Although the good weather has been slow to arrive this summer, the staff and residents of the British School are now fully enjoying the calm after the seemingly never-ending storm of the building work. Gone are the noises of drilling, hammering and shouting workmen to be replaced by nothing more disturbing than the intermittent battle between the crows and the feral sea-gulls, which rages in the skies above the Director's garden, or the over-zealous police helicopters overhead. The new lecture theatre is in constant use for talks, conferences and as an exhibition space, the library is now fully open to the general public and the (recently liberated) atrio is constantly crossed by a stream of familiar scholars and new faces. Residents have participated enthusiastically in the ongoing programme of lectures and activities, highlights from which are mentioned in the Assistant Director's report below. The initiative launched in the spring to track down former 'lost' scholars has been very successful and we are most grateful to everybody for their contributions, particularly the Director's research assistant, Juliet Brooke, who has toiled unceasingly at this task. Juliet and Sarah Court, Scientific Co-ordinator for the Herculaneum Conservation Project, and Lydia Davis, Sue Russell's research assistant, leave the BSR this summer and we wish them all every success in the future.

However, the database is not yet complete and new information is always welcome. It is particularly good to hear of the successes of our recent young scholars and congratulations are due to, among others, Anne Alwis (Rome Scholar 2001-2) for her appointment at the University of Kent, to Lisa Beaven (Rome Awardee 2001-2) for her appointment at La Trobe University, Australia; to Jo Crawley-Quinn (Ralegh Radford Scholar 2001-2) for her fellowship at Worcester College, Oxford; to Lucy Grig (Rome Scholar 2001-2) for her position in the Classics Department at Edinburgh University; to Alexander Thein (Rome Scholar 2002-3) for his appointment at University College, Dublin; to Andrew Wilson (Rome Scholar 1999-2000 ) for his appointment to the Chair of Roman Archaeology at Oxford; and to Rob Witcher (Leverhume Research Fellow 1999-2003) for his appointment at Durham University. This year has also seen a bumper crop of babies among staff and former staff of the British School and congratulations are due to Rita Petrollini (whose daughter Marta was born in June 2003), Rachel Inman (whose daughter, also named Marta, was born in September 2003), to Sharon Yoshi Miura and Francesco Garofalo (whose son Antonio was born in December 2003), to Renato Parente (whose second son Andrea was born in May 2004), and to Cristiana Perrella (whose son Giacomo was also born in May 2004). Warmest wishes to all concerned,
J.W-H

Award-holders at BSR this summer

Humanities

Robert Coates-Stephens (Cary Fellow), Elizabeth Sears (Paul Mellon Centre Rome Fellow), Alice Sanger (Rome Fellow), Michele Forte (Ralegh Radford Rome Scholar), Roberto Cobianchi (Rome Scholar), Jane Dunnett (Rome Scholar), Julie-Anne Vickers (Rome Scholar), Hallie Meredith-Goymour (Henry Francis Pelham Scholar).

Fine Arts

David Leapman (Abbey Fellow in Painting), Angela Gill (Abbey Scholar in Painting), Simon McBride (Arts Council of Northern Ireland Fellow), Daniel Mielgo Bregazzi (Rome Scholar in Architecture), Sigrid Holmwood (Sainsbury Scholar in Painting and Sculpture), Geoff Uglow (Sainsbury Scholar in Painting and Sculpture), Peter Büttgens (South African Institute of Architects Rome Scholar), Margarita Gluzberg (Wingate Rome Scholar), Vito Bila (Australia Council Resident Artist), Susanna Strati (Australia Council Resident Artist).

City of Rome Postgraduate Course

The School's annual "City of Rome " postgraduate course in the archaeology and topography of the city ran from 5th April to 30th May and was directed by Edward Bispham ( Brasenose College , Oxford ) and Robert Coates-Stephens (Cary Fellow, BSR). Nine students attended, from the universities of Bristol , Nottingham , Oxford , Manchester , Reading and Southampton . As in previous years, the emphasis was on site visits. Advantage was taken of the School's excellent contacts with the city's archaeological authorities and academic institutions (including the foreign academies) to provide a wide-ranging programme of itineraries, supplemented by twice-weekly seminars and public lectures. The students each gave a presentation to the class on their own research topics, and completed an essay on a specific aspect of their work. They also selected an individual component of Hadrian's Villa to provide an overall 'guided tour' of that immensely complicated site.

Highlights of the itineraries included the permit to ascend the spiral staircase of the Column of Trajan (with the monument's chief restorer, Cinzia Conte), Rita Volpe's tour of the new excavations at the Baths of Trajan, and Janet DeLaine's expert analysis of the building history of an entire insula in Ostia. Of the lectures, perhaps most memorable from the students' point of view was the rare opportunity to hear talks by eminent Italian maestri in the field of Roman topography: it is not often that postgraduates from British universities have the chance to learn directly from the likes of Lucos Cozza, Filippo Coarelli and Paolo Liverani.

As ever, the School's permissions secretary, Maria Pia Malvezzi, masterminded the organisation of visiting permits with great efficiency. Throughout the course, the staff and residents at the BSR made the students and directors very welcome and the newly restored library served as a tranquil haven from the heat and bustle of the city. As in previous years, at least half of the students will be going on to do doctoral study, and we therefore hope to see one or two back at the School in the near future.

A few words from "La Vice"...

My first year as Assistant Director (Humanities) has been very demanding in numerous ways, but has certainly not been boring, and one of my most pleasant tasks has been as occasional babysitter to Jo and Andrew's beautiful new cat, Tosca. There have been some wonderful events and a series of stimulating lectures throughout the year, one a little out of the ordinary being the highly entertaining 'Imagining Pompeii' from author Robert Harris, talking about his successful novel. Highlights for me (apart from the re-opening of the Library) were the launch of three splendid new volumes of the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo, celebrated with a lecture by Ian Campbell (BSR Scholar 1979-80), and a moving tribute to the late John Shearman on the occasion of the launch of his book Raphael in Early Modern Sources (1483-1602) , in conjunction with the Bibliotheca Hertziana. Balsdon Fellow Simon Stoddart's 'appropriation' of the Sainsbury Lecture Theatre to accommodate a large proportion of Rome's Maltese community for the team-delivered lecture 'Mortuary practices in prehistoric Malta' was also an occasion to remember. We have had some satisfying site visits, perhaps the most stimulating and enjoyable being our first, in mid-October, to Sperlonga, on a perfect day that made it possible to swim in the same waters where Tiberius Caesar cooled his wine. Another very special visit was made to the Tower of the Winds in the Vatican to enjoy rarely-seen landscape frescoes and a fascinating meridian. The most satisfying aspect of my year, however, has been the companionship of this year's award holders, both in the humanities and fine arts, who have maintained their good humour for the duration of their tenure, rarely flagging in their work and always to be relied on for pleasant conversation at dinner. We have also been favoured with extremely rewarding visiting scholars throughout the year, who have enhanced both the social and the intellectual life of the School. Here's hoping 2004-5 will be as harmonious and productive.