won. The Reviews then lasted for several terms until less-connected editors lost interest. Exceptionally the Editor also undertook the role of lead Oxford Union critic himself, as noted above a position of considerable influence around Oxford University from the magazine's earliest days. For the Isis Idol in his term, Meakin prophetically chose the (much later) novelist Jeffrey Archer, who showed no literary flair whatever at Oxford and never wrote for Isis. The magazine did not only criticise Oxford. One issue during that same term was mainly devoted to an on-the-spot examination of a controversial parliamentary election in the Birmingham constituency of Smethwick, where the widely-criticised Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths was considered to have fought a racist campaign. To produce that particular issue, Isis took a coachload of undergraduate journalists to Birmingham for the day. The result was an edition of the magazine which was widely admired and which Paul Foot hailed as "one of the best things Isis has ever done." Following his editorship, Meakin produced a weekly satirical column "The Fifth Column", a title that has been borrowed numerous times since; it then took him about fifty years to produce his first novel The Chinese Ocean published in June 2015. It was probably a record delay for editors of the magazine; he followed this in 2017 with his non-fiction "The Origin of Economies." Meantime the first of several attempted rescues came from businessman, Robert Maxwell, and his Pergamon Press on Headington Hill, Oxford. In a risky business move, a national student publication was created - Isis National, which began distribution in Spring 1964, without success. He departed in 1970, making Isis an entirely independent and student-run company. The "University" tag was scrapped, and Isis was also distributed at the Oxford Polytechnic in Headington (now Oxford Brookes University). Quite soon, the absence of solid financial backing caused the frequency of publication to be cut by half, and Isis began to appear fortnightly. The following decades were interspersed with financial crises, the worst of which was a £1,000 printing bill in 1972 - and no cash to cover it with. Again, a rescue squad appeared from an unlikely, but illustrious source, in the form of this telegram: "Read of your financial troubles in The Times STOP One thousand pounds will be en route as soon as you cable us name and address of printers at the Granotel Rome - Elizabeth Taylor