‘Best time of my life…’
Omar Aguilar Medrano (Latin American Studies, 1994)
Eliza Reid (MSt Modern History, 1998)
Stefan Talmon (DPhil Law, 1991)
Mariana Llanos (DPhil Politics, 1993)
Memories from my matriculation (1993), my viva (1998) and graduation (1999). The picture with our dear porter also portraits Jaime Bermúdez, Alison Stone, Patricia Salzman (she wasn’t Antonian), and I don’t remember the name of the fourth person. In the graduation picture, you can see my little daughter, brother, mother and father
Torpids 1997
Sarah Poralla (MPhil European Politics and Society, 1995)
28 years ago, the Women’s First rowing team won the most coveted achievement in collegiate racing – we took blades.
This submission remembers the Women’s rowing team of 1997 who won Blades at Torpids that spring. The team was international and stayed together for Summer eights, but only bumped three times after that (I believe). It was an amazing time and I still remember how much I enjoyed taking the responsibility for speedy starts as the stroke seat on that team during Torpids.
Reflections on a Fellowship
Professor Ilaria Favretto (British Council Fellow in Modern Italian Studies, 1998)
I joined St Antony’s for a year in October 1998 as British Council Fellow in Modern Italian Studies, straight after finishing my PhD at Queen Mary College, London. And what a year it was! The mix of more than fifty visiting fellows from all over the world, with a spectacular range of specialisms, together with St Antony’s brilliant academic community, made for a truly unique and inspiring place. It was the perfect environment to turn my PhD into a book, start new research and absorb new ideas. The research seminars were a real eye-opener. Their interdisciplinarity – something St Antony’s pioneered and promoted well before the REF made it a ‘must do’ for research excellence – profoundly changed the way I would later design my research projects.
People were so warm and welcoming. Anthony Nicholls, then Director of the European Studies Centre (and sadly no longer with us), was extraordinarily supportive of all the initiatives I organised. Later, when I began mentoring early career researchers, I often thought of his generosity and enthusiasm as a model to follow. Conversations with Avi Shlaim and Richard Clogg taught me so much about Greek modern history and the Middle East. Equally important, they showed me you could be a first-rate academic while still being kind, humorous and unpretentious.
There are things that still make me smile: the beautiful library, the wonderful brutalist Hilda Besse building (I loved it!) and, of course, dining at High Table (a potentially quite daunting experience for outsiders) which was made less intimidating and more enjoyable by a booklet on High Table etiquette I received before starting my Fellowship. I remember reading it with a mix of gratitude and amusement (what world I was about to enter?). Only later did I realise it was part of the College’s thoughtful way of being inclusive and welcoming. That sums up St Antony’s for me: a place of extraordinary academic brilliance, always pushing intellectual boundaries and sparking fresh ideas, yet never losing its warmth, openness, and humanity. It was the perfect combination—and I feel very lucky to have been part of it.
The ICC in St Antony’s
Susan Tamondong (DPhil Social Policy, 1992)
I formed the Inter-Cultural Committee (ICC) in 1992 when I started my DPhil studies at St Antony’s to give sunshine and a friendly atmosphere in College and make it more welcoming to foreign students. It was because many foreign students like me felt ‘excluded’ and everyone seemed to stick together with their own nationalities, despite being an international college. I felt the need to change this.
I spoke with Dean Rogan and shared with him my idea to form ICC which aimed to promote the appreciation of other cultures through music, food and accommodation arrangements. The Dean supported my idea and became an Advisor of ICC. Its goals were achieved by making cultural presentations at the JCR lounge, serving international cuisine once a week at Dining Hall, holding international pot lucks, and mixing different nationalities in the shared houses. Members of ICC acted as big brothers and sisters to new students to make them feel welcome and help in their initial adjustment to the British way of life and Oxford culture. It was a huge success! Just few months after ICC begun, with a big membership, the atmosphere in College changed! As a farewell before I left for fieldwork, ICC held a big concert with talented students performing. It was well attended by Antonians and students from other colleges! A St Antony’s band composed of 6 nationalities performed with an original song: St Antony’s Blues. It was a hit! Senior members of College who attended (including Prof. Nichols) complimented me and said it was fabulous and ICC was a great idea! When I gave a closing speech at the end of the concert, I felt I was in the clouds! It was an evening to remember!
ICC continued with new leadership after I left and when I came back after fieldwork a year later, the College atmosphere had been transformed! FA friendly atmosphere with different nationalities talking to each other and socializing.
I was very happy and even more so when I found out that the ICC idea was replicated in other colleges of Oxford.
‘Those were the days…’
Susan Tamondong (DPhil Social Policy, 1992)
Performance of a Japanese play organised by College members in 1994
This programme for a performance in 1994 was provided by Brian Powell (Emeritus Fellow, 1965-1989)
The College Ball
The College Ball has been a St Antony’s institution for many decades. The earliest record of a ball held at College is for the Summer Ball held on Saturday 27 May 1961. Proceedings kicked off at the rather late time of 10pm and a champagne supper was served; each Ball ticket came with a detachable champagne stub.
Unfortunately few records of College Balls generally survive. Very little exists until the late 1980s when the College Ball appears to have had something of a revival, with one being held every year until 2011. Popular themes for the balls over those years include travel around the world, prohibition, masquerades and spies. They were held in College and offered a night of music, dance, food and wine to celebrate the end of the academic year. Each year the Ball Committee would work hard to provide a range of entertainment, sourcing bands, food and activities.
The official programme for the 1992 Celestial Ball celebrated St Antony’s as a ‘constellation of nationalities and experiences’. It offered live bands in the dining hall, a bouncy castle on the lawn, a ‘Star Trek extravaganza’ in the Senior Common Room and early-hours techno in the Buttery.
No Ball was held in College between 2012 and 2017, their place taken by bops and summer bashes. The pandemic halted the balls yet again. When they did resume, they were, for a short time, held outside of College. Fortunately, College Balls at St Antony’s are now back. The Willy Wonka Ball of 2024 was the first to be held on the College site since 2017; and 2025 saw the successful Tassemarken Ball on 24 May.
The photograph at the top of this page has been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame photographers and can be ordered online here.