Corpus Christi

It's not a great photo, but the occasion was one of great enjoyment and personal satisfaction. Last night, in a special ceremony in the College Chapel, I was admitted as an Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. The ceremony could be attended only by Fellows, who stood on either side of the Chapel in candlelight while I stood before the Master and spoke the following words:

Profiteor quod observabo omnia Statuta et laudibiles Consuetudines Collegii nostri, quamdiu in eo versatus fuerim: et quod Magistro sive Custodi huius Collegii obediens ero in omnibus licitus et honestis: et quod Collegii honorem et utiliatem, quantum in me est, meo consilio et auxilio juvabo. Ita do fidem.

To which the Master answered:

Auctoritate mihi commissa admitto te Socium huius Collegii in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

The occasion was the grander for the fact that the ordinary Fellows being admitted had to kneel before the Master, while I was accorded the honour of being able to stand! Honorary Fellowship really is a very big thing indeed, and essentially makes me a Fellow for life, so long as I keep to my pledge that is.

The Chapel ceremony was followed by a grand feast in Hall. Afterwards Miang and I joined my old and dear friend Mark Warner (a fellow Fellow), the Master Stuart Laing (in gown), and, next to me, John Taylor, one of the UK's most legendary businessmen and inventors (you have his invention in your electric kettle). John is also an Honorary Fellow of Corpus, and the designer and gifter of the remarkable Corpus Clock which mesmerises people walking down Kings Parade.

I am so grateful to Mark who initiated this honour for me and to the other Fellows of Corpus for welcoming me. I shall always have fond memories of my time at Trinity. But I am now a Corpus man, through and through!

PS: Oh how I wished I had studied Latin in School.