Peter has the truth of it. Jeremy - or what's left of him - is in a fridge-sized box only a couple of hundred metres from where I am now, in a sort of lobby or wide corridor. Usually closed but there is a window, and I have seen it opened sometimes (for some reason this is more likely on the way back from the bar..) His head is on top of the body these days and he is wearing a hat. You can just about see him (or his box, anyway) from the street if you look through one of the doors to UCL and crane your neck a lot. Or you can walk right in to UCL. Ken "Trei, Peter" wrote:
Nah! Just dig him up and wheel him to all the meetings. (I believe that has been done at some British university. Not certain. Too much Ripley's Believe It or Not as a kid...)
Jeremy Bentham, spiritual founder of University College, University of London.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/jb.htm for an image of the 'auto-icon' http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Bentham-Project/auto_il.gif
It turns out that the story that the his preserved body attends University Council meetings (and is noted in the minutes as 'present, not voting') is only a UL (university legend).
I got my degree at Kings College, University of London. Bentham was an atheist and the founder of Utilitarianism. King's was founded by a group of religious Londoners appalled by the thought of godless UC, and even in the late 1970's there was still a distinct rivalry between the two schools.
Periodically, students from UC would steal 'Reggie' a lifesize lion statue which was King's mascot, and King's students would kidnap Jeremy's head (which is separated from, but stored with, the rest of his body). Usually, the momentos would be ransomed after a few weeks, with the money going to charity.
Peter Trei
PS: We covered all this in the list 5-6 years ago.