WEDNESday 1 july 2015 • SUPPLEMENT (1) TO No 5102 • Vol 145 Gazette Supplement

Encaenia 2015

Congregation 24 June inimicis pro virili parte contendit: ita cum greatest power and eminence; instead, his David quidam perversus non monstrum books dealt with cholera, poverty and capital 1 Conferment of Honorary Degrees necare sed eos qui monstruosa illius punishment, and they were written with so The Public Orator made the following tyrannidis scelera ostenderant supprimere sharp a pen that even the experts admitted speeches in presenting the recipients of conaretur, errores eius manifestos reddidit, that they were now seeing the German past Honorary Degrees at the Encaenia held in in foro quinque dies luctatus est, victoriam with new eyes. But while educating the the Sheldonian Theatre on Wednesday, haud dubiam reportavit. Libellum quoque learned, he did not neglect a wider public: 24 June: ad historiam defendendam edidit, sane turning his attention from the nineteenth to eloquentem et sapientia refertum; quam the twentieth century, he wrote an account Degree of Doctor of Letters tamen exemplum omnibus eius scriptis of the Third Reich, in which, as Catullus’ Professor Sir Richard Evans praebitum forsitan vel melius approbet. friend Cornelius Nepos did in his study of Italy, he dared to write Historian Praesento rerum Germanicarum Qui dicunt doctos turres eburneas habitare, investigatorem indefessum, Ricardum Three volumes’ worth of history: credere solent eos de laboribus atque Iohannem Evans, equitem auratum, What learning, gosh, what industry. Academiae Britannicae socium, apud aerumnis hominum parvum vel nihil Great is the mass of evidence, the tale grim, Universitatem Cantabrigiensem quondam scire; at si revera sedem editam et sapientia but he leads the reader through the labyrinth historiae Professorem Regium et adhuc munitam occupant, immensitatem campi with a sure step. His tale is of wickedness Collegii Wolfsoniani Praesidem, ut multis locis vastatam et cadaveribus and folly, with touches of mockery (if one admittatur honoris causa ad gradum sparsam despectant. Sic honorandorum may be allowed to smile about such dreadful Doctoris in Litteris. hodie agmen ducit vir qui licet lucos things). He has not only sought the truth academiae colat atrocia scelera et dolorem Admission by the Chancellor but struggled manfully against its enemies: fere infinitum contueri non recusavit.U bi when a perverse David was trying not to Rerum gestarum explicator tenax sagax primum studio rerum Germanicarum quo slay a monster but to gag those who set forth strenue, qui in loca tenebricosissima tempore regnabant Caesares incumbebat, the monstrous crimes of that tyranny, he penetravisti, ego auctoritate mea et totius non ut plerique de eis scripsit qui maxima exposed the man’s errors, wrestled with him Universitatis admitto te ad gradum Doctoris dignitate et potestate fruebantur; nam through five days of cross-examination in in Litteris honoris causa. libros de peste de pauperibus de poena court, and won a decisive victory. He has also capitali exaravit, calamo tam acuto usus ut Paraphrase published a short book In Defence of History, vel doctissimi faterentur se res Germanicas but wise and persuasive though it is, one Those who say that professors live in an tamquam novis oculis iam videre. At dum may feel that the best defence comes from ivory tower are in the habit of thinking that eruditos instruit, non neglegit vulgus: the example that his own work has set. intentione enim ab undevicesimo saeculo they know little or nothing about the toils ad vicesimum conversa, de Tertio illo and troubles of ordinary people; but if they I present Sir Richard John Evans, FBA, Imperio ausus est ut Cornelius Nepos, do indeed dwell in a high place, secured by Regius Professor of History emeritus and Catulli amicus, de rebus Italorum wisdom, the reality is that they look down now President of Wolfson College in the from it upon an immense area much of University of Cambridge, to be admitted to omne aevum tribus explicare cartis which is ravaged and strewn with corpses. the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. doctis, Iuppiter, et laboriosis. And thus the line of honorands today is led Admission by the Chancellor Magna est materiei moles, tristis narratio; by a man who, though he may haunt the tamen lectorem per labyrinthum certis groves of the academy, has been willing Shrewd, tenacious and vigorous interpreter vestigiis ducit. Flagitia ostendit atque to fix his gaze upon appalling crimes and of the past, who have travelled to the darkest ineptias, et si de rebus tam diris ridere well nigh limitless suffering. When he first places, on my own authority and that of licet, aliquando risum movet. Non solum settled to the study of German history in the the whole University I admit you to the veritatem quaesivit sed etiam cum veritatis Wilhelmine era, he did not, as many have honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. done, write about those who enjoyed the

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Dame Hilary Mantel passes them by. It is less common to come cum sint universitates, oportet eas Author upon a writer whose works, like those of bene gubernari; quamobrem nos iuvat the lady whom I now introduce, receive the feminam hodie honestare quam hac arte Sunt inter fabularum commenticiarum admiration of general readers and reviewers praestitisse constat. Coloni filia, in agro scriptores qui exemplaribus fere innumeris alike. She is born in Derbyshire, schooled Texano nata, primum in Louisiana tum venditis lucrum magnum sibi parent, in Cheshire, and studies law in Yorkshire; Cantabrigiae Massachusettsensium in tamen a litteratis respuantur. Alii palmis et then she becomes a teacher and social Universitate Harvardiana educata est. cultiorum plausu celebrantur; quos neglegit worker; she lives for a number of years in Litterarum Francogallicarum professor vulgus. Rarius fabulatorem invenire possis Africa and Arabia. No wonder then that her facta, iam iuvenis rerum administrationis cuius opera, ut huius feminae nunc a me books display great variety: now she passes peritiam haud parvam exhibebat; itaque productae, simul et populus cognoscit et along the streets of Jedda, now she occupies non mirum eam in anno XL aetatis suae admirantur litterarum existimatores. In a women’s hostel in London with other praesidem Collegii Smithiani creatam comitatu Derbensi nascitur, in Cestrensi students, now she speeds across the sea and esse. Scholam ingeniariae, id quod nullo in educatur, in Eboracensi iurisprudentiae with A Change of Climate roams through the collegio puellis educandis constituto antea studet; tum fit curatrix socialis et puerorum tangle of an impoverished South African exstiterat, ibi condidit. Tum Providentiam magistra; annos non paucos Africam township. She is a time traveller too, visiting translata, prima hominum a stirpe Africana et Arabiam incolit. Haud igitur mirum not only distant nations but also epochs exortorum electa est quae universitati ex magnam varietatem in libris eius exsistere: remote from our own; she writes a big iis quae hederosae vocantur praesideret. modo per plateas Ieddae vagatur, modo work, for example, about men and women Credit veritatem semper consectandam Londini in deversorio cum puellis litterarum seeking A Place of Greater Safety amid the esse, etiamsi pudorem afferat; itaque studiosis habitat, modo trans mare currit disturbances of the French Revolution. quaestionem de opibus universitatis et caelo mutato in Africa Australi per And who does not know that she makes her haberi iussit ad iudicandum quantum e compita vici cuiusdam inopis pererrat. Non way into Wolf Hall and manages to Bring lucro mangonico fluxisset. Simul ea duce solum ad longinquas nationes sed etiam Up the Bodies? It is very hard to put words arcae novis opibus maxime auctae sunt, ad aetates a nostra remotas peregrinatur; into the mouths of people from an earlier novaeque societates cum externis gentibus exempli gratia, de hominibus locum age without either sounding affected or iunctae; quare per eam magna parte stat ut securiorem quaerentibus dum civitas conveying too much of a modern flavour – motus Browniani semper in altiora tendant. Francogallorum novis rebus et seditione one might as well try to speechify about perturbatur magnum scribit volumen. Et Praesento ducem fortem sagacem contemporary matters in classical Latin – quis nescit eam in aulam luporum penetrare providam, Ruth Iohannam Simmons, but she carries off the trick with amazing et corpora ex obscuritate sublevare? Academiae Americanae Artium et aplomb. There is little need for me to praise Perdifficile est orationem hominibus Scientiarum Sociam, Universitatis her imaginative power; let us rather praise antiquis attribuere quae nec sit putida nec Brownianae quondam Praesidem et that combination of artistry and research nimis saecula recentiora sapiat; facilius de adhuc rerum Africanarum professorem, which has enabled her to represent an rebus nostri temporis sermone Ciceroniano ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradum era long gone with such accuracy. One of contionareris. Quod tamen haec mira Doctoris in Litteris. our own most distinguished historians peritia efficit.φαντασʹιαν eius vix opus observes, ‘This is the Tudor England that I Admission by the Chancellor est ut laudem; laudemus potius artem et recognise.’ And we laymen too recognise a doctrinam qua aetatem diu praeteritam Discentium et doctorum gubernatrix consummate master of her craft. accuratissime repraesentat. Dicit unus inter prudens et strenua, cuius exemplo animi scriptores historiarum apud nos Oxonienses I present a ‘goddess present’, by whose multarum confirmantur, ego auctoritate doctissimos: ‘Hic est ea Anglia quam regebat power the men of yore come to life again in mea et totius Universitatis admitto te ad Henricus; hanc agnosco.’ Et nos opici our own time, Dame Hilary Mary Mantel, gradum Doctoris in Litteris honoris causa. magistram eminentissimam agnoscimus. DBE, to be admitted to the honorary degree Paraphrase of Doctor of Letters. Praesento praesentem divam, cuius Perhaps we do not need to have universities: potestate homines vetusti in nostra aetate Admission by the Chancellor the Greeks managed without universities reviviscunt, Hilariam Mariam Mantel, Imaginative weaver of tales, who have to invent philosophy, ‘tell the rising of the Excellentissimi Ordinis Imperii Britannici travelled across many lands and through stars’, and measure the circumference of Dominam Commendatricem, ut admittatur many centuries, on my own authority and the earth. It was in the Europe of the Middle honoris causa ad gradum Doctoris in Litteris. that of the whole University I admit you to Ages that these institutions were first Admission by the Chancellor the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. established: other peoples in other parts of the world found different ways to conduct Fabularum textrix ingeniosissima, quae Professor Ruth Simmons research and educate the young. But since multas per gentes et multa per saecula Former President, Brown University universities exist, it is a good idea for them vecta es, ego auctoritate mea et totius Forsitan non sit necesse ut universitates to be well led, and so it is our pleasure Universitatis admitto te ad gradum Doctoris habeamus: sine universitatibus Graeci today to honour a lady who is agreed to in Litteris honoris causa. philosophiam creare, surgentia sidera excel at this exercise. Born a sharecropper’s Paraphrase dicere, magnitudinem orbis terrarum daughter in Texas, she was educated metiri poterant. Universitates primum in in Louisiana and then in Cambridge, Among novelists are some who sell their medio aevo et in Europa sunt institutae: Massachusetts, at Harvard. She became a books in huge numbers and earn great aliae gentes in aliis orbis partibus aliter professor of French literature, but early in wealth, yet are disdained by the literati. et rerum causis studere noverunt et her career already showed a notable talent Others win prizes and the applause of doctrinam iuvenibus tradiderunt. At for administration; it is no surprise, then, the cognoscenti, while the general public University of Oxford Gazette • Supplement (1) to No 5102 • 1 July 2015 667

that she was appointed President of Smith ferae cuidam iratae esse similes. Scilicet but an especially great benefit is given by College in her fortieth year. There she set up nemo tam superbus est ut eam se ex toto one who is striving to save the present an engineering school, the first in a women’s domare posse credat; hic tamen modos generation and posterity from catastrophe. university. Her move to Providence made indicavit quibus pericula super omne I present a man whose labours are of the her the first person ofA frican ancestry genus humanum nostra aetate imminentia highest importance to ourselves and our to head a university belonging to the Ivy saltem mitigentur. ‘Felix qui potuit rerum descendants alike, Wallace Smith Broecker, League. She believes that the truth should cognoscere causas,’ inquit Vergilius; felicior Newberry Professor of Geology in the always be pursued, however uncomfortable qui ex illis causis quae sint eventura potest Department of Earth and Environmental the outcome, and accordingly ordered an colligere. Multi sane scientia naturali periti Sciences at Columbia University, winner of enquiry into the origins of her university’s civibus suis sunt usui; utilissimus qui ad the Balzan Prize and many other awards, wealth in the profits of slavery. Meanwhile vivos et postgenitos a clade servandos pro to be admitted to the honorary degree of her presidency also saw a very great increase virili parte contendit. Doctor of Science. in its endowment, and the established of Virum praesento cuius opera et nobis ipsis new links with countries overseas; she has Admission by the Chancellor et nepotibus nostris est maximi momenti, played a large part, indeed, in ensuring that Wallace Smith Broecker, in facultate Wise investigator of nature, whose studies Brownian motion should always extend in scientiae terrenae apud Universitatem embrace earth, sea and air, I on my own an upwards direction. Columbianam geologiae professorem, authority and that of the whole University I present a vigorous, wise and far-sighted praemio Balzaniano multisque aliis praemiis admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor leader, Ruth Jean Simmons, Fellow of the nobilitatum, ut admittatur honoris causa ad of Science. American Academy of Arts and Sciences, gradum Doctoris in Scientia. Professor Dame Ann Dowling former President of Brown University, where Admission by the Chancellor Engineer she remains Professor of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies, to be Naturae investigator sagacissime, cuius Mos est hominum gaudium ardorem admitted to the honorary degree of Doctor studia terram mare aërem comprehendunt, admirationem fremitu et clamoribus of Letters. ego auctoritate mea et totius Universitatis ostendere; porro anglico sermone, si quis admitto te ad gradum Doctoris in Scientia multum potestatis vel gloriae adeptus Admission by the Chancellor honoris causa. est, eum magnum strepitum creavisse Prudent and vigorous director of learners aliquando dicimus. Musca autem secundum Paraphrase and the learned, by whose example many fabellam satis notam cum in rota currus women have been inspired, on my own Adam’s first task in the Garden of Eden was sedisset, ‘Ecce potentissimum animal,’ authority and that of the whole University I to name all living beings; I now present inquit. ‘Quantum pulveris commoveo, admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor a son of Adam who loves to name things quantum strepitum.’ Hic tamen adest of Letters. after the scientists whom he respects; femina quae laudes nostras meruit quia accordingly, he has written about Heinrich sonum non excitaverit sed leniverit. Aëris Doctor of Science Layers and Dansgaard Oeschger Events. He fluentis instabilitatem et bombum metalli Professor Wallace Broecker is also credited with coining the term ‘global iterum calefacti oculatissime inquisivit; Geologist warming’, now in use universally. If nothing quas res etiam in hoc theatro doctissimis yet bears his own name, the reason is that repleto haud scio an pauci bene intellegant. Primum opus Adamo in paradiso erat he has made so many discoveries that his Hoc tamen est certum: etsi fieri non potest cuncta animantia nominare; Adami filium admirers are at a loss how to pick one out of ut aeronaves omnino sileant, fremitus ille nunc produco qui nomina dare amat such an abundance. Early in his career he velut tonitruum propter huius feminae quibus homines eruditos atque honore discovered how isotopes could be used to sollertiam atque industriam multum est dignos notet; ita de coriis Henricianis et de date distant climate events, to understand minutus et simul olei minor quantitas eventibus Oeschgerianis commentarios how the earth’s orbit controls climate, and to consumitur. Propter humanitatem autem exaravit. Dicitur praeterea primus eis verbis learn the reasons for variations in sea level et liberalitatem ab omnibus laudatur: dicit uti quibus nunc ubique utuntur docti de and the thickness of ice sheets over time. amicus quidam eam, si consulatur, semper terra vel caelo calescente disputantes. Si He has also shown how the surface water in tempus habere; et dum singula persequatur, nihil hucusque nomen ipsius habet, causa the north Atlantic sinks and travels in the rem totam videre. Laquearia illa vitrea, ut est eum tot res repperisse ut laudatores e deep ocean through the Indian Ocean and dicuntur, semel et saepius perfregit: cum magna illa copia unam eligere nequeant. the Pacific before rising again and returning iuvenis Cantabrigiae educaretur, pars Adhuc iuvenis monstravit se isotopos to its starting-point. He has likened this vast vix centensima eorum qui ingeniariae exacte scrutatum intelligere posse quando and hidden current to a ‘conveyor’ circling studebant sexus erant muliebris, e quo tempestates ante multa saecula mutaverint, the globe. He describes the climate as an prima in sua universitate huius disciplinae quomodo eae a motu orbis terrarum solem ‘angry beast’; and while no one, for sure, professor et nuper prima Academiae Regiae circumeuntis gubernentur, quare maris is arrogant enough to suppose the beast Ingeniariae praeses facta est. Tubis et altitudo et glaciei densitas longo spatio can be completely tamed, he has proposed plausu honorandos in hoc theatro salutare variaverint. Necnon ostendit in partibus means by which the dangers that in our day solemus; quare maximo sonitu id silentium septentrionalibus maris Atlantici aequor now loom over the entire human race can celebremus quod haec sua machinarum ad profundum descendere, tum postquam at least be mitigated. ‘Happy he who has scientia nobis attulit. per mare Indicum et Pacificum fluxerit understood the causes of things,’ says Virgil; rursus exsurgens ad originem redire; quem Praesento tranquillitatis clarissimam but happier the man who can deduce from aestum, obscurum sane et immensum, auctorem, Annam Patriciam Dowling, these causes what the future holds. Many cingulo mobili circum orbem terrarum Excellentissimi Ordinis Imperii Britannici scientists indeed do work of public benefit, currenti comparavit. Adfirmat tempestates Dominam Commendatricem, apud 668 University of Oxford Gazette • Supplement (1) to No 5102 • 1 July 2015

Universitatem Cantabrigiensem ingeniariae Admission by the Chancellor Admission by the Chancellor professorem, Academiae Regiae Ingeniariae Most expert researcher into machinery, Scalpelli tractator dexterrime, qui tot praesidem, Societatis Regiae sociam, who have by your example excited young homines tot orbis terrarum partibus ut admittatur honoris causa ad gradum women to study engineering, on my own adiuvisti, ego auctoritate mea et totius Doctoris in Scientia. authority and that of the whole University I Universitatis admitto te ad gradum Doctoris Admission by the Chancellor admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor in Scientia honoris causa. of Science. Machinarum investigatrix peritissima, Paraphrase quae exemplo tuo puellas ad ingeniariam Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub A colleague of the present honorand discendam incitavisti, ego auctoritate mea Cardiothoracic surgeon remarks, ‘If you want to weigh him up, you et totius Universitatis admitto te ad gradum Huius viri socius quidam, ‘Si eum in trutina,’ should start not with his invention or his Doctoris in Scientia honoris causa. dicit, ‘vis suspendere, inprimis te nec res achievements but with his personality.’ Paraphrase gestas neque inventionem sed indolem That judgement may perhaps seem examinare oportet.’ Quae sententia forsitan surprising. Has he not plied his scalpel with It is the habit of human beings to necopinata videatur. Non scalpellum amazing skill? Has he not advanced the demonstrate joy, excitement and hic mira calliditate adhibuit? Non artem surgeon’s art with the use of new devices enthusiasm with din and shouting; and in chirurgiae nova peritia novisque machinis and unprecedented mastery of technique? our own English idiom we sometimes call auxit? Non permultos morbis gravissimis Has he not snatched many afflicted by someone who enjoys a great deal of fame or adflictos a leti ianua rapuit? Verum est.A t the most serious disease from the door of power a ‘big noise’. In the well-known fable ingenium eius ita constitutum est ut vis death? True enough. But his nature is so the fly on the chariot wheel declares, ‘Look mentis ab indole separari nequeat. Tam constituted that his intellectual power and how mighty I am; what a lot of dust and strenuus est, tam indefessus, ut putares his character cannot be separated. So tireless noise I make.’ Here, though, is a lady who nullo eum somni tempore indigere; qui and energetic is he that one might think has earned our praise not for stimulating saepenumero totum diem in theatro suo he needed no sleep at all: many is the time sound but for mitigating it. She is an expert laboravit, tum noctu vel tirones instruxit that he has operated all day and then spent researcher into unsteady flow and reheat vel cum sociis de rebus medicis deliberavit. the night in teaching aspirant surgeons buzz – and even in this theatre stuffed Discipuli non solum eum admirantur sed or discussing their work with his fellow with learned persons, one may wonder etiam amant, immo fere ut deum adorant; researchers. His pupils not only admire and how many properly understand that. One nam eam χʹαριν exhibet quam agnoscunt love him, but come close to adoration: he thing is for sure: although it is impossible omnes, nemo definire potest. Sane dicet has charisma – that quality that everyone for aeroplanes to be entirely silent, thanks ipse cor nihil esse nisi antliam cuius opera recognises and no one can pin down. No to her hard work and ingenuity their sanguis per corpus trahatur; atqui ego doubt he will say that the heart is merely thunderous roar has been much lessened, adfirmare ausim in corde eius, si aperiatur, a pump by means of which blood is drawn and at the same time a smaller amount of benevolentiam nos et misericordiam through the body; and yet I venture to say oil is used up. Everyone praises her warmth esse visuros. Nam ubi egent homines, ibi that if we were to cut open his own heart, and humanity: a friend says that she always est: et apud Aegyptios, gentem suam, et we should find goodwill and compassion has time for you, and that while she takes in Mozambicia auxilium multis attulit inside it. For where there is need, there he care of the details, she sees the big picture. qui aliter longum dolorem mortemque may be found: both among the Egyptians, She has broken through quite a number of praematuram subiissent. Aegyptus his own people, and in Mozambique he glass ceilings: when she was a young student antiquissimae sapientiae est origo, sed ex has brought help to many who otherwise at Cambridge, scarcely one in a hundred Africa, ut ait Plinius, semper aliquid novi; would have suffered long distress and of her engineering contemporaries was a quod testatur tota chirurgorum cohors, premature death. Egypt is the source of the woman; she was to become Cambridge’s qui dicunt se, dum vestigia eius sequantur, most ancient wisdom, yet from Africa, says first professor of this subject and recently semper invenire eum nonnullis gressibus Pliny the Elder, there is always something the Royal Academy of Engineering’s first iam antecessisse. Cum ad patriam redit, new; and surgeons as a body bear witness female president. Our custom is to greet the iam in portu aeronavium ut triumphator to this, saying that while they follow in honorands in this theatre with trumpets and salutatur; nos quoque virum hodie his footsteps, they always find that he has applause; so let us make as much noise as salutemus qui tantam peritiam cum tanta already got a few paces ahead of them. we can to celebrate the silencing which her virtute coniungit. When he returns to his native land, he gets a knowledge of machines has brought us. hero’s welcome before he has left the airport; Praesento artis medendi magistrum I present a loudly proclaimed creator of let us too welcome a man who combines praestantissimum, humani generis quietness, Dame Ann Patricia Dowling, DBE, such skill with such human qualities. benefactorem insignissimum, Magdi FRS, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Yacoub, equitem auratum, Ordini I present a supreme master of the healing in the University of Cambridge, President Insigniter Meritorum adscriptum, apud art, Sir Magdi Yacoub, OM, FRS, Professor of the Royal Academy of Engineering, to be Collegium Imperiale Londini chirurgiae of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the National admitted to the honorary degree of Doctor cardiothoracicae professorem, Societatis Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College of Science. Regiae socium, ut admittatur honoris causa London, to be admitted to the honorary ad gradum Doctoris in Scientia. degree of Doctor of Science. University of Oxford Gazette • Supplement (1) to No 5102 • 1 July 2015 669

Admission by the Chancellor to celebrate the generosity of the Uehiro and the King of Prussia, who then used Foundation on Ethics and Education on their newly acquired powers to vote the Most dexterous wielder of the knife, who a day when its representatives are here same honour for the Duke of Wellington. have brought help to so many people in with us in this theatre. It established the That vote of confidence surely gave him the so many parts of the world, on my own Chair in Practical Ethics thirteen years extra zing he needed to defeat Bonaparte. authority and that of the whole University I ago and our Uehiro Centre a year later. It is So maybe the Battle of Waterloo was won in admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor described as the world leader in this field, the Sheldonian Theatre after all. Late in the of Science. influencing political and public debate nineteenth century an ancient don, who as 2 Encaenia at home and abroad. No one will doubt a young officer had met the captive emperor that its work is needed. In the inspiring on board HMS Bellerophon, was asked what The Public Orator delivered the following words of Mr Sepp Blatter, ‘You can’t just he had made of him. He thought for a while introduction to the Creweian Oration: ask people just to behave ethically.’ What and then said, ‘You could tell – you could Public Orator: Honoratissime Domine he needs is a visiting fellowship at the really tell – that he was not a varsity man.’ Cancellarie, licetne anglice loqui? Uehiro Centre – suitably remunerated, of The results of the Research Excellence course. Now the study of ethics in the west Chancellor: Licet. Framework (the REF) were announced began in the ancient Mediterranean world. before Christmas. We won. At least, that is Public Orator: We have had a splendid gift from the A G our story, and by some measures it seems Leventis Foundation for the Oxford Centre A year ago, around exam season, the to be true. But before we congratulate for Byzantine Research, the A G Leventis Proctors sent out a notice obviously aimed ourselves too loudly we might wonder Graduate Scholarship in Byzantine Studies, at Encaenia. It read, ‘No rubbish. No glitter. about the accuracy of the exercise. For one the A G Leventis Lecturership in Eastern No confetti.’ Defying Proctorial injunction, thing, there has been grade inflation: so Christianity, the Ashmolean Curator of I have been strewing my confetti on our much research is now classed as world- the Cypriot Collection, and the Institute of honorands, and I have a confetto or two leading that one wonders who the world Human Rights. still to let flutter from my hand.A s you followers are. There seem to be too many sit, sir, glowing in your golden splendour, Students, scholars, scientists, we are all chiefs and not enough persons of Native the command ‘no glitter’ seems like lèse- here to exercise our minds, but ‘mens sana American heritage. For another thing, majesté. And as for ‘no rubbish’, that may be in corpore sano’, and all that. In March the the REF was poorly designed and easily asking too much of me. Boat Race was fought with the usual fierce manipulated. I remember many years determination. We won. In fact, we won ago when there was a flurry in the press This year, as six years back, our celebration all four races, men’s and women’s first and about the Cambridge spies, after the falls on Midsummer Day. As I said then, it is second eights all coming home victorious. It alleged unmasking of the fourth or fifth or a day of magic, when elves and fairies dance was an historic event, the first time that the umpteenth man, our own Regius Professor upon the lawns with printless foot and the women’s race was held on the Tideway, on of History wrote a complacent piece in some dons lose their usual fusty appearance, the same course as the men and on the same newspaper celebrating the superior loyalty breaking out into brilliant blue and pink day. This enabled the University to put first of his university. ‘Why were there no Oxford and red. And as I was to have observed in the women’s crew and then the men on to spies?’ he asked. He forgot the alternative: honouring Jessye Norman, it is also the feast our homepage for day after day, triumphing that the Oxford spies were too smart to get of St John the Baptist, the day on which somewhat unfeelingly, one may think, caught. And so with the REF: it may be that Wagner set the last act of his Meistersinger, over the university against which we were we are top in low cunning. the only opera to end with an honorary competing. The last varsity match was also degree ceremony. The apprentices of But of course our success has been owed historic: we won, and by the largest margin Nuremberg graduate with a box on the ear – to our people, and our medical researchers in the history of the competition. I ought whereas here the Vice-Chancellor is content collect especial praise. We have had a to add that the Cambridge women’s team to hit the graduands on the head with a bible munificent donation from the British Heart then beat ours by an even wider margin. – and Hans Sachs is honoured for being an Foundation to establish the Oxbridge BHF The matches next winter should be electric all-round good egg. Centre of Regenerative Medicine, and it is occasions. a particular pleasure to celebrate this on Today we commemorate those best of But sport is merely mimic warfare, and this the day when we have honoured Sir Magdi eggs, our benefactors, although at less than year we mark the bicentenary of one of Yacoub. According to the centre’s director, Wagnerian length. When actors, sportsmen the world’s decisive battles. We won. Two the award ‘will enable us to integrate or politicians win some great prize, they hundred years and nine days ago, at the expertise in developmental and stem cell often say that the experience is humbling. Duchess of Richmond’s ball at Brussels, biology, wound healing and inflammation… I have never understood this. I don’t feel news came to the British commander-in- to identify future therapeutic targets in the least humble about the way that chief that Napoleon had crossed the frontier towards mending broken hearts’. And I had our benefactors so generously sustain us; and was heading for the capital. Three days thought that all you need is love. Still in the I feel very proud. What I do think is that later, the Duke of Wellington, Chancellor of medical field, the Robertson Foundation, this liberality makes demands on us: to be this university, fought the Battle of Waterloo. as well as supporting the Rothermere grateful for our good fortune, to live up to Why else would one of our chancellors go to American Institute, has made an the trust put in us, to be pleased that we Brussels, if not to crush the French? Exactly exceptionally splendid donation to the Big do many things well, and to recognise that a year before the Duchess’s ball, there took Data Institute, part of the Li Ka Shing Centre we can do some things better. The virtue place perhaps the most remarkable of all for Health Information and Discovery, the of gratitude is no doubt one of those things ceremonies in this building, when in the first centre of its kind in the world.A nd studied at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for presence of the Prince Regent honorary within the realm of artificial intelligence Practical Ethics, and it is especially pleasing degrees were conferred on the Czar of Russia another very large benefactor is Google 670 University of Oxford Gazette • Supplement (1) to No 5102 • 1 July 2015

DeepMind for a collaboration with the supporting the Weidenfeld Scholarship Lord Spiritual. So Oxford can sometimes be Departments of Engineering and Computer and Humanitas Visiting Professorship the home of winning causes, after all. Science. One would be gratified to think that Programme, which is administered here by But we cannot win everything. Dr Pietro bringing deep mind to Oxford is like carrying the Humanities Division and in Cambridge Boselli, lecturer in mathematics at coals to Newcastle, but apparently not so. the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social University College London, has recently Extraordinary results are expected from this Sciences and Humanities (which uses the given up the day job to concentrate on long-term partnership. acronym CRASSH). This has in turn inspired what had been his sideline as an underwear us to set up The Oxford Research Centre for Although tower cranes still prick the city’s model. Several newspapers printed the Humanities, or TORCH. So now we have skyline, the scaffolding has been coming photographs of Dr Boselli wearing nothing crash and burn. TORCH has now celebrated down from buildings old and new. It above the waist, and, like Mr Miliband of its first anniversary, and according to the has gone from the Weston Library, now Corpus when he sees a white van, I can feel Humanities Division, it is an ‘incubation presenting a more welcoming face to the only respect. An extensive investigation at space’ which ‘provides a vibrant framework world and new magnificence inside, from the Mathematics Institute by the oratorical for innovative interdisciplinary research and the Blavatnik School, not quite complete research team has concluded that we must knowledge exchange’. When the framework but externally already the most stylish reluctantly acknowledge an inferiority. gets vibrant, you had best evacuate the addition to the University’s estate for Meanwhile, Dr Victoria Bateman, DPhil of building. many years, from Oriel, revealing its new this parish and now a Fellow of Caius, has penthouse floor on the Rhodes Building, The Oxford year is punctuated with celebrated something or other by having and from Keble, revealing Keble – like the speechifying. The Senior Proctor orates herself painted in the nude – warts and all, old London buses, always redder than one when he demits office in March; I orate in as you might say. Again, the papers have had remembered. The scaffolding at Keble the summer; and the Vice-Chancellor’s obliged with illustrations. Apparently this was accompanied by a mystic sign reading oration is a sign that autumn is drawing on. was empowering. There are those whom I ‘Warning Cyclists in Road’. It is true that We orators stick together; so picture my would beg – beg – not to follow her example. they are usually on the pavement. I was surprise when the Vice-Chancellor began his Some things should not be allowed in a reminded of the sign on the towpath near most recent disquisition by criticising the conservation area. the station that observes hopefully ‘Cyclists content of the previous Creweian Oration. I turn now to Whitehall and Westminster – dismount’. Oh no they don’t. The Weston Now vigorous disagreement is the lifeblood our Lower Thames campus. You will have Library had almost as many openings as Mr of academic existence – a pleasure as well as noticed that this has been an uneventful Sinatra had farewell performances – in each a duty – but all the same I can’t help asking, year in British politics – as seen, that is, case, with good reason. While we praise a ‘Vice-Chancellor, was this wise?’ Is it the from the banks of the Isis. As exclusively brilliantly transformed building, we should best policy to take issue with the one man predicted in last year’s oration, the general also applaud the librarians who have carried who has the unfettered right of reply before election has given us an Oxonian Prime through the transition. Librarians are trained a large audience nine months later? There Minister, in his forties, who read PPE. We to keep their voices down, and they have could be consequences: you might have to knew that whatever the British people not spoken up about the stresses and strains leave early and seek employment in another decided, we should be still able to say: ‘We that this huge operation must have added country. Could you rely on the Public won.’ More dramatic than the election, to an already demanding job, but we do Orator’s magnanimity? Well, of course you in Oxonian terms, was the reshuffle that appreciate them. could. It is too soon to say goodbye, but not Mr Cameron of Brasenose executed last too soon to celebrate six years of devoted, The colleges, as we know, work hard to summer. The Foreign Office moved a enthusiastic and successful service. We raise money, through conferences, summer hundred yards up the High, as Mr Hague of thank you, and wish you equal success and schools and development campaigns, and Magdalen made way for Mr Hammond of good fortune in New York. there are naming opportunities. Walking Univ. Education remained a North Oxford along the Broad last summer, I was surprised The appointment of Professor Louise affair, as Ms Morgan of St Hugh’s took over to see a banner above a familiar gateway Richardson is of course historic: it is the first from Mr Gove of LMH. Since the election the reading ‘Welcome to Royale Academy’. It time in our long history that we have chosen four great offices of state have remained in used to be called Balliol. My own college a Vice-Chancellor who has never lived in Oxonian hands, but we have added the Lord at one time adopted the menacing slogan England. Like the most recent of our Vice- Chancellorship to our portfolio: Mr Gove ‘LMH is for life.’ Unlike the Christmas Chancellors to come from the humanities, again. I remember Lord Hailsham of All puppy, at least your college won’t stain Sir Colin Lucas, her academic field is the use Souls, when he was Lord Chancellor in the your carpet. It may hope to make a hole in of terror as a political instrument. Sir Colin eighties, telling me with great satisfaction your wallet. Nothing matters more than studies the structure of the terror in France that he ranked in the Order of Precedence our students and how we teach them. The in the 1790s, but Professor Richardson between the Archbishops of Canterbury and Creat Group Corporation has made a very knows all about the application of terror at York, and well above the Prime Minister. He generous gift to establish the Oxford–Creat the present day. We look forward to meeting was a man who appreciated such things. Group Graduate Scholarships, with the her. This seems a good moment to mention Nine cabinet ministers are now Oxonians; hope that these scholars will go on to help another couple of firsts. InJ anuary Mrs when the cabinet meets, the minutes are develop China’s economy. Exceptional Libby Lane of St Peter’s was consecrated taken by Sir Jeremy Heywood of Hertford, young people from many parts of the world the first woman bishop in the Church and Mr Johnson of Balliol drops in from are supported by the Oxford Weidenfeld of England, and last week Mrs Rachel time to time. So there are almost a dozen of and Hoffmann Scholarships, for which Treweek of Wycliffe Hall became Bishop us around the table. If I have counted right, the Weidenfeld–Hoffmann Trust and the of Gloucester, the first woman diocesan in the runners up are Cambridge, Edinburgh Institute for Strategic Dialogue have made England and the first to sit in Parliament as a and Exeter Universities with two cabinet grand benefactions. The institute is also University of Oxford Gazette • Supplement (1) to No 5102 • 1 July 2015 671

ministers each – what our colleagues the CBE and Cyrus Cooper and Hugh after more than two centuries’ existence – a across the Atlantic call diversity hires. Williamson the OBE. Dickson Poon, reminder that even the longest life must The chairman of the Conservative Party, benefactor of the Dickson Poon China have its end. Lord Feldman, was one of Mr Cameron’s Centre, was also knighted. In the Birthday However, two of those whom I have contemporaries at Brasenose, and he has Honours damehoods have been bestowed commemorated live on in celluloid. John now appointed as head of his policy unit on Frances Ashcroft and Frances Cairncross, Bayley was portrayed in the filmIris by Jim Ms Camilla Cavendish, who read PPE at – a knighthood on Stephen Nickell and the Broadbent, who won an Oscar for it. But in good heavens – at Brasenose. I read, to my CBE on James Adams. The British Academy Accident Raymond Carr was played by Dirk surprise, that there is also a Minister for has elected as fellows Francesco Billari, Bogarde. My predecessor as Public Orator Modern Slavery and Organised Crime. Call Susanne Bobzien, Georgina Born, Susan left office a disappointed man, having me a bleeding-heart liberal, but I’m rather Brigden, Gavin Flood, Henrietta Harrison, failed in his long-held ambition to present in favour of a minister against these things. Cecilia Trifogli and Sarah Whatmore, and the Miss Sophia Loren for an honorary degree. The minister in question is not an Oxonian; Royal Society has picked Sir Rory Collins, Each one of us can muse meanwhile about so we cannot be confident that the crime is Benjamin Davis, Alison Etheridge, Jane which could best represent us. One hopes efficiently organised and the slavery bang Langdale, Philip Maini, Gero Miesenböck, for George Clooney, but it might be Danny up to date. Jonathan Pila and Henry Snaith. We DeVito. But I am drifting too far into the congratulate them all. We have infiltrated other parties too.A s it realm of dreams and high fantasy, and they happens, Mr Osborne is not the only finance As always, some heads of societies are are the province of poetry. It is time for me to minister in Europe to have been educated at retiring. At Brasenose John Bowers will yield the floor: arise, Sir Geoffrey. St Paul’s School and Oxford: he shares that succeed Alan Bowman, at Jesus Sir Nigel Creweian Oration 2015 distinction with the Greek government’s Shadbolt will follow Lord Krebs, at LMH Euclid Tsakalotos, who seems not to have Frances Lannon will be followed by Alan The Professor of Poetry delivered the been paying attention in his economics Rusbridger, and at Green Templeton Denise Creweian Oration 'in commemoration of tutorials. He probably refused to produce Lievesley will take over from the Acting the Benefactors of the University according an essay unless he was given an alpha Principal, Ingrid Lunt. And as always, there to the intention of the Right Honourable beforehand. Back home a by-election in are last farewells. I call to mind those friends Nathaniel, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham'. Kent last year returned Mr Mark Reckless, and colleagues who have died in the past MY LORD AND CHANCELLOR, and for a few months we could claim half year, among whom are John Bayley, Fellow the UKIP parliamentary party for Oxford – of St Catherine’s, Brian Campbell, Fellow of It cannot be thought altogether surprising Reckless of Christ Church elected to speak Corpus Christi, Sir Raymond Carr, Warden of that a Professor of Poetry, summoned to for Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells. But the St Antony’s, Sally Chilver, Principal of LMH, address this august assembly, should wish University of East Anglia can now truthfully Carol Clark, Fellow of Balliol, Roger Cowley, to give some consideration to the vexed claim to have infinitely moreU KIP MPs than Fellow of Wadham, Anna Davies, Fellow of relations between his ancient art, so often ourselves, for we have no MPs and they Somerville, Sheppard Frere, Fellow of All dismissed in public discourse as marginal have one. Meanwhile, the Labour party is Souls, David Goldey, Fellow of Lincoln, A and esoteric, and the pragmatics of national electing a new leader. Last time Oxonians H Halsey, Fellow of Nuffield, Henry Harris, and local polity. took first, second and third places; this time Student of Christ Church, Gerald Harriss, With this annual ceremony in which we are less well represented, and Ms Creagh Fellow of Magdalen, Catherine Hughes, honorary degrees are conferred upon men of Pembroke has already dropped out. A Principal of Somerville, Peter Lewis, Fellow and women of pre-eminent international college head emailed me to say, ‘For the of All Souls, Terence Ranger, Fellow of distinction, the University reaffirms its faith sake of the Creweian Oration it had better St Antony’s, Derek Robinson, Fellow of in intrinsic value. be Yvette Cooper.’ One trusts that Mr Len Magdalen, Bernard Rudden, Fellow of McCluskey will bear it in mind. Brasenose, John Simopoulos, Fellow of In the course of the past five years, in my St Catherine’s, Jon Stallworthy, Fellow lectures from this Chair, I have more than Meanwhile, Council has waved its magic of Wolfson, Rosemary Stewart, Fellow once expressed my belief that, although it wand and turned us all into professors. As an of Templeton, William Sykes, Fellow of is almost impossible to define, everyone Oxford dodo said, ‘Everybody has won, and University, Sir Robert Wade-Gery, Fellow of of good intelligence and will is able to all must have prizes.’ But some prizewinners All Souls, and Sir David Watson, Principal recognise intrinsic value when in its are more equal than others and a few of of Green Templeton. Requiescant in pace et presence. I have no hesitation in stating that the finest specimens are here, corralled in aeternum luceat eis Dominus Illuminatio my belief is amply confirmed, in today’s below the Chancellor. At the coronation Mea. ceremony, by the University’s choice of of Edward VII a pew was reserved for the honorary graduands: now to be saluted, due ladies who had added interest and variety Sally Chilver died on 3 July last year, process having been completed, as doctors to the monarch’s personal life; it was called one month to the day short of her 100th honoris causa. ‘the King’s loose box’. Here, though, is a birthday, the longest lived of anyone who box not loose but stuffed with the tautest has been head of an Oxford college. Margaret I derive my own understanding of the idea of intellects. I ask them to rise for your Wileman of LMH, Principal of Hughes Hall, of intrinsic value from John Ruskin who, it is applause. Cambridge, died in September at the age good to remember at such a time, was once of 106. No Oxbridge head has lived so long, Slade Professor of Fine Art in the University There are prizes for dons too. In the New maybe no Oxonian at all. And we have lost and also Honorary Student of Christ Church Year Honours Sir John Bell was promoted an even older friend: the black pine in the and Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi. to GBE, Jonathan Bate was made a Knight Botanic Garden, said to have inspired the Bachelor and Marina Warner a Dame. Intrinsic value signifies real wealth that trees in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, felled Russell Foster and Tim Palmer received cannot be cashed, does not have realisable 672 University of Oxford Gazette • Supplement (1) to No 5102 • 1 July 2015

cash-value. It is not ‘illth’, a word that Ruskin invented and that has now fallen for all too obvious reasons into desuetude. One reason is, perhaps, that, judged by the standards of literary and ethical criticism upheld in the University, it sounds a bit childish; but that contingency may be covered by Psalm 8 verse 2 and Matthew 21 verse 16. When I hear lovers of the arts referred to as ‘consumers of culture’ or vulnerable clients and customers described as ‘punters’ I know that I am in the domain of illth. As long ago as 1935 the American poet and critic R P Blackmur defined poetry as ‘language so twisted and posed in a form that it not only expresses the matter in hand but adds to the stock of available reality’1. Adding to the stock of available reality is, in its complex and difficult way, adding also to the stock of intrinsic value. The language of poetry may be ‘twisted and posed’ not only to provide decorative shape but also because it is subjected to immense strain. Our current terms of literary approbation – ‘accessible’, ‘hands-on’, ‘relevant’ – seem trivial, indeed unworthy, by comparison. With this model mini-oration, my Lord and Chancellor, I bring to an end my public duties in, but not my private affection for, the University. Very shortly I shall be standing by the roadside at Kidlington, my trade plates at my feet, a bottle of light ale protruding from my coat pocket, endeavouring to flag down some vehicle (I envisage a succession of small white transit vans) that appears to be heading in the general direction of Cambridge. For the third and final time of asking in this noble theatre, and in your noble presence, I beg leave to hold my peace.

1R P Blackmur, Language as Gesture (London, Allen & Unwin, 1954), p364