Champagne reception not ideal for our fussy princess

12:00am Thursday 2nd May 2013

Sunday night’s superbly made episode of ITV’s Morse spin-off, Endeavour, was much concerned with a visit to an Oxford missile factory by Princess Margaret. As catering arrangements were discussed in the opening moments, the word ‘refreshments’ was accompanied by beguiling scenes of lots of champagne glasses being lavishly filled.

Why we can't restore the old county boundaries

The George in Oxford's Botley Road, now a branch of Richer Sounds, was once known as 'the first pub in Berkshire'

12:00am Thursday 2nd May 2013

‘And who could forget the Soke of Peterborough?” wrote Paul Hornby, of Oxford, on the letters page of the Daily Telegraph last Friday. Who indeed? Certainly not the present writer who was born and brought up in this quaintly named area of eastern England. Confusingly, it was an administrative county, largely composed of the cathedral city of Peterborough, within the geographical county of Northamptonshire. The Soke disappeared in 1965 (though ‘the Soak of Peterborough’ remained, as a title applied to anyone with a preternatural appetite for alcohol). Its domain became part of the short-lived county of Huntingdon and Peterborough. In 1974, this was absorbed into an enlarged county of Cambridgeshire in the reforms of Edward Heath’s government under his Environment Secretary Peter Walker. So I can say that without having moved, I lived as a child and young man in three different counties, four if Northamptonshire is included. Unusual, eh?

TV's Fanny helped 'do' for the toast rack

12:00am Thursday 2nd May 2013

Another topic that has provoked a lively correspondence in the Daily Telegraph recently has been the disappearance from the nation’s breakfast tables of the toast rack. It began with the lament of one reader, who wrote to say the devices were vital for keeping toast crisp.

Azfa picks up £3,000 poetry prize

Winner Asha Ali

11:40am Thursday 25th April 2013

I wrongly assumed when I received my invitation to the Tower Poetry prize-giving last Thursday lunchtime at Christ Church that the event must have derived its name from Christopher Wren’s Tom Tower. Not so. It is named for a former student at the House, the late Christopher Tower, who bequeathed a sum of money to finance this annual competition for young writers aged 16 to 18. A very generous sum, too, for the first prize winner receives no less that £3,000, a tidy amount for someone still at school, with £2,250 shared among another five prize winners.

Strippers flex muscles at Newspaper House

AB ABS: Chris Gray meets the Dreamboys. From left, Rowan, Peter, Lotan, Zane and Luke Picture: Damian Halliwell

11:30am Thursday 25th April 2013

Five fit young men joined one rather unfit old one for an entertaining chat at Newspaper House nine days ago. My meeting with a quintet of Dreamboys — and there are five more like them at home — was part of an action-packed week that later took me from fab abs to Ab Fab as I joined Joanna Lumley on the terrace of the House of Commons at the launch of the 2013 Buxton Festival. Also present there were the Culture Secretary Maria Miller and the Arts Minister and Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, both hotfoot from Baroness Thatcher’s funeral. Two days later I was with Mr Vaizey again as we met for coffee and an informal chat at Oxford’s Malmaison Hotel. Add in a buffet lunch last Thursday at Christ Church for the presentation of a prestigious poetry prize, and you get to see there is rich variety in the life of an arts editor.

Is it 'Thatcher denial' to question the style of funeral?

11:40am Thursday 18th April 2013

With some trepidation I ventured to London yesterday, to the House of Commons. My afternoon visit had nothing to do with the big event of the day, though a number of those present will certainly have been at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher. Whether this passed off without unpleasantness will now be known. As I write, the day before the service, I can only express the hope that nothing unseemly will mar the nation’s farewell to a great figure of our time.

Unlikely cigarette brand for young sleuth Endeavour Morse

12:00am Thursday 18th April 2013

I look to be having stay-at-home weekends for the next few weeks, with Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle live from New York’s Metropolitan Opera courtesy of Radio 3 on Saturday nights and the excellent new Morse prequel Endeavour going out from ITV on Sundays.

Town in icy grip on August Bank Holiday

Town in icy grip on August Bank Holiday

11:46am Wednesday 17th April 2013

At about the time that we were starting to wonder if April could get any colder, I came across a reference to even more unseasonal weather in a book I was reading about Southern Region trains on British Railways. This was a snow storm said to have struck Tunbridge Wells on August Bank Holiday in 1956. A photograph (right) appeared to supply evidence that it happened.

Thatcher - a friend to Somerville if not to Oxford University

Lady Thatcher and sculptor Oscar Nemon at Somerville iin in 1983

12:00am Thursday 11th April 2013

Margaret Thatcher told the Conservative party conference in 1989: “I went to Oxford University but I’ve never let it hold me back.” She was “only half-joking”, according to her biographer John Campbell. Others might conclude that she wasn’t joking at all.

College ready for summer Shakespeare

Tim Thomas as Puck in Worcester College's Dream of 1962

4:12pm Wednesday 10th April 2013

Some time ago in this column I expressed the hope that the appointment of the distinguished Shakespearian scholar Jonathan Bate as Provost of Worcester might signal the revival of outdoor productions of the Bard’s work in the college’s lovely lakeside gardens. Under the distinguished directorship of Prof Nevill Coghill, these were once such a feature of the city’s cultural life.

More Gray Matter»



Your townYourOxford

News from your area


Your Say Your Oxford

Councillors admitted to being ashamed at what they had allowed − Alison Cobb, Binsey

Port Meadow needs protection »

I cannot believe the council is willing to scupper the whole project if permission is not given to remove these trees − Bob Summers, Osney Island

Hydro project 'must not founder' »





Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »

click2find


About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree