In the Steps of Clive Staples

One of the highlights of the World to the Wise Cultural Tour was our day trip to Oxford during the London week. Even if you have no appreciation or sense of history, the city itself will charm you to the point of reluctance to leave it. But with us were a group of people who were keenly aware of    the incredible legacy emanating from this city of over 1000 years, home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

We visited many of the numerous colleges scattered throughout the compact medieval city, but the one of most import to several in our group was Magdalen College (pron. maudlin), where author C.S. Lewis was a professor of medieval and Renaissance literature. After strolling through Magdalen, Christ Church and other colleges, punting on the River Cherwell on a gorgeous day, exploring an intriguing old cemetery and browsing the well known Blackwell's Bookstore, we finished an incredible day with dinner at the Eagle and Child, a typical British pub where Lewis, his friend J.R.R. Tolkien, Hugo Dyson and other writers of note used to gather for a pint and discuss theirs and others' work. The group was known as the Inklings, and affectionately dubbed the pub the Bird and Baby. 


I think it's safe to say we'll repeat this experience the next time World to the Wise takes us to England!