An Oxford arriviste

Lisa Hilton is disappointed by a faux-posh dinner

CLASS INFILTRATION IS THE new sex. Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel Rivals is on the telly, provoking a spate of rapturous Eighties nostalgia from middle-aged lady commentators. Gins and tonic in the morning! Massive earrings! Rupert Campbell-Black (I hold up my hand). Those young people however, are less interested in the booze and bonking than in the fact that in the divine world of Dame Jilly, everyone aside from the odd doughty housekeeper or maddeningly dishy flat-vowelled groom is posh. The brilliant Emerald Fennell was on to this a while ago with her hit movie Saltburn, which begins at “Webbe”, a fictional Oxford college. Brasenose, where the Oxford scenes were shot, has now put up a flimsy nylon sign over the lodge saying “Brasenose College”. Its purpose is not to inform…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, December/January 2025

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