Association of Oxford University Pensioners

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2 Association of Oxford University Pensioners President: Professor Carlos Ruiz Chairman: Professor Gilliane Sills The Committee: Secretary: Jan Allen Treasurer: Geoffrey Clough Newsletter Editors: Laurence Reynolds, John and Gaynor Woodhouse, Eileen Iredale Events Administrator: Caroline Carpenter Website Manager: Rosemary Williams Members: Wendy Claye, Susan Greenford, David Mills (co-opted), Andrew Moss. Membership of the Association Staff who have worked in the University or a college until reaching retirement are eligible for AOUP membership in one of two ways. Membership is granted automatically for life to University staff who at the time of their retirement are employed by the University, and also to their spouses or partners. Staff who at the time of their retirement are employed by a College, and their spouses, partners, widows, widowers, may opt for AOUP membership by joining as a Social member, paying an annual subscription which is currently 5. Social membership is also open to University AOUP members who choose to pay the annual subscription. All AOUP members receive the Newsletter twice a year, and are able to attend the winter talks. Social members are entitled to apply to join in all excursions and other activities organised throughout the year. Application forms are available from The Secretary, AOUP, c/o Beaver House, Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, OX1 2ET Subscriptions for Social Membership are due on 31 January. However, if no renewal is received by 28 February, you will be deemed to have withdrawn from Social Membership. Subscriptions: The Treasurer, 46 Laurel Drive, Southmoor, OX13 5DJ Trips and Visits: The Events Administrator (address on application forms) Newsletter: The Newsletter Editor, 35 William Street, Marston, Oxford OX3 0ES Pensioner Visitor: Mrs Marie Hough. She normally works on three days between Monday and Thursday based at Beaver House, Hythe Bridge Street, with Pensions and Finance and may be reached on where messages can be left or marie.hough@admin.ox.ac.uk.

3 Table of contents Editorial 2 Chairman s Report 2 Pensioners Welfare Officer s Report 3 Spring/Summer Programme Melons Galore: food discoveries by English travellers in Italy Corsi s polished stones 11 Reports of Autumn/Winter Visits British and Best: Inside the British Library and the Magna Carta Exhibition 15 Hampstead and Kenwood House 17 Oxford University Press Museum 19 The Trials of Galileo at the Burton-Taylor Studio Theatre 20 Reports of Autumn/Winter Talks Behind the Scenes: aspects of the film and TV industry 22 The Scientific Exploration of Mars 23 Also-Rans: the Injustice of History 25 A Miscellany 26 The Magna Carta Pageant Amblers Anonymous a Walk on the Historic Side 28 Six things a Bear can do with a Ragged Staff 29 The 2015 AOUP Carol Service and Christmas Lunch 30 Pensioners Crossword No Solution to Pensioners Crossword No Obituaries 34 1

4 Editorial Our two feature articles give the Spring issue an Italian flavour. Diego Zancani, Emeritus Professor of Italian, has an interest in the food history of his native country and writes appetizingly about the culinary experiences of 16th- and 17th-century English travellers in Italy. Monica Price, Head of Earth Collections at the University Museum of Natural History, brings to our attention what is perhaps one of the Museum s less familiar treasures the Corsi Collection of Decorative Stones, many of which do, indeed, look good enough to eat. Although not on public display, the collection is readily accessible on the comprehensive and colourful website, which we do encourage you to explore. There is, of course, much besides the feature articles in this issue, and, as always, the Editors are most grateful to AOUP members who agree to write reports for the Newsletter on the talks and visits. Please do let us know if you see something in the forthcoming programme that you would be willing to write up for the next issue otherwise we have to resort to ambush! The Editors Chairman s Report What a strange winter we ve had so far! Lots of wind and rain and not enough of the cold clear days that can make English winter days special. The consequences can be surprising too the Guardian reported David Buckingham, the senior conservation scientist with the RSPB explaining potential problems for birds. It may sound paradoxical, but mild weather can often produce dramatic reductions in insect populations. Very cold weather kills off viruses and bacteria in the soil whereas in mild weather they thrive. They then infect and kill off large numbers of insects, including native species of butterflies and moths. Their numbers drop, and that has consequences later in the year when native birds, such as wrens and goldcrests, do not have enough food to feed their chicks which then starve. Prolonged mild weather can have unexpected and pervasive effects. On the other hand, I guess that if the weather s too cold, that will be directly bad for insects. And there is an advantage, too, in the warmth we ve had spring seems already here in my garden, with primroses, crocuses, snowdrops, even daffodils, in bud or in flower and, perhaps my favourite, the Algerian Iris, Iris Unguicularis. It has been another good six months for AOUP, with a wide range of activities. One of the most exciting for me was the performance of The Trials of Galileo in the Burton Taylor Theatre. Richard and I saw it last year and I was so impressed that I arranged with the producer that AOUP should have three dedicated performances. The producer then added a further two public performances, both of which sold out well in advance, and I very much enjoyed the realisation that AOUP was making an impact beyond our membership. It was also interesting as a use of our list to alert members to the fact that there were still tickets available after the deadline. We have two summer trips in to London, and I m really sorry that we have to leave Oxford very early for these 8.15am from Pusey House and 8.30am from 2

5 Peartree Services. Traffic in to London is very difficult to predict and, advised by Barbara Plastow, we re now allowing two hours for the journey from Peartree. We may well arrive early, but this is less stressful than arriving late. I suggested in the last Newsletter that we would dispense with the Membership cards this year, and no-one has objected to this proposal. From now on, Social members will receive just application forms for outings. This year has been a very stable one in terms of committee membership. Jan Allen has taken on the two Secretary roles we have Membership and Committee so she maintains the database of members, and organises all our committee meetings. She also generously agreed to organise the Christmas Carol Service, so she s taken over everything that Caroline Harding did and we re grateful to Caroline for providing support by answering the many questions that arose. Jan and Geoff Clough, the Treasurer, liaise to make sure that those on the Social Membership list are all paid up; so if you don t receive application forms for outings with this Newsletter when you were expecting to do so it may be that you re one of those for whom we don t have a current record of payment. If this happens, please let us know in case we ve made a mistake but if your Social Membership has lapsed and you d like to renew it, please consider doing so by completing a Standing Order mandate it saves so much work for us. Caroline Carpenter has coped brilliantly with the steadily increasing number of applications for outings helped by her husband David; many thanks to both of them. And thanks too to everyone else on the Committee and to those members who ve made suggestions for speakers and outings please do keep the ideas coming in. I look forward to seeing and hearing from many of you during the coming year. Gilliane Sills Pensioners Welfare Officer s Report In November I attended The Care and Dementia Show at The National Exhibition Centre. The exhibitors were varied from providing care at home services, equipment to maintain independence, computing systems to manage staff in nursing homes, and cleaning and hotel services for nursing homes. I was particularly pleased to see good quality food and the use of fresh ingredients high on the agenda for nursing homes. Having recently read a piece of research on the beneficial effects of spices and red peppers, I was keen to see the use of these in nursing home foods. Spices, the research had concluded, have beneficial roles in treating cardiovascular, dermatological and gastrointestinal conditions, and various cancers and neurogenic bladder. For the best possible effect we should use fresh chilli peppers as they are richer in the bioactive ingredient. The research also claims eating red peppers decreases the appetite and may be able to help counter obesity. However, it is disturbing that at times I still hear from some of you about the poor quality of food being served to relatives who are in nursing homes: a problem that urgently needs to be looked at. One of the exhibitors at The Care and Dementia Show was Spring Chicken, based at Prama House, 267 Banbury Road, Oxford. Its claim is to provide products for making life easier and brighter. They certainly had an unusual way of attracting 3

6 people onto their stand as they had an artist drawing caricatures of the unsuspecting. Mine I will only show to those who promise not to laugh! Their website is or Freephone One of the seminars I attended was The Funding of Adult Social Care exploring the current system and the potential capping of care costs. The speakers were Nadra Ahmed OBE, Chairman of the National Care Association and Alan Lotinga, Director for Health and Wellbeing, Birmingham City Council. Funding of care can be very confusing for people; and now there is a delay in the implementation of the Care Act phase two which was to introduce caps on the individual s liability to pay for their own care. Oxfordshire County Council have a duty to complete a free care needs assessment when someone has care needs; and they also have a duty to complete a financial assessment free of charge. Under the new Care Act the Council have a duty to help even those who are self-funding to arrange packages of care when staying at home. They do, however, have two charging bands depending on whether they are just arranging, or arranging and managing, the care package on your behalf. You can of course still arrange your own care package when you are self-funding. The financial assessment the Council undertakes can be difficult to follow as regards how the Council calculates whether individuals need to make a contribution towards their care costs; but it is a set procedure. Hopefully this is done with some sensitivity, as the fact that these assessments are needed implies that people are already in a vulnerable position. It is too complex for me to try to explain here, but I can recommend you to Age UK Fact Sheet 10 Paying for Permanent Residential Care and Age UK Fact Sheet 41 Social Care Assessment, eligibility and Care Planning. It may be that you need to take some specific financial advice. There is the Society of Later Life Advisors, who specialise in advising on the requirements we may need to use our finances for as we age. They can be contacted on Tel or admin@societyoflaterlifeadvisors.co.uk Oxford County Council also recommend My Care My Home Tel to give advice on care needs. Anyone whose spouse or partner has had to go into care is often not prepared for the impact and the large void it can leave for the person left at home. I would urge anyone in this situation not to be afraid to ask for support to get over this most difficult of transitions in their life. I would suggest Carers Oxfordshire at carersoxfordshire@oxfordshire.gov.uk Tel or Carers UK Tel info@carersuk.org I am always happy to visit anyone trying to come to terms with a loved one going into care; so please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone or . I do routinely come out to visit those of you who are over 75 years of age and especially those of you over 90, but I am happy to call on anyone, whatever your age, if you would like a visit; and I still go to the University Club most third Tuesdays of the month from 2pm. Marie Hough, Pensioner Welfare Officer, Finance Division, University of Oxford, 23/38 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2ET, Tel marie.hough@admin.ox.ac.uk 4

7 Spring/Summer Programme 2016 Talks The remaining talk will take place, as usual, in the Department of Engineering Science, starting at 2.15pm in Lecture Theatre 2. Tea, coffee and cakes will be served after the talk in the Holder Common Room nearby. 16 March Children and War: experiences of the Second World War in Oxfordshire Liz Woolley Visits 1,3,9,11,15,17, Literary Oxford walks (Alistair Lack) 21 March 24 April (Sunday) Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the BBC & 4 May 9-13 May Five-day excursion to South-East Ireland 18 & 24 May Woburn Abbey 8 & 16 June Secret London (City & Village Tours) 6 & 14 July Coughton Court and Ragley 28 & 29 July President s Garden Parties 15 & 21 September St Albans visit to cathedral and walking tour of city 14 December Carol Service and Christmas Lunch Melons Galore: food discoveries by English travellers in Italy Travellers have always been keen to visit Italy, seen both as a cradle of civilisation where much of Western art, architecture, and science began, and as the centre of Christianity, or at least of Catholicism, even when, for Protestant visitors, there may have been dangers. To visit a foreign land is to confront yourself and your background. Intelligent travel implies a reflection on the self, a comparison with modes of living taken for granted, and an analysis of individual and social behaviour. This may apply also to that essential activity of human beings: food, not just as nourishment, but also as symbolism, ritual, and even religious - or at least superstitious - attitudes. Moreover, these first-hand experiences must usually be written to be communicated to others, and this involves a further level of reflection and organisation, if not of rhetorical skill. All the travellers mentioned here have something to convey about the process of discovery, of different customs, different languages, and different foods, all in one geographical area called Italy, which did not exist at the time as a unified political entity. Although these travellers had to pass through numerous borders, obtain various passports, and frequently bribe frontier guards, they are all aware of being in Italy. The oldest known diary of English travel in Italy is by Sir Richard Torkington, a priest who went to Jerusalem via Northern Italy around He apparently had a 5

8 sweet tooth, and was very impressed by Venetian marzipan, and biscuits with sweet wine. Another traveller to the European continent who reached the Italian peninsula and left a record of his journey was the former Carthusian monk and physician, Andrew Borde, who published his Introduction to Knowledge in Apart from some platitudes in the short section on Rome, such as Italy is a noble champion countre plesaunt and plentyfull of breade, wyne and corne, Borde adds some curious remarks when talking of central and Northern Italy (i.e. Lombardy). He states that the Lombards wyll ete frogges, guttes and all. Adders, snayles and musheroms be good meate there. This may seem an early example of sensationalism, but is reminiscent of an important dietary treatise of the mid-15th century by Michele Savonarola, the chief medical doctor at the court of Ferrara. He mentions frogs, together with snails, but specifies that they need to be eviscerated, cleaned and that the head and feet should be cut off, then fried in pork fat, and a little verjuice (agresto) should be added, with some pepper and cloves. For many English travellers, discovering Italian food is like discovering a different and new language. One of the earliest travellers is a very well-known aristocratic figure, diplomat and writer, who left a manuscript diary, not intended for publication. Sir Thomas Hoby ( ) studied at St John s College, Cambridge. In August 1548, he left for Italy to study at Padua, although he did not register in the Faculty of Arts and Law, and left the Venetian town on 7 June His Travels and life ( ) concern two separate visits to Italy. In general, he seems to be more interested in wines than in food, and he lists many in the various states of Italy, such as Torbiano in Tuscany (Trebbiano?), malvoseye (Malvasia?) in Rome. Although Sir Thomas mentions that in Siena he was invited to dinner by Don Diego de Mendoza, together with other Englishmen, he only says that they were greatlie feasted and gentlie entertained without giving any details. This is a common feature among early travellers. They generally enjoy food, but they do not tell us what it was. When Sir Thomas reaches Southern Italy, he remarks on the abundance of various foodstuffs, which are notable for deliciousness and for sensual pleasure in great quantitie. In this sense he is one of the first to emphasise the connection between food and pleasure. Voluptas was a familiar concept to travellers who had studied their Classics. In Salerno he sees great quantities of gardens, and all kinds of frutes in grete abundance, as oranges, lemons, poungarnettes, (pomegranates?) citrons, melons, figs and such other of all sorts: also diverse kindes of wine verie delicate and precious. When he reaches Sicily, apart from corn, fruits, wine, he notes olives, great abundance... Aranges are also plentiful there and of such a biggnes that they are most desired in Sicilia above all other for a great delicasie. In Calabria, apart from lots of grains and wine for all tastes, he finds a precious type of food with biblical connotations: manna, a very rare thing, and precious saffron, olive trees, fig trees, arang trees, lymons, citrons with a number of other pleasant fruit and everything is so good cheape in respect of all other cities in Italy. When he reaches the north of the 6

9 peninsula, he notices that Chioggia is the source of all the abundance of mellones that in the summer time are in Venice. This will also be a leitmotiv of other travellers. Apart from wines and the abundance of various fruit, Thomas Hoby is more interested in describing the cities and talking about the people he meets, and especially the numerous Englishmen he comes across. One wonders if some of them also wrote travel diaries, which have been lost. His writing is just a record of the places he visited, and of the things that struck him. It is in every sense the private diary of a learned traveller. The lenses through which Italy is perceived are still largely those of the authors of antiquity, but there is evidence that his writing may have been influenced by the publication of Leandro Alberti s Descrittione di tutta Italia of How much did the early traveller know about Italy? There is no translation from Italian between Chaucer and Sir Thomas Wyatt, and it is only with the printing of Wyatt s version of Aretino s Penitential Psalms (1549) that contemporary Italian culture entered the English imagination. But in the 1530s Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder had made a paraphrase translation of Petrarch s Canzoniere, as did Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey. It is perhaps paradoxical that the period of most intense travel to Italy coincides with the rabid dislike of the country as represented by the less moderate wing of Protestant writers. Starting with John Cheke, and continuing with Roger Ascham, author of The Scholemaster and Toxophilus, who as secretary of the English ambassador, spent only nine days in Venice, during which he had seen more vice than in nine years in England (1570), there are numerous critical remarks and suspicion against the Papist country. Some of these invectives, and depictions of the notorious Italianate Englishman can also be found in Thomas Nashe s The Unfortunate Traveller (1594). The first book to deal with Italian travel, without being a diary, apart from the cursory notes by Andrew Borde, is almost certainly by a Protestant Welshman, William Thomas, who published his History of Italy in There is evidence that this was carried as a kind of guide book even by people travelling a number of years later, such as an anonymous priest sent to Rome with the embassy of 1555 led by Thomas Thirlby, Bishop of Ely; and Sir Anthony Browne, Lord Montague, sent by Queen Mary to bring about England s reconciliation with the Holy See. The most famous book dedicated to European travel in Elizabethan times is certainly Thomas Coryat s Crudities: hastily gobbled up in five months of travel (1611). The book is introduced by numerous tributes, in the form of poetic panegyrics, some humorous and some double-edged, by prominent figures, such as Ben Jonson, John Donne, and John Sanford. One of the first pieces of advice Coryat gives to his readers after experiencing a great distemperature in my body, by drinking the sweet wines of Piedmont is Thomas Coryat s Crudities 7

10 to mingle their wine with water as soon as they come into the country [Italy]. Coryat admires the orchards, all manners of fruit and vineyards similar to the French ones, and in Piedmont and Lombardy he finds an abundance of a new grain called Panicke [i.e. millet] with which poore folks do make most of their bread and quailes are much fedd with it. The irony of the last phrase, implicitly comparing poor folks to the wild birds, seems unintended. Coryat is also the first traveller to remark on the use of grated cheese over many dishes: I observed a custome in many Townes and cities of Italy, which did not a little displease me, that most of their best meats which come to the table are sprinkled with cheese, which I love not so much as the Welchmen. This will be repeated some sixty years later by Sir Philip Skippon, but without regret: The Italians roast their meat over coals, and boil their meat for the most part in pipkins. They strew scraped cheese on most of their dishes, and eat much garlick, which they put in most of their sawces. Coryat was the first to notice the use of the fork, which he comments he has not seen in any other nation of Christendom, and indeed he imported the custom to England. In Lodi he notices excellent butter and cheese ; the other two places of excellence are Parma and Placentia. In Cremona he is surprised by the use of fans by both men and women, and umbrellas as protection from the sun, since he was there in June. In the same town he had a dish never tried before: I did eate fried Frogges [ ] which is a dish much used in many cities of Italy: they were so curiously dressed, that they did exceedingly delight my palat, the head and the forepart being cut off. We have already seen how frogs were to be prepared in the 1450s, but Bartolomeo Scappi, the cook at the Papal court, in his extensive Opera, of 1570, gives a detailed recipe for fried frogs, properly dressed and prepared with a light batter, served with salt and a little parboiled garlic, stating that this was the way in which Pope Pius IV used to eat them. Near Mantua, Coryat notices great store of Rice growing. Rice had arrived from the East in the 15th century, and was widely cultivated in the Po Valley as far as Ferrara. Near Venice he finds many fair gardens replenished with diversity of delicate fruite as Oranges, Lemons, Citrons, Apricocks, muske melons, anguriaes, and what not. After praising the figs of three or four sorts as black which are daintiest, green and yellow, he mentions another special commodity which is one of the most delectable dishes for a sommer fruit of Christendom, namely musk melons. These are brought into Venice every morning and evening and he picks three sorts: yellow, green and red, but the red is most toothsome of all. However, he warns the traveller that one could die by eating too many melons because it is a fruit which is sweet to the palate but sour for the stomach, and the Emperor Frederick III did indeed die of melon indigestion. Coryat s fascination with melons continues with water melons or Anguria, the coldest fruit in taste that ever I did eat: the pith of it, which is in the middle, is as redde as blood, and full of black kernels. It has the most refrigerating virtue of all the fruites of Italy. In Venice he also notices an abundance of fish and strange marine creatures, as well as large turtles and fowls. When Coryat reaches Vicenza he 8

11 mentions a local proverb which implicitly connects food to sexual activity: Vin vicentin, Pan Paduan, Tripe Trevizan, Putana Venetian. Travelling between Vicenza and Verona, he notices that although the countryside seems fertile with good meadows and pastures, there is a scarcity of sheep a thing necessary for the sustentation of man s life. This remark seems to confirm the difficulty of accepting the difference in the use of food in different climates. One thing seems to be missing: pasta. Why wasn t macaroni mentioned? Too common? Had this already arrived in England? (Florio certainly mentions it in the 1598 edition of his Dictionary along with many other kinds of pasta, such as lasagne, gnocchi, tagliarini/ tagliarelli/ tagliatelli, pappardelle, vermicelli). No pasta is mentioned by Coryat, and yet it is found in numerous Italian menus of the time, but possibly it was not frequent in the inns where travellers stopped, and since it was usually boiled for a long time it might have looked like porridge to the travellers, and therefore been unappealing. Another famous traveller is Fynes Morison ( ), the son of a gentleman from Lincolnshire, who won a Cambridge fellowship at Peterhouse before devoting ten years to visiting various European countries, starting in He dedicated a whole section of his diaries to The diet of Italy, in which he gives general views on the behaviour found in various regions, e.g. The Florentines are of spare diet, but wonderful clenlinesse. Those of Lucca keepe golden mediocritie in all things. Those of Genoa are of most spare diet and no cleanliness. The Mantuans feede on base beans The Milanese live plentifully, and provoke appetite with sharpe sawces. He notices that in general Italians do not eat as much meat as the people from Northern Europe and they are happier Annibale Carracci, The Beaneater with a lot of bread, with a great Charger full of hearbes, and a little oyle mixed therein. In winter many Italians will break their fasts with a bit of cake-bread or sweet bread and a cup of sweete Wine, and so abstain from dinner [lunch]. Morison describes the great availability of food in the market place of Venice, where one could find mutton, veale, sold in little portions and by weight, and also plenty of fish, hennes, egges, Turkey hennes, pickled herrings, Caviar and Botargo, Piacentine cheese and cheese of Parma, mushrooms, snails, the hinder parts of frogs (all held for great dainties). He adds that all these things can be had in abundance because the common sort eate little or no flesh, or fish, or birds, but only hearbes, pulses, snails, and rootes, with white bread. He remarks that spits are not used to roast meat, since the Italians prefer stews in earthen pipkins, then he suddenly adds a rather surprising remark, considering the numerous cookery books published in Italy: They have no skill in the Art of Cookery, and the meate is served to the table in white glistening and painted dishes of earth. Does this mean simply that the way to serve dishes differs from that of aristocratic houses in England? Morison s advice to travellers who are unhappy about the price of meals at inns, is to carry a pound of raisins and some dried figs, and then just ask for wine and 9

12 bread (which are usually at fixed price) and eat one s own provisions. Occasionally he gives a detailed account of the cost of individual food items, as in Padua in 1593, where he saw hundreds of turkies hung out to be sold, and where he enjoyed some white bread, light and pleasant in taste, especially that which is called Pan-buffetto. Unlike Coryat, he definitely wants to provide useful advice and information to his readers, and he frequently provides long lists of meat and fowl with their prices, adding six egges eight sols, butter the pound fourteen sols, piacentine cheese the pound six sols, and parmesan the pound ten or twelve sols. This last remark seems to solve a vexed question of Renaissance times: which was the best hard cheese, the one from Piacenza or the one from Parma? The fact that Parmesan is priced almost double the Piacentine, at least in Padua, seems to settle the issue. Morison s list is very similar to the tariffs which were published as broadsheet in many cities in Italy, under the title of gride. His whole text details information for would-be travellers and appears to be much more objective than previous accounts. Although it has no literary ambition, it reads well because of the information concerning important buildings and sights in the cities he visits. Our last traveller is Sir Philip Skippon, the son of a famous general who led the siege of Reading and Oxford during the civil war. Skippon Jr., a scientist, started his journey through Europe in his twenties and in Italy collected numerous specimens of new Mediterranean plants to take back to the Royal Society, of which he became a member on his return to England. In 1664 in Bologna he noted that the market was offering silk, olives, sausages, soap and in Modena he had a special treat: this night we ate tartufule at supper, which is a subterranean fungus cut into slices and seasoned with oil. He is the first to mention pasta of a kind when he passes through Genoa: pasta di Genoa are round pellets of dried paste, they boil in pottage. In Lucca he remarks that Lucca oil is much esteemed in foreign parts, as England etc. In Naples Skippon observes: here is plenty of oranges and other fruits, and commonly sold long capers ; then something he obviously enjoyed: raw artichokes with pepper and oil, a dish which is, incidentally, included in menus prepared for the Papal Court in Rome, according to the head chef Bartolomeo Scappi. Sometimes food is found in the sea, but I shall spare you Skippon s description of the capture and the butchering of large turtles near Malta. Their liver was apparently particularly tasty. Such works by early travellers have been defined as examples of early anthropology, and indeed the sense of discovery, and the practical recommendations based on experience would have been very useful to readers. The fact that we can still read these works with pleasure, travelling along with the authors, and enjoying the atmosphere of Italian cities, testifies to the importance of understanding other cultures. Travel journals and cookery, together with a linguistic approach, seem to be worthy of scholarly pursuit. The discovery of Italian food in England was made even more prominent by an Italian expatriate in Cambridge, Giacomo Castelvetro, who published in 1614 his Brieve racconto di tutte le radici, di tutte le erbe e di tutti i frutti che crudi o cotti si mangiano. This may have inspired his English patrons to eat more vegetables and fruit, including artichokes and mushrooms, and can be seen as a good example of 10

13 advocacy for the so-called Pythagorean diet, which had a certain success among the educated classes in 17th- and early 18th-century England. Diego Zancani Corsi s polished stones On a mission On a cold winter s day in January, 1827, a young Magdalen College student set off from Oxford to visit Rome. It was hardly the best time of the year for continental travel, but the student, Stephen Jarrett, was a man with a mission. In Rome, he visited the eminent lawyer Faustino Corsi, admired his famous collection of polished rocks and minerals, and offered to pay handsomely for the collection which he intended to be a gift to his alma mater, the University of Oxford. Faustino Corsi was in charge of law enforcement in the Vatican, and he was a man of culture who hosted concerts and took part in amateur operatic performances with his wife and daughter. But his particular passion lay with the different decorative stones to be found in the ancient ruins of his native city. He was fascinated by their diversity, and resolved to collect samples of them all. This was a time when many villas were being excavated and roads widened, providing a wealth of stone for the scalpellini (stone-cutters) to recycle. He then started acquiring through friends and agents, samples from working Italian quarries, simply because they were not used by the ancient Romans. To these, he added rarer decorative minerals from as far afield as Russia, Canada and Madagascar. Corsi wanted his collection to be used to help others identify stones seen in the buildings and monuments of Rome. He had all blocks cut to a uniform large size (c. 145 x 73 x 40 mm) and polished to show the colour and markings on both top and sides. Some of his acquaintances thought him far too ambitious, but when this size could not be obtained, he had samples made up from smaller pieces. The collection grew in fame, and eminent travellers to Rome would call at Corsi s apartment to view it. In 1824, William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, paid a visit, and in appreciation, sent the lawyer a fine suite of samples from his own Derbyshire mines and quarries, including pure white alabaster, rare Duke s red marble and precious Blue John fluorite. What makes Corsi s collection remarkable even today is the scholarship that accompanied this beautiful thing. He wrote a Catalogo ragionato 1 in which he described each stone and recorded where it was quarried. The quarry locations of many ancient Roman stones had been long forgotten, but, undaunted, Corsi attempted to correlate his samples with those described by ancient authors such as Pliny, Theophrastus, and Paul the Silentiary. He listed the names used in ancient times and those of the scalpellini, and noted places in Rome where particularly fine examples could be seen. When it came to classifying the collection, Corsi took a 11

14 pioneering approach and organised it in a geological order to include marbles, alabasters, serpentines, jaspers, porphyries and granites. He was fascinated by the mineralogy and methods of formation of the various stones, and how this could aid identification. When the Catalogo ragionato was published in 1825, Corsi had over 900 samples. It was this remarkable collection that in 1827, young Stephen Jarrett wanted to obtain for the University of Oxford. No doubt he was prompted by the eminent Oxford Reader in Mineralogy and Geology, the Revd Dr William Buckland, who had visited Corsi and seen the collection while on his wedding tour the year before. Buckland knew that the British Museum was in covert negotiations to buy it and was driving a hard bargain. He had even written to the Trustees, whole-heartedly recommending the purchase. Jarrett was more generous. He had inherited extensive sugar plantations in Jamaica, and as a gentleman scholar at Oxford, knew that wealth could gain favour and status with far less effort than academic study! He offered not only to pay handsomely for the stones and remaining catalogues, but requested the number of samples be increased to 1,000 at his expense. Corsi was evidently charmed. By the time the British Museum Trustees had met to approve terms for the purchase, Corsi had already accepted the student s offer and the collection was on its way to Oxford. There, it was installed in specially-constructed cabinets in the Radcliffe Camera. As for Jarrett, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts Degree by the University, the Latin oration drafted by Dr Buckland himself. This alone did not satisfy the student, who visited John Skinner, antiquary and rector of his home parish of Camerton in Somerset, to ask a favour. Grossly exaggerating the size of the samples and the price he had paid, Jarrett asked Skinner to recommend him for Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries on account of his gift to the University. Skinner s diary, now in the British Library, gives his response: I would just as soon recommend my Donkey! The Corsi collection in Oxford The Corsi collection has always bridged the arts and sciences, bringing a geological interpretation to materials used in art and architecture. It moved, with the books of the Radcliffe Library, to the newly opened University Museum in 1860, and when the current Radcliffe Science Library was built in 1901, the books moved again. This time, the collection stayed behind, to become part of the Museum of Natural History s mineral collections. Here, poorly lit and little used, it was neglected; there is even an account of samples being used as door-stops. In 1896, Henry Alexander Miers arrived as Oxford s first full-time Professor of Mineralogy. He had read Classics and quickly recognised the significance of the collection. Bringing the samples together again, he found some discrepancies, and invited the great marble expert, William Brindley to see them and advise him. Brindley was to succeed in rediscovering, and in nearly every instance reopening, the quarries for some of the most famous Roman marbles and porphyries. 12

15 They adorn many of the most opulently decorated new buildings of the time, from the Examination Schools in Oxford to Westminster Cathedral in London. Miers then took up an offer of help by teenager Mary Porter. She was the daughter of a Times reporter and had been living in Rome, where she had been inspired by the beautiful stones shown to her by archaeologists working on the Forum. Delighting in discovering the famous Corsi collection in her new home city, she made a translation of the Catalogo ragionato adding corrections and updates to Corsi s text. All the specimens had been found again, and new displays were prepared. Mary Porter had a distinguished career as a crystallographer, but she returned to work on the Corsi collection in the 1960s, hosting visits by a number of eminent archaeologists. This was a time of fresh interest in Roman stone, technologies and trade. Delle pietre antiche, written by Corsi after he had sold his collection, was superseded as the standard reference book on Roman stone by Raniero Gnoli s beautifully illustrated 1971 work Marmora Romana, and in subsequent years, it was the archaeologists who were most interested in Corsi s collection. An Honorary Associate of the University Museum, Lisa Cooke, has made a special contribution. She worked with me to update, correct and enrich the treasure trove of data left by Mary Porter, and by Corsi himself, retranslating the Catalogo ragionato, and researching the people, objects and places to which Corsi referred. We built a database of the specimens, and welcomed visits by some of the top experts on Roman stone to help us correct and update the records. The more we looked, the more puzzles we encountered. It is likely that Corsi never saw his huge collection laid out in a single room as we had done, so he may not have noticed that samples of the same stone were sometimes given wildly different names and localities. It is likely too, that from time to time, he was deliberately misled by his agents. We scanned every sample at high resolution to get really good images, and with these, I was able to compare and verify the stones with those in other historic collections around Europe. It turns out that Corsi s modern samples form a particularly rare and special collection because so little is published about decorative stones quarried between medieval times and the late 19th century, and very few collections are available to study. A geological perspective Curiously, although the collection had resided in the Mineralogy department of the Museum, nobody had studied it from a geological perspective. Corsi s own geological information reflects contemporary understanding of Earth processes. His nomenclature was simple, using the word marble to denote any calcium carbonate rocks that would take a good polish. This included limestones (carbonate rocks deposited at the bottom of ancient seas and lakes) and travertines (formed by hot springs Ornamental marble table at Farnborough Hall and in caves), as well as the metamorphosed carbonate rocks that modern geologists call marble. Similarly, his granites encompass all kinds of other 13

16 igneous and metamorphic rocks that take a good polish besides the granites of modern day geologists. Interestingly, the modern stone trade uses the terms marble and granite in the same way as Corsi did. By looking at colours and patterns, anyone with a little experience can easily identify some polished stones. A careful examination of others will reveal clues as to what they are and where they are from, such geological features as the size and shape of crystals or grains, the kinds of fossils, the presence of fracturing and veins, any zig-zag-like stylolites, or signs of deformation such as shearing or folding. With welcome help from colleagues in the Museum and the Department of Earth Sciences we were able to describe the geological characteristics of every sample. There are some, however, especially monochrome marbles, that are very hard to identify with certainty and require the use of petrological thin sections, isotopic and trace element analyses, or examination of spectral data. In the future, we hope to use as many non-destructive techniques as we can to characterise these more challenging specimens. A really useful collection Corsi s collection is one of the treasures of the University s museums and we always welcome visitors to see it (by appointment), whether to help with research or just out of interest. But there s no denying, when it comes to identifying stone in buildings, it would be a lot easier to take Corsi images and information to the stones rather than the other way around. In 2012 we launched the Corsi Collection website, which makes all 1000 specimens viewable online, free of charge, at The project was very generously funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. You can see galleries of small images, and click on a picture to enlarge it, view Corsi s original Catalogo entry in English and Italian, and read our up-to-date information about the stone. It is possible to search by stone name, rock type, quarry location or simply for particular features. Specimen drawer The website has tips for identifying polished stone, sources of further information, and lots more about the fascinating history of Corsi s collection. The whole website is designed to work just as well on tablets and mobile phones, making it easy to compare Corsi s specimens with decorative stones wherever people are, anywhere in the world. My own interest has broadened to other stones used for decorative purposes particularly in 18th- and 19th-century Europe, not least the fantastic collection of 127 different British and Irish stones that form pillars in the Museum of Natural History s court. My own book, Decorative stone: the complete sourcebook 2, published by Thames & Hudson in 2007, was inspired by the Corsi collection, and I now help all kinds of people identify heritage polished stone, in museums, country houses, churches, cathedrals, and auction houses. It is remarkable how my own 14

17 career has been shaped by the obsessive collecting of a lawyer in Rome over 200 years ago, but what pleasure the Corsi collection has given me! Monica T. Price earth@oum.ox.ac.uk 1 Corsi, F. (1825), Catalogo ragionato d una collezione di pietre di decorazione. Da Torchj del Salviucci, Roma. 2 Price, M.T. (2007) Decorative stone: the complete sourcebook. Thames & Hudson, London. Reports of Autumn/Winter Visits British and Best: Inside the British Library and the Magna Carta Exhibition 6 & 14 July * As the AOUP coach came to rest alongside the Gothic treasure that is the St Pancras International Rail station, its passengers could be forgiven for believing they had arrived at their destination. To be sure, its ornate and romantic style is redolent of the libraries of the 19th century that sprang up everywhere during the industrial revolution. But a glance to their right revealed a distinctly contemporary, if nautical, vision of a modern national library. Viewed from the east the British Library has the appearance of a magnificent but incomplete ocean-going liner with a proud stern and funnel but no aft and stern. Sadly the ambitious plans of its architect Professor Sir Colin St John Wilson were torpedoed by the Treasury, its costs having more than doubled in the 27 years from its design to its opening in Gone too is the famous and beloved round reading room (it is actually still at the British Museum) of its graceful predecessor, to be replaced by the eleven reading rooms based on the specialisms of the new Library. Their design was vilified by the Prince of Wales who described one of them as the assembly hall of an academy for secret police. As we entered from the north side in the Euston Road the jokey external grandeur vanished and we were confronted with the kind of typical nondescript brick warehouse which lines our motorways. One MP grumpily dismissed the building at its opening as having the glamour of a public lavatory. Almost two decades after its controversial opening one can now argue that its design is both emblematic of our national modesty of expression (it has just become the most recent building to be given Grade 1 listed status) and of a new interpretation of the purpose and meaning of a national library. Certainly the visitor standing in its civic-style piazza outside has no clue as to the cultural riches within nor of the changes in the operational model of librarianship that is now shaping its future in the digital age. Once inside, the visitor is immediately struck by an apparent absence of books, but on venturing further inside one is reassured by the sight of an impressive sixstorey glass tower. This houses the King s Library with the 85,000 books, manuscripts and maps collected by George III. This collection highlights the role that serendipity has played in shaping the British Library s acquisitions. The socalled foundation collections, comprising the books and manuscripts of Sir Robert Cotton, Sir Hans Sloane and Robert Harley, helped establish the British Library as the nation s first eminent public library of the 18th century. The Tapling bequest of 1891 created the Library s first major stamp collection. It now boasts 8.25 million * Considerations of space meant that this report had to be held over from the Autumn 2015 issue of the Newsletter. 15

18 items, probably the world s best permanent collection of philatelic material. Taken as a whole, the Library now has over 14 million books along with substantial holdings of manuscripts and other historical items dating back as far as 2000 BC. The Library s core mission is that of a legal deposit library and is one of six such institutions across England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Unlike its peers, including the Bodleian, the British Library is the only one that must automatically receive a copy of every item published in Britain; the others must specifically request them from a publisher. This means that three million items, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK, are added every year, occupying 9.6 kilometres of new shelf space. The Library has a distinctive international dimension to its collection based on our cultural, imperial and mercantile history. This attracts overseas researchers who make up 38 per cent of the 114,000 Readers and reinforces the Library s proud claim that, although not the biggest, it is the most popular library in the world. Continuous pressure on space has led the Library to build a storage facility in West Yorkshire with a capacity for 87.5 million items; and a 48-hour shuttle service operates between the two sites. To maximise space, items are stored by size so Delia Smith might easily rub shoulders with Dostoyevsky. In a short, but enthralling visit, it was not possible to visit other major collections including newspapers, magazines, maps, music scores, patents, manuscripts, prints and sound recordings, but the Library s attractive web-site is well worth visiting. The importance of access was very much emphasised during our visit, for the Library is open to anyone with a need to use its collections and services. A passport and proof of address suffice to qualify as a Reader; you certainly don t need a PhD. This openness is evident in its controversial (to some) policy of welcoming undergraduates to use its collections and is allied to the increase in transparency in its unlocking of publicly-held information for analysis and re-use by researchers, businesses and the public. Constant and rapid changes in technology have challenged all libraries and the British Library is clearly conscious of the revolution it faces in the creation, analysis and exploitation of digital data as well as the need to find an answer to the issue of sustainable storage and long-term retrieval of data. Significantly the British Library no longer publishes a comprehensive guide to its collections and services in book form. This conscious omission of a traditional way of communicating with its users points to a future where more and more of its material will be available on-line anywhere in the world. Some fine exemplars were on view in the Ritblat gallery during our visit; imagine being able to turn the pages of the 1,700 year old Codex Sinaiticus - a manuscript of the Greek text of the Bible, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament. Having attracted controversy simply as a building when it opened in 1997, the British Library s future role is likely to evolve into an international cybrary without walls, whose collections will no longer be quantified or valued simply in terms of books or bookshelves. For many people, the Library s cultural purpose is the aspect they value most, and this key aspect of its role was evidenced in its current blockbuster exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, which celebrates the 800th anniversary of the Great Charter. This is a magnificently staged and curated exhibition which makes 16

19 stunning use of documents, artefacts, paintings, maps, statutes and royal relics including two of the four original 1215 Magna Carta documents. These are held back to the end of the exhibition as a coup de théâtre but are frankly anti-climactic in impact (rather like queuing to visit Santa for hours only to find he has fled leaving an indecipherable note of apology behind in his grotto). Far better, in my view, to have begun the exhibition with the copies and then explored their impact over time. Nevertheless, the story of Magna Carta is fascinating in terms of its iconic power to influence people and their ideas across continents and centuries. The exhibition examines the 13th-century origins of the Charter as a short-lived peace treaty which established the principle of due legal process; it then charts its continued evolution in the 16th century, when it was printed for the first time and began to inspire individual resistance and empowered popular protest. It goes on to examine the impact of Magna Carta when its ideas reached the American colonies, becoming a key constitutional text from the 17th century. In the 18th century the constitutional core of the Charter was clarified and stripped of its medieval accretions and was used to challenge censorship of the press and imprisonment without trial. By the 19th century it was being used to challenge not just the authority of the Crown but also to question the authority of the state itself. Although much admired by the subjects and critics of the British Empire, its message was used to justify imperial colonisation. By the 20th century Magna Carta had become synonymous with freedom and the rule of law and has inspired the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1953). The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta has inevitably provided an opportunity for revisionist thinking amongst historians which acts as a provocative counterpoint to the celebratory thrust of the exhibition s narrative. David Starkey has criticised the recent triumphalism of the birthday celebrations, whilst Simon Schama considers the Charter is not the birth certificate of freedom, rather the death certificate of tyranny. Lord Sumption, a Justice of the Supreme Court and medieval historian, has declared himself as a Magna Carta sceptic. In his view, the Charter is a document for 1215 and not for all time. He argues it is one of those documents which is important not so much because of what it says as because of what people wrongly think it says. Whatever your view, this magnificent exhibition is a major cultural event, staged and curated by an outstanding and unique national institution. David Mills Hampstead and Kenwood House 17 September Chock-full of famous people was how Owen, our blue badge guide described the handsome area round Church Row in Hampstead at the start of our visit. And so it was. Name after name tumbled out as we gazed at some of the smartest (and most expensive) terraced housing in London and learned that Gracie Fields, H G Wells, Ludovic Kennedy and Moira Shearer, Charles Gilbert Scott and Peter Cook had been among the diverse community here at various times. We visited the remarkable church of St John at Hampstead, which began life in the 1300s but was vastly expanded in the 18th century when Hampstead became a fashionable place to live, partly as a refuge from the plague, and partly because the 17

20 streams which flowed from the hill where the gravel met the underlying clay were thought to be beneficial to health; the smart locals bottled it and sold it, a practice which is remembered in the name of a nearby pub, The Flask. The 18th-century rebuilding of the church proved, according to our guide, a bit dodgy in its construction, as was still evident from leaning brickwork, but in the 19th century, following an appeal by Charles Gilbert Scott, it was expanded westwards, and the altar moved, unusually, to the west end. It retains its elegant interior, with its pale, vaulted ceiling, tall slender columns, mosaic floors and marquetry choir stalls. Hampstead was always popular with writers, artists and poets (there s a memorial to John Keats in the church) but in the cemetery we discovered some unexpected tombs. John Constable lies buried here not in some Suffolk village with the love of his life, Maria, whom he was able to marry only when he inherited a little wealth. Here too, lies John Harrison, clock maker par excellence, famed for his invention of a timepiece that enabled ships to record longitude. And so the catalogue of names went on as we passed plaque after plaque on a brief walk. We learned about George du Maurier (Daphne s grandfather) an artist whose cartoons in Punch bequeathed several phrases, including the curate s egg to the nation. And Daphne s father, Gerald, who starred in a play called Trilby which gave its name to the hat and who also endorsed the brand of cigarettes. William Walton, Robert Louis Stevenson and the artist and portrait painter George Romney, obsessed by his model Emma Hart (later Lady Hamilton, Nelson s mistress) and Two-Ton Tessie O Shea, a regular performer at the Holly Bush Inn, all got a mention as the torrent of names continued. A pause for lunch then back on the coach to tour Hampstead Garden Suburb, founded by Henrietta Barnett in the early 1900s with the aim of providing homes for all classes of people. Walls and fences were banned, open spaces and green hedges abounded, the famous institute offered adult education, and churches and a Quaker meeting house provided spiritual support. Maiden ladies were provided for in flats for spinsters an Adamless Eden and the whole area completed in harmonious design. Those early ideals have not entirely survived, and it is now a haven for the wealthy and famous. We turned into Withington Road for a glimpse of some grand houses, and then the ostentatious opulence of The Bishops Avenue a triumph of money over taste as our guide suggested before the short journey to Kenwood House, opulence itself but now mellowed into a charming house surrounded by a public park. The house owes its present shape to William Murray, Lord Chief Justice and first Earl of Mansfield, who bought it for 4,000 in 1754 and employed the architect Robert Adam to re-model it, adding extra rooms and the magnificent library, one of Adam s most famous interiors. The Library, Kenwood 18

21 There are some fascinating stories to tell like that of Dido Belle, the illegitimate daughter of the Earl s nephew and a black slave, who grew up at Kenwood with her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. The two are pictured in one of the many portraits. The house nearly fell victim to the Gordon Riots when an angry mob, who suspected the Earl of Jacobite tendencies, attacked his house in Bloomsbury and were on the march to Kenwood when they were headed off by a troop of light horse and the astute stratagem of providing refreshments at the nearby Spaniards Inn. Later generations of the family preferred to live at their estate in Scotland, and Kenwood was leased to tenants, including The Grand Duke Michael of Russia. Around the time of the First World War it was threatened by plans to build on its parkland. A preservation society secured some of the land, but its saviour was Edward Cecil Guinness, first Earl of Iveagh, and possessor of huge wealth from the family brewing business, who bought it in 1925 and placed in it his superb collection of paintings, many of them portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds but also including a famous Rembrandt self-portrait. On his death in 1927 he left the house, the pictures and the park to the nation. English Heritage has been responsible for the bequest since 1986 and has carried out substantial restoration to what is now a great public asset, which members derived great pleasure from visiting. It was a difficult day for our driver Milan, who shrewdly avoided a pile up on the M40 and negotiated road closures in Hampstead and heavy traffic for the return journey with his usual cheerfulness. Andrew and Sue Moss Oxford University Press Museum various dates in October 2015 Dr Martin Maw, the OUP Archivist, met us at the entrance to the Oxford University Press and took us in to the Museum, where he welcomed us. He gave us a brief talk about printing and then invited us to browse the museum and ask any questions we had. The impact of printing must have been huge in the early years a display board in the Museum explained that by 1500, following the establishment of Gutenberg s first press around 1440, fifteen million books had been printed it must have seemed an explosion of information. The first printing press in Oxford opened in 1478, supported by the University, just two years after Caxton set up his press in Westminster, the first in England. The following century, in 1586, the University s legal right to employ printers was established and in 1633 the University set up the Delegates of the Press, senior members of the University, to supervise printing. Three years later, the University was given the right by Charles I to print all manner of books. This placed the University on a collision course with the Mine is a long and sad tale! said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. 19

22 Stationers Company, whose charter made it the guild responsible for publishing in this country. In 1669, the University s printing shop was established in the basement of the Sheldonian Theatre, one of the first architectural commissions of Christopher Wren. In 1675 the University printed the King James Authorized version of the Bible and Prayer Book for the first time, but not long afterwards, pressure forced it to grant a lease for printing the Bible to the Stationers Company. This lease expired in 1780 and OUP continued printing Bibles, in partnership with other printers. The next major project of the Press was the Oxford English Dictionary, started in 1879 and eventually completed in 1928, followed by other major reference books. The technical developments of the printing press were fascinating and wellillustrated by film clips, models and some examples. I was struck by how labourintensive the process was, with type-setting and page folding by hand but also by how extremely quick and adept the workers were. Now, of course, the process is much more automated. I came away feeling very conscious that OUP is a very important component of the University, both in terms of its history and in the contribution it makes to learning and scholarship. Gilliane Sills The Trials of Galileo at the Burton-Taylor Studio Theatre various dates in January 2016 My own experience of one-person drama is very limited a powerful performance many years ago by Steven Berkoff in Los Angeles, Simon Callow brilliant as Charles Dickens and those marvellous short TV plays by Alan Bennett so I wasn t very sure what to expect in going with AOUP colleagues to see Nic Young s solo drama, The Trials of Galileo, performed by RSC actor, Tim Hardy. The theatre, part of the Oxford Playhouse establishment, has an extremely constricted site, with no foyer, but a small porch leading through narrow passages and stairs to the tiny auditorium. This is hardly the stage to show all the world, but is perhaps an appropriate place for the concentrated focus of one-person drama. It certainly worked in this case. The play presents the famous Italian scientist and mathematician, Galileo Galilei, recounting and commenting on his terrible and humiliating experience of trial by the Inquisition in Rome during the Spring of He was accused of heresy in promoting the heliocentric theory of the heavens that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun. This was in contradiction to the assumption, long held by the Church, that everything clearly revolved around the earth, which must be stationary as the centre of God s creation. Galileo was not the originator of heliocentrism. Nearly 100 years earlier Copernicus had shown that it was possible to predict the motion of the heavenly bodies much more easily and accurately with a sun-centred system. What Galileo did however, as one of the first great experimental scientists and using his own greatly improved telescope, was to provide observational proof that compelled open-minded scholars to accept the truth of the heliocentric theory. Galileo was a devout Catholic. He was supported by the Medici ruler of Tuscany and had had friendly debates on natural philosophy with 20

23 the Pope himself he thought he was safe in publishing his work. What Galileo couldn t understand however, was that for the Papacy this was not a matter of scientific proof or truth, but a vital matter of religious politics and power the Church could never be proved wrong on a major fact of dogma. This was perhaps the first great confrontation of science and religion. It would not be the last. Tim Hardy gave us a brilliantly persuasive performance. By turns confident, witty, uncertain, puzzled and angry, he presented a Galileo totally believable as someone, proud of his work yet desperate to prove that this cannot be contrary to God s wishes. With no scene changes and few props a table scattered with his papers and charts, and the vital telescope standing in a corner he was able to create the differing atmospheres of Galileo s own study, the courtroom and Vatican gardens and project the characters of the court prosecutor and Pope Urban VIII in their verbal tussles with Galileo. Particularly moving was Hardy s portrayal of Galileo s human frailty in yielding to the court s threats of torture and death and recanting on the value of his own work a denial which so nearly broke his spirit. Nearly but not quite as he was led from the courtroom, Galileo is supposed to have muttered, Eppur si muove, and yet it moves. I found this an inspiring piece of theatre. Thank you AOUP, for spotting it and giving us the chance to enjoy it. Brian Lavercombe Oxford Town Hall various dates in November 2015 Oxford Town Hall in the centre of the city is a building passed by thousands of people each day. Most of them have never been inside and so have missed a very interesting and unusual building. I was pleased that AOUP had organised tours for us and I went with the group whose timing of 11am on 11 November coincided with the annual Act of Remembrance and two-minute silence. Our guide led us to the Council Chamber for a brief history of the building which is listed as Grade II*. The current Town Hall is the third on this site and was opened by Edward, Prince of Wales in The impetus for a new Town Hall came from the change in Oxford s legal status into a County Borough when it became more independent of the University. It was constructed on an awkward sloping site where Blue Boar Lane is not at right angles to St Aldate s, but the architect Henry T Hare succeeded magnificently. At the time it also provided premises for a Library (until 1973) and a Police Station (until 1930). It had a modern heating system as well as electric lighting and mains gas. In spite of this modern technology, Oxford Council was behind in social progress. I was horrified to hear that only men were allowed into the main entrance whereas women had to come in via a side entrance, including Princess Alexandra at the opening ceremony. The reading rooms in the Library were segregated until well into the twentieth century. As well as a police station the Town Hall contained a Court Room, Judges Room and a Jury Room. These were in use as a Magistrates Court until 1969 and as a Crown Court until They are still in use for training barristers and as a location for court scenes in films and television programmes. 21

24 Pevsner says The interior is sumptuous. The staircase up to the great hall ends in a lobby with columns and a lot of Jacobean plasterwork, and the great hall itself is large and apsed and has sculptured decoration and stucco work wherever one looks. It certainly looked magnificent when there were no seats or people to distract the eye. I had been there several times and not realised what The Great Hall an amazing space it is. As we were walking around we bumped into the Mayor (Cllr Rae Humberstone) who invited us to visit the Mayor s Parlour not usually open for a tour. It is a very pleasant room overlooking St Aldate s. I took some photographs there, having been told by our guide that no photography of people working was allowed! The oldest part of the building is the Cellar or Crypt where the valuable plate is housed. I found the link to the earlier days when the area was where many Jews lived more interesting. We ended our tour in the Museum of Oxford, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year in spite of being closed. It seemed very sad to me that there are only two small displays off the foyer as you enter the Town Hall. Although not part of our tour I can vouch for the fact that there is a very good coffee shop there and the best public conveniences in the city! If you missed the tour you can go into the building, look at the small Museum exhibition, see some of the Civic plate, and visit the souvenir shop and coffee shop at any time free of charge. Sheila Allcock Reports of Autumn/Winter Talks 2015 Behind the Scenes: aspects of the film and TV industry Toni Staples, 21 October I learnt a great deal from this very interesting lecture. Despite its rather unfocused sub-title it was in fact a detailed account of the job of our lecturer, Toni Staples, as a highly successful First Assistant Director whose recent work includes such smash hits as Call the Midwife, Sherlock, Wolf Hall and Wallander. It is hard to believe that Toni, only in her early forties has already had 25 years of experience in her chosen profession. Indeed, since her mother was a leading make-up designer in the film industry, Toni suggested that her own first on-set appearance had been in the womb. Since helping around the set as a young teenager, she has worked her way up and now has some ten years as First Assistant Director. She works free-lance, but has an agent to help manage her commitments. To someone as uninformed as I was about the making of film and TV programmes, the importance and scope of the First Assistant Director s role came 22

25 as a surprise; not, as it might sound, a mere support to the Director, but rather the key co-ordinator and manager of the whole production process. The FAD comes in early in the small pre-production team, under the producer, working on the script adaptation, production time-frame and budget estimates. Then the FAD organises the assembly of the larger production team with its designers, location managers, wardrobe and make-up teams, technical staff etc. During shooting the FAD works as the overall set manager, planning ahead each day s work, the actors, extras, technical staff and equipment required, managing delays and other setbacks, arranging location changes etc. It s hardly adequate to call this a very big job to me it sounded terrifying. Despite the multi-faceted nature of the production process, Toni was able to give us a good idea of how films and TV shows are made, illustrating her account with anecdotes and slides of off-set moments from her own career. One of the aspects that particularly fascinated me was the arcane vocabulary still used in film making, much of which harks back to the pioneering days of the 1920s. It was nice to learn what such oddly named specialists as runners, gaffers, grips and best boys actually do. Film itself of course has gone, finally abandoned for digital technology in around Despite the obvious intensity of the work with the dangers of mishaps, delays and friction between inflated egos, Toni s slides showed that there are many moments of relaxation and fun. I enjoyed such stories as actor Jonathan Pryce dressed as Cardinal Wolsey, greeting visitors in lordly fashion at Penshurst Place, when the National Trust insisted that tours should interrupt shooting of Wolf Hall there. Then there were scenes of make-up staff applying gallons of fake blood on giggling extras playing victims in the Zombie film, Dead Set. And again, the problems of getting the young midwives in Call the Midwife to ride their bikes when only Miranda Hart was a confident rider. Toni Staples CV shows that she is a very active and respected professional in her field and we were clearly fortunate that she was able to spare the time to give us such an interesting up to date talk, answering many of our questions, not just after the lecture but carrying on for a good while in the tea room. The next time I sit in the cinema or before the TV screen, as the drama ends I shall watch with extra interest as the credits roll. Brian Lavercombe The Scientific Exploration of Mars Fred Taylor, 8 November Professor Taylor, Emeritus Halley Professor of Physics, introduced his talk with a brief history of recorded observations over the last four centuries. Huygens had noticed variations in the appearance of the surface; Herschel thought Mars was inhabited. Mitchel observed polar caps, growing in winter and retreating in summer. In 1906 Lowell claimed to be able to see canals that must have been creature-made, possibly for the transport of water. In 1963 spectral analysis showed a very low level of water vapour in the Martian atmosphere. Photographs taken from space in 1969 showed the surface to be much more rugged 23

26 than pictures taken from Earth, and measurements of the atmosphere showed the pressure to be much less than previously thought. Viking made the first landing on Mars in 1976 and photos showed sinuous channels that could have been made by flowing liquid water or salt solutions at a time when Mars was warmer, wetter, and more like the Earth. Indeed, the northern half of Mars, which is lower in altitude than the rest, may have been covered with a vast ocean. More recently, cliffs with gullies that may have been made by flowing water, have been discovered and it may be that water may still be present at a depth of 500m or so. So this poses the question that if Mars was once warm and wet, what happened? Two approaches are to study the geological record, and to model the climate, extrapolating back in time from the present. The geological record will require samples to be got by drilling into the surface and that is for the future. Oxford has been keen to apply the technology it acquired from modelling the Earth s atmosphere to that of Mars. However, this proved to be frustratingly difficult. Oxford instrumentation was on the Mars Observer mission of 1993, which failed to achieve orbit around Mars, and also on the Mars Climate Orbiter of 1999 which crashed on Mars because of the notorious mix of imperial and metric units. Success was achieved at the third attempt in This orbiting satellite, which continues to furnish data, provided temperature profiles through 120km of the atmosphere, and enables surface pressure to be modelled using a Met Office program. Interestingly, a temperature maximum is observed at mid-altitude, thought to be due to the presence of ozone at that level. Looking to the future, Europe is now involved as well as NASA and both agencies are aiming to land Rovers that will have the ability to drill in to the surface and obtain rock samples, conceivably as deep as 100m. In the first place, these rock samples will be analysed on the surface of Mars; bringing samples back to Earth escalates both mission complexity and cost. A manned mission to Mars was proposed by President Bush Jr, but put in abeyance by the Obama administration. Besides photographs taken on or above the Martian surface, some of the most evocative of the images with which Professor Taylor illustrated his talk were those of the spacecraft intended to carry manned missions to Mars. Designs have changed Nuclear powered spacecraft radically from the conceptions of Werner von Braun, which included skis to offer a cushioned touchdown on (illusory) seas of smooth sand, to the subsequent, somewhat less streamlined, nuclear-powered equivalent of container ships. During questions, Professor Taylor gave his view that Mars changed from being warm and wet because volcanic activity, which released gases into the atmosphere, ceased. Gases are continually being lost due to solar wind, a situation exacerbated by the loss of the planet s magnetic field as the core cooled. Colin Snowdon 24

27 Also-Rans: the Injustice of History Anne Spokes Symonds, 9 December In recent years a range of films and biographies have revealed previously less recorded contributions to the making of the modern world (think of Ada Lovelace who worked on Babbage s early Analytical Engine or later work at Bletchley Park, where Tommy Flowers designed the more powerful Colossus code breaker) but for some 40 years this has been a preoccupation for Ann Spokes Symonds, our December speaker and well-known Oxford figure, leading to her 2014 publication: Also-Rans: The Injustice of History. Subsequently her readers (and members attending this AOUP meeting) have made further suggestions. This unillustrated selection drew mainly on figures making advances in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine from the later 18th century to the 20th. Sir Frederick Grant Banting was credited as the first scientist to use insulin but there were other collaborators, notably Charles Best; it was Banting who was awarded the Nobel, the youngest recipient at that time (but nobly he did pass on half the prize money to Best). It may now be better known that the contribution of Rosalind Franklin to the discovery of DNA was crucial; the 1962 Nobel was shared by only Wilkins, Watson and Crick; however, one requirement was that laureates should still be alive and Franklin had died in Yet, omission continues with Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell being the first person to observe and define pulsars but excluded from the Nobel awarded to co-authors, to the outrage of many. The pioneer of smallpox? Surely E J? But perhaps not Edward Jenner in the 1790s but Dorset farmer, Edward Jesty, who vaccinated his family during the 1774 outbreak; and there were experimenters elsewhere at the time. Joseph Priestley s discovery of oxygen in 1774 was preceded by Carl Wilhelm Scheele a year earlier but Priestley published first, not the only occasion when hard-luck Scheele was scooped in chemical discoveries. As Ann noted, in many wry asides, competition, intrigue, PR by proponents and supporters all played their part. The Beaverbrook empire helped spread the Fleming myth. Fleming himself had abandoned work on penicillin in 1934, and it was Florey and Chain with a team at the Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford who in 1938 followed up the research; the three of them shared the 1945 Nobel Prize but what of Norman Heatley and others? And for major funding it was to America that they turned and where the mass-production patent was taken out. The everyday aspirin did not emerge from clinical trials but much earlier: sometime around 1758 an Oxfordshire vicar and sometime Fellow of Wadham, the Revd Edward Stone, accidentally chewed on willow bark to relieve an ague (willow bark had been so used in antiquity and remained in folklore). The trade name was registered in 1899 and marketed by Bayer. (The Revd Stone s Blue Plaque is on the Hitchman Brewery site in Chipping Norton.) Instead of a Hoover, we might own a Spengler : James Murray Spengler s patent for a portable electric vacuum cleaner was issued in 1908, but sold on to William Henry Hoover later the same year and during the 1900s, various patents were taken out by various individuals for different models. For other labour-saving devices Ann said we have to thank (even if we had not heard of them): Elizabeth Hare (the sewing machine), William Cullen (who demonstrated a refrigeration 25

28 system in 1748, subsequently developed for practical use in the USA), Welsh entrepreneur Pryce Pryce-Jones (the sleeping bag in 1876), Nancy Johnson (for the ice cream maker in 1843), Mary Anderson (windscreen wiper) and Josephine Cochrane ( if no-one else is going to invent a dish washing machine, I ll do it myself shown at the Chicago World Expo in 1893). Steam locomotion is associated with Watts and Stevenson but the high pressure steam engines were developed in Cornwall by Richard Trevithick (and others) from around Trevithick s work was commemorated on a 2 coin issued in The origins of the Volkswagen Beetle may be traced to Josef Ganz who began making sketches for a car for the masses in the 1920s, with prototypes built in Moving from rush lights, tallow and candles to the electric light bulb in the mid- 1800s owed as much to Joseph Swan (who lit his own house and the Savoy Theatre) and Charles Stern as to Thomas Edison, Ann suggested. Again effective filing of patents and access to funds played a major part. As was noted, nowadays investigators work in teams, steered by committees in the direction set out by funding organisations. Among Ann s recently added examples have been Elizabeth Coade (Coade Stone, virtually weatherproof even in London conditions, created around 1770) whose Lyme Regis home, Belmont House, recently featured in a TV restoration series; William Smith the father of English geology another comparatively less well educated individual, plagiarised and even incarcerated in a debtors prison at one point before receiving any recognition (an exhibition on his life and work ran in the University Museum during the autumn and winter); and James Clark Maxwell, whose contributions are now considered by many to be of similar magnitude to those of Newton and Einstein. The formal business of doffing a seasonally red cap to the winner of the previous crossword competition was kindly undertaken by Ann fortunately only a handful of correct entries this time or she might have been showered with paper slips which capped off the afternoon before adjournment for refreshments. Jim Smith A Miscellany The Magna Carta Pageant 2015 Not long after the waterborne Queen s Diamond Jubilee Pageant, it was suggested that another such event should take place. Selected was the 800th Anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede on 15 June. Since 2012 a team of people working under the name of Thames Alive has arranged waterborne events in London every September. To demonstrate the significance of the Royal River, this includes a relay in which boats, both powered and unpowered, swimmers and walkers take a month to transport a bottle of water from the source of the Thames to London. Thames Alive undertook to organize a relay of boats from Hurley lock to Runnymede during the weekend before Monday 15 June which was the known date of the signing of the first Magna Carta. This Anniversary has been celebrated many times before because of the great significance of the document. These celebrations, be they pageants or plays, are 26

29 well documented in the exhibition at the British Library. This time it was to be a drama acted out at various stops on the way down the River Thames. Many different types of unpowered boat were used both to carry the actors and to accompany them down the river. Each time they stopped, a small part of the story was told. Once again the logistics of getting boats on the water having had them transported from miles away, housing the trailers and overnighting the participants was vast. One thing that differed from the last big event was that being further upstream, the river was narrower and there were locks through which to travel. All this would take time and it was very much a matter of guesswork as to how long each section would take; the acting performed by professionals was easier to assess. Not all the 300 boats that took part travelled the distance of 20+ miles which was the length of the relay. The escort boats changed as the main boats in the action progressed downstream. Those boats then made their way down to join in the final scene of the Pageant on Runnymede. The boats and their occupants were variously dressed in costume. Our own boat had Tudor T-shirts and caps which had been saved from another event on the water. The crew looked very colourful in their green and white shirts with a fleur de lis on the back and red caps. There were flags flying from masts and poles The Queen s Royal barge was the principal boat being escorted down the river by other canopied and well-dressed boats carrying all sorts of flags and bunting. A special flag was given to each participating boat so that the River police and lifeboats knew who was involved. It is not possible to close the river to other traffic, and indeed a Triathlon and a Regatta were both being held in different venues en route. As the Queen s barge sculled out of Old Windsor lock followed by an entourage of others, we, who had previously been picnicking in the weir pool behind the lock, pulled out and followed the main boats down to the meadow and the spot where it is likely that the document was signed. Here there was a salute to King John and a tossing of oars, the traditional salute for unpowered boats, took place. There was also a salute to The Queen s Barge the organizer! There followed a massive free-for-all rush to return to retrieve one s boat over the banks at Wraysbury further downstream! It took a long time to get loaded and packed. But happily this time it was in the sunshine! Nobody got wet and cold as on the Jubilee Procession. 27

30 Such is the importance of the Magna Carta in history that it seemed fitting to celebrate the event at the spot where it took place so long ago. The following day the Queen went to Runnymede to unveil the British Memorial to celebrate the signing of the document. Susan Greenford Amblers Anonymous a Walk on the Historic Side This photograph shows an idyllic scene, as calm as any that we come across on our ambles. Setting out from Thrupp Wide, the picturesque canal basin at Thrupp, and fortified by a small warm seasonal toast to each other, we made our way North along the towpath towards Shipton on Cherwell, a small village with a long history dating back to the beginning of the 11th century. Crossing over the canal bridge, we scrambled up the slippery bank to the Church of the Holy Cross. We scraped our muddy boots before tentatively pushing open the door, and found the inside, not deserted as so often in country parishes on a weekday, but bustling with parishioners decking out the church for the celebration of Christmas. We were made very welcome, and proudly shown this lovely, historic building dating back to 1831, which had replaced an earlier 13th century church. Its chancel screen was erected in 1896, and dedicated to William Turner (of Oxford not the JMWT), Water Colour Painter and architect of this church. In the village, the Manor House where Turner had lived, was bought in the 20th century by another well-known figure, Richard Branson, and used as a recording studio until History was not confined to the church and village: back down at canal level, we could look across the meadows where in 1787 a wharf had been built when the Oxford Canal was extended southwards from north of Tackley towards Oxford. By 1849, the Railway passed the village, though the nearest station was one mile north of it. A major rail disaster occurred near here on the snowy Christmas Eve of 1874, in which 34 people were killed, and a further 69 injured. In the distance we could just make out the village of Hampton Gay, where the Paper Mill had been used as a temporary mortuary. The village s once handsome 16th-century gabled manor house where the inquest was held on Boxing Day 1874, is now sadly a ruin. We returned to the canal basin. Our walk was not a long one, but it was in its way very typical, since we had covered a lot of ground in terms of the history of the area. Since this was the last walk of the winter season, our Leader, David Chamberlain, organiser of all our carefully planned and very varied walks, had proposed that we eat together at Annie s Tearoom. This was a fittingly convivial walk which had exercised not merely our legs and bodies, but our minds and memories too. David has already planned and led 96 very varied and interesting walks, covering a wide area, not just geographically, but in terms of history, architecture and folklore. He intends to retire from his role as leader after his 100th walk next April. 28

31 We shall miss him, and a long line of pensioners owes him an enormous debt of gratitude, not least for his patience, understanding and humour. M. Gwalia Six things a Bear can do with a Ragged Staff In May last year, AOUP members went on a day-trip to Warwick and Charlecote. For me, the highlight of the outing was Lord Leycester s Hospital in Warwick a fascinating ensemble of late 14th- and 15th-century buildings including a chantry chapel, guildhall, Great Hall, and a galleried courtyard like that of an old coaching inn. In the 1570s, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, converted the premises into a retirement home for aged or disabled soldiers, housing twelve resident Brethren and a Master. The Master s Lodgings form one side of the courtyard. Besides the Master s delightful and rather retiring garden, one of the most charming features of Lord Leycester s Hospital is a witty set of variations on the heraldic badge of the Bear Chinning the bar Punting Rowing After a chilly dip Beach fishing Victor Ludorum and Ragged Staff, which Dudley took over from the Beauchamp Earls of Warwick and which will be familiar to Oxford residents from the inn of the name at Cumnor, where Dudley had a manor house. The bear and the ragged staff had previously existed as separate badges associated with legendary predecessors of the Earls of Warwick: one, Arthgal, derived his name from Artos, the Welsh for bear; the other, Morvid, slew a giant with the branch of a tree. The two badges were first combined by Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, who died in 1369 and whose tomb is one of the glories of St Mary s Church in Warwick. The combined Bear and Ragged Staff is one of the bestknown heraldic badges and continues to give municipal service, respectively as supporter or crest, in the official blazons of Warwickshire District Council and Warwick Borough Council. In these roles, the Bear is a noble and stately figure, variously adorned; in the poetic language of heraldry: a Bear supporting a Staff Argent and gorged with a Wreath of Oak fructed proper or a demi Bear supporting a ragged Staff Sable. It is in this dignified guise that the Bear and Ragged Staff appears in the restoration of the pleasure garden at Kenilworth Castle that Dudley had created for the visit of Queen Elizabeth I in July 1575 (and which the AOUP visited most recently in May 2014). 29

32 It would be nice to think that the six versions of the Bear and Ragged Staff badge that appear beneath the eaves of the Master s Lodgings fronting the north side of the courtyard of Lord Leycester s Hospital were contemporary with the original buildings, since there is ample evidence of the wit and deflating humour of medieval carvers, and these are very lovable and sportif bears who are clearly enjoying themselves. But I must confess to disappointment on learning that they are part of a colourful Victorian veneer on what was an unstable timbered wall, now painted to look original. The heraldic emblems are added for antique effect (Simon Jenkins, England s Thousand Best Houses). Pevsner in his Warwickshire volume humourlessly refers to overdone detail, including lots of plaster bears. Nevertheless, I say full marks to whichever sly Victorian created these delicious speculations on what the Bear might do with his Ragged Staff when off-duty from his more formal functions. Ursula Ruprecht The 2015 AOUP Carol Service and Christmas Lunch 16 December Whatever the weather outside, Exeter College s chapel and hall both have the gift of accommodating themselves to provide the appropriate mood; so in last year s bright midday sunshine the stained glass shone gloriously to lift the spirits; and, this time, under one more in a seemingly endless succession of leaden skies and at the end of a year that most people will surely be glad to put behind them, AOUP President Carlos Ruiz welcomed a full chapel to the Carol Service by remarking on how much he valued the picture of this warmly-lit and harmonious gathering of friends as affording a cheering beacon in winter s gloom. Thanks are due to AOUP Secretary, Jan Allen, for overseeing the selection of carols and readings, to organist Peter Ward-Jones, and to the Revd Andrew Allen, Chaplain of Exeter College, who led the service. As in previous years, a retiring collection, which raised 371, was held for ExVac, a student-run charity that organises two holidays a year for children from the Oxfordshire area, put forward by social services. The children are usually Young Carers, or have suffered abuse at home, or otherwise have very difficult family backgrounds. The hall was filled to capacity for the Christmas lunch. As ever, one was struck by the warmth of the welcome for the AOUP from the college staff; and the animation of the scene the tree, the colourful table decorations, the lively conversations, the excellent lunch itself was gratifying confirmation of the Association s raison d être. Our post-prandial speaker was Dr Geoffrey Thomas, former Director of the Department for Continuing Education and founding President of Kellogg College, who gave a concise, informative, and impassioned overview of the history and work of this most outward-looking and distinctive of Oxford University departments. The story of the department s evolution from the growing sense during the 19 th century of the desirability of the extension of university education to those who were not Oxford s traditional students is a heartening one. From the establishment in 1924 of its extramural department - the Delegacy for Extra-Mural Studies (signalling a shift in intent as well as title from the older Delegacy for the Extension of Teaching Beyond the Limits of the University ); through the purchase in 1927 of Rewley House on Wellington Square to be the 30

33 physical base for continuing education; to the formal recognition of part-time studies as an integral part of the collegiate university by the foundation of Kellogg College in 1990, the story of the University s embrace of adult education and part-time learners is, as Dr Thomas said, one of the most noteworthy acts of faith since Noah took a pair of woodworms on board the Ark! Laurence Reynolds Pensioners Crossword No Across: 1. You can bet on seeing one on the Cherwell (4) 5. You hope your try will not be this (10) 12. Do complete this crossword: do not contemplate an empty space (5 or 4, 1) 14. Other matters in Latin (4) 15. Lovers of Babel, Bunin and Blok (11) 18. Understandable emotion if you do not land a place on this year s extended visit (3) 20. How is your chess? (3) 21. A meteoric low (7) 22. But this could lift you from your low (3) 31

34 23. A pouch (3) 24. Most of what remains after the Rape of the Lock? The answer must be the Italian three (3) 25. Assesses the candidates (4) 26. Features in the woodwind section, successor to the shawm (4) 28. A cereal product, mixed without the maple (3) 29. Sea-ear (5) 30 (and 33 down) Best known at Oxford at St Catherine s, she has a gallery named after her in her birth-place (7, 8) 34. The peak of Europe (6) 35. A step I take but not on 34 (5) 37. Mother is needed to form the membrane (3) 38. A large bract typically on a palm (6) 41. Sticks, otherwise he reads (7) 43. Composer honoured at Oxford (5) 45. In short, a current trouble spot (3) 46. Man s spirit: Chichikov s unusual interest (4) 47. A United Nations unit initially (3) 49. A mineral which is the chief source of iron (9) 52. You may have an eye for the passenger ship (5) 54. Formerly used for those not reaching a certain standard of learning (3) 55. A capital city where you can arrange to stroll (4) 56. A seemingly non-boastful composer whose other name Russians may associate with rubbish (6) 57. What a College levies on its undergraduates (4) 58. Much used in commercial letters of the past (3) 59. It is vital that 52 should be so described (9) 60. Coley by another name (3) Down: 1. Trims, especially disarranged fruits (5) 2. Important for the production of some sounds (5) 3. A consequence of some bad experience in hospital (15) 4. Poetic abbreviation (3) 6. Before 52 sets this, it must be 59 (4) 7. The most dramatic version is sung by Canio amid his tears (3, 4) 8. Legal right to possession can be found in 52 but no connection (4) 9. One of the capabilities of carbon dioxide (4) 10. Beautiful shrubs in May-time (8) 11. Sediment (at the bottom of your cup, perhaps) (5) 13. A combination of bran and carrot with bird (dead, of course) formed by philanthropist (6, 8) 32

35 16. Many troops were slaughtered at Ypres but the singular anagram is associated with other destruction (4) 17. Higher Certificates preceded GCE and diary entries with the examination had this abbreviation (3) 19. Startlingly new work in 1913 causing a riot (4) 25. You must concede that the clues can be so described (6) 27. Henry Percy/Northumberland says it s a sin to do this to the dead (5) 30. A Victorian headmistress upon whom Cupid s dart did not fall (4) 31. Cleopatra s killer (3) 32. As many shrubs such as 10 appear in winter (9) 33. see 30 across (8) 36. Bringing home the bacon in slices (7) 39. Plymouth, notably, has one (1, 3) 40. A Greek letter, 19th in the alphabet (3) 42. This Robert has a shop in most towns (4) 44. Beyond this you will have standing ovation, according to an American man of the theatre (6) 46. A secret store such as the squirrel ensures for the winter (5) 48. You can find him in Ecclesiastes (3) 50. What successful English cricketers hope to do in the winter (4) 51. Remember your nursery rhyme in the chance encounter (1, 3) 53. And the attribute of pantomime character Jack (4). Solution to Pensioners Crossword No 22 Across: 1. One O clock Jump; 9. Clan; 10. RO; 11. EP; 13. Hell Or High Water; 18. Gigi; 19. Aegis; 20. Nooses; 22. Slugs; 23. CA; 24. Tetanus; 27. Era; 29. eg; 30. Litres; 34. Stone the Crows; 37. Like; 38. -ish; 39. E en; 41. Eddy; 43. Egos; 44. As; 46. Naha; 48. Tepid; 51. Caterpillar; 54. Owe; 56. User; 57. Themselves; 58. Marbles; 59. Al Down: 1. Ole; 2. Nalgo; 3. Enlist; 4. Christening; 5. Origin; 6. Cog; 7. Jewel; 8. Up A Gum Tree; 9. Chancellor; 12. HR; 14. Ogee; 15. Hassle; 16.Tig; I7.-ess; 21.Oar; 25. Ages; 26. Essay; 28. Ask; 31. Ice; 32. Rondo; 33. EW; 35. Tea; 36. Thistle; 40. Tapas; 42. Pater; 43. Ear; 45. Siren; 46. NASA; 47. Herb; 49. Elms; 50. Pest; 51. Cum; 52. Pte; 53. IHS; 54. Ova; 55. wef We hope you enjoy puzzling out the mixture of straightforward and cryptic clues, plus some factual teasers, some of which have an Oxford/AOUP connection. Send your answer by 1 April 2016 to David Chamberlain, 2 Bell Close, Cassington, Witney OX29 4EP. A modest book token will be awarded to the member with the correct solution drawn by lot. Welcome to two new entrants: Helen Brown and Richard Carter. There was another new experience for your compiler in that just one letter separated 6 further entrants from the compiler s solution. Jeremy Whiteley, Marion Whalley, Richard Sills, Bob Clements, John Barton and Brian Digweed all submitted correct 33

36 solutions; it was, however, Jeremy Whiteley, whose name was drawn from the Santa hat by our December speaker, Ann Spokes-Symonds. Well done! Do all try again. David Chamberlain Obituaries The Association has been notified of the following deaths. Please note that the University s Pensions Office is not necessarily informed in every case of the deaths of widows/widowers of University pensioners. So if readers are aware of any member of the Association (pensioner or spouse/partner) whose recent death has not been reported in the list, the editors would be grateful to be informed. They can then pass information to the Pensions Office as appropriate. Sometimes we do not receive employment details for the entries. In such cases, we should appreciate this information, if known to anyone Mr Clive J Surman, 17 December, Finance Administrator, Department of Biomedical Sciences Mr Graham JacksonKemp, 17 July, husband of Mrs Hazel JacksonKemp, Library Assistant, Jesus College Mrs Angela Skrimshire, 1 June, Research Officer, Department of Psychiatry. Dr Rosemary Gordon James (née Stewart), 15 June, Fellow in Organisational Behaviour, Templeton College and Honorary Fellow of Green Templeton College. (Death in Service). Mr Angus R McKendrick, 19 June, Careers Adviser, Careers Service. Dr Carol E Clark, 20 June, Tutor in Modern Languages, Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College. Dr Eric J W Whittaker, 2 July, Reader in Mineralogy, Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College. Mr Roy Walton, 20 July, Fitter s Mate, Surveyors Department. Mr John A Rogers, 25 July, Deputy Reprographics Manager, Bodleian Library. Mr Rodney G Matthews, 27 July, Porter, Department of Physiology. Mrs Elizabeth T T Lack, 31 July, widow of Dr David L Lack, Reader in Ornithology and Director of the Edward Grey Institute. Mr Henry G Collins, 2 August, Technician, Department of Inorganic Chemistry. Miss Betty Colwin, 4 August, Technician, Department of Ophthalmology. Mr Kenneth Stanbrook, 9 August, Gardener, Nuffield College. Mr George Clack, 19 August, Police Constable, University Police. Mr Herminio Gomes Martins, 19 August, Lecturer, Latin American Centre, Emeritus Fellow of St Antony s College. Professor Henry (Harry) Jones, 24 August, Professor of Condensed Matter Physics, Department of Physics. 34

37 Mr John R Skilbeck, 24 August, Assistant Driver, University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. Mrs Sheila F Wilson, 25 August, widow of Mr Keith V Wilson, Assistant Caretaker, Mathematical Institute. Mrs Valerie F Cattle, 26 August, Scout, Jesus College. Mr Malcolm R (Bob) Gilmour, 1 September, Administrative Information Services Unit. Mr John A Saunders, 1 September, College Quad Person, Brasenose College. Mrs Cynthia M Waterhouse, 3 September, Accounts Assistant, Bodleian Library. Mr Ronald Emberton, 6 September, Caretaker, Mathematical Institute. Professor Terence V Jones, 14 September, Donald Schultz Professor of Turbomachinery, Honorary Fellow of St Anne s College and Emeritus Fellow of St Catherine s College. Mrs Ellen Thomas, 15 September, widow of Mr Robert A Thomas, Cabinet Maker, University Surveyors. Mrs Rosalind Brain, 16 September, Senior Assistant Registrar, University Offices, Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College. Mrs Mary Fagg, 20 September, widow of Mr Bernard E Buller Fagg, Curator, Pitt Rivers Museum. Mr John Matthews, 21 September, Keble College (post not known). Mr Gavin Brown Scott, 22 September, Technician, Department of Inorganic Chemistry. Mrs Susan J Noble, 4 October, Senior Research Worker, Department of Physiology. Mr Gordon F Lewis, 5 October, widower of Mrs Jean M Lewis, Secretary, Mathematical Institute. Mrs Doreen Brandon, 7 October, widow of Mr Keith Brandon, Porter/Handyman, Green College. Mrs Kathleen Duparc, 7 October, Deputy to the Keeper of Printed Books, Bodleian Library. Mr James A Branston, 10 October, Technician, Examination Schools. Mrs Margaret Walker Ackrill, 15 October, widow of Professor John Ackrill, Professor of the History of Philosophy, Brasenose College. Mrs Valerie Lavis, 21 October, Purchase Order Clerk, Nuffield Department of Medicine. Dr Simon D Lawson, 22 October, Principal Library Assistant, Indian Institute Library. Mr Kenneth W Hicks, 24 October, Workshop Technician, Department of Plant Sciences. Mr David E Barnwell, 25 October, Database Manager, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. Mrs Winifred Newman, 25 October, widow of Mr Robert Newman, Technical Services Manager, Department of Zoology. 35

38 Professor Arthur D Hazlewood, 26 October, Fellow in Economics and Warden of Queen Elizabeth House, Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College. Mrs Angela Tremayne, 2 November, Department of Psychiatry (post not known). Mrs Theresa Prickett, 7 November, widow of Mr Hector Prickett, Land Agent. Professor Brian L Trowell, 12 November, Heather Professor of Music, Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College. Mr James P Hart, 15 November, Administrator, Department of Inorganic Chemistry. Mrs Margaret L Lake, 21 November, Buttery Assistant, Nuffield College. Mr David Jenkins, 24 November, Storesman, Department of Physics. Miss Elizabeth N Brown, 1 December, Photographer, Ashmolean Museum. Mrs Barbara J Williamson, 4 December, Careers Service (post not known). Miss Deborah Hayward Eaton, 7 December, Librarian, St Edmund Hall. Mr Gary K Golder, 9 December, Lodge Porter, St Edmund Hall. Dr Donald Walsh, 16 December, (neither his department nor his post is known). Mrs Angela M Rhodes, 22 December, Technician, Department of Biochemistry. Mrs June Holland, 26 December, widow of Mr Ronald A G Holland, Senior Technician, Department of Geology and Mineralogy. Mr Maurice E Harper, 31 December. Yard Man, New College Dr Dimitri Kornhardt-Feary, 6 January, Library Assistant, Bodleian Library. Mr John A Thorne, 6 January, Kitchen Porter, Jesus College. Mr Reginald Vaulter, 12 January, St Edmund Hall (post not known). Mr Leonard Bagnall, 13 January, Department of Physiology (post not known). Mrs Violet M McClellan, 13 January, Clarendon Laboratory (post not known). Mr Frank Fincher, 17 January, Department of Nuclear Physics (post not known). Mr Michael Alder, 24 January, Bar Manager, St Edmund Hall. The Editors would like to thank the following for contributing illustrations to this issue: Sheila Allcock, David Chamberlain, English Heritage, Susan Greenford, Gioia Olivastri, Monica Price, Ursula Ruprecht, Elsie Seear, Mary Saunders, Gilliane Sills, Fred Taylor. 36

39 Change of address PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS Name: My address has changed From: To: To ensure that the Newsletter reaches you regularly, will you please record any change in the address to which the magazines should be sent on the above form and send it to: The Secretary, AOUP c/o Beaver House, Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2ET THE ASSOCIATION OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY PENSIONERS website: Do have a look at the website, and feel free to make suggestions about what you would like to see on the pages. Photographs wanted please! We are always pleased to have new images showing what the University of Oxford suggests to you, so start snapping when the sun comes out (or even if it doesn t) or see if you can find any good photographs you have taken recently. Please caption the subject appropriately. Please your photograph(s) with your name to the Webmaster, and the best ones will be used on the website s pages. They should be in colour, but they can be landscape or portrait, and in any resolution or size (although we reserve the right to crop them if needed). the Webmaster: aoup-webmaster@admin.ox.ac.uk

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