Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

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brian walling
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Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by brian walling »

I was sad to learn, through yesterday's CHOBA email News, of the recent passing of Old Blue Professor Edward (Ted) Kenney, Col A 35-43. In addition to his distinguished academic career in Classics at Cambridge, he was also a dedicated, lifelong supporter and benefactor of CH and among things served as CH Treasurer 1984-86. Maybe some of the other viewers of this forum have their own memories of or connections with Ted, but I'd like to post my own few thoughts here.

Ted Kenney and I were both classics scholars at CH and both products of the fearsome CH Head of Classics, Derek S Macnutt, who directed us into scholarships at Cambridge – although I followed this path some 20 years after Ted.

Ted became the Classics don at Peterhouse, Cambridge, early in his career in 1953, serving there until his eventual retirement and thereafter continuing in an "Emeritus" capacity. He was in fact my interviewer when I went to Peterhouse in December 1960 for the scholarship exams. I suppose that he interviewed all college applicants in Classics, although I had already made it clear that I wanted to switch to Economics, if accepted (which I did).

Due to the connection with Peterhouse, Cambridge, I came across Ted a number of times during visits to Cambridge over the years and his intellect always impressed. I last saw him in his early 80s, but he had reached the splendid age of 95 when he died in December 2019, just a couple of months short of his 96th birthday (or his 24th, if you wanted to joke about his being a leap-year baby born on 29 February).

The Times obituary for Ted (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prof ... -r798h8ksd) amusingly highlights the Fufu test that Ted was reputed to apply to all applicants in Classics that he interviewed. I don't personally recall this in 1960; maybe I was excused this because I was changing subject, or because of the CH connection, or maybe Fufu tests only started later in Ted's career at Peterhouse.

Since The Times is difficult to access on-line without a subscription, I've copied the relevant words about the Fufu test below:
Professor EJ Kenney obituary
Distinguished Cambridge Latinist whose loyal cat, Fufu, played an important role in selecting prospective students
Although prospective students thought they had come to Edward Kenney’s office to be assessed on their Latin ability, the object of their test lay purring on their chair. If the applicant turfed Fufu the cat off the chair, they had no hope of studying classics at Peterhouse, Cambridge. If they picked him up and gently put him on the floor, they stood a chance; if they stroked and nuzzled him, they were definitely in. The Fufu test was a whimsical instance of the unsparing attention to detail for which Kenny earned his scholarly reputation.
The accomplished portraitist John Stanton Ward did a portrait of Ted + Fufu in 1993 and this appears now to be in the possession of CH at Horsham – possibly donated to CH by Ted. The portrait can be seen on the Web at https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks ... nney-69868
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Re: Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by Katharine »

Love the story of the Fufu test! Also like the fact he was Kennedy Professor of Latin, was the chair endowed by the compiler of Kennedy’s Shorter Latin Primer that was an essential for us in learning Latin.

When I was at Oxford I didn’t get some work back from a fairly eccentric tutor in St Catherine’s, as the cat had walked over it and then fallen asleep on it!
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Re: Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by loringa »

brian walling wrote: Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:49 am
Professor EJ Kenney obituary
Distinguished Cambridge Latinist whose loyal cat, Fufu, played an important role in selecting prospective students
Although prospective students thought they had come to Edward Kenney’s office to be assessed on their Latin ability, the object of their test lay purring on their chair. If the applicant turfed Fufu the cat off the chair, they had no hope of studying classics at Peterhouse, Cambridge. If they picked him up and gently put him on the floor, they stood a chance; if they stroked and nuzzled him, they were definitely in. The Fufu test was a whimsical instance of the unsparing attention to detail for which Kenny earned his scholarly reputation.
The accomplished portraitist John Stanton Ward did a portrait of Ted + Fufu in 1993 and this appears now to be in the possession of CH at Horsham – possibly donated to CH by Ted. The portrait can be seen on the Web at https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks ... nney-69868
Slightly the worse for wear after a belated Burns' Night supper and thoroughly depressed about our departure from the EU, this story made my day - thank you. As a part-time servant to 2 ginger cats I entirely understand the late professor assessment criterion. When I told my dd (revising for GCSEs with one of said cats on her lap) her response was that she would have sat on the floor.

I am rather fond of cats and cat-people, whilst sometimes a little eccentric, seem normally to be quite nice people too.
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Re: Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by Otter »

Very late to see this, but I really loved that story. I am a proud crazy cat man. I can't help but harshly judge people who aggressively dislike animals for no reason (legitimate fear/allergy is one thing, but quite another just disliking them for being them, and angrily swatting them away just for sitting on a chair). Without knowing anything else about Ted Kenney, I think he must have been a brilliant person.

I remember visiting a certain in-law and, seeing the dog on the last available spot on the the couch, I sat on an uncomfortable wooden chair in the corner instead. The in-law looked at me like I was an idiot and said I should turf the dog off and sit there. I said something to the effect of it being the dog's house and not mine, so I wasn't going to kick him/her off their own couch and was happy to sit elsewhere. The in-law was on the verge of being angry at me for my stance. I realised then why we'd never really seen eye to eye about anything.
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Re: Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by sejintenej »

Otter wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 9:32 am Very late to see this, but I really loved that story. I am a proud crazy cat man. I can't help but harshly judge people who aggressively dislike animals for no reason (legitimate fear/allergy is one thing, but quite another just disliking them for being them, and angrily swatting them away just for sitting on a chair).
I agree with you. My daughter has always had cats, my son has a dog, I used to ride and when we didn't own we fostered dogs. Indeed a reigning champion of champions fresh from Crufts will be staying here tomorrow. On top of that I am very allergic to all three types of animals and have to take prescription tablet overdoses!
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Re: Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by J.R. »

"A House Without A Cat Is Not A Home."
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Re: Obituary Old Blue Ted Kenney – and his Fufu test for college applicants

Post by Avon »

Well, if I was the Dean and learned that one or my tutors was selecting students on the basis of their response to a cat on a chair, I'd have sacked him.

It was the treasurers of this period that nearly bankrupted the school. Seeing as we chose to hire cat-loving classicists I find it hard to understand how we got into this position.
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