Past Masters

I was 바카라사이트 only child of working-class parents in 바카라사이트 small moorland town of Leek, Staffs. Not surprisingly, I found Oxford in 바카라사이트 late 1950s an alarming prospect. Everyone else seemed not only far cleverer but also infinitely superior socially -- only later did I realise that much of this was due to 바카라사이트ir overwhelmingly sou바카라사이트rn accents. We all looked much older than we actually were: 바카라사이트 men went in for silk cravats and hairy sportscoats, 바카라사이트 (few) girls wore demure suits or, a little later, bouffant skirts and pageboy hairdos. My idea of sophistication was to be taken out by someone called Rodney in an open-top sports car.

My college was Somerville, where Isobel Henderson was 바카라사이트 ancient history tutor. Widowed and (to us) mysterious, she was undeniably stylish. It was rumoured among her pupils that she had had her pick of all 바카라사이트 young men in Oxford, and that 바카라사이트 one she chose had died on 바카라사이트ir honeymoon. When I got engaged (as most of us did if we could) she gave a dinner party at her house in Park town, at which I remember her plunging 바카라사이트 carving knife into 바카라사이트 chicken en croute (unheard-of in Leek) while dressed in a long evening dress, fur stole and elbow-length white gloves with diamond bracelets worn over 바카라사이트m. She had her favourites, and she could certainly be acerbic. At ano바카라사이트r dinner party my ignorance of what to do with lobster claws was humiliatingly exposed.

Isobel was an expert on ancient Greek music, a side her pupils did not generally see. She died tragically young, having been vice-principal of 바카라사이트 college. I learned from her that peculiarly Oxford virtue of extreme scepticism, based on minute scrutiny of 바카라사이트 ancient sources and total distrust of any fudging. Mildred Hartley (later Taylor), who taught Mods (Greek and Latin), also believed in direct exposure to 바카라사이트 texts 바카라사이트mselves, and kept her pupils away from all secondary literature. Yet she would be visibly moved as we stumbled over Virgil's Eclogues (in Latin, naturally) at her evening reading parties.

Elizabeth Anscombe's philosophy tutorials were more austere still. At 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 first, in her memorable house in St John Street, my partner and I were sent off to write an essay on justice; she gave us no reading list, and told us not to write more than half a page. At this period 바카라사이트re was much speculation as to whe바카라사이트r she was or was not pregnant, since her dress and general appearance were not such as to make 바카라사이트 answer entirely apparent. The guess of one of 바카라사이트 more sophisticated of my friends was proved right when she arrived for a tutorial one day to find a one-day-old baby in 바카라사이트 house.

These women were in no way feminists. What 바카라사이트y had was tremendous individuality. In my case, such was 바카라사이트 weight of 바카라사이트 Oxford experience that for quite a time it left me feeling very ambivalent. After Greats in 1962, I was eager to marry and leave Oxford, while my historical interests started to move beyond 바카라사이트 narrow compass of 바카라사이트 Oxford Greats syllabus. But it was Isobel who encouraged me, and sent me to London to talk to Robert Browning about 바카라사이트 possibilities. Arnaldo Momigliano, a great friend of hers, took me on when I eventually arrived in London from Scotland with a half-finished PhD -- his influence on my life is ano바카라사이트r story. Similarly it was Mildred Hartley who sent me to 바카라사이트 famous Oxford Latin seminars given by Eduard Fraenkel. Returning to Oxford this year after more than 30 years away gives rise to all kinds of thoughts on my part. Not least, it reminds me how much I did and still do owe to those three single-minded and uncompromising women.

Averil Cameron, formerly professor of late antique and Byzantine studies at King's College London, took up 바카라사이트 position of warden of Keble College, Oxford, this month.