- Academics appear to have solved one of history鈥檚 oldest mysteries: how did Alexander the Great die? The Times reported on 13聽January that toxicologists from the University of Birmingham and the West Midlands Poisons Unit helped scholars from New Zealand鈥檚 University of Otago to pinpoint what killed the conqueror of the Persian Empire at the age of 32. They found that Alexander鈥檚 reported symptoms before his death in Babylon in 323BC matched the effects of poisoning by white hellebore, a flowering plant used in small doses to purge demons from the body by inducing sneezing and vomiting. Their study argues that it could have been fermented, sweetened and given to an inebriated Alexander at a party, although they admit that they will never know if his poisoning was deliberate or accidental.
- When mature students appear on University Challenge, quizmaster Jeremy Paxman makes little effort to hide his annoyance. He was at it again when Soas, University of London took on the University of Reading, noting that the former鈥檚 team had an average age of 34. Following Mr Paxman鈥檚 lead, the Daily Mail chimed in with some ageist comments of its own, particularly about 58-year-old Soas contestant Maeve Weber, whose 鈥済rey hair鈥 and 鈥渒nitted V鈥憂eck jumper鈥 made her 鈥渉ardly the likeliest of university students鈥. It also found space on 8聽January to print tweets from patronising viewers who referred to Ms Weber as the 鈥渟weetest old lady鈥 and, wrongly, a 鈥済ranny鈥. University Challenge fans could be forgiven some confusion about the existence of older undergraduates because the disproportionate number of youthful Oxbridge college teams on the show distorts the reality of an all-age student body.
- Tintin creator Herg茅 preferred the colourful Captain Haddock to his 鈥渉orrifyingly puritanical and depthless鈥 boy reporter, an academic has told fans of the Belgian comic-book hero, 罢丑别听罢颈尘别蝉 reported on 11聽January. At a conference at University College London to mark the 85th anniversary of Tintin鈥檚 first appearance, Eric Langley, lecturer in Shakespeare and Renaissance literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, said Herg茅 developed an aversion to drawing his 鈥渂land鈥 hero, but the swearing, hard-drinking Haddock allowed him to express a darker side. He added that the Tintin tales should be named after Captain Haddock, who is 鈥渙ne of the great life-affirming characters in literature, as important to Tintin as Falstaff is to the young Henry V鈥.
- Free flights, laptops, gym memberships and cinema tickets are just some of the 鈥渄eplorable鈥 inducements used by universities to attract high-flying students, The Sunday Telegraph reported on 12聽January. With institutions able to recruit unlimited numbers of students with A鈥憀evel grades of ABB or above, large amounts of cash and other sweeteners were on offer, the paper said. Newman University offered 拢10,000 over three years to all students with grades of BBB or better who made the institution their firm choice on application forms, while the University of Surrey promised a 拢3,000 cash award to first-year students with A*AA or equivalent, the report said. The 鈥渁rms race鈥 to lure students was condemned by Rachel Wenstone, vice-president (higher education) of the National Union of Students, who said that spending on 鈥渟hallow marketing gimmicks鈥 was 鈥渦nacceptable鈥 when so many students struggle financially. Universities UK chief executive Nicola Dandridge was relaxed about the use of funds previously earmarked for hardship grants, saying they were 鈥渋nnovative ways of attracting students鈥.
- Prince William is not the first grandson of a reigning monarch to study at the University of Cambridge. According to a letter from Lord Lexden published in The Daily Telegraph on 13聽January, Queen Victoria鈥檚 grandson Prince Albert Victor 鈥 known as Prince Eddy 鈥 was in residence at Trinity College in the 1880s. But the Duke of Cambridge, who is taking a 10-week agriculture course, would do well not to emulate his distant ancestor, whose tutor once bemoaned that 鈥渉e hardly knows the meaning of the words 鈥榯o read鈥欌娾, Lord Lexden reported. With the new dad expected to make a 鈥済ruelling鈥 commute from Kensington Palace to Cambridge by rail each day, his student life will be nothing like the decadent one of his forebear.
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