Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Official name	Oxford
Native name
Nickname	"The City of Dreaming Spires"
Settlement type	City
Motto	"Fortis est veritas" "Truth is strength"
Blank emblem type	Coat of arms of Oxford City Council
Map caption	Shown within Oxfordshire
Map caption1
Coordinates region	GB
Subdivision type	Sovereign state
Subdivision name	United Kingdom
Subdivision type1	Constituent country
Subdivision name1	England
Subdivision type2	Region
Subdivision name2	South East England
Subdivision type3	Ceremonial county
Subdivision name3	Oxfordshire
Subdivision type4	Admin HQ
Subdivision name4	Oxford City Centre
Government type	City
Leader title	Governing body
Leader name	Oxford City Council
Leader title1	Lord Mayor – Deputy Lord Mayor
Leader name1	Cllr John Goddard (2009–2010)
Leader title2	Sheriff of Oxford
Leader title3	Executive – Council Leader
Leader name3	Labour Cllr Bob Price
Leader title4	MPs
Leader name4	Nicola Blackwood (C)Andrew Smith (L)
Established title	Founded
Established date	8th century
Established title2	Town charter
Established title3	City status
Established date3	1542
Unit pref
Area total km2	45.59
Area land km2
Area blank1 sq mi
Population as of
Population total	(Ranked of )
Population density km2	3270
Population blank2 title	Ethnicity(2005 Estimates
Population blank2	73.0% White British9.1% Other White 5.7% South Asian3.0% Black2.9% Chinese2.7% Mixed Race1.9% Other 1.8% White Irish
Population demonym	Oxonian
Timezone	GMT
Utc offset	0
Timezone dst	BST
Utc offset dst	+1
Elevation footnotes
Elevation ft
Postal code type	Postcode
Postal code	OX
Area code	01865
Blank name	ISO 3166-2
Blank info	GB-OXF
Blank1 name	ONS code
Blank1 info	38UC
Blank2 name	OS grid reference
Blank2 info
Blank3 name	NUTS 3
Website	www.oxford.gov.uk
Footnotes	}}

Oxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre. For a distance of some along the river, in the vicinity of Oxford, the Thames is known as the Isis.

Buildings in Oxford demonstrate an example of every English architectural period since the arrival of the Saxons, including the iconic, mid-18th century Radcliffe Camera. Oxford is known as the "city of dreaming spires", a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold in reference to the harmonious architecture of Oxford's university buildings. The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

History

Oxford was first settled in Saxon times, and was initially known as "Oxenaforda", meaning "Ford of the Oxen"; fords were more common than bridges at that time. It began with the foundation of an oxen crossing in the early 900 AD period. In the 10th century Oxford became an important military frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was on several occasions raided by Danes.

Oxford was heavily damaged during the Norman Invasion of 1066. Following the conquest, the town was assigned a governor, Robert D'Oyly, who ordered the construction of Oxford Castle to confirm Norman authority over the area. The castle has never been used for military purposes and its remains survive to this day. D'Oyly set up a monastic community in the castle consisting of a chapel and living quarters for monks (St George in the Castle). The community never grew large but it earned its place in history as one of the oldest places of formal education in Oxford. It is there that in 1139 Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britain, a compilation of Arthurian legends.

In 1191, a city charter stated in Latin,

Oxford's prestige was enhanced by its charter granted by King Henry II, granting its citizens the same privileges and exemptions as those enjoyed by the capital of the kingdom; and various important religious houses were founded in or near the city. A grandson of King John established Rewley Abbey for the Cistercian Order; and friars of various orders (Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, Augustinians, and Trinitarians), all had houses at Oxford of varying importance. Parliaments were often held in the city during the 13th century. The Provisions of Oxford were instigated by a group of barons led by Simon de Montfort; these documents are often regarded as England's first written constitution.

The University of Oxford is first mentioned in 12th century records. As the University took shape, friction between the hundreds of students living where and how they pleased led to a decree that all undergraduates would have to reside in approved halls. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses that sprang up across the city, only St Edmund Hall (c 1225) remains. What put an end to the halls was the emergence of colleges. Oxford's earliest colleges were University College (1249), Balliol (1263) and Merton (1264). These colleges were established at a time when Europeans were starting to translate the writings of Greek philosophers. These writings challenged European ideology – inspiring scientific discoveries and advancements in the arts – as society began to see itself in a new way. These colleges at Oxford were supported by the Church in the hope of reconciling Greek Philosophy and Christian Theology. The relationship between "town and gown" has often been uneasy – as many as 93 students and townspeople were killed in the St Scholastica Day Riot of 1355.

The sweating sickness epidemic in 1517 was particularly devastating to Oxford and Cambridge where it killed half of both cities' populations, including many students and dons.

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford is unique in combining a college chapel and a cathedral in one foundation. Originally the Priory Church of St Frideswide, the building was extended and incorporated into the structure of the Cardinal's College shortly before its refounding as Christ Church in 1546, since when it has functioned as the cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford.

The Oxford Martyrs were tried for heresy in 1555 and subsequently burnt at the stake, on what is now Broad Street, for their religious beliefs and teachings. The three martyrs were the bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, and the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. The Martyrs' Memorial stands nearby, round the corner to the North on St. Giles.

During the English Civil War, Oxford housed the court of Charles I in 1642, after the king was expelled from London, although there was strong support in the town for the Parliamentarian cause. The town yielded to Parliamentarian forces under General Fairfax in the Siege of Oxford of 1646. It later housed the court of Charles II during the Great Plague of London in 1665–66. Although reluctant to do so, he was forced to evacuate when the plague got too close. The city suffered two serious fires in 1644 and 1671.

In 1790, the Oxford Canal connected the city with Coventry. The Duke's Cut was completed by the Duke of Marlborough in 1789 to link the new canal with the River Thames; and in 1796 the Oxford Canal company built its own link to the Thames, at Isis Lock. In 1844, the Great Western Railway linked Oxford with London via Didcot and Reading, and other rail routes soon followed.

In the 19th century, the controversy surrounding the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church drew attention to the city as a focus of theological thought.

Oxford Town Hall was built by Henry T. Hare; the foundation stone was laid on 6 July 1893 and opened by the future King Edward VII on 12 May 1897. The site has been the seat of local government since the Guild Hall of 1292 and though Oxford is a city and a Lord Mayoralty, the building is still called by its traditional name of "Town Hall".

By the early 20th century, Oxford was experiencing rapid industrial and population growth, with the printing and publishing industries becoming well established by the 1920s. Also during that decade, the economy and society of Oxford underwent a huge transformation as William Morris established the Morris Motor Company to mass produce cars in Cowley, on the south-eastern edge of the city. By the early 1970s over 20,000 people worked in Cowley at the huge Morris Motors and Pressed Steel Fisher plants. By this time Oxford was a city of two halves: the university city to the west of Magdalen Bridge and the car town to the east. This led to the witticism that "Oxford is the left bank of Cowley". Cowley suffered major job losses in the 1980s and 1990s during the decline of British Leyland, but is now producing the successful New MINI for BMW on a smaller site. A large area of the original car manufacturing facility at Cowley was demolished in the 1990s and is now the site of the Oxford Business Park.

The influx of migrant labour to the car plants and hospitals, recent immigration from south Asia, and a large student population, have given Oxford a notable cosmopolitan character, especially in the Headington and Cowley Road areas with their many bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs, ethnic shops and fast food outlets. Oxford is one of the most diverse small cities in Britain with the most recent population estimates for 2005. showing that 27% of the population were from ethnic minority groups, including 16.2% from non-white ethnic minority ethnic groups (ONS). These figures do not take into account more recent international migration into the city, with over 10,000 people from overseas registering for National Insurance Numbers in Oxford in 2005/06 and 2006/07.

After his failure at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister spent two months deciding whether to give up running. He set himself on a new goal: To be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. On 6 May 1954, Roger Bannister, a 25 year old medical student, ran the first authenticated four-minute mile at the Iffley Road running track in Oxford. Although he had previously studied at Oxford University, Bannister was studying at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London at the time.

Oxford's second university, Oxford Brookes University, formerly the Oxford School of Art, then Oxford Polytechnic, based at Headington Hill, was given its charter in 1991 and has been voted for the last ten years the best new university in the UK. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Henry Brookes.

Geography

Oxford's latitude and longitude are or (at Carfax Tower, which is usually considered the centre).

Location

Climate

Oxford has a maritime temperate climate ("Cfb" by the Köppen system). Precipitation is uniformly distributed throughout the year and is provided mostly by weather systems that arrive from the Atlantic. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Oxford was in January 1982. The highest temperature ever recorded in Oxford is in August 2003 during the 2003 European heat wave.

There is a field of thought that due to climate change, temperatures are increasing in Oxford, precipitation is decreasing in summer and increasing in winter.

The average conditions below are from the Radcliffe Meteorological Station. It boasts the longest series of temperature and rainfall records for one site in Britain. These records are continuous from January, 1815. Irregular observations of rainfall, cloud and temperature exist from 1767.

Economy

The Oxford suburb of Cowley has a long history of carmaking and now produces the BMW MINI.

Brewing

There is a long history of brewing in Oxford. Several of the colleges had private breweries, one of which, at Brasenose, survived until 1889. In the 16th century brewing and malting appear to have been the most popular trades in the city. There were breweries in Brewers Street and Paradise Street, near the Castle Mill Stream.

The development of Oxford's railway links after the 1840s and the rapid expansion of Oxford supported expansion of the brewing trade in Oxford. As well as expanding the market for Oxford's brewers, railways enabled brewers further from the city to compete for a share of its market. By 1874 there were nine breweries in Oxford and 13 brewers' agents in Oxford shipping beer in from elsewhere. The nine breweries were: Flowers & Co in Cowley Road, Hall's St Giles Brewery, Hall's Swan Brewery (see below), Hanley's City Brewery in Queen Street, Le Mills's Brewery in St. Ebbes, Morrell's Lion Brewery in St Thomas Street (see below), Simonds's Brewery in Queen Street, Weaving's Eagle Brewery (by 1869 the Eagle Steam Brewery) in Park End Street and Wootten and Cole's St. Clement's Brewery.

The Swan's Nest Brewery, later the Swan Brewery, was established by the early 18th century in Paradise Street, and in 1795 was acquired by William Hall. The brewery became known as Hall's Oxford Brewery, which acquired other local breweries. Hall's Brewery was acquired by Samuel Allsopp & Sons in 1926, after which it ceased brewing in Oxford.

Morrell's, the Oxford based regional brewery was founded in 1743 by Richard Tawney. He formed a partnership in 1782 with Mark and James Morrell, who eventually became the owners. After an acrimonious family dispute this much-loved brewery was closed in 1998, the beer brand names being taken over by the Thomas Hardy Burtonwood brewery, while the 132 tied pubs were bought by Michael Cannon, owner of the American hamburger chain Fuddruckers, through a new company, Morrells of Oxford. The new owners sold most of the pubs on to Greene King in 2002. The Lion Brewery was converted into luxury apartments in 2002.

Bellfounding

The Taylor family of Loughborough had a bell-foundry in Oxford between 1786 and 1854.

Shopping

Broad Street

Clarendon Shopping Centre

Cornmarket Street

George Street

Golden Cross

The High Street

Little Clarendon Street

Queen Street, Oxford

The Covered Market

Turl Street

Westgate Shopping Centre

Oxford Castle

Gloucester Green

Outside the City Centre:

Banbury Road, Summertown, Oxford

Botley Road, Oxford

Cowley Retail Park, Cowley, Oxford

Cowley Road, Oxford

Iffley Road, Oxford

London Road, Headington, Oxford

North Parade, Oxford

St Clement's, Oxford

Templars Square shopping centre, Cowley, Oxford

Walton Street, Jericho, Oxford

New Botley

Theatres and cinemas

Burton Taylor Theatre, Worcester Street

New Theatre, George Street

Odeon Cinema, George Street

Odeon Cinema, Magdalen Street

Old Fire Station Theatre, George Street

Oxford Playhouse, Beaumont Street

Pegasus Theatre, Magdalen Road

O'Reilly Theatre, Blackhall Road

Phoenix Picturehouse, Walton Street

Ultimate Picture Palace, Cowley Road

Vue Cinema, Grenoble Road

Landmarks

Oxford has numerous major tourist attractions, many belonging to the university and colleges. As well as several famous institutions, the town centre is home to Carfax Tower and the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, both of which offer views over the spires of the city. Many tourists shop at the historic Covered Market. In the summer punting on the Thames/Isis and the Cherwell is popular.

The University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is one of the most famous universities in the world, and leading academics come to Oxford from all over the world.

The city centre

As well as being a major draw for tourists (9.1 million in 2008, similar in 2009), Oxford city centre has many shops, several theatres, and an ice rink. The historic buildings make this location a popular target for film and TV crews.

The city centre is relatively small, and is centred on Carfax, a cross-roads which forms the junction of Cornmarket Street (pedestrianised), Queen Street (semi-pedestrianised), St Aldate's and The High. Cornmarket Street and Queen Street are home to Oxford's various chain stores, as well as a small number of independent retailers, one of the longest established of which is Boswells, which was founded in 1738. St Aldate's has few shops but has several local government buildings, including the Town Hall, the city police station and local council offices. The High (the word street is traditionally omitted) is the longest of the four streets and has a number of independent and high-end chain stores, but mostly University and College buildings.

There are two small shopping centres in the city centre: The Clarendon Centre and The Westgate Centre. The Westgate Centre is named for the original West Gate in the city wall, and is located at the west end of Queen Street. It is quite small and contains a number of chain stores and a supermarket. The Westgate Shopping Centre is to undergo a large and controversial refurbishment; the plans involve tripling the size of the centre to , a new 1,335 space underground car park and 90 new shops and bars, including a John Lewis department store. There is to be a new and improved transport system, a complete refurbishment of the existing centre and the surrounding Bonn Square area. The development plans include a number of new homes, and completion is expected in 2011, although this is being delayed due to the current financial climate.

Blackwell's Bookshop is a large bookshop which claims the largest single room devoted to book sales in the whole of Europe, the cavernous Norrington Room (10,000 sq ft).

Other attractions

Ashmolean Museum

Bodleian Library

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

The Headington Shark

Modern Art Oxford

Museum of the History of Science

Oxford Botanic Garden

Pitt Rivers Museum

Sheldonian Theatre

St. Mary The Virgin Church

Parks and nature walks

Oxford is a very green city, with several parks and nature walks within the ring road, as well as several sites just outside the ring road. In total, 28 Nature Reserves exist within or just outside of Oxford ring road, including:

University Parks

Mesopotamia

Rock Edge Nature Reserve

Lye Valley

South Parks

C. S. Lewis Nature Reserve

Shotover Nature Reserve

Port Meadow

Urban redevelopment

The Westgate redevelopment is just part of a wider scheme proposed by the city council. This scheme includes a total redesign of the centre of Oxford to "pedestrianise" the city. The scheme, entitled Transform Oxford, is only a blueprint for public consultation at this stage, but county council officials are confident it will go ahead.

One of the key elements is the pedestrianisation of Queen Street, with bus stops removed next summer to make way for the eventual complete removal of buses from the street.

Pedestrianisation schemes in George Street and Magdalen Street should follow in the summer of 2010, with the removal of traffic from Broad Street the same year a possibility.

In 2011, highways engineers plan to remodel the Frideswide Square junctions near the railway station, removing traffic lights and introducing roundabouts to improve the traffic flow.

Transport

Air

In addition to the larger airports in the region, Oxford is served by nearby London Oxford Airport, in Kidlington. The airport is also home to Oxford Aviation Academy, an airline pilot flight training centre, and several private jet companies.

Buses

The bus services are mainly provided by the Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach Oxfordshire. Other operators include Thames Travel, Arriva Shires & Essex and several smaller companies.

Oxford has 5 park and ride sites with bus links to the city centre:

Pear Tree (bus 300)

Redbridge (bus 300)

Seacourt (bus 400)

Thornhill (bus 400)

Water Eaton (bus 500)

There are also bus services to the John Radcliffe Hospital (from Thornhill/Water Eaton) and to the Churchill and Nuffield Hospitals (from Thornhill).

Hybrid buses, which use battery power with a small diesel generator, began to be used in Oxford on 15 July 2010, on Stagecoach Oxfordshire's Route 1 (Cowley, Blackbird Leys), followed by other routes.

Coach

The Oxford to London coach route offers a frequent coach service to London. The Oxford Espress [sic] is operated by the Oxford Bus Company. Oxford Tube is operated by Stagecoach Oxfordshire. The Oxford Bus Company also runs the Airline services to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

There is a bus station at Gloucester Green, used mainly by the London and airport buses, National Express coaches, and other long-distance buses including route X5 to Cambridge.

Rail

In 1844, the Great Western Railway linked Oxford with London (Paddington) via and ; in 1851, the London and North Western Railway opened their own route from Oxford to London (Euston), via Bicester, and Watford; and in 1864 a third route, also to Paddington, running via , and , was provided; this was shortened in 1906 by the opening of a direct route between High Wycombe and London (Paddington) via . The distance from Oxford to London was via Bletchley; via Didcot and Reading; via Thame and Maidenhead; and via Denham. Of these, only the original route via Didcot is still in use for its full length, although portions of each of the others remain.

There were also routes to the north and west. The line to was opened in 1850, and was extended to Birmingham in 1852; a route to Worcester opened in 1853. A branch to Witney was opened in 1862, which was extended to in 1873. The line to Witney and Fairford closed in 1962, but the others remain open.

Oxford has had three main railway stations. The first was opened at Grandpont in 1844, but this was a terminus, inconvenient for routes to the north; it was replaced by the present station on Park End Street in 1852 with the opening of the Birmingham route. Another terminus, at Rewley Road, was opened in 1851 to serve the Bletchley route; this station closed in 1951. There have also been a number of local railway stations, all of which are now closed.

Oxford railway station is half a mile (about 1 km) west of the city centre. The station is served by numerous routes, including CrossCountry services to as far away as Manchester and Edinburgh, First Great Western (who operate the station) services to London and other destinations and occasional Chiltern Railways services to Birmingham. The present station opened in 1852. Oxford is the junction for a short branch line to Bicester, which is being extended to form the East-West Rail Link to Milton Keynes, providing a passenger route avoiding London.

River and canal

Oxford was historically an important port on the River Thames, with this section of the river being called The Isis; the Oxford-Burcot Commission in the 17th century attempted to improve navigation to Oxford. Iffley Lock and Osney Lock lie within the bounds of the city. In the eighteenth century the Oxford Canal was built to connect Oxford with the Midlands.

Commercial traffic has given way to recreational use of the river and canal. Oxford was the original base of Salters Steamers and there is a regular service from Folly Bridge downstream to Abingdon and beyond.

Roads

A roads

The city has a ring road that consists of the A34, the A40, A4142 and the A423. It is mostly dual carriageway and was completed in 1966.

The main roads that lead out of Oxford are: A34 – which leads to Bicester, the M40 north, Birmingham and Manchester to the north (although since the M40's completion it has disappeared north of Oxford and only re-emerged some northwards at Solihull), and Didcot, Newbury and Winchester to the south. Since the completion of the Newbury by-pass in 1998, the A34 has been entirely grade separated dual carriageway all the way from Bicester to Winchester.

A40 – which leads to London and High Wycombe (as well as the M40 motorway south) to the east, and Cheltenham, Gloucester and south Wales to the west.

A44 – which begins in Oxford and leads to Worcester, Hereford and Aberystwyth.

A420 – which also begins in Oxford and leads to Bristol passing Swindon and Chippenham.

Motorway

The city is served by the M40 motorway, which connects London to Birmingham. The M40 approached Oxford in 1974 (the first section through Buckinghamshire opened in 1967) and went from London to Waterstock where the A40 continued to Oxford. When the M40 extension to Birmingham was completed in January 1991, a mile of the old motorway became a spur as the extension curved sharply north. The M40 comes no closer than away from the city centre, curving to the east of Otmoor. The M40 meets the A34 to the north of Oxford, the latter now being in two parts, the A34 restarting near Solihull, while the A41 (which previous passed through Banbury and Warwick) restarts in the same area.

Education

There are two universities in Oxford; the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University as well as Ruskin College.

Oxford is home to wide range of schools many of which receive pupils from around the world. Three are University choral foundations, established to educate the boy choristers of the chapel choirs, and have kept the tradition of single sex education. Examination results in state-run Oxford schools are consistently below the national average and regional average. However, results in the city are improving with 44% of pupils gaining 5 grades A*-C in 2006.

Media

As well as the BBC national radio stations, Oxford and the surrounding area has several local stations, including BBC Oxford, Heart Thames Valley, Glide FM and Jack FM on 106.8 along with Oxide: Oxford Student Radio (which went on terrestrial radio at 87.7 MHz FM in late May 2005). A local TV station, Six TV: The Oxford Channel was also available but closed in April 2009. The city is home to a BBC TV newsroom which produces an opt-out from the main South Today programme broadcast from Southampton.

Popular local papers include The Oxford Times (compact; weekly), its sister papers The Oxford Mail (tabloid; daily) and The Oxford Star (tabloid; free and delivered), and Oxford Journal (tabloid; weekly free pick-up). Oxford is also home to several advertising agencies.

Daily Information (known locally as Daily Info) is an events and advertising news sheet which has been published since 1964 and now provides a connected website.

Nightshift is a monthly local free magazine that has covered the Oxford music scene since 1991.

Recently (2003) DIY grassroots non-corporate media has begun to spread. Independent and community newspapers include the Jericho Echo and Oxford Prospect.

Culture

Literature and film

Well-known Oxford-based authors include:

Oscar Wilde a nineteenth century poet and author who attended Oxford from 1874 to 1878.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir attended Brasenose College. Best known for his The Thirty-nine Steps, authored 32 novels and many more volumes of history, poetry and essays.

Susan Cooper who is best known for her The Dark Is Rising Sequence

Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), Student and Mathematical Lecturer of Christ Church.

Colin Dexter who wrote and set his Inspector Morse detective novels in Oxford. Colin Dexter still lives in Oxford.

John Donaldson (d.1989), a poet resident in Oxford in later life.

Siobhan Dowd Oxford resident; who was an undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Kenneth Grahame educated at St. Edward's School, Oxford

Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart), of Christ Church.

P. D. James who lives part-time in Oxford.

T. E. Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia", Oxford resident, undergraduate at Jesus, postgraduate at Magdalen.

C. S. Lewis, Fellow of Magdalen.

Alex Ryan, formerly an Oxford resident for many years.

Iris Murdoch, Fellow of St Anne's.

Iain Pears, undergraduate at Wadham College and Oxford resident, whose novel An Instance of the Fingerpost is set in the city.

Philip Pullman who was an undergraduate at Exeter.

Dorothy L. Sayers who was an undergraduate at Somerville.

J. R. R. Tolkien, undergraduate at Exeter and later professor of English at Merton

John Wain, undergraduate at St John's and later Professor of Poetry at Oxford University 1973–78

Charles Williams, editor at Oxford University Press.

Brian Aldiss who lives in Oxford.

Oxford appears in the following works:

"The Scarlet Pimpernel"

"Harry Potter" (all the films to date)

Jude the Obscure (1895) by Thomas Hardy (in which Oxford is thinly disguised as "Christminster").

Zuleika Dobson (1911) by Max Beerbohm.

Gaudy Night (1935) by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh.

A Question of Upbringing (1951 ) by Anthony Powell

Second Generation (1964 novel) by Raymond Williams

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) by Steven Spielberg

Where The Rivers Meet (1988) trilogy set in Oxford by John Wain

All Souls (1989) by Javier Marías

The Children of Men (1992) by P. D. James.

Doomsday Book (1992) by Connie Willis

His Dark Materials (1995 onwards) by Philip Pullman

"Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997)

"The Saint" (1997)

"102 Dalmatians" (2000)

Endymion Spring (2006) by Matthew Skelton

Here, There Be Dragons (2006) and the rest of the The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen

The Oxford Murders (2008)

The Oxford Virus (2010) by Adam Kolczynski

Mr. Nice (2010) The story of Howard Marks

Music

Oxford, and its surrounding towns and villages, have produced many successful bands and musicians. The most notable Oxford act is Radiohead, who hail from nearby Abingdon, though other well known local bands include Supergrass, Ride, Swervedriver, Talulah Gosh and more recently, Young Knives, Foals and Stornoway. These and many other bands from over 30 years of the Oxford music scene's history feature in the documentary film Anyone Can Play Guitar.

In 1997, Oxford played host to Radio 1's Sound City, with acts such as Bentley Rhythm Ace, Embrace, Spiritualized and DJ Shadow playing in various venues around the city.

Sport

Oxford United are currently in League Two, the fourth tier of league football, and have enjoyed great success in the past in the upper reaches of the football league. They were elected to the Football League in 1962, reached the Third Division after three years and the Second Division after six, and most notably reached the First Division in 1985 – a mere 23 years after joining the Football League. They spent three seasons in the top flight, winning the Football League Cup a year after promotion. The next 18 years saw them decline gradually (though a brief respite in 1996 saw them win promotion to the new (post Premier League) Division One in 1996 and stay there for three years. They suffered relegation to the Football Conference in 2006, staying there for four seasons before returning to the Football League in 2010. They play at the Kassam Stadium (named after former chairman Firoz Kassam), which is situated near the Blackbird Leys housing estate and has been their home since relocation from the Manor Ground in 2001.

Oxford City F.C. is a semi-professional football club, separate from Oxford United. It plays in the Southern Football League Premier Division. Oxford Harlequins RFC is the city's main rugby team and plays in the National 3 South West league.

Oxford Cheetahs motorcycle speedway team has raced at Cowley Stadium on and off since 1939. The Cheetahs competed in the Speedway Elite League and then the Speedway Conference League until 2007, when stadium landlords Greyhound Racing Association apparently doubled the rent. Speedway is not currently running in Oxford.

There are several field hockey clubs based in Oxford. The Oxford Hockey Club (formed after a merger of City of Oxford HC and Rover Oxford HC in 2011) plays most of its home games on the pitch at Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, and also uses the pitches at Headington Girls' School and Iffley Road. Oxford Hawks play at Banbury Road North, by Cutteslow Park to the north of the city.

Oxford City Stars is the local Ice Hockey Team which plays at Oxford Ice Rink. There is a senior/adults’ team and a junior/children’s team.

Oxford is also home to the Oxford City Rowing Club which is situated near Donnington Bridge.

International relations

Oxford is twinned with:

	* Bonn, Germany	* Grenoble, France	* Leiden, Netherlands		León, Nicaragua>León, Nicaragua	* Perm, Russia	* Umeå, Sweden	* Saskatoon, Canada

See also

Bishop of Oxford

Earl of Oxford

List of Oxford architects

Oxfam

Oxford bags

Oxford comma

Gallery

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

;Further reading

External links

Oxford – 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article

Oxford City Council official website

Oxford From Above BBC program

Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:Cities in South East England Category:County towns in England *Oxford Category:Local authorities adjoining the River Thames Category:Local government in Oxfordshire Category:Populated places established in the 8th century *Oxford Category:University towns in the United Kingdom Category:Non-metropolitan districts of Oxfordshire Category:Local government districts of South East England

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Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
name	New College
university	Oxford
shield
photo
infobox colour	#603311
colours
full name	New College of St Mary
latin name	Collegium Novum Oxoniense/Collegium Sanctae Mariae Wintoniae
named for	Mary, mother of Jesus
established	1379
sister college	King's College, Cambridge
head label	Warden
head	Professor Sir Curtis Price
jcr president	Andrew Hood
undergraduates	420
mcr president	Alex Dickens
graduates	180
latitude	51.754277
longitude	-1.251288
homepage	Homepage
boat club	Boatclub
ball	Commemoration Ball 2010
grace	Benedictus benedicat. May the Blessed One give a blessing }}

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Overview

The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always called "New College". One of the most famous and academically successful of the Oxford colleges, it stands along Holywell Street and New College Lane (known for Oxford's Bridge of Sighs), next to All Souls College, Harris Manchester College, Hertford College, The Queen's College and St Edmund Hall.

The College is one of the main choral foundations of the University of Oxford. The College Choir has a reputation as one of the finest Anglican choirs in the world, has recorded over one hundred albums, and has been awarded two Gramophone Awards.

In 2006 the College had an estimated financial endowment of £143m. That year the College sold an area of land in Buckinghamshire for £55m, and the subsequent extra endowment income was put towards academic development, salaries, and repair to buildings.

History

Despite its name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges, having originally been founded in 1379. The second college in Oxford to be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was founded by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester as "The College of St Mary of Winchester in Oxford".

New College was founded in conjunction with the famous Winchester College, which was envisaged as a feeder to the Oxford college, and the two institutions have striking architectural similarities: both were the work of master mason William Wynford. The grand collection of buildings is a testament to Williams's experience in administering both ecclesiastical and civil institutions as the Bishop of Winchester and High Chancellor of England.

Both Winchester College and New College were originally established for the education of priests, there being a shortage of properly educated clergy after the Black Death. William of Wykeham ordained that there were to be ten chaplains, three clerks and 16 choristers on the foundation of the college. The original choristers were accommodated within the walls of the college under one schoolmaster. Since then the school has expanded and in 1903 moved to New College School in Savile Road.

As well as being the first Oxford college for undergraduates and the first to have senior members of the college give tutorials, New College was the first college in Oxford to be designed around a main quadrangle.

College links

Admiring William of Wykeham's achievements in creating his twinned institutions, King Henry VI modelled the establishment of his new schools, King's College, Cambridge and Eton College, upon Wykeham's foundation of New College and Winchester College.

Indeed, the link that King's College, Cambridge and Eton College share is a direct copy of William of Wykeham's link between New College and Winchester College.

New College has formal ties with Winchester College, Eton College, and King's College, Cambridge dating back to 1444, a four-way relationship known as the Amicabilis Concordia.

The four institutions share formal ties to this day; King's is New College's official sister college.

Architecture and gardens

At the time of its founding, New College was larger than all of the existing Oxford Colleges combined. One of Oxford's most prestigious colleges, it is also one of the most widely visited. The College's grounds are among the largest of the Oxford University colleges.

The Cloisters and the Chapel are of particular note; much of the mediæval stained glass in the ante-chapel has recently been restored. Renowned for its grand interior, some of the stained glass windows were designed by the 18th-century portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds and contains works by Sir Jacob Epstein and El Greco. The organ was built by the firm of Grant, Degens, and Bradbeer in 1969, in a case designed by George Pace; somewhat revolutionary at the time, the instrument remains no less remarkable and idiosyncratic today. The choir stalls contain 62 14th-century misericords which are of outstanding beauty — it is worth noting that several of New College's misericords were copied during the Victorian era, for use at Canterbury Cathedral

The ancient Oxford City Wall, belonging to New College, is of particular interest. When William of Wykeham founded the College, he formally agreed to maintain the City Wall when he acquired the land on which to build the College. Every three years the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City of Oxford take a walk along the Wall to make sure that the obligation is being fulfilled, a tradition dating back to the College's foundation in 1379. The gardens of New College include a Mound (which originally had steps, but is now smooth with one set of stairs) and boast one of the largest herbaceous borders in Oxford.

The bell tower contains one of the oldest rings of ten bells, which is rung by the Oxford Society of Change Ringers and the Oxford University Society of Change Ringers. The college is also in possession of a large collection of silver (including the mediæval silver gilt Founder's Crosier, housed in a display case in the chapel), and two notable "unicorn horns" (which are in fact narwhal tusks).

Music

As part of the original College statutes, William of Wykeham provided for a choral foundation of lay and academical clerks, with boy choristers to sing mass and the daily offices. It is a tradition that continues today with the choral services of evensong and Eucharist during term.

In addition to its choral duties in the chapel, the New College Choir has established a reputation as one of the finest Anglican choirs in the world and is known particularly for its performances of Renaissance and Baroque music. Some seventy recordings of the choir are still in the catalogue and as well as appearing a number of times at the BBC Proms, the choir make numerous concert tours.

In 1997, the choir won a Gramophone Award in the Best-selling disc category for their album Agnus Dei, and in 2008, they won a Gramophone Award in the Early Music category for their recording of Nicholas Ludford's Missa Benedicta. Edward Higginbottom, Organist and Tutor in Music at New College, has been made Oxford University’s first Choral Professor.

The choristers are educated at New College School on Savile Road, a short distance from New College itself.

On Thursday 21 May 2009, the choir revived an ancient custom of processing to Bartlemas Chapel for a ceremony and then on to the location of an ancient spring. The ceremony had not been observed for the past 400 years.

Organ

The present instrument was constructed by Grant, Degens and Bradbeer in 1969.

Tuning is regulated by Bishop and Son of London and Ipswich.

Organists and directors of music

1694 John Weldon

1776 Philip Hayes 1830-60 Stephen Elvey -1869 G. B. Arnold 1870 James Taylor

1901 Hugh Allen

1919 William Henry Harris 1929 John Dykes Bower 1933 Sydney Watson 1938 H. K. Andrews

1956 Albert Meredith Davies

1959 David Lumsden

1976 Edward Higginbottom (current)

Rowing

New College is one of not very many Oxford or Cambridge Colleges to have won an Olympic Medal; the New College Boat Club represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912 and obtained a silver medal.

In 1912, Great Britain sent two men's crews to the Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. One was a Leander crew, composed mostly of Magdalen College (Oxford) rowers, and captained by the Magdalen captain. The second was the New College 1st VIII.

The two British crews were the favourites for gold so started at opposite ends of the draw. They both worked up through the competition to make the final. The course in Stockholm was not straight, and one of the two lanes was clearly favoured, the other requiring the cox to steer around a protruding boathouse and then back under a bridge.

Before the final, the two British captains met to toss for lanes. New College won the toss and following gentlemanly tradition offered the choice of lanes to their opponents, who would — in a gentlemanly fashion — refuse this offer. However the Leander/Magdalen captain accepted this offer and chose the better lane. Leander went on to win the gold medal, leaving New College with the silver.

King Gustav V of Sweden was so disheartened by this display of ungentlemanly conduct that, as a consolation, he presented his colours to New College. Ever since then, New College have raced in purple and gold, the colours of the royal house of Sweden. A further tradition has been the adoption of the toast: God Damn Bloody Magdalen!, the supposed words of the New College stroke Robert Bourne as they crossed the line. The abbreviation GDBM is still used commonly, being on the bottom of the NCBC letterhead to this very day.

New College Boat Club is also one of the few Oxford clubs to have held both Headships at Summer Eights (though not in the same year), and one of only 11 Oxford or Cambridge colleges to have won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, having also won the Visitor Challenge Cup twice, the Ladies Challenge Plate twice and the Stewards' Challenge Cup twice.

Motto

The College's motto, created by William of Wykeham, is "Manners Makyth Man". The motto was in many respects fairly revolutionary. Firstly, it was written in English, rather than Latin, which makes it very unusual in Oxford, and is especially revolutionary considering the College's age; even St Catherine's College, founded in 1965, has a Latin motto ("Nova et Vetera": "the new and the old").

Secondly, the motto makes a social statement. While it might initially seem to be suggesting that it is beneficial to have good manners, this does not really capture its full scope. What it really means is that it is not by birth, money, or property that an individual is defined, but by how he (or she) behaves towards other people.

Wardens

The Warden is the college's principal, responsible for its academic leadership, chairing its governing body, and representing New College to the world.

New College in popular culture

New College was used as a filming location for the 1991 Inspector Morse episode "Fat Chance" in which it doubled as the fictitious "St Saviour's College", the 2005 film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. In Tomorrow Never Dies, the Holywell Buildings are used as the location of the 'Swedish Embassy'. New College appears in the alternate Oxford of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials as 'Wykeham College'. In the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, New College Cloisters served as the Hogwarts background for some scenes, notably that in which Draco Malfoy is transformed into a ferret by Mad-Eye Moody.

In Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham, the character Alroy Kear, believed to be a parody of Hugh Walpole, is a graduate of New College. In the opening chapter, the narrator describes Kear's time at the college, saying "he was president of the Union and but for an unfortunate attack of measles might very well have got his rowing blue".

Notable alumni

New College has a legacy of notable individuals who have studied and worked at the College. Among them are Nobel Prize winners, churchmen, statesmen, leading scientists and literary figures.

Robert Alston

Simon Baron-Cohen

Kate Beckinsale

Tony Benn

Tim Boswell

Gyles Brandreth

Peter Brown

David Butler

Henry Chichele

G.A. Cohen

Angus Deayton

Philip Reginald Egerton

John Farthing

Bram Fischer

John Fowles

John Galsworthy

Hugh Gaitskell

Patrick Gale

John Gardner (law)

Robert P. George

Victor Gollancz

Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley

Hugh Grant

Irfan Habib

General Sir John Hackett

J. B. S. Haldane

William Reginald Halliday

Christopher Hampton

H. L. A. Hart

Saiyid Nurul Hasan

Charles Francis Christopher Hawkes

Arthur Cayley Headlam

Peter Heather

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Peter Hobbs

Adrian Holman

William Horman

William Howley

Thomas Hughes (footballer), footballer who won the FA Cup twice in the 1870s

The Venerable John Ingram, English Jesuit and martyr

Harry Brodribb Irving

Douglas Jardine

Bobby Jindal

Rachel Johnson

Brian Johnston

Oliver Kamm

Randal Keynes

Sophie Kinsella

Harold Laski

A. W. Lawrence

John Lennard

Andro Linklater (born 1944)

Bernard Longley

Edward Luce

Neil MacGregor

Dambudzo Marechera

Brian Marsden

Charles McCreery

Nathaniel Micklem

Alasdair Milne, BBC Director General (1982-87)

Michael J. Mosley

Kate Mosse

Richard Ollard

Rageh Omaar

Dennis Potter

Gerald Priestland

Nigel Rees

Susan Rice

Sir Bernard Rix (Lord Justice Rix)

Alan Rodger, Baron Rodger of Earlsferry

Neil Rudenstine

Anthony Russell-Roberts

Jonathan Sacks

Paul Seabright

Tim Sebastian

Mel Smith

Toby Spence

Rick Stein

Adam Thirlwell

Alan Thornhill, Sculptor

Francis Turner

Julian Turner

William Warham

Robert Penn Warren

William Waynflete (though the validity of this claim is doubtful – see his page for further discussion)

Geoffrey Wheatcroft

John Edgar Wideman

Richard Wilberforce Baron Wilberforce

A. N. Wilson

Naomi Wolf

Lucy Worsley, Curator and Historian.

Daniel Wood

James Woodforde

Philip Ziegler

For a more complete list, see Former students of New College

Fellows and lecturers

The Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science was held by Richard Dawkins and is now held by Marcus du Sautoy, both of whom are fellows of New College.

Richard Dawkins

W. D. Hamilton

Michael Atiyah

G. H. Hardy

Harold Wilson

A. J. Ayer

Isaiah Berlin

Alan Bullock

Paul Campbell

Raymond Carr

David Cecil

Richard Crossman

Robin Lane Fox

H.L.A. Hart

Nigel Hitchin

Julian Huxley

Willis Lamb

Hermione Lee

Rudolf Peierls

Craig Raine

Jane Shaw

Joe Silk

Marcus du Sautoy

William Archibald Spooner

Olaf Davis

For a more complete list, see: Fellows of New College

Gallery

References

External links

New College, Oxford

New College Commemoration Ball 2010

New College JCR, Oxford

New College MCR, Oxford

College choir

New College School

* Category:1379 establishments in England Category:Educational institutions established in the 14th century Category:Colleges of the University of Oxford Category:Grade I listed buildings in Oxford Category:Grade I listed educational buildings Category:Organisations based in Oxford with royal patronage Category:Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford

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