Right outside my office door...

Cardinal Wolsey flanked by angels, founder of Christ Church in Oxford

AN EXTRACT FROM MY MEMOIR "OXFORD, A DECADE IN WONDERLAND"

UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS

Within a week of settling into the Headington cottage, our new landlord paid us a visit. After tea and conversation he crouched down beside my chair in the sitting room and suggested in a most persuasive manner that I might be interested in what he described, as a highly desirable secretarial position. Barbara still laughs when she talks about that day. “Why would he kneel beside your chair like that Anne, and why was he so keen for you to take that job?”

In his enthusiasm, he went as far as labelling said secretarial position as the most senior secretarial post in the entire city of Oxford! I wondered about that. The Dean of Christ Church he said, was the head of Oxford's grandest and most prestigious college and he was in dire need of assistance. “I’ll go and see him” I ventured rather reluctantly. Little did he know, but employment was not on my agenda right then.

The following morning, walking beneath Tom Tower and past eagle-eyed, bowler-hatted custodians guarding the college entrance, I made my way across a grassed quadrangle, past a pond with a black lead statue of Mercury, Roman God of Speed, to a massive wooden door. The entrance to the Deanery loomed in an intimidating manner.

Although I was duly impressed by the grandeur of the place, I was still not enamoured with the idea of instant employment. Standing with my hand  on the knocker I had second thoughts. How could I forgo such an opportunity. A lover of England's royal history...I must admit King Henry the V111's connection to this history-filled place was tempting.

 

More to follow tomorrow...

 

Photo copyright Anne Gordon

 

Posted by Anne Gordon on Wednesday, 13th November, 2013.