The story of Daniel Bacon #BMATBuddy #CaseStudy #Leidenuni

Case study: Daniel Bacon.

Who are you?

Daniel Bacon, 27 (born 4^th May 1988), school in Great Dunmow, England (Helena Romanes’ School), grew up with mother in Great Dunmow, now Coggeshall, father lives in Cheshire with my half-brother and half-sister, Phoenix and Maya.

Grew up with a King Charles Spaniel called Woody, who reached nearly 17 years old.

How did you end up here in Leiden? What are you studying here? What is your dream? Where do you wish to go from here onwards?

Wanted to study the Middle East – a very important region in world politics and also in British history. One of my childhood heroes was that great adventurer and intelligence officer, TE Lawrence.

My wishes for the future include working in some way for the community. I would be interested in working in politics or the civil service, and I hope to be living in London for the next few years.

Who is your inspiration?

My mother is a very inspirational lady. Firm and committed in her beliefs and values, and compassionate with it. She works in a school teaching young boys and girls to read and write – those who have slipped through the net at primary school and are now at 12, 13, 14, and still struggling with literacy. She does a very good job. She is a true inspiration and a truly principled lady – if you are looking for an example of inspiration and principles then she is it.

Which university did you go to? What did you study and why?

Royal Holloway, University of London – BA (Hons) Classics and English Literature

The history, politics, literature, philosophy – the entire culture in fact – of the classical world was very important to the development of English literature and British culture in the 19^th Century, but the Classics are often undervalued in schools. Goethe wrote that “he who cannot draw on three thousand years is living hand to mouth”. It was important to me to be able to draw on not only my own cultural tradition, but also on the ancient world that has had such an influence on what we see and read around us.

While at university I was lucky enough to be heavily involved with the yacht club, going on many trips around the Solent, to the Channel Islands, and on one occasion, to Greece. We planned this as a tribute to Homer’s Odyssey, and as a rebirth of the old British tradition of a Grand Tour of the ancient world. At one point in the trip, we re-enacted the scene from the Odyssey where Odysseus was tied to the mast so he could listen to the beautiful Sirens singing on the perilous clifftops, trying to lure sailors to their doom. I played Odysseus – and some questionable photographs ensued.

You have lived in Egypt. How did you end up there? What did you do there? Can you share us some stories from there?

Yes, I moved to Egypt straight after university. I wanted to get some international experience as I hadn’t been on a gap year. But I didn’t want to “bum”, as the Americans would say – I wanted to be able to find a productive position in which I could work. I found a job at the re-envisaged and iconic “Alexandria Library” – a nice link to my classical education. I worked as a researcher – first on statistical data collection and demographic analysis, and then on political and historical articles.

3 months after I arrived in Egypt the Arab Spring began. It started in Tunisia of course, but it quickly spread to Egypt. I kept a daily journal while I was living in Egypt, and I am glad that I can now look back and recall the events from my first-hand records. There was violence, there were tanks outside my apartment, police being murdered, protestors being kidnapped, and on at least one occasion my pink shirt, linen trousers and straw hat for some reason caught the attention of the secret police…

Then you went back to England. 10 months you were struggling to find a job. Tell us about your take home messages during this time.

Yes, it wasn’t an easy time – my mother was a great support, as was the local community, and in fact it was through the local community, with which I have always been heavily involved in, that I eventually found a job in local government policy. The Neighbourhood Plan was a great experience, I had an enormous amount of autonomy and responsibility, in determining the direction of and then putting together a legal policy document called a Neighbourhood Plan. As my expertise grew in the field, so did my reputation, and I was honoured to be asked by other local councils to visit them to offer advice from my own experience. The most enjoyable thing about working in local government was the massive engagement with the local community that came with that. I was quite often dealing with locally controversial topics in my work, and so the process was hardly an easy one, but it was incredibly important to me personally and professionally to properly and thoroughly get local people involved in my work. Even when they were uncomfortable with the work that the council needed to do, they were always very supportive and appreciative of the effort we made to talk to them. That was the most satisfying part of my work.

Before working in that job, yes, you’re right, I had a difficult number of months trying to find work. I resisted getting unemployment support for most of the time, which – had I known how long the period would last – turned out to be foolish. However, I had (at the beginning) some savings from working in Egypt which I used to support myself. I took part time work at a local Chinese restaurant, and they were lovely people to work for. I also joined the Reserves, which is paid, and which gave me an additional network of support at a time when I needed it. I really valued my time in the Reserves, training one or two weekends a month on average, and also going on training exercises to Wales and even to Norway for a fortnight. It is something I would like to do again, but probably not for another couple of years.

You loved A-level physics. Even when you moved to university you couldn’t let go of this. How did Physics came back into your life? You were testing waters to overcome feelings of regret. What did you learn from this process?

That’s right, it was a passion I had when I was at school which for some reason I couldn’t let go of. Science in general, but for me physics in particular, speaks to the soul of the universe, and endeavour in this field is the greatest that mankind can embark on. Yes, I love politics as well, history and literature, and yes a more equitable society – freer, fairer, and with better prospects for everyone around the world – is something for us to strive towards, but for me the most important thing is the prospects for humanity tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. I don’t say that today and tomorrow are unrelated, of course they’re not unrelated, but my motivation for creating a better world today is – largely – to better ensure the survival of the human race tomorrow. Science, and physics, are integral to that story. There is no greater adventure – and no greater story – than the one that has brought our species from living in caves and crafting basic tools, to understanding the wonders of the tiniest subatomic particles, wave-particle duality, relativity, the lifecycle of stars… the list is endless. This adventure is the greatest known to Man – it is vastly important, it is inspiring, and it is humbling.

I was lucky enough to be able to take a university course at Birkeck in London in physics, to quench my appetite in this field. After completing that – I’m pleased to say with flying colours – I flirted with the idea of taking my studies in physics further, and I was very fortunate to be given a place on an integrated Master’s course at Warwick University. This was a major decision for me – both in terms of the time and the financial commitments it would have cost. I studied for a term at Warwick, but with a number of years ahead of me I decided to bow out as gracefully as I could. I was pleased for the time I spent there, and in another life perhaps I would train as a physicist, but not in this life. It is a passion I continue to have, but I no longer feel the regret that I once felt in not having studied it. It is something that now I have tried, and which I am now very happy to support in my own way, but not as a physicist. Perhaps one day I will be in a position to help that great adventure somehow, in my own little way.