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07 May, 2020 Stories from the Crest

Stories from the Crest Episode Two: Judith Whitworth and Patrick Hughes

Two weeks ago, on St Michael’s Grammar School’s 125th birthday, we were delighted to introduce our brand new podcast, Stories from the Crest.

This new podcast series shares the stories of Old Michaelians from across the history of the School, and has been created by TV producer, Claudia Nankervis (OM 2012), and emerging filmmaker, Fraser Pemberton (OM 2011). Together they explore the lives of Old Michaelians  who share a common link through their school, but who have very different stories to tell.

Episode one featured disability advocate Mandy McCracken (OM 1991) and award-winning cinematographer Max Walter (OM 2012).

In episode two, we hear from two remarkable Old Michaelians, Judith Whitworth (OM 1961) and Patrick Hughes (OM 1996).

 

Judith Whitworth is an esteemed medical researcher, who among her many other achievements, was the first female Chief Medical Officer in the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services. As Judith explains, her interest for medicine came as a child where she suffered polio and was ‘in and out of hospitals’. Now Judith has been turning her focus to seeking action on climate change as she believes this poses the biggest medical threat to society.

The Judith Whitworth Science and Maths Scholarship for Girls is named in her honour and recognises her significant contribution leading the way and inspiring generations of young women to follow their passion into thriving careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields.

Patrick Hughes (pictured with Fraser and Claudia) is a Hollywood film director known most recently for directing The Hitman’s Bodyguard and Expendables 3, where he worked with notable actors such as Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, Mel Gibson and Ryan Reynolds, just to name a few. As Patrick explains, his passion for film begun at a very early age, which led him pitch to then Headmaster Mr Tony Hewison to allow him to study film in Year 12 – a subject that wasn’t offered by the School. To his delight, this was allowed, which led him to continue film at VCA, and the rest as they say, is history.

We thank both Judith and Patrick for their time, and hope you enjoy their unique stories in this, Episode Two.

Listen via the player above, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most other popular podcast applications. New episodes are published every fortnight during school term time for a limited series of episodes, so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.

 

 

 

Learn more about our fabulous hosts and creators of the podcast below:

FRASER PEMBERTON (OM 2011)
Fraser is a local Melbourne filmmaker who works primarily as a writer, director, and cinematographer. He loves to explore distinctly Australian stories that retain fundamentally human concerns, addressing the themes of time, memory, and loss. His most recent film Hourglass has been the recipient of over 10 festival selections and won Best International Student Short at the Glendale International Film Festival in 2018. He is currently completing his Master’s degree in Narrative Film at the Victorian College of the Arts and is a co-founder of production company Dogmilk Films.

CLAUDIA NANKERVIS (OM 2012)
Claudia is an emerging producer with an impressive list of credits in film, television, radio and podcasts, including Production Assistant on Rockwiz for SBS and Assistant Television Producer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Claudia has worked at production company Gristmill as production runner, executive assistant and is now producing several projects in development.