BIRTHDAYS | Oxonians, November 2017

Oxford Black Alumni Group Formed (2017)

November
09 | Noel Godfrey Chavasse (Trinity) 1884
09 | Francis Chavasse (Trinity and St. Peter's) 1884
15 | William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham* (Trinity) 1708
21 | Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, "Q" (Trinity) 1863
29 | C. S. Lewis* (Univ.) 1898
December
18 | Charles Wesley (Ch.Ch.) 1707
22 | James Oglethorpe* (Corpus), 1st Gov. of Georgia 1696
January
03 | J.R.R. Tolkien, CBE (Exeter) 1892
27 | Charles Dodgson, "Lewis Carroll" (Ch.Ch.) 1832
February
13 | Anna Watkins (rower for Cambridge against Oxford), 1983
21 | John Henry Cardinal Newman (Trinity) 1801
21 | W. H. Auden
March
01 John Tepper Marlin (Trinity) 1942 😏

02 Dr Seuss (Lincoln), 1904

11 Rupert Murdoch, 1931
14 Stephen Hawking (Univ), death, 2018 (born in April)
24 William Morris (Exeter), 1834

26 Robert Frost, 1926
26 A. E. Housman, 1859

April
01 Rachel Maddow (Lincoln), 1973
03 Jane Goodall, 1934

April 23. St George's
Day

05 NYC Boat Race Dinner, University Club
13 Frederick Lord North (Trinity), 1732
13 Christopher Hitchens, 1949
14 Michael Maclagan (Ch.Ch. and Trinity), 1914
15 Emma Watson, 1990
15 Joseph Lister, 1827
19 Dudley Moore, 1935
23 St George's Day
28 Harper Lee, 1926
28 Elena Kagan, 1960
May
10 | James Viscount Bryce (Trinity) 1838
20 | Melvin "Dinghy" Young (Trinity), DFC & Bar 1915
29 | Sir Basil "Gaffer" Blackwell (Merton) 1889
June 
04 | Dan Topolski (New) 1945
05 | James Smithson (Pembroke) 1765
16 | Adam Smith (Balliol) 1723
17 | John Wesley (Ch.Ch.) 1703
July
09 | Oliver Sacks, 1933
10 | E. Clerihew Bentley (Merton) 1875
27 | Hilaire Belloc, 1870
28 | Senator Bill Bradley (Worcester) 1943
August
08 | Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (Trinity) 1605
10 | George Goodman, "Adam Smith" (BNC) 1930
11 | Lawrence Binyon (Trinity)
16 | T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) (Jesus) 1888
19 | President Bill Clinton (Univ.)
September
07 | Peter Darrow (Trinity) 1950
October 
02 | Graham Greene, 1904
23 | Denis Woodfield (Lincoln) 1933

*Clerihews for Oxonians

ALICE BORN | 150 Years Old—the Book

It's the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The author was a Christ Church don who signed himself Lewis Carroll.

A few hours ago I had the pleasure of attending - with Alice Tepper Marlin and my nephew Chris Oakley - the Choral Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral.

It was an occasion of some historical importance.

First, there was an exhibition within the cathedral in honor of Alice in Wonderland.

Second, the Evensong itself was a glorious hour and a half of choral music and congregational singing, with a newly instituted girls' (ages 7-24) choir - the Frideswide Voices, based at Worcester College. I was told that the choir is so named after a medieval girls' choir and that today was the first time in 1300 years that a female choir has sung in Christ Church Cathedral.

The Worcester Senior Organ Scholar, Benjamin Cunningham, played the organ. The Frideswide Voices choir was conducted by Will Dawes.

One of the original illustrations of Alice 
by John Tenniel.

The communal hymns were "Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones," "By All Your Saints Still Striving," and "All My Hope on God Is Founded".

The choir sang Psalm 119, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (both from St. Luke), and "How Beautiful Are the Feet" (Handel). I was surprised that on the feast of St. Matthew, none of the readings was from St. Matthew.

The exhibit honoring Alice - and especially the Mad Hatter character in the book - is of sculptures by Peter Eugene Ball.

The sculpture that Ball is holding is a tribute to the illustrator of the original Alice in Wonderland, John Tenniel.

One of the nearby sculptures by Ball is in the Merton College Chapel. It is is of "Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom" and was commissioned in 2014.

I was especially interested in that because there is a college in Barry's Bay, Ontario, Canada called Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom Academy.

My niece Christine Schintgen is a dean at the college. Christine, this post is for you!

OBITS: Oxonians (Updated Nov. 27, 2015)

2015 - Sheila Kitzinger (St. Hugh's)

I once had a half-time job at the Harvard News Office writing stories about my fellow students for their hometown newspapers.

2015 - Dan Topolski (New College), Last
of the Great Amateur Rowing Coaches.

Since then I never got out of the habit of hunting for highlights in the time people spend on earth. Oxonians have interesting lives.

This list opened in March 2015. I'm working proactively on finding female Oxonians. They arrived in numbers so late and they have long lives.

If you have obits to suggest or a link to a good one already written, please email me - jtmarlin@post.harvard.edu. Oxford birthdays here.

2015 | Dan Topolski (New) | Sheila Kitzinger (St. Hugh's)

2014 - George "Jerry" Goodman
(BNC), a.k.a. "Adam Smith".

2014 | George Goodman, "Adam Smith" (BNC)
2013 | Denis Woodfield (Lincoln) | Peter Darrow (Trinity)
2011 | Christopher Hitchens (Balliol)
1991 | "Dr. Seuss" (Theodor Giesel, Lincoln)
1984 | Basil "Gaffer" Blackwell (Merton)
1973 | J.R.R. Tolkien (Exeter)
1963 | C. S. Lewis (Univ.)
1956 | E. Clerihew Bentley (Merton)
1944 | Arthur Quiller-Couch, "Q" (Trinity)
1935 | T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) (Trinity)
1922 | James Viscount Bryce (Trinity)
1917 | Noel Godfrey Chavasse (Trinity)

1778 - William Pitt the Elder

1898 | Charles Dodgson, "Lewis Carroll" (Ch.Ch.)
1890 | John Henry Cardinal Newman (Trinity)
1792 | Frederick Lord North (Trinity)
1791 | John Wesley (Ch.Ch.)
1790 | Adam Smith (Balliol)
1788 | Charles Wesley (Ch.Ch.)
1785 | James Oglethorpe (Corpus), 1st Gov. of Georgia
1778 | William Pitt the Elder, Lord Chatham (Trinity)
1653 | Rev. Lawrence Washington (BNC), GW's gggrandfather
1675 | Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (Trinity)
1647 | Leonard Calvert (Trinity), 1st Gov. of Maryland
1632 | George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (Trinity)