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 The University of Cambridge, known to this day in
Oxford as 'the other place', was actually founded by Oxford scholars. They were fleeing the
first of many 'Town versus Gown' riots that erupted in
Oxford in
1209 following the murder of a local townswoman by
students.
 The oldest Oxford college, University College, can trace
its history back over nine centuries. But for much of
that time, the college clung on to the outrageous claim
that it had been founded in the 9th century by King
Alfred the Great. The college even celebrated its 1,000th
anniversary in 1872! However, it has always been an open
secret that the claim was first made in the 13th century
when a group of Fellows forged the evidence in order to
win a lucrative land dispute. The college
has now quietly dropped the claim.
 The college with the longest name is Oriel College.
It is still officially known as ''The Provost and
Scholars of the House of the Blessed Mary the Virgin in
Oxford, commonly called Oriel College, the foundation of
Edward the Second of famous memory, sometime King of
England'.
 All
Souls College, the most academic and austere of all
Oxford Colleges, also observes the most bizarre ritual
in Oxford - the Mallard Hunt. Legend has it that during
excavation work to build the college in 1438, the body
of a Mallard duck was discovered. It is not clear today
why this seemingly insignificant find should drive the
Fellows of All Souls to abandon their dinner, take up
sticks and torches and pretend to search for the ghost
of the Mallard in the quads and even of the roof!
However, the ritual is observed during dinner on the
first feast of All Souls in the first year of every new
century and concludes with the ceremonial singing of the
'Mallard Song'.
 During
the English Civil War (1642 - 1651) Oxford became the
Royalist capital of England. Charles I set up home at
Christ Church, his wife Henrietta Maria kept court at
the neighbouring Merton College and the Eagle and Child
Tavern in St Giles served as the Exchequer. The streets
named North Parade and South Parade in North Oxford
remind us that the city was twice besieged by
Parliamentarian forces, the second time successfully (1646).
 New
College, founded in 1379, holds the record for having
constructed the largest cesspit in Oxford's history. The
pit did not have to be drained for the first 300 years
and, having been carefully renovated, now houses a
student common room.
 As
recently as the 1980's, many University Dons were fond
of sunbathing nude along a secluded stretch of
the River Cherwell adjoining the University Parks, known
as Parson's
Pleasure. For centuries, ladies in passing punts were
instructed to avert their gaze as they glided slowly
around the lazy bend in the river adjacent to the
bathing area. However, in the more liberal minded 20th century,
ladies were allowed their own bathing area on the
opposite bank, known as Dame's Delight! Sadly, both are
now closed and form but a footnote to Oxford's
illustrious history.
 The
University's Bodleian
Library, the second largest in Britain after the British
Library, is almost seven centuries old and currently
houses more than six and a half million documents on
169km (105 miles) of shelves in ten buildings and in a
maze of underground tunnels that run beneath Broad
Street and Radcliffe Square. The collection is growing
at a rate of 300,000 documents every year!
 As
of 2002, Oxford University has educated 25 British Prime
Ministers including Sir Robert Peel (Christ Church),
William E. Gladstone (Christ Church), Harold Macmillan
(Balliol), Margaret Thatcher (Somerville) and Tony Blair
(St John's). You can access the full list here.
 In
1928, Alexander Fleming famously discovered that spores
of mould were capable of killing a culture of bacteria.
However, it was the Professor of Pathology at Oxford,
Howard Florey and his co-worker Dr Ernest Chain, who
turned Fleming's discovery into the practical and potent
drug that we know today as Penicillin. They conducted
their experiments at the Radcliffe Infirmary on
Woodstock Road and their achievements are recognised by
a plaque at the infirmary's main entrance. Although
Florey, Chain and Fleming were awarded the Nobel Prize
jointly in 1945, most people still remember Fleming as
the discoverer of Penicillin.
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