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Tim Hands
Dr Timothy Roderick Hands (born London, 30 March 1956) is an English teacher, writer and educator, who is Master of Magdalen College School, Oxford.

Education
Hands comes from a family of teachers. His father, Rory Hands, whose ideas and influence Hands often acknowledges, left teaching in the independent sector to become headteacher of one of the country’s largest and most innovative comprehensive schools. Hands was educated in the state sector. After failing to get a place to study English at Cambridge, he studied the violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before reading English at King’s College London, where he also gained a qualification in theology. He then became a graduate student at Oxford, where he was senior scholar at St Catherine’s and then Oriel College.

Career
Hands was a Lecturer in English at Oriel College before becoming a housemaster at King’s School Canterbury, and Second Master at Whitgift School. In 1997 he became Headmaster of The Portsmouth Grammar School before moving in January 2008 to Magdalen College School as its 61st Master. Hands’s arrival at the school coincided with a period of remarkable academic success at the school, which has been described by The Times as ‘Britain’s most academically successful school.’

Hands has often appeared as a spokesman for the independent sector on educational matters, especially partnership between the sectors, and university admissions. He was elected to the Committee of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference in 2003, becoming chairman of its University Committee one year later, and serving in that capacity for seven years. In 2012 he was elected as Chairman of the Conference for 2013-14.

Academic Publications
Hands has written several books on English literature, especially on the author Thomas Hardy. These include a Hardy Chronology, a biographical companion; Thomas Hardy: Distracted Preacher?, an account of the influence of Hardy’s religious biography on his writing; and the Hardy volume in Macmillan’s Writers in their Time series. He regularly contributes to other books about Hardy including the Oxford Reader’s Guide and the Ashgate Companion.

Hands has also written or spoken about educational matters in a wide variety of media. The general thrust of these articles is that the most important asset for any young person is love within the family; that pastoral care and extra-curricular activity are as important as academic excellence; and that the influence of what Hands refers to as “the long interfering arm and dead restraining hand of the state” should be kept to a minimum within schools and universities.

Involvement with the Arts
Hands has always had a keen interest in the arts, especially music. He was a treble soloist at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and St John’s Smith Square and co-leader of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra with Christopher Warren Green. From 1982 to 1985 he was Conductor of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford, building up a particular specialism in the performance of baroque music with artists such as Emma Kirkby, Max von Egmond and Gustav Leonhardt. In 2000 he set up the Portsmouth Festivities, and persuaded artists such as Alison Balsom, Robert Hardy, Tasmin Little, Sir Andew Motion, and Timothy West to appear, often in unusual historic venues, as well as commissioning music from composers such as Sally Beamish, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Cecilia McDowall and Tarik O’ Regan.

Family
Hands is married to Jane, a London solicitor, and they have two children.