Belgian aggression. That was the main reason for the outbreak of the first world war, the young man said without a moment’s hesitation. The historian interviewing him for a place at an Oxford college had not heard that one before.

“Visions of plucky Germany standing up to the vicious Belgians appeared before me and it was difficult not to laugh,” recalls Mark Whittow, a history tutor at St Peter’s College who has been quizzing Oxford candidates since 1984. He managed to keep his composure, however: “I talked to him politely about the role of Belgium for the rest of the interview and then sent him on his way.”