Phoebe and Tony Hall sit on the bench where they got engaged in Lincoln's Inn Fields
To celebrate Valentine’s Day 2024, we hear from Tony (BSc Sociology 1968) and Phoebe Hall (BSc Sociology 1968) who met while studying at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳.
What brought you both to ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳?
Tony: At school, I had the idea that a career as a probation officer would be a good plan and a sociology course at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ was the best place to start. My first A-level results were not good enough though, so I resat and achieved far better results three months later. At my second interview I was told that a new course was being established in social administration. This seemed more in line with my intended career path, and I was duly accepted onto the small new course, arriving at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ in October 1965. This was a chance event that shaped the rest of my life.
Phoebe: I went to ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ because of an interest in improving the quality of care services. My father was a GP and one of my brothers had a learning disability. The interview, which I dreaded, was intimidating. Brian Abel-Smith, an advisor to the Department of Health, had just joined ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and was part of the panel. Leaning back lazily in his chair he asked me to tell him something he didn’t know about general practice. I went for broke and asked him whether he was aware of the Temporary Residents forms GPs used to claim remuneration when visitors to the locality needed an emergency appointment. These were stacked on the reception desks of local hotels where residents would be encouraged to fill them out, in case they needed care. I was offered a place!
How did you first meet?
Phoebe: Tony and I were in the first intake of the new social administration course. We met in seminars, lectures, Florrie’s Coffee Bar and Wright’s Bar. By the second term we were an item!
Tony: Immediately after graduating, in the summer of 1968, we sat on a bench in Lincoln’s Inn Fields and decided that now was a good time to get married. Our wedding was just a few months later, in the snow at a Register Office in Ipswich, on 28 December 1968, surrounded by our families and closest friends
Florrie's Coffee Bar
What was it like at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ during the late 60s?
Tony: ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ in the mid-1960s was at the centre o