This article discusses the importance of history and truth. It notes that history is the pursuit of truth, which is comforting as it provides clarity and answers. However, it also references a quote by Leo Tolstoy that says "History would be a wonderful thing - if it were only true." The article provides context that Tolstoy lived in 19th century Russia, which had an oppressive social hierarchy. However, it notes that this oppression did not involve rewriting history on a daily basis like in the novel 1984.

1. Welcome to the summer edi on of the
DGS e‐magazine

2. To
DGS
Hi and welcome to our Summer issue of DGS e‐magazine.
There has been loads going on in and around the school term and we hope you
enjoy reading about some of them here!
In this edi on we have a delicious new recipe for you to try as well some great
books we recommend for the summer holidays. Take a look at our latest book
review on Nineteen Eighty‐Four and read our first ever game review.
We find out what is really lurking on our desks and keyboards as the school
magazine swab team inves gates! Look out for our compe on this summer
as well.
We are always looking for new writers, photographers and people interested in
layout and design. If you are interested in ge ng involved speak to Miss
Hamilton in the English Department or come along to G19 on a Thursday
lunch me.
Well done to the school magazine team for all their hard work, and thank you
to Miss Hamilton for her brilliant help and support.
From everybody on the team, we hope you have a fun and relaxing holiday.
See you next term!
DGS e‐magazine Team
DGS e-magazine,
May 2013

3. HOUSE
COMPETITION
Reading in Strange Places
This summer you could earn some house points by taking a photo of your‐
self reading in a strange (but safe!) loca on. Think of somewhere unusual
to read, grab your book and take a photo. At the start of the new term,
submit your photo and if your photo is the most unusual then you will win
50 house points!
What? Take a photo of yourself reading in a strange or unusual loca on.
When? Over the summer holidays. The deadline for submi ng your photo
is Friday 30th August.
How do I submit my photo?
1) Hand a copy to the school office
2) Email it to Miss Hamilton in the English Department
(shamilton1@edubuzz.org)
3) Tweet it to @dunbargrammar
4) Tweet it to @dgsmag
Why? House points are up for grabs! 50 points to the winner and 20 points
to the 3 runners‐up.

4. Swab that Teacher!
The school magazine team conducted a covert experiment in which we
discovered exactly how clean our teachers were.
Can you guess which teacher’s germs came from which room?
1.
2.
3.
We went about this experiment to learn more about how bacteria affects our daily
lives and to what extent. The results, as you can see, were rather shocking.
We conducted this experiment to see the copious amounts of bacteria and bugs in our
daily lives. A simple tap or keyboard that looks clean can actually be an armada of
germs. Did you know your hands are the biggest spreader of germs a household envi‐
ronment and that a er flushing the bog, germs can travel up to six feet poten ally land‐
ing on your toothbrush? Did you also know your bath and shower contain more bacte‐
ria than your bin which incidentally can live up to a month? The average office desk is
home to around 20,000 germs, that’s 400 mes more than what lies on a toilet. So
please, be more aware of hygiene and bacteria in your daily lives and don’t forget to
WASH YOUR HANDS. Especially the teachers who were swabbed by our crack team!
By Joshua Locke and Cherie Walker
1. Mrs Muir 2. Miss Archer 3. Mr Burns!

5. Helicopter Rescue
Leigh Morris from 2C5 was injured during Ac vi es Week and tells
us all about her drama c rescue in an air ambulance.
The school magazine team interviewed Leigh to ask her ques ons
about how she felt being taken to hospital by a helicopter, how it
feels to feature in local newspapers and also we wanted to check in
on how she’s doing a er the ordeal.
Leigh told us she was in school during Ac vi es Week with her year
on Thursday 30th May 2013. The school set up a pump track and
Leigh accidentally slipped and hurt her ankle. Here are some of the
words that Leigh had to say...
It sounds like your fall hurt quite a bit. How did your ankle feel when you fell?
It was really sore!!! It was just sort of throbbing constantly.
How exactly did it happen ?
Well I was on the pump track and I was going round and suddenly I just sort of slipped. I
landed on my ankle in a really awkward way which is why I think I hurt it the way I did.
Was it a shock to you when you fell off?
Definitely. It was quite sudden and I did not feel that I was going to fall at all. I got a fright!
You were on crutches for a while. How was that? Do you have to wear an ankle support
band now on your ankle.
The crutches were really annoying. I do wear a support band but only when I’m exercising.
It’s actually ok now.
Everyone wants to know what happened and you’ve even been in The Courier. How do
you feel about that?
It was really exci ng being in the newspaper.
Was it really exci ng being in a helicopter?
Yes. It was my first me in a helicopter and I was quite scared, especially because my an‐
kle hurt so much but it was also really fun!
By Chelsea Hines

6.
Who are the SSCA?
The helicopter which rescued Leigh is funded by the SCAA. We set
out to learn a li le more about the charity and how we can help
them to raise money.
By Tya Willens
SCAA is Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance. It
was created in 2012 in order to provide
resources to help save people’s lives. The
charity provides a Bolkow 105 Helicopter
with a pilot and paramedic crew for free and
supports people from far away communi es
to help them get to hospital quicker.
The helicopter landed in the middle of
the playing fields!
The charity aims to help people who are
injured or unwell get be er. They hold
regular fundraising events and these
fundraisers are held worldwide and money
can be raised by individuals dona ng to the
charity.
The charity aims to help people who are
injured or unwell get be er. They hold regular
fundraising events and these fundraisers are
held worldwide and money can be raised by
individuals dona ng to the charity.
The SCAA work is crucial as it involves
providing people that are in need with
immediate assistance as they did with our very
own S2 pupil, Leigh Morris, when she required
help because of an injury she sustained during
Ac vi es Week.
For more informa on on how to help SCAA
raise money, visit their website at:
h p://www.scaa.org.uk/

7. This Summer, we review...
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The ignorant would say George Orwell’s 1984 is nothing but totalitarian paranoia. Unfortunately
we can actually see sugges ons of the society depicted in 1984 in various dictatorships around
the globe. Most notably North Korea where it is heinous to think the supreme leader is not so
great. Whatever your opinion of 1984 it is undeniably a very important novel and inspired a
great many people.
The year is 1984 and Winston Smith is one of the few sane people alive. The society he lives in is
false. Facts become fic on. People are erased from existence. And if the party Ingsoc, which
controls everything and everyone, says two plus two makes five then two plus two makes five.
Big Brother is the omnipotent leader of the party, he can do no wrong, he can never die and he is
watching you. Winston Smith thinks himself the only person who can see through the party’s lies
un l he meets Julia. He then commits the ul mate atrocity and falls in love.
Orwell wrote 1984 in 1949 when nuclear weapons were the most feared about issue and Joseph
Stalin was leader of the Soviet Union. A lot of the elements in 1984 are clearly inspired from the
me in which it was wri en. Big Brother is almost a mirror image of Stalin right down to his
physical descrip on. A person becoming an “unperson” is also something not so distant from
what happened to certain individuals within Stalin’s Russia. 1984 has even become rather
relevant in 21st century Britain. Today, everyone is on camera every day. Granted we are not
monitored by everything we say and not scru nized by every emo on we may convey, but it is
s ll an eerie thought.
1984 is superbly wri en and fashions some truly disturbing imagery and ideas. The two main
characters in Winston and Julia are tragic as they wage a war on rules and oppression. Big
Brother is never physically confronted in the book, nor can the reader or our heroes truly know
he exists. But a dark presence is definitely felt. And that dark presence makes him one of the
most horrifying antagonists in fic on.
While not par cularly chirpy, 1984 is an essen al read and George Orwell is an essen al author.
“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
By Joshua Locke

8.
History is Wonderful!
History is the pursuit of truth. Truth has an accepted importance in most socie es and I feel no need to explain this
importance to the intelligence of the School Magazine readership. Equally, the importance of truth would be too
great a topic to submerge in a paragraph in praise of history. Nonetheless, I must a empt to give a brief summary
of this value, in fear that whole column should lose all grounding and become meaningless. Truth is comfor ng in
that it removes confusion from life, but also in its simplicity as it provides answers to all answerable ques‐
ons. Thus, it is clear that history is vital.
However, Leo Tolstoy states: “History would be a wonderful thing – if it were only true.” Tolstoy lived most of his
life in 19th century Russia, a place most standard grade historians will understand as somewhat oppressive, keeping
peasants beneath land owners in every way possible. The social hierarchy was very structured, allowing li le or no
movement between the social classes, but this did not affect the recording of history. Granted, freedom of infor‐
ma on in 1850 Russia was limited – as with most countries at this me – but the oppression did not include a 1984‐
style daily rewrite of history to suit the current interests of the country. So what could Tolstoy mean by claiming a
lack of truth in history?
The word ‘pursuit’ holds the answer. As I have already said, history is the pursuit of truth and this makes most peo‐
ple think of how historians have the job of finding out, for certain, what happened in the period of study. This is an
accurate descrip on of their task, but the nature of history makes it impossible: we will never again definitely know
the exact words spoken around a table in a mee ng 300 years ago, unless it was recorded very carefully and accu‐
rately. S ll, we cannot tell whether a person recording the mee ng twisted the words of the speakers – even sub‐
consciously – to support their point of view.
Because of this, historians’ jobs are made par cularly difficult. Each source must be ques oned individually, and
treated with scep cism to weed out the bias and to reduce the exaggera on. I know, this sounds awfully like a his‐
tory teacher preparing you for a ‘How useful…?’ ques on, but the historian’s job is one that deserves more credit.
To find the truth despite the many hindrances obscuring the path is one of the most honourable feats achievable by
people. But ‘honourable’ is not always synonymous with ‘prac cal’. In 2013, it seems that science is so much more
useful to us than the reasons, for instance, that Britain became more democra c in the 19th century. What use can
history have in today’s world? George Santayana once said: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned
to repeat it.” To truly appreciate this statement, it is easier to think of the human race as one person’s life. During
the short days a person has on the Earth, they make thousands upon thousands of mistakes, and each one will add
to a be er understanding of how to deal with the situa on next me.
Likewise, if we imagine human history as the development of life from infancy to adulthood, we realise that a mis‐
take made in the 16th century can build on our knowledge of life to this day. Yes, we’ve had two world wars but the
study of both of these should allow us to no ce vital signs which could warn us of any future movements towards
war. If we regard our past as our childhood years, and our present as our adulthood, we can use the knowledge
gained from all these mistakes know how to make the right choices every day.
So, our history is history. It’s over now and we could forget about it but I ask of everyone who reads this: Think of
our future. Please don’t disregard the events of the past but treasure what went well and learn from the mistakes
made. Search to find the truth so that everyone can be illuminated as to the ways of the world. Trust me, dear
readers, history is wonderful.
By Delilah Fawcett

9. Berry Ripple
Pavlova
Ingredients:
2 punnets of berries (your choice)
250g caster sugar
4 egg whites
Step 1: Make the sauce first by placing 1 punnet of berries in the pan
with 50g of the sugar and a splash of water. Cook un l so and sieve un l
smooth.
Step 2: Whisk the egg whites to form so
peaks. Add the remaining
sugar in four stages, whisking well in between un l thick and glossy.
By Rowanne Miller and Anna Stevenson

10. Berry Ripple Pavlova
Step 3: Add 2‐3 tablespoons of berry
sauce and lightly ripple through the meringue
with a table knife.
Step 4: Dollop onto a baking tray lined
with greaseproof paper and spread around
piling up the meringue at the sides.
Step 5: Bake at 110°C for 1 hour. Leave to
cool in the oven with the door shut.
Step 6: Assembly
Peel the pavlova off of the baking
sheet and place on a plate. Heat
the sauce and add the remaining
punnet of berries. Pile on top of
the meringue and serve. Feel free
to add some cream too!
By Rowanne Miller and Anna Stevenson

11. Oldhamstocks
Flower Show
Saturday the 17th August
Oldhamstocks flower show is an open show that anybody can go
along to. There is an open compe on where you can enter, food,
cra s and floral art. The schedule gives details of everything you
can get involved in. Why not have a look and see what you could
create!
All entries will be judged on the morning or the night before the
show. Lots of cups can be won as well as money prizes for 1st, 2nd
and 3rd place. At the show during the a ernoon, there is a tradi on‐
al fell race (road running race), a dog show, fun children's races, lots
of stalls and much more. At night there is even a dance that anyone
can go along too!
The Oldhamstocks is a brilliant show and is definitely worth going
along to this summer. To find out more and read the show’s sched‐
ule, go to h ps://sites.google.com/site/oldhamstocks/flower‐
show.
By Katie Laughlin

12. brand new!
ORIGAMI
Welcome to our first edi on of
Origami Corner. Here, you will be
transformed into the world of
the magical and some mes mind‐
boggling art of folding paper!
Here is how to make a grasshopper:
Step 1:
Star ng with square paper, placed white side up, fold
along the diagonal. Then unfold to create a crease.
Step 2:
Fold in the p at one end.
Step 3:
Fold in half along the diagonal you created in Step 1.

13. brand new!
ORIGAMI
Step 4:
Fold back the top flap as shown.
Do this on both sides.
Step 5:
Finally, fold the upper edges of the
triangular flaps so that the edge of
the flaps meet the folded edge on
both sides.
Step 6:
You should now have a completed
grasshopper. To make it jump, tap the
tail (pointed) end and watch it jump!
Coming up in the next edi
on:
Stylish boxes ‐ great for storage
and for wrapping gi s in!

14. ECFM
School Bell
Radio Show
By Annabel Macaulay
East Coast FM is a local radio sta on that has just been granted an FM licence.
On the sta on every weekday from 6‐8pm there is a live show called the
“School Bell” show. The show is for high school pupils in East Lothian to present
their own radio show. Dunbar Grammar School’s show is on every Monday at
the usual me and it is really fun. We currently have 6 presenters who are very
interested in radio!
East Coast FM provides great experience for anyone who is interested in radio.
The sta on also hold training days so you can learn how to use the controls and
equipment correctly. In the studio there is a chair called the “ Hot Seat”. This is
where you sit if you are controlling the equipment and playing the music. The
person in the Hot Seat is generally in charge and tells everyone what to do and
reads out important informa on such as the weather, traffic and travel.
Every so o en we hold events such as the Spring Fair, fund raisers and just
recently we had a parade to celebrate the grant of our FM licence. Listen into
the show to find out details of coming up events.
If you would ever like to contact us or to find out more informa on go to
www.ecfm.co.uk.
Not only are we on radio but the web too! We have a “listen live” bu on on the
website so you can listen anywhere!
If you are interested in joining see Mrs Miller in the Drama department. We at
the school bell show highly recommend it as it is great experience and loads of
fun!
Don’t forget to tune into 107.6fm

15. Sonic Colours
DGS e‐magazine’s first ever game review!
In 2010 the Sonic series had built up a series of unfinished and well, let’s face it, bad
games with Sonic Unlashed being the first one in since Sonic Adventure 2 to almost
get it right with the wearhog gimmick almost spoiling the game. When Sonic Colours
came out it was what Sonic fans had been look for. All Sonic. The plot is that main
rival Dr Eggman is trying to take over the world by harnessing the power of li le al‐
iens called wisps. He hid his plan by building an outer space theme park.
The game’s graphics are amazing and since it has been set in an outer space theme
park the creators at Sonic team have went wild. Whether you be on a mountain
made of sweets or the spectacular planet where the wisps live, everything feels
right. The game play is near perfect. You play in a 3d environment but will o en
change in to a 2d side stroller yet keep the 3d feel. It feels great. Then you have the
first sonic gimmick since sonic heroes that works well. You harness the power of the
wisps to help you get through the level. With this some are great like the rocket wisp
which fires you into the air or the dog wisp called Betsy which just destroys every‐
thing but there is a bad wisp: the cube wisp, which just destroys cubes. Some levels
revolve around this wisp and they’re not fun.
Apart from the cube wisp I only have two problems with this game. One is that the
end of stage bosses do repeat a lot. You get the same boss about three mes with
the difficulty just tuned up a bit. And the other is that two of Sonics biggest moves
are taken out of the game. The spin dash and the ability to fly across a trail of rings.
But a lot of the me you don’t miss these so that is not so big a blow.
All in all sonic colours is a great game that can be considered to be as good or be er
than the sonic adventure games.
I would give this game an 8.5/10 with the tle of “Epic”.
By Chris O’Brien
Image taken from h p://www.amazon.co.uk/Sega‐Sonic‐Colours‐Nintendo‐Wii/dp/B003OBY3LY

16.
My Year in Leipzig
Our wonderful Journalist Delilah Fawce is off to Germany to study for a
year. We will miss her so much. However, do not fear lovely readers…
she’s agreed to keep us updated all the way from Leipzig and will become
Dunbar Grammar School’s very first ‘foreign correspondent’!
Leipzig
Maybe you know me well or maybe you’ve picked up from some of the ar cles I’ve wri en
for the school magazine: I’m obsessed with languages. They’re amazing and incredible and
learning them opens up a new world as well as a new part of your brain. Above all, I am
fascinated by the German language – its grammar, its vocabulary, the way it strings 30
words together and then claims that’s a new word – so I’m heading off there. This August,
I’m going to get on a plane to Berlin and then a train south to Leipzig. And I can’t wait.
I’ve finished fi h year and am ge ng just a li le bit jumpy staying at home for years when
the whole world is out there wai ng, so I have found 3 families who are willing to take me
into their homes over the course of the year. I will also go to school in Leipzig – Friedrich
Schiller Gymnasium – where I’ll study 11 subjects. This will be very challenging but I am
eager to be completely immersed in the German language to become as fluent as possible.
I will return to beau ful Scotland in mid‐July 2014 and hopefully go on to university to study
German and linguis cs. But I’m too a ached to the wonderful school magazine team to just
leave without looking back. I have wri en so much and so o en for it that life without it
seems a distant memory to me. So I’ve decided to send back updates of what I’m doing and
how I’m ge ng along in Leipzig. German school is very different from Sco sh school so I
want to tell you all about it. Next me from Germany…
By Delilah Fawcett

17. Recommended Summer Reads
By Annabel Macaulay
Stuck for book ideas this summer?
Look no further; the school magazine is here to help. These, are 10 fizzingly
good reads to ease away the lazy summer a ernoons (or to pass the rainy days
when it’s so wet outside you can’t see through the windows, let alone go out.)
1. The Life of Pi - Yann Martel
You’ve seen the (frankly brilliant) Hollywood block‐
buster, now delve even deeper into the remarkable
story of a shipwreck, a skinny vegetarian boy and an
adult Bengal ger. The remarkable plot, stunning
imagery and thought provoking nature of this book
will leave you ques oning everything from what is
right to what it is to have a soul.
2. Roald Dahl’s Ghost Stories
Believe it or not, before the era of the bed me story, Roald
Dahl wrote some the most shocking, nightmarish and lurid
tales ever put on paper. From voices in the night to phantom
lamps he (quite literally) wrote the book on creepy. Enjoy with
cau on, these stories are not for children.
3. New Moan and Breaking Yawn - Stephfordy Mayo
Join Heffa Lump and the world’s pre est vampire Teddy Kelledy on
their whirlwind love affair, in these hilarious parodies. New Moan
and Breaking Yawn. The two brilliant novels take everything we
hate about Twilight, compile it neatly into two wi y and hysterical
books.

18. Recommended Summer Reads
4. Wonders of the Universe - Professor Brian Cox
Professor Brian has once again presented us with a rich, compelling view of modern
physics. He introduces scien fic concepts in a simple, easy to understand manner with‐
out presuming previous mathema cal knowledge or trea ng his audience like unedu‐
cated chimps. He presents the cosmos in a roman c, compelling way that feels less like
homework and more like being told a story. “We have been able to capture the light
from the beginning of me and we have glimpsed within it the seeds of our own origin.”
Beau ful.
5. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
- Ransom Riggs
Odd. That is the only word I can use to describe this book. It is an
unusual combina on of slightly unnerving vintage photography
and fic on. It begins with a horrific family tragedy and from that
point onwards I can promise you it’s not what you expect. This is a
haun ng yet intriguing novel that will excite all readers. Although I
myself am an e‐reader, to enjoy and appreciate this book, par cu‐
larly the photography, you really need to get hold of hard copy.
6. Diary of a Nobody - Grossmith
This is a hilarious late Victorian novel (which are not four words
that o en come together). It is a snapshot of Victorian life in
the eyes of a Mr Pooter, who undergoes varying degrees of
misfortune throughout the book., from disagreeable trades‐
men to imper nent young office clerks. This is a completely
brilliant novel for anyone who wants a laugh but doesn’t want
a to carry around a tombstone of a book in their bag.

19. Recommended Summer Reads
7. Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
If you want a big project this summer then this is the one for you. Three volumes, five
books, compiled to create one epic tale. The hobbit‐tas c books are for all lovers of fan‐
tasy.
8. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Enthralling, touching and infinitely powerful are all words I would
use to describe The Book Thief. Narrated by death, it is the story of
Leisel Meminger, a Jewish fis ighter and an awful lot of thievery.
This is a masterpiece of a book and should be obligatory for all.
9. The Tales of the Brothers Grimm
Believe me when I say these are not fairy tales. These are the stories we all
know (for example Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel) before
Walt Disney got his hands on them. They are the original folk tales from Ger‐
many and Austria, that were first wri en down and adapted by the Brothers
Grimm, in all their gruesome, murderous and grotesque glory.
10. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
A set of seven books which have gained popularity fairly recently, with the release of the T.V.
series. These books make great summer reading, they’re addic ve and easy to follow, with‐
out being complete drivel. They will appeal to both fantasy and drama lovers.
You now have no excuse to be bored over the summer, so come back
in August and impress your English teacher. Have a great summer and
happy reading!

20. A
umme
S r Po e m
By Tya Willens
Summer on the beach,
Bathing in the heat.
It’s a sweet retreat.
Riding on dreams
Of surfer teams,
bathing in sunbeams.
Tucked away by a small stream,
A fish’s dream,
Looking up at the gleam.
If you have any pieces of crea ve wri ng that you would like to see featured in the
school magazine, pass them to Miss Hamilton in the English Department.

21. Sports
There has been loads of brilliant sport
happening in and around the school
this term. Well done to everyone who
par cipated and helped organise the
various events.
A HUGE well done to our Under 15s
football team who have performed so
well this season! You’re an asset to the
school and we’re all so proud of you.
Photographs taken by Robert Gornall (except U15s Football Team Photo)

22. County Sports
Congratula ons to the team from Dunbar Grammar School who won the East
Lothian County Sports compe on this year!

23. County Sports

24. OUR TEAM...
Joshua Locke
Tya Willens
Freya Willens
Delilah Fawce
Annabel Macaulay
Jon Petrusev
Chelsea Hines
Rowanne Miller
NEXT
ISSUE
Anna Stevenson
Ka e Laughlin
Cherie Walker
Christopher O’Brien
Hannah Moodie
Adam Hodgson
Maya Coates
Robert Gornall
Look out for:
Our Autumn edi on
next term, with the
latest DGS news, reci‐
pes, reviews, an exclu‐
sive interview with our
new Head Boy and Girl
and much more!