DFA Staff Pick: Dangerous Fundraising for Rag!

Rag inspires the most creative means for fundraising and pranks. This video demonstrates the best efforts of the Queen's cohort of 1965 to raise money for Rag Day. We see buses held up by human blockade; floats loaded with cheering students; and a man coming up the Lagan not in a bubble, but in a coffin.  

Ragging has a long history in universities across the UK. Students aim to raise money for selected charities through practical jokes and disruptive behaviour. Most of the time the pranks were harmless fun. Sometimes they could be more involved. This video conveys some sense of the mayhem during the Queen's University 1965 Rag Week.   

Students used to publish a "Rag Mag". These newsletters where traditionally packed with off-colour jokes and information for students. The Queen's University Belfast "Rag Mag" was called PTQ (Pro Tanto Quid). The title was lifted from Belfast city's motto: "Pro tanto quid retribuamus" or "what shall we give in return for so much". Queen's stores a set of these magazines in its archives with issues dating from 1927. The magazine last publication was in 2013 bringing an end to its role in Queen's student life.