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Distributed for Haus Publishing

A Short History of Cambridge

New edition

An Armchair Traveller’s History of Cambridge provides not only a narrative of the city and university, and a guide to visits within a short driving distance, it also features a variety of aspects ignored in other accounts: food and fashion, music and gardens, books and clubs, Cambridge contributions to poetry, theatre and sport, royal associations and links with the Arab world and China. Cambridge offers the splendour of King’s College Chapel and the beauty of "the Backs" but also outstanding collections of fans and fritillaries, sculpture and stained glass, medieval coins and oriental manuscripts. Free attractions include the world-class Fitzwilliam Museum and Botanic Gardens, quirky Kettle’s Yard, and museums devoted to Archaeology, Anthropology, Zoology, Earth Sciences, Polar Research and the History of Science—plus Britain’s oldest bookshop. Enter the world of "Bumps and Bedders" and learn why May Week is in June. Research reveals that most visitors to Cambridge never venture more than four hundred yards from the Market Square. An Armchair Traveller’s History of Cambridge will help you do better than that—and want to.

304 pages | © 2025

Armchair Traveller's History

History: British and Irish History

Travel and Tourism: Tourism and History


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Table of Contents

Introduction 1
1 Before the Scholars Came 16
King’s College Chapel: An Iconic Interlude 25
2 Colleges by the Cam 33
Long to Reign Over Us: A Royal Interlude 57
3 From Reformation to the Civil War 62
Cambridge Gardens: A Horticultural Interlude 77
4 Rebellion and Restoration 86
Land of Lost Content: A Poetic Interlude 109
5 Unwillingly to School 120
All in Harmony? A Musical Interlude 137
6 An Age of ‘Improvement’ 145
The Inner Man: A Gastronomic Interlude 160
7 Empires of the Mind 168
Jewels in the Crown: An Oriental Interlude 186
8 The Great War 192
Clubs and Cliques: A Fraternal Interlude 204
9 Bright Young Things? 211
Acting It Out: A Thespian Interlude 226
10 The People’s War 233
Looking the Part: A Sartorial Interlude 245
11 Town Into City 253
Playing the Game: A Sporting Interlude 264
12 Only Yesterday 275
Further Reading 287
Glossary 293
Chronology 300
Index 304
Armchair

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