The candidates to become Oxford’s Chancellor just aren’t up to it
Oxford, the university of which Lewis Carroll was in some ways the most characteristic member, is not just an academic institution. It is a dream. Very many people respond to this Wonderland, who have never set foot in the much-spoilt market town where the university finds itself. Think of the success not only of Through the Looking Glass but of Brideshead Revisited. The older I become, the keener is my sense that we all need saving illusions and that the dream of Oxford is not just harmless, but potentially beneficial to the human race. On 28th October, the MAs of the University will vote for a new Chancellor, to succeed such grandees as Oliver Cromwell (who held the post for seven years and was surprisingly good at his job); the first Duke of Wellington, and Lord Curzon: ‘My name is George Nathaniel Curzon,/ I am a most superior person./ My...
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