Faculty | Guest Speakers : 1 2 3

General Sir Michael Rose KCB CBE DSO QGM. Sir Michael is one of the
most highly decorated British soldiers in the 20th century. He was Adjutant
General of the British Army, Aide-de-Camp General to Queen Elizabeth II,
and Commander of the United Nations Protection Force which operated in
Bosnia. He was originally commissioned into the Coldstream Guards, was
selected for service in the Special Air Service (SAS) and then commanded
the 22nd SAS Regiment. He served in Malaysia, Oman, Germany, Northern
Ireland, and the Falkland Islands. He now directs Control Risks Group, a
private security and consulting company and writes on peacekeeping issues
and challenges to global security.

Lord Saye and Sele. (Nathaniel Fiennes) A member of the House of Lords
and the twenty-first member of the Fiennes family to bear the title, Lord
Saye and Sele addresses us in his ancestral home, Broughton Castle. Built
in 1300, this magnificent building was a location for the Oscar-winning film
Shakespeare in Love. Notable relatives include actors Ralph and Joseph
Fiennes, the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and Susannah Fiennes, the
Prince of Wales’ official artist. At the home of this most prominent of British
families, participants experience a piece of English heritage firsthand.

Michael Smedley and Oxford Pro Musica. A graduate of the University of
London, Mr. Smedley is Director of Music at the City of London School.
He has been involved with music and education in Oxford for many
years, including a long tenure as Director of Music at the New College
Choir School and nearly twenty years singing with the pioneering early
music ensemble, the Clerkes of Oxenford. In 1977, Mr. Smedley founded
the Oxford Pro Musica Singers, a chamber choir that he now directs. This
group has won a national and international reputation and puts on a private
performance for our program, a favorite cultural event for all of our
students.

Professor Christopher Andrew. Professor of Modern and Contemporary
History at Cambridge University, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society,
former Visiting Professor of National Security at Harvard University, frequent
BBC commentator, and the President of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, Professor Andrew is one of the world’s foremost experts on
British, US, and Soviet intelligence services. Much of his recent research
draws upon the unique collection of documents and notes that the defector
Vasili Mitrokhin stole from his KGB masters and brought to the West.
A perennial favorite with our students, he talks about the role of government
intelligence agencies in the post-Cold War era.

The Revd Robin Griffiths-Jones. A biblical scholar and art historian, Revd Griffith-Jones is Master of the Temple Church in London, and former chaplain of Lincoln College, Oxford. He has been involved in the media interest surrounding the Temple Church, which was built by the Knights Templar and features in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. The author of The Four Witnesses, a study of the four gospels, he wrote The Fifth Witness to examine St. Paul’s own perspective upon the life of Jesus Christ. He is writing a biography of Mary Magdalene and recently published The Da Vinci Code and the Secrets of the Temple, which explores the historical basis for the novel’s claims. With a keen interest in competing interpretations of the gospels and Christ’s life and legacy, Revd Griffith-Jones explores much of the history surrounding the Da Vinci Code.

Flt. Lt. Daniel Shaw. An officer in the Royal Air Force, Flt. Lt. Shaw has
served in the RAF since 1999 and as part of Operation Telic, the codename
under which all British airmen and women have served in Iraq. He
has been based at Al-Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar, in RAF Marham in
Norfolk, and has spent considerable time based in the United States as
part of Operation Red Flag, which consists of aerial wargames and dogfight
training conducted out of Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. He was
educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, where
he obtained First Class Honours in History, and Queen Elizabeth’s Boys’
School in North London, where he was School Captain. Having supported
UK and US ground forces in a number of missions, Flt. Lt. Shaw
discusses with our students the role of air power in the War on Terror.

Baba Brinkman. Baba has written and performed original rap and spoken word poetry for nearly a decade. His transformation of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales into a hip-hop epic was met with much acclaim, which included his recruitment to Cambridge University’s English Faculty for his innovative and inventive approach to literature. He holds a BA (Hons) from Simon Fraser University and an MA from the University of Victoria. As a thoughtful and engaging lyricist, he explores the differences and similarities between rap music and literary poetry. He founded Babasword Productions in 2004 for the creation and promotion of educational, literature-based entertainment. His first album, Swordplay, was released in 2004 and, in 2006, he released his second, The Rap Canterbury Tales.