ROUTH ASSEMBLY
12/01/2026
Today’s Routh Address was given by Mr McClure, Deputy Head Pastoral
This time last week, the Headmaster was encouraging us all to make the most of New Year opportunities. If I’m honest – he and I are of a similar age – I was also rather taken with his bit of nostalgia about the Back to the Future films and the difficulty they encapsulate when any of us make predictions about the future. It got me thinking about other aspects of the Arts and Entertainment world which have had varied success in visualising what awaits humanity in the future. Back to the Future may have missed out on the prospect of mobile phones, but the communicating device in the original Star Trek TV series used by Captain Kirk or his crew looks very similar to what became the flip-phone to me. And while we may not yet be routinely interacting with alien species or colonising Mars in the sort of stories which helped to make the careers of Hollywood names like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Will Smith, films towards the end of the twentieth century did correctly have the foresight to imagine things like touchscreen tablets, interactive flatscreens, video calls, drone technology and weaponry and driverless cars, to name but a few. Here’s hoping that the march of AI and robotics does stop short of fashioning Terminators that fulfil Arnie’s famous prophecy of I’ll be back!
When I was at school, we were pleased to find out that the year 1984 was not actually as dystopian as George Orwell had imagined in his famous novel. Instead, slightly bizarrely, in the years since, and heralded by films such as The Truman Show – well worth a watch if you have not seen it – Orwell’s concept of Big Brother has become a mainstream form of global entertainment with reality TV in all of its different guises. Several of the colleagues behind me will remember the genuine national unease that existed about the so-called Millenium Bug that it was feared would hit technology as the clock struck midnight for the year 2000, followed by a large dose of relief when life continued as normal.
So, in short, predictions are fraught with uncertainty – some will, with hindsight, seem amazingly accurate, while others will remain fanciful and unfulfilled. I was amused by a BBC online article last week which publicised the predictions for 2026 of the UK’s only known ‘asparamancer’. A lady from Evesham, not too far away from here, claims that she can predict the future by throwing asparagus spears into the air and interpreting the patterns in which they land. In the spirit of community, I am now prepared to share some of these with you this morning:
And finally, and I suspect most importantly for this unique asparamancer, she predicts that:
Two weeks into the New Year, I really wouldn’t want to be drawn on whether those predictions, in all of their specific detail, will turn out to be true. Only time will tell if the future really can depend on gravity and a green stem vegetable. Equally, if you wish to be tempted by the lure of New Year trends, there are plenty out there besides the obligatory New Year resolutions – a quick Google search informed me that you can engage this month with concepts such as Manuary, Ginuary, Veganuary, National Clean-up-your-computer month, National Soup month, World Health Esteem month, National Hobby month, International Creativity month or Get Organised month.
Further proof I think that, in a world that does increasingly look for online, commercial or social media trends in offering lifestyle guidance and various January ‘kick-starts’ to a new you, there is a lot to be said for the longer-term personal friendships, support, values and opportunities that you can find in a community such as this one if you commit to making the most of yourself. Of course, have your own goals and aspirations for 2026, but I am also a great believer in the idea that aiming to get the small things right regularly can help with keeping the bigger picture in perspective - and that starts with yourself and your approach to what each day holds for you. It is a decade since the American Navy SEAL Admiral McRaven went viral with his advice “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed”. That correlates with one of my favourite sporting quotes by the great South African golfer Gary Player, who once wryly suggested: “It’s funny, the more I practise, the luckier I get.” Wise words indeed, not just for those of you in exam season.