Good afternoon, everyone. Today I'd like to tell you a little bit about the history of Oxford. Oxford has been a town for many centuries. The first written records of its existence date from before 912.
Oxford University began to establish itself in the middle of the 12th century and by 1300 there were already 1,500 students. At this time Oxford was a wealthy town, but by the middle of the 14th century, it was poorer because of a decline in trade and because of the terrible plague, which killed many people in England. Relations between the students and the townspeople were very unfriendly, and there was often fighting in the streets. On the 10th of February 1355, a battle began, which lasted two days. Sixty-two students were killed. The townspeople were punished for this. One of the punishments was that the University was given control of the town for nearly 600 years.
Nowadays there are about 12,000 students in Oxford and the University and the town live happily side by side.
The Oxford English Dictionary is well known to students of English everywhere. It contains approximately 5,000,000 entries, and there are thirteen volumes, including a supplement. Some of the words are special Oxford words. For example, “bulldog” in Oxford is the name given to University policemen who wear bowler hats and sometimes patrol the streets at night. They are very fast runners. “Punt” is a word often used in both Oxford and Cambridge. It refers to a flat-bottomed boat with sloping ends which is moved by pushing a long pole in the water.