ONA Magazine | Gianfranco Rosolia

FROM NEWCASTLE’S RGS TO THE GLOBAL CIRCUIT VIA PROCTER AND GAMBLE AND NOW APPLE, FOR GIANFRANCO ROSOLIA (ON 91-01) THE COMPASS SWINGS BACK TO NORTH WITH THE PUBLICATION OF HIS BOOK, CLEAN AIR, A TEDX TALK AT THE GLASSHOUSE AND A BLUE PLAQUE TO BE POSITIONED AT THE HOME OF HIS GRANDMOTHER, JENNIE SHEARAN, IN HEBBURN. GIANFRANCO, THE GUARDIAN OF A REMARKABLE STORY, SHARES SOME THOUGHTS WITH RGS STUDENTS AND THE ONA MAGAZINE ABOUT SPEAKING YOUR TRUTH QUIETLY – BUT INSISTENTLY.

Read an excerpt of Gianfranco Rosolia's ONA feature below: 

Gianfranco has a full schedule, due in part to the remarkable success of his book CLEAN AIR championed by the likes of Sting and Sir Jonathon Porritt and detailing a rich and epic narrative: the story of his grandmother Jennie Shearan’s struggle against life-altering pollution emitted by the Monkton coke works in Hebburn.  

Forming the Hebburn Residents’ Action Group, Jennie and her allies took on the might of British Coal, proceeding to the European Parliament in the resolute belief that the basic human right of clean air should be given back to the people of South Tyneside.  

The proceeds from the book go directly to Friends of the Earth, The Environmental Law Foundation and Hebburn Helps; copies made available in school were snatched up by students who proved a rapt audience for the crowded lunchtime talk given by Gianfranco.  

Aware of the significant turning points in a school career, Gianfranco came to share ‘something to ponder’ for students who started here as he did.  

As an editor of and contributor to Novo with a love of theatre and chess (early training in anticipating the next strategic move), students were exhorted to see the school as ‘a remarkable gift.’ Gianfranco explained in a later interview: “[The RGS was] an amazing space to learn about yourself, learn what you were interested in and develop your passions. I remember with fondness there were some particularly inspirational teachers and what I learned from them laid the foundation for what I went on to do. The skills that they nurtured in me and the ways of working and communicating, ways of thinking – that’s all thanks to here.”  

With such a diverse range of interests and experiences, two places stood out for him as being particularly special: both were classrooms, where he studied French and English Literature with inspiring teaching to cement an association of place with those small but powerful intellectual epiphanies.  

“You know, it’s funny to be 40 years old and still recall certain moments in a classroom where your eyes opened to a certain reading of a text and thinking about it a bit differently thanks to those teachers. They were very different personalities and both very supportive to me; both saw something in me.” 

Gianfranco describes the time here as “foundational.” 

“I was editor of Novo – I became a student editor at Cambridge and just as I did production and direction here, I also did it at university, then I experimented with stand-up comedy – I wanted to go on with Footlights… I tried out loads of things I didn’t pursue but you try them all out and then you figure out where you want to go.”  

Now based in California, Newcastle remains very high in Gianfranco’s estimation: “I think it might just be a product of youth I guess but – I couldn’t wait to leave Newcastle – not that I didn’t like [it] – I just was hungry to see the world – and as I’ve got older, I’ve realised that this is a beautiful city. I don’t think I’m glamorising or putting Newcastle on a nostalgic pedestal; I genuinely think it’s a brilliant city, a brilliant place to live and to grow up.” 

On her deathbed at South Tyneside hospital, Gianfranco’s grandmother solidified this love and belief in the North East once more with a request that he write the book of her meticulously catalogued story of the Monkton coke works.  

“I think she had faith in me that I didn’t even have in myself; that’s why she asked me to write a book, and I said yes, of course, I’ll do it. And then I put it off for so long because I didn’t have the foggiest idea how to approach structuring a book!  

“At university, as part of my course which was predominantly Literature, there was also a film course – French and Italian cinema – and I really gravitated towards this, starting to read screenplays of successful movies. That’s how I structured the book because I think there’s something cinematic about the story itself.” 

Using an Aristotelian arc and a broader historical context, he explains, “felt like a good way to find the ground zero of the story.” 

He adds: “What was great about the RGS was that I wasn’t intimidated about trying to enter a world I had little knowledge about, because you’re cultivated and encouraged to approach any challenge and not be afraid of learning.  

“My grandma was very, very clever because she left behind boxes and binders of all the legal court documentation, everything chronologically ordered – all the newspaper clippings, hours of VHS footage, cassettes recordings, photographs of the whole thing. It was a jewel of an archive and it’d been sitting there gathering dust. And so, one New Year’s Eve I resolved: right, this is it, I’m going to do this now!  

“It all started with that research, then actually connecting with people: I connected with the barrister, and I connected with the lady who was an expert in public enquiries who found that barrister – she’d read about the case in Exeter – and then I connected with Sir Jonathan Porritt. There have been so many brilliant coincidences that I’ve often felt my grandma was looking over me.” 

CLICK HERE to read the ONA Magazine Issue 114 online.