Day 1 At the Oxford Literary Festival

Christ Church Meadow is the setting.  Its Oxford's Literary Festival week and I’m in the middle of it!  I love it.  Christ Church College – if you want to hear about it, is just spectacular.  Built in ??? but many hundreds ago, its yellow stone just glows in the sunshine.  There are quadrangles and turrets, narrow passageways that lead into squares with ancient trees, all surrounded by the Meadow, which is acres and acres of fields – cricket pitches and meadows. And, oh yes, people are punting by on the river that seems to flow out of that manicured garden.  Oh wow. 

I forget how many British Prime Ministers studied here, but at least a couple of dozen, and the list of other luminaries, in every academic field you might come up with, were here at some stage.  So as I wander round with the well-heeled English booklovers who are now thronging the place, I am filled with a mixture of envy and awe.

Blackwells book shop ( trading in town since year dot) have put up a huge marquee on one of the lawns.  It’s doing a roaring trade with dozens and dozens of stalls of books.  You name it, they have it – its Amazon under canvas! 

Floating about through the book buyers are beautiful girls in ‘40’s style (shirtwasters, red lipstick high blocky heels) bearing trays of (tiny glasses, free) gin and lime.  (I suppose they’re students of philosophy or something, on their day off?).  Im resisting, as I’m clutching my ticket to hear two biographers give their talk on Life Writing and the gin mightn’t mix…

And who else is here besides me?  Well the list is so long I’ll just give you a few: They have Kazuo Ishiguro, Philip Pullman, Madhur Jaffrey, Bed Okri, P.D.Hames Melvyn Bragg – not to mention King Abdullah of Jordan (though I wondered if he might just be house-hunting?) and HRH Princess Anne (she’s cutting the tape I think).

Every now and then I hear polite clapping coming from a window where a lecture is taking place but I’m hurrying off to my class room which is billed as the ‘Junior Common Room’!  Well folks, University life…. It’s all go you know....