Hunter Goetz (R) won the overall prize at the English Recitation Final on Thursday 17th February with his powerful rendition of Louis MacNeice’s ‘Prayer Before Birth’, a tremendous achievement in his first year at the school.
He faced strong competition from twenty other Carthusians, all of whom had battled through two rounds of heats to make the final. Robert Harding (H) won the Under School competition by reciting a very lively and slightly unhinged section from Terry Pratchett’s Maskerade, while second prize was won by Amrit Hathiramani (H) with a splendidly ambitious and almost flawless rendition of Tennyson’s ‘Tithonus’. Frederick Fergus (P) won the senior competition with his unusual and ambitious choice of Corey Taylor’s ‘Omega’, while Antonia Vickers (D) came second with a speech from Antony and Cleopatra.
The competition was expertly adjudicated by Dr J A Garrick, now Director of Studies at Wellington College; he congratulated all the finalists on fine performances and gave helpful advice to those members of the large audience hoping to compete in future years.