Gail Trimble

Gail Christina Trimble (born 13 August 1982[1]) is a fellow and tutor in Classics at Trinity College, Oxford.[2]

Gail Trimble
Born (1982-08-13) 13 August 1982
Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
NationalityEnglish
EducationClassics DPhil Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Alma materCorpus Christi College, Oxford
EmployerTrinity College, Oxford
Known forUniversity Challenge 2009 series, captain of winning team (later disqualified)
Spouse(s)Tom West
Children1
Parent(s)Mary and Michael Trimble
RelativesHugh Trimble (brother)

Early life and education

Trimble was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, to Mary and Michael Trimble. Her father worked as a manager for British Telecom[3] and her mother was a magistrate at Staines Magistrates Court.[4]

Growing up, Trimble attended the Ambleside Infant and Middle School[4] before enrolling at the girls-only Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton, London. While there, she gained 11 GCSE certificates followed by four A-levels at grade A: in Latin, Ancient Greek, English Literature and Maths,[4][5] plus one of the top five marks in the country with A-level General Studies.[6]

She was awarded a place at Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 2000. She won a declamation prize at Oxford for Latin recital in 2001 and was also reported to give recitals in her lunchtimes at college as a soprano singer, and lecture on Ovid, Hellenistic poetry and Catullus.[5][7] Her research had been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.[8] In 2010, she was awarded a D.Phil. in Latin literature at Corpus Christi, Oxford on the subject of Catullus.[9] The title of her D.Phil. was 'A commentary on Catullus 64, lines 1-201'. Her doctoral project was supervised by Professor Philip Hardie and Dr Stephen Heyworth.[10]

Career

In 2009, Trimble was elected as a junior research fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge[11][12] and held the position for a year before returning to Oxford as a senior faculty member.[2] She is Associate Professor in Classical Languages and Literature in the Faculty of Classics and Brown Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Trinity College, Oxford.[13]

Trimble was one of the contributors to the 4th edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary which was published in 2012.[14] She is working on a commentary on Catullus' longest poem with newly edited text, to appear in the Cambridge University Press series Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries.[13] Trimble is also editing a volume on metalepsis in classical texts, after a successful international conference in September 2015.[13] In January 2020, she appeared on In Our Time (radio series) when the programme was on Catullus.

Television

While a postgraduate student of Latin literature at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 2009, she gained media attention by her performance on the BBC television quiz programme University Challenge. Trimble captained the Corpus Christi team from the second round onwards, and scored a high proportion of the team's points. In the rounds before reaching the final, Trimble had provided two-thirds of her team's total points: 825 out of 1,235.[5] Corpus won with 275 points, beating Manchester's score of 190 points.[15] However, the team was disqualified after an investigation revealed that her teammate, Sam Kay, finished studying at Corpus Christi while the series was being recorded.[16] The winner's trophy was re-awarded to the runners-up, Manchester University.

Trimble appeared in Series 13 of the BBC Quiz show Only Connect in 2017, as the captain of the "Meeples" team, accompanied by husband Tom West, and brother Hugh.[17]

Personal life

Trimble is a practising Anglican, and sang in the choir at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Oxford.[18] In March 2009, Trimble became engaged to Tom West, a trainee solicitor, with whom she has a child.[18][19][20]

In 2017, she was a senior faculty member in classics at Trinity College, Oxford.[21]

References
  1. "Trimble, Gail, 1982–". Library of Congress Authorities. Library of Congress. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  2. "Dr Gail Trimble". Classics: People: Academic Staff. University of Oxford. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  3. Singh, Amar (24 February 2009). "University quiz genius could read at age of one". London Evening Standard. Evening Standard Limited. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  4. Eltis, Vicki (31 December 2009). "Walton's Gail in finals of University Challenge". Surrey Herald. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  5. Gallagher, Paul (22 February 2009). "Your starter for 10: is Gail Trimble the cleverest contestant ever?". The Observer. London. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  6. "Borough-wide delight at exam results". Richmond and Twickenham Times. 23 August 2000. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
  7. Baggott, Sophie (10 December 2013). "No flailing for Gail: Trimble plots her desert island library". The Oxford Student.
  8. "AHRC-funded scholar makes history as University Challenge's greatest contestant ever". Latest News. Arts and Humanities Research Council. 24 February 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  9. Ashworth, Pat (27 February 2009). "Gail Trimble quizzed ... out". Church Times. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
  10. Trimble, Gail (2010). A commentary on Catullus 64, lines 1-201 (Thesis). Thesis DPhil--University of Oxford.
  11. "Miss Gail Trimble". Directory of Fellows. Trinity College Cambridge. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  12. "Dr Gail Trimble". The Faculty. Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  13. "Gail Trimble - Classics". University of Oxford. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  14. Harry Mount (12 May 2012). "The classical world just refuses to stay dead". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  15. Gallagher, Paul (1 March 2009). "Gail Trimble's University Challenge winning teammate is not a student". The Observer. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
  16. "University Challenge: a joint statement from the BBC and Granada". 2 March 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  17. "Only Connect - S13 - Episode 6: Meeples v Tequila Slammers". Radio Times.
  18. Boyd, Charles (2 March 2009). "University Challenge star is 'thoughtful and reflective', says chaplain". Christian Today. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  19. Mikhailova, Anna (1 March 2009). "No conferring needed as brainbox Gail says yes to marriage proposal". The Times. London. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
  20. Waugh, Paul (23 February 2009). "Univ Challenge Trimble..a nation trembles". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  21. "University Challenge winners and contestants: what happened next?".
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