October 31, 2018, by Paul H
‘Stranger Things’ of UoN
To celebrate Halloween, we’ve found ourselves in the upside down and rounded up some of the slightly ‘Stranger Things’ you may not know about the University of Nottingham. So grab your paddles and come with us on this curiosity voyage…
1. The Tunnel (…into the upside down?)
“You shouldn’t like things because people tell you you’re supposed to.” – Jonathan Byers
No… it doesn’t lead to the upside down. (phew) But it does take you from the Trent Building to the Portland building via an underground short cut! Useful when it’s raining but a little creepy when you’re in it alone. You can hear footsteps coming towards you from around the bend before you see anyone. You’d definitely be forgiven for freaking out a little! Where is it you ask? That would be telling, good luck!
2. KMC was a television studio
“I always thought stuff like this happened in movies and comic books.” – Bob Newby
You may have heard of the mysterious campus not far from Uni Park called Kings Meadow. If you’ve had exams there, you’ll may have been inside ‘studio 7’ and thought “what’s this all about?”. Before it became part of the UoN family, it was home to the ITV studio complex, “East Midlands Television Centre” and later “Carlton Studios”. Shows like Supermarket Sweep, The Price is Right and later Crossroads were filmed there. While much of it has been transformed into offices and learning spaces, the largest studio still remains unchanged and is often used by the media for all kinds projects.
3. Unicyclist
“I‘m stealthy, like a ninja.” -Steve Harrington
If you haven’t seen the man who unicycles around University Park campus, where have you been?! There’s not much else to say about it other than it’s a rather impressive skill and you should keep an eye out for him unicycling by when you’re walking around campus.
4. Bats on campus
“A safe place to what? Be creepy?” -Max Mayfield
Have you ever noticed those rather elongated looking ‘bird boxes’ in the Woodlands on University Park and Sutton Bonington campuses? Well think again, they’re not for birds, they’re for bats! Roosting boxes were fitted across the campuses back in 2014 to provide a safe haven for the growing population of bats. However as much as we associate bats with Halloween thanks to the vampire bat, they’re most likely all hibernating by now, so you won’t spot any bloodsuckers any time soon. (p.s. we don’t have vampire bats in the UK)
5. Does whatever a spider can
“Science is neat, but I‘m afraid it‘s not very forgiving.” -Mr. Clarke
The University is home to a SpiderLab where Dr Sara Goodacre and her web-slinging colleagues spend their time researching spider silk, behaviour and ecology. The Lab is home to a number of arachnids including Milo, Shakira and Pumpkin who go out and about with the team to visit events and schools. We do not have any Acromantula on campus.
To finish, here’s a selection of ‘unexplained’ security reports, courtesy of True Crime on Campus.
- Report that damage had been done in a kitchen in Sutton Bonington by a person dressed as a tiger. They left before they could be identified.
- Report of a male screaming in Portland Building, Security attended but the male could not be located.
- A male contacted the Security Control room stating that he had discovered the meaning of life and urgently needed to speak to a Professor in Physics. After discussing the matter at length with Security the person’s details have been passed onto the Police to carry out a welfare check.
- Report of a person dressed in green, possibly a Ninja Turtle, in Portland Building attempting to gain entry to the Portland Cafe. Security attended.
- Security received a fire alarm activation for a room that did not exist.
“Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?” -Dustin Henderson
Written by Paul in the UoN Digital Team
No comments yet, fill out a comment to be the first
Leave a Reply