Was it because he had a stammer that Charles Lutwidge Do-Do-Do-Dodgson – aka Lewis Carroll – became fascinated by the Dodo? Or was it perhaps his penchant for alliteration and the idea of being ‘Dead as a Dodo’? The last Dodo had expired well over a century before Dodgson’s birth in 1832. Its desiccated head and foot were ... CONTINUE READING
One summer’s evening, while quietly tending the plants on his allotment, Martin Stott thought he heard a choir of angels. Putting aside his spade, he leant over the boundary hedge. Sure enough: wafting towards him on the warm breeze were the strains of a celestial music. It seemed to be coming from an ancient building close by ... ... CONTINUE READING
There are a LOT of interesting characters on this overcrowded island of ours; and if you’d been in the Rose & Crown last Friday night you could be forgiven for thinking that most of them live in Oxford. Entertaining, erudite, eccentric, exasperating, extraordinary … All human life is here, and everybody seems to have a tale to tell. ... CONTINUE READING
'We’ve barely arrived in Oxford. We're still just a few yards outside the railway station, and already we’re standing on a piece of land that has been an abbey, a station, and a business school … Every square metre of Oxford has been so many things that even the plaques are crowding each other out: plaque beside plaque, ... CONTINUE READING
The sculptor Michael Black (1928-2019) is best known for carving the giant ‘Emperors’ heads which stare out across Broad Street from in front of the Sheldonian Theatre. He did many other fine sculptures too – in a variety of materials: wood, metal, and above all stone. But what he really wanted to make was an ornamental ox. ... CONTINUE READING
On April Fools’ Day 1979 a young man, dressed in top hat and tails and clutching a bottle of Bollinger, hurled himself off Clifton suspension bridge and plummeted over 200 feet. Then, to the amazement of those witnessing this shocking spectacle, ‘he bounced back up’. David Kirke had completed the world’s first bungee jump.* ... CONTINUE READING
The third millennium dawned with an unforgettable image: New York’s twin towers collapsing in flames. The horror of 9/11, caught on bystanders’ camera-phones and beamed endlessly into living rooms around the world, heralded not only a new chapter in international relations, but also a revolution in the mode, speed, and scale of global communication. The statistics ... CONTINUE READING
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien – it is somehow unnerving to discover that he had real names rather than initials, and positively weird to learn that his friends called him simply ‘Ron' – loved trees, one in particular. It was a giant European Black Pine tree (pinus nigra) and it grew in Oxford’s celebrated Botanic Garden, a few paces ... CONTINUE READING
So there it was: ‘Merry Christmas, everybody having fun’ (according to Noddy Holder at least). Now it’s time to ‘look to the future; it’s only just begun’. (ibid) As we take down the fairy lights and stare in shock at our credit card statements, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on the action-packed twelve months that made up 2025. ... CONTINUE READING
Iron Man in a puddle © Andrew Turner November is traditionally the month when we celebrate the legacy of the great Henry Taunt. We do so by showcasing some very fine photographs by some very fine photographers. November is also, fittingly, the month of the biennial Photo Oxford Festival. A recent exhibition took as ... CONTINUE READING
