Will Hutton
4th Year
Geography
Reading/Oxford Area
Will is the first in a series of officially ‘nominated cuties’ (which means for the next few weeks I’m not creepily approaching guys from all angles! Yay! It also means that if you know someone who should be a Cutie you should email us at hannahanderson@hercampus.com!)
A few weeks ago, after the David Patterson interview, I was speaking with a friend of mine and swore I wouldn’t tap ‘that’ flat again. Two and a half Cuties–the half never quite made it onto the page–was enough. Any more would just be ridiculous. Well, here is Cutie number three from that same flat! And, I had absolutely no idea until the night before… how embarrassing.
As our hordes of die-hard Cutie fans will recall, the Bell Street flat is home to some outlandishly high achievers, great parties, and the Bromance of the century. Will happily confirmed the bromance was still going strong, though tensions are running a little high these days as Pat Mathewson- KKF co-founder, and David Patterson–Mermaids President, battle it out for the best ball this season. Students will have to decide between the long time favorite Mermaids Christmas Ball, always a roaring success, or take their chances on the one-year-only 600th Finale Ball which is shaping up to be an amazing night. ‘They’re always trying to one up each other…Pat really wants to see both balls do well, and Dave does too [pause] but really, Dave wants to smash his out of the park. And fair enough as well, this is his year!”
Though Pat is a new addition to the flat this year, he fits right in with the rest of the bunch. “He’s great, but it’s funny have an American in the flat… I think he doesn’t know how to use a dishwasher? Someone’s been putting dishwasher tablets in without taking the plastic wrapper off!” Pat (or whomever) if you’re reading this: shame on you. You’re letting us all down. The rest of the boys have all been friends since their DRA days in first year. And it’s so sickeningly sweet, but all three of the Bell-Street Cuties have said their flat is one of their favorite parts of Uni “When I look back on my time here, I won’t remember my hours of working in the library–I was there until 1am last night–it’ll be friends from golf, golf on the castle course and the boys: my flatmates.”
A passionate golfer, it was driving past the R&A club house that ‘sealed the deal’ for Will and St Andrews. “I really ended up here more than wanting to come. But I am absolutely not an Oxbridge reject!” He states emphatically… well that’s a first! [note: I’m not either. Just saying.] Will saw himself at Durham, Bristol or Edinburgh, but after three rejections, “thanks very much!” his mother took him up for an open day on a whim. “It was awesome, I loved it!” Coming from a rural area, Will feels as though he may have missed the city experience, but he’s looking forward to that in his future. “St Andrews is a slight upgrade from a village with a post office and a few pubs…but now I’m looking towards London. Going through the process of selling my soul to corporate at the moment…I love London!” The conversation takes a dark turn as Will tells a story about the sketchier side of city life, starting with a school geography field trip to the Olympic Park Area, “it was really grim. I never gave much thought to the inequality in London, but it’s there…” and then ending with a hilarious but also disturbing story involving a Chinese restaurant and a dog’s micro-chip. Ew. Will is a great storyteller though, and had me in stitches the whole time. I regret nothing.
Sport and studies are Will’s two main interests at the moment, and if he’s not on a golf course somewhere, it’s a safe bet he’s in the library. This year Will is the Golf Second Team Captain, a position which he describes as “all the power and no responsibility. It’s great! I just drive the van, pick the team, play the match and go to socials.” Unfortunately he is slowly earning a nasty reputation for being boring, as his affair with the library is cutting into his golf social time. “The team atmosphere is great”, he raves about the club, “so many good friends and stories!” One of the highlights of golfing in Scotland is the amount of incredible courses you can play, many of them within our own town! “We played an epic club match against the R&A. We met up in the R&A building– usually we meet at a bar, but there was none. There was just a little switch on the wall that said ‘BAR’. After about twenty minutes someone plucked up the courage to press it, and a woman came out of the wall! She had a trolley Hogwarts style and started pouring everyone drinks!” The day continued with lunch, lots of wine, and finally some golf. “When we finally got to the tee, we were seeing two balls… One of the guys was telling me they had a match against Edinburgh the year before, and one of their guys passed out on the second hole. They picked him up four hours later after finishing the round and dragged him back to the Clubhouse!” Of course, Will would never participate in such shenanigans, because like Her Campus and St Andrews University, he is a firm advocate of drinking in moderation.
When he’s not playing golf, he caddies at the Kingsbarns course “It’s the greatest job in the world! The people you meet, it’s insane!” Last year he caddied for the American second in command of the First Gulf War. “I can’t remember his name, but he was great. He was there with his Vietnam War buddy, telling me about all the lives they saved. It was incredible.” Will has fun at his job, and he and the other caddies enjoy having a good-natured laugh at their golfer’s expense. When asked what the Carnoustie peninsula was, off the side of the course, a caddy cheekily piped in with Finland. “This guy chomped on that so hard!” In his best American accent, which as a colonist left something to be desired, he cracked himself up reenacting the man’s response. “Oh my God, Finland! Lets get a boat and go to Finland Hank!” “What are the girls like in Finland, Will?’” Caddying isn’t all banter and jokes though; it can get a little stressful when players place huge bets on their games. “On the 16th hole last year my player was bettering for $1,000! It’s ridiculous.”
Will’s other athletic passion is football, and despite being the self-proclaimed “worst footballer in the world” they still let him play Monday night 6 a side. “I consider myself more a player/manager. I start off on the sideline shouting general abuse, and then I come on for a quick cameo and leave. I try not to muck up the game too much.” It could be that Will is a horrendous footballer, but I wouldn’t go off of what he says, he’s constantly self-effacing and humble. In fact, when he was emailed about his Campus Cutie nomination he thought it was a mistake!
As for time wasters, Will chooses YouTube for silly videos, “I love that people put stupid videos of themselves online, it’s amazing. Running machine fails and exercise ball fails are probably my favorites. And I play guitar in my room. To myself, only to myself.” When I ask why he’s so private with his music he laughs. “I’ve never played in a band before, and I’m not particularly good. Every time someone asks me to play something I get all twitchy and nervous.” Ah, guitarists, they’re all so sexy and mysterious… If you’re lucky you might get to see Will play at Aikman’s sometime this year–he has a pact with Pat that they’ll play before graduation. Will is open to different styles of music, “there’s always so much more to learn, I don’t understand people who pigeon-hole themselves”, but admits that he is a blues man. After falling in love with the dense bluesy sound of the Kings of Leon’s first album ‘Youth and Young Manhood’, aka “the best album ever”, Will chased the source of the sound back decades. Working his way back in time, he found the Stones, Hendrix, Dylan, BB King and others. The draw to blues comes from it’s focus on the guitar. “As a guitarist, it’s really interesting to me. I’ll go, ‘whoa, how did they do that!?’ and then try and figure it out.”
Being a music buff, it doesn’t come a surprise that each year Will and his friends head to the Reading festival, though he admits he might be getting a little too old for it now, at the ripe age of 21. This will not deter him from going in the future, but he is aware. Last year he went to the Creamfields festival in Manchester, and is less keen on that one. “Flipping nightmare!” Intense rains washed out the festival over night, forcing 80,000 people to flee the scene. “Sunday morning I woke up and my beer was swimming past me behind someone else’s’ tent. We all had to get out of there, it was such a shame…” His Mancunian nightmare hasn’t deterred him from all new festivals though, Will is eager to get to Glastonbury at some point, but doubts it’ll actually happen. “I’ll never get my act together for that strenuous process.” If he doesn’t Mr. and Mrs. Hutton might, “My parent’s really want to go, they’re into ‘glamping’ these days. It’s quite weird.”
Will has been with his girlfriend for a year and a half, though they were friends since first year. She is currently down in Manchester, living with ex-housemate-cum-Cutie Rob. “It’s weird, I spent a lot of time with her the past three years, and now she’s hundreds of miles away.” The train service down to Manchester is apparently atrocious as well, taking almost six hours, but they each bite the bullet and take turns visiting. Elspeth will be coming up for the Christmas Ball (sorry Pat!) and the flat’s annual Christmas Dinner that David cooks, “he goes absolutely mental over it!” For Will, he looks for a girl who makes him laugh and has good chat. “Looks stop mattering after a point, you can only look at someone for so long. If there’s nothing behind a face, it’s meaningless.”
Will is an absolute delight to speak to. He has no airs or pretensions and is gifted with the rare ability to make a perfect stranger feel like an old friend. Thank you so much for your time Will, and we’ll see you in the library (or Aikman’s?) soon!
RAPID FIRE
Favorite place to grab a drink: Aikman’s probably, because it’s literally next-door. But we always end up at Drouthies for some reason. Chuck some arrows at the dartboard. Cheap pint as well- cheap pint is key. Living room as well, it’s a cracking place for a pint. Sit there with the boys and play some Mario/Jäger cart [don’t ask]… It get’s out of hand and is really good fun. The living room is as good a place as anywhere else for a drink and chat.
Favorite place to eat: The One Under, in the Russacks. It’s 10% off for students, I go there with Elspeth when she comes up, really nice food.
Big night out or quiet night in: Big night out: can you have a quiet night in?
Describe a good night: Pre in the living room with everyone, Jäger cart is good- Taurus from Aldi. It’s now my signature drink, a big bottle of 2L cider for like two quid. It’s just full of rubbish; I get as hyper as I get drunk. It’s actually embarrassing. I’m like a child. When I was younger my mom used to not give me coke because I got too wild. Always end up in the Union now, haven’t been to the lizard or the Vic yet this year–bit of a loser really.
Sample playlist: King Krule: Rock Bottom
Arctic Monkeys: Settle for a draw
Kings of Leon: Happy Alone
Rolling Stones: Jumping Jack Flash
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Red House
Bob Marley: Caution
Muddy Waters: I can’t be satisfied
Most embarrassing moment this year: Oh God, I do embarrassing things every day! I went to the cash point last week, took 30 quid out, grabbed my card and forgot to take the money. If you could even imagine how that feels, to get your wallet out to pay for something and there’s nothing there. And obviously someone just walked by the cash point and picked it up. You can’t throw away money in any more terrible way then that! I killed myself for two days after that–it’s gone forever now!
Little known fact: I have two famous cousins: Sam Riley, a film star nonetheless. He was in the film ‘On the Road’ Sam paradise. Now he’s in a film with Angelina Jolie called Maleficient coming out in May. He’s worked with 50 Cent (apparently a really nice guy!) and Mickey Rourke. My other cousin is the face of the new Special K cereal advert. Cracking family, we see them once or twice a year.
Fun fact: Often get recognized as rising Cricket star Joe Root.
Biggest fear: Going bald–it’s happening! My uncle and one of my granddads are both quite bald. It’s a big fear man! Going bald would be awful; I’ve got a terrible lid in the first place! Gotta keep the hair. Haven’t discussed it with Elspeth yet, that would be the end… Also I have an irrational fear of the kitchen at home. The boys leave it in a terrible state. It scares me sometimes.