My brief post at the time of friend and philosopher Bob Hargrave’s death in 2012 is currently being viewed at the rate of 5,400 views per annum. Not hits. Real views.
That – in a very real sense – is remarkable.
A wave to all who loved him.
Bob Hargrave, 2011
photo – Dominic Minghella
Hugely embarrassing – this really is me, as my daughter puts it, looking “so effeminate” – but what a nice one of the late and truly great philosopher, Bob Hargrave.
(Oxford degree ceremony, circa 1990)
I am proud to present, from the archives, A Hitch Hiker’s Guide To Philosophy.
This video was made circa 1990 as a taster for a proposed television series, A Hitch Hiker’s Guide To Philosophy.
The writer and presenter is Bob Hargrave, who until his death in August 2012, was Lecturer in Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford.
The television series was never made, and the video was only recently rediscovered after more than twenty years. Many thanks to Tomboy Films for organising its transfer from prehistoric u-matic tape format onto DVD.
At the time of writing, it is rumoured that Balliol College will be placing a bench in Bob’s favourite spot outside the Buttery, with the words “Bob Hargrave (1949 – 2012) Philosopher. Sceptic. Corrupter of Youth.”
If the rumour is true, then – “in a very real sense”* – this video has provided his epitaph.
My thanks to everyone involved in the making of the video, to the brilliant Kirk Jones whose directing talent was obvious even then, and especially to Bryan Loftus and Glynis Murray of Xenium Productions who enthusiastically supported this extra-curricular outing.
Enjoy!
*Official Hargraveism, often – but not in this case – used with irony.