Old Wykehamists

Edward Lucas (1976-80) spent nearly 30 years at The Economist, the world’s foremost newsweekly, and now writes for the Times. He spent most of his career covering eastern Europe. He has been a forthright critic of post-Soviet Russia, publishing an international best-seller, The New Cold War, in 2008. ‘I was the first western commentator to sound the alarm hard on Putin’s Russia,’ he says.

Lucas’s fascination with eastern Europe predated his arrival at Winchester College, but, as a new pupil, he found being able to roam Moberly Library to find books to fuel his passion a revelation: ‘it was like having an enormous box of chocolates.’

‘Winchester taught me to read deeply, to think, to write and to speak in public. It also taught me to be intellectually self-confident.’ 

The highlight of his time in the school? ‘The eclectic nature of Div’. ‘When I started as a journalist I had an immediate advantage. I had this incredible pot-pourri of stuff I knew because of Div. In one term our div don allowed us to spend the whole of the half researching and presenting a project – on anything we liked’. Lucas chose the Whites v Reds civil war in wartime Yugoslavia.

An academic scholar, music exhibitioner and recipient of a bursary, Thomas’s time at Winchester was one of achievement and triumph, including raising over £40,000 for charities during his time here. He also won the Martin Clarke Prize for Community Service, the Harvard Book Prize and both the French and German Essay Prizes.

After leaving Winchester, Thomas went to the University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship, taking a course that involved the initial study of a variety of subjects including French phonetics, music and social change, and classical antiquity.

‘I was mind-blowingly lucky to have had the music I had at Winchester; it was so much fun. It enabled me to travel to countries such as Germany, Latvia and even Russia.’

Entrepreneur and co-founder of Chuku’s Nigerian Tapas, named one of London’s top 5 restaurants

After graduating from Nottingham University and a brief stint in the City, a trip to Nigeria in 2014 inspired Emeka to establish Chuku’s Nigerian Tapas.

‘Winchester had a very large role to play in creating a fluid comfort zone for me. I can feel at home anywhere now.”

Alongside his sister, Emeka sought to introduce the authentic flavours of Nigerian cuisine to the UK market, build culinary bridges, redefine how the British public identifies with Nigeria, and introduce a country that is filled with strong cultural staples.

Nearly ten years on and Chuku’s is thriving, moving from a pop-up model to a bricks and mortar restaurant that opened just over five years ago. In 2024, Forbes named it as one of London’s 5 best restaurants.

‘Winchester taught me to ask myself ‘Who’s game to do it? It’s gonna me be!’

Founder of two sustainable energy businesses.

‘I have often made the observation that the Trusty Servant, as a symbol of the school, is service. It reinforces the message that we are here to serve others. And that is what sustainability is – it’s about service to others.’

After studying History at Cambridge before converting to Law and joining Slaughter & May as a lawyer in London, Tom was unable to ignore concerns about our natural environment and chose to focus his efforts on changing the way we consume energy.

He founded electric taxi service, Green Tomato Cars, and Green Tomato Energy, before joining OVO Energy as the Director of Electric Vehicles.