Prime England (62 photos)

The wild parties and wild balls of the 1980s at Oxford

Alexander Figgis-Walker dances with Sarah Fazackerley at a ball in Cambridge, 1981.





Dafydd Jones photographed the eccentricities, fun and excess of the exclusive social life of English high society and Oxford University student life in the 1980s. His photographs are rarely flattering to his subjects, who are sometimes caught unconscious or behaving inappropriately. Dressed in ball gowns and tuxedos, they jump on tables, splash champagne, sleep on lawns, fall into lily ponds, indulge in public displays of affection, party, dance, kiss… live….

“At the May balls, I used to skip the night parties and arrive at dawn to catch the dreamy-eyed survivors,” the photographer recalls. “I had access to a world that seemed secret. It was a subject that had been written about and dramatized, but I don’t think any photographer had done it before. Change was happening there. Some described it as the ‘last hurrah’ of the upper classes.”

Halloween Ball, 1987



Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1987





Onanist Club Dinner, 1981.



Susie Kidd, ca. 1983



Dancing on the Table. Peacock Ball, London, 1983



A sleeping participant at the Oxford Ball, 1987.



A dream at the Christ Church Ball, Oxford University, 1981.



Rusty Egan and Sophia, ca. 1990



Raff Brodie and Mark Scott dancing at the Pembroke College May Ball, Cambridge, 1988



Sasha Squire at the Park Lane Hotel, London, 1983.



A couple in a car at an amusement park, 1981



In pairs, London, 1981



A dinner at a charity ball, 1990.



Ball. Hilton, 1983



May Ball at New College, Oxford University, 1986.



Debutante Falling into Lily Pond, Ascot, 1982.



Christ Church College Ball, Oxford University, 1986.



Burning Boat, Oriel College, Oxford, 1984



Grosvenor House Ball, London, 7th January 1986



Sliding Through the Marquee, Oxford, 1983.



Nigella Lawson plays croquet at the Dangerous Sports Club tea party held at the home of the Dutch Ambassador Robbert Fak, 1981.



At the Dangerous Sports Club tea party, 1981.



Benita Douglas-Robertson on Matt Gomes's shoulders, London, 1983.



Benita Douglas-Robertson on Matt Gomes's shoulders, London, 1983.



Maurice Roche, 1985.



At a ball at the Kensington Close Hotel, London, 1986.



Grosvenor House Ball, 1987.



Emery Burnham and Tom Wells at a party in Mayfair, 1986.



Shannon Kelly at the Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Ball in New York City, 1989



Charlotte Stockdale, 1985.



Hugh Grant, Marina Killery, Lulu Rivett-Carnac, Lord Neidpath and Catherine Guinness. Piers Gaveston Ball, Park Lane Hotel, London, 1983.



Fania Storey and Dominic Arbuthnot at Christ Church College, Oxford, 1987.



Morning of the Ball, Oxford, 1983



Morning of the Ball, 1988.



Tired and Asleep, 1985.



Dancing with Sausage, 1984.



Toby Russell eating cotton candy, 1988.



Tamara Beckwith at the Grosvenor House Ball, 1986.



Tamara Goddy and Alexander Casterin, Cordelia Hart and Paddy Turner, Katie Casterin and Charlotte Holt, 1983.



Sleeping Robbie Buxton, 1984



Mrs Phillips' sleeping guest at her daughter's dance, 1982.



A sleeping couple at the Oriel College Ball, 1982



A Dream at the Trinity Hall May Ball, 1983.



A Dream at the Cambridge May Ball, 1981.



The Dream at the Ball by Piers Gaveston, 1983.



Sarah Gladders on William Vereker and Juliet Arthur on Andrew Mars. Youth Ball, 1983.



Henrietta Thompson's hand reaches out from under the table and takes out a bottle. Falklands Ball, Grosvenor House, London, 1982.



Smoking cigarettes at the ball, London, 1988.



Arriving at the ball, London, 1980.



Oxford, 1980



Nick Straker, James Sainsbury and Kate Murray-Phillipson. Kingston Blount, Oxford, 1982.



May Ball at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1984.



Lucinda West and Olivier de Fallenton, 1987.



Michael, Richard and Chris, 1987.



Lady Louisa Stuart. Royal Caledonian Ball, 1991.



Luciana Martinez and Deryck Healy at Terence Conran's 50th birthday, 1981.



Chrissie Donaldson and Kip Roberts, 1989.



Chrissie Donaldson and Kip Roberts, 1989.



Josa Keys, James Birch, Piers Gaveston Ball, 1983.



Josa Case, James Birch, Piers Gaveston Ball, 1983.



Party All Night. Oxford Union, 1983.