UKC

Following on from a discussion on this thread: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=575788...

Does anyone know when the Radcliffe Camera was first climbed?

I saw a friend earlier today who knew David Cox, and he thought that David must have done it before WW2 because he came back with polio. He couldn't confirm whether he had been a Proctor when he did it, or whether his was the first ascent. Anyone?

In reply to Solaris:

I bet it's not in proper winter nick, though. Not even on the Bodley face

In reply to Tim Chappell:

No, and the approach to the Tourist Route is normally too cluttered with camera toting grockles to claim a clean ascent.

In reply to Solaris:

As I remember it David got polio after doing the Fish's Tail.

In reply to jcw:

Ah, OK, thanks. My friend is nearly 87 so he's entitled not to be able to remember every detail.

Do you happen to know anything about early ascents of the Camera?

In reply to Solaris:

Afraid not. There were one or two nasty accidents and also damage, so roof climbing was strongly discouraged and when I took over from David as senior member of the OUMC in 1977 I made clear I would certainly not intervene for mercy if anyone was caught! (Mark you I did do a bit of roof climbing as an undergraduate in the mid 1950s after Boat Club dinners, but that of course was quite different!).

In reply to jcw:

I have been told that a porter caught you climbing one of the buildings at St Catherine's not that many years ago.

In reply to John2:

No sir! Apocryphal.

In reply to Solaris:
Forgive me gentlemen, but I'm a product of grammar school > technical college > big wide world, and as such understand nothing of the Cameras, Fish's Tails, Bodley Faces of which you speak. Pray enlighten me...

In reply to jon:

Oh, come on...
'Shhh, there's an oik at the gates. If we keep absolutely quiet, he'll go away...'
Tell me what you're talking about. Pleeease.

In reply to jon:

The Radcliffe Camera is a remarkably elegant structure with a domed roof which is one of the reading rooms of the Bodleian Library in Oxford. http://core.estatevue.co.uk/platform/uk/oxford2/search/detail/oxford-radcli... I'm surprise how difficult it seems to be to produce a single photograph which shows the camera and the library together.

Of course Tom Tower is possibly the most prized summit in Oxford night climbing.

In reply to John2:

Shit! Don't let Gary see that...!

In reply to jon:

Sorry, Jon. Just got to UKC, but thanks John2.

Here's Tom Tower: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Tower

Cheers,
Andrew - public school reject, FE College, etc!

In reply to jon:
Fish's Tail = Machupuchare (Himalaya) which he did with Wilf Noyce. If you look at the Journal (1995) of that other elitist organisation, The Alpine Club (of which David was president 1971-4 you will see his career, which included such things as FAs of Sunset Crack and Sheaf.
PS who is Gary pleeease explain?!

In reply to jcw:


Some things are best left unknown...

Mick (egregia cum laude, University of Life, School of Hard Knocks)

In reply to jcw:

Gary Gibson, the man with more FAs to his credit than any other British climber.

In reply to jcw:


Elite? I've heard they allow the working class and even women to join nowadays.

In reply to John2:

Yeah, irony. In fact I've acchually climbed with him. But it seems one is only allowed "in" references when you belong to "the wider word" not the dear alma mater!! I thought we were past this kind of thing, seems not.

In reply to jcw:

Oops, apologies if it's me to whom you were referring. Was only teasing. (It'll be the death of me, I know.) Am grateful to John for the Radcliffe Camera link. I remember going there and thinking what a beautiful building. Had no idea what it was. Now at least I know a little more.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:
No it certainly wasn't you. Yours was a humorous reply. It's the person who turned this into a class thing.

In reply to jcw:


I assume by that you mean me John. So you didn't think my question was humorous? Methinks you're reading too much into that.

In reply to jcw:

If you're referring to Jon, I'm certain that his remarks about class, as his remarks about Gary, were made with humorous intent. He was asking for information in a light-hearted and self-deprecating manner.

In reply to jon:

Curiously enough not particularly as we were talking about David Cox getting polio after doing Machupuchare. However maybe I read too much into it in which case sorry.

In reply to jcw:


Well no you weren't. You discussed that on Monday. On Tuesday you were joking with John2 about being caught by a porter climbing at St Catherines. I posed my question in an equally harmless and lighthearted way on Wednesday. I fail to see how you could connect the two.

In reply to John2:


Anyone got any knowledge of its first ascent, or of Boys'/Girls' Own Yarns about subsequent ascents?

In reply to Solaris:

I know that one of the Latin masters who taught me at school, a formidably foul-tempered man who would probably not be allowed to operate as a teacher these days, climbed it when he was an undergraduate in the 1940s.

In reply to John2:


Just why were teachers like that? I had a maths teacher who fitted that description. Gown, mortar board and all. We're better off without the sadistic bastards.

In reply to jon:

One of my maths teachers was subsequently prosecuted for the possession of paedophile pornography.