Until now, it is maybe been most popularly related to one of many opening scenes from Chariots Of Fire, the 1981 Oscar-winning movie starring Nigel Havers and Ben Cross as two undergraduate athletes – one an aristocrat; the opposite, the son of a Jewish immigrant – who belt 371 yards round its Great Court whereas the clock strikes 12.
But no quantity of cinematic lustre can disguise the ethical failure which seemingly now characterises Trinity College, Cambridge – based on the Earl of Balfour, who watched in disgust and disbelief final week as Trinity’s portrait of his great-great uncle, Arthur Balfour, the previous prime minister, was repeatedly slashed and sprayed with paint by a ‘pro-Palestine protester’.
Condemning the assault as ‘wanton vandalism’, the Earl is much more revolted by what he describes because the ‘supine’ and ‘woke’ response by Trinity.
‘The school mentioned it was providing assist to anybody ‘affected’ – however should not the precedence be to go away no stone unturned to search out the perpetrators?’ asks Balfour, 75.
He’s equally dumbfounded by what he calls the ‘plain ignorance of the historical past of the Middle East amongst these extremists’ who tried to justify the assault by claiming that the Balfour Declaration of 1917 ‘started the ethnic cleaning of Palestine‘.
A professional-Palestine protester slashes and sprays paint on a portray of Lord Balfour on the University of Cambridge
The Earl of Balfour (pictured) watched in disgust and disbelief as Trinity’s portrait of his great-great uncle was vandalised by a ‘pro-Palestine protester’ final week
Ben Cross and Nigel Havers pictured in a scene from 1981’s Chariots of Fire which sees the college students attempt to dash 371 yards round Trinity College’s Great Court
The Great Court at Cambridge University the place the Chariots of Fire scene was filmed
The Earl patiently reiterates the reality. ‘The Declaration addressed a refugee drawback however was very clear in regards to the anticipated rights of current residents,’ he tells me. ‘To declare that [it] gave away Palestine is a calumny.’
His great-great uncle would have been appalled, he provides, by extremist makes an attempt to make sure that ‘the Jews – one of many three Abrahamic faiths – don’t have any rights to be in Palestine’.
Trinity declines to reply to requests for remark – which, understandably, antagonises Lord Balfour much more. ‘Not to stay up for him is shameful,’ he tells me.
But eloquent assist comes from The de Laszlo Archive Trust, which preserves the immense legacy of Philip de Laszlo, whose portrait of Arthur Balfour has been desecrated.
‘De Laszlo mentioned of himself, “A portrait painter has a great responsibility – to leave to future generations an historical document of his times”. The violent destruction of Lord Balfour’s portrait seeks to wipe away historical past.’