The Wild and the Willing: Lincoln in 1962

Like the appearance of Jimi Hendrix at a 1967 rock festival held at the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall, Spalding, this is a story I wish I could share with Simon Titley,

The Wild and the Willing was a 1962 film set at the fictional Kilminster University and filmed in Lincoln.

The vice chancellor of the real University of Lincolnshire and Humberside (now the University of Lincoln) once suggested that by today's standards its students "appeared not at all wild, and only slightly willing".

He was right. Though it was based on a novel from the Angry Young Men era, those students are reminiscent of the heroes of the 1954 film Doctor in the House.

The Wild and the Willing is notable today for its shots of Lincoln and for its extraordinary young cast. Ian McShane, in his first screen appearance; Samantha Eggar; an incredibly youthful John Hurt; John Standing; Johnny Briggs; Jeremy Brett.

The whole film is on Youtube, but you will have to be content here with the opening credits, which introduce the cast.