A MAN OF FEW WORDS
An important part of the selection procedure for Oxford University fellowships — and one much dreaded by shy candidates — was dinner at the high table with the assembled dons, who would put aspirants through their social paces. When C. S. Lewis was a candidate for a fellowship in English at Magdalen College, Oxford, he was placed next to the elderly and formidable Sir Herbert Warren, president of the college. Throughout the first two courses the president did not speak a word. Then, as the meat course was served, Warren spoke: “Do you like poetry, Mr. Lewis?” Lewis replied, “Yes, President, I do.” As there seemed to be no further reaction from his eminent neighbor, he added, “I also like prose.” That was the whole extent of their conversation. Lewis was awarded the fellowship.
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