The origins of the University of Oxford are said to be ‘lost in the mists of antiquity’. It is thought to date from the mid-twelfth century with the migration of students from Paris. ‘Physic’ was one of the early subjects studied, with a status approaching that of theology!

Formal teaching of medical sciences to undergraduates did not start until the end of the nineteenth century, when chairs of anatomy and physiology were established. Clinical teaching was regarded by the university as a ‘trade’ and was left to the London teaching hospitals. An eventual change in this attitude was fortuitous, though there was much resistance both from medical science tutors in Oxford Colleges and from consultants in local hospitals. In the late 1930s Lord Nuffield (of motor car fame) offered substantial funds to establish a handful of clinical medical professorships. After prolonged negotiation, these funds were accepted by the university, albeit with reluctance. This was the beginning of the Oxford clinical school. It facilitated another circumstantial event – the evacuation of some clinical students from London teaching hospitals to Oxford to escape the bombing of London in the early 1940s.