Lord Byron and why he is a commonly referred to in a punt tour
Any punting tour of Cambridge is bound to be full of the usual information about Cambridge University, especially Trinity College. Founded in 1546 it is the largest, wealthiest and most academically prestigious of all the Colleges in Cambridge University. However it is has had some students who are not quite perfectly in the mold of the model pupil. A notable example of this is the English Romantic Poet Lord Byron. Byron’s most notable poems are Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, lines from which are featured at the start of the adventure movie Into The Wild.
Who was Lord Byron
Born with a club foot Byron was acutely self conscious of, he gave himself the nickname The Limping Devil to describe his larger than life character. Famous amongst his peers and the public for a string of illicit love affairs with both females and males, Byron also reportedly had an affair with his half-sister. Alongside public homophobia, at the time this incestuous romance also gained him notoriety for the wrong reasons!
His time at Trinity College Cambridge
Byron came to Cambridge University and studied at Trinity College where he continued his love of writing. Inspired by the natural beauty found in and around Cambridgeshire Byron enjoyed swimming in The River Cam up near the Village of Grantchester and there is a small nature reserve their called Byon’s Pool, the name paying homage to Lord Byron’s love of swimming there.
Unusual behavior within the College
His behavior was somewhat in contravention of college rules at times however and his list of misdemeanors range from childish pranks to bizarre and dangerous. To find out more about Lord Byron, join us on a Tour of The River Cam and Cambridge University. Your guide will be able to tell you about Byron dressing up statues in ladies underwear, or how he circumvented a college rule on pets by keeping a bear chained outside his room!.
