Natural Science viva, c. 1890 .. not much different from today!

Examiner:

What is Electricity?

Candidate:

Oh Sir, I’m sure I have learnt what it is – I’m sure I did know – but I’ve forgotten

Examiner:

How very unfortunate.  Only two persons have ever known what Electricity is, the Author of Nature and yourself.  Now one of the two has forgotten.

Source:

Falconer Madan, Oxford Outside the Guide-Books , 1923

Quoted in:

The Oxford Book of Oxford , Jan Morris, OUP, 1978