Grate Editors, Past and Present
Will Rowland (September 2012 - present)
By the time he assumed office in August Will Rowland had already written some of the most charming, delicate articles in Cheese Grater history, attended more late night put-togethers than either of the official assistant-eds, and dived into the new performance side of the society more enthusiastically than is becoming for a man of his years. "Julian ignores his friend and talks to a pretty girl" saw the debut performance of UCL Graters at the Edinburgh Fringe (after years of broken promises), and was largely shaped by Rowland, who directed its forerunner, the Cheese Grater Revue. Rowland will be overseeing a hotly anticipated return to Edinburgh and a magazine that you don’t have to hide in a drawer before the grandparents come round. His presidency will undoubtedly be strengthened through collaboration with Oscar Webb and Michael Prandab.
John Bell (September 2011 - August 2012)
John Bell’s dedication to The Cheese Grater resulted in a year of unprecedented development and improvement. His tenure began with a record print run of the first issue and a much needed magazine redesign. John was plunged into controversy, being forced to defend a censorship threat, a case that was able to be resolved with the magazine’s integrity intact. John also founded Graters, the performance side of the society, directing and co-writing Graters' month-long run in Edinburgh to five-star reviews, medium size audiences and one woman who asked, “Is it over yet?” Bell remains at UCL to complete a BSc in Economics.
Thom Rhoades (September 2010 - August 2011)
Thom Rhoades was intially worried when he took over that his lack of investigative experience would limit what stories The Cheese Grater could produce during his year in charge. Thankfully his tenure coincided with a big load of government cuts to higher education which presented ample headline opportunities. As if it couldn't get any better, then came a string of protests by UCL's very own Eastern Bloc that were begging for a good journalist to dish some dirt on them! In Thom's year as editor, Times Higher Education liked The Cheese Grater's work so much that it took our findings, made an article out of them, and then threw a pithy credit into the closing sentence. After initial plans to convert to Law at the end of his degree (encouraged by the magazine for want of an defence attorney willing to work pro bono), Thom has put such plans on hold and is currently touring with the band Citizens.
A.Z. McKenna (September 2009 - August 2010)
A.Z. McKenna's leadership of The Cheese Grater resulted in crippling staffing issues and legal threats which continue to this day. Thankfully, McKenna possessed both the knowing wit and proactive flat mate necessary to ensure the magazine continued its successful run. "Knowing wit" here refers to a chilling ability to disguise puerile toilet humour with references to Kingsley Amis. Being the first editor not to win a Union Arts Award will always be remembered as the one black mark on his time at the helm - he did however achieve the biggest print run of any previous editor for a single issue. Notable investigative scoops included leaks on the merger of the Modern Languages department and the infamous "UCL Pants Bomber" saga. Since graduating he has scratched backs and greased palms to get himself a job at The Georgian (one of the few publications with a smaller readership than this godforsaken rag) before retreating back into academia to pursue a Masters in History at Cambridge.
Jenni Hulse (September 2008 - August 2009)
Jenni felt the full force of UCL Union's wrath in her first term in charge of The Cheese Grater, when Sabbatical Officer Charlie Clinton censored her exposé of one of its former employees. Inspired by Tony Benn's 1987 Speaker's Corner reading of "Spycatcher" - which was banned by Mrs Thatcher - she decided to hijack a Union poetry night in order to declaim the banned piece. Certain reports said she even made it rhyme so as not to upset UCL's literati who had come to hear anxiety-ridden student poems about masturbation, lukewarm tea and bicycle rides in Regent's Park. Despite Clinton's continued spinelessness, the ever-gracious Hulse refused to stoop as low as one unnamed aspirant to the editorship wanted her to, rejecting the suggestion that the magazine should publish pictures of Clinton's recently deceased pet dog. Instead, she pressed on with investigations into the UCL Academy, the college's use and abuse of Post Graduate Teaching Assistants, and the limits of its ethical investment policy.
Hannah Hudson (January - August 2008)
Elected to the Grater's helm midway through the academic year, under Hannah's editorship The Cheese Grater investigated UCL's asbestos problem, the failings of Pi Magazine, and the money wasted by the Union's Sabbatical Officers. Hannah also produced a special report on the UCL Union AGM after the event garnered headlines in the national press, as well as a UCL Union investigative bonanza. Meanwhile on the humour front, herself and Assistant Editor Harry Stopes produced an eclectic array of articles including a futuristic Cheese Grater parody (cyborg jokes ad nauseam). After graduating, she headed for the world of real journalism and has since studied for a Journalism MA at City Univeristy. Since graduating, she has disappeared off to become editor-in-chief of an expat magazine in Northen China, as well as contributing to a range of publications, including News of the World, Time Out London, BBC Focus and Love It! She currently works at Tesco Magazine.
Mark Ravinet (September 2006 - December 2007)
Some men are born into greatness; Mark Ravinet had it thrust upon him as a perpetually embarrassed second year Geography student. Sadly for him, "greatness" in this context was the editorship of a tatty, badly photocopied magazine filled with investigative journalism read by two people and the kind of nasty satirical humour that etched disappointment across the face of his mother. It wasn’t all bad though: there was ample opportunity to topple the egos of self-important student politicians around the union, dig the dirt on some stunningly ill-conceived electoral fraud and expose a student newspaper franchise as little more than the wet-dream of a wannabe-Murdoch. His enduring legacy has been a string of embarrassing Google hits for those who really deserved it. He is now rapidly approaching the end of a PhD and attempting to improve his own employment prospects through search engine optimisation to remove any association with all that nasty humour.
René Lavanchy (September 2004 - August 2006)
René Lavanchy founded The Cheese Grater in February 2004 in his first year of studying Classics at UCL, roping in hallmates Nick Cowen and Richard Bridger as treasurer and assistant editor – Bridger would later go on to persuade Provost Malcolm Grant to shave his moustache off. Editing the magazine from its first issue in March 2004 to a special edition in July 2006, René set the tone of knowing humour mixed with no-holds-barred investigations. Initially friendly relations with Pi Magazine chilled after about the third time The Cheese Grater attacked its rival; he also burnt bridges with the Provost, the Dean of Students and various Sabbatical Officers. Under his editorship, the magazine won its first UCL Union Arts Award and a Guardian Student Media Award for Best Small Budget Publication. This earned the boozy editor the chance, though not the right, to plant a wet kiss on Lauren Laverne (pictured).