York Campus Folklore

My version of Kipper(Now folklore)

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.
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.
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!

Disclaimer

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.
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.
All comments regarding these pages should be addressed to www@kipper.york.ac.uk in the first instance.

Key to Listed Legends

Wildlife

Students

Student Union
Student Societies
Campus Media
Misc

Porters

Misc

Links to more York Folklore

Key to Listed Legends

Each item of campus folklore is placed into one of the following categories:

T.: true, beyond reasonable doubt
Tb.: believed true, but not conclusively proven
F.: complete falsehood
Fb.: believed false, but not conclusively disproven
U.: unanswered and may be unanswerable

Folklore for which we have additional information have a ``*'' in addition to the category.

Buildings

General

Fb.: The horrible grey buildings used to be a lovely white. (And only started to go grey in the 70's.)
Tb.: The horrible grey buildings used to be a lovely grey.
F. *: The concrete panels were designed with a life expectancy of 30 years. (This was in 1963 or so).
U.: The University holds a large stockpile of spare concrete panels just in case. There are sufficient to build another block or so.
Fb.: 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.

Student Union Building

T.: The SU building was converted from a pair of squash courts.
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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 £6,000 from the makers of Vaseline, for ``most original advertising of the year''. (T. 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'.)
T.: Is now (1997) called the ``Daw Suu'' Building. Named after a Burmese pro-democracy activist.
U.: 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.

Central Hall

T.: No dancing allowed.
Fb.: Will topple into lake anyway.
F.: Top bit is designed to lift up.
F.: It is in fact a flying saucer that cannot take off because it is stuck in all that duck shit.
F.: Last band to play were the Boomtown Rats. The audience jumping up and down caused structural damage.
T.: They did however damage the orchestra pit cover.
Tb. *: 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.
Fb.: The acoustic tiles on the ceiling are on upside down and therefore absorb sound rather than reflecting it back in.
Tb.: 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.
Fb.: The active speaker system was so far ahead of its time, it is totally crap and is never used.
T.: When the projector was first used (by National Film Theatre), some of the roof beams blocked the screen.

Library

T.: Before the current building, the library was in Heslington Hall.
F.: Built without regard for weight of books.
Fb.: Sliding down the hill into the road - look out for the mystery markers in the pavement outside.
Tb.: The cellar under the library used to be a rifle range.
T.: Books for the Vanbrugh Rotten Book sale have been kept under the library.
F.: Plans for underground car park abandoned at some stage due to weight of books necessitating stronger foundations. (T. It was found to cost less to build the library on the hillside.)
Fb.: The extension was built onto the back of the library to stop it falling down the hill.
U.: 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).
Tb.: Due to the acoustics of the library, even if you fart quietly, it can be heard clearly.
T.: The library snack bar used to be inside the building.
Tb.: 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.)

Chemistry Water Tower (aka the mushroom)

Fb.: 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.
Tb.: Is slowly sinking into the ground. (The pipe at the bottom has to be reattatched every few years.)
Tb.: Prof. Heavens has been to the top.
U.: A RAG stunt once involved breakfast on top.
T.: The Caving Club have been up there, and have some great pictures to prove it.
Fb.: Not built high enough, therefore providing insufficient pressure.
U.: It is believed that the architect designed this to symbolise the use of psychedelic mushrooms during the 60s.
Tb. *: The mushroom can and does hold water and is actually used by the Dept as a primary source of water.
U.: When the mushroom was first floodlit York police were inundated with UFO sightings.
Tb.: Standing underneath it can help cure a hangover.
Tb.: Standing underneath and looking up reminds you of scenes from Independence Day. (It helps if you're drunk.)

The Water Tower On The Hill

(the thing that looks like a castle)

F.: This is the secret headquarters of the SU/Admin/KGB/etc.
Tb.: The aerials on top of the water tower are believed to be mobile telephone antennae rather than anything suspicious.

T. *: Holds one million gallons of water, now empty.
Tb.: The auxiliary supply tank contains 10 million gallons and is actually beneath the all weather hockey pitch behind Alcuin.
F.: It is used to stabilise lake water level.

Biology Clock Tower

U.: It only has one face because that's all they could afford.
Fb.: It was a choice between a clock tower for Biology and a swimming pool for campus - the right choice was obvious.
U.: The Biology Clock Tower is in fact a chimney.
Tb.: 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 ...

The New Biology Building

Fb.: Most energy-efficient building ever.

Physics

Tb. *: The Physics Building cost a million pounds to build.
T.: There used to be stepping stones beneath PX001, when the lake went right up to the side of the building.
T.: Colin Johnson inadvertently walked off them while showing prospective undergraduates round.
T.: The stepping stones were filled with land to improve access for the disabled, at the expense of many a potentially interesting bar-crawl.
F.: 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).
Tb.: 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.

Computer Science Buildings

The new one

T.: If you look closely at the weather mast, you will see some logic gates cut out of the bottom part.
T.: The direction pointers also have Pi/2, Pi, 3Pi/2 and 2Pi instead of W, S, E, N.

The even newer one

T.: Only six car parking spaces for the whole building.

Psychology Buildings

Fb.: The tower on new psychology building houses a sensory deprivation tank for experiments.
Fb.: 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.
Fb.: 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.
Fb.: 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.
T.: There is a pitch-and-putt course round the back.
Tb.: The pitch-and-putt course is no longer used due to damage to cars in the adjacent car park.

Sports Centre

U.: 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.
T. *: The original designs included a swimming pool and a grandstand.
T.: The new Astroturf pitches were paid for by former student Greg Dyke, now a TV executive. (He actually contributed £250,000 towards the cost. Ed).

Sir Jack Lyons

Tb.: 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.

Bleachfield

F.: Bleachfield is so called because there used to be a bleach factory there.
T.: 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).

Kings' Manor

T. *: There is an oak panelled phone box in Kings' Manor.

Landscape Features

The Lake

(See also ``Wildlife")

Tb.: When it was built, it was the largest plastic lined lake in Europe.
U.: There was a fire in biology; water used to put it out drained into the lake along with lots of nasties.
T.: Chemistry don't drain anything into it. (And Tb. neither do any of the other departments. (The water that is pumped into it by Physics is just rain-water.)
U.: There was an outbreak of botulism in the mid to late 80s.
T.: It is used to drain the surrounding land - if it wasn't there the surrounding land would simply be a marsh.
Tb.: 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.
Fb.: The ice was not as thick as expected - the mini fell through the ice and is still down there somewhere.
U.: 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.
Tb.: The fountain used to be higher before it was cleaned and redesigned.
Tb.: The fountain exists to oxygenate the lake water.
U.: The fountain moves around from time to time - it floats on a pontoon which is tethered by it's supply pipe.
Fb.: Only life in the lake is under-evolved eels and over-evolved fish.
T. *: 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).
T. *: 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.
T. *: The lake has always been a source of complaints about the smell, as seen in a Nouse article nigh on thirty years ago.
Tb.: There is no plant life in the lake because of an over-ambitious project to poison the weeds in the lake during the 70s.
T.: 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.
T.: 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).
T.: There is also a stream flowing out of the lake, it goes behind the Sports Centre and under Heslington Lane.
U.: 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.
Fb.: 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.
T.: 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.
U.: If you fall in the lake, you are advised to see a doctor immediately. (T. The same is true of the Ouse)
Tb.: 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.
U.: The (original) knife was later found on top of a covered walkway anyway.
T.: There was once a raft moored permanently by Goodricke beach, in its latter years it held only a sign ``Keep Off''.
U.: It is believed that the raft could not float, and was supported only by duck shit.
U.: The wooden beams on it rotted away and became more and more hazardous; it was removed for this reason.
U.: 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.
T.: 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.

Bridges

Tb.: 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.
T.: You can tell who thinks this bridge will fall down by seeing them jump up and down on it.
T. *: The Goodricke-Wentworth bridge is the scene for the Wentworth Challenge, the general idea being to cross the bridge using only the girders underneath.
T.: The Caving Club also have a bridge challenge, which involves absailing off one or more of the road bridges in the middle of the night.
Tb.: 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.
U.: 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.
F.: The library bridge was designed to have a Students Union building on top of it, which is why it is so wide.
T.: The rooms under the library bridge (now security, used to be URY and the scanner room) used to house the SU shop.
Tb.: 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).
T.: 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 £250,000, so the library bridge is probably the most likely.)

Siward's Howe

U.: A burial mound for an ancient Earl of Northumbria. Just his head though. Tb.Siward had a house on the howe. (and T. he appears in Hamlet)
U.: Used by a local coven as one of seven (it would be seven, wouldn't it) meeting sites at All Hallow's Eve.
U.: Siward's Howe was a textbook example of a terminal moraine before Alcuin, Chemistry and the JBM Library were built on it.
T.: The hill (Heslington Hill?) is the highest point for miles around, and is used to celebrate the Summer Solstice.

Heslington Hall Gardens

T.: The Yew trees used to be cut in the shapes of chess pieces.
T.: The Yew clippings are currently being sold as ingredients for anti-cancer drugs research.
Tb.: The Sunken area near to the lake used to be a mirror pond in the previous layout of the gardens, to reflect the gazebo.

Sculptures

T. *: The thing which used to be next to Central Hall, known as the crisp, cornflake etc. was really called ``Mayflower 1''.
U.: A visiting rugby team redecorated it one night and it was removed soon afterwards Nick Jackson managed to take this picture of the cleanup job afterwards. There was a picture of both sides in Nouse.
T.: After the admin removed the Mayflower, Aaardvark made a papier-mache replica and which was put up between Central Hall and Langwith.
T.: The Mayflower was once turned into a broken smiley face (ie. painted yellow, with one black eye somewhere).
F.: 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.)
T. *: 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.
T.: The sculpture out the back of Goodricke is made from bits of the last steam train in York.
T.: Some years ago (c.1990) there was an exhibition of sculptures (by Austin Wright) 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.
Tb.: Suspiciously similar sculptures can now be seen in the courtyards at King's Manor. These are the same sculptures, relocated to a safer haven.
F.: 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.)
Tb. *: It's not a statue of a stone Buddha; it's not even a stone statue of a real Buddha. It's bronze.
T. *: 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.
T.: Family Group, 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.
T.: 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.)
Tb.: 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.

Covered and Uncovered Walkways

U.: 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.
U.: If you took all the covered walkways and joined them end to end, you could walk to the Minster under cover.
U.: 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.
U.: Members of URY exposed themselves to dangerous amounts of asbestos when laying cabling along the covered walkways.

Signs

T.: 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.
T.: 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.

University Road Underpass

U.: This was originally designed as an access to College 4.
Fb.: 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.
U.: 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.
Tb.: There is an Underpass ghost.
T.: People used to keep boats there - the ends were blocked up to make a garage.
T.: The underpass is now used for it's intended purpose, with the installation of the cycle track to the newest Computer Science building.

The Quiet Place

T. *: 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.
U.: It was never built because next to Langwith is not a very quiet place.
T. *: The gazebo is now to be converted into a Quiet Place.

Miscellaneous

Tb.: The `crater' between Vanbrugh/Music/Biology dates from the original campus plan 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.
T.: During the Summer of 1995, all the grass died. This made Campus look completely different.

Departments and People

General Teaching

Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: When the uni first began, the teaching hours were from 10:15 to 16:15.
T.: 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.
T.: In order to get a degree, you need an overall mark of 35% or above.
Tb.: The record for the lowest mark of someone who'se got a degree is 35.2%

Physics

T. *: 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.
T.: 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.
Fb.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: A few years ago there two bowlers from Electronics who were very 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''.
Tb.: 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.
T.: Dave Weaver, age 23, was once asked for identification when buying a lottery ticket.
Tb. *: The Physics department has a ``Scientific Anomalies Research Group''.
T.: The Physics building once housed just the Department of Physics, before the fledgling department of Electronics went their own way.
T.: 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.
Fb.: Mat Hill in teaching labs used to be a roadie for Dire Straits.
Tb.: Mat Hill used to be a roadie for The Stranglers.
Tb.: Two physics technicians run one of the popular York ghost walks.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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''.
U.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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%.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.

Computer Science

See also the CompSci Folklore Page

Tb.
U.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T. *: 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.
U.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: The other, much 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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 one 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.
Tb.: The 1992 intake of Compsci undergraduates were affectionately known by one of the lecturers as ``The biggest bunch of tossers they've ever been''.
Tb.: 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''.
Tb.: 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)
Tb.: 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.
T.: In 1993, the compsci newsgroups were dominated by discussions on wasting system resources. These discussions wasted a lot of system resources.
F.: Tony Fisher used to be a member of ZZ Top.
T.: 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.
Great Moments in Computer Science Lectures:
T.: 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.; 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.); 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.; 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.
Tb.: A lecturer once caught someone asleep in one of the front rows of that lecture. He hit them on the head with his pointer.
U.: A lecturer came to the lecture to find two slide projectors. He went wild and attacked one (or both) of them.
Tb.: 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...
Tb.: 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
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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&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.
Tb.: 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.''
T: 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.

Computing Services

T. *: The domain name authorities overwrote the University's DNS details with those of York Regional Police, Ontario, causing much difficulty.
U.: 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).
Tb.: 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.
U.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: An undergraduate at York used to host the homepage of a certain sexual fetish on his Tower account - until his supervisor found out.
T.: There is a newsgroup called alt.alumni.york-university, but CompServ don't carry it.
T.: One of the main routers (a csrvbru) once caught fire (or at least, fried a network card) leading the networking on campus somewhat lacking.
T.: demon.co.uk once (1997) banned York connections to their news server due to `alleged' misuse by -bat.

Biology

Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.

Electronics

U.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: When the RAG hitsquad 'hit' an electronics lecturer during a lecture, he went mental and attacked the hit-squad with a slide-projector.

Chemistry

T. *: Chemistry lecturer poisons wife.
T. *: There was once (1980) a large-ish fire in the Chemistry Department.
Fb.: The fire started when a polymerisation reaction went to completion unexpectedly rapidly in the middle of the night. (Tb. Was caused by an electrical fault in a calculator power supply.)
U.: 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.
Tb.: A large part of A-block was destroyed. Afterwards, experimental work was restricted to the other three blocks.
Tb.: 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.

English

U.: 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.
Tb.: All the alcoholics in English have died out.

Maths

Tb.: 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.
Tb.: 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'.
T.: The following exchange once took place during a lecture given by Tony Sudbery.
Tb.: 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.

Psychology

Fb.: Psychology used to be housed in Wentworth, so they could observe people on the Goodricke-Wentworth bridge. (See bridges.)

History

Tb.: 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.
U.: 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.
Tb.: At least one interview with a prospective undergraduate was conducted entirely in Latin (the student in question was doing a Latin A-level).

Colleges Etc

General

Tb. *: From the original 1962 development plan, (with some interpretation, but it's pretty clear), the correct order of the Colleges is
U.: 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.
U.: 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.)
Fb.: 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.''
Tb.: Every time there is a false alarm in a college, the Fire Brigade charges the University several hundred pounds call-out charge.
T.: Many of the room keys in colleges will open more than one bedroom.
T.: 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).
T.: 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.)
Tb.: College identity isn't as strong as it used to be.
Tb.: The record for number of glasses of wine drunk at a Provost's party is 16 (at Vanbrugh).
T.: Allocation of rooms in college is deliberately engineered to mix people of different subjects.
T.: When first opened, the colleges were sex-segregated by corridor.

Derwent

Tb.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: If you find a new way of crashing Derwent Barbecue, then they let you stay.
T.: 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.
T. *: Another successful method of entry to the barbecue was via a hot air balloon.
T.: Also, people have used scuba gear to get in for free.
T.: 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.
U.: Looking at the walls from across Derwent Balcony (above the Derwent well area), you can see painted on the wall alternative designs for Campus.
T.: There is a Derwent Challenge (cf the Wentworth Challenge) - to walk on the very smalll ledge above the open flood drain at the between Derwent D-Block and the bicycle shed.

Langwith

Tb.: Langwith college is named after Langwith common, an area of land near the university; and the deserted village which stands there.
Tb.: 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 Nouse.
U.: During the summer of 1996, Langwith D block was completely gutted and refurbished. This was due to an uncontrollable cockroach infestation.
T. *: For a time, there was a tramp living in a bathroom in C block, but he was chased away by a cleaner.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.

Alcuin

T.: 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.
T.: 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).
T.: 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''.
U.: 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.
Fb.: The beds in the student blocks are so narrow because the college was built with money from the Quakers
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T. *: Alcuin bar has only recently been converted into an American Theme Bar.
Tb.: Alcuin bar does cocktails sometimes, but runs out of ice within the first few minutes.
Tb.: Alcuin was/is the only college with a yearbook.
T.: 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.

College 4

T.: 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.
F.: Was going to be named ``Sterne College'' (T. The initial `S' had been reserved for the Heslington Stables.)
Tb.: Was going to be called Alcuin College, when College 4 wasn't built they gave the name to College 3.

Vanbrugh

T.: Vanbrugh is named after Sir John Vanbrugh who, in 1699, designed Castle Howard -- the largest house in Yorkshire.
U.: 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.
Tb.: The large expanse of concrete between Vanbrugh and Central Hall is called Vanbrugh Paradise.
Tb.: X-block was going to be called D-block, until they realised it would be abbreviated to V/D block.
T.: 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).
U.: Some people from V/A, V/B, V/C blocks believe V/X block is haunted. It is known as ``The Dreaded X block''.
T.: 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.
T. *: In 1988 when there was a Real Fire(TM), the fire brigade had trouble trying to persuade the spods in vuft from leaving their computers.
T. *: 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?).
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: It was once said that when asked for directions, if you point to Vanbrugh, you're usually right.

Goodricke

Tb.: Goodricke college is named after the astronomer John Goodricke who discovered the binary system Algol.
Tb.: The rough-looking stretch of concrete next to the lake, between the bar and the common room, is called Goodricke Beach.
T.: 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 above); 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.
Tb.: 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)
Fb.: The University has mortgaged Goodricke C block, since, should they default on the loan the building society wouldn't bother to repossess it.
T.: 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.
U.: 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.
T.: 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.
Fb.: The new water jets were purchased at huge cost from a little-renowned water sculpture artist.

Wentworth

F.: Wentworth college is named after the penitentiary in the quality Australian drama series ``Prisoner cell-block H''.
T. *: Wentworth college is named after Thomas Wentworth, sometime Sheriff of Yorkshire.
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: After the infamous OU murder the entirety of that corridor was redecorated, so that room wouldn't stand out.
T.: 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.
U.: They were filled in in summer 1996 because the water was washing away the foundations.
Tb.: They were filled in in summer 1996 because access for window cleaning etc. wasn't too great.
U.: 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.
T.: 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.)
Tb.: That tube that connects Wentworth C block to the main building is a fire exit and only to be used in an emergency.
Fb.: The tube is made entirely from plastic.

James

Fb.: James college is named after the modern popular beat combo James.
T.: James college is named after Lord James, who was the founding vice-chancellor of the university.
F.: The modern popular beat combo James is named after Lord James, its founding bass guitarist.
U.: 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.
U.: 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.
U.: 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.
T.: In 1995, there was a petition to name College 8 after Paul Spencer.

Halifax

Tb.: The first builder went bust just after starting work.
T.: Not finished on time, students got stuck out in PRS until Christmas.
Tb.: When first opened, the plumbing was a bit suspect - there were reports of exploding toilets.

Wildlife

T.: 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).
Fb.: There is a duck cull during Christmas (done during Christmas so there's no student protest.)
T.: During the day, the main animals on campus are ducks, geese, etc. At night, there's lots of rabbits, and some bats.
T.: 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.
U.: 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.
T.: The pike was nicknamed `George' and has been known to attack students in boats on the lake.
Tb.: George the pike is dead.
Fb.: 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).
Tb.: The large fish in the lake have been seen to eat ducklings.
T.: At the north side of Spring Lane Bridge, there's a bird identification panel.
Tb.: Some of the campus waterfowl are not native to the UK.
Tb.: Back when the lake was built, some ducks and geese were actually imported onto the lake. Nobody anticipated the population explosion.
Tb.: There's one duck with a red and yellow head who's more aggressive than the others. He was nicknamed ``Beer Monster'' by students.
T.: A duck has actually been known to collide with a student whilst the duck was flying. (What the student was doing is not recorded.)
T.: ``Feeding ducklings bread kills them''. The bread expands when wet, causing the duckling's stomach to explode. (This message was in Daily Info for nearly every day in the summer term of 1993).
T.: 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 memorial group.

Students

Student Union

T.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: During the late 60s, early 70s, a dog stood for SU presidency. (Did it win?)
T.: The Ideal UGM would have all 5000 or so students attend, but there's no venue on campus large enough for that many students.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: -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.
T.: The SU used to have offices in Goodricke, on the corridor now used by YSTV and Maths.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
T. *: York used to hold the record for the greatest number of people to stand on a postbox.
T.: Goodricke JCR used to make T-shirts with the college motto: ``Goodricke Gorillas - where the Balls are'' in reference to the sculpture of algol.
T.: An inflatable sex doll and a Hoover have been elected onto Goodricke JCR at some time.
T.: 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.

Student Societies

Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.*: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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 "Daily Info" called ``Daily Dis-info'', and sabotaging the 1995 Open day by putting up strange notices (Anyone remember "Campus Goose Services"?). The Aaardvark web pages live on in exile, in somewhat original and somewhat different forms.
Tb.: 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".
T.: 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)
Fb.: These letters to the Guardian are part of the Aaardvark shenanigan.
U.: 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.
T.: ``disco [biscuit|biskit]'' is a synonym for Ecstasy (E).
T.: In 1982, the anarchy society flour-bombed an exec-meeting. (Such societies no longer appear in the SU handbook)
T.: 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.
T.: In 1987, there was a Campus wide dating agency called ``Fix-it'', but it wasn't a success.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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!
Tb.: W.E.S. (Women's Engineers Soc) has more men than women. (It certainly did once upon a time.)

Campus Media

Fb. *: The long running campus newspaper ``Nouse'' was so called by its first editor as a pun on the words ``No use''.
T.: 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.
T.: URY was the first licensed independent radio station in the UK. (See the URY Homepage more information.)
T.: 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.
T.: 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).
Tb.: 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.)
T.: Even parts of campus very near URY can't pick it up nowadays. Some people are bothered by this. (Now out of date).
T.: 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!)
T.: URY Today (2004). 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.
F.: 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). (URY now broadcasts on FM using a restricted power license for 2 weeks a year).
T.: 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.
U.: YSTV was the first licensed independent TV station in the UK.
T. *: YSTV held world record for longest program directed by a single person.
T.: YSTV missed the death of General de Gaulle through not listening in to Radio 2 through the morning he died.
T.: 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.
T.: 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?)

Misc

T.: 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 photograph of the scissors taken by Mike Cohler, and another taken by Nick Jackson. The University News Sheet (July 1992) puts the date as 8 June, and carries yet another photo.
Tb.: 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.)
U.: 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).
Tb. *: Harry Enfield used to be a student at York (Derwent, Politics). He did not complete his course.
Tb.: Several York students have become MPs, and the Prime minister of Portugal was here, studying Economics for a DPhil in the seventies.
Tb.: The daughter of Nelson Mandela applied to York to do womens studies.
T.: There was an unfortunate undergraduate with the name of Ewan Kerr.
Tb.: 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.
U.: Someone once drove a mini into the ground floor of the library.
U.: The record for the `pint in every bar' barcrawl challenge is 18 minutes.
T.: 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.
Tb.: 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.
T.: A student once got a bike in the post. It is not known if the porters tried to get it in his pigeon hole.
T.: The species of moth Hippotion hateleyi, from the South Pacific island of Pitcairn, is named after ex-York student Jonathan Hateley, who discovered it.
T.: The University are introducing Mondex cards from October 1996, as part of a plan to phase out cash on campus.
Tb.: 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.)
U.: The largest number of students to sleep in a single room (Vanbrugh A block average sized room) is 10 (plus or minus a few).
T. *: 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 Admin set off the fire alarm.
Tb.: 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.)
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: 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?''
Tb.: 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.
Tb.: Cleaners cannot be shocked by anything that students get up to, and in fact hate conference guests far more.
U.: 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.
T.: 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''
Tb.: -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.
T.: Some students ``accidentally'' created a local newsgroup alt.york.kitchen-possy 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.)
T. *: Unknown hacker breaks into Tower one bank holiday, undergraduate logs on as root and kicks him off.
T.: 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.
Tb.: The most common name amongst York students is `Chris'.
Tb.: The most popular conversation topic amongst York Students is that of different English accents, closely followed by ``What A-levels did you do''.
T.: 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.
T.: There is a cocktail called lake water: coke and orange juice, preferably old-style university syrupy coke and the oj concentrate stuff.
T.: 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.
Tb.: When CompServ got a new and more powerful computer (a DEC 10) in 1976, it's users mostly played Star Trek on it.

Porters

T.: 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 £100 for 10 minutes work''.
T.: There was a legendary Derwent Porter "Charlie" and his identical twin brother, who worked for Securicor. During the 70s.

Misc

T.: There is a ``NatWest'' logo engraved into the side of the Music building (the side facing the car-park).
Tb.: The Deramore Arms public house (Heslington) had (pre summer 1996) pizza on the menu but none has ever been seen in the pub.
Tb.: The Charles XII public house (Heslington) has the second highest turnover of any pub in Yorkshire (first being Leeds SU Bar).
T. *: Jimi Hendrix played the University.
T. *: Marianne Faithful played a summer ball at King's Manor.
T. *: Genesis and Pink Floyd also played in one of the colleges (not the same night).
Tb.: Jimmy White and Dennis Taylor once played (snooker in) Central Hall.
T. *: Episode of Brookside spin-off series filmed on campus.
Fb.: Some of ``A very peculiar practice'' was filmed on campus.
U.: 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.
Fb.: 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''.
T. *: 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.
Tb.: 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. (University Magazine Dec 1994)
T.: Blackwell's Bookshop used to be Godfrey's Bookshop. (Until 1997 there was still a direction sign on the front of the JBM library.)
T.: 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.
T.: One of the original heating boilers, after 30 years of use, was sold to a coconut fibre processing plant in Pakistan.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: 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.
T.: Someone eating some sort of fish in Langwith dining room once found a fishing hook in their fish.

Links to more York Folklore

(There should be more than this - send 'em in!)

Account of a famous Vanbrugh bed-stealing episode.
Student's Guide to the University of Pork

York Campus Folklore

My version of Kipper(Now folklore)

Disclaimer

Contents

Key to Listed Legends

Buildings

General

Student Union Building

Central Hall

Library

Chemistry Water Tower (aka the mushroom)

The Water Tower On The Hill

Biology Clock Tower

The New Biology Building

Physics

Computer Science Buildings

Psychology Buildings

Sports Centre

Sir Jack Lyons

Bleachfield

Kings' Manor

Landscape Features

The Lake

Bridges

Siward's Howe

Heslington Hall Gardens

Sculptures

Covered and Uncovered Walkways

Signs

University Road Underpass

The Quiet Place

Miscellaneous

Departments and People

General Teaching

Physics

Computer Science

Computing Services

Biology

Electronics

Chemistry

English

Maths

Psychology

History

Colleges Etc

General

Derwent

Langwith

Alcuin

College 4

Vanbrugh

Goodricke

Wentworth

James

Halifax

Wildlife

Students

Student Union

Student Societies

Campus Media

Misc

Porters

Misc

Links to more York Folklore