A foggy day in London town...: Heaven

Friday 3^rd I was in heaven…also known as Oxford. The town is basically sandstone and pretentiousness…so basically UQ (except Oxford actually has a reason to be pretentious).

The place is amazing. So much history too it and an interesting one as well.

Hairspray is currently playing there as well.

I booked myself in for a walking tour of the city which would take me around a few of the colleges and significant landmarks. Whilst waiting for the tour to start I did a little bit of exploring myself! The buildings are incredible and the feel of the place is so very unique. There was an exhibition on at the university’s library about John Aubrey, who founded the Royal Society of London, and his contributions to science. Very interesting stuff.The tour started and our group was off on our way. The first stop was in the centre of town where a cross mosaic is tiled into the middle of the street. This is the spot where Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was burned along with two others.

Interestingly, the creator of motor company MG was an original benefactor to Oxford and created the first postgraduate college.

Oxford University is made up of 38 colleges. The colleges provide 50% of the teaching, the uni provides the other 50% and sets the exams. The oldest college, Trinity College, was formed in 1258.

To add to the snobbery that is Oxford, college kids don’t mix with the town kids! Furthermore, Oxford is considered to be ‘up’. So students would say, “When I was UP last year” It’s all part of the superiority complex that runs through the town.

The colleges are spread across the whole town of Oxford and most are built in the same fashion, a grass quadrangle surrounded by buildings on all sides. The grass is sacred, only tutors can cross the grass. Each college prides itself on how good their grass looks…weird!

The colleges have been home to some famous people: C.S. Lewis, Steven Hawkins, John Wesley, Michael Palin. Bill Clinton attended Oxford for a while and his accommodation was based in the Red Light District…why am I not surprised.

One of the biggest colleges is Christ Church College, which was the inspiration for Harry Potter’s eating hall. Alice in Wonderland also happened here as one of the tutors wrote about the adventures he had with a friend of his (Alice). The Harry Potter Library is also based on the main library at Oxford and several sets were based on the Divinity School.

Outside the Museum of Natural Science (part of the uni) are several dozen sculpted heads which cry real tears when Oxford loses the annual boat race against Cambridge, “the other place” as they call it.

The Oxford library receives a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom. It has over 8.5 million books and 130 miles of bookshelves. That’s a lot of reading. Plus the Oxford University Press publishes a number of things each year.

The whole day was great and right up my alley. There is an overkill of tweed though. There were 20yr old guys riding bikes dressed in tweed hats and jackets. Clearly all that knowledge brings on advanced aging. I would have blended in if only I had of remembered my tweed cap!

One day I will get an honorary doctorate from the place and my life will be complete…