It’s the beginning of the school year, in England at least. 50 years ago, I was just starting school at Eaton House, on Eaton Square in Westminster – the same pre-prep school as Bear Grylls, as it happens, though he was there some time after me. My uniform included a green blazer, green cap and…
People often say to me that I must have one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. They’re right. Today I began work by explaining how young people around the world are helping to deliver the UN’s sustainable development goals through the support of organisations like my own. This was in a breakfast meeting…
Never go back. That’s what they say; whoever ‘they’ may be. I’ve taken that advice for thirty years, but a few weeks ago I decided to go and visit the school where I spent my adolescence. I hadn’t visited since I left there a month before I turned eighteen and have never…
It was hot and humid. Very hot and humid. But I’m proud to say that I completed the course and am now sitting wearing my “official finisher’s tee shirt”. I had set myself a personal target of five hours and didn’t quite make it. I think my actual time will be more like five hours…
Today is the 30th anniversary of the signing of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 30 years ago, I was a young and idealistic teacher, working in a primary school in Lichfield, Staffordshire. I remember reading about the Convention at the time and thinking how surprising it was that no-one had considered…
Anyone involved in Scouting will tell you that it’s an organisation that puts great store by its history. I’m proud to have played a small part in a particularly special chapter. The story starts at the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, held at Arrowe Park, Merseyside in the United Kingdom, ninety years ago in 1929. 30,000…
