Portal:University of Oxford

Bodley's Librarian is the head of the Bodleian Library, the main library at the University of Oxford. Both are named after the founder, Sir Thomas Bodley (pictured). The university's library was established in about 1320 but had declined by the end of the 16th century, so in 1598 Bodley offered to restore it. The first librarian, Thomas James, was selected in 1599, and the Bodleian opened in 1602. Bodley wanted the librarian to be diligent, a linguist, unmarried, and not a parish priest, although James persuaded him to dispense with the last two requirements. In all, 25 people have served as Bodley's Librarian, some less well than others: John Price (who held the post from 1768 to 1813) was accused of "a regular and constant neglect of his duty". The first woman, and the first foreign librarian, to run the Bodleian was Sarah Thomas (2007–13). The current librarian is Richard Ovenden. (Full article...)

Tony Benn (1925–2014) was a British Labour politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 47 years and a Cabinet minister under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the 1960s and 1970s. He was educated at New College and served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War before entering politics. With his successful campaign to renounce his inherited title of Viscount Stansgate, Benn was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963. Later, in the First Wilson ministry (1964–70), he served as Postmaster General and later as a notably 'technocratic' Minister of Technology. When the Labour Party was in opposition, Benn served for a year as the Chairman of the Labour Party. In the Labour Government of 1974–79, he returned to the Cabinet, initially serving as Secretary of State for Industry, before being made Secretary of State for Energy. During the Labour Party's time in opposition during the 1980s, he was seen as the party's prominent figure on the Left, and the term "Bennite" came to be used for someone with radical politics. After leaving Parliament in 2001, Benn was President of the Stop the War Coalition until his death. (Full article...)

St John's College was established in 1555 by Sir Thomas White, who was later Lord Mayor of London. He was Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company and also established other educational foundations including Merchant Taylors' School. St John's was established as a Roman Catholic foundation in the time of Queen Mary, on the site of St Bernard's College, a monastery and house of study of the Cistercian order that had been closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site, on the east side of St Giles', is to the north of Balliol College and Trinity College. The buildings include Canterbury Quad, the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford, and 20th-century additions such as the neo-Italianate Garden Quad, built in 1993. It is one of the larger Oxford colleges, with about 370 undergraduates and 280 postgraduates. Former students include Edmund Campion (Roman Catholic martyr), William Laud (Archbishop of Canterbury), Tony Blair (former British prime minister) and the author Kingsley Amis. The President of St John's is the psychologist Margaret Snowling. (Full article...)