Christ Church’s Tom Quad has seen some sights in its time. For instance, in 1893 some disgruntled students staged a riot there.

They were upset because they had been invited to the 21st birthday party of Sunny, the ninth Duke of Marlborough. But the college authorities imposed restrictions — for instance, the students were required to be back in college at an early hour.

“I’ve got copies of the two cartoons of the 1893 riot over there on my study walls,” the Very Rev Christopher Lewis, the present Dean of Christ Church, tells me gleefully.

“They show the students painting the slogans “Damn the Dean” and “Damn Sampson” on the walls — Sampson was the Senior Censor. They also painted “God Bless the Duke of Marlborough” as it was his party they had hoped to attend. It’s rather fun: it’s a very good thing to have in the Deanery, to remind one that you’ve got to be reasonable!”

Is the life of a modern Dean of Christ Church a little less colourful?

“It’s still pretty varied, the job has got all sorts of different aspects to it. There are Old Members, there are the visitors, there are the graduate and undergraduate communities. And, of course, there’s the college, the cathedral, and the wider university.

“Every day is different, that’s the joy of the job.

“Last week I was in the USA at a biennial reunion, and this Monday we had a visit from the Chinese Minister for Propaganda: he’s No 5 in China. We showed him around, and then he came and ate a cucumber sandwich, and drank some tea — the last time we had Chinese visitors, we made a grave error: we gave them normal, solid British tea, but this time we provided Chinese green tea. That went down better than what you might call builders’ tea!”

“Tom Quad echoes to the 1812 finale,” reported The Oxford Times on June 9, 1961. The report continued with accounts of: “an audience of more than 5,000” and “puffs of cigarette smoke drifting up into the clear, still air” as it described Christ Church’s first mammoth open-air concert. Now the event is to be re-enacted in Tom Quad by Oxford Philomusica, and joined by two other concerts.

“All three events celebrate the Jubilee of our Visitor, Her Majesty the Queen, who plays an important part, in a representational sense, in the life of Christ Church,” Christopher Lewis explains. “But each of the concerts is trying to do a slightly different thing. The central event, on Saturday, June 23, is the re-enactment of the great 1961 concert. Then, the evening before, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa will sing with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

“This concert has a particular edge for us, because we have a very strong historical link with [Dame Kiri’s native] New Zealand. Much of the founding impetus for Christ Church Cathedral, New Zealand, came from Christ Church, Oxford, and we had a tremendous collection from Old Members, and here in the Cathedral, at the time of the earthquake: we sent nearly £60,000 out to New Zealand.”

The final concert, on Sunday, June 24, will feature the combined forces of the Oxfordshire County Music Service, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, and Christ Church Cathedral School pupils.

In this Jubilee year, it’s perhaps no surprise that this concert will end at full belt with Land of Hope and Glory.

Tickets and full details are available from Tickets Oxford (01865 305305 or www.oxford playhouse. com/tickets oxford)