Cambridge University's 1958 car on roof prank secrets revealed

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Cambridge University's 1958 car on roof prank secrets revealed

Posted Tuesday, Jul 01, 2008 by autos

It is a mystery that has long baffled undergraduates and university historians alike - how did students get an Austin Seven car onto the roof of Cambridge University's Senate House in June 1958?

Cambridge secret - roof

Fifty years on an explanation for one of the most ingenious student prank of all time has finally been provided.

The group of engineering students who carried out the stunt have reunited to reveal their identities and explain how they winched the Austin Seven to the top of the university's 70ft-high Senate House.

At an anniversary dinner this month, ringleader Peter Davey revealed he had dreamt up the plan while staying in rooms at Gonville and Caius College overlooking the Senate House roof.

Cambridge secret - car

He felt the roof 'cried out' to be made more interesting and recruited 11 others to help him adorn it with a car. The group chose the May Bumps week, when any passers-by were likely to be drunken rowers celebrating after their races.

The group towed a broken down Austin Seven through Cambridge to a parking space near Senate House, explaining its presence by sticking signs on it advertising a May ball.

Cambridge secret - Police

Mr Davey, now 72, said a ground party moved the car into position while a lifting party on the Senate House roof hoisted it up using an A-shaped crane made from scaffolding poles and steel rope.

A third group passed a plank across the 8ft gap between the roof and a turret window at Caius - known as the Senate House Leap - and helped the lifting party ferry across three types of rope, hooks and pulleys.

Policemen who heard noises as the equipment passed above them questioned some of the ground party but were distracted by careless drivers nearby and soon left.

Three drunken rowers who spotted the car swinging about 40ft up were fobbed off with the explanation that it was a tethered balloon.

But it was the efforts of two student girls who showed the greatest ingenuity in trying to saved the pranksters from discovery. They had been deployed to hitch up their skirts a few inches to distract passers by.

However, the stunt almost went disastrously wrong when the team tried to swing the car through the apex of the A-frame, over the Senate House balustrade and on to the roof.

They had neglected to erect a rope check line running from the Caius side which would have steadied the vehicle. It crashed on to the roof from 5ft above it and, fearing they would be discovered, the lifting team hastily pushed it to the apex before dismantling their equipment and fleeing over the plank bridge.

The following day crowds of onlookers gathered in wonder to look at the car and watch as the authorities tried and failed to construct a crane to hoist it down. Police, firefighters and civil defence units fought for nearly a week to hoist the vehicle back down before giving up and taking it to pieces with blowtorches.

The then Dean of Caius, the late Rev Hugh Montefiore, had an idea of who was responsible and sent a congratulatory case of champagne to their staircase, while never revealing his suspicions in public.

Many of the group responsible went on to enjoy distinguished careers. Mr Davey, from Mousehole, Cornwall, was awarded a CBE and an honorary doctorate after setting up automation and robotics companies while another, Cyril Pritchett, was a lieutenant colonel in the Army.

Two of the team of 12 live abroad and could not make the reunion dinner at Caius. One, David Fowler, had died and was represented by his widow Denise.

The group said their only regret was that the car was not left in place for ever.

Caius officials said the 'renegades' had since become generous benefactors of the college.