Available onlineThe Open University
(page 4 of 4)| Video: | Laying the OU Library foundation stone 1973 |
|---|---|
| Duration: | 00:02:53 |
| Date: | 1982 |
| Image : | Jennie Lee at the first OU graduation ceremony |
| Date: | 1973 |
According to Lord Perry’s book “The Open University”, it was Jennie who decided that the basement of Walton Hall would make a good social area for staff – she even acquired a grant from the Bevan memorial trust to set-up the “cellar bar” as it became known.
On 18 May 1970 Jennie attended the opening of the first OU campus buildings by Lord Mountbatten of Burma. The first photograph on this page shows her talking with Mountbatten and VC Walter Perry.
On 23 June 1973 the first Open University graduation ceremony was broadcast live on BBC2 and Jennie was awarded an honorary doctorate. You can see a photograph from the ceremony on this page.
Also, in 1973, Jennie was asked to lay the foundation stone of the new Jennie Lee Library on the Walton Hall campus, the headquarters of the OU. On this page you can watch an extract of Jennie speaking at the event filmed in colour. You can watch the whole speech and further interviews with Jennie filmed on the day here.
Jennie continued to have an interest in the University in the years after its creation and this can be seen in the many papers related to The University that she kept. These are held in the archive collection dating from the 1970s and early 1980s.
