College Record 2014

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my life without religious influence’, he told me. Loyalty to established institutions often accompanies conservatism, but Brock’s evangelical, Congregationalist and professional family background ensured a very different outcome: he was a liberal with backbone – positive in outlook and thinking the best of people, while facing up to reality – yet also principled, and unsanctimoniously upright. His optimism, his constructive priorities and his sheer niceness shone out within a University whose critical faculty was if anything over-developed. The values associated with the English Christian gentleman – a title that earlier generations might have bestowed – were unfashionable in late-twentieth-century Oxford. In 1981 Brock was appointed CBE, but many thought he deserved more. His career encountered setbacks, though he never dwelt upon them. They owed something (very unfairly) to the fact that he lacked a magisterial ‘presence’. A close colleague in later life did not forget first hearing his authoritative voice in a seminar: ‘I couldn’t see the body behind the voice, but I was so keen to catch a glimpse that I leant forward, and, between the gaps, spied this sparrow-like frame. Such a powerful mind, but in the slightest of bodies – a contrast that never left me; it actually became more acute as he got older, and frailer.’ To those less energetic and less public-spirited than himself, the flow of paper that Brock generated in his participatory zeal seemed overwhelming, his verbosity tiresome, his incessant busy-ness irritating. He was too conscientious adequately to delegate, though a sympathetic Nuffield colleague confessed that this ‘enables the rest of us to shuffle off quite a lot on to him … which is very agreeable – though not necessarily very good – for us.’ The rare combination of qualities the successful administrator requires – industry, efficiency, self-effacement, fair mindedness, discretion and (unfashionable word!) wisdom – is at risk of neglect in a self-advertising age. The tactful after dinner speech, the effective committee intervention, the timely memorandum, the deft use of personal contacts, even the judicious summary from the chair are, after all, arcane aptitudes. Academic careers like Brock’s, rarer now than they once were, facilitate scholarship in others by providing a smooth-running and liberal context. Was Michael Brock, then, a ‘local’ or a ‘cosmopolitan’? It would for him have been an unreal distinction. He knew that, whether among senior or junior members, Oxford colleges are little arenas for a self-discovery that is later applied more widely. Among its JCR 34
Presidents, this little college, Corpus, produced the Miliband brothers, but also Michael Brock. Professor Sir Brian Harrison, FBA, Emeritus Fellow of Corpus Christi <strong>College</strong> (A revised version of the obituary first published in the Oxford Magazine) Eleanor and Michael Brock with (in front) Sir Isaiah Berlin at Summer Eights, 1973 35
Page 1: WOLFSON COLLEGE OXFORD WOLFSON COLL
Page 5: WOLFSON COLLEGE RECORD 2014
Page 9 and 10: Wolfson College at 1 October 2014 P
Page 11 and 12: Howgego, Christopher John, MA, DPhi
Page 13 and 14: Honorary Fellows Bradshaw, William
Page 15 and 16: Ramble, Charles Albert Edward, MA,
Page 17 and 18: Gagliardone, Iginio, (MA Bologna, P
Page 19 and 20: Guerrero Omar, (BA, ITESM, MSc Esse
Page 21 and 22: Abbreviations EF EXF GBF GS HF HMCR
Page 23 and 24: The President’s Letter Every year
Page 25 and 26: Morero, who has been awarded fundin
Page 27 and 28: We are approaching our fiftieth ann
Page 29 and 30: Lady Berlin As the Record was going
Page 31 and 32: the most recent work shown in exhib
Page 33 and 34: chaired the University’s committe
Page 35 and 36: standard work on a large theme, thu
Page 37: of public-spirited dons who lent mi
Page 41 and 42: His speech follows: ‘It is 73 yea
Page 43 and 44: ‘The newspapers reported that “
Page 45 and 46: Professor Sir Peter Morris between
Page 47 and 48: Alumni Relations and Development 20
Page 49 and 50: Strategy Group Members Mr John Adam
Page 51 and 52: Professor Harvey R Brown Professor
Page 53 and 54: Professor Meinolf Vielberg Ms Lynn
Page 55 and 56: Gifts to the Library 2013-14 The Li
Page 57 and 58: Scholarships, Travel Awards and Pri
Page 59 and 60: Degrees and Diplomas conferred duri
Page 61 and 62: Giacomantonio, Christopher Goossens
Page 63 and 64: Marquis, Caitlin Martin, Matthew Ma
Page 65 and 66: Sonthalia, Shreya Strebler, David T
Page 67 and 68: Kunnath, George, (BA Ranchi, MA Poo
Page 69 and 70: Binter, Julia (DPhil Anthropology)
Page 71 and 72: Krylova, Olga (MSc Environmental Ch
Page 73 and 74: Safar, Ahmed (Master of Public Poli
Page 75 and 76: Elected members of the Governing Bo
Page 77 and 78: Special thanks should go to Jan Scr
Page 79 and 80: In the New Year we held an exhibiti
Page 81 and 82: Boat Club Wolfson College Boat Club
Page 83 and 84: Elo Luik rowed with the Oxford Univ
Page 85 and 86: Croquet Wolfson / St Cross Cricket
Page 87 and 88: The egg-hunt was held outside, and
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The LWA hosted an eclectic series o
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Old Wolves Lunch In last year’s R
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Remarque. The Group with its varied
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Wine Society The Wine Society has h
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of the human belief that is investe
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present. ‘Juxtapose’, its gradu
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culture in life writings by the Dar
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The President’s Seminars The Semi
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Speakers and Sessions Michaelmas Te
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‘Girl band’, Salvador But the i
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Font Matters: a surprising conversa
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The Canteen of Creativity by John D
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The year in brief In Michaelmas Ter
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A fossil Bible by Liz Baird, Assist
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Wolfson’s book, therefore, is a c
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Cupboards and Crypts: chasing after
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Scientists, I know, regard it as na
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cry of frustration at our failure t
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This was pretty much the pinnacle o
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Brock Michael George (GBF 1967-76,
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Hawker, Nancy (GS 2006 -11) Awarded
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Sallam, Hesham (GS 2006-09) Directo
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Daher, Aurélie (RMCR 2010-11) Le H
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Mora, Francisco T Pickering, Willia
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College Record 2014

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