Christ's College

Robin Kerr writes: To give you a flavour of what it was like for a person of that age, this is what I wrote in my scrap book, alongside cuttings from Varsity and pictures of the boat in action:

“During the May term, Ambrose Way in Varsity showed considerable interest in the Christ’s May Boat. On 8th May he said Christ’s was ‘distinctly useful’. On 15th May he predicted that the order for the Head of the Cam would be: Queens’, LMBC, Pembroke, Emmanuel, Jesus, Christ’s. The actual order was: Queens’, Pembroke, LMBC, Fitzwilliam, Nottingham City, Jesus, Christ’s, Emmanuel. Christ’s came 7th, rising from 14th. On 22nd May he recognized the piquancy of the situation in the Mays around nos. 11 to 14, but predicted that Christ’s would make four bumps. On the 5th June he reiterated this claim in his final forecast.”

“The piquancy of the situation around Christ’s which Ambrose had noticed was nothing to what really happened. For us to be set on the road to success it was necessary only for us to secure the vital first night bump on Selwyn. This we achieved – however Fitzwilliam then raced up from behind and overbumped the pathetic Magdalene. An overbump in the first division is unprecedented, and after that we could only bump Fitzwilliam’s leftovers – Downing.”