College jokers enjoyed high life (From Oxford Mail)

College jokers enjoyed high life

3:00pm Monday 30th January 2012 in Memory Lane By John Chipperfield

OXFORD undergraduates got up to all sorts of tricks, as these pictures show.

After more than a few drinks, they would climb high on college buildings and attach bicycles, chamberpots, dustbins, mannequins and other items.

People going to work would be greeted with astonishing sights on roofs, spires and pinnacles.

The students’ antics were often so daring it was a wonder no-one was killed or seriously injured.

These pictures from the Oxford Mail archives show some of the pranks they perpetrated.

Most took place in the 1950s and early 1960s before the colleges began to clamp down on such behaviour.

But there was one incident in 1980 when members of the University College Rugby Club decided to give the city an extra zebra crossing.

The players had celebrated in style with an end-of-season dinner after winning the University Sevens. At 2am, some of them stole two cans of emulsion paint from the college and painted a zebra crossing across High Street, pictured above.

But this time, the authorities did not see the funny side.

One student was arrested for causing criminal damage to the highway, and the city council was determined to recover from the club the £90 cost of removing the fake crossing.

With the earlier pranks, there was always the danger that firemen or college staff who had to climb up to remove the bikes and other high-flying items, could put their lives at risk.

Thankfully, today’s breed of undergraduate doesn’t seem to indulge in such high jinks.