The Ancient University City of Oxford
Oxfordshire is a large county in southeast England, not far from London on the Thames river. Away from the city, there is beautiful countryside for walking.
Out walking? Follow the Countryside Code to keep all creatures safe. Keep dogs away from steep banks, mushrooms (and other toxic plants/trees) and on leads during nesting season (and near barnyard friends and wild ponies).
Founded in the 12 century, Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world (a few worldwide are older, including Bologna and one in Morocco). The skyline of this city is known for its honey-coloured spires and domes, with the Radcliffe Camera (a library) one of the most photographed and painted buildings.
We also have to be careful here to avoid ‘education snobbery’. A well-qualified plumber who goes to a technical college, it could be argued is more useful than someone studying media studies at a top university!
VERO (Oxford boffins against animal research)
One of the hidden horrors of England is the amount of innocent animals that are tortured in the name of ‘medical research’ still, despite there being plenty of alternatives.
Most of us giving the emotional arguments are ignored. But VERO is a group of Oxford boffins, who give the scientific arguments to switch research and donations to humane medical research. Much of which could be carried out at Oxford university, which presently uses animals (as does even the Open University).
The highest percentage of published authors
More published writers have graduated from the city of Oxford than anywhere else on earth. Those in history have included C S Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), Paul Kingsnorth (Against the Machine), Graham Greene (Brighton Rock) and the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Many actors also graduated from Oxford including Rosamund Pike, Hugh Grant, Hugh Dancy, Michael Palin, Sally Phillips, Dudley Moore and Claire Foy (who played Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown).
It was nearly the capital of Nazi Germany
It’s thought that Hitler did not bomb Oxford, as he admired the architecture and intellectual history, and wanted to make it his capital, if he had won the Second World War (he apparently liked the area around Blenheim Palace, which is where Winston Churchill had grown up).
Others say it was simply due to Oxford lacking industrial or heavy military targets. Some even say it was a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for sparing German counterparts.
