1973-1975 Andrew Malcolm, a Cambridge philosophy graduate, gives series of adult education lecture courses in philosophy in the Brighton area, during which the ideas in Making Names slowly coalesce. When Electra is conceived, he gives up lecturing in order to write a book.
Late 1977 Malcolm submits an early draft of the book to the philosophy editor of Penguin, who sends it to a (scientist) referee. The script is at this stage largely conventional essays, with two chapters on cause and effect cast as dialogues between two eponymous characters and the final chapter consisting of a playscript Electra. Both editor and referee are encouraging, in particular praising the dialogue and playscript sections. Informally it is agreed that if the whole text were rewritten in dialogue form, Penguin would be interested in its publication.
Early 1984 Having completed the rewriting, Malcolm returns to Penguin to discover that the previous editor has left and that there is no longer a philosophy department. The sociology editor now responsible states that she regards philosophical dialogues as "quite out of fashion". Malcolm sends the book's synopsis to various other publishers, but none requests the script. Seven years later, some of these publishers are prepared, at Oxford's request, to testify in court against a book which they have never seen.
31st August 1984 Malcolm submits the introduction and synopsis of Making Names to the philosophy editor of Oxford University Press who passes it on to the Senior Editor of OUP's General Books Division, Henry Hardy.
14th October 1984 On invitation from Hardy, Malcolm submits the typescript of Making Names, which is sent to Oxford philosopher and OUP Delegate Alan Ryan (the Delegates are the university dons responsible for OUP).
11th February 1985 Ryan reports favourably on Making Names : "One of the shrewdest cases for a Collingwoodian idealism that I've read..." (or click for reviews).
18th March 1985 Hardy writes Malcolm an encouraging letter which outlines the various revisions required by Oxford.
24th March 1985 Malcolm writes agreeing to revise the book, envisaging six months' work, but only upon securing OUP's commitment ("I very much hope that we can agree some formula that will result in the book's publication. One firm resolution I have made is not to embark upon any further major polishing/rewriting exercise without first securing a firm commitment from a publisher; I feel that there is already enough of value in the text to justify such a commitment."). He recounts his experience with Penguin. Hardy decides to read the script himself.
20th May 1985 Having read the script, Hardy telephones Malcolm, approves the book excitedly, (click for reviews ) and gives Oxford's firm commitment to its publication. Hardy, who says he reading from written notes, goes at length into Oxford's revision requirements, even including details of punctuation and spelling. These are all agreed. Hardy suggests Oxford's payment of "no advance but a fair royalty". This is also agreed.
May-June 1985 In letters to Malcolm, Hardy confirms Oxford's commitment ("I'm pleased that we are going to do your book and hope that it's a terrific success... As said, do get in touch if you have any queries as you work through it."). Hardy sends Malcolm an author's publicity questionnaire to help OUP in marketing the book and completes an internal form specifying Malcolm's royalties and the book's price, format and print-run.
11th July 1985 Oxford philosopher Galen Strawson is asked to act as a third reader and presents a report again recommending the book's publication (or click for reviews). Later, on affidavit, he reaffirms his recommendation.
16th July 1985 Hardy completes a Delegates' agenda paper for Making Names specifying the book's publication date, price, format and print-run. The original of this paper, not discovered until January 1990, bears Hardy's handwritten words "for Delegates 23rd July". These words were later erased from the photocopies placed in evidence by Oxford.
17th July 1985 At an OUP editorial meeting, Managing Director Richard Charkin, ignorant of Making Names' subject-matter or content, vetoes its publication. Charkin serves Hardy with "Stage 3 disciplinary warning preparatory to dismissal". In internal OUP correspondence, Hardy and Charkin both admit that (they know that) Oxford had contracted with Malcolm to publish the book.
18th-22nd July 1985 Charkin writes to Malcolm reneging on the contract and rejecting Making Names. Ryan urges Charkin to proceed with the book's publication and writes a second favourable report envisaging "galloping ahead as planned" with Making Names and comparing its sales prospects with the best-sellers The Outsider by Colin Wilson and Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (click for reviews ). Hardy telephones Malcolm ("Let me plunge myself into the shit, along with you...") to explain what has happened at Oxford and to reinvent the history of the negotiation. At one point Hardy dictates a letter for Malcolm to write ameliorating Hardy's position at OUP. Malcolm writes a letter declining further dealings with Oxford.
23rd July 1985 The Delegates, including Ryan, attend their Summer Vacation meeting and approve OUP's publication of various unidentified General Books, apparently including Making Names. Hardy attends a Disciplinary Tribunal, admits making a contractual commitment to Malcolm and wins the hearing; his warning is rescinded. Hardy telephones Malcolm to persuade him, after all, to go ahead with the planned revisions. Malcolm agrees to do so only upon receipt of a written list of Oxford's requirements and warns of litigation in the event of the book's non-publication. Hardy gives several further assurances and confirms that he will remain editorially responsible.
31st July 1985 Hardy sends Malcolm a detailed list of Oxford's revision requirements. Malcolm embarks on the revision.
21st February 1986 Malcolm sends the revised script, in which all of Oxford's requirements have been fulfilled (uncontested). Meanwhile Hardy has unwillingly been moved by Charkin to another OUP department and Making Names is now to be handled by a junior editor, Nicola Bion.
9th May 1986 On Alan Ryan's advice, Nicola Bion sends Malcolm a rejection letter stating that the book is undoubtedly improved, but also mentioning adverse readers' reports. Subsequently Oxford produces no readers' reports on the revised script and the copy allegedly read by Ryan is returned pristine (it later became a court exhibit).
17th July 1986 In pre-litigation correspondence Malcolm discloses his possession of answerphone tape-recordings of his conversations with Hardy.
19th September 1986 Alan Ryan is invited to make a statement on the affair and to read Malcolm's further revised Chapter 9, but declines both invitations ("I can no longer give a dispassionate assessment... I am sorry to disoblige you"). Shortly afterwards he leaves Oxford for Princeton, USA.
23rd December 1986 Malcolm serves a writ for breach of contract on the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford. Richard Charkin is named as second defendant but not served with the writ until February 1987. Charkin threatens to fight the case to the House of Lords.
19th April 1988 Oxford's defence pleads non-approval of the revised script, but gives no details of why. After two preliminary hearings, a dispute begins over discovery of Oxford's documents. Malcolm wins a third hearing, with costs. Evidence appears of the Delegates' approval of Making Names.
3rd August 1988 An affidavit sworn by OUP's Ivon Asquith (Editorial Director, Humanities) verifies that Hardy's agenda Paper on Making Names, dated 16th July 1985 was circulated to all Delegates indicating that it was then approved.
14th September 1988 Malcolm issues a Motion claiming Oxford's contempt of Court concerning discovery of documents.
20th January 1989 Oxford is obliged to produce the minutes of the Delegates' meeting of 23rd July 1985, at which Alan Ryan was present and Making Names was apparently considered. Under the heading 'General Books' the entry reads "the titles tabled were approved". Henry Hardy serves an affidavit in which he denies, inter alia, that on 20th May 1985 he had been reading (Oxford's revision requirements) from written notes.
6th March 1989 At the hearing of the Motion, Oxford's copy of the original Delegates' Note is revealed to carry the extra words "for delegates, 23rd July", which date had been erased from the copies Oxford had placed in evidence, and which further indicates that the book had been approved at Delegate level. OUP's Chief Executive Sir Roger Elliott is ordered to produce the missing records or lists of General Books tabled at the meeting.
May 1989 Malcolm telephones various 1985 Delegates, many of whom confirm the existence of lists of General Books and some of whom even remember Making Names.
19th July 1989 Elliott swears an affidavit denying the existence of any Delegates' records or lists of General Books.
4th October 1989 For the first time Oxford asks to hear the tape-recordings of the Hardy/Malcolm telephone conversations. Malcolm sends the tapes.
19th October 1989 Exchange of witness statements. Oxford serves four (all subsequently amended): Sir Roger Eliott, Henry Hardy, Richard Charkin, Nicola Bion.
31st January 1990 Margaret Goodall (the secretary to the Secretary to the Delegates(!)) serves an affidavit stating that she was resoponsible in 1985 for the minuting of the Delegates' meetings and outlining her perfectly opaque procedures.
12th February 1990 The 'top-copy' Delegates' Note agenda paper for Making Names is finally discovered at Oxford in the files of Margaret Goodall. The top copy carries the 'extra' date 23rd July 1985. At a pre-trial hearing Oxford's witnesses are ordered to attend the trial for cross-examination, now including Margaret Goodall and Ivon Asquith.
3rd March 1990 Malcolm serves subpoenas on several of the telephoned Delegates and other officials who had confirmed the existence of General Books lists and had remembered Making Names. Alan Ryan cannot be subpoenaed because he is still in the U.S.A. He makes no statement.
6th March 1990 Margaret Goodall serves her witness statement, revealing for the first time (and when it's too late to investigate) that she did not, after all, take the minutes of the Delegates' meeting of 23rd July 1985. She omits to mention who did.
9th March 1990 Oxford drafts in two new firms of lawyers to resist the subpoenas, which on a variety of grounds are set aside by Chancery Master Barratt.
12th-16th March 1990. The Trial. The case is tried before Deputy Judge Gavin Lightman QC. On the opening morning, after four year of litigation, Oxford tries to introduce an entirely new defence based on a denial that OUP's senior editor of eight years (Hardy) had any authority to bind the University to a contract. This move also requires Hardy to have a fresh recollection of a previously-forgotten exchange about Delegates' approval; he tries several draft amendments to his witness statement but all fail and his evidence is later dismissed by the judge.
13th March 1990. Oxford's new defence - quite unpromising in any case - is disallowed, with costs. Malcolm is cross-examined by Oxford's Counsel Mark Warby.
14th March 1990. Malcolm himself then cross-examines (in order) Sir Roger Elliott, Margaret Goodall, Nicola Bion, Ivon Asquith, Richard Charkin and Henry Hardy. Elliott and Goodall deny the existence of General Book lists, despite all the evidence to the contrary; Asquith admits that his affidavits were untrue; Bion confirms that the revised script of Making Names was undoubtedly improved; Charkin denies the minuting of editorial meetings and is questioned by the judge about the unethical 'encouragement' of authors; and Hardy denies making any commitment to Malcolm, incidentally uttering "I have no clear recollection" over thirty times.
15th March 1990. Legal submissions. The contract is apparently established. The question apparently becomes what the judge can order, i.e. what constitutes a book's 'publication'. Mr Warby produces a skeleton argument asserting (for the first time) that a book's format (hardback or paperback) and print-run need formally to be agreed in publishing contracts.
16th March 1990. Judgment Day. Deputy Judge Lightman rejects Hardy's testimony as "traumatized", criticizes Oxford's "harsh and unfair treatment of Malcolm" and "serious failures of discovery", and concludes that "a clear commitment" was made by Oxford, but finds no legally enforceable contract on the surprise grounds that the book's format and print-run were not formally agreed. He also, incidentally, concludes that the Delegates did not formally approve Making Names at their meeting on 23rd July 1985. The subsequent typed version of his judgment is crucially amended from the orated version, at the very points later overturned on appeal. Click for Lightman's judgment and Order.
18th April 1990 Malcolm appeals, on the obvious grounds that books' formats and print-runs are not normally specified in publishing contracts, being at the publisher's discretion. Oxford responds by formally pleading for the first time that the Delegates' approval of Making Names was a contractual condition.
21st May 1990 Oxford and its witnesses send Malcolm bills of costs totalling £25,712.99.
May - June 1990 After a correspondence in the Bookseller magazine, Malcolm is approached by witnesses willing to testify that books' formats and print-runs are not specified in publishing contracts, and receives anonymously from Cambridge a package of new evidence containing the agenda papers for the OUP Delegates' meeting of 23rd July 1985 and including the Delegates' Note for Making Names .
April 1990 Malcolm sends Alan Ryan a copy of Lightman's judgment. Ryan replies (his first ever communication): "My own sense is that we were at cross-purposes from the start... I am more surprised by the behaviour of the Press's solicitors than anything. It is quite clear that Henry Hardy did not have the authority to issue a contract."
September 1990 Oxford's applies for security from Malcolm of its costs of the Appeal (a further £7,500). The application is dismissed by Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, with costs.
2th October 1990 Malcolm receives a second package of anonymous evidence, from Oxford, under cover of a letter signed ADRASTEIA. This contains various Delegates' lists of General Books, including one dated 19/7/85 which includes Making Names. Oxford abandons its "Delegates' approval" defence.
17th-19th October 1990. The Appeal. The Appeal is heard by Lords Justices Mustill, Nourse and Leggatt. Malcolm's expert evidence from literary agent Giles Gordon and Society of Authors General Secretary Mark Le Fanu (that format and print-run are rarely, if ever, stipulated in publishing contracts) is strongly resisted by Oxford but admitted by the Court; it then goes unchallenged. Oxford is invited to make a public apology, but instead denigrates both Malcolm and Making Names. Judgment is reserved.
18th December 1990 Malcolm's Appeal is allowed and an assessment of damages is ordered, if necessary. But the judges urge "magnanimity" upon Oxford, and an out-of-court settlement is anticipated. Click for the Court of Appeal judgment and Order or for edited extracts.
12th February 1991 In the absence of any offer, Malcolm initiates damages proceedings. Oxford sacks its local solicitors Dallas Brett and instructs instead the expensive City firm Clifford Chance. Oxford also appoints Harvey McGregor QC leading Counsel (McGregor is Warden of New College and editor of the legal profession's 'bible' on damages; he is arguably the country's foremost, and certainly one of its costliest, experts on the subject).
28th March 1991 Oxford reveals that it has no copy of Making Names, which its lawyers now need for assessment.
21st June 1991 Oxford serves 'independent expert' affidavit evidence against Making Names sworn by 13 witnesses from British publishers including Penguin, Routledge, Blackwell, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Reed and The Open University, none of whom has seen the book. Alan Ryan files his first statement in the case, retracts his 1985 reports and instead now describes the book, which he has not seen since 1986, as "boorish, alienating, very unclear, unfathomable... not a plausible commercial proposition... I believe it would have sunk without trace". Because he is still in the USA he cannot be cross-examined.
10th July 1991. The damages assessment hearing before Chancery Master Barratt. Oxford calls seven witnesses, only one of whom, Jeremy Mynott of Cambridge University Press, has read Making Names. Mynott, oddly, is very complimentary about the book's aims and content, while at the same time describing it as 'unpublishable'. Malcolm calls the first of his three witnesses, Professor Roy Edgley of Sussex University. After Edgley's performance, Harvey McGregor agrees to allow the statements of Malcolm's other two witnesses, Giles Gordon and Fred Nolan, to stand unchallenged.
11th July 1991 During lengthy, detailed mathematical argument, McGregor explains how authors are swindled by OUP's "net-receipts" royalty deals (click for transcript). Judgment is reserved.
18th August 1991 Malcolm is awarded damages of £17,947.13. Click for Master Barratt's Assessment Findings and Order.
19th November 1991 At a secondary hearing Oxford applies to have notional tax of £502.40 deducted from the damages award. Click for Master Barratt's further order.
18th December 1991 Malcolm appeals for higher damages, Oxford cross-appeals for lower damages.
28th May 1992 The damages Appeal is scheduled for 20th July 1992.
1st July 1992 The Court seals a settlement agreement (in the form of a Consent or 'Tomlin' Order) between Malcolm and the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford. Under its terms, the servants and and agents of the University are for all time bound "not to publish or solicit the publication of any derogatory statements, letters or articles about Andrew Malcolm or about the merits or quality of his work Making Names." This term renders the book unique in the history of publishing.
August 1992 Making Names is published in hardback by AKME.
25th September 1992 Making Names is favourably reviewed in the Times Educational Supplement by R. W. Noble, a writer on applied linguistics.
28th September 1992 The TES review editor is reprimanded and Oxford instructs Clifford Chance to act against R. W. Noble, in a separate publishing dispute. Noble decides to write a book about the Malcolm affair, but is later obliged under the terms of his own settlement with Oxford to abandon the project.
16th October 1992 Henry Hardy writes to Malcolm (the first time in over six years) to applaud the book's publication: "I was delighted to discover that Making Names was finally in print. You may have wondered, but I have never deviated from my view that it ought to be published, and I am very pleased that it now has been." A bizarre correspondence ensues.
April 1993 Sir Karl Popper telephones Malcolm, eulogises Making Names' Electra, and invites him to record his comments for use on any future edition's cover (click transcript). Terence Kealey reviews the book favourably in The Spectator.
October 1993 Making Names is published in paperback by AKME with Karl Popper's eulogy, an index, and foreword additions including the history of the litigation. The book is approved for distribution by W. H. Smith.
July 1997 AKME publishes a computer printout of Andrew Malcolm's The Remedy, the full story of Malcolm vs. Oxford.
September 1997 AKME launches this website as an on-line Literary Law Library for authors (and publishers) contemplating litigation.
March 1998 Author Geoffrey Myers wins action (over £80,000 damages and costs) against Macmillan press in a case based on Malcolm v. Oxford. Click for account and judgment.
March 1999 Making Names is distributed in the USA by Hackett Publishing Inc.
November 1999 AKME's website launches an Oxford Cuttings Library, featuring OUP's Poetry fiasco of 1999, the Waldock Report, the origins of CUP's and OUP's tax-exemption, recent OUP accounts and suchlike.
December 1999
AKME publishes The Remedy as a Docutech-printed paperback, prints 25,000 leaflets for distribution around Oxford by The Oxford Star. The University threatens The Star with a writ (type unspecified); the leaflets are recollected, distributed 50/50 by The Oxford Courier and The Cambridge Evening News. The Oxford Times and Cherwell make it their front-page stories. No writ is forthcoming.
April 2000 The Remedy is distributed in the USA by Hackett Publishing Inc..
May 2000 AKME receives confidential information about OUP (USA)'s tax-exemption (1972 onwards) and a complaint against it being made to the IRS, releases some of this material on the website.
February 2001 AKME posts 5th Appendix to The Remedy, The Surprising Truth about OUP's (and CUP's) 'Charitable Status', together with the indexed Case Papers in Malcolm vs. Oxford.
30th March 2001 A review of The Remedy appears in The Times Higher (Education Supplement) written by... Henry Hardy (!) Any final say in war of words?. Also, an 'in-depth' report on OUP's tax and www.akme by Maggie Hartford in The Oxford Times A Message from India. See also response letter from Andrew Malcolm.
13th April 2001 Letters page leads in The Times Higher (Education Supplement) from Giles Gordon and Alan Ryan - the weakest link Words fail in war of words. Ryan's letter is a clear breach of the 1992 settlement agreement
20th April 2001 Bookworm piece in Private Eye and Letter from Henry Hardy in The Times Higher (Education Supplement).
8th August 2001. Back to Law. Malcolm serves Claim seeking an injunction against Ryan and damages for breach of (the 1992) contract. Click for a full explanation and for the case papers index.
9th October 2001 University Registrar David Holmes serves a witness statement asserting, inter alia that, as Warden of New College, Alan Ryan is not a servant or agent (or officer) of the university and therefore not covered by the 1992 agreement.
14th January 2002 Hearing before Justice Lightman (the very same!). Michael Beloff QC (President of Trinity College, on a £13,000 fee for 1 day) tries to explain the "seven centuries of mystery" that enshroud the relationship between Oxford's colleges and the university. When it is revealed that Oxford's lawyers do not have a list of Alan Ryan's university posts (numbering at least a dozen), the hearing is adjourned pending further enquiries.
24th January 2002 Justice Lightman finds that Alan Ryan is "an independendent contractor" with respect to Oxford University, albeit one without a contract. Oxford claims £42,000 costs, Lightman allows £12,500. Lightman rules that in the settlement agreement the non-denigration Clause 7, having entered the public domain, is no longer subject to confidentiality Clause 6.
22nd February 2002 Whistleblowers report in the THES: "Dr Ryan's status as an Oxford head of house does not mean he is an employee or servant of the university."
1st March 2002 Lord Justice Aldous (Court of Appeal) refuses leave to appeal. Click for Judgment and Order.
31st March 2002 Malcolm offers to endow an Oxford lectureship in Publishing Law. University "not interested".
April 2002
AKME publishes second edition of The Remedy with updated epilogues, chronology and index.
April - June 2002 Malcolm opens Akme Expression at 12 Broad Street, featuring the Gallery of Shame, Akme University, Another Oxford Story, the Martyrs' Ditch etc. etc. Click for (e.g.) Oxford Times report.
31st May 2002 Alan Ryan quits Oxford, ranting: "no rational person should become an academic in Britain."
14th June 2002 Letter in The Oxford Magazine by New College Bursar David Palfreyman: "OUP could be sold off (after clawing back that £100 million of reserves) in order to reduce our over-dependence on its over-dependence on ELT, or at least its cost-base might be pruned by banishing it to a shiny shed on a local business park."
21st June 2002 Farewell Akme Ball at 12 Broad Street. Akme books stocked by Thorntons (later closed) and Borders (see below).
4th October 2002 Malcolm invited (contracted, advertised) to give talk and book-signing session at Borders in Oxford. Books locked in back office. Author and audience (about 15) surrounded by security staff. Furniture removed. Three police cars summoned, eight police descend, some armed. Meeting broken up, Malcolm and audience advised by police to sue Borders. Click for Akme photostory and Daily Telegraph report.
October 2002 - February 2004 In the wake of the Borders episode, the Akme website was mysteriously jammed: no new files (text or picture) could be uploaded to it, and when attempts were made to update files the originals would be erased. An American sympathiser promptly set up a 'mirror' site at www.geocities.com/mjsayers/BORDERS_ON_THE_INSANE. A change of service provider in February 2004 restored control of www.akme.
17th October 2002 President of Borders USA Vin Altruda and UK MD Phillip Downer issue an apology: "We sincerely regret and apologise for the cancellation of Andrew Malcolm's event in Oxford, which should have gone ahead." A rescheduled talk is promised.
30th January 2003 Borders, Charing Cross Road, London. Andrew Malcolm delivers talk Where is the University. Click for newspaper reports and text.
March 2003 Malcolm stands for the Chancellorship of Oxford University, fallen vacant upon the death of Roy Jenkins. Malcolm obtains the requisite 50+ graduate nominators, but is denied a candidacy by Registrar Holmes "on a mediaeval technicality". Click for explanation and reports.
February 2004 To celebrate the recovery of the website, Akme launches The Oxford College Accounts Index.
December 2004 Akme posts the Oxford is not racist Index, an archive of cases of alleged racism at the university.
March 2005 Akme posts the Ignoble Road Index, an archive chronicling Magdalen (and other) Oxford colleges' destruction of the city's Green Belt. Also posted: Christ Church's Looney Binsey scheme.
May 2005 Akme posts the Oxford colleges' Endowment Performance 1973-2003 files, with some startling analyses of the colleges' 30-year figures.
July 2005 Akme posts the case papers in Versi vs. Keble College and Roger Boden, the first-ever successful action against an Oxford college for racial discrimination.
May 2006 In response to Michael Beloff's proposed Oxford student contract, Akme launches a Student Law Library of reported UK cases in the increasingly important area of student-university and student-college litigation.
27th September - 11th October 2006 Upon posting Pinky & Perky in Trough Trouble, a scandal about New College's endowment windfall, all of Akme's links are erased from Google. The links are only restored after intervention by the Search Engine Police.
Return to the Malcolm vs. Oxford I (1984-92) Case Papers Index, or to the Malcolm vs. Oxford II (2001-02) Case Papers Index.
Go to Malcolm's Statement of Claim, to the Case History, to the Affidavits: Ivon Asquith (1); Asquith (2); Henry Hardy; William Shaw (solicitor) (1); Sir Roger Elliott (1); Margaret Goodall; to the Witness Statements: Elliott; Hardy; Richard Charkin; Nicola Bion; Goodall, to the courtroom testimony of the Oxford Six, 14/3/1990: Elliott; Goodall; Bion; Asquith; Charkin; Hardy, to the testimony of Andrew Malcolm 13/3/1990, to the CHANCERY COURT JUDGMENT, to the Cambridge package and the Adrasteia package, to the publishing contract affidavits: Giles Gordon (1); Mark Le Fanu, to the APPEAL COURT JUDGMENT or the the judgments' extracted highlights, to the damages affidavits: Alan Ryan; Asquith (3); Jeremy Mynott; Giles Gordon (2); Fred Nolan; Roy Edgley, to McGregor on Royalties (transcript), to the DAMAGES FINDINGS, and to the Settlement agreement.