Last year, when I wrote a column in praise of heritage skills, a man on Twitter took exception to me telling young job seekers to get up on cathedral scaffolding in the rain while I “sat on my Oxbridge-educated bottom”. I like the idea of a bottom having an education. A secondary-modern bottom, a Red-Brick bottom, an Ivy-League bottom, etc.
Anyway, the point is that “Oxbridge” is a dirty word. Some people, for understandable reasons, hate it and all it stands for. If the words “Christ Church”, “Cherwell” and “Cousin Jasper” make you see red (bricks, or otherwise) Not Far from Brideshead is not the book for you. If, however, your shelves heave with Brideshead Revisited, Zuleika Dobson, Gaudy Night, Northern Lights and Inspector Morse, you’re going to love Daisy Dunn’s dons. It’s niche, but it’s nice.
