Jesus Green played host on Tuesday to a recreation of a legendary University prank, exactly 55 years after a cohort of Engineering students hoisted an Austin 7 car onto the roof of Senate House without power equipment in the dead of night.

The method was a closely guarded secret for decades, but onlookers watched the University Officer Training Corps lift an identical car 20 feet into the air with the aid of a gyn, a three-legged structure of ropes and pulleys. SSgt Carl Webber said: “There were a few technical problems but in the end we got the car up in ten minutes. We explained how it was done and had a lot of interest from intrigued people coming over to ask what was going on.”

A full re-enactment at Senate Houseitself, or with a 70-foot platform on Jesus Green to stand in for the eighteenth-century building, was planned but abandoned due to traffic and safety concerns. Cambridge Mayor, Councillor Paul Saunders, praised the re-enactment as a “real tribute” to the well-established Cambridge legend, but added: “I would be quite horrified to see a similar stunt happen but I think we are more aware of the dangers now. In the high spirits of the 50s after the war it is understandable but we can't afford to damage any of our old buildings today."

The original stunt, assisted by both the cover of darkness and female students lifting their skirts to distract passers-by, was intended to serve as a novel distraction to rowers during May Bumps Week. The modern version, on the other hand, was “a useful learning exercise”, according to Lt Col Alex Macintosh, commanding officer of the UOTC, who also said that they “raised quite a lot for our chosen charities, Combat Stress and Jimmy's Night Shelter."