Life After DPIR - Ms Deborah Honoré on a secretarial career

Alumni 1948, St Anne’s College

Summary

I came to Oxford in 1948 from South Africa, and I was at St Anne's, which I loved.  It was very informal then, and you got the sense that it was the people that mattered, much more than the buildings, much more than the establishment.  On account of my mother's illness, I arrived a term late, without having given much thought to what I would read, and tried out a variety of courses.  When at last deciding on PPE, there were only five terms left, and the college was very helpful and let me study for the Diploma in Economics and Political Science.

I discovered I enjoyed politics, particularly Political Theory (which made me a confirmed liberal), as well as Local Government which was taught by Bryan Keith-Lucas - thinking about the basics of how we live together as a society.

I didn't think I would be able to go back to South Africa as the Nationalist Government had got into power in 1948.  After a few jobs, I eventually did a secretarial course and this led to being offered the job of secretary-cum-accountant on a magazine for Black South Africans, so I went. We quickly dropped the accountancy part of the job when they discovered that I'd thrown the receipts away after someone had been paid – so the economics part of the diploma didn't sink in very well!

Being on that magazine was wonderful. Any significant article had to go through really good lawyers first – to see if there was anything that could be got at by the government, because we used to do exposés and things like that – people coming out of prison, and recounting what had gone on there.

I married a Law Professor, who was asked to write a constitution for Basutoland (modern Lesotho). He would work on it during the day, and I would go through his drafts at night.

Later, I came back to Oxford and worked on Politics and Social Sciences for the Oxford English Dictionary. That was before computers, and there were 14 of us doing the job. I'm told there are 90 now!

The diploma didn't help me find a job as such, but it inspired an interest in politics which has remained with me ever since. I've certainly lived through some very interesting political history.