Oxfordshire Historical Facts

Professor Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, where he also studied.

The poet Matthew Arnold was the person who first called Oxford the 'City of Dreaming Spires' in his poem 'Thyrsis' which was written in December of 1865.

Oxford is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world. It is known to have existed in 1096.

The Botanic Gardens in Oxford are the oldest botanic garden in Britain.

Adolf Hitler hoped to use the city of Oxford as his capital should he succeed in conquering England. This is the reason Oxford was never bombed during WWII.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was the first museum in the world to have opened its doors to the public when it first opened in 1683.