Oxford Past Times

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For more than ten years Chris Koenig's "Past Times" column has been a regular favourite in the Oxford Times , bringing to life unexpected and sometimes unusual aspects of the city and county's history. Ranging over Oxford and its academic institutions, Oxfordshire with its market towns and agricultural traditions and the area's dynamic cultural and religious past, the column has informed and entertained the newspaper's readers.Collected together for the first time, this selection of "Past Times" articles reveals the rich historic legacy of Oxford and Oxfordshire. Beginning with the city's monastic and university origins, it traces Oxford's development into a modern metropolis and the changing lives of its inhabitants. Brief essays also explore many aspects of the county's colourful past and look at some of the individuals who played their part in its history. Looking at towns such as Chipping Norton, Wallingford and Thame, Chris Koenig recalls episodes that defined their identity. From the myth of St. Frideswide to the modern-day high-tech economy, from the medieval countryside to today's tourist magnet of the Cotswolds, he sheds light on countless corners of city and county, familiar and unfamiliar. Town and Gown: colleges and their customs; academic eccentrics and unruly undergraduates; the city of research and discovery; the changing faces of two universities. County of Contrasts: the agricultural and industrial landscape; times of plenty and hardship; Blenheim Palace and aristocratic history; the role of religion and belief. Local and Global Characters : radicals and revolutionaries; explorers and inventors; "Alice in Wonderland", "Inspector Morse" and literary Oxford; Cotswold artists and visionaries.