Oxford: Punts, Pages and Dreaming Spires

Great Escapes with Isy Suttie and Dan Skinner

Isy Suttie and Dan Skinner visit the historic city of Oxford to explore its rich academic and literary heritage. They tour the ancient Bodle

Key takeaways

• The Duke Humphrey's Library within the Bodleian dates back to 1488.
• Librarian Lucy explains that Thomas Bodley rebuilt the library collection around 1602.

Main topics

• Bodleian Library history
• Punting on the River Isis

Notable quotes

I don't speak Latin. Nor do I.

Conclusion

A delightful exploration of Oxford that balances deep historical rever

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:01) Hello and welcome to Great Escapes with me, Izzy Sotty. And Speaker 3 (0:05) me, Dan Skinner. Speaker 5 (0:06) Each week we hop on a train and head somewhere new across the South Western Wales, meeting new people, having new challenges and hearing stories we've never heard before. And maybe putting ourselves on the line a little bit. Speaker 3 (0:18) That's right. And this week we are in Oxford. Ah, Speaker 5 (0:21) the city of dreaming spires. Home to one of the world's oldest universities, countless literary legends. and a really impressive comedy pedigree. And Speaker 3 (0:31) what did we do when we got to Oxford? Well, we did all the usual stuff. The stuff you're supposed to do. We went and visited the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, and we went punting down the River Isis. Speaker 3 (0:48) But before we get into any of that, Izzy, what immediately springs to mind when you think of the town? Is it the town? Town? City? City of Oxford. The city of Speaker 5 (0:59) Oxford. What do I think of when I think of Oxford? Think of gowns. I think of bicycles. Not bikes. Speaker 3 (1:06) Bicycles. Speaker 5 (1:07) Cobbled streets. I think of a lovely ladies weekend I had just before Covid where I went away with my two best friends and we went to lots of old pubs and had lots of nice food and did lots of nice walks around the universities. And I also think of His Dark Materials, which is one of my favourite ever books. Pullman. Pullman. The Pullman. David Pullman. Oh my gosh, it was meant to be. Philip Pullman. Philip Speaker 3 (1:33) Pullman. Yeah. Phil. Phil Pullman. Phil Speaker 5 (1:36) to Speaker 3 (1:36) his mates. Phil Pullman. Well, I think most people think of the university, don't they? Speaker 5 (1:40) Yeah. Speaker 3 (1:41) Oxford University. And it's not surprising because it dominates the city. It's like these various colleges dotted around the city. Yeah, I think I didn't Speaker 5 (1:51) used to know that there was that actually Oxford, like Cambridge, I think, is made up of all these colleges. And that is the university. There isn't one building. No, Speaker 3 (2:03) no. It's not like, you know. Well, we weren't. Yeah. Well, mind you, Middlesex is dotted across, which is where I went, dotted across North London, but not in the same way. It's all sort of 1950s prefab buildings. It's not these castles and these churches that they get to study in. Speaker 5 (2:22) Same with university history. It's Speaker 3 (2:24) the Speaker 5 (2:24) crumbling. Speaker 3 (2:26) cream brick. They are beautiful buildings, aren't they? Speaker 5 (2:29) And it lends itself to, I think it's a place which is quite romantic in every sense of the word. I think you can sort of go there and dream of being a writer and kind of Speaker 1 (2:40) dream Speaker 5 (2:40) of a different life. And it's to do with what's around you and the feeling that a lot of people have gone there with dreams and ambitions. Exactly. And it's inspiring. I Speaker 1 (2:50) think rich Speaker 5 (2:50) is the word. Not rich as in wealthy, although I think there probably is. fair amount of wealth in parts of Oxford but rich as in it feels like a rich food like everywhere you look there's something deeply historical yes Speaker 3 (3:05) yes and Speaker 5 (3:06) the mountain warehouse was really big because we were really cold in the morning weren't we yeah Speaker 3 (3:10) we were in the middle of a heat wave and we got there at eight o'clock we were going what's going on I was in shorts and t-shirt this is freezing yeah We had to go and buy some extra layers. Fleeces Speaker 5 (3:20) and leggings. And then it got really hot. Then it got Speaker 3 (3:22) really hot. We had to take it off and we went panting. So we decided that we, well, we thought we deserved to join the Oxford elite. Speaker 2 (3:30) Yeah. And Speaker 3 (3:31) so we had a tour of the university library, the Bodleian Library. And then we were encouraged. Speaker 5 (3:39) Initiated. Speaker 3 (3:40) Invited. Invited. Invited. We were invited to take the Bodleian Library oath, which you have to take. If you want to borrow a book or join the library, we had to do it in Latin, which we weren't told about. No, we Speaker 5 (3:54) weren't told about that. We weren't told about that. It was a trickery. Yeah, it Speaker 3 (3:57) tricked us. And I don't speak Latin. Speaker 4 (3:59) Nor do I. Speaker 3 (4:00) No, neither of us speak Latin. So that was a mess. The microphones will pick up this level. Yeah, this is OK to talk about. Speaker 4 (4:11) My name is Lucy and I've worked here at the Bodleian for 10 years and I'm very happy to welcome you to Duke Humphrey's Library. Thank you very much, it's a gorgeous place. It is, it is. We're very excited to be here. So you normally start with tools here. Yes. Why is that? Because this is the oldest part of the library, so you've got this archway above the desk. and then you'll see another archway at the other side. So that is the oldest part of this building. So it's directly... So it was finished in 1488. Wow. Yeah, so it was built as Duke Humphrey's library. Duke Humphrey was the younger brother of King Henry V of England. He gave the university a collection of books and they built this library to house those books. Wow. Have there been any new additions since then? Yes, so the structure is 1488, but the bookcases are later. So they are Thomas Bodley's design. So they are from about 1602, which was then when the library was reopened after the Reformation. Thomas Bodley came to Oxford at the age of about 11 to start university here. 11, which sounds quite terrible. Away from his family? Yeah, but that was normal. That was completely normal for him because that's when you started university, really, you know, young boys. So he came here as a student. Could anybody do that? Speaker 3 (5:28) Or you just had to be... You Speaker 4 (5:30) needed money and you needed a certain level of Latin, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get in. But he could speak Latin very well, he could read Latin very well. We wouldn't get in even now. A lot of people wouldn't, unfortunately. But he came here as a student and then he became a professor here as well. So he was a professor at Moreton College. And then he became an ambassador for Queen Elizabeth I. So he was travelling extensively in Europe, meeting very important people. Sometimes we do call him the first James Bond because he was definitely carrying secrets for Queen Elizabeth. It might just be me that calls him that, but I like to think of him, you know, doing a bit of espionage. He spoke seven languages. He knew anybody that was very important within the court. And then in the end of the 1500s, he decided to retire from diplomatic service. He wanted to do something to leave his name. He wanted to leave his legacy. So he came back here and the library was completely empty and he put the library back together. So that's really why it's here now. And that's now why we're called the Bodleian. Speaker 3 (6:30) All of the books are in Latin. Speaker 4 (6:33) Yes. Speaker 3 (6:34) And why is that? Speaker 4 (6:36) So when the library was first being put together the languages that scholars were writing books in and were learning and teaching in would be Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew because those were the biblical languages but they were also the scholarly languages. So those were the books that were coming in. You couldn't have books in here in other languages. It was just... So Speaker 3 (6:55) the scholars would communicate with each other in Ancient Greek, Hebrew or Latin? Speaker 4 (6:59) Yeah, so scholars could go to lots of different countries. They didn't have to learn all those other languages. If they knew those ones, they could speak to all the other people. So Speaker 3 (7:06) this was a scholarly library? Absolutely. It wasn't for the general public? Speaker 4 (7:12) No, it Speaker 3 (7:12) wasn't for Hoy-Bloy. What Speaker 5 (7:14) do you find now in terms of... Who opens these books and reads them? Who are those people Speaker 4 (7:20) now? So Speaker 5 (7:21) you Speaker 4 (7:22) have to have a reader's card to use the library and you have a reader's card if you are a member of the university but also if you have an academic need to use this library you can apply for one. So you don't have to be part of the university but there's something in this library that you can't find somewhere else so you want to come and read them. Most of these books don't get read very often to be honest because they are three, four, five. 600 years old so the information inside is quite outdated so it really depends what you're studying but sometimes the books are studied as a material object so someone's looking at the pages the ink the binding and things like that rather than what's inside of it. Who Speaker 5 (8:01) do you find comes on these tours is it a mixture of is it mainly tourists it Speaker 4 (8:06) is yeah i mean it's a really big mixture and we have a lot of groups that come over especially from the us like university groups school groups coming from europe um special interest groups like book clubs and things like that but it's just a general general people that are interested they've heard about the bodleian because we're fabulous and we're quite famous and they want to see it and old Americans like a whole lot of Speaker 3 (8:29) that. Speaker 4 (8:29) They Speaker 3 (8:30) do. Speaker 4 (8:30) And we've been in quite a lot of films. So you get the whole Harry Potter crowd. That is still going on and on and on. But lots of other things have been filmed here. And some people, they just like books and they like to... Look at books. Speaker 3 (8:42) Do Speaker 4 (8:42) you like meeting, do you like finding out the reasons that people... Yeah, absolutely. It's fantastic. I mean, I've brought groups up here and I've had people burst into tears because this is their bucket list. You know, and people who it's their birthday or it's their anniversary. And we have a lot of weddings as well that happen in some of the rooms downstairs. So sometimes people are coming back on their anniversary because they got married here. And it's fantastic. I mean, we do have people that come with the whole Harry Potter. kit, Speaker 1 (9:08) you know, the Speaker 4 (9:09) cloak, the wand, the tie. Why not? Which is interesting. Speaker 3 (9:14) So people Speaker 4 (9:14) have got really Speaker 5 (9:14) personal reasons for Speaker 4 (9:16) coming sometimes, haven't they? Absolutely. And Speaker 5 (9:18) I think as soon as you walk in, I often feel this with churches as well actually, Speaker 4 (9:23) you really Speaker 5 (9:24) feel, and actually we do, we must speak in Hush Town, so you naturally do Speaker 1 (9:30) that. Speaker 4 (9:30) It does have Speaker 5 (9:31) that. Speaker 4 (9:31) Yeah, absolutely. It's Speaker 5 (9:33) an Speaker 3 (9:33) awe-inspiring atmosphere, isn't it? It's quite... You feel you quite, you revere the place, you know? Yeah. It's very... Yeah, Speaker 4 (9:41) absolutely. Speaker 3 (9:42) You respect, how large is the collection of books? Speaker 4 (9:47) Okay, so it is almost at 14 million items. That's much Speaker 3 (9:53) bigger than I thought. Yes, it's not just Speaker 4 (9:56) this library, so there are... There are 23 libraries that are Bodleian. They are faculty-based. So you have your reading card and you go into whichever one has the books that you need to study in it. Is this the main one? This is the oldest one. So this is kind of linked with the Western Library and the Radcliffe Camera. So this is kind of the main site. But it depends what you study. So if you study science, for example, you're going to go to the science library if you're studying law. That's where you're going to go. But it's not just books. We have newspapers, musical scores. We have over a million maps. So it's a really large collection. We can't keep all of it in Oxford. So we actually have a storage facility in Swindon where we actually keep most of the collections. It's a bit like a big Amazon warehouse. And there are 153 miles of shelving. My Speaker 1 (10:43) God. Speaker 4 (10:43) Do they have to be kept Speaker 5 (10:44) in certain temperatures? Some Speaker 4 (10:46) of the items do over there, yes, absolutely. But the special collections, which are things that are really much, much older than this, are over