An audience with Dr. Bryson: Hollie Carr and Roddy Peters steal the new Chancellor away from the paparazzi’s glare for a d21 interview…

After the cheerleaders and giant badgers…
As the University’s new Chancellor, Bill Bryson is already proving to be popular with Durham students, so much so that many of his public appearances last week spontaneously transformed into book signings and photograph opportunities with both students and the general public of Durham. However, in the midst of the whirlwind of publicity attracted by Dr. Bryson’s visit, he made time for a short interview with durham21 to discuss how he feels about Durham now he is firmly established in his role as Chancellor.

Other than some nice buildings, what is it that attracts you to Durham?
All of it together. When I first stepped off the train of course the architecture was particularly beautiful and the view of the cathedral is I think the best built view in England. It’s just so spectacular. What attracts me to it more now, is the University. I’m so impressed with the place, what it achieves, what it continues to achieve, and also the friendliness of it. You feel it all the time. I know there must be the undercurrents of bitterness hidden away somewhere but you don’t feel it. On a tour in the Physics department people were so overjoyed to show me their lasers and what they do – they weren’t just doing that to pull the wool over my eyes, you can see genuine enthusiasm. Maybe you’re doing something right or if Durham being slightly isolated lends more of a community feel: but something is really working right here.

As a Commissioner for English Heritage and given your comments on Durham’s architecture, what do you think of the DSU building?
Ah. I haven’t really had a good look yet. That kind of architecture is, as a rule, not my favourite in the world but then I have come to see that some 20th century concrete buildings have a real value. That said, it does look rather like a bunker when I’ve flashed past in the car. There’s got to be ‘modern architecture’ but I think we went through a pretty bad period in the 60s and 70s where there’s not much that I would want to preserve. But then there’s a lot of enthusiastic people who are keen on the engineering behind it. Is it a generally loved or hated building?

Generally hated: I think most would like to see it knocked down…
We are starting to get a lot of really good modern buildings going up alongside old ones and they work well together. The Gherkin in London is a good example: with 18th century buildings in the foreground it works perfectly. Whereas a concrete block can just be really intrusive and jar on the foreground.

Coming onto your role as Chancellor, there’s been a lot of emphasis put on your role as an international figure, including at the installation ceremony. Firstly, how English do you feel and secondly, how international do you feel?
That’s a very good question. Quite a bit of both I think, especially for an American. I’ve spent about half my life and certainly the major part of my adult life over here and cheered during the World Cup. In terms of where my interests lie and where my friends are, it’s here. But that’s the thing: I will always be ‘the foreigner’ and that’s a nice position to be in. If you win the World Cup I’ll be able to step forward and say “Oh yes, what a great country” but if you get knocked out in the first round I can step back and say “Oh, these people”. Part of the reason I like being associated with English Heritage is because it’s my home and this country’s been exceptionally good to me in a million ways. So in a practical sense, my orientation is very much British.

How international am I? Not hugely I don’t suppose. But what I can do for the University internationally is simply by often being overseas and speaking to groups in Australia, Canada, the United States: places where presumably the University would like more international students to come from. I’ll be in those places anyway so the University can ask me to have cocktails with alumni. So in that sense I can be cost effective and work as an ambassador for the University. But also Durham, not just the University, is a hidden gem and there ought to be more overseas visitors on the streets. Personally I think it would be great if there were a lot more American students over here: I think a lot of Americans could do with more contact with overseas students. That would be beneficial on both sides. And for us to have more Australians and Kiwis too: I think there’s space for that.

A lot of American students are encouraged to study abroad whereas it’s not pushed in the same way in the UK. Is it something you would recommend?
Absolutely! One of the things that I think is a really great thing, that America doesn’t have, is the gap year in which it’s implied that you will go off and do something overseas. I think that’s wonderful. I think all young people should go somewhere and do something worthwhile: you just won’t get a chance like that again once you start having careers and jobs and babies. Do it while you’re young. I think going somewhere and living in a foreign place does everybody the world of good. Even if you hate it you at least appreciate what you have at home when you get back. And the likelihood is that you won’t hate it; you’ll realise there are other ways of doing things.

There’s a lot of pressure on universities at the moment to appear accessible to all educational backgrounds: to people from the independent and state sectors. Durham comes fifth in terms of the number of independent school students it takes which some people see as a negative thing. Do you think that’s a problem? Do we need to change the process of selection to appear more accessible?
Personally, I don’t think it’s just a question of appearance as actually doing. We’ve reached the point now where so many middle class people are wealthy enough that an awful lot of people can go to independent schools who never used to. It’s becoming a lot less elitist. I think to say independent and therefore privileged is a mistake. I think the real worry is what do we do about inner city students and people who come from tough estates and particularly people from ethnic backgrounds: black Caribbean males particularly. We really have to do something to pull these people into the education system and get them more into the mainstream because these people are being excluded. That’s not an intentional campaign but they’re not being pulled in and I think the country needs to start thinking of strategies for how to keep these people in school and then get them into university. It’s just such a waste of talent for these people not even getting close to fulfilling their potential. I don’t quite know what the answer is but one of the most impressive and most heartening things I’ve seen at Durham is the foundation course at Stockton giving people a second chance: people who didn’t get their A-levels for whatever reason. I met a young lady the other day who’d had three kids and is now trying to become a full time University student. And she will. She’s doing a foundation course in science and she’ll become a radiologist or a doctor. If it weren’t for the programme like the one Durham has at Stockton that would not have happened. That’s where the emphasis should be going.

You mentioned earlier about Durham feeling like a community which comes a lot from the Colleges. But there are always a lot of rumours amongst students about how senior members of the University don’t appreciate the College system and want to abolish it, or at least make it less influential.
I’m surprised to hear that. I thought everybody here was enthusiastic about the College system, especially students I’ve spoken to. I was walking into town today and a very nice student fell in beside me from Grey who loves it because of the Colleges: that automatic home you’re plugged into. It’s like a family and that’s terrific. I haven’t met any students who haven’t felt like that. In terms of the system, it seems so obviously and transparently successful. I certainly know that Kenneth Calman speaks very highly about it so I have no impressions that it’s at any risk.

It comes back to what you said earlier about the good vibe in Durham. People feel very attached to their Colleges and so are extremely wary of changes that go too far towards centralisation.
Obviously I haven’t had enough experience of specifics to comment on that. Do you have rivalries within the Colleges? (Yes) Is there a most hated College? (Hatfield). I still have all the personalities of the Colleges to work out. I have been told that when you get to know it during the congregations you can actually recognise which College a person comes from by how they approach you, how different people walk, how they dress, which ones are radically dressed and have coloured feathers in their hair, which ones will wink at you. I don’t know if that’s true or not or if they’re just teasing me.

How daunted did you feel by succeeding someone like Sir Peter Ustinov?
Very much so. People speak so highly of him and he was obviously adored. He was a terrific human being; a great story teller, a great raconteur, a great international reputation. It’s a big pair of shoes to follow. Now that I’ve been here a bit and got to meet people I don’t feel quite so intimidated by it but obviously I’m going to have to be a completely different type of person. One advantage I do have over him is relative youth so I hope I can be more active than he could be in his final years. The other thing about being a Chancellor is that the student turnover is so rapid, every three years you get a new generation of students so presumably you can start telling the same jokes over again. The academics are the only ones who get that sense of continuity.

And just before we’re escorted out, how overwhelming are you finding the PR gauntlet, running around between people and being meeted and greeted?
It’s becoming less so all the time. It’s a strange position for me because I’m not a public figure. I’m not a performer like Peter Ustinov, I’m a writer and that’s a very solitary, introverted profession, so this isn’t a natural thing for me to do. On the other hand, it really is so much fun and the people you meet are so interesting and enthusiastic. One of the great things for me is that having no work family with working at home, I don’t have anybody to gossip with over a water cooler so it’s really nice to belong to an institution: to hear who’s moving and retiring and as I’ve been here longer I’ll feel more part of what’s going on and that’s really, really very nice, I like that a lot. The feeling I belong here.

Hollie Carr and Roddy Peters
Photography by Alex Duncan and Phil Leftwich