Screenshot of Radley College website during the live streaming of Declamations, 2018

‘This most civilized of Radley competitions,’ former Don, Barry Webb, describing Declamations in 1983.  With its roots deep in Victorian ‘memoriter’ exercises and parlour recitations, Radley’s civilized competition goes back to the days of William Sewell in the mid-1850s.  In the course of 170 years it has seen recitations in Serbian, Greek, Latin and French.  It has faded entirely from view, been revived (twice) as a symbol of continuity in the face of global war, and has had its current format unchanged for 70 years.  Boys have groaned, Dons have goaded.  Adjudication has been fiercely criticised.  Youtube has radically altered the way boys research and learn pieces.  And in 2018, it was live-streamed from the Theatre into classrooms across the school and parents’ homes around the world.   Declamations – one of Radley’s enduring institutions …  Read on