet match. I did play them, but they didn't win! Sofie studied art at the St. Martin's College in London. She has her own website.

2003

Here I am with some of the forementioned Swedish ladies and also Gertrud Malmsjo.

    Here is Ellen again with her mum, and her brother, Karl Hagerdäl (the tall chap) and her partner, Stuart Wood (shorter chap).

2007

2007

Here Anna and I are getting comfy.

    Here I am with Ellen, once again, and another mezzo-soprano who sings professionally, Akiko Enomoto from Japan.

2008

 
2004

    Here I am with Keith DeVaz. He works for Standard Chatered Bank in Singapore (which is where my brother James works). He is a keen Arsenal supporter and we made frequent trips to Highbury together.

    The girl with the polka dot tie is Fred Garner. The girl with the red tie is Theresa, and the one with glasses is Marianne.
    Fred did a degree in Classics at Oxford University. She is a fine soprano and and completed an MA in 2008 atitfor a unit unit at a Trinity College of music, London (her website).

2002

 
2008

  Here is Fred with her son, David, who was born in November 2007.

 Here's David again, with his dad, Chris Linton-Ford.

2008

2001

    Now for some people who are in Imperial Opera society.

    Here's Jo Webber, Ellis Charles Pike, Angela Quigley. and Miranda Harrison.

    Here is David Phipps-Davis a man who completed an undergraduate music course at the Guildhall two years ago. He now works as a professional actor/singer.

2002

2002

    As we can see, Miranda is into that Gothic music rubbish (sorry). She works at 'Scala Publishers'

    In her arms is Sarah Humphreys, posing as Audrey Hepburn 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'.

    Yes, that's Miranda again, with her brother,

Patrick Harrison, who is also a Thesp (though a reporter by trade).

2002

2002

    On the left here is Randy Nichol.

    He is a classical tenor, but looks like one of those American rock stars who was famous in the seventies.

    On the right is Dian Murphy.

    Here's Ellis again, drinking from an interesting looking goblet.

    Ellis is a professional actor. He used to perform at the Tudor Banquets at Hatfield House, where he played Henry VIII and Sir. Walter Raleigh.

2002

2002

    Here is Kirsty Bennett, a trained singer and an accomplished director.

    Here we have Miss D. D. Cupps, Sarah, Sue Foister, Josephine Arthur, Miranda (with a cute hat), Lisa Turner (another Manchester University Graduate) and Sylvia Slack.

    Sadly, Sue passed away in November 2007, following a lengthy illness.

2002

2003   

Here I am with Ann Ferrier-Ilic and Miyako Furuya.

    Ann used to perform at the Imperial Opera and worked as a singers' agent.  she now lives in Montenegro with her husband.

    Miyako  comes from Japan and is a soprano and pianist. We spent quite a bit of time together in the spring and summer of 2003, but very little since....

    Here's Claire Lapworth (Ellis' wife), Ellis and Sheila Murphy.

2002

2002

    Here Walter Viti amd Anita Kok.

    Walter comes from Melbourne, but has Italian parents. In 2003/4 he did an MBa at the Univeristy of Trieste. Aside from that he has been working at 'Parkman', doing work in road safety. He is also a keen golfer and skier.

       Anita comes from South Africa, and sang with me in Cherymushki in 2002. She has since returned.

    On the right here is Sarah Cooney, who comes from Toronto and worked at The Society for Chemical Industry in London until 2007. In the centre is her friend Jane Van de Ban, who is also Canadian. I can't the name of the woman on the left who is dressed in a vaguely cowgirlish fashion.

2004

2004

    Here are the Matsubaras, the family we know through my fathers' colleague, Ichiro, from when he was doing his muscle research at kings College. Sadly, Ichiro died in 1990 at the age of 50. Even so, we have stayed in touch the rest of the family.

    From left to right, Kentaro, Sumiko, Yoichiro, Kazumi and Yuko. This photo was taken when I went to visit them in Tokyo and had a wonderful holiday. It just so happened that Kazumi's third birthday coincided with my visit.

    Here she's wearing some of her presents.

2004

  

2008

    Here is Erik Douglass, a keen Aresnal supporter with whom I've watched many matches,  and Alex Gaffikin.

    Erik works for EDS in London and has an MBA (ooo). Alex did a physics degree at UMIST, before spending a two years in Antarctica, working for the British Antarctic Survey (click here for Alex's page). She now organises exhibitions at the Natural History Museum in London.

   Here I am with Jim Hawkins, Benedict Adamson and Ian Cooper, members of the London Hero Wars gaming group. I am a member, but am having a break while I finish my PhD. We play role-playing games, mainly Heroquest.
    Jim writes software for mobile phones with Visto. Benedict writes computer programs for calculating TV ratings. He his a keen skier and we went to Chamonix together in February 2007.

2008

2008

Here I am with Jim and Benedict.

    Here I am with Clarissa Dunn, a soprano from Whatakane in New Zealand. Having plied her trade in London and Berlin she is now trying her luck in Sydney, Australia.

2008

  
2008

    Here is Helen Edwards, also a Kiwi and a good friend of Clarissa, sitting by my front door with Pam (my sister). Helen moved to London in 2008 and works in Perivale.

    Here's a photo taken at one of my summer barbecues.   sat at the table in the foreground Benedict, Annie-Laure Connolly, Rick Mukherjee, myself and Maria.
    Annie  is comes from southern France and works for Datamonitor in Swiss Cottage, London. Rick works as a psychiatrist.

2008

2008

  Here is Olga, from St. Petersburg. She is an accomplished artist who also does a bit of singing.

    She is a most excellent party host!

  Here's Marie Hayward, my singing teacher and former opera singer, and Mike Taylor.
    Mike used to work at GEC, and later taught computer science at the University of Westminster. He retired in 2006. He is the chairman of Harrow Opera, a group with whom I performed a great deal since 2003.

2008

  
2004

    Here I am with Celeste Hanford, who was frequently performed with me on the Harrow Opera stage.

   Here are some more Harrow Opera people: Don,  Maureen Creese, Matt Connolly, Mike, David Kallo & Ken Hurford.

    Maureen is the repetiteur, and a very fine one too! Matt is a tenor, and works as a programmer at Datamonitor in Swiss Cottage, London.   Ken is frequently the one in charge at the box office and might well issue you with your ticket if you  come to see a performance.

2004

2006

Here is Ken, groping a random barmaid.

  Here is a photo from one of my birthday dinner parties. from left to right, my mum, Lorène Van Loo, my dad, Pam, Andy, Annie, Alistair Caunt, Anna Charemza and me.
    Lorène comes from Montpellier and live with Pam in Madrid for a while. she now works as a schoolteacher.
    Anna is a keen and speedy skier. We went to Chamonix, together in 2007. Alistair is Anna's husband and I expect to be skiing with both of them in Alpe d'Huez is in February 2009.

2008

  
2008

    And here are Yuko, Sumiko Okada,  James Cottrell and my mum.

    Sumiko has sung with me in operatic productions and played in rock bands in Japan, when she was younger. She plays for the Japanese London ladies' football team.
    James works as a teacher in Bedfordshire, teaching religion. He is an accomplished bass guitar player, and like so many of the probable bands from the 70s that I like (Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd etc.).

  Here is Helen, Annie and Jane Chan, who works for Barclayscapital and plays a bit of tennis.

2009

  
2009

  These individuals were lucky enough to be my housemates at Cranfield University during the final year of my PhD. From left to right: Jeanne Gremmel, Julia Feichtinger, Joao Delgado, Matthieu Aurian and Marion Bois.

2009