Alastair Lack read Modern History at University College in the 1960s and worked for a long time at the BBC, mainly with the World Service, before he and his wife returned to Oxford in the early 2000s. His love of the city led him to train with the Oxford Guild of Tour Guides qualifying as a Green Badge Guide for Oxford and the University. His popular walking tours for the Oxford Literary Festival are usually early sell-outs, so we were eager to speak with him and learn some of the secrets of the city.
Can you tell us about your Oxford Literary Festival tours?
I like to do four things in the course of a walk. First, to try and tell something about the history of the city of Oxford. Second, something about the history of the University of Oxford. Third, to try and explain something of the mystery of the Oxford college system, and finally, to answer any questions.
I think Oxford has quite a special place in the history of literature. The University in particular, has educated many very fine writers. People know if they come to a literary festival, that they're going to be steeped in meeting new authors, and if they come on one of my walks, they will be hearing about other authors, poets or novelists who have been educated at Oxford and/or cut their teeth in the city and University.
In terms of ‘literary Oxford’, why do you think people love the idea of the city as a hotbed of crime and intrigue?
I'm not quite sure, but I think it's perhaps something to do with the climate here. Oxford's very low lying, and quite often misty. At twilight, it can look quite menacing, and, of course, there all sorts of very old buildings, sometimes not particularly well lit. There’s a sense of romantic danger; if you walk along New College Lane at dusk, it is all quite atmospheric.
Very often, if I give a Morse tour, people come from outside the UK, determined to have a day in Oxford to find out where Morse worked. It's extraordinary, and because of streaming there is a new generation discovering him.
When you have Oxford residents within your group, what are they most surprised to learn about their city?
I think they're most surprised that they've never come on a walk before – and they're often very surprised they know so little about the city’s past.
Do you have favourite locations?
Well, of course, Christ Church has a history which is extremely interesting. In the Civil War, King Charles I made his headquarters there, and then it's where Charles Dodgson – who wrote under the name Lewis Carroll – lived for so many years. Also, I particularly like Radcliffe Square, because you've got a wonderful cluster of buildings from every century and they all have a story. On one side the Bodleian library; one the great university libraries of the world. On the other, you have the University Church, where the university officially began hundreds of years ago. Then you have that beautiful college All Souls, with a very interesting history as well. And in the middle, the cherry on the cake, is the Radcliffe Camera; the first science library in England.
Also, it's always good to identify a building with an interesting cast of characters, something like the Eagle and Child where the Inklings [the group of Oxford writers and scholars which included J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis] regularly met.
The Radcliffe Camera, by Lorraine Berkshire-Roe (pen and ink, £18). See more of Lorraine's work at Artweeks venue 144 (Littlemore)
Finally, can you share a ‘secret spot’ which our readers might like to discover?
I don't know if it's secret, but I think Holywell Cemetery is extremely interesting. It's behind gates, but the gates are open. If you go inside, you enter into a wonderful world of people from the city who are buried there. For example, some of the Inklings, Maurice Bowra, who was a famous academic and Warden of Wadham College, Kenneth Grahame, who wrote Wind in The Willows. If you wander around, I mean, there are sorts of gravestones with quite well-known names, and of course, it's something of a nature reserve as well. I find that people don't know about it, but if they do go, they find it very interesting, particularly on a summer afternoon.
For more information about Alastair's tours for the Oxford Literary Festival and other events taking place, visit oxfordliteraryfestival.org
