Maggie Hartford takes a new look at Oxford with a literary companion

It’s a brave writer who tackles a book about Oxford and this one is a bit more sophisticated than the usual guidebook. The seventh in a series of Innercities Cultural Guides by local publisher Signal Books, it is trying to do something a bit different, looking at Oxford in a new light rather than trotting out the old clichés.

Garrett is awesomely well read, and has a quote at his fingertips to illustrate every impeccably researched description.

The author of literary and cultural guides to Greece, Italy, Venice, Provence and Cambridge, he knows both the university (speciality: Renaissance drama) and the city (for 11 years he lived in Headington, where his children went to school).

He has now moved to Cambridge, which perhaps explains why he has the perspective to realise that Oxford is not a sleepy mausoleum, but a pretty lively city.

However, you will be disappointed if you look at the section on “clubs” expecting to get the lowdown on nightlife — Park End Street clubbing doesn’t get a mention and the emphasis is on the university’s Bullingdon Club, recently highlighted in the film Riot Club.

As you would expect, the chapter on film, art and drama is particularly strong, but Garrett covers a range of topics, directing the reader to more detailed sources, for example Don Chapman’s history of Oxford Playhouse.

A perfect present for anyone with a literary bent, this book — written with wit as well as deep knowledge — could help you look at the city’s history, landmarks and surrounding countryside with new eyes.

Oxford
Martin Garrett
Signal, £14.99