Our Adventures in England: Oxford

Radcliffe Camera 1737-48
the nations first round library

Just think of how this famous university has impacted our world!

We visited the University of Oxford and the City of Oxford on a day when the weather was quite "British". We enjoyed seeing the impressive old buildings in bright sunshine, and then ran for cover as monsoon rains came upon us. The University actually consists of 38 individual colleges dating back to 1096, making it the oldest university in the English speaking world. Oxford is also home to the Rhodes Scholarship. The University growth got a boost in 1167 when Henry II banned English students from going to college in Paris and today around twenty two thousand very fortunate students study just about anything you can imagine here. There are of course many famous Oxford alumni ranging from Nobel Prize winners to world leaders to comedians. Incredibly, 58 noble prizes have been awarded to Oxford faculty and alumni. More than 50 world leaders, including 27 British Prime Ministers, have been educated here. Just a few recognizable names are Steven Hawking, Teresa May, David Cameron, Margret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Indira Gandhi, Boris Johnson, John Wesley, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Oscar Wilde, Dr Seuss, Dudley Moore, and Rowan Akinson (you know...Mr Bean). No comment from us on where they all fit in or who among them actually has had the most positive impact on our society. What we can say is we walked where they walked...