Oxford is one of the oldest and most celebrated university towns in Europe and for centuries has rivaled Cambridge for academic pre-eminence in England. Its untrammeled spirit of investigation, which permeates the old college walls, its delightful gardens, peaceful courtyards and squares, the hectic bustle of its pedestrian
zone, its excellent cultural facilities - all these help to create the town's special atmosphere. Oxford has numerous major tourist attractions including Carfax Tower, offering views over the city, and the historic Covered Market with its many tourist shops.
The name of the town comes either from its literal meaning, a ford for oxen, or from "Osca's ford". It first appears in the records in 912. The beginnings of the university, on the other hand, are obscure. Oxford gradually became the meeting point of scholars who came together mainly to discuss religious questions. The building of teaching institutions independent of monasteries and churches was begun shortly after 1264, when Merton College was founded. In the years following there were further institutions created leading to the creation of an education system which can claim to form the academic elite of the country and which strives to serve both the need for individuality and the demand for a sense of social responsibility.
The history of the colleges and the resulting University of Oxford was not entirely free of tensions between the academics and the townspeople. In 1355 there were violent clashes, with many students even being killed in tavern brawls, for which the elders of the town had to pay compensation. During the Reformation there was renewed unrest, with many reformers from Cambridge even being burned to death at the stake for their religious beliefs. During the Civil War from 1642 to 1645 Oxford was a Royalist stronghold, but then suffered an economic and academic decline in the period afterwards. Reform of the monastic system of education did not take place until the 19th century, with oral examinations being replaced by written ones, examination degrees being introduced, academics being employed on the basis of scientific reputation, and even if they were married, and finally women being allowed to study, even though they have only been eligible to be awarded academic degrees since 1920.
Of the 57 prime ministers of Great Britain, 24 have come from Oxford: indeed since the Second World War all of them whether Conservative or Socialist, except for Churchill, Callaghan and Major. Famous Oxford graduates have included such diverse luminaries as John Wycliffe, Sir Walter Raleigh, Samuel Johnson, Pope Alexander V, Cecil Rhodes, George Washington's grandfather, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Evelyn Waugh, the Huxley brothers, W. H. Auden and Dorothy Sayers.
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