Balliol College Alumni Portraits

[tree_and_leaf]

If you click on the link and scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find a picture of a certain well-known Balliol man who is certainly of interest to many of the people on my flist...

http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/history/portraits/index.asp

Comments

[bekijane.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm. Lord Peter.

I wish I could find me one of those.

[tree_and_leaf]

Me too...

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Oh marvellous!

And it's pretty like I imagine him, too.

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

Fun, isn't it? I'm not sure about the cravat, but it was probably in fashion in 1911...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

He does seem to have been going through a slightly flash fashion stage.

[tree_and_leaf]

He was probably horribly embarrassed by it in later life....

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

"That is a Sargent, which is the only excuse for its existence."

[tree_and_leaf]

Of course! I knew it rang a bell!

[tree_and_leaf]

I sent the link to my mother, who suggest it was in his "Must impress Barbara" phase, or else that it was a present from her. I'm not sure about the chronology of this, but I like the idea. Mum really ought to write fanfic...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I am now imagining a "get a parent/relative to write fanfic" challenge.

I like your mother's idea - Uncle Paul's chronology would have it out by a year, but I think it's perfectly possible for him or the date on the website to be in error.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Cool! How wonderful to list a fictional character as an alumnus - but how appropriate.

[tree_and_leaf]

I was highly amused!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yep, knew who it was going to be!

That's great - thanks.

[tree_and_leaf]

It was probably rather easy to guess...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It takes a special sort of mind-set to do this sort of thing, and I thoroughly approve.

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, me too - it's raised Balliol in my estimation, as I had got the impression that they'd become rather dull and stuffy.

[dolabellae.livejournal.com]

rather dull and stuffy

::coughs in a gentle and slightly hurt manner::

The Dean (actually, he hasn't been Dean for about five years, has he?) & Archivist is a fine man indeed. I used to potter about in the college archives & help him out when I was an undergraduate, before they went all professional...

[tree_and_leaf]

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa *beats breast*

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I like that. It looks both sharp and silly - which isn't easy, especially when there's this tendency among some of his fans to portray Wimsey as a Serious and Angsty Figure.

'A balance of opposing forces"

[tree_and_leaf]

The eyes are very good, I think, and you're right about the balance of sharp and silly. Of course, it's dated pre-war - but nonetheless, it's important to Wimsey's character that he doesn't wallow in his angst, even when he has pretty serious cause for grief or despondancy.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Oxford is a crazy, crazy place. And I mean this in the nicest possible way.

[tree_and_leaf]

Good, isn't it?

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

Yay! I've seen the portrait before, but I'd forgotten it was on the Balliol website.

[tree_and_leaf]

It was new to me - found it while wandering thorugh Wikipedia.

[dr-biscuit.livejournal.com]

My own Balliol man pointed this one out to me too. It certainly made me a little enamoured of their Balliolity. I can only hope they archive Sir Humphrey amongst their alumni too.

[tree_and_leaf]

They really ought to!

[dr-biscuit.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, when telling my family about the college my beloved was going to, I could only conjure up these 2 fictional graduates! Poor Balliol, whose non-fictional alumni are thus eclipsed.