‘I was interviewed for Cambridge… by Kingsley Amis’
It's Oxbridge interview season. Fielding recalls the day he was mowed down by the wuthering scorn of the world's greatest satiristTis the season of the Oxbridge interview.Ah, the tyranny of those dreaming spires. Why do they hold such malign sway?Perky...
The rime of the raving dotard
Learning poems by heart at school has numerous benefits - not least having them shouted at you on the street by erstwhile pupils"Water! Water! Everywhere!" yells a voice across the darkness.I'm wending my way down the Portobello Road. It is past midnig...
Students wave placards and I’m haunted by the ghosts of demos past
Fielding remembers when teachers – inspired by Allen Ginsberg, RD Laing and Jimi Hendrix – were going to change the world and save the working classI walk down the streets of Bloomsbury. I'm returning to some ancient haunts. I learned to be a teach...
