Meeting my wife in the Extravaganza chorus line

Edward (Ted) Woodfield

Extravaganza – in which I participated in the male ballet (1954); chorus (1955); in a minor role (1956); and as Controller (1957) – all three-act satirical productions drawing on the themes and music of the latest Broadway shows.

The highly talented producers were Bill Sheat and Ian Rich, with support from Huddy Williamson (Stage Manager) and Garth Young (Musical Director). We played to full houses for a week at the Wellington Opera House and on tour in Palmerston North and Hastings, with profits going to local charities.

Memorable for the content, the wide acknowledgement of the high standard of the performances, and the friendships established, the most significant for me being meeting in the chorus line in 1955, Janet Court (graduated BSc in 1959) – my wife now for 62 years.

Pre-restoration Hunter building

Mike Moore

The Hunter building – before the restoration! It was a great echoing and fascinating space place.

I was a grad student in the Physics department. I had an office on the top floor. The window wouldn't shut because there was a branch of a rata tree growing into the frame. There was a tame mouse that would occasionally come out for a stroll across the carpet. There was a huge copy of a James Thurber cartoon ("What do you mean you heard a seal bark?") drawn on the wall by some previous incumbent.

You could hear music drifting down the corridors because the Music department was the only other one in the building. A colleague's girlfriend was offering haircuts in an empty office for a while, and we had a table tennis table in the old law library. I'll bet it's not as much fun now!

The women’s common room

Annette O’Sullivan (née Daniel)

My most vivid memories from attending lectures in the late 1950s are of studying in the old library with its beautiful window and secondly the separate woman’s common room. (A strange concept for today’s students who would wonder why the need to have a separate room!) The much smaller (in proportion) number of women shared a tiny room in the old building. Very cramped!

My fondest memories are of the lecturers: Munz, Gordon, Bailey, Campbell, Bertram, and many others.

Classics, cricket, rugby and a Rhodes scholarship

David Simmers

The small (four academic staff) Classics department was a compact and supportive community. Not flashy but very sound scholarship; it took me to a Rhodes Scholarship and a first-class degree at Oxford. The library was a magnificent setting in which arts students could study together. Cricket and rugby practice on Kelburn Park; my 3rd grade coach was the university registrar.