Editing Oxford (section)

==Culture==
===Museums and galleries===
{{See also|Category:Museums of the University of Oxford}}
Oxford is home to many [[List of museums in Oxford|museums]], [[art museum|galleries]], and collections, most of which are free of admission charges and are major [[tourist attraction]]s. The majority are departments of the [[University of Oxford]]. The first of these to be established was the [[Ashmolean Museum]], the world's first [[university museum]],<ref>{{cite book| last=MacGregor | first=A. | date=2001 | title=The Ashmolean Museum: A brief history of the museum and its collections | publisher=[[Ashmolean Museum]]/Jonathan Horne Publications }}</ref> and the oldest museum in the UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=Support Us|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/support/corporatesupport/about/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503032502/http://www.ashmolean.org/support/corporatesupport/about/|archive-date=3 May 2007|access-date=10 October 2007|work=The Ashmolean|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house a [[cabinet of curiosities]] given to the University of Oxford in 1677. The museum reopened in 2009 after a major redevelopment. It holds significant collections of art and archaeology, including works by [[Michelangelo]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]], and [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], as well as treasures such as the [[Scorpion Macehead]], the [[Parian Chronicle|Parian Marble]] and the [[Alfred Jewel]]. It also contains "[[Messiah Stradivarius|The Messiah]]", a pristine [[Stradivarius]] violin, regarded by some as one of the finest examples in existence.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum website, What's in the Ashmolean|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/collections/whatsin/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318080943/http://www.ashmolean.org/collections/whatsin/|archive-date=18 March 2016|access-date=18 February 2016|publisher=[[Ashmolean Museum|Oxford University Ashmolean Museum]]}}</ref>

The [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History|University Museum of Natural History]] holds the university's [[zoological]], [[entomological]] and [[geological]] specimens. It is housed in a large [[neo-Gothic]] building on [[Parks Road]], in the university's [[Science Area, Oxford|Science Area]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Oxford University Museum of Natural History Homepage|url=http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027090448/http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/|archive-date=27 October 2007|access-date=4 November 2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]]}}</ref> Among its collection are the skeletons of a ''[[Tyrannosaurus|Tyrannosaurus rex]]'' and ''[[Triceratops]]'', and the most complete remains of a [[dodo]] found anywhere in the world. It also hosts the [[Charles Simonyi|Simonyi]] Professorship of the [[Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science|Public Understanding of Science]], currently held by [[Marcus du Sautoy]]. Adjoining the Museum of Natural History is the [[Pitt Rivers Museum]], founded in 1884, which displays the university's [[archaeological]] and [[anthropological]] collections, currently holding over 500,000 items. It recently built a new research annexe; its staff have been involved with the teaching of anthropology at Oxford since its foundation, when as part of his donation General [[Augustus Pitt Rivers]] stipulated that the university establish a lectureship in anthropology.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pitt Rivers Museum Website, About Augustus Pitt Rivers|url=http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/pitt_rivers.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417130308/https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/pitt_rivers.html|archive-date=17 April 2016|access-date=18 February 2016|publisher=University of Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum}}</ref>

The [[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|Museum of the History of Science]] is housed on [[Broad Street, Oxford|Broad Street]] in the world's oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building.<ref>{{cite web|title=About the Museum|url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/about/index.htm?text|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911135646/http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/about/index.htm?text|archive-date=11 September 2007|access-date=9 October 2007|work=Museum of the History of Science}}</ref> It contains 15,000 artefacts, from antiquity to the 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the [[history of science]]. In the university's [[Faculty of Music]] on [[St Aldate's, Oxford|St Aldate's]] is the [[Bate Collection]] of [[Musical Instruments]], a collection mostly of instruments from Western classical music, from the medieval period onwards. [[Christ Church Picture Gallery]] holds a collection of over 200 [[old master]] paintings. The university also has an archive at the [[Oxford University Press Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Visiting museums, libraries & places of interest – University of Oxford website|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors/visiting-oxford/visiting-museums-libraries-places|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121012410/http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors/visiting-oxford/visiting-museums-libraries-places|archive-date=21 January 2016|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref> Other museums and galleries in Oxford include [[Modern Art Oxford]], the [[Museum of Oxford]], the [[Oxford Castle]], [[Science Oxford]] and [[The Story Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Museums and Galleries – Experience Oxfordshire website|url=http://experienceoxfordshire.org/see-and-do/museums-and-galleries.aspx|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128020922/http://experienceoxfordshire.org/see-and-do/museums-and-galleries.aspx|archive-date=28 January 2016|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref>

===Art===
Art [[Art museums|galleries]] in Oxford include the [[Ashmolean Museum]], the [[Christ Church Picture Gallery]], and [[Modern Art Oxford]]. [[William Turner (artist)|William Turner]] (aka "Turner of Oxford", 1789–1862), was a watercolourist who painted landscapes in the Oxford area. The [[Oxford Art Society]] was established in 1891. The later [[watercolourist]] and [[drafter|draughtsman]] [[Ken Messer]] (1931–2018) has been dubbed "The Oxford Artist" by some, with his [[architectural painting]]s around the city.<ref name="oxford-mail">{{cite news | url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/16276730.obituary-oxford-artist-ken-messer/ | title=Obituary: Oxford artist Ken Messer | newspaper=[[Oxford Mail]] | location=UK | date=7 June 2018 | access-date=18 October 2020 | archive-date=14 April 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414060512/https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/16276730.obituary-oxford-artist-ken-messer/ | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2018, ''The Oxford Art Book'' featured many contemporary local artists and their depictions of Oxford scenes.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Oxford Art Book: The City Through the Eyes of its Artists | editor-first=Emma | editor-last=Bennett | publisher=UIT Cambridge | date=2018 | isbn=978-1-906-860-84-4 }}</ref> The annual [[Oxfordshire Artweeks]] is well-represented by artists in Oxford itself.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.artweeks.org/festival/search?keys=Oxford&medium=All&region=All | work=Artweeks 2020 | title=Oxford | publisher=[[Oxfordshire Artweeks]] | date=2020 | access-date=18 October 2020 | archive-date=19 October 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019073527/https://www.artweeks.org/festival/search?keys=Oxford&medium=All&region=All | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Music===
[[Holywell Music Room]] is said to be the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe, and hence Britain's first [[concert hall]].<ref name="tyack">{{cite book | title=Oxford: An architectural guide|author=Tyack, Geoffrey |year=1998| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | pages=187–188 | isbn=978-0-14-071045-8}}</ref> Tradition has it that [[George Frideric Handel]] performed there, though there is little evidence.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/news/2017/february/holywell-music-room |title=Exploring Wadham's Holywell Music Room |publisher=Wadham College |date=21 February 2017 |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190113055309/https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/news/2017/february/holywell-music-room |archive-date=13 January 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Joseph Haydn]] was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] by [[Oxford University]] in 1791, an event commemorated by three concerts of his music at the [[Sheldonian Theatre]], directed by the composer and from which his [[Symphony No. 92 (Haydn)|Symphony No. 92]] earned the nickname of the "Oxford" Symphony.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/haydn-in-england |title=Haydn in England |publisher=Oxford University Department for Continuing Education |date=2018 |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201222806/https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/haydn-in-england |archive-date=1 December 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Victorian composer [[Sir John Stainer]] was organist at [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]] and later Professor of Music at the university, and is buried in [[Holywell Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20013/about_oxford/450/notable_people_buried_in_oxford |title=Notable people buried in Oxford |publisher=Oxford City Council |access-date=1 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201181132/https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20013/about_oxford/450/notable_people_buried_in_oxford |archive-date=1 December 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Oxford, and its surrounding towns and villages, have produced many successful bands and musicians in the field of [[popular music]]. The most notable Oxford act is [[Radiohead]], who all met at nearby [[Abingdon School]], though other well known local bands include [[Supergrass]], [[Ride (band)|Ride]], [[Mr Big (British band)|Mr Big]], [[Swervedriver]], [[Lab 4]], [[Talulah Gosh]], [[the Candyskins]], [[Medal (band)|Medal]], [[The Egg (band)|the Egg]], [[Unbelievable Truth]], [[Hurricane No. 1]], [[Crackout (band)|Crackout]], [[Goldrush (band)|Goldrush]] and more recently, [[Young Knives]], [[Foals (band)|Foals]], [[Glass Animals]], [[Dive Dive]] and [[Stornoway (band)|Stornoway]]. These and many other bands from over 30 years of the Oxford music scene's history feature in the documentary film ''[[Anyone Can Play Guitar (film)|Anyone Can Play Guitar]]?''. In 1997, Oxford played host to [[BBC Radio 1|Radio 1's]] Sound City, with acts such as [[Travis (band)|Travis]], [[Bentley Rhythm Ace]], [[Embrace (English band)|Embrace]], [[Spiritualized]] and [[DJ Shadow]] playing in various venues around the city including [[Oxford Brookes University]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discogs.com/Various-NME-Presents-Radio-1-Sound-City-Oxford-97/release/694954 |title=Discography for NME Compilation Cassette for Oxford Sound City |website=[[Discogs]] |year=1997 |access-date=10 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100729022109/http://www.discogs.com/Various-NME-Presents-Radio-1-Sound-City-Oxford-97/release/694954 |archive-date=29 July 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is also home to several [[brass bands]], notably the [[City of Oxford Silver Band]], founded in 1887.

===Theatres and cinemas===
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Burton Taylor Theater|Burton Taylor Studio]], Gloucester Street
* Curzon Cinema, Westgate, [[Bonn Square]]
* [[Michael Pilch Studio]], [[Jowett Walk]]
* [[New Theatre Oxford|New Theatre]], [[George Street, Oxford|George Street]]
* [[North Wall Arts Centre]], [[South Parade]]
* [[Odeon Cinemas|Odeon]] Cinema, George Street
* Odeon Cinema, [[Magdalen Street]]
* [[Old Fire Station Theatre]], George Street
* [[O'Reilly Theatre]], [[Blackhall Road, Oxford|Blackhall Road]]
* [[Oxford Playhouse]], [[Beaumont Street]]
* Pegasus Theatre,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pegasustheatre.org.uk/ | title=Pegasus Theatre | website=pegasustheatre.org.uk | location=UK | access-date=12 February 2013 | archive-date=8 February 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208160948/http://www.pegasustheatre.org.uk/ | url-status=dead }}, UK.</ref> Magdalen Road
* [[Phoenix Picturehouse]], [[Walton Street, Oxford|Walton Street]]
* [[Ultimate Picture Palace]], [[Cowley Road, Oxford|Cowley Road]]
* [[Vue Cinemas|Vue Cinema]], Grenoble Road
;Theatre company
* [[Creation Theatre Company]]
{{div col end}}

===Literature and film===
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{{Main|Literature in Oxford|List of films shot in Oxford|List of fictional Oxford colleges}}
The city hosts the annual [[Oxford Literary Festival]] each Spring. Well-known Oxford-based authors include:
* [[Brian Aldiss]] (1925–2017), science fiction novelist, lived in Oxford.<ref name="oxfordmail.co.uk">{{cite web | url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19010791.colin-dexter-brian-aldiss-added-oxford-dictionary-national-biography/ | title=Oxford authors Colin Dexter and Brian Aldiss added to biography dictionary | date=14 January 2021 }}</ref>
* [[Vera Brittain]] (1893–1970), undergraduate at [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville]].
* [[John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir]] (1875–1940), attended [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose College]], best known for ''[[The Thirty-nine Steps]]''.
* [[A.S. Byatt]] (born 1936), [[Booker Prize]] winner, undergraduate at Somerville.
* [[Lewis Carroll]] (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), (1832–1898), author of [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]], was a student and Mathematical Lecturer of [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]].
* [[Susan Cooper]] (born 1935), undergraduate at Somerville, best known for her [[The Dark Is Rising Sequence|''The Dark Is Rising'']] sequence.
* Sir [[William Davenant]] (1606–1668), poet and playwright.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Davenant, Sir William |volume= 7 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund William Gosse| pages = 851–852 |short= 1}}</ref>
* [[Colin Dexter]] (1930–2017), wrote and set his [[Inspector Morse]] [[detective novels]] in Oxford.<ref name="oxfordmail.co.uk"/>
* [[John Donaldson (author)|John Donaldson]] ({{Circa|1921}}–1989), a poet resident in Oxford in later life.
* [[Siobhan Dowd]] (1960–2007), Oxford resident, undergraduate at [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]].
* [[Victoria Glendinning]] (born 1937), undergraduate at Somerville.
* [[Kenneth Grahame]] (1859–1932), educated at [[St Edward's School, Oxford|St Edward's School]], wrote ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]''.
* [[J. I. M. Stewart|Michael Innes]] (J. I. M. Stewart) (1906–1994), Scottish novelist and academic, Student of [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]
* [[P. D. James]] (1920–2014), born and died in Oxford; wrote about ''[[Adam Dalgliesh]]''
* [[C. S. Lewis]] (1898–1963), student at [[University College, Oxford|University College]] and Fellow of Magdalen.
* [[T. E. Lawrence]] (1888–1935), "Lawrence of Arabia", Oxford resident, undergraduate at [[Jesus College, Oxford|Jesus]], postgraduate at [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen]].
* [[Iris Murdoch]] (1919–1999), undergraduate at Somerville and fellow of [[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's]].
* [[Carola Oman]] (1897–1978), novelist and biographer, born and brought up in the city.
* [[Iain Pears]] (born 1955), undergraduate at [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]] and Oxford resident, wrote  ''[[An Instance of the Fingerpost]]''.
* [[Philip Pullman]] (born 1946), undergraduate at [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter]], teacher and resident in the city.
* [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] (1893–1957), undergraduate at Somerville, wrote about ''[[Lord Peter Wimsey]]''.
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] (1892–1973), undergraduate at Exeter and later professor of English at [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton]], author of [[The Lord of the Rings]]
* [[John Wain]] (1925–1994), undergraduate at [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's]] and later Professor of Poetry at [[Oxford University]] 1973–78.
* [[Oscar Wilde]] (1854–1900), 19th-century poet and author who attended Oxford from 1874 to 1878.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Wilde, Oscar O'Flahertie Wills |volume= 28 |last= Chisholm |first= Hugh |author-link= Hugh Chisholm | pages = 632–633 |short= 1}}</ref>
* [[Athol Williams]] (born 1970), [[South Africa]]n poet, postgraduate at [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford]] and [[Regent's Park College, Oxford|Regent's Park]] from 2015 to 2020.
* [[Charles Williams (British writer)|Charles Williams]] (1886–1945), editor at [[Oxford University Press]].
Oxford appears in the following works:{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}<!-- the statement that Oxford appears in foobar needs a source citation for each one, unless one source can be found to support 100% of the claims. -->
* the poems [[The Scholar Gypsy]] and [[Thyrsis (poem)|Thyrsis]] by [[Matthew Arnold]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems | title=Poems | publisher=Poetry Foundation | access-date=18 October 2020 | archive-date=17 October 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017022226/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems | url-status=live }}</ref> Thyrsis includes the lines: "And that sweet city with her dreaming spires, She needs not June for beauty's heightening,..."
* ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel]]''
* "[[Harry Potter]]" (all the films to date)
* ''The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica'' by [[James A. Owen]]
* ''[[Jude the Obscure]]'' (1895) by [[Thomas Hardy]] (in which Oxford is thinly disguised as "Christminster")<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oxfordandempire.web.ox.ac.uk/only-thickness-wall-empire-and-oxford-thomas-hardys-jude-obscure-1895 |title='Only a thickness of wall': Empire and Oxford in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure (1895) |first=John |last=Gray |work=Oxford and Empire Network |publisher=University of Oxford |date=n.d. |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124183413/https://oxfordandempire.web.ox.ac.uk/only-thickness-wall-empire-and-oxford-thomas-hardys-jude-obscure-1895 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[[Zuleika Dobson]]'' (1911) by [[Max Beerbohm]]
* ''[[Gaudy Night]]'' (1935) by [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]
* ''[[Brideshead Revisited]]'' (1945) by [[Evelyn Waugh]]
* ''[[A Question of Upbringing]]'' (1951 ) by [[Anthony Powell]]
* ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1951 ) by [[Walt Disney]]
* ''[[Second Generation (1964 novel)|Second Generation]]'' (1964) by [[Raymond Williams]]
* ''[[Young Sherlock Holmes]]'' (1985) by [[Steven Spielberg]]
* ''[[Inspector Morse (TV series)|Inspector Morse]]'' (1987–2000)
* ''Where the Rivers Meet'' (1988) trilogy set in Oxford by [[John Wain]]
* ''All Souls'' (1989) by [[Javier Marías]]
* ''[[The Children of Men]]'' (1992) by [[P. D. James]]
* ''[[Doomsday Book (novel)|Doomsday Book]]'' (1992) by [[Connie Willis]]
* ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' trilogy (1995 onwards) by [[Philip Pullman]]
* ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' (1997)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordshirelive.co.uk/news/oxfordshire-news/james-bond-every-oxfordshire-filming-5976698 |title=James Bond: Every Oxfordshire filming location in No Time To Die, Spectre and more |first=Sofia |last=Della Sala |date=28 September 2021 |publisher=Oxfordshire Live |access-date=23 June 2023 |archive-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622205652/https://www.oxfordshirelive.co.uk/news/oxfordshire-news/james-bond-every-oxfordshire-filming-5976698 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[[The Saint (1997 film)|The Saint]]'' (1997)
* ''[[102 Dalmatians]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Endymion Spring]]'' (2006) by Matthew Skelton
* ''[[Lewis (TV series)|Lewis]]'' (2006–15)
* ''[[The Oxford Murders (film)|The Oxford Murders]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Mr. Nice (book)|Mr. Nice]]'' (1996), autobiography of [[Howard Marks]], subsequently a 2010 film
* ''[[A Discovery of Witches]]'' (2011) by [[Deborah Harkness]]
* ''[[X-Men: First Class]]'' (2011)
* ''[[Endeavour (TV series)|Endeavour]]'' (2012 onwards)
* ''The Reluctant Cannibals'' (2013) by Ian Flitcroft
* ''[[Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again]]'' (2018)
*''[[The Late Scholar]]'' by [[Jill Paton Walsh]], part of the continuation of the [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] books of [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]
*''[[Wonka (film)|Wonka]]'' (2023)<ref name="wonkacite">{{cite news |title=Wonka film showcases historic locations in Dorset and Oxford |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-67565371 |access-date=17 May 2025 |work=BBC News |date=30 November 2023}}</ref>