Oh, I know I am the most obvious author ever, but I remember when I first saw the prompt and went ZOMG MUST WRITE THIS. I maintain there's a fair bit of catharsis involved in inflicting the All Souls exam on Richard. Of course, he's considerably more brilliant than I am and acquitted himself far better. It was really tempting to get him as far as the viva, but I have no idea how it actually works since I didn't know any of the people who were shortlisted.

I picked the date completely based on the academic calendar and the rules for the exam only to realise that the Fellowship Exam that year would have fallen about a month before gileonnen's fic, Reunification (http://the-phrensies.livejournal.com/7028.html), so I had to figure out how on earth I was going to balance my academic shenanigans with a legitimate outside conflict. gileonnen did such an amazing job of capturing the central moment (when Richard proposes to Anne as the crowds begin to tear down the Berlin Wall) that I didn't want to get anywhere near it, so I sidestepped completely.

What a fun prompt, though. Oh, Richard, you are such a failbot.