Editing Wadham College, Oxford (section)

== Anecdotes and curiosities ==
* Under the original statutes, women were forbidden from entering the college, with the exception of a laundress who was to be of 'such age, condition, and reputation as to be above suspicion.'<ref name="History of Wadham"/>
* Wadham had amongst its fellowship the notable poet [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester]] (1647–1680) who earned a reputation as the most famous womanizer of his era.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XTxs-X-gSwC&q=john+wilmot+womanizer&pg=PA351|title=The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry: 17th and 18th Centuries|isbn= 978-0816063284|author1=Virginia Brackett|year= 2008|publisher=Infobase }} See p.&nbsp;351.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last = Larman | first = Alexander | year = 2014 | title = Rochester's Oxford | url = http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/OXF11.issuu_.pdf | journal = [[Oxford Today]] | volume = 27 | number = 1 | pages = 31–34 }}</ref> The 2004 movie ''[[The Libertine (2004 film)|The Libertine]]'', which starred [[Johnny Depp]] as Rochester, coincidentally also starred [[Rosamund Pike]], a Wadham alumna.
* In 1739 the warden of Wadham, [[Robert Thistlethwayte]], fled England after a homosexual scandal. The event prompted the limerick:

{{poemquote|There once was a Warden of Wadham
Who approved of the folkways of Sodom,
For a man might, he said,
Have a very poor head
But be a fine Fellow at bottom.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lor1NiZNQ0gC&q=there-was-once-a-warden-of-wadham&pg=PA351|title= Online excerpt from Thomas Dormandy's ''The Worst of Two Evils: The Fight Against Pain''|isbn= 9780300113228|last1= Dormandy|first1= Thomas|year= 2006|publisher= Yale University Press}}</ref>}}
:The college was renowned for its relaxed attitude to homosexuality, and revelled in its nickname of 'Sodom'.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Larman | first = Alexander | year = 2014 | title = Rochester's Oxford | url = http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/OXF11.issuu_.pdf | journal = [[Oxford Today]] | volume = 27 | number = 1 | pages = 31–34 }} See p.&nbsp;34.</ref>
* In 1968, as student protests became commonplace at centres of learning in Europe and the Americas, the Warden and Fellows are reported to have sent this reply to a set of "non-negotiable demands":<ref name=ComingApart>{{cite book|last=O'Neill|first=William|title=Coming Apart|year=1971|publisher=Quadrangle Books|isbn=0-8129-6223-0|pages=291–292}}</ref><blockquote>Dear Gentlemen: We note your threat to take what you call 'direct action' unless your demands are immediately met. We feel it is only sporting to remind you that our governing body includes three experts in chemical warfare, two ex-commandos skilled with dynamite and torturing prisoners, four qualified marksmen in both small arms and rifles, two ex-artillerymen, one holder of the Victoria Cross, four karate experts and a chaplain. The governing body has authorized me to tell you that we look forward with confidence to what you call a 'confrontation,' and I may say, with anticipation.</blockquote>The letter seemed to have dimmed the students' fire, was reprinted in [[Harper's Bazaar]],<ref name=SeeYouLater>{{cite news|last=Ryan|first=Michael|title=We'll See You Later, Agitator|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19690902&id=wgYRAAAAIBAJ&pg=1219,142264|access-date=16 June 2013|newspaper=The Age (Melbourne)|date=2 September 1969}}</ref> and cited in newspaper columns<ref name=FreeSpeechOnCampus>{{cite news|last=Roche|first=John P.|title=Free Speech on the Campus|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=799&dat=19690929&id=fWsxAAAAIBAJ&pg=7118,4781029|access-date=16 June 2013|newspaper=The Bryan (Ohio) Times|date=29 September 1969}}</ref> and speeches<ref>{{cite book|last=MacDonald|first=H. Ian|title=Higher Education in Ontario: Who Goes? Who Benefits? Who Pays? (prefatory remarks) from The Empire Club Addresses|year=1970|publisher=The Empire Club of Canada|location=Toronto|pages=344–358|url=http://speeches.empireclub.org/61287/data}}</ref> for at least two years following its publication.
* In the days when Oxford colleges locked their gates overnight, Wadham was regarded as a particularly difficult college to climb into after the gates closed.  One route into the college was said to be via the Warden's Lodgings in the corner of the front quad.  College legend has it that an undergraduate was quietly making his way through the lodgings when Warden Bowra entered the room.  The undergraduate rapidly secreted himself behind a sofa, whilst Bowra took a book from the bookcase and settled down to read for several hours.  When Bowra eventually rose to leave, he quipped "turn the lights off before you go, there's a good fellow".{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}
* The pattern in the pavement outside the student bar at Wadham College is a [[Penrose tiling]], named after the Wadham mathematician and Nobel Laureate [[Roger Penrose]] who invented it in the 1970s. Penrose tilings have many interesting mathematical properties, and they also explain the structure of some unusual metallic crystals, called [[quasicrystal]]s, that were discovered in the 1980s and won [[Dan Shechtman]] the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2011.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120430024531/http://www.mathsinthecity.com/snapshots/penrose-tiles-wadham-college-oxford "Penrose tilings at Wadham College"]. mathsinthecity.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013.</ref>
* The 2004 animated film ''[[Pinocchio 3000]]'', a science fiction retelling of the classic tale by [[Carlo Collodi]], is replete with oblique visual cues and other references to various Oxford colleges, but predominantly Wadham,<ref>Müller, J. and Moskito, J., ''111 Gründe, das Kino zu lieben - Über Klassiker, Kultfilme und Kuriositäten'' — Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf (2012). {{ISBN|978-3862651719}}.</ref> the alma mater of three of the senior production team.
* In January 2013, skeletons were discovered during building works on college grounds. Contrary to previous rumours of bullet wounds being found on one of the bodies, these remains were found to be medieval in origin.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tomlin|first=Jonathan|title=Wadham bodies thought to be medieval|url=http://oxfordstudent.com/2013/01/24/wadham-bodies-thought-to-be-medieval/|publisher=Oxford Student}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/call-for-morse-skeleton-found-in-oxford-college-8464019.html?origin=internalSearch|title=Call for Morse: Skeleton found in Oxford college|last=Milmo|first=Cahal|date=23 January 2013|work=The Independent|access-date=28 January 2013|location=London, England}}</ref>