Colouring in Oxford by Janie Hampton

The tower of Magdalen College was built in 1492 beside the River Cherwell
Copyright Janie Hampton, 2019.

The River Cherwell (pronounced ‘Charwell’) flows into the River Thames- but where it flows through Oxford, the Thames is called the Isis! It then goes back to being the Thames until London and then the English Channel. On May Morning, Magdalen choir sing from the top of the tower at dawn. Then drunk students leap off Magdalen Bridge into the River Cherwell. It is shallow enough to punt, so a dangerous pastime. On the left are the Oxford Botanical Gardens, home to many exotic and wonderful plants.

It is far too hot here in Southern England to read much. So here are some drawings of the history of Oxford you may print out. Then go and sit under a tree, or any shadey, cool place, and colour them in. Choose your favourite. Or print out several and offer them to friends, or neighbours. But don't sell them or use them for commercial gain. You can use paint, coloured pencils or felt pens, or a combination of all three. There are no rules for colouring. Use any colour you like, stay in the lines, go over the lines, add your own flowers, leaves and people. The only rule is that you should enjoy doing it. This is not work, or school prep, it is for fun!

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) visited Oxford once, in 1566.
The castle mound in the background is still there. Copyright Janie Hampton, 2019.

In 1566 Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) visited Oxford during her annual ‘Royal Progress’ around England. The Queen and her courtiers were entertained by university students with debates, plays and music. She attended discussions at the Church of St Mary the Virgin and closed the final debate herself with a speech in Latin. Five years later in 1571, she founded Jesus College, the first Protestant college. Her father, Henry VIII, had ensured she was well-educated and although she had no children of her own, she paid for the education of many of her 100 godchildren.

Alice Lidell (left) and her sisters Lorina and Edith with ukuleles in 1848.
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
Copyright Janie Hampton, 2019.

The drawing above of Alice Lidell (1852-1934) and her sisters is possibly the first ever photo of anyone playing a ukelele. Though some people dispute these were exactly like ukeleles that we play today. Can you spot the characters from ‘Alice in Wonderland’? 

Stained glass window in Christ Church Cathedral, designed by Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) . Copyright Janie Hampton, 2019.

Christ Church cathedral was built on the site of St Frideswide's monastery, which dates back to the 12th Century. Christ Church College, where many British Prime Ministers were educated, was built in 1525, funded by Henry VIII as part of his dissolution of Roman Catholic monasteries and establishment of the Church of England.
Oxford, originally called Oxnaforda, (the place where Oxen could cross the river without a bridge) has been here for over a thousand years. I have lived in Oxford thirty four years this week, and little has changed, apart from more traffic, more visitors and more cafés with wi-fi. It is not often I really look at this beautiful, old city. Doing these drawings made me look, and think, and appreciate. One day I may have enough to make a whole book. But for now, I share a few of them with you, gentle readers. If you like them I shall do some more.

www.janiehampton.co.uk 

TWO ALICE ANNIVERSARIES by Adèle Geras

"And what is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversation?"

This has long been one of my favourite quotations from a favourite book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.  I agree with it completely. I can't promise you conversations in this post but I do have a lot of pictures to share.

This year is a double anniversary. It's 150 years since Carroll's book was published and it's 50 years since I appeared (or rather took part...I didn't appear.  I was hidden. More of that later!) in a production of a play directed by Adrian Benjamin to celebrate the centenary of the publication, in 1965. This passage of time makes me feel almost as old as Alice herself. 

 Nigel Rees, who now hosts shows on BBC Radio such as Quote Unquote, was the organising force behind the 50th anniversary tea party in the Dean's Garden at Christ Church College. He played the Narrator (Lewis Carroll)  in the play, and has kept an extensive archive of photographs, some of which I reproduce below.

The pictures above and below show some of the rehearsals in Christ Church Meadow, where the production took place. These must have been rehearsals quite late on in the process because we also used the Dean's Garden and I do remember thinking: Alice, the real Alice Liddell, the Dean's daughter, would have played here, where we're lying about and declaiming. 

The seven Alices in the photo below were part of the rather 60s ish aspect of the show. I can no longer remember (it was half a century ago!) what the purpose of those seven young women was, but it looked wonderful when they were all together on the rungs of a ladder, as I recall. 

The real Alice, the embodiment of Carroll's quiet and determined young heroine, was Tamara Ustinov. She was quite spectacularly good and looked just like the Tenniel illustrations when dressed in her costume. 

There are no photos of me in action from that production.  I am in the programme under a pseudonym: Rosamund Ackworth.  This was because I didn't have acting permission. I had done 'too much acting' according to my tutors and failed my Preliminary exams (the only scholar of the college ever to have done such a thing in living memory) and so the powers that be decided that I couldn't be in Alice....defying those powers and taking part anyway was the one naughty thing I did while at St Hilda's. And the director made sure I wasn't caught. As well as appearing under a pseudonym, I was placed on a kind of platform up a tree with only my skirt and shoes showing. My role was as Alice's sister,  and all I had to do was sing. When a song like "You are old, Father William" was sung on ground level, there I would be, singing the original hymn or Victorian parlour song of which it was a parody. It was a perfect arrangement. Once the production went on to the Minack Theatre in Cornwall after the term had ended, I could be visible and sang my songs from the top of a rock.

That was in 1965. The tea party was early in July. And you can see, from the picture below, that Tamara Ustinov is still looking very Alice-like. Age cannot wither her, etc. To her left is the Dean of Christ Church who very kindly let us use his garden for our revels. The person with their back to the camera is Nigel Rees.

Oxford was full of Alice memorabilia. Here's a window that's typical of many I saw. 

This is the Dean's garden. Just as I remember it, but bigger.  This was where we rehearsed quite often.

The food was most appropriate for the occasion, as you can see.

I haven't put up photos of the cast today.  They looked, spookily, much older and still exactly the same as they were at 20. But here below is Alice's nursery. The Dean allowed us to go up there and photograph it, too. It's the sitting room for him and his young family, but this was where Alice Liddell spent a great deal of time and it was wonderful to be there and see what it was like, imagine what the room must have been like in her day.

I went to the window and looked out. This must have been something that Alice, from what we know of her, did over and over again. I took a picture and this is it. The plants may have been different, but it was strange looking out just in the same way as she did. I have no doubt that this place is haunted in the best possible way: full of echoes of the book. And the  book is one that will live forever, in  spite of some modern misgivings about its author. 

Some of us went to evensong in the Cathedral before leaving. It was a perfect end to a wonderful occasion and many thanks are due to the Dean for letting us celebrate our anniversary in such grand style.