The Cambridge Austin Seven: At Last, the Truth Can be Revealed!

The year was 1958. The place, Cambridge. The mission, to place an Austin Seven on the roof of the Cambridge University Senate Building.

For fifty years, the identity of the team who took on this mission was unknown, except to themselves (and, possibly, a Dean of Cambridge).

Now, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, their story can be told:

"Revealed after 50 years: The secret of the greatest-ever student prank"
Mail (June 27, 2008)

"It was probably the most ingenious student prank of all time.

(from the Mail, used w/o permission)

"In June 1958, Cambridge awoke to see a car perched at the apex of an inaccessible rooftop, looking as if it were driving across the skyline."

"The spectacle made headlines around the world and left police, firefighters and civil defence units battling for nearly a week to hoist the vehicle back down before giving in and taking it to pieces with blowtorches...."

Hats off, by the way, to that one-time Dean of Caius, the late Rev Hugh Montefiore, who publicly denied any knowledge of the team's identity, but sent a case of champagne to their staircase.

With photos, and a diagram to show how it was done.