IV.

Education and Culture

The University of Oxford dates from the 12th century; its oldest surviving college is University College (founded 1249). Once a bastion of male learning, the university now has more than 8,900 men and 5,800 women enrolled in any one academic year. Outstanding university buildings include the Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the Radcliffe Camera, and the Bodleian Library, which is one of Great Britain's six copyright libraries. Oxford Brookes University, at Headington (formerly Oxford Polytechnic), was established in 1993. The John Radcliffe Hospital, in Headington, is one of Britain’s leading teaching hospitals.

The county has many independent schools, as well as a number of highly regarded state schools. Schools in Oxford include Oxford High, a girls' private school; and Magdalen College School, a boys' public school, founded to train choristers for Magdalen College (pronounced “maudlin”). Near Abingdon is a leading boys' public school Radley College (founded 1847), and the European School attached to the JET project at Culham.

Two celebrated children's classics have associations with the county. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was conceived in 1862, when the Oxford academic and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson began the fantasy during a boating trip on the Thames to amuse the children of the dean of Christ Church College; one, 10-year-old Alice Liddell, was the model for the heroine of the book and of its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Dodgson published both books under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The picturesque mill and weir at Mapledurham Lock, on the Oxfordshire-West Berkshire border to the north of Reading, was used by the artist E. H. Shepard in his illustrations for the novel The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. The poet, artist, and social reformer William Morris lived at Kelmscott. He later used the village's name both for his London residence and for the Kelmscott Press, founded in Hammersmith in 1890. Garsington Manor, near Wheatley, the home of Lady Ottoline Morrell, was a favourite venue for the Bloomsbury Group.

The Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), founded in 1884, has achieved a high reputation for its productions, especially of Shakespeare. The Oxford Playhouse is one of the most highly esteemed repertory theatres in Britain.

Oxford United FC, based in Headington, is the county’s only club in the Football League. The club used to play its home games at the Manor Ground, but moved to the Kassam Stadium at the start of the 2001-2002 season. A number of fiercely competed sporting fixtures take place every year between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The first University Boat Race and the first inter-varsity cricket match were held in 1827.