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New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Its official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary," or simply "New College." One of the bigger colleges, it stands in Holywell Street, "behind" The Queen's College.

1 History

Despite its name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges, having originally been founded in the 14th century. It was founded by William of Wykenham, Bishop of Winchester. (A notice of the life of this prelate can be found under "William of Wykeham".) The college was originally founded to educate priests for the parish of Winchester. In 1348 the Black Death claimed the lives of many priests in the parish, and William intended to replace them quickly.

The Cloisters and the Chapel are still part of the college. The college garden is well known and is located against the former city wall.

2 Notable former students

• John Astor
• Waldorf Astor
• Kate Beckinsale
• Tony Benn
• Angus Deayton
• Hugh Gaitskell
• Victor GollanczVictor Gollancz ( April 9, 1893 February 8, 1967) was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian. Born in London, England, he was the son of a wholesale jeweler; after taking a degree in classics at New College, Oxford, he became a schoolteacher.
• Hugh GrantHugh Grant (born September 9, 1960, London, England) is an English actor. He was born Hugh John Mungo Grant in London, England, and tends to play the archetypal Englishman, and is of Scottish ancestry. After attending Latymer Upper School for boys, Grant
• Dennis PotterDennis Christopher George Potter ( May 17, 1935 June 7, 1994) was a controversial British dramatist who is best known for several widely acclaimed television dramas which mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of
• Tim SebastianTim Sebastian (born in London on March 13 1952) is the presenter of BBC's HARDtalk. He won the BAFTA ( British Academy of Film and TV Arts) Richard Dimbleby award in 1982 and Britain's prestigious Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year award in
• Rick SteinRick Stein OBE (born 1947) is an English chef, restaurateur and television celebrity based in Padstow, Cornwall. Rick Stein specialises in fish cookery, and has written nine popular cookery books. English Seafood Cookery won the Glenfiddich Award for Food
• William WarhamHans Holbein the Younger, 1527 ( Louvre Museum) William Warham (c. 1450- 1532), Archbishop of Canterbury, belonged to a Hampshire family, and was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, afterwards practising and teaching law both in London and Oxf