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Haberdashers’ Orator of the Year 2010

There are always some tell-tale signs at HABS that the summer holidays are around the corner: the younger years come together for ‘Sports Day’, the school becomes slightly emptier as the elder years leave for exams and work experience, and on one, sunny day, speakers from across the school are found gesticulating wildly and exclaiming their points of view into a microphone, in the middle of the Quad, in the grand final of the competition to decide who will be ‘Haberdashers’ Orator of the Year’.

This year, competition was fierce and it was tough enough for Mrs. Pollock, aided by Mr. McKane and Ameya Tripathi, to choose finalists, let alone a winner, from the initial heats. In the end, six made the cut to speak on a glorious day on the 6th of July, on the topic ‘Failure is not fatal’. We were lucky enough, thanks to the fine weather, to hold the final on the Quad, which attracted a large audience, not only viewing from the seats, but the balconies of the Aske as well!

Various ideas were put across by our finalists, including Tim Duschenes’ well-observed and well-explained view that failure gives us limits, such that after a car crash, we learn to be more careful when on the road and Adam Kayani’s idea that failure allows us to evolve, as we should, so that we learn from our mistakes and continue to develop new technology and ideas, taking the example of a failed heart transplant not meaning that we should never try it again.

Our finalists took different takes on the topic, with Tom Ough speaking from a learned and complex philosophical point of view, taking examples and ideas from various philosophical figures, with a comic undertone, and Yashil Gudka, speaking articulately from a more personal point of view, with a personal anecdote, as well as various other examples to provide a balanced judgement.

Guy Lewy’s speech detailed two ideas supporting this view, about general everyday failures and how they can be very common, but then also, very comically, he picked on the slang term ‘a fail’ and spoke of more amusing failures. In the end, he was chosen as the winner for his well-established casual tone and oratory skill that meant he connected with his audience, speaking passionately and excitedly.

Adam Kayani came a close second and was compared to Martin Luther King Jr. for his very motivational speech and the emotive and assertive tone with which he spoke. All of the finalists were also commended for competing in what was a very close final.

Akshay Kishan Karia, last year’s winner, handed over, with congratulations, the shield to the 16th winner of the competition, Guy Lewy.