University College Oxford Record 2020

about him, although in Brian’s case the wiles
were always amusingly or helpfully deployed and
our election demonstrated this. The protocol
for election of a Fellow of the College involves
requiring the candidate to attend a Governing
Body meeting and wait outside the door of the
Alington Room until summoned to enter by the
Junior Fellow present (at least, that is what it used
to be). In our case, when the door opened Brian
pushed me in ahead of himself. I was thus the first
of us to be elected and, although he was about
ten years older than me, I became his senior in
the Fellowship list. Only later did it dawn on me
as to why he did this. It meant that whenever
the two of us were present for dinner at High
Table I had to hear and respond to the Grace
and take charge of placing guests at Dessert. The
wily Loughman knew this would happen: I did not.
We were elected initially as Supernumerary
Fellows. In 1971 I was elected Sollas Fellow in
Geology and in 1978 Brian elected Hammerson
Fellow in Plant Sciences.
There was an absurd rumour circulating at
one time that Brian was not Welsh and actually
hailed from Herefordshire. Given his service
in the Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Foot) and
his passion for rugby, the claim was clearly
spurious. He was born near Newport and
played rugby for its team and for Cardiff (and
later in Cambridge) at stand-off half, the second
receiver, a position for a wily passer whose
role is vital in directing the play. You have to be
tough and nimble too and Brian had the right
physique. When his playing days were over, he
remained true to the game and could always be
found on the touchline when the College played
and at Twickenham hoping to watch Wales beat
England or the Blues match where, if you were
his guest, you were regaled with extravagant
hospitality, such were his status and reputation
there too. With a Cambridge doctorate and an
Oxford fellowship he reasoned that whichever
side won at Twickenham it was his team.
Rugby was not his only sport. His wiles
extended to crafty spin bowling and close-in
fielding. Matches against visiting Old Members
or undergraduate sides saw his talents on show
along with the likes of Dan Cunningham (a very
stylish bat), John Finnis, John Wheater and another
wily Welsh player, Chris Pelling.
Brian’s belief in the importance of sport had
some role during his term as Dean of Graduates.
Blues particularly in rowing and rugby coloured
the College’s reputation as much as the academic
achievements of the Weir Common Room which
were then, as they are now, considerable.
From the beginning we were both Senior
Members of the College’s Music Society, now
returning to its former glory under the leadership
of Director Giles Underwood. We both heard
Yehudi Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, Cyril Smith and
George Malcolm play and Elisabeth Schwartzkopf
sing in the Hall and have enjoyed the remarkable
performances of Junior members no less. Very
rarely, less so as with the pianist of whom Brian
remarked, “not a single wrong note and none that
sounded like Chopin.”
He was Dean of Graduates longer than
anyone else in recent times and for much of
his tenure I was the Dean. We formed a close
working relationship along with the Head Porter
and the Chaplain, Bill Sykes. Head Porters and
Chaplains deal with many students’ problems
discreetly and with no need to inform a Dean
but not infrequently decanal intervention is
necessary and sometimes has to be joint. The less
disturbing involve need for financial assistance and
Brian and I commonly consulted together as to
University College Record | October 2020 57