I had sad news today. An old colleague at the Oxford Tines, Helen Peacock, has died. Helen was the food writer for the paper for 25 years. I had to cast her away! She was born in Eynsham and had a working class upbringing. She told me that the high walls with barbed wire on top of the Oxford Colleges were forbidding barriers saying ‘KEEP OUT’ -this is not for you!’ but were also a challenge. The gulf between Town and Gown in Oxford is symbolised by the St Scholastica Day riots on 10 February 1355. The divisions are no longer violent but the old colleges are surrounded by walls and the old city was walled too. There are aren’t enough bridges literally and metaphorically between town and gown. With the ten year castaway series, I tried to build bridges of friendship.
A good example that they are still there was the photoshoot for Helen . She wanted her pic to be taken in front of her chosen object the Barber’s Shop -the Carracci painting in Christ Church . Helen had written many reviews for Christ Church one of the richest in the city but they refused unless we paid for the privilege. The Oxford Times couldn’t afford the £100 they asked. It seemed to me exceptionally mean. So we did it in Rose Cottage her home in Eynsham with her beloved dog Barnaby. Here is her story Helen-Peacocke408590-b2a8-4bc6-bea0-69dc45a70b91
The Oxford Guild of Guides asked me to give a lecture on Oxford Castaways. Oxtopian resident Zoe Broughton made this video for me. The history of Oxford is as much about the people as the buildings. I invented a mythological island called Oxtopia where I marooned all 120 together. Its inhabitants come from town, gown and county and were born in five continents. They represent almost every shade of religion and none, every shade of skin colour and background. What connects them is Oxford but Oxford united and not divided by Town and Gown, North and South, East and West. I end my lecture with he former food writer of the Oxford Times, Helen Peacock, celebrating her 70th birthday in a hot air balloon – appropriate because the first English man to fly was an Oxford pastry cook James Sadler. Looking down from above there are no divisions! I hope she is enjoying an idyllic Oxtopia -the Oxford of her dreams.
