h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk - A6169403
Author: AgProv - U538194

I take a very considerable deep breath... this is a spin-off from the original article on the County of Norfolk, which was considered in Peer Review to be impossibly long for the Guide.

The original article on Norfolk has since been split into four parts:-

i) East Anglia
ii) Norfolk
iii) The City of Norwich
iv) the University of East Anglia.

This is now in a fit state for Peer Review and joins "Norfolk: the bootiful East" for unflinching peer review.

If there's anyone else out there from UEA who feels they can judge and advise and correct/update where necessary, please feel free!

With trepidation

AgProv

>a lot of what follows will be personal reminiscence of a time long past, when UEA had no more than 4,000 students, most of whom could be comfortably accomodated on campus. Where possible this Researcher undertakes to check his memory against current fact, but please be aware that some out-of-date information may creep in at the edges. Thank you!


If you want to write about UEA, you need to provide current, unbiased information if you would like it to make it into the Edited Guide. You don't need to check your memory against current facts, you need to provide those current facts. Otherwise someone like me will be recommending an out-of-date entry. Very little in here seems current; its rather like me describing my school from 11 years ago without knowing anything other than the time I was there.


There are also lots of spelling/punctuation mistakes. You'll need to run this through a spell-check before it gets in.


Needs some work, sorry

I was at UEA from 81-84, studying Chemistry. Since then, I understand UEA has lost its Physics department in toto. It has also trebled in size, gained a medical school, healthcare departments, a swimming pool and umpteen new student residences while losing Waveney Terrace and Fifers Lane.

The text seems a bit dated, sorry.

I also noted at least two factual errors:
* Tony Hawkes hiked round Ireland with a fridge and played to Moldovans at Tennis
* The LCR is the Large Common Room, not the Lower Common Room.

And on the subject of alumni, what about Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson?

Also, Caroline Flint, Home Office Minister....

All points noted...

In between bouts of work this morning I logged onto UEA's website and took a look at the campus as it is now and thought "Holy shit..." as you do.

There I was thinking "Well, it can't have altered THAT much since 1988" only to discover that it has. Even EAS seens to have bitten the dust, and there I was thinking "English Lit. American Studies. The jewels in the crown. EAS must surely still be there!" only to find the familiar reassuring letters "EAS" are nowhere to be seen. Instead there's the Faculty of Arts and Humanities which encompasses something called LLT (Language, Linguistics and Translation), something else called LIT (literature and creative writing) and AMS (American Studies)

It seems like this is now a case of "back to the drawing board" , or to put out a request for a current UEA person to collaborate (the mix of youth and experience?)in a joint version...

Thanks for the reminder that it was Tony Hawkes who hitched round ireland with a fridge and beat all the Moldovans at tennis, but I do seem to recall from the books that both occassions were at the instigation of Arthur Smith, who bet him he could never do it. So not a factual error, as Arthur was the moving force that kick-started both ventures?

Anyway, this entry was an offshoot from Norwich, which in its turn was an offshoot from Norfolk, so worth an attempt, if only to gather critical comment and advice!

Thanks to all and keep that comment coming

AP

Overconfidence is a curse....

The other way of rescuing this entry is for me to do something I've been half-planning (in idle moments)which is going back to Norwich and seeing things on the ground again, actually getting out there in the field and seeing for myself how things have changed since that heady October day in 1984 when I became student no. 8422656.

Thinking about it, I'd be going back out of a certainty that things have altered so much there'll be nobody there I knew as an undergrad, and I'll be moving in complete anonymity.

So what's the betting that within five minutes of arriving, I'll walk into somebody who'll either say "Good God, it's........" (or, with my luck, somebody who'll shudder and recoil and mutter "Oh God, it's.........")

Right, what do National Express charge for a weekend return to Norwich. And what's the best room deal I could get in a hotel or a boarding house...

(Memo: ring the Alumni people and ask if they could find a tame current student to give me a quick guided tour, cost negotiable?)

Nil desperandum, and all that...

Also Tony Robinson...

I'm not certain it was Arthur Smith who bet Tony Hawkes he couldn't hitchhike around Ireland with a fridge. it was definately him re. the Moldovans, but I can't remember if he was involved in the Ireland thing.

The section on British Universities feels out of place to me. I think that should be a separate entry, if it's not already covered elsewhere in the Guide.

Just to keep Peer Review nice and tidy, would you mind removing this if you plan to take it 'back to the drawing board'? I think this will ultimately make a good entry, but its time has not yet come.

You could 'Challenge h2g2' to help write a collaborative entry on UEA at A1293365 - its certainly a place I keep my beady on in case there's anything I can help with, and many others do too.

Good luck with the rewrite!

STOP PRESS:-

This is to announce that in the week commencing 22nd January 2007, the UEA student sometimes operating under the alias AgProv will make his quiet and discreet first return visit to Norwich since May 1994.

Having spurned the opportunity to pay upwards of £200 to do it officially last summer (why are the people most likely to attend official university reunions for the Class of 1984 going to be those people you are most likely to want to cross the street to avoid), agent 8422656 will be back at his old uni, making a quiet pilgrimage and paying quiet homage to a city that did a bit to form him.

He is seeking to avoid:

i) The sort of people he shared a hall of residence with who now claim to earn six figure salaries;
ii) or who are now senior diplomats and civil servants;
iii) Toxic redheads called Siobhan;

He is hoping that if any spontaneous or coincidental reunions happen, he can treat them in the same spirit as Clive James and Germaine Greer when they met in Cambridge nearly thirty years after their undergrad days. To acknowledge a lot has happened since then, and to be able to break bread together as two sedate and nearly mature middle-aged people ought to be able to, many years on from undergrad passions... (This means you Claire, or you Alison, if you're still about. See you in the Walnut Tree Shades?)

And hopefully will bring back enough info to finish these articles accurately and wisely!

Counting down... actually back in Norwich on Sat 20th Jan 2007, hoping I get a window seat on the plane so as to be able to point out landmarks as we approach RAF Horsham St Faith, whoops sorry, Norwich International Airport.

(Yup - flying. The train option sounds dire and I just don't trust it - it's six hours if all goes well! National Express coaches from Manchester to Norwich? Good luck - there's no direct service and the journey time is nearly TEN HOURS. So for only a little bit more than a train fare - sod the carbon footprint, I'm going to be paying through the nose in tax for that, I'll worry about the ecology when I get seriously rich - I leave Manchester at 7:45 am and arrive in Norwich at 8:45. Worth paying for!)

After this, I'll be up to speed on City, County and University. Look out for revised Guide entries!