-
Bobby Seagull, Master Actuary and Master Pipe Maker -
-
Making up the numbers .... -
Six Lady Masters and Bobby -
Copyright: Londoni blog -
Copyright: Londoni blog
Old Holborn and a Mathematical Supper with the Actuaries
16th September 2026Staple Inn Hall, High Holborn
The Actuaries are a wonderful Company: friendly and great fun – despite their insistence that they are only there to make up the numbers. This evening I was the guest of Master Derek Newton at another memorable Actuaries’ evening: a lecture on how to improve the teaching of mathematics by the famous Bobby Seagull MBE of University Challenge fame, followed by supper in the historic Staple Inn Hall, home to the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries since 1887.
Bobby was hugely entertaining, bringing back memories of the way we were taught maths at school and suggesting how it might be improved for today's pupils. His CV is breathtaking: a former investment banker with Lehman Brothers and Nomura; a sixth-form scholarship pupil at Eton from his state secondary in East Ham; an Oxford University drop-out; a Royal Holloway graduate who went on to take his PGCE at Cambridge where he is now studying for his doctorate; a chartered accountant, charity ambassador, television personality, promoter of public libraries and, most importantly, a maths teacher in a state school. At least I managed to get his question about percentages right!
But back to Staple Inn. Many members of our Company will remember those distinctive black-and-white, half-timbered Tudor buildings appearing on Gallaher's Old Holborn tobacco tins and pouches years ago. A good number of my own classmates at my state primary school in the 1960s would bring their dinner money to school in their dad's (presumably not their mum's, but who knows) Old Holborn tin - empty of tobacco, of course!
Richard Lloyd & Sons began blending tobaccos in Holborn in the 1780s. Following acquisition in the early twentieth century by Cope Brothers & Co, the Old Holborn rolling tobacco brand was introduced to the UK market in the 1930s. The familiar Staple Inn design was trademarked by Gallaher in the 1950s, following its acquisition of Cope's.
I remember attending many meetings at the Bell Pottinger offices in High Holborn some 25 years ago and admiring Shervington's, the beautiful tobacconist's shop which then occupied the right-hand building close to the entrance to Chancery Lane tube.
Shervington’s was formerly John Brumfitt, when it was owned by the late Past Master John Adler. The business was sold to Past Master Roger Merton and his family in the 1970s, and the name was changed to Shervington’s in 1983. We have been fortunate to have Mr Phillip Shervington, who managed the shop, as a Liveryman of our Company for many years.
Staple Inn is a reminder of the medieval wool trade that once played such an important part in England's economy and the site is a remarkable survivor from London's ancient past. The famous black-and-white timber frontage dates from the Tudor period and luckily escaped the Great Fire. Afterwards, the buildings were covered with plaster and brickwork, only to be revealed again in the nineteenth century, when renovations exposed much of the original timber framing and restored the remarkable appearance we see today.
And, of course, the Hall is within the City of London boundaries – which means it is available for Court meetings, Sandra!