On the second day of a supposedly three-month handover, Johnson’s predecessor as bursar, Colin Cowe, did a runner and was not seen in the college again. By day three, Johnson found that the man really in charge — what I believe certain sections of Sicilian society call un pezzo di novanta — was the college accountant, Stanley Bond. He and the college surveyor,  Stanley Latham,  ran their domain as a medieval fiefdom. Their own salaries were not declared in the accounts. Unsurprisingly, their self-remunerations were later revealed to be among the highest in Oxford.

Under their reign, soft loans and perks were dished out to dons and pals, rents of college properties went unreviewed — in one case an international gangster, an untouchable to any real-life Inspector Morse, Lewis or Hathaway — occupied a large house at almost nil rent. College builders and maintenance staff moonlit at the college’s expense. Van loads of provender went into the kitchens only to go out of the next door, to be sold on at a profit.

Meanwhile the place was falling down. Restoration of Wolsey’s status symbol, Magdalen Tower, stalled, as appeal funds dried up. No architect was appointed and supervision was lax. At one point skeletons were unearthed close to the foundations. They were believed to have been plague victims from the late 15th or early 16th century. The surveyor and accountant were having no truck with such inconveniences and ordered the bones to be shoved into the builders’ skip. This was happening while some of the finest medieval historians Britain could offer were teaching in the college.

At the end of the first year in office for  Johnson and Griffin, the accounts showed the college had to draw down £750,000 from its capital funds in order to make up the shortfalls in the current account expenditure, with all its deficits and shortfalls, soft loans and privileges to the dons, Spanish customs of the building staff, and excessive indulgence in college feasts and fancy dinners.

One of the worst aspects was the mismanagement of the grounds, including the deer park and gardens. Gates to St Catherine’s College had been allowed to remain open, so the gardens became a playground for plant raiders, motorbike scramblers and unleashed dogs who proceeded to attack and kill the deer. Three rapes were reported in college grounds. A militant Oxford City Council tried to lay claim to run the grounds as a community asset, and part of their expanded programme for tourism.

I am sure that Johnson and Griffin did manage to turn things round dramatically, and that they confronted the biggest crisis in the college’s recent history, and faced it down. But I think there are more characters in the story than this author allows, or mentions. Wealth has been restored to Magdalen by Griffin’s successor, Tony Smith, a former BBC editor. He managed to raise a staggering £144 million in donations and has hugely widened its international appeal.