of school, I would be allowed a completely new beginning at university. I certainly hoped so.
CHAPTER SIX
Off to University
I âM STILL NOT SURE how we managed to get everything into the car. My parents had hired an estate, or station wagon, for the trip to take me down to university. Even so, with all the boxes of books, clothes, and other belongings, it was still a tight squeeze. With the exception of Jane and John, my whole family was squashed into the car to take me down to Plymouth, eager to see where I would be spending the next three years of my life.
We took the scenic route down from Bristol, avoiding the motorway and sticking to the smaller roads. It was a late September day, and the Devon countryside looked beautiful in the autumn sunshine. As we went round Exeter, and followed the road across the windswept beauty of Dartmoor, I stared out of the window and wondered what university life would be like.
Iâd chosen to study philosophy, theology, history, film, and television as part of a BA with honours humanities degree at the College of St. Mark and St. John, known affectionately as Marjons.Many people at church had argued against my studying philosophy, as they were worried it would cause me to question my faith. My response was that if my faith didnât survive my own questioning, then it wasnât strong enough to survive anything else.
As the hire car pulled into Plymouth, I immediately knew this was a place I would grow to love. Plymouth, like Bristol, is another vibrant southwest city, a hundred-odd miles further south down on the Devon coast. Plymouth is an important English port that has long played its part in history. It was here that Sir Francis Drake was famously told of the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588; legend has it that he finished his game of bowls before responding. It was here, too, in 1620, that the Pilgrim Fathers set off for the New World. Like Portsmouth, where I enjoyed so many summer holidays, Plymouth is today an important naval centre: HMNB Devonport in the west of the city is the largest naval base in Western Europe.
I was attracted by the rugged coastline and the historic Barbican area close to the seafront. Yes, it rained a lot, but it was not too far from home and at the same time far enough away for me to feel that I was having a new start. I was happier there than I had been at school. I still struggled a little in meeting people and being in crowds, but there was none of the name calling and bullying I had been subjected to at St. Mary Redcliffe. I made some good friends, the closest of which was a fellow named Phillip. He and his friend Neil would be my housemates in years two and three.
I enjoyed my studies and the challenges, particularly film and television studies and philosophy, but by the end of the first yearI had to drop a subject. We had been studying the Renaissance, and although I enjoyed studying the art and texts such as Machiavelliâs The Prince , I decided to drop history. It was a tough decision to make as I enjoyed History, but I felt that a new subject, film and television studies, would give me a new direction.
My favourite thing about film and television was that I got to study some of the greatest movies of all time, such as Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice , and Unforgiven . I liked the film noir period of the 1930s and 1940s because it had a mood that was easy to identify; there was a darkness about the films, a sinister undertone. But my favourites were from the kitchen-sink drama era of British cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I loved films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Room at the Top , which were both entertaining and shocking; the films dealt with controversial issues of the time such as abortion and mixed-race relationships. My favourite film of all was Tony Richardsonâs Look Back in Anger ; Richard Burton was brilliant, shocking, and nasty all at once. I loved watching and
CHAPTER SIX
Off to University
I âM STILL NOT SURE how we managed to get everything into the car. My parents had hired an estate, or station wagon, for the trip to take me down to university. Even so, with all the boxes of books, clothes, and other belongings, it was still a tight squeeze. With the exception of Jane and John, my whole family was squashed into the car to take me down to Plymouth, eager to see where I would be spending the next three years of my life.
We took the scenic route down from Bristol, avoiding the motorway and sticking to the smaller roads. It was a late September day, and the Devon countryside looked beautiful in the autumn sunshine. As we went round Exeter, and followed the road across the windswept beauty of Dartmoor, I stared out of the window and wondered what university life would be like.
Iâd chosen to study philosophy, theology, history, film, and television as part of a BA with honours humanities degree at the College of St. Mark and St. John, known affectionately as Marjons.Many people at church had argued against my studying philosophy, as they were worried it would cause me to question my faith. My response was that if my faith didnât survive my own questioning, then it wasnât strong enough to survive anything else.
As the hire car pulled into Plymouth, I immediately knew this was a place I would grow to love. Plymouth, like Bristol, is another vibrant southwest city, a hundred-odd miles further south down on the Devon coast. Plymouth is an important English port that has long played its part in history. It was here that Sir Francis Drake was famously told of the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588; legend has it that he finished his game of bowls before responding. It was here, too, in 1620, that the Pilgrim Fathers set off for the New World. Like Portsmouth, where I enjoyed so many summer holidays, Plymouth is today an important naval centre: HMNB Devonport in the west of the city is the largest naval base in Western Europe.
I was attracted by the rugged coastline and the historic Barbican area close to the seafront. Yes, it rained a lot, but it was not too far from home and at the same time far enough away for me to feel that I was having a new start. I was happier there than I had been at school. I still struggled a little in meeting people and being in crowds, but there was none of the name calling and bullying I had been subjected to at St. Mary Redcliffe. I made some good friends, the closest of which was a fellow named Phillip. He and his friend Neil would be my housemates in years two and three.
I enjoyed my studies and the challenges, particularly film and television studies and philosophy, but by the end of the first yearI had to drop a subject. We had been studying the Renaissance, and although I enjoyed studying the art and texts such as Machiavelliâs The Prince , I decided to drop history. It was a tough decision to make as I enjoyed History, but I felt that a new subject, film and television studies, would give me a new direction.
My favourite thing about film and television was that I got to study some of the greatest movies of all time, such as Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice , and Unforgiven . I liked the film noir period of the 1930s and 1940s because it had a mood that was easy to identify; there was a darkness about the films, a sinister undertone. But my favourites were from the kitchen-sink drama era of British cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I loved films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Room at the Top , which were both entertaining and shocking; the films dealt with controversial issues of the time such as abortion and mixed-race relationships. My favourite film of all was Tony Richardsonâs Look Back in Anger ; Richard Burton was brilliant, shocking, and nasty all at once. I loved watching and
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