 | |
 Front page ofCherwell on 8 October 2021 | |
| Type | Weeklynewspaper duringOxford University term time |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact |
| Owner | Oxford Student Publications Limited |
| Founder(s) | Cecil Binney and George Adolphus Edinger |
| Editor | Éilis Mathur and Morien Robertson |
| Founded | 1920; 105 years ago (1920) |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Salter’s Yard,Oxford, OX1 4LA |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Circulation | c. 15,000[1] |
| ISSN | 0308-731X (print) 1742-3597 (web) |
| Website | Cherwell.org |
Cherwell (/ˈtʃɑːrwɛl/CHAR-wel) is astudent newspaper published entirely by students ofOxford University. Founded in 1920 and named after alocal river,Cherwell is a subsidiary of independent student publishing houseOxford Student Publications Ltd. Receiving no university funding, the newspaper is one of the oldest and largest student publications in the UK. The paper is published five times each term.
Cherwell was conceived by twoBalliol College students,Cecil Binney andGeorge Adolphus Edinger, on a ferry fromDover toOstend during the summer vacation of 1920 while the students were travelling toVienna to do relief work for theSave the Children charity. Edinger recalls the early newspaper having a radical voice: "We were feeling for a new Oxford …. We were anti-convention, anti-Pre War values,pro-feminist. We did not mind shocking and we often did." The publication was independent of theUniversity of Oxford and it was entirely financed, staffed, and owned by students.[2]
Early editions combine this seriousness with whimsy and parochialism. The first editorial gives the newspaper's purpose as being "to exclude all outside influence and interference from our University. Oxford for the Oxonians".[citation needed]
Cherwell was the only newspaper printed in Britain during theUK General Strike of 1926, other than theBritish Gazette and theBritish Worker, during which time it was produced at the offices of theDaily Mail in London.[citation needed]
Throughout the 1920sCherwell had a strong literary focus, and a policy of not editing literary contributions. Undergraduate contributors includedEvelyn Waugh,Graham Greene,John Betjeman,L. P. Hartley,Cecil Day-Lewis andW. H. Auden.[citation needed]
The newspaper's focus broadened over the coming decades until January 1953, when the owners of the paper decided to turn it into a university newspaper.[3] In 1946Cherwell was briefly banned by the university for distributing a survey on the sex lives of undergraduates, and in 1954 ran a series of pin-up photographs entitled "Girls of the Year". In 1970 then-editorPeter Stothard published a current Oxford theatre poster featuring a naked female, possibly a first for a British newspaper. Under his editorshipCherwell also published a backless photo of Gully Wells, considered very daring for the time. Both editions caused much comment. In 1973 the paper became a 'cause celebre' in the national papers when theCherwell published a photo of general editorDavid Soskin with a topless model. This resulted in a personal fine by the proctors for David Soskin.[citation needed]
In 1964, the newspaper's longest-running feature was created, the "John Evelyn" gossip column, and it has run almost uninterrupted since then; its founding editors were Christopher Meakin and Michael Morris. Meakin then moved over to become editor ofIsis the following term, in days when the parallel undergraduate magazine (although not then linked withCherwell) also appeared weekly. Over the decades, many famous people have been the subject of "John Evelyn"'s wry and faux-condescending style, among them future Pakistani prime ministerBenazir Bhutto, politicianJonathan Aitken, and actorImogen Stubbs. In 1981,Hugh Grant is described as "New College's answer toBrooke Shields", and his unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate a ball with his date are reported.Cherwell's Editor in Michaelmas Term 1964 had beenPatrick Marnham, who on leaving Oxford became a staff journalist onPrivate Eye, the British satirical magazine, and was author of the standard reference book on the history of the magazine which Marnham wrote as its 21st birthday celebration in 1982. The editor for the following Hilary Term 1965 wasMichael Morris., His news editor on Cherwell, Sarah Boyd-Carpenter, is better known today asBaroness Hogg.[citation needed]
In the mid-1970sCherwell survived one of its periodic financial crises, and politically the paper campaigned against Oxford University's investments inapartheid-eraSouth Africa.[citation needed]
TheOxford English Dictionary lists the terms 'sherry party' and 'Marxism' (as pertaining to theMarx Brothers) as having been coined inCherwell.[4][5] Additions from recent decades are lacking probably becauseCherwell is only sporadically lodged at copyright libraries, and because it is not included in electronic text search systems such asLexisNexis. Xerox University Microfilms has micro-fiche copies of the paper for some years, especially the 1970s.[citation needed]
Cherwell has had a website since Trinity 1996, with the current website developed by Nelson Fernandes Serrao, formerOxford Student Publications Limited chair, in 2022.[12]
The site is updated every day during term and regularly during the vacation. It contains all of the articles from the print edition, as well as breaking news, videos, features, arts reviews, sport reports and podcasts such as the soap opera podcastStaircase 22. Students use the website to vote on the paper's regular feature, Fit College and also to post comments on articles.[citation needed]
In 2008,Cherwell won the 'Guardian Student Media' award for Best Student Website.[13]
Cherwell was awarded Best Publication[14] in the South East region in the 2022 Student Publication Association Awards. Two news pieces were also shortlisted for the National Awards.[15] It won the Best Publication award for the South East region again in 2024 at the Student Publication Association awards,[16] and was shortlisted for the national award. The publication and its staff were shortlisted for eleven SPA national awards in total.[17] In 2025, the paper won the award for Best Website and was 'highly commended' for Best Overall Digital Media at the SPA National Conference. Four Cherwell journalists also received individual awards.[18]
During the same year, it conducted interviews with all leading candidates for the first election of theChancellor of the University of Oxford, includingPeter Mandelson,William Hague,Elish Angiolini, andDominic Grieve.[19]
In 2025, Cherwell became the first student newspaper in the UK to become a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).[20]
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