Patrick Comerford
I spent much of Friday in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where I had a magnetic resonance scan (CMR) of my heart or cardiac magnetic scan.
This latest hospital visit also reminded me of the time I spent in the John Radcliffe Hospital in March 2022 after I was transferred from Milton Keynes Hospital following a stroke.
This time, I was in the Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance (OCMR). This time, I had a cannula inserted into my right arm, and I was so wired up I joked that my heart beat was probably capable of keeping alight the Christmas tree in the hospital reception area.
It was a long day that involved making sure bus journeys were co-ordinated between Stony Stratford, Buckingham, Oxford and the hospital in Headington, and the return journeys again in the evening. Cancellations, diversions and rerouting meant the return journeys did not go as smoothly as I had planned – I left the hospital at about 3:30 and got home five hours later.
In all, it was almost an 11-hour day. But a day in Oxford is always a bonus. Although the winter darkness, my hospital appointment and the lengthy bus journeys did not allow much time for sight-seeing, there was time (of course) to visit Blackwell’s bookshop on Broad Street and to enjoy the Christmas entertainment on the street in front of Trinity College.
I thought of looking for Choral Evensong in one of the college chapels, but had been long and demanding, and darkness had closed in on Oxford before I ever got back from the hospital to the centre of Oxford.
On the other hand, the bus between the city centre and the hospital gave me a fresh understanding of the geography and streets of Oxford. Twice I passed Rhodes House on South Parks Road, and it is interesting to observe how the name of Rhodes House has caused far less controversy in Oxford than the continuing presence of the statue of Cecil Rhodes and the name of the Rhodes Building at Oriel College.
Rhodes House on South Parks Road was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. In his will of Rhodes created scholarships that became known as Rhodes Scholarships, administered by the Rhodes Trust.
The Rhodes Trust was set up in 1902 under the terms and conditions of Cecil Rhodes’s will in 1899, to support scholars selected from the citizens of 14 named areas to study at the University of Oxford. Rhodes Scholarships for up to three years have been awarded annually since 1903.
Rhodes House was commissioned by the Rhodes Trust as a memorial to Cecil Rhodes, to act as a centre for research for the ‘British Empire and Commonwealth, of African and the United States of America’ and to be the headquarters of the Rhodes Scholarship system and the Rhodes Trust.
The Rhodes Trust bought a two-acre site from Wadham College almost 100 years ago in 1925, and Rhodes House was designed by the architect Sir Herbert Baker (1862-1946), who has been described as ‘Cecil Rhodes’s own architect’. It was built in 1926-1928, and when it was completed in 1928, the building and its library were handed over to Oxford University.
Rhodes House is a listed, Grade II* building, and the architectural influences include Cape Dutch farmhouses, traditional and English country mansions to the Arts and Crafts movement of the 1900s. This is reflected in the large beams, trans-domed windows and the tetra-style portico.
The square rubble walls were designed to be consistent with the Wwstern European 17th century architecture found in many of the university buildings. Other features include the open-well staircase made from oak, featuring shaped balusters and carved eagle finials.
Ever since it opened in 1929, Rhodes House has been a home for Rhodes Scholars from around the world. Many of them have gone on to distinguished careers as leaders, scientists, researchers, writers, artists, doctors and sportspeople. Rhodes House has also been host to leading world figures from Albert Einstein to Nelson Mandela.
Albert Einstein delivered a series of three lectures at Rhodes House in 1931. The blackboard he used is now on display at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford.
In his will, Rhodes expressed the hope that the scholars would be a ‘moral force of character’ who would help to ‘render war impossible’ through promoting understanding between the great powers.
Rhodes Scholars in the past have included Douglas Steere (1901-1995), an American Quaker theologian; Bram Fischer (1908 -1975), the South African lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia Trial; Sir John Templeton (1912-2008), the American-born British philanthropist and founder of Templeton College, Oxford; the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor; Edward de Bono (1933-2021), the Maltese writer who originated the term ‘lateral thinking’; former Australian prime ministers Bob Hawke and Malcolm Turnbull; the American singer songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who died earlier this year; former US President Bill Clinton; George Stephanopoulos, American television host and political commentator; and Naomi Wolf, the American feminist-turned-conspiracy theorist who has inspired the prizewinning book Doppelganger, A trip into the mirror world, by the other Naomi Klein, a regular columnist in The Guardian.
Past wardens of Rhodes House have included the philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny (1989-1999).
Nelson Mandela joined his name with Cecil Rhodes in the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in 2002. Today, the Rhodes Trust provides the Rhodes Scholarships with the support of the Atlantic Philanthropies, set up by the Irish-American philanthropist Church Feeney, and scholarships are now offered also to students from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, China, and West Africa.
When Rhodes House was completed all the material relating to the British Empire and the US were transferred from the Bodleian Library to form the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House. The library moved to the Weston Library in 2014 and is now called the Commonwealth and African Studies Collections.
Rhodes House remains an important part of Oxford’s architecture and a world-class venue for gathering and learning. Recently, Rhodes House has completed a three-year refurbishing and rebuilding project, designed by Stanton Williams Architects, creating new spaces that it says makes it ‘fit for the 21st century and beyond’.
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