Portal:University of Oxford

The history of Brasenose College starts in 1509 when the college was founded on the site of Brasenose Hall by Richard Sutton and Bishop William Smyth. Its name is believed to derive from a bronze knocker (replica pictured) on the hall's door. The library and chapel were completed in the mid-seventeenth century, despite continuing financial problems. Under William Cleaver (Principal 1785–1809), the college began to be populated by gentlemen, its income doubled and academic success was considerable. New Quad was built between 1886 and 1911. Under Edward Hartopp Cradock Brasenose's academic record waned but it excelled at cricket and rowing; the reverse occurred under Charles Buller Heberden. Brasenose lost 115 men in the First World War and Lord Curzon's post-War reforms were successfully instituted. Sporting achievements again came at the cost of falling academic standards and finances. The 1970s saw the admission of women beginning in 1974, more post-graduate attendees and fewer domestic staff. Law and Philosophy, Politics and Economics were strong subjects under Principals Barry Nicholas and Herbert Hart) and the fellowship of Vernon Bogdanor. (Full article...)

Susanna Clarke (born 1959) is a British author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), an alternate history which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. After studying at St Hilda's College, Oxford, Clarke worked in publishing and then taught English in Italy and in Spain. She began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a bestseller and won several awards. Two years later, she published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006). Both Clarke's novel and her short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. While Strange focuses on the relationship of two men, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell, the stories in Ladies focus on the power women gain through magic. (more...)

Brasenose College was established in 1509 and is located in the centre of the city on Radcliffe Square, near the Bodleian Library, the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and the Radcliffe Camera. It was founded by a lawyer, Sir Richard Sutton, and the Bishop of Lincoln, William Smyth, on the site of Brasenose Hall, one of the university's academic halls. The name is thought to derive from a "brazen" (i.e. bronze) door knocker in the shape of a nose. One such door knocker hangs above the high table in the college hall, and a replica is on display at Stamford School in Lincolnshire, where it is thought that the original was taken during the 1330s; the college repurchased it in 1890. There are three quadrangles in the main college site: the original Old Quad, a smaller second quad known as the Deer Park, and a larger New Quad designed by Thomas Graham Jackson and completed in 1911. Further buildings were added in the 1960s. Brasenose College Boat Club is one of the oldest boat clubs in the world, and participated in the first recorded inter-college race at Oxford, beating Jesus College Boat Club. There are approximately 550 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and notable former students include David Cameron (elected Prime Minister in 2010), the comedian Michael Palin, the supposed inventor of rugby football William Webb Ellis and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie. (Full article...)