OXFORD-CAMBRIDGE DINNER | April 16, 2020

The 87th Oxford-Cambridge 
New York Boat Race Dinner may  be held in September 2020, possibly as a Zoom event.

It was to be held on Thursday, April 16, 2020, but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The dinner dress is customarily black tie or boat club blazer. If this is a Zoom meeting, dress requirements may be relaxed.

Questions? Contact your blogger, teppermarlin@aol.com. Or check back at this location.

DACTYL FOUNDATION | Ashbery

John Ashbery reading from his poetry, 2014.

December 1, 2018–I was browsing on the web, looking for something else, and I ran into the Dactyl Foundation in Soho, New York City.

It has a modest ambition, to reunite science and art.

One of the articles on its site is a critique of fiction in the The New Yorker (yes, The New Yorker) over the years.

I realized that I, too, look eagerly for the nonfiction pieces and have been often disappointed in the fiction. Dactyl Foundation contributions attempt to look fundamental questions like this in the eye. It is unsparing in its anger at mediocre and half-hearted fiction. It is a fierce website.

One of their contributors has posted a poetic appreciation of the late John Ashbery, who was a close neighbor of ours in Chelsea, New York, and from time to time a good friend. Here is the tribute: http://dactylfoundation.org/?p=4104.

LIBRARIES: World's Greatest

Duke Humfrey's Library, the oldest Reading Room
 at the Bodleian, in Oxford.

What are the greatest libraries in the world?

The head of the Bodleian at Oxford once said in a speech I attended that the five greatest libraries are in New York City (the New York Public Library), Washington, D.C. (the Library of Congress), London (the British Library), Oxford (the Bodleian), and Paris (the Bibliothèque Nationale). I have library cards for all five of these libraries.👍

Size. Wikipedia says, and I dispute, that the NY Public Library's 53 million books rank it the third-largest cataloged collection in the world after the Library of Congress (more than 160 million items) and the British Library (more than 150 million items). 

If Archives Canada in Ottawa is correctly listed as having 54 million volumes or items, then Ottawa ranks third and NYPL only fourth in the world in collection size – still not shabby for the NYPL. Russia (Moscow Library) is at 44 million items and France (Bibliothèque National) has 40 million items and therefore ranks 6th.

A spokesperson at the Library of Congress told me when I visited in 2016 that libraries disagree on how to count items other than book volumes. The British Library allegedly counts some individual stamps as items equivalent to a book, whereas the Library of Congress combines stamps into albums.

Usability. I would rank the Weston Library, the main reading room of the Bodleian, as the most accessible, followed by the NY Public Library main building, behind the two lions (http://bit.ly/2v75Ru4). The NY Public Library is surely the most used, with annual visitors of 10-18 million (depending on how you count). In second place, at 1.7 million people per year, are the British Library and Library of Congress.

To my mind there is no question that the Bibliothèque Nationale is the most difficult of the five greatest libraries to use, certainly for someone pressed for time. The first day at this library is consumed by paperwork and walking from place to place through fortress-like gates and passageways. It may have just been my bad luck, but I don't think so. have commented on this (http://bit.ly/2vsGFiW.)

Most Beautiful. Two sites seem to focus on the sheer beauty of the libraries. One list is at booking.com, which posts a list of great libraries of the world (https://booki.ng/2vsb8gV) in the hope that you will book a tour of them! Two of the libraries on their list are among the great libraries of the world I have listed above, the Bodleian and the New York Public Library. The three World-Class Libraries that are missing from their list are the Library of Congress (oversight!), the British Library (oversight!) and the Bibliothèque Nationale.

The other list of the most beautiful libraries is by a Huffington Post writer (http://bit.ly/1ejQixl). It includes only one of the five great world-class libraries, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, which is (yes) a great collection, but, as I have noted, can be a nightmare to try to use. So I take it that this list is for looking at the architecture and not the contents.

BOAT RACES 2017: Oxford Win Men's, Cambridge Women's Race (Updated Apr 9, 2017)

Boat Races 2017: Oxford Won Men's,
Cambridge Won Women's Race.
Next up: Summer Eights, Oxford.

Ox-Cam Boat Races: Sunday, Apr 2, 2017. Reversal for Blue Boats: Oxford won the men's race, Cam-bridge won the women's race, reversing 2016 results.

Watch the 2017 men's blue boat race.

Reserve boat Isis won over Goldie by two and a half lengths — Oxford's 7th consecutive win and its 9th out of the last 10 races. (Also: Osiris-Blondie Race.)

Best source for USA and Canada events is the O.U. North American Office Events Calendar. (University link for USA Events, less complete.)

Here are links from 2016, updated where known to 2017:

Boston | Sun, Apr 2, 11 a.m.  (updated Mar 7, 2017) Race Viewing (no charge, but please reserve here — http://bit.ly/2myrhMS) Tavern in the Square, 730 Mass. Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Races at 11:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. You will be able to order your own food from the Tavern's menu. Event details at http://www.oxcamne.org/events/boat-race-brunch-2017

Chicago | Apr 7. Annual BRD. (Updated April 2, 2017)

Denver | Apr ?. The Denver dinner is probably the least expensive BRD in North America because it is subsidized by loyal alumni. Contact: Chris.Hansen@ihs.com.

NY City | 6th BR Brunch | Apr 2. The Churchill.  NY City | 84th BRD | Apr 20. Hervé Gouraige, Esq. will preside. To register, go here. Speeches from the Dinner. 

Ottawa | BRD | (?)

Philadelphia | Alumni Boat Race | Apr. 2. 9 a.m. Register.  Race Viewing Party. 10:30 am-1:30 pm. Register. Report on the Alumni Boat Race by John V. Quinn.

San Francisco | BR Breakfast | Apr. 2 |  Live Viewing of Boat Races.  8:50 a.m., OUS Northern California. Cezar Pub (?).  San Francisco | 82nd BRD | ?

Seattle | Sunday, Apr. 2 (8 am-10 am) Hosted by The Oxford and Cambridge Society of Seattle at The Market Arms(?). Live viewing of the 2017 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.

Toronto | (?)

Vancouver | 5th BR Breakfast | Apr. 2. Vancouver | 86th BRD | (?)

Victoria | BRD | (?)

Washington, D.C.  | Apr 2. Boat Race Telecast: Oxford vs. Cambridge at James Hoban's Pub Races starting at 11:30 AM (EDT) Sunday, April 2, 2017 One DuPont Circle, NW, Washington, DC 20036 The Cambridge Society of Washington will be hosting the DC Telecast of the Oxford v. Cambridge Boat Race on Sunday, April 2 at James Hoban Pub 11:30-2:00. Please come to cheer on the Dark Blues and join in banter with the "Other Place". For more information please see the Cambridge Society of Washington, DC website http://www.cantabdc.org/.

Washington, D.C. | 70th BRD |  May 5. National Press Club.

Link to Oxford Alumni Boat Race Events World-Wide (Europe and Asia included)

Next up: College Summer Eights, Oxford, May 19-27

Events by Date
Send updates here. |  History, photos etc. of Prior US-Canadian Boat Race alumni events.

Apr 2, 2017 (Sunday) | New York City, Boat Races Brunch. Viewing of the BBC record of the races, organized in recent years by the Oxford Business Alumni. Viewing Party & Brunch – Manhattan. Location will be emailed to ticket holders. Note: The women's boats compete on the same day and course as the men's boats. The men's blue boats compete at 4:50 pm GMT and the women's ("Newton") boats one hour later. In New York City the BBC should start showing the race at 11:50 am. For later information, check the official site for the BNY Mellon Boat Races.

Apr 2 | San Francisco, Live Viewing of Boat Races.  8:50 a.m., OUS Northern California.  Cezar Pub (?).

Apr 2 | Vancouver, 5th Annual Boat Races Breakfast. Contact: StuartCBowyer@gmail.com. The men's race starts at 4:50 pm GMT - or 8:50 a.m. in Vancouver. 10 am: Vancouver Oxford & Cambridge Society Annual Boat Race Breakfast Venue: Manchester Public House, 1941 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 1Z3, Canada.

Apr 2 | Portland, Ore., 9 am-12 noon local time - Oxbridge Cascades Alumni Society Viewing of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.  Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub, 112 SW 2nd Ave, Portland, Oregon 97204, USA (?). According to Vancouver branch, Portland invented the Boat Race Breakfast, in which alumni gather at a local pub, many with old college or university gear, to watch the race live on TV. Always early morning in Oregon. Contact: Christopher Gondek, cgondek@ heronandcrane.com.

April ? | Kingston, Ont., Boat Race Dinner, venue to be determined. Contact: Robert Darymple kingston@ousoc.oxon.org.

April ? | Victoria - Annual VIOCS Boat Race Party Saturday, 6:30-9:30 pm, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (exhibits will be open) 1040 Moss Street, Victoria $36.00 p.p. Send your cheque to: Dr. Brian Scarfe (personally) Suite 416, 21 Dallas Road, Victoria, BC, V8V 4Z9 VIOCS. Silent auction to help offset the cost of our splendid venue. Bring cheque book. For further information contact admin@VIOCS.ca or call Dr. Dorothy Kennedy at 250-384-4544. 

April 2 | Los Angeles, Brunch. Held every year at noon since at least 2005 (University Club, Pasadena). California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey–enjoy dazzling conversation, a luxurious champagne brunch, and a gorgeous view of the yachts while rooting on the dark and light blues while watching from a week-old DVD. Oxonians, Cantabrigians, friends and supporters are all welcome. In the anxious words of a late 1800s Oxford poet: “The Cambridge eight / have muscle and weight, / but the dark blue blades / fall sharp and straight.” The group assembles at 11:30 am, has brunch and then watches the Boat Races at 1:30 pm (since they are viewing from a DVD, the group is not bound to the Tidewater schedule). Contact: Ray Dean Mize raydean.mize@gmail.com.

April 2 | Philadelphia, Pa., 2017 Alumni Boat Race. Starts at 9 a.m. Sign up here.

April ? | San Francisco, 81st BRD. Presidio Golf Club (?), 8 Presidio Terrace. Contact: Leena.Bengani@oxfordalumni.org or Matthew Kaser, m.kaser@comcast.net.

April 2 | Washington, D.C. Boat Race Telecast: Oxford vs. Cambridge at James Hoban's Pub Races starting at 11:30 AM (EDT) Sunday, April 2, 2017 One DuPont Circle, NW, Washington, DC 20036 The Cambridge Society of Washington will be hosting the DC Telecast of the Oxford v. Cambridge Boat Race on Sunday, April 2nd at James Hoban Pub 11:30-2:00. Please come to cheer on the Dark Blues and join in banter with the "Other Place". For more information please see the Cambridge Society of Washington, DC website http://www.cantabdc.org/.

April 7 | Chicago. Annual BRD.

April 20 | New York City, 84th BRD, since 1933. The toasts are to the President and Queen and the Universities, with a Response from the Universities. Contact: Hervé Gouraige (Merton), dinner chairman; hgouraige [at] comcast.net.

April ? | Ottawa BRD.  The Cambridge Society of Ottawa hosts an annual BRD that some Oxonians attend, recently at the Britannia Yacht Club. Contact: Neil Bliss, nwbliss@magma.ca or (613) 745-5179; or Oxford Secretary Harry Corrin, ous.ottawa@gmail.com.

April ? | Vancouver BRD. Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Contact: Dr. Dorothy Kennedy, admin@viocs.ca. Website: www.vocs.ca.

April ? | Boston (New England Society) BRD. Contact: Dona Cady is President of OCSNE, president@oxcamne.org; David Manns is Secretary, secretary@oxcamne.org; Belinda Wilkes is Treasurer, treasurer@oxcamne.org. For dinner details, sign up here (you will need to input your university/college of matriculation).

May 5  | Washington, D.C. BRD.  Top Floor, National Press Club, 14th and F Streets, NW. The Annual Oxford and Cambridge Dinner. Cocktails at 7 p.m., Dinner at 8 p.m. All members of Oxford or Cambridge and their guests are cordially invited to attend this renowned event, the largest such gathering to take place on a continuing basis anywhere in the world. Originally linked to The Boat Race, it promises an evening of fine wine and cuisine and exceptional speakers from both Universities.  Dress is black tie (preferred), college blazer, evening kilt, or equivalent. Please send your acceptance and check without delay, using the acceptance form which follows. Checks should be made out to the Oxford and Cambridge Committee and mailed to David B. Law, Hon. Treas., c/o Curtin Law Roberson Dunigan & Salans, 1900 M Street, N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036. No tickets will be issued; you will be recognized at the door.

May 19-27 | College Summer Eights, Oxford.

Other Cities that May Have Events:

Calgary, Alberta. Contact: Geoffrey Cowling, gcowling@iridiumrisk.com; jonathan.d.connell@ gmail.com. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Contact: EnriqueBargioni@msn.com Houston, Tex. Contact: Kevin Bradford, houston@ousoc.oxon.org Indianapolis, Ind.  Contact Stephen Smith,  SKSmith1@msn.com Kansas City, Mo. Contact: BartholomewDean at gmail.com. Little Rock, Ark. Contact: frank.thurmond@gmail.com. Montreal, Que.  Contact: Catherine.Gillbert@videotron.ca New Orleans, La.  Contact: David Campbell, davidc1010@ att.net. Phoenix, Ariz. Contact: jonathan.rose@asu.edu. Portland, Maine Contact: TracieJeanReed @gmail.com. Raleigh, N.C. Contact: Steven Wilson, scrwilson@gmail.com Richmond, Va. Contact: Matthias Hild, n@hild.org Salt Lake City, Utah.  Contact: Russell Fisher, utah.oxford@ gmail.com. San Diego, Calif. Contact: caio@handsupincentives.com. Contact: Ean.Hernandez@ eanh.net St. Louis, Mo.  Contact: David Pollack, missouri@ousoc.oxon.org Toronto, Ont.  Contact: oxfordsocietytoronto@gmail.com. Vero Beach, Fla. Contact: john@cityeconomist.com. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Contact: Robert Dawson, dawson at dawsonlaw.com.

Read about the long History of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and earlier Boat Race Dinners. Don't forget the Head of the Charles in the fall. Also: Topolski Fund at $15 Million

Related Posts: Coats of Arms of the Oxford Colleges, Oxford Today . Heraldry as Branding . Heraldry as Fun .  Coat of Arms vs. Crest . COLLEGE EIGHTS (Torpids, Eights Week) . All About Rowing Blazers . Sinister Questions . Visit to the College of Arms . Windsor Herald Talks to New Yorkers . Shaming of Harvard Law Arms :: Rapid Expansion of Oxford's Colleges and Halls . Oxford Stars . Links to Heraldry, Oxford, GW . Harris Manchester College . Linacre College . St Catherine's . St Cross College . St Edmund Hall . Trinity College :: Regent's Park College . St Benet's Hall . 

WOODSTOCK: Ancient Oxford Suburb

Alice Tepper Marlin (L) and your
blogger. Photo by Chris Oakley.

Last week Alice and I visited the original Woodstock north of Oxford last week with my nephew Chris.

The first Woodstock a New Yorker would think of is the original site of the famed 1969 Festival in New York State where many cultural rebels settled (Berkeley East?). Here are 81 photos if you have forgotten this. Our friends Cinnamon and Curry Rinzler live there.

For a skier, Woodstock in Vermont is where people risk a trip down Suicide Six. Alice broke her leg there, before I met her in 1971. Her nephew Max Comins bought the Kedron Valley Inn in Woodstock and ran it with his wife for many years.

But for students or staff of Oxford University, it's the town eight miles north of Oxford, reached by Woodstock Road, where 'The Bear" beckons and Blenheim Palace calls for a visit.

Blenheim Palace is both a visual treat ("England's best view") and a unique heritage, as the only non-bishop non-royal palace in England.

It used to be in a Royal Forest. Woodstock means "Clearing in a Wood". The town was a staging area for travelers by coach or on horseback.

Alice at Woodstock Pharmacy, Oxon.
This and next photo by JT Marlin.

In the midst of the stabling of horses, accommodation of riders and coachmen, and their related food and beverage needs grew up  "The Bear", an inn and revered tavern and restaurant.

Another revered institution, but one that no longer exists, was the Woodstock Palace, which catered to royal visitors. Woodstock had the honor of an early (1179) royal charter from Henry II.

Here in the Palace in 1361 was married Mary Plantagenet, daughter of Edward III of England, to John V, Duke of Brittany.


Woodstock Palace was destroyed during England's civil war. Its loss created a hole that was filled by the First Duke of Marlborough after he defeated Louis XIV in battle and rescued Britain from a new subjection to the French.

Craft Fair in Woodstock, Oxon.

The First Duke's achievement is compared with his descendant Winston Churchill's key role in leading his country in resisting attacks by Hitler's Germany.

Winston S. [for Spencer] Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace two months prematurely when his parents were visiting their cousin the Duke of Marlborough. He couldn't wait to leave his mark.

Today, Woodstock, Oxon. shares a few characteristics with the Woodstocks in New York and Vermont. All three have a tourist trade, good dining, famous residents, a care for the environment and a focus on arts and crafts activities.

Arms of the Duke of Marlborough. 

Woodstock, NY and Woodstock, Oxon. share a connection with the pharmaceutical industry–the British town had one of the oldest pharmacies in the country.

We went through Blenheim Palace, which was the site of a ball I attended in 1963 while I was at Oxford.

Today it is open for tours and the palace is signposted and documented inside like a museum.

It's an easy trip from Oxford and could be managed in half a day. Those interested in coats of arms could admire the many examples from the Duke of Marlborough.

VICE-CHANCELLOR: NYC Sep. 8

Vice-Chancellor Louise
Richardson

Oxford alumni are invited to attend a reception for Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson in New York City on Thursday, Sept. 8, 6-8 pm. 

There is no charge for members of the OU Alumni Association of New York. For guests the charge is $15.

Notes on her talk are here.

GW: Dec. 20–Virginia Cedes Vast Area to Feds

State Land Claims Ceded, 1783-1802.

(Those who think that the United States of America cannot face the grave problems facing it today may not appreciate the huge obstacles it overcame in getting itself started.)

On this day in 1783, Virginia ceded territory north of the Ohio river to the new U.S. government.

Before that, it had strenuously claimed rights to the land dating back to a colonial charter from the Crown.

It was a crucial time for young America. The trading New Englanders, who derived their intellectual leadership from Cambridge dissidents, rebelled first against the Crown over taxes and monopolies.

The southern states, who were established mostly through grants from the Crown and tended to be more loyal to King George, joined in the rebellion largely over issues relating to land ownership in the West.

Americans at that time regarded the West as the lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi. Beyond the Mississippi was unexplored and fought over by the European powers – Britain, France and Spain.

Britain and France had struggled for control of Western lands during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Then-Colonel George Washington attempted to secure Virginia’s Ohio Valley outposts in 1754.

At the end of the war, the British Proclamation line of 1763 banned further European settlement west of Appalachia. This was a major irritant for the colonies and extended the momentum for rebellion against the Crown from New England to the southern colonies.

By the early 1780s, after the War of Independence was won, seven states of the original 13 were claiming areas in the West. The Ohio Valley territory was claimed by four of them – Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Claims to the lands were usually rooted in vague wording of old colonial charters that were not based on precise land surveys.

The "landed" states assumed they would be enriched by future sale of western lands. The landless states feared that they would lose residents and dwindle into insignificance. Meanwhile, thousands of settlers were crossing the Appalachians into the new areas.

Congress gained a great victory in inducing the states over 20 years to surrender control of their claims to the central government. Congress and the states had both promised their soldiers land in payment for their service during the War for Independence. The new and fragile union remained at risk of dissolution until the land-claims issue was resolved.

The under-appreciated Pennsylvanian John Dickinson, a great settler of disputes during the Revolutionary era, first suggested in 1776 that the states cede their lands to the Continental Congress. Virginia argued against the idea at first, noting that their western claims were the oldest and therefore  trumped those of all the other states. But Virginia in the end had the foresight to see that the only possible way of resolving the claims swiftly was to throw the problem into the lap of the new Federal Government.

Four of the seven landed states were in the south–Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. Two were in New England – Massachusetts and Connecticut. The remaining state was New York.

Virginia asserted its right to a huge tract that fanned out to the west and north, which encompassing  the Old Northwest (the Ohio country). But Virginia's business leaders preferred a viable confederation than the claims to western lands. Virginia surrendered its claim to land north of the Ohio, but held on to the area south of the Ohio until the new federal government made it the new state of Kentucky in 1792.

Connecticut land from its western boundary to the Mississippi. Connecticut and New York claimed lands in the Old Northwest, but New York gave up its claims in 1785 and Connecticut in 1786. Connecticut's claim to the Western Reserve was maintained until 1795, when it was purchased by the Connecticut Land Company.

Massachusetts claimed some of what is now Michigan and Wisconsin until 1785, and a weaker claim to an area in western New York until 1786. East of the Appalachians, Massachusetts vied with New Hampshire and New York to claim Vermont, which achieved statehood in 1791.

New York in 1782 ceded its frail claim to a tract that included much of present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky and portions of central Tennessee and western Virginia.

North Carolina surrendered claims in 1784 to what would later become Tennessee, particularly along the Watauga River. In 1790 the central government accepted North Carolina's cession.

South Carolina in 1787 gave up its claim to a strip of land running from its western boundary to the Mississippi River. Some of this was added to northern Georgia and the rest went to the central government.

Georgia, the weakest claimant, held out longest. The area that later was Alabama and Mississippi were given up in 1802.

So the event remembered today was important in keeping the newly formed union together. Virginia was the first state to cede significant holdings to the national government. Other states soon followed by giving up their smaller claims. In this way western expansion became a federal project that culminated in Jefferson’s inspired Northwest Ordinance.

See also other posts about George Washington or Young America: Dec. 18, John Wesley (birthday), Oxonian Colonizer of Georgia . The First Catholic Bishop (Baltimore) . Two Oxonians Create the Mason-Dixon Line

BOAT RACE: Dinner History, USA and Canada

Prof. Nick Rawlins, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford,
will be speaking at the Chicago BRD April 10, 2015.

The Winklevoss Twins gave the Toast to the Universities at
the BRD in NYC in 2012.

Oxford Today's web site has just posted an article that originated here, on the history of boat race dinners (BRDs) in North America.

The highlights are:

Oldest BRD: Vancouver, British Columbia. Source: Tony Knox, Robert Dunn.

Oldest uninterrupted: New York City.

Best-attended: Washington, DC. George Keys.

Longest run for a BRD organizer: Chicago. John Morrison (this will be the 50th year he has organized the event in Chicago).

Oldest continuing alumni boat race: Boston. David Manns.

Oldest Boat Race brunch: Los Angeles. Bea Hopkinson.

Oldest Boat Race breakfast: Portland, Ore.

Strongest Cambridge leadership: Montreal. Catherine Gillbert. Professors Gerald Ratzer and John J Jonas.

For a more general blog on rowing, go here.

BOAT RACE: Dinners 2015

Nick Rawlins, Oxford's Pro-Vice-Chancellor,
to speak at Chicago's 76th BRD, the 50th
Chicago BRD John Morrison has organized.

For 2016 Boat Race Dinners, go to new site.

Oxford-Cambridge Events in USA-Canada*, April-May 2015, by City (Scroll Down for Details and More Links)

Boston | BRD | May 30, 2015
Chicago | 76th BRD | April 10, 2015
Chicago | Vice Chancellor | April 19, 2015
Dallas | Vice Chancellor | April 14
Houston | Vice Chancellor | April 15
Kingston, Ont. | BRD | April 12
Los Angeles | 11th BR Brunch | April 19
Montreal | BRD | Date Pending
NY City | 82nd BRD | April 23
NY City | 4th BR Brunch | April 11
Ottawa | Vice Chancellor | April 17
Ottawa | BRD | April 25
San Francisco | BR Breakfast | April 11
San Francisco | 80th BRD | April 21
Toronto | Drinks, Vice Chancellor | April 18
Vancouver | 85th BRD | May 29
Vancouver | 4th BR Breakfast | April 11
Victoria | BRD | April 18
Washington, D.C. | 68th BRD | May 8

*Link to Oxford Alumni Boat Race Events World-Wide (Europe and Asia included)

Events by Date
Send updates here. |  Photos etc. of US-Canadian Boat Race alumni events before 2015.

April 10 (Friday) - Chicago, 76th BRD (since 1934). Prof. J. N. P. ("Nick") Rawlins (Univ.), Oxford's Pro-Vice-Chancellor, is speaking at the University Club. Also Sir Ivor Crewe (Exeter, Oxford) and Charles R. Conn III (Balliol), Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford. Black tie optional. It is the 50th dinner organized by John Morrison (New Mexico and Univ.), and he has announced it will be his last (he may be congratulated at JohnHMorrison@outlook.com). Contacts: The new BRD  Hon. Sec., James C. Dunlop (LMH) of Jones Day, jcdunlop@jonesday.com; or the Illinois Oxford Society coordinator MicheleRDavies@gmail.com.

April 11 (Saturday, Race Day) - New York City, Boat Races Brunch. Viewing of the BBC record of the races, organized in recent years by the Oxford Business Alumni. 11 am: Viewing Party & Brunch Venue: Rose Hill, Manhattan. Location will be emailed to ticket holders. Contact: Joey Vlasto, info@oxalumny.org. Note: This is the first year that the women's boats compete on the same day and course as the men's boats. The men's blue boats compete at 4:50 pm GMT and the women's ("Newton") boats one hour later. In New York City the BBC should start showing the race at 11:50 am. BNY Mellon gets much credit for pursuing equality for the women's race. For late information, check here or the official site for the BNY Mellon Boat Races.

April 11 - New York, NY - 12.00 noon-2:30pm: Keble College Boat Race Brunch in New York with Warden Sir Jonathan Philips and Director of Development Jenny Tudge Venue: Home of George Evans (Keble, 1978) West 74th Street, New York, NY, USA. More information and $50 tickets available online.

April 11 - San Francisco, Live Viewing of Boat Races.  8:50 a.m., OUS Northern California. Kezar Pub.

April 11 - Vancouver, 4th Annual Boat Races Breakfast. Contact: StuartCBowyer@gmail.com. The men's race starts at 4:50 pm GMT - or 8:50 a.m. in Vancouver. 10 am: Vancouver Oxford & Cambridge Society Annual Boat Race Breakfast Venue: Manchester Public House, 1941 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6J 1Z3, Canada.

April 11 - Portland, Ore., 9 am-12 noon local time - Oxbridge Cascades Alumni Society Viewing of the 2015 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Venue: Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub, 112 SW 2nd Ave, Portland, Oregon 97204, USA. According to Vancouver branch, Portland invented the Boat Race Breakfast, in which alumni gather at a local pub, many with old college or university gear, to watch the race live on TV. Always early morning in Oregon. Contact: Christopher Gondek, cgondek@ heronandcrane.com.

April 12 - Kingston, Ont., Boat Race Dinner, venue to be determined. Contact: Robert Darymple kingston@ousoc.oxon.org.

April 17 (Friday) - Ottawa - Vice Chancellor Andrew and Mrs. Jennie Hamilton and University of Oxford North American Office will host a drinks party for alumni and friends.  Centre Block, Parliament of Canada, 111 Wellington Street Ottawa. 6-8 pm. (This is a different event from the BRD on April 25.) Tickets C$40 per person. Starting in January 2016 the Vice Chancellor will be President of New York University.

April 18 (Saturday) - Victoria - Annual VIOCS Boat Race Party Saturday, 6:30-9:30 pm, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (exhibits will be open) 1040 Moss Street, Victoria $36.00 p.p. Send your cheque to: Dr. Brian Scarfe (personally) Suite 416, 21 Dallas Road, Victoria, BC, V8V 4Z9 VIOCS Silent auction to help offset the cost of our splendid venue. Bring cheque book. For further information contact admin@VIOCS.ca or call Dr. Dorothy Kennedy at 250-384-4544. 

April 19 (Sunday) - Los Angeles, Brunch. Held every year since at least 2005 (University Club, Pasadena). Will be at 12 noon at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey - enjoy dazzling conversation, a luxurious champagne brunch, and a gorgeous view of the yachts while rooting on the dark and light blues while watching from a week-old DVD (no spoilers, please). Oxonians, Cantabrigians, friends and supporters are all welcome. This year’s teams seem particularly well matched, as in the anxious words of a late 1800s Oxford poet: “The Cambridge eight / have muscle and weight, / but the dark blue blades / fall sharp and straight.” The group assembles at 11:30 am, has brunch and then watches the Boat Races at 1:30 pm (since they are viewing from a DVD, the group is not bound to the Tidewater schedule). Contact: Ray Dean Mize raydean.mize@gmail.com.

April 21 (Tuesday) - San Francisco, 80th BRD. Presidio Golf Club, 8 Presidio Terrace. Speaker will be tech forecaster and futurist Paul Saffo (Cambridge). Contact: Leena.Bengani@oxfordalumni.org or Matthew Kaser, m.kaser@comcast.net.

April 23 (Thursday) - New York City, 82nd BRD, since 1933. As last year, the BRD will be at the University Club in New York. The toasts are to the President and Queen and the Universities, with a Response from the Universities. Speakers in April include Paul Bernstein, CEO of the Pershing Square Foundation, and Stephen Trachtenberg (Nuffield, Oxford), former President of the George Washington University.  For several years, 2005-2008 and in some years before that, New York City had an Alumni Boat Race. Contact: Hervé Gouraige (Merton), dinner chairman; hgouraige@comcast.net.

April 25 (Saturday) -  Ottawa BRD.  The Cambridge Society of Ottawa hosts an annual BRD that some Oxonians attend. This year's BRD is at the Britannia Yacht Club. Contact: Neil Bliss, nwbliss@magma.ca or (613) 745-5179; or Oxford Secretary Harry Corrin, ous.ottawa@gmail.com.

May 8 (Friday) - Washington, DC BRD.  National Press Club. Contact: George Keys, gkeys at jordankeys.com; Giles_Howson at yahoo.com; dlaw@curtin-law.com. The Washington BRD does not take credit cards. You sign up for the mailing list for a one-time charge of $10. You then print out the form that is emailed to you and you mail it in with a check for $125 ($100 for those who have matriculated within the last five years). Featured speakers on May 8 - H.M. Ambassador to the United States Sir Peter John Westacott will respond for the Universities to Daniel Yergin. Nicholas Holland, former Blue Boat oarsman, will report on the Boat Races that were rowed April 11 - if you want to know the outcomes before then, a spoiler is here. 

May 29 (Friday) - Vancouver BRD. Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Anne Giardini, Chancellor of Simon Fraser University, will toast the Universities. Xenia Kritsos will toast Cambridge. Hon. Peter Woolley will toast Oxford. Dr. Robert Dunn will give the loyal toast to the Queen.  Contact: Dr. Dorothy Kennedy, admin@viocs.ca. Website: www.vocs.ca.

May 30 (Saturday) - Boston (New England Society) BRD. Contact: Dona Cady is President of OCSNE, president@oxcamne.org; David Manns is Secretary, secretary@oxcamne.org; Belinda Wilkes is Treasurer, treasurer@oxcamne.org. For dinner details, sign up here (you will need to input your university/college of matriculation).

Cities for Which Dates Not Reported (To add an event - contact JTMarlin@post.harvard.edu)

Calgary, Alberta. Contact: Geoffrey Cowling, gcowling@iridiumrisk.com; jonathan.d.connell@ gmail.com. Denver, Colo. Contact: Chris.Hansen@ihs.com Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Contact: EnriqueBargioni@msn.com Houston, Tex. Contact: Kevin Bradford, houston@ousoc.oxon.org Indianapolis, Ind.  Contact Stephen Smith,  SKSmith1@msn.com Kansas City, Mo. Contact: BartholomewDean at gmail.com. Little Rock, Ark. Contact: frank.thurmond@gmail.com. Montreal, Que.  Contact: Catherine.Gillbert@videotron.ca. New Orleans, La.  Contact: David Campbell, davidc1010@ att.net. Phoenix, Ariz. Contact: jonathan.rose@asu.edu. Portland, Maine Contact: TracieJeanReed @gmail.com. Raleigh, N.C. Contact: Steven Wilson, scrwilson@gmail.com Richmond, Va. Contact: Matthias Hild, n@hild.org Salt Lake City, Utah.  Contact: Russell Fisher, utah.oxford@ gmail.com. San Diego, Calif. Contact: caio@handsupincentives.com. Contact: Ean.Hernandez@ eanh.net St. Louis, Mo.  Contact: David Pollack, missouri@ousoc.oxon.org Toronto, Ont.  Contact: oxfordsocietytoronto@gmail.com. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Contact: Robert Dawson, dawson at dawsonlaw.com.

Read here about the long History of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and the Boat Race Dinners.
Other boating posts: Head of the Charles 2016

U.S. FOUNDERS | The Mid-Atlantic Conservatives

David Lefer. Photo by JT Marlin.

I shared views recently with David Lefer, who has written The Founding Conservatives (New York: Penguin, Sentinel Books, 2013), about voices of conservatism that helped ensure that the American Revolution was sustainable–i.e., resulted in a constitution for the new nation that was  balanced–with respect for the rule of law, property rights, and the rights of minorities.

Some of the strongest advocates of independence had agendas that would have made life difficult for many minority groups–i.e., those of different religious views or degrees of wealth.

He champions these conservatives on the basis that (1) they are neglected by historians, and (2) they helped ensure that the United States of America became a country that was not hostile to capitalism.

As the revolution progressed, the popular program shifted. Initially, the external enemy–George III and his Prime Minister Lord North were the targets.

Then it became clear there was also an internal enemy.

Dickinson

John Dickinson, for example, was a conservative hero for Lefer. Dickinson began in 1774 as an advocate for resistance to George III, but by 1776 he was as much concerned about the rule of the mob as oppression by royalty. (The French Revolution could have used someone like Dickinson.) His views had not changed - the agenda had changed. But his popularity waned as he preached the rule of law.

Lefer - a Harvard graduate who also studied at Oxford - starts in his Introduction making his point about the tendency of the Revolution to get out of hand. His first chapter goes on to describe violent incidents that create the context for the rest of the book.

In Lefer's Introduction we are introduced to a riot in Philadelphia. A mob reacts to rising bread prices in 1779 by parading four merchants to the home of a prosperous lawyer, James Wilson. The mob brings with them a cannon.  Its leaders are ready to storm the building. Wilson's allies, barricaded inside, shoot back.  Five men are killed, and 14 wounded, before the crowd disperses.

One takeaway from the story might be that Wilson was right to stand his ground. But Lefer says that the mob's attack on the home of a leading lawyer had a larger message - it was a huge shock to wealthier people who had focused their antagonism on George III:

The street fight had a seismic impact on public perception... Within a year, fear of the mob would lead to the decline of radical power. (Lefer, p. 1.)

In Chapter 1 Lefer brings us back to the beheading of Charles I in 1649. Charles went to his death bravely, convinced that he had the Divine Right to rule and was being martyred. He had dissolved Parliament years earlier. Oliver Cromwell was no less convinced that Parliament had a right to exist and even the Divine Right to chop off the king's head.

The fact that Cromwell prevailed was not lost on subsequent monarchs, who tended to show more respect for Parliament. The "Glorious Revolution" later in the century was bloodless because one would-be king decided to let Parliament install another less tainted by sympathies to Roman Catholicism, i.e., William of Orange.

The theme of Lefer's book is that the New England Puritans tended to go overboard along with the tea they dumped on December 16, 1773. They might have allowed mobs to take over as they did in witch-hunting sessions in Salem and elsewhere.

The mid-Atlantic moderates saw that in their single-minded opposition to the exercise of power by George III, the radicals from New England were running the risk of replacing one repressive regime by another.

My Comments

James Wilson has been somewhat neglected by history. He was one of six men who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was greatly respected by his peers. Fellow Scotsman Lord Bryce singled Wilson out as a major thinker of the American Revolution, who influenced first the Pennsylvania Constitution and then the American one.

The conservative leaders tended to be from the mid-Atlantic states - New York and Pennsylvania in particular - and served as a moderating influence on the radicals from New England. They were less likely to be Puritans, and more likely to be orthodox, either as members of the Church of England, as Roman Catholics, or as children of the Scottish Enlightenment.

This reflected the position of the Middle Atlantic states in the history of the colonies. The New Englanders tended to be refugees from regimes they disagreed with - they were dissenters, more likely to be from Cambridge than Oxford. New England had four universities by the time of the Revolution, all of them emanating from dissenting Protestant movements - Puritans or Evangelicals.

Those to the south often went to the New World with land granted by the Crown. They were in search of prosperity. They were more likely to be, like George Washington's ancestors or the Calverts, Oxonians. Since there were no universities at the time of the American Revolution south of William & Mary in Virginia, the leading thinkers outside New England were likely to be from the four mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, which had five universities among them, primarily Anglican or ecumenical in origin.

REUNION: Europe in Madrid – Lord Patten

L to R: Lord Patten of Barnes, Oxford's Chancellor.  Steven Jones, Branch
Representative for Guernsey. Alice Tepper Marlin. Photo by JT Marlin. 

The University Dinner for the European Oxford Reunion was held on the top two floors of the Posada de la Villa Restaurant.

This three-storey building in mid-Madrid is a coach house dating back to 1642, a mere 150 years after Christopher Columbus checked in with Queen Isabella before setting off westward to find the Far East.

The restaurant, selected by the Madrid Branch representative, Andrew Moore, gets 4 to 4.5 stars on Yelp and TripAdvisor for its traditional Madrid food.

We were served mostly tapas-bar style, with plates of fried octopus and onion rings, peppers, salad, scrambled eggs and mushrooms, potato croquettes, and lamb, followed by various Spanish pastries. The small "black pudding" cakes were a topic of conversation because the uninitiated are startled to be told what they ate. Everyone likes the decor and most people love the food, though a few dissidents don't like so much being fried. Nobody doesn't like the lamb.

Christine Fairchild, Director of Alumni Relations for Oxford (and previously Executive Director of External Relations for the Harvard B School), spots Alice and me as we come in to the restaurant looking for someone we know. She takes us to the third floor, where we are seated behind place cards at the "Chancellor's Table". Apparently we had been notified but the email never reached us.

Sure enough, on my left and Alice's right is Chris Patten, the Chancellor of Oxford since 2003 and Chairman of the BBC Trust since 2011. He was made a life peer in 2005, with the title Baron Patten of Barnes. We are both delighted at this unexpected honor and treat. 

Lord Patten was born Christopher Francis Patten in Cleaveleys, Lancashire in May 1944. He is proud of the fact that he is the son of a jazz drummer and was the first person in his family to attend university. He attended St. Benedict's School at Ealing Abbey in western London, from which he won an exhibition to Balliol College, Oxford. I can vouch for the high academic standards of the Benedictine schools of that era, having been dunked into three rigorous years of Latin and Greek at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire in the 1950s - followed by three more years at Portsmouth Abbey School in Rhode Island. Lord Patten read Modern History at Oxford. Patten was a near contemporary, matriculating a year after I did. (Unusually for an American at Oxford, I served as editor of Oxford Tory for a term and was General Agent of OUCA when Balliol's James Douglas-Hamilton, now Lord Selkirk of Douglas, was President.)

After taking his degree, Patten traveled around the United States on a Coolidge Traveling Fellowship - kind of a U.S. equivalent for Brits of what the European Tour was for American college students. His visit to the United States followed in the peripatetic footsteps in 1964 of Oxford Union standouts Michael Beloff (predecessor of Sir Ivor Roberts as President of Trinity) and Jonathan Aitken. 

At one point in mid-1965 Patten was touring the southern states, in a car with Pennsylvania plates. As he made his way into  Alabama, he was puzzled by the open hostility that his car provoked. It dawned on him that his northern license plates tagged him as a likely civil rights troublemaker. Pennsylvania was  the source the previous summer of a Penn Law School contingent, three of whom (one of them a New Yorker) were killed by white supremacists in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Viola Liuzzo, 1925-1965

VIOLA FAUVER LIUZZO was born in Pennsylvania on April 11, 1925. After a failed first marriage, Viola married Anthony J. Liuzzo, a Teamster union official from Detroit. She raised five children, and at 36 resumed her education at Wayne State University, graduating with top honors and becoming a medical lab technician.  She joined Martin Luther King's 25,000-person strong Selma-to-Montgomery March on March 25, 1965. King brought a petition to Alabama Governor George Wallace demanding voting rights for African Americans. After the demonstration, Viola was a volunteer driver, ferrying marchers back to Montgomery Airport. Her co-driver was Leroy Moton, a young African American. Coming back from one of these trips, the two volunteers were passed by a car carrying three KKK members from Birmingham and an undercover FBI informant. Seeing a white woman and black man together in the car, the three KKK members decided to kill them. Collie Wilkins put his arm out of the window and fired his gun, hitting Viola in the head twice and killing her instantly. Leroy survived. Besides Wilkins (aged 21), the KKK members were William Eaton (41) and Eugene Thomas (42). All three were swiftly apprehended.  Gary Rowe (34), the FBI agent, testified against the others. Between arrest and the trial, rumors circulated in the media that Viola was a Communist who abandoned her five children to seek sexual relationships with African Americans. The stories were later found to have been planted by the FBI. Despite Rowe's testimony, the three KKK members were acquitted of murder by an all-white Alabama jury. President Johnson's Justice Department charged the men using an 1870 federal law with conspiring to deprive Viola Liuzzo of her civil rights. Wilkins, Eaton and Thomas were found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

On August 6, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed by President Johnson, ending "Jim Crow" literacy tests, poll tax, and other subjective voter tests that were widely used in some southern states to deprive African-Americans of the vote. The law required Federal oversight of voter registration in states and voting districts where such tests were used.

Patten then went to New York to work in the campaign of John Lindsay, doing what today would be called "oppo research", tracking the television and other appearances of Lindsay's rival Bill Buckley.  Buckley never expected to win, and did not, but he developed a series of campaign strategies that could be considered a template for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign.

In those days, it would have been hard for someone in New York City to visualize a conservative comeback. The Republicans were not much less progressive change than the Democrats on many issues. Nixon created the country's Environmental Protection Agency. 

Both the Conservative Republican victories and the election of Barack Obama might have been surprising in 1965. As Patten said during the dinner:

Who would have thought that during our lifetimes the United States would have a black president? But are we seeing now a backlash? When I was in New York City in 1965, the Senators were Jacob Javits and Nelson Rockefeller. Could either of them be nominated by the Republican Party today?

Bill Ruckelshaus, Nixon's appointee as the first head of the EPA, has said more than once that he doesn't recognize the Republican party he once served. Mayor Bloomberg is an exception, cut from the same cloth as the liberal Republicans of that day. But the fact that Bloomberg can have liberal views on key issues, only proves that New York City is different, and Bloomberg's personal campaign war chest makes him also different. 

When Patten returned to the UK, Patten he became a desk officer and then, within ten years of going down from Oxford, director of research for the Conservative Party. He stood for Parliament in 1979 and won (MP for Bath), eventually rising to a cabinet minister post and party chairman, serving in turn as UK Secretary of State for the Environment, UK Minister for Overseas Development and  Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He led the Conservative Party's unexpected fourth consecutive electoral victory (under John Major) in 1992, the year that President Clinton was elected to his first term. 

However, that year Patten lost his own seat in the House of Commons. He was therefore freed up for the post of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Hong Kong, and was a figure of dignity in July 1997 as the television cameras famously recorded the Union Jack being hauled down, as Britain handed back Hong Kong - in accordance with the terms of its lease - to the People's Republic of China. Patten's term was marked by both a steady rise in the Hong Kong economy and an expansion of Hong Kong's social welfare system that would have made Nelson Rockefeller proud.

The dinner table conversation of course turned to China and Lord Patten wondered how the clash between rising wages and expectations on the part of the population and a government that does not have the same institutional capacity for flexible adaptation that are built into democracies like the United States and the UK. Will China become more democratic? An open question.

From 1999 to 2004 he served as one of the United Kingdom's two members of the European Commission. In his first speech after his appointment to the EC, addressing the Confederation of British Industry, Patten said:

There are strong moral arguments for the EU as a factor of peace and stability in Europe. And the single market has had a huge multiplier effect in terms of economic integration, shared wealth and mutual understanding.

This long-standing past support of the European Union made it a talk of the Oxford European Reunion when he expressed doubts about the EU's future. Who knows? Maybe reports of his comments contributed to a weekend walk-back by the EU of its austerity dictates to Spain and other debt-burdened EU members.

Lord Patten asked me whether President Obama can get much more done given the stalemate in the Congress. I said it was certainly a bad sign that the Senate failed to pass even modest background checks for gun-buyers, when 90 percent of the public is reportedly in favor of such checks. But all is not lost: 

• Democratic supporters are learning how to make better use of the independent groups that up to now have been noted primarily for supporting far-out anti-tax and socially conservative agendas and candidates. Gun control is a major test case, with Mayor Bloomberg investing heavily in pursuing the topic, with his mayoral group out front on the issue. Gun-control supporters are gearing up to punish gun-pushers  of both parties in 2014 (some Democratic Senators joined with the Republicans to defeat the bill).
• There is much that the President can do without need for Congressional support. George W. Bush missed a huge opportunity after 9-11 to impose a carbon tax or higher fuel standards, and he went out of his way to permit more mountain-top coal mining and continued use of coal-fired power plants. But in his second term he made major contributions to the environment by executive order. He did finally raise fuel standards for cars, he implemented a phaseout of HCFCs, and perhaps most important, he added 125 million acres of land and sea areas to the marine and land preserves.     

Patten admires many American politicians, and he is especially in touch with those that have Oxford ties. Senator Dick Lugar (defeated in the Republican primary in Indiana; the GOP nominee lost to Democrat) was first off his lips, along with Senators Sarbanes and Bradley. He stays in touch with Justice Breyer, and NY Times columnists Nick Kristof and Tom Friedman.

 Photo by JT Marlin.

It is rare to have such a pleasant and interesting evening and it more than made up for the miserably cold and cloudy weather in Madrid. 

On the way out of the restaurant, each of us was given a key that includes the phone number for future reservations. What a clever idea!