Cambridge dispatch

Have you been to Cambridge? Not the university; only 1 in 500 of us is lucky enough to achieve that. No, I mean the town itself. I had never been there hitherto, but I soon realised this has been a grievous oversight. Perhaps even more so than its twin Oxford, it is redolent of history and its buildings reflect that in a quite stunningly gorgeous way. Each of the colleges differ markedly from one another: some are built in European Gothic, others in British high Renaissance, still others in neo-classical Georgian. The result is an extraordinary architectural wonder. and it is easy to see why our two great university towns are on the A list for foreign visitors, especially for those from the far east. They have nothing like it at home, in fact, let's face it, no one does.


Cambridge is one of our greatest treasures, from its oldest building, a Saxon church in the heart of the city centre, through a round church built in the 13th century which is based on the famous Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, to the great chapel at Kings College, started by Henry VI and finished by Henry VIII. Apparently Henry VI had seen the great church of St Chapelle in Paris and the finished article does indeed resemble it quite strongly- though KC chapel is better.


The atmosphere was friendly, though we were put under some pressure to buy a punt tour from the profusion of touts which throng around the chapel at Kings, which is a sort of focal point for the city. And these tours aren't cheap: £18 per head for a 45 minute cruise, so a couple will be paying almost £1 a minute for their excursion. We resisted, though every single day, hundreds do not. We counted upwards of ten people in some punts, so you can see this is a lucrative business. So much so in fact, that the local rag ran an item on "Punt Wars" in the city; with tales of sabotage and fisticuffs between the rival boatmen. Sounds like the ice cream wars of Glasgow back in the 80s.


For me though, perhaps the highlight was a visit to Magdalene College to see the Pepys library and the famous diary with my own eyes. I read the great diary in 2003, and still regard it as one of the greatest reading experiences of my life. Now at last I was able to see the diaries for myself: there are six volumes, all lovingly bound in soft leather, every page covered in his adapted shorthand scrawl, only proper nouns are spelled out in a way legible to the untrained eye.


All in all, an unforgettable experience. Cambridge, I love you!