Exeter.
‘Alas, its long and rich association with arcane knowledge was a securely kept secret until that quisling Pullman let the daemon out of the bag. Jordan my hat. Tragically , he fooled no one. ‘
I know nothing of Oxford but with Merton in the replies and Merton in Greater London having the Wandle flowing through it on its was to the Thames I feel there could be some symmetry there
Balliol. Nightingale is exceptional. It’s where students of exceptional potential study with expert academics and become even more exceptional or rise meet their potential.Or some nonsense like that. Also decent Rugby resuming in 1919. The team lost a few Blues to the war and he would fit right in.
In many ways it depends what you want him to have done as a degree....I could make an argument for Corpus Christi on the size of it's Classics library. Merton has a lot of history though. Corpus is small and I think that might suit him.
On news of Wadham taking out fire insurance subsequent to a scandal:
Well did the am'rous sons of Wadham
their house secure from future flame.
They knew their crime, the sins of Sodom
and judged their punishment the same.
Magdalen, I can see him getting in trouble punting or interacting with Fae in the dear park. Or confusing locals with flickering lights up Magdalen Tower.
I'm not the big college expert but if you travel back in time and ask my former incarnation, (just look around for a rainbow-christal-dragon) he might be able to give you an idea.
Brasenose because it has the best location near the Bod, Ratcliffe Camera and St Mary’s while being obscure enough. Good old quad, good new Victorian quad. Working now to recruit students outside the trad Oxford catchment which Peter might appreciate.
New College - The oldest planned college and part of William of Wykeham’s integrated approach to education (did Wykeham have a magical ulterior motive). Great architecture which is an underlying theme of the books plus it is tucked away down the very magical New College Lane. 1/2
The Mound in the garden is a great place to cast spells and it also has a WW1 Memorial to the German College Members who died which might be an interesting thing to work in. 2/2
In my Balliol days the competitor was Trinity next door. Every year students would gather on the lawn and sing rude songs over the wall. There was also an incident where students tried to resurrect the banned Harry Lime society and painted the Trinity boat house, and everything in it, lime green 🤷🏻♀️
Yes! End of 2000s, the rivalry was still between Balliol and Trinity -in fact there was some recent incident with our (Trin) fellows garden pool and manure on Balliol grounds though the details are hazy.
Speaking as a Balliol man, I think he’d have been at Christ Church, or All Souls as a postgraduate.
All Souls owns a hill near Oxford where witches may have been active. We used to go there every Walpurgis night at midnight but never saw them.
Balliol (intellectual elite of the civil service) and Merton (nerds) both feel kind of right. Though if you put him at Hertford he’d be an exact contemporary of Evelyn Waugh.
As Nightingale mentions travel to various British colonies for joint Folly-Foreign Office operations between the wars, and being in Tibet in 1938 chasing German archaeologists, Balloil with a degree in Asian & Middle East Studies? Possibly his Uncle Stanley was an alumni of Balloil as well?
All I'm saying is that Peterhouse Cambridge struggled with email for routine communication with students until the 2010s, feels like a match... (but if it has to be Oxford then I vote Trinity)
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‘Alas, its long and rich association with arcane knowledge was a securely kept secret until that quisling Pullman let the daemon out of the bag. Jordan my hat. Tragically , he fooled no one. ‘
He still gets a case of their special port now and again.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Edmund_Hall,_Oxford
Well did the am'rous sons of Wadham
their house secure from future flame.
They knew their crime, the sins of Sodom
and judged their punishment the same.
If I had the arse of a cow,
I'd fly over Balliol college,
And **** on the bastards below!🎵
For those not in the know and are reading this thread: https://everything2.com/title/The+Gordouli
I’d say Exeter College just because I want him to have heard about Tolkien 😂 Plus, I adore Exeter. It’s my favorite place I’ve ever lived 💜
All Souls owns a hill near Oxford where witches may have been active. We used to go there every Walpurgis night at midnight but never saw them.
(E.g. Saint Jurmin sounds nice.)