University College Oxford Record 2020

particularly enjoyed the more academic aspects of
law and remained there his entire working life.
Robert’s other passion was sport, especially
rugby, which accounted for his wonky nose and
creaking bones. He played for Univ and then went
on to play for Basingstoke Rugby Club as a No
8 for many years. The club recalls his outrageous
dummy pass and service as captain of the 1st
team between 1966-8. Players also recall that
he was a huge Elvis Presley fan but an average
impersonator of his hero on the dance floor.
He met his wife, Elizabeth, whilst at Oxford
where she was training to be a midwife. They
married on Cup Final day in 1966 and went on
to have three children.
Robert was knowledgeable and kind. He was
always interested in others and was a wonderful
listener. He will be greatly missed.
VANNI EMANUELE MARCO
TREVES CBE
(St Paul’s) died on 10 November
2019 aged 79. He read Law at Univ.
Terry Harris (1958) has kindly written
this memoir of Vanni’s time at Univ:
“Vanni Treves and I became friends
in our first term at Univ, despite our
reading different subjects and despite the
age difference. (Vanni had come straight from
school and was not yet 18.) And we remained
friends throughout his life, although we did not
see as much of each other in later life, but I did
manage to visit him in the London Clinic the
month before he died.
“Vanni was born in Italy. His father was killed
fighting as a partisan against the Germans when
Vanni was little more than a baby. After the war
his mother came to London and married an
Englishman. Vanni did not take his stepfather’s
surname, Traub, and had kept his Italian nationality.
(His full name was Vanni Emanuele Marco Treves.)
During his time at Univ he decided to become
naturalised, which inter alia required him to take
an English language test, which greatly amused
him and us at the time. That was the first test he
passed while at Oxford!
“Vanni was serious-minded and had a ready
wit and was high spirited; at the same time he was
generous, not only with money but with his time,
as he showed in later life. He had strong views on
many subjects and did not suffer fools gladly. This
made him express himself strongly without fear
and he often rubbed older undergraduates up
the wrong way, particularly during discussions at
dinner in Hall. (Almost every older member then
and most men in our year had done National
Service and one had served as a
paratrooper in the Suez campaign.)
On one occasion Vanni was working
in the Library and told some older
members there to be quiet. When
he returned to the room in Kybald
House he shared with Ted Vaughan
Neil, he found them trashed. He had
also fallen out of favour with Doug Millin,
the Head Porter, and so he did not get
much sympathy from that quarter.
“In our third year he joined Tony Rickwood
and me in a rented house just off the Cowley
Road. I then stayed on in Oxford for a further
three years, during which on my visits to London
I would often stay with Vanni at his parents’ house
near Swiss Cottage. When I got married in late
1967 (in Univ Chapel) Vanni was my Best Man
and made a most amusing speech. I was living at
the time in Worcestershire, and Vanni came to
visit us on a number of occasions. My wife and I
enjoyed his company.
78 University College Record | October 2020