Cambridge clock hand was stolen as a prank in the 1930s — nearly 100 years later, the college got a call

Students carrying out harmless pranks while in college are not unusual. Although some pranks can have severe consequences, others might still be quite funny and bring a chuckle or two even after years have passed since the incident. A similar thing happened at a college under Cambridge University when two students decided to replace the clock hands with cardboard hands, keeping the hour and minute hands, according to the BBC. They took home one hand each before one of their daughters returned the hour hand to the college recently.

The clock hand was huge and had been stolen between 1934 and 1937, almost a hundred years ago. Geoffrey Hunter Baker and an anonymous graduate changed the hands of the chapel clock at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge. "These worked very well until it rained," Baker's daughter Trixie Baker said. She inherited the clock hand from her father after he died in 1999. She returned it in 2024, and the hand is now kept safely at the College Archive.

"Learning of student escapades is part of the College's long and varied history," College archivist James Cox shared. "While we don't encourage students to take part in such pranks, I am happy to learn about them years later, when no one has been hurt and no permanent damage has been done - and they've graduated!"

Baker's father, who died at 83, had replaced the clock hands in the dark with a fellow graduate, and they each kept one hand after replacing them with cardboard replicas. The original clock hands had been missing since then. The college replaced them with new hands since the old ones were taken away by the two students. It wasn't known who pulled off the prank until the hour hand was returned a few months ago. The minute hand is still missing, and the identity of the person who took that is still unknown, according to The Guardian.

Gonville and Caius College is the fourth oldest college on campus. Trixie visited the campus late last year to return the hand. 'I was delighted to welcome Trixie to the college and to receive the clock hand,' Cox said. The segment of the College Archive with memorabilia from all the pranks over the years is known as the 'rags.' Gonville & Caius was founded as Gonville Hall by Edmund Gonville, rector of Terrington St Clement in Norfolk, in 1348, according to the outlet. It was refounded as Gonville and Caius College in 1557 by John Caius, getting its current name.

In 1958, engineering students from the college placed an Austin Seven van on the roof of the Senate House, Cambridge University's ceremonial building used for conducting graduation ceremonies at that time, as well as now. But the memorable pranks orchestrated by the students from the college do not end here. In 1921, students from Gonville and Caius College removed a German artillery gun from a nearby square and displayed it in the Caius Court. The College Archive has requested that anyone who has information about the still missing minute hand reach out to them, as per BBC.