Cambridge Orations 1982–1993
A Selection

A selection of fifty of the Latin speeches which James Diggle delivered in praise of a variety of distinguished people on the occasion of their receiving Honorary Degrees.

James Diggle (Author)

9780521466189, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 March 1994

128 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 6.9 cm, 1.99 kg

James Diggle was the official Orator of the University of Cambridge from 1982 to 1993. This book presents a selection of fifty of the Latin speeches which he delivered during those years in praise of a variety of distinguished people on the occasion of their receiving Honorary Degrees. The graduands range from writers (Borges, Gordimer, Ted Hughes, Iris Murdoch) to scientists (Stephen Hawking, James Watson) to musicians (Janet Baker, Jessye Norman) to sculptors (Anthony Caro, Elisabeth Frink) to actors (Alec Guinness) and royalty (the King of Spain), to philosophers (Jacques Derrida) and many others. The speeches themselves, models of wit and verbal dexterity, demonstrating the adaptability of Latin to the expression of modern ideas, are accompanied by English versions of complementary skill. The volume opens with an essay on the history and nature of the office of Orator in Cambridge.

1. Sir Michael Francis Atiyah
2. David Frederick Attenborough
3. Jorge Luis Borges
4. Sir Ronald Syme
5. Dame Janet Abbott Baker
6. Hans Kung
7. Kenneth Joseph Arrow
8. Anthony Alfred Caro
9. George Albert Clarke
10. Dame Cicely Saunders
11. Walter Heinrich Munk
12. Edward James Hughes
14. Gregory Vlastos
15. Mary Douglas Leakey
16. William Owen Chadwick
17. Witold Lutoslawski
18. Donald Oliver Baron Soper
19. Dame Alice Rosemary Murray
20. Alfred Alistair Cooke
21. Dame Elisabeth Frink
22. His Majesty Don Juan Carlos I, King of Spain
23. Flora Eileen McLeod Carey
24. Sue Baroness Ryder of Warsaw
25. Stephen William Hawking
26. Jessye Norman
27. Andrew Ronald Blackwood
28. Alfred Harry King
29. Helen Suzman
30. Sir Charles William Oatley
31. Francis Leonard Baron Tombs of Brailes
32. Georges Michel Claude Duby
33. Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin
34. Sir Lionel Alexander Bethune (Alastair) Pilkington
35. Mary Robinson
36. Paul Erdos
37. Sir Alec Guinness
38. Stefan Heym
39. Sir John Leslie Martin
40. Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton
41. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza
42. Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
43. Jacques Derrida
44. Nadine Gordimer
45. Sir Robert Yewdall Jennings
46. David Kwok Po Li
47. George Baron Porter of Luddenham
48. Dame Margaret Elizabeth Harvey Turner-Warwick
49. James Dewey Watson
50. Maurice Vincent Wilkes
51. Dame Jean Iris Murdoch.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]