The Greeks have a word (or two) for it: 65, Odyssey (η Οδύσσεια) and Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς)

How many would-be critics of ‘The Odyssey’ know the meaning of ‘Odyssey’ or the name of Odysseus? … a sailing ship at sunset in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey is continuing to be a box-office success, and is continuing to inspire criticism and evoke responses not only from film critics but from classicists too and also from people interested in Greek culture and language.

In my reflections in prayer diary this morning, I referred to the small island of Gavdos off the south coast of Crete which is said to be the Ogygia of Calypso where Odysseus stayed for seven years. I have often looked out across to this Ogygia or Gavdos from Preveli Monastery, and so the fires that have devastated the forests and landscape in the Preveli area in the past week are particularly poignant and heart-breaking for me.

But as I was reading some of the more absurd nit-picking about Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, I wondered too how many of those would-be classicists, including Elon Musk, with his very weird observations, have ever read The Odyssey in its original Homeric Greek, how many understand that it is epic poetry and not historical narrative, and how many actually try to understand the meaning of the name Odyssey or the name of the hero Odysseus?

The Odyssey (η Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia) is one of two major epics in ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences.

Like the Iliad, the Odyssey is divided into 24 books. It follows Odysseus, also known in Latin as Ulysses, the heroic king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the ten-year Trojan War. His journey from Troy to Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which he encounters many perils and all of his crew members are killed.

During Odysseus’s long absence, he is presumed dead, leaving his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus to contend with a group of unruly suitors vying for Penelope’s hand in marriage.

The Odyssey was first composed around the eighth or seventh century BCE, and by the mid-sixth century BCE, it was part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer’s authorship was accepted, but contemporary scholarship assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed independently, as part of long oral traditions.

In a time when illiteracy was widespread, the poem was performed for an audience by an aoidos (ἀοιδός) or skilled singer.

The key themes in the epic include those of νόστος (nostos, return or homecoming), which gives us the concept of nostalgia, wandering, ξενία (xenia, guest-friendship), testing and omens. while the Iliad centres on the exploits of soldiers and kings during the Trojan War, some groups in the Odyssey, such as women and slaves, have larger roles than in other works of ancient literature, making the poem relevant to today’s agendas.

The Odyssey is one of the most significant works of the western canon. Its first complete English translation was published in 1616 and it remains one of the most enduring narratives in literature.

Posters for ‘The Odyssey’ at Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς or Ὀδυσεύς, Odysseús or Odyseús) of Greek mythology was known in Roman mythology by the Latin variant Ulysses (Ulysses or Ulixes).

Odysseus was the son of Laërtes and Anticlea, the husband of Penelope, and the father of Telemachus, Acusilaus, and Telegonus. He is cunning with an edge of pride, a liar and a storyteller, too smart by far so that he can wriggle his way out of any tight corner. He has a determination to get his homecoming at almost any cost.

He is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility. The term πολῠ́τροπος (polytropos) literally means ‘man of many turns’, while some translations ‘man of twists and turns’ and ‘a complicated man’. This, in turn, gives him the epithet Ὀδυσσεύς ὁ πολύμητις (Odysseus ho polymetis), Odysseus the Cunning, μῆτις (mêtis) meaning ‘cunning intelligence’.

Ὀδυσ(σ)εύς (Odys(s)eus) is used as the form of his name starting in the epic period and through the classical period. But other forms and variations are found. In vase inscriptions, the variants include Oliseus (Ὀλισεύς), Olyseus (Ὀλυσεύς), Olysseus (Ὀλυσσεύς), Olyteus (Ὀλυτεύς), Olytteus (Ὀλυττεύς) and Ōlysseus (Ὠλυσσεύς). Other forms of his name include Oulixēs (Οὐλίξης) and Oulixeus (Οὐλιξεύς).

But the etymology of his name remains unknown. Ancient authors link his name to the Greek verbs ὀδύσσομαι (odussomai) ‘to be wroth against, to hate’; ὀδύρομαι (oduromai), ‘to lament, bewail’; or even to ὄλλυμι (ollumi) ‘to perish’, ‘to be lost’.

Homer relates the name to various forms of this verb in references and puns. In Book 19 of the Odyssey, where Odysseus’s early childhood is recounted, Euryclea asks the boy’s grandfather Autolycus to name him. Euryclea seems to suggest a name like Πολυάρητος (Polyaretos), ‘for he has much been prayed for’.

But Autolycus, ‘apparently in a sardonic mood’, decided to give the child another name recalling ‘his own experience in life’: ‘Since I have been angered (ὀδυσσάμενος odyssamenos) with many, both men and women, let the name of the child be Odysseus’.

Odysseus also receives the patronymic epithet Laertiades (Λαερτιάδης), ‘son of Laërtes’.

In Latin, he was known as Ulixēs or Ulyssēs, but the origins of the Latin form have different explanations. However, I sometimes wonder whether James Joyce’s great work Ulysses would have the same impact if he had named it Odysseus or even The Odyssey.

For my reflections on Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey, see this posting on 21 July 2027.

For the word Ὀδύσσεια (Odyssey) alone, see an earlier posting in this series: The Greeks have a word for it: 39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια (7 May 2024).

A poster at the bus station in Rethymnon reminded me I was setting out on an Odyssey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Previous words in this series:

1, Neologism, Νεολογισμός.

2, Welcoming the stranger, Φιλοξενία.

3, Bread, Ψωμί.

4, Wine, Οίνος and Κρασί.

5, Yogurt, Γιαούρτι.

6, Orthodoxy, Ορθοδοξία.

7, Sea, Θᾰ́λᾰσσᾰ.

8,Theology, Θεολογία.

9, Icon, Εἰκών.

10, Philosophy, Φιλοσοφία.

11, Chaos, Χάος.

12, Liturgy, Λειτουργία.

13, Greeks, Ἕλληνες or Ρωμαίοι.

14, Mañana, Αύριο.

15, Europe, Εὐρώπη.

16, Architecture, Αρχιτεκτονική.

17, The missing words.

18, Theatre, θέατρον, and Drama, Δρᾶμα.

19, Pharmacy, Φᾰρμᾰκείᾱ.

20, Rhapsody, Ραψῳδός.

21, Holocaust, Ολοκαύτωμα.

22, Hygiene, Υγιεινή.

23, Laconic, Λακωνικός.

24, Telephone, Τηλέφωνο.

25, Asthma, Ασθμα.

26, Synagogue, Συναγωγή.

27, Diaspora, Διασπορά.

28, School, Σχολείο.

29, Muse, Μούσα.

30, Monastery, Μοναστήρι.

31, Olympian, Ολύμπιος.

32, Hypocrite, Υποκριτής.

33, Genocide, Γενοκτονία.

34, Cinema, Κινημα.

35, autopsy and biopsy

36, Exodus, ἔξοδος

37, Bishop, ἐπίσκοπος

38, Socratic, Σωκρατικὸς

39, Odyssey, Ὀδύσσεια

40, Practice, πρᾶξις

41, Idiotic, Ιδιωτικός

42, Pentecost, Πεντηκοστή

43, Apostrophe, ἀποστροφή

44, catastrophe, καταστροφή

45, democracy, δημοκρατία

46, ‘Αρχή, beginning, Τέλος, end

47, ‘Αποκάλυψις, Apocalypse

48, ‘Απόκρυφα, Apocrypha

49, Ἠλεκτρον (Elektron), electric

50, Metamorphosis, Μεταμόρφωσις

51, Bimah, βῆμα

52, ἰχθύς (ichthýs) and ψάρι (psari), fish.

53, Τὰ Βιβλία (Ta Biblia), The Bible

54, Φῐλοξενῐ́ᾱ (Philoxenia), true hospitality

55, εκκλησία (ekklesia), the Church

56, ναός (naos) and ἱερός (ieros), a church

57, Χριστούγεννα (Christougenna), Christmas

58, ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia), θεοφάνεια, (theopháneia), Epiphany and Theophany

59, Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros), the West Wind

60, Αύριο (Avrio), Tomorrow

61, καλημέρα (κaliméra), ‘Good Morning’, and καλαμάρι, κalamári, ‘squid’

62, Ελευθερία ή θάνατος, ‘Freedom or Death’

63, Ποδόσφαιρο, ‘Football’

64, καφές (coffee), Φραπές (frappé)

65, Odyssey (η Οδύσσεια) and Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς)

Series to be continued

Penelope waiting for Odysseus … Μαριάννα Βαλλιάνου, Η επιστροφή, Mariánna Valliánou, ‘The Return’

Why ‘The Odyssey’ is about more than heroes and monsters and looks at the temptations in our own journeys through life

The Odyssey is about more than war, ships and heroics … it is about the temptations along the journey of life … posters at Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge, yesterday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The Odyssey is one of the greatest stories ever told. It is a core part of the history, mythology and cultural heritage of Greece. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is already becoming one of the greatest films of the 21st century, and is already introducing many people to one of the greatest works of classical literature.

The ancient Greek epic poem by Homer, who also wrote The Iliad, tells the story Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he spends 20 years trying to return home: 10 years are spent fighting the Trojan War, and 10 years are spent travelling back home through the Mediterranean Sea.

Many Greeks are disappointed by the new film, expressing concerns that Greek actors were largely absent from major roles, that Athens was not included in the global promotional tour despite being the birthplace of the story, and that it uses very little Greek language and presents little that is authentic Greek culture. They say that a story so deeply rooted in Greece deserves meaningful Greek involvement.

In response, other Greeks are pointing out that this is Hollywood, not a history class. Indeed, the Odyssey itself is epic poetry and never was intended to be narrative, chronological history. Epic poetry and history have different functions, nor does any cinemagoer expect a Hollywood film to be textbook history.

The film opened in Greece last weekend, and is boasting the highest box office sales of any opening weekend this year. The calls for a boycott just may not be having any effect at all.

Far-right Greek extremists staged a protest outside the cinema hosting the premiere, handing out leaflets claiming the film ‘insults Greek history and civilisation’, condemning the casting choices, and using the slogan ‘Greece Belongs to the Greeks, the Odyssey Belongs to Homer.’ They claimed the film fails to honour Homer’s epic and called on audiences not to watch the film.

The extreme right Ethniko Metopo (Εθνικό Mέτωπο, National Front) used racist and fascist images and slogans in its protests outside cinemas at the weekend. They claimed the film ‘insults our history and culture’ and said: ‘Our lives, our history, and our civilisation will not become black.’
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But, historically, whoever said Helen of Troy was not a black woman, or did not have dark Minoan features? Indeed, who even believes Helen of Troy was a real, historical figure?

Who ever said Helen of Troy did not have dark Minoan hair and features? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I have yet to see the film, but hope to see it soon. Christopher Nolan looks like introducing a new generation to Homer, the Odyssey and the Iliad, as he dramatizes and retells the story of Odysseus and his encounters with different types of monsters and temptations as he tries to make his way back home to Ithaca from Troy.

I have encountered my own Cyclops and my own sea monsters in my journey in life too, I am sure, I too have come close to my own Scylla and Charybdis, and I too have been tempted to spend too much time among the lotus eaters.

It is a theme that I imagine is found in every culture. Jonah tries to delay heading off to Nineveh, and endures his own terrifying sea ordeals. When he arrives at Nineveh, the temptations and obstacles continue to divert his attention, and it takes him three full days to cross the city.

We all encounter distractions and temptations along our journeys in life, and Christopher Nolan’s film is one more telling of one of the greatest stories in literature.

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey tell the story of a 20-year search for home (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In a letter to Christopher Nolan, Herod Priovolos says that like generations of Greeks he grew up with Homer’s story. He says ‘Homer did not sing of Odysseus simply to entertain us with ships, storms, gods and monsters. He told the story because he understood what war, time, distance and loss can do to the human soul.’

And perhaps he is right to point out that the film catches the drama of the Odyssey but does not get to examine the real significance and meaning within the poetry.

Herod Priovolos points out how Odysseus leaves Ithaca as a king, a husband and a father. He returns 20 years later alone, exhausted and disguised as a beggar, carrying the memory of every companion who never made it home.

The monsters are not merely creatures created for spectacle. The Cyclops is power without justice, the Sirens are the beautiful voices that tempt us to abandon our purpose, Circe represents the danger of losing our humanity. Calypso offers Odysseus immortality, but even eternal life becomes a prison when the price is forgetting his wife, his son, his homeland and his own identity.

And, Priovolos continues, Ithaca is not merely an island. ‘Ithaca is the place that remembers you when the world no longer recognises your face. It is the home that remains alive inside you after everything else has been taken away. It is Penelope growing older while she waits. It is Telemachus becoming a man without his father. It is Argos surviving long enough to recognize his master one final time.’

Odysseus is not great simply because he defeats monsters, Priovolos writes. ‘He is great because he is proud, frightened, wounded, clever, imperfect and deeply human. He loses his companions, his youth, his name and 20 years of his life, yet he refuses to forget who he is. When he finally returns, Penelope does not recognize him through strength, glory or appearance. She tests him. Odysseus proves his identity by remembering the bed they built together around the roots of a living olive tree.’

For Priovolos, that is the heart of The Odyssey. Not the battles. Not the ships. Not the monsters. Two people standing before each other after 20 years, asking whether love, memory and identity can survive everything time has done to them.

‘That is why this poem has survived for almost 3,000 years. Every human being is trying to return to something: a home, a person, a lost part of themselves, or the life they had before the world changed them,’ he says.

‘So use Homer’s seas, gods, heroes and monsters. But please understand what you are touching,’ he tells Christopher Nolan and, of course, filmgoers. ‘The Odyssey was never truly about how far a man could travel. It was about how much the world could take from him before he stopped being himself, and whether, after losing almost everything, he could still find his way home.’

Penelope waiting for Odysseus … Μαριάννα Βαλλιάνου, Η επιστροφή, Mariánna Valliánou, ‘The Return’

I am reminded of the poem ‘Ithaka’ in which CP Cavafy transforms Homer’s account of the return of Odysseus to Ithaka. This transformation is a variation on how Dante and Tennyson handle the same theme. They offer an Odysseus who arrives home after a long absence only to find Ithaka less than fully satisfying and who soon makes plans to travel forth a second time.

However, Cavafy answers them by telling Odysseus that arriving in Ithaka is what he is destined for, and that he must keep that always in mind: one’s destiny, the inevitable end of the journey, is a thing to be faced for what it is, without illusions.

The meaning of Ithaka is in the voyage home that it inspired. It is not reaching home or again escaping its limitations once there that should occupy Odysseus so much as those elevated thoughts and rare excitement that are a product of the return voyage.

As Edmund Keeley says, this new perspective is what frees the voyager’s soul of the monsters, obstacles and angry gods, so that when the voyager reaches his Ithaka he will be rich not with what Ithaka has to offer him on his return, but with all that he has gained along the way, including his coming to know that this perspective on things, this unhurried devotion to pleasure and knowledge, is Ithaka’s ultimate value.

Ιθάκη, Κωνσταντίνος Π Καβάφης

Σα βγεις στον πηγαιμό για την Ιθάκη,
να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος,
γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις.
Τους Λαιστρυγόνας και τους Κύκλωπας,
τον θυμωμένο Ποσειδώνα μη φοβάσαι,
τέτοια στον δρόμο σου ποτέ σου δεν θα βρεις,
αν μέν’ η σκέψις σου υψηλή, αν εκλεκτή
συγκίνησις το πνεύμα και το σώμα σου αγγίζει.
Τους Λαιστρυγόνας και τους Κύκλωπας,
τον άγριο Ποσειδώνα δεν θα συναντήσεις,
αν δεν τους κουβανείς μες στην ψυχή σου,
αν η ψυχή σου δεν τους στήνει εμπρός σου.

Να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος.
Πολλά τα καλοκαιρινά πρωιά να είναι
που με τι ευχαρίστησι, με τι χαρά
θα μπαίνεις σε λιμένας πρωτοειδωμένους
να σταματήσεις σ’ εμπορεία Φοινικικά,
και τες καλές πραγμάτειες ν’ αποκτήσεις,
σεντέφια και κοράλλια, κεχριμπάρια κ’ έβενους,
και ηδονικά μυρωδικά κάθε λογής,
όσο μπορείς πιο άφθονα ηδονικά μυρωδικά
σε πόλεις Aιγυπτιακές πολλές να πας,
να μάθεις και να μάθεις απ’ τους σπουδασμένους.

Πάντα στον νου σου νάχεις την Ιθάκη.
Το φθάσιμον εκεί είν’ ο προορισμός σου.
Aλλά μη βιάζεις το ταξείδι διόλου.
Καλλίτερα χρόνια πολλά να διαρκέσει
και γέρος πια ν’ αράξεις στο νησί,
πλούσιος με όσα κέρδισες στον δρόμο,
μη προσδοκώντας πλούτη να σε δώσει η Ιθάκη.

Η Ιθάκη σ’ έδωσε τ’ ωραίο ταξείδι.
Χωρίς αυτήν δεν θάβγαινες στον δρόμο.
Άλλα δεν έχει να σε δώσει πια.

Κι αν πτωχική την βρεις, η Ιθάκη δεν σε γέλασε.
Έτσι σοφός που έγινες, με τόση πείρα,
ήδη θα το κατάλαβες η Ιθάκες τι σημαίνουν

Ithaka, Constantine P Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbours seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind –
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

– Constantine Cavafy (translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)

Christopher Nolan’s film ‘The Odyssey’ introduces a new generation to the world of classical Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

42 million blog readers and why 42 is the ‘Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything’

Title 42, from John Vernon Lord’s sketchbook

Patrick Comerford

I continue to be overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog, although the figures have slowed down this month after record-breaking and overpowering statistics last month. These figures passed 42 million late yesterday afternoon (24 June 2026), having passed the 41 million mark two weeks earlier (9 June 2026), the 40 million mark at the end of last month (28 May 2026) and 39 million a week earlier (22 May 2026). These figures passed the million mark six times last month (May 2026) and four times the month before (April 2026).

These viewing and reading figures are overwhelming and this blog continues to reach a volume of readers that I never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 21 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone.

The total number of hits last month was the highest ever, with over 5.8 million hits in May 2026, compared with previous one-month highs in March 2026 (over 4.5 million) and April (almost 4.4 million). May’s figure of over 5.8 million was astonishing, considering it took almost 11 years, from July 2010 until 27 March 2021, to reach what I then thought was the staggering figure of 5 million hits.

I first began blogging back in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the ten days of busiest traffic on this blog, three were last month (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three were in March, and one was in February:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)

• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)

The daily average was over 187,000 throughout May, but that figure was distorted by the exceptionally high number of hits on three days. There were about 145,000 or more hits a day last month, but they are about 60,000-70,000 a day in June, with over 1.6 million hits in June so far. Yet, ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.

The London Marathon in 2024 raised £42 million exclusively through the JustGiving platform

To put this latest figure of 42 million into perspective:

Jakarta is the world's most populous city, with an estimated population of almost 42 million residents. The Indonesian capital city has officially surpassed Tokyo to become the world's largest megacity, according to the UN World Urbanisation Prospects report.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called on the international community to strengthen support for the nearly 42 million refugees worldwide who have fled their homes to escape conflict, violence or persecution.

An estimated 42 million people across six IGAD member states – Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan and Uganda – face high levels of acute hunger.

In the US, 42 million people rely on Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps to put food on the table. They include 16 million children, 8 million people over the age of 60, and million veterans.

The French data protection authority (CNIL) fined the telecoms provider Free Mobile €42 million for GDPR and data breach failings.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Barclays Bank £42 million due to historical lax management of financial crime risks.

A record-breaking £42 million was raised exclusively through the JustGiving platform during the London Marathon in 2024.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched an appeal for $42 million to sustain essential health services and trauma care across Ukraine.

But, instead, let’s just humour ourselves with the figure 42 instead for a few moments.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the number 42 is the ‘Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything’, calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is. Thus, to calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer the size of a small planet was built from organic components and named ‘Earth’.

The Ultimate Question, ‘What do you get when you multiply six by nine’, is found by Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in the second book of the series, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This appeared first in the radio play and later in the book versions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It has been pointed out that 6 X 9 = 42 is in fact true … in base 13. That’s because 54=4*13+2 while ‘forty-two’ is 4*10+2. However, Adams claims not to have known that when he wrote it.

The fourth book in the series, the novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, has 42 chapters. According to the novel Mostly Harmless, 42 is the street address of Stavromula Beta.

In 1994, Adams created the 42 Puzzle, a game based on the number 42. There is some speculation that he chose the number 42 because it is also significant in Lewis Carrol’s Hunting of the Snark. But Adams says he picked the number simply as a joke, with no deeper meaning.

Lewis Carroll had famously recurring numbers in his works. He used Rule 42 in both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the introduction to The Hunting of the Snark, and Snark had a reference to the Baker having 42 boxes of clothes packed. Lewis Carroll was 42 when he wrote Snark, there are 42 illustrations in Wonderland and in Wonderland the King of Hearts announces in court: ‘Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court’.

Carroll lived in room number six, accessible through the seventh stairs in Christ Church, Oxford.

The number 42 also appears in James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake – as ‘fortytwo hairs off his uncrown’ and ‘as a taste for storik’s fortytooth’.

As for 42 million, 42 million minutes add up to approximately 79 years, 10 months and 7 days, using standard calendar averages. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take almost 80 years, from July or August 1946, to reach today’s figure of 42 million.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 100-120 people on average continue to read my daily prayer diary on this blog each morning. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700 to 840 or more people each week.

This evening, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 42 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 100-120 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

Daily prayer in the Kingdom Season: 29, Saturday 29 November 2025

‘The cross is the only path to resurrection. There is no other path’ (Nikos Kazantzakis) … the grave of Kazantzakis on the Martinengo Bastion in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We come to the end of this year’s Kingdom Season in the Church Calendar today, and Advent begins tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent (Sunday 30 November 2025). In the Church of England, today is set aside as a ‘Day of Intercession and Thanksgiving for the Missionary Work of the Church’.

Today promises to be a funday in Stony Stratford, with street music, dancing, craft sales and the Lantern Parade, all leading up to switching on the Christmas lights in the town at a traditional gathering at the Christmas Tree in the Market Square.

Before the day begins, before breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Praying that you may have the strength … to stand before the Son of Man’ (Luke 21: 34) … a damaged Byzantine fresco in the Museum of Christian Art in Iraklion, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 21: 34-36 (NRSVA):

34 [Jesus said:] ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness’ … flowers in a window at Peskesi restaurant in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

The scene for the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Luke 21: 34-36) has been set in the verses that immediately precede this reading. Christ is sitting in the Temple precincts, where he speaks about the Temple, the Nation, and the looming future.

Today’s Gospel reading continues in this apocalyptic theme, urging us to be ‘alert at all times’, praying that we may have the strength to ‘to stand before the Son of Man’ – an appropriate admonition as we enter the season of Advent.

This morning, I find myself asking both ‘what is the divine mission of Christ?’ and, in our response, what does it mean to ‘stand before the Son of Man’?

In The Last Temptation of Christ (1955), the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957) presents a tragic Christ wrestling all his life with the conflicting claims of his divine mission and duty and his human desire to live a normal life, to love and be loved, and to have a family. In this book, Christ summarises his purpose and mission: ‘I said only one word, brought only one message: “Love. Love – nothing else”.’

Writing about this book, Kazantzakis said: ‘I am certain that every free man who reads this book, so filled as it is with love, will more than ever before, love Christ.’

When the Church of Greece condemned Kazantzakis in 1955 and anathematised him, his response was prompt and clear: ‘You gave me a curse, Holy fathers, I give you a blessing: may your conscience be as clear as mine and may you be as moral and religious as I.’ («Μου δώσατε μια κατάρα, Άγιοι πατέρες, σας δίνω κι εγώ μια ευχή: Σας εύχομαι να ‘ναι η συνείδηση σας τόσο καθαρή, όσο είναι η δική μου και να ‘στε τόσο ηθικοί και θρήσκοι όσο είμαι εγώ.»).

I have had lunch in the past with friends in Peskesi, a restored historical mansion in Iraklion. It was once the home of Captain Polyxigkis, a Cretan freedom fighter from the 1860s who features in Freedom and Death (Ο Καπετάν Μιχάλης, Captain Michalis), the 1953 semi-historical novel by Kazantzakis.

The name of Peskesi (Πεσκέσι, ‘Gift’) is inspired by his semi-autobiographical Report to Greco (Αναφορά στον Γκρέκο), where Kazantzakis addresses his Cretan ‘grandfather,’ Domenikos Theotokopoulos, El Greco:

«Μὰ εἶχες γίνει φλόγα. Ποῦ νὰ σὲ βρῶ, πῶς νὰ σὲ δῶ, τί πεσκέσι νὰ σοῦ φέρω νὰ θυμηθεῖς τὴν Κρήτη καὶ ν’ ἀνέβεις ἀπὸ τὰ μνήματα; Μονάχα ἡ φλόγα μπορεῖ νὰ βρεῖ μπροστά σου ἔλεος· ἄχ, νὰ μποροῦσα νὰ γίνω φλόγα νὰ σμίξω μαζί σου». ‘But you had turned into a flame. Where shall I find you, how shall I see you, what gift shall I bring you to make you remember Crete, to make you raise from the dead? Only the flame can be at your mercy; oh, if only I could become a flame to meet you.’

In his introduction to Report to Greco, Kazantzakis says ‘My entire soul is a cry, and all my work the commentary on that cry.’

He goes on to say: ‘Every man worthy of being called a son of man bears his cross and mounts his Golgotha. Many, indeed most, reach the first or second step, collapse pantingly in the middle of the journey, and do not attain the summit of Golgotha, in other words the summit of their duty: to be crucified, resurrected, and to save their souls. Afraid of crucifixion, they grow fainthearted; they do not know that the cross is the only path to resurrection. There is no other path.’

Later in that book, he writes: ‘Whoever climbed the Lord’s mountain had to possess clean hands and an innocent heart; otherwise the Summit would kill him. Today the doorway is deserted. Soiled hands and sinful hearts are able to pass by without fear, for the Summit kills no longer.’

And he paraphrases the Prophet Elijah: ‘Tomorrow, go forth and stand before the Lord. A great and strong wind will blow over you and rend the mountains and break in pieces the rocks, but the Lord will not be in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord will not be in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord will not be in the fire. And after the fire a gentle, cooling breeze. That is where the Lord will be. This is how the spirit comes. After the gale, the earthquake, and fire: a gentle, cooling breeze. This is how it will come in our own day as well. We are passing through the period of earthquake, the fire is approaching, and eventually (when? after how many generations?) the gentle, cool breeze will blow.’ (see I Kings 19: 11-13).

Doménikos Theotokópoulos or ‘El Greco’ … a marble bust by Nikos Sofialakis in the centre of Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 29 November 2025):

Saint Andrew is celebrated in the Church Calendar on 30 November. However, because tomorrow is the First Sunday in Advent, Saint Andrew’s Day has been transferred to Monday in the Church of England.

The Thronal Feast of the Apostle Andrew is being celebrated in the Ecumenical Patriarchate this weekend, and in my prayers this morning I am keeping in mind Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Phanar this weekend. Patriarch Bartholomew will welcome the Pope this afternoon, and Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria will also be present. These celebrations and this visit are part of the continuing events marking the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed and the Council of Nicaea in the year 325.

The theme this week (23 to 29 November) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Gender Justice’ (pp 58-59). This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today invites us to pray:

We look forward to the age of peace, when violence is banished, both women and men can love and be loved, and the work and wealth of our world is justly shared.

The Collect:

Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may by you be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God the Father,
help us to hear the call of Christ the King
and to follow in his service,
whose kingdom has no end;
for he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, one glory.

Collect on the Eve of Advent I:

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness …’ (Luke 21: 34) … a sign behind the bar in a pub in Foynes, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Finding Irish links and links with CS Lewis in a plaque in the cloisters in Durham Cathedral

The monument to Archdeacon George Hans Hamilton in the cloisters in Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

As I was walking through the cloisters in Durham Cathedral during my recent visit, I noticed a plaque commemorating George Hans Hamilton (1823-1903), who was Archdeacon of Lindisfarne (1865-1882), Archdeacon of Northumberland (1882-1905), and a Canon of Durham Cathedral.

The plaque caught my attention because his name indicated and the fading coat-of-arms on the memorial indicated, to me at least, not only that Archdeacon Hamilton was Irish but that he was part of the Hamilton family who are closely identified with both Balbriggan and Skerries in north Co Dublin.

I have been familiar with both towns since my schooldays, until recently I regularly went for walks on the beach in Skerries, and I often did Sunday duty in Holmpatrick Church, Skerries, and Saint George’s Church, Balbriggan.

There is a large monument to one branch of the Hamilton family in the centre of Skerries, and some memorial tablets from an older church that have survived in the new church when it was being built in the 1860s.

One curious monument to the memory of James Hamilton of Sheepshill and Holmpatrick reads in part: ‘A gentleman who during a long and most active life displayed that zealous energy and ingenious integrity that forms a useful and virtuous man … He died the 20th of October 1800, in the 73rd year of his age … Of the uncommonly numerous offspring of thirty six children he was survived by eight sons and eight daughters.’

James Hamilton’s descendants include Richard Branson. However, with 36 children born over 200 years ago, Hamilton must be the ancestor of thousands upon thousands of people today. But … 36 children? A most active life that displayed zealous energy indeed! Useful and virtuous? What about his poor wife or wives?

Archdeacon Hamilton, on the other hand, is directly related to the Balrothery and Balbriggan branch of the Hamilton family, and my search for his family background led to the discovery that he was also related to interesting Irish literary figures too.

The future archdeacon was born on 21 January 1823, the third son of Henry Hamilton (1780-1854) of Tullylish, Co Down, and a grandson of Hugh Hamilton (1729-1805), Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh (1795-1799) and then Bishop of Ossory (1799-1805).

Bishop Hugh Hamilton was born in Balrothery, near Balbriggan, Co Dublin, in 1725. He was an older brother of Judge George Hamilton (1732-1793) of Hampton, Balrothery, who was MP for Belfast and a Baron of the Exchequer. Judge Hamilton is remembered mainly for developing the town of Balbriggan. As part of the development of Balbriggan, he sold the Lower Mill to the business of Comerford and O’Brien in Balbriggan in the early 1780s. His son, the Revd George Hamilton built Saint George’s Church, Balbriggan, in 1813.

The most elaborate memorial in Saint George’s Church recalls George Alexander Hamilton, who died on 17 September 1871. His wife Amelia Fancourt Hamilton is remembered on a similar memorial that says: ‘Her clothing and coal clubs were for many years a great benefit to the poor of this neighbourhood.’ It also mentions that she set up an infant school in 1836 at Hampton Gates.

The elaborate memorial to George Alexander Hamilton, who died in 1871 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Hamiltons were a clerical family with seemingly innumerable priests in the Church of Ireland. Bishop Hamilton was a Professor of Philosophy in Trinity College Dublin, Vicar of Saint Ann’s, Dublin, and Dean of Armagh before he became a bishop. Three of his sons were priests: Hans Hamilton of Knocktopher, Co Kilkenny, who fled Co Kilkenny during the ‘Tithe War’ in the 1830s; George Hamilton (1783-1830), of Killemogh, Co Laois, a Biblical scholar; and the Revd Hugh Hamilton (1790-1865) of Innishmacsaint, Co Fermanagh.

Another son of Bishop Hamilton, Henry Hamilton (1780-1854), grew up in Dublin, but lived much of his life in Tullylish, Co Down. As well as the archdeacon who is commemorated in Durham Cathedral, Henry Hamilton was the father of two other priests: the Revd Hugh Hamilton (1811-1884) of Dublin, and Canon William Alfred Hamilton (1824-1897), Rector of Taney, Dundrum, Co Dublin. His daughter Sarah was a doctor’s wife who lived in the family home, Hampton Hall, Balbriggan; her son, the Revd Rowland Scriven (1859-1944), was a curate in Balbriggan from 1898 until 1920, when he moved to England.

The Hamilton family was intermarried with many of the great literary figures in Ireland, and both John Millington Synge and CS Lewis are direct descendants of Bishop Hamilton.

Archdeacon George Hans Hamilton was a first cousin of the Revd Thomas Robert Hamilton, the first Rector of Saint Mark’s, Dundela, in Belfast, and the grandfather of CS Lewis.

In the cloisters in Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The future archdeacon, George Hans Hamilton, was born on 21 January 1823, He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Trinity College, Dublin and was ordained in 1847.

After a time as a curate in Sunderland he became chaplain of Durham Prison and then Vicar of Berwick. He was chaplain to the High Sheriff of Durham in 1884.

Hamilton first married Arabella Sarah (Bella) Best on 9 May 1848. Her father John Best (1791-1825) was an accountant with the East India Company in Bombay; her mother Arabella née Robinson (1795-1855) was from Sunderland. Best seems to have spent much of his time travelling between Bombay and Sunderland. When he died in Bombay at the age of 33, he left a pregnant widow in India with four other children under the age of 10.

Bella Hamilton died in January 1868. She was the mother of two sons and a daughter: Hans Alfred Hamilton (born 1849), who seems to have been the ‘black sheep’ of the family; and Henry (Harry) Best Hans Hamilton (1850-1935); and Eliza Arabella Sarah (1858-1919), known as Ella.

Soon after Bella’s death, Hamilton married his second wife Lady Louisa Frances Clements (1843-1939) in 1869. She was a sister of Robert Bermingham Clements (1847-1892), 4th Earl of Leitrim. The couple were the parents of another daughter and three more sons: George Francis Clements Hamilton (1870-1900); Robert Charles Clements Hamilton (1871-1901), a refrigeration engineer, who was killed in an explosion on the first refrigerated ship bringing bananas to Britain from the West Indies; Sir Collingwood George Clements Hamilton (1877-1947), an electrical engineer and Conservative politician; and Louisa Lindisfarne Clements (Hamilton) Maitland (1878-1952).

Hamilton was a great advocate of prison reform. His character was drawn upon by Charles Reade in It Is Never Too Late to Mend (1856). He was Archdeacon of Lindisfarne (1865-1882), Archdeacon of Northumberland (1882-1905), and a canon of Durham Cathedral. He died on 23 September 1905 – he was 80 and still in office; his widow, Lady Louisa Hamilton, died on 31 August 1939.

As for Archdeacon Hamilton’s first cousin, the Revd Thomas Hamilton, he baptised his grandson, Clive Staples Lewis, in Saint Mark’s Church, Dundela, on 29 January 1899.

A portrait in Saint Mark’s Church, Dundela, of the Revd Thomas Hamilton, grandfather of CS Lewis (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A walk though Soho to ask why there is no Greek restaurant or church on Greek Street

The Pillars of Hercules on Greek Street, Soho, celebrates the feats of Hercules in Greek mythology (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

One of the silly conundrums I pose when I find myself in Soho is: why is there no Greek restaurant on Greek Street?

Greek Street, which runs from Soho Square to Shaftesbury Avenue, takes its name from the small Greek church that stood on Hog Lane, now buried under Charing Cross Road, roughly where the Montague Pyke pub now stands.

An early map by Fairthorn and Newcourt in 1658 shows the location as a rectangular field that may have been owned by the Crown. A parcel of land known as Soho Fields was steadily sold off to developers.

Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, acquired the ownership of the area in the 1660s, and then leased out the land to Joseph Girle. He received permission to develop the area and then, in turn, passed on the lease for development to a builder, Richard Frith, who gives his name to Frith Street, where Mozart stayed at No 20 in 1764-1765.

Work on developing Greek Street began in 1680. William Morgan’s map in 1682 shows Greek Street with 17 plots on its east side and 12 on the west side, and the street was bisected by Queen’s Street, now Bateman Street.

The Pillars of Hercules, a half-timber pub dating from the early 18th century, on Greek Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The origins of the first Greek Orthodox Church in London dates back to the late 17th century. The first church was founded to meet the needs of a growing Greek community in London.

The main driving force behind the new church was Metropolitan Joseph Georgerinis of Samos. A Greek priest, Father Daniel Voulgaris, and number of Greeks living in London signed a petition in 1674 seeking permission ‘to build a church in any part of the city of London, where they may freely exercise their religion according to the Greek Church’.

Permission was granted in 1675 and work began in 1677 on building a small church. The church was completed in 1681, and was dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.

The church stood at what was then the edge of the city in Soho in Hog Lane, off Charing Cross Road, and Hog Lane eventually became known as Greek Street. Most Greeks in London at the time were refugees from the oppression of the Ottoman Turks, but lived and worked in the City and around the ports of London. The church was too far from those Greek residents and they found they were unable to attend the Divine Liturgy regularly or support its function.

The church ended up being sold in 1682 and the building was taken over by another group of refugees, French Protestant Huguenots who had fled to England. There were more than 30 Huguenot churches and chapels in London by the early 18th century.

Although the church changed hands, the name Greek Street stuck with the street, which was laid out in the 1670s and 1680s, with taverns, coffee houses and tradesmen’s workshops.

William Hogarth’s painting and print, ‘Noon’ (1736-1738) shows a scene outside the former Greek church on Greek Street

William Hogarth produced a set of four paintings and prints in 1736-1738, including one called ‘Noon’ that shows a scene outside the Greek church, which by then had become the French Church. The spire in the background is either Saint Anne’s Church, Soho, or Saint Giles-in-the-Fields.

The early residents of Greek Street included Arthur Annesley (1678-1737), 5th Earl of Anglesey and 6th Viscount Valentia, who was MP for Cambridge and for New Ross, Co Wexford, in the English and Irish Houses of Commons at the same time. He owned large estates near Camolin, Wexford, and his offices in Ireland included Vice-Treasurer and Paymaster General and Governor of Co Wexford.

Casanova stayed on Greek Street when he was visiting London in 1764. No 1 was once the home of Sir William Beckford (1709-1770), twice Lord Mayor of London (1762, 1769). Other residents included Josiah Wedgwood in 1774-1797.

The writer Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859), author of Confessions of an Opium-Eater (1821), also stayed on Greek Street for a time. Sir Joseph Bazalgette (1819-1891) began designing London’s sewer system in the offices of the Westminster Commissioners Sewers at No 1 Greek Street. No 1 later became the House of Saint Barnabas.

The passageway through the arch seen from Manette Street, with the name of the Pillars of Hercules seen above (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

With no Greek restaurants, and the long disappearance of the Greek church, the only hint of a Greek presence, past or present, on Greek Street is through the name Greek mythology has given to the Pillars of Hercules, a half-timbered pub at No 7, at the north end of Greek Street.

The name celebrates the feats of Hercules, who was renowned for his strength and courage, and two landmarks, the Rock of Gibraltar on the north side and Mount Hacho on the south side that mark the entrance to the Mediterranean. Greek mythology says Hercules set up the pillars after cleaving a path through the land to create the Straits of Gibraltar during his tenth laboir. The northern pillar is the Rock of Gibraltar, while the southern pillar is either Jebel Musa in Morocco or Monte Hacho in Ceuta.

Most of what exists of the Pillars of Hercules today was built around 1910. But a pub has been on the site since before 1700, and it was first recorded in 1709.

The passageway through the arch at the side of the pub through leads into Manette Street, named after Dr Manette, one of the characters in A Tale of Two Cities, who is described by Charles Dickens as living near Soho Square.

Greek mythology says Hercules created the Straits of Gibraltar when he pushed two pillars apart, separating Europe from Africa (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A sign at the pub says the Pillars of Hercules was also frequented in the 19th century by the poet, cricket lover and Catholic mystic Francis Thompson (1859-1906), author of the poem The Hound of Heaven.

Those literary associations were revived in the 1970s when the Pillars of Hercules was known as a literary pub and the meeting place of writers such as Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Clive James and Ian Hamilton. Clive James named his second book of literary criticism At the Pillars of Hercules, apparently because most of the pieces were commissioned, delivered or written there.

The pub closed on 24 February 2018, but reopened later that year as Bar Hercules under new owners Be At One. In 2022, the cocktail bar chain Simmons took over the pub, and the pub continues to serve under the name of the Pillars of Hercules above the arch and the sign of Hercules above the Greek Street façade.

Other premises on Greek Street today include the Coach and Horses (No 29), the Gay Hussar restaurant (No 2) and Maison Bertaux (No 28), the oldest French pâtisserie in London. Three of the mirrors in the shop contain the inscriptions Liberté, égalité, fraternité, and each year, the shop creates a tableau vivant on 14 July to celebrate Bastille Day – so, even if you can’t get a good Greek meal on Greek Street, there is always a good French patisserie.

As for the former Greek church on Greek Street, it was demolished in 1934. However, the inscription commemorating the foundation of the first Greek Orthodox Church in London has survived and can still be seen in the left part of the narthex of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia in Bayswater.

Sunlight on the waters of the Straits of Gibraltar between the Pillars of Hercules and the coasts of Spain and Morocco (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Lamb and Flag, once a temporary home in Oxford of the Inklings, got a new lease of life since Covid

The Lamb and Flag, beside Saint John’s College, Oxford, has been recued by a community interest group calling themselves the Inklings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I have been discussing a number of well-known pubs in Oxford in recent weeks, including the King’s Arms facing the Bodleian’s Weston Library, and the Port Mahon and the Oranges and Lemons, both in St Clement’s. Sadly, the Eagle and Child on Saint Giles’, the pub where the Inklings once met, has been closed for many years, and is still suffering a lengthy refurbishment.

But before I caught bus back from Oxford to Milton Keynes earlier this week, I stopped once again in the Lamb and Flag, across the street from the Eagle and Child and a place that was saved from a threatened closure in recent years.

The Lamb and Flag, beside Saint John’s College on Saint Giles’, closed briefly after takings fell during the Covid-19 pandemic. But it was speedily saved by a community interest group calling themselves – appropriately – the Inklings, and was soon reopened.

The Lamb and Flag dates from 1566, and moved to its present location in 1613 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Lamb and Flag is owned by Saint John’s College, and is just north of the main college entrance. Lamb and Flag Passage runs through the south side of the pub, linking St Giles’ with Museum Road, and there is an entrance to Keble College behind the pub.

The name of the Lamb and Flag derives from the symbol of Christ as the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) in Saint John’s Gospel and the Book of Revelation, carrying a banner with a red cross. This is also a symbol of Saint John the Baptist and the rebus of Saint John’s College, and so the emblem signified how the college has owned the pub.

The Lamb and Flag dates back to at least 1566, when the first pub stood just south of Saint John’s College. An earlier Tudor building on the site of 12 St Giles’ belonged to Godstow Abbey, but Saint John’s College owned the site by 1573. The college moved the pub to that site on 1613, and the old site of the pub is now the Dolphin Quadrangle.

Henry Harbert or Harbard, who had run the earlier hostelry on the south side of Saint John’s as the Lamb, opened the inn at the site of 12 St Giles’ in 1613, and he took the name with him. The new site was further away from the main buildings of the college, but many years later, when the Sir Thomas White and Kendrew quadrangles were built in the 20th and 21st centuries, the pub found it was close to Saint John’s once again.

The Lamb and Flag, the rebus of Saint John’s College, seen on the altar front in the college chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The pub is Listed Grade II and is in three parts: the oldest at the rear is mediaeval; the middle section is around 400 years old; and the front part is Georgian.

Originally the Lamb and Flag Inn only occupied No 12, the large building on the right. But in 1960 it expanded into the ground floor and basement of No 13, the taller narrow building to the left. Since then it has occupied both properties.

Hall’s Brewery took a lease on the pub from Saint John’s in 1829. By 1861, it was described as an hotel.

The Lamb and Flag is Listed Grade II: the oldest part at the rear is mediaeval; the middle section is around 400 years old; and the front part is Georgian (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

No 13, the tall narrow house next door to the pub, had a very narrow frontage of 3 yards 2 feet 2 inches in 1772, but was described as ‘a newly-built dwelling house with a commanding shop front’ in 1870, and was held on a lease from the Master and Scholars of Balliol College, Oxford.

Father John O’Fallon Pope, who was the master of the predecessor to Campion Hall at 11 St Giles’, bought No 13 Saint Giles’ in 1903. Father Joseph Rickaby, the chaplain of Campion Hall, was living there in 1921 with three boarders – a Belgian missionary and two students – and a butler and a footman.

No 13 was bought by Saint John’s College when Campion Hall moved to Brewer Street in 1936, and from 1937 to 1955 No 13 was the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths for Oxford.

Lamb and Flag Passage runs through the south side of the pub, linking St Giles’ with Museum Road and Keble College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Lamb and Flag at No 12 expanded in 1960 to include the ground floor and basement of No 13, and has occupied both Nos 12 and 13 since then, some times with student accommodation upstairs.

The pub may have inspired Thomas Hardy when he was writing Jude the Obscure, although others say the Lamb and Flag in Jude the Obscure was actually the Turf Tavern. Graham Greene drank in the pub while he was a student at Balliol College. The Lamb and Flag is also mentioned by PD James in The Children of Men and it features frequently in episodes of the ITV detective drama Inspector Morse.

Meanwhile, the Inklings had been meeting at the Eagle and Child across the street on the other side of St Giles in the 1930s and 1940s. They included CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, but also met in other places in Oxford, including Magdalen College. When the Eagle and Child was ‘modernised’ in 1962, the Inklings started meeting at the Lamb and Flag. However, these meetings came to an end after CS Lewis died in 1963.

Lamb and Flag Passage offers a glimpse of the Eagle and Child across the street on the other side of St Giles’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint John’s College took back the licence of the pub in 1997, and, after initially threatening to close it, ran it as a free house. The upstairs rooms were converted into student accommodation, and DPhil students were offered financial support from the pub’s profits through Lamb and Flag studentships worth up to £12,000 a year.

But the Lamb and Flag suffered a loss of revenues during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Lamb & Flag (Oxford) Ltd, a company owned by Saint John’s College, announced on 31 January 2021 that it would close.

Although the pub closed temporarily, it remained in college ownership, and the lease was bought in September 2021 by a Community Interest Company called the Inklings, and the Lamb and Flag reopened in October 2022.

The character of the Lamb and Flag has been preserved in the latest refurbishment (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Inklings Group – named after the original literary circle that included JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and others – is a diverse and eclectic mix of Oxford people, past and present, scientists and entrepreneurs, writers and artists, town and gown, as well as local businesses and suppliers.

They brought together several hundred people to save the Lamb and Flag. Saint John’s College shared their vision and supported the relaunch of the pub, aimed at local philanthropy and positive impact rather than profit.

The character of the Lamb and Flag has been preserved, with only light redecoration and refurbishment. Lamb and Flag ‘merch’ is on sale, at the bar including pins, mugs, patches, tote bags and T-shirts.

An invitation over the door in Lamb and Flag Passage is said inscribed in ‘Elvish’, the dwarf runes adopted by Tolkien from Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian scripts, and says: ‘Speak, Friend, and Enter’.

The Lamb and Flag reopened on St Giles’ in October 2022 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

‘The One and The Many’: a sculptor’s exploration of creation and imagination in the heart of Fitzrovia

‘The One and The Many’ is a large sculpture by Peter Randall-Page beside the recently-restored Fitzrovia Chapel in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I was recalling earlier this week my visit to the recently-restored Fitzrovia Chapel in Pearson Square, off Mortimer Street in London. In a sunny corner, beside the chapel and beneath the tall blocks of a new development, ‘The One and The Many’ is a large sculpture by Peter Randall-Page reminding us of humanity’s shared search for the meaning of creation and our origins.

Peter Randall-Page sculpted ‘The One and The Many’ ten years ago (2015) from a naturally eroded Bavarian granite boulder, weighing 25 tonnes and measuring 3519 x 2240 x 2065 mm and inscribed over its entire surface with marks carved in low relief.

‘The One and The Many’ is primarily a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination. ‘Our ability to convey meaning to one another, through time and space, by making marks has revolutionised human culture and society,’ Peter Randall-Page has said. ‘The human desire to make the world meaningful seems to be ubiquitous and intrinsic to our very nature.’

Embracing many cultures, his sculpture is in the heart of Fitzrovia, an area with a rich and vibrant cultural history and thriving creative community.

It is inscribed with many of the world’s scripts and symbols, from the writings of ancient Babylonia to Mongolian ‘ornamental’ seal script. They recount stories of the creation in poetic musings, sacred scriptures and epic tales of our origins.

Almost all cultures and languages across time have creation myths and narratives that seek to explain how our world came into being, and this leap of imagination illustrates the essence of creativity across many cultures and languages. One of the earliest uses of written language was almost certainly to set down these stories by making marks on clay, papyrus and vellum.

Based on scholarly advice and artistic preferences, Peter Randall-Page chose over 30 variations on the creation myth from around the world. He included writing systems from the earliest cuneiform script in ancient Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago to modern languages. The selected texts from ancient and modern writings were then arranged and inscribed onto the vast boulder, in effect the earth itself.

The texts themselves are creation stories from various cultures, each conveyed in their own writing systems, and the chosen lines speak of cosmology and the material and poetical formation of the universe in a variety of cultures.

There are quotations and texts in Minoan Linear A from Crete, Sanskrit, Japanese, Cyrillic, Ogham Irish Script, Korean, Mongolian, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Lycian and Arabic, to name but a few.

He tried to avoid pictograms and hieroglyphics, preferring to concentrate on writing as abstract mark making. He has included Braille and Morse Code, but not musical notation or mathematical symbols. A quotation from Samuel Beckett’s play Endgame is represented in Morse Code, and a quotation from Jorge Luis Borges’s short story ‘God’s Script’ is written in Braille.

In this way, ‘The One and The Many’ is an exploration of the ways we have contemplated, through a wealth of poetic musings and epic narratives, the theme of ‘In the beginning’, and it is also a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination.

Our human ability to convey meaning to one another through time and space, by making marks has revolutionised human culture. In Peter Randall-Page’s own words, ‘These myths and legends have been distilled by a kind of “cultural natural selection” over countless generations and as such they often tell us more about the human condition; our hopes and fears, than about literal cosmology.’

The naturally eroded boulder chosen for the sculpture is a fragment of solidified magma, the material the planet is made of. Its overall form is the result of innumerable chance events over a geological timescale stretching back to the creation of the Earth itself.

Peter Randall-Page has and international reputation for his large-scale sculptures, drawings and prints inspired by geometric forms and patterns from nature. He has undertaken numerous large-scale commissions and exhibited widely. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2015. His work is held in public collections world-wide, including the Tate Gallery, the British Museum and the Eden Project.

His sculpture ‘After the Winter’ was bought in 1981 by the Milton Keynes NHS Trust in anticipation of the opening of the new hospital. To this day, it is situated in a small courtyard space near the Eaglestone Restaurant, one of many that offer a quiet oasis at the hospital.

‘The One and The Many’ is permanently located at Fitzroy Place, Pearson Square, off Mortimer Street, London, and was commissioned by Exemplar and Aviva, developers of Fitzroy Place and project managed by Patrick Morey-Burrows of ArtSource.

• A dedicated website theoneandthemany.co.uk gives more background on the project as well as translations of the inscribed texts.

‘The One and The Many’ is a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)