Congratulations to Cambridge’s most illustrious road sweeper Allan Brigham, who is to collect an honorary master’s degree from Cambridge University for his services to the community as a tour guide.
I’m hoping to join him on one of his hidden history city tours – “town, not gown” – next Monday evening.
Allan, who has a degree in history, is a well known guide and local historian, and is renowned for his fascinating accounts of city life which he is keen to share with Cambridge residents.
His website states: “Many local people know more about villages visited on holiday in Tuscany or Yorkshire than about their home town.” That is so true.
I used to live near Mill Road in Cambridge before I married, the area where Allan will be leading his walk next week. It is described as the “new Islington” for its eclectic and vibrant variety of shops and restaurants. I wish I had known about Mill Road’s hidden history then….but it is never too late.
A friend joined one his tours last weekend which was intended for 20 people – only 50 turned up, and nobody was turned away. Allan is a bit of a Pied Piper character.
I wish I had joined that tour too, it sounds wonderful, so no wonder so many joined Allan for his walk around Coldham’s Common and the Leper Chapel, the city’s oldest building. He was joined by a wildlife expert to point out the best places to see water voles, three-spined stickleback and kingfishers.
When I spoke to Allan this week to put my name on his email list, he told me he did not know why he had been nominated for his distinguished university honour.
“The university works in mysterious ways,” he said.
Allan’s honour is well deserved. In a city like Cambridge, it is important to remind everyone that there is much more to it than just its world famous university.
*If you are visiting Cambridge this summer, then do consider joining the Darwin Tour of Cambridge to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. It includes a visit to his rooms at Christ’s College.
I want an honorary degree too!!
What an interesting guy. And the honour is thoroughly deserved.
A very interesting personality. Deserved.
Those tours sound fascinating 🙂
What a lovely story Ellee. I am sure it would be a great pleasure to take a tour with him.
We have someone here who does that, although we don’t have a long history by any means. The Faculty Women’s Club often hire him to take a group of us on a walk in the various areas of the city which do have interesting things and he has written a book which is a good guide to doing it yourself.
The tour sounds great! It’s people like him that really make a tour. I arranged on when we visited Oxford for the literary festival. We went on the CS Lewis tour and it was interesting and lively, packed with information, the tour guide was so knowledgable and could answer any question. He strongly recommended other places to visit that were just a bit out of Town and I’ve promised the children we will visit. I don’t know why some people think children need loud noise and cheap tat to have a good time. Don’t get me wrong, that can work, but children are so often sold short. Mine loved this tour. I must visit Cambridge.
Pip, you would love this tour in Cambridge. Let me know when you visit so we can meet up.
I’d love to go on one of his tours too!
I joined Alan on a tour of Cambridge last night and I would give him 11 out of 10. He was fun, so intelligent, perceptive and fun. No wonder he has so many fans…
Glad you enjoyed the tour Ellee. Allan does a wide range of local tours all of which are really interesting. As you say his delivery brings the whole tour alive. He does a great talk on ‘rubbish’!
[…] call from the BBC World Service last week wanting to contact him after reading about him in one of my previous posts. Allan was given the honour for his unique historical tours of Cambridge – and he is open about […]
[…] of him being interviewed about his well deserved honorary degree from Cambridge University for his services to the community as a tour guide. I couldn’t resist taking these pics during the walk and using EveryTrail on […]