Ghost town Spooks, hauntings and tall tales - the University Offices ...

The magazine for The sTaff of The UniversiTy of Cambridge november/deCember 2009 

Ghost town 

Spooks, hauntings 

and tall tales 

Oral literatures 

preserved 

page 6 

Porters reveal 

strangest requests 

page 15

SnaPShOt 

good enough to eat: One of the more 

unusual gifts to mark the University’s 

800th anniversary was presented to Vice- 

Chancellor Professor Alison Richard at a 

reception at the Fitzwilliam Museum. 

A large-scale sculpture of the building 

was created by award-winning pastry 

chef Thomas Lui as the centrepiece 

of a gala dinner held in Hong Kong 

last month. It was then flown over to 

Cambridge. What was unusual about the 

sculpture? It was made entirely of white 

chocolate. 

Wheel good fun: Three teams of staff 

rode from Oxford to Cambridge in 

September in support of three different 

charities and the University’s 800th 

anniversary. The sixth annual Oxford to 

Cambridge bike ride was organised by 

the British Heart Foundation. Each staff 

team covered the 89 miles on University 

Messenger Bicycles. The teams rode in 

support of three charities: the British 

Heart Foundation, Talk to Stars and 

Camfed, the University’s Charity of 

the Year. 

Tomorrow’s world: More than 60 

innovations went on show at the Open 

House Festival of Interactive Technology 

in September. The festival was organised 

by the University and Microsoft Research 

Cambridge to mark the University’s 

800th anniversary. It offered a preview of 

interactive displays, games and computer 

technologies, among them this ‘wearable 

impairment simulator’, which helps 

designers understand how capability 

loss affects people’s ability to perform 

everyday activities. 

Choir auditions: Do you or your friends 

have a musically talented six or sevenyear-old 

son? If so the King’s Choir would 

like to hear from you. The college is 

recruiting new choristers, with auditions 

set for 16 January 2010. Successful boys 

will be educated at King’s College School 

and will receive a musical training of the 

highest order. Fees are subsidised and a 

range of financial support is available. 

To register an interest email choir@kings. 

cam.ac.uk. 

2 | november/deCember 2009 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE NEwSlETTER 

PHILIP MYNOTT 

cOntentS 

Cover Take a walk on 

the dark side with our 

round-up of the spookiest 

Cambridge ghost stories. 

Turn to page 8. 

3-4 What’s new 

5 Tribute 

Professor Sir David Williams remembered 

6-7 making a difference 

The fight to preserve oral literatures 

8-10 inside the colleges 

11 Know your University 

A brief guide to the Whipple Museum of 

the History of Science 

12 People 

13 Prizes, awards and honours 

14 advertisements 

15 behind the scenes 

Unusual requests put to porters 

16 back page 

newSletter 

The Newsletter is published for the staff of the 

University of Cambridge and is produced by the 

Office of External Affairs and Communications. 

Please send in ideas for the content and other 

ways we can improve the publication. 

Tel: (3)32300 or email newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk. 

Suggestions for articles for the February/March 

edition should reach the Editor by 4 December. 

Editor: Andrew Aldridge 

Advertising: Nick Saffell 

Design: Creative Warehouse 

Printers: Labute Printers 

Ghost town 

Spooks, hauntings 

and tall tales 

newSletter Online 

www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter 

The magazine for The sTaff of The UniversiTy of Cambridge november/deCember 2009 

Oral literatures Porters reveal 

preserved strangest requests 

page 6 

page 15 

COVER IMAgE: ISSAM KOURBAJ

MARIE SADLER 

what’S new 

Your comments and contributions are always welcome. 

Please send them to the Editor at newsletter@admin.cam.ac.uk 

The deadline for the next issue is 4 december. 

Sainsbury laboratory passes milestone 

AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE in the 

creation of a new world-class research 

facility was marked last month with a 

topping out ceremony. 

The Sainsbury Laboratory, set to 

house 120 scientists studying plant 

development, is a £92 million facility 

currently under construction. The 

topping out ceremony traditionally 

marks the completion of the outer 

structure of a new building. 

Nearly 100 guests gathered at the 

site to hear speeches from Roy Murphy, 

Managing Director of main contractor 

Kier, Professor Ian Leslie, Pro-Vice- 

Chancellor for Research, Professor 

John Parker, Director of the Botanic 

garden, where the building is sited, 

and Lord Sainsbury, whose gatsby 

Charitable Foundation has provided 

£82 million towards the cost, the largest 

single gift received by the University 

since the launch of the 800th 

Anniversary Campaign. 

“This is one of the most exciting 

projects with which my charitable 

foundation has been involved,” 

Lord Sainsbury said. 

“It combines an inspirational research 

programme, an historic site and a 

beautiful laboratory designed by Stanton 

Williams, and it will become a centre of 

excellence in plant science.” 

Winter wonderland: places are now open for the 2010 Artic Dog Sledge 

Challenge, a 200km journey through the wilds of northern Norway. The trip, from 

1 to 7 March, is organised by the Friends of Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), 

and will see participants make their way over frozen lakes, through Artic forests 

and across icy wastes. For more information, telephone Challenge 

Coordinator Cathy Cooper on (01223) 336540 or visit the SPRI website at 

www.spri.cam.ac.uk. 

NIgEL LUCKHURST 

Professor John Parker 

speaking at the Sainsbury 

Laboratory topping out 

ceremony (left), while an 

artist’s impression (right) 

shows the building as it 

will appear when finished 

Professor Parker said: “The garden looks 

forward to maintaining its long tradition of 

the study of plant diversity in the most up 

to date way with this wonderful building. 

The laboratory will be dedicated to the 

advancement of curiosity-driven research 

on plants.” 

The building is due for completion 

in late 2010. 

tuscany tour hits 

the right notes 

CAMBRIDgE UNIVERSITY Musical Society 

continued the 800th anniversary 

celebrations with a highly successful tour 

of Tuscany in August. 

This ambitious undertaking took 

the chorus and CUMS I orchestra, 130 

performers in all, to venues in Florence 

and the surrounding area. They 

performed under the batons of their 

Principal Conductor Stephen Cleobury 

and recent Cambridge graduates Mark 

Austin and Joseph Fort. 

Highlights included a performance 

of Dvorak’s New World Symphony in 

the shadow of Siena Cathedral and a 

triumphant rendition of Beethoven’s 

Ninth Symphony in the magnificent 

surroundings of the Salone dei 

Cinquecento in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. 

Founded in 1843, CUMS is one of the 

oldest and most distinguished university 

music societies in the world. 

➔ For more information about the 

society, log on to www.cums.org.uk. 

november/deCember 2009 | UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE NEwSlETTER | 3

cOlleGe newS 

churchill honours its founder 50 years on 

CHURCHILL BEgAN its 50th anniversary 

celebrations on 17 October when Lady 

Soames, daughter of Sir Winston, planted 

a tree to commemorate the founding of 

the college. 

The ceremony echoed the actions of 

her father who, 50 years ago to the day, 

had made his one and only visit to the 

site that the college was founded on, 

planting a mulberry tree in what is now 

East Court. 

After the tree-planting, Lady Soames 

was joined by the Master Sir David 

Wallace and his wife Elizabeth for drinks. 

Churchill was founded in 1960 as a 

national and Commonwealth memorial 

to the former British Prime Minister. Over 

its comparitively short history, the college 

has seen 24 of its members go on to win 

Nobel Prizes. 

The college is using its anniversary 

year to launch a fundraising campaign 

to build new accommodation for 60 

christ’s hopes 

to splash out 

ONE OF COLLEgIATE Cambridge’s 

hidden gems – the Fellows’ bathing pool 

at Christ’s – could be restored to full 

working order if a fundraising campaign 

proves successful. 

The college is looking to raise 

approximately £50,000 to cover the 

costs of renovating the baths, which are 

believed to have been built some time 

during the 17th century. 

If you are interested in finding out 

more, email Christ’s Development 

Director Catherine Twilley on cmt23@ 

cam.ac.uk. We would also like to hear from 

anyone who has any information about 

the pool. Please email Newsletter Editor 

Andrew Aldridge on aja43@cam.ac.uk. 

students. Called New Court, construction 

is scheduled to start in 2011. 

This academic year will also see a 

range of events to celebrate its founding, 

including an official appeal launch party 

at the Churchill Museum and War Rooms 


newnham does it for queen and college 

CLOTH CAPS, swing-boats and elaborate 

moustaches were the order of the day 

as Newnham enjoyed its first Victorian 

Family Day in September. 

The event, which encouraged 

alumnae to show their families where 

they studied, saw more than 500 people 

enjoy a range of activities from the era. 

Held in Newnham’s grounds, it also 

proved quite a spectacle as college 

members, alumnae and their families and 

friends took up the invitation to come in 

Victorian-themed fancy dress. 

There were also crafts and 

games from the era, and pennyfarthings 

were ridden up and 

down by members of the March 

Veteran and Vintage Cycle Club. 

Further attractions 

included a Victorian Punch 

and Judy show courtesy of the 

Cambridge Folk Museum, and 

an opportunity to get to grips 

with 19th-century schooling 

under the stern eye of a Victorian 

schoolmaster supplied by Cambridge 

Lady Soames plants a tree 

to honour the founding of 

Churchill, above right, 

50 years after her father 

Sir Winston did the same 

in London, a series of Churchill Scientists 

Lectures and a fundraising ball on 

10 July 2010. 

For more information on these and 

the 50th anniversary log on to www.chu. 

cam.ac.uk/alumni/development. 

Assessment. Meanwhile the Whipple 

Museum provided zoetropes (cylindrical 

mechanical toys through which moving 

figures can be viewed) that were 

operated on the day by someone looking 

suspiciously like Queen Victoria. 

Alumnae who returned said how 

much they appreciated being able to 

come with their children. Many had been 

unable to attend previous events because 

of the difficulty in organising childcare. 

Kathryn Rodgers, who read Modern 

Languages at the college in 1984, and 

who volunteered to run the Victorian 

skipping stall, said: “The old-fashioned 

cycles really made the whole thing feel 

authentic, and the enthusiasm was 

infectious.” 

Penny Hubbard, Development 

Director at Newnham, said she had 

received many thank-yous. “It is clear that 

this unusual event really struck a chord, 

reaching out to many who had not been 

back to Newnham for some time, and 

enabling those with small people in tow 

to enjoy meeting other Newnhamites.”

Professor Sir David williams (1930-2009) 

Professor Sir David Williams: “A great scholar and leader” 

academics now able to store 

and view PhD theses online 

gRADUATE STUDENTS, academics and 

departments across the University can 

now benefit from an online repository 

that will store and manage access to 

digital copies of PhD theses. 

The repository, run by the University 

Library in collaboration with the 

University Computing Service, is an 

extension of the Dspace@Cambridge 

service, which allows academics to 

deposit digital content of a scholarly 

and heritage nature. 

The DSpace@Cambridge team has 

been working with the Board of graduate 

Studies to ensure that the voluntary 

deposit service is part of the submission 

process for new theses. 

graduate students will be notified 

about the service when they submit their 

thesis for examination. The student will 

receive advice on how to upload to the 

DSpace@Cambridge site, and how to 

manage copyright for content created by 

others – images or large citations, 

for example. 

Theses can also be deposited 

retrospectively and the service is open 

to University alumni. 

Elin Stangeland, DSpace@Cambridge 

Repository Manager, says the benefits to 

both departments and graduate students 

are considerable. 

“For the individual, we take over the 

management of the publication. We give 

it a permanent URL, making it easy for 

the student to share their thesis with 

colleagues either within or outside the 

University. Deposited theses are stored 

on secure disks and, if the format goes 

out of use, we will make sure it continues 

to be readable. 

“The other major benefit is to schools 

and departments across the University – 

they can showcase their students’ work.” 

Having theses online also means that 

research is available instantly to other 

researchers across the world. 

➔ Detailed instructions on how to deposit 

a thesis can be found at http://www.lib. 

cam.ac.uk/repository/theses/ 

➔ For more information on Dspace@ 

Cambridge visit www.dspace.cam.ac.uk 

Pay a visit to the online edition of the Newsletter: 

www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/newsletter/ 

THE UNIVERSITY is saddened to report 

the death of Professor Sir David Williams, 

who was a Life Fellow and Honorary 

Fellow of Emmanuel College, President of 

Wolfson College from 1980 to 1992 and 

Vice-Chancellor of the University from 

1989 to 1996. 

Educated at Queen Elizabeth 

grammar School, Carmarthen, Sir David 

came to Emmanuel College as an Open 

Scholar in 1950 to read History and Law, 

completing his MA and LLB. 

He was subsequently called to 

the Bar and was a Commonwealth 

Fund (Harkness) Fellow at Berkeley 

and Harvard between 1956 and 1958. 

He then taught at the University 

of Nottingham for five years, and at 

Keble College, Oxford from 1963 

to 1967. 

In 1967 he returned to Emmanuel as 

a Fellow in Law, and between 1970 and 

1976 he was Senior Tutor and Tutor for 

Admissions. 

He became Reader in Public Law in 

1976, and was Rouse Ball Professor of 

English Law from 1983 to 1992. 

Sir David was appointed President 

of the University of Swansea in 2001 

and Chancellor in 2007. 

Paying tribute, the current 

Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison 

Richard said: “A great scholar and a 

great leader, Sir David contributed to 

collegiate Cambridge in so many ways. 

As the first Vice-Chancellor in almost 

800 years to hold the position full time, 

he was a pioneer as well. We will all miss 

him greatly.” 

He is survived by his wife, Sally, 

whom he married in 1959, a son and 

two daughters. 


MARION WETTSTEIN makinG 

a Difference 

Voices of vanishing worlds 

Imagine the English language had no written documents and its 

last few speakers were likely to be dead within a decade. That is 

the situation faced by hundreds of communities. But now endangered 

oral traditions have a hope of being preserved for future generations 

FIVE YEARS AgO Mark Turin published 

a dictionary. To be precise, it was a trilingual 

word list. But more importantly 

it was the first written record of a little 

known and endangered Himalayan 

language – Thangmi – alongside English 

and Nepali entries. 

Although Turin didn’t know it at the 

time, the publication foreshadowed his 

latest initiative, the World Oral Literature 

Project. Having encountered the Thangmi 

language and its speakers in eastern 

Nepal as a PhD student in linguistics in 

the mid-90s, Turin realised that neither 

the language nor culture were known to 

many outside the community. Next to 

nothing had been published about the 

Thangmi people or the Tibeto-Burman 

language they spoke. 

The word list he published was 

about much more than recording an 

endangered tongue. While Turin’s PhD 

thesis focused on the grammar of 

Thangmi, the indigenous community 

were far more interested in having a 

dictionary they could use themselves. 

His thesis, it was pointed out, would only 

be available in English, making it largely 

inaccessible to them. 

What they needed was a word list in 

Devanagari – a script they could read – 

with accompanying Nepali and English 

translations. The dictionary was therefore 

not just about collating Thangmi words 


Collect and protect: Above, the 

shaman Dirga Bahadur from 

the Rai ethnic group of eastern 

Nepal recites his oral narrative 

for two fieldworkers in 2006. 

Far right, the shaman Tek 

Bahadur and assistants recite 

oral texts and make an offering 

to the ancestors through the 

fireplace, also in eastern Nepal 

in 2006 

for their preservation: it was about 

providing the speakers of Thangmi with 

a written record of their language and 

a resource they could use. In 2004, the 

booklet, authored with his long-time 

friend and co-researcher Bir Bahadur 

Thami, finally saw the light of day. 

Oral literature 

The spirit of that work continues in 

the World Oral Literature Project, 

which was launched earlier this year. 

Affiliated to and located in Cambridge 

University’s Museum of Archaeology 

and Anthropology, the initiative aims 

to document and make accessible 

endangered oral literatures before they 

disappear without record. 

So what is “oral literature” and just how 

many of these voices are under threat? 

“All natural, human languages are spoken, 

but only some have an established 

written form,” says Turin. 

“In Western universities, there is a 

scholarly emphasis on languages with

celebrated written traditions, such as 

Sanskrit, Hebrew and Ancient greek. Of 

the 6,500 languages spoken on earth, 

however, many do not have written 

traditions, and many of these speech 

forms are endangered. Our concern is 

that when an exclusively oral language 

becomes endangered, the cultural 

expressions it encodes are also in danger.” 

Indigenous cultures are often 

put under pressure by the effects 

of globalisation or rapid social and 

economic change. A well-meaning 

national education programme in one 

of the world’s major languages such as 

Mandarin Chinese or English may have 

the side-effect of eroding local traditions 

and regional languages. 

Many such traditions cling to life in the 

form of oral ‘texts’, which the World Oral 

Literature Project aims to collect, archive 

and disseminate. Oral literature can 

include chants, epics, poetry, folk tales, 

songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs 

and tongue-twisters. 

Preserve and share 

“In many communities, the primary oral 

texts are creation myths,” says Turin. “Our 

Western epics are published as literature, 

but oral narratives rarely are as few 

indigenous peoples have had a means to 

document in writing what they know.” 

“generations of anthropologists have 

had privileged access to indigenous 

communities and have had the chance 

to record volumes of oral literature, but 

many scholars didn’t know what to do 

with the recordings of the narratives 

they had collected once they had been 

analysed. We are providing a way for 

the material that has been gathered to 

be preserved and – when ethically and 

culturally appropriate – to be shared with 

heritage communities and disseminated 

to a wider audience.” 

The project provides small grants to 

support researchers and communities 

around the world who are interested in 

recording and publishing these traditions 

before they disappear. 

To date, news about the initiative has 

been circulated, rather like its subject 

matter, mostly by word of mouth. 

Nevertheless, Turin has already been 

inundated with correspondence from 

interested collaborators and contributors. 

Each bid for funding is assessed by a 

review board and by area specialists, and 

early projects are underway in Colombia, 

Inner Mongolia, Nepal, the Sino-Tibetan 

frontier and the northern Philippines. 

As this research is fed back to 

“Of the 6,500 

languages 

spoken on earth 

many do not 

have written 

traditions – 

many are also 

endangered” 

finD Out mOre 

For more information on 

the World Oral Literature 

Project visit www. 

oralliterature.org 

ALBAN VON STOCKHAUSEN 

Cambridge, the project will assemble a 

digital repository of oral literature from 

around the world. Using the web, people 

will be able to read the transcribed texts 

and listen to, or watch, recordings of 

spoken and sung vernacular traditions. 

The project also aims to build up 

a network of scholars and indigenous 

researchers committed to documenting 

and analysing oral narratives. In 

December this year, researchers, museum 

curators, archivists and other experts 

will gather in Cambridge for a workshop 

hosted by the Centre for Research in the 

Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities to 

enable them to share ideas on how such 

fieldwork can best be carried out. 

Perhaps most importantly, Turin sees 

INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC DAY 

AND BOARDING SCHOOL FOR 

GIRLS AGED 4 -18 • ALL FAITHS 

WELCOME • SITUATED IN THE 

HEART OF BEAUTIFUL CAMBRIDGE 

the World Oral Literature Project, just 

like his Thangmi dictionary, as being a 

resource that will only succeed if it is 

of use and interest to the communities 

themselves. While Cambridge can be the 

place where the materials are hosted and 

maintained, both physically and digitally, 

communities will require copies of the 

output so that future generations can 

access and understand the culture and 

language of their ancestors. 

“At present there is no single place 

that offers researchers and communities 

from around the world a promise 

that collections of oral literature will 

be responsibly managed, archived 

and stewarded into the future. That’s 

something we would like to provide.” 

St Mary’s 

C A M B R I D G E 

www.stmaryscambridge.co.uk 

ENTRANCE 

EXAMINATIONS 

SENIOR SCHOOL: 

YEARS 7-10 ENTRY 

Saturday 30 January 2010 

JUNIOR SCHOOL: 

YEARS 3-6 ENTRY 

Year 3 

Monday 18 January 2010 

Years 4 - 6 

Monday 25 January 2010 

REGISTRATION & BURSARY APPLICATION 

DEADLINE: 30 NOVEMBER 2009 

B E C A U S E T H E R E ’ S N O T H I N G 

G I R L S C A N ’ T D O. 

Senior School: Bateman Street Cambridge CB2 1LY Tel: 01223 353253 

Junior School: No 2 Brookside Cambridge CB2 1JE Tel: 01223 311666 


inSiDe the cOlleGeS 

the dead 

among us 

In a month that sees two lost collections 

of supernatural fiction set in or around 

the University republished, we take a look 

at some of the city’s enduring ghost stories 

THERE ARE PLACES in Cambridge where 

you shouldn’t walk alone. Not at night, 

and not if you’re easily frightened. 

Trinity Lane – that tempting cutthrough 

from the centre of town to the 

Backs – is one of them. Here, the citycentre 

lights recede with every step you 

take and, once inside the bowels of the 

medieval city, squeezed between Trinity 

and gonville and Caius colleges, you 

might think twice about heading over 

the Cam. 

All Saints Passage is another of those 

shortcuts that’s just a little too dark – a 

little too malevolent – for comfort. And 

then there is Christ’s Pieces. Don’t be 

fooled by the street lights: on a misty 

November evening, with the perimeter 

trees masking the city’s landmarks, 

it’s hard to navigate the criss-cross of 

paths – especially with a drink or two of 

Dark streets, 

Fenland mists 

and imposing 

buildings are 

the backdrop 

to all manner 

of grisly tales 


something to disorientate you. 

This is the Cambridge of ghost stories 

– a place where dark streets, Fenland 

mists and imposing buildings form a 

backdrop to all manner of grisly tales: 

deaths foretold; apparitions in college 

gardens and floating, earless heads 

(one was said to have revealed itself to a 

Sidney Sussex student in 1967). 

ghostly gossip 

Tales of college and institutional 

hauntings are legion here, with the 

creaking of doors that were thought to 

be locked, and the tread of footsteps on 

blocked staircases, feeding an evergrowing 

pool of ghostly gossip. But those 

looking for a more substantial brush with 

the supernatural might like to dip into 

some of the published ghost fiction that 

takes Cambridge as its backdrop. 

The genre has enjoyed something of 

a resurrection, so to speak, of late with 

two ‘lost’ titles brought out recently by 

Oleander Press, publisher of the muchlauded 

The Night Climbers of Cambridge. 

The first is Tedious Brief Tales of 

Granta and Gramarye, a collection of 

supernatural stories set in Jesus College. 

The author, a certain Ingulphus, was 

better known as Arthur gray, Master of 

Jesus between 1912 and 1940. The tales 

include ‘The Everlasting Club’ which, as 

you might infer from the title, is distinctly 

difficult to leave, and that of alchemist 

Anthony Ffryar, who nearly cures all 

illness but unfortunately gets called to 

attend a funeral… his own. 

Also out this month is Stoneground 

Ghost Tales, another Oleander collection 

of unsettling ghost fiction first published 

in 1912 by Eg Swain, Chaplain of King’s

College. These nine stories recount the 

adventures of the ghost-hunting rector of 

Stoneground, Reverend Roland Batchel. 

The tales are set on the edge of the Fens, 

where Swain was vicar for many years. 

Jon gifford, owner of Oleander 

Press, says he is interested in publishing 

any genre of ‘lost’ book that has close 

associations with the University and the 

local area but is delighted to be able to 

bring back these books. “gray has been 

unavailable in the UK since 1919 and 

Swain since 1912,” he says. 

haunted garden 

Another recently republished ghost story 

is AP Baker’s A College Mystery, a tale of 

intra-collegiate rivalry at Christ’s in the 

mid-nineteenth century. It was originally 

brought out in 1918 and is now available 

through Back-in-Print Books. 

ALL IMAgES COPYRIgHT OF ISSAM KOURBAJ 

Baker was an undergraduate and 

lecturer at Christ’s at the turn of the 

20th century, and his book purports to 

explain the true and grisly story of two 

college Fellows – Christopher Round and 

Philip Collier. The ghost of the former, 

it is said, walks through the garden 

every year on 29 May and, on the same 

night, unsettling noises echo through 

the Fellows’ Building, where Round and 

Collier had rooms. 

The strength of A College Mystery 

lies in its ability to convince the reader 

that what passes in its pages is a true 

and accurate report of a terrible real-life 

incident (Baker’s novella is made up of an 

extended confession, excerpts from local 

newspapers and first-hand accounts from 

contemporary witnesses). 

Richard Reynolds, who works at 

Heffers on Trinity Street, and was 

Ghost town: these 

atmospheric images of 

Cambridge were taken by 

Christ’s artist in residence 

Issam Kourbaj using a 

camera obscura 

instrumental in bringing the story back 

into print, says he hears stories of people 

who stay in the Fellows’ Building and 

suffer a frightening and sleepless night, 

only to later find out about the story and 

the book. 

Whether the gruesome incident at 

its heart is true, the Fellows’ Building at 

Christ’s, and its garden towards the back 

of the college, are certainly two of the 

more atmospheric places in collegiate 

Cambridge. 

Baker’s story is fairly well known across 

the University – but it was one of his 

academic contemporaries who brought 

Cambridge and the supernatural to mass 

public attention. That man was MR James 

(1862-1936), former Provost of King’s 

and Director, from 1893 to 1908, of the 

Fitzwilliam Museum. 

James wrote more than 30 ghost 

stories in total, and his best work still 

has the ability to disturb and scare. 

While nearly all of his stories are set 

outside Cambridge – typically in a small 

Continental village, or an overlooked 

corner of the Suffolk coast – his 

protagonists are often Cambridge men 

from a still-recognisable world of colleges 

and academia. 

readings by the fire 

The best way to experience ghost 

stories is to hear them read aloud. It 

was something that James did himself, 

inviting a select audience of friends to 

his King’s study every Christmas, where 

he would treat them to his latest spinechilling 

composition. 

It is a tradition that survives. Up 

the road from James’s alma mater in St 

John’s, Patrick Boyde, Emeritus Professor 

of Italian, organises a programme of 

events throughout the year for graduate 

students and Fellows of the college. 

The most popular single event, he says, 

are the ghost stories he puts together 

in December, read by the fire in the 

16th-century Combination Room. 

After seven successful years, Professor 

Boyde has a good idea of how to transfix 

an audience. “get the atmosphere right 

– candles and a glowing fire – and have a 

good reader,” he says. “A skilled reader can 

convey all the necessary psychological 

detail in seconds. The listeners will be 

kept sitting on the edge of their seats 

and the slightest pause may lead them to 

think the next sentence will hit them in 

the stomach.” 

Fans of James – or those looking to 

witness the power of his storytelling – 

might also consider actor Robert Lloyd 


inSiDe the cOlleGeS 

“Ghost stories 

are a way of 

reinventing 

what we 

have lost” 

Parry’s one-man show A Pleasing Terror, 

an atmospheric retelling of two of 

James’s earliest tales, ‘Canon Alberic’s 

Scrap-book’ and ‘The Mezzotint’. The 

production, which will be performed at 

the Corpus Christi Playroom from 14 to 

19 December, sees Lloyd Parry play James 

in full Edwardian dress – a dead ringer, it 

has been said, for the great ghost writer 

himself. 

Meanwhile, back at Christ’s, 

Publications Officer Helen Mort has just 

brought out a collection of poems called 

A Pint for the Ghost. Over the past few 

years, Helen has established a reputation 

as one of the country’s most promising 

young poets, and her latest pamphlet 

was inspired by Cambridge’s master 

ghost writer. 

“I got the idea for the poems from 

reading MR James,” she says. “I was struck 

by the way we relate to places. I’m from 


Tales of college hauntings are 

legion across Cambridge 

Sheffield and am inspired by the area 

and its former industries. It struck 

me that ghost stories are a way of 

reinventing what we have lost.” 

Helen is not just interested in 

tales of the supernatural, though. Her 

poems use the ghost-story tradition to 

present often unpalatable truths about 

ourselves. “You can be a stranger in 

your own town, or in your own life,” she 

explains. “And the stories we make up 

for ourselves are as real as the facts.” 

While Helen’s poems are set in 

Sheffield, she does have a strong 

and pleasing link to ‘supernatural 

Cambridge’. While working at Christ’s, 

she lived in the Fellows’ Building, the 

setting for A College Mystery. 

“The rooms are mainly used as 

offices now, and at night there was 

no-one around. It was a terrifying place 

to live.” 

IMAgE COPYRIgHT OF ISSAM KOURBAJ 

Books to 

be won! 

ARE YOU inspired by the dark, misty 

streets of Cambridge? Think you 

could turn people’s blood cold with 

your writing? Why not enter our 

ghost story competition? 

The Newsletter has teamed up 

with Oleander Press and Heffers to 

find the most promising writer of 

ghost fiction in the University. The 

winner will receive copies of the 

following books: MR James’s Casting 

the Runes and Other Ghost Stories; A 

College Mystery by AP Baker; Tedious 

Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye 

by Ingulphus; Stoneground 

Ghost Tales by Eg Swain and 

Whipplesnaith’s The Night Climbers 

of Cambridge. 

Entries should be ghost stories 

set in, or inspired by, Cambridge. 

They don’t have to be completed 

tales – you can limit yourself to 

an opening 800 words – but they 

should show promise. 

The competition is open to 

members of the University only, 

with entries judged by Richard 

Reynolds of Heffers, Jon gifford 

of Oleander Press and Newsletter 

Editor Andrew Aldridge. 

➔ Please send your submissions to 

Andrew Aldridge, Newsletter Editor, 

The Pitt Building, Trumpington 

Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP or email 

them to him at aja43@admin.cam. 

ac.uk by 11 December. 

Be sure to include an email and 

telephone number.

Welcome to an occasional series on 

University institutions. First up, the 

Whipple Museum of the History of 

Science (pictured right) 

knOw yOur uniVerSity 

yesterday’s science today 

IT IS EASY in this age of rapid change to 

forget about the scientific instruments 

of yesteryear. But a trip to the Whipple 

tells us why we should care about them: 

most are fascinating objects; many have 

unusual stories associated with them; and 

nearly all tell us something interesting 

about the people and societies who first 

brought them into the world. 

Take the museum’s collection of 

pocket calculators. Marvel at the 

heavy-buttoned bricks from the 

early 1970s. Admire those sleek, 

breast-pocket machines from the 

1980s. And enjoy some of the early 

children’s calculators that you may 

have bought – or have been 

bought – as a present many 

years ago. 

You can enjoy these 

endearing machines in isolation – 

or as part of a wider display on the 

history of calculating devices, which 

preoccupied scientists and inventors 

for the best part of 350 years. 

It is a typically unusual and interesting 

collection from this lovingly run museum, 

which was founded in 1944 when Robert 

Whipple (1871-1953), an avid collector 

of scientific instruments and rare books, 

donated his personal collection to 

the University. 

Whipple, who rose to become 

Managing Director of the Cambridge 

Scientific Instrument Company, was 

involved in various learned societies 

and institutions, and his interest in the 

practice of science led him to amass 

an outstanding collection of antique 

scientific instruments. 

Today, the museum is an integral 

part of the Department of History and 

Philosophy of Science, with students 

making use of the collections for their 

studies as well as creating some of the 

display cabinets themselves. 

COPYRIgHT THE WHIPPLE MUSEUM 

“It would be 

easy to lose 

an afternoon 

or two in this 

museum’s 

company” 

Above: Charles Darwin’s 

Achromatic Compound 

Microscope, the centrepiece 

of a temporary exhibition at 

the Whipple Museum of 

the History of Science 

It is also very well curated. The 

permanent collections – which include 

exhibits focusing on astronomy, 

microscopes and educational models – 

are wide ranging, the narratives behind 

them illuminating, and the labels are 

clear and unobtrusive. Despite its rather 

modest space, it would be easy to lose an 

afternoon or two in its company. 

The Whipple also displays collections 

on a temporary basis – its Darwin 

exhibition, which includes the naturalist’s 

microscope and annotated user manual, 

has proved particularly popular this year, 

according to Museum Assistant Sarah 

Robertson. So has its collection of more 

than 40 globes, which can be viewed 

until December this year. 

So the next time you have a spare 

lunch hour, why not pay a visit and 

learn about the fascinating world of 

the history science? 

finD Out mOre 

➔ The Whipple Museum of the History of 

Science is on Free School Lane. It is open 

Monday to Friday from 12.30 to 4.30pm. 

Now for 

girls as well 

as boys. 

To �nd out more, visit 

www.perse.co.uk or call 

01223 403805 for a prospectus. 

The deadline for applications 

for entry in September 2010 is 

31st December 2009. 


PeOPle 

aPPOintmentS 

Professor gerard evan took up the 

Sir William Chair of Biochemistry 

and Head of Department on 1 

October, replacing Professor Sir 

Tom Blundell. He was previously 

gerson and Barbara Bass Bakar 

Distinguished Professor of 

Cancer Biology at the University 

of California, San Francisco. 

Professor Evan’s research is 

focused on understanding the 

processes responsible for genesis 

and maintenance of cancers, in 

particular cancers of the pancreas, 

colon, brain, skin and liver. 

Professor Tim Crane was appointed 

to the Knightbridge Professorship in 

the Faculty of Philosophy with effect 

from 1 September. Professor Crane 

was a member of University College 

London’s Philosophy Department 

between 1990 and 2009 and, in 2005, 

founded the Institute of Philosophy 

at the University of London, where he 

was Director until 2008. He studied 

at the University of Cambridge in 

the mid-1980s, obtaining his PhD in 

1989. The Knightbridge Professorship 

is one of the oldest professorships at 

the University. 

John emmines has stepped down as Senior Esquire Bedell 

after 22 years with the ceremonial team. Mr Emmines said: 

“As the 102nd Bedell since 1250, it has been a pleasure 

and honour to be part of that constancy of purpose. It has 

been my privilege to be present during a busy and historic 

period for the University, and to have worked as part of a 

good team and met some wonderful people.” Mr Emmines 

will remain in his post as Assistant Safety Adviser in the 

Health and Safety Office. 


OBituary 

helen elsom 

Professor dame ann dowling 

became Head of the University’s 

Department of Engineering on 1 

October. She replaced Professor 

Keith glover. Professor Dowling 

said: “This really is a wonderful 

opportunity for me to work with 

the whole department in 

developing the future of 

engineering at Cambridge. 

Professor glover has done a superb 

job for the past seven years and I 

look forward to taking on this role 

and the challenges ahead of me in 

ensuring continued excellence.” 

David Howarth, Member of Parliament 

for Cambridge and a Clare Fellow, writes: 

Dr Helen Elsom, who died on 17 

September aged only 52, was a 

pioneering classical scholar who 

moved from academia into hi-tech 

industry while pursuing a parallel 

career as a music critic. 

Dr Elsom came to King’s College from 

the East End of London. She obtained 

first class honours in Classics in 1979, 

completing her PhD on the Roman 

novelist Apuleius in 1985, having also 

gained an MA from Princeton University 

in comparative literature. 

From 1984 to 1987 Dr Elsom held a 

Research Fellowship at Clare College, 

before embarking again for the 

United States to take up an assistant 

professorship in classics at Cornell 

University. 

Dr Elsom was one of a small group 

of British women classicists who sought 

Jane mcLarty took up the post 

of Senior Tutor at Wolfson on 7 

September, succeeding David 

Jarvis, who is moving to be 

Senior Tutor of Murray Edwards. 

Jane was previously Admissions 

Tutor at Lucy Cavendish. She 

is an Affiliated Lecturer in the 

Faculty of Divinity, teaching 

New Testament greek and 

supervising for New Testament 

papers. She has just completed 

her PhD dissertation on the role 

of emotion in early Christian 

literature. 

in the 1980s and 1990s to bring feminist 

thinking to bear on classics and put the 

study of women in antiquity at the centre of 

the subject. 

She also wrote a superb study of the 

relationship between the New Testament 

and greco-Roman literature. 

The early 1990s were, however, a very 

difficult time in academia, especially in the 

humanities. Undeterred, Dr Elsom defied 

the supposed gulf between the humanities 

and the sciences by launching herself into 

a new career as a technical writer in hi-tech 

industry, in which role she eventually 

returned to Cambridge. 

Of very wide cultural interests, she wrote 

extensively on music, taking a particular 

interest in Handel’s operas. Her reviews – 

always both sharp and measured – appeared 

mainly online, where they achieved a wide 

following. 

She was also involved in politics as a 

staunch Liberal. 

Helen will be missed mainly, however, 

as a loyal friend whose pointed insights into 

people and events, often expressed with 

acerbic wit, were tempered by 

great kindness.

PrizeS, awarDS anD hOnOurS 

new fellows of the British academy 

Professor Mary Jacobus 

Seven Cambridge academics have been 

elected to British Academy Fellowships 

this year in recognition of their research 

achievements. They are: 

Professor simon baron-Cohen, Director 

of the Autism Research Centre and 

a Fellow of Trinity. Professor Cohen’s 

research focuses on the neuropsychology 

of autism, specifically in the phenomenon 

of mind-blindness. It also extends to the 

psychology of sex differences in humans 

and the role of foetal testosterone in 

neurocognitive development. 

Professor Philip ford, Professor of 

French and Neo-Latin Literature and a 

Fellow of Clare. Professor Ford’s research 

places an emphasis on the relationship 

between humanism and writing in French 

and Neo-Latin literature. He has produced 

a wide variety of publications on subjects 

such as george Buchanan, Pierre de 

Ronsard, Renaissance mythography 

and the reception of Homer in the 

Renaissance. 

Professor Jonathan haslam, Professor 

of the History of International Relations 

and a Fellow of Corpus Christi. His 

research interests include the history 

of thought in international relations, 

the history of Soviet foreign policy 

and the contemporary history of Chile. 

Professor Haslam has also published a 

biography on the historian, journalist and 

Dissertations 

dr danielle van den heuvel won 

the International Economic History 

Association’s PhD Dissertation Prize (pre- 

1800 category) for her thesis ‘Women and 

Entrepreneurship: Female Traders in the 

Northern Netherlands circa 1580-1815’ 

(Aksant Academic Publishers, 2007). 

Dr van den Heuvel was appointed Ottilie 

Hancock Research Fellow in Modern 

international relations theorist EH Carr. 

Professor mary Jacobus, Director of the 

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social 

Sciences and Humanities and a Fellow 

of Churchill. She is also a professor of 

English at the University. Professor 

Jacobus’ research interests lie in British 

Romanticism with an emphasis on 

the work of William Wordsworth. She 

also has special research interests in 

feminist literary theory and criticism, 

psychoanalysis and visual culture. 

dr John marenbon, a senior research 

Fellow of Trinity whose academic 

interests are centred on the history 

of philosophy, especially the period 

spanning the sixth to 18th century. Dr 

Marenbon has written specifically on the 

period before 1200 on Boethius, Anselm 

and Abelard. His current work, however, 

extends to the period of Leibniz. 

Professor susan rankin, a Professor of 

Medieval Music and Fellow of Emmanuel. 

Her research is on Western medieval 

music and its transmission and notation 

from origins to the thirteenth century. 

She is also interested in the development 

of the Latin liturgy, with a special focus 

on ritual. 

Professor John duncan, Honorary 

Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience. 

Professor Duncan researches the 

psychological and neural mechanisms 

of selective attention and general 

intelligence. His research uses a 

variety of different methods including 

cognitive psychology, studies of brain 

damage, functional brain imaging and 

neurophysiology. 

The British Academy is the national 

academy for the humanities and the 

social sciences, the counterpart to the 

Royal Society, which exists to serve the 

natural sciences. Its president is the 

philosopher Baroness Onora O’Neill, 

the former Principal of Newnham and a 

lecturer at the University’s Department of 

Philosophy. 

History at girton in 2008. Her research 

interests are primarily in the economic 

development of early modern Europe. 

St Catharine’s alumnus Chris 

fitzsimmons won the British 

Hydrological Society’s dissertation 

prize for his paper ‘Subglacial drainage 

system structure and morphology of 

Midtdalsbreen, Norway’. 

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen 

Professor John Gurdon 

Dr Danielle van den Heuvel 

Other awards 

➔ Professor Christopher dobson, 

Master of St John’s, has been awarded 

a Royal Medal for “his outstanding 

contributions to the understanding of the 

mechanisms of protein folding and misfolding, 

and the implications for disease”. 

Three Royal Medals, known also as the 

Queen’s Medals, are awarded annually by 

the Sovereign upon recommendation of 

the Council of the Royal Society. 

➔ Professor John gurdon has been 

awarded the 2009 Albert Lasker Basic 

Medical Research award with Professor 

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University. 

They received the award for their 

discoveries in nuclear reprogramming. 

This process instructs fully specialised 

adult cells how to turn into stem cells 

that can guide the formation of any 

tissue type. Nuclear reprogramming thus 

provides the means to create invaluable 

materials for experimental or therapeutic 

purposes. 

➔ Professor John Williams has been 

elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of 

Engineering. He is distinguished as the 

originator of the spiral groove pumping 

seal, which has greatly extended the 

performance of mechanical face seals and 

is widely used in the oil and gas handling 

industries. 

➔ Professor sir John meurig Thomas, 

of the Department of Materials Science 

and Metallurgy and former Master 

of Peterhouse, has been awarded 

the Bragg Lectureship by the British 

Crystallographic Society. 

➔ Professor horace barlow, who is 

based in the Department of Physiology, 

Development and Neuroscience, was 

awarded the Swartz Prize for Theoretical 

and Computational Neuroscience. The 

American Society for Neuroscience 

presents the prize to “an individual 

whose activities over a period of time 

have produced a significant cumulative 

contribution to theoretical models or 

computational methods in neuroscience, 

or to a person who has made a 

particularly noteworthy advance over 

the past several years in theoretical or 

computational neuroscience”. 

➔ dr Jessica sharkey recently won the 

Sir John Neale Prize in Tudor History, 

awarded by the Institute of Historical 

Research. Dr Sharkey joined Wolfson as 

a Research Fellow in October from Clare, 

where she completed her PhD thesis ‘The 

Politics of Wolsey’s Cardinalate, 1515- 

1530’ under the supervision of Professor 

John guy. 


aDVertiSementS 

Advertising on this page is open to University staff. The cost is £15 for a single insertion or £75 for six insertions. The deadline 

for the February/March issue is 9 December. Send your copy – no longer than 70 words – to the Editor at newsletter@admin. 

cam.ac.uk or call 32300. We reserve the right to edit contributions 

hOuSeS tO rent 

➔ north yorkshire moors 

Low Mill, Farndale, with sitting 

room, dining rooms, playroom, 

kitchen, four bedrooms, two 

bathrooms and garden with lovely 

views. Sleeps seven, all mod cons. 

Fabulous walks in all directions. 

Near Rievaulx, Castle Howard, 

Runswick Bay. £370 a week. 

Contact Horace or Miranda Barlow 

on 01223 366618/333867 or email 

hbb10@cam.ac.uk. 

➔ Cornwall 

Traditional granite cottage in 

peaceful countryside between St 

Ives and Penzance. Sleeps five in 

three bedrooms, with comfortable 

sitting room, kitchen-breakfast 

room and bathroom. Sunny 

garden and off-road parking. Close 

to beaches and coves, coastal 

path, sub-tropical gardens, historic 

properties. Details and photos at 

www.tinminerscottage.co.uk. 

Contact Penny Barton on pb29@ 

cam.ac.uk or 01638 507192. 

➔ arran, scotland 

Holiday let on the Isle of 

Arran with easy links from 

glasgow. Available all-year 

round. Recently refurbished fourbed 

house on seafront with views 

of the Holy Isle, sleeps six. Cycle 

routes and forestry tracks a short 

walk from the house, with 

mountaineering, horse riding and 

sailing available on the island. 

Contact km511@medschl.cam. 

ac.uk. Further details are at 

http://www.cottages-and-castles. 

co.uk/property/view/accomodationcottages-lamlash-marine-villaar058.html 

➔ Perth, scotland 

Scandinavian-style fourbedroomed 

house in quiet area 

of Perth available for holiday lets. 

Beautiful secluded garden, safe 

for dogs and children. Sleeps 

up to seven with lounge/dining 

room (TV, video, DVD), two 

bathrooms with showers, one 

double bedroom downstairs, large 

conservatory. Beautiful forestry 

one mile away, Scone Palace 

nearby. £350-£550 a week. 

Contact mornaknottenbelt@ 

hotmail.com 

➔ andalucia, spain 

gorgeous country house near 


national park with stunning 

views. Sleeps eight (plus cot) in 

four double rooms. All comforts 

including internet, large pool, 

large terraces, underfloor heating 

and wood burning stove. guided 

walking and biking available, 

Malaga airport one hour away. 

From £500 a week. Short breaks 

available. 

www.casalouisa.net. 

➔ algarve, Portugal 

Spacious, family owned apartment 

sleeps up to five in idyllic village. 

Private patio and roof terrace, 

shared pools. Picturesque beach 

five minutes away, restaurants in 

village, tennis, golf, waterparks and 

shopping close by. Faro airport 45 

minutes away. Stunning and quiet 

location. Short and long breaks 

available. More information at 

www.holiday-home-rentals.co.uk 

(property 4995). 

Contact Helen at Helen.floto@gmail. 

com or phone 01954 267291. 

➔ Cote d’azur, france 

Flat available to rent, fully 

furnished, one bedroom, living 

room, kitchen, bathroom. Double 

bed with single put-u-up, two 

balconies facing south-east, 

fifth floor with lift. Easy access 

to airport, daily market, sea and 

surrounding countryside. 

£50 per night. 

For more information email 

shimis2003@yahoo.fr 

➔ Tuscan apuan alps, italy 

16th-century Italian monastery 

available for conferences, 

workshops, schools and group 

meetings. Fully equipped lecture 

theatre and extensive computer 

facilities with accommodation 

onsite. Daily activities such as 

mountaineering, caving, canyon 

walking, city tours, swimming, art 

classes and restaurant trips can be 

organised on request. 

Contact details at http://www. 

vallico.net/tti/tti.html 

➔ Tuscany, italy 

18th-century farmhouse with eastfacing 

studio available September 

to May. Restored to high standard, 

with writers, artists and academics 

in mind. Central heating, mod 

cons and broadband. Beautiful 

location above small hamlet ten 

miles from Lucca. Sleeps five. 

Long-term rent discounts. Details 

and photographs available. 

Contact jmg47@cam.ac.uk 

➔ rome 

One-bedroom luxury flat available 

for short rentals. A/c, cable 

television, fully networked, vast 

terrace. £400 per week all 

inclusive. Further info available 

on request. 

Contact: Cristiano Ristuccia car37@ 

cam.ac.uk 

➔ suffolk 

Comfortable, spacious, well 

equipped cottage with piano 

in Butley, Suffolk. Available for 

Aldeburgh Festival, weekends 

and short breaks throughout the 

year. Close to Orford, Sutton Hoo, 

Snape and Minsmere. Sleeps up to 

eight. More information at www. 

butleycottage.co.uk. 

Contact Miranda on 01223 357035 

or info@butleycottage.co.uk 

➔ bohinj, slovenia 

Beautiful new one-bed, groundfloor 

apartment. Sleeps up to four. 

EasyJet Stansted to Ljubljana plus 

40 minutes by car. Five-minute 

walk to Kobla Ski, 15-minute drive 

to Vogel Ski. Full range of winter 

sports. 

Contact Peter Hayler on pjh89@ 

cam.ac.uk 

SerViceS 

➔ orchestra 

The King John Orchestra is a 

sociable orchestra set up by 

and for parents and friends of 

schools in and around 

Cambridge. It rehearses 

fortnightly on Monday evenings 

in school term time in the 

grange Road area and 

currently has vacancies for brass 

and string players. If you want 

to get back to playing your 

instrument in an informal and 

friendly atmosphere, 

please email kjo@kcs.cambs. 

sch.uk. 

➔ Private english Lessons 

Cambridge Classroom offers 

private tuition in English with an 

experienced and highly qualified 

tutor, from preparation for tests 

and examinations, to simple 

conversation classes. We can also 

work on skills like pronunciation 

or writing. All kinds of learner 

are welcome: visiting scholars, 

graduate students or anyone 

wishing to brush up on their 

English skills. Details at 

www.cambridgeclassroom.co.uk 

or email info@cambridgeclassroom. 

co.uk. 

➔ garden design 

Local garden design, border 

design, Christmas wreaths: does 

your garden need rejuvenating? 

Call us for stylish ideas or 

horticultural advice. We also make 

bespoke, evergreen or willow 

wreaths and table centre-pieces 

for autumn, Thanksgiving and 

Christmas. 

Contact Annick or Helen on 01763 

209367/01954 267291 or visit www. 

paperwhite.co.uk 

VOlunteerS 

➔ help the homeless 

Volunteers needed for Business 

Action on Homelessness (BAOH), 

which helps homeless people 

back into employment. Volunteer 

as a ‘job coach’ or help with CV 

writing/interview skills sessions in 

Cambridge. BAOH is also looking 

for University departments and 

colleges that can host individuals 

on short unpaid work placements. 

Contact Jenny Webb on 01638 

663272 or email jenny.webb@bitc. 

org.uk. 

➔ museum help 

The Scott Polar Research Institute 

is recruiting volunteers to staff 

the museum when it reopens 

in June 2010. If this interesting 

development appeals to you, and 

you can give time on a regular 

basis – one or two half-day shifts 

a week – please send a short CV 

to Nick Hunnisett at the Institute, 

or email it to him at nsh32@cam. 

ac.uk by 18 December. For an 

informal chat, call Nick on 07752 

163948. 

The University of Cambridge 

accepts no responsibility for the 

advertisements or their content. 

When submitting an advert, 

please remember to include your 

contact details.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY FELIx BENNETT 

BehinD the SceneS 

Porters’ blues 

Chaperoning wildlife, retrieving lost rugby posts and handling enquiries about 

14th century Cambridgeshire. Here are a selection of some of the stranger requests 

porters have been asked across collegiate Cambridge 

“TWO AMERICAN STUDENTS called 

us at half-past two in the morning 

to ask us to remove a spider from 

their room.” 

“Several years ago, a part-time 

porter – who has since moved 

on to pastures new – put up 

our college flag. The only 

problem was that he 

hoisted it upside down. It 

then got stuck and we had 

to call the fire service to get it 

down.” 

“We had a strange 

memo not so long ago: 

‘Please put ducks on pond 

at 9.30am’.” 

“Our old Master had 

two cats – Jemima and 

Geoffrey. Every Sunday 

we had to babysit one 

of them because he would 

run into the chapel and start 

miaowing at the top of his voice. It 

drowned out the choir.” 

“Last year a student asked us if he 

could hang a brace of partridges in his 

room.” 

“I was once asked to come and catch 

a pheasant that was running around on 

the second floor of one of our staircases. 

I went up and, sure enough, there 

was a large male pheasant causing 

havoc. I got a large bath towel, caught 

him and released him 

downstairs.” 

“I was asked 

to donate 

my body to 

science” 

“Late one evening we had a thrush 

trapped in the Porters’ Lodge. It was 

playing dead so I turned all the lights 

out, and opened the window in the 

hope that it would fly out. People did 

ask why we were sitting in complete 

darkness.” 

“A long time ago we had someone, a 

bit worse for wear, who decided to climb 

over the college wall. Unfortunately 

he slipped and impaled his leg on the 

Master’s gate. We called an ambulance, 

and then the fire service, who cut 

the man free and took him and the 

offending railing to Addenbrooke’s 

Hospital. The following day I had a call 

asking me to retrieve the metalwork 

from the hospital so the Master’s gate 

could be mended. He made a speedy 

recovery.” 

“A few year’s ago an elderly alumnus 

of the college came to stay. Some time 

during the afternoon, he came down 

to the Porters’ Lodge to explain that 

his phone wasn’t working. I asked him 

whether it was connected to the socket. 

A quizzical look came across his face 

so I went up to his room. Sure enough 

the phone was out of its socket and I 

showed him how to fix the problem. 

He then turned to me and said: ‘Crikey, 

I didn’t realise you had to plug those 

things in.’ ” 

“We found some rugby posts in our 

college court one morning.” 

“I was asked to donate my body to 

scientific research.” 

“Once a year we have to walk 

the college ducks across the road 

and towards the river. They choose 

to breed in the Master’s garden. 

We get them ready and in line, and 

the Head Porter and Head Gardener 

walk them across the road. The Head 

Porter at the college opposite then 

takes over until they arrive safely at 

the river.” 

“Last weekend I got a call from a 

lady helping her grand-daughter with 

her homework. She wanted to know the 

population of Cambridgeshire in 1300.” 


800th anniVerSary uPDate 

x 

Quentin Blake unveils 800th mural 

ILLUSTRATOR AND DOWNINg alumnus 

Quentin Blake has produced his own 

distinctive history of the University in its 

800th year. 

‘Cambridge 800: an Informal 

Panorama’ is a collection of 13 drawings 

more than 20 metres long that 

depict some of the University’s most 

recognisable alumni. 

The mural, donated by the University 

to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, was unveiled 

by the artist in September. 

It will form the centrepiece of the 

hospital’s Art Walk, which was opened 

in 2002. 

a first-class 

service 

THE ROYAL MAIL has created a 

commemorative stamp sheet 

featuring some of the discoveries 

and achievements of Cambridge 

researchers and alumni over the past 

eight centuries. 

The stamp sheets are available at 

the Fitzwilliam Museum Shop, as well as 

at most Post Offices. 

Sky-high 

celebrations 

in the uSa 

ONE OF THE world’s most 

famous buildings will be 

lit in Cambridge blue for 

the University’s 800th 

anniversary celebrations. 

The Empire State 

Building in New York City 

will be lit on Friday, 4 

December and Saturday, 

5 December. The tribute 

was arranged through 

the work of Cambridge in 

America, the University’s 

alumni relations and 

fundraising office in 

the USA. 

Cambridge in America 

will also be throwing an 

800th anniversary gala 

on the Saturday evening, 

where broadcaster and 

Cambridge alumnus Sir 

David Frost will be Master 

of Ceremonies. 

finD Out mOre 

from Cambridge in 

America’s website at www. 

cantab.org 


time travel for your coffee table 

A PUZZLE produced by Christ’s 

artist in residence Issam Kourbaj in 

collaboration with the Cambridge 

Archaeological Unit takes you back in 

time to Cambridge’s foundations. 

‘A Cambridge Palimsest’ also includes 

a map drawn especially for the project 

by Jon Harris. 

The word palimsest comes 

from ancient greek and refers to 

a manuscript page that has been 

scraped off and reused. Issam’s 

palimsest consists of five layers, much 

like a three-dimensional jigsaw, that 

chart the development of the city 

– from its geological foundations, 

AFTER CELEBRATIONS big and small, the 

800th anniversary year will come to a close 

exactly where it began. 

The finale will take place over 

three nights in January, starting on 

Friday the 15th and winding up on 

Sunday the 17th. 

Senate House and Old Schools will 

once again feature prominently, as will 

several other venues in central Cambridge. 

Please come and join us celebrate in style. 

➔ For full details, check the 800th 

anniversary website at www.cam.ac.uk/800 

medieval development and on to its 

current state. 

➔ For more information, email Issam 

on ik254@cam.ac.uk 

a date for the diary: the finale beckons

Ghost town Spooks, hauntings and tall tales - the University Offices ...

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