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 and 1949. I received in 2016 copies for 1940-1946. I would like to thank Mike Boss, the son of Isaac Boss (40-42), and Huw Phillips, the son of Lavinia Nowill, who was at school starting 1942, for the copies they have sent me. Copies of the Arabic magazine, Students’ Voice, have been added. They were provided by Madiha Abaza. I have incuded all the advertisements because I felt that they were 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

The first squash court was built in England in 1864. At present, there are around 50,000 courts in more than 185 countries worldwide. As of April 2019, Egypt is doing very well in squash. The first three in the PSA Men's World Rankings are from Egypt, and the first three in the PSA Women's World Rankings are from Egypt. World champions for 2018-2019 are Ali Farag for men, and Nour El Sherbini for women, her third world championship crown, http://www.worldsquash.org.






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 1922 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.