Univ boat club members collect the 1946 Summer Eights blade

A Summer Eights blade from Univ’s 1946 crew has been returned to College after being discovered in a London pub owned by musician James Blunt.

The blade was discovered by Isabella Penna (2021, Classics), who was visiting the The Fox and Pheasant pub in Chelsea. The pub is owned by popular musician James Blunt.  Upon learning of the blade’s existence, Dr Nikolaos Kanellakis, Stipendiary Lecturer in Pathology and co-treasurer of the UCBC, contacted the pub to explain the blade’s importance to the college and to ask if it could be handed back to the college in exchange for a replacement. The pub kindly agreed to return the blade and the College commissioned a replica to take its place in the pub.

Univ’s 1946 Summer Eights crew

The names of the Univ’s 1946 Summer Eights crew are as follows:
Norman Charles Featherstone Chappell
John Evelyn Kingsford Sayer
Arthur William Birley
John David Francis Marsh
James Drummond Anderson
John Valentine Balfour
Martin Robert Monier-Williams
John Michael Anthony Gurney (stoke)
Edwin Rex Fountaine (cox)

The 1946 Summer Eights hold particular significance as they were the first Summer Eights to take place in full following the end of World War II. Summer Eights had continued sporadically throughout the war, with many colleges combining to form crews.

 A report in the The Times described the 1946 Summer Eights as follows.
“Eights at Oxford are much what they might be expected to be in this first year of peace. They are not so polished, not so strong, as in 1939. But they are lively, there is a fair sprinkling of quite reasonable crews, and in some respects there is more character about the rowing than there was shortly before the war.”

The 1946 Summer Eights blade now resides in the Club Room at Univ’s boat house.

Published: 29 April 2025

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