Cambridge: Out and About

Hello! Well, today you join me in the historic city of Cambridge home to one of the oldest and most famous universities in the world. One thing many people ask when they first come to Cambridge is "where is the university?" Well actually it's all around. The university is split into 31 different colleges and they're separated all round Cambridge. The first college we come to, Peterhouse, is actually the oldest founded in 1284. It's also the one with the fewest number of undergraduates, totalling fewer than 300. Just opposite we find Pembroke founded in the 14th century. Cambridge has been a place of great scientific discovery. This plaque here commemorates when J.J. Thompson discovered the electron here at the Cavendish Labs. At Queens' College we find the Mathematical Bridge said to be held together entirely by mathematical principles. This isn't quite the case and there are nuts and bolts. The present bridge dates from a rebuild in about 1905. And here we come to the famous King's College founded in 1441. The famous chapel was started 5 years later and took 98 years to complete. Every year there's a carol service from King's on Christmas Eve. Next door to King's we have the Senate House and it's here where university students come to graduate and also to find out their exam results. And here we have Gonville and Caius founded in 1348. Unlike a lot of English cities Cambridge does not have a cathedral. This is Great St. Mary's Church and it's the University Church. Great St. Mary's also marks the centre of Cambridge. All distances are measured from that plaque just there. A short walk from Trinity Street will take us to The Backs and this is where a lot of the colleges back on to the River Cam. Punting is a very popular activity in Cambridge on this part of the river. Punting takes place on flat-bottomed boats and a pole propels the boat down the river which also acts as the rudder to steer the boat. Although it does take a bit of practice! Here we come to Trinity College founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. It was founded when two earlier colleges, Michaelhouse and King's Hall, were combined. An interesting feature of Great Gate is that the statue of Henry VIII was originally holding a sword and if you look closely students replaced the sword with a chair leg! One famous alumnus of Trinity College was Sir Isaac Newton. It's said that this tree may have been taken from a cutting from one at Sir Isaac Newton's home. Possibly from the one where it is said that the apple fell on his head. Right next door to Trinity we have St. John's College founded in 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort. The name of St. John's' rowing club still bears the name Lady Margaret after the founder. Now Trinity is the largest college and St. John's the second largest and they're right next door to each other so as you can imagine there's some considerable rivalry between the two. Now most churches in England are approximately cross shape with a central nave pointing East-West but not this one. This one is a round church and it's one of only a handful in England This one was founded in about 1130. Well that's it from Cambridge for today but it's a fantastic place with with lots of historical buildings fitting into a fairly small city but unfortunately I couldn't show you it all. So, hopefully see you again soon! See you again!