Prank Account

EACH year, when freshers arrive in Oxford to start their lives at university, there is the inevitable backlash from residents who get sick and tired of the rowdy late-night parties and drunken antics.

This year, residents in East Oxford seem particularly outraged by the behaviour of the new intake, with one residents group claiming that undergraduates have been bonking on the bonnets of their cars.

It’s not hard to see why residents are outraged by these exhibitionist displays of affection, which may have been prompted by the uncomfortable and narrow nature of some beds in the colleges.

It will perhaps be of little consolation to residents to know that Oxford students have been responsible for similar stunts and japes for many centuries.

Now their antics have been recorded for posterity in a new book by Richard O Smith, entitled Oxford Student Pranks: A History of Mischief and Mayhem, which is published by The History Press.

The author charts the history of student behaviour in Oxford from the 13th to the 21st century.

He flags up the myths about Oxford students – that they frequently throw up near kebab vans and place traffic cones on civic statues.

But then he takes a very detailed look at their crimes and misdemeanours since the 13th century, in this fascinating fact-filled volume which should fit easily into your jacket pocket.

The writer claims in his introduction: “Official Oxford University advice to female students in the inter-war years was to ‘avoid running away from male undergraduates and townsmen, as men are aroused by the spirit of the chase’.

“Magdalen College, the last of the Oxford colleges to refuse to deliver a lecture if a woman was present, finally permitted females into its lecture halls in 1906.

“If the townspeople and formerly chauvinistic colleges behave better nowadays, then the students certainly do too – although some modern-day freshers undoubtedly receive a culture shock after checking out of Hotel Parents.

“Two University College students in the early 1990s suffered the rare indignity of scouts refusing to clean their rooms.

“Unwashed plates, stained with congealed leftovers, were poorly hidden under rugs and settee cushions.

“And yet, unclean rooms and mild annoyances aside, Oxford students have behaved unimaginably worse in times gone by than they do today.”

Mr O Smith, who lives in Oxford with his wife Catherine, is a previous winner of the National Football Writer of the Year award.

When he is not writing, he conducts the Eccentric Oxford Walking Tour which includes references to Oxford’s scientists, novelists, criminals and politicians.

This book, which contains an extensive bibliography, is crisply written and the fact that some of the tales are probably apocryphal doesn’t matter because they are very entertaining.

The author touches on familiar ground – the St Scholastica’s Day Massacre of 1355 has been well covered before – but the material is presented in an original way and the history of student revelry is brought to life very vividly.

Black and white photos and illustrations are well timed throughout to break up the text.

* Oxford Student Pranks: A History of Mischief and Mayhem is published by The History Press, priced £7.99.