I had planned to go to Oxford to read History, and was accepted by New College on results from the scholarship exam  early in 1952. I didn’t expect a scholarship. It was a simple way of getting a result early in the leaving year, with the added advantage (then) of not requiring Higher Certificate later. So the rest of the year at Westminster I could please myself, reading History and Philosophy, with no exams in the offing.

But in 1953, while in the RAF on National Service, it became clear that my Dad was about to become President of Trinity, Oxford, his old College. My elder sister Sue had just come down from Cambridge, and it sounded as if the music was a good deal livelier there. And I now felt more drawn to English as a subject. Taking all these points together I thought I  I would change tack  completely, and try for Clare College Cambridge.

Cunningly thinking of Choral Scholarships as a means of entry, I drove up from my Air Force station in my recently acquired 1933 Austin 10 for the voice trials in King’s Chapel one winter evening. I was put up in Gibb’s building, sang Purcell’s Evening Hymn, and had a taste of stardom when I was approached by both Kings and Johns (the two best choirs in the town) for my services. Not wanting to spend every day and half the vacations in Chapel, I politely turned them down and accepted Clare, with its small choral Exhibition stipend. The Master of Clare seemed happy with my Oxford credentials, so I was in.

In Autumn 1954, after  release from the RAF, I took up residence in the beautiful 17th century Old Court of Clare in rooms over the Porter’s Lodge. How different things were then from today! The gates were closed at 10pm; after that you paid, or climbed in. Dinner in Hall was obligatory every evening, wearing a suit and a gown. There was no bar, and no women students at all. My tutor was John Northam, a very pleasant man. In my first term a drama unfolded right outside the College. The Dean of King’s jumped off the roof of the chapel, leaving a severe dent in the gravel. A very sad suicide by a man from whom I had once had a postcard  answering some question about the voice trials.

Unlike other English students I had not studied Eng Lit, but History at school, so I was a slow starter, and never very good at it. But I did enjoy being led into all the literary pathways , did a little original research, enlarged my mind, and emerged after 3 years with a disappointing 3rd Class Degree. Still, I had often seen E.M.Forster wandering around Kings. And in later years chatted to Dadie Rylands, a central figure in Cambridge dramatic life, and an old friend of my father’s. I was  extremely fortunate to stay in old Court all my three years, the third set of rooms overlooking Kings chapel and Gibbs building.

Musically speaking it was a big success, and I was extremely busy. For some reason (Music Camp?) people seemed to already know I was a capable violinist, because on arrival I had immediate invitations to play in several orchestras and operas. Turning up to the first rehearsal of Peter Tranchell’s delightful musical “Zuleika”, based on the novel by Max Beerbohm, I was shown to my surprise,to the Leader’s chair! Dan Massey and Peter Woodthorpe made their names in this premiere, which unfortunately didn’t transfer to the West End.  Later musical duties in the  ADC Theatre were Stravinsky’s “Rake’s Progress” and Vaughan Williams’ “Sir John in Love”. I also went there to see Britten’s “Turn of the Screw”, with Ben conducting the original cast, including Peter Pears and Arda Mandikian. Stunning.

Within a year I was second fiddle in a string quartet led by Peter Renshaw with great elan. We performed one quartet each term at the Music Club, including Bartok’s First, after intense rehearsal. The piece was barely 50 years old then, and very modern to our ears. Now it’s 120! The Music Club was a great institution; it doesn’t seem to exist any more. Concerts were held weekly in a charming old Meeting House with a small stage and a little gallery on three sides. Members took it in turn to choose a programme and invite the musicians who would perform.

Looking at old programmes I see that I sometimes played and sang in the same evening in these concerts. Because singing was also important for me. Apart from Chapel I sang in Boris Ord’s Madrigal Society, and George Guest’s Lady Margaret Singers, sang solo quite a bit, and directed

a quintet of madrigalists. Once, for a bet, I donned a dinner jacket and turned up at a concert of the University Music Society B Minor Mass and (though a tenor sight-read in the basses under David Willcocks. He, and some singers, looked rather puzzled to see someone who had never appeared at any rehearsals at all. I nipped out at the end before questions could be asked, but not before having acquitted myself pretty well in the ranks. It seemed like a good piece to me! The next time I heard it in Kings Chapel was 50 years later, when I conducted it with the same Society, from memory, and with rather more knowledge of the score…

The Quartet was invited to play the Bartok quartet at a lunchtime concert in Birmingham University’s Barber Institute. We drove over, crammed into my Austin 10. But it was 1956, in the middle of the Suez crisis, so petrol was almost unavailable. I got the car running, and then turned down the mixture on the SU carburettor until it was running almost on air alone. We got there alright and enjoyed the concert. But in trying to leave I remember Professor Anthony Lewis and his staff had to push the car to get it going…

In my last year I conducted my first ever concert. I chose soloists,12 singers and 12 players, and devised a programme of Bach “Komm Jesu Komm”, a Handel Concerto Grosso, and Bach’s Cantata 21. Anne Keynes (daughter of the economist) and Kenneth Bowen were the soloists. We performed in Clare Chapel, had a good audience, and quite a nice feeling of achievement. I guess it was the start of 50 years of encouraging musicians to enjoy themselves.

In the mean time what a privilege to spend 3 years in such beautiful surroundings, and go home in the vacations to another equally magnificent city! My family lived in the President’s Lodgings in Trinity all this time, in the heart of town, right opposite one of my favourite buildings,- the Sheldonian Theatre. Nowadays I am an Honorary Fellow of Clare (David Attenborough is another). I don’t get there as much as I would like; it’s a long way from Devon. But in the Nalder Hill years I stayed in College several times, while conducting the University Choirs and Orchestra in Kings Chapel. Brahms’ Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and Bach’s B Minor Mass were variously on the menu.