Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College was founded in 1326 by Elizabeth de Clare, making it the second oldest surviving college at the University of Cambridge. It is famous for its chapel choir and also for its gardens, which form part of what is known as the Backs (essentially the rear part of colleges which are next to the river River Cam. The current Master is Prof. B A Hepple.
Clare has a much-photographed bridge over the river which has fourteen stone balls decorating it. In actual fact, one of the balls has a missing section. A number of apocryphal stories circulate concerning this - the one most commonly cited by members of college is that the original builder of the bridge was not paid the full amount for his work and so removed the segment to balance the difference in payment.
Famous alumni
- Peter Ackroyd, author
- David Attenborough, naturalist
- Sabine Baring-Gould, Victorian novelist
- Charles Cornwallis, British general at the time of the American Revolutionary War
- Hugh Latimer, martyr
- Peter Lilley, Conservative MP
- Sir Roger Norrington, conductor
- John Rutter, composer
- Siegfried Sassoon, war poet
- Richard Stilgoe, entertainer
- Andrew Wiles, mathematician who proved Fermat's Last Theorem
