In architecture, a hall is fundamentally a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a mead hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord and his retainers. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, so that today the hall of a house is the space inside the front door through which the rooms are reached.

Thus:

Deriving from the above, a hall is often the term used to designate a British or Irish country house.

In later medieval Europe, the main room of a castle or manor house was the great hall.

Where the hall inside the front door of a house is elongated, it may be called a passage, corridor, or hallway.

In a medieval building, the hall was where the fire was kept. With time, its functions as dormitory, kitchen, parlour and so on were divided off to separate rooms or, in the case of the kitchen, a separate building.

On the same principle:

Many buildings at colleges and universities are formally titled "_______ Hall", typically being named after the person who endowed it, for example, King's Hall, Cambridge. Others, such as Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, commemorate respected people. Between these in age, Nassau Hall at Princeton University began as the single building of the then college. In medieval origin, these were the halls in which the members of the university lived together during term time. In many cases, some aspect of this community remains.

At colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Hall is the dining hall for students, with High Table at one end for fellows. Typically, at "Formal Hall", gowns are worn for dinner during the evening, whereas for "informal Hall" they are not.

Many Livery Companies (e.g., in the City of London) have a Hall that is their headquarters and meeting place.

Similarly:

A hall is also a building consisting largely of a principal room, that is rented out for meetings and social affairs. It may be privately or government-owned, such as a function hall owned by one company used for weddings and cotillions (organized and run by the same company on a contractual basis) or a community hall available for rent to anyone.

In religious architecture, as in Islamic architecture, the prayer hall is a large room dedicated to the practice of the worship. (example : the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia) Following a line of similar development:

In office buildings and larger buildings (theatres, cinemas etc.), the entrance hall is generally known as the foyer (the French for fire-place). The atrium, a name sometimes used in public buildings for the entrance hall, was the central courtyard of a Roman house.

References

Category:Rooms

ar:قاعة be:Калідор be-x-old:Хол cs:Hala de:Halle (Architektur) io:Halo it:Foyer he:מבואה ka:ჰოლი (ოთახი) hu:Csarnok nl:Foyer pl:Hala (budownictwo) pt:Hall sr:Хала sv:Hall (rum) vi:Hall yi:זאל zh:禮堂

Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″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	52°24′″N16°55′″N
name	Lady Margaret Hall
university	Oxford
photo
shield
infobox colour	#000033
colours
named for	Lady Margaret Beaufort
established	1878
sister college	Newnham College, Cambridge
head label	Principal
head	Dr Frances Lannon
jcr president	Jessica Shuman
undergraduates	424
mcr president	Ravi Kalia
graduates	174
latitude	51.76483
longitude	-1.254036
homepage	Homepage
boat club	Boat club
mcr	}}

Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m.

Lady Margaret Hall was founded in 1878 as the first women's college in Oxford, and did not accept men until 1979. Lady Margaret Hall accepts both undergraduate and graduate students.

History

Lady Margaret Hall, the first women's college in Oxford, was founded in 1878 and opened its doors to its first nine students the following year. It was founded by Edward Stuart Talbot, then Warden of Keble College, and his wife Lavinia. The college was named after Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, renowned patron of scholarship and learning. Its first principal was Elizabeth Wordsworth, the great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth and daughter of Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln. In 1979, one hundred years after its foundation, LMH began admitting men as well as women; it was the first of the women's colleges to do so, along with St. Anne's.

The college's coat of arms features devices that recall those associated with its foundation. The portcullis is from the arms of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the bell is a symbol of the Wordsworth family, and the Talbot dogs represent Edward Talbot.

The College

Lady Margaret Hall is one of the few Oxford colleges on the River Cherwell and is known for its lovely gardens set in spacious grounds (about ). The college's original house, now known as Old Old Hall, is still in use. Just behind the main buildings, are a set of playing fields and tennis courts, as well as a manicured Fellows' Garden, hidden from view by tall hedgerows. Giles Gilbert Scott, famous for designing Liverpool Cathedral and the K2 red telephone box designed the college's Byzantine-style chapel.

The architect of the main college buildings was Sir Reginald Blomfield who used the French Renaissance style of the 17th century and chose red brick with white stone facings. The central block, the Talbot Building (1910) contains the Hall and Library, while the accommodation for stuents and tutors is divided between three wings, the Wordsworth Building (1896), the Toynbee Building (1915) and the Lodge Building (1926). The Hall contains some fine oak panelling donated by former students to honour Elizabeth Wordsworth.The portraits in the Hall include the work of notable artists; among the portraits of principals is Sir J. J. Shannon's portrait of Dame Elizabeth, Philip de Laszlo's of Miss Jex-Blake, Sir Rodrigo Moynihan's of Dr Grier and Maud Sumner's of Miss Sutherland. In the Library is a fine marble statue by Edith Bateson. The chapel in the form of a Greek cross was dedicated by the college's founder Edward Stuart Talbot, in January 1933.

Its newest building, Pipe Partridge Building was completed in early 2010. This building includes a 120-seat lecture theatre, a dining hall, seminar rooms, JCR common rooms, and 60 new undergraduate study bedrooms. It was opened by the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Patten of Barnes, in April 2010.

In the summer of 2006 a new law library was constructed beneath the extant library; it was opened that year by Cherie Blair.

Members of the college refer to Lady Margaret Hall as LMH. Its colours are blue and yellow (sometimes also with white), and its motto is "Souvent me Souviens", an Old French phrase meaning "I remember often". The bell in the clock above the lodge rings hourly between 08:00 and 22:00.

Notable alumni

James Allen, Formula One commentator

Diana Athill, publisher's editor

Gertrude Bell, writer and diplomat

Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan

Nicky Blair, son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair

Elisabeth Blochmann, educationalist

Katharine Mary Briggs, writer

Caryl Churchill, playwright

Danny Cohen, Controller of BBC One

Donal Coonan, presenter

Lindsey Davis, novelist

Antonia Fraser, writer

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education.

Alethea Hayter, author

Stephen Hester, RBS CEO

Tim Hetherington, photojournalist

Baroness Hogg, journalist

Philip Hollobone, politician

Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children

Matthew Jones, actor and musical comedian

Bridget Kendall, BBC diplomatic correspondent

Nigella Lawson, journalist and celebrity television cooking show presenter

Ann Leslie, journalist

Josie Long, comedian

Ben Moreau, athlete

Elizabeth Longford, writer

Eliza Manningham-Buller, former director general of MI5

Sujata Manohar, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India

Lucasta Miller, writer and critic

Barbara Mills, former Director of Public Prosecutions

Priscilla Napier, author

Cathy Newman, Channel 4 News journalist

H. F. M. Prescott, historian

Diana Quick, actress

Johnny Rogan, author and broadcaster

Marie Slocombe, founder of the BBC Sound Archive

Matthew Taylor, politician

Ann Trindade, historian

Anna Walker, British civil servant

Baroness Warnock, philosopher

C. V. Wedgwood, historian

Samuel West, actor

Ann Widdecombe, politician

See also

Former students of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

References

External links

LMH Home Page – Official Site

Lady Margaret Hall MCR Website

Image Galleries of Lady Margaret Hall

Virtual Tour of Lady Margaret Hall

Archive Photos of Lady Margaret Hall

* Category:Colleges of the University of Oxford Category:Educational institutions established in 1878 Category:Former women's universities and colleges Category:Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Category:1878 establishments in England

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Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″N
Name	Saint Hilda of Whitby
Birth date	c. 614
Death date	November 17, 680
Feast day	November 17, in some churches on November 18, or November 19, in the Anglican Use of Rome, her feast is on June 23.
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion; Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	St. Hilda's Collegiate School
Prayer attrib	}}

Hilda of Whitby or Hild of Whitby (c. 614–680) was a Christian saint and the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby. An important figure in the conversion of England to Christianity, she was abbess at several monasteries and recognized for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice.

The source of information about Hilda is ''The Ecclesiastical History of the English'' by the Venerable Bede in 731, who was born approximately eight years before her death. He documented much of the conversion away from the Anglo-Saxon paganism established in England when it was invaded and settled by Germanic tribes that resulted in the recall of the legions of the Roman Empire from the province of Britannia in 410.

Early life

According to Bede, Hilda (or Hild, the Old English form of her name) was born in 614, the second daughter of Hereric, nephew of Edwin of Northumbria, and his wife Breguswith. Her elder sister, Hereswith, married Æthelric, brother of King Anna of East Anglia, who with all of his daughters became renowned for their saintly Christian virtues.

When Hilda was still an infant, her father was murdered by poisoning while in exile at the court of the British King of Elmet in what is now West Yorkshire. It generally is assumed that she was brought up at King Edwin's court in Northumbria. In 627 King Edwin was baptised on Easter Day, April 12, along with his entire court, which included Hilda, in a small wooden church hastily constructed for the occasion near the site of the present York Minster.

The ceremony was performed by the monk-bishop Paulinus, who had come from Rome with Augustine at the request of the pope on what is referred to as the Gregorian mission. He accompanied Æthelburg of Kent, a Christian princess, who was the daughter of King Ethelbert of Kent and the Merovingian princess Saint Bertha, when Æthelburg came North from Kent to marry King Edwin. As queen, Æthelburg continued to practice her Christianity and, no doubt, influenced her husband's thinking, as her mother had influenced her father.

From the date of her baptism until 647 nothing is known about Hilda. It seems likely that when King Edwin was killed in battle in 633 she went to live with her sister at the East Anglian court. Bede resumes her story at a point when she was about to join her widowed sister at Chelles Abbey in Gaul. At the age of 33, Hilda decided instead, to answer the call of St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne and chose to return to Northumbria to live as a nun.

As a nun

Hilda's original convent is not known, except that it was on the north bank of the River Wear. Here, with a few companions, she learned the traditions of Celtic monasticism, which Aidan brought from Iona. After a year Aidan appointed Hilda as the second Abbess of Hartlepool Abbey. No trace remains of this abbey, but its monastic cemetery has been found near the present St. Hilda's Church, Hartlepool. In 657 Hilda became the founding abbess of a new monastery at Whitby, then known as Streonshalh; she remained there until her death. Archaeological evidence shows that her monastery was in the Celtic style, with its members living in small houses, each for two or three people. The tradition in double monasteries, such as Hartlepool and Whitby, was that men and women lived separately, but worshipped together in church. The exact location and size of the church associated with this monastery, is unknown.

Bede states that the original ideals of monasticism were maintained strictly in Hilda's abbey. All property and goods were held in common; Christian virtues were exercised, especially peace and charity. Everyone had to study the Bible and do good works.

Five men from this monastery became bishops and two also join Hilda in being revered as saints - Saint John of Beverley, Bishop of Hexham, and St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York. They rendered untold service to the Anglo-Saxon Church at this critical period of the struggle with paganism.

Her character

Bede describes Hilda as a woman of great energy, who was a skilled administrator and teacher. She gained such a reputation for wisdom that kings and princes sought her advice. She also had a concern for ordinary folk such as Cædmon, however. He was a herder at the monastery, who was inspired in a dream to sing verses in praise of God. Hilda recognized his gift and encouraged him to develop it.

Although Hilda must have had a strong character she inspired affection. As Bede writes, "All who knew her called her mother because of her outstanding devotion and grace".

The Synod of Whitby

King Oswiu chose Hilda's monastery as the venue for the Synod of Whitby, the first synod of the Church in his kingdom. He invited churchmen from as far away as Wessex to attend the synod.

Most of those present, including Hilda, accepted the King's decision to adopt the method of calculating Easter currently used in Rome, establishing Roman practice as the norm in Northumbria. The monks from Lindisfarne, who would not accept this, withdrew to Iona and later, to Ireland.

Illness and death

Hilda suffered from fever for the last six years of her life, but she continued to work until her death on November 17, 680, at what was then thought to be the advanced age of sixty-six. In her last year she set up another

Legacy

Hilda was succeeded as abbess by Eanflæd, widow of King Oswiu, and her daughter, Ælfflæd. From then onward we know nothing about the abbey at Whitby until it was destroyed by the Danish invaders in 867.

After the Norman conquest of England that began in 1066 AD, monks from Evesham re-founded the abbey as a Benedictine house for men. Thus it continued until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII in 1539.

A local legend says that when sea birds fly over the abbey they dip their wings in honour of Saint Hilda. Another legend tells of a plague of snakes which Hilda turned to stone, supposedly explaining the presence of ammonite fossils on the shore; heads were carved onto these 'petrified snakes' to honour this legend. In fact, the ammonite genus ''Hildoceras'' takes its scientific name from St. Hilda. It was not unknown for local “artisans” to carve snakes' heads onto ammonites, and sell these “relics” as proof of her miracle. The coat of arms of nearby Whitby includes three such 'snakestones'.

From the late nineteenth century until the present day, there has been a revival of interest in and devotion to, St. Hilda. With the development of education for modern women she has become the patron of many schools and colleges all over the world. College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham, St Hilda's College, Oxford and St Hilda's College (University of Melbourne) and St Hilda's Collegiate School, Dunedin are named after Saint Hilda. Hilda is considered one of the patron saints of learning and culture, including poetry, due to her patronage of Cædmon.

Two churches in Whitby, (Roman Catholic and Anglican), have been dedicated under her patronage and another, in Bilsborrow, Lancashire.

There is an Anglican church named after St. Hilda in the Cross Green area of Leeds. It was opened in September 1882. There is a statue of St. Hilda in the nave, depicting her as the Mother of her Abbey at Whitby. She also appears in a stained glass window at the east end of the church. The church still is active and a sung mass is held there every Sunday. Several small streets in the immediate area are named after the church - St. Hilda's Mount, St. Hilda's Road, among them.

Since 1915 at St. Hilda's Priory, Sneaton Castle, on the western edge of Whitby town, there has been a community of Anglican sisters - the Order of the Holy Paraclete - which draws inspiration from the monastic and educational ideals of St. Hilda. More recently, the Community of St. Aidan and St. Hilda has been founded on Lindisfarne.

In the Roman Catholic church, the feast day of St. Hilda is November 17, in other parts of the Anglican Communion, her feast is on November 18, in the Church of England however, it is kept on November 19. In the calendar approved for the Anglican Use in the Roman Catholic Church, the feast day of St. Hilda is celebrated on June 23, together with those of St. Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, d. 679, and St. Mildred, Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, d. c.700.

On the upper west side of Manhattan in New York City is St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School. St. Hilda’s and St. Hugh’s School is an independent Episcopal day school that opened its doors in 1950. The school is coeducational and includes toddlers through grade eight.

St.Hilda's College at the University of Melbourne was founded in 1964 as the college for women associated with the (then) exclusively male colleges Ormond (Presbyterian) and Queens (Methodist), becoming co-educational in 1973.

St. Hilda's College, University of Toronto is the women's college of University of Trinity College. Although the schools have long been merged, only recently has the formerly women-only residence been made co-educational. Saint Hilda is honoured as co-patron (with Our Lady) of the Lady Chapel where daily services are held by Trinity's Faculty of Divinity.

There are two schools situated in Australia in recognition of St. Hilda. They are both 'St. Hilda's Anglican School for Girls' which is an independent, girls' school in Southport, South-East Australia and Mosman Park, Western Australia. (http://www.sthildas.qld.edu.au/) and (http://www.sthildas.wa.edu.au/).

St. Hilda is the patron saint of the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington, D.C.

St. Hilda also is famous in Singapore, being honored in St. Hilda's Primary and Secondary schools.

St. Hilda's Diocesan High School is an Anglican boarding school for girls in Brown's Town, St. Ann, Jamaica. The grade levels go up to Fifth Form. The school was founded by Canon James Philip Hall, who was then Rector of St. Mark's Anglican Church in Brown's Town, in 1906-1907.

Further reading

Bede (1996) ''The Ecclesiastical History of the English Church and People'', Oxford University Press, World classics series.

Bradley, Ian (1999) ''Celtic Christianity'', Edinburgh University Press.

Cavill, Paul (1999) ''Anglo-Saxon Christianity: exploring the earliest roots of Christian spirituality in England'', London: Collins, Fount paperback.

Hume, Basil (1996) ''Footprints of the Northern Saints'', London: Darton, Longman & Todd.

Thurston, H. (1910) ''St. Hilda.''

Warin, Anne (1989) ''Hilda'', Lamp Press.

References

Sister Hilary OHP; (2003). ''St. Hilda of Whitby'', Order of the Holy Paraclete, St. Hilda's Priory, Sneaton Castle, Whitby YO21 3QN.

External links

St. Hilda Page at St. Wilfrid's

St. Hilda on Melvyn Bragg's ''In Our Time'', 5 April 2007 (BBC Radio 4)

Category:614 births Category:680 deaths Category:People from Whitby Category:Anglo-Saxon royalty Category:Northumbrian saints Category:Yorkshire saints Category:Medieval women Category:Anglican saints Category:Anglo-Saxon abbesses Category:Abbesses of Whitby Category:7th-century Christian female saints

br:Hilda Whitby cs:Hilda z Whitby de:Hilda von Whitby es:Hilda de Whitby eo:Hilda de Whitby fr:Hilda de Whitby it:Hilda di Whitby nl:Hilda van Whitby pl:Hilda z Whitby pt:Hilda de Whitby

Coordinates	52°24′″N16°55′″N
name	El Mariachi
director	Robert Rodriguez
producer	Robert RodriguezCarlos Gallardo
writer	Robert Rodriguez
starring	Carlos GallardoConsuelo GómezPeter MarquardtReinol Martínez
music	Eric GuthrieChris KnudsonÁlvaro RodriguezCecilio RodriguezMark Trujillo
cinematography	Robert Rodriguez
editing	Robert Rodriguez
studio	Los Hooligans Productions
distributor	Columbia Pictures
released
runtime	81 minutes
country
language	Spanish
budget	$7,000
gross	$2,040,920
followed by	''Desperado'' }}

''El Mariachi'' is a 1992 Spanish-American action film that is the debut of writer/director Robert Rodriguez. The Spanish language film was shot in the northern Mexican bordertown of Ciudad Acuña with a mainly amateur cast. The US$7,000 production was originally intended for the Mexican home video market, but executives at Columbia Pictures liked the film so much that they bought the American distribution rights. Columbia eventually spent several times more than the 16 mm film's original budget on 35 mm transfers, promotion, marketing and distribution.

The success of Rodriguez's directorial debut led him to create two further entries, ''Desperado'' (1995) and ''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' (2003), in what came to be known as the ''Mariachi Trilogy''.

Plot

In a small Mexican town, a ruthless criminal, nicknamed Azul (Reinol Martínez), breaks out of jail and vows revenge on the local drug lord, Moco (Peter Marquardt), who put him there in the first place, by using a guitar case which carries a small arsenal of guns. At the same time, a young mariachi (Carlos Gallardo) arrives in the town looking for work, carrying his guitar case with his signature guitar. From the confines of his heavily guarded villa on the outskirts of town, Moco sends a large group of hitmen to kill Azul, but because both men are dressed in black and carrying guitar cases, the hitmen mistake the mariachi for the criminal. Only Moco knows what Azul looks like. The mariachi kills four of Moco's men in self-defense. As the mariachi seeks refuge in a bar owned by a woman named Dominó (Consuelo Gómez), he falls in love with her. Unfortunately, her bar is financed by Moco.

When Azul visits the bar for a beer and information about Moco, he accidentally leaves with the mariachi's guitar case. Moco's thugs capture Azul on the street but let him go when they learn that the case he is carrying contains only a guitar. A short time later, the mariachi is captured and taken to Moco, who identifies him as the wrong man and sets him free.

Meanwhile, Azul, who has no directions to Moco's home, takes Dominó with him and orders her to take him to Moco's, or Moco will kill the mariachi. Dominó agrees in order to save the mariachi's life. When they arrive at Moco's gated compound, Azul pretends to take Dominó hostage in order to gain entry. Moco soon realizes that Dominó has fallen for the mariachi and, in a rage, shoots both her and Azul. Suddenly, the mariachi arrives to find the woman he loves gunned down. Moco then shoots the mariachi's left hand, rendering him useless as a guitar player. However, overcome with grief and rage, the mariachi picks up Azul's gun and kills Moco, taking revenge for Dominó's death. Moco's surviving henchmen, seeing their leader dead, walk off and leave Moco's body and the wounded mariachi behind.

In the final scene, the mariachi leaves the town on Dominó's motorbike, taking her dog and her letter-opener to remember her by. His dreams to become a mariachi have been shattered, and his only protection for his future are the weapons of Azul, which he took along in the guitar case.

Cast

Actor !! Role
Carlos Gallardo (actor)	Carlos Gallardo	El Mariachi
Consuelo Gómez	Dominó
Peter Marquardt	Moco
Reinol Martínez	Azul
Jaime de Hoyos	Bigotón
Ramiro Gómez	Waiter
Jesús López Viejo	Clerk
Luis Baro	Dominó's Assistant
Óscar Fabila	The Boy

Production

The film was shot in numerous locations in Acuña, Coahuila. Rodriguez had a $7,000 budget, almost half of which he raised by participating in experimental clinical drug testing while living in Austin. The opening scenes feature a shootout in a jail. It was the local Acuña jail situated on the outskirts of the town. Also, both the female warden and the male guard were both the real-life warden and guard; Rodriguez thought it convenient because it saved him the cost of hiring actors and renting clothing. The intro bar scene was shot inside the Corona Club, and exterior street scenes were shot on Hidalgo Street. The shoot out was filmed outside at "Boy's Town" the local red-light district.

Not everyone in Acuña was pleased at first: local journalists Ramiro Gómez and Jesús López Viejo were especially critical of the filming, and to win them over, Rodriguez gave them small parts in the film. Due to the high body count of the film (i.e. people whose characters had been shot could obviously not return), Rodriguez increasingly had difficulties finding adult men to play thugs; for that reason, when the Mariachi meets Moco's gang in the end scene, the gang consists mainly of teenagers.

On the ''El Mariachi'' DVD, Rodriguez devotes both a DVD commentary and an "Extras" section to explaining the tricks of filming a feature-length movie with just $7,000. Rodriguez heavily stresses the need for cost cutting, "because if you start to spend, you cannot stop anymore." This is why he cut costs at every possible opportunity, such as not using a slate (instead, the actors signaled the number of scene and number of take with their fingers), not using a dolly (he held the camera while being pushed around in a wheelchair), not using professional lighting (essentially using two 200-watt clip-on desk lamps) and not hiring a film crew (the actors not used in the scenes helped out). Also, Rodriguez believed in filming scenes sequentially in one long take with just one camera: every few seconds, he froze the action, so he could change the camera angle and make the audience believe he had a couple of cameras at the same time. Also, bloopers were kept in to save film: noted by Rodriguez were scenes when the Mariachi jumps on a bus, where Rodriguez is visible; the Mariachi bumping his weapon into a street pole; him failing to throw his guitar case on a balcony and Dominó twitching her face when she is already dead. In the end, he used only 24 rolls of film and only spent $7,225 of the $9,000 he had planned.

Rodriguez also gave insight into his low budget approach to simulate machine gun fire. The problem was that when using real guns, as opposed to the specially designed blank firing firearms used in most films, the blanks would jam the weapon after being fired once. To solve this, Rodriguez filmed the firing of one blank from different angles, dubbed canned machine gun sounds over it, and had the actors drop bullet shells to the ground to make it look like as if multiple rounds had been shot. In addition, he occasionally used water guns instead of real guns to save money. Rodriguez also describes that the squibs they used in shootout scenes were simply condoms filled with fake blood fixed over weightlifting belts.

Rodriguez also noted the use of improvisation. The tortoise which crawls in front of the Mariachi was not planned, but was kept as a good idea. Similarly, there is a scene in which the Mariachi buys a coconut, but Rodriguez forgot to show him paying for the fruit; instead of driving back to the place to shoot additional scenes, Rodriguez decided to build in a voice-over in which the Mariachi asserts that the coconuts were for free. Improvisation was also useful to cover up continuity mistakes: at the end of the movie, the Mariachi has his left hand shot, but Rodriguez forgot to bring the metal glove to cover up the actor's hand; he solved it by packing his hand with black duct tape.

In the DVD commentary, Rodriguez describes the acting of Peter Marquardt (who portrayed gangster boss ”Moco”). As the language of the film was Spanish, which Marquardt did not master, he had to learn his lines without understanding what he was saying. The running gag, in which Moco lights up his match using the moustache of his henchman Bigotón, was described by Rodriguez as a means to start and end the film: the end scene is a parody of this scene. Also, Marquardt suffered some physical discomfort in the final shooting scene. When Moco is hit in the chest, his blood squib exploded with such force that he ''really'' crumpled to the ground in pain.

Originally, the film was meant to be sold on the Latino video market as funding for another bigger and better project that Rodriguez was contemplating. However, after being rejected from various Latino straight-to-video distributors, Rodriguez decided to send his film (it was in the format of a trailer at the time) to bigger distribution companies where it started to get attention.

Music

For the scene in which the Mariachi delivers a song in front of Dominó, Rodriguez hired a local exterminator. Recording the song with little more than a microphone held next to the musician, Rodriguez pitched the voice to match the voice of Mariachi actor Carlos Gallardo.

Book

The story of the film's production inspired Rodriguez to write the book ''Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player''.

Awards

''El Mariachi'' won multiple international awards, and writer/producer/director Rodriguez went on to gain international fame, being interviewed on such shows as ''Sábado Gigante'', and going on to make more Hollywood-backed films such as ''The Faculty'' and ''Sin City''.

References

;Further reading

External links

Category:1992 films Category:1990s action films Category:1990s crime films Category:1990s drama films Category:1990s thriller films Category:Spanish films Category:Spanish crime films Category:Spanish drama films Category:Spanish thriller films Category:American films Category:American action thriller films Category:American crime drama films Category:American crime thriller films Category:Spanish-language films Category:Films directed by Robert Rodriguez Category:Directorial debut films Category:Fictional Mexican people Category:Gangster films Category:Independent films Category:Films set in Mexico Category:Films shot in Mexico Category:Neo-Western films Category:Sundance Film Festival award winners Category:Columbia Pictures films

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