Issue 19, 2013 - Balliol College - University of Oxford

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features for them is that they increased the number of student rooms and SCR elbow room very considerably. Formality in dress was already waning when I came up in 1961, but gowns were still worn by students for tutorials, and by all for dinner and Chapel; and for a visit to Sir David Lindsay Keir, Master, a dark suit under the gown was expected. The Head Scout inspected diners as they filed into Hall; ties were required. The food at dinner (consumption, or at any rate payment for it, was compulsory) was rotten, and for the sporty insufficient in quantity: but it was possible to get two servings by putting your empty plate under the table and looking innocent or relying on the connivance of your scout. Most scouts (all of whom were men) were in fact in cahoots with all sorts of minor undergraduate misbehaviour. The The food has improved beyond our then imagination . . . Living conditions are far more comfortable. The Bishop of Durham having John Balliol whipped. From the mural by Gilbert Spencer in Holywell Manor, c.1934. night Porter was easily corrupted; a packet of fags got admission in the small hours – so much easier than a perilous drainpipe climb, which few of us attempted more than once. The gowns have now gone from Balliol (except for Fellows, and Chapel, where they have recently been readopted by the Choir), the food has improved beyond our then imagination, nobody dreams of making reference to ‘College Servants’, and there is no restriction inviting bribery. Living conditions are far more comfortable, with some en suite facilities and central heating: improvements driven by the need to encourage conference bookings on which the College depends so heavily. Many social details contrasting then and now come into my head. Smoking, now a furtive deplorable habit: one of my first Tutors invariably began tutorials by offering a cigarette, and the other smoked memorable cigars. And security. Few staircases had doors, and student rooms (at any rate mine) had no locks. I once got a flea in my ear from the Dean for fixing a padlock to a drawer in my room – not for damaging the furniture, which was utility junk, but for the implication that I did not trust my scout. And laundry. Once a week you packed your shirts etc. in a pillow case and left it at the foot of your staircase in the laundry basket. A few days later your shirts etc. reappeared beautifully ironed, and you were charged through battels in the following term. There were other services on battels which have gone. There was a bike repair man and a seamstress; we were, I suppose, thought incapable of sewing on a button. Above all there was room service; my scout called me every morning – hardly necessary as my room was by the back gate where at dawn hundreds of bottles of milk were noisily unloaded. He would come in with a cheery ‘Mornin’, Sir, it’s rainin’,’ and pull back the curtains; later he would make my bed and tidy the room. Students have passed from relative affluence to penury since I arrived in 1961. I was broke then, broke when I graduated, and broke when I was elected to my first Fellowship, but I had no debts. A state scholarship, and a few prizes along the way, had kept me solvent despite unrestrained participation in Balliol life. The College has always done its best to help its poorer people along, which incidentally was one of Dervorguilla’s instructions. But debt-laden departure is now the norm for British students who have no family resource to tap. In the early 1960s the College, led by Christopher Hill (later Master) and the science Fellows, decided to turn towards research and graduates. This was in tune with the times (though not with Sir David Lindsay Keir, then Master), and the legacy of their initiative is the modern vibrant Holywell Manor graduate community. It is difficult, you might think, to regret anything there. But there is a small downside. In 1961 graduates and undergraduates were mixed up in accommodation and social life, and I believe the undergraduate experience was richer for that. The evolution which has taken place in so many areas of Balliol life in my time has mostly been in the same directions as in society as a whole, but this is not so for the Chapel, which has bucked the downward drift of the Church of England. The small group of 24 floreat domus balliol college news
Chapel-goers has expanded, and there is a lively choir, forming a subcommunity within Balliol comparable in impact to say the Boat Club – there has often been much overlap in composition. Whereas Chapel weddings were rare events in the past, the Chaplain now has his work cut out organising them, and often the christenings of the progeny. Long may all that continue. i have long run out of space and must not let my reflections roam any further. i have said nothing about College government; the creation of an executive Committee, a novelty for oxford, was a fundamental change, and the participation of students in its business, strongly resisted to start with, did not do any harm. nor have i mentioned sport or the JCR or Ray north’s pint mugs of tea. nor have i remarked on the so-called student Revolution, the College’s expansion, or the norrington table, but i have given enough politically incorrect hints without going there. Above all, i have The Martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria. Woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, 1498, presented by Jonathan Meakins (Fellow 2002–2008) and Jacqueline McClaran. said nothing about my experience as Dean, which may disappoint some, but be a relief to others. i had a euphoric moment during the septcentenary Commem, dancing in a great conga out of the back gate led by a steel band as dawn broke. that event is one which this year’s organisers will find hard to match. But the most satisfying experience has been the st Cross Church project. Work is in progress right now selecting, cataloguing, [With] the St Cross Church project . . . work is in progress right now selecting, cataloguing, conserving, and arranging for display a range of things from the Archives illustrating some aspects of the College’s life. conserving, and arranging for display a range of things from the Archives illustrating some aspects of the College’s life. Details will be publicised later: there will be an illustrated souvenir catalogue containing mini essays on the exhibits, which will also be available to those unable to attend. it is not known how much that will cost, but anyone who would like to reserve a copy may do so by emailing me (john. jones@balliol.ox.ac.uk). issue no.19 MAY 2013 25
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE NO.19 MAY 2013 Floreat Domus
Page 3 and 4: college news From the Master By Dru
Page 5 and 6: David Freeman Outreach and Student
Page 7 and 8: Christine Borgman Visiting Fellow a
Page 9 and 10: New dahlias for the 750th anniversa
Page 11 and 12: BAFTA nomination Baldwin Li (2001)
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Page 15 and 16: student news A worthwhile internshi
Page 17 and 18: Biofuels in India By george hArris
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Page 45 and 46: Life on the Edge: Peter Danckwerts
Page 47 and 48: NEEDS 35 per cent of univ alumni gi
Page 49 and 50: Professor Thomas Campbell Reid Cham
Page 51 and 52: Alison Spencer Stephens Ruju Srivas

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