Peter Singer describes his encounters with a small group of vegetarians at Oxford University from 1969 to 1971 and some of the developments launched by those encounters with fellow philosophy students, including Richard Keshen, John Harris, and Roslind and Stanley Godlovitch. Others in Oxford at the time included philosopher Stephen Clark, theologian Andrew Linzey, and psychologist Richard Ryder. Members of the group have produced several landmark publications addressing the moral status of animals, including the initial volume, Animals, Men and Morals (edited by the Godlovitches and John Harris and published in 1971), Singer’s landmark volume, Animal Liberation in 1975, Linzey’s 1976 book on animal rights and Christian theology, Clark’s 1977 volume on the moral status of animals and Richard Ryder’s book on animal research (Victims of Science published in 1975). Singer comments that it is too early to say what influence the group may have had. However, for many in the animal protection movement, it is clear that the Oxford group of accidental friends and scholars has had an enormous impact on the animal protection movement
