Oxford with John Gethin
I have had a heaven-sent day enjoying my first taster of Oxford with my mentor John Gethin. I met him six years ago when he was my history teacher and today we are still having historic adventures. We are kindred spirits so we stayed in touch after college and I am very lucky that my education carries on through John as we both have a love of museums and clubland in Saint James'.
We met up at Victoria station at 10 AM on a bright Monday morning in September 2018. It was only an hour and a half on the bus from Victoria London to Oxford city. I managed to obtain John's memories of his time at Oxford on the bus. As he shared his personal memories we passed amazing scenery, although I, in my mind, was in Oxford and very much alive in John's memories of his time there.
This specific adventure took place on the university open day in Oxford which takes place once a year. I was thrilled as even though I am age twenty four many of the Porters at the front of all the entrances of the colleges thought that I could be a prospective student. John was explaining to me some of the history of Oxford. The founding of the university is lost to history, but we know it expanded significantly in the twelfth century when the king wanted his own English University so that his nobles would stop being educated in France.
In part Oxford was built then in response to the French and their schools. The history of Oxford is fascinating as it was one of the few places of learning that was not run by the church back in the day. Most nobles would have sent their sons off to be educated by the church so Oxford was one of the first proper education places that was not run by the Church.
We were very lucky to visit Oxford when we did because it was the open day and therefore we were allowed to visit more than one college. Pembroke college was my favourite mainly because of the memories John shared with me, which made it more personal. Pembroke college had a beautiful courtyard with an amazing modern building site on its campus. John used to run the modern art gallery inside the modern building so he was able to impart many facts about post modern art. Yet, what I was really interested in was the beautiful old courtyard, which consisted of pretty flower beds. I enjoyed the orangery most of all and visiting the fellows garden whilst having a chat with the gardener.
John and I also visited Balliol College, where I was impressed by the architecture more than anything else. I was honoured to be in the same college that Boris Johnson attended as did Dan Snow, so they are obviously doing something right when selecting students. Balliol college is known as the thinking college. The Library is the main intellectual hub of the college.
We visited the Bodlean Library which was covered in tourists so I was not too impressed. Then we took a break from the sightseeing and we had a fantastic lunch at the pub called The Turf where John shared many amusing stories of his time at Oxford.
The last two colleges were New College, which we discovered was not that new, and Magdalen College. I liked New College Oxford as its the only college that has battlements. They also have squeaking steps where if one claps they squeak for you. I loved the grounds at Magdalen college because of the deer park where they still use a bow and arrow to kill the dear for the feast. They even have white dear.
Overall, my favourite fact about Oxford was that it was created to rival the French Universties. I think Oxford is a great center of learning and it has great traditions. What I learnt from my trip is that even though my education has officially finished through these day trips my education continues.
