Copyright 1999-2006 by Nigel Bradley
The year is 1167. A group of students sit beside the Isis.
They are the first group of English scholars who had been barred from the
University of Paris. Their teachers were beginning a new institution of learning
based on the Parisian Model with faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine and the
Arts.
Some 800 years later, thousands of students per annum flood
into some 30 colleges along with four million tourists. Oxford has educated
seven of Britain's last nine Prime Ministers, including Tony Blair. It claims
the distinction of having educated, briefly, a President of the United States.
Each of its colleges has its own life, history and identity; each has its own
name. Corpus Christi, Balliol, Merton, Exeter, Linacre, Magdalen, Nuffield,
Trinity, Somerville, Wadham, Worcester are examples of the designations one
encounters when entering the city.
Take St. Edmund Hall, founded in 1278, a college
affectionately known as Teddy Hall. This is a small, little known and
old-fashioned college, now www to 350 undergraduates. This was the venue of the
First British Symposium on Graphological Research in 1987. It was here that well
known names gathered to debate the status of graphology. The following names
will be familiar to many supporters of the subject: John Beck, Ellen Bowers,
Charlie Cole, Christian Dettweiler, Renate Griffiths, Felix Klein, Betty Link,
Oskar Lockowandt, Usha Mullan, Renna Nezos, Erik Rees, Roger Rubin, Marc Seifer,
Maria Victoria Sen, Barbara Sinclair, Rex Smith, Alex Tulloch and Patricia
Wellingham-Jones. They are just a few names that appeared on the list of
delegates. We can picture them in St. Edmunds Hall, busily discussing the future
of graphology. The turnout was such that the small hall could not fully
accommodate the delegates, and the nearby Holywell Music Room (Europe's oldest
purpose-built Music Hall) was used for most presentations.
This milestone in graphological history pointed the way to
further symposia and as many new books; it provided a new forum of debate and
facilitated international collaboration. It was envisaged that "no one
organisation should call it their territory, and that the organising body should
appreciate that attendance cannot be limited to its members". To some
extent this ideal was achieved.
By the start of the 20th Century, printing and publishing
industries were firmly established in Oxford, strongly linked to the academic
status of the town. The Oxford University Press is perhaps the best known of
these publishers. Towering above the numerous books printed here is the Oxford
English Dictionary, the definitive historical dictionary of the English
language. Its production dates back to 1878 when agreements were made with
Clarendon Press of Oxford. It is a coincidence that Samuel Johnson, who prepared
the first English Dictionary, was a student here.
Copyright Libraries, under the Copyright Act, 1911 claim a
free copy of any book published in Britain. There are six such libraries, one of
which is the Bodleian, here in Oxford. It was founded by Sir T Bodley and opened
in 1602, since 1610 it has received numerous other collections. The Bodleian
Library is one of the most important libraries in the world and it must be one
of the largest holdings of graphology texts. It also has a rich collection of
manuscripts, which are being continually extended. The papers of Isaac
D'Israeli are held here (reference MSS Disraeli) and letters from him are
found among the Douce papers (reference MSS Douce). It is worth adding that his
other letters are at the Hertfordshire Record Office (Bulwer Lyton Papers) and
the Jewish Museum, London.
Isaac D'Israeli was the father of Benjamin Disraeli
(British Prime Minister 1868, 1874-80) and was well known for a best selling
book called Curiosities of Literature. Around 1824 he added a chapter to
that book called 'Autographs', apparently after seeing an 1812 pamphlet by
Hocquart on a visit to Paris. D'Israeli's chapter was a significant public
relations boost for the subject, which had not yet adopted the name of
graphology (this came around 1871 with Michon).
Oxford is also the place where OXFAM (the Oxford Committee
for Famine Relief) was founded in 1942 to raise funds to feed children in
war-torn Greece. The organisation grew and expanded its role to provide
emergency aid for areas stricken by drought, flood, earthquake and other
disasters.
Oxford is known as the "City of Spires" or of
"dreaming spires" because of its beautiful skyline of Gothic towers
and steeples. It has captured the imagination of millions of tourists and
writers. One such writer was Colin Dexter, the creator of the fictitious
Inspector Morse. Morse, and his companion Lewis, have become well known
characters worldwide. Less well known is the fact that Dexter, in the Inspector
Morse novels, made some very interesting observations about his characters'
handwriting. Morse's productions, for instance, are described as "neatly
written" (1983:151) and being "small, neat and scholarly"
(1992:65). He was probably right handed and uses a fountain pen (1992:109), at
least once this was a Silver Parker (1992:108). Lewis, his sidekick, was a self
confessed poor speller (1983:30, 1992:185, 1993:30).
Dexter's other characters' writings are remarked upon:
"the signatory's name written in light-blue Biro - 'Marie', the
'i' completed in girlish fashion with a largish ring instead of the usual
dot" (1993:20). This is significant since it helps the reader to make an
elementary match with another letter "the name and address written in
light-blue Biro, the 'i' of 'squitchey' completed in girlish fashion
with a largish ring instead of the usual dot" (1993:21). The
writing of Philip Daley, a delinquent teenager, is described as "cramped
and ill-fitting into the narrow daily space" of a pocket diary (1992:174).
Two murderers' writings are mentioned - one, aged over 65
years, suffering from a brain tumour, had a "conspicuously clear; neatly
penned signature" (1983:82). "No one else could have caught that dry,
exact, pernickety style" (1983:180). Morse was showing a questioned
document ability. Another murderer who stabbed by screwdriver, wrote a
"message, neatly penned and very brief" (1983:212).
Morse also understood the problems encountered by newly
married females; "how many married women were unable to write out the
accepted formula for their wedded state without getting the wrong initial.
Perhaps she was recently married?" (1992:21). There is also evidence that
he can distinguish between writing produced by males and females(1993:8). In
these references, Dexter is demonstrating an interest in handwriting, and
communicating its importance to millions of readers worldwide. It is a reminder
of Sir Walter Scott's fiction which did exactly the same thing in 1827.
James Bond (007) is no stranger to Oxford - New College
and Brasenose College, Oxford are exteriors for the Oxford college where Bond
meets Professor Bergstrom, linguistics expert in the film "Tomorrow Never Dies"
It is interesting to find that just as there has always been
unease between the public and graphology, the townsfolk have been constantly in
conflict with the academics of Oxford. Records show a fierce bow-and-arrow fight
in 1354 that lasted for two days leaving a number of students dead. On May Day
in 1998, 120 Police Officers and rows of steel barricades were deployed to
prevent up to 5000 students jumping into the Cherwell River from Magdalen
Bridge. Party revellers have been making this jump for 226 years.
There is no better way to learn about this history than a
visit to The Oxford Story exhibition on Broad Street which takes a ride
through 800 years of history. For those with more time, visits are recommended
to: the Ashmolean Museum (with a lantern carried by Guy Fawkes); Christ Church
Picture Gallery; the Museum of History of Science (with the blackboard used by
Einstein in a 1931 lecture at Oxford); Oxford University Press Museum; Pitt
Rivers Museum Archaeology and Anthropology and the Museum of Oxford (with
reconstructed Oxford interiors from the 16th Century to the present day).
Outside Oxford is Tom Brown's School Museum (Uffington) and Blenheim Palace
(with Churchill handwritings on display).
The Sunday Times (1998) pronounced Oxford and Cambridge as
top UK Universities, and Wadham College was ranked third in a league table of
Oxford Colleges (Clare 1998). Wadham - named after its founder, is noted for its
well laid-out and secluded gardens, it was completed in 1613 and little has
changed. This was the venue for the 1999 British Symposium of Graphology,
organised by the British Institute of Graphologists.
Reading
Hibbert, C & Hibbert, E.(1988) The Encyclopedia of Oxford. Macmillan
Dexter, C (1983) The Riddle of the Third Mile
Dexter, C (1992)The Way Through The Woods
Dexter, C (1993) The Inside Story
Clarke, J (1998) Records Broken As Dons Admit Defeat. Daily Telegraph 31/7/98
pg.6
Links
Oxford Tourist Info http://www.visitoxford.org
Oxfordshire Oxford Cycle
Workshop (rent or buy a cheap bike when you are in Oxford)
- University of Oxford Shop http://www.oushop.com
Oxford Photo Library
http://www.oxford-photo-library.co.uk
Wadham College http://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Links http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/index.html
Buses from London to Oxford every 15 mins
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