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Fun Trivia: U : UK Universities

Special Sub-Topic: Colleges of the University of Cambridge


I was established in 1869 by Emily Davis as the first establishment for higher education for women in the country. In order to prevent gentlemen undergraduate suitors disturbing the studies of my residents I was built 3 miles from the centre of Cambridge itself. Which college am I?

    Girton College. Girton college has been mixed since 1977, and now has the most equal gender balance of any of the colleges. The original Girton College was in Hitchen, about 20 miles from Cambridge. The early women undergraduates had a feminist song entitled the 'The Girton Pioneers', which they sang to the tune of 'The British Grenadiers'!

I was founded in 1496. My alumni include Thomas Cranmer, once the Archbishop of Canterbury and compiler of the first version of the Book of Common Prayer. Another alumnus is Prince Edward.
    Jesus College. Jesus College is built on the site of a 12th century Benedictine nunnery, and the oldest buildings of the college remain from that period today.

I was founded in the year Martin Luther died. My library was designed by Christopher Wren, and my alumni include such names as Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson as well as 32 Nobel prizewinners.
    Trinity College. The college was founded by Henry VIII in 1546. The main court (called 'quad') is the scene of the great court run, as seen in the film "Chariots of Fire". The run is 367 metres in the time it takes the clock to strike noon, usually about 43 seconds. Trinity also had its own secret society, called 'The Apostles'. In the 1930s, this society was hijacked by Communist undergraduates, some of whom later spied for the Soviet Union. Such are the disadvantages of having secret societies ...

I am the oldest college of the University, founded in 1284 by the Bishop of Ely, which is the diocesan see of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely as well as of some parts of west Norfolk. The city of Ely is about 15 miles north of Cambridge.
    Peterhouse. Peterhouse is the smallest of the mixed colleges that admit undergraduates.

I was founded in the year 1428 by Henry VI as a place for Benedictine monks to study law. I am home to Samuel Pepys' diaries.
    Magdalene College. The 'e' on the end of the college's name was put there in order to distinguish it from the Oxford namesake, Magdalen College.

I was founded in 1448 by Margeret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI. I am split in half by the river Cam; and my two halves are joined by the Mathematical Bridge.
    Queens' College. The 'Mathematical Bridge' is said to originally have been built without the use of pins or bolts to hold the sections of wood together. Although this story is untrue, the design of the bridge does show an extraordinary understanding of mechanics and the mathematics of load bearing. Note. Queens' [plural] College, Cambridge should NEVER be confused with The Queen's [singular] College. Oxford.

I was founded in 1348, the year the black death took hold in Western Europe. I have three famous gates, named: 'Humility', 'Virtue' and 'Honour'. Fellows include the eminent physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking and oculomotor neurophysiologist Roger Carpenter.
    Gonville and Caius College. In 1958, an Austin 7 van was hoisted on top of the Senate House (the official 'capitol' building of the university) by Gonville and Caius students in the most famous end-of-term prank the university has seen. Note that the college is always referred to in speech as 'Caius', which is pronounced 'keys'.

Founded in 1441 by Henry VI, I am home to the most recognised building of the university of Cambridge. I was originally built exclusively for students from Eton College, the world famous boarding school near Windsor.
    King's College. King's College Chapel is the most photographed building in Cambridge, and took nearly a century to build.

I was founded in 1596, the year René Descartes was born and Francis Drake died. My former students include Oliver Cromwell, and Gordon Welchman, a mathematician and code-breaker employed during the Second World War at Bletchley Park.
    Sidney Sussex College. Sidney Sussex College has produced four Nobel prizewinners, ranking fourth in this respect among the Cambridge colleges.

I was founded by Walter Mildmay in 1584. By far my most famous alumnus was Puritan preacher, John Harvard, who bequeathed the funds to establish the first institution of higher learning in what is now the United States of America.
    Emmanuel College. Harvard was founded at Newtown in Massachusetts Bay, where another Emmanuel graduate, Thomas Shepard, was the first minister of the church. After his death Newtown was renamed Cambridge in his honour.


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