1  Christ Church is the largest, and one of the most famous, Oxford colleges. However, it is not correct to call it 'Christ Church College' – it should be called 'Christ Church' only, or informally, ‘The House’.

2  It is the only college in the world which is also a cathedral. It is the smallest cathedral in England and contains the Shrine of St Frideswide. This shrine was built in 1289, and it houses the relics of the 8th century nun, Frideswide, the patron saint of Oxford.

3  The Cathedral was built in the 12th and 13th centuries, before the college was founded, and has Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

4  The college was founded in 1525 by the powerful Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and was originally called ‘Cardinal College’. However, Wolsey lost favour with King Henry VIII, because he refused to support the King’s plan to marry his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry refounded the college in 1532 as ‘King Henry VIII’s College’ and then renamed it ‘Christ Church’ in 1546. This was after he had separated from the Church of Rome and created the Church of England.

5  During the Civil War, from 1642-1646, King Charles I had his headquarters at Christ Church. His army kept their cattle in the Great Quad and kept hay for the cattle in the Cathedral.

6  The famous ‘Tom Tower’, over the entrance to the college, was designed by the architect and ex-student of the college, Sir Christopher Wren.  The bell in the tower is known as ‘Great Tom’, and it chimes 101 times every evening at 9pm, once for each of the original 101 students of Christ Church.

7  Christ Church has produced 13 British Prime Ministers, many more than any other Oxford or Cambridge college. Lewis Carroll, author of the Alice in Wonderland books (real name Charles Dodgson), was also a student and then a lecturer at the college. Although he is most famous as a novelist, he was a brilliant mathematician.

8  The college has been used as a location in the films of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and The Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights.

9  The dining halls at the University of Chicago and Cornell University are both reproductions of the splendid dining hall at Christ Church.

10  Christ Church has a special relationship with private Westminster School and takes many students from the school, as well as many students from famous Eton College.