1980
International students in the library
The University has always attracted students from all over the world and today welcomes staff and students from over 120 countries worldwide.
Mash in the Museum
Students sit down to dinner in the University refectory, in what was once the City Museum. The building was bought by the University in 1946 and today is better known as Brown's restaurant, which acquired it in the early 1990s.
Students through the ages see:
1914, 1968, 1978, 1979, 1987 and 1996.
Research starts at the Centre for Deaf Studies
The Centre for Deaf Studies begins its first research project. The Centre is the first European academic institution dedicated to research and education for the Deaf community. The majority of teaching staff are Deaf and all tutors sign. Today, the Access Unit co-ordinates the University's support for all disabled students.
Iris Murdoch receives honorary degree
Writer and Booker Prize-winner Dame Iris Murdoch is awarded a honorary degree (D Litt). The writer was portrayed by Kate Winslet and Dame Judi Dench in Iris, the 2001 biopic of her life.
Freshers' Fair in full swing
New students to the University are offered the choice of nourishing soup for 10p or homebrew during Freshers' Week.
Private study
Using the library catalogue in the Arts and Social Sciences Library before computerisation.
Students protest at Architecture School closure
The School of Architecture closes following the University Grants Committee's decision to cut university funding by 15 per cent. The University decides against imposing across-the-board cuts on all departments and instead chooses to close a small number of departments, including Architecture.
Law Faculty is 50
The Law Faculty celebrates its 50th anniversary. Today the faculty is one of the largest in the country with over 40 members of staff.
David Puttnam awarded honorary degree
Film producer and politician David (now Baron) Puttnam is awarded an honorary law degree. Best known for films including Bugsy Malone, Chariots of Fire and The Killing Fields, he was made a life peer in 1997.
Professor Haggett appointed acting Vice-Chancellor
Professor Peter Haggett is appointed acting Vice-Chancellor. Today Professor Haggett is Emeritus Professor of Urban and Regional Geography at the University. He was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the United States for his excellence in original scientific research. Membership of the NAS is one of the highest international honours given to a scientist or engineer. Past members include Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright and Alexander Graham Bell.
Past and future Vice-Chancellors include:
Professor Conwy Lloyd Morgan
Sir Isambard Owen
Professor E. F. Francis
Dr Thomas Loveday
Professor A. M. Tyndall
Philip Morris
Professor John Edward Harris
Professor Arthur Roderick Collar
Professor Alexander Merrison
Sir John Kingman
Professor Eric Thomas
Baroness Hale first female law commissioner
Baroness Hale, future Chancellor of the University, becomes the youngest person and the first woman ever to be appointed to the Law Commission.
Peter Maxwell Davies receives honorary degree
Composer and conductor Peter Maxwell Davies CBE receives an honorary degree from the University.
Teaching the teachers
Professor Patricia Broadfoot, who came to the University in 1981 to take up a lectureship in education, obtains her PhD from the Open University. In 2002 she becomes a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, with particular responsibilities for teaching and learning.
See more examples of teaching in action: 1921, 1924, 1986.
Sir John Kingman appointed Vice-Chancellor
Sir John Kingman is appointed Vice-Chancellor. A Fellow of the Royal Society and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, he became the first Chair of the Statistics Commission (now the UK Statistics Authority) in 2000.
Past and future Vice-Chancellors include:
Professor Conwy Lloyd Morgan
Sir Isambard Owen
Professor E. F. Francis
Dr Thomas Loveday
Professor A. M. Tyndall
Philip Morris
Professor John Edward Harris
Professor Arthur Roderick Collar
Professor Alexander Merrison
Professor Peter Haggett
Professor Eric Thomas
University acquires Penguin archive
Peter Mayer signs over the Penguin editorial archive files to Sir John Kingman. The archive consists of more than 2,300 boxes of letters, notes and other papers spanning the history of the company from its establishment in 1935, by Bristol-born Allen Lane, to the present day. The University recently received a £650,000 grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to study the archive and create an online catalogue.
Dental School expansion
To meet growing demand, the Dental School expands its base on Upper Maudlin Street on the site of the earliest known Romano- British settlement within the city. The present Dental Hospital lies on the site of Greyfriars, home to the Franciscans who arrived in Bristol in 1220.
Student protests
Students protest against benefit cuts.
Honorary degree for Dame Peggy Ashcroft
Academy Award-winning actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft is awarded an honorary degree (D. Litt) from the University. A highly acclaimed Shakespearean actress, she won her Oscar for the role of Mrs Moore in A Passage to India and, at 77, was the oldest person to win the award.
Role play for grown-ups
Students and staff swap roles as the students try out their management skills in a role-playing game on the roof of Senate House.
See more examples of teaching in action: 1921, 1924, 1984
Fun at the Freshers' Fair
Freshers are enticed to join the chess club. For the more adventurous there's also climbing and hang-gliding.
Students through the ages see:
1914, 1968, 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1996.
Norah Fry Centre established
The Norah Fry Centre is established. Now one of the country's leading centres for research into learning difficulties, the Centre is named after a member of the famous Bristol Quaker chocolate-making family.
Norah Fry (1871-1960) was an advocate for better schools for disabled children and better housing for people with learning difficulties. For over fifty years she was a member of the Council of Bristol University and donated money to it to establish the Department of Mental Health.
Sir Jeremy Morse appointed Chancellor
Sir Jeremy Morse is appointed Chancellor. His well-known talent for setting and solving chess problems and crossword puzzles led Colin Dexter to name his famous detective character Inspector Morse after him.
Past and future Chancellors include:
Henry Overton Wills III
Richard Burden Sanderson Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane of Cloan
The Right Honourable Winston Churchill MP
Henry Somerset, the 10th Duke of Beaufort,
Professor Dorothy Hodgkin
Right Honourable the Baroness Hale of Richmond
Project work
Students collaborate on project work in the Faculty of Engineering.
