Churchill College, Cambridge

Churchill College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1960 as the national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill.

Churchill is situated on the outskirts of the town away from the traditional centre of old Cambridge, but close to the University’s main new development zone. Its 160,000 m² (42 acres) of grounds make it physically the largest of all the colleges.

Churchill was the first all-male college to decide to admit women, and was among three men's colleges to admit its first women students in 1972;[1] Within 15 years all others had followed suit.

Cambridge University Radio is broadcast from Churchill College.

History

In 1955, on holiday in Sicily soon after his resignation as Prime Minister, Winston Churchill discussed with Sir John Colville and Lord Cherwell the possibility of founding a new institution. Churchill had been impressed by MIT and wanted a British version, but the plans evolved into the more modest proposal of creating a Scientific and Technological based college within the University of Cambridge. Churchill wanted a mix of non-scientists to ensure a well rounded education and environment for scholars and fellows.

The first postgraduate students arrived in October 1960, and the first undergraduates a year later. Full College status was received in 1966.

The bias to science and engineering remains as policy to the current day, with the statutes requiring approximately 70% science and technology students amongst its undergraduate intake each year. The college statutes also stipulate that one-third of Junior Members of the college should be advanced (postgraduate) students.

Buildings

In 1958, a 42 acre (170,000 m²) site was purchased to the west of the city centre, which had previously been farmland. After a competition, Richard Sheppard was appointed to design the new college. Building was completed by 1968 with nine main residential courts, separate graduate flats and a central building consisting of the dining hall, buttery, combination rooms and offices.

The dining hall is the largest in Cambridge and formals can cater for up to 420 guests.

In the centre of the college is the Churchill Archives Centre, opened in 1974 to provide a home to Sir Winston’s papers (and also more recently endowed with papers from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock) alongside those of eminent scientists and engineers, including Rosalind Franklin and Sir Frank Whittle.

In 1992, the Møller Centre for Continuing Education was built on the Churchill site, designed by Henning Larsen.

At the farthest end of the college is the Chapel. The idea of having a religious building within a modern, scientifically-oriented, academic institution deeply annoyed some of the original fellows, reputedly leading to the resignation of Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick in protest. Eventually a compromise was found: the chapel was sited away from the other buildings, and funded and managed separately from the rest of the College itself, being tactfully referred to as “the Chapel at Churchill College”. The chimney of the heating system at the front of the college substitutes visually for the missing chapel tower.

According to the anecdote, Crick had agreed to become a fellow on the basis that no chapel be placed in Churchill. A donation was later made by Lord Beaumont of Whitley to Churchill College for the establishment of one, and the majority of fellows voted for it. Winston Churchill reputedly wrote to Crick, saying that no-one need enter the chapel except under free will so it need not be a problem. Crick, in short order, replied with a letter containing 10 guineas saying that if that were the case, here were 10 guineas for the establishment of a brothel.

Masters

The Mastership of Churchill College is a Crown appointment. To date the College has had six Masters:

• Sir John Cockcroft, (Master 1959–1967), Nobel Laureate in Physics, who split the atom.
• Sir William Hawthorne (Master 1968–1983), who helped develop the jet engine.
• Sir Hermann Bondi (Master 1983–1990), cosmologist who helped develop the Steady State theory of the universe.
• Sir Alec Broers (Master 1990–1996), nanotechnologist (left to become Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge).
• Sir John Boyd (Master 1996–2006), formerly British ambassador to Japan, 1992–96.
• Sir David Wallace (Master 2006[2]-present), previously Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University and is now also Director of the Newton Institute.

Ents

Every week of the Michaelmas and Lent terms, Churchill is host to The Pav, a weekly music event unusual for Cambridge events in that it is free and open to all university members. (The name Pav originates from the pavilion buildings of the college where the event was originally held. Since 1992 the Pav has been held in the main bar area.)

In the early years of the college’s foundation, the college held a ball in May Week, in common with many older colleges. However, more recently Churchill has held a Spring Ball every February. Past themes have included Back in the Day (2007), Karishma (2006), Showdown (2005), Arabian Nights (2004), Hakuna Matata (2003) and Ocean Bound (2002). In 2007 the theme was Back In The Day, featuring the legendary TV presenter of Fun House, Pat Sharp.[3]

During May Week the college JCR organise a free garden party.

Students of the College run Churchill Casino, a charitable casino organisation who can provide professional casinos at various social events. Churchill Casino is frequently hired for Cambridge May Balls as well as balls at Oxford University and corporate events.

Art

The college contains many examples of modern artwork including:

• Four square walk-through – Dame Barbara Hepworth
• Prints of Marilyn Monroe – Andy Warhol
• Gemini (1973) – Denis Mitchell
• Diagram of an Object (Second state) (1990) [4] – Dhruva Mistry
• Spiral – Michael Gillespie (1993)
• Flight – Peter Lyon (1981)
• Black Bag – Graham Murdoch (1990)

There are also works by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Bridget Riley, Patrick Caulfield, Sir Peter Blake, and Daphne Hardy Henrion.

Mistry’s piece can be found at the front of college. Sir Anthony Caro’s Forum [5] used to stand near it but it was removed before the start of the 2004-2005 academic year. In January 2007 its place was taken by Beast Alerted 1, a sculpture by British sculptor Lynn Chadwick.

Traditions

In special formal meals such as Matriculation Dinner or Audit Feast the master usually raises a toast, first to The Queen and then to “Sir Winston”. In other Formal Halls a toast to “Sir Winston” and then to "The Queen" is often raised spontaneously and informally by one of the students once the fellows have left.

Notable past and present fellows

See also Category:Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge

• Roy Porter - Historian and prolific author
• Stephen Roskill - Naval historian
• George Steiner - Literary critic and linguistic theorist
• Correlli Barnett - Military historian
• Frank Hahn - Economist
• George Gamow - Cosmologist (overseas fellow)
• Mike Gregory - Head of the Institute for Manufacturing

Nobel laureates

• Francis Crick - co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, Medicine, 1962
• Kenneth J. Arrow - Economics, 1972
• Antony Hewish - co-discoverer of pulsars, Physics, 1974
• Gerard Debreu - Economics, 1983

Notable alumni

See also Category:Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge

• Sir Christopher Frayling - writer and educationalist
• Mike Gascoyne - Spyker Formula One Chief Technology Officer
• Diarmaid MacCulloch - Historian
• Ian Stewart - Mathematician
• Fabian Tassano - Economist and author
• Geoff Travis - Founder of Rough Trade Records label and shops
• Neil Turok - Mathematician
• Rick Warden - Actor Band Of Brothers, Rome
• Jeremy Warmsley - Singer/Songwriter
• Bjarne Stroustrup - inventor of C++
• Simeon Nyachae - Kenyan Minister and 2002 Presidential Candidate

See also

• Churchill Scholarships for eleven graduates from the United States.
• Churchill College Boat Club

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