“I had access to what seemed like a secret world. It was a subject that had been written about and dramatized, but I don’t think any photographer had tackled it before. A change was taking place. Someone described it as ‘the last hurrah’ of the upper classes.” – Dafydd Jones Oxford University in the early 1980s, awash with black ties and evening gowns. Change was in the air, best described by one newspaper as “The Return of the Bright Young Things.” At the time, Oxford University was synonymous with the wealthy, powerful and privileged. Many of the young people in these photographs went on to pursue careers within the British establishment, including Boris Johnson and David Cameron. In these images, however, their youth is unmistakable: teenagers dressed in formal suits celebrate the rise of Thatcher in Britain and Reagan in America, while boating on the river, pursuing romance and partying through the night. “It was Thatcher’s Britain, a period of celebration for those who had money.” – Dafydd Jones Oxford: The Last Hurrah reveals a world that had been extensively written about and dramatized, but never before photographed in this way. Both affectionate and critical, the book gently mocks its subjects while celebrating English eccentricity. From the architectural splendour of Oxford’s colleges to misty mornings beside the river at dawn, this is Oxford at its most beautiful, and the students of the 1980s at their most unguarded, raw and authentic.