A LOT of famous authors have studied at Oxford University’s colleges and many went on to settle down across the county.
Here are a couple of examples…
Oscar Wilde
Author of The Importance of Being Earnest (1985), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1980) and De Profundis (1905).
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Wilde attended Magdalen College in Oxford.
J.R.R Tolkien
Author of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (1954-5).
He was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College, both at Oxford University.
He was a member of the informal Oxford literary group, The Inklings, where he met C.S Lewis.
C.S Lewis
Author of The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-6) and The Space Trilogy (1938-45).
He studied literature at the Magdalen College and lived in the city until his death in 1963. He was also part of The Inklings.
Agatha Christie
Author of 66 detective novels revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the longest-running play, The Mousetrap (1952).
Christie was born in Torquay, Devon but soon moved to Wallingford in Oxfordshire. Her gravestone is at St Mary’s church in Cholsey.
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Lewis Carroll
Author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).
Carroll went to Christ Church college before becoming a scholar and teacher.
Aldous Huxley
Author of Brave New World (1932) and Island (1962).
Huxley attended Balliol College in Oxford studying English Literature. He also edited the Oxford Poetry magazine in 1916.
Dr. Seuss
Author of popular children’s books such as The Cat in the Hat (1957) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960).
Dr. Seuss, who is from Massachusetts, attended Lincoln College in Oxford where he met his wife Helen Palmer.
Mark Haddon
Author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003).
Haddon attended Merton College in Oxford and now lives in the city with his wife Sos Eltis and their two young sons.
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Philip Pullman
Author of His Dark Materials (1997-00) and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010).
Pullman attended Exeter College in Oxford and went on to teach children at Bishop Kirk Middle School in Summertown, North Oxford.
He also taught at Westminster College and became a Fellow supporting the MA in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University.
Ian McEwan
Author of Atonement (2001).
McEwan is originally from Aldershot in Hampshire but now lives in North Oxford.
Helen Fielding
Author of Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996).
Fielding studied at St Anne’s College in Oxford and was part of the Oxford revue at the 1978 Edinburgh Festival.
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