Riding the 'Story', for the last time!

When people come to Dreamingspires, it's most often to see & admire the splendid old college buildings. There's many walking tours, especially during the summer, that tell you of some of the history too. However, one very popular tourist attraction, has for the past 20 years, been relating the Universities 900 year history, by means of a narrated 25 minute ride through a three story building...

I learnt the other day, that 'The Story', in Broad Street is to close its doors next Saturday for good. It's been a while since I went through it. It's something one, tends to do with visitors, but with an incentive of 20% discount on charges for local residents, I decided a final look was called for this afternoon.

You start with a brief audi-visual introduction to modern undergraduate life in the Junior Common Room, before boarding.

Your transports, a replica of a traditional wooden students desk & your equipped with ear-phones, having chosen your commentary from six languages, each with an adult & child friendly version. I opted for the late broadcaster & journalist Mangus Magnusson, who had no ties to the city, but whose clear diction meant easy listening. Once set up, your desk starts to smoothly ascend into the darkness, taking you back through Dreamingspires often turbulent history, encompassing war & peace, political change & religious dissent. All along the way tableau scenes recreate the time & people.
Here we have Medieval scriveners - book copiers, before the printing press was invented.

A man might spend a life time copying a single tome! Dreamingspires was privileged to a mass a enviable collection of these works & then the University Press, still a major publishing entity came into being.
As your travel along, clever lighting & sound effects add to the mix, as you learn fascinating fact after fact.
I was familiar with the story of Charles 1st, setting up his court & parliament in the city, during the conflict between the Cavaliers [the Royalists] & Roundheads [the Puritains]. The city supported the wrong side, as he was captured & eventually executed in 1649 - in my view thankfully, a fatal error by Cromwell as the British Republic was short lived after that. What I didn't know, was that Charles so short in stature, he wore platform shoes to increase his height. The tableau shows the little man with one of his Cavalier spaniels - his love of dog is well documented, hence the breed name

I also, learnt that Edmund Haley, first spotted his famous comet in the skies above Dreamingspires whilst a professor here

And, no history of the university is complete without a mention of Charles Dodgson, alias Lewis Carol writer of Alice in Wonderland.

Here he is picnicking by the Isis ...with Alice & the March Hare flying overhead!In truth, we're all so use to special effects generated by computer/laser technology, it did feel somewhat dated in its presentation, which is one reason its closing, the other being it's university landlord wants the building for new student accommodation. Still, I think its a shame.

Walking out via the now half empty gift shop, collected my free bookmarks - stock surplus to requirements now but a nice touch to give them away rather than discard them.