You may have seen Alan Cumming having a whale of a time as King James I on this week’s Doctor Who. We certainly won’t be forgetting that performance in a hurry.
Particularly perceptive or knowledgable visitors to the Bodleian Libraries perhaps recognised the the monarch from this sculpture in our Old Schools Quad.
The inscriptions on the books read HAEC HABEO QVAE SCRIPSI or these things I have written and HAEC HABEO QVAE DEDI or these things I have given.
The inscription below the sculpture translates to:
In the reign of our godlike James, the most learned generous and excellent of kings, these buildings were constructed for the service of the Muses, the library was assembled, and all that was still needed for the splendour of the university was happily planned, taken in hand, and completed. To God alone the glory.
You can read more about King James I, including his relationships with both sexes, on the Out in Oxford website.
