In addition to the obligatory float parades and beard shaving, Rag undertook a number of memorable stunts. One involved cementing a toilet by the fountains in Trafalgar Square in 1967 and attempting to sail half a perspex boat across the French Channel. Crewed by the current Rag week Queen, the boat was launched into the choppy sea filmed by a national news crew. Although it failed to reach France, the event was included at the end of the national TV news and managed to raise a few smiles, as well as a few pounds for charity.
In 1965, the Rag team made the national headlines again after a student named Christopher Mountford walked onto a talk show hosted by Eamon Andrews, the 1960’s equivalent of Michael Parkinson, in a bid to publicise Rag week. One of the celebrities being interviewed was George Hamilton, and Chris had managed to get on the show by claiming that he was Hamilton’s makeup artist and had come to collect the actor for a cabaret appearance. He managed to foil security guards by showing them a fake identification card that said;
Chris J.P Mountford, Hyde 2100, Stage Makeup Specialist
Columbia Make-Up Ltd, 112 Hyde Park Lane, London, W.1
New York, London, Paris and Rome.
Chris was seen by millions of viewers calmly walking onto the set before being dragged off by a couple of burly security guards. He was later invited back to the show to be interviewed!
These days, Rag students tend to pursue more orthodox means of raising money…