Wolfson College Record 2021

Memories
train-set with tunnels that went through the skirting boards of every room in the
house. When I went there it was a work in progress, but sufficiently advanced
for him and his children to be developing timetables for main-line expresses and
side lines to way-by stations. Peter’s and his family’s enthusiasm for trains also
took them on rail excursions to Europe and the Middle East armed with printed
timetables (no internet in those days) for hundreds of connections. Meeting
Peter Hulin and his sharing with me some personal insights into his interests and
obsessions is one unforgettable memory of my Wolfson sojourn.
Another delight was the informal seminars initiated by Sir Isaiah where staff and
students were asked to talk about their research and to make a presentation that
could be understood and appreciated by College members from all disciplines. I
recall trying to explain my work on the rates of chemical reactions. To illustrate
that increased temperature speeds up reaction rates, I dug up an ants’ nest in
the garden and spread the ants over the glass sheet of the overhead projector.
When I switched the projector on, the ants moved rather slowly, but then as the
glass heated up they went faster and faster. The audience was suitably impressed.
(Fortunately, no one asked if it might not have been a photochemical effect with
the light that was causing the increased activity.) I see from recent copies of the
College Record that the President’s Seminars are still a feature of the academic
calendar, and that interdisciplinary themes bridging the sciences and the humanities
maintain Sir Isaiah’s vision for an intermingling of intellectual pursuits.
A further highlight, albeit a small one, was the opportunity of heading towards No.
60 after a day’s toil in the lab, for general winding down and social intercourse.
More specifically, though, it was to play croquet. I don’t know if that still features
as a Wolfson activity, but then it was a major pastime and sessions had to be
booked well in advance. And in spite of the popular myth of it being viciously
competitive, the games were tremendous fun and invigorating.
The more important sporting activity that I participated in, however, was much
more demanding. Shortly after arriving at Wolfson a graduate student, Mark
Bisby, started going around at lunch times asking if any of the younger diners had
experience of rowing. There were only a few positive replies, so the question
changed to who would be interested to learn. And I thought, ‘Why not?’ Thus
was formed the first Wolfson College boat. I don’t recall exactly how many of the
eight had previously rowed. Mark had rowed for his undergraduate college, but at
least half of us had limited or no experience. In spite of the unpromising start and
Mark’s frustrations in having to deal with the ineptitude of some crew members,
particularly one M L H, he was able to teach us to row with reasonable efficiency
and in something resembling synchronisation, and thus to put the first Wolfson
boat (borrowed from his undergraduate college, I think) onto the river. The
momentous date was Wednesday 29 May, 1969.
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college record 2021