Emeritus Professor Robert Gascoigne
(DPhil Sub-Faculty of Politics, 1976)
This is a photo of myself and my wife Yvonne with our baby son Nicholas (born in Oxford), in the winter of 1977-78, in front of Hilda Besse building. Many good memories of friendships made at St Antony’s at that time.
‘Cultural differences…’
Raymond Hayes (MLitt Race Relations, 1976)
When I was working on my thesis I would reward myself going to the Gardeners Arms at 9.30 for a pint or two of Morland best bitter (3.1% abv).
A Japanese fellow student of the house in St Bernard’s Road discussed this with me and said ‘oh so you go for a drinking meeting most days – you must be very strong’. I didn’t realise what he meant until I started working in Japan three or four years later and discovered that a Japanese drinking meeting was drinking until your legs buckle.
In the mid-1970s St Antony’s was not known for sporting prowess, but we managed to put together a cricket team to play King’s College, Cambridge. One of the King’s students came out to bat singing a line from 16th century polyphony, but that didn’t distract and much to our surprise we won! Especially with the help of American student Wade Goria who had never played cricket in his life, but was a dab hand at baseball and held the cricket bat like a baseball bat – hit a flat six, dropped the bat, and ran – it might not have impressed MCC selectors but goodness gracious it did work.
Prof. Dr. Klaus J Jacklein
(Social Anthropology, 1970)
I was born during WWII in a small town in Northern Germany, close to the Dutch border. In 1945 the British Army took the town, and in 1952/53/54 I worked on the Commanding Officer’s farm in Sussex during High School summer vacations.
When I heard Prof. Dahrendorf speak about civil society in 1964, I called him at the University of Tübingen in Southern Germany. He interviewed me at the Institute of Sociology and accepted me as a student. We met again in New York and when he was Warden of St Antony’s.
I did archival research on European expansion in the 16th century in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, England, Scotland, Germany, Canada and the United States. I made lifelong friends at Oxford and St Antony’s College. I was lucky. I am grateful.
The Hilda Besse Building had a somewhat turbulent history prior to its official opening in October 1970. It was the only surviving part of the 1960 master plan by architects Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis for a brand new college building. The original scheme, which required the redevelopment of the entire St Antony’s site, was abandoned in 1965 when insufficient funds could be found to build it. Governing Body decided instead to limit the development to the Hall and Common Room block. Construction work began in 1966 with an initial proposed opening date of 1969.
Building work soon fell behind schedule due to the wetness of the ground, discovered once the site had been cleared. Delays from pumping equipment installed to dry out the ground and supply issues with the pre-cast concrete almost caused the project to be terminated. The opening date was put back to 8 October 1970.
Hilda Besse, wife of College founder Antonin Besse, was asked to perform the opening ceremony. Harold Macmillan, Chancellor of the University, was also present. A lunch was held afterwards in the new fellows’ dining room. The photograph shows Warden Raymond Carr speaking at the ceremony, held in the new dining hall, with Mme Besse and the Chancellor seated behind him.
Despite winning multiple architectural awards at the time, the building was not universally loved by College members. The College had taken over the interior decoration of the building from the architects in order to soften its ‘brutality’; the Hall’s distinctive collection of wall hangings, or kelims, were later installed with that purpose.
After Mme Besse’s death in 1981, the building was officially renamed the Hilda Besse Building.
The photograph at the top of this page has been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame photographers and can be ordered online here.