The Times - UK (2022-01-01)

78 Saturday January 1 2022 | the times

New year honours

Births
BARTRUM on 19th December 2021 to
Nicola (née Cogdell-Brooke) and Nicholas,
twins, Alexander Patrick Alan (Alex) and
Frederick Russell Thomas (Freddie),
brothers to Olivia, at Royal Berks Hospital,
Reading.

HAMILTON on 3rd December 2021 to
Georgina and Robin, a son, Francis Julian
Valentine, brother to Miles and Xander.

Forthcoming Marriages

MR J. STRAW

AND MS L. EDWARDS

The engagement is announced between

Mr John Straw (aged 62 and ¾) of

Lossiemouth, Scotland, and Ms Linda

Edwards (aged 42 — that’s not what it says

in your passport, darling) of Elgin,

Scotland. She’s delighted, he’s thrilled and

slightly worried.

MR H. P. V. UNWIN
AND MISS M. G. NEGRETTI
The engagement is announced between
Henry, son of Dr and Mrs David Unwin of
Dacre, Cumbria, and Melissa, daughter of
Mr and Mrs Simon Negretti of Taynton,
Oxfordshire.

MR K. E. MCKENZIE
AND MISS C. M. THOMPSON
The engagement is announced between
Kyle, son of Mr and Mrs Ross McKenzie of
Riverton, New Zealand, and Caroline,
daughter of Mr and Mrs Angus Thompson
of Stapleton, North Yorkshire.

OBEY the rulers who have authority over
you. Only God can give authority to
anyone, and he puts these rulers
in their places of power. Romans 13.1 (CEV)

Bible verses are provided by the
Bible Society

Deaths

ABRAMS Charles. One of the greatest

legal figures this country has seen. An

adviser to the Conservative Party on the

Financial Services and Markets Bill, partner

and head of financial services and

securities at SJ Berwin. A pioneer in his

field, and a truly brilliant mind.

BRIDGER Canon Gordon Frederick on

20th December 2021, aged 89. Former

principal of Oak Hill Theological College.

Beloved husband of Elizabeth, wonderful

father of Rachel, Sarah and Mary, and

adored grandfather. With Christ.

Thanksgiving 14th January 2.30pm, Cromer

Parish Church.

GROVE

John Stanley passed away peacefully

on 28th December 2021, aged 84. John

will be remembered warmly by his

family and friends, and for his long

career in education in the UK and

Europe, his work with the Carpathian

Foundation and Ledbury in Bloom,

and in founding Usk Castle Friends

and the Mortimer History Society.

MORGAN

Johanna (née Spencer-Smith) passed

away on 5th December 2021, aged 75.

She was the heart of magical toy shop

Frog Hollow in Kensington, and later

carer to her husband Paul Morgan and

parents Mary and Thomas Cadman

Spencer-Smith. She is dearly missed

by her family and friends, including

brother Richard, sister-in-law Aja, and

nieces Charlotte and Felicity.

New year’s resolutions? Let’s pin our

hopes on a re-watch of Jaws instead

year? That time when we

make resolutions which model

a combination of hope and

promise balanced with an

almost inevitable sense of

failure and, ultimately,

acceptance that this year will

be the same as last?

I guess for those of a

cynical frame of mind —

which is many, given the

endless grimness of the

pandemic and the attendant

pressures placed on human

relations — it would be

tempting to suggest

something post-apocalyptic

(think of a film designed to

denude you of all hope like

The Road or Threads, or if

you prefer your apocalypse to

have the veneer of home

counties cosiness, try Keira

Knightley’s recent Silent

Night).

I plump for something

which, at first glance,

presents as a kind of reverse

new year’s resolution film:

Jaws. For it begins with

disaster rather than optimism

and ends with renewed

resolve. In essence (spoiler

alert): shark kills swimmers;

townsfolk deny there’s a

problem; shark kills again;

finally, some other people kill

shark, and lessons are learnt.

It was only after I saw the

brilliantly funny play The

Shark is Broken that I began

to appreciate that Jaws is a

film fit to speak unto any new

year and perhaps this one

more than any. Written by

(and starring) Ian Shaw, the

son of Jaws actor Robert

Shaw, The Shark is Broken

reveals the off-camera tension

between the three leads (the

droning Roy Scheider,

neurotic Richard Dreyfuss

and old soak Shaw) as the

shoot drags on because the

mechanical shark “Bruce”

keeps breaking down.

The actors think they’re the

centre of the action, but are

caught up in a process they

cannot control. The play

reveals how the eight-week

film shoot began in hope and,

as the mechanical shark

repeatedly fails, descends into

boredom and drunken

argument. Shaw, the classical

actor, thinks Jaws will be a

crass signal of the end of

cinema. He wants only to

write and write something of

value.

Yet, out of this mess,

something extraordinary

emerges. Jaws — the

blockbuster with a troubled

shoot — is an endlessly

watchable film. Scheider,

Dreyfuss and Shaw channel

their frustrations and dislike

into a stunning ensemble

performance, and the tedious

shoot gave Shaw the space to

turn a dreadful section of

script into one of the greatest

monologues in film history,

the Indianapolis speech. Out

of mess comes a creation

which brings lasting joy.

That’s the kind of new year

that I, as a person of faith,

dream of.

Canon Rachel Mann is rector of St

Nicholas Burnage Church in

Manchester and area dean of

Withington

speaks into the frankly

strange mood and

expectations of the turning of

the new year itself. For the

new year is, typically, marked

by that curious phenomenon:

the new year’s resolution.

The very phrase — redolent

as it is with effort and strain

— is almost sufficient to

drive me back under my

duvet cover as I nurse my

post-festive hangover.

New year’s resolutions

strike me as full of a

puritanical determination to

live a better, cleaner,

healthier, or even a more holy

life. They also seem to have

failure inscribed into them. I

recently read a statistic which

suggested that, in a study of

3,000 people who made

resolutions, 88 per cent failed

to keep them, despite 52 per

cent of that group feeling

confident that they would

stick to their plans.

Maybe, as a cleric, I should

have a little more buy-in to

the practice of resolving to

reform and renew one’s

personal or social behaviour

as the new year dawns.

Repentance is, after all,

inscribed in my faith tradition

and, as a season like Lent

reveals, there’s much to

commend periods of

psychological, physical and

spiritual “reset”. However,

I’ve failed in my new year

fitness and dieting regimes

too often to “over-

spiritualise” the new year.

So what kind of film might

reasonably be said to speak

unto the strangeness of new

T

here’s long been a

lively argument over

what constitutes a

festive film. Leaving

aside stone-cold

classics such as It’s a

Wonderful Life, there are

plenty of people prepared to

go to the tinsel barricades to

defend the inclusion of the

Harry Potter films or Die

Hard as Christmas films.

Indeed, recently the religious

broadcaster William Crawley

cheekily quoted CS Lewis to

support Die Hard’s claims:

“Christianity is the story of

how the rightful king has

landed, you might say has

landed in disguise, and is

calling us to a great campaign

of sabotage.”

I’m not sure there’s ever

been much energy for a

dust-up over what counts as a

“new year” film. By new year

film I don’t just mean a movie

one readily watches on New

Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

There are films aplenty which,

in the UK at least, are bank

holiday fodder, including The

Sound of Music and The Great

Escape. My own family have a

ritual of watching the cheesy

Second World War football

film, Escape To Victory, on

New Year’s Eve.

No, I mean a film which

Credo

Rachel

Mann

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wider region Bianca Collins desk officer, Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office, services to
British foreign policy Angela Joy French former
chairwoman, the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service,
Portugal, services to charity in Portugal Michael
Peter Groves member of the Cyprus Residency
Support Group, services to the British community in
Cyprus Pamela Irene Groves member of the Cyprus
Residency Support Group, services to the British
community in CyprusAlexandra Mary Hennessey
diary manager to the minister of state, Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office, services to
British foreign policy Sandra Elizabeth May pro-
Consul, British Embassy Tehran, Iran, services to
British nationals overseas Dominic Crosby Rollo
Myers lately chief executive officer, Enhance Group
and chairman of the board, British School, Sultanate
of Oman, services to British education in Oman
Patricia Susan Owens corporate services manager,
Miami Consulate General, Florida, United States of
America, services to the British Consulate General in
Miami Pamela Parker personal assistant to HM
ambassador, British embassy Berlin, Germany, services
to UK/Germany relations Helen Elizabeth Price
charity volunteer, Hopeful Hearts Guangzhou, China,
services to charity in China Natasha Helen
Ruscheinski founder, PAW BVI, British Virgin
Islands, services to animal welfare Lewis Sebastian
Stagnetto science teacher, Gibraltar, services to the
marine environment in Gibraltar Caroline Rosemary
Topham desk officer, Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Office, services to British foreign policy
Brian Waring desk officer, Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office, services to British foreign
policy Bryn Owen Williams desk officer, Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office, services to
British foreign policy Shirley Ann Wrigglesworth
welfare officer/co-ordinator, The British Association of
the Alpes Maritimes and the Var, services to British
community in southeast France

ISLE OF MAN

British Empire Medal

BEM
Alexander James Townsend services to education
on the Isle of Man

GUERNSEY

British Empire Medal

BEM

Stephen Herbert Mauger services to fairtrade on

Guernsey

ROYAL NAVY

Royal Red Cross

Chief Petty Officer Kelly Jane Brechany, Chief

Petty Officer Carrie Stuart

ARMY

Royal Red Cross

Major Tracey Ann Buckingham, Staff Sergeant

Julie-Anne Fulford, Major Debra Louise Harvey,

Lieutenant Colonel Margaret-Ann Hodge

ROYAL AIR FORCE

Royal Red Cross

Flight Sergeant Holly Anne Chambers, Squadron

Leader Sherry Louise McBain, Squadron Leader

Elizabeth Frances Paxman, Sergeant Victoria

Lee Van Der Wel, Squadron Leader Christopher

John Wells, Group Captain Fionnuala Mary

Bradley

HOME OFFICE

Queen’s Police Medal

Gordon Barclay detective sergeant, Metropolitan

Police Service Heidi Cara Boutcher inspector,

Metropolitan Police Service Robert Stephen Cooper

lately detective sergeant, Wiltshire Police Gail

Granville detective chief inspector, Metropolitan

Police Service Ben-Julian Harrington chief

constable, Essex Police Driss Hayoukane detective

inspector, Metropolitan Police Service Winton

Laurence Keenen chief constable, Northumbria

Police Gail Lilley detective inspector, Metropolitan

Police Service Graham McNulty deputy assistant

commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service Paul

Mitchinson lately constable, Northamptonshire

Police Gareth MacDonald Morgan lately chief

constable, Staffordshire Police Anne Overton

constable, South Wales Police Jonathan Richard

Owen inspector, Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Michael Paterson Metropolitan Police Service

Andrew Duncan Slattery lately assistant chief

Constable, Cumbria Constabulary Gary Martin

Stephenson detective inspector, West Yorkshire

Police Daniel Stoten detective chief inspector, Essex

Police Andrew James Winters British Transport

Police

SCOTTISH OFFICE

Queen’s Police Medal

Chief Inspector Marlene Baillie chief inspector,

Police Service of Scotland Chief Superintendent

Louise Blakelock chief superintendent, Police

Service of Scotland Assistant Chief Constable

Judith Heaton assistant chief constable, Police

Service of Scotland

NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE

Queen’s Police Medal

Daphne Elaine Duffy detective superintendent,

Police Service of Northern Ireland Jason Patrick

Murphy detective superintendent, Police Service of

Northern Ireland Raymond Shaw inspector, Police

Service of Northern Ireland

OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

Queen’s Police Medal

Peter Reeve lately detective inspector, Royal Virgin

Islands Police

HOME OFFICE (FIRE)

Queen’s Fire Service

Medal

John Andrew Buckley chief fire officer,

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service Jennifer

Elizabeth Griffiths lately group manager, South

Wales Fire and Rescue Service Sally Angeline

Hammond group manager, Suffolk Fire and Rescue

Service Justin Johnston chief fire officer, Lancashire

Fire and Rescue Service Nicholas Searle deputy chief

fire officer, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Queen’s Ambulance

Service Medal

Jennifer Margaret Lewis operations manager,

Welsh Ambulance Service Dr. Julian Peter Mark

executive medical director, Yorkshire Ambulance

Service Adrian John Nolan South deputy director of

clinical care, South Western Ambulance Service

SCOTTISH OFFICE

Queen’s Ambulance

Service Medal

Patrick O’Meara paramedic, Scottish Ambulance

Service

ARMY

Queen’s Volunteer

Reserves Medal

Warrant Officer Class 1 Brian Armstrong,

Captain Stephen Thomas Brocklebank, Major

Andrew Alan Church, Major Ian David Kemp,

Major Robert Charles Ward

GRENADA

Order of the British

Empire

CBE

Kirani James services to sport

OBE

Dr George Mitchell services to health

MBE

Francis Sookram services to education

British Empire Medal

BEM

Joan Joseph services to education

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Order of the British

Empire

OBE

Rudgard Fox Irokalani services to teaching, to

education and to the Anglican Church of Melanesia

Billy Titiulu services to the justice sector, to

commerce and to the government and the people of

the Solomon Islands

MBE

Rolland Sikua services to education and to the

Anglican Church of Melanesia

BELIZE

Order of the British

Empire

CBE

Sean Craig Feinstein services to entrepreneurship

and to the community

OBE

The Honourable Madam Justice Michelle Agnes

Arana services to the field of law and public service

Gordon Christopher Roe services to

entrepreneurship and to the community

MBE

Florencia Castillo services to the community

Dr Marcelo Coyi services to the medical profession

and to the community Joel Robinson services to the

community Elena Smith services to education and

unionism

ST. CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS

Order of the British

Empire

OBE

Larkland Montgomery Richards for contribution to

the development of tourism

MBE

Peter Coury services to business enterprise Marjorie

Morton services to governance and public service