Ntinga Steams Up

Ntinga is a mountain of a man. He was born in Durban but his family moved to Ireland when he was young. He is quiet out on the paddock, letting his actions do his talking. This portrait was taken minutes after suffering a close loss to long-time rivals, Blackheath. The two teams first played in 1864 in what is recorded as the first club rugby fixture. The frustration of the loss shows on his face, and effort in the steam rising from his head on a cold November evening in London. 

Maria Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for ‘efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace’ in her homeland, the Philippines, where the government, led by President Rodrigo Duterte. The news organisation she co-founded in 2012 was targeted by Duterte’s government due to its criticism resulting in orders to shut down Rappler and numerous charges against the CEO and President, Ressa. She wrote a book, titled ‘How to Stand up to a Dictator’, detailing the ongoing legal battles which, if lost, could have seen her imprisoned for more than 100 years.

Dan Biggar trots across the pitch during the Autumn International rugby series in the northern hemisphere, the Australian Wallabies played Wales in Cardiff in November, 2021. Wales’ fly half played a major role in Wales beating Australia in a tight contest. Biggar’s kicking and game management were crucial. He kicked two conversions and four penalties, edging out Australia, 29-28 in a torrid match in front of an almost full crowd at Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital. In this image he is trotting back to his position and looking up at the boisterous Welsh crowd.

See more rugby images within my galleries here.

The Guardian political satirist, Marina Hyde, speaking with Flora Gill about her life and many, many columns, at the Oxford launch of her new book, ‘What Just Happened!’ The event at @blackwelloxford was a hilarious romp through the past few “entertaining” years of British politics, which has left many wondering whether satire is dead. Save for the large gathered audience, it was much more like a couple of girlfriends catching up than a “journalism thing.”

Comedian, Rachel Parris, was recently in Oxford to speak at Blackwell’s about her freshly published book, Advice from Strangers. It’s loosely based on advice she collected from people who attended her stage show, delivered to her on bits and pieces of paper/cardboard, old train tickets, etc. Some of which she treasured and other bits, well, she either left out, or explained why it was not that good of advice.

I had the pleasure of making some portraits of Rachel Parris on the evening. Just in case you didn’t know, she is a BAFTA-nominated comedian, musician, actor, improviser, and, of course, published author. She is best known for her role on ‘The Mash Report’, which after 4 seasons migrated from the BBC to Dave, as Late Night Mash’. As a big fan of the show, Rachel kindly brought me up-to-speed, and to my dismay I discovered that Nish Kumar (aka Dishy Nishy), the long time host of the show, has stepped away to “concentrate on other projects”, or “to spend more time with his family”, or something like that. She was very tight-lipped about who would replace Nish in the new season.

Anyway, back to the real story, and that is that Rachel was very funny, honest, warm, and entertaining. In a brilliant, almost hour-long interview by journalist and fellow-author, Nell Frizzell, we learned much about Rachel – for instance, that she once worked at Blackwell’s music shop in Oxford. Which is no great surprise when you learned that she studied music at Oxford University. She read from her book, took questions from the audience, and serenaded the gathered crowd with a song. If the book is half as funny as she was on the night, it’ll be a very enjoyable read.

More pictures from the event can be viewed on my Facebook page. You can see this and other portraits in my Portraits gallery.

James Andrew Benwell was born in Dorchester and raised in the small village of South Wonston, just outside Winchester. He first got into hospitality at the age of 15, working in pubs around Winchester until he was kicked out of college and realised he needed some direction.

At 17, Jim was accepted into university to study drums at the Academy of Contemporary Music. However, after completing the degree, he discovered just how tough it was to break into the music industry. So, he decided to leave England and go travelling. That journey took him through 20 different countries, and, along the way, he fell in love with coffee.

With this new passion, Jim set up a coffee stall to take to festivals, combining his love for coffee and music. Since then, he has traded at nearly 100 festivals, opened four cafés, launched a coffee roastery, and worked with some of the biggest brands in the world.

One of those cafes is my local, where I spend many mornings and where I got to know Jim.

This image was taken inside the Green Routes café during a lull after the morning rush.

Even though he’s already achieved so much, Jim still has big dreams for the future and hopes to one day make it onto the festival stage as a musician!

The ACT Brumbies met the NZ Crusaders in Canberra during round 12 of the 2013 Super Rugby season. The Crusaders beat the Brumbies in the Sunday afternoon match, played on 5th May, defeating the home team by 30-23, with 3 tries to 2 advantage. The defeat ended a season-long home winning streak for the Brumbies at their Canberra Stadium home ground.

In this image, NZ Crusader’s centre Ryan Crotty is tackled by ACT Brumbies fly half  Matt To’omua and lock Peter Kimlin.

The Crusaders managed to stay ahead of the home team with the aid of the ever-dependable boot of Dan Carter. The fly half didn’t miss a single kick during the match, with 3 conversions and 3 penalties. The ACT Brumbies’ flanker George Smith played a crucial role for the home team. Smith managed several crucial turnovers and completed many tackles in what was his 137th Super Rugby match. However, the Brumbies suffered from a lack of possession, losing out to the visiting team, 40% to 60%.

The Brumbies and Crusaders are the most successful rugby franchises in their respective countries and are long term rivals.

The Brumbies remained on top of the Super Rugby table despite the loss. As the Brumbies were within 7 points of the Crusaders on the scoreboard, they managed to salvage a losing bonus point.

The Brumbies’ loss was in front of a sizeable 16,544 crowd at Canberra Stadium on a sunny afternoon.

The Brumbies went on to compete in the Super Rugby final of the 2013 season. They eventually lost to the Hamilton-based Chiefs, 27-22 in a hard-fought final in New Zealand.

More rugby images can be viewed in the Super Rugby galleries on this page.

In late 2019 the world was alerted to a new Covid virus strain – COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). It is thought to have begun in China, but this remains a controversial assertion. The book, titled Vaxxers, details the inside story of the team, led by the authors, which developed the AstraZeneca Covid19 vaccine at the University of Oxford. Prof. Gilbert and Prof. Green wrote the story of AstraZeneca, which became a crucial tool in combating the first pandemic in 100 years. The authors of Vaxxers visited Blackwell’s in Oxford to sign hundreds of copies of their book in mid-2021.

Dame Professor Sarah Gilbert and  Professor Catherine Green led a University of Oxford team which used existing vaccine technology to quickly develop a specific Covid19 vaccine after initial reports of a new virus strain emerged. Importantly, this new vaccine overcame some perceived shortcomings of other vaccines on the market. Firstly, it didn’t require storage at very low temperatures, making it easier to distribute, especially in the third world. Also, it was sold at a minimal cost in an effort to make the vaccine more accessible to poorer nations.

Dame Professor Sarah Gilbert is a Professor of Vaccinology at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, within the University of Oxford. She is also a co-founder of Vaccitech, which  is a spin-out company from the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, one of the most prestigious vaccine research centres in the world. Professor Catherine Green is also attached to the Nuffield Department of medicine at the University of Oxford. She is a biologist who specialises in Chromosome Dynamics at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford.

You can see more of Tim Anger’s portraits here.