DUKE’S GIANT BONFIRE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17453, 30 December 1930, Page 5

DUKE’S GIANT BONFIRE

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED BLENHEIM PALACE FESTIVITY OXFORD, Nov. 14. The feudal splendour of old England was revived yesterday, when one ol the greatest houses in the country, Llcnhciin Unlace, gave itself up to revelry. With a bonfire a hundred feet; high, a torchlight procession, and dances in the open air, thousands of people from the countryside villages and towns joined, like one great lamily, >» the celebration of the Duke ol Munbirthday. The square before the groat entrance hall ol the palace glitto.cd with thousands of fairy-lights. Here the Duke of Marlborough and . his American duchess stood and received the cheers of the 200 Oxford undergraduates who marched up with Hauling .torches to greet them, in response to"\vhich the duke made a speech. SPIRIT OF MERRY ENGLAND The spirit of Merry England lived again. Waving their torches, .the undergraduates returned to throw them on the pile, and started a blaze. Before long the duke could see right across the, park the flame of the bonfire lighting up the figure of his great mil it arv ancestor, and blazing like an offering before the J3oft. column. Never has such a bon lire been lighted there for over 30 years. It tiiok throe weeks to prepare, and it will burn- for a week. While the hundred, tons of wood, slacked -bill, high, and soaked with pel ml, Ida/ed •ivvay, the undergraduates chaired GenerafSeolv, who led the procession, and the Mayor of Woodstock, the neigh boring town. Then the villagers and townsfolk had their turn. As many as wished could ha.vc hot potatoes, roasted on long rods, and beer. Dancing out there in the open air they were the immortal lads and lasses of England, and, on their lips wore the eternal quips and. jokes of the English country folk.

On the tables in the great banqueting hull the famous silver plate was laid. At the dinner party were over IUO guests, among them many members of the Churchill family, which is descended from the first Duke of Marlborough.