Gail Christina Trimble (born 13 August 1982) is a fellow and tutor in

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

Early life and education

Trimble was born in

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, locally known as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Walton forms part of the Greater London built-up area, within the KT postcode and is served by a wide ran ...

, Surrey, to Mary and Michael Trimble. Her father worked as a manager for

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

and her mother was a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

at Staines Magistrates' Court. Growing up, Trimble attended the Ambleside Infant and Middle School before enrolling at the girls-only

Lady Eleanor Holles School Lady Eleanor Holles School (often abbreviated to LEH or LEHS) is an independent day school for girls in Hampton, London. It consists of a small junior school and a larger senior school, which operate from different buildings on the same site. It ...

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. While there, she gained 11

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

s followed by four

A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s at grade A: in Latin, Ancient Greek, English literature and mathematics, plus one of the top five marks in the country with A-level general studies. 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 A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

singer, and to lecture on

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

Hellenistic poetry Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are ...

and

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

. Her research had been funded by the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts an ...

. In 2010, she was awarded a

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Latin literature at Corpus Christi, Oxford, on the subject of

. The title of her D.Phil. was "A commentary on Catullus 64, lines 1-201". Her doctoral project was supervised by Professor

Philip Hardie Philip Russell Hardie, FBA (born 13 July 1952) is a specialist in Latin literature at the University of Cambridge. He has written especially on Virgil, Ovid, and Lucretius, and on the influence of these writers on the literature, art, and ideolo ...

and Dr

Stephen Heyworth Stephen or Steven is a common English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Ac ...

Career

In 2009, Trimble was elected as a junior research fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

and held the position for a year before returning to Oxford as a senior faculty member. She is Associate Professor in Classical Languages and Literature in the Faculty of Classics and Brown Fellow and Tutor in Classics at

. Trimble was one of the contributors to the 4th edition of the

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

which was published in 2012. She is working on a commentary on Catullus' longest poem with newly edited text, to appear in the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

series ''Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries.'' Trimble is also editing a volume on

metalepsis Metalepsis (from grc-gre, μετάληψις) is a figure of speech in which a word or a phrase from figurative speech is used in a new context. Examples *"I've got to catch the worm tomorrow." **"The early bird catches the worm" is a common m ...

in classical texts, after a successful international conference in September 2015. In January 2020, she appeared on the BBC Radio series ''

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

'' when the programme was on

, and again in April 2021 on

Television and radio

While a

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

student of

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

, in 2009, she gained media attention by her performance on the

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth ...

programme ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

''. 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. Corpus won with 275 points, beating Manchester's score of 190 points. However, the team was disqualified after an investigation revealed that her teammate, Sam Kay, had finished studying at Corpus Christi while the series was being recorded. The winner's trophy was awarded to the runners-up, Manchester University. Trimble appeared in Series 13 of the BBC Quiz show ''

Only Connect ''Only Connect'' is a British television quiz show presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell. In the series, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. The title is taken from a passage in E. M. Fo ...

'' in 2017, as the captain of the "Meeples" team, accompanied by husband Tom West, and brother Hugh. The team returned in 2018 for a "Family Special" episode. On 9 January 2020 she was a panellist on BBC Radio 4's ''

'' for the edition on

. In 2022, she was a contestant in ''

Brain of Britain ''Brain of Britain'' is a BBC radio general knowledge quiz, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History It began as a slot in ''What Do You Know?'' in 1953. The main part of the show was the "Brain of Britain" quiz itself, originally called "Ask Me Ano ...

''.

Personal life

Trimble is a practising

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

, and sang in the choir at the

University Church of St Mary the Virgin The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of un ...

, in Oxford. In March 2009, Trimble became engaged to Tom West, a trainee solicitor, with whom she has a child. The couple married, in Corpus Christi College, in August 2010. In 2017, she was a senior faculty member in classics at

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trimble, Gail Contestants on University Challenge English classical scholars British Latinists Women classical scholars People from Walton-on-Thames Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford 1982 births Living people People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School