Over 700 are thought to have turned out to see Julian Assange speak at the Union today in one of the most tightly monitored talks the Society has seen in recent years.

The queue started to form from half past one and was tailing from the Union door round the corner of the Round Church and stretched all the way to the car park adjacent to the Maypole in Portugal Place, a distance of over 40 metres.

Nearer the doors boxes of pizza abounded, mats were laid out and even a shisha pipe appeared. Some finished off end-of-term essays and there was a generally convivial spirit, with only occasional frustration being shown at the necessary but difficult matter of logistics. A barista from the Union coffee shop went round offering coffee to the members queuing in the cold declaring it, correctly, a "seller's market".

After two and a half hours, the doors finally opened just after four o’clock. Security was at almost airport-level. Water bottles were forbidden and two forms of ID were required by all. Wardens were constantly circulating the queue reminding those waiting that all recording equipment was strictly forbidden – the irony of which formed the opening of Assange’s talk.