c. 1500 BC (contentious) The Israelites, led by Joshua, lay siege to the city of Jericho, on the west bank of the River Jordan. After six days they destroy it, massacring all of its inhabitants save collaborators. (Click for Wikipedia entry.)
1855 Thomas Combe, the University Printer at Oxford University Press (OUP), personally buys the paper mill and its adjoining land at Wolvercote, just north of Oxford, rebuilds and re-equips it, and sets it up as a separate commercial business, with OUP as its chief customer.
1872 The OUP Delegates buy the Wolvercote mill from Combe just ten days before his death. In all subsequent maps, records and accounts it is referred to as OUP- (rather than university-) owned. Its title is presently unregistered.
1920 Finding that it is running out of space for the storage of books in its city headquarters in Jericho, Oxford, OUP buys a large freehold estate in north Oxford to provide for its future expansion. Again, in all subsequent maps, records and accounts the land is referred to as OUP- (rather than university-) owned. Again, its title is presently unregistered. The Secretary to the OUP Delegates R. W. Chapman names the area Jordan Hill, after the biblical Israelites, who "had gone out from Jericho unto Jordan" (Joshua 16:7, somewhat doctored).
1925 OUP opens a book warehouse on the Jordan Hill site. The rest of the land is used as the OUP sports grounds for the OUP staff, with tennis courts, bowling greens, and cricket and football pitches laid out and an OUP Social Club built.
1940 Cambridge University Press (CUP) applies to the Inland Revenue for tax-exemption but is refused. (Documentation obtained by Akme. Click for first item in linked series.) CUP appeals against the decision but is again refused by the I.R. Special Commissioners, who state:
"The trade exercised by the Cambridge University Press is principally concerned with printing and publishing for the outside world. Thus, in our view, specialised though it is and devoted to the production of works of learning, it extends beyond the purpose and objects of the University. We find that the trade, except insofar as it is concerned with work for the internal use of the University, is not exercised in the course of the actual carrying out of a primary purpose of the charity. "
1941 CUP applies to the War Damage Commissioners for exemption from War Damage Contribution. Minor concessions are granted but tax-exemption of CUP's trading profits is again refused. (Documentation obtained by Akme. Click for first item in linked series.)
1944 OUP applies for exemption from wartime Excess Profits Tax, and is again refused. I.R. Board Chairman Sir Alan Barlow accuses O.U. Vice-Chancellor Sir David Ross of exaggeration and unpatriotism. (Documentation obtained by Akme. Click for first item in linked series.)
1948 Inauguration of the modern state of Israel, in the wake of the Second World War. Many Palestinians are dispossessed of their lands. (Click for Wikipedia entry.)
1950 OUP again applies for exemption from income tax and again is refused. (Documentation obtained by Akme. Click for first item in linked series.)
1952 OUP again applies for exemption from income tax and again is refused. (Documentation "lost" by Oxford.)
1952/3 OUP builds on part of the Jordan Hill site an estate of 74 houses and a block of 16 flats to rent out on secure tenancies to its printing workforce. A 75-year head lease is drawn up dated 8th July 1954, expiring 8th July 2029. The University Press (Oxford) Housing Society Limited (UP(O)HSL) is set up by OUP to administer the estate.
1954 A Legal Charge (Mortgage) over Jordan Hill is drawn up between UP(O)HSL and Oxford City Council.
1965/6 OUP builds on land adjoining the Wolvercote paper mill another estate (Webb's Close) of 25 houses and 3 blocks each of 6 flats to rent out on secure tenancies to its paper mill workforce. A 75-year head lease with UP(O)HSL is drawn up dated 25th March 1967, expiring 25th March 2042.
1967 The Leasehold Reform Act generally starts to introduce rights of secure tenants and leaseholders to turn their tenancies into leases and their leases into extensions or freeholds.
1967 Israel launches the six-day war, illegally occupying, and then settling, inter alia Jordan's west bank territories, resulting in further Palestinian disenfranchisement.
1975 CUP, facing bankruptcy, applies again (this time to its local tax officers) for exemption from corporation tax on its trading profits. In 1976 it is secretly granted tax-exemption on various conditions, most notably (a) that it ploughs any and all surpluses it makes back into non-commercial publishing, and (b) that it does not become a source of revenue for its university. It does not seek or acquire charity status. (Documentation obtained by Akme. Click for first item in linked series.)
1977 OUP, also facing bankruptcy, follows suit and applies locally for exemption from corporation tax. It is secretly granted tax-exemption in 1978, again on the conditions (a) that it ploughs any and all surpluses it makes back into non-commercial publishing, and (b) that it does not become a source of revenue for its university. It does not seek or acquire charity status. (Documentation obtained by Akme. Click for first item in linked series.)
1978 OUP ceases production at the Wolvercote paper mill, leasing the mill to the Brittains Group, which almost immediately goes into receivership. In 1980 the Wolvercote mill lease is bought by Star Paper Ltd. of Blackburn and subsequently by South African paper company Sappi Plc.
1980 'Right to Buy' provisions in the new (Tory-introduced) Housing Act give secure tenants the right to convert their tenancies into long (i.e. 21+ year) leaseholds. The Jordan Hill and Webb's Close Residents Associations (JHRA, WCRA) seek to enforce their residents' right to buy their leaseholds, but are resisted by UP(O)HSL. A long battle ensues, involving local (Tory) MP John Patten.
1982 To the dismay of the residents, the ownership of the estates is transferred from UP(O)HSL to the Cherwell Housing Trust (CHT), and their management transferred to the Cherwell Family Housing Association Ltd (CFHA).
1984 OUP closes down its Jordan Hill book warehouse (its distribution is moved to Corby), and reparcels the land, which it sells to a developer who builds a group of commercial office buildings and leases them out to, amongst others, rival educational publisher Heinemann(!)
1984 Andrew Malcolm serves a writ on OUP for its non-publication of his contracted philosophy text Making Names.
1985 It is at last ruled by the Department of Environment (DoE) that all the house tenants (but not the flat tenants) on the Jordan Hill and Webb's Close estates have the right to buy their leases. This decision at least partly turns on the fact that from 1972 to 1976 UP(O)HSL had sought and received improvement grants for the properties from Oxford City Council. About half (30+) of the householders exercise their right to buy their leases.
1987 A proposal is floated in the university to sell off OUP to a private buyer (mooted to be Robert Maxwell).
1987 Start of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, against Israel's continuing illegal occupation of the Jordan west bank and Gaza.
1989 OUP announces the shock closure of its printing house in Jericho, with the loss of 200 jobs, and despite recent investment of £1.8 million.
1990 In the Court of Appeal Andrew Malcolm wins damages and costs (to be assessed) against OUP for its breach of contract.
1992 Andrew Malcolm's damages assessment proceedings end with an out-of-court settlement. Akme is founded to publish Making Names.
1993 The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act clarifies and extends long leaseholders' rights of 'collective enfranchisement', reducing the recognised exceptions. The DoE booklet (still current) states:
"If you have bought under the Right to Buy, you will normally be able to enfranchise except where the freehold is owned by a charity and your immediate landlord is a housing association or is a shared ownership lease."
1997 The Akme website is launched, initially as a free online resource of precedents and other materials for authors contemplating litigation against publishers. (Click for website history.)
1998 Paper production ceases at the Wolvercote mill. Sappi tries but fails to find a buyer for the mill lease.
1998 OUP axes its modern poetry list because of its alleged unprofitability. At the time OUP's reserves stand at over £140 million while the annual loss on the poetry list is said to be just £20,000. A furore ensues, featuring a rebellion by Oxford's English faculty, a speech by Arts Minister Alan Howarth warning that OUP has jeopardized its quasi-charitable status, a TLS article by OUP finance chief Sir Keith Thomas declaring that OUP is obliged to make profits, and a TLS article by Andrew Malcolm suggesting that the Press should be reconstituted. (Click for first item in linked poetry fiasco series.)
1999 Andrew Malcolm discovers the truth about OUP's and CUP's secret tax exemptions of 1976 and 1978 and publishes it as the fifth appendix to a second book, The Remedy. For the first time, the issue is aired in The Oxford Times. OUP announces an £87 million "donation" to the university for the restoration of the Bodleian Library and the building of a new chemistry faculty.
2001 Proceedings restart in Malcolm vs. Oxford when OUP Delegate Alan Ryan breaches the university's non-denigration agreement of July 1992.
2001 OUP loses charity status in India and is obliged to pay 30 years back tax. Click for Oxford Times report.
2001 Once more, the Israeli army lays siege to the west bank city of Jericho (click for photo), and begins walling Israel in behind a 13-cubits-high, 1400000-cubits-long concrete fortification, Masada-style. Click for photographs of Israel's wall, with contributions by West Banksy, peace be upon him.
2002 Andrew Malcolm opens the Akme Expression shop in Broad Street, Oxford, publicizing among other things the true history of OUP's tax status.
2003 Sappi Plc ceases trading, surrenders the lease on the Wolvercote paper mill back to OUP, which orders the mill's demolition (completed in 2004).
2003 OUP "donates" another £60 million to the university for the purchase of the John Radcliffe Infirmary site in Jericho for redevelopment as a new campus of faculty buildings etc.
2005 OUP transfers the ownership of the Wolvercote paper mill site to the university, which announces plans to build on it a £40 million housing development. A controversy begins (e.g. in The Oxford Times) over the number and type of houses to be allowed. At one stage it is even suggested as a possible site for the new Bodleian Library (see Bodleyworld index.)
2006 A new Charities Act is passed, requiring that, from 2008, charities must be able to demonstrate that they provide "public benefit". Public consultations begin on the meaning and implications of this condition for different types of charity. A series of trade journal and newspaper articles appear concerning the university presses' dubious tax status (see links at the end of this chronology).
2006 JHRA investigates the leaseholders' possible right to enfranchise (purchase their freeholds), finds that the DoE advisory department LEASE is encouraging, and contacts enfranchisement lawyer Simon Serota of Wallace Llp, who, on carefully studying the case, advises that the two estates' householders do have the right to enfranchise.
2007 Akme obtains and publishes on this website copies of the papers involved in CUP's and OUP's claims in the 1940s and 1950s (failed) and in the 1970s (successful) for tax exemption.
20th February 2007 Simon Serota addresses a public meeting of the JHRA held in the OUP Social Club and advises the leaseholders that in his opinion they undoubtedly have the right to enfranchise. He explains all the procedures and urges one of the householders to come forward and initiate a test claim.
31st May 2007 Jordan Hill householder Angela Goff decides to go ahead and instructs Serota to serve the necessary S11 enfranchisement claim form.
6th July 2007 The university's solicitors (Henmans Llp) serve an enfranchisement refusal notice on the grounds that the freehold of the Goffs' property is owned by a charity (unspecified). Without explanation, Serota declines to pursue the claim, says that he has made a mistake, and waives all of his fees.
Early 2008 The Charity Commission's Report on its first round of public benefit consultations reads (paragraph 52):
"There were a significant number of responses regarding the charitable status (or more specifically, the tax exempt status) of Oxford University and Cambridge University Presses, by virtue of their link to those Universities, and concerns about unfair competition by non-charitable publishing companies. This issue received some publicity through national press following a High Court action against OUP over the non-publication of an individual's text. The individual concerned subsequently published an account of his lawsuit and encouraged publishers (& members of the public) via his internet site to respond to our consultation. As a result we received several responses from commercial publishers objecting to OUP's & CUP's tax benefits."
23rd May 2008 The Jordan Hill/Webb's Close enfranchisement issue is aired for the first time by Chris Koenig in The Oxford Times, which also publishes a follow up letter by Andrew Malcolm. The question has become: Is there a lawyer in the count(r)y who is unafraid of Oxford University and willing to act for the Jordan Hill householders?