This was how the founders of my own alma mater King's College London described the secular den of iniquity that is University College London. The colleges remain amicable but implacable rivals. Yesterday my daughter Helen formally became a graduate of UCL and the university put on a bloody good show. In fact this graduate of King's felt compelled to admit that the founding fathers of UCL were right and that it is King's which has had to move to become an acceptable modern institution.
Graduation ceremonies are rather more for parents than the graduates themselves. In that monumental potboiler
Roots, the father of Kunta Kinte holds his son up to the god moon and cries 'Behold the only thing greater than yourself.' That is how I feel about my offspring. Nothing in the annals of creation can equal them. I hope all parents feel the same.
As another graduate of King's - I feel the need to add a gloss; the fact is the two institutions were never as far apart as people think. UCL was not founded as 'godless' despite the jibes. It's petitioner was Thomas Campbell, an Evangelical whose poem 'The rainbow' is distinctly anti-science. But UCL was non-established in ethos. King's is always thought of a being an 'Anglican only' College - but this was never the case either. In fact an open admissions policy was one of the issues that Wellington stood by, forcing the duel with the Earl of Winchilsea. So, as far as I can tell, UCL and King's opened with identical admissions policies - and not dissimilar intakes. It was, by this stage, a little academic, as Oxbridge ceased to become Anglican in 1828. As is sometimes the case, history ruins a good story; I'd make a rotten journalist .
ReplyDeleteMy name is Steven Rhodes, btw.
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