The best place to be marooned? Sylvia Vetta reveals how the ‘castaway’ series began hile writing these features, began in the summer of 1998, with a telephone I had a blinding moment call from Tim Metcalfe seeking my advice. The of revelation a vision writer of Oxfordshire Limited Edition’s antiques of this amazing city of page was moving to London and they needed Oxford. It was not only of to find a replacement. the beautiful buildings, the museums, libraries, Why ask me? At that time I was Chairman Wtheatres, parks, meadows and rivers — but the of the Thames Valley Antiques Dealers people thriving within this environment. Association and until recently had been a The 50 castaways have come from director of Oxford Antiques Centre, completely different backgrounds, often from affectionately named by me and my business other parts of the world but the atmosphere partner as The Jam Factory. of Oxford has added a rich Situated in the former ingredient to their lives. Cooper’s Oxford Marmalade Oxford is rather a small factory we thought city but with each interview, a Marmalade Factory was a bit realisation grew that the lives of a mouthful but we were of these wonderfully creative happy to call the centre’s café people have sent out ripples of The Marmalade Cat. influence and benefitted not My first encounter with only this county, but the rest author Brian Aldiss was of the UK — and often those when he became a customer. ripples have become waves that From the week of my have crossed the world. arrival in Oxford in 1970, I As you read about the lives became an avid reader of The of our 50 castaways, I hope Oxford Times. you may come to a conclusion At that time, I was prob- about what is so special about ably not aware of just how this place and the people. exceptional Oxfordshire’s We live in a time obsessed county newspaper is. by the idea of celebrity. Because of their It was not just that I loved newspapers but modesty, you are likely to pass without I was addicted to the printed word ever since I recognition in the street. I believe most of the joined my local library aged seven. castaways are happy with that situation and By 1998, I was inclined to think that if you would hate to be called a celebrity. read, you can also write. So Tim may have A good example is Sir Roger Bannister. In been surprised by my response. “I’ll do it for 1954, he was the first man to run a sub-four you,” I said. minute mile, which made him one of the most The result of that impetuous promise is that well-known men in the English speaking every month, since August 1998, I have been world. I discovered that he is as proud of his privileged to write the antiques pages of the work as a neurologist as the sporting award-winning Oxfordshire Limited Edition achievements which catapulted him to fame. magazine. So how did I come to meet them and be For the first two years I wrote a potpourri of inspired by these intriguing people? It all features but decided that the best way to avoid

marroned.indd 1 1/16/2012 12:12:29 PM repetition was to write a series. antique comes with a story? My first series was The Antiques Time That idea led to my next series, Every Machine. Starting with Gothic and moving Antique tells a Story. This was 2007— well through time, I looked at the way homes before Neil McGregor’s wonderful History of were furnished, in the broadest sense, and the World in a Hundred Objects broadcast on discovered what is available to buy from each the BBC. period until eventually reaching the present. In 2010, Dr McGregor had the benefit of the At that moment in 2002, I asked specialists to contents of the British Museum but I simply suggest what will be the antiques of the future. asked our readers to send me stories of their Art Glass was not a surprise but the just antiques. They were not as erudite as Neil’s invented iPod did give me a jolt. Radio 4 series but were fun. My next series was Ask the Experts, for For example, Dr Geoff Smaldon contacted which I interviewed specialists in everything me with the story of his collection of apple from costume jewellery to fine art. scoops. It turned out to reflect an aspect of When handling antiques I always wondered social history we may wish to ignore — before who owned them and what kind of lives they modern dentistry and oral hygiene, people lost lived. What drew me to appreciate antiques their teeth and could not eat apples unless they has nothing to do with their monetary value. were shaved into soft little strips — hence the Frankly, knowing what something is worth origin of apple scoops. bores me. The problem for me was that many of the I love history, art, design and storytelling stories from readers needed supplementing and it seemed to me that they are all present in to fill at least two pages so I wondered where the world of antiques. Surely, I thought, every to go next for inspiration. Like many readers

marroned.indd 2 1/16/2012 12:12:29 PM of The Oxford Times, I have enjoyed listening extensions at the rear had been demolished to Radio 4’s long-running programme, Desert and work on building the wonderful New Island Discs. Ashmolean was in I felt that the castaway’s choice of luxury and progress. book were more revealing than their choice of The Ashmolean began life in Broad Street in music. Eureka! the building that is now home to The Museum What if I asked castaways which antique, of The History of Science. work of art or book they would like with them The original Tradescant collection included if marooned on a desert island? The formula Powhatan’s cloak, brought from Virginia in could be similar to Desert Island Discs in that 1638. It is embroidered with delicate little they can suggest various items but in the end shells and Christopher pointed out that a lot choose one of them. And so, in January 2008, were missing. although the cloak had arrived the castaway series began. in Oxford in perfect condition. The curators of My choice of first castaway was not difficult. the Ashmolean had nailed the cl,oak to to the In Oxford we are privileged to have what is wall of the museum — and visitors had helped probably the world’s first public museum, the themselves to shells as souvenirs! Ashmolean. A certain visiting German academician was Its energetic Director, Dr Christopher horrified that not only the local farmers and Brown, came to Oxford in 1998. In those days, tradesmen visited the museum on market days the museum appeared closed to the public be- but even women were allowed in! hind its huge blue front doors and you entered The Ashmolean although part of the Univer- into a rather dark space. sity has always represented an overlap of town Christopher had a vision of opening up the and gown. I hoped our castaway series could museum to the do the same. community, local, national and international Another area where town and gown overlap and amazingly he has achieved that ambition. is continuing education. Reflecting that among When I interviewed him, the later the castaways are lecturers employed in that

marroned.indd 3 1/16/2012 12:12:29 PM department and Sir Christopher Ball, a former The castaway has also been able to choose Master of Keeble College, who as a devotee the location for the photoshoot within of lifelong learning, was a founder of Kellogg Oxfordshire. That too has shown how lucky we College. are to live in this city and county. Gown is no longer just those colleges in the I asked Tim Metcalfe, the editor of Limited centre of Oxford but up the hill in Edition whether he thought we could Headington where the first female reproduce the features in a book and the rest vice-chancellor of Oxford Brooks, Janet Beer, — as they say — is history. and its present chancellor, Shami Chakrabahti , How to live a good life is one of those big both agreed to be castaway. philosophical questions but I hope that you An organisation where the town overlaps can make some interesting reflections based with gown is The Oxford Preservation Trust, on the journeys of these fascinating men and so the feisty Deborah Dance, who is its women to the desert island. director, joined the castaways on the island. There are stories among them to inspire The series has been a success and, in Febru- young people about to choose a career, and ary 2012, the 50th castaway — Oxford MP others, in midlife who maybe want a change Andrew Smith — was marooned on our island. of direction. For those about to retire, the Since we were flexible in our interpretation dramatic new directions some castaways have of antique, some intriguing items have been taken after the age of 60 are motivating. These chosen for the island. Within six months, are all positive and often surprising stories and the emphasis changed from the objects to I hope you enjoy reading them. the castaways themselves and the series has continues to evolve. Illustrations by Weimin He

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