Guy Fawkes' Lamp...

Son #3 gave us cause to have a really lovely day today.

Firstly it's his birthday - yes he was born on Guy Fawkes' Day!

Secondly he'd managed to get his graduation ceremony in Oxford arranged for his birthday - he was formally receiving his MSt (Master of Studies) in History degree which he achieved with distinction last academic year.

So yesterday we drove to Oxford for the degree ceremony this morning. The first extra is one of the photos I took of him outside the Sheldonian Theatre just after the ceremony.

Later in the day we popped into the Ashmolean Museum to see the lamp in the main blip picture. It is said to be the actual lamp used by Guy Fawkes himself in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th November 1605. It has an excellent chance of being genuine as it was given to the University in 1641 by Robert Heywood of Brasenose College, and he was the son of a Justice of the Peace who arrested Fawkes 36 years before. The second extra is an example of the fireworks display we saw in the evening, to go with the lamp blip.

We were also able to meet up with Son #2 who came over from Bath for the day, and with one of my brothers who lives not far from Oxford.

Altogether a super day.