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The School Magazine
The first
issue of the school magazine appeared in 1938. It was the work of R.
H. Shorten, a fifth form pupil. Since then the magazine has evolved
and improved considerably. The school magazine is probably the best
window on the life and state of the School over the years. I am delighted
to present to you in electronic form some past issues of the School
Magazine. The hard copies were from Fernando Duranti (1939), Samir Simaika
(1940, 1947, 1948, and 1950), Hael Mughrabi (1956) and myself (1951–1955).
I would like to thank Duranti, Mughrabi and Simaika for allowing me
to use their magazines and Madiha Abaza for providing me with Simaika’s
issues. We do not have magazines for the years 1938, 1941–1946,
and 1949. If anyone has copies of these magazines, please contact me.
I have intentionally included all the advertisements because I felt
that they were also part of history.
Reunions
The
first reunion of the Old Boys took place in London during the summer
of 1929 at the Cock Tavern in Strand. A photo in Mr. Beard’s book
shows an Old Boys dinner at Holborn Restaurant in 1948. The number of
attendees was approximately 60. Mr. Beard states in his book around
1965 “… now that there is no longer an English School to
supply recruits to our Association, it is doomed before long to die
a lingering death, but those who are in charge of its fortunes are anxious
to postpone its demise as long as possible.” I am pleased to report
that the Old Boys and Old Girls are still active and continue to meet
at various locations around the world. View
photos from places around the world.
Squash
Lotfi El-Sherbini,
Mohamed Hamza,
Freddy Saad.
Photo taken at M.I.T. in 1957
According
to Mr. Beard, “Not long after the war it was the Old Boys’
Association that undertook to raise the large sum of money required
to build the School’s two Squash Courts.” Many of the ESC
boys and girls enjoyed playing squash. Some excelled at it, such as Eileen Jamal,
and Aly Nasr who became Egyptian Amateur
Squash Champion. I recall an exhibition match at our school between
the famous world champions Hashem Khan and Mahmoud Abdel Kareem. Some
of us continued to play squash after leaving school and some still do.
I include a photo of Lotfi El-Sherbini and Freddy Saad at M.I.T. Both
played on the top team, and Saad became captain in 1961.
According to the World Squash Federation, squash was first played in England and is now played in more than 185 nations. There are almost 50 000 official squash courts worldwide. At present (August 2009), Egyptian players are doing very well: Ramy Ashour is the current World Champion, Mohamed El Shorbagy recently defended his title as the World's Junior Champion, and Nour El-Sherbini won the 2009 Women's World Junior Championship. At 13, she is the youngest world champion ever. (Is it in the genes? See photo, right.) The Eqyptian women's junior team also performed well, winning the Women's World Junior Team Championship earlier this month in Chennai, India. Finally, of the top four in the men's world rankings, three are Egyptian, with Karim Darwish holding first place.
Nasser Al-Din Al-Assad
Nasser Al-Din Al-Assad Photo taken by Mohamed Hamza in 1954
One of my teachers at the ESC I highly admired and who influenced my knowledge of Arabic literature was Mr. Assad. I would like to report some information about Mr. Assad that those who knew him might be pleased to read and those who did not might find interesting.
Nasser Al-Din Al-Assad was born in 1923 in Aqaba, Jordan. He obtained from Jerusalem a Teachers Diploma and from Cairo University, a B.A., an M.A., and, in 1955, a PhD. He was at the ESC as a Senior School Staff Member from 1951 to 1954. From 1959 to 1961, he was the Dean of the Literature and Education College at the Libyan University, Benghazi. In 1962, he established the first university in Jordan, serving for the first six years as its president, and later as its chairman. The University of Jordan is considered today to be the leading university in Jordan. From 1991 to 1993 he was chairman of Amman Ahliya University.
From 1977 to 1978, Dr. Assad was the Jordanian ambassador in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has been an active member in several Arab and international organizations, including the Arabic Language Institute in Damascus, the Arabic Language Institute in Cairo, the Arabic Language Institute in Amman, the Indian Scientific Institute, the Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs. He has also been head of the Royal Institute for Islamic Culture Studies and an honorary member of the Arabic Language Institute of China.
Dr. Assad has won several awards for his scholarly work. He tries to remain neutral on political issues and addresses history and culture intelligently and thoroughly.
He won the Criticism and Literature Studies Fourth Circle 1994–1995 award and the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Arab Writers in July 2011. This prize, dedicated to non-Egyptian Arab writers, had never been awarded to a Jordanian. Recently, a symposium honoring Dr. Assad was held in the Jordanian capital. It was organized by the Muslim Unity Center. Dr. Assad’s valuable contributions were examined by a number of researchers and scholars.
His most famous book is Sources of Jahili Poetry, which is based on his doctoral thesis supervised by Shawky Deif. A new issue of his book has been published by Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation under the title Sources of Pre-Islamic Poetry. Other well known works by Dr. Assad are Female Slaves and Singing in Pre-Islam Eras and Modern Literary Trends in Palestine and Jordan. See Dr. Asad's list of selected publications here.
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