Well done, son!

We attended our son's university graduation ceremony in Brighton on Monday, which took place in the Brighton Dome Concert Hall, where Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, and which was originally part of the Prince Regent's stables. It was a splendid event: formal, yet friendly and relaxed. I seem to remember my own graduation ceremony as a brief, frosty, hungover affair, but Sussex's version struck me as far more memorable and joyful and celebratory. It was quite emotional, watching all those fresh-faced kids bouncing across the stage to shake Chancellor Sanjeev Bhaskar's hand and pick up their diploma, while their friends and family applauded and cheered. (I couldn't help reflecting that my oldest friend must have been through the same ceremony, with the same degree - even the same grade - exactly 40 years' ago. Spooky or what!)

Here's the fresh-faced kid my wife and I were cheering for, refusing a pitiful request for a hand-out from some decrepit old geezer:

This was taken after he managed to get rid of the old bloke:

Until Monday, I'd been a bit sceptical about students voting for "celebrity" chancellors, but Sanjeev Bhaskar gave such a good performance - charming, witty and reassuring - that I'm now a believer. Here, in an admittedly blurry photo (we were cheering and applauding as we took it), the son and heir shakes hands with the relatively diminutive Goodness Gracious Me star:

Ahhh! And to think that three short years ago, we were all sitting here, chewing our nails off and praying he'd get the grades to get into Sussex, which has a great reputation in his field of study, and which was his first choice. Seems to have all worked out pretty well - and there's little more a parent can ask for than that.

No idea what he'll do next, of course. Here he is, staring pensively into the future:

Anyway, well done, son. Really proud of you.