2017 Philosophy Hiya, I’m Michael. I started out studying History and Politics at Balliol before switching to Philosophy and Politics. I’m now studying for the BPhil in philosophy. My project is on chowder. I want to eat chowder, make chowder, and collect chowder recipes. I’m inspired by Richard Hooker’s The Book of Chowder, which has over a hundred recipes–although it was published in 1978, so it’s possible not all of them are still around. My route will be influenced by the distribution of chowder and so will be largely coastal, but there’s room for lots of deviations. During my time as an undergraduate, I did many things, including serving as JCR President, leading a couple of university societies, and representing the college on the 2020-1 series of the quiz show University Challenge. I’ve also been involved in several magazines at Oxford. At present, I’m an editor at the Oxonian Review, a magazine founded by Balliol grad students and re-launched last year. I’d love to meet anybody involved in magazine journalism.