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<h1>
<a href="index.html"><img SRC="folklore-icon.gif" ALT=""  align=BOTTOM width="31" height="33"></a>York
Campus Folklore</h1>

<hr><img SRC="greendot14.gif" ALT="*" width="14" height="14" ><font size=+1><a href="index.html">Folklore
Index Page</a></font>

<hr>
<h2>York Campus Folklore</h2>
<p>Current version rescued from the Wayback Machine by James Stovold on 5th May 2020, this has (clearly) not been updated or maintained for many years.</p>
 <p> I am trying to bring the folklore pages up to date, so if you have 
any proposed changes/updates, please submit them through <a 
href="https://forms.gle/UuGpRQnXPSveDGYT6" target="_blank">this Google 
Form</a></p>

<hr>
<h2>My version of Kipper(Now folklore)</h2>
<blockquote>Welcome to the University of York Folklore pages, or at least the version retrieved from kipper.york.ac.uk by Gareth ('Jez') Simkins in 2001, and given to me, Benedict Ibbs, to host.
<p> These pages will, hopefully, provide the backbone for a campus history database which I am currently in the process of developing. ETA for the new version is likely to be end of Summer term 2002, dependent on my time, a smooth, leagal transfer of copyrighted materials, and further submissions. Included in the re-write will be a submissions form, full search facilities and cross-referencing, and a more modern look and feel.
<p> Update 14/4/2002: Robert Gipson, a plant engineer with Yorkshire water, got in touch with me to point ount the inaccuracies in the item about Siwards Tower. Page has been updated. Thanks Robert!
</blockquote>
<h2>
Disclaimer</h2>

<blockquote>All web pages on kipper.york.ac.uk are unofficial and are in
no way endorsed by the University of York. Opinions and information on
the folklore pages is not provided by the University, but by the contributors
and editors.
<p>Extreme effort has been made to ensure that information on these pages
is correct and legal, however no responsibility is accepted by the authors
or the University for death or injury or loss of any kind resulting directly
or indirectly from accesses to these pages.
<p>All comments regarding these pages should be addressed to
<a href="mailto:www@kipper.york.ac.uk">www@kipper.york.ac.uk</a>
in the first instance.</blockquote>

<h2>
Contents</h2>

<h3>
<a href="#key">Key to Listed Legends</a></h3>

<h3>
<a href="#buildings">Buildings</a></h3>

<ul>
<li>
<b><a href="#genbuild">General</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#subuild">Student Union Building</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#centralhall">Central Hall</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#library">Library</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#chemwatertower">Chemistry Watertower</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#wateronhill">Water Tower on Hill</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#biolclock">Biology Clock Tower</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#newbio">New Biology Building</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#physicsbuild">Physics</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#compscibuild">Computer Science</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#jackdanials">Sir Jack Lyons</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#bleachfield">Bleachfield</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#km">Kings' Manor</a></b></li>
</ul>

<h3>
<a href="#landscape">Landscape Features</a></h3>

<ul>
<li>
<b><a href="#lake">The Lake</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#bridges">The Bridges</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#siward">Siward's Howe</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#hesgard">Heslington Hall Gardens</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#sculp">Sculptures</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#covered">Covered and Uncovered Walkways</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#signs">Signs</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#uniroadunderpass">University Road Underpass</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#quiet">The Quiet Place</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#landmisc">Miscellaneous</a></b></li>
</ul>

<h3>
<a href="#depts">Departments and People</a></h3>

<ul>
<li>
<b><a href="#teaching">General Teaching</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#physics">Physics</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#compsci">Computer Science</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#compserv">Computing Services</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#biology">Biology</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#electronics">Electronics</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#chemistry">Chemistry</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#english">English</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#maths">Maths</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#psyc">Psychology</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#history">History</a></b></li>
</ul>

<h3>
<a href="#colleges">Colleges Etc</a></h3>

<ul>
<li>
<b><a href="#colgen">General</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#derwent">Derwent</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#langwith">Langwith</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#alcuin">Alcuin</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#c4">College 4</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#vanbrugh">Vanbrugh</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#goodricke">Goodricke</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#wentworth">Wentworth</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#james">James</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#halifax">Halifax</a></b></li>
</ul>

<h3>
<a href="#wildlife">Wildlife</a></h3>

<h3>
<a href="#students">Students</a></h3>

<ul>
<li>
<b><a href="#su">Student Union</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#socs">Student Societies</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#media">Campus Media</a></b></li>

<li>
<b><a href="#studmisc">Misc</a></b></li>
</ul>

<h3>
<a href="#porters">Porters</a></h3>

<h3>
<a href="#misc">Misc</a></h3>

<h3>
<a href="#links">Links to more York Folklore</a></h3>

<h2>
<a NAME="key"></a>Key to Listed Legends</h2>
Each item of campus folklore is placed into one of the following categories:
<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
true, beyond reasonable doubt</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
believed true, but not conclusively proven</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
complete falsehood</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
believed false, but not conclusively disproven</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
unanswered and may be unanswerable</dd>
</dl>
Folklore for which we have additional information have a ``<b>*</b>'' in
addition to the category.
<h2>
<a NAME="buildings"></a>Buildings</h2>

<h3>
<a NAME="genbuild"></a>General</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The horrible grey buildings used to be a lovely white. (And only started
to go grey in the 70's.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The horrible grey buildings used to be a lovely grey.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="buildings.html">F. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The concrete panels were designed with a life expectancy of 30 years. (This
was in 1963 or so).</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The University holds a large stockpile of spare concrete panels just in
case. There are sufficient to build another block or so.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
In the sixties when the campus was planned, there was a lot of student
political activity - occupying buildings and the like. The lack of large
central facilities at York was meant to stop this happening, Rowntree's
were keen that `their' University would be a quiet place.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="subuild"></a>Student Union Building</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The SU building was converted from a pair of squash courts.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Due to the inquoracy of UGMs, the SU building wasn't named for more than
a year after completion. One of the proposed names for the SU building
was "Clean Pancake Building". This was supposed to capture the mood of
the students at the time (1994). Students were apathetic and without direction.
"Clean Pancake" is meaningless and was part of a computer generated phrase.
This meaningless captures the apathy of the students.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The SU building used to be called the ``Vaseline Building'', named after
the well-known petroleum jelly product. This was voted through a UGM by
members of the Athletics Union. The AU subsequently won &pound;6,000 from
the makers of Vaseline, for ``most original advertising of the year''.
(<b>T.</b> The following year, the AU won the same competition, run by
Halifax, by floating a raft with a big `X' on it down the Ouse, on the
day of the Halifax conversion into a bank. One of the exec. even changed
his name by deed poll from `Antony Gareth Elliott' to `Antony Halifax BUSA
Elliott'.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Is now (1997) called the ``Daw Suu'' Building. Named after a Burmese pro-democracy
activist.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The SU building is also referred to as the ``Student Centre'', since it
meant that the signs with abbreviations for Squash Court need not be changed.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="centralhall"></a>Central Hall</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
No dancing allowed.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Will topple into lake anyway.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Top bit is designed to lift up.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
It is in fact a flying saucer that cannot take off because it is stuck
in all that duck shit.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Last band to play were the <a href="b-rats.html">Boomtown Rats</a>. The
audience jumping up and down caused structural damage.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
They did however damage the orchestra pit cover.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="b-rats.html">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The Boomtown Rats was an all-seated gig and fire regulations for a seated
gig then prevented dancing, which St. Bob was told. He got people to dance,
and the SU were sued by the University for allowing him to break the regulations.
The SU then sued St. Bob.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The acoustic tiles on the ceiling are on upside down and therefore absorb
sound rather than reflecting it back in.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The acoustics were found to be so bad after the place was built, that a
special active speaker system had to be designed and installed. All the
funny tubes hanging from the ceiling are microphones for the system.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The active speaker system was so far ahead of its time, it is totally crap
and is never used.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
When the projector was first used (by National Film Theatre), some of the
roof beams blocked the screen.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="library"></a>Library</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Before the current building, the library was in Heslington Hall.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Built without regard for weight of books.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Sliding down the hill into the road - look out for the mystery markers
in the pavement outside.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The cellar under the library used to be a rifle range.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Books for the Vanbrugh Rotten Book sale have been kept under the library.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Plans for underground car park abandoned at some stage due to weight of
books necessitating stronger foundations. (<b>T.</b> It was found to cost
less to build the library on the hillside.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The extension was built onto the back of the library to stop it falling
down the hill.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Two students were caught having sex in the microfilm room. (This story
appeared in the campus press apparently, we'll try and track down more).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Due to the acoustics of the library, even if you fart quietly, it can be
heard clearly.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The library snack bar used to be inside the building.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The snack bar was closed by the then VC because staff and students were
meeting there. (This was during some student unrest). There was such a
fuss they had to build a new one outside - you can see the paving slabs
continue from the outside to the inside.)</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="chemwatertower"></a>Chemistry Water Tower (aka the mushroom)</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Built without regard for weight of water. Some evidence for this is in
its shape - it looks like there should have been a tall cylinder added
on top of the mushroom of the same diameter at the top bit.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Is slowly sinking into the ground. (The pipe at the bottom has to be reattatched
every few years.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Prof. Heavens has been to the top.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
A RAG stunt once involved breakfast on top.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/~socs3/">Caving Club</a> have been up
there, and have some great pictures to prove it.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Not built high enough, therefore providing insufficient pressure.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
It is believed that the architect designed this to symbolise the use of
psychedelic mushrooms during the 60s.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="watertower.html">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The mushroom can and does hold water and is actually used by the Dept as
a primary source of water.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
When the mushroom was first floodlit York police were inundated with UFO
sightings.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Standing underneath it can help cure a hangover.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Standing underneath and looking up reminds you of scenes from <i>Independence
Day</i>. (It helps if you're drunk.)</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="wateronhill"></a>The Water Tower On The Hill</h3>
(the thing that looks like a castle)
<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
This is the secret headquarters of the SU/Admin/KGB/etc.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The aerials on top of the water tower are believed to be mobile telephone
antennae rather than anything suspicious.</dd>

<dt>

<dt>
<b><a href="siwardtower.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Holds one million gallons of water, now empty.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The auxiliary supply tank contains 10 million gallons and is actually beneath
the all weather hockey pitch behind Alcuin.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
It is used to stabilise lake water level.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="biolclock"></a>Biology Clock Tower</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
It only has one face because that's all they could afford.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
It was a choice between a clock tower for Biology and a swimming pool for
campus - the right choice was obvious.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Biology Clock Tower is in fact a chimney.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Biology Clock Tower was designed to hold a water tank for the department.
Somebody donated a clock. Then it was found they didn't need a water tower.
But they still had to build it ...</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="newbio"></a>The New Biology Building</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Most energy-efficient building ever.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="physicsbuild"></a>Physics</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="buildings.html#physics">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The Physics Building cost a million pounds to build.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There used to be stepping stones beneath PX001, when the lake went right
up to the side of the building.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Colin Johnson inadvertently walked off them while showing prospective undergraduates
round.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The stepping stones were filled with land to improve access for the disabled,
at the expense of many a potentially interesting bar-crawl.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
The sound system inside PX001 was upgraded for minimal cost by FilmSoc
(as they then were) who went round York stealing car stereos. (YSC (as
they now are) don't use them - they belong to admin).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Many years ago when the roof of the Physics building was leaking, a number
of contractors were contacted for quotes to fix it, and the cheapest was
chosen. They came and worked for a few days and all the leaks stopped.
Several months later, estates needed to do some work in the roofspace,
and discovered lots of dustbins full of water, which the contractor had
put under the holes in the roof, thus ``solving'' the problem.</dd>

<p><br>The final solution involved flooding the roof with tar, having first
covered the rooms below in plastic sheeting to catch drips. This did the
trick, and left behind enough plastic to keep everyone happy for months.</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="compscibuild"></a>Computer Science Buildings</h3>
<b>The new one</b>
<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
If you look closely at the weather mast, you will see some logic gates
cut out of the bottom part.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The direction pointers also have Pi/2, Pi, 3Pi/2 and 2Pi instead of W,
S, E, N.</dd>
</dl>
<b>The even newer one</b>
<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Only six car parking spaces for the whole building.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="psycb"></a>Psychology Buildings</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The tower on new psychology building houses a sensory deprivation tank
for experiments.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The various flags which are flown from the top of the building are part
of a psychology experiment to see how many people go and ask about them.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There are a number of steel loops set into the outside walls of the building
- these were supposed to be for chaining bikes to. Due to a mix up with
the plans, they are at head-height.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The steel rings are for attaching guy ropes to in the event of bad weather,
since it has been calculated that strong winds could catch the roof and
lift the entire building into the air.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a pitch-and-putt course round the back.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The pitch-and-putt course is no longer used due to damage to cars in the
adjacent car park.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="sport"></a>Sports Centre</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The glue used to fix the tiles to the walls in the sports centre showers
was not waterproof with the unsurprising result that they fell off.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="buildings.html#sports">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The original designs included a swimming pool and a grandstand.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The new Astroturf pitches were paid for by former student Greg Dyke, now
a TV executive. (He actually contributed &pound;250,000 towards the cost.
Ed).</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="jackdanials"></a>Sir Jack Lyons</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Sir Jack Lyons had his knighthood removed after the Guinness fraud inquiry
- University declined to remove the building's knighthood on the grounds
that he was still Sir Jack when he donated the money, and when it was built.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="bleachfield"></a>Bleachfield</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Bleachfield is so called because there used to be a bleach factory there.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Bleachfield is named after Bleachfield Farm, which previously stood on
the Bleachfield -- Music Department site. The area was so-called because
linen bleaching took place on the site. (University News Sheet, April 1991,
page 8).</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="km"></a>Kings' Manor</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="km.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
There is an oak panelled phone box in Kings' Manor.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="landscape"></a>Landscape Features</h2>

<h3>
<a NAME="lake"></a>The Lake</h3>
(See also ``<a href="#wildlife">Wildlife</a>")
<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When it was built, it was the largest plastic lined lake in Europe.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was a fire in biology; water used to put it out drained into the
lake along with lots of nasties.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Chemistry don't drain anything into it. (And <b>Tb.</b> neither do any
of the other departments. (The water that is pumped into it by Physics
is just rain-water.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was an outbreak of botulism in the mid to late 80s.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
It is used to drain the surrounding land - if it wasn't there the surrounding
land would simply be a marsh.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
During a particularly cold spell one winter, the ice was sufficiently thick
for a mini to be driven out onto it and over the fountain -- which wasn't
working at the time.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The ice was not as thick as expected - the mini fell through the ice and
is still down there somewhere.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
During a fairly cold spell a few winters ago, someone put a college fridge
out in the middle of the lake one evening and it was nowhere to be seen
next morning.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The fountain used to be higher before it was cleaned and redesigned.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The fountain exists to oxygenate the lake water.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The fountain moves around from time to time - it floats on a pontoon which
is tethered by it's supply pipe.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Only life in the lake is under-evolved eels and over-evolved fish.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="bales.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Since 1994, after a summer when the lake turned very green, there have
been several bales of hay floating around in the lake each year. These
were said to be intended to improve the quality of the lake water (but
didn't seem to have much effect).</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="lake.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
In 1993, Vision had an article about the state of the lake. One of the
professors of Ecology said that in 60-70 years time, the lake would become
a swamp.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="lake2.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The lake has always been a source of complaints about the smell, as seen
in a Nouse article nigh on thirty years ago.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is no plant life in the lake because of an over-ambitious project
to poison the weeds in the lake during the 70s.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The top pond, next to Derwent dining room, is prone to bad algae growth.
On some occassions, it has been known to flouresce slightly at night. It
hasn't done this in a few years: last time was about 1991.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a stream flowing into the lake. You can find it by looking in
the vicinity of Heslington Church (follow the path from Derwith car-park
to the church).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is also a stream flowing out of the lake, it goes behind the Sports
Centre and under Heslington Lane.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The fountain in the lake is said to add fresh water and oxygen into the
lake water. Unfortunately, nobody has the sense to turn it off when it's
windy. Considering that a fortune must have been spent on building covered
walkways just so students don't get wet when it's raining, someone could
at least make sure that nobody gets soaked when the spray of the fountain
is blown towards dry land or a bridge.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The sub-aqua club were once asked by the admin to dive in and check the
integrity of the plastic bag that the lake is, but hired an environmental
health officer to check the water first, who pronounced that it would be
dangerous to their health to swim in it.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The main reason for not allowing swimming in the lake is that the original
builders threw all their rubbish into it - hence the bottom of the lake
consists largely of broken pieces of glass.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
If you fall in the lake, you are advised to see a doctor immediately. (<b>T.</b>
The same is true of the Ouse)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
After the murder of an open university lecturer, police frogmen spent several
days trying to find the murder weapon. In the end they took a knife from
Vanbrugh kitchens, threw it into the lake, watched where it fell, and then
tried to find that. They couldn't, and given that they couldn't find something
even when they knew where it was, they abandoned the search.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The (original) knife was later found on top of a covered walkway anyway.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was once a raft moored permanently by Goodricke beach, in its latter
years it held only a sign ``Keep Off''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
It is believed that the raft could not float, and was supported only by
duck shit.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The wooden beams on it rotted away and became more and more hazardous;
it was removed for this reason.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The raft affair just off Goodricke Beach was reputedly sailed (post finals)
halfway across the lake by several including brother of Dr Simon Eveson
(maths), journey curtailed by collision with fountain mechanism.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The lake was contaminated in 1974 by a ``mock battle of Trafalgar'' involving
lots of soot, oil and paint bombs. Large numbers of fish died, and the
lake had to be dredged. RAG paid the costs to the University.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="bridges"></a>Bridges</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Goodricke-Wentworth bridge cannot be destroyed by students bouncing
up and down on it. The fact that it is still standing is testimony to that.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
You can tell who thinks this bridge will fall down by seeing them jump
up and down on it.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="wentchall.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The Goodricke-Wentworth bridge is the scene for the Wentworth Challenge,
the general idea being to cross the bridge using only the girders underneath.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/~socs3/">Caving Club</a> also have a
bridge challenge, which involves absailing off one or more of the road
bridges in the middle of the night.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Underneath the Alcuin/Library bridge is the entrance to ``Library Fell'',
now bricked up, that enabled access to the bowels of the library. It's
believed that the survey for this is in the library.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Curse on James Wentworth Bridge - not long after its construction a particularly
superstitious member of the campus media was crossing the bridge from James
to Wenty with some "lucky charms" which he felt had been bringing him only
bad luck, he decided that to bring himself good luck he would get rid of
them by chucking them into the lake, he and at least one other campus journo
became convinced that these charms had caused the bridge itself to become
cursed.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
The library bridge was designed to have a Students Union building on top
of it, which is why it is so wide.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The rooms under the library bridge (now security, used to be URY and the
scanner room) used to house the SU shop.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The bridge connecting the library with the spiral is crumbling. Some people
have seen bits falling off it. In fact the concrete of the Library-Spiral
bridge is showing signs of deformation and buckling due to the pressure
of the Library sliding down the hill towards the lake. After rain, water
pours through hairline cracks caused by the buckling, down onto cars passing
underneath (and people standing at the bus stop).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
One of the concrete bridges on campus will have to be replaced soon. (The
development review of 1985 said `within 10 years'. This is because the
concrete has been attacked by use of chlorides. The cost was thought to
be about &pound;250,000, so the library bridge is probably the most likely.)</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="siward"></a>Siward's Howe</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
A burial mound for an ancient Earl of Northumbria. Just his head though.
<b>Tb.</b>Siward had a house on the howe. (and <b>T.</b> he appears in
<i>Hamlet</i>)</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Used by a local coven as one of seven (it would be seven, wouldn't it)
meeting sites at All Hallow's Eve.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Siward's Howe was a textbook example of a terminal moraine before Alcuin,
Chemistry and the JBM Library were built on it.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The hill (Heslington Hill?) is the highest point for miles around, and
is used to celebrate the Summer Solstice.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="hesgard"></a>Heslington Hall Gardens</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Yew trees used to be cut in the shapes of chess pieces.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Yew clippings are currently being sold as ingredients for anti-cancer
drugs research.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Sunken area near to the lake used to be a mirror pond in the previous
layout of the gardens, to reflect the gazebo.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="sculp"></a>Sculptures</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="may.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The thing which used to be next to Central Hall, known as the crisp, cornflake
etc. was really called ``Mayflower 1''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
A visiting rugby team redecorated it one night and it was removed soon
afterwards Nick Jackson managed to take <a href="crisp.gif">this picture</a>
of the cleanup job afterwards. There was a <a href="crisp1.jpg">picture
of both sides</a> in <i>Nouse</i>.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
After the admin removed the Mayflower, Aaardvark made a papier-mache <a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~ellman/ae-a/aaardvark/photos/">replica</a>
and which was put up between Central Hall and Langwith.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Mayflower was once turned into a broken smiley face (ie. painted yellow,
with one black eye somewhere).</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
The thing in the middle of the spiral up to the library bridge is called
the Avocado. It is made with lead from the Minster's roof. (In fact, it
is an untitled aluminium work.)</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="algol.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The two balls outside Goodricke library represent the binary star Algol,
the subject of the work of John Goodricke. When new they were lit up, with
one globe red and the other blue.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The sculpture out the back of Goodricke is made from bits of the last steam
train in York.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Some years ago (c.1990) there was an exhibition of sculptures (by <a href="a_wright.html">Austin
Wright</a>) in the area between the accommodation near the VC's house,
the Lake, Derwent B block. These were tall, narrow sculptures with small
(ca. foot square) bases -- an open invitation. They were moved, knocked
over, stacked up, and thrown in the lake over a period of time. And rapidly
removed as a result.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Suspiciously similar sculptures can now be seen in the courtyards at King's
Manor. These are the same sculptures, relocated to a safer haven.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
There were once plans to build a new cashpoint machine into the statue
of the stone Buddha. (Actually, there were plans, but only during an Aaardvark
meeting.)</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="buddah.html">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
It's not a statue of a stone Buddha; it's not even a stone statue of a
real Buddha. It's bronze.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="rose.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
A few years ago there was a plan put forward by an artist to put a huge
metal rose in the middle of the lake. The thing was to be powered by sunlight,
and would open and close during the day.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
<i>Family Group</i>, by Henry Moore was lent to the University by the artist.
It stood for many years on a plinth in front of Heslington Hall Yew Garden.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
An unknown (to us) 1970's artist once spent several days erecting sculptures
made of scaffolding poles next to Alcuin - much to the disappointment of
the students, who had thought he was going to paint the college windows.
The sculptures were called `A Frog' and `A Railway Station', but were subsequently
combined into a single large tower by some students. (Exit one irate artist
with his poles, enter Private Eye, who report the incident.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1970 there was a sculpture at Langwith, which was so ugly that someone
tried to blow it up with a home-made explosive device. It was eventually
removed in 1974.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="covered"></a>Covered and Uncovered Walkways</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Although supposedly there so keep pedestrians dry in wet weather, the covered
walkways main purpose is to provide easy-maintainable cable supports for
the computing service wires.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
If you took all the covered walkways and joined them end to end, you could
walk to the Minster under cover.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
In the vicinity of the water tower on the hill, there is a network of pathways.
These seem to mysteriously disappear as soon as you are near a major campus
pathway. Sometimes, they are used a a shortcut for when travelling from
Alcuin to Town. If you look from the top of the hill (on the Road) towards
the forest in the direction of Alcuin, you can see one of them emerging
and vanish as it gets nearer.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Members of URY exposed themselves to dangerous amounts of asbestos when
laying cabling along the covered walkways.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="signs"></a>Signs</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There are ``Danger, thin ice'' signs on the lake between Vanbrugh and Biology,
and next to Physics, all year round. I suppose the term 'thin' means non-existent
as well.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The newly-erected green signposts have letters that can easily be unstuck
and re-arranged. Students often take this as an opportunity to show off
their vocabulary of swear words. One sign had ``Routefinder'' changed to
``tour for nerds'', and one by NYS travel became ``rude often''; also seen
were ``Psychology'' -> ``Psychologie'', ``Campus Nursery'' -> ``Campus
Nurser''. Possible original mistakes on the signs were ``Goodrick'' and
``Vanburgh''. Apparently, Admin paid thousands of pounds for the signs.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="uniroadunderpass"></a>University Road Underpass</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
This was originally designed as an access to College 4.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
It was designed as a nuclear fall out bunker for admin, unfortunately it's
not possible to run there in 4 minutes whilst carrying a brief case.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
There were once plans for a miniature railway around campus to carry students
to and from lectures and colleges. This was built as the main underpass
to get to the College 4, Alcuin, library side of campus.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is an Underpass ghost.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
People used to keep boats there - the ends were blocked up to make a garage.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The underpass is now used for it's intended purpose, with the installation
of the cycle track to the newest Computer Science building.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="quiet"></a>The Quiet Place</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="quiet.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
There was/is a plan to build a circular enclosure between Langwith and
Spring Lane Bridge, incorporating part of the lake and forming a Quite
Place for private contemplation.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
It was never built because next to Langwith is not a very quiet place.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="quiet.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The gazebo is now to be converted into a Quiet Place.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="landmisc"></a>Miscellaneous</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The `crater' between Vanbrugh/Music/Biology dates from the original <a href="original_dev_plan.html">campus
plan</a> as an open air auditorium. (And from time to time it is actually
used as such). It is sometimes known as the Vanbrugh/Music Bowl.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
During the Summer of 1995, all the grass died. This made Campus look completely
different.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="depts"></a>Departments and People</h2>

<h3>
<a NAME="teaching"></a>General Teaching</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When the University was new, Oxford University proposed that they should
run training courses for the academic staff here (implying that York needed
help in the world of academia). The then vice-chancellor of York replied
enthusiastically, saying that York would of course train an equal number
of Oxford staff ... and Oxford quietly dropped the idea.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1992, there were plans to extend the teaching hours from 8:15 to 20:15;
have no unified lunch-break; and have teaching hours on Saturday from 8:15
to 13:15. Later, the plans were changed to just have an extra teaching
hour at the end of the day. Eventually, it was figured out that it wasn't
necessary to extend teaching hours if more efficient timetabling was done.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When the uni first began, the teaching hours were from 10:15 to 16:15.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Lectures on campus start at 15 minutes past the hour. At first, lectures
in town (in King's Manor) were at 45 minutes past the hour, with a bus
between Exhibition Square and Heslington timed to get people between the
two sites. (Before the University came, the Heslington bus service was
two return journeys from Piccadilly on Saturdays only.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In order to get a degree, you need an overall mark of 35% or above.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The record for the lowest mark of someone who'se got a degree is 35.2%</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="physics"></a>Physics</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="diane.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
There used to be a statue on the lawn in front of Heslington Hall, called
Diana the Huntress. It was smashed during an incident following the Physics
Department Christmas Dinner 1965.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
During the annual Physics vs. Shepherds cricket match, Simon Fox was once
tonked all over the place by the Shepherds No. 7 earning himself the nickname
``The Beast'' since he allegedly went for three sixes in a single over.
Documentary evidence shows that he only went for two but the name is still
occasionally mentioned to this day.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Physical Wrecks (Physics departmental cricket team) needed a single
off the last over for victory. And the Legendary Gareth Chisham with his
magnificent forward defensive failed to get it. I think it was after this
game that Sean Healy refused to play for Gareth again.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Two runs were needed of that last over, and Gareth's mighty forward defence
got one -- enough to claim a draw. Sean apparently managed to drop three
catches in the game, which might have had something to do with his lack
of eagerness to play any more.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Three or four years ago there were a number of players who enjoyed a tab
or two. Phil Holden used to quite regularly bowl with rollie in hand and
Louis Purver once took a magnificent one handed catch at silly mid-wicket,
one handed since he had his baccy in the other.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A few years ago there two bowlers from Electronics who were <b>very</b>
quick. John Dittmer rarely went for more than 10, and any runs scored off
him were invariably edges that went for four runs. During one particularly
fiery spell he got a fine edge from the batsman. Phil Holden at first slip
immediately jumped up to appeal for the easy catch that was there for the
taking. Wazza Chisham at wicketkeeper, out of the corner of his eye sees
Phil leap in the air and just so he doesn't feel left out decides to do
the same -- before he catches the ball. Wazza times his jump perfectly
so that as his graceful leap is reaching its' zenith the ball makes extremely
rapid contact with his ``box''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Gareth Chisham figures very highly in cricket folklore. He's been affectionately
known as ``Wazza'' since 1992 when Pakistan last toured England with their
excellent bowlers Waquar and Wasim. Since we all held Gareth in such high
esteem we amalgamated their names to come up with ``Wazza''. It also had
the added bonus of having lavatorial connotations.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Dave Weaver, age 23, was once asked for identification when buying a lottery
ticket.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="sarg.html">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The Physics department has a ``Scientific Anomalies Research Group''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Physics building once housed just the Department of Physics, before
the fledgling department of Electronics went their own way.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was once a film partially made in the Physics building. It was made
using the LEED equipment in PC/008 as a rack of ``high tech'' equipment.
It was presumably cheaper than making a set.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Mat Hill in teaching labs used to be a roadie for Dire Straits.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Mat Hill used to be a roadie for The Stranglers.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Two physics technicians run one of the popular York ghost walks.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alex Coon (ex-undergrad) rode his bike along the entire length of the ~1ft
wide raised plank seat at the edge of the lake by the physics building.
A huge round of applause was given by the assembled crowd, including many
UCCA (as it was then) candidates.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alex Coon also climbed up the outside of the physics building during his
first year (1990-91) with a friend. They did have a safety rope.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Physics porter goes to investigate what sounded like a break-in in the
Ladies toilets one night. Instead of burglars, she found two students having
sex. Rather than making a fuss they were left to continue.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
One of the Electronics Workshop technicians once tried to work out if a
circuit was live by putting a screwdriver across two contacts. The circuit
was indeed live, but not for very long, as there was a large spark which
blew the fuses for an entire wing of the building.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Ex-Head of Department and wife are driving through Osbaldwick and spot
a porch which is ideal for their requirements. They return later with camera
so as to have a picture to show the builders. Police turn up later and
raid their house assuming they were ``casing the joint''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Group of lecturers fixing up cottage in countryside. Ex-Head of Department
is asked to put lock on toilet door. Lock put on the outside.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Student copies paper from Phys. Rev. B. for 3rd year project report. Steals
particular volume from JBM Library in hope of covering tracks. Gets 0%
for project.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Same student hands in copy of a published paper for 3rd year essay paper.
Is one of the references given in the question. Gets 0% for paper.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Same student fails degree. Turns up at ceremony anyway in cap and gown
and with parents. Presumably didn't have the nerve to tell them.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
First and third year physics exams taking place on same day; first year
does third year paper in error. (Hadn't been to any lectures so didn't
know what should have been on the paper) Leaves after half hour or so.
Got 2%.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Jim Matthew was appointed Head of Department in October 1987, for five
years. Eight years later he was still in the position, nobody else having
been found willing to take on the workload.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Back in the 50s Prof Heavens did some early work on lasers. He was told
of a paper published by a Russian that he had to read, and finally obtained
a copy in Russian, and found someone to translate. When he got it back
he realised that it was in fact simply a Russian translation of a paper
he had written, complete with his name at the top.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A senior member of the physics department appeared on the Radio 4 science
quiz programme ``The Litmus Test'', after getting protons and positrons
mixed up in an answer, the question master asked ``are you sure you're
a physicist''. A friend listening to the radio at home almost fell of his
ladder due to his laughter.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Even `Ede and Ravenscroft' (est. 1693), gown providers to the University,
couldn't supply a DPhil hat large enough for Robert J Bunting's head.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="compsci"></a>Computer Science</h3>
 <b>See also the <a href="compsci.html">CompSci Folklore Page</a> and <a 
href="cs_history/index.html">Bill Freeman's history</a> of the CS department</b>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Computer Science Department won a prize at the robot Olympics in 1990
with a robot that alleged it was under neural network and computer control,
but in fact had only basic collision detection plus some random wiggles
programmed in. The random wiggles just happened to take it round the obstacle
course by pure chance. In the same Olympics a 100 year automata from the
local museum won the archery contest.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A computer science head of department once nearly lost his head when, just
seconds after having his picture taken next to a large Winchester cabinet,
something inside broke, the disk slipped loose from its housing, sliced
through its cabinet and buried itself in the adjacent wall.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="computation.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
One of the two original buildings was built just to house the first computer.
When it was delivered, the makers took the fuses away until the bill was
paid.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Apparently in the late 70's/early 80's, in the infancy of the internet
a certain group of computer scientists managed to order a rocket launcher
via the net. Apparently from Columbia. Allegedly the only way they found
out was when the invoice arrived at the comp sci block.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When compsci got their new HLH Orion computers in '88, there was a couple
of serious bugs in the system. The first meant that terminals would `die'
when you logged out, and couldn't be used to log back in; vuft would fill
up with turned-over keyboards indicating the dead terminal. forsyth produced
a staff-owned setuid root program called clearline that mucked around in
the kernel to clear up this problem. The suns had passwordless login called
``console'' that had staff privs, so it was possible to set up a sgid-staff
shell purely for running clearline and making things usable again.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The other, <b>much</b> more interesting bug was that at random, processes
would flip into root. this lead to numerous people with files they couldn't
write to, etc., and, after one user noticed her prompt had changed to a
funny # character, a long battle between numerous students
to hide root
hacks that they could reinvoke, but that other students couldn't. Forsyth
found this out, and cleaned up almost all the hacks. one remained in until
the orions were dumped. it didn't fire until most of the students responsible
had left.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A ``.paranoia virus'' was put into /lib/crt0.o, the file that gets linked
into every compiled C program, and is the code that actually calls main().
it wasn't a virus actually - more of a trojan.</dd>

<p><br>It checked the current process id (using a direct system call trap,
to avoid invoking any other library functions); if (pid % 256) == 42 then
it would create a file in the current directory called ``.paranoia'' with
no contents and no permissions to do anything on it. The character codes
for the string ``.paranoia'' were hidden in a series of adds and shifts
in the code adding to the difficulty of the detection.
<p>This meant that from the moment it was installed, newly compiled programs
occasionally hatched a .paranoia file... including for example ``glide'',
the functional language interpreter provided by the department, and eventually
most of the compilers.
<p>The trojan even managed to propagate from Orion2 to Orion1.
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The way into the student machines in those days was quite elegant. After
popping root on the Orion, one student made /etc/rc.local writable on <b>one</b>
of the disc-less student sun workstations. So, if anything needed ``doing'',
the extra commands were written into that file, which runs as root on bootup,
and a command inserted to copy the original version of the file back over
it -- hence, nobody ever logged in as root.</dd>

<p><br>Since there was no change to the content of any of the system files,
only a one-bit change in the permissions on one file, this remained in
place for ages and ages -- a very thorough check of the boot partition
on the Suns eventually revealed what had happened
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The 1992 intake of Compsci undergraduates were affectionately known by
one of the lecturers as ``The biggest bunch of tossers they've ever been''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
To commemorate this, the students in question produced a ``2nd year 1993-1994
exam results mug''. The front of the mug says ``University of York 2nd
Year Computer Science 1993/4''. The bit opposite the handle has a trophy
with the old ``University of York'' logo on it. The back says the following:
``The worst year group in the history of computing''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
For most of 1986/7 the more net-minded students used to read Usenet by
(ab)using a guest account on one of the staff Vaxes. The username was guest,
the password was (unsurprisingly) visitor.... At least one student was
a member of the Clayton E. Cramer For President campaign. (CEC was one
of the best of the early flamers)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The 1987/8 intake was almost on a par with the 1992/3 one -- including
the two students who basically lost Computer Science students email and
news access for some time -- largely due to huge bounces. During this period,
CS undergrads used a number of sly means to keep a net presence -- for
some reason the Sun workstations still had mail and news, and many CS students
became active ``computer reps'' for societies and used CompServ facilities....
SOCSnnn accounts were something of a hotbed of illicit compsci networking.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1993, the compsci newsgroups were dominated by discussions on wasting
system resources. These discussions wasted a lot of system resources.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Tony Fisher used to be a member of ZZ Top.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1994, a lecturer set an exam question the Teaching Quality Assessment
inspectors declared to be `tasteless'. The lecturer decided to keep the
question in the exam anyway. The question was about a theme park called
something like `Oop North'. You can buy lard in the souvenir shops. The
idea was to categorise everything into a relational database.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 2011, some undergraduates decided to create a homage to Dr. Ian Benest 
by remixing his lecture recordings into a song. It is still available 
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svsDeOFaiBY" target="_blank">
<b>here</b></a>. </dd>


<dt>
<b>Great Moments in Computer Science Lectures:</b></dt>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A fly lands on the surface of a slide-projector and is projected to the
screen. The lecturer says something about there being a bug in the program.</dd>

<dd>
Andrei Ellman once entered a computer science lecture mid-lecture and gave
the lecturer a slice of toast. (However, Andrei had discussed this with
the lecturer beforehand.)</dd>

<dd>
In 1994, head of Computer Science department gives a talk to tell students
to turn up on time, since Teaching Quality inspectors are in. Several students
walk in as he finishes.</dd>

<dd>
Teaching is rated `outstanding' in 1994. One lecturer is called on his
portable phone mid-lecture to be told he had been rated outstanding. Another,
using hand-puppets to liven up the lecture makes the puppets say ``yes,
the TQA inspectors were nasty''. That night, the lecturers head off to
the Charles for a pissup.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A lecturer once caught someone asleep in one of the front rows of that
lecture. He hit them on the head with his pointer.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
A lecturer came to the lecture to find two slide projectors. He went wild
and attacked one (or both) of them.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
One lecturer deleted MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS from his new PC ``to save space'',
with the expected lack of functionality. How he managed to unhide them
and remove the read-only bit from them is debatable, given that he lacked
the DOS knowledge to appreciate that they were important files...</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Another senior computer scientist left his first PC, a 386/DX33, running
at 8MHz for about a year, as he wasn't sure whether pressing the TURBO
button would dangerously overclock the processor</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Computer Science was the first department to have local newsgroups. This
was before CompServ discovered Usenet News. This is why the york.cs.* groups
were originally called york.*. The electronics dept. also had a newsfeed
back then, but they didn't seem to have local newsgroups.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The newsgroup york.student (now york.cs.student) was originally created
in 1991/1992 to help relieve york.second of it's `drivel'. The group york.test
was also used as a regular `drivel' group.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Back in the days when V/058 was full of terminals, a bottle of Newcastle
Brown was spilled into the keyboard of one. It no longer worked. In order
to hide the evidence, those present carried out the following tasks: Swapping
the physical location of a goodly number of the terminals so that any mapping
from serial no. to tty line was N&amp;ampV. Swapping keyboards around so
the keyboards no longer matched the vdus (same reason). Breaking root (not
difficult on an HLH Orion 1/05) to wipe out wtmp and all other system accounting
logs so nobody could see who was logged in at the time.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Quote from Chris Reece when the computers in VUFT were down: ``Oh dear,
the computers have stopped working... Looks like I'll have to get a life.''</dd>

<dt>
<b>T</b></dt>

<dd>
The Compsci department, as of 1992 have offered a course called ITBML (Short
for Information Technology, Business Managment, and Language). Because
``Information Technology, Business Managment, and Language'' and ``Eye
tee bee em el'' are both a bit of a mouthful, ``Itbummel'' is used instead.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="compserv"></a>Computing Services</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="internic.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The domain name authorities overwrote the University's DNS details with
those of York Regional Police, Ontario, causing much difficulty.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Prince Manifold - The one-time, unlikely-sounding chief technician of CompServ,
was sacked along with a fellow technician after an incident involving a
fight outside Heslington Hall (For a picture of Prince when he joined the
Service, see the October 1990 Keynotes magazine).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Before 1992, CompScis weren't allowed accounts on the Computing service
VAXes. This was because compserv were worried that computer scientists
would do nasty things and crash the system.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The reason they finally let CompScis on was because the additional effort
to check if someone was a CompSci or not before creating an account was
too much extra work.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The SGIs in Derwent have had their speakers removed. This was due to people
playing sampled sounds at full volume while other people were trying to
work.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
An undergraduate at York used to host the homepage of a certain sexual
fetish on his Tower account - until his supervisor found out.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a newsgroup called alt.alumni.york-university, but CompServ don't
carry it.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
One of the main routers (a csrvbru) once caught fire (or at least, fried
a network card) leading the networking on campus somewhat lacking.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
demon.co.uk once (1997) banned York connections to their news server due
to `alleged' misuse by -bat.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="biology"></a>Biology</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A council waste disposal van caught fire after people in biology dumped
some stuff in a waste skip for disposal which contained two chemicals which
caught fire when they mixed.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Every time it's open day, the biology department take pictures. When they're
developed, they display them, and invite people to add captions to them.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="electronics"></a>Electronics</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Some undergrads of the Electronics Department were once sent down for hacking
into to the computers of the Royal Observatory and deleting some irreplaceable
data gathered from a radio telescope.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Rob Sloan (electronics departmental photographer) once won a ``Snowscene
photography competition'' with his photograph of ``Ducks by Spring Lane
Bridge''. The physics departmental photographer, Alan Gebbie might have
been annoyed to come second, but the students who came joint third might
be more surprised to find themselves competing with professionals.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1992, an electronics lecturer organises a revision class for a small
exam. Lecturer is disappointed with low turnout (about 4), and to express
this disappointment, gives the same questions in the exam as in the revision
class.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When the RAG hitsquad 'hit' an electronics lecturer during a lecture, he
went mental and attacked the hit-squad with a slide-projector.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="chemistry"></a>Chemistry</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="murder.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Chemistry lecturer poisons wife.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="morefire.html#chem">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
There was once (1980) a large-ish fire in the Chemistry Department.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The fire started when a polymerisation reaction went to completion unexpectedly
rapidly in the middle of the night. (<b>Tb.</b> Was caused by an electrical
fault in a calculator power supply.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Fire Brigade, faced with large cupboards full of smouldering and potentially
nasty chemicals with the labels burned off, simply hauled the lot off in
to a big heap in the playing fields behind the Dept (now the Science Park)
and sprayed water on them from a cautious distance until they stopped fizzing.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A large part of A-block was destroyed. Afterwards, experimental work was
restricted to the other three blocks.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When experiments with thiols (chemicals akin to those used to scent natural
gas) were being conducted in the Department, the Gas Board were swamped
with calls from Heslington and Badger Hill residents about gas escapes.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="english"></a>English</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
It is the ``done thing'' in English Department Board of Studies meetings
that when discussing a particular student, any member of the department
who has been having a relationship with that student should leave ``for
a cup of coffee''. Apparently, three members of staff once got up to leave
when a particular student was being discussed.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
All the alcoholics in English have died out.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="maths"></a>Maths</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
One lecturer tried to liven up an explanation of oscillations by drawing
an analogy with what the water does when you `bounce up and down in the
bath'. He then demonstrated the exact action he had in mind at the front
of the lecture theatre.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The same lecturer managed to offend most of his students when comparing
the cross-product with the use of a screwdriver, and the statement `women
don't use screwdrivers, but I can't think of a cooking analogy'.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The following exchange once took place during a lecture given by Tony Sudbery.</dd>

<p><br>&nbsp;AS: OK, does everyone understand this so far?
<br><i>silence</i>
<br>AS: Does anyone <b>not</b> understand it?
<br><i>silence</i>
<br>AS: Is anybody actually here?
<br><i>silence</i>
<br>AS: OK, let's narrow this down. Who's on Saturn?
<br><i>Nick Jackson puts his hand up</i>
<br>AS: Apart from you.
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
One of the maths lecturers, lecturing to a maths group in a biology lab
(the maths department is always scraping around for places to give lectures),
managed to demolish a skeleton of a horse at the front of the lab.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="psyc"></a>Psychology</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Psychology used to be housed in Wentworth, so they could observe people
on the Goodricke-Wentworth bridge. (See <a href="#bridges">bridges</a>.)</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="history"></a>History</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Cambridge University Press published a rough draft of a senior lecturers
book instead of the finished version. Unsurprisingly the critics panned
it and it has failed to appear on any reading lists anywhere, least of
all his own.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was a fire in Vanbrugh in around 1993, on the History department
corridor. Rumour had it that a lecturer was the target of a grudge-bearing
undergrad, who stuffed burning paper under the door late one night.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
At least one interview with a prospective undergraduate was conducted entirely
in Latin (the student in question was doing a Latin A-level).</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="colleges"></a>Colleges Etc</h2>

<h3>
<a NAME="colgen"></a>General</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="colleges.html">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
From the original 1962 development plan, (with some interpretation, but
it's pretty clear), the correct order of the Colleges is</dd>

<ol>
<li>
Derwent</li>

<li>
Langwith</li>

<li>
Alcuin</li>

<li>
College 4 (Not built)</li>

<li>
Vanbrugh</li>

<li>
Goodricke</li>

<li>
Wentworth</li>

<li>
College 8 (James)</li>
</ol>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The choice of college assigned to individual students by the admin is in
fact a psychological experiment to try to create a different personality
for each college by finding out what sort of person each student is before
assigning them a college. For instance Derwent has a relatively high proportion
of students who went to a public school.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The CU plant a Christian in every corridor. (The CU claim they don't, and
you'd need a lot of admin cooperation to do so.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The fire alarms are telepathic and are designed to go off on a cold day
when you are thinking ``This would be a terrible time to have a fire alarm.''</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Every time there is a false alarm in a college, the Fire Brigade charges
the University several hundred pounds call-out charge.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Many of the room keys in colleges will open more than one bedroom.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Female students are not generally given ground floor bedrooms for security
reasons. (and to encourage the blokes on the ground floor to get out a
bit).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Security was tightened up following the murder on campus in 1992. Peep-holes
and chains were put on the doors of all college rooms, locks put on most
outside doors. Unfortunately, most of the chains were badly installed,
and the door could be opened even with the chain on. The chains were later
moved, but the original fixing points can still be seen on most doors.
(The main use for the chains is to keep cleaners out.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
College identity isn't as strong as it used to be.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The record for number of glasses of wine drunk at a Provost's party is
16 (at Vanbrugh).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Allocation of rooms in college is deliberately engineered to mix people
of different subjects.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
When first opened, the colleges were sex-segregated by corridor.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="derwent"></a>Derwent</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Derwent is named after the former local authority, Derwent District Council
of the East Riding of Yorkshire County Council. No doubt this was named
after the nearby river Derwent.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A couple of chaps on the way back from the village late one evening (in
1988/9) claimed to have seen a lion cub somewhere between the church and
Derwent College. You can imagine the response this got from Derwent Porters,
who suspected imbibition as the cause. It was later uncovered, however,
that an escaped lion cub was indeed in the area (whether this was simply
by further sightings by night patrol or by some other means we know not),
and the animal was I believe rounded up and caught. The story was carried
in a copy of Vision at the time, if anyone wants to check the archives.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
If you find a new way of crashing Derwent Barbecue, then they let you stay.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Certain anonymous RAs in the Electronics department spent an entire afternoon
forging tickets to the barbecue, with the aid of about 20 grand's worth
of computer equipment and software. Test subject gained admission.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="balloon.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Another successful method of entry to the barbecue was via a hot air balloon.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Also, people have used scuba gear to get in for free.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
On a Friday night In 1994, the tires of the car belonging to a friend of
the Provost were slashed. The enraged provost suspected it was someone
from ground floor D block (GFD), who had a reputation for trouble. At 8:30
the next morning, he woke up the entire corridor and threatened to throw
people out of their rooms if nobody owned up. Following several more incidents
over the next 10 days, the police caught a local youth in the act.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Looking at the walls from across Derwent Balcony (above the Derwent well
area), you can see painted on the wall alternative designs for Campus.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a Derwent Challenge (<i>cf</i> the <a href="wentchall.html">Wentworth
Challenge</a>) - to walk on the very smalll ledge above the open flood
drain at the between Derwent D-Block and the bicycle shed.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="langwith"></a>Langwith</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Langwith college is named after Langwith common, an area of land near the
university; and the deserted village which stands there.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There were for some time three infamous barmaids in Langwith, operating
as a gang, known as the three Ethels (in fact only two were actually called
Ethel, the third was sort of honourary. She was called Sylvia and is still
a cleaner in Langwith). They were such terrors as could teach any present
bar ladies a thing or two, both at serving (``get in line'', ``queue up
properly'', ``ask nicely'', ``where's your glass, I just gave you one not
more than 20 minutes ago, no you can't have a clean one'' etc.etc.etc,
all the oldies have their favourite stories) and at drinking up time (standing
on stools and banging trays next to your head to get you to leave). This
was endured with only the occasional bout of ill humour by the student
populace for some years, until one (or several) of them was very rude to
a conference guest (we think they poured a pitcher of water over him),
and they were mysteriously retired off. (There was also the theory that
the till receipts didn't balance). If you are interested, there's a picture
of one Ethel in action with a soda syphon in the April '84 <i>Nouse</i>.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
During the summer of 1996, Langwith D block was completely gutted and refurbished.
This was due to an uncontrollable cockroach infestation.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="vagrant.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
For a time, there was a tramp living in a bathroom in C block, but he was
chased away by a cleaner.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Langwith pool table (which used to stand where the lift to the library
is) ended up in the lake in 1994, the culprits were never caught.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Once (1994) when a window was smashed in the main corridor of Langwith,
the provost punished the entire college by banning all JCRC events. It
turned out the guilty student was from Wentworth.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The narrow bridge over the wier next to D block used to be stepping stones
rather than a solid path. There were also underwater lights installed at
this point.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="alcuin"></a>Alcuin</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin is named after the 8th century scholar Alcuin of York, who was trained
in York, and later went on to be an eminent scholar in the court of Charlemagne
at Aachen.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In Alcuin courtyard (outside in the quad), you can see some evidence that
the courtyard was larger before the expansion of Alcuin JCR (the giveaway
is some steps that seem to lead into the wall).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Sisters of Mercy made their live debut in Alcuin dining room, on February
16th 1981. Their first ever gig kicks off with a twisted cover of Leonard
Cohen's ``Teachers''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin dining hall closed because superior quality of food made everywhere
else look bad, and it was cheaper/simpler to close it than to raise standards
elsewhere.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The beds in the student blocks are so narrow because the college was built
with money from the Quakers</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin's position on the hill gives Alcuin a strong identity and makes
it's inhabitants snobbish (Alcuin bar faces the rest of Campus). Hence:
``Colleges with altitude. Colleges with attitude. Alcuin''. It's also the
only college with the dining room on the 1st floor.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin's first Provost was Dr. Bernice Hamilton, originally appointed by
Lord James (allegedly on Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station) to be Dean
of Women Students. Hence for some time Alcuin was known as the Bernice
Oberland.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="alcuinbar.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin bar has only recently been converted into an American Theme Bar.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin bar does cocktails sometimes, but runs out of ice within the first
few minutes.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Alcuin was/is the only college with a yearbook.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A- and B-blocks were flooded one night in spring 1989. Bathplugs were put
in and taps left on in the time-honoured manner. (Don't try this at home
(or university) kids, it tends to bugger up the fire alarms). There was
a concert in the dining hall that night - it is thought that people were
trying to create a diversion so they could get in.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="c4"></a>College 4</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
This would have been located on the blank space west of the library (See
wooden map in Hes. Hall). The newest Computer Science building has now
been built near this site.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Was going to be named ``Sterne College'' (<b>T.</b> The initial `S' had
been reserved for the Heslington Stables.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Was going to be called Alcuin College, when College 4 wasn't built they
gave the name to College 3.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="vanbrugh"></a>Vanbrugh</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Vanbrugh is named after Sir John Vanbrugh who, in 1699, designed Castle
Howard -- the largest house in Yorkshire.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The windows in the dining hall had to be replaced a few years ago because
the glass was being eaten by the lake water from the fountain.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The large expanse of concrete between Vanbrugh and Central Hall is called
Vanbrugh Paradise.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
X-block was going to be called D-block, until they realised it would be
abbreviated to V/D block.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Vanbrugh dining room used to be the only dining room you were not allowed
to take food into (there used to be a sign saying ``Please do not bring
any food into the dining room'' -- it has been removed since).</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Some people from V/A, V/B, V/C blocks believe V/X block is haunted. It
is known as ``The Dreaded X block''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
When a fire alarm in (the detached) Vanbrugh X block went off, it triggered
the fire alarms in the rest of Vanbrugh (and vice versa). So for example,
when someone sneezed in V/X block, they warned the rest of Vanbrugh too
just in case the sneeze triggers off a chain-reaction taking out the rest
of Vanbrugh. You can tell the difference between an alarm in your block
and a block that is detached from you by the difference in beeps. The first
is continuous beeps, and the latter is intermittent beeps. The Vanbrugh
fire alarms are no longer linked in this way.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="fire.html#1988">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
In 1988 when there was a <i>Real Fire</i>(TM), the fire brigade had trouble
trying to persuade the spods in vuft from leaving their computers.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="fire.html#1994">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The 1994 fire was started by a faulty stereo in a students room, at about
4 in the morning. When he tried to wake up the rest of his corridor, they
each shouted ``**** off, I'm asleep'' (This was related to BBC Radio York,
anyone get it on tape?).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1991-1992, the railings on Vanbrugh Bar didn't completely shut off the
bar, and it was possible to put an arm through a gap and pull yourself
a pint (presumably, the gap may have been wider than a pint glass, or a
hosepipe was used). After the place was cleaned up at midnight, a small
number of students would sneak back in and give themselves free drinks
until 6am. This was before the railings were re-built.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Once when a student quit his course and left his room in Vanbrugh a few
weeks early, he decided that the room should be turned into a free-for-all
party-zone by leaving the door open permanently. The door was promptly
closed by the next-door-neighbour who was concerned about getting sleep.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
It was once said that when asked for directions, if you point to Vanbrugh,
you're usually right.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="goodricke"></a>Goodricke</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Goodricke college is named after the astronomer John Goodricke who discovered
the binary system Algol.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The rough-looking stretch of concrete next to the lake, between the bar
and the common room, is called Goodricke Beach.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Until the summer 1989 (or was it 1988?) revamp, Goodricke bar contained
the `famous' Goodricke Table. This was a wooden table with various college
graffiti, famous names and so on, which resided at the lakeward end of
the bar area (which was not as large as it is now). In 1989, in revenge
for events unknown, a party of students from another college kidnapped
said table and it went out of circulation for a while. It was rediscovered
some weeks later on the top floor of Alcuin A-Block. This discovery may
have been in some way related to the flooding of Alcuin (see <a href="#alcuin">above</a>)</dd>

<dd>
Another version is that The Goodricke Table was nicked to ``save'' it during
the impending revamping of the bar (the old bar was a much more dingy and
messy place; much better, too). anyway, it was hidden on top of the block
to keep it safe, but after all that time, it was found to have warped considerably,
It was generally accepted that they should have just chopped the legs off
it, and nailed it to the wall.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Goodricke dukebox hasn't moved since it was installed many years ago -
all modifications to the building have been carried out around it. (Many
of the singles in it have also been there since it was built)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The University has mortgaged Goodricke C block, since, should they default
on the loan the building society wouldn't bother to repossess it.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Person or persons unknown once dragged two KwikSave trollies to the third
floor of one of the Goodricke blocks, and chained them together to extract
the two pound coins from the locks.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
One of Goodricke's (or is that Wentworth's) accommodation blocks was supposed
to be temporary. It was built during the 70s, and was supposed to be taken
down in the 70s. It's still there today.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The 8-jetted fountain in the Goodricke water-court (outside G022) was installed
at the end of August, 1996. It replaced a previous installation which had
a series of mushroom shaped water features, but which had in recent months
become merely a perching place for tired moorhens.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The new water jets were purchased at huge cost from a little-renowned water
sculpture artist.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="wentworth"></a>Wentworth</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
Wentworth college is named after the penitentiary in the quality Australian
drama series ``Prisoner cell-block H''.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="colleges.html#wentworth">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Wentworth college is named after Thomas Wentworth, sometime Sheriff of
Yorkshire.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Used to be considered the college at the other end of the universe until
some philistine built the Wentworth-James bridge, and making Wentworth
into that place you pass through on the way from the sports-centre / James
college to Town.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The bar used to be tiny, but very friendly, since no-one much went there
from outside Wentworth. This contributed to the Wentworth atmosphere of
independence.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
After the infamous OU murder the entirety of <i>that</i> corridor was redecorated,
so <i>that</i> room wouldn't stand out.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The lake used to go right up to B Block, and it had a set of stepping stones
round it, quite a challenge in the dark after the bar had closed.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
They were filled in in summer 1996 because the water was washing away the
foundations.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
They were filled in in summer 1996 because access for window cleaning etc.
wasn't too great.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The walls in C Block are not plastered, because if they were, the thickness
of the plaster would make the rooms/corridors too small for human habitation/fire
regulations.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
When the Biology plant laboratory was being built, several residents of
Wentworth C block complained about the building work and demanded compensation.
(Also I think people in Goodricke opposite.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
That tube that connects Wentworth C block to the main building is a fire
exit and only to be used in an emergency.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The tube is made entirely from plastic.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="james"></a>James</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
James college is named after the modern popular beat combo James.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
James college is named after Lord James, who was the founding vice-chancellor
of the university.</dd>

<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
The modern popular beat combo James is named after Lord James, its founding
bass guitarist.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
James (and Alcuin E block) have showers and toilets inside some rooms.
In fact, the inhabitants are so obsessed with showers that there are no
covered walkways connecting them with the campus-wide walkway network,
so the residents can have another shower when it's raining.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
James college was wired for computer serial lines when it was built. Due
to a dispute over payment, the contractors doing the work put all the wires
in, but then took all the labels off. It took the guys from Computing Services
6 months to work out which wire went where.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Paving stones on grassy area in courtyard of D, E and F blocks originally
intended to be ``human sundial'' whereby bored student stands on central
stone and shadow points to appropriate time.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1995, there was a petition to name College 8 after Paul Spencer.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="halifax"></a>Halifax</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The first builder went bust just after starting work.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Not finished on time, students got stuck out in PRS until Christmas.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When first opened, the plumbing was a bit suspect - there were reports
of exploding toilets.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="wildlife"></a>Wildlife</h2>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
As part of the preparation for Degree Day each year, the ducks and geese
are rounded up and taken to the south end of the lake out of the way. But
some of them get away (even the little ducklings).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a duck cull during Christmas (done during Christmas so there's
no student protest.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
During the day, the main animals on campus are ducks, geese, etc. At night,
there's lots of rabbits, and some bats.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The following have all been caught in the lake (1987-9): eels; rainbow
trout; carp (common, wild and hybrids); bream; perch; gudgeon; tench; chub;
roach; rudd.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
A couple of anglers were refused licenses to fish the lake so they took
their revenge by releasing pike into the lake. The pike did OK, growing
very big and eating all the other fish, and maybe even the odd duck. All
the licensed anglers were complaining that they were catching no fish,
and pike had been spotted. So the authorities poisoned the lake to kill
the pike, and the story went that a dead pike over 5 feet long was found.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The pike was nicknamed `George' and has been known to attack students in
boats on the lake.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
George the pike is dead.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The lake grows mutant fish due to radioactive waste being flushed into
it by one of the science departments (take your pick from Biology, Chemistry
or Physics).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The large fish in the lake have been seen to eat ducklings.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
At the north side of Spring Lane Bridge, there's a bird identification
panel.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Some of the campus waterfowl are not native to the UK.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Back when the lake was built, some ducks and geese were actually imported
onto the lake. Nobody anticipated the population explosion.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There's one duck with a red and yellow head who's more aggressive than
the others. He was nicknamed ``Beer Monster'' by students.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A duck has actually been known to collide with a student whilst the duck
was flying. (What the student was doing is not recorded.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
``Feeding ducklings bread kills them''. The bread expands when wet, causing
the duckling's stomach to explode. (This message was in <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/student/su/dinfo">Daily
Info</a> for nearly every day in the summer term of 1993).</dd>
<dt><b>T.</b></dt>
<dd>
In 2001 the RSPB brought a pair of Ruddy Shelducks to campus and released them on the
lake. The female flew off shortly after, never to be seen again and the male consequently
became rather a campus celebrity, known variously as the Golden Duck, Fit Duck and
most commonly Trevor. Trev was the first campus duck to be honoured with both his own
Facebook and MySpace profiles, along with 'Jazzy', a Common Shelduck with whom Trevor was
often seen. Trevor's six year reign over the lake was ended in the summer of 2007 with
his untimely death, and he is commemorated in his
<a href="http://yorkuk.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4780463991" target="_blank">memorial
group</a>.</dd>

</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="students"></a>Students</h2>

<h3>
<a NAME="su"></a>Student Union</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A Winnie the Pooh soft toy once got elected to DPS over a SWSS candidate.
He was rapidly no confidenced though, and now cannot stand for another
sabbatical post.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The SU president in 1985-86 (Russell George) only stood as a joke and didn't
intend to get elected. This happened again in 2008/09 was nominated by
friends as his pirate alter-ego "Mad Cap'n Tom". He won by a landslide after
the highest ever election turnout.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
During the late 60s, early 70s, a dog stood for SU presidency. (Did it
win?)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Ideal UGM would have all 5000 or so students attend, but there's no
venue on campus large enough for that many students.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Every time there's a referendum for a student council, it's held in the
summer term (this happened in 1994 and 1995). People complain that too
many people have gone home during the summer term to vote.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Tony Palmer, when campaigning for Deputy President was photographed kissing
a baby. He also campaigned dressed as a mad cow; and together with Ben
Drake turned a YSTV interview into an attack on media budgets.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
-bat once stood for SU prez as an Independent candidate. His posters consisted
of the lenses of his mirrorshades and a mass of hair, and nothing else.
Everyone knew who it was.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The SU used to have offices in Goodricke, on the corridor now used by YSTV
and Maths.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Students have been campaigning for an SU building/venue since the time
the uni was built. In 1994, after a debate attended by only 18 of 5000
students and a referendum, it was decided to convert Goodricke Squash courts
into an SU building.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Not many people know that there was a Union Building before this. Admittedly
it was a tent, but it stayed up for a day, and was generously provided
by the student society Aaardvark.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="postbox.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
York used to hold the record for the greatest number of people to stand
on a postbox.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Goodricke JCR used to make T-shirts with the college motto: ``Goodricke
Gorillas - where the Balls are'' in reference to the <a href="algol.html">sculpture
of algol.</a></dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
An inflatable sex doll and a Hoover have been elected onto Goodricke JCR
at some time.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Sometime in the 70s some pranksters faked a nomination for EVP, and since
it was the only nomination for the post, this unperson ("David Jones")
was elected unopposed. The first GM convened and he didn't show up, so
he was no-confidenced and another election was held. The story made the
tabloids.</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="socs"></a>Student Societies</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The police once turned up at Langwith porters with a warrant for the arrest
of the chairman of the gun club and the AU president, having noticed that
the gun clubs gun license was years out of date.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A group from Aaardvark (called the Elasticated Gentlemen) were the last
people to perform at the York Arts Centre before it closed down, on 12th
August 1995. The audience numbered 35.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="porn.html">T.*</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The web pages of the Conservative and Unionist Association were hacked
into late one night and all the pictures changed to pornographic images.
The hacker then emailed a press release to the news agencies.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
At one point (in about 1988) there was a society called the York Student
Feudalists, who proposed a complete reworking of the constitution of the
SU. It modelled itself on feudal arrangements, and had, as one of its requirements,
that the elected student governing body had to parade through campus encouraging
all to come participate in the meeting. When the actual meeting came for
YSF's changes to be approved, they were voted down, but the turnout for
the meeting was amazing. this was, YSF's originator claimed, the entire
point - to get people to come along to the meetings and take part.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The winning act in the 1993 RAG Lack of Talent contest was to drink a pint
of lake-water and throw up. As an encore, this act included mixing live
maggots with the lake water. However, the contest was so close that it
was decided by two people having a swimming race across the lake naked.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A previous act for the RAG lack of talent contest (in 1992?) included someone
defecating on stage in time to eating a Mars-Bar. After this contest, some
provost insisted that the acts should be done in better taste.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Every year, RAG try to get into the Guinness book of records. In 1991,
they made the longest human caterpillar. In 1992, they unsuccessfully tried
to break the record for the longest flight made by a paper aeroplane.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was once (January 1992 - October(?) 1995) a society on Campus called
``Aaardvark'' that used to cater to the needs of the sillier members of
Campus by bringing them together and organising all kinds of Shenanigans,
producing Magazines and TV programs, and generally bringing a smile to
people's faces. Some of their pranks included dressing up in labcoats while
offering to polish people's socks, having a dry-land swimming-race on Porter's
trolleys, distributing spoofs of the <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/student/su/dinfo">"Daily
Info"</a> called <a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~ellman/ae-a/aaardvark/things/#DISINFO">``Daily
Dis-info''</a>, and sabotaging the 1995 Open day by putting up strange
notices (Anyone remember "Campus Goose Services"?). The Aaardvark web pages
live on in exile, <a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~ellman/ae-a/aaardvark/">in
somewhat original</a> and <a href="http://www.ismatec.demon.co.uk/aaardvark/">somewhat
different</a> forms.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The reason Aaardvark starts with 3 'A's is because at the time it was founded,
there was already a society (anarchist society) called "Aardvark".</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
When Aaardvark placed a notice on Campus saying ``Please do not throw stones
at this notice'', someone wrote a letter to the Guardian newspaper asking
``Is it true that somewhere in North Yorkshire, there is a notice that
says `Please do not throw stones at this notice'?''. Since then, there
have been several replies prompting the original letter to get printed
over and over again. The letter even appears in a compilation book of letters
to the Guardian. (There exists/existed a picture of this on the web. Somewhere)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
These letters to the Guardian are part of the Aaardvark shenanigan.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
RaveSoc (AKA Disco Biskit) used to organise raves on Campus in '91-92.
They had to be banned because they were attracting too many teenagers,
and drugs were being sold at these raves.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
``disco [biscuit|biskit]'' is a synonym for Ecstasy (E).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1982, the anarchy society flour-bombed an exec-meeting. (Such societies
no longer appear in the SU handbook)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The debating society re-appeared in 1992 after it had disappeared for ``reasons
legendary in the SU corridor'' (quote from 1992 SU handbook). It seems
they put posters up around campus advocating the eating of babies (or something)
and caused a riot. The posters were just intended to catch peoples attention
and get them along to the debate.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1987, there was a Campus wide dating agency called ``Fix-it'', but it
wasn't a success.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There used to be a sad case of a student who was totally out of touch with
reality, spent all her time at university MUDding on the computers, going
beserk in the terminal rooms (usually the Derwent SGI room) and screaming
her head off at the furniture. People often found it amusing to log her
off and watch her go mental.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Until the early 90s there was a Computer Society on campus. Although not
as popular as it had been in the late 70s this still ran trips, social
events and the odd talk up to about 1990. It is fair to say that the society
moved from being something the CS department liked to something it rather
preferred to ignore. It was best known for drunkenness, and for ``Tabloid
Teletype'', a fairly scurrilous magazine mixing local satire, net humour
and similar. This was originally lineprinter output, though Pete Fenelon
took it to laser-printed format (plain ASCII text) in '87 and to typeset
format in '89. Some of the later issues (1990-1) were A5, had proper card
covers and rather handsome, but by that time there were less and less original
articles!</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
W.E.S. (Women's Engineers Soc) has more men than women. (It certainly did
once upon a time.)</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="media"></a>Campus Media</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b><a href="nouse.html">Fb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The long running campus newspaper ``Nouse'' was so called by its first
editor as a pun on the words ``No use''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1992, there were plans to merge Vision and Nouse, since the SU didn't
fancy paying for two newspapers and controlling neither. There has been
some merging as a result of SU budget cuts, but both newspapers still claim
editorial independence.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
URY was the first licensed independent radio station in the UK. (See the
<a href="http://ury.york.ac.uk/">URY Homepage</a> more information.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
URY was set up with help from John Peel, who DJ'ed the first show in June
1968 after sending in a tape from London.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
URY can be picked up in Algeria, but not in Langwith. Several people have
written in from Scandanavia, Dubai etc, having listened to the station.
(Now out of date).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
First URY transmitter was ex-Royal Navy Submarine equipment, which is why
it had such impressive range. (This transmitter was certainly used in tests
beforehand.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Even parts of campus very near URY can't pick it up nowadays. Some people
are bothered by this. (Now out of date).</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
URY was not actually broadcast in the conventional sense, but was cabled
around campus. To pick it up properly, you had to be in one of the buildings
which has been fitted with an induction loop around the top, which carries
the signal. (The same principle is used to transmit to hearing aids in
public rooms.) The loop directs the signal down into the building, and
also up to the ionosphere, from where it bounced down to other countries.
Goodricke A and B blocks are different - the signal cable was connected
to the metal structure of the building!)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>
<dd><i>URY Today (2004)</i>. URY has been transmitted "properly" (with their
own AM transmitter) since 1999 or so. This has eliminated most of the
"blackspots". It certainly works in Langwith, or at least it did when your
author lived there in 2001-2.</dd>


<dt>
<b>F.</b></dt>

<dd>
URY have been planning to move to FM since 1992, but have been consistently
refused a licence by the authorities. (The main sticking point is the huge
cost demanded by said authorities for said licence). <i>(URY now broadcasts
on FM using a restricted power license for 2 weeks a year).</i></dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
URY once (May 1987) mistakenly broadcast that the Minster was on fire.
Some students got a taxi to go and watch, but found it was merely a factory
yard nearby that was burning. They returned to campus, and demanded that
URY pay their taxi fares.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
YSTV was the first licensed independent TV station in the UK.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="ystv.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
YSTV held world record for longest program directed by a single person.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
YSTV missed the death of General de Gaulle through not listening in to
Radio 2 through the morning he died.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The University News Sheet, forerunner to the current Magazine, was conceived
as a stop-gap but continued (against the wishes of all it's editors) for
more than 200 issues.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In 1992, someone was selling a spoof of Vision called Blinkered Vision.
This resulted in someone from the SU threatening to sue. (Question: Is
there any more folklore on Blinkered Vision?)</dd>
</dl>

<h3>
<a NAME="studmisc"></a>Misc</h3>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
When there was a single dashed line down University Road, a pair of scissors
was painted in the middle one night by inhabitants of Alcuin A block (the
``Alcuin Separatist Movement''), namely James Proctor, Doug Winter, Tim
Hughes, Emma Rusby, Alison Boorman, and a couple of others. We have a <a href="scis.jpg">photograph</a>
of the scissors taken by Mike Cohler, and <a href="scissors2.gif">another</a>
taken by Nick Jackson. The University News Sheet (July 1992) puts the date
as 8 June, and carries yet another photo.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A Chinese student living in Vanbrugh X-Block was thrown out of the University
for eating the ducks. The cleaners found the feet in his bin. (Possibly
in 1992, there was something in Vanbrugh JCR publicity about it.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
You can get kicked out of university for killing a duck, but not for killing
another student (you can return after the end of your prison sentence).</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="alumni.html">Tb. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Harry Enfield used to be a student at York (Derwent, Politics). He did
not complete his course.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Several York students have become MPs, and the Prime minister of Portugal
was here, studying Economics for a DPhil in the seventies.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The daughter of Nelson Mandela applied to York to do womens studies.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was an unfortunate undergraduate with the name of Ewan Kerr.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The car crashed opposite Alcuin bank: It seems that -pete. was prescribed
some kind of medication by the Medical Centre, but not informed that it
wasn't a good idea to drive under the influence of it. This coincided with
-pete.'s attempt to break his personal record for driving from home to
the office. At some point along University Road, he kind of missed the
turning and ended up halfway up the bank on the Langwith side of the road
(just under the bridge that you can't fall off). He's reputed to have said
``No, keep the stopwatch running'' as he reversed back down the bank.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Someone once drove a mini into the ground floor of the library.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The record for the `pint in every bar' barcrawl challenge is 18 minutes.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A student noted for his fast driving once gave his girlfriend a lift from
Vanbrugh to Wentworth. He lost control on the corner near Biology car park,
and wiped out one of the University's `No Speeding' signs.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A group of students stole the temporary traffic lights from some roadworks
near campus one night. Security found the lights, set up and fully functioning,
at the end of Goodricke bridge.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A student once got a bike in the post. It is not known if the porters tried
to get it in his pigeon hole.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The species of moth <i>Hippotion hateleyi</i>, from the South Pacific island
of Pitcairn, is named after ex-York student Jonathan Hateley, who discovered
it.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The University are introducing Mondex cards from October 1996, as part
of a plan to phase out cash on campus.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The largest number of students in a single room is thought to be 22. (3rd
floor Alcuin D-block, 1989, during a FreakSoc `social'. A photo exists
showing 18 of the 22.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
The largest number of students to sleep in a single room (Vanbrugh A block
average sized room) is 10 (plus or minus a few).</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="occupation.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
York is a fairly quiet University in terms of student politics, but there
have been a number of strikes and occupations by students in the past.
Heslington Hall was occupied twice in the late 60's, and Central Hall in
1993. There was also an unsuccessful attempt to picket examinations in
1975. YUSU organised a sit-in at Heslington Hall in 2002 which ended when
<a href="http://archive.thisisyork.co.uk/2002/02/15/290579.html" target="_blank">
Admin set off the fire alarm</a>.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
A student once explained to a lecturer that he was late to the seminar
because he had been away ``helping to start the revolution''. (This was
in the early 70's, when you could presumably get away with such things.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
At the start of the term, the Pinball machines have a greater probability
of giving a free match. This is to hook the freshers and anyone else coming
back for the start of the term.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Once, a woman who had slept around a lot ran for Wentworth JCRC chair.
Another candidate for JCRC chair was a bicycle seat. When asking questions,
all candidates have to answer. One of the questions asked was ``How many
times have you been ridden?''</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
As a RAG stunt, Wentworth once tried to declare independance from the UK.
As a result of this, some time later (1994?), all inhabitants of Wentworth
were sent letters telling them to apply for passports.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Cleaners cannot be shocked by anything that students get up to, and in
fact hate conference guests far more.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
Somewhere in the remote Yorkshire countryside, there used to be a pub that
was open all hours for `travellers'. Several SUs, including YUSU used to
organise minibus trips to this pub.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
On Valentines day 1993, someone put up a college bedsheet outside Vanbrugh
library in the Quad that read ``Sophie, be my Valentine''. (However, destroying
college bedding is frowned upon, even in the pursuit of true love.) That
evening, Vanbrugh JCRC showed ``Terminator 2''</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
-bat's beard originates from a bet between himself and Pete Fenelon in
'86 over who could keep a beard the longest without shaving it off. -bat
won.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Some students ``accidentally'' created a local newsgroup <tt><a href="news:alt.york.kitchen-possy">alt.york.kitchen-possy</a></tt>
in May '97. (It was supposed to be -posse, but they couldn't spell.) The
original version was a mailing list set up as a means of gossip amongst
the inhabitants of Goodricke B-Block first floor (Eastern End) during the
academic year 1994-95. Fiona Wright, the student who originally set it
up, kept trying to remove her name from the e-mail headers, but other people
kept putting her back on again. (The newsgroup now seems to have been discontinued.)</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="hacker.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Unknown hacker breaks into Tower one bank holiday, undergraduate logs on
as root and kicks him off.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
The green Physicist: Someone once went to a Freaksoc meeting dressed as
a troll, and dyed themselves green as part of the effect. To do this they
filled a bath with water, added green dye and got in. Needless to say they
didn't do it in their own corridor (or even their own college), and some
Vanbrugh residents found their tub had been dyed permenantly green.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The most common name amongst York students is `Chris'.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The most popular conversation topic amongst York Students is that of different
English accents, closely followed by ``What A-levels did you do''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Six students did a sponsored streak in Feb 1979 to raise money for RAG.
Starting at King's Square, they made it down the Shambles and into a getaway
car but were then arrested by police.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a cocktail called lake water: coke and orange juice, preferably
old-style university syrupy coke and the oj concentrate stuff.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
In the 70s there were a lot of cheaply made soft-core movies around. One
of the main writers was a student at York. Well known around campus, he
was filmed in the JBM library for a documentary about the films. He explained
that he didn't write the sex scenes, he just left gaps in the script that
the director filled in with the appropriate activity.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
When CompServ got a new and more powerful computer (a DEC 10) in 1976,
it's users mostly played Star Trek on it.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="porters"></a>Porters</h2>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
At some point, there was a picket line at Goodricke with a nude picket.
The porter was quoted as saying ``If I had one like that I wouldn't stand
around naked'', to which the stripper replied ``I get paid &pound;100 for
10 minutes work''.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There was a legendary Derwent Porter "Charlie" and his identical twin brother,
who worked for Securicor. During the 70s.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="misc"></a>Misc</h2>

<dl compact>
<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is a ``NatWest'' logo engraved into the side of the Music building
(the side facing the car-park).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Deramore Arms public house (Heslington) had (pre summer 1996) pizza
on the menu but none has ever been seen in the pub.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
The Charles XII public house (Heslington) has the second highest turnover
of any pub in Yorkshire (first being Leeds SU Bar).</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="bands.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Jimi Hendrix played the University.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="bands.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Marianne Faithful played a summer ball at King's Manor.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="bands.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Genesis and Pink Floyd also played in one of the colleges (not the same
night).</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Jimmy White and Dennis Taylor once played (snooker in) Central Hall.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="brookside.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
Episode of Brookside spin-off series filmed on campus.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Some of ``A very peculiar practice'' was filmed on campus.</dd>

<dt>
<b>U.</b></dt>

<dd>
A film is to be made set on the Campus at York, with Kenneth Branagh producing
and maybe directing. Apparently a couple of students with poncy names sleep
with lots of women, drink coffee in Derwent Cafeteria (sic) and steal a
several million pound painting from Heslington Hall. Its called `Big Soft
Lads' and was embarrassingly written by an ex-student.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Fb.</b></dt>

<dd>
There is an underground high speed shuttle link between the Universities
of York, Cambridge and ``Another University'' (which we can't state for
reasons of the Official Secrets Act''.</dd>

<dt>
<b><a href="bicester.html">T. *</a></b></dt>

<dd>
The nice old gentleman from the Retreat who may have tried to sell or give
you a variety of abstract paintings (usually swirly pastel affairs) or
in extreme cases pottery (amorphous unfired clay) really is the third Baron
Bicester.</dd>

<dt>
<b>Tb.</b></dt>

<dd>
Blackwell's Bookshop used to have a cat (although residents of Alcuin used
to claim it as theirs). It was always known as the `Bookshop Cat' (or `Alcuin
Cat') and in fact had no name. (<i>University Magazine</i> Dec 1994)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Blackwell's Bookshop used to be Godfrey's Bookshop. (Until 1997 there was
still a direction sign on the front of the JBM library.)</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Much of the University's electricity is generated by a 46-litre Caterpillar
engine in the boiler house, running on natural gas. The plant produces
979 kW of electricity, and 1200 kW of heat.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
One of the original heating boilers, after 30 years of use, was sold to
a coconut fibre processing plant in Pakistan.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
A staff member with a flat in King's Manor received an enormous council
tax demand in 1997 - apparently s/he was assessed for the whole building.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Lectures start at fifteen past the hour due to historical accident: the
first buses through campus arrived at five past, and ten minutes were allowed
to get to the lecture.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Every so often, there is a smell that covers the whole of campus. Is smells
of decaying organic matter. The smell is not the result of letting incontinent
waterfowl loose on Campus, but is instead from a nearby sugar factory (probably
10 miles to the north). Whenever Campus is downwind of the sugar factory,
it smells.</dd>

<dt>
<b>T.</b></dt>

<dd>
Someone eating some sort of fish in Langwith dining room once found a fishing
hook in their fish.</dd>
</dl>

<h2>
<a NAME="links"></a>Links to more York Folklore</h2>
(There should be more than this - send 'em in!)
<blockquote><img SRC="bluedot.gif" ALT="*" width="14" height="14" ><a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~ellman/ae-a/things/yearbook.html">Account
of a famous Vanbrugh bed-stealing episode.</a>
<br><img SRC="bluedot.gif" ALT="*" width="14" height="14" ><a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~ellman/ae-a/aaardvark/things/guide_to_pork.html">Student's
Guide to the University of Pork</a></blockquote>

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Index Page<img SRC="greendot.gif" ALT="*" height=40 width=40></a><a href="f-disclaim.html">Disclaimer
<hr><img SRC="reddot.gif" ALT="*" width="14" height="14" ></a></font><a href="http://kipper.york.ac.uk/">S020
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