Yes. If you count wearing jumpers decorated with runes as eccentric ... or rushing into the building with a fire-extinguisher during a fire-practice drill ... or taking a group of undergraduates onto the non-load-bearing roof of the Arts Building after a student party and encouraging them to imagine they were on the deck of a ship ...etc etc
I remember his story of Empson being offered the chair at Sheffield and travelling with the VC after the interviews: Empson was asked why he was accepting the job, and replied that he had been offered a readership somewhere else, but he thought this would be less work.
Robert
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From: British & Irish poets [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: 20 August 2011 00:58
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Subject: Robert--What was Francis Berry Like?
Was he as eccentric as I think he was? Jess
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