Paul Jones is from Cardiff and attended Ysgol Melin Gruffydd and Ysgol Glantaf. He read Physics at Queen’s as an undergraduate from 1992-1995, being awarded a Styring Exhibition in 1993. He then worked as a teacher, before grasping the nettle of a full-time singing career by accepting a place as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. He completed his training by attending the National Opera Studio in London, supported by Welsh National Opera, and is now a freelance professional operatic baritone.

He has recently worked with the American director Francesca Zambello on a film version of Rachel Portman’s opera ‘The Little Prince’ for the BBC, and on Jonathan Clark’s ‘Hidden States’, a one-man opera inspired by Markov models and bioinformatics, with a plot based on the structure of DNA. He appears regularly on the concert platform with another Queen’s Old Member, the award-winning concert pianist and accompanist Llyr Williams. Paul’s official website can be found at www.paulcareyjones.com.

What’s your most cherished memory from your time at Queen’s?
Junk Food day in the dining hall. A chicken tikka slice, barbecue pork rib, veal cutlet, chips, beans and gravy, all on one plate, and all for very few perkies (only Old Members of a certain age will remember those) – a balanced student diet.

And your least?
Analogue Electronics practicals, Michaelmas 1992 – up the creek without a boat, let alone a paddle!

Do you still have strong connections with your College contemporaries?
I was very fortunate to be at Queen’s with a large number of good-natured and interesting students, whose company was to prove exciting, stimulating and hugely enjoyable. We still meet up at weddings, old boys’ games, on golf trips, and indeed for any other plausible excuse.

Did any of the Fellows, tutors or staff leave a lasting impression on you?
My two main tutors were Robert Taylor and Richard Nickerson. I remember how reassuring it was as an applicant to be addressed by Robert’s Llanelli tones, although (sadly) he stopped short of conducting the interview in Welsh. And I have fond memories of Richard’s tutorials, especially when they digressed into and beyond the more tangential areas of the Physics syllabus, and perhaps because to reach them I only had to traverse one flight of stairs from BQ6/6 to 6/3. Among the staff, a conversation about the relative merits of Cardiff City and Oxford United with Richard from the Buttery was a highlight of any day, as was the same regarding Queen’s Park Rangers with Charles in the Porters’ lodge. And Kay, my scout in the Florey Building, was a fresher’s dream – she even used to arrange my lecture notes, which I would have absent-mindedly left strewn across the corkboard floor, according to subject and date. Priceless.

Were you a conscientious undergraduate?
I worked pretty hard in my first year, but from early in the second year I became increasingly aware that the course of the rest of my life was going to diverge from Physics, and the honest answer is that my level of academic commitment probably tailed off from that time. Having said that, my enthusiasm was fired by a project in my final year, in which some of us volunteered to gain experience of teaching at local schools. We also received a course of seminars in scientific theory and thought – Kuhn, Popper et al – run by Dr Joan Solomon. For me this was a most thought-provoking area of scientific study, and one that is perhaps neglected by a lot of science students.

How did you occupy yourself outside library hours?
I did a lot of choral singing in my first year, and after that I devoted a lot of time to working at my solo singing – I gave a couple of recitals in the chapel and so on. I played football for the Animals and cricket for the 2nd XI, both with infinitely more enthusiasm than ability – I was and remain an outstanding sportsman only in the social aspects of any game. I also worked as a volunteer for Nightline, the student counselling service, which was highly demanding but very rewarding.

What did you do immediately after leaving Queen’s?
I went on a golfing holiday to Scotland! I was still a bit young to start full-time singing study, and really had no idea what I wanted to do in the meantime – I remember applying for a job as assistant manager of a hotel, of all things. Eventually, recalling my enjoyment of my teaching experience, I wangled my way onto the PGCE course at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. From there I went into a job teaching at my old comprehensive school, so I played poacher-turned-gamekeeper for a couple of years.

Have you found what you learnt at Queen’s useful in your line of work?
I’m sure it goes without saying that there’s not a huge amount of academic Physics involved in the work of an opera singer. But the confidence I gained at Queen’s from being in such a challenging yet caring environment, and the intellectual rigour and curiosity I observed in my tutors and fellow students, have been and continue to prove invaluable; as does the ability to recognize when someone is talking out of their hat, which happens occasionally at Oxford, and far more frequently in the operatic world…

What would you say to people coming up to Queen’s now?
These will be the best years of your life should you choose to appreciate them and make the most of them. The variety and quality of opportunities will never be available to you again in the same way, so never be afraid to seize every chance to explore them, and make every effort to ensure that you leave with no regrets.

What adjective best describes your Oxford experience?
Heterogeneously-memorable.