"When he only got a pass degree his friends were astonished; but he shrugged his shoulders and delicately insinuated that he was not the dupe of examiners. He made one feel that a first class was ever so slightly vulgar. He described one of the vivas with tolerant humour; some fellow in an outrageous collar was asking him questions in logic; it was infinitely tedious, and suddenly he noticed that he wore elastic-sided boots: it was grotesque and ridiculous; so he withdrew his mind and thought of the gothic beauty of the Chapel at King's. "

A UK slang term for oral exams, new to me.Short for "viva voce".

Dear Doc

I rarely tire of recommending Kipling, or his Stalky and Co.. It was published in two different versions, the first one, titled as above, had a selection of stories that Kipling wanted in the book. Later on (in the '20s or '30s), he allowed The Complete Stalky and Co., which included the five other stories which had also been published in various other magazines/collections. One of those five, "The Propagation of Knowledge", contains a wonderful 'viva', concerning the 'real' author of Shakespeare's plays - in particular, what's described as the 'Baconian heresy'.

If you're interested in period features of the examination culture, it's definitely worth seeking out.

cheer

the sunshine warrior