HERALDRY: Trinity College, Oxford (Updated Apr. 15, 2016)

Shield of Trinity Coat of Arms, granted
 by Sir Christopher Barker, Garter King of
Arms, to Sir Thomas Pope.

Blazon: Per pale or and azure on a chevron between three griffins' heads erased four fleurs-de-lys all counter-changed. ("Counter-changed" is a translation of the Latin transmutatus and the French de l'un en l'autre.)

Authority: Patent granted from Sir Christopher Barker, Garter King of Arms, June 26, 1535: Party per pale or and azure on a cheveron between three gryphons heads eraſed four fleur de lys all countercharged. The following year, October 15, 1536, "he [Thomas Pope] was knighted by Henry eighth, amid the ſolemnities attending the creations of the earl of Southampton, and the gallant Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, afterwards the famous duke of Somerſet." (Warton, 1753, 16-17.)

Full Achievement: The full achievement of arms includes two griffins azure and or as a crest on a crown. See arms at right from the collection of Oxford college coats of arms that John P. Brooke-Little (1927-2006) published in 1951 under the auspices of the Heraldry Society. He rose to become Clarenceux King of Arms, second-highest-ranking officer at the College of Arms.

Full Achievement of Trinity
College Coat of Arms. Source:
Brooke-Little (1951).

Nominee of Arms: Sir Thomas Pope, Founder, was a Hertfordshire man who shared his family arms with the college at its foundation in 1555 and asked for daily prayers in perpetuity, a request that has reportedly been honored ever since. The arms are on his tomb in the College Chapel. The Pope family griffins appear to survive only through the College.

Institutional History: Durham College was founded in about 1286 for the Benedictine monks of Durham and was a cell of that monastery. In 1544 it was suppressed as part of Edward VI's extension of Henry VIII's acquisition of the property of the Roman Catholic monasteries. Eleven years later, almost immediately upon the accession of Mary Tudor, Sir Thomas purchased the old Durham property and founded on it Trinity College. Sir Thomas, who was a Roman Catholic, made a founder's plea to future generations of students to pray for his soul. He and his wife may have been concerned about his possible punishment in the next life for having enriched himself as a manager of the sale of monastic properties on behalf of  Henry VIII and his successors.

Physical History Highlights: Trinity used the old buildings of Durham College, especially those clustered now around what is called Durham Quad. For example, the Old Library at Trinity has windows from the Durham College Chapel, including one showing the coat of arms of an ancestor of George Washington. The current Trinity College Chapel was built in 1691 in the presidency of Dr. Bathurst; the carvings by Grinling Gibbons have recently been restored using the highest standards of care and the chapel will reopen soon.

Intellectual and Religious History: Because of its Catholic founder, Trinity College has continued to have an allegiance among Roman Catholics, although its chapel has Church of England services. It has consistently over the years attracted students from Ampleforth College, for example. It also seems to have had a way of pushing high-church Anglicans toward Rome. John Henry (later Cardinal) Newman was a student at Trinity College and later converted to Roman Catholicism. Ronald Knox was appointed Trinity's (Anglican) Chaplain during the administration of Herbert Blakiston. When students went to war, enrollment plummeted, Knox resigned for lack of meaningful work, and eventually converted to Rome. He returned to Oxford as its Catholic Chaplain at the Newman Center; Trinity's Fellows elected him a member of the common room and he ate at the college regularly. Other famed Trinity Alumni leaders include: the first and second Lords Baltimore (George Calvert, founder of what became the State of Maryland, and his two son Cecil; another son  Leonard was Governor; all three were alumni); Lord Wilmington, Prime Minister; William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, PM; Lord North, PM under George III; Lord Stanhope, Whig Leader. Famed Trinity Alumni writers include: Viscount Bryce (The American Commonwealth), Lord Clark (Civilization), James Elroy Flecker, Walter Savage Landor, and Q (Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch).

Related Heraldic Highlights: As mentioned, both of the first two Lord Baltimore were alumni of Trinity College. The City of Baltimore, Md., is named after Cecil. The name of the Baltimore Orioles came from the black (sable) and red (gules) colors in the coat of arms granted to the second Lord Baltimore. Trinity College's former Senior Tutor, Michael Maclagan, was also Richmond Herald of the College of Arms in 1980-89. The immediate past President of Trinity, Sir Ivor Roberts, is a Welshman and was H.M. Ambassador to Italy. His granted coat of arms uses a Welsh motto Bid ben, bid bond, translated into Latin as Fiat princeps, fiat pons–"Be a leader, be a bridge."

Sources 
Barnard, Francis Pierrepont and Shepard, Major T. Arms & Blazons of the Colleges of Oxford. London: Oxford University Press, 1929.

Brooke-Little, John P., "The Arms of Oxford University and Its Colleges," The Heraldry Society, 1951.

Clerehugh, R. H. A. A Concise Guide to Colleges of Oxford University. Oxford: The Chapter House, Christ Church, 10th ed., 1992.

Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles. Armorial Families. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1929.

Warton, Thomas, B.D., Fellow of Trinity College and F.S.A., The Life of Sir Thomas Pope: Founder of Trinity College Oxford. London: Thomas Cadell in the Strand, 1753, 2nd ed., 16-17.

Acknowledgment
Thanks to Paul Walton for showing me his copies of the Barnard & Shepard and Clerehugh books and to Clare Hopkins for directing me to useful sources,

Other Posts on the Arms of Oxford Colleges and PPHs: Original Article in Oxford Today . Heraldry as Branding . Heraldry as Fun .  Coat of Arms vs. Crest . Sinister Questions . Visit to the College of Arms . Windsor Herald Talks to New Yorkers . Shaming of Harvard Law Shield :: Rapid Expansion of Oxford's Colleges and Halls . Oxford Stars . Links to Heraldry, Oxford, GW . Harris Manchester College . Linacre College . Lincoln College . St Catherine's . St Cross College . St Edmund Hall . Trinity College :: Regent's Park College . St Benet's Hall . 

TRINITY: Pitt Society lunch, 2015

Here I am at Trinity College, Oxford for the William Pitt
Society Lunch today. The College's chapel is behind me.
Photo: Alice Tepper Marlin.

OXFORD, U.K., Feb. 7, 2015 - Today I attended with Alice the William Pitt Society lunch, honoring William Pitt "the Elder", 1st Earl of Chatham.

Pitt is one of three British Prime Ministers who studied at Trinity, the other two being Lords Wilmington (Spencer Compton, the second Prime Minister after Robert Walpole) and North. Pitt's portrait hangs over high table; Lord North's portrait is less prominently positioned.

Pitt is the visionary who assembled the British Empire. He is "remembered as the architect of the victories of the Seven Years War, in which  Canada and parts of India and Africa were conquered", says the Pitt Society program.

In the Trinity chapel, at an excellent
music recital (piano, choir, cellos) by
students. Photo: Alice Tepper Marlin.

In the 13 American colonies, Pitt's troops chased away the French and hostile Indians, under the leadership of Scotsman General Edward Braddock, George Washington's military mentor. Braddock died in the assault on Fort Duquesne, near what is now named (after Pitt) Pittsburgh. On his deathbed, Braddock gave then-Colonel Washington his battle sash. Washington wore it the rest of his life and some of his best-remembered portraits show him wearing it.

Alice and Paul Gunn. Photo by JT Marlin

Pitt the Elder made possible the independence of the 13 colonies. Lord North, Trinity's third Prime Minister, made it, shall we say,  inevitable.

The Pitt Society lunch was created in 2007 to thank, during their lifetimes, those Trinity alumni who have included a legacy to Trinity in their wills. Sir Ivor Roberts, President of Trinity, kindly noted that a letter I wrote launched the Pitt Society in 2006.

In the first year, the Society had 21 members. It now has more than 100.

Chris and John at the former Red Lion. Photo by Alice
Tepper Marlin.

Some of the alumni that Alice and I spoke with at the lunch were:

Ian Senior (1958)
Nigel Armstrong-Flemming (1958)
Mark Pellew (1961)
Arthur Thorning (1962)
Mike Baldwin (1963)
Paul Gunn (1963)
Roger Baresel (1966)

Postscript 1: I was curious why William Pitt the Younger, the 2nd Lord Chatham, was not Trinity's fourth Prime Minister. Not only did he attend a different college, he migrated all the way to Cambridge, where he took up residence at Pembroke College. The hike over the fens must have worn him out. Because he was so thin, he was called "the bottomless Pitt".

Postscript 2: That evening Paul Gunn joined Alice, Chris and me at what used to be called the Red Lion in Wolvercote, just outside Oxford. Paul lives in Stratford-upon-Avon. Back in 1962-64, Paul was on the same staircase as me at Trinity - Staircase 5 on the  front quad. (Staircase 6 is the one, I understand, where Bill Clinton attended a party at which he did not inhale.)

The late Bede Rundle, a philosophy Fellow, was also on the same staircase. I just heard that his wife has sadly also died.

The name of the Red Lion was changed - the establishment is under new management. I will some day finish this postscript 2 when I have found out the new name.

WW1: Trinity College, Oxford (Comment)

The Summer 2014 Newsletter of Trinity College Oxford has many items to tickle the memory and warm the heart of an alum.

The Commem Ball

It is great news that the triennial Trinity College Commem Ball drew 1,800 guests and "is generally accepted as the biggest and best ball in Oxford." I was surprised and impressed to see that the College's Durham College Quad was painted blue and a stuffed zebra was featured inside a bandstand.

College President Sir Ivor Roberts, KCMG, former H.M. Ambassador to Italy and several other countries, confessed that he and his wife Elizabeth survived only to 2 a.m. The tradition among the younger set is to hang on till early morning and then go punting.

The last Trinity Commem Ball that Alice and I went to was with Philip and Daisy Keevil; their son Adrian, also a Trinity alum (1997) is noted in the Newsletter as now being Dr. Keevil, having been awarded a Ph.D. in Management from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Remembering the Great War

So much for the fun side. The College is devoting much of its exhibit space and reports to alumni to remembering the Great War, aka World War I. John Keeling, the Trinity Domestic Bursar, writes in the current Newsletter about the impact of the first 100 days of the war on Trinity. We forget, he says, that between 1900 and 1914, when the war broke out, "there had been over 100 regicides and high profile assassinations in Europe".

The assassination of the Archduke, however, set into a play, because of treaties, a domino effect. Armies had started assembling in Europe by the millions. At the same time, Britain failed to warn Germany that it would not tolerate a breach of Belgian neutrality. When Germany invaded Belgium, Britain was shocked and the war was on. Trinity alumni who enlisted did so because they "didn't want to miss the show".

The first Trinity man to be killed in action was Lt. James Gilkison (1903), in August. Another died in an accident during training. Three more died in September. Three more in October.  By Christmas, nine were dead.

Overall, by Armistice Day, November 1918, more than 700,000 British soldiers, sailors and airmen would die, more than one out of every eight who enlisted. Trinity's loss was greater, one in five, because so many did get to see the "show" and fought in the major battles - the Somme, Gallipoli, Ypres. As a college with a family tradition, four pairs of Trinity brothers died in the war.

It was a Trinity alum, Laurence Binyon (scholar 1887) who wrote one of the great poems of The Great War, "For the Fallen". The poem was published in The Times on September 21, 1914.  The fourth verse is used in many memorial services:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not wither them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them.

It ranks with John McCrae's "In Flanders Field" as one of the great tributes to the dead.

Trinity will have a talk about Binyon on November 9 (3:30 pm) and another one earlier on October 23 (5 pm) about Henry Moseley, who died at Gallipoli. Reservations are required. Trinity will also have an exhibition on those who died in, and those who survived, the Great War, as well as on the impact of the War on the life of the college.

Comment

I hope that Viscount James Bryce, a Trinity alumnus who served as H.M. Ambassador to the United States in the years up to the Great War, gets adequate attention in the College's remembrances. The German Ambassador, Graf Heinrich von Bernstorff, was pleased that Bryce had left before hostilities broke out in Europe, because he said that it would have been much harder to keep the United States out of the war for so long (i.e., not until the sinking of the Lusitania in 1917) had Bryce been in town bending President Wilson's ear.

OXFORD: European Reunion, Madrid–Trinity Dinner

Trinity College Dinner, Madrid, April 26, 2013. Real Gran Pena Club. L to R:
Andrew Moore, reunion organizer. Andrew Hamilton, Vice Chancellor of
Oxford. Sir Ivor Roberts, President of Trinity. Alice Tepper Marlin. Sir
Roger Fry, founder of many schools in Spain. Photo by JT Marlin.

MADRID, April 27 - Alice and I are attending the European Reunion of the Oxford University Society. 

Trinity College sponsored a dinner for its alumni yesterday, with its President presiding. Other colleges that did not have their own dinners were invited to Trinity's. 

So Paul Lewis, long-time New York Times correspondent, attended the dinner -  with his global-finance columnist wife Vivian - even though he is a Balliol man. Balliol has other things on its mind - its 750th birthday party.

The dinner was held at the Real Gran Pena Club. The club building is a fine example of traditional Spanish magnificence. One of the lectures this weekend was on the Spanish Golden Era, which was viewed as both a time of artistic exflorescence and a period of decline, as an opulent mentality grew up alongside the flow of silver from Spain's Latin American colonies. The Gran Pena is the club of both the Royalist fan club and the Loyalists. As it was explained to me:

The Loyalists would have been Royalists, if the person next in line for the throne wasn't such a darn lefty. 

This was in practical terms extremely important because the Loyalists included Spain's  military leaders, who supported Francisco Franco against the Republicans in 1936 because the growing influence of Moscow (Stalin) terrified the Spanish establishment. 

Franco and the army prevailed after a tragic three-year civil war encapsulated in Picasso's 1937 painting "Guernica" about the bombing of a rebellious Basque village by German and Italian planes, acting they said at the request of their ally Spain.

After its civil war was over -  according to my history sherpas - Spain effectively became neutral country that was a haven for people escaping from Vichy France. Franco played both sides and eventually went to the Allies. He did the same thing after the war, buying support from the left and the right - corrupting the rich with tax havens and corrupting workers (in the view of my sherpa) with workplace benefits.

He died in a hospital bed in 1975 and was described to me as dying "in his bed" because he successfully made concessions to both labor and business.

Private conversations at the Reunion suggest that Europeans view that today's problems in Spain are the result of (1) the long-time easy life in Spain created by the country's control of mineral resources overseas, exemplified by the previously mentioned centuries-long stream of silver to Seville, and (2) the Easy Street culture that Franco helped create in the process of maintaining control.

To make peace with workers, Franco's postwar Spain instituted generous policies that allow workers to build up a seniority that prevents employers from firing or laying them off without onerous penalties. Comment by a Brit who has worked in Spain for years:

Business owners burdened with a bigger payroll than their revenues can support may find it easier to shut down an entire facility than lay off a single employee.

These concessions, of course, have been made in different degrees all over Europe, as a conscious choice has been made in Europe to trade quality of working life for some loss in economic growth. But elsewhere in Europe concessions were made in a more democratic environment, with more business input.

In Spain, Franco matched the concession to workers with loopholes to facilitate non-payment of taxes by companies and executives. These loopholes go beyond the business tax concessions demanded by lobbyists in Washington. They amount to institutionalized corruption. Another memorable comment of the day:

Japan has political and civil service corruption as well. But usually when the politicians are corrupt, the civil service exposes them, and when the civil service is corrupt, the politicians expose them. In Spain both sides are in on it.

After Franco died, the progressive King Juan Carlos I took over and soon became one of Europe's most popular monarchs. His reputation, however, has necessarily been seriously tarnished by Spanish unemployment's reaching a new peak of 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013. 

Among Spaniards younger than 25, unemployment is reported as rising to 57.2 percent. But a Spanish friend said this was an exaggeration because the official figures include students as unemployed people. I don't know enough about the Spanish labor figures to comment on this. 

The country meanwhile is gripped with an unusual level of self-doubt. The estimated proportion of the Spanish economy that is "off the books" is 30 percent. The so-called "black economy" and fear of bank failures are cited as the reason for the Spanish people hoarding 500-euro notes, with more of them in Spain relative to population than any other country. 

Some Spaniards are becoming self-critical, blaming their economic problems on their  cultural traditions. The fear is that the European Union may end up wrecked on the rocks of Europe's finest treasures - its glorious history and the many cultures created by this history. 

The biggest shock for some people at the gathering of mostly European Oxford graduates was that Lord Patten, Oxford's Chancellor and a long-time supporter of the European Union, expressed public doubts about the future of the euro and the EU. As one person asked me rhetorically:

What is left of the EU without the euro? What is left of the euro without the EU?

BOAT RACE: 80th NYC BRD, 2013

Queen Elizabeth II, Coronation, Official Photo, 1953

80th NYC Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner, April 11, 2013

Toast to the Queen by Dr. John Tepper Marlin (Trinity, Oxford):

King George VI died in his sleep on February 6, 1952, after 16 years on the throne - including the Depression Years and World War II. 

His 25-year-old daughter Elizabeth was crowned the following year, 60 years ago. Her official photographs show her confident and brave. 

On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II took her oath at Westminster Abbey before 8,000 guests, including many heads of state. She bound herself to serve her people and to maintain the laws of God. 

Millions more watched as the BBC set up a live broadcast of unprecedented size. Many purchased a television set for the first time. Others came to parties held throughout Britain.

I attended one of those parties as a ten-year-old boarder at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire. We were excited about being part of the event as it happened. The small screen was laughably inadequate for the large number of monks and teachers and staff and boys who wanted to watch. But never will I forget it. 

The Queen said:

Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.

Queen Elizabeth II

My sister Elisabeth met the Queen last year when she was awarded the OBE. She was very impressed.

I think after 60 years we can all pronounce Her Majesty worthy indeed. So I have composed a six-line toast in her honor:

We raise our glasses to the Queen, none finer 
Who gave her name to an ocean liner. 

With Treasury markets at zero bound,
The Federal Reserve two programs found.
 

And they named their policies, brave and few, 
The QE1… and the QE2.

Ladies and Gentlemen - The Queen.

[Link here to story on what is likely to happen when the unthinkable occurs and Queen Elizabeth II dies.]

Response from the Universities - Sir Ivor Roberts Introduced by Dr. Marlin

Sir Ivor Roberts is President of Trinity College, Oxford. For 25 years I served as the College’s American Representative. When a predecessor of Sir Ivor’s took office, I went to see him and introduced myself as the college’s American Rep. The incoming President asked me in return: “What does a College Rep… do?” So I explained: “I write a letter every November asking other alumni of Trinity to give money.” And he look at me, puzzled and he asked: “Why do you that?”

Since the Prime Ministership of the late Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, I am assured that no Oxford or Cambridge college president would ask that question today.

Sir Ivor was born in Liverpool, and is with us close to the 50th anniversary of the first visit to America of another touring group, the Beatles. Sir Ivor was educated at St. Mary's College, Crosby and was a Scholar at Keble College. He graduated in Modern Languages in 1968, and entered the Diplomatic Service, where he earned the four letters of his knighthood. 

He started in the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies in Lebanon, then Paris, then Luxembourg and back to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Canberra. Sir Ivor was sent to Madrid to be Minister in the British Embassy, then to Belgrade, first as Chargé d'Affaires, and after recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by the United Kingdom, as Ambassador. In Belgrade he conducted negotiations on behalf of the international mediators with both the Yugoslav authorities and the Bosnian Serbs and manged not to be shot dead by either side. You might say it was not a good sign if Sir Ivor was assigned to your country. It means Her Majesty is expecting trouble.

From 1998 to 1999 he was on a sabbatical as a Senior Associate Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford. Next he served as British Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, then Ambassador to Italy and to San Marino. He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 2006 upon the happy day for Trinity College, Oxford when he was elected President.

Since 1974 he has been married to Elizabeth Smith, now Lady Roberts, a scholar of French poetry and former diplomat in the Australian Foreign Service. She has been a University lecturer in Balkan history and has written a history of Montenegro published in 2006, the same year as the remake of the Montenegro-based James Bond movie, “Casino Royale”.

Sir Ivor speaks fluent Italian, French and Spanish and, he says -- and I have no basis for questioning his assertion– “passable Serbo-Croat". His hobbies include Italian opera, theatre, photography, skiing, golf and tennis.

Recognizing his distinguished career, in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List he was named Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG). In the 2000 List his honor was raised to Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG).  Please join me in welcoming Sir Ivor.

Sir Ivor Roberts, KCMG, FCIL

Sir Ivor Roberts, KCMG FCIL President, Trinity College, Oxford

Oxonians, Cantabridgians, spouses, partners, friends and associates.

Thank you John, your welcome was more generous than that of the last person who introduced me with the simple words: “Pray for the silence of the President of Trinity.”


Indeed it was the sort of introduction that my father would have loved and my mother would have believed.

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public.

I was born in Liverpool the seaport on the west of the UK which has had most interconnection with the US from its colonial days. Despite having been a home to William Gladstone, it has not recently been thought of as the natural home of aesthetes and academics, statesmen and poets, rather a vigorous robust seaport with the usual concomitance of drink and violence.

Its contemporary fame rests on its music makers extraordinaire and its football team, and concomitant violence.

So in an attempt to provide a fresh softer focus for Liverpool, the city Elders recently decided on a plan to put into one of the tougher areas of Liverpool, a safari park to make the city more family friendly.

At a planning meeting with the city council and the town planners one of the town planners pointed out that the location of the park was in the middle of the most heavily residential area of the city.

“What,” asked the town planner, “would happen if one of the lions were to escape?” Quick as a flash one of the town councillors replied: “It’ll just have to take its chance like the rest of us."

There is always, as the Boat Race demonstrates, keen competition between the universities, but this is also reflected at college level. Trinity College Cambridge is, of course, the larger of the two Trinities And as a result we have to use our wits to hold our heads up in the presence of our richer and larger counterparts.

This was best illustrated to me by a story our Estates Bursar told about a lunch that he had with his opposite number at Cambridge. He was describing to him the fact that our College retained a modest estate in North Oxfordshire – the Wroxton Estate – as part of its original endowment, and it took him a couple of hours to stroll around it.

His opposite number gave a derisive laugh. “If I get into my car in the morning,” he said, “I can drive it as fast as it can do all the hours of daylight for two consecutive days, and I still would not have completed a tour of half our estates.”

Our Estates Bursar looked at him sympathetically and said: “Yes, I had a car like that once too”.

You are, I am sure, mainly interested in the reforms since you went down. Though your attitude to change might be like that of the 19th century statesman Lord Salisbury, who said “Change, change, why do we want more change? Aren't things bad enough as they are?”

Let us start with the...

DONS.

In the old days they had a certain aversion to excessive labour, on your part or on theirs. My tutor gave me my first lecture list with the comment: "Nothing there that need detain you”!

One used to decline to give tutorials on Wednesdays because it spoilt both his weekends.

Another, when asked what precisely he was that he did, by a Government Inspector, replied “I give an annual lecture – but not you understand every year”.

They had a certain waspish style of speech. It was a former President of my College whose obituary said that “his biting wit was much admired by his ever-decreasing circle of friends.”

EXAMS.

We are, of course, very much an academic institution. At the end of the road still lie the dreaded Finals. We have, alas, abolished the Fourth Class, traditionally awarded to candidates who gave long and brilliant answers to questions examiners had not asked.

One candidate who should surely have qualified for a Fourth wrote these words only on his paper: Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5.

The curious examiner looked it up in his Collected Shakespeare. It said: “I cannot do this bloody thing.”

THE BOAT RACE.

While we are here to celebrate the Boat Race, I read recently about another boat race on the Seine River in Paris between Toyota and the Peugeot motor companies. Both teams practised long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The French, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.

A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was Toyota had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the Peugeot team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

So, Peugeot hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

So to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder, with meetings with celebrities, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was agreement on getting new oars, a new boat and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and a big bonus.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, Peugeot management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new boat, sold the oars, and cancelled all capital investment in new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was outsourced to India.

So much for rowing!

CREATION OF THE US.

Oxford and Cambridge have, I'm sure you all know, played their part in the creation of the US. Oxonians made it both possible and inevitable for the American colonies to become independent. All of the eight colonies between New York and Florida were founded or once owned by an Oxonian.

Sir Walter Raleigh from Oriel founded the first colony, Virginia.

George Calvert, earl of Baltimore from Trinity Oxford, founded Maryland as a Catholic haven. Earl Granville from Christ Church founded the Carolinas and two of my college’s three Prime Ministers, who were bitterly opposed to each other, contributed in their respective ways to the creation of the US:

• William Pitt the Elder chased the French out of Canada and ultimately out of the whole of North America, while 
• Lord North so alienated the colonists by overtaxing them to pay for Pitt's wars, that he made their rebellion inevitable. (Pitt, incidentally, was vehemently opposed to making the colonies pay.)

William Penn of Christ Church founded Pennsylvania, of course.

And John Harvard of Emmanuel Cambridge gave his name to the incomparable Harvard, donating to it his library.

If the pioneering spirit of the Raleighs and the Pitts was evident in the 16th and 18th centuries, it has fully been taken over by the modern descendants of the original colonists.

What we most need in Oxford and Cambridge is an infusion of the best

qualities of this country -

• a can-do spirit
• an optimism which says that the goals of fairness and equality are achieved by leveling up and not by leveling down
• a generosity of spirit and of substance to the institutions which nurtured us in our youth. 

It's this generosity, and not just of spirit, that has helped Oxford and Cambridge so much in recent years as our US alumni have so often stepped in as we become progressively more orphaned by the British state. We are collectively enormously indebted to our US alumni.

My college was Head of the River at Oxford for 17 years between 1938 and 1951. The College was then divided into three distinct groups of undergraduates.

• The first group consisted of those who thought that the College was a boat club,
•  the second group consisted of those who thought that the College ought to be a boat club, and 
• the third group was a statistically insignificant number.

Matters have become more difficult, now that ability on the river counts for less than ability in the library or lab. in the admissions process.

Our Chaplain was questioning one aspirant theologian and oarsman, whose muscles were more obvious than his Christianity, and who appeared to have only a tenuous grasp of the New Testament, and a still lesser one of the Old.

So finally he asked him “what was it” in the book of Genesis of which it was said “it moveth slowly upon the face of the waters and is filled with all manner of strange beasts?”

And the schoolboy replied hopefully “The Balliol Schools VIII”?

Rowers don't always get the best press. You may remember reading about the rower who was down at the sea one day and saw a girl swimming a good distance out but circling her was an unmistakeable shark fin.

Without a moment's hesitation our intrepid oarsman threw himself in the sea, swam out to the girl, karate chopped the shark to death and swam back to land with the girl.

A man on the beach came up to our hero and said "that's the bravest thing I've ever seen. I'm a reporter for the local paper, I'd like to write that up. Tell me, what's your job?" "I'm a rower" said our hero.

The next day, the local paper carried the headline: "Rower kills girl's pet."

Wait, it's not over. Our hero is so disconsolate at this bad publicity that he decides to give up rowing and enter a Trappist monastery. The rules were very strict. A monk was only allowed to speak once every ten years and then only to utter two words. At the end of ten years, our hero said to the Abbot. "Bed hard". Another ten years went by and he then told the Abbot "food bad". Finally after another ten long years, he said to the Abbot "I quit".

The Abbot was very angry. "I knew this was coming" he said. "You've done nothing but complain for the last 30 years."

Well we've had nothing to complain about tonight. We've had a wonderful evening and are hugely grateful to our hosts.

I give you the toast. To our sponsors.

More Boat Race Dinner Information
Past BRDs  This Year's BRDs

Boat Race News - "The Oarsmen Weigh In" 

Danielle Rossingh of Bloomberg Sports reports on March 5 that American Steve Dudek will be rowing again in 2013 after winning over Oxford in the "interrupted" Boat Race on the Thames. The race is being called the BNY Mellon Boat Race, after its new sponsor, which for the first time ever will be a U.S.-based company.

Here are some highlights from her story:

Cambridge has an 81-76 lead in the series. 

Dudek is one of five returning Cambridge crew members. Acknowledging that the 2012 victory was "hollow" given the disruption, Dudek is looking forward to the Easter Sunday race on March 31. 

The race started in 1829 with a Cambridge student's challenge. This is the first time the Boat Race will have four U.S. crew members. Cambridge will have just one Brit on board. 

The women’s boat race is moving toward equal status with the men's race. It will this year be held a week earlier at Henley. Starting in 2015 they will be one the same day over the same course. 

Last year's demonstrator from Australia was protesting budget cuts in the UK. He has been adding to the UK's prison expenditure since September 2012, with a six-month sentence for creating a public nuisance. 

The event will be watched by 250,000 on the banks of the Thames and millions on television. [In 2012 A group of New Yorkers watched at a bar in Chelsea.] 

The Oxford crew outweighed Cambridge by 21 kilos, first time since 2009 that Oxford has been heavier. But the Cambridge women outweighed Oxford by 28.4 kilos. 
Oxford's crew is looking for vindication after last year's bizarre defeat. Oxford coach Sean Bowden has had eight victories since he started coaching in 1998. Two rowers return from last year. 

Contact: Danielle Rossingh on the London sports desk at drossingh@bloomberg.net. Tip of the hat to Russell Dallen for alerting us to the London weigh-in.

CALENDAR OF OXFORD-CAMBRIDGE BOAT RACE DINNERS, APRIL 2013

Scheduled dates for 2013 dinners are provided below along with Oxford Alumni Networks listings for 2012/13. To add to or correct this list, contact jtmarlin@post.harvard.edu.

ARIZONA
Phoenix - jonathan.rose@asu.edu -

CALIFORNIA
San Francisco - m.kaser@comcast.net - www.oxcam.org

DAKOTAS AND MINNESOTA
Joel Pace pacejf@uwec.edu

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA -- WASHINGTON DINNER (66th) - April 18, 2013
Dinner chair George Keys (Balliol, Oxford)  gkeys@jordankeys.com
Emcee James Fallows (Queen's, Oxford), Atlantic.

Toast to the Universities  by Katty Kay (Oxford), Lead anchor at BBC World News America

Response from the Universities by Gillian Tett (Clare, Cambridge), Financial Times

ILLINOIS - CHICAGO DINNER (74th) - April 12, 2013
Secretary-Treasurer John H. Morrison, OBE (Univ., Oxford)  johnhmorrison@outlook.com
John Morrison@BoatRace US.www.boatrace.us
Emcee Paul Svoboda (Queens' College, Cambridge)

Mr. Michael J. Dickenson (Christ's College, Cambridge) will report on the 159th Boat Race

Speakers Dr. Robin H. Walker (Queens' College, Cambridge)

Mr. Robert Chatterton Dickson (Magdalene, Cambridge), H.M. Consult General

Musical selections by the Chicago Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company

LOUISIANA

Philip Kirk Jones, Jr. joski@liskow.com

MISSOURI
- Kansas City
Brandon Baeur bhunterb@gmail.com
- St. Louis
David Pollack missouri@ousoc.oson.org

MASSACHUSETTS
Neil Malcolm
newengland@ousoc.oxon.org www.oxcamne.org

NEW YORK - NYC DINNER (80th Anniversary Gala) - April 11, 2013

Grace, Archbishop Peter Carnley (Emmanuel and St. John's, Cambridge)

Mr. Claude Prince (Kellogg, Oxford) will report on the 159th BNY Mellon Boat Race

Toast to the President, Dr. Julia Gog (Queens', Cambridge)

Toast to the Queen, Dr. John Tepper Marlin (Trinity, Oxford)

Toast to the Universities, H.M. Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Peter Westmacott (New, Oxford)(tbc)

Response from the Universities, Sir Ivor Roberts (Keble, Oxford), President, Trinity, Oxford

The dinner is sponsored by BNY Mellon.

OREGON
cgondek@heronandcrane.com www.oxbridgenw.ning.com

UTAH
Russell Fisher utah.oxford@gmail.com

TENNESSEE
Nashville
Donald McKenzie dmckenzie@dmckenzielaw.com

VIRGINIA
Charlottesville n@hild.org

WASHINGTON
Michael Brunet brunetm@gmail.com

OTHER POSTS 

Obituary, Denis B. Woodfield, second Chairman of the NYC Dinner (after Bruce Harvey), active in the running of the British Schools and Universities Foundation. http://ox-cam-nyc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/denis-b.html

Photos of 80th Dinner by Peter Sealy https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151436457831297.1073741827.676196296&type=1

Program for 80th NYC Dinner April 11, 2013 and other North American Boat Race events  http://ox-cam-nyc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/ox-cam-dinners-april-2013-nyc-chicago-dc.html

BOAT RACE: Dinners 2013

http://bit.ly/15w0aix .  www.theboatrace.org

Events North America

Sunday, March 31 – Day of the Boat Race

BRITISH COLUMBIA - Vancouver. THE SECOND ANNUAL BOAT RACE BREAKFAST (BRB). 8:30AM – NEW OXFORD PUB, 1144 Homer St.  The 2013 Boat Race starts at 4:30 PM GMT, 8:30 AM in Vancouver! "To have a chat while the rowing bores of the Beeb drone on about beefy Germans, Americans and Dutchmen cunningly weighed in stones rather than their native pounds or kilograms, as well as the odd Brit, be there by 8:00 A.M."

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Washington. 10:30 am-12:30 pm.  Elephant and Castle Pub, 900 19^th Street, NW. Cantab DC.

MAINE – Portland. – Bayside Bowl, 58 Alder Street, 11 am to 2 pm. The event will be pay as you go but reservations are required.  Please RSVP, Tracie Reed, traciejeanreed@gmail.com.

NEW YORK – NYC. Churchill English Tavern, 45 East 28th Street. 11 am – 3 pm. Reserve at http://boatracelive.eventbrite.com/

OREGON – Portland. Breakfast, Kells Irish Bar, 112 SW Second Avenue, 11 am to 2 pm. Warning that young children may get restless after an hour.  cgondek@heronandcrane.com

RHODE ISLAND, Providence. Spats Restaurant, 182 Angell Street. 10:30am to 2 pm. Gary McDowell,  gary.mcdowell@childrens.harvard.edu. 

Wednesday, April 3

COLORADO, Denver. University Club of Denver, 1673 Sherman Street. 6 pm for 7 pm. OxCam Denver.

Sunday, April 7

CALIFORNIA, San Diego.  Jimmy O’s, 225 15^th St., Del Mar.  Brunch and showing of the race. Free. 12 noon to 2 pm or later. Organized by Brian E. P. Beeston (Selwyn, Cambridge).

GEORGIA, Atlanta. 5-7 pm. Model Boat Race (battery operated) and cocktails. British Residence (Consulate). Marianne D’Souza  mdsouza@emory.edu

Tuesday, April 9

CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO DINNER -  78^th Annual.

University Club, 800 Powell Street. 5:30-8:30. Invitation: click here.

m.kaser@comcast.net

Thursday, April 11

NEW YORK DINNER - 80th Anniversary Gala. Oldest OxCam dinner in USA, longest-running uninterrupted annual OxCam alumni event in the world. 

Grace, Archbishop Peter Carnley (Emmanuel and St. John's, Cambridge)

Mr. Claude Prince (Kellogg, Oxford) will report on the 159th BNY Mellon Boat Race
Ms. Annie Vernon (Downing, Cambridge), Olympic silver 2008, will report on the Newton Women's Boat Race

Toast to the President, Dr. Julia Gog (Queens', Cambridge)

Toast to the Queen, Dr. John Tepper Marlin (Trinity, Oxford)

Toast to the Universities,  Ms. Elizabeth Young McNally (Worcester, Oxford)

Response from the Universities, Sir Ivor Roberts (Keble, Oxford), President, Trinity, Oxford

The dinner is sponsored by BNY Mellon.

Friday, April 12

CHICAGO DINNER - 74th Annual - 

Emcee Paul Svoboda (Queens' College, Cambridge)

Mr. Michael J. Dickenson (Christ's College, Cambridge) will report on the 159th Boat Race

Speakers Dr. Robin H. Walker (Queens' College, Cambridge)

Mr. Robert Chatterton Dickson (Magdalene, Cambridge), H.M. Consult General

Musical selections by the Chicago Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company
Dinner secretary-treasurer John H. Morrison, OBE (Univ., Oxford) - JohnMorrison@BoatRace.US

Thursday, April 18

WASHINGTON DINNER - 66th Annual 

Dinner chair George R. Keys (Balliol, Oxford), Curtin Law et al.

Emcee James Fallows (Queen's, Oxford), Atlantic. 

Toast to the Universities  by Katty Kay (Oxford), Lead anchor at BBC World News America

Response from the Universities by Gillian Tett (Clare, Cambridge), Financial Times

Saturday, April 27

VANCOUVER, B.C., DINNER - 83rd Annual – 6:30 P.M. AT THE GREAT HALL OF GREEN COLLEGE, UBC. Boat Race video. The person toasting the Universities this year will be Christopher Gaze, Artistic Director of Bard on the Beach, the “Modern Major General” in the Vancouver Opera’s recent production of the Pirates of Penzance and a well-known raconteur. There are high hopes for a most entertaining Toast. http://2013vocsboatracedinner.eventbrite.ca. 

Questions? Contact teppermarlin@aol.com.

NO INFORMATION ON EVENTS IN

ARIZONA
Phoenix - jonathan.rose@asu.edu -

DAKOTAS AND MINNESOTA
Joel Pace  pacejf@uwec.edu

LOUISIANA
Philip Kirk Jones, Jr. joski@liskow.com

MISSOURI
- Kansas City
Brandon Baeur bhunterb@gmail.com
- St. Louis
David Pollack missouri@ousoc.oson.org

MASSACHUSETTS
Neil Malcolm newengland@ousoc.oxon.org www.oxcamne.org

UTAH
Russell Fisher
utah.oxford@gmail.com

TENNESSEE
Nashville
Donald McKenzie dmckenzie@dmckenzielaw.com

VIRGINIA
Charlottesville n@hild.org

WASHINGTON
Michael Brunet brunetm@gmail.com