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19 July 2003 - Oxford |
Oxford, as a crazy university, holds its graduations well after the course finishes. So I did mine, two years late. It was a double-header with my father, who graduated only 34 years late. |
First up we went to my father's old college, Keble |
We mooched around the enormous Quad for a bit, while he scouted out old haunts |
Keble invited us for a drink before lunch together |
However, the lunch was so slow that we had to leave before pudding was served |
The graduands went into the Divinity School to get changed |
Looking happy to be doing this finally |
After a lot of kerfuffle we were seated in the Sheldonian Theatre, full of colourful academic dress |
The ceremony was in Latin (obviously!), and full of symbols but little content. Here, those receiving degrees leave the theatre in procession... |
...in order to come back in their new gowns, to receive applause |
We were mostly in the wrong place, most of the time: my father was meant to receive his BA in absentia and MA in person (though in fact this turned out to be not what the University had written on their card), and I was being presented by a different college to my own |
Still, with struggle, we both got the degrees we were entitled to |
Hertford College had their degree ceremony about an hour after ours, so we went to wish them well |
