1975

[chickenfeet]

oursin tasked me to write about 1975.

1975 was the year I took 'A' levels and started university. (The second year I took 'A' levels really as I took Maths in my lower sixth year).

The first half then was the usual (for then) round of university interviews and working pretty solidly towards the exams. The bit I remember best about the interviews was walking into Peter Dixon's office at Collingwood and this giant getting up from his desk to shake hands. I remember thinking "If he's an openside I'm wasting my time playing rugby". PD had just retired as England's openside flanker and was still playing for Gosforth.

I had things pretty well worked out at school by then. I was a prefect and well respected academically (I won the 6th form maths prize) so I had a lot of freedom. Paradoxically, highly traditional English public schools allow their senior pupils far more freedom than any North American high school would. I worked at home a fair bit especially as exams drew closer. As long as I showed up for things I had to be at nobody worried much about the rest.

I was playing bridge fairly seriously. I captained the school to fourth place in the Daily mail School Championship; our best result ever. My regular partner was at Cambridge by then and I partnered him in some tournaments, including the Guardian Europa where we played one set of boards against Omar Sharif.

I was going out with a girl from the local girls grammar school. Her father taught PE and coached rugby at my school and had played professional rugby league so I was fairly careful!

I duly took and passed my 'A' levels, doing well enough to meet my conditional offer from Durham. I spent the summer working for Lloyds Bank in the City. I think that was the summer I worked at Stock Exchange branch where cheques for sums of money that seemed quite unreal to my young self were commonplace.

Towards the end of the summer my mother went into Addenbrooke's for what should have been routine surgery but it went horribly wrong, landing her in the ICU and in serious danger of her life. The last thing i did before going to Durham was visit her in hospital not sure whether I would see her again.

The rest of the year was utterly typical of first year life in college at that time. I met a lot of new people. I stayed up until all hours drinking bad coffee and talking about everything under the sun and, I imagine, mostly talking complete bollocks. I began to learn what real mathematics was and that I could do it, something which a fair number of people who had done well at school couldn't manage.

One incident from my first couple of days still stands out in memory. Our rooms in college were labelled with our name and our chosen field of study. My next door neighbour, an English Language and Mediaeval Lit student (now married to a doctor in Pennsylvania) was obviously a bit suspicious about being next door to a mathematician. The first time she cam into my room she saw my bookshelves more or less full with almost anything other than maths texts and exclaimed "Oh! So you read books!" in the most surprised tone imaginable.

Comments

[gillo]

And your first year I was living down by the racecourse in Parson's Field Court and was President of the S-F Society. I went up to Trevs fairly often - we probably passed each other on South Road. Weird how things pan out, isn't it?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I remember at that time BBC2 had some opera broadcasts. I remember Flying Dutchman. Not a snowball in Hell's chance they'd be on in the TV room in Collingwood but there was a decent chance that one could catch them in one of the TV rooms at Trevs. The only drawback was the persistent clack of knitting needles.

[gillo]

Mary's was where you went for serious knitting. And they all wore tweed. And sensible shoes.

When I first got to Durham, Collingwood bar was a hole in the ground...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

When I first got to Durham, Collingwood bar was a hole in the ground...

It didn't improve much but it did have Old Peculiar on tap

[gillo]

By then I mostly frequented the DUS bar in the Bailey. Worked there a fair amount of my third year.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Mary's was where you went for serious knitting

As far as I remember Marys girls came in two quite distinct types. They either belonged to DICCU (and were insufferable) or were part of the green wellie brigade, forever roaring off to hunt balls with their OTC boyfriends from Castle or Hatfield (also insufferable).

[gillo]

I knew a lot of geeks in Castle. Never got to know many Hatfield men. I think the two were sort of mutually exclusive.

[unblinkered.livejournal.com]

Ah. 1975. The year I was born. Might I have a year and play, too? Anything from the mid-80s onward, I'd say, although I have a terrible autobiographical memory so it might end up a fairly short post...

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

1991

[fiendish-cat.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine, also a book lover, studied bio-chemistry at university. She once got:

"do you know, you're very well read for a scientist"