St Andrews’ Fry hijack bid

Stephen Fry has revealed St Andrews students tried to hijack the bid to make him rector of Dundee University.

Speaking to Dundee’s alumni magazine The Bridge, Mr Fry revealed students from the other side of the Tay asked him to become their rector after learning of their counterparts’ bid.

The actor, comedian, writer and presenter was rector of Dundee University between 1992 and 1998.

He was first approached when students wrote to him.

Mr Fry said: “The notion of rector was a strange one to anyone not acquainted with the Scottish university system but I was intrigued by it.

“I was pondering it when, a week later, I received a letter from students at St Andrews asking the same thing.

“Now, St Andrews may have looked more glamorous, on the face of it, to the uninitiated, what with the history and the robes and the golf. But I felt that Dundee had got there first and so it was only fair I stuck with them.

“I thought it sounded like an interesting adventure, so I wrote back and said I would be happy to have a go.

“It was only then that I found out one of the students had told a friend at St Andrews they were asking me to be their rector. That had then prompted the efforts by the St Andrews students to undercut Dundee.

“That only confirmed I had made the right decision.”

The actor, who previously admitted taking cocaine in the students’ union in 1993, said his overriding memory of his time at Dundee was the warmth of the welcome he received from students and staff alike.

He said: “They were very honest and straightforward, which was great.

“I think it is of great credit, remembering this was 25 years ago, that I arrived as an openly gay man and no one ever made an issue of that.

“I was warmly welcomed with open arms and I think that said and continues to say so much for the university and for Dundee.

“It is a time I remember extremely fondly and ultimately, I feel Dundee gave me more than I could give it.”

He added that he is “thrilled” the university offers a prize in his name – the Stephen Fry Prize for Public Engagement in Research.

Stephen Fry was rector at Dundee University but St Andrews students tried to hijack him for their institution.