Written by: David Weston on September 7, 2026

I remember my first visit to Oxford with remarkable clarity, more than a quarter century ago, around the year 2000. I had gone to meet a new friend, Alister McGrath, but the city itself soon became another kind of encounter. Steeped in history, home to so many memorable bookshops and libraries, colleges, parks, and monuments, Oxford enchanted me. I knew immediately that Oxford had cast its spell on my imagination and my mind.

Since that first visit, I have returned many times, each occasion an opportunity to return to old haunts and repeat familiar rituals. Among these rituals: wandering the halls of the Bodleian Library; purchasing books at Blackwell’s; eating lunch in ancient pubs; retracing the footsteps of great writers who have shaped my imagination, most notably C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Over the years, Oxford has become something more than a place I like to visit. Oxford has been a haven of intellectual renewal. Ben le Vay’s Eccentric Oxford increased my affection for Oxford immeasurably. Ben le Vay treats the subject as you might expect: peculiar characters and institutions. Yet Le Vay understands eccentricity not as deviation but rather as central to Oxford’s identity. Oxford’s eccentrics emerge as products of its history, institutional autonomy, class structure, and tolerance for intellectual rebels. Far from quaint historical relics, Oxford’s eccentric customs and citizens embody something essential about the city itself.

Eccentric Oxford functions as both a travel guide and a love letter to a unique place. Le Vay pairs his resident expertise with travel-writer curiosity. Moving between anecdotes and straight description, he allows Oxford to reveal itself as both historically solemn and intellectually playful. Le Vay embraces Oxford’s paradoxes.  The book is also wonderfully cheeky.  Admiration for institutional prestige coexists with appreciation for human strangeness. Tradition exists alongside experimentation, dissent, and iconoclasm.  Eccentric Oxford raised important questions about place, memory, and history.

How do institutions honor tradition without becoming paralyzed by history? How do buildings and bookshelves shape intellectual life? What does authority look like on an individual level? These are questions that continue to interest me.  When I return to Oxford this month, I plan to spend some time reflecting on them. Le Vay’s book will be in hand.  What draws me to Oxford again and again? Undoubtedly, the books.  I have always found the Bodleian Library magical. For me, browsing the stacks feels renewing. Reading at a wooden table.  Becoming aware of the scholars who have learned in the same room where I sit. Libraries ground us.  They remind us that knowledge is solitary and communal. We read alone, yet in conversation with generations of writers. In that way, Oxford is special.  Memory breathes life into Oxford’s vast collection of historic places. It is a university town defined by history, but grateful for moments of discovery.

Memories long past remind us of the possibility of discovery. This month, instead of studying or reading in solitude, I will revisit some favorite haunts. I will explore Oxford as a tourist might. Following Ben Le Vay’s advice, I will approach the city less like a bibliophile dreaming of familiarity and more like a student eager to learn oddities. At times this means quirky collections.  Lost alleyways.  Strange intersections of architecture and history.  Figures who shaped Oxford life.  Dreaming in paperback follows Le Vay’s advice.  Here are the sights I plan to see.

1. Pitt River’s Museum is full of everything.  “So bizarre,” Le Vay insists, “that it may be the neatest embodiment of eccentric Oxford.” Within its walls, you will find “densely packed cases of anthropological and archeological objects systematically arranged by type of object rather than by geographic origin.”
2. Walking through Oxford, I find inspiration in Le Vay’s passion and attention to the unusual. The Headington Shark.  If the Pagoda is Oxford’s most Instagrammed building, then the Headington Shark might be its stupidest. Locals claim that this 25-foot fixture appears to have smashed headfirst into the roof of a residential building. Ben le Vay counts it as one of the city’ more conspicuous architectural oddities.
3. The History of Science Museum.  Right next door to the restaurant world’s oldest joke lies Oxford’s Old Ashmolean building, now home to the History of Science Museum. Inside, you will find towering bookcases full of scientific instruments: astrolabes and Einstein’s blackboard. It reminds visitors of Oxford’s unique balance between intellectual rigor and historical whimsy.
4. The Turf Tavern.  Tucked away down a narrow alley just footsteps from Oxford’s Bridge of Sighs, the Turf Tavern was “where Inspector Morse got grumpy and Bill Clinton ‘did not inhale.’
5. The Bear Inn: With walls and ceilings covered with more than 4,500 clipped necktie ends, The Bear Inn chronicles Britain’s closest record of eccentricity. Each colorful piece represents a school, club, regiment, or college. Enjoy a beer and feel connected to centuries of institutional Britain.
6. University Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. With Le Vay as my guide, I will spend hours exploring Oxford’s unusual churches. St. Mary’s is known for its church history and relationship to Oxford University. It also features whimsical decorations, carved into its massive tower and bell steeples. Climbing the narrow stairway to the top of Oxford’s tallest church tower is exhausting. And yet, once at the top, there is no better view in Oxford.
7. Magdalen College and the Cherwell. From its cloisters and intimidating gargoyles to its trout-stocked deer park and quirky traditions, Magdalen is synonymous with eccentric Oxford. Once per year, the college hosts its May Morning ceremony. Just downstream, punting embodies everything Le Vay seems to love about Oxford. A magical mix of elegance and impending doom.
8. Christ Church and the sacred college meadow would pair Le Vay’s interest in offbeat colleges, church history, Alice in Wonderland inserts, questionable student traditions, and literary Oxford all into one destination.

Benedict le Vay, Eccentric Oxford, 3rd ed. (Chalfont St. Peter, UK: Bradt Travel Guides, 2019),

About the Author

David Weston

David C. Weston brings together a rare combination of experience as a leadership practitioner and missionary strategist. As founder of the Last Reached Initiative, he has spent the past four decades working alongside indigenous leaders, mission agencies, and churches in some of the world's most difficult contexts. His doctoral research explores how theological formation, koinonia, and strategic collaboration can help the global Church more faithfully steward Christ's command to make disciples of every nation. Drawing on years of field experience and leadership development, he offers both a theological vision and practical architecture for engaging the remaining last-reached peoples.