College Record 2017

docs. I was lucky to become the first Research Fellows' Liaison Officer, and was
replaced by Anne Deighton in 2013. I want to pay tribute here also to Anne, who has
brought so much devotion and innovation to the post. We both agree it is a wonderful
job, but she has redefined it for the better.
We have been extraordinarily lucky to have Dame Hermione as our President, who
has done so much to make Wolfson make sense. Her husband John Barnard has
also contributed much to the College by way of his regular charming presence and
support. In the year of Hermione’s retirement as President, I wish them both every
happiness in the next phase of their lives. I also want to extend my best wishes to our
President-elect, Tim Hitchens. May he, in his own way, continue to make Wolfson
make sense in the turbulent years to come.
Let me finish by returning to the historical book compiled by John Penney and Roger
Tomlin, in which they wrote: ‘… the main thing that emerges from all the issues of
the College magazines and the College Record that we have perused is that people
are happy here, and that is perhaps the College’s greatest achievement.’
In the same book, Roger Hausheer recalls an incident in the days of the College
while still at its 60 Banbury Road site. This incident involved Godfrey Lienhardt,
whom some of you here will remember as one of the truly notable characters of
the young College. Lienhardt recalled Isaiah Berlin saying to him: ‘Do you realise,
Lienhardt, this is possibly the only college in Oxford where there is absolutely no
one you could possibly dislike?’
That was then and this is now.
How much this idyllic condition remained true over the years will depend on the
view of the individual Fellow. What I can say is that in my experience, exceptions
to the Berlin principle, if I may call it that, have been very few and far between. I
have watched the Fellowship change over the years, but I have always enjoyed it. I
have gained an insight into areas of research and academic life that are far from my
own — and of course this is one of the great blessings of belonging to an Oxbridge
college of any kind. Over the years, Maita and I have been treated kindly by the
College staff and we have made life-long friends from both the Fellowship and the
graduate student body. For this alone we will be forever grateful.
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