The visit of two Russian leaders to Oxford brought boos, whistles and cheers – and more than a little humour.

Hundreds of people turned out on April 21, 1956, when the Soviet Union’s president, Nikita Khrushchev, and Marshal Nikolai Bulganin arrived in the city.

The Oxford Mail reported: “Crowds 20-deep lined St Aldate’s from the Post Office to Carfax traffic lights, with sightseers viewing from the windows of the four-storey buildings opposite the town hall.

“Very few even got a glimpse of the pair as they got smartly out of the car and were enclosed by newsreel and press photographers at the entrance to the town hall. Some climbed the stairs of stationary buses to try to see.

“The three cars which brought the official Soviet party were escorted by six police motorcyclists.

“Mr Khrushchev waved from inside his car before getting out, but he stopped only for a matter of seconds at the foot of the town hall steps when greeted by the mayor.

“The crowds waited for 15 minutes outside the town hall. Just before the official party came out, someone shouted from the quiet crowd: “Come on, Bulgy and Co!”

We now know that was the voice of Christopher Prior – he admitted being the joker in his memories of Oxford in the 1940s and 1950s (Memory Lane, January 26). He recalled: “The citizens fell about!”

This was not the only occasion when humour ruled. A group of undergraduates kept up a constant chant of “Poor old Joe”, a reference to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Earlier, a large crowd of undergraduates met the Russian contingent outside the Clarendon Building in Broad Street, with shouts of “Speech!” and “Go Home!”

During a visit to New College, a student mischievously set off a thunderflash, which caused initial panic among security guards.

The Russian leaders, who were visiting Britain to try to ease tensions between East and West as the Cold War intensified, met the mayor, Cllr Marcus Lower, and political leaders at the town hall.

During talks with university representatives, they were enthusiastic about suggestions more Oxford students should visit Russia. it was also agreed a mahogany desk chair looted from the Russians during the fall of Sebastopol in 1855 should be returned.

It was taken from the study of the Russian commander-in-chief by the servant of Colonel (later General) RJ Baumgarten and bequeathed to his grandson, the Rev JP Thornton-Duesbery, the Master of St Peter’s Hall, who offered to hand it back.

Marshal Bulganin, the Soviet Premier, said the chair would probably be placed in the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Leningrad.

The Russians also visited Harwell’s atomic energy research plant.