Worthies

August seems a good month to give you a little more from The Patten Years at Balliol, Oxford.

Another contemporary was Howard Marks, and their paths cross in this book, Rogue Males, by Rob Walters.

Howard "became an active participant in the Balliol Dramatic Society, and was given the part of First Yob in their rendition of Sleeping Beauty.... Through his dramatic connections he became part of 'The Establishment', a group of second year students who drank rather a lot, and included such worthies as Chris Patten. This led to his elevation to the 'Victorian Club', an elaborate excuse to drink large quantities of port and sing Victorian ditties..."

(The book goes on to relate Howard Marks' seduction of Lynn Barber (St Anne's, Oxford), with the line "Come here...")