Founded by two lady-royals, (namely, Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville, trivia-hounds), Queens’ College is halfway along Silver Street, a major student pipeline to the arts faculty. It’s a mixture of beautiful Elizabethan courts, a passable redbrick thing and one of Cambridge’s many iffy Cripps Court concrete uglies. It’s right opposite the Anchor pub, a favourite riverside student and tourist hang-out. The College has an amiable, laid-back charm – a sort of bastion of innocent fun – and a healthier state/private mix than some colleges. It’s notoriously thespy and holds a high-profile drama competition every year.
| Sex ratio (M:F): 59:41 |
Founded: 1448 |
| Full-time u’grads: 490 |
Part-time: 0 |
| Postgrads: 350 |
Mature: n/a |
| State:private school: 54:46 |
Disabled: n/a |
| Academic ranking: 16 |
International: 9% |
Spacious, conservatory-endowed bar; Fitzpatrick Hall (cap.380) for ‘Bats’ drama-soc performances, film nights, student bands and among the best college club nights in Cambridge; biennial ball; three music rooms; annual outdoor performance in Cloister Court. ‘The Drain’ student mag. Successful Rag. Two libraries (70,000 books); 12 PCs, three Macs – all 245-hour. CofE chapel. Multigym and squash courts on site; big sports fields (15 acres shared with Robinson) 800m away; very modern boathouse. All undergraduates can live in, except a few fourth years, with net access in all rooms. Good food in dining hall, and nightly formal dinners, but practically zilch self-catering. Limited disabled access. Equal opps/welfare, target, women’s, environmental, LGBT Officers. Nurse; free pregnancy testing. It's also one of the only Cambridge colleges with a crêche for students' and staff's sproglets.
FAMOUS ALUMNI
Lucy Caldwell (playwright and novelist); Erasmus (Renaissance humanist); Mike Foale (first Brit in space); Stephen Fry (national treasure); Michael Gibson, John Spencer (rugby players); Tom Holland (Bond’s Q 1986-89); Graham Swift, T H White (writers); Mark Watson (comedian).