Cambridge University - 800 years old next year - is a very civilised place. Drinking port after dinner remains in favour and punting on the Cam is still a delight, writes Frank McDonald
WHEN NOBEL Prize-winning chemists James Watson and Francis Crick cracked the DNA double-helix in February 1953, they bounded out of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory and straight into the nearby Eagle Tavern to tell an astonished barmaid that they had "just discovered the secret of life".
The barmaid's response is not recorded, but there's a blue plaque on the wall of the old coaching inn opposite St Benet's Church, with its Saxon tower intact, recording the momentous event. And this story about Crick and Watson is one of the most repeated tales about the interface between the university and city of Cambridge.
The whole place reeks of countless generations of scholarship, going back to the university's foundation in 1209 during the reign of King John - six years before he signed the Magna Carta. The oldest of its 31 colleges is Peterhouse, dating from 1284, and - incredibly - there are some buildings from the 14th century that are still in use today.
Cambridge University's vice-chancellor, Prof Alison Richard, is the 344th holder of the post in an unbroken line from the Middle Ages, and she has set an ambitious target to raise £1 billion (€1.34bn) for its 800th anniversary next year from wealthy benefactors and former students, to ensure that it remains in the top rank of universities worldwide.
The "800th Campaign" embraces all 31 colleges and the university's 100 departments, as well as its great institutions, such as the Fitzwilliam Museum and University Library, where Dubliner Anne Murray is deputy librarian. She was previously vice-president of Wolfson College, where I'm privileged to be in residence for the Lent Term.
A majority of the 18,000 students at Cambridge now are postgraduates, and in Wolfson's case the ratio between them and undergraduates is as high as four to one. This makes for a quieter life than you'd have in Christ's, Jesus, Trinity, Girton, New Hall, Gonville and Caius (pronounced "Keys") and other colleges where undergraduates predominate.
Some 9 per cent of undergraduates and more than 40 per cent of postgraduates come from outside the UK. As in Oxford University (known in Cambridge as "the other place", and vice versa) an increasing number are from Ireland - 30 undergraduates and 82 postgrads in the last academic year. Annual tuition fees are steep at £3,070 (€4,115).
Last month, student newspaper Varsityled with a story headlined "Fake 'Oxbridge educations' for sale over the internet". It was following up a BBC expose of the bogus Irish International University, run by a Monaco-based chartered accountant styling himself as Baron Knowth, which had been renting rooms in Oxford and Cambridge.
All over town - and Cambridge feels more like a large town than a city - the students are everywhere, walking or cycling between the colleges where they live and the university's teaching and research buildings, which are gathered together on six main sites. The older colleges are nearly all cheek-by-jowl with each other in the city centre.
"Town and Gown" are intertwined in a way that's difficult to imagine anywhere else in these islands, apart from Galway and St Andrew's, in Scotland. The university's official map of Cambridge shows the spread of the colleges and university sites throughout the city, as well as vast swathes of green space, particularly along the River Cam.
Every college has its own dining hall, with fully-staffed kitchens dishing up breakfast, lunch and supper at ridiculously low (subsidised) prices, as well as more formal dinners. One of ours featured curried parsnip soup, roast loin of pork with sage and apple fritters and chocolate mousse, served with a 2000 Chateau Patache d'Aux and a 2003 Montbazillac.
Drinking port after dinner is still in favour, at least among those who can deal with its hangover. But there are innovations, such as the vegan tapas menu introduced this term in the buttery at Pembroke College (founded in 1347). For those who want them, the catering manager is providing "individual sachets of butter and pots of grated cheese".
Pembroke enforces a rule that "anybody of inappropriate appearance will not be allowed to proceed to their degree". Facial jewellery, "other than one pair of stud earrings", is not permitted, nor are "exaggerated hairstyles or colours". Postgrads must wear "appropriate academic gown and hood", though clerical or military dress is "acceptable".
Other colleges are more relaxed, though male students must wear a suit or equivalent to "Formal Hall" dinners. These are convivial occasions at Wolfson (founded by the university in 1965 and later named after its chief benefactor, the Wolfson Foundation). It also bills itself as "the most cosmopolitan college in Cambridge", with 70 nationalities represented.
All colleges are no-smoking zones now, and this ban extends to their courtyards, gardens and even private rooms. There's a sign up inside the door of our house saying: "It is illegal to smoke in these premises." Taking photographs in the dining hall is also prohibited, though some broke this rule on Burns Night (January 25th) when the haggis was piped in.
As for what the students get up to, an online survey by Varsity of more than 1,000 in Cambridge revealed a high correlation between sexual promiscuity and academic under-achievement. Students at poorly-performing colleges are more likely to have had more sexual partners, while there were more virgins in the better-performing colleges.
Robinson, the university's newest college, was established in 1981 with an endowment of £17 million (€22.7m) from Sir David Robinson, who made his fortune from TV rentals. The richest college by far is Trinity, which has an income of some £30 million (€40.2m) a year, mainly from property investments, including land in Suffolk that's now occupied by the port of Felixstowe.
Prince Charles is a Trinity graduate, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Isaac Newton and Lord Byron, while his brother Prince Edward attended Jesus College, as did the likes of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Alistair Cooke. Prince Philip, who never went to any college, has served as chancellor of Cambridge University since 1976.
There's an ancient rule that all students must live within a three-mile radius of Great St Mary's Church, in the town centre. The building nearby at the corner of Trinity Street had been a bookshop for centuries and still is, now run by Cambridge University Press; some years ago, planning permission to convert it into a McDonald's burger joint was refused.
Cambridge is a very civilised city, with cycle lanes running in almost every direction and not much traffic in the town centre. There's also a market in the Guildhall square every day, with stalls selling everything from fresh vegetables to clothing and bric-a-brac. The city has only one shopping centre, but a bigger one - the Grand Arcade - is due to open in April.
But there are less materialistic delights, such as punting on the Cam (though it's a bit cold for that at this time of year) or attending Evensong in King's College Chapel. With its fan-vaulted ceiling and magnificent stained glass windows from the early 16th century, this spectacular Renaissance Gothic chapel is one of the great glories of England, and of Europe.
" Cambridge is a very civilised city, with cycle lanes running in almost every direction and not much traffic
