Recent Articles

Tell someone that you love great Victorian novels, and they’re likely to nod in approval. Tell them that you’re a big fan of poetry and they’ll think you’re sophisticated and cultural. Tell them that you adore modern theatre and you’ll sound like an intellectual. But tell them that you love short stories, and you’re in...

Few things express the key role that the University of Oxford has played in the history of the world as well as the sheer number of rulers of countries who have studied there over the centuries. From kings to prime ministers to presidents, the notable and powerful from every continent on Earth (four continents are...

“There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.” So says Lynne Truss, author of the hugely successful punctuation bible “Eats Shoots & Leaves”, in reference to the surprising strength of opinion surrounding the use of the...

There’s clearly something special about the University of Oxford. Let’s take a look at Oxford in the 20th century. 9 of the 19 Prime Ministers Britain had in the 20th century studied at Oxford; the second most popular higher education option with British Prime Ministers was not Cambridge, but ‘none’. It’s seventh in the world ...

Many of us learn English primarily for work purposes, and yet business English doesn’t often feature in school curricula. You’ll probably have studied English poetry, novels, and perhaps even a play or two (Shakespeare is likely to feature).

You wouldn’t have thought that essays have much in common with creative writing. Creative writing, by definition, involves being ‘creative’: making things up, letting your imagination run wild. Essays are about being factual and objective, communicating ideas and arguments in the clearest way possible and attempting to enhance the reader’s knowledge, rather than their imagination...

When you first start to realise that your child is brighter than their peers – whether it’s hitting developmental milestones early, or reaching for toys and games that you wouldn’t yet expect them to understand – it can feel like you’ve won the lottery of parenthood. But of course, it’s not so straightforward. Raising a ...

At school, you don’t often get the opportunity to choose the format in which you answer a question. You’ll usually be told whether you should be answering a question in the form of an essay, a presentation, or more rarely something more creative like a poster. But that means on the rare occasions when you ...

About the Author Stephanie Allen read Classics and English at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, and is currently researching a PhD in Early Modern Academic Drama at the University of Fribourg. Top tips on how to be less like you and more like the brain-boxes whose grades we all envy. 1)  Plan to work right up...