Lily livered

Back in fashion after some years disuse - the tradition of swimming the pond at Nuffield College, Oxford.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that there were about half a dozen swimmers following last month's leaving students dinner, renewing a tradition widely believed to have been initiated by industrial relations guru Hugh Clegg in his days as a mere research student.

But this year's amphibians have some way to go to match their predecessors - the new outbreak appears to have been prompted by circulation in college of pictures of the aftermath of the 1981 dinner, when about 20, including at least one fellow, took to the shallow lily-choked waters of the pond.