Introduction to Historic O&CSS Videos
This page displays a selection of historic O&CSS videos. The first short clip is of the 1928 Varsity Match at Weymouth, which Cambridge won 38½-25½. That victory initiated a series of six successive wins for Cambridge – in the times of Stewart Morris, Peter Scott, and John Winter. Pathé News announce the event as the 8th Varsity Match, but it was in fact the 12th match. There were three matches in 1912-14 before the 1st World War, and the fixture re-started in 1920 at Oulton Broad.
1928 Clip Details and Some History
The two-minute clip was produced by editing a five-minute Pathé News clip that contained quite a lot of repetitive material. Some of the original audio comments were inaccurate, so the clip incorporates a new commentary. This new commentary incorrectly states that the order of appearance of the teams is not known, and that there is a minder in each boat. The start of the clip shows the Oxford team first (names unknown) and Cambridge second (G C Tozer, F P Usborne, O A Jones, P A Tritton, P M Munroe, S H Morris). The racing was two boats a side and three undergraduates crewed in each of the two boats – taking their turn at helming over the six races. In 1930 the match standardised on three boats a side. In 1937 the ‘9¼, 8, etc.’ points system was adopted. From 1961 races won rather than overall points have decided the result.
How to Control the Video Players
Play the historic O&CSS videos below one at a time or you will get some strange results! Click the big forward arrow in the centre of the video to start it. ‘Mouse-Over’ the video while it is playing to get back the video control bar.
1984 Jubilee Event
The following two clips cover the April 1984 Jubilee Invitation Team Racing event held at Farmoor. The Biggs Wall construction company sponsored the production of an instructional DVD of the event, and the Society presented it to the RYA to assist the popularisation of team racing.
1984 Jubilee Prize Giving
In the prize-giving clip below (NO SOUND!), Stewart Morris, then Secretary Davis Hare, organisers Chris Pugh and Andrew Hattersley, and a tankard intended for each competitor are prominent. John Redding (Nottingham Outlaws – nearest the camera) and Chris Atkins (Granchester Flash – second from camera) are also in the clip. They are making a joint winners speech, half a sentence each at a time. This was because a supposedly vital protest to decide the winner was still running.
First Flash (Chris Atkins, Will Henderson, Roger Yeoman) and then Outlaws (Jon Redding, Charles Stanley, Nigel Allso?) were declared the winners (but no trophy!), because of wrong scoring. Page 56 of Jeremy Atkins’ history of the Society records the details of this confusion.
Interview With Stewart Morris
Stewart Morris is interviewed in this clip, at the 1984 Jubilee Event. He reflects on the evolution of team racing in the UK – up to the early 1980’s.
2010 Annual Dinner
This clip shows scenes from the 2010 dinner in the Naval Club, London. The dinner now takes place in Oxford after the annual Generations Event.
Generations Winner Presentation
This clip shows the presentation of the Bell Trophy for the Generations Event to the winning Oxford Current Students team at the Annual Dinner in Kellogg College, Oxford on 29th September 2018.
Loving Cup Ceremony
This final clip shows the progress of the Society’s Loving Cup Ceremony at the Annual Dinner in Kellog College, Oxford on 29th September 2018. Note the second participant encourging the first to sit down – so that (correctly) there are only three people on their feet at any one time.