The usual tourist-driven information points and blogs about Oxford all tend to concentrate on the “dreaming spires” and the history of the University, yet I hope below are a few more unusual facts that you have never heard about Oxford.

Fact: Oxford was never bombed in the war, as Hitler intended to use Oxford as his headquarters once he conquered Britain. A new capital of England for his new regime.

Fact: The City claims that Oxford has more published writers per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Lewis Carroll, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Philip Pullman to name but a few. Oh, and not forgetting it’s the home of the Oxford English Dictionary

Fact: The ‘real’ Alice in Alice in Wonderland was a girl called Alice Liddell, a daughter of the Dean at Christ Church College, a friend of Lewis Carroll. 

Fact: Oxford University has educated 25 British Prime Ministers in its history. Not a bad collection, including Clement Attlee, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair (Cambridge has educated 15)

Fact: Cambridge. Archrival? It was actually founded by exiled Oxford scholars who fled on of the “town versus gown” riots that erupted in 1209 between students and townspeople.

Fact: Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum is the oldest museum in the UK and one of the oldest in the world. It was the first museum in the world to be opened to the public (1683) according to the Guinness Book of Records. Randomly, it’s original collection included zoological specimens, including the stuffed body of the last Dodo ever seen in Europe. 

Fact: Christ Church Cathedral’s bell in the tower (called the Great Tom) strikes 101 times at 9.05pm every evening (corresponding to what used to be “Oxford time”) and used to signal the time for all the colleges to lock their gates and for the students to return home. 9pm?! How times have changed…

One of the places I never go to enough is Oxford’s Covered Market. When I did last go specifically to track down something, it was a Sunday and closed. It certainly surprised me (although not sure why? Perhaps because we’ve all got so used to shops being open now?)

Having walked away in frustration, I then thought it was quite good and how nice it was that it hasn’t succumbed to the usual demands.

So I don’t know quite what to make when I read about a new trial for Sunday openings. It is part of a three month pilot scheme to see if opening seven days a week can help traders battle the recession.

As the article suggests, the biggest problem will be publicising that it is now open on Sundays (partly why I thought I’d write about it on here of course!). It seems to have the backing of at least some of the traders, so as long as they benefit from it… In the meantime, I may pop down this weekend and try it for myself

I had a bit of a shock the other day after venturing into a supermarket without realising that they no longer gave out free plastic bags.

Apparently it’s been policy for a few weeks now, but being a visitor to the area, it totally threw me.

I was, of course, left with a few choices. I could simply put everything back in the trolley, push it out to my car, fill the boot up by hand and spend agonising minutes at the other end unloading it all. Or I could have bought the 5p bag that was available.

On principal, I went for the trolley/car option, although even I realised as I drove away how silly I’d been. For regulars of the shop, it has probably sunk in now, lessons have been learnt and everyone now takes their own bag. On the off-chance they forget, pushing the boat out and buying that 5p bag probably doesn’t break the bank.

So I dug around and found that there are many organisations across our region trying to achieve similar feats, and just in case you are interested, you can read how Oxfordshire County Council are lending a hand to make as many supermarkets in Oxford ”bag-free” here

Apparently 13 billion plastic bags are given out each year but I know other big chains are following M&S’s lead on the bag front. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of drilling it into people to ‘bring their own’. Either way, I certainly wouldn’t recommend the stubborn take-the-trolley-to-the-car approach, it takes ages…

I also came across the Oxford Moonlight Stroll on my search, although it’s hardly a stroll given it covers 8 – 9 miles of Oxford. What a beautiful opportunity to see the city in the silvery moonlight though.

Plus it’s all in aid of Sobell House Hospice Charity. Last year’s Stoll brought in over £93,000 so this year they hope to break through the £100,000 mark. Pretty impressive stuff.

It’s on Saturday 11^th July, with registration at 8.30pm and the walk starts at 10.30pm. Fingers crossed for a clear – and dry! – night

I have to admit, I’ve never been on an official walking tour of Oxford, but the tourist information centre have introduced new themed tours for the spring and summer:

• The Civil War
• Gargoyles and Grotesques
• John and Charles Wesley
• Oxford Children’s Stories
• Sciences at Oxford

Hmmm…do any of these grab you? I understand that it would mainly attract tourists but I can’t help feeling it would be interesting as a resident too… a possibility for a spare afternoon one day perhaps?

Apparently, the most popular tour continues to be Pottering in Harry’s footsteps, which visits the locations in Oxford used in the Harry Potter films. Can you believe I’ve yet to see, or even read, the Harry Potter books??

Anyway, I digress. The usual tours, including the Inspector Morse Tour, continue to run as well so plenty to choose from. You can find out more about these from any tourist information centre in Oxford or the booking forms can be downloaded from the Visit Oxford website 

My friend was complaining the other day that Oxfordshire lacks exciting events for all the family – and moreover – that don’t break the bank in the process.

So I’ve set out to track one down and found out that the Abingdon Air and Country Show (Sun 3^rd May) is celebrating its 10^th Anniversary this year.

What does it offer? A large scale “fly in” of both modern and vintage aeroplanes, air displays, vintage cars, craft & trade market stalls, events including dog agility, music and dancing, a climbing wall, mini quad bikes, a bouncy castle… sounds like a jam packed day to me.

And more importantly, it’s all for charity; the Thames Valley and Children Air Ambulance. So you can have a fun day out and feel virtuous. Win win.

A family ticket is £22 and costs per head can be found here, or to read more about the day in general, check out their website

Whilst I’m getting fed up of reading all about the continual economic decline, I always find it more interesting when they tailor it to specific areas – that is, houses for sale in Oxford

Now, there’s no doubt that Oxfordshire will always have a reputation for high house prices, but it still surprised me to read in the Oxford Mail that Oxford is the fifth least affordably place in England to buy a home. And I’m one of these people that are always browsing the windows of estate agents in Oxford to see what local houses and flats are going for.

The average house price in Oxford is a staggering £370,852, which is 12.7 times the average income (‘normally’, the average house costs 7.1 times average earnings in England).

In the current crunch, mortgage lenders will provide 2.8 times average earnings, so that leaves the majority of us with what looks like an impossible feat if we want to buy. Or perhaps we should be lowering our sights and looking at simply buying a room instead.

Anyway, back to the point. Who beats us at the top of the charts? Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, South Buckinghamshire and St Edmundsbury. Wonder how much a room is going for in these places?

How nervous must those boys be?

What started as a simple challenge from one university to another has turned into a major international sporting event that draws in millions of spectators.

Saying that, these boys are used to the pressure. You look at their profiles on the website and most have seen substantial international action.

Still, I can’t even begin to imagine the schedules, effort and training agony they must have been through. I never took to the rowing scene at university but I heard and saw enough of it to know my nice warm bed at 5am was preferable.

According to their facts and figures page;

“Every member of The Boat Race crews trains for approximately two hours for every stroke in The Race. It takes about 600 strokes to complete the course.”

Ouch. After all that training, the current Course Record of 16 mins and 19 seconds is at stake. And pride of course. To be fair, I get the impression it’s the winning, rather than the taking part, that counts.

Cambridge currently lead the series since 1829 by 79-74, so whether you’re at The Mile Post, Hammersmith Bridge, Chiswick Steps, Barnes Bridge or The Finish, enjoy the day and take a moment to think about all that effort. It’s exhausting just to watch it.

The 155^th Boat Race starts at 3.40pm on Sunday 29^th March 2009. Feeling inspired by all the activity? Get yourself down to a gym in Oxford and at least have a go at rowing to see what it could be like

Along with the opportunity to immerse yourself in the Literary Festival, Oxford is also gearing itself up for ‘Oxfringe’, celebrating drama, theatre, comedy and music across the City

Still in its infancy, Oxfringe eventually hopes to rival other fringe festivals around the country (Brighton, Cambridge and Bath to name but a few), and whilst it’s never going to be in the same league as Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the organisers believe that

“Oxfringe is the dream for people who go to Edinburgh and love it who wanted something like that in Oxford” (Co-director, Heather Dunmore)

There are 13 days of events with over 150 live performances, which compared to last year (there were just over 40 events), shows that it’s certainly growing in scope. Any opportunity to put Oxford on the map certainly has my vote.

The festival runs from 1^st  – 13^th April and a full list of festival events can be found at oxfringe.com

Slowly but surely it seems the pub industry is doomed, particularly in the face of the latest battering they are getting with the recession.

Apparently, pubs in Oxfordshire are closing at a rate of one every 25 days, with landlords blaming high taxes, cut-price alcohol in supermarkets and the smoking ban as reasons for the slump.

So how important are pubs in Oxford to you? A survey carried out by ComRes shows that more than eight out of 10 people believe that community spirit and values are under threat in Britain today, and that the local pub and a pint of beer are important symbols of the British way of life. I, for one, would feel a great loss should my local pub disappear.

There are also numerous campaigns against proposals to increase beer tax in the forthcoming Budget (this website here pretty much explains it all), with the usual call-to-action to lobby MPs to oppose the plans. I don’t doubt the seriousness of the issue, but I was very amused by this tax-o-meter, although less so by the figures it produced!