Secret History of Oxford

The Secret History of Oxford offers the reader an off-the-beaten-track tour of the city’s landmarks and streets. Filled with hundreds of facts and anecdotes, it reveals the amusing, unlikely, and downright wonderful stories hidden beneath the surface. Some, such as the fact that the founder of Oxford was eaten by wolves, will be known; many others, such as the fact that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, stole a piece of New College’s unicorn horn, that one of the Fellows of Christ Church was a bear, or that Oxford Castle has England’s most frequently sighted ghost, are much less widely known—and some of these stories have not appeared in print for hundreds of years. With rare illustrations and intriguing information on the people, eras, and events that defined the city’s history, this book lets the flying cats out of the bags, rattles the dragons’ cages, and reveals all the skeletons in the city’s cupboards.