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Wednesday, 10 March 2010
On finding himself in London, Harry decided to meet up with his
old Bolton School friend from the late '50s, Ian. Nothing
newsworthy about that, until you realise that one gentleman was Sir
Harry Kroto, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry, and the other
was Sir Ian McKellen!
Sir Ian is currently performing in Waiting for Godot at the
Theatre Royal Haymarket so an afternoon at the theatre
beckoned. Sir Harry, having recently visited his former
school, where he gave
a day of workshops aimed at promoting science to young people,
thought it would be a good idea to invite some pupils along to the
reunion too.
Hence, twelve excited Sixth Form girls and boys from Bolton
School found themselves southbound on the London train. After
watching Sir Ian give a magnificent performance the group went
backstage to meet Sir Harry, Sir Ian and the rest of the cast,
which included Matthew Kelly, Roger Rees and Ronald Pickup. A
long discussion ensued in the dressing rooms before everyone then
went onto the set for photos and autographs!
Ryan Sarsfield, who is going on to study English at Oxford,
said: "This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and everyone
really enjoyed themselves. Waiting for Godot was a really
interesting play and the acting was unbelievable. Both of the
Old Boys were very sociable and very interesting. After the
play, we spoke about how different actors can shape how the play
unfolds; Sir Ian was looking forward to taking the production to
New Zealand. He was also pleased that the Bolton theatre
scene is still lively and spoke highly of the Bolton Octagon."
The trip was funded by the Ogden Trust and many of the students
were Ogden Scholars studying A level science subjects.
This meant there was plenty to talk about over dinner when, after
the show, Sir Harry took the group out; Sir Ian would have loved to
have joined them but his routine demands that he takes a rest
before the evening performance.
View a gallery of photos recording this trip.
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